#her name is gospel-chan!!

[seaps]

oooooohh h.......... she said 'aisle'

[askingdiabolikbois]

Hello~ I just read the boy's reactions to a sister with Buran's power inherited from Cordelia

https://www.tumblr.com/askingdiabolikbois/716743339103453184/how-would-the-boys-react-to-another-kid-of?source=share

What if they have other sisters, twin girls from Christa and 1 older sister from Beatrix, maybe also one from another woman who didn't marry Karlheinz.

After hearing from Karlheinz that they should maybe live with their brothers, they sent Cordelia's daughter only, to test the waters. She came back disgusted, swore and explained what happened during her stay, expressing not wanting to come back despite dealing with it with humor to not be mentally hurt, still she was nearly traumatized. Now,all the girls hate the triplets for what bad reception they were to their sister, while replused with the other 3 by different degrees, and refused Karlheinz's suggestion of living with them, having power to negotiate as they got an independent household name and weight from their father.

Thanks for reading, you can do this request anytime you want but if you don't want to do it, please tell me so I wouldn't get my hopes high. Anyway, thank you for entraining this and I hope you liked it (⁠灬⁠º⁠‿⁠º⁠灬⁠)⁠♡

Shu:

“Where have all of these sisters suddenly popped up from? This is going to be trouble I can feel it..”

*sigh*

“It seems my sleep is going to be interrupted, I don’t have time for heartbroken girls, though If you girls have a mansion already it’s probably best to stay there..”

- He doesn’t care he has so many sisters, just surprised

- Though because it seems troublesome he knows he’ll be dragged into it

- He also wondered how he didn’t know he had an older sister

- Hopes now he’s no longer the oldest, she may now take over some responsibilities expected of him

- Shu is also surprised they seem to be able to negotiate with their father

Reiji -

“What have we started…?”

“Well then sisters, it seems we have no choice but to sit down and discuss this, should we not?”

“Please try to understand us brothers have believed to be the only legitimate children of Karlheinz for a long time now, and therefore we had suspicions. As for how we reacted, none of us brothers were particularly close with our mothers, so please try take into consideration your sudden arrival out of nowhere, is a bit of a shock…now about your living arrangements…if father has suggested it seems as if it’s best if you stay here. If you wish to take it into a discussion with father, you sisters can do that on your own.”

- Is shocked he didn’t know he had an elder sister

- He knew everything, and found out everything that seemed important, but now this?

- He’s secretly hoping they manage to convince their father to stay at their own manor as he has enough stress without 5 females in the house

Ayato -

“Tch…. There’s more of you?! How did we not know about any of this…look I don’t care who your mothers are, I don’t care if we share a father…if you have your own mansion then stay there and don’t come looking to take over mine!”

- Is just angry and wants them out of his life

- Doesn’t care about offending his sister with vibora blood, if anything he’s happy his words cut that deep

- Will also wonder if his other sisters have any unique powers but not voice any concerns to them

Kanato -

“I do not trust women, especially ones who claim to be my sisters, yet I’ve only just learnt of their existence…”

“Hmm…maybe one of you, would like to be my little dolly? I could dress you up in pretty dresses, and we could have tea parties with Teddy, then you could follow every command I give you and be a pretty doll forever. Does that sound good, darling sister?”

- One of two ways it’s going …

- Your a kawaii , obedient little sister who takes his words and commands gospel and dresses in Lolita and plays all of Kanato’ shames

- Or you can burn in hell

Laito -

“Ah…it’s like my own personal sister harem!!! Come to Nii-Chan ~!”

“Ah big sister…could you teach your little brother a thing or two…?”

- Whilst he’s not fully trusting of the situation, like i said in my last post, he’s conflicted

- Laito wants a sister harem and will have fun breaking each one of his sisters

- Though I can see him also struggling with this, and wondering if he should stay away from the girls all together

Subaru -

“I have twin sisters…that’s something I didn’t expect…hey! How…how was mother to you two? I have some questions.”

- He might be the only brother to be slightly interested, or at least interested in the twins

- I don’t know if he would be nice per day, but I could see Subaru looking out for the twins from the shadows

- He’s intrigued at how their childhood was, and when they were born, and when they last saw their mother

- I don’t think he would care about the other sisters, I think he would ignore them, both because he doesn’t care and out of respect for the twins

- If they had to come live with them, then I think he wouldn’t really care because it’s not like he would have any say in the matter

[shammah8]

"Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs."

Matthew 27:55

WITHOUT WOMEN THERE WOULD BE NO CHURCH

The New Testament records the fact that many women were among the larger body of disciples that followed and served Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, we only know the names and stories of a few. They were more loyal to Jesus at the time of his crucifixion than his male disciples.

Despite the patriarchal society of that day, four women — two of them Gentile foreigners — were named in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel chapter one.

It is significant that Jesus included women in his teaching putting them on equality with men. The same ethical and moral standards were demanded from both genders and the same way of salvation was offered for both.

Throughout the Bible, women filled significant roles — from leadership like Deborah to unique motherhood like Mary. The same has been true of those in the persecuted Church.

A pastor in Cuba once told me, “Lenin said that without women there would be no revolution. I say that without women there would be no Church!”

In China, the group of Christians who have had a major role in the revival and church growth are referred to locally as “Bible Women.” Chairman Mao once said, “Women hold up half the sky.” But it is estimated that about seventy per cent of the active Christian workers and church leaders in China today are women.

For example, Chinese Bible Woman, Ding Xianggao, has an incredible testimony. She is a young itinerant evangelist in China. Very much aware of the cost, she says, “In my country there are many brothers and sisters who suffer for Christ. Some of my co-workers have spent thirty years in prison for the sake of the Gospel.”

Two of her associates were actually martyred. Because she is a hunted woman, she often sleeps in caves and fields to avoid capture.

Her commitment is expressed this way: “Jesus died for me. The least I should do is die for Him. To suffer and go to prison for Him is my honour, and I look forward to it.” She ended up in a large prison with over eight hundred inmates involved in prostitution, murder and kidnapping. But Ding believed God had placed her there for a reason. After three years she was released from prison. But not before seventy-eight people had made a personal commitment to Christ.

Sister Chan was sent to prison for six months for public preaching in central China, a prison with six thousand other women. During her time there, she led eight hundred women to faith in Jesus.

God uses everyone who is available in establishing His kingdom on earth.

Response

Today I will not assume that I am not useable by God. I will make myself available to Him. 

Prayer

Pray for the ministry of Christian women around the world — especially those who serve our Lord in difficult assignments or places.

© 2013 Open Doors International. Used by permission.

[leafvy]

𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

hello everyone! i am finally back with a new name list, i hope you enjoy it and find it usefull!

[ disclaimer: my sincere apologies if there are any spelling/meaning/origin mistakes in any of my name lists, i am by no means a professional in this area, i just like creating lists to help aid storytellers. i do try my best to find each name’s corresponding origin/meaning/spelling but i am a human who is prone to make the odd mistake. p.s, i take requests! ]

