#get his start until the edo era

[rinofwater]

I recant that post from the other day but I'm too lazy to go back and find it

There is in fact just the one medicine vendor in the entirety of Japan regardless of time and of space forever and always

And he didn't have a name still, I'm just still being confounded by particles lol

[captain-hawks]

Dee, I have Thoughts and no one irl to brainrot @ so pls excuse the umpteenth time I am in your notifications this weekend.

Last week I word vomited in your spicy requests about how much TraditionalGarb!Hoshina plagues my thoughts. Well, I went out for dinner and had a few cocktails, and my slightly drunk, pliant mind was churning the entire ride home. [Sober Note: I started this ask right when I got home, and now, having sobered up a bit, holy hell I am sorry for getting lost in the sauce and turning what was supposed to be drunk imagines into something ludicrous. I can't quite bring myself to delete it bc I was clearly so into it, but seriously if this is too long/annoying please just ignore me!]

I'm thinking of a historical period-era AU Hoshina clan. Not too familiar with Japanese history but maybe Edo period, idk about historical accuracy. In my imagines, reader is from a less influential, albeit wealthier clan, has 2 older brothers, and grew up around the Hoshina family from birth. Both their families are preoccupied with the eldest children and their role in continuing the family legacy/business, so their families don't hound them too closely in their childhoods. They're in a rural, countryside part of Japan with plenty of wild grass and flower fields. Soichiro holds all the weight of family expectation so he is more aloof. But Soshiro is allowed more freedom, so when he isn't obsessively training, he is spending time with reader as her closest childhood friend. Meanwhile, reader is trained in all the traditional arts and duties expected of her, but she also has a love for calligraphy (or painting but idk how accurate that is) that she is allowed to cultivate because, again, her parents aren't hounding her too closely. She's fascinated by Soshiro's swordsmanship and makes him show her all the moves he is learning, and in turn, he is enthralled by her knowledge and love of calligraphy and likes to hear her talk about it for hours even if he doesn't quite get it. Because they're in a rural area, they also play outdoors together whenever they can, climbing trees and splashing in the streams, and Soshiro is rough-and-tumble and free around her in ways he can't be at home when he's ceaselessly trying to measure up to and surpass his brother. As they grow older they are naturally forced apart due to expectations of their genders and stations. They still hold onto what they believe is a fondness for their childhood friend, until one day, as the wild wisteria blooms and they see a glimpse of each other after an absence of several months, they both realize that the innocent fondness held in their hearts had taken root long ago and finally bloomed into love.

Unfortunately, in the Edo period, warrior families started to lose their place in this era of newfound peace, and the Hoshinas are forced to worry about their place in this world for the first time. At the same time, reader's clan is struck by tragedy and her 2 older brothers are killed in an accident, leaving a vacuum for the future of the clan. The Hoshina and Reader patriarchs decide on what they believe is a mutually beneficial arrangement: Soichiro and Reader shall join their clans in marriage. Reader's clan benefits from the prestige of the Hoshina name, and the Hoshina clan benefits from the prosperous wealth of her family. As the sole remaining offspring of her clan, she should be honored to be chosen to helm the Hoshina household and bear its heirs.

Ofc Reader is devastated, but she knows that her voice is unimportant and she will forever be doomed to suffer in a life so close to her dreams, but with a cruel twist. She sees Soshiro just once after the engagement announcement, and it is with a too-cheerful mask that he congratulates her on her match, and, in a moment when no one is looking, he slips into her hands a small gift that he had picked up in the capitol on his last trip and had been meaning to give to her: some fine new ink he thought she would love for her calligraphy. He supposes it is an engagement gift now, even if the gift is only really for her.

On the eve of her wedding, she manages to sneak out and find Soshiro. Together, they go to the grassy field of wildflowers by the creek they played in as children. Even though fate is not on their side, it seems the moon has sympathy for them, because it hides behind clouds and conceals their illicit meeting. They're finally able to declare their love for one another in the place where it all began. She tells Soshiro that even though destiny was determined to keep them apart, she wants to know what it is to wholly love and be loved, just once in her life. So under the glow of a thousand fireflies, she undresses Hoshina, gently pulling his kosode apart to reveal his chest. She laughs lightly as she traces his scars-the old and familiar ones from childhood, and the newer ones he has acquired in manhood. She traces the marks she remembers: the dented scar on his shoulder from when he fell out of the cypress tree trying to grab a beetle to impress her when they were five. The patch of slightly uneven skin along his arm from three years later, when he had run after his father's horse in the road and tripped down the hill. The thin, raised slash from when Soichiro had cut him in training at age 11, to teach him a lesson on inferiority. From there, she draws lines to the unfamiliar marks: a puffy patch of new skin from a recent battle wound that has only started to heal, two pigmented gashes where he was gouged in battle last year, a mottled expanse of bruises on his ribs from where he had challenged Soichiro last month, just after the engagement announcement, and had finally shown his brother that his attempted lesson in inferiority had never sunk in.

She says that all these marks tell her a story in the same way a calligrapher's soul is left indelibly in their brushstrokes. She sees a world in his body, and it tells her favorite story. Overwhelmed, Soshiro finally crashes into her and through the flurry of kissing he has her on her back in the grass, slipping her out of her garments. He's mapping his way across her significantly less blemished skin with his lips and tongue, and laments between pants that he will never be able to partake in the story of her body, because she belongs to his brother and he cannot leave his own brushstrokes on the expanse of her skin. Breathless, reader pulls a bottle tucked into her undergarment next to her heart-a vial of the precious ink Soshiro had gifted her. Her wedding is tomorrow-she knows there is no way he can leave any lasting marks on her. But for tonight, she is his and she wants some proof of that, however temporary. So Soshiro dips his finger in the ink and swirls and dips it all over the memories he has buried in his mind: a spot on her neck where a particularly vicious bee had stung her as they chased tadpoles as six-year-olds, a whorl on her shoulder where his ten-year-old head rested as she unrolled endless scrolls to extol the virtues of some long-dead calligrapher, an almost-violent slash just under the swell of her bosom where he had caught her when she had fallen in her attempt to swing his katana at 13.

And as he finally lines up his achingly hard cock and breaches her cunt, as he makes love to her for the first and last time, he grieves for the death of the two stories written here-hers, which will be washed off her body as soon as she returns to her home, and his, which will wither and end without her to trace the patterns and give them the meaning he can never find by himself. [sober note/holy run on sentence batman]

you better believe i'm posting this ask because IT NEEDS TO BE SEEN!!!

MY FRIEND!!!!! i'm on my knees. i'm begging. i'm clawing at the air. i'm frantically waving anything of value that i have in your direction. i implore you to write this because i'm wholly obsessed. a period piece, childhood friends, the arranged marriage, THE YEARNING, THE LOVELY POETRY OF IT ALL EVEN JUST AS A SUMMARIZED VERSION!?!?!?

She says that all these marks tell her a story in the same way a calligrapher's soul is left indelibly in their brushstrokes. She sees a world in his body, and it tells her favorite story.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(don't even get me started on him painting on her????? oh my god i'm so unwell. i need one of those fainting couches. i want to CONSUME THISSSSS)

you're a genius. a brilliant wonderful genius.

[blushblushbear]

Hellooooo! 👋

Thank you again for taking my previous request with the immortal x reincarnation Headcannons 🥺 I forever love that trope to death

I enjoy seeing others Headcannons for the guys💖 thus why i’m requesting another Headcannons for once again, the Kitsunes

Since it’s December 👀 do you think you could come up with some Headcannons for what the three Kits would do on Christmas?

Like Aki trying to trap Santa for example🥺

SO! 👏

A quick history lesson to preface this! (Which I had to google, these fox idiots and fan fics involving them have me googling so much lately)

While Christmas first appeared in Japan in the 16th century, it wasn't widely celebrated until the Meiji Era (1868-1912)

If we take their release date as the canon date for things (so they got foxified 200 years prior to their release) that means they got turned into foxes around 1823, aka the Edo Period

So yeah, they have been foxes for the whole of christmas being a major/regular thing in japan and also being kitsune probably did not even celebrate it cause it might be competition???? (would they bro out with Jesus or try and fist fight him in a parking lot?????? surely not on the dude's birthday! No one is that cruel)

but yeah, it's safe to say their christmas this year (or maybe in 2023 cause they WERE released on December 5th, how quickly did you unfox them??) with you is like---- their first christmas EVER

ALSO SPEAKING OF CHRISTMAS IN JAPAN

it's considered a couples' holiday-- or at least one you spend with friends at a party or something

sooooo with that being said

Aki:

ya know originally when you said he'd try to catch santa I was like 'nah' but then I thought about it and like

actually you're so right??

he totally would though

at least he would try

is he gonna ransom santa??

beat him up???

strike some kind of deal for presents???

JUST VIBE WITH THE DUDE????

even he's not sure, he's gonna see how it goes

I think he's very santa focused until he hears that christmas is a couple's holiday

then his gears shift so so fast

and don't even get me STARTED about after he heard about mistletoe

his santa trap plans become you trap plans so quickly

and all of them end with you kissing him

also he heard there's cake and fried chicken and frankly

he thought all this was really silly when he first heard it but it's low key one of his favorite holidays now

Haru:

Hoe hoe hoe

okay but no LISTEN

there's this saying that the most sex in japan is happening on christmas or something to that tune

so like

Haru has known about this holiday for a while

he's actually the only one who knew about it before hand

though his views on it are very like-----

in a horny japanese way

he only knows it as the go to a party and getting laid holiday

which fair

but yeah

his views on things sort of change a little now that he's got his powers back and is not stuck in fox mode for the first time during this holiday

well-- his views haven't changed but the mood has for him

he's still wanting to take you out and wine and dine you and also end up back at one of your places

but 1) it's more romantic to him now than just a fun lay like it would've been before you

and 2) frankly this is just his usual m.o. just more christmas flavored

it's like a pre-valentine's day as far as he's concerned

aka another excuse to take you out, show you off, give you a good time then end the night with some alone time back at your place <3

Fuyu:

The oldest and most shinto-y of the bunch, he's the most taken aback by this holiday

he doesn't hate it or anything but he does see it as humans doing kooky human things

but you've opened him up to a lot of new experiences recently so ya know what??

alright!

let's go out and have a modern little christmas date

it's different but it could be fun!

and it is fun actually

he tries a lot of new things and he actually has a good amount of fun with you

it's very much a cute little sweet christmas date

he tries fried chicken for the first time

well, okay--- yakitori exists but my understanding is that that's more grilled, and tempura exists but that's sort of different to like------- KFC style deep fried shit

he's def had stuff like it but not like---- KFC ya know????

he likes it fine

lil greasy for his taste but it's nice for a treat

but yeah it's mostly just a pleasant little date, you and him just kinda enjoying the sights and sounds together in this new world that he refused to partake in for so long

and it def ends with a christmas cake

and maybe you showing him mistletoe

aaaand maybe telling him about the spike in spicy times if you feel so inclined ;3

[echoe-back-from-the-void]

Edo Era JJK (Part 2)

Part 1 |

Romantically involved characters. (Toji, Satoru, Suguru, Sukuna)

The Hime was asleep for a week. Every now and then she would stir and mumble something before going still again. Toji kept close watch as he did his best to keep her fevers down. When he could not attend to her Geto did. Neither male trusted Gojo to not make the poor girl worse.

"You need to wake up soon, princess."

"Come back, Hime. Me and Satoru miss you."

That night all three men had fallen asleep in the room, they had all been staying up to be there when she woke up but missed it due to exhaustion.

Aya blinked at the ceiling while trying to grapple with what happened. She sat up quietly and discovered all her friends were fast asleep. Satoru and Suguru leaning against each other while Toji leaned against the wall behind her. She stood quietly not wanting to wake any of them before leaving out a door to the back yard.

Rubble littered the once beautiful garden, her favorite tree uprooted and twisted with singe marks everywhere. The flowers she used to tend to were all but ripped up and thrown around. If she didn't know better she would assume a tornado had done this. But this was just her.

She walked further and further from the home and the destruction didn't stop. Still weak she swayed unsteadily before dropping to the grass. Her hands balled up the roots and dirt as she tried to calm her fast beating heart. Her breath leaving in soft pants as it misted the air until a fog took over the area, concealing her from view. Her father, the man who raised her, took care of her and never let her down. He was gone.

She wanted to be angry, to scream, to throw something.

Her grip on the ground tightened and she tried to lift her hand full of dirt to throw but she couldn't and her arm sank back down. Fresh tears began to flood her eyes and she bowed her head with muffled whimpers. It hurt so much. Everything hurt, her chest was caving in as air became scarce, barely able to get past her trembling lips.

She clenched the dirt tighter and something sharp cut into her palm. Confusedly she shook the dirt out of her hand to reveal the sharp object was the Zenin clan crest. With a huff she sat back on her heels and her tears stopped. She could feel her body shaking at the anger but despite that nothing began to float.

Again she stood up on exhausted limbs and continued to walk into the fog. It didn't matter if she stumbled or fell, she got back up. She cut her hands open again on some tree and kept walking. Not knowing the blood had lured a curse toward her.

An odd clanking sound came from the foliage behind her and she stopped walking to look over her shoulder. Some malformed creature launched at her and she leaned away. "I have no time for vermin." She whispered. Raising her hand a few rocks lifted in the air before she made a flicking motion and they shot at the creature with precision causing it to scream and die.

Gojo woke with a start after hearing a scream. Looking around the room he realized that she was not there. "Wake up! She's gone." He demanded kicking Suguru and Toji, but Toji caught his foot without looking and rubbed his eyes before he too noticed the princess's disappearance.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" He cursed harshly running out the door and being greeted with fog. "Damnit!"

Back with Aya, she tilted her head at the screaming beast and turned away to continue walking. More instances of beasts came toward her but each was again swiftly dealt with. Soon they stopped attacking altogether to watch her. She looked weak, stumbling and dragging her feet but despite that she had killed many of them easily.

Another cursed spirt appeared in front of the girl, she moved to kill this one too but it raised its hand. "Need help." It said and she was inclined to listen because of its forest-spirit like appearance.

"And why should I help you?"

"Angry. You Want revenge. Help."

"Ah, I see. I help you, you help me. Is that right?"

"Save master."

"And where is this master that you, yourself, cannot get to him?"

"Locked. Guarded."

"Take me to him."

Hours passed and the day had risen but she continued to follow the cursed spirit through the forest until a clearing. The spirt stopped and refused to go further so she nodded walking past it and into the light.

"Halt! Who goes there!?" A man asked in position to attack. Three more men stood behind him with swords out.

"Step aside." She said making the men confused. "I said, step aside." With a raise of her hand the men were pushed away and she walked past them. Now more than halfway to the temple they got up and realized she was a threat. Again she breathed out her mouth in exhaustion, puffs of fog spilling out and clouding the area. The men still fought and with each one that died another sword joined the air behind her as she collected their weapons. Breathing in, the fog was pulled back into her body and the area cleared.

Only one man was left standing and she twisted her wrist causing the swords of his comrades to puncture him. "What a waste." She said tiredly. Moving forward more she examined all the seals holding the cursed spirit's master back. Leaning down she lifted one strip of paper and crouched under it to get inside. Walking further there were more talismans and charms but she kept past them unflinching.

Her energy was waning as the rooms and words began to spin. Using the wall for support she kept going until reaching another room.

The walls, ceiling and floor were covered in barrier seals while in the center was a man with four arms tied down.

Two pairs of red eyes glanced up as she entered. He had a smirk on his face as he watched her. "Now, how did a pretty bird get in here?" He questioned.

