#hayata does NOT want to be there

[heffalumpfreezone]

This is cat behavior

[solivar]

Ghost Stories On Route 66

Chapter NIne

“What. An absolute. Dick.” Hana said.

“ Hana. ” Hanzo replied, reprovingly, even as Genji responded with, “ I know, right?” in a significantly more confirmatory fashion.

“ Seriously . What an utter and unregenerate asshole.” She came out of her seat limbs akimbo and the gestures she made involved all of her fingers, the LED-powered glow stick she kept clipped to her keychain, and a stray knitting needle snatched from the smoke monster’s project basket and were obscene in at least three languages. “How. How does that even fucking work. How could -- “

“Hana, please.” He could hear the strain in his own voice and despised himself for the weakness, but she subsided at the sound, subdued if not actually chastened. He was painfully aware of the ranger’s hand still holding his own and of his brother at his side, bristling with barely contained aggression, and of the weight of so many eyes on him belonging to people he had only just met and whose judgment he dreaded. “I was unconscious for some time -- I’m not entirely sure how long. Miss Hayata told me that I was enclosed inside the inner sanctuary for three days, long enough for Grandmother Sumiko and Genji to grow concerned. On the dawn of the fourth day, the terrible storm rolled in…”

*

Someone was calling his name. It echoed down to him from some vast distance, as though he were lying, senseless and broken, at the bottom of a dry well, or a mineshaft, or a cavern, somewhere he had fallen and was now, by virtue of someone calling for him, obligated to climb back out.

He found upon asking himself that he did not, in fact, want to climb back out. He wanted very much to simply lay there in the cold and the dark until no one remembered his name, until even he no longer knew who or what he had once been. He craved nothingness more than he desired his next breath, to dissolve so completely he left behind not even a ghost.

The voice called again and he was forced, very much against his will, to admire its owner’s persistence. Not enough to reward it, but he did find it entirely praiseworthy if aggravating to his attempts at attaining a peaceful disintegration into oblivion. Serenity slipped away and it took all his strength to prevent fear from taking its place.

“ Master Hanzo, please!” The voice called a third time. “ Lady Sumiko and Master Genji -- something has happened, I do not know how to help them! Please!”

Fear effortlessly overcame strength, cinched tight around his heart and moved him all in a single moment. He reached out, one hand over the other, clawed his way upward, and as he did so, pain filtered into his awareness. His eyes throbbed and burned and swelled, as though he had wept for his hours but he had no memory of weeping. His throat ached savagely and his mouth tasted of blood, as though he had screamed himself raw but he had no memory of screaming. His muscles moaned in febrile protest as he forced himself to sit up from where he lay on the floor of the inner sanctuary and every joint echoed it as he pushed himself to his feet and took the bare handful of steps to the sanctuary doors. It took him three tries to manage the strength and coordination necessary to undo the inner locks and push the door open.

The wind seized it immediately and tore it out of his hands, slamming it against an inner support column hard enough to gouge splinters from both. It was almost pure fortune that Miss Hayata was standing far enough back not to be struck herself and she reached out and caught him as he clung to the doorframe, head swimming in slow, sickening circles.

“What has happened?” He rasped, trying to force clarity upon himself, trying to force what he was seeing and hearing to make sense. That maniacal howling could not possibly be the wind , and that continuous subliminal rumbling could not possibly be thunder. He had never heard such savage rain even in the midst of the worst typhoon and, in his life, Hanamura had endured three.

“The storm began at daybreak -- it has been doing this for hours now.” Miss Hayata had to shout to make herself heard over the roaring of the wind. “Lady Sumiko and Master Genji fell ill within moments of each other shortly afterwards. They are both unconscious -- I cannot wake them -- all of the connections on our communication devices are down.”

Hanzo squeezed his stinging eyes closed and gathered his strength. “I am going to need your help, to guide me back to the house.”

“Of course, Master Hanzo.” They laced their arms together and limped out into the storm.

The wind blew them both sideways the instant they stepped out of the relative shelter of the shrine and it took them a moment to find their balance again with their awkwardly misaligned center of gravity. Torrents of rain poured off the shrine’s roof and lashed across the open spaces in sheets, soaking him to the skin in a matter of heartbeats -- Miss Hayata was already soaked and shivering. Overhead, lightning danced among roiling clouds, darker than any stormclouds he could recall, and thunder rumbled a low and constant counterpoint to the flashes of its brilliance, vying with the howl of the wind to deafen them as the staggered down the pathway. The water in the garden was knee-deep by the time they reached the house and they raised the storm shutters on the verandah only enough to let themselves in, the force of the wind pressing against them requiring their collective strength to close and lock them down again. Miss Hayata had, sensibly, prepared for the inevitable result of going out into the teeth of that storm: warm, fresh towels and clothing for them both lay just inside the main entrance and by mutual compact they stripped, dumped their wet clothing on the verandah, and made themselves descent with only the bare minimum necessary amount of eye contact.

Also sensibly: she had rearranged the interior walls to turn the northern common use room back into a single chamber, the better to attend both her charges. High efficiency ceramic space heaters sat in each corner, close enough to chase the chill away, far enough out of reach that they would not be caught by a flailing limb or in the way of swift action. Most of the electric lights were turned off and those that were not were set on their lowest yield, supplemented by candle lamps bolted high to the walls. They were clearly running entirely battery power and likely had been for some time.

Grandmother Sumiko and Genji lay only a few feet apart, both wrapped in several layers of bedclothes and propped on several layers of cushions. Hanzo settled down between them and, before he could object, he found Miss Hayata wrapping a blanket around his shoulders and pressing a cup of tea into his hand. Until she did so, he had not realized how cold he still was, the warmth of the tea wonderfully soothing against his raw throat. “Thank you, Miss Hayata.”

She bowed, and settled on the opposite side of his grandmother’s futon. Of the two, he was forced to admit that she looked much better -- her face was frighteningly still and she didn’t even stir when he touched her, but her breathing was steady, her skin warm and dry. Genji, by way of contrast, was not peaceful at all, twisted up in his bedding as though he’d been fighting a mortal struggle against his covers, the color high in his cheeks and both his hair and skin slicked with sweat. When Hanzo laid a hand on his shoulder, his eyes flickered open and darted about blindly, clearly seeing nothing of the world before him, glittering feverishly. His lips moved, but no sound emerged, his face twisted in agony and he subsided back down, restless but insensate.

“How long have they been this way?” Hanzo croaked.

“Since just after the storm began -- it woke us all, and they fell ill a short time later. A few hours altogether.” Miss Hayata replied.

A few hours. Only a few hours. Gently, Hanzo reached down and slid the sleeve of his grandmother’s yukata up her arm. There, beneath the surface of her delicate skin, a dragon tattooed around her wrist and forearm danced, scales rippling gently, silvery-gray and ocean-blue, its eyes the perfect silver-white of a lightning bolt’s heart. Miss Hayata gasped and clutched his grandmother’s unmarked hand. “What is happening to them?”

“They have been chosen. They are communing for the first time with their companions, their bondmates.” He could feel something welling up in his chest, something that had the feel of both hysterical laughter and hysterical sobbing, and so he swallowed all of it and held it down until it went away. “Their dragons.”

“I...am not certain this was what Lady Sumiko expected.” Miss Hayata ventured, cautiously.

“I am certain it was not.” Hanzo replied and closed his eyes.

Her hand touched his own. “You should rest, Master Hanzo. You were inside the inner sanctuary for four days.”

Four days without food or water or even true sleep would explain why his head kept rotating in slow, nauseating circles. “I must watch over them. I must. Genji was not prepared for this -- he did not even believe in it -- if something goes wrong I -- “ He did not, in fact, have any idea what more could go wrong but viscerally trusted his brother to find it, if such a thing were possible. “I cannot sleep now.”

“Very well. But you should, at least, eat.” A certain steely resolve underlay her gentle tone.

“I will eat something if you will rest.”

“Agreed.” He felt, from the muted triumph in her tone, that he somehow managed to lose that negotiation, a presentiment that proved true when she returned a half an hour later with a tray covered in a dozen small plates and bearing a fresh pot of tea. “You do not have to eat it all.”

“I apologize for my lack of appetite when we arrived. I meant no insult to your skills.” She accepted his apology with a gracious bow and kept her half of their bargain, by laying out her futon and making it ready for use.

The soup was delicious and as warming as the tea, the hijiki with mushrooms and broth was delightful, and the cold noodles, salt-roasted tuna morsels, and shrimp-and-cucumber salad were kind enough to his stomach that it didn’t immediately attempt to reject them. Miss Hayata took away the remains of the meal but left the tea and, at his request, returned with a pitcher of cool water, a bowl to put it in, and a half-dozen clean cloths. He waited until she was curled up beneath her own blankets and sleeping soundly before he put them to their task, pouring out a measure of water, wetting a cloth, and applying it gently to Genji’s face and neck, sponging away the sweat as he had done when they were younger and his brother’s fevers made him uncomfortable and restless. Genji jerked a bit at the first touch of the cool cloth on his hot skin but did not wake, his eyelids only fluttering slightly without truly opening. Hanzo prepared a second cloth and lay it over his brow and took his brother’s hand into his own, stroking a thumb gently over the remnants of the swordsman’s callus that once striped his palm, trying with all his might not to overanalyze his present silence, his stillness, no matter how unnatural it might be.

He refreshed and replaced the cloth twice before Genji stirred again, his face contorting in something like pain, his grip tightening around Hanzo’s fingers, his breath hitching in his chest and emerging from his lips in a sound that was half-moan, half-words. “Genji? Can you hear me?”

Genji blindly turned toward the sound of his voice, eyes still closed but moving as though he were dreaming deeply. “I am here, Sparrow. I am here.”

He seemed to hear and now it was not almost pain twisting his face but the actuality and he curled around himself in the grip of it, jerking Hanzo off his knees with the force of his grip, enough to make the bones in his fingers ache in protest. Hanzo caught himself in the mass of coverlets as Genji burrowed against his chest, tremors strong enough to be nearly convulsions shaking his entire body, and he wrapped his free arm around his brother’s back, gathering him close and rocking him, whispering inanely soothing nonsense around the knot in his throat. “I am sorry, I am so sorry , please, please, whoever you are, be gentle with him, it was not supposed to be this way, I -- “

“Cousin,” The voice that emerged from Genji’s throat was not entirely his own, nor was it completely different, a mixture of his deep tones and another’s diction. “Could you, perhaps, tell him to stop fighting?”

The eyes that looked up at him from his brother’s face were his own but not, flickering with threads of vivid green and sunlight golden, their combined expression a thing of perfectly balanced agony and exhaustion. He only released his grip on Hanzo’s hand after a moment of desperate struggle, as though he feared losing something precious, a hoarse and furious cry that was entirely Genji making its way past his lips. Hanzo pulled him -- them -- completely into his arms, buried a hand in his brother’s hair, and whispered fiercely, “Sparrow, please. You must stop this. She is here for you, she is Lord Kitakaze’s daughter, she is not your enemy. Please. I don’t know what will happen to you if you refuse to accept the bond!”

“Why,” Genji’s voice and his manner of speaking, alone. “Why -- I’m not -- I never -- why? ”

“Because you are worthy -- because she needs you, and you need her, or you will.” He rubbed soothing circles into the taut muscles of his brother’s back and shoulders. “Please. Please at least listen to her.”

“Yours. This was supposed to be yours. ” He could not imagine why that might matter to his brother but, at the moment, it seemed desperately important.

“I have mine,” Hanzo lied, pitching his voice low and soft and calming, “My bond is made, now it’s time to make yours. Please, Genji.”

Genji shuddered, a whole body tremor that tensed and contorted every muscle and joint and, when it passed as abruptly as it came, left him lying bonelessly limp in his arms, head lolling back against his chest. Only the steady rise and fall of his breath gave any evidence that he still lived and Hanzo was forced to accept that as comfort enough as he shifted the blanket off his own shoulders and wrapped it more fully around his still-feverish brother. He counted those breaths as the hours slipped by and the light waned and the storm’s fury slowly abated, the continuous rumble of thunder dying away to a low growl in the distance, the wind fading from a constant roar to an occasional wailing gust, the rain from a battering ram hammering against the roof and storm shutters to a much gentler drumming. It was well after dark before Genji stirred again, his breath hitching and a low sound, not of pain, escaping his lips.

“Sparrow?” Hanzo asked, his voice a dusty rasp -- he had drunk the last of the tea some time before and had not wanted to disturb Miss Hayata’s rest or abandon his vigil to find more.

Genji’s eyes opened, their color lost in the lambent glow pouring out of them, like sunlight through the first spring leaves. “She says her name is Tombo,” His voice, when he spoke, sounded as though it were coming from inside a dream he still only half believed in. “She is Lord Kitakaze’s youngest daughter and she has been watching over me since I was just a baby.” A little smile curled at the corner of his mouth. “Which is kinda creepy and kinda sweet. My own guardian dragon princess, and I never knew. Did you know? Did you see her before this?”

“We met, briefly.” Hanzo admitted, “But, no, I didn’t see her when we were little. I don’t think we were allowed, or that she was allowed to show herself.”

“She says that’s true.” Genji’s eyes drifted half-closed again. “Is this...is this how it’s always been for you? Like everything is so much brighter, with its own light inside it, its own voice and if you listen hard enough you can hear the whole world? ”

A cold and pulsing ache shot through the center of his chest and, for a moment, it was all he could do to breathe around it. “I...think it is different for everyone.”

Genji freed a hand from the blanket and pressed it against that place where, if Minamikaze’s talon had been a thing of flesh, it would have cleft his breastbone and pierced his heart. “Something -- something isn’t -- Hanzo, are you --”

“I am fine, Sparrow.” He pulled his brother’s hand away gently and tried not to breathe as though the pain were setting every inhalation icily alight. “You should rest.”

“So should you. You were in there for days. And she says…” Genji’s voice drifted into a silence and, for a moment, he thought his brother had faded into sleep. “...She says you must be exhausted after the trials you endured. Hanzo? What trials? ”

“I will tell you in the morning.” Moving slowly in deference to his own stiff and tired muscles, he helped Genji back into the futon and tucked him beneath the covers. “Sleep.”

“Okay, okay.” Genji wriggled himself into a more comfortable position beneath the covers. “...Be here when I wake up?”

“I will. I promise.” He waited until Genji’s eyes drifted all the way shut and his breathing settled into a sleeping rhythm before gathering up the bowl and cloths and pitcher.

The LED panels mounted to the walls shed just enough light to see by as he made his way to the bath, where he deposited his burden, and from there to the nure-en where it wrapped around the northern end of the house. He unlatched the shutters and raised them by hand on a world where the storm was all-but over, the loudest sound the deep-throated rumble of the rain-swollen waterfall and stream as they poured down the side of the mountain. The breeze that poured down off the ridge was cool for early summer and tasted still of rain, smelled of wet leaves and loam and a thousand other scents of the night forest. Overhead, the clouds hung higher in the sky, shredding slowly apart and allowing glimpses of the stars between them.

Hanzo leaned against one of the support posts and listened , searching for the wordless music of the world’s song among the sounds of the stream and the forest and found nothing. No light rose from beneath the surface of the trees or the bones of the mountain or the pond or the plants of his grandmother’s garden, no matter how he struggled to focus or unfocus his vision. Fireflies glittered here and there among the undergrowth, and the stars overhead, but the light shed by the spirits of the world, awoken or not, was as gone as if it had never been.

Quietly, he lowered the shutters again and went back inside, numb and weary. It took more effort than he thought possible to unbundle his futon and lay it out, to gently shake Miss Hayata awake for her watch, and, even so, it took far too long to fall asleep, his head aching with silence and darkness and unshed tears. He woke, too few hours later, to the rapid-fire pingpingpingpingqweepingsquawk of disconnected communications devices becoming reconnected with the predictable results.

“I’ll get it!” Genji sang, because of course he was already awake and, if the delectable food smells and feminine voices engaged in quiet conversation emanating from the opposite side of the room were any indication, so was everyone else.

Hanzo decided that Genji could, in fact, handle communications with the outside world for at least a few more minutes, and pulled the blankets over his face. Even his body’s frank admission that the food smelled wonderful failed to stir anything like hunger in him and he felt, to the marrow of his bones and the depth of his soul, that he could sleep for a thousand years and still be tired. Part of him, the reasonable part, thought he should be worried about that and a far larger, less reasonable part could not find it in itself to even pretend to care, numb and emptier than he had ever felt before. The reasonable part thought that should be a significant cause for alarm, as well.

“Hanzo?” Genji asked, his tone sounding rather strangled around the edges. “Are you awake?”

Hanzo made a firmly non-committal noise in the back of his throat and burrowed deeper under the covers.

Genji’s light, quick footsteps crossed the tatami and came to a halt at his side. “Seriously, aniki. I think you should see this. I think you need to see this. Right now. ”

Hanzo pulled the covers down and rolled onto his side as Genji lithely folded into seiza next to him, eyes still fixed on his phone. “What is it?”

