#Thank you Furu for pointing that out

[chibimyumi]

Kinda personal question but what makes Elisabeth special to you? (Trigger warning) And in your opinion, does it romanticise things like mental illness and suicide? I think that ‘Die Schatten werden länger’ is a pretty apt metaphor for how it feels to have depression and suicidal thoughts (depending on one’s interpretation of what Death is) or to be emotionally abused. I ask about the productions with Furuka Yuta as Rudolf and the recent one with him as Death.

Dear Anon,

‘Elisabeth’ is my ultimate gateway down the rabbit hole of theatre and story-telling. Before ‘Elisabeth’ I was mostly a passive consumer of media, but after, I started to consider mechanisms of story-telling, and saw how different performers can tell different stories using the same script. This taught me how actions (dictated by the script) are just that - actions; and before we can understand a character, we must delve into what the context is of those actions.

Of course, the music is also just phenomenal, and it IS a musical, after all.

TL;DR: But importantly, I love ‘Elisabeth’ because it’s literally written to be a “F*ck you, Hollywood.”

In this post I discussed how ‘Elisabeth das Musical’ managed to save crumbling European cinematic culture. I am very tired of the Hollywood conventions, and ESPECIALLY tired of the glorification of romance. ‘Elisabeth’ subverted both of these stale conventions for me, and I was able to enjoy an alternative to the popular tropes of: “the superhuman lover, the caged bird, lonely at the top” in a new context.

This post will be divided into the following chapters:

1. Elisabeth

1.1. Deconstructing romance

1.2. Wife- and Motherhood

1.3. No pedagogical message in yer face!

2. Rudolf

2.1. Deconstructing romance

2.2. Depression in children

2.3. Crushing expectations and grandness

2.4. Deconstructing masculinity

3. Der Tod

3.1. Villain?

3.2. Predatory lover?

4. Conclusion

Trigger Warning: The text below contains mention of depression and suicide.

Romanticising mental illness?

‘Elisabeth’ is admittedly a bit of a problematic fave to me; it does indeed romanticise mental illness. However! Contrary to mainstream conventions, ‘Elisabeth’s does not show that mental illness can be cured because of THE POWER OF LOVE! It unapologetically showcases the destructiveness of mental illness, and how it is a long and painful struggle without promise of success. And that is exactly what a mental illness can be.

1. Elisabeth

1.1. Deconstructing romance

Elisabeth herself is the clearest example. She was a happy-go-lucky girl who was not destined to become Empress (her sister was), and yet she was chosen as bride by the handsome and young Emperor, Franz I, against his mother’s will. It is the dream many girls are taught to have.

And yet, it was exactly after becoming part of a fairy tale that her life sank into hell. Not just because of Sophie, but also because of her husband. Her husband did not turn out to be ‘a bad guy’ like Hollywood will make you believe is the only reason a relationship will fail. No, Franz was just entirely ignorant towards anything Elisabeth needed. Franz’ failure as lover was not what he ‘did’, but rather, what he ‘did not’. I think it is very important to show how real relationships require compatibility AND hard-work, but that without both, it just won’t work.

1.2. Wife- and motherhood

In conventional media, a woman like Elisabeth’s journey would be to find ‘the love she deserves’, she would still be ‘someone’s romantic interest’, just not Franz’. But in the musical, her arc is preserving and exercising her autonomy, and make the best out of a terrible situation. Women are trapped in patriarchy, and usually there is just no escape. And therefore seeing the strength of a woman who makes the best out of her pain is inspiring, and more relatable.

Usually in media, if the woman is not ‘the wife’, then the way she is strong is her focus on being ‘the mother’. Elisabeth however, was shown to be a terrible mother! She was not callous, she was very loving in fact. But because she had so much going on, she simply did not have extra mental energy to spend on her son. I find it very refreshing that love is simply not enough to make human-relations work, whether it’s romantic or familial relationships. Saying that somebody fails in a relationship ‘because you don’t love x enough’ is shortsighted and backwards.

It is breathtaking for me to see a narrative that solely focused on a woman’s struggles without the romance, and without the shackles of motherhood. No, she was struggling because she could not be a person.

1.3. No pedagogical message in yer face!

I also absolutely love how Elisabeth is not an idol that we are supposed to learn from. It’s not: “women! Look at this woman and [be/don’t be] this woman!!”. No, ‘Elisabeth’ leaves its viewer alone, and does not try to impose onto any ‘how to be a woman’.

We are simply supposed to see her life, and sympathise with her as human. The story never justifies her shortcomings, and never glorifies her as the fairy tale Empress ‘die Junge Kaiserin’ would have you believe.

‘Elisabeth das Musical’ does not treat its audience as people that must be educated; instead it assumes the audience has a mind of its own, and can participate in the story as Elisabeth’s peer.

2. Rudolf

2.1. Deconstructing romance

Rudolf’s arc is likewise one wherein his mental illness is not ‘magically cured by romance’. The historic Rudolf was married and he was VERY unhappy in his marriage. However, his unhappy marriage was not the cause of his depression, nor did it really matter that much in making it worse. Rudolf did have a lover (Mary Vetsera), and they loved each other deeply. However, that was not enough to make his mental illness bearable for him.

This forbidden-love part of Rudolf’s life was so insignificant to his depression, that the writers left it out entirely in ‘Elisabeth das Musical’, and his arc was still perfectly round without it.

2.2. Depression in children

‘Elisabeth’ is an excellent example of how depression is not limited to certain groups of people; anyone can be haunted by it. Rudolf is able bodied, white, wealthy, the crown prince of an Empire, intelligent, etc. etc. And yet he had crippling depression, and it is NOT because he was whiny within privilege.

Just like with his mother, Rudolf is also not an idol we’re supposed to imitate. However, we are supposed to learn from seeing him. We first meet Rudolf as a young child, and because he was not given any help, his depression escalated into suicidal depression later on. Many people either don’t believe that children can be depressed, or simply don’t take it seriously. Rudolf however, shows everyone how depression can in fact destroy the lives of children, not unlike adults. Even better; he is a historic character who actually existed. Good luck denying that!

2.3. Crushing expectations and grandness

As discussed above, Rudolf’s struggle has nothing to do with romance, but crushing expectations. As Furukawa explained in this interview: “When Rudolf finally figured out what he wanted to do, he was faced with his country sinking into crisis. He was stuck in the situation where he did not have the power to say anything, and yet had the status wherein everyone expected him to act for the benefit of the state. If he did not act he would be a neglectful man, unworthy of the title of ‘crown prince’, but if he did act for the benefit of the state, he would be a rebel.”

I think it is very refreshing too that despite all the good qualities Rudolf has (2.2.), he simply could not live up to the crushing expectations. It is very important to see how failure is often not the inability of the person, but that too much was expected of ONE human being to begin with.

2.4. Deconstructing toxic masculinity

Rudolf performs a very refreshing form of masculinity that is a departure from Hollywood’s ‘male hero’ model. His entire character is centered on his vulnerability, but he is NEVER portrayed as the loser. Instead, we see a man admitting his vulnerability and looking his depression in the eyes, and never being ashamed of it. He never blames himself for ‘not being man enough’ to live up to social expectations. Instead of “becoming a proper man!!” Rudolf knows that what he needs is compassion, a person he can talk to (his mother), and a fucking break.

Death is almost always without exception ‘punishment’ in stories. However, with Rudolf there were clearly external factors that have nothing to do with his supposed inaptness. The perpetrator was active in the sense that LITERAL Death manipulating him into committing suicide. Rudolf was a victim instead of someone punished for a “sin of not being man enough”.

3. Der Tod

3.1. Villain?

I am very tired of the good vs evil dichotomous story telling of Hollywood. Another thing I love about this musical is how it is entirely ambiguous who the villain is. It’s easy to point at Der Tod, but is he really the villain?

The script of this ingenious musical is written so freely that depending on the performers/director, the villain is either ambiguous, or non-existent, WITHOUT the story being vague. Depending on the actor of Der Tod, he is either an actual entity who governs over life and death, or the product of one’s imagination.

3.2. Predatory lover?

Der Tod’s existence and his pursuit of Elisabeth’s ‘love’ is the main factor that plays in saying “‘Elisabeth’ romanticises mental illness”. But depending on how the performers of Elisabeth and Der Tod interpret these roles, the story either becomes:

a toxic romance that is self-aware of its toxicity,

or like how Furukawa Yuta and Manaki Reika in 2019 managed, into a heroic tale of preserverence and a battle of wits.

Most importantly, in (most) non-Takarazuka versions, after Elisabeth dies, she is not there anymore to ‘reciprocate’ Der Tod’s feelings. She is just gone. Only in the Takarazuka version (I believe) does she enter the Underworld and actively becomes Der Tod’s lover.

So outside Takarazuka’s version, Der Tod is never rewarded with ‘a lover’; he simply gets his prey as a predator. Whether this ‘predator’ is a lover however, is again up to interpretation. But otherwise, death getting a mortal is just a very natural phenomenon, not victory as Furukawa puts it.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, yes, ‘Elisabeth das Musical’ does have many elements that may qualify it as ‘a romanticisation of mental illness’, but ultimately I think it is not just that simple.

We must consider what the message is that the musical sends, and it is NOT: “because Elisabeth/Rudolf are mentally ill, they embark on an epic journey.” If anything, the musical makes very clear that the mental illnesses of Elisabeth and her son are the main culprit that MAKES them miserable, and that Der Tod is the personification thereof, hence his predatory nature. In ‘Elisabeth’, mental illness ‘preys’ on its victims.

The romanticisation mostly (though not solely) comes from the consumers, because we are conditioned to read stories like ‘Elisabeth’ as a romance.

We see a man (???) claiming to love a woman, and he chases her and won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He goes through extreme means to impress her, and the story even comes with a ‘love rival’ (Franz).

We see a woman ‘yearning’ for something, and that something can only be given by Der Tod, and finally she does find peace when she is with him.

But, we must pay attention to what Elisabeth says when she is dead. It is not: “I’ve been looking for true love, and now I found it,” or “I wanted freedom, and you’ve been kindly offering it to me, but I was too foolish to accept earlier.” No, the very last thing she sings is:

“I have cried, laughed, been disheartened and I have prayed. There had been days where I tasted defeat in my senseless battle.Regardless, I have entrusted my life to myself alone!”

“Winning Elisabeth’s love” is the term Der Tod set without Elisabeth having any say in it. The term she set for herself is staying true to herself and not giving up; which she NEVER did. As such, THAT ⇈ was Elisabeth claiming victory of always having stayed true to herself, and it has NOTHING to do with Der Tod. She does not need Der Tod, she simply needed freedom.

