#but i have got to live laugh love and focus on haruka for my well being. i hate you saeru i hate what youve done.

[yuukei-yikes]

i like that it's canon haruka is really pretty. my proof is 1. konoha getting away with being a freak just cuz he looks good (pretty privilege) 2. jin says haruka would smell really good 3. is voiced by mamoru miyano

[contest-winning-pest]

[The camera focuses on a shallow unmarked grave in the hard October soil in front of a traditional Kantonian house.]

[then cuts to a young, dark-skinned girl, in blue cold weather gear with pink visibility stripes, and her Mienfoo, slipping on outdoor shoes as an irori gutters out behind her. "Out on the curb again."]

[She straps on her backpack, pushes her hands together, raises one up in time with her Mienfoo, and fades from the open door. "I've come to learn, it's hard and firm, out on the curb again."]

[It's a year later, and that same girl stands having shattered an ice statue. "Out on the curb again."]

[The sun shines on a house that stands empty, large enough for one person and perhaps two Pokemon to live comfortably. A pink headband flutters and falls to rest in front of the doorstep. "I've come to learn, It's hard and firm, out on the curb again."]

[We focus on Kerry, doing stance training with her Mienfoo and Torchic, while a Poochyena and several Zigzagoon watch on in confusion.]

[She swaps stories excitedly with Wally in the Pokemon Center, while Haruka and Satoshi and Sparky join in.]

[She captures Sparkle at the same time Wally catches Ultra. They laugh, backs pressed against each other, until Wally starts coughing. "I'm still dreaming, after all these years~"]

["I'm my room, makin'--" She's now in a familiar, nostalgic outfit, and she turns to Haruka, now in a Mudkip-themed outfit, gives the thumbs up.]

[Kerry eats gleefully with Musashi, Kojirou, and Meowth,]

[We take a long, loving shot of her on the Ferry next to Mr. Briney and the Wingull Piiko. The Stone Badge is on her red tank top. "I'm still dreamin' after all these years~"]

[An image of Brawly teaching a frustrated Kerry, who broke a plank on the pier.]

[She surfs with joy in her eyes. "I do things on a shoestring you couldn't do for a cool mil--"]

[Now she's in the Contest Rehearsal. "I run with no laces--"]

[Bunny divebombs her from above, and Kerry hugs her, and together they stand up. "-- with shit I found at Dollar Mart."]

[She surfs while Brendan holds on for dear life, screaming.]

[The first REAL battle with Wally ensues as she discovers that, in fact, he's got what it takes to beat her. "And it's all an art,"]

[Suddenly we cut to Wattson, watching Kerry scramble up the stairs of Fortress City Mauville and break down his door-- "about to fall apart"]

[Now, on the fiery Path with Wally and Brendan,]

[And then, Zinnia, all teeth and knives, comes after Kerry,]

[As Mt. Chimney smokes ominously, and we zoom in on Archie and Maxie.]

[Kerry boards down Jagged Pass-- And her board slips out from under her, and she sails, "And everything we've built"]

[And crashes through her own Light Screen "will crumble down"]

[Her vision fades as Wally recovers. "To dust" "To Dust" "To Dust"]

[Kerry in her hospital bed now surrounded by well-wishers "And I said love thy neighbor--"]

[getting food from the Least Suspicious Noodle Shop In Hoenn, Staffed By Some Very Familiar Faces, "And I Said Fuck Thy Hater!"]

[A long focus on the meeting with Latios, focusing on her hand as she gently pets Latios. "There's nothing I can't fix with duct tape and construction paper--"]

[Returning to that house in the sun, we see her realize that Cinders isn't growing because of her cavalier actions. "We don't need a Bandaid, I'll only rip it off, I'll rip it off."]

[She hugs all her Pokemon. "I'm out on the curb again, on the curb again--"]

[And back to Petalburg, where she looks up from her lecture with Senri to watch an Absol go by.]

[And now, in the flood, working together with all her pokemon as the music swells and stitches in a round.]

[Kerry climbing up the stairs into the Weather Institute with Wally in tow. She vaults the table.]

[She lies face up in the grass with Wally off 120, watching the Clouds go by. "Heaven's my bench press--"]

[And now she meets with Phoebe, waving to her as she heads up Mt. Pyre.]

[Counting her items and money, "a cloud in the shape of a rent check"]

[The battle already rages at the summit, and Kerry fights Zinnia among the ruins.]

[She evades Zinnia with Substitute-- "Then I'll trust girlfriends"]

[And watches as Archie and Maxie slip through her fingers AGAIN-- "And maybe landlords"]

[Wally and Kerry holding hands across two VERY different places-- and pull each other towards Lilycove. The running assault rages as "If people were perfect, then there wouldn't be war"]

[As they both break through the admins-- "But once we get a foot in the door? We get our toes chopped off--"]

[Kyogre and Groudon awaken. As the two of them stand under them, in the chambers of the Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, "I still gotta believe people are good at the core"]

[Their own battles go on, separately, and then, at last, together, This Is Our Hoenn to "When they blow our house down let's draw on the walls, the walls, the walls!"]

[They hold hands in the hospital beds in their wards, still making cardboard castles.]

[And then, they separate, and stand across from each other in Victory Road, "Still dreaming after all these years~"]

[Kerry stares back at Victory Road, holding a Hall of Fame ribbon. What does it all mean? Really? She pulls off the bunny-ear-lace headband, and it flutters in the wind. "Out on the curb again, out on the curb again, I've come to learn it's hard and firm, out on the curb again."]

[The hair ribbon lands in the hand of carved statue of her and Wally, in traditional Warden clothes and Sootopilitan's Bard Outfit, and Haruka and Brendan tie it there. "I've come to learn, it's hard and firm, out on the curb again".]

[The unmarked grave is growing flowers. No one pays it any memory. It fades away, leaving us on a picture of Kerry, all smiles, surrounded by friends and found family.]

Cardboard Castles - Watsky

[bbdaydreams]

Courage My Love// Semi Eita

Pairing: Semi Eita x Reader

Summary: You like Semi and come up with a plan to confess to him, unfortunately it takes a turn. You meet again a couple years later by chance.

Chapter Six: Shape Up

Series Masterlist•<previous•next>

“Alrighty, your food will be ready shorty,” the waitress spoke before leaving with the booklets and you all thanked her.

Semi and you still haven’t had a real conversation since sitting down at the table together, just mumbling some words to get through the night which Taka took notice of. “Are you two nervous or something? It’s alright, I’m not scary and you guys don’t look scary. Enjoy yourselves please, besides this is all our treat to you guys.” Feeling guilty for your behavior you immediately apologized to Taka and his band mates and thanked them again for the invitation. Semi did the same as well. You’re both just gonna have to fake it. “It’s okay! We’re going to be spending a lot of time together so I think it’d be cool if we could get to know each other, where are you from? I’m from Tokyo.”

“Miyagi,” you and Semi answered at the same time.

“Oh! Have you guys met before or anything?”

“We went to the same high school,” Semi answered causing you to internally face palm.

“That’s crazy! Were you two friends?”

“We were. Then we lost touch when we graduated. You know, busy busy,” you spoke up before Semi could. The last thing you want was someone you look up to questioning your past drama. Just seeing Semi was enough to remind you of how things went down all those years ago.

“Yeah, this is actually our first time seeing each other since then.”

“Wow, now I’m the odd man out,” Taka laughed to which you did too. While laughing you felt something poke your side.

Semi was sneakily trying to hand you his phone. Semi started branching off to a different conversation with Taka to distract him which you know he did so you could look at his phone without suspicion since everyone else was having their own conversations. You took a quick glance at the text message he typed to someone but didn’t send.

“Can we talk after this?”

You glided your eyes back onto the two singers, focusing more on the ash blonde. You two haven’t spoken in six years, what could he have to say, you asked yourself. Starting to think out every logical scenario you could, you thought that he just wanted to get the confrontation out of the way so you could both do this tour without any issues. Whatever happens, you know that even if you say no, you’d have to talk to him eventually. Might as well get it over with sooner than later so you typed your response.

“Yeah seriously thank you so much for listening to my band too. I’m so glad you like us. I’m actually a big fan of your music,” you spoke, jumping into the conversation so you could pass Semi his phone back with ease under the table.

“Thank you. I really liked your voices and wanted you guys to join me for the last song on our set list. It’s one of the new songs off the latest album,” Taka explained.

“Which song is it?” You asked excitedly.

“Take What You Want. We made the song with 5 Seconds of Summer but I think you guys would sound really good doing their parts.”

“I’m so down!”

“Sounds good to me,” Semi added, amused by your enthusiasm.

“Here’s your food,” the waitress spoke as she set down your plates with the help of another waiter. You all thanked them for the food before enjoying your meals.

The rest of the dinner was actually quite enjoyable. From what you could tell, Haruka and Jiro were mostly catching up with each other, which you understood since they were close their final year of high school. Tomo and Toru of One Ok Rock seemed to enjoy the stories Izumi was telling them while Ryota and Yui were having fun helping Ranmaru and Subaru practice their English. You loved talking with Taka. He was really easy to get along with and made it much easier to break the ice with Semi. You all finished your meals and left the restaurant together.

“That was the best meal I’ve had in forever!” Izumi announced when everybody was outside.

“Right? I cant way to try more food!” Jiro added on.

“What do you say guys?” You and Semi said simultaneously, crossing your arms and turning from each other.

“Thank you,” Your band members said all together.

“It’s nothing really,” Toru started.

“Yeah, we’re glad we got to meet like this,” Tomo added.

“We had a lot of fun tonight. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the tour will be like,” Ryota continued.

“You’re still very welcome. We’ll see you all tomorrow at the venue. Eita, Y/n, don’t forget, two in the afternoon for rehearsal. We’re heading back to our bus so good night,” Taka finished. The guys in One Ok Rock all waved you guys goodbye before heading off.

“They were really nice,” Subaru spoke.

“Yeah, this’ll be so exciting. It’s your guys first time in the US right?” Yui asked Won’t Regret.

“Yeah, thanks again for helping us practice,” Ranmaru said.

“No worries. You can ask us for help if needed.”

“Do you guys want us to walk you to your bus? It’s dark out,” Jiro offered, looking at Haruka for a response.

She smiled at him before responding, “Jiro you’re funny, our buses are in the same lot. We might as well just walk in a group.”

“Girls, you can head off. I’m gonna talk with Semi so I’ll catch up later.”

Yui was the first one to give you a worried look, wondering if you were fine being alone with him. Izumi and Haruka looked confused and curious. From what they knew, you haven’t been in contact with Semi since high school. Tendou was the one that mostly helped you through grieving the loss of your best friend but they could recognize the look of nostalgia in your eyes when you reminisced on old memories with him. They know you were strong, but it was a pain that never completely went away.

“How long?” Izumi asked.

“It might be a while,” Semi answered. “I’ll walk her back straight to your bus, don’t worry.”

The girls reluctantly let left you with Semi while the rest of boys accompanied them. As the groups walked away they would occasionally turn their heads back to the two of you out of curiosity to see what was going to happen. You were known for having a laid back attitude but stepping up and becoming assertive if need be in less than a second. Semi was typically pretty patient with you but it’s best to be careful since he has a shorter fuse.

“Hi,” Semi started awkwardly once his everyone was out of sight.

“Hey,” you responded in the same tone.

“Wanna go sit on that bench? Also, how’ve you been?”

“Yeah, and I’ve been good. You?”

He started walking across the street after looking both ways. “I’m doing great. How’s Tendou? Congrats on your marriage, by the way.”

“Marriage?” You asked confused.

“Didn’t you and Tendou get married and have a honeymoon in France?”

You let out a laugh before responding. “Tendou and I have been broken up for like three years now dude. I’ve never gone to France with Tendou, he went for his career and now lives there. I’ve only gone if it was for touring. Where’d you get that idea from?” You asked, gradually laughing harder resulting in Semi feeling relief. Half of it being that you might be single and the other part being that the laughing is a good sign that you’re willing to humor him.

“I saw he posted pictures of himself with the Eiffel Tower and stuff so I just assumed,” he chuckled along.

“Yeah but wouldn’t it make sense if I was in those pictures with him? I probably would’ve posted a picture of my ring too.”

“You know I follow you still?”

“Yeah, I pay attention to my notifications sometimes. I’ll be honest though, I did unfollow you.”

“Understandable,” Semi sighed.

You both went quiet after that, getting comfortable on the metal bench. Taking note of his expression, you took the lead for conversation. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

“Oh uh, I wanted to apologize,” he responded, grateful for the dim lighting so his blush wouldn’t be super noticeable.

“Well, I’m listening,” you said before crossing your arms in a playful manor.

“I’m sorry for calling you a bitch. I’m sorry for raising my voice at you. I’m sorry for saying all that petty shit and hurting you. I’m sorry for all the pain I gave you. You know that saying that’s like ‘you don’t know what you have until you lose it?’ Well I lost you, and that was my biggest regret. All these years-“

“Semi, you can stop-“ you interrupted not expecting him to go on a full on rant for an apology. You were fine with a simple ‘I’m sorry’. Never would you have expected the ash blonde to list out every thing he did wrong. It was high school, that’s when mistakes are meant to be made because you learn from them. After walking the earth for twenty four years, you couldn’t give less of a shit about the things that happened. You grew up, you were over it, you have other things to focus on than hold onto a grudge because someone hurt you.

“Let me finish. Please. All these years I never tried to reach out to you because I think you made it clear that you didn’t want to speak to me and I respect that but oh my god I’m so proud of you. You’ve accomplished so much. You’ve traveled around the world, living your dream. I know we may have ended on bad terms but I have never, not once, ever wished for your life to take a turn for the worst. I’m genuinely so happy for you. I’m just so, so, sor- What? Why are you crying? I’m the one apologizing!” he asked, raising his hands to wipe your tears.

While listening to him all you could think about was how guilty you felt. “Because I’m sorry,” You answered, grabbing his wrists to pull them away from your face so you could wipe your own tears. “I’m sorry for pushing you away. I’m sorry for not reaching out either. I’m sorry for almost starting a physical fight with you.” You were letting all your frustrations out at this point from all the emotions you had built up inside you. While you had to admit you were upset with him, you were the one that started it. “I shouldn’t have said what I said the night of the talent show. I should’ve told you the truth. I started this. I’m the one at fault.”

“Y/n...” Semi wrapped his arms around your back, using one hand to guide your face into his chest to help you calm down. “It’s okay. You’re okay.” His voice was soft, different compared to the way he was speaking before. His task at hand was just to focus on you. “I missed you,” he spoke.

“I hmff ugh oo,” you responded, head still buried in his chest.

“What?”

You pulled away from him and straightened your back. “I said I missed you too.” You took a couple seconds to look at him. He looked almost exactly the same as he did back then. The only differences you could tell were that his hair was longer and he looked more mature, maybe a little buffer. It was somewhat comforting. “I don’t get it. I told myself I should hate you after all that happened but I could never bring myself to accept it. It’s weird that we’re talking with little difficulty right now to each other.”

“Little difficulty? I’m not gonna lie, my heart is beating so fast right now. I was so nervous to even hand you my phone at the table,” Semi laughed, eyes not looking away from your form laughing into your hand. “I don’t get it either though. I honestly thought you were gonna hate me and yell at me like, do you really forgive me?”

“How do I say this?” You asked yourself before taking a deep breath to answer his question. “After graduating and experiencing the real world, I realized I don’t need to focus on high school bullshit. We were so young-“

“Now you’re making me feel old.”

“Shut up! We were just teens. Now we’re adults, ya know? With bills to pay and actual responsibility. I’d rather focus on me, myself now than what happened in high school. Am I gonna forget it? No, it helped build the person I am now. Can I forgive? I may be a petty bitch and say I don’t wanna but what’s that gonna do for me? Nothing so I might as well.” After giving your long explanation you looked at him again and took in his features, old happy memories flooding back to you.

“Do you think we start over?” Semi asked hopefully.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, I’m Semi Eita. I play in a band and I’m a bit of an asshole sometimes. What’s your name?”

“I’m L/n Y/n and I also play in a band and can sometimes be a bitch,” you responded with a laugh.

“It’s nice to meet you. Can I walk you to where you need to be?” he asked, getting up and putting his hand out to help you up.

“Sure, that’d be really nice.”

After he helped you up, you started walking towards your bus with Semi walking right next to you. “Hey I’m actually playing a show tomorrow night, you should check us out!”

“No way, what time?” You asked deciding to play along.

“Like seven but you know how it goes, it’ll probably be more like seven-fifteen.”

“Ugh that’s annoying. Can you come to mine? I think I play at like eight.”

“Sure, dude. Anything for my bestie.”

“Aight I’m done. Bestie is too far, dude.”

“What! I can’t call you my bestie even though we just reunited six years after not seeing each other?”

“Correct. We can be ‘friends’,” you said, using your fingers to put air quotes, “but honestly I’m still on edge. Like after we went our separate ways it was hard for me to reconnect with people because it hurt when we ended things. I don’t wanna go through that again.”

Semi sighed, “I get that. Sorry again. I promise I won’t do that again.”

“It’s okay. And you better. Or else we’re really throwing hands,” you teased.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“Don’t make me go all WWE on you!”

“Oh my god Semi, is that a threat?”

“Y/n!” Izumi yelled which made you focus on your tour bus. The girls had each opened a window to stick their head out of and wait for your arrival.

“Are you okay?” Haruka asked.

“Do you want back up?” Yui followed up.

“I’m joking, Yui,” Semi said, putting his hands up in defense.

“You better, or else I’m gonna be the one fighting for y/n,” Haruka warned with a glare.

“I guess this is goodnight, Semi. You don’t want to throw hands with Haruka, she’s pretty buff. Thanks again. See you around,” you said as you waved him goodbye and hopped on the bus.

“See ya,” Semi responded. He turned around and threw his head upwards to the night sky and let out a sigh before walking to his bus.

Yui with her head still out of the window took notice of how Semi relaxed after you left him. “Hey, girly,” she started, getting up from her spot after closing the window. “You okay? How’d it go?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. It actually went surprisingly well.”

“That’s good news!” Izumi cheered.

“So are you friends again?” Haruka asked.

“Hmm, I guess so? We’re basically just starting over.”

“This tour is gonna be interesting,” Yui finished.

Getting back onto his bus, Semi immediately felt three pairs of eyes glued on him. Jiro set his Nintendo switch down while Subaru put his phone on his lap and Ranmaru stood up.

“We’ve been expecting you,” Ranmaru started with a straight face.

“Yeah!” Jiro added only to be shushed by Subaru.

“Well... good news?” Semi responded, not knowing what to make of the way his band mates were acting.

“Go on...” Subaru said, this time being shushed by Jiro.

