#anyway i love kidou very much--- i think this is just funny

[soccerpunching]

I think it's pretty cool of the other raimon students to forgive Kidou for bullying their soccer club the first time around under Teikoku's threat of destroying the schools of teams that lost to them, but having a fanclub after just ONE match?? that he was late to????

[yarameijer]

Hi, I've been reading accidental reversal and I really like your 'what if' scenarios with tenma and the gang, and I've had a fic idea I've been considering for a while that I'd appreciate your input on

I've really gotten attached to the idea of a Deaf Tenma, making the decision not to go to a Deaf School (The only Deaf school in Japan that I can find is Meisei Gakuen, which is located in tokyo, which is extremely close to if not the same city where Raimon is) so that he can play for the soccer team that inspired him, only to find the whole fifth sector mess going on.

naturally, he starts the whole revolution, because hes putting the quality of his education on the line to play for raimon, and he isn't about to let that sacrifice for nothing.

tsurugi notices straight away, and when he goes home he immediately starts learning JSL, because first of all he is Not ableist (for obvious reasons), and second is because if he's going to be monologuing at this kid, he's going to make sure he can be understood (he ends up being to go to interpreter when aoi/shinsuke isn't there)

shunsuke asks aoi to teach him and they bond

endou is surprisingly good at JSL when he picks it up (good with his hands + has a very expressive face), kidou, not so much (obscured face, not very expressive anyways)

due to the tension among the team in the first few games, it takes a good chunk of raimon an embarrassingly long time to realize that he isn't just wearing earbuds, and that he doesn't just have an odd accent, and that him looking directly at peoples mouths isn't just a quirk (shindou/kirino/sangoku being like 'How did you not realize? it's so obvious, we've just been learning independently')

also because I've noticed a trend in the show that these kids sure do like to monologue on the soccer field, and I think it's funny if they keep getting interrupted by a kid that just, does not seem to care (its difficult to lip read from a distance, they won't always be facing him, and it seems like a bad idea to wear hearing aids while playing a sport where kids can whip up fire tornadoes, because the average cost of a pair of hearing aids is approximately $4000, or ¥592,560)

anyways it's just an idea I've been considering

Whoa, I love that idea? It sounds so great! I’m a huge fan of rewriting the old story with just enough of a spin to give it a new flavor, and this one’s super interesting. Kinda reminds me of an idea I had at some point in which Tenma is mute and uses sign language. Also lmao Tenma pulling the revolution because ‘’I did NOT sacrifice my education just to get stuck with this crap’’ sounds like such a Tenma move, ngl.

Also yes, Raimon is located in Inazuma Town which is somewhere in Tokyo, it’s on the wiki if you want to check it out!

Okay so I’m not sure what exactly you wanted my input on, so I’m just gonna ramble! Feel free to send me another ask or comment if you wanted something more specific. Anyway, some things that immediately come to mind when I think about this:

1) One of the reasons Tsurugi takes his JSL lessons so seriously could be because Tenma reminds him of his brother. It’s not the same situation but in a way they’re both dealing with disabilities and Tsurugi has seen firsthand how hard it can be for Yuuichi, so he’s a bit softer towards Tenma because of that.

2) Depending on how much of a little shit you want Tenma to be: imagine him turning off his hearing aids at comedic moments, like when someone starts gushing about Fifth Sector’s goals. Tenma just nope’s straight out of that one. Or, although this might be a bit later when he’s more comfortable with the team, him turning off his hearing aids when someone starts scolding him. Absolute power move. They don’t even need to know he does it, maybe someone eventually finds out, cue comedic moment.

3) Since you mentioned accents… Tenma’s from Okinawa and as far as I could find, Okinawans have at least a bit of an accent. Deaf people are also known to learn how to speak by copying the lip movements of the people around them… so if Tenma grew up on Okinawa, it could be assumed he’s grown up speaking Okinawan Japanese and has the accent to match. I imagine non-deaf Tenma would have worked out most of his accent after he moved to Okinawa town so as to not stand out, but deaf Tenma would have had a harder time doing so/might not have even realized he had an accent in the first place. (There is a difference between Okinawan Japanese, which is a Japanese dialect, and the Okinawan language, which is a whole other language altogether and only a few people speak it (mostly the elderly) because it stems from a period before Okinawa was Japanese territory, so if you make use of this idea, maybe look into that a bit. It’s a bit of a complicated situation but I think it could really add something to the characters). This does depend a little on whether Tenma was born deaf or not, I think (that would also influence his lip reading/sign language skills - was he born deaf or has he only been deaf for a few years?)

4) Find subtle ways to mention it throughout the story instead of using full paragraphs. I like comparing it to writing someone who wears glasses. Small details are glasses getting fogged up when going from the outside cold into a warm room, or when drinking tea. Smudges on glasses that annoy the character. Pushing them up when they slip down their nose. These are all small, subtle actions that add a lot to the story and ‘remind’ readers of this detail without putting too much focus on it - you could try and do the same thing with Tenma’s deafness: lip reading is really difficult so Tenma might misunderstand or ask for clarification, or little habits he has (like you mentioned, watching people’s mouths rather than their eyes).

Anyway, I��d definitely recommend doing research on writing deaf characters because it’s very easy to accidentally make a mistake and come off as disrespectful. I’ve read a story or two in which there was so much focus on a character being deaf that it seemed to be their only character trait, and not only does that take away from the story, but it’s also not a good representation. Being deaf is not a defining character trait; it’s just part of their character, like wearing glasses or having asthma. An important thing that should be acknowledged but not constantly mentioned/made to be the center of their life and character.

Some questions that immediately popped into my head:

1. Was Tenma born deaf or did he lose his hearing?

2. Does he shout or say the name of hissatsu techniques? Would he even bother with that?

3. In fact would he even bother trying to learn the names of hissatsu techniques (since they can be super weird + it’s during a match and he’s not wearing hearing aids, so these both make it hard to lip read) and instead just come up with names for them himself? Imagine him referring to Sangoku’s Fence of Gaia as ‘’the rock thing’’ or Kami no Takuto as ‘’Shindou-senpai’s lightshow’’.

4. Does the entire team learn sign language (and how good are they at it), or does Tenma speak and lip read more with certain members of the team and use sign language with others?

Of course the amount of detail you put into it all depends on how long you want the story to be! I hope this is sort of what you wanted, and again, feel free to ask something else if this isn’t what you hoped for.

And in case you decide to write the story, best of luck!

[honeycrashed]

i want to hear the chess hcs!!!!

OH MAN. HOLD ON.

OKAY! If you're like a chess nerd and expected me to list down their favorite opening moves and stuff I'm so sorry I don't know the names. "Horsie go hehe and horsie go haha" , "average NPC move" , "OPEN UP THE GATES!!" is what I call some of the opening moves. I refuse to learn the names.

also like I'm a pretty mid chess player but I have some silly little headcanons for all stars anyways!

I like to think that all stars are all decent at chess and have a good win-loss ratio, generally understanding how the game works and stuff.

Kidou: He's literally the strategist of the field did you expect me to come up here and say yes Kidou Yuuto genius playmaker is bad at chess. that would be funny but no.

Instead, he always loses to Endou, no matter what. He often tries to bait Endou but Endou always missed the bait and just goes for the more obvious choices, revealing holes in Kidou's moves. it's very frustrating to Kidou but he appreciates Endou showing the faults in his plays, Even if Endou is unaware of it.

fave to go against:

-Atsuya, his fast-paced high-risks playstyle intrigues Kidou and he wants to see how fast he can keep up with him.

-Gouenji, Kidou likes messing with him <3

Gouenji : Exception on the "win-loss ratio"; Overthinking too much in matches, which usually causes the opponent to find a simpler solution to his convoluted plan. He was so sure that his delicate process would work and if he were able to do it it would've looked so cool (Note that his exception only counts when playing against all stars/people he knows well. he still overthinks but his overthinking pays off most of the time.)

Gouenji likes to take his time making his moves which makes it tougher when they decide to do blitz rounds, he hates blitz rounds he always gets very shaky afterwards.(Part of the reason they tend not to do blitz rounds unless Gouenji insists on it or its Atsuya VS Kidou)

fave to go against:

-Kazemaru, Kazemaru doesn't take chess too seriously until it's a blitz match.

-Shirou, their playstyles match very well with one another

Endou : Exception on the "General understanding of the game"; Endou doesn't understand and chess doesn't understand him either. He has sketches of the chess moves he could make on the side since he's easy to forget what moves the pieces make. He has a general idea of it but it still manages to slip past his mind.

Despite this he has never lost against all Kidou ever, which makes him the unofficial reigning champion.

fave to go against:

-Kidou. he finds it funny how frustrated Kidou gets when playing with him, even if he is very lost on how to play.

He just loves it when All stars overthink their moves against Endou and Endou ends up winning, he finds it very funny and it's the reason he hadn't given up on understanding chess yet.

Atsuya: fuckieinfnekl ate the chess pieces /j

Genuinely very good at the game, loves blitz matches the most. Likes to play fast and swift, making very risky moves in most cases. Against Kidou he slows down a little to think about his moves more, One time the two got locked in a 3hr match, having to call it off for the day since it was getting late, but continuing it first thing in the morning.

fave to go against:

-Kidou, same reason as Kidou. He wants to see how fast Kidou can keep up with him, often taunting that he can't. it's all for fun though, is what they say, but the room smells like someone's going to die whenever they're against each other.

