#I also think the ‘accurate��� translation feels kinda out of character

[what-is-love-babey-dont-hurt-me]

Watching people discuss Susie is weird to me because she’s either fucking hated for what she did or she’s defended/forgiven but like,,, where are the people who love her character because she’s a terrible person. I need to see more people who support Women’s Wrongs to discuss her.

[gghero]

uhhh... squeak a way out? that might have worked better if I'd made any of these characters a rat or whatever. ah well

full lineup and thoughts under the cut!

these were a ton of funnnn I wanted to play around with animal assignments for a while. characters like Akane or Ace already have strong themes going on but I wondered what about the rest and well here we are

my favorite anthro designs are those that really emphasize the size differences between species. maybe these are not completely accurate but they're accurate enough to convey the sense of scale I think. These were referenced both from pictures of the real life inspirations but I also studied and referenced sketches and concept art from the Zootopia production because its kind of the energy I was going for

As I said earlier, most of these assignments are just based on vibes, though there are some fun themes and ideas I also wanted to play with.

Junpei is a ram because I like the idea of him being a herbivore that nonetheless has pretty powerful means to fight in his horns and powerful legs. Also theres an idea somewhere in there about him being a sacrificial lamb of sorts in the plot of the second nonary game

The Fields are very obviously dogs to me. Friendly, intelligent and fiercely loyal but at the end of the day they are carnivores that can and will use their teeth and claws. A personal headcanon of mine is that they're half siblings, so this allowed me to play with mixes too! I knew I wanted Clover to be a Cavalier King since the silhouette allowed me to translate her hairstyle pretty seamlessly, and I kinda became obsessed with Aussievaliers while researching mixes

The Kurashikis as rabbits fits surprisingly well. It's the obvious choice for Akane, and if they weren't related by blood would have probably made Aoi a rat or a badger, but him being a rabbit too fits surprisingly well even from a meta narrative point of view since a lot about his character revolves around Akane. I went with the harlequin variant because I like how it plays with the duality theme for both of them... though Aoi is albino himself so he doesn't have black patches, haha.

Rhino for Seven because he's big, strong and imposing but mostly chill. Lotus as a frilled lizard because the mental image of that temper of hers making her frills go wild was pretty fun.

Kubota is a pigeon because I read somewhere that perhaps his nickname might have been Pigeon if he'd gotten to choose one due to a Japanese pun/onomatopeia thing with "ku/kyu" and pigeons. And there's some fancy pigeon breeds that have crazy feathers that resemble his hair (though unfortunately these breeds struggle to groom themselves)

Ace as a lion is also pretty obvious but it just fits so well. Looks noble and reliable on the outside, subverts things a bit by being a bit of a cowardly lion, but he's still an apex predator that can be pretty brutal

Finally we don't know much about Nijisaki or Musashidou as people, but I wanted Nijisaki to be a canid too so the body swap plot still makes some sense, and I feel like the cultural associations to foxes also works with the cunning second in command vibe he has going on. The silver fox's coat color simply translates into his design better than a red fox. Finally, for Musashidou I wanted a larger animal that looks like it has the kind of gravitas and aura of power he gives off so I thought a walrus made sense, especially since the tusks and rounded head also translated parts of his design pretty well!

anyways thats about everything I have to say about these! I honestly dunno if I'll ever color them because I tragically saved over the file with the separate sketch layer so I'd have to redraw everything... thanks for reading all of that if you made it here!

[karasukarei]

Wind Breaker DVD/BR Vol. 6 bonus content – Boufuurin Vs Shishitoren Maruhi ㊙ Talk and Battle - Part 1

This is the translation of the vol. 6 bonus with the DVD/Bluray! I did not buy it for the bonus. I did buy it because Umemiya is featured on the cover. I have my priorities right.

There's 3 (4?) main parts to this - (1) Boufuurin x Shishitoren talk, (2) Hiiragi x Sako talk + (3) battle, (4) Boufuurin x Shishitoren battle. The battles are kinda hard to understand without the video, so I'll leave that aside for now and focus on just the talks.

As these are more like talk shows, there's quite a few areas where multiple people are talking over each other; in such instances, I will be omitting some of the stuff being said if it's repetitions or if they do not add on to the main stuff being spoken.

Important: A lot of what NakaYuu says will seem very cold/ indifferent on paper, and unfortunately this is one of those things that get lost in translation. In context, he's actually playing the deadpan fool like his pal Sugitan.

For the rest of my translations, see this post!

Boufuurin x Shishitoren talk

Sakura (CV: Uchida Yuuma - Yuuma)

Umemiya (CV: Nakamura Yuuichi - NakaYuu)

Choji (CV: Totani Toya Kikunosuke - Toya) (t/n: there's this running gag that has an origin I'm unaware of, apparently some people read his name wrongly and called him Totani instead and I admit that for the longest time I really thought it was read as Totani. The 谷 in 戸谷 can be read as either "ya" or "tani", and both are pretty common readings, hence the confusion)

(if anyone wants to hear me ramble about multiple readings for names please DM me I will be so happy to go on this long shpiel about meeting 3 people with 3 different readings of the same character before)

Togame (CV: Umehara Yuuichirou - Umechan) (t/n: yes I'm here to confuse the heck out of you)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuuma: Hello everyone! I'm the voice actor of Sakura Haruka for the television anime Wind Breaker, Uchida Yuuma!

NakaYuu: Umemiya Hajime's Nakamura Yuuichi! (t/n: he was drawling a lot here wwww)

Toya: Tomiyama Choji's Toya Kikunosuke! (t/n: he is really so cute I want to protecc) (I also cannot emphasise enough just how talented he is; he sounds NOTHING like Choji irl)

Umechan: Togame Jo's Umehara Yuuichiro, thanks for having me.

Everyone: Thanks for having us! (t/n: it's the usual yoroshiku onegaishimasu greeting and I can never figure out how to properly translate it)

Yuuma: Speaking of, to everyone who bought the anime package (i.e. the DVD or blu-ray), will be receiving this special bonus, ehhh. ~It's Wind Breaker~ (comes with sparkles too) everyone.

NakaYuu: That's right.

(everyone chuckles)

Toya: We've even worn these jackets!

NakaYuu: Why are you doing it? (t/n: LMAO)

*everyone laughs*

Umechan: On the other hand, *points at Yuuma and NakaYuu* you're here like this?

Toya: It feels different there. (t/n: this is not an entirely accurate translation, but i'm pretty tired today and don't feel like explaining now. What he said was 気合違いますよ which has a bit more nuance; I'll explain in an edit next time.)

Yuuma: This is my regular...

Umechan: Gakuran? (t/n: this is the style of school uniforms worn by Boufuurin)

NakaYuu: It's not that. *very seriously*

Toya: Yuuma-san's clothes actually of give off a bit of the feel of gakurans...

Yuuma: It's not a gakuran ^_^

***

Yuuma: With that, the four of us from Wind Breaker, Shishitouren and Boufuurin will have a talk with each other.

Everyone (i think): Yes!

Yuuma: It's been a while since we've recorded our lines, and I think there'll be lots of memories we'll be reminiscing upon, but in Wind Breaker, there's often talk of speaking with our fists; Nakamura-san and I first joined from the PV, it's been a while, hasn't it? (t/n: They're referring to a special video they recorded for an event in Shibuya in 2021)

NakaYuu: It's a while back, isn't it?

Yuuma: Around 2021, yes.

NakaYuu: About two years before the anime, I think.

Umechan: It's from before the anime?

NakaYuu: Yes yes yes, when you get to our level it's like that. (t/n: this is absolutely dripping in sarcasm fyi; NakaYuu can only get away with a joke like this cos he's the oldest here) You start getting involved even before the anime is announced.

Yuuma: As for the two of you (Shishitoren), you guys auditioned?

Umechan: Yes...

Toya: We auditioned and received our roles.

Yuuma: You two make a great combo, how was it like performing together?

Umechan: It's my first time working with Toya-kun.

Toya: Yes it is.

Umechan: It was really refreshing. The other cast members, I've met them quite often at other places, so I sort of know how things will turn out with them. It's only Toya-kun I don't know anything about.

Toya: For me, it's my first time meeting most of the cast members, I remember that during the first recording I was really really nervous.

Umechan: I didn't know how it would turn out, but he was very Tomiyama-ish.

Yuuma: That's the matching being done (t/n: this might be a mistranslation; he literally uses "matching" in katakana, I'm not sure if there's an alternative meaning I'm missing out.)

NakaYuu: There's difficulty in reading him. (i.e. in reading his character)

***

Yuuma: Next is the visual commentary part, where we watch the anime while giving comments on it. First up, is this match!

T/N: I'm going to skip some parts and summarise some parts, as it's going to be pretty much impossible to match the dialogue and scene one on one without video

Sakura vs Togame

When Umechan first recorded for Togame, he spoke so slowly he was surprised, and in the end that take was used for the anime. It got easier to speak slowly as he practiced more, but at first he had to make a conscious effort to go slow.

