#also we get a visual of shizuka

[animesavior]

“Find your dream, Akira. Find the biggest one you can. Your dreams keep a man solid; don't you ever forget that.” -          Teruo Tendo, Zom 100 (Ep. 12)

“If that's the case, I think it's time I leave the village. If what Shizuka's said was true and the zombies are caused by a virus, I'll travel the country and look for a cure to it. they'll convince dad to get surgery for his hemorrhoids, yeah. Do your best to help humanity and do what you can for the world. Those were dad's last wishes after all.” -          Akira Tendo

This Toonami Trending Rundown is a double feature for June 28 & 29-30 and July 5 & 6-7, 2024, as these two weeks marked the season finale of Zom 100.

In regards to trending, during both Toonami Rewind broadcast of June 28 and July 5, #ToonamiRewind would trend in the USA. And for both nights of June 29-30 and July 6-7, #Toonami would trend in the United States alongside My Adventures with Superman and Zom 100. #Toonami would also trend on Tumblr during the latter week.

The Zom 100 manga continues on Akira, Shizuka, Kencho, and Beatrix’s storyline, which is also being published stateside by Viz Media, which is still going strong with 17 volumes and 67 chapters and counting. Unfortunately, there’s no word yet on when and if we’ll see a second season of the Zom 100 anime as of now. As previously mentioned, the anime saw numerous production issues and setbacks that regularly delayed the release of episodes during its original Japanese run, most notably with the final three episodes being delayed for over three months. So even if a second season is already greenlit, it’s quite understandable that the animation studio might need some time to get things back together. Nevertheless, Zom 100 sure was a fun ride, and hopefully we’ll see this show return in the future. In the meantime, feel free to check out the manga, in addition to a live action film by Netflix, that has been on their service since August 3, 2023.

This week’s feature was a game review of Animal Well, a platformer developed by Shared Memory and published by Bigmode. It received an 8/10 score.

During the Production I.G panel on the Saturday of Anime Expo 2024, the panelists revealed the voice cast of the upcoming anime adaption of Junji Ito’s Uzumaki. The English cast will include:

Abby Trott as Kirie Goshima

Robbie Daymond as Shuichi Saito

Cristina Vee as Azami Kurotani

Doug Stone as Kirie's father

Aaron LaPlante as Shuichi's father

Mona Marshall as Shuichi's mother

Max Mittelman as Katayama

As for a potential release date, In an interview with The Japan Times released on June 29, Ito revealed that “the first of four episodes is complete, and lives up to his expectations.” The article also mentioned that Uzumaki is set to air later this year. During San Diego Comic-Con, Toonami announced that Uzumaki would indeed be premiering this September 28, 2024 at 12:30 a.m., following premiere episodes of Rick and Morty: The Anime.

Speaking of Comic-Con, we also got some news regarding several original productions and acquisitions. We got a new show announcement in Rooster Fighter by Shū Sakuratani. Rick and Morty: The Anime will also be premiering on Adult Swim on August 17, with the Japanese with English subtitled version of the episode premiering on Toonami starting August 19. Lazarus by Shinichiro Watanabe will be premiering in 2025. And finally, Aniplex has announced that Toonami will be airing Demon Slayer’s Swordsmith Village arc on August 10 at midnight, with successive episodes airing on 12:30 a.m, at least until September 28.

Crunchyroll has revealed a new trailer, key visual, and release date for the third and final season of Fire Force. Season 3 will be split into two cours (roughly around 24-26 episodes combined), the first half premiering in April 2025, while the second premieres in January 2026. In terms of trending, #FireForce would trend in the USA as a result.

As I attended San Diego Comic-Con in person, unfortunately, we’re running a bit behind on posting the most recent trending rundowns. We’ll have the trending rundown for the rest of July, featuring the season finale of My Adventures with Superman, up in the coming days. And be sure to tune in tonight for the premiere of Demon Slayer’s Swordsmith Village arc. Until next time, stay gold, be sure to register to vote for this year’s elections if you’re eligible and haven’t already, and let’s go Team USA.

Legend: The shows listed are ordered based on their appearance on the schedule. Show trends are listed in bold. The number next to the listed trend represents the highest it trended on the list (not counting the promoted trend), judging only by the images placed in the rundown. For the Twitter tweet counts, the listed number of tweets are also sorely based on the highest number shown based on the images on the rundown.

June 28, 2024 Toonami Rewind Trends

United States Trends:

#ToonamiRewind [#13]

Tweet Counts:

#ToonamiRewind [1,435 tweets]

#Naruto [6,288 tweets]

June 29-30, 2024 Toonami Trends

United States Trends:

#Toonami [Trended with #MyAdventuresWithSuperman]

#MyAdventuresWithSuperman [#5]

#Zom100 [Trended with #MyAdventuresWithSuperman]

Tweet Counts:

#MyAdventuresWithSuperman [3,128 tweets]

July 5, 2024 Toonami Rewind Trends

United States Trends:

#ToonamiRewind [#24]

Tweet Counts:

#Toonami [1,218 tweets]

#SailorMoon [3,321 tweets]

July 6-7, 2024 Toonami Trends

United States Trends:

#Toonami [#8]

#MyAdventuresWithSuperman [#9]

#Zom100 [#9]

Tumblr Trends:

#Toonami [#5]

If you wish to send me a tip for the work on the trending rundown, donations can be sent to https://paypal.me/DanielLimjoco.

Secrets upon secrets. Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (15/10/23)

it really does feel weird watching so many shows I'm used to reading a ton of stuff but I haven't watch this many things in years anyway next week should have another big catch up but not gonna say it'll happen for sure cause something might come up but anyhoo

green - new series/new to me

Anime

Hoshikuzu Telepath Ep1

very cute show as you'd expect from a kirara series god it's been so long since I've watched a CGDCT show but it still slaps, as usual, so I'll be looking forward to this cleansing shot for this season also main cast is all newbies, except one of them randomly is aoki shiki which is p funny to me also also, op and ed are good tho op feels like an ed too (it's mikku tho so it's good 🙏)

Frieren Ep6

great ep once again, I know the frieren fight with the demon guy had some sakuga but I certainly didn't expect to see some this ep too it was really good. and also the interactions between fern and stark are p funny they got good chemistry

Undead Unluck Ep2

extremely good ep, might even say it was better than ep 1 like it was just that great. the direction is still great, I especially liked how they lined up the ep title card with andy saying the line and it didn't break up the action much, hope that's a recurring thing tho also hope they're a bit more ambitious with it. it was also pretty funny seeing all the shaft style shots, which makes sense cause there's a buncha old shaft staff in this but still. the sakuga was really good too. also we got both the op and ed and they're both great, visually and musically, tho the OP visuals go hard as hell. anyway next week we're getting gina so I'm very pogged up for my queen yuuki aoi getting to shine for 2 eps

Pokemon Horizons Ep24

pokemon's back from it's 2 week between cours break with a very lore heavy ep which we already knew would be the case from the previews but I expected to get a lil more action near the end. anyway despite being so lore heavy it was mostly about riko's grandma and not the lucius stuff the plot is built around like I expected. wasn't a bad ep tho. next one looks like it'll have a lot of action so that'll be fun. and in 2 or 3 more eps that new gaki girl will get some more screentime which should be good too

Adult Precure Ep2

DON'T YOU HATE BEING RIGHT??? last week I said: "I just hope they have new cure forms as adults instead of transforming into their younger selves." and guess what the hell happened? MAN I'm so mad. and toei only did it to save costs too cause they reused the stock footage from the old show, man this is so disappointing... but the rest of the episode was really good, even the action after the transformation was good (yoshiyama yuu 🙏) I'm just let down they chose to do this instead of giving them new adult cure forms 😔

Imas Million Live Ep2

great episode, as you'd expect from imas, with an especially good performance from shizuka at the audition at the end. also got to see a bunch more girls do stuff, like anna streaming, so that was fun. I was thinking that it's a shame that the show is only 12 eps (despite being cg) cause I wanna see the girls more but then I realized U149 was also just 12 so it should be fine. it's imas anyway so I'll enjoy my time with it while I can

Manga

Blooming Love Ch15

yknow, at the start I did say I could see this series being p short, but this chap skipped so much time and made it seem like it's ending soon which feels p abrupt. it could continue after this but I don't think it will, we'll see in some weeks I guess

Kill Blue Ch25

I thought we'd get at least 1 more chap of this but it was still p good, just a comedic chill thing to break up the tension after that little action arc

Witch Watch Ch129

we got to the end of this longish arc but shinohara really fooled me, ofc it wasn't gonna be that easy. I'm not gonna spoil the twist at the end of the chapter but WOW really didn't see that coming. I thought this was nearing the end but I can see it going quite a bit longer now

[albertonykus]

Doraemon Movie Review: Nobita and the Green Giant Legend (2008)

What is Doraemon? The title character of the Doraemon manga and anime is a blue robotic cat from the 22nd Century who keeps an array of high-tech gadgets in a portable pocket dimension on his belly, and has traveled from the future to improve the fortunes of a hapless schoolboy named Nobita. Although relatively obscure in the English-speaking world, Doraemon is a Mickey-Mouse-level cultural icon in East Asia (and some other regions, too). The Doraemon franchise was a big part of my childhood, and there are still elements of it that I enjoy now.

Doraemon has released theatrical films almost annually since 1980, most of which involve Nobita and his friends (kind Shizuka, brash Gian, and crafty Suneo) getting swept into adventures thanks to Doraemon's gadgets. Despite being of potentially broad appeal to fans of science fiction and animated films, there are very few English reviews of the Doraemon movies, so I'm embarking on a project to write about all the films that have come out so far. Good luck to me…

Movie premise: Nobita brings a young tree home, where Doraemon gives it the ability to walk and think.

My spoiler-free take: Mostly a sweet, beautiful film... but then the ending just flies off the rails.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT

Review: Those familiar with Doraemon lore might recall Kibo the walking tree, who originated in a one-off chapter in the manga and then appeared again as an adult in Nobita and the Kingdom of Clouds. Nobita and the Green Giant Legend, on the other hand, is the Doraemon anime reboot’s take on Kibo’s debut story, so the Kibo who stars here can be considered a re-imagining of the character.

I found most of this movie quite pleasant: the visuals are beautiful, the interactions between Kibo and the main characters are charming, and the plant planet they end up visiting is interesting... but then the climax happens. I’m not even going to try to explain what goes down. Suffice it to say, however, that this is almost certainly the most baffling Doraemon movie ever. It very much reads as an attempt at profundity that only ends up being more confusing than anything.

It’s not only that the plot is resolved in such a bewildering way, but also that intriguing setup from earlier in the movie is never given any proper followup. Why did the plant aliens need Kibo specifically to power their superweapon? What did Jii the mushroom elder, who apparently is actually the personification of the entire planet, mean when he said that the plant aliens stole their superweapon from him? (We can guess, yes, but it’s odd for the story to hint multiple times at a seemingly important history that is never elaborated on.) That’s not to mention all the promising characters who are introduced only to be given disorganized character arcs, or simply make no impact on the remainder of the plot.

(At least this was cute.)

The end credits also contain some fun character expression work. Why, oh why did this movie end the way it did?!

Star rating: ★★☆☆☆

[loosesodamarble]

Shizuka Hisasue (Demon Slayer OC)

My main oc for Demon Slayer. Although I don’t post about her often, she is one of my favorite ocs.

(Art by @cringeyvanillamilk.)

General Information -Name: 久末 静香 (Hisasue Shizuka) —久: a long period of time —末: the last or the end —静: calm, quiet, or silence —香: scent or aroma -Age: 15 -Height: 152 cm (~5′0″). -Birthday: July 31 -Hair Color: Black to dark green -Hair Style: Reaches her shoulder blades and is left loose -Eye Color: Indigo -Skin Tone: Light tan -Physical Build: Lean muscle

Backstory and more under the cut.