-Kazemaru, While Kazemaru CAN keep up with the speed, Kazemaru can't keep up with the moves at all times unlike Kidou. Atsuya still enjoys playing against him anyways.

Refuses to go against anyone but Kidou and Kazemaru.

Shirou: also very good, but he prefers slower games as opposed to Atsuya's fast-paced playstyle. Also less likely to take more risks depending on how the match is going.

faves to go against:

-Endou: his light-hearted playstyles make for calm matches, Shirou likes teaching Endou over and over again on how to play chess and is generally very patient with him.

-Gouenji: the right amount of pressure when being put against someone to play chess, otherwise Atsuya goes against them/Instructs Shirou on what to do.

Kazemaru: Most of the time just watches everyone else play while tallying up the scores/moves, But when he does play he's pretty flexible for all styles of playing. He loves playing blitz the most but doesn't mind slowing down everyone once and a while.

faves to go against:

-Atsuya: He likes the challenge Atsuya brings by making really risky moves and having to make up his mind on a move against it in quick successions.

-Endou: He likes attempting to find out what's going on in that brain of his, and while most of the time he succeeds against Endou, he never succeeds on finding his thought process.

[ubizoide]

HI UBI!!! TOP 5 favorite ships from Ina?? 👀👀

HIIII CHICKEN!!! 💛

Ofc!! That was really hard because I'm a multishiper 😭😭 I love so many couples at the same time hELP

1. Gensaku

Friends who'll go to hell together if that's what it takes. They are a duo, a perfect one, with close ties, mutual trust and support. I feel like they would live and die for each other (poetic license only, I don't want anyone dead here). They have a very strong emotional charge because in fact they have been through hell together and more than once. Anyway... They my everything

2. Somefubu

Holy cow, they are married!! Ughhh i love them 😭😭 Their whole development is so, so beautiful. Someoka slowly trusting Shirou and Shirou trusting him to the point of being the first person he tells about his problems... *Sigh* i want what they have.

3. Break trio

I don't know how to put into words how much I love them. They seem to complete each other in an amazing and adorable way. Goenji, Endou, Kidou, they needed to find each other to solve life's most difficult knots. Could they solve it themselves? Yup, but with all the support and love Not necessarily romantic, I think it's a love that goes beyond that) they have for each other, it became much easier and less painful. Break trio deserves more.

4. Tourika

Silly girlfriends. They are so funny together and they care so much about each other 🥺🥺 I love how Rika drags Toko into the most random situations possible. My dears 😽😽

5. FuGen

there are no reasons for this, I just like it a lot??? In OG their friendship gets a terrible start and in Ares they are good friends. But other than that? Absolutely nothing. FuGen just knocked on my door and as soon as I opened it, they never left 😭😭😭😭😭

[recurring-polynya]

Fic Writer Review -tag game

Ah, this looks like fun, I love statistics! Thanks to @jkrobertson​ for the tag!!

1. How many fics on AO3?

35, although 1 is a less-explicit version of another, and two of them are anthology fics of short fiction.

2. Total AO3 word count?

675,354 over two and a half years. I am very proud of this number!!

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Everything on ao3 is Bleach. I’ve written in both the X-Men and Batfamily fandoms, but that was decades ago. Oh! and Star Wars. I had one absolutely wild summer of Phantom Menace Obidala Fanfic.

4. Top Five by Kudos?

a little in love now and then (302)

The Letter of the Law (215)

Between Tides (195)

Call Me Back When the War is Over (189)

Squad Six is Jerks and other Stories, vol I (175)

5. Do you respond to comments, why/why not?

Yes, I try to respond to all of them, even though it takes me a while sometimes. I feel like if people take the time to comment then it’s the polite thing to do to respond. I do have a couple of readers whom I love who write really thoughtful and funny comments and sometimes we end up riffing, and I have definitely ended up incorporating those ideas into other fics.

I do not usually respond to review on ff.net because their interface is and you basically have to PM the person. I get very few comments on ff.net and they are generally very short anyway.

6. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t really write very much angst and even when I do, it usually ends on a hopeful note. Uh, maybe  Dear Wormwood ?

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

No.

8. Have you received hate on a fic?

Nope, never. People are generally very kind to me! Even times I’ve done stuff that people didn’t like, people are very polite about it. I’m actually kind of amazed about it myself.

9. Do you write smut?

Unfortunately.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope.

11. Ever had a fic translated?

Someone offered to translate one of my fics once, but I never got any follow-up on it. @sakizar made a podfic of Not Broken, Just Bent, that’s sort of like a translation!

12. Ever co-written a fic before?

Nope! I used to write a lot of shared universe fic with my sister and some other friends, but that was in a different lifetime. I wrote the dialogue for a @kaicko comic once, that was a lot of fun!

13. All-time favourite ship?

Renruki, no contest

14. What's a WIP you want to finish, but don't think you ever will?

I am nothing if not a closer. If I want to finish a thing, I finish it. I do sometimes relegate a WIP to the DOA pile, but it’s usually because I’ve lost interest in it. I did get overcome with a wave of anxiety today about whether or not I will ever finish The Heart is a Muscle as a series, because each part gets harder to write than the last and there is a time gap in there that I don’t have any ideas for (yet). I am confident that I will finish the next part, though, at least.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Banter. World-building. Putting in a lot of little interconnected details and themes. Balancing large casts. Complex and layered relationships between different characters. Characters who genuinely care about each other and who do their best, even if they screw up some times. Descriptions of food you will want to eat.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I don’t edit myself and sometimes I go off on gonzo tangents that don’t advance the plot. Making characters I like too perfect. I am not good at thinking up plots and plot trajectories and I get very stressed out about it. Perpetually biting off more than I can chew and then forcing myself to choke it down anyway.

17. What are your thoughts of writing dialogue in other languages?

I don’t know about dialogue, per se, but I’ll talk about other languages generally. The main reason it took me so long to get into writing Bleach fiction is that I was very intimidated by the idea of disrespectfully screwing up Japanese cultural stuff. Eventually, I just decided to Do My Best and try to do research and listen a lot and apologize if anyone ever called me on my mistakes As far as I know, I haven’t offended anyone.

I do not generally use honorifics, because a) there are a lot of subtleties and I felt like it was more responsible to avoid them altogether, and b) my writing style has a very American cadence and it didn’t seem to fit very well. I do use them sometimes, usually in short stuff, if it feels right.

I generally use Japanese words for the names of things that are inherently Japanese, like articles of clothing, foods, etc, and also for attack names and kidou and stuff like that. Sometimes, I will go back and forth between Japanese terms and English synonyms only for the sake of word variety (zanpakutou vs sword for example).

18. First fandom you wrote for?

I think it might actually be Batman: the Animated Series, except that it was written in a notebook and the “fandom” who saw it was “my sister.” The first online fandom I was involved in was X-Men comics in the 90′s.

19. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Probably Call Me Back When the War is Over , although I think my *best* fanfic is Hold On, Hold On

Tagging: Gosh, I dunno? @zabiume and @gizkasparadise and @thegreenfaery but only if you want to

[starline148]

I hope you feel better soon! ;u; For the ask meme, 001 with KdFd, GouTora and/or SomeFubu!

Hi! I’ve been really busy this past week but I’m better, thank you and thanks for asking too! I did the three of them because I just love all of them :D

001 Ship: KdFd

When I started shipping it if I did:

Here it's again the story of how my little brother with only 10 years opened my eyes and changed my life. So we were watching Inazuma Eleven 3rd season (before the rewatch) and I was watching the anime without shipping (or realizing) anything at that moment. Then my brother sighed and told me "Jude and Caleb should marry, they're so obviously in love" and I was like OMG it's TRUE. (Funny thing is that he has this good sense for canon ships, like he said Korra and Asami would end together when half first season was on and has done it with other couples too -also he could adivine who would fall on an ice skating rink, he would be a very good fortune teller-)

My thoughts:

They're my OTP. Like, they're the ship I like most of every ship I ship. And I have some old “growing with” ships in the list like pokeshipping, takari and harutake, which are from some animes that were truly important to me as a child and so are these ships.

I love Kidou and Fudou as individuals, as friends and as a couple. Fudou is my favourite character from Inazuma (and my favourite character in general). And well, I just adore their relationship so much, like they're so pure somehow. I love their moments, their episodes, their hissatsus. I was really excited when Killer Fields happened. And the match against Team K or the Demons/Fallen Angel. I love so much when they're holding hands, such a moment.

So, summarizing I LOVE THEM.

What makes me happy about them:

THEY, EVERYTHING about them makes me happy. I love watching anything about them. And I love creating drawings/stories about them because I just love them so much.

What makes me sad about them:

Ares/Orion. But as I don't like it in general… Something I missed was Kidou not returning to Teikoku in the end of OG. But I also would have liked them interacting in Go. Like, I want to rewrite Go movie so Fudou can go save Kidou when he is kidnapped.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Here I really have something. When they make Fudou not being faithful to Kidou just for drama or kinks. When I don't like a summary I don't go further but I found twice something not expected in tags or warning and well, went sad because to me they are LOVE made couple. 

Also, this is very particular and based in personal trauma. I don't like smoking Fudou. I don't like smoking characters in general, because my mother smoked when I was little and somehow this is a traumatic experience. But I can go with it. Like I'll read the story although I don't enjoy this specific little thing.

