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pheasantly · 4 years ago

Note

do all the same questions i did :3c

1. Do you like resting your head in a boys lap, or on his shoulder?

⇩ This will be his face for the entirety of this Q&A

“ O-Oh, my gosh... Well honestly... I imagine that both of these options would be just splendid, but I’d hate to have my hair all messed up if I lay down like that... Resting on a handsome fellow’s shoulder would allow me to wrap my arm around his’, and feel his muscles, so I think I’d love that... ”

5. What’s your favorite thing about boys?

“ God, how can you expect me to name just one thing~? Men’s characters and personalities can be truthfully dull a lot of times, but there is plenty to appreciate about the exterior... I love men who are strong and powerful, but have class and use their big arms to carry delicate birds like me to safety... ”

6. How do you like your tea?

“ I love sweet teas, fruity, herb-y... Green tea is a classic too, though. Recently I stumbled upon this wicked new kind of tea--apparently it’s imported from an overseas company--that tastes like blueberry cake! It’s quickly become one of my favorites. I’ll have to make sure to buy their entire stock!! ”

7. How do you like your coffee?

“ Hmm, frankly I don’t like coffee nearly as much as other drinks... I only drink it during nightly work hours, and in that case I want it to keep me awake, so I don’t add milk and sugar. Black and bitter is fine. Lattes with cream are totally cute, though. ”

14. Do you like boys taller or shorter than you?

“ Taller, ideally!!! Which is a bit of a pain, since I’m already flashy and tower over the vast majority of doves... And I wear heels, too. But, I suppose... If his other traits make up for it, I’d find small and compact men appealing as well. It’s cute. ” well now you just sound desparate sensei

15. Do you prefer hand kisses, or nose kisses?

“ H-...H-H-H-... A kiss on the hand is so tremendously romantic and intimate... -sniffles- ” sensei are you okay

22. Do you like sitting in a boys lap, or do you prefer when a boy sits in yours?

“ Sitting in a boy’s lap, without a doubt! Ahh, dear god, these questions are making me imagine scenarios that make me feel vulnerable and tender, like a butterfly’s wing... ”

26. Would you like to take his last name when you marry?

“ Oh! I can’t see that happening under no circumstance!! I take huge pride in my name, you know! He should feel honored, if we were to marry, to take my name! ”

29. What’s a compliment you’d love to receive from a boy?

“ Mmm... Nnn... Mnnn... A very special compliment, something much less obvious than “beautiful” “intelligent” “charming” and “talented”, since those are a given... Words only go that far, you know... I think, above all, I wish somebody would treat me, like I’m truly... special. ”

30. What’s better, waking up to him in the morning, or falling asleep next to him at night?

“ H-How do I choose~?... I think, I think I’d prefer the latter... I’ve spent so many lonely nights with the bed, and the house all to myself... He would love me and caress me at my least decorated, and most delicate state... We could drift away while softly recalling the events of the day prior... ”

31. Any turn offs?

“ Ah, um... Well, I am completely uninterested in people that don’t appreciate art, especially MY art, unhygienic people, ( that is NOT masculinity ) and hmm... Actually, I am definitely turned off by flirty guys that try to out-do me in confidence. Cocky types that act like I’m already their property. Show some class and respect me, you!! ” basically yuuya before he met hiyoko lol

35. What first catches your eye?

“ Hmm... I think I am a fairly observant person that judges people by their attitude to strangers. Now hey, I am not an extrovert, believe it or not! Social interaction drains me quite a lot, but that doesn’t mean that I get a free pass on being needlessly rude and not look the other person in the eyes, especially if I want something from them! But what was the question again? Ah yes, I think I pay attention to their face, then... And the hair / feathers. Clean, healthy, and vibrant, please. Long hair is gorgeous, but it requires some amount of special care. Don’t just grow it out and then don’t even comb it for five days.

...

HEAR THAT, ISA SOUMA? ”

39. Which is cuter, him being confident, or shy?

“ Cuuuter~? Well shyness 100%. Not to brag, but I will anyway, birds are often shy around me, because I have a beautiful presence. It makes my heart swoon! The shy, and the self-conscious, and the foppish, and the submissive, they are so fun and I love to watch those birds open up and show their true colors. Like that silver quail, Nanaki Kazuaki! He’s not really someone I’d pursue romantically (or sexually) but at the same time, his bashful face makes me wanna kiss him! Well, a little bit. On the cheek. A true geode, that one.

And that stud named One! He is absolutely a shy little flower bud. Now note that he isn’t shy in the same way that Nanaki Kazuaki is. Nanaki Kazuaki... is anxious and unsure of himself. One-san simply puts on a cold front and acts like a big tough guy that’s unimpacted by anything. But he is kind and a sweetie underneath, I know that for a fact! A kuudere! Even if he wants to arrest me, he is soo kind and considerate about me and my well being, teehee! ”

#⟨ ♛ ⟩ 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍��𝐗... ( kawaiiwamine. )#⟨ ♛ ⟩ 𝐅𝐔𝐍 & 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒... ( dash memes. )#⟨ ♛ ⟩ 𝐏𝐀𝐘 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍... ( ic. )#oh my GOD this is LONG #LOOOL #THANK YOU SO MUCH ILY #tohri really shows his personality here #what a flirt............ and bottom.#TOTAL bottom

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haikyuu-imagines-and-others · 6 years ago

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I really loved the "Single Dad Kuroo Au" so I wonderd if I could request a third part :3 as long as you have ideas for it of course

Haha…. Yall know me…. If I don’t have an idea, I just make one up as I go ;D lol I’m so glad you guys like this little 3 parter! I honestly didn’t think it’d be this big of a hit!!! Thanks for the request! - Admin Satori

Part 1 here Part 2 here

Kuroo Tetsurou:

Souma (Real/Genuine) - Son (6) “So… are you guys dating?”

Startled at the question, you turned to your co-worker with wide eyes, “U-uh w-what?” Not that they didn’t know what was going on; They’d been your first friend when you’d started working at the school! “I-i… uh….” You felt confusion color your expression in a warm heat, “Who?”

But they simply rolled their eyes with a smile, “The alley cat.” A raised eyebrow, and yet you still looked confused, “The smart kids dad.”

Your mouth opened into a small ‘o’ as you realized who they were referring to. “O-oh…. Uh… Kuroo-san…” He’d told you to call him by his first name a while ago…. But you’d simply save that for when he was around - there was no need for you to embarrass yourself further. “Of-of course not.” You laughed nervously, “Uhm… We’re just friends.”

They smiled knowingly, “Uh-huh… Friends who go over to each others homes for dinner pretty much every night…. That’s what friends do, right?” They raised their eyebrows in question, a teasing lilt to their voice.

“He’s a great cook…” You muttered guiltily. It wasn’t a lie. Every night you’d go over for dinner, after being invited the previous evening, and he’d make these… amazing dishes. Complex in flavor being both spicy and sweet or salty and smooth….

At this point, you were excited to see what he’d make for dinner each night - or what conversation Souma would spark up about his excelled class regime or what new chemical Kuroo was testing out in his labs….

Sato, your co-worker, simply hummed in thought, “You should pay him back, you know… It’s kind of mean for a girlfriend to not reciprocate that kind of affection~.”

“We aren’t dating!” You huffed out, feeling your cheeks heat even more at the mere thought. Of course, you wanted to be dating him. He’s cute. He’s funny. He’s got a good heart…. His son’s adorable…. But be it forbidden that you ever admit to having a crush on your former students father….

But the thought of dating Kuroo didn’t leave you. The rest of the day you were plagued with the fantasies of his holding you close, his lips against yours or pressing against your neck or forehead…. His hands gripping your hips or thighs…. His calling your name-“ _________-sensei!”

Flushed with shame and embarrassment, you responded to your student requesting your attention.

——

“So when are you gonna ask _______-sensei to live with us?”

Kuroo nearly choked on his sip of water, rushing to put the cup down before he was looking at his son with wide eyes, “W-what the-“ He stopped himself from continuing that question, trying his hardest to never swear in front of his boy.

But Souma didn’t seem fazed by his father’s surprise. In fact, he looked expectant for an immediate answer.

Live with them? How in the hell did Souma get to that conclusion? All that was happening was you having dinner with them… every… night…. oh..

He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck a bit awkwardly, “Uh, buddy? I thought we talked about this? _______-sensei is just a friend of ours. Why would she be living with us?”

Souma pouted, “Well… Because they’re always here. Isn’t it mean to make someone travel distances they don’t need to travel?”

Distances… Meaning you going to work, going home to change, then coming all the way back out to their house for dinner before going all the way back to sleep for the next day to start…. It was a lot of back and forth, Kuroo knew… but an invitation wasn’t mandatory to accept. If you felt there was too much back and forth, or you felt uncomfortable with the amount of travel just for a free meal… you were more than welcome to reject the invitation.

It’d break his heart, but it was your choice to make.

Going a single day without seeing you would definitely be something he’d have to get used to if you decided to stop. It’d been about 3 months since you’d first come by for dinner. Every evening after that there you were eating dinner with him and his son… Acting as if you were part of the family already, something he found himself longing for.

Maybe it was because Souma really liked you…..

No. Kuroo wasn’t going to lie to himself. Souma liking you was just a plus, honestly… A priority, but a plus nonetheless……

He liked you. Really really liked you. The thought of you not coming around to eat dinner or visit for a single day made Kuroo’s heart ache.

Why? Was he alone in this feeling? Were you really just coming by to hang out with his son and get some free food? Was he just wasting his time preparing these extravagant meals that he’d had only a few minutes to read up on before making?

“Daddy!” Kuroo met his son’s disgruntled expression almost immediately, “Don’t ignore me.” He muttered, and Kuroo couldn’t help but laugh softly.

“I would NEVER.” A swear on his life. He grabbed his son in his arms, lifting him high above the ground and resting him on his shoulder, “Ahhhh, duck!” Souma immediately ducked as they entered the kitchen, just nearly missing hitting his head on the doorway - something Kuroo wouldn’t have let actually happen, but the playfully irritated look on his son’s face was worth it.

——

Tonight felt… different. You weren’t sure why, but it did. The air was charged excitedly, as if it were waiting for something to happen - to you or to someone else, that you couldn’t feel. But it lay in wait the entire rest of your day into your evening.

Nothing to wear! Nothing you wanted to wear anyway! Why was it so hard? Why were you putting in so much effort tonight? Why tonight specifically? Before, you’d simply wear a nice t-shirt and some jeans or pants… Your ‘off-duty’ teacher clothes!

But now? Why did you feel the need to pull down your favorite casual dress? Why did it feel right to slip it over your shoulders? Why was the struggle to zip up the back so satisfying to you??

Cute… You wanted to look cute. You wanted Kuroo to think you were cute…. Maybe it’d spark something… Maybe it’d start something… Probably not, but you wanted that possibility to be open to him.

And now there you stood, in front of his door, hands clasped in front of you nervously after ringing his doorbell. Sweaty palms? Not even! Try shaking hands. Cold feet. You were pretty sure your fingers were so cold they’d lost all feeling.

“Sensei!” Souma cheered happily as he opened the door, “I missed you all day today!” His words shot straight to your heart, and you smiled widely as you kneeled down and took him into your arms in a tight hug. “I have so much to tell you about school today! So much happened! And then daddy made this cool thing at work and it-“

“Oi! That’s my story, kid!” Kuroo poked his head around the front door, quickly looking away with a slight blush at the sight of you holding his son so close. Cute. “Dinner’s almost done!” As quickly as he’d come, he was back in the kitchen, hiding his embarrassing thoughts in the deep recesses of his brain while he struggled to focus on the meal he was making.

You smiled shyly, but quickly pushed away your thoughts of him as Souma continued to chatter in front of you, his hand taking yours and leading you inside the house.

Still a mess. You wondered if Kuroo ever actually cleaned or if he kind of just tossed things around until a path was made amongst the chaos. As embarrassed as he was about the mess every time you came over, he didn’t really seem to make an effort to clean it up after you’d made sure he knew it didn’t bother you.

