#Watanabe-san was also super nice!!!

[eight-thirtytwo]

we battled for our lives and emerged victorious...T__________T

[aeneozen]

↳˳☁️;; ❝ FATE, 缘分 ᵕ̈ ೫˚∗:

chapter 1 <3

more info here !!

I tried my best to edit my cringe writing from a few months ago AKSJAKSJ ;-; please don’t judge

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itadori yuji shuddered in his car as he watched his cousin walk out the terminal, her strong aura radiating throughout the airport. watanabe aki is dressed in a black turtle neck that hugged her body perfectly, her short brown hair danced elegantly in the cool winter air.

"nee-san, over here !" he waved his hands in the air, gesturing aki towards him.

"yuji, it's been a long time, how are you ?" she asked as she ruffled his hair, making him huff.

"you cut your hair again." yuji grabbed a fistful of her hair and examined them, "and you dyed your hair, what did they have to say about this ?" aki looked away and muttered something along the lines of 'what else would they say ?'

"nee-san, you're getting bolder every time I see you, even though you're back in japan, you're not going home to visit them."

the watanabe and itadori family are very strict, almost everyone in their family are reknowned lawyers, the children raised in this family are also very disciplined.

the reason yuji is so attached to aki is because he would get bullied by their other cousins when he was younger and only she would play with him. she also helped him convince their strict family to let him join medical school

"If I’m bold, what about you ? you almost got disowned." aki snickered and put on her seatbelt, yuji chuckled nervously and started the car, "it's all thanks to my amazing nee-san that I'm in medical school now."

"say, what was the reason you didn't go to the college near our house ?" he tried to change the subject, not wanting to get scolded by her.

"hmm," she tilted her head a little and thought about it, "I think it was mainly because most of our family members are teaching in that school. law is annoying enough, so can you imagine how tiring it would be if I saw my parents being my teacher ? and even worse, our grandfather is the principal, I don't want to die in their hands."

"then why did you choose to go to america ?"

she sighed and pinched her nose bridge, "because something scary happened here."

"then why are you back ?"

"because something even scarier happened there."

yuji was visibly confused.

that year when aki was still in college in japan, she got to know a senpai under the same professor — suguru geto, and they got along pretty well.

around that time, there was a really popular PC game that they got interested in and they created a server with several other people to play with. since the game was gaining recognition, aki dragged yuji to play along with her.

other than the people from their class, there was a guy named gojou satoru, geto told her that he is his friend and is currently studying in a medical school overseas. she didn't know his name at first, she only knew that he plays really well and thought that they would just be gaming friends since that's usually what happens online.

one day, aki and yuji stumbled upon a video uploaded by him, it was him teaching and explaining the concept to new players on how to play the game. when she heard his deep soothing voice through the screen, her heart skipped a beat and she would listen to those videos everyday.

he was a mystery to them, he would often say things like "I got blood on my shirt today" and "boss called me for work" in the middle of the night in their gaming groupchat made everyone think that he was a serial killer. when people asked how he was so good at the game, he would say it was related to his job, where he uses lots of knife.

soon, the game lost popularity and the groupchat died down, everybody became induldged in their own lives and did not make contact anymore.

you could call it fate, but just as she thought she would never get to know him, geto called her and invited her to his house for a little 'gaming friends' meet up.

the day where she first met gojou satoru was a bright spring day, the sakura trees had just started blooming and the beautiful pink flowers would glide along with the wind before settling onto the ground.

aki walked towards the lift and stood behind a tall stranger with white hair. she observed the man in front of her and noticed his black shirt hung loosely around his figure and revealed a little of his collar bones, one hand tucked in his pocket and the other held onto a bag of groceries. it became a habit of hers to observe others ever since she started studying law.

his eyes glanced up at the decreasing number, slender fingers adjusting its grip on the bag. she peeled her eyes away from him as the lift arrived with a soft 'ding'. after he stepped in, his free arm stopped the lift from closing, allowing her to step in.

aki muttered a small 'thanks' and pressed the number 7, she peered over and realized that he just stood there, not pressing any other floors.

must be the same floor then.

as the doors opened, she walked out and towards geto's apartment.

"aki you're here ! come in, oh- gojou's here too." geto's head peeked out from his door upon hearing her knock.

her head turned and watched as the man she met earlier smile at her senpai, "I brought some fruits." the words fell out of his mouth so smooth it felt like silk.

"thanks. aki, this is gojou satoru, the friend I mentioned that was in america, he's back for a few days that's why I called everyone over. gojou, this is aki, my junior, the one really good at that game we played."

gojou smiled at the shorter girl, "nice to meet you."

"nice to meet you too." she greeted back and stepped into geto's house.

throughout the day, they didn't have much of a conversation except a short one in the kitchen where he was cooking. since she was the only female there, it made her feel better to pretend that she has something to do, like for example, cooking.

although it was a brief conversation about geto and their relationship, everything about the man before her made her fall for him even more. and on that day, it wasn't only the flowers that were blooming, it was her heart as well.

"nee-san, what are you thinking about ?" yuji's voice dragged her back to the present.

"this is a nice car, who'd you borrow it from ?"

"cool huh ? it's my professors'."

"older men now likes these kind of designs ? that's new."

yuji immediately started panicking, "he's not an old man ! he's the youngest professor in our hospital, probably a few years older than you, he’s super smart and is really handsome. he also went to the hardest medical school in america !"

that made her freeze, someone she knew was once in the hardest medical school in america as well.

"nee-san ?"

"I was thinking why someone so smart would take you for your masters."

"you-"

"just kidding."

she didn't mean to hurt his ego, she was just paranoid that the person teaching her younger cousin was the one she fell for years ago. aki pressed the button and the window rolled down, the wind blew onto her face and she hoped it would calm her from all the stress.

meanwhile, gojou satoru took out a red pen from his white coat and tried to mark itadori yuji’s report on a particular patient, yet his mind drifted off to a certain girl he met years ago.

[pomnavi]

Uchi no Musuko wa Tabun Gay / My Son is Probably Gay Vol 2 Ch. 42  (End of Vol 2)

Like on Comic Pixiv

Purchase Vol 1 and Vol 2 off amazon.jp or bookwalker

Please support the official release!

Chapter 42: Ever-expanding Everyday

Page 1 Bu 1: ....Oh? Bu 2: Haven't you gotten a little bulkier? Bu 3: No way, really!? Bu 4: Yeah, just a little Bu 5: Are you still working out with those dumbells? Bu 6: Y'know there are these really athletic guys from the Kendo club! Bu 7: They taught me some good ways to use the dumbells. Bu 8: Maybe it's because of that!? Bu 9: You'll be more motivated after seeing some results huh Hiroki: Wow~ Awesome! Tomoko: Perserverance is power

Page 2 Bu 1: I'm off~ Bu 2: Oh Bu 3: Good morning Bu 4: Hey Asumi-chan! Bu 5: Our uniform looks nice on you! Bu 6: You look so mature! Bu 7: Y-y-you're surely joking right....! Bu 8: Are you joining any clubs? Bu 9: I'm thinking about it Bu 10: Those two are somehow Bu 12: Getting closer aren't they

Page 3 Bu 1: Hiroki, did you play this yet? Bu 2: I did! Bu 3: It was super scary Bu 4: But I managed to finish it! Bu 5: Wasn't the story amazing? Bu 6: Eh Bu 7: Um.. the story...yeah, it was certainly something! Bu 8: What did you think of the ending? Bu 9: Uh.. well.... I.... Bu 10: The ending Bu 11: It looked like there was no salvation for them Bu 12: But wasn't it the best, happiest ending for the main character? That's what it seemed like to me.

Page 4 Bu 1: Ooh, I thought so too! Bu 2: Did you play it too? Bu 3: I watched Nii-san while he was playing Bu 4: OH! I thought the same thing too! Good for him right! Hiroki 1: Aha~ Hiroki 1: hahahaha Bu 5: Well~ I wonder if I should play it again Hiroki sfx: haha Bu 6: Didn't you say you never wanted to play it again? Bu 7: Wha- No I didn't! Bu 8: Yuuri, what the heck! Box 1: As they encounter all kinds of interests Box 2: My sons' worlds will continue to change and expand Box 3: What they like, and are going to like Box 4: Their choices and lives Box 5: I want to support them.

Omake Bu 1: Yuuri... Bu 2: I actually didn't understand this game's story. Bu 3: Could you explain to me why the story was so amazing? Bu 4: First, let's watch this video explaining the plot. It'll be easier after that. Bu 5: Oh cool, okay! Bu 6: Also, there were probably some event flags that you missed in the game. Bu 7: Wow~ Seriously? Bu 8: The Aoyama family is peaceful today too.

Afterword Bu 1: Thank you for reading "My Son is Probaby Gay" Volume 2. I'm Okura Bu 2: Lately, I've been working on the plank. Bu 3: After the 1st volume came out, but before the 2nd volume, Okura actually came out to his mom. Bu 4: I'm gay, and I've been drawing this manga. Bu 5: The reason for that is that I wanted to show her what I was working on. Bu 6: I did tell them that I was working as a manga artist, but I didn't tell them about the work under my penname "Okura". Bu 7: What magazine is it in? What's the title? Bu 8: It's a web manga? Where can I read it? Bu 9: Are you getting paid? Are you doing okay? Bu 10: You're not working on anything dangerous right? Okura 1: Yeah Bu 11: Of course they're worried.. Bu 12: There's no way I can keep hiding this. Bu 13: Giving them a proper answer meant coming out anyways. Bu 14: I wanted to reassure her, but telling them just brought up new anxieties.... So I couldn't get off that train of thought initially. Bu 15: But thinking about the many people who read and enjoyed my work gave me the final push I needed. Bu 16: I don't know if she has accepted me yet, but she at least understands the situation. Bu 17: After seeing the Okura social media accounts, she contacted me Bu 18: I saw it~ You said you had a stomach ache? Are you ok? Bu 19: Since I'm writing a story about a mom and her son, I hope I'll be able to use this experience too. Bu 20: I'll be counting on your support from here on out too! Thank you! 2020.2.Okura Special Thanks: Watanabe-sama

END

T/n: This is the end of volume 2! I'm glad the series has made it this far :). There are more chapters on Okura's twitter beyond this point in the story, and I'm hoping they get compiled into a Volume 3 (no official announcement as of now). If they don't get compiled into volume soon, I'll make sure to continue translating and releasing them :). Thanks everybody for reading and supporting this manga! I hope you'll make sure to buy a copy to support the author! It's licensed for English release by Square Enix, so be on the lookout for that next year~

[miyakuli]

Oh thanks!! (Still the same anon. I will just go with 🐝) if youd want to id gladly listen to some of your fluffy or funny recommendations. It gets more points from me if it has romance/possible ships because I'm c r a v i n g :'>

Also i dont really care about the genre! 🐝

OK HERE WE GO FOR MY FLUFFY ANIME RECS THEN (I’m actually happy to do this lol)

Natsume Yuujinchou : 6 seasons of feelings, my fav anime of all times. A slice of life/fantastic, with a slow pace but very poetic and meaningful. You’ll cry, melt, cry again, laugh, smile, and relax. OST is very appaising. One of the best MC imo.

Gakuen Babysitters : it’s about a guy and his little brother and a club of babysitting with a lot of toddlers so adorable and each episode is a dose of fluff, you can’t not melt in front of this. There aren’t canon couples but I guess you can ship hetero or gay as you want xD

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san : the love story of two middle school students, where the girl likes to tease the person she loves and the boy being all blushy and frustrated. THIS IS PURE FLUFF, THIS ONE MAKES ME SO MUCH HAPPY!!!! (and there is a sequel manga with them being married with their daughter and it’s as sweet

Kamichu! : a slice of life with a bit of fantastic in it, so much soothing, a real feeling good anime for me. There is a bit of romance in it as well.

Sakamichi no Appolon : an anime about jazz, clearly the best anime about music to me. Director = Watanabe ; Music = Yoko Kanno, what can I say more, this is a masterpiece. Also, veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery shippy xD

Ookiku Furikabutte : my fav sport anime with Hq (and Eyeshield but only the manga version). It’s pretty realistic, there aren’t “magical” effets and crazy techniques in it xDD MC is…..THE MOST ADORABLE BABY EVER, MUST PROTECT AT ALL COST…and the main duo…you can’t be more gay than that seriously.

Kobato : certainly the sweetest adaptation of CLAMP. Kobato is so pure and lovable, it’s pretty funny and it has a lot of romance in it

Kimi to boku : slice of life with a group of friends, so much sweet and funny and pretty shippy too imo.

Working! : shoujo so adorable and funny and that surprised me a lot actually because I didn’t expect it to be that enjoyable!! VERY shippy (with canon)

Hyouka : my second fav Kyoani anime after Free!. Super sweet slice of life, animation is BEAUTIFUL, characters are so lovable, music is so nice, and a lot of romantic moments :)

Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii : a very nice shoujo with one of the best main girl I’ve seen in the genre!! she’s strong, independent and sensible

————–

I have many many more but right now I have to go to bed (sorry sorry), I hope this will be enough for now, but if you need more I’ll be happy to give you others next time :DDD

[nyxravessnow]

Aoharu Tetsudou Rails Live 2019

I’m posting this really late... A week and I half ago I went to the Aoharu Tetsudou Rails live

The cast is: Nagayama Takashi, Kimeru, Kujirai Kousuke, Inagaki Seiya, Gomoto Naoya, Takahashi Yuuta, Watanabe Kouji, Takagi Shun, Yamamoto Ikkei, Itagaki Rihito, Hashimoto Taito, Kamisato Yuuki, Iwa Yoshito, Takiguchi Yukihiro, Baba Ryouma, Iwaki Naoya, Takasaki Shouta, Hashimoto Sei and Hijikata Yuzuki

The show was amazing and I wish I could go again. The performances were the best yet for most of the actors and the atmosphere was amazing.

Show breakdown under the cut.

Slight warning - This is what I wrote afterwards but I can’t be 100% sure I got all the scenes in the correct order

First was  Tsunagaru Aoharu Tetsudou 2019 ~ Opening

The trains who had solo lines in the song were Rinkai, IGR, Yamanote, Shinetsu, Hokuriku Shinkansen, Nagano Shinkansen, Chiyoda, Marunouchi, Joban, Ginza There was a short sung bit with Utsunomiya and Takasaki, like in Aoharu 3 and same with the Tokkaido brothers

They had a platform that rose up with all the actors on it at the start which was really cool. Both Watanabe Kouji and Kimeru did two character solos so they had to run off after singing their first one but it was done very neatly and I didn’t notice.

When Hokuriku Shinkansen sung, last, he rose up from a different platform at the back of the stage which was very cool

The next scene was the Tokkaido brothers and everyone else ran off the stage.

Tokkaido Shinkansen sang Tetsudou Hakubutsukan e yokoso from the first stage and they added a new verse for the live. The children joined again but I’m not sure if they were extras or members of the cast because from where I sat one looked really like Baba Ryouma There was also a Sanyo Shinkansen punching bag that they attacked a lot during the song Once the song was finished they discussed why the live is being held which was basically just because Tokkaido Shinkansen wanted to do it. He then made Tokkaido Honsen call people to ask for them to join.

