#good dad shiono

[ipsen]

Blank Canvas 11

Read on AO3. Word Count: 3153 Summary: Kaneki has a specific image of himself on the beach. Chapter 10 Chapter 12 Master Post

When Kaneki imagined himself on the summer beach, it went something like this:

The salt on the wind. The tantalizing scent of sizzling meat. Pelts of laughter from the others. A book in his hand, and him peacefully turning the pages beneath an umbrella in a chair.

(He also imagined Takatsuki nearby with the same book. They would pause after every chapter or so and discuss their thoughts, both similar and different. Her ideas burned hot and angry, yet they could be comforting. His shifted like water, yet they could topple buildings. They would blend together into a steam that differentiated between none and became all.)

Or, perhaps, he would be drawing the scenery. The tide, calm or aggressive, lapping at the shore. The smoke from the grill curling into the air. Everyone’s smiling faces as they kicked up the sand with their feet. Stories always needed moments of levity to counterbalance and enhance the pathos. A vacation like this was perfect for ideas. Takatsuki had some lighter moments in her short stories, but she was surprisingly hands-off with him. She never said why, and he’d never tried asking. It was just how things were.

(He should’ve asked Chie for a camera. Oh well.)

Regardless, Kaneki was not sharing thoughts beneath a private umbrella by the shore, nor was he holding a sketchbook and rubbing graphite between his fingers— both things that he would much rather be doing. In reality, his book and his drawing materials were in a bag next to Miza and Takatsuki. He never thought he’d be jealous of his belongings, and to such a high degree, too.

Takatsuki had her hair pulled back into a messy bun. At this point, he was sure it was her favorite style besides having her hair down, given how easy it was to do and how often she did it. As for her swimsuit, she wore a black wetsuit with bright white sleeves underneath a T-shirt and shorts.

He allowed himself to stare for a moment. Even at the beach in the summer sun, she insisted on covering herself head to toe. And again, she never said why, and he never asked. At least this time, she was underneath an umbrella, helping Shiori build sandcastles with Miza.

Kaneki was not so fortunate. He had the privilege of being beneath the sun, no protection, and staring at Naki, Tatara, and Big Bin— all shirtless, all muscular (which would make for a good reference later)— through a network of net. A net-work, his unhelpful brain supplied.

Middle Bin, hands on his hips, sucked in a breath and said what Kaneki was honestly thinking. “I dunno about this, Ayato. I could probably take Naki, but my brother? And Tatara?”

Ayato glared. “You implying I’m not up to the task?”

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just, well… Yeah, you’re strong, but let’s face facts: it’s Tatara. Tall, athletic, competitive. He’s the whole package.” He gestured to the man stretching his impressive biceps across large pecs. “I’m all for a friendly match, but a fair one, this is not.”

“Middle Bin.” Ayato folded his arms. “My sister’s the top fighter in her judo class. She has a winning ratio against everyone who's ever dared to fight her.”

Kaneki screwed his eyes shut.

“Her lowest ratio is against this guy.” Ayato jabbed a finger at Kaneki.

There it was. “I-It’s really not that big a deal.” Kaneki waved his hands in the air. “Besides, judo and volleyball are two completely different things—”

“You clowns ready to rumble?!” Naki shouted from the other side, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Nobody here actually plays volleyball, Tree Branch,” Ayato said hastily. “So it comes down to synergy and ability.”

“Sure,” Middle Bin said, “but c’mon. Look at them.”

If Kaneki didn’t know any better, Naki was a large kid on a sugar high. Big Bin stretched his legs (very impressive calves and thighs). Tatara rolled his shoulder, radiating competitive, though friendly, menace.

“Hey.” Ayato, also looking at the opposition, clamped a hand on Kaneki’s shoulder. “Take off your shirt too.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Take off. Your shirt. Too,” Ayato repeated. “We need to intimidate Naki.”

“What does me being shirtless have to do with—”

“Naki might not seem it, but he’s incredibly perceptive— when it comes to someone’s physical strength.” He hastily added the last part. “We need to give him a reason to be nervous. It’ll help us if he messes up early.”

“But that’s only once! Once they see me in action, it’ll fall apart!” Kaneki could already see himself with a face full of sand. Takatsuki might laugh at him. That might not be so bad, making her smile. He’d consider it if the team started losing badly.

Ayato rolled his eyes. “Dude, you’ll be fine. I believe in you or whatever. Just do it.”

“But—!” He inadvertently glanced toward Takatsuki, who was paging through a book. He wondered what book it was. “I, well, I—”

Ayato followed his gaze, saw Takatsuki, and then pinched the bridge of his nose. His voice lowered to a whisper. “You’re hopeless, dude, you know that? You and I both know she wants to see you shirtless.”

“No she does not,” Kaneki hissed back, even though he was curious to know if she did.

“You done yet?” Naki asked impatiently. “If you want Sasaki to take his shirt off, you gotta try harder than that!”

Kaneki saw Takatsuki, for the briefest of moments, flick her gaze up, before immediately going back to reading. Middle Bin approached him and Ayato, grinning. “I think you’ve got your answer, Sasaki,” he whispered. “Go on.”

With a resigned sigh, Kaneki, red as a tomato, discarded his shirt and took his position.

It was a normal body, he told himself. Just average, like anyone else. Sure, when he looked at himself in the mirror, he occasionally saw that scrawny boy again, with bruises across his arms and occasionally his chest, but those were days long gone, and they weren’t coming back. In place of bruises were toned muscles trained by himself and by Touka. With them, he would defend that scrawny boy. He would—

A sudden sputtering noise interrupted his train of thought. Everyone— everyone— turned to see Takatsuki choking on her drink.

