#alternatively: all of you should learn Japanese too so that i can actually post about this stuff and get more than 0 notes
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fallynleaf · 3 days ago
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been away from tumblr for several days due to being busy and also depressed and also having to deal with the most frustrating wrestling discourse experience of my life (and that's saying a lot) over the past week
save me, group of obscure new wave Japanese horror creators who keep putting leftist and gay stuff in their works
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jeansplease · 1 year ago
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bodybuilder fits?
TarroKitanoe7 years ago
i really hate post like this because there is lack of participation and no consistency.There are so many fits for big guys,athletic or muscular leg whatever. i am 6 foot 6 and 268 lbs i normally buy all my denim in selvage been collecting for about 10 years now. My recomendations for big guy selvage from a actual BIG GUY!!!!
I have muscular thighs and calves and a black mans butt since i am black. I wear a lot of Levis Vintage Clothing 501,My fave is the 1954-but 1933 and 1937 are great fits,classic.
I
love PRPS (made in Japan only) i do not care for the china "& goods Co" range lack of quality,if you can find the Barracuda on ebay, selvage not fake fit and length is the shit!
Lee 101,yes Lee had a few that I like the 101B cowboy pant green selavage,yes it fits big guys! Love these,before they stopped selling this online in the USA i bought a few fits from them including a chocolate brown pair of chinos . The Lee Roscoe a slim,yes slim boot cut green selvage Made in Poland is a great fit with Superstars or canvas sneakers and a Tee!
I love the regular slim from Gilded Age purple selavage and a great fit,Ladies love this fit on me and I felt they were a bit tight until I broke them in a good slim not skinny but slim and looks really good.
Nudie Average Joe selvage is another great fit billed as a relaxed fit i think it is a slim fit on me at least but roomy in thighs and calves but not too loose,These anf Regular Ralph or Alph are a good go to brand if price is not an issue.
I also love the Samurai Union Star,This is another relaxed early american style fit,A lot of people feel it is too loose but if your legs are muscular it will balance out and look really good on you i like mine a lot.
On the cheap,The Gap"s earlier foray into selvage had some noteworthy fits the slim straight is a lot like the Gilded Age fit on me and they came in 36' inseam back in the day. I have 2 pairs 1 is made in italy and they are a great straight 501 like fit. The other is japanese selvage but it is a relaxed like straight but it is also a good fit. I saw some in a store last year and the quality are not as good in my opinion.
I have too many to go into but i do not own any Chrome Hearts-Too pricey in my opinion,Real Evisu has several fit that will work but not too much Gull action on the back is best!
Most of all my jeans are high end,but they bare some cheaper alternatives out there. I think the easiest way is to measure your waist,thighs and calves and check the specs on the websites or measure your favorite fitting jeans lying flat and measure those parts and match it to manufacture spec's Give or take a inch above or below should work on your body, Learn what looks good and invest in those just my opinion.
source in the comments of this post
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michel-tanguy · 1 year ago
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New Post has been published on Michel Tanguy
New Post has been published on http://micheltanguy.com/how-to-get-a-mail-order-bride-the-last-word-guide-and-tips-in-2023/
How To Get A Mail-order Bride The Last Word Guide And Tips In 2023
Content
Why Are We So Successful?
The Means To Present A Japanese Girl You’re Involved (and How To Tell Once She’s Not)
Orchid Romance
Not because of lack of vocabulary or grammar, however some German methods of claiming one thing appear to be impolite to him, while they’re very regular for a German native speaker. So I attempt to do my finest to rapidly identify a misunderstanding and explain to him. So the point is, when you actually love him (no blind love,think about the long run https://japanese-women.net/japanese-interracial-dating/ with him, the culture differ, etc.) then go for it! Don’t be too sesitive and selfconcious, simply be who you’re, attempt to understand him, communication is the purpose. So if he seldom replay you, don’t ask query via textual content.
You do need to spend a while attending to know someone and learning about who they’re, behind all the gorgeous photographs.
Those who choose platforms with credit normally pay extra, particularly during the first months.
The combination of two cultures in one family is all the time helpful.
You can register through the use of your Facebook account .
Collectivism, somewhat than individuality, is likely the norm on your Japanese date. Whether you’re courting in Japan or the united states, you might need to play it secure by blending in when in public. In 2020, the app is not only for courting, but additionally for business opportunities, and making friends too. And here, you can not only find love and marriage, you could also discover pals with related pursuits. In addition to some primary search functions, it additionally has a « cross by » function. As long as you turn on the GPS, the app will automatically report the individuals round you who also use CROSSME.
The reason we are So Successful?
However, there are particular issues you are in a position to do at no cost. For instance, be part of the site to see how it features. Browsing is allowed simply after the registration. Scroll by way of the profiles, watch photographs, learn their bios, see what options the location has to offer.
You can turn out to be a part of this culture if you meet Japanese singles and start building meaningful relationships. It is the right alternative to spice up your life, meet a partner, and let things lead you to a happy and fulfilled life. Many Japanese singles need to discover companions in foreign countries too. Robyn Wahlgast is a Certified Dating and Relationship Coach from Los Angeles, California. With a concentrate on helping girls discover lasting, dedicated relationships, she brings decades of expertise to her teaching. Robyn, a happily married mother of three, believes in respect as the inspiration for love.
A foundation of more severe relationships is laid with the help of voice calls and CamShare, available on this dating web site too. If you surprise tips on how to get a mail-order bride, you want to decide what females drive you crazy. Choose the most most popular nation and read articles about the cultural peculiarities of local females.
Tips On How To Present A Japanese Lady You’re Involved (and How To Tell When ever She’s Not)
Due to their strong cultural background, you must understand their lifestyle to get a Japanese bride. From a young age, they are taught the way to cook dinner and clean. Without a doubt, once you turn into family, they are going to be able to handle the utmost priorities round the home.
Orchid Romance
But should you suspect somebody is a fraud, you can report abuse, and their profile could also be suspended for breaching the Terms of Use. The People feature worked significantly better in my case, as I didn’t have any particular issues that might be a deal-breaker for me during the search. Also, a giant perk of the internet site is that each search methods out there are free for all members. Nevertheless, we might recognize should you contact us again, so we would examine the issue on our end also.
The website is excellent and simple to utilize. No reason to commit belated occasions in the course of the pub any longer to choose up. Online relationship might really feel like a burden if it solely focuses on dedicated relationships.
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weirdmarioenemies · 4 years ago
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Name: Third Research Scientist of Love Lab
Debut: Rhythm Heaven (DS)
Another post about a Rhythm Heaven character! There are so many Wacky Rhythm Heaven characters we can talk about. But it’s not every day we get to talk about Rhythm Heaven. It’s loosely attached to Mario, through WarioWare, but it’s just enough of its own thing that it is out of our field of view. This is not Super Mario’s Super Mario World. Getting to talk about Rhythm Heaven is a major event. We must savor the Funky Fridays we get to spend our elusive Rhythm Heaven points.
We’re using this Friday to talk about some dude in a squirrel suit.
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He appears in Rhythm Heaven in the minigame Love Lab, which is actually one of my favorite games in the series! That’s right! I managed to get invested in a guy and a girl falling in love, something unexpected from my usual lesbian self. I can’t help it! I just love scientists. “Weird scientist” was like, my whole online persona way back in the day. (And besides, these two are both obviously bi. Look at them.)
Anyway that’s enough time talking about those two, they’re both regular humans and while I respect them and their relationship, they aren’t nearly as interesting as the third guy who is also there.
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What, you didn’t notice him? Well, it makes sense, I suppose. (iiiiiii suppose, yeah!) He’s just off-screen, catching the flasks You’re throwing. They realized it would be dangerous if you were throwing around chemicals and no one was catching them, as if throwing around chemicals isn’t dangerous in its own right, so they added this guy, and since he’s barely visible, why not make him Wacky? You’ll be so busy paying attention to the cute scientists and good tunes that you won’t even notice him.
The guy’s fully-sprited, but is tough to notice in-game considering how off-screen he is. He is so dang off-screen. Fortunately, you can get a better look at him if you get the Try Again screen!
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Yeah! Good job sucking at Love Lab! Your reward is Squirrel Man face reveal!
Or if you don’t want to ruin their relationship, you can just wait for the end credits where he also pops in during the cast call.
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Hello!
We know very little about Squirrel Man, but I think that’s kind of the point. They hid the guy off-screen, he doesn’t have much lore, I think his entire purpose is just to exist and be weird, which I think is delightful. I like the philosophy of whoever decided this minigame about scientists falling in love needed some guy who always wears a squirrel suit.
At least, that’s assuming this is a squirrel. Could be a chipmunk. (though scientifically speaking, chipmunks are a type of squirrel)
The main reason I say squirrel is because “Science Squirrel” is apparently a common trope in Japanese media? At least according to Mod Chikako, I know Risukuma from Puyo Puyo and Himari from Precure as a couple examples. And Sandy Cheeks from SpongeBob, though that’s probably a coincidence, given that all the other examples have Japanese origins. If we’re to go with this, then that gives a little more explanation to this guy, but not too much. I think there’s still plenty of room to theorize what the heck this guy’s deal is.
And that is EXACTLY what I’m here to do! It’s half the reason I’m writing this post in the first place! Below the cut, is various theories about what this dude’s deal is.
1. He’s a furry, that’s his fursona.
Let’s get the obvious (and boring) one out of the way first, which is that this guy is a furry, that’s his fursona, and he always wears a fursuit for some reason. I mean, it makes some amount of sense, if we assume he’s that dedicated to the whole furry thing, then sure, why not wear his fursuit to the laboratory? The thing is, this theory is just such low-hanging fruit. It’s too obvious. Look at the guy. The explanation I think obviously has to be something weirder.
2. Genetically engineered Squirrel Man
This is probably the most obvious “more interesting” direction, and it’s not like it doesn’t make sense. The whole minigame is set in a laboratory, and if we take into account the characters’ blatant lack of lab safety, this isn’t your ordinary laboratory... Who’s to say there isn’t a bunch of weird science going on behind the scenes? I mean, one day they’re trying to figure out what love is, the next day they’re building a squirrel guy. Just your average laboratory shenanigans.
While it is stated in-game in the Lab Journal that he wears a suit, this is purely from the perspective of the green-haired girl, who is said to be new to the lab. Maybe she just thinks he’s wearing a squirrel suit. Maybe she doesn’t know the full truth.
Of course, I don’t think he HAS to be a squirrel man to be interesting...
3. Back on that comment about lab safety,
Full-body protection. While these other two are throwing around flasks full of chemicals without even wearing GOGGLES, this guy is making sure to protect every last inch of his body by wearing a squirrel suit. And maybe he’s wearing goggles under the suit, just for good measure!
Maybe this whole experiment wasn’t even about love, maybe it was about lab safety. Maybe this guy noticed how much his lab partners were smitten with one another, and were too distracted to pay attention to things like wearing proper gear in the lab. He theorized that their relationship had something to do with their total disregard for safety and he was right.
4. School mascot gone rogue
His uncanny full-body uniform is weird for a scientist, but perfectly normal for a school mascot. Maybe he was originally cheering on the university sports team, but eventually got tired of sports and decided to pursue a life of high science instead. Why doesn’t he take the suit off? Tough to say. Might loop back around to the lab safety thing.
Alternatively, in the Rhythm Heaven universe, maybe schools just have mascots for their labs alongside their sports. You know! To... help keep the science fair going?
5. He’s the one dude’s ex
The idea is that he’s simply the first scientist’s ex, they broke up on good terms, and so he still gets to stick around in the Love Lab. Does this do anything to explain why he’s wearing the squirrel suit? No, not really. Maybe the first guy just fell in love with the school mascot (see theory 4) and the squirrel guy just wanted to take interest in his boyfriend’s passions and so he signed up for a job at the Love Lab. And eventually they broke up but he decided to stay around the lab because now he was invested in learning about love. Something like that.
6. He’s lonely
Do you realize how tough it is to stand out in this world? And in a lab where everyone’s researching love all the time, how heartbreaking it can feel when you see everyone around you falling in love while you remain alone? He wanted to make sure everyone would notice him, so bam! Squirrel suit!
But that isn’t to say it was effective. If we go back to the Lab Journal, it took the green-haired girl three days to notice him at all, and he spends the entire minigame off-screen! Not even the CAMERA felt like keeping him in focus. Maybe if you see the squirrel guy at the Love Lab any time soon, you should give him a hug. Maybe he deserves it.
7. He Just Looks Like That
Some people just look like squirrels. It’s rude to stare.
Maybe none of these theories are true, maybe multiple of them are. We don’t know. We’ve never gotten much lore for this guy, but I’m kind of glad about that. This sort of intrigue breeds curiosity, and honestly the more wacky theories that can be proposed surrounding this guy’s existence, the better! It’s part of the reason I fall so in love with minor and obscure characters. You’re given just enough information to get an idea of what the character is, but are given a lot of room to let the creative juices flowing. That’s why I think Third Research Scientist of Love Lab is one of my favorite Rhythm Heaven characters. Congratulations!
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beautifulpersonpeach · 2 years ago
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hello bpp!
i just wanted to ask about pann. i think you mentioned it in one of your old posts which is how i found out about it. i know about pannchoa and check it out from time but i just wanted to ask if you have some tips on how i can navigate the original pann site as a non korean. pannchoa is okay but i noticed that it seems a lot of bts articles that are translated are mosy often the maknae line only and a lot of the time it’s just about V lol.
or should i even bother going through the effort? loool.
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Hi Anon,
Honestly, I want to ask you not to bother.