Aya leaned against the wall before sinking to the floor. Breath coming in quick pants as she watched the room spin faster. "Ryomen Sukuna, make a binding vow with me."

"And what are you offering little bird?" The curse said in amusement.

"Everything." She gave a sad smile to the grinning curse. "My soul, my life, my clan...all of it, I'll set you free."

"And what do you want?"

"What all humans want." She chuckled weakly as her eyes kept closing. "Revenge, and to protect the ones I love before I die."

Sukuna could see the woman quickly becoming weak, if she died here then he didn't know when the next poor sap would come by to free him? What if he's moved again? And how dare she not bow before him! But despite all that he watched the woman closer, her cursed energy was vast and trying to heal her, something most sorcerers could never do. How interesting. "And the consequences? Stipulations?"

"I cannot kill you and you cannot kill me or knowingly let me die nor kill the ones I love. If we break these vows then you will be sealed again and I will die." She coughed harshly and slumped further down the wall.

"I consent to this binding vow." Sukuna said before demanding she release him.

Lifting her shaky arm she touched two fingers to the ropes binging him and they began to burn quickly as they became null. She slumped the rest of the way to the floor in exhaustion causing the king of curses to look at her in apathy before lifting her by the back of her clothes.

"Weak. But it will do." He moved her to sit on his arm while the other wrapped around her to keep her still.  With her closer he noticed how fragile she looked. With a dash he cleared the clearing back into the forest. He looked for an area that he could set her down, let her heal herself.

It felt so unlike him. He should slap her awake and demand to know who she wants revenge on so he can deal with it swiftly and be free. Once free he could kill her without repercussions.

But he doesn't.

He finds a shady spot far from the temple and sits down against a tree before setting her in his lap. His four arms coming around to cage her like a bird.

How strange.

He sits with her in his arms for hours upon hours. Even when he thinks she's waking up, he lulls her back to sleep. In the time he sits there he makes plans. For one he needs to find those who bound him. He will kill them slowly and curse them into oblivion. He would also like to find his subordinate. Eventually cause mayhem and destruction.

Looking down he looked at the frail human. She had not given her name nor intended target. She didn't even go into a spiel about why she wanted revenge. How did she find him? Did she also kill the guards? He thinks he should've at least stopped to eat one of the guards. It had been so long since he's eaten. Will she be hungry when she wakes up?

With a resounding sigh he lifts her to rest in his arms before standing. He then begins to wander while searching for anything she can eat.

Eventually he finds a plum tree and reaches up to gently pluck a few from its branches. That should be enough right? Sitting down again he prods at her check trying to wake her. Instead of swatting his hand away or biting him, she burrows more into his chest. He utters a curse under his breath before prodding her again. His knuckles nudge the corner of her lips. He didn't want to scratch her with his long nails. Her lips part softly in a pout and he holds a plum over them before using his nail to split the skin and let the juice drip into her mouth. Slowly her tongue peaks out to lick at a stray drop while her eyes open. He releases his grip on her mouth as she reaches up and gently takes the plum from him. Softly and a little shy she takes a bite out of the plum and closes her eyes in bliss. "Sweet."

The dark red juice of the fruit stains her lips like blood and he finds himself enamored by the sight. The idea of it actually being blood sends his chest into a flutter. Alongside the soft feeling he feels a surge of anger. But before he can curse or shove her off he hears distant shouting slowly coming closer. With quick movement he sets her under the tree before hiding. The sooner she has her revenge the better, but until then he needs to be away from her before he kills her out of anger.

"Princess!!"

"Hime!"

Two separate voices shouted and Aya turned to the noise before seeing Toji, Suguru and Satoru running toward her. She looked behind her to find Sukuna but he was gone. Where or why he left she didn't understand as her head still felt full of fog aside from her one goal.

What was her goal?

"Toji?" She asked softly and the male rushed toward her kneeling to be equal height.

"Been looking everywhere for ya princess. Where have you been? Why did you leave? Are you hurt?" His hands cup the side of her face while his other goes to her forehead. "Fevers gone." He gives a grateful sigh before pulling her into a hug. "Had me worried fuking sick." He hissed without bite. Only holding her tighter as if she could slip away again.

"Toji, I," she stopped unable to say anything for a moment. She had no defense. She left the house but then, why, and where was the king of curses she made a vow with? "I wanna go home." She said in exhaustion.

Her faithful guard nodded and asked if she'd like to stand to which she said yes. She almost dropped the plums that rested in her lap and while reaching for one she realized she had something in her hand.

"Drop something?" Satoru teased holding a plum back to her. Suguru had the others in his arm.

Instead her attention was on the metal piercing into her hand. Splaying her hand out she revealed a crest. Dirt smudged and covered in a faint layer of dried blood from her hand. It didn't matter. Its shape and color unmistakable.

Zenin.

"Oh. I remember now." She whispered under her breath but all the men heard it.

"What's that?" Toji asked having not seen the metal piece well enough to know what it was. She closed her hand at his prodding.

"It's nothing, some nails from the shed. I must've grabbed them as I was leaving." She said manipulating the metal in her hand to resemble nails before reopening her hand to show them. "See." She presented two long nails to Toji and he nodded. At the same time Suguru and Satoru shared a look.

She caught their stare in the corner of her eye but she looked away first. They wouldn't understand, she thought.

For the men and their speed it only took a day to return home when it took her two or three to walk that far in the first place. Toji insisted on carrying her back and wouldn't let Geto or Gojo switch. Insisting it be his duty, never once did he seem tired or over encumbered.

She stayed silent the way home and for Toji that only felt worse than if she were crying. Her eyes were colder, empty. Even Gojo as air headed as he was also picked up in it and made efforts to cheer her up.

She smiled and laughed but there was still something missing.

At their arrival back to the estate she asked Toji to gather the remaining housekeeping. With all the servants lined up Aya took a deep breath.

"As you may well know, my—" she choked on her words before straightening her spine with another breathe. Toji raised a his arm slightly to let her know he could take over but she turned her head away and back to the lineup. "As you may know or heard, your lord is dead. Nakamiji Hirano had passed and you will no longer be serving him. Due to his passing some staff will need be let go. This is not because of a certain person skill or ability. This is a volunteer option. Those that would like to resign will be given this months pay and rehoused under similar households. You will not be kicked and thrown to the curb for wishing to leave. I understand this is sudden but all those who wish to resign please step forward.

7 of the ten stepped forward. Some looked unsure. Others worried.

"The seven leaving will be given a week to move and will be set up with another estate. You seven are dismissed to begin packing. At any time you finish please come to the dining hall for instruction." The seven bowed and dispersed leaving only three.

"Those left will not be expected to work harder to fill the empty workers. Do as you would normally but do not over exert yourself or take on more than you can handle. I will hire another two people within the week that is my promise." Aya bowed her head and the three were dismissed as well.

All three men stared at her in shock. They had not expected that. Not expected her to immediately slip into running the estate. One of them felt pity, she should be grieving not pushing it down. One felt worry and the other shock.

"Toji?"

The man in question stepped forward to be beside her.

"With the lord dead. There are many things that will need to change. I'm asking you to bear with me on these changes. Be my confidant as always." She exhaled again and a small transparent cloud rolled out her mouth like swirling smoke before dispersing. "I will do my best to lead the estate under the radar, I'm asking you to be my figure head. This does not mean you are powerless, you will have just as much say in how the clan is run. I just need—time." With those parting words she left into the estate. Her path going to the master's study.

Arriving, Aya saw the disarray as many things had been thrown around, probably by the intruders. Rolling her sleeves up she began to work on organizing everything back into proper order.

Her muscles tight as she tried to keep her anger contained. There was a sadness somewhere but each time she let it creep through it would be stamped out by anger. Papers began to float from the floor and surprisingly made it easier to organize. Her anger kept her throat closed in a way she couldn't even scream.

The zenin clan sent the assassins.

The assassins that killed her father.

Her only family.

Dead.

The room became darker and darker until shadows covered the walls and the words too blurry without a candle. She eyed the plums sitting on the corner of the desk, Suguru had brought them to her.

One lifted from the pile and began to hover in front of her as if held by invisible hands. Twisting and turning in air as she examined it. Where was he? They made a vow, wasn't he supposed to stay beside me until it was complete? Shaking her head she caught the plum as it fell into her hand. It doesn't matter. She would get revenge with or without his help. The vow was only an insurance that she would live long enough to see it through. But still...there was something behind his touch. Pressing her lips to the skin of the plum she tried to calm the short flutter she felt.

The thought could go no further as there was a knock on the door. "Hime?"

"Come in." Gojo came inside carrying a tray of dinner and looked around the dark room.

"You really shouldn't read in the dark it's bad for your eyes." Satoru said before lighting a nearby candle.

She rubbed her eyes with a drawn out sigh. "There's to much work to do and not enough time."

"What do you need help with?"

"Hiring new guards, maids and a cook. The gardens need to be rebuilt. The finances gone over. I need to hire a team of builders to rebuild the master wing. There's too much." She said the last part sadly.

Seeing the stress in her he moved to stand beside her and ran a hand down her shoulder in a calming manner while using his other hand to help organize the loose papers. "Don't stress too much, Suguru and I can help. He helps handle most of the Gojo clan finances, he's good with money. I can help with finding maids and the construction." He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "You have us to help, always."

She put her hand over his on her shoulder and leaned into his wrist. The moment stayed frozen and when Satoru looked down in confusion he was surprised to see her fast asleep.

The next week and a half was spent setting everything straight.

Today was the day for her to pick her new guards for the estate. Some twenty people showed up ranging from 13-20. She watched them train and spar to spot the ones she wanted. Her eyes continued to stray back to the same four people.

A boy with pink hair that reminded her of Sukuna.

A platinum blonde with a mask over his mouth.

A boy with a sword and too much cursed energy.

A girl with orange red hair dressed as a boy.

"What do you think, princess." Toji asked beside her as they stood under the porch shade.

"I think those four have great potential. I also noticed the one with a hammer, a girl. She's spirited it makes me think of when I was her age."

The four bowed infront of the hime with respect. "We swear to protect you with our life!" They said in unison.

"Let's start with names, yes?" Aya asked with a smile.

"Yuji Itadori!" The pink haired one exclaimed.

"Toge Inumaki." He said pulling down his mask slightly before coving his face again. "Shake shake."

"Yuta Okkotsu." The boy with a sword said nervously.

"Nobara Kugusaki." The girl said glad to have been chosen.

"Aya Hirano. And this is Toji." She said making the large man perk up beside her. "Welcome to the Hirano clan. Please grow and mature into becoming warriors, strong enough to protect the ones you love." She bowed respectfully to them before dismissing them to settle in.

Over the next few weeks, Toji, Gojo and Geto could feel a presence watching over them when they were with the Hime. She herself seemed oblivious so none had mentioned the stalker to her. She seemed more distanced or distracted at time.

Again Gojo felt the hair on the back of his neck rise as the stalker watched them. "Aya, why don't we head inside soon, it's sooo hot out." Satoru whined childishly wanting to get her away from those prying eyes.

"It's not hot, Sato, you're just wearing too many layers."

"Oh are you insisting I strip?" He teased leaning closer to her but really he was looking over her shoulder where he could see four piercing red eyes.

"I'm insisting you go inside if it bothers you so much. I need the fresh air before I return to the study. I'm so very sorry I asked your company. Next time I'll just sit with Suguru."

"Hey."

"Hey yourself Sa-to-ru." She enunciated in a way that sent pleasurable chill down his neck. "Say ah."

Despite his confusion he did as said and was surprised when she pressed a strawberry to his lips. The juices flooded his mouth as he bit down.

"Was that so hard?" She asked rolling her eyes at him and returning to eating her food.

What none of them knew was that every morning a new plum was on her desk, no note or letter of who it came from. But she knew. And in a way it was reassuring to know that even if he wasn't beside her he still would keep his word.

Aya Hirano was biding her time, setting her affairs in order and subtly teaching Toji to take over as the clan head. It wasn't that she thought she would die on the way to her goal. No the hard part would come after, there was only so much one can get away with. No, when it's discovered who had committed the crime. It doesn't matter who her father was or that she's a woman. She will be executed for sure.

And it would be worth it.

Speaking into the dark of the study where she knew he was listening. "I have a plan, no matter what happens do not interfere until I say. I can handle whatever they throw at me.”

“And if they aren’t—“

“They are.” She said with such certainty but that didn’t stop the creeping doubt.

With a drawn out sigh she finished the letter she would leave.

Farther off was another creature. It had been watching too. Watching, waiting.

It had played dumb, played weak. Led her to the king of curses. She made the vow, the king of curses could not let her die. It was the perfect bargaining chip. He had no choice but to fall into their plans now. The king of curses would not risk his life or his freedom. He would become the pawn they needed to succeed.

Part three coming soon with slaughter

[avionvadion]

I have a question.... What happened to Sesshomaru and his remaining children after being free from the scroll and after his wife's younger self left to see his younger self? That one was left unanswered... Most of the stories I seen regarding on what Sesshomaru is up to in the modern era was him being some kind of business man.... You know some kind of CEO.... Others was some kind of landlord and many others... But could we see your possible theories and interpretations on what he might do.... I think Towa and Airi would help him adjust as they are more familiar with Modern Technology, traditions, and practices.

Good question! I... have not thought that far ahead, lol.

Definitely not a ceo or businessman, though. He's a demon. That hasn't changed in the several hundred years he's been sealed up. Especially since he's been sealed up for several hundred years. He was basically a warlord by the time Edo was happening and demons started to be eradicated since he was trying to keep himself and his children safe.

Demons are just starting to come out of hiding now, too, so he's probably hanging around the Higurashi and Kururugi Shrines when he's not wandering around slaying potential threats. I don't think he'd care much for modern technology, lol. (He'd definitely glare if Towa or Airi jokingly called him a "Grandpa" because of it) Hikaru might have an interest in it, while Sora would probably try and follow the girls to their classes before realizing they go to separate schools since Towa keeps getting expelled while Airi keeps out of trouble the best she can.

Hinami looks a lot like Akane, though, and it's gonna confuse/hurt the siblings for quite a while until they get used to interacting with her, and even then it's still gonna ache. Maria's gonna be getting so many updates from Older!Sess about how Irene lived after returning to the Feudal Era. Although... he might leave out the bit about Irene being cursed. Not even he would wish to risk the wrath of his sister-in-law for not being able to keep the curse from happening.

Sesshomaru is gonna hate seeing older!Koga though. Koga had the self preservation instincts to blend in with human society, but Sesshomaru... oof. Koga is just gonna remind him of Inuyasha, lol.

Here's a sketch idea of Irene when she first gets cursed and Sess' full outfit when he's hunting down Mayonaka after Irene is put to sleep on the mountain.