Backstory -Comes from a lower middle class family. Lived in a rural town. -8 person family. Youngest of 6. Takehiro (father), Kaori (mother), Sumihiko (eldest brother), Kaoru (eldest sister), Takashi and Takeshi (twin brothers), and Keiko (sister). -Kaori made incense, soaps, and herbal medicines. She gets ingredients from foraging in the woods and maintaining a garden. -Takehiro ran a general goods store which sold products made by everyone in town, including Kaori’s. -Shizuka and her siblings helped with their parents work. She often was sent out to forage for ingredients thanks to her sharp nose. -Shizuka’s siblings frequently coddled her and did chores for her, despite her wanting to work. -Growing up, Shizuka heard shorties about demons and demon slayers from her mother. -Kaori taught the children what she called "the right way to breathe." This breathing technique was difficult/painful to learn but it made all of them stronger. -From her mother, Shizuka learned the importance of acting selflessly. Shizuka took her mother's lessons to heart. - Shizuka was out foraging one night when she stumbled upon a demon. Before the demon could kill her, she was saved by what she believe to be a divine boar spirit. She passed out due to losing blood from a wound and her exhaustion -She woke up at home, believing the incident was a dream but also a calling. -Shizuka was determined to become a demon slayer to protect her family and help others. -Her siblings were against it but Kaori, who was sick and weak at the time, supported her choice. -Shizuka found her way to the demon slayer cultivator Kenta Yangidate, who taught her how to make her own Breath Style. -Early into her training, Kyoujurou Rengoku happened to be passing through the town Kenta lived in. -Kyoujurou met Shizuka and took her under his wing for a short while. In that time, Shizuka got some of the inspiration needed to create her Breath Style. -While Shizuka was away training, Kaori worked extra hard to make up for Shizuka's absence and basically worked herself to death. -Shizuka came to believe that becoming a demon slayer was a selfish choice that killed her mom. Thus, she is determined to save as many people as possible to redeem herself.

Personality -Shizuka has a rough and fiery personality. -She gets annoyed very easily and lashes out with little thought of who it's towards. -Stubborn in her convictions and holds firm to them until the very end. -She’s a determined individual, wanting to always put her all in whatever she does. It can be anything from fighting a demon to doing laundry. -To her, slacking off is the same as giving up or failing. -While not particularly prideful, Shizuka doesn’t like being underestimated. -She’s quite blunt, not liking the idea of lying so she doesn’t do it. -Shizuka sees lying as a a selfish act, as it's essentially someone forcing another person to believe what they want to be true, instead of actually sharing the truth. -However, Shizuka doesn't always want to give away everything that's on her mind. Rather than lie, though, she’ll just avoid giving a proper answer. -While normally upfront, she does know how to be subtle if the situation calls for it. -As much as she doesn’t admit it - or doesn’t believe it - she’s a kind person. -She prioritizes the safety, comfort, and general well-being of others before her own. -Selfless is something that Shizuka strives to be. She will help others whether or not they ask because that’s what she feels is right. -Her selflessness leads to her training relentlessly and taking care of others to the point of neglecting her own well-being. -Being coddled by her siblings made her worry she was weak so she works as hard as she does to stop being a burden and instead be of use to others. -Dislikes voicing her own emotions and desires, viewing it as selfishness on her part.

Trivia -Shizuka’s haori was once her mother’s, given to her when she left home to become a demon slayer. -Shizuka learned how to make incense, soap, and medicine from Kaori. -Shizuka’s got a strong sense of smell, being able to track scents across a far distance and evaluate someone’s health (sickness, broken bones, etc) by the changes in their smell. -Shizuka’s Breath Style is called Breath of Smoke. It’s derived from Breath of Wind and Breath of Flames. -In Tanjirou’s words, Shizuka “likes Inosuke in a special way.” -Shizuka is close friends with Suzume Hayashi (Steph's oc).

[erinhime83]

Since APPARENTLY I did the designs all wrong (I won’t lie - doing  my own design of Evangelia was sort of a thinly veiled attempted to get @callistochan87 to redesign her herself.  >.>), I figured I’d make it my life mission this week to go through and, like, fix them.  Partially because in my fuming about finding out that two of the people were talking about this behind my back, I kept giving myself ideas.  >.<

I am pleasantly pleased with the design that @callistochan87 did for Evania/Evangelia, although I’m worried how much is actually influenced by my design and how much she actually decided to do on her own.  *shrug*  I just like the simplicity of it and how it does make her look like a goddess.  I kept forgetting to add in the pieces in front of her ears, lol.

Antigonus I did fiddle with a little bit.  Mostly, @callistochan87 mentioned that she thought it was funny having this super old guy traveling with a bunch of teenagers, and she wondered why I didn’t just...make someone new.  Well, mostly because I didn’t want to, and mostly because when she did create someone new when I decided the Guides were supposed to be younger, it felt...wrong. 

SO, I decided to age him down a little.  Which I suppose sort of defeats the purpose of @callistochan87 creating another character when I wanted to do the same, but ignore that.  He basically has the same backstory - he was the youngest Guide of the previous generation.  He’s the heir of the empire, being the Emperor’s nephew, and now that his Guide duties are over, he’s preparing to take over the Empire.  EXCEPT, the idiot new Guide managed to get himself killed, so Antigonus is temporarily taking over the duties as they try to find someone else to take over.  BUT THEN GUESS WHAT?  He’s about 35, so while he’s old, he’s not stupidly older than than, and is sort of more of a chaperone than anything else.

His outfit come from an old one @callistochan87 designed, and I figure it’s just, like, a traveling outfit?  idk

Freyja...omg, Freyja.  She caused most of my strife.  Like, I honestly didn’t change THAT MUCH of her design, just sort of little piddly stuff to make it look more visually appealing, but APPARENTLY, that was still bad.  I stewed and hemmed and hawed on this for quite a while, annoyed before it hit me - this is a a redesign.  Shizuka sort of went back to her roots.  Why couldn’t Freyja as well?

(And yes, I realize I was in the wrong, but like I said, I hadn’t changed her that much from her last design, and, well, these were done years ago so I sort of...forgot that she didn’t originally look like that.  >.<)

And I figured, ya know, since I had minorly changed Freyja and she didn’t like that, I had better change Desiree, too, because I drastically changed her.  I don’t care what @swankifiedcos says about this one, I am IN LOVE with her outfit.  <3  Her hair, though, was inspired by a recent picture of @swankifiedcos of her hair between dye jobs where it was pink at the tips and she looked SO PRETTY.  Sure, Desiree is brunette, not blond, but I like that look on her so much I wanted to recreate it somewhat, and she looks so nice! 

Frejya, well, I did sort of tweek her design slightly to what @callistochan87 did, mostly giving her cold shoulder sleeves as a sort of call back to her old sleeves.  I won’t lie - I did attempt to do them again and failed spectacularly.  Sorry.  But apparently she approves of this sleeve, so that’s...one less problem for me to deal with.  XD   Just so you know, I gave her hearts rather than flowers merely because I can’t draw flowers.  Consider it a style thing.  Like, in reality, she has flowers, but i just draw them as hearts.  I am SHOCKED that I was able to make the feathers as nice as I did, though!  This look makes SO MUCH more sense than the way we used to draw it.  Me likely. 

(Also, you might be thinking that she’s still wearing the pants.  I originally indended that, with the thought that she comes from a cold kindgom, but then decided they’re actually shorts that she ended up added to her outfit for modesty sake, much like Sethos did with his shirt.  :P)

I really wanted to redo Nannin’s outfit as well, but I’m sorry - I’m lazy, and her original outfit is both too detailed and too simple.  So I just made her top layer a darker pink, and I like it better.  Also made her a blond again with the idea that the people of Melohdia like like normal ass humans, and the Chosen have colored hair, and the Guides have unnatural colored eyes, which is how people can tell they’re Guides.

Geoffrey (I’m thinking of renaming him Geauffery, because that’s how I prenounce it in my head) over there gets a new design as well because I didn’t care for his other one.  >.<  Also, decided, as much as I like the name Dimitri Kaminiski, I;m going to go ahead and make him Owen again.  Mostly because he’s sort of shifted more into being Owen.  I was sort of going with this old look while making it look a little more medieval, and I like it.  I also decided he’s not a soothsayer, but rather a magician.mage.

Which is sort of similar to Evangelia’s power, but not quite.  She uses the power of miracles, whereas he uses actual magic.  Its sort of like how Shizuka and Freyja’s power is similar, but Frejya’s is a little weaker.  (Shizuka has mastery over all weapons, whereas Freyja just has mastery over bludgeoning people with a huge ass axe.  But she has the benefit of also having  magic, whereas Shizuka can just use some fire magic.)

The next design is where it get all long and involved.  Basically as I was stewing about having my feelings hurt and how I was going to hide everything in my annoyance, I THINK I was briefly reminded of the last time I screwed up and within that instance a brilliant idea came to me, mostly because I needed more villains.  

I remember I really like Astrid’s design, but looking back, I’m sort of confused as to why?  It doesn’t look at all better than Freyja’s.  >.<  Anyway, the thought is simple - when the Chosen are originally yanked into Melohdia, Nuncio replaces one of them with one of his own that would be easily manipulated.  Why Freyja, you ask?  Plot reasons, since it does help explain the whole Nannin thing a lot better.  The thing is, though, that Ariadne and Atalo sort of find out and drag Freyja in as well, except she ends up in Baldernan rather than Azibo with the rest of the Chosen.

So the Chosen are in Azibo thinking Astrid is one of them, except they don’t really vibe with her that well.  They just figure it’s because they can’t like everyone, and ignore it.  Astrid herself doesn’t really suspect anything.  But then they travel to Baldurnan and find Freyja there, who they do vibe with very well, and they find out that Astrid is a fake. 

Which would be all fine and well.  Even Freyja’s willing to give the girl a chance because, hey, it’s not her fault she was falsely brought into this world with no purpose.  Except Astrid is a spoiled bitch and takes it as an affront that they would even want to include Freyja at all.  So she just sort of runs off and Nuncio catches up to her, and convinces her that she’s the real one, and and she goes around antagonizing the group from time to time.  They think she’s in league with Atalo at first until they find out of the truth.

NEW IDEA.  I actually had this very vague idea while musing around, but @callistochan87 had another idea that was similar enough that I can change things to make it work WAY better.  So, the new idea is mostly that Nuncio pulls Astrid into Melohdia way before the others.  The people are rather confused, certainly, but it’s not 100% unheard of one Chosen being brought over.  So she’s treated like something of a god and spoiled further, and Nuncio pretty much convinces her that she’s the soul savior of Melohdia. He assigns Thor to be her Guide, although he’s just some Random Dude (because I decided that matching genders to the Chosen is sort of weird, so Nannin is a full Guide now).

BUT Ariadne and Atalo end up pulling the REAL Chosen a month or so later, which REALLY pull the people for a loop, and they realize that Astrid is a fake once they realize that Thor isn’t a real Guide and that Nannin claims Freyja.  The group attempts to assimilate Astrid in with them, because they realize it’s not HER fault all this happened, but since she’s a fake Chosen AND a narcissistic bitch, they end up not viving all that well, and she ends up running away in anger and embarrassment.

Nuncio sort of blames the whole thing on Atalo somehow, since the people forgot that Ariadne is the only one who can pull true Chosen into the world, mostly to save face.

Astrid and Thor do end up joining with Atalo for a little bit, because he’s trying to be sympathetic to her as well, but their goals aren’t really the same.  She does prove to be a major threat to the group because she DOES have the power of a Chosen, although they’re sort of weak.  

Her real name is Katelyn Davis, and she’s pretty much the opposite of the other Chosen.  She’s a complete social butterfly, the sort to think the world revolves around her.  She’s not happy unless she’s around people, whereas the other Chosen are pretty much introverted and would prefer to keep to themselves. 

Her Guide’s name is Thor (I keep calling him that in my head, I think because of Frejya being named after a god), and he is, in fact, a true Guide.  It’s just that he’s not a very good one, nor is he a good person.  He’s a bandit and delights in the misfortunes of others.  The other Guides avoided him at all costs, and wasn’t sure why he was chosen to be a Guide.  He goes off with Astrid after they kick him out of the group when Freyja chooses Nannin over him.  (The two of them became close in the month Frejya was stuck there on her own, so of course she’d want to have her stay with her.)

The last picture was just me giving them their original hair colors just for the hell of it, and now I’m torn.  >.<  Because I like these as well.  I mean, I like the idea of the colored hair being how you can tell they’re the Chosen, BUT I also, you know, like the original colors BECAUSE they are the original colors.  >.<

[tirorah]

Road to Berlin – The Strike Witches Magnum Opus?

Hello! It’s been a long time. I don’t plan on returning to Tumblr long-term—it simply stole away too much of my time and energy, and I had to do what was best for myself. However, I thought I’d pop in for a very special message.

You see, Strike Witches’ third season, Road to Berlin, has now reached its halfway point. And I need you to watch it.

“Strike Witches?!” I hear you say. “That weird show about girls with no pants that you’re obsessed with for some reason?”

Yes, exactly! Hold on, don’t run away yet! Sit with me for a spell and allow me to explain my boundless love for this silly, emotionally gripping show. Allow me to tell you why it might affect you in the same way, and why Road to Berlin may be the best offering yet.