“Sorry!” she coughed, waving them off. “Wrong pipe! Fuck—”

Shiono, manning the grill, immediately went over to check on her, while strangely enough, Miza burst out laughing.

Kaneki’s ego, meanwhile, roared from its pit, demanding to feed upon the swelling pride expanding across his mind and threatening to spill over, but he was vigilant. When its claws found purchase on the surface, he beat it back the way a hero slew their enemies. A protagonist of humility. Takatsuki had simply choked on her drink— correlation, not causation.

In public, he cleared his throat. “I-I’m ready!” he said, trying not to scratch where the sun tickled his bare chest.

“Alright,” Yumitsu called from a high chair, playing referee, “First to five points wins!”

“Ready to get crushed?!” Naki shouted.

“We’ll see about that…” Ayato grumbled, rolling his shoulders.

“Let’s have a clean match, guys!” Big Bin grinned.

Kaneki glanced between Ayato and Middle Bin, who looked excited to play. It was almost infectious, and the more he thought about it, the less he minded the idea of winning. It’d make for a good story to tell Hide.

He wondered if Takatsuki would be impressed if he won.

Alright, yeah.

She didn’t seem the type, but on the off chance she was, well—

Yeah. Let’s try to win.

It wouldn’t hurt.

Win…

—

“Left, left, left!”

“Okay, a bit more forward! Oh, back back back!!”

“S-Sasaki— Pffhahahaha!!— Wrong way, dude!”

Humiliation was not the right word to describe how Kaneki, stumbling dizzily about in a blindfold (with his shirt back on) for watermelon splitting, felt at the moment, but it would have to do.

Honestly, he should have expected the loss; Big Bin, Naki, and Tatara had far more synergy and experience with each other than he, Ayato, and Middle Bin did. It wasn’t a slaughterfest, but it wasn’t exactly close, either. There were a thousand ways he could have improved, but the benefit of hindsight was forever cursed to come after the fact.

“Go, go!”

“It’s right in front of you!!”

Oh, thank goodness. He swung down with all his might, and felt the bat sink into a fleshy material. A direct hit.

“Alright!” he heard Ayato shout. “A rematch, like you said, Naki! One-on-one if Tree Branch got a hit!”

“Woo!” came Naki’s response. “Let’s do it!”

Kaneki was just grateful he didn’t have to play again.

The beach didn’t last forever; the sky turned orange, people got tired, and the fireworks show was soon on the horizon. It would begin early in the evening, so any time in the hot springs was reserved for after.

On the large porch at the resort overlooking the city, a few tables and chairs were set up. Naki and Shiono had cooked up a huge feast for all to enjoy. Kaneki stood in the background, letting everyone take what they wanted before going for something himself. He wasn’t a very picky eater, anyway; sure, he had his favorites, but he’d make do with the leftovers. Besides, he technically wasn’t even supposed to be here. By that logic, any food for him should be leftovers.

Alas, a storm of energy with hair like grass beneath the sunrise had other plans. She was the first to grab two(?!) plates and fill them up, but instead of sitting down and getting started, she marched straight up to him and held one of them out.

“You look hungry,” Takatsuki commented. “Go on, take it.”

“Er…” He wasn’t sure how to respond. “I-I can get the food myself; you can—”

“Take it,” she repeated, more insistent this time. “Don’t tell me you’re turning down your favorites!”

He took a second look at the plate: a few corn cobs, some spears of asparagus, two slices of tomatoes, a glob of mashed potatoes, and a large slab of a familiar meat.

(It was just a little begging…)

Across their culinary adventures the past few months, he supposed he had gravitated towards similar things throughout. However, that wasn’t because he was picky; he just had never really been one for adventuring beyond his current palette, which was more than enough for a healthy diet.

He hadn’t realized that his… acquaintance in those adventures was actually looking at his plate while she sampled as much of the menu as she could in a single order.

Kaneki stared at it. “You…?”

“I am an author.” She shrugged. “Comes with the territory.”

It would be rude to turn her down after all the trouble. “Thank you…”

She smiled. “Enjoy the show, Haise.”

“Um, actually, I—” he began, but when he looked up, he saw her mane of hair disappear back indoors.

Before he could follow, someone bumped against his shoulder and stopped him.

“Sh-Shiono!” he stammered.

“Hey, Sasaki!” Shiono had a fresh plate of food and a drink. “Talk with me a bit?”

There was an unidentifiable edge to his voice that made Kaneki nervous, and as Shiono led him far, far away from the others (or as far from them as they could be on a porch, even if it was a large one), the feeling only worsened.

What could Shiono possibly want to talk about? All sorts of scenarios ran through Kaneki’s head. Was the script not up to par? Was his art just that disgusting to behold? Was he being interrogated for misconduct in the workplace? Ami never really liked him; had she filed a report? Had he overstepped his boundaries?! Was this vacation all just a ruse to let him down gently?! That was… kinda cruel, honestly, but at least he had a good meal to eat when—

“Are you in love with Sen, or am I misreading things?”

What.

What was once a growing fear turned into abject horror and embarrassment. Kaneki would rather get fired a thousand times over than hear that question. “W-Well, I— I don’t—” He scratched wildly at his face as it itched with heat. “I wouldn’t say— I-I mean, that is to say that I, um, well—”

Shiono laughed. “Sorry, sorry. I don’t mean to embarrass you, but it seems like the others’… efforts to get you two to say something isn’t working, so I figured I’d give it a shot.”

‘Efforts’? “Efforts?”

His brow furrowed. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. Your tickets to the play, the room arrangements— Ever since it came out that you were getting invited here, Miza and the Bins’ve been bending over backwards to get you alone and get either one of you to say something to the other.”

