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bringontheemos · 4 years ago

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CHAPTER 4 of Itachi x OC Yuri in ‘Another Chance for Family’. This chapter focuses on Yuri and her background and such. I hope you enjoy reading!

(A/N: the land of flowers in this story is different than the land of vegetables. I know in the manga and anime that the land of vegetables is often called the land of flowers but just consider this to be a separate place.)

"As you may know, the Land hidden in the flowers has been very fortunate when it comes to harvest numbers. We're one of the smallest lands but our crop failure is at practically zero and we grow enough food for the surrounding lands. The main contributor to this is my family.

You see, for the past three generations my family has resided in the Land of flowers. When my grandparents came, it was a barren land that could hardly grow grass. The people starved to death and those who survived didn't have the strength to leave.

The mere presence of my grandfather caused the plants to revive. From that day forward, my family were considered the most important and powerful people in the land... that changed soon after I was born.

According to my parents, the night I was born there was a large growth in all of the plants within a two mile radius, the ground shook for hours, and all fire and electricity in the area went out. The village was sure I would bring more good fortune with my heighten powers. They were so happy for my future.

Anyway, I grew up a bit. No one expected much of me yet but they still eagerly awaited the awakening of my full ability. When I was five I caught a cold from playing in the rain. I accidentally spread spores over the entire village. Several people chocked to death on the toxins, especially the elderly and young children. My parents attempted to talk to the villagers and eventually everything calmed down.

The next problem occurred when I was 9 years old. A couple of kids my age were picking on me for being shy and small. They said all kinds of terrible things. They weren't content with just laughing at me though, they started hitting me and throwing things. I tried to protect myself but... I accidentally killed them. Large branches shot out of the ground and through each of the children. I was mortified, and the villagers didn't trust me anymore. They didn't believe I was capable of controlling myself, which is true I guess.

My parents agreed that I was too much of a liability to live in the village, so they cleared out the farmer's shed on top of the hill and told me to stay there. They came to visit me every day and my father would tell me his wonderful stories while mom wove flower crowns. But one day they didn't come back. The night before there was a raid on the town. Thieves came and stole everything. I was forbidden to step foot into the town center so I stayed in my shack and prayed.

My parents and half of the villagers died in the raid. People blamed me for not killing the enemy for them. So after that, they completely avoided me, they hated me, and beat me.

Just before my grandfather passed away, I asked him what my power was good for. He told me, 'you, your mother and I have deep connections with the earth and the creatures on it. We can borrow it's power, create and control life. This power is only given to those the earth loves. Those who are worthy to be its master.' He taught me how to use this power... grandpa was incredible."

My new friends let me finish telling my story before they spoke. Itachi being the first, "So that's what happened? Interesting. Have you mastered control over these powers of yours?"

We all stopped for a break so I was able to sit on the ground.

"Well... the thing is... I'm not sure where my limits are. After that incident with the other children, I stopped trying to use my powers. Although, I do have a pretty good idea what I could potentially do."

"But your village still has healthy crops. How are the they growing if you aren't using your ability?"

"Oh that? Yeah that just kinda happens." I pointed to the area I was sitting on. The once dry dirt was now green and lilies were sprouting. "See? I don't have to do anything, but that also means I don't have much control over this either."

"I'm curious," Kisame had a strange look in his eye. "Could you grow a tree at will?"

"I guess so. How big?"

"As big as possible."

"Alright." I laid my hands on the ground and concentrated on forming a tree. The ground shook for a moment and then everything stopped.

Itachi's POV

'Hm. So she wasn't able to do it. How disapp-'

A large trunk shot out of the ground. The tree grew so tall that it was difficult to see the top through the clouds. The air felt very clean as well. Like all of the toxins had been taken away.

"S-so... How was that?" This woman acted as though she just did something minor and not something as incredible as this.

"Good."

"Really?! I'm glad to hear it!" She smiled at me and Kisame, but I noticed something. Little vines were beginning to wrap around her limbs like snakes. "Hm." She looked at the plant in such a nonchalant way.

"Uh... What's going on?" Kisame finally asked.

"It's my wounds. They're healing them for me. This only happens when I get hurt pretty bad." While she did that I took the time to read her and think about the situation.