Togame's script also had a lot of markings at the end of words (e.g. dashes), to indicate that the words should be drawn out / spoken slowly.

While filming the fight scenes, they thought quite a lot about what to ad lib and how to draw breaths in between lines. They were told it wasn't necessary to do it for everything, but on the day of recording they decided that they did want to include the ad libs and breaths for the whole thing.

NakaYuu, at the point when Sakura is kicked by Togame with his geta on: Getting kicked by the geta looks bad. (t/n: NO SHIT SHERLOCK)

Umechan: I would've preferred him to wear sneakers, it can absorb the impact a bit.

Yuuma: The geta is really hard.

NakaYuu: Of course it is.

NakaYuu, at the point when Sakura's head is stomped on by Togame with his Geta: That looks bad.

Yuuma: He's a real beast!

Umechan: Everyone, this is fiction.

Yuuma: Please don't try the same thing at home.

Umechan, at the point when Togame took off his geta: If he hadn't taken off his geta, I think he would have won. (t/n: LMAO)

NakaYuu: This is a power down event.

Umechan: His reach is now one geta shorter.

NakaYuui: His reach and power have both dropped. But his grip is stronger now

Umechan: It would've been fine if he hadn't taken it off.

NakaYuu: It's probably cos it feels strange using a weapon when he wants to fight fair and square.

t/n: WHY ARE THEY FEEDING INTO EACH OTHER'S CHAOS

Everyone in turn, when Sakura and Togame kicked each other in the face: The geta. the geta!

Yuuma: It's a good thing he's not wearing the geta.

NakaYuu: If he was wearing the geta he would've won.

Yuuma: Togame is a really great guy, fighting for Choji's sake. Thanks for the great battle! Next is this battle!

TO BE CONTINUED

[lu-is-not-ok]

Sorry if you've already analyzed this recently but it would be neat if I could possibly get your thoughts about this.

I'm currently trying to theory craft for The Surrendered Witnessing (Canto 8), so I was looking at the Limbus TGS Teaser for more hints. Cuz the background art has been quite accurate so far.

When you look up Hong Lu on Google one of the first pictures you get is that art of him in the white outfit with the dandelion.(Which is also briefly shown on the TGS Teaser) At first I thought he was blowing the dandelion as a symbolism of being carefree and whimsical, similar to how children blow on dandelions to make wishes.

But then I noticed a few things. First, he doesn't necessarily seem happy, or really showcasing any kind of 'whimsy'. Also, the dandelion isn't up to his mouth. It's not positioned in a way where he can blow. It seems more likely that he is watching a common weed blow off in the wind with more freedom than he would ever get while he's with his family. Dandelions in general are also a symbol of hope, which means this could be a representation of him feeling hopeless.

But then, the screen briefly shows a zoomed out version before jumpscaring you with Heathcliff.

At first I thought this was a rebellion with the sheer amount of grey bodies seeming desperate. But then I realized they are reaching. Are they possibly reaching for Hong Lu? Do they just wish to be in his shoes-- desperately wanting just a sliver of his family's influence and wealth? Or is their desperation more focused on the red paper?

Hong Lu also doesn't seem that pleased, the zoomed out version seems way more bored than the zoomed in version.

The dandelion seeds turn into something red. It could be red envelopes used to gift money, but I don't know why Hong Lu or his family would even bother using something so formal on people with such low status. A very unlikely theory is that it could also be related to Hong Lu's previous mention of a 'red passport'. Though I'm just assuming it has significance specifically where Hong Lu's family resides, either something important within his house or something that has to do with how the district works.

--

Another interesting thing that pops up is a speech bubble. I'm not fluent in any other languages so I had to Google translate it, so it may very likely be wrong, but it says "it's almost like filming a play". I don't have a clue if that has been a previous line from Hong Lu, but the outline is in Hong Lu's color. So maybe he's referencing an event after the sinners return to his residence.

The other thing to note is the positioning of this picture directly over the dandelion picture. The only other person that really has that happen in the teaser is Sinclair, but that is because the Sinclair images happen within the same cutscene in-game. I have zero clue if the positioning in the video is that purposeful to make an entire theory on it, but I think the lineup is interesting. The image used is from The Unloving.

--

The last glimpse I'll talk about is the lil angy/displeased Hong Lu.

That looks like Outis' hand grabbing him by the shirt. I was trying to find any other pictures of sinners grabbing each other by the shirt-- but the only shirt threatening content we've gotten are both in The Unconfronting. One by Virgillius (not a sinner) and one by Don Quixote.

So my assumption is that this displeased Hong Lu could either happen during The Nocturnal Sleeping or The Surrendered Witnessing. Likely The Surrendered Witnessing because no intervallo art seems to have been out in the teaser. (All of the characters that already have cantos have art in the TGS that doesn't surpass their focus cantos, though that also could be due to Project Moon not wanting to spoil too much from the initial 3 release cantos)

Anyways! That's my thoughts! I kinda wanna hear yours if possible, no pressure though. :3

(Also, sorry if the formatting is weird I have zero clue how Tumblr's ask formatting works)

Oh boy that's a lot. Ok. Let's see how I wanna get into this.

Let's start with the bits I know I can explain for sure.

First, the dialogue lines. Last time I checked, every single dialogue line shown in the TGS teaser comes from the first three Cantos. Which, if you think about it, makes sense, as those were likely the only Cantos actually fully written by that point.

The line you pointed out specifically comes from Canto 2, it being the second half of this dialogue line that happens after the Sinners beat the Tingtang Gang.

I think its purpose in the teaser is mainly to reinforce the idea that Hong Lu's understanding of reality is very strange compared to other people in the City, him comparing whatever's happening to something as benign as a movie set.

You could probably also make a case for it being used to highlight the theme of the blurred line between Fiction and Reality, what with him comparing a Real situation to that of a Fictional scene one would be filming for a movie.

Second. The angry Hong Lu CG.

I've already discussed that CG at length in this post, but to summarize: this is a scrapped Canto 1 CG, from what I believe to be the original version of the scene where Yuri reveals her backstory, which in the original draft took place outside of the dungeon with all of the Sinners around and thus available to respond. The person grabbing onto Hong Lu's shirt is Gregor, and the reason his skin looks like that in the video is because of the heavy color overlay effects over the teaser itself. I included the clearest picture we have of the full CG in the post I mentioned.

We don't know whether this CG was scrapped before or after the TGS Teaser was made, so it's much harder to ascertain the purpose behind its inclusion here. Regardless of which it is though, it's clear that Project Moon deemed it important to show Hong Lu's capacity for anger in such an early teaser, meaning it was something they were focusing on as a point for his character even back then.

Now. Onto the things I get to actually speculate about.

Let's just first establish this - we have no way of knowing how similar Canto 8 will be to what Project Moon may have initially planned it to be. I'm not one of those people who claims that PM are serial retconners, but I'm also realistic in that I doubt they have more prepared future Cantos than maybe some rough outlines at most. As such, the scene shown in the TGS Teaser might not end up being framed in the exact same way as it was initially planned to be.

This is especially important to note as Vellmori CGs, aka the ones shown in the Teaser itself, are not being used beyond the ones already in the game. We can tell from Canto 6 and 7 that there's no guarantee that we'll get any exactly equivalent CGs from the current artist either. After all, we did get two whole scenes of a Heathcliff arriving to Cathy's funeral, but neither was framed in any way similar to the teased CG.

Here's some of my own observations though.

First - according to recollections from multiple DOTRC readers, the outfit Hong Lu is wearing in both CGs might be a reference to the mourning robes Baoyu wears after Daiyu's death. Considering how sensitive Hong Lu is about things that seem to remind him of an event that is very likely Limbus's equivalent of Daiyu's death (as I discuss in this post), it's likely that Canto 8 will put a notable amount of focus on that event and its aftermath.

Second - in higher quality versions of that first CG, it's possible to see that the shadow cast by the dandelion is a different color to the rest of the shadows being cast - it's notably more red in hue.

This could be another nod to Daiyu, as their Land of Illusion counterpart was the Crimson Pearl Flower. I think you're onto something here with Hong Lu not actively blowing at the dandelion, but rather merely watching it blow away in the wind by itself. It could be a representation of how fragile Daiyu's life ended up being, swept away as if by a gust of wind.

It makes me think of the Flower Burial Song from DOTRC (as do many things around Hong Lu in all fairness), which in itself also represents Daiyu's own mortality. Flowers fall, people perish, and neither of them know.

Third - A few notes about that second CG.

For one, I don't believe that the dandelion seeds are being turned into the red papers (for a lack of a more specific term to call them). You can see that the seeds are actually floating Among the papers, implying they're both falling at the same time rather than one turning into the other.