[worldformula]

Omg whats this situation Saito manipulated that makes ryuki think he saved him these posts are driving me crazy

AITSF / AINI SPOILERS. and another long one because how do I even begin to explain

To be honest, we haven’t really ironed this part out because it’s an elaborate play and I personally don’t have the brain cells to put the details together yet. Which is necessary because at some point Ryuki does question everything about the incident and that’s when it all falls apart. But very roughly speaking, the order of events is as follows:

Uru approaches Saito about ruining/killing Jin Furue, who he thinks is Tokiko’s lover (he doesn’t know he’s her son, which is … awkward). He goes to Saito about it because Saito is their dad’s mouthpiece to the yakuza and figures he can help him with this sabotage.

Saito first finds it impressively ballsy that Uru would ask for something like that but tells him he can’t, since using their Kumakura connections in a way that would escalate the scale of the crimes they commit with them could get their father into devastating trouble. Also he just doesn’t find Uru’s petty jealousy to be worth it.

Uru is intent on this though and blackmails him by bringing up Ryuki’s twin (Yukuto)’s murder six years ago (blah blah, you owe me because I covered for you then, blah blah). They get in a nasty fight about how dare he do this, Uru is a coward for hiding behind Saito and the yakuza instead of doing it himself, it is very weird how down bad he is for Tokiko, etc etc. Saito is furious but for now, he has to follow through. He will get Uru for this down the line.

This is where the details get fuzzy — Saito somehow freaks Jin out to a point of paranoia, wherein Jin believes people are coming to get him for whatever reason. Whatever it is, Jin can’t go to the police about it, nor can his parents help him.

Ryuki goes to meet Jin at his house with Saito, with the intention of questioning him about Music Foods’ association with Bats490. He brings Saito along because Jin refused to meet with him at first and Saito says he’s vaguely familiar with Jin, as they’ve met at a party, so he’s hoping Saito’s presence will draw Jin out. 

Jin, throughly spooked and convinced that the mob has come for him, attempts to shoot them as they break in out of concern, given that Jin is not answering but they know full well that he’s in. Ryuki reacts accordingly thanks to Tama but Jin stuns him, taking him down and knocking out Tama, and holds Saito at gunpoint. Ryuki manages to recover in time to shoot Jin and kill him before Saito gets shot.

A couple of things: 

Ryuki is not sorry about killing Jin because Jin was going to kill Saito, so it was justified in his mind. But it does unnerve him greatly to have taken a life. Saito comforts him and validates the act because it “saved” him. Meeting with him and getting this validated makes him feel better, but it’s not good for him.

Ryuki has no idea why Jin reacted the way he did, and the fact that Jin was also illegally armed further makes Jin look like he was super guilty of something related to the case, derailing the investigation slightly.

A lot of things could have gone terribly wrong in the confrontation itself. But I’m gonna be real, I don’t think Saito is all that concerned about dying so much as he’s afraid of living with the consequences of what he does so the danger of it isn’t that big of a deal to him. Worst case scenario, he was going to just kill them both and then frame it as a whole thing where they killed each other.

It does suck for him to not be able to get directly involved in the murder act, sure, but going about it this way means that Saito is not even a suspect in Jin’s murder and he gets the fun benefit of watching Ryuki struggle. Very cool!

[kirisaki-daichi-scenarios]

Can we get more beach trip headcannons except this time with female! manager, Thank you I love your work❤️❤️❤️

original beach training camp hcs here - worth reading for context

look at my ass saying ‘context’ as if this is some literary analysis

on the one hand, with the manager around, hanamiya’s no longer the only adult there to look after everything

on the other hand, manager-chan has to be a little mad to be even be working with the boys, and thus she’s only going to be adding to the chaos

for example, half the time, she’s telling hara that no he can’t just claim he has to protect her from the ‘’renowned okinawan beach ghost’ in order to get out of practice, and the other half of the time, she’s plotting with him at 2am about how they terrorise the others and make them think that the beach ghost does exist

side note: seto doesn’t believe in ghosts or anything that’s not explained by science; hanamiya’s the same but he pretends he worships satan every once in a while just for the sake of freaking people out; who knows if furuhashi believes in them in not, but, even if he saw a ghost, he wouldn’t be impressed

and yamazaki’s the type of say they’re stupid, and then start fucking screaming as he goes through a haunted house and then, once he’s out of there, claim that he was never phased in the slightest, and that it was furuhashi grabbing onto everyone’s arms (furuhashi’s a good target cause he’s not a large enough dick to dispute it and embarrass yamazaki; he just kinda raises an eyebrow and moves on)

road trip fic where everyone visits a haunted house and does all kinds of stupid shit when?

anyway that’s why yamazaki’s sitting in on the “reviving beach ghost” conversation (you can’t get scared if you are the ghost, am i right?)

the plan with the ghost is simple and is supposed to involve a) manager dressing up as the ghost (long black dress, hair over her face, etc), b) yamazaki making ghostly sounds (he’s good at sound effects, it’s not as stupid an idea as it sounds), c) hara’s gonna film it all (and also buy the necessary supplies, like fake blood etc)

the problem is that discussing satanically plans at 2am, after you’ve had a full day of practice (or a full day of dealing with these idiots), is that you’re not going to be awake at 7am

which is when hanamiya storms in wondering why half the team are missing

although the sight of people covered in dark cloaks (they’re just blankets; it got cold in the night) and pages filled with drawings of pentagrams (it took zaki that many tries before he could draw it without it it being wonky) may be a little unnerving

nothing is more terrifying than a fuming hanamiya dragging you out of bed when you’re still half asleep

and he also finds the written plans so, all in all, mission failed

Moving On

this is already fucking long and i’ve only just started shit

given that seto never plays in full matches, his fitness plan is a little more lenient - aka, sometimes when everyone else is off running and dribbling and whatnot, it’s just manager-chan and seto on the beach, enjoying their holiday

this is helpful as a) it prevents seto from being forgotten (see previous training camp post), and b) it gives their manager the time to very helpfully apply suncream for him, probably in a pattern, so he gets the image of a flower sunburnt to his stomach

the best part of it is that seto doesn’t even give a shit

catch him floating off on his back to the middle of the philippine sea with the flower shining against the sun like a message from god

actually that raises a very important point about the boy’s swimming abilities so,

yamazaki + hara: good swimmers, neither ever took lessons so their strokes aren’t too polished, but they can goof around in the sea and try to drown one another without anyone actually drowning (or, at least, that’s what the manager’s there for)

furuhashi: very good swimmer, even better diver. disappears without making a single ripple in the water, no bubbles either. he just appears all of a sudden from underneath your feet like “this is a pretty shell, isn’t it?” as if his dark presence at the sea bed hadn’t just made several people think there’s a shark about

seto’s real good at floating, and at a mediocre backstroke, and that’s all he ever does - or is bothered to do

matsumoto takes pride in the fact he’s a faster swimmer than anyone else on the team (except for furu that is), and he likes to do the butterfly stroke angrily up and down the shore to get rid of all his pent up stress (hanamiya never comments on it, cause hey it’s just extra fitness training)

and finally hanamiya was unable to swim for a very long time (and there is many a photo of him with swimming armbands, hidden in his bedroom, from when everyone was coming over, and he couldn’t let them know that he has a weakness

however, one time, hara had a pool party when hanamiya still couldn’t swim, and hara threw him into the pool, and he just somehow learned how to in those few seconds? talk about survival instinct

alright back to our scheduled program

furuhashi is damn good at fishing. like damn good, like doesn’t even need a rod, he just shoves his arm in, somehow grabs one, and guts it and prepares the meal there on the beach

having to eat dinner with a furuhashi whose hands and some of his chest are stained with blood (normally he’d wash it off, but he’s a little emo at heart. went through a phase as a child where he was really into blood vials, and satanic witchcraft and all that) may be a little disconcerting, but it’s also a lovely time :)

picture the scene, dear reader

all the lads, surrounded by the sunset, the evening tide and the lush green in the background, sat by a little stove fire over which furuhashi is frying the fish

matsumoto and the manager chatting about the competitions scheduled for after the team gets back (you’d think hanamiya would be involved in this discussion, but Coach Time TM is over, and now he and hara are challenging one another to watch over hot coals, as furuhashi patiently warms up more stones for them)

seto probably helping furuhashi out; either that, or telling yamazaki all the many illnesses he might catch from the ocean, as zaki takes a massive bite of seaweed and then spits it all out

everyone eventually getting dragged into the hot coals battle

someone almost definitely gets burnt (spoiler alert it’s zaki) and manager-chan has to bandage him up as he yells at a laughing hara that he was sabotaged and that he can handle heat better than anyone else here

he dives on the hot coals as if to make his point

and thus matsumoto and furuhashi have to carry him back to the hotel, cause now he’s got even more burns (and he’s also a little baby who doesn’t like pain, but don’t let him here you say that)

oh the woes of training camps when two of your group have very high IQs, and yet there is still only 1 brain cell being shared between 7 people

[cheesus-doodles]

Hey it's winky wink and I am here to deliver my promise to you dear Cheese, though at this point, you probably know who I am now.

I drew Furu cause I actually figured out who is your fav out of the red dragonfly member before asking you and I drew Masa cause I love how he look like he is just fed up with everything

Hope you like it and also, sorry if I drew Furu's hair wrong cause I thought it was a really long lazy mow hawk? Is that what it called?

cheesus here!

hbjhbjkhbkjhbkjhb AJHSDBKAHBDJSHAKBDKJAHB OMG AHHHH I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! IM SO HONORED TO RECEIVED FANART T-T ahhhhh Furu and Masa look so good ;-; if only you could see me ugly crying behind the screen when i got this

thank you so much winky wink! i really love and appreciate this, and all the hard work that went into making them look so glamorous! :D

p.s: and yes i do love Furu so much but i swear i love the rest as well - just Furu more equally than others

[palettepainter]

Could I ask for some parent headcannons with Ectoloader? I’ve known of the ship but never seen art of them as parents. If no can I just have some headcannons of Haiya?

This ended up being mostly headcannons about Haiya and his relationship with some other students at UA and Ecto and Higari but a few at the start are Ectoloader

-Powerloader isn’t the most cleanest person. He has a little wash in the mornings, shaves if he needs too, and that’s it - off to work. With his job Powerloader often ends up a mess afterwards, even if he hasn’t used his quirk to go digging in the dirt. It gets hot in the design studio, and with Powerloader being stuck under that helmet all day he gets sweaty, and his hair becomes such a tangled mess, plus with his engineering he gets muck on his hands and trousers. Since no body really visits the design studio (besides students) Powerloader doesn’t really keep up appearances, unless of course theres some big meeting in which case he’ll clean up a little. Ectoplasm has tried to get Higari to take better care of his apperance such as taking a shower or a bath once in a while but Powerloader doesn’t really see the point in it - more times then either will admit but Ecto has had to chase Higari round the house just so he can take a damned bath. Ectoplasm may have a lot of clones but Higari has a lot of strength, plus being smaller he can find much more places to hide. Ectoplasm either gives up, manages to drag Higari to the bathroom, or compromises and joins Higari

-Based off an Ectoplasm x Powerloader story I read but Ectoplasm is ticklish. Higari discovered this accidentally when the two where cuddling and his hand brushed over Ectoplasm’s ribs making him stiffen and squeak. Ectoplasm had hoped Higari wouldn’t think too much of this, but he was wrong. Very wrong. Powerloader is a sneaky little weasel and has found through testing his theory that tickling Ectoplasm is one of the fastest ways to get him to unwind, and with Powerloaders added strength he has no issue wrestling Ectoplasm so that he can tickle him.

