#appearance

[tvrningout-archived]

IMAGES OF FURUKAWA MAKIKO

     change will always be terrifying, but i cannot help looking at this spring's bloom with envy. i, too, want to blossom, and that desire may finally outweigh the fear.

   pg. 4/?

[shizukateal]

Grimm Variations - Episode One Review: Cinderella

Ok, starting with the heavy hitter aren't we Grimm Variations? Really have that much confidence in yourself in spite of your kinda ugly art direction? Ok. Alright. I see how it is.

GATHER 👏 ROUND 👏 CHILDREN 👏 LET'S 👏 TALK 👏 ABOUT 👏 GOOD 👏 VS 👏 BAD 👏 SUBVERSION 👏 SLASH 👏 DARK 👏 TAKES.

This is actually a pretty fascinating example, since it has both cases simultaneously.

(sorry for the shitty gif, I don't know how to reduce size without sacrificing quality)

Let's start from the beginning: This version of Cinderella takes place somewhen at the intersection of the Meiji and Showa Periods in Japan, which is to say in the Roaring 20's. Instead of our usual protagonist, the story centers on Makiko and Sawako, our prospective Evil Stepsisters, as their mother Tsuruko, a former geisha, marries Viscount Otawara, who has a single daughter: Kyoko. Kyoko enthusiastically welcomes her new family with open arms, even gifting precious things to her new sisters, who clearly love the luxuries of the social ladder that they've climbed. However things take a turn for the dark as Kyoko starts manipulating everyone around the house with wounded gazelle gambits to convince them that her sisters are mistreating her and usurping her place. The story thus becomes about Makiko and Sawako going to the ball (hosted by a count's son) to try and escape their Evil Little Stepsister.

There's also some background stuff at the start of the episode about the brothers grimm and that little girl Charlotte up there, who appears as a living doll of Kyoko's, but since none of that is explained here we're just gonna focus on what this dark take says thematically about the tale of Cinderella.

Right from the beginning the overturn starts when the first scene makes it clear that Cinderella's dad holds all the power in the relationship with the Evil Stepmother, whereas the Grimm and Perrault versions make her the one wearing the pants. It's never explicitly stated in either of them, but it's natural to infer that the Stepmother is of a higher peerage than Cinderella's Dad to explain how she would hold power over him and his daughter when trying to rationalize the story, and it's a common plot point in adaptations. However, this alone a subversion does not make. After all, if you read trashy romance in aristocratic settings (like I do), you know that it is extremely common for social climbers to be presented as sniveling usurpers, who get arrogant and greedy and turn into bullies the moment they have a modicum of luxury and rank in spite of their Inferior Manners (unless they are the protagonist of course). Lots of Cinderella stories follow that formula.

And that's exactly what Kyoko uses against her stepsisters.

Makiko and Sawako are stupid. If their unrefined manners are forgivable and a simple matter of environment and time, the way they openly slobber over and covet the riches of their new house makes them no favors. When they think one of the servants stole jewelry from them (and it was a piece that Kyoko had given them at that) they immediately get angry and physically aggressive towards a person whom they were equal in rank perhaps mere days ago. It takes them too long to stop and realize that hey, no servant would openly flaunt a piece they'd stolen from their master, so maybe something else is afoot, but by then it's too late. The other servants of the house can no longer trust them, so of course they continually take the side of the poor, defenseless little mistress Kyoko.

The tale so turns into an interesting mix of one-part hitchcokean aristocratic horror-thriller, impulsed in part by the flaws of the protagonists, and I'd say around a quarter-part view into the hypocrisies of class. Makiko and Sawako's refusal to engage with the servants with respect and compassion, trying to act the rank they've ascended to, cuts them from a support network, even as they are handed wealth and luxury. However it is undeniable that because of their lowly origins and etiquette people view them with scorn, distrust, and antipathy, a fact that is driven home when they are the ones who get mean whispers and comments upon entering the ball. They don't stop from being victims in the narrative just because they aren't likeable. By contrast, Kyoko may wear old plain clothes and do house work, but because she's nice to the staff and is seen as the legitimate blood heir, everyone looks at her with compassion and chucks her unnaturally cheery disposition towards her circumstances to good breeding, to the point that she gets away with poisoning her stepmother for years until she dies.

Likewise, at the scene of the ball the sisters fail spectacularly at captivating their prospective Prince with their uncouth behavior, so all our Cinderella has to do is be pretty and make a scene in front of everyone for things to take its predestined course. Tsuruko dies that night thanks to her stepdaughter forcibly feeding her one last cup of bleach before she leaves. And even though everybody witnesses the sisters grieving over their mother's corpse, nobody has sympathy for them the next day, when Makiko becomes the head of the family at Kyoko's (clearly secret) behest. The moment the Prince appears and declares his intention to marry Kyoko, Makiko and Sawako are expediently given the boot to the ass and thrown out of the house. Thus both of them are forever expelled from aristocratic society... and forever free from Kyoko.