For two, while it's a bit hard to see in the particular screenshot you took, you can see that Hong Lu has his other arm thrust forward, while still holding the dandelion with the one he held it in the previous CG. This I believe implies he's not just watching the people below, but is actively throwing whatever the red papers are down towards them.

Now.

Here's my own unhinged theory as to what those (now unused) Canto 8 CGs might be showing.

Obviously, I already made it clear that I believe this is taking place after Daiyu's death ,what with both Hong Lu's robes and flower symbolism.

However, I believe the specific event that is happening here is Hong Lu creating a distraction for his Family so that he can escape.

I've made it no secret that I believe Hong Lu is in fact a runaway, and that the "sent out to experience the world" thing he mentions as his reason for leaving his home is in fact a blatant lie. After all, if it were true, why would his Family be searching for him? Why would they want to prematurely cut him off from experiencing more of the world? Add the Lasso Hong Lu corrosion voice line to this, where he's clearly acting out what his Family might sound like once they catch up to him, and you can see why I think this might be the case.

It's also not that hard to imagine why Daiyu's death would be the catalyst to Hong Lu deciding to take a chance and attempt an escape. Daiyu's death has been implied to be an event that not only deeply hurt him, but is also alluded to being the one thing capable of rousing Hong Lu's anger enough to actually lash out. If there was one thing that could make the otherwise docile and obedient Hong Lu act out in such a way, it would be crossing a certain line he believed should never be crossed.

What I believe we're seeing is Hong Lu drawing a group of desperate people towards a likely otherwise very secure household (if his musings about defense systems in Canto 6 are anything to go by). Perhaps, the things he's giving out are specifically invitations, as in Canto 6 Hong Lu mentions (in a way that almost feels like he's speaking from experience mind you) that having an invitation protects one from a mansion's security measures.

So, by "inviting" in as many disruptive people as he can, Hong Lu could be creating the perfect distraction for the Jia Family to deal with while he himself assumedly slips away unnoticed.

At least, that's my theory.

Hope this helps, or is in any way coherent WHEEZE.

[flyflutterby]

The leaks leave me so confused tbh

Ochako isn’t raising her pinkie to avoid floating Deku during that leaked reconnection moment and she wasn’t wearing the gloves that would make that unnecessary. (Also, people are saying it’s the last panel of the epilouge, yet it doesn’t have the usual ending box.)

Jirou has both her ear-jacks in some of the leaks and some characters are missing scarring. There’s one panel where Bakugou’s hand is drawn from an odd angle that lowkey does not look good posing wise (Horikoshi is usually a GOD of drawing and posing hands, so I legit thought that was a fan drawing, until someone said it was apparently a leak?) Also, Todoroki’s face looks like it changes in structure between some of the leaks, but maybe I’m just imagining that?

Then there’s Deku rejecting Bakugou’s offer to join his hero agency so he can keep teaching. It feels like yet again he’s copying All Might to his own detriment, because even if he likes teaching, his arc, focus and drive has always been heroism. All Might becoming a teacher was because his whole thematic purpose was to pass the torch on that would lead everyone into a brighter future. Deku’s motivation has always been to save people as a hero. Furthermore, even if you don’t ship BakuDeku, they have always been thematically tied as heroes.

“Win to save and save to win.”

Wasn’t the whole point of Deku’s narrative was that he was going to destroy himself if he kept going it alone? Yet, he’s pushing Bakugou away after everything is done (Kirishima apparently even jokes that Bakugou got rejected/dumped? Probably not an accurate translation but STILL-!) Izuku feels flanderised, borderline OOC. Bakugou looks so fucking sad and resigned too. I want better for him as a character I watched grow over the years as I read the manga.

To clear things up, I ship BakuDeku, but I wasn’t expecting canonicity.

My problem is that I love platonic IzuOcha. Maybe a part of my reason for liking them was projection, but that’s what media is about. Enjoyment, interpretation and discourse. I can only speak to personal experience.

I lost a friendship with a guy as a young gay girl because people kept joking/insisting I liked him romantically. I pulled away like Ochako did, doubted my sexuality and tried to convince myself the awkwardness was butterflies, before finally coming back to sense. I did not get my friend back after things broke down. I yearned so bad for subversion, for a platonic IzuOcha that overcame the silliness (implanted by a girl who shipped All Might and Midnight because they stood next to each other during the Sports Festival and All for One’s literal spy at the time) to become best goddamned friends and great heroes. It just felt like Ochako didn’t think of Deku like that until someone else said it to her (very much teenaged behaviour).

I initially loved the reconnection scene as their friendship being cemented, as them drunkenly coming together to realise they missed each other. I thought it was so sweet and I was so HAPPY. I read it as drunk but platonic.

Then people kept saying this confirmed IzuOcha canon romantically. I fell down a rabbit hole. I ran through a gambit of all sorts to shitty emotions before I regulated myself to write this.

I’m tired and confused, my dudes. I’m going to stick to my little corner once I got this out. I got exams to prepare for, life to live and a loving girlfriend to hug. Still kinda upset, but my weird, autistic, gay ass can heal.

Stay hydrated and healthy x

[taki118]

Yakuza Fiance Manga Comparison ep 4

Ok I'll be honest this ep, I got a LOT of issues with this ep, I don't know what they were thinking with what was cut. So here it is everything the anime missed. Warning these are fan translations cause I'm lazy.

Ok so here at the opening we have something that isn't so much something missed as something changed

after Kirishima introduces himself in the manga he makes a comment that's probably the first hint of jealousy, with Shouma appearing rather annoyed or uninterested in him. In the anime they have Kirishima call back to the stupid scene they added into ep 2 (which is a whole ass rant by itself)

The conversation goes fairly the same except this bit of the conversation is cut

First of all we loose out on another good Shouma face which the anime has been denying you. But we also just get more back and forth that more smoothly leads into Shouma questioning who Kirishima is following and makes the audience really wonder if Kirishima is being truthful in what he says to Yoshino.

The rest of the conversation goes about the same in the manga. The anime however does skip this

Explaining why Yoshino was running down. Like I kinda get it but also I kinda don't.

The rest of the scene again goes pretty accurately to the manga but the expressions do not really work in the anime particularly when Yoshino tells Kirishima off

He just looks so much more surprised here than in the anime, like you can't tell its his buffering face.

So the scene with Yoshino seeing Shouma off its almost the same and in some ways it is but the issue being the way they shot it, its mmmmm less dynamic I think thats the best word. Especially this bit

I dunno I think the anime just can't get Shouma's expressions right at all.

Anyway the anime cuts out a pretty important scene. I won't put it all here cause it's a legit full scene but Yoshino is talking to Shouma about summer vacation and his plans, and planning her own trip to Osaka adding in that she'll bring Kirishima.

This scene is where she realizes she and Kirishima haven't really spoken in a while leads into where the anime starts back up. First of all you loose out on some fun character work with these two showing more of their dynamic that the anime just barely touches on. But more importantly second of all this teases an important arc in the story thats to come laying the ground work for later.

Also the train scene is a lot longer in the manga

Obviously I can't show it all but it really shows how crowded the train is but also brings up the convo with Shouma earlier in the chapter. Also for some reason the anime has Yoshino note that Kirishima smells nice but doesn't have her thinking its his detergent or something which is just a bad character beat to miss.

So the idea of the class scene is the same but once again we loose out on context and Yoshino thoughts in the anime. Like they really condense her thoughts but they leave this out

The anime just says the search is unhelpful (without really anytime to read what she looked at) But the manga gives context as to why. Another thing the anime does that I think is a bad move his have Kirishima slow down rights before looking at Yoshino when she turns. In the manga he's already standing there looking her way it just gives him a more ominous feeling that the scene is missing.

So the confrontation scene with Kirishima in her room is pretty spot on, though I don't know if its the translators or not but the wording for Kirishima when explaining having the girls he meets up with getting guys to "cheat" on him is not as kind to him. In the manga its more clearly NTR play but the anime or at least the subtitles it makes it sound like prostitution which isn't what he does with them.

The rest of the scene though is fine. Again not as dynamically shot but the dialogue is pretty one to one. Though again the expressions are just a little off.

He looks far more lovestruck in the manga than the anime.

Also this was cut cause of course it was it's a call back to the start of things and sets up the trip.

So this is the part that really hurts. I fucking love the Yoshino is sick chapters, it's one of my favorite tropes and this is really a turning point for the pair.

Anyway it starts out ok the dialogue in the morning is cut down but gets the right information across so really no complaints the issues begin after.

First off they cut this scene

Where Yoshino feels herself getting worse and showing Kirishima doting. Also shows how much she has to rely on him.

So Kirishima at school is fine, and I actually really like the way the anime does the scene at the brothel. In the manga you can kinda tell he's trying to rush things and is being impatient but the speed talking and him moving around in the anime really gets across he's trying to get this over with.

