#I miss yokai watch a lot :[

[cerealandchoccymilk]

been active in the "things that western fandom really doesnt like and i very much agree about the concern of but also think its a bit of an overreaction" department lately

[elendsessor]

the other day i was reorganizing my room and stumbled across a copy of korokoro (specifically volume 466) i got at a culture fest back in 2019 and goddamn this shit’s interesting. there’s a lot of content (mostly promotional manga and the like targeted at children) but some of the advertisements are what really make me wish this was how online stuff was set up instead of bland corporatized shit. i want online magazines and for announcement blogs from companies to be this fun and this interesting like they are in actual published monthly stuff like korokoro.

quickly wanna apologize for the shit quality of these photos i couldn’t really stretch out the pages or anything.

this was actually how i figured out beyblade was still popular long after i remember it being cool on my side of the pond. that and yokai watch took up a majority of the volume’s contents.

even on a primarily beyblade related page you cannot escape the reminder of the bullshit that is legitimately obtaining momonyan in yw3.

yokai watch was at some point uber popular in japan as i’m sure is common knowledge amongst the fanbase but the amount of shit in here is absurd to me. i knew it got big but man it got BIG big.

there’s also some more beyblade content and some advertisements for a lot of 3ds games that are pretty obscure. actual acknowledgement of boxboy should be appreciated and the existence of monster hunter stories is a reminder of just how massive the monster collecting genre was at some point.

while i didn’t want to show much of the manga side i did want to acknowledge pokemon here since i remember the sun and moon hype days so well this actually hit me in the nostalgia feels. love all the little four panel gag stuff. pokemon horizon also was what i remember motivating me to buy this nearly 4 years ago since it looked cool. if there’s a translation available for horizons in general i would love to read it.

marketing should be creative goddammit and korokoro from what i can tell hit the mark.

[jaredthebc]

Yokai Watch was on the brain earlier so I brainstormed a mini Yokai Watch X Pokemon Black and White AU! (Note that I haven’t really seen all the Yokai Watch Media, my main source of knowledge is the 1st game and the things people have told me over the years) ramble in the keep reading!

My main idea is Hilbert, Bianca and Cheren are the main core of friends the series follows, as well as Hilda later on. Initially, Hilbert is the only one with a Yokai Watch, which was a gift given to him from a random man (Alder) near Mount Wildwood (note the locations will probably be adapted to be more similar to Unova/New York, I’m using the canon names from Yokai Watch for a lot of things just cause I haven’t fully plot stuff out yet) though later on Bianca and Cheren will probably get their own watches too. Hilbert just figures the man was being generous, or just had something he needed to get rid of

Later when the trio are in the woods, Hilbert runs into an Oshawott Yokai, and befriends it. Bianca and Cheren are in on the Yokai deal right away, but Hilbert choses to keep it secret from his mom, and twin Hilda. Basically think of the Unova trio as something similar to Danny Tucker and Sam from Danny Phantom (and Hilda as like Jaz, honestly the main reason Hilbert didn’t tell her is because he knew she would probably use Yokai for mischief...and when she finds out she honestly does what he feared lol but she has a good heart). When Cheren and Bianca get watches, they have Snivy and Tepig Yokai’s respectively. Idk if Pokemon are really a thing in this universe, but stuff like gyms aren’t a thing and its way more slice of life

Oshawott, Snivy and Tepig can directly talk to the ones who scan them with the watch (like every Yokai in the series basically) though they don’t evolve. Evolution *is* a thing in the series, but its basically never brought up so I’m not gonna bother lol. They act like companions to each of their “trainers”, though are far less knowledgeable than Whisper is in the main series, so the trio has to basically work it out themselves how the Yokai stuff works with only surface level help from their Yokai

Now to contrast the slice of life...Team Plasma are 100% a thing, but they are more underground, like conspiracy theorists in a cult. They aren’t stealing publicly, more working in the shadows to use the Yokai knowledge for their schemes

N is a thing here, but he’s much more lowkey in his Plasma aid than he is in Black and White. He has the ability to see and hear Yokai without the use of a Yokai Watch, as well as being able to firmly grasp a medal to summon a Yokai by hand. I like to think he has the colors of the Yokai Watch in his eyes as a sort of heterocromia. He starts as somewhat of a frenamie for the crew, meeting with Hilbert to teach him about Yokai and such, while stealing the medals Hilbert and crew they earned over the course of the series for Plasma, as well as other schemes that weren’t like directly horrible so they still are on good terms (at least to Hilbert and Bianca, Cheren started hating N the second he first tried to steal medals lol) but is still clearly an antagonist. Over time though, the cult trickery starts wearing off some for N, and becomes much more a friend up to N leaving Plasma. Its not as in depth as Plasma is in the actual game, but still very much a cult in nature N needs to leave

Overall the whole thing has a Saturday Morning kinda vibe, but isn’t afraid to get mildly serious when needed for plot events. Its sort of a more serialized thing than the main Yokai anime, though not as heavy as the Gen 5 games are (no kids are gonna get stabbed with ice...as far as I know so far SIDUHEFUIHF)

[amf-studios]

I've done my take on lord Enma's mother... so here's his father

The God of messengers, Hermes himself! For those who recall, I made Hecate as the missing link between Enma and achient enma(I don't acknowledge the forever friends twist. XP) and the witch of the crossroads has a couple different consorts.

Of them, I figured hermes was the most fitting as: he's the one Greek God yokai watch acknowledges by name!

Via the hermes badge, we know he exists in the yokai watch universe in some capacity. So, he made the most sense to appear!

As for him being Enma's father, I imagine a lot of Enma's more mischievous nature comes from dear old dad. Hermes is a trickster God, known for his quick mind and clever tactics. Father and child share the same dislike for monotony and willingness to bend the rules.

Hermes was among the gods who had the easiest time adapting to the modern day. Especially with the advent of online shopping combining two of his godly domains. Him and his agents have formed the most efficient shipping agency in the yokai world. Same day delivery: guaranteed.

Hermes is an A rank of the Slippery tribe, a wind attribute, and is unique in that he is, undeniably, the FASTEST yokai in the world. His speed Stat is *max.* of course to make up for it, he is a bit of a glass cannon with ridiculously low defense to compensate.

His soultimate "just the messenger" where her rapidly attacks his opponents with weak, but numerous strikes.

I hope you enjoy this godly parent of a yokai!

[hiddencityhijinksau]

I'm totally gonna create art for this - already have - but in the meantime I should probably explain this concept lol.

So basically, in one way or another, the turtles each stumble upon the Hidden City at around age 8 to 10, and decide to keep it a secret from their bros >:3

Leo is the first one, technically, when he goes out to explore NYC when he's eight, and discovers Run of the Mill Pizza, because I'm obsessed with the Uncle Hueso idea, but he doesn't go to the actual city until much later, though he knows of it's existence.

I actually kinda started writing this starting bit? It's totally unedited and missing bits but whatever, I'll include it under the cut.

Leo peered up at the manhole cover from the bottom of the ladder, imagining what he would see if he climbed up and lifted it. The young turtle mutant didn't get long to think about it, hearing his brothers call for him.

"I'm coming!" The 8 year old ran to catch up with his family, sending one last considering look at the rungs of the ladder.

Later that night, after his brothers were asleep and his father was dozing in front of the TV, the red-eared slider crept out of bed, utilizing all the stealth skills he'd learned from the lessons Splinter thought he hadn't been paying attention to. Once safely out of the Lair, Leo practically sprinted down the route to the manhole cover he'd spotted earlier. There were entrances closer to the Lair, of course, but this way, if he got caught sneaking back in he could say he was just wandering around the sewers.

Reaching the top of the ladder, the slider paused for a moment, savoring the adrenaline of what he was about to do. Splinter never even let them explore the sewers without him, nevermind letting Leo venture out on his own. And now he was about to go Topside!

Shoving at the metal disc with all his strength, Leo cautiously poked his head out, eyes wide to take it all in. Of course, this wasn't his first time on the surface – Splinter had taken all the boys with him once or twice for scavenging trips, especially when they were younger. But now, Leo was here on his own! This was so exciting!!

The slider climbed out of the manhole, tugging the cover almost back into place, but leaving a small gap so he could get in later, as he wasn't sure how to lift it from the top side.

Bouncing in place, Leo looked around the alley he'd surfaced in with a wide grin, wondering what he might find.

Hmm. There wasn't much in this alleyway. In fact, it was pretty much empty. Nothing but a few scraps of cardboard and a colourful graffiti tag decorated the concrete.

Well, Leo didn't come here just to hang out in one measly alleyway! Full of confidence, the eight-year-old marched to the end of the alley, pulling up the hood of his sweater as he rounded the corner.

Even with the late hour, there were still people on the streets, eyes focused on getting to their destination. No one paid attention to the small figure in a battered green hoodie hurrying along, sticking close to the wall.

Leo ducked into the next alley, heart pounding. Okay, so that was a lot more nerve-wracking without Dad or Raph than he'd thought it would be.

Luckily, he realized as he took in his surroundings, this alleyway was much more interesting than the one he'd come out of. There was a huge dumpster on one side, and the walls were covered in graffiti. Even better, the far end of the alley was actually a corner, meaning there was more to explore!