[zolusbian]

so while rewatching shippuden we have been waiting for the moment where it turns from Really Good to Really Bad, right. because it happens. and it happens as soon as madara starts pulling the moon bullshit at the 5 kage summit. up until then, everything is narratively tight, themes are being developed, and characters have arcs. naruto goes through the experience with pain and has his worldview both turned on its head and reconfirmed. nagato is an amazing villain and it forces you to think because he's right, but he's also so wrong. and naruto is right, but he's naiive, and he has to go through this. and, of course, the side characters are getting great development; hinata's bravery and sacrifice, shikamaru stepping up to take responsibility for everything, sasuke going through the shit with itachi and his struggle to press down his emotions, sai and danzo, etc.

and it doesn't need to end at the pain arc, right. like pain is a mid-level villain. and there's still narrative threads that need to be followed through, namely terrorist sasuke and danzo's undermining the leaf. and these things could still be taken care of without the utter bullshit fuckery that starts with the 5 kage arc. here is how i would rewrite it:

final villain is NOT madara but danzo. it's revealed danzo killed madara but in the slimiest way, basically cutting off his life support of hashirama cells and then killing him like a COWARD because danzo is a COWARD and he is only powerful because of systems in place.

obito can still be there, working with/being manipulated by madara and then eventually danzo. he's still a villain during the war. the war still happens. the edo tenseis still happen. the moon thing can still be there and be an excuse. again, though, danzo has effectively manipulated the uchihas in an attempt to consolidate power for himself that turns sideways.

sasuke can still kill danzo.

we can still have cool war arc moments like gai going 8 gates on madara (madara's there bceause of edo tensei)

naruto and sasuke can still have the VOTE2 fight. but there's more development of sasuke's redemption. he still goes on his journey of atonement (maybe seeking out remaining akatsuki sympathizer cells) and has the forehead touch with sakura. sakura can still join him on his journey but this time she's like, an actual person and character, and doesn't accept sasuke's urge to cut off all attachments.

naruto realizes the systemic flaws and actually DOES reform the village. he starts small, with the clans, and through that he's able to develop his relationship with hinata more deeply and profoundly. (no need for neji to die).

maybe some spin-off gaidens with naruto learning how to be a politician under tsunade and then kakashi. he's still the 7th hokage.

ninja academy still exists but now it's about upholding tradition and friendly sparring. it's a proper school up to 18 years old and becoming a ninja is optional. clans still preserve and practice their unique jutsu but also find different applications for them.

no boruto. if there is a sequel it's like, 100 years into the future, maybe after a long-lasting era of peace is disrupted. powerscaling reset. protagonist can be naruto's great-grandson or something. boruto himself lives a completely unremarkable life.

[thelazyhermits]

Y'all know how I've mentioned before that I like playing otome games? Well one of the games I played last month has been on my mind cause I keep thinking of how I could incorporate Yuu and some of the TWST boys into the story of that game.

I have no idea why my brain suddenly started doing this, but I figured I'd go ahead and make a post about it cause why not? 😂

Okay, so first off, the otome game that I'll be talking about is Winter’s Wish: Spirits of Edo, which I would recommend to anyone who likes otome games. While I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a favorite of mine since I didn't get super attached to any particular LI, I still enjoyed the game and thought it was really cute ^^

Anyway, this game takes place in Japan during the Kyoha era, and it involves these monsters called blightfall that are created thanks to people's negative emotions. They've been wreaking havoc in the town of Edo for a while now.

There's a special task force established by the shogunate called the Oniwaban, which is in charge of fighting these monsters that most people don't know anything about since blightfall mostly appear at night, and this is just something they try to keep the public from having to know about.

The Oniwaban mostly consist of individuals called vessels, which are formfolk that have had their memories and hearts sealed. In exchange, they're given the power called Snow Sacrament which allows them to defeat blightfall when they engage them in battle.

Formfolk are human-like figures that are born when an item receives enough love from its owner and is given a name. The main difference between them and humans is that they can change their appearance at will, and they can be killed if you destroy the items they were born from. They also have wooden name tags, which can also be targeted, so they have two weaknesses.

Moving on, the heroine of the game has the ability to see threads that no one else can see, and by looking at these threads, which are attached to everyone's, except for vessels, necks, she can tell what a person is truly feeling, ergo she can see their emotions. These threads can also tell her when a blightfall is about to appear since they're the product of negative emotions.

That's why the shogunate summons her and has her join the Oniwaban in hopes that she'll be able to help them stop the outbreak of blightfall that has been going on for the last several years.

The reason I started thinking of Yuu in this setting is because in the game the poor heroine is ostracized/exiled by the village she grew up in because she could see things they couldn't and she could tell when someone was gonna die from looking at their threads which led them to believe she was the reason those people died.

The heroine lived in the village with her father, but as soon as he passed away, she was forced to live up on the mountain away from the village. Thankfully, because her father was so well-respected by the village, they send her provisions, so she is still technically provided for, even though that obviously doesn't make her situation any less horrible.

It's just really easy for me to imagine Yuu in that kinda character role, because of the kinda luck she has, so my brain just rolled with the idea lol

I could easily picture poor Yuu being misunderstood for powers only she has, and as a result, she's only close to her father, whom thankfully loves her very much and takes good care of her up until his passing.

Because she wants to be useful to her hardworking father, Yuu learns at a young age how to cook and clean despite him telling her she doesn't have to. Plus, she prefers remaining indoors practicing these skills anyway since indoors she won't have to deal with any judging looks or people whispering about her.

However, Yuu does venture outside whenever she wants fresh air. She just typically heads outside of the village, although she doesn't go too far since she doesn't want to scare/worry her father.

It's during one such outing that an eight-year old Yuu happens to find a young wolf that's injured and has an infected wound. The poor thing was abandoned by its pack and left to die since it was in such bad shape.

Yuu couldn't bear to abandon the animal, which was too weak to do anything but quietly growl at her, so she did what she could to treat its wound with the first aid supplies she likes to always carry around with her.

Despite her young age, she's rather good at first aid, because she has a lot of experience practicing it due all the injuries she'd get when the kids in the village would bully her. She learned how to tend to her own injuries so her father wouldn't have to and she had hoped this would make him less worried about her.

However, after she finishes tending to the wolf, Yuu still thinks her father should personally check on the wolf since she's obviously no doctor and is just a kid, and thankfully, when he hears about the wolf, her father agrees to look it over after she begs and pleads for his help.

Since the villagers wouldn't be pleased about a potentially dangerous wild animal being brought to the village, Yuu's father decides to bring the wolf to the old house up on the mountain that's not being used by anyone.

For the next several days, Yuu and her father tend to the wolf, constantly taking care of its injury and offering it food to help it regain its strength.

Yuu spends almost all of her time with the wolf and only leaves its side whenever her father says its time for her to come home at the end of the day.

Thanks to Yuu and her father's dutiful care, the wolf survives its injury and manages to make a full recovery, much to their great relief.

Once the wolf eventually recovers, they expect it to leave and return to the wild, although Yuu hates the idea of having to part with it, but to their great surprise, the wolf decides to remain in the area.

Naturally, that's partially because it has nowhere else to go but mostly because it wants to remain with the people that nursed it back to health since it feels indebted to them and has become attached to them.

Yuu is delighted about this since this means she now has a friend, and she pays the wolf, which she names Jack after a storybook character she likes, visits all the time since she loves hanging out with him.

For a while, time passes like this until a very surprising turn of events occurs that involves a sad, nine-year old Yuu visiting Jack after having escaped her bullies.

While she's not normally one to cry since she thinks she should be strong in order to avoid worrying her father, Yuu is crying when she comes to visit Jack, who becomes worried about her since he's never seen in her in a state like this before.

Jack wants to know why Yuu's crying, but obviously, he can't ask since he can't speak like a human. He wishes he could, though, since he really wants to help her so she'll smile for him again.

As of late, Jack has been having these kinda thoughts where he wished he was more than just a wolf so he could become even closer to Yuu and better support her since there's only so much he can do with a form like this.

Much to his and Yuu's surprise, this strong desire to talk to Yuu and become closer to her leads to Jack turning into a Beastman, which is something that's not in the game so it's an original idea.

Just like how items can turn into formfolk, I thought it'd be neat if something similar could happen to animals when they receive enough love/feel enough love toward a human that leads to them wanting to communicate with/be closer to a human, and I just decided to use the Beastman term since I'm not creative with names in the slightest lol

One thing that's special about Beastmen is that they can swap forms, so they can look like an animal or a human, although their human forms will always have animal characteristics like ears and a tail.

Since Beastmen are rarer than formfolk, Yuu is very surprised to see one for the first time, but she's also delighted that she can have a conversation with Jack, whose current form appears to be the same age as her.

Jack is also pleased with his sudden transformation since he'll be able to talk to Yuu now and be the kind of friend she needs/deserves. He'll be able to support/protect her even better now.

Because the village forbids formfolk from living there since formfolk eat like humans and this small village has limited supplies, it's immediately assumed that the same would be said about Beastmen, so Yuu only tells her father about what happened to Jack.

Thankfully, Jack can turn back into a wolf whenever he wants, so the chances of the villagers finding out about him are low, especially as long as he remains around the house on the mountain where he's been hanging around up until this point.

From that point on, Yuu is even more excited about visiting Jack, and she spends the majority of her time with him because she loves being with Jack who doesn't treat her like she's something dangerous cause of her powers.

They become really close over the years, like family, and it's because of that bond that Yuu has an easier time getting by after her father eventually passes away when she's thirteen, because she ends up living with Jack, who the villagers thankfully never find out about.

Jack is Yuu's rock during the time she's mourning her father and dealing with being ostracized/exiled by the village. While he was already protective of her, Jack becomes even more so after those events.

More than anything, he'd like to tear into those villagers for their cold-heartedness, but he doesn't since that's not what Yuu would want. Plus, he can't risk the villagers finding out about him and possibly trying to separate him from Yuu.

So, instead, Jack focuses on doing everything else he can think of to look after her, like helping with house repairs and hunting/gathering food in the forest, so there's always enough food for the two of them since the village only sends up enough supplies for one person.

Just like a human, Jack grows older as time passes, so he eventually ends up with an appearance like what he has in TWST canon. He gets all his muscles cause he's constantly training in order to make himself stronger, so he can always protect himself and Yuu, because that's what's most important to him.

For a while, their little world just consists of the two of them, and they're perfectly fine with that since they're just so grateful and happy to have each other. However, eventually, their world becomes a little bit bigger.

Enter the Shroud brothers.

One day, while a fourteen year old Yuu is in the forest gathering edible plants, she happens to hear a lot of yelling, and out of curiosity, she decides to check the situation out but fully intends to remain out of sight since the villagers have to be behind the ruckus and she knows they won't wanna see her.

Much to her surprise, Yuu finds out the commotion is about the village having discovered that Ortho is a formfolk, which is something Idia and his parents have been hiding these last few years.

You see, a few years ago, there was a living human by the name of Ortho Shroud. Sadly, he fell seriously ill and died despite his family's best efforts to save him.

Coincidentally, around this time, one of Ortho's favorite toys, a puzzle box that Idia had made for him, became a formfolk and ended up with an appearance just like Ortho's since formfolk tend to end up looking just like their owners.

Because they knew about the village's law about formfolk being forbidden, the Shroud family decided to hide the truth about Ortho's death and bury him secretly, so that formfolk Ortho could take his place.

The only other person that knew the truth about that incident was actually Yuu, because, back when she still could live in the village, she had seen the original Ortho with black threads around his neck which meant death was in his near future, although she didn't say as much because she didn't wanna be blamed for his death.

Yuu found it highly unlikely that Ortho could survive, considering no one with black threads has ever survived before, but she kept those thoughts to herself since she had no proof that he had been replaced. Plus, she didn't want him to get in trouble with the villagers.

Unfortunately, the secret has finally come out, and the village wants Ortho gone by tomorrow. Naturally, Idia and his parents are against this since Ortho's too young to be off on his own, and Idia can't bear to lose his brother again.

Taking pity on them, Yuu decides to get involved after the villagers all return to the village and the Shroud parents run after them in hopes of getting them to reconsider their demands.

Once Idia and Ortho are the only ones who are left, she calls out to them from her hiding spot, catching them off guard. They quickly recognize her, though, since everyone in the village knows her.

Fortunately, they don't treat her like the other villagers do since they don't see her as a monster. The reason for that is because for the last few years their parents have been researching the clan that Yuu's mother came from.

It's her late mother's blood that led to Yuu having her special power because everyone in that clan could see threads like her, and they were often relied on by the shogunate to fight the blightfall.

While the original reason the Shroud family moved to this village several years ago was to be with Idia/Ortho's grandparents who were unable to provide for themselves due to old age/illness, Mama and Papa Shroud soon had another reason for living there, because a few years after they moved to the village, they received an order from the shogunate to research Yuu's mother's clan's sudden disappearance/demise since no one knows what happened to them and why Yuu is the only one with that clan's blood left.

Mama and Papa Shroud, who were both held in high regard by the shogunate due to their brilliant, inventive minds, were all to eager to accept the order because they've always been quite fascinated by the family Yuu's mother came from, so they were all too happy to delve into this intriguing mystery.

As a result, thanks to their research, the Shroud family knows Yuu's situation, and Mama and Papa Shroud really felt bad for the poor girl and wished the villagers didn't treat her so horribly. Unfortunately, there was no reasoning with the other villagers who outnumbered them.

Plus, they were doing their best to avoid drawing too much attention to their family because the whole situation with Ortho.

Anyway, back to Yuu and the Shroud brothers, after she gets the boys' attention, Yuu offers to let Ortho stay in her home, much to their surprise.

While they'll need to make a big show of Ortho leaving so the villagers will be led to believe he's gone for good, Ortho can secretly come back through the forest and hide out on the mountain with Yuu if he so desires. That way he won't have to be completely separated from his family.

Ortho is delighted by this news since he doesn't want to be apart from his brother and parents. Meanwhile, Idia is surprised and confused by why Yuu would help them when they hardly know each other. Plus, they're part of the village that exiled her, even though their family was actually against Yuu being treated so horribly.

Yuu wants to help because she doesn't think it's right to separate Ortho from his family, and she also has noticed that the Shroud family were the only villagers that never treated her unkindly, so that's enough of a reason for her to wanna help them out.

In the end, the Shroud family takes her up on her offer, but it'll be just a temporary living situation since Mama and Papa Shroud intend to ask the shogunate if they can leave the village and plan on wrapping up their reasearch efforts over the next few weeks/upcoming month.

During this time, Idia, who, ever since the original Ortho died, typically spent all his time indoors with formfolk Ortho up until this point because he was so afraid of losing his brother again, constantly visits his brother at Yuu's house, and as a result, ends up spending a lot of time with Yuu and Jack as well.

Thankfully, Jack didn't mind this temporary living arrangement since Ortho's a sweetheart who's willing to help out around the house, and cause the Shroud family never mistreated Yuu.

Thanks to this, the Shroud brothers become a part of Yuu and Jack's little family, and they all become quite close friends.

Because he feels she has the right to know, Idia explains to Yuu about her powers and her mother's side of the family since it pisses him off that she's treated like a monster and that because of the villagers Yuu sees herself in a negative light just cause she's not like everyone else.

Idia also mentions that his parents had talked to Yuu's father about the missing clan as part of their research, but all he knew was that they were dead. He has no idea what happened to them. He was just told by the god of the local shrine that they're all gone now, which was also the story the heroine's father was given in the game.

Yuu is naturally very sad to hear that she's the last of her clan, but she's glad that she's not the only one to ever have had these powers.

She's also puzzled about what happened to her mother and her clan since she doesn't have any memories of her mother. For some reason, she can't remember anything from those years when she had lived with both of her parents, which is also the story for the game's heroine.

The Shroud family knows this because Yuu's father had said as much. Yuu had actually been with her mother when the clan suddenly disappeared, so they think something traumatic must have happened that resulted in Yuu losing her memories.

Thankfully, while he couldn't find his wife or her clan, Yuu's father was able to find Yuu after the incident occurred, and he avoided talking to Yuu about it out of worry that she'd remember painful memories best left forgotten.

That's why Mama and Papa Shroud never tried to question Yuu since, despite their curiosity, they didn't want to endanger her mental wellbeing.