The bigger issue comes after at Yoshino room. In the anime he rings the bell once then just goes straight to lock picking.

In the manga he rings a few times, waits then sends her text explaining himself THEN goes to pick the lock. Its not a lot but it's enough to show that he's respecting her rules and only breaking it because its an emergency.

Again the scene of him finding her is a lot shorter in the anime compared to the manga. We see him go through the house and shut off a faucet that was dripping and he looks just more concerned in the manga.

He also talks to her more which I think is a nice touch. The rest of the scene and into the car is fine, nothing really lost but this is where I get really pissed.

Now there is a chance (a very very small one but still a chance) that this scene I'm going to talk about wasn't cut just reordered (in the dumbest way possible) and will be used in the next ep. I mean I doubt it but it is possible. Anyway Yoshino wakes up the next day without a fever and to Kirishima beside her.

Like a LOT happens in these pages they just decided to not use (maybe) from Yoshino apologizing for all the trouble she caused to Kirishima explaining he moved them to the corner of the room because it was the best area to keep watch over her. This bit really gives a lot. But this is really a sad loss (maybe again they coulda done something dumb and we will get it just not in the right order)

Anyway Kirishima explains he can't sleep if theres another person in the room which is important for later. This leads into a great scene where Yoshino offers to watch over him while he sleeps as a thank you which leads to this

Kirishima brushes it off saying he'll work hard to get her to kill him and she offers him a meal and a bath that he accepts. All this THEN leads into the conversation with Renji over the phone

So the thing about the animes version of this scene is it leaves a VERY important part out, again in a way that makes the conversation feel disjointed so after Kirishima says she sees him as a stalker and before Renji says she resembles him in the strangest ways we get this in the manga.

This informs the reader about a VERY important part of Yoshino's personality, that shes highly adaptable in both a positive and negative way. This information helps to make sense of her actions both prior and going forward and is just super upsetting to loose. Its a very important part of her character and would be incredibly hard to pick up on in the manga if this scene was gone but near impossible to get if one only viewed the anime.

Anyway the manga chapter ends not with Shouma doing ANOTHER out of character ominous stare that doesn't serve to add anything to the scene or story. (Renji and Kirishima are acting sketchy with or without him there to look) but with this cute bit

Overall ep 4 is by the most disappointing in terms of adaptation so far. Meaning I am in this for the long haul for sure.

[kudzucraft]

i’ve figured it out. I’ve pegged down my thoughts on TAY and the DS/3D remake of FFIV. They're my prequel trilogy. My Lucas Final Cut.

(yes even though it TAY's events come after FFIV. bear with me. i am going to be Long Posting)

TAY is not bad. It has a lot of genuinely Cool Stuff in it. Kain hanging out with Rosa and Cecil’s kid?? Golbez going on adventures with Rydia, Edge, and Luca? Fighting God and his army of clones in a tricked-out spaceship? That's fun. It's like Count Dooku or Mustafar or whatever. There's also plenty of stuff that rubs me the wrong way--the chronology is weird (why has nobody aged in the last 15 years), the plot drags, the gameplay is meh, and did we really need another alien race showing up in a That's No Moon--but it's fine. It also feels more like an accessory to canon than "true" canon, so you can take it or leave it.

The 3d remakes, however. My fucking. nemesis. i am ahab and those janky little models taunt me with their polygonal shambling. I need a hill to die on and this is my hill. I am launching harpoons with my mind.

There's so much to genuinely like, even love. And I recognize for a lot of people the 3d remakes, the DS remake especially, was their intro to the series. The DS version was accessible, introduced great QOL features, upgraded the mechanics, and (perhaps most importantly) debuted a much-needed new translation that is both beautiful and accurate to the original language. (The first line of the Mysidian prophecy reading "Born from womb of dragon's maw" vs. "Born from a dragon" makes a big difference!) I love the character's thought bubbles and the window into their minds it gives you--like, Kain on the moon feeling Zemus's presence? Holy fuck. 'Tis peak.

but ON THE OTHER HAND. the additions and changes. "Greedo shot first"-ass adjustments. to me. I built my impression of FFIV around the SNES and GBA versions, and if the DS remake were just a graphical and translation update, that would be fine. But it's not.

It adds...a lot. And it changes a lot. Takashi Tokita has discussed this in interviews about the DS remake. Apparently they cut down the original script by as much as 3/4 for the original version of FFIV because of space limits, and the DS remake allowed them, 14 years later, to "add in" some of the stuff that they couldn't have originally. (Takashi Tokita also says that he thinks paring down improved the script :P You can find his interview here.) Much like Lucas later stitching in state-of-the-art effects, it let the creators refresh their work with new ideas.

But in this case I think a lot of it was...artless. A few lines here and there that expand character motivations aren't bad, but there's quite a lot of them in the DS remake, ranging from a few lines to full cutscenes. The first example I can think of is when Cecil is talking to Kain after meeting with the king: the conversation pauses, and we get a flashback to a duel between them on the training grounds.

But I feel like in many places the more simplistic presentation benefited the story, because when you start to explain everything in detail the plot gets shakier. Sort of like a "midichlorians" moment. And a lot of the additional scenes and elements I quite like, or at least like the gist of, but it's kinda. pick and choose. I sure don't know how to feel about the fact that KluYa apparently introduced humans to All Magic, including summoning magic, and also invented airships, and also the Devil's Road. (EDIT i'm bobo the fool. he always was invented airships and the Devil's Road. DS ver. implies he taught the Mysidians magic but says nothing about summoning magic, I can't for the life of me find where I got that impression, it's not in the game scripts.)

Also. the chained flashbacks to Golbez's past, followed by the flashbacks to Cecil's past. The way the story freezes to show us all this is kind of obnoxious. We are still In The Giant Of Babil. Do we need to be shown all of this in such excruciating detail? Could you show-not-tell it, maybe? These retrospectives could have been spread out, or at least implied through a few extra lines between Golbez, Cecil, and FuSoYa. It's not that they're bad on their own, not really--it's just that they feel out of place, and the details are...a little shaky. I am sitting on the Giant of Babil face-to-face with an 8 foot tall Dark Knight, forced to confront the idea that a 10-year-old carried a newborn infant through the devil's road and threw him into the woods, and somehow that baby got found by not just anybody but the King Of Baron, and just by looking at the child the king correctly identified his mother (whom we had not seen in years). And just as I'm getting a little into Flashback Zone, wondering "damn, wonder what's going on with Mr. Corpsefly Born From A Dragon" and how Zemus planned to make use of a 10 year old, it's like OKAY we don't got time for dat. Kain's back. Five lines of dialogue--wait, no, there's more flash backs.

It is still a good game. It makes a lot of genuine improvements on the original. But the cuts and edits and add-ins, even if they are according to the creator's original vision, feel messy! And this is my hill. Just like Star Wars fans getting up in arms about Han Shot First or CG add-ins or the Hayden Christensen force ghost scene, it's the weird additions and changes from the original--even if they fit the story and were intended by the author and smooth out the transition to the new canon--I don't like it. Because I am a curmudgeon and a stick in the mud.

And yes this comparison WAS inspired by Golbez sort of Force Ghost phasing into his younger self when he leaves at the end of the game. at least unlike hayden christensen we actually know who that sassy child is supposed to be at this point

[oneslimybastard]

Another underutilized aspect of N, Natural Harmonia Gropius himself, is that he's conceptualized as not just a Math Guy, but a Math Genius if we go by some interview trivia notated on Bulbapedia.

It clearly shows in the way he speaks since his (translated) dialogue (idk about the original japanese one) is full of hamfisted references to formulas and frustration expressed when the chaos of the world does not align with them — which to me is like, the core of his character, something that makes him both An Asshole to deal with but also a very intellectually curios and creative individual. It's just a brand of creativity not a lot of people can keep up with nor understand.

N likes math because a lot of math is about clearly defined variables and their relationship to one another. If you come across an inconsistency that doesn't fit any prior definitions, you iron out a new definition and suddenly the field has expanded upon itself tenfold. It aligns with how his Very Autistic Brain functions, x + y = z, if I do x to y then z will happen. If z doesn't happen, then that just means I have to identify the hidden variables within the exchange and rewrite the formula to be more accurate.

Black and White's quality of writing is. Like pokémon often is. Questionable at best. The foundations are there but the execution is dumbed down and corny because it's still aimed at kids, BW in specific really cutting the theme of pokémon trainer ethics short in favor of just "dang u beat me in the pogiebattle guess ur right!". How-ev-er. In my head, and the reason why I still find the plot of those games compelling (aside for my unhinged thirst for goth man-milf Ghetsis) is that to me they're about local cult-raised autist Normal Henry Gropus bashing his head against the world over and over to desperately try and make the formulas make sense, to distill it into variables he can understand and predict on a consistent basis, and failing miserably at it. Because even if the world is Technically made up of a bunch of chemistry that you could, in theory, predict, there's just a lot of random noise in there from microscopic complexities that fuck everything up.