Leo started poking around, kicking at the small piles of trash and inspecting the locked dumpster. Not finding anything cool, he moved on, admiring the graffiti.

He ended up turning two more corners while following the trail of graffiti, and found himself facing the street again. The constant something of spray paint broke off at the corner, meaning the skull painting in this alley stood out sharply.

Bla blah blah some yokai open the door to run of the Mill while Leo watches from behind a dumpster or smth

Leo's eyes sparkled. Was that actual magic?! Donnie said magic was impossible, but Donnie also said it was impossible for the two of them to be twins, and Leo knew that wasn't true. The turtle bounced forward with glee, eager to see where those people had gone, only to stop short when the portal closed in his face.

Leo frowned. Clearly, he just hadn't been fast enough. Wait, what was that gesture they used to open it? Leo lifted his hand, trying to mimic the pose he'd seen, and wiggled it with great concentration.

Nothing happened.

Huffing, the boy tried again. And again. And was glaring at the wall, ready to shout at it to let him in, when he heard someone approaching the alleyway. Eyes lighting up with an idea, Leo darted behind the nearest dumpster and peeked out, watching carefully.

Sure enough, another mutant-like person entered the alley, heading for the graffiti tag. Leo stared hard at the gesture they made, but instead of waiting and trying to copy it, he darted in behind them as soon as the portal opened.

As soon as he was inside, Leo stopped. And stared.

There were so many people! And none of them were human.

"This is the coolest place I've ever seen," Leo whispered to himself in awe. He slowly started walking further in, craning his neck to stare at every little detail.

So entranced was he, that he didn't see the bony figure approaching until he nearly face-planted into their suit.

"Where are your parents, little pepino?"

Leo froze and looked up at the sound of the voice. Towering over him, arms crossed, was a frowning... skeleton?!

Instantly forgetting to feel guilty at being caught, Leo blurted out, "are you dead?!" His eyes were wider than they'd been all evening, he was sure. Because, come on, that was a walking, talking, skeleton man!!!

The aforementioned skeleton man, somehow, raised an eyebrow. "No, I am not dead. Have you never seen a skeleton yokai before?"

"No," Leo responded, eyes still wide. "What's a yokai?"

"Que pasa con este niño," the yokai muttered under his breath, then continued in a normal tone, "Yokai is what we are. You, me, and everyone in this restaurant is a yokai."

"Oh. Hey, what was that language you were talking in?"

The yokai looked at him weirdly, but Leo really did want to know! He'd only said one sentence but it sounded so cool! Leo already knew he wanted to learn it.

"Spanish. Why are you here, niño?"

"Uhhhhhh... Dad... sent me?" Leo cringed a little at the blatant lie, and decided to distract him with another question. "Can you say something in Spanish?!"

The yokai sighed. "Tell me your name and I'll consider it."

He beamed. "I'm Leo! What's your name?"

"You can call me Señor Hueso."

"Whoa, is your name in Spanish?! Wait wait wait you gotta say something in Spanish now! I told you my name!"

"Deberías estar en le cama, tortuguita."

"Coooool! What does that mean?"

"It means 'you should be in bed, little turtle'. Let's go, out, time for you to go home." Hueso began pushing at Leo's shoulders, nudging him towards the door.

"Whaaaat? Come on, you can't kick me out! I just got here!" Leo dug his heels in, refusing to be pushed.

"This is a restaurant, not a daycare. I do not have time to be babysitting lost children. Out!" With one final shove, Señor Hueso let go of Leo and prepared to shut the portal.

The turtle mutant stumbled and whirled around as soon he was free. "Wait! You're just gonna let a child wander around New York alone? At night? Isn't that illegal?"

"Well, since you won't tell me where your parents are..." Hueso trailed off with a raise of his eyebrow, waiting to see if Leo would offer any more information.

Leo huffed in defeat. He didn't want to admit it, but he was getting tired, as it was already far past his usual bedtime. "Fine, fine, I'm going! But I'll be back tomorrow!"

----------------

Leo did in fact come back the next day. Hueso wasn't there when Leo scampered in behind a weird frog yokai, so the slider was quick to scurry off into the restaurant, hoping he could hang out for a little while before Hueso found him and kicked him out again.

To be continued...?

[fabuloustrash05]

Hi, Sorry to bother you again but You seem to be like...a lorekeeper of TMNT 2012 Knowledge.

How the hell does Magic work in that show? I'm aware RatDad Kinda has it with the healing hands, and I also saw Shinigami has it? I don't know. I'm confused. I kinda fell off in the middle of S3 and only know stuff based off the Wiki.

First off, don't always trust the wiki. Lots of fans edit it and add false info just to push their own narrative or make ridiculous claims with no source to back it up. I also recommend checking out the rest of season 3 and onward! It does get kinda sloppy by season 4 but it's still a fun watch! Reading a wiki ain't gonna do the series justice lol

Now, to your question, imma be honest with you, regarding the magic in TMNT 2012, I really don’t know how it works XD

TMNT 2012 barely acknowledges the magic concept, granted it was a very out of no where thing like "hey magic also exist in our universe btw!" and when it does show up it’s gone before you can even process it was there so it gets forgotten quickly (at least to me when I rewatch the show).

The magic in TMNT 2012 I don’t think shows up until season 3 (someone correct me if I'm wrong) when Leo is confronted by the deer spirit in the episode Vision Quest (who btw never shows up again, put them on the list of one and done 2012 characters). After that, every other magic related thing is very subtle cause the series focuses way more on the sci-fi angle, which was the theme that was established in the first episode and was continued to be explore throughout the series. I just crack it down to it being a spiritual ninjutsu thing, but I've rarely put much thought into it.

For those who are curious, the magic and even paranormal things we see in TMNT 2012 are few but what we got are...

The Deer Spirit

The Healing Hands Technique

(which btw I wish they used this technique more cause it would've been VERY helpful in other situations later down the line...)

Sir Malachi

Was it magic or did he just drug the Turtles to play discount DND with him??

Alopex's cursed Blades of Vengeance

Ghosts and possession

Cults and Demons

Magic users such as Jei and Kintaro

Yokais such as Bake-danuki and Jorōgumo

(granted these mostly existed in Usagi's universe so they probably don't fully count in the Turtles world but who knows)

And the very existence of Shinigami

Though Shini and her whole magic thing is barely explored or explained. They say she's a witch but we barely see her do witchy things. Most of her tricks and techniques seem more like blink and you'll miss it magician stuff than an actual literal witch. We know she can hypnotize people and make them see scary hallucinations, and it's also suggested that she can shapeshift into a cat but she only ever does it once and it's very subtly to the point that some fans probably didn't even know that the black cat in her intro scene in her first episode was her.

Btw, according to Shinigami's concept art, her hypno stone weapon (as seen in gif) is said to be a family heirloom, meaning she comes from a supposed long line of witches and magic users. Sure wish THAT was explored more for her character instead of her just being there as Karai's hype woman and another chick for Mikey to drool over...

[kings-highway]

TRICK OR TREAT >:]

Aaaaaaaaaa hello hello, welcome, yet another treat for the bag <3

What’s it this time? Well a little bit of behind the scenes worldbuilding from my early days of Paranormality!

Did you know: The original draft (of which several pages are written) centered around first years Daichi, Suga and Asahi being recruited by a literally haunted Kurokawa to investigate the paranormal and potentially find a way to relieve him of the figure that was always following him - it maintained a consistent distance, always just standing, watching, never doing anything more. Although he believes himself maybe just crazy, Kurokawa is genuinely suffering from these hallucinations and needs an answer. Unfortunately, when Daichi reports seeing this thing (before he knew of Kurokawa’s hallucinations) things get a little bit more complicated. The story would have spanned all three years, including eventually a match-up with the Alien-hunting pair of Oikawa and Iwaizumi, who strike up a friendship with our Karasuno crew though they only team up when their areas of interest overlap. There were also potential plans for a Yokai-hunting team over at STZ, in the way that some people try and “hunt” bigfoot. Of course, Kurokawa’s condition gets worse and worse, he gets more erratic, until eventually, at the end of their second year, as he’s set to graduate, he is suddenly hospitalized. (having been driven to hurt himself due to the hallucinations). He is, at this point, diagnosed with schizophrenia. (not in a demonizing mental illness way trust me on this let me cook a fucking second). Of course, with the proper treatment, medications, and being able to understand himself, his circumstances… improve. And the ghost hunting trio is left… a little adrift. Were they really just… chasing nothing? Well…

Except… hadn’t Daichi had seen Kurokawa’s figure before.

And even as Kurokawa’s symptoms improve and he regains functionality… that one, watchful vision is far too solid to be a schizophrenic hallucination, and seems to refuse to waver despite his increasing control over himself.

ANYWAY for various reasons not entirely unrelated to the fact that I was too afraid to write this version for various reasons, I ended up eventually reworking it into the concept that became Paranormality. HOWEVER as maybe a sneak peek, I can confirm that Kurokawa and Kurokawa’s ghost may just in fact make an appearance in the upcoming installments of the Paranormality series. A few other tidbits about this fact:

1. My roommate directly inspired this, because her first reaction upon laying eyes on Kurokawa was a genuine gasp and then “oh that man is HAUNTED.” And then, way later, there is a scene where Kurokawa and Tashiro go to talk with the third years after the stx match and I pointed out a figure in the background that looks like he has no head (go find it if you want) and my roommate, without missing a beat my roommate said: “THAT is what’s haunting him.” so.