Cinderella has followed her usual course of ascending to a higher to a social strata while reclaiming her lost position thanks to the intervention of a powerful man... But it's the Evil Stepsisters who have escaped an abusive situation by leaving the comforts of status behind, which goes very specifically against the message the original story gives. What's more this is due to their own character development: they knew that Kyoko would sabotage them if they tried to escape her via marriage, so they baited her into pulling a stunt and deliberately sabotaged their own chances with the Prince so that he would take her away from them.

THAT, my guys, is actual subversion. THAT is commentary. It's impeccably brilliant...! Or at least it would be were it not for the biggest flaw in the story: Cinderella herself.

Near the end of the first act the sisters try to warn their mother about Kyoko's nefarious acts. Of course, she doesn't believe them. After all, she asks outloud, what does Kyoko get out of acting like that? It seems that the scriptwriter didn't realize that asking that question explicitly in dialogue would put it at the forefront of the audience's thoughts before the whole thing went into print.

I mean the script makes Kyoko talk about her family being her precious "dolls" or whatever but that explains absolutely jackshit when her attitude is so inconsistent. Keep in mind, this Cinderella kills her own dad when he unwittingly threatens to disturb her status quo and starts the second act by saying out loud that she fears the situation she's created might end, but after the sisters do succeed in suckering her she just goes "oh well :) thems the breaks" and it's implied she'll move on to torturing the Prince for shits and giggles and that's it.

Alas, however, I must be fair and truthful in my final assessments. I came into this series expecting vapid edginess and mediocrity and while it hasn't exactly disappointed on that front, it has just enough thematic juice to move into the tier I was most afraid of: trash but still good enough to be frustrating. Join me next week for more suffering if it keeps up this way.

[spectralreplica]

Saioumota vtuber AU! (My full piece from @saioumota-zine​ )

Also included are the full designs and the Discord icons. Kokichi’s account is the one shown, so it was fun to think of what people he’d be friends with and what kind of servers he’d be in. (I’m not saying they all met in a Terezi fan server in this AU, but I’m not not saying that.)

The conversation they’re having on Discord is basically Kaito having bad wi-fi, Kokichi claiming to have cursed him, and Shuichi offering sympathy and trying to point out something on screen. I imagine they all commissioned Angie for the art in universe, but here in our world, I had loads of fun trying to make the art styles distinct 😁

Official names:

Kindaichi Satoki / 金田一 悟記 Surname: reference to famous fictional detective Kindaichi Kosuke Given name: enlightenment/perceive/realize, account/record (also, sounds like Satori)

Amateur (?) detective with a suspicious amount of anime and game knowledge for someone who claims to only read detective novels and true crime. Audience is split on whether the stories they tell about cases are based on something the real person behind them actually experienced or are totally fictional/references to media.

Inexplicably amazing at racing games. Banned from werewolf/mafia-type multiplayer games for being too good at guessing the bad actors.

Yamiochi Makiko / 闇落 魔鬼子 Surname: fall to darkness/heel turn Given name: demon, ghost, child (also, same first kanji as Maki)

Daughter and heir to the demon king who refers to all followers/subs as minions in her evil organization. Possibly also a clown? Only plays games on hard, and is apparently pro-level at chess. Really wide range of expressions, especially creepy ones!

Accepts Yamimaki and Kiko as nicknames, but not plain Maki. There is some Other Maki who never appears and is only referenced ominously.

Nanase Stella / 七星 ステラ Surname: seven stars/Big Dipper Given name: Latin for star

Alien visiting Earth for the first time from another galaxy. Inexplicably speaks Japanese, English, and Russian despite this. Chat streams rebranded as “Let Me Tell You About Space!” because that’s most of what happened anyway, but she’ll still give advice/encouragement if someone asks.

Consistently terrible luck, both in games (random chance= worst outcome 100% of the time) and out (wi-fi has issues constantly, streams glitch out in ways that seem impossible). Official explanations offered: 1) Attacks from enemy aliens who want to destroy Earth. 2) Cursed by Makiko with a million years of bad luck.

[the-monkey-ruler]

Gokudo the Adventureer (1999) ゴクドーくん 漫遊記

Director: Kunihisa Sugishima / Kenichi Kasai / Goro Taniguchi / Makoto Noriza / Yoshitaka Fujimoto / Akihiko Nishiyama Screenwriter: Atsuhiro Tomioka Starring: Akira Ishida / Sayuri Yoshida / Shinichiro Miki / Mana Mizuno / Shimaka Yu / Kanetsuki Mami / Asakawa Yu / Ayako Hori / Hino Yurika / Makiko Omoto / Kae Araki / Ikuya Sawaki / Soichiro Hoshi / Houko Kuwashima / Taeko Kawada / Ryutaro Okiayu Genre: Comedy / Action / Animation Country/Region of Production: Japan Language: English / Japanese Date: 1999-04-02 Number of episodes: 26 Also known as: 极道君漫游记 / Jester the Adventurer / Gokudo IMDb: tt0756269 Type: Appropriation

Summary:

The story focuses on an adventurer named Gokudo. Unlike most protagonists he is an antihero, willing to resort to violence to fulfill his agenda. He does not hesitate to abuse the needs of people, sell out his friends to save himself, run away from any dangers, or ditch others who helped him if he does not have any more interest in them. His life starts to change when he finds a magical Genie named Djinn who wants to grant him three wishes. While people would benefit from having three wishes, in his case it leads him to a lot of trouble, and it doesn't take long before he tries to escape from Djinn, and every other person he meets.

