#i'm excited for this ! hikaru is fun !

[lunaetis]

▸▸ [ @unboundtravels || pink doctor & hikaru || hikaru interaction call ]

─「ヒカル」─  AUTOMATA usually didn't rely on words when it comes to battles or confrontations. they were created in images of humans yet the conversation part of things usually fall towards their DEUS, not them. and her deus had tried to reason. he had tried to convince them, to make them listen to him. he was persuasive, at least. even hikaru knew he was resorting to anything BUT violence. it was only when the other party refused to listen and sent his own AUTOMATA at them that she was allowed to engage.

                non-lethal only.

                it was DIFFICULT to fight someone who aimed to hurt you while you tried not to hurt them. her focus on speed helped with that, however. her opponent's attacks were all quite heavy. it'd be suicide to take it head-on. when he slammed his fists to the ground, it created a large crater where she quickly placed her hand over his, using it as an anchor before landing a spin-kick across his face that staggered him back. she knew he didn't want to HARM, yet their opposer wasn't caring about that. there was a switch she could flip to turn him off if she hit it hard enough.

                « permission to incapacitate. no permanent harm will be done to the opposing automata. »

[putschki1969]

KALAFINA REUNION 📢IT'S TRUE📢

Why did I even go to bed last night??! Damn it, I lost precious time. Anways, many of you must have seen my post last night about that ominous Nikkan Sports article speculating about a possible comeback of Kalafina. I honestly thought it was fake news since it contained a ton of unconfirmed/uncredited information. However, there was lots of interesting stuff that kept me from dismissing it entirely. I mean, who would go through all the trouble coming up with details such as specific quotes or exact concert details? Turns out they mostly got the dates mixed up but the rest was true. At noon Japanese Standard Time, we got all of our official announcements. Here's the gist of it〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

Kalafina Staff Posts 1 & 2 on Twitter

Announcement of "Kalafina Anniversary LIVE 2025" Date: Wednesday, January 15, 2025 Open at 17:30 /Start 18:30 Venue: Tokyo Garden Theater Performers: Kalafina (Wakana, Keiko, Hikaru) Music Director: Takebe Satoshi

To everyone who loves and supports Kalafina We have decided to hold a "Kalafina Anniversary LlVE 2025". We want to sing together as a trio again, knowing that you all have always cherished Kalafina, even while we are doing solo activities. We look forward to seeing you there! Kalafina (Wakana, Keiko, Hikaru)

Ticket sales are scheduled for the following dates: ■Wakana/KEIKO Fan Club Advanced Lottery October 10, 2024, 11:00 - October 20, 23:59 ■Hikaru X (formerly Twitter) Advanced Lottery October 25, 11:00 - November 4, 23:59 ■General Ticket Lottery November 9, 11:00 - November 11, 23:59

Keiko Posts 1 & 2 on Twitter & Fan Club Site & Tristone & Instagram post

To all our supporters We have decided to hold a "Kalafina Anniversary LlVE 2025". Through my solo activities and activities with FictionJunction, I have had many new encounters and taken on new challenges, and I am where I am today thanks to the support of many people. This is a personal matter, but the reason I took a break from singing and then decided to sing again was because of Yuki Kajiura's music. And it was the feelings of everyone who has supported us up until now that led to this event. I am grateful for those feelings, and I am simply happy that the three of us can deliver Kalafina's music again. I am truly looking forward to seeing you all next year. KEIKO

Hikaru's Post on Twitter and Instagram

To everyone who always supports us We are happy to announce that we'll be holding a "Kalafina Anniversary LlVE 2025". Even during my solo activities, I always got a strong sense of everyone's love for Kalafina. I'm grateful we are getting this opportunity to sing together again as a trio and to perform all those treasured songs which Yuki Kajiura has written for us. I hope we can raise a new flag together with all of you. I look forward to seeing you there that day! 2024.10.03 Hikaru

Wakana Posts on Twitter & Botanical Land & Instagram post

(We finally have an official statement from Wakana on her Insta) It has been decided that an "Kalafina Anniversary LIVE 2025" will be held on January 15th next year. From 2018 to the present, we have each pursued our own music, but we have decided to sing together again. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you who always think of and love Kalafina. I am very much looking forward to meeting you all.

Satoshi Takebe Tweet 1 & Tweet 2 & Tweet 3 (deleted)

Today I had a meeting with some artists I truly respect and had a beer in the middle of the day 🍺 We had a fun afternoon. I hope there will be lots of fun things to do next year too. I can't say anything yet, but I'm already working on some exciting projects!! (Tweet 1)

I believe that my mission is to support artists. It is never my intention to betray or hurt people. That is the one thing I have always stayed true to, and I will continue to do so. It may sound naive, but I believe that sincerity and passion are what motivate people. (Tweet 2)

Due to confidentiality obligations, I cannot explain the situation. However, Kajiura-san is an artist I respect, she's a wonderful musician, and I am a fan of the music she creates. I would like to support the three members with the utmost respect. (Tweet 3 - deleted)

Tweet by Yuki Kajiura & Tweet 2 & Tweet 3

Regarding Kalafina I've received some inquiries in relation to the most recent announcement of an upcoming Kalafina Live Concert so I'd like to use this opportunity to clarify that I, Yuki Kajiura, will not have no involvement whatsoever in this concert. Furthermore, I have not received any advance notice or explanation from the organisers or any of the group members. Given the situation, I am therefore unable to answer any questions. I apologise, but any future inquiries regarding Kalafina should be directed at the organisers and official agencies of the group members.

I believe the members of Kalafina have decided to step away from me as their producer to go on a new path that is not related to me. I had been searching for a way to work together again in the future to create new Kalafina music but that will no longer be happening. It is very unfortunate but this is the road that each member has chosen. We are all individuals searching for our personal musical path so things like this happen.

As you all know, the three of them are truly wonderful singers so I have no doubt that they will continue to deliver amazing vocals and music to their fans. I would like to express my sincere gratitude once again for the privilege and happiness of having been able to create music together with them for nearly ten years, and I wish Kalafina continued success in the future.

Yuki Kajiura (Tweet 1)

I hope for a great success regarding the upcoming concert, and that's all I can say about this. I hope to continue making music in a cheerful and fun way in the future (^^). (Tweet 2)

This may be an unnecessary remark, but… there's no way that Kalafina will no longer be able to sing their past songs just because one producer has left, and I personally don't wish that upon them.