Female

Adalina - German derived - Noble 

Adelaide - English - Noble natured 

Adrianna - Latin - Person from Hadria 

Aishwarya - Sanskrit - Wealth, prosperity 

Alethea - Greek - Truth

Alexandria - Greek derived - Feminine form of Alexandros, defender of men

Alexandrina - Greek derived - Feminine form of Alexandros, defender of men

Alianora - Unknown - Unknown

Amaryllis - Greek - Sparkle, shine

Anastasia - Greek - Ressurection

Anastazja - Polish - Reborn 

Angelina - Greek - Messenger

Angelique - Latin - Messenger of God

Annabella - Italian - Loving

Annabelle - English - Favoured grace

Annalisa - Latin - Graced with God’s bounty

Annamaria - Italian/French/German - Bitter, grace

Anneliese - Latin - Graced with God’s bounty

Antoinetta - Latin - Praiseworthy

Antoinette - French - Priceless one

Antonella - Italian - First born

Antonia - Italian - Priceless, praiseworthy, beautiful

Antonina - Spanish - Priceless, highly esteemed

Arabella - Latin - Yielding to prayer

Araceli - Latin - Altar of heaven, heavenly homemaker

Araminta - English - Prayer, protection

Arianna - Greek/Italian - Most holy

 Ariella - Hebrew - Lion of God

Aubrianna - German - Elf

Augusta - Latin - Great, magnificent

Augustina - Latin - The exalted one

Avabella - Hebrew - My God is an oath

Avalina - English - Little bird

Avianna - Latin - Birdlike

Avrielle - Unknown - Unknown

Bathilda - Germanic/Norse - Battle

Benedetta - Latin/Spanish - Blessed

Benedicta - Latin - Blessed

Bernadetta - French - Brave Bear

Bernadette - French - Brave Bear

Busarakham - Thai - Yellow Sapphire

Cairistonia - Unknown - Unknown

Calliope - Greek - Beautifully voiced

Candelaria - Spanish - Candle

Carlotta - Italian - Free man

Carolina - Latin/French - Free man

Cassandra - Greek - The one who shines & excels over men

Cassiopeia - Greek - Unknown

Catalina - Spanish - Pure

Celestina - Spanish/Italian - Heavenly

Celestine - Latin - Heavenly

Charlotta - French/German - Manly

Charlotte - French - Free man

Chrysanthemum - Greek - Gold flower

Cleobella - Unknown - Unknown

Cleopatra - Greek - Glory of her father

Cordelia - Welsh - Jewel of the sea

Corinthia - Greek - Woman of Corinth 

Cressida - Greek - Gold 

Daniella - Latin/Hebrew - God is my judge 

Dayanara - Spanish - Forceful 

Debbonaire - French - Good natured 

Deianira - Greek - Man destroyer 

Delphina - Greek - Woman from Delphi 

Demetria - Greek - Follower of Demeter 

Desdemona - Greek - Misery, unlucky 

Dolores - Latin - Sorrowful 

Dominica - French/Latin - Lord

Dominique - French/Latin - Lord

Donatella - Italian - Gift of God

Dulcinea - Spanish - Sweetness

Ekaterina - Russian/Bulgarian - Pure

Eleanora - Greek - Sun ray

Elenora - Greek - Sun ray

Elisabet - Scandinavian - Pledged to God

Elisabetta - Italian - Pledged to God

Elizabella - Spanish - God is my oath

Elizabeth - Hebrew - My God is an oath

Elizaveta - Russian - God is my oath

Elladora - Greek - A gift sent from heaven, one who is filled with light

Emmanuella - Hebrew - God is with us

Emmeline - French/German - Work

Esmerelda - Spanish - Emerald

Esperanza - Spanish - Hope

Estefania - Spanish/Greek - Crown, garland

Eulalia - Greek - Well-spoken

Evalina - Latin - Desired

Evangelina - Latin - Gospel

Evangeline - Latin - Gospel

Evelyna - Unknown - Unknown

Fatehmeh - Arabic - Captivating, woman who abstains

Federica - Italian - Peaceful ruler

Felicity - Latin - Happiness

Fernanda - Portuguese/Spanish/Italian - Bold voyager

Fiorella - Italian - Little flower

Francesca - Italian - From France

Frederica - German/English - Peaceful ruler

Gabriella - Spanish/Italian - God is my strength

Galatea - Greek - She who is milk-white

Galilea - Italian/Hebrew - Born in Galilee

Gayatari - Sanskrit - Goddess

Geneva - French - Juniper tree

Genevieve - Celtic/French/German - White wave

Georgetta - French/Greek/Latin - Farmer

Georgianna - Catalan/English/Greek/Romanian - Farmer

Georgina - Greek - Farmer

Giovanetta - Unknown - Unknown

Giullietta - Italian/Latin - Youthful

Gwendolyn - Welsh - White ring

Helena - Greek - Shining light

Henrietta - French/English - Estate ruler

Hydrangea - Greek/Latin - Water vessel

Ingeborg - Norse - Stronghold, protection

Isabella - Italian - God is my abundance

Isabellina - Portuguese - My god is a vow

Isadora - Greek - Gift of Isis

Itzayana - Mayan - Gift of God

Jacqueline - French - Supplanter

Jaganmata - Hindu - Mother of the world

Jasmina - French/Persian - God’s gift

Jessamina - Persian - Gift of God

Jessamine - Persian - Gift of God

Josephina - Hebrew - Jehovah increases

Julianna - Latin - Youthful

Julietta - Italian/Latin - Youthful

Katerina - Greek - Pure

Katherine - Greek - Pure

Kathleen - Irish/Greek - Pure

Laurentia - Latin - From Laurentium

Leocadia - Spanish - Splendid brightness

Leonora - Greek - Compassion, light

Liliana - Spanish/Italian - Lily, flower

Liliosa - Spanish - Lily, flower

Louisiana - German - Famous warrior

Luciana - Latin - Light

Lucinda - Latin - Light

Maddelena - Italian - Woman from Magdala

Magdalena - Greek - Woman from Magdala

Magnolia - Latin - Magnol’s flower

Marcelina - Latin - Dedicated to Mars

Marceline - Latin - Dedicated to Mars

Margaery - French - Pearl

Margaretha - Greek/Latin - Pearl, margarita

Marguerita - Greek - Pearl

Marguerite - French - Pearl

Mariana - Spanish - Grace, drop of the sea

Mariella - Latin/Dutch - Star of the sea

Marielle - Latin/Dutch - Star of the sea

Melania - Greek - Black, dark

Miabella - Italian - Beauty

Millicent - German - Strong in work

Mirabella - Latin - Wondrous beauty

Momilani - Hawaiian - Pearl of heaven

Montserrat - Latin - Jagged mountain

Morganna - Welsh - Sea-born

Nicoletta - Greek - People of victory

Nicolina - Greek - People of victory

Octavia - Latin - Eighth

Olivia - Latin - Olive tree

Olympia - Greek - From Mount Olympus

Onaiwah - Native American - Awake

Ophelia - Greek - Help

Penelope - Greek - Weaver

Persephone - Greek - Bringer of destruction

Petronella - Latin/Greek - Stone, rock

Petronilla - Italian/Latin - Stone, rock

Philomena - Greek - Friend of strength

Priscilla - Latin - Ancient

Raffaella - French - God has healed

Raphaela - Hebrew - God has healed

Rosabelle - Latin - Beautiful rose

Rosalina - German - Gentle horse

Samantha - Hebrew - Told by God

Santana - Spanish - Holy

Saphhira - Greek - Sapphire

Seraphina - Hebrew - Burning ones

Serenity - Latin - Peaceful

Shoshana - Hebrew - Lily, rose

Sophronia - Greek - Wise

Stellamaris - Latin - Star of the sea

Tatiana - Russian - Fairy Queen

Temperance - English - Moderation

Theodora - Greek - Gift of God

Ululani - Hawaiian - Heavenly inspiration

Valencia - Latin - Strong, healthy

Valentina - Latin - Strong, healthy

Vasilisa - Russian - Queen, Empress

Venezia - Italian - From Venice

Veronica - Latin - She who brings victory

Victoria - Latin - Victory

Violetta - Italian - Purple

Virginia - Latin - Virginal, pure

Vivienne - French - Life

Waleria - Polish - Healthy, strong

Wilhelmina - Dutch/German - Will, desire, helmet, protection

Williamina - German - Protection, resolute

Xanthippe - Greek - Yellow Horse

Yaroslava - Slavic - Fierce, glorious

Yevgeniya - Russian - Well born

Zenobia - Greek - Life of Zeus

Male

Aballach - Arthurian - Father of Modron

Abraham - Hebrew - Father of multitudes

Acacius - Greek - Thorny

Alessandro - Italian - Defender of mankind

Alexander - Latin - To ward off, defend & protect

Alexandros - Greek - Defender, protector of man

Algernon - Norman-French - Moustached man

Alistair - Scottish - Defending men

Alphonsus - Spanish/Italian - Noble & ready

Ambrose - Greek/Latin - Immortal

Ambrosius - Greek/Latin - Divine, immortal

Anderson - Greek - Son of Andrew

Antonio - Spanish/Italian - Priceless one

Archibald - Germanic - Bold, genuine

Augustus - Latin - Majestic, venerable

Aurelius - Latin - Golden

Balthasar - Greek - Bal protects the King

Barnaby - English - Young warrior

Bartholomew - Aramaic - Son of Talmai

Beauchamp - English/French - Beautiful field

Beauregard - French - Beautiful gaze

Beckett - English - Beehive

Belvidere - Italian - Beautiful to see

Benedict - Latin - Blessed

Benjamin - Hebrew - Son of the right hand

Broderick - Welsh/Irish/Norse - Son of Rhydderch, descendent of Bruadar, Ginger brother

Callahan - Irish - Descendent of Ceallachán

Caspian - Arabic - Treasure of the sea

Cassander - Spanish/Greek - Brother of heroes

Channing - English/French - Young wolf, church offical

Christian - English - Follower of Christ

Christopher - English/Greek - Bearing Christ

Cillian - Irish - War, strife, church

Cleveland - English - Cliff land

Clifford - English - Lives near the cliff

Constantine - Latin/Greek - Steadfast, constant

Constantino - Latin/Greek - Steadfast, constant

Cornelius - Latin - Horn

Dartagnan - French - From Artagnan

Dashiell - French/Scottish - Heaven, sky

Douglas - Scottish - Dark water

Elmwood - English - Forest of Elm trees

Elwood - English - Forest of Elder trees

Emerson - German - Son of Emery

Emiliano - Italian - Rival

Emmanuel - Hebrew - God is with us

Evander - Greek/Scottish - Strong man, bow warrior

Finnegan - Irish - Son of fair haired

Fiorello - Italian - Little flower

Fitzwilliam - English - Son of William

Francesco - Latin/Spanish - French man, free man

Frederick - German - Peaceful ruler

Gabriel - Hebrew - God is my strength

Grayson - English - Grey haired one

Gregory - Latin - Gregarious

Guillermo - Spanish - Resolute protector

Harrison - English - Son of Harry

Heathcliffe - English - Cliff near a heath

Henderson - Scottish - Son of Henry

Holden - English - Hollow in the valley

Humphrey - French/English - Peaceful warrior, bear cub

Hyperion - Greek - The high one

Ignatius - Latin/Etruscan - Fiery one

Jackson - English - Son of Jack

Jameson - English - Son of James

Jefferson - English - Son of Jeffrey

Jeremiah - Hebrew - Yhwh will raise

Jonathon - Hebrew - Son of Jehovah

Joshua - Hebrew - Yhwh is salvation

Kenderick - Scottish/English - Royal ruler, champion

Lancaster - English - Habitational name

Lawrence - Latin - From Laurentium

Leander - Greek - Lion man

Leonardo - Italian/Spanish/Portuguese - Strong as a Lion

Leopold - Germanic - Brave people

Lorenzo - Italian/Spanish - From Laurentium

Lysander - Greek - Liberator

Madigan - Irish - Little dog

Malachi - Hebrew - Messenger of God

Marcellus - French - Young warrior

Marmaduke - Irish/Gaelic - Follower of Maedoc, leader of the seas

Maverick - American - Independent

Maximilianus - Latin - Greatest

Maximillian - Latin - Greatest

Montgomery - French - Gomeric’s hill

Mordecai - Hebrew - Little man

Morrison - English/Scottish - Son of Morris

Muhammad - Arabic - Praised, commendable

Napoleon - Greek - Lion of the new city

Nathaniel - Greek/Hebrew - God has given

Nicholas - Greek - Victory of the people

Nicholson - English/Greek - Son of Nicholas

Octavian - Latin - Eighth

Oswald - Anglo-Saxon - Divine power, ruler

Ozymandias - Greek - Tyrant, dictator

Percival - French - Pierce the vale

Peregrine - Latin - One from abroad

Phineas - Hebrew - Oracle

Randolph - English/German - Chief-Wolf

Reginald - Latin - King

Remington - English - Place on a riverbank

Roderick - Germanic - Famous ruler

Salvatore - Italian - Savior

Santiago - Spanish/Latin - Saint James

Sebastian - Latin - Venerable

Simeon - Hebrew - To hear, to be heard

Solomon - Hebrew - Man of peace

Sullivan - Irish - Black eyed one

Sylvester - Latin - Wooded, wild

Tennyson - English - Son of Dennis

Thaddeus - Aramaic - Courageous heart

Theodore - Greek - God given

Tiberius - Latin - Of the Tiber

Tobias - Hebrew/Greek - God is good

Tristram - Welsh - Noise

Ulysses - Greek - Wrathful, hater

Valentino - Latin - Strong

Vincenzo - Italian - To conquer

Wallace - Scottish/English - Foreigner

Wellington - English - Place name

Whittaker - English - White field

William - Germanic - Strong-willed warrior

Willoughby - English - Willow farm

Xerxes - Persian - Hero among heroes

Zacchaeus - Hebrew/Greek - Pure, innocent

Zachariah - Persian/Hebrew - God remembers

[daemosghost]

Yeah no, I've been "ech" about Hasan ever since hearing him talk about and show a clip where he was basically sexually harassing a sex worker who was clearly uncomfortable and justifying to chat that "its fine she's a sex worker, she hears that all the time" and the whole making a joke about a black woman getting to the back of a bus

But in recent events seeing him call a trans woman a nazi and a lolcow who stalks chris chan, organized nazi streams, who is also has been on stream with and platformed Sargon of Akkad is absolutely fucking horrendous, it's straight up slander and defamation.

And all of this spawned from said trans woman just critiquing him and other react channels content and where he and other reacters go wrong when making react content and he just got irrationally angry to the point of banning long time subs in his streams, banning her name in chat, and continuing to absolutely refuse the criticism that summed up to "credit the creator, youtubers absolute do not get a huge bump from this whatsoever, put up a brb screen if your taking a break to do something or just end stream if you cant actually go for long without fatigue, and you should make it as transformative as possible so it doesn't seem like your just relying on the videos to keep viewers entertained."

Hasan LITERALLY has media training and should know damn well to compensate people in more than just exposure but I guess his egotistical celebrity brain doesnt allow him to actually think about that. Also the one lie he told involving Sarkod is funny, considering he has actually interacted with Sarkod on stream before while he was still with TYT. Like dude, this is just insanity over valid criticism, yet his stans have and continue to defend him when he's in the wrong, at this point unironically Hasan stans are fucking worse than dream stans, 'cause how tf did he get to just smear a person with defamation like this and his stans just take it as gospel and attack anyone that criticises him, even Dream wouldn't be able to get away with this shit when they both have tons of people willing to defend them.

[ask-the-twst-girls]

💙🕷🖤Laechesis Retna 🖤🕷💙

"You should watch what you say, you know. I know your darkest secrets~"

Japanese:ラケシス・レトナ

Romanji: Rakeshisu retona

Other names: Dame de la chanson (Rook), Tatsunōtoshigo-Chan (Floyd), the Dark Reaper (Stage Name)

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Birthday: January 1st

Starsign: Capricorn

Height: 179 cm (5'9")

Eye color: Crimson Red (Normal), Tech Red (Robotic)

Hair Color: Wood brown/Cerulean blue (faded)

Race: Human

Twisted From: Lachesis, the Fate of the Past (Hercules)

Homeland: Isle of Sages

Family: Parents (unnamed)

~~ Professional Status ~~

Dorm: Ignihyde

School Year: 2nd

Class: 2-C, Student#27

Occupation: Student, Underground Pop star

Club: the "Info Club" (A.K.A the Fates Association)

Best Subject: Magic History

Unique Magic: "Measure the Past"

Wand form: Pen (regular), Strobe Globe (Dorm Uniform)

Friends: Atropes Veil, Clotho Shard, Briarwood Veil, Annabelle Trien, Taai Onheil, Malleus Draconia

Enemies: The Gospel Singers (outside band), Danielle Trien

Fav Teacher: Divus Crewel

Least Fav. Teacher: Mozus Trien

~~ Fun Facts ~~

Dom. Hand: Left

Fav. Food: Blue raspberry suckers, any form of gummy candy

Least Fav. Food: Seafood

Likes: Audio mixing, screwing with people's voices and the school speaker system

Dislikes: stereotyping

Favorite Accessory: Silver Tech Watch

Hobby: modern dancing, Singing

Talents: Parkour

Random Fact: Laechesis doesn't pay attention to celebrity news and as such, didn't know who Vil and Malleus were.

Bio:

An Underground Popstar of Night Raven College, not many know of Laechesis' origins, nor the reason why she is sometimes absent from classes. Her Blunt and carefree nature is often flaunted in the face of the present, even in dire circumstances. Laechesis is also known for her friendship with Atropes and Clotho and the formation of the F.A.T.E.S Club of Night Raven College. Her friendship is considered valued and if she is your enemy... well, let's just say your secrets are about to be exposed.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Lots of fan discussion over who's is going to die next, or at least die by the end of the series. From discussions I've seen, everyone may die and everyone's fair game. Everyone except Asirpa. I've yet to see someone worry that Asirpa is going to die next, or ever. Why not? Given her seat as Jesus in the Last Supper pane, she will very likely die, probably to "save" others in either body or soul. Is it just fandom's dislike for contemplating the deaths of children in realistic story like GK?

To be honest...

...discussions about Asirpa dying were around in 2018, when people discussed a lot about the Last Supper picture... but they somehow died down with time.

I guess in 2018 the fandom was feeling more free to touch topics that are a bit heavy, like a child being killed or a child murdering someone (there were plenty of people in the fandom who wanted Asirpa to kill Ogata) and other things...

Now I can’t speak for all the fandom... but nowadays I hear many people in the fandom claiming they believe Noda shouldn’t use plot points that could make people morally uncomfortable so those options are ruled out because believed to be impossible and therefore not worth discussing.

Of course since the fandom is large and different and doesn’t have a hive mind, different people might have different motivations for not wanting to discuss such things and what I’ve heard might merely represent the tiny tip of the proverbial large iceberg.

As far as I’m involved I worried and I still worry about Asirpa, because if Noda were really to avoid uncomfortable things we wouldn’t have had neither Anehata nor Ueji not Upashy-chan or the white bear not tons of other things that honestly are a bit cringe worthy but fit perfectly with a plot that involves some of the worst criminals of Japan.

Still, in 2018 my theory/hope wasn’t that Asirpa would die but that Asirpa would be assumed dead and then turn out to be alive... because Jesus doesn’t just die he also resurrects few day after (it’s kind of a relevant plot point in the story of his life) and since I didn’t believe Noda would have Asirpa litterally resurrect from death, the closest thing was to have her assumed to be dead to then turn out to be alive.

Currently I wonder if the idea is instead that Asirpa is ‘Jesus resurrected’... even though she was the one to take part to the last supper.

I mean, if Asirpa is Jesus Wilk should represent ‘God’ but Noda actually named him ‘Horkew Oskoni’ (“catch up to the wolves”), not just ‘Horkew’ (“wolf” who, among the Ainu, is considered a god), which might be Noda implying Wilk isn’t mean to represent God.

Wilk’s scar has the shape of a cross, he metaphorically ‘died’ due to it (Siromakur might have told them that he said to an Army official about Wilk’s scar and eye, so Wilk skinned himself not just to trick the Ainu so that they wouldn’t think Asirpa would be responsible, but also to trick the Army officer, not knowing it was Hasegawa/Tsurumi), he was ‘betrayed’ and he let himself be captured without resistance. You might even die by becoming Nopperabou he resurrected... but I think the idea is that his goal/spirit whatever will resurrect in Asirpa.

And it fits with the fact that in Matthew 27 (Matthew is the evangelist Noda mentions here and there) we’ve the description of Jesus’s death and in the last chapters instead, which will end all in volume 27, we’ve Wilk’s backstory.

So, while I still worry Asirpa might get hurt, permanently psychologically scarred or things like that, my belief/hope is that no one will seriously harm her.

In addition to this Noda so far has tried not to use openly the “would hurt a child” trope likely because it’s considered a moral event horizon by too many and he doesn’t really want to depict his characters as merely evil... and unless Asirpa were to die in an incident, someone would have to be responsible for killing her.

Besides, it seems a waste to kill her as she’s the one carrying on most of the Ainu plot... and it would be pretty ugly if the ‘Ainu’s fate’ plot then eneded up carried on by Wajins who would do it in her memory.

Sure, the plot can be passed to minor Ainu characters like Kirawus or Ariko but still... for me it would feel like a weak development.

I prefer for Asirpa to be involved instead than for her to be mourned.