“Oh, just -- “ Genji looked up at him and froze, expression rapidly transiting from bewilderment to shock to unadulterated alarm. “Hanzo, what -- what has -- how -- “

“Genji, please just let me see.” Hanzo lifted the phone out of his unresisting hands and flipped it around.

The queue contained no fewer than two hundred messages, at least thirty of which were from one or both of their parents, many of which included pictures. Pictures primarily of discrete body parts -- arms and shoulders and legs, more than a few backs, at least one outstandingly impressive set of abs, a handful of thighs, and a highly recognizable full-body shot and two full sleeves, belonging to their parents -- all of which were covered in dragons. Dragons primarily in a vast array of shades between true blue and true green, their manes and tails and assorted furry tufts mostly variances of gold and copper, all glowing from within like stained glass windows with the sun behind them and, just as obviously, even in static pictures, moving beneath the surface of the skin on which they were now etched.

Their mother’s were, of course, a regal, royal sapphire, highlighted in true gold, winding up both her arms from the wrist to the upper pectoral, wreathed in cloud and lightning. Their father’s was a single enormous creature coiling from one side of his body to the other amid mountains and mist and trees, its scales a perfect shining emerald. The text that accompanied their pictures was a single word: EXPLAIN.

Hanzo closed his eyes, took a deep, cleansing breath, and began to dial their mother’s private number.

In the end, there was no entirely satisfactory explanation that anyone could offer, not even Grandmother Sumiko. In a thousand years of the clan’s history, at no time had so many been chosen at once, not even near the beginning, after Minamikaze and Kitakaze had returned to the heavens. It argued, loudly, that dragon-bearers were needed, or would be needed, in great numbers, an observation somewhat less than completely mollifying to the egos of at least a few of the participants and deeply perturbing to the peace of others. The Omnic Crisis, its immediate fallout and lingering after-effects, were still fresh in the minds of many, the elders of the clan and the actual board of directors for the zaibatsu itself foremost, who reallocated resources and personnel to discover whether another disaster of similar magnitude could be brewing and, if so, where.

Hanzo allowed himself to be so allocated because, if nothing else, it gave him something productive to do that consumed the majority of his time and intellectual energy. When he wasn’t tracking global crisis development across multiple axes of potential, he was helping members of the family who hadn’t meditated more than five minutes that one time twenty years ago to find the inner serenity necessary to commune effectively with their bondmates. Between the two extremes there was little time for anything else and what existed he filled with a vigorous exercise regimen in keeping with his previous habits, sleeping no more than he had to in order to not simply collapse from exhaustion, and avoiding his brother at all costs, a task made simpler by Genji’s similarly busy schedule. He was, after all, going to Tokyo Polytechnic in a few months to continue his education and was, between information-gathering tasks assigned by the clan, receiving a succession of fond farewells from his many friends within the family and without. Their paths rarely crossed and when they did it was usually briefly enough that Hanzo could flee without offering offense or risking a confrontation.

Genji had, of course, been angry -- understandably so. It was not as though it could be hidden , particularly once they got back to Hanamura, where literally everyone in the family not too young to meaningfully consent to the bond now had a glowing dragon tattoo somewhere on their body. The fact that Hanzo’s remained beautifully complex but unexalted ink became apparent within hours of their return and the subsequent explosion from siblingward was spectacular but brief and over once it ended, for which he was enormously grateful. Simmeringly resentful Genji had fangs and poison to fill them that quietly pensive Genji lacked, and his own mind had venomous teeth in plenty to eat away at the equanimity he had scraped together on those nights when he was too tired to work and sleep still mocked him.

You are not a dragon and you shall never be one. He had lost track of the number of nights he had woken with cold agony filling his chest, a pain so terrible it chased away any possibility of further rest and left behind an aching hollow beneath his breastbone when it finally ended. On those nights, he abandoned his bed and sought comfort elsewhere: in quiet meditation on the balcony overlooking the garden, in the pages of a book, binge-watching costume dramas with the volume turned all the way down, because the living quarters in Shimada Castle were built before the advent of effective soundproofing.

You are not a dragon and you shall never be one. It took approximately four and a half months from the hour he entered the inner sanctuary at the family shrine and emerged untransformed before he heard a variation of those words on someone else’s lips. Specifically the lips belonging to their Uncle Goro, their father’s youngest brother, who was a totally insufferable bag of dicks on the best of days and, in the immediate aftermath of being personally gifted with a dragon along with all four of his equally dicktacular offspring, the days were never good. For anyone. “Such a terrible blow, Sojiro -- you have my sympathy,” and the unctuously condescending insincerity of it set Hanzo’s teeth on edge as he passed by in the hall outside his father’s office, “And even though he worked so hard. But, still, having at least one son prove himself worthy must be of some comfort to you…” His father, unfailing diplomat that he was, murmured something politely deflecting to change the subject and Hanzo continued on his way, not wanting to hear any more, unhappily aware that his days of relative peace and comity were coming to an end, whether he wanted them to or not.

You are not a dragon and you shall never be one. The formal request came the week after the start of the new year, once business resumed following the holidays. He received the summons late in the day as the first real snow of the winter began to fall over Hanamura, brought in person by a functionary from his mother’s office, and dismissed his students to have what fun they could before it grew too dark to throw snowballs with a cold knot around his heart. He knew, when he saw the perfectly neutral mask she wore, that she had nothing good to tell him and was therefore not entirely surprised when she presented to him the politely worded demand of the clan elders that he be removed from any position of authority or responsibility. He was not even particularly hurt, at that moment, the part of him that would have been stung by such a betrayal already desolate. He did not, of course, have to honor their demand voluntarily; he could, of course, force them to make an actual case proving his unfitness or incapacity. Inasmuch as he already carried all the excuse they needed etched into his skin, he saw no point in dragging the proceedings out, destabilizing the leadership of the clan when it most needed to be cohesive or granting the opportunity to publicly humiliate his particular family, to their ultimate detriment. He sent his formal resignation instrument the next day, along with several finished reports and a number of recommendations as to whom would be most capable at completing the work not yet accomplished.

He was, after all, not a dragon and pretending to be one, in even the smallest way, was not a thing that those who now were would tolerate.

“I can’t believe they let the elders sandbag you like that,” Genji fumed at him two days later over the phone. “I can’t believe you let the elders sandbag you like that. What happened to the brother who could drop a douchebag in his tracks from twenty paces with no more than six words and a bitch-I’ll-cut-you look?”

“He went south to Okinawa for the winter.” Genji was traveling, he could see the scenery flashing past the windows he was sitting next to at rate visibly blurred by speed. “It was a tactical decision, little brother. The situation here is...still unsettled and someone is clearly attempting to unsettle it further, I suspect with the intent of invoking old aphorisms about extracting opportunity from chaos. I simply refused to be the means they used to do so.”

“Are you throwing Sun Tzu at me? You are. You’re throwing Sun Tzu at me. That’s more like it, and still a little disturbing.” Genji held the phone closer and dropped his voice. “Between you and me, I think whatever situation exists could use some hard settling out. How many of the people trying to make something out of you now believed that any of this was real even six months ago? And even the ones who did believe owe what they’ve got to you, so perhaps a little respect and gratitude might be in order?”

“I didn’t do it for their gratitude. I did it because it had to be done and I was chosen to do it.” He smiled tiredly down at the look on his brother’s face. “And now I have completed my task, outlived my own usefulness, and am on the verge of becoming an actual liability to our parents.”

“You’re worth more than the sum of your duties, Hanzo.” Genji stared earnestly up at him from the surface of his phone. “You need to get out of there for a while. It’s not healthy for you. How long has it been since you’ve eaten a whole meal, or slept a whole night through?”

“Is that your subtle way of telling me I look like crap?” Hanzo replied, as lightly as he could.

“No, I wasn’t being subtle at all .” Genji’s eyeroll had grown a couple layers of expressiveness in their few months apart. “You’re going gray , Hanzo. You’re not even twenty-two yet. Get out of there, ask Mom to release some of your trust early, come to Tokyo. Apply to my school. Apply to the University of the Arts! I know you want to. You can become the nation’s best and most highly lauded fantasy author-artist combo -- I mean, you’ve already got up close and personal experience dealing with asshole great-dragonparents! And when some shit somewhere inevitably hits the fan and the family needs somebody who knows everything about everything to tell them what to do, they can come crawling to our palatial bohemian arts arcology and beg you to save their asses! It’ll be fun, come on aniki , you know you want to.”

“Tempting. I will consider it.” His preparations for departure were already made but the small voice of reason in the back of his mind was whispering frantic counsel to reassess them. “Where are you, anyway?”

“On the hypertrain back from Hokkaido. Lake Toya is beautiful this time of year. Snowbunnies and dudes in tight spandex as far as the eye can see, debauchery in the hot springs, and we are totally getting you laid the first weekend we’re living together. I cannot even begin to estimate the number of people just in the game development department alone that would go for your combination of hot and brooding. They’ll be designing characters after you for a decade.” Genji grinned an evil grin and he couldn’t help the smile it pulled out of his own mouth. “Don’t just say you’ll think about it, okay?”

“Okay. You should get back to your friends -- I can hear them doing something inadvisable in the background.” It fell off his tongue before he could stop it. “I love you, Sparrow.”

He ended the call, and turned off his phone. Outside, a light snow was falling over the gardens, delicate flakes mixing with the pale pink of the never-ending genetically engineered sakura blossoms, the last of the light draining from the sky in the west. In another hour it would be fully dark, the last of the castle’s day staff would be leaving for home, and the gates would be closed against all but scheduled visitors, of which there were none tonight. Neither of his parents were, in fact, at the castle or even in Hanamura -- his mother was in Los Angeles attending a conference and his father was New York meeting with a scholar of esoterica whose writings had attracted the clan’s attention. The week before, they had been joking about splitting the difference and meeting in Chicago for a dinner date before flying home together. With the exception of the security team, he was entirely alone.

He had come to his decision in the small hours of the morning and made his preparations throughout the day. He selected clothing with loose sleeves and in dark colors. He bathed early enough in the day that the ridiculous mass of his hair had a chance to dry completely. He made certain the edge on his knife was properly sharp. He refreshed the offerings before the kamidana and meditated there for an hour. He wrote three letters, one for each of his parents and for his brother. And then he waited for the last of the light to die.

The snow was falling more heavily by the time he stepped outside into the garden, the paths already covered and the patches of grass beneath the sakuras becoming so. The soft golden glow of the lamps was muted as were all the sounds that made it past the barrier of the walls, a gentle hush in which the loudest thing was his own quiet footfalls as he walked to the place he selected, a cluster of three trees and artfully arranged boulders, their branches frosted and the ground beneath shadowed and scattered with fallen petals. He knelt and rested his back against the bole of the tree, breathed deeply of the still air, allowed the chill to sink past the barrier of his skin and flesh to join with the far greater cold and dark and nothing within him.

It was far easier than he thought it would be to set the edge of a knife to his own flesh and draw it the length of his forearm. Blood welled at once as it bit into the radial artery at the base of his wrist and poured across his skin in a warm crimson waterfall as he cradled his arm and his blade in his lap. Dizziness settled in swiftly and he was grateful for the tree at his back, holding him more or less upright where he sat, for without it he was fairly certain he would have fallen. Weariness followed close on its heels, and he let it pull his chin towards his chest and his eyes closed, let it loosen his grip on the haft of his knife.

“Hanzo?”

His head snapped up and his eyes open at the sound of that voice echoing off the interior garden walls: Genji. Confusion and disorientation welled up behind his eyes and swirled about inside his skull, because that was impossible. Genji could not possibly be in Hanamura. Genji was on a hypertrain on the way to Tokyo, returning to school from a winter holiday. Genji was walking down the snow-covered stairs that led to the inner garden, muffled to the neck in an obnoxiously green ski jacket, quartering and scanning the space the way they’d been taught years before.

“ Hanzo? I know you’re in here somewhere -- security saw you coming down the walkway. You -- “ He felt his brother’s eyes find and settle on him. “ There you are. What are you doing, you must be freezing .”

The knife had already fallen out of his hand and slid down his thigh, lying somewhere beneath the snow among the smaller stones at his side. He turned his arm face-down and tucked it defensively against his stomach, the warmth of his own blood soaking through the layers of cloth. It took several moments and his brother picking his way carefully down the icy stairs, making his way in his direction, to gather the words he wanted to say. “Genji -- I thought you were going back to the city.”

“So did I. And, here’s the thing -- I was. ” Genji stopped at the edge of the path, haloed in the light of the lamp at the base of the stairs, his head tilted in the curious-bird fashion he had in common with his nickname. “We stopped in Takasaki to take on passengers and while I was outside stretching my legs I saw her and she was all upset and I couldn’t refuse to come back? I mean, I’ve never seen her that far away from the castle before.”

“Her?” Hanzo asked, he he could hear the strain and the half-slur in his own voice as his concentration tried to slide away.

“Lady Hanamura.” Genji advanced another view steps, his eyes narrowing. “The spirit of this place.” Then, more softly, “You can’t see her, can you?”

He could think of no way to respond to that that wouldn’t bring his brother closer, and that was the last thing he wished to do. Genji came closer, anyway, and knelt in the snow an arm’s-length away; when he spoke, his voice was gentle. “You can’t see her. How long -- no, you don’t even have to tell me that. Since the summer.”

Hanzo nodded, silently, because he could still at least manage that, with his head lightening and his vision slowly tunneling at the edges.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” And now there was real anguish in his brother’s voice. “You let me go on and on about how beautiful it all was and you -- you -- “ He heard the breath catch in Genji’s chest. “ You’re bleeding. ”

He tried, without success, to pull back -- there was nowhere to pull to and coordination was fleeing him as quickly as consciousness. Genji’s hand closed around his wrist and even the pain was a cold and distant thing as he tried to apply pressure over a wound longer than two hands alone could cover.

“ Security!” Genji’s voice broke in mid-word and he hated himself for that more than anything else as cold and shock and blood-loss pulled him down. “I need an emergency medical team at my ping in the gardens, my brother is severely injured. Now!”

*

The room was silent after the stopped speaking and his free hand was absolutely not steady as it brought his now-cold tea to his lips.

“I spent some time in the hospital, recovering, after that.” He finally said, if only to break that terrible, nerve-clawing silence. “Our mother agreed, after a great deal of negotiation, that it was probably best that I not stay in Hanamura. I decided not to stay in Japan.” An involuntary smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. “Seattle was lovely, but it reminded me too much of home. San Francisco even moreso. I really did choose to come here because UNM was offering ridiculous incentives for traditional media art students. And there are no deserts -- “

Hana’s arms closing around his neck choked off what he’d been about to say and Lucio’s joined her a moment later. He was fairly sure the third layer of weight was his brother, and that golden glow filtering down over all of them was probably one of Zenyatta’s spheres.

The ranger did not relinquish his grip on his hand through it all and, when he spoke, it was with a certain cool serenity edged in an absolute promise. “I’m beginnin’ to think once we’re done with the Serpent-Wolf, I’m goin’ to have to have a frank and meaningful conversation with a dragon.”  

[denimbex1986]

'Time in my palms. The excitement of trying to know someone, someone else or at best myself is inside me. My body is shaking. I am anxious. Time is making my palms sweat. I understand that it is not possible to really know something. I feel deprived. I am trying to build a future for myself from the present. If the time you are in is difficult and your living space is limited, it seems that it is essential to dig the bottom of our lives in order to find the strength to resist and continue. I return again and again, trying to remember the moments that have been nailed to my life. Remembering is to be free, remembering is to forget, remembering is to encounter the reactions you once could not show, remembering is to hold life by the neck, remembering is to throw yourself off a cliff and wake up from your sleep when you are about to hit the ground. Remembering is to cut off life, to cover up what we could not face and to search for a way to continue. Remembering is to show the truth of life in our faces and to obscure what we see. Remembering is to challenge life even though you know you will lose. To remember, to shield oneself against life and fight stubbornly, to take a deep breath and surrender oneself to the peace that beautiful things bring…

To Forget is to Look at the Ashes After the Fire That Once Burned in Your Body Has Gone Out

There is also forgetting. Forgetting is accepting that a part of you has broken away from you. Forgetting is understanding what the part that has broken away from you really is and recognizing it from every aspect. Forgetting is looking at its ashes after the fire that once burned in your body has gone out. Forgetting is not understanding what it is that you are trying to forget or overcome, and if you do not understand, it will not happen. Forgetting is living in the dizziness caused by the feeling of deprivation and loss. Forgetting is cutting life short and ignoring the place where what is worth remembering lies, and that reckoning trips us up over and over again. Forgetting is what allows us to escape being crushed under memories and the pain we have experienced. Forgetting is to survive. Forgetting is covering up what has happened to us in order to overcome it. And forgetting is to face the fact that one day what is truly complete and defined will break away from you…

The Closeness of Two People Who Find Their Lives Strange in the City, With a Loneliness That Is Hard to Break

Starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers , who achieved great success with his films Weekend and 45 Years , is adapted from Taichi Yamada's 1987 novel Strangers , which was published by İthaki Publications under the title Yabancilar Bir Yaz ( A Summer with Strangers) with the translation of Nilay Çalşimşek into our language. The touching film, which deals with themes of love, loss, reconciliation with life and confrontation, tells the story of Adam's reconnection with his deceased parents and his developing relationship with his neighbor Harry. Drawing its strength from the profound performances of Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal and receiving praise, the film touchingly reflects the uncanny state that the mourning process brings and can bring. Standing alone in a void of darkness after the loss of his family, Adam does not want to face his reality in order not to break that bond with his childhood. He follows the delusions he sees. He fossilizes himself and his reality in his past, creating a distance between himself and everything around him. The flow of Adam 's life , swimming in his deep darkness of a single person, accelerates after he gets close to Harry . The closeness of two people who live with a loneliness that is hard to break and find their lives in the city strange, causes the truth that Adam cannot face and mourn to emerge. Because pain and the state of not being able to accept pain creates a distance between us and the outside world. Pain is an attack on the individual's relationship with the world. It opens wounds. We feel like we are far from everywhere, we don't belong anywhere. We become alienated from all the relationships we establish. It brings people face to face with their limits. It becomes increasingly difficult for us to make real contact, to see the existence of a person and our own existence. The pain that we cannot confront and mourn does not allow the contact to leave a mark even if a contact is established. However, whether it is important how and in what form it is established or not, every contact gives us a form...