Welcome to the 501st Joint Fighter Wing

If you’ve heard of this anime, you’ve undoubtedly heard of (or witnessed) its rather infamous claim to fame: a group of teenage soldiers fighting strange creatures in an Alternate Universe World War 2 Europe, flying around with guns and magic-fueled leg machines, and none of them are wearing any decent trousers.

That takes some getting used to, doesn’t it? I’m not going to deny that. But while Strike Witches’ rather peculiar design decisions are inescapable, there’s one thing you need to take into account: Season 1 aired all the way back in 2008. And over those thirteen years, it’s evolved into an experience unlike anything its roots would suggest.

Strike Witches has always been a strange beast. It has a large cast and divides its activities evenly between (light) war drama and slice-of-life shenanigans. And there’s fanservice, lots and lots of it! But the show’s emphasis on risqué camera work, and how that camera work is handled, highly depends on which entry you’re watching.

You see, Strike Witches is strangely ambitious. It could’ve easily taken its bizarre concept and pushed that to its limits, bringing in as much fanservice as possible and playing a simple story in the background as window dressing. But it was never satisfied with just that. Even early on in Season 1, the show deals with heavier themes like pressure, trauma and loss.

And then there are the characters, the undisputed stars of the show. Twelve strong and all with different backgrounds and personal quirks, they may at first seem like TV Tropes come to life. And certainly, sometimes they are. However, as the series progressed, things started to change. Even Season 2, arguably the lightest and silliest of all entries, featured material that built on character development and character growth earned in its predecessor.

With the movie and a trio of OVAs to round out the cast a bit more, the stage was set for Road to Berlin.

The Difficult Road Ahead

When this season was first announced back in 2018, two things stood out to me. First of all, the key visual and promotional video released along with the announcement were much more similar in style to the movies and the OVAs, featuring serious-looking characters and stormy clouds. Secondly, for the first time in Strike Witches history, an entry received a subtitle. Yes, the OVAs were named Operation Victory Arrow, but that was merely wordplay to spell out “OVA.” It wasn’t wholly serious.

Road to Berlin, however, is deadly serious.

Let’s start with an overall theme. The vaunted 501st Joint Fighter Wing has had some major victories, but much of the continent is still under occupation by the Neuroi. The Hive over Berlin is the Wing’s new target, but the journey there is fraught with obstacles. Plans are thwarted and delayed by Neuroi more powerful and far craftier than their 2008 counterparts.

And as the opening song tells us: “We all have flaws.” The Road to Berlin isn’t an entirely literal road; it’s also a metaphorical one. The push to Berlin is their hardest battle yet. Victory can only be achieved if the characters face and overcome their weaknesses. But they’re not alone.

Friendship Is Power

As the characters have long since been established, there’s greater room for growth not just in one character, but also in how that character interacts with others. Road to Berlin chose the best possible route and decided to emphasize character dynamics. Episodes don’t focus on a single character anymore; they focus on relationships, and those relationships are at their peak here.

There’s a newfound maturity to the writing in Road to Berlin, a gentle touch that allows the characters to breathe and be more than their foremost traits. You get a sense that the characters have grown from their experiences; they feel different, more well-rounded, but they still behave exactly as they should. This is difficult to get right, and while I’m sure there might be a few eyebrow-raising moments here and there, the overall result is a cast that continues to improve every week.

Chekhov’s Gun

Underpinning the character work is a highly intriguing execution. Road to Berlin delivers subtle setups and satisfying payoffs in every episode. The pacing is also seriously tight. No moment is left unused, every opportunity for additional development is taken. Even the script itself doesn’t like to waste time; it explains things here and there, but it rightly assumes you know who the characters are and what everything means, so it doesn’t bother with many unnecessary lines.

On top of all that, this season is reaching new heights in confidence and sheer audacity, and it uses that to deliver something truly special. There are interactions here that I never could’ve imagined, twists that genuinely caught me off-guard, moments where I had to sit back and digest what I’d just witnessed.

Not a single episode has been predictable thus far; I’ve had more surprises than I can count. In fact, before I started watching I made a bingo card on a whim, filling it with trends and running gags I’d spotted over the course of the series. Some of those bingo spaces have already been proven wrong, and others are in question. Road to Berlin has done such a spectacular job at simultaneously defying and exceeding my expectations that I honestly have no idea where this journey will take me.

The Fault in Our Stars

Okay, hold up, stop the hype train! I admit, I’m a massive sucker for Strike Witches. One could say this somewhat clouds my judgement. Shocking, I know. So, to make this enthusiastic recommendation fairer, let’s dig into something that I hope to see an improvement on.

There is some terrible imbalance in screen time going on here. I know I said earlier that the cast is great, and it is amazing, but some characters have definitely been favored over others. Yoshika is the main character, of course, so it’s not unreasonable for her to have a large role. Similarly, characters like Minna, Gertrud and Shirley have more experience and higher ranks than the others, which means they have an easier time fitting into scenes.

So, who’s gotten the short end of the stick?

Let’s start with Lynne. She hasn’t had as much of a presence as I’d hoped. The primary reason for this is Shizuka, who’s taken up the role of newbie to the squadron and is often paired with Yoshika because they’re working together. As each episode focuses on the relationships between a select few characters at a time, the others are often relegated to minor roles, and poor Lynne hasn’t had an episode to highlight her yet. I’m sure her moment will come eventually.

I don’t know if the same thing applies to Minna. She’s mostly stuck behind her desk again, it seems, and while she’s definitely had some scenes, her role as Wing Commander hasn’t allowed her as much wiggle room as some of the others. What I want to see from Minna is more time to be a nurturing mom to her girls. The thing is, I’m not sure how they’d accomplish a Minna-centric episode. I suppose they could pair her up with Mio, but even then, I’m uncertain where to take her. It seems redundant to have her be worried out of her mind over Mio again, and she seems to be keeping it together pretty well so far anyway.

In a trend so merciless it’s almost comical, Sanya and Eila seem forever doomed to the peanut gallery. They started out with few lines and have pretty much remained in the background since. Of course, a big factor to it all is their role as the night patrol, which naturally separates their activities from everyone else’s. It’s my current prediction that their relationship is next in line to be showcased. The quality of that episode will likely hinge on how their personalities are tuned, but there’s potential for something great.

And most shocking of all, Mio—She Who Has Practiced Plot Armor Ten Thousand Times—has had the most infinitesimal role of all. I’m of two minds on this. It appears that Road to Berlin has realized that having Mio fly into battle without a shield or Striker Unit is silly, and this is good. On the other hand, Mio is an iconic and beloved character. She deserves some screen time as long as she doesn’t overshadow the others. For now, she seems to be relegated to strategizing and logistics, although I have a hunch that a way to circumvent her newfound vulnerability has already been set up. Time will tell if this ends up being utilized.

Journey’s End

In closing, Road to Berlin highlights the best of what Strike Witches has to offer. It’s striding boldly forward, eager to dazzle us with its animation and audio, grinning as it challenges our preconceptions about where its characters can go and what they can do.

The path to this greatness can be tough. Watching Strike Witches means accepting a number of strange concepts, which can give quite a few viewers a rough start with the series. However, if you made it all the way here and haven’t given Strike Witches a try yet, I sincerely implore you to make the attempt. If you allow the characters to sweep you off your feet, then Road to Berlin could be the apex of a most satisfying viewing experience.

Especially if its second half is as impressive as the first. I, personally, have high hopes. There’s no sky this show can’t conquer.

[winterbites]

(Major JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime spoiler warning) My review of...

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable is fantastic if you ask me; 39 episodes, each one fun and funky, Diamond is Unbreakable brings in many new elements that the previous three seasons didn't. Being my second favorite season in the series, I'm very much ready to give my review so let's jump right to it!

First, I'm going start with those new elements since I absolutely love them; there's a couple of them so I'll try to be brief (but I know I'm not good at being anything but descriptive). First is the new art style. Trying something different from what he normally does, Araki went with the more popular art style of the time called Bishonen, which is basically just a softer, more boyish art style (translated, it means beautiful youth). However, the style Araki used for this season isn't exactly Bishonen, but is instead an art style inspired from it while also mixed with his own personal touches. This mix makes for a refreshing breath of fresh air for the series and I think that it's wonderful for Araki to try out new stuff.

Next is the universal-wide range of color palletes. It's far from unusual for the JoJo seasons to switch up from one color pallete to the next during battles, but Diamond is Unbreakable takes it to a whole new level. There's not much I can say in this category because, once again, things like this are better experienced first-hand, but I can say that it's a wonderful aspect of the season that I truly adore.

Third, we have the Stands. While Stands aren't new to the series at this point, the inspiriation and creativity for them are. Stands have stepped away from being representations of tarot cards and are instead true portrayals of their human counterparts. Josuke's Crazy Diamond is crazy tough, powerful while also being able to heal, which is just like Josuke's indomitable will, physical strength and readiness to protect those he holds dear. Okuyasu's The Hand gets things closer to himself, embodying Okuyasu's simple in-your-face style of fighting. Koichi's Stand, although changing throughout the season, keeps the same feature of supporting at a distance while still being able to throw one helluva punch; this characterizes Koichi in that he's not as violent as the rest of the cast but he'll kick some ass if he needs to.

For the last new added element, I'm talking about the behavior of the season's criminals. The words modus operandi, in terms of crime, refers to the method of operation (or MO) used by an offender to commit a crime while a criminal signature is basically the unique mark a criminal will leave (usually used to satisfy the criminal's needs like emotional needs and please don't ask how I know this stuff).

Moving on, while I usually take time to talk about the intro, I'm not going to in this post but rather a separate post. The reason for this is because, as I learned with my Stardust Crusaders post, I'm not going to be able to make a relatively short post if I include a discussion on the intro. Unlike the other seasons of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Diamond is Unbreakable has three intros, each having different versions and unique additions. Since it would take a long time to talk about them, I'll save it for later.

With that being said, let's move on to the next topic: the characters. What can I say? I love them, the entire cast is so unique and special in their own way, even more so than Battle Tendency's. Much unlike Stardust Crusaders, most of the "enemy" Stand users in Diamond is Unbreakable aren't really enemies but rather people with their own interests who are just trying to achieve their own personal goals. Hell, you even have Stand users who aren't fought at all, with most of all the Stand users being reoccurring characters that fill the world (or in this case, fill the town) and get actual character development, minimal as it may be. You have the asshole Rohan who's only friend is Koichi due to Rohan being a very picky and particular person. You have Koichi (whom objectively has the best character development in the entire season) who gets stronger and braver throughout the season, confronting more and more problems head-on while also getting better at thinking on his feet in the heat of the moment. There's even development of relationships between characters, such as Josuke and Okuyasu going from being enemies to brothers by heart or Yukako going from trying to torture and murder Koichi to the both of them creating a loving and lasting bond.

Now, I want to go back to those little bits about criminal behavior and talk about one of the best anime/manga antagonists and the best JoJo antagonist so far: Kira Yoshikage. So the guy has a kink, but don't we all? Yes, he takes it too far by actively murdering people but it plays into that criminal signature I mentioned before and his Stand, Killer Queen, helps to create Kira's MO. Kira's signature is taking the hand of his female victims, which satisfies the psychological needs of his hand kink, and his MO is to explode people. The best part about all of this is that he didn't have either immediately: it took time for him to start stealing hands and it took him time to develop his Stand. Kira also has the most amazing motive of simply wanting a peaceful life; granted, that motive includes murdering people but I never said he's a good person, just that he's a good character. This all adds a very real feeling to Kira and makes him possibly the most human character in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Quite different from the rest of the seasons, Diamond is Unbreakable's soundtrack takes a more chill approach towards music in between fights; however, once a fight does hit, get ready for badass music to ensue (Sudden Battle is really good and A Blossoming Love is really cute). As for the outro, I Want You is my favorite outro across the seasons. Keeping that extreme use of multiple color palletes and emphasizing the softer art style, this outro has a groovy song and adds on more visual details as the show goes on.

Finally, I want to talk about three things that bothered me throughout the show. First was that, once again, Araki threw one of his characters under the bus; this time around, it was Joseph Joestar. While Joseph has shown himself to not be above cheating at games and battles, I don't believe for a second that he would cheat on Suzi. This woman single-handedly took care of him and kept him company during his recovery after his battle with Kars. Not to mention, as I've said before, Joseph has strong familial values and there wasn't even a given reason for his adultery. To top it all off, Tomoko truly loves Joseph; that means that he would've had to stay in Japan long enough, which he has gone on record to say how much he hates Japan, to make such a lasting impression on Tomoko.