Me trying to tell you how much of a bad idea this is:
My tip on how to navigate it as a non-Korean is to avoid it altogether. Nate Pann (like DC), is a cesspool of filth, and it's not a site I personally frequent often. It's one of the few forums that allows you to create an account without a Korean phone number or ID so you've got the bottom feeders of Korean society running amok, and the worst characters from the international side camping there. There's already some overlap in behaviors seen in Q-anon conspiracists with k-pop fans (just being honest y'all), but imagine a site filled with homophobic incels + conspiracy theorists + underemployed and self-righteous agitators, laser focusing all their God-given talents on k-pop idols and their fans.
Like Reddit + 4chan but for k-pop. Occasionally you see posts from one Ajumma ranting about some local news but the k-pop communities on that site are.. nothing to write home about.
And this is before we get to all the misinformation. The site pages are supposedly regulated by a team supervised by a guy called Nate, but in reality, there's zero accountability and what you have is people just shit-posting 24/7. So you're more likely to become less informed by keeping up with articles on Pann, than you would've been otherwise. It's become almost as bad as DC in that way. There are certain cues in how a story/rumor is written that can hint to how legitimate a story is, but it's difficult to explain to someone not familiar with the language or the site.
The one tip I have for Pann:
If you'd still like to check out the site, I'd say it's a good idea to stick to the trending topics or search for: 톡커들의 선택. Topics that make it to that list tend to have the most engagement which often means the most opportunities for the news there to be vetted, though of course that doesn't always happen. Last I checked there was no good option for translations on the site, so one would have to manually copy-paste to whatever translator engine they normally use.
Alternatives to Pann:
The ARMY fandom is actually very good at filtering legitimate information and passing that along to everyone else, and on calling out misinfo (I'm excluding shipping/akgae spaces here, obviously). You can follow a list of Korean and Japanese translators linked here who consistently provide good updates. If you'd like to stay up to date on what's happening on the k-side, some alternatives or complements to Nate Pann are Naver, and the local e-newspapers i.e. Chosun Ilbo, Yonhap, and Joongang Ilbo.
Also, just being more aware of other k-pop artists/industry folks is a good idea, especially for people we know have a long history with BTS, such as Tablo, Tiger JK, The Lab etc. Sometimes their instagram/social media posts give some hints as to what's coming in terms of music projects and other gossip. These are better alternatives to Pann IMO, if the point is to become more informed about k-pop news in general.
*
A quick word on how I personally navigate Korean forums because I think that could be the follow-up question here. Most of what I learn about is from actually talking to people, not by scouring various forums looking for this or that. I'm friends with local Koreans who are into k-pop and are fans of other idol groups or khh artists, and I also have family who are very plugged in with local news and gossip too. Again, these are people I actually know and have met several times over the years in real life. We regularly chat about whatever and sometimes they'd link to or reference a community forum or we choose to meet on this or that site, and just by way of being on those sites, because BTS is BTS and everyone and their momma is constantly in their business, I see shit from time to time that needs to be reported.
BTS is a bit of an anomaly for many reasons, and one reason is that most things anyone needs to know about BTS, are things the boys directly tell their fans. The middlemen a.k.a. the Media, have a history of getting it wrong when it comes to BTS. The boys realized this early on and have since cut out the middlemen when there's anything actually important to communicate about themselves. We've seen this happen with their 2018 MAMA speech, and more recently, the 2022 Festa Dinner.
Good luck. :)
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galactichoneybee92 · 4 years ago
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Thoughts on BakuDeku
I’ve been lurking in the MHA fandom for a while now, just kind of silently watching, and I have a few observations that I would like to make. Just perspectives that I would like to put out into the universe. I am on the older side of this website, much less this fandom and so I am no stranger to fandom culture. And when I say old? I mean like I was an active participant on ff.net circa 2005 so like, I’m sure some of you are older but I’m getting up there. My point? I’ve seen things.
As far as fandoms go in general, the MHA is far from the most toxic that I’ve seen but there does seem to be a few points of contention and per usual it comes back to shipping. This is nothing new but lets speak a little on BakuDeku as a ship. I warn you now, it’s not always going to be things you want to hear, but I encourage you to read to the end anyway. 
Horikoshi has fully admitted to having been a huge Naruto fan and it’s pretty easy to see the influence in his work. On that note, it’s pretty safe to say that the Midoriya/Bakugo relationship can be compared to the Naruto/Sasuke relationship. You can see other parallels (All Might = Iruka, Aizawa =  Kakashi, etc...) but for the sake of argument let’s focus solely on Midoriya/Bakugo. Personally, I tend to prefer MHA to Naruto overall, as I just like the characters better and as such I like Bakugo a lot more than Sasuke. Horikoshi has taken more time to humanize Bakugo, and while he started off being a total dick, he’s also a dumb fuck teenage boy and he’s had a lot of character growth over the last 29 volumes. 
In the Naruto fandom, much like in the MHA fandom, there were loads of fans who shipped Naruto and Sasuke romantically. If we are judging the probability of Midoriya and Bakugo becoming a cannon couple, it stands to reason that we can examine the author’s influences and infer that, no, they probably won’t. For one thing, homosexuality is still considered a controversial topic in Japan like in America, and even if the author wanted to make it romantic he would probably receive a good amount of push-back from publishers. 
Now I don’t want you to read this and think that I am at all against it. I’m not. And forever ago when I was reading Naruto I occasionally wondered what would happen if an author published a Shounen manga, got millions invested, and then SURPRISE it was a M/M romance all along. I think it would be fun but I can’t say that I am realistically convinced that it will happen. But that isn’t really the point of this post.
My point, is that this fandom, like many others (And this website in general???) needs to learn the difference between actual queer baiting and a ship that just...doesn’t happen? And I’ve seen all the arguments, about how they clearly love each other and how their bond is so deep and how if either of the characters had this kind of relationship with a female character it would ABSOLUTELY be romantic. And I hear your points, but if I may provide a few of my own: 
1. There are many different ways to love in the world and they don’t all have to involve romance and kissing and sex. Do you love your family? Do you have friends that you would die for? These are relationships that people have and their just as valid in fiction as in real life.
2. Yes, if they were opposite genders than it probably would be the central romance of the mange, but that isn’t proof of queer baiting so much as a general failure to accurately represent opposite gender friendships in media. There should be male and female friendships that are just as strong while remaining platonic so this is a failure but not the failure you thing it is.  (If anyone likes Kdramas, Suspicious Partner is an excellent one that has not only a great romantic subplot but also some WONDERFUL platonic M/F friendships and it’s just beautiful) (That being said I also recommend the Taiwanese drama HIStory 3: Trapped for a wonderful M/M romance since if you’re reading this post that’s probably something you’re into) 
I think that a lot of the problems come from the fact that good romantic relationships do build similarly to friendships. You get a lot of bonding moments, the characters getting to know each other better and coming to care for one another and since media tends to focus predominantly on romantic relationships it’s easy to just get into the mindset that like, all bonding moments are leading somewhere. And in a way they are: to friendship. And then sometimes that friendship leads to romance and sometimes it doesn’t but what I’m saying is that the two look very similar. You SHOULD be friends with your romantic partner, and I think that that is why it’s so easy to ship these sort of couples. Especially when they do have an especially deep bond like these two have.
As far as BakuDeku as a couple in general, yeah, I ship it. I’ve read my fair share of fanfiction and if it did happen I would be psyched. I didn’t always like Bakugo (He’s just doing THE MOST at all times) but I grew to love him and if he continues to grow in the direction that he has been I wouldn’t personally have any problems with it. They have an interesting dynamic that incorporates some of my favorite tropes and I think it would be cool if the manga went there. But if they don’t? That’s also fine. 
There have been several ACTUAL examples of queer baiting in media that I can point to such as the Japanese ads for Sherlock (I didn’t necessarily find the show itself to be queerbaiting but the Japanese ads for the new seasons hardcore did) and while I tried hard to defend Supernatural (WAY too much of the fandom shipped actual brothers together for me to believe that they understood the value of any sort of platonic relationship) they kind of blew that out of the water with whatever the fuck happened in that last season. 
I don’t see that happening here and while I know a lot of you are set for your ship to become cannon I just want you to maybe manage your expectations. Because in my experience, when it gets built up this big, if it DOESN’T happen the next thing fans do is start ranting about queer-baiting and insulting the series and the team and I don’t want to see that because it isn’t fair to any of them. I’ve seen it happen in other fandoms and it gets real ugly real fast. 
Alternatively, if anyone has watched the reboot of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power you will know that the creators played their cards super close to their chest, doing their best to properly develop the homosexual relationships they wanted while keeping it subtle enough that they could prevent themselves from being cancelled before the last season aired. Then they went all in and made their homosexual ships cannon in the final season because at that point the whole show was out wtf was going to happen? They’d get cancelled? It was already over. So if you would like a serving of hope to cling to, that is a thing that happened. I just wouldn’t necessarily bet on it. 
That being said, I fully support your right to ship anything you want. And if by some chance it does become cannon? More power to you. I’d be psyched. Horikoshis assistants ship the hell out of it and he clearly doesn’t mind so there is a point in your favor. But if it doesn’t? A lack of romance doesn’t invalidate the depth of their feelings for one another. Platonic love is still love and it’s still a powerful driving force in the story. Their relationship is still compelling even if there isn’t ever a kiss, or a confession. And hey, that’s what fanfiction is for. 
Remember kids: Please ship responsibly. 
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renegadewangs · 3 years ago
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Van Zieks - the Examination, Part 1
Warnings: SPOILERS for The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles. Additional warning for racist sentiments uttered by fictional characters (and screencaps to show these sentiments).
Disclaimer: These posts are not meant to be taken as fact. Everything I'm outlining stems from my own views and experiences. I am a 30-something European woman, and therefore may not view the matter from certain angles. That said, I'm always open to more input from others. If you believe that I've missed or misinterpreted something, please let me know so I can edit the post accordingly. If we can make this a team effort, I would love that.
The purpose of these posts is an analysis, nothing more. Please do not come into these posts expecting me to either defend Barok van Zieks from haters, nor expecting me to encourage the hatred. I am of the firm belief that characters are no more than a tool created to serve a narrative purpose, therefore the question I'm posing is whether or not Barok van Zieks serves this purpose. That's all I'm doing here.
I'm using the Western release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for these posts, but may refer to the original Japanese dialogue of Dai Gyakuten Saiban if needed to compare what's said. This also means I’m using the localized names and localized romanization of the names to stay consistent.
It doesn't matter one bit to me whether you like Barok van Zieks or dislike him. He's not real anyway, so he can't suffer from it. However, I will ask that everyone who comments refrains from attacking real, actual people. If you know you're morally in the right, there should be no need for insults to begin with. Let's keep this conversation civil and constructive! As the first post in a series, let’s first start by examining the expectations we would have for a character like this. The purpose he was meant to serve.
1: Expectations
As I said in a different Barok-related essay, the main prosecutor of any Ace Attorney game has been, and always will be, an antagonistic force. Not a villain, not even necessarily someone who exhibits immoral traits. (Hi Klavier!) Just someone who impedes the protag’s goal of getting a not-guilty verdict. In order to have an effective antagonist, they need to mirror the protag's weaknesses back at them. Ace Attorney does this quite well, as the prosecutors represent the obstacle/turmoil that the defense needs to overcome. Often times, the prosecutor is also tied to a pivotal moment in the attorney's past, making sure the strife is quite personal.
Considering the game's plot and settings, it would've been difficult for Barok to be tied to Ryunosuke's past. (He is tied to Asogi's past, funnily enough, but that's a matter I also addressed in that other Barok essay.) So instead, Barok represents Ryunosuke's struggle in more of a figurehead capacity. I've seen people dub him the 'CEO of Racism', and I'm not gonna lie, in a way that's correct. Barok was designed to be the mouthpiece of the harmful sentiments Japanese exchange students would have encountered in the 1900s. By extension, since Ryunosuke is an exchange student unfamiliar with the British courts (or even courts in general), the prosecutor would target the fact that Ryunosuke 'does not understand how things are done here'. Which he does- a lot. This makes it all the more satisfying when Ryunosuke proves him wrong by outsmarting him and using Britain's own laws (such as the closing argument) against him. So yes, you may hate Barok for uttering racist sentiments and dismissing Ryunosuke's abilities, but the ultimate goal here is that Barok's defeat is made sweeter as a result. The narrative end-game is Ryunosuke's triumph and validation in the courtroom.
Was there a different personal struggle Barok could have represented? Yes, but also no. Sure, his vendetta could have been strictly with the Asogi family and Ryunosuke could have admitted to carrying Asogi's resolve, not knowing what it meant. Though that would’ve implied very early that Asogi had a history of sorts in Britain and would’ve destroyed some of the surprise we experience in game 2. Alternatively, there was also the 'parallel' antagonist angle. The sort of villain who says the line “we're not so different, you and I.” The antagonist who shows what happens when someone with the same skills or motivations follows the wrong path, which emphasizes the right path for the protagonist. However, I can't see that working in the plot of this game.
A purposeful decision was made by the writers to have prejudice be a central theme of the plot. This is the matter that hits the hardest in an emotional sense. Therefore, having Barok be the centerpiece of this prejudice ensures he leaves the biggest narrative impact.
---
However, another long-running aspect of the AA prosecutor is the redemption arc, so let's turn our attention to that!
I'm not going to put too much effort into explaining this, I just want to talk about the requirements of a redemption arc. We all know these types of arcs, a lot of Ace Attorney prosecutors have them. We see them in fiction all over. Noteworthy examples of redemption arcs done well include Zuko from The Last Airbender, Michael from The Good Place... For argument's sake, let's toss Edgeworth in there too. I'm not saying Edgeworth's arc is done well, but at the very least it is accepted by most as something that served its intended purpose. I've never seen anyone question Edgeworth's transformation.