On another note in a way Asirpa ‘died’ on the ice field. Shooting that arrow to Ogata, learning about the minorities, discovering the truth and watching Kiro die in her arms in a way killed the innocent Asirpa to give space to the current Asirpa, who’s more aware of her people’s situation and, sadly, of what it might feel to cause someone’s death (even though Ogata actually didn’t die she clearly believed he would and the thought weighted on her and still does as she couldn’t defend herself against Ostrog because, when she considered murdering him in self defence she remembered the incident with Ogata and froze).

So in a way Asirpa too was ‘Jesus’.

said all this, let’s remember this isn’t really an alternate version of the gospel, Noda plays with it, take inspiration by it, but doesn’t follow it’s rules.

Japanese media sometimes like to take inspiration from Christian religion for various things so it’s not really that uncommon or that binding.

Thank you for your ask!

[walterfilmmemorabilia-blog]

10 LGBTQ Performers in the 1970's

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community against a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are widely considered to constitute the most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States. Wikipedia

What followed in the 1970’s was a rising tide of LGBTQ performers that “came out” to express their unique take on music, theater and sexual (transgender) identity. Here are 10 of those performers and a brief look at what they contributed to the movement and to our culture. Click on the image to learn more about the performer.

JAYNE COUNTY

As rock’s first openly transgender singer, Jayne Rogers (born June 13, 1947), better known by her stage name Jayne County, is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer whose career spans five decades. While dressed in female attire from the beginning of her career, County transitioned to female in 1979, becoming Jayne (as the above poster illustrates).

She made her first performing appearances as Wayne County in Wayne County and The Electric Chairs. In 1969 she appeared in Jackie Curtis’ play Femme Fatale. County considered Curtis a major influence on her career and persona and County is widely considered an influence on David Bowie –– County’s Queenage Baby number was the prototype for Bowie’s Rebel Rebel. Even more notable was her play, World – Birth of A Nation, which was set in a hospital and dealt with male castration –– evoking both transgender surgery and her mixed feelings about men, both gay and straight.

After seeing the play, Andy Warhol cast her in his play Pork. She went on to appear in the film The Blank Generation (1976).  Back and forth between New York and London, she settled in Atlanta Georgia. In 2018, County debuted a retrospective show of visual art in the New York City gallery, Participant, Inc.

County’s life and art is considered an inspirational influence on John Cameron Mitchell’s transgender rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

JACKIE CURTIS

“Jackie Curtis is not a drag queen. Jackie is an artist. A pioneer without a frontier,” so said Andy Warhol. Andy was right. Jackie Cutis (1947-1987) was a true original. Long before he became one of the Pop master’s superstars. Curtis distinguished himself by appearing (alternately) as a James Dean-like male and a Jean Harlow-like female in Off-off Broadway plays of his own devise in which he and his friends appeared:

Glamour, Glory And Gold, co-starred Candy Darling, and Robert DeNiroin his first New York stage appearance;

Vain Victory, also starred Darling with Warhol and Jack Smith star Mario Montez;

Amerika Cleopatra featured a thin barely-known Harvey Fierstein;

Femme Fatale, starred Patti Smith, Jayne County and Penny Arcade; and

Heaven Grand In Amber Orbit toplined Holly Woodlawn. These were all makeshift, wildly tossed together affairs having little to do with plot and character but tons to do with exhibitionistic self-expression.

Outside of such Warhol films as Flesh (1968) and Women in Revolt (1972), Jackie’s most notable screen appearance was in Yugoslavia agant-gardist Dusan Makvejev’s W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism – a film about sex researcher Willhelm Reich, creator of the so-called Orgone Box. Makvejev felt Jackie presence in the film added a lot to his view of Reich’s sexual theories.

DIVINE

Born Harris Glenn Milsted in 1945, this life-affirming, overweight transvestite was re-named Divine (after the hero/heroine of Jean Genet’s Our Lady of the Flowers ) by the writer-director John Waters, who discovered her right down the block from where he lived. Through his films Waters turned a lonely overweight kid from Baltimore into one of the biggest (in every sense of the word) of all underground movie stars.

In Waters’ comedies, Pink Flamingoes, Female Trouble, Polyester and Hairspray, Divine redefined what it means to be a movie star. Waters called him The Most Beautiful Woman in The World and if you’ve seen Divine on stage of screen you’ll know why; for like his idol, Elizabeth Taylor, Divine was overwhelmingly sui generis.

While beloved for his films, Divine was a prolific LGBTQ performer on stage and in nightclubs. This above poster memorializes one of them . In this particular show — Vice— Divine appeared with many of the members of the legendary San Francisco drag troupe, The Cockettes.

Sadly, Divine (now a gay, transgender icon) died in 1988 of respiratory problems, days after the opening of his greatest acting success, Hairspray. Those lucky enough to see his club appearances also recall Divine for numbers like this —

CASSELBERRY & DUPREE

Mixing Reggae, Country and Gospel, Casselberry and Dupree are a dynamic lesbian duo who have performed with Harry Belafonte and Whoppi Goldberg, They appeared in the Oscar-nominated Art Is and the Oscar-winning The Times of Harvey Milk. The early 70s was a great time for Sapphic folk music, featured as it was at such venues as Lilith Fair. Jaqué Dupree and J. Casselberry offer a stellar example of it in: CASSELBERRYY AND DUPREE “TWO OF US”

CHARLES PIERCE

Charles Piece 1926-1999 was what might be called a female impersonator (he called himself a Male Actress) who found favor with audiences both straight and gay with his knowing impressions of Bette Davis, Mae West, Tallulah Bankhead and Carol Channing, Such impersonations were quite  traditional for a comic performer of this sort. But as can be seen and heard in this clip of his rendition of Katherine Hepburn, Pierce kept pace with the blossoming LGBTQ movement with many of his zingers evidencing a keen awareness of the difference the out and proud LGBTQ movement had made in  a straight-dominated world.

Headlining a production of Applause was a real tour de force for Piece as this musical version of All About Eve gave him leave to do Bette Davis (star of the original film) and Lauren Bacall (star of the musical remake) at the same time.

JUDITH ANDERSON

Stage and screen star Judith Anderson (1897-1992.) best remembered by the general public for playing the sinister lesbian “Mrs. Danvers” in Hithcock’s Rebecca (1940) and “Ann Treadwell” the socialite who’s keeping Vincent Price’s “Shelby Carpenter” in Laura  The latter was quite low-key in that the character was straight, whereas “Mrs. Danvers” was a full-force lesbian.

Despite the obvious she was married twice. Her first husband was an English professor, Benjamin Harrison Lehmann. They were married in 1937 and divorced  in 1939. Then, in 1946, she married theatrical  producer Luther Greene. They divorced in 1951. Of these marriages Anderson said. “Neither experience was a jolly holiday.”

While Sarah Bernhardt had famously performed  Hamlet in the late 19th century, few actresses have ever tried it. Taking it on at an advanced age, as Anderson did, was quite novel. Doing it when she did, put Anderson in league with the avant-garde gender-benders of the early 70s like Jackie Curtis and Holly Woodlawn.

CRAIG RUSSELL

Craig Russell, born Russell Crag Easie in 1948 in Toronto Canada, this female impersonator carved out a considerable career for himself doing such stars as Bette Davis, Tallulah Bankhead and Mae West — having come to know the last-mentioned personally as he briefly worked as her secretary in Los Angeles. Many LGBTQ performers of this genre did impressions of these stars. But there was an edginess to Russell’s work clearly influenced by the rise of the gay rights movement.

He toured widely, appearing in Las Vegas, Hollywood, San Francisco, Berlin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Sydney, to the delight of a variety of audiences. But he won a special place in the hearts of the gay ones, as shown in the 1977 comedy-drama Outrageous in which he plays a character largely based on himself.

Interestingly, Russell — who always identified himself as gay — was bisexual. He fathered a daughter, Susan Allison, in 1973, and in 1982 married his closest female friend Lori Jenkins. The marriage lasted right through to the end of Russell’s life in 1990 when he died from AIDS complications.

SYLVESTER

Sylvester James Jr. (1947-1988) was born in Los Angeles, but first came to public attention when he moved to San Francisco and joined the legendary gay hippie performance troupe The Cockettes. A genuinely original singing talent  Sylvester showcased a high, shimmering falsetto and a variety of styles encompassing gospel, disco and cabaret. His look was utterly androgynous. While he sometimes appeared in “drag” he most often sported ensembles suitable to both genders.

Wildly popular in San Francisco he performed solo shows at the city’s opera house. When he died from AIDS complications the entire city mourned, along with everyone else who came to know the man and his music.

STEVEN GROSSMAN

Steve Grossman (1951-1991) a gay singer-songwriter of the early 1970s whose album Caravan Tonight (1974) is distinguished as being the first album dealing with openly gay subject matter released by a major record label, Mercury Records.

He died from AIDS leaving his Joni Mitchell-inflected songs, recorded much in the style of singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, opposed to the then-current glam Bowiesque fashion of openly gay artists. Among them, “Out” is a deeply moving coming-out song directed to his Father mother and brother.

OUR GUEST AUTHOR

DAVID EHRENSTEIN

Born in 1947, David Ehrenstein has been a film critic and political commentator since 1965, writing for such publications as Film Culture, Film Quarterly, Cahiers du Cinema, and the Los Angeles Times. His books include Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-2000,  The Scorsese Picture: The Art and Life of Martin Scorsese and Cahiers du Cinema — Masters of Cinema: Roman Polanski .

Blog is originally published at: https://www.walterfilm.com/10-lgbtq-performers-in-the-1970s/

It is republished with permission from the author.

[kaffeinic]

60 Question Tag Challenge!

I was challenged by @woo-for-woojin to answer all of these. To be fair, I challenged her first, but let’s not get into the details. Original post of questions by @roseyygf.

1: Selfie.

GAAAAAAAH I HATE THIS ALREADY SMH IM SO UGLY.

Lmao look at my fingers. What the hell is going on there?

2: What would you name your future kids?

I feel like that’s a joint decision, so I can’t say. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll want to have my own kids through childbirth. My family has a genetic disposition to difficulties during pregnancy. I might adopt.

3: Do you miss anyone?

A few people. Some of them I haven’t even met in person. I miss my BFF from school. I miss a few people online that I’ve fallen out of touch with. I’m always missing people. 😂

4: What are you looking forward to?

College, and moving out of my house. I’ve been itching to do both of these for years now.

5: Is there anyone who can always make you smile?

@hoshithehamster, @woo-for-woojin, @a-toxic-galaxy, my BFF from school, and my older sister. Also, I swear, @hoshithehamster and I are literally are always TALKING IN CAPS LOCK BECAUSE WE ARE IDIOTS AND WE HAVE THE WEIRDEST, MOST FUN CONVERSATIONS EVER.

6: Is it hard for you to get over someone?

Once I’ve gone all-in, yeah. When it’s a crush, not usually. I’m really slow to develop a crush on someone. Painfully slow lol. I’m cautious because I’ve been hurt by people in that regard a few times. One incident had me suicidal for a long time.

7: What was your life like last year?

Kind of the same? I didn’t have this blog open. If you had asked this regarding two years ago, I would have said that I wasn’t homeschooling, didn’t know how to play piano much, didn’t have this blog, and was very depressed because of my old schoolmates.

8: Have you ever cried because you were so annoyed?

YES! Whenever I feel stuck and know I have no control of a situation, I get frustrated and find a quiet place to cry.

9: Who did you last see in person?

I’m assuming this means out of my own household. The last person I saw was my older sister and her roommates, who I am really good friends with. One of them loves coffee as much as me and it’s great! I spent the night. That was over a month and a half ago lmao. Before that, I had gone on a date at a coffee shop.

10: Are you good at hiding your feelings?

Yeah. My family gets angry at me if I’m sad or angry about anything, so I hold it all in. It definitely has made life a bit harder. I make people angry when I won’t disclose my feelings to them. I just find it to be better to hold it. I have to be really comfortable with you and really love you if I’ll tell you that I’m sad/angry and why.

11: Are you listening to music right now?

Yeah. It’s Le Pire by Maître Gims. He’s a really great French singer.

12: What is something you want right now?

If this is concerning food, I’m in the mood for chicken right now lol. I need some protein. Aside from food, I’m wanting to get a pedal for my electric piano. I have no sustain and it ruins a lot of songs. 😂 It’s why I have my ko-fi open.

13: How do you feel right now?

Meh. I’m not feeling great. I have some issues with fainting. My blood pressure drops like a rock at times and I feel it coming on, if you know what I’m saying. It’s this kind of lethargic, sick feeling. I’m trying to drink a lot of water, just in case it’s about dehydration.

14: When was the last time someone of the opposite sex hugged you?

When I last visited my favourite coffee shop. For those of you who read Caffeinic, Chan’s character design is a mix of his true personality and a barista at my café of choice. He always gives me a hug when I see him, and when I say good bye. 😊

15: Personality description?

For a quick description, I’d say that INFJ, which is my MBTI type, is really accurate for me. I’ll let one of my friends try to describe me. I’m bad at describing myself lol.

Okay, but my heart is combusting. This amazing hooman, I lob her so much!!!! One of my best friends for sure.

16: Have you ever wanted to tell someone something but you didn’t?

All the time. I’m sure you all have heard Fight Song by Rachel Platten, but that line where she says, “And all those things I didn't say // Wrecking balls inside my brain // I will scream them loud tonight // Can you hear my voice this time?” really resonates with me. It was that lyric that hooked me on this song.

17: Opinion on insecurities?

I think 90% of us have them. They are humbling, which can be good, but I urge you to know your worth. I’m such a hypocrite.

18: Do you miss how things were a year ago?

Not really. Not much has changed.

19: Have you ever been to New York?

No, but I’d love to visit! I’m from the west coast lol.

20: What is your favourite song at the moment?

Ramai by Delia & The Motans. I listen to a lot of different languages in music lol. I have no idea what any of it means, so if it’s inappropriate, I apologize.

21: Age and birthday.

Internationally, 18. May 3, 2001.

22: Description of crush.

I don’t think I have a crush???? Haha. There’s this really kind, pretty hot barista at the café who seems to like me but I’m avoiding relationships, so idk. He has green eyes and black, curly hair. He’s maybe 170-180cm, but I’m not entirely sure. He looks damn good in a button up, I... wow. 🥵

23: Fear(s)?