Honsen first calls Takasaki and Utsunomiya. They agree, and Keihin-Tohoku is sharpening a knife at the side.  Utsunomiya scares Honsen off stage and Takasaki, Utsunomiya and Keihin-Tohoku come centre stage.

Utsunomiya says that he wants to sing but he and Takasaki don’t have a song so they sing Tobu and Chichibu's love song, Heikousen, which was hilarious as it meant Takasaki had to profess his love for Utsunomiya Tobu runs on very angry at the end of the song because they stole his and Chichibu’s song.  He is much shorter than both of them but steps forward to talk about the letter he wrote Chichitetsu, reference to the Seibu group play, and sings 'Chichitetsu My love’ with Seibu Chichibu.

Seibu Chichibu seems to like Tobu a lot but Tobu just ignores him as he only likes the non Seibu Chichibu

Next Marunouchi and Ginza come on and discuss the live. 

Ginza says he wants to participate just so he can talk about Hayakawa-san and the two sing both of their songs Then they leave together Akita comes on eating with Yamagata Shinkansen. He says he wants to eat and then starts to sing his solo song from the second play but stops very quickly and is just eating so Yamagata continues the song for him. Akita joins back in for the last verse and they duet the last bit of the song together

Then Yamanote comes on depressed because he thinks he isn’t important as he was a special guest in all previous appearances and not many people saw Takagi Shun’s first performance as Yamanote and the others, Utsunomiya, Takasaki and Keihin-Tohoku, kinda help to cheer him up He then sings his solo song ‘Guruguru mawaru kodoku na boku’ In all of Keihin-Tohoku’s scenes there were a lot of jokes about him not being in the original comics anymore

Chiyoda comes on and then Joban, in a sailor uniform 

Chiyoda is really confused and asks if he can sing their duet in that outfit He changes on stage, surprising Chiyoda, and they sing their duet song

Then it was Juniac Holmes featuring Rinkai, Keihin-Tohoku and Tokkaido Honsen Rinkai entered from the audience and shook hands with people, blew them kisses. He was really people’s signs and did what they asked him to do. Honsen only came in when Rinkai stood on stage and threw his shirt open Junaic Holmes song, Kujirai Kousuke’s voice sounds really good live Rinkai wants Honsen to look for Saikyo as Rinkai wants to sing his duet but he cant because Saikyo isn’t there So, Honsen suggests that they stand in for Saikyo and so Rinkai sings his song with Keihin-Tohoku 

Issho ni narou, so amazing. Ikkei’s voice live is something I will never forget, his voice is so soothing and nice.

Keihin-Tohoku plays along with the song and is kinda sweet to Rinkai and acts like Saikyo.

Then Seibu group came on: Seibu Ikebukuro, Seibu Shinjuku, Seibu Ahina, Seibu Sayama, Seibu Seibuen and Seibu Chichibu Leo liner was also brought back. I think he was played by Iwa Yoshito, which would make sense as he is not on very much

Sayama chased Leo onto the stage and Leo attacked him. Sayama died and had to be brought back by chanting Kaichou. He was killed once more later when Leo rips his heart out

They sang 3 songs in total, the first one being ‘Seibu butai no kibou no hikari’ Then Tobu came on angry that they got their own section and overpowered them with his aura and they became his back up dancers for flying Tojo.  After the song they all left then Ahina and Shinjuku came back on. Ahina is sad because his line was permanently suspended Shinjuku tries to reassure him then goes off to do something

Ahina goes back to the Seibu house and they sing ‘Happy haisen, omedeto Ahina’ Ahina is really upset at the end that they are celebrating his suspension and leaves The others don't act sad at all, reopening the door he slammed to wave goodbye before closing it again. Shinjuku comes back on with a marriage certificate so Ahina will join Shinjuku and doesn't have to go. Ahina is really happy and hugs Shinjuku. The others all opened the door to spy on them and looks fondly at the pair They then sing the Seibu group all members song, I can’t remember the name. And go off.

Then Tokkaido brothers come back on and announce the live has officially started. Honsen saying the live has been going for a while though. They sing refresh Nissan again with everyone, Utsunomiya, Takasaki, Keihin-Tohoku, Yamagata, Akita and Yamanote, as a back up dancer. 

After the song they all leave

Then Nagano Shinkansen comes on and reads a creepy letter from Shinetsu who then tries to hug Nagano  He punches him and then Shinetsu runs off He quickly comes back on and Hokuriku comes on and well Hokuriku starts squeezing Shinetsu's head but Nagano gets him to stop They then sing a new song called the future me. I thought it was really good and well sung. Rihito and Kouji’s voices sound really good together.

Then it was the Shinjuku and Ahina flashback from the seibu musical and they sang their duet.

Then it was the Takasaki and Utsunomiya flashback from the 3rd musical which Utsunomiya wanted to do but Takasaki was reluctant so Utsunomiya had to talk him into it.

Then Joetsu comes on and says he's feeling lonely without Joetsu Shinkansen and IGR comes on and says the same.  Again, all the non Seibu lines come on and they sing a new song about not being alone and having a party. 

I absolutely loved this song and it’s probably one of my favourite from the entire musical.  At the end there is a video with Joetsu Shinkansen saying a message for Joetsu.

They then sing Tokkaido brothers song, newly remixed for 2019, with all of the non Seibu others as back up dancers

Then they say that that's the end and they only have one song left The sing tsunagaru ending - Yokosuka, Seibu shinjuku, Yamagata Shinkansen, Akita Shinkansen, Utsunomiya, Takasaki, Keihin-Tohoku, Tokkaido Honsen, Tokkaido Shinkansen.

  They then leave but come back on and sing the party song again. Tokkaido shinkansen told everyone to sing along but then Honsen said ‘How can they sing along? It’s a new song, no one knows the words’ and everyone laughed a lot.

I was so glad they sang this song again and it was fun seeing it with everyone at the end.

Then they sing the real final song which was also new I think it was called Rails live 2019. I remember one line that was repeated a lot and was in English ‘Happiness is a way of travel, not just a destination’

I thought it sounded a bit weird for like a day until I realised that was because in English the word order would usually be the other way around I think.

Overall thoughts: I was so impressed by Takasaki Shouta, he did make some mistakes with the dances and didn’t sing all of the lines new songs but I think he had less than half the rehearsal time of everyone else as he was originally not going to be in it. So, definitely well done to him. Yamamoto Ikkei and Takki were my absolute standouts. The latter, completely to my surprise. Yamamoto makes his two characters so distinctive and different, and his singing is amazing and so different in both characters. His voice is definitely my favourite out of everyone’s and it was amazing to hear live.  Takki was really funny. I loved his interactions with Takasaki Shouta the most so I think if Shouta hadn't been there I wouldn't have liked him even half as much. It’s kinda showed as though Tojo only have eyes for Chichibu Tetsudou but Seibu Chichibu has feelings for Tojo and was trying to make him notice him.  I thought Taito's voice sounded forced anytime I heard it on DVD but I don’t think that anymore. I think his singing voice has this weird quality to it which doesn't work for me on DVD but sounds amazing live Ahina and Shinjuku were super cute. They actually signed the marriage contract in this show so they are officially married. I was reassured about Shin’etsu who I always found rather creepy and I always heard people laughing on the DVD But when I saw it they weren't laughing at Shin’etsu being creepy, they laughed when he got punched It is kinda weird but super cute how Shouta and Nagano's actor are so close and such good friends Everyone seemed so happy to have Shouta there and he did a very short speech at the end saying he was so happy to be there. And he definitely worked super hard for this play and really wanted to be in it even though he is meant to be at Osomatsu rehearsals.

I loved this show and am 100% buying the DVD when it comes out. Which is sadly in March. 

[hotarutranslations]

Ara Ara Kashiko, Murata Corn!

Evening Its Ishida Ayumi

 Today was good weather for a location shoot-----!

 …that is to say,

It was a little too hot though lol

 I had a location shoot!

 Sendai Broadcast Ara Ara Kashiko “Ishida Ayumi Goes!”

 Bothering Miyagi prefectures Murata in Shibata district,

 Corn with name “Mirai”

 That’s, what I learned about

  Kurarin bench

 Murata town (Its read “town”) is,

Also famous for their broad beans,

 Kurarin’s ears are made of be broad beans ↑Cute

On the left is,

Ishida Ayumi (Read as “Ishida Ayumi”)-chan

 Ayumin’s muscles are made of boiled eggs↑interesting

 Speaking of corn,

What comes to mind for everyone?

 For me, its Hokkaido~

 Its certainly Toukibi Chocolate for me~

 However Miyagi wont lose to the best of them, this corn is sweet and delicious!

I didn’t know but,

 Murata is already super famous,

 The sell it at Murata’s “Road Station Murata”, today our first shoot of the morning was there,

 From that morning,

 There were a lot of people lining up,

To buy “Mirai”

 Excuse me,

We had to shoot there for a moment

 …that is to say I’m sorry,

 Everyone dreaming of the corn! Ah, it’s kinda annoying--! Lol

 This kind of love for the corn,

 Through various experiences, I understand the reason for the love ❤

 …I’ll convey that,

 After the broadcast!!

 Look forward to the broadcast on August 10th

 That’s! Right!

It’s the day of Rockin’!

 I’ll be doing my best that day in Ibaraki!

  Today I was helped by kind people,

 It was really fun!! the heat was painful but I like harvesting work! Lol

 A location shoot under the sun meant, I took care to not get heatstroke

 I applied a lot of sunscreen, and I took my breaks in the shade, All of the staff,

 Their faces were completely red,,

In addition to having heavy equipment,,

 Like, is this person someone else than who I met in the morning!?

 After the shoot they were dark with sunburn

  With various peoples power, I also did my best

 I was moved ❤

 I’m always helped with the location shoots, by Watanabe Hana-san,

 Those that are Ayumin fans are really nice right

 Like,

 I was suddenly praised this--!!!

I’m happy--!!!

 I am proud, and moved ❤

  In Sendai, we’re still going to have a Hello! Project concert on August 3rd! I’m happy---!

 Since the Tanabata festival is soon,

 The Sendai station already has streamer decorations

The station has become very bright

 Thanks to the Arakashi location shoot,

 SENDAI COFFEE STAND-san,

Sendai Morning Market croquettes and 110 coffee-san, and the delicious seafood of Tachibana-san,

 Ah, I heard that Tamamushi Laquerwares will be taking a 3 day break… Today I went to Murata, it took less than 1 hour from Sendai, and there was restaurant that had a delicious eel bowl fufufu

 Look forward to Miyagi!

 See you ayumin ❤

 https://ameblo.jp/morningmusume-10ki/entry-12499554011.html

[askthedespairkids]

Chapter 1: Your First Lesson in Despair ~Daily Life~

//Woo! Finished this off and it’s ready to upload. The way this is formatted, I’ll show important moments from the daily life sections, then do highlights of the investigation. Trials will be full out, and at the end there will be FTE with the victim and killer of each chapter!

//Hope ya’ll enjoy

-Chapter 1 Daily Life, Cafeteria-

 We had all gathered when we woke up. Well…most of us. 14 out of the 16 in the group arrived at the cafeteria. You could really feel the tension among the group with what we were told yesterday…a killing game? What does it all even mean? It can’t be real, can it?

 “This isn’t ideal.” Watanabe-san started off as she scanned the room where we were scattered to different tables. “Who is missing? I want to keep a record of who isn’t coming to these meetings.”

 “You call them meetings…but it’s more or less a way to keep track of each other.” Kurosaki-san chuckled. “I believe only Mademoiselle Ram and Herr Okanaya are the only ones missing.” Okanaya-san and Ram-san…?

 “I tried to get Ram-chan to come out of her room, but she wouldn’t open her door.” Hachi-san said.

 “I don’t blame her. With the situation we’re in, it probably pays to be a little cautious.” Sly-san added. So…why are you here? Then again, if Sly-san’s the Ultimate Assassin, he probably has no reason to be worried.

 “Oka-chan, on the other hand? I saw him walking about but he totally threatened me when I tried to get closer to him. Ahhhh! I was really scared! I thought he was gonna hit me! We’re better off not being around him!” Irunami-san said. Okanaya-san was walking around? Most likely looking for a way out. If he knows the building’s layout, he’d know where to check for exists. I just wish he’d try to be more cooperative.

 “Unfortunately, we cannot force him to come. Though, I hope that both of them come around eventually. We need to work together in this situation in order to prevent any incidents from happening.” Watanabe-san said. ‘Incidents’ she says…she means so that nobody dies, right? Are we really gonna die in here? “For now, should we discuss the situation and our setting?”

 “Ah, if we’re discussing the setting them let me take the lead!” Without warning, Hachi-san clapped their hands together and produced a map resembling the floor plan on the E-handbook we received from Monokuma. “All right, who wants to annotate the map~? Hokama-chan! You do it!”

 “No, don’t ask me. I never learned how to write.” Amaterasu-san held up a hand to decline. “And call me Amaterasu.” She quickly added.

 “I’ll do it.” Shinko-san offered, grabbing the pen from Hachi-san. “Okay…obviously where we are right now is the cafeteria and the kitchen. This line of rooms is the dorms. How about this room?” He tapped on the room directly across from the cafeteria.

 We all ended up huddled around the map as Graves-san quickly stuck her hand up. “Oh! That’s a bathhouse! I tried it out yesterday and the water is super nice! I jumped straight in and didn’t want to leave!”

 “E-eh?! You didn’t even wash yourself beforehand?!” Kurohiko-san said.

 “A…are you supposed to?” Graves-san rubbed the back of her neck. I guess she doesn’t know how it all works in Japan…she’s definitely cleaning it first.

 “A bathhouse.” Shinko nodded and noted it then pointed to a room behind the cafeteria that was down another hallway. “And here?”

 “That’s a storage room. In addition to the food in the kitchen, that room is filled with snack foods, sodas, and other miscellaneous items like extra clothing. It could prove useful if we have to start rationing.” Sly-san explained.

 “Ah, but…our drawers in our dorm rooms are already filled with clothes, and when I went to get breakfast, Monokuma told me he’s gonna restock the food daily. So, I don’t think we’re gonna have to worry about rationing.” Kibe-san added.

 “How thoughtful, despite such a game, he doesn’t want you all to starve to death. How oddly generous.” Ishikawa-san smiled.

 “Just…make sure to eat with us, Ishikawa-san.” Kurohiko-san said. The thanatologist nodded though I wonder if she actually believed she needs to eat?

 “I know personally that this room is a boiler room. It’s got a giant furnace and a trash chute. Monokuma told me that each week, we have to assign someone new to take care of the furnace. He gave me the first week, so I guess we can cross that bridge when we get to it.” Shinko-san marked the boiler room down.

 “Take care of the furnace, what does that mean?” I asked.

 “Things that can’t fit in the chute are supposed to be burned in the furnace. He also mentioned how we could ball some evidence up and throw it in there. Seriously…I’m getting sick of hearing about that.”

 “Meanwhile in the building that the hallway connects us to…” Yokozawa-san pointed to the rooms on the map. “That’s the front entrance there, but it’s totally blocked off by all that machinery. Electronic locks, normal locks, this that and the next thing. Totally unbreakable.”

 “Unbreakable…we’re really trapped then…” Kibe-san seemed to pale.