Next is that Araki made the characters Shizuka Joestar and Mikitaka Hazekura, which are both cool characters in their own rights, yet never showed or mentioned them after Diamond is Unbreakable ended. I understand that Shizuka can't be used in the near future since she's a literal baby and maybe Mikitaka simply stayed in Morioh, but we never got any closure information on them (is Mikitaka an actual alien and what ever happened to Shizuka's parents, things like that).

Lastly is the absolute Deus ex Machina of Kira's Bites the Dust ability on Killer Queen. He got it when he was under extreme pressure and that's just not a good enough explanation in any world; not to mention it's a bit uncreative given that Dio ALSO had a Stand ability that allowed for timey whimey shenanigans. A cool ability no doubt but that doesn't make in any less bullshit

[achtung-attitude]

SPICE GIRL appears, and Kilo notices it within his peripheral vision before it delivers two chops to either side of his torso that knocks the wind out of him. “IT IS NO TROUBLE TO MAKE YOU SOFT, KILO STAPLES,” it declares, its voice a strange distortion of Trish’s.

He regains his bearing in time to see a bullet headed straight for his head. Time slows down as the bullet collides with his skull… then sink into it, before bouncing away, like a tennis ball hitting the net.

“What the fuck…?!” he almost yelps, as he feels his head and upper body move and twist in an unnatural way. More bullets thud into him, but they too simply bounce off, inflicting no damage and causing no pain. “What the fuck did you do to me?!”

“You asked if I had a better idea!” Trish says, a small satisfied grin on her lips, “Like I said, I can’t have you taking too much damage before we reach the Stand user! Your upper body is now impervious to damage! I left your lower body intact so you wouldn’t fall off the bike!”

“You could have warned me! This feels wrong as hell!” His voice tremors and reverberates as bullets continue to pound into him.

Trish responds by grinning and tearing off the choker necklace around her neck. She hands it back to him, displaying the bullets fixed onto it, stamped with .32 on the casings. “Let’s see if we can’t even the odds a little. There may only be six, but surely you can do something with these?”

“Sure I can,” Kilo declares, taking the necklace from her hand and removing the bullets, then dropping them into the palm of SATURN BARZ.

The Stand aims at the lead vehicle and flicks it with its thumb, like a kid would flick a marble. Except SATURN BARZ flicks it with enough force to fire straight at one of the car’s front tire and blowing it out, causing the vehicle to screech to a halt. The car directly behind it rams into its backside, and the two behind that are forced to swerve out of the way before braking. By the time they come to a complete stop, the motorcycle is a small dot on the horizon.

“Damn it!” shouts the Star Tattoo, clambering out of his ruined vehicle and kicking the side of it, furiously. To the remaining cars, he barks orders. “What are you waiting fo’, keep going! Drive around, cut’ em off! No way is he getting away with this!” The cars follow his commander, backing up, then thundering away on their alternative routes.

“Well, that was exciting,” Trish says as Kilo repositions himself to face her back. Tell me, is there anyone in town that doesn’t want you either dead?”

Kilo grunts. His body has returned to his natural state, but there are slight indentations in his skin where the bullets bounced off him. “Up to three right now. Including you.”

“What a tortured existence…” Trish scoffs, then shudders at the sounds of heavy blades whirring above them. They both look up, and shield their eyes from the glare of the spotlight that shines on them.

“YOU ON THE RED YAMAHA! THIS IS THE L.A.P.D.! PULL OVER IMMEDIATELY!” comes the command from the police helicopter, hovering above them. Not far off, the pair can hear the approach of red and blue sirens. SATURN BARZ pops off another bullet, putting out the chopper’s spotlight and causing it to veer off. Three more bullets cause it to back off entirely, but it remains within visual range, hovering just out of reach.

“Oh what the hell is this?!” Kilo shouts. “I understand a chase, but why are the cops putting so much effort into this over one stolen bike?!”

Trish suddenly jerks upright in her seat, then slumps back down. “Oh… oh dear. I just had a troubling thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I… I just realized what kind of image we’re putting across…”

“What are you talking about?”

“Listen, I don’t mean to brag or anything, but, I’m kind of world-famous. On top of being a popstar, I also model for Vogue, do television appearances and promote a bunch of charities! Suffice it to say, I’m kind of a big deal.”

“Wh… what’s your point?” Kilo asks, a sudden sense of dread gripping him.

“Don’t take this the wrong way either, but, you seem somewhat famous around here yourself. Or should I say infamous? So, concerning the image… the pair of us speeding down a US interstate on a clearly stolen motorcycle…”

“Oh Jesus…” Kilo groans, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I mean, if you were a sensible person, you’d probably think it was some kind of kidnapping, right!”

“So you’re saying they’re here for you! You’re the one driving the fucking bike! Get the hell out of here!”

“I can’t do that!” Trish shouts, outraged, “I’m not going to ditch you or Shizuka! Not now, not ever! I could never leave one of my own fans to whatever fate the user of that Stand has in store for her!”

He stares at her for a moment, considering her words. Then after a deep breath through his nose, he leans close and seethes through clenched teeth, “I don’t care about your morals or any of that cool hero shit. That don’t change the fact that you being here has made this situation worse!!”

“I’m sorry~!” Trish says quickly, with an embarrassed slump to her shoulders.

Kilo clenches his teeth before taking a deep, cooling breath. Exhaling slowly, he sits up and surveys the road ahead, squinting at the oncoming roads. Then, he glares up into the sky. He cannot see NYT in the dark sky anymore, but approximates where it is by the direction the yellow thread is pulled. After studying this thread for a moment, he says, “Get up onto the freeway here. I have an idea.”

“The freeway?” she looks back, skeptical, “But… up there, we’ll be completely exposed--”

“Just do it! This part needs you most of all, got it! No matter what happens, just keep moving forward!”

“... Understood!” she nods, then pulls sharply into the adjacent lane, leading up onto the raised 101 highway. They ride down the middle of the open road, on the white dotted lines between lanes.

[ecaoart]

The Disappearance of Miyuki Ida - Mystery/Murder Visual Novel [Kickstarter]

Hello everyone! My name is Evelyn Cao and I am a freelance illustrator who lives in Miami, Florida. I am currently trying to start my own visual novel on Kickstarter and I could really use your help. We're aiming for a goal of $3k. Any donation is great, and if you can't pledge, which is perfectly fine, a simple share of this post also works! The demo is available in English, but the full game will be bilingual in English and Spanish!

PLOT:

     Takeo Nishihara works as a private investigator with the worst financial luck. His assistants Shizuka and Shigeru Kondo, siblings and childhood friends, blame it all on him for giving out pro-bono work whenever someone can't afford to pay up at the end. Fed up with his too "giving" attitude, they force him to demand payment up front from the next client, which happened to be an old woman named Yumeko Yoshida who owns a small housing complex. After she is rejected by the police for not being able to file a missing person report, due to not being related by blood to Miyuki and the fact that Miyuki still has a few days left to pay her rent, she comes to him for help, which he gladly accepts. Matters quickly turn sour once he finishes an extensive background search on her and realizes she has multiple identities, the police are trying to keep this matter as hush as possible, and four other men might be involved involuntarily in this dilemma.

    With no one to trust you take matters into your hands and try to find clues, hints, or anything that could lead to her whereabouts. Be careful, things aren't always what they seem.

DEMO:

     Throughout the demo you'll play as Miyuki, and realize how she disappeared but not why, the reasons she took the actions that she did, or what happens to her after. This will act a segway to the full game where you'll play as the private investigator Takeo Nishihara. 

You can play the DEMO on both Itch and Game jolt!

Here is the link to the Kickstarter

I also made my own original opening to it if you guys would like to see it below! Both the demo and the full game will have their own original soundtrack.

We’re a small team so any help we can get the better. 

[sage-nebula]

@em-exceeds-change-zearu --- Hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to respond to your tags in a new post since the original post was long enough as it was, haha!

#also i love all of these picks and the thought that went into them #and that he has a varied team that's flexible and can take on tons of things #ALSO I'M GLAD YOU DIDN'T MENTION ZEKROM #I WAS DREADING A RED EYES BLACK DRAGON REDUX WITH ZEKROM #(even if zekrom and reshiram are huge walking red eyes and blue eyes jokes) 

See, it’s because I put a lot of thought into it that I didn’t mention Zekrom! Zekrom doesn’t work for the Red-Eyes Black Dragon at all (and ditto for Reshiram with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon)!

From a visual standpoint, I get why the comparisons were made. Zekrom is a black dragon with red eyes, and Reshiram is a white dragon with blue eyes. But that’s where the similarities end. While monsters in YGO have only very loose elemental associations, the fact still remains that the Red-Eyes Black Dragon is a fire dragon, while the Blue-Eyes White Dragon is an electric dragon. We see this in their attacks. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon’s attack is Black Fire Bullet (JP) / Inferno Fire Blast (EN), while the Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s attack is Burst Stream of Destruction (JP) / White Lightning (EN). “Burst Stream of Destruction” isn’t specifically electric, but it isn’t fire, either, and the look of it certainly looks electrical whenever it attacks (which is likely what led to 4Kids naming the attack what they did). Either way, these attacks make it clear in both the manga (JP) and the anime (EN) that Red-Eyes is a fire dragon while Blue-Eyes is an electric dragon.

But with Zekrom and Reshiram, that’s reversed. Zekrom is Electric/Dragon, while Reshiram is Fire/Dragon. Their types do not match up with the YGO dragons at all. And while some might say that’s a minor quibble, it really isn’t. Jounouchi is pretty heavily associated with fire, even setting Red-Eyes aside. Just off the top of my head:

The yo-yo he was pictured with in the cover art for chapters 48/49 was a “Fireboy” yo-yo;

He defeated Chopperman by setting him on fire with the candle + oil combo;

One of his most memorable cards is Flame Swordsman (though him saying it was his favorite card was an anime invention, but nonetheless);

He stayed behind with Yuugi during the fire at the Black Crown and made it out with only minor injuries; 

When he got to name an attack during his duel with Malik, he named it “Jounouchi Fire”;

The God card he’s most heavily associated with is Ra, and Ra is the one that uses flames to attack (versus Osiris’ wind and Obelisk’s lightning);

Speaking of, he survived Ra’s flames at first brush (he died a few minutes later, true, but even that was only temporary)

Jounouchi is pretty heavily associated with a fire motif, and so it makes sense that his signature dragon would be a fire dragon, rather than an electric one. And likewise, Kaiba seems to be associated with lightning and electricity far more than he is with fire. Kaiba is all about technological advancement, is always surrounded by computers, robots, and the latest technology that he himself invented. The God card that he’s associated with, Obelisk, is one that has lightning spark around its fists when it attacks. It makes sense that his dragon is an electric one, rather than a fire one. Switching that around by associating Jounouchi with Zekrom and Kaiba with Reshiram is a huge mistake. It doesn’t fit at all.

Moreover, the thing about legendary pokémon is that most of them come with a stronger meaning associated with them. They’re cool looking and have types, yes, but each of them also usually symbolize something, or have something they watch over, protect, or stand for. For Zekrom, that’s ideals (and fighting for one’s ideals), and with Reshiram, that’s truth (and fighting for the truth). While Jounouchi can be an idealistic person, what Zekrom actually looks for in its champion is someone who wants to push their ideals onto others, to lead the world with them, and that’s not Jounouchi. Jounouchi doesn’t want to push his ideals onto others; he lives his own way and that’s that. Likewise, Kaiba’s not really concerned with the truth outside of how it benefits him, and he’s not opposed to flat out ignoring or denying it when it doesn’t, so I don’t think Reshiram would choose him as a champion either, haha.

So yeah, I saw no reason to bring up Zekrom. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon is represented by shiny charizard, and that’s that.

#i also didn't consider sivally/silvuddy at all!!! #but considering that it's literally named...silver buddy... #(gladion you fucking nerd) #it's perfect #the nickanme is perfect #he would approve #maybe silvuddy is something he gets in duelist kingdom? #like. in pegasus' basement or something #but this is pokemon world and you mentioned gladion existing in this crossover canon so HMM. MMM. #I'M STUCK ON HOW HE GETS IT TOO 

I did imagine this as taking place in the Pokémon World, yeah, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t adapt Duelist Kingdom as well. All we have to do is make it pokémon battles instead of Duel Monsters duels. So Pegasus owns an island with a castle, and he decides to host his own battle tournament on his island (that takes place over a more reasonable span of time than just two days). Maybe entrants have to collect star badges instead of star chips, or maybe it is star chips if badges would get him in trouble with the local League. In any case, he has his own unofficial, not-government-sanctioned tournament, and it’s very much like Duelist Kingdom except everyone has real monsters and therefore people like Mai and Bandit Keith have a much harder time cheating than they did in the actual canon.