Adam believes in the reality of the contact he has established with his family so much that he easily makes everything around him serve that reality. Because Adam is someone whose right to say goodbye to his family has been taken away from him by life. His body and mind think that he always has a possibility in his life, right next to him, as an escape area, a place of refuge, and a chance to make up for the opportunities he once missed. He cannot see the collapse that others can clearly see. The emotional, physical and mental contact he establishes with Harry gives him a different perspective. Director Andrew Haigh manages to drag the audience into the character's emotional intensity by making a cut at every point where emotions are intense. By making cuts to every feeling, the state of alienation and not being there is felt more clearly. The film finds a way to portray the uncanny state of its characters, who are alienated from the city, by depicting them in closed areas without getting involved in the city. With this choice, the director creates a very convincing area for the coming together of the characters' fragile personalities, isolated from the outside world.

​Adam creates a reality for himself while dealing with the mourning process, and attempts to cope with the emotional weight of trauma and loss. Having lost his parents at a young age, Adam feels the need to relive conversations and feelings that were left unfinished in the past. These imaginary meetings are a reflection of Adam's search for inner peace and acceptance. By creating a fictional reality, he tries to close the unfinished accounts of the past and believes that he has found deep meanings about himself, his family and his new relationships. The encounter with Harry helped Adam see what he really was. His relationship with Harry allows Adam to open up emotionally and heal the wounds of the past. Harry's presence and the love he shows Adam helps Adam accept his losses and take a step forward. This encounter triggers a change in Adam's inner world, allowing him to face the truth and live a more meaningful life. It is possible to say that Harry also has a sense of having a traumatic past, emotional burdens and unresolved issues in his past. Harry's relationship with Adam allows both of them to reveal their wounds and heal together. Harry's traumas help Adam develop emotionally, while also allowing Harry to confront and accept his own pain. The emotional depth of the film increases as both characters are there for each other, prodding each other's realities. It creates an ambiguous relationship between the two characters, but one that can only be understood by each other. Adam and Harry are far from everything, wounded by everything, and perhaps often find themselves uncomfortable being born. But they still take refuge in the conversations between each other as a breathing space for themselves. Or we think this is how it is throughout the film. Because the story always directs its reality according to the feelings of the viewer and the reader of the book. I think this is the greatest power of the text and the film. Whatever we believe in and how much we are ready to feel living with it, living becomes a part of us, apart from being an endeavor. It is difficult to be everywhere and stay with ourselves. Sometimes you just have to stay where you are and enjoy both the truth and the lie... No matter how much I say it, it will be both not enough and incomplete, so I'm going to stop myself here and invite you to play the song The Power Of Love by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, which plays in the movie.

We Are Stuck in the Vortex of Remembering and Forgetting

I don’t know how many stages and ways there are to overcome and overcome grief. But the most difficult part of dealing with grief is when you come across a person, a living being, an object that you can truly connect with. Do you have the courage to see if it is something that will help you move on or not? Dealing with grief is about knowing yourself, understanding yourself, looking at your lies, your truth, your weaknesses and having the courage to stand by yourself despite everything. We remain in limbo in the vortex of remembering and forgetting. Forgetting bends and twists the truth in order not to succumb to its destructiveness. Remembering, on the other hand, imprisons us in the reality of whatever we want to believe. When this happens, we continue our lives by cutting out what we have experienced. Neither inside nor completely outside. Nothing. In any case, we are part of what we call living and we need to be at peace with the idea of ​​savoring it, living every desire and emotion to the fullest and sometimes mixing with each other and sometimes getting away from each other…'

[crimson-ace-reviews]

Crimson Ace Reviews: Ultraman (1966), the Start of a Legend

For my first review, I took a look at the first tokusatsu series I ever saw, and today, I'm going to take a look at arguably the first tokusatsu series anyone ever saw, if not the most popular (apologies to any Nanairo Kamen fans reading this). But before we dive into this cosmic tale, I should probably explain the importance of another show to new readers looking to get into tokusatsu, as well as the man behind it, Eiji Tsuburaya.

Born on July 7th, 1901, Eiji Tsuburaya is considered by many to be the Father of Tokusatsu. This is a man who has been involved in the production of movies since he was eighteen years old, starting off as an assistant cameraman as he gradually started to pioneer new special effects in his craft. After working on countless war propaganda films for Japan's military during World War II (with the effects in one film in particular, Hawai Mare Oki Kaisen, being so convincing, it is said that General Douglas MacArthur assumed the movie had actual footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor), Tsuburaya teamed up with Ishiro Honda and Tomoyuki Tanaka to work on a little indie film involving a character with a very minor presence among several of Japan's historical cultural icons. You might know it better as Godzilla.

While it initially got mixed reviews from critics at the time due to touching on the impact the atomic bomb had on Japanese society only nine years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, over time, Godzilla became a hit, so obviously, more sequels were commissioned, and Tsuburaya was involved in the filming of more movies. Rodan? Mothra? King Ghidorah? Eiji Tsuburaya might not have been the sole creator of these characters, but it's thanks to his talent that these iconic monsters made to the big screen in the first place.

By the early 1960's, Tsuburaya had clearly made a name for himself, but he wanted to focus more on a project of his own. Something that wouldn't just be credited as a project he did the special effects for. With television growing in popularity at the time, Tsuburaya set his eyes on making it to the small screen. In particular, he was inspired by American anthology shows like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. And of course, that show eventually became known as... Ultra Q. What, you thought I was going to mention a different show?

Similar to The Twilight Zone, Ultra Q (named after a popular phrase at the time, “Ultra C”) would focus more on a group of scientists investigating supernatural phenomena more often than not caused by giant monsters or aliens, with the occasional exception. The show was a massive hit with audiences, so the Tokyo Broadcasting System, or TBS, wanted a new show like it, only in color. Remember, this was the 60's when color TV wasn't as common as it was now, so seeing broadcasters want Tsuburaya's work to be in color was a big deal. There were a few conditions though, like more focus on monsters, and for there to be a heroic monster on humanity's side like what Godzilla had become at the time.

In spite of those requests, the show I'm actually here to talk about premiered on July 17th, 1966, and essentially kicked off a long line of tokusatsu heroes on the small screen. But how does this show hold up more than fifty-five years later? Well, let's find out as we take a look at the original Ultraman

THE STORY

The Science Special Search Party (SSSP) is a government organization dedicated to investigating scientific anomalies and protecting Earth from invading aliens and giant monsters. One night, Shin Hayata (Played by Susumu Kurobe), is sent to investigate a mysterious blue sphere landing in a nearby lake, only to accidentally collide with a red sphere. Inside the red sphere is an alien from Nebula M78, who feels remorseful for accidentally killing Hayata, so to make up for the cosmic vehicular manslaughter, he offers to give his life to save Hayata. The two merge, and when the situation calls for it, Hayata is now able to use a device called the Beta Capsule to transform into the alien to fight giant monsters other and aliens head on with his energy attacks, calling himself Ultraman (Played by Bin Furuya).

Of course, Hayata isn't alone on his quest to defend the Earth from danger. In addition to himself, the SSSP consists of Captain Toshio Muramatsu (Played by Akiji Kobayashi), a very serious, yet fatherly leader to the team who stays cool in a crisis, Mitsuhiro Ide (Played by Masanari Nihei), a bumbling inventor who helps develop the technology needed to deal with whatever threat they face, Daisuke Arashi (Played by Sandayu Dokumamushi), an expert marksman with a bit of an itchy trigger finger, and Akiko Fuji (Played by Hiroko Sakurai), the primary communications officer and sole female officer who isn't afraid to speak her mind. They're later joined by Isamu Hoshino (Played by Akihide Tsuzawa), a child who tags along with the team, before he is eventually made a full-fledged member himself.

Seeing how this was a TV show in the 1960's, there's obviously no major shifts in the status quo or the character dynamics. It's just a very simply formula: The SSSP is called in to investigate a weird occurrence, they spend time figuring out what's behind it, it turns out to be an alien or giant monster, they try their hardest to engage the threat once the situation escalates, Hayata conveniently manages to duck out so he can transform into Ultraman and save the day when all seems lost. There's nothing wrong with this necessarily, seeing how this was before TV shows became more serialized. In the modern age of streaming and YouTube, this kind of formula also makes watching shows like this easier for newcomers, as watching every episode isn't a requirement thanks to how interchangeable they can be.

At the same time, it also makes marathoning the show a bit confusing, with how inconsistent the characters can be. While there are decent focus episodes for characters like Ide and Arashi, the development rarely sticks. Arashi in particular suffers from this, as in one episode, “Don't Shoot, Arashi”, he learns about how dangerous his trigger-happy nature can be, but two episodes later? He goes against orders and tries to shoot a giant monster. While it's not too bothersome, it is still important to note, as it doesn't really hamper your enjoyment of this show.

Generally, the tone of these episodes can vary. While there's still a giant monster for Ultraman to fight every episode, there's almost always something interesting to shake things up. To list a few examples, “The Coast Guard Command” features a subplot about some kids uncovering a diamond smuggling scheme, “The Rascal from Outer Space” is more lighthearted in tone with how the monster of the week is created from a wishing stone, “Brother from Another Planet” was more of a conspiracy episode with the alien invader's plan to trick the SSSP into appearing benevolent, and “Phantom of the Snow Mountains” has a supernatural mystery element to it revolving around this little girl. You never know what kind of episode you're going to get with this show, and I think it makes sense when you remember this was a follow up to Tsuburaya's take on The Twilight Zone.

THE HEROES

Once again, because this would serve as the basis for countless tokusatsu shows after it, Ultraman has a fairly basic cast of characters, but they're not exactly boring. The actors all do a good job with that they're given, and they play off each other nicely.

Hayata is a... pretty decent lead. Much like a lot of main characters in the 60s, there's not really a lot of character development on his part. He's meant to be this paragon to look up to, this heroic figure meant to inspire others. It's something the show focuses on more by trying something that future installments wouldn't really do: Make Hayata the second in command of the team. Normally, Hayata is the one the others report to when Captain Muramatsu isn't around, and generally has more of a commanding presence compared to later main characters, who are usually portrayed as everymen with more flaws. At the same time, he'll do what he can to help the others when they have problems to deal with, almost like a big brother.

Even compared to the others who have their own flaws like Arashi's temper, Ide's immaturity, Hayata doesn't show a lot of vulnerability, at least, in the sense of character flaws. Yeah, he gets in trouble and there are times where he can't transform into Ultraman to save the day, it's usually not done to test Hayata's resolve or set up an interesting conflict. It's just done to explain why Ultraman can't stop the bad guy of the week. The few times Hayata isn't able to transform into Ultraman, it's normally resolved by circumstances outside of his control, like when he lost the Beta Capsule in the two-part episode, “The Prince of Monsters”, he didn't even know he lost it until some kid gave it back to him, robbing us of a conflict where Hayata tries to stop a monster without Ultraman's powers.

In general, the show also kind of glosses over what happened to Hayata in the first episode. The whole thing with him merging with an alien is rarely touched on, and it's never made clear if any of Hayata's actions were influenced by Ultraman, especially when the final episode shows he can still talk. What, was Ultraman just sleeping whenever Hayata didn't need to use his powers?

Captain Muramatsu is meant to be the more reasonable person in the SSSP, which makes sense, given that he's their boss and all. He's usually the least likely to suggest violence as a first option, best shown in the second episode, “Shoot the Invaders!”, where he opposed the Japanese government's idea to try using a nuclear missile against a bunch of alien invaders whose motives they don't even know yet. He's generally one to act more like a father to the team, and compared to the others, doesn't have any quirks. He makes for a decent straight man for the show.

I don't think it's really controversial to say Ide is my favorite character in the show, and for multiple reasons. Masanari Nihei is clearly having a ball in this role, and gives the best performance out of the entire cast. Ide's antics lead to some pretty funny moments, and for a comic relief character, he's not as annoying as you would think. He has his moments where he likes to prop himself up as this genius in order to boost his ego, but is usually subjected to some form of slapstick.

At the same time, there have been a couple of episodes that show another side to Ide's character, like “My Home is Earth”, where he hesitates to fight a monster that used to be a human, or “The Little Hero”, which shows him doubting the effectiveness of his inventions when Ultraman is usually the one to save the day. I'd argue of the entire SSSP, Ide is the one with the strongest resolve, as he always tries to come up with new weapons and gadgets for the team to use to save the day, and more often than not, they come in handy with it comes to dealing with whatever the SSSP is struggling to beat.

Arashi is honestly the most boring member of the main cast in my opinion. He's usually the most bullheaded of the SSSP, itching to get into a fight and shoot whatever threat the team is facing. At the same time, he does get some moments where he helps put the clues together when the team is trying to understand the monster of the week's powers and MO. He still gets the least amount of focus and moments to shine compared to the others, and compared to Ide's comedic moments, Arashi's trigger-happy nature gets a little annoying after a while.

For being the only female lead in a TV show that aired during the 1960's, Fuji is a surprisingly strong character. Yeah, she gets kidnapped and endangered a lot, and yeah, she's normally the one to man the communications center for the SSSP, but at the same time, she's not really shown to be an idiot, and can be just as clever as the others. In the very first episode, when Ide said that she was “still a girl” despite being part of the SSSP, she immediately fired back, showing she isn't one to be teased. She also has a tendency to tease the others and mess with them a little, like in “Five Seconds Before the Explosion”, where she claims to be going to a resort with someone for her day off, only to reveal it was Hoshino she was going with. While she's not a total snarker on the level of Lois Lane, she still has a lot of spunk that prevents her from just being “the girl” of the team.

Hoshino is arguably the only member of the SSSP who goes through an arc in this show. He starts off as a very reckless kid who stole Arashi's gun to fight a giant monster himself, but throughout his appearances, he's shown to grow as a person and take things more seriously, making his official welcome into the SSSP feel natural. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to stay for long, as Akihide Tsuzawa had broken his leg on a skiing trip, so he went the way of Chuck Cunningham.

Overall, while the cast is seen as basic by today's standards, they're still enjoyable enough on their own.

THEIR ARSENAL

Hayata's Beta Capsule is a very simple transformation device by modern standards. There's no trinket he needs to insert, and there's no jingle that plays when he transforms. Hayata just presses the button, and boom, he's Ultraman. It's honestly kind of funny to look back on this when you know how toyetic tokusatsu shows can get. Hell, compared to the other transformation devices of the Showa Era, this is somehow the most complex with it being a piece of technology, as opposed to the rest (Sans Ultraman 80's Bright Stick) being fashion accessories like sunglasses, badges, and rings.

Ultraman's suit, designed by Toru “Tohl” Narita, went through three designs throughout the show's 39-episode run. There were a few complications that led to the cheaper looking suit used for the show's first third, mainly the plan to originally make Ultraman's mouth move before it was scrapped. The next two suits would give Ultraman a much sleeker look and a shinier color scheme that would better fit the iconic design of the character that is still used to this day. Compared to most of the monsters we've seen in Tsuburaya's earlier works, this is a suit that really screams “alien”, yet it has a look that makes it appear benevolent.

Ultraman's fighting style really helps him stand out from Tsuburaya's other creations, as unlike Godzilla or Rodan, Ultraman's attacks aren't really fierce. They're more coordinated and he isn't as destructive as someone like Godzilla is. In combat, Ultraman specializes in wrestling with his opponents, tending to find a way to exhaust them into a state where they're vulnerable to his energy attacks. The Specium Ray is Ultraman's signature attack, and it's really cool, being a simple energy ray fired through his iconic pose.

Be honest, if you're an Ultraman fan, you've most likely made a hand gesture like this before. I'm sorry, but I don't make the rules.

Ultraman's other primary attack is the Ultra Slash, where he creates a sharp energy blade to slice up his enemies with.