'Her chakra is plentiful and she's overflowing with it. So much so that the vegetation around her grows. The strangest thing about this is that I can't see through this jutsu. Maybe it isn't a technique at all.'

~~~~~~

3rd person POV

Yuri, Itachi, and Kisame continued walking to wherever the men were heading. Yuri has already decided to stay with them. After all, they're the only people to show kindness to her.

"So where are you headed?" Yuri asked curiously as she marched next to Kisame.

"Heh. You'll know shortly."

"Hm..... okay!" They continued walking for a few more hours before they reached an area that looked like a deserted village. The houses were burned down and the scorched earth was completely barren. "Um... where are we?"

"We will be leaving you here."

"What?!"

The men were already walking away. "You can wonder off if you want, but if you're in this place, you can train your power without restrictions."

"Oh... I understand."

Itachi turned to the sad young woman and threw her a kunai knife. He gave the knife to her so she could protect herself if she wasn't confident in her abilities quite yet.

Yuri watched as the people she believed to be friends, left her. Even though she could have cried about it, she didn't because she knew this was a challenge: become stronger by the time he gets back.

'I'll do my best and then you'll see how useful I can be!'

#anime #books & libraries #shounen #naruto #itach uchiha #itachi #yuriuchiha #yuri uchiha #romance #feelings #backstory #kisame

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bluerazorbirb · 5 years ago

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About the Two fathers theory, and why it keeps nagging me

OK, so I caught up recently with the manga, it’s why I haven’t really been able to look this theory up much.

I didn’t think of the possibility of the twins having a different parentage while reading. It’s only when I saw this one crack theory post about Mephisto, of all people, being their potential dad by shape-shifting or something, that I looked at the timeline a little more (and I haven’t saved that post, so I can’t find it, sadly).

Anyway, the way chapter 108 presents the events is disjointed, and somewhat confusing with few time indications, but this may be why some kind of twist could be very well hidden here (along with 106 and 107).

Disclaimer: In spite of presenting the elements here, I’m neutral at best about the possibility that the twins’ parentage isn’t as it appear. I don’t see it as very possible, and I don’t know if it would matter much to the story if it’s even remotely true (perhaps for Yukio’s development, idk). Nevertheless, I’m putting my thought-process here.

Something that one crack theory ‘Mephisto is the dad’ post pointed out was the timing of the pregnancy, and how it doesn’t actually appear to line up with the timeline we’ve been given. As for why that is, let’s examine the events in detail:

(Wall of text incoming, TLDR at the end)

We know Satan came back to Section 13 two years after vanishing in the sewer. He came in with his demon army and took the kids and workers in Section 13 hostage. Lucifer and his three Baal followers acknowledged their ‘father’s leadership and offered their assistance. Satan was fine with having the Section 13’s researchers keep making the Elixir, as long as they gave it to him. This also suited the Section 13’s team, because Satan was a precious test subject.

However, True Cross’s Eastern branch’s Asylum being invaded like that forced its leaders to admit the existence of Satan to the other branches, and theses branches sent out exorcists in reinforcement to deal with this new threat. True Cross East still kept the existence of Section 13 a secret. Mephisto also failed to negotiate the release of the Section 13’s children in exchange for supplies (given he was aware that Satan wanted to let Section 13 continue their research, this was likely part of his 'statement’ to the other branches). We don’t know how long this whole thing took, but it likely was only a few hours, since it’s a hostage situation, and exorcists can use keys to travel to True Cross East fast.

The Paladin Abel Franken announces the plan to the outsider exorcists: Satan’s vessel is decaying, he likely only has about a month to live. They will fight and try to take on the fortress during this time.

And so, for a month, they fight. Satan never shows up, but the three Baal do. Many exorcists die (final count is 114 by the time this is over). They are at a disadvantage, because they cannot find where Satan’s HQ is (since it’s in Section 13, and True Cross East is still hiding its existence, and all the nasty clone experiment biz going on in there). By the time the month ends, the exorcists are ready to cave in to Satan’s demand, and send supplies to keep the hostages alive.

It’s when Yuri decides to act. She’s been kept on the site as a consultant after Satan first demanded her presence. While asking her higher up permission to go herself and negotiate with Satan, she learns that Section 13’s leaders are happy with the situation, and have been secretly resupplying the secret lab themselves. They’re just waiting for Satan to finish decaying while using him as a subject. It also means that the outsiders exorcists are basically dying for no good reasons.

Hearing this, Yuri goes behind her superior’s back, and get into Section 13 with the key she had secretly kept from the time she worked inside. Satan guides her to him, and Yuri pleads for Satan to release everyone in Section 13 in exchange for her staying by his side until the end. Satan eventually accepts the term.

We don’t know how long Yuri and Satan stay in Section 13. The outsider exorcists were meant to send out supplies to keep the hostage alive for the next month, but we don’t see that happen. This coupled with Satan’s decay being an issue means the two likely did not stay in Section 13 that long. Perhaps a day or two, at most.

During this time, Satan announces his departure to Eminescu and the people in Section 13, who are displeased by this development. Yuri reconnects with her friend Jenny, and learns that Jenny plans to use the opportunity that the outsider exorcists are here to reveal Section 13’s horrible deeds.

Yuri also discusses her plan to run away with Satan for him to finish his days with her. But the women are overheard. Jenny is killed, Satan and Yuri are captured right as they leave True Cross East, and Yuri shows signs of being sick.

After Satan and Yuri are recaptured, the outsider exorcists are being fed a BS story about Satan’s vessel being found decaying somewhere once the demons left the fortress (the demons left because of Yuri’s negotiation, which is kept secret). The outsider exorcists begin to question if Satan was even here, or if True Cross East is hiding something.

In order to cover-up Section 13’s existence and its involvement with Satan, Mephisto tells them that Satan was invited by Yuri after he bewitched her. He also announces to them that Yuri is pregnant by four to five weeks, and has a Cradle Barrier around her, preventing her child from being killed.

This here is the first issue with the pregnancy. It is possible I’m wrong, but from what info we were given, by the time Satan was recaptured by Section 13, only roughly a month should have gone by from the moment Satan took over True Cross East. In other words: roughly four to five weeks.

If this is so, Yuri Egin became pregnant from about the time Satan resurfaced, and a month before she found Satan and they got together to do the deed.

And it’s not a discrepancy the outsider exorcists would be able to pick on, as Mephisto told them Yuri was the one responsible for inviting Satan to True Cross East’s Asylum a month back. From what they know, she could have gotten pregnant during that time.

As for Shiro, we don’t see him at that meeting, but we do see him discuss Satan’s child with both Yuri and Mephisto, so he’s aware that Yuri is pregnant… however, the paneling of Mephisto and Shiro’s discussion has a strange layout. Specifically this part which happens in the middle of a flashback he has while stealing Kurikara:

Now, why the reaction here? Why not before? By this point, as readers, we’ve already seen the decision Shiro took right after knowing about the pregnancy, so what’s the point of putting such a reaction here? Maybe there’s no significance to it, but even Mephisto’s wording, “Yuri was pregnant”, is a bit unsettling. Perhaps the Japanese version shows something else, though, so this is just speculation.

But that timeline strangeness itself is no proof that Satan isn’t the father, or that two fathers are involved. For one, Yuri does have a Cradle Barrier around her, which only manifests to protect a demon child. Furthermore, Mephisto could have lied to the outsider exorcists about how far in the pregnancy she was. I know this would be harder to pull, because Yuri is under examination, but the Section 13 personnel may be the ones doing the job. And there is one other thing which could point to Mephisto not giving the right estimation for the pregnancy.

…But that reason is also something which points to the Two Father Theory being a possibility.

The thing about Yuri, is that she was late in delivering her babies. She was four weeks past her due date. Roughly about a month.

There is a month’s discrepancy with the info we were given about when Yuri became pregnant, and Yuri was a month late in delivering.

This hardly seems like a coincidence to me.

Which brings me to two possible conclusions if we go with the idea that Yuri’s pregnancy should last about the same time a normal pregnancy does. The first is that Mephisto simply lied to the other exorcists about the time of the pregnancy to cover up Section 13’s involvement with Satan, making Yuri the only culprit for the month the exorcists spent fighting the three Baal and Satan’s legion.

The second possibility is in favor of the Two Father Theory: Yuri was pregnant a month before meeting with Satan, and somehow, thanks to demon-power shenanigan, got pregnant again with another child. The reason she was past her due date by a month was so that the other child’s development would catch up with the first.

In this situation, given what we’ve seen so far, the second child is most likely to be Rin, since the Cradle Barrier vanished once he came out. The Cradle Barrier disappearing is also another hint on Yukio being possibly full human by ancestry as well (although the concept of a trade off in the womb would have been interesting).

Like I said, this possibility shouldn’t particularly affect the story, although if it’s correct, then, the fact that very few people in high place ever refers to Yukio as a ‘son of Satan’ is notable. For one, none of the Baal, or Satan himself have referred to Yukio as either a ‘brother’ or a ‘son’ (Satan himself only referred to Rin as a ‘son’, he calls Mephisto by his original name, for example). Granted, it’s as likely that demons just do not recognize Yukio as a family member due to his lack of demon powers, but this is still something to consider.

That aside, it raises the question: who is Yukio’s father if not Satan? The likeliest candidate is still Shiro, for lack of anyone else. It’s where the Two Father Theory falters in my opinion, because, while there certainly are romantic tensions in between Yuri and Shiro, and there is no doubt that Yuri viewed Shiro romantically, we haven’t seen their relationship progress to a point where they would have casual unprotected sex with each other.

Arguably, that’s also where the timeline of the event can be referred to, because the last scene we have of Shiro and Yuri together before Satan returns is when Shiro picks up Shura, and Yuri ultimately refuses to take Shura in, because she’s still waiting for ‘Rinka’ to come back once his body fails. This whole encounter happened six months after Satan bust out of Section 13. In other word, it happened a year and a half before Satan returned (further confirmed by Shura when she speaks of the sole time she met with Yuri, two years before the twins’ birth).

It does mean that, as readers, we’re missing a year and half of potential interactions in between Shiro and Yuri, a year and half when Yuri could have changed her mind about waiting for Rinka and open up to other potential futures. What still makes this a huge maybe to me is that Shura only met Yuri once, so if Shiro ever spent time with Yuri, he did it on his own, without Shura’s involvement.

Well, that’s about it for the wall of text.

TLDR: According to Mephisto, Yuri was pregnant four to five weeks in when she was captured with Satan, and this makes it more likely that she was pregnant before sneaking into Section 13 and spending a few days with Satan in there. But since she gave birth a month late from her due date, Mephisto either lied about how far ahead she was, or Yuri could have gotten pregnant a month later for a second time with Satan somehow, making Rin and Yukio fraternal twins with different fathers.

(Not going into the weird ‘fraternal twins with signs of parasitic growth’ affair, because I’m not knowledgeable enough to comment.)

But, if Yuri was pregnant before she came in, she likely realized the truth about her child when they announced the news to her. And she would know who the father involved was.

Not like it would help if the child has already been labeled as the spawn of Satan thanks to the Cradle Barrier, though.

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teababe27 · 5 years ago

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Notes From the 2019 Myanimelist.net Challenges - Part 1: Anime

Health problems have laid me up a little, but now I’m finally posting this.

As you can tell by the title, this is a post in the vein of last year’s notes about the Myanimelist.net Anime Watching and Manga Reading Challenges. While I didn’t complete everything by the deadline, I had some fun with it and saw/read some good things, some okay things, some things I’ve been meaning to watch anyway, and some things I probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for this challenge.

This post will deal with the anime side. Part 2, dealing with the manga side, will come soon.

I will mention some notables/honorable mentions and then some of my favorite things I watched for this challenge.

Let’s do this.

Honorable Mentions/Other Notables: Millennium Actress - completed for the task “Watch an award-winning anime”

