#I hope you all feel the same way too~

[singular-yike]

Fot the character asks, what do we know about Shion Enraku-Houlen (real legal name at this point, presumably)?

Ah it's been a while since the last one! Admittedly I've been avoiding doing one about Shion myself, since they're honestly a very straightforward character with not much to them.

Even so, there's certainly not nothing to talk about. So, here we go:

An Individual Born from the Aggregate — Shion

Name

First thing I can say, is that their name definitely isn't "Shion Enraku-Houlen" haha, it's simply Shion (シオン). This name is taken from the name of their parent-flower, the Harujion (ハルジオン).

Specifically, it's taken from the jion (ジオン) part. Though since the original word is a combination of haru (ハル) and shion (シオン), the rendaku (連濁) phenomenon which alters the voicing of shi to ji is not observed/reversed, hence Shion.

Origin: Last-minute Addition

Indeed one would quickly notice that Shion, unlike many other Len'en characters, seems rather thematically shallow, at least in terms of inspirations and references.

This is because Shion was never planned to be a major character in the first place, but is instead the logical conclusion of the presence of the Harujion in the story.

It's long been known that Fumikado was meant to be the original stage 6 boss of RMI, but was bumped down to stage 5 to make room for Shion.

While that was all we knew for the longest time, Kanae (JynX's Vtuber persona) revealed new information about the creation of Shion when asked about the creation process of Len'en characters. (Go give it a read, it's fascinating even ignoring the new Shion info.)

Kanae explains that the idea of a being born out of the Harujion had always been a character in his plans for RMI, though he never thought much about them other than being suited for stage 4 or 5.

However, as he actually worked on RMI and fleshed out the story, this "Harujion-spawn" got pushed all the way up to stage 6, and that's when the Shion we know and love started getting developed, as what Kanae describes as an "afterthought character".

Of course, that's not to say that they're a throwaway character that serves no importance to the story. JynX is nothing if not meticulous with the characters, and they earnt a spot alongside two of the protagonists of the series after all.

Rather, I think this story just goes so show that characters who were not originally meant to be that central to the story may still suddenly shoot up to prominence when the situation calls for it.

In any case, because of Shion being an "afterthought character", they're not really based on anything from real-life history or mythology, but is rather by-and-large a JynX-original creation. So, in the following parts, we can examine what this is about!

Shion, the Chimera Soul

The most important thing to note with Shion is their existence as a Chimera Soul, a conglomerate of souls that happened to fused together. This combined with the participation of the Harujion in their creation created this rather unique being.

Chimera Souls

First thing to note, is that Shion is in fact not the only chimera soul in Len'en! When the torrent of souls flooded in during RMI, many of them fused and combined to create tiny chimera souls.

This created these little guys:

They're simply called "ghosts" most of the time, cause fusion or not, that is fundamentally what they are. Souls that remain in the world of the living, hence, ghosts.

The Harujion's Participation

Shion is so unique compared to the little fellas because they're composed of many more souls, and that is thanks to the Harujion's participation in their creation.

Being a youkai flower that feeds on the life force around it grow, it also drew in the souls gathered by Fumikado and co. This allowed for a much higher number of souls to fuse together, thus creating a much more powerful being.

Shion's "Miracle of Flesh"

The Harujion's participation also caused a second anomaly, what I like to call the "miracle of flesh". Chimera souls are, by nature of their composite souls, dead, devoid of live.

Yet, thanks to the Harujion's ability to revive the dead, when Shion was created, half of these souls "came back to life" and formed a physical body, while the other half became the body's "spirit".

Good and Evil, Thrown Out of Balance

When this process was taking place, the good souls formed the body, while the bad souls formed the spirit. This should've lead to a balance, a "good" physical body containing and "evil" soul.

However, due to "the nature of the Mugenri Barrier", a majority of the souls could not firmly judge themselves to be "good". The "evil" souls of the spirit overwhelmed the "good" souls of the body, causing them to leak out into the open.