2. The story was going to be tonally WAY darker and more intense, whereas I ended up/wanted to give Paranormality a sort of… Doctor-Who/Mary Poppins vibe of just whimsy and horror more in sync, instead of straight ghost stories.

3. The Schizophrenic Kurokawa headcanon is… canon to me. I… wish this character was more popular, but I LOVE him, and he’s entirely a headcanon in my brain. A lot of his behaviours were going to be inspired by a friend of mine who has schizophrenia and became the funniest person in the world because her auditory hallucinations started using MY voice and she kept bringing me things she thought I asked for and I was gonna give that dynamic to Kurokawa and Daichi. But anyway. The point is. Despite it being almost entirely fanon I love Kurokawa and he WILL show up somewhere eventually I PROMISE. And he will probably have schizophrenia

[ferelbasta]

What the dog doin?

Idk if anyone remembers from my last blog or over on twitter but I absolutely ADORE Jinmenken ( aka Manjimutt) with all my heart and HATE how the anime treated this pupper. He is my top favorite Yokai and biggest comfort character too, he literally means so much to me 🥺

It’s been a real long time since I last drew him so I decided to draw him a bit to get back used to drawing him again. I then decided to him with Fumika’s ( Katie’s ) dad since I actually have this huge AU where Fumi actually got the watch instead of Keita ( Nate ) and in the part of the story where she incounters Jinmenken, I see befriending him and after some more stuff happening he ends up at her house and her folks end up seeing him, but as a kinda “ugly” dog instead of a human thanks to a special collar for dog Yokai. It’s a lot to explain so I’ll ofc go into more detail later, but for now I can say that after Fumi explains that she “found” Jinmenken needing help, she decided to help the pup until her and her parents found his actual owner. The mom is fine with this but the dad just bonds with Jinmenken fast and the two become inseparable ^^;; Again there are details missing but I will explain better later <:3

But yeah! Just some really cute doodles of this adorable puppy 🥹

[jinmenkennel]

oh yeah, this site has a lot of papercrafts, the link above leads to a tag of yokai watch themed ones. there's a downloadable PDF for each.

oh my god that Manjimutt.

your favourite yokai may not be on there but still, an impressive number of the little guys. maybe it'll inspire you to make your own?

edit: there's a few paper crafts missing from the new site so I hosted ones I saved on google drive:

it includes:

Katie Forester / Fumika Kodama

Mermother / Izanami

Leadoni / Michibiki

Casanuva / Motemacool

Directator / Mr. Movien

Snee / Muramasa*

Tengu

Dame Dedtime / Tokio Ubaune*

Infour / Yotsume

Mermadonna / Yaobikuni*

*includes preview image of how it looks assembled. the rest don't have previews so you're just gonna have to go by your gut feeling when putting them together.

If vayashis11 reuploads the PDFs on their site, I'll take these down. have fun!

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

a BUNCH of Garu/Karu meta, part 2: eyes, Karu-fronting units, In Defense of Sexy Garu/Karu, Leroy & Garu conspiracy, Update to Rei/Gramps theory, general "character development"

So over here I wrote a bunch of Garu/Karu meta zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u.tumblr.com/post/737197419853398016/ and I knew that eventually I'd wanna write more, so here's part 2!

Once again, disclaimer that I have not played every event nor watched every intimacy rooms so I am definitely missing some lore. If anyone has additional info to my questions, lemme know! Also, spoilers everywhere!

A) Blue eyes or yellow eyes?

In a couple comments of phaerlax's fics, he suggested that Karu's eyes are actually blue and I thought I'd follow up with some ~canon~ evidence.

Ch7- every mention of their switching involves language, attitude, and mannerisms, nothing about eye color.

Ch13- Kolt is about to kidnap Garu when Karu takes over. It's very fast and happens all in 1 sentence so there isn't space to mention any eye colors, but Kolt doesn't realize they've switched until Karu has kicked him in the face

Master's Gift- when Karu is pretending to be Garu, Eiden realizes it with the language and voice again, not eyes.

Howling Cyclone- when Garu suddenly takes over with no one around, the text narration only says "the wolf yokai closes and opens his eyes before dashing..." No mention of eye color and this time its from the third person text narration, rather than Eiden or any other character's POV.

Misty Vale- when the young wolves encounter Karu, they don't realize that Garu has switched until Karu announces to call him that. At the very end of the MV event when Garu declines joining the wolves, Eiden pats his head only to realize that its Karu due to his reaction.

Binary Starlight- no mention of eye color, but the modeling people, store owners, and Karu's fans, only refer to him as Karu or Mr Wolf Yokai, including when it's Garu taking Karu's place during the competition announcements.

Desert of Dusk- no one realizes when its Garu and when it's Karu

Some people might have noticed this by now, but Garu's ally units all have blue eyes in their sprites. But when you're actually battling, OG SSR/SR/R/N are all Karu voice lines. HC & EG Garu seem to have more Garu battle voice lines than Karu voice lines. I don't have all of them, so if anyone is willing to help me look into EB and FF Garu, please do! In a cool meta way, the fact that the sprites have blue eyes yet its Karu's voice coming out, indicates to me that Karu's eyes are probably blue.

And lastly- have you noticed Garu's battle loading screen pose, OG loading homepage, Bliss promotional pic with everyone's OG poses + new Dante/Blade/Rei, and Garu's sprite in the opening animated sequence? He's manspreading and has an angry face. Yes, we've seen Garu angry a number of times, but in the new loading homepage with Rei and Dante, Garu is smiling and Garu's angry face is usually still quite cute. I think the OG version is Karu and he has blue eyes there.

B) Karu Fronting Units

Ok so slightly following up from that last bit. I had a idea once, where it would've been cool for Karu to front in the offensive/defensive units, such as strikers and guardians, and Garu to front in the supportive units, such as buffers and healers. Especially since the battle voice lines already do that (see point above). This would be extra cool cause it lines up with their lore/personalities and DID system. Karu is the protector alter, doing a lot of the Dead Zone surviving, and it'd make sense for him to do offensive/defensive battle units.

But also- Binary Starlight Garu should have totally been Karu fronting. Frozen Echoes, while Garu is onscreen more often, is about Karu wanting to sing and then getting kidnapped. But more importantly, the intimacy stories are about Karu's modeling competition. He's also a striker and, as mentioned, I thought it would be cool to have Karu being the strikers.

Endless Banquet Garu probably would have been nice to be a Karu unit because part of it is about Karu wanting to go to the yokai festival, but it was also Garu's 1st event SSR, so it makes sense that he wouldn't be.

So here's to me sending out into the universe that we get a future Karu main event SSR. He's still missing a saboteur and I can see a saboteur going either Garu or Karu.

C) In Defense of Sexy Garu/Karu

People's biggest problem with Garu is usually how young he looks and acts. You are not wrong if you are uncomfortable with Garu/Karu being sexualized! That is totally valid! This section is not for you. This section is for ignorant haters. (Garu/Karu are just fictional characters so I don't think too defensively on this so I won't be offended if you still do.)

First up- Garu/Karu is not a shota. Shotacon is defined as underage/prepubescent/pubescent boys in an erotic/sexualized manner. And yes there are muscle shotas. But Garu is not one of them. Depending on the lore, Garu is 19-33+ (possibly older, see that other post where I calculated his possible age) and he has a young adult proportioned body. However, he has a major babyface and acts puppylike/borderline childlike and does appear younger than the rest of the cast. So it's possible that he's shota-adjacent and I can see why people think he'd be the "1000 year old loli/shota" characters.

Next- puppy play! Have you heard of animal roleplay and specifically leather puppies? Have you met someone whose done puppyplay? Seems an awful lot like Garu right? You'd be right! I'm more of a handler, but a lot (though not all) of the (western) puppy players I know go into a (dumbed down) puppy headspace, act hyper, head scratches, play fetch, bark, treats, and "treats". (Naturally, IA studio is writing from the Asian perspective so the scene might be different there & they probably didn't consult any puppy players anyways, but there's no set "rules".) Sound familiar?

I'm like 99% sure Garu/Karu is supposed to represent puppy play, not shotas. There's a reason the most common imagery of a leather puppy is a pup hood, some kind of gag, collar, chest harness, jockstrap, butt plug tail, and leather boots. Also sound familiar? It's very close to OG SSR and SR Garu, and when the devs gave BS Garu a jockstrap, that sealed the deal. Same with when they made Garu/Karu an omega in the A/B/O event.

Now that we agreed that Garu/Karu is puppy play and not shotacon, one common factor amongst puppyplayers is the sexycute factor. As in, the puppy could be acting cute and affectionate and puppylike while getting fucked. Head scratches while doing a blowjob. And so on. NU Carnival characters fill a variety of sexy roles and while we have 2 other yokai, Garu is the one that fills the puppy play role. He's not a furry, but he's the closest thing for those who are into it. And of course, he (and Kuya) are the token kemonomimi. I'd argue that Garu is actually more human that most puppies I've seen/played with since he is primarily bipedal and talks fully in a human language.