“But I don’t— I mean, she doesn’t even—” Kaneki sputtered. ‘Say something’? Really? And ruin all these months of hard work?

Shiono rolled his eyes. “Sasaki, I’m gonna be straight with you— Sen’s been head over heels for you for a while now.”

If Kaneki had had the stomach to eat during this conversation, he would have spit it out over the edge of the handrail.

“I’ve been raising the kiddo for thirteen years now.” The weight of that statement made even Shiono shiver slightly. “I know when she likes someone.”

Kaneki latched onto that first statement. “W-Wait a minute, you’re her—?”

“Father, more or less. Second adoptive one, to be more specific.” Shiono took a drink. “Her first one died, and she spent about a year in an orphanage before I entered the picture. As for her biological father, he’s alive, but, well… Yeah.”

Kaneki, relaxing, took a thoughtful bite of some meat, chewing to focus and digest the new information. Noroi Takatsuki had adopted Takatsuki, then died in the incident with Kasuka Mado. Takatsuki herself was involved with that event, but instead of having her record stained, she was sent to an orphanage, and Donato took the fall due to an unknown party.

“As you’ve probably figured, I met Sen when she was fifteen.” Shiono swirled his drink in his cup. “She wanted to submit what would become Dear Kafka, and I was the one she talked to for that. She was wearing unwashed clothes and shoes stuffed with napkins to fit her feet. She kinda smelled too, but don’t tell her I said that.

“I remember thinking, ‘Poor kid.’ She had that look in her eyes, the kind that told me that she’d lost something precious, and now she only had herself to count on. Most people would say, ‘she’s so mature’, but what kinda kid is self-reliant at fifteen? It’s messed up, is what it is.”

Kaneki happened to glance at Ayato, who was cackling at a joke Yumitsu had cracked. Ayato and Touka hadn’t always gotten along, and she once confessed that he’d run away from the orphanage they were at once, after an argument neither remembered anymore. He didn’t get far— he was only twelve— but Kaneki shuddered to think of what would have happened if he’d actually left.

Takatsuki must have experienced something similar. All alone, with no one who understood, except for the halls of her own mind.

“She was so nervous too, rubbing her wrists and glancing around like she might get attacked any second now. I didn’t think it then, but that was probably when I decided I’d adopt her.” Shiono glanced out at the ocean, toward that distant memory.

It must have meant so much to her, Kaneki thought. Someone who brushed aside the bad stuff and embraced her, even if they didn’t really understand. He felt the same about Hide, Touka, and everyone at Apes & Dobers. So many friends and experiences, even if their pieces didn’t quite fill the hole.

“That’s all to say,” Shiono took a swig of his drink, “kiddo’s had it rough. She’s gotten better, yeah, but part of that pain’s never really gone away, even though I’ve tried my best. Unfortunately, there are some things I can never fix, both as her friend and as her father.”

Kaneki’s brow furrowed. Where was he going with this?

“This’s a bit weird to ask, Sasaki, but… Be good to her. Can you do that for me?”

He tilted his head. “Er, sure? I, um, wasn’t planning to be… bad to her…?”

Shiono blinked, then burst into laughter. Full peals, sort of like Takatsuki. He really was her father.

“W-What?”

“Nothing, nothing! You’re a funny guy, Sasaki.” He put his drink down. “I can see why Sen laughs and smiles far more with you.”

She did? “Sh-She does?”

“You’re oblivious to your influence, huh? You’re just like Sen. Maybe that’s why she likes you so much.” Shiono shrugged with a smile. “She doesn’t have to explain why to you; you just get it.” 

“But I—” I’m just her artist, her coworker, he wanted to say. An acquaintance of a few months. And even then, there are others far more qualified than— “Me?”

“Is it so hard to believe? Sen wouldn’t keep you around if she didn’t like you; she’d toss you out to the wolves instead.”

Kaneki chuckled at that. “Hopefully not literally.”

“Hopefully not literally,” Shiono repeated, then pat Kaneki’s shoulder. “Look, I’m not saying that you’re the perfect partner for her or anything, but I am saying that she picked you for a reason. And that reason’s why she’s brought you to so many things. I mean, who drags a mere coworker to Cochlea in the middle of the night, right?”

Kaneki’s laugh was a bit more nervous this time. When viewed from that angle, it made sense; Takatsuki trusted him to a very high degree to not say anything regarding that. A weirdly high degree, too.

“So I’ll ask again: are you in love with her?”

Kaneki looked away. “I…”

He could lie and say no, and Shiono no doubt would let the whole ordeal go. Hell, he might even tell the others for Kaneki, save him the awkwardness of apparently disappointing everyone. Things would continue as they had been, and eventually, the book would be completed and Kaneki would part ways with Shiono and Takatsuki both. The world would keep turning, wholly oblivious to the whole ordeal.

Or… he could say yes. Tell the truth. Say everything he’d been wanting to say for months. Cast his pride aside and make that faithless leap across the abyss. Would he fall into its depths, or would he make it to the other side? There was no way of knowing until he tried.

Kaneki grabbed the chains shackling himself down, then slowly undid them. It manifested in a small, “Yes.”

Shiono smiled. “Well, don’t tell me, then.” He made a shooing motion, chuckling. “Go on.”

Kaneki, with a bit of weight lifted from his shoulders, nodded, and cleaned his plate.