Things I look for in fanfic:

If they're there in a respectful relationship or going to it, I'm on board. I love them so much that I'll read almost anything with them. I even read a story where Kidou died and I didn’t like them but the story was beautiful.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

I can't imagine another person for them. And what's more I never saw Kidou as an easy partner. I think it's hard to go on with him based on his personality, but that's just my view of him.

My happily ever after for them:

While I like the idea of them working as professional football players I absolutely love the idea of Fudou and Kidou being the first ones to start the time travelling thing. Like first investigations, first ideas of how this is in fact possible, etc. Maybe not being able to travel, but putting the seeds for further investigations.

So, they marry after Genda and Sakuma. They’re in the Japan Football Team but as the same time they work in their own business of ingenery/physics helping with prototypes of really complex technology (I can see them working in collaboration with Tatsuya and Midorikawa). They have three kids and live in an expensive and luxurious flat near a park. They often travel to Italy, they even have a second residence there. They in fact (as any other couple you can ask me) have a long and happy married life. Kidou dies first, Fudou’s the last one of his friends and he makes a special bond with his great grandson Kidou Akira.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Fudou is the big spoon most of the time to cheer Kidou up. Sometimes despiste it is Kidou who hugs Fudou from the back.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Watching Happy Feet 😂😂 ok, seriously. I imagine them being very competitive so they enjoy any game they can play. Chess, Go, Super Smash Bros, Monopoly, any game. They enjoy playing and trying to beat the other so the winner can show dominance.

I also think they'd enjoy walking at night together and sitting on a bench (Kidou's romantic rival) just to breathe air and hold hands in silence, sometimes they'd talk, sometimes they wouldn't.

001 Ship: SomeFubu

When I started shipping it if I did:

The truth is that the first time I watched Inazuma I didn’t like Fubuki, the anime was in middle of the second arc and I didn't understand what was going on. It also happened someone I didn't like loved Fubuki. So it took me some time to like Fubuki and start shipping him with Someoka who is one of my favs. More truth to be said, Someoka was the one that helped me to like Fubuki XD The scene that started everything was the one of "being like the wind together" and AND the Ogre movie. When Someoka gives his T-shirt to Fubuki to defend Raimon, he didn't know him yet and still trust him so much. Being Someoka that meant a lot.

My thoughts:

I adore Someoka so for me is a bit unbalanced, I mean, I love Someoka so so much that Fubuki doesn’t get all my focus here. Anyways, this couple is just adorable, the thing I like most is thinking that Someoka would be so soft and tender with Fubuki, Someoka loves everything in him, he knows him so much. You can’t convince me that Someoka wouldn’t be the best boyfriend ever. And Fubuki would absolutely love him back at 200% or more, supporting his dreams, improving his self steem and being for Someoka when he needs it. I like to imagine them as one of these extra sweet couples.

What makes me happy about them:

I’m always happy when I know someone else ship them because they are amazing. But as they’re not canon there’s no so much content. BUT the only good thing Ares had to me was Someoka being in Hakuren Team (I don’t like how he was used there, but well… that’s another story). And I love watching art or reading of them.

What makes me sad about them:

People being assholes and insulting Someoka and Someoka’s fans. Especially when they ship Fubuki with Gouenji. Ship whatever you want to ship and leave the others alone. Don’t come insulting us.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Sometimes I find that SomeFubu relationship is portrayed as toxic as hell and Someoka is really abusive. And that makes me sad even if I’m not going to read that.

Things I look for in fanfic:

Fluff, comfort, daily life. Happy stories.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

I don’t have any particular ship for them aside from SomeFubu. But if not with Fubuki I wish Someoka to be with the BEST PERSON he could dream.

My happily ever after for them:

They live in a little house in a little town in Hokkaido. Someoka at least plays in the National Team and Fubuki is Hakuren’s Coach. They both play in a smaller local team too. When they are too old to play in the National I can see them running an Adventure and Excursion business, maybe aimed at children so they can enjoy and have fun at the mountain. They have a daughter and a fox Someoka rescued.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Someoka is the big spoon and he loves it.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity:

I really think they’d love to go skiing and snowboarding together, in general they’d love to enjoy snow and then go back home to drink hot cocoa. I also see them cooking together, being the main chef Someoka and Fubuki helping him with the little things like putting near the salt or taking the carrots out of the fridge.

001 Ship: GouTora

When I started shipping it if I did:

If I remember right it was in the match against Fire Dragon. But I’m not so sure with this ship, it could be sooner, but not later.

My thoughts:

I am usually don’t like so much ships where one of them starts with such an admiration for the other because I think they tend to not be healthy. But Idk, I just love them so much? I love Toramaru, I don’t usually talk or write about him but he is one of my favourite characters and I totally felt with this ship. I like the idea that Gouenji can be himself with him too, even if this means that he is sometimes a bit mean or impatient, not that he can mistreat Toramaru because he wouldn’t, just not need to be always perfect.

What makes me happy about them:

I love how their relationship evolves and how Toramaru wins confidence in the anime. I think that shipping or not shipping it’s a really nice relationship. And I also really really like Tiger Storm. I was also happy that in Go Toramaru is the only one of Gouenji’s friends to whom he not only told the truth but asked for help, like their bond is so lovely.

What makes me sad about them:

Not about them, but I was sad Toramaru wasn’t in Inazuma Legend Japan. I think he was in the bench, with Tachimukai, Midorikawa and all the others that didn’t appear in the Team, you can’t change my mind.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Not sure, I didn’t see many fanfic for them ;v; which is the most sad. So, the lack of stories.

Things I look for in fanfic:

As there are only a few fan fics of them I think I’d like whatever I can find if they don’t have my no-no (main character death, and so)

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

I don’t have any other for Gouenji but for Toramaru would be Gouenji’s sister Yuuka :,) (I prefer her with Yuuichi anyways).

My happily ever after for them:

Toramaru runs his Detective Agency and Gouenji plays in a national team (can be boring but they are football players so being professionals I suppose is the best for all of them ;v;). They live in Okinawa, near the sea. Being neighbours with TsunaTachi and HIjikata. They have a really really really big dog called Tiger because owning tigers isn’t allowed (as Gouenji discovered). They’d have 3-5 children, adopted from Hijikata orphanage. When retired Gouenji starts working as a doctor because he actually studied Medicine and because I fucking love the detective+doctor duo :D They have the best garden in Okinawa.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Toramaru is the big spoon or jet pack.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity:

They love going to the cinema together, Toramaru couldn’t go but a few times as a child because he had to help his mother so he is always super excited when they go to watch a movie. Once they grew having the best garden, it helps them to relax and keep stress away. But they always like to watch a good movie, specially if it’s about detectives. I also think they’d enjoy the sea a lot: swimming, surfing and all, once Tsunami teaches them how to love the sea.

[miximax-hell]

As always, it’s been a hot minute. But, uh, hey! I hope you’ve all been fine!

Can you believe that this is actually my 20th reference sheet? That’s crazy. I am hecking slow, but I honestly thought I’d have stopped doing this (way) before I reached the double digits. But, hey, I’m still kicking!

And, to honour such a number, it was about time to add another Raimon baby to this blog, so I’ve gone for one of my very favourites. Shishido is very dear to my heart for a variety of reasons (that I will make sure to explain thoroughly when the time for it comes) and I’ve had this miximax in mind for a very long time. In fact, I’ve been ruminating on it since @raynef-art (btw, today’s Raynef’s birthday, so go and wish her a happy birthday if you can!!) and I talked about Shishido on Skype years ago. When was that, even? 2016? 2017, perhaps? In any case, it sure has been extremely long. But, thankfully, all of that ruminating led to one of my favourite pairs in this whole project! Katrielle Layton is a fantastic fit for Shishido, and I will do my very best to explain why this is the case in this post.

So, for more on ShishiKat, please check under the cut!

As always, I like to use this first paragraph to talk a bit about random stuff, so feel free to skip it if you want. Long story short, I’ve spent the last few months (since mid-May or so) job hunting like a beast. Big ol’ companies from all around the world, like Rockstar, Revolution, The Creative Assembly/Sega or Build A Rocket Boy have shown interest in me, but it’s led nowhere so far, which is extremely frustrating. Heck, there’s a company who contacted me first and they still didn’t give me the job in the end. >:| But I did an interview last Thursday and I should get an answer soon, so let’s hope that goes well...! It’s an awesome job, close to where I live (so I wouldn’t have to move), the company is super successful and two friends are already working there. It’d be incredible to join them and keep progressing in my career. And, well, money doesn’t hurt at all either. Gotta get into the wheel of capitalism. Anyway, job matters aside, I’ve recently finished some games that have become personal favourites of mine, like Valkyria Chronicles and Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star (even if the first one was arguably better), but the one that undoubtedly takes the crown is Marvel’s Spider-Man, which shaped up to be a game as brilliant as Insomniac’s previous titles, if not even more so, and has become one of my favourite games of all time. Sadly, Spider-Man isn’t originally a videogame character, so I won’t be including him in this project (as much as that pains me). So we’ll have to take other routes if we want to have a Marvel miximax here... I’m on it, but suggestions are still accepted.