 “That was already obvious from the start though. Don’t worry too much about it.” Sly-san looked over the room we hadn’t filled in yet. Even for an assassin, should he be so calm? It’s almost unnerving… “That’s an infirmary. It has two beds, some medication, and blood packs that are kept in a mini-fridge.”

 “An infirmary in a killing game? Really, even if it’s a school setting…” Kurosaki-san crossed his arms and sighed.

 “We obviously have the gymnasium. This room over here is like a school store. Monokuma said we can get all sorts of stuff from there. I went there last night to see if I could find something to break us out of here, but no luck.” Kurohiko-san said.

 “And this last room is an AV room. There’re rows upon rows of computers room. A projector, and a big screen. Maybe we could watch a movie in there or something.” Hachi-san suggested. “Though…we don’t have any internet.”

 Shinko-san finished off the map. “Alright…that’s everything. Now what are we supposed to do?”

 “I’m not entirely sure…” Watanabe-san admitted. “For now, maybe we should split up for the day…that seems like the most sensible choice.” We got a better understanding of our surroundings, but that alone…but what am I supposed to do? Maybe I should find a way to spend my time?

 -Chapter 1 Daily life Bonus Event: Pretty Pretty Cakes-

 “Ahh…” Irunami-san whined. “Naga-chaaaaan!! I can’t handle it! I’m bored! So bored! I need something to do with my time or I’ll go totally insane!” He wants me to do something about his boredom…?

 “U-um…what kind of things did you do before to pass the time?”

 “Hmm…I really liked to bake at the homeless shelter. They said my brownies were really good! Ah, maybe I should bake…! But I’d need some good utensils. The stuff they have in the kitchen is no good for the way I do it.” Irunami-san pouted and kicked the floor. Ah, come to think of it…

 “I have a baking set I got from the school store. Would that do?” As I told him, his eyes lit up like Christmas decorations.

 “Naga-chan, you’re the best! Alright, alright! If you bring the utensils and stuff to the kitchen later then I’ll be ready to get my bake on!” Irunami-san stood on his tiptoes and patted my head before skipping away. All I have to do is bring them to the kitchen. Seems easy enough.

 ----

 I arrived in the kitchen later with what Irunami-san asked me to bring. When I arrived I found a small crowd in the kitchen. Watanabe-san, Kurosaki-san, Kibe-san, Graves-san, Asano-san, and naturally Irunami-san were all crowded around the centre table.

 “I…Irunami-san, what’s going on?”

 “I figured that if we were gonna do some baking, I should invite some other people to join in! The more people we have, the better!” His face was beaming with pride at the turnout. I looked around at the eager faces.

 “C’mon, I wanna bake already!” Graves-san whined, waving her arms about. “I haven’t had brownies in forever so if these are as good as Sadao says they are, then I wanna eat then right now!”

 “We have the ingredients already so should we just jump right into it? Before Fraulein Graves has a fit, I mean.”

 “Kurosaki-san, you came along as well?” I questioned.

 “Ah, is it that surprising? How could I turn down an offer from such a cute boy, y’know? It was impossible to pass up this opportunity.” He explained. Geez…he’s just here to flirt, isn’t he?

 “What an annoyance you are. I can’t stand those who try to force a harem.” Watanabe-san almost spat. S-seriously, what kind of personality does she have?! I can’t pinpoint her at all. “No matter. Shall we start?”

 “Okayyyy~!” Irunami-san chirped.

 The baking session went…as expected with people like these.

 “Ahhh!!! Kurosaki-kun stole my sugar!” Kibe-san complained.

 “I did not! Mademoiselle, keep her off of me before she tears me for something I didn’t do!!” Kurosaki-san clung to Watanabe-san’s shoulder as Kibe-san began beating at him with a chocolate-covered whisk. “At least clean it if you’re to hit me!”

 “I’ll hit you in a second if you don’t let go.” Watanabe-san said in a low voice, glaring at the two. Both quietened down instantly and went back to their stations. I looked over at Asano-san who was methodically creating her batch, much further along in the process than anyone else.

 “It is odd. I never knew that this was how people my age spent their time together. I did so much home economics that it didn’t even occur to me it could be used for socialising.” What a sheltered girl. I can’t help but feel sorry for her.

 “Nagata-san, make sure you aren’t using too much flour.” Watanabe-san brought me back to what I was doing, I looked down at my own bowl realising I had been building up quite the pile of flour on the sieve.

 “A-ah!” The problem with flour in a sieve is that no matter how you move, you’re getting flour everywhere. Irunami-san pouted at me from across the counter.

 “Geez, Naga-chan, you’ll never make a good stay-at-home-husband with baking skills like that.” Why am I already having my life predicted by you? “Looks like it’s up to the great Sadao Irunami to show you how it’s really done!”

 Irunami-san abandoned his own work to help me with mine, step-by-step. And eventually…we had several plates full of brownies, Irunami-san put name cards in front of the plates so we’d know which plate belonged to which person.

 “Yahooo! We did it! They all look so good!” Irunami-san bounced around the kitchen, hugging everyone individually. “Ah…I don’t even know which one to try first…”

 “Huh? What’s going on in here?” We all looked over to the kitchen entrance to find Shinko-san standing there with curiosity written on his face. “It’s sickeningly sweet in here. Was there a sugar blast or something?”

 “We all baked brownies! Shin-chan, you should try some and tell us what you think!” Irunami held out a plate to Shinko-san. The director stepped back and frowned, pushing the plate away from his face.

 “I would rather not poison my body with such amateur works.” He looked away.

 “Ah, that’s a shame. Even though we all went through so much effort…” Watanabe-san sighed. Shinko-san peered out of the corner of his eyes, his face instantly flushing to a bright red. He swiped the top brownie from the plate.

 “F-fine, if you’re going to get on my ass about it, then I’ll eat one! Fuck!” He grumbled a few more curses before taking a bite. There was a small silence before Shinko-san’s expression became that of a violent sneer. “Disgusting. Which one of you pigs decided that was okay to give to someone like me?”

 “Ah, Herr Shinko, you’re too mean to me! I’ll cry if you insult my baking skills like that!” Kurosaki-san put a hand up to his face and wiped away a non-existent tear.

 “Get better then, dipshit.” Shinko-san growled before leaving. Gagging slightly as he left.

 “I suppose now is a bad time to mention I’m not a great chef?” Kurosaki-san chuckled a little as Irunami-san subtly threw away his plate of brownies.

 -Chapter 1 Daily Life, Motive-

 After hearing Monokuma’s announcement, the group all gathered inside the gymnasium. I couldn’t ignore how many nervous expressions were painting the room, my own included. Though what really got my attention were those two…

 “Ram-san and Okanaya-san? You’re here too?” I asked. Okanaya-san seemed to growl before he answered me.

 “What the fuck did you expect? That bastard bear told us we all have to be here. With the situation we’re in, it’d be stupid to ignore him.” He crossed his arms and glared at me, clearly angered as if I had taken him for an idiot or something. Ram-san stayed silent, avoiding any eye-contact with the others. She really didn’t want to leave her room, obviously.

 “H-hey…does anyone else have a bad feeling about all this? I really don’t wanna be here right now.” Kurohiko-san fidgeted with the top button of his shirt.

 “Cool it, Doi-chan. If you keep up that attitude, I’m gonna get annoyed.” Amaterasu-san yawned obnoxiously as she spoke. “I wanna go back to my nap, so can we get this over with…?”

 “D…Doi-chan…?” Kurohiko-san repeated as he began mumbling an incoherent monologue to himself. That guy has some issues he needs to work through.

 “Mmmm…I wonder…Ha-chan! Maybe we can work together and totally destroy Monokuma-sensei!” Irunami-san poked Hachi-san’s shoulder. The illusionist seemed to twitch slightly at the contact. “A hypnotist and an illusionist could be unstoppable together, don’t’cha think?!”

 “The problem is that my magic is exactly that: illusions. It’s not like I could ever properly hold off Monokuma…” Hachi-san replied sadly. “Is it possible to hypnotise a robot anyway?”

 “Ah…you’re right. Ahhhh! And I thought I came up with a cool idea too!” Even though we’ve not been here a long time, I can see the small relationships between the group growing. Some people just seemed to gel well together instantly, almost as if they’ve known each other for a long time.

 …am I…alone?

 “Upupupupu! Sorry to keep you all waiting!” We all stopped and turned to the stage where Monokuma launched up onto the podium. “Wow. Look at all of you getting along so well. It fills my heart with joy, knowing my students are such good friends…oooh…I might tear up.” He shook his head and his claws sharpened. “As if! Why aren’t you guys killing each other yet?! This was so much easier with that council!”

 “Council?” Watanabe-san repeated, though quickly ignored.

 “Hmm…I guess it’s hard to get you guys to start killing without any incentive. Well, if that’s what it takes then I’ll just have to give it to you now!” Monokuma produced a number of envelopes and threw them into the air. Each was marked with one of our names, and though hesitant, we all eventually grabbed our respective envelopes. “Now, if you look inside, you’ll find a very special thing! A name or a word or a phrase, maybe even an image! It might not hold significance to you…but it does to someone in the room!”

 “Explain. Clearly.” Watanabe-san demanded.

 “Usually I would just give you something like a video that means something special to you and only you…but that formula is way overdone! What you have is somebody else’s motive! What kind of motive you ask…? It’s unfinished business from the outside world!” Monokuma placed his paws over his mouth, attempting to stop himself from laughing.

 I looked down at the envelope with my name crudely written on the front. I tore it open and read what was on it. In big block letters it simply said “APE”.

 “How does this make us want to kill?” Sly-san said.

 “Well…in 24 hours, I’ll reveal that unfinished business to all of you! And if some of you have already figured out what your unfinished business is…I’m sure you wouldn’t want it getting out.” Monokuma’s red eye flashed menacingly. “Upu…upupupupu!” And with that, he disappeared behind the podium.

 There was an eerie silence looming in the air. What kind of unfinished business would I have in the outside world? What does “APE” mean? Who does it belong to? Who has mine? There’s so many things I want to know about…

 “Oi! Show me your letter!” I snapped back when Okanaya-san began advancing towards Shinko-san. “I saw that fuckin’ look you gave me! You have something that’s mine, don’t you!?” Shinko-san scoffed and pushed Okanaya-san away.

 “Don’t be such a brute. I was simply admiring how the steam flared out from those nostrils of yours. Besides, someone like me would never be able to identify if this motive belonged to you.” Shinko-san shrugged dismissively. That really didn’t seem to please Okanaya-san as he went to grab Shinko-san by the shirt, Shinko-san batted Okanaya-san’s arm away. “Do not even think about touching me!”

 “You egotistical bastard, I’ll fuckin’ kill you if you act like that!” That set off alarm bells quickly in the group. Watanabe-san called on the both of them to cut it out, but it didn’t seem like either of them were listening.

 “H-hey, maybe you should calm down-“

 “Huh…?” Okanaya-san loomed over me when I tried to intervene. “You wanna get involved, asshole?! I’ll fuckin’ kill you too!”

 “Th-that’s going too far, you shouldn’t say stuff like that! You’re not thinking properly at all!” I kept trying different lines to diffuse the situation but before I knew it Okanaya-san’s fist was reeling back.

 Then black.

 -Chapter 1 Daily Life, Infirmary-

 “Ughhhh…” I slowly let the light floor my vision. It took me a few moments to register the fact that the blurriness was caused by my glasses being removed. “Wh…where….?”

 “A-ah!” I heard a squeak and someone trip over something. I could make out the grey blob in front of me enough to guess who it was. The only with that colour scheme…

 “Ram-san…?” I guessed. She grabbed something next to bed and handed me it. I felt they were my glasses and I put them back on. I was right, it was Ram-san. Now that I had clear vision, I knew I was in the infirmary. “…what happened? Ah!” As I spoke, there was a sting by my right temple.

 “O-oh…you were knocked out by Okanaya-kun…Watanabe-san asked me to take you here to treat your injury. You were bleeding and needed a stitch, so I patched you up…” Her voice was demure. Scared, almost.

 “Right, I remember the fight now. What happened? Are Shinko-san and Okanaya-san okay?”

 “Y-yes…o-once you got hit, a few of the o-others jumped in and pushed the two apart. Luckily nobody else got hurt.” ‘luckily’. Did I have to take the blow so we could avoid a murder maybe…? How lucky for everyone else that they didn’t get hit.

 “So, you patched me up?”

 “R-right. E-even if it’s a gross talent, being the Ultimate Taxidermist means I’m great with stitches.” She smiled weakly, but there was a hint of pride in it. She must really love her talent.

 “Ram-san, I’m really sorry about what I said when we met. I didn’t mean to sound like your talent was gross or something. I do really think what you do is impressive.” I should’ve apologised earlier, but Ram-san wasn’t answering her door for anyone.

 She seemed genuinely shocked by what I said, caught in a momentary disbelief. “Ah…th-thank you, Nagata-kun.” She smiles softly. A genuine smile, and even if it’s only for a moment, I’m glad she’s smiling.

 -Chapter 1, Daily Life BDA-

 The next day, I arrived at the cafeteria earlier than usual to find most of the usual suspects there. Sly-san, Asano-san, Kurosaki-san, Ishikawa-san…but what surprised me was- “Ram-san? You came too?”

 “A-ah, yes! I, um…I felt more unsafe being alone, so…I figured it was better to come along here in the morning.” She played with the piece of hair that trailed down the centre of her face as she spoke. I smiled a little, it was good that she seemed to be trusting the group a little more. I wonder if it has something to do with what we had talked about yesterday?

 “Has anyone seen Shinko? Or Watanabe? They’re both usually here by now.” Sly-san’s question seems normal, but with the current situation, I can’t help but feel alarmed.

 “Couldn’t they have simply overslept?” Ishikawa-san suggested.

 “Not a chance. Not with that Monokuma announcement in the morning. It’d wake even the heaviest of sleepers.” Kurosaki-san smirked. The more they talked, the more anxious I got. I think my face gave it away because Ram-san looked at me and frowned.

 “Nagata-kun…do you want to go look for them? We can check their doors.” She suggested. I was probably being paranoid, but...

 “Y-yeah, let’s go.” I stood up probably too quickly, but I don’t care. Ram-san and I leave the room and walk towards the dorm hallway.

 That’s when we hear it though. A loud scream, almost bloodcurdling. Alarm bells are really going off in my head now. “Wh-who was that?!” Ram-san exclaimed. She didn’t wait for an answer as she grabbed my wrist and began pulling me toward the source of the sound. Thinking about how far away it sounds it had to come from…

 “The boiler room…” I mumbled. Ram-san and I glanced at each other nervously before I reached for the door handle. It’s fine, I keep telling myself. Everything is fine…

 I’m just paranoid…right?

 When we walk into the boiler room, on the ground behind the shutters is the body of Maemi Watanabe, the Ultimate Harem Mangaka, face down on the floor, blood seeping through the back of her cardigan. And next to the door is the extremely pale Shinko-san, who must have been that let out the scream.

 It takes a moment to hit us before…

 “Ah…KYAAAAAAAAA!!!” Ram-san let out her own scream. I didn’t even flinch from the volume, I was so dumbfounded by what I was looking at that I just fell to my knees.

