#Taiga is included in that apparently

[ghoulie-gal]

Is he?? Going to hibernate????

Also I assume he's taking you to Jabberwock hfjdjdbdj poor Haru

[aayakashii]

Leaving the fact that apparently Towa and Haku talk a lot about MC aside, it's interesting to me how Towa is able to see ghosts without an outside aid.

I honestly feel like among all characters, Towa is the most explicitly inhuman. His eyes look like a goat's, he is only able to talk during the night and he seems to have very loose morals (which could be attributed to a worldview largely different from our own – much like Fae have wholly different morals as well).

We usually assume he has the power to control the weather due to him being able to use lightning, but what if his actual ghoul power is something entirely different (´- `ก).｡ we've never heard him say his spell out loud and, if he is actually UNABLE to speak during the day (if it isn't his choice to be nonverbal), then his stigma probably isn't related to him being able to control the weather – if I'm not mistaken (please tell me if I am!!!), the ghouls have to say their stigma out loud for it to work, so his inability to speak during the day would render him incapable of using that specific power...

This is all pure speculation on my side though and I'm not sure about the whole having to say the stigma's name out loud thing, since Subaru's stigma apparently works without his will, just by touching someone.

But anyways! During the quiz section in the beginning of the game, Professor Hyde asks which power would we prefer and, in there, both elemental powers and gravity control are included. The gravity thing is Haru's, but what if the elemental thing isn't Towa's

It has been discussed already how most of these powers can be attributed to a specific ghoul and how it influences which house you'll be appointed to, so it's a bit weird to me how there would be two options related to Jabberwock in this question (although Taiga could either be Extreme Luck or Time Travel......... allegedly lol)

Anyway, I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I just think Towa is a very interesting and mysterious character and it's good that he likes MC so much, otherwise they'd have a real hard time going against someone as fickle as him 💀

[muire-lo]

I wasn't able to find an image description for Baru's map, so here's one! Feel free to copy, paste, and share.

[ID: A map done in black, sketched outline, featuring mountains, sea, rivers, major cities, and borders between duchies. 

The very north of the map at the top of the page shows a mountain range in a horizontal line across the top of Aurduynn, labelled Wintercrest Mountains. 

South of the mountains is the northern duchies, from left to right Erebog, Lyxaxu, Vultjag, and Oathsfire.

Erebog is rectangular shaped, with a river running from the Wintercrest mountains south into Duchy Nayauru. Baru’s point form note reads, “THE CRONE. Clay. Landlord problems. Probably going to starve.”

Duchy Lyxaxu is also rectangular shaped. Baru’s note reads, “DUKE HIGH STONE. Quarries. Smart man, write back!”

Duchy Vultjag is a thin rectangle, the second smallest duchy. A tributary of the river Vultsniada runs through the duchy, feeding Oathsfire to the east. Baru’s note reads, “DUCHESS OF COMETS. Nice scenery. Utterly unimportant.”

Duchy Oathsfire is rectangular in shape, bordered to the east by the river Inirein which runs south to Welthony, in Unuxekome. Baru’s note reads, “DUKE OF MILLS. Lots of money. River trade. Awful beards.”

The next row of duchies includes Sahaule, Nayauru, Ihuake, and Pinjagata. Next to Pinjagata is the Duchy Unuxekome, which runs fully south to the coast. 

Duchy Sahaule is a thin rectangle. It’s labelled, “THE HORSEBANE. Good soldiers. Client to Nayauru. What’s the name about?”

Duchy Nayauru is rectangular at the top and more round at the bottom. A river flows in from Erebog and ends in many dams. Baru writes, “THE DAM-BUILDER. Reservoirs. Cavalry. Stupid feudal marriage politics.”

Dugy Ihuake is the largest duchy, wide and broad, with Mount Kijune in the north (labelled “climb me!”). It includes a sketch of walled Freetown Haraeod, with one very large building in the centre. Baru’s note reads, “THE CATTLE DUCHESS. Herds. Cavalry. Huge!”

By comparison, Duchy Pinjagata is merely a slice of land, even smaller than Duchy Vultjag. Baru’s note reads, “DUKE OF PHALANXES. Best soldiers. Bad at names. Client to Ihuake.”

The last row of duchies borders the Ashen Sea: Autr, Radaszic, Heingyl, and finally Unuxekome.

Baru’s notes on Duchy Autr reads, “DUKE OF BRINE. Good salt. Large muscles. Client to Nayauru.”

Duchy Radaszic simply contains notes that read, “DUKE OF WELLS. Grain. Olives. Complete moron.” Bordering Radaszic and Heingyl is the city of Treatymont, right on the coast, and it is sketched to show a large walled city with many towers. Notes on Treatymont read, “Apparently Duch Lachta? Best port, federal capital. Naval base. Stay out of northarbor.”

Duchy Heingyl has notes that read, “THE STAG DUKE. Cavalry. Grain. Hates joy.” 

Finally, Duchy Unuxekome, at the bottom east (right) of Aurduynn, bordered by the Ashen Sea to the south and the river Inirein to the east. The south of the duchy is labelled Sieroch floodplain. Baru’s notes read, “THE SEA GROOM. Good seaport. Pirates. Seems pleasant.” Where the river Inirein meets the sea is the city of Welthony, which has many small buildings and one large building with a tower. Baru’s note of the city reads, “Unuxekome’s capital. Second-best port.”

Baru has made notes of the areas outside Aurduynn. 

At the very top of the map, north of the mountains, is a blank area with an arrow pointing up, labelled Stakhi Empire? With a question mark. 

To the west (left), a blank area labelled GRASSLANDS, TAIGA, AND DESERT. Baru’s note reads, “What’s over here? Look it up soon.”

South is the Ashen Sea. Baru’s note reads, “Sail only in summer!” There is an arrow pointing south/down and a note from Baru that reads, “south to Taranoke and Oriati Mbo. south to SOUSWARD and Oriati Mbo.”

East is an arrow pointing east/right. Baru’s note reads, “EAST to AWFUL MARSHLAND and NORTH FALCREST. Completely useless in winter.” 

In the top right of the map is a compass decorated with the silhouette of a cormorant. End ID.]

[sasaranurude]

Coly, the company behind Mahoyaku and Stand My Heroes, have announced a new game. Some friends and I realized that despite looking somewhat generic at first glance, it's got a handful of intriguing things going on with it! So here's a quick kind of long introduction to/my thoughts on Break My Case!

First: the website! The music on the site is really good! Go listen while you read this post!! There are 12 people listed as composers in the credits page, and it seems most every VA involved has at least a bit of experience with singing or music projects. The tone is a bit dark for a rhythm game (though I'm not ruling that out entirely), but otherwise it seems like there's gonna be a music focus. Cool! As far as other staff goes--the main scenario writer is also the writer of Stand My Heroes, and the character designer is Utako Yukihiro, who also did some work for B-Project.