Pokémon are simpler creatures (discounting the eerily intelligent ones) who will be nice enough to behave like math problems most of the time. Humans rarely extend that grace, the more N studies them like a science project the more contradictory variables pop up. They have a million thoughts in their head he doesn't have access to, that brew into feelings he doesn't understand, which leads to actions he can't do a proper traceback through. Which is frustrating, devastatingly frustrating. At least at first.

Due to how BW2 pans out and my own yearning for thematic mirroring, whereas Ghetsis gives in to the Autistic Bitterness over all these NTs he doesn't fuckign understand, I like to think N develops a sort of joy in studying people like the impossibly complex math problems we are. Because he likes math, he likes figuring shit out, he likes buying a nightmare rubik's cube and charting the squares out on a nightmare variable graph (listen i am not a math guy. i respect the hustle but my skill level is too low to accurately attempt to simulate the process in writing. im sorry math guys) so he has a home-made flexible cheat code on how to solve any possible mix-up of it. It's fun for him, it stimulates his brain and he is so stupid good at it that he can only share that joy with like a stray alakazam or metagross because he's a bit of a tarzan just hanging out in the wilderness, he doesn't know any high end mathematicians he can casually geek out about combinatorial game theory with, and the normies just do not get it .

I think this math enjoying is kind of a big part of his ~Innocence~ as well, since there's a lot of childlike glee to being a Math Guy. It's the love of problem solving as a process rather than a means to an end, it's playful, but severely misunderstood to the point where people kinda might assume things about you if you are a math guy.

N's love of math helps him love the world but it also isolates him. He's a genius, but since he can't communicate it in a palatable way it'll get overlooked in favor of him just being a loomy weirdo on the street chatting up the local patrats.

If introduced to DnD though he'd spend so much time on forging ridiculously optimized multiclass builds, then migrate to digging through old obscure sci-fi ttrpgs from the 80s with hellishly complex systems just for the funsies of learning how the presented variables behave within a variety of frameworks, but then if you actually invited him to play with your group he'd look at you like you'd just called his mom a llama.

He's a neat guy to me, STEM guy who's also one of those animal rights activists who's a little too PETA-coded, I like him :)

[tyrantisterror]

Say TT, what would be your top 10 T-rexes from media?

Ooo, tough one. I don't know if I can even rank them - I think I'll just share ten I love.

We'll start with the queen, the goddess, my inspiration, the T.rex(es) from Jurassic Park (and its sequels). An elegant design with so many iconic features, from the angry eyebrows to the overbite and of course the iconic roar. The franchise itself stops treating the T.rex with respect from the third movie on, but that doesn't stop it from being its flagship creature.

As villainous rexes go, I don't think any have surpassed that bastard Sharp Tooth, who channels the raw horror of the most fearsome fighting animal in the fossil record.

Every single moment of the T.rexes in Prehistoric Planet filled me with delight and childlike wonder - yes, even when one got chased away my quetzalcoatluses. It was just nice to see a dino documentary where T.rex doesn't die for once, and seeing rexes be tender and social was also something I deeply crave but rarely get to see in dinosaur media.

For dino documentaries that break my heart, the Walking With Dinosaurs rex reigns supreme. I know it's not a particularly accurate reconstruction (and in fact kind of mind bogglingly weird if you look at the details closely - what is going on with the area where her skull meets her neck?), but the story they tell with the rexes here is so tragic that it's burned into my mind. There's the one scene of a rex howling alone in the forest in search of a mate, where the narration notes that it's unlikely anyone will answer the call, that's just lodged into my memory as the ultimate illustration of romance-based loneliness. I feel that rex, man. I feel that howl into the empty woods.

I know it's not a "good" movie, but fuck it, I love The Last Dinosaur. I love the suitamation, I love how the T.rex is presented as this borderline supernatural threat in the vein of Moby Dick, I love that it actually gives us a T.rex vs. Triceratops fight (an odd rarity in dinosaur media despite it being a matchup that 1. happened a LOT in reality and 2. pits two of the most popular and fearsome dinosaurs against each other - "T.rex vs. Triceratops" is, like, someone who's so hot that no one ever asks them out because they think they have no chance).

There's a Japanese kid's movie about a girl who's trying to reconnect with her estranged paleontologist mother and ends up adopting a baby T.rex, and it's very cute and deeply emotional and has scenes of a baby T.rex in a Christmas cape and Santa hat evading the Feds because that's just what you have to do when you're a weird animal companion to a child. It love it. It's called Rex: A Dinosaur Story and I watch it illegally every year because there's no US release of it.

You Are Umasou is another Japanese piece of paleomedia aimed at children with a deeply emotional story about strained parent-child relationships that involves a T.rex - several T.rexes, actual, one of which invents the art of kickboxing to style over his opponents - and l also used to watch it illegally, but luckily Discotek Media released a blu-ray collection of it and its sequels (called "The Heart and Yummie Collection" in an atttempt to translate the pun of the original title that only kinda works), so now I can just watch it whenever, to my delight.

Fang from Primal is one of the most well-rounded T.rex characters in media and I love her so much, even if I can't watch the first episode of that show ever again. It's a shame that show never got a second season, I would have loved to see more of Fang's adventures in a prehistoric world full of dinosaurs and monsters. A damn shame that they didn't continue it - they certainly wouldn't have made the show be about ancient human civilizations with almost no monsters and a weird scene where a woman sleeps with a caveman covered in third degree burns.

Speaking of tyrannosaurs who get a great deal of characterization and team up with cavemen to fight dinosaurs and monsters in a fantastical prehistoric world, none have ever done it better than the original Devil Dinosaur. He lost all of that characterization and, like, any agency at all really when Jack Kirby stopped writing him, sadly, but at least he had a fun team up with Godzilla before he was reduced to a mindless brute and/or glorified pet in subsequent Marvel stories.

Finally we end with Gon, the star of the manga of the same name, a tiny little T.rex (well, arguments could be made he's more of a generic theropod, but he's been called a T.rex enough for me to count him here) whose anthology series tells some of the most dramatic, emotional stories about animals surviving in the harshness of nature without a single line of dialogue. Gon's stories range from the humorous to the downright tragic, and you can always tell what this little dinosaurs is thinking and feeling without him saying a goddamn word. Also he personally beat the shit out of every single fighter in Tekken, which basically makes him as powerful as twenty Gokus.

[cozymochi]

Does Nyoka have a British accent if he ever gets an english voice? :3

Probably not.

YAPPING UNDER CUT

I guess where I would start is… something comparable to Christian Slater’s original performance as Ushari (which, lmao wtf was J.D from Heathers doing in silly animal cartoon). Slater already has a unique sounding voice to begin with, but the Ushari voice is definitely at a slight lower register than his natural speaking voice. It’s “snakelike” with some “s” sounds being drawn out like a hiss once in a while. He speaks pretty quietly and even politely, which was probably the point. I don’t have much information on how the performance came about, but these are the conclusions I came to when I had to do actual studying.

^ Basically the above is what led me to determine Nyoka’s general character direction translated into anime tropes and inspired his JP voice claim.

I did once put the English Dub track over this JP voice claim animatic, and I really liked it. Loved it even. THE PERFORMANCE is ideal I loved the slight gruffness or rumble underlining the formal speech patterns is 😳😩😩😩👍👍👍😔😩 yes god. It’s a bit different from the original JP performance, but shoving that over my animatic was like 👁️👁️ I for one welcome different takes that still eat.

But, that VA would not be his ENG voice claim only because I think it would be in my better interest to locate a POC actor. No shade though, he is so so good. I do not have any ENG voice claims in mind, just… a direction. Which brings me to my third directional inspiration-

I also liked this other “Oh I’m so formal and stoic, but WUH OH I BECOME UNHINGED” performance from an yugioh spinoff anime english dub. The character also has strong Nyoka energy, and the performance within the anime is certainly what I’m looking for. (I’d reference the voice tracks in games, but the direction was… not great. Not any of the VAs faults at all. 4kids music doesn’t really help hear the good performance in the anime :(( ) The voice is very smooth and matter of fact, which I love.

Unfortunately, aside from the VAs name, he’s not in much else outside of two characters in that entire franchise, and is very hard to find much information about the guy. I’ve tried many times. I can only assume based on his credited name that he might be of Middle-Eastern descent, but that’s all I really have. And for Nyoka who is both of Sunset Savanna and Scalding Sands descent, that’s a bit more of what I’m looking for (I’m not too specific on this as a result). The voice is 🫣 so perfect, but, again, with only two known characters under his belt I can’t determine the range as accurately.

I think if THAT guy was given very specific direction that reflects Christian Slater’s Ushari and maybe even Dub!Reiji Sakamaki, I’d be cooking SO MUCH. Unfortunately, that hypothetical example in my mind does not exist and not enough examples.