Two filmmakers interview Chiyoko, a retired, reclusive actress from long ago. She brings the two filmmakers through her memories.

As far as I’m concerned, anything Satoshi Kon does is great. A movie with an interesting concept and an interesting art style. I teared up a little at the end, ngl.

RIP Satoshi Kon.

My Neighbor Totoro - completed for the task “Watch an original anime”

Two little girls move to a house in the countryside with their father. While at the house, they discover forest spirits and go on adventures with them.

As expected from Studio Ghibli, the art is gorgeous. The story was fun. I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t seen this until now.

While not my favorite Miyazaki movie, this was still beautiful and also fucking adorable.

It was also pretty cool to hear the Fanning sisters in early roles.

Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren’t They? - completed for the task “Watch an anime in which your favorite character’s voice actor participated”

Three kids, each with a different special ability, are whisked away to a world called Little Garden. They are called upon by Kurousagi (Black Rabbit in the English dub) to win “Gift Games” and help the community regain its former glory and resources after a demon took them away.

I’d put this under the group of “Things i probably wouldn’t have watched if not for this challenge”.

I’m not normally into isekai anime (I feel it’s been way overdone lately), but I had fun with this. I honestly didn’t like a couple of the characters at first, but then I realized it was kinda the point. They did get better, though.

Automatic props for having Josh Grelle in there voicing one of the titular problem children.

I had fun with this one overall.

Aoi Bungaku Series - completed for the task “Watch an anime with more than 16 minutes in total and tagged as Mystery, Psychological, and/or Thriller”

An anthology adapting several classic Japanese books and stories.

This anime was different than a lot of what I have watched before. Bleak as hell a lot of the time (especially in the first story), but I found this anime interesting. I might try and read the books that these stories were based on.

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor - completed for the task “Watch an anime suggested by Myanimelist or Anime+”

Justy Ueki Tylor is a bit of a lazy bum. He signs up to join the space military because he wants to live a relatively easy life and get a good pension when he retires. Through sheer charisma and dumb luck, he helps diffuse a hostage situation, leading him to be promoted to Captain of a ship with a bad reputation. An evil space empire and higher-ups looking to get rid of Tylor are also involved.

I found this show funny, but I also feel like this is one you need to be in the mood for. That being said, this was a fun watch.

A lot of zany hijinks and watching Tylor get by through sheer luck and charisma. Gave me some mixed feelings at times.

I have a weakness for things that came out in the 90s, as I grew up with that animation style and shows from that time period. As such, it was very cool to hear voice actors from my childhood, like Rachel Lillis and Lisa Ortiz, in this anime. (I was internally going “OMG it’s Misty!!” every time Yuriko talked.)

Favorites from the Challenge:

Hanayamata - completed for the task “Watch an anime that began airing between 2010 and 2015″

An ordinary student, Naru, wants nothing more than to be pretty and dazzling like in her fairy tale books. One day, she meets a mysterious girl, Hana, who dances with her one night. Hana turns out to be an American transfer student who ends up transferring into Naru’s class. Hana then introduces Naru to Yosakoi dancing and forms the Yosakoi club.

I thought this was a cute and fun slice-of-life anime. Premise can be a bit iffy if you really think about it, but I had fun with this show. I love how everyone slowly opened up with each other and was able to make their club work.

Also, I couldn’t help but have this thought: I feel like the first couple episodes had so much lesbian subtext that I had to check if this anime was made by KyoAni (it wasn’t, it’s made by Madhouse).

Tatami Galaxy - completed for the task “Watch a Noitamina anime”

A third-year college student runs into a mysterious guy at a ramen shop. The student reflects on his past 2 years at college, mostly spent with his friend Ozu trying to break up happy couples. The student wonders if he’s wasted his life and resolves to do better. Then a time loop starts happening and more chances arrive.

*clasps hands like Gendo Ikari*

We meet again, Masaki Yuasa.

No better time than this challenge to work through more of Masaki Yuasa’s filmography, especially after watching the decent Mind Game and the excellent Kaiba for last year’s challenge.

While watching this anime, I felt myself going back and forth on whether or not I really liked this anime. Whether it was overrated or underrated. Whether it was a good idea on what the Endless 8 could have been or something that kept going unnecessarily long because the Student couldn’t see what was in front of his face. Whether it was style over substance.

The answer?

Yes.

I honestly liked it, but I do understand the criticism. I feel like the confusion about my feelings can be a good thing and this anime still had some great points and made me think.

I also thought the art style and soundtrack were great, as usual from Masaki Yuasa.

One Outs - completed for the task “Watch an active staff member’s favorite anime with 10 episodes or more”

A struggling baseball team recruits Tokuchi Towa, a pitcher who is more of a gambler than anything. Kojima, the team’s veteran player, hopes that Tokuchi will lead them to the championship. Corrupt ownership and unethical opponents also add problems.

Tokuchi was a great character. He’s a genius, but also a huge troll. His method is basically trying to psychologically get to the other players and go from there. I liked seeing him work through situations and outsmart people. This was one of the few anime from the challenge where I could watch several episodes in one sitting and not even realize it.

Basically, this was a take on sports anime I didn’t know I needed.

Aggressive Retsuko (aka Aggretsuko) - Season 1 completed for the task “Watch an ONA,” Season 2 completed for the task “Watch an anime with more than 16 minutes in total and a popularity lower than #700″

Retsuko, a red panda, is an average office worker. Unfortunately, she hates her job. She is harassed by her boss and given unreasonable amounts of work. To relieve the stress from her life, she secretly goes to karaoke and sings death metal to scream everything out.

I love this. I love Retsuko. I love the little songs sprinkled in. I love Retsuko’s relationships with several of her office-mates.

I feel like I can relate so hard. Not necessarily with the heavy work load, but just the general stresses of life in your 20s. Being stuck in a job that isn’t the best, and also liking metal.

I had a ton of fun with this show. Season 1 was slightly better than Season 2, but I loved this show all the same.

Girls’ Last Tour - completed for the task “Watch an anime that finished airing with more than 10 episodes and has a synopsis by MAL Rewrite”

In a post-apocalyptic, war-torn landscape, two girls, Chito and Yuri, travel the world for answers, with only their motorbike/tank, their supplies, and each other.

This, by far, wins Best of the Challenge this year.

This anime gave me a mix of emotions that I don’t know if I’ve ever felt before. A strange mix of existential dread and sadness and going “aww” at the slice-of-life adventures the two girls have. It made me laugh, made me cry, and made me think.

Watch this one, please.

#anime #myanimelist #myanimelist.net #millennium actress #my neighbor totoro #tonari no totoro #problem children are coming from another world aren’t they?#mondaiji tachi ga isekai kara kuru sou desu yo #aoi bungaku #aoi bungaku series #irresponsible captain tylor #the irresponsible captain tylor #hanayamata #Tatami Galaxy #one outs #aggretsuko #aggressive retsuko #girls last tour #Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou

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tubbotums · 7 years ago

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I want you to imagine a situation for a sec, so close your eyes and imagine

It’s late March, two months away from your high school graduation. You’ve been a part of a friend group in high school that you’ve cherished for three years, and now you’re faced with the fact that you’re all going to pretty much be going your separate ways. You’ll see each other, but it’ll never be the daily after school hang outs again. Not only that, your relationship with a girl who had basically been by your side for your hardest moments in the past year, someone who defended you and loved you, just ended, and now that relationship along with various others have just ended in the rockiest fashion possible despite you trying your best. Along with all of that, you got yourself with a fandom that’s basically spit you out and kicked you around, called your ideas garbage and basically made you feel like shit because of your race, gender and sexuality. All of this you have to deal with as you also face the possibility of moving out of your apartment, the place you’ve called home for 17 and a half years because your mom wants a change of scenery and onset depression that’s quickly becoming more and more severe by the day.

That was me a year ago, and truth be told I had never felt more alone and lower than at time. I had come to this site to try and escape that, and it worked for the most part, but really it was just something that was always nagging and there, and no matter what I did I just couldn’t escape it. I didn’t wanna get out of bed, my personal health and hygiene dropped, and I was really a shell of myself. I couldn’t do anything right it felt like, and I felt like there was no one to really help me. I started escaping more to anime, music and video games as a result, and a lot of old insecurities popped up and just left me a mess.

Then, one day after school with my friends I accidentally dug up my old PS Vita, the white one that you got if you got the Assassin’s Creed bundle. I made a remark that I hadn’t played it in years, and a friend of mine who had graduated the year before said he knew some good games, and literally the first thing that came out of his mouth was Persona 4 Golden. I had heard of Persona, but I never actually knew what it was or anything. It seemed so foreign and just out there that it had never came up on my radar, so he immediately dragged me on a 15 minute walk to the nearest GameStop and grabbed the one copy of P4 Golden that they had in stock. He even went out of his way to buy it for me, a $40 game for a dead console. Now I wouldn’t really make a big deal out of this stuff, but this was one of my friends who never really had a lot of money on him. He was always saving his money up, so the fact that he was willing to shell out the money for me like that meant he was serious. So, we went back to my place, and I put in the game.

The opening title played, Shadow World, and that colorful opening played. I always make it a thing to watch the opening on my first playthrough when I play a game, and this game was no exception. I remember liking the visuals, but there was one person that caught my interest right off the bat. There was a person who was doing a little dance with a trash can, and at the time I thought that was really funny. I read his name, and it just said Yosuke. I looked on the cover for him, and I said to my friend “He kinda looks like me”, and that ensued a bunch of jokes and a short nickname for a while. Anyways, I remember because of this I was really interested to learn more about him, and going into this game knowing nothing I didn’t know when I’d meet him. Luckily for me, he was the first person I met in the game (or at least one of the first). I remember him crashing into that trash can and just Yu not helping, and him getting kicked in the balls by Chie after not returning her ‘Trial of the Dragon’ in one piece. I thought this was really funny, since the dude was kind of a down on his luck dork who meant well, and it was something I could really relate to.

However, as I got further into those first few hours of the tutorial and everything, I learned more about him. His full name was Yosuke Hanamura, and he was the son of the man who owned the big chain mall in town, Junes, the one the MC’s character sings the jingle to whenever it’s on T.V. He was voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, the same VA who voiced Simon the Digger in Gurren Lagann, a favorite of mine, and he had a crush on a cute girl named Saki. However, his crush ended up being the first victim in what would become a string of murders in Inaba, and he wanted to find out the truth of what happened to his dearly beloved. So into the TV World they go, and there Yosuke finds out that not only did Saki not like him back, but she outright hated him and resented him since his father’s business stole business away from her own family’s. He hears her talk about her hatred toward him, and also has to come face to face with his Shadow, his true self. We find out that he’s actually depressed and hates life for the most part. He moved to Inaba not too long ago, and he felt alone and isolated because he was from the city. He wanted people to like him, and he tried his damnest to feel like an equal to people, including the person who would become his best friend in the MC. But, there he was, hating life and always feeling like a burden to those around him and wanting to isolate himself from others because he didn’t feel like an equal.

I’m not a man of god or anything really, but this felt like a sign or something. I never had related so hard to a character in my life before, and it was enough that I actually found myself crying at the end of learning about him and the two of you agreeing to solve the murders.