I'm sure they'll create a wonderful harmony at their live show in January, so I hope you'll give thunderous cheers and applause to Kalafina's singing and to the musicians who support them on stage. Once again, I wish them all the success in the world. (Tweet 3)

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Wow. All of this is wild. I don't even know what to say. I can hardly believe it. On one hand, I am beyond happy and excited. There's no way I will not be there for this concert and everything beyond that. But on the other hand, all the announcements make this feel a little bittersweet. The personal statements by Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru don't necessarily feel disingenuous but they sound a bit flat and forced. Sadly, there's no personal statement from Wakana yet. Obviously, the elephant in the room is Yuki Kajiura's statement and her exclusion from the entire project. The way her statement is written comes off as quite bitter, passive aggressive and honestly a little petty which doesn't bode well for the future (maybe her manager Mori asked her to phrase it in such a way to make the organisers look bad. And I can understand why she would feel frustrated at being excluded like that). Mostly, I interpret her standoffish attitude as a knee-jerk reaction or as a way to strongly distance herself from the whole thing and not so much as an attempt to bash the members (the latter half of the statement would indicate that at least). Also, she already seems to regret posting such a harsh statement and posted a couple of follow-up tweets. I truly do not understand what is going on behind the scenes to cause so much hostility between Yuki Kajiura, her management and whoever is pulling the strings for this Kalafina reunion (presumably Space Craft's management). My best guess is that Space Craft is at least somehow involved in this project since both Wakana and Satoshi Takebe are able to participate (Takebe is not affiliated with Space Craft but he's been in charge of almost all of Wakana's solo work so maybe there are some ties to the agency).It looks like Space Craft are adamant about not working together with YK (same old childish attitude). Then again, Satoshi Takebe has enough influence in the industry to organise a project like this without the help of Space Craft. Maybe Sony is also involved? I have no idea. Hope we are getting more details once the ticket lotteries start. A new Kalafina website (still being developed) has popped up and it's run by Space Craft so that's probably proof enough that they are one of the main players in all of this.

I wonder if this was a spur of the moment thing once they realised how much hype there still exists for Kalafina after that "ring your bell" performance at the FSN event...Overall, the timing is so weird, Why now? I mean, this doesn't sound like it has been in the making for a very long time based on the fact that Yuki Kajiura didn't even know about it. Keiko and Hikaru literally collaborated with her a couple of weeks ago so how did this topic not come up even once???! Wonder how it will affect future collaborations between Yuki, Keiko and Hikaru? They still have the Asia tour dates coming up in November so I can imagine it would be kinda awkward to work together after this bomb has been dropped. Will they still be covering Kalafina songs? Either way, I refuse to believe tha there has been a real falling out between any of them. It comes across like a series of unfortunate events. Maybe some miscommunication and rushed action but nothing that couldn't be cleared up with a proper conversation.

One thing I'm also curious about is whether or not Satoshi Takebe will take on the role as producer for future music (if they are even planning to go down that route?? It does sound like they might have new projects/releases in store for us...I do feel a little conflicted about that since Yuki Kajiura is such an important component of Kalafina. This is basically what I thought would happen back in 2018/2019. With someone else coming in to take charge of the music production. Back then I wasn't completely against the idea since I was convinced the girls could make it work (especially with the help of someone as established and competent as Satoshi Takebe) but it certainly wasn't my preferred option. Ughhh, I will remain open-minded for the time being. My love for Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru goes beyond anything so as of right now, I feel happy and excited. The live in January will be a celebration of Kalafina so there's no way I'm not going. If they continue to hold "tribute" concerts like this, it will mostly be a nostalgic cash-grab but hey, I'm the target group for that. They can have all my money. And I can definitely see myself supporting them in future projects even with Yuki Kajiura out of the picture. Takebe has been engaging in some surprisingly frank one-on-one discussions on Twitter and so far, it looks like certain confidentiality agreements keep him from going into detail in the matter but his involvement as of right now is limited to being a director/producer for the concert on January 15.

It goes without saying that I will not tolerate any hate towards the girls on this blog! If you are bitter that Yuki Kajiura is not involved, that's your prerogative, I'm sure this will antagonise quite a few hardcore YK fans. But please, don't shit on the members for making this decision. I'm sure they put a lot of thought into it and felt like this course of action was in everyone's best interest. They are clearly thinking about the fans, their own passion/love for Kalafina's music and obviously their careers within the industry.

[winteringdream]

014. events week

synopsis : the girls soccer team hasn’t been doing great since the school year started. when nicholas starts taunting you about it you make a bet with him. will the two of you figure your differences out when your soccer team has to play against his?

previous | masterlist | next

“I'M so sorry.” Nicholas pants as he catches his breath, wiping away sweatdrops that have formed on his forehead. “Taki and Yuma were annoying me.”

You look up, your eyes meeting his. He looked handsome, something in you twinged, and you quickly clear your throat.

“It’s okay, Ningning and Jake just left. They told us we could eat the leftover sandwiches for lunch.” You tell him, pointing to the sandwiches in the bag behind you.

“Ah, okay.”

An awkward silence falls over the two of you, and you could only pray that someone would come over and buy something to break the awkwardness.

“Hey!” Hikaru exclaims, stopping in her tracks. “I didn’t know you were this close to the photobooth.”

“Hikaru! Show me your photobooth later I would love to take some pictures.”

“Sure! The two of you should take pictures,” She says, turning her head to Nicholas. “It’s a secret deal.” She grins watching his face grow red.

“I’ll take two of these.” She says picking up two sandwiches. “And two mango strawberry smoothies.”

Nicholas quickly stands up, walking towards the small blender.

“Why are you telling him to take pictures with me?” You whisper at her as she gives you money.

She shrugs, but you can see on her face that there’s more going on. Deciding she wasn’t going to tell you, and hearing the blender turn of you let it be.

“Good luck.” She says, giving you a thumbs up. “You can do this.” Hikaru takes the smoothies from Nicholas and waves the two of you goodbye.

Another silence. It’s unbearable for you and you bet it must be unbearable for him too.

“Did-“ “Are-“ The two of you quickly shut up.

“You go first.” Nicholas says quietly, his hands playing with a ring on his finger.

“Did you pass the maths test?” You begin, “It was harder than I expected.”

“Really? Did you pass?”

You shake your head, feeling a little too embarassed to look at him. You wished he would just go back to normal and start making fun of you about failing it.

“When are the resits?” He asks, his tone soft, something you thought you’d never hear.

“Next month, why?”

“I could help you study.” Your eyes widen a little. Was Nicholas actually trying to help you?

“Why would you? You always liked seeing me do worse than you.” Saying it pulls on your heartstrings, but it was the truth and you needed to know.

“Because I don’t hate you. I don’t think I ever hated you.” Nicholas as well, can’t seem to make eye contact. Your mouth forms an “o” shape, but being caught by surprise, you don’t know what to reply.

Luckily, two male figures show up at the stall. They’re sophmores, you recognise them as Yuma and Taki from the boys soccer team.

“Hey y/n! How’s your head injury?” Taki asks. In your peripheral vision you can slightly make out that Nicholas is gesturing to him to shut up.

“It’s fine it already healed, but thanks for asking.” You reply, causing him to nod and turn to Nicholas with a smirk.

Yuma, who is next to him is looking at the menu.

“Nicho, what do you recommend?” Yuma says, as he puts an arm around Taki’s shoulder.

“I don’t know I haven’t had anything yet.”

“Boring! Y/n what about you? What do you think about Nicho?” Yuma turns to you again, and the question catches you off guard.

“What do I think about Nicholas?” You repeat, a little flustered being put on the spot like that. Yuma nods affirmatively.