This is why Idia tells Yuu not to think too hard about those memories and says that she's better off focusing on the present than dwelling on the past since finding out what happened to her mother and her clan won't make her current situation any better.

Jack backs Idia up cause he doesn't want Yuu to remember anything that will hurt her, and he also agrees that focusing on what happened in the past won't do her any good.

Even though she really would like to remember her mother, Yuu does think they make a good point, so when she fails to recall anything from what happened all those years ago, she decides to drop the matter, especially after Ortho says his parents are working hard to figure out what happened so she can leave things to them.

Sadly, in the end, Mama and Papa Shroud are unable to figure out what happened to Yuu's mother and her clan, although they do think the snow that's always falling on the mountain where Yuu lives is somehow connected to the clan because it's not natural for there to be snow there all year round, making them wonder if the shrine god that Yuu's father mentioned is possibly behind the constant snow and if the snow has a purpose of some kind.

Even though they're not successful with their research efforts, Mama and Papa Shroud still get permission from the shogunate to leave the village since there's really not much else the researchers can do at this point.

So, once that's decided, the Shroud family leaves and heads for Edo since Mama and Papa Shroud's services were requested by the shogunate which is stationed there.

Yuu is naturally very sad to see Idia and Ortho go since she had been so happy to have more friends, but she's happy that they'll be able to live together as a family with their parents again.

Idia and Ortho wish they could just take Yuu with them since she deserves better than being isolated on a mountain, but Yuu and Jack are a package deal and it'd be rough for Mama and Papa Shroud to take care of two extra mouths.

Plus, with all the blightfalls showing up as of late, Yuu is safer on the mountain, so it's decided that she's better off remaining there.

It's still hard for Idia and Ortho to leave since they got really attached to Yuu, and Idia, who's older than her, feels like he should take care of her like Ortho.

That's why Idia says that he'll come back for Yuu and Jack once his family has settled down in Edo and he thinks that the two can safely and comfortably live in Edo.

Little did Idia know that five years later he'd be coming back for Yuu on the shogunate's orders because her powers are needed to deal with the blightfall.

The reason Idia was sent was because, with his genius mind, he ended up becoming a great resource to the shogunate, especially since, during his time at Edo, it was discovered he had great potential to be a soothsayer, which is someone who can use magic by using their knowledge of onmyodo.

The Shroud family is well-known for having powerful magic users, and Idia ends up being a prodigy, the best the family has seen in many generations.

While he orignally had no interest in using magic and doing this kinda work, Idia started practicing and studying after he moved to Edo so he'd be able to protect his family from blightfall and he had hoped he could solve the blightfall crisis before the shogunate felt the need to seek out Yuu's help.

Unfortunately, Idia wasn't able to accomplish that goal so he's left with the frustrating task of having to recruit Yuu, even though the last thing he wants is for her to have to be anywhere near those dangerous monsters, even if it means he can finally get her far away from that damn village.

However, he can't refuse an order from the shogun, so Idia has no other choice but to go get Yuu, but he's determined to keep her out of harm's way and won't let anyone take advanatage of her like what had often seemed to happen to the members of her dead clan.

Because Yuu is family, and nobody takes advantage of Idia's family while he's around.

Now that I've covered the Shroud brothers, there's one last member of Yuu's makeshift family I wanna talk about here, and he gets brought into the picture after the Shroud family leaves for Edo.

About four years after the Shroud family leaves, a formfolk is born in Yuu/Jack's household, and it's from one of Yuu's old toys. It was a small wooden crocodile that Yuu's father made along with several other wooden animals.

Because the crocodile was her father's favorite animal, Yuu always especially treasured that one after he died, so she'd take extra good care of it and make sure it was always clean as it remained in a shelf that she could always look at.

Because Yuu had a lot of love for that crocodile, a formfolk is eventually born from it, much to her great surprise.

Naturally, Yuu is also very excited since this means she'll have a new family member/friend, and she quickly gives him the name Sebek, which she came up thanks to a book she once read thanks to the Shroud family sharing their huge book collection with her that mentioned the Egyptian deity, Sobek, who is associated with crocodiles.

Jack is a little exasperated by this turn of events because Sebek has such a huge appetite, but he doesn't mind having another face around since he gets along well enough with Sebek. Plus, it makes Yuu happy to have another family member/friend, and he's glad there's someone else to help him look after Yuu.

Sebek here is a lot like his TWST game counterpart, except he doesn't have any negative feelings toward humans, although he does hate the villagers for making Yuu suffer, like Jack.

In this setting, Sebek treats Yuu like his master and is very loyal/decidated to her and quite protective of her.

While Yuu greatly appreciates how dedicated Sebek is to her, she doesn't want him to treat her like she's his master since she sees them both as equals.

Thankfully, after enough time passes, Yuu is able to get Sebek to be more relaxed and less formal around her, and he begins treating her more like Jack, although he still remains overprotective of her.

From the start, Sebek thought highly of Yuu because of all the love she showed him when he was just a wooden crocodile, and he found it impressive that she could remain so kindhearted despite everything she went through thanks to the villagers.

However, after spending time with her as a formfolk, Sebek's attachment toward her grew even stronger because she treated him as an equal and always showered him with so much genuine love and care.

As a result, Sebek becomes quite close to Yuu, like Jack, and ends up seamlessly incorporating himself into Yuu & Jack's little family since the three of them get along so well.

Of course, there are still times when Jack and Sebek butt heads since their personalities are similar, but they never have serious fights and can usually resolve things within a reasonable amount of time.

Unfortunately, while Sebek's presence in their lives is wholeheartedly welcomed, he does make their living situation more difficult because of his large appetite, even with Jack's hunting skills.

Which leads to Sebek eventually deciding that he needs to find a job so he can make money to buy the food he needs since he refuses to impose upon Yuu/Jack despite Yuu insisting that he doesn't have to do that.

Sebek is determined to find work, however, since he feels he should be responsible for himself, and he's also hoping that he can make enough money that he can use it to further improve Yuu/Jack's lives that way they don't have to always scour the forest for food.

That's why Sebek goes on a journey to find work since he doesn't want anything to do with the nearby village. He's hoping he can find a town that's not too far from home, so he can make regular trips back to see Yuu/Jack.

Sadly, Sebek's journey ends in tragedy since he ends up turning back into a wooden crocodile after having saved the shogun, whom he didn't realize was the shogun at the time, from a blightfall by shoving him to safety.

The shogun, who had been traveling incognito at the time, had shared his food with a hungry Sebek who had collapsed by the road prior to that incident, which is what led to Sebek risking his life to save him.

After the Oniwaban, who eventually arrived on the scene, later defeated the blightfall, the shogun collected Sebek's item and decided that he'd make him into a vessel since he didn't know who and where Sebek's owner was, only Sebek's name, since this is the only way to give Sebek's life back to him without his owner.

Plus, by having Sebek join the Oniwaban, Sebek will have a stable job and a roof over his head, which the shogun felt he deserved after sacrificing himself for his sake. This is why Sebek becomes so loyal to the shogun and treats him as his master since the shogun always treats him so kindly.

Unfortunately, this means that when Sebek is reborn his memories and heart are sealed, so he no longer remembers Yuu and Jack, which the two are naturally sad about when they finally reunite with him.

This reunion happens when Idia is sent to retrieve Yuu because Sebek is tasked with accompanying him.

Yuu is elated when she sees Idia and Sebek since she had missed them dearly, and she had been worried sick about Sebek whom she hasn't seen/heard from in months.

(Yuu had wanted to go looking for Sebek, but Jack convinced her to wait since it was possible that Sebek had to travel a great distance to find work or that Sebek didn't want to contact them until he had good news about work since he's so prideful and wouldn't ever want to admit he couldn't do what he set out to do.)

She's both confused and heartbroken when Sebek asks if he knows her while Jack is angry since he can't believe Sebek could just forget them like that.

Upon realizing Yuu is Sebek's owner, Idia quickly pulls her and Jack aside and explains Sebek's situation and how vessels have their memories/hearts sealed.

He also tells them that if a vessel's heart/memories were to ever become unsealed the vessel would soon cease to exist, so if they don't want to lose Sebek, they need to accept his memory loss and not force him to remember.

Yuu is devastated by this news, but she, along with Jack, agrees to keep Sebek's past a secret from him since she can't bear the thought of losing him again.

Fortunately, despite his memories being sealed, Sebek seems to unconsciously recognize who Yuu is since he feels drawn to her, and he's kinder to her than he has ever been to any other human aside from the shogun he so loyally serves.

Sebek is also quick to protect Yuu when a blightfall appears in her village after the villagers get all worked up over Idia and Sebek bringing Yuu down to the village from the mountain, like what happened in the game.

Initially, Sebek fights the blightfall on his own since Idia's magic can't outright defeat blightfall, only someone with Snow Sacrament can do that, but Jack ends up joining the fight despite Yuu/Idia telling him not to.

Much to everyone's surprise, after working with Sebek to fight the monster, Jack manages to unconsciously use Snow Sacrament on the blightfall, which, according to Idia, shouldn't be possible.

Idia has never seen anything like this, so he has no idea how Jack can perform a feat like that, and of course, neither does Jack who was just acting on instinct and his strong desire to protect his friends.

The only possible explanation Idia can think of is Jack's prolonged exposure to Yuu and the fact that he became a Beastman because of Yuu led to him obtaining a special power the likes of which her clan posseses, although it sounds way too surreal to him.

While the shogunate's orders were to recruit just Yuu to the Oniwaban, Idia knows they'll be interested in Jack as well, so he decides to introduce them both to the shogun. That way Jack can remain close to Yuu to keep her safe and Jack can use his power to help them deal with the blightfall.

Initially, there are some reservations about joining the Oniwaban on Yuu/Jack's end, but because they trust Idia and want to be with Sebek, they agree to go to Edo with them after Yuu asks the villagers to take care of her father's grave in her absence.

And that's all I've got right now. I'll write more later if I can think of anything else for this AU lol

[demonslayedher]

Tell us more about how a family like the Kamados would celebrate the Lunar New Year in the Taisho era. Tanjiro mentioned having enough food for New Year’s, but when would they eat that celebratory meal? The night before? The morning of?

Let me start by saying something I always say: the Japanese calendar is a mess. This is gonna get long before I even get into the things Tanjiro and his family might have done, so I'm starting a read-more cut now.

Although January 1st according the Gregorian calendar is now the standard "Shougatsu" (New Year's Day), and in fact, it was technically the standard starting in Meiji, they couldn't actually get this uniformly implemented in rural areas until the Showa period, after Taisho. You still saw a lot of rural areas celebrating things in very Edo style ways, according to Edo time frames. A lot of modern New Years customs have origins in Edo customs, so we'll come back to this after we talk about timing.

Put simply, the Lunar calendar as it was used in Japan is based around the phases of the moon, with the new moon ("misoka") being the start of a new month. These months were 29.5 days long (thereby being counted as 29 or 30 days, like how we switch between 30 and 31 day months), but every three years they'd have something akin to a leap year--except instead of adding a day to February, some month of the calendar would be repeated for a whole 13-month year. This is still practiced in China, and a Chinese friend of mine is very excited that she gets two birthdays this year.

Speaking of birthdays, celebrating one's date of birth wasn't a big thing in Japan, as everyone instead celebrated their gain in age together by celebrating on New Years. You counted age not by how full rotations you've done around the sun ("mannenrei" as is now the standard practice in Japan), but by counting each year you've lived in ("kazoedoshi"). This means you start life at age 1, and when New Years came, you turned 2. Yes, even if you were born on December 31st. This is still how Korea celebrates and counts age.

Okay, so back to the lunar calendar, and how it would be shorter than a sun-based calendar year. Counting the days according to the phases of the moon would be helpful and consider for measuring human-based systems like, say, settling of accounts. Business people would always be busy settling the month's accounts by the last day of the month, and even more so if it was the last day of the year. Seeing bill collectors going around on the last day of the year made people joke like, "uh oh, here come the demons!"

That's great for making transactional records and stuff, but not great for seasonal things that respond more to changes in the weather. That's why there's another calendar system borrowed from China, the 24 seasons, which starts with the first day of spring (in Japanese, "Risshun") and then goes on to have a series of two-week seasons. Farmers abided by this calendar, like how harvesting tea didn't begin until 88 days had past since Risshun, otherwise you might still anticipate some frost.

So, technically, "Shougatsu" was celebrated on the closest New Moon to "Risshun," like a combination of the two calendars. Roughly speaking, this usually puts it around late January, according our Gregorian understanding of January. With "Risshun" being the start of spring, this is why you sometimes hear of the Lunar New Year being referred to as the "Spring Festival," as it did mark the very start of when new life was sprouting in nature; this holiday is, after all, a holiday on which to pray for abundant harvest and good fortune. In China you might hear reference to a "Kitchen God" around this time of year, but in Japan, this was more like a "Year God," which you might think of like how we picture the new year starting like a baby and later on walking out like an old man. That's a really, really rough comparison though.

Gods, though. That's really closely tied in with New Years practices in Japan and we're going to come back to that.

First I'm going to state this again: the Japanese calendar is a mess. Part of that is because of trying to cram this Lunar Calendar/24 Seasons onto the Gregorian calendar and somehow still get neat dates out of them. "Shougatsu" was always counted as 1/1, but now 1/1 is January 1st, so January 1st is "Shougatsu." The day right before Risshun is "Setsubun" (the cutting off point of a season), the last day of 24 equal short and equal seasons, but now it's February 3rd. Like, still smack-dab in the middle of winter, and over a month after Shougatsu. But whatever. WHATEVER. Do whatever you want, Meiji Government, the Kamado family has a high likelihood of still celebrating on the night of the new moon closest to Risshun.

From here on out I'm going to refer to dates by number only, to show their relation to "Shougatsu."

Oh, and speaking of different time keeping methods, who cares about when the clock strikes midnight? Oh, well, modern Reiwa Japanese people certainly do, yeah, but Edo Japanese people considered sundown the end of the day. And those hours were different lengths depending on summer and winter. Let's set aside the arbitrariness of time-keeping and humanity's ongoing fruitless efforts to try to have a perfect system of measuring our relation to the sun.

So with this being the basis, allow me to point out that there are many, many New Years customs surrounding this idea, and there are both common and unique rituals performed at local shrines specifically to mark the New Year, and nowadays midnight rituals at shrines and temples are very common. The ringing of temple bells 108 times, for instance, is to purify people from the 108 attachments that lead to suffering, at least according to Buddhist thought. Fire is also a common element, for its purifying connotations. Back in Edo times, all night rituals to honor the gods were also pretty common. If this is all sounding like a set-up to talk about Hinokami Kagura, it is, but hang on.

Marking the New Year technically started on 12/13. Seems early, but this considered an auspicious day for "big cleaning." Nowadays this is thought of as starting the year with a clean house by cleaning out the knooks and crannies you usually ignore, but it goes deeper than that. This is a purification ritual to get rid of all the physical and spiritual impurities which have piled up over the previous year, and even the shogun's hidden harem and the pleasure quarters of Yoshiwara would make huge undertakings of this "big cleaning." The Kamado family has probably already done their "big cleaning" by the time Tanjiro took that last batch of charcoal to sale.