These are the purple, ghostly appendages that we see all over Shion, the torrent of evil souls that their body could not contain, overflowing into the outside world.

Below: Shion's BPoHC portrait as a playable character.

These souls take on different shapes from appearance to appearance, and all represent the myriad of souls that Shion is made up of, from animal to plant to insect to human.

Examples include the cat ear, bunch of grapes, red spider lily and butterfly wings in their original RMI appearance, and the dog ear and dragonfly wings in their BPoHC playable character appearance.

Soul-related Abilities

Shion has a number of soul-related abilities, unsurprising considering their origin, and chief among these is the ability to "absorb one's spirit and self", self here referring to the sense of self, the ego.

This of course refers to how they literally absorb and eat other souls as a form of sustenance. Additionally, they have the ability to see the colour and smell the scent of others souls, which they use to learn about a person's nature.

Shion's Ethical Dilemma

Shion is another one of those characters that are outwardly cheerful and carefree, yet upon closer inspection quite complex.

They are keenly aware of the fact that they are a composite of many souls, and firmly believes that what their souls say accurately reflects the world.

Due to the Mugenri Barrier making the souls unable to judge themselves as "good", and due to many of their voices claiming that the word is filled with malice, Shion came to firmly believe that both the word and they themself are fundamentally evil.

Because of this, and as demonstrated by their actions, it's fairly clear that Shion's moral compass points towards a rather wicked direction. Yet even so, Shion tries to do good, at least, their idea of good.

I always liked how this is demonstrated in their fight against the ??? Team in BPoHC, where the following exchange is had:

Hamee "If I erase you, I think Tsubakura-sama would be at least a little bit sad~." Shion "That's… a really twisted way of expressing love, isn't it." Hamee "Are you interested?" Shion "Shion-chan's quite fond of that way of thinking. Very well, let's fight." Hamee "That's our Shion-chan~! ♪ A cluster of malice! ♪" Shion "I'm not fond of the way you phrased that though…" Hamee "It's fine. Us malicious ones have to get along. ♪" Shion "Shion-chan might be a cluster of malice, but I'm no villain!"

It's a pretty interesting glimpse into their psyche, they relish in what is conventionally considered malicious, since malice is what they are. Yet they are unwilling to actually partake in it, to associate with people who are actively vile, like Hamee.

Admittedly, I have no clear way to reconcile this with Shion showing absolutely no remorse in eating people's souls. So I just have to concede that Shion still has a fundamentally different moral code compared to the average person.

Ending

And that's all I have! Admittedly not as much as one might've hoped, and I didn't touch on every single little thing that there is to examine, like their spell cards.

Often feel like many of us can benefit from taking a step and re-examining Shion's character and their unique existence, as well as what this means to them personally. Hopefully this was a good attempt at that.

Welp, that's the end of the end. Now that I've done this, I'll probably do one for the Harujion itself sometime in the future, so look forward to that~! As usual, I hope you enjoyed~! :)

[puppyeared]

i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you

[luck-of-the-drawings]

OH ARTHUR BENNETT.. such a gorgeous and intriguing character. terribly burdened by a GRUESOME set of crimes, his light suffocated by a HEAVY century of GUILT. so tragic, so dark and broody, and yet PAINFULLY awkward in any social setting ever

[spoondoodles]

I blacked out and more Logince HS AU appeared on my canvas idk what happened (also ty @oatmeal-stans-the-trash-rat for some inspiration sorry it took so long to make a post about Them <3)

[coollyinterferes]

The unmistakable sound of footsteps approaching begins to fill the air. Whoever is coming seems to have brought some company along…

They are getting closer… and closer… and closer…

…and closer…

……until..................

"Goooooood evenin'!!" Comes the loud greeting from a certain blond man. A big smile on his face and all.

"We beg your pardon for our prolonged absence. It was completely beyond our control..." Then adds the gentleman standing by his side, apologizing on behalf of both, offering a genuine smile along with the apology.