“First, I’m gonna be a guest vocal for One Ok Rock with Y/n during their last song. Second, I told Y/n everything I needed to say. We’re friends again. We’re all good,” Semi said with a smile.

Ranmaru took a few steps closer to Semi before lovingly slapping his back. “Proud of you, bro.”

“Woooo! Go Eita!” Jiro jumped up to hype up his bandmate.

“Awesome!” Subaru finished. “Happy for you man. Now, I hate to be the mom here, but we should get to bed. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.”

“Good job guys!” Taka said, patting both of your backs.

“Thank you! Is there anything you want us to change?” You asked.

“Hmm, nah. I know most people say practice makes perfect but I think as the tour goes on we’ll improve the performance each night.”

“Sounds good,” Semi said.

“Can I give some feedback?” You asked. Taka and Semi both gave you a nod to go on. “You,” you pointed to Semi, “are being so stiff. It’s your first tour in the US. Loosen up! I’ll be blunt, if how to act now is how you’re gonna act during your set, which is the first one, you’re not gonna grab anyone’s attention. The majority of the crowd probably haven’t even heard of your band. You gotta draw them in.”

“I have to agree with her,” Taka joined in.

Semi grew wide eyed and turned a little red. You were about to speak up again but he beat you to it. “Sorry, I think I’m just nervous. This is all new to me,” he said, bringing a hand up to the back of his head.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to sound harsh! I just want you guys to grow. Being on tour right now is a big honor so I want you to get the most you can out of it. And-“

And you were rambling. Same old Y/n, Semi thought to himself, letting you ramble while he had a small smirk on his face, amused by the words you were speaking.

“Just perform how you would back then! I think if you brought that energy you’d really get a lot of people hooked!”

“Ya think so?”

“I know so. Can we try again but exaggerate our movements? This dude has to shape up.”

“I’ve heard so many stories about you mentoring the smaller bands, it’s nice to see that you live up to them,” Taka smiled.

“Thank you,” you responded with a blush. “Now Semi, follow our lead. And don’t let us down tonight.”

Taglist: @pluviophilefangirl @yourstarvic @sunaswife @mynscorner @syaziahvg @discountkiyoko

[yurimother]

LGBTQ Manga Review - Fragtime (Complete Series)

I recall reading the first few chapters of Fragtime on Manga Cross and not being very impressed. I did not care for it much, as, other than the time stopping element, it was mostly generic and had a few too many unsavory elements. I was content to let it rest and be forgotten along with a hundred other girl-meets-girl school Yuri romances until Tear Studio and the people behind the excellent Kase-san and Morning Glories OVA announced an anime adaptation of the work, a full five years after it ended. Inevitably an English adaptation of Sato’s original manga was announced, and so here I am, somewhat reluctantly reading and reviewing the two-volume series. It may sound like I am pessimistic or already had my mind made up, but that is not true. I went into Fragtime with as open a mind as possible, and I am happy to say that I did find several favorable aspects that appealed to me. Sadly, the manga mostly lived up to my poor initial impressions from all those years ago.

Fragtime follows timid high school student Moritani Misuzu, who can stop time for three minutes a day. While using her power, she attempts to look up the skirt of one of her classmates, Haruka Murakami. To her horror, Moritani discovered that Haruka is the one person immune to her ability. The two form an unlikely friendship and spend those few minutes when all others freeze together. As Moritani’s feelings for Haruka grow, her powers begin to fade, throwing their time together in jeopardy.

At first, this story appears to have some promise, along with some obvious issues. The supernatural aspect of Moritani’s powers and its connection to her emotions and relationship with Haruka provide excellent possibilities and avenues to explore the series’ romance and characters. Sadly, Sato delivers an unwieldy story with unlikeable and inconsistent subjects, a poorly paced narrative, and far too many sleazy moments to excuse. This last point is the most prominent of all and will be a turn off for many readers, myself very much included.

Moritani begins the story by “upskirting” one of her classmates. It is later revealed that she reveled in exploring the time-frozen school to pry into people’s most intimate moments, many of which frankly do not happen in schools nearly as much as the story would like to believe. Following this event are multiple scenes with characters flashing each other their panties, or else stripping to whatever the opposite of readers’ delight is. These moments are not sexy, and while a few of them appear to have been attempts at comedy, they will elicit few laughs. These factors create an overwhelming blanket of immature perversion that stifles any enjoyment in the audience and characters.

Another egregious element is a plotline where Haruka is continually sexually abused by her teacher, something used by her to manipulate Moritani, then joked about, and never resolved despite being referenced a good half-dozen times throughout the manga. More than anything, this speaks to Fragtime’s inability to treat its characters with any respect or focus on a plot arc and complete it satisfactorily. For indeed, even if one undergoes the arduous task of shrugging off the uncomfortable fanservice, there is not much noteworthy content left underneath.

Fragtime’s highschool Yuri romance plot is pretty unextraordinary. Even though it did attempt to include a few interesting plot points, like when Haruka and Moritani begin dating partway through the series, it is not awful, but too often, these plots are picked up and then never resolved properly, such as Moritani struggle to avoid the ping-pong club, and her discomfort after finding out about Haruka’s boyfriend. Yet, there were some positives along the way, sweet moments between characters or satisfying actions taken by them. It is just hard to find one uninterrupted by an unwelcome twist or panty flash. The one unconditional plus I will give is that I really liked the ending. There is a fantastic scene of role-reversal where the usually quiet Moritani confesses all the mischief to her and Haruka committed to the class and reveals the truth of their relationship and her feelings for Haruka. Afterward, a stunned Haruka is forced into a crisis of character and her true self is seemingly revealed. It is appropriately dramatic and delivers a fulfilling ending for the characters. Sadly, these revelations and character arcs are not supported by the rest of the story.

A manga like Fragtime lives or dies by its characters. Readers will sympathize with likable characters met with appropriate challenges and growth, or else they will laugh with endearing figures who try their best despite their flaws. Sadly, Fragtime’s Haruka is neither. Haruka is instantly dislikable, manipulating Moritani upon their first meeting, and does little to improve. She often jumps between ignoring Moritani and controlling her, demanding that she only use her powers at her command. These traits are never addressed, and the whole time readers are expected to accept that she is an unreachable beauty, and we should love her alongside Moritani. She is hopelessly inconsistent, apparently changing personalities and acquiring new traits at the drop of a hat so that Sato can shoehorn a new element of drama into the convoluted romance. The ultimate motivation behind her character, how she tries to please everyone and do what they want her to, is contrary to half her actions, and everything we have learned about her up to that point, making the reveal in the penultimate chapter, which is well-executed, feel forced.

Even through all the misery, convolution, and smut, there were, thankfully, some great moments sprinkled throughout Fragtime, mostly from Moritani. I loved seeing Moritani in the moments when she struggled with jealousy and accidentally stopped time, or else was uncertain about how Haruka would react when she confessed something to her. It was really human and relatable, and if only she were not going around looking up girls’ skirts, she would have been an excellent character. It also helps that her journey is also much more believable than Haruka’s, as Sato mostly keeps her story and development moving at a steady pace.

Moritani is much more consistent than Haruka. She starts the series as a timid and quiet girl, using her ability to run from confrontation or frankly, any form of human interaction. Once she meets Haruka and the solace of those frozen minutes is taken from her, she is understandably confused and traumatized. She even has a few moments of growth through the series, taking more confidence in herself as she plants a pair of panties (yup this again) on Haruka’s cheating boyfriend’s head. It is almost enough to sell her eventual ending and deliver a complete character.

Finally, we come to the art, which is good though not extraordinary. Characters have distinct designs and are consistent. Backgrounds and details are well managed, and nothing ever caught my eye as warped or out of place. However, there is not much that jumps out either for its quality. Sato uses very basic paneling, which is easy to read by also just slightly dull. The time-stopping elements were crying out for some sweeping panels of objects frozen mid-movement, but we never got any such content. In fact, there is no noticeable change in the art during those movements when time is stopped, other than Misuzu and Haruka acting like a pervert and exhibitionist respectively. If the writing did not specify when time was stopped or started, readers would have no idea.

Fragtime has an interesting concept but neither the grace nor charm to pull it off completely. The story is meandering and clumsily tries and fails to incorporate heavy topics and complex characterization into a generic Yuri school romance. The characters, particularly Haruka, are mostly unlikeable and wildly inconsistent, and readers have to force themselves to cheer for them or event finish this two-volume series. Most of all, Fragtime leaves an unpleasant and unsettling feeling with all its sleazy fanservice and perverted set pieces, clearly attempting to cater to specific audiences while utterly misunderstanding how teenage girls, or frankly, sane human beings, act. Any silver linings in its more relatable moments and competent presentation are whisked away by a mixture of contempt and disgust. Sadly, I do not recommend this manga, although I do appreciate that Seven Seas published the whole series in one omnibus volume so that it takes up less space on my bottom shelf.

Ratings: Story – 3 Characters – 4 Art – 6 LGBTQ – 2 Sexual Content – 7 Final – 3

Review copy provided by Seven Seas Entertainment

Purchase Fragtime in paperback and digitally today: https://amzn.to/32mzVmg

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[musical--android]

😇 Who’s your best boy & what drew you to him? / 💖 Top four favourite characters? / 🎀 Favourite Shining Live card? / 🎥 Do you have a favourite CG/scene? / 🧸 Do you have a platonic ship? / 💭 Interaction you’d like to see between characters? / 💬 Say something nice about an UtaPri blog you follow?

UtaPri Ask Me!

😇 Who’s your best boy & what drew you to him? 

it should be blatantly obvious but ai is my best boy and has been since i first saw him animated in s2. honestly??? i was initially drawn to him because he was natsuki and syo’s senpai. back when i first was into utapri natsuki was my best boy and i was intrigued by things regarding him and learning about ai on the wiki and through rp got me interested in him. not to mention ai’s design was really intriguing as well. i liked it a lot.

💖 Top four favourite characters? 

ai, aine, haruka, aaaaaand a dead tie between shion and nagi. (i know it says top four but i can’t pick one of them to be the fourth)

🎀 Favourite Shining Live card? 

this card is my favourite and i tiered for it on jp and en servers. this card is just special to me for many reasons.

🎥 Do you have a favourite CG/scene?

okay i’m gonna cheat a lil’ and do a favourite cg and a favourite scene.

for favourite cg it would have to be this one. even though it’s legit the last cg in his maji love ending in all stars and the moment of living this scene with my friend senna still burns in the back of my mind. i remember screaming at her psp bc ai put me through so much emotional turmoil only to end with saying “tadaima” with this cg and i was all “THAT’S IT?!” haha.

as for favourite scene it would have to be this one. i love the back and forth between reiji and ai in this scene and it makes me laugh how ai was all “reiji is stupid!” to the ocean haha.

🧸 Do you have a platonic ship? 

oh i have plenty !! tbh a lot of my notps (save for some) i can see them being platonic with one another and stuff like that.

💭 Interaction you’d like to see between characters? 

ai and nagi. please. i need it. for science.

💬 Say something nice about an UtaPri blog you follow?

i’ll say something nice about…. you! gin is a total sweetheart and i love that you listen to me when i need to vent. you’re also so good with all of your muses. like woah so good. and you do a good job at splitting up focus it’s awesome.

[beneathtreemomo]

LTT Q&A Answers!

Q: Yoru, was Fubuki your first crush? If not, who?/ Who was Yoru’s first love?

            A: “Well, I think Shirou was my first crush?" Yoru admitted, rubbing the back of his neck nervously while a blush rosied his cheeks. "I’d never felt like that with anyone before him, but I’m also still trying to figure out just how crushes and being in love feels like. Sometimes it feels like I don’t feel it right, even now. But I do know that I love Shirou more than anything, and that’s what matters. So… yeah, Shirou was my first crush.”

 Q: YORU, MY BOY, what movie can you watch over and over without ever getting tired of? AND what’s wrong but sounds right?

            A: He blinked, staring at the question. “Uhhhh, that’s actually a really good question and I don’t have a single clue. I tend to get tired of a lot of things if I watch or listen to them too often, so I try to keep my favorites out of the ‘Frequently Watch’ list. But if I had to guess, I’d say the movie I’d watch over and over would be The Pacifier. It’s silly and a really good story all in one, so I feel like I'll always be able to enjoy it.”

                       With the first half answered, he reread the second half of the message, “Something wrong that sounds right? I guess…" He tapped his chin in thought, letting out a hum as he tried to think of something. "Trying to please everyone as your source of happiness. It’s not that aiming for that goal is bad, per say, but there are people who you just can’t please, and if you focus only on pleasing others without focusing on yourself, you’re only going to get hurt. And at that point, unless you change how you're thinking, you may never be happy because each failure will be plaguing you.”

 Q: Since Coach Kudou is now in the story, a question for him: what’s the most epic way you’ve seen someone quit or be fired?

            A: For a few minutes, Kudou was silent, thinking about how to answer the question. When he started talking, there was a small smile on his face. "I don’t necessarily think it qualifies as “epic”, but when I worked at Sakurazaki Junior High, there was this one kid very few of us could stand. He was constantly talking back to the teachers and correcting “mistakes” that we’d make, or point out things we already knew and either dumbed down for the kids or were on the way to getting to. He actually got one of the teachers so mad she stormed into the principal’s office and started shouting at him about it. Somehow, they got the PA system started and their argument rang loud and clear through the air. Of course, it ended with her shouting "I QUIT!" and the door to his office was shut so hard it made the PA system screech."

 Q: For one of the best girls, Matoro, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve broken?

            A: Matoro laughed, rubbing the back of her head. "I once broke a family heirloom. It was this old pocket watch, and I took it with me to skating practice. When I landed on my butt after failing to do a trick, I ended up, uh, crushing it. Glass shattered, hands stopped moving, it almost sounded like the pocket watch the Mad Hatter and March Hare ruined in Alice in Wonderland by stuffing it with sugar and jam! ….. Oh yeah, I panicked and thought it’d work again if I did that, so…. That didn’t help. But we got it restored, and they fixed it up perfectly! I wasn’t allowed to touch it again until recently, though.”

 Q: Shirou, share some stupid stories and tell me when was the last time you got to tell someone “I told you so.” after a ridiculous situation?

           A: "The last time I got to tell someone 'I told you so' after something ridiculous was actually pretty recent! The Hakuren team, Yoru, and I were all hanging out at Yoru’s place and they built a little pool-like area that we can use as a skating rink, so it’s pretty big. We were all doing whatever we wanted in the snow when Matoro suggested we try having a match on the ‘ice rink’. I and a few others actually opted out of it, mostly because even though the pool is big, it’s not going to hold all twelve of us. 

          “I told them to be careful, because the ice was probably a bit thin due to the weather starting to warm up a little, and while they said they were going to be fine Yoru and I just kind of… knew that it was about to be a disaster. So before the match started we said not to fall through; at most they would have gotten damp calves but, still, there’s a reason there’s ice and snow.

         “Long story short, we were having a blast but on one collision the ice broke underneath Matoro and Kitami and they fell in. That’s the most recent silly ‘I told you so’ that’s happened!”

 Q: Watanabe, because I don't get your mind at all, what are you interested in that most people aren’t - and no, murder isn't a proper answer?

           A: Watanabe gave a charming smile, laughing a little. “I’m interested in lots of popular things! If it’s not popular, then—"

           A teammate of his popped up beside him after overhearing the conversation, crossing his arms and giving the questioner an annoyed look. Watanabe glared at the teammate. “He enjoys throwing rocks at birds. And from his track record, there are worse things I could mention.”

           Watanabe hissed, shoving the teammate away as he growled, “Would you shut up?!” He turned back to the questioner, smiling politely. “Ignore him, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about! I love anything popular, I don’t think there’s really anything I like that isn’t something most people enjoy!”

 Q: Haruka, what was cool when you were young but isn’t cool now? AND what songs hit you with a wave of nostalgia every time you hear them? AND because the Angst is real, when was the last time you immediately regretted something you said?

           A: “Oh!!” She gasped, grinning and clapping her hands together, “I lived in America for a few years and I fell in love with Alf and Mr. Rogers. I thought they were so cool! But nowadays it feels like you’re lucky if someone even remembers Alf, and the generations that really seem to remember Mr. Rogers have come to a close after they stopped airing the show. I think Hyouga’s generation might be the last.”

           At the question about what songs make her nostalgic, she hummed thoughtfully and looked up at the sky. Coming up with an answer, she snapped her fingers and looked back at the questioner. “Maybe I’m Amazed by Paul McCartney. That song was probably the first one Natsume and I danced to as a couple, and then as husband and wife. It’s a special song that I wouldn’t trade for the world, and each time I listen to it, it reminds me of those days.” As she spoke a bright blush began to cover her cheeks and she looked away, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. “Other than that… I don’t really know. A lot of songs, I guess, but none really stick out like that one.”

           For the third question her blush only deepened, her smile slipping and being replaced with sad regret. “Oh gosh, there are plenty of things I wish I hadn’t said.” She admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. “The most recent… I think it was back after Yoru got injured. We were all pretty wound up because of it, and all of us said and did things we regret. But I remember snapping at Natsume that Yoru should just “Get over it” or… something along those lines. The words weren’t near as blunt or sharp, but the intent was clear, and I regretted it immediately. It took me over a month before I could look Yoru in the eye again even after I apologized then and there. I’m really lucky it didn’t sour my relationship with either of them completely.”

 Q: And last one for Yoru! What’s the most awkward thing that happens to you on a regular basis?

           A: Yoru groaned, scrubbing his face with his hands. “Natsume refuses to let me bathe in peace and I wish I was joking.” He sighed, glancing uneasily at the questioner. “If you want one that still makes me feel awkward, though… it’s whenever I snap at people. There’s just something in the air, you know? Like you know you screwed up but you can’t apologize or you did and it just makes things more awkward. I’ve also caught people staring at my eyes before, that happens pretty often. Can’t really say which is more awkward though. They’re all pretty high up there.”

 Q: What’s Natsume’s job?

           A: “Oh, oh! I’ve got this one!!!” Araya cheered, waving her hand enthusiastically. “Natsume’s a baker/patisserie! He owns a cute little bakery in town, near some ice cream parlors and cafés. He’s actually super popular, too! One of the town’s best, hands down. His specialty in the store is castella cakes and melonpan! Yoru told us he loves experimenting with the recipes and coming up with new flavors along with ones that already exist.” Her eyes twinkled with excitement, “But if he’s got a booth at festivals or wants to help make something for a party? Expect the best sata andagi and/or amanattō you may have ever tasted!”

 Q: Was Yoru always this fluffy?

           A: Yoru frowned, biting his lip. “Sorry, I don’t think I understand the question? Fluffy how?”