Other important characters are the Old Seer (or the Queen of the Magic World), who constantly appears out of nowhere, seemingly only to make Gokudo suffer more; Rubette La Lette, a noble girl with a tomboy attitude who sees Gokudo as a rival; and Prince (called Niari by the Old Seer), a mage much better at handling women than Gokudo will ever be.

Source: https://movie.douban.com/subject/2211626/

Link: https://gogoanime.be/anime/gokudo-gdjv/

[grantgfan]

there are all the genies that appeared in the genie team season 7

eliza

Yukari (girls und panzer)

lizzie (sailor moon)

iris (pokemon)

ursula (pokemon)

chloe (pokemon)

noelle (mermaid melody)

bea (pokemon)

coco (mermaid melody)

lilo (lilo & stitch)

ai (stitch and ai)

jessica (stitch the series)

Toriko (stitch the series)

Makiko (stitch the series)

Myrtle (lilo & stitch)

teresa (lilo & stitch)

yuki (lilo & stitch)

elena (lilo & stitch)

Victoria (lilo and stitch)

duplica (pokemon)

asia (highschool dxd)

gia (magical doremi)

erika (pokemon)

annie (little Einsteins)

[mybeingthere]

Makiko Wakisaka, Japanese Fiber Artist.

She says: "Using leaf vein for material, stitching them together ... transparent object will appear. Theme of my works are chrysalis, cocoon, seeds - things that look fragile but have a strong energy inside."

http://tophaimengfang.blogspot.com/.../research-makiko...

[shinsengumi-archives]

Okita's height

Okita Souji's appearance is still a mystery.

Many people have studied his face, so let's leave that for now, but what about his height?

Many sources give his height as "5 shaku 5 sun" (5'5" or approximately 167 cm).

This seems to be based on an article titled "Another Look at Okita Souji" (沖田総司別見), which appeared in the April 1972 issue of the "Historical Research" (歴史研究) magazine.

According to that article, a man named Sanbongi Mitsuo (三本木密雄), a samurai of the Nihonmatsu domain, once met Okita Souji, and "when they were standing side by side, they turned their heads to the side and talked," and since Sanbongi Mitsuo was "5' 5" tall, it is estimated that Okita was also about 5' 5" tall.

This text was written by Endo Koukei (遠藤幸威). He said that his mother told him what his great-grandfather had heard from Sanbongi Mitsuo.

Considering that Endo was the last of the Omi Mikami clan lords, such a story must have been told among the family members.

(Incidentally, the book "沖田総司おもかげ抄" written by Mori Makiko, which is in my possession, mentions "Endo Kouzo" (遠藤幸蔵), but it seems to be a misprint.)

However, we do not know where this Sanbongi Mitsuo met Okita, in Kyoto or in Edo. The Nihonmatsu clan was also in charge of guarding Kyoto, so it's possible that he met Okita in Kyoto.

Okita was between 22 and 26 years old when he was in Kyoto, so he had already finished growing. If Sanbongi met him in Kyoto, we can almost say for certain that he was about 5'5".

However, if they met in Edo, things would be a little different.

Sanbongi Mitsuo also says that Okita disliked taking baths [T/N: the original text used "風呂", which could mean he disliked going to "bath houses" instead]. However, in "沖田総司おもかげ抄", an old woman in Kyoto who had feelings for Okita at the time said that "Okita was very clean and neat," and the author, Mori Makiko speculates that "As a boy in the Shieikan, he might have disliked taking a bath, but since he became a member of the Shinsengumi in his youth, he might have started to pay more attention to his personal appearance and cleanliness."

Indeed, considering that he accompanied Kondo Isami to Nijo Castle and other places after joining the Shinsengumi, he must have been careful about his appearance, and it's unlikely that Kondo Isami would have tolerated a filthy appearance.

If so, it's highly likely that Sanbongi Mitsuo met Okita in Edo.

It depends on when they met in Edo, but if they met when Okita was a boy, it is possible that he grew taller after that.

Yagi Tamesaburo, the second son of Yagi Gennojo's family, who lived in Mibu, Kyoto, describes Okita as "a tall, dark-skinned man with broad shoulders".

These are the 3 people Tamesaburo described as "tall":

Serizawa Kamo

Noguchi Kenji

Okita Souji

What he said about Hijikata Toshizo:

"he had a toned face with large eyes"

"he was sullen and didn't chat much"

"he was said to be the son of an apothecary, but didn't appear like one at all."

Among the Shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshizo is the only one whose height is known. A specific number is given in "両雄士伝捕遺", "he is 5 shaku 5 sun (5'5")".

The 5 shaku 5 sun is the same as Okita's, but why did Tamesaburo not refer to Hijikata as a "tall man" as well?

The average height at that time was said to be around 5'1" (155-157 cm).

Hijikata, who was more than 10 cm taller than the average height, must have been "tall" as well.

Kondo Isami was shorter than Hijikata by the amount of a topknot (162 to 163 cm), and Saito Hajime was estimated to be around 175 cm.