Speaking of selling charcoal, this was just business as usual for Tanjiro, but as stated with the debt collections, life really was business as usual right up to that last day of the month, of the last day of the year. There were also markets for auspicious New Years decor, like shimenawa ropes and kadomatsu (varied by time period and region, but usually pine/bamboo displays or other trees, and attaining these trees was usually done on the auspicious 12/13). You could easily compare the culture of these festive and boisterous "Year Markets" to Christmas Shopping. On 12/31, they'd be selling things super cheap, and Tanjiro might have even intended to pick up some decor to put over or next to the door to welcome the gods to their home. 1/1 was typically a day off, though, when people would pass the time playing games like shuttlecock, or something kids especially liked to do, blindfold someone and see how well they can draw a "fukuwarai" face. (I guess this was their version of "pin the tail on the donkey.") The second day of the year was back to business, though.

Another thing the Kamado family probably already had ready was a "kagamimochi," that is, a super big rice cake called "mirror mochi". Again with the whole welcoming the gods to your home to feast with them thing, this has origins in the plain circular mirrors used as items of worship in Shinto shrines. This would later be "opened" (not "cut," that's a really inauspicious term) and shared, though by that time the rice cake might have hardened. Although rich people and samurai might hire someone to come out and pound mochi for them as a festive thing, and townsfolk might go buy mochi from shops that are popular for it, families like the Kamados probably made their own kagamimochi (Kie likes cooking, after all).

Another food that's long been, and still is popular for New Year's Eve is "toshikoshi soba," that is, "year-passing soba." The basic idea is that the long noodles you can slurp without cutting signify having passed through another year safely, and passing through the next year safely too. Tanjiro likely intended to eat that with his family.

I'm going to pause here to say that 12/31 is called "Oo-misoka," that is, the biggest of the final-night-of-the-month, final-est final night. You want to make sure everything is neatly arranged by this time, including... all your cooking for the 1/1 Shougatsu feast to eat with the gods, "o-sechi." This is usually a lot of small, decadent things which keep well over the course of a few cold days, as you wouldn't want to squander this special time by being busy with cooking and cleaning. While it used to be customary to buy the popular ingredients to make your own o-sechi, nowadays it's more common to order it from specialists, as it's a lot of things you wouldn't normally eat at other times of the year. Many people order them from convenience stores, and for the last few years, Lawson has a sold a Kimetsu no Yaiba o-sechi menu. Another common New Years food is "zoni," a soup with various auspicious ingredients, which varies according to region.

So to recap, if Tanjiro celebrated in ways that looked closer to Edo customs than modern days customs (though a lot of modern day customs are still very similar), he and his family would have started preparations on 12/13, and they had likely already finished a lot of that before Tanjiro went to go sell one last batch of charcoal and probably pick up some nice ingredients for their o-sechi. Whether he'd pick up premade goodies or ingredients might depend on how close he was cutting it to 12/31 on that trip. If it was 12/29 or so (a not as auspicious day, because "9" sounds the same as "bitterness" or "suffering"), then they probably would have had time to stay busy preparing those ingredients to be ready for a leisurely 1/1. Starting at sundown, Tanjiro would then perform Hinokami Kagura all night long, and then probably take a nap before feasting and playing games with his family.

Ah yes, Hinokami Kagura. Could there be a more fitting New Years custom? It welcomes and gives thanks to the gods and prays for health and safety in the new year. If we think of this as a god of fire, as Tanjiro likely originally did, then it's a very appropriate focus for their family to be grateful for the transformative power of fire and pray for safety in the kiln. If it's also dedicated to the sun god, then just as well, for the charcoal business is fully reliant on healthy trees, and the Kamado family relies on the forest for their personal harvest as well, taking this right back to the simple origins of wishing for good harvest and prosperity for one's family. Like it always was before the idea of visiting gods in their homes in shrines, the idea here is that the gods are with them in their home on New Years. This whole period has purified them to be ready for a new year and new blessings. And again, fire--such purifying symbolism!

Aaaah, so setting aside my appreciation for Hinokami Kagura, life and the calendar goes on. We aren't done with New Years customs, though! Come 1/7, after you're probably getting stomachaches from all that rich o-sechi and heavy kagami-mochi, you eat a soup of seven herbs/sprouts/roots to give your body a good detox too. Around 1/10 the Ebisu shrines are kicking up into festive gear for praying for good business this year, too. Depending on each region's local customs, there may be specific dates for when to take down New Years decorations (for example, 1/15), but some might stay up all year round until you buy replacements at the next Year-Market.

And then eventually comes Setsubun, which we now think of as falling on February 3rd. This is like the last of the New Year season, your last chance before Risshun to clear out the old impurities and bad luck and welcome in the new luck of the new year. That is to say, "out with the demon, in with the luck!" ONI WA SOTO, FUKU WA UCHI! And then you throw beans at your father or oldest brother (or whoever might have been born in that zodiac year) because this totally makes sense. I love Setsubun but I'm sleepy and need to start wrapping up this post.

This post was... aaaaaall over the place and I don't know if it actually clarified anything. I'm going to blame that, once again, on the Japanese calendar being a mess.

[jimboskelly]

Live A Live Review

Games like Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Act Raiser, Secret of Mana and etc. help shape the SNES RPG era of gaming for what it was. There is always a debate of which generation of RPGs is the best between the PS1 and SNES/Super Famicom but after playing Live a Live I’m leaning towards the SNES.  The game was talked about amongst friends and Youtube as the one really good Square RPG that never left Japan and was considered the best. Directed by Takashi Tokita (right before directing Chrono Trigger) and music done by Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts, Super Mario RPG) it was a game that seemed illusive if you didn’t have an emulator with a fan translation.  Now with HD2D remake done by Historia and produced by Square-Enix for modern platforms, having a copy of the game is now a reality.

What is Live A Live exactly? It is an RPG that follows the story of 8 characters from different time periods, ranging from the prehistoric era and going all the way to the distant future. The story centers around each character and their arc starting from their beginning of the chapter and going all the way to the end. After completing their chapter you can then pick the next character and play through their respective chapter and era. The magic of it is that there is no true order to pick and you can pick anybody you want! (I went counter clockwise starting with Oboromaru). 

(image above copyrighted from IGN) Each chapter has unique mechanics tied to that era such as relying on stealth in the Twilight of Edo chapter (Japan) or a monk training his 3 disciples in combat to take over for him when he passes away (Imperial China). Other chapters will have a character entering a tournament in which you pick your opponent, similar to Street Fighter (Present Day), or a text heavy Sci-Fi story reminiscent of both Alien and Space Odyssey (Distant Future). I feel each story shines in its own way with the exception of one chapter involving the psychic and mech (which sounds cool!) but there was a lot going back and forth on the map that may get exhausting. However, none of the chapters overstay their welcome and know when to end. All the chapters are tied in a certain away but without giving it away it took me until the 3rd chapter to realize how the characters are tied together and seeing the eventual pay off was one of the biggest satisfactions I ever got in a game.  The gameplay itself is something I’ve been impressed with as it is a turn based system but on a tile grid as opposed to being in one spot on the other side of the screen. Tile based movement isn’t tied to turns as opposed to the typical TRPGs but can fill up a yellow turn meter for both the party and enemy. If you move too many times then the meter for an enemy can fill up and then they can attack. Bigger attacks also fill up a red meter that can be executed after a certain amount of movement but if you’re hit with a knockback ability by the enemy it can be interrupted!

The gameplay itself is something I’ve been impressed with as it is a turn based system but on a tile grid as opposed to being in one spot on the other side of the screen. Tile based movement isn’t tied to turns as opposed to the typical TRPGs but can fill up a yellow turn meter for both the party and enemy. If you move too many times then the meter for an enemy can fill up and then they can attack. Bigger attacks also fill up a red meter that can be executed after a certain amount of movement but if you’re hit with a knockback ability by the enemy it an be interrupted!

Some attacks are similar to chess in which attacks can be diagonal or in front of the enemy. But if you level certain characters enough they may have an ability for a screen nuke in which the attack goes across the entire surface.  You can also burn or poison tiles in which depending how long a character stands on it can damage them over time. You definitely want to be constantly moving if you can. Depending on fights, it can either benefit to keep characters together or separate depending on the type of enemy you’re facing. The game adds variety and technicality to it that I haven’t personally played in a RPG in a long time and it’s crazy that this is a game from 1994. 

(image above copyrighted from IGN)

Also the music redone for the game both composed and supervised by the original composer Yoko Shimomura. The soundtrack really shines here, although it would be nice for an option to change the music to the original Super Famicom version just to see how much is different compared to the remake. However, it’s still a great soundtrack from one of the greatest in the business, with “Megalomania” and “Cry A Live” being standouts and currently listening to while writing this review. 

I believe this game needs to remembered as one of the greatest and held to the same pedigree as it’s contemporaries. I think back to the ending even after completing it and how I was moved by it. I was in actual tears by the end of it and will be sticking with me for a long time. If you haven’t played it do yourself a favor and pick up a copy! (Available on Steam/PS5/PS4/Switch)

[yeonchi]

Kisekae Insights #43: Kamen Rider Zi-O Part 1 - Birth of Zi-O

“The Kamen Riders were defeated by Ohma Zi-O and exiled throughout time. Now the time has come for their legacy to be passed down to the future. Hark the herald angels sing, rejoice for the newborn king!”

After much tribulation, we have finally come to Kamen Rider Zi-O. OK, not really, I’m skipping ahead quite a bit because I want to mix things up. In this instalment, I’ll get right into my version of Kamen Rider Zi-O and cover the background throughout the next few instalments. I want you to experience it as if you were watching it without the background context (aside from Kamen Rider Decade as it forms the core of the story as Decade 2.0), but I do recommend you watch the original Zi-O as 80% of this is a direct adaptation from the original.

Some preliminary things to note - each episode is 45 minutes long and this series has 40 episodes. My adaptation follows the series closely so I won’t mention inspirations unless they deviate from the original series order. Also, this series is set on Minato-Sugaru Island and I’ve stolen appropriated numerous Equestria Girls OCs from Derpibooru, so the creators probably won’t know they’ve been hit until I credit them as they rightly should. The potential Toei vs Hasbro lawsuit would be an unstoppable force against an immovable object.

Anyway, please enjoy. Also note that a number of posts are links to Derpibooru, which can be NSFW if you have set the filters to display such content.

Episode 1: Meeting You in the Witching Hour ~ Best Match 2017 ~

Fun fact: The Japanese translation of this title would be 逢魔時に出会い (Ōmagatoki ni deai).

Remember the Natsumi Rider War dream sequence I cut out of the first episode of Decade? Kamen Rider Zi-O starts off with that. Portions of the original footage from Decade with a filter applied are combined with original footage of newer (and unseen) Riders to create the scenes of the Ohma War. Sougo Tokiwa sees himself standing in the middle of the conflict before Ohma Zi-O sends out a wave of energy that makes all the Riders disappear.

Of course, that is revealed to be a dream as Sougo wakes up in his room atop 9TO5 (Kujigoji-do), a clock repair shop in Langya City where he lives with its owner, Mark Roberts (Junichirō Tokiwa). It is September 2018 and 15-year-old Sougo has been living with Mark for a few months ever since he was found by him in a nearby laneway with amnesia.

Sougo is sent out to buy groceries when he encounters Kazuto Hongō (Black Woz). Not long after, he is chased by a red Time Mazine piloted by Geiz Myoukouin (Andrew Cui) until he is saved by a silver Time Mazine piloted by Luna (Tsukuyomi). Luna explains to Sougo that she and Geiz came from the year 2068, showing a video of the human resistance (whom Geiz and Luna were a part of) being defeated by Ohma Zi-O, who she says will be Sougo in 50 years’ time, having become the vilest and evilest demonic overlord ever known. I should note that “demonic overlord” is my way of translating 魔王/“demon king”, partially because of Over-Time subs and partially because it sounds cooler that way.

We skip the prehistoric era with the frankly embarrassing T-Rex that shouted like an elephant and head to the Victorian goldfields in 1868 (filmed at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat/Foshan), which replaces Edo-era Japan from the original episode. Luna shows Sougo her research of his past, which he claims is wrong because he is only 15 years old whereas her research shows him as 21 years old (born in 1997).

Geiz catches up with Sougo and Luna and they escape; during this Sougo falls out of Luna’s Time Mazine into 2017, where he encounters Kamen Riders Build and Cross-Z, who had already gone through their story and settled in the New World. After being returned to 2018, Sougo stumbles onto Luna fighting off Another Build, created by Time Jacker Heure (Linsum). Kazuto presents Sougo with the Ziku Driver and Zi-O Ridewatch; despite Luna’s objections, Sougo decides to become “the nicest and kindest demonic overlord this world has ever seen”.

“Rejoice, one and all, for he is the one to inherit all Rider powers, the king of time crossing time and space to reign over the past and the future. And his name is Kamen Rider Zi-O! Bear witness to the advent of the newborn king!”

The rest of the episode follows the original story with the Build tribute, though with some modifications and deviations. In the adaptation, the counterparts to Souichi and Misora Isurugi are shown running the nascita café - when Sougo heads there during the fight with Another Build to find Build and Cross-Z, Souichi and Misora tell him that they haven’t seen them in a while. However, Sougo remembers the year on Another Build and gets the idea to find Build and Cross-Z in 2017.

In 2017, Build and Cross-Z encounter Another Build, but the two Riders’ power becomes unstable as they fight him. Sougo and Geiz join the battle, at which point Build and Cross-Z’s power is drained into Another Build, transforming him into the actual Rider. After fighting the fake Build as Zi-O and Geiz, it turns back into Another Build as they are granted the Build and Cross-Z Ridewatches. Zi-O transforms into Build Armor and uses it to defeat Build alongside Geiz using the Cross-Z Ridewatch. Following this, Geiz and Luna decide to rent the empty rooms atop 9TO5 so they can keep tabs on Sougo.

One of the main criticisms of Zi-O’s first arc is that it disrespected the Riders by tying the Ridewatches to their history and having them forget being Riders around the first episodes of their series. This adaptation fixes it by having it be set after the end of the Legend Riders’ stories, using the Ohma War as a basis for the creation of the Another Riders. And of course, the Legend Riders’ memories remain unaffected.

The Another Riders are also shown to have the potential to actually become their respective Rider by gradually draining their power. This was inspired by the Agito tribute later in the original series, though for budget and logistic reasons, this was only done for Another Build and Ex-Aid.

Episode 2: The Back to School Undercover Operation ~ No Continue 2016 ~

This episode is the beginning of a mini-arc by which this episode is named after. Geiz and Luna have discovered Another Rider activity happening around Minato-Sugaru Island and in order to find them, they decide to go undercover as students at Canterlot High School, but in actuality, Sougo is the only one going to class as Geiz and Luna convinced Principal Celestia to take him in and let them observe him (because Geiz and Luna are 18 whereas Sougo is 15). This is also so that Sougo will have something to do and for Geiz to prove that he will become Ohma Zi-O. Despite Canterlot High being a uniform-optional school, Sougo decides to wear the uniform which is inspired by Osipush’s vector designs.

In this tribute to Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, Button Mash is being taken to hospital in 2016 after his heart gives out. His dad, Janbit Circuit Switcher, offers to go in the ambulance while his mum, Cream Heart, and brother, Gibson Joystick Padder, stay at home. It is then that Time Jacker Ora (Saini) transforms Janbit into Another Ex-Aid. Janbit’s name is a reference to JanAnimations, the creator of Button’s Adventures, and inspiration for his character is taken from deviations by Mythilas and VulfixEVEn. Gibson was only shown in an animatic for the second episode of Button’s Adventures, which was cancelled following a C&D from Hasbro; I gave him his full name. ShadyVox would reprise his role as Button Mash and also voice Gibson, and EileMonty would also reprise her role as Cream Heart even though she only has like two lines.

