#also i want to see properly grown up haruka so so bad

[majimassqueaktoy]

Yakuza 8 better give Haruka peace and Kiryu the ending he deserve's if it really is going to be his last game.

[enanan-ami]

i HIGHLY doubt muu being forgiven in t3 if anything happens to haruka.

shes stated shes going to let him because thats what he wants to do.

this is an entire analysis, not just what i think will happen in t3. this is me analyzing muu and putting my own opinion into what might have happened in the beginning, as well as adding the t3 theory.

M: Ah, but if you don’t forgive me, Haruka-kun will die, so I think it’d be best to not do that.

E: So you’ve heard about that nonsense too?

M: Yeah. Haruka-kun told me. So I could rest easy, according to him. That made me happy… It made me really feel our friendship!

E: You know about it and you’re not trying to stop him? Haruka, that is?

M: Why would I? Haruka-kun says he wants to do it, so there’s nothing I can do, right?

the way she words it, the way she says things. she sees him as another pawn, or worker bee, as shown in INMF.

and before anyone says im trying to make her look bad. no. im not. i feel like she does care and does want to help him, but shes so caught up in fear of what happened to her last time that she resorts to practically manipulating him. i think everything that happened to her messed her up so badly that she is resorting to making herself the one on top, because even though it looks bad to others, thats what seems right to her in order to protect herself.

if the colors in the three closest to muus hair represent her previous friends having colors in matching hues, and the pink is because of bees being attracted to that color, what does the blue in her hair mean ?

what if the blue represents haruka.

what if the blue represents how she feels close to haruka, but is afraid to have him turn on her. hes heavily codependent, and she basically has him wrapped around her finger because that is what she wants in order to protect herself.

M: Haruka-kun, I brought you some food. Are you alive? You haven't grown mold or anything?

H: .....Oh, thank you very much. Muu-san, I'm sorry, that ..... I..

M: Don't shut yourself up in that cell forever! You have to eat properly too, you know? I understand if you feel this way though, the recent atmosphere has been feeling bad lately.

H: Um, I said it's okay..... I, thought of what I should do, a little. What do I do, what do I do, to keep... My promise. For Muu-san's sake....

she. does. care. about. him. shes afraid to give too much into a relationship.

i think shes letting him do it if he wants to because the fact that he would basically sacrifice himself for her gives her a feeling of this is what is supposed to happen and friends would do anything for each other, because what if the reason she ended up bullying people in the first place is because she was forced to then her friends turned on her because she took it too far. they are who enabled her behavior.

why do i think muu killed rei ? because she was tired of rei manipulating her.

Q: Do you have apologetic feelings for who you killed?

A: The person who did the wrong thing first should apologize.

i think she could have been dependent on rei, so now she is growing into who rei was.

can i also point out the after pain lyrics ?

"If I was gone, If I had just disappeared. I overheard, I found out how much I’m not needed"

simply stating, she was the one being used before. remember these songs are coming from the prisoners hearts. SHE CANT LIE IN THE SONG AND I AM TIRED OF HEARING THAT.

"Why won’t you stop hurt-hurt-hurting me? My heart is all dried up. My sorry spells must be wearing off. But I guess some of it is my fault. Maybe it’s ok as it is. I want to feel “alive��, is it ok if I breathe?"

her friends manipulating her. i think this was her subconscious telling her that. and then also bringing her to fault for it, maybe for choosing the wrong friends.

plus, after going back through the interrogation questions.

Q: Do you regret it?

A: Mmh, I should have chosen my friends better.

...

"“I’m sorry” won’t reach anyone (I hope it will someday)"

"I was miserable, someone please help me"

"If you’re going to make me the villain it’s ok to ignore me"

i believe this plays onto her not having the original idea to bully people.

"its not my fault" could be because IT IS LITERALLY NOT HER FAULT. instead of being what you expect and it having a different meaning, she is saying it outright because its what you dont expect. she acts how she does because that is what she learned.

i think that muu trying to suppress and mask NPD could have been what caused her to react the way she does in the end. believing its all okay what she was taught.

back to the beginning point of this, muu likely being unforgiven if haruka gets killed off.

think of kotoko. im sure there were a LOT of people who voted kotoko guilty just because she almost killed mahiru and badly injured fuuta.

if haruka gets hurt or killed off, its expected that people will treat muu similar.

i also think that if anything happens to haruka, muu will be given some kind of talk from fuuta, whether its yelling, or a talk about how he could have been saved.

Q: Which prisoner do you get along with the most?

A: I'm not anyone's happy friend. Well Haruka's younger, so I take care of him.

...

F: Hey, listen. Is he okay? He's been holed up and hasn't come out at all.

M: Haruka-kun? Hmm. Yeah, probably. Muu has been taking food to him, so he should be fine. Isn't Muu amazing?

F: Huh? Do you have to say it yourself, seriously… Oh, well. I guess I can understand a bit now. When you're feeling down, it's nice to have someone to rely on, someone who accepts you. We might not fully understand from our perspective, but if you're the "salvation" for Haruka, well, that's something.

M: Salvation…? I don't really get it. Futa-kun, you've started saying strange things. Did you hit your head or something? Oh, you did. Hahaha. Oh, by the way, it's Muu's birthday today.

...

F: —Hey, are you really okay with that? If you come with me, you might also be saved you know……Haruka.

H: Yeah……since I already made a decision. I, have something that I must do.

F: Ahh, is that so…… Hey, Haruka, you truly are an idiot. If that’s the case, you won’t be able to be saved.

H: Yeah, thank you. Fuuta, I’m happy that you called out to me. Um, I’m happy that you were so kind to me. I mean it. But, this is the only way I can do this. I’m sorry......

fuuta clearly cares a lot about haruka. as much as he pretended not to in the beginning, he does. and hes grown a connection to him. while by now he is trapped under amanes mindset, he still has spoken that he cares about him a lot, checking on him and trying to find his salvation and a way to save him.

if haruka is hurt or worse, i dont think muu will escape a talking to from fuuta.

if haruka is unsuccessful but gets hurt, i do think that his relationship with muu will suffer. though i think either way muu might realize that she helped him to continue his plan in a sense. i also think that fuuta will try to drag him away from shidou and take haruka under his and amanes care. i think mikoto could also play into this. haruka is the only person to have initiated conversation with mikoto throughout the timelines of trial 2. i think that mikoto would want to do what he can to help haruka, not only because he appreciates it, though that could be his ending motivation. and if orekoto were to switch in during that time and notice the situation, theres a chance of getting more rationality out of ore and having him be seen in a better light, adding for there to be less people afraid of mikoto.

muus mental state will likely suffer, and not only will the unforgiven verdict start that spiral, but again, everything going on with haruka will make her worse.

i wouldnt be surprised if muu also attempts in trial 3.

muu in a potentially terrible mental state and already building herself off of what she sees, having a need for attention and losing it because of everything going on with haruka, plus the likelyhood of her having been suicidal previously.

in the end, trial 3 is going to be hell and there is no changing it. and muu is much more than a manipulative bully as people characterize her to be.

i have only read two muu theories. one showing the imagery of her likelyhood of being suicidal (I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR 30 MINUTES AND CANNOT FIND IT AGAIN I AM SO SORRY.) and this one which has the thing about the the hair color hues.

my thoughts may not be perfectly in order because i was thinking of all this as i typed it. if theres anything i missed, tell me. i want to understand muu better.