The story concerns a cafe with a myriad of eccentric employees that runs an after-hours service where they solve problems. The exact nature of all this is left pretty vague.

And the draw for a game like this: The characters! Interestingly, they're divided into different departments at the cafe. What exactly those departments do isn't clear yet. As for the characters themselves--the more we looked at them, the more we liked them, lol. Quick summaries about what intrigued us about each guy. Note that these are not translations, none of us are fluent in Japanese (we all know just enough to get by with the google+jisho combo lol), and this should all be taken with a grain of salt.

The Main Office, consisting of Ai Kosaka, Yuzuru Kise, and Roka Suoh. (Names are listed in western given-family order because that's what the site uses for romanized names.) Roka is the one who owns the cafe, is the oldest character in the bunch at 36, and is that fun "mysterious guy with unknown backstory and an endless amount of weird acquaintances, who acts incompetent but might actually be hypercompetent" type of trope.

On account of the whole acting-incompetent thing, Ai and Yuzuru run the actual cafe business. And normally I won't be including fullbody character art in this post but I have to make an exception just this once.

Anyways.

Tumblr won't let me put four images in a row. Come on man. I wanna maintain the BMC's site style. Why are you mean to me. Anyways. The Simulation Department, consisting of Kou Ayato, Mao Ukyo, Akehoshi Hinomiya, and Yuragi Kanno. "Simulation" is its English name given on the site, but the Japanese given would probably read more like "relationship department".

Kou is a footloose playboy and Mao is a serious intellectual type, but apparently Kou will ask Mao to pretend to be his girlfriend so that he can avoid trouble with women. That's gay. I love that. (Mao is a guy [as far as we know], he just likes makeup--he's not the only one in that cast who does, either!) We all want Mao's outfit.

Akehoshi was a sleeper hit in the group chat, because his bio has a sentence about how he's the most normal-looking-yet-dangerous employee at the cafe, and also explicitly describes him as being like a dog, and naturally we all went crazy for the silly puppy as soon as we realized that he was in fact a silly puppy. Yuragi, on the other hand, likes cats. Such a classic for his character design trope, lmao.

The Administrative Department, consisting of Taiga Tsukimoto, Haruhi Ichikawa, and Sei Okiya. Taiga looks cool but if you look at his fullbody he's wearing awful sweatpants and apparently he cries while watching anime. I love this for him. Haruhi is a streamer because that's like an obligatory character trope now I guess. Sei was very popular in the group chat for being the single most suspicious character in the cast. What's his problem.

The Watchdog Department (or enforcement department, if you translate the jpn) consists of Shizuka Fushimi, Takeru Mikado, Soyogu Shinkai, and Shinobu Aizawa.

My friend described Shizuka as a "wet looking glasshole" and yeah. ok. unfortunately he does look like that. But it's ok he's allowed because his bio says he prefers quiet, orderly places with plants and no people and keeps to himself in common spaces but his own room is a complete mess. AKA he's an autism king. So I like him.

Takeru was obviously a hit because look at them. Takeru and Mao talk about makeup together, apparently. CUTE! Shinobu is the most fashionable guy in the cast and his bio says he has a few screws loose, which is amazing. Good for him. I have nothing to say about Soyogu I think I forgot he existed until I was putting this post together and I only looked at these all guys a few hours ago

The Negotiation Department, with Kiho Arima, Kyoya Shido, and Riku Tateshina. I described this group as "grandma, grandpa, and Columbo" and then the group chat couldn't call any of them anything else. And I do mean grandma. Because. ok. another fullbody. Because oh my god we have to look at Kiho.

GIRL. WHAT. IS. THAT. YOU'RE WEARING A CARPET. YOU'RE WEARING A COUCH. kiho is apparently a fortune teller and my friend acted as if this excused the outfit but i DONT agree i don't think anything excuses this. WHAT IS THAAAAAT

Kyoya is an artist and Riku is a psychologist so honestly this is a really fun bunch of jobs going on in this department. Riku is described as someone who falls in love easily, and he's most interested in Ai (from the Main Office, the very first guy in this post). We couldn't tell if the implication there is that he's in love with Ai, or if he falls in love with random people and yet his true attention always drifts back to Ai. Both of these options are gay.

The ST (special tasks) Department, with Yomose Onda, Yu Nina, Kamiya, and Urara Manami.

Yu had his life saved by Tomose and has now dedicated himself to him, to the point of being ready to die for him. YOU GOTTA LOVE THAT. INCREDIBLE TROPE. UNBEATABLE. GAY AS HELL. All we know from Tomose's side is that he's "fond" of Yu. That's fine I'm sure you can learn to love him. Or learn to hate him. Whatever's more entertaining.

Kamiya has no memory, hence the singular name. I'm sure whatever's going on there is weird and interesting. Urara is the youngest character, at 20. THAT'S RIGHT. THE YOUNGEST CHARACTER IS 20. THERE ARE ZERO TEENAGERS! THE AVERAGE CHARACTER AGE IS AROUND 26. THIS SHOULDN'T BE AS NOTABLE AS IT IS BUT THAT'S GACHA GAMES FOR YOU. Anyways I like Urara because I think he looks like an angry kitty.

Anyways, that's the gist of what we know about BMC--or BreMai, if you wanna go for something closer to the jpn abbreviation--right now. More info might drop at/around Animate Girls Fest, since they seem to be giving out game beta codes there. I don't know if I'm completely sold on it just yet--coly did just have a detective-themed gacha game fail a few months ago with &0. But we're not even completely sure it is a gacha yet, or what kind of gameplay it might have otherwise, so... there's a bit of hope. Maybe it'll be a weird cool dark rhythm game! Who knows!!!

[lumilasi]

UPDATE: Decided to make Max' human form colors match her naga design better, I think that was what was bothering me about them

Note: Max has no ears on purpose even in human form, also they can transform only partially where their upper body still looks like the human one.

Bio below: (unfinished, I'm gonna need time to develop them/her)

Name: Max Karuna

Nicknames: Snakes (Sebastian, Chouma) Maxie (Franziska)

Nonbinary, uses She/they

Age: 29

Height: 167 cm (human)

Occupation: A rockband's drummer

Family: They apparently has a MASSIVE family, but rarely sees them due to her job (not relevant to the main story either)

Love Interest: Franziska Belmont (A sith cat/cat witch)

Friends: Sebastian Kravchenko (Wyvern, bandmate) Chouma (A moth spirit, bandmate) Kaspian Kravchenko (Also a Wyvern, Sebastian's brother) Laurent Delune (Sebastian's friend) Taiga Delune (Laurent's GF)

Powers:

Aquatic abilities: They can breathe underwater, dive into the depth of 4 km, swim 50 mph, and send supersonic signals through water and has some water elemental powers, though she needs to be in contact with water to do so, unlike actual elementals.