So, Shishido! Who doesn’t love Shishido? He’s just so lovely. Look at him! Look at him right now! How can someone without visible eyes be so PRECIOUS? Don’t you just want to channel the annoying aunt within you and pinch his cheeks and nose? Well, we still can’t do that, but we can try and do him justice by giving him a truly awesome miximax. (The quality of the art that accompanies said miximax may vary in quality, but that’s not Shishido’s nor Katrielle’s fault--it’s entirely mine for not being better.)

So, friends who have been here for a while and have a good memory may be thinking, “Hold on a minute, you! The Professor Layton franchise has already been represented within this blog--you miximaxed Fudou with Hershel Layton himself!” And you’d be right. You might even be thinking I’m betraying my own rules by using two characters from the same franchise. Well, that isn’t the case, as PL is a Level-5 franchise and I may (and tend to) use up to two characters from each franchise made by L5. It’s all here. But, even with all of that, there’s still a question that remains and that I figure many people might have in their heads: if Fudou is already miximaxed with Hershel, isn’t Shishido basically a copy? Does Katrielle really add anything to the table?

I’m glad you asked. Well, I’m glad I asked, because that’s what led to all of this. ww And, thankfully, yes. Yes, she does. But before answering that question, we have a much more important question to ask:

Who is Shishido Sakichi?

Hino, that lovely piece of work, is actually really fricking good (when he actually tries) at something I’m unable to name, hence why I will refer to it as “scattered storytelling.” It’s similar to environmental storytelling in the sense that we’re never directly told many things, but we can still figure them out thanks to the looks of a character, the scenarios we see, audio queues, etc. Video games offer many resources to build up rich environmental storytelling, but what Hino (and probably many others--it’s not like he invented the wheel!) does is give us hints scattered across different pieces of media to try and figure out what some of his undeveloped characters are all about. And let’s be real: original Raimon is a lovely collection of undeveloped characters. So let’s check out a few things about Shishido and see where they take us.

Shishido was one of the first members of Raimon, being one of the 7 players the team had before they were forced to look for more people to have a match against Teikoku. He was, however, replaced by Kidou when he joined the team, and he stayed as a benchwarmer until he got injured by Gemini Storm. Then, as he joined the Dark Emperors, if you talk to him in the game before the match, he mentions how he’s been pushing himself past his limit for a long time, only to keep feeling like he’s mediocre. Finally, during the match between Raimon’s older and newer members, he is shown facing Kidou and getting past him despite how afraid he was of engaging directly with such a big rival.

On top of that, his in-game descriptions go like this: “He is becoming the team’s key-man by developing his own pace,” (IE1) “His laid-back personality can make him the butt of his team-mates' jokes“ (IE2) and “The Aliea crystal has given him an invincible self-belief“ (IE2 DE). Let’s admit that it’s not a lot to go by, but maybe we can get something out of all of this.

As usual, I explain this better in the heat of the moment while talking to someone who’s ready to listen, so Raynef or my girlfriend probably got the better version of what I’ll be trying to explain now. However, those conversations are so old that I'm having trouble retrieving them, so... welp. ww Let me try anyway.

Judging by what we know about Shishido, we can try to figure out what his character development has been like. We get his first in-game description as soon as we can see him in our in-game menu; that is, before the first Teikoku match even takes place. At this point, aka at the very beginning of the game, Shishido is a player that is “becoming the team’s key-man.” Slowly, perhaps, but he is on his way. However, this process is halted abruptly when Kidou joins the team, as he replaces him as a regular first-team player. Now, a valid question would be, “why did Kidou replace Shishido and not any other midfielder?”

It would make no sense to get rid of Someoka or Kurimatsu to let Kidou in the pitch, as he’s not a forward nor a defender. But, among all the midfielders in the team, why Shishido? Why not Handa, Shourin or even Max (who is technically a forward, but has been playing as a midfielder, so it’d make a lot more sense to bench him)? The most obvious answer would be that everyone else has abilities that Kidou can’t properly replace/mimic/make up for; or, in other words, that Kidou is like an upgraded version of Shishido more than he is an upgraded version of any of the other characters. And what is Kidou, exactly? A brilliant midfielder with incredible control over the ball and a great strategist overall. It’s this last part that we’re most interested in: he’s a strategist. A game-maker, that is. What one could easily call a vital part of a team or, even, in more poetic words, a key-man. What Shishido used to be, or was going to become, before Kidou showed up to steal his spotlight. Not to mention the incredible pain one must feel upon being replaced like that... (This was best explained by @mimiflieder on her fic, Change of pace--it’s about Handa and Ichinose, but the same thing applies. I totally recommend checking it out!)

This theory is further supported (in sad ways) by his in-game description in IE2. His personality remains the same (laid-back and doing his at his own pace), but he has gone from being a key-man WIP to the butt of his teammates’ jokes. Sure, the jokes are blamed on this laid-back personality, but something doesn’t quite add up. Check out his quote while he’s a Dark Emperor: he’s been pushing himself too hard to achieve nothing. Is that really what you’d call ‘laid-back’?

In the best case scenario, everyone sees him as being laid-back and chill to the point of being funny: he’s not making a fuss about being replaced in front of his teammates. However, he’s been trying as hard as possible in secret to become the best he can possibly be... only to still be eclipsed by Kidou and the other talented members of the team in every sense.

In the worst case scenario, his attempts to improve are very much obvious to his team, and the lack of results or the gap between the two key-men not becoming any smaller is what makes him the butt of jokes (but I hate this scenario because Raimon babies are all sweet and supportive boys who’d never do this. I DON’T CARE IF TEENAGERS ARE CRUEL AND STUPID BY NATURE. RAIMON BABIES ARE BETTER THAN ACTUAL TEENAGERS, OKAY, AND THEY’D NEVER DO THIS. THEY ARE PRECIOUS LITTLE ANGELS.)

In either case, he was destined to be--heck, he might have already been in non-spoken parts of the game--Raimon’s game-maker, but when Kidou came around with his superior skills, Shishido became, simply put, obsolete. That made his self-esteem sink and eventually threw him in the arms of Aliea in a desperate attempt to finally be better and stand up to Kidou. That’s why his in-game description as a DE talks about his boosted self-esteem, much like Handa’s talks about how that jack-of-all trades is using the meteorite to become master of all.

And, of course, this makes that scene during that final match ALL the more relevant: not only does it signify the triumph of hard work and resolution over sheer talent, fleeting as it might be, but it’s also the end of a long, long journey of self-deprecation, self-improvement, guts and sheer fear. Shishido was literally SHAKING when he saw Kidou running towards him, but he pulled himself together and won. He was no longer the inferior one, the replaceable one, the laughing stock. Little and unexplained as it may be, it’s a truly emotional finale to his personal and unspoken journey.

(Another and more positive way to look at it is that Shishido is meant to become Raimon’s game-maker and key-man AFTER KIDOU LEAVES, so all this time by his side has been a massive training camp of two years to learn his ways and then add his own twist to everything he’s learnt. This leaves some issues hanging, but it will at least let me sleep tonight.)

What we have here is a pretty solid theory pointing at Shishido having what it takes to become a game-maker. But, hey, that’s just a theory! A GAME THEORY! ...And what this means is that there’s evidence supporting it, but we have no way to confirm it unless one of you guys can go and casually interrogateview Hino (and if you do, that’d kind of come in handy, actually). However, the pieces fall together a bit too well to be just a coincidence, right? At least, I think so. And even if they don’t, we don’t have much more to go by, so... it’ll have to do.

Anyway, we’ve (somewhat) answered the question about who Shishido is. It is, therefore, about time to answer the main question this post laid on the table: is Katrielle a good aura to use when her father is already part of this project? And, even if she is, why would Katrielle be the best match for Shishido? Let’s start by explaining what makes Katrielle non-redundant despite bearing her father’s surname and being very similar conceptually.

In essence, Katrielle and Hershel fulfill very similar roles: a smart person who likes puzzles and is hired to solve mysteries no one else can solve. But anyone who knows anything about these characters will know that, really, they are absolutely nothing alike.

Hershel is the perfect gentleman: well-behaved, modest, calm and cold-headed regardless of the situation, polite to a fault, boasts perfect manners, and he manages to get along with even the most unfriendly people in the world thanks to his infinite patience, unwavering kindness and the smile he has on his face whenever he greets someone. Not to mention that his investigation process is long-winded and meticulous, and keeps telling Luke to not make quick assumptions when he jumps into conclusions ahead of time.

Meanwhile, Katrielle is pretty much the polar opposite: proud (heck, the first episode of the anime has her saying her skills are better than her father’s!), funny, dramatic to a fault, jumps to crazy conclusions so fast that everyone around her is always surprised by it and doubts she even put any thought into them, has a quick temper sometimes, she works as a detective just for funsies (and glory, to some extent, as she’s constantly struggling to be taken seriously by people who’d rather talk to her dad), she’s easily swayed by yummy food, instinct and imagination move her much more than hard evidence... This alone is enough to make the personalities of ShishiKat and FudoLay totally different, but, of course, this train doesn’t run on personalities, but on powers and skills. So let’s discuss not what Kat offers, but what Shishido needs.

We’ve established that Shishido was a game-maker in progress. Now, let’s keep in mind that this project includes all of the main characters from IE, IEGO, IECS and IEGalaxy, and they could all potentially be sharing a side of the field with Shishido, so let’s see whom he is competing against.