-Ena 🎨

[muthaz-rapapa]

[Disclaimer: This is just my personal opinion, I'll try my best to express it without make it sound rude. And you can disagree with me].

I understand Laura is your favorite character and she's been great so far, but for me I have a love-hate relationship with her. Like I said, Laura's a great mermaid-now turned human character, she really showed her care and determination to help her friends, especially Manatsu. However, there's a part of her that really annoys me and that's her tsundere side. I reaaally hate tsundere characters, not only they're annoying and irritating to the point I want scream and slap at them but they also comes off as rude b*tches. Now I know not all tsunderes are like that, in fact, there are some well-written tsunderes that I really like (Rin Tohsaka from Fate/stay night) because at least I know why they act like that and I relate to them. In Laura's case, in episode 16, it really frustrates me that she didn't open up to her friends and expressed her desire to become human to spend more time with them. Why? Was she too embarrased to tell them? Was it because she was still a proud mermaid?

Nevertheless, while she's not officially my favorite character, I still think she's a great character and I respect her.

[Of course I can disagree with you! You have your own opinion and I have mine, after all. Not being rude, btw, just thought it was funny that I was told I can disagree on my own blog, lol 😅]

Cool. 😀 No, really. I get it. You can totally respect something or someone but still not like them for whatever reasons you may have. Like, take my feelings towards Haruka (Go!Pri) or Hana (Hugtto) for example. I thought their arcs were very well done and inspiring and I greatly respect the people they've grown into by the end of their respective seasons. But up till today, I can't say that I favor them as characters. I don't dislike them or anything. I just don't love them.

And I'm okay with that.

For Laura, we all knew from the beginning that she was going to be problematic. And even though she's come quite a way since then, her flaws (arrogance, selfishness, the tendency to revert to tsun mode when she's too proud to admit her faults) are still glaringly present. It's only natural that those flaws are going to bother some viewers while also serving as a source of entertainment for others. Nobody can tell you how to feel towards a certain character. But it remains your responsibility to understand them and yourself to the best of your own ability. If you want to try to come around and it works, then that's great. But if you're still bothered by their behavior or actions and such, then that's perfectly fine, too. You have your reasons and you at least took time to find them. That's already more than what a lot of people are willing to try.

Just be smart and honest with yourself, make your peace with it and move on. And we're only at ep 18 so far, not even halfway through the season yet so who knows. Maybe Laura has more story to tell, more development to go through and more changes to undergo before the end. Maybe she doesn't and this is how she's always going to be from now on. Haughty and demanding but deep down, possesses a good heart. But the matter of whether you can accept Laura fully or not after all that's done is still entirely up to you. I won't judge you on your preferences because I wouldn't want someone judging me for favoring Laura either.

Now, regarding the tsundere issue, I'm in a similar boat.

Tsundere are not my cup of tea. I even hated them for a while.

But these days, it really depends on how well the character is written.

This is a trope after all. It should not take up 100% of the character's composition because that would just be terrible writing.

A good tsundere would have their tsun traits support their overall character, adding charm to their personality rather than dominating it and leaving no room for anything else on their profile.

Rin Tohsaka (she's awesome, I love her, omg QUEEN 😍) is one of the prime examples on how a tsundere should be done properly. It gives her such an adorable side to appreciate but doesn't take away from her incredibly complex story and intrigue as an individual.

For Precure, it's a trickier business because like I always say, Toei is very reluctant to move away from the archetypes they heavily rely on every single year.

You have to learn to look past that mold in order to see what makes this character so special, what makes them stand apart from the rest who look and/or act similarly to how they do. You need to really dissect them from head to toe in order to determine if they carry a quality you think you can get hooked onto.

Laura is not the worst tsundere I've come across but she is admittedly not the best either. Again, because it's easy to fall back on common and established patterns and the writers amped up those aspects because it's something every anime fan is already familiar with.

However, that doesn't mean Laura's a low grade tsundere. Her confidence and straightforwardness comes from her pride as a mermaid and desire to become Queen. From that angle, they can be seen as positive traits because it means she's not a pushover and sticks strongly to her beliefs.

But when she talks condescendingly to others, acts all superior because she's a mermaid and then tries to hide behind her pride as mermaid, that's when it's a problem. However, even that you can make some sense of if you put yourself in her shoes fins. She spent the first 10 or so episodes constantly bragging about how great she is and how much better mermaids are than humans. For some as prideful as Laura to take that all back just because she recently shifted lanes after learning that humans aren't so bad, it's actually a lot harder than you think. Frankly, it'd make less sense for her to open up so readily about wanting to become human than it would for her to deny she wants to become human. Learning to be honest takes time.

Also, her forthrightness comes in conflict with her trouble on recognizing that she is not indeed perfect...which is what activates her tsun wall. It's a defense mechanism. She doesn't want others to poke fun at her. It's uncomfortable especially when she can't even face herself yet.

But at least she's doing that less and less, though. The patronizing attitude, that is. She only boasts about being a mermaid now and doesn't put others down just because they're not mermaids like her.

Ep 18 plays up her tsun mostly for laughs as well.

From my perspective, it seems the humiliation she experienced on her first day of school (for overestimating herself and being completely unprepared for human lifestyles) was meant to humble her and deflate her ego after the novelty of school blew it up.

Except that only worked so much to a certain degree and Laura's still rather dishonest about her own feelings (read: embarrassed) that she has to go through such roundabout ways just to convey to her friends that "Yea, I want to be with you guys in the same club, that was my intention all along!"

It's annoying, yes, but also funny, too, to see Laura flounder about on land. 😆 And it's definitely a step forward rather than back so we should take that to mean Laura's still progressing towards becoming a better person than she is now. Hopefully.

But yea, like I said earlier, you make your own calls on your own opinions. And I respect that. 🙂👍

[houkagokappa]

Sarazanmai dish 11 thoughts

I suppose it’s time for me to talk about Sarazanmai dish 11. For the last time, let me watch the episode again and give you my thoughts on it.

This got absurdly long so I’ll put it under a read more for once.

The episode starts with Tooi having followed the Chikai-otter into Dark Keppi to go outside of the circle, to the place where there’s no beginning, no ending and no connecting. The Chikai-otter tells Tooi to cut of all his connections by shooting at his past self. His gun gets a coating of Dark Keppi to make this possible.

Kazuki, Enta and Keppi rush after Tooi and enter the same world inside of Dark Keppi. Tooi has been visiting scenes from their past together, erasing himself from them. Kazuki figures out that they need to go all the way to the beginning, when Tooi gave Kazuki the miçanga four years ago because that’s when they all first connected. Kazuki finally remembered! That’s nice and oh how convenient for the plot...