Excellent drumming skills: Self explanatory

Shapeshifting: They can switch between a human, a half or full-naga, as well as a full snake form. The latter is the size of a normal python snake, whereas her naga form can be up to 10-15 meters long.

Snake hair: She can turn her hair into snakes that have very sharp teeth, and can choke or crush things. (Being a python type, Max is one of those rarer Naga with no poison production, most Nagas are venomous snakes)

Venom: She can produce venom from her fangs and clawed hands that can either sedate, paralyze or kill a target. They aren't the most poisonous type though, so typically the venom doesn't work lethally on most healthy humans, let alone nonhuman beings.

Sixth sense for treasure: Her kind generally are well known for finding anything lost that holds importance, and she is no different. If something is missing, their bandmates often ask them to find it.

WEAKNESSES:

Max can be easily coaxed for shenanigans, which can cause some issues and messes to be cleaned. She, as a snake, is not fond of cold climates and can get the flu extremely easily during winter.

PERSONALITY:

Max is confident, outgoing and friendly person, who makes friends easily and is generally seen as a bit of a sunny personality to be around. They have a mischievous side despite seeming very chill and mature at first glance, and tends to pull pranks on people a lot. They are also very attuned to people's emotions and vibes, and can tell when someone is having a bad day and what could perhaps help, or when is not the right time to talk about something.

They can be a bit of a potty mouth, but they try their best to censor themselves when around kids or people who don't like swearing (at least, if they like said people)

EXTRA FACTS:

Her snake colors and pattern is inspired by the banana/coral glow python

Max enjoys ridiculously sugary and sweet drinks and freakshakes.

Max' trademark coat was actually designed by Sebastian's brother, it was a special birthday gift and not available for sale anywhere. Kaspian made it based on her ideas.

Max finds it funny how all of their love interest are cats; Sebastian and Chouma with the Bakeneko brothers Alois and Quinn, and her/they with cat witch Franziska. (Though it takes a while before Frankie actually dares to ask her out, basically this happens properly post-main story for Frankie's brother)

Max loves action movies and silly goofy b-movie horror movies, finding them hilarious

They can't sing, at all. But they do make sick beats with the drums

Max of course largely follows punkish/grunge style, but also tends to enjoy including something really bright and colorful to it.

In general she tends to wear one really eccentric statement piece with almost every outfit, or at least one with a very strongly contrasting color.

Max's favorite style of party is treasure hunting, and anytime they celebrate her birthday or something, their friends arrange a hunt of some sort.

She has a habit of jokingly saying "oooo, Shiny!" about anything she likes, not just actual Jewels. It could be a friend, their girlfriend, clothes they like, etc.

Their kind tend to not have ears by default in human form, so if trying to blend in with actual humans, they have to remember to shapeshift their head to include those.

[lanymme]

So if you haven't heard, the recent chapter of the FGO SERAPH manga has revealed more details about Kiara's cult in Emiya Alter's world. Not only did it include people in positions of power around the globe

it also seemed to function as an aid and relief organization, providing medical care and (presumably highly suspect) remote therapy.

(seriously, look at the guy in the chair. what Ten Thousand Colored Stagnation does to a mf)

And following from this, the tidbit that's really hitting the fate fan news cycle right now is that we've gotten more details about the situation where killing cultist Taiga caused EMIYA Alter to become who he is. Apparently, she received medical care from the cult for her son, and after he was saved she stayed on. And when EMIYA went to go eliminate Kiara, Taiga shot at him.

That's really sad and fucked up as is.

But I want to add another little tidbit here that might not be common knowledge.

At the beginning of CCC, she introduces herself as Taiga Fujimura, taking the spot of homeroom teacher before Shit Goes Down and everyone gets taken to the Far Side of the Moon.

Kiara... isn't this just a little tasteless??

That said, I do want to add a little disclaimer: CCC Kiara is most likely not the Kiara that Emiya Alter fought against. I'm having a hard time recalling which of my sources that was in, but I'll link it if I can find it.

[thekaijudude]

Blazar 2nd half Catalog Leak

Ok I'm gonna cover the most important information first, which is Blazar's upgrade form here:

Even color809 posted about it so it's basically legit

So this is the design drawn by one of the toy conference attendees

And apparently it's name is "Ultraman Blazar Furdran Ultra Armor"

From the catalog leaks, it looks like Blazar is only gonna have a single upgrade form for the series, which is consistent with the hack we got from the Blazar Brace.

(Also for the next ep, Blazar will also reveal his original form in his rise sequence if yall haven't heard it alr by now, will talk about more in the commentary tmr)

And with that covered, onto the rest of the catalog leak:

1. DX Chilsofard Lancer (Combines with Chilsonite Sword)

2. DX Blazer Stone 05

- Ultraman Taiga Stone

- Glitter Trigger Eternity Stone

- Ultraman Decker Dynamic Type Stone

- Earth Garon Stone

3. DX Blazar Stone 06

- Ultraman Z Delta Rise Claw Stone

- Ultraman Geed Galaxy Rising Stone

- Ultraman Ribut Stone

- Gavadon Stone

4. DX Blazar Stone 07

- Ultraman Ginga Victory Stone

- Ultraman Reguluss Stone

- Ultraman Orb Specium Zepellion Stone

- Ultraman Zero Beyond Stone

- Sevengar Stone

5. Ultraman Blazar Great Battle Set

-Includes a Blazar and a Brood Gebaruga figures

(Brood Gebaruga is rumored to be a 3-headed kaiju)

UHS and UMS Figures:

Ultraman Blazar Furdran Ultra Armor

Gavadon (a)

Alien Reinas

Mogujon

Irugo

Zugugan

DX Figures:

Deltandal

Valaron (This dude is the final boss of the series)

Ultra Monster Advance Figures:

Fadoran

Earth Garon Mk.III Upgrade set

Miscellaneous:

(These are kaiju figures but not sure at this point what line theyre in)

Zangir

Gongirugan (Apparently a modified Zegan suit)

-

Looks like TsuPro really be spending all their ShinU revenue on Blazar lmao

But this means that we would most likely see all these suits being reused in subsequent series as well

[peculiarmarsu]

"Something completely different" continues, as I was about to throw away a comic reading challenge sheet that I snatched from Keski-Suomen Sarjakuvaseura, but decided to think through the prompts before doing so. So under -read more- you'll find some musings of mine about comics I ended up reading this year. There's some pics too!

I'll start with some comics that were the topic for book talk meetups arranged by the aforementioned comic group. I've never attended such meetups before, and these turned out really interesting! Even I babbled away my thoughts despite usually being on the silent and shy side. Way to go me!