Higari isn’t as ticklish as Ectoplasm, but his weak points are his neck and ears. Ectoplasm had a suspicion that might be the case since his ears and neck are always covered by that scruffy mane of hair. One day the two where at home, Higari has pulled his hair into a loose ponytail that hung over one shoulder, leaving his neck open for attack. Ectoplasm watched him for a moment, before very lightly tickling his neck. Higari full on jumped at the unexpected tickling attack, actually surprising Ectoplasm, who hadn’t expected that great of a reaction. Needless to say Ectoplasm enjoyed getting his revenge    

-When Hatsume is over she becomes Powerloaders right hand in the design studio, and while she still is prone to blowing up the occasional machine every now and then Higari sees explosions and fires in the studio as just a regular start to a morning. Higari has come to just expect something to blow up when he goes into work, if sometimes doesn’t it’s a miracle. Ectoplasm doesn’t take Higari’s warnings on Hatsume’s inventions all that seriously, she’s just passionate about her work. One day, say their anniversary or something, Ectoplasm and Higari had planned to go out for the evening and thus needed someone to watch Haiya. All the other teachers where busy but in the end Ectoplasm manages to find a sitter and the two leave. While having dinner Higari casually asks who it was Ectoplasm found to watch Haiya, in which he replies Hatsume.

Cue Higari spitting out his drink - If Hatsume is watching Haiya then who’s watching Hatsume?!

They end up going home an hour early and return to find their home untouched, totally fine. Higari has a moment of stunned silence before doing a double take and looking round the home.The only problem they found was that Haiya was up a little late, that was it. Higari was still suspicious but Ectoplasm thanks Hatsume regardless. It’s only two hours later when Higari finds no hidden broken object or exploded oven does he awkwardly admit that Ectoplasm was right, and then apologizes for ruining their anniversary dinner. The two end up having a small make out on the sofa (At this point Haiya was in bed) and then counting said make out in the bedroom.

The next morning Higari lumbers to the kitchen to make a coffee..only to find the coffee pot broken. 

Powerloader made Hatsume but him a new one

-Hatsume and Iida end up having a kid, and dear old Powerloader was the very first to know, by that I mean Hatsume just showed up a work with a baby after he was born making Powerloader choke on air because ‘HATSUME  YOU BROUGHT A BABY TO THE DESIGN STUDIO?!’ - Powerloader isn’t bad with kids but he’s no Merry Poppins, but he was at least smart enough to know a baby of all things didn’t belong in a design studio. Dealing with one Hatsume was hard enough, and now he had a mini Hatsume crawling about the place. Powerloader ends up roped into babysitting becasue Powerloader was not letting Hatsume’s machines do the babysitting while she was gone somewhere. Dear little Tensai (Iida named his kid after his brother) grows up loving Powerloader and, to Powerloader’s relief, is less prone to blowing things up. Powerloader is dubbed ‘Grunkle’ by Tensai, a combo of Uncle and Grandad. Higari tried to get him to call him one or the other, and failed miserably. Ectoplasm finds the name quite sweet and can’t help but snicker at it

-Before meeting Ectoplasm Haiya was nervous about the topic of his arms, even with prosthetics he saw his lack of arms as a failure - his view on this was caused mostly by his biological parents, if they had raised him in a better way Haiya wouldn’t have grown to be as sensitive about it. Ectoplasm was called in by Eri who runs a therapy center in my NGAU. Haiya was brought to the center along with Kowai and Furu (I know I haven’t done as much stuff with Furu so to anyone who’s new she’s another MHAOC who goes on to be adopted by Bakugo and Sero) as orphans. With no biological or adoptive parents the three stayed at the center while Eri and other staff helped in their recovery. Whereas Furu was more defensive and hostile Haiya was more nervous, he didn’t (and still doesn’t) have an issue with heroes, but his low self confidence has led to him being somewhat anti social, it can be hard for him to start conversations with new people, especially adults or people he looks up too. Ectoplasm was a big help in boosting Haiya’s confidence, so much that by the time students where allowed to apply for courses at UA Haiya was given the opportunity to study there. With Eri’s parents (Aizawa and Mic adopted her) working at UA Eri is able to give kids at the center the opportunity to go to a proper school when she feels they have progressed enough to fit in with a school environment, and when their are spaces available on certain course

He was given the choice to be on the hero course, with his quirk it was likely he’d pass the entrance exam. Though Haiya himself has no issue with hereos or those who decide they want to be a hero, Haiya no longer wishes to be one, his old parents didn’t really give him much of a choice for his career, so Haiya decided instead to apply for general studies, so that he could explore his own interests.

-Haiya doesn’t like Jin. Jin is another OC who goes to UA and is in class 1B on the hero course. Jin is in short an ass, he’s coy and rude and will say whats on his mind, even if it’s impolite. Jin has a knack for hitting people where it hurts, since joining UA he’s gotten better with his attitude but he’s still got a long way to go. Haiya’s kind of scared of him to an extent so tends to avoid him. He’s disliked Jin ever since he made an arm joke

Jin: Hey Haiya

Haiya: Hm?

Jin: Mind lending me a hand?

Haiya:....Banned

Jin: What?

Haiya: That joke is BANNED!

-Haiya’s attitude can sometimes come off as overbearing. He’s very over the top and easily excitable, which can lead to people thinking of him as annoying or stupid. Haiya attends counselling with Hounddog to help with his anxiety, and he also writes stuff down in a book, he finds writing down his thoughts and feelings easier then talking. Haiya can be mature and chill when he wants to or if it’s needed, but that’s often rare. Haiya acts more childish then most kids his age because he didn’t really get a very fun childhood with his bio parents, he’s trying to make up for lost time

-Haiya has dyslexia, this is still something I’m learning to write about accurately so if anyone has any tips on how to write a character well with dyslexia let me know. In Haiya’s case he has difficulty reading and interpreting words and letters, and when Haiya was little and was in a public school, it deeply affected his learning. His parents thought home schooling would be better for him, but it just lead to Haiya becoming more anxious over his own intelligence. Due to this Haiya can be reluctant to try something new and sometimes needs encouragement from a friend, he also has a fear of failure so when he does pick up a new hobby he does genuinely try to give it his all. Praise gives him a lot of confidence so words of encouragement do a lot to his confidence. 

Before Haiya went to UA he along with others at the center got some school education. The center did classes for certain subjects over the weekdays and did stuff like small tests and gave out homework pieces for them to complete in their own time. Eri uses these classes to decide which kids would be better off going to a propper school, and which ones need more help then others. Haiya was one of the kids that needed some help with his work due to his dyslexia. Eri put two and two together when she brought Haiya aside to talk about his progress and he ended up admitting how he has difficulty with reading sometimes

-Before his arms where removed Haiya had both his mothers quirk, Overclock, and his fathers quirk, A quirk that allowed him to speed up or slow down the movement of an object based on touch with electricity he generated from his body - the draw backs to this quirk being that to generate the electricy he had to sacrifice his on energy. The more he generated the more tired he’d get.

With his arms gone his second quirk was also gone, so he only has Overclock now - however he can still use his second quirk, just in a different way. With his quirk Overclock Haiya can generate big amounts of electricity in seconds, I’m still planning on how Haiya discovers this as he himself isn’t aware he can do this, but the draw back to the quirk is that it’s essentially an instant knock out both for himself and his opponent. Generating large amounts of electricity all at once and so suddenly severely drains him of his energy, so it’s a guarantee when he does use this quirk that he’ll pass out shortly afterwards until he has better control over it.

[natsumi-no-hotaru]

The Chihayafuru Collection: Season 2

Previously: Season 1

Choosing the pictures for this post is like choosing yearbook pictures - so many options, so very few slots. The 2nd season has been so much fun, incredibly moving, and filled with so many of my favorite things about this show: strong female characters (both new and returning!) and meaningful interaction between them, doki-doki time with both Taichihaya and Shirata (and Shinochi, Kanachi,..), exciting, goosebump-raising, and hilarious battles, such delicate and thought-provoking weaving of poetry into the narrative, and above all, compelling character development for both the main and supporting cast. 

It’s impossible for me to pick out which is my absolute favorite episode, but I think I can narrow down to best 5 (chronological order): 29, 39, 44, 47, 48, 49. Actually that is 6, right? Lmao. I’m just bad with ranking things in general, even when I have strong feelings about them lol. 

Some last words before I gallop off into the sunset: a big thank you to all of you for reading and liking my posts. They often gave me just the nudge I needed to finish up my drafts and get to this point. So, thanks again. This compilation is made possible because of you and thanks to you, dear reader.

#26: Wilted beauty, wasted time

#27: The expressions of love

#28: My love has grown to fill the river’s quiet deeps

#29: Towards the countless islands in the broad expanse of the sea

#30-31: In this ancient house, what a past to remember!

#32: The Meeting Hill

#33: We all look at the same shining moon

#34: It’s Arata-furu time!

#35: Pride and Memorization

#36: All about Tsutomu-kun

#37: The day that defines our summer

#38: Pining for you in my dreams

#39: The truth of my passion on my face

#40: Perfect whiteness laid on Mount Fuji’s lofty peak

#41: Recap episode

#42: They call this mountain wind the witherer

#43: My fear is a promise unfulfilled

#44: I do not know where this love will take me

#45: Out in the autumn fields stands my makeshift hut of grass

#46: The manly opponent, the girl who played with her left hand, and the boy who didn’t give up

#47: The long awaited midnight moon

A crazed fangirl’s guide to the finals

#48: Part 1: What am I still doing here?

#49: Part 2: How can I find the words to tell you I yearn

#50: Finally at the finish line

Next stop, Season 3!

[sailorfailures]

April 17th is Rei Hino/Sailor Mars’s Birthday!

So how can you celebrate?