It didn’t. Honest and true. Your apartment was a mess, less so than their house but a mess all the same.

——

Dinner came and went. Filled with shy sideways glances between you and Kuroo. You’d catch him staring as you talked to Souma… Or he’d catch you staring while he playfully bickered back and forth with his son. You’d never blushed for so long before, it was like every time he even spared you a single flicker of his golden eyes you felt like someone was holding a flame inches from your face. So warm. His gaze was so intense even when it was just the shadow of what he could actually stare at you with.

Oh, you wished he’d actually stare at you. Stare at you and not look away when you swallowed your nerves and met his gaze.

Maybe you were thinking too forward. He was a single dad of a young boy… No mother or father in sight… You didn’t know what had happened with them, but they’d left their child and Kuroo behind in their path…. Kuroo was a busy man, making sure they had enough money for their house and bills and Souma’s schooling and supplies….

Maybe you had to step up for him?

You’d helped with the dishes and cleaning up after dinner. Standing beside Kuroo at the sink with Souma on the other side of you. Kuroo would wash, you’d rinse, and Souma would dry and put them away.

Kuroo was so close to you. Closer than you’d ever had him before… Inches. You could feel his body heat on your left side, see every flex of his arms as he cleaned his plates and cooking utensils. What did it feel like to have his hands on you? Holding you close? Stroking through your hair or caressing your face? Did he have soft hands? You wondered how big his hand was compared to yours, his longer fingers could most definitely bend over your shorter ones.

This was getting out of control. You barely knew him-

No. You’d known him for a couple of months. You’d learned a lot about him. Not anything about Souma’s mother… but enough to know something had happened to them that had been an accident…. You weren’t close enough to learn that backstory yet, so what made you think you were close enough for him to be romantically interested in you?

Doubt surged in your chest. Maybe it was right. Maybe you were seeing what you wanted to see. Maybe he was just being nice because his son really liked having you around?

Uncomfortable. You felt like your cute casual dress was 30 pounds heavier on your shoulders and hips… Had you been fooling yourself this whole time?

Souma had walked with you to the door, “And tomorrow, daddy said we’re gonna make mochi! Sensei, I’m so excited! It’s gonna be cold in the house though… so I think you should bring a jacket… Just in case! Frost bite is scary!”

You smiled down at him, kneeling in front of him before you stepped out of the house, “I’m sure it’s going to be so much fun, Souma… We gotta make sure you don’t get sick though, okay? You’ve missed a lot of school this semester.”

He looked down with pink cheeks and tinted ears, surprised you’d heard about his absences, “Ah… you.. you heard about that…” He gave you a sheepish smile as he looked from under his lashes at you, “I was sick…”

But you only laughed softly and ‘booped’ his nose, “From all this ice cream your dad keeps feeding you!”

“Eh?” Kuroo rounded the corner, “I don’t force feed it to him or anything, if he doesn’t want it he doesn’t have to eat it!”

More laughter as you stood from your kneeling, not seeing Souma make his sneaky escape… leaving you and Kuroo just inside the house, “Expecting a child to not eat ice cream as an option isn’t very sound logic, Tetsurou.” His name slipped passed your lips so effortlessly, but still your stomach clenched in anticipation. Each time you’d said his name that night, you’d felt like your insides were fluttering excitedly… God you had it bad.

He scratched the back of his head with a dorky smile, the result of you calling him by his name yet again, “And I don’t think they’d put an illogical man in a chemist lab so… checkmate.” He stuck his tongue out at you.

You smiled softly, letting out an amused hum, “Well, you’ve got me there.” You pretended to wave a white flag of surrender, “Out brained once again.”

The mood settled as the two of you stood there. It would have been awkward… if it weren’t for that charged feeling you’d felt earlier in the day. It was comfortable for the most part… and for the other part it was anxiety inducing. What was going to happen? There were so many options presented before you for you to take - as the one taking action or even the one reacting to one….

But just before you were about to make your move - he spoke.

“I really appreciate you doing this, _________.” Your name rolled off his tongue so easily, it shot you straight in the heart… though this shot felt warm and had your heart racing excitedly. “I know it’s not easy, going back and forth all the time… but it really makes Souma happy to see you every day and be able to talk to you for hours on end.”

Deflated. Oh… This was about Souma. You should have known.

You didn’t let it faze you, though. You smiled warmly up at him, though you knew it didn’t reach your eyes, “Of course. He’s a very bright boy… He’s going to do amazing things when he’s older… I’m just lucky enough to have been an influencer in getting him closer to those dreams of his.” You owed Souma so much more than just those dreams… for meeting his father? You owed that child the entirety of existence.

But Kuroo wasn’t finished just yet. He stepped forward, now only a couple feet in front of you… You didn’t feel intimidated in the least. Your heart only kicking up speed in your chest as you tilted your head a bit better to be able to meet his golden eyes. He stared down at you intensely. No longer was he the awkward blushing dork you’d seen a few minutes ago. He’d been switched out with who he’d been before he’d become a father.

This was Kuroo.

He smiled down at you, and it wasn’t one you recognized.. This was mischievous… This smile had a secret behind it… and you wanted to find out what it was. “More than that though…. I’m happy when you’re around…” Forward. It felt like the air was knocked straight from your lungs at his confident confession. “I’d really like to have you around more often, if that’s okay with you…”

Heart hammering, you nodded slowly, “I… I’m more than okay with that…”

A quiet hum from him had the air between you two vibrating as he leaned down, “Are you okay with this?” His head tilted before his lips were just a hairs length from yours, his eyes hooded as he took in your reaction, committing your wide surprised eyes to memory. You wanted more, you wanted to be closer to him… You wanted to touch.

So you did. While he was busy giving you a ghost of a kiss, you’d rested your hands on his chest, fingers wrapping in his shirt to keep him close. He felt so warm under his shirt, you wanted to feel more, to hold him closer… Why were you longing for him so much? It was just a crush, right? …. Right?

“Daddy! Don’t forget to read me a bedtime story! It’s almost bedtime!”

Kuroo inhaled sharply as he stood up straight, away from your waiting lips. And while it was a disappointment of a buildup… you couldn’t ever be mad at little Souma… Kuroo looked over his shoulder at his son, who had simply popped his head around the corner. You much rather would have been kissing this man before you, but in this circumstance, you simply rested your forehead against his chest with giggles barely contained.

“Yeah, kiddo, I’ll be in there soon. Gimme a few minutes.” But the intense Kuroo was gone for now… Back into ‘dad’ mode, he guessed. His hands rested on your waist a bit awkwardly at first before he felt your giggles shaking your body. “Oh? What’s so funny?” He tilted his head a bit to be able to see the side of your face as you leaned your forehead against his chest still.

You pulled away with a wide smile, staring up at him with bright eyes, “I’m just…. relieved…” and you were. This whole time you’d been going back and forth with yourself on whether or not you were fooling yourself into thinking he was interested in you… and now? After that? You knew he was. And the feeling of being wanted by someone as amazing as him was… it made you giddy!

“Oh yeah?” He smirked down at you, leaning down once more as if he were going to kiss you this time, but he stopped short, “Well… Enjoy it while it lasts… Because our first kiss isn’t going to be mediocre….”

Then he pressed his lips to your forehead… which, honestly, was a pretty good second.

He walked you to your car, held and closed your door for you before leaning against the car door, “So… This Friday? You have any plans?”

If you did, you’d drop them all immediately for him. But you knew you didn’t have anything planned. Teacher life was kind of boring after the 12th drawing you had to ‘grade’… Thankfully, you, too, had a deadline for when your stuff had to be submitted. “Why?”

Kuroo smirked as he leaned against your car window, “I’d like to take you on a date…”

A/N: Oof! Definitely didn’t plan that ending but haha I liked it :D

#Admin Satori #Haikyuu!!#Haikyuu!! Scenario #Kuroo Tetsurou #Fluff #Domestic #Single Dad AU!#SingleDadAU #Souma OC

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eikyun · 5 years ago

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Eishi Tsukasa Essay; how I met him, and 10 reason why I love him

Caution: it will be pretty long. Please bear with me >_<

In this post, I’m going to spill out all of my feelings I have for this guy. Stay away if you hate him, okay :) Hating Eishi is a bad civilization :p

I met Eishi 3 years 9 months ago, exactly at November 2015. After I finished watching the 1st season of Shokugeki anime, I was interested to read the manga. For the most thing I was more curious about the rest of Elite 10. With the information I got from Google, I clicked ch 119 and... tada~ At a manga panel, I saw a beautiful white haired male sitting while drinking a cup of tea.

“Wow, he is hot.” I mumbled. Yes, I was attracted to his looks at first glance. He is totally my type, appearance wise. Two next pages later, the cool, collected guy I saw before suddenly turned into an anxious, shy dorkie boy.

“Is he actually the 1st seat?? Omg this is getting interesting.” I thought. How could soggy guy like him can gain the highest rank in the friggin Totsuki Academy?? This fact tickled my curiosity more, I wanted to know more about this guy. I skipped to ch 132, where Soma and Megumi met Eishi in his booth (I read the chapters in order later, though). It was more emphasized that our 1st seat is a true introvert, and a perfectionist. This guy... is very similar to me.

He automatically jumped into my most favorite SnS character. No, he became my most favorite anime/manga character at that time.

After I read SnS until the latest chapter (ch 145), I eagerly waited for his next apperance. When ch 148 released, I saw him on a pretty big panel, sitting leisurely while watching the Souma vs Eizan from the screen... my heart skipped a beat, my lip drew a wide smile. What’s up with me? I just knew him for like... less than a month, and yet I felt like an idiot when I saw him. Did I... fall in love?

It took 4 months until his next appearance (ch 161). I was extremely happy to see him again, and I couldn’t wait to know about him more and more. During that Souma vs Eishi battle arc, I learned more about Eishi, I was amazed that the way he talked... the demeanor he showed... is very similar to me. I never met a 2D character (or perhaps irl people) who shared a lot of similarity (personality wise) with me. I felt more kinship with him more than with Megumi, who is also a shy character. This fact just made love him even more.

***

From ch 118 until Le Dessert ch 1, plus Betsubara 6 and 7 and some extras, my feelings for Eishi remains same. Here’s my 10 reason why I love a chef named Tsukasa Eishi.

1. Let’s start from the shallowest thing; looks. Yes, he is undoubtly good looking, I’m sure everyone must admit it! Nobody can resist that beautiful pale lavender iris with outstanding long eyelashes, combined with that gorgeous shining white hair... Oh, how ethereal. His fair skin, slender and long fingers, his alluring neck, his collarbone, his body shape, his waist— aaaaah ok ok I’ll stop >////< in tl;dr, people would fall in love by his looks alone, but when they find out his true self, who knows?

2. Fashion sense. I know you guys might find his flying necktie weird, but I admit, it looks so damn cool on him. Not to mention, I love how he wears his uniform, both school and chef one. The unbuttoned collar, half-rolled sleeves... What an unexpected style for a shy boy like him, huh? But I don’t care, if it makes him looks hotter, I’ll take it~ Not to mention the collection of casual outfits he has. He’s not on the fashionista tier for sure, but he still has good sense. Well, I can say that he looks good on everything.

3. His voice. This is something I admitted way later. At first I wasn’t too fond of Akira Ishida’s voice on him. Too ‘husky’ for me, I thought. However, the more I hear him talking on anime, the more I’m used to it, then it grows on me. Now everytime he speaks, my heart throbs faster. The power of love is too strong haha.