           Natsume cleared his throat, holding up a hand. “I can answer this! Just give me a second.” He ran out of the room, coming back with a rather large photo album and opening the pages to show pictures of a toddler with familiar mismatched eyes.

           He pointed to one where the boy, slightly older than in the pictures before it, was on a surfboard in the sand with an instructor to side, encouraging him. “Here’s a picture where 6-year-old Yoru is learning to surf.”

            At the sound of his name Yoru’s eyes widened, a yelp escaping him as he tried to cover the picture with his hands. “No, don’t show them that!” He cried, even as Natsume moved the book out of the way and above his head. Yoru jumped as high as he could, growling under his breath as he tried to grab the book, “You are so lucky I don’t like using hissatsus outside of matches.”

             Natsume grinned, pointing to the picture again as he leaned away from his brother, “Look at how wild his hair is! He looked like an adorable kitten, and it didn’t help that we lived right along the beach; sea air can affect your hair in many ways, you know, and for him the extra waviness added more volume and made him even more fluffy than he is now!”

             “Natsume!!”

Q: Did he (Yoru) ever have problems with heterochromia? (ie, other people making fun of him for it?)

          A: Natsume sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away from the questioner. “He did, actually. When he was little, some jerks used to call him strange or creepy and make fun of it since it was scary to them. He ended up getting really reclusive, and hid his gold eye behind his hair. It stayed like that until he was like, ten.”

 Q: What’s Yoru’s favorite color?

           A: Yoru hummed in thought, answering a moment later. “I like purples and greens, so I guess maybe a dark forest green or some sort of dark purple?”

 Q: Has he (Yoru) ever tried sports that aren’t soccer?

           A: Yoru nodded, smiling brightly. “I used to surf back in Okinawa! That’s actually how I met Tsunami, aside from being in the same class. I also do all the winter sports Hakuren has to offer, but some of them weren’t really me doing “sports” so much as just… messing around, I guess?” His eyebrows furrowed in thought, smile turning into a curious pout. “Is it still a sport if you don’t treat it as such?”

 Q: Does Yoru watch babyTV with Hyouga?

           A: Yoru shook his head “We don’t watch babyTV; honestly we mostly just watch random videos on youtube or whatever kid friendly things are on Netflix. So lots of animated movies.” Behind him, Hyouga started playing something on the tv. The Digimon theme song started playing and Yoru sighed, smile turning a little strained. “And Digimon. Lots of Digimon.”

Q: If Yoru, Watanbe, Haruka and Natsume were paladins, what lions would they command?

           A: Watanabe would operate Sincline, but if he HAD to have a lion it’d probably end up being Black, and only because none of the other lions fit him (sorry black sweetie you deserve better). Yoru would either be Green or Blue, Haruka would be Yellow, and Natsume would be Red!

 Q: Will Tsunami ever call Watanabe a wet paper shark?

           A: Tsunami’s jaw dropped. “That…. Is the best nickname EVER,” He cried, leaping to his feet and pumping a fist into the air as he grinned, “And you bet the next time I see that jerk’s face I’m calling him it!”

           Color drained from Yoru’s face at the thought, letting out a nervous laugh. “Please, don’t.”

 Q: Is Yoru ticklish (and does Shirou know/exploit this)?

           A: Shirou smirked, eyes ringed with gold. He crept over to the couch where Yoru was sitting and reading a book, ducking behind it when Yoru glanced over his shoulder. When he was sure Yoru’s attention was back on the book he sprung onto Yoru, grinning as he started to mercilessly tickle Yoru’s sides. Yoru shrieked, laughter filling the air as he tried to push Shirou away and wriggle away from his fingers. “Yep,” Shirou laughed, stopping after a few minutes to hug Yoru and nuzzle his cheek. “Definitely ticklish.”

 Q: Did Natsume and Yoru ever have a Naruto phase?

           A: Haruka giggled, hiding a smile with a hand. “One time in college, Natsume was trying to impress me and I was stressing out during a time crunch for fashion class, so he pretended to use “shadow clone jutsu” and ran around the room pretending like he was a ton of different versions of himself helping me pin down patterns or sew on details to things! Then when I was smiling he pretended to use Naruto’s coveted “sexy jutsu” and did a silly little shimmy that had me crying from laughter.”

          Natsume blushed, laughing weakly and holding up his pointer finger, “I’d just like to say my actual Naruto phase was back when I was ten. I just really didn’t want to see her so stressed.”

           Yoru snickered from beside them, rolling his eyes at Natsume’s correction. He glanced at the questioner, smiling apologetically. “I’m not a fan of Naruto, to be honest.”

 Q: How tall is everyone?

           A: I actually made a height chart once for the Yukimuras! As of FFI, Shirou is 5’0 (152cm), Yoru is 5’1 (154cm), Hyouga is 3’1 (94cm), Haruka is 5’8 (172.7cm) and Natsume is 5’10 (177.8cm) though I’ve accidentally been saying he’s over 6ft/180cm for like, three or four months now.

 Q: Is Yoru your first IE OC?

           A: Yep, he is! I created him in I think August of 2017, maybe earlier. I just felt like Shirou needed someone who understood a little, you know? Not even romantically, just… in general. And my sweet little shipper heart couldn’t help but make it gay so I did xD Originally, he was going to be from a random school Raimon stopped at before getting to Hokkaido, and even when he was in Hokkaido he was just going to be someone with a secret who insisted he come along! Things changed of course, and I’m actually really happy with the “fallen star” persona I’ve given him!

 Q: What do you think there’s not enough of in the IE fandom (Male!OC, underrated canon characters, etc.)?

           A: Well, to be frank, I wouldn’t even really notice what’s missing/not enough because I simply just don’t read a lot of IE fanfic or leave my bubble of select few content creators. I read it from my friends or writers I like if it’s topics I can stomach, of course, but other than that I just stick to my small corner and support everyone w/o having actually read their stuff xD But something that’s usually severely lacking in ALL fandoms is Male OC stuff. It’s like Nessie the Loch-ness monster sometimes! I mean, I also get WHY it’s not that popular, and I’m actually fine with Male OCs not being popular, but I’ve always noticed that there’s usually one male OC fic to at least 10 female OC fics in just about every fandom that has OC fics.

Q: How did Yoru realize his sexuality?

           A: Honestly, if he hadn’t gotten a crush on Shirou, he might not have put two and two together until he was in his 20s because he honestly would have just… kept subconsciously waiting for a switch that wouldn’t have come until he found The One.

           Before Yoru got a crush on Shirou, he figured he was gay at the very least—he didn’t like girls so he figured he liked boys but he still hadn’t… felt like it fit? Like everyone else seemed so certain about who they liked and while he didn’t care he noticed that he didn’t really get it, either. Then when the crush on Shirou hit, he assumed he was homoromantic, demisexual. But then as they get older Yoru realizes that, wow, he really doesn’t see anyone else in the same light he does Shirou? Like not even a little baby tickle of it.

            And he’s perfectly fine with Shirou touching him in certain ways but the idea of it with anyone else? Skin crawling (SIDE NOTE: You don’t have to be sex repulsed to be ace/demi. Being ace/demi involves feeling little to no sexual attraction. Quite a few on the ace spectrum just happen to be sex repulsed as well) Heck, sometimes with Shirou it’s not a comfy feeling (don’t worry whenever they do something it’s consensual) So he throws terms around in his head until he comes to the conclusion he’s demiromantic and asexual and after that he just stopped caring about labeling it.

Q: What’s Haruka’s job and how did she meet Natsume?

           A: Haruka grinned, pulling open the door to her studio. The room was filled with an organized mess of fabric rolls and mannequins of all shapes and sizes, some of which had either completed, half-finished, or barely started outfits, the tables covered in just as much mess. “I’m a fashion designer/tailor!” She chirped, closing the door as she continued to explain. “I mostly do freelance jobs like making costumes for plays and ballets, music videos, movie shoots, or parties. I also do small mending jobs that people in town need, like taking a dress in or out. But I also have my own lines of clothes that I sell online in batches with the help of my darling family as well as Yoru’s friends Araya and Matoro as models!”

                       Natsume took over for the second half, eyes bright with nostalgia and laughter. “We met in high school, became friends our first year thanks to being in the same group in the cooking club. At the time I was actually crushing on someone else and Haruka wasn’t bothering with dating, but my dad was constantly trying to prove we were dating— which, in hindsight, was hilarious. When we entered college, we started dating about halfway through our first year! It just kinda happened, y’know?”

 Q: Shirou lives in an orphanage in LTT right? Will he move in with the Yukimuras one day? :3

           A: In a way! He’s kinda already living there, but hasn’t really “moved in” because, well, Natsume and Haruka aren’t sure they have time to take the training required to become legal foster parents—even if it is inadequate. By the time high school comes to a close though, Shirou will have pretty much moved into the Yukimura household, though not officially. He’s still listed as living in the orphanage. During college, Yoru and Shirou get an apartment in town!

 Q: Watanabe, why are you a grumpy old man?

           A: Watanabe sputtered, letting out a dramatic, offended gasp. “WH—I AM NOT A GRUMPY OLD MAN.” He cried, clearing his throat and crossing his arms as he straightened his back. “I’ll have you know I’m quite distinguished and I deserve every right I have to be bitter about Yukimura’s bought—” He froze, catching sight of his teammates. He smiled, eyes flashing for a moment as he backtracked on the remark he was about to make. “I mean!!  I just tend to have anger issues, is all. Nothing major, of course!” He laughed, holding out an arm as if to make a point as his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, “And really, it isn’t fair what happened with Yuki, right?”

           One of his teammates shrugged, “I don’t know, I think it’s alright. He’s a competent manager, I’d say he earned a place on the national team.”

           Watanabe laughed, his eye twitching and smile sharp. “Yes…. Of course, you make a valid point!”

 Q: How did Natsume react to the news he was going to be a dad? Was Haruka worried? How did YORU react? XD

           A: Haruka giggled, amusement glinting in her eyes. “Natsume fainted.”

           “NO I DIDN’T!”

           She rolled her eyes, her smile wide. “It wasn’t exactly planned for us to have a kid, even though we’d both been talking about it. But the moment he woke up he had the hugest grin on his face and kissed me over and over. It was so cute! Yoru’s reaction wasn’t really amazing or anything—he got wide-eyed and super happy and with Tsunami’s help threw a super small party over it. Nothing fancy, just a little “congratulations” and some cupcakes and movies.”

            “And yeah, I was actually really worried—about being pregnant, not Natsume’s reaction, although the fainting startled me.” Haruka admitted, ignoring how Natsume shouted again that he didn’t faint. “We were both still in college at the time, and college is stressful enough without having to worry about being pregnant, too.

            “We talked about it and Natsume, the absolute sweetheart, decided he’d just quit school and become a full-time employee at the restaurant he was working at. I took a year off of school, worked via my online store a little bit leading up to the final term, and once Hyouga was ok to leave with Yoru, Miyu, and Hayato, I went back to school for a little while. Natsume’s still on the fence about whether or not he wants to go back, now that he’s got his own bakery.”

[docholligay]

Insecure

Jet asked me for four ficlets based on four friendships that we share in: Rei and Michiru, Pharah and Tracer, Haruka and Mina, and Winston and Tracer. Then Jet got sick, and I wanted her to rest and not work on my video, so we had an accord that I would cease work in my WIPs for her as well. She gave me permission to publish the two I already had finished though! So this is my Pharah and Tracer fic, which turned into NOT A FICLET AT ALL. 2500 words. Happy friendiversary you ass. My entire OW universe is here. 

Winston set down the stack in the small TV room upstairs, where Tracer happily watched a movie, crunching on her prawn cocktail potato chips.

“They finally come in?” She practically leapt off the couch toward them.

“Lena--”

But Tracer hardly heard him, quick as she scampered over to the stack. It was a big deal, this feature, something they’d been working towards, at last getting the recognition they’d worked so hard for. She’d waited weeks to see it, still, a bit like a child, excited to see herself in print, and this time was different, and better--Overwatch was more her baby now than it had ever been.

Tracer’s heart grew heavy as she picked up the magazines that had been delivered to the house, tied together with a cheerful twine bow.

She looked up at Winston. “This the only edition, then?”

Winston nodded softly, as Dva poked her head into the room.

“What?” She asked in her way that was half curious and half obligated.

“They put Fareeha on the cover alone, seems.” Tracer looked down at the magazine where Pharah looked up at her, strong and powerful, her jaw determined in the light.

They’d taken pictures of both of them, along with the group shots, interviewed them both. A Family Legacy, the text next to Pharah’s name proclaimed, Fareeha Amari and The Spirit of Leadership.

“Me whole family’s been in the RAF going back years…” she mumbled quietly, flipping through the pages, “must not ‘ave been too keen on it.”

There she was. A little biography, like all of the others, in an uninteresting line of photos.

“Of course they put her on the front,” D.va snorted.

“Hana,” Winston tried.

“She’s the “impressive” face of the team, she’s the leader, she’s the one they talk about. Why are you even surprised?” She tossed the magazine onto her laundry basket. “To send to my parents.”

Tracer gripped the magazine hard, wrinkling the edges of it, and felt something in her pop like an overfilled water balloon, spilling her feelings out.

She threw down the magazine.

“I know, ‘ana. I know she’s better then me, and smarter than me, and more ‘andsome, and taller too! I know!” She stormed out of the hallway and slammed the door to her room, which was unsatisfyingly slow as it locked into place, protecting her from being unlocked in time.

“What the hell?” She heard from the hallway.

She unclicked her accelerator and tossed it into the corner, not caring if it broke. Hoping it might, and then she’d go away.

Fareeha is so much better than you, and people like her more and she’s ever so organized, you should ‘ave died when the Slipstream failed, you should be dead, you’d ‘ave--

“LENA, STOP IT!” she scolded herself aloud, trying to calm herself.  “It’s isn’t true, and you and Fareeha are different, and lots of people really love you. They do.”

Lena Oxton was a woman of strong emotions, and, 90% of the time, those emotions were happiness, and cheer, and love, and enthusiasm. But when the others came, they came like a sledgehammer to the chest, and since childhood, she had tried to talk herself down from the wild, oppressive feeling inside of her.

She wondered if other people felt like this, when she wasn’t in the middle of it.

She closed her eyes , and took a deep breath. You can’t feel this bad for that long, love, you ‘aven’t got the focus for it.

Normally, it was a joke she told herself when she was sad like this, but now it only seemed to highlight what was wrong with her, why Pharah was the one on the cover, why no one thought of her as being leader, ever.

There was a knock. “Lena--”

“I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT, WINSTON, GO AWAY!” She could practically hear Winston shrink from the door, and it tempered her for a moment. “Please just...It’s not you, promise.”

She felt even worse as she heard him shuffle away from the door. 

___

Flight was the answer. It was the one place she reigned supreme, in her little Cessna, far and away from everything else in the world. She could clear her mind, with it in the clouds.

She clipped back on her accelerator, threw on her old bomber jacket, its aged scent the one comfort allotted to her, the places where she’d patched it after being shot now a part of its storied landscape, and headed toward the small hangar out back where it was parked.

It would be yet another sign of the sort of day she was having that Pharah came down the hallway at the same time.

“Did you see my stunning debut?” Pharah grinned, teasingly, but also filled with a little personal pride. It was a good picture. “You should pay attention to what this article says, next time I command you.”

“Yeah, s’nice,” she gave a nod, “I’m out for bit. Nice to see they know who revolutionized Overwatch and all that, sure you can run it all in me absence.”

There was no play in her voice, no quick retort, just an edge that hurt all the more for the surprise of it.

“Tracer,” she took her arm, worried. Tracer was upset so seldom, and her mood was so heavy Pharah could feel it in the hallway, hear it in the echo of Pharah’s unreturned volley. “I am only teasing you.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She yanked her arm away from Pharah and turned away,  walking down the hallway toward the the bay where she kept her Cessna. “S’all right, Pharah, you go on then, be great and mighty, I’m ‘appy for you.”

“I think you were less upset when I gave you a concussion.” She gave a weak laugh, unnerved by Tracer’s visible pain,. “This isn’t a contest, Tracer.”

“Course it’s not,” she turned on her heel and pointed at Pharah, “Because you’re winning!”

“I cannot win if--”

Tracer threw her hands up in the air. “People always talk about ‘ow YOU revolutionized Overwatch, ‘ow YOU are the commander Overwatch’s always needed, and I’m nothing! Next to you. Nothing. I’ve given the whole of me life, me entire bloody BODY, but it’s you, it’s always been you, and I’m the also-ran to another WANKING AMARI”

What Pharah wanted to say was that Tracer’s accent got so ungodly thick when she was upset that Pharah wasn’t entirely certain she understood what Tracer was saying, but more than that, she wanted to tell Tracer she could not do it without her, and that she was invaluable.

“You are not my competition--””

“Oh and? Just as bonus, your dead mother, who you don’t even CARE FOR, shows up on the doorstep, don’t she? Can’t even let anyone think you’ve failed at ‘aving LIVE PARENTS, not Fareeha Amari, COMMANDER PHARAH, EMPEROR QUEEN OF OVERWATCH AND THE BLOODY WORLD ENTIRE , but you’ve shown us, so you ‘ave.”

“Lena. You are my friend. You--”

“I don’t want your bloody pity, Pharah. ” She spit the words, and turned on her heel, storming back down the hallway to where her plane waited.

___

Pharah sat on the edge of the bed, somewhere between hurt and confusion, not understand either one. Tracer was not given to vitriol, at least not toward her friends, and to see her react that way, to teasing Pharah thought very gentle, made her wonder if it was something else she said.

“Shatzi” Mercy called to her from where she stood in the bathroom. “Are you feeling alright?” She walked toward Pharah, studying her for a moment in concern.

“Yes, I’m...I am not ill.” She looked at Mercy, her eyebrows still knit in thought, “Lena got very angry with me today.”

Mercy sat down next to her. I have been observing, as long as I’ve know her, that she does not seem to get upset so often, but when she does, she really commits to it.” She took Pharah’s hands in hers reassuringly, and forced a laugh .

“She called me Pharah.” It seemed a strange thing to carry as painful, nothing but a name that was not so different from her own, a name she had given herself and that generally carried so much pride with it,  but felt a swear in Tracer’s mouth. “She never does.”

Mercy tilted her head. “Why was she angry with you?”

“I was teasing her.”

“Lena? She is usually the one to be beginning these things.”

Pharah considered for a moment, tried to reconstruct what had happened. “The magazine? That we took the pictures for?”

Mercy nodded, listening intently.

“We received the copies today. I was on the cover, the article was about me, and--”

Mercy took in a deep breath. “Ah.” Mercy sat for a moment, still holding Pharah’s hands, feeling the warmth in them and how she longed to share it. “She feels you are better respected, I am thinking, and she tries very hard.”