See, what we have here is a bit of a misnomer when it comes to what people expect to get out of these types of arcs. Redemption in itself is only 'deliverance from sin' or 'being saved from evil'. It's the thought that a horrible person can still see the error of their ways before it's 'too late'. However, when it comes to absorbing media, often a character gaining knowledge that they were in the wrong isn't enough to satisfy the audience. Would Edgeworth have had a satisfying redemption arc if he'd acknowledged his arrogance and dirty tactics, only to retire as a prosecutor? No way. We needed him to return in the following games to give us an update on his status. Standing in court as a defense attorney, at the risk of damaging his reputation, was the moment we knew he'd grown for the better.
What we require for the arc to come to a good conclusion is atonement. The character in question must not only apologize for their actions, but repent in a more active manner to show that they've changed their ways. Following that, the atonement must be acknowledged by others. So for example, Zuko joins the ATLA gang to help them in any way that he can until even the most skeptical of the group, Katara, acknowledges his transformation into a better person. Now add to this the notion that the character's atonement must be virtuous and sincere. The Good Place is a fascinating look into the debate of 'is it ever too late for a person to change?' and the moral complications of changing in the first place. If you're only doing good things because you want to be saved from damnation, are you being a good person or are you being selfish? There's such a thing as corrupt motivation; only doing good because it is expected. For example, does sponsoring a library make Magnus McGilded a good person? It does not, since he's only doing it to boost his own reputation and have people believe he's selfless.
As a final note, I want to ask: Does a redemption arc require a backstory to justify the character's immoral ways? Personally, I don't think that it does. It's good to have, since it allows an audience to empathize with the character and give them more of a reason to root for them. It turns the redemption arc into a tale about overcoming past trauma. However, it can backfire when done badly and lead to frustration. (I'm looking at you, live action Disney movies!) Some characters are evil just for the sake of being evil and even then, they can turn over a new leaf because they realize it is just so much more rewarding to be good. Just look at Michael from The Good Place.
What's more effective than a backstory, in my opinion, is smaller details to humanize a character. Humanization can also lead to empathy, perhaps even relatability, and helps us believe that they're capable of change. We need to be told that a character has their own fears, their own flaws, their own odd little habits which deviate from the norm... Again, I'll point to Michael from The Good Place for this. Another humanization tactic, which we see employed often in Ace Attorney, is to display a prosecutor's likes and hobbies outside the courtroom. Edgeworth's fanboying over the Steel Samurai, Blackquill's love for birds, Nahyuta's willingness to stand in line for hours to get his hands on a delicious burger... I've feel ya, Nahyuta. This tactic is more readily employed in Ace Attorney because it's difficult to place a prosecutor in a position of weakness before the final showdown. You can show them tending to hobbies during Investigation segments, but you can't show them waking up from a nightmare or wondering whether their father loves them. Well, not until case 5 of that game, anyway. By then, it's too late to serve as the sole humanization factor. Did Van Zieks need to be redeemed at all? The way I see it, the only correct answer is yes. What do we want to see in our world? Do we want people who hold racist prejudice to acknowledge their faults and become better, or do we want them to die clinging to their shitty moral compass? Do we want a world where everyone learns to get along, or do we want a world where people continue to be in the wrong and act like assholes until they inevitably get punished by law for something or another? Van Zieks needed to be redeemed in order to teach that valuable lesson that it’s never too late to be a good person and that it pays to be a good person.
So to summarize, what we needed from Barok van Zieks was the following:
1) Present an antagonistic (possibly immoral) force who personifies Ryunosuke's biggest personal obstacle/weakness, in this case racial prejudice. 2) Humanizing traits begin to show. OPTIONAL: A backstory to justify any immorality he has. 3) Over time, Barok has his realization and sees the error of his ways. 4) Barok atones for his immorality, not simply through apology but by taking decisive steps. 5) The cast around him acknowledges his efforts and forgives him.
This leaves us with the question: Does the game deliver on these points? Well, let's boot it up and find out! Stay tuned for The Adventure of the Runaway Room! (as a warning, it’s gonna be LONG)
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ribcage-rodents · 2 years ago
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Ok so like I saw this prompt post on Pinterest and I didn’t really think anything of it until I was driving home listening to 70s music and thought, “huh I love 70s himbos and bimbos.”
Anyway so the prompt is about a bunch of little ghost kids that died in different ways helping the others figure it out. So what about teenager-young adult ghosts from different time periods all have some connection to this area a 2020 time period person is living in.
Together they work past the trauma of their lives and the strange new world. Maybe they have to figure out their deaths idk yet.
But I’m thinking around four ghosts and the one living person.
Maybe someone from the Victorian era. Like super uptight, naturally awful in terms of sexism and racism and shit. Is probably a victor Frankenstein Stan and refuses to believe a women wrote the book. He grows into a less awful person through out the story. Was super into romanticism, maybe a poet or an artist or he’s a film buff bc film was like just invented.
Or like a cowboy man, super chill. Likes his clothes a lot, he’s very attached to them. Maybe he like always helps the 2020 person w fashion but he’s always like “I darn do reckon a trusty ole hat always do pull an outfit together”. He’s probably believes like all stereotypes, doesn’t think gay people are real, “I mean when you are out in the west w no women you find companion-ship.” Maybe lived through polio. Had a co-dependent attachment style to his horse.
A man from the 30s to 40s. Probably died in the war. Had a family he adored, maybe was Italian and faced discrimination. Maybe was engaged to a girl he loved, some spitfire as he would probably call her. Would be a v romanticized version of old relationships, like she wasn’t an accessory she was an actual person to him y’a know. Actually spoke out against Japanese internment camps or alternatively he learns about them in 2020 and denies it until being rlly sad and losing faith in the us and questioning why he ever fought in a war, then coming around and fining pride and purpose.
Girl from the fifties. Is super misogynistic at first believes a women should be at home cooking, cleaning, and caring after children but becomes like a feminist warrior. Who still loves caring for children, cooking, and cleaning for her husband but now realizes women can be more and should be treated as such. Terrified of communists, maybe her family was falsely accused of being commies and they lost everything idk.
Either a himbo or a bimbo from the 70s. Like some true stoner idiot. Loves music. Protested against the Vietnam war and for civil rights. Had an intelligent best friend who kept them safe, was probably very homoerotic and literally cannot function w out them half the time despite being a ghost. Was maybe serial killered bc it was the 70s. Or maybe drafted idk.
I’m thinking either like a greasy Billy loomis vibes guy from the 90s. Or like a girl boss from y2k. Idk yet, they might be too current to be like rlly fun y’a know.
Also either ghosts no one else sees or they have been reanimated so they have to live in real life and when people are like your roommates are weird, the 2020 person is like “I’m aware.” Things like cowboy getting into fist fights in a bar for some stupid reason and Victorian having to begrudgingly save them. Dotty (from the 50s) and 70s having an impromptu rally for the rights of people with uteruses. All of them comforting the guy from the 30/40s when he struggles with ptsd, or them all having to deal w him stockpiling all their food for when the economy crashes again. Maybe not even a person form the 2020a maybe they all just have to deal but I kinda like the 2020s person so idk. The person from the 70s gay panicking over an attractive person then having a full meltdown bc they feel so guilty for betraying their best friend, maybe going on a quest to find their grave sight and be reunited almost risking all their friends and having to choose them instead. 70s listening to dad music on a turntable way too loud way too late at night and smoking both cigarettes and weed way too much. 30s, 50s, and 70s all sharing cigarettes and having big movies nights were Victorian era is like rants on about beautiful films and it’s like Paul blart or something.
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skampi835 · 3 years ago
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Peevish Herbs and Sassy Medicine (Ieyasu x OC)
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This is a chapter from one of my bigger fanfictions, I’m writing. But I’m too shy to post the whole thing anywhere... (because I’m doubting myself and my english too much)
But I’m quite pleased with this oneshot (so I corrected and re-readed it multible times)! Have fun while reading! I hope you’ll enjoy.
The scene takes place one day after arriving in Azuchi so it’s not the first encounter with Ieyasu, but their first... well... kind of conversation?
Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku
Language: english
Starring: Ieyasu x OC
Genre: Comedy
Warning: none
Word Count: 2.900
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“Hey there, Ina! Masamune invited me to a stroll into town. I’m sure you’re not in the mood since your face is still puffy and all. So I understand when you don’t want to. I just leave you a note, so you know he’s looking out for me. cya!”
  Oh well... it’s all right... I guess. Have a nice time, Rei -- WithOUT me!
Exasperated Ina’s sitting by the table in their room. Narrowing her grey blue eyes, she’s analyzing over the letter again, and yes, she's actually analyzing every single word. The female also would have loved to go strolling into town. Because she felt asleep during the ride back to the castle, she hasn't yet seen anything from it. Adventuring with her dear friend - and crony from the future - Rei, would have been so much fun, besides the puffy face Ina had because of mister spooky guy!
Stealing my friend on the first day, huh? Sneaky Masamune...
Absently Ina’s reaching for the sweets Masamune had brought over before he'd so casually took up her friend. Munching over them the sweet taste of the incrediences spreads over her tounge and she couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty for her thoughts, while she's dreamily enjoying the treats. They are sooo delicious! Ina has never expected that! Didn't Masamune mentioned, he has made them himself? How amazing!
“I’m not in the mood anyway.” Ina says somewhat confident to herself, while eating the sweets happily. But what is she supposed to do after? Hideyoshi had sent her away before, to handle Ranmaru and like he said she wasn’t given free access to the castle or it’s staff. Heavily Ina sighs after finishing the last mochi.
Her vision’s crossing Rei’s letter again.
You know what? What Hideyoshi doesn’t know won’t hurt him!
  _____
Armed with a wipe and a bucket filled with water, Ina’s entering the archives. Her eyes are scanning her surroundings in which the massive shelves flank the room. Particles of dust are lightly dancing in the rays of shining sunlight from the small window above her, like illuminating sparks. Lanterns are shimmering luminously the walls, uncovering heavy, valuable looking tapestries. Great shelves are arching under the sheer weight of the books, scrolls and other stuff that they store. The smell of parchment and ink fills the the dusty air.
Ina’s truly impressed about the enourmus mass the archive is holding. She hasn’t expected seeing something like this in this time, when books and great knowledge should be merely rare.
“Hello?” Ina waits and listens after raising her voice. She wants to be sure, that there’s nobody else here, particulaly Hideyoshi, who would’ve bickered with her, why she’s even in there. The perfect silence remains at first, when she catches on a brief clink and a brushing tone.
Looking around, Ina quickly finds the source of the sound, when she’s seeing a little bird over the window. It disappears under the ceiling, before returning and it finally flies away.
Phew, just a birdnest in the ceiling, I guess.
Closing the door behind, Ina’s passing the shelves. Her eyes are flying over the spines of the books and scroll, astonished and visibly impressed. Originally planned she would have use the wipe to dust the inside, but Ina is way too stunned about the fullness of the archives. Though she has trouble in reading them, the female is concentrating on the written characters.
Honestly Ina curses herself, for not being more intent, when she learned kanji for her trip to Japan. And now she can’t barely read anything at all, because the letters are looking not just foreign, but alien.
The bookshelves are rowing the walls and even outlining in the middle, separating the room into three small sections. It’s not nearly enough to call it a library, like Ina’s uses to know from her own time, but it definitely amazes her.
She’s stopping at a table, which she brushes the dust off with the wipe. Placing the bucket at the corner, Ina turns to dust the nearest shelf as well, though the oddly sensation of the knowledge the archives are holding, is attracting her like magic and get the better of her.
Abandoning her good intentions of cleaning, Ina’s facing the nearest shelf. Some of the scrolls look pretty old, though most of the books don’t. Curiously Ina leans nearer so she could read the headlines on the spines, though she has huge problems deciphering them.
... You know what? When I’m about to spent my upcoming three months here, I could at least do something useful and learn something new. Didn’t Nobunaga say I could just spend my time in Azuchi, doing girly stuff??
Not sure if reading is that kind of girly stuff, Nobunaga was talking about, Ina's concentrating on reading the characters. She truly holds a big interest in the use of medicine in these time period. Even in her present day, the european medicine often implies alternative Chinese medicine as a support. What’s the difference between Japanese and Chinese medicine and their herbs, she wonders?
She just has to find the right section where she can find those books and then... well, maybe Rei will help her read them! So Ina hopes... Nonetheless Ina's determining sure in becoming better with reading, when she’ll try.
Looking over her shoulder to make sure she’s still alone, Ina’s taking a deep breath. With narrow eyes Ina reads slowly and aloud: “’Mental Honor’... ‘Fall of Hogan-Ji’,... ‘The Art of War’... - oh wait, I think I actually know this book!”
“Would you mind, being quiet?”
The sullen hiss that suddenly sounds from not that afar startles Ina nearly to death. An anxious meep slips through her lips while giving a jerk. Rapidly blinking Ina’s listening to the remaining silence bewildered. “Eh... Hello?” Unsure she asks. Ina was certain, that she had been alone! Yet someone noticed her poor reading!
Silence...
And a quiet grunt.
Slowly Ina reaches about two books before her and shoves them gently to the side. A peevish Ieyasu’s frowning annoyingly at her from the other side of the bookshelf.
Embarrassed, Ina is sheepishly gazing back at him. “What are you doing here?”
“What does it look like? Reading in silence.” was his curt answer.
“And why didn’t you just answer when I've entered? You have really startled me.” Shame’s  uncomfortably heating her head and Ina truly feels like an idiot. Though Ieyasu doesn’t seem to notice, while he's gazing tiredly back at her through the hole in the shelf. “I didn’t thought you’re actually going to stay.”
What kind of reason is that?
When Ina met Ieyasu the first time, she felt more like encountering a spikey raid boss with venom abilities:
Yesterday
Curiously Ina’s watching the other man, with bright, tousled hair. He’s smaller than Mitsunari and Mitsuhide. Though to be honest, being taller than Mitsuhide would be quite the challenge! Yet Ieyasu nearly seem to be petite, just looking at her with sharp green eyes.