So many lmao. I’m afraid of some trivial things, like bugs and rollercoasters, but I’m also afraid of some different items, like never having a family of my own, or of not being able to achieve my dreams.

24: Height?

154(?)cm. About 5’1.”

25: Role model?

I don’t think I have one lmao. I just try to be the best person I can be. It’s a goal in life for me to be a truly good person.

26: Idol(s).

Aren’t Idols and Role Models pretty much the same thing..? 😂 To be general, I look up to those who have studied in medical school because I know it’s a rollercoaster of difficulties and debt. I applaud them.

27: Things I hate:

This could be a very long list. Let’s go:

Unnecessary rudeness/bullying

Being forced into things I don’t like and/or am afraid of doing

Being lied to

Being stolen from

Being thrown in awkward situations

Being denied my alone time

When people make a mess that I have to clean

When I cook for people and they don’t thank me. My face just scrunched in anger while I typed this one lmao.

Arrogant/egotistic people

So many more, but I’ll cut it off there. 😊

28: “I’ll love you if...”

OOF. There’s no specific thing someone could do. If you love me, I’ll love you. I don’t mean the “awe ily” kind of love. I mean the “I will keep you out of trouble and protect you and be around you only to enjoy your company because I love you” kind of love. True love. Not that artificial crap.

29: Favourite film(s)?

Room 1408 is really good haha. I also really liked A Simple Favour. I like a lot of movies lmao. Superhero movies are always good.

30: Favourite tv show(s)?

I watched a lot of Black Mirror before we got rid of Netflix. I watch Superstore and Brooklyn 99 like they’re the gospel. I’m always down for Gilmore Girls because it’s a classic. I often watch my old childhood shows like Danny Phantom.

31: 3 random facts.

I’m assuming you mean, “3 random facts about me” lol.

I play piano.

I read “too much.” Let’s be honest, is it even possible to read too much?

I write my own stories and songs all of the time.

32: Are your friends mainly girls or guys?

Oof. My absolute closest friends are girls, but the majority of people I would consider my friends are male.

33: Something you want to learn.

Everything I can about medicine. I’m so interested in it, and I love the idea of fixing someone’s body. I’m fascinated by the weird and/or nasty things about our bodies. I hope that doesn’t sound too weird. I also wanna learn how to use a French press lmao.

34: Most embarrassing moment?

I had been selected to perform in a talent show a few years back for my old school and I got up there, face planting on the floor. Halfway through the song, I froze up and forgot the lyrics. I have never forgotten that.

35: Favourite subject?

Any form of science or Language Arts.

36: 3 dreams you want to fulfill?

Become a doctor.

Write a song that someone can perform onstage.

Clock in my 10,000 hours in piano.

Extra: I want to learn violin so badly!

37: Favourite actor/actress?

Jennifer Aniston or Nicolas Cage probably. I don’t pay much attention to actors. I also love Jeremy Renner’s work!

38: Favourite comedian(s)?

Oh lord, this question was made for me. Randy Feltface, Samuel J. Conroe, TwoSet, Ross Lynch, and many, many more!

39: Favourite sport(s)?

Volleyball, baseball, and badminton. Low/no-contact sports lol.

40: Favourite memory?

I can’t think of a specific one, but my best memories are always those random, funny moments I have with friends. I don’t think I’m ever gonna forget when my friend and I named one of her plants for the first time. I made a plant family tree. Dear lord save my soul.

41: Relationship status?

Single~

42: Favourite book(s)?

THAT IS THE HARDEST QUESTION EVER! How can I be expected to answer this???? 😂 I don’t have a favourite.

43: Favourite song ever?

Is this q&a list crafted specifically for me to not be able to answer any of the questions? 😂 I don’t have one. It changes with time.

44: Age you get mistaken for?

People always think I’m younger than I am, but if they don’t, then they over shoot it. Most people think I’m 16, or as old as 20-22. It’s crazy lol.

45: How you found out about your idol.

I’m going to interpret this as how I found out about my ult bias, who is Chan from Stray Kids. I was surfing SoundCloud and found the 3racha page. There wasn’t much there, but I liked what they had recorded. From then, I saw some of their survival show and may have kind of fallen for Channie and his personality lmao. Whoops.

46: What my last text message says.

This is the one I got while I was answering this specific question. 😊

“I feel that. I do hate unrealistic stories or stories that go on to fast like. I want to read stories where I feel like the reader could be me and not some sort of perfect girl getting the attention of all the people and fell in love withing 3 seconds and marry. I know that there must be some drama and special things to keep the story going and that's OK but I really appreciate stories who are still based more on a normal life. And you really do a good job in writing normal life stories // And tbh no story made me as happy as your barista!Chan story. It really is something different and I love it.”

Idk if the sender would be okay with me sharing that it was them, so I just copied it lol. I truly do love the feedback I get from you guys! Thank you all so much~~!

47: Turn-ons?

I’m assuming - again - that you mean romantically? I’ve always liked someone who has a decent sense of humour. Whenever I see someone working hard at their job/studies, part of me finds it... sexy? Idk. I’m weird. Save me. 😂

48: Turn-offs?

Overconfidence is a big no-no. It’s annoying as well. I can’t stand someone who truly is an idiot. Nothing turns me off more than getting a text that’s barely legible with a million abbreviations. Speak to me like someone with a brain, please. Another big turn-off is someone who is just automatically very sexual. I’m not a super sexual person, and I don’t want to hang out with someone who has a one-track mind in that sense.

49: Where I want to be right now.

The café.

50: Favourite picture of your idol?

But... he’s so pretty? How??

Sorry. I do not own these gifs/photos of Chan~

51: Star sign?

Taurus..? Idk if that’s for horoscopes lol.

52: Something I’m talented at.

Mmmmmm idk. I’m pretty mundane. I read a lot. I really would love to say I’m talented at piano, but I just don’t think I’m there yet.

53: 5 things that make me happy.

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...” Sorry.

Classical music

The smell of an old book

Petrichor and/or rainstorms

Playing piano

The smell of coffee

54: Something that’s worrying me at the moment.

Everything?? 😂 I’m worried about affording college tuition at the moment. I’m a senior and it’s steadily approaching.

55: Tumblr friends?

I almost yeeted my phone across the room. This is my question. 😂

@hoshithehamster, my fellow plant mother. I think we are each other’s spirit animal lol. I love you more than you know~! As a side note: She’s model material, I swear! Soooooo pretty, inside and out!

@woo-for-woojin, the most adorable and thoughtful person ever?? Always a pleasure to speak to. She gives the coolest and cutest requests ever, I’m-

@a-toxic-galaxy, one of the first people who supported this blog. I love you so much! We both have gotten a little busy lately, but I hope we never fall out of touch.

@doubleknot42, I guess more of an acquaintance? I still really want to get to know her more. The content on her blog is amazing, I highly recommend.

@ethereal-chanracha, someone who I’ve just recently started talking to. We’ve learned so much about each other in such a short time and I already think she’s so awesome! If you’re down for a good conversation, hit her up.

@palemoonpersephone, a friend I made after writing a post about my experiences at school. She is one of the sweetest, most thoughtful and hardworking people I’ve ever met. She offered to be my friend if ever I need one, and I don’t regret it. 💕

56: Favourite food(s).

Homemade granola (I make it a lot.)

Salad (Don’t @ me. I really do enjoy salad. I’m much more of an herbivore. 😂)

Most types of Chinese chicken

This spicy noodle thing I think I invented?

Italian sandwiches

Any type of spicy chip (Takis, Hot Cheetos, etc...)

Plain white rice

Gochu jang flavoured chicken

Despite this list, know that I’m a very picky eater lol

57: Favourite animal(s).

Foxes

Doggos

CATS

White tigers

HEDGEHOGS OML

58: Description of my best friend.

Y’all probably know who this is, but...

Kind

Attentive

Smart

Pretty

Passionate

gOOFY (like me)

The best plant mother in existence??? Fight me.

Patient

Empathetic

And SO much more~~!

59: Why I joined tumblr?

Initially, just to find cool posts and like/reblog whatever I enjoyed. My main blog, @assainfj, is the same blog I started with lol. It’s now become a place for me to share my thoughts and my writing and to meet amazing hoomans.

60: Ask me anything you want.

YASSSSS PLEASE I love answering your questions~~~~~! Send in as many as you’d like!

~

I tag: @hoshithehamster • @a-toxic-galaxy • @palemoonpersephone • @doubleknot42 • @ethereal-chanracha & anyone else who wants to do this!

[rethinkingthefaith]

Wanted: An End to Dogmatic Religion

Dogmatists think it their sworn duty to pass judgment on their brethren. They see it as a great commandment to spatter fellow Christians with the title "heretic," and that duty they discharge with all diligence.

They also use such terms as "deceiver" and "false teacher," sometimes even “antichrist”, but their relationship with the word "heretic" is special. It echoes through the ages of religious bigotry. In a bygone era, the cry of "heretic" sent men and women to the flames and a host of unspeakable tortures at the hands of "the orthodox." It is only fitting, then, that today’s super-orthodox should have such an attachment to the word.

The amazing thing is that the issues that distinguish the "heretics" from the "orthodox" are highly abstract with few, if any, practical applications.  Neither the precise natures of God and Christ, the dynamics of the atonement, nor the means of creation, produces the Christ-like goodness so essential to discipleship.

Dogmatism convolutes the mission of Christ. Why did Jesus walk among sinners and preach his message? Was it to make men theologically astute? Did Jesus come chiefly to give us right metaphysics, to present dogmas to the mind?

The doctrinal stalwart believes so, at least in part. To him, one of the great duties before God is to mark the right doctrinal box on the Christian checklist and to drive from the church all who don’t. The doctrine may have nothing to do with whether he loves God or neighbor, but to him, it is a matter of spiritual life and death. The dogmatist must expose all who deviate. He must ruin their reputations in the Christian community, and for this, he expects someday to hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Many heretic hunters will respond by quoting New Testament passages that condemn false teachers. There must, therefore, be such a thing, and it must be incumbent upon the church to find them and drag them into the light of day. So goes the reasoning.

But the reasoning is flawed. Virtually every false teaching attacked in the New Testament is ethical in character. The biblical authors oppose these teachings because they led to either immoral living or harsh asceticism. The condemnation is not over the doctrine’s technical incorrectness, but over the consequences of belief in it.

Gnosticism, for example, in one form taught that matter was unredeemable. It made no difference to Gnostics, therefore, what one did with the body. This led to sexual promiscuity and perversion. The early churches were infected with this teaching. It endangered Christian purity. The New Testament writers condemned it on these grounds.

The Judaizing sects also caused problems in the church. They took the unfettered character of the faith and killed it. Austere Christians (as they do today) put heavy burdens on the saints. But Jesus never imposed any of these laws on his followers. Such things were never his emphasis. He knew they engendered only pride, an outward show of piety. This was the "other gospel" anathematized by Paul in Galatians. It was not an abstract belief about the nature of Jesus or the mechanics of salvation. This is a point the dogmatists always miss.

Another is that false teachers of Paul's day openly withstood the apostles and led away disciples after themselves. They shouted down the very messengers that Christ had sent into the world. For this Paul, John and others issued stern rebuke. But honest dissenters from orthodoxy today (at least the responsible ones) do not rise up and demonize Paul. They, like their orthodox detractors, acknowledge the New Testament authors as authoritative. It is a matter of differing interpretation of the same data, not a flouting of apostolic authority.

Still, the objection is common: The Bible enjoins us to follow sound doctrine, but the word "doctrine" simply means "teaching." We would really be better off if we discarded the old term "doctrine," for it is misleading. Many Christians think it means "abstract, theological concept," but there is no justification for this thinking. Any teaching is a doctrine. Jesus’ statement "love your enemies" is a doctrine, a teaching.

Another misunderstood word is "heresy." Look up the word in a concordance or a lexicon. You will find that it does not address doctrine per se, but only division. A heresy is anything that proves divisive. A heretic is one who ruins unity among brothers and sisters. Yes, false teaching can divide Christians, and thereby be a heresy, but so can true teaching and the insistence upon theological purity. Dogmatism is itself a heresy, maybe the worst. Few things have so severed the communion of saints. Few things have so pitted brother against brother, as William Ellery Channing so eloquently points out:

"It is truly wonderful, if excommunication for supposed error be the method of purifying the church, that the church has been so long and so woefully corrupted. Whatever may have been the deficiencies of Christians in other respects, they have certainly discovered no criminal reluctance in applying this instrument of purification. Could the thunders and lightnings of excommunication have corrected the atmosphere of the church, not one pestilential vapor would have loaded it for ages. The air of Paradise would not have been more pure, more refreshing. But what does history tell us? It tells us that the spirit of exclusion and denunciation has contributed more than all other causes to the corruption of the church, to the diffusion of error; and has rendered the records of the Christian community as black, as bloody, as revolting to humanity, as the records of empires founded on conquest and guilt." [1]

But, says the detractor, how do we know what to believe unless we have an orthodoxy pointing the way? The answer is that only those things that are obviously Christian – part and parcel of the church’s witness from day one – should be deemed indispensable. These are the great themes that traverse the sacred scriptures from cover to cover, then the life of the church from the first century to the 21st. They shape the character into the image of Jesus. These, and only these, are the non-negotiables.

I believe we must each decide for ourselves what these central tenets are. (The alternative is to let someone else decide for you.) I’ve come up with my own list of non-negotiables. They are small in number, but are believed by nearly all Christians in one form or another. Dogmatists complain that these things are "least-common denominators," but in today’s increasingly secular age, they may yet be revolutionary.

I would include the following:

God is a Heavenly Father, characterized by love, goodness and justice.

Jesus bore a profound relation to God and exhibited the divine characteristics to a profound degree.

He was crucified as a supreme act of self-sacrifice. Three days later, his followers had an encounter with him that shook their lives and changed the world.

By the Holy Spirit, he bears a special relation to his people, who have found him to be a source of strength, healing, inner peace.

There is a future life.

Wickedness and righteousness will be recompensed.

God desires that we live in faith, peace, love, goodness, self-control, servant-hood.

Prayer is of great benefit.

There exists a family of saints, an intimate connection between members of the faith family. They meet regularly, become involved in each other’s lives, partake of the Lord’s Supper and practice baptism in one form or another.