“I did not know she was so sensitive. I would not have been that way.”

“It is hard to tell, what will bother her, sometimes.” She thought for a moment, “You do not remember so well, because you were also very hurt, and very angry, but when your mother came back,” She looked down at Pharah’s hands in hers, running her thumb over her fingers, trying to clear the unpleasantness of it from her mind, “She was also very sad and hurt. Jealous, you know. I have known her for a very long time, Fareeha,” She cupped Pharah’s cheek, “She will be coming out of it before too long.”

Pharah chuffed. “She can have my mother.”

“Fareeha.”

___

Tracer’s foot bounced as she looked out the window, the drizzling rain that had driven her from the sky the glorious icing on the terrible cake that had been her day since eleven sixteen this morning. The sun was setting, Tracer thought, it was about the right time, though she could not tell for the oppressive grey that lay over the land.

She was beginning to get tired of being sad, despite it having been less than 24 hours. There were some benefits to not being able to keep your mind on one thing. But still, her heart ached a little bit, as she looked at the magazine in front of herself. Why was she reminding herself of this? Why keep poking at it like it wasn’t going to hurt?

She took another drink of her beer. Mercy had told her once, when they were posing for another poster years and years ago, that to do something for the glory of it all was just as selfish as never putting yourself in danger in the first place. The way Mercy lived backed what she said, and it had stuck with Tracer.

She was in a museum, for God’s sake, why was she being petty over a magazine cover?

Pharah walked into the small nook of the kitchen and sat across from her, sliding the magazine toward herself. She looked down at the cover, where she practically glowed gold, the shining trophy of Overwatch’s success.

“This was a mistake.”

“‘Ow you figure?” She did not look at Pharah, simply fiddled with the edge of the label on her beer bottle.

“My co-leader is not with me.”

“Mercy?” She said expectantly.

She shook her head, and flipped through the magazine. “Lena Oxton, callsign Tracer. A decorated Royal Air Force pilot. A member of the noted team who saved London, though she was only a cadet. She ran a bomb into a mass of omnics, at the risk of her own life, and received a medal for bravery. A founding member of the renewed Overwatch. You may know her.” She nodded at Traer. “People should. I am sorry they ignored your contributions.”

She shook her head, a little embarrassed. “No, I’m sorry, Fareeha. It’s not your fault.” Tracer took a drink of her beer. “Bit of a tinderbox, I am. You are,” she sighed, “better at everything than me, afraid.”

“This is not true.” Pharah looked over at her with what she hoped was a playful look. “No one on earth has ever liked me better than you.”

“Ang.” But she looked at Pharah and gave a soft smile.

“One person on earth has liked me better than you.”

“Your Mum.”

“I think that is debatable.”

“Well, she bloody well ‘ates me.”

“Why do you think I take you to--you have skills that--” She huffed, frustrated with her own inability to speak her own mind. “I cannot run Overwatch without you. I do not wish to.”

“Telling I’m your equal, then?”

She shook her head. “Not at all. You are my complement. My equal means there are two.” She looked over the table at Tracer. “I think recent history has proven two Amaris to be one too many Amaris.”

Tracer’s laugh was warm and appreciative. “I should be the one to say that, really.”

“My complement makes me better. Makes the team more strong.” She looked back down at the table. “That is what I mean to say.I do not like when I am compared with my mother and found...the runner-up. I should have been more sensitive to that in you.”

Tracer looked at her seriously. “You’re twice the commander your mum ever was, Fareeha, and I’m not exactly wanting to fluff your ego today.”

Pharah leaned back in her chair. “You are twice the help Jack ever was, I think it is fair to say.”

“Oh,” Tracer nodded emphatically, “I’ll agree to that every day of the week. But it doesn’t sway much for me.” She gave a loud laugh, and Pharah smiled to hear it.

“Your success is my success. Lena.”

“Getting a bit familiar, aren’t we, Commander Amari?” She giggled in her waterfall way, and then shook her head, “You know, if I’m not an overdramatic wanker every so often, they’ll take away me butch card, so they will.” She bounced around. “I know it is, Fareeha. It’s the team’s success.”

“You can have the cover next time.”

Tracer exploded with an idea. “No, I think we should give it to Win! You know, I don’t think ‘e’s ever ‘ad anything like that, and the rest of us ‘ave, in one way or another, I ‘ad me own poster back in the day, and I will again, once Overwatch is a bit more established, don’t you think? I think so, at least, I’m bloody adorable, and---OH MAYBE I’LL GET AN ACTION FIGURE. I wonder--”

Pharah smiled. Everything was back to whatever passed for normal in this place, and she felt the world shuffle just a little more comfortably together, assembling a sense of family she’d thought she’d lost, so long ago.

[rinharuweek]

A Familiar Sight - (Day 3. Free)

Prompt: Day 3 - Free Author: Vavvaflo Rating: General Audiences Warnings: None Summary: Rin comes back to Japan after six years of absence in order to find himself. An old acquaintance will help him to answer to his questions.

Day 3 - Free “I haven’t seen it raining like this in months.”

“Doesn’t it rain in Australia?”

“Yes, but it’s fall there and days are still warm.”

Haruka nodded, watching the rain falling down. They hung out with the idea of grabbing an ice cream, hoping that the weather would be good enough, but fate had other plans that day, apparently. Rin wasn’t surprised: unfortunate events were the rule in his life by now. As they met, the sky became cloudy and soon afterwards it began to pour. Rin covered his head with his sweater, trying to get wet as little as possible. Strangely enough, Haruka pulled out a pocket umbrella and opened it with the intention of protecting both. Rin widened his eyes, surprised: he had forgotten how thoughtful the black-haired guy was. He soon was caught by a sense of bitterness when he realized how vague memories could be. As usual, he hid his mood behind a joke, to which the corvine answered back with a bored grimace, then they both hurry to find shelter. There was no open place yet, so they ended up in front of the municipal swimming pool. The gate was open, though there wasn’t any living soul around. Rin suggested entering. Haru disagreed at first, but the red-haired guy’s stubbornness got the better of him. They sat on a sheltered bench in front of the garden. The scent of spring rain was strong, intense. It reminded him of old memories, of feelings he once had lived, maybe in another life. Haru sat next to him. Perhaps he was absorbed in the same thoughts as Rin was. His presence was strong, incisive, and immediately the thought - I miss this, all of it - hit him. He had feared something like that, a few days ago. He had feared that coming back would invade his mind with moments from his past, days he could not live anymore. He knew it wouldn’t be so easy. And maybe, unconsciously, he had decided to take that trip exactly for that reason.

- It will be good to discover Japan once again, it will be good to discover Japan once again, it will be goo… -

“How are you feeling, Rin?”

Haru’s voice hit him like a slap. The red-haired guy turned to him, but the other just kept staring at the rain.

- How am I feeling? Awful -

“Fine,” he said instead.

The silence of the other guy became overwhelming. Rin couldn’t help but smirk: how could he even think that Haruka would believe him?

“They want me to retire.”

Suddenly, Haruka seemed to come back from his world. He turned to face Rin, wide-eyed, unable to believe the words he had just heard.

“For real?”

- What kind of shitty question is it? -

“No, look, it was a joke. Don’t you feel like laughing?”

The black-haired guy was a little puzzled by that reaction. He just stared at him, trying to get every little change of his face.

- Jeez… He hasn’t changed at all - he thought, rubbing his face with his hands. He didn’t know whether to smile or feel frustrated at that thought. “Yes, for real.” he repeated then, leaving any doubt out.

Rin kept looking in front of him, his elbows leaned on his knees - Has rain always been so gray in this country? - He felt the other guy’s gaze right on him, but he didn’t dare to return it.

“I’m sorry,” Haruka admitted, over the incessant sound of the rain.

“Yeah.” He just managed to say.

“What will you do?”

“I don’t know,” he said, rubbing his hair with his hands, “I was asked to coach the junior swimmers.”

Haruka’s look was lightened by a hint of hope and a “Not a bad idea” soon came out of his lips.

“Yes, sure. Of course.” Rin said, laughing sorely. Haruka just stared at him, and a shiver crossed the red-haired guy’s spine.

“Will you stop judging me?” He exclaimed.

“I’m not joking.”

“Well, neither am I.”

“You should consider it. You are a great athlete, you could offer so much. ”

- I want to swim, I don’t want to watch the others do it in my place- he thought, but he kept it for himself.

“I haven’t been coaching for years” he said instead.

“I can give you some advice. I teach children to swim in Tokyo. I came back here for the holidays, but I wouldn’t mind go for a swim. ”

The idea didn’t attract Rin much, but at the thought of swimming with Haruka, he could barely hold back a smile.

“OK” he accepted. He got up and headed to the main entrance. "What are you doing?” the other asked.

“I’m going inside” he said, stating the obvious.

“But it’s closed.”

Rin pushed the door, and it opened.

“You say?” He just replied.

He walked into the building with Haruka behind him. They went to the locker rooms and took their clothes off. Seeing the black-haired guy wearing the swimsuit under his pants, Rin could not help but grin.

- He’s always the same - he thought.

As soon as they entered the room, the damp of the swimming pool overwhelmed Rin. A sense of thoroughness filled him immediately, and just for a moment all his doubts and problems disappeared. He put his swimming pool cap, set his goggles pinching the rubber band and dived. Cold water scratched his body without mercy, but he was used to it. As soon as he came up to the surface, he started swimming free. He turned four laps in order to warm himself, but only when he had stopped, he noticed that Haruka hadn’t got into the water yet.

“Well, don’t you come in?” he asked.

He answered by staring back at him curiously. Then he set his goggles, climbed up the platform and dived. Rin was behind him immediately. He pushed with his legs and slide over the water. He reached Haruka shortly after, and as soon as he made the turn, he found himself ahead. For a second, Rin thought that the black-haired guy would have gotten weaker in the last few years, but he changed his mind: soon Haruka had almost reached him, even though with some efforts. Rin won, but the distance between the two was not so much.

“Such a wasted talent,” Rin said, breathing deeply.

Haruka took off his goggles and leaned against the wall. He did not say anything, but Rin could swear he’d seen sparks of excitement in his blue irises.

The red-haired guy leaned to the lane, so he could look at it better.

“Admit it.”

The other looked puzzled and said nothing.

“You missed me.”

Haruka averted his gaze and with a bored gesture added “Cut it out.” Rin smiled, the first carefree - smile after so long. I did miss it, swimming with him -

“What about another race?” He suggested, then.

“We are not here for this,” the other replied, showing a serious expression.

Rin stared at him passing under the lane and reaching him. Haruka started giving him some insights and pieces of advice about teaching. He explained how to approach, what aspects to focus more on, training periods, and so on. Rin listened carefully, especially when Haruka talked about episodes of his life. Rin already knew most of the things that the other was explaining. Memories of his times as captain at Samezuka suddenly came up. He had already put into practice some methods when he had taught Rei how to swim. He didn’t want to interrupt the black-haired guy’s explanation, though. He felt caught by his calm, linear voice. It was like - watching him swim, and I cannot help but follow him - “… do you understand what I mean?” Haruka asked suddenly.

“Yup.”

“Learners don’t understand that the hand must be rigid and the fingers well-joined in order to give greater boost. However, if you show them how to do the gesture, they also understand how intense it must be.”

Rin noticed a small spark in the black-haired guy’s eyes. "You love what you do.”

Haruka stared at him uncertain, not quite understanding whether it was a question or a simply statement.

“I mean, you really like to teach.”

The other one looked down and timidly nodded.

“I’m glad you found your freedom.”

Haruka just kept looking at him, waiting for him to add something more. “I mean, isn’t that the meaning you give to feeling free? Do what makes you feel good?”

Haruka nodded, solemnly. His impassive look gave space to thousand interpretations, but Rin didn’t care about analysing any one of them. His mood went down drastically, thinking about the choices he had to take. He let himself back off, knowing his shoulders would meet the wall. He took the swimming pool cap and his goggles off, his gaze got lost over an undefined point in front of him.

“I don’t think teaching is my future, Haru.” He then revealed in a faint voice, “I don’t feel free enough.”

It all occurred in a second. A shadow covered his view and suddenly the raven-haired guy was a few inches from him, swimming pool cap and goggles down.

“You’ve never understood what to feel free really meant.”

Rin didn’t know what confused him more, whether Haruka’s sharp statement or the kiss that came soon after. He only knew that he had the other one’s lips on his own, anxious to find something that they might have sought for so long. And for that moment, he decided not to ask any more questions.

He closed his eyes and kissed him back.

———————————————————————————–

Hey hi! Sorry for the late submission, but chap 3 is finally here >.<

Ok well, this is a little longer than the other, but still very important. I hope you enjoyed it!

As usual, Thank you to my Natsumi. You’re doing a wonderful job. I knew I could count on you <3

[mageinabarrel]

We pick up where we left off last time with Shoji Kawamori’s interview on creating AKB0048. In this part, the questions focus primarily on the casting process for the main voice actresses, turning toward some specific questions about the production process near the end.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out part one of the interview!

Shaking from nerves at auditions. Asking Kawamori Shoji about AKB0048: Part 2.

Whether it’s the Senbatsu popularity election or rock-paper-scissors, AKB48’s motto is always “fight hard.” For the voice of the 9 trainee main characters, an audition was held to choose from AKB48 and their sister groups, a total of 200 girls. What goal did Kawamori have with this inconceivable plan of casting the 9 lead roles with new voice actors? This second part of the interview with Shoji Kawamori centers on that voice casting.

— All of the 9 trainees were voiced by new members. They weren’t new to voice acting however, but instead were girls chosen from the AKB48 groups. This seems like it was quite a gamble.

Kawamori: Gambling can be good sometimes (laughs).Voice actresses have their own special set of skills. Acting with your voice is an incredibly difficult thing. Since (Super Dimension Fortress) Macross I’ve discovered many singers-turned-voice-actresses, but never 9 at one time. However, last June I witnessed the Senbatsu popularity election for the first time. After seeing those girls pull punches right out in the open to win, I felt that we would lose the concept of the story if we cast from outside the AKB48 groups. So during the meeting on the way back from the elections I said, “We have to choose from those girls.”

— It’s like you were driven into a corner (laughs). For the first round of auditions you chose through voice recording, correct?

Kawamori: We conducted tape audition in October, but the time until we could review them was filled with sleepless nights. We had asked for girls that were interested in voice acting to be notified, but we told by the AKB48 group, “We’re a group that gives it our all, so we’re all in.” We didn’t really have much time for that, though, so we had a car parked behind a handshake event, called in the girls one by one, handed them a paper and told them to read (laughs).

— What was the impression from those audition tapes?

Kawamori: We had heard that there were anime fans among the members, and this was true; however there were more girls that spoke like anime characters than girls who actually liked anime. If we went with those girls there really wouldn’t be any point in having this audition and choosing from outside of the anime industry. So while those girls did well, we intentionally chose away from that.

— Was the overall level high?

Kawamori: Despite suddenly being told to audition in a place like that, there were a lot of girls that had a good sense of what they were doing. On top of that, it really felt like each one of them had figured out what they needed to stand out as unique. I wondered what made them so independent and have such a good intuition, and then I figured it out. Obviously, when they take the mic on stage, but also at handshake events and variety shows, they train how to be themselves.

— I understand speaking on stage and variety shows, but why handshake events as well?

Kawamori: For many members, they meet with 2000 people in one day. If you think about it, though, they interact with 2000 people in a single day. They have to train themselves to be able to respond to every fan right then and there. There aren’t many groups in the world that do that kind of thing. For example, you would expect a sales person that interacts with many customers to have a firm grasp of communication, wouldn’t you? But for AKB48, they have to train to respond to the love and support of each of their 2000 fans in a matter of seconds in a single day, however many time a month.

— They can’t really respond to that love and support easily either. They have to give back with their best reactions or comments.

Kawamori: Yeah. In a split second they decide what to say, how to express it, and shake their fan’s hand. Doing that with 2000 people is training in itself. There isn’t much criticism of that training at handshake events either. Everyone seems to overlook the work put into it.

— So that’s the result of those handshake events. From that audition taken at the handshake event, you chose 30 girls to participate in the live audition. What was your impression of that?

Kawamori: At the live audition you could see some girls shaking from nerves. Why was it that they were shaking so much after climbing the stage in contrast to the previous audition? They wanted to be voice actors that badly. They felt this was their only chance. Even in this state, though, they were able to properly say their lines. Being able to display such power under all that pressure is really amazing. Another thing, the level at the live audition had already surpassed the level at the first audition.

— Being able to mature that quickly is pretty amazing.

Kawamori: We chose the nine girls from that live audition and continued onto the casting audition. Even at that time, if you gave them even the slightest of directions they would instantly change. Karen Iwata (playing Nagisa Motomiya) in particular was able to improve incredibly fast. If you were to listen to their voices during the first audition I’m sure it would shock you.

— How so?

Kawamori: Listening to the tapes, there is certainly an impression left, but their voices are incredibly gloomy. The first round of auditions left this bad taste in my mouth. I was left thinking there was no way such gloomy voices could take on such cheerful characters. They were still only trainees (just like the characters) after all. But during the second audition they seemed to brighten up a little bit. Meeting with them and listening to them talk, it didn’t seem like they were the types to get fired up and make a lot of noise. But, during the recording and retakes they seemed to get a lot more into it. Every episode their emotional performance gradually changed. That is to say, between every episode they changed. It wasn’t just Iwata either; I’ve never seen a group of girls improve that quickly.

— I was also quite surprised by the trainees’ performance. Especially with how well Amino Sato and Haruka Ishida performed as Yuuka Ichijou and Kanata Shinonome. I thought many of the other castings for the trainees were interesting, but Mayu Watanabe caught my interest. Within the trainee members there was Mayu Watanabe who voiced Chieri Sono; however, there was also the Mayu Watanabe Mk. III. She wasn’t the 3rd generation, she was Mk. III. Why was it that she had missiles shooting out of her arms (laughs)? What was the real Mayu’s response to this?

Kawamori: She was quite pleased with it. The fans asked her on Google+: “Will your arms be shooting missiles and beams from now on?” to which she responded, “Yes.” She just got it (laughs).

— Even if she becomes a robot in the future, she’s good to go (laughs).

Kawamori: I never said she was a robot. That’s a 00 top secret, so please try not to poke your nose into it. Even after you saw beams shoot out of her hands, if you asked her, “Mayuyu, what was that just now?” she’ll just act like she can’t hear you (laughs).

— Now I’m even more interested (laughs)! I’m changing the subject, but can you tell us about the live concert scenes? Similar to Macross F, I feel like AKB0048 places importance on the live scenes. This time you used CG characters for these scenes—what was the purpose of that?