Since Ina's the foreign here, she’s feeling the urge in doing the first step. It couldn’t hurt to be on good terms with the guys here, even if at least one of them is a shady tease. “Hello, my Name’s Ina. Nice to meet you.”
Ieyasu's inclining his head, slightly narrowing his eyes skeptically. “You don’t look as I imagined.” He says and leaves Ina quite puzzled. “Pardon, but what do you mean?”
“You look terribly pitiful.” Ieyasu bluntly retorts. Wow... that one quickly turns out to be a salty one... They've hardly talked, yet Ina got the feeling he doesn’t like her.
“How intent of you, Lord Ieyasu.” Mitsunari beams with a stunningly gentle smile and nods towards Ieyasu. “Lady Ina sure needs some rest after that long horse ride and the harsh night she’d just had. I guess a bath will also help her to ease.”
Ina always felt at calm, when she looks at Mitsunari’s calm and angelic smile since arriving in this era. Mitsunari’s by far the nicest person she’s ever met, even in her own time! But in this moment Mitsunari’s tender words and soft smile doesn’t seem to convince Ina. Glancing haltingly back at Ieyasu, as he grumpily rolls his eyes with a snort, confirms Ina in her assumption. Ieyasu wasn’t intent at all... He just was rude!
“Whatever.” Ieyasu says with an annoyingly heavy sigh and is glancing back at Ina. “You don’t need medical treatment, do you?” he asks.
After blinking confused about his sudden offer, Ina shakes her head. “No, thank you. I’m fine, just a little bit tired.”
“Good.” Ieyasu nods and is walking away without another word. Ina carefully follows his steps with her grey blue eyes.
“Lord Ieyasu is also a vessal of Lord Nobunaga. And I can quite tell that he likes you.” Mitsunari’s smiling warmly at Ina, while she peers at him doubtfully. “Uhm sure... If you say so.” Ina surely wasn’t sure though.
Still looking at Ieyasu, Ina’s wondering if he has another of his bad moods. By the looks of him, he’s not in a good mood by any means. “Will you stop staring at me?” Ieyasu brusque retorts and pulls Ina out of her thoughts. “It’s hard to concentrate.”
“Ahm I-... Sorry Ieyasu.” Ina quickly says and is bashfully tousling her hair. “I... was looking for a book earlier to read.”
“That stammering didn’t sound like you could read at all.”
Ina’s opening her mouth in attempt to defend herself. But she couldn't tell him, that she’s used to read in another language with different alphabetic characters! Nonetheless she is able to read at all!
Okay Ina, be nice to him. Maybe he’ll understand.
“I-- err... am not used to it. Reading I mean. But I like to study.”
“Are you an idiot?” Ieyasu scoffs monotonously. “How can you study if you’re not able to read?”
Ina’s face darkens a tiny bit, gritting her teeth. Because of Sasuke she can’t tell him the truth and it might be better that way. So she’s avoiding strange questions or worse the dungeons, because when she's not declaired crazy she might would be claimed a spy. With a silent sigh Ina’s rounding the shelf to face Ieyasu. He’s sitting by an table with a pile of books. Next to him a brush, ink stone and blank papers. “Even if I’m not a good reader, I’m willing to lean it. I just like to learn.”
Not having the barrier of a shelf between them any longer, Ieyasu’s dropping his gaze to his books. “Then do it muted and elsewhere. You’re interrupting my studies.”
Puzzled Ina’s blinking a few times, while Ieyasu does his best to intent she’s not even here anymore. “Excuse me. I guess I’m confused. I thought you warlords don’t study anything else then strategy or warfare.”
Ieyasu’s peering coldly at her. The unspoken question ‘Are you an idiot?’ clear written in his annoyed face. A sudden rush of embarrassment is rushing Ina's face again, because of her own flawing logic. The sudden time travel thing might was really too much for her. Apologetically Ina raises her hands. “I am sorry. I spoke out of mind.”
“Stop chitchatting. It’s one-sided.” Ieyasu snarls, still piercing Ina with his sharp green eyes, and is sending an enormous wave of aversion towards her, before continuing writing with a brush.
... be nice to him, Ina. He doesn’t understand. But how could he possibly understand?
Ina can’t blame him. Her attitude must be awkward for him. She should be a normal girl from a village that’s not pointed on any map. Without Rei she feels so lonely and lost in this role though. For Rei it's easier pretending to be someone else. She's fitting for acting. Meanwhile Ina’s feeling like stumbling from one puddle to another.
With the attempt of apologizing, Ina’s bowing her head, when she caught sight of an open book on the table. She knows the drawing from her earlier times, when she was in nursing school. It was short theme back then. It shows with dots the spots of particular nerves which could be stimulate to relieve pain. “Oh, is this... about medical practices?”
Ieyasu almost leans back overly hurried, when Ina’s leaning eagerly forth to get a closer look of the page. Knitting his brows, he snorts “And if it is?”
“I--...” Ina’s quick thinking of a way to explain it to him that wouldn’t sound too awkward. For she can’t tell him, that she’s a nurse either. Propably he wouldn’t even know what a nurse is. Sheepishly she smiles: “Sometimes I helped the medics in my hometown.”
Pointing on the drawing with the nerve between thumb and index finger, Ina continues: “When you stimulate this nerve with pressure or a needle, you effectuate some linking to heal headache. But mostly headache comes off when you drink too less. Also you might try to bind fresh peppermint in a wet towel and place it your nape, because of the--”
Before Ina finishes her word, she’s stopping, facing the blankly looking Ieyasu. He even looks a little surprised in the flicker of the lanterns. “You know... western techniques?” He’s asking perplexing sincere.
Ina knows, that she’d spoken too much, that is why, she’s awkwardly tousling her hair again: “Ah I- no. Not really I just know a little about bit. You know my village lays really behind of the mountains.”
Ieyasu’s staring at Ina with puckered brows. Though after a while, he scoffs and draws his book from her. “I thought so.”
Slightly frustrated Ina’s clenching her hands under the table. Ieyasu had called her pitiful before. And a waif at the council. But it would be way too suspicious, if she would offer him to explain some medicine practices she knows from her time. Medicine no one in this time would ever believe will exist someday! For a short moment Ina has thought, that might be a thing they could share. That Ieyasu might be a little nicer to her, if she’ll show her interest. Still Ina’s determined to learn something about the traditional eastern medicine. “Hey? Maybe you could teach me a little, Ieyasu?” Ina’s asking with a consolidative smile.
Raising his head, Ieyasu’s staring at Ina intensly: “No.” and declines quickly.
Shot down in an instand. Encounter Boss is reaching the enrage timer!
“I understand.” Ina slowly nods. “You have important things to do and I’m robbing your spare time you have, huh?”
Ieyasu doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t even have to. According to Rei, he’s the one who will unify Japan. Technically speaking he’ll finish, where Nobunaga and Hideyoshi failed. But in this time as well? Even when Nobunaga's still alive? Again Ina fears for the trouble she and Rei have already caused in messing with the time. “I’m sorry for disturbing you. I’ll leave you to your studies then. Though do you mind helping me to find a book about local herbs? I guess that’ll be a good start for me.”
Ieyasu, understandable deeply annoyed in the meantime, is frowning at Ina. “No. Go find it on your own.”
Knitting her brows Ina’s looking questioning at Ieyasu. Peevishly he's mirroring her.
... You are just rude again! You know what? I don’t need to play nice, when you’re not even trying!
“Fine.” Ina’s saying provocatively loud, while standing up. “I shall go and find my them on my own then.” Sassily she’s emphasising every syllable and faces the books in the shelf next to her. With ostentation she’s pointing a finger on the spines of the books and reads loudly with her utterly bad reading skills: “‘Forged in Iron’..., ‘Forming Armor’,... ‘Art of Forging’... Huh, I might be in the wrong section here.”
“... Stop.”
Ieyasu jumps onto his heels, grumpily snorting as he passes Ina. He walkes determined right to a shelf on the wall and is directly dragging three books out of it. He spins around and is pressing them into Ina’s arms. Dumbfounded she’s catching them. “Thank-...”
“Sod off!”
With his hand on her back Ieyasu’s pushing Ina through the archives and shoves her out. Ina nearly stumbles over her feet into the hallways, the books bedded against her chest. She turns to face Ieyasu, but he has already closed the doors.
I got kicked out...! Well... I guess I deserve this. At least now Ieyasu has a reason for hating me.
Ina sighs in frustration, glancing down to the books she’s still holding in her arms.
‘Plants and Herbs’, ‘Medical Plants’, ‘Poisons and Antidotes’.
Ina’s nibbling her lip, when she silently reads the headlines of the books Ieyasu has shoved towards her. Well at least he did help her. After she has practically annoyed him into exhaustion, that is.
I’ve never felt so guilty in my life before...
A part of Ina thinks that it was okay, because Ieyasu owes her one for his utterly grumpy attitude towards her. An eye for an eye. But another part of her hopes that she could make it up to him soon. She doesn’t want to be on bad terms with anyone here.
Bedding the books against her chest again, Ina’s walking back the hallways to her room. From the open veranda she’s glancing over the gardens, whereas the sun sinks, immersing the sky brightly in orange and red colors.
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stillness-in-green · 3 years ago
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Thoughts on Chapter 314 (and surrounding events)
Being a loose summary of several things I thought about in relation to the leaks, what they say about the series as a whole, a bit of new operating headcanon on the Peerless Thief, and a dash of how fandom is responding to the revelations. Spoilers, obviously.
This chapter makes it quite clear that the HPSC absolutely would have gone in and eliminated the PLF quietly, lethally, and wholly unlawfully if Hawks hadn't reported back the numbers that he did. The only reason the raid involved non-Commission-affiliated heroes at all is because the PLF's manpower was simply too much for the Commission to deal with via their usual methods. I'm both appalled that the disregard for human rights in HeroAca Land is somehow even worse than I thought it was and smug that that tiny little piece I recently posted criticizing the PLF's treatment has turned out to be totally justified and supported by the canon.[1] (Note that this does not absolve Horikoshi of the responsibility to, himself, treat the PLF better than paper dolls tossed into the incinerator of Plot Irrelevance when they cease being convenient to his story.) The fact that the Commission was forced to involve heroes might mean Re-Destro, Mr. Compress and the others are somewhat safer than might otherwise be the case. Because of the involvement of the unsuspecting stooges law-abiding heroes, and because the botched raid became such a huge disaster, there’s far more public scrutiny on this than would otherwise be the case. Of course, "accidents" can still happen,[2] especially in a chaotic environment, but the factors above (combined with Clone!RD murdering the bejeezus out of the Lady Prez) do, I think, suggest that there probably isn't an organized push for quick solutions going on behind closed doors.
I don't think Nagant has been around for a terribly long time or that there was an uptick in vigilantism in recent years—I think the scene where she mentions vigilantes becoming accepted as heroes is just in reference to the early history of heroism. It's in keeping with what Tsukauchi Makoto described in Vigilantes, and forms the basis of the current system—the current system that Nagant was a single cog in a big machine grinding away to preserve.
Speaking of Nagant and the system, it's interesting to me that one of the groups Nagant apparently targeted at the HPSC's behest was corrupt heroes—those who colluded with villains or specifically goaded/incited civilians into using their quirks illegally, thus turning civilians into capital-V Villains in the eyes of the law. One might easily say that targeting corrupt heroes (albeit using a much broader definition of "corrupt") was Stain's whole shtick, but it actually puts me more in mind of the Peerless Thief, Harima Oji. Harima punished greedy or corrupt heroes with theft, and presumably with a measure of declaration and exposure,[3] then distributed their money back to the streets. Someone who ridicules those who abuse their power, and gets away with it for long enough to build a reputation: that right there is a recipe for a folk hero. The HPSC, in whatever form they existed at the time, obviously couldn't let that go on—such repeated humiliations would weaken peoples’ faith in (and obedience to) the system the HPSC was trying to build. At the same time, though, it would also weaken faith in the system to openly acknowledge that system's flaws, to acknowledge that some pretty awful people had found their way into the heroics business specifically for the power and ability to abuse it that the title of Hero afforded them. Public trials would make it a matter of record that some heroes—and, accordingly, heroes at large—did not deserve the public's unquestioning faith. Obviously in a system that was built from the ground up on faith, that was unacceptable. And so Harima was branded a supervillain for exposing the system's flaws, while the corrupt heroes who embodied those flaws to begin with were—and continue to be—quietly disposed of at the HPSC’s discretion.
There's a lot of talk around about how Lady Nagant is stupid, or hypocritical, or delusional, or whatever other dismissive adjective people want to use, because she expresses a preference for AFO's rule over the HPSC's. Firstly, I think it's dubious Lit Crit to fault a character for not being a Paragon of Rationality, especially when they're under the cascading stressors Nagant has been under since she was, what, 13? 14? Forced to live this dichotomy of smiling gallant hero and ruthless covert assassin, had her life threatened by the man who'd taken her in,[4] probably dumped in Tartarus until such time as her trial could be held,[5] and kept in those ghastly, dehumanizing conditions for who knows how long? How shocking, that her objectivity might be somewhat compromised! Secondly, it's not like she's saying that AFO's rule would be a sunny walk in the park. The kanji she uses doesn't even mean "better"; while it can mean serene or tranquil, her more likely meaning is clear/transparent. Her phrasing indicates that she's aware it would be pretty bad; she's simply of the opinion that at least his rule wouldn't be a sham, a pretty lie. It would be bad, but everyone would know it. No one would have these comforting illusions they could lose at any time; if you stepped out of line and got shot in the head by an assassin, well, at least you would probably know you that being defiant was running that risk, rather than never seeing it coming because you'd been told all your life that Heroes Didn't Do That To People. Again, this is a woman whose life was shattered no less than three times by the duplicity of the highest acting authority in this comic.[6] She doesn't have to be Objectively Correct By The Standards Of Ethical Utilitarianism—nor do you have to agree with her choice that because she doesn’t want to live in the Matrix, no one else should get to either—for her opinion to make sense from her own perspective! Thirdly, while I think it's fair to say that the HPSC and AFO actually use fairly similar methods to recruit followers and punish dissenters, we have no idea how much Nagant herself knows about AFO's recruitment tactics other than her own brief experience of it. And while AFO is a controlling and manipulative bastard, at least in his case it's coming from a man who openly styles himself as a Demon King, not an organization positioning itself as lawful regulators of the protectors of society at large while secretly training child soldiers to flagrantly violate every law protecting the human rights and due process of that society's people.