No, this is not a creed. Creeds are meant to condemn non-conformists. It is a personal interpretation of what is basic to Christian faith. If someone wants to omit baptism, for example, for his or her belief system, I won’t hurl insulting names at them or deny them the Christian name. I will simply realize that not all Christians see things as I do.

My list omits doctrinal refinements, such the nature of God, the atonement, the meaning of inspiration. I believe these are side issues. To be openly dogmatic about them is to sow dissension and, thereby, become a true heretic.

If we must adhere to a creed, let it be that ancient minimalist statement of faith, the Apostle's Creed. Here is a basic set of truths that most Christians can agree upon (give or take a few points). For large portions of Christendom, this sufficed for a long time. Not until Christ's people drank deeply from the well of Greek speculation did the arcane become binding.

The world is unimpressed with our erudite arguments. Our metaphysics seldom lay hold of the human heart. But when a group of social-minded Christians moves into a disaster area to fix houses, people notice. When a man accustomed to wild, self-centered living, adopts a Christian character, it astounds all who know him. Nobody cares whether he embraces one of the historic creeds. They see life, and that's all that matters to them.

It is time, more than ever, to unite on the heart of Christian faith, to live it rather than demand conformity to somebody’s idea of "essentials," and to exalt the parable of the Good Samaritan above the churches’ most hallowed creeds and confessions.

Dogmatism has had its day. Its chronicles reek of shed blood. Broken lives and relationships litter its halls. But a new day is here, theological bigotry must now be relegated to the dead past.

Dogmatism needs a stake through its heart.

Footnotes

1 Channing, W.E., "The System of Exclusion and Denunciation in Religion Considered," from The Works of William E. Channing, D.D, (Boston: American Unitarian Association) 1889, p. 488. 

[cwhitestone-blog]

Sept 2019

Introduction

I belong to Piney Point Baptist Church, in Rogers, Arkansas.  The church has a women's ministry. Some of us are going to the Women of Joy conference in Branson, MO.  I signed up to go as well. But since I have been studying the postmodern church I had reservations about going. A little research on the speakers at the Women of Joy conference revealed my concerns were not unfounded. I discovered, mostly by watching excellent discernment ministry YouTube videos, that many W of J speakers also speak at conferences, at churches and on so-called Christian television or radio stations which promote a false Christ for a new, emergent spirituality. 

If I did go to the W of J conference, it would be good fellowship with sisters. The speakers would probably not preach anything overtly heretical. It might be fun listening to their stories. After all, these are professional speakers and storytellers. Yet I cannot in good conscience attend. I do not judge anyone for going though. It could be an opportunity to be discerning. 

What am I to do for my sisters who haven't been told the whole story about these hidden things? What is wrong with this Women of Joy conference is what is wrong with the big picture, the emerging new spirituality. I believe my sisters would want to know, so my convictions lead me to share this.

Leaders from different types of churches, from the Bible preaching to the liberal ones, share platforms at conferences and preach at each others' churches. This alliance becomes an amalgam of truth with error. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 

Some of the speakers at the upcoming Branson MO 2019 W of J conference are part of a group of professional speakers who make the conference rounds. While Women of Joy looks innocuous, many other conferences promote false doctrines and worldly agendas. Why are the same speakers sharing platforms, endorsing false teachers? This is not guilt by association but guilt by participation. 

Many of these speakers who speak at W. of J. confererences also preach at mega churches which promote heresies. I will outline these heresies as we go. They are Word of Faith, the New Apostolic Reformation, the Emergent church and New Age Spirituality. These professional speakers share platforms with those who preach these heresies. Not only do they not challenge the false teachings but they promote the false teachers. But this is spiritual adultery and idolatry....a social club of religious stardom, the speakers forming an entertaining entourage, fame more important than truth. 

Thus, conferences and churches merge, which is an agenda of the emergent church. These professional speakers promote Who's Who in religion, from Joel Olsten, TD Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Rick Warren, Mike Bickel, Kenneth Copeland, Francis Chan...whoever. They use Bible words like grace and love, not sin and holiness. Sadly many sincere seekers are taken in by the religious buzzwords. 

A few of the Women of Joy speakers I researched also speak on the Jesus Calling radio station/podcast.  Jesus Calling by Sarah Young is the bestselling channeled book sold by Christian publishers, which speaks for a false, New Age Jesus. I will elaborate more as we go, what research brought me to this conclusion. Some W of J speakers preach on problematic networks like DayStar TV, which hosts Joseph Prince and other fake healers. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The following are some of the areas I am going to research and write about in upcoming posts.  Just sharing with you the outline of topics to be discussed.

Let's look at the big picture...

I. How did the church arrive in this crisis? 

A. Mega Churches and who started them

Peter Drucker first groomed Bob Buford, then Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. 

Bob Buford

Rick Warren was heavily influenced by New Age Self-Esteem guru Robert Schuller.

    Robert Schuller:

Seeker-Friendly C3 Churches 

Church growth is a profitable business. These mega churches offer entertainment, community and a promise of heaven for everyone. They preach self esteem pop-psychology, inclusivism and ecumenism. 

B. The Emergent, Merging Church in its many manifestitations 

1. New Age Mysticism and Religious Experience Replace Truth

C. The Fall of the Evangelical Church 

Many faithful believers within SBC churches like Piney Point Baptist love the Lord and want to follow him. They do not know that the leaders of the SBC have joined hands with those who preach false doctrine and that these same people honor and meet with Pope Francis. Pope Francis has been meeting with world leaders saying religions should merge. I believe he intends to be the head of these religions in the name of world peace. (Video)     Yet Rick Warren says, if you love Jesus you'll love Pope Francis. Citation The leader of the SBC, Greer, says we should be fierce advocates for the LGBTQ community. Please watch the YouTube The SBC is Fallen The Southern Baptist Convention has fallen. It is my earnest prayer that the leadership of Piney Point Baptist will get us out of the SBC, so that our tithes do not contribute, even in a tiny way, to ungodly agendas. $$$$$$$$$$ 

The SBC includes, in its compromise with the world, over 45,000 churches. Many of these are not Evangelical, Baptist or Bible teaching. Many help lead people to hell.

E. The New Apostolic Reformation, NAR

F. Word of Faith

G. The Crazy Conference Scene

like Passion, frequented by Word of Faith and NAR heretics; as well as Show Me Your Glory and the Gathering. These conferences blend denominations and apostasies more. .

Chan, Bickle and Louie Giglio did the One Thing Conference. Kevin DeYoung, Together for the Gospel, invited Chan to his conference, even though DeYoung is more orthodox. 

These men speak at The Call, The Send, The Altar Conferences, The New Jesus movement, with its Signs and Wonders (as prophesied, “all lieing signs and wonders”). They speak of “A Dream, God's Dream”...These are their conferences seeking to bring the worldwide transition for the anti christ. That is a nightmare. It's all about Unity. Hellsong, Tod White, Heidi Baker, NAR (New Apostalic Reformation – see Note.) leaders, Jesus Culture (Bill Johnson)...they will all be at The Send conference (like Jesus sent out his apostles). 

Who are the Leaders at the Women of Joy Conferences?

A. First let's look at the leaders at the Branson MO Oct 2019 W of J Conference

Liz Curtis Higgs speaks on LifeTodayTV which features Beth Moore. I believe there is evidence Moore has walked away from the faith. 

Beth Moore used to seem like a good Bible study teacher until she got a vision from God that evangelicals should unite with Catholics. She befriends the superstars of the false church system including Joyce Meyer, the Olsteens, and Hillsong leaders. 

Annie F. Downs

Annie Downs is affiliated with Pastor Ray Johnston's Bayside Church. Bayside does Thrive conferences which host heretics like Francis Chan, who is part of the New Apostolic Reformation (See note.) Ray Johnston replaces doctrine with the social gospel. 

Downs podcasts on the Jesus Calling channel. 

Also, Annie Downs speaks and writes for Relevant, which features Carl Lentz, leader of Hillsong New York. (It is relevant who Relevant represents.) 

Carl Lentz

Karen Kingbury - fine.

Sheila Walsh was a former host of the 700 Club host. She speaks at Saddleback with Warren, and at Hillsong. 

B. Now let's look at speakers at other W of J confererences.

Bianca Olthoff  seems really suspect. I took one look at her picture and thought, “transgender” but, of course, that was my gut reaction and I don't know; although I did find a strange YouTube video which may confirm this. “B*thel C*urch: Dr Bianca Olthoff Preaching Hebrew Swag Conference transgender approved satanic mind control.” At _____, Bianca says, “you can bless my heart if...(pause)...no one told me you could see up my dress.” Her meta message seems to be, don't tell what you might have seen up my dress. I wouldn't doubt that Olthoff would be capable of mocking Christian women in this way since she is affiliated with Bethel Church. She hosts “Bible” studies with names like “Play with Fire Small Group Bible Study.” 

Bethel Church, Bill Johnson

Alli Worthington – links a Katie Perry song to her page which comes with a parental advisory. She makes the rounds. 

Lysa Terkeurst - Lysa wrote a decent book about two gardens but Lysa Terkeurst is someone I will no longer read because she speaks at Elevation, endorsing Steven Furtick. (I recommend women's Bible study books by Susan Heck, who has memorized 23 books of the Bible.) 

Steven Furtick, Elevation

Lisa Harper makes the rounds to Hillsong and Hillsong Colour Conference, Elevation Church, the C3 San Diego Church... She is also on the Jesus Calling Devotional Podcast and the 700 Club. 

Hillsong churches andHillsong Colour Conference

Christine Caine

III. Have they Joined the Heresy Club? 

A. The Respectable Deceived

Even some seemingly spiritual giants are straying. John MacArthur, for instance has put his dubious friendships over truth by sharing speaking platforms with NAR leaders and others. I thank God that MacArthur is still a godly Bible teacher, though. 

What's wrong Ravi Zacharias? He speaks at Saddleback mega church with Rick Warren. Ravi commends Joyce Meyer and Henri Nouwen. Elaborat He can tell you why Christianity makes more sense than the Koran yet he endorses leaders who deceive. 

Lee Strobel makes a convincing case for Christ yet hooks up with Willowcreek mega church. (Elaborate)

These men often preach correct doctrine. Yet, apparently, intellectual assent to a set of propositional truths does not give them spiritual discernment regarding false teachers. They are not heeding scriptures which tell us to watch out for wolves in sheep's clothing. We are certainly not to promote them.

Beth Moore, once a spiritual giant to evangelical women with her Bible studies, is still a darling of the SBC, making the rounds at mega churches, yet she is now preaching a different gospel, a different Jesus. Beth said she had a vision: God wants Protestants to unite with Catholics. Beth is completely inclusive, preaching with Word of Faith Joyce Meyer, both saying, “there should be no divisions.” She has heavily influenced the SBC ecumenist, political operative Roger Moore. 

Francis Chan, NAR, is a popular conference speaker who hangs out with cult leader Mike Bickle, Pastor Rick Warren and Lou Ingle. Chan says if you speak against Rick Warren, God might kill you. YouTube 'Apostasy Report – Francis Chan The Deceiver” Servus Christi. 

Mike Bickle –  YouTube “Mike Bickle false teacher.” 

Btw, I live in Rogers, Arkansas and was curious about The Joppa House of Prayer because I drive by it. When I visited I saw worship leaders from a conservative congregation, Fellowship Bible Church in Lowell, helping with the music in the sanctuary. But when there is no live music, The International House of Prayer is livestreamed on the big screen in the sanctuary. This was my introduction to the IHOP cult. I knew something was wrong right away hearing the Kansas City prophets make false prophesies on the big screen.  But who is sounding the alarm about this at Fellowship Bible Church?  Then I went into the healing rooms and saw advertisements for healings offering which use New Age and Word of Faith practices.

IHOP and the Kansas City Prophets - 

What the Bible Says About False Teachers and Deceivers

Regarding associating with and promoting heretics, read 1 John 1:10, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting.”

Watch  “Mike Bickel IHOP and Mysticism.wmv” – Soapa Preachers. 

Rick Warren – says, if you love Pope Francis you'll love Jesus. One could write books about what is wrong with him; yet Pastor Rick is on Christian radio, with his seemingly harmless checklists for how you are doing in the Christian life. How about what he is doing in the Christian life?! 

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

Hillsong

Carl Lenz

700 Club

Bethel Church

Steven Furtick, Elevation 

and on and on.

[putschki1969]

LINE LIVE ~ Summary

Here’s my summary of yesterday’s LINE LIVE. I am incapable of keeping things short so be prepared for a wall of text. I tried to lighten things up by inserting a few screenshots here and there ⊂((・▽・))⊃ Title: Wakana Solo Debut、「Toki wo Koeru Yoru ni」Release Special Broadcast Date/Time：2019/2/6 21:00～21:50 Victor Channel Download link

We start off with an introduction to the program. In order to celebrate the release of Wakana’s solo debut single, Victor Channel is hosting a special LINE LIVE. The program is hosted by Natsuko Aso. She says she will ask Wakana about all kinds of things, her profile, her music, her hobbies. Towards the end of the program they will play the full PV of “Toki wo Koeru Yoru ni”, etc

Natsuko then advises viewers to remove the comment section on the side if they want to see a full-sized Wakana.

It seems like Natsuko and Wakana have met before but it’s been a while since they have last seen each other. [All I could find on that is an old Kalafina blog post from 2011. Apparently they all performed together at KITAKYUSHU 2011 but they probably met on various other occasions.] Anyways, after the usual formalities of telling each other how happy they are to see each other again Natsuko asks Wakana whether she is feeling nervous to do this live together with her and Wakana confirms that yes, she is super nervous.  She then asks Natsuko if it’s okay to call her Nat-chan like she used to back in the day. Natsuko immediately says yes, of course it’s okay. Wakana continues by saying that it’s totally fine if Natsuko calls her “Wa-chan” or “Waka-chan” or simply “Wakana”, no formalities please [Natsuko is quite a few years younger than Wakana so that offer seemed to make her a bit uncomfortable].

Nat then congratulates Wakana on the release of her single and asks her how she feels now that the CD is finally out. Wakana is super happy and excited of course. The song really transcended time because there was quite a long period between its first performance in August last year and its release. It’s about time it got released!