Kawamori: To be exact, it was a CG-hand drawn hybrid. In the case of Macross F, there were only two idols, Sheryl and Ranka. They usually sang solos as well so, despite needing to draw these scenes, it was feasible. However, with AKB0048 there were 16 girls. If we had all of it hand drawn, we would lose focus on the other scenes. We’d be tripping over ourselves. What we really wanted to focus on drawing were the dramatic scenes. So in order to preserve the drawing quality of the dramatic parts, we used CG. There is also a lot more freedom with camera angles when using digital. You can get an single shot from the the audience to the stage for instance.

— I see.

Kawamori: Nowadays it’s normal to have a camera crane grazing over the audiences’ heads. People have grown accustomed to it. If we didn’t show them something more dynamic it would be no good. Although if it had been a show aimed purely at anime fans, we would just have given it our best shot with hand drawing and shown them what we had, but this time we had a wider audience. We made the camera work and formations digital, and used traditional drawing when showing things like expressions or final poses. Making the best of both forms was a key point in the live performances.

— Now, I was very taken with the mechanics of the bike in episode one, as well as the world’s picture book styled art like shown with Akibastar. The mechanical designer, Stanislas Brunet, and the background artists, Thomas Romain and Yann Le Gall, are all from France. What was the purpose in appointing them?

Kawamori: During the production of Basquash we worked together, but they all have a very good sense about them. They have very interesting non-Japanese point of view. Despite this, they love Japanese animation and can thus fight alongside it. I really wanted their out-of-the-box thinking and quality style. Their sense of scale is really good as well and they are over all very reliable staff members.

https://twitter.com/Thomasintokyo/status/594388207657091072

https://twitter.com/Thomasintokyo/status/304001059372818434

— They created a very unique world, didn’t they? With that, we can start to wrap things up. Can you tell us what to look for in the final episode that airs this Sunday (July 22nd)?

Kawamori: The characters’ stories are quickly progressing and as you watch, those individual stories are coming together to shape into something.

—  I feel like your works tend to take your fans by surprise; we’ll be expecting similar this time around.

Kawamori: That’s such a strange way to put it. A show with a surprise ending would definitely be Aquarion EVOL, but AKB0048 will be more straightforward. If I try and go big too often it might be a let down (laughs).

— Is it also because you want others, outside of your fan base, to enjoy the show as well?

Kawamori: I believe so. That and the struggle of the AKB48 members is something very earnest and straightforward. I never thought I would see such straightforward women in this day and age.

— When you first started thinking up an anime for AKB48, did you ever think it would become what it is today?

Kawamori: Before collecting data I thought it would be centered around the successor members and the use of their honed skills. I won’t go as far as to say an action spy theme, but there was  strong push for something around the lines of fighting the entertainment oppression or narrowly escaping live performances. Now, it is purely a story of the girls’ youth. “A story of sweat and tears, that’s all,” kind of deal (laughs). But, just how much sweat and tears will there be? Everyone watching will personally experience it from here on out (laughs).

And that’s all for this interview! Once again, thank you to @chottojolly for translating this interview as a Christmas gift for me and for giving me permission to post it here!

And here's the second part of the translated interview with Shoji Kawamori on AKB0048! We pick up where we left off last time with Shoji Kawamori's interview on creating AKB0048…

[sittingoverheredreaming]

Sparkle Sparkle It’s a Fic!

My sparklee this year is @tallangrycockatiel, who asked for Mina “helping” Haruka propose. I hope you enjoy it!

It’s Very You ~2K words AO3 Link

There were times Haruka almost felt smart, or at least knowledgeable. At the shop, finding the problem with an engine. Fixing a kid’s bike chain. When she found the best deal at the supermarket, she felt almost academic, math fell into place and numbers made sense.

But she’d never felt more stupid than in this moment. Numbers and cuts and prices swam around in the jewelry cases, the over-bright lighting making everything sparkle, even the price plaques. The salesman looked down his nose at her. “What is it that you’re looking for?” he asked, as though she had no business being there. She ought to have cleaned up more, not come straight from work. She’d changed her shirt, made sure there were no oil stains on her pants, but the smell gas and smoke clung to her skin and uncombed hair. But the second the week’s paycheck had landed in her account she’d needed to come. She couldn’t wait any longer.

“Well, a ring. An engagement ring.”

“Let me know if you have any questions.” He moved away, keeping his eyes on her until another customer got his attention.

Haruka had a thousand questions, none of which she could ask him. What is the difference between white gold and silver and platinum? Why do all the diamonds look so gaudy? What is a princess cut? Will Michiru like what I get? Will she say yes? Why won’t anything stay still?

There was only one person she trusted to give her at least mostly honest answers. She slipped outside to make a call and not fifteen minutes later, Minako rolled up. She kicked out the stand on her bike and slid her sunglasses up over her hair and she had never looked more like a hero.

“Trying to save the environment?” Haruka asked with a weak chuckle.

Mina grinned. “If Rei is gonna chew my ear off all the time about it, I just have to outdo her. But now buddy, I’m saving so much more than the ozone layer.” She slung one arm around Haruka’s shoulders. “I’m here to save you from yourself.” She swung her other arm wide and stared into the distance.

“Mina.”

“Please. Your dramatic lesbian ass has no room to talk,” she said with an eyeroll, but then she gave her hand a squeeze.

The nice thing was, Haruka supposed, Mina looked like someone you’d expect to see in a jewelry shop. Maybe not for nice reasons, and certainly not for true reasons— Mina’s money was all her own, however little she had—but she looked the part. Her hair was long and silky, her clothes looked straight out of next month’s magazines. The man behind the counter gave her a very different look until she looped her arm into Haruka’s.

“So what’s your budget?”

“Well.” Haruka felt her cheeks warm. “Just about two thousand.”

“Ah just—“ Mina stopped. “Just two thousand?”

“It’s below the average, but—“

“Where did you get two thousand dollars? I know your butch pride won’t let you touch a cent of the Kaioh millions.”

“I saved. For a while. A couple years.”

Mina let out a low whistle. “Christ. Every time I think you’ve reached peak sap, there you go, sailing to new heights.”

“It’s important.”

“Oh Haruka.” She rubbed her back between her shoulders. “I know. We’ll find you a good ring.”

 It wasn’t, at the end of the day, the fanciest ring. It hadn’t even reached the top of Haruka’s budget; prices jumped instead of increasing gradually. But she’d been able to insure it, and Mina assured her it was nice. A simple silver band with a single small diamond, set off by two smaller sapphires.

“She’ll love it, buddy,” Mina assured her in the car after they’d strapped her bike to the back. “You did good.”

“Yeah?” Haruka let herself relax into her steering wheel, but the weight of it all still consumed her.

Mina smiled and patted her shoulder. “Yeah. When are you popping the question?”

Warmth crept up under Haruka’s collar. “Well. I don’t… I’m not quite sure.”

“You bought the ring without a plan?”

“Not without a plan, I have lots of plans. I just… I just don’t know what one is right.” Haruka swallowed hard. She’d been trying to plan for months, but everything felt subpar. “I want it to be perfect.”

Mina snorted. “You’re ridiculous. She’s saying yes no matter how you ask.”

“That’s not the point!” Haruka glanced over. “Do you really think so?”

Mina looked up a raised her hands in plea. “God save the lesbians from themselves. I’m sure the only reason Michiru hasn’t asked you to just get hitched already is she knows it would wound your fragile butch sensibilities.”

“You think I waited too long?”

“Christ, Haruka, not the point I’m making. I’m trying to say she’d marry you in a heartbeat. You’re soulmates or whatever sappy thing you want to call it. You’re going to ask in some amazing way, and she’s going to say yes.” She pulled the lever to recline her chair. “And if you’re nervous, you’re lucky enough to have me here to help.”

“Would you?”

“I’m not about to spend the next sixty years of my life listening to you brood about how your proposal wasn’t good enough.”

“That’s an exaggeration.”

“Buddy, I’ve known you too long to believe that. Now—“ She sat up and folded her hands over her knees. “Pretend I’m Michiru and we’ve just sat down after a beautiful moonlight walk on the beach.”

Haruka could picture it—the salt smell of the sea spray dancing with Michiru’s perfume, the wind floating through Michiru’s hair and dress. The waves crashing in time with the thump thump thump of Haruka’s racing heart, Michiru turning to Haruka expectantly and every word, every breath catching in Haruka’s throat and—

Haruka pulled the car to the side of the road. “I can’t do this. Nothing I say can be good enough.”

“So we’ll work on it.” Minako tossed her hair. “I have a plan.”

 The shrill of a whistle cut through Minako’s apartment. “Alright soldiers. Welcome to proposal camp day one.”

Rei crossed her arms. “I didn’t agree to this.”

“And I’m pulling rank as your commander so you don’t have to.” Mina grinned. “I needed a stand in snooty lesbian, and you fit the bill.”

“I’m not—“

“Michiru isn’t—“

Mina blew her whistle again. “No sass. I trained you better than this.” She pointed at Haruka. “You need to find the right way to propose. We’re going to roleplay scenarios until you find the right one.”

“I’m not sure—“

Mina blew the whistle.

“Okay.”

“Scenario one. Dinner.” Mina shuffled them into chairs on either side of a TV tray. “Now. I know my dear butch puddle, and I’m vetoing any ring-in-a-drink or food thing. It would go to the wrong table, and you would cry for a month.”

Haruka’s stomach sank as she realized the logic. It had been an idea, a leading idea, and it was bad. Were all her ideas wrong?

“Now. Imagine. You’ve just finished eating. The waiter has not yet brought the check—“

“That’s important,” Rei cut in, “because they may waive the bill for the occasion.”

“Thank you Madame Cheapskate. Now. You’re in candlelight, you’ve just eaten a nice meal, the ring is in your pocket. Go.”

Haruka looked across the tiny table at Rei. Her heart raced even as she tried to focus on how different she was from Michiru. “I... I um. I have something to ask you.”

“Shoot.”

Mina cleared her throat.

Rei huffed. “Fine. What is it, love?”

“Well. There’s something important I want to ask.”

“Yes, you said.” Rei crossed her arms. “What is it? …Dear. What is it, dear?”

“I… I love you very much. And I will love you forever. So what I want to say is—what I want to ask is...” Haruka swallowed hard. “Will you marry me?”

“No.”

Tears welled up in Haruka’s eyes. “No?” It was Rei, but Rei knew Michiru. Rei knew what Michiru would want, probably, and it wasn’t this.

Mina blew the whistle. “Penalty to the snooty lesbian. Unrealistic answer.”

“Oh please. I’m not saying yes to anything less than perfect.”

“Not you. Michiru.”

Rei tapped her fingers on the table. “If the point is to teach her how to propose, then she’s not going to learn unless we’re hard on her.”

“That is not the point.” Mina put her face in her hands. “You’re dismissed. I have a better idea.”

 By the time Haruka had dried her eyes, Rei was curled on the couch and Mina had changed outfits. It took Haruka a moment to process the pants, the button-down, the way her hair was pinned up…

“Oh no. Mina…”

“No no.” Mina gestured widely. “Right now, I am Haruka. And you—“ She hooked a string of fake pearls around Haruka’s neck—“are Michiru. And I, Haruka Tennoh, most romantic of noodles, have just taken you out to a nice dinner, and now am inviting you on a walk about town.” She offered Haruka her elbow. Haruka took it in her best attempt at a lady-like fashion.

Mina led her around the couch. “Did you enjoy dinner, my love?”

“Um. Yes.”

“Good good. The moon is beautiful, just like you.” Mina touched Haruka’s nose. Haruka grimaced. “There’s been something on my mind lately, you know.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Indeed, my beautiful mermaid flower. I think we’re ready to take the next step in our lives.” Mina threw herself down on one knee. Haruka tried to remember if she every called Michiru a beautiful mermaid flower. It sounded ridiculous. Maybe she was ridiculous, maybe the whole thing was ridiculous.

“Will you marry me?”

Rei snorted from the couch.

“What now, flame brains?”

“It all seems very unromantic. Stiff.”

Mina stood up. “And how would you do it?”

Rei snatched up the ring box and dragged Minako by the wrist over to the TV stand. She slammed the box down. “Well?”

Mina burst out laughing. “It’s very you, for sure.”

“You’d marry me if I asked.” Rei’s face flushed red.

“Then I’m lucky you’ll never ask, aren’t I?”

“Guys.” Haruka grabbed the ring and stuffed it back in her pocket. “I think I’m good. I’m going home.”

“You got a plan, buddy?”

“Yeah,” Haruka lied. “I got a plan.”

She got in her car feeling even less sure than she had at the beginning. Rei had been right; everything was artificial. Haruka couldn’t propose the way Rei had, but something in it rang truer than the rest. It wasn’t fireworks spelling out the question and it wasn’t a band swelling at the perfect moment, it wasn’t even a planned evening. It had been Rei, pure and simple. And right.

Haruka mulled it over on the drive. There had to be a right way. Not asking wasn’t an option. Waiting didn’t even feel like an option. She’d waited for the ring. She could wait for a thousand other things, or she could be through with waiting. She could do it now. She could. She would.

She stopped at a corner store for some roses. When she got home, Michiru was already there, reading on the couch with her legs curled under her. She rose an eyebrow and smiled over her book at the flowers. “What occasion have you found today?”

Haruka smiled back. The words caught in her throat, again, but she’d push through this time. She snuggled into Michiru and let her look at the flowers. “Do you like them?”

“They’re lovely, Haruka.”

“And this?” She pulled the ring box from her pocket to open before Michiru’s eyes. “Do you like it?”

“Haruka,” Michiru said in a gasp. She reached up to the ring, her hand stopping just short.

“Michiru.” Haruka’s heart raced. “Will you marry me?”

“Oh Haruka. Yes.” Michiru pulled her in to kiss.

Haruka broke into tears the moment their lips touched. “Do you mean it?”

“Nothing would make me so happy as having you as my wife.”

“I want to be your wife.” Haruka pulled her close. “I’m going to be your wife.” She slipped the ring onto Michiru’s finger. It slipped around, a little too big. Haruka had not thought to check Michiru’s size.

“It’s perfect.”

Haruka looked down. “I tried.”

Michiru pulled her face back up and wiped her tears. “Haruka, love, I couldn’t be happier.”

[bbdaydreams]

Courage My Love// Semi Eita

Pairing: Semi Eita x Reader

Summary: You like Semi and come up with a plan to confess to him, unfortunately it takes a turn. You meet again a couple years later by chance.

Chapter Two: How Do You Feel?

Series Masterlist•<previous•next>

—————

The moment you were allowed to leave the auditorium you made your way back to your dorm. A couple people would stop to congratulate you on your win, some being complete strangers. They were nice and thoughtful but right now you weren’t in the right mindset to interact with others. You held your trophy close to your chest so it wouldn’t get damaged but also draw minimal attention mumbling a quick “thank you” from time to time.

“Y/n!” Tendou called your name when you were made it to the building that your dorm was located. You turned to face him and waited for him to catch up. When he made it to you his first instinct was to wipe your tears. “C’mon, no more tears,” he said softly before opening the door to let you in first.

When you made it to your dorm Tendou made his way to his spot on the edge of your bed while you set the guitar case down and put the award somewhere on your desk. Walking to your bed you immediately threw your covers up before getting under them and cocooning yourself with them.

Tendou met you about halfway through your first years when you interrupted their practice to drop something off for Semi. He didn’t know his friend had such a pretty friend. When you asked for Semi he immediately started his teasing which left you blushing, a look that Tendou found entertaining.

When you started getting closer with Semi, you also became more aquatinted with his friends as he did with yours. At first, you definitely thought Tendou was quite the oddball but you were quick to accept him as he was, it’s just Tendou things.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” the redhead spoke.

“I don’t get it. I thought we were closer than this. I don’t know what I’m more hurt by, the fact that he didn’t ask me to be his date or the fact that I had no idea he was even seeing someone.”

“I didn’t even know. Hell, even Wakatoshi was surprised when it wasn’t you he was asking!”

“God next week is gonna be so embarrassing,” you said now burying your face into your pillow.

“Hm? Why’s that?”

“We have our stupid dance next week! And we have that dumb dinner we all agreed to go to before we went to the stupid dance! Everyone is gonna have a date but me! Reon is going with his girlfriend, Ushijima has his date, Semi has miss mysterious, you have your date-“

“I don’t have anyone,” Tendou quickly cut you off.

You furrowed your eyebrows as you turned to look at him. “Why don’t you have a date?”

He shrugged his shoulders before responding, “I don’t know. I was gonna go by myself. I don’t mind being the odd man out.”

“I’ll be your date.”

Tendou turned and looked at you as if you were crazy. He leaned forward and squinted his eyes before leaning back. “Are you sick or something? Weren’t you crying over Semi and now you’re moving on that quick? I know I’m great but still that’s a little too quick for me doll face.”

You laughed as he spoke. “I am heart broken, but you still deserve to go to our last dance with a date. I don’t mind, I’ll go with you, what are friends for?” Once you realized what you said you where quick to apologize. “I mean, you don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to. I know you can ask someone else and they’ll say yeah, it was kinda selfish of me to just offer myself like that especially with all this going on.”

“I’ll take you up on your offer.”

-

The next morning you decided to text Izumi about her offer. It was the weekend so classes weren’t a huge focus, especially since the year was about to end.

“Girls! She texted!” Izumi exclaimed, raising her phone in the air with excitement.

“No way,” the girl with the attitude responded.

“That’s a good sign!” the soft spoken girl added. “What did she say?”

“She asked if we could talk more about the band.”

“Invite her over, Izumi!”

“Already did. She should be here soon.”

Walking towards the arts building you kept glancing at your phone every few steps. Why hasn’t he texted you? Does he not care about how hurt you were? Semi kept clouding your mind. You guys text regularly and you assumed he would’ve texted by now asking you if you were okay or even just saying a morning. Maybe you should text him first, you thought but that idea went out the window when you made it your destination. You put your phone away and opened the door to focus on finding the room that Izumi told you they’d be in.

When you found the room you knocked on the door waited for someone to answer. You heard voices on the other side for a bit until the door opened to reveal the bathroom girls.

“Welcome!” Izumi greeted, letting you into the room before closing the door behind you. “Thanks for coming, this is the practice room we managed to snag.”

“Hi,” you greeted her before looking at the other girls and saying hello to them as well.

“We didn’t properly introduce ourselves yesterday, now did we?” the main girl spoke. “I’m Yui.” She put her hand out for you two to shake.

“I’m Haruka,” the timid one spoke.