Shimada Kai is said to be about 6 feet tall (180 cm), and Yamazaki Susumu is also said to be tall.

At the time Okita was staying at the Yagi residence, Tamesaburo was between 13 and 16 years old, a very impressionable age, but from the perspective of the Shinsengumi as a whole, his impression of Hijikata was not that he was "tall" but that he was "moody" and "didn't look like an apothecary's son" mentioned above.

If so, Serizawa, Noguchi, and Okita would have given him the strongest impression of being "tall" among the Shinsengumi.

Some say that Okita was 5'7" (172 cm), so he may have been at least that tall. At the very least, Okita was probably taller than Hijikata.

References

新選組始末記　子母澤寛全集一　子母澤寛

沖田総司おもかげ抄　森満喜子

歴史研究　1972年4月号　新人物往来社

沖田総司伝私記　菊池明

聞き書き徳川慶喜残照　遠藤幸威

両雄士傳　補遺　橋本清淵編輯　多摩デジタル新選組資料館

Wikipedia

[redsamuraiii]

Over Time (1999)

It's not everyday you encounter a drama that is so similar to yours.

Soichiro (Sorimachi Takashi) is a photographer who met Nazuna (Kimura Yoshino) by chance when he was covering a news in Hokkaido. Nazuna was touched by his kindness that she came to Tokyo to search for him, as they fell in love with each other.

Nazuna, being young and inexperienced in love, tend to be insecure and jump to conclusions every time she sees him with another woman as she wants to have him to herself and not anyone else. She got frustrated with her own insecurities and can't bear the pain.

They took a break from relationship as Nazuna began distance herself away from Soichiro. Soichiro, despite his many attempts to reconcile to start over, got rejected. Heartbroken, he vent his frustration to his long time friend Natsuki (Esumi Makiko).

Coincidentally, Natsuki too is experiencing a heartbreak from her own failed relationship as well from someone she thought she could marry. So the two end up bonding over their heartbreaking experiences and end up in a rebound relationship.

They were confused with their own feelings, thinking that they got close not out of love but out of loneliness. For a while, they flirt with the idea of being together since they have so much things in common and able to open their heart out to each other.

But things got complicated when both their former lovers re-appear in their lives which rekindles a sense of hope for a second chance. Unlike Natsuki whom had a real chance of starting over with her ex, Soichiro is less lucky as Nazuna decides to move on without him.

Natsuki is now torn between Soichiro and her ex, as they are both good men. Soichiro knows that Natsuki is undecided so made the hard choice for her to go with her ex as he feels he is better off than him, someone matured and with a stable career, unlike him.

Natsuki is reluctant but eventually went back with her ex, after Soichiro made her promise to listen to him for one last time. Natsuki cried, knowing what she has to do even though her heart does not. Soichiro bid her farewell as he end up being alone again.

A lot of fans are angry at the ending as they want Natsuki and Soichiro to end up together, because that way everyone get a happy ending since Natsuki's ex could back to his ex-wife and daughter, who already wants him back after the divorce.

But I think it's a realistic ending, in a sense that things don't always go the way we want them to in real life. Some might say, it's unfair as everyone deserve a happy ending but that's just life isn't it? We all think we deserve one and yet, not all of us got them.

Watching this drama hits too close to home as I too lost both women I thought I could spend the rest of my life with. The first one made up her mind to go on without me and the second one went back to her ex because I didn't fight hard enough, just like Soichiro.

He knows that he wants Natsuki but he set aside his own feelings for hers, knowing she would be happier with her ex than him. And so he stop fighting for her, and gave her up. Which makes you wonder, is it selfish if he were to insist Natsuki stay with him and not her ex?

A question I have been asking myself since I broke up years ago.

[a-chlolix-blog]

Hypothetically, do you like to have oc x character ship in your mlb au?

Like they only appear once in a movie, for example (don't take this serious) ZoexLemon, Kagami x Makiko,....

That's just the most random name to think of as an example.

I have one OC x Character pairing and that Jalil and my OC Mitchell Clark.

Don't think I thought of other OC x Character ships.

Any other OC x Character pairing in the Scarabée and Kitty Claws AU AU (aside from Alim x Dalia) is incredibly one sided.

[tvrningout-a]

listen excuse the note to self — but i really! wanna do a compare and contrast type post for chiyo and makiko and naoki ( once we get to that development point ). it’d be for lil things like how they change their appearance to big things like how they handle self doubt and whatnot. i just think it might be a fun thing to do uvu

[dreamsandroots]

Between Bodies: Breasts and Eggs, Mieko Kawakami, 2020

There is an illustrative passage at the end of the 2nd chapter of Mieko Kawakami’s 2020 novel Breasts and Eggs in which the narrator, Natsuko, accompanies her elder sister Makiko—an ageing hostess and single mother, briefly visiting from Osaka—to a bathhouse near the former's home in Tokyo. As they settle into the tub in the women's section of the bath house, Natsuko listens to the laments of her sister who, while ignoring the faux pas of wearing her towel into the bath, begins obsessing over her breasts, which, she explains, have been malformed since the birth of her now teenage daughter, Midoriko, and, beyond her recent investigations into breast implant surgery, something which she had discussed with Makiko on numerous occasions, has recently gone so far as to use very painful (and temporary) chemical treatments to restore her nipples, even if only briefly, to a lighter—and in her mind more desirable—colour. 