Overhaul's presence is delightful, and yes, he is a victim of Hero Society, if only because Hero Society could have put him in some kind of prison-based rehab facility after Shigaraki was through with him, but chose to dispose of him in Tartarus instead, for absolutely no justifiable cause. I suspect it's only due to Horikoshi not being very interested in the harsh realities of the trauma caused by enforced isolation[7] that Overhaul is the only Tartarus escapee that talks to himself and has dissociated from reality almost completely. Overhaul's maiming was not the fault of Hero Society, nor did Hero Society force him to torture Eri and repeatedly commit cold-blooded murder. But his madness? Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable laying that one at Hero Society's feet, actually. I can’t wait for Deku to have to face the victim that Chisaki Kai has become due to levels of systemic cruelty and negligence that really ought to be criminal—and which, if this were real life, would be.
--------Lately, footnotes are really popular with us!--------
[1] Lady Nagant: *talks about how the Hero Society everyone believes in is illusory, a thin fake over a brutal reality, and that returning to the false simplicity of that status quo will only cause history to repeat itself* Me, two weeks ago: Hero Society will never stop creating its own villains so long as, every time it fails people, it does nothing but shrug and write off the victims as unavoidable, inevitable sacrifices for the greater good.
[2] Yes, I'm still highly suspicious of the "Destro committed suicide in prison" claim.
[3] Compress tells us Harima “preached reformation,” but regardless, you don’t dress up in a modified kabuki costume and waltz midair through nighttime cityscapes raining cash out of the sky if you’re trying to keep your activities a secret.
[4] And her family situation couldn't have been much better than Hawks', if she was targeted by the HPSC to begin with. I would guess she was an orphan in the childcare system, easy to move from whatever alternative care arrangement she was in, be it an orphanage, a group home, or simply mature enough despite her relative youth that she lived alone on government support payments—that kind of thing isn't as unbelievable in Japan as it is in the U.S.—to the HPSC's care.
[5] And given what we learned between this chapter and 297, I doubt she was even allowed to be present for it. Japanese law states that everyone by default is supposed to be present for their own trial, but as in the U.S, that right can be waived if the defendant proves themselves to be a threat to the safety of the judge, court staff and other attendees. And of course, what a threat the HPSC could have painted her as being!
[6] At least until Hori deigns to show us a damn Diet session.
[7] To say nothing of the physical consequences of spending six months stuck in a tiny room with no natural light while frequently being strapped into a straitjacket, of which there should also be several.
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languagebraindump · 4 years ago
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Modality in languages 
What’s up with that? I mean, sounds too fancy, right? Well, modality allows us to express the 'possibility' of a past, present, or future situation. It helps us convey our desires, the likelihood of a situation, and that something is permissible. In some languages, it is well-developed and standardized (like in English) or like in Polish or Japanese, not so much. 
Another definition that will help us understand things better is ‘displacement.’
In linguistics, displacement is the capability of language to communicate about things that are not immediately present (spatially or temporally). (Wikipedia)
Animals communicate things that are only happening now; in front of their eyes. Human beings can go further than that. We can talk about the past, future, present, alternative past situations, imaginary/unreal situations, etc. 
Modality is a sign of displacement. It helps us express extra information about a verb, for example, whether the verb is possible to happen, how sure I am about the verb to happen, whether it’s a good idea or maybe it is just my guess. AMAZING feature. 
Whenever I ask my students: "What does it mean that a verb is modal?" No one knows. They just learn 1:1 translations. I know, it’s easier that way, and not everyone wants to be a proficient user of a foreign language. But I really believe that adopting that bottom-up approach in learning is so much better and efficient. Let’s start small, let’s define the core meaning first, let’s build a solid foundation on which we can build up our knowledge. 
Modality in English
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I’m sharing this with you. It’s from Grammarway 4. Amazing book. It briefly summarizes the CONCEPT of each modal verb.
My biggest issue is that none of that corresponds to the Japanese modality. You just can’t find pairs that would be like must = [Japanese phrase #1]; should = [Japanese phrase #2].  
I'm Polish, and learning English modal verbs was a pain in the ass! (It still is sometimes) Why? Because rather than using one modal verb, let’s say should, to express certain concepts, we use multiple phrases (in Polish). There is a 1:1 translation tho (for should), but depending on the CONTEXT, the SPEAKER, the NUANCE, we can resort to something completely different, a phrase that is 5-words long but conveys the same meaning as should. Why do such a thing? Maybe, I didn’t want to sound super harsh, like a preacher; maybe, I wanted to signal something without coming across as bossy. Lots of reasons. 
I’m studying Japanese in English, and that creates lots of problems sometimes. Polish is similar to Japanese in way more aspects than English. (For example, both belong to high/middle context cultures, which are apparent in language). Unfortunately, there aren’t enough Polish resources to study Japanese. Modality is one of those problems. 
What helped me a lot with learning about modality was: 
reading the situation; analyzing the context;
modal verbs = concepts; 
a modal verb in English = too many phrases in Japanese; 
the choice of a phrase in Japanese is dictated by the speaker's current attitude to a situation. 
Fancy quote #1 
In Japanese linguistics, ‘modality’ is typically defined as the category of linguistic expressions that serve to express the speaker's current attitude to a proposition (Nakau: 1979)
Fancy quote #2
Modality has to do with necessity and possibility. (Kratzer 1981:39)
Fancy quote #3 
The interpretation of natural language sentences is investigated against the backdrop of a set of possible worlds representing any conceivable state of affairs, one of them the actual world.(Kaufmann & Tamura: 2017)
[there are two worlds the current one, and the one that is expressed through modal verbs] 
Four types of modality 
epistemic modality (i.e., expressions that relate to displacement according to what is known or believed, conjectures, guesses) 
epistemic: relating to knowledge or the study of knowledge (Macmillan dictionary)
prioritizing modality (i.e., expressions that characterize what is permitted, required, or desired) 
dynamic modality (relating to what courses of events are compatible with a particular body of facts/ circumstances and/or a subject’s abilities, describing abilities). 
denotic modality (i.e., modal expressions relating to permissions, requirements, and wishes; modal expressions that relate to rules, laws, or regulations of some sort) (Kaufmann & Tamura: 2017)
Expressions of epistemic modality 
~だろう, ~はずだ, ~に違いない, and ~かもしれない are conventionally associated with the domain of knowledge and belief.  
だろう・でしょう・はずだ  express the outcome of an inferential process (Hara 2006). (conclusions; speculations; assumptions) 
に違いない (lit. ‘there is no mistake in’, Narrog 2009:89) suggests that what comes before it is entailed. As in: Spending more than you earn, entails financial problems; Being rich entails the risk of being robbed. 
You must be rich =  お金���ちに違いない (what is implied and could be before this phrase is: seeing your huge house, expensive car, and other luxuries ← these entail richness. You must be rich.) 
かもしれない (lit. ‘can’t know whether’) suggests that whatever comes before it is compatible with what is known. Simply put, it means that the information marked by かもしれない can coexist with what we know. We’re preparing a presentation, and we need more ideas. We’re brainstorming some, and I throw in something marked by かもしれない. I did no harm, and my idea can coexist with other ideas (that kind of feeling). 
There’s definitely more phrases. Check out my cool Deidara post for that. I haven’t included all of them tho.
Prioritizing modality 
I like to think about it as a scale (priority scale). 1 = not important, whatever; 10 = you’ll end up in the pits of hell if you do or do not do something. Some things are super important and some are not. Japanese uses conditional(-like) constructions to express that something is permissible or required in view of the relevant rules or goals. 
Among the expressions that relate to rules, regulations, or laws, goals, and wishes, we can distinguish: (I'd place these expressions between 5 and 10. You need to consider who is the speaker as well. If the emperor tells you that something is てもいい well, THE EMPEROR said that, so it’s 10 and don’t you dare to argue with that.) 
~てもいい (It is good even if you [verb.])
~ではいけない  (If/when [verb/phrase], it can’t go.)
~なければならない・いけない  (‘If I [verb/phrase], it doesn’t become.)
(These are 1- 5. BUT! If Madara used one of these, I’d consider it 10 no matter what, lol)
~ほうがいい; the weaker notion that something is recommendable based on practical considerations (without being outrightly necessary) (lit. ‘the direction is good’).
~べきだ; the formal noun べきだ is semantically similar but tends to involve a notion of moral or social appropriateness, which can be absent from ほうがいい. 
~たらいい; giving advice
Extra: forms expressing wishes such as ~たい; ~てほしい; ~つもりです are also included in the prioritizing modality. Definitely weaker than the abovementioned ones. 
Finally, imperatives (verbal ending ~え/~よ/~ろ) and ~なさい, (used with children and for instructions) as well as ~てください (for polite requests; and ”let’s [verb]” forms, also express notions of prioritizing modality. 
Check out my cool Sakura post for more! 
There’s also a dynamic modality! But I’ll leave it for another day! I’ve already composed posts related to prioritizing modality and epistemic modality. I’m yet to look for some examples of dynamic modality. It’s better that way.
Note: I haven’t included any translations here (should; must, might; etc). I want you to think of these phrases in different categories. Ok, so I’m making an assumption. How sure I am about it? Who is my speaker? Are there any evidence for my assumptions? Instead of looking for 1:1 translation, analyze the context!
References:
https://semanticsarchive.net/Archive/jQ3MTA2Z/kaufmann-tamura-japanese-modality.pdf
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soliavenne · 4 years ago
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Ok here we go, ◇ anon here, let’s talk about this mess of a novel (good and bad). Unfortunately I don’t see an option to add the “read more” break in the submission editor - if you find a way feel fee because this will be quite long.
[warning: spoilers of Gaara Hidden from this point on also please read the original post first, this is just a response to the author of this blog]
Link to the post for reference! https://soliavenne.tumblr.com/post/637596997003722752/thoughts-on-gaara-hiden
1. I agree so hard with this one. While I don’t feel like he liked Hakuto in a romantic sense (I mean there was simply no time for that) - it was just heartbreaking that he compares getting an arranged marriage to dying - just the idea that he can’t even have a say in that part of his life is so sad … Then how he becomes hopeful it might be tolerable just because she is not immediately repulsed by him - tragic. 2. yes, just yes. I hate the thought that Kankuro is just like “nah my brother, who until now never showed interest in romantic relationships, should probably be forced to marry a random girl so I don’t have to” and Temari is just ok with it. I mean it’s true that this might be the only real option sometimes, especially when your marriage is a political affair - however, I would at least expect his siblings to get upset that their little brother is made to endure yet another thing because of the elders. I completely agree that it would seem more like Kankuro to consider taking that burden himself. He clearly has already taken on at least some responsibilities for Gaara’s sake (like helping him to support his leadership from the sidelines). Also - maybe it’s because Gaara is a male character - but I have a feeling if he had been a girl the writer might have put more focus on how cruel it is to force someone into a marriage. There was a lot of effort put into making him seem cool and calm in every situation - not so much on his emotional side. Gaara was never emotionless, far from it - he always had some scenes where he acted rather shy/flustered and it’s been shown that, while he is usually protected from physical injuries, the words and actions of others have the capacity to hurt him severely. To me, he feels like the one person you would not want to force in an intimate relationship with a stranger because there is just no way he wouldn’t take it very seriously and try his best no matter how the other person treats him.
3. agree completely. It didn’t feel like the Gaara we saw in the manga and anime up until that point. Although the novel was obviously approved by Kishimoto, I would say there are a lot of people here on tumblr who have a better grasp of Gaara’s character than the author of the novel - keeping in mind that writing a book takes more than fully understanding your main character. The focus was to make him appear cool and always on top of things - not to depict his emotional conflicts and more awkward side. 4. again yes - The point about his mother just feels like a plothole. I also don’t enjoy the thought that Gaara NEEDS a love interest. He has always been written very vaguely about this sort of thing, why not keep it like that? To me it didn’t feel like he was interested in her in that way, he met someone he admired but it really didn’t go anywhere. That space in the book could have been better spent on exploring relationships with existing characters or to add interesting parts about Suna’s culture and politics.
5. and 6. YES Now for the better parts:
1.I like this bit of added background - another part that feels like Suna is a mix of japanese and middle eastern cultures, same with the tea scene.
2. I feel like this line especially is a big reason why people feel like he is asexual or demi. It’s just interesting to see that he can read this type of thing and feel absolutely nothing from it. This supports the idea that he needs a strong emotional connection with people first and foremost. (And it makes him a character to relate to for people who are also on that spectrum. Even if it was never outwardly stated, for me this line hints severely at the fact that he is at least leaning towards the ace-spectrum, yet doesn’t exclude the possibility that he might find a partner one day.)
3. like stated in 1. I like that scene a lot - it’s a cute idea that Gaara would do little charms/rituals here and there because they might help in his daily life. Even he sometimes leans into things that would be superstition for others.