4. The adorable gap moe! Gap moe! Gap moe! Eishi’s gap moe is... too cute and irresistable >///< I’m sure people’s first impression of him is... a cool, elegant, and handsome guy... he must be a very cool guy like heroine’s love interest in shoujo manga or Korean drama! Who knows if he’s actually a huge dork! He can show you his anxious, worry-wart side at unexpected time, wrecking his previous prince-like image completely. What a gap! Would he stay calm and stoic everytime people surround him? Please don’t scare this soft guy, he would be freaked out and get nervous >_<

His gap is also shown by his demeanor towards people. If it’s someone he barely knows and cares, he wouldn’t bat an eye, hence you call him an absolute selfish guy. However, he shows his care towards someone close to him. Just look how he treats Rindou (hmph, I’m so jelly :<) I’m sure he’d super sweet to his girlfriend and treat her like a princess, if he has one someday! >_<

5. If he is that spineless, is he actually an incompetent guy? Hell no! You all must know that he’s one of the best chefs in the series! If you’re going to deny this, you must read/watch a wrong series lol. He had sit on the throne of 1st seat of Elite 10 for freakin’ two years (there’s a plot hole about this, but regardless he gained the 1st seat on 2nd year or 3rd, my point still stands). The more amazing thing is, he gained it not by magic or ahem, plot no jutsu. Many said that he’s a natural genius chef, however, he worked hard for that sweet 1st seat. You can reread/rewatch the whole of SnS to prove his competence in cooking.

6. His elegance. French cuisine as his speciality alone proves that. His dishes always have luxurious presentation. The taste? If only I could actually taste it... ;_; Throughout the series, it’s proved that he never fails to make a lot of people amazed. Not only by his dishes, people are also enthralled by his elegance in kitchen. The way he keeps composure while cooking, the way he interacts with ingredients, the way he set the plating of his dish... it’s like watching a prima ballerina dancing in an opera. Oh, not to mention, his nickname sounds elegant and noble as heck! Let me say it; Weiss Ritter der Tafel! The White Knight of the The Table!

7. Have I said he’s a hard-worker? Sure he is. Since junior high, he had set his goal to be the 1st seat of Elite Ten, and he didn’t just sit down for the whole of his time in Totsuki. He was famous as ‘Teacher Crusher’ for his effort to drag teachers nearby to try his countless test dishes.

Even after he gained it and graduated from Totsuki, he still aimed to be a better cook! Can’t you just imagine how persistent—I mean, hard-working he is? His hardwork isn’t limited to cooking only; he is a diligent boy in general. As he got the 1st seat title, he didn’t throw his responsibility down to the rest and walk away like a boss. He hates paperworks and especially public speaking, yet he’s responsible enough not to ignore his duties. People might see him as a doormat for letting himself doing Rindou and the others’ paperworks, but not for me. Who’s the selfish one then? :p

He deserves my highest respect for his hard-working nature and being responsible.

8. His innocence— I mean, it’s more like his naivety. This trait might be irritating for some people, and in Eishi’s case, it lead him to earn the ‘bastard/asshole’ title by those who misunderstand him, due to his incompetence to understand people’s feelings. It’s emphasized by the fact that he tends to be straightforward, both in words and act.

His naivety makes sense, he lacks social/communication skill since he’s an introvert (not all introverts sucks in social skill, though). He doesn’t interact with a people much. Eishi’s own world is just around cooking and nothing else lol, that’s why he’s focused on his own cooking and prioritizes it above anything else. Sounds like an autistic person, you say? Maybe. As someone who has a tiny bit of autism, I understand this side of him well and I can’t blame him for that. I always find myself being busy in my own world, and I tend not to interact with people much. I’m not saying that he’s diagnosed with autism, no. He might have a bit of it, just like myself. So don’t blame him for forgetting Kuga after his match with him, he was just way too busy in his own world XD

Talking about innocence... isn’t he also actually an innocent, adorkable boy? I mean, he seems to have a relatively pure mind. He never actually means to harm people. If the others think so, it’s mostly a misunderstanding. He might be blunt with his words, but he’s just being honest, you know. He never lies.

Please give him a chance, I believe he’ll grow to be a better person in future.

9. The previous point has connection with this one, his introverted nature. I can say he is 90% introvert. Isn’t it obvious? He is undoubtly shy boy, hates public speaking, easily gets nervous in front of a lot of people, prefers to cook alone, lacks of social skill... he is socially impaired, Rindou said so. However, he tries to overcome his social anxiety for the sake to be a better chef. Isn’t it great?

As a fellow true introvert, I find Eishi very relatable, thus I feel a deep connection between me and him. Every time I feel anxious in front of people, I think of Eishi that he would feel the same and imagine that we would overcome our shared obstacle together.

10. Eishi isn’t Tsukasa Eishi without his dominant trait: perfectionist.

Let’s start with the fact that his blood type is A. People with this blood type (including me) tend to be perfectionist and organized. You can search more about it on Google, and you’ll find out that Eishi fits most of A-type traits! You might see his obsession for perfection a bit annoying, but that’s Eishi for you. Everything he does must be perfect. He’s someone who makes plans and he wants to follow those plans completely. It leads him to be a hard-worker, but it also makes him prone to stress and worry. Is being a perfectionist a good thing? Yes, but it would drain yourself if you’re way too obsessed with perfection. Eishi seems... quite perfection obssessive. I’d say it’s way too much because I don’t want to see him being trapped in the endless loop of reaching perfection and drained him both physically and mentally. I’m also a perfectionist, but not as much as him, yet I understand how painful it is. I love this side of him for another reason; he always has a clear goal; honing his cooking skill to be perfect, and works hard for that. I’d prefer someone like that than a hopeless person who has no goal in their life. I admire people who try hard to reach their dreams. Also, he always gets things done properly and never try to be half-assed.

My conclusion: Eishi isn’t perfect, despite of being obsessed with perfection. He isn’t a perfect husbando material, but he’s perfect in my eyes. He has flaws and weakness, but I’d embrace those and keep loving him. I love you, Tsukasa Eishi.

#Shokugeki no Soma #tsukasa eishi #sorry for the tldr #long text post

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kurogabae · 6 years ago

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Tsubasa: Trainwreck Chronicles

And Why Bee Train Has Failed Me Not Only as a Company, but as a Concept in General; an Essay by Popular Demand

part 1 -- part 2

In part 1 (linked above) I spoke about the anime adaptations of the opening/introductions of our main cast through Jade and our first filler. These were episodes 1-16. Out of 26 for the season and 52 for the series. I don’t feel like my time has been wasted with pointless, endless, literally 30+ second long shots of characters staring at each other or into the distance for no reason. No. Not at all. Those moments added a lot of needed and organic tension and suspense.

Really.

But Sakura gazing longingly at a giant fish aside, we’re going to get into what is probably my most hated canon arc of the anime - Outo. Now, I loved Outo in the manga, it was an amazing world and it really kick started a lot of character and plot developments in TRC, not to mention that it was just generally a lot of fun. It was the longest world thus far and it had had the most characters in it as well. Outo was great. It’s one of my favorite worlds, right along side Piffle and fanon!Yama.

Bee Train did me dirty guys. Real dirty.

Outo:

So the animation swings wildly in this arc from “yeah that’s not so bad” to “Fai is that your hair or a giant yellow spider eating your head?” - pretty par for the course as far as the anime goes. Mostly. But then we have the changes to plot, both for the sake of the Children(tm) and... Just Because? It’s also in Outo that we start really noticing that whoever was in charge of directing the music usage was really just throwing music at the animation and hoping something stuck.

I’ll try to keep this linear but I make no promises.

We start off pretty normal - arrive, greeted by The Ladies, whisked off to City Hall. Fai gives them all their delightful Outo names while Syaoran looks on in a mild panic. They buy the cafe and get attacked - and here I have my First Issue.

For some reason, probably to make me hate them more than I already do, they change the events of the Oni attack just enough that Kurogane doesn’t grab Sakura out of the way of the ambush, iirc Fai grabs her. This might seem like nothing, but the anime has kept Kurogane and Sakura’s interactions to basically zero and if someone were to only watch the anime they would miss out on a lot of very small but meaningful moments between those two. Also, it’s important to me okay!

Morning comes and plot is still basically on track - Syaoran and Kurogane become oni hunters and Fai and Sakura open the cafe.

Now, when the family gets their costume changes, things get a little odd and the music is to blame. Sakura wakes up and goes to greet the family, who are all wearing what they’ll be sporting for the rest of Outo. As her view pans (ba-dum tss) over each of them a weird smooth jazz sort of music starts to play. I don’t know what to call it, but the tone makes it feel vaguely sexual/romantic, or at least like that’s what the intent is. Now if this had happened over Syaoran alone it probably wouldn’t have been weird, but funny. It doesn’t just happen to Syaoran though, Kurogane gets the music too (Fai is the first she sees and the music only starts playing as Sakura begins to look away). It’s a really strange music choice for this moment.

When Sakura changes into her cafe maid outfit and the boys see her it isn’t just a Sakura and Syaoran moment, which would be fine. If they weren’t playing that music again. And also Kurogane hyuus. At Sakura. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It was all very weird. I didn’t like it. Could have been just me.

Night one of oni hunting is here and so is another change that I don’t understand? Before when they added characters to the scene it was Sakura and I assumed it was them trying to give her more screen time, but Sakura is very much left out of this whole bit while Fai, who should be back at the cafe with her preparing to open up a business, is with Kurogane and Syaoran. Why? “I like to watch you at work, Kuro-sama.” (Which would have been simply amazing foreshadowing if we were ever going to so much as glance at Fai’s backstory in the anime, which we aren’t. Hell, at this point we don’t even know what it is because Celes hasn’t been published yet, so Bee Train is pulling this out of their ass. What a waste.)

Syaoran and Kurogane kill some oni, there’s very vague talk about Syaoran’s blind eye (they never outright say he’s blind in it, just that he “has trouble with it”), and we get to meet Yuzuriha and Kusanagi. Syaoran does not fawn over Inuki and I am once again personally insulted. It’s here that Kurogane learns about the names.

Fai manages to make it all the way back to the Cafe alive before Kurogane corners him. Also, even though Fai was gone all night with the puppies he still has a chocolate cake made and ready to serve to Yuzuriha and Kusanagi after they follow his and Kurogane’s immature murder trail home. Which is frankly bullshit. I know Sakura didn’t make that cake.

Syaoran and Kurogane don’t have to fight to prove their worth to the information seller, which is whatever I guess. Probably just trying to save time and budget, but that didn’t really help you now did it Bee Train?

Now, surprisingly, I actually liked the change they made to the bar scene/the fight before the bar. Fai and Kurogane don’t have their Moment in the bar, since this time they’ve missed Oruha and will have to come back. And instead of fighting on the way to the bar, the oni attack them on their way home. The song “Kaze no Machi he” plays over not only the KuroFai vs oni fight, but also sweet moments between Syaoran and Sakura in the cafe, effectively setting a very nice parallel between the two couples while still contrasting them. It’s a wonderful scene and it’s part of what makes me so extra mad at Bee Train for how they treated the whole series, because they clearly know how to do their jobs, they were just too lazy to give TRC the effort and care it deserved.

It was a really great scene and I would suggest watching just that couple of minutes, even if you don’t watch anything else from the Bee Train anime, simply because of how well it’s put together. Was it all just a happy editing accident? Maybe, but it’s one that I love.

Of course, like all things I love, Seishirou soon shows up to ruin them. This time with bad special effects.

This is of course after a pretty much canon-compliant intro to Ryuu-ou and Souma, complete with Kurogane dropping his freshly injured boyfriend on the ground in shock. Followed by pouting that I will take as a personal apology.

It’s not enough to make up for the lack of drunken shenanigans. Not even close.

Syaoran’s learned that not all of life’s problems can be solved by kicking. Sometimes you need to stab them. He asks Kurogane to teach him, but unlike in the manga where this is a sweet, if somber, moment between just the pair of them, Fai is, again, on the scene where he shouldn’t be. He’s also acting rather bitchy and tells Syaoran that if Kurogane teaches him to use a sword he needs to be ready to kill with it. Now this new dialogue is fucked up on a couple of levels.

Firstly, this is the same night Kurogane just lectured Fai about valuing his own life and admitted to killing more people than he could count in order to protect what he considered important to him. I’m sure we’re meant to read this as a type of semi-protective warning on Fai’s part towards Syaoran, but it comes off as petty at best and out right cruel at worst, to both Syaoran and Kurogane. Syaoran because he’s thirteen and he just wants to help save the love of his life who he is convinced he’ll never get back. Kurogane because he’s having this thing that’s pretty central to him at this point in his life thrown in his face with venom and treated like a danger towards his own adopted son.

Second, and big spoilers, if you’re watching this after Tokyo and Celes have been published (which at the time of the airing they were not) Fai telling Syaoran to “be prepared to kill” is fucked up. It’s clear in Tokyo that Fai has known for a while (we don’t find out how long exactly until Celes) that Syaoran is a clone. He also has known that Syaoran is a very real threat, basically a ticking time bomb. Fai would not be egging him on like this.

So, the whole exchange is very drastically changed in tone by giving Fai a small handful of lines, and in my humble onion it isn’t for the better.

Do you wanna know what is better though? The quality of these weapons compared to the everything else that’s been seen in Outo so far, and we don’t get better. The animation takes a noticeable dip from here on out. It’s especially noticeable because Bee Train has gotten into the habit of padding episodes with flashbacks and recaps of things we saw only a few episodes ago like they’re fucking Naruto and when you cut from one of the decently animated flashbacks to the current shitshow it’s really jarring.

Quality aside (for the moment) the puppies finally get their swords but before they had left, Sakura asks Syaoran about what he and Kurogane are planning to do during the day. It’s a fair question since they’re heading out early, but no oni can be hunted until night. For some reason he doesn’t tell her they’re going to get weapons? Or that he’s going to train with Kurogane? He just says “It’s nothing to worry about” and like... why?

On several levels why. First we have the whole why have Sakura ask if Syaoran’s not even going to tell her anything - maybe to add tension, as if they didn’t have enough, maybe to add angst, as if they didn’t have enough. He’s got no reason to hide this. She knows he hunts oni, telling her he’s going to better arm himself would only be a good thing, hell if he really wanted to avoid saying that he was going to get a sword he could have said that he was going with Kurogane to get one since Kurogane’s broke the night before. Second, Syaoran not answering only makes Sakura feel bad and worry more and I’ve never been so frustrated in my life. Yes, Syaoran tries to keep things from hurting Sakura but in the manga he doesn’t treat her like spun glass.

And then Mokona just tells her anyway so honestly the entire exchange was 95% meaningless and I demand to know who made these choices so I can meet them in the pit!!

Really the purpose is probably to waste time and pad the episode, but there’s enough in Outo that they really shouldn’t need to do this? But hey, what do I know? I’ve only read this series 10 times and done I can’t tell you how many analysis essays on the characters and plot. Surely some hacks who probably only glanced over the material know better.

So now Kurogane is throwing rocks at Syaoran. Not a whole lot is different for a while - we throw rocks at Syaoran, we blindfold Syaoran, we leave Syaoran all on his own to wander the city, Ryuu-ou stops Syaoran from getting his ass kicked by oni that he’s too focused on puzzling out to dodge, they flirt, they flirt so much.

Ryuu-ou takes Syaoran to see the Biggest and Prettiest cherry blossom tree in Outo, because Ryuu-ou goes big or not at all and he’s got a boy to woo.

Meanwhile, Fai has gotten a piano for the cafe that he can’t play and Sakura can speak to musical instruments, kinda. After another TouYuki cameo where they don’t recognize Sakura, Fai leaves Sakura to look after the cafe for reasons I can’t recall but that are probably dumb. Oruha shows up and she and Sakura have a Magical Musical Moment where Oruha plays the deus ex baby grand and learns all about how Sakura can’t remember Syaoran and somehow sees all the memories that Sakura can’t see/doesn’t have and folks I could not tell you what this adds to the story other than more confusion to people new to the series and frustration to people who have read the manga.

Let me break it down - Sakura doesn’t have these memories. Yuuko literally took them away as payment, they no longer exist. If they try to exist Sakura goes through a soft reset as seen earlier in this arc. Oruha should not be able to access them, super special VR powers be damned. The memories aren’t there to access. 404: Childhood Friendship not found.

This is all without touching on the creep factor of someone casually rooting around in Sakura’s head without her knowledge or permission. Hasn’t she’s lost enough autonomy?

Magic Music Memory time over, Oruha leaves and we’re spoiled and shown that Outo is VR and not actually the world we think it is, ruining both a really neat reveal and the weight of Syaoran and Fai’s “deaths” later in the arc. Do you want suspense and angst or not Bee Train?!?!

After reading some notes I had on the anime I think Fai left Sakura alone to go drinking with Kurogane because it’s now that they have their Moment in the Clover bar and finally meet Oruha (who stopped at the Cat’s Eye, sang with Sakura and read her mind, and then popped back to Clover because fuck you).

So. The dads are drinking and gathering info, the boys are flirting, and Sakura is doing what she did in Hanshin - where she enters zombie mode and autopilots towards her feather. Yuzuriha appears in the nick of time to stop Sakura from meeting Seishirou and for this I think she should receive a medal of some sort in all honesty.

As the girlfriends make their way back to Cat’s Eye Seishirou summons a Giant Deku Baba (seriously, Nintendo should look into copyright) and attacks the boyfriends. Ryuu-ou has to, once again, pull Syaoran out of harm’s way as he stands there aghast at the sudden turn of events. Things get a little too close to becoming a very uncomfortable tentacle based hentai and everyone escapes with their lives and virtue intact.

Syaoran tries to defend Seishirou’s honor because he thinks Seishirou has honor to defend, but no one is buying it. We also get a brief look at our resident Lava Lamp Dweller (who I might remind you all we never get answers about in ANY form in the anime) before we are swiftly moving along to another moment between Syaoran and Sakura where he’s pretty much lying to her face about things he doesn’t need to lie about and Sakura ought to chew him out.

Why? Why Bee Train? This is so OOC. Rewrite this fanfic.

It’s Tower of Terror time and Kurogane is Delighted about the 3% chance of survival he’s been handed. So far we’re back on track. Except we’re not.

Manga readers will remember looking back on this as one of our first Big Hints about Kurogane’s past - his hang ups about the demons leaving behind no bones or bodies of their past victims, implying that they’ve been eaten whole, and how that seemed to bother him. There’s the vaguest of hints that Kurogane still has a personal grudge with demons here in the anime, but it’s a lot less impactful and I don’t know how much meaning it would have to someone who didn’t have prior manga knowledge to fall back on. I feel like it falls a bit flat (especially once we see how Kurogane’s past has been sterilized for a younger audience).

Aside from that, the tower is more or less the same, bad hentai jokes and all.

Things also go very similarly at the cafe - Sakura works herself up into a tizzy and passes out, Fai feels the first emotion outside of Guilt and Horny he’s felt in upwards of a century, and Mokona tells him that he’s fine and that no, that’s not heartburn it’s affection.

Enter King Trashface. He’s holding the feather in some sort of weird space disco ball? Not the worst thing, just an odd choice? He and Fai exchange words (starting with Fai telling Seishirou to fuck off in the most polite way ever) - during which Fai’s animation makes it seem that the closer Fai gets to “death” the more his face distorts, which is terrible and hilarious.

Before Fai gets turned into demon chow though, Seishirou calls him out on being Mr. Deathwish, especially since Fai is fighting without using magic that could very possibly save him. At this point Fai flashes back to his and Kurogane’s “how about we don’t die” talk earlier and Fai says that he might want to live after all. Which is like. Bullshit at this point in the journey. He doesn’t want to live, he really really doesn’t and the very fact that he’s not using his magic is proof positive of that (see: Le Court). Though also, even with a bum ankle he thinks he can take Seishirou until he pulls out the feather. At which point Fai basically tells Mokona to pay attention to how he dies so she can tell the others about it. Which is so... against what he just said?

This is well before we ever see even a manga version of Fai with anything resembling self preservation or a proper will to live, but we have enough of his character for the anime writers to know that this is a very big leap for him to be taking so soon. I feel like if they wanted to give him a hopeful outlook (which is what I think they were trying to do after coming off the scene with Sakura and Mokona) they could have had him seem more wishy-washy about it, or phrased it as a curiosity. “Something I didn’t expect has happened and I wanna see where it goes” is a much better way for him to have made the same statement. At least in my opinion.

Anyway, he dies and I find his death scene really funny because you just see his legs dangling slowly and it’s so... idk it might just be me but I couldn’t stop laughing.

Now I am pretty sure Seishirou causes this but Outo starts glitching. Everything starts going full Matrix rainbows on us and all the NPCs vanish. Souma is worried about the game falling apart and Ryuu-ou and Yuzuriha are both worried about their potential love lives new friends.

Here we come to a few things I very much HATE that were changed. Once Fai is dead Sakura goes zombie again and starts to follow after her feather/Seishirou before the puppies get home, so only Mokona is there waiting. This means I have lost yet ANOTHER FATHER-DAUGHTER MOMENT!! It also means that when Syaoran runs after Seishirou and gets murderized she not only sees it happen but... dies? with? him? Because she hugs him while the game is transporting him out? I dunno. It’s bad and dumb and I hate it.

So Kurogane thinks they’re ALL DEAD, which is great. It’s not like he isn’t already having a bad enough day. Not that you could tell by looking because the animation doesn’t have him emote at all. He looks basically bored as Mokona tells them that Fai is dead while Syaoran is a step away from a full on meltdown. @beetrain you do know that Kurogane has emotions other than anger and Fight Me(tm) right?

And now Seishirou is idk posturing? Bragging? He talks about how there’s no one left to oppose him now that the 13 year olds are dead, completely ignoring the pissed off ninja murder machine that has nothing left to lose that’s coming for his sorry ass. I don’t remember him being that cocky in the manga? Am I misremembering or did the anime somehow make Seishirou even more unlikable? Either way, Kurogane finds the slimeball and, to my extreme annoyance, only asks if he killed Fai and Syaoran - not Sakura - even though he believes all of them to be dead. The anime keeps doing this and I have ranted about it so much I’ll spare you the retyping. For now.

A quick list of minor things that happen that I dislike:

Fai’s coat and Sakura’s cloak both pull random appearing and disappearing acts between episodes

No one is even a little surprised when Syaoran’s sword sets itself on fire

The pacing could kill a man. Unfortunately Seishirou lives.

My soap opera isn’t real and this is

Seishirou knows Syaoran is a clone and drops hints about something we are never getting resolution to

Oruha, after allowing Seishirou to fuck off, just, you know, tells Sakura that she has missing memories of Syaoran

Memories that she somehow was able to access even though they no longer exist within Sakura

If Yuuko says no memories she means NO MEMORIES!!!

FWR watches the demon rampage across Edonis. He’s probably reminiscing. Like an asshole.

Outo wraps up and is it the worst of the arcs? No. But am I bitter about the things that were done to it because it changed a lot of fundamental things about the characters and the plot? Yes.

See you next time, where I’ll probably talk about more than one arc. Until then, have this.

[part 1] [part 2]

#Tsubasa Trainwreck Chronicles #my meta #TRC #spoilersTRC

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kihocrystal · 7 years ago

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Summer 2017 - Final Impressions

I may have skipped writing opinions up for Spring season (due to computer issues...), but I’m back for Summer season! I even fell behind this season because of school (hence why this is half a month late), but nonetheless, here are my thoughts on the animes I finished this past season!

The list of shows is in the tags, and are ordered alphabetically under the cut!

Boku no Hero Academia S2 - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )

This was another really fun season of Boku no Hero Academia! This season was twice as long as season 1, which meant double the action! Most of the action this season was actually more on the light-hearted side, as two of the main story arcs of this season were the School Tournament, and the Final Exams. These arcs got to see the cast work together and face off against one another, which helped us learn more about their characters in the process! Almost everyone had their time to shine (which was great!), but the one who had the most prominent character arc was Todoroki; we learned about his troubled past with his family, and how he changes his mindset and attitude throughout the tournament, which was great to see! Character development was definitely a big aspect of this season (as seen through both of those arcs), but there was also a good amount of overarching story set-up as well! The main arc showing this off was the Hero Killer Stain arc (which included the Internships), which was definitely my favorite part of this season! Seeing Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida face off against him was super fun and interesting, and also kicked off some plot progression that should go towards future arcs! Midoriya has improved his super power usage over the course of this season, and we also learned about All For One, which will surely be the Big Bad of this series as a whole. The finale also teases more things about upcoming conflicts, which included Midoriya having an interesting interaction with villain Tomura (and a ship might be sailing with Ochako and Midoriya)! It’s a good thing a season 3 has already been confirmed, because an open ending like this would’ve been bad otherwise! As it stands though, it’s a really good lead-in to the next season! Season 2 was great set-up for things to come (and good fun action on its own, of course!); I probably would’ve enjoyed this season even more if there was more interactions with the villains, but that will surely come in the upcoming season 3!

Isekai Shokudou - 7.5 - 8.0 / 10 ( B- )

This was a cute little show that was a good pick for “comfy show of the season”! I enjoyed meeting the wide range of characters and seeing them try out different types of food. I also appreciated how the food reactions were very downplayed, in comparison to more over-the-top fares like Shokugeki no Souma. That being said, they go into just as much detail describing why the food is so good (at least in the earlier episodes). I also liked seeing the patrons interact with each other, including getting into fights about who’s favorite dish is better. Each character’s story about how they discovered the diner (and the occasional backstory) was enjoyable to watch; we didn’t learn much about them outside of that, but we learned more about their interests and relationships via how they interacted with others both inside and outside the restaurant. It was also nice seeing how the restaurant has been a recurring thing for years, going back to the chef’s grandparents! The story is episodic, but each individual story was a nice, occasionally heartwarming, and “comfy” thing to watch once a week. The art-style complemented the easy-going pace as well; it was warm-toned and drew the food quite nicely (even if the animation itself was standard fare). This may not be a super in-depth slice-of-life show, but it’s a good watch if you just want to relax and see some good food!

Kakegurui - 7.5 - 8.0 / 10 ( B- )

This was the most popular show of the season on MAL (in terms of amount of people who watched it), and it’s easy to see why: high stakes (and over-the-top) gambling, the extreme reaction faces, and VERY sexual characters who get off on gambling (with yuri overtones to boot!). The more sexual scenes kind of got old for me over time, but I enjoyed all those other aspects! The crazy gambling games and characters were fun to watch (as someone who enjoys YuGiOh so much, that’s right up my alley!), and the crazy reactions added to the over-the-top appeal. Yumeko was an enjoyable lead, since she’s got just the right amount of insanity behind her also-enjoyable sweet facade (plus her seiyuu, Saori Hayami, did a great job performing her!). Many of the other main girls got some time in the spotlight too, both student council members and eventual Yumeko allies (though some student council members got more time than others, for sure). The main male lead, Suzui Ryouta, was definitely just there as an audience surrogate though, since he’s pretty bland (though he had some involvement in some gambles too!). When you get down to it, the appeal of this show is the characters and the gambling events themselves; all the story in-between just feels kind of lacking in comparison. Even the finale, which to be fair was anime original, kinda felt like a non-ending; the outcome kind of made that final gamble pointless and didn’t leave me with a good sense of conclusion (but hey, at least it’s better than a full-on cliffhanger or abrupt stopping point!). This show was far from my favorites of this season, but it was still an fun time during the gambling parts (which thankfully there’s a lot of here!). If you enjoy over-the-top gaming action and don’t mind the more sexual aspects (which can get somewhat explicit at times), you might like this one!

Made in Abyss - 9 / 10 ( A )

This is easily my pick for AOTS, no contest! It’s just a great adventure show from top to bottom, with a great sense of adventure and mystery! It also helps that the setting is one of the most unique and mysterious we’ve seen in anime for a long time! The Abyss is full of many different elements that not even the in-universe cast know of, which lends itself well to majestic scenes, along with terrifying secrets (it’s a lawless place, after all). Not to mention that the background art captures it extremely well; the huge amount of detail is a good contrast with the more square and cartoony character art-style! The soundtrack is used wonderfully, as it really gets a grand sense of ambience, mystery, and scale all at once! (Especially that one insert song they use a couple times, but first in the premiere!) The Abyss has been a cool place to learn and see more about over the course of the show, but it can definitely rear its ugly dangerous head from time to time, too. Meaning, this show can be VERY gruesome at times; there’s quite a few scenes involving large amounts of blood, and even body mutilation. It’s definitely not for the squeamish. If you can handle it, these scenes just add to the raw emotion this show has, and will have you on the edge of your seat! As for characters, Riko and Reg were a really good duo to follow in their journey! Their personalities (plus abilities and awareness of danger) balance each other well, and I enjoyed seeing them grow closer over time! Riko’s definitely an odd case since she has no fear of the Abyss despite never being able to return home, though (^^;). My other favorite was Nanachi; she was (unfortunately) only in the *last four* episodes, but her character and story really makes up for it! I enjoyed the rest of the cast too, including the cynical and crazy Ozen and her maid assistant Maruruk (she was so sad when Riko & Reg had to leave ;~;). The only real gripe I have about this show is its… inappropriate jokes at times. Lets just say there’s quite a few penis mentions (and yes, they say that word outright). However, the (double-length!) finale was crazy good; incredibly intense, fucked up, emotional, and with a hope cherry on top (including the balloon scene! I just wish I knew what was written inside!) Just learning the full details of Nanachi (& Mitty)��s backstory was REALLY fucked up… and the whole buildup and execution (I’m sorry…) of Mitty’s death brought a few tears to my eye (and I don’t cry easily when watching stuff!). The story definitely isn’t done yet (which impacts its score as a standalone season a little bit), but it had as good of a conclusion as it could’ve had. It sets up an easy-to-hate antagonist really well too, all within the span of one (double-length) episode! This show is definitely the best of this summer season (and one of my top picks for this year!), so this is a very easy recommendation! (Unless you don’t do well with gore, of course).

New Game!! S2 - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )

I really enjoyed this second season of New Game! It definitely took a slightly different approach, as there was a bit more emotional and dramatic moments (which personally, I think is a good thing!) I also can relate to this show quite a bit, as I’m now a game design student at a community college; so as a result, seeing the girls work on a game in a variety of ways (along with the working process in general) is very interesting to me! Of course, that’s not to say this show is the most realistic portrayal of the industry, per se, but it’s still cool to see more of this slice-of-life comedy about working in a game company! This season shows the team work on a new IP from start to finish, and all the trials that happen along the way. The girls are challenged a lot more as well, especially Aoba as she gets her first go at being the main character designer (with help from Yagami-san)! The concept art contest was definitely the biggest moment for her character arc; seeing her do her best on an art piece, despite knowing she’s going to lose by default due to a sales decision, was bittersweet to see for sure (but she came out much stronger in the end)! That even tied into Yagami’s character arc as well, since she realizes she’s holding back the growth of her younger employees (;~;). Aside from that, the programming aspect got a bit more spotlight this season! Watching Nene make a game by herself, then see her as a programming intern was great to see! Speaking of interns, we got two new girls this season: Momiji and Narumi! Both of them served as good “rivals” for Aoba and Nene, even if there wasn’t fierce competition between them; I just liked seeing their different (more cynical) viewpoints and how they interacted with the other girls (and learned from them + vise versa!). This season ended on a strong note as well; seeing Yagami leave for France and all the girls going to see her off (plus Aoba’s tearful goodbye to her!) was a great emotional end to the season (and heck, it could be a good end to the series in its own right!). I definitely liked this season even more than season one, as the increased emotional depth added a lot to this cute and fun series! If you like slice-of-life comedy shows, this is a really good one to check out!

Princess Principal - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )

This show is my runner-up for AOTS, so you know this show is a fun time! It’s always fun to see a new spy anime, and this one really delivers on the spy action! The action scenes are really well done, with fluid motions and well-choreographed fight scenes! Add in the steampunk / early 20th century-style, and you’ve got a really cool spy show! The characters’ art style (for the girls) are definitely more on the moe-side, but they were fun to watch the whole way through! The main girls’ personalities were a good mix, and really interesting to see play out (especially Ange’s deadpan shtick). They all have their own skills to contribute too; even Beatrice, with no spy training, can use her mechanical neckpiece to perfectly imitate other people’s voices! The story is mostly episodic; while there is an overarching premise of an England-esque country being torn apart by war and regimes, each episode focuses on one specific spy case. I liked this approach, as each case told a nice little story than could range from action-packed & tense, to somber & heartbreaking. Each of the main girls get some spotlight time too in at least one story, meaning we get more insight into their personal histories and personalities, which is great! The main character focus though is definitely on Ange and Princess, as they swapped places when they were kids and reunite in the spy team during the present timeline. This story is kept vague (which added a good sense of mystery to these two!) until slightly past the halfway mark; it was great finally seeing their backstory when it came time! Their relationship had a big part in the final two episodes as well; speaking of that finale, it was yet another action-packed good time! But it also was very open-ended; The main villain hasn’t been defeated, and the anti-hero spy (Zelda) in the final two episodes got away as well. At least the main group is back together, and hopefully we’ll see them in a season 2, because the ending makes this season suffer a little bit as a stand-alone show. That being said, this was one of my favorite shows of the season for sure, and you should check it out if you like steampunk-style or spy stories!

Re:Creators - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ / A- )

What a solid show! It’s not every day we see a modern anime have a definitive and satisfying conclusion, but here we are! The first episode might not have won me over initially, but it definitely grew on me over time. Exposition was a bit more heavy-handed in earlier episodes as well (which is the most common complaint I’ve seen), but it’s not as bad later on. Re:Creators had lots of themes and messages about the act of creating things and what can come from it, which was really cool to see, especially since I’m an aspiring artist myself. This show may have had a lot of action, but the characters (both creations & creators) and how they interacted with each other was one of the most enjoyable parts for me. I definitely related to the main character (Souta) quite a lot, as he had a hard time creating things (& enjoying it) due to negative circumstances (albeit his reasoning was guilt-related, via mine being self-confidence). Not to mention he admitted to having negative bitter feelings towards his friend Setsuna due to her success (which I admit I also relate too…). Seeing this kind of character reflected in an anime, in addition to seeing a variety of different creators, was definitely great to see, since I could relate to it so much! The creative process is a big part of plot progression & magic-power-logic as well, which is super unique! Seeing a bunch of different genres being represented was cool as well, including a magical girl! (though I wish Mamika was the first to die & last only 8 episodes… at least she was a great character in that short time!) Magane was probably the other standout character for me, as she had a fun personality and was a real wild card in terms of what she could do (though she took a liking towards Souta, in the end). The villain, Altair, was also a great concept for a villain, since she was a Hatsune Miku-type who could use endless material from fan-works as her powers! Each character got at least a decent amount of development/screentime, and like I mentioned before, the conclusion to Altair’s story was really well done, and even left room for an epilogue episode at the end… I love when they do that! The ride that was Re:Creators was full of action, funny moments, heartwarming and heartbreaking moments. In the end… it’s a really good original action series that’s actually complete!