Both of these attacks have essentially become synonymous with the franchise, much like how the Rider Kick has become synonymous with the Kamen Rider franchise.

On the other hand, there's the other powers you don't really hear about when talking about Ultraman, though I call them the “We only have two minutes to wrap up the episode, so let's have Ultraman do whatever the plot needs him to do” powers. He has X-ray vision, laser eyes, the ability to shoot water from his hands, the ability to spin at high speed, and in one case, somehow turn a monster into a constellation for reasons that are way too confusing to explain. And I'm sure I missed some powers that even the Ultraman Wiki doesn't know about.

Of course, with all of these powers, you'd think there wouldn't be a lot of tension in the story. You would be right, and a lot of the producers realized this, so they gave Ultraman another one of his defining features: The Color Timer. Whenever Ultraman is struggling in a battle, or if he starts to run out of solar energy thanks to our sun not having enough light to power him, the Color Timer, a blue emblem in the middle of his chest, will start to blink and let off a beeping sound, sort of like a video game. If the Color Timer goes out, Ultraman will lose the power to ever stand up again. If you forget, don't worry, because the narrator reminds the audience of this nearly every episode, with a handful of exceptions. This is a great way to add stakes to the conflict, as the Color Timer going off can punctuate how much of a struggle this is for Ultraman.

The SSSP has some pretty cool suits. I really love how they switch from the blue suits to the more combat-oriented orange battle gear. It's such a 60's spy show thing, and I love it. The helmets also go really well with the suits. Their badges are also a unique way of communication, and it shows how advanced their technology is.

The SSSP has a very basic arsenal. The Super Gun is their primary firearm, shooting lasers capable of harming monsters. Arashi in particular gets the Spider Shot, a bigger gun more power. Another gun that sees use is the Mars 133, a rifle with more power than the Super Gun. There are also other guns and inventions made for the SSSP to use thanks to Ide, but like some of Ultraman's powers, they're usually situational.

Their primary vehicle is the Jet VTOL, a fighter jet that can travel to space when equipped with a special engine. A simple plane, but nothing short of iconic. And again, while there are other vehicles, they don't see as much action.

While the arsenal seems very barebones for a tokusatsu show, it doesn't really stop the SSSP from doing their job really well. In general, the SSSP gets a surprising amount of kills to their name. Not only do they manage to take out about ten monsters/aliens with standard SSSP weaponry, seven giant and three human-sized threats. I want to emphasize the “about”, because a lot of episodes focus on the SSSP's attempts to stop the monster of the week, and while Ultraman typically gets a lot of the kill shots, there are plenty of monsters that are already weakened as a result of the SSSP's tactics. Generally, despite being the character the show is named after, Ultraman is usually used as a last resort. Even though they're the first attack team in Ultraman history, the SSSP's arsenal arguably makes them one of the most effective in the franchise.

THE VILLAINS

Monsters in the Ultraman franchise are very different from other tokusatsu shows. Rather than a comical monster of the week who works for a greater evil, most monsters in the franchise, especially the Showa era, are standalone threats for the heroes to take care of. Usually, they tend to either be alien invaders seeking to conquer the Earth, or monsters that the humans accidentally woke up and/or pissed off. Like I said, the twist usually comes from the other element thrown into the plot of every episode.

While it's a bit of an oversimplification, there are still a lot of creative monsters and aliens here still have quirks and abilities that make them stand out from each other for the most part. You have Baltan, an insect-themed alien with teleportation abilities, Neronga, an ancient monster with the power to consume electricity to make himself invisible, Zarab, an alien who can disguise himself as an evil version of Ultraman, Dada, an alien who tries to abduct humans as test subjects with the help of his shrink ray, Keronia, an member of a race of mutated plant monsters who tries to enslave humans for their blood, and Mefilas, an alien who tries to conquer the Earth with trickery rather than brute force. And I haven't even gotten to the other monsters in my highlights list, who are just as creative.

Of course, there are still two other monsters I want to talk about here, the first of them being arguably the most iconic monster in the franchise, Gomora. Gomora was one of the first monsters to actually give Ultraman a challenge, and was the star of the franchise's first two-part episode. Since then, he's gotten a lot of focus in later installments as a more heroic monster. When you see all the forms and powers Gomora has gotten over the years, it's kind of funny to see Gomora beat Ultraman in a fight with nothing but his brute strength and long tail. Here, he's just a giant dinosaur who was pissed he was woken up from his nap and kidnapped like King Kong, yet he still managed to overwhelm Ultraman. It's like watching a wild coyote get the better of Superman.

The other monster I want to talk about is infamous, not because of the episode it came from, but rather, how he looks.

This is Jirass, and yes, that is an old Godzilla suit. Well, technically the head of the one used in Invasion of Astro Monster and the body of the one from Mothra vs. Godzilla. The thing is that most of the monster suits were reused from the Godzilla movies thanks to Toho letting Tsuburaya's production team borrow them for this show. While there's actually a lot of reused suits, this is the one people tend to talk about the most, and for obvious reasons.

For the most part, in spite of a lot of them being reused from older suits, the monster designs really hold up today. A good example of how versatile the suits are is the Baragon suit from Frankenstein vs. Baragon. It was reused to make three different monsters during the first nine episodes (Neronga, Magular, and Gabora), and they all look visually distinct from one another. There were a lot of times where I was genuinely surprised to learn some of the more memorable monsters in this show were reused from older monster suits. The effects work is that well-done.

HIGHLIGHTS

As a whole, Ultraman had a lot of great episodes, and it was hard to find the ones I thought were outright bad. Most of the “worst” ones were more boring than anything else. The fact that I struggled to find five bad episodes is a good sign of this show's quality.

Top Five Worst Episodes

#5: Secret of the Miloganda

Several botanists are being killed by a mysterious plant creature, one by one, so the SSSP is called to investigate before anyone else can be hurt.

This episode isn't really bad, just slow. The plot is more of a mystery than your standard monster of the week plot, with several scientists recalling their side of the story, and there's some decent buildup to it. The problem just lies in how underwhelming the monster and climax is. The killer, a mutated plant called Greenmons grows giant out of nowhere after seemingly being killed, and the suit just looks so cheap.

Be honest, is this really what you think of when you hear “mutant plant monster”? A moldy oven mitt? All Greenmons does is spray stuff from the hole on its... I want to say face, and move around the one arm it has. This is what you do with a killer plant? Make it a giant can of Lysol? Even the death is underwhelming. All Ultraman does is shoot it with a Specium Ray, and it just catches fire. You can really tell this episode was when the writers and costume designers were still experimenting with new ideas, because it really doesn't hold up.

A later episode, “Who Goes There?”, would do a much better job with the idea of a plant monster in the form of Keronia, and would do so with a much better horror element to it. I'd watch that episode instead of this one. Again, this one isn't bad, just underwhelming.

#4: The Endless Counterattack

While Hayata escorts Indian SSSP member Patty around Japan for her vacation, Zambolar, a monster with control over fire starts to rampage through nearby construction sites, so it's up to the SSSP to take him down.

Compared to most monster of the week plots, this one is pretty boring, and Zambolar himself is a very underwhelming monster. The writers try to throw in an environmentalism message by implying he was woken up by some construction, but it's kind of hard to see Zambolar act like this guardian of the environment when most of his screentime is spent burning stuff down. The chemistry between Hayata and Patty was also forgettable. I guess they were trying to set up some kind of romance compared to other girls Hayata has met in this show, but there honestly wasn't much of a reason to include this character in the story.

Again, it's not a terrible episode, just really boring.

#3: Terror on Route 87

The SSSP is called to investigate a strangely glowing mountain, where they encounter a giant bird monster called Hydra. The monster soon sets his sights on the titular Route 87, all while learning about a connection between it and a child who was killed in a car accident on the same route.

This is an episode where you can tell there were good intentions, but the execution was pretty bad. See, during the mid to late 1960's, there was a high number of traffic accidents in Japan, to the point where people called that time the “War on Traffic”, so this episode was meant to serve as social commentary on it. The problem is how the lesson gets across. Okay, so the monster of the week is connected to a boy who was killed in a traffic accident. That could work for a tragic story. What's less tragic is how the moral of the story seems to be in favor of Hydra, in spite of his massive body count.

Yeah, what happened to the kid was tragic, but how does that make Hydra killing more people as a result of that okay? As a matter of fact, why make the giant monster attacking a highway a bird? I don't get why it's sad that children are killed in car accidents, yet the moral seems to downplay the amount of people killed by Hydra (some of them probably being children too).

This is a pretty lousy episode that needed a lot of work.

#2: The Monster Graveyard

While on patrol in space, the SSSP stumbles upon the bodies of several past monsters they've killed in the past, dubbing it the Monster Graveyard. After heading back to Earth, they're followed by the spirit of another fallen monster, Seabozu. Can the SSSP defeat this latest threat, or is there more than meets the eye to this creature?

This is an episode with a really good idea that would be expanded upon in later entries, and to its credit, it manages to have a pretty solid first act. The SSSP feel remorseful for all the monsters they've killed, especially Hayata, and the scene where they hold a memorial service for them is very powerful. Unfortunately, things go downhill once Seabozu enters the picture. Despite saying they feel bad for having to hurt monsters who weren't able to coexist with humanity, the SSSP has no problem shooting at Seabozu, and even after they learn it just wants to go home, they don't really change their method of operation and keep shooting at it.

Seriously, the second half of the episode is pretty much “Maybe this monster wants to go home, so let's find a way to send him back to space... by shooting him with grappling cables and dragging him towards the rocket against his will because he doesn't know what a rocket is”. Do you want to have a more nuanced story or not? It's a really mean-spirited episode disguised as something pretending to be deep.

#1: The Pearl Defense Directive

Gamakujira, this hybrid toad/whale monster, starts eating pearl oysters, driving the prices of pearls up exponentially. Taking this as a declaration of war, Fuji takes on a more active role than usual to save her favorite kind of jewelry with rest of the SSSP.

While most of the episodes in this show are pretty timeless, this is an episode that has definitely shown its age in a few ways. The way Fuji is written reeks of negative stereotypes regarding women. I'm sure there were good intentions, but the way the conflict is handled is just awful. Put aside the fact that this is the third aquatic monster with a craving for a specific item in the past seven episodes (cacao beans for Guesra and oil for Pestar), the only reason why Fuji is upset at Gamakujira isn't because of the potential damage it's doing to the ecosystem or the economy, but just because she loves pearls.

Because, you know, a girl's just got to have her pretty jewelry, right? I feel like if they exaggerated the level of anger Fuji was feeling, it'd be easier to tolerate. Instead, it's like we're supposed to take her anger at her precious pearls completely seriously.

While Gamakujira isn't completely forgettable, it's nowhere near the same level as memorable as other monsters in this show. The goofy tongue and croaking noise it makes is pretty interesting though.

Overall, it's just a terrible episode that's an obvious product of its time.

Top Five Best Episodes

#5: Passport to Infinity

Two meteorites with reality bending abilities are found by a pair of scientists, who each choose to study one individually. One of them comes to the conclusion that if the two meteorites are brought together, bad things will happen... right as the SSSP decided to place them together. After the new meteorite monster, Bullton, is formed, it starts to send the scientists and the rest of the SSSP into the fourth dimension, so they need to try and get out.

For something that aired in 1966, the effects work in this episode is pretty creative here. Yeah, there are some obvious wires and green screen effects here and there, but there are also a lot of clever cuts and camera angles that give the illusion of realty being distorted. Even for being a giant rock, Bullton is an interesting kind of monster. What it lacks in strength, it more than makes up for with its powers.

Yeah, the final battle is kind of weak since we don't get the usual fight choreography on account of Bullton being a rock, the rest of the episode is still a blast, and is a visual highlight for the show.

#4: Present from the Sky

One day, Skydon, a monster randomly that randomly fell from the sky, starts to make its home at a local construction site, and and the SSSP is called to deal with it. There's just one problem: None of their weapons work on it, and it's too heavy for even Ultraman to move. Thus, the SSSP has to employ some more unusual tactics in order to get it off the planet.

We go from one of the trippiest episodes in the show to one of the goofiest episodes of the show. If you're here from my Miraculous Ladybug blog, you'll remember I referenced this episode when talking about “Mr. Pigeon”, an episode featuring a villain with such a wacky idea, you just have to roll along with how weird the action is. I stand by what I said, because this episode is a blast.

The humor in this episode in the form of the SSSP's plans to get rid of Skydon is top-notch. Things just so outlandish, it starts to resemble a Looney Tunes cartoon, and I love it. Just seeing the SSSP continually fail to stop Skydon to the point where one attempt leads to them running away from after shooting it with a rocket is hilarious. The gags that parody the usual Ultraman formula are just so well-timed, and an episode all about stopping a really heavy monster has no right being this funny.

This is easily the funniest episode of the series, and it's also one of the best episodes in the series as a result.

#3: The Lawless Monster Zone

The SSSP is called in to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a research team of scientists on an unexplored island. It turns out that the island in question is swarming with monsters, and after meeting up with the only surviving scientist, what started as a rescue mission turns into a “try not to die before we get the hell out of here” mission.

This is a really nice take on the usual formula of the show. Usually, it's the monster or alien the SSSP stumbles upon that they need to fight off, but this time, they're on a place full of monsters. We have Red King, Pigmon, Magular, and Chandler to deal with. Could there beany more monsters? There's a lot that makes this place a hostile environment, so you wonder how the SSSP will escape.

There's also some cool monsters introduced here too. Aside from Magular and Chandler, we have Red King, a bully who loves to beat up weaker monsters, and Pigmon, a tiny creature who's the one of first benevolent monsters in Ultraman history. These characters both get some good focus and like a lot of the monsters I've talked about, become iconic in later entries.

Overall, it's a really action-packed episode that's a blast to watch.

#2: My Home is Earth

Several planes carrying guests for an international peace conference are being mysteriously shot down by an invisible spaceship. Just when it seems like destroying the spaceship would end the conflict, the pilot of the ship, a giant monster appears. It's soon revealed that the monster was named Jamila, a human astronaut who was mutated into this form after a space flight went wrong. After learning the truth, Ide is left conflicted as to whether Jamila is beyond saving or not as the SSSP is ordered to kill him to cover up the story of what really happened.

Many Ultraman fans consider this to be one of the saddest episodes of the franchise, and for good reasons. The tone is very somber, and it raises questions about whether the SSSP is doing the right thing by trying to put Jamila out of his misery. The fact that Ide isn't the usual bumbling comic relief really says a lot about how serious this episode is, and it makes sense when you remember his inventions are the reason why the SSSP is even able to fight Jamila in the first place.

The cinematography in this episode is gorgeous, some of the best of the show. There's some great uses of lighting and shadows during the dramatic scenes. I especially love this one shot of French SSSP member Alan standing in front of a spotlight while he repeats the orders to kill Jamila while he's obscured by the light, almost like a soulless drone with no empathy for his fellow man.

Jamila's story would go on to be one of the most tragic in the franchise's history, and even though it was covered up in-universe, it's unforgettable to us.

#1: Farewell, Ultraman

The SSSP gets word of an invading fleet of aliens who had visited Earth for over forty years, but before they set their sights on humanity, they decide to go after the Japanese branch and Ultraman. As our heroes prepare to fight against near insurmountable odds, it turns out one of the invading aliens disguised himself as one of their allies, and even when it seems like the tide of battle is turning, Ultraman himself has one more challenge that not even he may be able to overcome...

As the final episode of the show, this episode really does a good job to show how high the stakes are. Right from the start, we're dealing with a full-blown alien invasion, from aliens who actually planned ahead instead no less. There's a lot of awesome action, great effects work, and drama from how tense the conflict is.

There's not much else I can say without spoiling anything, seeing how it's the final episode and all, but this one is a must-watch.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Being the first in a long line of tokusatsu TV shows, Ultraman does a lot of amazing things. The effects hold up really well, the characters are very likable, and it introduced a lot of concepts that would endear us to the franchise over fifty-five years later. While it may seem like I don't have as much to say compared to my last two reviews, it's mainly because I'm not sure what else I even have to say.

If you're looking to get into tokusatsu as a whole, please check out this series. It's a classic, and for a damn good reason.

[makiruz]

Finally finished Ultraman!

This show is awesome, I see why it became a classic. It starts out slow, with some pretty good episodic stories, simple but fun; but then at around episode 10 it starts getting better and by the half-way point the show gets awesome.

Now impressions of the last couple episodes:

1. Pigmon is adorable, I see why everyone likes him. 2. From the same episode Ide gets a crisis wondering what's the point of everything if Ultraman always comes to save their asses, so Hayata, who is Ultraman, tells him to stop being stupid

Next episode rehashes the flashing lights monster, but in space this time. Earth has space travel in 1966 in the World of the Land of Light. Also I keep wondering what the Science Patrol thinks of Ultraman showing up where they are, where does he come from?

Last episode was pretty great, the Science Patrol HQ is threatened because it's the last episode and we get another alien invasion, alien looks familiar but I don't remember when I saw it.