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck - Don Rosa Prompt: The protagonist gets older during the events of the comic. Donald Duck comics were a part of my childhood, and I especially loved the works of Don Rosa. It's been ages since I read any though, so it was neat to jump back to this big chronicle and read it properly in its entirety. This time I read it in English, which was something with the different accents.

Valotusaika - Avi Heikkinen Prompt: Features a pet/other house or farm animal. I had read this before but had another go for the session. Interesting comic that uses edited photos, yet not in any stiff way I think - the posing and expressions are great! It tells a story about a man who's been kicked to the head by life a lot, who finds a camera that can show the past. The first part of the comic has quite heart-wrenching climax ;u;

Anne Frank's Diary - Ari Folman, David Polonsky Prompts: People oppose the leading powers & the comic tells of loneliness. This was my first touch on Anne Frank's Diary, and I think the comic form works well here and helps to visualize things such as how cramped the attic space really was. The art is really pretty too, and many panels look like frames straight out of an animated movie (which there later was).

Now onto comics I read outside of the book talk sessions.

This shelf used to contain art supplies...

4. Bird in Wonderland - Taiga Sassa Prompts: Comic is a travel story, comic is relaxing, comic where people are nude, comic where sweets are eaten, comic where something embarrassing happens, comic where a celebration is held. Many prompts... They started releasing this in Finnish this year, and I thought to give it a go! This year in general has felt like I wanted to try out more comics, and find new ones to follow to fill slowed down schedules of some. I hadn't heard of this series beforehand, but it's been a nice travel story to read, based on real journey by Isabella Bird. So far emphasis is definitely on comic is relaxing, as it really is joy to read.

5. Emma - Kaoru Mori Prompts: Includes a speech or public performance, comic that's been on your reading list for long, comic includes cleaning or laundry (definitely!), visit in a park or garden, includes hugs or kisses, includes travel by train. Many prompts again! This got a new release this year in Finnish, and I wanted to catch that because I was too much a teenager in its first run. I actually just today read the last two books :D This was another comfy read. Emma as a protagonist is fairly odd and distant as we hardly get to see her thoughts, her antics are rather followed from the view of the myriad of other characters. Yet I was still as invested how her love story develops as her maid colleagues and others :'D I was suprised to find out the later volumes were mostly side stories, some quite whatever but couple more interesting.

6. Night of the Living Cat - Hawkman, Mecha-Roots Prompts: Released 2023 (started 2022 but on-going... :D), series has an interesting name. A comic that I ran into here on tumblr, just from seeing one page with cat paws, that intrigued me enough to seek where this art was from. Amazing zombie parody, where people turn into cats upon contact. I love this, probably my THE COMIC of 2023. Apparently someone who's worked on the English publication is here on tumblr too *waves*

7. Hevosjumala - Sami Makkonen Prompts: The events aren't told in chronological order, interesting name. The name means 'horse god'. This randomly caught my eye in a book store, and on first glance I was little sceptic about the art style if it looked little too messy to comprehend, but took it with me anyway. Aside couple character mess-ups, the art didn't prove a problem after all, fits the feeling and themes definitely! And by that I mean it's a paranormal horror story with some nice folktale twists.

8. Candy & Cigarettes - Tomonori Inoue Prompts: Protagonist is a child/youngster, includes a crime. This was actually a recommendation at a panel in Tampere Kuplii. I'm not normally one for crime genre, but the art style spoke to me in this. Some of the goons remind me of early Toriyama's work :D Protagonist duo is made of a child assassin and an elderly ex-cop who has to join forces with the former to earn money for his grandson's treatment. Graphic violence and heavy themes, but also a lovable protagonist duo trying to help each other out.

9. Ilmarin Koijaiset - Jenni Välikangas Prompts: Features rainbow family or couple (is that term commonly used in English?), less than 100 pages, features pet. I got interested in this comic after seeing the original pages up on an exhibition - the paintwork is GORGEOUS. Tells a story of a guy who moves onto her aunt's island to take care of it and the dog while aunt is away. Turns out the island isn't quite what it seems!

10. Delicious in Dungeon - Ryoko Kui Prompts: Includes hunting/fishing/foraging, something surprising happens in the comic. Yep, been reading this too, and the volumes 11 and 12 are ordered. Idk what to say here, great and interesting story and worldbuilding, lovely and distinctive characters and great art! Even with the rather "monster of the week" style the chapters often have going on, the in-depth approach makes it interesting.

11. Fullmetal Alchemist - Hiromu Arakawa Prompts: Comic features a border, travel via train, features a pet. A classic that I re-read again this year after scavenging all the books from my folks' attic :D But I.. sure don't like... how the title is upsidedown when stacked like that... and it doesn't make sense to me to have the back up.. augh.

I read other titles too as well, but these listed here were the ones that came to mind for the prompts. Annnyway, congrats I guess if you read all that? Feel free to comment and babble your opinions if you will~

[karigarihakase]

Pazudora- A Guide

What’s this massively-long-running kids anime, reaching near 250 episodes that you’re probably not following?

This is a guide I’ve been meaning to write for a while for Pazudora, a neat kids show which has been ongoing since 2018 and basically no one talks about.

Pazudora is the second anime adaptation of the Puzzle & Dragon mobile game, following Puzzle & Dragons X. And yes, they take place in a shared continuity, but familiarity with one is not at all necessary for following the other. The two series are vastly tonally different, with X being a rather-serious story set in a fantasy world. Pazudora is mostly a comedy, but can get serious when it wants to, and it’s set in our world. But then wait, how do they share a continuity? Because it turns out one of the main characters was Isekaid from the world of X to our world. And yes, there is a crossover episode at some point and various references to X scattered around.

As you might be guessing from that explanation, Pazudora is bizarre. How should I describe it? If you’re at all familiar with the Battle Spirits franchise, it’s a lot like Heroes, but on even more acid. Pazudora is centered around various tournament arcs, where pro gamers intend to become the best in the world. But when they’re not in the middle of a tournament (and heck, sometimes when they are), the rest of the show is pure ridiculous filler. After about 100 episodes in, the series switched to short format episodes (rather, half is a live-action variety show where a bunch of comedians play Pazudora and Ninjala.) This lack of screentime for serious plot apparently led the writers to take a plan B. Make it even more ridiculous. It actually worked to great effect. Although, many characters suffered greatly reduced roles as a negative side effect, including some who were quite prominent previously.

And now, a brief introduction of the cast. 

Starting with the Pazudora Club: 

Taiga Akashi (cv. Asuna Tomari)- The main character. His family runs a takoyaki business, and he dreamed of being no. 1 at takoyaki-making. After seeing a Pazudora match with the popular pro-gamer, Matsuhara-Pro, he becomes enamored and decides to switch fields... not losing his objective at being the best in the world. And to be fair, it’s not like he drops takoyaki for Pazudora. He still takes the business very seriously. And he’s able to utilize his skill at flipping balls of flour and octopus to help him become better at playing mobile games. Yes, seriously. Taiga is also ridiculously smug, and it’s funny. He’s not a goody-two-shoes hero, which does make him stand out from some generic shounen protagonists.