Back in 2018, Sougo’s homeroom teacher is Mr Cranky Doodle. At lunch, he evades Geiz and Luna in the gym’s supply closet, where he meets a student named E-Zen Tiforp playing the Mighty Action X-esque game, causing Another Ex-Aid to appear. E-Zen is taken to the Minato-Sugaru Central Hospital, where he is cared for by the counterpart to Haima Kagami, who is a visiting doctor there. Haima’s son was a visiting doctor at the hospital two years prior, but he hasn’t been able to make contact with him for a while. Sougo and gang head to the Central Hospital in 2016, where they meet Hiiro Kagami’s counterpart, but not Emu Houjou’s counterpart.

Up to this point, here is what we know about the Another Riders in my version of the series; the Another Riders are corrupted versions of the Legend Riders created by leaching their power into Anotherwatches. They have the potential to become the actual Riders themselves unless they are defeated with the power of said Rider. If Another Riders survived the year of their creation, they effectively became immortal because Sougo and Geiz didn’t have the Ridewatches needed to defeat them. Although the actual Riders do experience power fluctuations as they become unstable, they do not have their memories of being Riders removed. On top of this, the “time loop” element of creating Ridewatches is eliminated, so the creation and destruction of an Another Rider along with the inheritance of that Rider’s power effectively happen in the same year. Once an Another Rider is defeated, the effects they would have had on the future are negated from time.

Episode 3: My Dear Friend ~ Switch On 2011 ~

From the pattern you’ve seen so far, the Heisei Riders were exiled to different years in time depending on when their series premiered. Jee Gun aka Fourze, however, is in 2018 and is a teacher at Canterlot High (replacing Amanogawa High), therefore taking Chuta Osugi’s place in the episode (where Souta Fukushi was unable to reprise his role as Gentarou Kisaragi). Don’t worry, all will be explained in time.

The counterparts of Sakuma and Karin Yamabuki are homages to two people who had committed suicide when my cohort was in secondary school. After Karin died from a car accident in 2003, Ora gave Sakuma the power to become Another Faiz, however as time went on, his power weakened and in 2011, Time Jacker Swartz (Changyue) gave him the power to become Another Fourze, depowering Jee Gun as he was fighting the Scorpion Zodiarts.

Although Old Major appears in this episode, Masato Kusaka’s place is taken by Noel Swarovski, the mercenary leader from Decade. Snips and Snails are shown as members of the Kamen Rider Club in 2018, overseen by Jee Gun who gives Sougo the Fourze Ridewatch. Nurse Redheart also makes a cameo in this episode (voiced by Ashleigh Ball).

When Sakuma is defeated by Zi-O and Geiz in 2011 and 2003, Sougo borrows Luna’s FaizPhone X and uses it to call Andrew so he can help relay 2018 Karin’s words to 2003 Sakuma on top of her saying them to 2018 Sakuma as he disappears with her.

Episode 4: The Beauty and the Beast ~ Magic Showtime 2012 ~

In 2012, Starlight Glimmer and Trixie are working at Grapefruit Face’s magic theatre (to an audience of Dasher Arekawa and Rainbow Dash) when Heure transforms Trixie into Another Wizard. As a result, Trixie becomes the star of Grapefruit Magic House as the Great and Powerful Trixie.

Later, Trixie breaks down upon learning that Starlight and Grapefruit intend to shut down the theatre and get married, Starlight not knowing of her feelings for Grapefruit. After being defeated in 2012, Sougo does the same thing he did last episode and has Geiz pass his phone to Trixie so her future self can tell her past self to be brave and tell Grapefruit how she feels.

In addition to Flash Sentry appearing as Kamen Rider Beast, Sunset Shimmer makes an appearance as Wizard whereas the original counterpart (Haruto Souma) did not have his original actor (Shunya Shiraishi) reprise his role. Flash keeps his Ridewatch, but he tells Geiz to go to 2012 and meet with Sunset to obtain the Wizard Ridewatch. Sure enough, Geiz does so, but Sunset says that she can’t talk for long because the other version of her is in a really bad place at the time, referring to how she used to be a bully at school before the events of Equestria Girls.

Episode 5: The Overlord, the Genm Master and the King ~ Taka Tora Batta 2010 ~

This episode covering the OOO tribute was originally intended to feature Crestor Calandia as Another OOO, but that was changed following CWC’s arrest, reverting back to the counterpart of Kuroto Dan. The episode is also set on a neighbouring island.

Ruby Big Heart by Ribiruby is the focus OC for this episode, with her taking the place of Hina Izumi in this episode.

This episode shows Geiz following through with his conviction to defeat Sougo upon seeing him working with Another OOO after taking a more cautious position over the last three episodes. A common criticism of Geiz is that he seems to flip-flop between wanting to kill Sougo and wanting to see how things play out, but this dragged out character development eventually allows Geiz to see Sougo for who he really is.

Episode 6: Me & Me On Parade ~ Hanamichi On Stage 2013 ~

The Gaim tribute episode has some changes to have the plot make a little more sense. The Sougo from three days after is changed to five hours after; present Sougo is made aware of Another Gaim’s existence thanks to the later Sougo informing Luna about it. Present Sougo would obtain the Gaim Ridewatch, which would be thrown into the Helheim Forest by Swartz.

Later, the two Sougos would change (not swap) into the others’ shirts before going to fight Another Gaim. When Geiz gets out of Helheim, he gives the Gaim Ridewatch to present Sougo, who goes to fight Another Gaim in 2013 while the future Sougo would fight Another Gaim in 2018. After Another Gaim is defeated in 2013, present Sougo would encounter Akari Ichigo, who has been trapped in a strange dimension (replacing Fruit Jesus Kouta from the original). Akari would send Sougo back in time by five hours and allow Another Gaim to survive into 2018.

Team Baron in this episode is replaced by the Shadowbolts, led by Zoe Star Pink (by Zoe-975). Ruby Sunshine (by the late Tavi959 and is now owned by his girlfriend, JaneBlood969) was kicked out of the Shadowbolts when Swartz transformed her into Another Gaim. She would send Zoe into Helheim and take over as leader of the Shadowbolts. When Raisy Seaweed (by RandomTripleS) discovers that Ruby can turn into a monster, Ruby sends her into Helheim.

The Teddies and Rat in a Hat make cameos in this episode as Rat decided to open his shop on the island while he is unable to return to Cuddlestown. Most of this episode takes place in 2018 so it is clear that the Teddies and Rat were able to escape exile.

Episode 7: Triple Threat ~ Go Go Go Ghost 2015 ~

This episode marks the end of the Back to School mini-arc, with Jee Gun and Mr Cranky Doodle farewelling Sougo as he heads home. Meanwhile, Silver Dawn has enlisted the help of ghost hunters Takeru Tenkuuji and Hideko Kimihara to find her boyfriend, Shadow Warp (I may change this to Paladin Colt in 3.0). As the episode goes, Shadow Warp is revealed to be Another Ghost, who is also dead after initially refusing to contract with Heure in 2015.

Hiroki Ichigo makes an appearance as Kamen Rider Decade in this episode, wearing the Decade Beltmorpher X, and Kazuto colludes with the Time Jackers in an attempt to set Sougo on the correct path. With Takeru’s help, Sougo saves Shadow Warp from being killed but he is transformed into Another Ghost anyway. Geiz loses the Ghost Ridewatch when Decade erases the version in his possession, him giving the Decade Ridewatch in exchange (say thank you to Decade), though Sougo would regain it from Takeru.

Aside from Kamen Rider Specter, Kamen Rider Necrom is also featured in the fight against the Gamma Commandos.

Episode 8: Back to 2068 ~ Forever King 2018 ~

This story follows the original episode closely as seven Dai Mazines appear all around Minato-Sugaru Island while a Kachinebot (pronounced like “machine-bot”) arrives on the orders of Ohma Zi-O to eliminate Geiz and Luna.

Sougo mentions to Geiz and Luna that he has had three recurring dreams during his time on the island; a dream where he is a king ruling over people, the Ohma War dream from the first episode and the dream we learn about in this episode, where a mysterious man told him that his mission is to become king and save the world from destruction.

As Decade fights Zi-O, there is a little change made - when Decade transforms back from Build into his original form, he doesn’t insert his card like other Riders would do to change forms; changing into Legend Rider forms is like a second-level transformation, meaning that it’s an unnecessary movement when you could just power down.

At the end of the episode, when Ohma Zi-O is restored to time, the Dai Mazines remain standing as another Sougo Tokiwa looks on…

Episode 9: Counting Up My Sins ~ CycloneJoker 2009 ~

This episode and the next episode adapts Heisei Generations Forever and prominently incorporates the events of the movie into the series itself. Also, In the first two episodes of the series, Sougo said to Build and Ex-Aid, “I’ve got a good feeling we’ll meet again someday.” This is a foreshadowing to this two-parter which is also a crossover between Zi-O and the two Riders.

The episode begins with the Bananas in Pyjamas theme before we flash to Cuddlestown on fire (in 2009) as B1 and B2 are running from Masquerade Dopants. This scene transitions from the live-action Bananas to their CGI versions before they transform into Kamen Rider Double and defeat the Masquerade Dopants. As more of them appear, Double powers up into CycloneJokerXtreme, but it is then that Swartz transforms Double into Another Double, rendering them unable to detransform as the Xtreme Memory flies off.

Back in 2018, Sougo tells his friends about a weird dream he had when he was young and a young girl played with him. They would meet again every now and again until she told Sougo that they could never see each other again, farewelling him with a stroke on the chin. Yes, this is my version of the “Miss Sailor” plot from the Kiva arc.

UNIT identified Sougo, Geiz and Luna as the ones responsible for the Dai Mazines appearing and they send Karen Brewer to raid 9TO5 and arrest the three on charges of espionage and treason. This is because in 2018, the Mazines, Ridewatches and Ziku Drivers are in development at a top-secret facility and the schematics of their equipment are exactly the same as their development blueprints.

As the three are being interviewed at the Minato-Sugaru Police Headquarters, Kayley arrives with a group of Riders to cause a commotion by summoning many Inves using Lockseeds, allowing her and Flash Sentry to free Sougo, Geiz and Luna. It is also here that we see Kayley using the Diend Gunmorpher X. Sougo and Geiz recover their equipment, but Kayley takes their Legend Ridewatches with the exception of Decade’s. Learning that Hiroki has returned to 9TO5, the three head back there. With a number of Riders guarding the shop, Hiroki explains to the three and Kazuto about the Ohma War.

Hiroki and the Legend Riders come from the 2021 of another timeline. He became aware of Ohma Zi-O’s existence and brought the Riders to 2068 to fight him, but they were unsuccessful as Ohma Zi-O scattered them through time. Some of their allies, namely Haima Kagami, Hideko Kimihara and Noel Swarovski were caught up as well, through Hiroki has accounted for them (again, Souichi and Misora Isurugi are native to the current timeline as they don’t recognise Build or Cross-Z in the first episode). Hiroki has managed to find some Riders and bring them to 2018, but he couldn’t reach all of them due to anomalies in the Time Vortex. Therefore, Hiroki needed the Ridewatches that Sougo and Geiz collected so he can create a nexus point in time to bring everyone else in.

Meanwhile, Swartz explains to Heure and Ora that when Ohma Zi-O scattered the Riders throughout time, it caused temporal instabilities in their powers which they could exploit to create Another Riders. Swartz created Another Double out of the actual Rider as an experiment; he decides to conduct another experiment and create a super Time Jacker by turning Heure into Another Growing Kuuga (appearing identical to N-Daguva-Zeba’s Perfect Form). The reason why I did this is because the “super Time Jackers” Tid and Finis from the crossover movies never served much purpose to Swartz’s plans because he never mentioned them. You could say that they were from alternate timelines, but then recent Rider movies have made the effort to fit them into their series’ timelines.

The next day, Sougo and Geiz fight Another Double. In the original movie, Another Double was only shown using the power of the Luna Memory; this two-parter expands this so that Another Double can transform into all of Double’s basic forms. It is then that they are confronted by the other Sougo, who does not recognise Kazuto from him calling Sougo “Waga Maou”/“My overlord”. The other Sougo transforms into Zi-O and fights Zi-O and Geiz. Another Double escapes, but he is confronted by Build and his comrades.

Zi-O and Geiz are defeated and the other Sougo leaves. Geiz goes after Another Double while Sougo goes after his other counterpart. On the way, Sougo encounters Rat and the Teddies, who give him the W Ridewatch only for him to be apprehended by UNIT forces afterwards. Meanwhile, Another Double attacks the Central Hospital and is confronted by Ex-Aid and his allies. Geiz arrives to assist, followed by Another Growing Kuuga, who defeats the Riders before Queen Fifi Forget-me-not arrives, causing Swartz to call a withdrawal.

Sougo is interrogated by Karen and they have a weird feeling that they met each other. Kazuto arrives and borrows the W Ridewatch from Sougo, which he uses (instead of his book in the original) to access the Gaia Library and help them unlock memories of them having adventures together when they were younger. Two UNIT colonels enter the room to arrest Karen, but Kazuto takes her and Sougo away.

Back at 9TO5, Geiz notes that the other Zi-O was able to use the same Rider Armors he and Sougo could use. He and Luna go around the island and see Hiroki and Kayley handing the Legend Ridewatches back to the owners of their powers. This is despite the other Zi-O having his own Ridewatches, but I’ll come back to that later.

Meanwhile, Sougo, Kazuto and Karen confront the other Sougo, who confirms that he was the one who sent out the Dai Mazines in the last episode, having gotten them from “some guy who probably stole them from the future”. The two Sougos fight; while the other Zi-O transforms into Ghost Armor, the main Zi-O uses W Armor to counter him.

“Now then, would you like to tell me your sins?” “I have nothing to say to someone as half-boiled as you!”

Build and Cross-Z see the battle and they inadvertently help the other Zi-O before they are attacked by him. Heure is sent in to defeat them all, but it is then that Queen Fifi, Firerose and Lilimuro come to the rescue…

Episode 10: Nexus Time ~ Smile 2000 ~

The second part of this story begins with the Fifi and the Flowertots theme as Firerose transforms into Kuuga and begins fighting Another Growing Kuuga. Another Double is sent out again, but the Time Jackers retreat when Ex-Aid and Brave join the battle. Queen Fifi notes that Sougo doesn’t remember her; while the Gaia Library has records of them being together at one point, it is still unknown how they split or how Sougo lost his memories.

Hiroki explains that he and Kayley took the Ridewatches so they could create the nexus point now that they have enough Riders in one time period to make it viable. However, they still need to deal with the other Sougo and the Time Jackers first. Sougo offers to deal with his other counterpart and Kazuto follows. It is here that we learn how Kazuto came to serve Ohma Zi-O; he was a prisoner of war saved from execution and given a new purpose as Ohma Zi-O’s loyal servant.

The other Sougo is confronted by the Time Jackers, who send the two Another Riders at him until the main Sougo arrives and transforms into the adaptation-original Decade Armor W Form, based on Double CycloneJokerXtreme, but the other Sougo attacks him as well. Irritated, the main Zi-O defeats his opponents with the Ultimate Time Break. This detransforms the other Zi-O and frees the Bananas, but it only made the Another Riders stronger, with Another Double splitting himself into nine bodies based on the individual Half Changes and Another Growing Kuuga evolving into Another Kuuga, also known as Another Mighty Kuuga.