It appeared that the preoccupation, or shame, or insatiable curiosity that drove Makiko to fixate on her breasts was about more than size alone. Color [sic] was a major factor. I tried to imagine Makiko getting out of the bath, whatever time that was for her, and heading over to the fridge to grab the two small bottles of medicine, which she proceeded to apply to her own nipples, making them burn and itch like hell. . . . What had possessed Makiko to do this, at this stage in her life?

As Natsuko attempts to placate her sister's inquisitions (her inner monologue here betraying to the reader an already characteristic anxiety regarding an appropriate response: should she try to console her by saying nothing was wrong, even if only half-heartedly?; Should she tell the ‘truth’ that she does, in fact, find her sister's nipples to be unusually ‘dark’?) there suddenly appears a same-sex couple (two women, though one decidedly more masculine in appearance) who join the other women in the bath. As Natsuko's attention is deflected from her sister's fixation (the narration describes her as "staring so hard she was scowling" at the other women in the bath, "as if devouring them") the reader is swept along a stream of thought which brings into focus, through a semi-contained sub-narrative, a range of issues which permeate throughout the novel in its entirety.

The issue of the same-sex couple begins as a simple crisis of categorization: "[w]hat business did a straight couple have barging into the women's side of the bathhouse? It wasn't right." However the passage soon shifts between modes of narration with only subtle, and inconsistent hints, as to the nature of the ongoing changes in register.

As Natsuko ponders:

. . . how was I supposed to address the tomboy without insulting her, and get my point across, and find out what I wanted to know? 

Concentrating my awareness on my frontal lobe, I rubbed my thoughts together with ferocious speed, like a person rubbing sticks together to make fire, and waited for smoke to trickle from the wood.

she soon recognises that she had once known the 'tomboy' (Yamagu) and they had been, for a time, close friends in elementary school. Natsuko remembers a period of their childhood in which they would often sneak into the kitchens of a cake shop run by Yamagu's mother. She recalls in particular an instance in which she licked cake mix off her friend's finger, after Yamagu had grinned at her broadly, as if to share some inner secret.

The reader is left wondering here how to place this innocent description in terms of Natsuko's anxious reaction to the present situation: her friend’s indefinite sexuality, a kind of femininity which she says “always felt way stronger than what I picked up from the average woman” seems to imbue her with something extra-sexual, a kind of force which emanates from her inherent liminality, and which affords her a refusal of categorisation, whether actively or passively.

When she imparts that "[t]he thoughts kept coming, but I couldn't look away", we are led to believe that something beyond her control is at play within her thought process. Is there not a sense in which the character seems to be confronted by the redesignation of an old childhood friend into something that confuses her understanding of the world, and that challenges her sense of order? Something “separate from her gaze, something inside of her” that has catalysed this traumatic reaction to her presence?

Following the ambiguity of this imaginative thrust, Natsuko decides on a line of enquiry and engages Yamagu, asking: "Since when were you a man? I had no idea". The passage continues:

but she didn't answer, just flexed her muscles. Then the bulging flesh sheared off, coming free like a hunk of dough, which morphed before my eyes into a bunch of tiny people. They ran over the water, skating across the tiles, whooping their way up and down the naked bodies of the bathers, like kids monkeying through a playground. Meanwhile, the real Yamagu had wrapped the hem of her shirt around the horizontal bar and was doing feet first somersaults ad infinitum.

When her fantasy proceeds to the point of homunculi that scream to her that “"THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS WOMEN"” the reader is firmly at this point in the register of the fantasy space which until then had only been teased. This of course places further ambiguity on the preceding narration—did she really confront the ‘tomboy’?; was she really her childhood friend?; was the same-sex couple purely a figment of her imagination?

In this passage we can observe the use of dream space as a kind of speculative imaginatory realm in which the ongoing tensions of the novel, developed partially over the first two chapters, are thrust into a kind of playfully morphogenic field where boundaries are crossed and ultimately left less rigid for their crossing. This incursion of memory and speculative imagination into the present situation exacerbates the tension already developed (though perhaps not yet explicitly stated) in the discussion of Natsuko’s feelings of inadequacy relating to any clearly defined sense of femininity at play in her social reality, and particularly in relation to her ageing and impoverished sister, and the lengths she seems to be taking to conform to the desired standard.

The playfulness of this passage acts as a hermeneutic code for the thematic content of the novel, whereby themes of femininity, gender (and, more generally, bodily) dysmorphia and identity are made clear in terms of their content while retaining the status of riddle in terms of the novel's ultimate position to (and resolution of) these themes. In a sense, the dream space here acts as a demonstration of the types of thematic content the reader can expect to encounter while leaving space for ambiguity in terms of the symbolic resonance the novel goes on to develop.