So I went on and played the rest of the game, with Yosuke being the first social link that I finished in the game. I saw him try and come to terms with his depression, realize that he now had a group of friends around him who accepted him, and that he’d always be considered an equal with his bro and partner. As I’m writing this, I’m still thinking about the raw emotion I felt seeing all of this for the first time and just tearing up about it. For a long time I changed my profile pic on Facebook to a picture of him, he was the character that really made me want to cosplay, something I had never even thought of before, and I ended up deciding to make him my face claim, something I still keep up to this very day. I remember I tried to get my hands on any type of merch for him, though I didn’t really find much until later on (like a partial yaoi manga with him and Yu, something I’ve read time and time again with no regrets~). Despite all of that, my love for Yosuke had ran deep at that point, so when I finished the game in the middle of August I cried once more. My time with him was done, and I would never really get that same feeling back like the first time I met him.

That now meant I had two weeks to play Persona 5, the first game I got on my PS4 after I rebought it due to selling it to get the Switch. I went into this game with high expectations, since everyone told me it was amazing. However, I still had my biases, like the fact that there wasn’t Yosuke in this game. So I sat down and decided that I was going to basically speed run this game for two weeks, trying my best to finish it before I went off to college. I worked basically from 7 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, and the second I got home I’d basically play it until 2 in the morning. For two weeks, I went to work at a summer camp with five year olds in the blazing hot sun on five hours of sleep a night. It was an experience to say the least, one that kinda made me realize too how much I didn’t want to work there again, but I digress.

So I sat down and played this game for two weeks, got about 72 or so hours in and had to stop right at the final palace before I went to college. That being said, once more I was blown away by this game and it’s characters, but again someone had captured my heart, this time the lovely model Ann Takamaki. I could go on about how much I love her, but I’ve done that enough on here so you guys get the point. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts felt like a group of friends that I was a part of, and it just made me feel... so special. I can’t explain that feeling, but I felt like they were there with me all the time, and that no matter where I went or what I did they were going to support me with all their hearts, just like they had done for all of their friends in game too. It was a shame that my journey with them had to be on pause for four months, but regardless that feeling of belonging helped me fit into a new friend group at my university, ones that shared similar interests, treated me like an equal, and yes, even loved Persona as much as I did.

When December came and I was home for winter recess, I immediately picked back up Persona 5 to finish it. By now, I had gained new friends, especially a ton on here that had helped me a lot more with my own issues, and that meant I was ready to pick up and catch up with my other friends in Persona 5. I spent another 30 or so hours finishing up the game, and I remember finishing the game at 1 in the morning a few days after New Years Day. As I watched the credits role, I ended up crying even harder than I did with Persona 4. The entire journey was over, and it felt like I was saying goodbye to all of these friends I had made over the past few months, and that I wouldn’t see them again. Of course I would, but much like with Yosuke I wouldn’t have that same feeling. I sobbed in the middle of the night over nine characters and their friends leaving me, and I felt a pain in my heart that I seriously don’t feel all that much. It was so surreal to feel that type of way about pixels on a screen, but I felt it nonetheless.

And now, as I listen to the soundtracks of the two games that I played for days on end, I find myself thinking back on all of this. I can’t express what this series has meant to me, and how much it has contributed to me making friends, improving as a person and just really getting my life back on track. I know people probably don’t wanna read this, but I wanted to share it with all of you, because really I think it’s important. I hope you guys have something you all can gush about like I do, because it’s just super wonderful. Thanks to this series for just... everything. I seriously can’t express how much it’s played a part of my life for the past year.

Now, sad boy hours are over, and I’m going to grab a snack. I hope everyone’s having a wonderful night and are happy right now. I’m spreading some of my positive vibes toward all of you~ <3

#we gonna go under the tag for this so I can avoid making people's feeds too long

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missmeikakuna · 5 years ago

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(GL/Yuri) Shoujo Heroine... and Friends Chapter 2

Second chapter is up! Please comment your thoughts and like it if you, well, like it.

Rated: T

Fandom: Original story

Relationship type: F/F with some F/M

Description:

Sahana is friendly, innocent and optimistic, making her the perfect shoujo anime heroine… except she’s not the main character of this story.

When school prince Toyomi asks her out, she starts hanging out with him and leaves her friends behind. Prim and proper Masami and tomboyish slob Kunie don’t seem to have much in common outside of their friendship with Sahana, but they try to make the best out of a lonely situation.

So why is the god of love and marriage watching them, red string of fate at the ready? CONTENT WARNING: Some homophobic language and bullying.

Chapter 2: Break her heart and I’ll break your gallbladder

With her laptop where it’s supposed to be, Masami created a spreadsheet. She was sitting straight-backed and straight-legged on her bed.

She titled one column, ‘Hobbies’, another ‘Average grade per year’. The third column was for ‘Intentions’ and the fourth was ‘Methods’. Yes, this is very typical teenage girl behaviour, I know.

After saving the spreadsheet, she took her laptop to the printer in the study. Her smile patted her back for her. Toyomi’s Friendful page gave little information, and she refused to follow him just to see if he had any secret posts.

Naturally, she brought the sheet to school and slammed it on Toyomi’s desk before homeroom. He looked at her like she came in with a rainbow umbrella hat on her head and a wearable sleeping bag on her body.

All he could ask was, ‘Can I help you?’

‘Today at lunch we will discuss your relationship with Sahana and determine your worthiness.’ You can bet your life savings she practised that line on the train ride to school. If you want an instant win, of course. You can trust me on this. I was there.

After their arrival, Kunie and Sahana headed to Toyomi’s desk to see what the commotion was all about.

Masami whipped her head towards Kunie, who held her hands up like she was facing a police officer.

‘Kunie, you can join me. We’re going to learn more about Toyomi Hane at lunch. And Hane…’ She remembered Ukiwa’s order for her homeroom students. ‘...er, Toyomi, you cannot skip this interview. If you do, it shows a lack of care for our dear Sahana. Break her heart and I’ll break your gallbladder. Understand?’

Toyomi nodded and Kunie walked closer to him, taking advantage of her superior height. Masami hid Sahana behind her arm, while Sahana looked between the three parties, looking for a way to lighten the mood.

‘You know, while walking to the train station I saw this truck for a restaurant near me that had ‘You can’t beat our meat’ painted on its side in big English letters. I was super shocked since it’s not true. Not by a long shot. My mum is an excellent cook and has been beating their meat for years.’

First came Masami’s suppressed chuckle and then came Kunie and Toyomi’s open laughter.

‘What’s so funny?’ Sahana asked.

Masami and Kunie wrapped their arms around Sahana. ‘Never lose your innocence,’ Kunie said, wiping a single tear from her eye. The tear was from the prior laughter, but Sahana didn’t need to know that.

For the lunch interview, Kunie combined her and Masami’s desks, a difficult task given how far away theirs were from each other. They sat together on one side while Toyomi and Sahana sat opposite to them. Sahana’s friends peered at the spreadsheet.

Masami cleared her throat with a little cough. ‘What are your hobbies? I believe you’re in the theatre club, correct?’

Toyomi nodded. ‘And the student council. I also like baking, sewing and reading shoujo manga. Oh, and I’m a big fan of action movies and professional wrestling.’

Sahana turned to her boyfriend. ‘You are?’

Masami clicked her pen. ‘Interesting.’ She wrote about Sahana’s surprise in tiny characters in the ‘Hobbies’ column.

Kunie gave a quick glance at the sheet. ‘So how do you fit in these hobbies with your schoolwork? What are your grades like?’

‘Oh, pretty good. I think I’m ranked 15th this year level.’

‘And last year?’

‘I believe I finished... 17th?’

‘Did you or did you not finish 17th?’ Masami asked with a tone befitting of a bad cop from a movie.

Sahana fiddled with the hem of her skirt, looking up at Toyomi and searching for a crack in his expression that could ruin everything. But her dear Toyomi kept the contented smile and patient stillness of a meditating Buddhist monk.

‘I finished 17th. I make sure to spend my time wisely. Because of this, I promise you I won’t waste Sahana’s time.’

The corners of Sahana’s lips leapt up and she hugged a now blushing Toyomi. I’d do the same if someone said that about me.

The smiling spread to Masami, who took note of his words in the space on the paper beneath the spreadsheet.

‘Now, speaking of which, what are your intentions with Sahana?’

That question got a rare frown from Sahana, who was still hugging Toyomi. Her front arm doubled as a shield for her boyfriend.

‘Can we stop this? Don’t you know enough?’

Guilt pricked Masami’s heart, but she shook her head. She had a mission and not even the reason for said mission could get in her way.

‘It’s fine,’ Toyomi reassured Sahana. Determination burst from his eyes as he looked into Masami’s. ‘I like Sahana a lot and I want to spend more time with her.’

‘Can’t you do that as a friend?’ Masami asked.

Sahana pouted. ‘Masami!’

Toyomi answered with the same look in his eyes despite the jitters I know he felt. ‘To be honest with you, I want to kiss her someday. It would probably be considered weird if we kissed as friends.’

Masami raised an eyebrow. ‘Just kissing?’

Before Sahana or Toyomi could voice their discomfort, Kunie snatched Masami’s pen and scribbled all over the sheet.

‘That’s enough. We only need one more piece of information. How did you ask her out?’

Toyomi stroked his chin for a second before heading to his own desk and pulling a bag of chocolates out of his bag. He asked Sahana to hand him the poem that rested in her bag.

‘I’m so sorry, Sahana. I had some leftover chocolates and was going to give them to you today when this happened.’ He dropped the bag of chocolates and slid the poem onto Kunie and Masami’s conjoined desk. ‘I recited this and gave her chocolates similar to these. Enjoy.’

Kunie started with the chocolates while Masami silently read the poem. The mix of rich chocolate and sweet yet savoury matcha greeted Kunie’s tastebuds with the same friendliness that Toyomi himself possessed. Her eyes popped out in shock and she gulped down several chocolates with a grin.

She offered one to Masami, who seemed preoccupied, judging by the tears coming out of her eyes. Masami stood up and bowed.

‘Please take care of Sahana for us.’

Toyomi returned the bow. He took Sahana’s hand and lead her to the garden outside, where they chatted for the rest of lunch.

After spending a few minutes in the theatre club after school, Toyomi headed to the student council room. The president scowled at him and looked at his watch. Meet Atsuji Chinen, a tall and skinny boy with large, round, clear-framed glasses and short purple hair that would not be seen on a real-life student council president. But hey, he’s got to stand out, right? How else are you supposed to recognise his importance?

‘It looks like your various… hobbies are stretching you rather thin. Maybe you should consider eating more of your desserts.’

Missing the point of that comment, Toyomi looked down at his own body. ‘Do I really look that thin?’

Atsuji massaged one of his temples. ‘Just sit down.’

Meanwhile, Sahana and Kunie rehearsed a scene they shared. They both constantly looked to Ukiwa for approval but she was busy staring at her phone.

Dooru sighed. ‘I guess it’s not the same without The Prince here.’

‘We’ll survive,’ Kunie replied with a shrug.

‘I still don’t get you. Prince Toyomi is a wonderful person. He should be enjoyed by all.’

‘I’m pretty sure he’s only able to be enjoyed by Sahana. Does that make her a princess?’

‘Wait, what? Do you mean…’ Dooru turned to Sahana and smiled at her. Believe it or not, that smile was genuine. ‘Congratulations. At least someone appreciates him.’ She said that last sentence facing Kunie, who rolled her eyes.

Sahana looked at her watch and gasped. ‘I’ve got to get to my other club. I promise I’ll practice at home!’

Ukiwa waved her hand dismissively, still looking at her phone. Sahana raced to the Home Ec room. As soon as she arrived, Masami turned off her stove so she could hug Sahana.

‘Making something new?’ Sahana asked.

Masami smirked and lifted the lid on the pot. The stench of mustard, custard and fish filled the room, prompting the rest of the cooking club to pinch their noses.

Sahana grabbed a spoon and had a taste of the broth. ‘Delicious as always. You’ve really outdone yourself.’ She scooped another spoonful and pointed it at Fumie, who gave her an awkward smile.

‘Um, I wouldn’t want to take food from you.’

Sahana frowned but nodded in understanding. ‘Oh, Masami, thank you for earlier.’ Masami looked at her like a fish would look at a bird toy being randomly thrown into its tank. ‘You know, for looking out for me. Remind me to thank Kunie too.’

Masami patted Sahana on the head. ‘I’m sure you’ll be fine with Toyomi. Consider his digestive system safe.’ She grabbed another spoon and sipped the broth she made, scrunching her nose. ‘Unlike mine.’

#lesbian #yuri #anime #fiction #romance #writing #LGBT #lgbt romance #Breaking Stereotypes #original fiction #drama #comedy #parody #Shoujo Heroine... and Friends

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imatrisarahtops · 7 years ago

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Here, have an Otayuri WIP.

