#chiyoda save

[idwtsimoleons]

[garmmy]

2024 jp trip report (food edition)

i had originally planned to visit tokyo in 2020, but covid happened and...finally this year i managed to go on the trip! ;w; i rarely go overseas but it was really fun just walking around and stumbling upon things. i want to save up for the next japan trip already...

i'm making the post mostly to remember where i've been! i'm splitting up the food and the sights because of tumblr's image limit per post 🙄 will be posting the food here!

(sights edition here)

Day 1 (13/5/2024)

we arrived at night so pretty much everything was closed, but before i went to bed i had some cold haikara udon...i love cold udon so much and wish there was a way to get it cheap back home 😭 i also added some chilli oil with garlic, but it wasn't spicy..only the first day in and i miss singapore's spicy food 😂

Nakau なか卯 (chain store, multiple outlets)

Day 2 (14/5/2024)

we spent day 2 at ikebukuro and nakano...mostly browsing weeb shit 😭

started the day with some breakfast at komeda's coffee, they have a morning set and auugfhjhghh the bread used in japan cafes' toast is always so soft and fluffy..obsessed

Komeda's Coffee コメダ珈琲店 (chain store, multiple outlets)

at nakano broadway, the basement had some supermarkets/grocery stores and one of them sold sashimi. i didn't end up buying from here, but...LOOK at this sashimi, for 580jpy?? omg 😭😭😭 i want

we had lunch at a hayashi rice place near nakano broadway! i had curry omurice myself while my friend got the hayashi omurice. the omelette was sooo good...society if i could cook an egg like this on my own

Hayashi-ya Nakano-so ハヤシ屋中野荘 164-0001 Tokyo, Nakano City, Nakano, 5 Chome-55-15

and for dinner we had monjayaki at ikebukuro..we've never tried like, actually cooking the monjayaki before? so it was a fun experience!

Monjaya Mon もんじゃや紋 170-0013 Tokyo, Toshima City, Higashiikebukuro, 1 Chome−12−10 ヤンズビル 3F

Day 3 (15/5/2024)

on my morning walk i decided to try a canned drink from a vending machine. satsuma-imo milk! so in singapore, there was recently a 'nutri-grade' rating introduced mandatory for all drinks to indicate the sugar level in the drink. i didn't think i would miss it in japan LOL i'm sorry but drinking this drink was like drinking sugar syrup T_TT i think as i got older my sugar tolerance has drastically dropped..

we started at akihabara, and had brunch at niku no mansei (yes the well-known building with like 10 floors of meat before it closed, i think it split into a couple of places?) we went to the akiba place branch for their hemborger hamburg steak...how am i supposed to go back to eating it in singapore after this?? 🫠 IT'S SO GOOD (i'm also laughing at the token broccoli though)

Niku no Mansei Akiba Place 肉の万世 アキバプレイス店 101-0021 Tokyo, Chiyoda City, Sotokanda, 3 Chome−15−1, Akiba Place, 3F

after akiba we went to asakusa, and since it's asakusa we had to have some tendon..we just went into one of the tendon places we spotted but i didn't realise it was akimitsu!? we have akimitsu in singapore too 😂 but loved the tempura eel!

Akimitsu 秋光 111-0032 Tokyo, Taito City, Asakusa, 1 Chome-29-11

Day 4 (16/5/2024)

i got some plum onigiri from famima for breakfast on my morning walk. oughgkhghjh i already miss conbini onigiri so much...affordable yet tasty! i really love onigiri, but our convenience store onigiri in singapore is a bit overpriced, which wouldn't be so bad if the onigiri itself wasn't also terrible with cold hard rice :')

we started the day at tsukiji outer market. SEAFOOD..... we finally got some sashimi today, my beloved,,, we had engawa truffle salt sushi and also a sashimi bowl of the day. and also it was my first time trying shiokara! apparently it's squid in a kind of sauce made from fermented fish/sea animal innards. i'm not sure if it might be an acquired taste, but for a seafood lover like me it was so good 🥺 the lady serving us food was also really nice and we had a little chat even with our terrible spoken japanese lol.

Taneichi たねいち 104-0045 Tokyo, Chuo City, Tsukiji, 4 Chome-9-5

i also found shirako in the market! it was my first time eating it (i think it can be found in singapore? but not particularly common). other than the shiso leaf it was served plain though, while i like the taste i kinda wish i had rice or something to go with it.

also we got some matcha latte from the market before leaving! i got the 'less sweet' which was perfect, when a lot of times the least sweet (without being zero sugar) option from drink stores are too sweet for me..

Matcha Stand Maruni マッチャスタンドマルニ 104-0045 Tokyo, Chuo City, Tsukiji, 4 Chome−14−18

some ramen for dinner at ryogoku! admittedly i'm not a super into ramen person 😅 but butter in noodles is always such a nice combo!

Tadokoro Shoten 田所商店 (chain store, multiple outlets)

and some parfait for supper. look at their logo!! so cute 🥹🥹🥹

Mayonaka Farm (Ryogoku Yokozuna Yokocho outlet) 真夜中牧場 両国横綱横丁店 130-0026 Tokyo, Sumida City, Ryogoku, 3 Chome-22-8

Day 5 (17/5/2024)

started the day with some zaru soba. it was nice but cold soba was kind of a mistake because it was raining that morning and so COLD lol

Yudetaro ゆで太郎 (chain store, multiple outlets)

we started at shinjuku today and walked our way down to shibuya. with my friend's recommendation we tried blue bottle coffee? the latte was nice and even had this natural sweetness(?) to it despite not adding sugar.

Blue Bottle Coffee ブルーボトルコーヒー (chain store, multiple outlets)

and then we went to takeshita street. i think marion crepes is the most well-known one, but the queue..??? so we ended up going to another crepe store. it's still a treat and has a variety of flavours! i got the regular strawberry whipped cream.

Santa Monica Crepes サンタモニカクレープ 150-0001 Tokyo, Shibuya City, Jingumae, 1 Chome-16-16-8

late lunch at yomenya goemon! i had the tarako butter one and i really liked it...i think i could try buying some mentaiko from donki back home and trying it out myself..

Yomenya Goemon 洋麵屋 五右衛門 (chain store, multiple outlets)

Day 6 (18/5/2024)

conbini haul for the morning. i would like to shoutout to famima's pudding in particular; i feel a lot of store-bought pudding tend to be closer to the jelly-like consistency, but i prefer my pudding to be closer to the creamy? eggy? like consistency and famima's pudding is perfect for the price ;w;

we went to miura peninsula in kanagawa for the day using the misaki maguro ticket (it's so worth!! highly recommend if you want a day trip from tokyo). for breakfast we had some coffee and toast at coffee house poem. their signature blend (kaigan blend) in particular was really unique and nice..kinda regret not ordering that for myself 😂 love the rustic interior too!

Coffee House Poem (Miurakaigan outlet) ぽえむ三浦海岸駅前店 238-0101 Kanagawa, Miura, Minamishitauramachi, Kamimiyada-3130

nearby there's a souvenir shop selling mainly jams, and pickles (including daikon, one of miura's specialties). did you know that i hated eating radish until japanese daikon changed my life 🤣 i also got some persimmon jam to try since i'd never really heard of it! and also some honey+daikon candy.

Temiyage Iroiro Miura Store 手土産いろいろ 三浦ストア 238-0101 Kanagawa, Miura, Minamishitauramachi, Kamimiyada-3255

and finally we got SUSHI...i could cry the maguro here is so good 😭😭😭😭😭 the place is called 'kaitenzushi kaisen', but the sushi does not actually 'kaiten'/revolve, the chefs just serve it 😂 we used the maguro ticket on this so we got some maguro and some local catch!

Kaitenzushi Kaisen 廻転寿司 海鮮 238-0101 Kanagawa, Miura, Minamishitauramachi, Kamimiyada-3372-18

we then took the train to misakiguchi station, and the bus to misaki port. there's a market there called urari marche, which sells seafood and veggies mainly. we got some skewer hotate (scallop) and maguro karaage there! i was not a big fan of the maguro karaage though..i still think maguro is best as sashimi lol

Urari Marché うらりマルシェ 238-0243 Kanagawa, Miura, Misaki, 5 Chome-3-1

right next to the port was a cafe i used my ticket on, for some danish loaf with pistachio ice cream and a coffee drink. the ice cream goes so well with the fruity loaf!

3204 bread&gelato 238-0243 Kanagawa, Miura, Misaki, 3 Chome-12-10

Day 7 (19/5/2024)

went for a short walk at ueno park in the morning. there were some food stalls there! we tried some of the freshly roasted hojicha, and also some mitarashi dango. there's some skewered fish that looked good but i didn't try because i was scared of the bones 😅 and other kinda matsuri-like foods such as kakigori and yakisoba, a bit higher priced i guess because of the tourists there but i'm not a fan of yakisoba so 😆

also there was an asian food festival going on near shinobazu pond! i didn't try the food (it seemed largely SEAsian food, we can get cheaper thai, viet food etc in singapore anyway), but also for some reason there is a food truck for US food? and the representative food is 'american long potato' 😂 is that a thing in US? (ok but i know US is huge)

i met up with a friend for lunch at akiba and they recommended ootoya! a restaurant chain for teishoku. i got the recommended fried fish and veg in sweet vinegar sauce and 🥺 the taste mix is so good! i also wanted to randomly bring up something i'll miss about japan: pretty much every eatery, whether cafe or restaurant, serves free water, or even green tea! you rarely get free water in singapore eateries even though we have friggin drinkable tap water here 🙄 (except in japanese chains like saizeriya or sukiya..lol) you'll have to buy overpriced bottled mineral water or something even if you just want water to go with your meal.

Ootoya 大戸屋 (chain store, multiple outlets)

after some walking around akiba (i.e. combing weeb stores), we stopped for some thick fluffy toast and drink (mine was cinnamon toast and almond cafe latte) at vault coffee. true it was a sunday, but we were surprised that it was some random cafe hidden in third floor of what looked otherwise like a normal commercial building on the outside, and it was still soo crowded, we had to wait a little while to be seated!

VAULT COFFEE 101-0021 Tokyo, Chiyoda City, Sotokanda, 4 Chome−5−1 3F

and this marks the end of our week-long food journey in japan 😆 i had to save a lot of funds for my splurging on weeb and stationery stuff LOL, but i hope the next time i come i can focus more on sightseeing and food maybe! but for now it's back to capitalism to save up first 🏃

[codenamesazanka]

super absurd fic idea

Post-MVA, but pre-Jaku war.

A giant planet-destroying asteroid is headed towards Earth, and despite scientists-from-all-around-the-world's best efforts, there is no technology that can stop it. Heroes - and complex combinations of Heroes - can't stop it either. Whatever solution whoever has come up with just won't work. Earth is doomed...

Except when someone in Japan realizes maybe Shigaraki Tomura might be able to do something about the asteroid with Decay, especially since it can get totally disintegrated without the danger of big fragments flying to Earth.

Basically, for whatever reason, the world has absolutely no choice of avoiding this asteroid collusion except for Shigaraki decaying the whole thing.

fic is not about that tho. It's about the HPSC sitting down with Shigaraki and the League and the PLF executives trying to negotiate a deal.

“So,” Shigaraki said, single red eye from behind that awful hand staring down Hawks and the HPSC president. “You want me to go out to space, and destroy the asteroid.”

Shigaraki asks for total and eternal immunity for him and his army, and total control over Akihabara in exchange for this job. Then he changes his mind to get the whole Chiyoda Ward instead, might as well.

Toga pipes in that she wants Shinjuku, so Shigaraki adds that into the deal. Then she remembers Shibuya, so that gets added too. Seeing how they're just asking for anything, Mr. Compress wants Minato - but Shigaraki doesn't want it, too many Heroes stationed there. Compress says there's really good restaurants in Minato and besides, they can just kick all the Heroes out. Before long, they're asking for all of Tokyo as like. idk. independent city-state where the PLF rules.

ReDestro pipes up that they wanted the whole country, didn't they? Shigaraki says there's no way the government would hand that over, they rather become extinct by asteroid than lose that much dignity, so he's currently just asking for Tokyo. besides, when he comes back, they could always just try taking over the country with Tokyo serving as a base.

This is all discussed openly in front of the HPSC who tries to enter the conversation but always get shut out.

Someone eventually gets fed up and asks, Doesn't Shigaraki want to save the planet he's fucking living on?

Shigaraki shrugs, says he was planning on destroying it anyways, so not much difference. He doesn't care. (The League goes along, because they know Shigaraki knows they don't want to die either, but he needs to put up this act - and he does it so convincingly.) On the opposite end of things, tho, it's clear that HPSC/the world cares a lot but doesn't have any choice, cuz otherwise they wouldn’t have come groveling to him.

Fic ends with Shigaraki and the PLF giving a whole list of absolutely absurd demands, as well as Shigaraki requesting the whole League goes with him to space, because he knows

Heroes will definitely try to do something while he's gone

It's s p a c e

They're get to ride a freakin' spaceship.

Oh, and he's taking a a few very important hostages like world leaders and celebrities as well so Earth doesn't try to blow up the spaceship after the mission is completed.

anyways, the League goes on what's essentially an all-expenses-paid vacation to outer space. And all Shigaraki has to do is spacewalk out and touch the asteroid.

[landoftheway]

Now that I've got some time I wanted to actually give some detailed thoughts on SMTVV. Spoilers for the whole game below the cut but TL;DR see this tier list for how I'd stack it compared to other MegaTen games.

So, first thing to note is that as the above tier list indicates I enjoyed the original SMTV, though it wasn't my favorite. I generally considered it in parallel SMTIV in that both were of more or less equal quality but with polar opposite strengths and weaknesses. I say that at the start to give context for what I think about Vengeance:

Gameplay

Definitely improved all-around, though not to the same extent as something like SMTIV to SMTIVA. Magatsuhi rails are a big help in speeding up exploration, demon haunts are a fun way to get to know your chosen demons better and power them up slightly in the process, the new Tsukuyomi skills are all fun to make new builds out of, and the new passive and magatsuhi skills are all very fun to play with and present a lot of fun ways to build synergistic teams. Probably the least notable thing was the ability to save everywhere, which while definitely convenient for not losing progress in the middle of a zone I generally found unnecessary since there's enough leylines to cover all the major bosses/obstacles. Also gotta mention that many of the new bosses are extremely fun and offer some good challenge without ever feeling insurmountable (for context I did my first playthrough on hard with no mitama DLC til I needed to farm for Demi-Fiend and Satan and was able to clear everything, including Shiva and the new-and-improved Lucifer).

New Demons

I liked literally all the new designs save for Onyankopon, Glasya-Labolas, and Tehom, and even then I didn't actively dislike those three but rather just didn't find them super good. The Qadistu are the obvious standouts in terms of both appearance and narrative role but I'll get into the latter later. Special mention should definitely go to Anansi and Tiamat; I think both got excellent designs that remain true to their mythologies while still giving us something really visually distinct.

New Locations

Definitely prefer Shinjuku to Chiyoda but Shakan was about as unimpressive as any of the other dungeons and Taito remains my overall favorite section. That said I was kinda disappointed that after the big narrative change in the new story that Taito wasn't subsequently altered more beyond the changed boss fights. I still figured it'd be the final area but I expected Tiamat's rampage to have had more effect on the location itself, and I think that ended up being a bit of a missed opportunity.

Returning Characters

Hoo boy is the character writing better than the original. Tao and Yuzuru are the obvious big winners in terms of improvements made though Koshimizu also got touched up as well and we also get a little more insight into Yakumo and Nuwa's whole deal. Dazai sadly is kinda left to the wayside compared to the character development he gets in the original story, but on the flip side there's a better justification given for his dramatic shift in personality so it's not all bad. Sahori and Miyazu are both given a little more to work with but ultimately have about as little presence as they did the first time around, but Abdiel is the only character I'd say is universally better in the original story since she just doesn't really factor into Vengeance's narrative outside of being a target for Koshimizu and the protagonist after Shinjuku.

New Characters

Yoko is definitely my new favorite character in the game but I also very much enjoyed the Qadistu and Mastema. Collectively they've got some obvious parallels with the Mother Goddesses and the incarnation of Mastema in Strange Journey, but I think Vengeance does a good job of giving them a unique enough vibe that it doesn't just feel like a retread of prior notes.

Narrative

I definitely like Vengeance's story more than the original, but that's only really by virtue of seeing the former as a supplement to the latter. Like I mentioned at the start I actually liked the original's narrative at least in respect to the ideas and themes it was utilizing, as flawed as their implementation was, and I think Vengeance's story works so well by taking the basis of those ideas and themes, having a new approach to analyzing them, and then supplementing them further with the previously improved character writing. It's nothing groundbreaking or on the same level as the best writing in the franchise, but it's definitely very good.

Overall

Very very good, definitely recommend, Chaos for life.

[kiaroscuro]

Warnings: descriptions of violence, major character death

Rating: Mature

Main Pairing: Ren Amamiya / Arsene

Main Tags: post-canon, zombie au, angst, hurt / comfort, road trips

Warning: allusions to WWII

· · ─────── =^.^= ─────── · ·

Chiyoda -- more specifically, the Otemachi district -- was, indeed, full of people, small clusters surrounding a central mall, most of the people (human and shadow!) using the altitude of the apartment blocks to create something resembling a floating city roughly two stories off the grounds. Ren stares in wonder. It seems as if the rising tide forced everyone to think vertically, Arsene thrummed, wings twitching in a way that made Ren shiver with the need to explore upside as well. They'd been very ground-bound because of the high number of infected flying shadows in the country, and Arsene hadn't been able to really stretch his wings for long periods out of fear of being discovered -- but the ruins of Tokyo, more than any other place save Tsu, maybe -- had such a feeling of safety that Ren found himself on edge by how... peaceful it seemed.

He didn't want this to turn into a repeat of Nagoya (Takuto had been apprehended, he'd heard so on the radio, and his main cultist as well, and the people were slowly recovering, but--)

An angel fluttered down, one of the sentries, and it eyed them. It looked unlike the bondage-wearing women Ren was accustomed to, a golden mask hiding its face and shrouded in what Ren considered to be proper angel attire, namely a toga-like dress. "Hello, strangers. Whenceforth did you come?"

"...from Hasetsu, in the south. Past Osaka." Ren mumbled, suddenly wrongfooted. Even while trekking to Tokyo, they'd kept on the outskirts of any cities and mostly only entered to restock, and everywhere they met people it was much more agricultural. This was-- kind of the opposite, and Ren felt himself uncertain in the face of so much... civilization.

The angel might've raised a brow. "That is quite far away. It must've been dangerous. You art fortunate, for having braved the path."

"Thank you. I think," Ren said, and startled when he noticed that water was seeping above ground. Arsene made a dismayed noise next to him, wings flexing. Ren watched it, before turning a wry expression at their sentry. "...Using height to build makes much more sense all of a sudden." He states.

The angel chuckles and motions for them to climb upwards before flying to the first awing. Arsene hums and scoops Ren up, because that wasn't something to be embarrassed about. What was embarrassing was that the persona held onto his bridal carry even when reaching the angel, and Ren huffs and accepts that that was his situation right now. The angel doesn't comment on Ren's state of being. "Yes. The larger conglomerations close to the bay noticed the rising tides and split apart, and the tide has brought the people of Tokyo closer. This has been a host of my kin, before we opened it for the humans and other shadows."

Not a sentry, then. Ren eyes the structures with renewed interest, and he can see where walkways and ladders had been installed for non-avian people. "The tide still rises and lowers at the mercy of Nature across most of the city; only the north-west has dry land."

"We'd not noticed the shift of water until reaching Minato," Arsene agrees, finally deigning to set Ren down. Ren made a face at him, but brushed their hands together in thanks. Pulley systems connected different balconies together, ropes and strategic ladders making everything climbable. People were glancing warily in Ren's direction, most of them hiding away, mostly eyeing his weaponry in distrust. "We're looking for family from Jongen. Do ye happen to have any survivors from there?"

"Do forgive them, we've a peaceful settlement. Only the patrols are allowed weaponry or active spells. Chiyoda as a whole tries to be neutral because it is the current center of Tokyo. To answer thine question: we do not, anymore, though a persona user hath passed through with her family before the humans settled. Lady Futaba and Necronomicon, is it them thou looketh for?"

Ren's heart is beating in his ears. "Yeah, she's my-- little sister. Do you know where they went?" Arsene puts his hand on Ren's shoulder. "And- who was with them?"

The angel nods. "Coming up straight from Kanda, I believe. Our chief of communication might know more."

--

The higher they made their way, the more important the people became, Ren's had the feeling. Like an angelic choir, Arsene added. This 'chief of communication' was an old and ornery lady, badges on her shoulder displaying some military rank, old and scuffed. She was foreign, European-looking, and they entered her office through an open window as if it was a door.

"Hullo," the lady said, accent thick on her tongue. Arsene froze upon seeing her, mask flushing, and Ren raised a brow at how the persona snapped to attention all of a sudden. The walls were littered with decryptions of ciphers and codes, a framed morse table the center-point.

Ren bowed, his persona's strange reaction making him wary. "Good day," he murmured, feeling strangely underdressed in his gear. He'd noticed it earlier, with the angel as well, but Ren's survival-based getup looked right out of place in the larger settlement where most of the people were civilians. The lady laughs, and the shift in her position reveals the edges of a washed-out tattoo on her forearm. Ren feels bile raise in a throat that's not his, and he glances sharply over to Arsene, who's still rigid. The angel has stayed a step behind, but now steps forward.

"This is Erika Ogawa. She set into motion our current communication system across the greater Chiyoda area."

"Thank you, dear," Ogawa-san says. "But I can introduce myself." She smiles at them. "My late husband used to be a naval officer, and I'd always been interested in his work. He left me behind twenty years ago, but his lessons on morse and short-range radio have stayed with me." She says. "Would you like some tea?"

Ren nods, cautiously. Arsene makes an almost-silent chirruping noise while the angel excuses itself to bring them refreshments, and it's a sound of distress. Ren stares at him. Pigeon?

"...ah. I hadn't expected a shadow to recognize this, but it seems you do. Sit, sit, the both of you."

Ren has to tug Arsene down, who still looks silently ashamed of something, before focussing back on the woman. "I was thirteen when I was smuggled out of the camp, and twenty when I married my late husband," she says, gently. Ren stares at her, finally catching on, and he shudders. Japan wouldn't exactly have been his first choice of country to flee to in the forties. "He was US military, and ended up stationed in Vietnam, so I did what every bride would do: I disguised myself and followed him, because one war had already taken my family, I wouldn't let another do the same. Thankfully I did; I saved his life and he gave me five wonderful decades of life together, as well as six children!"

Ren stares at her, eyes roving to the military acolades. She follows his gaze. "Most of these belonged to my husband, though a few of them are mine from the turn of the century. Were you in the War?" She asks, softly, addressing the persona. Arsene shudders, rigid shoulders finally curving in some ease.

"The first. My stories end shortly before the second, but the echo of history-- lingers. Pardon me."

"You poor thing," Ogawa-san says, voice full of sympathy. Arsene flushes, wings fanning slightly.

"Ah, no. I am not-- my origin lies in fiction, it is not as if I--" he flounders, and Ren -- heavy topic notwithstanding -- frowns at the denial. It was coming close to being a denial of personhood, and Ren couldn't have that. Especially because they'd had this discussion before.

"Arsene, if you remember living through it, you lived through it." Ren hissed, and Ogawa-san nodded.

"Your young man is correct," she says softly, smiling. "And if we're comparing horrific experiences, you currently seem to have been through quite a lot, from what I've overheard. Oh, do calm down; I've accepted what happened in the past, and I'm not a sensitive little flower that wilts every time it is brought up."

Well. Ren bows his head again, knows Arsene's doing the same, and thinks someone is a busybody. "We're looking for my sister." He demurs.

That's when the angel reappears, and Ogawa-san thanks it, turning to them. "Some tea to soothe the nerves?"

--

Ogawa-san is, in fact, a terrific busybody; she explains to them that there's a noise (and light-) relay based morse communication system set up, and that she and her daughter and grandson are one of the connection points, either sending more encrypted codes or angels, depending on the severity of the messages. A canine shadow had apparently pioneered the setup, spreading information by a barking relay each sunrise and sunset. They've only recently started incorporating radio frequencies, as everyone had been left scrambling after the internet went down in the first few weeks. "It's why Chiyoda as a whole tries to be neutral," she explained. Other such nodes were found in Edogawa, Nerima and Toshima, all of which were manned by experienced humans or shadows. And more importantly, inside Toshima's Ikebukuro district, a group calling themselves Alibaba were the relay station. It was the most effective one, because a persona was acting as a supercomputer, which.

"If that is not Necronomicon, then I'll eat my top hat," Arsene mused, and Ren didn't want to hope, but he had to agree.

"They're holed up in the Sunshine City, inside the Sunshine 60 skyscraper and Prince Hotel," Ogawa-san said, softly. "Most of the survivors and mutated alike wandered northward due to the flood, and Toshima is one of the more affected districts, though they've been holding up well on both fronts -- the whole place is walled off by now."

Ren nods, but she presses on. "I mean it, young man. Wandering into the ward without any plans is sure to get you killed. Be careful."

"...are there any garuda?" Ren asks, voice somehow both dry and dripping with sarcasm. The scar was still visible against his skin, especially around his eye, though it stopped being a noticeable bother a while ago. Everything hurt nowadays, so the dull ache of the Lichtenburg pattern was negligible. The angel shakes its head. It was holding up a teapot not to be rude, seemingly only scenting the aroma.

"None inside the city borders, though there are other flying mutated, some of which are of my own stock."

Ren and Arsene both nod, determined. The angel eyes them. "Stay for the day and recuperate thy health, travellers. So that ye might not succumb to exhaustion."

"...thank you," Ren murmurs, and Arsene doesn't dare raise his voice at Ogawa-san's look.

First << >> Next

[chiyoda-division2]

“The taste of death is upon my lips... I feel something, that is not of this earth.” -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Introduction🩸

Fusao Ise(異世フサオ)、 a.k.a. Revenan† on rap battles, is a CEO and leader of Chiyoda Division’s 狂音INC., he is the CEO of the successful audio equipment company ‘Wonder⇓anD Sound Systems’, he is a man shrouded in mystery to the masses, especially with how he sprung back into his job like he did not just stop appearing to the public 8 years ago.

He was forced to join the DRB after the Party of Words found out that he kept ‘something’ someone that should’ve been disposed of years ago.

Link to picrew used

Appearance

Despite his old age, he has a well kept appearance, Fusao is a middle-aged man albeit taller than average. He has neck-length brown hair that he preferred to dye in dirty blonde and he has pistachio green eyes with visible wrinkles underneath them.

At work, he is usually seen in a black dress shirt, a white suit jacket in pinstripe pattern, a red tie hidden by a scarf of a similar color, black pants and black dress shoes. He is often seen clutching on a black service cap rather than actually wearing it.

He doesn’t really look that different outside work, save for changing his white suit jacket with a black trench coat.

Name Meaning

Fusao(フサオ) - no concrete meaning as it’s written in katakana

Ise(異世) - Different world (literally just one character away from ‘isekai’)

Nicknames and Aliases

Revenan† - MC Name

Boss, Sir, etc. - employees

Hun - his wife Ageha

Papa - his children

Pops, Sao - Nayomi

“The Living Dead” - himself

"Mad Hatter" - Eiji

Hazumu

Biographical Info

Gender - Male

Age - 52

Birthday - March 3

Star Sign - Pisces

Ethnicity - Japanese

Hair Colour - Dirty blonde (dyed), Brown (natural)

Eye Colour - Green

Height - 6'3"

Markings - Scars at the back, stab wounds on his stomach

Piercings - Lobe

Family - 

??? (deceased)

??? (deceased)

??? (deceased)

Wife

Stepdaughter

Biological daughter

Triplets

Voice Claim: Ryotaro Okiayu (speaking); SymaG(singing/rapping) 

Fun Facts 

Occupation - CEO of Wonder⇓anD Sound Systems

Division - Chiyoda

Team - 狂音INC.

Position - Leader

Favourite Food - Rum chocolate

Least Favourite Food - anything with too many bones

Likes - His children, profit, drinking with his business partners, stories about the undead(mainly zombies)

Dislikes - Raiden’s antics, his in-laws, the authorities, those who try to look into his past

Image color - Dried Blood (#4B0101)

Hypnosis Microphone

Fusao’s Hypnosis Microphone takes the form of a silver ribbon mic on a black stand, the stand is wrapped with thorny vines of white roses, the roses contain dripping red paint painted on, as if to hide the fact that it’s white, the stand’s lower section has a large splatter of red paint.

Fusao’s speakers take the form of a large black coffin with gold linings and red paint splatters, the coffin opens to reveal a bunch of roses the same as his mic’s with a large black speaker with gold lining resembling shaped a lot like himself laid on top, the cofffin’s lid contains a gold relief carving of a cat’s head with its left eye replaced with roses on the outside and the inside reveals 4 small speakers of varying sizes. Black, thorny vines stained with red take the shape of a hand as it holds the lid open.

Whenever he activates his mic, he is contained inside of his speakers and comes out of it as if he’s a vampire.

Fusao’s rap ability, Rabbit Hole—[REDACTED] “Tch, I won’t let you know that yet.”

Most of Fusao’s rap themes revolve around the concept of life and death, that he is phasing in and out of both of them and how he is a dead man in the world of the living and a living man in the world of the dead. He occasionally slips in references to the children’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, this is often paired with him telling the listeners to just for once, throw away logic and common sense out of the window.

Personality

Fusao likes to joke around a lot despite his position inside work and is quite easygoing compared to the typical boss, yet at the same time, he comes off as a complete enigma for he is very secretive, not easy to reveal his intentions and things like his personal life especially the days before he met his wife or how he got the position as CEO of his company.

Fusao has a petty side toward people he see as enemies, he will act out against them without any explanation whatsoever, mainly doing so just to see their reactions.

People say that he has a twisted view on the concept of ‘second chances’ for he has a history of employing people with… not the best records. He says that he does have a limit but it’s quite hard to believe…

Background

<???>

Trivia

His birthday is also Alexander Graham Bell’s birthday, not only is Bell credited for the telephone but he also is one of the first people to have patented a loudspeaker

He bites his thumb whenever he gets mad

He’s the only older member in the Ise family that Nayomi gets along with nowadays

He was pissed off when he found out all of his social media accounts were memorialized (not like he’s gonna make new ones anyway :p)

Wonder⇓anD Sound Systems is not at the same level as E.L. Medical or Arakawa Tech Industries though his company is quite popular amongst audiophiles

Though Wonder⇓anD is a competitor against Arakawa Tech, he seems to be in neutral terms with Misa herself

He was acquaintances with Reika Aichi’s mother, Minako time before her death

He is very fond of the series Handead Anthem, even though it was long discontinued

He has quite the dislike against Eiji Noguchi for… some reason

[gengamer110]

Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection, Heads to Steam in 2024

Save Vanity, save the dream world. Edia, Japanese video game publisher and developer based in Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda City, Tokyo, has announced that the side-scrolling, retro action game, Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection Launcher, will arrive on Steam in 2024.Fans can head to the Steam page and wishlist the game today.The story follows the protagonist, Yuko Asou, chosen as the “Warrior of…

[blogovision]

blogovision 2023 100-150

100. Gabriels - "Angels And Queens" (35) 101. French Police - "BLUE" (34) 102. Cat Power - "Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert" (34) 103. Mui Zyu - "Rotten Bun For An Eggless Century" (33) 104. Foo Fighters - "But Here We Are" (33) 105. Rolling Stones - "Hackney Diamonds" (33) 106. Algiers - "Shook" (32) 107. Being Dead - "When Horses Would Run" (32) 108. Sigur Rós - "Átta" (32) 109. Shame - "Food For Worms" (31) 110. Paris Texas - "MID AIR" (31) 111. Death And Vanilla - "Flicker" (31) 112. Youth Valley - "Lullabies For Adults" (31) 113. Jpegmafia / Danny Brown - "Scaring The Hoes" (31) 114. Kylie Minogue - "Tension" (30) 115. Anna B Savage - "In|Flux" (30) 116. Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter - "SAVED!" (30) 117. Corinne Bailey Rae - "Black Rainbows" (30) 118. Deus - "How To Replace It" (30) 119. Spirit Possession - "Of The Sign..." (29) 120. Godcaster - "Godcaster" (29) 121. Khanate - "To Be Cruel" (29) 122. Raye - "My 21st Century Blues" (29) 123. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - "PetroDragonic Apocalypse" (29) 124. Blanck Mass - "The Rig" (29) 125. Be Your Own Pet - "Mommy" (29) 126. El Michels Affair, Black Thought - "Glorious Game" (29) 127. Tamta - "Identity Crisis" (29) 128. DAIISTAR - "Good Time" (29) 129. Alice Longyu Gao - "Let’s Hope Heteros Fail, Learn And Retire" (28) 130. Xiu Xiu - "Ignore Grief" (28) 131. The Clientele - "I Am Not There Anymore" (27) 132. Nothing But Thieves - "Dead Club City" (27) 133. Bar Italia - "The Twits" (26) 134. Carly Rae Jepsen - "The Loveliest Time" (26) 135. Kelela - "Raven" (26) 136. Janelle Monáe - "The Age Of Pleasure" (25) 137. A. Savage - "Several Songs About Fire" (25) 138. Jamila Woods - "Water Made Us" (25) 139. Liturgy - "93696" (25) 140. Mary Ocher - "APPROACHING SINGULARITY: Music For The End Of Time" (24) 141. WAEVE - "The WAEVE" (24) 142. Troye Sivan - "Something To Give Each Other" (24) 143. Einar Solberg - "16" (24) 144. Marthe - "Further In Evil" (24) 145. Chiyoda Ku - "Selecta Perspective" (24) 146. Irreversible Entanglements - "Protect Your Light" (24) 147. Rickie Lee Jones - "Pieces Of Treasure" (24) 148. Drake - "For All The Dogs" (24) 149. Liela Moss - "Internal Working Model" (24) 150. Aversions - "You Wanted The Bike" (24)

[containatrocity]

"No, you can't. Which I would consider my saving grace, if it didn't mean you were trapped here too. We may have our problems, Aya, but I am not in the market of wishing suffering on you." And being stuck here, for a Chiyoda, was inarguably something of a punishment. Cyan had scrabbled for any handhold he could find- adapting to this place had been a struggle. He's only just now sure he's figured out a routine that won't make him... insane.

He switches back to English, as he runs a hand through clipped-short dark hair. "Long story, but... keeping up with it got rough, a while back, so I uh, had a friend help me cut it off." And then they likely conceived the baby strapped to his front that day, but that was neither here, nor there, and not important for the conversation at hand. "And now I uh, go out hunting, so not having my hair sticking to me helps with some of the overwhelm from just... having to partake in nature in general." He pauses, frowns. "He didn't Send you to find me, did he? that's low, even for Aoi." He hopes beyond hope his sister wasn't sent to fetch him, a slap in the face beyond being looked over as the heir to the company, and beyond the pale even for their father.

Aya’s mouth opened and closed a few times as Cyan answered at least some of the questions she’d been about to ask. She wasn’t even going to ask who Genesis was; that wasn’t the information she needed to know. “I came here to take you back to father,” she said, now switching back to Japanese. “Clearly I can’t, so consider yourself lucky.” She glanced again at the baby. “What happened to your hair?” she asked then, deciding to ignore it for now.

[idwtsimoleons]

[wyrmmaster]

Well that's everybody

[historyhermann]

"The Demon Girl Next Door": A Comedic Anime Worth Watching

What if one day you woke up and were a demon? Yuko experiences this dilemma in The Demon Girl Next Door. She tries to get a hold of her new form and is tasked with defeating the local magical girl... but not everything is as it seems.

Reprinted from The Geekiary, my History Hermann WordPress blog (it will be published there on Dec. 20), and Wayback Machine. This was the thirty-ninth article I wrote for The Geekiary. This post was originally published on May 18, 2022.

The Demon Girl Next Door is a supernatural and magical girl anime directed by Hiroaki Sakurai. It is based on Izumo Itō's manga parody series, is also known as "Street Corner Demon", and is filled with comedic moments from beginning to end.

As a warning, this recommendation discusses some spoilers for the first 19 episodes of The Demon Girl Next Door.

Yuko begins transforming into her crisis management form

The Demon Girl Next Door, builds off the usual story, where someone wakes up and is different from who they were when they went to sleep. One day, Yuko Yoshida (voiced by Konomi Kohara) comes to the frightening realization that she has a tail and horns. She learns that she is the descendant of a demon cursed to live in poverty by an opposing clan.

In order to restore the clan's honor, her mother, Seiko Yoshida tasks her with defeating the local magical girl of the town, Momo Chiyoda. This is easier said than done. Yuko is assisted by her ancestor, Lilith, who is trapped in a totem, and occasionally by her sister, Ryoko Yoshida.

However, Yuko is beset with a dilemma after Momo (voiced by Akari Kito) saves her from certain death. This is made even worse when she realizes that Momo attends the same high school as her! Luckily, she is helped by her school friends Anri Sata (voiced by Sayaka Senbongi) and Sion Ogura (voiced by Ayaka Suwa). Some call her "Shamiko" or by her full name "Shadow Master Yuko."

Sion is into the occult as much as Yoshiko Tsushima in Love Live!! Sunshine! who believes she is a "fallen angel" named "Yohane" and Rie Maruyama in Cue! who calls itself a demon from hell named "Ellis."

The series shares many similarities with The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!, where a powerful demon named Jahy lives in a ratty apartment and tries to gain all of the mana crystals to restore her powers. Yuko also lives on the edge of poverty with her sister Ryoko (voiced by Hitomi Ohwada) and mother, Seiko Yoshida (voiced by Sayaka Ohara).

Similar to the aforementioned series, in The Demon Girl Next Door Yuko becomes friends with Momo and her friend from another town, Mikan Hinatsuki (voiced by Tomoyo Takayanagi). In a unique twist, Mikan has been afflicted by a "guardian spirit" that attacks whenever Mikan's heart is racing, resulting in those around her to experience calamities. This is akin to the misfortune that the magical girl faces when she uses the mana crystals in The Great Jahy.

Later in the series, it is comically revealed that Yuko and Ryoko's father, Joshua (voiced by Hideyuki Umezu) was sealed inside a cardboard citrus box by another magical girl. It turns out that the family uses this box every day to cook their meals on a hibachi!

That magical girl is named Sakura Chiyoda (voiced by Hisako Kanemoto) and the stepsister of Momo. She disappeared ten years ago after she manipulated a sacred seal to ensure she stayed in good health. It later becomes Momo, Mikan, and Yuko's mission to find her. And she does appear in one of the show's most recent episodes. Mikan, on the other hand, has a familiar named Ugallu.

In another parallel with The Great Jahy, for some time Yuko begins working at a cafe run by a demon tapir named Shirosawa (voiced by Takashi Matsuyama) which has a chef and waitress named Lico (voiced by Ayassa Ito). Although Yuko goes there to garner information about Sakura, she becomes poisoned by the food, which makes her a work zombie, until she is saved by her more-than-a-friend Momo.

Mikan (left) gives Yuko (middle) a lemon while Momo (right) watches Yuko, and Yuko's ancestor sits on a nearby table

On the one hand, the series has plot lines focused on mindscapes, reminding me of scenes in The Owl House, Steven Universe, and Inside Job where characters travel inside the minds of other characters, either on purpose or by accident.

In fact, Sakura, another magical girl, helps Yuko out of her nightmare in the fifth and sixth episodes of the show's most recent season, appearing as a mirage of sorts. The audience also learns that Sakura sacrifices herself so that Yuko could live; a noble sacrifice.

This series also features main characters with cool magical transformations. This is coupled with comedy, which is integral to the show.

This is not an off-the-wall comedy like the hilarious three-season slice-of-life yuri comedy, YuruYuri, for which the protagonist complains about her lack of presence, even resulting in her becoming translucent at times. Neither is it like romantic comedies such as the currently airing Kaguya-sama: Love Is War and Love After Domination, or a recently-ended isekei comedy with transgender themes, Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout.

Instead, there is situational comedy either based around interactions between Yuko, her family and school friends, and family, or with her magical girl friends, Mikan and Momo. As a person who loves to eat sliced oranges as a snack, I have to give props to Mikan, whose family owns a fruit company, for constantly, and somehow, finding fruit. She slices up oranges and lemons and chomps on them when they hang out or brings fruit to eat while she is on the go. Are there any other characters who do this? I can't even think of one.

Even more hilarious is the fact that Mikan's hair color fits directly with her love of citrus, as it has the same color as an orange-dyed orange. It also connects with her bubbly, excitable personality and her orange-themed magical transformation.

The same can be said for Momo whose hair color is pink, a color often associated with "innocence and uncomplicated childhood", who has incredible strength and can quickly transform.

Unlike some other series, Momo has no interest in remaining a magical girl, feeling that having such power is too much responsibility for her. Yuko attempts to take advantage of this and recruit Momo as her "vassal." While Momo turns this down, she remains on friendly terms and there are hints in the season 2 introduction that she may go down that route in the future. All the while Yuko continues to declare "don't think this means you won" after Momo "defeats" Yuko in some way.

This is series is not unique in flipping generally understood values, like magical girls seen as "good" and demons as "bad." In fact, the 2017 supernatural slice-of-life and comedy anime, Gabriel DropOut, has angels act like demons, and demons act like angels. Helluva Boss has the demons act like jerks but be relatable and care about each other, while the angels are utter jerks who only care about themselves.

It is even a bit funny that Yuko's magical girl-esque transformation is called "crisis management". It gives her a somewhat scantily clad uniform akin to the lead in The Great Jahy, but it only slightly improves her abilities. This is different than Jahy, as it only helps her a little bit. Due to this, however, Momo helps train her on how to hone her abilities and improve herself. Instead of magical girls and demons fighting one another, they are both on the same side, working together for common goals.

Image from the Season 2 opening of the two protagonists, Momo and Yuko

In the process, the series plays on the common magical girl elements, often associated with female interests like romance, femininity, and child-rearing, with cute appearances of characters resembling idol singers or princesses. When they are in their transformations, Momo, Yuko, and Mikan clearly transform into versions of themselves that seem more mature and prettier, with magical powers. However, Momo and Yuko have items that allow them to use their powers outside of their transformations.

Most powerfully, and apart from any other character in the series, Yuko has the ability to enter other people's minds. She does it often with a wand that sometimes transforms into silly items like a pen, a super-heavy trident, or anything else that does not help her in the slightest. She is also very expressive, with her demon tail telling as much about her emotions as the cat ears of Blake Belladonna in RWBY say about what she is thinking from minute to minute.

Yuko's demon features are often exploited by other characters, who hold her back by her tail, making it hard for her to move, or hold her horns like handles. This is even more painful than someone grabbing onto her tail.

I further found it funny that Yuko's younger sister, Ryoko, is more skilled with technology than her. In fact, she is just as skilled with technology as the underclassman angel Tapris in Gabriel DropOut.

At the same time, her ancestor, Lilith (voiced by Minami Takahashi), can be bought out of her totem into small forms which are like dolls. Hilariously, Momo can easily control her movements, angering Lilith, who is trapped inside the totem. She can only leave to occupy Yuko's body from time to time, which slightly changes Yuko's personality and even her tail in the process. Similar to many characters, she has a weakness for alcohol, which makes it easy to subdue her.

Although there is a goal for magical girls to have romance that leads to marriage, it is unlikely this would happen in The Demon Girl Next Door. No notable male characters appear in the series.  Although Yuko and Momo seem to have some feelings for each other, it is unlikely that Yuko and Momo would marry one another.

In later episodes, they will likely become even closer. After all, in the most recent episode, she became Yuko's vassal (temporarily) and came over the the "dark side", nicknamed "Darkness Peach" by Mikan, to save her from a nightmare. In an unexpected twist, she becomes a dual-class holder whose physical class is light while her spiritual class is light. They both agree to work together to protect the city.

Rather, these characters could be shown ambiguously together and walking off into the sunset akin to the end of Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times. It is even less likely that there would any possible marriage, like that hinted between office worker, Kobayashi, and a dragon girl, Tohru, in the final episode of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.

All in all, The Demon Girl Next Door is a must-see, especially for those interested in demons, magical girls, and supernatural comedies.

The series is currently streaming on HIDIVE. The next episode will air on May 26, 2022.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[cochidinh]

The fic only has one person commenting, so I think it's probably you. awww every time I open ao3 and read it, it makes me smile.

I haven't actually watched the whole interview but only the part about Sonoda's name, could you tell me where you saw the translation please? I wanna read it or at least have the text to refer to while watching

So all things considered, Haneda is the most normal person- *looks at what he does* well the most normal person.

Although killing Sonoda may solve the problem for Ota City, it can't completely solve the issue in many ways.

There are many issues in Ota from pollution and theft to violence and other criminal acts. Sonoda until now (based on the anime) is just a terrible leader but at the same time the perfect representative of the Ota tribe. A normal leader certainly couldn't live more than a day in Ota, and Sonoda somehow balances the situation of the people here.

Sonoda can make money/trade/find targets to steal and come up with an action plan for the tribe as well as he will definitely not steal other members' money for his own. He doesn't actively hit people (he only hits Haneda and mainly because Haneda attacks first).

Yukigaya's introduction also mentioned that she followed the Ota tribe because there was food for her.

At the ending of ep 12 we also see the other members (NPCs) disassembling mechanical debris -> they actually have work to do instead of focusing on doing the crime.

Sonoda has enough power to restrain riots as well as enough ability to survive. If he doesn't love chaos too much, has some humanity, and really wants to help Ota, then he is truly qualified as a leader.

Oh that reminds me, in the anime it was also mentioned that it was Sonoda's offer to rob Chiyoda that made Haneda reconsider and save him.

I understand why Sonoda is underweight. Look at him, I bet he only sleeps for a few minutes a day, or even a week and that lazy aura is because he's in energy-saving mode. Plus, I don't think he's interested in eating either. He even put explosives in his food to play Russian roulette, and he *really really* had no luck at all. Bro think he's ultimate Luck or something

Saigo doesn't seem to hate anyone in Ota (especially Asahikawa), I'm curious too…

I have a love-hate relationship with metal so I'm sorry I can't help myself </3 (will say it again, unless he actually pulls out a good song from that playlist).

The illness hit my brain again and I will ramble about why I like the Ota tribe. Again. Yes. Again.

I mean, look

Soooooooo badass, right?!

The 5 characters in the photo come from Ota City, where polluted by industry, and has become a slum filled with crime. That's why they are Ota Tribe.

When they first appeared in the anime, I didn't even see the art above, what I saw was a group of people wrapped in robes and looking like beggars asking for money. When Haru (one of the main characters) gave them a piece of candy, it was enough to make them happy and I was like "Aww they do look a bit weird but it's cute somehow"

no shit. they fucking blew up the mansion after taking the gold with them. But still...cute? (sorry the mansion owner, you have too many girls with you, I'm jealous). In short, that's enough for me to have a basic opinion about these characters.

They steal, but they are also not picky with what they get. They are chaotic, but they have their own rule.

I look at the cast of characters in the anime and it's funny, not counting the NPCs that look like they're copied and pasted, the main cast is like this

I swear the air and water in Ota are polluted from the dye factory or something that's giving them that edgy emo make-up aesthetic look (Oh don't worry Saigo you look great, and Yukigaya you look adorable)

I looked at this team and the only thing that popped into my head was that they were all picked up from the trash can and taken to a garbage dump (effortlessly) by Sonoda.

Sonoda is the ermmm pretty boy with the mask in the center. Yeah I know he looks normal and you can find a bunch of white-haired anime guys like him or whatever. That's right, why are you wearing a shirt, tie and bow-tie shoes in this city? Are you a lost high school student or are you trying to look more mature with that style? (It's suit you <3) and I still love this photo of you.

Even though he's an asshole, I have to admit that his looks are so deceiving. His eyes are very sad, he drags out the last syllable, he apologizes when people tell him he's not allowed to do that (still does), and he likes to bring food home to share with everyone ( even though it contains explosives). He beats and kills people because he likes it, oh what an atrocity. Best boy ever. We should throw him down the drain.

He already lives in such a stinky place? whoops

Haneda Kiyoshiro. yeah that baby face boy. yeah. He is obsessed with his leader. In a best-worst way that makes you back and forth between "he has a crush on Sonoda" and "He wants to crush Sonoda". It's very complicated but I wrote a fic on ao3 about him so you can check it out-

anw I was a bit surprised because I thought they had dumb luck when it came to making this and that machine but honestly, they're pretty good, aren't they? Especially Haneda's birthday fact, he used paper to write down and analyze Sonoda's behavior. I thought that the Ota tribe was completely illiterate, they couldn't read and never had a book or something ToT (It's all because the battle with Minato was so impressive)

Yukigaya, girl, so cute I want to adopt her. She's always hungry and eats cakes all the time, but she's still 44kg?? girl u okay???

Asahikawa, the joker gremlin. He is. everything. I'm sorry for calling you joker. You are funny, always happy and smiling but your taste in music is...urg...

Saigo. Everyone needs a big man in their team. He looks the most normal but I don't know? He is on good terms with all the members. But is there really a normal person in Ota?

[kaibutsushidousha]

Tribe Nine progress report #00 (part 1)

Translations from the official Tribe Nine website, supplemented with things that were said on stream.

Character names are in Japanese order because that's how they're officially romanized.

Also, I'll be posting this in multiple parts because I reached the image limit on this post.

World

In the country of Neotokyo, year 20XX, youth with no hope for society's future form Tribes to find a place to call home.

With time, the disputes between Tribes continued to grow more and more violent. The situation was very intense in the eyes of the Neotokyo government, so they enforced the XB Law, which limited the quarrels between Tribes to only Extreme Baseball.

Pitch, bat, and trade blows. The youths were crazy over this radical pride-staking game.

XB (Extreme Baseball)

A duel method similar to baseball, designed to settle conflicts between Tribes. As determined by the XB Law, the loser must obey the winner's order(s).

Runners and the fielder with the ball can initiate battles with each other for the right to reach a base. The slugfests between players equipped with body-enhancing gear are XB's greatest trademark.

Rules

The games must be played late at night when there are no longer any onlookers.

The games will use the entire City as its field.

Batters are only out by tag out or by strike out.

There is no home run. In case of an extra-base hit, the runner(s) can run through the bases until they initiate a battle against the fielder with the ball.

A fielder with the ball is allowed to initiate a battle against a runner, staking the runner's right to reach a base.

Players can equip XB Gear to enhance their physical abilities.

Anything can be used as XB Gear, as long as it's approved by the Judge Robot acting as the umpire for the game.

The win condition is either scoring more points than the opposing team or knocking out the opponents in battle.

The winner can give any order to the loser.

Characters

[This section will have some character profiles for a few Tribes, but before that, I'll have to go over some elements that were only explained in a previous interview and in the stream. The game will contain 23 Tribes, each themed after one of the 23 wards of Tokyo. The names of the Tribes here all match the names of the wards they represent. Their base concepts will be all about local stereotypes, of course, but in the stream, Kodaka compared them to One Piece pirate crews in terms of how much individuality the characters will get within the team.]

Minato Tribe

A Tribe famed as the strongest in Neotokyo. They value the bonds between teammates and genuinely enjoy XB.

[The Minato ward is the ward where the Tokyo Tower (also called Minato Tower) is. Due to holding the symbol of the city, Kodaka chose it to be the ward of the anime's protagonist Tribe.]

Kamiya Shun (Leader)

CV: Akira Ishida

Birthday: February 22nd

Height: 179 cm

Weight: 65 kg

Voice sample 1: Let's enjoy one more game.

Voice sample 2: I'll show you how to topple the Minato Tower.

"What could be more exciting than XB?"

The founder and leader of the Minato Tribe, as well as the main reason why they're considered the strongest. He is one of the very few Beam Bat users. He's as top tier as you'd expect as a pitcher and batter, not to mention he's unmatched at a fistfight.

He enjoys unchallenged popularity on the XB field, but he also has a more goofy side. His antics include giving his teammate incomprehensible nicknames and getting hungover on coffee, among others.

Shirokane Haru

CV: Shun Horie

Birthday: January 20th

Height: 160 cm

Weight: 47 kg

Voice sample 1: My name is Haru. Shirokane Haru.

Voice sample 2: If I can really hit this swing...

"If I really have potential... I wanna give it a try!"

A timid bullied boy. He was getting into trouble with the town's delinquents as usual when Kamiya and Taiga saved him. He was bound by his own perceived uselessness, but Kamiya noticed his natural agility, wits, and keen eyes and he was invited to use these "weapons" of him for the Minato Tribe.

Taiga

CV: Chiharu Sawashiro

Birthday: October 10th

Height: 182 cm

Weight: 76 kg

Voice sample 1: I'll beat Kamiya Shun and become the best player!

Voice sample 2: The match only starts when you get to the batter's box.

You got nothing to worry about, you got me as the captain on this ride aboard the S.S. Big Ship Taiga, where S.S. stands for "safe and sound"!

A hot-blooded boy who came to Neotokyo from the other side of the ocean in pursuit of one dream: winning against the strongest man, Kamiya Shun! He joins the Minato Tribe along with Haru. He's a novice in XB and struggles to memorize the rules, but he keeps challenging his opponents with his dauntless courage and the brute strength he's so proud of.

Arisugawa Saori (Vice-Leader)

CV: Mai Fuchigami

Birthday: November 22nd

Height: 162 cm

Weight: 43 kg

Voice sample 1: The Minato Tribe never says no to anyone wanting to join or leave. You can stay as long as you want.

Voice sample 2: Raise your arm higher and put more strength into your swing.

There's no ball I can't catch!

The Minato Tribe's vice-leader. Despite her frail looks, she's an outstanding catcher, capable of stopping even Kamiya's blazing fastballs. She takes charge, commanding Minato's ensemble of oddballs since Kamiya is too careless to be a real leader.

No one values the members of Minato's team more than her, but she is extremely strict about rules and morals, never hesitating to unload a cartridge of her favorite airsoft gun on a transgressing teammate.

Mita Santarou

CV: Mutsumi Tamura

Birthday: March 30th

Height: 150 cm

Weight: 44 kg

Voice sample 1: I know talent when I see it.

Voice sample 2: The first thing rookies do is carry my stuff. That's the law of Minato.

T-those dudes are no match for me...! Ok, you guys go take them on!

A member of the Minato Tribe. He claims to be the ace of the team but is actually just a reserve pitcher. He's a pervert and a sleazeball and often gets punished by Arisugawa for it, but he shows no signs of wanting to fix his flaws.

He tends to abuse his seniority over the new members, but he's as caring and friendly as he is unreasonably bossy.

Daimon Manami

CV: Fukushi Ochiai

Birthday: July 20th

Height: 191 cm

Weight: 180 kg

Voice sample 1: I accept all forms of gratitude and cake.

Voice sample 2: You gotta swing hard but without straining yourself.

Don't forget to eat well before a game of XB.

A member of the Minato Tribe. He's always supporting the other members with his gentle personality and great cooking. Minato's base of operation is Lovely Ocean, a restaurant he runs.

Despite his usual calm, no one can stop him when he snaps.

[Translation note: Manami means "lovely ocean"]

Aoyama Kazuki

CV: Shouya Chiba

Birthday: May 18th

Height: 174 cm

Weight: 57 kg

Voice sample 1: Huhu, even if I can't use my left arm anymore, my brain is still much better than yours, stupid people.

Voice sample 2: Timing is essential in our next strategy, I'll be giving the commands. It'd be easier for all of you since you won't have to think.

"You'll be my pawns."

A mysterious boy who suddenly appeared asking to join the Minato Tribe. He can't properly play XB because his left hand is injured. But for unknown reasons, he's very knowledgeable about XB tactics and how to handle a Beam Bat and makes full use of his ingenuity to bring victory to Minato.

He seems to have some kind of goal in approaching the Minato Tribe, but what could it be?

Chiyoda Tribe

A tribe under the patronage of the king of Neotokyo. They have been suppressing many other Tribes all over the country to ostentate their power.

[Chiyoda is the ward where the Palace is, so the Chiyoda Tribe are the guys with political power]

Ootori Oujirou (Leader)

CV: Jun'ichi Suwabe

Birthday: September 26th

Height: 192 cm

Weight: 78 kg

Voice sample 1: Can you entertain me, even a little?

Voice sample 2: A game needs blood. In eras where giants clash, the people are waiting for battles that spray blood and shatter bone.

"Winning is everything. There is nothing else I need."

The leader of the Chiyoda Tribe, and heir to Ootori Tenshin, the king of Neotokyo. Tenshin trained him since he was a child to be the strongest XB player.

He challenges teams all over Neotokyo to prove he is the best.

Ootori Tenshin (King of Neotokyo)

CV: Hiroshi Naka

Birthday: January 31st

Height: 177 cm

Weight: 51 kg

Voice sample 1: None is allowed to disobey the Ootori family! It's the masses to duty to kneel before me. Am I wrong?

Voice sample 2: Every single one of those so-called big shots sullying my Chiyoda must be exterminated! Go show them the power of the Ootori family!

"Through XB, you must show that that the power of the Ootori family is absolute!"

The king of Neotokyo. He's strongly obsessed with XB, to the point he trained his heir Oujirou since childhood to be the best player.

After that, he founded the Chiyoda Tribe with Oujirou as the leader.

He aims to trample all Tribes in the country in XB to ostentate the strength of the Ootori family.

CV: Mikako Komatsu

Birthday: March 15th

Height: 170 cm

Weight: 46 kg

Voice sample 1: As you wish.

Voice sample 2: I honestly and absolutely believe you will get the result you desire.

"Only death awaits the enemies of the Ootori family."

Ootori Tenshin's secretary. To the public, she's nothing more than a modest secretary, but her secret is that she's a cold-blooded agent, capable of doing anything for the sake of the Ootori family.

Countless people who criticized or plotted to opposed the Ootori family's plans may or may not have been to their grave by her hand.

[yomigaere]

Some frank spoilery thoughts on Tribe Nine episode 9 (heh):

*Ota's zerg rush of runners was a hilarious galaxy brain move, if nothing else.

*It was very, very easy to see coming from a million miles away that Minato Tribe would all forgive Kazuki and accept him as a True Nakama, and that Kazuki would admit that he liked being with them after all.

*Rejoice, Ojiro fangirls! Your husbando is confirmed redeemable and Minato Tribe are going to save him in defeat-equals-friendship fashion and make him smile again and have him finally see the fun in playing XB!

*I still like Enoki, but I liked her more when she was with Ota Tribe smiling at people getting cut up and squashed by falling billboards. Shame she'll probably just be Taiga's unwanted yandere waifu now, and doubly so if she ends up actually joining Minato Tribe. (Also, holy sexism when Haru and Taiga faced her...)

*I'm about 50-50 on whether or not Fucho actually died at the end. On one hand, his last line sounded very much like Last Words, and being killed by Kiyoshiro seems like a fitting end for him. On the other hand, we don't see what happened after Kiyoshiro brought his knife down, and IIRC one of Kiyoshiro's voice sample lines on the official site is something like "huh, why'd I let you live?!", so as far as I'm concerned Fucho's death is far from guranteed (plus we've seen he can easily snap his bones back into place, so who knows what else he can survive). I personally want to believe he's still alive, because I was hoping to see at least a little bit more out of him, but I guess we'll find out in a week or two or three's time.

*Meanwhile, I think it's 99% guranteed that Tenshin is dead for real. (Holy shit, a plot twist I didn't necessarily predict!) No way could that old man have survived a punch from Ojiro that practically caved his chest in... good riddance, to be honest. He was a total cartoon villain anyway, so he had to go, and if this show's going to have any actual character deaths other than Shun then Tenshin absolutely should be one of them.

*Did this episode completely forget about Yasuhiro? He didn't show up or get mentioned at all, after that whole thing with him in last week's ep. I was surprised he got brought back in the first place, as I thought he was just a throwaway character who only existed to establish Haru as a bullied woobie in the first ep; if the narrative wasn't going to bother with actually doing anything of value with him, even if that thing was just showing how far Haru has come since the beginning or whatever, then what was even the point of bringing him back?

*This ep also seems to have forgotten about Minato's win order that Ota Tribe would help patch up their diner again. (Was it even still wrecked? I admit I wasn't paying that much attention...)

*I bet the remaining three episodes are going to be very predictable. Next week might see a quick detour to Taito, because a) there's a scene of Hanafuda hitting a ball with his pipe in the second PV that still hasn't appeared in the show itself, b) Taito's theme song hasn't played at all yet and there's no way the show's gonna finish its run without the fan-favourite (going by views on the official YouTube channel) Tribe theme song ever playing. Other than that, we'll have the final Minato vs Chiyoda showdown, and I'll be bloody amazed if it doesn't end with Minato winning and Ojiro being redeemed.

*After all the complaining I've done here, I just want to say I never had particularly lofty expectations for the T9 anime in the first place. I was always more interested in how the game would turn out and was never that taken by how the anime adapted the designs (garish colours, simplification of designs even when the animators still keep forgetting design details afterwards); honestly, I figured it would be a win if the anime just got me liking the characters and world and wanting to see more of them elsewhere. Then again, I expected Akudama Drive to be a brain-switched-off trainwreck at best and was surprised by it being legitimately good, so I admit part of me hoped the T9 anime would also turn out better than it has...

[k-project-singularity]

Facts & Trivia || Misaki Yata

The following is part of a series of posts made by me. The information listed is official canon provided by GoRa. Sources will go from the anime, to mangas and novels as well as official short stories. These are NOT fanmade headcanons. The purpose of these posts is to provide useful information for fans as well as roleplayers looking for confirmed lore for their muses. Please do not reply to argue with me about what you read here. I did not come up with this stuff myself. GoRa did. I’ll come back to edit these as I find more info.

Born on July 20, 1993 (The same year as Daichi Yamata, Tōru Hieda, Andy Dōmyōji and Saruhiko Fushimi).

Member of Homra since January/February 2009, when he was 15 years old alongside Saruhiko Fushimi.

His Homra insignia is on the left collarbone like Saruhiko Fushimi’s. Yata and Fushimi are remarkably known as the first and only case in which two clansmen received the mark on the same spot. Yata took great pride in this and will show it off often. He hates that Fushimi marred his own.

His weapons of choice are his fists and legs that Yata uses with expert street fighting moves and acrobatics. He also brandishes blunt weapons such as a baseball bat and a pole, and can control his aura to make his skateboard go faster as well as use it as a weapon itself.

He wears a smartwatch that he uses instead of a PDA. It has all the functions of a mobile phone, including camera and holographic screen as well as a flashlight. It was gifted to him by Fushimi, who personally customized it for him when they were roommates.

Yata called himself Yatagarasu to sound cooler as a Homra member. Yatagarasu is a crow spirit with three legs in Japanese folklore.

Yata is the vanguard of Homra. This means he adopts an all-out direct offense tactic, charging at the enemy on the front without any regard for his own safety. This used to make his duo with Saruhiko almost invincible as his friend would watch his back and finish off the enemy. But after they split up, this strategy doesn’t work as well and Yata often puts his own life at risk with it.

He was born with a different (and unknown) last name. His last name became “Yata” only once his mother remarried (In Japan children of remarried women get their new stepfather’s last name). Misaki was 6 years old at the time.

He hates to be called by his first name because it’s girly. The only people allowed to use it without getting yelled at are his family, Anna, and Saruhiko back when they were friends. Saruhiko still calls him Misaki out of habit, sometimes just to annoy him.

During his earliest childhood he was best friend with Rikio Kamamoto, dragging him around in all kinds of dangerous explorations. Departing from him at 6 years old, he reunites with Rikio once he joins Homra nine years later.

He always displayed a kind of tough, abusive friendship with Kamamoto, calling him names because of his weight and yelling at him when Rikio showed weakness by crying. Even now he doesn’t hesitate to fight him or physically hit him when in an argument.

Though he was born in Shizume City, he moved to live elsewhere at 6 with his mother when she remarried. When he was 12 his family moved in Chiyoda City (Saruhiko and Scepter 4’s district) and was able to go visit Shizume City again because it was nearby. At 15 years of age he returned to live in Shizume City when he moved in with Fushimi.

He attended Himuka Middle School in Chiyoda City, where he met and befriended Fushimi. Both of them dropped out at the end of their third year.

Though he was often bullied, Yata was kind of a bully himself at school, often forcing people into being his friends and scaring them with his fierce and strong personality. This caused the other kids to not really like him much and blacklist him behind his back.

Swears and yells a lot. He’s very manic and violent when he gets worked up and won’t hesitate to give a beating to fellow clansmen too if they anger him (or even if they don’t, in the case of Kamamoto).

He’s very good at baseball and is particularly proud of his straight as a pitcher.

He can use both the skateboard and surf board very skillfully. Even to the point where girls will find him cool, unbeknownst to him. He owns both boards stylized with Homra’s symbol.

His favorite subjects in school were PE and music.

However, seen how bad Yata was at playing Totsuka’s guitar, it’s safe to assume his only musical talent was singing.

He tried to learn to play the guitar from Totsuka.

He likes videogames, which he played a lot with Saruhiko in the past. He often goes to the arcade and has even taught Anna to play FPS games. This shows he might be a bit oblivious to what is appropriate for a kid when it comes to gore and violence.

For his age, he has pretty good housekeeping and cooking skills. However, Kamamoto has described Yata’s cooking as “too manly” for a girl’s birthday.

All animals seem to dislike him for some reason. This includes the horse strain Basashi and a retriever that Fujishima once picked up.

Neko, who also believes to be a cat, shows instinctive hostility towards Yata just like a real cat would.

Yata is actually upset when animals hate him and to bring it up is a sensitive subject.

This seems to be a “mirroring” trait to Fushimi, who instead dislikes animals and yet seems to attract them to himself like a magnet.

Eric Sōlt seems to dislike him (a reference to his dog-like personality), and often mocks him in English. Though Yata’s English is bad, he seems to be able to pick up the insults and gets very annoyed.

He’s very annoyed by how popular Kamamoto gets in the summer when he loses weight. Though, rather than because of jealousy, it might be because when Rikio is surrounded by girls it is impossible for Yata to approach him or hang out with him at ease.

He’s an active member of the Committee of Fattening Up Kamamoto Rikio, going great lengths with his cooking skills to make him gain weight (even to the point where his own living budget will be as low as to force Yata to eat poorly).

Yata appears to get overwhelmingly flustered in the presence of young women, to the point he looks outright terrified and avoids interacting with them. He seems to be okay with little girls or women far older than himself.

Because of his past drama with Saruhiko, Yata holds a personal and violent grudge towards Scepter 4 and anything related to them, reacting with suspicion and hostility towards any of its members.

By far the member who cares about Homra’s honor the most. Yata doesn’t tolerate that anything offensive is said about his King or clan. He also gets furious when his fellow clansmen act in dishonorable ways that could stain the Red Clan’s reputation, and will violently discipline them without any restraint if so.

In general, Yata proves to have great pride and sense of honor overall, refusing to strike at injured people, no matter how bad he hates them.

Despite his problems with Fushimi and how directly he insults him as they fight, Yata also won’t tolerate that anyone else speaks poorly of him. In general, Homra members know to avoid the topic entirely around Yata.

He’s known to not listen all too well to no one, save perhaps Mikoto-san (who however hardly ever tells him anything).

This may be another a mirror personality trait to reflect Fushimi, who instead doesn’t speak out his thoughts (“He never listens vs. He never tells”).

He won’t tolerate being bossed around by any guy save the Homra founders. Yata dislikes when people settle things on their own. Ironically, he is guilty of this fault himself as he often takes decisions and acts without waiting.

Despite his fiery temper, Yata is very nurturing and won’t hesitate to show concern and care for those he’s very close to. Though he may be aggressive about it, especially with Saruhiko.

Yata is tormented by not knowing the exact reasons behind Saruhiko’s betrayal. He’ll ask him several times, only to get mocked as a result.

When he and Saruhiko start arguing, Yata can get tunnel vision and forget about everything else around him, including bullets and grenades.

Though he always swears he’ll beat Saruhiko to death, deep inside Yata has never given up on getting his friend back, and always looks with hope for signs from Saruhiko that they can be comrades again. Because of this he gets even more hurt every time Saruhiko reiterates his betrayal and spite towards Homra.

Yata can be a bit of a crybaby and tear up more easily than most guys.

He’s terrified of ghosts. When he hears about ghost stories or thinks one may be close, Yata gets extremely jittery and manic. However, he strongly denies his fears and will react with nervous violence if accused of this.