“It’s nice to meet you all.” You took a second to look around the room. It was a pretty much empty room with some supplies and desks but it was all pushed to one side of the room while the open space they created housed their instruments. “How’d you get this room? Eita usually has to go off campus to practice with his mates.”

“I’m close with the music teacher, so she pulled some strings and managed to do this for us,” Yui answered.

“Is Semi your ex?” Haruka asked innocently which made the girls eyes go wide.

“Haru, you can’t just-“

“It’s okay. And no he’s not my ex, we’re just friends. When you guys found me I was just overwhelmed,” you told them. They looked at each other as if using telepathy to communicate with each other. They must’ve unanimously decided not to press you further with their own curiosity and changed the subject.

“So, what kind of music do you listen to?”

“I listen to a little bit of everything but mainly pop punk I guess. It’s hard to label it. What about you guys?”

“I get that and we’re pretty much the same. Haruka is mostly into metal, but she still vibes with all the other stuff,” Izumi answered.

At this you had to laugh a bit. The most innocent and quiet looking one of the group, enjoyed heavy music. “Haruka, no way,” you told her while looking at her.

She leveled her eyes with yours before giving you a closed eye smile and speaking, “I love the lyrics and head banging. It’s fun.”

“I have to agree. What sound are you guys aiming for with the band?” You asked.

“Honestly anything. I don’t think we really have a sound yet, we kinda just play and mess around until we find something we like or we’ll give a topic and try to match something up with that makes sense. You mind listening for a second?” Yui asked making her way towards the bass.

“I’d love to” you responded before taking a seat on one of the empty desks. Izumi made picked up the electric guitar and Haruka sat on the stool behind the drums which was another surprise for you. Don’t judge a book by its cover, you reminded yourself.

Haruka gave the count down with her drum sticks before leading them into the song. Yui joined in and then Izumi followed after. Watching them was entertaining, Haruka’s hair was going all over the place you had to question how she was able to see. Yui seemed to enjoy swaying side to side while occasionally head banging while Izumi seemed a little stiff but was definitely enjoying themself. They seemed to be in sync with each other it made you worry that if you were to join if you would mess up their flow. When they finished they looked up to you.

“So what do you think?” Yui asked.

“I’d like to join, I just don’t wanna mess you guys up. You guys seem pretty in tune with each other are you sure you want me to join?”

The girls immediately started laughing making you question if you said something wrong.

“You’re funny, y/n,” Haruka giggled.

“We’ve been together for a year now and have been practicing almost daily which is why we’re at the level we are,” Izumi stated.

“Listen, yeah we’re alright but we need that missing piece which is you. And we’re picky. We’ve been looking for six months for a lead so when we saw your performance we knew we had to have you. We want you,” Yui added on.

You slipped off the desk and smiled at them before presenting a notebook you brought along with you. “Then I guess I’m in. This is my lyric book, basically what I have to offer besides my voice.”

Yui took the book and flipped through it while Izumi and Haruka looked over the writing as well. Yui and Izumi looked very concentrated while Haruka’s expression showed amazement.

“You’re good!”

“Dude, you’re definitely in. I can’t wait to perform these live in front of others!”

“Damn girly, you really are full of surprises.”

Blushing at their compliments you accepted your journal back. “Thank you, I’ve been writing since my first year.”

“Can I ask why there were some ripped pages?” Izumi asked.

“Oh, those were some songs I wrote for Eita’s band. I felt like they were more his style so I gave them to him.”

You guys continued chatting until it was around lunch time. They wished you goodbye and reminded you to come back tomorrow to start joining them for practice. You left the practice room with a smile on your face, excited for what the future held in store for your new band.

-

The week went by fast, you basically spent it writing more lyrics since all your school work was already done.

The school dance was tonight and so was the dinner that you were joining. You got out of the shower and threw on some sweats before making your way back to your dorm so that other girls could go take a shower to get ready.

“Hey, Y/n,” Yui greeted when she was stepping out of her dorm with a towel. “You getting ready?”

“Yeah, you’re going to the dance too right?” You told her, taking a step closer to the wall so others could walk by.

“Yep. I assume I’ll see you there. You’re going to that dinner thing with your friends first right?”

You nodded your head up and down. “Mhmm. I’ll probably part ways with them at the dance and try to find you and the others.”

“Sounds good. Remember, if anything happens, you have us to rely on. I know we barely know each other yet but we’re here for you,” she told you honestly. Yui may come off strong, but she really is a reliable human being. “I’m gonna try to find a shower head, see ya.”

When you made it back into your dorm you noticed a package in front of your door. Picking up and making your way inside you inspected it to make sure it was for you before opening it. The label read your name followed by the sender, Rarity Records. Your breath hitched.

You heard rumors that agencies were going to attend the talent show, but you weren’t sure you believed it. You carefully sliced the top of the package using a pair of scissors to unveil the contents. In the package you discovered a letter along with some snacks, stickers, and merch from artists that belonged to the label.

Dear L/n F/n,

We would like to congratulate you on your win last week! Your performance was beautiful and we believe you have a lot of talent. We’d like to invite you to join our label to help make you shine and prosper. Please contact us at this number. We await your call.

Sincerely,

Rarity Records

A label wants to sign you! Your wildest dream is on the verge of coming true! You had to tell someone!

“Oh my god, I have to text Eita,” you spoke aloud. Unplugging your phone from the charging cord and unlocking it, you quickly tapped on the conversation and typed out your message. You were about to hit send until you remembered the situation you were in.

Semi still hasn’t contacted you and it made you question if that concluded the end of your friendship. You’re well aware that you directly told him not to speak to you but at the end of the day it’s not like you yelled at him and made it into a huge argument. You missed your best friend. You know you should text him, he probably doesn’t even realize what’s wrong but you were hurting too much internally to reach out to him, even if it was exciting news that you know he’d congratulate you on.

You deleted the message and connected your phone back to it’s cord and made your way to your blow dryer. Once you finished drying your hair you went back to your phone to turn on some music to listen to while you get ready.

You sang along to the song and all the songs after that as you were getting ready. The last step was to put on the dress that you had. It was a stunning red dress with some gems and lace here and there but the glam wasn’t overwhelming.

“Knock, knock. Can I come in?” Tendou asked from behind your door.

“It’s locked and I’m getting dressed! give me a second!” you answered. You had the dress on, just couldn’t zip it up completely. Giving up on your attempts you made your way towards the door to let your friend in. “Hey,” you greeted when you opened the door.

Tendou’s back was leaning against your door before so when you opened it he stumbled back a bit but was quick to catch his balance. He pivoted and looked up from his phone only to be welcomed by your beauty. His eyes went wide before opening his mouth to speak. “I- you look, wow.”

You gave a small chuckle before attempting to greet him again. “Hi, Tendou.”

“Hi..” he answered, still mesmerized. “Sorry, you look really beautiful tonight.”

“Thank you. I was nervous about the bright red but it turned out really nice. Oh, do you mind zipping it up and clasping it for me?” You asked as you twirled around to expose your back to him. He raised his hands to do as you asked, careful not to get the zipper caught. When he was done you turned your body once again and closed your door to leave with him. “Let’s go, I’m starving,” you laughed as you grabbed his wrist to pull him towards the parking lot, failing to notice the bush on his face.

-

Tendou and you arrived a little late to the dinner due to the fact that you were having too much fun chatting in the car that he missed the turn three times, but eventually you arrived to your destination.

“You’re late, Tendou,” Ushijima said when you both arrived to the table.

“Only fifteen minutes. Here you go, Y/n,” Tendou spoke as he pulled out your chair for you.

“Oh, thank you,” you blushed as he helped you settle into the group. The lineup went as Ushijima’s date, Ushijima, Tendou, and you next to him. On the other side was Semi’s date, Semi, Reon, and then Reon’s girlfriend, the girlfriend being across from you.

Throughout the dinner you had a smile on your face. It was definitely awkward at first since it was the first time you were seeing Semi in the past week. You decided to communicate as little as you needed with him, not to make a point, but to be polite. You didn’t need to somehow ruin anyone’s night in any way. You were all together to have fun and enjoy the little time you all had left together in high school.

While you were enjoying yourself and chatting with the other’s, Semi found himself glancing at you every once in a while. He was right to believe you and Tendou had something going on, Tendou wouldn’t stop bringing you up to him during practice. Tendou always had something positive to say about you and now here he was, at dinner with you as his date.

Good for him, Semi thought to himself. Tendou finally made a move on you and got what he wanted. He was happy for his friends, but he felt uneasy. Why hadn’t you ever expressed your thoughts of his friend to him? You always called him your best friend but you never spoke about Tendou to him, only saying he was a nice guy if asked.

It made him question why you were so upset with him when you asked about his girlfriend. It’s not like you told him about Tendou which is why he didn’t see the need to tell you about his girl. He’d been wanting to talk to you about it but knowing how hot headed you both can be he opted to waiting for you to confront him first. He thought giving you time would be the best option.

“Semi, you should eat more before we go,” his date told him, distracting him from his thoughts.

“Oh, you’re right,” he responded before picking up his utensils to continue eating.

Taking one last glance at your form, he had to admit it was the prettiest he’s ever seen you. Your hair was done differently, your dress looked fitting, and the red really made you look hot. Your smile screamed that you were having a good time, a sight he missed seeing.

“The party has arrived!” Tendou spoke when your group entered the main doors of the gymnasium. You laughed at his silliness until Ushijima spoke.

“We should take pictures.”

“Good idea, buddy,” Tendou agreed. You all made your way over to some props and took turns taking pictures. Some were just the guys, the others just the girls, then group, followed by individual. Luck was favoriting you, you didn’t have to take pictures for Semi because him and Reon partnered up. You and Tendou did multiple poses, Tendou claiming you guys needed one from all angles, as Ushijima took pictures.

As you were getting your pictures taken, Semi was taking pictures for Reon. His eyes kept darting between both parties, lingering more on you than the couple directly in front of him. Semi was lucky his girlfriend didn’t notice but his friend sure did. Reon could tell how bad Semi wanted to talk to you and he couldn’t understand why he didn’t. Semi was never one to keep his thoughts to himself unless if it had potential to hurt someone else.

Reon excused himself from his girlfriend and explained what he was doing to which she responded with a nod. “Can we talk?” Reon asked Semi once they decided they were done taking pictures.

“Come on, let’s dance!” Reon’s girlfriend told Semi’s date before grabbing her hand and dragging her to the dance floor.

“What did you wanna talk about?” a confused Semi asked Reon.

“What’s up with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You have your girlfriend right next to you and you’re paying more attention to your best friend. That’s not okay dude. You’re lucky they haven’t noticed.”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t given Y/n any attention. We haven’t talked since last week,” Semi countered to which Reon sighed.

“Listen, you may not be aware you’re doing this, but since they joined us at dinner, you haven’t stopped looking at them. Why are your eyes wandering so much when you have a girlfriend right there?”

“I noticed too,” Ushijima spoke up.

“Have I been glancing at them that much?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but you need to talk it out,” Reon stated. The three boys turned to find you in the sea of people.

“There,” Ushijima spoke while pointing at the red hair that stuck out. “Go.”

With a gentle push from his friends, Semi walked into the crowd, careful not to step on anyone’s feet while saying excuse me to make his way towards you.

-

“How are you feeling?” Tendou asked you. Both of you were currently swaying back and forth, his hands on your waist as you held his biceps.

“I’m good. Tonight’s been a lot of fun so far,” you smiled at him.

He returned the gesture before removing a hand from your waist to the back of your head to bring you closer to him before putting it back down. “That’s good, but how do you feel?” he asked again, making you realize what he was really asking.

“Hmm.” Taking a deep breath to think you responded. “I still feel hurt, but I can’t find myself to be mad at him. I don’t even care about that girl, I don’t know her and don’t plan to be her friend. I just have to accept that if he wanted me, he would’ve asked me. It’s a tough pill to swallow but it’s the truth. I wish I didn’t hold onto the little hope I had and just opened my eyes to see he clearly wasn’t interested. We were just best friends, erm- friends- we’re just friends.”

Tendou changed his hand placement again. The hand that previously touched your head was back as his other hand rubbed circles between your shoulder blades. You didn’t feel like crying, you already did all of that last week. You had no more tears left in you and you just wanted to move on from the situation.

You and Tendou didn’t speak for a while, just swayed and listened to the song that was playing. “Can I tell you something? Tendou broke the silence.

“Yeah. What is it?” you asked.

“This is probably a bad time to tell you all of this. Semi is a fool, and I’m not saying that just because of his fashion sense. I don’t understand why he didn’t make a move on you because I am about to.”

His last line made you move your head so you were now making eye contact with him. “What?”

“I see your value. You are a treasure. Silly rocker Semi has overlooked what a catch you are. I never interfered because I knew of your feelings for him. I understand I’d just be a second option for you, a rebound if you will, but I’m willing to take any opportunity to get to know you better. I like you, Y/n. Can we get to know each other better?”

You were shocked. You knew Tendou as the friendly sightly crazy middle blocker on the volleyball team. You knew him as a class clown. You knew him as Semi’s friend. You never would’ve expected this moment to ever happen.

Tendou leaned a little closer to you which made you think fast. At the end of the day, you had nothing to lose, you already lost the guy you really loved. Leaning in as well, your lips connected. Unfortunately, it was at that moment Semi reached you both. It was at that moment Semi finally realized how he felt about you, but he didn’t feel like taking away the happiness from his friends for his own selfish feelings.

“Whoa dude, what happened?” Reon asked his teammate when he came back with a scowl on his face.

“I feel like a fucking idiot.”

—————

a/n: damn, this was supposed to be a Semi fic but here I am feeding the Tendou stans. Oopsies. ALSO I DID NOT THINK IT WOULD BE THIS LONG (and poorly edited again so another oopsies)

Tag: @pluviophilefangirl

[yurimother]

Top Yuri Anime Poll Results

Whether it is subtext or explicit, cute or sexy, school love or gay action thrillers I love yuri anime. These series either focus on or contain elements of female same-sex relationships. Pride month is the perfect time to look back and reflect on the best of this genre. I teamed up with OG Man of The Yuri Nation (yurination[dot] wordpress[dot] com/) and together we put out a poll asking what you thought the top yuri anime series were and over 1000 of you responded submitting almost 5000 different entries. We spent hours combing through the data, analyzing and commenting on the results and we would like to share our thoughts with all of you. Enjoy the reflections of me the yuri critic and OG the dedicated yuri fan!

These are the Top 20 Yuri Anime as voted by you

1. Bloom Into You - 692 Votes

OG: Be it East or West the YagaKimi took the world by storm. Citrus and BiY once again taking the top two spots remains unsurprising.There is something undeniably fascinating about our leading ladies consisting of an asexual slowly coming to love her senpai back but restraining herself for various reasons. The biggest one being said senpai having a deep case of self-loathing and a fear of romantic reciprocation, also for various reasons. She is like “I love you but please do not love me back”. Then there is one of the most popular “cursed” lesbians of all time in Sayaka, the fantastic adult side-couple (The world needs an anime starring lesbian adults/mothers) and the various other characters who have their own interesting tales to tell. The series absolutely deserves a spot in the Top 10 though it would not be in my personal Top 3. Oh and as Yurimother said the presentation was fantastic.Visually stunning from start to finish in my opinion. Special mention goes to the criminally underused first-person “camera”. So cool.

YuriMother: I agree with this series deserving a spot in the top ten even if not the number one slot. For me, it was good but not great. Moments such as the aforementioned adult couple as well as stellar art and a phenomenal score made this series enjoyable but they were not enough to overshine the problems of the narrative. For the love of the Yuri Goddess, this series is crying out for asexual representation but insists on carrying on with its confused romance. Enough complaining though, many people love Bloom Into You despite its faults and I agree. The characters are interesting and lovable and it manages to tell a yuri story more real and complex than the typical fluffy girl meets girl narratives.

2. Citrus - 452 Votes

YuriMother: The presence of Citrus and Bloom Into You prove two things to me, the importance of recency, as both anime aired only last year, and the sheer popularity of these series. Both had established and extremely successful manga runs which were adapted into English by the publishing masters of yuri, Seven Seas. Citrus is a contentious series, to say the least, as it includes elements of (non-blood related) incest and non-consensual actions as part of Mei and Yuzu’s “relationship.” However, if you possess the magical power to turn off the part of your brain screaming at you that those aspects are deeply problematic or if you seek a different interpretation then Citrus can be downright WONDERFUL. I actually loved this anime series for its characters, amazing animation, and salaciousness. As OG said, it is an operatic concussion of emotion (seriously everyone in the series needs therapy) but my is it fun to watch. The Citrus anime also holds a special place in my heart, as the first serious piece I ever wrote was a review for it over on Okazu (nice plug)! Citrus is certainly not for everyone but those that stuck with it and overlooked some of the problems ended up loving it.

OG: Here we are again with Citrus at #2. My thoughts on the series remains the same as in the previous two lists I discussed (the Akiba Research and goo Ranking Japan lists), overrated. Good soap opera/telenovela-esque series but my feelings on the cast are mixed (which I imagine was the writer’s intent). My main issue has always been the obstacles repeatedly challenging Yuzu and Mei’s feelings for each other instead of it focusing on “Hey. We like each other but our parents got married. What do we do? Can we keep our desires for each other in check?”. Instead it is one newcomer after another who want to eat either Yuzu or Mei and Yuzu repeatedly asking herself if she really wants robo-stepsister patties? I will give the anime adaptation credit. The story was easier to enjoy animated than drawn. It also helped that I grew up in a telenovela loving family. The characters’ actions, reactions and emotions were depicted better in the anime. I still consider the show’s greatest accomplishment being the humanization of Mei-Tron. In the manga it took a post-epilogue continuation to show readers “Hey everyone. Mei-Tron was human all along.” whereas in the anime I sensed the small bit of humanity quicker than in the manga where I continued seeing her as a block of wood with a brain up to the point where I dropped it. Harumin though is the greatest regardless of anime or manga adaptation. Bless her. Regardless of how I feel about the series I get its massive popularity. After all, were the rest of the story to get an animated continuation I would gladly pick it up...Not the manga though.

3. Sakura Trick - 342 Votes

OG: There are fans who understandably would disagree with Sakura Trick’s praise but I will always defend it and the anime as one of the very best in the genre. First off it aired at a time where animated on-screen close up kisses (specifically consensual ones) between ladies were rare. Haruka X Yuu’s relationship was believable for the most part. Even their season finale resolution, them not getting what being “in love” meant at the time, made sense though I get why it left some scratching their heads. Probably not the best “manga lure/bait” end I suppose. On the bright side Kotone X Shizuku’s story definitely did not have the two doubting their true feelings for each other. I do hope Kaede X Yuzu eventually hooked up in the manga as they too had potential to be a lovely couple.