 “W-Watanabe-san…? This…c-can’t be right…” I saw her yesterday. She was acting the same as always. So serious but had this playful side that you couldn’t help wanting to be her friend. She wanted to lead us out of the game without any deaths so…wh-why is Watanabe-san like that!?

 ~Ding dong, bing bong~

 My attention was brought to the monitor that flashed on displaying Monokuma. “A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time is given, a class trial shall be held! Please all gather at the scene of the crime, the boiler room!” The monitor switched off.

 “N-no way…a class trial?” Shinko-san spoke. A class trial was that thing Monokuma said would happen whenever a murder took place…which meant…Watanabe-san was murdered? By one of us?

[shoushatohaisha]

report: haikyuu!! summer week day 5 part 1 (shinka no natsu)

previously: day 1 (shoen) day 2 (itadaki no keshiki) day 3 (karasuno, fukkatsu!!) day 4 (shousha to haisha)

guests: kagechan, fucchi, shouri, takumi

(...the haikyuu day event sure did wipe everything else from my brain, wow. but. i'll do my best...!)

so when the cast first ran out, shouri wasn't there – he just hung back without telling anyone because kagechan kept looking back at the wings and cracking up and takumi looked like he wanted to die. this was, of course, so that after kagechan welcomed the audience to haikyuu summer week, shouri could stroll out dramatically and say "HEY, YOUR SENPAI IS HERE. your senpai in this event. and in haikyuu. your senpai." ok shouri.

kagechan was nominally the MC and he did an impressive job fighting the black hole of attention that is kondou-kun for control. XD but... shouri: who's the MC anyway kagechan: it's me?? it's obviously me? fucchi: i mean, we don't know yet. shouri: i was the MC for karasuno fukkatsu so i'll kindly let one of you first-timers do it – takumi, you want to MC right? takumi: ……...yeah………sure…….... shouri: he does. i can see it in his face.

then they did janken and fucchi won so he briefly took over, just long enough to skip to the end of the script – "how did you all enjoy the screening today??" kagechan: this is as far as we rehearsed.

during cheer practice we did shouri's dumb high school cheer again. for him. not kuroo. XD

when we practiced the "volleyball, haikyuu" bit they briefly mentioned how strong the impact of adding "ue wo miageru" was – i think it was shouri maybe? who said that when first reading the script it jumped right out at him and made him like, reflexively want to look at the ceiling. ...and that the returning cast kept messing up in rehearsal, for a while there would always be several people who forgot to say "ue wo miageru" and went straight to "kyuugi de aru", lol.

and shouri ALMOST got us to do his "nyan nyanya nyan nyan nyan" cheer for nekoma, he got all the way through explaining it to everyone else, and telling us that he'd gotten whistled off for it the other day, and asking the ref for permission, and through one round of tobe tobe karasuno / hey hey fukuro / ike ike nekoma nya nya-- ...and got whistled off. XD

meanwhile, takumi kept sliding off toward the edge of the stage and shouri would be like "GET BACK HERE" and pull him into the middle. and then get distracted harassing someone and takumi would slide away again. much like with naoki, he got pulled into doing a lot more choreo than he would have otherwise simply by virtue of being in proximity to shouri, lol. (i heard the girls behind me at hajimari no kyojin that night laughing about "poor higashi-kun", haha.) only whereas naoki played the straight man aloud, takumi just silently, like, grinned and bore it.

having said that, during the screening shouri was obviously Peak Shouri, but hilariously enough he TIRED HIMSELF OUT by running around so much so i actually don't think it was as over the top as karasuno fukkatsu.

specifically, it was the scenes at coach ukai's that killed him, he and takumi came out as the elementary school kids bouncing around and acting super dumb and then shouri started running around doing every one of the tempos and eventually he had to like, wipe his face and lean over and brace himself he was breathing so hard. shouri u noodle.

takumi also made shouri act out bokuto's part so he could be konoha. it was cute, the way they were careful to respect that it was kouki on screen but that takumi took over the role later without making it seem awkward or unnatural. like during the bit where bokuto yells "the moment you think you can hit a strong spike, that's your chance" -- "kyouretsu na ippatsu ga uteru to omotta shunkan ga...kouki!" -- shouri jumped up and yelled "KOUKI!!!!" along with him and jabbed his finger excitedly at the screen. he brought it up in the aftertalk too. "HAHA IT WAS SO FUNNY TO SEE KOUKI YELLING HIS OWN NAME. :D"

ok back to the beginning tho. unsurprisingly, they had a lot of fun with the hamlet scene – kagechan's timing for running out, lifting his hand slowly, and reciting "SOSHITE, YOKUASA" was BEAT perfect, it got a massive laugh from the audience.

for the opening, they all did their own parts of course – fucchi running out to yell "KIYOKO-SAN" was a joy to behold – but shouri also did sarukui, hips and all, which was sure Something.

when takechan came out to explain the "school rules", shouri literally just galloped across the stage and disappeared into the wings opposite, it was like he couldn't bear to be off stage. XD at first fucchi was as bouncy as shouri, doing all the choreo and super star rolling thunder etc, but eventually he calmed down and sat there watching the screening super seriously, sometimes he was the only one out there.

meanwhile, the ladies made their first appearance! let me tell you, you have never seen such a group of fangirls over saeko/kiyoko-san, i thought everyone in the audience was gonna literally swoon at saeko's first appearnce. self included, obvs. (ofc everyone loved yacchan but that was more of a "you're adorable" and less of a "please wreck me" vibe.) it was also extremely satisfying to yell "akaaaAAAAshi" in one's best bokuto voice along with one thousand other people. and during the exam prep, "norio" also got his own round of character cheers. XD

when yachi yells "murabito b mo tatakaemasu!!" shouri ran out with a cardboard sign that read "MURABITO B", held it up proudly to cheers, then spent several minutes trying to get it to stay upright on one of the chairs. ("nice fight!" someone in the audience called.) murabito b remained on stage in support for the rest of the screening.

for "kageyama's not breathing!" kagechan flopped dramatically to the stage…. and then takumi ran out to do cpr! only it was such like, soft, gentle cpr that kagechan sat up and burst into laughter. in the car with saeko-neesan, kagechan pretended to fall asleep, and then acted out waking up, putting in eyedrops, etc. "ohayou," fucchi told him solemnly.

kagechan and fucchi did a great job with the synchro attack and then with all of karasuno's ending match/group number choreo. hilariously, all four of them started to do the final choreo that includes a bit of each school's signature moves and shouri forgot to do nekoma's. XD "it wasn't that long ago, idk why it's so hard to remember!" he said later, and having witnessed him reenact practically the entirety of karasuno fukkatsu i too wondered the same thing.

oh oh! when karasuno are doing the wheelbarrel walks, kagechan "wheeled" fucchi out all the way across the stage – then when they reached the wings, fucchi held himself up with one arm for several seconds while gesturing at kagechan and without taking a break they reversed course and "walked" back across the stage. from which i conclude that kid has amazing arm strength!

AND THEN.

during the last practice match against fukurodani, as kageyama debates whether to try out the new quick with hinata...

...suga kenta ran on stage, said "yannai no?" and ran off.

IT'S NOT LIKE WE DIDN'T ALL KNOW HE WAS THERE but oh my god the screeching, holy shit. again, self very much included. knowing how much kenta loves that line, i should have known that would be too much for him to resist. and yet. dies. it was incredible.

hilariously, the cast, who were pointing and laughing in shock just like everyone else, didn't acknowledge this surprise until the very end of the aftertalk. "ah yes, someone who… resembled… that orange-haired person on stage… appeared earlier, huh. briefly."

speaking of the aftertalk!

takumi talked about how this play was his stage debut: shouri: he cried ALL THE TIME. he cried at our first cast meeting. he cried on opening night... our takumi's grown so much! :') takumi: ……..….thanks. takumi: i was too nervous to enjoy anything until the play opened tbh. shouri: dude you're nervous right now. takumi: ……..yeah.

apparently during rehearsal takumi was repeatedly told to speak up more during fukurodani's group scenes – no one could hear him contribute to "hey hey hey" etc. but once the show actually opened and they could hear the audience reactions to fukurodani and everything he got less nervous and it became a lot more fun.

shouri: yeah, you had sarukui and everything, lol… i heard the audience calling "kawaii!!" when he appeared earlier and honestly if that's what you call cute... audience: KAWAII kagechan: seriously, i need a dictionary for this.

then shouri pointed out that although in the source material the characters don't use first names that much, in the last barbecue scene ken-chan alone would come on super strong and go around addressing all the characters by their first name. "OI, TETSUROU. TETSUROU. HAVE SOME MORE MEAT." so even though they weren't miked he was so loud that during these serious conversations you can hear him in the background going "TETSUROU. TETSUROU."

OH fucchi told us that "super star rolling thunder" was originallly "stardust rolling thunder"… because fucchi's agency is stardust promotions. XD fucchi: and in that scene i'm with ino hiroki-kun and nagao shizune-chan fucchi: and, you know, they sparkle fucchi: like stardust

apparently he got the go-ahead from worry-san, but not from the higher ups, precisely because of stardust promotions. XD shouri: then why don't you do it now? stardust rolling thunder. fucchi: i, wai-- fucchi: fucchi: fucchi: :| shouri: ^___^ fucchi: i knew it.

from which i conclude fucchi had tried to get out of doing it during their MC planning or something. XD

fucchi: you have to be the sparkles shouri: but i'm watanabe fucchi: -_- shouri: get takumi too fucchi: takumi, what's your agency? takumi: beaco-- fucchi: it's fine, it's fine, over there please

final messages: takumi's was very polite and respectful as he thanked the audience, it was cute. shouri said that watching shinka no natsu made him fondly remember all the work the different schools did to grow as a team and learn to communicate with each other during that summer – it was their irl summer of evolution. fucchi pointed out that he and kagechan will reach their hundredth haikyuu show during the saikyou no team! and kagechan said that he was here sitting in audience -- "right around there" – watching for the shoen dress rehearsal so it was really special to be here in aiia as a proper part of engeki haikyuu. :)

hajimari no kyojin next, then some off-camera stories from event night! THE GOAL LINE IS IN SIGHT. thanks so much for the nice comments, i really appreciate them, and i've been enjoying reading your capslocky tags. :D

[saitou-shuka]

[English Translation] B.L.T. VOICE GIRLS Vol. 29: Saito Shuka Interview

SHUKA SAITO

She became more gentle to make her dreams come true

As someone with a flashy seiyuu debut in Love Live! Sunshine!! under her belt, just what kind of future awaits Saito Shuka? It was still chilly as she wandered around at the shrine and along the floodplain in the afternoon. Dressed in her best clothes, she poured her heart out to us with a giant smile.

photo = Fujimoto Kazunori text = Ōkubo Kazunori styling = SHIBA hair&makeup = Onodera Risa

SHUKA SAITO INTERVIEW

“I don’t really understand what kind of person I am. The people around me have been helping me get to know myself better.”

Saito Shuka Born on August 16th in Saitama Prefecture. Leo. Blood type A. She debuted as Watanabe You in Love Live! Sunshine!!. As part of the same franchise, she began participating in activities as a cast member of Aqours. The solo live of the aforementioned group, “Aqours First Love Live! ~Step! ZERO to ONE~”, will be held at Yokohama Arena on February 25th and 26th. Their new single HAPPY PARTY TRAIN releases April 5th.

Official Blog: http://ameblo.jp/shuka-saito/ Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/Saito_Shuka

After being chosen to voice Watanabe You in “Love Live! Sunshine!!” and debuting as a seiyuu, it seemed as if she was catapulted into stardom overnight. As an active member of the school idol group Aqours, she is awaiting the release of their 3rd single, “HAPPY PARTY TRAIN”, on April 5th, and will likely achieve even more beyond that this year. That very same Saito Shuka told us about the various feelings she has now.

Since your coming-of-age ceremony happened, the feature turned into a fancy kimono photoshoot.

I knew I was going to be like this, but I was pretty tense wearing a kimono. On top of that, during the photoshoot they were telling me that I wasn’t going to just gracefully sit there smiling, and that it was okay for me to move around quickly. This blew away my preconception that I needed to be very conscious of the kimono I was wearing. I thought it was fun that I was able to break that impression I had!

From how you appear in the photoshoot, you seem to be cheerful, but also someone who is very serious, Saito-san.

I don’t think I’m a serious person at all, but there are a lot of people who have told me otherwise. I personally think I’m not very reliable (bitter laugh).

But you often practice singing and dancing even when you have the day off, don’t you?

When there’s something I have to do, I can’t help but think about it. Because of that, I pretty much deal with work even if I have the day off. It’s because I love my work more than anything. But, if I actually have nothing to do, then sometimes I just sleep all day, and sometimes all I’ll do is talk to my friends. Besides, I had no idea someone like me would be considered serious. I often think about how it would be better if I was more stoic in regards to my work.

Just before, you said that you often hear from other people. What else do they tell you a lot, other than that you’re “serious”?

They told me that deep down, I have a stiff personality (bitter laugh). When you’re stiff, even if your performance is graceful, the people watching you won’t be able to truly enjoy it because they can see the stiffness. Since they told me, I looked at women who have a more gentle feel to them, and I researched their expressions and stuff. In particular, there seem to be a lot of announcers who appear very gentle, so I keep in mind what they’re like and use them as reference.

Anything else they’ve told you?

They’ve told me that I have a lot of mental switches I flip to change my mood. That surprised me. I’ve never noticed that about myself. I didn’t even notice that I was changing my mood in the first place. But, now that they’ve told me, I guess it is kind of like that. I don’t really understand what kind of person I am, so I’ve been learning about myself from others a lot. Everyone exposes all these traits I didn’t even know I had (laugh). Some time ago, my friends from middle school made an instruction manual on me, and it was spot on! They knew just about everything about me (laugh).

Could you specifically tell us what kinds of things are written in this so-called instruction manual?

Someone wrote “When she’s embarrassed, she’ll hit her friends”. I wasn’t aware I did this either, but I guess I do, huh (bitter laugh). Someone also wrote “when she’s super excited, she’ll fumble her words”, which is also accurate. Even though I don’t have much of a vocabulary in the first place, every time I become more aware of how much I want to convey my feelings, what I’m saying can’t catch up to how I’m feeling and I slip up (laugh). Other things people wrote include “When she’s super excited, she’ll jump around”, “She shows her love through insults”, “If you’re nice to her when she’s trying to play tough, she’ll cry”. All of this is completely true, so I think that it’s pretty likely that I haven’t changed much since then.

Compared to those days, you haven’t changed and become more mature?

I haven’t changed. I met up with some middle school classmates I hadn’t seen in two years, but they told me that I really hadn’t changed at all. It made me strangely happy, though. I mean, when you were a kid, you'd have fun no matter what you were doing, right? It would be nice if I could become an adult without forgetting that kind of mindset. Of course, although I’ve grown in the sense that my singing and dancing skills have improved, I thought that I’d become an adult without changing the essence of who I am. Wait, while we were talking, I thought of something that did change! I remembered just now!

So something has changed, right?

I cry more easily now. In the first place, I’m so weak I cry watching shows about animals and kids’ shows, but it’s even worse now. Now it’s like, even when I’m just practicing dance at my house on a day off, I’ll start to tear up. After debuting as a voice actress, opportunities to go meet the fans who have been supporting us at events and stuff have increased. When I think about that during dance practice, I end up crying. Even though I was a nobody when I first debuted, now there are so many people who know who I am and who have helped me figure out what kind of person I am. When I think about that, I could just cry…...