…Which again, for english voice claims, I do not have any. Just… performances that are comparable and hypothetical direction.

But, until TWST itself gets any dub for it’s own anime (Which I think is extremely likely), I can’t exactly hone in on much. Sometimes a talent pool can help me out, especially of it comes to discovering new talent.

Or y’know, I watch new stuff in general. But, I do not.

The only “”accent”” in question that he has is the snakelike “s” being drawn out once in a while, but that’s not a hard rule at all.

I feel like for Nyoka, I wouldn’t know what would be utterly perfect it until I heard it. I would like a formal/polite speaking, lower register, calm almost stoic voice with an underlying roughness that kinda would foreshadow that he probably isn’t as docile as he seems. Sprinkle in some snake-isms for some spice and *DIES*

But hey if the hypothetical actor in question naturally already had a british accent and it happened to sound really good coming out of Nyoka’s mouth, I’d probably be okay with it. I’m one of those people that are open to different takes.

Otherwise, probably not.

^LOOK HOW DELUSIONAL I AM NYOKA ISNT EVEN REAL AND WILL NEVER BE VOICED PROFESSIONALLY BY ANYBODY ANYWHERE IN ANY LANGUAGE LMFAOOOOO

And I ain’t no voice director lulz

[ask-widesmile-theredcaboose]

Okay I copy I read you.

I have you spend three!

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This is an ask and replay blog for the red caboose or better know as CB.

CB the Red Caboose is from ALW's musical Starlight Express.

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Things to know about here:

The railway CB is from is Apollo Victoria railyard/railway. [It's just what I like to thing is the in universe place StEx takes place in. I picked up the idea from the fandom. Ty y'all. 🥰🥰]

CB is pretty chill for the most part unless you get him upset or when he feels like making trouble, and he likes his radio esque tech and such. [I can't help but think CB is just into that kinda stuff cuz he got radio stuff in him anyways. Lol. And I'm sure I'm not the only person who thinks the same. 🥰]

CB uses radio/trucker slang, mostly when he's talking over the radio but will sometimes use it as well face to face too. [I just love the idea of the freak Caboose using it. 🥰💖]

wall to wall and treetops tall = I hear you loud and clear, and that's what I use for answering asks.

breaker breaker = can anyone here me or or hello, it's a way to start a transmission/chat, and that's what I use for reblogging other people's things.

Translation for any radio slang is always in the tags of post. So don't worry to much about having to figure it out on your own. [I wasn't going to do it originally but I thought it would be better to have them. (⁠^▽^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ]

... [I will add more points when I think of them. (⁠^▽^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ]

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Mod Talk: Do be warnd I am still knew to StEx.

It should also be known:

I will do my best to be as accurate as I can to the characters, but I will most likely lean a lot towards my own interpretation of the character and this blog may also lean towards my own headcannon of things. So understand this will most likely not be very canon so to speak. Sorry not sorry. :P

I can and will probably throw caution to the wind sometimes for I am an adult, and I'll use swears. So warning on swearing and most likely mean, rude and or crude language.

I will also warn you I am not the best at roleplaying but I will try my best, and if you are looking for multiple paragraph are RPs I am not the person for that kind of thing. But if you are willing to help someone new and or are okay with RPing with someone who is new then thank you for your time.

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CB hanging loose

CB the Red Caboose!

[yuurei20]

hi hi! i wanna start off this ask with thanking you for all your translations and comparisons! they're all so interesting to read and really help with putting the characters' personalities into perspective. i was rereading the heartslabyul manga and noticed that ace seemed to think the title of magic-less prefect was cool while in the game he was more neutral and simply stated they must be the first at nrc? is the direct translation perhaps more positive? thank you in advance!

Hello hello!! You are too kind, thank you very much m(_ _)m

And thank you so much for this question, it was fascinating to look into!

I went through the game, manga and novel for the scene you refer to, and compared what we see:

Ace's original dialogue and the EN translation are almost identical here (just with the removal of a プッ sound at the beginning, insinuating that he is holding back laughter), where he comments on the player character being maybe NRC's first-ever magicless prefect.

His follow-up line is where things begin to deviate:

Original Game: Nice, that's cool. A prefect who can't use magic! Original Manga: Nice, a prefect who can't use magic! That's cool! English Manga: A prefect who can't use magic. I like it! It's so cool.

English Game: But sure, why not? Whatever works!

While Ace's positive approval from original game and manga was kept in the English-manga adaptation, for some reason it was toned down to "whatever works" in the English game (this line does not exist in the novel). Nice catch!

I also compared Ace's earlier interaction with the prefect across the two translations (plus the manga and novel) to see what deviations there might be, and in that case the English-language adaptation of the game is perfectly accurate to the original:

The original- and English-language manga have slightly different phrasing in this scene (and Deuce is there, whereas he isn't in the game or novel), but the overall feeling is the same:

- "Only the chosen ones are allowed to enroll in this academy. You didn’t have what it takes." - "Are you lecturing me? I kinda think that’s super annoying." - "I’m out of here. I have class."

The biggest change in this scene is in the original novel, where Ace is even meaner:

- "Getting the attention of everyone in school, and then the perfect punchline: you’re a magicless, disappointing, nobody." - "What is with you? Don’t you have any pride?" - "Tried talking to you just to tease you a bit, but this is boring. Do your best with that monster, for the rest of us—and with your cleaning."

And this is possibly because we get a more detailed look into Ace's underlying issue with the prefect in the novel:

"‘I’m saying, I was wrong. I might have said some horrible things to you because I didn’t know your situation. All I heard was there was someone in the school who doesn’t even have any magic, so I thought you’d forced your way in or something, while the rest of us all had to get in on our own merit. I thought it wasn’t fair, so I got a little pissed off.’

The words leave Ace in a rush, fast and awkward, and then he hangs his head. ‘I’m sorry.’

Then Ace lifts his head again just slightly, giving Yuuya a glance.

‘…if you apologize then you get forgiven, right?’"

(The "Meeting Ace" scene has now been added to the overall compilation of translations from the first novel!)

[chryso0]

Do you remember what Asami said to Aki in his birthday episode in an unsuitable suit? Did he tell Aki that he had a good figure? I don't remember what he said It was a small point, but I liked it

I loved this episode, one i never talk about! But I should! Its so sweet 🤭🥹

I loved hearing/seeing Asami talk about suits! I loved it because I don't know how to put this in a PC way, but it was very — gay man of him, yknow what I mean. Like suddenly becoming the fashion police right there in his closet, and boosting up his boyfriend while talking about fashion and clothing! It's kinda a side of him that we don't see. Maybe because he is always acting very masculine and crime bossy. That it feels odd to see him have this special interest in something like clothing/suiting — compared to say his other very masculine hobbies, including guns, shooting, and being a badass, yknow what I mean? It's odd, but at the same time, his suiting is so famous that it's kinda like — it totally fits! It doesn’t feel out of character for him to have opinions and have an interest in suiting/tailoring/ and men's fashion. Later on he was damn fashionable in his little cravat! (SERVING LOOKS ALWAYS)

Here is the official English translation of the scene. He is only talking about fashion in a very subtle way, but I think u can also infer how he is talking about his own experience with clothing and clothing being more than about just fitting, how it's an expression of your own strengths, etc, etc— i think you can get the jist.

The reason I show you this is because, well, I don't know how accurate the English translation is. I’ve had many conversations about how the English official translation isn't the best, and how it sometimes takes liberties. I’ve read the official and fan translations so many times that my memoried of events and what people say tends to be a blend of the two. Sometimes I find the official translations to be better, and I understand something differently, while other times I will outright think that the fan translation is better and gets to the point better

(excuse this tangent- but I need to express my BEEF with official translations) I have so many examples of this…just to name one off the top of my head, that angers my soul is this — The iconic line in the Naked Truth arch “Dont toss my heart around any more than this” is translated in the official as “Don’t put me through that again, understood?” It just isn't the same!! It doesn’t hit as hard as the fan translation! Iv been told it's the laziest translation ever, because yes, it is somewhat expressing a similar thing — but it's just not conveying the emotion and the rawness that the moment needs!

In anycase, here is that same scene from the fan translation (sorry for my busted screenshot), which has what you, anon, recalled with Asami saying Akihito has a good figure.

Again we can see how some of the ideas are the same… but in other ways not. I personally don’t mind either translations, obviously i can’t speak to which one is more correct then they other — having no language abilities to speak of 😵‍💫 BUT its is kinda fun to look at both of them and get different meaning from them.

“You have a good figure” is turned in the official as “you have a good foundation”. I honestly like both of them. He does have a good figure and he does have good foundations for being attractive in a suit, and I can imagine Asami saying both things. I also enjoy asami’s use of the word “off the rack” — it’s hinting to this talk of fashion!