♂ Rewatch or reread your favourite Mars-centric chapter, episode, or musical! As one of the earliest established characters, she has several key episodes in the 90s anime. Try episode 010, her introduction; 054, where she reveals her passion for songwriting as she stages an idol-like performance at her school’s culture festival; 070, where she saves enemy Koan from self-destruction; 090, the first episode of S, where she is targeted for her Pure Heart; 103, where she works hard to convince a renowned taiko drummer to perform at a local festival; 152, where an excitable young girl models herself after Rei’s every move; or 183, where she goes camping to visit her sculptor cousin in the mountains. You can also find the Rei-centric manga side stories Casablanca Memory (volume 2) or Rei & Minako’s Girls School Battle (volume 1) in the Sailor Moon Short Stories manga anthologies.

♂ Sailor Mars has several official image songs across different canons you can play for her big day:

90s anime: Eien no MELODY [“Eternal Melody”] (Dic produced an English song for Sailor Mars with the same melody, called Oh Starry Night); Sei · Hi  · Ai ~FIRE SOUL LOVE~ ["Holy · Fire · Love ~FIRE SOUL LOVE~”]; Watashi no “Hito” Gingahen [“The One, Arranged by the Heavens”]; Honoo no Sogekisha (FLAME SNIPER) Musicals: Honoo no MESSENGER [”Flame Messenger”] PGSM: Sakura Fubuki [”Cherry Blossom Storm”]; Hoshi Furu Yoake ["Stars Falling at Dawn”] Crystal: Hi no Umi ["Ocean of Fire”]

Here’s a playlist of all these songs and other Sailor Mars BGM cues!

♂ Why not go out on a dare and try Rei’s favourite food - puffer fish. If you’re not confident in the toxicity of fugu in your area, she also likes all Thai food, so you could visit your favourite local Thai restaurant. Her least favourite food is asparagus, but only the tinned kind - so try and hold off for the day.

♂ Rei has many hobbies, a “jack of all trades” thanks to her dream of being a high-powered multi-career woman. She is shown to be a competent singer-songwriter, even if it takes her a lot more effort than she pretends. Since she dreams of someday making it big as a musician, why not support local talent and see a live show for her birthday?

Rei relies a lot on her ESP and sixth sense, receiving premonitions through dreams and by scrying in flames, but Rei’s favourite method of divination is actually tarot readings. You could shuffle through a deck yourself for a self-reading, or find someone online or in your area who can perform a reading for you.

You may think of Usagi or Minako as the resident “fangirl” of the series, but Rei is a closet nerd herself; she has a large collection of Sailor V manga, and is enough of a fan of the Takarazuka revue to own photobooks. Celebrate by rereading your own favourite manga series or by watching a Takarazuka stage performance.

As a representative of Hikawa Shrine, Rei is very community-minded, volunteering herself for public events, festivals, etc. The subsequent publicity for the shrine and springboard for her own career is obviously not a factor... In her (fiery) spirit, why not involve yourself in your own community-run events and services, volunteering your time and skills on a recurring or one-off basis?

♂ Dress like Rei for the day! Rei has a very forward-focused, goal-oriented personality she likes to show through her clothes, with bold colours, dramatic cuts, and sharp or form-fitting silhouettes. Because she is an expert at tailoring her presentation to the time/audience, her style can vary from cute and innocent to mature and businesslike based on how she wants to be perceived, but common wardrobe staples include miniskirts, tailored tops, statement jewellery, and a killer high heel. She favours vivid colours like reds, purples, mustards, and black.

As Sailor Mars, she wears chunky 80s throwback earrings in the shape of stars (5-pointed to start in the anime, 6 pointed from Super form and in the manga, 4 pointed in PGSM) and iconic red stiletto heels. Her nails are shown to turn firetruck red from her second transformation onwards. Her image colours are red and purple.

♂ In the 2004 live-action Sailor Moon series known as PGSM, Rei wore a name charm bracelet made of beads and crystals that was very important to her and later allowed her to transform. Why not make your own name bracelet with your favourite colours and birthstone beads?

♂ Fav and read some Sailor Mars fanart and fanfic on sites like Pixiv, Twitter, and AO3 - or contribute your own new content! Don’t forget to tag!

Feel free to reply and reblog with your own ideas of how you’re going to celebrate Rei’s day!

Happy Birthday, Rei!

[putschki1969]

2019/06/29 Blog post by Wakana 『VOICEツアーラスト！！～日本特殊陶業市民会館ビレッジホール編～』 

『VOICE Tour Final！！～ Nagoya Civil Hall Edition ～』

The other day, I had dumplings. First I had gyoza, they were huge! Then I had some xiaolongbao. The soup inside was hot, juicy and thick. Hot, juicy and thick ... (о´∀`о) When they are almost bursting with soup it’s the best thing ever ... (о´∀`о) Ah ~ I want to have some today as well! Hello, this is Wakana (0￣▽￣0)／

Recently I have been slacking when it comes to my gyoza activities. I have just started again. I am in the stretching phase right now. By the way, my「Wakana LIVE TOUR 2019～VOICE～」 which started on April 4 was finished successfully in Nagoya on May 15. (Let’s go back in time a little, please join me.)

The venue Nagoya Civil Hall has tatami mats in the waiting room ... I forgot to take a picture (TдT) How do I describe it? It looks like the entrance of an old-fashioned restaurant or inn. There is a wooden entrance and a place to put your shoes. Once you cross the genkan step you are in the tatami-styled room. I hope you can somehow imagine what it looked like... Anyway, it was a wonderful room and any moment I expected someone to serve hot tea and onsen manju.

What we did end up having in the room were bananas.  These are very important and I can’t do a live without them ♪(´ε｀ ) The hall looked like this. This angle from behind the stage is rather unfamiliar isn’t it (^_^*) And this is how things look like on the stage. These pictures were taken by my drummer Tsuruya-san! I will use the opportunity to introduce the band members who have supported me during all seven performances of my tour.

I would like to start with my drummer Tomoo Tsuruya-san since I just mentioned him. From the first day of rehearsal Tsuruya-san has been a mood maker, he always makes sure the atmosphere is relaxed and he has been very gentle and kind with me which was a huge help since I was very nervous. The rainstick I am using during one of the songs actually belongs to him. In those seven performances I got to borrow two different kinds of rainsticks〜 . And then there is the shaker I used during the live. He gave that to me as a present at one of our studio rehearsals. I had been practising a lot at home and in the car with a borrowed one so when I saw the present it felt surreal to me *laughs* Next up we have the bassist Takashi Adachi-san! (btw, all the following pictures were taken by Tsuruya-san as well) Adachi-san and I have actually appeared on stage together several times in the past and we have also done various recordings but it was our first time to talk properly and to go on tour together. When I met him during the studio rehearsal, he came across as quite silent and modest but on stage he is completely different. He is super carefree and happy, he plays the bass with so much joy! Then at our first live after party we really hit it off, he is so funny! Sneaky, you really fooled me! *laughs*  That’s what I thought ^ ^ Then we have the guitarist Koji Ueda-san! Ueda-san, just like Adachi-san, is completely different on stage. I thought he was pretty reserved and quiet but I was totally wrong.  He is a real rockstar and he makes the coolest faces while playing his guitar (I have been watching the live footage over and over again so all the unique performances by the band members are still fresh in my mind.) Being on stage is really a weird experience (^-^) Anyways, I think that generally, Ueda-san is a very laid-back person. The last one to introduce is Kuraaki Hori-san, my pianist (↑ isn’t that the best expression ever!) Hori-san’s piano playing is very impressive. During all the lives, we would often change up a few of the piano and singing parts, we would improvise a little. He is the kind of person that is very much aware of all the feelings being born out of the moment, he does his best to cherish every second of it in order to elevate those feelings. Our final encore which I performed alone together with Hori-san is probably the song that changed most throughout our seven performances. Soon all of you will be able to watch it too so I hope you will enjoy it. *Bonus pic 1 * A picture of Shigeta-san who is responsible for the sound. Not quite sure what kind of pose this is suposed to be. Shigeta-san is a wonderful man, he is super playful and kind. * Bonus pic 2 * Yours truly. I don't even know when it was taken, some time during the rehearsal. After dress rehearsal probably when I checked out the curtains. I would usually wear my stage dress for that. Looking back at the tour, I remember all kinds of things and my eyes start watering. I remember all the laughter, the embarrassment, it really was an emotional turmoil. And then let’s not forget about the huge mishap during my final performance in Nagoya ~ Singing the first encore song TWICE ~. *laughs* I literally sang it twice *laughs*. I couldn’t sing it the first time .... My manager and staff members later told me, "for the first time in a long time we felt the need to send a prayer to heaven when we saw this!” Haha, indeed, there is not much you can do in a situation like that except pray. *laughs* I am so sorry, please forgive me ( ；∀；)

[A friend of mine provided a thorough report of this particular incident during the Nagoya live. Thank you so much for sharing that moment with me! It seems like Wakana started tearing up towards the middle of “Hikari Furu”, her voice kept breaking and while she tried to continue singing, her tears just wouldn’t stop and at one point she had to give up and lowered her mic. The band continued playing and the audience cheered and clapped so Wakana wouldn’t feel bad about the little hiccup. She eventually started singing again but she wasn’t really able to compose herself throughout the rest of the song. She had two more hiccups where she just lost it and couldn’t sing a few lines. Once the song was finished the entire audience stood up and gave her a huge round of applause. She apologised and turned around to go to her little table and dab her face, you could also see her talking with the band members deciding what to do next. She eventually turned back to the audience, apologised once more and asked if it was okay if she tried singing the song again. The second time she nailed it, it was a flawless performance.]

I was able to collect lots of precious memories during my VOICE Tour which lasted about 1 1/2 months. I am motivated to continue onwards. Everyone who came to the lives, everyone who supported me on my blog and social media, I am truly grateful. From now on I will tackle the challenge to create new music. Please look forward to it! The next thing coming up is my fan club live on September 14! Please come and have fun with me ♪ I will be waiting for you ♪ 「Wakana Botanical Land "Music Party Vol.1"」 ■ September 14, 2019 (Sat) Daytime performance Opening 14:30 Start 15:00 Evening performance Opening 17:30 Start 18:00 Venue: Hamagin Hall Viamare Minami-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken Minatomirai 3-1-1, Yokohama Bank Main Store Building 1F http://www.yokohama-viamare.or.jp/access.html ※ Please refrain from direct inquiries to the venue

Last but not least, here is a picture I took of the hitsumabushi I had on the shinkansen on my way back home. It was super delicious! Well then, until next time 〜☆(*'▽’*)/ *** Wakana ***

[thewolfisawake]

{Home // Cavetown}

Kai held the letter in his hand. He read over the information over and over. It was correct but he still read it again and again. Across the top was printed ‘Request for Transfer.’ He walked the busy halls filled with hunters milling about. Getting new assignments, submitting paper work, and chatting. Stray eyes made him shrink into his jacket. They weren’t looking at you, he told himself. Seeing a group laugh as he walked passed still made him pick up his stride, bangs hiding his gaze.