Anyway, Zetton! Heard of him, turns out he's a weapon of an evil alien race, and he kills Ultraman!! NOOOOO!!!! And then the humans kill Zetton! Holy shit, we killed a monster that defeated Ultraman! Go Team Earth!

Anyway, Ultraman isn't actually dead, he gets saved by Zoffy! Yay, Zoffy! So Zoffy is here to take Ultraman back home and he's like, I can't I'm fused with this human and he'll die, and Zoffy is like "that's okay, I got two lives with me I can separate you two and Hayata can live" that's... convenient. Anyway it seem Ultraman fusing with a human is a rare, unique thing in this show; and then it becomes standard, I dunno, I'll have to check out other shows to see how they handle it.

Okay, so Ultraman leaves, Hayata gets to live seemingly having forgotten the whole show, and Earth is gonna have to defend itself now... until next year when Ultraseven shows up, gotta love retcons.

Speaking of retcons, it looks like Hayata doesn't remember anything since crashing with Ultraman, but that's gonna change, but for now we can say he's disoriented from having been separated from Ultraman. And I find interesting the way Ultraman is presented in contrast to what we know now, we know the Land of Light, we've seen Father of Ultra, who is the president or something, we've seen fathers and sons, we've seen Mother of Ultra and other Ultrawomen, we've seen civilians, we've seen children, we've seen Ultra villains, we know their story, their people; this are people we know and they're our friends, Earth's allies; but in the original show Ultraman is a mystery surrounded by an enigma, Ultraman is an alien that comes from far away and we don't know what he is or what's his purpose, only that he wants to help us. Oh my god! It's like Doctor Who!

[toku-explained]

ULTRAMAN Episode 13/Chapters 46-50

Seiji angrily leaps into battle, guillotining the vines, declaring it's the Ace Killer Squad's fault Yuko can't be happy,and attacks he leader directly. They fight, Seiji throwing soldiers in the way of Ace killer's guns, and Ace Killer wonders how he's alive, who saved him and the family from the plane. (In the manga, it's only here, by Seiji not answering, that Ace Killer realises Yuko and her family are alive) But he decides to just kill him after Nepenthes Seijin gets him away. The soldiers fire on ACE, ULTRAMAN attempting to help is interrupted by Nepenthes, an soldiers occupy SEVEN. Overpowered, Moroboshi has Ide transfer him a Specium Sword. He collapses after slicing the last soldier, but does kill him, then joins ULTRAMAN, but Nepenthes Seijin incapacitates them both, Ide unable to release ULTRAMAN's limiter. (Around this point in the manga, Jack and Red turn up, Jack in combat gear, Red tassels with the Woovelve Seijin, and Hayata also turns up using the updated Convenience Prototype ULTRAMAN Suit. Jack pulls Moroboshi off the field

Seiji collapses, but Ace Killer is impressed he's alive, and holds a gun, demanding to know who saved him. Seiji mumbles how he has to kill the aliens who hurt Yuko, so Ace Killer instead asks where she is, promising if he tells him he'll kill her quickly. Shinjiro calls out for Seiji to wake up, reminding him he's Ultraman.

Ace Killer goes to fire when Seiji leaps up and slices his arm off with a Specium Blade, then guillotines the soldiers, promising to slice him to pieces as Ultraman. Both yell at eachother, Seiji firing a hand blast Ace Killer teleports past and slices, or rather it is high speed, then goes again and slices through the left arm, and starts slicing him. (In the manga, during this Bemular breaks into the Alien City based office of an Awazo Seijin, the one who put the hit on Seiji, and wants to know which ordered the hit, but it's a secure frequency. As Shinjiro and Hayata are being held by Nepenthes, they point out the mercenaries will be hung out to dry if things go wrong, and they know the Star Cluster Council arranged the hit and about the assassination 12 years prior. Because they can't have the council know SSSP is onto them, they'll need to make wiping out the Ace Killer Squad an accident. Red, having dealt with the Woovelve Seijin, helps them get free from Nepenthes Seijin.)

He impales Seiji through the chest, Seiji grabs him, and reveals his actual secret weapon, pulling off his right hand with his teeth, the arm converts into a cannon here fires point blank, leaving a whole in the torso of the collapsed Ace Killer, at which point Seiji collapses. (In the manga, he atomises his head)

Nepenthes Seijin just laughs, as Ace Killer pulls himself back up, declaring it the first time he's dies in 300 years. He reclaims his blade, kicking the corpse of Seiji in frustration, revealing he can't really die, and planning to pay homage to Seiji in his Monstrous way.

A furious Shinjiro manages to break through the limiter, breaking free and instantly bisecting Nepenthes Seijin, before his helmet shatters, and rusjnand stops Ace Killer from beheading Seiji. Ide and Hayata are shocked he broke the limiter, as Edo finally returns to HQ. Ide reminds Shinjiro he can only fight for 3 minutes, but he doesn't plan on taking that long. He beats Ace Killer down, swearing never to let anyone get hurt because he couldn't act again, blocking all of Ace Killer's strikes. As Ace Killer makes a last charge, ULTRAMAN fires a Specium Beam and atomises him. Ide notes this shouldn't be possible, the Specium emitters on the suit were already broken, as Edo tears up at seeing the birth of Ultraman, Seiji witnesses this before passing out. (In the manga Ace Killer stays dead, Seiji's death inspires the breaking the limiter, and he deals with Nepenthes, but his thoughts are the same as the anime, he uses the Specium Beam to kill Nepenthes despite the emitters being destroyed)

Shinjiro collapses, SEVEN witnesses Ace Killer's blade send a signal into space, as a cloaked satellite drops a bomb of some kind towards their location. With only seconds, Hayata calls for his son, and as Shinjiro and Moroboshi watch Bemular appears, and fires a Specium Ray to destroy the bomb and the satellite. Hayata recognises the Ray as Bemular descends. (In the manga there's no failsafe, Bemular just shows up as Seiji expires)

Shinjiro declares he'll fight if he wants, but Bemular says there's no reason to fight now Shinjiro has awakened, all he wants is to save Seiji. After all, it won't be the first time he saved a dead human, Hayata understands his meaning. Shinjiro decides to trust him, and Bemular picks Seiji up and takes him away. Despite Ide's concern, Shinjiro thinks he can trust him, and Hayata notes Bemular also wants a warrior of light, recognising now that Bemular is Ultraman even if he doesn't say it out loud. (The manga is a lot more vague about Bemular at this point, only confirming it at the end of the next arc, but reading it again now, Hayata knows at this point. Fuji has Moroboshi taken for immediate medical, and Ide is informed Yapool has disappeared)

At the Giant of Light Memorial, the guards with Yapool are knocked out, then he's bundled by a stealth gear wearing Jack, wo signals a chopper, noting he can now go home. (In the manga we instead get Yapool emerging from his abduction, Jack, now in a suit, welcoming him to America.)

Ide talks with a recuperating Moroboshi, Edo sits in his office, Shinjiro receives a video message from Rena about what she's heard Ultraman did, and is enjoying a drink when he gets a call about another mission, taking to the sky as ULTRAMAN once more. (In the manga, Edo visits Moroboshi, saying they reported the Ace Killer incident as them eliminating the Body Suppliers, leaving Seiji out entirely, and noting Shinjiro os getting stronger, Moroboshi asks that the Supplemental Weapons Program be sped up. Shinjiro meets with Rena, who gives him a ticket for her next show as thanks for calling Ultraman the other day, Endo suddenly approaching)

Also in the manga: Adad approaches a drinking Red, saying he believes Jack took Yapool. Red is angry about being used, but knows Jack must work for someone who wants alien technology, Adad decides to create a lead via explosion. I would skip this bit for next season, but Red isn't in the anime.

After introductions, Endo continues to deny the new Ultraman, leading Shinjiro to declare himself Ultraman, then cover it up as a spirited defence of his hero. Endo leaves, but decides to snoop Shinjiro out.

Adad tells Red that he's allowed a group called Star of Darkness, who believe a superior species should rule earth, to get into the city by teleporting their base in. He wants to work out who he should pledge loyalty, and waits for Red to ask how that helps find Jack and Yapool.

Endo follows Shinjiro, but he disappears down an alley.

Since the manga then jumps 3 months, it seems likely this is where season 2 will be picking up.

[redsamuraiii]

Ultraman Fan Fic

An excerpt from a chapter of my fan fic draft novel which I’ve been writing since June during my spare time, bringing the lovable Ultraman characters from 1966 to 2020.

Chapter 3 Present Day Kyoto, Japan

It is a cold December night in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. The temple gardens are gently illuminated, the low light spinning a mysterious yarn across the silhouetted pines and chimerical bamboo groves. Just a few minutes away, the entertainment district of Gion is bustling with the energy of excitable tourists, drunken businessmen and attentive geisha. But here, up a narrow, sloping road on the eastern edge of the city, Shin Hayata have found stillness. He looks at the fallen leaves around him, thinking that a week from now, the branches of those tress will be bare and a month later, perhaps cloaked in white snow.

As he got lost in his thoughts to the night of the crash which he somehow survived, someone called out to him in a distant. A feminine voice calling out his name.

“Hayata…! Hayata!”

It’s his partner, Akiko Fuji, of the Science Patrol Division (SPD). Dressed in her orange suit uniform that is hugging her slim figure, wearing a white helmet covering her shoulder length wavy hair, with her youthful face visible through the transparent visor and her sparkling eyes reflecting her spirited nature, gazing his.

“HAYATA! I’ve been calling your name a dozen times!”

Hayata blushed, feeling embarrassed that he was caught off guard staring into nothingness while everyone around him are busy enjoying the festivities, talking, eating, drinking and laughing.

“You MUST try this shrimp tempura! It’s the best I’ve ever eaten since Nagasaki! It’s so warm and crispy! Everything about it is just about right! Oh! And don’t make me start on how deliciously spicy the sauce is!”

Hayata smiled, looking at her. That’s Fuji, for you. Always lively and full of spirits when it comes to food. He gazed at the small basket of tempura she was holding in one hand and the sauce cup in the other. He lifted his visor to smell the sweet aroma before grasping his hands on one of the tempura and gently sip it in the sauce before savoring it. And true enough, his facial expression betrays him.

“SEE! I TOLD YOU!”

She exclaimed excitedly like a five year old enjoying her first candy bar as Hayata watched and chuckled.

“You do have a knack for good food, Fuji! How in the world do you know there are such delights around here?”

She stopped eating halfway as if thinking about it.

“It’s my nose, you see! They can smell it all the way from Tokyo!”

Hayata had to laugh at that as he takes another bite.

“It’s a pity, the others are not here!”

She said as she continue munching the tempura and licking her fingers.

“If they were, I’d imagined Ide and Arashi will be squabbling over it instead of eating it.”

This time it was Fuji who laughed out loud, imagining her team members squabbling over shrimp tempura.

“Captain Muramatsu will probably steal it from them quietly while they’re squabbling over it.”

She said, laughing as she wipes away a sauce stuck on her right lips.

Suddenly, they stopped laughing as their voices were drowned by the noises surrounding them.

Fuji changed her tone of her voice as she glanced at Hayata with more seriousness now.

“Are you, okay?”

Hayata raised his eyebrows wondering where did that come from and smiled reassuringly at her.

“Never been better!”

“Oh, come on, Hayata! I saw your looks earlier, it’s like you’re caught somewhere in time!”

Hayata nodded not denying it as he continue looking around him at the people enjoying the festival.

“Just thinking what happened here five years ago and how fast we got over it.”

Fuji followed his gaze to the people around them.

“I guess it’s in our nature to be able to adapt.”

They leaned their backs against their parked patrol car as they continued eating tempura.

“You still think about that night?”

She inquired.

“Sometimes. Wondering why it happened. You?”

“I’m past wondering why it happened. I’m just wondering what will happen next.”

Hayata nodded as he considers her statement. Ever since Baltan appeared, several other aliens started appearing as well. It is not clear if Baltan is the one to lead them here or Baltan’s discovery of Earth brought the attention of these other extra-terresterial creatures here. One thing for certain, they will never be short of visitors and even though many seems to be adjusting well to this new life of normalcy, Hayata, still feels uncomfortable living in this new era, knowing fully well there are extra-terresterial beings living among them and not knowing whether they are harmless or dangerous, further adds up to his anxieties.

Baltan was last spotted at Lake Biwa, just north of Kyoto in Shiga Prefecture and recently there are rumors of its sightings in the lake. So the Captain has dispatched Hayata and Fuji to investigate and report any discoveries to determine if the rest of the team are needed to assist as they are constantly on alert for any other alien incursion elsewhere across the country. It is for this reason that the SPD has their own VTOL and STOL jets for fast travels but the weather forecast of an impending winter blizzard prompts Hayata and Fuji to travel on their six-seater all-weather-all-terrain patrol jeep instead.

Part of Hayata misses flying but part of him is relieved that he has an excuse not to fly as deep down he is still traumatized by that crash where he was certain that he would died. The darkness of the night illuminated by the explosion of his right wing and his inability to eject from his jet due to some technical issue as it plummeted down to the dark ocean beneath the colossal creature hovering over him like a demonic creature from a child’s nightmare. Again, his thoughts was disrupted by the jeep’s radio buzzing, indicating an incoming transmission from headquarters. Few seconds later, the gentle sound of Captain Muramatsu can be heard.

“Hayata. Fuji. Are you there?”

“I’ll get it.”

Fuji said as she shoved the tempura and sauce to Hayata who is struggling with his hands full.

“Yes, Captain. Fuji here.”

“Ah, Fuji. I’m afraid we have a new case developing.”

Fuji exchanged knowing looks with Hayata at this as he placed the food on the hood of the car and brushes off his hands to go closer to Fuji.

“Captain, Hayata here. What’s happening?”

“Hayata. It seems that there are reports of a Yuki Onna, just north of your current location.”

Fuji seems perplexed, not by the mere fact of a Yokai from a Japanese folklore actually coming to life but the question as to what does it got to do with the SPD? It seems of late that they’ve been investigating more paranormal cases than those of extra-terrestrials beings. Even the number of alien attacks have been decreasing, which makes the people more comfortable and complacent. People no longer regard the SPD with much seriousness like they used to during the early years of alien incursions but treat them as some “ghost hunting” team that always get called upon every time something unexplained comes up that the local enforcement are not willing to spend their time and manpower on, much less, the military. Not that she’s complaining but still. Judging by the looks of Hayata, she could tell he’s pretty much thinking along the same line as her as he listen intently to the Captain’s orders.

“It’s at Kunizakai Kogen Snow Park. It’s a small ski hill located in Takashima City in the northern area of Shiga Prefecture, just north-west of Kyoto, across Lake Biwa.”

Hayata took out his tablet to study the map and get a bearing of their current location as Fuji looks on curiously at his side. He looks at his digital watch making a mental calculation of their journey.

“80km. About an hour drive from here or so. Right.”

“Hm. Since you’re both are near, I’m sending you two. It could be another false alarm but it could also have a connection with Baltan that disappeared at Lake Biwa five years ago. Could be coincidental or could be linked, which is why I want you to investigate it immediately. Report back if you discover any anomalies. Ide and Arashi are on stand-by if you need assistance.”

“Roger that, Captain.”

“Hm. Take care. Muramatsu out.”

“Well, there it is.”

“Hayata, look! It’s snowing!”

“Already? I didn’t expect a snow till three weeks from now at least.”

“Oh, it’s so beautiful!”

Fuji’s pure heart never fails to amaze and amuse him.

“We just learned about a Yuki Onna, and you’re more fascinated by snow?”

“Don’t make me throw a snowball at you, Hayata!”

Hayata chuckled as he gets into the driver’s seat as Fuji takes the remaining tempura left behind on the car hood with her. She stood at the car door left ajar for a minute as she marvels at the snowflakes falling down gracefully from the white sky. She takes one last breath of fresh air as she steps into the car to sit beside Hayata, who ignites the car’s engine and hits the pedal to move off through the crowded streets of Gion.

[creepercraftguy]

Danganronpa Deadication Character theories and predictions.

So, today I bring something a little different to the table. Recently, I’ve been scouting the internet for Danganronpa Fan-Projects, because I need to re-juice on my Fanganronpa thirst. However, during my quest, I came back to a series that I’d known about for a short while now, but never really gave any credit. Danganronpa Deadication is a really promising web series that I hope to god gets a really good final product, since the overall aesthetic of it, character design, environments, setup, all of it is really pleasing to look at. If you want more information on the story, then check out their Tumblr @dangandeadication​ or their YouTube channel where the story is originating from. So far, the prologue is fully completed and you can go watch in on either, and Chapter 1 has been confirmed to be in development right now.

After watching a video by Weeby Newz where she made theories and predictions about another fangame Kill/Cure, I decided to do something similar with this game. I will re-iterate that none of the artwork in this post belongs to me, and you can find it on the Tumblr Page that I just mentioned. On top of that, I will also remind you that this is a prediction. If any of my thoughts or ideas end up being right, it’s purely coincidental. Shout out to all the people working on this project, you are amazing, and I fully support your creation.