“He’s nice to me,” You begin, “he actually just offered to tutor me in maths.”

Yuma and Taki’s demeanor seem to change, their eyes sparkling.

“I see~.” Taki slowly says, “That is nice of him.”

“Yeah~” Yuma follows in the same tone. You chuckle at them, seeing how they’re containing their excitement.

“You two should get the strawberry and blueberry milkshake.” Nicholas hastily says, preventing the two boys from instigating something else again.

As he stands up, he motions for you to come with him. His ears are red, and he keeps his head down.

“I’ll go take their money,” He tells you, and you reply with a nod.

When the two boys have left, Nicholas is still being shy. Only after a few minutes of the two of you texting other people does he dare to speak up.

“So, you don’t hate me?” He mumbles, his hands fidgeting with the tablecloth this time.

You smile at him, he was actually really cute like this.

“No, I don’t hate you anymore.”

taglist :@svnoohe4rtsmainblog @trsrina @koishua @renjunba3 @hafsa-hoofsa-heefs @aguamarinee @meginthebuilding27 @kpoprhia @beomgyusonlywife @junhuilvrrr @nichoswag @luvnicho @wwonchii @fae-renjun @meoriapeuda99 @itsthegamemaster

[feathernotes]

Hello! My name is Krispy, and I’m the co-creator of the webcomic Ghost Junk Sickness (along with @spacerocketbunny​) It's story time!

GJS is a webcomic published by Hiveworks and features two bounty hunters with an unstable dynamic who are pushed to pursue the deadly bounty dubbed the Ghost The current iteration of GJS is about 9 years old (and wrapping up next year!) It’s been an incredible journey full of ups and downs. We’ve learned SO MUCH creating this comic, and I wanted to share some of it’s origins with you all in hopes of inspiring more folks to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy- and make that comic!

The origin of Ghost Junk Sickness came from our love for Magic Knight Rayearth and Final Fantasy 7. Vahn, the protagonist of GJS, was basically a mash up of Hikaru and Cloud from those two series. The very first version of this story has unfortunately been destroyed, and this map is the only piece I have left of that world. Character art still exists though, and it was pretty funny to see how obvious we were with our inspirations at the time.

The original attempt at the story was called Crew, and my sister Space and I worked on it in 2002-2004. We sort of got lost in our own ideas after that, and weren’t as focus on making the comic (now lost). A few years later, I decided to try my hand at it and it looked like this:

This was all done on low quality paper, whichever I could find at the time and some pencil crayons. This attempt was over 600 pages long and had a pretty random story plot, much like the first version. I could not tell you what it was about haha 😅

My second attempt (then called Divine Ace) I wanted to look more 'traditional manga' and kept with just inks and tried my darndest to tone on the computer (it never worked out). This one lasted over 400 pages, and was more allinged with my liking to edgy action anime and games at the time. It was also Trigger's first appearance!

After experimenting and eventually wanting to change- I started to work with Space again, and we collaborated in full on our first fancomic for TF2 called "Be Efficient, Be Polite." It was a good lesson on how we could coordinate our shared skill sets and plan out who did what as far as the whole process of comics go.

All of these comics (save for the very first lost version) were hosted on DA the day we got our hands on a scanner. It was our first taste on being 'webcomic creators' back in the day, and it was very fun! We didn't much care for readers, only the process of completion at the time, so a page done was always a victory worthy to be celebrated (and back then, we had more time to make pages!)

And so, as the years went by and we decided to move on from our fandom roots, Space and I went back to the Crew/Divine Ace project and redesigned and overhauled the entirety of it. (You can see the full evolution here) We wanted to re-asses what the story, comic, and characters meant to us, and how we could convey some pretty important ideas and concepts to our potential readers. From that, Ghost Junk Sickness was born, and began pre-production in 2013.

Years after, we find ourselves reflecting on how much we've learned from the process of going ahead and diving in head first. There were certainly many iterations and years it took to get where we are today, but realising that it all began that day Space and I decided to scribble some pretty mediocire comics in our homework books and papers. Because that is the beauty of comics- The many skill sets, the hats, and challenges that come along with creating them. And how much we've become better at so many things along the way. So if you read this and feel nervous about diving head first into your first comic, I'm here to re-assure you that things will feel tough, but exciting. Things will feel really hard but amazing when you're getting your story out in front of you with such an incredible medium. Webcomics will always be my favourite because of how accessible it is to any skill set. And know in your heart of hearts that there ARE people out that that LOVE to see growth, they love to see the progression of your journey. So get out there and start creating that comic that's occupied your brain for so long, and start breathing that life into your OCs and your world. The only way is up with webcomics, and the only way to start is just by creating now.

[kamenridertime]

No. 1 Sentai Gozyuger Episode 7 Review (SPOILERS!)

BAKURYU CHANGE!!! I loved this episode and no, I'm not biased!!!

I was literally jumping up and down in my seat when they all changed into the dinosaur rangers lol. Seeing the Abaranger/Dino Thunder transformation sequence again made me so happy and it was so cool to see them all actually using their weapons!

Anyway, other than that this episode was super funny too. It was cool hearing Hikaru Midorikawa as the Tokimeki No.1 (I'm a big Gridman fan lol). Another thing we thought was really funny was that the contest had nothing to do with Sumino's actual reaction to their performances, she was just there to be the girl in the scene lmao.

The first official role call of the season was great and it was a pretty good way for them to naturally learn what they're supposed to be called. The TyrannoRanger whose real name I can't remember was a fun character and him saying he was a 'sentai archaeologist' made me laugh and think "Huh, I guess that could be a thing in this world"; The end of the episode makes it kind of vague as to whether or not he's dead but I wouldn't mind seeing more of him.

Speaking of which, the fight scenes this episode were great as usual and I really liked that we got a (mostly) full team battle before the giant robot fight. Also getting to hear the opening and Ai ga Seigi for the fight was nice, I don't think I'm ever gonna get tired of hearing that song. Super excited to see Ring Hunter Garyudo in action more next time.

-1gou

Woo what a cool episode! The A and B plots were very enjoyable and balanced some much needed team building with what might be my favorite No.1 challenge yet. It was cool to see Ryugi, Hoeru, and Kinjiro all learn that maybe they should actually work as a team while Rikuo and Sumino are caught up in silly antics with the Tokimeki No.1.

I’m sure 1gou has already said a lot about the dinosaur rangers appearance in this episode already, but just know he was literally giggling with delight when Ryugi, Sumino, and Kinjiro all used their new rings together. All I can say on my end is that it’s SUPER cool to see all five engage together, roll call, and pose up, I love their designs and they look awesome together!

Also the slightly meta narrative about rangers and roll calls being in some ancient scroll was another wacky element that made us laugh.