Suddenly the otter appears and fills the space with liquid. Luckily Keppi farts out air bubbles and “saves” Kazuki and Enta. I think I would’ve rather drowned. I don’t know if anyone finds this funny because I don’t. At least it fits in with all the other butt stuff compared to say, Keppi blowing bubbles with his mouth, so I gotta give them that.

Keppi sends Kazuki and Enta off to save Tooi and stays behind to fight the otter. Dark Keppi was born when Keppi threw away his desire (and split his shirikodama into two in typical ikuni fashion). Now he needs to connect with him again to get rid of him. The otter wants to see Keppi engulfed by despair, although I’m not entirely sure why (simply because they’re on opposing teams?).

I already mentioned this in my PV post, but I really appreciate the Osamu Dezaki styled painted freeze frame we get of Keppi and the otter. It reminds me of how I began watching Oniisama e... this spring before I had to abandon it in favor of Sarazanmai’s second half. Now with Sarazanmai ending I can finally get back to my tragic lesbians. Ikuhara has named Dezaki as one of his inspirations and it’s fun to see such blatant references, especially when Ikuhara’s been shady about what’s inspired him before (what do you mean Utena took inspiration from The Rose of Versailles?) 

Tooi has reached Azuma Bridge four years ago. All he needs to do now is shoot his child self and then he’ll be outside the circle. As he’s walking towards his past self he’s talking about the dream he used to have of becoming a soccer player. Too bad Chikai is there to dump the cold harsh reality on him. His life turned around when their parents died and he shot a man. All Tooi had left was his brother, but he only used him. Well that’s what the Chikai-otter tells him. I want to believe that the real Chikai truly cared for Tooi. I think their moments have been some of the sweetest in the entire show, although I do realise that Chikai is a bad guy and that Tooi’s life would’ve been better without his involvement... That’s how some relationships are, especially familiar ones. 

Tooi claims that he knew about Chikai’s “use” of him and that he was okay with it. Tooi went along with everything because he believed that’s what had to be done for their survival. Then he shoots Chikai stating that this was a connection he chose for himself, meaning he can chose to end it too with his own hands. When Chikai falls to his death (again) bills blow up all around him (AGAIN). Money is what his life was about and what he died for. I think this is a really nice scene. Tooi gets to say goodbye to his brother and move on. Granted he’s about to move on outside the circle, but I still think it’s important that he got this moment because it’ll help him later on.

Kazuki and Enta make a sudden appearance and stop Tooi from shooting his past self. However the bullet scratches the miçanga and it breaks. Then Dark Keppi shows up. He was in the gun that he now uses to shoot past-Tooi which destroys the miçanga. The subs threw me off a bit here. Enta calls him an “imposter” which to me sounds like Keppi betrayed them, when he’s in fact referring to how Dark Keppi was disguised.

Kazuki’s showcasing his strong will when he refuses to let go of their connection. Him tying that miçanga again speaks to Tooi who wavers.

Next thing we know of the boys are falling down in the white space we see after a zombie has been defeated (with the rings that say “butt”). The image of the three boys falling down head first matches the one in the third teaser PV! I’ve been wondering how that fits in. It’s a lot of fun to look back at the old promotional material now when we know what happens and can spot the references. It also makes me incredibly nostalgic. The Sarazanmai twitter account posted the Tsunagaru PV’s again as a countdown for the last episode and seeing them again brought me to tears.

Back to the episode, the taiko drum of no beginnings, no endings and no connections appears in front of them and they get thrown into the circle that appears on it.

This next part is super cool when they all reflect on what they were like at the beginning of the series and how they’ve grown. They have new connections and hopes and dreams! The scene screams “last episode”. The highlight is Tooi admitting he’s grown fond of Kazuki and Enta, he even starts calling them by their first names!! (Shout-out to the anon who sent me an ask about a possible name switch over a month ago, I always think of you when this topic comes up).

The three boys connect through Sarazanmai one last time. Keppi appears looking like a superhero (with a cape and everything) and there are a bunch of ア signs in the background - just like when he first appeared!! Our last shirikodama extraction sequence consists of a simple black screen stating the action, then the three boys get spit out of Keppi at the same time. Thank you black screen for protecting us from the horrors of those shirikodama extraction visuals. They’re now back in the grey world four years ago and go to Azuma Bridge, the stage for the zombie fights.

It’s time for one last Sarazanmai no Uta. I love the insert songs so much, whenever they don’t play in an episode I end up missing them and I have to seek them out elsewhere. This version is extra cool because they all sing together. I’m so incredibly hyped! The fight is more intense and there are more random moments than usual with the otter appearing and singing about being an abstract concept (thanks for that ikuni). Keppi’s successful in capturing his desire and fusing with Dark Keppi.

THEN KEPPI’S SHELL OPEN AND REO AND MABU’S CONNECTED RINGS COME OUT AND I START SCREAMING AAAAAA!!!! ReoMabu get turned back into humans clad in their military uniforms. It’s such a sweet moment!! This is exactly the kind of content I want from a final episode. I also love the background song here, it’s a violin version of Kawausoiya and I’m sad that it’s not included in the OST album. I hope I can get it, along with this new version of Sarazanmai no Uta from somewhere.

There are some callbacks to Ikuhara’s previous anime. The gates that open up remind me of the duelling arena in Utena and the stairs look like the ones in the Crystal World in Penguindrum. It’s very cool and again, just what I want to see in the finale.

Next up the trio is successful in giving the miçanga to Kazuki from four years ago and thus they’re able to secure their connection and defeat the otter.

Keppi gets an upgrade. He’s now a humanoid character. I think he looks exactly like some of the creatures in Moomin (my home country’s pride and joy). He says to pass over the river of desire, which is another phrase that appeared in the third teaser PV (I want to make a post looking through all those PV’s again, someday).

There’s one final leak which shows the boys their future. It’s another really satisfying scene, because the boys namedrop all the episode titles when they’re talking about their wants and fears. The future isn’t all happy. Kazuki seems to get injured (like Haruka did) which hinders him from playing soccer, Tooi’s has to do time for his crimes and Enta has to see Kazuki quit soccer and leave him again. They’re still dealing with similar issues as before, not being able to communicate properly, feeling lonely etc. But while they see themselves argue in the future, a future together is something they’re aiming for nevertheless.

Sara warns us that life comes with pain (things with form will break and be lost someday). Reo and Mabu joins in and tells us that what the boys saw was a possible future for them. The CR subs are subbing their own thing here, Reo says "what they boys saw was themselves someday” and Mabu adds “that was a future someday” and “just one possibility”. While the leak obviously ties in with what happened in the past, they didn’t see anything of themselves from the past? With all sorts of crazy things going on in this episode, more accurate subs would help a lot to make more sense of everything...

Anyway, Keppi joins in as well with the same line of thought saying that the future won’t necessarily be bright. He has learned his lesson that both hope and despair is part of life and that you shouldn’t throw away either.