So yeah its fine to sexualize them because of the sexy archetype they fulfill!

D) Leroy and Garu Conspiracy

So this is a wild and possibly impossible conspiracy theory. At the end of Gambler's Paradise, we get a scene between Aster and Rei talking about a mysterious "that group". In ch 13, Rei tells us that Council of Sorcery is trying to replace the need for Huey's essence. Throughout Gambler's Paradise, we find out that Leroy is a recent imperfect familiar that was a result of experiments with Huey's essence. Throughout Misty Vale and Ch 13, we get hints that Garu might have been experimented on by the Council long ago.

So my conspiracy theory is that both Leroy and Garu were experimented on by the same Council of Sorcery, even if they were from different departments. Garu was possibly more than a decade or several decades ago and Leroy was within the past couple months or year cause he didn't start causing chaos in Aster's casinos until recently. This means that either there are different departments focusing on different experiments, but also totally possible that back then, they were experimenting on removing Huey's essence and now they're working on replicating Huey's essence.

Bonus weird similarity between Garu, Leroy, and Morvay- they all really REALLY like eating their choice of preferred food, and get hungry very easily. (Ok Garu technically might be super hungry cause he had very little food for many many years, but still)

HMMMMMM LORE MIC DROP.

E) Update to Rei is Gramps/Garu/Karu backstory

Here I theorized that Rei might be Gramps and other people have theorized or drawn fanart of this too. HOWEVER, Howling Cyclone does have a major problem in that we see Gramp's ghost.

What i propose to fix this: we don't know when ch13 or Eerie Escapade happened and realistically it's probably because Rei wasn't created as a character yet. But I can explain this lore away with saying even if Rei died "long ago", we dont know when he was reborn. And hey, maybe for all we know, the Gramps ghost was actually Father, realizing that even if Garu has Eiden, Karu could use some more support and decided to go revive Rei. :shrug: Or maybe they'll retcon the Howling Cyclone ghost like they retconned Aster's dick.

F) Garu/Karu's ~Character Development~ (not H scene specific)

(Warning for rambling!) So in my post about whether or not Kuya has character development and if it's even necessary, I mentioned that Garu & Karu needed character development. In various replies (but not my post), one comparison I've brought up between Kuya and Garu/Karu(+Zuko) is the difference between slow gradual changes and the heroes journey. And I thought I'd elaborate on that some more.

To clarify on Kuya- he's over 200 years old and has been changing slowly over time since forever. He started the story already having changed over time and will probably not stop going through this kind of slow gradual change, simply due to the fact that time passes and he's immortal. And while Eiden plays a part in present day, overall Kuya is not having major story beats causing massive changes.

The cool thing about Nu Carnival's cast, as evidenced by Kuya, is that everyone is on different points of their ~character development~ and Garu/Karu is starting from their very beginning. Yakumo is also starting from the very beginning. Whereas someone like Dante, Olivine, and Edmond are already somewhere further down the adventure. Or they have a different kind of character development path like Kuya, Rei, and Blade.

Now for Garu/Karu. So the classic heroes journey is a story template where the protagonist gets a call to adventure, meets various character archetypes, endures many trials, and returns changed in some way. Obviously it's not a 1:1 matchup with Garu/Karu's story, but he does get a call to adventure (joining the clan), meets a mentor(the clan members), and is currently still enduring many trials. This is what I mean by he has a big "heroes journey development". And using this pattern, we can predict that Garu/Karu will continue enduring more tests, before encountering a major ordeal, conquering it, returning back a changed man.

Now why is Garu, or more specifically, Karu's character development important or necessary? Much like how Yakumo started out his heroes journey as a "newbie", Garu and especially Karu start out as "newbies", with limited empowerment, not that many skills yet, MANY basic things to learn (and amnesia, or at least Garu has amnesia. Karu is debatable). Karu has big dreams, really big dreams, and while they're played for laughs, he absolutely sucks at those big dreams. He's either going to achieve those big dreams, change those big dreams, or lose his delusions of grandeur and that will be character development. His current stage in life, lack of power (and stamina lol), trauma, and unfortunate circumstances are preventing him from achieving those big dreams. Garu is more chill and mostly just wants to have Fun with his Master and help people where he can (including helping Karu). However, he also lacks power, is a newbie to things, and got that traumaTM that just causes him problems. Garu also kind of represents the coming of age plot- they may have gained basic survival skills in the Dead Zone & had no social skills, but have also started dabbling in learning and leadership in Forgotten Fruit, Eerie Escapade, and Misty Vale. He's slowly becoming braver. They also didn't know how to read before meeting Yakumo & Olivine, but now they can sort of write sentences!

As for their role in the story & how it ties in with character development. He's the cutesy comic relief like Blade or Topper, but also, as mentioned in my Kuya post, that they're a victim of the Gemstone plotTM. SPOILER TERRITORY. One major conflict that the plot is coming against in the main storyline is altars going haywire and the Council of Sorcery and Garu (and possibly Leroy) might be the key to solving this mystery. However, with his amnesia and limited empowerment, they can't really progress with it. Therefore, it is crucial for Garu/Karu to experience ~character development~ to move forward.

If you got this far, thanks for indulging in this longass analysis post on my favorite wolfboys to roll around in thinky thoughts. Possibly more to come as more ~lore~ is revealed.

Once again, I haven't played every event or intimacy room, so if you've got answers to my questions or additional contributions, please lemme know!

[idkwhatimdoingtf]

TMNT Stuff!!!!

BASICALLYYYY i made an AU off of someone else's AU lmao, @idiot-mushroom Teenage Turtle Ninja Mutants AU to be exact! (GO CHECK IT OUT its soo supa dupa cool and fun and lovingly drawn!!!!) *read more so i dont clog up ppl's dash :]]*

Its unoriginal ik but i got inspired and it'll become its own thing pretty quickly. Imma call it... Teenage Ninja Turtle Yokai AU!! its a 'What If Draxum Took All The Turtles!' Again, not the NEWEST thing but imma do it anyway!!! Too shy to show art js yet (and i have no art @ all-) so take these facts!!

DRAXUM-He/Him-Gay-37

•Kinder and nicer than Canon+TTNM Draxum :] (not that TTNM Drax is bad, TNTY is js WAYYY more protective+overbearing)

•Does NOT let them go outside the Hidden City, told them places beyond the City dont exist

•Talks to Big Mama more, she babysits when Draxy-poo has work to do :]] (btdubs she's the best babysitter+gramma forever and EVER!!)

•Doesnt talk abt Splinter/Yoshi AT ALL. When the turts ask abt him (cuz Drax put up pics of him and Yoshi while still human) he js calls him "Someone I Miss.."

•Still loves Yoshi lots, sometimes he caves and sneaks to NYC to try and visit but he can never seem to find him..

•Trains the turtles the moment their powers start to show, so they can control them WAYYY better now xp

HOKUSAI (aka Leonardo)-He/Him-Gay-15

2nd Youngest

•No real leaders of the group, so he has no role besides being a good bro X]

•Hangs w/his friends a lot, usually out of the house

•Wants to explore soooo bad, 3rd to truly believe there's more beyond the Hidden City

•Not rlly a bully but makes lil pranks+teases his bros lots XP

•Trains his power w/Chiho lots, rlly dedicated to it

•Will throw his life on the line for his fam, maybe not SACRIFICE but get a good hit

•Tends to break the rules a bit, usually comes home to a lecture ready and waiting for him from Draxum lol

CHIHO (aka Raphael)-She/He-Queer-16

Oldest

•Listens to Drax lots, not too big on rule breaking

•Big ol sweetipie, gives the best hugs trust🙏🏽

•Trains her power the most due to it being seen as harmful in his eyes (she hates to hurt accidently ppl (ु��̥̥ŏ̥̥) )

•WILL in fact stop the others from sneaking out (atleast not w/o him-) but Hokusai is js a bit too slick for her tastes... (they'll spar abt it l8r)

•Loves her home and his fam, doesnt rlly want anything more.. thinks abt it tho, js a little.. 4th/last to believe there's more beyond the city

•Used to put lil plushies or marshmellows on her shell in order to not scratch nobody or her bros, only rlly does that when going out now

YAYOI (aka Michealangelo)-Any prns-Queer-13

Youngest

•Loves roam around and spraypaint the walls of the Hidden City

•Usually goes out w/Hokusai if not messing around w/a new hobby they discovered

•WILL treat his fam like royalty when upset (physically or mentally), this boy will bake up a STORM for his ppl💪🏽💯🥶

•Loves Drax lots, rlly looks up to and trusts him (∩_∩)

•Goes under the alias 'c0w@bUNg@' on social media (which is ran by Takashi)

•Loves meeting new ppl and making bonds

•1st to believe there's more beyond the City, truly rlly wants to leave and see for herself

•Uses its powers for everything but fighting lmao, will make a swing outta chains

TAKASHI (aka Donnatello)-They/Them-AroAce-15

2nd Oldest*

*Chiho's twin

•Knows a bunch of yokai and Hidden City history you'd think they were there for it all

•Relies on tech to make bonds, thinks no1 will like em if they're js a turtle kid☹️😔

•2nd closest to Drax due to similarity in work (Alchemy/Science+Inventing/Tech. Also Yayoi is the closest to Drax)

•Only rlly goes out for materials to build, after that they are in DESPERATE need to touch grass😞

•Has a bunch of anime related stuff Drax would bring for them (every1 gets human gifts but Takashi has the most due to watching+observing human life most and being more interested in humans than other places)

•Knows humans exist, js not where, this leads them to being the 2nd to believe there's more beyond the Hidden City. Claims its cuz "nO tHeOrIeS cAn Be LeFt UnQuEsTiOnEd!🤓👆🏽" but we all know its cuz they wanna get more 'Mob Psycho 100' merch

And thats abt it!!! I'll prolly add to this and make more for the other characters but other than that, this is all i got rn! Hope this AU does good and you all enjoy it!! Again please check out @idiot-mushroom for his TMNT AU that heavily inspired this one (๑•ᴗ•๑)♡ love ya, bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[astralartefact]

just some doodles of some character designs I like from the Inazuma Eleven demo (i love raimon's new long water kazemaru)

i don't know if we even have confirmation that suruga's friends are team members but we need eleven+ people so it seems likely

Thoughts on the Demo (with Story Mode) below the cut

If I had to summarize my feelings in one sentence it would be: "This can't be the last game, right???"