The first character I want to talk about is Naohiko Hayata, who seems to be the protagonist of this game. He’s the Ultimate Actor, and he’s pretty unique. As much as I love Makoto Naegi, Hajime Hinata and Shuichi Saihara respectively, most of them seem to lack in pretty outstanding personalities, as they’re designed to be relatable characters to the player, something they all succeed at. Naohiko doesn’t share that trait. He has a pretty snarky and overconfident personality that isn’t like protagonists in any other Danganronpa game I’ve seen so far. His description states:

Naohiko is a skilled actor and self assured person. He might come off as slightly overconfident, but he has good intentions and wants the best for everyone. Naohiko is determined to put an end to the killing game, but will he succeed, or will he fall into despair? He likes Sunsets and he dislikes cloudy days and unkempt hair.

Now, something about that description makes me a little suspicious. It states that he’s determined to put an end to the killing game, which makes me wonder what lengths he’ll go to in order to do so. The last time a character acted this way, it was Kaede, and she ended up losing her life for it. I’ll say this flat out now, I’m not expecting Naohiko to survive this game. I’m really expecting the game to pull a Kaede on us and have him die in the first chapter, either by being the killer, or a victim. Now, if he was the killer, it’d make more sense, but if the game was to throw us through a loop, I’d really like it if we actually get to witness Naohiko be murdered himself in the first chapter, and for the trial we play as a different character than what we expected. If he does die, then I’m predicting the new protagonist would be either Reika (because she has an ahoge herself) or Yuuma (because he’s the Ultimate Lucky Student) but for now, I’m going to label him as a killer.

The next character to bring up is Hitomi Akimura, the Ultimate Illusionist. Now, I know I already said Naohiko gave me Kaede vibes, simply due to his description, but Hitomi is almost the exact same, saying pretty much the same things as Kaede did in V3, assuring everyone they could escape if they all worked together. At first, I thought maybe this could be like Sayaka, where she goes through an arc and then ends up being the first victim, but I have a bit of a different theory. As for her description, it states the following:

Hitomi is always upbeat and optimistic. She tries to put a smile on everyone’s faces, earning her the title of the most lovable friend, and she’s the glue that holds the group together. If everyone’s happy, she’s happy. She likes Red Roses and she dislikes Solitude.

Hitomi to me seems like she’s the Chiaki/Kaede of this game, trying to stop the group from being split up or arguing, but I feel that her arc could go in a similar direction. Like I said, I don’t know if she’ll make it to the end, and like I said with Naohiko, I think she’s going to end up being a killer, but for a really good cause. I originally thought she could be the mastermind behind the killing game, but I really am not sure. For now, I’ve marked her as a killer.

Next is Kyusho Asagiri, AKA Kyoko Kirigiri’s genderswap. No like, literally, he looks just like her AND they’re both Ultimate Detectives. His description reads:

Calm and sophisticated, Kyusho enjoys solving mysteries. He keeps his cool no matter what the situation is, and when he’s working on the scene, nothing can take his focus away. But it does get a little unsettling when he smiles, like he knows all of your secrets... He likes Green Tea and dislikes Flashy People.

At first, my general theories on Kyusho’s character is that he’d be something similar to Tsurugi Kinjo from the Another series. He’s a virtuous police officer on the side of good, but he has a hidden dark side to him. The part of his description where it says “it does get a little unsettling when he smiles, like he knows all of your secrets...” Is a little suspicious. My original prediction was that he was going to be an early victim, killed off because of fear at how useful his talent would be in the Class Trials, and then that theory switched into being a killer himself, but then my final theory was the most crazy of all. I predict that Kyusho will be the mastermind behind the killing game, or at least he’d be part of the organisation behind it, and be a participant himself due to his enjoyment of solving mysteries. However, Kyusho is the character for me who is most in the grey area. I don’t know whether he’ll be a victim, a killer, a survivor or the mastermind.

This character is probably one of the characters that I’m the most interested in, Reika Komatsu, this games version of the Ultimate ??? character, that Kyoko, Hajime and Rantaro all did in the original game.

Reika neither knows her talent, nor does she really care. She might come off as emotionless, but she’s usually just tired and never has anything to say. With her monotonous voice, it’s hard to keep up any conversation. She likes sleep and dislikes long conversations.

I’m already dead set on the idea that Reika will be the “antagonistic character” of this series. More specifically, I expect her to fill the same role that Nagito Komaeda and Kokichi Ouma did in their respective games. The reason I think this is because in one of the first videos of the series, more specifically the first trailer, it shows a clip of the cutscene before the Mass Panic Debate, with her, Kyusho and Shu, the latter two claiming they’re not the killer. However, Reika states that she might possibly be the killer, which immediately makes me think that she’ll try and derail the conversations. I feel her reasons, judging by her character description, is that she derails the conversation to trick people into suspecting her, just so she can get the debate over and done with quickly enough. Because of these similarities, I predict that Reika will be a Chapter 5 victim too, and like Nagito and Kokichi, she’d have a heavy role to play in her own murder scheme.

Next up is Yuuma Hisashi, the Ultimate Lucky Student, and the character, like I already mentioned, that I think will secretly be the real hero of the story. I see him being more a Makoto or Yuki Maeda lucky student than a Nagito one.

Although Yuuma thinks his talent isn’t a very good one, he’s a friendly guy who just likes joking around and having a good time with everyone. Ironically, he thinks he has the worst luck. After all, he did get trapped in a killing game... He likes Ramen and really bad puns, and dislikes his own talent.

Even though he claims to dislike his talent, I think it’ll come through for him on more than one occasion. While I do think it’s likely he’d be an easy target or even a surprising murderer, I’m pretty certain that he will end up escaping the killing game with his life, at least I hope so. Alternatively, if I’m wrong about Naohiko and he ends up making it to the end, I would very much enjoy it if they did something similar to what they did in the final trial of V3, and have us switch to Yuuma’s perspective like we did with Keebo. I’m sorry that that’s all I can really say, but Yuuma is one of the characters who I’m probably the least interested in as of right now. But in short, I think he’ll be a survivor.

Next is Megumi Norikawa, the strict and assertive Ultimate Attorney, who to me seems like a weird, but well made blend of Kiyotaka, Mahiru and Kirumi. Her description is as followed:

Megumi takes pride in her talent. She’s always assertive and blunt...to the point where you might start crying if she glares at you. She means well though, she just has high expectations of everyone. It’s all good so long as you don’t get on her bad side. She likes Coffee and Taking Charge and dislikes Unpunctual People.

I have pretty high expectations for Megumi, since she seems quite prominent on the series original promo art, but at the same time, it could be a fake out. She seems to share traits with the Ultimate Imposter too, which makes me believe she could also be an early victim. However, I would also love it if she could have the arc that Taka had that was cut short by his death, so while I don’t really have an awful strong opinion of her yet, like I did with Taka really early on, I’m predicting, and hoping, that she will be a survivor.

Next is Iori Karanomori, a fun loving Ultimate Gardener, and one of the characters that I instantly took a shine to. My theories surrounding him are...unfortunate ones, but his description says:

Iori is a bundle of energy who loves gardening. A walking encyclopedia on plants, he’s always jumping with excitement whenever he talks about them. Well, it’s more accurate to say that he’s jumping with excitement all the time. It’s impossible to try and calm him down. He likes Obscure Plant Facts and dislikes Deforestation.

Despite how much I’m already into this guy, though admittedly when I first saw him, I couldn’t work out what his actual gender was, I know for a fact that the type of character that he is doesn’t tend to live that long in these types of games, if at all. This is particularly evident with characters like Sayaka, Ibuki, Angie and others. I think Iori is going to be a victim and an early one at that. In fact, if Kyusho doesn’t die in the first chapter after being killed, then I see the first victim being either him, or Luna. I really doubt he’ll live to the end, and if he does, I hope to god he doesn’t end up being a Yasuhiro of the game.

Next character that I’m gonna talk about is Sakumi Mifune, the Ultimate Alchemist. There isn’t really much that I can gleam from a character like her, she genuinely seems pretty nice, but also seems like someone who would snap and break down under pressure. However, due to how she’s described in her profile, I don’t think she’d be a killer.

Sakumi has a big heart and is a caring person, although it might not look like that at first because of how unresponsive she can be. She’s a bit ditsy and oblivious, zoning out from time to time and getting lost in her own world. It’s also hard to follow her when she tries to explain her own talent. She likes Shiny Things and dislikes Seafood.

If what the description says is to be believed, then I have a really hard time picturing someone like her being a killer, unless they pull some Mikan bullshit out on us. However, I also have a hard time seeing her survive to the end of the killing game, so I predict that she may get to at least Chapter 3 before she’s murdered in some dumb double-homicide scheme. Yeah, I think she’ll end up being a victim unfortunately.

If I had to say who my least favorite character from what I know so far is, it’d probably be the Ultimate Filmmaker, Toru Mizuno. He doesn’t seem all that friendly, and he outright ignores Hitomi when she tries to talk to him, because he’s so interested in Naohiko. This is how he’s described by the creators:

Toru is a highly opinionated and critical person, and he likes to bring his own perspective on every issue. He gets irritated and dramatic when the others don’t agree with him. He insists that he isn’t condescending and that he doesn’t have a big ego. He likes Indie Films and dislikes CGI animation.

He, to me, seems like he could potentially be the character that survives that you don’t want to, but I have something else in mind for him. I assume that maybe he could do something similar to what Sayaka and Miu did in their games. What I mean is, I think he’d end up being a victim, but because he tried to commit his own murder and tragically failed, leaving his target or someone else, to effectively turn the tables on him in a panic. I don’t know, I’m just going with my gut for this one.

Ayane Fukase is the Ultimate Psychic, and she’s another character that I feel a little indifferent towards. I don’t dislike her at all, but I most certainly don’t feel a unique fondness to her like I do to a large selection of the characters in this series. I do have a bit of a theory surrounding what she could do in the killing game, but before I get into that, here’s her description:

Ayuna is cheeky and outgoing and she says she can predict anything with her talent. If you actually ask her to predict something, the stars are out of alignment, her vision is too foggy, or the atmosphere is too unclear to focus...whatever excuse you can think of. She likes Desserts and dislikes Spicy Food.

I feel a scenario that she would play into is in the Case 3 murder, where maybe she has a prediction of who dies, who kills them, and where, and she tries to go and stop it, but then ends up getting killed in an attempt to stop the murder. So like I said with Sakumi, I think she’d end up being a victim in a case 3 double murder plan.

Next is Shu Uchida, a man who prides himself on his title of Ultimate Bounty Hunter, as well as his supposed body count. He’s egotsistical, rude, sharp-tongued and every sort of negative attitude you can think of, but he’s also one of the characters that I’m really really into as of right now, since I have pretty high hopes for him. 

From Shu’s talent alone, everyone’s on edge with a paid killer around. Although, after talking to him, he’s all bark and no bite. He assures he’s not a threat...only because none of them are worth his time. He likes Himself and dislikes Unimportant People.

I don’t know what direction the creators of the series plan to go in with Shu, but I’m really hoping they do something similar to what Danganronpa 2 did with Fuyuhiko. He starts off with a cold, snide sense of superiority, as well as an angry, brash desire to just be left alone, but eventually, due to unfortunate events in the killing game that negatively affect him, his cold heart begins to thaw and he ends up being a much more useful aspect to the group as a whole. If this does end up being his character arc basis, then I really expect him to be a survivor, and that’s my theory on him.

Haru Yoshino is the Ultimate Occultist and she’s...strange. I’ll let the description speak for itself, because I really don’t have much to say about her.

Sassy and sarcastic, Haru isn’t the easiest person to get along with. They like following around random people and sometimes making funny (and sometimes ominous) remarks to mess with them. They also claim to be able to summon demons and try and convince others to join then in dangerous anf questionable rituals. She likes Black Jewelry and dislikes Owls

Haru is another character who’s in the grey area for me. I see her being a victim, and maybe a killer. If she ends up being a killer, I feel it would be a bit obvious, based purely on what her character describes, but of all the roles she could fill, I think being a killer is the least likely one, judging from her overall character traits. If I had to lean towards a specific role, I think she has the potential to be one of the survivors of the killing game.

Keiji Iketsugi, this series’ adaptation of the Ultimate Surgeon, is a little bit of a stern, and rather creepy character. Necrophiliac is far from the correct term to describe him, but his...how do I best describe this...addiction, to dead bodies, is not something that can easily be ignored.

Due to his talent, Keiji is very skilled with scalpels, syringes, needles and other sharp objects...which can make other people uncomfortable. His demeanor is always calm, but calculating, and he is always looking forward to expanding his knowledge of biology through his own examinations of subjects... He likes Human Anatomy and dislikes Lack of Hygiene 

If there’s one small message that Danganronpa has taught me amongst others of course, it’s that sometimes a book CAN be judged by it’s cover. Sometimes characters who look like they could kill someone actually do end up killing someone. The best examples I can think of are Peko Pekoyama and Korekiyo Shinguji. I imagine a good backstory for Keiji is a sort of Jack the Ripper esc backstory, where it turns out he murdered people and stole their organs or body parts in order to research them or something else. Alternatively, what could be more interesting is if he stole the organs of horrid people and used them to save other people in transplants, kind of like Good Doctor Locklear. My point is, I think he could be a killer, and I’m leaning more towards that than I am any other role for him.

I do like Otoha Okada quite a bit, but unfortunately her talent is Ultimate Basketball Player, AKA a sports talent. If you have a talent related to some kind of sport, then you tend not to survive that long in the killing game. The only characters that have a sports talent and have ever survived in a killing game are Aoi Asahina and Akane Owari. Characters like Leon, Nekomaru and Ryoma unfortunately aren’t as lucky. Before I explain how I think Otoha might go out though, here’s her description.

Otoha is pretty upbeat and active. She enjoys working out and encouraging others to do the same thing. She can get a bit too competitive at times, but it’s because she likes challenging herself. If Otoha is cooped up in one place for too long, she tends to get very irritable. She likes Excersising and dislikes Sleeping in.

I’m just gonna come out and say that I think she’ll end up being a killer, but I don’t see her having any malicious intent. Her bio states that she gets irritable if she’s cooped up in a place for too long, and I think that attitude might cause her to snap and kill someone to escape, but I feel like it would make more sense if her reason was because she killed someone on accident, or committed a murder to save someone’s life.

Second to last is Minoru Shinoya. He is the Ultimate Barista, and he’s the only other character who, like Kyusho and Haru, who sits in the grey area for me as to what he could potentially be. His description is as followed:

At first glace, Minoru seems like a cool, laid-back person, but he’s actually someone who enjoys cracking jokes around. He likes brewing coffee and hinting about his “secret ingredients” but despite his often reckless nature, he is also mature enough to keep a straight face in serious situations. He likes Baking and dislikes Decaffeinated Coffee.

Like I said, he’s in the grey area, and I imagine that most people would probably lean more towards him being a survivor or a victim, but as weird as it sounds, I’m predicting him to be a killer. I can explain why though. I imagine that his case can go one of two ways. The first is, like I already mentioned, I predict Toru will plan a murder of his own and fail it, as his target turns against him, and I also feel like that target could be Minoru. Minoru is pretty chill, so I don’t see him committing a murder willingly unless he acted in self-defence. An alternative scenario is that he pulls a Sakura and commits suicide due to a helpless situation, which would make him the killer and the victim at the same time. He seems alright though, so if he survived, I would be totally fine with that.

Last of all is Luna Tsuyuki, also known as the Ultimate Arctic Explorer, and the character who has possibly my favorite design out of everyone in this repertoire of Ultimate Students. Seriously, she’s a great mix of cute and elegance and she’s got a pretty friendly and nice personality to go along with it.

Luna seems sweet and kind on the outside, but don’t let that fool you. Because of her talent, she’s pretty tough and has incredible survival instincts. She instantly thinks of twelve backup plans in any mildly dangerous situation.

Now, based on this description, it sounds like she knows what she’s doing, and I see her being very helpful in the class trials. If Luna managed to survive to the end of the game, I’d be both happy, and very unsurprised. Unfortunately, her aptitude in these types of situations could make her a target, as to eliminate one of the most deadly aspects against you in the trial. Basically, I see Luna being a victim, and that’s all I can really say.

And that’s all the characters, so before I end this post, I’ll do a brief recap of everything I’ve said about these characters and what role I predict they’ll play.

I predict that Iori, Luna, Sakumi, Ayane, Toru and Reika will be the victims.

I predict that Naohiko, Otoha, Keiji, Minoru and Hitomi will be the killers

I predict Shu, Megumi, Haru and Yuuma will be the survivors

I predict Kyusho will be the Mastermind.

Once again, I really hope you will go and support this project, because I can’t wait for Chapter 1 to be fully released. However, please, don’t pressure the creators of this series to hurry up. They have lives, just like you and I, and they don’t want to spend every minute of it working on this project. However, I’m really into this project in particular, just as much as I’m into fan projects like Kill/Cure and more. I look forward to seeing what the team works on and I’d like them to know they have my full support!