Hiroki and the Legend Riders are preparing the nexus point when UNIT forces surround them, fearing that their actions would damage space and time. Swartz sees this and summons an army of foot soldiers to join the battle against the Riders. After defeating the UNIT forces, the Riders plead their case, which leads UNIT to trust the Riders to defeat the Another Riders. Zi-O, Geiz, Double, Build, Cross-Z, Gaim, Baron, Ryugen and Zangetsu defeat the nine Another Doubles. Another Kuuga goes after the nexus point equipment, but Kuuga and Build commandeer Zi-O and Geiz’s Time Mazines to fight him before Zi-O, who had been given the Kuuga Ridewatch, uses it to transform into Kuuga Armor and defeat Another Kuuga with the Mighty Time Break.

The nexus point is activated and all remaining Riders are gathered in 2018, including Akari Ichigo. Another Kuuga’s power suddenly goes out of control in Heure, causing him to absorb Luna, Hideko, Karen, Queen Fifi and Lilimuro to become Another Ultimate Kuuga. The fight is brought to the quarry in Jungong City, where he is defeated by Zi-O, Build and Kuuga alongside the other Legend Riders. After being defeated, Heure is taken away by the other Time Jackers.

It is then that the other Zi-O arrives with the seven Dai Mazines. The main Zi-O offers to fight him by himself as transforms into Decade Armor W Form once again.

“Now then, tell me your sins.” “You may sound a little more hard-boiled than last time, but I still have nothing to say to you!”

The main Zi-O dodges the Dai Mazines’ attacks and defeats his other counterpart with a Double Prism Xtreme powered by the W Final Attack Time Break. The other Zi-O admits his defeat and allows his main counterpart to destroy the Dai Mazines, which he does by transforming into Decade Armor Kuuga Form, based on Kuuga Ultimate Form, and performing an Ultimate Kick powered by the Kuuga Final Attack Time Break, engulfing the quarry in a huge explosion that destroys all seven Dai Mazines. The main Sougo reports his victory to his friends and they all celebrate while the other Sougo leaves for home.

Here's the reason why the nexus point plot was created. In the original Zi-O, the time travel plot was used less for Rider tribute episodes due to how it apparently disrespected the Legend Riders. As such, Another Riders would be created in 2019 and we would see the Legend Riders fighting alongside Zi-O and his allies. 

The scattering of the Riders throughout time was done to match the initial setting of the plot in the original series, but since time travel plots were no longer used for Rider tribute plots from this point on, it makes sense for them to be brought into the present day, hence why the nexus point plot in this two-parter.

Sougo gave up his dream to become king briefly until he decided to take it back up, causing new opportunities to appear in the timeline. Join us next time as we meet Kensuke Nitta and explore the run-up to Ohma’s Day.

[kon-konk]

I assume all of Tsubaki’s subclasses were created recently (past 20 years/post-escape) but we don’t really have any confirmation on that, do we?

He would have become a Servamp most likely late-Edo/early-Meiji (if he was created really close to Germaine’s death), which was kind of a boom of sorts of foreign influence. There were a lot more foreigners coming to Japan than in eras before, and we do know at least one of his subclasses are not Japanese. (Note: This is just an estimate, and depends entirely on how exact the “200 years” thing is.  If it’s exact, then it would be roughly the 1800s-1820s, which would still be Edo, but a bit before the majority of changes in opinion on foreigners that would come closer to the Meiji period.  If it’s more a “nearly 200 years ago, but close enough that I’ll just call it 200 years ago” time frame, that would put it a bit closer to Meiji, since that started in the late-1860s.  I’ve seen people refer to anywhere from 150 years to 230 years as “200 years”, so I know the range people can refer to is quite large if they’re just using a phrase to round it.)

Berukia mentions in the conveyor sushi place that Japanese customs are strange, which means he’s not been in Japan long enough to learn them or hasn’t been to Japan in so long that customs have changed drastically(or he’s never been inside a conveyor sushi joint until then, which I refuse to believe, considering Tsubaki’s near-constant presence there for several chapters).  He kind of gives me “quack 1800′s doctor” energy, even if he was a modern addition to the crew.

Now, this is just headcanon on my part, but Higan doesn’t exactly give me “born and raised in Japan” vibes.  There’s something about his way of expressing himself and body language that seem much more European/American, but like old Western world artist.  That’s one I can’t figure out how to explain past that, but he does seem like the type who would have taken a trip to Japan to get inspiration.

Sakuya and Otogiri I can only place was post-escape.  Sakuya because of the place he lived as a human, and Otogiri just feels more modern in some way I can’t put my finger on.

And, well...Shamrock we already know was a post-escape addition.

There’s also who knows how many subclasses that we haven’t and won’t meet, too.

(The fact that they’re all named after flowers in Japanese doesn’t escape me, either, but for all we know Tsubaki said “Nah, you gotta fit, I’m giving you a new name”. Or it was convenient coincidence.)

I have 0 idea what his subclasses were doing while he was imprisoned though, if he did create any before that.

[thisisryderinjapan]

(from left to right top to bottom: mount fuji as seen from Hokone Gondola, Hakone sulfur egg, Hakone pirate ship, village, lake, hakone pirate ship)

May 12 - Hakone

Today was another early day because we needed to start walking to the train station so that we could catch the romancecar to Hakone. I had no idea why it was called a romancecar so I asked our guide and she said it was because the two-seat configuration of each side of the train (that is, that each side of the train has two seats next to each other) is unique to the "romancecars" and that's how they get their name. It was super cool because we were standing outside the train waiting to board and suddenly out of nowhere all the seats spun around on their own because the train was turning around. I guess this makes sense given that I've never seen a train pull in with all the seats facing backwards, but it was a neat technology that I had never considered in my entire life. So, after what felt like a fifteen minute journey on the romancecar thanks to a random slumber I had, we got on the steepest rail line in all of Japan, making three switchbacks and climbing many meters. This train was decidedly the worst one I had ever been on in Japan, seemingly having the most limited seating and being by far the slowest and noisiest at the same time. After exiting that train we got on this cable-pulled gondala-type thing that pulled us even higher, then took a few different bona-fide gondolas to get to a cool cafe area where they served sulfur eggs, which are eggs that have been hard-boiled in the hot sulfur gas escaping the mountain. This gives the eggs a black shell, but has literally zero effect on the flavor. For the rest of the day we hiked around, saw a shrine where I got a driving charm, waited in line for a very long time to take a picture with a Tori gate, then took the train back and called it an early night.

Academic Reflection

In completing today's reading it became very clear that the movement of people was actively monitored and regulated in historic Japan by the government. This was thanks to the "alternate attendance system" which dictated that either the daimyo or his wife/daughters had to be present in Edo at all times. This was a system that was designed to prevent daimyo insurrection because a rebellion from a daimyo would mean the execution of his wife and daughters which effectively kept the daimyos in check for hundreds of years during a historically peaceful era of Japanese history. Today, as we were traveling to Hakone, a realization that struck me was that this reality of your movements being constantly monitored is not something that has ceased at all in Japan. As I swiped my Suica card on the terminal, I became intimately aware that my exact location, direction of travel, and destination was being recorded. I know many of the lines are privatized, but they still maintain intimate ties to the government and have been owned by the government in the past--many of them still are, in fact. I know this might be a ridiculous statement to make given the amount of information we voluntarily sign over to our smartphones every time we glance their way so what's the big deal, but the idea that the government can have such an intimate record of my movements throughout Japan is an interesting reality that I hadn't pondered until today. Many probably view the sekisho as militaristic, oppressive structures specifically designed to inhibit the movement of people those in power deemed necessary to limit, but the reality is that the Japanese government still has virtually the same power today, just in a much more subtle, yet far more reliable and foolproof form.

[soultronica]

Law’s -ya suffix

“How many people have you killed, Drake-ya?”

About Law's verbal quirk of adding -ya at the end of the names of the people he's addressing -- fairly unique, yeah? Chances are this is something you've never seen before, at least this was the case for me. This post is an attempt at a comprehensive explanation and overview of the way he uses it.

(obligatory blanket warning that my japanese level is around jlpt n2/cecrl c1 - i understand the stuff i research but i'm not a native speaker. i can be mistaken.)

The suffix -ya (屋)

Let's start off by saying that while it's a strange way to address people, the suffix in itself isn't unfamiliar.

The basic meaning of "ya" (屋) is shop, essentially. You add it to a noun to turn it into a profession, especially ones related to shops and traditional trades, though usually with the polite address marker -san, even in third person.

So for example:

pan = bread ⇨ panya-san = baker kutsu = shoes ⇨ kutsuya-san = shoemaker

This includes “invented” occupations that would therefore be instinctively understood as such. For example, an anime I just watched (durarara) has:

joho = information ⇨ johoya(-san) = information broker hakobu = to carry ⇨ hakobiya(-san) = transporter

And then by extension, it became used in nouns to define a person by a trait of theirs:  

ganbaru = to do one's best ⇨ ganbariya-san = someone who always tries their best hazukashii = to be embarrassed  ⇨ hazukashigariya-san = a shy person

This last bit is relevant here because Law's terms of address includes not so much occupations but attributes. So you'd understand "Strawhat-ya" as "Guy with the strawhat" for example.

Where it gets a bit confusing is that Law's terms of address also include just tacking on the suffix to names, which makes less sense intuitively... Which is where Oda's own explanation comes in handy.

Historical background: yago (屋号)

Straight from the source - this is an SBS answer from volume volume 62 (page 84), which was replaced in the official English edition.

Reader: Law-san uses -ya to address people such as in "Strawhat-ya", does that mean that if someone is named Tsuchiya he'd call them Tsuchiyaya? Please tell me Law-san ❤ Oda: Law-san! Someone's asking for you! ... Yeah, he's not coming. I'll answer in his place, shall I? In the past in Japan, maybe around Edo era? There was a thing called "yago". If for example in a village you had two people called Tomekichi, folks would use -ya instead of their names to refer to them (by their trade), such as "Tomekichi the toolshop (doguya)" or "Tomekichi the cooper (okeya)". Have you never heard "Tamaya~!" in the context of fireworks or "Nakamuraya!" in the context of kabuki? It's something like that. Right, Law-san? Law: Yeah.

If you're not familiar with yago at all, maybe the wikipedia article will help (link). I'm sure you can make the link with what I've explained above. The gist is that a commoner would often be addressed by their trade or shop name for differentiation (as in Oda's example) or convenience. And if they made a name for themselves, said name (including the -ya bit, the same "ya" as in "yago") could be used the same way their trade name would be, and they'd pass that name from generation to generation, making the name a yago. The Nakamuraya Oda mentions here is a famous yago of kabuki actors stretching back to the 16th century (link) and the Tamaya are, you guessed it, a hanabi (traditional fireworks) yago from the Edo era (Japanese link).

So there we go! Law's -ya suffix usage is actually pretty traditional.

Law's usage

Law of course does not use the -san polite address marker, because he's a rude little shit. This brings me to what I believe is the first time he uses it, chronologically, which (provided you consider it canon) would be in the Law novel which takes place right after Law runs away from Minion Island where Cora died. He doesn't use -ya at all during his manga flashbacks. In the novel however he's saved by a man, Wolf, who creates mostly worthless inventions. Which leads Law to call him Garakuta-ya, where "garakuta" means junk, rubbish. Implying that his occupation is to create junk. I think this is a pretty good in-context illustration of how the suffix works? And if you consider the novel canon, you get the added characterisation bit of this habit of Law's being originally a kid's thing, which fits nicely.

Regardless of how it started, he clearly got used to addressing people like this. In the manga, these are the addressed characters I'm aware of, including Oda's own compilation from a volume 72 (page 46) SBS answer:

Luffy - Mugiwara-ya (Strawhat-ya) Zoro - Zoro-ya Nami - Nami-ya Usopp - Hana-ya (Nose-ya) (lol) Sanji - Kuroashi-ya (Blackleg-ya) Chopper - Tony-ya Robin - Nico-ya Franky - Robo-ya Brook - Bone-ya Smoker - Hakuryo-ya (White Chase-ya)* Caesar - Caesar-ya* Drake - Drake-ya Kidd - Eustass-ya (* = are also addressed without the -ya)

There's not really a pattern here. For some of these characters he uses an attribute + ya, which again makes instinctual sense when you're used to the regular meaning of -ya. For others he uses surname + ya, which is what originally confused me until I found the SBS yago explanation. Notably this includes characters who aren't usually referred to by their surnames (Chopper, Robin, Kid). But then you've also got Zoro and Nami who are addressed by their first names.

Despite those two I'd still say that it's overall a particularly offhand term of address, and a non-polite one at that (which is why the "Mr" translation that was in Sabaody-era scans for the ones he addresses by surname doesn't really work, but I can't fault a week-by-week translator for having no idea what to do with that, with no characterisation to go on).

It's worth noting that he doesn't use -ya at all for members of his crew: Bepo, Penguin and Shachi are all addressed by just their names.

Signification

So why this particular verbal quirk for Law? It's all up to interpretation of course, but I'd say this leans into his casually rude way of speaking, especially pre-timeskip Law.

Another point that I've seen raised in a Japanese meta, and one that I agree with, is that it serves to make him more Japanese. I know a lot of us have our headcanons about the ethnicities of various OP characters and for me Law is one of the particularly Japanese-coded characters: his Japanese sword, his not eating bread, his use of a traditional suffix as a verbal quirk... (and also just because I've met sooo many japanese guys his age with exactly that terrible facial hair/sideburns combo what's up with that lol)

But of course all this is open to interpretation. I'd love to hear anybody's thoughts about his characterisation! And I hope this helped shed light on some of it.

Bonus

Rule 63!Law does use the -san polite address marker lol.

"How many people have you killed, Drake-ya-san?"

[rexcaliburechoes]

For the Bingo, Micchan from TKRB?