I'm afraid it will be, but nooooooooooo q_q it can't beeee

I know Inazuma Eleven is so beyond niche that it was clear it wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell and given Level5's recent struggles I should be grateful that Victory Road even gets to exist at all, but q_____q I will miss Inazuma Eleven already q_q That's what the Demo makes me feel.

Like, I thought about it, but I think I don't even like Inazuma Eleven ironically, I just genuinely like it so much. If you like RPGs get yourself a copy of one of the DS games and have a good time, just shut your brain off a little bit and do not think even once. Me? I'm fine thinking about it, I was born into this utmost sincerity, I was molded by it, but as irony-poisoned as the world has become I have to point out it's.... a little bit wild. Just be prepared that Soccer might cry.

I like what they're doing with Unmei, I think the idea to have him be a non soccer player makes a lot of sense (no clue how I didn't notice that he wasn't playing in any of the promotional material)

Don't know if I like that 5 vs. 5's are gone. On one hand, probably a good choice, I think they can be much more creative with this new thing they're doing and small battles in the new control scheme would probably take forever and/or be weird af - on the other kind of lame, that takes a bunch of the soccer out of the soccer game.

I'm wondering how important the School Council President and that one other white haired girl are going to be. I kind of hope they won't be relegated to Manager roles, because as fun as those characters might have been (were they?) in OG and Go those don't really get to do anything and we already have 11 Characters + Bench already. you could just make them players...

I don't know what their scope with the Main Story is going to be. It seems very 'regular' - the Story seems to be weirdly front-loaded as usual, where everything happens all at once before the inevitable road to victory happens, but... I don't know, I think if this (last?) game really just has the scope of IE1 or Go1 I would be kind of disappointed ngl :/

In the same vein I'm somewhat scared for how far out this game is? This game seems absolutely massive and given what they've shown so far they could be 15% done and all they have is this little bit of story and all of the imported stuff. Maybe they just are much further along then I'm expecting them to be, but I don't know. Crossing my fingers that they know what they're doing.

Also what is the Budget of this game. Non stop animated segments, even if they were CG heavy. And how many VAs did you have for the Demo alone???? And you want to add everyone from all the games?????

"Escape Freud" you don't understand I'm trying

I don't hate the Translated Names (yet, the Go ones were a struggle though) but I do wish they had a Japanese Name Mode to go with JP VA

I miss drawing the arrows to control the team so much q____q I don't hate the new system and I get why it's kind of hard to translate the old one to gamepad controls but I feel like I have no clear control over anybody... I still think that you could turn that entire mechanic into so many cool game concepts btw, it's kind of weird that nobody ever made 'sensical' Inazuma Eleven clones

I put FF14 and Hasunosora as Cross-Over Requests in the Online Survey. The first one would be hilarious to me (and it would be possible given Yokai Watch) and for the second one I'm pretty certain that that Venn Diagram overlaps in a single dot and that single dot is me. I just think Megumegu would look great in Raimon's Uniform, okay.

[animehouse-moe]

The Summer Hikaru Died Volume 1: What Lurks Beneath

Rightfully so, The Summer Hikaru Died has been a titled talked about consistently since before it was licensed in English. A newcomer mangaka exploring both a BL and Horror series in one, not exactly what you might expect for a first foray into publication. But it's here, and it's really good. For a lot of reasons. I'd love to explain the intricacies and outstanding aspects of this first volume, but to cut to the chase: you should buy it. It's really, really good as both a BL and a horror series through this first volume and presents both aspects incredibly uniquely. Anyways, let's dive into this story.

First thing's first, it's incredibly striking. Not just in the art, but it's presentation and the different visual aspects used within the pages. The most notable of which is the sound effects. I've heard some people complain about how out of place or weird they seem, but there's a real clever and clear reason for that. The unsettling nature. The whole point of the sounds of cicadas through this story is to remind people of the nature of it. How suffocating and loud they are, and how much of a core piece they are of Japanese summer. It's meant to be in your face and atop everything else so you notice when it's not there.

It's a two in one that makes regular conversation and other things feels unsettling and odd when it's there, and when it's not provide a different sense of unease in why it's no longer there.

Just look at this example where our story begins. The overwhelming sound of cicadas melts away at Yoshiki, our lead character's, statement.

I suppose I should explain the story a little bit. Hikaru, Yoshiki's friend, went into the mountains and disappeared for a week. Now six months post that incident, Yoshiki approaches Hikaru to confirm something. The one seated beside him isn't Hikaru, but something else entirely. A monster, a spirit, a yokai. Whatever it is, it's not Hikaru, and Yoshiki struggles with that greatly.

Anyways, similar to this page, Mokumokuren has a penchant for erasing backgrounds through this first volume. When they want to place the focus on specific pieces they're very comfortable with isolating characters or other objects in the panel to help accentuate their important. Just take a look at this page from Yoshiki's dream about the past.

With this example though, you can take a lot more about Yoshiki's relationship with Hikaru. Hikaru looking away when he makes that first comment, and how when Yoshiki sees Hikaru's face the background fades. Not exactly subtle pieces that establish Yoshiki's love for Hikaru.

Mokumokuren really enjoys this sort of visual storytelling. It's not incredibly subtle, but I think they're incredibly easy pieces to miss if you're not looking for these smaller pieces throughout. Another solid example is the dialogue shown from the movie that the class is watching. Talking about substitutes and demons in the flesh, it reflects Hikaru and Yoshiki's situation pretty clearly.

Anyways, really fun little detail (that's ruined by Tumblr compression). The pupils in "Hikaru's" eyes are the katakana for "Katsu" which means cutlet. They also appear together on his tongue which is a fun little detail.

Now, I'm sure by now most people understand how good Mokumokuren's art is, but I think this spread really establishes how flexible and expressive their style is. Far more rough and fluid, it expresses that unkept and "old" feeling that this woman embodies incredibly well.

Similarly, the harsh lighting/shading is incredibly great. For one, it's just super pretty. Very satisfying and detailed, and Mokumokuren tries to make the most use of it as possible in the scenes it appears in, rather than it just being "there". Secondly, it's a great addition to that unsettling feeling of the story. The sun's going down, shadows are stretching further and further out, and darkness consumes more and more of the quiet village that surrounds them.

Back to our little old lady though, Mokumokuren knows what they were doing with the sound effects, and takes it a step further. It's not just their overwhelming existence that makes it unsettling, it's the absence of it, and the promise of something more. The answer to what lurks behind all the speech bubbles, what rests behind that closed door, what stalks its prey in the darkness. Mokumokuren knows that in the case of horror, it is actually tell, not show, and is able to express that tenet impressively well in this first volume.

Promising nightmares, fear, terrors in the dark. But never fully converting on them. Leaving them to further cause your skin to crawl, waiting for the moment that they do fully appear.

Another great example of expressing that horror. The idea of expressing the existence of something, but unable to explain what it is that exist. What it is that gives you goosebumps and makes you break out into a cold sweat.

Also, I love how they play with black and white in this scene. It's a really interesting piece that tells readers that there is a forest, but with Maki's fear that's all they'd be able to give you. That there's some trees and groundcover that lines the path, but that they don't know anything past that because of how focused on what was in front of them.

Anyways, Yamcha Hikaru

Back to basics though, the bone chilling idea of Mokumokuren. The use of sound effects. They've established the consistency and pervasive nature of sound in this volume, and they use it as an incredible unsettling trick here. Yoshiki sees the hiragana for "Ku" in the woods. By all means, a totally out place piece that he finds out is far more sinister than initial appearances make it out to be.

Before I talk about the reveal however, take a look at the details in this spread. The blank white leaves of the foreground make an appearance once more, but the background is also of interest. Surrounding the "ku" is darkness, but when you look to the edges of the forest's background, you see white light instead. A really interesting visual trick that makes the center of the spread seem that much darker, as it draws you further and further in.

Anyways, the reveal. Incredibly clever and equally unsettling. It's (presumably) the old lady that was killed the previous night. Mokumokuren nails the depiction though, showing just the slightest bit of the woman. Giving viewers just the briefest interaction with the horrors of the woods.