Anyways let’s talk about the end… the Ring Hunter looks SO COOL. Like we were actually fangirling about how badass the design looks. Not to mention the super cool cape/scarf which made us both ooh and ahh. Right now, we think he might become the sixth ranger, but of course we have to see him in action first. Hopefully becoming a ranger will iron out the.. uh…. shooting people dead part of his character…

-2gou

Fun fact: 1gou was once on a quest to create the perfect omelette, now he’s in a quest to master the art of omurice! -2gou

Genki Bakudai! Abared!!! -1gou

[yuseirra]

Hi there, lovely artist! Do you watch the oshi no ko anime? I ask because I wondered if you are excited to see their depiction of Hikaru, because you make such lovely art of him (it's a depiction I quite like :)). It made me wonder if you have some kind of expectations for the anime.

I'm personally very excited to see Hikaru animated and voice acted :D

Hello anon~ thanks for calling me lovely!♥ I love getting complimented!

Oh! I watched the first 2 eps of the second season, then I decided to put off watching it for a while (I can always buy it in our local OTT platform, they have it there!) because the manga... ;v; is already making my head spin so much already. I can only focus on one thing at a time... It was SO good though!!// I remember how the first episode started with stage-play, which was very impressive. The opening animation sequence is amazing too! I'd like to binge it all at once later.

Hmm...about expectations, I personally consider the current arc to be great in terms of depicting Aqua's psychology. It was peak in terms of helping us understand his character, so I appreciate that a lot. We get to see all his pains and trauma and the struggles he had, and it was so powerful. I'm sure the anime would be touching on those currently, if they do a great job with that (along with Akane's rivalry with Kana and how they shine on stage in different ways) I feel I'd be happy with it! Also that scene with Melt. I'm sure that one's been animated because I saw a thumbnail of it on youtube. I'm also looking forward to the aqukana date. That's one of the few peaceful, cute moments we have. I'm sure I'd watch that part the moment it comes out because I'm curious how that's going to be acted out.. and I need to see some happy moments in onk for once. Stuff's been depressing in the manga lately and I feel sorry for a lot of characters;;

OH... thank you!// I'm so happy to hear you like my depiction of him!!/// That gives me strength. Yeah, I'm excited too, because we never saw his color palettes yet, haven't we!! It's going to be all over the internet once it's out, won't it...I'm a little worried if I got it way off.. but I'm prepared to take what they give us! The anime team does the series justice. I trust they will come up with something good. I just mentioned I'd watch the aqukana dating scene as it comes out.. well, that scene with hikaru's also a scene I want to watch (and I NEED to in order to get his color schemes right in the future 'cause I draw! o<-<)

I really want him to get a bright color palette, because his name has to do with both "god" and "light"... or the god of light if combined.. I SERIOUSLY believe he HAS to do with amenouzume, the entertainment god's husband!! That god conveniently is said to have a "shining body" and is called the god of the bright lights!!!! There is no way that has nothing do do with him!! I don't really picture him with dark eyes, I feel golden eyes would really suit him because that gives off the "light" imagery and it'd make sense. It'd also be able to make his black star eyes really stand out as he has them.. and I feel he'd make a good contrast with Ai if he's colored a bit brighter than Aqua or Ruby. purple and yellow contrast each other very well! So I'm crossing my fingers for that to happen. Same here, I'm really curious how he'd sound like, and I'm happily awaiting to see his depiction in the anime. Since I drew a lot of things about him already, I'd be a bit embarrassed if happened to get his colors off... but?? It's the colors I really want. So I won't regret having colored him that way. We can all dream, right!

I drew them upon having received your ask!

it'd be really nice if he has these bright colors that contrasts Ai's dark purple. Saying this again because I really want that to happen ;v;)9999

I get chatty, I hope you can feel my excitement! :) This series makes me both so nervous and excited... I guess it will be like that for awhile.

Let's keep having fun together! I appreciate your ask and I hope you have a fun weekend!

[x0401x]

just wanted to drop in to say hi! and just, there's something so wonderfully charming about your blog. it almost fills me with nostalgia, like how it was back when fandom stuff was mostly confined to the likes of livejournal and ff.net

anyway, happy end of year holidays friend 🧡 may next year bring us lots of anime-related, or unrelated joys. also, if you don't mind sharing your thoughts, what shows are you excited for next year? i'm particularly freaking out about a lot of season 2 stuff like kusuriya and my happy marriage! but other than that there seems to be so much to look forward to next year 🥰🥰

Omg, thank you so much.

I’ve been in this hellhole of a site for 12 whole years but I was already lurking for more than a year before I decided to join. So I’ve been around for 13 to 14 years, give or take. And I really feel nostalgic, now more than ever, about how it used to be at the beginning. This place was peak for creativity and just having fun with stuff anonymously, no strings attached. It was paradise, and still is, but now with way less people and way less traction. I’ve been careful to keep my editing style consistent for all these years so that I’d still remember the trends from Way Back. I’m glad it has the same effect on other people. So, know that your message has warmed up my heart! 💕

Happy year end holidays to you too! I’m sorry if I’m replying late to this! I hope the time difference wasn’t too big. 😭❤️

There’s actually a lot that I’m looking forward to next year! First of all, Tongari Boushi no Atelier and Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu! Secondly, the anime adaptation of City (I think KyoAni can’t possibly fuck this one up, it’s animation-focused with very little plot, so basically their forte) and the remake of Jigoku Sensei Nube (when the official Toei channel started broadcasting Nube as a 30-year anniversary commemoration, I could SMELL the remake coming and have not been normal ever since). Speaking of remake, there sure is a lot of remakes next year! There’s the remake of Anne of Green Gables, Versailles no Bara, As for the rest, Medalist, Witch Watch, Kowloon Generic Romance, Chuuzenji-sensei no Mononoke Kougiroku, Sakamoto Days and Dekin no Mogura.

Ofc, I’m also looking forward to the many sequels! That includes Kusuriya and WataKon, but also Hanako-kun, Aharen-san, Kaijuu 8-gou, Dandadan, Shoushimin, Kuroshitsuji, Hyakushou Kizoku, 3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei (can you even call this a sequel??? lol) and of course, the last season of HeroAca. So far, this is my list!

And yes! Hope the universe hears you! May next year be a blast!

[tozawas]

Hellloo, you seem cool so I thought I'd come here as a wrestling noob and ask if you mayhaps have any match recommendations for me to watch? There's a lot to get into lol

This is so exciting yes ofc!!!