(Well, Gladion doesn’t have to exist in the crossover canon, haha. It’s just an idea I threw out there. I don’t know if any relationship I could invent for him would be as fun to write as the one I had between him and Alan, so it’s not like I’m very attached to the idea of him existing in this story.)

#...oooh #kaiba imports it into his Tower Of Death scenario because he paid big monies to Aether Foundation #jou ends up taking it back #the same way how in other trials they utilized things that belonged to their enemies against them #(maybe replace the stupid ride of fear part with it BECAUSE HONESTLY THAT WAS THE LOW PART OF THE TOWER. IT WAS STUPID.) 

Hmm, that could work! Although honestly it might make more sense for Kaiba Corporation to have created Type: Null. Kaiba spared absolutely no expense when it came to creating Death-T, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that:

According to the currency converter I use, in 1996 (when this was written / would take place), ¥10,000,000,000 would be $87,989,745.57. Kaiba spent eighty-seven million dollars to build a theme park to kill Yuugi with. Money was not an issue for him whatsoever.

But that said, Type: Null seems like the type of creature Kaiba Corporation would have created, particularly if they existed within the Pokémon world. Maybe not so much once Kaiba takes over and turns it into a gaming company, but back when it was still a company for developing military weapons? The concept of pokémon being created as weapons is not at all foreign to the series (Mewtwo and Genesect being two prime examples), and I could see Gozaburo wanting to top all of them by creating a chimera that replicated the powers of Arceus. So maybe Type: Null had already been created and cryogenically frozen, and Kaiba released one of them in the hopes that they’d be able to kill Yuugi and the others. That could work. That said, I did really like Chopperman as Jounouchi’s personal challenge, particularly since he knows it’s a trap and walks into it anyway because he feels it’s the right thing to do (what a Gryffindor), so yeah, replacing the horror ride would definitely be preferable, particularly since how sexualized that scene was re: how the ride groped Anzu was unnecessary and gross and hands down the worst part of Death-T. :/ 

#(I HATE TRISTAN'S BRAT COUSIN HE HAD NO REASON TO BE THERE AND ONLY EXISTED TO MAKE TROUBLE) #(I APPRECIATED THAT HE VAPORIZED INTO NONEXISTENCE AFTER THAT ARC. BYE BINCH)

Haha, Jouji is his nephew, actually! Honda was on babysitting duty for his big sister that day. I will say that I do like the fact that Jouji exists purely because it lets us know that Honda has a big sister, and I’ve actually utilized that by fleshing her out into a character for a few fics I’ve written (including my magnum opus), which makes me somewhat attached to her. That said, we don’t actually need that, because Honda brings her up again when he brings clothes for Shizuka to wear when he picks her up from the hospital:

(Sorry for the scan quality, it’s the best I can do right now. Also, the “I don’t know if they’ll look good on you” --- that’s VIZ being kind of loose with the translation. In the original Japanese what he says is more like, “I don’t know if they’ll suit you,” which makes sense given Shizuka is far more demure than what Honda’s sister is implied to be like, given her taste in clothes.)

This little mention here is actually part of why I characterized her the way I did when I wrote her; that she wore “loud” clothes when she was younger spoke to a punkish style of dress, and in my mind, attitude therefore. Either way, though, Jouji is the first way we find out that Honda has an older sister, and that happens much earlier than this, so I guess that’s at least a little good he brings to the story.

Still, though, I agree with you overall, haha. I don’t like Jouji as a character at all. I don’t like the toilet humor during the horror game ride (though that still wasn’t as bad as the ride itself groping Anzu), I don’t like how he’s perverted as a baby, and I don’t understand how old he’s supposed to be. He seems like he should only be a year or so old, but if that’s true, how can he talk that well? How can he understand more mature concepts? It feels like he should have been at least five or six, but then I suppose he wouldn’t have been able to be carried around . . . ugh. Either way, he didn’t really bring anything of merit or value to Death-T. The closest we got was that he was the bait to lure Jounouchi in, and I liked that because, again, Jounouchi knew that it was a trap, but he walked into it anyway because he felt it was the Right thing to do, both because Jouji had helped them once before, and because Jouji was a baby. (And there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment right before the games actually start where Honda is trying to get Jouji to shut up, and Jounouchi says, “Don’t make him cry!” Jounouchi really does have a soft spot for kids, aww. It’s the big brother in him, probably.) Plus, the fact that Jounouchi won that literal fight to the death while holding a baby in his arms is nothing short of badass, and I’ll never take any badass moments away from him. ♥

But yeah, Jouji was a worthless trash character, lmao. There’s a reason why, although I’ve written Honda’s older sister, I haven’t actually written Jouji. I’ve no use for that annoying thing.

[aroworlds]

Aro-Spec Artist Profile: Signe

Today’s awesome aro-spec creator is Signe, better known to aro-spec Tumblr as @fluffyllamacorn!

Signe is a busy aroace writer, visual and textile artist! She writes for the Young Avengers, The Shadowhunter Chronicles/Shadowhunters, Hawkeye Comics and New X-Men: Academy fandoms in addition to developing diverse original fiction. You can find her growing collection of fanworks on AO3 under the name FluffyLlamacorn and her gorgeous art at @llamacorn-productions.

She also posts and reblogs fashion and accessories at @clothing-inspiration, and some of her cosplays can be seen throughout this post!

With us Signe talks about her passion for textile arts and how they allowed her to reclaim her femininity, the importance of non-romantic relationships in creative media, the difficulty of writing kissing scenes, and the need for works and discussions that celebrate our aromanticism. Her love of making, crafting and designing just shines through this post, so please let’s give her all our love, encouragement, gratitude, kudos and follows for taking the time to explore what it is to be aromantic and creative.

Can you share with us your story in being aro-spec?

I just sort of … never cared? I’ve never wanted to get married and have children, and I never really had crushes growing up. I partly figured that was because I was surrounded by assholes who weren’t worth crushing on, but even when I graduated and moved to better schools where I actually had friends, I still didn’t care. I’ve always had a lot of confidence, so I’ve never bothered feeling insecure about not dating. I spent a while identifying as a straight person “who doesn’t care about romance” before eventually identifying with the ace and then aroace identifiers after having known them for a while, but there was never any big moments in the journey that really stand out.

Currently, I see my aromanticism as more important to my identity than my asexuality – being aro is what I do, while being ace is what my body does – but I also don’t really see them as separate. It’s hard to put into words because it requires cementing some stuff that I don’t mind leaving fluid, but while my lack of attraction is a package deal, it’s the lack of romantic attraction that defines my lifestyle the most. I know which I would choose if I had to, but I prefer not having to. That’s the only good thing about the ace discourse: It’s made me very protective of my ace identity again after having let somewhat go of it after I came to identify as aro.

Can you share with us the story behind your creativity?

I’m the type of person who has a thousand different hobbies and therefore doesn’t have time to actually do any of them. The three I care most about are writing, drawing and textile work.

I’ve always told myself a lot of stories. Walking home from school, I would develop my stories, acting out scenes in my mind and developing huge universes. When I decided to share them with the world, it was initially as comics. I drew a lot, so I had developed the characters’ visual identities along with their personalities. While I’ve switched to planning my stories as books, drawing and writing is still pretty linked in my mind and I can’t imagine creating a character that I don’t know how to draw.

I got into textile work through cosplay, but have spread out into knitting, sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, weaving, crocheting, bobbin lace… Pretty much everything I can get my hands on, which is why I give it such a broad name. (This is part of my too many hobbies deal!) I love everything about textiles, from the look and feel of it, to how many different things can be created out of one simple material. Looking at clothes and knowing not just how it’s been sewn, but also how the fabric was made, is so cool. Creating things from scratch can make me feel like something akin to a god, recreating this corner of the universe as I see fit. A big part of my love for textile work is also reclaiming my femininity in a way that’s so different from the girly girl image I was taught to look down on as a girl. This is a way to enjoy being feminine that doesn’t force me to embrace things I don’t enjoy.

One thing I’ve realized recently is that I love the freedom to design my own work. My cosplays have moved further and further away from canon, from human versions to characters without a firm design or completely redesigning a canon design. On the other hand, I rarely feel the need to sew completely original things, and without the built in deadline of a con, I’m not very likely to get it done. I tend to rarely do the things I can just do whenever, but I’m getting better at that.

Are there any particular ways your aro-spec experience is expressed in your art?

It’s easy to spot in my stories. I have a lot of a-spec characters. The two main characters who were specifically designed to get most of my heart – Shizuka, the shy girl who didn’t know how to make friends, and Diana, the confident girl who’s never cared what anyone thinks of her – both ended up being a-spec even though I created them long before I started identifying as aroace. Shizuka is demi and I don’t know whether it’s sexually and/or romantically or if it even matters. Diana ended up being aroace because I was thinking about her future and my mind nope’d out of the possibility of her ever dating. I also made a conscious choice not to include much romance until I got interested in queer love stories and that sorta fell by the way side. Even then, I try to keep the love stories from being the only defining feature of the stories and the characters involved in them and never to devalue other types of relationship. You will never hear the term “just friends” in my work unless I’m trying to make a point about the person who uses it.

(This is not to pass a value judgement on anyone who uses that expression, but to help normalize language that doesn’t devalue platonic relationships.)

What challenges do you face as an aro-spec artist?

The recent anti-a-spec discourse has made me worried about posting about aromantic things too publicly, as aphobic comments and opinions seem way to commonly accepted these days.

Also, writing kissing scenes. What the hell. “And then their mouths squished together for a little while, which apparently made fireworks go off in their brains.” Like. What? Why does society think this is the epitome of every relationship?

How do you connect to the aro-spec and a-spec communities as an aro-spec person?

Building communities about a lack of something is always hard. Once you’ve written the first story about being aro, it can be hard to write the next one, unless you consciously try to write about a different way of being aro-spec. It’s also a hard orientation to include quickly as being single isn’t as clear an indicator as having a romantic partner of the same gender. While I follow a bunch of aro-blogs and I have a bunch of a-spec friends, I wouldn’t say I’m strongly integrated in the a-spec communities on Tumblr.

Part of it is that most content I see is validations that every sort of aro is alright. I see a lot of content aimed at people who feel bad. That’s important, definitely, but I don’t need it. I’ve always known I’m amazing, both independently of and intersecting with my aromantic identity. I’m interested in work that celebrates being aro, work that doesn’t say I’ll be happy “even though” I’m aro, but “while” I’m aro, maybe even “because” I’m aro and don’t need to waste my life on amatonormativity. At the very least, work that spends more than a sentence on reassuring me. I see a lot of content that implies the basic state of an aro-spec person is sad, and I object to that idea.

I have also recently seen a whole lot of posts about QPRs and that’s really cool! I’m happy to see they’re becoming more and more accepted, at least in some circles. I’m less happy to see them become so prominent and so expected that they start feeling like a new shape of amatonormativity. It’s not that bad right now, but I definitely got allo aces saying “at least we can still feel love” vibes from some QPR posts earlier this year. Because here’s the thing: I’m aroace. I won the lottery. I don’t need to define myself by relationships to other people.* I refuse to take another label that sounds like I don’t want friends because of people pushing QPRs to be the new norm. Again, I’m super happy QPRs seem to have become more accepted, just please don’t present them as something every aro-spec person is interested in unless we specifically opt out.

There’s also the question of what kind of aro stories should be told. I mean, as many as possible, obviously, but that’s going to take a while. But the whole deal with being aro-spec is to have less interest in romance, so too many stories that focus on the lack of it become … counterproductive? I think the Jughead comics are pretty perfect in that regard. The main character is aroace and there are several stories that’s hella important to, but mainly it’s just about him going on adventures with his friends.

(P.S. I hate Riverdale. I’ve seen two different Jughead cosplays these last two weekends, but I didn’t dare fangirl, because what if they were based on the wrong version?)

Honestly, my main way of interacting with the a-spec community is befriending people at random and later finding out they’re a-spec. It’s … almost a superpower? It’s pretty great.

* No one needs to define themselves by relationships to other people, but I imagine it’s much easier when you don’t feel the desire to.

How do you connect to your creative community as an aro-spec person?