We continue with a short profile of Wakana’s life/career. The usual stuff, born on Dec 10, from Fukuoka, started singing early, first acitivities as FictionJunctuion Wakana, breakthrough as member of Kalafina and now after celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Kalafina she is debuting as solo artist under Victor Entertainment. Nat is surprised to find out Wakana is from Fukuoka. Wakana then explains that she was born in Tokyo but raised in Fukuoka so she feels like that is her home. Nats wonders if there is any good stuff to eat there and Wakana is more than happy to answer, she is like, “YES, there is!!!!” People in Fukuoka like to eat udon instead of ramen and Wakana’s favourite is udon with fried burdock (gobouten) (something that’s very hard to find in Tokyo). Wakana is like, “now I have become an udon ambassador”. Next they talk about how Wakana got into music. It’s the usual stuff again. Her dad likes to play the guitar, her mum used to be a music teacher, she has always been surrounded by music so naturally she became very fond of it too. She started taking lessons very early, then she was part of a gospel choir and took vocal lessons. But as we know, she originally wanted to become a mangaka or opera singer but that didn’t really happen. She then decided she would focus on singing (although not on an operatic level).

Next up is some talk about Wakana’s private hobby, namely her camera. Wakana reads through some of the comments and sees how many people are watching so she gets a bit nervous. There are lots of people waving so Wakana being the energetic person she is goes a little overboard with her waving.

Now we get to the camera. Wakana grabs it from a table nearby and says that she really loves taking pictures. She shows off all the cool features of the camera and takes a picture of the two of them. Wakana has always loved taking pictures of the sky with her phone so she wanted to try using a real camera for a change. Wakana is proud of the pic she took of them, it turned out nicely, a girly get together. She feels like this has turned into a teleshopping channel, she apologises. With this camera she likes to take pictures of the sky (like before), of nature and she also likes to capture special off shot moments.

Then we see some recent shots Wakana took.

This is one of her plants at home, she has forgotten its name though. She talks about spending a lot of time watering her plants and talking to them. It has become a ritual. She also has a little “angel” corner here which she likes a lot, she is a big fan of wings.

Next up is another one of her plants, it’s a christmas rose which she received as present recently. She is so happy that it already bloomed but she worries what will happen to it this summer since the flowers only bloom when it is cold

They just reached 10,000 viewers. CONGRATS! Wakana gets even more nervous.

We continue with some shark pics because hey, this is Wakana so of course this program has to include sharks. There are pics of her favourite tiger sharks which can be found at Fukuoka Marine World. She explains that she goes to aquariums all the time and that she really loves sharks, how they are so cute, how their form is beautiful, etc...Nat says that she has watched a couple of shark films and Wakana immediately wants to know which ones (=> Deep Blue Sea and Lost Vacation - some of Wakana’s faves actually). Wakana is so happy to talk about those films and of course she has to mention that Blake Lively’s body looks amazing, no matter how many times she watches the movie, she is always blown away by how gorgeous she looks. She recommends those films to everyone who wants some simple entertainment. And now the teleshopping program has fully turned into a shark program. Time to introduce her shark goods. Her infamous tea cup of course and her keyholder. Nat points out that Wakana’s tour goods look like they could be aquarium merch, they don’t have anything to do with Wakana. When Wakana gives her goods to friends they also usually believe that it’s a souvenir from the aquarium.

It’s time to end this shark corner and continue with some talk about the single. Wakana explains how this was her first time writing lyrics. When she first heard the melody of Toki wo Koeru Yoru ni she worried a lot because she didn’t know what kind of lyrics to write. She had to write tons of notes because she had no idea where to start, she would just write down random thoughts while listening to the song. Eventually she would pick out the lines she liked and create some proper lyrics. At this point she realised how much hard work it is to write lyrics, she had never really been aware of that. Nat asks if Wakana has a favourite line or phrase. She really likes the final chorus. Because this song is s collab between Shusui and a Swedish composer the song has a very Western/European vibe. The first version she heard of the song had English lyrics and she was super impressed by the song and she felt quite intimidated. Wakana was super embarrassed when she sang the song for the first time last August because she didn’t know if her lyrics would be well-received but since then she also performed it during her tour so she has become quite confident. That made it easy for her to do the recording (which followed much later). At that point the song had already changed quite a bit due to the different performances and interpretations, it really became her own and she felt very comfortable singing it in the studio. Then we have the live version of Tsubasa. Wakana says that she started her performance being quite nervous but with every line she sang she gained confidence since the song is quite empowering. That’s why she is happy that this live version was chosen even though you can probably hear her nervousness during some parts. Nat is super impressed by those two completely different songs, Wakana’s expressions are pretty much the exact opposite so it’s quite astonishing. Wakana goes on to explain that the song was written by Satoshi Takebe who also produced her tour. He left a huge impression on her because she learned a lot from him.

~ Toki wo Koeru Yoru ni PV ~ Wakana loves the contrast between the nature and urban setting and she likes how there is such a vast world introduced in the PV. All the wide shots are amazing. Nat says the PV has a very fantastical vibe to it, it almost feels like an illusion with all the lovely sparkles. Nat wonders if the PV was actually shot in Sweden because the atmosphere seems so European. Wakana has to disappoint her though, she did not go to Sweden unfortunately. However, they tried to find a location that would have a sort of nostalgic European vibe. Wakana is super happy they were able to find such a gorgeous location. The water was particularly beautiful because it reflected the forest in the background. She is also excited because she got to go on a boat and all the boat scenes where shot with a drone which turned out super well. Wakana says that she had a phone with her on the boat and staff members would tell her what to do ,“okay, now pretend to sleep. Ah yes, the sun looks beautiful now. Perfect. Stay as you are...” Wakana really wanted to look at the beautiful sun but since she needed to pretend to be asleep she couldn’t. Afterwards she got a chance to look though and she also took some pictures with the phone she had with her, she got some great shots. She will probably upload those pics on the blog someday soon. Nat then points out that it must have been very cold during the shooting since you can see Wakana’s breath during some scenes. Wakana admits that this was the coldest she has ever been in her entire life. In the past she had often shot PVs where it had been freezing but it was never as bad as during her shooting for “Toki wo Koeru Yoru ni”. She had never seen her breath like that. When she watched a few scenes they had shot she thought she had become “Godzilla Wakana”

Nat reassures her that she didn’t look Godzilla-like at all. It really fitted the entire winter atmosphere of the PV and it helped to make it more emotional. We then get some off-shots from the shoot. Nat is impressed how much work it takes to get a PV like that done. Wakana agrees, it’s a group effort and everyone did an amazing job.

Wakana really loved the location for the urban night scenery. She wishes that was her apartment but alas it isn’t. For a moment though she had Nat convinced that it was in fact her apartment XD

Nat catches Wakana a little off-guard when she says they should continue with some information. Wakana looks at her schedule sheet and is a bit confused but then she realises it’s time to talk about her album and tour. Nat introduces all the album details we already know. Wakana is like, “OMG, there is so much content on Version B”. Everyone should get it because it includes a HUUUUGE poster of her XD

Wakana says that the album is very Wakana-like (hence the title) but it also introduces a NEW Wakana so she is looking forward to everyone discovering those new facets of her. Wakana loves the dress she wears on the cover design because it’s super flowy. The wind was strong when they took those pictures so it almost looks like she has wings. She thinks that’s very fitting because she is leaping into a new direction, discovering new parts of herself. On a side note, the pose on her promotional picture was extremely uncomfortable but she likes the end result. She generally loves how the pictures turned out. The weather was lovely during the shoot as well. Wakana says that the cameraman is lucky because he always brings good weather with him (unlike Wakana who always brings rain with her - she notes that it has been raining all day in Tokyo). Nat points out that it didn’t seem to rain during the PV shooting so Wakana isn’t THAT unlucky. However, Wakana reveals that it did in fact rain that day (just a little though and the sky eventually cleared up to allow those grogeous final scenes).

Some more news about the release events, the clearfile tokutens, the tour dates, the LINE ticket lottery etc...

Wakana says she wants to show parts of her new self in the upcoming tour (of course this will involve her single and album). She thinks there will be a lot of people coming that don’t really know her from before so she really wants to leave a good impression. She has been thinking a lot about what to do for this tour. At any rate, she wants to create a warm and comfortable atmosphere. Lastly, some info about the new twitter account. It is going to be run by staff members because Wakana is absolutely clueless when it comes to Twitter. However, she thinks she might try to post once in a while. Nat then reads out a few comments by fans saying they will attend so and so many tour lives. Wakana is like, “I am gonna attend ALL of them!! So everyone, please come to all of them as well!”

It’s about time to end the program so Nat asks if Wakana has anything left to say. Wakana says they shouldn’t end the video so soon since it’s only been about 30 minutes. Nat then realises that she has failed to call Wakana by her nicknames. Wakana says it’s fine. She then goes on to thank everyone for this precious time. She had lots of fun talking with Nat and sharing some info. She feels grateful to all the fans who watched the LINE live. Wakana asks if Nat would mind if they talked a bit longer, she doesn’t want to force her but she is enjoying herself so much, she doesn’t want it to end yet. Nat doesn’t mind of course and she suggests they talk a little more about Wakana’s favourite topic...sharks. Obviously Wakana is more than excited and even interrupts Nat while she is about to ask a question. Wakana calms down and aplogises, asking Nat what she wants to know. Nat is curious what made Wakana fall in love with sharks. As we all know, she started out by liking dinosaurs. When Nat hears this she can’t believe it because she loves dinosaurs too. Wakana is beyond excited to have found a fellow dino-fan.

Nats asks if Wakana went to the dinosaur expo and Wakana is like, “dude, OF COURSE!” It was so cool. They are already making plans to go together to this year’s expo. Wakans says that she has loved dinosaurs ever since she watched Jurassic Park at the cinema with her father and brother. She was quite scared initially and her dad worried about her but she was fine at the end. The dinosaurs really impressed her. From that point on she was really into dinos and then she found out about the ancient shark megalodon. After that there was no turning back, she fell in love with sharks due to their awesomeness. She is happy the film MEG was released recently because now everyone knows how cool that shark is. Some more fangirling about sharks and dinosaurs. Nat states that this is the first time she has met a woman who is as passionate about dinosaurs as her. Wakana agrees, there aren’t many women with this kind of hobby.

Final info about the tour and some final words of gratitude to the viewers. She hopes everyone will join her on this journey in a new direction.Wakana has already decided on her tour goods and Nat is looking forward to seeing them. Right when they were waving goodbye they reached 20,000 viewers. BANZAI. 

[ick25]

Rockman.EXE Episode 32 Review.

No, not that one, this one.

 Gray and boring Internet city from the early 2000′s.

The episode opens with Meiru-chan arriving at Netto’s house, she runs up to his room and turns on his computer while Netto is just waking up. She is excited to show him the new Net City aka Internet city, where she then proceeds to plug-in Rockman before the title card appears.

“You call my mom an old lady, come into my house, enter my room, log into my computer, and wake me up just to send my Navi to the very thing that made this game based anime even exist?”

Okay, to be fair, Internet city represents a solid place in cyberspace where Navis can walk freely and interact with eachother, all the times we’ve seen Navis travel through the net it is a tunnel created by electrical waves, which is basically what the internet is (and the Wave world, but thats another story).

After the title card, we see Roll taking Rockman somewhere that has strange cube like programs that gather around him, pressumely security programs since Roll is able access something leaving him behind. As Rockman starts to be scanned, Meiru tells Netto how to create an account to enter Internet city, you know, so he can get spam mail and stuff.

Roll takes Rockman by the hand and they run together to the gates that lead to Internet city, which was cutted from the dub for some reason.

Netto and Rockman are amazed to see the huge city, Roll-chan takes Rockman’s arm and shows him around like they were on a date. As they walk, Rockman recognizes Aki-chan on one of the floating screens.

American viewer: Hey, who is that? Why does Megaman know her?

Dub: She is obviously a famous pop singer in their world, Megaman knows her because she is famous, not because they met in some episode we never aired or anything.

American viewer: O_O ...Ok.

 Rockman and Roll are then greeted by Glyde who asks them if they are shopping together.

Yes, Rockman, shopping. Have you heard about something called Amazon?

Roll continues to show Rockman around internet city, making me wonder why is there a bank out in the street, but if that wasn’t weird enough they also pass by a Navi fitness shop where a program is saying that Gutsman is fat.

Navis can get fat? How? Wouldn’t it make more sense if they were saying that he was heavy because he had too many programs installed or something? That would at least explain why Gutsman is too slow compared to Rockman and maybe why he doesn’t have enough memory to articulate words. XP

We cut to Yaito in her very own tennis court where Glyde tells her that he is done with his errands, and mentions Roll showing Rockman around internet city.

Because she is not in the mood to use the gold bathtub, I’m serious, that is what she says.

One of Yaito’s butlers tells her that her order of strawberry milk shake is delayed and that he is going over with some maids to get it, meaning Yaito is gonna stay home alone for a while, I’m sure that is not gonna be a problem later on.

Yaito leaves to her bath humming Aki-chan’s song who we see in the next scene singing live at internet city for its grand opening. After hearing the long version of Aki-chan’s cheezy song, Roll gets pissed after noticing that Rockman is making a lovey dovey face while listening to Aki’s song and decides to take him away. Aki seems to recognize Rockman leaving by waving her noodle arms at him, something that didn’t made sense in the dub since the episode where they met Aki was skipped.

American viewer: “It looks like Aki knows Rockman”

Dub: “She would wave to any fan she sees leaving”

American viewer: ...I guess.

They are surprised to find Higureya in Internet city and decide to enter where they are greeted by both Numberman and Higure.

Netto, it’s the internet, anyone can put up a buisness site for free, which would eventually lead to many internet frauds.

Higure tells Netto about an exhibition match that he is gonna take part in to show everyone the Net coloseum and explain how Net battles have changed since the N-1 grand prix, I’m guessing this is a reference to BN2 that changed the battle mechanics from the first game.

Speaking of BN2, we hear a strange conversation going on with the exact same lines from the beginning of the game before heading over to the Net colloseum.

With Roll and Rockman joining the audience, Midorikawa appears to explain that the Net colosseum has different battle arenas, sadly, not once in any of the seasons of the anime do we get to see a different scenerio in the colosseum.

We are also introduced to Midorikawa’s Navi Toadman, who will battle Numberman for the exhibition match. During the battle we see Toadman’s musical note attack, and also, he moves so fast that I just now noticed that he is surfing on a lilypad.