Also, really creative use of the "ku" character and morphing it into the neck/head of whatever creature this may be. For those that don't know, "Kubi" (which starts with the "ku" character) means neck in Japanese.

Okay, I gotta speed things along or I'll be here all day. The crowning achievement of this first volume of The Summer Hikaru Died. The marriage of BL and Horror. It's not something you'd expect, nor something you think would work so well. But it does, and I'd love to explain why.

The aspect of horror, monstrosities, rejection and disgust and fear. It's an all aspect of Yoshiki. It's all pieces of his mental state and how he views his romantic attraction to both Hikaru and "Hikaru". He despises himself, finds himself disgusting for his emotions. And "Hikaru" is the personification of those feelings. He couldn't do this with the original Hikaru, but he can with something that isn't human. He could become inhuman, a monster like "Hikaru", for his love.

It's a startlingly beautiful interpretation of how internalized homophobia can be viewed. A great detail and example of this is how "Hikaru's" monstrous side is more and more expressed as the pair entangle themselves further and further. It starts with just weird tics and changes, morphs into visual differences, and blends into direct interactions with "Hikaru's" inhuman side as symbolism for the desire of the two.

Most interestingly though, it's only ever "Hikaru" that explicitly expresses this romantic aspect though. Yoshiki is always unspoken and implied, which furthers that comparison of monstrosity and homosexuality. Yoshiki wants nothing more than to hate his choices in love, and forces that concept upon "Hikaru". Much like his inability to face the fact that his friend is dead, he uses "Hikaru" as a way to avoid his internalized hatred.

Back to moving along at a better pace, this page/spread. I think it's a solid example of the abilities of Mokumokuren as an artist and storyteller, and just how much room they have to grow. They're incredible, but this piece in particular is just a bit shy of really being something. In the first panel, all the sunflowers are looking at Yoshiki, but in the second panel they're not. I personally feel like it's a really big missed opportunity for synonymizing the unease and unsettling feel of nature in an isolate space.

And finally, we reach the end of the first volume, with an explosion of "Hikaru's" feelings. At this scale, I think it's pretty easy for people to pick out specific things from "Hikaru's" outburst. That being, things that exist in reality. Are these the memories and experiences of Hikaru personified? Only time will tell.

This is a whirlwind of a first volume that establishes so so much in terms of its approach to horror and romance, alongside Mokumokuren's sense of storytelling and visuals. An incredible multi-layered story that deftly weaves together several unique aspects to produce something totally unique. A horror story that has yet to be told, a BL that we've never seen, and so on and so forth. Mokumokuren promises a great deal through this first experience, and I must say that they've completely captured me with it.

[goodlucktai]

run, boy, run

chapter five

natsume yuujinchou pairing: one-sided kitanishi word count: 2k summary: Nishimura has a cursed mark on his arm, a crush on Natsume’s famous idol friend, and a whole lot of brand new problems that start and end with the taboo circle he found. full circle au

read on ao3

x

Satoru keeps looking over his shoulder at Hiiragi, just to make sure she’s still there.

“Watch where you’re walking or you’ll fall, Nishimura,” she says after the third backwards glance, voice low and monotone and still, somehow, entirely reassuring. She’s looking at him, talking to him, and he can hear her.

“No, I won’t,” Satoru argues cheerfully. Natori’s hand on his shoulder steers him around a crack in the pavement before he can prove himself wrong. And he’s still holding a sleeping Nyanko-sensei, so he definitely would have eaten dirt.

They’re south of town, much farther down the highway than Satoru ever has reason to go on his own. Matoba must have had his yokai chauffeur drive them for longer than Satoru realized. He’s pretty sure there’s a gas station nearby, and he thinks this is the road his old elementary school is on, but other than that he’s got nothing.  

Natori’s rental car is parked in a tiny lot outside a Western-style building with a rustic cottage vibe. Satoru expects to be sheparded into the car, but instead Natori leads the way up the brick steps and through the lattice-patterned front door.

The inside is cluttered and cozy, warmed by potted plants on every available surface. A smiling young woman behind the pastry counter encourages them to pick any table they’d like.

There’s an older couple seated in the back corner booth, and a grizzled man reading the paper in a squashy armchair shoved next to a bookshelf overrun with paperbacks and waving cats. Natori guides Satoru to a table by the window, points him into a chair, and then slides over the laminate menu. Satoru remembers, abruptly, that he skipped breakfast and missed lunch.

“Order whatever you like,” Natori says, sounding distracted. “I need to make a few calls. I will be right outside. Okay?”

“Do you want something?” Satoru asks. He settles Natsume’s cat in his lap, relieved when the lucky cat actually stirs a bit and grumbles before tucking himself into a comfortable-looking loaf and going back to sleep.

“No, but Hiiragi has a sweet tooth. Pick her out something with strawberries.”

The shiki makes a noise that could, by generous definition, be considered a scoff. Natori leaves, and the cheerful woman who greeted them by the door takes Satoru’s order for hamburger steak and an ice cream parfait with all the extras. She looks indulgent when he tacks on the dessert and he can’t exactly explain it’s for a ghost.

The ghost in question sinks into the chair across from him only after the employee has dropped off a glass of melon soda and gone again.

“Your friends were very scared for you,” Hiiragi says without preamble. “They’ll be relieved to know that you’re safe.”

Satoru’s heart makes a sudden glad leap. “You saw them?”

“I did. Natsume called Natori-dono this morning when you didn’t arrive at school on time. And your little bird warned them you weren’t safe. You were missed immediately.”

It seems like she’s making a point, and Satoru can’t say he knows why, but he’s grateful all the same. It’s good to know that the whole time he was in Matoba’s dubious clutches, rescue was imminent. It’s really, really good to know that Fish didn’t just fly away in a panic, she flew away to the rescue. 

“Do you know if they told anyone else?” Satoru thinks to ask after a moment.

“Just your brother,” the shiki replies. “Kitamoto informed Natori-dono that he had two hours to find you, after which time he would  also be telling his mother.” If she considers it strange that Satoru’s own mother wasn’t a part of the equation, she keeps it to herself. Yokai probably don’t have strong feelings on humans and their relationships with each other anyway. She does add, “It took Natori-dono an hour and a half. …He was stressed.”

“I bet.”

Kitamoto can be kind of intense. Sure, Natori deals with curses and ghosts and what have you, but that’s nothing on Acchan when he’s in a mood.

Natori doesn’t come back to the table until after Satoru has started eating. He orders a cup of coffee and seems content to sit there for an indeterminate amount of time. Even though he’s busy—living a double-life, with double the work—he makes pleasant conversation with Satoru and teases Hiiragi about her ice cream and does nothing to rush either of them out of the restaurant.

Digging the tines of his fork through the sauce left on his plate, Satoru carefully doesn’t look at anyone in particular when he says, “Um. I didn’t say earlier. Thanks.”

Natori doesn’t speak up right away, and the silence is excruciating, even though it’s only like two seconds long. Satoru rushes to fill it.

“For—you know. You didn’t have to. I know you don’t really—uh, I just meant, thank you.”

Please stop talking! he begs himself.

The coffee cup lands against its saucer with a solid click and Natori’s hand comes to rest on the table between them. Satoru catches the little dart of a lizard tail disappearing up his arm, beneath his sleeve. It’s distracting enough that he almost forgets to be mortified that Natori Shuuichi is giving him his undivided attention. Almost.

“You’re a good kid,” Natori finally says, sounding, somehow, as if he means it. “And you have nothing to thank me for.”

Nyanko-sensei wakes up for real in time to finish the rest of Satoru’s hamburger steak. Natori gives sensei a dirty look, but Satoru is so relieved that he lets him have the fried potatoes and broccoli florets, too.

———

Less than an hour later, Satoru is delivered to the temple doorstep like he’s a Lotteria burger and Natori-san is a very stylish, very single-minded Demae-Can driver.

At around two in the afternoon, anyone who might be happy to see Satoru turn up out of the blue is almost definitely still at school. Satoru is opening his mouth to explain as much when the door rattles open hard enough that it crashes into the wall, and half a dozen voices yell, “Nishimura!”

It's a little funny. The sudden chaos settles something jangly and jittery in his chest that the quiet ride back into town couldn’t. Natori’s hands on his shoulders propel him gently forward and Satoru is folded into the crowd. Nyanko-sensei is lifted from his arms. Kitamoto is there.

He looks paler than he should. His eyes are dry, but red-rimmed, and while he usually greets Natori with a glare for whatever reason, this time he doesn’t seem to see the man at all. He’s staring right at Satoru from the second the door opens. He yanks Satoru into a hug that feels like it could go on for years and years, warm and tight and safe.

For the first time since he left his house that morning, Satoru relaxes fully. He can’t move his arms enough to get them around Kitamoto in turn, so he clutches fistfuls of his best friend’s shirt and sinks against him. He could probably fall asleep standing up right there if they’d just give him about five minutes.

“Come in, please,” Tanuma is saying, his tone equal parts gentle and stressed out. “I’ll make tea.”