4. I remember telling you that part made me cry - it’s just such an emotional line. 5. This was so cute. I’m a firm believer that the book should have contained more of that and remove at least one of the new characters that ended up being insignificant. 6. For me this fits his character so well. gaara-obsession-blog has been referring to things like that in their analyses quite a bit - It makes sense for Gaara to abstain from things that could take away some of the control he fought for for so many years… 7. Adding to that - I found it interesting that they stated Gaara is very resistant to genjusu because he had to fight for his consciousness with shukaku for so many years. It fits the canon AND it fits his character - definitely one of the bits I appreciate. 8. I knew you would appreciate that line^^ I like the suggestion you made for an alternative plot. Another interesting part for me were the lines of Gaara addressing why he has never had a love interest. He talks about the fact that he believes the girls in the village who admire him, do so more because of the persona they imagine for him - he feels like they don’t truly like him. The line “and because of Temari’s stealthy handiwork in getting rid of unwanted admirers” still makes me think. I wouldn’t think Temari would actually hurt anyone wanting to get to know her brother. The games have a scene where she asks naruto to guard Gaara’s office while she has to leave for a short time. You are basically asked to send everyone away - if I remember correctly this includes people who are disguised as kankuro, a child who wants help with their cat, someone who just wants to see the kazekage in person and - most relevant here - one of the fangirls who wants to get close to gaara. To me, this means that Temari probably did her best to keep all the people away who were fascinated by Gaara because of his reputation - not, that she would actually go after a person who gets too close to him, who has genuine feelings and doesn’t bother Gaara. But this quote definitely made me consider its meaning for quite some time - I mean, if Temari truly wanted to keep someone away from Gaara at all cost - I’m sure it wouldn’t end well for them. I only hope Gaara became better at rejecting people’s requests - otherwise it must have been hell after she left and there was no one to guard his office– I’m sorry this turned out rather long - there is just so much in this book that either bothers me or makes me think if this fits the characters or not. I’m glad to talk about it with someone.◇
---
As expected as always, ◇. You took the words out of my mouth hands down. I also really appreciate the fact that you brought up a trivia from the games (I haven't played them yet AAAA) so it's a whole new interesting information that I wouldn't be able to learn if you didn't mention it! To be honest, the whole "Temari's stealthy work" didn't sit quite well with me at first as well, so I'm really happy that you cleared that up for me! That'd been such a huge help!
You have nothing to apologize for, ◇!  If anything I honestly love receiving your asks/submissions! They're very interesting and I could clearly see the efforts you invest in discussing your points in such a detailed way. You're also able to back it up effectively! It's honestly such a treat to read through. I enjoy them so much.
Thank you soo so much for having me as usual! The feeling is mutual, I'm glad I was able to talk about Gaara Hiden like this with you, ◇. :) <3
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a-tcos · 4 years ago
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Alright it’s time to share my own Claude headcanons:
Note: these will be modern au headcanons and there’s a fair amount of projection. I love comparing HCs and seeing how we all differently characterize the same character, so feel free to share your own/make your own posts/whatever! Now onto Claude Faustus.
Metal head, 100%
Listens to 100 Gecs
Stone walls people he doesn’t particularly find interesting or as a way to protect himself (emotionally). By not showing any emotion, he looks intimidating or boring. It also keeps him calm and in control of situations. He prefers to keep others at a distance.
Definitely more self-aware than he lets on. Many, many people will perceive him as boring or emotionless and he’s okay with that.
Sometimes he’s bothered when people call him boring just because he’s genuinely quiet. This is different than him showing no emotions, as it’s actually just who he is.
Thinks his actions are justified (think Machiavellianism). Despite that, he has a capacity to feel guilt. He just rarely feels guilty about anything he’s done.
Hides a LOT of anger. There’s many little things that piss him off but why should he waste energy on getting upset when he could do so many other things? You wouldn’t even know if you pissed him off.
Claude’s sexuality? Short answer: he’s bi. Long answer: Claude doesn’t define his sexuality in a way humans would do so; he’s attracted to whoever he’s attracted to. If asked, he’ll describe his sexuality as fluid overall.
He 100% identifies as male, though.
What does Claude look for in a partner/love interest/hookup? Claude’s type is: shorter than him, heavier than him (preferably curvy at least), alternative and non-comformative in any sense, not especially emotional, able to partake in his hobbies, not clingy but not entirely independent (he likes to feel wanted/needed), and shares his dark sense of humor.
Built. Sturdy. Broad shoulders. Mans has muscles. I would give him a dad bod AND muscles but IDK
Very active man, a bit of a health nut
Of course the man never cries in front of others.
Can actually appreciate when someone has more energy + is louder than him as a way to cheer him up or just make him laugh, even at their expense. Also if they do that, they can give him a bit more energy. Too much and it gets annoying/draining no matter who’s doing it.
INTJ. Definitely INTJ.
Can participate in social stuff and can fake being extroverted but is really introverted and finds social gatherings draining
Smokes weed
His face drink (alcohol) is red wine.
I think it would be funny if Claude actually needs a strong prescription just so he can see but I think he wears glasses because he likes them.
Triple threat (singer, actor, dancer)
Compared to Sebastian, he’s much more competent (this man does not deserve his right to a brain but he has it)
However, unlike Sebastian, he isn’t a show-off or a perfectionist. He’s a big picture kind of person and doesn’t mind rushing work he doesn’t like doing (side note: Claude is definitely lazier than Sebastian but he refers to this as working smarter, not harder).
One thing he doesn’t rush is cooking. He loves to cook and bake.
Claude is older than Sebastian.
Going back to how little emotion he shows (depending on the people he’s around), he’s a demon, so I imagine that’s also why. He can be smug like Seb, that’s for sure, but demons aren’t typically emotional (in my own HCs/writing that is)
Speaking of demon stuff, I see him as a demon of gluttony (I’ve ranted about this before and will probably do so in another post.
Arrogant and overconfident BUT if he slips up, he doesn’t blame others. He actually apologizes more than one would imagine him doing so.
Can either be very romantic or very Not Romantic .
Weird. Just Weird.
As a genuine explanation for the above, Claude just has goofy/odd tendencies that are either inhuman (prolonged eye contact, studying humans, or make him seem more human (sing along to songs that are playing)
No One Talks About His Long Tongue. I Would Like to Talk About His Long Tongue.
I imagine that Claude didn’t just (forgive my lack of better wording here) “snap” when he tasted Ciel’s blood. I believe it was certainly adding onto a flame, but he was always planning to take Ciel’s soul. Therefore, this goes along with my HC that Claude can show plenty emotion/be more relaxed/be a bit more irrational if he feels comfortable. When he isn’t comfortable/is working/is planning/is hiding something, then he shows no emotion.
Outfit 1: thin turtleneck under a suit jacket and slacks, dress shoes
Outfit 2: metal band tee, leather jacket, black jeans, combat boots
Outfit 3: Business Casual Dad
Outfit 4: Vacation Dad
Likes all animals (and I really mean ALL animals here)
This is admittedly based off of someone else’s HC but he would definitely have a pet tarantula
Gets very defensive when someone kills a spider (especially if they’re in his home)
Crafty yet handy. Loves to crochet, knit, write, paint abstract art, sculpting, and more. The man has many, many hobbies.
Very manipulative, antagonistic, sadistic, controlling, and domineering. I will say that he has a soft spot for his partner and will be decent with them, but he’s still Nasty.
This is essentially canon but Claude can still be so dramatic while also being stoic as hell. He Has The Range.
Can speak various languages fluently (English, Spanish, Japanese, and Latin).
Can speak Russian and Hebrew Not Very Fluently (he picked up the Hebrew from Sebastian).
Can not speak French at all (well, he refuses to learn it, claiming that that’s Sebastian’s thing).
Loves to banter with Seb, other friends, and potential partners.
Also loves to banter with enemies.
I think he gets red in the face easily. He doesn’t blush heavily or even a lot, but if slapped his face will definitely show the imprint of a hand.
I mentioned dark humor; Claude is semi-sarcastic and laughs at self-deprecation jokes/dark jokes that he can relate to.
Constantly overthinks but doesn’t show it. He’s too analytical, if that makes sense.
I HC him as having anxiety but He’s Also a Demon so idk if demons can have GAD but he definitely has the demon equivalent of that.
If you want me to show you how I much I really project onto him, please listen to Lies by Will Jay. You will understand what I mean.
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krispydefendorpolice · 5 years ago
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The Demon’s Bride (7)
So Here’s the next chapter of Demon’s Bride. I’m gonna try to finish my ficlet the Miraculous Awakens and add an update to Miraculous Future before doing another Demon’s Bride update.
I’m also trying a new method of taglist. I love that people enjoy my story and want to be tagged but the list got really long really fast. (I think by the time I had the third chapter/first ficlet out it was a full list). Unfortunately this meant a lot of the readers who had longer comments about things they enjoyed or questions in the story (things that keep me motivated to write!) wouldn’t get a tag. So I’m redoing the taglist. Some will keep changing because except for a select few that got me started in the cursed Daminette ship (god I love you people) everyone is gonna be kind of flexible. Meaning your name might get bumped in the next update.
I do try to tag these stories with (The Demon’s Bride) and (The Betrothed AU) let me know if there’s another tag I can add to make finding them easier. Believe me I know the struggle of trying to find out if a writer has updated.
One person suggested I cross post on AO3 and since I finally got an account let me know what you think. Not just would you read it but would this story be something you would download to save a copy? I do that with all my favorite works on that site and would consider it to be the biggest of compliments.
Okay, thank you all for enjoying this story. Thank you for being patient while I work out my own tag list system. Enjoy the next chapter
Beginning Previous Next Masterpost
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The next morning the class ate breakfast in the hotel breakfast lounge. It was large enough that they could break into their two groups but not so large that Marinette’s group could ‘accidentally’ get left behind.
Marinette rolled her eyes as she listened to Lila continuing her stories from the day before about meeting the youngest Wayne and how ‘It was love at first sight’.
“Damian is just such a sweetheart. It nearly broke my heart to have to put our relationship on hold when mama got her assignment in Paris. But I am happy she did as I got to meet all of you. And now I have a chance to see my Damian again.”
Lila smiled slyly as she leaned closer to her slaves, “In fact, we have plans to see each other tonight. He’s going to take me on a romantic dinner date. If you can keep it a secret from Ms Bustier I’d be ever so grateful. I don’t think she’d like it if I did something by myself but I’ll just never have a chance like this again.”
Marinette had a feeling she’d strain a muscle at some point before the end of the trip, either from rolling her eyes too hard or from fighting back the urge to roll her eyes. She’d have to somehow arrange for Lila to be supervised if she actually made it out of the hotel and more than likely that duty would fall on her as her usual alternatives were in Paris.
A glance at Juleka showed that the girl was already anticipating Marinette’s thoughts and would be taking on the supervising (stalking, call it what it is) duty for Marinette. Fortunately, continued training and practice during Akuma attacks had refreshed skills instilled by the league to readiness in both girls.
“No worries girl. We got your back, unlike some people,” Alya said with a pointed glance at Marinette. Alya had blamed Marinette when her relationship with Nino fell apart and once Marinette had stopped responding to her phone messages Alya had made it her personal mission to blame the worlds evils upon Marinette.
Marinette ignored them and kept typing on her phone.
“You guys are so trustworthy. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys,” Lila smiled at them.
“Class finish up your meals we need to meet the bus outside in five minutes for us to head to the mall,” Ms Bustier called.
“Hey Nino, I forgot a jacket up in my room. I’ll catch you at the bus,” Marinette said nonchalantly as they cleaned up their dishes.
“You’re planning something,” he stated. A raised brow dared her to deny it.
“Not at all. Just have Markov do a recording would you?”
“Sure, sure. But you’re reporting this, not me.”
“Done,” Marinette agreed as she headed back to the elevators. On the ride up she pulled out her phone and sent a quick text.
M: Meet me outside the hotel? I might need a ride.
D: Why? Are you safe?
M: I’m fine right now. But if things play out like they usually do I’m gonna need a ride
D: got it
Grabbing the bike jacket she’d left on her bed Marinette hurried outside the hotel. The bus’s engine was just starting to rev when she called out.
“Wait. I’m here,” she called and ran towards the bus.
It slowed for a moment before picking up speed and taking off. Marinette watched as it drove off and shook her head. She pulled out her phone and dialed a number.
“Bonjour Commandant,” she said cheerily before he did more than greet her.
He sighed, “What happened?”
“I might of made a stop in my hotel room this morning to get my jacket before meeting the rest of the class at the bus.”
“And you were left behind again?”
“I was left behind again,” she confirmed. “I was nearly at the bus and called out for them to wait. It started to slow but then took off again. There were open windows and Nino should have Max and Markov making another recording.”
“I’ll wait for the files. You know we’re going to have to report this when you return to Paris.”
“Absolutely. This is getting ridiculous and entirely too unprofessional of Ms. Boustier. If it were any other person getting left behind they could end up killed here in Gotham.”
“Do you need us to arrange transportation?”
“No thank you, I already did,” Marinette turned to look at the motorcycles that stopped next to her at the curb.
Damian lifted the visor on his helmet and looked at her. She smiled at him and finished her call.
She looked at the second bike and rider and back at Damian.
Damian held out a second helmet to her and explained. “My father and brother’s aren’t entirely comfortable with me being alone and unsupervised with someone from the League. Todd volunteered to chaperone today.”
Marinette took the helmet and sat on the back of his bike. “Had many run-ins with Leaguer’s?”
“Too many,” Damian admitted. As soon as Marinette wrapped her arms around his waist and told him the class’s destination he took off.
Marinette smiled as she sat behind him on the bike and let herself fall into old patterns of trusting him to get them where they needed to go. Within minutes they pulled up alongside the bus. Marinette grinned as she asked him to rev the engine and get the class’s attention.
When several faces turned to the window Marinette lifted her visor and waved at the class. Just as she was laughing at their shocked faces the lights changed and Damian took off again with her laughter trailing behind them.
************************
Jason followed behind Damian and watched as Demon Spawn pulled up next to the bus before the girl waved at the class whose attention they had gotten. When Damian took off again he had to watch as the two moved together as they wove through traffic. What surprised Jason more was Damian never turned to check the cars behind him. Instead he watched as the girl would do checks and then Damian would move. Damian trusted her to watch their backs.