I don’t feel very connected to creative communities, but that’s more because I’m not very good at reaching out and promoting myself unless I know I have exactly what’s being asked for. I mainly stick to one or two people I can bounce ideas off of for my different projects before I post it and hope it finds an audience. It might also be because I’m juggling so many things and don’t spend enough time on the social connections needed to connect with a community.

How can the aro-spec community best help you as a creative?

Feedback, feedback, feedback! I love it! I live on it! Telling me you like X or Y part of my work can keep me floating for days and makes me so much more motivated to keep arting! So please, check out my art and leave a comment and/or share it with your friends/followers, if you like it.

(Also, if anyone has good tips on how to reach a larger audience, let me know.)

Can you share with us something about your current project?

I just finished my newest cosplay, which is Lup from The Adventure Zone in her lich form! I had a lot of fun designing her – the podcast doesn’t have very specific descriptions and the creators encourage fans to come up with their own designs – and got a lot of positive reactions at the con last weekend. I went for a very non-human design, including hiding my face, and added a bunch of fire details to reflect her evocation magic. I would have added more, but then my sewing machine broke in the last second, and I had to finish everything by hand, so I just aimed for the basic version. I’ll be updating her for the next con and will have much more fire with me then. I have yet to finish editing the pictures, but they should be up soon.

Have you any forthcoming works we should look forward to?

My next project, one I’ve alluded to a couple of times in this profile already, in fact combines all three of my passions. I was considering cosplaying Pixie, one of the underrated students from X-Men, relegated to the background since their series ended, but I kept bumping up against the problem that her uniform was just too … generic to be fun. Besides, what’s the point of cosplaying the pink girl, and then not getting to work with pink fabric?

So I just redesigned her and gave her an individual outfit. And then I decided to redesign all of her teammates. I wanted them all to go together, but still keep an individual feeling, and I achieved that by giving them a rainbow theme when they’re together. Obviously, the next stop was figuring out a story for that to take place in, of which I’ve posted the first chapter. The idea is that they get out in their bright colors and visibly help everyday people with everyday problems to stop people from hating and fearing mutants and maybe actually making a positive change, unlike all of the superhero battles that don’t get anyone anywhere.

The project has three parts: Individual drawings for every member where I develop their outfits further, chapters of fic describing their adventures and a cosplay that I aim to finish for Genki in August, the next big con in Denmark.

[bourbonzero-blog]

Detective Conan ~ Aoyama Gosho`s Character Trivia Corner......The thick headedness of Heiji!...(laugh)

So I decided to translate Aoyama`s interview! Here it is...

Since Movie 21 ~ The crimson love letter was a big success, we interviewed Aoyama-sensei who is supervising DC movies every year and asked him some questions about the characters.

"This year`s main character is me, Kudo!" ~ Hattori Heiji

Q: In the "crimson love letter" love story development. Having their own love story, who among Kudo Shinichi and Hattori Heiji is the most insensitive?

A: The most insensitive is Hattori Heiji. Compared with Shinichi, there are times when he is not even aware of his own feelings. (laugh). Besides, Shinichi has confessed already while Heiji haven`t done anything yet.

Q: When you`re doing Heiji`s character design which part do you pay more attention?

A: In terms of visual aspect, I pay more attention to his eyebrows. The angle of his hair is also important. Then, the reason why he became dark is to contrast with Shinichi. During that time there was no dark character yet, which is why I thought of putting him in. At first I planned Heizo (Heiji`s father) to be a dark colored character, but if you put a tone on him he became like.... "eee, what country is this person came from?!!!" So, I decided that Heiji`s dark color is something he inherited from his grandfather (laugh). I cannot affix it to his mother after all. Do you want to see his grandfather?

"The most interesting part is the ponytail!" Heiji`s childhood friend ~ Toyama Kazuha.

Q: Where do you pay attention the most in drawing Kazuha?

A: When drawing Kazuha I pay more attention to her ponytail. Come to it of it, in the manga her ribbon is color red while in the anime it is color yellow. Also, Kazuha is more aggressive than Ran. She`s someone who says "I like you" easily after all. I guess there are also refreshing things about that side of her.

"The unexpected queen!" Heiji`s mother ~ Shizuka.

Q: This time, Heiji`s mother Shizuka will also make an apperance right?

A: Its been a long time since she last appeared. The story where she appreared so far are "The old photograph murder case" (that was aired in 2001), "Hattori Heiji and Kudo Shinichi`s deduction showdown" (aired in 2007). I wonder how many years it has been. The voice actress haven`t change right? It is still Ms. Masako Katsuki?

"Kazuha`s love rival" ~ Ooka Momiji

 Q: How did you came up with Momiji`s character?

A: Her character was made with a big influence from Chihayafuru (by: Yuki Suetsugu). Momiji was also made as the opposite of Chihayafuru`s queen Wakamiya Shinobu. Since Karuta is strong in Kyoto and Shinobu`s character is strong too. While Shinobu has black hair and black eyes, and is a girl who seems to be not interested in doing her nails, Momiji is truly the opposite of her. (laugh). I think that`s beacuse I`m a huge fan of Chihayafuru it has greatly influenced me in working on this project. (laugh).

"Even now it is still with great efforts!" ~ Edogawa Conan

Q: Are there parts where you pay more attention in drawing Conan?

A: When drawing conan, I pay more attention in balancing the eyes and eyeglasses. I draw the eyes first, then do contours, after that the eyeglasses. The eyeglasses are important you know!. I am in-charge of some of the original drawings this time, but the animator`s drawing are getting better too. Even in some of Heiji and the others part, there are places when I think "I didn`t draw it!?" (laugh).

"After all, I`m still conscious about the hairstyle!" Heroine ~ Mori Ran.

Q: Recently even in goods/Merchandise there are some awareness brought about Ran`s pointed hair, does Sensei also conscious about it when you draw her?

A: I am conscious of Ran`s pointed hair. If there is the pointed part you will absolutely figure out if its Ran or not. I think that is good in some ways. Previously it was an ordinary hairstyle with just a wave, but it was hard to tell so I think of gradually playing on her hairstyle.

Q: Even in this piece of work, Ran is still using a flip phone while the others are already using smartphones, may we know the reason behind this?

A: The reason why Ran is still using flip phones while the others are already using smartphones is because it was a request from the fans. There are lots of fan letters that came saying "I am also using a flip phone so please let Ran continue using one too". So, I decided of leaving it like that. Also in the case of flip phones it is easy to use it in pointing out some scenes because we can discribe the phone when opening and closing it. Not to mention its hard to attach a strap in a smartphone. (laugh)

"The first look alike of the author!" ~ Mori Kogoro

Q: When drawing Kogoro where do you pay more attention to?

A: It is the character where I can draw with ease. He is the character who is closest to me so its easy to project him. After all his a "Charan poran" (side note: A Charan poran is a remark meaning that a person is unrealiable in what he says and that he gets out of a tight situation by telling the first lie that comes to his mind). I think Kogoro is someone to say something like this ~ "I`m not Kudo Yuzaku, I`m Mori Kogoro!" (laugh).

"The roles are properly shared" ~ The Detective Boys

Q: What you pay attention the most when working with the members of the Detective Boys?

A: Mitsuhiko`s words are difficult, Genta`s connection with food has been decided. And of course, the "awesome" Ayumi-chan. That`s why when they see a beautiful scenery, the first to comment with "wow" is Ayumi-chan while Genta end up saying "That persimmon tree looks delicious". In the end Mitsuhiko will be the one to explain the details. It is becoming a three-step habit.

"Maybe there was a scene where she gets angry!" ~ Haibara Ai

Q: Please tell us if Haibara will get angry in this work?

A: Actually, it is not in this movie but in an episode where Conan made 2 or 3 request to Haibara that made her angry. There is this list of souvenirs like manju etc. too that I planned (laugh). But I thought that if there are things to cut its that part. Although it was unfortunate!.

Q: Haibara is a special character, right? Even her birth has meaning to it. There are lots of people who admire her too. Is there a possibility that she will fall in-love with someone?

A: Although she is a member of the Detective Boys and speak in a cool manner. Lately there is someone she admires, however that`s just admiration. But Haibara too is in love. (laugh).

"About the deception of sub-characters/police officers."

Q: Even though they aren`t main characters the Police officers in Detective Conan are still important characters. Which part of them you pay more attention to when working on them?

A: I`m trying not to lie. For example, in old Detective dramas the detectives gives command like "Hand this over to the forensics", however when I conducted an interview with the Metropolitan Police Department this wasn`t the case and they inform me that forensics are not Detectives subordinates. Which is why when I work on the detectives and forensics dialogues I always add "please" since the department is different.

Interviewer: Editorial Department ~ Imoto Saki

 That`s all guys, sorry if its a long post. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it. Thanks!

[recentanimenews]

New Laid-Back Camp Season 2 TV Anime Visual Brings Comfort to the Sea

  The official Twitter account for the highly anticipated second season of one of the most heartwarming TV anime Laid-Back Camp released a brand new visual today featuring the characters we know and love enjoying their time in the ocean. Alongside the visual, updated character designs for Sakura Kagamihara, Minami Toba, and Akari Inuyama were also released to announce that the voice actors from the first season will return.

    ／ あたしのあしたに会いにいく。 ＼ TVアニメーション『ゆるキャン△ SEASON２』のメインビジュアルが公開✨ 2021年1月7日（木）よりAT-X、TOKYO MX、BS11ほかにて順次放送開始‼https://t.co/1oWazZmVLn#ゆるキャン pic.twitter.com/BpCftnelaG

— TVアニメ「ゆるキャン△」シリーズ公式 (@yurucamp_anime) December 10, 2020

      The text on the above visual reads: "I'm going to come see you tomorrow." 

  Returning from the first season are:

  Marina Inoue as Sakura Kagamihara

  Shizuka Ito as Minami Toba

  Risae Matsuda as Akari Inuyama

  Laid-Back Camp season 2 starts on January 7 in Japan on Tokyo MX at 11 PM, with the staff and cast returning from the first season. The first season of Laid-Back Camp streamed on Crunchyroll, who describes the series as such:

  Nadeshiko, a high school student who had moved from Shizuoka to Yamanashi, decides to see the famous, 1000 yen-bill-featured Mount Fuji. Even though she manages to bike all the way to Motosu, she's forced to turn back because of worsening weather. Unable to set her eyes on her goal, she faints partway to her destination. When she wakes up, it's night, in a place she's never been before, with no way of knowing how to get home. Nadeshiko is saved when she encounters Rin, a girl who is out camping by herself. This outdoorsy girls story begins with this first encounter between Nadeshiko and Rin.

  Source: Laid-Back Camp on Twitter (1, 2)

  ----

Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram. 

By: Daryl Harding

[wherespacepooh]

The World of “Figure Skating Music” Spun by Sound Designer Keiichi Yano (Part 1)

After a brief take on mama Hanyu yesterday, here’s an intimate look into the audio aspect of figure skating. Yamane Ito interviews Keiichi Yano (beside Yuzu at his Sochi celebration party in Tokyo in the picture above), FS venue audio PA and sound designer who has worked on iconic programs with the likes of Hanyu (SEIMEI, Hope & Legacy), Arakawa (Turandot) and so forth. 

The vignettes on the making of SEIMEI and Hope & Legacy respectively––what a story! Audio-obsessed Hanyu at his best, and how, through everyone’s good grace and mind-boggling hard work both in the team and surrounding, these programs came into fruition. - gladi.

Translated by gladi. Feel free to repost text in entirety with source. Images belong to Keiichi Yano (#1), Getty Images (#2, #3, #4), and joehisaishi.com (#5, not part of the article).

Original source: https://victorysportsnews.com/articles/4441/original (July 03, 2017)

There is a person called Keiichi Yano in the world of figure skating in Japan. Both in competitions and at ice shows, he deals with everything related to sound at the venue. And that is not all. He also sound-edits for top skaters such as Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno. Depending on the situation, he has even compiled the music for entire programs from scratch. In a place closest by the skaters’ side––supporting their performance through “sound”––we cover [Yano-san] on his work and philosophy [as a sound designer in this article].

Text by Yamane Ito.

From acoustics to sound editing

His main gig until the very end is venue acoustics as a PA, says Keiichi Yano. Having been a part of figure skating for more than 30 years, when comes time for the world championship, he manages the audio for more than 300 programs from 100 entries. Prior adjustment, final rehearsals and practice, and detailed tasks during the actual event… Everyone concerned––especially the skaters and their coaches––places full trust in his work.