While all this talking is taking place Sara’s broken sara (ha!) gets turned into two crowns for Keppi and herself. Reo and Mabu put the crowns on them as the good vassals/dads they are :) I was not prepared for Sara to turn into a Moomin-creature like Keppi. She looks quite frightening to be honest. Haruka’s there, which I suppose is nice. The subs aren’t the best during this part either. I haven’t seen anyone else complain about them so I don’t know if this is just me needing to work on my comprehension skills, but I’m much happier listening to the Japanese lines or checking out Asenshi’s subs instead. 

The final message is to connect with others for a better future and to share both sadness and joy.

Stand By Me starts playing and I’m not ready. I’m not ready at all. At least the song and credits are playing over some final shots and not the regular ED. Tooi’s cutting all his hair off and my first reaction is to shout out that it’s a crime, but then it turns out it’s because he’s going to pay for his actual crimes at a juvenile detention center. Forget my love for long hair, this is amazing! Completely unexpected, but so good for him!

I find it amusing how it’s almost like Tooi’s the main character now, with how much focus there’s been on him this whole episode. He got all the best moments in it.

Tooi spends three years at juvie, which means he’s now 17 and aaah this is cool to see! He’s grown up, not only mentally but physically as well! Once he’s out he goes to checks on his family’s soba shop, but doesn’t enter it. Instead he walks around Asakusa and repeats Kazuki’s lines from the first episode (and the PV’s!). The CR subs are different which is annoying, but everyone should still be able to recognize the lines, they’re iconic. 

The Asakusa Kero TV cracks me up. Now we have an actual frog as our new mascot and not whatever Keppi and Sara were.

Although Tooi was told his life start here, he claims that it’s already over. Which tbh you can’t blame him for feeling that way. He jumps down into the Sumida River. Outwards it might look like a suicide attempt, but he’s actually at a good place in life. He’s come to terms with having lost everything and having to start again thanks to the support from Kazuki and Enta.

The ア signs appear and pierce him like they pierced Kazuki in the first episode, except the other way around (since he’s falling down and Kazuki was standing up). I’m not sure what to make of them. The ア signs represent connections (among other things). One idea I have is that these scenes represents times when their futures get changed thanks to their connections. Tooi could’ve jumped to his death, but thanks to Kazuki and Enta he chooses to stay with them in Asakusa and will live a happier life. In the first episode Kazuki’s connection to Haruka is what set everything in motion. The fact that Tooi turns around (as he’s falling) could also represent that their lives and their future changes into a better one (compared to how Kazuki’s life got worse). I’m looking forward to read what everyone else thinks or what the staff has to say about this. Multiple rewatches are also in order.

Tooi’s sinking down all gloomy when Kazuki and Enta jump in as well. They have also grown up and it feels so rewarding to see them like this. I love seeing characters through the ages. They’ve been waiting for Tooi! Once they all surface Tooi gives them the biggest smile ever and it’s perfect. Absolutely perfect. They sing Sarazanmai no Uta again, there’s a clipshow with them playing soccer and the other characters appearing looking very content with their lives.

The final episode title is “I want to connect so Sarazanmai”. How incredibly fitting.

Then the opening plays. Ikuhara, I love the opening, but you know you could’ve used this minute and a half to show us what happens to Reo, Mabu, Sara and Keppi instead. I’m very happy with their quick appearances, but I still have heaps of questions about them!! 

It’s a lot of fun to watch the OP again being able to pick up on all the references. There’s also one slight change, the final scene (with Ikuhara’s credit) is now blue instead of yellow. The three shadows are back together. Reminds me that we’ve been seeing the seagulls that also represent the three boys throughout the episode, AT the start there was just one to represent how Tooi was alone, but they’re also back together again by the end.

The final scene, because Sarazanmai just keeps hitting us with more and more scenes is of one of the river boats passing under Azuma Bridge. The three boys are sitting on it in kappa form, heading towards the future.

I think this was an amazing last episode. It was a proper last episode with tension running high, countless of amazing moments that felt very rewarding and tied up the episodes, such as the part where they name dropped them or seeing how the ending mirrors the beginning of the first episode. My only complaint is that there are still lots of questions left unanswered, but for the most part Sarazanmai has been a fairly straightforward story that’s been easy to follow along.

I hope that the last chapter of the second novel will explain what Tooi went through at the end some more and I really hope there’ll be a short chapter telling us what happens to Reo, Mabu, Sara and Keppi. It’s also unfortunate that we never found out how the Reo to Mabu manga ties in with the anime. Let’s hope the novel answers that as well.

This post has been incredibly difficult for me to write, I hope you enjoyed reading it and I congratulate you for getting through to the end. From here on out I’ll continue blogging about Sarazanmai as long as I still have things to say about it. 

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Sarazanmai Episode 6: “I Want To Connect, So I’m Not Giving Up”

All things considered, this episode was way more positive and hopeful than I expected, but it still hurt in it’s own way, and Ikuhara is still aiming to literally murder me with these post-ED scenes.

I was worried that Ikuhara wasn’t going to be able to pace out an 11-episode anime properly, but thus far it’s been fine, and this episode in particular gives me hope that the rest of the show will be just as good.

Also, I really think that anyone watching the show by this point needs to at least check out the ReoMabu prequel manga, if not also their twitter account, so you can get more context for their relationship, now that they’re becoming more prominent.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut.

It almost feels like a spoiler to include the episode title at the top of the post, since it’s one of the big emotional climaxes of the whole episode, but oh well. I still really love how this series is using it’s episode titles to hammer in specific emotions at the end of each episode.

This episode title also reflects how this is the episode where the patterns that have made up the show thus far have pretty much veered off-track. There were no musical numbers, no transformation scenes, no new Lucky Selfie Item, the kappa zombie of the week is determined to have love instead of desire, and for the first time ever, the episode title is actually a positive one that shows how Kazuki has grown as a person. I haven’t watched Penguindrum or Yuri Kuma Arashi yet, but I really like how Ikuhara intentionally deviates from the episodic patterns he sets up in order to create a sense of dissonance and change, and this is a great example of that. It really feels like this is the halfway mark that’s bridging the two halves of the show. I wouldn’t be surprised if the kappa zombie of the week stuff more or less stops after this, with how Reo and Mabu seem to be changing tactics, and the main trio are more aware of how the process works and how they’re erasing people from existence by defeating the kappa zombies.

Even though this is just the mid-season climax [and the point where the first of the two light novel volumes ends], it really feels like it could almost work as a full-on season finale, or at least a penultimate episode, with how it pretty much wraps up Kazuki’s entire character arc. But we still have five more episodes to go, and the post-ED scene in particular makes it clear that there’s still more to delve into. As I said above, I was worried that, based on what I’ve heard about Yuri Kuma Arashi, Ikuhara isn’t good at properly pacing out 1-cour anime, but this episode in particular makes it feel like if he was bad at it before, he’s certainly gotten a lot better at it. The pacing actually sorta reminds me of Planet With from last year, in how it feels like every single scene in this show is meaningful, and it feels like there’s more development than you get in most full series.

And on the note of Kazuki’s development, it didn’t go at all how I expected, but I’m really happy with how it went. I was honestly expecting Haruka to get turned into a kappa zombie and for the main trio to find out about the ‘erasure from existence’ thing after they defeated him, so I was surprised to see that he got saved, and I definitely wasn’t expecting it to also involve Kazuki finally accepting his brother’s love and saving him, after being given the choice to basically kill himself to erase all of his sins.