I like too that the fan translations seems to hint more, then in the official, that Asami is somehow well aware of the fact, Akihito was getting bullied by that friend of Ai’s, (seen earlier in the chapter) and that he knows that Akihito is trying to one up this guy by dressing to impress. Which makes the following page make a lot more sense with Akihito being embarrassed and saying “I am not trying to show anyone up!”. Whilst in the offical, Asami is a bit more subtle and only a little bit alluding to knowing something by saying only “silence your critics”

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

Thoughts on the Channel 4 series “Home” (2019-2020) + fave characters/episodes/moments/quotes/scenes and why?

hehe ok (i literally just watched it so theoretically i should be able to remember things... unfortunately i have the worst memory in the world pfft i will try my best though!!)

so fav characters are; sami <3 (ofc, he was an absolute delight!! so funny, so sweet!! i liked him even when i'd just watched that one reece ep last yr pfft), katie & raj!! i also was surprised how much peter grew on me as the series went on cos i was kinda not sure bout him at first lol

the marmite bit at the start was hilarious, also the scene where he pretends to do the muslim prayer (since john didn't realise he was a christian lol), as was the bit where peter strips and throws the plant around after being made redundant lol generally i think the show did a good job at mixing the comedy w/ some of the more serious parts of the story...

rly liked the scene on the bus where sami translates the guy's phonecall in front of that racist woman & meeting the doctor(or was she a nurse? can't remember now oop) in the process (gotta say i was rly rooting for them so was kinda bummed when they had him kiss katie fsr... guess they needed to create some drama to get him out of the country idk lol???)

& sami's whole sauna breakdown was brilliant (also am i the only one that felt chemistry between him and peter in that scene i was like bro... are they gonna kiss or...?)

i also like that it didn't shy away from the reality of life for refugees & immigrants... u hear so much crap from (racist) people about immigrants being put up in hotels, but i rly liked how the show emphasised via sami that being in a 'luxurious' place means nothing when all you want is a HOME.... also the reality of waiting times for applications, the whole interview scene was so cruel and uncomfortable to watch (reece does such a good job at being a smug dismissive asshole tbh), sami's friend leo being involved in ferrying others illegally into the country because he essentially feels like he doesn't have a choice, and also when raj dresses as a golly doll at the marmalade competition, highlighting the community's hypocrisy for denying sami!

like ofc not being a poc myself i can't say whether this is 100% accurate or anything, but i do think it did a good job at showing that racism and xenophobia are a lot more ingrained into our society than a lot of (primarily white) people are probably aware of!

in general it was just a really good sitcom tbh! the characters felt believable & u really felt their affection for each other as the show went on! i think some of it felt rushed but that was mainly cos it was trying to cram a lot into a short space & definitely deserved to have more series imo!!!

but yeh highly recommend more people check it out tbh!! (esp now when we are, unfortunately, seeing so much more anti-immigrant sentiment from the public and from our fucking shitty politicians.........)

[marxist-amy-rose]

I feel like to some people, SatAM is just to Sonic what the Super Mario Bros. Super Show! was to Mario, when it's not the case at all! SMBSS is just one of many branches of Mario Content, whereas SatAM was a franchise defining event, a turning point in history, it sealed Sonic's fate. Forces would not have happened without SatAM, or Archie, and no Forces or Archie, no IDW! You get what I mean? SatAM had more of an impact than X did, fight me on this, I will kill us both on this hill. Not to say that SatAM is better than X, just that, X's mark on the franchise was soft and shallow compared to SatAM's, SatAM's mark is downright problematic even.

What's gettin' me all uppity about it now? Well, again, I feel like people treat SatAM like the Sonic Bros. Super Show (when far more accurately, AoStH would be the Sonic Bros. Super Show), like it's a footnote, a side dish, and not as important as it really is to the public perception of the franchise and how Sega tries to play catch up with that perception, it's one of the earliest parts of Sonic's seemingly forever identity crisis. You know whenever someone says Sonic is a franchise about freedom and fighting oppression? You can thank SatAM for that. When you break it down, that kind of thing comes from SatAM. Sure, SatAM also started a trend of Sonic associating with monarch's, but no one really cares about that except me, so whatever. SatAM was the first thing people got pissed at for "All of Sonic's friends" and complaining about a "bloated cast", Sonally and Sonamy was the first shipping war, SatAM was the first Sonic Cartoon, the first split in Canon's, it was the first! It was responsible for Archie and all Archie became, and what eventually became IDW, and was so shamelessly copied but also ignored and disrespected by Forces. There isn't an equivalent, such an oddity of the franchise yet so impactful at the same time, even because of its status as an oddity, it is something special to Sonic!

(extended extra analysis under cut)

I kinda find Japanese purists in the Sonic Fandom, especially the young ones, obnoxious. Like, they're this odd brand of Sonic purists, not on a gameplay level or visual design level but on a conceptual level, Sonic is a flawless concept that represents freedom and not really a character with problems, the real Sonic plots in games are the original Japanese ones, those types. It's not a moral judgement, I don't even think they're wrong, I just think that it's ignorant. Sega was founded by an American, Sonic was made to appeal to juvenile Americans, he's Santa Clause Bill Clinton Michael Jackson Mickey Mouse. I'm just a Doylist about these things. What Sonic is to me is a moving conversation between America and Japan, and when you cut out one side of it you miss the whole thing. You can't cherry pick what is and isn't "really Sonic", it's ALL Sonic, that's the conundrum, that's the metanarrative. Sonic isn't "about" anything, especially not when you remove it from its creators and inspirations, and from the very earliest days, those creators were also USAmericans. Sonic 2 and Sonic CD, Sonic CD US Soundtrack and Sonic CD JP Soundtrack, Sonic Story (English Translation) and Sonic Story (Original Japanese), Sonic Comics and Sonic Manga, SatAM and OVA, etc. Sonic was never written to be about Japanese-American, dialectics lets say, but when you look at its fanbase and look at its creators and look at its history, that is what makes Sonic, that's the historical push and pull that has created Sonic, not as a singular forever idea like Mario, but as a moving living historical entity, even with its own goddamn looping lifecycle!

Hell, now with Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic, you can say Sonic is just dialectical at its heart as well as in its history. Then with Knuckles, Shadow, Metal Sonic, hell even Tails you could say. Sonic was made as, literally an antithesis to Mario, or an equivalent, a rival, whatever, Blue Oni Red Oni. The dichotomy, the dialectics are just in the blood and soul of what this franchise is on a larger level.

[misarem]

yapping about Kill the Past under the cut cuz im now free from the 25th ward finally

THE SILVER CASE

-it feels cliche to say the first game was my favorite but uhhh haha. knowing suda, The Silver Case probably didn't fully accomplish what it set out to do but to me, it's so self-contained and demonstrates such ownership of a style that mostly came out of necessity that i can't not admire it, and i'm also so fond of my playthrough of it which was so fresh and curious, compared to the other two games which were fun but I was thinking too much abt how it connects to TSC

--also just the way i played this game is so special, i was very committed to the darker aesthetic to the point where I only played past like 10pm for a while, which is funny cuz the opening of the game is straight up paranormal but by the 2nd chapter transmitter loses that edge until debatably lifecut. tokio is also haunted and paranormally but by that point i just started playing normally. it sorta reminds me of paranormasight which starts out so spooky and the curses are very present but a few hours in it sorta reverts to being a pretty normal feeling but still very good detective mystery. at one point a character does an escape room ala zero escape and its funny. but TSC doesn't stray from its initial vibe as much as paranormasight at all.

-i also played the parallel stories of TSC separate from each other rather than alternating, which made placebo such a slog but i almost feel like I appreciated both stories more that way, even though i would have loved to experience how placebo compliments transmitter

--despite not clicking with placebo at first, tokio is like one of my favorite characters this year hes such a fucking Guy. and you experience him so intimately in placebo in a way i can't even describe but is effective by the end.

---theres a bizarre and esoteric mental link in my brain between tokio, ange from umineko and fucking flynn moore from the furry visual novel Echo because of them being like surprise deurotagonists (sp?) that get fucked up from having to search for the truth about the past and how theyre all chained by it. do you think they would put happy colors in my padded cell or would it just be all white.

-I also feel like I came out of TSC a lot clearer than I did FSR or 25W, I'm sure I missed several details at first but the shelter kids stuff and kamui as more of a role and a criminal influence than as a person wasn't that hard to wrap my head around even though I thought the silver eye stuff was so whatever. i kind of wonder if part of the reason i clicked with it faster was because I'm such an mgs2head, and the whole kamui thing is sorta like what the solid snake simulation appears to be at first

-also the mackerel phones video about Kusabi is so good and feels like a must watch for how well researched it is and how accurately it nails the feeling and message of transmitter.