[kiaroscuro]

Title: as the world caves in

Warnings: descriptions of violence, major character death

Rating: Mature

Main Pairing: Ren Amamiya / Arsene

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

· · ─────── =^.^= ─────── · ·

It takes them three days to reach Tsu, during which Ren managed to both trap a fox and almost get mauled by a mutated human. It took Arsene slicing its head off with sharp feathers for it to finally die completely, and the adrenaline has left Ren shaking, even hours later. They're tired and wan and Arsene dematerializes once they notice movement in the distance. Ren holds up his hands, white cloth wound around them, and waves to catch the attention of a patrol of people, not daring to raise his voice. One of them hurries over, almost stumbling over his own two feet; it's a man, scruff around his chin and with long hair tied into a messy bun. "You're alive!" He hisses, and Ren nods, presents the trapped (currently unconscious) fox, and watches as the rest of the patrol hurries over.

"Damn," one of the women says. "Good catch!"

"Thank you," Ren demurs, voice catching because it's been three days since he's last spoke out loud. "I'm on my way to Tokyo; I was wondering if I could spend the night with you if possible."

The three glance between each other, before the first man nods. "We're not going to turn you away, especially if you can hunt a fox in that forest. Tokyo's a way off, though, kid."

Ren smiles wanly. "My family is there. I have to hope that they're still alive after the phone network went down."

He follows after them, learns that their names are Zenkichi, Chaco and Shiono. They're a group of survivors huddled up inside of what used to be a temple ground and complex, elevated enough that they can see the mutated approach. There's about fifty of them, surprisingly many, and Zenkichi informs him that Tsu had two other groups that got wiped out by infected. Sorrow lies deep within Zenkichi's eyes as he says it, and Ren murmurs condolences while he's being led into their camp. A girl a few years younger than Ren runs up towards them, eyes drawn into an anxious line and a crossbow clutched between her fingers. "Dad, you're back!" She shouts, and rushes at Zenkichi, clutching tightly at his clothes. A shadow follows after her, to Ren's surprise, its leg bandaged. It's a shiisha, scowl fierce as it eyes Ren.

"Akane," Zenkichi murmurs. "We didn't run into your predicted mutated. Don't worry."

Akane's eyes flash yellow as she stares at Ren. "Thank you," she tells him, and he stands there, kind of confused with his (now dead) fox. He blinks.

"You're... uh, welcome?" He says. Akane shakes her head.

"No, thank you. If you hadn't killed the human, then dad would've..." she trails off, losing her voice. Chaco shakes his head.

"Forgive young Akane; she has been having visions ever since the cataclysm. They've proved to be dangerously accurate from such things as the weather to the erasure of Tsu-Yomi and Tsu-Fuku a few weeks before." Those had been the two other camps. Apparently Akane had seen the dangerous mutated maul her father, but Ren had successfully killed it instead.

He nods, mouth drawn into a thin line before following the people and lone shadow inside the main body of the temple. They show him towards a corner space one floor down, apologizing that they don't have any bedrolls anymore. Ren waves their concern away. He ends up helping prepare an early dinner, skinning his own fox with Shiono and a few others, blinking in surprise when he sees a kukuri-hime. "You're surprisingly friendly towards shadows," he remarks, and Shiono cants her head to the side and nods.

"Tsu-Yomi had been a shadow camp," she explains. "We've been trading goods and expertise ever since the cataclysm, so we weren't about to turn them away after they'd helped with setting up a rudimentary electrical generator. Don't hurt them, please."

"I wouldn't." Ren says, wondering if he should reveal Arsene or not. "Tell me more about Akane's abilities," he asks instead. "Maybe I can help."

Shiono eyes him for a long moment before giving him potatoes to peel, detailing how Akane and Zenkichi had come to Tsu on vacation and how lucky many of the people of Tsu-Aki were still alive because Zenkichi saved them. Apparently the man was a public security officer, which is just one step below military in how he was trained. They'd established Tsu-Aki three days after the cataclysm, lucky enough that the temple grounds had ample stores of rice and gardens that Ren hasn't seen. Akane started hearing voices and had grown feverish after she'd been bitten. "She's only been grazed, thankfully," Shiono said, or else the girl would be long dead. Her predictions had at first only amounted to the weather, but as she's grown stronger in health she's also grown better in her predictions. The shiisha followed her around as a guard, and most of the temple revered her.

Ren listens, quietly, and turns inwards. It sounds like she might have a persona.

That it does. A navigator-type, probably. Arsene agrees, curling around Ren's sternum to stave off the cold he feels. Thou want to help her?

Yes. But the others--

Will not be mad that thou would take time to help a fellow persona user, especially one who is younger than the Hermit, mon cher. A day or two shan't matter.

(Ren sighs, but he does end up spending two more days at the temple, helps Akane call for Cassandra and even cracks a smile when Zenkichi gets spooked by Arsene for the first time. He finds out that the whole bay area has managed to connect a radio frequency together, operating at 18.6 MHz. It usually broadcasts Akane's predictions for the weather, though the operators also talk to each other. Zenkichi is setting up a hidden channel as well, operating at 13.8 MHz, something Akane apparently insisted on. Ren is invited to both of them, if Tokyo manages to rebuild their radio. He's oddly touched. Akane ends up giving him a little omamori to remember her and Zenkichi by, and he, along with Shiono and Chaco, accompanies Ren to the outskirts of Tsu. Before Ren can leave, Zenkichi grabs him by the shoulder with a strength that could bruise bones. "Stay out of Nagoya, kid." He'd hissed, making Arsene bristle. Ren nodded, already knowing that he won't do that; he'd have to pass by the outskirts of the city at least, or else he'd loose too much time going all the way to Gifu.)

First <<>> Next

[thyandrawrites]

I bought my tgre volume 7 today and I wasn’t anticipating feeling so nostalgic... I think that it’s probably one of my favourite volumes of the entire series, before I started disliking certain elements of the narrative and certain character arcs. 

but in volume 7... gdi, all the feels hit me all over again...