Higure sends a Fire Tower and a cannon, Numberman summons the fire tower, but the cannon appears on the battlefield where Higure can control the fire, for Netto’s surprise.

Though, this seems to be the only change in Net battles because after this the rest of the battle goes on normaly, until Midorikawa attacks Numberman with three mini Bombs and Higure tries to send the Dream Aura only to realized that it is a rare chip, and poor Numberman is blown away.

Midorikawa and Toadman are the victors, and before logging out, she reminds everyone about the colosseum being the only place in internet city where Navis can use Battle chips.

Because it’s not like somebody can sneak a virus into the city or anything.

After commercials, Rockman and Roll-chan are enjoying the view of the city, until Rockman notices a strange Navi on top of a building.

The Navi is dressed in a cloak and seems to be scanning some data before jumping off the roof and dissapearing as he falls, leaving Rockman confused.

Shortly after this, Rockman receives a call from Glyde telling them that Yaito is in trouble. It looks like somebody infiltrated her mansion’s security program and started to leak poison gas during her bath.

I guess she should’ve went with the gold bathtub?

Netto and Meiru rush over to Yaito’s mansion with Rockman and Roll going on ahead through the network. The Navis arrive at the entrance of the system, that for some reason has gas in it, and they find Glyde on the ground who tells them that they must fix the water heater program. Rockman tells Roll to stay with Glyde as he enters the gate that takes him to a factory like place where gas starts to blow up from the floor.

The program is unstable for Rockman accidentally causes a path to fall apart. Needing to get to the other side to fix the water heater program, Netto developes an idea after seeing a screw nut conveniently fall into a pressurised air vent that blows it to the other side.

Netto tells Rockman to close the valve, then jump above it as he fires his Rock buster to open it up again, he then uses the air pressure to fly accross.

After Rockman successfully reaches the other side, he finds the water heater program where he is ambushed by three tornados. The attacker is a Navi named Airman who won’t allow Rockman to fix the program. Airman continues to attak Rockman with a series of wind attacks, but Netto, who finally arrives at Yaito’s mansion, protects him with a barrier.

“What? First you tell me I’m late, and now you complaine about me leaving you with a sword to defend yourself? It’s not like an actual human life is more important than you right now.”

Yaito’s butler comes back with her strawberry milk only to find Netto and Meiru trying to open the door to Yaito’s bath. After seeing that Airman’s intrusion doesn’t allow the butler to open the bathroom doors, Netto decides to use his classic bandalism skills to throw a probably expensive vase at Yaito’s glass door, (causing Meiru to lose her socks in that shot). Gas starts to pour out and Netto uses a folding fan to blow it away for Meiru to run inside and carry Yaito out.

With Yaito finally safe, Netto can focus on Rockman’s battle. Rockman asks Airman why he is doing this, and Airman’s netop, who’s name is Arashi, tells him that it is because she is the only daughter of the head of Gabgom.

Netto naturally gets pissed over this reason and begins to battle with everything he’s got. When sending a cannon battle chip, the cannon appears on the field making Netto remember the exhibition match from earlier and starts to fire at Airman.

Arashi sends in a triple tornado attack making Airman create a giant twister, this causes Netto’s PET to automatically activate the Style Change and Rockman uses the Heat Guts Style to destroy the twister.

But I think he might have deleted Airman in the process, always use the Heat Guts with caution, kids.

Yaito finally wakes up.

That is actually what she says in the game, and it’s just as uncomfortable.

Arashi tries to flee from where he is, but he is surrounded by the Net Agents. So I guess the whole conversation in episode 12 about “criminals only being arrested over the net” is thrown out the window here.

 After the police takes Arashi away, Commander Beef receives a call from the public phone where a mysterious voice tells him that Arashi was working for an organization named Grave aka Gospel, and that things are gonna get worse from there.

And the episode ends with giant dark clouds appearing over Internet city where it starts to rain.

Well, time to sing.

My thoughts?

I know, for a place called internet city, it isn’t what we would imagine the internet to look like, it focused more on the economic part of the web because all we see are businesses, shops and banking systems. Internet city is like the “kid friendly” and “safe” version of the internet where Net Battles are the only source of entertainment.

As always the dub changed lines and edited scenes, like the Navi fitness center where Gutsman finds out that he is fat, its changed to him losing in some game, like a cyber casino or something? I guess the idea of Navis getting fat would be a little confusing.

 The poison gas in Yaitos mansion was compleatly recolored to look like steam, instead of attempting to kill Yaito with toxic gas, Arashi had her trapped in a super sauna.

The idea of Internet city is a reference to the cyber squares introduced in Battle Network 2 that are virus free areas where Navis can hang out, buy stuff and enter chat rooms.

This is the first mention of the net mafia Gospel. In the game, Arashii was never arrested, after he lost to Rockman he recieves a call from the Gospel leader saying that they have no need for him anymore, Arashii soon finds out that they planted a bomb in his briefcase that explodes and destroys part of the metro station. We have to keep the anime kid friendly, though they stopped doing that once Axess aired.

[carolap53]

WITHOUT WOMEN THERE WOULD BE NO CHURCH Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Matthew 27:55

The New Testament records the fact that many women were among the larger body of disciples that followed and served Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, we only know the names and stories of a few. They were more loyal to Jesus at the time of his crucifixion than his male disciples.

Despite the patriarchal society of that day, four women—two of them Gentile foreigners—were named in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel chapter one. It is significant that Jesus included women in his teaching putting them on equality with men. The same ethical and moral standards were demanded from both genders and the same way of salvation was offered for both.

Throughout the Bible, women filled significant roles—from leadership like Deborah to unique motherhood like Mary. The same has been true of those in the persecuted church.

A pastor in Cuba once told me, “Lenin said that without women there would be no revolution. I say that without women there would be no church!”

In China, the group of Christians who have had a major role in the revival and church growth are referred to locally as “Bible Women.” Chairman Mao once said, “Women hold up half the sky.” But it is estimated that about seventy per cent of the active Christian workers and church leaders in China today are women.

For example, Chinese Bible Woman, Ding Xianggao, has an incredible testimony. She is a young itinerant evangelist in China. Very much aware of the cost, she says, “In my country there are many brothers and sisters who suffer for Christ. Some of my co-workers have spent thirty years in prison for the sake of the gospel.”

Two of her associates were actually martyred. Because she is a hunted woman, she often sleeps in caves and fields to avoid capture.

Her commitment is expressed this way: “Jesus died for me. The least I should do is die for Him. To suffer and go to prison for Him is my honour, and I look forward to it.” She ended up in a large prison with over eight hundred inmates involved in prostitution, murder and kidnapping. But Ding believed God had placed her there for a reason. After three years she was released from prison. But not before seventy-eight people had made a personal commitment to Christ.

Sister Chan was sent to prison for six months for public preaching in central China, a prison with six thousand other women. During her time there, she led eight hundred women to faith in Jesus.

God uses everyone who is available in establishing His kingdom on earth.

RESPONSE: Today I will not assume that I am not useable by God. I will make myself available to Him.

PRAYER: Pray for the ministry of Christian women around the world—especially those who serve our Lord in difficult assignments or places.

Open Doors Ministry

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 213 “Escape From Karafuto”

And so with this chapter we enter in fairytale zone as a character seems to come straight from one.

Please meet Vasily, the Little Red Riding Hood of our story.

Why Red Riding Hood and not Prince Charming?

We’ll talk about it later on.

We starts the story with a flashback. Shiraishi and Asirpa are in the same room and the lady of the inn warns them that the ferry for Hokkaido will leave the day after as it has been repaired but they will have to boat it from a place away from the village due to the drifting ice.

At this Shiraishi replies they aren’t going to use it but a special boat to go back to Hokkaido.

The flashback ends, showing us Shiraishi and Tanigaki running, Shiraishi ahead of him, telling him only he and Asirpa should know about the ferry and that he’s sure Asirpa is going to try to take it.

This means that yes, Asirpa planned to leave Shiraishi behind…

...and, I won’t lie, for a long while I was unhappy with this idea. Shiraishi is part of their group and she grew quite angry when Sugimoto tried to leave her behind so why is she doing it again to Shiraishi?

Then I realized something relevant.

Sugimoto (and us as well) knows that Shiraishi was against handing Asirpa to Tsurumi… but very likely so far Shiraishi never mentioned it to Asirpa. Asirpa saw him never commenting against the situation, never suggesting they were to escape as he did when they were with Kiro...

...and likely thought Shiraishi was fine with that development, with handing her to Tsurumi.

Asirpa probably felt very alone when she had to come to the decision of escaping after Sugimoto supported so strongly the idea she just should hand Tsurumi the code and pull out of the gold hunt and Shiraishi said nothing over the whole matter… and she might have feared the others would stop her if she were to tell them she wanted to run.

So, maybe, running away and hoping the others would tail after her was her own way to give them a choice without giving up her chance to decide of her own life.

In my country we’ve a saying ‘whoever loves me must follow me’, which, ironically is based on a sentence in the gospel of Matthew ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’ [Matthew 16:24]

In a way I think Asirpa did this.

If Sugimoto and Shiraishi want to side with her, they would follow her and not Tsurumi. She’s not really escaping from them like Sugimoto did from her in chap 14, she’s, after all, running away in front of them so they can give chase if they want to.

Yes, a talk would probably be more appreciated, but Sugimoto had previously made clear how he felt and I guess Asirpa felt she couldn’t talk him out of that belief so she put him in front of a choice instead.

She should have probably had more faith on Shiraishi… but maybe the whole thing with Sugimoto made her wary.

So, back to the story we go.

Asirpa and Sugimoto had temporally hid under a building so Asirpa can pack Sugimoto’s wounds in order to stop him from leaving a trail of blood that will lead to them. Yes, put in this way it seems a quite utilitaristic thing more than an act of care as Sugimoto also needs medical aid in order to survive… but if they end in Tsurumi’s hands Sugimoto will likely be killed so, for the moment, escaping is THEIR PRIORITY.

Asirpa encourages Sugimoto to hold on, telling him the ship isn’t far.

When they leave their hideout they immediately meet with Little Red Riding Hood on a horse. No, okay, it’s Vasily, but Asirpa calls him ‘Zukin-chan’ (頭巾ちゃん).

The scanlations translate it just as ‘hood guy’ but it’s actually more than this. In fact while ‘ Zukin’ means “Hood” and it’s clearly based on the fact Vasily wears one while everyone likely knows ‘-chan’ is an endearing suffix that is either used with girls or children or even loved ones or when you want to turn a name ‘cute’ so ‘Zukin-chan’ could be translated as something like ‘Little Hood’.

Now in Japanese ‘Little red riding hood’ is usually called ‘Akazukin-chan’ (赤頭巾ちゃん),

where ‘aka’ just means ‘red’, hence me nicknaming him ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ even if his nick actually misses the red part. It helps he’s riding as he shows up… and the irony is double if we consider that Asirpa is the wolf’s (Wilk) cub and later on they’ll mention how she should go visiting her grandma.

Note that the nick is probably courtesy of Shiraishi and not of Asirpa as he is the one who tends to attach ‘-chan’ to each name (Yeah, you might not have noticed in the scanlations but Shiraishi actually used Ogata-chan, Kiro-chan, Koito-chan, Genjirou-chan…).

As Vasily couldn’t talk due to the wound Ogata gave him, Shiraishi was likely the one coming up with the nick and Asirpa ended up using it (Asirpa normally doesn’t use ‘-chan’ at all and, if asked to come up with a nick, would have likely gone for a ‘Zukin no Otoko’ (頭巾の男 “Guy with the hood”) or ‘Zukin-jin’ (頭巾人 “Hood man”) more than with ‘Zukin-chan’.

So Little Red Riding Hood *chough* I mean Vasily stretches his hand to them, obviously offering to help them by giving them a ‘lift’.

Sugimoto comments this means Vasily was watching the whole thing from afar and that he’s probably willing to help her because he’s still chasing Ogata and thinking Ogata won’t try to get close if Asirpa is kept under guard by Tsurumi’s men, hence he is all in favour of them escaping.

While Vasily is clearly still longing to meet Ogata (is Ogata supposed to be the ‘hunter’ in this “Golden Kamuy” version of “Little Red Riding Hood”?) I’m honestly not so sure this is the case.

It has been a long while from the last time we heard Vasily’s thoughts so it’s kind of hard to guess what’s going in his mind. We’ll see.

Anyway Asirpa doesn’t comment but gives him quite a stare.

What is she seeing, considering she commented she would figure out which sort of man Tsurumi is by looking at him? That Vasily is fundamentally planning to use her as a human bait, same as he did with Shiraishi?

Shiraishi and Tanigaki are still running and were actually ahead of Asirpa and Sugimoto when those two, now on Vasily’s horse with Vasily, reach them.

It’s noteworthy Shiraishi is leading and Tanigaki is following. As a soldier Tanigaki should be better at running due to all his training but Golden Kamuy joked often on how Tanigaki is not that fast.

Asirpa calls Shiraishi, who’s happy to see her commenting she’s doing as he thought. Asirpa tells him to get on.

From this exchange we can already anticipate what’s going to follow afterward.

When Tanigaki tells them to wait, planning to either stop them or join them, Shiraishi tells him that’s ‘too bad’ (悪いな ‘warui na’... yes, it can also be translated as just "sorry") but the horse has only 4 spots and Asirpa, while Shiraishi is giving him a glare, tells him something Tanigaki should have figured out by himself. He can’t come along as Tsurumi has Inkarmat.

Tanigaki tells her something Asirpa should already know, since she has figured out about Inkarmat. That Asirpa can’t go back as Tsurumi and his men are probably watching her village. This is Tanigaki’s priority after all, for Asirpa to go back and his problem with Asirpa escaping is that Asirpa won’t be able to go back this way.

I fear Tanigaki is so sure Tsurumi is a good guy he didn’t realize Asirpa told him to stay behind due to Inkarmat because Asirpa realized Tsurumi can use her to blackmail him… and so he didn’t realize either Tsurumi can do more than keep watch on Asirpa’s village, he can try to use Huci and the others to blackmail her.

The choice is tough on Asirpa but if she were to give the gold to Tsurumi the Ainu would be in troubles anyway so I guess she decided to risk.

In telling Tanigaki to go tell Huci she dreamt of meeting her again and that this might cause Huci to feel at ease it’s possible Asirpa, more than believing it’ll work, is trying to have Tanigaki be around Huci so as to protect her as well.