The mastery of this passage lies in the ambiguity of its framing: there is no point at which the narration imparts explicit coding that indicates a shift from the narrator’s typically sporadic inner dialogue into space which is, to a degree, more abstract than the rest of the text. Upon completing the novel in its entirety, one could easily go back to this section and read over the contents to arrive at differing inflections as to what it may mean in relation to the novel's explorations of womanhood. This application of imaginative myth, as a space for exploration within the larger text, is reminiscent of Scott Freer’s observation regarding Franz Kafka's 'parable of the leopards' by which he argues that Kafka "aestheticizes the mythomorphic discourse: the leopards as violators enter into the self-generating recycling of myth narratives.” This passage provides textual space for reinterpretation of thematic concepts whereby "the vehicle of the body does not always directly correspond to the tenor of the self", a metaphoric sleight-of-hand which in turn allows the passage its own reformation, thus demonstrating “myth’s reconstructive process."

We can see how, much like the figure of The Sphinx in the myth of Oedipus, the character of the tomboy in this passage, whether ultimately read as real or imaginary, presents a mystery which is unable to be penetrated by intelligence alone. In fact, it begs for the reader of this novel to approach it through indirect, organic, evolving channels of meaning, granting her “the very incarnation of sacred enigma.”

Bibliography:

Burnett, Leon. “10. Sorrow and surprise: a reading of Théophile Gautier’s sphinx complex,” In Myth, Literature, and the Unconscious, edited by Leon Burnett, et al., Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uwsau/detail.action?docID=1350199.

Freer, Scott. "3. Kafka's Sick Ovidian Animals," In Modernist Mythopoeia: The Twilight of the Gods, UK: Palgrave Macmillan 2015.

Kawakami, Mieko. Breasts and Eggs, translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd, UK: Picador, Pan Macmillan, 2020.

[grey-eyed-menace]

The most striking difference between Makiko and Cordelia are there eyes, despite her practically being her mother in miniature, it's rather infuriatingly easy to tell them apart once Makiko is grown, which is something Cordelia has always, always, hated.

Her daughter inherited the wide, doe like, eyes of her mother, similar in appearance to Kanato really, (always so insistent, the little boy, calling her his twin, always clinging, always grasping, fingers interlocked, always reaching for her), it lends a softer edge to her face, a gentleness that Cordelia has lacked for centuries.

And if, perhaps, the world was cruel enough to let Cordelia survive long enough to see her daughter fully grown, then maybe she'd also be scandalized by the girls way of dressing.

[God, it's like she's in some Victorian drama, as though showing even the barest hint of ankle will send her suitors, numerous and all just as ugly as the last, screaming about whores and Sakamaki women being one and the same.]

Haruka and Beatrix share little little between each other, Haruka inherits heavily from her paternal grandmother, all broad shoulders, veiny hands, and upturned eyes, but the way they hold themselves never makes you doubt them as mother and daughter.

There's a steel to them both that makes even the most proud of suitors refuse to look them in the eye, a measure of a woman who knows what she's worth and refusing to budge back on it.

If Beatrix had been around longer, if Haruka had been able to see the side of her mother that was more then the neglect and tired weight of a world that only saw you as a tool to be used and discarded, they'd have been a terrifying force of nature.

[Haruka prefers the simplicity of the nights spent with a violin in hand, when she's something to be shown off.]

Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that Kagami and Christa rarely differ in the way they present themselves, all fluttering silks and fae-like beauty, jutting bones and striking coloration.

No one ever expected Christa to break down into hysteric wails during her wedding, to be locked away and forgotten as easily as the change of the seasons, no one expected anything from the White Rose except to be fought over.

And so, no one expects the quiet rage that fuels Kagami, the iron that lies behind the quiet smiles and soft touches, no one quite expects her to take so heavily after her father, either, and no one certainly expected such a pretty flower to slip a knife between Tsukinami Shin's ribs.

[They call her a flower to be admired, already halfway wilted due to her mother's fate, they don't expect the poisonous roots over the beauty of her petals.]

[zorceus]

Name: Riki Lopez

Gender: male

Age: 19

Hair color: half and half yellow and red-pink, with streaks of opposing colors

Eye color: hetereochromia, (yellow right eye, red-pink left eye)

Height: 5'09

Weight: 120 lbs (on the thin side from a poor diet)

Nationality: Half-Japanese Half-Hispanic, (japanese mother, hispanic father)

Strengths: Not very strong physcially

Appearance: dark skin

Heterochromatic eyes (yellow right eye, reddish pink left eye)

Two toned hair (half yellow, half reddish-pink)

Black PJs

Inventory: computer, mini survalliance robots, a standard pistol he uses for self defense

Biography: Riki Lopez was born to a Hispanic father; Ronaldo Lopez and a Japanese mother; Makiko Yoshimura who were both top members of the organization. When Riki was just two years old, his parents were sent to a mission in the Netherlands to exterminate an extremely dangerous demon, but would end up going MIA during the mission, leaving Riki behind with his grandparents and aunt.

When Riki was four, his aunt decided that she would try to raise Riki as a normal boy and sent him to attend public school, trying to keep him from ever being taken by the organization by making him seem as plain as possible. When Riki was seven, he was shown to be quite bright among his peers and got really good grades throughout his years in elementary school.