Natori helps shuffle the Kitamoto-and-Satoru package into the genkan. The door rattles closed, and Satoru floats through the motions of exchanging sneakers for house slippers, peeling out of his sweaty school jacket and pulling a hoodie over his head instead.

“I know for a fact that you should be in English right now,” is the first thing he says, to Natsume, who looks like he doesn’t know if he wants to hug Satoru or shake him like a terrier would a rat.

“If anyone should have been anywhere, ” Taki says, and lets the statement hang there ominously.

“Shibata will be here by dinner,” is what Natsume settles on saying. He has Nyanko-sensei nestled in one arm, petting him gently with the opposite hand. Sensei’s eyes are slitted, his purr a quiet, rumbly thing. “He’s getting on a train after school.”

“Ogata’s volleyball team is away at a tournament right now, but she’s going to be livid she missed all this when she checks the group chat,” Taki adds.

Tanuma returns to the crowded hall with a tray of tea and glasses, and since he looks like he’s seconds away from a nervous breakdown if he can’t host them properly, everyone finds a place in the living room to sit. There’s one too many cups on Tanuma’s tray, but after the day they’ve had, Satoru doesn't blame him for miscounting. 

Kitamoto doesn’t even pretend like he’s about to let Satoru go anytime in the immediate future, keeping an arm wrapped around him like it belongs there. Satoru, for his part, doesn’t pretend like that’s anything but a comfort. 

A clatter on the engawa is the only warning any of them get before a frantic magpie bursts inside, silent except for the noisy scrabbling of her talons against the floor, wings half-spread, beak ajar.

“There’s my best girl,” Satoru says brightly. “Fish, you’re a hero, you know that? Hiiragi told me what you did. They should write songs about you.”

“satoru,” she cries, hopping across the room with gusto. “the scary human took you.”

“That he did.” Satoru puts the cup down and offers his hands to his bird instead. “But thanks to you, he gave me back.”

With Fish nestled under his ear where she belongs, her warm, slightly oily feathers and rapid little heartbeat against his cheek both a touchstone, Satoru accepts the cup of tea that’s pressed into his hands. He opts to just hold it for a while, breathing in the fragrant steam, shaking off those last, clinging fingers of anxiety.

“Wait,” Taki blurts. “Hiiragi told you?”

Oh, yeah. “There’s been a new development,” Satoru tells the room at large. “I can see yokai without the circle now.”

For a beat, no one moves except to stare at him blankly. Then all heads swivel toward Natori, who only says, with feeling, “It has been a very long day.”

“And it’s only halfway over,” Hiiragi comments plainly. 

Since unpacking the yokai thing is going to be a conversation and a half, Satoru interjects quickly, “Before we get into all that, can we talk about how much trouble I’m in at school really fast?”

Natsume and Taki look too frustrated to speak for the moment, so Tanuma says, “You’re not in trouble, Nishimura. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Refusing to let Tanuma’s whole soft-spoken, gentle self get to him—he was kidnapped today and didn’t cry about it, he’s not going to cry just because his friend is being nice —Satoru replies, “Okay, we know that, but Nomiya-sensei doesn’t.”

“He does,” Tanuma insists.

It turns out that Satoru won’t have after-school suspension after all—because Kiyoshi, in a bizarre, uncharacteristic turn of events, covered for him.  

“Sorry, I forgot to let his homeroom teacher know this morning,” was his brother’s story. He had called the school and lied directly to the principal herself, according to an impressed Taki’s eyewitness account. “He has a stomach bug. Can one of his friends bring by his homework later?”

“We had to call Kiyoshi-niisan when you didn’t show up,” Kitamoto says doggedly. It’s the first thing he’s said since Satoru got here. “I didn’t tell him everything, but I had to tell him something.”

Fish tugs on a piece of his hair with her beak. Satoru leans his head on Kitamoto’s shoulder.

“Acchan knows best,” Satoru says, because that was true even when it wasn’t. Of course, this meant that Satoru owed Kiyoshi the truth, whether he was ready to have that conversation or not, but at worst, he would just think Satoru and his friends were crazy. And he kind of already thought that, so no harm done. “At least that’s future-me’s problem,” he goes on, smiling around at his friends. “He’s taking a mock entrance exam for Kyushu University today, up in Fukuoka. That’ll keep him busy and give me time to spin a story.”

They frown back at him. Even Natori looks over, a crease in his brow.

“You think he still went to Fukuoka?” Taki says slowly.

“Nishimura, you were missing, ” Natsume adds, bemused. “Someone took you right off the street.”

“It sounds bad when you say it that way.” Satoru can feel the twinge in his arm that means the cursed bruises are coming back. His heart rate picks up a little, too, for good measure. “But it’s his mock exam. Mom’s been hounding him about this school for ages. He wouldn’t do anything to mess this one up.”

He wouldn’t let me mess this up for him, is what Satoru doesn’t say out loud. He digs his fingers into the overlarge hoodie he’s wearing, twisting the cuffs all out of shape.

Natsume glances at Natori quickly, concerned. The man sets his tea aside and stands up, moving around the table and then settling tailor-style in front of Satoru and Kitamoto. 

“I think there is a reason your brother studies so hard,” Natori says. “And I think it has very little to do with your mother.” 

“You haven’t met my mom,” Satoru says. It makes Natori crack a smile. 

“I haven’t had the pleasure. But Kiyoshi told me plenty. And while you might think he’s doing everything he can to please her, from where I’m standing, it looks a lot more like he’s doing his best to spite her.”

Natori Shuuichi spoke to Satoru’s brother. They talked about personal stuff. Satoru wants to bury himself under a rock. 

It doesn’t sound like Kiyoshi at all to trash-talk mom in any capacity. He’s her shining up-and-coming med student, bringing home perfect scores and skipping weekend trips and holidays to study. She doesn’t really care about Satoru, but she loves Kiyoshi. He has no reason not to love her back. 

But if his friends are to be believed—and of course they are—then Kiyoshi covered for him today, even without understanding what, exactly, he was covering for. Why would he do that?

Footsteps from further in the temple draw nearer, along with a voice that Satoru would know anywhere. He whips around, spilling tea over his fingers, because that’s his brother’s pissed-off tone, here, in Tanuma’s house, where Satoru and his friends and Natori and the ghosts all are. 

As he gets closer, his words get clearer, until Satoru can make out, “…my problem, remember? Not yours. Please don’t trouble yourself.”

“Nii-san has always had the best timing,” Kitamoto mutters. 

“Kyushu was a compromise, ” Kiyoshi is saying, his voice making it easy to trace his progress down the engawa. “Fukuoka is three hours away, I didn’t want to go to school there in the first place. Kumamoto University is much closer, and it’s a good school. My friends are applying there, too. It’s where I want to go.”

Fish is poking insistently at Satoru’s ear and chin, so he lifts his hands mechanically and moves her down into his lap instead. She busies herself with snapping at the drawstring of his hoodie instead, unbothered by the force of nature headed their way. 

“Um, so he knows some stuff,” Satoru hears himself say weakly. “How much exactly is that?”

“Enough,” Kitamoto says, which explains nothing. 

The porch doors rattle the rest of the way open from where they were cracked, presumably to let nosy spirit birds in and out, and Kiyoshi stands there backlit by afternoon sunlight. It’s impossible to make out his expression. Satoru thinks he’s more nervous now than he was with Matoba. 

“Bye, mom,” Kiyoshi says, and hangs up without waiting for a reply. 

“You wanted to go to Fukuoka,” Satoru blurts before anyone can say anything else. “You made me memorize the train line.”

“That was just in case, brat,” Kiyoshi replies, crossing the room in long strides. Natori moves and Kiyoshi takes his place, looking over first Satoru, then Kitamoto carefully. “I was probably going to throw the mock exam anyway. I was just going today to make mom happy. I’ve been accepted at Kumamoto Uni already. An hour-long commute will be annoying, but it’s better than the alternative. Heaven only knows the kind of trouble you’d get into on your own.” 

“And us,” Taki pipes up. “We know.”

“Right,” Kiyoshi says, sitting back. His expression is no-nonsense, gaze level and boring into Satoru’s. “And now me. Start talking, or I’ll make your life miserable.”

Now that, Satoru thinks, is the first believable thing anyone has said all day.

[thatoneweirdowhoknowstoomuch]

Niche Yokai Watch blog; context below!

I know I mostly post Where's Waldo stuff, but I'm in a lot more Fandoms (Waldo just so happens to be my brainrot at the moment, ugh). I was planning to make an ask blog based on Yokai Watch, but.. um... like why I joined this Fandom, I have really, really, niche fav Yokai, both know for.. not very savory, clean as a whistle, crimes? Matter of, that is literally the only thing one of them is known for-

But, I have a few ideas for both their ask blogs

I have a few ideas for their ask blog

Atsushi Kamamoto (left)

* A potter turned idol scout turned Yokai who lost himself after he failed his idol group after losing to another idol group in popularity. After the events of Episode 15 (I'll try to keep this spoiler free until the blogs have been finalized, but basically his whole crime was turning turning girls into mindless dolls to make the perfect idol group, obviously failing thanks to the Yokai Detective Agency and his past idols coming back to confront him abt their missing daughters) and he takes an aspiring idol under his wing, he finds out that he's broke, he's been broke ever since he died and became a Yokai. He's been trying to apply to several different jobs, but he can't really hold one up because he looks like a corpse. At least, until a certain yokai offers him a job in hairdressing. Good thing Atsushi's good with his hands.