Toragon (cv. Tetsuya Kakihara)- Taiga’s partner. He’s the character in question who was isekaid from the world of X. His normal form is that of a tiny round tiger (but he’ll insist that he’s a Toragon- part tiger, part dragon) and he eventually evolves to a more mature looking form that he only takes during battle.

Sakura Uzuki (cv. Honoka Inoue)- Taiga’s neighbor and childhood friend. Her family runs a cake shop. Sakura is a member of the Pazudora club along with Taiga, and while she does initially strive to be a pro-gamer, she decides she doesn’t want to, and plays more of a support role as team captain. She’s quite good at the game, and will still play on occasion, but rarely does these days. Sakura begins the series with a crush on Matsuhara-Pro, but gradually develops feelings for Taiga, and a lot of her character arc is her coming to terms with. Many of the ED animations focus on this relationship. An interesting note- Sakura is voiced by Honoka Inoue, daughter of Kikuko Inoue, who voiced Sakura’s mother.

Whip- Sakura’s partner monster. Whip is initially one of the only monsters besides Toragon who will appear out of battle. She’s cake-themed, and something of a glutton. Unlike many characters who got reduced roles when the show switched to short format, Whip actually landed several focus episodes, which tend to be trippy even for this show’s standards.

Yukichi Tokuzawa (cv. Chie Koujiro)- Taiga’s friend, and co-Pazudora Club member, who is incredibly rich. He admires Taiga like a brother. Although not as skilled in Pazudora as others, he does eventually get his pro-gamer license. Still, he rarely makes it far in the tournaments. His main rival since childhood is Tsukasa Oujo, who is another rich kid. His partner monster is some sort of thunder god thing. It doesn’t appear enough for me to remember its name. It gets a chibi form that can appear out of battle when the series switches to short format.

Ryuji Matsuhara (cv. Yusuke Kobayashi)- The main rival character, and kind of an edgelord. To be fair, Ryuji has a serious inferiority complex going on, being that he’s the younger brother of the great Matsuhara-Pro. So he grew up always being second best, and when he ends up with the Pazudora Club, he also finds himself being second best to Taiga. Throw in the writer’s love for pulling the Warf-Effect on him, and he gets messed up to the point that he temporarily leaves the team and goes off to America to work out issues. With a little help from Oujo, he comes back a lot better. His family business is calligraphy, and his partner monster is a blue sea dragon. Like Yukichi’s, it’s not very relevant.

The Adults

Gen-san (cv. Taketora)- A fellow restaurant owner in Taiga’s home town, and the most frequently appearing adult character, even in the short episodes when the rest of his idiot trio get demoted to extra. He still gets a somewhat reduced role, it’s just not as bad in comparison. Gen is, as I’ve implied, not-too-bright, and he’s basically one of the kids, often joining the Pazudora Club on their adventures. His archrival is Maeken, who he sees as a rival for Yukiko-sensei’s love.

Ken “Maeken” Maeyamada (cv. Anri Katsu)- Taiga’s homeroom teacher. If you only watched the short format episodes, you would not even realize he’s a character, as he barely exists anymore. He’s a lot like Gen-san, and the two have a mutual rivalry (and mutual love for Yukiko-sensei), although they actually do really see each other as friends. They’re just tsundere about it.

Yukiko-sensei (cv. Yukiyo Fujii)- The school nurse at Taiga’s elementary school. If not for the fact that she’s referred to as “sensei”, you’d be forgiven for not even realizing she’s an adult, as she’s one of the most childish characters in the show, is oblivious beyond reason (she has no clue that Gen or Maeken are crushing on her hard), and has a tendency to just be doing silly stuff that makes no sense even in context. She does in fact have a split personality, but her evil side is only seen on one occasion. She loves Taiga’s takoyaki, although her favorite food is actually strawberry cake, and she later becomes bros with Musashi, who actually trumps her in the braindead department.

Toki (cv. Taiten Kusunoki)- A grumpy, reclusive old guy who becomes the eventual coach of the Pazudora Club. He’s something of the “big good”, if this series actually has one. This due to the fact that he’s the longtime rival of the “big bad” Kashiwaki. Despite their rivalry, it’s really not hard to mistake the two as exes. The fact that Toki is voiced by Taiten Kusunoki (Number Nine) and Kashiwaki is voiced by Sho Hayami (Garudos) makes it hilarious. And yes, there’s one episode where the only relevant characters are the two of them and the omniscient announcer voiced by Rikiya Koyama (Otherworld King). It’s a Battle Spirits villain convention.

Kashiwaki (cv. Sho Hayami)- A shady guy who’s trying to revolutionize pro-gaming. He coaches a team consisting of Shin, Death Binen and Black Rose. While obviously ambitious and portrayed as the ultimate “villain”, it’s more that he’s misguided, and he gradually comes to care about his team and shift priorities.

Chisato Akashi (cv. Akemi Okamura)- Taiga’s mother. She’s the one mainly in charge of the takoyaki shop. She is married, but her husband is usually away.

Hitomi Akashi (cv. Miki Narahashi)- Taiga’s grandmother who also runs the takoyaki shop. Actually a pretty cool old lady.

The Rivals

Ryuichi Matsuhara, a.k.a. Matsuhara-Pro (cv. Hirofumi Nojima)- Older brother of Ryuji, and known as the strongest pro-gamer. Taiga admires him, and this eventually becomes a mutual thing. He cares about Ryuji a lot, despite tensions in their relationship.

Iwao Harima + Gon + Yasu (cv. Kimiko Saito/Iwao + Miki Narahashi/Gon)- Local bully and his groupies. Iwao has a big crush on Sakura, who just finds him repulsive. Fortunately their appearances are rare these days, as they were just a particularly annoying Team Rocket. However, it is noteworthy that Gon looks like Akira from Drive Head. And that Akira’s seiyuu Takashi is one of the comedians who appears on the live action parts.

Nekota Nekoyama (cv. Ayumu Murase)- Basically the pre-teen boy equivalent to a crazy cat lady. Becomes one of Taiga’s early opponents when he tries to kidnap Toragon, due to him being a cat, technically. His partner is another cat-like creature like Toragon. I don’t think he ever became a pro-gamer, but might’ve just blocked it from my mind. Either way, he’s not at all relevant these days.

Tsukasa Oujo (cv. Atsushi Abe)- Our resident rich pretty boy. He has fleets of fangirls who follow him to every tournament. He definitely has the tendency to be a pretentious snot, but does show a kinder side now and then. Eventually gets his pro-gamer license and becomes a tournament regular.