Of course, we have Kidou, the genius game-maker, the absolute commander of the pitch and, well, a living legend trained by another living legend: Kageyama. He has a miximax too, but you guys have not seen it yet. In due time.

We have Fudou, whose natural intelligence is (arguably) on par with Kidou’s and has received some training by Kageyama as well, even if he didn’t reach the same level of legend nor acted as a game-maker nearly as much as Kidou did. Fudou is, however, enhanced by Hershel Layton, whose influence upon mixitransing helps Fudou stop being such a little shit. That allows him to focus enough on the game and on his teammates to surpass Kidou as a serious and cold-headed strategist who is able to treat every situation as a puzzle and find the precise moves needed to solve it. Not to mention that, of course, Layton boosts Fudou’s intelligence as well.

Shindou has his miximax, which turns him into a "gamemaker of truth who can appraise people and the general situation, while combining both stillness and motion." Pretty self-explanatory.

Taiyou and Hakuryuu, upon mixitransing, become "midfielders of unparalleled accuracy, who can see into the future and attack the enemy's weak spots with their analytical reasoning." These two aren't technically game-makers in Chrono Storm, but Zhuge Liang was a frigging strategist and these two are given analytical reasoning through their miximax. Not to mention they were probably game-makers when they were part of their original teams.

The way the canon tried to keep Shindou and Taiyou/Hakuryuu from overlapping was by casually disregarding Zhuge Liang’s strategist side and focusing on her Keshin and ability to see the future/what no one else can see, so we can scratch Taiyou and Hakuryuu, as they won’t easily be taking the role of game-makers anymore. We can also discard Kidou, as FudoLay completely outclasses him for the time being. (Look at me, I sound like I’m writing an article on Electrode for Smogon--) So, ShishiKat’s only real challengers are FudoLay and, uh... does Shindou’s miximax have any kind of fandom name? I heard people refering to Kirino’s miximax as Kirino d’Arc, but that’s about it. Anyway, to keep it simple, I’ll call it ShinOda until someone brings up something better.

So, yeah, ShishiKat is competing against ShinOda and FudoLay. ShinOda focuses on a complete control over when to move and when not to move, arguably to preserve his teammates’ and his own stamina and maximise what everyone can do with their natural reserves of energy. FudoLay, on the other hand, uses analytical thinking to find the most efficient moves in any given situation. As I mentioned, he treats every situation as a puzzle, and, as Layton would say, “every puzzle has an answer.” One specific and perfect answer that FudoLay excels at finding, using the minimum number of steps necessary and turning the solution into pure art. He is, however, still Fudou, so he’d probably push his teammates to the limit in rough ways in order to achieve that perfection he is aiming for. And it’s still Layton, so we can expect some long-winded thought processes that take long to pay off--but when they finally do, HOO BOY.

It's good being analytical and smart, but perhaps, just perhaps, Shishido could use a little something to make him different and stick out among his peers. Something that is a bit more... proactive. Unpredictable. Slightly impulsive. But still as witty as one can ever be. He needs to combine the brains with the brawn, and blend it all together with much-needed cheerfulness, since all the game-makers we’re dealing with here are cold or outright pricks.

Shishido needs to improvise to the point of making things up for no reason and eventually making them work in almost miraculous ways. Focus less on what’s in front of his eyes and more on what other possibilities could be there. Act more on instinct than on careful observation. Give commands that are a lot more roundabout that those of Shindou, Kidou or Fudou, but end up paying off in ways that not even he could always predict. Jump into the problem head-first and solve it in-situ instead of looking at it from afar and pondering for long periods of time. And, of course, among all of that, he needs an enormous self-confidence to pull it all off, as his premises may seem utterly ridiculous and he must believe in them whole-heartedly to convince everyone else.

Katrielle Layton checks every single one of these boxes. It’s Katrielle, and Katrielle alone, who can turn Shishido not just into a replacement for the times when Kidou and Fudou aren’t around, but into a true force of nature that can assist the team at all times. It makes Shishido useful and non-redundant--which is, of course, much more than the anime did for him. Let alone the manga, where Shishido didn’t even appear. (I mean, the manga gave us Tamano bby, but still--)

And the best part is that they don’t step on each other. ShinOda is fantastic (and I won’t comment on my own ideas), but no one is objectively better at being a game-maker than the rest. Different situations will call for different approaches, so their relevance will shift as the rivals change or as the rivals adapt to one style or the other. Or, heck, they can simply all work together to keep their rivals guessing and come up with even greater strategies that combine everyone’s fortes.

Also, I’m watching Katrielle’s anime with my girlfriend and that is what made me consider her for this project in the first place, so props to her! (But sorry for butchering the design, dear ww)

[flyswhumpcenter]

Bad Things Happen Bingo! The event where you send me requests according to this marvelous card! (Red cross is the completed prompt, character headshots are prompts I’ve already filled. I don’t have any request left, so feel free to send in suggestions for this card!).

Despite the initial idea of writing a prompt fill for something called the *Bad* Things Happen Bingo, I sure am a softie. This is fluff because all I've been writing lately is angst (but always with happy endings so fluff was bound to happen), and also to make up for all the angst I've written about the show lately. It's a quick and light fic because I really wanted to celebrate one of my all-time favorite characters' bday without being late as a train, so please excuse my lack of words for this one haha. And I'm also pulling out my "vague timeline" setting again because I was thinking of this story happening during the first season, but then I mentioned Tachimukai, so to heck with it. just take my offering. I'm just gonna say most likely after the third season of the original, where everyone is just a grade above. It works cuz none of the OG Raimon was in 3rd year lmao

Happy birthday Endou I love you and your smile and your absolute dumbassery

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Blazing Zenith

Summary: A team always makes things less frustrating, even if said frustating thing is a hospital stay.

Fandom: Inazuma Eleven (original series) Relationship: Endou & the original Raimon Eleven

Wordcount: 1.1 K words

Event hosted by @badthingshappenbingo

AO3 version available here.

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It’s frustrating.

It really is frustrating, no matter how he tries to twist things out.

It really is frustrating, no matter how he tries to twist things out and, in the end, he’s just trying to roll around in bed before it starts hurting again. Feels bad.

 The room’s boring. It’s white and grey, safe for pastel blues and yellows for the curtains, and even the view from the window is boring as far as he knows: from the third floor or so, all he can see is the blue sky of August. It’s the ideal weather for soccer and he’s sure that everyone else is having fun outside training, exchanging the ball, scoring goals or stopping shoots. Good for them, of course: a team has to train and get better, it’s part of what’s fun about soccer and sports in general. He’s sure everyone is happy, outside, playing around. They deserve that, obviously.

 Still, that doesn’t remove his frustration at being unable to go outside and play with everyone else. It’s not even his fault if he’s there: they said that it happened sometimes with people, that it was random and that there was nothing he could have done about it. In fact, on second thought, that’s even worse: at least, if he could have done anything about that, he wouldn’t be lying here with no purpose and nothing to do to keep his hands occupied.

God, being stuck in a hospital sucks, and it keeps getting worse.

 It’s boring to lie around in bed all day, without even being able to turn around, when he could be playing outside. Hospitals aren’t places he likes anyway: they’ve always been synonymous with bad things happening around him, including Gouenji’s sister being in a coma and all that’s meant ever since the team has learnt about it. He doesn’t like being there, restrained to a bed and all alone like this.

He’s also never liked being alone for long periods of time. He’s just used to having people around: friends, family, opponents of a day, rivals, classmates, teammates. He’s way too used to hanging out with his team to feel complete without them by his side. He may have only been here for a day or so, but he already misses everyone, and solitude rubs salt on his wounds.

(That’s how they say it, right? That sounds like a thing Natsumi or Tachimukai would say…)

 A knock on his door immediately catches his attention, causing him to immediately sit up, cringe because of his stitches hurting from the sudden commotion, and reply to whoever this is to enter with excitement. Finally, someone else than him, in this room!

He’s still kind of surprised when he sees a dozen persons or so barge into the room, hardly fitting in there without pushing against each other, but it’s not out of the ordinary for the Raimon Eleven. At least, it’s not weird or anything, to him.

 “I knew this was going to be a bad idea…” Kazemaru mumbles under his breath, ponytail disturbed by Shourin on one side and Shishido on the other. “We can’t fit in there, guys!”

“C’mon, I’m sure we can if we try harder!” Kurimatsu replies right afterwards, tiny hands lifted as to signal his position.

“S-sorry guys…” Kabeyama apologizes, trying to reduce the space he’s taking, to no avail: Someoka still looks bothered by being almost squeezed against the wall.

Seeing his friends in this funny situation this reminds me of the atmosphere in the club and he’s so grateful for this. It’s like bringing the club to his room!

 “Hi everyone!” He greets them, ignoring the numb pain lingering from his moves, waving his hand at the group.

“Hi, Endou,” Gouenji reacts with crossed arms and somehow outside the mass, back against the wall. It doesn’t seem to make Someoka any happier.

“I’m really glad you’ve all come!”

The entire mass says hi in their manner, with delays in-between themselves, yet in the end he still grins at having some company at last.

“I can’t breathe…” An unidentified whisper, most likely Kageno’s. “Guyyyyys…”

 Then something hits him on the head.

“Wait, guys. What’s bringing you here? You’re not training?”

“Are you kidding?” Kazemaru pushes aside Shourin and Shishido to show himself.

“It’s not the same without you, Captain”, Kabeyama explains while fiddling with his fingers.