(I fear I've been watching for about a year, so some of these picks might be kinda basic but! I did my best)

NJPW

Hiromu Takahashi vs El Desperado - BOSJ Final

PEAK OF THEIR FEUD

Ring work is amazing and is only elevated by the story they tell in this match alone

Their best match imo

Kenny Omega vs Jay White - New Beginning, 2018

Bullet Club Bullet Clubbing

Omega/White are always gonna put on bangers

And then everyone kills Kenny

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kazuchika Okada - G1 Climax 24

New Japan Nakamura is peak

Okada being the legend he is

Honestly for New Japan any match with Okada/Tanahashi/Omega/Ishii/Naito/Nakamura/Shibata is sure to be amazing

Also it is a ppv and idk if you can still buy it but the Despe-Invitacional is SO GOOD. Despy is an amazing booker and it helped be find out about a lot of wrestlers outside of NJPW

AEW

Ricochet vs Will Osprey vs Konosuke Takashita - WrestleDream, 2024

All of the high flying that was Ricochet v Osprey - BOSJ 23, broken up Takashita's strongstyle

So no matter which style you prefer, you're gonna get a good amount of it

Hikaru Shida v Serena Deeb - Dynamite 10/27/21

Now I'm not a fan of Deeb but she can pull some very impressive matches

Shida is a beast in the ring and I'd recommend just about any of her matches (look at her vs Nyla or Mercedes for more)

Swerve Strickland v Adam Page - Full Gear 2023

Teaxas Death match so be cautious if that's not your thing

Their entire fued is worth looking over PLEASE

Hangman has a way in making his death match so emotional and beautiful and it's just amazing to watch

All of AEW's shows and ppv for 2019 are available to watch on Max, so I would highly recommend checking that out aswell

WWE

Drew McIntyre v Gunther v Sheamus - WrestleMania 39

Hard hitting triple threat

Three great in ring workers who all have chemistry with eachother

McIntyre continues to be underutilized by the wwe and overhated by the fans so I'd recommend looking more into him

IYO SKY v Asuka - SmackDown 9/22/23

Ppv level match on a weekly show

These two have been working with eachother for so long and they know how to put on a good match

Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley - WrestleMania 39

Just watch it. It's so good

With Charlotte officially coming back too, you can really see how good she is

These don't go too far back but I have no clue about anything pre 2016ish to be so real. But for wwe specifically it's pretty easy to jump in wherever. I'd recommend diving into specific rivalries than trying to consume the entire history of everything. But that's just imo

NXT

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Sami Zayn - TakeOver: Dallas

Literally can't make a best match lost without talking about this match

Im not even a fan of Zayn but no one can deny how brilliant this match is

Really shows off Shinsuke and it's a bit bittersweet knowing that he's never been properly used in the wwe

Adrian Neville vs Finn Bálor

Once again, Finn is routinely pushed aside on the main roaster

Any of his NXT matches are worth watching but I picked this one because they both have pretty similar styles Ira it's so cool seeing them work against eachother

Guilia vs Sol Ruca vs Stephenie Vaquer vs Wren Sinclair vs Zaria - Deadline 2024

The current NXT women's roaster is absolutely stacked and this is the perfect showcase of it

Common pick but for a very good reason

I've been a fan of Guilia and Stephenie's stuff since before they've been on NXT an they are truly one of a kind wrestlers

NXT has gone through a lot of changes over the year, but I think it's consistently really good (sometimes even better than the main roaster).

Anyways! I hope this is helpful in any sort of way 🙏 I had fun making this list. I think you're super cool too and thank you for the ask (can we be friends?!)

[spooky-bunnys]

can you do another male reader X hikaru Hitachiin? maybe like the reader is an artist and Hikaru finds him doing graffiti in a hidden spot in Ouran? idk where it would go from there but i think itd be neat if he joined in or smth :) (take it however you want im sure whatever you write will be super cool!)

Thank you for the compliment! This was fun to write. You know I tried doing graffiti. It's a lot harder then others make it out to be. Enjoy!

Hikaru Hitachiin x Male Reader

Graffiti Artist

When Hikaru heard about someone graffiting the school he wasn't surprised. He knew people get bored. When they get bored they do something to get unbored. So he wasn't surprised. No what surprised him was how much detail was in it. It was of a forrest. Trees, bushes, and a trail. He had seen some of the graffiti on his way to the club.

He could tell the person who made this was really into art. This type of detail took time and skill. Such skill that he knows took years to have. He remembers asking his mom how she got so good at designing and drawing the clothing she makes. "Time and effort. I've been drawing for as long as I can remember." Drawing never caught either twins attention.

But Hikaru always had an eye for detail. At least that's what his mother always told him. When he heard the graffiti artist hit again he brushed it off again. He had more important things to do. At least that's what he thought until he actually saw it. The graffiti art this time was Koi fish. The way the artist had made them looked like actual koi fish.

When the artist sticked a 3rd time Hikaru was excited to see what was drawing this time. This time the artist had graffitied the wall outside the club room. This time it was a beach with a beautiful sunset. Hikaru could stare at the artwork for hours. He took out his phone and snapped a photo. He should've tooken pictures of the other two.

A week later Hikaru was taking a walk out in the rose garden behind the school. It was peaceful. The only thing you could hear was the sounds of birds chirping and spray paint-wait. Hikaru froze. Spray painting? The graffiti artist! Hikaru hurred towards the noise. He had to know who was the artist. When he arrived he saw what was the most amazing artwork he'd seen yet.

It was of a single rose. The rose was covered in thorns. Ivy surrounded it. It wasn't finished yet but it was already breath taking. He heard a can shaking. When he turned he saw a (height) tall male. With (color) hair and eyes. He was (short/tall) for someone Hikaru's age but....he was breath taking too. He could see how bright the males eyes are.

How happy he looks spray painting. Hikaru released a breath he didn't know he was holding. The males head snapped in Hikaru's direction and he froze. Eyes wide with fear. He'd been caught. The male grabbed the bag that was by the wall and took off. Leaving a can of red spray paint. Hikaru tried calling out to him but the male already disappeared.

Hikaru picked up the can and on the side written in black fancy letters was (N. Last Name). Hikaru nodded his head. He now had a mission but first. Hikaru looked up at the wall. He had a piece to finish. Hikaru shook the can and got to work. Finishing the rose. Looking around once in a while to see if anyone had came out.

Half an hour later Hikaru heard foot steps and froze. He whipped his head around only to see the guy from earlier with a blush on his face as he stared at the wall. "Y-You finished it?" Hikaru nodded with a smile. "Yeah. I'm a pretty big fan of your work. I thought such art didn't deserve to go unfinished. I'm not as good as you, but my mom always told me I had an eye for details."

The guys nodded and looked away and took a deep breath. "Thank you. I'm (Name). (Last Name) (Name.)" He stuck out his hand. Which was covered in green spray paint. Hikaru smiled brightly and grabbed his hand. "Hitachiin Hikaru. Nice to meet you (Last Name)." Hikaru looked at their joined hands and laughed. They were both covered in spray paint. (Name) looked down and join in the laughing.

"We might wanna go and clean ourselves before we're caught." Hikaru nodded. "Yeah. Although I'm kinda screwed. I have club in about an hour and I don't have an extra uniform on me." (Name) looked shyly to the side. "You can have my extra uniform. It's in my locker. It's by the host club room." Hikaru's face lit up. "That's my club!"

(Name) looked surprised before smiling brightly. "I have a close friend in th club! Kyoya!" Hikaru froze. Perfect student Kyoya was friends with the graffiti artist? (Name) knew the look Hikaru was giving him causing him to laugh again. "We're neighbors. He knows about the whole graffiti thing. He's the one who gave me permission to graffiti the wall outside the club room!" Hikaru was even more shocked. Kyoya gave him permission?