What attitude do you have towards all the activities you’ll have to do from now on?

There are a lot of voice roles for energetic girls available right now, but I’d like to try voicing a young guy, or maybe a girl who’s kind of timid, since I want to become able to voice someone whose personality is completely different from mine. One day, I’d also like to try taking on the challenge of voicing a sexy older woman. Since there’s a lot I still haven’t tried doing and a lot of things I still don’t know about, I’ll just keep exploring my options. I want to see the various expressions everyone will make along the way. I’ll do my best as part of Aqours so that people come to love Love Live! Sunshine!! more and more, because I want to make a lot of dreams come true together with everyone who is cheering us on. For the next three years, five years, and for the future, I’ll put forth nothing but hard work!

TL: shukamod QC: Yujacha (@yujachachacha)

[masakingvn]

Morning Jogakuin #275 (Fukumura Mizuki, Ishida Ayumi, Sato Masaki)

Maachan: Yes!

Ayumin: What's wrong?

Maachan: Yes! The H!P concerts have begun!

Ayumin: Right, they've begun!

Fukunura: Yay, finally!

Maachan: The rehearsals were so short this time Masaki didn't know what to do.

Ayumin: Yeah, they were very short.

Fukunura: We did our best to learn the choreography.

Ayumin: There were so many songs to learn the choreography of.

Maachan: It may be weird to say it myself, but Masa really did her best this time.

Fukunura: Hehehe

Ayumin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do our best so that the audience can approve of it too.

Maachan: No, I approve of it myself.

Fukunura: lol

Ayumin: Yourself?

Maachan: Masa approves.

Ayumin: Well, I guess it's important to praise yourself too.

Maachan: I'm not praising myself.

Ayumin: Eh?

Maachan: I said I'm approving of my hard work.

Ayumin: Oh?

Maachan: You should work on your Japanese more, Ayumin.

Ayumin: Yes, I'm very sorry. Wait a second here.

Maachan: Good, let's start today's Morning Musume Morning Jogakuin After School meeting!

Ayumin: Satou-san, please work on your Japanese more too.

Ayumin: The first message is from a fan about how she came to like Morning Musume. It's from someone called "Maachan is my daily solace".

Fukunura: lol Thank you very much.

Ayumin & Maachan: Thank you very much.

Ayumin: "Fuku-chan, Ayumin, Maachan, good evening."

Fukunura & Maachan: Good evening!

Ayumin: "Let me tell you how I came to like Morning Musume. I'm attending a vocational school right now."

Fukunura: Ohhh.

Ayumin: "At the admissions interview, I was told by the interviewer that I look like Matsuoka Mayu when I smile."

Fukunura: Huh. She's cute.

Ayumin: "Shortly after that, I saw in the news that Matsuoka Mayu would temporarily join Morning Musume for a drama series or something."

Fukunura: Oh.

Ayumin: "The song One-Two-Three she performed at that time was so cool that I've been a Morning Musume wota ever since then."

Fukunura: Ohhh.

Maachan: Wow. Amazing.

Ayumin: "And ever since I saw the Utakata Saturday Night music video for the first time and fell in love with MaaDuu at first sight, I've been a MaaDuu fan. I'm very sad that I won't get to see MaaDuu anymore after Kudou-san's graduation, but as someone who loves MaaDuu from the bottom of my heart, I want to root for MaaDuu until the end. I can't wait for the fall tour! Please take care of yourselves and do your best at work!"

Fukunura: What a nice fan.

Maachan: Wow. Matsuoka-san.

Ayumin: In one of her drama series, Matsuoka-san said she'd like to become the gasoline for Morning Musume, the fuel for Morning Musume, and here's the proof that she actually got us a new fan. I'm so happy I got to hear about this. Thank you very much for the message.

Fukunura & Maachan: Thank you very much.

Fukunura: I'll read the next message. This one is from YukiMegu-san.

Ayumin & Maachan: Thank you very much.

Fukunura: "Everyone at MoJo, good evening!"

Ayumin & Maachan: Good evening!

Fukunura: "I came to like Morning Musume thanks to Sashihara Rino-san".

Ayumin: Oh my!

Maachan: Sashihara... Sasshi-san?

Fukunura: "I'm originally a fan of AKB48 and check Sashiko-chan's twitter regularly."

Ayumin: Okay.

Fukunura: "And one day, Sashiko-chan posted a picture of Morning Musume singing 'Utakata Saturday Night' with the text 'Just bought this. It's such a good song, I want more people to listen to it.'."

Ayumin: Thank you very much!

Fukunura: "When I saw that, I figured I could give it a listen since Sashiko-chan is recommending it so strongly and watched the music video on Youtube."

Ayumin: Yes, yes.

Fukunura: "That's how I became a fan of Satou Masaki-chan, who happens to be Sashiko-chan's Oshi too, and before I knew it, I had come to love Morning Musume."

Ayumin: Wow! Wow!

Fukunura: "Fast forward to now. I'm a member of the H!P fan club who's attended Masaki-chan's birthday event and the Morning Musume '17 spring tour. Like I said at the beginning, I'm a fan of AKB48, but the H!P fan club is the first fan club I've ever joined."

Ayumin: Oh my!

Fukunura: "That's how much addicted to Morning Musume now. I'm really grateful to Sashiko-chan for introducing me to a wonderful idol group like H!P."

Ayumin: Yeah, yeah.

Fukunura: "Please take care of yourselves and do your best! I'll be rooting for you.".

Maachan: Thank you very much.

Ayumin: Wow, thank you very much.

Fukunura: She's only 15 years old.

Ayumin: Oh my! So young!

Maachan: Younger than Masa...

Fukunura: lol I'm so happy.

Ayumin: I am too.

Fukunura: That people became fans of us thanks to people who talk about being fans of us.

Ayumin: Yeah.

Fukunura: This YukiMegu-san, for example, was a fan of Sashihara-san first, but then became a fan of us too.

Ayumin: Yeah!

Maachan: Wow.

Fukunura: But yeah, Sashihara-san has been saying that she likes Morning Musume and we even got to sing with her as Sashining Musume.

Ayumin: Yes! Yes! Get you!

Fukunura: It was our first time collaborating with her, so I was really nervous.

Ayumin: We collaborated in TV shows too.

Fukunura: Yeah, we were in TV shows together, but it was our first official collaboration, so I was really nervous. And it was super fun because I think collaborations like that are pretty rare among idol groups.

Ayumin: We should treasure them.

Maachan: Sasshi-san and others always come to our concerts, right?

Ayumin: Yeah.

Maachan: And the other day, there was the AKB48 election, right?

Ayumin: Yeah.

Maachan: Masa was really happy about it.

Fukunura: That Sashihara-san got first place?

Maachan: When I saw Sasshi-san ranking first, I was like "YEEAAAHHHH".

Fukunura: lol

Ayumin: That's a funny way to express your joy about something. lol

Maachan: I was really happy about it.

Ayumin: It was exciting to watch.

Maachan: It was. It was also thanks to Sasshi-san that we got to sing "Get you" together. Seeing Sasshi-san come up on top like that, I thought to myself again how cool she is.

Ayumin: Ohh.

Maachan: After all, she's older than us. I mean it in a good way though.

Fukunura: In a good way? lol

Maachan: I mean, she's more mature than us. So I look up to her and think she's really cool.

Fukunura: I was so surprised when such famous idols like Sashihara-san or Watanabe Mayu-san came to the first day of our concert tour.

Ayumin: That's right.

Fukunura: Kashiwagi Yuki-san too said she likes Morning Musume. I'm always so happy to hear that they came to like Morning Musume in the past and still like the current Morning Musume today. That means, we have the responsibility to keep Morning Musume's history alive, so let's try to protect what makes Morning Musume Morning Musume while exploring new territory.

Maachan: Hehehe.

Ayumin: Yes. Now here comes a message about the "Fun facts about Morning Musume members only fans know" category which I love.

Fukunura: It's the first time I hear about that category.

Maachan: *cough*

Ayumin: Let me read it.

Fukunura: Okay.

Ayumin: It's from someone called "Endless Sayumist Medium-spicy Penguin".

Fukunura: lol

Everyone: Thank you very much.

Ayumin: "Here are some fun facts I noticed about Masaki-chan from watching concerts and DVD magazines."

Fukunura: Oh.

Ayumin: "01. As soon as the leader finishes her pep talk before a concert, she runs off somewhere in a hurry."

Fukunura: lol

Ayumin: "02. When she gets too excited during a concert, she sexually harasses other members."

Maachan: lol

Fukunura: True.

Ayumin: "03. She still loves to draw Deli-kun everywhere."

Fukunura: Ahh...

Ayumin: Now comes a bonus fun fact about me. "When Ayumi-chan has to get up early, she slurs her words all morning."

Fukunura: lol

Maachan: WAHAHAHA

Ayumin: There's one about you too, Fukumura-san. "When Mizuki-chan hugs the other members, it's always a bear hug.".

Fukunura: lol Wow, that person is so observant.

Ayumin: It's so funny too! After the leader has held her speech and we've done the "Ganbatte Ikimasshoi!" together, most members go to the space behind the stage because the concert is about to start.

Fukunura: Yeah.

Ayumin: Because it's usually a few minutes before the concert starts. Only Maachan rushes back to the dressing room for some reason.

Maachan: lol *cough*

Fukunura: Yeah, she starts running the second we finish saying "Ganbatte Ikimasshoi!". lol

Ayumin: lol

Fukunura: I always think "How come she's in such a hurry?".

Ayumin: It's like she was still in the middle of preparing herself.

Fukunura: She starts running at the "shoi" of "Ganbatte Ikimasshoi!". Like it was "Ready, steady, go!".

Maachan: But I really mean it when I say "Ganbatte Ikimasshoi!".

Ayumin: Of course, of course.

Fukunura: Really?

Maachan: Of course! Okay, next time, I'll only look Fukunura-san in the eye while making a face like "Let's go!".

Ayumin: More like "Let's go back to the dressing room!".

Fukunura: lol

Maachan: You see, at the first day of a concert, it's not about make-up or preparing myself, but don't you tear up when a concert tour is about to start? Like when everyone's like "Ganbatte Ikuta!" "Ganbarou!". And it seems like I'm really weak against it. Sometimes, Ayumin and Duu start crying at that moment, right?

Ayumin: Yeah.

Maachan: And when I see you guys cry, I start crying even harder.

Ayumin: It's infectious.

Maachan: Yeah. It makes me cry twice as hard and all my make-up and everything would be ruined.

Ayumin: Yeah.

Maachan: That's why I go back to the dressing room and say "Alright, I'm going to ASDFGHJKL!!!" to myself by myself.

Ayumin: So that's why you go back.

Fukunura: She's making up her own words again.

Maachan: But isn't it funny how Ayumin slurs her *cough* words in the *cough* morning?

Ayumin: Maachan, you're the one who's slurring your words right now though.

Maachan: What does "slurring" mean again?

Ayumin: It means you can't speak clearly.

Maachan: Ah, you're really bad at speaking clearly, Ayumin.

Ayumin: Really?

Fukunura: Everyone in Morning Musume is bad at it.

Ayumin: In the morning, yeah. It's okay at this time of the day.

Maachan: Masa is pretty good at it.

Ayumin: What?

Fukunura: You're not!

Maachan: Eh? I am!

Fukunura: In your case, it's more like you're not even trying!

Maachan & Ayumin: HAHAHAHA

Fukunura: Because you could if you tried!

Ayumin: True.

Maachan: How mean... lol

Fukunura: Like before, you could speak clearly if you wanted. You're good at tongue twisters too.

Ayumin: Plus, you slur a word and just roll with it. You don't even try to say it again.

Fukunura: lol She does.

Ayumin: I'm like "No one will understand you that way." every time.

Fukunura: See? You're not even trying.

Maachan: No, speaking is just too diffcult!

Ayumin: You mean Japanese?

Maachan: It's way too difficult! Just think about it for a second! Ever since I joined Morning Musume in 6th year of elementary school, I've finally gotten to this point where I can speak like this after getting taught how to speak by the members in my generation like Ayumin and Duu and I still suck at it!

Ayumin: Normally, people can already speak when they're in sixth year of elementary school.

Maachan: I'm finally starting to get the hang of how to use Japanese. Like when you say "Arigatou", where to put the "o" sound. Or the dashes and circles in Hiragana characters. I'm finally starting to understand all the lyrics in our songs.

Fukunura: No way.

Maachan: I'm serious! I'm not lying!

Ayumin: How old are you now, Maachan?

Maachan: Huh? I'm in third year of high school.

Ayumin: Whoa...

Fukunura: 18.

Maachan: But it's okay. Even people like me can still live their lives.

Ayumin: Yeah, you can. Let's keep living.

Maachan: And everyone tells me how much I've improved.

Fukunura: It's thanks to all the adults around you who raised you.

Maachan: And I got chewed out a lot.

Ayumin: That's right! It's thanks to the other 10th gen members who taught you everything.

Maachan: Don't expect me to feel grateful now.

Fukunura: You won't? lol

Maachan: *cough* lol But! But I must admit that the other three 10th gen members are really good at teaching kids like me.

Fukunura: lol I guess that means the three of them will make wonderful mothers in the future.

Maachan: Definitely. I think so too.

Ayumin: HAHAHA Maybe so.

Fukunura: lol What a weird way to sum this up.

Maachan: I think they'll make great mothers. In any case, let's end this meaningless chatter and play the second song.

Fukunura: lol

Translated by Ronin@H!O (x)

[traveladventurespart6]

So, just to let y’all know ahead of time, I didn’t take too many pics or videos for this.  There just wasn’t time.  But I think I captured all the best moments!

Pic 1: on the way to the izakaya, we passed by these lanterns.  At first glance, they just look like regular lanterns.  But then I noticed that they were advertising Jim Bean, mispelled as “Jim Beam.”  Lol.  So, of course, I had to take a picture.

Pic 2: when we got there, most of the gang was already there.  Makkorin, Sensei, and Nozaki-san couldn’t come, though.  :(  From left to right: Arapi, Nabe-chan (formally referred to as Watanabe-chan), Ryuman-san, Yoshi-kun).

Pics 3-4: We ate dinner this time before drinking!  I started the night off with beer and then graduated to sake by the time we left for the karaoke bar.  Yeah, I ended up getting pretty buzzed/borderline drunk.  I did make sure to drink plenty of water, though!

Pic 5: group photo (minus Mine-chan, who took the pic)!  As much as I hate to admite it, I totally don’t remember the names of the two people sitting across from Ken-chan and me.  I feel especially bad because the lady was super nice and we talked a lot.

I also pulled out my business cards and made the whole gang exchange cards with me!  (Hey, a girl’s gotta practice the Japanese way of exchanging business cards, after all!)  Through this, I found out that Yoshi-kun and Mine-chan are MARRIED!  All this time, I thought they were dating and kept wondering when they were gonna get around to sealing the deal.  When I looked at their business cards, noticed the same last name, and that switch in my brain clicked, everyone thought my surprised reaction was hilarious.

Yoshi-kun and I also spent quite a bit of time showing each other pics of our significant others (Mine-chan for him, my boyfriend for me).  We agreed that both of us qualify for the “baka love” label.  Haha.