[galahadwilder]

Ultraman: Stage Fright

The roof is falling in again. She can’t remember how she got here—she hasn’t been able to set foot on a stage or in an arena since the incident, not without her knees going weak and her heart going overdrive. But here she is, onstage again, and her fans are out in the crowd screaming. The ceiling cracks. Overhead lights fall. She knows Ultraman is coming, she knows he’s going to catch the falling heavens and lift them away like he always does—but he doesn’t. She’s in New York and Shinjiro is an ocean away—there’s no one to catch it. No one to save them.

The roof falls in on the audience, and she can only watch helplessly as they’re all crushed to death.

She wakes up screaming. It takes her a moment before she remembers it’s not real, that she hasn’t been in an arena since Japan, that only one person in the audience died, that the two Ultramen arrived in time to save everybody else. But her breathing won’t slow down, her heartbeat is still the loudest thing in her ears. She can still feel the alien’s blood splashed across her face—the first time she ever saw another sentient die, and he’d come there to protect her.

How many people died because of her?

Her father keeps telling her it’s not her fault. The alien had been an obsessive, murdering anyone who spoke ill of her online, but the guilt still eats away at her. The guilt of bringing all of those people together where the armored creature could drop the ceiling on them is... she’s not sure if it’s worse. Nobody died, sure, but they’re lucky. If Ultraman hadn’t just learned to fly...

She picks up her phone and checks the time. It’s the middle of the night in New York City, but in Japan, it’s mid-afternoon. Shinjiro is probably done with school for the day by now.

She barely thinks before calling him.

He picks up after two rings. “Rena?” he says. “It’s the middle of the night where you are—is everything all right?”

She’s crying into the speaker. “I—I had the... the nightmare again.”

He’s silent for a moment. “The stadium?”

”Mhmm.” She nods, not trusting her voice. She knows he can’t see her, but it doesn’t matter—he told her he salutes her text messages sometimes, before he remembers that he’s not sending video, so this is hardly the least embarrassing thing either of them has done. “Can you... stay on the line? For a few minutes?”

”Yeah,” he says. “No emergencies today. I’ve got time.”

They sit for a few minutes in companionable silence, and her heart rate finally begins to slow down. “How’s Rocket?” she says, finally.

She’s not supposed to know the names of any of the Ultramen, not even Shinjiro, but he wasn’t particularly good at hiding that. To keep him from accidentally spilling the identities of the others, they’ve agreed to call them by nicknames: Ultraman Blade and Ultraman Rocket. Rocket’s been out of commission for a few weeks, but Shinjiro won’t say why; something about a mission gone wrong. He was quick to assure her that everyone was fine but he’s definitely worried about his younger partner.

”I don’t know,” Shinjiro says. “I haven’t seen him since... you know, since the mansion. He’s in good hands though.”

Rena giggles. “You always say that.”

”Edo says we’ve got word he’s recovering,” Shinjiro says. “Can’t share the source, but...”

”I know.” She draws her leg up to her chest. “I heard you caught a building yesterday.”

”Small one,” he responds immediately, making her laugh. It’s so Shinjiro, to think that’s no big deal. “Only three floors.”

She smiles. She knew this was exactly what she needed. ”Still saved twelve people.”

”I... guess I did.” He sighs. “Your Agent still trying to get you to go back on tour?”

”Not very hard,” she says. “He knows I’m still a little delicate right now, so... no Sayama for a bit.”

”Delicate.” She can practically hear Shinjiro smirking. “The first time you met Ultraman you called me out while I was holding up eighteen tons of ceiling. Onstage. In public.”

”In front of all your fans.”

”Those were very definitely your fans, they paid to see you.”

She smiles. “I might agree to share them.”

He scoffs. “But yeah, there I am in front of two Aliens that want me dead, I’m stuck holding up an entire arena ceiling, and all of a sudden this tiny pop star starts yelling at me.”

”Cut me some slack!” she laughs. “I was terrified!”

”What, and I wasn’t?” he responds with a smile in his voice. “Before then I’d never lifted anything heavier than a car!”

They lapse into silence for a minute, long enough for Rena to realize that she’s calmed down entirely, before Shinjiro speaks again. “Dad’s healing up,” he says. “He says he’s thinking about getting back into the field.”

She chuckles at that. “I can’t picture Defense Minister Hayata putting on red armor and punching aliens.”

”Yeah, well, he used to do it in spandex. While 80 feet tall,” Shinjiro responds, dryly. “I watch videos of the old Ultraman sometimes and I just think, ‘I spawned from that?’”

They laugh together, before growing quiet. Rena yawns.

”I should probably let you go,” Shinjiro says.

”No, wait,” she says. “Um... I’m thinking of maybe coming back to Japan soon. Do you... want to get coffee? Maybe?”

He’s silent for a moment and she’s worried that he’s somehow offended. “...Oh! Um... sure! I’d love to!”

She smiles. Oh my God, he’s such a dork. “Not as Rena Sayama, you understand. You don’t want to get mobbed when you’re not in the helmet.”

”Oh! Yeah, of... of course,” he stammers. “That... yeah, that makes sense.”

”Just Rena Endo and Shinjiro Hayata, two normal teenagers,” she finishes. “Having coffee together.”

”Um... about that,” he says. “Might want to find a better disguise than glasses and a hat.”

”Not all of us can wear carbide helmets to hide our identities.”

”You do realize I saw through your ‘normal teen’ disguise immediately.”

She giggles. “I’m sure my agent will think of something,” she says, then yawns again. “You’re probably right,” she murmurs. “I should get back to sleep.”

”Night, Rena,” Shinjiro says. Soft. His voice is so soft.

”Night, Shinjiro.” She ends the call and places her phone gently on the nightstand.

Normal teenagers. Right. She’s never had that in her life. Over here in New York, she may just be Rena Endo, average teen, but in Japan no matter where she goes she’s Rena Sayama, pop idol. “Normal” isn’t exactly in her vocabulary.

Besides, she muses as she sinks back into her pillow, what’s normal when you’re in love with a boy who can fly?

Read this and more fics like this on my AO3!

[himitsusentaiblog]

For the ultraman manga do you think we will ever see the original and alien ultraman? Any of them? Or is that a pipe dream? If he did come are there any wish fulfilments you wish to happen?

I would like to think that if we do (and I think we might) it would be reserved for the finale of the entire story.  It’s not like he hasn’t been a presence in the manga, he seems to loom over Hayata, a reminder of what he once was and what has altered his life (and his son’s) forever.  

However, if the Ultraman from M78 were to return, I would want it to be at the conclusion to the entire manga.  If not, he would instantly take the focus away from Shinjiro and that would be a mistake.  Instead, I would like him to show up after the final conflict in a dramatic, semi-religous second coming to speak with Shinjiro.

It could be a version of the traditional ‘Ultraman has to leave’ scenario where Ultraman gets to play the Zoffy role.  Instead of just leaving though, I would like to see him give Shinjiro a choice.  He can either remain on Earth and have the Ultra-Factor removed from him to live his life as a normal human or come with Ultraman to M78 and ascend to true Ultra Hero status by being bathed in the light of the Plasma Spark.

This would nicely reflect the words of Bemular from early in the story who told Shinjiro that the power he wields does not belong on Earth and also provide our young hero with one final choice between the two worlds he is trapped between.

At least that’s how I would like to see it happen.

Thanks for the question.

[annoyinghideoutcollective]

Masaj Aleti

Jademaster Basar zirı torbalarının giderilmesi için da kullanılabilen yan masaj aleti kullanmaı açısından son sıcaklıkölçer pratiktir. Tüm cilt tipleri ile uyumludur. Bu nedenle sağladığı müspet etkilerden yalnız herkes faydalanabilir.

Masaj aletleri ve şilteler yaşamın akışı sürecinde, ağırlık ve görevlerinizi adına getirirken yorulan bedeninizi dinlendirmenizi ve hayata daha katkısızlıklı ve henüz memnun şekilde devam etmenizi katkısızlar. Öğrenciyken bile iş avluında da sürekli bir koşturmacanın ortamında hem bedenen hem ruhen yorulursunuz. Bu vetirete kaslarınız ve kemikleriniz bile temelli kasılıp gevşediği ciğerin yorulur ve bir yerden sonra ağrılar başlar. masaj aleti fiyatları Maatteessüf bu dertları baştan sona ortadan saklamak âdemoğlu vücudunun anatomisinden dolayı sağlam mümkün değildir ancak bu ağrılar önlenebilir ve ortaya çıktıklarında da ağrı azaltılabilir evet da geçirilebilir. Bunlar da masaj aletleri ve şilteleri ile esenlanır. Dolu çallıkışma sonucu yorulan eğin ve ruhunuzu dinlendirmeniz, rahatlatmanız gerekir. Bunu yapmadığınız takdirde elan da gerilir, elan da yorgun hissedersiniz. Yorgunken ve kas ağrılarınız varken yaptığınız fiilten, çallıkıştığınız dersten aldığınız verim de düşer. Sakır sakır ağrı çekilen ve yorgun düşülen bir yaşamın kalitesi bile düşüktür. Masaj aletleri ve şilteleri ile masaj salonuna gitmeden, size masaj yapması derunin birilerini uydurmak zorunda kalmadan kendi kendinize masaj yapabilir hem bedenen hem ruhen rahatlayıp gevşeyebilirsiniz.

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12 Masaj Aleti Yapmak İçin Faydalı İpuçları

Jademaster If all his energy stores where to be put into one punch, this amount of force would be enough to make a worldwide crack between the earth.

Derece only this, but he is capable of igniting his hands into Flames, which does damage him of 0.25% of his total health, but one hit sevimli leave anyone with incredibly painful burns, even being near them could melt metals with ease. Jade Blasters

Masaj aletleri; fizik otama ve iyileştirme merkezleri, spor merkezleri, otel ve dinlence köyleri, masaj merkezleri, hamam ve kaplıcalarda kullanılır. Masaj aleti nerelerde kullanılır sorusunun karşılıkı yalnızca hevesli ihtimam veren yerler değildir.

12 Masaj Aleti Yapmak İçin Faydalı İpuçları

Jademaster His prized weapon, this Blade is a weapon unlike anything seen before. Though derece kakım strong bey weapons held by elder gods, this Blade is capable of slicing through anything with little power and is also capable of firing deadly projectiles with a single swing of the blade.

Masaj aletleri vücudun çeşitli bölgelerinin rahatlamasına imkân teşhisyan cihazlardır. Masajın faydaları ise saymakla bitmez. Bununla alay malay masaj aleti zararlı mı sorusunu mutlak olarak hayırlı şeklinde katıtlayamayız.

Jade can revive himself from the dead bey many times birli he wants, the human is literally untouchable while aeterna is just smart bey hell, skilled, adopts fast and hell hayat copy jades abilities which just makes things a lot hard.

Jademaster The humans snobby personality is what usually gets jade into trouble when he's relaxing or just near someone, that is if he for whatever reason doesn't feel like killing.

Masaj Aleti Değerleri Hakkında 12 İstatistikler Su Soğutucusu Etrafında Akıllı Görünmeniz İçin Masaj Aleti Kodları

ülke ile tutulan masaj aletlerinin kullanılabildiği kabilinden, özellikle üzeri bölgesi sinein tasarlanmış masaj aletleri mevcuttur. Boyun ağrısında, tutulmasında son basamak çarpıcı olan  boyun masaj aletleri, boyundan aşağı omuzlara ve kollara vuran ağrı, kasılma ve uyuşmalarada el değer.Boyun ve omuzlardaki kasların gerginliğinden oluşan baş ağrılarını dindirir, rahatlamanızı esenlar. üzeri düzleşmesi ve dal fıtıklarında rahatlatıcı olarak ve kasların gevşemesini ve meşakkatlilenmesini esenlayarak, bu rahatsızlıklara iye olanların tedavilerine yardımcı aygıt olarak kullanılırlar. üzeri bölgesindeki kireçlenmeden ve itici verginlığından meydana gelen tutukları rahatlatarak gevşetir ve başı sağlama-sola çevirmeyi gönül belası olmaktan çıavratr.

Due to him requiring this for his survival now, he özgü learned over time how to control the energy around him. Though he birey usually use this for himself, it does hamiş give him the same amount birli other beings and is less potent for him anyways. Supersonic Drift Stream

Much weaker than usual bone attacks, they are less reliable for dealing physical damage and instead make this up with their ability to burst its flames upon impact with any surface or being. These flames are assumed to be the same as the ones Jade emits kakım well. Complete Immortality

Masaj Aletlerini Neden Seviyoruz? Jademaster'ınızı Tamamen Yenileyin

Jademaster Much like Frisk or Kris, Jade is capable of summoning and seeing other save stars, this is because of his absorption of the human that allows him to do this. Reset Immunity

A mix of Jade and Naefyan's personality in one, what their true personality is başmaklık never been seen kakım one always seems to have full control then the other. At time this may be calm but then go completely berserk the next.

Markalar, eklemlerin ve kas gruplarının ihtiyaç duyduğu titreşimleri ve dairesel hareketleri sabitleme ederek dizgesel hâle getirir. İnsan aracılığıyla çok hengâm düz ve yanlış gerilar doğurabilen masajlar, bu cihazlar sebebiyle daha güzel ve dokunaklı şekilde uygulanabilir.

Although full body descriptions do hamiş exist its noted on its face one side is jades, though awfully contorted (the picture in the info box), while the human side is a mix or flesh and bone, with the classic red smile. The rest of its appearance katışıksız yet to be seen. Abilities

Bir Masaj Aleti Başarı Hikayesi Asla İnanın Masaj Aleti Fiyatları

Jademaster If this wasn't enough, this weapon is completely indestructible and is unremovable from jades' hands once he's equipped this weapon. Jaded Kukri

Though he is still to this day quite hesitant of killing any more, the human's presence forces him to continue. Jade is constant in fear for both his life and the being he is forcibly fighting. Though what birey he do? At this point Jade is a mere puppet used by the human to continue their rampage. Abilities

The minute they had arrived, Jade hadn't realized what had happened yet, but felt a strange power arising from within their own corrupted soul. This strange arousion of power felt increasingly Great for Jade, kakım if he depended on it.

Jademaster'da Çalışan Gizlice Komik 15 Kişi

Defa tipi cilt masaj aletleri sayesinde cildini rahatlatacak bir falma anık mısın? Kullanımı zorlamasız ve portatif olan bu ürünler, ergonomik düşüncemlarıyla cildi sıkılaştırmak bâtınin birebirdir.

Jademaster For Jade, most beings and items he comes across are rather foreign for him, birli he's used to older more medieval times.

Masaj tabancalarında ne toprak karınin ne ürün sarrafiyelığının kullanılması gerektiği de hassasiyet gösterilmesi müstelzim konulardan biridir. Bu anlamda ürün tasarruf talimatlarını dikkate alarak yararlanma koşullarını oluşturmanız, daha işleyen bir masaj deneyimi sağlamlamanıza bindi evet.

Evde geçirdiğiniz zamanı henüz neşeli kılacak ve vücut rahatsızlıklarını en aza indirecek MF Product masaj aleti çeşitleri size kendinizi henüz hayırlı hissettirmeye geliyor.

15 Masaj Aleti Hakkında Öğrenmek İçin En İyi Twitter Hesapları

These big bulky Blaster have more of a snake-like head, birli its bottom jaw sevimli separate into 2 and it has fangs that dirilik fold back into its mouth. With these, these blasters gönül be used birli both ramming and melee attacks.

Jademaster They sit by the fire sipping hot green tea. The Jademaster presses a green stone deeply into the young man’s hand and begins to talk about tree frogs. After a few minutes, the young man interrupts.

Jade is no longer just insane for power; he now needs it in order to survive. Much like parasites like Fresh!Sans, Jade requires Power to keep his power level high and to prevent from "Shutting down", which in this case will basically be like starvation. Jade başmaklık a much calmer demeanor in comparison to his old version.