Sakura Quest - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ / A- )

P.A. Works does it again with another really good “working women” series! Like Hanasaku Iroha and Shirobako before it, this show follows a group of young adult girls working to try and revitalize a small rural town. As I’m getting older, I love seeing anime with characters closer to my age range, as they try to find their place in a working adult world, just like I am! The “revitalizing a rural town” aspect was also interesting to see play out, as there’s a lot that goes into that, like trying to get your name out there (either through the web or through TV) or organizing and planning events! The story plays out over the course of the year, but there’s lots of 1-2 episode-long stories that show off all these aspects, along with highlighting certain characters (which I always love to see!). It’s definitely a slice-of-life show that has a lot of character growth, and seeing the team accomplish things and the town slowly-but-surely come together was great to watch! The cast of characters was also really nice, both main and supporting! Most of the supporting cast were elderly or adults, so seeing them bounce off the young adult main group (& seeing their ideologies clash and work together) was cool to see too! Each of the main girls had their own realizations and journeys to make while working for the Tourism Board, whether it was learning the value of small towns (Yoshino) or finding your own way to do what you want to do, even if you fall short of your dreams (Maki). By the end, all five of them definitely show off some good insight towards adult life! The finale was nice as well, showing their classic festival finally coming together and the Dragon Song showing up again (which was one of my favorite mini-arcs back during the first half). While it’s left unclear whether Manoyama gets absorbed or not, it definitely ends on a happy, conclusive ending for our characters, and the town is definitely better off than at the show’s beginning. This was an enjoyable, down-to-earth show to watch, and you should give it a try too if you like slice-of-life shows (or if you enjoyed Hanasaku Iroha or Shirobako)!

Senki Zesshou Symphogear - 7.0 - 7.5 / 10 ( C+ )

This fourth(!) season of Symphogear was a big, fun action fest, just like the other seasons! The strong points of this series have always been the bombastic fight scenes, the insert songs, and the characters, which continues to be true here too. This was the first season that I stopped trying to focus on the story, and I think my enjoyment actually improved because of it! This series’ story has always been silly and tries to top itself with every iteration, which happens again in this season; it likes to pull explanations out of thin air, and have situations work out for our heroes at *just* the right time so the show can have a cool “badass” moment. I will give AXZ credit though for at least trying to pull elements from past seasons into this season’s weapon upgrades and logic reasoning, even though it still kinda feels like an ass-pull to me (then again, other people disagree with me on this, so YMMV!). The story is definitely this series’ biggest weakpoint for me (which is why I tend to rate these seasons relatively low), but its strongest aspects are in top form and a lot of fun to watch! The fight scenes and power-ups keep finding new ways to one-up themselves, and the main Symphogear girls continue to have an enjoyable dynamic together! The new antagonist group was mostly just okay, but the core three alchemist girls (Saint-Germain, Cagliostro, and Prelati) grew on me after they turn on their master (even though I liked Cagliostro the entire time, really~). The final episodes were a fun time, as always (including Hibiki being an evil god-monster at one point!); it’s notable though that they set up some things here for the already-confirmed season 5! Symphogear definitely grew on me this season, as I realized it’s the epitome of a popcorn-action show; just shut your brain off, and enjoy the spectacle!

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul - 8.0 / 10 ( B )

This was another fun and action-packed season of Shingeki no Bahamut! While I’m not sure whether I liked season 1 more than this one, it was still a very enjoyable watch throughout! One of the main reasons for this was the main new addition to the cast: Nina! She’s such a fun character to watch, as she’s strong, goofy, and jumps into action right away! I wasn’t the most fond of how “horny” she was for other guys, but that settled down a bit once she finds the guy of her dreams…. Which by the way, is also the main antagonist of the show, King Charioce. She falls in love with him when he’s in disguise, but even after his reveal, she still doesn’t give up her love for him (while simultaneously trying to stop his evil crimes). It’s definitely a unique approach to this type of romance for sure, but it was still a bit odd to me that she still stayed in love with him despite all the tyrannical things he did… At the very least, the execution of this subplot was pretty good, as were all the other story beats! This show has strong execution throughout (the prison escape arc was a highlight), with high quality animation (especially those dance scenes!), swelling music, and the right emotional notes. The problem for most people then will be some story beats themselves, mostly at the show’s end. A couple notable characters seem to get killed for no good reason, Charioce’s motivations try to spin him as “a good guy all along”, and his punishment at the end seems too light (as he merely just loses his eyesight); plus it feels like the people being oppressed by his rule turn right around and he gets praised as a hero for defeating Bahamut (which btw he himself summoned)! And oh yeah, Bahamut isn’t actually dead for good (leaving things open for a possible continuation). Oh well, at least the bittersweet aspect of a voiceless Nina and a sight-less Charioce being together is a nice touch. (I may sound mad here, but I didn’t hate these episodes at all ^^; ) In any case, the whole journey was fun to watch, and was full of engaging action the whole way through. I enjoyed seeing all the returning cast come back, and seeing them interact in both the upbeat and darker moments. Even though the ending won’t win over everyone, if you enjoyed the first season, you should have a good time here too!

#boku no hero academia #isekai shokudou #restaurant to another world #kakegurui #made in abyss #new game!#princess principal #re:creators #re creators #sakura quest #senki zesshou symphogear #symphogear #shingeki no bahamut #rage of bahamut #Final Impressions

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shenanigumi · 7 years ago

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So I finished Kyoto Winds…

Here’s the comprehensive review I promised!! Keep in mind that I haven’t always paid the closest attention (as my first priority eventually shifted to managing the walkthroughs, since I can replay them anytime), but I’ll do my best to be accurate.

As usual, I’m biased as hell so you’ll want to take a lot of this with a grain of salt, but here we go, with the longest post ever…

Overall

On the gameplay – having been expecting to get to choose the route at the beginning, the fact that I had to navigate all the options and pick accordingly was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. I’ve always been a fan of choice-based gameplay, so really, the only sticking point I hit was Souma’s route. As you may have noticed, I had a bit of trouble figuring out which system of choices was required for me to get to his second appearance. Other than that, everything turned out fine, although the sheer number of options was a little bit overwhelming at first. | 4/5

On the art – fantastic, as always, although there are a couple CGs that look a little funny to me (for instance, I don’t think Kazama’s Ikeda CG looks much like him). I am admittedly also not a fan of the costume recolors in most cases, but it’s not like it gets in the way of my enjoying the game. Additionally, Demons’ Bond also seems to have influenced the Yase backgrounds. We all know how I feel about Demons’ Bond as it relates to Hakuōki, so I’m not too enthusiastic about the parallels, but that’s an entirely different story. | 5/5 – odd-looking CGs and a palette swap I don’t particularly like aren’t enough to knock a point off

On the translation – …ouch. Noticed a huge amount more typos, clumsily written phrases (like using ‘gruff’ to describe someone’s hands), faulty formatting, incorrect dialogue tags, out-of-place swearing (particularly concerning the word ‘bitch’), and plain OOC dialogue (especially from Amagiri) compared to the original. I also hear that Iba’s dialogue wasn’t well-handled either, and it makes me wonder about the accuracy of the ‘new’ lines as well. I don’t have a lot of faith in this one, so I’m going to say the original translation was definitely, and markedly, better. In part because it distinguished between “the Demon” (Hijikata) and “the demon” (Kazama) instead of inexplicably capitalizing the common noun ‘demon’ so it’s possible to confuse the two. Or ‘fury’, for that matter. Yeah, that just makes no sense to me. | 2/5

On the soundtrack – a few tracks are good, and most unremarkable, but on the whole I’d rank it roughly equivalent with the original. I am also a fan of the soundfont; electric acoustic is my jam. I’m also getting a distinctly Demons’ Bond vibe from a lot of them, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does tend to melt into the background so that I can’t really tell the difference between several tracks at first listen. Not that it’s a big deal, but the original stood out a little more to me, I guess. | 3/5

Now, onto the routes! Please note that though the ratings I give the new routes are based exclusively on this game, the ratings I give the six old routes are in comparison to the same routes in the original game, with 1/5 being much worse; 3/5 being about the same; and 5/5 being much better.

Hijikata’s Route

Hijikata’s the same Demon Commander we all know and love, only his relationship and dynamic with Chizuru are fleshed out a little more. Chizuru’s role as his page is given a little more of a spotlight, as is her exact role as his page, and her place in the Shinsengumi as a whole feels a little more solid because of that development. Since the game ends before they reach Edo, they’re not exactly a couple, but since his Memories of Love are included, we see Hijikata’s feelings as well. Overall, this route strikes a good balance, and a believable platform for eventual romance. Which, of course, is ideal on any Implied Canon route. (I was Not Ok with Yamazaki’s death and burial at sea, though. Like… my heart.) | 4/5

Okita’s Route

Okita hasn’t changed a bit, but the reasoning behind his actions is made a little clearer, and his brotherly adoration for Kondou is also stressed a little more. As a character, he feels a little more complete, and I was able to understand his actions a little better without having to guess at his motives (for instance, he repeatedly asserts that he doesn’t like it when other people make inferences about how he or Kondou feels). Because of that, his dynamic with Chizuru also got a little more development, and although the game ends before they’re involved, I can already see the basis for their relationship in the sequel. While OkiChi admittedly felt a little bit sudden in the original, this half-route did a good job of slowing down and zooming in so we can see the shift a little more. Or at least, I could. Maybe it was because I was looking for it. | 4/5

Saito’s Route

THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. This? Right here? Perfect improvement over the original route, adding to all the right places without taking anything away. It includes just enough extra background on Saito and Chizuru and how the two of them interact to make the ship believable. Their relationship is made softer without pulling either of them out of character, and the extent of their compatibility explored. Saito offers just enough reassurance, and Chizuru is just conscious enough of her place in the relationship and in the Shinsengumi, that their development reads as very natural. Excellent. Not much else to say, just like Saito. | 5/5

Heisuke’s Route

Hoo boy. Not a lot of new content and no new CGs, but it’s not like you can do much to improve on Heisuke’s route, anyway, since it was hands down the best in the original. The few things they did add fit in well with the original flow, nothing felt out-of-place, and I was actually enjoying myself quite a bit thanks to all that wonderful HeiChi… until Sen intervened in the conflict between Kazama and Heisuke. Rather than offer herself as the mother of Kazama’s children to spare Chizuru, like in the original, she instead threatens to banish him and his entire clan for interfering with the affairs of humans. However, quite generously, she offers him amnesty if he agrees to leave Heisuke and Chizuru alone. I was… angry. Still am, in fact.

But it’s not just because I ship KazaSen; really, it’s not. It’s because altering that scene threatens the integrity of the entire plot, when you consider that Kazama will eventually join Heisuke and Chizuru in rescuing Sen. Furthermore, her authority to banish an entire clan of demons is never explained, and her threat makes no sense anyway, considering that Yase has literally worked directly for the imperial court for centuries, so she has no business telling Kazama to stand down for allying with the Satsuma. Basically, retconning that scene makes no sense, and plotholes of that magnitude have never sat well with me. I had a bitter taste in my mouth for the rest of the route, which thankfully didn’t last much longer. | 3/5 – the adorableness of HeiChi barely manages to even out the fact that my faith in the plot has been materially damaged

Harada’s Route

Yes. Good. Wonderful development between the two of them, and although there aren’t too many additions until the route split, their relationship is more firmly established—and earlier on—which makes me a little bit more okay with the more mature direction their relationship is headed. Moreover, Harada’s reassurance that Chizuru is just a normal girl and not a monster was sorely needed in the original, and I’m relieved to see that kind of closure here. Otherwise, it was largely unremarkable (in a good way), other than the fact that Shiranui talks a bit more about Takasugi. Which, by the way, was awesome; I still consider TakaShira canon until proven otherwise. | 4/5

Nagakura’s Route

Definitely sweet and enjoyable! I played this one first, so I didn’t actually get all his scenes till I focused on the walkthrough, but there were so many d’aww moments, I lost count. Honestly, they really amped up the sweetness between the two of them (including modifying some of his In Days Past to be a little more romantic), and that kind of mutual innocence is really refreshing since Nagakura’s so… ya know… suggestive. But something feels like it’s missing, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I think it might be Toba-Fushimi, honestly; I was fine up till then, but the last couple chapters feel kind of rushed in a way I can’t explain. Still a good route, though! | 4/5

Sanan’s Route

I… really don’t have a lot of feelings about this one. I wasn’t really expecting to, considering Sanan is my least favorite, but I expected my lack of feelings to be related more to that than the fact that there’s really not much to say about it. Like, there are still a lot of inconsistencies in his personality since so many of the scenes early on are accessible on all routes, and I can’t really get a solid grasp on who he is or what his relationship is to Chizuru. The best thing I can say about his route—other than that Kaoru makes an appearance—is that Chizuru’s feelings are at least clear. | 3/5

Yamazaki’s Route

He may not appear much in the beginning, but once he starts showing up a little more often, it’s priceless. Although the relationship doesn’t have a lot of time to develop, for some reason, it doesn’t feel rushed or incomplete. Somehow, they managed to devise a pairing that doesn’t need a lot of development to be believable; they’re simply naturally suited to one another from the beginning. The dialogue and narrative can get a little saccharine at times, but I was honestly eating it up. Especially when he was holding her hand. Who’d have thought that Yamazaki, of all people, gets the closest to becoming half of a legit couple with Chizuru within the span of the first game alone? | 5/5

Iba’s Route

I… ugh… just please get him away from me. As I’ve said, you’d have to work really hard to find someone with whom I’m less personally compatible, and because I already find it difficult to put myself in Chizuru’s tabi, I could not for the life of me get into his route at all. The man’s as Mary a Sue as you’ll find anywhere. The Long-Lost, Somehow-Forgotten Childhood Friend of Chizuru, whom she miraculously remembers throughout his route, Iba is Gallant and Pacifistic and Really Nice All the Time. In fact, he Can Do No Wrong, is Inhumanly Selfless, and wants nothing more than Chizuru’s safety and happiness at any given time. He’s also On Really Good/Personal Terms with All the Captains because he also used to frequent Shiei Hall for undisclosed reasons (other than being the son of a dojo master himself—oh yeah, and he’s a master at his style of swordplay, by the way, although he’s never killed anyone because of his Incorruptible Pure Pureness).