Oh yeah, just like with Tony, everyone surprised me with a gift of ¥10,000 (about $100)! I’d forgotten about when they gave it to Tony, plus this is my third going away party.  Of course, I teared up and gave a very entertaining (to everyone) “speech” thanking everyone, telling them I love them all, etc.

Oh! And Mine-chan teaches kimono stuff (i.e. how to put the many different layers on correctly, how to tie the obi, etc.) in her free time! That’s so cool! I told her she has teach me next time I come back. I can tie a yukata obi, but the kimono obi is way out of my skill level.

[sa-yummy]

Translate by Ronin at H!O

“ Maachan: Yes! Ayumin: What's wrong? Maachan: Yes! The H!P concerts have begun! Ayumin: Right, they've begun! Fukunura: Yay, finally! Maachan: The rehearsals were so short this time Masaki didn't know what to do. Ayumin: Yeah, they were very short. Fukunura: We did our best to learn the choreography. Ayumin: There were so many songs to learn the choreography of. Maachan: It may be weird to say it myself, but Masa really did her best this time. Fukunura: Hehehe Ayumin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do our best so that the audience can approve of it too. Maachan: No, I approve of it myself. Fukunura: lol Ayumin: Yourself? Maachan: Masa approves. Ayumin: Well, I guess it's important to praise yourself too. Maachan: I'm not praising myself. Ayumin: Eh? Maachan: I said I'm approving of my hard work. Ayumin: Oh? Maachan: You should work on your Japanese more, Ayumin. Ayumin: Yes, I'm very sorry. Wait a second here. Maachan: Good, let's start today's Morning Musume Morning Jogakuin After School meeting! Ayumin: Satou-san, please work on your Japanese more too.

Ayumin: The first message is from a fan about how she came to like Morning Musume. It's from someone called "Maachan is my daily solace". Fukunura: lol Thank you very much. Ayumin & Maachan: Thank you very much. Ayumin: "Fuku-chan, Ayumin, Maachan, good evening." Fukunura & Maachan: Good evening! Ayumin: "Let me tell you how I came to like Morning Musume. I'm attending a vocational school right now." Fukunura: Ohhh. Ayumin: "At the admissions interview, I was told by the interviewer that I look like Matsuoka Mayu when I smile." Fukunura: Huh. She's cute. Ayumin: "Shortly after that, I saw in the news that Matsuoka Mayu would temporarily join Morning Musume for a drama series or something." Fukunura: Oh. Ayumin: "The song One-Two-Three she performed at that time was so cool that I've been a Morning Musume wota ever since then." Fukunura: Ohhh. Maachan: Wow. Amazing. Ayumin: "And ever since I saw the Utakata Saturday Night music video for the first time and fell in love with MaaDuu at first sight, I've been a MaaDuu fan. I'm very sad that I won't get to see MaaDuu anymore after Kudou-san's graduation, but as someone who loves MaaDuu from the bottom of my heart, I want to root for MaaDuu until the end. I can't wait for the fall tour! Please take care of yourselves and do your best at work!" Fukunura: What a nice fan. Maachan: Wow. Matsuoka-san. Ayumin: In one of her drama series, Matsuoka-san said she'd like to become the  gasoline for Morning Musume, the fuel for Morning Musume, and here's the proof that she actually got us a new fan. I'm so happy I got to hear about this. Thank you very much for the message. Fukunura & Maachan: Thank you very much. Fukunura: I'll read the next message. This one is from YukiMegu-san. Ayumin & Maachan: Thank you very much. Fukunura: "Everyone at MoJo, good evening!" Ayumin & Maachan: Good evening! Fukunura: "I came to like Morning Musume thanks to Sashihara Rino-san". Ayumin: Oh my! Maachan: Sashihara... Sasshi-san? Fukunura: "I'm originally a fan of AKB48 and check Sashiko-chan's twitter regularly." Ayumin: Okay. Fukunura: "And one day, Sashiko-chan posted a picture of Morning Musume singing 'Utakata Saturday Night' with the text 'Just bought this. It's such a good song, I want more people to listen to it.'." Ayumin: Thank you very much! Fukunura: "When I saw that, I figured I could give it a listen since Sashiko-chan is recommending it so strongly and watched the music video on Youtube." Ayumin: Yes, yes. Fukunura: "That's how I became a fan of Satou Masaki-chan, who happens to be Sashiko-chan's Oshi too, and before I knew it, I had come to love Morning Musume." Ayumin: Wow! Wow! Fukunura: "Fast forward to now. I'm a member of the H!P fan club who's attended Masaki-chan's birthday event and the Morning Musume '17 spring tour. Like I said at the beginning, I'm a fan of AKB48, but the H!P fan club is the first fan club I've ever joined." Ayumin: Oh my! Fukunura: "That's how much addicted to Morning Musume now. I'm really grateful to Sashiko-chan for introducing me to a wonderful idol group like H!P." Ayumin: Yeah, yeah. Fukunura: "Please take care of yourselves and do your best! I'll be rooting for you.". Maachan: Thank you very much. Ayumin: Wow, thank you very much. Fukunura: She's only 15 years old. Ayumin: Oh my! So young! Maachan: Younger than Masa... Fukunura: lol I'm so happy. Ayumin: I am too. Fukunura: That people became fans of us thanks to people who talk about being fans of us. Ayumin: Yeah. Fukunura: This YukiMegu-san, for example, was a fan of Sashihara-san first, but then became a fan of us too. Ayumin: Yeah! Maachan: Wow. Fukunura: But yeah, Sashihara-san has been saying that she likes Morning Musume and we even got to sing with her as Sashining Musume. Ayumin: Yes! Yes! Get you! Fukunura: It was our first time collaborating with her, so I was really nervous. Ayumin: We collaborated in TV shows too. Fukunura: Yeah, we were in TV shows together, but it was our first official collaboration, so I was really nervous. And it was super fun because I think collaborations like that are pretty rare among idol groups. Ayumin: We should treasure them. Maachan: Sasshi-san and others always come to our concerts, right? Ayumin: Yeah. Maachan: And the other day, there was the AKB48 election, right? Ayumin: Yeah. Maachan: Masa was really happy about it. Fukunura: That Sashihara-san got first place? Maachan: When I saw Sasshi-san ranking first, I was like "YEEAAAHHHH". Fukunura: lol Ayumin: That's a funny way to express your joy about something. lol Maachan: I was really happy about it. Ayumin: It was exciting to watch. Maachan: It was. It was also thanks to Sasshi-san that we got to sing "Get you" together. Seeing Sasshi-san come up on top like that, I thought to myself again how cool she is. Ayumin: Ohh. Maachan: After all, she's older than us. I mean it in a good way though. Fukunura: In a good way? lol Maachan: I mean, she's more mature than us. So I look up to her and think she's really cool. Fukunura: I was so surprised when such famous idols like Sashihara-san or Watanabe Mayu-san came to the first day of our concert tour. Ayumin: That's right. Fukunura: Kashiwagi Yuki-san too said she likes Morning Musume. I'm always so happy to hear that they came to like Morning Musume in the past and still like the current Morning Musume today. That means, we have the responsibility to keep Morning Musume's history alive, so let's try to protect what makes Morning Musume Morning Musume while exploring new territory. Maachan: Hehehe. Ayumin: Yes. Now here comes a message about the "Fun facts about Morning Musume members only fans know" category which I love. Fukunura: It's the first time I hear about that category. Maachan: *cough* Ayumin: Let me read it. Fukunura: Okay. Ayumin: It's from someone called "Endless Sayumist Medium-spicy Penguin". Fukunura: lol Everyone: Thank you very much. Ayumin: "Here are some fun facts I noticed about Masaki-chan from watching concerts and DVD magazines." Fukunura: Oh. Ayumin: "01. As soon as the leader finishes her pep talk before a concert, she runs off somewhere in a hurry." Fukunura: lol Ayumin: "02. When she gets too excited during a concert, she sexually harasses other members." Maachan: lol Fukunura: True. Ayumin: "03. She still loves to draw Deli-kun everywhere." Fukunura: Ahh... Ayumin: Now comes a bonus fun fact about me. "When Ayumi-chan has to get up early, she slurs her words all morning." Fukunura: lol Maachan: WAHAHAHA Ayumin: There's one about you too, Fukumura-san. "When Mizuki-chan hugs the other members, it's always a bear hug.". Fukunura: lol Wow, that person is so observant. Ayumin: It's so funny too! After the leader has held her speech and we've done the "Ganbatte Ikimasshoi!" together, most members go to the space behind the stage because the concert is about to start. Fukunura: Yeah. Ayumin: Because it's usually a few minutes before the concert starts. Only Maachan rushes back to the dressing room for some reason. Maachan: lol *cough* Fukunura: Yeah, she starts running the second we finish saying "Ganbatte Ikimasshoi!". lol Ayumin: lol Fukunura: I always think "How come she's in such a hurry?". Ayumin: It's like she was still in the middle of preparing herself. Fukunura: She starts running at the "shoi" of "Ganbatte Ikimasshoi!". Like it was "Ready, steady, go!". Maachan: But I really mean it when I say "Ganbatte Ikimasshoi!". Ayumin: Of course, of course. Fukunura: Really? Maachan: Of course! Okay, next time, I'll only look Fukunura-san in the eye while making a face like "Let's go!". Ayumin: More like "Let's go back to the dressing room!". Fukunura: lol Maachan: You see, at the first day of a concert, it's not about make-up or preparing myself, but don't you tear up when a concert tour is about to start? Like when everyone's like "Ganbatte Ikuta!" "Ganbarou!". And it seems like I'm really weak against it. Sometimes, Ayumin and Duu start crying at that moment, right? Ayumin: Yeah. Maachan: And when I see you guys cry, I start crying even harder. Ayumin: It's infectious. Maachan: Yeah. It makes me cry twice as hard and all my make-up and everything would be ruined. Ayumin: Yeah. Maachan: That's why I go back to the dressing room and say "Alright, I'm going to ASDFGHJKL!!!" to myself by myself. Ayumin: So that's why you go back. Fukunura: She's making up her own words again. Maachan: But isn't it funny how Ayumin slurs her *cough* words in the *cough* morning? Ayumin: Maachan, you're the one who's slurring your words right now though. Maachan: What does "slurring" mean again? Ayumin: It means you can't speak clearly. Maachan: Ah, you're really bad at speaking clearly, Ayumin. Ayumin: Really? Fukunura: Everyone in Morning Musume is bad at it. Ayumin: In the morning, yeah. It's okay at this time of the day. Maachan: Masa is pretty good at it. Ayumin: What? Fukunura: You're not! Maachan: Eh? I am! Fukunura: In your case, it's more like you're not even trying! Maachan & Ayumin: HAHAHAHA Fukunura: Because you could if you tried! Ayumin: True. Maachan: How mean... lol Fukunura: Like before, you could speak clearly if you wanted. You're good at tongue twisters too. Ayumin: Plus, you slur a word and just roll with it. You don't even try to say it again. Fukunura: lol She does. Ayumin: I'm like "No one will understand you that way." every time. Fukunura: See? You're not even trying. Maachan: No, speaking is just too diffcult! Ayumin: You mean Japanese? Maachan: It's way too difficult! Just think about it for a second! Ever since I joined Morning Musume in 6th year of elementary school, I've finally gotten to this point where I can speak like this after getting taught how to speak by the members in my generation like Ayumin and Duu and I still suck at it! Ayumin: Normally, people can already speak when they're in sixth year of elementary school. Maachan: I'm finally starting to get the hang of how to use Japanese. Like when you say "Arigatou", where to put the "o" sound. Or the dashes and circles in Hiragana characters. I'm finally starting to understand all the lyrics in our songs. Fukunura: No way. Maachan: I'm serious! I'm not lying! Ayumin: How old are you now, Maachan? Maachan: Huh? I'm in third year of high school. Ayumin: Whoa... Fukunura: 18. Maachan: But it's okay. Even people like me can still live their lives. Ayumin: Yeah, you can. Let's keep living. Maachan: And everyone tells me how much I've improved. Fukunura: It's thanks to all the adults around you who raised you. Maachan: And I got chewed out a lot. Ayumin: That's right! It's thanks to the other 10th gen members who taught you everything. Maachan: Don't expect me to feel grateful now. Fukunura: You won't? lol Maachan: *cough* lol But! But I must admit that the other three 10th gen members are really good at teaching kids like me. Fukunura: lol I guess that means the three of them will make wonderful mothers in the future. Maachan: Definitely. I think so too. Ayumin: HAHAHA Maybe so. Fukunura: lol What a weird way to sum this up. Maachan: I think they'll make great mothers. In any case, let's end this meaningless chatter and play the second song. Fukunura: lol “

[sambart93]

2017.02.20 TOEI HERO NEXT さらば俺たち賞金稼ぎ団 [Review]

Monday night I spent my evening watching the hilarious Toei Hero Next. It’s like the third of it’s installment, at least for the gekidan heroes series:

Original Movie here First Stage here

Official Website here Official Twitter here Official FaceBook here Press 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 DVD PreOrder here

CAST and CHARACTERS

Suzuki Shougo as Suito Saito Shunsuke as Kuroda Ken Baba Ryoma as Mizuno Satoshi Moritaka Ai as  Momose Niina Nakajima Kaito as  Kirijima Reito Kinjyou Yamato as Aoki Junzou Maruyama Atsushi as Kinbara Toshiro Soutarou as Hara Matsumoto Hiroya as Mysterious Guy Kubodera Akira as Kiseki Yuji Hiramaki Jin as Ruri Hayashi Tsuyoshi as Ran Tomita Sho as Sou Miyuki  Fujisawa Reika Iwasaki Nami Hata Mizuho 

AfterTalk Guests: Watanabe Tsurugi and Ise Daiki.

STORY

Kinbara is in a writing slump which means Gekidan Bazooka are without scripts and things to perform until then, so they decide to try out being hosts at Club Jewel, but soon they get caught up in an attempted murder, but with no script to guide them, they have to improv. their way to figure out what really happened.

NON SPOILER

This was so fun. I laughter so hard for 2 hours straight. The scripted comedy, the improvised parts, the accidental mistakes and the aftertalk was ALL hilarious. I very much enjoyed myself and it was very refreshing to watch - I expected to be super tired after doing 3 stages and 2 events the week prior - but this was so easy to watch and so easy to be entertained and is a lot of fun! Baba Ryoma is just the king of being over-energetic and funny in an ugly way, Sho-san definitely controlled the AfterTalk and everyone was definitely onboard with whatever crazy requests and daily challenges (higawari) and improvs that came their way. I really hope they do a next install me. And it’s so freaking cool seeing the entire cast and going ‘holy moly they ALL did sentai!’ it’s badass having that realisation in the middle of the play.