"It gave him more customers." Hikaru nodded. That sounds like Kyoya. "Hey you did a good job finishing my piece. We should graffiti together again sometime." Hikaru smiled and nodded. "I'd love to make more art with you." (Name)'s face exploded with heat. Hikaru looked confused before he remembered what he said. "W-Wait! Not like that!" (Name) shook his head and laughed harder and Hikaru joined in.

Maybe in the future (Name) could help Hikaru with the family business. If they're still close by then at least. Hikaru blushed at his thought. Yeah...maybe one day.

[suzuran777]

Review: Shingakkou -Noli me tangere- (PIL/SLASH)

This is a game I've been wanting to replay for a long time! It has been 10 years, so I had a fun time revisiting it.

The story focuses on protagonist Michael, who's enrolled into a seminary. Excited to finally reunite with his family, Michael and his twin brother Gabby return home during their Christmas holiday, only to find out that someone has killed their parents and sister. To make things even more strange, they find a mysterious mark on the wall, written in their father's blood. Upon returning to the seminary, Michael discovers that this mark belongs to a secret society that exists in his very own school.

It turns out that this secret society is a group of devil worshippers called "Akahebi no Tsuichi" (soil of the red snake). After receiving some hints about how to join, Michael joins their group to find out the true identity of its members. During their first meeting, some of the voices sound familiar to characters you meet earlier in the game... I will try to avoid mentioning any big spoilers in this review because it's more fun to experience it yourself!

The first three routes follow a kind of similar story, you can choose between Leonid, Cecil or Neil. I personally think it doesn't really matter, so I started with Leonid's route. I ended up really liking him. At first he seems like a very serious character who has a lot of responsibilities, but later you learn he also has a different side. Michael often has to help him clean his room because Leonid has a habit of not organizing anything (to put it lightly...). When he does try to organize his belongings, Michael ends up finding shoelaces in tea cans and shirts stuffed in drawers... He's voiced by Midorikawa Hikaru who is in a lot of older BL games, so maybe I'm biased.

I guess it's important to mention that it definitely feels more like a horror game than a mystery game, so after playing the first route you kinda know what to expect from the next routes already, but it's still interesting to see how each character reacts to everything that happens in the game imo! I played Neil's route next, followed by Cecil's route. I thought Neil's personality was really fun, he teases Michael a lot but he also has a serious and caring side. I must admit that Cecil wasn't really my type, but he's Michael's closest friend and I'm sure there's many people out there who do enjoy childhood friend characters.

After playing the first three routes... it was time for August's route. And oh boy this is where things get a lot worse for Michael! I like how you can still choose who tops and bottoms by the way, which you can do for every character in this game. I remember I somehow didn't expect August of all characters to bottom LOL... I actually quite liked the ending because it's so different than the previous three routes. Some very cool symbolism at the end of his route too which is hard not to appreciate! August's route unlocks Gabby's route, which is the final route of the game.

So, one thing you immediately notice in the first routes is that not many people seem to talk to Gabby, he mostly chats with Michael. When him and Michael get too close to the lake, which is kind of a prohibited area to visit, only Michael gets scolded for being there. One of the only exceptions is when August talks to them, who mentions both of them. I promise everything does make sense eventually and I actually really liked Gabby's route and ending... It was also fun to learn more about the side characters!

I think it was interesting to see how the game handled topics like religion. I remember I wasn't sure if I would like a game with these kind of themes, but it was actually quite good. Even though the seminary has very strict rules, many of the students have different interpretations of what religion should mean to someone. In the end it turns out Leonid is not very religious at all and wants to create a world in which same-sex marriage is accepted, and even Neil, who's revealed to be a pastor in his own route, thinks it's fine that people sometimes question if God really exists. At the end of the game Michael also mentions that maybe the god they believe in isn't the one that is literally described in the bible, but that he still believes that there is something out there.

I thought the horror in this game was pretty well done too, not super scary but it never failed to surprise me. As the route progresses, Michael starts having more and more nightmares and hallucinations. Demons, bugs, ghosts etc. Some scenes have these "jumpscares" but I wouldn't say they're too bad. What caught me off guard is whenever the faces of the other characters became weirdly distorted, which was quite creepy.

I guess my only "complaint" would be that it's one of these games in which every route doesn't really have a completely different story, therefore it can get a bit tedious when you have to complete Leonid, Cecil and Neil's route before you can play August's route, which unlocks Gabby's route. I always try to play every route though, so for me it was no big problem.

I was actually surprised there's a completed Shingakkou manga which focuses on Neil's route! I think it has also been fan-translated, so if you do want to get a feeling what the game is like before playing it, it might be an option to read that instead. Shingakkou hasn't been translated into English, but it's very easy nowadays to download a tool like Textractor and to play it using machine translation. I definitely recommend checking it out yourself!

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2025 #12

hello hello. for no reason at all i was awake at like 6am this morning despite it being a sunday. i wanted to sleep in...... why is this never possible for me...... i feel so drowsy

Finished:

Ouran High School Host Club, Vol. 16 by Bisco Hatori, translated by Su Mon Han the stuff tamaki is going through is genuinely intensely abusive jesus christ. get him out of there. help.

The Summer Hikaru Died, Vol. 2 by Mokumokuren, translated by Ajani Oloye with the second volume i have officially started insistently recommending this manga to friends. a horror manga exploring how adolescent queer desire feels terrifying and monstrous and predatory, yes please

My Love Mix-Up! Vol. 1 written by Wataru Hinekurem, art by Aruko, translated by Jan Cash on the one hand this is very sweet. on the other hand the amount of romcom miscommunication in this to set up the romance makes it close to unbearable to me. i might try and power through reading the second volume but i might be too weak for it

Chainsaw Man, Vol. 17 by Tatsuki Fujimoto, translated by Amanda Haley fuck yeah. dont have more to say this just rules

What Did You Eat Yesterday? Vol. 13 by Fumi Yoshinaga, translated by Jocelyn Allen chill and sweet as always

A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey, narrated by Will Watt oh my god a fae-ish romance where the writer is actually clever and creative enough to do something interesting with faerie magic??? it does this by focusing on a goblin market, rather than any kind of court, so the trickiness of fae magic, the intricate language and the underhanded dealings and trade in ineffable concepts like time and luck and love can really shine. i love the stuff about the language of bells. how the bells rhyme when they speak, or, if the phrase they say fails to complete a rhyme on its own the narration will pick up the duty and finish it. this was tons of fun

Point of Hopes by Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett i loved reading this! such fun worldbuilding around an astrology obsessed medieval fantasy city. i loved also the depiction of apprenticeship as a system taken very seriously. excited to read the other books in the series where i think it gets more explicitly gay than it already is? i actually sent this to a friend as a recommendation for studying writing a mystery in a fantasy setting while also balancing the need to worldbuild to make anything make sense