YuriMother: Sakura Trick has no real narrative, no great insight, and offers little intellectually. As a teacher, it makes me furious, as a fan of yuri, elated. The anime is beloved for its plentiful soft service, presenting a plethora of kisses, cuddles, and awkward thigh shots (ew). However, it was one of the first anime to include this much explicit yuri service without being pornographic. All the characters were cute and fun, even if there was little in the way of development or complexity, it worked for the series. If you want something to make you think or to learn about yuri, pass over this one. But, if you want a cute and meaningless anime definitely watch it.

4. Yuru Yuri - 337 Votes

YuriMother: OG may not be a fan of Yuru Yuri but I certainly am, which is fairly obvious to anyone who observes that a solid 20% of my communications occur in the form of gifs from this series. It is hilarious, cute, and playful. Just like Sakura Trick, this anime is an easy watch with ultimately little substance. However, the part of me that is not rolling of the floor laughing every time I watch Yuru Yuri lives in a state of pained existence with the knowledge that this work of all things ended up being so popular when people are telling interesting stories about queer women and people in actual relationship that manage to still be funny and adorable while having something to say.

OG: The undisputed most mainstream friendly yuri series there is. It is also one of the funniest. My one gripe is that excluding a select few the main draw of the show besides the comedy and yuri is the ship wars, meaning (almost any girl can be shipped with each other). Not a fan of that but hey, it brought Namori the big bucks so who am I to judge? In any case not much else to add. It deserves all the adulation it gets but the free for all shipping irks me. Reminds me of how they botched Chika X Riko in the Love Live! Sunshine!! Anime. If you were going down the Riko X Yohane route from the start then why give us Chika X Riko in the first half? Ship wars yo. Tch. Hopefully I properly explained myself..

5. Kase-san and Morning Glories (Asagao to Kase-san) - 289 Votes

OG: Still wish this got a 12-13 episode anime. The glorious movie showed how much it deserves one. Whether it will happen or not remains to be seen. In any case the beauty of Kase-san X Yamada is how simple their romance is. No strings attached whatsoever. It is as straightforward as a self-proclaimed “ordinary” cutie, Yamada, having a crush on the super cool school beauty Kase-san. Said beauty is revealed to be just as “adorkable” as Yamada. The other highlight is their story not ending once they officially started dating (as is the case with many romance stories) but that being only the beginning, like real life. From then on, side-stories aside, the two biggest challenges for the two is Yamada accepting that it is okay for someone as “ordinary” as her to be the “cool babe”s girlfriend and Kase-san finding different ways to express her love/hunger for the cutie. As for the OVA, cramming the second part of the first series in an hour definitely had the downside of excluding some important moments, yes, but it at least covered some of the best moments in the manga. The first half of the story was summarized in a five-minute music video. One last thing. The animation, though a bit too brought for some, was glorious. It also had some long pauses which were effective (The bus stop scene being the most infamous) but while I did not mind them at all even I will admit some pauses went a bit too long. A small nitpick all things considered. Fingers crossed one day we either get that 12-13 episode anime for the first series, the sequel or both. That is one of my dreams.

YuriMother: At last, an anime that I do not have to react cynically to! Kase-san is one of the single greatest works of yuri animation to ever to be created and its glory is rivaled only by the manga from which it originated. Despite being only a one hour long OVA this adaption told such an engaging and realistic (finally) story of romance and personal growth. We get to skip the meatless girl meets girls arcs and get into the depth and complexity as Yamada and Kase work to further their relationship. They struggle with the fact that they are two different people who want different things out of life and love and have to actually work on their partnership. Kase-san also includes signs of physical affection and love that are never lewd, immature, or gross, I do not even think I could refer to them as “service”. However, for me, Kase-san’s greatest victory (both the anime and manga) is in its escape from school romance, which in this genre is often a shelter from reality, allowing for women to be in relationships without actually being queer. Kase and Yamada instead make an effort to continue their romance and build a life that includes their relationship once they graduate in a triumphant final act. This anime is a slap in the face to the class S stories and sloppily sexualized works which proliferate the yuri genre. Asagao to Kase-san shines as a holy beacon for the greatness that this genre can achieve.

6. Puella Magi Madoka Magica - 286 Votes

YuriMother: Hurray!! For two entries in a row, I get to talk about series that I wholeheartedly adore without having to constantly attach caveats. Puella Magi Madoka Magica is not considered by all to be yuri, and that is certainly not what it is best known for. PMMM is however famous for twisting the tropes of the magical girl genre and creating one of the most cohesive and thoughtful narratives ever put to screen. This series summoned a new era for the magical girl genre (what OG humorously referred to as the “Moepocalypse”) but no other title managed to top Madoka Magica’s runaway success. Every aspect of this work is highly polished including character designs, a phenomenal soundtrack, and superb writing. This is not only the definitive work of its genre but of all postmodern anime. Whether or not one is a fan of yuri every anime fan should give Madoka Magica a watch.

OG: Meduka Meguca. Its impact in the “Moepocalypse” (Shows where cute and sexy girls consistently suffering physically and emotionally. These are usually dark magical girl shows.) genre and legacy are undeniable. It deserves all the praise it gets. It scarred many unfortunate souls, Homura is a legend in yuridom, Kyouko X Sayaka are glorious (Especially in Rebellion), Meduka’s Mom Junko is a Top Tier Sexy Mama, Charlotte the Witch is a very strange girlfriend and of course Hitomi is a walking anti-fun meme. The animation, especially the creepy doodle like monsters known as Witches are memorable. However, it is not my favorite Moepocalypse show. That honor goes to Yuki Yuna is a Hero.

7. Strawberry Panic - 224 Votes

OG: Like it or not Strawberry Panic is a yuri classic. I have a strong feeling that like many readers around my age (31 during this writing) this was their first 100% yuri anime. The cheese is real but it is the yummy kind of cheese and I loved almost every minute of it, except Amane X Hikari. That was the weakest of the love stories going on. Poor Yaya trying too hard (Not saying this in condescending way. She literally tried too hard). It is like a young adult lesbian novel but more fun. I mean Nagisa X Shizuma might as well be “Lesbian Twilight but not crappy”. Let us be honest, Shizuma is a vampire. Chikaru is an undisputed goddess and Kagome is the cutest.

Oh and I will repeat this statement till my last breath…

#TamaoWasRobbed.

YuriMother: I may be almost a decade younger than OG but even for me Strawberry Panic was my first yuri and it more than earns its nickname as the “gateway yuri,” although last year’s Citrus and Bloom Into You may be presenting serious contenders for this title. If for no other reason than nostalgia, Strawberry Panic remains my favorite yuri works but this ridiculous soap-opera of an anime does deserve a fair amount of recognition. I see Strawberry Panic as the culmination of the S subgenre revived by Maria Watches Over Us. However, this work succeeds at both parodying many of the tropes of S and yuri while breaking a few. However, its greatest accomplishment is introducing many of the young western fans of yuri to the genre. Strawberry Panic, you are an overly dramatic mess but thank you for all you have done.

8. Revolutionary Girl Utena - 176 Votes

YuriMother: Another gem of the yuri genre, actually scratch that, if works like Kase-san are gems then Utena is the minerals from which gems form. I think that is how it works, I am not a geologist. My poor analogies and subtle nods to Steven Universe aside, Revolutionary Girl Utena is one of the single most important works of yuri anime, possibly even more so than Sailor Moon. These two works were the dawn of the current age of yuri, an era spurn on by social progress and the internet into a place where more yuri works featuring honest depictions of homosexuality are flourishing. Utena laid the groundwork for queer representation in anime and for that I remain forever grateful to this masterpiece.

OG: I must confess. While I saw the movie long ago and thought it was cool I have yet to sit down and finish watching the main series. I cannot say much about this show other than it is another yuri classic. Possibly one of the biggest. I think I will leave this to Her Holiness because even if I had seen it I do not consider myself someone who possesses the sufficient intellect to properly explain why this is a legendary show.

9. Flip Flappers - 132 Votes

OG: I would need an essay to explain why this show is legendary. Let me see. It is a story of a girl who discovered her gayness thanks to her growing attraction to a lovable idiot/genki. There are references to Western media, dimension hopping (including Class S Hell), self-discovery, a sexual orientation journey, a tree, armored wedding gowns, crazy third wheels, Ku Klux Klan stand-ins…You know what? Just watch Flip Flappers. It is a hot mess of random, crazy, creative and thought provoking awesomeness with a wonderful dose of gayness. Glory be to PapiCoco. However, as Her Holiness mentioned this is essentially Ikuhara-san levels of weirdness (though not as complicated I feel) but as the plot thickens it all (sort of) starts making sense...eventually. That tree yo.

YuriMother: Flip Flappers was almost too strange and abstract even for me, and that is saying something. However, upon further examination, one of the most interesting works of yuri is revealed. This heavily stylized anime delves deep into the sexual maturation of its protagonist while examining the yuri genre and representation in media. Flip Flappers is the perfect marriage of heavy visual style and intellectual substance. Definitely give them one a.. err better make that three watches, as you will want to be sure to get everything out of this beautiful series as possible.

10. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid - 131 Votes

YuriMother: This series is the closest anime fans have to a lesbian couple having a family that we have, and that is a shame. I LOVE family narratives, outside of the yuri genre Usagi Drop is my favorite anime. To me, seeing women balance life, a relationship, and children is some of the best queer representation there is. However, for every point in Kobayashi’s favor, there is also a glaring fault. Kobayashi is a modern woman in the workforce providing for herself and her “family,” but is borderline abusive to Tohru. Kanna is an inquisitive child being raising by two women, but there are weirdly sexual scenes featuring her. As previously mentioned on this list, if one can silence the reasonable part of the brain this work becomes enjoyable, hilarious, and adorable. Unfortunately, its faults prevent it from being more than an amusement and I seriously doubt that they will fade in the second season. But hey, it sells a ton of figures so… YAY!

OG: This series is one of the closest yuri fans have to a series starring a lesbian couple with a daughter and it is wonderful. Is the tale of an eternally grateful dragon who wanted to repay the human who saved her life, albeit drunk, by becoming her live-in maid. Tohru being a dragon girl had incredible power and could easily crush everyone in sight but preferred to try and understand humanity so she could live in peace with the woman she loved. It of course was hard at times but thanks to Miss Kobayashi slowly growing to accept her back (romantically she had a ways to go) and the two raising the adorable bundle of mighty puff known as Kanna they became a happy family. How long this relationship will last and whether Miss Kobayashi would come to fully love Tohru back romantically remains to be seen. I have high hopes it can and will happen. Kanna X Riko is precious (Yes. Even that scene). We even have a potential BL couple, which is nice. Not a fan of Lucoa X Shouta the shota. Not because of the age gap but it not being my kind of romantic comedy. It is the same reason I have a hard time buying Tsubame X Misha from UzaMaid. Mya-Nee X Hana from Wataten...maybe. At least Mya-Nee showed she is patient. Back to Dragon Maid. Great series. Naughty of course but great.

11. Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana) - 119 Votes

OG: Megane girl falls for a cutie but has a hard time confessing to her to the point she gives a relationship with another girl a try. Said other girl has troubles of her own courtesy of her own views on what love. Do not get me started on the OTHER girl who likes megane’s girlfriend. I did not even mention megane girl’s first love interest who she herself eventually begins questioning her feelings for the glasses wearing maiden. While this is well known throughout the history of yuri anime Aoi Hana made it clearer than ever that Yuri + Classical Music go hand in hand. Plus the show is quite pretty. Ultimately enjoyment of this series depends heavily on viewers’ patience.

YuriMother: Aoi Hana was ahead of its time in many regards. Most yuri during the early twenty-first century was unrealistic and melodramatic, especially with the revival of S stories. Aoi Hana instead presents a calm and realistic story that we still rarely see in yuri anime today. Instead of relying on tricks like service or comedy Aoi Hana presents a serene and character-driven story which is matched by equally calming scenery. It is certainly not the most thrilling watch, but a slow and beautiful slice of real life that remains one of the all-time strongest yuri works.

12. Yurikuma Arashi - 99 Votes

YuriMother: Yurikuma Arashi is strange, to say the least, but this is not out of the ordinary for legendary director Ikuhara, who also directed Utena. Parallels are easily drawn between this work and Flip Flappers, as they are both complex and encoded with enough symbolism to drown a bear. Yurikuma is one of my favorite works in the yuri genre and I have had more than a few heated discussions about interpretations of the work, including one memorable occasion when I was visiting a college professor and we ended up in a shouting match in the middle of the hall. However, while Flip Flappers holds a high degree of polish the same can, unfortunately, not be said here. Yurikuma Arashi has more than a few scenes of fanservice many of which overly fetishize the characters and relationship and some of the symbols, particularly lily flowers and the word “yuri” are practically beaten to death with an object I refuse to come up with because I am starting to have my fill of symbolism. However, despite some of its sloppiness, Yurikuma is one of the single most interesting and well-formed anime out there and analyzing it is practically a right of passage for seasoned yuri fans.

OG: Yurikuma Arashi is my favorite of Ikuhara-san’s series. To me it was the least complicated of his works but even so I needed help to understand the show. Luckily I had plenty of assistance. The meat of the story is more complicated but put simply it is about a war between a group of bear girls (and some human girls) who want to freely express their love and/or desire/hunger for each other and another group that amounts to Right to Censor from WWF. Like I said it is far more complex than that but that is the gist. The anime is quite ecchi and it has good reason for it. Again the gay bears are the more liberated of the groups and them getting more sexy scenes is meant to showcase that. Our heroine has good reason to be grumpy and a divine entity was introduced alongside a certain someone from a certain dark anime we already discussed.

In the end it is a show starring lesbian bear girls. I love love stories between women and i love bears. It was obvious I would end up enjoying this one. Like other complex stories it is not for everyone. Shows like Flip Flappers, Utena and Yurikuma have something of a learning people will have to get accustomed to in order to enjoy them.

13. Whispered Words (Sasameki Koto) - 88 Votes

OG: To me Aoi Hana and Sasameki Koto were always connected despite the former being a drama and the latter a comedy. Both star a female protagonist struggling with how to best tell the girl she likes her true feelings whereas their love interest for one reason or another makes it all the more challenging to get their feelings across. Both shows aired during a time yuri was not as popular of a genre as it would become over time. Perhaps if they had come out a little later when yuri was becoming more popular in the mainstream they would have fared better…Then again they may have helped set the groundwork for future yuri shows so it’s just as well they came out when they did. In any case both good shows worthy of “best of yuri” lists. SK has the dynamic of the megane in love and her somewhat airheaded love interest who specifically likes “cute girls”. Poor megane has a hard time figuring out what the airhead defines as “cute”. The show also features an amusing side-couple of an ojou-sama and her tsundere girlfriend. Not to mention the somewhat controversial side-girl who plays a more prominent role in the 2nd half of the anime. Heck, even Mr Crossdresser himself is cool. Let us not forget Miss “Ha Ha Ha!” Another really good show that I would love to see the rest of the manga get animated someday but considering most anime are essentially manga commercials and the SK manga ended the odds of a 2nd season are close to 0.

YuriMother: 2009 was a great year for yuri anime, with both Sasameki Koto and Aoi Hana, among other works, airing. But while Aoi Hana sought to resist many of the common tropes of the genre and tell a simple grounded story Sasameki Koto appears to have looked a the list of every convention possible and say “yeah I can do that.” It has melodrama, comedy, one-sided love, friend love stories, I worship this genre but even I think there is a limit. However, Sasameki Koto is one of the most competent yuri anime works of the current era. While all the tropes are present most of the problematic aspects of the genre are not. The story is well written, characters enjoyable, and art that is really well done for the time. I enjoy every watch and if I ever want to quickly download the genre’s tropes into another person's head I need only duct tape them to a chair and throw on Sasameki Koto.

14. Riddle Story of Devil (Akuma no Riddle) - 77 Votes

YuriMother: Akuma no Riddle was highly anticipated back in 2014, sporting a premise of student assassins that, while certainly not unique, was outside the norms for the yuri genre. It promised a dark and thrilling take on the yuri genre that would not become popular until the yuri horror trend a few years later. At first, it looked like this would be successful with an excellent setup and some pretty compelling characters but ultimately Akuma no Riddle fell flat and became more derailed as it continued. The monster of the week style of episodes left little room for complex plots and plans or proper character development, which is a shame because of how engaging so many of the assassins were upon original presentation. However, this show still has some of the best action in the yuri genre, placing it alongside series like Cannan and Utena despite its flawed storytelling. If nothing else, the anime may compel one to read the manga, which expands the story and characters more than the show was given time to.

OG: Professional assassins secretly gathered at an academy in an attempt to take the life of a seemingly innocent cutie to win the ultimate prize, one of whom wishes to protect the adorable redhead. Yes the manga, which is pretty much a Director’s Cut, is better and the anime would have benefited from having 20+ episodes instead of 12 and a delightful beach OVA but the show did a good job of showing viewers what each assassin was like, their motivations (though many of their origin stories were summarized in written biographies during commercial breaks viewers needed to pause to read) were clear enough and the duels, as brief as some of them were, had enough spicy goodness in them to be memorable, especially the ones in the latter half of the show. Oh, and although the manga wrapped up after the anime it had a very similar ending.

15. Revue Starlight - 72 Votes

OG: Gay theater girls who strive to become the top star, meaning the best actress or lead actor of the cast. How do they do it? By working hard and overcoming their personal hardships? Yes. That. What makes this show so wonderful despite being almost a year old as of this writing is not only do the ladies all have interesting stories to tell but so does the stage. Every song, prop, movement, dance, gesture etc. It is like the performers and performances are united. It is like in Spongebob where not only does the person in the boots tell a story but the boots as well.

Oh yes. I almost forgot to mention the mysterious underground theater and talking giraffe. Never forget the talking giraffe from Hell. #Wakarimasu.

Super cool and super gay.

YuriMother: Bushiroad continuously gets better at what they do, creating media franchises of cute girls filled with music and making mountains of cash from smartphone games. Inspired by the likes of Love Live, they created BanG Dream and last year Revue Starlight. However, where these franchises fell short Revue Starlight success. It never twists its characters to tell a story but rather creates compelling arcs around them. I thoroughly enjoyed and agree with its place on this list.

16. Konohana Kitan - 68 Votes

YuriMother: I know of Konohana Kitan for its constant presence at yuri events more so than the anime or even the manga. It is adorable, relaxing, simple, and fun. While it does not add anything super substantial to the genre it does not take anything either or present any objectionable material. The “plot” is nonexistent but that does not matter, as it is not trying to tell a story or make commentary, just be fluffy and simple.