Rating: 8/10

SPOILER

The first few parts won’t be spoilerly, so you can read up to the ‘read more’ line without worrying ^_^

When I first walked in, I realised I had an aisle seat... and THEN I realised it was a host set up on the stage... AND THEN I realised there were stairs leading up to the stage, and I was just like ‘oh shit please do not come my way and approach me’ ... my heart was racing anytime they came down the stairs or towards me o_O

The spoiler part of the story is: So Gekidan Bazooka join the host club, with Niina (Moritaka) as a female guest, but then it turns into an incident when Suito (Suzuki) tries to attack the owner of the club and claims that the owner killed his father and that he’s responsible for his father’s death and responsible for why his father and his family have been labeled as murderers. The plan doesn’t go as he hoped so Suito’s only option is to then go on the run so he isn’t attacked or arrested. Thus, Gekidan Bazooka are left to figure out what really happened. I won’t spoil any more about ^_^

Now some random comments about the stage and some scenes itself before I get into the individual character/cast stuff:

Towards the beginning of the stage when they first join the host club, the main Gekidan Bazooka members joked and commented about it being ‘Watashi no Host-chan’ and in all honestly: it really was a parody of it.

I freaked out in the beginning because it went dark and I noticed someone had come in from the left side door in front of me but couldn’t figure out who it was. Then the lights came up and a spot light was on the person, and BAM Shougo is like RIGHT there and immediately he’s all excited and loud like ‘HEY! WELCOME! LETS HAVE SOME FUN!!!’ and I’m like, ‘I cannot handle Shougo being this close to me, being this gorgeous AND being this excited and loud’ my heart was definitely not calming xD

Kuroda Ken (Saito) and Mizuno (Baba) had to play Pocky Chicken which is essentially the game of Chicken but with them putting each end of the Pocky in their mouths and eating it and getting closer until someone freaks out and losses. When Ken first put the Pocky in his mouth he started flicking it up and down, and Baba’s face was gold. Baba (in character) was like ‘stop moving it! stop doing that’ but Kuroda was WAY too excited to get to play Pocky with him. Of course Mizuno losses xD later it almost becomes a Suito vs Mizuno Pocky Chicken but it gets stopped before it even starts because Mizuno is like ‘that’s not a good enough challenge to prove I’m a good host! We must do something that really tests us as Hosts!’ and of course Ken and Niina are totally upset and disappointed by the gaming being stopped - *cough* just like the rest of the audience xD

There was massive shipping all around for Suito x Ken - Shougo and Saito’s character. Everytime Shougo touched Saito there was this pink heart and a ‘kyun’ sound moment from Ken that was hilarious every time xD also Niina was shipping it hard herself xD

To be honest, I do have one little bitty niggle of a negative: I feel it dragged a little towards the end for abou 10-15 minutes but only because we’d been so spoilt with comedy for the first 60-70% or so that for it to suddenly get very realistic and dark, kind of ruined the mood and so that one part drags somewhat before we go back to the comedy again.

There’s two main higawaris and improv parts in this stage that I want to talk about:

First Challenge/Duel: About 20 minutes into the stage, Suito asks his number one guest (played by Miyuki) to decide a challenge for us. 

The theme was: Confess Your Love to the Criminal in the Interrogation Room.

Suito: *pretends to smoke cigarette* BANG on the desk! Have you eaten katsudon?! What? You’re on a diet?! I’ll leave you even if you’re round! Lets eat katsudon together again. That’s ALL!

I don’t remember who he was against -- I think it was Baba -- but Shougo obviously won so ^_^

Second Challenge/Duel: Pretty much the finale scene of the stage when the guest of the day comes out and gives them a challenge. So todays guest was Watanabe from Jyuuohger (HyuuohElephant). The higawari at the end and it was between Gekidan Bazooka’s Kinbara and Jewel’s Sho-san. 

The theme was: Blouson Lion Jyuurou.

I don’ really remember it much but I remember Kinbara pulling up his pants completely so his white hairy legs were showing and he forced Baba and Kinjyou to help him and he ended by using a Jyuuohger line (because Watanabe was there) ‘このちきゅうになめるなよ！/ Don’t underestimate this world!’ he really was hilarious and tried so hard!

Then it was Sho-san’s turn and again his was super fast and crazy and it made it worse by him asking Miyuki to come back on stage and was like ‘start a beat’ and she did this crazy off beat not good song that added to the hilarity of it all and she REALLY got into it half way through that even Sho-san was losing it a little while trying to perform. I don’t really remember what was said, but he was talking about ‘dont be worried about this... don’t be worried about that’ and every time he finished on a ‘don’t be worried’ which translates to ‘shinpai nai’, Shougo would immediately start yelling “Shinpainaisa~!” WHICH is apparently an iconic scene out of the Japanese Lion King Stage (see here and here) but Shougo does it MUCH better xD and much more hilarious! Every time he did it the audience got worse and worse in terms of how hard they were laughing.

Sho-san’s team ultimately won xD

I really do hope they’ve filmed all the higawari’s too! Especially because not many people were posting the daily challenges on twitter every day so if they weren’t filmed then they’re gone for good and I really want people to at least see this one! xD

Now onto the characters!

Suzuki Shougo as Suito: So he is essentially Jewel’s number one host, and as stated he tries to get revenge for his father’s death and for his family being labelled murderer’s BUT turns out that he only wanted to threaten the owner to get the truth rather than actually kill him and he spends his time on the run feeling awful about it and he’s actually a very nice guy who just wants to make other, especially women, smile. His voice when he did his solo song during the singing show down between himself and Baba was SO good!! Seriously, SO GOOD. I could not look away! I was completely absorbed in his singing performance. And a little part of my brain couldn’t not think ‘OMG look at Kazama!’ (he plays Kazama in the HakuMyu series... shh! I’m not using past tense yet okay!). At first I didn’t think I’d like Shougo with short hair but after seeing him in this, I’m okay with it. My comments about his personality are down in the AfterTalk section below. Suito basically matches his name: He’s a sweet and kind guy. And seriously the shipping for him and Ken was GOLD.

Saito Shunsuke as Kuroda Ken: I forgot about Ken’s phobia against women which made it hilarious because he ends up joining the host club BUT then he ends up crossdressing so he could be one of Suito’s guests and not only does he look pretty (Saito always looks freaking pretty!) but he really suits looking like a girl! When Kuroda dresses up as a girl, Suito obviously notices but he doesn’t embarrass Ken by letting him know and allows him to continue being a female guest at their hostclub. The scene between him and Suito where he’s like ‘you realised I was a guy (crossdressing) but you didn’t say anything, you kept treating me like your guest’ and it was such a touching moment <3 There’s a lot of hand and wrist holding moments with them! I don’t know how Saito does it really, he’s always up for pretty much any role and any type of character. He’s never done an uninteresting character I don’t think and he can very easily play both the more feminine role (like in this one) and the more masculine role (for example in BASARA).

Baba Ryoma as Mizuno Satoshi: Baba Ryoma... this man child. Every time he impresses me because he has such energy and he like never runs out of it and everytime I am shocked and astounded by just how... what the right word to describe him... disgusting in a good way! He’s such a hentai. He literally knows no bounds! 

Just before his singing showdown, Niina was taunting him like ‘ミュージカル王子だからね / because you’re the prince of musicals right?’ and Baba’s face was just like ‘ah balls now I have to be good’ and I honestly think it was an unexpected remake and his reaction was real at that moment. During his sing-off with Shougo, he was being so over the top and flamboyant and pulling faces and getting real close to the audience and making them feel uncomfortable as he tries to do these sexy moves but they come off really stingy (on purpose). I’m pretty sure Baba completely broke some rules when he went up to a girl in the front row and was kind like leaning into her and rolling his hips and crotch about in front of her like a strip show xD That boy will never not calm down will he xD

He is absolutely hilarious. Just his facial features and expressions alone are enough to make an entire audience lose themselves in laughter. Watching Mizuno drink himself silly on the first night working at the host club was hilarious too! The theatre goes black and then the lights go back up and him, Saito and Nakajima’s characters are just completely passed out from over drinking on their first night at the host club xD another hilarious moment from Baba is towards the end where Gekidan Bazooka reenact the murder and Baba plays the role of Suito’s father, so he’s mainly just playing dead on the floor, and everytime something breaks the scene and he gets up and then they go back into the scene, Baba (everytime) flawlessly rolled back into the dead body position and it was so smoothly done that it was cracking everyone up xD Baba I love you, never not be stupid, loud, hentai-y, and hilarious.

Moritaka Ai as Momose Niina: She's cute! And I definitely could get on board with her personality because she’s a Fujoushi and would just fantasize (as much as I did) every time she saw Suito and Ken together xD and she always put her hands up and made little bunnies out of them and reenacted the Pocky Chicken scene and imagines Ken and Suito kissing so that was enjoyable too. I’m a little upset that she couldn’t join the rest of the gang because (being the only girl) she couldn’t be a host, but it would’ve been fun if they’re done what they did to Saito’s character and made her cross-dress and try to get by as a male host. Now THAT would’ve added hilarity and more interesting scenes to the already great stage that it was.

Nakajima Kaito as  Kirijima Reito: This one I was worried about because he is so young and granted he wasn’t the worst out of the Ninninger’s, but he’s definitely got pressure on him for being a decent performer because in this stage he is surrounded by amazing actors like Suzuki, Baba and Saito. Also I think this was his first stage. But, looks like the directors and such agreed with me, because his character is very normal; obsessed with his phone, not really taking anything seriously, not really wanting to try and help, and his stage time was rather small too. So they let him play it safe which I think was the better option. Maybe in the next stage, when he’s had more experience and more work and mattured a little more, he’ll get more character development and stage time but I’m glad me and the showrunners saw eye-to-eye on Nakajima.

Kinjyou Yamato as Aoki Junzou: I don’t really have much to say about this guy; he plays a police officer who really shouldn’t have been allowed or given that job because he’s not good at his job at all and he lets criminal get away and he never arrests people and he’s too soft and nice. He got his limelight moment though when he had to take over Kinbara’s role and it was super cute where he was acting really badly but you could just hear Kinbara going ‘yeah like that! Ooooo you’re doing great!!’ and that was definitely a hilarious scene he was center for.

Maruyama Atsushi as Kinbara Toshiro: Even though the play is about attempted murder in a host club, it actually starts with everyone learning Kinbara is currently in a huge writing slump, and in order to regain it they all decide to just go into a situation unscripted; it ends up being them joining a host club and thus all the craziness ensues. There’s a point half way where Kinbara accidently gets caught up in a stabbing and then everyone thinks he’s dead -- which ends up becoming a hilarious scene and you could tell he wasn’t really going to die just based on what kind of stage this is (comedy if you didn’t get the hint already xD). The part where Kinbara, or should I saw Maruyama, really shined was during the final higawari of the day. The higawari came from the guest of the day which was Watanabe and each person from both teams (Gekidan Bazooku and Gekidan Blues) had to . Maruyama was devastated he lost xD

Soutarou as Hara: I think this one was a shocker for us all! He ends up being an onee-san and he looks completely different in all his makeup and his girlyness! Even up close he looked very convincing! But seeing him in his normal clothes and in a beard and everything, it’s difficult to believe it’s the same person! During the aftertalk, the said ‘if you keep talking like that (in his high, girly voice) people are going to think you really are that way (implying either gay or wants a sex change)’ and he very seriously looked (I think it was Sho-san xD) at him and said ‘I am that way’ oh dear lord xD his combination with Nakajima was so great and added to the comedy.

Matsumoto Hiroya as Mysterious Guy: Hiroya always seems to pull the short end of the stick. He had such a short amount of time on stage again *cries* his character definitely lived up to his name; mysterious. And his character has such a short amount of time << I already said this but I’m upset about this! I really do think Hiroya is an underrated actor, even in Sentai I think he’s underrated. I’m glad he got to be the MC during the aftertalk BUT Sho-san essentially, and very smoothly, took over as MC xD it was hilarious seeing Hiroya trying to control the group and trying to stay in control when Sho-san and Hayashi were just running amuck and completely taking over and handling the topics of discussion and the comedy. Poor Hiroya >.<

Kubodera Akira as Kiseki Yuji: I freaked when this guy came on the stage. I was like ‘OH SHIT IT’S MITSUHIDE!! (from TouStage)’. I realised who he was straight away and of course I was like ‘I automatically love this character’ even though at one point he gets accused of murdering and being the perpetrator to a crime, I was still like ‘yeah but it’s Akira from TouStage! who cares if he’s bad or not!’ xD he did a great job in this just as much as he did in TouStage. He may be an older man (okay he’s barely just turned 40) but you gotta admit he’s very good looking! and he’s always had this playful yet still mature aura about him. He definitely never shies away from comedy, even in this. Always with a smile too ^_^

Hiramaki Jin as Ruri:  Hiramaki Jin’s character surprised me. I expected him to be all cool and like ‘yah I’m a host. Look how sexy I am’ because the pamphlet shows him posing cooly, and let’s be honest that’s the type of image and aura Jin gives off (I don’t mean this in a bad way!), but he turned out to be a super cutie and adorable! He was all happy and jumpy and a little stupid but totally adorable!

Hayashi Tsuyoshi as Ran: I don’t really remember his character. The actor himself was more impressive. He was very funny and during the final song he overdid it a little and was just kind stood there out of breath and like ‘I’m too old for this’ xD he has a great dynamic with Sho-san. OH! The point that really killed us all is at the end of the story/play where they’re all having a heart-to-heart and saying all this nice stuff, but he messed up his line and with pure luck and timing it made everyone, including the cast, just break completely into laughter. No one could control themselves. It wasn’t even that funny of a mistake, but just the timing and the fact the audience had already been in fits of giggles for over 2 hours anyway, it was definitely the last straw that even broke the cast and were like collasped on the floor and laughing while facing each other and stuff. Pure gold.