"...BUT! We're back!" And hopefully for good this time…

[struggling-jpg]

Yanqing and Yunli Appreciation Post

Keep Reading cut due to 2.4 spoilers~ (also relatively long-ish post)

These two bounce off each other so well! As a writer, it feels so satisfying to see their characters shine through the quest and the event in the way their interactions highlight them. So I'm gonna use this space to ramble about it!

My previous post pretty much talked about it already, but Yanqing!!! My son!!! I was quite worried that any potential arc for him would be shoved down the road or to the side due to the scale HSR has, but the game's been actually holding up to his ongoing arc. As a result, at least to me, he's come through as one of the best written/developed characters on the Xianzhou so far.

The nature of the length of the updates lets what we get in previous quests settle in for a long while, and considering the mentioned of flow of time in-game, Yanqing's had the time to think and develop as a person. The fact that so many players have had their view and opinion of him finally turn around in this quest is a testament to that. We get to see more facets of him, as in, doing his job and the responsibilities of doing so, and how his insecurities are mentioned in a main quest for all to see. He's constantly referencing others and his past encounters. You can tell that Jing Yuan raised him with his manner and approach to things, which is highlighted by the contrast to Yunli (will get to that soon).

His position as a child soldier has made him mature faster, be quiet even when he's been wronged (filial piety/saving face (aka thank you person on Reddit who makes the banger character Yanqing (and other characters in general) appreciation posts)), take a step back and have to be able to read the room (though, reasonably, he doesn't catch on all the time), and much, much more. The fact that other official content has described him as being more worried about diplomacy and all that. He doesn't have the luxury to be as carefree or brash for someone his age.

There's a lot to unpack there still, even with the development he's had now and that's good! If the Hoyo writing team was wild enough, it'd be cool to see them address the grayness of his role and Jing Yuan's mindset in raising him as he did (We love Dad-Yuan and he loves his son dearly no question, but it'd be so interesting to explore his flaws/mistakes in this perspective!).

Now onto Yunli.

I'm saying straight off the bat, I'm irritated by her!

And that's a good thing!

Her being annoying or bratty or irritating doesn't automatically make her a badly written character! She only would become one if they don't do anything with her, and HSR most probably will, and she should be given the same room to develop in her own arc.

She acts like her age, and she doesn't have the same pressures as Yanqing does. Just like how you can see Jing Yuan in Yanqing, you can see Huaiyan in Yunli, if anything he says is to go by. She's tempremental and outspoken to a fault, and based on the way how quickly Huaiyan relented when she talked back, you can tell that Huaiyan isn't as strict/stern with her to give her a sense of being humble.

I had this thought that she's technically what the general fandom viewed Yanqing as initially, and I'm not saying that as a 100% thing, by the way. But like by some traits and the vibes. She, of course, has a lot more nuance that will be explored at one point or another.

But back on topic, she's a foil. They represent two different approaches and lifestyles and can clearly learn from each other. Her inconsideration of the fact that she's on the Luofu but enforcing Zhuming practices (which I noticed people were upset by, and same; which I imagine is the point), her bluntness to no matter who she's talking to—there's a lot to work with here.

Just like with their swordplay, Yanqing could learn from her mental strength while Yunli can learn from his focused speed and defense. He can learn to regain a more firm grasp of his recently found purpose while she can learn to mature and take in her surroundings and be more thoughtful in that front.

Another interesting note is that where we are with Yanqing currently is in the middle of his arc, we've had the time to see him take a long route of struggle to get to this point, exacerbated by irl players views of him. He's in the middle of his growth and we've had since 1.0 to get to know him. But with Yunli, she was introduced very recently, so we're technically at the "beginning" of her character arc. In a way, Yunli now highlights how far Yanqing has come and changed, and in a way Yanqing now is a potential show for the arc that Yunli can have (not being the exact same as him of course).