-TSC also uses film window a lot better than 25W and it might be worth researching how the latter being a phone game affects things but i just got off that game

-also would kinda love a translated version of the PSX version someday just to feel how different it is. idk if certain ppl hate the official translation so much maybe they should do it themselves ooooh

-i havent read 4.5 and i meant to do so before 25W to have that context about sumio and sakura and i kindaaa didnt so lol i have to do that eventually.

FLOWER, SUN AND RAIN

-"flower, sun and rain" is like a speech tick to me in the way of like, rupaul on the weakest link immediately defaulting to chaka khan when he doesnt know the answer to a question

-i wish i felt flower, sun and rain the way I felt TSC. i had a decent time with it and even had a good sense of humor about the more obviously tedious parts and the OST, and I get how mundane it's supposed to be, what it's saying about living in peace and the lie of paradise, but it didn't click with me as much. maybe a pitfall was being so attached to TSC when i played, i was probably looking for something i shouldn't have instead of just enjoying the game for what it was altho i didn't hate it or anything.

--ideally this also gets a translation on its original console cuz I like some parts of the PS2 soundtrack and id love to experience all the art assets and music in PS2 quality.

---sorta tangent. i love the opening tracks for all of these games but Anata no Tameni might be my favorite, beyond just being amazing its so dramatic and unlike the rest of the series and it really stands out. the ds opening in comparison might actually be my least favorite because of that lol

-i think that the mondo/kodai revelation is so funny just because it's an idea you'd either keep in the back of your mind or just wave off because of how dumb it seemed but regardless it's constantly staring you in the face. assuming you even played TSC before this

--sumio was never super proper or anything, i don't think, but his personality here compared to TSC is so funny, he can spend 20 years with bottled up rage and fake his way into an incompetent police force without slipping thaaat much but here he has enough small inconveniences to hit a kid over it. kind of an interesting play on like the salient thing about personality and the self being buried and it feels like an early version of like a shiroyabu situation. not the last time i will compare sumio and shiro.

--i also think its funny that the model of sumio mondo looks pretty similar to kodai compared to the key art of mondo and we should explore that one day

-i wanted more out of toriko kusabi, she was a fun diversion and i didn't expect her to be a tokioesque second protag or anything but idk. she was fun when she went against sundance and at the end and her being like a subliminal kinda suggestion to sumio's buried memories of her father i think is cool. in a less meta sense it's also cute that shes working for her dad i wonder if tetsu has to like try not to step on christine everytime he comes home from the bathhouse at like 2am. actually i dont remember what their family situation even is

-speaking of kusabi i think him like being the guardian/ferryman for sumio's journey is so so beautiful and true and i like that he gets to pull him back from the depths the way sumio sorta inadvertently did in parade/kamuidrome.

--its also really funny to me kusabi just disguises as a chubby white guy. it was probably a fatsuit but i feel like kusabi could be like 50lb away from being a bear anyways. its like the grocery store deli scene in bobs burgers.

---i also appreciated parade from transmitter way more playing this and thinking about sumio. when i played parade the first time i loved connecting the dots on everything but then it kinda got buried by kamuidrome and lifecut. and now im such a shooter for sumio kodai. look at me talking about the previous game wooo.

-i think the character designs in this are funny for how little of them you can actually see. everyone loves yayoi and yayoi is such a serve but my other fav is ken. all the punk details are completely lost in the actual game. the models also super undersell stephen carbione's look, cuz in-game he sorta looks like tokio but then you see his key art and its like yea he would look like that.

-tokio was in this game

-i think edo macallister should be a bellhop in every video game with a hotel ever. im going to the other side of the country soon and if the guy behind the desk at the hotel isn't edo i will be severely disappointed.

-i love that its hyenas. i think there should be like tokio morishima as an anthro hyena and he still has his domesticated turtle or at least like hyena sundance or yotaro or something. i think ppl would be quick to anthropomorphize tokio as a literal turtle guy.

-the eleven children stuff is whatever, i do like that theres a bunch of sumios running around but idc for all the other implications and like step and remy and koshimizu and whoever else. is sumio mondo still deaf and mostly relying on lip reading? cuz i dont think that gets brought up again. i mean he wakes up to a phone ringing every morning but i guess those are the clones. if the hearing is referenced early in fsr and i just missed it then that would be very cool. maybe thats why the voices for the characters are abstract and illegible. maybe flower sun and rain is the best game ever.

THE 25TH WARD

-what if we were all protagonists.

-i dont think this game uses film window as well as TSC but i do like the art and how much of it there is in correctness and matchmaker, also the different styles.

-i love yotaro osato sadly hes so funny and fluffy. hes osato in my notes and in normal convo but i want to call him yotaro affectionately. i do love tsuki too hes such a sufferer.

--i think theyre a teeeeny bit like like p4 adachi and dojima if they were both murderous.

-i feel bad for the lady that gets murked immediately in correctness i had a funny voice for her in my head

-shiro and kuro god bless them are funny and parallel sumio and tetsu to me. both sumio and shiro grapple with their criminal power, although sumio goes against the hc unit while shiro attempts to but finds himself back with them at the end, and while kusabi over time softens quite a bit and learns from sumio in a more overt way than kuro being literally the "japanese dirty harry" and not having as much of an arc, they both are compelled enough by their partner to rein them back in. just the surface level so i dont have to write a whole essay in a stream of consciousness type of post

--what even happens to them bc as far as i can tell, shiro just continues to be a tool of the state and kuro maybe? shoots her superior and then the 25th ward blows up.. with them on it? like okay at least tsuki got outta there.

--on the shiroverse timeline. theres conflicting sources on if his immortality is a kamui thing or a sumio mondo thing or something else and thats funny. the sources all being fan wikis and tvtropes because fuck this game that zero people played and negative people have documented.

-i need to like hold myself back from analysing meru as trans because its so clearly done for shock value but it somehow aged really hilariously now with how prevalent trans egirls are. liek theres a strange almost unearned truth to how meru exists online versus irl.

--kind of all of the gay/trans mentions in these games are like this although kusabi you can at least take in sorta good faith?

-i need to think abt what i thought abt tokio here. its increasingly funny how online he is for being a normal dude in the late 90's early 2000s.

--his portrait in yumi is kind of a hear me out but all the cgs of older tokio look crazy. tokio in general looks a mess in this game and its funny. look at him try to be masc

-i mentioned mgs2 above and the 05 chapters of these games are so reminiscent of the s3 plan and the patriots with the frontier etc using the city to collect data and the protags having to figure out where they fit into it. during TSC, i was paying a lot of attention to the story as it related to the advent of technology. it felt really relevant to kamuidrome and all of placebo but mostly ended up as background/context to the story. it was used a lot more here and i really liked it. chat logs are a great framing device in all the routes since they add so much flavor and emphasize the loneliness of life in the 25th ward (semi-related: in both TSC and 25W, the environments are devoid of people in film window, and i think this works way better for 25W than it did for TSC). placebo is yet again a good example of this with tokio only really interfacing with the world through his computer most of the time

--in terms of twists, i might actually like "the city is just a means of data collection ready to be wiped at any moment/it resembles a computer more than an actual city and life there is so impermanent that its hard to tell how real it all is" better than the end point of tsc which was "they were trying to mass process children to find a means of immortality" which i was so whatever on even though the game is trying to be crazy and also say something about like life and aging in society, but in tsc i like "they were mass grooming perfect civilians and inadvertently making them susceptible to crime" as a conclusion a bit more. but i mean 25W also poses so many more questions than it does give answers so.

---despite everything i think it was an interesting idea for suda and masahiro yuki and masahi ooka to create the 25th ward almost as a sandbox to explore more of the ideas of the first game like how the internet affects human connection, communication, sharing of information, and how people are affected by criminal power/kamui. it was a cool idea in the original but i love actually getting to see shiroyabu steadily become more unhinged (death filing), kurumizawas pervasiveness, tsuki and osato coming to grips with their own (esp osato's immense) criminal power, etc. in spite of all of the loose ends and craziness, sometimes you really need a space to work out your ideas and express yourself and i commend grasshopper for doing that so i could have played this on a nokia in 2005. in japan

overall these were video games. very excited to forget everything about them when i fixate on something else. tsc might actually be one of my fav things i played this year. would love more analysis of the 25th ward, theres some essays/interpretations floating around and ghenryperez will get to his video on it eventually. maybe i need to be the change i wish to see but also boo putting effort into writing and analysis sux.

i started sudas works with nmh, then 2 before stopping until i played killer7 a year ago and really liked its style and sense of humor. i think this happens to a lot of people, and then a year after that i started tsc. i wasnt originally that interested in nmh tsa but now that i know theres hello 25th ward characters in it i might have to try. and then nmh3 after that. and then i also wanna play twilight syndrome/moonlight syndrome when that gets a translation because of lunatics. and i also got killer is dead when it was on sale for like 2 bucks. we can enter the greater sudaverse.. together