Tomita Sho as Sou: My dear Sho... I was never even supposed to fall for you but the more I see you, the more I fall for you! You’re just.... so sexy and so funny and so energetic and so great and you rally understand how to shape the mood and make everyone smile while also enjoying the moment yourself. Sho-san’s character was great too. He was the number one host and the main leader of the hosts. Also his character was well known for fucking up names which really helped the comedy and hilarity. He’d be yelling and he’d be like: ‘Will you listen to me Ren?!’  ‘It’s Ran’  ‘RAN!’ I’m not doing it justice but every time it was pure gold. I’ve already mentioned his shenanigans in the aftertalk, or it will be listed below. Seriously, his is one handsome devil and he’s great at what he does and he’s so funny and....OH! I only bought his bromides; I almost bought Baba’s but in honesty, his pictures in the pamphlet are better than his shots in the bromides. Whereas Sho-san just looks great in both bromides and pamphlet xD I might try and collect his randoms too... I really liked Sho’s character and he was a very good leader and he was a very nice and forgiving character and just wanted to help everyone out. He treats the other hosts so well. He’s just a very good, decent character. Did I mention Sho-san is very unashamed of embarrassing himself and others? Which makes him all the more amazing and funny! Last thing about his; during one of his entrances from the left side door, he came down and sat on one of the aisle armrests and put his arm over the girl and like winked and her and then went up to the stage xD From the feeling I got from her, I don’t think she appreciated it (she was much older - wow I sound ageist, sorry - than I assume his fans would be, but maybe he’s seen her from his past events sand so knew she was his fan and therefore okay to go to her?) but she damn well should’ve! I had an iasle seat! Come to me!!! xD

The AfterTalk

I’ve probably already spoiled most of the aftertalk when I was talking about the actors individually but anyway, here you go:

During the aftertalk, Nakajima and Watanabe were talking about their time making the new Ninninger and Jyuohger movie and they spoke about how they went for dinner together one time and Sho-san was like ‘what did you eat? How was the food?’ and Hiroya is just like ‘食事グルメ番組になっちゃったな〜！/ This has turned into a Gurume/Food report show hasn’t it!’ xD Hiroya could NOT control Sho-san at all and it was hilarious! At one point Hayashi turned to Sho-san and was like ‘who’s supposed to be the MC here?! You or Hiroya?!’ because he was completely in control of the conversation and the questions xD

They asked the Club Jewel / Gekidan Blues members what it was like being hosts and how they prepared for their role and Hayashi was like ‘well I was a host for like 2 hour but then I quite so I’ve already done it in real life so I didn’t need to prepare’ and then Sho-san was like ‘well I’ve done a lot of host roles so I’m pretty much a professional’ and just the cool way they were like ‘yeah been there, done that, I know what I’m doing’ was soooo good without the being cocky about it and everyone was genuinely interested like ‘when were you a host Hayashi? What other roles were you a host Sho?’ and I was sat there like ‘smoothe buugers’ xD

Suzuki was SUPER quiet during the aftertalk. He didn’t talk at all after he gave his introduction. He just kind of sat there and enjoyed everyone else’s conversation which really surprised me; he’s completely the opposite of his character. I remember being surprised the first time someone told me he usually cries at the end of his stages and I was like ‘nah... Shougo is tough!’ and then I saw him ball at the HakuMyu Live 2 senshuuraku and thinking about it, it it makes sense that he would ultimately be the type of guy who takes a back seat and would be the type to stay quiet and just enjoy everyone else’s conversation rather than butt in (complete opposite to say Sugie Taishi shall we say xD that boy does NOT stop talking. He always loves jumping into conversations! Anyway...) and give his own say in the matter. He only spoke during the greetings, at the very end and when he was directly asked a question. The rest of the time, Hayashi and (especially) Sho-san were running a muck and causing everyone to laugh and controlling the conversation. Poor Hiroya couldn’t wrangle them in xD Sho-san is so funny; I swear to got I fall more for this man every time I see him; he’s just so funny and he really knows how to pull a joke and he knows how to wreak havoc without it going to far or without it becoming annoying and he’s such a great taling; he really should have been the MC for this aftertalk.

The guys doing the sound kindly had Nakajima and Watanabe’s henshin music on standby so they both did their henshin poses and sequences ^_^ but after Nakajima’s he was like ‘I didn’t realise how long mine was!’ because he spent a lot of time just stood there xD

Ise sang the theme song at the end and all the actors (even those from backstage) came out in the sweat wear and Saito went passed me and holy moly he smelt freaking amazing and then cute but shy Nakajima went past me a little. Sho-san was being himself and found an empty aisle seat about 3 rows in and just sat there and getting high fives and waving to everyone during the entire song xD I really wanted him to come over and around the theatre like everyone else but that too was fun to watch - but I was a little disappointed.

Apparently they’ve been filming the aftertalks (or at least they said that they did on this day - so safe to assume they filmed them all?) so hopefully this one is on the DVD too so we can all laugh at Sho-san and co.

---

And that’s all! I hope you enjoyed the review ^_^

[akb48girldaisuki]

2, 3, 4, 27, 28, 33, 57, 64, 95, 96, 99

hi there sharpedges san!

2. when did u became a fan?

I've been...trying to shout this out loud all this time, so thank you...thank you for the opportunity

IM A FREAKING NEW FAN!! well...pretty much new compare to the other, i just got really into the fandom in winter 2015

3. first oshi?

totally enslaved by Mayu Watanabe from the very first sigh...thou at first i was like “wow...such a nice kind well mannered lady! totally no way.. NO WAY she got a weird personality ” 

4. first oshi graduate?

Matsui Rena :’) . thou she is graduate right before i became full pledged fans .  i find out she already graduate after I totally all over her (I was a new born web, i didnt even know SKE48 exist !) it was like, taking me 2 months before deciding to watch her graduation concert, and broke my own heart.

27. best dancer

Isn't it so cool to see Yamamoto Sayaka dance? however i also really feel Mayu Watanabe is the best of dancer! you see, i think dancing isn't just about hard core moves, i think the most important of dancing is the feels, and nothing top Mayu Watanabe when it comes to drag the audience with the way she moves.

28. best vocal

IKUTA ERIKA SAMA! not just great technique, her voice has color, you can distinguish her voice (or maybe it just me lol) in every Nogizaka songs

33.best smile?

have you notice how Matsui Jurina redefine how big a smile can? ... and suddenly...its like... the world lighten up a bit every time she smile

57. best captain 

i know super amazing leader like takamina, akimoto, yuihan and sayanee exist but.... personally . Team B, Kashiwagi Yuki. it was during the rise of  team B, and i think she would forever be remembered as the best team B captain

64.OTP?

*restrain self* *stabbing self with pencil* *reminding self to not making 1 meter long post* 

J-Jurisaku 

95. member you'd like to be friend with 

i really don't see them as a friend material... i mean... ill be more suitable driving them around or holding their umbrella or something, so if the question change into whom id like to be her manager? lol, its Miyawaki Sakura

96.member you'd like as a sister

Ikuta erika!

99. janken taikai riged or not

i don't think its ridged, its okay if all the member is miyawaki sakura or matsui rena that could acting it out... the thing is, is freaking hard to think all of them faking their expression of winning and losing the entire show. all of them could win oscar with that level of acting skill

thank you for actually went after the long list of 100 Q and come up with some! have a nice one

[makinomariasama]

Blog Post Translation: July 31st, 2019

Enjoy, and please don’t repost without credit!

* Weekly Shounen Sunday 2019 Issue 35 * It's on sale today!!!!

BEYOOOOONDS is in it <3 And The cover and lead feature is Morning Musume '19's Makino Maria

Please definitely check it out

Shougakukan Weekly Shounen Sunday Official Site https://websunday.net/konsyu/

See Ya This is Morning Musume '19's Makino Maria.

2019 Eastern League game Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters VS Tokyo Yakult Swallows July 31st, 2019

I went to Kamagaya Stadium <3 <3

Cubby-chan <- I saw her when I went in :) "Cubby-chan, take a picture with me later, okay :)" Maria said that. Cubby-chan came to hang out with me during the game The secrets will continue, so look forward to it :)

Today, Nakamura Masaru was the starting pitcher!! He's cool * Wang Po-jung was in the starting line up

<3 Coach Araki Daisuke <3 After the game was over, he found Maria at the hill and was like, "ooh!" "Good work today," Maria greeted him. "Thanks," Coach Araki said and waved at me. Today too, Coach Araki was cool <3

Konta-nee-san (my friend who is a fan of Coach Konta Toshimasa) made a girls jersey of Coach Konta. Coach Konta Said to us, "Before this, you did the sub commentary, right." Maria was shocked :) Thank you, Coach Konta <3

Today too, Kamagaya was fun <3 I cheered for the Fighters at Kamagaya <3 LOVE From Makino Maria

On the way back, I watched the Fighters on GAORA And I watched it on TV at home

Nice, Ryuu-kun Watanabe * 2 base hit

Gan-chan" "I didn't see it" UGK "the ball stopped"

In the bottom of the 7th inning, Ishii Kazu hit the ball

I was happy to see them get points

Ishii Kazu is a fast runner Kyun hit a knuckle curve ball  <3 Kyun was really happy Nakata was also happy, so Maria was happy too <3

Kyun did the hero interview ♪ When he was signing autographs, he was cute :) "I'm happy" "I'm so happy it's like I'm feverish" "I think, I really am happy" by Kyun

Kyun Kyun, I'm glad <3 <3 <3 <3 Maria is super happy <3 <3 <3 <3

This is Morning Musume '19's Makino Maria You're watching the Fighters on GAORA SPORTS <3

LOVE <3 Nakata

From Maria

Look at Makino Maria's Instagram, okay

* Makino Maria *

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 4/30/19

Arpeggio of Blue Steel, Vol. 14 | By Ark Performance | Seven Seas – Last time I wondered if Arpeggio of Blue Steel really was going to become a high school series, and it’s certainly trying its best, with a School Festival arc in the offing. That said, the tone of the series is still very much Tom Clancy, with much of the volume taken up by I-402’s negotiation with retired general Ryokan on behalf of the Fog. Meanwhile, we also get a flashback as to how Gunzou started all this in the first place (Iona basically forced it on him, but it doesn’t take much pushing), and start to see pieces shifting into position for the next big battle. Will that battle take place at the school? It might start there, but my guess is we’ll be back to the Navy before long. Still underrated. – Sean Gaffney

Crocodile Baron, Vol. 3 | By Takuya Okada | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Crocodile Baron comes to an end without evolving much since volume two. Alfardo and Rabbit Boy run into the former’s bad older brother, who seemingly turns his life around after eating some ramen. Alfardo eats spicy curry with a desperate warthog and possibly saves his marriage. Rabbit Boy hates Christmas because it’s his birthday and buys a cake from a camel. A lovelorn elephant filmmaker finds his muse and eats pond smelts. They have an Okinawan adventure during which Rabbit Boy nearly drowns. Honestly, I cared about no one and found it all boring. If there had been more emphasis on the food, I might’ve felt differently, but this was a big ol’ yawn banquet. – Michelle Smith

High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!, Vol. 3 | By Riku Misora and Kotaro Yamada | Yen Press – Again, I beg the authors for a character sheet. There are quite a number of interesting things going on in this volume, but I suspect the reader may have trouble finding them among all the bouncing boobs. The fanservice is laid on with a shovel here, and can be hard to take. That said, there’s a nice scene with Tsukasa and Lyrule where she berates him for feeling guilty over not prioritizing saving her. The bulk of the serious plot goes to Shinobu and Elch, gathering intel at a seemingly friendly village with a very dark secret. Fortunately (assuming that it’s not a double cross), she may also have come across the resistance. Too many boobs spoiling the pie, alas. – Sean Gaffney

How to Treat Magical Beasts, Vol. 3 | By Kaziya | Seven Seas – Lest we try to run on “the sweet and heartwarming adventures of a vet” for too long, this volume introduces a smiling maybe-villain-maybe-not, who helps Ziska with a cat’s injury and then takes her way out into danger to attend to a wounded Greif, because no series with apprentices and magic is quite complete without a test to see if they’ve got the right stuff. I assume Ziska does have the right stuff, but we’re caught up to Japan, so it may be a while till we find out. In more sweet news, that is one adorable gargoyle, and I’m happy it’s found a friend. Seven Seas has carved out a genre niche with these types of series, and I quite enjoy it. – Sean Gaffney

Mob Psycho 100, Vol. 2 | By ONE | Dark Horse – I keep wanting to call this MPD Psycho, but that is something very different. This is the story of an unassuming boy named Shigeo Kageyama who possesses super powers but wants to live without relying on them. This challenges the worldview of another superpowered boy named Teru, who spends two-thirds of the volume flinging his power at Kageyama in order to make him fight back. (Kageyama is resolute that he won’t use his powers against another person.) The anger meter appears again (with a fun gag about how Teru’s exorcism of Mob’s sycophantic spirit companion doesn’t actually change it at all) and only when his life is in true peril does Kageyama reach “???%.” Will he wreak havoc in the next volume? The story’s definitely getting more interesting, but I’m still not in love with the art. – Michelle Smith

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 4 | By Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court | Viz Media – This gets better with each volume. I had not realized that the Vigilantes series takes place a few years before the main series (though the authors cheat (and say so) for the extra side story). I had suspected that Knuckleduster was somehow connected with the villains, but that connection turns out to be much closer than imagined, and leads to possibly the best fight of the series. Meanwhile, Pop Step finds her confidence and does something only she can do to help out. All this and one of the most horrific images in the manga to date (which also made me wonder if the authors had seen a certain meme about bees). This has become essential. – Sean Gaffney

My Pink Is Overflowing, Vol. 1 | By Yuki Monou | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – I bought this hoping it would be hilariously trashy, and for the most part it was. The premise has a girl who’s tired of being screwed over by pick-up artists decide she’s only going to date virgins from now on… then find out that her boss, seemingly an overly serious taskmaster, is one! They enter into a relationship so fast it boggles the mind, especially since their first kiss is interrupted by her having an orgasm as she does it. At its heart, this is a “ditzy girl/serious guy” title with a decent heart, but the girl can get very over the top at times, and the series seems to want to go as far as it can while keeping the hero a virgin. Plus there’s that title. For fans of Cosplay Animal. – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 4 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – It has to be said, a lot of the teasing that’s going on here is Takagi-san being as obvious and blatant as she possibly can that she loves Nishitaka. You’d have to be a brick—or a male protagonist—not to get it, and indeed sometimes it’s so blatant he almost shows sings of figuring it out. But this is a long-running series, and resolution just isn’t in the cards right now. So we get Takagi-san visiting his room, playing poker, chasing cute cats, and getting each other’s emails so that now she can tease him whenever she wants to (and have cute photos of her on his phone). Everyone else in their class knows they’re going out. Most of what they do qualifies as a date. But… so dense. Love this series. – Sean Gaffney

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1 | By Kamome Shirahama | Kodansha Comics – Even before it was licensed in English, Witch Hat Atelier was a series that had caught my attention, in large part due to Shirahama’s gorgeous, sumptuous artwork, but also because my Japanese-reading friends spoke so highly of it. At times, the exposition is a little heavy-handed in the first volume as the premise of the the world’s history and magic are introduced. (I expect this to become less of an issue as the series progresses.) However, the explanations are regularly incorporated in a way that makes sense—Coco, the story’s heroine, is also new to the basics and she’s learning right alongside the readers. Coco is a young woman who has always been fascinated by magic not realizing that she has a natural talent for it. Unfortunately, the initial budding of her magical skills ends in tragedy as she hasn’t had the training needed to fully understand or control them. – Ash Brown

Yowamushi Pedal, Vol. 11 | By Wataru Watanabe | Yen Press – No, the Inter High still hasn’t come to an end, but this is still a pretty satisfying volume, what with all the inspirational performances and teary appreciation of same! Watanabe does a good job getting readers to root for Hakone, too, and we learn why Arakita is so motivated to propel Fukutomi to the finish line, right before he runs out of speed. Yes, it’s a harsh truth that all six members of Sohoku aren’t able to ride together for long. The first-years prepare themselves to make the sacrifice for their teammates, but that isn’t how it turns out at all. I was fully expecting that Kinjou would be the one to win this, given his experience in the previous year’s competition, and was honestly surprised when he’s sidelined by injury. I suppose the next book will wrap things up but I kinda don’t even remember what this series is like when it’s not the Inter High! – Michelle Smith

Yuri Is My Job!, Vol. 2 | By miman | Kodansha Comics – Now that Hime is aware of who Mitsuki was in her past, everything is terribly awkward, and the number of times “she must really hate me” is said in this volume boggles the mind. If you guessed it’s all based on misunderstanding what the other is thinking, give yourself a gold star. For all that Hime tries to be the perfect little sister, it’s only when she’s honest with herself that things really take off in the cafe. I’m hoping that things will improve soon, but there’s also the problem of Kanoko, Hime’s best friend from school whose phone turns out to be entirely devoted to Hime. I dislike the term “yandere,” but I have a sneaking suspicion we’re going to see the tropes that lead to its overuse in the next book. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown