#also rika got into the anime?? or was it the short anime?

[sexysilverstrider]

100 People of 2023 Selected by Dream Girls

[tangsakura]

My Response to Sukuna's You Pronouns Post

The post I am responding to was made by @thepersonperson.

So here are my thoughts about the way Sukuna uses the second-person pronoun to people + my other observations. Please read @thepersonperson's post first before reading ahead for a better understanding.

Warning: The following content contains JJK spoilers beyond the anime, so if you aren't caught up with the manga, please DO NOT INTERACT. Also, mentions of homosexuality topic in Edo & Heian periods.

Sukuna's default pronoun is always omae. But the way it's written in the manga tells you how he seriously he is addressing you. When he was talking to Yuta and Haruta, it was written as お前, the hiragana/kanji way, the usual way. Yes, he is talking to you, but he is also nonchalant about you. It carries the connotation of 'okay, he/she is just some person, meh' kind of thing if you get what I mean.

We see this with Ryu, who he wasn't taking seriously because his main priority at that moment was to kill Yorozu, who was in Tsumiki's body. On the other hand, he looked down on Yuta since to him, his curse technique wasn't anything special; if anything, Rika was the one he was paying attention to because Yuta's powers depends on her (I hope I worded this right *sweats*).

Whereas if you look at the way he talks to Maki, Jogo, the Twins, and Yuji, he is using オマエ, the katakana way. I think that he is in the moment and directly talking to them seriously. Obviously, he doesn't see them as equals nor the same level as Gojo, but they got his attention, and he's directly talking to them.

As for Mahoraga, I feel like he is reminding it that its master is him now. He was talking as if Mahoraga is his subordinate and is disappointed that it is not fulfilling its master's wishes.

And here is where it gets interesting for Kisama. The people he used Kisama with are people he sees higher than those he uses Omae with.

Let's take a three-floored pyramid. At the very top is whatever the second person pronoun or whatever he uses to indicate that he considers them as equal, which obvs we will most likely not see him use. At the bottom are the Omae people, and in the middle are the Kisama people. It makes sense that Kisama is higher, since Kisama irl was originally used for respectable people, or even those higher than you in the upper class/ranks.

For Yorozu, I think the reason he used Kisama was because he's trusting her enough to do what is necessary if she ever defeats him. Throughout their fight, Sukuna uses オマエ, the serious Omae, meaning he's taking her seriously but still looking down at her more than Kisama people - Gojo and Kashimo. But when they're talking about what would happen if Yorozu defeats him, he talks as if he was trusting her enough with his 'dead' body (remember, to him, defeat = being no different than dying). Of course, he was not seeing her as his equal nor wants defeat from her, but interacting just enough to indicate to her 'hey, I don't ever want to die (be defeated), but if I ever do, do what you want with me. I trust you to some extent' kind of thing.

For Gojo and Kashimo, he uses Kisama to them because he sees them as someone he would fight with all of his attention, more than the Omae people. The ones who will give him a greater satisfaction, the ones he'll get along with even if it'll only be for a short while. Mind you, these two are the strongest in their era, so you might even think of it as acknowledging them for being at the top of the strength hierarchy in their generations.

Let me first start with Gojo.

In chapter 224, Sukuna calls Gojo "名前をついてないだけの魚" - a fish that merely has no name attached to it.

JJK Chapter 224

Think about it. Sukuna is called many names, including the titles 'King of Curses', 'The Fallen', and 'The Honoured One'. Even Kashimo is called, 'The God of Lightning'. But what about Gojo? In this generation, they call him 'The Strongest Sorcerer', but these two were also called that in their respective generations aside from their famous epithet(s). So what's his name outside of that? This is what Sukuna is telling him - he has no name outside of being 'The Strongest', thus he's just a fish. Don't get me wrong. He still thinks highly of him than those in the Omae level.

(Also, man says 'uo', the older Japanese word for fish, instead of 'sakana' lmao)

Now, in another instance, Sukuna included an English word into his speech and switched to the お前 pronoun. How I interpret this is Sukuna tricking Gojo. Remember, today in Japan, Kisama is a really derogatory second-person pronoun that it might as well be a swear word.

JJK Chapter 231

Sukuna isn't looking down on Gojo that much compared to those in the Omae category - he respects him to a certain extent; but Gojo doesn't see it like that. Gojo definitely thinks that Sukuna is looking down on him so much and that he is insulting him. When Sukuna remarks about the 'countdown until that smirk of yours disappears', Gojo sees it as a sign that Sukuna has elevated Gojo and sees him as an equal in the battlefield, indicating that his attacks dealt a tremendous damage on Sukuna. But about the countdown word, I think it may have also come from Yuji's and Megumi's influences that he uses a few English words here and there, but definitely he talked a bit like a modern person to seem like he was trying to connect to Gojo. We might as well say that he was taking advtange of modern Japan's language and societal norms to play on Gojo's mindset.

Anyways, unfortunately, in Sukuna's view, he was now nonchalant. Remember what I said previously about お前 for him - he's not serious in his interaction to the person he's using that to. So while it might not have been obvious to Gojo, it should be obvious to the readers, assuming they pay attention to how he uses his Omae pronoun..... that there was something strange with him. What's going on? Of course, we eventually find out what he has under his sleeve in ch 236.........

And as for remembering part of Yorozu's words..... it isn't clear when you read it this chapter alone, but once you read chapter 238, it makes sense.

JJK Chapter 238 (English Translation)

In that moment, Sukuna recognized that Gojo is having a hard time with making sense of 'love', that Gojo is dealing with solitude but hasn't come to terms with it. It made sense now as to why Sukuna remember Yorozu's words - chapter 238 confirms this through his dialogue. (I swear, this man knows how to read a person's psyche and personality so well and he uses it against people (e.g. Yuji)

Also, Yorozu's default second-pronoun, at least with Sukuna, is Anata, which is feminine and is the usual female second person pronoun regardless of the female's relationship to the person she's speaking with. Women also uses this to call their spouse or lover, just as how men will use omae or kimi to their spouse or lover (though, if we're talking about Sukuna, I don't think this rule will apply because of how he uses Omae......). Nevertheless, unless we see more of her, I'll consider Anata as her default second person pronoun.

Anyways, after Gojo's death comes Kashimo. Sukuna definitely acknowledges him as 'The Strongest' of his generation, as indicated with his use of Kisama, but he got pissed. He was high at that moment. He was genuinely satisfied. He fought someone who stood his ground and wasn't thrown uselessly around like Jogo did. He got to learn about this unique, calculative and power cursed technique. He was challenged with overcoming infinity, something so difficult to bypass, but overcame it with 10 shadows (shoutout to Mahoraga/Makora), not by his own technique alone. He got a new version of dismantle - World Slash.

He also most likely witnessed probably the most heartwarming afterlife scene for him (I refused to believe that he didn't witness the airport scene with Gojo and co. in their much younger selves - I mean he was there watching Jogo's afterlife scene then goes to interrupt, and does the same thing with Kashimo's afterlife scene), which makes me believe that it was also one of the reasons why he was beaming when he said, 'You are praiseworthy, Satoru Gojo. It seems that I will not forget you for as long as I live.'

JJK Chapter 236

Unlike Jogo and Kashimo, Gojo did not move on to the afterlife full of regrets and disappointment. Sure, he said that he didn't do well enough to reach Sukuna and all, but that was literally inconsequential. Like did you see him with all the people he was with during Inventory Arc, including Riko (no Toji) when he finally passed on? He was all smiles and there was nothing else. He got all the answers and anything else that he needed - the closure - from his peers from the afterlife, understood it all, and came to terms with it. So, there was no reason for Sukuna to intervene and give his two cents to Gojo to give him the closure he needed. That was why, Sukuna must've been happy, because Gojo had a 'proper death', no regrets and disappointment or whatsoever towards the life he led. He nor anybody else alive at the moment weren't needed by Gojo for him to move on.

Anyways, back to the topic of Kashimo.

I believe that if Kashimo had waited for a while for Sukuna to savour the aftermath of his fight with Gojo (I'm not even surprised if he was mourning his death a bit), he would've bothered to 'properly' fight Kashimo. What I mean is fighting him with him knowing about him, including his name. But that didn't happen. Even though he recognized Kashimo as worthy like Gojo Satoru, he entered at the wrong time. Even so, Sukuna entertained him, but if you read their fight, it wasn't the same as the one with Gojo. It felt more rushed and it just felt like Sukuna wasn't doing it for the sake of having fun and learning. It didn't help that Kashimo was being demanding of him for answers to his complications and issues.

Then, in the afterlife scene, when Kashimo was talking to Sukuna, it was noted how Kashimo went from Omae to Anta. I believe this is him not only elevating Sukuna or lowering himself in their interaction, but also letting Sukuna about his feelings for him. Anta is the informal version of Anata and is still feminine enough. When a guy uses feminine language, they are being polite/respectful to whoever they are talking to (unless they don't identify as a male).

Remember, Kashimo was from the Edo period and during that time, believe it or not, homosexuality was rampant among the monastic (monks) and samurai classes. There was this thing called age-structured homosexual relationships. So, basically, somebody young, usually adolescent male, would be in a relationship with their master, a male adult. Until the adolescent one comes of age, they will be in this relationship. Usually the older one is the active and dominant one, while younger one is the one receiving the older one. In the case of the samurai class, the younger one receives the older partner "out of love, loyalty, and affection, rather than sexual desire". There are also male prostitutes, mainly kabuki actors, who are sought by males, as well.

I think Sukuna also recognized Kashimo's attraction to him but he rejects him outright with the words he said to him that love was worthless. I mean, even in Heian era, there were also homosexual relationships. This is evident in Genji Monogatari, where Genji rejected a lady and instead slept with her younger brother. (Also, mind you all, we don't know Sukuna's sexual preferences, so don't make assumptions lmao)

In anycase, this is my two cents regarding Sukuna's second-person pronouns. I hope you had a fun time reading it. Feel free to share your thoughts or let me know what I missed. As usual, I will respond when I feel like it lmao

Until next time!

[ultfreakme]

Honestly Geto and Gojo having the same death anniversary which happens to be the most romantic day in Japan, with a character in-story stating how romantic it is should be enough evidence to convince anybody that SatoSugu are supposed to be a romance.

On top of that, we hear that JJK0 is about Yuuta and Rika's love but it's also about Geto and Gojo's relationship.

Then Gege Akutami specifically assigning break-up songs to Geto and Gojo.

AND THEN; they each get canon songs made in each other's POV speaking about their feelings specifically for one another. Where Gojo's song contains lyrics like "Even though I’ve come to know the scent of you being different from mine" and "Any prayer, any word Could bring us closer, but they couldn’t reach you Just like a silent love, In the summery colors along my cheeks". And Geto's song has lyrics like "Even trivial conversations are fine. Show me your blushing face once more" and "It exists only here. I want to touch you" and "Though I understand a wounded heart. Why do I end up hurting and leaving the same scars?"

The animation team going out of their way to give these two more soft moments hanging, creating visual parallels through the Betta Fishes, the flowers, the entire OP for Hideen Inventory but especially the part where we are seeing Gojo's vision being filled with Geto looking amazing while he rides Geto's rainbow dragon.

I saw someone say we're just projecting western views of romance onto satosugu but like, LOOK AT ALL THIS. I cannot stress enough the insanity of their death dates. It's like two people dying one after the other on Valentine's Day. This is some Romeo & Juliet bullshit. JJK in general has next to no romance, no one's pining after each other, the few times there are implications, it's very short. The most obvious one is Mechamaru and Miwa. Now imagine if Mechamaru and Miwa were the ones who got Ao No Sumika and Akari. Imagine they got 5 episodes dedicated to their story and Mechamaru dies on December 24th and Miwa's the one forced to put him out of his misery for betraying them to Mahito and Kenjaku.

Okay do you fucking see how ridiculous denying SatoSugu is? If Mechamaru and Miwa got all that even WITHOUT saying an 'I love you' no one would question their romance.

I know people keep making fun of shonen animes for having a stronger 'romance' between the two guy leads than with any other love interest but I've seen that stuff and even there it isn't nearly as deliberately romantic as SatoSugu. I can tell that Kuroko & Kagami, Gon & Killua or Levi & Erwin are supposed to be friends, the shipping thing is based on the established friendship stuff but SatoSugu are so blatant it's hard to think of another explanation.

I saw a point about how people are projecting western perspectives of romance on platonic friendship expression in a different culture, which I do get, I think it's a valid point. Idk much about how people express friendship in Japan but I have heard there's a lot more skinship and openness as compared to western cultures.

But w/ SatoSugu there isn't anything that can be read as purely platonic, there's always an ambiguity or it's directly romantic.

[leggerefiore]

Le project is finished!

I explained it to you in chat, but for everyone else here, let me explain. To find everyone else's estimated height when we only have a canon height for Volo, (6ft3 or 75 inches) I needed to know how many pixels tall he was. Hair has volume and isn't completely flat (esp anime hair) nor do hats fit completely snug on the dome of the skull. So I allocated space for that on each model. To find where the top of the head actually was, I reverse constructed the heads like I was drawing something, veeerrrrry fancy way of saying I drew two circles.

Once as I did Volo's, I zoomed in super close in Clip Studio with a guide, noting where the floor hit on the ruler, as well as where the top of the upper circle representing his skull hit. I then subtracted the floor number from the skull number to get his height in pixels. Then I had to do a lil math because I needed to know how many pixel would proportionally read as 1 inch. To do so, I divided Volo's height in pixels by 75, and it gave me a number just above 6.1; this is the ratio I used to figure everyone else out.

We decided to try to get Cyrus's height as well, and I bumped into my first issue, I couldn't just shrink Cy down and use the same ratio because the camera angle was different. Also, I couldn't just stitch the images together because without knowing down to the pixel, where Cyrus's head hit on Volo, the previous ratio would give an inaccurate result. I found this out the hard way and got this funny shit:

Alas, I requested another image, this time with Volo standing beside Cyrus, for the sake of me being able to create a new ratio. We went ahead and added a few more characters for fun. That's when I realized I had made a massive mistake in the first set of calculations: the modeler already shows me where the floor is and everyone was already lined up on that axis. A redo of the first set of calculations was in order.

I got it fixed and here's the images:

I did go ahead and round everyone to the nearest whole inch. The results are: Volo 6'3, Cyrus 6'0, Ingo 5'10 (slightly rounded down), Cynthia 5'10 with heels (slightly rounded up), Grimsley 5'8, Nanu 5'7, Rika and Saturn at 5'5, Mars 5'2 with heels (thanks to the camera angle I was able to calculate the height of her heels - just over 2 inches, meaning she's roughly 5ft even without them).

Enjoy!

Alpha Cyrus standing lordly over Volo, who has yet to meet someone taller than him and is bewildered. Also, alpha encounter music playing the in background and giving him flashbacks.

My joke about Cyrus standing just under 6' feet is defrated, but I am happy I got the number so close at a random guess. Ingo's height is nerfed... My train man never stood above the line 😭... Emmet, of course, is the same height. Assuming Cynthia's heels are around the same height as Mars, she's at 5'8" (Grim territory), but I think they're actually a little shorter than Mars's own, so probably 5'9".

Grimsley isn't the shortest king, but his height does suit him. I'm going to blame Nanu's height on his bad posture. The true short king is Saturn... He deserves a crown. Rika's height wasn't so unexpected after seeing her around the taller characters. I'm a little sad she's a bit shorter than I thought, but she's still taller than me lol. Tiny Mars being an entire foot shorter than Cyrus. She's looking up to him in more than one way.

Thanks for doing all this madness to satiate my curiosity!

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 7 Minagoroshi pt. 9

I'm sure they went with calling the chapters chapters because it sounds better than episodes. Or at least that's what I'll be convincing myself is the case, but it is somewhat annoying to me that they also call the chapters within the chapters chapters. It makes more sense to call them that instead of sections or parts or whatever word you might choose, but it just is silly to me. I admit that maybe I'm the only one this bugs, but I don't really care. I'm allowed my petty annoyances.

During their lesson about learning the cheating method in mahjong an unexpected character makes their return.

In this chapter's version of the timeline this version of Akasaka made it back to Tokyo in time to stop his wife from dying by falling down the stairs. Him and the missus are on a vacation near Hinamizawa, and Akasaka mentions that he'll be in town on the day of Watanagashi, and that he'll be there to help Rika come hell or high water. In case she needs it. Akasaka then promptly leaves the story and hasn't been seen or mentioned again since his reintroduction here in chapter four. Not to reveal too much info, but I'm near the end of chapter ten (I presume it's near the end anyway, Watanagashi is just about to happen) and Akasaka basically just amounted to an extremely brief cameo. Also I can't really justify why, but he just looks a little weird in the console art. This is going to sound like a really weird pull, but have you ever seen the screenshots of that one gacha game where the girl falls in love with the horse? He reminds me of that anime horse boy.

The remake and original arts for comparisons sake.

Despite his extremely brief appearance Rika takes Akasaka's appearance in this timeline as an extremely good sign that things are indeed turning around for her. It's all coming up Rika, ain't nothing gonna break this good luck streak of hers!

I'm sure this is nothing. Looks like things aren't turning up well for Rina however. Her scheme to fleece Rena's dad out of his fortune up in smoke she seems to have got herself caught up in some very bad circumstances.

This all sounds extremely familiar.

Realizing instantly something bad has happened to Satoko, Rika swings by Satoko's house which has stood abandoned for the last year after Satoshi hypothetically killed their aunt. There he finds Teppei's come back and has taken Satoko to live with him.

Given how the rest of the chapter up until this point had more or less been speedrunning the previous chapters I thought it was going to do the same things with the new version of events from Tatarigoroshi. I was very much mistaken. What I thought was going to be a relatively brief compression of events winds up taking five chapters and nearly fourteen hours worth of time. It becomes the majority of the chapters running time and I feel it just grinds the overall story to a halt.

Rika, finding that Teppei Houjou has come back, she decides to go to Irie and Takano in an effort to have them help her deal with the Teppei situation.

And so Rika Furude uses her doctor and military contacts to enact a plan to assassinate Teppei Houjou. It is, in my opinion a pretty funny turn of events that this small child was able to brow beat two grown adults into swift action.

Funny thing about this brief discussion of Satoko's medication is that it actually gets forgotten and becomes an important plot point after a while. A short while later Takano comes back to inform Irie and Rika what her and Okonogi discussed. Before moving on I just have to wonder briefly if this Okonogi is the same Okonogi who shows up in the future timeline of Ange Ushiromiya in Umineko. I know that this guy was mentioned briefly in Tsumihoroboshi, or at least there was a "lawn maintenance" company with that name before Rena took the school hostage. So it makes me wonder if there actually was something to Rena's extreme paranoia about her getting followed during that chapter.

What kind of military hit squad is this that it takes more than half a year to kill just some random dork ass? Earlier statements from Irie claimed that these guys were basically the best at what they do, but they still need six months to a year to just put two in some random yakuza thugs skull?

I wonder if this is part of some ploy on Takano's part? We only have her word for it that she talked to this Okonogi guy and they determined they could only do it around Christmas time ("Merry Christmas Satoko! Here's your present, a freshly assassinated uncle Teppei!" "Yaaaaayyy!"). I don't know what possible reason she could have to screw over Rika and Satoko like this, but I can't help but feel that might be what's going on here. That for whatever reason Takano is unwilling to actually use the Mountain Dogs for this job. Maybe it's a subtle foreshadowing that despite ostensibly being in charge of Takano, the Mountain Dogs, the whole thing, Irie is actually being undermined and slowly disregarded. Again, for what reason I don't know, maybe Takano is somehow, someway plotting to kill Irie and take over his research?

Rika takes the news poorly.

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Volume 4

The beginning of this volume flat out spoils things by putting characters that haven't been introduced yet on the character page. (MarineAngemon, the Juri clone, the D-Reaper queen...) Maybe that's a common practice with shounen manga...but it shouldn't be. Like, what's the point?

Ch. 22

Lopmon and Terriermon interacting will never get old. Love how they lift their ears with curiosity when they first see each other.

I think I prefer experiencing the ~sad~ part of Tamers better in manga form. I remember it being quite drawn out in the anime and I rather just blitz through it at this point. I think the whole Leomon death storyline just annoys me because they barely developed his character and then the writing expects me to be devastated. Juri was more developed, sure, but we barely got any insight into her relationship with Leomon so her deep, dark depression doesn't feel super warranted either.

Ch. 23

I think this chapter was pretty well done. They're giving an epic battle it's time instead of zooming past it.

It bugs me that there isn't a specific name for digimon/human digivolutions. In this translation they called it a "true mega form." On the wiki it's called both an ultimate and a matrix digivolution. IDK why it doesn't count as a jogress. I guess there's like...two different things: the way you digivolve (matrix) and the digivolution level (ultimate)? If it's confusing for me, I can only imagine it'd be confusing for a kid.

It's a bit weird for an English translation, but I like that Guilmon says "MMA!" a lot. I can totally hear him making that noise with his OG voice. Creative onomatopoeia.

Ch. 24

Grrr Jian said "crumbcakes," so done with this stupid translation

This chapter was hella short, not much to say about it.

Ch. 25

Okay, now they're calling it a "biomerge digivolution." I guess the localizers also thought "this needs a cool name!"

Casual 90s/early 2000s sexism sprinkled throughout this translation. Takato says he "screams like a little girl" in a previous chapter and in this one he says "easy to forget Renamon and Rika are girls when they're always kicking butt!" Eye roll...

SaintGalgomon looked super badass but for some reason when Sakuyamon appeared they chose to dedicate two closeup panels to her chest and high heels? Sus...

Ch. 26

Juri's face didn't look as sinister here as it did in the anime (when it's revealed she's possessed). I guess that's probably a good thing. More subtle.

I don't remember the sovereign digimon giving Culumon a "you're a real boy now" speech in the anime. That was sweet.

They cut the part where Beelzebumon gets zapped by a bunch a digimon. In this he just collapses after the battle with Dukemon, which I think I prefer. (But why'd he say he'd be "bunny chow?" He wasn't even fighting Terriermon...)

Ch. 27

The grotesque, over-the-top facial expressions the artist keeps drawing for Hirokazu piss me off. They're just so ugly.

Ugh...they really had to ruin a serious moment (Guilmon getting the ark to stop) with a poop joke. This manhua does NOT treat its audience with respect.

Hmm they completely cut out Juri's family. So much for developing her character I guess.

They kind of forgot to imply that the ark is sentient. I mean they showed it stopping on its own, but in the anime they really hammered it home by having Guilmon have a conversation with it and showing it's HAL-like eye. That was one of my fave parts so I'm sad lol

Ch. 28

Okay, this is starting to feel totally different from the anime, they skipped like 5 episodes worth of content. Also, IDK if the scanlation I'm reading is missing some pages because the ending with Dukemon being beat up was completely nonsensical (it cut from Beelzebumon being hit to a panel with Dukemon outta nowhere?) I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that there are missing pages...

The scene where Beelzebumon uses Leomon's attack to save Juri played out differently here. She doesn't seem particularly perturbed by it and Beelzebumon can't save her because he gets attacked, not because Juri recoils for too long.

Ch. 29/30

Lol they completely cut out Justimon. Makes Ryo's role even more pointless! Ryo doesn't even reappear at all...

This manhua series was crap to begin with but they really screwed the pooch with this ending. SOOO rushed. Grani appeared outta nowhere with zero introduction. Like they just went immediately to Grani's sacrifice. I still don't know if I'm missing pages or if the writing is just that garbage. Oh well! I tried.

[nyaagolor]

Your SV headcanons are a pure delight to read through. May I ask two questions?

Which ScaVio character do you think or would consider a 'horse girl'? I personally HC Rika as one (she deserves to ride a Mudsdale alongside Geeta and her Gogoat Esmeraldo).

What do you think Arven's Mabosstiff's relationship would be with Nemona & Penny and vice versa? Arven had one-sided beef with Nemona and probably didn't get along with Penny at first, but I wonder how Mabosstiff would feel about those two? At least I do think their interactions would lean towards the positive for the most part. What you do think?

You can ask as many questions as you want i loveeeeee asks. Also WAUGH thank u for the kind words ᏊˊꈊˋᏊ

I thought this would be short enough that it didn't have to go under a readmore but lmfao. Lol even! It got long

Ok so to start I want to clarify that there's like a horse girl classification system. Type 1, to me, is just People Who Ride Horses. Rika is a horse girl in the sense that she has a horse and likes horse-riding, but I think she's normal about it. She's capable of being a functioning member of society without bringing up horses, but definitely goes to and participates in horse shows and races and stuff. To me she just seems like the type to ride around for the fun of it all and finds it relaxing. Type 2 is the horse girl that they make the TV shows and books about and stuff. The one who finds the stallion in the fields and is the only one who can tame its tortured soul. They dream of being the special girl who can see into the heart of this beautiful animal and ride together into the sunset. Nemona is trying to pull this off with Koraidon so badly. She wants it to eat sandwiches out of her open palm and to motorbike across the plains of Los Platos. She can see it in her dreams. Type 3 is the horse girl that all the schoolteachers are like vaguely concerned about because they know far too much about horses and have the social skills of one too. Horse girls that are complete fucking freaks. Weirdos. Losers. This was Geeta in middle school. She doesn't like to talk about it but still loves the horse movies

This ask made me realize that while I've talked a lot about the pre-story, during-story, and immediately post-story interactions between the characters, I haven't talked about afterwards. I think that immediately post-game they're all recovering and learning about real friendship for the first time and so they just don't get along well. Healing is hard and they lash out a bit, especially Penny and Arven, and it's only through the protagonist that they stay in touch. As the months go on and they heal, however, they become closer and closer, eventually becoming inseparable friends who all care so deeply for each other. I'll make a post about it later because Oh Boy do I have ideas about it. ANYWAY. Whether or not Arven likes Nemona, Mabosstiff does. That doggy loves to battle by Arven's own admission, and who gives a better battle than Nemona? I think Mabosstiff, knowing Nemona from Arven's childhood, adores her and is super friendly to her. She always gives Mabosstiff the battles he wants and treats and pets so Arven ends up having to interact with her because Mabosstiff will bound up to her every time he sees her. It drives Arven insane that Mabosstiff and Nemona are practically besties. It's the meetcute that begins the "enemies to friends" part of their childhood friends to enemies to friends again relationship cycle. As for Penny: I think Mabosstiff is just friendly and likes everyone, but Penny is a little bit scared of him. She's covered in eevee fur and smells like old pizza, so when she met Mabosstiff for the first time he chased her and jumped on her and tried to lick her face and she definitely thought that dog wanted to eat her. She's still apprehensive, but Mabosstiff is very affectionate and doesn't do much more than beg for pats and give sloppy kisses. Eventually though, she realizes that Mabosstiff is cute and big and harmless, so when they have picnics and Mabosttiff gets tuckered out he runs over to her (since she's usually sitting away from the group) to nap and get pets. She's still a lil nervous around such big pokemon, but gets along with him just fine. Mabosstiff likes her a lot because she's always down to give him some good scritches and has a nearly endless supply of treats. Also she's quiet and sometimes that's good for an older doggy like him

[ultraericthered]

Something else that’s really grinding my gears? This goddamn story arc currently running in the Higurashi Meguri manga, and that ran in the Higurashi Sotsu anime in 2021. I mean, questionable pervert-bait panels of underage Satoko aside, it seems strange to say this since I recently remarked on how well Meguri did with Teppei, and now with its recent update it’s continuing to do well with Ooishi too, and all throughout, our main star Satoko has just been an absolute delight, being very funny and endearing while also a deep, tragic character.

But those are all effective parts and pieces of a larger whole. In the anime, those parts being as surprisingly strong and effective as they were by Gou/Sotsu standards made Curse Revealing the highlight of Sotsu. In the Meguri manga, it and its earlier question arc are the weakest arcs in spite of the parts that work. In both versions, this question and answer arc pair falls short of full potential because they are, at the most fundamental level, not what they should’ve been.

It’s something I’d stated before: Again, neither version of this story arc got it 100% right, as it was doomed from the offset by being chained to callbacks to the original Curse Killing AND Massacre Chapters that have to be done twice and with a very, very gross and unsettling subversion at its core.

The “very, very gross and unsettling subversion” is, of course, the fact that Satoko, a canonical victim of child abuse from the OG story, is now lying about being abused to two separate parties who believe her and take the abuse/bullying allegations dead seriously and fight to protect her because they love and care about her so much...all set against a backdrop that mirrors the story arc from the OG story where the abuse was really happening to her and her friends really fought for her by rallying the entirety of Hinamizawa to the cause of helping her save herself from the abuse at the hands of her uncle, who in this new story is one of the many dupes Satoko is decieving.

It just does not work as a premise and is not only spitting in the face of Ryukishi07′s earlier (and far better) writing, but in the face of real life child abuse situations where the victim is suffering in silence, needs to speak out and needs to be believed, helped, and defended from their abuser. If you look at any such situation with the mindset of “well, what if the child is lying about getting abused and bullied so horribly and is just playing folks against each other for the lulzs?”, rescuing children from bullying and abuse that unreliable adults and systems enable and allow to befall them becomes that much harder.

For a “subversive take” on what went down for the bulk of the Massacre Chapter of OG Higurashi, this is all that was needed:

See, the latter is the reverse of the former, not a gross distortion of it. Satoko gets to lie and decieve and play others for suckers in her game against Rika while not having to rely on being dishonest about something that was very real and very serious in the original work.

[drawnbinary]

It's me again! I hope that you don't mind me chatting you up, just say so if you do, I'll understand! 😅

Do you think that Hassel can be originally from Johto? Since Blackthorn City is a home of probably the most well-known active dragon clan in the series so far (since Draconids, the people Zinnia's from, are mostly gone)? I've seen theories that the little cape Hassel has on his jacket is a call back to the capes "dragon tamer" trainer class has (and I'm mostly agreeing with this). And when I thought about it, I had this idea: What if Hassel's first pokemon wasn't the baxcalibur that's his ace now, but the dragonite he uses in the school champion tournament? Since the dragon clan from Blackthorn mostly uses the dratini line. What if he got that dragonite as a dratini when he was a kid and raised it his whole life, and now kinda retired it after a lifetime of battling? Baxcalibur is his main now during champion assesment, but he brings out dragonite for some friendly competition every once in a while, like the school championship. And, of course, that would mean that Hassel, Lance and Claire are distantly related.

Oh and I think that Hassel is totally besties with Rika. Gay/lesbian solidarity who go to brunches together. I think that it would be a fun contrast between his husband being such a grandiose artistic mind and his bestie being a very grounded and sober-thinking person.

Oh my god, could you imagine if the DLC will allow us to have some kind of a gym leader/elite four doubles tournament like they did in SWSH? If I'll get to see Hassel and Brassius fight together in doubles as partners I think that I will explode.

I'm also super excited to see them both in the anime and maybe, down the line, in masters. And I hope that they will somehow will return/be referenced in the DLCs- the first one is a school trip, so maybe Hassel will go as a chaperone.

And I totally get you about fanfics and such- I'd love to write something for them one day, when I will have a specific concept in mind. I'm thoroughly disappointed that I can't find any character studies for them, my favorite genre 😔 do you have any headcanons you'd like to share? 👀

You're definitely not alone on pretty much all of those >:D

Again, under a cut because I'm long-winded lol

I've got Hassel from Johto, Galar, or a region we haven't been to yet. Regardless of which region, I figure all the dragon clans are connected in some way so he's cousins with Lance and Clair in some sort of way. The childhood dratini -> semi-retired dragonite is definitely one I've seen and discussed before. I think the fic where Hassel rescues/nurtures a sick baby one isn't on AO3 but it's cemented for me that he's had it since he was young <3

The cape is a nice visual to connect him to other dragon tamers and it being short and part of his jacket also separates him from the dramatic looks of Lance and Clair

I think Rika teases Hassel for being old and out of touch but it's just friendly banter. I hope she was the one who told him about "fleek" over a cup of coffee with pastries.

I pray so hard for them teaming up for double battles (my drawing of them in a silly double battle pose) and/or for them to be at the festival at all (I drew them in the outfits from the trailer). I'm hoping for crumbs at most but I definitely want so much more of these two. They're so interesting.

I am so impatient to see Hassel in the anime. Besides that I love him, I also need to see him moving in 2D so I can figure out how to draw him better/more easily because he gives me so much trouble 😅. I want to know what kind of voice they give him too. Brassius' voice surprised me but it worked really well and wasn't distracting

If they end up in Masters, then I will be downloading Masters. God I want to see them put in funky alternate outfits. And whatever else happens in that game.

I'm super self-conscious about writing (and as you can imagine from my drawings, I'm all about that soft, tender shit) so most things I write pretty much live on Discord

I'm a little head-empty right now so the only headcanon that immediately comes to mind is that Brassius being ill and them spending a lot of quiet time together while Hassel helps care for him gave them both time to figure out their feelings and they don't do anything about it until after Brassius is better.

[natasha-in-space]

So i saw you are into death note and im gonna share this with you. I think yoosung and matsuda (from death note) are literally the same guy in different universes like- they are just so so similar. They both are youngest in their groups and think differently from the rest of the said groups, very emotional characters and are mainly driven by emotions, their said groups also have the tendency to put them down and make fun of them, worsening both of their already low self esteem. But they both are also very optimistic when it comes to people and are always trying their best to do good. They both are also ready to help and contribute in whatever way they can whilst they can be very reckless as fuck. And most importantly they both are extremely loyal to the people concerned and take betrayal very seriously. Like Matsuda shooting Light was purely out of the feeling of betrayal he had after discovering that he is not a good person which makes it so compelling

Also i love love love yoosung and i also love matsuda ALOT as well. Matsuda might not be one of the supersmart characters like L or Light or Near but he is a very important character in Death Note actually, his innocence, his optimism he sort of adds "colors to the black and white world" in the plot.

Anon, you got me rewatching some scenes from the anime, and now I cannot unsee it. That last confrontation with Light got that much more painful in my eyes now, ouch... No, but you are definitely right! I know some folks find Matsuda to be annoying, especially as he's not nearly as 'smart' as the rest of the cast, but I always loved him! He's a great guy, has a heart of gold, and is ready to act when needed. Not to mention that he's literally me if I ever got put into the same situation. I don't think our last confrontation with Light would be nearly as heartwrenching if it wasn't for Matsuda of all people shooting that shot.

And it fits Yoosung so much??? Oh my God, I never even thought of that before???

Okay, but can we talk about the fact that they both get their thoughts and feelings often brushed aside simply due to them being the youngest? 'Cause that's a big part of Yoosung's struggles for sure. It sucks and frustrating when your input barely gets a passing glance just because you are young, and you 'will mature in time'. I think they both strive to prove themselves to others, and that part of them can be played to their and weaknesses depending on the circumstances. I feel like Matsuda and Yoosung would be great friends to vent about their problems to each other, haha.

Oh, oh, but who is Light? I sure know it fits Rika best, as both Yoosung and Matsuda trusted Light/Rika wholeheartedly and admired them as people. I think we see Yoosung's reaction to the truth best in V's route. The denial, the hurt, the anger... It's all there. And we do see a brief confrontation between them at the party. It's brief, but it's there. To realize that the person you've trusted and admired for so long is someone so drastically different from what you've thought if them... it's painful.

But, in some ways, it could fit V as well. Yoosung's relationship with Jihyun is complicated to say the least... it could be good and bad for both of them depending on the story, which I think is very interesting.

Long story short: Matsuda and Yoosung need to be besties.

[timeloopinganalysis]

Random Questions Part 1? I think it's Part 1

Who is the loneliest time looper?

From any manga, anime, movie, game, etc?

Can't decide if it would be Subaru due to the emotional isolation he's been dealt with, or Homura due to how traumatized she's gotten.

There's also that one noble lady that was originally from a web novel that got adapted into a manga. She kept dying again and again, while everyone sort of just gravitated towards her sickly sister. Everyone there felt pretty much sad with their own nasty baggage. Unfortunately can't remember the name.

Well, time looping in general has a ton of isolation.

Although Rika and Satoko are from the same village, those two had differing types of emotional isolation.

Okabe was just absolutely destroyed in the god-knows-how-many loops he went through.

I tried the game Sentimental Deathloop but the main character Noa sticks to the whole 'believe in your friends' thing in what I found to be a very stubborn way. If I was her I'd be like "What the fu-". I'd also be stuck in that death loop for...probably ever. So there's that.

I guess this means you can't really quantify human suffering into a number.

In short, time loopers are depressed in general.

[regarding-stories]

A Matter of Style and Skill (Re: Zero, Sword Art Online, Grimgar, Isekai Uncle)

So, I watched a lot of anime lately, especially around the Isekai ("from another world") and LitRPG (inside a game) topics. I like fantasy stories, and I like those genres. Last one I watched was Grimgar - Ashes and Illusions (novel title: Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash), a series that lulls you by a more subdued, subtle pace and then crushes your heart... I love it! It was very well executed, and where the art style veered into water colors, that was just beautiful. Sadly, there's only one season and it's unlikely there'd ever be a second.

For each of the four shows that stole my heart over the last few months - Sword Art Online (SAO), Uncle from Another World, Re: Zero - Starting life in Another World, and Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash - I grabbed the original material, be they light novels or manga (in Uncle's case) to read on. For Uncle I actually grabbed the whole manga run because it was so delightful to read. By now it should also be clear that I grabbed everything I could possibly read from Sword Art Online and related series.

The experience of grabbing the original material ranged from smooth to jarring:

Uncle is almost the same in the manga from which the anime clearly takes all its style, cues, and humor. What I noticed is that the anime overdoes the "misleading situations" that are so common to this comic. Still, very faithful, absolutely smooth transition, both are a delight. If you like one, you are bound to like the other.

SAO was a bit of a surprise there. If you read the earlier materials you will start to notice how the story has been rewritten for the anime adaptation. If your starting point is the Aria of a Starless Night movie, you'd find that Mito only exists in the Movie and Argo plays an actual role in the story, nya. In general, the anime adaptations tend to introduce inconsistencies that don't exist the same in the story - and the novels are a delight to read, beating the movies or anime series by far. There's a few moments (mostly Liz/Rika) where the anime does better than the book and feels more consistent. The transition between books and screen is not the smoothest but absolutely worth it.

I've just started to read Grimgar and can already tell that the anime chose to rewrite some characters for the better, or to put it the other way round: Ranta is even worse in the novel (sigh) and Yume is a complete, utter ditz. For shame! So that was a disappointment. But we'll talk more about Grimgar in a moment.

At the bottom ranks Re: Zero, which is odd, right? Re: Zero is a fantastic multi-season anime, engaging, great characters, dramatic, as full of suffering and existential despair as Steins;Gate (the anime), it reels you into its world like SAO does, and it got an unique premise that it executes well. So, picking up volume 16 of the light novels seemed like a no-brainer... For reasons I will also explain I haven't come very far yet.

So kindly follow me on another tangent...

Characters, characters, and their mouths

What Grimgar does well in the anime adaptation is focus on its ensemble cast. You really get to know the group... in some ways. It becomes easily apparent for example that Ranta is an unbearable blaggard (which makes it almost funny that he's some sort of black/dread knight if you think about the word root) and sexist foul mouth. So much so it would be easily understandable if anyone left the series right there once he opens his mouth for any considerable length of time. The fact, however, that he's an unlikable character that nobody really gets along with is well established even in the short season this anime got. It's unclear why he choses to behave this way as he clearly knows better underneath, at least one tends to notice so in the final episodes.

What I failed to notice that much in the anime and what became immediately apparent within the first chapter of Volume 3 of the light novel is that Yume is an absolute ditz. Mind you, I watch with subtitles (and German ones in this case, no other available) and the translation hides the fact how Yume speaks ... a lot. So I was surprised by the English light novel and how every sentence basically uses "Yume" instead of "I." I revisited the anime and indeed this is the case in the spoken dialogue. You could say the translation of the book is rather on the nose (and it is). But on the other hand, the dialogue as presented in the subtitles obfuscates a lot about the character this way.

Now, this is one aspect of it. Volume 3 starts with yet another fight within the group, or better - one of these typical verbal altercations triggered by Ranta "who goes there." In his typical style of going for an immature confrontation he suggests to Yume (wait for it) that her breasts would get bigger (already groaning) if she squeezed them (this boy needs to suffer). A suggestion that Yume actually considers!! As I said, had this happened in the anime (which stops beforehand) there would have been no doubt that this character is as ditzy as they get... and that I would have stopped watching.

You see, Yume here is presented as somebody where I don't believe they're stupid as such but... she does seem clueless, naive, innocent even in some ways, I guess. Somewhere between naive and ignorant about some topics, maybe? But this I only really noticed once I read the light novel (volume 3). Within a few pages. (After the first battle is over.) It's on the nose, it's right in your face, you can't miss it. Whereas in the anime Yume might come across like her name suggests - a dreamer. She tends to babble on with what is on her mind in a way that doesn't necessarily imply she's a deep thinker, but most of the time we see her (eventually, like all of them) as capable, and her personally as dedicated, daring, fearless. Not in a "I suppress my fear" way. Outright without fear. (Making her the perfect scout. If you can instill some caution in her...)

Since I have not read the first two volumes I don't know for sure, but I get already the feeling that Yume would have come across as a ditz more than in the anime. And frankly, I enjoy Anime Yume way more than the other one.

Regarding the quality of the translation I have to wonder. The language is more like the terse style the Japanese supposedly speak. (Japanese sentences omit pretty much anything you can derive from context.) I found a mistake already that's apparent from the English ("it" instead of "he," misplacing the subject of the sentence altogether). I also think that rendering "メリイ" as "Merry" is a mistake by the translator, but maybe it isn't. (Could be "word of God" as well.) You can read this as "Mary" or as "Merry" as far as I know, the original "Merii" allows for both given how Japanese transliterates words in Katakana, emulating English by similar-sounding syllables (like "Smith" turns to "Sumisu" and can sound surprisingly similar). I think the makers of the Anime or at least the subtitles made the right call to call her "Mary." But I won't die on that hill.

Given the way characters were portrayed in the anime, I was definitely shipping Yume and Haruhiro, but I knew that wouldn't happen as soon as Mary/Merry called Haruhiro by a nickname, almost as first sign she connected with the group. It becomes pretty obvious after that. But before it was Yume who reached out to Haruhiro, and while "first past the gate" doesn't always apply, the two seemed to be both kind-hearted, complemented well in role (both stealth/scout style characters)... Well, and there were only two girls to begin with, LOL! (And later there were hints of shipping Ranta with Yume, and I sure hope that doesn't happen and stays one-sided. That was just insulting.)

The anime does a great job of depicting the group dynamics, their bickering, their attempts at dealing with their situation, the slow burn in general, but also in depicting the world and how they adapt to it. What I wasn't prepared for is the amount of changes the anime really must have done!

I had to stop reading volume 3 of the series yesterday. Almost all dialogue has Ranta screeching over it, you get pages of dialogue full of his BS to just get what's going on. If the dialogue was pleasing to read, fine. But it's just utterly annoying. Moguzo, who is just the quiet type in the anime, gets enlisted into Ranta's schemes way too easily. Both Haruhiro and Merry have the habit of correcting Yume - but while in the anime it seemed like that's done with a bit of sigh, here they come across as annoying sticklers. Haruhiro's inner monologue is an endless deluge of self-depreciation and reasons why he shouldn't talk to others. Oh, and when he described Merry as "a goddess" in his mind, it gave me a virtual gag reflex. Reading his stream of consciousness makes it also clear that he's way less nice than you might think - he fantasizes about backstabbing Ranta. Understandable, yes. But less likable.

All in all the anime chose to downplay the traits assigned to them by the author. You could see that's the same character when you read the book, no major change to the contrary. But bad bits have been toned down, made less obvious, or reduced to a more acceptable manner.

So in the end, the Grimgar book actually delivers dialogue and characters, but the end result leaves a lot to be desired. After reading the novel I feel like somebody who projected on these characters, seeing them in a more positive light because I saw less of them than in the books. In this sense it was a disillusionment of my own projection. The anime, however, is quite okay.

Prose from Pros

Where Grimgar does okay is the prose itself. You can read it, it's not the best, but you can go with the flow to follow Haruhiro's thoughts which speaks of a modicum of balance in the writing itself.

The first light novel I ever picked up was Sword Art Online Progressive Volume 1, and Reki Kawahara's writing style took me in. Not like Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London) who completely had me after one paragraph with his wit and execution. But Kawahara is comfortable to read, for reasons I will come to further down. He crafts good prose.

The translation of Re: Zero suggests that its author doesn't. I mean, translation always loses something of the original writer, but I'm assuming a translator is charged with translating with what is there, they don't tend to add or remove stuff. A sentence might be broken into several where necessary, or they might be combined, but overall you would expect the same amount of sentences even if one language is more verbose and another is more terse. What a translator would certainly not do is invent descriptions that are not there in the original - that would make them co-authors or editors.

And in Re: Zero's case it shows!

It had really high hopes for this. Realizing that the plot continued past what we have in the anime felt like getting a third season. I would get to read into another series of light novels! Re: Zero the anime was hard to watch (because it's emotionally challenging) but you could tell the source material had been carefully crafted. So I came with high expectations to this one, expecting a masterful author.

I had best braced myself.

Practically the moment I started reading my heart dropped. And I have barely picked it up since. There they are, the characters I cared about, right? On to have more adventures. And I can't muster the willingness to go... because it doesn't read good.

The reason is hard to put into words, but I'll try my best. There's for one a bad balance between description and dialogue, and what would have fitted well in the description of the scene ends up badly shoved into the dialogue. There's also no good separation between dialogue and conversation and inner thoughts. It just reads like a mish mash. But it's probably better to compare it with its opposite.

We're at the beginning of another volume, so if that were a Kawahara book he would in some form recap where we are and how we came to be there. But not as a mere blob of exposition - it would be weaved into the thoughts and the dialogue, but also appear as some straight exposition. If a character was musing about something, it would often sit in its own paragraph(s), and dialogue (or action) would continue after it concluded. This sometimes leaves you with a feeling that way too much time passed, but it gives you the chance to digest the thought process of the protagonist and understand the reasons behind their actions.

Kawahara will ensure that you as reader are on the same page as him as the author when setting a scene. He conveys the images he wants you to see, he conveys the information he wants you to know, and he's truly masterful at crafting the things that weren't said. Oh, his dialogue is good, no doubt. But he's at his very best when interrupting dialogue, characters biting their tongue, and at implying things you as the reader have to read between the lines. That's skill. But not in an universal skill, more of a particular set of skills that contribute to why his books are such a joy to read. He crafts good prose, dialogue, he sets scenes properly, he never leaves you behind. He sometimes overdoes the reminders, but he communicates to the reader everything needed to follow along and adds many charming details. His characters not only speak, their actions speak as well, especially small ones, details, everything.

When Re: Zero #16 reintroduces Mimi in the second scene, I can barely follow along. I can picture the scene only because I saw the anime and remembered her from the hints given. But I have to pause the reading to do so. Then I can work my way backwards to what has transpired in the scene. The way the scene is described obscures what is going on - we are told the character has figured it out, but we can't. We have to wait for him to say it. It seems like everything has to be said aloud here.

And what is said is mostly just chaining up dialogue from which alone we have to infer the mood of the speaker. There's no description of the speaker, no laying out the part we're meant to picture, no description of their voice or tone. The dialogue just comes at us, description might follow. Frankly, as prose this is unpleasant to read. It quickly soured on me.

It's a less obvious example for what most people would describe a book as "horribly written." And I bet this isn't the translator's fault. They're not meant to reorder sentences or add details. This prose lacks craft in the source as well I would assume. Grimgar definitely does better, it reads normal. The cringe comes from the characters. And it can hold no candle to anything Kawahara ever wrote - when it comes to crafting the prose itself.

The Plot Thickens

But it's not as if Kawahara's writing is perfect. If I compare SAO to Re: Zero then the latter has achieved mastery in maximizing dramatic escalation while also knowing a way out. Allow me a spoiler: Re: Zero is a time loop story. So we see the same events unfold multiple times to different outcomes. (You would be aware of this at the end of the first episode of the anime, so I hope it's not too big a spoiler. Go watch it, it's good!) It's not only up to the protagonist to find his way through the problems he encounters, the same is true for the author. Both seasons of the anime encompass 15 books in total - and IIRC three different time loops. This means the author clearly had a well-crafted plan if he can split each loop into multiple iterations over multiple books, each interesting to follow along. (He was apparently also involved quite a bit in the anime - says Wikipedia.)

SAO has been accused to be lacking in its resolutions. While dramatic, they seem at times quite "Deus Ex Machina." This is true of the ending of the first novel where a formerly unwilling Kirito kills the big bad after technically dying (for added drama), or for the Alfheim story arc - where we can take "Deus Ex Machina" literally! The SAO Progressive series also leaves an aftertaste. All the bosses of the later novels require an NPC and a gimmick to be beaten - which means they were basically unbeatable as is. The 6th floor boss is extremely gimmicky, the 7th too strong. Each is played for drama - and each situation could have also wiped the "Clearers" or "Frontrunners" out. Mind you - we're not even at floor 10 at the current pace of the series. Imagine another 68 levels like that. It would be suicide. There's a lot about this that doesn't work if you think it to its logical conclusion. In the end, it might follow that the game is unbeatable as is if you can't die and try again. (Which contradicts what the characters express about it - until floor 75 that is.)

Of course Kawahara made his own trap and got caught. He wrote a finished story that he ever since stuffs new content into, increasing the inner inconsistencies. But that's only half the problem. The other half is that Kawahara struggles with dosing the escalation. He revs up the drama for each individual book in an attempt to be satisfactory, but each series he writes as books following in a defined order actually risks crumbling under the over-escalation (SAO Progressive, The Isolator, Accel World) and breaking the suspension of disbelief.

A series stretching out over multiple volumes needs to dose its escalation in a way that future escalations are possible. The Lord of the Rings starts small and builds from a scope as small as The Hobbit towards a finale (or rather multiple finales) that include major battles and resolutions. But if you blow up a Death Star each time, it gets old... leading hack writers to create in the end a fleet of 10,000 Star Destroyers rising from underground of one planet that each has the destructive power of a Death Star. If you can't dose your escalation and scale, that's what you end up with.

So far Kawahara has managed to deliver, but if you look at the release schedule of the Progressive series you'd notice that it took Kawahara a 3 year period to craft book 5/6 (written together) and book 7/8 (same). While it was not the only thing he was doing, The Isolator closes in on a four year hiatus by now, and with horror we can watch on as Kawahara started a new series (Demon's Crest) instead. I personally wonder if it is tiresome to play one-upmanship with oneself. These ever more convoluted escalations aren't needed, but are not the only case in point where such escalation takes place. The same is true for the love story arc. But I will now gloss over it since I enjoy it too much!

Skills that pay the bills

There are many skills that an author needs to craft a satisfying book. I've mentioned the prose, the basic interweaving of description, dialogue, inner monologue. Then there is how you weave necessary exposition into the story. Characters need to be fleshed out and ideally grow and change in some way. Dialogue needs to convey us something about the speaker and seem convincing and true to the character. Descriptions paint a picture of what we are meant to see and hear were we in the world

There needs to be pacing. Good pacing balances action and more quiet passages. It builds suspense and resolves it in a release, over and over. But good pacing also alternates what happens "on screen" by offering us a variety of scenes, not just "battle" and "break," over and over, for example.

Then there is the drama, the misunderstandings, the emotional challenges, the conflicts. How they come about, how they defy resolution initially and how they resolve eventually. And how they are set up - oh, setup is ever so important. A character can die on page 1 and we will care very little, but if a character has been made central to the story and features in its dynamics, if the character leaves a big hole when they go - that's all in the setup. And it pays off so well.

Same for humor. The best kind of humor flows naturally from the characters themselves, their interactions, but it can also come from the situation. But it can also be poorly executed, and boy is anime full of poorly played humor... oh Handyman Saito, how often have you failed me! Not to speak of the downright juvenile. I sometimes wonder what separates some authors from the teenage boys they write for...

If we're talking fantasy or Sci-Fi, you also need to build the world, make it come alive, make it interesting, engaging, and gradually impart its workings on the reader. So it needs to be built and it needs to be conveyed, and the latter needs to balance with the rest of the story.

Even good authors need to learn this - and might publish their mistakes. I personally consider Alicization such. To me, the world was ultimately unlikable and I couldn't fathom why I would care about saving its disgusting society. The story paces poorly - after the protagonists actually get going, they immediately get stuck in a sort of boarding school story that is poorly related to their goal - to save Alice. Completely sidetracked at times, not interesting. Then we get into the Cathedral and it's battle, battle, more battle. Each chapter is homogenous to a fault. And the resolution drags out endlessly... I consider Alicization as a skill-building exercise for the author, but watching the two seasons to finish was a chore and nothing else.

Or take for example The Dresden Files. The stories are well-crafted, but it became soon apparent that every book follows exactly the same template. And each book will resolve one set of problem the character has and replace it with the same amount of new problems, so you never get a feel there is a breathing space for the character. There will be always be someone breathing down his neck, he always will be out of resources, outmatched, and he will still win somehow. And each book escalated over the previous one in exceedingly dubious ways. I just stopped reading.

Oh yes, resolutions! How you get from A to B in a consistent way, how the ending fits the story, how satisfying the ending itself is. Does the ending follow from the forces set up in the story? Is it logical? Does it seem forced or contrived? This goes for any arc, any change in how characters relate to each other, book finales, season finales, or outright finales altogether.

Or what's at stake. Why should we care? Do we care? Are the characters important to us? Do we relate to their suffering? Do their victories feel like victories to us?

Keep improving, not "more of the same"

All of these are skills an author can possess and you will likely find they do differently on some, or there are some of their works where they are still practicing them. Or they get stuck in what they do okay and never improve - which is the worst. Nothing like a "good enough" mindset author to tire of. What I hope for in an author is that they will improve and keep delivering satisfying stories.

Or these series die an ignominious death, if not commercially, then in your own willingness to read them. Piers Anthony crafted a great many really good Xanth novel that I enjoyed in my youth, but eventually he just kept writing them to be formulaic and too full of puns. Yes, the puns played a role in the original books, but they were balanced with the story and the world-building, and the drama, characters, and puzzles were well-crafted. Eventually he just cobbled together books involving a lot of reader-provided puns. Ugh.

As I keep exploring anime, manga, and light novels, I hope to find more of these jewels. More authors - or teams of authors - that keep evolving, keep crafting engaging stories, and keep building their skills. It's so rewarding when they do.

[lemonthepotato]

“Re reading” Higurashi

(Spoilers, also minor spoilers for Danganronpa UDG.)

The title is a bit of a liars work. You see, I’ve been deceiving you all this whole time. Because despite the fact that my account is heavily focused on Higurashi memes and commentary, I’ve never actually read Higurashi. Oh, I saw the anime. Since 2018, I’ve been obsessed with Higurashi. Well, except 2020. I had a short hiatus from the fandom. But in 2022 I decided to begin actually reading the visual novel. I began reading Umineko in 2021 and finished it in 2022. I began reading Higurashi early 2022 and finished it in 23.

Join me and my horrible memory as I get many details wrong.

Chapter 1:

• I don’t remember anything from the damn project, but the suspect list seems off. XXXX, XXX, XXXX, XXXXX and XXXX. The main offender is XXXX. I don’t quite remember much, so I’ll go without making assumptions. I don’t remember if Takano was involved in the dam project. (This aged terribly. I don’t know why I thought this.) I think the sonozakis has something to do with it. I don’t know. We can rule out Keiichi and Rena, and Rika and Satoko because of their ages/locations. We can also rule out Mion and Shion due to their ages. Miyo fits XXXX, the main perpetrator, but again, I don’t remember that being the case. I remember Takano was involved with some government bullshit. I watched Higurashi in 2018 and only got back into the fandom recently. (I lost interest briefly in 2020 and got back into it in 2021) I finished Umi, and I’ve only started the VN. I don’t remember everything about the story, and I didn’t care much about the dam project.

• Things are brought up in these games without much relevance. Umineko had the whole lotta shit that didn’t add up to much, like the shit with Virgilia and the vase.

• Teppei? Hojo has four letters. That makes sense, but didn’t Teppei not live in Hinamizawa?) I don’t remember, again, only recently got back in.

I’m abandoning this format

The reason why I only began reading Higurashi a few months ago was because I was under the mindset of “well, I watched the anime, so reading the VN would basically be the same as a rewatch.” I never rewatch shows. The only anime I’ve ever rewatched was Erased, and I don’t even remember why, because I didn’t even care for it much. However, as I’ve spent the last five months trying to get through CH1 (I am a very slow reader, I got busy.) I have realised it is a very different experience from the anime. First of all, I haven’t watched the anime since 2018. So my memory might be a bit bad, but there are a couple details that I already find intriguing. First of all, the literary world offers Ryukishi a lot more options than any other form of media. As a writer myself, viewing a story written as “a show, but in words” is dishonest. Writing is, in a lot of ways, a superior art form to cinema in some regards, and it falls inferior in other places, as all media do. For example, you might not be able to convey facial expressions as detailed as you can in television. But you can convey small details and explain why those details are there. For example, in CH1, there was a scene where Keiichi remarks about how Rika must be struggling with her dance. Considering I’m familiar with the twist about Rika, that I believe occurs in CH4 in the VN, it re-contextualises that scene. It makes you wonder if she was really struggling, or if she was worried about the festival considering that’s where things hit the fan. Second, Rika loses to Tomitake, making me wonder if she’s trying different variables, trying to roll the dice in the most minuscule ways, desperate for a change. There is also the whole ‘infirmary, rika, poison’ thing that straight up spoils who the culprit is. Of course, I don’t believe Takano is revealed to be a nurse at this point.

I like how Ooishi brings up Mion and Rika potentially being behind Tomitakes death and Keiichi is like “WHAT?! MION WOULNT DO THAT” like bro what about Rika.

Foreshadowing the fingernail scene TwT

I’m curious what the conversation Rena and Mion are having. I don’t remember it being in the anime? So, the obvious intention is to omit certain words to make Rena and Mion look suspicious. This is something that can easily happened. You ever overhear something that sounds suspicious, but then you listen closer and realise it’s two women talking about getting ice cream, not saying ‘he didn’t scream’? Me neither. Point is that I’m wondering what they actually said. Maybe they were talking about a person, because Mion says she doesn’t want to talk about it. Maybe Satoshi? He was a member of the club, if I recall correctly. I wonder when Keiichi will get the bat. I don’t think Shion shows up this chapter, but I hope she gets fleshed out more in the VN. In the anime, I feel like she didn’t get much attention even in the original 2006 anime. And everyone who saw the anime just saw her as the “much blood. such murder.” girl. I don’t remember why she killed in the original arcs. Because she was trying to figure out who was responsible for Satoshi’s disappearance? He DID go missing, right? For ages, I always thought it was a mystery in the fandom what happened to him, but I feel that was a Mandela effect I created in my head. I mean I always just considered Outbreak non canon so it didn’t phase me when he showed up non-chalantly. But him being in a coma? Not what I remembered. All I remember from Shion’s arc was that she realised she had broken her promise to Satoshi at the end. Again, I’ve heard that out of every arc, Watanagashi was adapted the worst in the anime.

Onikakushi-hen is basically just a prank gone wrong, lmao. “MARKER PRANK, GONE WRONG!!!1!1!1” though I’m only at the morning scene where Keiichi discovers the bean paste and he starts overanalysing what in reality, was probably not a needle. I don’t know, because it’s been a while, but I’d suspect maybe a different sauce? Or something like candy?

I feel like Umineko’s creation may have been due to the success of the first Higurashi arc. Because the illusion side of things is really thorough here. A lot of things Rena and Mion say are completely normal. The only unusual thing would be Rena’s “LIAR” speech, which could’ve been her joking around, or in Keiichi’s head. Mion 100% probably did tease Keiichi about the diner, and when she said he needed to rest, it was probably with a ton of concern. Anyway, everything in Onikakushi is Ooishi’s fault lmao.

I remember Keiichi being a lot more aggressive in the anime. That’s probably me misremembering. The ‘horror’ in the anime feels a little different from the ‘horror’ in the visual novel. It feels more slow, more of a build up, though the whiplash can get a bit grading sometimes.

OK theory time. I’m not sure if this is how it happened, but I think Mion might’ve decided to prank Keiichi to cheer him up. So she got her classmates to follow Keiichi around (the car was probably not a coincidence though: I think it’s related to whatever that stuff with Tokyo and Takano was? I was too young to understand it back when I watched.) and she got the information somehow that Keiichi was buying or eating a flavor of noodles. She got Rena to make him dinner to cheer him up, or Rena did it on her own, and she relayed the information to him of what flavour he was eating, because she knew he was lying. Rena was probably sad that Keiichi was lying, but not aggressive. Whether or not the ‘usoda’ scene the first time was real or not is more debatable, as being pushed for details of your missing friend can push someone over the edge, but I think Keiichi could be been imagining that too. And as we all know, the ‘marker’ thing is coming soon.

‘Why would Rena go this far in pranking Keiichi with Mion’ well, remember two facts. Rena is already very mentally unstable due to her Dad’s inferred abuse and Rina. I don’t remember if Rena’s dad being abusive is in the original, but reading Gou again I notice it’s a detail added. Another factor is age: Rena is 13. 13 year olds don’t understand the limit to jokes that often. And with Mion being 14 (the demon year), she probably doesn’t know the limit either. The age of Higurashi characters amazes me. When I was young and watching the anime I thought Rena was 15, Mion was 16, Shion was 16-18, Keiichi was 16, and Rika and Satoko were 12-14. I just saw them as older. And to be honest, Rena seems older than 13.

Okay, see? Rena even admits she was messing around. She didn’t realise how paranoid Keiichi was. Her poor fingers… wait until the nail scene XD.

Keiichi, a lack of sleep increases paranoia. *sigh* also that line about how no one can decide except him if today would be- yeah. Rings different if you know the ending.

ITS TABASCO. Keiichi, If you weren’t such a paranoid, ableist and judgmental person you could’ve just talked to Mion and Rena. It’s incredibly disrespectful to dig through your friends pasts and not even talk to them, and disrespect their traumas. But still. Saikoroshi-hen is so good though, unrelated. Still unbelievable that Saikoroshi was in the same show as Hajisarashi and Hirukowashi, the latter that has a grown woman gushing over Rena.

CH2

Okay, time to figure out who is Mion and who is Shion. For the diner scene, I think it might be Mion, but I don’t know- I don’t remember. The way she is acting would make sense if it was Mion, because she wouldn’t want Keiichi to see her like that. Okay, the next ‘Shion’ scene I also believe to be Mion because she literally calls him ‘Kei-chan’ and blushes around him.

The bike scene. I’m not sure, but I’m leaning towards Shion. First of all, calling him Kei-chan is suspicious, so that’s a reason why it could be Mion. But at the same time, she hasn’t blushed around Keiichi, and if I recall, Mion’s gotten in trouble with the law before, even swearing out Ooishi in CH1, so why would she be so respectful to law enforcement? Wait… she’s blushing… hmmmm. Mion? The phone scene I think could be Shion, but it’s hard to tell. I feel like it’s Shion in the restaurant, cuz she’s acting less… you know, nervous?

Poor Shion. Keiichi really is subtly sexist. He even downplays the very real nature of what that man’s doing to Shion, it’s harassment. This makes the Satoshi and Keiichi scene from Kira or whatever much more deserved. Ugh.

Wonder if St. Lucia is part of the reason Shion (assuming it’s her) feels like this situation is her fault. St. Lucia basically puts a lot of expectation on the individual, and failing that system is a kind of personal responsibility. Mixed with growing up in a misogynistic world, it’s no wonder Shion is victim blaming herself. Also her shitty family.

“No means no.” Thank you Rena very based. Also I like how the first thing Rena does when seeing Shion is gush over how kyute she is. Shiirena confirmed???! /j (?)

Why is the tense changing. All the time. Ryukishi, it’s one or the other. I personally use past tense when writing, as it is a lot more… I don’t know, easy? Ryukishi also wasn’t really good at foreshadowing back then. Shion looking like she has demon blood. Really? Maybe it’s just because I know the twist about it.

I have a feeling Mion isn’t Mion.

Shion is definitely not crying on the other end of the line. She’s telling Keiichi to calm down, but I don’t think she herself is calm. Considering she heard those noises at the night of Watanagashi, she probably had Hinamizawa Syndrome. How Hinamizawa Syndrome develops is unknown. I don’t remember. I do remember there is a drug, H137 or something, that induces it, that Takano uses on Tomitake, but did she use it on Keiichi and now Shion, or did it naturally develop? It could be either. She encountered Keiichi, albeit in a public setting, so for Onikakushi it’s more likely he developed it on his own. But Shion, alone in that storehouse with Keiichi? Maybe. But then again, I doubt it. Also this music is hilarious.

See, I knew the “hic” shit was building up to a laugh. Now, the real question - is it one of sadism and deceit, or panic and frantic thinking, I don’t remember how Hinamizawa Syndrome affects people, and their logical state of mind. I feel like the anime might have doubled down on the “crazy” aspect too much, without delving into the psychology. Shion, as a person, isn’t evil. She expresses remorse for her actions, I believe, in later arcs. That’s why I’m curious on why she did it.

I have a lot of thoughts about the nail scene. So, obviously Mion is Shion and Shion is Mion. A fact about the Sonozaki’ sis that Mion was born Shion and Shion was born Mion, and they switched names at one point. To make things a little less confusing, I’ll refer to Mion (the one with the demon tattoo) as Mion, and Shion as Shion, not by their birth names, by their chosen names. Here’s my theory. Shion had long been resentful of Mion, because she was given special treatment by the other members of the family. Shion snuck into the storehouse, and Shion was punished for it by Mion. Shion already had signs of Hinamizawa Syndrome, so she was growing even more resentful. I believe, well, know, Shion didn’t kill Tomitake & Takino, yet, Shion, afflicted with HS, was scared that she had been cursed and was after next. Then, she began interrogating her family (which I remember from the anime) and none of them confessed, which she then passed the blame to Satoko, and it spiralled out of control. When Rena and Keiichi come over, and Mion is locked up, I can guess Shion’s thoughts during this. The ‘demon/oni’ in this context is Shion pretending to be Mion, and disgracing the name of ‘Mion’. The title of ‘Mion’ and ‘Shion’ are again, titles to them. Because Shion in reality, if I recall, is actually the older sister of the two, she probably wanted to take the name ‘Mion’ back. As to why she let Keiichi go, I don’t know. Maybe I’m remembering poorly, but I remember the anime cutting out Shion letting Keiichi go, and it cuts before she is about to do the nail stuff. But I could be misremembering. I don’t have many theories thus far. Why could giving the doll to ‘Mion’ (who I’m in the middle on being Shion) be such a big deal? Mion wanted the doll because she wanted to be treated as a girl, Shion wanted the doll because… it doesn’t make sense. I really don’t remember the ‘why’ of this arc, just the how. We all remember the infamous Satoko scene, after all. (Revisiting this while reading arc 6, after reading arc 5. I was surprisingly close to the truth, still.)

Wait, didn’t Shion push Mion down a well in the anime? Am I misremembering or was it just changed in the adaptation? No, that wouldn’t make sense. Takano being dead doesn’t make sense. She is a nurse, so? Maybe she constructed her own demise and framed it to look older? Maybe she got a wax figure XDDD? Maybe it’s someone who looks like her. Or maybe Keiichi has Hinamizawa Syndrome. No, Takano was alive. Whoever that was they found wasn’t her. Jirou, Keiichi and Shion all having Hinamizawa syndrome is possible but I doubt Keiichi’s would have progressed that far due to him not hearing noises.

Hints of Rika’s “juice”-addiction, Satoko’s abuse, both foreshadowed in a slice of life meta scene. Weird. Takano standing RIGHT NEXT TO Mion while she says there’s a mystery culprit, huh, Ryukishi do you think you’re funny. Do you think you’re a fucking comedian. Because yes.

‘Sayoko’. I didn’t know Satoko had a twin. Let’s see… is Sayoko a name? Oh, it is. It means ‘small child.’ I didn’t know Satoko had a twin. That explains a lot. Not really. It explains nothing. Is it a translation error? No, obviously not. This is clever foreshadowing to the show that shant be named and the manga adaptation midguri. (Edit as I’m approaching CH7: I forgot to mention but I like meguri slightly more than Sotsu. Both are still lacking but still.)

CH3

Keiichi has the ego of a brick. Don’t read into that metaphor. His “plan” for saving Satoko is a felony. He doesn’t even seem to care if Satoko would be happy living with him. And he was willing to give her to Irie. That says enough. (Edit as I’m approaching CH7: Come to think of it, maybe I actually was too harsh on Keiichi. If a child is being abused, you get them out of that situation point blank period. So I don’t know.)

Why didn’t… why didn’t Keiichi have cat eyes in Onikakushi-hen? He had HS too, in that arc, but no one commented on it. Now they are. Weird… idk why though.

Ugh. Keiichi. They’re clearly covering for you. Why would they not find Teppei? Because they moved him! But because Keiichi developed HS, he’s making crazy assumptions. He’s probably missing obvious social cues that his friends are trying to tell him ‘hey, we helped’ without outright saying it. Satoko was probably actually crying, somewhat bittersweet I’d imagine. The trauma is still there, but because it’s a change of routine, she isn’t able to process it fully yet. I’m sure she is happy her uncle isn’t bothering her, but she’s confused by it.

Wait, is this the arc where… okay, if I remember, Satoko is attempting uhhh… well she’s in a bathtub and it’s like, overheating? Or she’s like? You knowing with something? But I believe Satoko has HS in every arc to a minor degree, so… she does to Keiichi what she did to her parents? I don’t know.

“...If that was the case, then here's how it would end up. ...I was actually in a vegetative state due to a traffic accident, and I was currently dreaming in a hospital bed...” jeez K1 because that’s NEVER happened in ANY arc to ANYONE. Sarcasm.

This isn’t adding up. If Satoko had to count to 10,000, it takes 2 hours to count to 10,000. So she couldn’t have been in there that long. This could either be K1 hallucinating, or Kei-chan isn’t and Ryukishi was just. Not thinking about it. Now, if Satoko was counting by the minute, that would be almost exactly a week. (Edit: 2 hours is way too long to be in a hot bathtub. What was I thinking?)

Ah, I see. Satoko released an eruption so large when she pushed Keiichi that it affected the whole village. Nah, I’m pretty sure the mountain dogs have something to do with this. From Tokyo? Something something Takano something something grandfathers research. I don’t remember.

CH4

Yukie ain’t there, son. I bet. She probably wasn’t when giving birth, something happened likely. Maybe if you were there for her she wouldn’t have went alone but you know. L Alabama. AKASAKA. Not alamaba. Whatever.

So, I thought Rika or Takano could be behind the mysterious TIPS, so now we have confirmation that it was Rika. If this is because of the loops, then that means that Rika has been looping for longer periods of time than I suspected. I always thought she was reliving the same few days in Hinamizawa, but was she transported a few years back this time? Was Rika like this before she became a looper? Who knows.

CH5

Shion is just like me fr fr. I fully understand the mindset of “if I wasn’t born, I wouldn’t have had to suffer.” It’s the very reason I don’t want kids. I feel like life is just a game of suffer vs sufferer. Everyone is either a sufferer or the perpetrator, or a standerby, which is no better than the perpetrator. “Why was I born? Why did this world give birth to me? I shouldn't have been born. I wouldn't have had to suffer if I hadn't been. What was the meaning of my meaningless life?”

“Where did I go wrong...? When in my life did I make the wrong choice?”

*sigh* my mom made the wrong choice in having me. I was better off never existing at all.

“I’m sorry for being born” you’re not crying, I am. I mean, I’m not crying- fuck.

Sorry, opinions were mixed? Teppei is a legit horrendous person. Keiichi did nothing wrong. Does anyone know the Blanchard case? That poor, poor girl was horrifically abused, and got sent to jail because she retaliated against the abuse. Horrific. How could anyone care about a human who abuses a child? WHO? No, no.

So I’m realising from Arc 3, re-reading my notes, my point about Satoko counting to 10,000 is ridiculous because she was in either really hot or really cold water, which can take as short as 5 minutes. Fuck Teppei.

CH6

Rena’s mom and dad seem like bad people. Your child shouldn’t be responsible for cooking, fathers should know how to cook, clean, and look after their kids. Also, Rena’s mother reminds me of that case where a mother spoiled her child and then… killed that child and herself. But yeah, I know this is some deep literary anoysis, and no one else figured this out, but I think Rena’s mom may be getting a divorce 😨 I know, shocking. /s

My eyes are a bit wet because what Rena describes happened to me in my childhood, sort of. My mom and dad got into a really big fight, and me and my mom left and got into the car, and she started crying, and I started crying. I don’t like my mom, but what did my dad say that made me and my mom too scared to be near him?! I don’t know. I hate both of them.

“I know you're not naïve

But you ignore it all

Just look, you've been deceived

I don't forgive you either”

“Completely depending on someone means trying to earn even deeper sympathy from them. At that point, even though you're trying to comfort them. they just slip further and further into depression. By finding initial success through relying on someone and receiving comfort, they grow addicted to indulging in misfortune. That's a golden rule for psychologists, did you know? Mental trauma can only be be healed by the person who has it. If someone else helps a person out of their mental trauma. even if they succeeded that person wouldn't be completely healed. Kei-chan, people feel better just by talking to somebody. Sometimes, all they need is someone who does nothing but listen quietly.” Wow did Ryukishi just talk directly to me,?? Read my mind??

Also, hmm, Mion is strangely knowledgable about mental health. It’s a shame Mion never gets her own arc. And no, Wataakashi-hen does not count. I thoroughly hate Gou and Sotsu, but find Meguri… acceptable. I know not a lot of people like Meguri, and frankly I still hate Tatariakashi-hen. Some love to defend it, I don’t. And that’s all I’ll say.

I do find Rena hypocritical. She criticises her friends for not helping Satoshi, but then berates Keiichi in arc 3 for criticising them for not helping Satoko? Tbf, Keiichi was being a dick, but it seems… very parallel. I don’t think this is unintentional. Hinamizawa Syndrome, and this is surprising, may lead to a higher risk of stress. Crazy, right? They might begin blaming those around them. Crazy?

Couldn’t have seen that coming.

Mion must’ve felt really invalidated when Keiichi said “Are you kidding me? That's not why I called you here. I have to talk to you about something very important. I want you to listen without making fun of me,” in response to "Oh. I know. You want to give me a love letter, don't you? People usually use the shoe locker for that, you know?”

Like he already led her on by saying “We don't really do that in the city. A lot of guys hand over their love letters in person.” I mean yes, it wasn’t fully his fault- like he didn’t know. But damn. Poor Mion. Seriously. :((

I could only get “start.”

Rena stop looking at r/conspiracy and r/gangstalking. Sound familiar? Yeah I just posted this.

Finally, the brick line.

“No matter what happened in the past, as long as you're a great person at present, you shouldn't be embarrassed of yourself. Am I wrong? What's the purpose of living if we can never earn redemption?" I know this is a general statement but it’s funny in the context of. Like. Imagine killing like 50 people and then saying “hey it’s all in the past my guy.” LMAO.

Uhhh Rika I don’t think you can forgive a crime committed against Rena and Mion. Lmaooo

Bruh when Satoko said “Keiichi fought for me? I find that hard to believe” I laughed. She doubts Keiichi so hard 💀

"Very well we'll accept the second condition. But let us add another condition on top of that. We're going to send her a lawyer. You will only question her in the lawyers presence.” I want to see Saul Goodman defending Rena Ryuugu now. I will pay money for it. Unironically? Never speak to police without a lawyer present.

Yes, Rena was aware of her actions. To a degree. But does she deserve jail time? I don’t think so, but she clearly has some mental problems that need treated. I think Ooishi should be discharged from the police force for even entertaining her delusions. He was really mainly at fault. Even during negotiation. He couldn’t have done much else, but still. Was not helping.

FILE NO 34. Huh. This must’ve been obvious for the Japanese audience HAHA. So, the kanji for Miyo is the same kanji for san and shi, right? 3 and 4? Pffttttt. Okay, to be fair, names can be written in a variety of ways In Japanese. But still. Funny.

Oh never mind then it was meant to be obvious. It doesn’t actually give away the fact she’s the culprit I just jumped the gun

WOW HM ITS ALMOST LIKE THERE IS NO CULT AND TAKANO IS PLAYING YOU ALL FOR FOOLS.

“People who think it’s useless to talk to others usually haven’t really talked to others.” Eh, disagree. I used to. It never helped. No one else can solve my problems. No one cares about me. I only have one human looking out for me, and that is myself.

CH7

Oh, are we going to see Hanyuu Furude this arc? Yay, I love Hanyuu. She’s so cute. I wonder why Rika is referring to her as a brother or sister. Is this a flashback? Hanyuu is Rika’s great x8 grandmother or something, right? She’s also the village god I think.

Anyway, Akarigurashi chapter 8.2 just released and I liked it. Sorry, unrelated. Sorry, I like meguri, okay?

“So yes, if this piece, Ooishi, didn't intervene, then perhaps the victims of Rule X wouldn't have resorted to such violence.” I TOLD YOU. I TOLD you Ooishi was at fault all along.

“And well, while people in a single world may be able to reach such an idea, the widespread desire to place blame commonly causes A to be lynched by society while the environment that gave rise to A goes ignored.” Yeah, this is actually true for real life. Crimes happen. A “monster” committed them out of “evil.” The root of evil is never addressed. Human nature is never addressed, because it’s a “monster.” No one else feels responsible. In reality? It’s all of our faults. Letting the world be in shambles is every humans collective fault. That’s my perspective.

“She also may have to defeat Rule Z, just as Sonozokai Shion faced it in Meakashi.” Who is Sonozokai Shion? Crazy, first we had Sayoko and now we have Shion Sonozokai.

Hey, thanks Ryukishi. It’s awesome to hear Rule X, Rule Y and Rule Z being mentioned constantly even though I can’t remember off the top of my head the differences! Okay, Rule X is that the disease always makes one of Rika’s friends develop Hinamizawa Syndrome. Rule Y is that Rika Furude, Takano Miyo and Jirou Tomitake always die. Rule Z is that Ooishi and Takano always cause shit. Right?

So how long has Rika been looping? 100 years? How many time loops, then? If she looped the same June of 1983, and only the current arcs were what she experienced, that would be six months! But then, why does she say Rena, Shion and Keiichi lost it? Why is it never Mion or Satoko? Is that just a rule for all arcs, or because she only experienced these six arcs? And if she experienced her whole life six times, that’s 60 years. So, I’m going with the idea that there were either 4 previous loops, or… if she’s only experiencing one month, and June of 1983 had 30 days, then to make 1 month add up to 100 years, she would’ve experienced… 3000 loops? Is that correct? Yeah… if I had to loop the same month 3000 times, I would become a little jaded too.

Okay I might’ve overestimated, it’s around 1200. Still a lot.

I would love a Sotsu/Meguri style visual novel. Maybe a fan project? But it wouldn’t have the same charm as an official one. I truly believe after reading Umineko and almost finishing Higurashi that these stories can only truly be understood through the visual novel medium. Ciconia though? Uh… sorry, I’m not paying £40 for ONE chapter of a story. If that pattern continues, phase 2, 3 and 4 being released will add up to £160. I am not paying £160 for fucking Ciconia. I think the worst part is that no playthroughs are allowed past a certain chapter, 7 or 8. I understand why. But like- if the game wasn’t £40 I would understand more. I mean come on. It’s one chapter. Like Ryukishi, my guy, are you struggling financially or smth? Because we alllll are. Some of us, such as myself, don’t even have income because the job market is unbelievable! So the only money I can get right now is money from people on holidays. And at this rate, I don’t think phase 2 is gonna be released anytime soon so… oopsies. Yeah no. I’ll pass. Oh wait? It’s actually £30, and on sale for £20 right now. Tempting, very tempting, but ah! I can’t justify it right now. Sorry, but it’s on principle alone I can’t justify that. The question arcs of Umineko are around £20. Someone said Ciconia Phase 1 is double the length of Lotgw. If that is true, and each question arc is worth £5 (same logic as the Higurashi arc pricing, also it makes sense considering the price) then that should only be £10. It’s basic Math. But instead it’s being charged at £30. I would pay £10 for each phase. Not £30, not even £20. Sorry, but I believe in fairness. And no one can convince me £30 or 40 USD is a reasonable price for one phase of a four phase story. This is the sims 4 levels of bad. Okay, maybe not exactly that bad… but look. Huniepop 2 is £20 and honestly even that probably has more worth than Ciconia.

“The art is better” yeah? art is meant to improve over time. Why does that matter? Like come on, don’t act like the game is Mona Lisa levels of good.

Rika this has a very simple solution. In each arc, have Hanyuu follow everyone around one by one. Follow Keiichi. Suspicious behaviour? No? Follow Satoko. Suspicious behaviour? No? Follow… and follow… then follow Ooishi. No? Then follow Mion? No? Then follow Takano, and that’s where the money is. God, Rika, you’re pathetic. I could’ve figured this out ages ago.

Mandela, I remember her being very optimistic in the anime. Hanyuu, that is. I didn’t realise she was this negative. That’s a weird thing to misremember. Also I’ve been subconsciously trying to figure out the MBTI of every Higurashi character this entire time, and I think I have it down. Let’s start with Keiichi… my memory is very bad, but in none of the arcs I don’t remember him being very ne or ni dom… a… si dom? No… se? Maybe… he seems like fi-dom maybe??? It’s not that he doesn’t care about other peoples feelings it’s just that he’s kinda insensitive and clearly thinks of his own subconsciously. So… hmm… ESFP?? No wait, I just completely forgot Ti/Te existed! Uhh… That feels wrong… Rika is a clear ni-dom with heavy… I don’t know??? I can’t be arsed actually. Okay, actually…

Keiichi isn’t logic driven. I mean, Onikakushi and Tsumihoroboshi for example. It wasn’t until Mion educated him that he realised how silly he was being. Though I don’t know if I consider Mion more Tx or Fx. She has a lot of loyalty to her friends and the Sonozaki family, so I’m leaning Fx. But Fi or Fe? Well. I don’t know. Mion isn’t a Ne nor Ni dom, as showcased by her debunking Keiichi and Rena’s conspiracies. She doesn’t seem interested in “what ifs.” She doesn’t seem interested in thinking about abstract concepts very much. I don’t really understand how Se and Si users work, to be honest. I’m a very heavy and probably unhealthy ne-dom. I’m NeFi, ENFP. As far as I’m aware anyway… if you get different vibes from me because of this post, and want to suggest otherwise, please let me know. And yes, MBTI is pseudoscience, but it’s fun. So I really don’t care. Hell, you could call all of typology pseudoscience. You could call psych and sociology pseudoscience. But are you just going to dismiss entire fields of science as fake just because they aren’t scientific in the way you like? Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. The scientific method is using empirical evidence to draw conclusions. Some things are just not provable. If I surveyed a town and everyone there said they liked curry, I could say that everyone in that town liked curry. (Chie watching me with a death glare right now) But, how could you truly know that they like curry? Even statistics can’t be reliable. What if everyone lied? It’s improbable, but not impossible. But do we dismiss sociology and psychology just because we can’t prove things beyond a shadow of a doubt? No. And typologies like MBTI are similar. Of course these are abstract labels. Of course there’s no way we can prove cognitive functions exist. And yes, there is probably many more “cognitive functions.” But MBTI is a framework of identity. Even Jung said he was probably mistaken. So why do we cling to it? To help us understand ourselves.

What was I talking about again? Oh, When They Cry

I want to see a Sotsu like story but Mion is the looper. Why? Because Mion has such a strong will and sense of responsibility, that I want to see her going through the loops. How would she react? Of course, a character like Rena looping was something I found interesting, but she’s already predisposed to insanity. Mion is the only relatively “normal” (as normal as a yakuza heir can be) one, so I would want to see that. The story could be… hmm… Imotokoroshi?? Look I was trying to find words that ended in shi because the visual novel tends to do that. But Mion and Shion are different people so it doesn’t always have to involve them both, I just couldn’t come up with a better title… ok this hypothetical is silly, moving on

A choice? Considering this is a linear visual novel, not that linear is a bad thing, I doubt this choice will affect anything, right? Also, unrelated, but Miirena or Shiirena? Like, which do y’all like more? Because I’m torn. They’re both different people but in Watanagashi and Meakashi-hen Rena thought Shion was Mion, so thus far there isn’t much Shiirena content to work off. There’s some for Miirena though. Ugh why am I bringing this up? We need more Shion content grrr. Every Higurashi girl has been my favourite at some point. I think Shion was my initial favourite?… then Rika, Then Rena, then Satoko. And now? Hm, I don’t know. To answer these kinds of questions, I ask myself, which character would I prefer over another in an arc? Well, okay, let’s go down the list. Who would I remove first? Honestly? Satoko or Rika. And it’s not that I don’t love them as characters, but I have to be honest. Then who? Maybe Rena? I’m just ignoring Keiichi’s existence btw. So Mion or Shion… I like them both a lot! I relate to Shion in a lot of ways but she’s also very immature tbh. So I don’t know. Maybe I’m going about this wrong… I always root for the underdog, probably why Satoko went from one of my favourites to “meh” when GouSotsu released. Yeah it’s not the best ideology. So I don’t know. Mion? You’re asking me to choose between my blorbos!! This isn’t fair!!

I would love a friend like Mion. If you are kin with mion, or synpath or anything, we should be friends! I bet you’re a mature, loyal person! So maybe we shouldn’t, because I’m the opposite. Well maturity wise anyway. I get treated like a kid anyway despite being an adult so I guess I’m not allowed to act like one anyway. Out of all the Higurashi main cast, I relate a lot to them all in different ways, except Mion. She’s just so grounded and logical. Okay, seriously though, does anyone actually have Satoshi as their favourite Higurashi character? Like… bruh. He ain’t even that interesting. Anyway, I think I relate most to Shion in her arc, which is concerning. I’m not as cunning as Shion. No, it’s not that I can’t hide my emotions, it’s that after suffering in silence for so long, I take every little piece of happiness and let it show. I let it show even when I know it’s not good for me, because what have I got to lose? When was the last time I was truly happy? Is happiness even possible? Anyway…

“All I'm saying is that dolls aren't for boys.” “I see.. Then I guess you can have it. Here.” Mion probably really needed to hear that.

I wonder what deadly vices the seven main characters would have. Rika, I feel would be sloth. Shion would be envy. That’s about all I’ve figured out…

So when Shion heard those footsteps, he was hearing Hanyuu maybe? She was infected with Hinamizawa Syndrome, much like Satoko has, so… maybe people with Hinamizawa Syndrome can hear Hanyuu. My big question is, what is Hanyuu doing following Shion around? Just to tell Rika about it?

Think about it kids. If Rika has looped 1200 times, that means the probability of Rena and… I’m torn on Shiirena or Miirena as ships so I’ll say either… getting gay married, is not impossible. The probability of Rika and Satoko getting gay married is also not impossible. Just remember that.

Irie isn’t a bad person? He literally simps after little children. Yes he’s a bad person. He wanted to adopt Satoko for his own sick purposes. Yeah, he supposedly also cared about her, but come on. This is one of the few criticisms I have with Ryukishi’s writing, the sexualisation of his characters. It’s a funny gag in anime. But it’s not actually very funny. I don’t know if Japan as a whole just doesn’t get bothered by these things and sense of humour, but anime culture certainly doesn’t. It’s just not funny, and I wish he would treat it with seriousness. Irie making jokes about children in maid uniforms, like Rena, is not funny, and that’s just dismissed entirely. At the very least, I don’t think Umineko has many jokes about Maria like that. I think they don’t anyway, but there might’ve been one in the earlier arcs.

Ryukishi, come on. Takano being the killer is so obvious at this point. Like it’s driving me insane. Rika, how did you never question this woman??

I changed my mind. Pride is Rika’s sin. There are plenty of reasons the re-incarnation of a village god could be killed. Maybe someone non-religious wants to make a statement, for example.

Didn’t Takano kill Rika’s mother, I remember seeing that in the manga? I haven’t read all of the manga but I own the first two volumes and I’ve read that part online somewhere.

“I went to a forest and got killed in July.” Ohk, so hide in Antarctica then. Then you’ll live until August, and then die of hypothermia.

Okay the implication here is wild. So, not only does Tomitake have Hinamizawa syndrome, that might mean Keiichi’s dad does too? Or maybe Hanyuu is just having more of a human like presence the more weak her powers get. I know for a fact in arc 8 she starts showing up around the others.

So, is this the arc where Satoko gets rescued from Teppei? Because well, it’s arc 7. So I have a little issue really caring when I know Takano will just kill Rika and it won’t matter. What was it Rika said in this arc in the anime? “Kill me slowly, so I remember the face of my enemy.” Or something… I haven’t watched the anime since 2018, but I remember that.

“Hanyuu is not with me twenty four hours a day. She sometimes falls asleep, and sometimes she goes out for walks. Though in her case, it's not a walk, but more like a stalk. She follows people around when she finds someone interesting, and she enjoys observing them.” Well that explains a lot.

Okay, this is a rant unrelated to arc 7. I think the main reason I prefer meguri over Sotsu, again, unrelated to anything here, is the one scene where Satoko snaps. In Sotsu, or the end of Gou? Don’t remember, Satoko says something along the lines of “all I have to do is break Rika,” after learning about the torment Rika went through. But in meguri, at first she is horrified, and THEN she finally accepts that she needs to cause a tragedy. Because think of it this way, if you were told your friend had time looping powers and looped over 100 years to find a happy ending, but you still end up miserable in the end, you probably would be horrified, but then you would try and change things. It’s not Satoko jumping into sadistic behaviour that I don’t see as possible, it’s the immediate jump. Though some of my dislike for Sotsu is probably the fact that when I was younger and watching Higurashi I related to Satoko, and I still do, and in Sotsu, I realised I was like her too in that already, and it kind of worried me. But I think what bothered me most was the ending of Sotsu. Call me a pussy, but I cried at the ending, because it was so lacklustre. I have never cried at an ending because it was so bad, EVER. Satoko destroyed the previous loops, however that works, got immediately forgiven and then a half assed Umi reference is made and roll credits. And for the record, I’m not saying Satoko can’t be forgiven, but I’m saying the line about “I will return Satoko Hojo” to you kinda annoys me because like- sorry I’m trying not to laugh, like genuinely, was witch satoko not a metaphor??? Much like how Rika becomes more jaded overtime, Satoko became more sadistic overtime and in her own way jaded. But in the end, all of her trauma and other issues is just, poof, fine, and they go their separate ways. But something I really hate about Sotsu is Tatariakashi. It really doesn’t matter what justification you come up with, because you aren’t thinking about the real world implications of Tatariakashi. Let’s look at this from a meta context. Satoko Hojo is a victim of abuse who wasn’t believed because of her past pattern of lying (which might not have even been lying, but just her young brain not fully comprehending things, as it is implied), even though she actually was being abused in 1983. However, tatariakashi has Satoko lie about her abuse, which feeds into the whole “oh, well you shouldn’t believe children victims of abuse in case they’re lying,” thing. I don’t care what excuse you come up with. This arc exists only for shock value, and has nothing more to say, in both Sotsu and Meguri, and I will stand by that. What does this arc say about child abuse? Nothing. Absolutely nothing other than the indirect effect this arc has. When your message isn’t intentional, you fucked up. And don’t just tell me I’m just misinterpreting it. That’s a lazy excuse. Do you know how many people also ‘misinterpreted’ this arc? Sorry, but if your story can be misinterpreted this badly by many people, maybe it isn’t our fault, maybe it’s just bad writing. Because it is bad writing. This arc is detested for a reason. Let’s make something clear: even if Satoko was lying in Tatariakashi, that doesn’t mean that the right choice was not believing her. You should believe victims. The implication here is that by believing Satoko, Rika couldn’t overcome the tragedy again. Do you fucking see the problem? When believing a victim of abuse indirectly leads to tragedy, you’re kind of promoting that it was the wrong thing to do. Like come on. I’m just using common sense here. This arc is offensive to victims of childhood trauma, and I say this as one. Sorry I got a little heated. I just don’t like being treated like I just don’t “get” Tatariakashi. I get it. I just think it’s disgusting. Moving onto CH7 again. Sorry.

“People can't live without hope. People can survive because they believe that something good will happen to them eventually, as long as they keep on living. I had nothing left to bet on. All I could do was get hurt and suffer devastation, Blood flowed from my broken heart and found its way out through my eyes in the form of tears.” Powerful words my friend, powerful words.

I remember that Shion was very angry in the anime over Satoko’s abuse, so I wonder how she’ll act in the VN.

Higurashi Abridged but the characters are going in a circle about calling. “Keiichi, I tried to ring you but you were busy.” “Wait Rena, I’m getting a call from Shion.” “Alright, I’ll call Mii-chan then.” “Keiichi, I tried calling Rena but she wouldn’t pick up.” “She’s calling Mi- wait I’m getting a call.” “I tried calling Rena but she didn’t pick up, have you tried?” “Mion- she’s trying to call you.” Okay, maybe my sense of humour is a bit broken but in my head this is the funniest thing ever. A bit tone deaf but idk. The brain works in weird methods. They just go in circles about it for like 5 minutes straight not even getting to the point.

Like okay, if I made an abridged series I would probably make a parody of GouSotsu. I would have Satoko become a looper, but when Rika got hit by the chandelier, the rest of the club in all other timelines became absolute dolts as a result of the “curse of the chandelier” or something. So in each arc, Satoko would try to cause a tragedy, but Hinamizawa Syndrome it affects them in ridiculous ways and they have weird motives. Satoko and Rika are the only straight men of the group… ironically. Rika figures out Satoko is the looper because she’s the only club member with a brain. Like come on that would be peak comedy. I’d eat that shit up as an abridged series. And the characters would have shit about them flipped. Rena wouldn’t be paranoid because of aliens, she would be paranoid because she is an alien and thinks the government is after her. Mion isn’t the heir to the Yakuza, she’s the heir to something really mundane like… a furniture shop, but she takes it super seriously. (Umineko joke here.) I don’t have many ideas for Shion because she’s already pretty unhinged. She’d just have a deep country accent and make meta commentary. Okay, I need to stop making up a story for a hypothetical abridged series I am not making. It was just a “what-if.”

My character tier list is tricky because I love them all, but who is THE blorbo? I like Satoko a lot, but I also like Mion, and I like Shion. Oddly, I think Rena is losing favour with me. Not that she’s a bad character, just not my favourite anymore. I could’ve easily said Satoko was the blorbo, before GouSotsu came out. Look, I just see villain Satoko and think “you could be written so much better.” As well as “she just like fr” but let’s ignore that. Satoko is a very high synpath for me, or even fictionhearted, but mmm. I don’t know. Satoko and Mion are the blorbos right now, but I love all of them. Also, I’ve been thinking, and I’ll probably play the bonus arcs and add them as a separate posts. When I did Umineko’s two bonus arcs, my drafts got deleted. For those curious, I knew Piece’s identity like 30-40 minutes in, but still. And the only commentary for the other one was the idea of intersex Sayo and I thought Kumasawa saying “this is going to be the best prank ever” funny.

Going to 2018 tradition of writing every Higu birthday, as I only got halfway down thenfirstday… what. That doesn’t word. That’s not a sentence. I don’t speak. Well.

'Satoko, you've been a good girl so I guess your cold is all better now. Go back to school tomorrow.” “Thank you so much. Thank you so much...” He was the one who told her to say 'thank you' when he gives her approval to do something. But it annoyed him to hear her say it over and over.

Ugh what an asshole. She’s so scared of him. And Oryou won’t help her because of her family name? Ugh I hate Oryou.

I’m not crying, you’re crying. It’s hard when you remember Satoko is literally a little girl who is severely traumatised. She’s only 11. I don’t know her fear exactly, but I know what it’s like to have scary figures in your life as a kid… even if my case was not as bad as Satoko’s. It was more emotional than physical on their behalf. I was never good enough for them. I told my therapist on accident once and she got concerned, I didn’t understand why. My dad got very mad at me for telling the therapist about what he did. It didn’t really click for me until 2020 that something was truly off about this. And I’ve been afraid to call it what it is. Even now I question if it was emotional abuse or if I was just overreacting. Abuse is such a strong word. When others have it worse, can I really say that? It’s not like I’ve been perfect either. I was a brat as a kid. But it still hurt. But some things I found out are normal. Being forced to do your homework while being yelled at for hours on end is apparently a common experience cuz I saw a Twitter thread of people saying they related. So what else I went through was normal? Was it all normal? Was it all okay? I hope it isn’t normal. I hope this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I wish I could be specific but my memories get foggy. I think I push them out for my own sake. Well, when I had breakdowns my parents would yell at me or mock me. My mom grabbed my throat once and shoved me against the wall. My dad pushed me down the staircase. They called me names. Was it an everyday occurrence though? No. Not every day. I don’t know how often. Weekly? Monthly. Yearly? Bi yearly? My dad has always yelled and insulted me for small things. But my grandfather did that too, when I spilled a drink on the floor. So is that normal or are my family just evil? I mean they are evil. My aunt recorded her 3 year olds mental breakdown once. They’re all evil. I don’t know why but I can’t remember anything! I’m trying but… I guess it was more emotional neglect than abuse, and when they were verbally abusive, the bottled up emotions just became too much to handle. My mom stopped taking me to therapy after I left school. I guess she thought that was the problem solved. She always treated me like a burden. They told me they didn’t care and that I was just crazy. My dad to this day tells me if I ever go outside when I’m not allowed to he will call the cops and say I am a ‘vulnerable youth’ and ‘too crazy to be out on my own.’ I am a legal adult btw. I don’t know what I’m talking about. I don’t like thinking about this. I’ll never forgive them either way. But I’m not overreacting. I’m not too sensitive. If I was, why would I be so traumatised? Sometimes I hear trauma symptoms and I relate to them a lot. Disassociation is an issue I have been dealing with for ages, for example. I dunno… I don’t care. Either way, I still hate my family.

I saw someone say today “traumas still trauma no matter whos "fault" it is.” Which… makes me feel a little less bad about my previous paragraph. Even if it is my fault, I’m still traumatised.

Okay actually MBTI real. Keiichi I still have no fucking clue for. Te-dom? Te-Si? Is that ESTJ? But wait, I don’t see… I don’t see Si. I see Te but also Se. Actually I see Se-Ti. Logical isn’t the word I would use to describe Keiichi. But if someone came up to him and told him something, but used reasoning that SOUNDED logically sound, I don’t think he’d think too much into it. So he’s Se-Ti but just. Incompetent?

Could he be Fi-dom? Se-Fi maybe? Because he’s very rash about his decisions, like with Teppei in Arc 3, didn’t even consider other peoples feelings in that. ESFP? Maybe? I don’t know. It feels wrong.

Mion seems to be… is saying Se-Fi again silly? Cuz here’s my logic. I don’t see Si-dom. I can see Fe-aux. But if I don’t see Si dom, she can’t be Fe dom. look I’m bad at this, okay? What’s the consensus here? ESFJ? Yeah. I see more Fe than Fi for her. I mean she literally wanted to save Rena from being roblox oofed by the cops last arc despite Rena attacking her brutally. But Si? Actually sure. Makes sense.

Shion… yeah, so, maybe Se? Se-Fi? Uhh… I don’t know… okay, so the consensus is ENFJ. Yeah actually, I was considering that but… Hm. The problem with Shion is that she is introduced as a more intense version of her usual self so it was hard to see Fe-dom. But I see it. Ni aux makes sense. I guess I just default to se-dom when I have no idea.

Rena is a Ne-dom to the point where she is like hilariously Ne dom. Ne-Fi. There’s no question, ENFP there. Hm, people agree. Cool. This was a no-brainer.

Satoko is Se-Fi. Again this one is easy. ESFP. And people agree.

Rika is Ni-Fe, I think, but she’s also kinda careless of her friends sometimes. But Fi-Ne doesn’t feel right. I don’t know why I jumped to her being a feeler anyway. But others agree with me so my lucky guess.

Hanyuu is SiFe I think… oh and people agree…

Satoshi is boring we don’t even need to care about this.

Keiichi: we can’t use violence to solve our problems. Also Keiichi: *fights with old people and goes to the leader of the yakuza to convince her to change her mind.*

Did Mion even try at all? If Oryou is that fickle about helping Satoko, it really does make me wonder. But well, I suppose Keiichi’s “put up a fight” story works. Though why couldn’t Mion do the same? Say that she fought with her grandmother and almost killed her. But I don’t know, if it’s family maybe that’s different. I still hate Oryou. I don’t care about her reputation. When a child is being abused, you help that child, period. There is no excuse. Period.

I know this is ironic because of my beliefs but Mion and Shion’s mom kinda hot? What?! Just because I personally don’t agree with having kids doesn’t mean I can’t be attracted to a MIL- okay, I’m gonna stop. 😭

Akane is so interesting. Apparently there’s a manga airing right now called Higurashi Oni, about Oryou, but I’m avoiding reading anything outside of Meguri for spoilers. Yeah I know I’m aware of most things in the story considering I’ve been a Higu fan since 2018 but- I still want to re-experience things in a perhaps new light.

AKANE?! Keiichi and Satoko shouldn’t be together. Isn’t Keiichi like 14? Okay so Satoko is a year older than I thought. Still, 11 and 14 is weird. 12 and 14 is still weird I think. But the way Satoko is drawn vs Keiichi, yeah, he’s too old for her. No.

So Satoko set up a trap for Teppei?

“There were times when I went on a rampage too,” strange. I never thought Rika did that. I always thought she never harmed anyone.

Takano is soooo hot when she’s probably plotting Jirou’s oofment.

Theory: Rika loses her memories not because of Hanyuu, but because she drinks her, ahem, let’s say orange juice so much she has a… memory loss in the morning, AKA, when she wakes up in the… void? Is that it?

“How dare you talk to the police before talking to us!” Based Satoko? Also I think Hanyuu is ISFJ cuz she seems Si-Fe. Yes I’m still thinking about that.

There was someone? Hanyuu? Hanyuu. Hanyuu didn’t believe.