The first time he was directly in touch with program audio sources was through Midori Ito, silver medalist of the Albertville Olympics. At the time, he was responsible for the recording and remastering of the original audio sources as engineer at Yamaha. It was large-scale work transforming electric organ work by music school students into a full orchestral piece and re-recording it.

Although he continued work related to figure skating after that, the audio sources played over the PA systems at venue bothered him. The sound quality, the volume, the transition of music…all of that––production was too crudely done. Just when he was wondering if he couldn’t do something about it, word came from Shizuka Arakawa-senshu (at the time). She wanted to increase the volume of the beginning part of her free program.

“Turandot” at Turin Olympics was the work of Yano-san. It goes without saying how delighted he was about Arakawa-senshu’s gold medal above all. It was a rewarding moment that made the adjustment, done in a hurry despite insufficient time, worth it.

"Recently, the pattern of producing completely from scratch seemed to be on the rise. Where to jump, or where to spin, things like that can be discussed later. If [we] don’t start from getting out the entire piece, it seems to be that choreography can’t be settled.”

Although [he] starts from creating the so-called “draft," the final program music is completed through back and forth with the choreographer and the skaters themselves. Those are all part of the job. In competitive figure skating, the outcome is decided by the total combined score from both the short program (SP) and the free skating (FS) section.  As a rule, the SP is 2m50s, and as for FS, men’s is 4m30s, ladies’ is 4m. The thing is to edit the original tracks and integrate them within the canvas of the time requirements.

There is an unending stream of music editing commissions from skaters and their coaches for Yano-san. Occasionally, skaters visit his studio at home as well. The audio for “Respeto y orgullo,” performed by Takahashi Kozuka-senshu (at the time), too, was completed at Yano-san’s study.

“We can create something [the skaters themselves can best grasp | most agreeable to the skaters themselves], so on the contrary, it’s easy to do if they come [to my place]."

Seven pieces combined––Yuzuru Hanyu’s SEIMEI

It’s well known among skating fans that Yano-san edited Hanyu-senshu’s program “SEIMEI” using the soundtrack from the movie Onmyoji. And it was said that Yano had been sending demo tracks for his consideration for a while.

He received a simple request from Hanyu, “I absolutely want to use the main theme from Onmyoji and the dragon flute tracks. I’m leaving everything else up to you.” So, he chose pieces from the two albums that seemed to fit well with skating and put them together into one. While visualizing Hanyu’s skating, he combined seven songs characteristic of [him].

“In [Hanyu’s] case, he is awfully particular about music. He said, ‘I will work with this as a basis for now’ and from this point on, went to work on building the full-fledged program alongside his choreographer in Canada.”

The email exchanges continued even after that. “I want this bit moved back 5 seconds” and “I would like the tempo at the end imperceptibly increased and bring it all to a close within the time limit” and so forth. As training progressed, “I want taiko for the conclusion,” “I’d like some ‘gap’ or ‘space’ put in right here,” et cetera. In the end, 33 versions of “SEIMEI” were made. Yano-san laughed as he reminisced about [the experience].

“The requests ballooned quickly. But, I cannot say it is impossible as a pro!”

There was a part in the middle of the program that became a hot topic amongst fans. Edited such that two tracks from two different albums were overlaid and combined into one, it came from the suggestion of choreographer Shae-lynn Bourne. The piano and the dragon flute playing the same melody were of completely differing pitch and tempo, so actually, they weren’t something that could be easily overlaid and synced. After much struggle and difficulty, Yano-san completed that beautiful part.

As a standalone “piece” that differed from the original

As program music are based on original pieces, of course there are also their composers. For Chopin or Puccini, there is no need to be particularly worried. The problem is in the case of currently active composers. By the way, Onmyoji is the work of Shigeru Umebayashi-san. So I tried to get some answers about what I’ve always been curious about:

Is there anything to talk and go over with the original composer?

“Not in particular. I may receive complaints if [the program piece] is musically ridiculous or odd, but if it stands as a piece of music, usually there are no problems. I am grateful if it may be comprehended as 'one figure skating piece.’"

Up until this point, if [Yano] is to say which is it, favorable voices have been more frequent. For example, when Daisuke Takahashi-senshu (at the time) used the music from accordionist COBA, he had edited quite some parts in it.

“I thought he would be offended, but because the download counts increased even for the original track, I was actually thanked in reverse. Afterwards, a dialogue was planned between Takahashi-kun and COBA-san, and collaborations on shows, et cetera. They had a very good relationship.

Joe Hisaishi’s great kindness––Hope and Legacy

When Hanyu-senshu brought Joe Hisaishi’s music over, [Yano’s side] got flustered. Speaking of Hisaishi-san, he is a leading musician in Japan, also famous for the music of animation works produced by Studio Ghibli.

“Although I am fine with doing it, I told the team on Hanyu-kun’s side, ‘Please at least get permission.’ We started by editing in parallel [as they sought permission]."

There was a reason why Yano-san brought this up. In the past, Kozuka-senshu wasn’t granted permission to use Ghibli music for the program piece when he edited it himself, leading to a whole sequence of events where they eventually went through the pains of re-recording in order to use the music in the program. For that reason, [Yano-san] paid careful attention to Hanyu-senshu’s request. As it was, when Hanyu-senshu’s team got into contact, they hadn’t been able to obtain approval yet.

The biggest problem was in connecting and using two separate pieces. It is inconsistent with the composer’s original thought and intent to marry pieces that are quite different from the circumstances of composition to musical concept. It’s not impossible to overlook if [he] were to edit and use either one of the two pieces. However, from the simple viewpoint of cherishing the music, connecting the two pieces was not something one can easily grant permission to do.

It was convincing explanation for someone involved in music. Nevertheless, [Yano-san] sought for courses of action to somehow obtain consent. This time, with a go-between from the television industry and several parties involved in figure skating in tow, Yano-san went to approach the Hisaishi office once again with their request.

“Although [Hisaishi] was not present, Hisaishi’s side listened to the actual piece that I had edited for the program on the spot. And [I brought up the fact] that figure skating isn’t for commercial purposes but is purely done for sports. That I hoped to be allowed to use Hisaishi-san’s music for a competitive program in this sport. That I would like to obtain permission to edit [the music] based on the competitive time requirements, demands of the performance, so forth. I requested everything formally. That it seems like Hanyu-senshu already has an image in mind; if somehow we could receive permission and talk with Hisaishi-san…”

Afterwards, Hisaishi decided to grant permission. However, this was a special exception for one time only, granted because of Hisaishi-san's kind generosity. With that, the program music, “Hope & Legacy”, took shape with exotic “Asian Dream Song” inserted between “View of Silence,” a beautiful piano piece. Only one such gem of a program exists in this world, and it became a representative performance of Yuzuru Hanyu.

Shortly after that, the team involved in the creation of “Hope & Legacy” was invited to [Hisaishi’s] concert in Tokyo. There, Yano-san greeted Hisaishi-san himself directly for the first time.

Interviewee: Keiichi Yano  Sound Designer/ Music Editor-Programmer. Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1957. Started working as Audio Technician since 1975. In charge of audio at YAMAHA Tokyo branch in 1978. Currently works freelance as Figure Skating Sound and Audio Producer. 

Writer: Yamane Ito Creative Director turned Copywriter/ Football Researcher. Published various sports-related books, mostly specializing in football, and one about figure skating––『フィギュアスケート・プログラムに秘められた物語』

t/n: On September 14, 2016, Hisaishi announced on his official website that Hanyu would be using Hisaishi’s music for his free program. The theme is “Hope & Legacy”. September 13, 2016 was “media day” at TCC :))

[undeadimpulsereviews]

Shinigami-sama ni Saigo no Onegai wo

So This review is another long overdue review; I kept writing this review out to a point. Everytime I reached said point I thought I could do better; at the moment all my attempts just felt like me ranting unprofessionally. I don’t want this to be the case; I want my reviews to feel more professional. They won’t be perfect, but I want to try an take my time with them and refine them a little more. So I’ll be releasing this along side the review for Onechanbara. Now as for the manga, we’ll be referring to the manga as Shinigami-sama; the title is long in both English and Japanese, so to save time we’ll do this. Lastly I’ll be going in depth into the manga; due to the length and other factors, spoilers can’t be avoided. You have been warned, so read at your own risk.

Do you know what a Shinigami is? They’re not an uncommon trend in the manga business that’s for sure. Even some of the most popular of stories feature these beings. To put in simply, a Shinigami is a god of death; if you’ve read manga like Death Note, or Bleach then you’ve experiences the Shinigami before. Yet this tale we are about to embark on is a lot more obscure, and quite frankly needs some work to be counted among those more well known names.

Shinigami-sama ni Saigo no Onegai wo, a shounen mystery manga from mangaka Yamaguchi Mikoto, is a story of two siblings trying to figure out the mystery of who murdered their family. The manga was first published a few years back, 2009 to be exact; it was part of Gangan Joker Magazine, and it ran for a little over a year. The manga only lasted for a solid eighteen chapters; I don’t know for what reasons it was stopped, if I had to guess I’d say it was cancelled due to certain circumstances. From what I can see online, people tend to like the manga; they don’t find it amazing, but it’s generally given an average of sevens among readers. I probably never would have read this manga under normal circumstances; though a friend of mine recommended it to me, thinking I’d enjoy it. After reading the manga I left not with a sense of enjoyment, but disgust and anger. I’d say that this manga was one of the first really terrible stories I had the misfortune to read. I don’t see the appeal that others see from this manga; it’s story is rushed and riddled with plot holes, and the characters are heavily forced extremes that change personalities on a dime for no honest reason. The only thing I can give this manga is that it’s visuals aren’t terrible; at least not all the time. There are moments where the visuals take a drastic turn for no reason, just like the characters, but other than that it’s alright. Though I didn’t want decent visuals with a terrible story; I wanted a worthwhile mystery manga with an enjoyable beginning, middle, and end. Though I’m getting nowhere just ranting along, so allow me to explain.

Shinigami-sama follows the story of a brother and sister after losing their family; the brother, Aida Shizuka, is blamed with the murder of their parents and his sister. The sister, Aida Hibiki, is reborn as a shinigami and is tasked with giving her brother his last request before he dies. Though all she wants is for him to go straight to hell for his crimes. However, something isn’t right; the evidence just doesn’t add up. So it’s up to the two siblings to overcome their differences and solve the case. Though something ominous waits in the shadows, and even those closest to them may not be as trustworthy as they once seemed.