Honoka Himeno (cv. Nanami Yamashita)- The idol pro-gamer. She loves to be in the spotlight and can definitely be manipulative. She values her career as a pro-gamer just as much as her idol career, which has led to problems with her management. However, her two teammates are also idols and pro-gamers. Also, she’s a massive butt monkey. Notably, she’s an expy of Garnet from X, down to the same seiyuu.

Eina (cv. Chika Anzai)- One of Honoka’s teammates. Mainly just notable due to getting a win in on Taiga, something Honoka’s never managed.

Zi Chao Li (cv. Kazue Ikura)- Some Chinese martial artist pro-gamer whose existence I completely forgot. Needless to say, he doesn’t appear much anymore.

Shin Kanzaki (cv. Natsuki Hanae)- The psychic pro-gamer. Yes, on Shin’s debut he’s shown to have the power to mind-control his opponents into losing, making him way too OP for his own good. He starts to play fairly later. He’s the strongest member of a pro-gamer team assembled by Kashiwaki.

Death Binen (cv. Kenji Nomura)- The second member of Shin’s team. A brutish man who speaks in grunts and displays animal-like behavior. This is actually all a stage persona. He can talk and behave like a normal person.

Black Rose (cv. Natsuki Aikawa)- The third member of Shin’s team, and the lone female. Nothing is known about her. She never even gets a speaking part until well over episode 200 and is relegated to off-screen matches.

Musashi (cv. Jun Fukushima)- The most brain-dead pro-gamer ever to live. Seriously, I don’t know how he’s a pro-gamer, because he’s a total joke character. Does a lot of funny stuff through his cluelessness.

HIDETO (cv. Tatsuhisa Suzuki)- A rock-star gamer who writes his name in all caps. Completely irrelevant.

Hayato (cv. Takuto Yoshinaga)- He’s one of the first rival pro-gamers Taiga faces after getting his license. Despite being made out to be a main rival, he quickly fades into the background, but sometimes turns up in crowd scenes.

Shinsengumi (cv. Chiharu Sawashiro/Soji + Masafumi Kimura/Isami + Makoto Furukawa/Sanosuke)- Another rival pro-gamer team, where all the members are named after the Shinsengumi members. Although competent and make a good showing for themselves when they appear, they mostly get ignored these days.

Hibiki Kobe (cv. Kokoro Kikuchi)- A newbie player who admires Taiga. Appears in the short-format episodes only. Some of the earlier stories there involve teaching him the game. He partners with a bastet monster who always follows him around out of battle.

Leo Hashiba (cv. Ryohei Kimura)- A major character who doesn’t show up until the short-format episodes. He’s roughly Taiga’s parallel, as a smug-but-generally-friendly pro-gamer and restaurant owner who uses a lion theme rather than tiger.

Black Toragon (cv. Tomokazu Sugita)- Leo’s partner. Exactly what it says on the tin, he’s a Toragon but black. However, he’s much more stoic than the zany Toragon.

Minami Mido (cv. Ami Nakano)- Leo’s assistant, and fellow pro-gamer. She’s kind of like his much-more-serious handler at times. Ends up becoming friendly with Honoka. Sadly, she doesn’t go into space with most of the cast, so hasn’t been relevant for a while.

Ginga (cv. Minami Takayama)- Initially a minor recurring character, but later becomes part of Taiga’s main circle. He’s an alien, but a very human-looking one. Like Ryuji, he has a bit of a complex involving his much-more-competent older brother.

Void (cv. Hiroki Takahashi)- Ginga’s brother. He’s a cold and stoic type, and an extremely powerful player. Serves as the main antagonist during the space arc, but it seems there’s a larger threat at play.

Dusk and Rip (cv. Koji Ishii/Dusk + Fumiko Orikasa/Rip)- Void’s only two named teammates so far. Dusk is the one who trained both Void and Ginga in the past. Rip is Void’s guard and she has a huge thing for him.

And yes, there are lots more characters I didn’t include here.

.....

Where to watch: And here lies the problem. There are torrents up to about ep. 123. Then nothing since, barring maybe one or two episodes someone randomly released. The episodes are streamed on YT every Thursday, but deleted after two weeks. I do have some saved, but probably only dating from less then a year back, so I’m still missing a chunk myself. I might upload those to a Mega when I get the time.

The show airs Sundays at 6PM Japan time. For how much longer I have no clue, but it can easily be live-watched.

There are also no subs except for one episode, which features a cameo of Potato from Pui Pui Molcar.

[asknarashikari]

Emu: What the fuck?!

Hiiro: Pediatrician, it’s so early in the morning.

Kiriya: What’s got you so riled up, Ace?

Emu; Take a look at the video that pink menace sent here just now.

Kiriya: Should we be watching videos the pink menace sends us?

*watches how the DGP players’ memories are extracted*

Kiriya: Yeah, I agree with Ace, WHAT THE FUCK?!

Hiiro: *starts calling relevant parties*

Neon: Ano,

Emu: Neon-chan!

Emu: Can we do a quick check-up on you?

Neon: Okay?

Neon: I don’t think you should waste your time on me, apparently I don’t exist.

Emu: What?

Hiiro: And I treated a human with animal characteristics.

Hiiro: You still have human organs and genetics, you are a patient.

Emu: Hiiro-san!

Emu: But Hiiro-san’s right, you’re alive now and you are entitled to have your health taken care of.

Neon: Animal characteristics?

Emu: The Zyumans.

Emu: You know those people that seemed like they’re simply wearing animal heads and have tails?

Emu: They’re a race of Zyumans, human with animal characteristics.

Neon: Eh

Neon: What is this check up for?

Kiriya: Do the general check-ups Ace.

Kiriya: I think we need Taiga’s expertise here.

Hiiro: I already called a neurologist over.

Hiiro: My father should be with them later after they do their rounds.

Neon: Umm, can I ask what’s going on?

Emu: Umm soo… you know Decade, right?

Neon: Yes?

Emu: Well he sent us a video of how the DGP Riders lose their memories.

Neon: Wait, it’s not because the goddess actively erases them?

Emu; No…

Emu: Watch

*Separate videos of Keiwa, Michinaga, Ace, and Neon herself undergoing the memory extraction process.

Keiwa was even hooked to a blood bag as he bled profusely as he undergone  the procedure.

Neon: That’s…

Emu: That’s why we want to have some general check up done on you four, and if you know some people who became Riders, we need to check them as well.

Neon: I think you need to check on someone else first, he became a Rider and he’s really old.

Emu: What?

Neon: I believe his name was Ittetsu Tanba.

Emu: Kiriya-san.

Kiriya: On it, Ace.

Well... we see Ittetsu in trailer for the movie (Keillow-san!!!) so at least we know he's doing ok... but yeah the whole memory erasing shtick is sketchy af man. And the thought of Azuma Neon and Keiwa going through that every time they got retired is disturbing.