When Riki turned ten, he was immediately found by the members of the Organization, and since he was the son of Ronaldo and Makiko, he was immediately drafted to the Organization's special school program against his aunt's wishes. During his time at the school, Riki became more and more stressed out and since he was isolated from his family, Riki became a shut in by age thirteen. Riki kept himself occupied within his dorm, submitting his papers via emails, eventually graduating from the academy and being enrolled as a full fledged member of the organization.

Riki still stays as a shut-in, rather taking on missions that did not require him going outside and rather hacking and surveying using his computer and gadgets. At nineteen, Riki hasn't left the house and has lived off of take out and cup noodles. He is funded by the organization, for they still believe that his true potential is not unlocked yet, and his hacking skills have been recieved quite well.

Detailed appearance: Riki is a tall male individual with a dark skin complexion and heterochromatic eyes, having a yellow right eye and a reddish pink left eye. Riki usually doesn't go outside much, so he usually wears his black pajamas and pajama pants. His shirt is held by three yellow buttons and is ill fitting, showing most of his chest and his navel. Despite being in the thinner side when it comes to his weight, Riki notably has a larger chest, which he complains is the reason he doesn't fit well into his dress shirts.

Riki has long, back lengthed hair half of which is yellow and the other half being reddish pink. Its very wavy with some highlights of the opposing color appearing on either side. He has two cowlicks, one being reddish pink and another being yellow. His eyelashes follow the same pattern as his hair and are notably thick.

When he is forced to go on missions, he wears a white dress shirt that is partially unbuttoned on the top without a tie and black dress pants and shoes. He wears his hair in a messily done ponytail with a red scrunchie. He also wears black glasses with fake rims, just to make himself look more professional.

Personality: Riki is a bit on the paranoid side, having severe trust issues. He is scared of socalizing, and would rather surround himself in his work with coding rather than interract with humans. He likes reading files on the creatures detained by the Organization, and is noted to have a very good memory, able to recall any information he can remember regardless of how long ago he happened upon it. Riki always seems super happy whenever he talks about his interests, shown to blush and laugh like a kid when showing his hobbies.

Riki is very bright, incredibly smart as well since he is a child prodigy.

Trivia: * Riki's birthday is January 1st, his zodiac is Capriorn.

* Riki's favorite food is ice cream sandwiches.

* His favorite drink is strawberry milk.

* His least favorite food is sour candies.

* His least favorite drink is black coffee.

* Riki is not a fan of foods that are too spicy or sour, as they seem to hurt his taste buds from how limited his diet has been.

* Riki usually only eats cup noodles, which results in his very poor diet.

* He considers fast food as "gormet" from how rarely he ventures outside.

* He keeps in contact with his family through emails, he has a very full inbox from multiple conversations between his grandparents and aunt.

* Riki is noted to sleep for about four hours a day, and somehow seems well rested.

* Riki has not seen his other family members in a few years.

* Riki's grandmother and aunt have sent him new clothes, but he rarely wears them unless he is forced to go outside.

* Riki isn't fond of animals, as he thinks they are messy and hard to take care of.

[ggmahougenerator]

Name: "Baby Makiko, The Rabbit-faced Marksman Of Nimble Blood!" Motif: Dragonflies Appearance: a little tall, fair skin, thick eyelashes Familiar: a garment elemental

[pridewon]

@tvrningout​ said:  👫!!! listen i’m gonna spam you a lil, but no pressure to do them all!! let’s start with kuroo and makiko 💜 (headcanons for our muses!)

1. Both of them travel a lot for their respective jobs; as such, they have slowly, over time, built little rituals for when each of them returns home after a trip away. If Makiko is the one who has been travelling, Kuroo fixes her a bath, and a cup of tea to take into the bath with her (and usually ends up joining on her request). If Kuroo is the one who has been away, they order take-out and catch up while watching a movie or a tv show - which inevitably ends up with him resting his head in her lap and falling sound asleep before the film/episode ends. 

2. One of the first big surprises when they started spending nights at each other’s place? Kuroo stepping out of the shower and his (damp) hair all flattened and... not in bed hair mode? Somehow Makiko hadn’t quite processed how long it was (who can blame her?), and to this day she hasn’t let him live it down. 

3. Something else she hasn’t let him live down (or that he doesn’t let her live down) is the moment when, back in highschool, she was learning how to block... except Makiko is relatively short, and she first tried at the boys’ club as a manager, meaning the net was higher than it would have been for girls. Kuroo thought it would be hilarious to appear behind her and lift her up without warning. She nearly had a heart attack, and both Lev and Inuoka genuinely thought she might throw a volleyball at his head for that one. He still thinks he was very funny.

4. Timeskip Makiko has better endurance and stamina than he does, and he remembers that every time they go running together. He works out, but -- she’s a professional athlete. She’s faster, lasts longer, and his pride is mildly (very) bruised by this turn of tables, dammit. He maintains that he’ll beat her again, one day. As an omniscient narrator, Ican guarantee that he won’t.

[saitomakikofans]

Makiko blog translation (2022.05.29) "48 Group x Ray exclusive model audition" About 2 months from April 48 groups x Ray exclusive model audition. From the result, unfortunately I couldn't become an exclusive model.