Eto was still a relevant character who kicked major ass

she, unlike Kaneki later on, was pretty great at holding her own against Furuta

Eto roasting Furuta like a pro with the mention that he couldn’t call his father “dad”, prompting the only ever occurrence in which we saw Furuta losing his cool in front of someone else

Seriously, Eto is badass and she will hit you where it hurts the most and I miss her on screen so bad

the love/hate relationship between Kaneki and Eto... goddamn it

Eto saying that she was only the surplus of the Kuzen/Ukina dynamic hurt me just like a trainwreck would all over again

Kaneki feeling hurt that he’d never get to truly know Arima despite loving him like a surrogate father (this hurts me like a bitch even tho I hate areems okay)

number 240 will forever haunt me

Arima telling 240 that all his friends were dead so that he’d stop hurting himself trying to escape, but only managing to traumatise him so bad he had to wipe his own memories to cope with that loss

Kaneki smiling when he got to decide his new name “Haise” (crying forever)

Ayato being so worried about possibly failing to save Hinami that he acted super reckless and almost died 27 times in five minutes

Touka telling Ayato to stop shouldering the weight of the world on his own T_T (still one of my fave scenee EVER of the entire manga tbh)

THE KIRISHIMA FAMILY FLASHBACKS

THE YOMO/HIKARI/ARATA FLASHBACKS

THE KIRISHIMAS BEING RELEVANT IN GENERAL

The ayahina reunion and the shoulder pat

Hinami canonically tearing up when she saw her family coming to get her (this hurts even more now, with the knowledge that she’s never felt equals with them. she probably thought that they’d leave her there to rot)

Ayato not so subtly giving her his jacket so she wouldn’t be cold

That beautiful Yomo chapter. You know which one

Kaneki trying to die only to later realize on his own that he wanted to live

Kaneki’s own subconscious (through Hide’s hallucination) telling him THAT HE WAS WORTH LIVING, HE JUST DIDN’T KNOW WHY YET

Eto eating the Shiono pate just to have the strength to obliterate Furuta from the Earth for having the gall to get back at her

Seriously Furuta was SO PETTY when he killed Shiono. He did it just because he could. And because he wanted to punish Eto for talking shit about his circumstances of birth. I know, double standards much because Eto was petty too. BUT STILL 

Eto in giant kakuja mode DESTROYING THE ENTIRE ROOM out of pure spite (I love her sm omg)

The Hide flashback will forever haunt me too because up until that moment I’ve always thought that he was too smart to let Kaneki take a bite out of him, and yet

Seriously, I get that it was a beautiful act of trust and acceptance, but that’s fucking disturbing and not something that any person should ever be put in the position of doing 

Also that scene destroys me because it’s basically canon now that Hide hasn’t been able to talk properly ever since

Basically, I’m in a lot of pain right now, but of the good kind :’D

[sambart93]

2017.05.20 OEdo no Candy 2 Event and Movie Review!

I got a chance to go to another OEdo Candy event and I got to go to the showing of the new movie plus they had a butai aisatsu (stage greeting) from some of the cast after.

*PSST: if you just want to read about the stage greeting then Ctrl F and ‘Stage Greeting’. It’s at the bottom of the page/post.

First the MOVIE REVIEW

NON-SPOILER REVIEW

Overall: This is partly what I was expecting and partly not. I was expecting it to be fantastical and romancy、 BUT I wasn’t expecting it to be so fairy-like and lots of glittery special effects and weird colour tones and such. It definitely makes it all the more magical and luckily, isn’t too distracting. Also it wasn’t as BL-y as I was under the impression of. I wish this movie had been longer. I needed and wanted more character development. The visuals were amazing, it was very funny (which I also wasn’t expecting) and the characters were great. It’s definitely an Indie-styled movie. It’s not a clean cut, it’s not professional looking, the editor purposefully leaves in real actor mistakes that happened for comic relief. BUT it’s enjoyable, fascinating and I’m glad it ended with a ‘To Be Continued’. Rating: 7/10

---

Now for cast and spoiler section and everything:

CAST

Kurihara Rui aka Louis Aramaki Yoshihiko aka MakiChan Someya Toshiyuki aka Someyan Fujita Tom Akazawa Tomoru aka Tomorun Kamiya Riku Shiono Akihisa Asuma Kousuke Yura Achiha Hiko Robin Komina Kouji Nakamura Kaito Tokito Kishimoto Takuya aka KishiTaku Izumi Shuuhei Moriya Koji Kazuki Haru Doi Kazumi Hashimoto Zenitsu Nakajima Ken Nihira Shougo aka Shougokun Mori Issei Dairi IG Saya Onuki Yuusuke Mayama Akihiro Takahashi Hiromu Sano Shirou Fukikoshi Mitsuru Takenaka Naoto Koizumi Kyouko

That’s a fucking long list xD anyway!

---

SPOILER REVIEW

I am going to go into a lot of detail about scenes and plot so you’ve been warned. Also I still haven’t seen the first movie so I many have left stuff out or not understand some parts because of that. Okay, let’s start!

The Movie Itself

Already mentioned in the non-spoiler section but: It was more Indie than I was expecting. I knew it wouldn’t be a perfect Toho cinematic-like movie because it has stage actors in and they usually have the more raw and not quite polished movies, but the director has been on Shabekuri007 and the cast is stella, top stage actors AND some HUGE TV names are in this cast, so I was expecting some professionalism but I was so wrong! It’s so, so Indie in it’s style. The cuts and edits aren’t quite so clean, the special effects are ridiculously fake but make everything look so pretty. The colouring and tone of the movie, especially when they’re in Underworld, is very obvious and like shades of green and blue rather than natural colours. So I was a little surprised at first. It’s obvious straight away that it’s Indie style, but I like this style thankfully so it didn’t bother me for long. I like this style; it’s definitely a style I enjoy but some people won’t.