I suppose that it's a small mercy that Keiwa's memory loss this time around seems to be a result of the Grand End being triggered... though it doesn't look like it's gonna last for very long.

And because I truly have no faith in the DGP having any sort of decency anymore... I wouldn't put it past them to stop time the moment Keiwa loses his Driver, subject him to the treatment, then bring him back to the moment they found him sans Rider and DGP memories. Yeah, I know it's convoluted, but these guys used memory-erasing tech when they have the Goddess who could warp reality (including memories) anyway...

[great-and-small]

Okay I warned y’all this would be a lot but here we go. As background you should know that for many birders, the hobby is a lot more than just going outside and watching birds. There is a competitive angle where the goal is to spot as many bird species as possible and record these sightings on your personal “life list”. As some bird species can only be spotted in remote locations across the globe, it takes a decent amount of time, dedication, skill, and money to fill out life lists that number in the thousands. As can be expected, many of the individuals with these mega life lists become quasi celebrities in the birding world. Chief among them is Peter Kaestner, a lifelong birder who has been meticulously recording his life list over decades as the de facto top birder. As he has added to his list bird by bird, thousands of interested avian enthusiasts have been following along and celebrating his milestones. Most exciting in recent months is his intrepid journey towards becoming the first birder to ever record seeing 10,000 different species. The entire birding community has been watching him creep towards 10k with growing excitement. Kaestner is deeply respected in the birding community and there is great trust for his well-documented list.

So now the twist. Just as Kaestner was getting closer and closer to 10k, a previously unknown birder named Jason Mann suddenly joined an app called iGoTerra (not the most common app for birding records) and all at once added observations of close to 10,000 birds. Suddenly, Kaestner being the first birder to reach this milestone isn’t such a sure thing, and both he and mysterious newcomer Mann seem to be scrambling to count as many birds as possible as the race narrows.

On February 9th Kaestner announces he’s hit the milestone and seen his ten thousandth bird, the Orange-tufted spider hunter. The birding world rejoices! As a ~crazy~ coincidence, Jason Mann just so happens to announce on the same day that he has also hit the milestone and he actually did it before Kaestner. He writes an article about himself that is somehow both shamelessly masturbatory and also has that weirdly impersonal AI generated article feel.

Well obviously the birding world is a little skeptical of this random ass dude suddenly swooping in to snag this milestone that has been years in making. Naturally, people started looking a little closer at Mann’s list, and it has some… let’s say interesting observations. It appears from his own reports that Mann has casually rediscovered several species of birds and not bothered to tell anyone. Some of the most ludicrous observations include:

New Caledonian Nightjar- has not been seen since 1939

Manipur Bush Quail- only one suspected sighting since 1932

Zapata rail- Unbelievably rare, and largely inaccessible due to environment

Taiga bean goose- Not the rarest goose in the world but Mann’s reported sighting was from North Korea. And it was apparently the only bird recorded there. So he just went to NK, saw this goose, and that’s it? Weird.

These are just a few examples of many, many fishy recordings. The issue here is nobody knows who Mann actually is, and the only places providing information about him (such as his LinkedIn) are really bizarre in a way I don’t have time to dig into here. Mann (or someone claiming to be him) actually took to BirdForum.net to defend himself, where he offered a long-winded and somewhat fumbling explanation for his life list. He claims that all of these mythical bird sightings were erroneously counted by the iGoTerra app, and he hadn’t meant to include them at all. He assures us that the rest of the recordings are entirely legitimate. Mann said in his post that in light of these mistakes he is ceding his victory to Kaestner, but was quick to say he has still totally seen more than 10k birds- even if they’re not all recorded correctly. He sent Kaestner a vaguely condescending email that Kaestner responded to with, in my opinion, far too much grace.

So now the birding community is left trying to figure out this bizarre and unexpected outcome. Is Peter Kaestner in fact the first birder to record ten thousand birds? A shadow of doubt has been cast on a title that everyone has expected to be his for years. Some birders are sincerely congratulating Jason Mann for his accomplishment in the field, and others are suggesting he isn’t even a real person but in fact some kind of artificial intelligence birding psy op. It is absolute chaos, and nobody in my life wants to hear me rant about this

Do y’all wanna hear about some absolutely crazy shit going down in the birding world right now

[foxstens]

i suddenly want an fsn remake

[hotwaterandmilk]

The 2nd Franchouchou Virtual Live just streamed. While the stream quality was pretty low again for me (maybe just shitty Australian internet) it was a tight and enjoyable showcase with some more dynamic “camera” angles for showcasing the group as they were performing which helped with the “live” feel of it all.

No.3 and No.4 thought they'd be stronger hosts than they ended up being haha, which was cute. At one point No. 4 asked "What would you do if I asked you to cry with me?" and No.3 replied "I might give it a try." It was established that No.3 would pretty  much do anything No.4 asked her to do haha, including letting her "flag fly.” In the end No.4′s encouragement was based on No.1's suggestion that they'd both like to see No.3 flustered and this was how she was trying to make that happen.

Meanwhile No.0 got electrocuted in the background and slept, but hey she was fine in the end and I just love having her hanging around (she adds so much life to things). There was a power outage and a discussion of spooky things, as well as summer and we got an extra song this time! There were 4 songs total, including:

Taiga Ya Tome ni Naite Kure, Yomigaere (one of No.4's favourites apparently), FLAG wo Hatamekasero, and the new song, Beginning.

Beginning was definitely more of a rock/dance song, which I always love from Franchouchou. No. 3 was also the centre so it was good to hear her lead a less pop song than usual. I'll definitely listen to this one on repeat when the CD comes out.

Best of all... apparently NO.3  WROTE THE LYRICS. And she wanted to write about what they do in Franchouchou, the members, and their future. ❤️

They all also would like to see us live in concert rather than just via a virtual live. HMM. Anyway, can’t wait for the 3rd and final virtual performance next month and getting that new album in my hot little hands!

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

I'd love to hear the other Kazumi+Kiva cast ideas that didn't make it into the fic if you'd like to share them!

Sure, why not? ^_^ First off, I cut some dialogue from the end of the story, which I realized was making it drag on a bit too much:

“Oh, and my brother and his fiancée will be over for dinner as well, I’ll introduce you.”

“...you have a brother?”

“Half-brother. On, uh, on my mother’s side.”

“Man, Kurenai, your family situation is complicated. Although it’s starting to look like maybe mine is too.”