[denimbex1986]

'Time in my palms. The excitement of trying to know someone, someone else or at best myself is inside me. My body is shaking. I am anxious. Time is making my palms sweat. I understand that it is not possible to really know something. I feel deprived. I am trying to build a future for myself from the present. If the time you are in is difficult and your living space is limited, it seems that it is essential to dig the bottom of our lives in order to find the strength to resist and continue. I return again and again, trying to remember the moments that have been nailed to my life. Remembering is to be free, remembering is to forget, remembering is to encounter the reactions you once could not show, remembering is to hold life by the neck, remembering is to throw yourself off a cliff and wake up from your sleep when you are about to hit the ground. Remembering is to cut off life, to cover up what we could not face and to search for a way to continue. Remembering is to show the truth of life in our faces and to obscure what we see. Remembering is to challenge life even though you know you will lose. To remember, to shield oneself against life and fight stubbornly, to take a deep breath and surrender oneself to the peace that beautiful things bring…

Forgetting: Looking at the Ashes of the Fire That Once Burned in Your Body After It Goes Out

There is also forgetting. Forgetting is accepting that a part of you has been torn away from you. Forgetting is understanding what the part that has been torn away from you really is and recognizing it from every aspect. Forgetting is looking at the ashes after the fire that once burned in your body has gone out. Forgetting is not understanding what it is that you are trying to forget or overcome, and if you do not understand, it will not happen. Forgetting is living in the dizziness caused by the feeling of deprivation and loss. Forgetting is cutting life short and ignoring the place where what is worth remembering lies, and that reckoning trips us up over and over again. Forgetting is what allows us to escape being crushed under memories and the pain we have experienced. Forgetting is to survive. Forgetting is covering up what has happened to us in order to overcome it. And forgetting is to face the fact that one day what is truly complete and defined will be torn away from you…

The Approach of Two People Who Find Their Lives Strange in the City with a Loneliness that is Hard to Break

Starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers , who achieved great success with his films Weekend and 45 Years , is adapted from Taichi Yamada's 1987 novel Strangers , which was published by İthaki Publications under the title Yabancilar Bir Yaz (A Summer with Strangers) with the translation of Nilay Çalşimşek into our language. The touching film, which deals with themes of love, loss, reconciliation with life and confrontation, tells the story of Adam's reconnection with his deceased parents and his developing relationship with his neighbor Harry. Drawing its power from the profound performances of Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal and receiving praise, the film touchingly reflects the uncanny state that the mourning process brings and can bring. Standing alone in a void of darkness after the loss of his family, Adam does not want to face his reality in order not to break that bond with his childhood. He follows the delusions he sees. He fossilizes himself in his past from which he cannot shake himself and his reality, and a distance is created between him and everything around him. The flow of Adam 's life , swimming in his deep darkness of a single person, accelerates after he gets close to Harry . The closeness of two people who live with a loneliness that is hard to break and find their lives in the city strange, causes the truth that Adam cannot face and mourn to emerge. Because pain and the inability to accept pain create a distance between us and the outside world. Pain is an attack on the individual's relationship with the world. It opens wounds. We feel like we are far from everywhere, we don't belong anywhere. We become alienated from all the relationships we establish. It brings people face to face with their limits. It becomes increasingly difficult for us to make real contact, to see the existence of a person and our own existence. The pain that we cannot confront and mourn does not allow the contact to leave a mark even if a contact is established. However, whether it is important how and in what form it is established or not, every contact gives us a form...

Adam believes in the reality of the contact he has established with his family so much that he easily makes everything around him serve that reality. Because Adam is someone whose right to say goodbye to his family has been taken away from him by life. His body and mind think that he always keeps a possibility in his life, right next to him, as an escape area, a place of refuge, a chance to make up for the opportunities he once missed. He cannot see the collapse that others can clearly see. The emotional, physical and mental contact he establishes with Harry gives him a different perspective. Director Andrew Haigh manages to drag the audience into the emotional intensity of the character by making a cut at every point where emotions are intense. By making cuts to every feeling, the state of alienation and not being there is felt more clearly. The film finds a way to portray the uncanny state of its characters who are alienated from the city by depicting them in closed areas without getting involved in the city. With this choice, the director creates a very convincing area for the coming together of the fragile personalities of the characters isolated from the outside world.

​Adam creates a reality for himself while dealing with the mourning process, and attempts to cope with the emotional weight of trauma and loss. Having lost his parents at a young age, Adam feels the need to relive conversations and feelings that were left unfinished in the past. These imaginary meetings are a reflection of Adam's search for inner peace and acceptance. By creating a fictional reality, he tries to close the unfinished accounts of the past and believes that he has found deep meanings about himself, his family and his new relationships. The encounter with Harry helped Adam see what he really was. His relationship with Harry allows Adam to open up emotionally and heal the wounds of the past. Harry's presence and the love he shows Adam helps Adam accept his losses and take a step forward. This encounter triggers a change in Adam's inner world, allowing him to face the truth and live a more meaningful life. It is possible to say that Harry also has a sense of having a traumatic past, emotional burdens and unresolved issues in his past. Harry's relationship with Adam allows both of them to reveal their wounds and heal together. Harry's traumas help Adam develop emotionally, while also allowing Harry to confront and accept his own pain. The emotional depth of the film increases as both characters are there for each other, prodding each other's realities. It creates an ambiguous relationship between the two characters, but one that they can only understand each other. Adam and Harry are far from everything, wounded by everything, and perhaps often find themselves uncomfortable being born. But they still take refuge in the conversations between each other as a breathing space for themselves. Or we think this is how it is throughout the film. Because the story always directs its reality according to the feelings of the viewer and the reader of the book. I think this is the greatest power of the text and the film. Whatever we believe in and how much we are ready to feel living with it, living becomes a part of us, apart from being an endeavor. It is difficult to be everywhere and be with ourselves. Sometimes you just have to stay where you are and enjoy both the truth and the lie... No matter how much I say it, it will be both not enough and incomplete, so I'm going to stop myself here and invite you to play the song The Power Of Love by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, which plays in the movie.

We remain in limbo in the vortex of remembering and forgetting

I don't know how many stages and ways there are to get over and overcome grief. But the most difficult part of coping with grief occurs when you come across a person, creature, or object that you can truly connect with. Do you or don't you have the courage to see if it is truly something that will help you move on? Coping with grief; It's about knowing yourself, understanding yourself, your lies, your truth, looking at your weaknesses and having the courage to stand by yourself despite everything. We remain in limbo in the vortex of remembering and forgetting. Forgetting bends the truth in order not to succumb to its destructiveness. Remembering imprisons us to the reality of whatever we want to believe. In this case, we continue our lives by cutting off our experiences. Neither inside nor completely outside. What's up. In any case, we are a part of what we call living, and we need to be at peace with the idea of ​​savoring it, living every desire and feeling to the fullest, sometimes mingling with each other and sometimes getting away from each other...'

[the27percent]

@temporalobjects

[x]

Of course, of course - if they had to ask, the possibility of interruption was high. Perhaps that was just their way of making an appearance even if it was a bit inconvenient. Atieno does seem mildly apologetic - even more so at the sight of the employee in such a state. It’s enough to have their eyes looking back at Hayata - just kind of clearly not wanting to know how things had went down in here.

“Well, I don’t know how urgent it is to you- but there is someone who wanted your attention. And they seemed to be quite upset. I can tell them just to wait a little bit longer if you were almost done. What that will do, it’s up to them really.“

They stayed by the door, wondering why they had chosen to deliver this message in the first place. Guess it was their casual carrier days returning to them now and then.

[riyuyami]

I get the feeling that the Obelisk blue girls would invite Yuto to come to a slumber party/late night to hang out and talk, because they feel like they could trust him. Plus he's a cute 9 year old! But he would absolutely refuse unless his friends could come. The girls adamantly agree so long as they keep a leash on Syrus the whole night.

Can’t let the adults know there are boys in the girls dorm!

But yeah, Yuto brings along Judai and Shou (and probably Hayata? That’s Chumly’s name, right?) cause he likes his friends being with him. Of course Atem is there, it’s rare to see Yuto without his puzzle. But anyway, the girls find him so cute and sweet, cause he does act like a good boy when he needs to (usually around certain adults), but everyone knows he’s a terror.

It’s fun though, it’s a sleep over! He’s never been to one before! :D He wants the whole experience!

[hisnanoka]

Nanoka no Kare - Chapter 84 - Final Chapter

Click “Keep Reading” for the translation.

The following is a very rough translation/interpretation from the original Japanese text to English via Google Translate and is not guaranteed to be accurate. Text will be reviewed and edited when a Spanish translation is available to double check for errors.

Story: Saro Tekkotsu

Art: Miyoshi Toumori

Click here for the RAW scans! (Raws are out of order so I’ve uploaded them all here just this once.)

N = Nanoka | H = Hayata | T = Takato | O = Ouji | Y = Yuuko | C = Chisato

Page 1 – Cover page

“The love that was far away, I hope that it will lead to your happiness.”

Page 3

T: “I love you Nanoka.”

“But even now,”

“You still cannot see me.”

N: [Takato-kun told me that.]

[I thought I loved him more than I thought.]

Page 4

N: [I thought I would do anything for him.]

[Takato-kun is always fixated on the me that is missing.]

[I myself too]

[Even if I try not to see it, even if I try to fill it]

[Even if I try to keep my eyes turned away-]

Page 5

N: [Over time, I began imagining the depth of the hole arbitrarily.]

[It was swaying me and preventing me from moving forward.]

[So]

[I have to remember.]

Page 6

N: [For that purpose,]

[I]

O: “You just have to re-enact it.”

Are you scared of falling?

Page 7

O: It’s all right.

If it’s for the person you love,

You can do anything.

It’s right below your feet.

You ought to see the landscape that you thought was the most beautiful.

Page 8

N: A flower garden…

The flower garden I saw with Takato-kun…

O: Yes, he will be there soon.

Page 9

O: Let’s fall down together to that flower garden.

T: I see.

Page 10

T: If I was begging for Nanoka to jump down together for our future so that she could recall,

If we fell together

If

O: Takato?

Why don’t you return to Nanoka-chan

T: No

You are holding Nanoka.

Page 11

T: Release Nanoka.

Please let her go and allow her to go where she wishes.

…I am

We have

Caught the Nanoka of our dreams and trapped her for 2 years.

With the time I was given,

I noticed it.

Page 12

T: For the one I love,

Nanoka, I want her to smile from the heart.

O: …even if that means she will no longer return to you?

I see, you must hurry or Nanoka-chan will fall alone.

T: Hayata already went there.

Page 13

T: For 2 years, he continued running and now he came here.

He will absolutely grab hold of Nanoka.

So

Release it, Karasuma.

---even you fell in love with her at first glance

“” (T/N: The app I’m using can’t scan this part, sorry, still trying to decipher it)

Without being able to understand the emotions that were swirling in your head

“I also hate you as well” (T/N: Not sure if this is correct, both lines seem to be from past events.)

I can understand it.

Page 14

T: To know what kind of feeling is love, you already knew it long ago.

O: I

Page 15

O: Have been holding you captive all this time, I see your tears rising up to the sky.

What kind of face do you have while I am holding you in my arms, I want to know.

I am letting you go now.

Page 16

O: So

“Right now” *

“Turn around.”

Page 17

O: “Ayase-san.”

Page 18

Page 19

N: Hayata-ku……

Page 20

N: ......eh…

[“Hayata-kun”]

[“If only I never loved you,”]

Page 21

N: [“Would you not be suffering in pain right now?”]

[“If only I never spoke to him.”]

Ah

Let go Hayata-kun

H: You will fall if I let go

N: No

You’re wrong

Because of me, I’ve made Hayata-kun suffer

H: So you won’t hold onto either!

Page 22

H: At that time you chose not to grasp onto either and fell!

Neither Takato-san or I could grab you!

I’ve regretted that! My weakness is that I always make the choice to hurt myself.

You did not chose that for me! **

Page 23

H: Believe in me Ayase-san! I definitely won’t allow you to fall!

Page 24

H: Ayase-san…

N: ------------ha…..

Hayata-kun!

Page 25

N: Hayata-kun!!

H: ……thank goodness

Ayase-san…

N: Hayata-kun, I…

Page 26

N: I…

----ah…what……?

…why?

Why is it only me and Hayata-kun. Why is that so.

Page 27

N: I like…?

-

H: Her memory returned. It seems she passed out after the confusion.

Page 28

H: It’s a good thing we’re at a hospital. I will carry her down.

…she can’t be two people at once. Even I knew it would be like this.

Even though I understand it, I have not regretted that it has returned.

I feel pretty good right now that it feels like I’m the bad guy here.

T: What…

H: Is that funny?

T: I guess so.

Page 29

T: Hayata

I only have one thing to tell you

…The flower garden that you promised to go to,

I have already gone with Nanoka.

----Because of that, for Nanoka,

Show her an even more beautiful flower garden.

Page 30

C: Hayata-kun is going to the same university as Nanoka?

Instead of studying abroad!?

N: He decided on an apartment and is already moving in.

C: Aw~~~I can’t believe it. The same university – the same grade.

Y: Has Uesugi-kun ended all communication with you?

N: Yup.

Page 31

Y: I see. He didn’t even come to the graduation ceremony.

C: How was it? When you got back your memories.

After all for Nanoka, Hayata-kun has always been the right choice!

Y: How about that? You know? I’m still confused.

N: …at first the order of the feelings were swirling around. It felt like it wasn’t lining up properly but-

The half year returned.

I am here now

Y: Thank goodness

C: Bye-bye then! I have afternoon classes.

Page 32

N: [---However,]

[There are times]

[When it feels like I have two hearts]

[That flower garden.]

[When it gets wet with rain, a shining flower garden occasionally appears in my vision.]

[When]

[I am caught by my heart and sucked in there.]

Page 33

N: [The other heart]

[Drags me back to the surface.]

[My feelings and Hayata-kun is what I love the most.]

Page 34

N: [Round and round]

[We are making up for the lost time.]

Page 35

N: [The flower garden that was supposed to be seen by Hayata-kun – now he’s looking for one.]

H: Hmm

Flower garden, flower garden…

[As I thought, the state of Montana.]

[I heard that the scale of the flower garden there is amazing.]

N: Sorry for the wait!

H: Woah!

N: What’s wrong?

H: Nothing…

Page 36

H: What did you want to do today?

Want to go somewhere

N: Well I guess I’d like to go to Hayata-kun’s room.

Heh ♡

Organizing your moving luggage will be an ordeal. I want to help you.

H: Ah------

N: Is it no good

H: It’s not like that!

…it would  be faster to just show you.

N: ?

Page 37

H: See?

There really isn’t much to do since I don’t have much luggage.

N: …it was

Hayata-kun’s room was originally like this, wasn’t it?

Back when I visited Hayata-kun’s room in high school as well

I was sad because I saw you didn’t hold onto many mementos.

Page 38

N: I wondered if your room was set up that way to always be prepared to move quickly…

H: You thought like that?

N: …I did think that.

H: I’ll go get us some drinks. You can take a seat on the bed if you’d like.

Page 39

N: …this is…

“This is my e-mail. If it’s okay, please take it……!”

H: “……okay.”

Page 40

H: “Ayase-san”

“Is so cute.”

Sorry for the wait

Are sports drinks okay?

N: Hayata-kun, this is my note…

You’ve kept it all this time?

H: Ah

Page 41

H: That’s not-

This is-

…Ayase-san?

N: [You do not have to look for it anymore.]

[Because you have already found it.]

[You, who does not leave anything.]

[And lets go of everything.]

[In the corner of this room.]

Page 42

N: …like a small flower garden.

[Without being interrupted forever,]

Page 43

N: [The promise is right here.]

[He was always blooming right next to me.]

-END-

-Notes-

*Ouji is acting like Hayata here. Using his voice to speak the way Hayata would.

**It’s really hard to figure out what’s being said by Hayata here. If anyone knows it please tell me. I’m still trying to figure it out.

It’s been an incredibly stressful cliffhanger after cliffhanger ride but here we are at the end! I’m not sure if there are any special chapters after this so as far as I know, this is the end. A bit of a rushed ending for my taste after all that build-up - I feel like they should have given the authors another volume to work with. Regardless, I’m glad to see it ended on a happy note. Cheers~

[turbobyakuren]

mamzoop headcanons?

Im on mobile so sadly no bullet points. However, MAMIZOUS>Outfits•The Regular outfit she wears is more of "traveling garbs" than anything, but she grew to adore them during her trip to gensokyo•The WaHH outfit is actually the Official Outfit Of The Tanukis•Her Human outfit got thought of and fully designed before she went to use it regularly. The scarf was Nue's idea.•She doesn't use the MiB outfit as much as she would otherwise because everyone think this is some sort of cryptic fashion. She calmly explains them that this outfit is an actual working outfit for humans in the outside world. They don't believe her and they are scared.>Mamizou actually met Nue as the Nue before going to gensokyo. After she got wrecked by Ino Hayata, Mamizou heard of the news and decided to take a trip to give sake and a pat on the back to Nue. And this is how they became best friends.>Mamizou is the only daughter of a big family of bros. She loved her family and Sado a lot and got extremely sad when she had to leave.>Mamizou was originally male but thought being female was way cooler.>Mamizou is very serious on her daily naps. Whenever she gets interrupted, she gets extremely mad.>You see the "Puss In Boots Tactic" in which you have to show your cute look in order to get what you want? Mamizou does this to Byakuren. She hates it.>She feels neutral on most of the Myouren gang. She thinks Ichirin is ok. And all the animals-related youkais (Shou, Kyouko) are on very good terms with her. Except Nazrin. She hates Nazrin so much.>Mamizou managed to get her trip to the Outside World with Sumireko. Thanks to her MiB Outfit, she managed to pass as Sumireko's mother. Sumireko hated this.>Mamizou will sometime joke about "becoming the mother" of someone. Nue complains to her? "Ok Nue hate to break it to ya but I'm your mom now. You can't contest". Nue hates/love this.>Mamizou is outright HORRIFIED by how bad Gensokyo merchants are. Especially Rinnosuke. She feels actual pain over having to go to Kourindou.>Mamizou is good at drawing and writing. She has a section on her notebook with detailed portraits and notes on key characters in order to impersonate them. Also whenever she use a new persona, she automatically keep track of everything she does with it in order to avoid any problem.