Embodied Exegesis: Transfeminine Cyberpunk Futures edited by Ann LeBlanc so many good stories in here! my favorite would probably be "a canyon of blood for the normalest man alive" by palimrya. the voice its in is so harsh and weird and fun, internet-ish in the best way. also really liked "syndical organization in revolutionary transition" by izzy wasserstein for is exploration of trans reproduction, and "the repossession of kevin's perfect hair" by lillian boyd is a great tone setter for the entire collection

A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell, narrated by Ros Watt wow i have so many feelings. like. this is far from the best romance book in the world, i have read books that balanced character A's central conflict, and character B's central conflict, and the plot that puts them in contact, plus the side character romance happening in the background MUCH BETTER than this one does. a lot of the miscommunication/feelings-projecting that come from Muriel to spark conflict were physically painful for me. sometimes the way trans-ness was explained felt a bit too cookie-cutter politically correct to fit right with me but fuck. i loved Kit so much. a feministly-minded rakish dandy trans man artist in a historical romance. so my shit. targetted precisely and unerringly at me. i could cry. i'm like really glad this book exists, i'm glad Joanna Lowell wrote this in collaboration with her partner as a trans life and history consultant. well, i know now i need to put some more effort in finding more transmasc x woman romances to feed a need in my soul

[excludedmiddle]

Thoughts on the Candidates? The final round? Alireza?

Absolutely insane situation! I watched the last couple hours of the games today (specifically Fabi and Gukesh). Easily the most intense and fun chess we've had in a long time. It's crazy that we have four potential winners tomorrow.

In terms of how I rate the outcomes:

Fabi wins. I'm a huge Fabi fan and I think he deserves to be world champion as the number two player of the Magnus era.

Gukesh wins. I like Gukesh a lot and having a teenage world championship challenger would be really exciting. No doubt in my mind that he's earned it.

Hikaru wins. I find Hikaru a bit insufferable but it would be phenomenal content.

Nepo wins. Please god not again.

In terms of Alireza's performance, well. I think he'd previously been anointed as the leading light of the post-Magnus generation, especially after he hit 2800, but he hasn't lived up to that since then. I think maybe that was an unfair amount of pressure to put on him. I don't know if his problems are psychological or if he's hit a wall, but he certainly seems far weaker than he was just a couple years ago. He was rank 2 in the world not so long ago, and he's fallen to rank 16 in the live ratings.

The result is still up in the air, but Gukesh is making a very strong case for himself as the strongest player of the new generation, at least at the moment. If he can seal the deal and triumph first over Fabi, Nepo, and Hikaru and then over Ding, it'll be a real changing of the guard. Easier said than done, though.

[putschki1969]

🇹🇭YKL vol.#20 ～Asia Tour 20th Special SETLIST～　【Bangkok】 Live Report🇹🇭

Wow, what a week it has been. My Thailand trip was an exciting but very exhausting experience. I'm finally back home and after spending an entire day just relaxing on Tuesday, I feel somewhat ready to tackle this live report. I'm back to work and there's a lot to do but I still want to post as much as possible before I lose all of my motivation. Still took me several days to finish this so I am sorry for the delay🙏 I'll start with some general stuff from the day of the live and then continue with a detailed report. Without further ado, let's get to it〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

Before The Live

The concert was held on November 15th at Bangkok Union Hall. At that point I had already been in Thailand for two and a half days doing all sorts of Kalafina and touristy stuff. Needless to say, I was quite exhausted from my previous activities (more on that in a future post) but I was determined to enjoy the day to the fullest. The only major thing planned for that day was a meet-up with some fellow fans to get lunch and dinner so thankfully, nothing too strenuous. Although one could argue that social interactions like this are always a big struggle for me :P Anyway, I headed to the venue quite early in the morning to meet my friends. We were doing some last-minute shopping at a nearby mall to complete the presents for Keiko and Hikaru. Also, we wanted to check out our flower stand which had been put up earlier that morning. I was beyond happy to participate in this particular flower stand project. The HiKei chibis turned out super cute and the banner was also adorable (just look at little Moo Deng🦛). I'm a little bummed though that I didn't get to take the cardboard print home with me since the girls requested the flower stand to be brought to their dressing room after the live (initially, we had planned to take all the decorative stuff off the flower stand after the concert before the flower shop picked it up but alas, it wasn't meant to be). Oh well, we got all those sweet pics with Keiko and Hikaru so that pretty much erased any feelings of disappointment. Thankfully, I got my acrylic key-holders and stickers as a little consolation. I will certainly treasure them forever. During the meet-up with some fellow fans, I also got a bunch of presents, including some gorgeous fan-made articles for the two lives in China. Honestly, I feel so blessed to have received all of this. Thank you so much to everyone who thought of me!

Speaking of fellow fans, I appreciated everyone who came up to me to say "hi". I was also very happy about all the yummy souvenirs. The suncakes from Taiwan saved my life during the following days because I always had a lovely snack to accompany my morning coffee. Sorry if I came across as awkward or reserved to some of you, I am not used to being in big crowds like that and meeting strangers is not among my strengths. Also wish I had gotten more commemorative pics with everyone but oh well, in the heat of the moment it's easy to forget about stuff like that.

For lunch we had planned to go to a Hainanese Chicken place but unfortunately, they didn't have enough room for our group so we ended up going to KFC XD. I forgot to take pictures but our order was honestly not that exciting anyway. I was so eager to try spicy food during my stay in Bangkok but that stuff at KFC was a total let-down (probably our fault though for not looking properly at the menu - they may have had some spicier stuff that we just didn't see). Dinner that day more than made up for it though since my main dish was incredibly delicious. Don't ask me what it was called, it was some sort of fried pork concoction with garlic and chili, simply fabulous and probably one of the best things I had during that trip.

Despite having a lot of fun during these activities, I kinda regret not being able to see anything of the Loy Krathong festivities that day. The weird timing of the concert would have made it very inconvenient to check out any of the festival sites and on top of that there were some bad weather forecasts so no one wanted to risk getting wet😢 It's a real shame but oh well, I guess the live was worth it.

♪The Live♪

Seat

I was very lucky to have dedicated friends who made sure I'd get a VIP front-row seat right across from Keiko's spot on the stage [the picture below was taken at the end of the concert when I was already walking outside so it doesn't properly reflect my point of view - I was seated a little more to the right side]. She was pretty much right in front of me during the entire live so of course, I was in heaven. Taking my eyes off her was a real challenge and at times I honestly felt a little bad for the other singers because I didn't really pay that much attention to them whenever Keiko was on stage. Also, this might make me sound like a perv but I was absolutely mesmerised by Keiko's legs. During her main solo parts she would always turn to the side or turn her back to the audience. Not sure why (maybe because so the audience would focus on her singing rather than her gorgeous face? Or she was a little self-conscious? Who knows). Either way, during these parts her legs were on full display and since her skirt was quite short on one side, you could basically get a glimpse of her tiny safety shorts with every tiny move she made 🫣

One tiny complaint I had was that the stage was quite far away from the audience area and they even felt the need to put up a relatively high metal barrier which created a weird sense of distance despite being all the way up in the front. Nevertheless, the concert felt very intimate to me and I think for that reason, I enjoyed it much more than my past Yuki Kajiura live experiences. I also gained a new appreciation for certain songs that I previously didn't care for all that much. I honestly can't stress this enough, experiencing a concert like this in such an intimate manner is vastly superior to watching a DVD/BD/live stream or even attending it in a spot somewhere further away from the stage. Everything feels and sounds completely different. Your entire body is getting caught in this spectacle and you get a full-on adrenaline rush. It's during these moments when I barely notice any flaws or mishaps. I've been made fun of in the past for always writing these overly positive and raving reviews of concerts but I personally don't even notice half of the bad stuff when I am on such a high. Plus, I don't enjoy lingering on the negative stuff which is why you won't see much of that in any of my reports.