“What they’re trying to say is that they couldn’t focus and would rather pay you a visit,” Kidou ends the topic, arms crossed and smirking.

“Guys…” He doesn’t quite know what to say, but he tries to collect himself anyway. “Thank you so much…”

“It’s just a visit, no need to get all emotional over it,” Someoka chimes in.

 He feels a bit embarrassed by the remark, but he laughs it off anyway and smiles to his teammates.

“It’s still really nice to have you guys here! How’s training?”

“It…” Handa chuckles awkwardly. “…didn’t go as planned, I suppose.”

“Yeah… Something like that,” Shourin confirms, not any easier about the situation.

“I see…”

 The conversation derails on training as he tries to give everyone advice and tips, but in the end, the topic doesn’t revolve around soccer for very long, which is odd all things considered. Still, he very much enjoys the company nonetheless, so he doesn’t mind. They’ll talk about soccer later, he guesses.

“How long are you staying at the hospital for, Captain?” Kabeyama asks, smiling, but with eyebrows slightly frowned.

“I hope not for long! It’s just not the same without the Captain y’know!” Kurimatsu adds.

“I think they said a week or so… For stitches or something,” he’s not even sure himself, all things considered.

“They’re right to be cautious and have you stay here for a little while,” Kidou says, the group’s attention focusing on him. “We wouldn’t want you bleeding during practice because it’d have reopened, don’t we?”

“Wait, Captain, why are you in the hospital for in the first place?” Shishido asks, sounding lost. “I think I missed the memo…”

“What’s the word again?” His memory fails him. “A…”

“Appendicitis,” Kidou saves the day yet again.

“Yeah, that!”

A couple “ooooh” echoed in the room.

 The light-hearted chattering he’s missed for a day suddenly comes to a halt when a point gets brought up.

“Don’t you think we’ve all forgotten something, guys?” Gouenji asks, arms still crossed.

“Oh, that’s right!” Kabeyama is the first to react.

The others follow suit, none without funny reactions to witness.

“Forgot what?” He asks, confused. It seems to be a great deal to them.

 He may have forgotten about it until this moment, but Mamoru still feels happy tears when he hears the collective message they had to convey to him:

“Happy birthday!”

And, in that moment, he’s the proud captain and friend of the Raimon Eleven.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Reading Long - March 2019

Volume’s read: 12

As per usual, no spoilers unless otherwise tagged and I obtained all of these volumes in Japanese from Bookwalker.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata 8 by Fumiaki Maruto

A welcome breather after the last few volumes of non-stop drama. It felt a lot more like the early volumes but I enjoyed it anyway. I swear Katou’s relationship with Eriri is the true love story of this series. Even though it’s only been a couple of months since I read the first two volumes, I couldn’t help but be nostalgic about the events in them along with the characters, as if a year had really passed for me too.

Sword Art Online: Mother’s Rosario by Reki Kawahara

Since I read the interview with Kawahara Reki where he talks about wanting to write a proper yuri series someday, my interest in this series was renewed. I rewatched the anime and genuinely enjoyed the first two seasons, though I still dislike Phantom Bullet arc (mostly because GGO just doesn’t look like much fun to me) so I wanted to read some of the light novel and figured I’d start with my favorite arc.

Even though this volume doesn’t hit me as hard as it did when I read it in English as a teenager, I still really like this volume. I’m one of those people who was annoyed by how little presence Asuna has in Fairy Dance and Phantom Bullet so I always liked that this volume gives her a lot of focus. And I LOVE Yuuki. One of Kawahara’s strengths has always been his ability to make the reader care about a character with only a couple of pages. Despite how little time she has, Yuuki still means a lot to me and I love her relationship with Asuna so much. One issue I did have with this book though was how many pages at the beginning were dedicated to recount the events of previous volumes. I already know all this and I doubt there are many readers who didn’t know all this. The other issue I had with this volume is how the last chapter tries to tie the arc into the main story. It didn’t need to and I think it shifts the focus of the arc away from Asuna and Yuuki’s relationship too much. And, as much as I enjoyed reading it, I think the anime surpassed it. Aoi Yuuki’s performance as Yuuki is breathtaking and the action scenes are so brilliantly animated. I did like having more insight into Asuna’s thoughts though so if you liked this arc in the anime, definitely check out the light novel!

This volume was published in English by Yen-Press as Sword Art Online: Mother’s Rosary so check it out if you’re interested!

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata 9 by Fumiaki Maruto

I’m not sure what to say other than that this keeps up the quality of the series? It was a good volume.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata: Girls Side 2 by Fumiaki Maruto

Well this was a surprisingly satisfying read. Like the first volume, this volume is split into two parts with the first part taking place after volume 8 and the second after volume 9. The first part has three stories in it all focusing on characters and relationships that don’t get much focus in the main series. For example, the first story focuses on a conversation between Michiru and Utaha who I don’t think have had a real interaction since vol. 4. Even though these stories aren’t very plot relevant, I enjoyed them anyway. The second part is much more plot relevant and has some really good character moments for Izumi, Eriri, Megumi and Michiru and also includes a guest appearance by Mayu (from Koisuru Metronome manga)! The stories here were really good and the epilogue really tied them together nicely. I’m not sure whether this volume will be necessary to understand the story of future volumes but I get the feeling that the events that happen in the volume will be necessary to understand the characters and their relationships with each other.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata 10 by Fumiaki Maruto

Once again, Maruto takes a typical light novel volume premise and quickly turns it into a dramatic affair. The cover and the colour illustrations are a lie! This isn’t a beach/swimsuit volume but it is an Utaha volume and a good one. It made me remember why I loved Utaha in Koisuru Metronome and why I still do. I’m a bit anxious about vol. 11 given that the cover and the colour illustrations show Megumi being embarrassed which is very out of character for her.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatakata 11 by Fumiaki Maruto

Welp, Maruto finally did it. He finally made Megumi into a boring heroine for me. I can’t get into too much details about what I disliked about this volume without spoilers but I think one thing that was really missing was scenes without Tomoya in them. I get that he’s the protagonist and the narrator but in the first few volumes, there sections that were just dialogue that showed Megumi interacting with people who weren’t Tomoya. I think we haven’t had a scene like that since vol. 7 and GS doesn’t fully replace it. Those scenes made Megumi feel like a full character and they were needed here. The reader needs to be shown that she has a life outside of Tomoya.Without that, she’s boring.

This is the last volume in the series that I own so I won’t be reading the last four volumes (including FD and GS) until Bookwalker has them on sale again.

Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu 1 by Mizuhito Akiyama

A few years ago I read The Picture of Dorian Gray. It was the first time I had read any novel that was written before I was born and I remember being so amazed at how paragraphs could last an entire page. Reading Iriya gave me a similar feeling to that, even if it’s not nearly as old as Dorian Gray. It’s amazing to see how much the light novel medium has changed since the first volume was released in 2001. There were so many descriptions of settings and movements and some of these lasted for more than a page. Due to this, I had a tough time reading this volume. There were a few times where I lost the plot and had to go back and read the scene from the start again. The writing style is smooth and the relationship between the two leads is cute but I can’t say I found the plot very interesting. I don’t quite understand what most people find charming about this series yet but I’m looking forward to possibly finding out in volume 2.

As for the anime, I saw it a long time ago and barely remember it and don’t have easy access to rewatch it. Looking at the episode summaries from Wikipedia, the first episode adapts around 170 pages so I’d imagine it’s pretty rushed.

Torikago Miko to Seiken no Kishi by Izuki Kougyoku

A short ~90~ page story from the author of Mimizuku to Yoru no Ou. It’s a pretty standard fantasy story about a legendary knight and I can’t say I cared for it. I didn’t really buy the relationship between the two leads but I did really like the ending. Even if I didn’t care much for it, I’d still recommend it to people who liked Mimizuku.

Kidou Shitsuji by Takeshi Matsuyama

Well, this was a pleasant surprise! This is by the author of Ame no Hi no Iris and Koori no Kuni no Amaryllis and the English title is Robot Butler but the titular character is not the funniest thing about it. Instead, most of the scenes I found humorous involved the female lead, Liese and her attempts to get Bel to notice her through the use of shoujo manga tropes. Of course, they all backfire on her. She tries to wink flirtatiously at him and he just asks if she has dry eye. She tries to run into him with a piece of toast in her mouth… only, they’re in the middle of a hallway and he catches her effortlessly when she tries to run at him. Liese’s cluelessness when it comes to romance is genuinely charming and of course I loved her relationship with her best friend, Flora, who introduced her to the concept of shoujo manga in the first place and encourages her every step of the way. The other notable character is Flora’s robot butler, Victoria who seems to be the only one who knows how much of an idiot Bel actually is. In addition to how funny it is, the volume has some surprisingly tight world-building and chapter six is truly awesome. There are so many things that get revealed and there’re big epic fights! I liked it a lot. Unfortunately, I didn’t care for the ending. I thought it was a bit of a cop-out though I suppose it did end it cleanly in the way that I am not desperately wanting a second volume. Anyhow, I’d highly recommend it and I’m looking forward to reading more of Maruyama’s works in the future.

Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu 2 by Mizuhito Akiyama

Despite my lukewarm opinion of the first volume, I actually quite enjoyed this volume. Surprisingly, Iriya isn’t in this volume much and the volume instead gives the reader some insight into some of the side characters thoughts, particularly Akiho. My favorite part of the volume was when we got to experience the school’s cultural festival through the eyes of the Asaba parents. It was an interesting choice and one that I quickly got behind. Rather than being just background dressing, Asaba’s parents are actually pretty interesting and fun without being too eccentric and silly. One thing I think this series does really well is that I never feel like the author is treating the characters like adults. A huge issue with a lot of fiction is that they tend to think of teenagers as adults instead of just a pile of people who are still growing and learning how to make decisions. (Saekano has this issue too, btw.) But these characters are still in their first year of middle school and they act like it. I think I’m starting to get the charm of this series now. This volume was very fun to read and I enjoyed it enough that I started volume 3 right away.

Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu 3 by Mizuhito Akiyama

I’m starting to realize that I like this series the most when it’s not being told from Asaba’s POV. I still like his character and a lot of the impactful scenes come from his POV but the most memorable part of this volume was chapter 1 where Akiho and Iriya have an eating competition and become friends. I liked it a lot, especially since Akiho kind of becomes Iriya’s “Mum friend” afterwards and Kiyomi starts affectionately calling Iriya “Kana-bu” which I thought was pretty darn cute. One thing that I really like about the dynamic between Akiho and Iriya is that Akiho is never portrayed as a straight-up bitch trying to get between Asaba and Iriya. Instead, she’s just a girl learning how to deal with her feelings. And Iriya is never portrayed as just a victim of Akiho’s attitude. Iriya is strong in her own way and can be very determined when it comes down to it. But enough about them, this volume had a lot of character development for Asaba. I really liked that he asked Iriya what she wants. Does she want to keep things the way they are? Or does she him to help her? He asks and I really liked that. I also think the way he runs to the bathroom in uncomfortable social situations is hilarious and adorable. In general, despite this volume having pretty heavy plot developments, I just found all the characters to be really cute. Anyway, I’ll be taking a short break before reading the final volume but I am really enjoying this series so far.

Ankoku Kishi wo Nugasanaide 1 by Shinichi Kimura

From the author of Kore wa Zombie desu ka? this story starts when a high school student called Najima’s class gets a new transfer student who just looks like a suit of armour wearing a female uniform. Honestly, I found it boring which is why I’m not putting much effort into the premise summary. It was fine, I guess, but I didn’t laugh at all and I found the characters to be bland. But I bought the first three volumes when they were first released so I kinda have to read them.

[inazuma-eleven-translations]

DanSen Novel 1

So I’ve just finished reading the novel version of the Inazuma GO vs Danball Senki crossover movie and I wanna talk about my favorite parts. And when I say ‘finished reading’ I mean ‘read all the Inazuma parts and skipped the DanSen parts because if Muraku’s not there I’m not interested’.

An Overview

The book is 198 pages long and covers up to the scene where Fran is ‘rescued’ by Tenma and the others.

The novel expands on the background of both the birth of Shinsei Inazuma Japan and the LBX.

There’s new scenes that aren’t in the movie.

It’s very slow-paced. The first 100 pages focus slowly on the lead up to the exhibition match between Shinsei Inazuma Japan and Inazuma Legend Japan.

A translation of Volume 1 can be found here.

So I won’t be translating it, buuut like I said above I wanna talk about my favorite parts. Note: I will use MY personal translations (which are very liberal because LOL) not the translations from the link above.

Araceli’s Personal Fav Parts

So the first scene that caught my attention is the opening of Chapter 1 Two Worlds, where Tenma is running late to after school practice

Matsukaze Tenma was only a first year, but he was the Captain of Raimon soccer club. While he still had a few more months of being part of the soccer club’s kouhai - junior - members, soon enough new members would join and in turn become Tenma’s kouhai. Tenma knew that meant at the same time the current third years would graduate, so Tenma felt a strong responsibility to take his role as Captain very seriously.

‘I’ve got to pull it together! From next year I’ll become a senpai!’

Two things here. 1 - the third years graduating is acknowledged. I don’t feel particularly strongly about Amagi, Sangoku and Kurumada but it’s still emotional for the soccer club... members leaving... The second thing is TENMA AS A SENPAI PLEASE I WANNA SEE. This is so cute. He’s already shown he’s becoming more mature and responsible in Chrono Stone and Galaxy. Tenma senpai... He’s just too tiny and cute to be a senpai...

Also: 

Gouenji, Kidou and Endou are described as Raimon’s Old Boys which is... funny to me... Since Minamisawa calls Kidou etc.. an ‘old man’ in the drama CD. Hah.

The scene is as follows: Hibiki has an important announcement for certain players he called to Raimon’s soccer building. It reminds me of the original series episode 69 - Birth of Inazuma Japan!

Tsurugi’s eyes are, once again, described as ‘long and sharp’. This reminds me of the scene from the games when Aoi says that ‘Tsurugi’s eyes have a really kind expression when he smiles’. Uhh... So Kyousuke has really pretty eyes I guess.

Tenma calls Yukimura Yukimura-san. Cute.

Tsurugi lets Tenma know Hakuryuu is there too.

Then GOOD PART:

Nowadays, Hakuryuu and Tsurugi were good friends who would sometimes meet up and practice together.

They meet up and practice together?? Hakuryuu and Tsurugi BROTP. Hakuryuu’s school is still not confirmed though, lame.

Then BEST PART IN THE WHOLE BOOK - a physical description of Kirino. I cannot... describe... my sheer joy... This is the canon physical description of Kirino...

His long hair was gathered on both sides and hung down low. While he had a gentle-looking attractive face, his eyes shone with resolute determination.

My baby is once again canon beautiful and I’m happy. Shut up.

Next Hibiki tells them they will be the new Inazuma Japan and play an exhibition match against the Inazuma Legend Japan. They’re nervous but all accept one by one, until it’s Hakuryuu’s turn. Hakuryuu’s been quiet the whole time, until Tsurugi teases him about being afraid. The smartass replies:

‘So the reason I’m here is basically because there’s no way these guys can win against the legendary players by themselves’?’

Show off. Last to accept is Kariya, who’s basically bullied into joining the team, even though he’s really reluctant. Kariya exists to be teased by everyone lol.

Then Hibiki tells them there will be a training camp for a week before the exhibition match. So they all have this training camp together at Raimon school and that means that they all spent all that time together THAT I DON’T GET TO SEE ;w; Don’t tease me like that... No wait - do tease me. I want Hakuryuu Tsurugi bromance.

Locker room scene. Inazuma Legend Japan.

Gouenji is described is wearing his hair in ‘pomade’ style for the first time in a while. According to my dictionary pomade comes from French, but I don’t know what it means. I guess spikes?? Anyway, to his teammates this feels ‘refreshing’, and Endou says it it feels like his ‘old friend has returned’. Gouenji feels the same about Endou wearing gloves.

Kazemaru fixes his hair in front of the mirror. Nice. My boy needs a mirror to make sure he looks pretty. No hastily tied ponytail for him - he’s gonna do it the neat way. Yes I know I read way too much into this.

Okay, we’re skipping the whole match to land on Fei’s description.

His light green hair looked like two long rabbit ears...

RABBIT BOY CONFIRMED.

Next the super super cute part that talks about how the Ina girls and the Danball girls bond.

The girls gathered together and talked about the differences in fashion between the two worlds. They talked about the stylishness and cuteness of the outfits they were wearing, and got a feel for the atmosphere of each of the world based on what celebrities were popular over there.

THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO BE ERASED and they’re talking about cute boys and clothes. My kind of girls. I’m not even kidding. I wanna hear this conversation so bad. What idol does Aoi-chan like??

And before anyone worries ‘this is so sexist, having the girls talk about clothes and shit’ nahhh man this is pretty much exactly how I expect Japanese girls to act with each other lmao.

Last scene of interest: Yukimura, Kirino, Hakuryuu and Tsurugi are on water-gathering duty and have a short scene that’s not in the movie.

-Yukimura asks Kirino a question and calls him Kirino-kun. Why’s this matter? Means Yukimura’s more polite than I thought. 

‘Kirino-kun, what do you think of Yamano Ban and the others?’

-Kirino takes a while to answer the question, as if he’s choosing his words carefully. Kirino personality UP! He’s careful about what he says. I love this boy.

-Hakuryuu calls Yukimura by Yukimura-san. So Hakuryuu IS a first year. I didn’t know that but it explains a lot.

‘Thank you, Yukimura-san! To be honest, I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a while.’

-Hakuryuu is super suspicious of the LBX crew, as is Yukimura. Kirino and Tsurugi are more willing to trust them, even if they’re also suspicious. Great foreshadowing - oh wait, this scene is not in the movie.

-Yukimura says the LBX gang might just be pretending to be their friends to get close to them so they can erase them too, but Kirino says he’s overthinking it.

Hakuryuu, however, sides with Yukimura.

‘I can buy Yukimura’s theory.’

Tsurugi tells him to cut it out, but Hakuryuu ignores him. LOL. I need more of these two, PLEASE.

And that’s it. For now. The book was fun. Read the translation if you like. And if you’ve anything you wanna add/ say please do!

[kiarikakw]

INAZUMA ELEVEN ARES IS GOING TO KILL ME.

I have to do this. I am going to give my opinion about the last trailer.

Because Level-5, Akihiro Hino and this franchise are killing me with hype.