I think we can all agree that that whole sequence in this episode was ultimately a metaphor for him being suicidal and thinking that if he could die, or if he could have never been born in the first place, then everything would be better. There was just a vague plot mechanism in place to make him think that that might be genuinely true. Kazuki is a really complex and divisive character in a lot of ways, but moments like this really make it clear that he’s just a depressed teenager who feels unworthy of love. So it was nice to see Enta and Toi come through to save him before he could go through with killing himself [especially with how that whole bit incorporated Toi’s gun and Enta’s soccer skills].

The big climax of Kazuki’s arc, and his acceptance of Haruka’s love, ties in a lot with how we finally get some fairly blunt info about how society works in this series, and what exactly the loss of a Shirikodama means for a person. Like with how basically every Ikuhara anime is ultimately concerned with the idea of society being made of an in-group and an out-group, with being forced into the out-group being equivalent to death [but also to transcendence, sometimes], people in Sarazanmai are connected via their Shirikodama, and the linked desires that they represent, with those who cannot ‘connect desires’ being forced out of that circle of connection, and erased from existence. There’s a lot of in-universe lore and jargon going on there, but it basically boils down to ‘isolated outcasts get rejected and forgotten’. But on a more small-scale and personal level, this episode also explores the idea of smaller social circles, and the way that people can be rejected from them, and reject themselves from them. Kazuki feels that he was always on the outside of the circle after he found out that he was adopted into his family, and he’s been pushing Haruka away and refusing to connect with him directly for a variety of reasons. He’s been intentionally rejecting himself from that circle this whole time, and his big emotional realization in this episode is that Haruka genuinely loves him and just wants to have a normal relationship with him, and that he can allow himself to be loved and accepted into that circle. He can allow himself to be chosen. The fact that Haruka wants Kazuki to know that they’re a part of a circle together, from beginning to end, pretty much encapsulates all of that.

We also learn that part of why Haruka also has his own self-loathing issues going on is because he stole Kazuki’s mother’s scent pouch and rejected her out of fear that she’d steal Kazuki away from him. So he probably feels responsible for what ended up happening that day when Kazuki went to go see his mother at the train station.

I really hope we get to see the two of them interacting and talking things out soon. In a lot of ways their whole arc together has basically wrapped up, but it’ll still be nice to actually see their relationship improving.

I’m curious to see if Kazuki’s going to ever go back to his cross-dressing days now that the whole Sara thing has been exposed, and he’s finally allowed himself to love and be loved by Haruka as himself. I guess that’ll be what shows whether he only cross-dressed solely to try and connect with Haruka, or if he also had other reasons for it.

I have the wonder what’s gonna happen with the main trio now that Kazuki’s come to his big character development climax moment, and they all have a better understanding of how the kappa zombie thing works, and about the broader otter/kappa conflict. It’s also worth noting that, since they apparently defeated the sachet kappa zombie for good this time, they should have their fourth silver plate of hope, so they should just be one away from getting a full gold one. I’m really curious to see how that turns out, since I don’t think Kazuki is going to care about it at this point, since he’s managed to restore his relationship with Haruka without it. I think he’ll just let Toi or Enta use the gold plate for their own wish instead. And out of the two of them, with how things are going, it seems like Enta will probably end up letting Toi make the wish for himself.

It’s worth pointing out that even though Kazuki’s development more or less wrapped up here, there’s presumably more to do with Toi and Enta and their own personal conflicts. I think they’re each going to get one more focus episode before the anime wraps up. I don’t know entirely how their own stories will end, but Toi still needs to sort things out with him and his brother, and Enta clearly has to do SOMETHING about his repressed crush on Kazuki.

I would say that it feels like there’s actually not much more that even needs to happen with the main trio at this point since they’ve gotten so much focus and development already, but that’s where Reo and Mabu come in, since they’re clearly going to be way more prominent in the second half. The synopsis preview for episode 7 seems to imply that we’ll get more backstory for them, which will hopefully include the short chapter from the light novel that the anime’s apparently skipped over thus far. At the very least, this episode’s post-ED scene is enough to make it clear that there’s a lot to learn about them.

At first I was super thrown off by that whole scene, mostly because the art used for the backgrounds was so stylized that it looked like it took place on some fantasy planet, but after thinking about it, it makes sense, and I think it still slots into the same timeline as the manga and their twitter account. I think that their twitter account basically ended with the two of them getting drafted into the Otter Empire, and the post-ED scene in this episode shows them serving in the empire afterwards, and Mabu getting killed in the middle of them trying to finally capture Prince Keppi. It’s all very sudden, but it makes sense. And obviously we’ll learn more about it later.

It still looks like Mabu is being kept alive by a mechanical heart, which was probably provided by the Otter Empire in exchange for their continued service. But we still don’t know exactly how he got given that heart, and what his maintenance entails. It seems interesting that his situation resembles what Keppi said about the effects of having a Shirikodama removed, but Mabu still seems to be around, and Reo still remembers him and their history together, even if Mabu does seem to have lost his emotions. Maybe his mechanical heart is basically keeping him in a stasis where he’s not completely rejected from the circle like the defeated kappa zombies are. It might be worth noting that we’ve also only seen Reo interact with Mabu at all thus far, but that might just be a coincidence.

It looks like their goal, or at least Reo’s, has shifted over to capturing Keppi once and for all now that they’ve seen him in the security camera footage of the main trio saving Haruka. It definitely looks like his ultimate plan is probably to use Keppi to make a gold plate of hope that he can use to wish Mabu back to how he used to be. And honestly at this point I think he deserves it, lol. The main trio’s problems are all just real-life relationship issues that can be resolved through communication and honesty, but Reo doesn’t really have much of a choice if he wants to fix the issue of Mabu being a living corpse fueled by a magical mechanical heart.

I’m really curious to see how their methods change after this, now that they have a more concrete goal. I wonder if they’ll keep making new kappa zombies each episode, or if they’ll continue to play a more active role in things.

At the very least, I think that there’ll be a sequence later on where the two of them get their own Sarazanmai musical sequence and secret-leaking scene. It’d just make sense in a lot of ways if we find out that, similar to the main trio, they can transform into otters and do the whole Sarazanmai thing.

I’m also still curious to see if/when their connection to Sara comes up in the story, especially since it seems like the prequel manga is probably canon to the anime. I think it’d at least be weird if it doesn’t come up at all, since the fact that they raised Sara seems like a pretty big deal.

And on the note of her, and the prequel manga’s plot in general, this episode raises even more questions, even if it answers at least one. At the very least, it looks like the sleepwalking dude at the end of the manga was her manager, and the silhouetted figure with a crown was Prince Keppi. But even knowing that just raises it’s own questions. In particular, why didn’t Keppi mention Sara in his whole info-dump about the otter/kappa war? He basically acted like he was the only surviving member of his kingdom, but Sara [and her manager] are obviously still around. She’s even a popular TV idol, and even uses her kappa form as a mascot, so Keppi should at least be aware that she exists. So I wonder if he might be intentionally trying to hide his connection to her, for one reason or another. In particular, I wonder if maybe Keppi is trying to protect her from the Otter Empire by acting like he’s the only kappa left alive, so they won’t get suspicious of her. Though it’s hard not to think that his overall motives might be more sinister after his episode, so who knows.