Continuing on about the use of colour and sparkle effects when they were in the Underland; they were definitely creative and entertaining. For example there’s this sparkler like movement and light that goes around the characters, and at one point, love hearts are falling down around Someya and Riku when they finally meet and they realise they’re fated to be together. Just like these pics:

At first the special effects were very jarring and distracting BUT I got used to them. Although(!) it’s going to be annoying as fuck when it comes out of DVD because we ALL want to get those pretty and good shots of our favourite actors, but because the sparkles and such that just go all over their faces and everything, they aren’t going to be the best of shots. They should bring out an unfiltered version for us! They’ll make more money that way too!! xD

This movie was a lot less gay than I was expecting. Especially because on Tsutaya’s (a Japanese rental website and store) website the first OEdo movie is labelled as ‘erotica’ but like... there’s two kiss scenes, some rope scenes, and implied whipping but that’s all! But I guess Japanese censorship is more sensitive that way? I’d just say this is a PG-12, it’s really nothing too raunchy.

This movie was FUNNY! Funny as fuck! I wasn’t expecting it to be funny at all! I laughed the entire time! Either because of the stuff happening in the movie itself was funny, or because knowing the actors and their personalities it’s funny. It’s also very purposefully funny, like the editor saw a mistake and was like ‘that’s hilarious! Keep it in!'. Especially Asuma’s scene and the Masturi/Festival scene which I’ll explain later. There’s definitely scenes that happened by mistake or weren’t part of the script, but the editor and director purposefully left them in the final cut to give the audience a laugh and embarrass the actors xD

The story is simple-ish enough to understand and it’s very fun to watch, but like I said in my non-spoiler review; I wish this movie was longer so we could’ve gotten MORE plot and MORE character development and MORE comedy,. I just want MORE. Luckily at the end it said ‘To Be Continued’ however I assume the cast will change again(?) just like it did between the first and second movie, which is a shame because I’d like as much of this cast back as possible.

The Actors and Characters and Their Scenes

Kurihara Rui:

He surprised me. I’ve seen him in person and I’ve seen him on tv as himself many times and he very much has the persona of someone who is very emo-like with life and very monotone and doesn’t like to smile and is very witty but straight faced when he jokes. Even when I saw him at the first OEdo event he was like this! But in the movie, he at least had facial expressions! At first he didn’t but then we see him freaking out in the bathroom and being concerned. For the most part he stays as himself but I was surprised he could actually give SOME sort of acting performance. He is model so of course he looks damn pretty in his white outfit, and his skin looks freaking flawless as fuck in this movie. But I am very happy and surprised from the performance he did give.

Aramaki Yoshihiko:

My boy... first I have a bone to pick with you Aramaki Yoshi-always-straight-hiko!!!! (Can you tell what it is yet?)

OF COURSE MakiChan is the ONLY (no wait Asuma is too but he’s not a main character) straight person in this movie! EVERYONE else is obviously gay but oh no MakiChan just HAS to be the straight character -__- I was hoping for him and Akazawa to have a thing going on in this, instead of him denying he’s in love with his childhood female friend the entire movie -__- oh well! Least he’s somewhat gay in Honoo no Mirage... one day I’ll get my gay movie from him! I better! All stage actors have one! Also you work with Shosan a lot and he’s done quite a few! Also Baba and TakaChan! Come on Maki! GIVE ME MY GAY MAKICHAN MOVIE! I’m okay... moving on...

MakiChan’s character was chara (how would you even translate ‘chara’ in English?! ‘Playboy’? or ‘Likes to mess around’?) as fuck though. His first scene is him opening a very posh person’s door to reveal a very posh and stuck up girl and takes her through his izakaya while winking at his mates that he’s ‘gotten in there’. Then at the end of the date she pulls him slightly into the car and kisses him on the cheek. Once she’s left, he’s like ‘yes I’ve scored!’ BUT at the same time is totally adorable because he’s over the moon by just a simple kiss and can’t take his hand off his cheek where she kissed him! He was both chara and cute at the same time! Also the next day he’s with Shiono and is holding a teddy and just being so cute and child-like that he got a kiss from the most popular girl in his university xD Just adorableness galore from MakiChan! With the teddybear = adorable. Trying his hardest to join in on the (real) matsuri/festival = adorable! When he wakes up at the end = ADORABLE! 

ALSO very badass when he attacks and kills Robin in a second! Also OMG! In the beginning he sees his dad come out of the Boys Bar that’s next door to the izakaya, and he chases his dad down and is like ‘you’re not gay?!’ and his dad’s like ‘why you think your mother and I.... anyway I’m gay. You do realise I’m gay right? You might not understand but that’s how it is!’ And the next day MakiChan turns to Shiono and is like ‘my dad told me he’s gay...what the fuck?!’ xD And his dad was being played by FREAKING Takenaka Naoto! TAKENAKA NAOTO! He’s a freaking movie and TV star! He’s amazing in whatever he does and he was in this?! And with MakiChan?! AND as MakiChan’s DAD?! And being a GAY daddy?! He was fabulous and amazing (as always) in this!

Speaking of Akazawa and MakiChan. I really loved their relationship and my head thinks they were dating in it even though his character is supposed to be straight, and I think Akazawa’s character was supposed to be in love with Rui’s character in the UnderWorld. Nevertheless their relationship was great BECAUSE MakiChan’s character in the Underworld cannot speak, he’s mute, and luckily Akazawa can hear him via telepathy which was cute so Akazawa helped MakiChan out a lot.