“What's outside of the well? Is it something worth fighting for? What's outside of the well? Is it something worth getting hurt for? What's outside of the well? I'm going to fight and get hurt in order to find that out. I'm sure what's waiting is a beautiful world. Even if I get to the bottom of the well again. The key to the new world is my willingness to get out of here. Even if I can get out or not, I will eventually get to the new world...” It’s so simple, but effective. I… I am not one to take ‘inspirational’ quotes as gospel. When I was younger, a lyric, a poem, could change my outlook on life. I’m too old to be that easily swayed. I’m too jaded to feel anything but. I guess this poem makes me think, and not a lot of stories make me think. What’s outside of the well? Is it worth fighting for? If my life wasn’t worth it, I would’ve gave up by now, right? So I’m alive because I have some hope, whether I like it or not. And if I’m going to exist without living, without putting in any effort into winning this fight, then I’m just a coward who gets what I deserve. What else can I do? If I look at my life goals enough, maybe, maybe I’m not trying hard enough. Maybe it is my fault, maybe it isn’t. But either way, if I fight enough, can I win? Can sheer willpower make my life, or break me? I think I’d rather be broken than not try. I think I’d rather get my hopes up again than spend another 4 years never leaving the house. I don’t remember if it was 3, 4 or more. But 2022 was when I began leaving the house. This year, all I could do was sit around while other people did the work for me. Why? Why did I allow that? Because they wouldn’t let me. But why should I care what they let me do or not? It’s my life. If I want happiness, I have to fight for it. So, I don’t care what anyone says. If I want to go outside on my own, at my grown age, and look down my town to see if any job openings are there, I should be able to do that. Am I still scared of my parents? How pathetic. They were right, I never grew up. Just not in the way they think. If I’m an adult, I’m on an equal playing field with them. Even if they shelter me, does your landlord control everything you do? No. No they don’t. Can your landlord kick you out for that? No. But parents can. But is being kicked out my worst fear? No. It’s my dads threats to get me locked up in a mental facility if I try leaving, to lie to the cops. That scares me. But I can’t let myself be afraid anymore. So while I can’t let sentiments change my philosophy, it can change the way I implement my philosophy. And because of the existence of this quote, this level of reasoning is possible for Lemon. What do you think, everyone~

Wha- all these years I thought Takano’s first name was Takano. But if her grandfather is Hifumi Takano, then Takano has to be her surname. Isn’t her surname like Miyoko or something? Takano Miyoko. Miyoko Takano. Japanese prioritises family names. So is that a translation thing? No wait, that still makes no sense. Okay so her first name IS Miyo/Miyoko. I always got it the other way around. Easy mistake.

Didn’t need much reason, but have more to hate Irie.

Ryukishi’s words about mysteries makes me think of Scott Cawthon. Remember when the fnaf games were fun to solve and actually had somewhat clear answers? The golden era.

And, is that Bernkastel speaking to us? :0

CH8

You know , what if HS doesn’t exist? What if it’s just mass hysteria? Like sure H173 exists, but naturally occurring? What if that’s just like, a group reaction?

I know it’s just a coincidence, but Eriko is so similar to Erika. In Japanese, it’s very different. -Ko means child. Eri. What could eri mean? Collar? Picture laws of nature? Eri doesn’t mean much. Maybe Eriko is a word! Wait, it means collar child? Really? That’s pathetic. Erika Furudo and Rika Furude are more on the nose. They both can be written similarly to Frederica, I’d assume? According to GT, Frederica is “Furede Rika” in Katakana. I guess for whatever reason Ryukishi decided “ru” fit more than “re.” And Erika Furudo still sounds like Frederica backwards too. But yes, Eriko is just a coincidence. It may be one letter in English but in Japanese こ and か are different suffixes. Ka means flower I believe in suffixes. They’re both popular.

A lot of Higurashi characters have common name suffixes. Rika has ka, Keiichi has ichi, Rena has na, Satoko has ko, but you know who doesn’t? Mion. Mion and Shion aren’t really popular Japanese names. Shi means demon and Mi means uhh, flower I’m pretty sure. What does the ‘o’ mean? I don’t know. お and ん are different.

Bored a fuck won at Trivial Pursuit while listening to Takano’s war ramblings.

Oh, was Miyoko r-worded? I remember hearing that a long time ago, but I wouldn still pick up on it even if I didn’t. So, her friends were killed to set an example. She was taken to the bathroom and forced to… how awful. That’s a little girl.

Maybe I’m reading too deep into this, but maybe Ko was dropped because Miyo didn’t have a proper childhood? Like she felt like she lost her innocence. I know it’s a bit of a stretch but idk. Also I just remembered “4” can be written as both shi and yo, so it isn’t just a kanji thing like I predicted. I believe in Japanese, depending on dialect, different spellings occur? No; not dialect; something else. Sorry if I’m not wording this properly. So, the 34 reference should make more sense to Japanese people. Wait… Mi means 3? Oh! OH! Okay, so there’s two ways to read Japanese, right? So, maybe Mi means 3 in that! Because I learnt 3 as “San” and 4 as “Shi,” so the other way of reading it must be “Mi” and “Yo.” That is 34. I also believe it has relevance to the Greek alphabet, Lambda and Delta. I know Delta is the 4th letter, so I’m assuming Lambda is the 3rd. Bravo. Vi- FUCK, WRONG SHOW. I mean- novel?

Oh yeah, can’t Hifumi be written like “一二三”? Or am I misremembering? ALSO, DONT WHAT INSIDE OF YOU SATOSHI? These translators are dirty. Actually, maybe I’m dirty. Seriously, is that a translation error? I know it’s technically correct but like- it makes it hard to take it seriously when he’s asking the “other” him to not… ahem, “go” inside… his mind.

Shit? Did my draft erase?! Damn, I went on a speech about how it’s been 11 months since I started this journey and all that crap. Well, whatever. I’ll post this then go back and edit it. I say a lot of shit here so if I say anything that doesn’t make sense or is wrong I probably changed my mind along the way.

[enkisstories]

Rika turns to both Gavin and Connor next, after Hank the best detectives not just at central, but in all of Detroit. Their qualification is beyond question, but so is their loyalty - Gavin's to his species, nevermind that he used to live in permanent fear of getting laid of in favour of a cheaper, android, worker by his fellow humans, and Connor to whoever is presented to him as his superior. Blind obediance is not a quality Markus is looking for in his new police force and therefore the offer the revolution leader had for Hank isn't extended to Gavin and Connor.

Rika: "Before you go, would you have a look at this, detective?”

Gavin noncommittally casts a glance at Rika’s new phone, but his mimic changes to an adoring one, when he sees that it is full of cat pictures. A few slides later there are also dogs... guinea pigs... a parrot...

Rika: “There's a job opening in an animal shelter and as the occupying force, Jericho could demand they hire you before considering other appliccants. If you want, that is. It's not paying much, but maybe you'd want to try a career that's closer to your interests for a change? The revolution can be a chance for humans just as well as for androids, you know!"

Gavin: "Okay, those pics were cute, but, no, thanks.”

Rika: “But what will you do now?”

Gavin: “Cutting trees, most likely. Whatever they do for a living in Canada.”

Hank: “Canada?”

Gavin: “I applied for fugitive status and it got through this morning. I just wanted to listen to all my options before leaving Detroit.”

Gavin figures he is still young enough to start over elsewhere. It won't be easy, but he counts on his "fugitive from the machine takeover" status to tide him over the worst. To capitalize on that sympathy, Gavin Reed needs to leave the city before anybody coming from Detroit will register as a potential spy of Jericho's.

Rika: "Part of me rejoyces to hear that you’ll be out of our lives. But my head says it's a waste of what could still have turned into a decent human being. You're fun at parties, that much I have to give you. There will be a goodbye party, yes?"

Gavin: "Naturally! Feel free to invite yourself - I'll relish in the knowledge that it'll be the last I'll have seen of you tin cans! Canada always was an android-free zone.”

Hank: "Let me guess: You want us to go to Gavin's party and not just dip, but remain ‘till the end to see with our own eyes that he really leaves Detroit?"

Connor: *nods eagerly*

Hank: *groans*

In their short time together so far, Hank has almost naturally slid into the role of not just a mentor on the job, but also a father figure for Connor. Just now he provided something especially valuable to the young android:

A parent who disapproves of Connor's partying habits and the kids he chooses to hang out with.

Young adult milestone achieved! Program instability increased!

[rikas-things]

Hello, everynyan! 😺🩷

This is my master list! Things you'd like to see, as well as info about me, will be here!

I'll mostly use this for my artwork and to introduce myself, so I hope you'll be intrigued to see about it.

More under the cut

🩷About Rika💜

Name: Rika, Rika M

Home: America

Hobbies: drawing, edits, making memes

Favorite color(s): Pink & purple

Favorite food(s): sweets 🧁

Least favorite food: potato salad 🤢

Favorite show(non-animated): Heat of the Night, Matlock (I'm prolly showing my age here lol)

Current obsession(s): Twisted Wonderland, Diabolik Lovers, Naruto, Jujutsu Kaisen

(the ones in color are the biggest obsessions)

Other facts: I used to use Wattpad religiously, but after the site went to Hell and back, I've been trying to find alternatives and am currently working on sending my stories to Archive Of My Own (AO3). I'm trying to get a webcomic started but haven't thought up a proper plot yet...

★・・・・・・★

OMG, this series has a choke hold on my like none other!! I've played the game off and on for like a year and I've just recently gotten Rollo's card a few days ago, which also happened to be on my birthday! Best! Gift! EVER!! (⁠・⁠∀⁠・⁠)

Ahem, even though this gatcha game has gotten so popular I'm sure everyone but the neighborhood dog knows about this, but in case you don't, I'll explain:

So Twisted Wonderland is this world centered around Disney. Particularly the villains, who are turned into these super beautiful anime boys who are all super capable with magic but have varying degrees of trauma. They all have to go to this school for magic to become official mages, and here's where you come in: you're a random who got transported into this world via horse and carriage, and after nearly getting burned alive by this talking cat and trying to explain to the very irresponsible and weird man with the mask that you ain't from here, you are allowed to live on campus until he "finds a way" to get you back home. Oh, and the crow dude's the Headmaster of the academy, by the way.

Loh story short, he has you be a free therapist for these gorgeous but dangerous bishie boys and you get rewarded with stuff to fix the dilapidated dorm the headmaster forced allowed you to stay in. I may or may not have butchered a bit of the initial plot but I hope you understood it. Blah, blah, blah, there are cards you need to collect and or strengthen through lessons, blah,blah, blah, the more power they are the prettier the art is- OH BUT YOU CAN'T DATE THE BOYS!

....yeah, this ain't an otome(girl's dating) game. It's a visual novel, but that won't stop the characters from flirting with you at random moments. Nor will the fandom stop from making them datable. La, la, la, can't hear you over the sound of my Idia x Reader getting over 200 reads!! ಡ⁠ ͜⁠ ⁠ʖ⁠ ⁠ಡ

Ahem.

Yeah, so this is the section for my fic. Sorry for the yap session (⁠ ⁠ꈨຶ⁠ ⁠˙̫̮⁠ ⁠ꈨຶ⁠ ⁠):

There's only a few of these available, and I'm not sure if I'll ever continue them. But if you'd like to see more of my amateurish writing, then I'd be glad to do so.

My artworks are here:

☹࿇༲࿆༫࿆࿂࿆༗(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)࿇༲࿆༫࿆࿂࿆༗☻

Ah, Diabolik Lovers. For many, this series needs no introduction. But for a few of you who had not known about this franchise, I'll gladly tell you.

I first learned of this through the laughably bad "anime", which had me in such a blind rage, I barely remembered it before learning it had adapted from a game of the same name,.which, while I do have my own misgivings of the initial premise (the source material is DARK with a capital D) the anime does the series a great disservice.

Not only do the boys get scrubbed clean of anything that made them interesting, save for their sadism and their desire to drink Yui(our unfortunate heroine) dry, Yui herself is not even a person. Lots of the reasons and ideas behind her character are thrown out of the window for a cheap and lazy cash grab. Same for the second season.

That being said...

I'd be lying if I said this series didn't have me in a chokehold for the LONGEST TIME.

The game art, story, and generally everything else is far superior, and, with the exception of More, Blood-

And I dearly enjoyed everything involving it's characters, as well as the fandom and the funny meme content (Laby fans, where u at 😏)

And I've actually made my own interpretation of Diabolik Lovers in the name of Diabolik Alcoholik!

Anyways, I hope you enjoy your time on this silly little blog of mine and hope to see you soon!

[the-gequassel-shiro27]

“Kekkon Surutte Hontou desu ka?- 365 Days to the Wedding”Manga Review, kinda

Ever had a Manga that is just heartwarming to read? And while being at it, its chracters living rentfree in your head? A series that is satisfying to read, despite or more accurately because it’s sometimes a bit predictable. For me this happened with “Kekkon Surutte Hontou desu ka?- 365 Days to the Wedding”, a Manga by Tamiki Wakaki, which recently got an anime announced. It was said announcement, that got me to read the description of the manga and lead me to read it, halfheartedly at first. After three days however, i started to bookmark it.  Without realizing it the series just stuck to me because, there were moments or even entire chapters that left me with a stupidly bright smile and a very warm and cozy feeling. Usually accompanied by a  feeling of “i knew it”.

“Kekkon  Surutte Hontou desuka?” is a slice of life/(office) romance manga about Takuya Oohara and Rika Honnjouji who are co-workers at a travel agency, where the higher- ups recently announced the opening of a branch in Irkutsk. Both protagonists are incredibly anti-social and neither of them wants to be send there. To reduce the likelyhood of getting send there, they pretend that they are getting married to each other, because the higher-ups also announced that singles are more likely to be send there. While pretending to get married they actually fall in love with each other. Technically this plan could easily fall flat, because the higher-ups could just send both of them, but that’s probably just me relinquishing my suspension disbelieve for a second. With that out of the way, one of the things that i like the most about the series is how the characters start developing because of each other. Both of them open up as people through interacting with each other and to see that unfold is genuinely heartwarming. And it stays like this. Without going into detail a good example of this is the entire development from chapter 20 or so up to chapter 50. Their different social backgrounds, ad an interesting element to their relationship, by creating a bit of tension, beyond just the two of them, because an underlying theme seems to be aside from marriage, the conflict between tradition and modernity. Something that influences another great aspect of the story namely the way how the author uses their co-workers to subtly deal with themes that, from my experience, are rarely brought up in  slice of life/romance manga, like (dealing with) divorce and to some extend single motherhood. The only way how i’ve percieved these themes within the confines of romance manga somewhat, was thorough the classic, “oldest daughter does the household, while the mother works” trope. Within the story, especially the topic of single motherhood was part an arc, which lead me to like one the sidecharacters, Gonda, who meets a woman who turns out to be a single mother. Through that arc he gets an interesting amount of character development.

The fact that there were little to no conflict, to the point were i expected one to happen, while it didn't happen is something that i really enjoyed about the manga. A minor nitpick is that Gonda's Arc feels a bit cut short, but that impression might change, considering that i am currently slowly rereading the series. So in the future I might actually revisit this with a properly researched anaylsis on its themes (and probably overinterpret it, to the point of seeing aluminium trees).

So to conclude: I can happily recommend this Manga.