PD: This is going to be a really long post xD

FIRST

I have to admit that I expected this. But it has surprised me anyway. AND KIDOU LOOKS SO GOOD, OH MY GOD.

 And he has his cape, I’m SO happy.

 But I hope Haruna will be in Ares too.

 THEN WE HAVE THIS.

 APHRODI LOOKING SO FUCKING GOOD AND HANDSOME. THE NEW ZEUS (Sorry I don’t know the japanese name) LOOKS AWESOME.

AND THEY’RE GOING TO PLAY AGAINST THE NEW RAIMON.

And, please, the next picture is too much for everyone, you have been warned.

 FUDOU, MY LOVE.

 WHY IS EVERYONE LOOKING SO GOOD IN ARES?!

 I love it so much.

 And SAKUMA.

Oh my God Sakuma.

And KAZEMARU too.

TEIKOKU GAKUEN, THE MOST FABULOUS TEAM.

Seriously, they all look like models.

AND LET’S NOT FORGET ABOUT THEM.

Atsuya why are you so cute. And why is Someoka so angry.

AND SHIROU.

TOO MUCH. AND THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

 Because then we have this.

SHE WASN’T THE MANAGER. SHE IS A PLAYER.

YOU DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS, BECAUSE I LOVE FEMALE PLAYERS. Mostly because there aren’t much of them on Inazuma... But I wonder which is her position.

Then we have the new Hiroto. Or, well, the real Hiroto.

 OKAY, at first sigh I didn’t like him. But he’s growing on me and I know we are going to get a lot of amazing scenes between he and the old Hiroto or the now known as Kiyama Tatsuya.

AND THERE HE IS. LOOKING SO FUCKING HOT. (Sorry for the words, but... OH MY GOD.)

First Fudou, now Hiroto (Tatsuya). Akihiro Hino wants to kill me.

And, of course, the new Aliea Gakuen.

I kind of like the new uniform, they look great. And the sponsor is “Alien” I LOVE THAT.

BUT WHERE IS MIDORIKAWA.

I wanted to see him, but it’s okay. For the moment >.>

 And the next thing is the one that most of us expected.

GOENJI IS BACK TOO AND HE IS ON KIRKWOOD (Sorry again, I don’t know the name in japanese) AGAIN. And he looks hot too xD

And the three brothers (I don’t remember their names, sorry) are back, too. But they were SO FUNNY.

Now, this guy looks like a mix between Toramaru and Tenma. And the sponsor of his team is is “Panda” xD

But THE THING with this team is THIS...

ENDOOOUUU??!! TELL ME THIS IS HE!!

Then we have Haizaki and Yuuma “fighting”. The animation looks really incredible, I repeat that the matches are going to be AWESOME. 

And it looks like Yuuma has his problems too and I’m very curious about it because he is one of my favourites at this moment from Ares.

 BUT THEN HAPPENS THIS:

THE RAIMON MANAGER AND HIM KNOW EACH OTHER. And this is a little lame but... I kind of ship them. She seems to care about him or knows something and she looks worried. Yes, for me, they make a cute couple (now is when they’re siblings or something like that xD) But first, I have to know the context and the story. Ares, come to us soon PLEASE.

And the other guy is the goalkeeper. Cool, and I don’t know why but i love his design. And the manager is really pretty and beutiful too^^

KIRINA I LOVE YOU. AND NOT BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE SAME PRETTY EYES AND BASICALLY THE SAME NAME AS KIRINO. But again, I need to know his story and all of that first.

And the new Raimon will have problems with Kira Star.  

Kidou epic and fabulous as always.

And, Asuto Inamori, the new main character, will be the one who never gives up. I love him and I think that he deserves MORE LOVE. He is like a ball of sunshine just like Tenma and Endou (Literally, he is in fron of the sun xD)

THE OPENING IS SO CATCHY AND AMAZING. IT IS GOING TO BECOME ONE OF MY FAVOURITES FOR SURE. And they give us more pictures of the characters and teams.

This is my favourite. And now we know that there are two main managers.

 And that’s all of it.

 Thank you if you’ve read all of that ^^

[recurring-polynya]

I was wondering: what do you think Kazui and Ichika's powers would be? Their parents are super powerful, so would their powers reflect their parents' powers, or would it be something more original? I've heard theories that Ichika is some sort of genius or something, because she had on the Soul Reaper outfit instead of the school clothes. And Kazui is probably strong too, considering he knows how to become a Soul Reaper. And they're both just kids!! (It's a random question, but I'm curious.)

It’s funny that anyone would ask me this, because to be honest, I am Not That Into Ichika and Kazui. Part of it is that what is so enchanting about Bleach to me is everyone’s rich and layered backstories, and “kid of existing characters” is about as uninteresting as you can get. I mean, epilogue children are fine, I have no problem with that, but I’m not sure I care that much about them. Two, I have my own kids, I am on Tumblr to *get a break from* children. Three, I find it vaguely upsetting that Renji and Rukia had a kid so soon after getting married, I wish they had more time to have gonzo sex on every flat surface in their house, you know both of them are ~bananas~ in bed. (I mean, they probably had sex before they got married, but I tend to assume they got together fairly late in the game, also newly married sex is its Own Thing) My only explanation there is that they got married *because* they were ready to have a kid, I am sticking with that. I also would have accepted Ichika being conceived in the Royal Realm, but the timing doesn’t work out. I am generally against accidental pregnancies, but that would have been lit as f. I am not even all that sure that Rukia would want kids, although Renji is Extremely a Dad, and I think she would enjoy raising a family with him (I legit think he does most of the work and it works out very well for everyone).

Back to the business at hand. Uh, so I have seen several people give Ichika lightning powers (I am specifically thinking of @gizkasparadise, see here or @acompletenonentity ‘s very cool bankai design) and I generally approve. The tsuba of her zanpakutou is lightning shaped, which picks up the lightning designs on Renji’s. Also, Rukia’s powers are wintery and Byakuya’s are spring, so having some summer thunderstorm powers would be cool. In battle, I want her to have Big Renji energy. I love Renji in a fight, and I especially love him in a group fight, picking off a hundred low-level dudes so that Rukia or Ichigo can get to the boss. To that end, I’d like Ichika to have something with some reach, maybe a kusarigama or a naginata? 

Kazui is baby, I have never given a second of thought to his powers.

That being said, you asked ME this question, and you’re gonna get a Polynya Answer, whether you wanted one or not, and that means I am only capable of thinking about this in the context of The Narrative.

So, if I were charged with writing a Bleach Continuation, the premise would be this: Yamamoto died in the Quincy War, which means he gets reborn in the World of the Living and is a only few years older than Our Kids. My manga would revolve around Shitty Teen Yamamoto getting attacked by 1,000,000 very powerful people he does not remember doing dirty. Furthermore, there’s something that Yamamoto sealed up or whatever he’s the key to unlocking again, so Soul Society can’t just let him get killed like a bitch, he needs to regain some powers and learn the power of friendship, blah blah blah. For Reasons, he ends up in the protectorship of the Disaster Duo of Ichika and Kazui.

During one of my first watches of Bleach, I had the idea that the zanpakutou spirits were either “reincarnated” Soul Reapers, or that they were re-used, as in when a Soul Reaper dies, their zanpakutou spirit will, at some point, attach themselves to a new one. I still like this idea (I think Hyourinmaru is canonically like this, actually?) To that end, Ichika, who fancies herself a rough-and-ready dirtbag like her folks, Big Squad 11 energy, ends up with the Extremely Venerable zanpakutou spirit of some famous Kuchiki hero who died 900 years ago. I’m thinking some ancient dragon-spirit/world turtle thing who with long mustaches who is just So Extra and Ichika is like “uhhhh” and Renji and Rukia are like “uhhhhh” and the Kuchiki are like “NO PLEASE” and Byakuya, who has still not managed to get remarried and have heirs is like “THIS IS MY TIME.” Anyway, her zanpakutou is a Chinese long chuan sword like Green Destiny from Crouching Tiger. She’s primarily a physical fighter like her dad, but she’s also a very skilled kidou user, and is a well-rounded fighter overall. She’s not exactly by-the-book, but she knows the Correct Way to Do Everything.

Kazui’s powers are just batshit chaos, he does what he wants. Half the time, he’s like “I’m just gonna reverse the flow of time which will suck us into another dimension” and Ichika’s like “that’s not a thing, you can’t–” and then he does it. “I’m just gonna go into my Resurrection.” “You don’t– oh dang, you do.” And then, the other half of the time, he can’t even do simple normal things, like he can’t sense other peoples’ reiatsu or something. He absolutely cannot do kidou. His zanpakutou spirit is straight up teen Masaki. 

I LOVE Everything But the Rain, and the first time I read it, when Masaki and Isshin throw their lives away for 0 dollars in order to save each other, my first reaction was “These people are 100% Ichigo’s parents, this is perfect” and then being Orihime’s son on top of that, Kazui is just an elemental force of rescuing his precious friends and having Masaki riding shotgun Does Not Help. Ichika likes to think she’s a wild improvisor, but she’s been a shinigami since the day she was conceived. Like her father before her, she is actually the counterintuitive order muppet of the relationship.

Finally, I will not accept a fully grown Ichika who is less than 5’11” with her hair down. You bet your ass she’s covered in tattoos and owns 800 pairs of sunglasses.

Kazui is 5’5”.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.