They seemed to have a system down and had seemlessly fallen back into it. Like they had ridden together before? But they couldn’t have. Damian came to Bruce at 10 years old. The girl had to be about the same age so how...?
Jason let the thought go as they pulled up to Gotham Mall. Damian parked near the main entrance the class would have to go through after parking the bike and let Marinette off first. He and Jason followed suit before locking their bikes and the helmets up and waited for the class to catch up.
“So Pixie-pop, you know Demon Spawn from the League?”
Most people would say Jason didn’t know how to use tact but most people were also idiots. Sometimes when you did things blatantly and unexpectedly you would get more honest answers from others.
Marinette glanced at Damian and then turned to Jason when he nodded. “I’ve known Damian most of my life in the League.”
Jason looked at her. The answer was factual but there was undertone of meanings behind it that he was missing.
“He mentioned the League was divided into factions? Divisions?” He fumbled his question and waited to see how she would respond.
Marinette turned to Damian and spoke in a language he didn’t know. It wasn’t English, French, Japanese or Chinese which he’d learned from Bruce and Alfred before his death. Nor was it Arabic, Russian, or German, which Talia had forced him to learn after his resurrection. The closest he could compare it to was Chinese but it had a different cadence, intonations, sounds, everything really so it was completely not understandable to him.
When Damian responded in the same language Jason was less shocked. He just waited for the two of them to finish.
Marinette nodded before turning back to Jason, “The word you were looking for was designations and yes Damian and I both had one. Most trainees are given one by the end of the first year of training though it can be changed if a particular aptitude is discovered. Or if they lose enough standing with the League.”
Her eyes were a little darker, a little sadder at the mention of losing rank within the League.
“Ah,” Jason nodded and looked at Damian, “you didn’t mention you had a designation last night.”
“TT, I didn’t think to mention it last night. My designation was the Demon’s Right Hand. The heir of the Demon.”
“Makes sense since you were Ras grandson,” Jason admitted.
Marinette snorted, “the old Demon had at least five grandchildren, though no one’s sure if his son had any children so there could be more out there. And Damian was the third born. Nothing the Demon ever did made sense.”
Jason was startled. No one knew that Damian had other siblings, blood-siblings, since he’d made it sound like his trainee group were like his only brothers and sisters.
“Grandfather insisted that only the best could succeed him. Even from my early trainee days my brother’s knew I could take their inheritance from them if I was better than they were. Our rivalry,” and boy was that a loaded idea, “was actively encouraged and the only way it could end was with the deaths of our competition.” Damian grimaced at that.
“Hey, Ali wasn’t so bad. He loved his big brother.” Marinette bumped Damian’s shoulder, trying to distract him.
“Ali loved his big sister,” Damian tapped a finger on Marinette’s nose, “who got her mother to take in the kid when he began his training and gave him family. Just like his big brother.”
Marinette smiled fondly. “He’s a good kid. Did you know Talia has him doing some PR as they’re ‘rebranding’ the League? I think the American, Luthor, has done that a few times.”
Damian quirked a brow.
“He’s shown up in Paris a time or two. Mostly as PR attempts to promote ‘acts of charity’ or such. My class actually ran into him a few years ago. He made a friend with one of the girls in my class. We pass messages through her when we can,” Marinette nodded to herself, “but it’s been harder to do with the tension between my classmates.”
Before Jason could ask anymore questions the bus with her classmates in it pulled into the Mall parking lot. Strangely another car seemed to be following behind it.
————————————
Cliffhanger!!!!
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Okay, tag list capped out as I was scrolling back through comments on ch. 5 but the taglist is flexible anyways at this point. I have plans to update the Miraculous Awakens prologue and the Miraculous Future chapters this week. Please vote which you would like to see first. I’m hoping to get the first update posted either Wednesday or Thursday nights. (Though sadly I am suuuuuper flexible with my posting schedule. Basically I post whenever I have a chapter ready). Also i plan to wind up the Once Upon A Miraculous epilogue next weekend so that’s three chapters I’ll need to be toying with this week.
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noragami-ru-manga · 5 years ago
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Soul summoning and Father’s return from Yomi
For someone who supposedly hates Father, I sure talk a lot about him, huh
While I was flipping through the pages of the manga, I once again came to a stop at the soul summoning scene in chapter 37. Specifically at Nora’s tale about Father escaping from Yomi, which I, apparently, did not pay due attention to.
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I’ve never had a single opinion on how Father got in and out of Yomi, so I toyed with a few.
1. When Father was still human, he was already interested in researching ayakashi (like Ebisu, for example), somehow learned about the kotonoha (the Word of Yomi) and decided to get one for himself. He voluntarily ventured into Yomi but asked the pock-marked girl to soul call him beforehand, and she did just that.  
2. The pock-marked girl died, and Father got mad at the gods for being directly or indirectly involved. He went to Yomi to get her back, stumbled upon Izanami, saw the brushes in action, and either stole or wheedled out one of them.
3. Father was the one who died while the pock-marked girl lived. While in Yomi, Father encountered Izanami, learned about the brushes, and got his hands on one of them.
In this post I want to examine the last option – the one in which Father died and was resurrected by that girl of his through soul summoning.
First of all, let me remind you that soul summoning isn’t something Adachitoka came up with specifically for Noragami, but an actual Japanese tradition.
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I think it’s reasonable to assume that whatever exists in our world is also a thing in Noragami universe. All the locations that we see in the series, specifically shrines, are real places (with the exception of the characters’ houses, Takamagahara and Yomi, obviously).  This means that the tradition of soul summoning can easily exist in-universe.
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Maybe it’s just me (or the translation), but the way Kofuku talks about soul summoning seems to imply that she knows what it is and expects others to know about it, too. Apparently, they just never thought of using it on a god because it’s a human tradition.
And it goes against everything both Father and Amaterasu say.
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Amaterasu says humans can’t (mustn’t) come back to life at all, Father implies he is the only one who’s managed to return from Yomi/come back to life. How do we reconcile these statements with people climbing on roofs and staring down wells trying to revive their loved ones? The answer is – people did all that, they just weren’t successful. Except for the pock-marked girl.
I’m absolutely sure she was the one who called Father back from Yomi, thanks to a discussion I stumbled upon here on Tumblr.
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@sayaka19fan​ gave an alternate translation of this scene that differs from both the official transalation and the fan scanlation: “Even if he said I was a girl with pock marks I wonder if she was his loved one”. Aka “he was cold to me, even if I had her appearance”. So Father being distant made Izanami question her choice of appearance and wonder if she impersonated the wrong person.
If the girl was alive, then Father not being swayed by Izanami is easily explained, he simply knew that whoever was in front of him couldn’t have been that girl. This rules out her dying first and Father coming to Yomi to retrieve her the way Izanagi came after Izanami (not to mention that this particular scenario would require some other person to call Father’s name). So between the two of them, Father was the only one who got into Yomi.
The thing about Yomi is that it’s unclear whether it’s really a place where people go after their deaths. On the one hand, you have this word “yomigaeru”  - to come back to life = to return from Yomi. On the other hand, there are opinions like this one:
In no ancient Shinto textual source is it explained who exactly goes to Yomi and why. Some historians suggest that the concept of a life after death was not a familiar one to the ancient Japanese and it only took form with the introduction of Buddhism from China in the 6th century CE. Yomi certainly has a very limited place in Shinto thought where a life after death is only vaguely alluded to and where there is an absence of a general concept of punishment and reward for souls in the next life as found in many other religions. The only suffering of souls in Yomi, if indeed there is any at all, is their separation from their living loved ones. The noted Shinto scholar and theologian Hirata Atsutane (1776-1843 CE) explains Yomi and its limited significance thus,
“The old legends that dead souls go to Yomi cannot be proven. Then it may be asked, where do the souls of the Japanese go when they die? It may be clearly seen from the purport of ancient legends and from modern examples that they remain eternally in Japan and serve in the realm of the dead governed by Okuninushi-no-kami. This realm of the dead is not in any one particular place in the visible world, but being a realm of the darkness and separated from the present world, it cannot be seen…
The darkness, however, is only comparative. It should not mistakenly be imagined that this realm is devoid of light. It has food, clothing, and houses of various kinds, similar to those of the visible world. Proof of this may be found in accounts…in which a person has occasionally returned to tell of the realm of the dead.
After death the soul leaves the body and resides in the area of the grave, a fact attested by countless accounts…of both ancient and modern times of miraculous occurrences by spirits in the vicinity of graves…Some say that the soul goes to the filthy realm of Yomi, but there is not a shred of evidence that this is the case”. (Scott Littleton, 94)
Even in the manga itself Yato and Ebisu didn’t encounter a single soul when they were in Yomi, only ayakashi and Izanami’s maidens. Then again, we learned in chapter 86 that where souls go in their afterlife depends on what they believed in when they were alive. So technically, if Father believed that dead souls end up in Yomi, that’s where he could have gone after he died.
Why do I now think that he died and didn’t venture into Yomi as a living person specifically to get the kotonoha? Again, it all comes down to the pock-marked girl. I think that her death could have been, in FMA terms, an “equivalent exchange” for Father’s return from Yomi.
See, gods in Noragami are pretty powerful, I give them that. They can, for example, turn into giant spiders (Ookuninushi) and lightning (Takemikazuchi). And while the series never really explains how exactly Tenjin goes about helping students get better marks, or how Ebisu helps businesses, I’m pretty sure that gods can alter reality to some extent. However, they aren’t all-powerful, and there’s one thing they can do nothing about – death.
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Of course, we should take into account that Yato isn’t exactly a god of healing to at least theoretically be able to postpone someone’s death (he can totally do the opposite though). I do think, however, that any other god would have said the same, because this is the one thing the gods cannot change. They can’t postpone death because the circle of life is the nature of things and shouldn’t be meddled with. Not because “Amaterasu said so”, but because that’s how the world is. Who made the world like this is a tricky question to answer, since to extent to which the Japanese cosmogoniс myth is applicable to Noragami, aka what came first, the egg or the hen, is a topic for a discussion of its own.
Bottom line is, if Father came back from the dead, something had to balance that out, and that something was the pock-marked girl’s death. It wasn’t a punishment from the Heavens for his breaking out of Yomi, which the Heavens, apparently, don’t even know about. It wasn’t an injustice that some god committed, ‘cause gods had nothing to do with it all. Father became bitter at the world for taking the pock-marked girl away from him, at the gods who didn’t help him when he needed them, and at humans who created and support those useless gods. The clothes Father was wearing when he was escaping from Izanami are the same ones he was in when he was hugging the girl in chapter 60. If this is how things went, then the effect of his return was immediate – as soon as he came back, the girl died.
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There’s one more thing that bothers me about Father – how he’s survived after his return from Yomi, specifically how he changes bodies. It’s hard to tell if he had a body in the scenes from Yato and Nora’s childhood, since Far shore beings can interact with the real-life objects (food, clothes) just fine. All we know is that he’s had the same appearance in Yomi, in Yato and Nora’s childhood, and even now; and also that he doesn’t just possess bodies, but their souls as well. His current “host” Fujisaki is a third year high-school senior, meaning he’s roughly two years older than Hiyori. If Father is reborn in a new body each time, then Yato hasn’t seen him for 17-18 years now. And that Yato has never seen Fujisaki before his father made himself known when he and Yukine were walking down the street is apparent not just from their exchange in Fujisaki’s house
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but also from the very first scene Father was in. Yato saw how Fujisaki caught Hiyori, and if he knew that the guy was his father, he definitely would have warned her to stay away. Granted, Yato probably didn’t see the guy’s face, but it doesn’t change the fact that Yato first saw what Father now looks like in the year the events of the manga currently take place – after 2010.
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Except we see in the Volume 8 omake that Father collected articles about the “Yatogami miracle” from 2000′s, too – when Fujisaki was barely in primary school. (I don’t know if I need to explain this, but just in case it confuses you. I’m not talking about who and when was collecting the papers. What I mean is that Yato worked as a magatsukami in 2000′’s when Fujisaki was only a child).
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Could Nora have been the one to make Yato go back to his work as a magatsukami all on her own on those occasions when Father couldn’t command him, being a grown man in the body of an infant or a child with all the restrictions that come with it (also, gross)?  She was able to deliver him to Father using the masks, but for the most part she was just following his orders. So I’m really curious what Father meant when he said that he “didn’t get to chose”. Does it mean he has to be reborn as a baby each time he dies?  Or maybe two souls are just too much for one body to handle, thus he has to switch them quite often and at the most inconvenient times, so he just uses whoever is available? He had to change schools to spy after Yato and Hiyori because Kouto didn’t live in Tokyo, and he seems to somewhat care about his “sister” and “nieces”. But his being out of Yato’s life for a solid decade after each rebirth (before he at least has some freedom of movement, being a child and all) is too good to be true.
And even though I’ve said we don’t know for sure if he had a body after his return from Yomi, I’ll just go out and say that he had – his own body, no less, the one we saw in Yato and Nora’s memories. He had to be human to have wished Yato into existence in the first place, and since his appearance back then matches his current looks, he could have initially returned into his own body.
After all, time flows differently on the Near shore and on the Far shore. Although so far we’ve only seen that the passage of time is slower both in Yomi and Takamagahara.
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Is the opposite possible? Could it be that while Father was in Yomi, very little time has passed in Nakatsukuni, so instead of burying Father the girl tried calling him back and succeeded? It’s a wild guess, but if day and night don’t have a set length on the Far shore, then it means that one day in Yomi can also be shorter than one day on Earth.
In any case, if Father did come back to his own body, it lasted for a while – at least until Yato was a teen.
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Another thing that bothers me is how come Yato didn’t know what Father looked like after an entire month of staying in that cottage. Did Yato never look at him during that whole time? Or would Father come to the cottage as himself? We know that his soul can separate itself from Fujisaki’s, but is it accidental or intentional?