OG: Konohana Kitan to me is a Girls Club (Cute girls doing cute things) and iyashikei hybrid anime. It is visually stunning as it is relaxing with Yuzu pretty much one of the cutest demigoddesses in existence. She of course is a chick magnet but her heart will forever belong to Satsuki.

17. Destiny of the Shrine Maiden (Kannazuki no Miko) - 65 Votes

OG: The other stuff on the show is still not that great but ChiMeko will forever stand the test of time as far as I’m concerned. Top 10 for their love story alone. Yes. I know THAT ONE SCENE continues being controversial and talked about every time curious new yuri fans witness greatness…but I will forever defend Chikane because I get where she was coming from. Would I have done something different? Yes. The thing is you need to put yourself in her shoes and understand what she wanted to accomplish and how far she would go to get it done. Kotoha is best side-character and Souma Ogami is real man’s man who does not deserve the hate. He was an honorable warrior to the end. He fought well and accepted defeat like a man. Plus his yell is inspirational.

YuriMother: My feelings on Kannazuki no Miko are incredibly mixed. It has many of the worst facets of early current era yuri anime, tropes include S, rape and… am I reading this correctly, demon mechs? Worst of all it presents a cycle, a never-ending loop that haunts the characters in the overarching plot and it does not resolve it. If a work ever presents such an element, like Puella Magi did, it must be overcome or confronted at least. Its presence makes the already cringy story feels cheap and lazy. However, I love the two female leads and their difficult relationship. I love the music, especially the hauntingly beautiful ending theme, and the final moments of episode 11 are some of the greatest seconds I have ever seen in an anime. I cannot wrap my mind around my view of this series but at the end of the day, I understand it. I do not believe that work like it would ever be warmly accepted today but for its time it does stand as a breakout piece of yuri anime.

18. Princess Principal - 61 Votes

YuriMother: Princess Principal is one of the best anime of the past few years. It had everything, an interesting premise, great characters, an incredible soundtrack. Alongside all this is the sharp writing and thrilling story. Princess Principal did everything Akuma no Riddle wanted to with an intriguing and action-packed story featuring strong characters. On top of all this, the animation is top notch. A six-part movie sequel is planned which has me somewhat concerned, but I am glad to see that it is being continued as the ending to the series was one of its weakest aspects. Now if you will excuse me, I need to listen to some jazz.

OG: Cute and sexy gay spies in a dramatic British Steampunk setting. What more do readers need? Allow Her Holiness to elaborate a bit further. Currently waiting for the multi-part cinematic continuation.

19. Izetta: The Last Witch - 60 Votes

OG: I am known for loving shows people do not think as highly of. Izetta: The Last Witch is no different. I love this show so much. Besides how certain events transpired some complained about the depiction of WW2. Basically think about people ranting about storylines and content featured in certain Call of Duty and Battlefield games. Here however, it is clearly a fictional great war inspired by WW2. I was invested in the following:

-The cute and sexy ladies.

-Seeing two badass lesbians lead an army against an evil empire.

-FiZetta’s romance. This of course being the major highlight. I love FiZetta so much. My sexy lesbian babies and Anne X Grea’s mentors. They taught them everything they know after all.

It is similar to how I felt watching Kannazuki no Miko where my focus was primarily on the leading ladies’ developing romance. The difference is that unlike Kannazuki I was also somewhat entertained by our heroines’ enemies along with their allies. Basically viewers’ enjoyment of the show depends on how seriously they take their history and are willing to overlook the liberties this story takes with its depictions of the weapons, military and the familiar evil empire. FiZetta are one of my favorite lesbian couples of all time.

By the way, in that famous scene, yes they did. Viewers just have to squint their eyes to see “it”.

YuriMother: Another show that I consider to have squandered its potential. I know that lots of people enjoyed this one, including OG but I could not bring myself to finish this constantly mediocre series. Perhaps I am tired of alternative light-fantasy European-war inspired plots. Trying to stand out in this bloated genre is difficult and Izetta fails. Izetta started strong and hooked many viewers with its amazing visual and auditory polish but this was quickly lost in the plot which, while set up well, struggle to gain any ground of pay off what had been established. On the yuri side, it did not really do anything interesting or satisfying, with plenty of scenes feature the character’s standing next to each other looking cute and one or two moments of actual yuri. I am glad that some of you were able to enjoy this one more than me at least.

20. Maria Watches Over Us (Maria-sama ga Miteru) - 57 Votes

OG: Like Strawberry Panic this is a “Like it or not” classic. Despite being a Class S show it did its own thing and became a pioneer for . It’s also responsible for the many yuri jokes related to all-girl schools in anime.Shimako X Noriko best Grande and Petite Souer! Yumiko X Sachiko were great too as the two grew to better understand each other. Most memorable scene for me was the panda costume. Even Sei is a sleeper icon in all yuridom. Yoshino X Rei had a very interesting dynamic. I actually think they are the real pioneers of relationships between cousins. Thank you YoshiRei. HaruKana, Kaede X Sara and several others owe you two much appreciation.

YuriMother: Another great and significant series, Maria Watches Over Us, took the tropes of early yuri works, Catholic schools, a lack of men, piano scenes, and emotional relationship rather than physical ones and turned the dial up to 11. For better or worse, it single-handedly revived the Class S genre and was copied (and parodied) endlessly for over a decade. However much I complain about S I actually do not think that we would have the current age of yuri without its popularity and proliferation at the beginning of the century so I owe a big thank you to Maria Watches Over Us for that. Ignoring its historical importance and literary significance the anime still presents an engaging plot with wonderful characters and more butchered French than my last trip to Europe. It is certainly worth a watch and worthy of a place on this list.

What do you think should be on this list?:

YuriMother: As I previously said, this is a pretty perfect list. As far as missing titles I can think of the following.

Simoun - not the greatest in terms of plot or animation but it had cute service and a fun action-packed plot.

Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl - This series may be strange and present the dreaded love triangle but it did its best to tell a transgender narrative in 2006, naturally this involved aliens, and I applaud it for its attempts.

Cannan - This series is light on the yuri but heavy on the suspense, action, and amazing character designs. The terrorist plot is exciting and the final train fight featured in the series is one of the greatest action spectacles in anime that somehow manages to remain grounded.

OG:

-Harukana Receive: Best all-female sports anime ever made. Plus the gayness is not subtle at all.

-Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku: Eruna Ichinomiya is an underrated yuri icon. While not the first of her kind (That honor, I think, goes to Galaxy Fraulein Yuna) she set the standard of cool and inspirational badass lesbian protagonists who are proud of who they are and...also happen to be super perverts. Eruna made it cool to be such a protagonist. It is nice seeing a lesbian lead who does not care what anyone else thinks. She is hungry for cute girl booties. While she often loses her control in the presence of pure beauty she, as an inspiration for others like her, has enough self-control to not go overboard (most of the time).

-Symphogear: Symphogear is love, Symphogear is life. Hopefully Season 5 will keep up the good work.

-Rinne no Lagrange: My favorite mecha anime and the reason I embrace OT3s when the signs are there. Not the greatest but man was it fun. Plus Madoka Kyouno is still sexy.

-Yuki Yuna wa Yuusha de Aru: My favorite Moepocalypse anime of all time. Yuna X Togo taught me to love and trust some people outside my closest family again.

-Mouretsu Pirates: If someone were to ask me “Hey OG. What to you is the perfect anime?”. I would tell them Mouretsu/Bodacious Space Pirates.

-Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl. Thanks to the first fan commenting and reminding me of it. Definitely worthy of a spot. #HazumuWasAlwaysFemale

Final Thoughts:

OG: Pretty good list and close to what mine would look like were I to make one. Reason I have yet to do so is because I do not feel confident enough to pick a favorite yuri anime of all time. Favorite yuri manga and couples? That I can do, but anime always seems to give me a hard time choosing my absolute favorites. Like I said though, a potential yuri list of mine would look something like this. I also found it interesting how similar the Top 10 are among both our respective fanbases and visitors to the poll conducted by the Akiba Research Institute.

YuriMother: I may have done most the complaining and left the praise to OG but I actually and really happy with this list. I think that every title presented is a worthy addition and while I would certainly move some higher or lower than their current placing I do not believe that these are too far off from my own opinions, which is surprising for a popularity poll. More than anything I am thrilled to see that works I dislike that I thought to be popular did not make this list. Perhaps I should have more faith in people and their opinions. Everyone did such a wonderful job voting and I am so grateful!

Thank you so much everyone for reading and for voting in the top yuri anime poll. To see the full results of the poll and to support yuri news, reviews, and content, check out the YuriMother Patreon. Happy Pride Month

[docholligay]

Scavenging

Sponsored fic from @katrani who asked for “MInako taking a scavenger hunt too seriously” Thank you so much for all of your support! 

“Haruka, you’re a butch lesbian! Don’t tell me you don’t have a leatherman or some shit laying around in your pocket.” She tried to pry the license plate off the car.

“I’m pretty sure this is illegal.” Haruka crouched down next to Mina.

“Do you have one or not? Lives are on the line here!” She held her hand out expectantly.

If you would have asked Haruka, earlier that day, if she felt she was going to spend her evening stealing a license plate off a Honda with Mina in the graceful dim of twilight, she would have said no.

And then she would have reconsidered her friendship with Mina, and said maybe.

“Haruka!” Mina hissed “Any day now!”

Haruka dug down into her pocket and pulled out her knife, handing it to Mina. “We’re gonna get fucking arrested.”

Mina began to pry at the license plate, “I can live with that, but I can’t live with the idea of Rei winning this.”

It all seemed very reasonable until the blue and red began to flicker in the shiny white paint of the car’s bumper.

__________

It had all began long before evening fell.

It was Usagi’s birthday, and this year, like most years, she had a plan. Usagi didn’t work overly hard at planning things, mostly, but her birthday was always a special occasion, and she had plenty of food and cake for everyone, festooned with bright streamers and glittered hats barely dry from being finished the night before.

But this year, that was not all she had up her bright pink sleeve. She clapped her hands together excitedly, birthday tiara nearly falling off with the thrill of it.

“Everyone! I have a GAME for us to play!” She held a small sheaf of papers in her hand, “With a prize!”

The assembled group all looked at each other, wondering if the game or the prize seemed more terrifying--with Usagi, either could be true, but it was her birthday after all, and they all privately and personally resolved to be as good a sports as they could be.

“It’s a scavenger hunt!” She put the list of items in front of her, “I hid things for you to find! ANd that’s not all,”Usagi excitedly brought out a hat with slips of paper in it. “I’m going to draw your partners!!”

Everyone looked around the room with mild horror, sizing each other up. They worked together well, as one solid unit, but much like an erector set, sometimes the building got more difficult with only two poorly-matched parts.

“The first person is...Mako!” The named fell with delight off Usagi’s tongue, as if she had never encountered a more delightful arrangement of syllables. “And her partner is…” she rifled through the hat. “Rei! Oh Mako, you’re so lucky!”

Mako grinned, and reached out her hand for a fistbump with Rei, who returned it, grabbing the list of items from Usagi.

She nodded to Mako. “We’ll win this, absolutely,” she waved a hand dramatically, “No one else has a chance.”

Mina popped her gum and snorted, “Good luck on that. We all I know that I,” she pointed to herself, “am keen of mind, and nimble of foot, seductive of body, and graceful of..you know the rest, I don’t have to tell you poetry.”

“Ah yes,” MIchiru sighed, “A favorite of mine, the poet Vraiment des Conneries.”

Mina shot her a look. ‘I don’t love your tone, Squidward.”

Usagi drew out another name. “Michiru! Let’s see who you’re paired with,” she scowled as she mixed up the pieces of paper, and then drew one out.

Her eyes flicked to Minako, and suddenly Mina was filled with a dark panic. Her mouth moved to form the words, no, jesus no, please.

But on this day, fortune smiled up her, and Usagi’s voice rang out.

“Ami!”

Both Ami and Michiru looked at each other, their faces suggesting they might have drank a bit of soured milk in that exact simultaneous instant.

“You’re both so smart!” Usagi quickly shoved the list of items into their hands. “It’s almost like cheating!”

MIchiru crossed her arms and smiled. “I would be perfectly fine with a fairer pairing.”

“You know, Usagi, I’ve read so many articles that say a classic education is really a better indicator of wealth than intelligence.” Ami added.

“You’re ever so right, Ami, I find Haruka more intellectually stimulating than any number of people who pore over memorized formulae, and I think most would agree.”

Mina raised her hand. “I changed my mind, I do want to be on their team.”

Usagi shook her head. “Teams of two! I’m sure you and,” she opened the paper, “Haruka! Will do great.”

Haruka grinned. “We’re gonna kick ass.” She and Mina high-fived over the table.

“Team Blonde Ambition!” Mina snatched the list off the table before Usagi could grab it. “Easy. Got it, we’re golden.” She winked at Rei. “And if there’s a tie, we can have Mako and Haruka fight it out in the garage.”

Mako raised her chin to Haruka. “You feeling up to it?”

“When am I ever not?” Haruka stretched her back out. “If you’re in the mood to get beat.”

Mako laughed, “I think you’re getting slow in your old age.”

“Yeah, and that’s why you had to buy me a smoothie after.” She grinned.

“I was feeling charitable.”

“No! Don’t fight on my birthday!” Usagi’s lip wiggled.

Mina clapped her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, it’s just how they show affection. Like emotionally incompetent 12 year old boys.” She looked back at the list. “Piece of cake. Figurative, not literal. Surprised there’s not literal cake on here though.”

Rei tossed her hair. “You and Haruka are NOT going to win, Mina.”

Mina swanned over behind her and placed her head on Rei’s shoulder. “Soooo...care to place a bet on that, Reinaldo? If I win, you have to go on a date with me. DInner, dancing, the whole nine yards, and you have to pay, but I get to pick the restaurant.” She grinned playfully, at Rei, knowing that there was no bait that Rei could not rise to, when competition was on the line.

Rei scowled at her for a moment, but answered, “And what if I win?”

“Then you GET to go on a date with me, but I’ll let you pick the restaurant.” The smile never left her face, only growing more as a cheshire cat.

Rei stepped away from her and stood still, arms crossed, unimpressed for a few moments. Her eyebrow raised, and she turned back to MIna.

“If I win, you have to help clean up the shrine for a whole month.”

“Kind of serious for one night of a date, don’t you think, fireball?”

Well, if you don’t think you can win, which you can’t, then--”

“Okay okay okay.” Mina waved her hand, annoyed. “Deal.”

Rei reached out to shake her hand. “Deal.”

___________

And, as twilight became nighttime, Mina and Haruka found themselves warming a concrete bench behind bars.

The cell was not particularly warm or particularly clean, but the most vexing problem, to MIna’s mind, was that there was no way to win Rei’s date from inside it. Also perhaps the fact that Haruka seemed to be having a slowly advancing meltdown, not quite unlike a lava flow of lesbian frustration and disappointment.

“I know this looks bad, but think about what a great story this is gonna be later. We’ll laugh about this over beers all the time.” She kicked back and smiled, trying to seem casual.

“Michiru’s gonna kill me.” Haruka buried her face in her hands. “She’s always telling me not to get into trouble, and here I am, always in trouble, because it’s something in me, and--”

“Haruka,” she placed a hand on her shoulder, “I love you very much. I need you to can the lesbian self-hating melodrama for like….20 minutes. Your wife is not gonna divorce you for stealing a license plate.”

Haruka jerked upwards, staring at Mina. “She might! She sound so pissed on the phone!”

“Didn’t you throw up on her when you had your wisdom teeth out? I think you’re pretty stuck, bud.”

Haruka gave a groan and dramatically tossed herself backward on the bench, slamming her head into the cement wall.

“You gonna give yourself a concussion for the sympathy, or what?”

As if on cue, the clacking tap tap tap of a pair of heels echoed down the hallway, and Mina didn’t have to look up to see who it was, perfectly and neatly tailored, her face in a calm and flat disappointment.

Haruka threw herself to her feet, half stumbling toward Michiru, and pressed her face to the bars.

“I’m sorry, Michiru.”

“However much fun it might have been, it cannot possibly have been worth the hours you have spent in a cell. Let’s get you home, then, and clean you off.” She indicated to the police officer, who unlocked the cell and led Haruka out to the hallway by the arm.

“Are you mad?” Haruka looked at her cautiously.

“I wish you would think before you act. I wish you would think before Minako acts. But I love you, so very much, and we can always discuss this later, when you are less tired and tender.” She placed her hand on Haruka’s back and began to guide her away from the cell, when Haruka had a realization, and stopped.

“You can’t leave Mina in jail.” Haruka protested, holding on to the bar of the jail as if she might chain herself to it.

Michiru stared at her, annoyed, “You really are meaning to test the bounds of my good nature tonight, Haruka.” She turned to Mina. “I will thank you, in future, to avoid any activity which might see my wife arrested.”

Mina opened her mouth to snap back, and then the bars came into perfect focus in front of her. She huffed and nodded. “Okay, okay, noted.”

___

“Usagi said you went to jail??” Rei gestured wildly at nothing in particular.

“Technically,” She raised a finger in correction, “We were just held, we didn’t go to JAIL, because we know someone, I won’t say who, but her last name rhymes with why-oh. Speaking of, how did she and Ami do? Intellectual curiosity.”

“They split up and went to sit at separate cafes for three hours.” She shook her head, not willing to get turned off topic, “You stole a license plate.” Rei looked at her skeptically. “You stole a license plate to go on a date with me.”

Mina shrugged noncommittally. “I mean, I guess when you put it that way, it sounds a little desperate. So let’s put it another way. I stole a license plate to BEAT you.”

Rei gave a chuckle and an eyeroll. “Mina, you’re never going to make it happen. I have...duties, and a life, and I can’t just--”

“I’m not asking you to marry me, Rei, I’m asking you to go out to dinner.” Mina looked at her. “ Leave it to you to make it the most dramatic thing on earth, I just….I like being around you.”

It was a throwaway line. It was five simple, unpoetic words. It was nothing at all, and it was a moment of exquisite, beautiful vulnerability, and Rei found herself unable to answer for a moment. She wanted to return that, to tell she worried, she worried if she danced too close, they’d be bound together, like Haruka and Michiru, and she’d neglect her duty to Usagi, always watching for Mina in the corner of her eye, like they did, like Rei hated.

“We’re not the idiot lesbians, Rei.”

Rei twitched backward confusion. “How did you--”

“Oh, come on,” she rolled her eyes dramatically  ”you’re not that hard to read. Anyway,” she shrugged, “Where’s the broom, I’m thrilled to get to this shit. And then get back so I can be in trouble with another lesbian, it’s a great day to be Minako Aino.”

Rei took a breath and stood at the edge, never jumping, but just looking.

“Do you want some tea, first?”