Making it to the set of glass windows with cutouts, he walked up to one of the workers finishing some writing. The man looked up, expectant, and suddenly Kai felt sheepish as he slowly slid the paper through the opening at the bottom. The man took it as his hand held where the wrinkles on the sides were. He didn’t know where to look as the man reviewed the sheet and settled to the laminated notice on the counter.

“I...I’m thinking of transferring from the Asia branch,” he admitted into the phone. On the other side he could hear Daza kick up her feet, “About time.”

About time she said. Was it really that obvious? Or was it just Daza being Daza? 

“So where are you going?”

“Huh?”

Daza clarified, “Where are you transferring to? There’s a lot of branches. Back to Oceania?”

“Ah, no. I was thinking...well, you always said how you liked it out where you lived. So I...” I wondered if I could go that way. It sounded better in his head. And as the words fell out, he was realizing how silly it sounded. Going just because his mentor said it looked nice. 

“Then let’s do it. Let me know when you’re heading out so we can meet.”

He didn’t know if she was a mind reader or if she really meant that. But it still made a small smile reach him as he remarked, “Yeah, I’ll let you know.”

“It’ll be about two weeks,” the man brought his attention back as he took a stamp out, “and you’ll need to get a new license when you arrive to your new branch.”

“R-Right...” 

“Anything else?” 

“No, thank you,” Kai replied as he gave a small bow before turning to leave. Two weeks. Yeah, he could do that. 

--

A sigh escaped him as he started to pull the laundry from the clothesline. The breeze provided one last drying as he reached for the clips. From behind him a soft ‘ding’ reverberated His eyes fell onto the wind bell. Its bright color overshadowed by the parchment attached with Yukina’s calligraphy, “I probably should take you down, right?”

He reached his arm up, causing the the bell to ding. As if protesting being moved. Pulling back when the breeze brough his hair in his face, he wondered if it was okay. Who knew, Yukina could be back tomorrow and complain of how much of a pain it was to put it up the first time. A small smile reached his features. Kai folded his clothes into the basket and slid the door back into the apartment. Perched atop the pile was the wind bell, “I’ll put back up when she gets back.”

He promised this to no one in particular. He just really would hate if a torrent washed it away. It just one of many little preparations Kai worked on during his two weeks. He swept and dusted it from top to bottom, finding old wrappers that had fallen in obscure areas. He washed dishes and put them away. He tossed out all kinds of food. And every bit of him pained him.

When he finished, Kai flopped onto the futon. He looked at his phone. No messages. He went into his mail and started a new letter.

Are you tired of me yet?

He started it for a minute. It was a question he wondered some times but wasn’t what the content of his letter. He went on to write:

I don’t really know if these annoy you not and since you haven’t answered back, I’m just gonna think you love it  ♡ ～('▽^人)

But seriously, you don’t have to read them. I just feel I need to update you as I go. Which is why I’m telling you, I am leaving the Asia branch. I know we talked about doing that together some day--and we totally can when you come back--but I’m...I’m keeping our promise. It took a while to actually do that since I kept waiting. I still am waiting but you’d probably hit me on the head when you got back and say I’m a dummy for not going anywhere for at least a year. 

So I’m doing it. ╰(✧∇✧)╯ Just watch me. I’ll try and maybe--

Kai paused. He then deleted the last sentence.

I hope you come back soon. I miss you, Furu. 

He hit send and closed his phone. A sigh came to him as his eyes fell onto the duffel bag filled with his clothes and the few possessions he owned. Currently resing atop it was a small gravestone with crudely carved writing on it. Kai sat up to bundle dark locks into a messy , resolving to get dinner before the bento were all gone. 

--

“Transfer?” the word came out much louder than Kai hoped. He nodded, “Yes, this is my last assignment before going to the Europe branch.” 

“Why would ever do that? You barely complete missions as is. Much less suceed at them,” to that, Kai barely covered his grimace with his cup. Going out with other hunters was expected in the Asia branch, it reminded him of the salarymen that were probably heading out soon. And this time ended up with some hunters he graduated with. Another piped up, “There’s more dangerous beasts out that way. It’ll eat you alive, Adler.”

Kai remarked, “It’s true it’s different but maybe--”

“I give it a month.” 

“I thought more of two weeks.” 

It dissolved into another conversation. One that he didn’t care to hear the results of. He took another sip of his drink as he watched them chatter. Yeah, it was about what he expected. Not that he really blamed them. His track record was...abysmal at best. If not for how often he worked in the two years since licensing, his rank would’ve been just as terrible. Nevermind the senpai, seonbae, and tiền bối that would offer no guidance, still finding him a fluke. Nor pay mind to those his age or younger that would refuse cooperation or participation to add to an already ill reputation.

His fellow hunters were looking at the menu and gesturing to the server. They pointed out other things to get. Their attention momentarily on him to lead the server’s gaze to him as they explain it being his last night with them. So thus, they were celebrating. Translation to Kai, they would drink and eat as if no tomorrow and he would pay for it. As they made their orders, his gaze went to his phone as his free hand twirled a lock absently. How long would it be this time.

Kai ended up giving another deep bow in appreciation and apology as he finished dumping the last of the hunters to their accomodations. He apologized to the staff again as he exited. It was well into the night now and his apartment a good distance away. He started his trek back with streetlights and the neon signage as his light. It all felt too bright and made his head spin. Or maybe that was all the alcohol. Walking past characters of all sorts, Kai tread in the general direction of home. As he went, his thoughts wandered.

He’d heard about Europe branch. As the area serving as origin for many legendary beast, it had history. It was where the Bastion started and where those connected to it where likely to be. And living amidst some hotbeds of magical activities, hunting was often more fraught with physical danger than the incorporeal and spiritual as often the case over this way. The hunters from there sometimes thought to be cut from an entirely different cloth. Tougher, more cunning, and meaner. 

It would be hard. But what wasn’t in this body of his? It would mean learning an entirely different kind of tactics. Well, his journal could use the update. It could be like it was here. If it was, at least he’s used to it and there’s a few places he hasn’t been. He would be without anyone he knew. That was fine, since he could find someone that he can spend some time with on occasion. Tonight proved that. It might show what everyone had been telling him: that he wasn’t cut out to be a hunter.

Kai bit his lip, his hand brushing against his bracelet, “But still...”

--

He placed the last of his belongings within his bag. It felt weird looking back at the apartment. He could see the gaps from where his trinkets were taken. The collage of pictures held splotches of the wall. Some valuables left imprints of their former place. It almost look like something was missing but Kai brushed that off. It was Yukina’s place, he was just crashing there for a while.

Like a ghost. 

A quiet laugh left him with a smile without warmth. His eyes grew dark as he thought maybe he should stay. At least here he could pretend he was a hunter. A really crappy one but one nonetheless. He would have to live with being the liar, the failure, but at least he was alive. Instead of this living dead. Waiting in a limbo that hurt his heart as much his body. It might’ve served him right, the monster that got so many killed. And this existence...this hell was what he deserved, a sentence he should serve out.

 His head bowed as his frame trembled. Those words drifting around his head. Words that he’d thought so many times to himself. Variations of it spoken to his face and behind his back. The thoughts that made his eyes sting. The hatred that would always lead to something drastic. 

His heart seem to beat in his ears as he stumbled to his feet. He wandered to the bathroom, opening a few drawers. Then he found it. Kai looked at the mirror for a moment, drawing a breath.

SNIP snip snip snip snip

--

It might be hard. 

The hunter put down his bag onto the bed. It felt like it’s been forever since he’s had a bed to himself that wasn’t a bunk bed. Although it was merely a hotel room, he found himself wandering around the room. Looking into the bathroom, closet, and ‘kitchen’ before flopping onto his bed. Jet lag tried to creep on him when he shot back up, “Oh right.”

I could never move on and be waiting for a person that’ll never return. It might all be for nothing and it will be just like before. I could fail over and over and show just how much I don’t belong here. 

“You could’ve have done this before you got here?” the worker asked from behind the glass. She seemed more confused than annoyed. He sheepishly scratched his cheek, “It just sorta happened...I’m sorry for the trouble.”

The confusion turned to perplexion however she asked no further. Instead she finished typing into a computer and showed a screen to him, “Is the information on here correct?”

“Yep.”

“Alright, just give me a minute to finish this up. Now you’re going to need a new to take a new photo. So if you’ll head over to....”

Even though I’ve told myself ‘it wasn’t my fault,’ I’ve heard dozens of times over how much it was. And despite what I’ve said...I still believe it. Maybe I do deserve to live detested and miserable. And yet...

He arrived to the meet point a bit early. It was his first mission over here and the last thing he needed was to keep anyone waiting. The coordinates were a landmark at a park. He ended up hanging around, snacking as he waited for someone else that looked...’hunter-like.’

There’s this quiet yet stubborn thought...

“I thought I was getting here early but looks like you beat me to it,” came a voice from over to the side. His gaze fell onto a guy, probably only a little older than him. He had an interesting shade to his eyes, a blue he couldn’t quite place, and definitely tall. But if his words didn’t give the guy away, a few of the scars and build would’ve.

“Ah, well, maybe next time,” he said, immediately mentally cursing himself. This was supposed to be a good first step...The guy chuckled, “Hopefully, that doesn’t mean camping out.”

The newcomer offered his hand, “I’m Emil and you are...?”

A completely selfish wish...

“Aspis,” he replied, the beginnings of a smile, “Hope we can get along.”

I want to live. 

[neo---blue]

Little Crazy

HAMATORA SONG - Best - HAMATORACKS (2015) 11. Little Crazy ... ハマトラ-ナイス&ムラサキ- ( CV.逢坂良太 & 羽多野渉) ☆ミニはま 主題歌

Track 11. Little Crazy ... Hamatora - Nice & Murasaki - (CV: Ohsaka Ryouta & Hatano Wataru)  ☆ MiniHama Theme Song

LYRICS AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION under the cut~

朝から晩まで ハイテンション続いて asakara banmade haitenshon tsuzuite Keeping up a high tension[1] from morning till night,

急停止はできない  今日もフル・スロットル 突っ込め  kyuu teishi wa dekinai kyou mo furu-surottoru tsukkome I can’t just come to a sudden stop, so I gotta kick into full throttle again today!

退屈な授業 睡魔に教われ taikutsu na jugyou suima ni osoware This boring lesson is making me sleepy.

夢から覚めたら もう充電完了さ yume kara sametara mou juuden kanryou sa When I wake up from my dream, I’ll already be done charging! 

-    

Come on! 飛び込んできてみなよ Come on! tobikondekite minayo Come on! Jump right in, everyone!

Always! 飽きることのない日々 Always! akirukoto no nai hibi Always, into days that are never boring.