I have a feeling that Sara might also have the power to produce dishes of hope like Keppi can, regardless of what he says about him being the only one able to do that. If she does, I could see that leading to an ending where she’s able to grant Reo’s wish, and they can basically go back to being a family together.

This episode kinda makes me even more confused about Sara in general, though. Now that we know more about the reality of the war going on, and the kappa being a nearly extinct kingdom, you’d think that she wouldn’t be quite so flippant about transforming into a kappa in public, or using her kappa form as a mascot on TV. Episode 5 also made her seem a lot more . . . spacey and off in her own world, in a way, than how she seemed at the end of the prequel manga. I wonder how she feels about all of this.

I was a bit worried that the show has been spending so much time on the main trio that it wouldn’t have enough time to really go into Reo and Mabu, and the whole otter/kappa conflict, and so on, but it looks like all of that is becoming a lot more important now, and this episode already spelled out a lot of info, so I think it should work out fine.

I really want to check out the light novels now, but I’ve already decided that I’ll wait until near the end of the year to buy both volumes together. I did import the ReoMabu manga yesterday, though, so that should get here next week. I have a feeling I’ll also end up importing the physical volumes of the new manga adaptation as well, lol.

All in all, this was a really fantastic episode. I’m really happy that Ikuhara hasn’t lost his touch, and that we’re still getting such great shows from him. Now I’m just crossing my fingers and hoping that the second half of the show can stick the landing.

[find-your-rp-partner]

Care to Roleplay? :3

Greetings! All those wonderful people who have taken the time to read my role-play request. It is an absolute honour to be here and introduce myself as one of the keen lovers of a very distinctive hobby we all have grown to love - Roleplaying. 

Feel free to call me Avari (which happens to be my very absurd internet alias). I am an eighteen year old college student, studying pre-med from the all too notorious university of Cambridge. Yes, I’m British and no, I haven’t met the Queen….yet. I am an absolute lover of dogs since I have like three myself and I hate the winter reason...ugh I can already feel my fingers freeze as I type...

Cravings!

Naruto Next Generation RP: Boruto

Absolutely no idea why I have a craving of this but god damn it, Kishi! (⊙.⊙(◉̃_᷅◉)⊙.⊙) I cannot get over how adorable the new characters are! I just have to...I have to role-play this one way or the other!

Love Interest(s): Boruto Uzumaki, Sarada Uchiha, Adult Naruto Uzumaki, Adult Hinata Uzumaki

Original Role-plays

If you have any original idea, and I mean ANY original idea, please contact me! I have been craving an original role-play for so long that my hunger has finally come to surface. I have a few ideas of my own which I would only share if you contact me! 💪 (`▿´) 👊

Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

Do I even have to say anything about this? Hot guys in tight swim suits is my sort of aesthetic ( ◡́.◡̀)\(^◡^ )

Love Interest(s): Haruka Nanase, Makoto Tachibana, Gou Matsuoka

Mystic Messenger

I LIVE FOR THIS M*THER F*CKING GAME

Love Interest(s): Jumin Han, Jaehee kang

  Length and Literacy ᕙ(`▿´)ᕗ

I love to write and, admittedly, I get carried away from time to time. Other times, I may suffer writer’s block and be rendered unable to reply because nothing will come to me. I hate to be that person, but I am going to put a minimum requirement. The minimum amount I will accept is 400 words per side. I usually write between 600 and 1,000 words per side, so I believe that’s at least fair. With literacy, try your hardest; that’s all I ask of you. I am very lenient when it comes to length because a person can write a whole novel and I would be sitting in the corner of my bedroom with my laptop and a bowl of popcorns to enjoy the whole work of art, yes writing is art for me. Or they could send me one paragraph which is good sized and I would be as quick as lightening to send one back so both novella and one paragraph have their perks. But I would never accept one-liners since they tend to ruin the flow of the roleplay. 

Leaving ≧◠‿●‿◠≦

If you’re going to drop me while discussing plots or immediately after starting, I request that you don’t message me at all. It happens far too often and has become more of a pain than anything else. If you don’t like my writing style or what I have in mind for my side of the roleplay, that’s all you have to say. 

Limits (͠≖ ͜ʖ͠≖)👌

Not a lot I’m uncomfortable with in the scheme of things. I won’t tell you, “No, I won’t do that.” Odds are, I’ll probably do it. I have absoutely no limits except for the ones mentioned below because God knows what goes inside this dirty mind of mine.

*Gets bitch slap by God* O-Okay...let’s move on...

The only limits I have are:

✕ Pedophilia (Grown Adult x Anyone Under 16) ✕ Bestiality

✕ Your OC x My OC

Reply Time ☜(ˆ▿ˆc)

It may take me five minutes to reply, or it may take me five days. It all depends on my workload, how many roleplays I have going on, and whether or not I have writer’s block. Messaging me twice a day to see if I’m going to reply isn’t going to make it come faster. Because I’m an asshole, messaging me twice a day to see where the reply is will move our roleplay to the bottom of the list. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Just be nice and give me a decent amount of time to reply; I’ll let you know if something came up and is preventing me from replying for longer than five days. I am honestly looking for someone who can reply around the clock because I would delete a threat of the person has not replied for like, two - three weeks and I might send a couple of emails if I have not heard from you in a week. I can reply within a day, or two at maximum but maybe that’s because I have no life ._. (Lying!) Please reply on time and I would be a happy partner :3

OOC Chatting (─‿‿─)

Contrary to how my rules may make me out to be, I love talking to my partners! If you want to chat about something you’re really excited about or vent because you’re having a bad day, by all means, I’m all ears! I won’t tell you to leave me alone. 

Writing Sample!

Looking up at the giant who loomed above her, she felt very small and fragile. Oddly, she also felt safe. Safer than she had felt in three years. Loosening her grip on his hands, she raised her own hand and touched her fingers to a cut on his chin. "You've been hurt, too," she said, smiling shyly at him.

Jordan caught his breath at the unexpected glamour of the lad's glowing smile and froze in amazement when he felt an odd, inner tingle from the boy's touch. A boy's touch. Brusquely shaking off the small hand, he wondered grimly if his boredom with life's ordinary diversions was turning him into some sort of perverted dilettante. "You haven't yet told me your name," he said, his tone deliberately cool as he began exploring the boy's lower rib cage, watching his small face for any sign of pain.

Alexandra opened her mouth to give her name, but gave a shriek of outraged panic instead when he suddenly slid his hands onto her breasts.

Jordan jerked his hands away as if they'd been scorched. "You're a girl!"

"I can't help it!" Alexandra flung back, stung by the sharp accusation in his voice.

The absurdity of their exchanged words struck them both at the same time: Jordan's black scowl gave way to a sudden grin and Alexandra started to laugh. And that was how Mrs. Tilson, the innkeeper's wife, found them—both on the bed, laughing, the man's hands arrested a few inches above Miss Alexandra Lawrence's gaping shirt and bosom.

"Alexandra Lawrence!" she exploded, barging into the room like a battleship under full sail, sparks shooting from her eyes as they leveled on the man's hands above Alexandra's open shirt. "What is the meaning of this!"

Alexandra was blessedly oblivious to the portent of what Mrs. Tilson was seeing and thinking, but Jordan was not, and he found it nauseating that this woman's evil mind could apparently accuse a young girl of no more than thirteen years of collaborating in her own moral demise. His features hardened and there was a distinct frost in his clipped, authoritative voice. "Miss Lawrence was hurt in an accident just south of here on the road. Send for a physician."

"No, do not, Mrs. Tilson," Alexandra said and lurched into a sitting position despite her swimming senses. "I'm perfectly well and wish to go home."

Jordan spoke to the suspicious woman in a curt, commanding voice. "In that case, I'll take her home, and you can direct the physician to the bend in the road a few miles south of here. There, he'll find two thugs who are beyond needing his skill, but he can ensure they're properly disposed of." Reaching into his pocket, Jordan withdrew a card with his name engraved on it beneath a small gold crest. "I'll return here to answer any questions he may have, once I've taken Miss Lawrence to her family."

Mrs. Tilson muttered something scathing under her breath about bandits and debauchery, snatched the card from his hand, glowered at Alexandra's unbuttoned shirt, and marched out.

"You seemed surprised—about my being a girl, I mean," Alexandra ventured uncertainly. 

"Frankly, this has been a night of surprises," Jordan replied, dismissing Mrs. Tilson from his mind and turning his attention to Alexandra. "Would I be prying if I were to ask you what you were doing rigged out in that suit of armor?"

Alexandra slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand. The room swayed. "I can walk," she protested when the man reached out to lift her into his arms.

"But I'd prefer to carry you," Jordan said firmly and did exactly that. Alexandra smiled inwardly at the blithe way he stalked through the common room, serenely indifferent to the staring villagers, carrying in his arms a disheveled, dusty girl clad in breeches and shirtsleeves.

Once he had set her gently onto the deep, luxurious squabs of his coach and settled in across from her, however, her amusement vanished. Soon, she realized, they would pass by the gruesome scene she'd partially caused. "I took a man's life," she said in a tortured whisper as the coach headed toward the dreaded bend. "I will never forgive myself."

"I would never forgive you if you hadn't," Jordan said with a teasing smile in his voice. In the glow of the lighted coach lamps, huge aqua eyes brimming with tears lifted to his face, searching if, silently beseeching him for more comfort, and Jordan responded automatically. Reaching forward, he lifted her off the seat and onto his lap, cradling her in his arms like the distraught child she was. "It was a very brave thing you did," he murmured into the soft, dusky curls that brushed his cheek.

Alexandra drew in a shuddering breath and shook her head, unknowingly rubbing her cheek against his chest "I wasn't brave, I was simply too frightened to run away like a sensible person."

Holding the trusting child in his arms, Jordan was startled by the unprecedented thought that he might like to have a child of his own to hold someday. There was something profoundly touching about the way this little girl was snuggled against him, trusting him. Remembering that fetching little girls inevitably become spoiled young women, he promptly discarded the notion. "Why were you wearing that old suit of armor?" he asked for the second time that night

Alexandra explained about the jousts, which were a ritual whenever one of the O'Toole children had a birthday, then she made him repeatedly laugh aloud by describing some of her foibles and triumphs during today's lists.

"Don't people outside of Morsham have jousts and such? I always assumed people were the same everywhere, although I don't know it for certain, since I've never been beyond Morsham. I doubt if I ever will."

Jordan was shocked into momentary silence. In his own wide circle of acquaintances, everyone traveled everywhere, and often. It was hard to accept that this bright child would never see any place beyond this godforsaken tiny village on the edge of nowhere. He glanced down at her shadowy face and found her watching him with friendly interest, rather than the deferential awe he was accustomed to. Inwardly he grinned at the image of uninhibited peasant children throwing themselves into jousts. How different their childhood must be from that of the children of the nobility. Like himself, they were all raised by governesses, ruled by tutors, admonished to be clean and neat at all times, and constantly reminded to act like the superior beings they were born to be. Perhaps children who grew up in remote places like this were better and different—guileless and courageous and unaffected, as Alexandra was. Based on the life Alexandra described to him, he wondered if perhaps peasant children were the lucky ones, after all. Peasant children? It dawned on him that there was nothing of the rough peasant in this child's cultured speech.

Farewell?

Ah, it seems that I am all out of food! （ つ︣﹏╰） But the request has come to an end and I shall see you next time, in my inbox! Oh wait, I forgot to mention a few things…

When contacting me, make sure to type ‘Hella kawaii’ in your subject line so that I know you’ve read the request thoroughly. Also, here is my email!

marisavestheday@gmail.com

[mageinabarrel]

We pick up where we left off last time with Shoji Kawamori’s interview on creating AKB0048. In this part, the questions focus primarily on the casting process for the main voice actresses, turning toward some specific questions about the production process near the end.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out part one of the interview!

Shaking from nerves at auditions. Asking Kawamori Shoji about AKB0048: Part 2.

Whether it’s the Senbatsu popularity election or rock-paper-scissors, AKB48’s motto is always “fight hard.” For the voice of the 9 trainee main characters, an audition was held to choose from AKB48 and their sister groups, a total of 200 girls. What goal did Kawamori have with this inconceivable plan of casting the 9 lead roles with new voice actors? This second part of the interview with Shoji Kawamori centers on that voice casting.

— All of the 9 trainees were voiced by new members. They weren’t new to voice acting however, but instead were girls chosen from the AKB48 groups. This seems like it was quite a gamble.

Kawamori: Gambling can be good sometimes (laughs).Voice actresses have their own special set of skills. Acting with your voice is an incredibly difficult thing. Since (Super Dimension Fortress) Macross I’ve discovered many singers-turned-voice-actresses, but never 9 at one time. However, last June I witnessed the Senbatsu popularity election for the first time. After seeing those girls pull punches right out in the open to win, I felt that we would lose the concept of the story if we cast from outside the AKB48 groups. So during the meeting on the way back from the elections I said, “We have to choose from those girls.”

— It’s like you were driven into a corner (laughs). For the first round of auditions you chose through voice recording, correct?

Kawamori: We conducted tape audition in October, but the time until we could review them was filled with sleepless nights. We had asked for girls that were interested in voice acting to be notified, but we told by the AKB48 group, “We’re a group that gives it our all, so we’re all in.” We didn’t really have much time for that, though, so we had a car parked behind a handshake event, called in the girls one by one, handed them a paper and told them to read (laughs).

— What was the impression from those audition tapes?

Kawamori: We had heard that there were anime fans among��the members, and this was true; however there were more girls that spoke like anime characters than girls who actually liked anime. If we went with those girls there really wouldn’t be any point in having this audition and choosing from outside of the anime industry. So while those girls did well, we intentionally chose away from that.