So basically, the dude’s already wormed his way into everyone’s hearts long before the route even starts, and that just strikes me as unfair. Basically, the route relies on their pasts to create chemistry and the foundation for a ‘believable’ relationship, instead of showing how they’re suited to one another in the present. Honestly, he creeps me out more than a little. Of course, independently of his character, the plot itself is fine—if a little bland at times. I don’t exactly appreciate the reused/paralleled backgrounds from Demons’ Bond, or the random demons’ arms that just kinda come out of nowhere and don’t seem to have an apparent purpose beyond being attached to Takeda and Iba (why are they even in Yase? how come they weren’t destroyed? what the fuck?), but those are personal grudges. Anyway, yeah, definitely not my favorite. | 2/5

Souma’s Route

After the amount of heartache I had trying to get his route, I remember swearing that he’d better be the best ever. I wasn’t particularly disappointed. Souma’s like… Heisuke’s mirror image, in a way. Both are awkward oblivious sweethearts, but Heisuke’s more fun-loving, while Souma is serious to a fault. In the same way I love Heisuke and HeiChi’s dynamic, Souma and SouChi strike me as very similar. They support one another, learning and growing together, throughout the route. It’s really refreshing to see Chizuru in a different ‘kind’ of relationship, too, considering that she’s Souma’s ‘senpai’ (well, his mentor in being a page) as opposed to being one of the captains’ inferiors. There are also quite a few backstory moments in this route, which I appreciated, although a few of them read as a little bit contrived; I’d have preferred they spread it out a bit. Also, Fuck-and-Run Miki makes a great antagonist, and I’m pleased to see more of him—although I was a bit disappointed to find Kazama once again assuming the same basic role as he does in Saito’s route. Like, can we have more Heisuke’s-route-esque ‘reluctant rivalrous allies’ banter? | 4/5

Sakamoto’s Route

Okay, so… I kinda love this guy, and it’s not all because he resembles Shiranui. He’s an interesting character, and it’s nice to have a route with someone who isn’t affiliated with the Shinsengumi but isn’t also trying to kidnap Chizuru. The thing is, although I wouldn’t say the ship feels forced, Sakamoto moves really fast, like probably faster than Harada fast, considering he’s technically got the first chronological kiss CG—just not on the lips. It’s also a little less clear how, when, and why Chizuru becomes interested in him. It might just be the fact that I like the character enough to let it slide, but I didn’t have any trouble suspending disbelief long enough to squeal at their cute moments. Even though I wouldn’t say it was an incredible route, it was honestly really interesting, because it follows a completely different path than I was used to, departing from the usual set of choices. (Also, any route with more Shiranui is fine by me. I’m a shallow girl with obvious motives; so sue me.) | 4/5

Kazama’s Route

Better than the original for sure, but that’s not exactly saying much. I do like that there are actual options for raising Kazama’s affection prior to the split, because it makes the entire concept of him having a route make much more sense. I can’t say that Chizuru’s reasoning in choosing to follow him specifically makes any more sense than it did before, especially considering that she could easily have chosen to accompany someone else (I’d have chosen Shiranui, to no one’s surprise). Speaking of which, I’m also not entirely sure how I feel about Sen taking them both to Yase without the slightest suspicion about Kazama’s prior intention to abduct her, or the fact that she doesn’t instruct Amagiri to chaperone, but I can live with it because it looks like there’ll be some semblance of an actual plot this time. Meaning that Kaoru and Kodo are in league to resurrect the Yukimura clan through furies, and Kazama and Chizuru are out to stop them. Considering that Kodo’s death felt like an afterthought in Kazama’s original route, I’m all for this change. I still don’t ship KazaChi in the slightest, though. I just… can’t. | 3/5

Final Assessment

Average Meta Score (art, OST, etc.): 3.5 / 5 Average Route Score: 3.75 / 5 Verdict: Pretty Damn Good Overall [Shenanigumi Approved – Except KazaSen’s De-Canonization]

From disappointment to elation, I’ve felt it all across the board, and shed more than a few tears at varying points (and this is before I even explore the bad endings). If you don’t have this game and you’re waiting to see whether you feel like getting it or not, I don’t have any advice for you. Whether or not it’s worth it to get the game or even the system is up to you, but I hope that was enlightening!

#shenanigumi plays #shinkai #shinkai spoilers #characterization essay

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sobdasha · 5 years ago

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I know tomorrow’s ep is gonna ruin me

so I might as well start a ~thoughtful post~ about it ahead of time.

Specifically, the thing I anticipate wrecking me the most is that Tohru's "let's go home" speech to Kyou isn't a love-and-acceptance speech.

It's a fuck-you speech.

I wanted to do a meta post about this because while this is a very powerful moment and gives me very powerful feels, I've also always kind of not got it? Like what makes this moment with Tohru special? Because she's scared? Other people were scared too, the fact that they tried to deny it kind of proves how scared they were. And Kyou said she didn't have to love everything and she kind of basically said "too bad I love everything anyway" so how was that a compelling argument? Everyone else here (Kazuma, Kagura) has behaved selfishly so why does Tohru's selfishness fix the problem?

Like with that Hiro post, I figure if I just keep pondering and typing eventually I'll figure it out and go "oh snap Takaya's brilliant"

Anyway.

I've always been tempted to read Tohru's "let's go home" speech to Kyou as a love-and-acceptance speech. Which is a waste of a good resource, and a huge disservice, because thinking that way tends to reduce Tohru to the Mary Sue stereotype that Hiro accuses her of being--all Tohru has to do is stand there and say a few nice things and suddenly everyone's problems melt away? Seriously?

((Doing more skimming research later in this post, it turns out I'd completely forgotten that Akito and Kyou literally have a whole conversation about this, where Akito's like "wow St. Tohru is unreal" and Kyou's like "you literally missed the point tho." My bias for Yuki as favorite character instead of Best Boy Kyou is unfortunately strong, guys.))

Which is probably why I find the True Form arc to be a bit forgettable when I don't have it open in front of me. And also why I've always found it a little illogical. While I love the end results, why is this particular love-and-acceptance speech, at this specific time, actually effective for Kyou?

Kyou's received a lot of love-and-acceptance speeches in his life, and to be quite honest he doesn't believe them. He has no faith in them. And he's got logic here.

Kyou's mother always told him she loved him, she loves her son, she's proud of her son, you're not a monster you're just...under an evil spell temporarily, and I'm not scared at all. She talked the talk, but Kyou was always sensitive to the fact that her actions didn't necessarily match her words (she was always, always scared, I think. Maybe a bit of Kyou, but mostly of her husband). And when it became too much and she gave up on herself and her future and took her own life, well. Kyou knew exactly how empty "love and acceptance" was.

Kagura was the first one to play with Kyou when they were kids, and she's devoted her life to telling Kyou that she loves him, she loves everything about him. But when she saw Kyou's True Form she ran away, kept her distance for a while, and then came back and pretended nothing had ever happened and restarted her dating campaign with a vengeance. It's not clear to me whether Kyou ever realized that Kagura started paying attention to him out of pity, but I suspect it's something he's pretty good at picking up on.

Kazuma adopts Kyou out of a mix of pity and an attempt to atone for his past behavior, like Kagura, and honestly I'd forgotten that Kyou literally says a couple of times that he suspects pity was a factor. But their relationship grows beyond that pity, even Kyou is sensitive to that, and it's not something he holds against Kazuma. So I'm sure Kazuma gives Kyou plenty of earnest love-and-acceptance speeches, given that he loves and accepts his son. But even so it's complicated for Kyou, and those speeches can't make Kyou love and accept himself.

Tohru, of course, gives all the Soumas plenty of love-and-accepting speeches, and Kyou is no exception, Kyou you have a plum on your back. This doesn't serve to make Kyou like himself so much as it serves to make Kyou like her.

This time, though. This time that's not the kind of speech Tohru gives Kyou. Look at Tohru's face, right as she turns around. She's determined and she's pissed.

This is a good character development for Tohru! I think this is her first real, stubborn attempt to be selfish without someone having pushed her towards it first.

Kyou has just hurt Tohru, physically and emotionally. Get the fuck away, he tells her. I can't stand you, he tells her. I don't ever want to see you again, he tells her, and if I do I'll take my claws to your face next time.

And Tohru starts to go. This whole thing is overwhelming and it's only been like 10 minutes and she hasn't processed at all yet. She's hurt, she's really hurt, but most of all she doesn't want to be a bother, she doesn't want to be a burden, she doesn't want to be hated, Kyou has clearly expressed his feelings and she should respect that.

And then Tohru stops and draws herself up and makes that face.

And runs back.

And grabs Kyou and tells him, fuck you, what about my feelings, come home. I literally don't understand what the fuck is going on, I'm sick and I'm scared and come home. I don't want you to give up on yourself, but you don't get to give up on me before you've even given me a chance to process this and decide if I'm okay keeping you in my life. And guess what, fucker, I still want you in my life so come home because I don't want to live in a house that doesn't have you in it. You told me to tell you that so listen. You have to return the favor and tell me when you're upset and let me care about you so just come home.

Obviously Tohru phrases it differently but I feel like that's the accurate gist of the hysterics lol.

Tohru doesn't say "oh it's okay I love you it's not...it's not that scary! Trust me!", which is a thing Kyou has learned not to trust.

Tohru says "I know this sucks but bitch what about me" which is, honestly, one of the things Kyou feels in regards to his mom that he's yet to unpack, so this really resonates with him. This is real.

(It's real and it's raw and Laura Bailey is going to destroy me and I can't wait to actually be debilitated by the True Form arc.)

I don't have a good transition but now I wanna talk about Kyou's relationship with pity

Pity in regards to Kyou is something that comes up a lot throughout the series. Kagura befriends Kyou out of pity so that she can feel good about herself. Kazuma pities Kyou after seeing the shit the Cat has to go through and takes him in. Kazuma worries that Tohru might only be with Kyou out of pity, like his grandmother towards his grandfather. I believe Shigure tells Tohru at one point "seriously did you really think we don't all know about Kyou and we aren't all pitying him and saying 'thank god it's not me, I'm getting off great compared to the Cat' to ourselves in secret?" And of course, Kyou himself says that he doesn't want or need Tohru's pity during the True Form confrontation.

Pity can be condescension and looking down on someone. Pity is something unequal, compared to compassion, something that might imply insult, something that's embarrassing to receive because it implies you can't get compassion on your own merits or your own level. And pity is something forced.

Thinking about this, I think Kyou can actually really relate to Rin (which might be part of why he was so jealous that she might take Shishou from him when Kazuma got concerned about her welfare, that similarity, in addition to the obvious fact that Kyou has just got a good thing and it's his good thing and don't take it from him). Rin's parents, presumably out of some combo of pride and pity and status, decided to force themselves to make a good show of being a happy family. And because they forced themselves to "love" Rin, it went to hell in a bullet train when it broke.

Kyou's mom went a similar-enough way. She tried to put on a show of normalcy, tried to force herself to be okay and say all the right, loving things to Kyou while her husband kept telling her that she'd shamed him, bad enough to have a cursed child but of all the Zodiac you gave birth to the cat monster, you should have died rather than have that child, we'd all be better off if you'd do us a favor and just die. And when the pressure got to be too much, she did just that.

So I think it's not unreasonable that Kyou might have separately come to the same conclusion that Rin does. Pity--forced love--breaks people. People who feel compelled to love you will get burnout and possibly explode and definitely have their lives ruined. (This is why Rin doesn't want to rely on Haru, doesn't want Yuki to rely on Haru, doesn't want anyone to rely on Tohru.)

This is, I think, half of why Kyou distances himself from people. Half of it is to protect himself, because obviously he doesn't like getting hurt. But half of it is to protect other people, because he doesn't want them getting hurt.

He does it with Tohru, trying not to get close to her (he already killed her mom, the least he could do is just never get involved with her again), trying to run her off during the True Form arc by hurting her so badly that she won't regret having nothing to do with him again. He does it to Kazuma, yelling "He's not my dad!" so people will stop saying the shit they associate with Kyou to Kazuma as well (directly after the True Form, Kyou levels up his character development and tells Kazuma that one day he'll be worthy of calling Shishou his dad in public, which is good, although the fact that Kyou still thinks he is currently not someone Kazuma can claim as a son without shame is a development Kyou will have to work on later).

And, ohhh shit, I'm pretty sure Kyou does this with Kagura too. Kagura says that Kyou is the first one to pull back after their own True Form incident (she later admits to herself that no, actually, the first one to pull away was her because she never invested herself in their friendship in the first place because pity). And that is probably, again, partly because Kagura freaked out and ran off and just left Kyou there, and Kyou doesn't want any further rejection from her. Partly because it probably got around, and Kyou's dad made sure Kyou's mom heard about it, and Kyou's mom tried to make peace by keeping a tighter rein on Kyou.

But before the incident, Kyou and Kagura are really good friends, and Kyou really enjoys being with her. After the incident, after they mutually avoid each other, after Kagura comes back around and pretends that nothing happened, after Kagura reaffirms that she loves Kyou no matter what, that's when Kyou starts pushing back for her to leave him alone.

Maybe it's just Kyou's usual touchiness and I'm reading too much into it. It's not terribly long after the incident that Kyou's mother ends her life, and Kyou's being blamed for it instead of being allowed to grieve, and he blames himself, and after that he's a different kid and he's really prickly and quick to anger around everyone except Shishou.

But I don't think it's unreasonable to put forward that Kyou still liked Kagura as a friend, and he saw how Kagura reacted, and pretending nothing was wrong was part of what killed his mom, and if he still likes Kagura as a friend then the best thing Kyou can do for her is to shove her forcefully away from him, over and over, until she stops associating with him and getting hurt because of it. Before she gets hurt badly.

Like I put somewhere in an earlier post, Kyou doesn't like Kagura romantically. He certainly doesn't like having his space violated and his feelings ignored. But he (grudgingly) lets her get a way with a lot that speaks to a certain tenderness towards her. Especially later, during Kagura's confession--he's not warm and he's not close and open to her, but he also listens to Kagura, he forgives her, he says thank you, and when she runs to him he lets her cry into his shirt until she's through. You aren't that accommodating to someone you don't care about.

(On the flip side, it occurs to me that--for all that Kagura is a jealous rival of Tohru for Kyou's love--Kagura doesn't come around and act like it much. As Tohru points out, Kagura's really been holding back. I think that Kagura's being honest when she adds at the end of her confession that she really did come to love Kyou after all. It's unrequited, and she's always known that, and she's been struggling with it since Tohru came into the picture. But I think deep down she does like Kyou enough to want him to be happy, and she's realizing that he might be able to be happy with Tohru in a way he can't be with Kagura, and it's super embarrassing and painful to have to admit that to herself, but she's been working on letting go even though she herself doesn't want to be doomed to a life of unloved loneliness, which is what she believes will happen if she lets go of Kyou. Kagura, like Hiro, has character development struggles that are mostly internal.)

Things I only just realized about Kyouru

I have talked before about the fact that Kyou and Tohru's relationship works because they can get to the heart of each other and really see each other and connect on the same level in a way no one else does with them. What I did not really think of, at the time, is that Kyou and Tohru are actually very similar. They actually have a very similar problem.

Which just goes to show my intense Yuki bias, because Kyou has flat-out said over and over again that he believes himself to be a burden and I guess I didn't notice??

And I've just spend so much time saying that this is Tohru's biggest anxiety.

They differ a bit in the execution. Tohru considers herself as starting off at a net zero, basically: she doesn't exactly think her existence is problematic, but she doesn't feel that she offers any worth or value to compensate for the efforts she takes from other people, so she's terrified of being a burden and thus causing people to resent and hate and reject her.

Kyou considers himself as starting off at a negative: he has nothing of any worth to offer to people around him, and he believes that just being around him is actively detrimental to other people, so he just assumes people naturally hate him and avoids everyone and pushes away people who try to get close to him, especially people he loves. (He makes some exceptions when he really really loves, like keeping Shishou at arm's length in some regards but basking in his dad the rest of the time, and giving into his fondness for Tohru even though he knows it's going to go bad.)

Tohru's had her worldview reinforced by being abandoned by a young and grieving Kyouko. Kyou's had his worldview enforced by being told that people who are kind to him die of it.

Kyou's mom loved him more than anyone; Kyou's mom died for him/died because it's his fault. Kyouko was nice to Kyou; Kyou's secret is safe at the cost of Kyouko dying from that car. The beads that keep sealed the Cat's true form are made from the bones and blood of a priest; the way people retell the story implies that Kyou straight-up murdered this guy ages ago, or at least that Kyou's taking advantage of a sacrifice that was forced and not willing. (I mean honestly it could go either way, but lately I've been thinking that it seems unlikely you'd go murder some holy guy to make some beads to seal up a cat monster that you hate when you could just murder the cat monster, don't tell me olden days Souma wouldn't just find that simpler; it seems to me like the sort of effort you'd go through for someone you actually cared minimally about, and that the priest probably devoted himself to holiness for just such a reason, probably offered to have a holy death and create a protective relic. Not that that would make Kyou feel any better.)

This probably ties back into the whole pity thing...Kyou doesn't want people to feel compelled to love him, to force themselves to love him, because not only do they not get any benefit but he has actively negative worth and it hurts people to be around him. Kyou, like Tohru, finds it hard to accept that people might not see it as a burden or a harm to be kind to him. That they might want to be kind to him and enjoy his presence. These children can't just let themselves take the damn donuts.

And that's probably the why of why Kyou, specifically, and not Yuki, is so good at noticing Tohru's issues and actively pushing her to be selfish. It's hard to help yourself, but it can be easier to see yourself in others and give them the advice that you yourself won't take. Let yourself be selfish and live a life that makes you happy. Complain when you need to. Let yourself have some donuts when donuts are being handed out, even if you don't think you deserve them/some jerks have told you you don't deserve them and you're a fake for taking a donut.

(I'm not sure Kyou's ever actually heard this bit, and I don't have time to unpack it right now, but uggghhh I just remembered that Tohru low-key blames herself for her mother's death as well. If she'd been more grateful...if she'd had her priorities straight and her mother was the most important thing in her life, more important than trying her best in school...if she'd just managed to say "Come home safe", then her mom wouldn't have died, and because she was an ungrateful daughter and didn't say it that one time she lost her mom. Nnnn my heart.)

Again I don't have a good transition, but as I think about all this I think I get why Kyou is able to accept Tohru's fuck-you speech as being a real and sincere thing he can depend on instead of instantly assuming it's pity. He's probably not thinking straight enough to realize that Tohru's just taken a level in character development and is being remarkably selfish and open about what she wants from him, not just yet.

But looking at Kyou's past experience with True Form reveals…

Kyou's mom tries to reassure Kyou that everything is fine and normal. She smiles and says all the right things and pretends not to be perturbed. Tohru, as Kyou notes, is clearly not fine about things, she's overwhelmed and sick and scared and clinging to him while shaking and crying. "Can't you see?! Smell?!" Kyou demands when Tohru doesn't instantly run off, but it's pretty clear she does because Tohru isn't smiling, isn't trying to pretend this doesn't bother her. She's undeterred, yes, but she's very bothered.

Kagura's scared too, when she sees, and Kagura runs away. Tohru's scared and she runs toward. Again, Tohru's not hiding her fear even if she's not letting her fear stop her, Tohru's not smiling her serene smile, Tohru clearly would rather run away and go "what the fuck?!?!?!" for a while before dealing with the fallout. Tohru's not a saint, Tohru's just slightly more scared that she'll never see Kyou again after this if she leaves now than she is of Kyou's true form. She's kind of almost passed through the other side of terror into desperation.

Tohru's biggest anxiety is that she'll be abandoned for being a burden, true, but Tohru also is terrified of being preemptively abandoned because the other person has decided they're a burden for Tohru. That's exactly what Hana tried to do in middle school. Hana tried to give up on Uo and Tohru.

"Give up on" isn't a phrase used in the True Form arc, but it comes up plenty elsewhere. Momiji says much later that he's done giving up on the Cat. More specifically, when Kyou's unpacking his complicated feelings about his mom and her death, he says at one point that he wishes she hadn't given up on herself and had stayed together with him. And since mom plays into the True Form arc (as does the "being together" sentiment), I feel it's valid to drag the "giving up on" idea into it as well.

Kyou tries to give up on Tohru--decides for himself that she'll reject him, so he rejects her first and pushes her away so she won't force herself to take pity on him and keep forcing herself to love him--and Tohru probably realizes that he's doing it, since she saw it before with Hana. She's determined to go back to Kyou because she's prioritizing her own wants, but I think probably the reason she also looks pissed is because she's realized Kyou's given up on her and she's not gonna let him get away with it.

I think Kyou wishes that he could cling to people, could have clung to his mom and told her not to give up, the way Tohru is clinging to him there. That he could admit that things suck and are scary and painful, but that he wants to keep clinging on regardless and staying together without anyone giving up, the way Tohru is doing right now. Instead of, like everyone else, pretending that shit is fine even though it sucks and it's scary and it's painful and then giving up on the people around him and keeping a distance.

Kyou recognizes what Tohru feels--and that what Tohru feels is sincere--because it's the same feelings he has about his mom. Which is why, even though it sounds a bit like a Saint Mary Sue love-and-acceptance speech, it's a fuck-you that hits Kyou right in the heart and makes Kyou feel accepted and understood for the first time in his life. Not because Tohru is perfect, but because Tohru is flawed and broken and a terrified mess.

#sobdasha fic adjacent #fruits basket #i didn't outline this out to the best effect #or really proofread thoroughly #so hopefully it makes sense #but i spent hours investing myself into this lol and having too many feelings #i stayed up too late to finish this because i know i won't be coherent enough to put anything like this together after tomorrow's episode #this is how good the reboot is though #no longer am i reevaluating my interpretations with each new episode #i'm managing to re-engage with the source material even before new episodes air to give me a new perspective #also the sheer amount of things i've missed that are right there in the manual are...embarrassing

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