Look at his latest encounter with Hiyori.
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Father showed himself for a split second, distracting Hiyori and letting the ayakashi bite her. Did he accidentally “slip out” because of his strong emotions, or did he do it deliberately to make Hiyori lose focus and be an easy target for his doggies? The second one is a very Father thing to do, and if he can separate himself from Fujisaki from time to time, it explains why Yato didn’t know he looks like a student now. However, he was Fujisaki when he came to collect Nora after the whole ordeal with Ebisu.
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Maybe Yato only saw Father that one time during his entire stay at the cottage – when Father ordered him to go to Yomi. This way it’s possible that Yato indeed never looked at his face. Except chapter 29 seemingly disproves that.
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The background to Yato’s thoughts is Father putting down the bucket with purifying water in it. If this is just to remind us that this person is Father, I’m fine with it. But if this is Yato’s memory, something he saw with his own eyes, then it can only mean that Father did not look like Fujisaki then.
TLDR: I think that Father came back from Yomi because the pock-marked girl resurrected him via soul summoning and died in exchange, accidentally or voluntarily. I’m not overly attached to this theory and I won’t be surprised or disappointed if it’s never confirmed. It was just fun to dig into Father’s possible past once more.
P.S. while I was reading the soul summoning scene, the inconsistencies in Amaterasu’s actions and words (“call him like in a soul summoning” – “people can’t come back from Yomi”, “call him by his real name” – “are you the one called Yatogami?”) made me entertain the idea that the girl who helped the gang wasn’t Amaterasu, rather her lookalike. Like her twin sister Tsukuyomi? They weren’t twins according to the Japanese mythology as far as I know, but in other mythologies the sun and the moon are twins *cough  Greek cough*, and we’ve already seen that Adachitoka don’t exactly retell mythology but adapt it however they like. I did cast away the thought since there was too much focus on the sun during the scene, but it’s still a fun little idea.
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kaiowut99 · 4 years ago
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5D's Episode 27... with an “Uncut” Dub?! (Re-Edited 4Kids Dub/Japanese OST - Revised)
“A World Without Light -- The Dark Synchro Frozen Fitzgerald!”/”A Web of Deceit (Part 1)″
Everybody listen!
Took long enough to finish up and polish (partly because of work and activism life actually picking up a bit), but here’s a brand-new “dub-uncut” episode! With my first few takes in episodes 23-26 newly revised, I was looking forward to working on 27 and starting fresh again, lol. In case this is the first you’re hearing about my mini-project here, let’s get you up to speed:
So, the official Spanish YGO channel on YouTube flubbed a few uploads of the 5D’s dub such that they ended up uploading a few episodes of the English dub instead of the Latin American dub (21-29)–but with none of 4Kids’s background music! Which meant that I could swoop in and re-insert the original Japanese soundtrack (which I did by matching each track to how it was looped in the episode), but I wanted to do more by also tweaking the dub itself so that not only was it matching the original footage, but the dialogue was more in line with the original dialogue timing-wise (since I couldn’t salvage much of what they changed).  Hence, the “dubbed uncut” gimmick here.  To this end, I’ve also used dialogue from Duel Links where applicable, or even borrowed audio from other episodes with the vocals isolated to lend to that effect.
Check out the masterpost of episodes I’ve done here!
Check out this episode’s WIP videos! WIP #1     WIP #2     WIP #3   WIP #4   WIP #5
So, this one was fun to do particularly because overall, save for the, er... butchering that happened on explaining the Dark Synchro mechanic (4Kids wut) and the rewrite of Carly’s interaction with her Editor-in-Chief (and making Carly a “blogger” lol), the dialogue was already more or less in line with the Japanese version, which meant that I was more or less just removing a lot of the fluff as I added back the OST.  As I did in 22, 24, and 26, I added subs for the scenes where 4Kids rewrote things a bit too much for my taste (so, the scenes I mentioned above, but also the occasional line or a few), but of course these subs will be optional in the MKV I release on NAC for this.  I also added back some SFX and tried to remove the dub’s replacement SFX in most cases, though I had to swap out the SFX as Speed Warrior was tuning with Junk Synchron since 4Kids had a tendency to add some new one over the original SFX and made it too loud to work with the Yusei chant I put there.  And I translated the OP/ED credits in Last Train and CROSS GAME, revamping my singable lyrics a bit for Last Train while drafting new ones for CROSS GAME which I’ll post soon; you can see my Last Train translation in the second WIP video and CROSS GAME’s here. Full process breakdown below the cut.
Also, major thanks to yugidmx5 for providing A+ rips of the “The Day Begins/Tenpei” theme in the Carly/Angela scene, the “Vision of Tragedy” theme as Yusei and Ruka talk about the Satellite’s future, and the alternate “Dark Signers” tune which plays as we first see them and then again between the Dark Signer drones recruiting and Yusei chasing Dark-Signer!Dick down (before it transitions to the OST-released version once Yusei gets to the building under construction); I know that since these came out well, he’s working on better rips for some or most of the unreleased OST, so stay tuned there (I also drafted up a full version of the alternate DS theme, but had to get creative since they didn’t play all of it in this alternate style; will post soon).  And thanks to Tiny Spider Productions, who provided the “shock” SFX playing as Carly sees Yusei’s arm actually glowing in her car, some inspo here/there for dialogue fixes, and provided CurtisH from CastingCallClub’s recording he did voicing a line from Tanner translating the original line about the four Signers they know which 4Kids cut short.
I hope folks enjoy! Just breezing through 28 often for lines to use here, I can tell it’s going to be a headache because they did throw in a lot more jankiness in the dialogue... So, fun. 🙃 Once I handle finalizing my subs for GX 56 (and possibly 57 due to how long this took), I’ll start drafting it out; stay tuned~ 
(And if you're able to reblog for visibility, it’d be appreciated given Tumblr’s suckage with links 🙏🏽)
Breakdown, breakdown~
So, I used Duel Links audio for the twins to handle the Noteworthy/Showcased Cards bit (we’ll see if I still can in 28... And as the twins are voiced by Eileen Stevens in Duel Links but not yet in 5D’s [that happens in 65], bear with me lol), and I also translated the sign for this hardsub in Photoshop, masking in the Fitzgerald card and Rua and Ruka’s heads over it in Sony Vegas.  
Moving to the episode proper, a second was trimmed from the shot of the stadium in the TV Rally/co are using once it tunes in, and I couldn’t properly loop the “Yusei!” shouts to cover it, so I just filled in the audio with the crowd just cheering.  In the Carly/Angela scene, I removed Angela’s extra lines about her makeup and hair while Carly was getting ready, then tweaked Angela’s line on camera to remove her last name (which we never learn originally) and move her lines about “Fusei Yudo” winning to play sooner while removing Carly’s “one journalist to another” as she walks up to correct her (as this scene was rewritten, there are subs to show the original dialogue).  Looped chants of “Yusei!” to remove his internal “pointing out the obvious” monologue before the OP.
After the OP, I used the JP audio to keep the doctors moving Jack quiet (hopefully you don’t notice the chants changing lol), then as Yanagi runs over, I replaced his bit about Yusei having “a brand new enemy” in the media with “we should all get going” from 26.  The Godwin/Lazar scene stays the same since it was accurate, but I did have to put the end of Rex’s “that’s the only thing that matters” line on another track so Lazar’s gasp would play when it should (they added a second to his talking in the dub).  The Yusei/co scene in the tunnel stays mostly the same, just switched to the JP audio as the flashback to the Satellite vision happened, then as Yusei had a quick one before gasping, I recycled a gasp and a “hmm” from elsewhere to cover the commercial-inducing monologue they gave him in the dub.  For the press conference scene, I thought about removing the one “That’s right, Ted” reporter’s line since he’s quiet originally, but thought “whatever,” and then I spaced out Carly’s line as she reads her fortune to match her Japanese line’s pace and remove some of the fluff.  I switched to the JP audio after Carly asked about Yusei’s arm glowing to remove Rex’s comment over it, then stitched up a “Perhaps; still, I didn’t see that” mixing his line there with a “still” from 23.  Carly’s line as she’s excited about Goodwin dodging her question (originally just “I’ll keep moving forward too!” [she references her fortune a lot more]) was longer in the dub, so I cut out the “which means I’m onto something” for use later.  For Carly’s chat with her Editor-in-Chief, I included subs because of the rewrite, but I did shorten Carly’s line just before “bring some dirt and you might still have a job” which was lengthened by 4Kids.  Removed a lot of Carly’s fluff as she began to watch the Yusei duel footage via the JP audio, then stitched together “Goodwin tried to give me that bit but [the whole world will know what Goodwin’s trying to hide]”, the latter bit coming from Carly’s monologue as she’s running at the end of the ep, then switched to the JP audio to remove Carly’s fluff about living in her car.  Then, as we see the Dark Signers looming, because 4Kids removed the commercial break here, I kept only Demak and Kalin’s chuckling and Roman’s “lower the curtains” line over the desk shot, then looped some of his laughing from after the eyecatch to lead into it.
After the eyecatch, I made use of his “Goodwin assembled his Signers” bit, recycled a little chuckling, then cut Roman’s reference to Shakespeare to just the “tangled web” line (thanks to yugidmx5 also providing the SFX for this scene, I was able to move Roman’s laughing to play where it should after he releases his spiders).  Moving to Yanagi drawing the Crimson Dragon, I only kept his “saw it the once” line while using Japanese Rua and Ruka’s interested gasps to fill a fluff gap, then combined two bits of audio to get a [slightly] awkward “t[ail]” to fix 4Kids’s dumb error claiming he had the Head birthmark; accordingly, made Leo say “What about it?” instead of “What about the Head?”.  CurtisH’s line for Tanner comes in here, with a slight tweak or two to match the lip-flaps more, then JP audio as we see all the Signers so far to remove Leo’s dialogue.  Meanwhile, for Jack’s hospital scene, I translated the “No Visitors” sign Mikage walks past (along with fixing “Atlus” to “Atlas”).  The Dark Signer recruitment scene also gets some subs, then I used the JP audio from when we see Dark Signer!Dick walking to Yusei’s birthmark beginning to glow; yugidmx5 providing the SFX was a big help here, too.  Yusei runs out to chase Dick down, and then when he sees him inside the under-construction building, I took “Who are you” from later in the episode, but added a more question-ending “u?” to flesh the sound out a bit (since the line was “Who are you and what’s going on”).  I took “Fine, then” and “What are you planning to do to the Satellite” from 28 (which I’ll likely cut as it was added offscreen dialogue), and TSP provided a vocal-isolated cut of Dick’s line about his master (because 4Kids cut his shot short by a second or two and played it as the SFX for the zoomout as his Disk activated played).  
They begin the duel, and here I just kept “What’s going on?” from the line I noted earlier, recycled some laughing from Dick to match the JP script, then shortened his line about their being offered up “by the light” to work with the new timing.  Dick begins his turn, but I recycled an “It’s my turn now” line from later for accuracy, then his setting-a-card line is cut short at his ending his turn as Yusei looks on.  Carly, driving nearby and seeing lights from the duel off in the distance, gets her reference to the Goodwin “sheen from Yusei’s Runner got in your eye” line that I cut replaced with the “I’m onto something” I noted before.  Yusei gets a recycled “It’s my move!” line from 24 to start his turn, tweaked to remove the drawing SFX that happens in it, then to remove a dub SFX I used a Duel Links line to fill out “I activate the Tuning [Spell Card]”.  “I summon Junk Synchron” comes from 24 (and “Level-2-or-below Monster from my Graveyard” comes from his Graceful Revival explanation in episode 3), then--thanks to Arian over on NAC reuploading some HQ dub episodes--a better-quality vocal rip of his “Level-3 Junk Synchron, tune with Level-2 Speed Warrior!” line from 87, along with a better-quality rip of his “From two come one” chant and “Form the road of light!” from Duel Links.  Yusei shouts “Battle!” from Duel Links, then I slowed down his line at “[Attack his Blizzard Li]zard” to end it there (and remove the “warm Satellite welcome” fluff).  As Blizzard Lizard’s effect activates, I combined an “I activate,” “Blizzard Lizard’s special ability,” and “now” for a better line than “Blizzard Lizard’s special ability is going on.” Yusei’s lines after being damaged and realizing he damaged Dick too are spaced out to match the JP script, then I borrowed Yusei’s line on setting two cards from episode 3.  Then, when Dick plays Ice Mirror, I stitched up an explanation (since the Card Interruption does it for him) combining Call of the Haunted’s explanation with a few other pieces of dialogue (thanks to TSP for the inspo).  I cut Dick’s “Now I’ll play” line there to remove the dub’s zooming-in SFX, and then made Dick’s line about his third Blizzard Lizard end right before the split-screen with all three of them to remove the dub’s split-screen SFX.  I thought about replacing Yusei’s “three’s a crowd” line with “What’s that all about” from later, but couldn’t figure out a way to fill the line in before that, so I left it, but didn’t let Dick acknowledge it by just recycling “With that done” to replace “Well, how about [I release]”, then after Yusei reacts to his Dark Tuner, I recycled some chuckling to match the JP script and trimmed his line about its “power to extinguish;” the Dark Synchro “explanation” gets some subs to actually explain it, then I looped Carly’s panting as she runs to cover the “Goodwin’s trying to hide” line I moved to earlier, and recycled/amplified Dick’s laughing at various points through the ep to remove Yusei’s episode-ending monologue.
In the preview, I just recycled Yusei’s “No way...” and “A Dark Synchro Summon?!” while borrowing Carly’s lines about the Dark Tuner from 28, then Yusei’s line about getting his answers to end it.  I had to speed up the OST version of the preview tune to match the pace here, then trimmed it and ended it with the JP audio for the quick fade-out.
/phew
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