No no! 遠慮なんていらない No No! enryo nante iranai No No! There’s no need to hold back.

暴れまくっていこうぜ abaremakutte ikou ze Let’s go crazy![2]

皆それぞれに違うから mina sorezore ni chigaukara Because everyone is different,

きっとぶつかることもあるはず kitto butsukarukoto mo aru hazu We’re bound to bump heads sometimes.[3]

いつも手は抜かずにやるだけ itsumo te wa nukazu ni yaru dake I just always do things my way.[4]

あのとき知った痛みも ano toki shitta itami mo Even the pain we knew from that time

思い出のひとつなのさ omoide no hitotsu nanosa is one of our memories.

 -

自由奔放に 好き勝手叫べばいい jiyuuhonpou ni sukikatte sakebeba ii Do as you please freely, you can shout it out.

本音を隠してちゃ 存在意義がないから hon’e wo kakushitecha sonzaiigi ga nai kara Since there's no meaning to life, you have to paint that picture yourself.

チャイムが鳴るまで 待っていられない chaimu ga naru made matteirarenai I can’t wait till the bell rings

カウントダウンは気にせず またフライング countdown wa ki ni sezu mata furaingu doing a countdown thoughtlessly till we’re flying again!

 -

Good bye! 常識とはさよなら Good bye! joushiki to wa sayonara Goodbye! Goodbye to common sense,

Hello! 新しい発見も Hello! atarashii hakken mo and hello! to new discoveries.

Enjoy! 全て楽しんでいけ Enjoy! subete tanoshindeike Enjoy! Have fun with everything

今は今しかないから ima wa ima shikanai kara because now is the only ‘now’ we have.

皆それぞれに違うから mina sorezore ni chigaukara Because everyone is different,

きっとぶつかることもあるはず kitto butsukarukoto mo aru hazu we’re bound to bump heads sometimes.

いつも手は抜かずにやるだけ itsumo te wa nukazu ni yaru dake I just always do things my way.

損得なんて無意味さ sontoku nante muimi sa There’s no point to thinking about gains and losses.[5]

 -

思い通りにはいかないときもある omoi doori ni wa ikanai toki mo aru There are times we can’t understand each other’s feelings.

無力な自分に嫌気がさすかも muryoku na jibun ni iyake ga sasu kamo We might be sick of our helpless selves,

だけど人間は自分の限界を dakedo ningen wa jibun no genkai wo but we humans have our limits.

知るために生きているわけじゃないんだよ shiru tame ni ikiteiru wake janaindayo Knowing this shouldn’t keep us from being alive.

だってそうだろ? datte soudaro? Isn’t that right?

 -

Come on! 飛び込んできてみなよ Come on! tobikondekite minayo Come on! Jump right in, everyone!

Always! 飽きることのない日々 Always akirukoto no nai hibi Always, into days that are never boring.

No no! 遠慮なんていらない No no! enryo nante iranai No no! There’s no need to hold back.

暴れまくっていこうぜ abaremakutte ikou ze Let’s go crazy!

皆それぞれに違うから mina sorezore ni chigaukara Because everyone is different

きっとぶつかることもあるはず kitto butsukarukoto mo aru hazu We’re bound to bump heads sometimes

いつも手は抜かずにやるだけ itsumo te wa nukazu ni yaru dake I just always do things my way

あのとき知った痛みも ano toki shitta itami mo Even the pain we knew from that time

思い出のひとつなのさ omoide no hitotsu nanosa is one of our memories.

 -

朝から晩まで ハイテンション続いて asakara banmade high tension tsuzuite Keeping up a high tension from morning till night,

急停止はできない 明日もフル・スロットル 突っ込め kyuu teishi wa dekinai asu mo furu surottoru tsukkome I can’t just come to a sudden stop, so I gotta kick into full throttle again tomorrow!

NOTES: [1] In Japanese, the English phrase “high tension” is usually used to mean “excitement” or “being in high spirits.” [2] 暴れまくって literally means “to act violently” or “to riot/be riotous” ; decided for “go crazy” because it doesn’t sound as awkward? [3] ぶつかる literally means  “to hit”or“to collide”, but it can also mean “to clash” as in ideas and ideals? (”because everyone is different”) [4] 手を抜く can apparently mean “to go easy on someone” or “to cut corners” but I couldn’t find an exact equivalent of what I think this line’s trying to say? [5] 損得 literally only means “loss and gain” and 無意味 only means “meaningless.”I wasn’t sure how to translate this one, either.

kanji lyrics from http://j-lyric.net/artist/a05ad24/l038e8e.html translation by me http://ba-sudei.tumblr.com

Hi! thanks for making it to the end. i was only able to listen to the full version of this recently and just fell in love, the second verse and bridge are so good. murasaki and nice are so good. after finding no english translation of it online, i decided to give it a go myself. i’m a beginner-ish at translation so i’m sorry if this is a little off or anything, i just thought it would be better than nothing. i put the kanji and romaji on here in case anyone ever finds things i need to correct, thanks again!

whether there’s still anyone to enjoy this translation as i upload this or not, i just want to state here that i’ve resolved to finding the rest of hamatoracks and translating the other songs like this, too? it’s practice for me so i can eventually move on to other hamatora materials that still need to be translated, maybe? i hope to have your support!  

[toukaisbetterthanyou]

(1) I've seen people saying Tou/Ken is rushed and bad written for the sake of criticizing the ship, but imo that's actually a very poor way of interpreting the relationship within the context of this manga. This isn't the human world we're talking about, this is the ghoul world, and it isn't exactly easy to have a relationship and a family within the ghoul world. Nishiki broke up with Kimi because he had to run away and hide himself and didn't want to put her at risk (Yoriko is basically being

(2) executed for being friends with Touka, and she didn’t even know about her ghoul nature; of course this is meant to tarket Kaneki but, what if the same would happen to Kimi?); Hikari and Arata had a family together, and eventually Hikari got killed and Arata went insane seeking revenge which lead to Touka and Ayato being orphans at a very young age; also, Hikari showed up one day and told Renji she fell in love and was pregnant already, we don’t know the background to this, but perhaps it was

(3) a “rushed” relationship too? But my point is that within the ghoul world, ghouls know they’re being hunted down by doves and could get killed at any point, seeking happiness is normal, trying to have a family is normal, and so I understand if Touka and Kaneki also “rushed” everything from confessing their feelings, to having sex, getting pregnant and getting married, especially when they’re living a war hard to win. But I don’t think that’s all, because it isn’t like they realized they love       

(4) each other under less than 10 chapters, which for me, makes the “rushed and bad written argument” even more rotten and sad. I’m not going to say they’re were in love in TG, but they obviously cared for each other, which for me means a very good background for the relationship they currently have. TG ended with Touka, out of all people, having faith that he would come back, and that’s beautiful imo. I feel like they started from the bottom and now they’re finally together and happy with their    

(5) relationship. Of course their relationship has bad points too, I’m not implying it is perfect, but is there any realtionship 100% perfect? Catching up with what I said before, we actually have proof that they were in love before this “Tou/Ken arc”: in TG:re chapter 9, Inherited Feelings, Haise enters the :re café for the first time and his sigh immediately crosses with Touka and it is implied that she brings back memories. Later in the manga, we see Haise thinking about her, and having in            

 (6) mind the title “Inherited Feelings” I guess we could say that Haise inherited those feelings from Kaneki. In chapter 122, Touka reveals that Haise went to the café A LOT only to see her and she later also reveals she felt really happy about it, which implies that she had feelings for Kaneki too. In conclusion I think that we got enough development over the years to make them canon, things might have been happening fast between them (which tbh is normal after the confession),            

(7) but I think the development is there and it was a very slow development. (Sorry if this is too long >.

     I agree with all of this! I feel like a lot of people have been ignoring Touka’ character in the manga, to be quite honest. When I’ve spoken to a lot of antis, they really act as though Touka and Ken’s relationship only came about in these last 11 chapters, and many of them seem to think that Touka has not played much of a role in the story. I’ve spoken to a few of them off of anon and a lot of them really don’t seem to remember what she’s done.

They don’t understand her character or her motivations. I feel like they really go blank when she pops up – and they spend all of their time analyzing and focusing on the characters that they do like. Which is understandable, but you can’t use your bias to deny things that actually happened in canon. I have certain characters I could care less about and I don’t really talk about or discuss them because I ignore them when they pop up.

Like Furu//ta? I can’t stand him. Mod A told me something he did in the manga and I honestly could not remember because I just brushed past it. But I also don’t spend time talking about Furu//ta because I know that I don’t really pay attention to his character.

A lot of them don’t seem to understand that this is all so “rushed” because they feel like they might not have much time left. Ken is dying – and the CCG could come and kill them all at any time. They have to hold onto what little happiness they have in the ghoul world. Thank you for this analysis, anon!

[chibimyumi]

your "hyper-detailed" translations are unmatched. I wonder who inspires that kind of dedication to your craft...?

(´；ω；`)ｳｯ.....Anon.......💖

Thank you SO much! People don’t like reading (myself included!) so it means a LOT to me that even though most of my posts seem to be seeking Tumblr’s upper word limit, people still read it ｡･ﾟ(ﾟ⊃ω⊂ﾟ)ﾟ･｡

About my pedanticness which you so kindly call a “craft”... The most important factor is just because I’ve been trained and have worked in Academia where I had no choice. But I think the people who inspired me the most are Yana herself, and Furukawa. These two made me see a fun element in being pedantic precise! When I checked my students’ essays for example, I would genuinely sometimes go: “how would Sebas unpack this phrase?” to check for fallacies or sloppy phrasing. My students might have begrudged me for it, but I hope it had not been meaningless for them.

🖋YANAAAAA 🖋

Yana is one of the few manga writers I know of who do not only pour in their attention to detail in art, but also in the written dialogue. Some artists have dialogue-writers employed, which is entirely great! But Yana does it all on her own, and I find that amazing. In my “Lost in Translation Series” (underneath this post) I have discussed how much immaculate detail Yana includes in her written text, and sometimes it is a bit sad how that linguistic magic gets lost in translation.

👿 Furukawa 👿

Furukawa Yuta is also a great inspiration to me because he doesn’t just learn his lines by heart, he studies and unpacks every single line from Sebastian’s point of view. He was actually the one who made me reread the series and take NONE of Sebas’ words at just face value. By extent I also learned to do so for other characters.

In this interview for example, Furukawa revealed how he scratches his head over even a line most people wouldn’t pay attention to.

Furu: Even now I have watched none of the anime. However, even though I resolved to ‘not even watch the anime once’ while taking up the challenge of [performing in] this series, I was immensely troubled by not getting the nuance of Sebas’ final line in the ‘Luxury Liner Arc’.

Host: You mean the line “I don’t wish to see a storm after all this”?