I wonder though, what Tanigaki is feeling by hearing Asirpa saying the words he told to Inkarmat. Noda so far as refused to let us know what had happened to her. Maybe she’s fine and dandy, maybe it’ll turn out that her time with Tanigaki resulted in her getting pregnant… or maybe Ienaga had her for dinner and now she looks like Inkarmat.

We’ll see.

Shiraishi, in a serious tone, tells him to take care of himself.

Shiraishi and Tanigaki used to be in good terms… but this was before Tanigaki got hell bent in killing Kiro, Shiraishi’s friend, and left behind Inkarmat in the process, not mentioning he left Shiraishi to fend on his own when Vasily attacked them. So honestly I think Shiraishi’s feelings for Tanigaki are complicate.

Shiraishi is a sociable guy… but he might not view him as a friend like he used to do before.

Sugimoto says nothing, not even goodbye. Although Tanigaki in Abashiri risked his life to save him and helped him in the snowstorm the two of them never became friends the same way as Shiraishi and Sugimoto are… so I don’t really know what he’s thinking.

Maybe that he’s just a lucky guy who can go back to the person he loves.

The group leaves. Short later Kikuta spots Tanigaki just standing there which really, is not bringht, in fact he immediately scolds him and asks him where Shiraishi went.

Kikuta clearly considers Tanigaki as a soldier still serving under the 7th, in fact he keeps on addressing him as ‘Private First Class Tanigaki’. Tanigaki lies and tells him Shiraishi ran toward the town with Asirpa and Sugimoto.

Kikuta scolds him again, telling him he should have ran after him and that he should start running now.

Tanigaki chooses this moment to point out he’s a Matagi, ‘Tanigaki the Matagi’ (マタギの谷垣 “Matagi no Tanigaki”).

This sends me back to when Nihei asked him if he was ‘Tanigaki the Matagi or mister Tanigaki the soldier?”’ (マタギの谷垣か兵隊さんの谷垣か ‘Matagi no Tanigaki ka Heitai-san no Tanigaki ka’).

Tanigaki has decided he’s a Matagi and therefore not a soldier obliged to obey Tsurumi and his men. While this would be good for him, his timing is horrible and the fact he’s telling this to Kikuta is blindly stupid. He has just, let Shiraishi escape, lied to him, let Sugimoto and Asirpa escape as well.

Does he have to say out loud he doesn’t feel he is a soldier anymore and therefore he doesn’t own loyalty to them? Hadn’t Asirpa just reminded him Tsurumi has Inkarmat? Has he forgotten Tsurumi has used him to get info on Asirpa’s wereabout up to Abashiri and has turned a blind eye to his desertion only because it was convenient to him?

Does he really think he can sign out and leave now when Nikaido got his ear chopped for it and Tsurumi wanted to shoot Ogata down? And we still don’t know what happened to Koyama…

Anyway the scene switches.

We see children playing boat with the drifting ice. I wonder if this is just random or our cast will end up using it as a boat as well in future chapters.

Anyway we move to the ferry Asirpa’s group has boated. Asirpa and Shiraishi are attending Sugimoto, talking about how the boat is about to depart and they’ve to get the bullets out of him. Shiraishi also comments his wounds are awful and asks him how he’s alive.

I wonder if this trend of Sugimoto always surviving to wounds that would be fatal in other people will end at the end of the story. So far Sugimoto has been the living embodiment of the ‘only a flesh wound’ trope to the point that yes, a part of me feels sad when he’s hurt because it should hurt like hell… but I can’t really say I’m worried he’ll die when not even a bullet in the head could stop him permanently or leave him with enough damage to render him ineffective.

Still Asirpa, who’s not genre savvy nor aware of the trope Sugimoto represents, worries he got hurt due to her so Sugimoto reminds her he is fighting because he wants the gold for his own reasons so getting wounded is something he was prepared for.

Yes and no.

Yes, Sugimoto was doing it for Umeko (which really, isn’t something which brighten Asirpa’s day)… but Asirpa also knows Sugimoto could pick up the much more convenient option of selling her to Tsurumi so Sugimoto’s words likely came of little comfort to her in fact we don’t see her replying to them nor her expression.

Sugimoto was clearly planning to help her not to feel responsible but his attempt fails flat. A better try would be to admit he realized the partnership with Tsurumi was less trustworthy than the partnership with Asirpa and how the guy could end up offing him anyway so it’s not like he had to chose the unsafe option for Asirpa but because it was, from another perspective, the safest.

Better have a partner you can trust won’t shoot you in the back than follow a guy that might use you and then throw you away once he’s done. Sugimoto, who previously refused to follow Tsurumi and even now doesn’t have a big opinion of him, should have told her just that.

Meanwhile Vasily warns them a soldier has noticed Sugimoto’s trail of blood and he’s coming toward the ship, yelling to the ship it shouldn’t leave.

Shiraishi tells Vasily to ‘bang bang’, shoot the soldier, thinking this will stop the soldier from stopping the boat.

Asirpa begs him to aim for the soldier’s foot, hitting Vasily’s foot to better deliver her point.

Vasily shoot the soldier straight in his head.

Shiraishi pats Vasily’s arm telling him ‘good work’ but he’s sweating slightly as if uncomfortable, while Asirpa asks him if he hit the soldier’s foot.

What this tells us?

Tsurumi didn’t hear the yelling soldier’s voice so if the soldier had been rendered unable to move he wouldn’t have been able to call help, at least verbally and this wouldn’t have mattered anyway as Tsurumi heard Vasily’s shoot, sent people to check and was able to figure out the situation anyway.

Long story short, hitting the soldier in the foot or in the head didn’t improve the end result.

A wounded soldier can occasionally slow down his companions as they would try to aid him. Of course we saw that Tsurumi could care less of a wounded Koito but Tsukishima remained behind… and there’s to say people might not have shown interest in Koito because his wound seemed fatal. Not everyone can get ‘only a flesh wound’ like Sugimoto after all… though I hope Koito did. Things might have been different if Koito’s wound hadn’t looked fatal.

Long story short, a wounded soldier might have caused one of Tsurumi’s men to remain behind… although again, considering they’re likely the ones attacking the boat with the cannons, this wouldn’t have changed the result.

Therefore, from a tactical point, both options stand as equal… but of course from a moral point, wounding the soldier would have been a better option to killing him.

Vasily might look like a cute ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ now but the truth is he’s no different from how he was when he was a border guard. He shoot the Orok in the head thinking he was Ogata, was unaffected by how Ilya first and the other guards later were wounded, spared Kiro merely because he wanted to be the one who decided who lives and who dies, and shoot Shiraishi in the leg solely to draw Ogata there.

Long story short his sparing Kiro and his shooting Shiraishi in the leg instead than killing him weren’t kind acts. One gave out his sense of omnipotence when in ‘sniper role’ and the other was merely a calculated technique.

Of course we can tell ourselves Vasily, not understanding Japanese, failed to figure out Asirpa’s request and therefore it couldn’t influence his own decision. While this can very well be true, it still means for Vasily the best option is to kill people when he can control it, instead than sparing them.

While this is of course part of a sniper’s mentality Ogata, along with a record of people he killed, has a record of people he spared, sometimes even when it wasn’t useful to him.

Noda is trying is best to make Vasily and Ogata as different as possible while still depicting them as cold snipers.

Back to the story, as I said, Tsurumi hears the shoot and sends Usami to check, which allows us to see that although a little bruised, Usami seems fine and dandy despite his close meeting with two heavy rice bales (of around 60 kg each).

I guess Usami signed up to represent the ‘only a flesh wound’ trope as well.

On the boat Shiraishi rejoices as he think they managed to escape Karafuto and Tsurumi. Asirpa and Sugimoto have a serious look as they watch Karafuto getting farther.

The travel clearly changed Asirpa so I get her serious look but I wonder what’s going in Sugimoto’s mind

Tsurumi, as said before, sees the dead soldier, the ferry in the distance and a horse wandering alone and likely connects the dots in regard to what had happened.

The only thing I’m not sure if he figured out the sniper who did it was Vasily (has Tsukishima managed to inform him of Vasily’s existence? Is Vasily working for him now?) or he assumed he was Ogata (Tsukishima clearly told him by telegram Ogata escaped on a horse).

We’ll see.

Meanwhile Shiraishi let us know they’ll reach Hokkaido, more specifically Port Wakkanai, in three hours.

The following discussion is interesting.

Shiraishi points out of how Asirpa picked a rather peculiar moment to decide to run away.

Sugimoto replies if they had handed Asirpa over to Tsurumi, they would have kept Asirpa under his guard and she might not have another chance to escape. In this Asirpa chooses to act like Ogata when he freed Tanigaki and pointed out to Tanigaki, who instead wanted to wait, of how the surveillance would only increase if they were to wait.

Shiraishi points out how this is true as Tsurumi might have separated Asirpa and Sugimoto and keep Asirpa LOCKED AWAY SOMEWHERE… because this was a definite possibility and one Sugimoto was pretending not to see when he insisted that handing Asirpa to Tsurumi was the best option for Asirpa.

Shiraishi also points out how those guys wouldn’t bring Asirpa along while hunting convicts.

Sugimoto goes on saying if they find the gold by themselves they can decide how to use it and that he now understands that Asirpa won’t waver on her conviction not to kill people while finding her own way to protect the Ainu and that’s what he has decided to believe in.

Asirpa smiles at this and it’s all fine and dandy but really, the decision for Asirpa to kill or not to kill was never something on which Sugimoto has a say in the first place and him tossing it here gives me the feeling he’s agreeing to all this merely because he’s still deeply invested in keeping Asirpa pure, hence he’ll kill people for her.

From the look Asirpa gave him as he was killing those soldiers though and from how she tried to have Vasily not to kill people I’m not sure this sits well with Asirpa.

Anyway Shiraishi, voice of the reason, channeling the readers again point out, same as me, that this is all well and cool but HEY, HOW ARE THEY GOING TO FIND THE GOLD BY THEMSELVES?

Because Tsurumi currently has all the skins Sugimoto had, plus his own. Only Gansoku’s skin remains in Sugimoto’s hands and well, in a way Shiraishi’s. Tsurumi’s skin count now is of 14 while Hijikata has 9 (possibly 10 if he got a copy of Anehata). True, likely not all the skins are needed to find the gold but we know Goto’s and Prisoner Number 1’s were and those are in Tsurumi’s hands.

So really, I don’t see the thing as simple at all, especially since Sugimoto doesn’t want to join forces with Hijikata (and I can’t quite blame him considering how Hijikata found him expendable).

Anyway the team doesn’t manage to discuss the matter for long as a cannonball hits the water rather close to them. It’s clearly a warning shoot from the Ikazuchi class destroyer chasing them. We’ve seen the destroyers using their QF 12-pounder 12-cwt guns against Abashiri prison so I’ll say they can be quite effective. And considering their firing range is 10,740 m at 40° elevation the destroyer should be rather close.

Honestly I think the shoot is a warning shoot to intimate the ferry to stop. Tsurumi clearly wouldn’t want to kill Asirpa with it. However I’ve no idea how Sugimoto’s group can escape to the destroyer.

Sure, they can hijack the ferry, forcing it to keep on running taking advantage of how Tsurumi won’t shoot them, but this won’t help in the long run. The destroyer is likely faster so they can’t leave it behind and it can attempt a naval boarding so that Tsurumi’s soldiers can move on the ferry… and even if Tsurumi’s men weren’t willing to try a boarding the ferry won’t manage to escape forever.

Trying to escape on a small boat surely wouldn’t help as the small boat would likely be even slower than the ferry so, unless by random chance they can get their hands on an extremely fast boat or on another flying vehicle (how high are the chances that ferry is also carrying a hot air balloon or something like this?) Sugimoto’s group is definitely trapped…

…unless they get some inside help. Koito was hurt, did they carry him on his father’s torpedo? Would he thwart Tsurumi’s plans or, at least, warn his father of what Tsurumi did, causing Tsurumi to lose Koito senior support? Would Tsukishima? Tanigaki?

Can they do it in an effective manner? (=stopping the destroyer from following the ferry or would it be only a temporal thing?)

If I misinterpreted the tiger’s curse and it leads not to a unlucky life but to a fast death is one of them going to die for killing Kiro?

We’ll see. Sure is it would be interesting if Sofia were to join the naval battle aboard of another destroyer (LOL, a pirate Sofia would be amazing!) but I honestly won’t hope in this too much.

So let’s see if Noda plans for our team to successfully escape, to partially escape (as some will escape and some won’t) or not escape at all and they all will end back up in Tsurumi’s hands.

We’ll see.

On a weird, irrelevant note I’ve been wondering about the horse on the back cover of volume 19.

Its horse tack didn’t look like the ones of the horse Kiro, Sugimoto, Asirpa and Shiraishi used when they left Kiro’s house,

nor like the ones used during the horse race.

The horse Kiro helped against the bear had none

and, again, the horses that will be used when they’ll try to rescue Shiraishi will have a different tack.

It turned out it’s Vasily’s who has almost the same  tack as the horse in the image so well, that horse is a Russian horse coming to keep company to Kiro as he loved them.

That’s all for now, see you in the next chap where we weill learn if this time it will be Little Red Riding Hood who’ll try to eat the wolf while the poor thing was attempting to visit his grandma!

Just joking, of course! ^_-

At the next chapter!

[cimafam]

J.P. had the great pleasure of visiting the family of a colleague at their home in Angkor Phdeak, a rural community about 50km out of Phnom Penh. Ms. Kunthea works for Lutheran Hour Ministries in Cambodia. Nearly all of her family are believers in Jesus, save for two sisters. Pastors Songim and Naro had previously visited one of those sisters, Chan Thou, to share the gospel and encourage her. On this visit, after a yummy lunch which included curried dog meat and ants with rice, Chan Thou professed her desire to be baptized. She and Pastor Songim had a brief time of teaching and preparing. Then, with the family gathered around, Pastor Songim baptized her in the name of the Triune God. Tears were in Kunthea's eyes as she shared a word of encouragement afterwards. The family had long prayed for this moment. J.P. encouraged her with Romans 6:3-4, reminding her that her old life has died with Jesus, and just as he rose from the dead, so now she has a new life with him.

What an absolute JOY to witness these precious moments! Praise God!