I think the idea with these two is that they develop to be more balanced. Balance is such an important thing, especially in Chinese culture (Daoism (Yin-Yang), etc.), and 2.4 has shown how much potential they have to make for amazing character arcs.

It's cool that while they have such similar base traits, they're so different from each other. Calling Yunli a female Yanqing or Yanqing a male Yunli is simply outright incorrect. Their backgrounds, upbringings, ideals, swordstyles, perspectives, and positions in life are so distinct. I'm looking forward to their futures!

[dont-offend-the-bees]

Fuck I hate being an adult. I need a more adult adult to help with the volatile emotional situation.

[faaun]

procrastination is starting to have its consequences finally

[ef-1]

girlhood

[longagoitwastuesday]

I have learnt things about Geto that I wish I could unlearn

[here-there-were-dragons]

i'm seeing three times as many people bitching in the tag about the very idea that someone might not like this breed than i see people actually expressing unambiguous dislike for this breed

[teafiend]

[deus-ex-mona]

pretty minor thing to think about, but i find it interesting how chapter 7 is the first chapter illustration to show chizuutan as chizuru (instead of chuutan)

like, i get it’s a flashback chapter, but we hardly got to see her as chizuru in the previous few chapters thus far… maybe we’ll get to see more of her as her true self after the hiyori fight/make up? only future chapters may tell, i guess…

[todayisafridaynight]

Share Mine notes please I beg (and on the arakawa fam if you have the timefkfd)

forgive me if these are messy as all fuck i'm not good at making notes BUT here's everything i generally keep in mind when drawing mine and hijikata + the reference sheets i look at when drawing them :)

arakawa family notes + references below:

(more notes about aoki + sawashiro's faces ft. ikumi here)

[lia404]

"Ai, living has no answer."

"When we're in pain, we search for an answer to feel better. A concise, absolute answer. But if you really want an answer… it's that there is no answer. There are no absolute in this world. Even if we think there is, in the end, it'll only make us feel better for a moment.

If there are no absolute, then what's left?

Bonds. Bonds between individuals. Bonds between one another. That's all there is.

That also changes with time. A huge trigger can cause a huge change. Bonds may be severed. But new bonds can also be formed. So living is a series of bonds.

That's what life is.

I have to do that forever?

Yes.

That's a lot of work.

Yeah.

I'd need to be so strong.

That's why people become stronger. That occasionally leads to conflicts. But even if that happens, we have to keep fighting. Keep searching for bonds, even if there's no answer.

You can't rush living."

So I saw on MyFigureCollection that October 13 was maybe possibly Yusaku's birthday, although I couldn't find any reliable source for this. I'd have loved to do something nice and light-hearted for the occasion, but I'm still feeling too strongly about it all. So here you are instead: Happy (maybe) Birthday, Yusaku! Please have some trauma to go with your trauma. Here's to another year of fending off expectations and looking for your own life and its non-answers with eyes wide open and always filled with hope.

[franeridan]

thinking again about how in trigun 98 they had nick kill someone with the face of a child posing as an orphan for vash, and how in tristamp they had him kill a child in the body of a monster who had no choice in what had been done to him, and how instead in trimax nick for vash kills a man who'd approached vash for a death match, who'd demanded to either kill or be killed, a man nick had given vash a fair chance to fight and win against and who nick would have left alone hadn't said man attacked vash when his back was turned after the duel was over and done with, a man who'd been one step from possibly seriously harming vash hadn't nick stepped in. and about how after in all three versions vash yells at nick for it, but only in trimax nick tells vash that he's lucky he's there to play the devil for him so that he can stay a saint, and only in trimax in the arc right after vash ends up thanking nick for killing for him and protecting his home when vash couldn't because of his own morals, and only in trimax in the end when nick isn't there to play the bad guy for vash he ends up being right, and vash ends up having to dirty his hands himself to protect what he loves - while both in 98 and for now tristamp vash stays a saint until the end, and that fight they have ends in itself, and the only lesson it leaves you as a viewer is that nick is jaded enough to kill a child