Furu: Yes. Was this line said with an air of sarcasm? Or was it something that just welled out from the deepest parts of [Sebas’] true feelings? Though the art suggested that he was smiling as he spoke, it was all cast in shadows and therefore I could not tell for sure. I wanted to check with what nuance he spoke these words, and I asked Reo “please show me a bit of the anime”, and he showed me the movie. It was not just this scene, it really ended quite out of the blue. So I took that as [the movie] giving me the message of ‘don’t watch’ (laughs). As such, I still haven’t seen any of the anime series.

And sure enough, that’s how Furukawa managed to become the most punchable, passive-aggressive Sebastian ever, and made an enemy out of Reo’s mother (≽▽≼)

In this post I reasoned why Sebas CANNOT lie, rather than DOES NOT lie. Pedantic lil’ arse Furukawa taught me.

Related posts:

Sebastian’s preservation of autonomy by being a pedantic arse

Sebastyun being a pedantic, passive-aggressive arse

Furukawa being passive-aggressive about politics

Making an enemy out of Reo’s mother by being a pedantic arse

[blogging-no-jutsu]

BL review #1: Yoake ni Furu

Author/Artist: Hayakawa Nojiko

Status: Ongoing(?)

Number of chapter online: 8 (last update: 30/4/2018)

Published: 2 volumes

No age restriction.

Note: these are just personal opinions and I mean no harm at all, my language and writing skills are not even decent, I just have the desire to share my favourite BL titles to those who are interested.

Honestly speaking, I choose this manga as my first review because the second volume will be published next week (1x or 2x of December), and I can't afford both volume at the moment but I swear I will purchase them at any cost considering how much I adore Nojiko sensei and her works, especially these two in the title I'm reviewing. If you are wondering where to buy the books, for me, I will order them through a second shop in Vietnam, in the case you are also from Vietnam, the name is Haven 22. For those who are not from my country, I'll do a research about the stores from which you can get a copy of the books and I'll update it later. If possible, please purchase a copy to support the author 👐👐

Sorry if I have been out of topic, without further ado, let's get to the review real quick.

For those who have read relatively many BL titiles, Hayakawa Nojiko might be a familiar name. Same as her older works, Yoake ni Furu was well drawn and well told. But to fully understand the characters' stories, I recommend you read the prequel: Yozora no Sumikko de (Full chapters can be found online, I will include the link at the end of the post).

To avoid spoilers, I will just give a brief of the story and some comments.

The story takes place in a small town and the two characters are childhood friends and currently studying their second year in highschool. They used to have that bitter relationship when they were in elementary school but they now get on well. There aren't much dramatic events going on, and thats a trait of Hayakawa sensei's srories. One of them has fallen in love with another person who can never love him back. The other of the two, knowing his feelings for his childhood friends and can't help wanting him to like him back. The struggles of two people wanting to be loved hence begin.

The stories is full of fluffy and jealousy moments of the two and is not cringy at all to read. Tho its not a new motive but the slice-of-life and how relatable the story is, are he star points of this title. Plus you know how dope sensei's drawing skills are. Since I haven't finished this manga but I do believe that it will have a HE.

This title is personally my favourite and every once in a while I would reread it hoping it would update.

In conclusion, this title is very worth reading and you can also check her other works meanwhile you are reading the stories, thank you for readind my review.

Links:

Yoake ni furu:

Yozora ni sumikko de:

22 haven:

[kirisaki-daichi-scenarios]

Any headcannons for Kiridai's future career/relationship? Like how would they live, whose married/alone, if they have children, any pets. Or if that's been answered any hcs abt their present interactions with their siblings/parents? Danke!!!

writing these hcs as a continuation as other hcs i’ve written for kiridai before (found here) but i have changed my mind on a couple things

Hara Kazuya

since the music industry can be pretty up and down, he used to move a lot - has couch surfed with a lot of people (and for a while, stayed at yamazaki’s place, even when zaki wasn’t there) as well as staying at his own home regularly, and various different motels

technically, his family has enough money to help him out with renting a place - not to mention that he does get some money from music - but he likes the lifestyle of moving from one place to another

really wants to just drop everything and go travel the world - every time he meets up with someone, he talks about his ‘plans’ - but he’s still looking for someone to go with, and part of him’s hoping that one of his kiridai fellows will get so sick of their life that they’ll join him on his journey

really bad at keeping girlfriends, largely because he never really considers their pov when he’s off finding a new place to stay in a different part of japan, and also because - despite his age - he has no concept of marriage in his head

Seto Kentaro

lives alone, no intentions of another partner or having kids, and rarely meets with his own family too

gets a good salary, so has a nice apartment in the city (bigger than most, on the top floor) since he doesn’t really buy a lot, and practically the only thing that brings him joy these days is reading at night, with the view of the city all around him

also forget what i said about chemical engineering professor in my first post; instead, i think he’s more of a mathematics professor (who only got into it because he did a masters after not wanting to graduate ‘into the real world’, and then did a phd because he still didn’t want to graduate, then finished his phd, thought “fuck it i can’t live academia now” and is somehow still stuck at the same uni, except now with a job)

talks a lot (often to himself) about how much he dislikes his job - he’s not a huge fan of teaching, and even research is getting uninteresting to him - but doesn’t know what other job he could do 

at some point, adopts an old rescue cat - who likes sleeping as much as seto does - and seeing said cat sleep on his desk, or curled up on his pillow, brings seto serotonin he thought he’d lost

Furuhashi Kojiro

lives a very lowkey life, partially by choice - enjoying the solitude - and partially thanks to links with various yakuza families, some which like him, some which despise him

his sister misses him, and hasn’t seen him in quite some time, but little does she know that furuhashi makes sure to keep an eye on her, whenever he’s in the area - hence why her boyfriend one time got beaten up on the street, after furu was in a particularly bad mood, and wasn’t impressed by the lover’s tiff he watched through the window

has plans to one day leave the yakuza lifestyle completely, maybe move to hokkaido, buy a small plot of land, grow lots of plants/flowers and live an almost self-sustainable life; but, for now, he’s just trying to earn enough money to do so

no intentions of getting into a relationship, nor even getting a pet

the only real company he has atm is a few pots of plants which he keeps on his windowsill, with whom he talks to more than he talks to actual people, and he has no intentions of changing this

Yamazaki Hiroshi

as i mentioned in the earlier mentioned post, he ends up going into the military -  he just wanted to get away from his family, really, and (definitely no parallels with the kiridai team) he found some peace with being given instructions to do things that aren’t particularly ethical

however he’s not just a regular army soldier, though he did train as one for a bit, instead he’s a military k9 handler

his dog - a german shepherd, trained to detect explosives - is the love of his life, and the reason he doesn’t take leave as much as his fellows (seeing as military dogs aren’t permitted to go home with the soldiers) (besides, his family has met his dog once, and weren’t huge fans - the dog is very, very attached to yamazaki, and doesn’t care much about anyone else)

doesn’t really see many of his old friends, apart from hara, who occasionally visits the barracks and they mess around together just like old times

Hanamiya Makoto

works as a criminal defence lawyer, and, as he’s gotten richer/more well-known, he’s grown even pickier about which cases he takes on: most of his cases are for people who definitely did it, against whom there’s a lot of evidence, (hanamiya just really likes the challenge of these cases, also supporting fellow scummy people)

even the people who he defends don’t particularly like him; the only ones with a positive outlook towards him are his mother (who he supports financially, and who often stays at his apartment, to help keep it clean when hanamiya’s busy on intense cases) and his cat (all black, big amber eyes, meows at hanamiya a lot, and sometimes he meows back, before growing incredibly ashamed of himself)

doesn’t play basketball anymore, but keeps fit, and there is a basketball left in the corner of his room, which he throws to himself, to help him think, when he’s working on a case

and i don’t know how to explain this but the suits he wears just make him look like such a Slimy Guy

and some other asks you may be interested in:

single dad hcs for haizaki/imayoshi/seto

haizaki’s family hcs

family hcs for kiridai

[chibimyumi]

HIGHLIGHTS from RADIOiNEWS with FURUKAWA

Furukawa was invited as special guest to the radio show RadioiNEWS (12/11/2019) wherein he broadcasted live.

The broadcast was 45 minutes long, so I cannot possibly write everything down here, but allow me to share a few highlights with you!

Response to Fan Messages

✬ Extreme Happiness ✬

Q: “Mr. Furukawa, I am incredibly happy to learn you shall reprise your role as Der Tod in ‘Elisabeth 2020′, and I really want to share this happiness. But I am all alone at home, and my husband does not watch any musicals. My daughter who became your fan after ‘Kuroshitsuji’ also can’t find any place at school to let out her happiness. Mr. Furukawa, how do you express your feelings when you are incredibly happy? Or are you the type not to express it?”

Furu: “Ah, right. When I am incredibly happy I try to create a personal space and scream.”

All: *Burst into laughter*

Furu: “For example, nowadays I tend to go into my car and scream in happiness (laughs), so I’d like to ask you to try screaming in a car too.”

✬ Kuroba Mario ✬

Host: “Mr. Kuroba Mario who was announced as member of the new cast today also sent in a voice message!”

Kuroba: “Dear listeners of RADIOiNEWS, and Mr. Yuta, good evening. I am Kuroba Mario. Mr. Yuta, thank you so much taking such perfect care of me during ‘Romeo & Juliette’, I really admire you very much. Ah, that just slipped out of my mouth.

I know it is a bit sudden, but I have become very health oriented. So, Mr.Yuta, you’re super thin, aren’t you? You are thin and pale, I am very worried about you.”

Furu: “Eh!?”

Hosts: *Burst of laughter*

Kuroba: “Mr. Yuta, could you please share what you... do... for your health? Please do your best on the live broadcast! That was Kuroba Mario.”

Furu: “He admires me and therefore he is worried about me, that is quite refreshing. I must say I am a bit shocked.”

Host: *Burst of laughter* “What is the bond you share between you, and how did you meet?”

Furu: “We met during ‘Romeo & Juliette’ wherein he was my co-star. He is also my junior for the musical ‘Prince of Tennis’, but we did not share any productions together, so ‘Romeo & Juliette’ really was our first.

Also, he is such a good boi, and incredibly incredibly handsome. But he never relies on his good looks to achieve things. He is also a very ambitious type of person; he is very young and yet so ambitious, it is very rare. He is my junior, but I look up to him very much.

Well... that said, I also caused him to worry about me (laughs), so I am not sure it’s my place to talk here. But I believe I might be even more health oriented than Mario. I do everything from taking my supplements to drinking Aojiru before meals. Ah, and nose gargling, I nose gargle every day. I stretch before going to bed, as well as taking care of my throat. So please don’t worry about me. But thank you so much for worrying about me. Thank you.”