I’ve been kind of obsessed with “Jenny” by the Studio Killers. If it’s not an Otayuri song, I don’t know what is.

So here, have something I’ve been slowly working on for a while. It’s vaguely based on the theory that Yuri is wearing Otabek’s hoodie in the WttM manga. I have three parts planned—this is the first half of part one. I want to finish it, but I’ve been struggling in the second part and yeah. Anyway, here you go. Have 2k+ words of [mutual] pining until I figure out how to finish it.

Yuri wasn’t entirely sure how the hoodie had found its way into his possession.

If he stopped to think about it, he could make an educated guess. He could only assume that it had happened at some point during the rehearsal that had lasted into the early hours of the morning as he completely created a new exhibition skate overnight at the Grand Prix Final. He vaguely remembered the older boy handing it over to him after Yuri had tracked him down in the club in Barcelona, the name of which he couldn’t even recall. Still, he’d been fairly certain that he’d stripped it off once they had returned to the rink to run over the new choreography with the song Otabek had picked.

But, if Yuri stopped to think about it, he was fairly certain it was something he’d consciously done, taking it with him back to his hotel room, even if it was done through an awful hazy mix of adrenaline and exhaustion.

Which was probably why Yuri didn’t stop and think about it. That was a whole different matter he didn’t want to address, instead hiding it away in a distant part of his subconscious.

No, instead it was easier for him to say he had no idea how the jacket had ended up in his suitcase, once he’d finally taken the time to unpack when he returned to Russia. And that was exactly what he’d said when asked about it.

For quite some time, the hoodie sat in Yuri’s room, strewn across a chair. He’d intended, on several occasions, to mention his accidental acquisition of the hoodie to its original owner. He had texted with Otabek frequently enough, usually brief conversations about how their training was going for their respective competitions. At no point, however, did the older boy bring up the missing jacket, and similarly Yuri found himself forgetting to mention it when the two of them talked.

Eventually, he gave up, telling himself that he could always return it to Otabek at Worlds. If the thought crossed his mind that he really wasn’t trying that hard to send the hoodie back to Kazakhstan, again it was something that he refused to dwell on. Really, it was easy to convince himself that waiting until seeing Otabek in person in March would just save on postage.

Instead he left the hoodie on his chair and did his best not to think on it and any subtle implications it all had.

So when he grabbed the jacket, yanking it over his head and grabbing his bag and keys before making his way to Victor’s apartment for dinner, it was really because he hadn’t been thinking about it. In his defense, the jacket had spent the better part of two months sitting in his bedroom; it was plain black, just like the hoodie he commonly wore with his other jackets. The February air was a biting cold in St. Petersburg, and he definitely needed the layers; on top of it, he was in a rush to make it to his rinkmates' home before Yuuri finished cooking dinner. It wasn’t until he stripped off his coat and scarf—tossing them over the back of the couch before dropping himself into a chair at the kitchen table, half-heartedly scrolling through his phone, and then Victor opening his big mouth—that he noticed anything at all.

“Nice jacket!” he said, sitting across from the younger skater and nursing a cup of steaming green tea. Yuri mumbled a disinterested ‘thanks,’ in response, not looking away from his phone. “I don’t recognize it,” Victor said conversationally over the rim of his mug. "Where is it from?”

At this, Yuri had glanced down, frowning slightly at Victor’s comment, wondering if the man was pulling his leg, when—oh. Realization hit him, sharp and quick. Oh no…

Yuri swallowed thickly. “Kazakhstan, probably,” he mumbled, attention returning to his phone as he hoped his tone didn’t betray anything.

“Really?” Yuuri asked then, placing a bowl and chopsticks down in front of Yuri. “I didn’t know you’ve been to Kazakhstan,” he said thoughtfully before settling himself in a chair next to Victor.

“He hasn’t,” Victor said, a smile of understanding tugging at the edges of his lips while anger and embarrassment flared up inside of Yuri.

Yuuri, however, only looked confused at this. “Then—?”

Yuri huffed out a sigh of resignation, desperately hoping that it came off as annoyance instead as he plucked his chopsticks from the table. “It isn’t mine,” he said shortly. “It’s… ah… Otabek’s.”

"Otabek Altin?" Yuuri’s eyebrows raised comically as he looked from Yuri—who was staring moodily at his gyūdon as he stabbed at the beef, avoiding all eye contact, biting back the question of what other Otabek he could possibly mean—to Victor—whose eyes were now sparkling with mirth, his mouth a teasing, open-mouthed smirk—as though he was missing vital information. “Is there… something between you and Otabek?” Yuuri asked curiously.

“Oh yes,” Victor murmured at the same moment Yuri shouted, “No!”

Yuri scowled at Victor.

“Definitely,” the older man amended.

“Of course not,” Yuri snarled, glowering at Victor. “And even if there was, it would be none of your business!”

Victor opened his mouth to respond, smile still playing at his lips, when Yuuri cut across him. “You’re right,” he said, his tone firm. Yuri gaped at him incredulously for a moment, and the Japanese skater glanced at a pouting Victor over the frames of his glasses. “It isn’t our business.”

Victor’s face fell a little into an expression that bore the tacit “but Yuuri!” in every inch of his features. Yuri smirked triumphantly, taking a piece of beef between his chopsticks and victoriously shoving it into his mouth. Yuuri switched the conversation to the upcoming Four Continents instead, something that Yuri tuned out as he ate, considering the fact that the competition didn’t directly affect him. He instead continued to eat in smug satisfaction, pleased that he’d managed to avoid the potentially embarrassing conversation with Victor.

And now, Victor was seemingly distracted by his fiancé’s talk of skating. Yuri was fairly certain the Japanese skater had done it on purpose. And between bites of rice, beef, and onion, he had to admit that maybe the pig wasn’t all that bad in situations like this.

An hour or so later, however, he wanted to retract that mental statement.

Yuri had settled himself deep in the cushions of blue living room sofa, his socked feet on the matching ottoman and his knees bent in front of him. He’d stuffed one of his hands into the pockets of the hoodie he was still wearing, the other hand clutching his phone against his legs, thumb flicking through his social media feed. He could hear Yuuri and Victor puttering about the kitchen, washing dishes and cleaning up the remnants of dinner. Yuri sighed tiredly, then inhaled slowly.

The scent that tickled his nose was unfamiliar, yet comforting, and the recognition of what it must be immediately flooded his mind. He licked his lips, again refusing to think. Instead, he lowered his chin, burrowing the bottom half of his face into the high collar of the jacket. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

“So does it smell like him, then?”

Yuri flailed in his seat, his phone clattering to the floor and his feet kicking the ottoman away as he desperately tried to simultaneously sit up straight and curl in on himself. He pulled his knees to his chest defensively, toes digging into the front of the couch cushions. He scowled at Yuuri who was standing at the other edge of the sofa, eyebrows raised, a knowing smile on his lips, and two mugs of hot liquid in his hands.

“What the hell kind of question is that?” Yuri snapped defensively, glaring menacingly at the older man. Not so long ago, the very same expression had been enough leave Yuuri a trembling mess; at times like this, Yuri mourned that loss.

Yuuri shrugged as he sat beside the younger skater, handing him one of the mugs. Yuri peered at the contents, happy to see that it wasn’t the green tea Yuuri had brought from Japan, but sbiten. He took a long sip, reveling in the spicy sweetness that warmed him to the bone. Then, he nearly choked when Yuuri commented, “You were sniffing it.”

Yuri spluttered slightly, coughing into the crook of his elbow before glaring at Yuuri once more. “I was most definitely not… sniffing…” He trailed off, taking another drink. “Shut up, pig,” he mumbled into the rim of his mug.

“You should come along to Four Continents,” Yuuri suggested then with a gentle smile.

“What?” Yuri demanded, startled by the idea. “Why?”

Yuuri shrugged his shoulders as he sipped his tea. “To see Otabek?” he said. “Seeing the real thing is better than a piece of clothing, isn’t it?” Yuri hummed noncommittally, ducking his head slightly. “Though I’m surprised he didn’t invite you himself, honestly.”

Yuri’s head snapped up at this. “Huh?”

“He must just know you’re busy with practice,” Yuuri said thoughtfully. “I just thought since he gave you his jacket—"

“He didn’t!” Yuri quickly objected, planting his feet on the floor and turning his body to Yuuri. "I don’t even know how it got in my bag after the Grand Prix!”

Yuuri blinked back at him. “Oh,” he said blankly, furrowing his brow slightly. “Then… he didn’t give it to you?”

“No!” the blond responded.

“But you’re wearing it?”

“Ah…” Yuri suddenly realized the problem with his adamant denial of the subject, glancing back down at his cup, hands still wrapped tightly around it. “I…”

Yuuri tilted his head to the side. “Otabek doesn’t know you have feelings for him,” he said slowly.

“I don’t!” Yuri immediately argued, which he had to admit didn't help his case. “He—I just…” The Japanese skater raised a skeptical eyebrow at this. “Ah, fuck.” He could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment and shame.

"It's okay!" Yuuri hastily assured him.

"Maybe until you tell your stupid husband about it," the younger skater grumbled into his drink.

"He's not my husband," Yuuri responded with the tiniest smile, and the heavily implied 'yet' was enough to make Yuri have to suppress the urge to gag. "Why would I tell him, anyway?"

Yuri raised a shoulder in a defeated shrug, sinking back into the couch cushions and letting his hair fall over his eyes. "Aren't you supposed to tell each other everything?"

Yuuri hummed thoughtfully at this. "Well, maybe if it involves us or our relationship," he said. "But this is about you. I'm not obligated to tell him anything, especially if you don't want me to."

Yuri eyed him warily from behind his hair. "I want you to take this to the grave, pig," he said. "No telling Victor, or Mila, or any of your stupid friends—and definitely no mention of it to Otabek. You tell anyone and I'll kill you myself."

Yuuri smiled. "Then your secret is safe with me!" Yuri grunted in response, draining the last of his sbiten. "Though, you know, you could just tell Otabek yourself."

Again, Yuri struggled to keep himself from choking on his drink. He rounded on Yuuri, staring at him as though he'd clearly lost his mind. "Yeah," he said with a derisive snort. "I'm sure that would go over well."

"He's your friend, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Yuri repeated, dragging out the word in an almost patronizingly slow manner. "He's my friend." He kicked his feet out, crossing his ankles atop the ottoman. "I'd really rather keep it that way."

"I really doubt Otabek would stop wanting to be your friend—"

"We aren't discussing this," Yuri snapped, folding his arms over his chest, still clutching the empty mug. "Besides, you're one to talk, aren't you? With how long it took you to talk to the old man?"

Yuuri hummed in response at this. "I suppose you're right," he said in a considering tone, standing up once more. "But in the end, I did." He plucked the cup out of Yuri's hand, and the blond glanced up at him to see a wide grin spreading across his face. "And look where I am now."

Yuri blinked at the man in slight disbelief, still taken aback by the sudden bouts of confidence like this when they occurred. He watched as Yuuri took the mugs back to the kitchen; a moment later, he could again hear the distant voices of Yuuri and Victor chattering over the sounds of cleaning.

For a fleeting moment, he considered the possibility that Yuuri could be right. He considered the idea of potentially ruining the admittedly brief but inarguably cherished friendship he'd formed with Otabek.

But at the thought of things not working out, of the potential that it could all so easily go to hell... He shook his head, raising his shoulders and burrowing his nose into the collar of the hoodie once more.

Yuri again chose to stop thinking.

#otayuri #yuri on ice #fanfic #fan fiction #wip #otabek altin #yuri plisetsky #yurio plisetsky #otabek

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toraonice · 8 years ago

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Yuri on Ice interview translation - PASH! 2017/03 (p10-11)

The second part of the episode commentary by Mitsurou Kubo! I have now fixed it with all the italic & bold parts as in the magazine (in the magazine they are actually bold & bolder). If you have any questions please send me a private message and I’ll reply when I have some time.

You can find the first commentary about episodes 1-6 here.

Just a note: when she quotes lines from the episodes I’m not using any of the “official” English translations, I’m translating them as I would translate them myself, so they might not be like you are used to hear them, but I think you will understand which lines they are anyway.

The translation is under the cut because it’s long.

***If you wish to share this translation please do it by reblogging or posting a link to it***  ***Re-translating into other languages is ok but please mention that this post is the source***

Story Maker Mitsurou Kubo complete commentary - Second half Once again we have interviewed Mitsurou Kubo-san, who created the original plan, manga storyboard and character plan for the story! This is the sequel of the episode commentary whose first part was published on the Dec. 2016 issue of PASH! and covers from the second part of the China tournament in episode 7 up to the last episode. Here you can find her detailed comments for the 6 episodes!