Then, the circumstances of Kazumi’s...ah...conception, which weren’t included in the story because I didn’t feel like putting his mom on the phone for an actual call. Kazumi is a year older than Wataru--this is actually roughly accurate to the actors, Takeda’s a couple of years older than Seto. His parents weren’t especially close before they got married, having decided to do so basically because their parents thought it would be a good idea and they liked each other fine. (They’ve since grown to love each other very much, because I don’t like sticking people in unhappy marriages.) Kazumi’s mother met “Mr. Handsome” on a two or three day trip into the city to do some shopping the week before her wedding, thought he was very charming, and decided to go for the gusto as a last fling before marrying someone she didn’t know very well. The fact that Kazumi was born almost precisely nine months after the wedding didn’t actually raise any eyebrows; it didn’t even occur to his mother that he might not be her husband’s blood son until he got to be twelve or so and it became apparent that he bore no resemblance to his father at all.

The other stuff that didn’t end up making it into the story was mainly about the reactions of the rest of Wataru’s family:

Maya sees Kazumi and starts laughing so hard that she has to sit down.

Taiga, who didn’t know Otoya at all in the first place but has been helping Wataru digitize all these photos, has an I’ve-seen-a-ghost reaction similar to the cafe owner’s.

Jirou, observing from Castle Doran as he sometimes does, knocks over the table and entirely ruins his game of poker with Ricky and Ramon, because in what world is it fair that Otoya managed to continue his pain-in-the-ass bloodline twice when Jirou couldn’t do it once to save his whole species? (By the time Maya arrives for their bi-weekly chess game he’s calmed down a little bit, but he’s still pretty pissed off about it.)

(Meanwhile, Masao manages to steal a Fullbottle out of Kazumi’s coat and starts playing with it, it gets retrieved by Kivat and returned to Kazumi, and then there has to be a whole other conversation about, ok, apparently we’re also both superheroes.)

[okoutd2511]

Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 Years *Documentary

Who: The lykov family

What: Observing how Agafia Lykov has survived for 70 years in a rough conditioned remote area

Where: Russia, Siberia, taiga

When: First half of documentary 1936 - 1944, second half 1944 - 2013

Why: Because there are not many people now a days who live of the land the way Agafia does, especially individuals who are open to interviews and cameras. Trying to share her way of life.

How: By recording and using standard research methods to attain information

Research Techniques:

The main research technique being used in this case study is Inquiries based in a natural setting. This research technique is a mix between two others known as observation and interviewing. It includes the field-visit research method which involves going to the area of research and interviews that provide us with first person research. They do a good job posing open-ended questions that result in a lot of information being given through the stories told by Agafia.

Invisible Backpack

There is definitely an invisible knapsack involving the convenience that is taken for granted in the urban areas. It is easy to forget how many different resources we have within our reach, Agafia is forced to craft, forage, or trade in order to get any of her essential needs. There are no companies she can call to shovel her roof or area. She also has no money to purchase anything from an urban area.

They don’t really address much about any challenges she has faced as a woman in the Taiga, other than when learning about her relationship with Yerofei. It is assumed that because he is the only man in the area and her the only woman that they must have had a fling. It is a bit of a rude assumption and I don’t understand how her past love life relates to the goal of the video. I believe there are other assumptions made about their relationship however its hard to make out exactly what the filmmaker was trying to achieve with the questions posed in the interviews between Yerofei and Agafia.

Ethics

They talk about some ethically questioning scenarios such as how Agafia had lost her family. Her family had died to pneumonia that was allegedly contracted from geologists who had came to visit her home. The interviewer asks if she blames them for her family death, it was clear that a part of her did, but it was also apparent that she had forgiven them and moved on. Despite everything she has gone through (escaping the oppression of Stalin, mother starving to death, and losing the rest of her family), Agafia remains grateful and content with the life she has.

Considering her family has passed away due to outsiders visiting her home, does it seem ethical for these filmmakers to be conducting their interviews while living with her? They never addressed what made Agafia agree to having them live on her property, or why she would allow outsiders. I feel this was a posing ethical question that was left unanswered.

My Own Research Method

I personally feel the best way to research different cultures is to visit the area of research as a participant. It is still important to have questions ready, but living with Agafia and experiencing her everyday life first hand makes for good observation information. This illustrates a proper understanding of what is needed to be done in order to survive the Taiga. A good example of this type of research method is the documentary “Departures” by Scot Wilson and Justin Lukach. They visit different places around the world participating in their cultures and way of life to build relationships and connections while collecting information.

This is the thumbnail for the show for anyone curious:

[odaclan]

I knew that Nobunaga-centric kabuki titles have existed since the days of Edo shogunate, but it was news to me when I discovered that the Naotora Taiga drama was not Ichikawa Ebizou XI’s first rodeo as Nobunaga. 

He first performed the role of Nobunaga in the kabuki title Wakaki Hi no Nobunaga 若き日の信長. The play was originally penned by Osaragi Jirou 大佛次郎 specifically to be performed by Ebizou’s grandfather in 1952, then still Ebizou IX. It was said that this play’s popularity saved the declining kabuki tradition in the post-war Japan. 

(Ebizou IX/Danjuurou XI as Nobunaga in 1962)

Ebizou XI first took up the role in 1999, inheriting the role from his father. The role was apparently considered exclusive to the Danjuurou line. No other actor has ever performed this on the kabuki stage. Adaptations in another medium, however, doesn’t seem to be viewed with the same “sanctity”, as the 1959 movie version had the titular role performed by Ichikawa Raizou VIII. While he’s part of the Ichikawa tradition, he’s part of a different “line”. 

(movie posters and PR material)

Since the Wakaki no Hi role is hereditary, there are so many traditions that are almost considered sacred. Ebizou found himself grilled over every little thing of the performance by his father, including how to eat the persimmon, although he later found that even his father’s portrayal had deviated somewhat from the original. He admitted to  wanting to do his own take of Nobunaga, and eventually got his wish in the play simply titled Nobunaga, written by Saitou Masafumi  齋藤雅文. 

This is not a kabuki play, but a regular stage play. Though, interestingly, the actress in the role of Nouhime is formerly a member of the Takarazuka troupe.

This Nobunaga role features Western-style attire, and the PR material shows Ebizou with an intense gaze, which is highly reminiscent of his subsequent portrayal in the Naotora Taiga. I wouldn’t be surprised if the NHK drama staff took one look at this, and made Ebizou do the same thing again in the Taiga because the general appearance looks very similar. I don’t think there are any clips for the stage version, unfortunately, so I can’t really compare if the acting itself were also similar, or if the drama’s makeup and costume department just took visual cues for the character design.

Sources:

https://www.kabuki-bito.jp/special/actor/welcometokabuki/post-post-welcometokabuki-48/2/

https://web.archive.org/web/20060110031040/http://www.shochiku.co.jp/play/enbujyo/0601/midokoro.html

https://ameblo.jp/holly-kabuki/entry-12076388673.html

http://www.raizofan.net/link4/movie3/nobu.htm

https://blog.goo.ne.jp/marbo0324/e/59b57f3a5f2ec2f74ce6f4117c911962