But thanks to a lot of support from everyone I was able to go to the final interview. To a place that I could never reach by myself Everyone guided me ☺︎

Postcard voting, qualifying distribution, main race distribution While being scraped mentally and physically, everyone did their best and fought together from morning to night to support and help me

Postcard voting 📮 period In the blink of an eye, the stock on the web runs out It was impatient, wasn't it? (LOL)

On the way home from school or work, visit the nearest bookstore On holidays, even going outside the prefecture Thanks to everyone's tearful efforts

Postcard PT was the first place overall! I was surprised 😳 (I also bought 40 of the same fashion magazines for the first time in my life lol)

And finally the qualifying delivery period has begun, I jumped into the world of MixChannel.

It's different from the live distribution that I've done so far It was as if I was lost in a new world. The number of PTs and ranking are displayed in real time, The spirit was steadily scraped.

But even in such anxiety, there is a connection I was able to meet a lot of people who helped me and those who helped me ☺️ How can I reach the viewer during this period? I wonder if you can enjoy the delivery for several hours every day

I'm excited to make a schedule I was groping, but because everything is unknown It was a week that I was able to overcome by enjoying it. I've never seen or felt the last day A fierce battle is unfolding in front of me

It was like that when I noticed it was over. Comments that cannot be overtaken flow on the screen The ranking was decided in a blink of an eye Thanks to everyone's support, I passed the first place in the qualifying 🥇

Even though it was qualifying, I got the first place I was so happy from the bottom of my heart that I couldn't help it! That alone gave me a lot of confidence, I was proud. Thank you very much.

One month has passed since then A week of the final distribution of the main race has begun. A melee that is incomparable to qualifying. The ranking fluctuates scary every hour every day, I didn't mind when it wasn't delivered. If I wake up in the morning and my ranking goes down... Just thinking about it makes my chest painful and unbearable I never slept with peace of mind. I can't show any anxiety or appearance during the delivery that everyone who sees it will enjoy it Above all, I was most happy and it was worth it.

And what surprised me most For the month leading up to the main race, the fans MixChannel distribution system, audition rules, etc. Actively call out to distributors in various frames I studied and researched myself. Make a lot of effort in places I don't know Knowing about preparing for the main race, I was convinced that this was a good team...! My chest got hot. Thank you very much!

I never wanted to regret it I've done everything I can to spare! The content of the delivery was also intended to be more elaborate than others Without overdoing the pace of delivery I was able to spend every day at the limit 🫧

Really come to see me at the same time every day I was really happy with the comments and items. Because of your existence and support Every day full of anxiety was saved, They pushed me back because I wasn't alone!

The last day is the beginning of the distributor who was indebted So many people came to the frame, He gave me a fan mark and supported me. Fast-flowing comment fields, relentlessly fluctuating ranking...

I could barely laugh at one point As soon as I relaxed, my tears seemed to overflow. She was willing to take on the manager when I was cornered and already tattered

The voices from the two encouraging distributors came into my heart and made me feel better. And there are many allies on the other side of the screen fighting to put me in first place...

I don't think I can have such an experience again. A world full of love, gentle and encouraging It existed in the MixChannel ☀️ I really thank you…!

I couldn't get the number one I was aiming for, but it was the first time that I was so excited by the livestreaming that I had more to gain. It was a really valuable period for me.

In the final interview, I did it face-to-face with the Ray editorial staff 🌸 Looking back on it now, I wish I had done it I wish I had told you more like this

I honestly have regrets, but 🥺 (laughs) It’s all me, it’s all me. I'm the one that everyone loved and supported me…!

Future activities of Ray girl With gratitude in my heart, I want to do my best ✊🏻 And someday I'm sure I'll go grab it by myself.

Everyone pushed my back and taught me that I was obediently greedy only for my dreams. Being a model for me It wasn't always the goal I wanted to achieve

When Ray-san auditioned for 48 groups this time, I felt that is very attractive and wanted to do it. But it takes a lot of courage to say it out It can also put a burden on the fans

It was painful because I could easily predict it. And above all, the number one reason was scary. There are things that I can't grasp no matter how hard I try I don't want to feel like this anymore

I turned my back on my dream, Even if you wait, chances don't roll It ’s the worst thing to regret without doing it. Even you interested a little, don't give up! If you can't do it till the end, don't do it!

That's right, with the manager until midnight I remember the day I had discussed and decided. I should have decided by my own will, but I was scared somewhere and couldn't help it... But inspire yourself with your own challenges

I enjoyed the days I lived facing forward 😊 This decision of mine was not wrong and I'm glad I did it! I can think from the bottom of my heart

I think I will continue to live that way. "Always seek stimulation and push to the limit" That's why the results have come out, but I will continue to do so. I want to move forward little by little every day I will try to be proud of myself 😌

And I wish I could someday give back to all the fans who supported me long before this project, as well as everyone who took care of me with MixChannel I will do my best again while wishing for such a day!

It's been long, but now Ray exclusive model audition is over!!!

I really thank you…!

Makiko Saito

source: https://ske48.co.jp/blog/detail/77795/