Directator (Right)

* Once a very influential and aspiring film director when he was alive, he managed to thrive off in his afterlife as a Yokai, making cheap blockbuster flicks based on popular media. Average blog, but with lore bits (ik, not the most interesting, but whatever attracts a crowd)

[chaoticspeedrun]

Brighter to my eyes 1

Summary: Leo is good at reading people, it's what makes him a good strategist, but those blue hues of hers elude his sharp intuition.

Perhaps if they didn't he'd realize he didn't have to change himself for her to see him like he wants her to.

A.N. I wrote this fanfic over an idea of Rise! Leo using a cloacking brooch to hide his true self but it evolved into something way bigger, this fic will takes place in ROTTMNT after "Newsworthy" but April is 18 starting college instead of in High School, while the MC and Raph are 17, the twins 16 and Mikey 15.

Pairing: Rise! Leo x OC, Leo x Reader

Warnings: Angst, FLUFF, Sibling shenanigans, MC is a nerd, but a mean nerd in leather.

MASTERLIST • NEXT

April had been born and raised in New York, and she knew the city from top to sewers (quite literally), her part time jobs also took her all around, and she kept keys to every place she'd worked at (Which probably wasn't very legal).

Better yet, she knew about a hidden city underground New York, full of yokai and mystic energy, April had seen everything this city had to offer which includes having four mutant ninja turtles as best friends.

So as a freshman in college looking around for her next class April's ears immediately perked up as she heard a couple of students mention the last name Blanchet.

The Blanchet's were a well known family of politicians that lived in NYC, however, since April was in high school the youngest Blanchet had been a running conversation theme for most people her age.

Victoire Blanchet was the only child of an influential family, she was pretty and the rumour mill said she excelled at everything she tried.

And she'd tried it all.

Ballet, japanese, music, fencing, etcetera, meeting and befriending a lot of people along the way, but most of all art, holding an inconsistent but pretty and professional instagram account for it.

Victoire Blanchet was like a micro celebrity with how popular she was, so people admired and envied her equally.

April was no exception, Donnie was more skeptical.

Donnie and Leo were good at keeping up with trends on social media, which is why more than once had both of them stumbled across the name.

Donnie particularly had heard all about Victoire Blanchet, and he wasn't as excited as April when she found out they were attending the same school.

After a couple of weeks April herself had mostly forgotten about it too, she wasn't going to easily cross paths with Victoire when April was taking journalism and the art faculty was all the way across campus.

Right now she had bigger worries, like her film appreciation elective.

She'd taken the class for an easy A, but had already missed a couple of the movies they had to watch, whenever she sat herself to watch them she'd end up getting distracted or falling asleep, so she tried to watch them at the lair with someone else to force herself into paying attention.

The problem is that since the elective and the chosen movies were in chronological order they had so far only been mute movies in black and white, hence why she had fallen asleep during them.

Leo made a big deal out of it when April started playing Metropolis and he realized nobody spoke, then he paled when he saw how long the movie was.

He practically jumped at Mikey when he popped into the projector room with the Jupiter Jim saves the galaxy DVD and metropolis was forgotten.

But her four long essays were due 12AM, and April was resigned to watch someone explain the summary of the movies to her on YouTube.

As she thought this, someone made a sharp turn around the corner and wasn't fast enought to avoid a collition with her. April fell to the floor on her butt and her phone thankfully fell in the rushing hands of the person who bumped into her.

"I'm sorry! Are you okay?" The voice above April called and as she looked up her breath hitched recognizing features she'd gotten familiar with though the other side of a screen.

Victoire had unmistakeable short white hair that she'd just dyed recently from her natural black, a pale complexion with beauty marks dotting over her face and clear big blue eyes that were looking at April in concern contrasting the common cold gaze common in her pictures.

April soon realized Victoire was offering her hand to help and she took it, standing quickly "Yes! Yes, I'm good, no worries!"

Victoire nodded with a thin smile and glanced at the phone in her hand "Oh, Metropolis, were you watching it?"

April was slow to answer as she wasn't expecting the conversation to continue after the confirmation of her well being.

"Oh, I-well, not really, I did start but I was busy and now the essay is due tonight, so I should really watch it, but I don't have the time to so-" April started rambling, but the smile on Victoire's face while small seemed a bit more genuine.

"Yeah I get that, I can barely ever sit still long enough to watch a movie" Victoire said, saving April from her rant "But I did watch metropolis last year and I loved it, so I could help you with your essay if you want, it'd be hard for you to watch the whole thing and write the essay today"

April's eyes sparkled "You would?!"

"Sure" Victoire shrugged "There's a coffee shop in front of the art faculty we could work at, wanna come?"

April, with a wide elated grin nodded "Yeah, sure! My name is April"

"Victoire" The white haired girl grinned slightly "Come on, I really need a refill for the caffeine in my brain."

-

Of course if April had expected anyone to be interested in these movies then the girl in front of her was an excellent candidate, but the way Victoire narrated the story made it seem so interesting April was starting to regret not getting through the first minutes of it.

And then Victoire realized there were another three movies April hadn't seen, she ordered another round of coffee and started ranting to her about the cabinet of Dr. Caligari and how Tim Burton was one of the people influenced by that movie and German expressionism.

Through the middle of the first movie Victoire had pulled out a notebook and started explaining the story through drawings, making little doodles to represent the characters and lines crossing and twisting through her narrative which made it engaging and easy to remember.

But the more Victoire spoke and her rants deviated from the movies to how Tim Burton wasn't the real director for 'A nightmare before Christmas', the more April realized that Victoire was an extremely cool and talented person, the kind you don't expect to look at you twice and yet

She was a HUGE nerd.

And it was AMAZING, at times Victoire would realize she'd strayed too far from the topic and apologize quickly to step back in, but April was excited and asked questions about what she'd said while Victoire's smile grew sincerely before continuing her rant.

They spent a while in the café before April finally finished all four essay's and feeling accomplished they both ordered a couple of muffins and leaned back to chat.

"Ok, no, you are wrong, Jupiter Jim Pluto Vacation 4 is the best JJ movie of ALL times" April claimed and Voctoire snorted.

"Are you for real? I'm not hearing this from the person I just saved from failing film appreciation, I think I know what I'm talking about when I say Jupiter Jim sails the seven galaxies is by far the best JJ movie"

April scoffed "Ugh you're just like my friend Leo, he claims the same thing all the time and the others back him up, only real one is Donnie who actually understands a good piece of art when he sees it"

April pauses, she had been so relaxed the words had just spilled out of her mouth no filter, but well, it's not like Victoire would know she was talking about a bunch of turtles.

"Well, obviously this Leo has good taste, how many are the other ones?"

"Claiming your take? Three, Mikey and Raph are the others"

Victoire squinted at April, like she was processing the information over and over until a light bulb suddenly lighted up and her eyes widened "Now you're just messing with me" she huffed with a smirk.

April looked at her questioningly and Victoire numbered with her fingers.

"Leo, Donnie, Mikey and Raph? Don't tell me this  Mikey's second name is Angelo" She huffed and April smirked slowly.

"Okay, I won't tell you" and Victoire gasped

"There's no way that's their real names!"

"My besties names are Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael" April had a shit eating grin that grew when Victoire, cool and collected Victoire laughed loud and disbelievingly.

When she calmed back down Victoire grinned "Well, aside from one they obviously do have a good eye for art, Donatello is the only one not making his namesake proud."

They bickered for a bit before Victoire's eyes brightened up and she reached inside her bag for something "Hey, I'm holding a halloween party this weekend, it's going to be a bonfire party outside a haunted house game, you really should come"

Victoire offered five colorful invites to April who looked at them in awe.

Everyone wanted to be invited to a party by Victoire, but those who were invited waited all year for her halloween party that she was known to go all out for.

April couldn't believe it as she slowly took them and stuttered "Wh- yes! Sure, of course! I'll be there!" she grinned wide and Victoire smiled at her as she had been doing for a while now, a contrast to the first curt smiles she had given April at the beginning and hanging out with Leo helped April notice the difference between her smiles that most probably didn't, these ones were honest.

"Cool, you can bring your friends too! Parties are always better when you have a couple close friends around." April froze at these words.

Victoire expected her to bring along the guys, of course that's why she gave her four extra invites.

"Oh well, I'm not sure they'd be available that day..."

"None of them?" Victoire raised an eyebrow.

"Oh they're siblings, you know normally they're busy together!"

Victoire hummed "Well in case they are free, warn them that it's a costume party" Victoire gave her a small relaxed smile before smirking "If they don't bring a costume we will have to dress them in the white blanket with two holes of shame"

April snorted at that and then an idea started forming in her head "Oh they LOVE costumes, they are very good at dressing up, don't worry about it, you wouldn't even recognize them after they get started on one."

"Really?" Victoire grinned "Cool! There might even be a prize for the best costume so make sure you guys come!"

After that Victoire paid for their bill before April could even say a thing and they both said goodbye before going their own way, the moment Victoire was out of sight April rushed to the first manhole that could take her to the lair.