I can confirm that for many many months even before the movie first came out, MakiChan and co were saying you can hear them say ‘facial’ instead of ‘washoi’ during the festival scene, and I can confirm that they do in fact say ‘facial’ instead of ‘washoi’ in the scene xD I was giggling quite a bit.

Little side note: In UnderWorld he is the only character who has a recollection and memories of his time in the Real World.

Finally! As disgusting as it sounds (but shouldn’t be a surprise if you know me) MakiChan’s underarm hair made a special guest appearance and it made me VERY happy <3 why am I so fucking weird...MOVING ON!

Someya Toshiyuki:

Someya is so pretty when he dresses up and has make up in a more feminine manner! He was gorgeous! I could not look away! And the kiss with Someya and Riku was perfect though! It was rather heart-racey but nothing too heart-racey (am I even getting enough oxygen to my brain right now to be able to talk about this properly?!) xD 

BUT! One moment that got me giggling though is when Someya takes like 5 minutes to cut Riku’s rope from his hands -- it really doesn’t take that long! It wasn’t that thick of a rope at all and I just cracked up the longer the scene went. I get it was a long scene so they could keep talking and so the sexual tension between them built up but it was a ridiculous amount of time.

Why did he have to die though?! Riku gets killed by Tom so then Someya kills himself with a knife in front of Tom and because Tom has essentially lost the person he loves he shoots himself in the head! ... I’ve just realised how freaking Romeo and Juliet this all is... it literally is just a movie about romance and being dramatic and everyone dying and/or killing themselves for the people they love xD what the fuck... it’s still good though!

Fujita Tom:

Surprisngly Tom’s character was pretty interesting! I don’t know why I expected him not to be because I was impressed with him in Kamen Rider Amazons and I enjoyed seeing him in person last time... 

I liked his character. He was like a warlord and looked very good upon his throne. I liked both his Real World and UnderWorld Character. His Real World character works in the freaking Boys Bar along with Someya. In fact the entire Boys Bar scene and location itself is ridiculous and hilarious! It’s this very loud, strip-bar which is right next to MakiChan’s brother’s (played by Riku) izakaya and that’s why they have conflict, because they can hear the Boys Bar’s music every night. Seriously the entire Boys Bar scene is amazing, I think I enjoyed it a bit too much xD Anyway, back to Tom; I liked both his character but was short lived, again leading back to the whole ‘I needed more from this movie’ complaint.

Akazawa Tomoru:

I remember that in the last event, the director commented (probably during the Making video) on how big Akazawa’s eyes are, and seriously, while watching this movie, they really are huge! It doesn’t help he has these blue eye contacts in that really light his face up (not in a stupid way! A natural way!) so they looked obviously bigger compared to everyone else too.

But damn Akazawa’s death scene was sad and upsetting =[ It was so quick and unexpected too! He was seriously struggling =‘[ he got his neck slit open and was on the floor in his pool of blood coughing and trying to save the others before they get killed, and he’s like ‘I’m so glad you weren’t here (when they came <-- they being Tom’s group who are after Rui because he’s some magical white fairy thing I think).

Kamiya Riku:

He is MakiChan’s brother in this! But also Someya’s fated lover. A majpr plot of the story is that until he meets Someya (again) in the real world, he doesn’t remember anything except his family. He’s a very quiet character but once he finds Someya the amount of love you can see in his eyes towards Someya and how his face completely softens when he sees Someya, it’s so adorable!

Shiono Akihisa:

Shiono is a freaking puppy! He’s in love with his and MakiChan’s childhood friend, but she’s in love with MakiChan and instead of confessing his love to her, -- although there is a hypothetical scene that plays out where he tells her to forget MakiChan and hugs her and confesses his love to her but! -- he lets her go and holds back so in the end, her and MakiChan can get together! He’s too precious for this world! He’s so sweet! He also does the Matsuri with MakiChan which is great too! It was a short time but you could easily see their long friendship shine through their scenes together.

Asuma Kousuke:

Asuma’s character had a lisp and it was fucking hilarious. Several times in the movie, the characters (to his character) were like ‘why do you say Sa Si Su Se So instead of Sa Shi Su Se So’ It was a funny bit every time, especially when he was like ‘I don’t speak weird!’ and they all laughed. His character also got slapped a lot by the other characters as another form of comic relief.

Also in his very first scene, he clearly (the actor, not the character) overhits the wooden overhead part and makes a huge noise, you can see slight pain in his face, and everyone in the room (I was in) pissed themselves laughing. It was obviously a ‘the actor accidentally did it but we thought it was hilarious so left it in the movie’ moment.

By the way, Asuma it TOO tall and TOO skinny! xD

Robin:

His visual and the metal arm armour he has is badass! He looks so good in his costume and seriously that arm is soooo amazing! Even the cast and staff commented on how nice it is and Robin was happy he got to wear such a cool looking thing. His character is like an assassin but is so easily killed by MakiChan in one swift and quick movement -- it was an awesome scene! But unfortunately it turns out MakiChan didn’t completely and successfully kill him because as MakiChan tries to help Someya get Riku, Robin comes from behind and stabs him and he dies. But it was a cool movement when MakiChan ninja-slashed him.

Nakamura Kaito:

This little cutie! Him and Tokito were like supposed to be waiting on Someya but spent most of their time being pretty dumb (in an adorable way) and playing games with each other. Especially when MakiChan turns on Tom (he uses a sleeping drug on him) and Robin, after slashing Robin, the two of them are hugging one another and going ‘please don’t kill us!’ and MakiChan lets them go. It was such an adorable moment from them. It was cut when they played Rock-Paper-Scissors together too.