GOD DON’T GET ME STARTED ON HIM I LOVE THIS MAN

in all seriousness i really love shokudaikiri mitsutada. he’s been living in my brain rent free alongside hasebe as characters i will defend to the ends of this earth. i love this man so much it isn’t funny 🥰🥰🥰

a lot of legwork in understanding him comes from knowing historically where he’s come from, so sit down, shut up, i’m going to yell at you for 30 minutes about why mitsu is great (under the cut)

shokudaikiri is a blade from the osafune school of smithing. this means he’s related to the nagamitsus (azuki and daihannya), kagemitsus (koryuu and kenshin), uguisumaru, other mitsutadas (fukushima), and technically yamanbagiri chougi since chougi’s smith was related to the bizen-osafune school before he struck out on his own. this is all very interesting, and this means that the osafune swords are generally classified as relatives in fanon.

with all of this aside, because he was a mitsutada, it’s highly likely that he was owned by oda, who was a known mitsutada collector. as an aside, mitsu was forged in the kamakura period, so he’s among the older swords in the game. tachi were in fashion until the late 16th century, which is when uchigatana became the norm (this is a highly simplified run down, but i think this is neat).

it’s widely assumed that he and hasbe would have gotten along well together because of this, but because of hasebe’s grudhe towards oda, there isn’t much else that’s in common for them to talk about: “it seems like i'd get along with hasebe-kun well enough. but he hated his original owner, so it's hard to talk to him.”

i remember reading something interesting about the curve of the blade itself- the point of his curve being closer to the stem of the blade, rather in the middle (if you look here and here, you’ll see a clear difference in how mitsu’s blade curves compared to mikazuki’s).

anyways, nihonto rambling aside of swords as works of art, not just as tools of war (doudanuki masakuni may disagree with me), hashiba hideyoshi (or, toyotomi hideyoshi, when he was adopted by the toyotomi clan- again, another oversimplification, but i like the history of the sengoku jidai) then passed mitsutada to the date clan, where he resided until the 1700s. during this time, he picked up a lot of his key traits. date masamune was known to be a host for his guests and would cook for them when he had any over. he also allegedly would wear western suits, and though he didn’t actually wear an eyepatch, he did have a missing eye due to smallpox. the legend goes that he has his eye plucked out by katakura kagetsuna (later known as katakura kojuurou). his mother and his aunt hated him for this, because filial piety was a huge thing back in feudal japan, and to lose a part of yourself like this.

thus, mitsu wears suits, and is known for cooking.

but, i hear you say, about his name, i hear you cry. after all, he grouses about it in his book line, and his obtain line... “i don't harbour any bad feelings towards lord masamune, but my name comes from a time when i killed someone and happened to cut a candlestick that was nearby at the same time... although it really was a bronze candlestick holder, it would've been cooler if it had been something a bit more durable.”

i’m getting there.

when he was bestowed to the date clan by hideyoshi, it’s widely theorised that the candle-cutting incident happened soon after. unfortunately, there aren’t any clear records of this incident, but it’s one of those legends that have gotten widely circulated enough to the point where it’s accepted as fact, i suppose.

anyways, he stayed in the date clan for a good while, meeting taikogane sadamune and ookurikara during his stay. during the tokugawa era, however (or, the edo period), he was give to the tokugawa clan, where he was kept. this was because of major confiscation of swords to maintain the social order the tokugawa shogunate enforced. there, he was allegedly put into storage, never to hear of his masters...

and then the great kanto earthquake of 1923.

shokudaikiri mitsutada was burned in the warehouse that he was stored in- thankfully, not destroyed, but missing until his recovery in 2015. because of the damage the physical blade obtained in the fire, it’s widely theorised that he wears the gloves and the eyepatch to hide burn scars (the latter not just being an homage to his master who left the most lasting impression on him). after a lot of support from fans, he eventually was officially registered as shokudaikiri mitsutada.

this already is fuel for why i like him so much, but his kiwame only adds to his more. because of his focus on being “cool” and “stylish”, he says that he “wants to learn about true style“. it’s here that he learns that style isn’t just how you look. it’s not just an aesthetic (though, my man would definitely get into aesthetics because they look cool).

no, he learns that the true value of style is how “your way of living stays with someone, where your presence continues to be felt even when your physical vessel deteriorates, even when you disappear from the public stage”.

he knows how fleeting lives are. hell, his life was almost lost because of the earthquake and fired that claimed so many. be knows of wars and bloodshed. it’s the actions that matter, not just how you dress. he may have even been forgotten, buried in the earth for centuries. he clings to this image of “coolness” because... it’s all he has to his name. it took so long for him to be registered as himself because he was burned beyond recognition. if it wasn’t for the records that were kept of him, that charred lump of steel wouldn’t have a name- a family- to belong to.

it’s poetic. it’s sad. it’s beautiful.

it’s why i love shokudaikiri mitsutada.

[ravysu]

Sannin headcanons and thoughts

The last thing I would like to post for the sannin week. It is still 24.04 here! :D @sannin-central

This is long. Spoiler alert. Mostly Orochimaru, some Tsunade, a little of Jiraiya (because his story is pretty clear and spoken and idk what I can add). Also I recommend to read this meta about Orochimaru, it has influenced me a lot and has some good points. Sorry for any posible grammar mistakes. Also I really should put here a lot of references to the manga or anime but it was something that was piling up for a year and I'm soooooooo lazy. After all, those are just headcanons. Also: Im not excusing Oro's bad stuff here, Im trying to understand the reasons.

Ive already posted some hcs, here, here and here.

1. First if all, the chronology pic of sannin lifetime based on the info i found on naruto wiki and also some statements about wars from this post. It was tough considering what a mess naruto’s chronology is.

2. Sannin story shows what it cost to be a legend. They're like Team 7 but more realistic. Tsunade literally carried the war but left with nothing and developed a ptsd and have problems to just live on. Also anger control issues. I think she can be pretty bossy and stubborn which is not always nice. Jiraiya is the hero of the day but also very idealistic and can ignore some important details in the real word whether its the fight (he always injured during flashbacks maybe because each time he took too much to handle and on the one hand it's heroistic but on the other is a mistake that can lead your team to situations like in that Iwa cave) or your friends issues (I bet he saw what's going on but thought it's fine until Oro actually got red handed and left). He lives in his world and may have problems to get out to see it through someone else's shoes. As for Orochimaru, it seems like he was a normal guy for 20+ years (I mean, he didn't do crazy criminal shit and had something good in him and it was stated somewhere that it was his teammates influence. It is obvious they considered him as a friend, I don't thinks it was for nothing) but we mostly know his darkest side. Despite being a moster he is a human that have empathy and some ordinary human traits (man just decorates every bit of an environment he is in lol).

3. Tsunade was the leader of team Hiruzen.

4. Tsunade sometimes hit Jiraiya for some stupid things he did or said but never touches Orochimaru even if he did something same. Jiraiya complained about it once and almost got another hit.

5. Jiraiya had problematic parents that didn't care about him much and a lot of time he was wandering in the streets.

6. Judging by the look of Oro bangs and hair, he sometimes cut it off. A stress relief huh? And the fact that he doesn't do it now in Boruto..

7. It was shown that Tsunade and Orochimaru was acknowledged before they become a team. Maybe they did just before, or maybe some longer time before. I prefer the second option and hc that they met because both had no real friends - Orochimaru seemed weird and scary for everyone and Tsunade was Senju so everyone wanted to hang out with her but didn't really care. They weren't seen as what they were - people put the labels on them. But they didn't care about each other's labels and actually saw each other in true lights.

8. Tsunade knew it was an accident and it's not right but still she blamed Orochimaru for Nawaki's death for some time. It was something that seriously damaged their friendship and the team. Orochimaru was mad but also guilty, after all, he was responsible at least as a shinobi since Nawaki was under his watch. So he started to act cold and emotionless and was trying to distance himself from his teammates.

9. Jiraiya was in Ame while Dan died.

10. The whole his orphans mission was a bit irresponsible tbh. They already fought Hanzo and as he stated the conflict between Konoha and Ame is going to an end with Konoha's win. It's weird to stay here for three years in the middle of the war while there were other lands to fight. He left his teammates for some idea. Maybe that caused another crack in their team friendship.

11. If Tsunade would have find a way to live on with her trauma and follow the will of fire and stuff it would affect Orochimaru as well just as her grief affected him. It's like he would get an example that you can live on with this pain. So death isn't above human capability and we are not just the slaves of mortality (sounds stupid but i dont know how else to describe sorry). But as we know what he actually saw is that it broke her crucially to the point she couldnt be herself again. And so the death is above everything.

12. Oro wasn’t just acting as a cold pragmatic bitch in that cave but also tried to save Tsunade. Jiraiya knew it and that’s why he showed this sign to him like "I see what youre doing here" and that stunned Oro because he would prefer to look rather like a cold pragmatic bitch hehe

13. Just a thought. People in the village probably treated Oro as a foreigner or just wouldnt accept him because he looked so differently and had a weird attitude. That's why he sometimes didn't feel that Konoha is his home. After the wars where people were treated as means and tools, even the children, he himself developed this view on people - he dehumanized them and used as the means to his goals, just as his village did. Funny thing some people were straightly dehumanizing him too like Ibiki thought that he was a demon (tho he was a child). And he probably weren't the only one. Anyways the point is that it's logical that Orochimaru don't care about anybody but some few people, he's the product of his era. He's like Naruto that would chose the hatred way. But naruto had some good and understanding people around him and.. Orochimaru had them too, but match how Iruka treated Naruto and this Hiruzen's "I sAw tHe mAliCe in This cHiLd fRoM tHe BegGinNinG". And oro didn't even have a big ass evil fox in him. sry i hate hiruzen

ANYWAYS the moral of the story is not "go criminal if they hurt you" but always treat people like people. Waving my hand to Kant.

14. The reason why Orochimaru didn't pick some good morals to stick with through the hard times no matter what (like, idk, Jiraiya or Naruto) is because 1) I think he is/was pretty depending on people around him 2) the war fucked him and his friends up too much (Nawaki incident + Tsunade) 3) twisted addictions (though I don't think he's that sadistic, we never saw him torturing randoms just for fun, it was always some science experimental shit. He tends to get fun out of cruelty only when it's personal) that maybe developed as a way to sublimate anger and sadness caused by his parents loss (that's what they share with sasuke - unlicke naruto, they knew their parents and it's other kind of pain. Sasuke developed a revenge issue and Orochimaru - cruelty pleasure which... is kinda the same but less epic and more occasional lol).

15. Speaking of that, Orochimaru cared for Sasuke because he saw himself in him.

16. Oro hold grudges against Hiruzen for not choosing him to be Hokage not only because he was ambitious and/or egoistic, but also because Hiruzen was some kind of a father figure for him and his approval was important tho i doubt he was aware of that. He also probably could tell that Hiruzen was suspicios about him when he was a child and that led to many conflicts and was hurting as well.

17. Tsunade knew things weren't pretty with Orochimaru after the wars but she never expected them to be this bad. During the week that she was given in her arc she thought not only about how much she wants to see Nawaki and Dan again despite how wrong would it be but also was trying to bury all the good memories she had left of Orochimaru so it would be easier to kill him.

18. She poisoned Jiraiya exactly because she knew he would not let her do it. Jiraiya was always hesitant to kill and inclined to forgiveness, while Tsunade, as mentioned by Orochimaru, could be merciless (so much so that he was not surprised when Kabuto suggested that she wanted to use Jira for Edo Tensei).

19. That was one of her traits that scared Jiraiya and fascinated Orochimaru.

20. Remember how Oro grabbed Jiraiya's neck when the latter was trying to cover with hair jutsu? On the snake, in Tsnade's arc. Orochimaru could have easily kill Jiraiya by pulling the sword out of the mouth (arteries are right there) but he didn't. As well as he could kill Tsunade when she was still shaking - just aim for the neck or the heart. Instead, he just injured her lung and kicked her which is not a big deal for the kind of shinoby like her at all.. Also he helped Anko not accidentally kill herself but it would be way much profitable to let her do it. "Orochimaru has no feelings".

21. The reason he suddenly wanted to kill Tsunade instead of forcing her to heal his arms as it was planned (which is weird since it will not going to get him heals and he kinda said that he wouldn't want to kill her just minutes ago) is that not only she refused to help him (he thought he could work it out) but she also prefered the village over him (from his point of view). Out if everyone she was the closest to being able to understand him since the village caused her painful losses too but nevertheless she agreed to be on it's side.

22. He wasn't fighting her back in the end partly because he thought he deserved that. Somewhere deep inside hahah.

23. Tsunade got a fear to develop deep bonds so they probably weren't very close with Shizune (also the way she knocked her down in this hotel.. oh).

24. Orochimaru will be here when she'll die.

25. Orochimaru's eng dub to Tsunade: "I often wondered what it would be like to ring that pretty neck yours". No comments.

26. Orochimaru is either bi/pan or ace. Anything or nothing lmao

27. Hiruzen knew about at least some of the Oro’s illegal experiments and was okay just as he was okay with the Foundation all the time. Because it’s useful. Then he has discovered he went too far OR he knew everything and oro just became too inconvenient because of his methods. The way Orochimaru tells Sasuke about reasons they are well treated as the criminals is based on in his experience with Hiruzen.

28. As you may know the lyrics in Orochimaru’s music theme goes “don’t talk with the silence of the heart”. It was taken from one Indian song that also had lines like “don’t question life too much”, ”pain arose somewhere in the chest”, “don’t speak to the wounds of the heart”. Though I’m not sure 100% because I was translating it with some hindi dictionary with like zero knowledge of hindi

29. I like to think that this “silence of the heart” theme and the fact that he called his village a hidden sound village are somehow connected. The hidden sound is the possible explanation of all things waiting to be listened to but the truth is silent and you know it deep in your heart and it bothers you. The world is silent just like the life is meaningless but people can only hear. *Sigh* anyways

30. Orochimaru’s journey is the one about accepting death. When he saw Karin released her chains while was trying to get to Sasuke he understood that the death is a part of human’s strength.

Can’t wait to feel that everything I wrote is wrong or not enough or stupid and obvious lol. Anyways, it’s something that I wanted to share until I move to some other fandom.

[pinchan]

tell us more abt the upper moons as culling game participants

u have unlocked the 2am ramble machine. welcome.

for starters everything else is the same like in jjk, with kenny and their masterplan and whatnot, just with the upper moons slipped in. they don't know one another maybe up until the culling game, and they even came from different eras!

(read more bc goodness this is long)

hakuji is a modern sorcerer who was already born with a cursed technique. his technique is compass, which helps him pinpoint a specific area of the body; not only the weakest spot, but also the toughest ones, spots that hurt the most, have gained most damage, etc etc. its like a gps that he can decide where he wants to go and his CT will show it to him. he regularly uses this to aid himself in his job as a nurse, and just in daily life.

he's living a pretty peaceful life with koyuki, until she's cursed and keizo is killed. by the time the game started he gets separated from koyuki, the combination of the constant anxiety over her and the grief of losing keizo causes him to waver and turned to the culling game for as a desperate mean to escape the pain. he has 67 points.

THANK YOU CHAPTER 173 FOR CONFIRMING CURSED SPIRITS COULD JOIN THE GAME anyways douma my friend from curses.

douma was a child who couldn't even see curses, but the way people kept pouring their despair and pain at him day and day eventually led to him being turned into one after death. due to his obsession with salvation even as a cursed spirit he doesn't cause unease, but rather an unsettling sense of comfort. followers who can see him spread the words on how he's still trying to save them even after death, so the cycle continues. people feed him their pain, he gets stronger, he saves people, they feed him more of their pain, and so on so forth. this cycle that's been going on since the edo period when he was born until the modern era causes him to grow to be a powerful special grade, complete with sentience and intelligence.

his cursed technique is bliss, which is a technique that numbs pain, physical and otherwise. with his immense power he could even make it so that the affected believed they were in paradise, to the point of neglecting basic self care like eating or drinking, and eventually dying a slow death. pain is how u can break out of bliss. likewise, instead of eating his followers, he holds a ceremony every few months to trap them in his domain expansion that further amplifies his technique effect, blissfully ignorant until their deaths.

douma joined the game because it seems fun!!! he's not a very confrontational player, mostly there to watch chaos unfolds. he has 44 points, half came from other players who attacked him first, and the other half came from him offering salvation to desperate, dying players.

kenny wanted to bring back the heian golden age but ive been wondering if he would collect violent sorcerers from other era as well. im going with the assumption that they did.

kokushibo is an ancient sorcerer from sengoku, although he's not one to use his cursed technique much, just raw strength, control over his CE, and his swordsmanship that's been honed for years on end. his ability to use simple domains effectively is almost like no other, able to utilize it both offensively and defensively, to the point that he's a dangerous opponent even without his CT.

when he still had his CT he never used it much offensively either. it was body temperature manipulation, which could easily kill someone with a touch, but koku has always preferred his sword over that. the most often he used his CT was in his childhood, where he would warm up yoriichi when winter came and his brother's clothes were too thin for the weather. but years later, yoriichi took the CT with him after kokushibo killed him in his blind pursue for power.

in the culling game he was found by muzan and they've been stuck together since. muzan being the one who keeps telling koku that he did the right thing, that hierarchy of power is the only thing that matters etc etc yknow the heian sorcerer's lack of value for life. besides there's a new world in front of them now. so many things to discover and people to kill, there's no use in sulking over the past.

they don't really keep track of which point belongs to who, but they've accumulated over a hundred together.