— Was the overall level high?

Kawamori: Despite suddenly being told to audition in a place like that, there were a lot of girls that had a good sense of what they were doing. On top of that, it really felt like each one of them had figured out what they needed to stand out as unique. I wondered what made them so independent and have such a good intuition, and then I figured it out. Obviously, when they take the mic on stage, but also at handshake events and variety shows, they train how to be themselves.

— I understand speaking on stage and variety shows, but why handshake events as well?

Kawamori: For many members, they meet with 2000 people in one day. If you think about it, though, they interact with 2000 people in a single day. They have to train themselves to be able to respond to every fan right then and there. There aren’t many groups in the world that do that kind of thing. For example, you would expect a sales person that interacts with many customers to have a firm grasp of communication, wouldn’t you? But for AKB48, they have to train to respond to the love and support of each of their 2000 fans in a matter of seconds in a single day, however many time a month.

— They can’t really respond to that love and support easily either. They have to give back with their best reactions or comments.

Kawamori: Yeah. In a split second they decide what to say, how to express it, and shake their fan’s hand. Doing that with 2000 people is training in itself. There isn’t much criticism of that training at handshake events either. Everyone seems to overlook the work put into it.

— So that’s the result of those handshake events. From that audition taken at the handshake event, you chose 30 girls to participate in the live audition. What was your impression of that?

Kawamori: At the live audition you could see some girls shaking from nerves. Why was it that they were shaking so much after climbing the stage in contrast to the previous audition? They wanted to be voice actors that badly. They felt this was their only chance. Even in this state, though, they were able to properly say their lines. Being able to display such power under all that pressure is really amazing. Another thing, the level at the live audition had already surpassed the level at the first audition.

— Being able to mature that quickly is pretty amazing.

Kawamori: We chose the nine girls from that live audition and continued onto the casting audition. Even at that time, if you gave them even the slightest of directions they would instantly change. Karen Iwata (playing Nagisa Motomiya) in particular was able to improve incredibly fast. If you were to listen to their voices during the first audition I’m sure it would shock you.

— How so?

Kawamori: Listening to the tapes, there is certainly an impression left, but their voices are incredibly gloomy. The first round of auditions left this bad taste in my mouth. I was left thinking there was no way such gloomy voices could take on such cheerful characters. They were still only trainees (just like the characters) after all. But during the second audition they seemed to brighten up a little bit. Meeting with them and listening to them talk, it didn’t seem like they were the types to get fired up and make a lot of noise. But, during the recording and retakes they seemed to get a lot more into it. Every episode their emotional performance gradually changed. That is to say, between every episode they changed. It wasn’t just Iwata either; I’ve never seen a group of girls improve that quickly.

— I was also quite surprised by the trainees’ performance. Especially with how well Amino Sato and Haruka Ishida performed as Yuuka Ichijou and Kanata Shinonome. I thought many of the other castings for the trainees were interesting, but Mayu Watanabe caught my interest. Within the trainee members there was Mayu Watanabe who voiced Chieri Sono; however, there was also the Mayu Watanabe Mk. III. She wasn’t the 3rd generation, she was Mk. III. Why was it that she had missiles shooting out of her arms (laughs)? What was the real Mayu’s response to this?

Kawamori: She was quite pleased with it. The fans asked her on Google+: “Will your arms be shooting missiles and beams from now on?” to which she responded, “Yes.” She just got it (laughs).

— Even if she becomes a robot in the future, she’s good to go (laughs).

Kawamori: I never said she was a robot. That’s a 00 top secret, so please try not to poke your nose into it. Even after you saw beams shoot out of her hands, if you asked her, “Mayuyu, what was that just now?” she’ll just act like she can’t hear you (laughs).

— Now I’m even more interested (laughs)! I’m changing the subject, but can you tell us about the live concert scenes? Similar to Macross F, I feel like AKB0048 places importance on the live scenes. This time you used CG characters for these scenes—what was the purpose of that?

Kawamori: To be exact, it was a CG-hand drawn hybrid. In the case of Macross F, there were only two idols, Sheryl and Ranka. They usually sang solos as well so, despite needing to draw these scenes, it was feasible. However, with AKB0048 there were 16 girls. If we had all of it hand drawn, we would lose focus on the other scenes. We’d be tripping over ourselves. What we really wanted to focus on drawing were the dramatic scenes. So in order to preserve the drawing quality of the dramatic parts, we used CG. There is also a lot more freedom with camera angles when using digital. You can get an single shot from the the audience to the stage for instance.

— I see.

Kawamori: Nowadays it’s normal to have a camera crane grazing over the audiences’ heads. People have grown accustomed to it. If we didn’t show them something more dynamic it would be no good. Although if it had been a show aimed purely at anime fans, we would just have given it our best shot with hand drawing and shown them what we had, but this time we had a wider audience. We made the camera work and formations digital, and used traditional drawing when showing things like expressions or final poses. Making the best of both forms was a key point in the live performances.

— Now, I was very taken with the mechanics of the bike in episode one, as well as the world’s picture book styled art like shown with Akibastar. The mechanical designer, Stanislas Brunet, and the background artists, Thomas Romain and Yann Le Gall, are all from France. What was the purpose in appointing them?

Kawamori: During the production of Basquash we worked together, but they all have a very good sense about them. They have very interesting non-Japanese point of view. Despite this, they love Japanese animation and can thus fight alongside it. I really wanted their out-of-the-box thinking and quality style. Their sense of scale is really good as well and they are over all very reliable staff members.

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— They created a very unique world, didn’t they? With that, we can start to wrap things up. Can you tell us what to look for in the final episode that airs this Sunday (July 22nd)?

Kawamori: The characters’ stories are quickly progressing and as you watch, those individual stories are coming together to shape into something.

—  I feel like your works tend to take your fans by surprise; we’ll be expecting similar this time around.

Kawamori: That’s such a strange way to put it. A show with a surprise ending would definitely be Aquarion EVOL, but AKB0048 will be more straightforward. If I try and go big too often it might be a let down (laughs).

— Is it also because you want others, outside of your fan base, to enjoy the show as well?

Kawamori: I believe so. That and the struggle of the AKB48 members is something very earnest and straightforward. I never thought I would see such straightforward women in this day and age.

— When you first started thinking up an anime for AKB48, did you ever think it would become what it is today?

Kawamori: Before collecting data I thought it would be centered around the successor members and the use of their honed skills. I won’t go as far as to say an action spy theme, but there was  strong push for something around the lines of fighting the entertainment oppression or narrowly escaping live performances. Now, it is purely a story of the girls’ youth. “A story of sweat and tears, that’s all,” kind of deal (laughs). But, just how much sweat and tears will there be? Everyone watching will personally experience it from here on out (laughs).

And that’s all for this interview! Once again, thank you to @chottojolly for translating this interview as a Christmas gift for me and for giving me permission to post it here!

And here's the second part of the translated interview with Shoji Kawamori on AKB0048! We pick up where we left off last time with Shoji Kawamori's interview on creating AKB0048…