Kishimoto Takuya:

His guests appearance was absolutely hilarious! So he plays the driver of car of the women who MakiChan takes to his izakaya. And once out of view of the izakaya, she tells KishiTaku to stop the car. Here she removes her shoes and puts her feet on the headrest infront of her (she’s in the back seat behind Kishi who’s driving) and her feet are either side of his face and he’s like ‘o_O’ and ‘=O’ but also super enjoying it. I’m pretty sure she ends up putting her feet ON his face and he’s goes into this like orgasmic state and enjoys it thoroughly. His character was so amusing.

Doi Kazumi and Nihira Shougo:

There were some great cameos from people like Doi Kazumi (who was a worker at the Boys Bar) and Kishimoto Takuya (seriously KishiTaku’s part was hilarious! I am not doing it justice above!), also freaking Takenaka Naoto (who I already fangirled over)!

Furthermore, I freaked during the All Boys Bar scene when for a SPLIT (literally a split, split second) when I saw my very own Shougo-kun!! It was a moment of ‘*double take* wait what?!’ when I saw him. I practically jumped out of my seat when I found him! I was so shocked and excited to see him in it because I was not expecting him! I immediately tweeted him after seeing the movie and was like ‘why didn’t I know?! But also I’m impressed at how quickly I spotted you xD’ which makes me seem super stalkery xD oh well! But I am so proud of my boy and when I saw his name in the credits and realised I was right about spotting him, I was a very happy girl ^_^

Hashimoto Zenitsu:

He ends up being MakiChan’s dad’s entertainment in the Boys Bar and they look so freaking hilarious with each other. Knowing Takenaka he was the one super into the role and being like ‘lets do this! lets really do this’ and making it look so lovey dovey and sickly and funny as possible and I imagine Zenitsu was just going along with it. It’s such a good but short scene with them two.

Sano Shirou and Fukikoshi Mitsuru:

These two HUGE tv stars guest starring in this movie. I’ve always liked both of them (and Takenaka) and I really liked Fukikoshi’s character! He was very funny! Especially towards the end when MakiChan(I think?) is trying to explain what happened in Underworld and Fukikoshi is asleep the entire time xD

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After the Movie, it was the CAST EVENT/STAGE GREETING:

It was: Aramakaki Yoshihiko (duh that’s why I went xD), Asuma Kousuke, Robin, Nakamura Kaito and Takahashi Zenitsu. 

I was second row to the right-hand side (and the row behind me and all the seats to my right were empty, so safe to say it was obvious when he was looking at me), so as soon as MakiChan came on stage, he saw me and smiled at me ^_^ Then at another point in the talk show, Asuma was talking and I was giggling silently and very hard at him, and MakiChan saw me and had to stop himself from laughing - he made that ‘holding back the smiling/laughing’ type face. I feel guilty for making him almost crack up on stage but also special because only me and him know why.

They first had a Mini-Talk but I don’t really remember what happened or what was said but I remember laughing a lot - sorry! But I do remember them talking about Robin and his cool character, so he was like ‘okay! Everyone close your eyes! The audience will clap on which one of you they want me to kill!’ Even though they were suspicious at first, they complied and they all closed their eyes and he walked around the back of each of them and waited for us to clap. Naturally Asuma and MakiChan had the biggest claps, SO Robin decided to kill both of them with his ‘air sword’ (he didn’t have one on him). To which MakiChan was like ‘that’s not how I’d kill someone!’ and Robin was alarmed at first at how serious MakiChan sounded at killing someone (xD) but then asked, ‘well how would you do it then?!’ so MakiChan said he’d show them. But before that MakiChan did the same thing as Robin and asked the audience the clap at who they wanted killed and it landed on Asuma xD so the first time he just killed Asuma with an air sword and then the second time it was MakiChan giving Asuma a drink and saying like ‘Otsukare’ and then Asuma drinks it and collapses to the floor and MakiChan is like ‘I’d poison them!’ with a smile on his face xD which is related to his character in the movie because his character does drug Fujita Tom’s drink but doesn’t kill them.

Then we had the Senshuu-Kai which is like a lottery and they picked the audience’s seats from a box and it was to win one of five signed copies of the script. Most of the people who won were on the second floor -- there were only like 20 seats on the second floor and FOUR people from there got signed copies! We were all surprised at how lucky the top floor was. 

ALSO The boys mentioned they watched the movie FROM the second floor. When the movie had ended I did see about 6 people stand up and slink backstage, so it must’ve been them! That means MakiChan was opposite me and one floor up! I wonder if he saw me the entire time! =O *dead*

Finally there was the HIGH TOUCH/FIVE on the way out!

Being technically the back row (it was set out weird. I was row N but second row on the right. Don’t ask) I was one of the first to go to the high five. The boys were lined up outside next to where the goods had been and the order was: Zenitsu, Robin, Nakamura, Asuma and finally MakiChan. I remember high-fiving Zenitsu and Nakamura completely, but I don’t remember high fiving Robin, and I barely remember Asuma, only just thinking ‘he smiles well’ and ‘DAMN HE TALL!’ xD 

With MakiChan being at the end, he got a few seconds longer with everyone as they left. He gave me this huge smile, high fived me, waved at me, said thank you and good bye, and waved me off and watched me walk away to the stairs ^_^ <3 okay I’m dead *dead* he’s always so amazing with his fans. God dammit guys... he’s so amazing... such a good person *dead*

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GOODS

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Speaking of OEdo I hit for the next butai aisatsu of this movie! AND I’M FIRST ROW! LEGIT FIRST ROW! June 24th! So hopefully I’ll have a mini report about the aisatsu and maybe some extra comments about the movie ^_^

I’m getting there! About 3 more to go! *dead*