Episode 7 “Kaimaku Grand Prix Series Yacchaina!! Chuugoku Taikai FS”

-In episode 7 I wanted to portay Victor’s inexperience as a coach and how this causes Yuuri to fall into his worst possible psychological condition, but also how Yuuri manages to get out of it. In the course of the story Yuuri necessarily had to experience a series of setbacks, however not as deep as to become fatal injuries, plus we needed them to be solved within the same episode and still in the same episode I also wanted to show him regain his strength without any grudges. That’s why in this episode, that is about halfway through the story, we had him “break”.

-The ones like Victor, who are more skilled than others, tend to wonder why others cannot do the things they can do, and probably have trouble finding the right words to say to people who can’t do what they can. The fact that “excellent athletes do not necessarily become excellent coaches” is also something I wanted to depict in the story. However, that is also the reason he and Yuuri are able to confront each other baring their souls, and when I drew the scene I was sure that they would be able to make up without any long-term effects.

-In every episode, when I drew Yuuri I was always careful to “make him act in ways Victor would never even imagine”. That’s why he pushes the whorl of hair on the top of his head before the FS. It was Yuuri Katsuki’s way to loosen up the atmosphere. He came up with an idea to ease the tension and just acted it out, then looking at Victor’s surprised face made him even more relaxed when he started the FS. How can Yuuri Katsuki skate with a new state of mind? That is something Yuuri himself is thinking about, and Victor is too. I wanted to show this in the GP Series, and I think episode 7 is where it became concrete.

-There are so many young skaters in the China tournament that Yuuri and Chris automatically look like veterans, even though they are still young too (LOL). In all this I wanted to show Chris’ charm as someone who looks at things from a different perspective than the younger skaters. In the anime his charm was just explosive. I love Yasumoto-san’s Chris! It was also wonderful how the animation expressed his sexiness, which is slightly different than Yuuri’s.

-Regarding Yuuri and Victor’s scene after the FS, I was fine with it being interpreted in any way. However this is the part that had more response from overseas, I was even directly asked “which one it was”. And then I heard from Japanese people too that some had an argument with their friends over whether they kissed or not, or they just hugged. I was surprised that people would want to know the truth. Up until then I had always thought that people wanted to be able to interpret fiction how they preferred. But seeing the reactions that this episode received, I realized that even if it’s fiction, inside people’s mind this series exists as a world of its own and so they believe that there must be a correct truth, an exact answer somewhere. Episode 8 “Yuuri vs Yuri Osoroshia!! Russia Taikai SP”

-Victor is asked whether he would like to fight Yuuri as an athlete, but he really doesn’t think that. Actually many people were expecting to see Victor and Yuuri confront each other in a match eventually, however Yuuri is also “trying to win to prove Victor’s skating”. The director and I shared this same opinion when we wrote the series.

-As opposed to the China tournament, the Russia tournament has a completely different atmosphere and is more like a bloodbath (LOL). We had already decided which skaters would participate in which tournament and the results 1 year before the broadcast, but fleshing out the story we realized that the atmosphere was somewhat more tense than in the China tournament and we decided to emphasize this. Yuuri already knows Michele and Sara from last year’s GP Final, but they didn’t really make friends. By the way, I think that if Phichit-kun is the sun of Southeast Asia, Emil is the sun of Europe. And JJ is just on a whole different dimension than the sun (LOL).

-This is the tournament where Yuuri skates his best SP. He gets more heated up when he’s in an unfamiliar situation, which means that on the contrary he probably tends to feel the pressure more easily when he’s being cheered on. And just when you think that you’re going to see a confrontation between this Yuuri and Yurio… JJ arrives and paints everything in his own color. “Ahh, everything has turned into JJ color…” I was a little excited at the JJ shock (LOL).

-Yurio is unable to give his best performance because here I still wanted to show him “incomplete”. It actually happens often that real Russian athletes cannot achieve good results in their home country. Also, to show the difference between the episode 8 SP where all the ones supporting Yurio are not present yet and the episode 9 FS where they are there, and to create a development where he still isn’t able to win even with that, I decided that his grandpa, who is also his agape, would be unable to come to this tournament. But it’s not like he lost because his grandpa wasn’t there. He doesn’t physically go to watch all his matches, after all.

-JJ’s song was so perfect and amazing that I thought I wouldn’t need to put too much effort in my storyboard, as the song would probably be enough (LOL). His line “JJ will never stop~~~” is something I came up with from an early stage, to put in in the script used in the seiyuu audition, but he really became a character that would say such a line. Treating Yurio as a lady is JJ’s idea of a joke. He doesn’t mean to be offensive. Maybe he thought that Yurio would relax. By the way, he makes a joke in episode 10 too, but I have the feeling that neither JJ nor the others understand how much of it is a joke and how much is not (LOL). In the Russia tournament the entrance to the rink is also the exit, therefore I took advantage of it to show some exchanges between skaters who have just finished their performance and skaters about to start. Episode 9 “Yuuri vs Yuri Osoroshia!! Russia Taikai FS”

-By having Victor temporarily part from Yuuri Katsuki as a coach, here I inserted a mainstream kind of development where “to grow, the protagonist loses something important”. I’m really sorry for Makkachin, but I didn’t have any intention of killing him off of course. I wanted to depict more clearly what Yuuri Katsuki himself wants to do.

-Victor said “if you are in trouble hug Yakov and he will help you”, but looking at how the episode developed, well, no, it doesn’t help at all! (LOL) However, it’s pretty common in manga as well that remembering someone’s words will help you when you are in trouble or help you get out of a difficult situation. In this case, those words said by Victor didn’t really help Yuuri (that’s also because I’m a bit mean), but I still wanted him to leave Yuuri with something before going away.

-Yurio’s FS is still incomplete, but I wanted to show how he was able to obtain a new strength and elegance thanks to the presence of Lilia, Yakov, his grandpa and JJ as a rival. I also depicted his aggressive side when he changes the composition of the program to win, and the fact that he still isn’t able to win against JJ, which is another trial that he needs to overcome.

-In a meeting with the director I asked her a very basic question: “Why does Yuuri want to win?”, and she replied “Well, he has never won a gold medal so far, of course he wants to win!”. I thought that made sense. Yuuri, who has never won an international competition, wants to win a gold medal before retiring. The “origin” of his desire to win is in fact pretty simple. He has been able to work hard so far because he wants to win a gold medal and is confident that he is good enough to succeed. I inserted that monologue because, even though Yuuri might look weak, he actually has been fighting the whole time.

-In the end the person Yurio most wanted to eat a katsudon pirozhki is Yuuri. I thought that this was probably the last time Yuuri and Yurio could have a conversation alone, so even if the scene itself is short in the anime, I hope they talked about lots of things here.

-I was told that the words “please take care of me until I retire” are actually something that real skaters say when they ask someone to be their coach. When I heard that, I thought that this was the perfect timing for Yuuri to tell Victor. At this time, Victor doesn’t take these words in the sense Yuuri really means, which is “until the end of this season”. He left Yuuri fighting alone in a tournament, so I think he was very torn about whether he should apologize and about what he should tell him when they met again. But then Yuuri told him “until I retire”, and I think Victor was probably really happy because it meant that Yuuri still needed him even when he was far away. Victor didn’t think that Yuuri would retire after the end of the GP Final, and he didn’t clearly decide until when he would continue being Yuuri’s coach, therefore I believe that he was happy to hear Yuuri’s feelings, to know that Yuuri too wanted him to be his coach until the end. Episode 10 “Chou Ganbaranba! Grand Prix Final Chokuzen Special”

-Otabek finally shows up. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to show how his friendship with Yurio developed, but I wanted Yurio to think “the wind is finally blowing my way!” (LOL). Yuuri and Yurio kind of had something missing as rivals, so I started to consider Otabek’s role as the one that would steal the position as Yurio’s rival.

-What Yuuri bought is pair rings. When I looked it up I found out that buying a pair was cheaper (LOL), and I also thought that if they were going to wear something matching this would be good. There are actually many real skaters who wear accessories as “omamori”, protective charms. More importantly, Yuuri has been giving Victor fresh surprises until now, and I wanted him to get a new item, a weapon to fight in the final match. When I suggested the rings to the director she was like “Yes, that!!” (LOL). We were like, “yeah, a cornered athlete would do something like that!” More than implicating something like a wedding, it’s similar to members of the same circle deciding to have a matching item.

-Victor is surprised by Yuuri’s action but understands him, so he makes a wish upon the ring telling him “show me the skating that you like the most”. In the China tournament he said things as if he was testing Yuuri, he “broke” his heart, so here he finally vows to the ring that “he will completely trust what Yuuri decides” and is determined to do what he can as a coach.

-Before the GP Final Yuuri and Victor’s relationship deepened yet again, therefore I wanted Yurio and Victor’s relationship to change a little too, hence I inserted the scene by the sea. I’m glad that I did, because after this point there was no time to show them talk alone again. Like in episode 9 Yuuri and Yurio share a moment together, Yurio and Victor do too, and in their case what they have in common is the memories of Hasetsu, and what changed from that time, which is what I wanted to show here.

-There’s also a moment where Yurio thought Victor was smirking looking at the ring. Like Yurio says in this scene, people tend to believe that athletes “die as competitors” when they stop and “become stable”. But I think that Victor, more than anyone else, is sensitive to this topic and is worried that people will say that about him, or that he will actually become like that. In this scene Victor wasn’t smirking, he was starting to think about his future.

-The fact that in last year’s banquet Yuuri told Victor “be my coach” is something that we had already decided as a “hidden setting”. But we didn’t know whether there was time to add that scene somewhere in only one cour. Eventually we decided to cram this episode with amusing scenes from the beginning to the end, so we added a special ED and C part. Since there were no skating matches we inserted a lot of crazy stuff and there’s plenty of information. Episode 11 “Chou Chou Ganbaranba!! Grand Prix Final SP”

-Yuuri makes an attempt at adding a quadruple flip in his SP, but actually in the beginning I wasn’t planning to have him jump so many quads. The increasing level of real life competitions prompted me to add a realistic feeling by showing how you can’t win if you don’t have multiple quads in your programs. The reason Victor jumps a quad flip together with Yuuri during his performance is, more than something he does as a coach, something that comes from his feelings as an athlete.

-At this time Victor still hasn’t decided how to use the experience earned in the GP Final to contribute to Yuuri’s future, and also hasn’t decided what to do about himself as an athlete. He used to think that new surprises and impressive feats is something that he needed to create himself, however after becoming Yuuri’s coach his world broadened, he realized that it’s not necessarily that way and this changed him.

-The reason Yurio could pull off his best performance is that many elements like his experience and the environment surrounding him all blended together perfectly right at this time. From an external point of view young and strong athletes somehow tend to look like they are “destined to win”, like they are performing a program prepared to win. However, every single second of their performance is the result of their efforts. I wanted to show this with Yurio’s SP.

-When Victor is watching Yurio’s performance we cannot see his expression because I myself haven’t decided what the truth is, like whether he is frustrated because Yurio beat his record, or he wants to surpass him again, or what else. However, when Yuuri sees Victor like that he becomes anxious because it looks to him like Victor wants to go back to the ice, and he himself wants him to go back, but at the same time he doesn’t… so he wavers. That eventually piles up and leads to the last scene of this episode.

-I think that Victor and Chris have been in the Olympics and in ice shows together until now. Chris is probably the one that was closer to Victor in his career, and I think that Victor does genuinely like Chris’ skating. Maybe Chris also did his best in his own style because Victor was a different type than him. The screen looks really vibrant when they are together, and I believe they are good comrades.

-We finally see Otabek skate. I like his song, it’s cool. While I was the one who created his setting, I wasn’t sure how to represent him as a “soldier” on the ice, and in the end I decided to emphasize his thirst for victory.

-JJ was overwhelmed by Otabek’s ex-delinquent-like spirit. I saw lots of comments from people who came to like JJ in this episode. It’s definitely his highest point as a character. However, it also looked like “JJ can overcome this” (LOL). JJ calls himself the “king”, but if you think about it as long as Victor was around he could only really become the king in the World Junior Championships or the Four Continents Champsionships… I realized that JJ is only saying that to motivate himself and in fact he is not a real king, he is just behaving like he is because it’s his goal, and fans are cheering on him for that… and in a way that moved me. In the end I’m really portraying every character thinking that I want them to win, and especially in JJ’s case, he has a power that makes you want him to win. Last episode “Chou Chou Chou Ganbaranba!!! Grand Prix Final FS”

-In the storyboard I drew the scene where Victor cries, but then I couldn’t come up with a good line for him to say and rewrote it many times. In the end I chose the line “I didn’t think Yuuri Katsuki was such a selfish person” and then I also got the idea for Yuuri’s reply. In the part where he pushes aside Victor’s hair like a curtain, I thought “even in such a situation Yuuri still manages to surprise Victor”. After completing this scene I could finally start writing the final episode.

-What Victor told Yuuri right before he starts is performance, more than something that he really thinks deep down, is what he came up with when thinking about what could encourage Yuuri Katsuki the most, so basically it’s “Victor playing the role of Victor as Yuuri expects him”.

-The part that I like the most in this episode is Yuuri’s monologue before he skates: “My name is Yuuri Katsuki. I’m just an ordinary figure skater, 24 years old.” This is the same line he said in episode 1, so it’s like he is going back to his origin, and I think it’s the moment where he finally accepts himself. I cried writing the storyboard.

-The director said that he wanted Yuuri, that has spent half of his life with Victor as his goal, to try his hand at a program with the same difficulty as Victor’s, and I agreed. The development where Yuuri gets his best score and wins against Yurio in the FS is something we had decided from the start. Since not having a perfect ending is what spurs him to continue, we aimed for a conclusion that is not too nice, therefore we made it so that Yurio wins but is not completely satisfied with the result.

-Regarding the scene where Victor hugs Yurio before the competition, he didn’t do it because he was begging for his help to stop Yuuri from retiring, or because he was asking him something. He just wanted Yurio to skate at his best, it was his genuine feelings of support for him, as if he was saying “go and do your best!”. After all, until this scene we never really saw Victor support Yurio. It’s an action that cannot be explained with logic.

-I believe Yurio thought “no way you can call it quits now!”. And I agree with him. I think what he had in mind while he was performing his program was something like “I know that whether to retire or not is someting the person concerned should decide, but I’ll still say my opinion”. The reason he cries after finishing is also not something logical. But I think it was probably because he could skate at its best, and because of the sense of fulfillment caused by being able to skate that well despite a few mistakes. I’m sure he himself didn’t really understand his own feelings at that time.

-I really wanted to draw the scene of Yuuri and Victor skating the exhibition together. In the original setting Victor was meant to join in as a surprise, but in the anime they were wearing perfectly matching costumes and I was the one surprised (LOL). They were doing lifts as if it’s nothing, but Yuuri’s exhibition program for this season was “Hanarezu ni Soba ni Ite”, so maybe they just tried it out while fooling around during practice.

-I was told “we can have a C part, though only about 30 seconds!”, and thinking about what could fit I decided to show an ending that would give hope for the future, with Yuuri in St.Petersburg. I was told that the last episode had a number of scenes that was about twice a normal anime episode, and beside that they even had to add those 30 seconds. I’m sure the staff must have had a really hard time.

-The selfish decision ultimately taken by the selfish Yuuri Katsuki is to continue competitive skating. I think there were many reasons that led to this conclusion. Not only what Victor gave him, but Yurio’s performance in the FS also managed to pull Yuuri back to the ice, and maybe he was influenced by the other athletes’ performances too. However, Yurio definitely wanted to see more of Yuuri’s skating, and Victor wanted as well. I guess Yuuri might be finally realizing how much things have changed from one year ago, when he almost decided to quit, and how now he’s on a completely different path.

#YOI #Yuri on ice #interview #translation #commentary #kubo mitsurou #pash #magazine

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recentanimenews · 5 years ago

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Bookshelf Briefs 11/15/19

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 5 | By Reai and Suki Umemiya | Seven Seas – We actually get a welcome reminder that Iris is a “reincarnated into an otome game” heroine in this volume, something that’s mostly been ignored aside from her accounting skills. But when her younger brother tries to apologize to her for what happened at school, her Japanese self wants to forgive him but the “Iris” part of her just can’t. It’s well handled. Elsewhere, Iris is going around looking into Yuri and also threats to her kingdom, and it’s starting to get her into trouble. She’s also falling for Dean, despite trying to have nothing to do with romance again. We end with a cliffhanger involving excommunication! Still a lot of fun—I’d love to read the novels. – Sean Gaffney

Anne Happy, Vol. 10 | By Cotoji | Yen Press – This final volume doesn’t really “wrap up” the main plot—there is no magical anti-bad-luck MacGuffin that can fix things. We do get a very small flashback of their teacher which shows that she had perhaps worse circumstances than the rest of them, but has learned to keep happy and carry on, so to speak. Which is the moral of the series, really—smile even though life is bringing you down. Hibari is the one who needs that lesson here, as a chance at a family reunion is once again fouled up by her parents’ busy lives. That said, we do see here that luck can also be changed through determination, which is nice. And is that some slight yuri at the end? Anne Happy was never anything but fluff, but it was highly entertaining fluff. Good ending. – Sean Gaffney

Dreamin’ Sun, Vol. 10 | By Ichigo Takano | Seven Seas – Well, I did it. I persevered to the end and finished Dreamin’ Sun. To the end, I never was fully convinced by the relationship between Shimana and Taiga, and that includes the big finale here, in which the gang is able to get Taiga’s dad to stop meddling in his son’s affairs—we never really get a good explanation why Taiga has remained under his thumb for so long—and thus Taiga is able to go to college (alongside Shimana) and finally pursue his dream of becoming a teacher. They also get married and I must boggle at the detail that they do so after having only kissed once, two years ago. I don’t expect realism in shoujo romance, but I guess my credulity has its limits. I did like Zen and Saeko, though. In the end, this never came close to measuring up to orange. Oh well. – Michelle Smith

Durarara!! re: Dollars Arc, Vol. 5 | By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda, and Aogiri | Yen Press – Izaya is setting up his plots again here, when he’s not fighting with his sisters, but the real villains this time around are Ruri’s psycho fans, who bat Shinra bloody and also attack Anri. Fortunately, she is saved by her two best frie3nds. Unfortunately, one of them, Mikado, is revealed to now be the leader of the Blue Squares, much to Masaomi’s horror. You know all this from the light novel and the anime—once again the manga gets third place. Still, some of the fight scenes are good, and if you’re looking for a manga version of the story, this is that. Damning with faint praise. We’re still only up to book eight or so, too. You really should try the light novels, which have now finished. – Sean Gaffney

Fruits Basket Another, Vol. 3 | By Natsuki Takaya| Yen Press – The first chapter of this final volume once again irritated me for burying me in next-gen cast all at once (along with Hiro’s sister, who again is not a main character so gets to be seen). It gets better as it goes along, with a serious look at not letting your parents’ abuse become your own fault. Sawa, it turns out, is connected to the Sohmas in a far more serious way than she remembered, and one flashback scene verges on terrifying. (Shiki says “she slipped on snow,” but that’s not what we see.) Notably, the situation is not resolved—she’s still living with her mom in the end—but then, we also learn it didn’t resolve itself for the Furuba cast either—Ren is making Shiki’s life miserable, because she’s like that. As such, this justifies this spinoff’s existence—barely. – Sean Gaffney

Fruits Basket Another, Vol. 3 | By Natsuki Takaya | Yen Press – In this final volume, we learn more about Sawa’s psychotic mother, including that she had some involvement with the Sohma family in the past. When Sawa asks about this, with much dread, Mutsuki reveals the full story and that everyone knew who she was all along. In fact, Shiki was central to this past event and, with Ren continuing her reign of terror he felt kinship with Sawa and worried about what had become of her. The Sohmas were indeed trying to help her, but they were also trying to help Shiki, too. In the end, this did come around to being genuinely compelling and I wish there were more, because as Sawa notes, she still hasn’t made it out of her horrible situation. If only we could’ve been spared one last appearance by Takei-sensei. Sigh. – Michelle Smith

High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!, Vol. 5 | By Riku Misora and Kotaro Yamada | Yen Press – The start of this book gives all the fanservice that four was missing and more, as we get naked massages before a bath. Half of this is tolerable, as Ringo tries to find it in her shy self to go on a date with Tsukasa, and we get her tragic past, which (surprise!) involves a lot of child abuse. The second half involves making more medicine since the penicillin isn’t prevalent enough—time for sulfa drugs. Sadly, there’s an evil doctor who’s in the way, so our heroin doctor, um, lobotomizes him? And this is presented as good and/or humorous? Yeah, OK, I’m out. This was a mildly entertaining take on the isekai fantasy with an entire group of OP geniuses, but what the hell? – Sean Gaffney

An Incurable Case of Love, Vol. 1 | By Maki Enjoji | Viz Media – Several of Enjoji’s manga series are now available in English, but An Incurable Case of Love is actually the first that I’ve read. Five years ago, Nanase was inspired to go into medicine after meeting an attractive and accomplished young doctor in the hopes of meeting him again. Unsurprisingly, Tendo’s not quite the person she expected him to be when she finally gets the chance to work with him. In reality, her idealized prince has a harsh and exacting personality. Even though Nanase’s original motivation for becoming a nurse was perhaps less than pure, and while it may not be immediately obvious to some, she really does take both herself and her chosen profession seriously. Had it been otherwise, I don’t think I would have liked the manga, but the first volume is a largely enjoyable start to the series and I’m always glad to see more josei being translated. – Ash Brown

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 4: Diamond Is Unbreakable, Vol. 3 | By Hirohiko Araki| Viz Media – One of my initial exposures to Araki’s aptly named manga series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure was actually through a tangentially-related work, Rohan at the Louvre, which features the character Rohan Kishibe, a rather intense genius manga creator. Rohan made his first appearance in Diamond Is Unbreakable, so I’ve been looking forward to his introduction since I started reading the series. His debut happens towards the end of this particular volume, following several other short story arcs including one, much to my delight, that proves any manga can indeed be a food manga. This volume has a fair amount of humor to go along with its strange brand of horror and absurd action, too. As a whole, this part of the series comes across a bit more episodic and perhaps slightly more comedic than its predecessors. I’m enjoying Diamond Is Unbreakble in all of its glorious ridiculousness a great deal. – Ash Brown

My Hero Academia SMASH!, Vol. 2 | By Hirofumi Neda| Viz Media – I don’t think I reviewed the first volume of this gag series spinoff to the famous shonen manga, but that’s a shame, as it’s really well handled. The gags are personality-based, and the series is not afraid to veer totally away from the source material when needed—half the sports festival is different events, and some battles that don’t lend themselves to gags are omitted. And then there’s Gran Torino, who does not live up to the adorable tsundere granddaughter teaching Izuku in his dreams. There’s a lot of great Uraraka stuff here, for her fans, and a lot of great Yaoyorozu gags as well, though her fans may be a bit annoyed at how socially inept she’s shown to be. Basically, this is hilarious. – Sean Gaffney

Our Wonderful Days, Vol. 1 | By Kei Hamuro | Seven Seas – Given the cover art and the magazine that this ran in, I was expecting that I’d be reading about the lead couple on the cover. And I am, and they’re both cute—I like the fact that, despite having the “serious black-haired girl” personality type, Mafuyu is the only one whose grades are bad. But I’m actually more drawn to the other couple, Nana and Minori, best friends to main girl Koharu, who live in an apartment together to attend school and behave exactly like a married couple without actually being one. How yuri this will get is still unknown—so far we’re still at “I may like her”—but if you like your slice-of-life high school with a dash of sweet and cute, this will put a smile on your face. – Sean Gaffney

Shortcake Cake, Vol. 6 | By suu Morishita | VIZ Manga – I really loved how this volume of Shortcake Cake portrays Ten’s reaction to Chiaki’s surprising confession. She tries to let him down gently, and is upset about hurting her friend and conscientious about not leading him on. It’s not played for the drama of a love triangle—it’s just sad. And yet, she still does like Riku very much and wants to let him know that her feelings have changed, but now the Chiaki situation has made everything more complicated. Some really cute scenes ensue, but actually most of the volume takes place in Ten’s head as she worries and overthinks everything. We’re halfway through the series at this point and, though it seems like she and Riku will officially get together in the next volume, that’s a lot of time for things to go wrong somehow. Man, I love Margaret shoujo. – Michelle Smith

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 2 | By Honda | Yen Press – The second volume of Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san is much like the first, with Honda covering more aspects of the bookselling business, including the talented distribution chief with a knack for anticipating what will sell, dealing with “harmful publications,” wholesalers who never supply as many copies as are requested, the difficulty in promoting books that are receiving high-profile adaptations (particularly when bonus items feature popular idols), and dealing with a customer who happens to be a yakuza. It’s pleasant, but I was kind of bummed to learn that after Honda published the chapter about customer service training, she got in some trouble with her bosses and now has to get their approval for everything she writes and worries about being fired. That’s a shame. – Michelle Smith

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 4 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that this series was going to end with the next volume. The reason for that is a very surprise mutual confession between our two leads, something which I was not expecting to happen for at least a dozen more volumes. It is really well handled, though, and shows that these two shoujo protagonists are actually smart enough to pick up on signals. We also get some backstory for one of Zen’s two guards, Mitsuhide, who is asked by Zen’s older brother to watch over him and therefore must gain the trust of someone who doesn’t trust very easily—and even when he does, he seems to be betrayed. Zen and Shirayuki are very good for each other, and I’m excited to see where this goes. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 4 | By Sorata Akiduki | VIZ Media – This volume almost feels like a final volume, what with Zen and Shirayuki affirming their feelings for one another and their determination to stay by the other’s side, come what may. The final page seems to suggest a happy ending. Except this is volume four and there are 21 volumes so far. Maybe this was the point where the series changed magazines? In any case, it’s a very nice volume, with Shirayuki showing her willingness to act in Zen’s stead when his station prevents him from doing so—and giving us a glimpse of the upbringing that led to her always trying hard and being independent—as well as a revealing flashback to six years ago when Zen’s friend betrayed him but he found a new person to trust in Mitsuhide. I really enjoy this series! – Michelle Smith

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 11 | By Rei Toma | Viz Media – There’s some gorgeous art here, which is good as it may take the mind away from the fact that this is really drawn out for a finale. The basic premise—send Asahi back and the water dragon dies—is obvious, despite Asahi’s protests, and you get the sense that the other gods will eventually do something about it, but it does take forever to happen, with lots of longing pages with no dialogue. Also, how does Asahi return to her normal life so quickly? Still, it’s a happy ending, and the last two pages of the “afterword” 4-kon section make up for it with a hysterical deconstruction of why the Water Dragon won the romance war and Subaru did not. Despite not quite sticking the landing, this was a very good series. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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missmeikakuna · 5 years ago

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(GL/Yuri) Shoujo Heroine… and Friends Chapter 1

It's heeeeeeeeere! Please comment your thoughts and like it if you, well, like it.

Rated: T

Fandom: Original story

Relationship type: F/F with some F/M

Description:

Sahana is friendly, innocent and optimistic, making her the perfect shoujo anime heroine… except she’s not the main character of this story.

So why is the god of love and marriage watching them, red string of fate at the ready? CONTENT WARNING: Some homophobic language and bullying.

Chapter 1: I guess we’re friends

Sahana was one of those kids who smiled more than she should. Yes, even when surrounded by five girls whose glares screamed, ‘He’s ours!’

She was going to be doubly late if the girls didn’t leave her alone, so naturally, she finished the now cold toast in her hand. No way was she going to risk choking to death by running to school with it in her mouth.

This would be the time when I’d tell you about how she was an ordinary girl who somehow got whisked off to a magical land or something. You know, ordinary except for the bright pink hair in short pigtails and the gigantic blue eyes that I could compare to some gemstone. Yeah, no. I mean, for one thing, this isn’t a fantasy story. Also, she isn’t our main character.

A girl with a bright red ponytail and matching eyes sprinted to Sahana and used her arms as a barrier between her and her bullies.

‘Back off before I cook your intestines and feed them to my dog,’ she said in the voice of a noblewoman. You know the voice.

One of the girls claimed that such a threat didn’t scare them, but they all took a few steps back at the exact same time, stopping when one of them bumped into someone. This time it was a tall and thin but muscular girl with short blonde hair and icy blue eyes.

‘Now, Masami, that’s a bit extreme,’ she said to the redhead, her voice deep and slightly hoarse. ‘I doubt your dog would want to eat these girls’ intestines. Don’t be so cruel to him.’

The girls ran as far as they could, then turned around and headed to where they were supposed to go.

‘You guys didn’t have to do that,’ Sahana said in a sweet, high-pitched voice, looking up at these girls who were much taller than her. ‘But thanks!’

Masami and the blonde girl enveloped Sahana in a bone-crushingly tight hug. It didn’t take long for Sahana to notice the crumbs on the blonde-haired girl’s face, which gave her an excellent opportunity to namedrop the character. Thank you, Sahana, for making my job easier.

‘Were you running late too, Kunie?’

Masami let go of Sahana and crossed her arms. ‘She was eating breakfast in the classroom. Honestly! Crumbs everywhere! I was just about to tell her off when I heard one of those girls badmouth you.’

Kunie yawned and stretched her arms. ‘Whatever. Sorry I don’t have a butler serve me a three-course meal every morning and wipe my face with banknotes.’

‘I don’t either! That’s no excuse! Honestly, you are so….’ Masami and Kunie looked at Sahana with apologetic eyes and Masami coughed until her word disappeared. ‘Anyway, what caused you to be late?’

Sahana dropped her smile and furrowed her eyebrows. ‘When I woke up and looked through my window, I realised that my drapes don’t match my carpet.’ Masami covered her mouth to stop herself from doing what Kunie was openly doing: laughing. Sahana continued. ‘I wonder if I should dye my carpet to match the drapes. What do you think?’ Kunie started wheezing. ‘What’s wrong? Did I say something weird?’

Kunie patted her shoulder. ‘You’ll find out when you’re older.’

Sahana pouted because of course she did. Whenever she does this I kind of want to pinch her chubby cheeks, not going to lie.

‘I’m the same age as you,’ she murmured before returning to her smiling state. ‘Hey, do you know where Toyomi is? He messaged me about how he wants to talk to me about something.’

Before getting an answer from either friend, she heard trumpets and turned around. I don’t know where they came from either. That’s Benzaiten’s realm.

Whatever the answer may be, what’s important is that the trumpets signalled the arrival of Toyomi. Toyomi with the peacock-blue hair in a bob and oceanic eyes. Toyomi with the smile that made those miniature oceans look warmer. Toyomi with the hordes of fangirls who looked at each other like snipers preparing to shoot.

With a flick of the wrist he held out his hand and Sahana graciously took it. Well then, I guess she really did get whisked away, just to a secluded spot so he could recite a poem he had written for her. He also handed her a little bag of chocolates he had made, which she immediately began eating.

‘Would you like to go out with me?’ he asked her with soft eyes and a saccharine voice.

‘Of course!’ Sahana answered with pink cheeks and a grin that could melt the paint off a door.

Toyomi jumped up and clapped quickly. ‘Thank you! I knew that manga was right. I got to your heart through your stomach.’

The two held hands and stared at each other in a way that passers-by would have found weird but was perfect for them.

Now let’s get back to the actual protagonist of this story. After heading back into the classroom, Masami smoothed her knee-length skirt behind her as she sat in her seat. Unlike Sahana, her seat was at the front of the classroom rather than near the back by the window. Kunie took the middle seat at the very back, completely opposite to Masami. She sat with her legs open, a certain region only just covered by her short skirt, and picked her ear.

A girl from another class entered the room and handed Kunie a letter with a crown sticker on the front. Before Kunie could respond, the girl zipped out of there.

Our protagonist scowled at the empty food packets on Kunie’s desk. She had no clue why anyone would want to go near that desk without a vacuum cleaner. Fair enough.

Kunie read the letter and sighed. A petit girl with long, wavy, light golden brown hair leaned towards her from her seat next to her. She wore a smirk that made it increasingly difficult for Kunie not to groan.

‘I’m sensing a pattern here. Maybe if you showed an interest in Prince Toyomi, this wouldn’t keep happening. Honestly, how many lezzos are in this school anyway?’

Kunie shrugged. ‘You tell me. You seem to be the expert, Dooru.’

The girl looked at her like she had just been accused of throwing a baby into a river. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

‘Then again, I guess a prince and a prince don’t go together. I mean, can you imagine it?’

Kunie slammed her hands against her desk. ‘I’m not a prince!’ she yelled.

Dooru snickered. ‘Sure, your highness. I will ignore the love letter on your desk, my liege.’

Before Kunie could respond, the trumpets returned and Toyomi took his seat, followed by Sahana and eventually the teacher.

Masami actually, no, really, actually clicked her tongue in scorn as she looked at the clock. Ten minutes and thirty-two seconds late. Miss Date ran her fingers through her oily red hair and breathed a sigh of relief.

Another click of the tongue from Masami. Any more and her tongue was bound to hurt. ‘Um, excuse me, Miss Date, may I ask why you are so-’

‘That’s Ukiwa to you,’ the teacher said with a grin and finger guns.

I apologise. Ukiwa opened the roll book and called everyone’s names. Masami noticed a hickey peeking out from behind the teacher’s shirt collar.

Masami reached under her desk for her pencil case but felt plastic wrap. She pulled out a bag of cookies and a tiny teddy bear. She didn’t even have to look at the tag to know who it was from.

She turned her head and saw Fumie, a thin and frail-looking girl who wore her mint hair with violet tips in high pigtails. She had eyes of different colours, one matching the top of her hair and the other matching the tips. A cross hung from her neck. The girl had a hopeful face and one thumb up. Masami saw her clean desk and smiled at her. When she turned back around, she noticed other students holding bags of cookies.

When lunch arrived, Sahana bowed her head and held her hands up as if praying. ‘I’ll hang out with you guys next time, I swear! I just want to have some alone time with Toyomi.’

Masami and Kunie were about to respond but Sahana and Toyomi had already disappeared by that point. All they could do was look at each other and shrug.

They both took their lunch to Sahana’s desk and giggled. ‘I guess we should go somewhere else this time,’ Kunie said.

They sat at Kunie’s desk because Masami refused to let Kunie dirty hers. Masami held up her bento box rather than attempting to fit it on the tiny rubbish-free space on Kunie’s desk. They ate lunch quietly, Masami picking her own brain for a topic of conversation.

All she could contribute was, ‘So, uh, it’s kind of weird, isn’t it? How we haven’t hung out by ourselves before.’

Kunie nodded, swallowing the piece of fish in her mouth before continuing. ‘Yeah. I mean, we’re supposed to be friends, right?’

‘Yeah, I guess we’re friends.’ Masami almost corrected her blunder but she kept her mouth shut in case she made another.

Now I know what it’s like to pray to the gods and hear nothing but silence.

As if answering my own prayers, eventually the trumpets returned and Toyomi sauntered in the classroom, followed by Sahana. Gitan, a stocky boy with messy black hair and a tan, sneered at the peacockish boy with the glowing face.

‘Finally got yourself a boyfriend?’ he asked.

Toyomi gave him a smile. ‘I’m not sure I understand your question. Why would I want a boyfriend? I already have a girlfriend and I don’t like boys that way. But thank you for caring about me!’

Gitan rolled his eyes, muttered some slurs under his breath and turned in his seat towards Masami and Kunie, grinning when Sahana grabbed a chair and sat in between them. He took a pencil and sketched Masami and Sahana holding hands between their chests and looking into each other’s eyes. In reality, they were simply sitting and talking.

‘So what did you get up to without me?’ Sahana asked her friends, who shrugged in perfect unison.

#lesbian #yuri #anime #fiction #romance #writing #LGBT #lgbt romance #Breaking Stereotypes #original fiction #drama #comedy #parody #Shoujo Heroine... and Friends

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