On paper Shinigami-sama seems like an interesting read; a murder mystery that transcends life and death. Yet after all is said and done, the story is far from interesting. Instead it comes off more aggravating to read; this is due to the manga’s poor pacing and clear plot holes. Now the manga is short, as I stated before it only runs a total of eighteen chapters. This doesn’t give a lot of time to develop a story, and this is one of the clues that point at the manga being cancelled. The other clue comes from the manga’s ending; this is also where one of the biggest problems arise, but we’ll get to that later. Due to a possible cancellation, the manga suffers a lot. The overall structure of the manga changes drastically over the eighteen chapters. At first it’s Shizuka in jail, as Hibiki comes to lead him to hell. Before all this though Hibiki must undertake another job to fulfill a request for a dying girl. This last request is to give her the a healthy body for one day. This girl goes on to kill seven people, Shizuka included. Then the next chapters play out like this; Shizuka and Hibiki spend a day together before their trial comes; with this day they plan to force the death of random people so they can get their last request. They back out of this plan entirely and end up at their trial. At the trial Shizuka manages to overturn their sentence and now must work alongside the shinigami. Then a bunch of chapters happen where they do shinigami work; all this leading up to the last chapter. At no point does Hibiki or Shizuka go out and actually investigate what happened to them; yet at the last chapter they have all this evidence that they say is important, and also decide to introduce the idea of another story integral character. This character doesn’t get any screen time before the manga ends and it’s left hanging entirely.Now let’s break this down a bit more; in the first chapter it’s clear that Hibiki has the knowledge of how last requests work. The rules state that a shinigami must not give a last request to someone who caused a grievous crime. So Shizuka, having murdered his family, would be sent straight to hell. Instead of doing this out right, she decides to take him out of prison for some reason and visits the girl in question. Keep all this in mind, we’ll be coming back to it. Now another rule is that a shinigami can not grant requests that entail murdering another, or something like revival or reincarnation. Now the girl asks for a healthy body; due to her weak heart she’s always been stuck in a wheel chair. I see nothing wrong with this last request. Though of course she wants to utilize her new body to kill random people. Though what motive would she have for this? Well because due to her body she found herself playing a lot of games, and one of which was hunting games. Just once in her life she wanted to try hunting, and what better target than a human? I’m not making this up, she literally decides that humans would be the best target because, and I quote, “who would care if six or so just up and disappeared? there are millions in the world.” For what reason did playing games and being handicapped fuel a motive to commit murder? Though Hibiki didn’t know that she would use this request for evil intent. So keep that in mind as well. Now one of the people the girl killed was Shizuka; at that point he wasn’t dead, but an escaped convict due to Hibiki, smart right? So what does Hibiki do? She decides to throw away her PDA, a tool which can be used to force a shinigami to go back to headquarters, and she takes the body of Shizuka and breaks the rule of revival. Now that the recap is out of the way there are a few clear problems that arise from just this FIRST CHAPTER! At the beginning Hibiki is well aware that murderers don’t get a last request, so why does she revive Shizuka in chapter two? If you plan to argue that it was out of familial love then you can just stop there. Hibiki clearly says that she doesn’t think of him as a “beloved brother”. She did it because it’s the shinigami’s job to grant a last request for those who die; as Hibiki states there should be no problem then. Though there is a clear problem because as was made clear in chapter one, murders don’t get a last request. Just because Shizuka dies by different means doesn’t excuse the charges placed on him; plus at this point it’s still unclear that he didn’t commit the murder. Hibiki doesn’t fully believe that his brother commited the crime, but there is no valid proof he didn’t. Next a couple chapters later Hibiki is put on trial alongside Shizuka for the events that took place; I can understand that she would be in trouble for the reviving someone after death, but she is also blamed for the death of the seven people the girl killed due to her granting the last request. Though how was Hibiki supposed to know the girl would use it to murder someone? There is no rule saying that the request of this girl to have a healthy body for a day can’t be granted, and the girl doesn’t flat out say I want to kill people so I need a healthy body. So why is Hibiki essentially being blamed for the murder of seven people. Then comes the sequence before the trial; Hibiki decides that the only way to save them from going to hell forever is to have the last request from another be used on them. To do this they go to a suicide meet up; this event is where individuals with a troubled past get together to perform suicide. Though there are many problems with this scene. One being the fact that something this cult like exists in reality, but let’s leave that be. The biggest problem comes in the form that those who commit suicide can get a last request, so Hibiki decides to have someone murder one of the two girls and force them to give a fake request to benefit them. Yet later in the manga it’s revealed that fate is a huge thing among the shinigami; someones death is preordained, and how they die as well. So technically speaking the seven murders were forseen, yet they didn’t stop Hibiki. The plan that Shizuka and Hibiki planned to undertake was not stopped, and this whole sequence is never brought to light ever again. If fate exists, and if life is following a set path for the shinigami, then why is Hibiki not answering for the attempted murder of two individuals. Is it because she wasn’t the one who was getting her hands dirty, because that’s lazy. Instead of them murdering someone they have the organizer do it. The person behind the event is a man who is masquerading as a women; he holds this event so he can have his way with the people he fools. Of course this holds no repercussions for him because after raping them they just kill themselves. It’s taking every fiber of my being not to throw up. So how does the event end? The man doesn’t kill or rape the two girls, instead of runs scared, the two girls are then told that one will go free if they kill the other. Yet these two are best friends, and could never kill each other. Scratch that, they hate each other now and are fully ready to kill the other for stupid reasons. Though Shizuka grows a conscious at the last second, albeit a psychotic one, and stops them from killing each other. Making the entire scene, and the two chapters it took to tell it all, completely useless. This is literally just the first four chapters; so much happens in the manga up to this point and none of it good. We’re supposed to be uncovering a mystery behind the murder of an entire family and instead we get half-assed forced tension that has no business being in the manga. Half if the manga is filled with scenes that don’t need to be in the manga. The part after the trial, where Shizuka starts to work for the shinigami as a sort of probation, is not needed. It’s just a bunch of chapters of them either granting a last request or taking care of a evil spirit. There is no investigation into the murder, or really any progress made at all. Which ultimately leads to the end of the manga.

After coming across a bunch of information that wasn’t in the manga, save for maybe a couple random bits that were hard to pick up, Shizuka decides to finally look deeper into the murders and comes to a realization as to who it might be. At this point he confronts a random character that was never introduced in the manga. This person knocks Shizuka out and carries him away, and all that’s left is this note written to Hibiki. There is no closure, but instead a lot of questions and this terrible ending dialogue aksing Hibiki to follow to clues so that the manga can reach it’s conclusion. There is nothing past this; we never find out the identity of the true culprit. A lot of people think this is because the mangaka wanted to leave it to the reader to figure out on their own. Though with the last line of text I can’t see any other argument other than a cancellation. For a manga that’s only eighteen chapters long it surely feels a lot longer, though while it feels drawn out, there was little progress made. After looking back on everything I still stand by my first impressions of this manga; it’s not good and the story is one of the main reasons. Though it’s characters are another such factor that can’t be overlooked.

Shinigami-sama has a pretty large cast of characters; most are just supporting, while Hibiki and Shizuka are the main two however. Though honestly speaking, you could take A lot of these supporting characters out of the manga. The two random girls in chapters three and four are useless to the story, same with the man that attempted to rape them. Half of the shinigami are not needed and only serve as minor characters that the main two can consider “friends”. In actuality the only people that really matter in this story are Hibiki and Shizuka, another shinigami named Saaya, and the mysterious person at the end of the manga. The other shinigami during the trial don’t honestly matter, because they hold no weight towards the end game. Same goes for the girl in the first chapter; sure she serves as a means to push the trial in motions, but given that the reasoning is stupid and it brings nothing to light she’s also not needed. Though again they are mostly supporting characters; the true test of the manga comes from the main two. Do they develop well over the course of the manga? Not really, instead of uncovering the mystery behind the first murder, Hibiki goes from hating her brother to almost loving him. This is due to the fact that she takes a lot of random conjuncture from someone at face value. There are no clues to go on, but one person tells her that it’s impossible for Shizuka to have murdered his family because he’s just not that type of person. Putting the fact that that is a stupid argument; It takes no time at all for Hibiki to develop a complex for her brother. While it’s not said out right, it’s clear that Hibiki has growing feelings for Shizuka, and none on a familial level. Why though? Shizuka has shown no great qualities; in fact I’d say he’s done the exact opposite. 

The page above comes from chapter four, after you find out that the two random girls actually hate each other and their about to kill one another, Shizuka steps in to the situation and says this to them. He goes full psycho and threatens to kill two people regardless of his situation. Of course this is a bluff to scare them, but given the events leading up to this frame and the information we’ve already established, Shizuka should not be acting in this matter. Also if you think this happens only once, for Shizuka or anyone else, you are sadly mistaken. Random characters start to distort their face in gross psychotic episodes for no reason. Just a couple pages before the one pictured above, one of the girls also goes full psycho as she proclaims her hate for the other. These aren’t interesting characters; I don’t want to root for them, and I don’t find them enjoyable. There is nothing human about any of these people; they change emotions on a dime and their motives are all over the place. Even the backstories of characters are half-assed; Shizuka was working on a novel about a boy murdering his family. What a coincidence right? Except that’s the basis for why he couldn’t have killed his family. Due to him having to research murder through constant reading; there’s no way someone like him could have executed such a task. Absolutely no way he can kill his sickly and blind mother, younger sister, and father. That’s a poor excuse for a back story, and alibi. The problems mostly arise from the characters and their personalities, or in this case lack thereof. Though some problems arise from how the characters are portrayed visually. We went into it a little, but lets look a little closer.

While Yamaguchi Mikoto struggles to make a compelling story with interesting and enjoyable characters; Mikoto’s visual style is not all bad. There are plenty of moments through out Shinigami-sama that, while nothing amazing, are nice breaks in between all the bad.

It’s not heavily detailed, and the designs don’t go above and beyond, but that’s alright. I don’t mind seeing pages like this throughout the manga. Yet most of these pages are overshadowed by two different instances of terrible illustrations. I’ve already shown the moments where a characters emotions just skyrocket out of control, but I’ll show another example from another random instance.

This is Shizuka during the trial in chapter five; for whatever reason as the trial progresses he starts to get crazier and crazier in his responses to the shinigami leader. There is no reason for this and honestly just takes away from the experience. Shizuka is usually seen as very calm; his eyes are always closed, much like Brock from Pokemon. Though when these scenes pop up his eyes shoot open and look as they do above. It’s like all of his proportions just grown to fill his face; sure if there was a reason for this, maybe I’d be more accepting of it, but there is no reason. He’s just crazy to add suspense where suspense isn’t needed. The next instance comes from the female characters; after the trial we are introduced to a few other shinigami. These shinigami were first seen in chapter two, but we get more of them later. For some reason all the shinigami are female in this manga, and randomly during chapter two they decide to have random ecchi scenes that do nothing for the manga.

The scene above is meant to recap the previous chapter to Shizuka, but couldn’t we have done this in a normal setting. Did someone really ask to see a random guy bathing a small women, (Her backstory is that she started really tall for her age, and then as she grew up she is now the smallest person among the shinigami) I know their is a demographic for this stuff, but there are plenty of possibly better manga out there for people to get their fix. It’s not just the girl above though, each girl shinigami other than the commander has a scene like this; they just don’t all feature shizuka. The visuals could be something more, but instead Yamaguchi springs for a visuals style with more gross imagery to it. So in the end while the visuals have their moments, it’s just not enough for me.

Overall I give Shinigami-sama ni Saigo no Onegai wo a 1 out of 10; it’s one of the worst reads I’ve read in some time. The only saving features of the manga are that it’s short, and it has those occasional visual moments. Though again if I want occasionally good visuals I could think of better methods than reading this excuse for a manga. Plus while it was short, that doesn’t make it any less painful to read. The story is poorly paced and just down right bad; while the characters are developed terribly, and are some of the most aggravating characters to follow. I don’t recommend this manga; I wouldn’t give it to my enemies if I had them. You want a better mystery experience, then I’ve got a few recommendation. Go play the Layton or Phoenix Wright series; not a gamer? Then read Case Closed. This isn’t worth your time, or mine.

The review for Onechanbara will release today along side this review, if you want to read that one then check it out; however, that will end this month of reviews. Sorry again for the delay, I’ve been trying to make this more of a professional thing and that’s hard on my current school schedule. Until next time, have a good day and I’ll see you soon.

[angelsdoexist]

Hikaru Reaction Part 9

If only I could actually believe him. He seems hurt somehow though why wouldn’t he be really. When you are not completely one race or another I can only imagine how painful it would be to not really have a place and I have no doubt that he’s never accepted completely in either. As he said to humans they see him as too close to being a God, but Gods see him too close to human.

To never properly be accepted would be so painful.

It’s giving me flashbacks to Inuyasha when he’d talk about his past and not fitting in either world properly. And it makes me very sad.

It also amuses me...no wonder the MC is so tired and hungry. She was in space for who knows how long and then zipping between alternate timelines. Who knows how long it’s been since she slept or ate or anything. I’m sure she still needs those things despite being a sorceress.

Wow...they’re so much older than I thought, no wonder it was a shock for MC.

Well damn... that’s not very helpful.

Hikaru doesn’t know how to do it and neither do I. This is fantastic, cue sarcasm. THOUGH! As a highlight the idea of having to walk around with a younger Hikaru and my younger mom, both apparently around 500 years younger sounds like a pretty cool idea to me. We can learn LOTS of things hopefully.

No, no, no Tsu if you think about it carefully there are plenty of reasons why you don’t want to live for 500 years. Though I do think there could be some positives for it too it would be so sad to lose everyone you love.

I really like this Shizuka....

And that flash back *thumbs up*

LOL, yes respect those people from the past that traveled by foot on crummy roads with terrible shoes. No wonder it took so long to get anywhere. And I just realised this has become like my favourite visual novel / otome type - set in ancient japan with a sexy man with long hair, kimono and a sword.

GASP. BLUSHING HIKKI ❤ So darn cute...he’s so curious Awww... and now I’m back to wanting to hug Hikaru.... he seems so sad. Well, you’re my hero coz you saved me remember?? Or I’d be dead~

OMG!!!!!!!! HIKKI!!! *can’t help laughing at the innuendo* How could you??? He’s so damn cheeky with those jabs he keeps on making. Well I guess at least I know that the PAST Hikki is just like his FUTURE counterpart. Flirty ho who makes me want to hug him and pat him better.

Also I should note I LOVE THE MUSIC ❤

“And that’s how I ended up on an hours long piggyback ride on my professor’s back learning magic with my mother in 1480s Japan” LOL!! It’s kind of good to know that she’s getting some learning/training in while she’s in the past. Especially learning from her mom.