Economy & Politics

Basic Income Policy

Furukawa went political here! I did not expect it! ÓÒ

He said that he usually listens to political and economic debates in bed, because that tends to make him very sleepy. But once the topic of Basic Income Policy popped up, and it prompted him to think about this issue.

In Japan, members of the government as well as many people claim that this policy cannot be introduced in Japan, but Furukawa wonders why.

Furu: “I don’t quite get why such a basic thing is considered impossible by people. Japan admires Western countries to a certain extent and seems to want to imitate them. However, it appears that the thing Japan admires is the language (’Basic Income Policy’ in Japanese is the English term itself). Of course if nobody wants to act, this policy stays this ‘dream’ the government calls it.

So, we have other countries that did us the courtesy of testing the No-Basic-Income Policy, and it did not quite work. I wonder why Japan must test it for itself.”

Q&A Game!

Now Furukawa was invited to play the Q&A game, where he is given 1 minute to respond to as many questions as possible.

Your hobby? Furu: “Piano.”

Special Skill? Furu: “Dancing.”

Who do you especially admire? Furu: “People who can do things I cannot.”

Expensive things or extravagance you spent money on Furu: “Eeh... an expensive steak and a wallet.”

Your secret? Furu: “I cannot say.”

What type of woman do you like? Furu: “Erm... a person who does not get angry”

What would you tell past-you? Furu: “You. W-work harder!”

A bad habit you keep doing Furu: “T-t-touching my hair?”

What embarrassed you lately? Furu: “I am usually embarrassed when I get praised.”

Your favourite space at home Furu: “My couch”

Though sudden, please say something nice to your listeners Furu: “........ Dom... dun... ah, don’t push yourself so hard...” (You tell yourself to work harder, and tell others not to push themselves? ....you Disney Princess...)

Your best cooking Furu: “I heated the sausages.” (Son... that’s not ‘cooking’.)

The highlight of your fashion today Furu: “The floof in... in... that I misjudged what combines well with what...”

A job you’d like to try Furu: “Eh... a photoshoot abroad.”

TIME UP!

Furu: “I am so sorry, I was just hopeless (laughs).”

After Talk (Parts)

Piano 🎹

Host: “So your hobby is playing the piano? Have you been playing since childhood?”

Furu: “Ah no, I started learning the piano for my role as Mozart (2018). The opportunity to play the piano also popped up lately, so I’ve been studying it.”

Host: “I assume you are really good.”

Furu: “Oh no, I am absolutely hopeless at it. I am painfully aware of the difficulty of playing the piano.”

Admiration✨

Host: “You spoke about admiring people who can do things you cannot.”

Furu: “Yes, people have many talents, and I just cannot help but admire people who can do things I cannot. Lately I have come to really admire my piano instructor. It is something I struggle with so much, and yet my teacher can play the piano like it’s nothing.

Likewise I also admire Mr. Ichimura Masachika who took care of me during ‘Mozart!’. I really admire his spirit towards work, and how he’s so mindful of everything around him.”

Expensive Steak 🥩

Host: “Alright, Mr. Furukawa, I am sorry, but you said that the expensive thing you spent money on lately was an e-e-expensive steak?”

Furu: “Y-yeah, it was a bit expensive? Well, it was actually a normal steak, steak is just expensive. But I just had to answer something, so the steak and the wallet was what popped up in my mind first.”

Host: (Laughs) “You had a steak in a restaurant, I assume? Or did you make it yourself?” (No Mr. Host; Furukawa SOAKED his own steak in warm water. He wouldn’t know what cooking is if it bit him in his behind.)

Furu: “Ah, no, I went to my favourite steak place that uses a point-card system. I frequented that place in the past, and I spent... one or... no, two years to accumulate a whopping 17000 points. But last time I went, a year had already passed, and my points were reset to zero...”

Hosts: *Screech in pain* “What a shame!!”

Furu: “Is it normal that points get reset if you don’t come for a year?”

Host: “Well, it’s a system that wants you to keep coming, right.”

Furu: “I guess I learned the hard way, I will never forget this anymore.”

[chibimyumi]

i'm really curious about your opinion on inoue yoshio; what do you like about his tod, or other roles that he's played that you're familiar with? also, do you know much about his interactions/relationship with yun? he seems like he'd be quite a good role model for yuta and he seems like not only an incredible talent but a sweet person as well. thank you very much!

【Response to this post】

Dear @publicschoolarc,

Thank you for your ask, I’ll see what I can do ^^

Who is Inoue Yoshio, and who is he to Furukawa?

Inoue Yoshio is unofficially the ‘King’ of the Musical world, and it’s been said that he has been leading the entertainment world for a decade now. As a person, he is the polar opposite of Furukawa.

As we all know, Furukawa is rather timid, shy, introvert, and VERY very insecure. Inoue however, is bold, daring, extrovert and very confident.

While making Furukawa say the word ‘Prince’ in relation to himself is like pulling teeth, Inoue knows very well that he is the leading ‘Prince’ of the musical world. He is likewise aware of his contributions to theatre, and he is proud of it.

I don’t know why, but he has this way of being proud of himself without it getting arrogant.

Inoue and Furukawa

Perhaps it’s because of his position in the Musical world, but Inoue is not a very approachable person. Not because he isolates himself, but perhaps more because other people have too much respect for him, they deliberately stay out of his hair. In fact, in an episode of ‘Gyouretsu no Dekiru Houritsu Soudansho’ aired on August 18th 2019, Inoue even lamented that despite being THE big Prince, none of his Prince-kouhais ever come greet him or anything. When the host told Prince-kouhai Urai Kenji, Urai laughed and said: “Mr. Inoue is just so different [than all of us]. But from now on I shall greet him properly.” (Link to video)

Inoue does not have the cute bonding-time with Furukawa like Yamazaki did. Unlike Yamazaki Ikusaburo, Inoue is the kind of Troupe Lead who leads from above. He does not push, he does not pull; instead, he simply tells you where to find what. While Yamazaki is the team-daddy, Inoue is more the authoritative but loving head of the household.

During the rehearsals of ‘Elisabeth’, Furukawa was incredibly self-conscious. Furukawa is the least confident about his singing and considers himself the impostor Prince. Now that he became the double-cast of Der Tod, he was painfully aware that he would inevitably be compared to the ‘King’ of the Musical world who is most renowned for his singing.

Furukawa would spend EVERY single moment of spare time on muslce-training, and it was apparently very hard to watch. Though a bit aloof, Inoue did keep an eye on his baby here, and told Furukawa to stay hydrated and protect his joints, for example.

That is the interesting difference between Inoue and Furukawa or Yamazaki as Troupe Leads. While Furukawa and Yamazaki would be the type to tell their babies to stop over-exerting themselves, Inoue is the type to say: “you do whatever you think is right, but do it responsibly.”

During ‘Mozart!’ when in business-mode, Yamazaki actively taught Furukawa tricks to effortlessly hit the highest notes, and in break-mode, he’d show Furukawa fun videos to help him unwind ⇊.

Inoue is not not the type to be this personally involved, but he did go to Furukawa and warned him of all his own mistakes he made himself as Der Tod. Just like Furukawa, Inoue played Rudolf before he was Der Tod. He warned kouhai that when he played Der Tod for the first time, he accidentally almost sung Rudolf’s part of the duet instead of Der Tod’s part.

Inoue probably noticed that Furukawa preferred practicing the singing alone. So, he advised Furukawa to rehearse confusing changes with the Rudolfs around; so he’d get used to himself playing ‘AGAINST’ Rudolf, instead of ‘as’ Rudolf, lest he’d make the same mistake.

A Good Sport

During the first press conference of the opening of ‘Elisabeth 2019′, Inoue also did perfectly by presenting himself as the due Troupe Lead, without making Furukawa look like ‘the secondary’.

Furukawa was dying on the inside during the press conference, and Inoue made sure to make the atmosphere a bit lighter by sharing an episode of his own past where he was so nervous he was bawling like a baby during the curtain call. Therewith, he was basically telling his baby that he too knows what it is like to be nervous.

Inoue was proud that ex-Rudolf became Der Tod like himself now. He pointed out how Furukawa was given an entirely new line of costumes, and expressed how he was even a bit jealous, and joked:

“Furu-bab’s clothes are so elegant and refreshing, I think it reflects what kind of Der Tod he plays. Here I am carrying a dead fish tail; what does that say about me? (laughs)” [Source]

Furukawa’s Idol

Though Inoue is not really Furukawa’s role model (as Furu resembles Yamazaki’s way of working more), he is one of Furukawa’s biggest idols.

When Furukawa was just awarded the title of ‘Prince’, he said: “I am no Prince… when we speak the word ‘Prince’, the first people we think of are Inoue-senpai and Yamazaki-senpai. They are the perfect people who deserve this title. Koike-sensei told me that Inoue-senpai is the leader of the Musical world because he is transparant; therefore he can become anything. I however, am not transparent… I can only hope to achieve some success by working harder than anyone else.”

Don’t worry Furu-bab, senpai noticed you. You good.

Inoue as a Performer

Personally, Inoue is not really my jam, though, I do absolutely acknowledge his perfect singing techniques, his talent for dancing, and his natural leader’s charisma. I think he deserves the honour of being the unofficial ‘King’, but just very personally I don’t like his voice. His voice has this very nasal quality to it that is just not my cup of tea.

I also often see more ‘Inoue Yoshio’ than the character he is playing. He has this way of ‘Fusion’ing himself with his roles. To fans who like that, it is absolutely perfect. But I myself am more fan of the type who can erase themselves and fully become the role.

Inoue as Der Tod

At the beginning I had the feeling that as Der Tod, Inoue was underacting a bit; his interpretation was not clear to me. A good friend of mine and I always joke that it’s because Inoue’s singing is SO good, he always treats his musicals like a concert. He just sings the lines, and the song is so beautiful nobody even cares about anything else.

Though I did not like Inoue’s Der Tod at the beginning, I did grow a bigger appreciation for him after seeing Furutod. Through contrast, I think I saw that Inouetod was just this VERY confident Lord of the Underworld who’s been at the peak of power for literally all eternity; so why would he bother with all the ‘plebeian emotions’? What’s the point of learning how to emote and communicate feelings, when the entire world WILL be on their knees for him? I am not saying that he was not acting; what I mean to say is that Inoue has this King’s charisma that’s so natural to him, he could pull this off.

Furutod was of course also an entity that has been the paragon of authority for eternity, but the way he expressed this was in his entitlement and childishness; he never had to unlearn, after all. In short, while Furutod was the never-challenged pampered master, Inouetod was the “with great power comes great responsibility” type of King.

One could say that Furutod was really the personification of ‘death’, whereas Inouetod was what the Japanese version of the musical emphasises: ‘The Lord of the Underworld’.