Venue

To be fair, it wasn't a particularly good concert hall, at least in my opinion. The venue was a lot smaller than expected and it felt more like a convention hall rather than a proper concert hall. There are much better venues available in Bangkok but they were probably already booked or too expensive. Also, from what I've heard, the concert tickets didn't sell that well so it was probably a good thing that they stuck with this sort of venue. At any rate, it was very conveniently located at a MRT/BTS station so yay for that. The acoustics were decent enough I guess but nothing to write home about. The sound system could have used some improvements though, I don't think the instruments and vocals were very well-balanced throughout most of the concert. But maybe that could be chalked up to my position in the audience. Just a little disclaimer here, I am not very tech-savvy in that regard but on more than one occasion I noticed that the sound was kinda off...Mind you, not to an extent that would have taken away from my overall enjoyment of the concert but enough for me to notice it several times.

Setlist:

the world: Will always prefer Keiko on main but it is what it is, Joelle on main is fine too. It's a good song so it's a treat to hear it live no matter who is leading. The harmonies at the end didn't quite work for me. Was a bit all over the place. I think the sound system was at fault here.

in the land of twilight, under the moon: Not usually one of my faves but I thoroughly enjoyed this rendition.

vanity: What a blessing to hear this live in concert again! My first time was in Taiwan and I don't think I ever recovered from it. Correct me if I am wrong though but they made a big change during the performance regarding Keiko's epic yayayay part. She flawlessly did her solo of course but then when Joelle starting to sing that final chorus, she didn't continue to sing in the background which she would usually do. I found that very unusual. Also checked the bootleg recordings from the live in China and she did the same thing there too. Huh...Since when did they change it? That was a bit of a bummer to be honest since the very final part felt less epic because of it.

My long forgotten cloistered sleep: So, so good!! Huge fan! Joelle is getting better at it too so I am enjoying her version more and more.

I swear: Wow, what a revelation! I did not expect to suddenly fall in love with this song. I am obviously a huge Keiko-stan but due to her using her cutesy voice in this, it's never really appealed to me. It's always been one of those songs that I preferred to skip during re-watches of home video releases because it didn't really do anything for me. This time though, it felt like Keiko was serenading me specifically (a delusion on my part of course but let me have that little fangirl moment XD). Anyway, this is what I meant earlier. All of a sudden, a song has a new meaning to you and it's only because you get to experience it on such a personal level. The lyrics couldn't be more appropriate: "♪I know, I’m in love♪"

fiction: Not my cup of tea so I tend to skip this but Joelle in particular always does a great job with this song. Her voice is a perfect fit. Definitely my favourite performance so far because I was more into it than usual.

I reach for the sun: Love, love, love.

in the garden of sinners: Damn it, this one hurt so much, I literally almost cried. I don't even really know why but I could barely handle it. All I wanted to hear was Wakana together with Keiko and honestly, it was her voice in my mind, Joelle didn't exist for me in those moments. No matter what happens, I will always associate these melodies with Wakana and Keiko. On one hand, this performance made me incredibly sad but on the other hand, it made me feel even more grateful about the upcoming Kalafina Anniversary Live. Just the thought of hearing the three of them together again is bringing tears to my eyes.

ARIA: What a shame. I knew what to expect of course but it still hurt to hear Joelle sing the chorus. Unlike others, I didn't think that Hikaru sounded all that bad so she could have definitely handled the chorus (especially being backed by Keiko). She might not have sounded her best but who cares?! This is HER song so she should be in the lead. Period. I remember someone saying that Yuki wanted to go back to the original key (more of a speculation, as far as I know, it's not actually confirmed) so she gave the chorus to Joelle but Joelle was kinda struggling with it too so ultimately, we didn't really gain anything from having her in the lead. On a side note, I am just so relieved that Keiko and Joelle didn't do the infamous arm gesture that Wakana and Keiko used to do all the time. All of this sounds rather negative but to be honest, I still liked the performance despite being a little disappointed with the vocal arrangement. it's one of my all-time favourite Kala-songs so it's always a pleasure to hear it.

Magia: By now I am used to the FictionJunction cover version of this and it's really quite good. Solid performance. No notes.

Kimi no Gin no Niwa: Again, good stuff but since I don't particularly like the song it was just okay to me.

ring your bell: Ugghhh, probably my least favourite performance of the night. It's such a difficult song to perform and I honestly don't even like most of Kalafina's live versions but this one was hard to get through. Maybe the sound system was to blame a bit because LINO LEIA's microphone did some weird stuff that made her singing sound worse than it probably was. Plus, I honestly don't think she is a very good fit for the song. Hell, not even Wakana is a good fit for the song 90% of the time. For some reason, LINO LEIA kept using her more generic singing voice when instead, she should've opted for a more controlled head voice. Towards the end we heard a more solid delivery but the rest was unfortunately a bit messy.

to the beginning: Okay I guess. It's certainly one of the better Kalafina covers they do at YKL because Joelle and Yuriko add a lot of dimension. And since I have never been a fan of the song to begin with, it's not like I am missing Wakana too much.

Yasashii Yoake: The See-Saw section of the live was so much more fun than I had expected. Actually really surprised how much I enjoyed it since I am not too familiar with Yuki's old work and don't usually listen to any of it. Also, with Keiko not playing a big role in this corner, I thought I wouldn't be into it. But I guess the songs are just really good with catchy melodies so I couldn't help but like them. Also, my proximity to the stage once again helped me to have a bit more appreciation for the music. All three songs were featured at Kaji Fes. but I don't recall them leaving a huge impression on me. Back then I didn't mind them but I didn't get too excited. This time, I was having a great time from the get-go. Love the Joelle/Yuriko duo here. Joelle's voice works super well for this type of song.

Obsession: I remember not being particularly impressed by the Kaji Fes. performance but the Bangkok version was so cool. LINO LEIA and Keiko did a great job. So cool!! After that rather mediocre "ring your bell" performance, it was nice to hear LINO LEIA sing in a more comfortable range.

Senya Ichiya: Starting to love rito's vocals more and more. She's so criminally underused during these lives. Despite being promoted to "regular" singer, she really doesn't get to do much.

the main theme of “L.O.R.D”: One of my all-time faves. Joelle's best song if you ask me. Will never get tired of hearing it. Although I feel like at this point Joelle had already run out of steam a little because the performance didn't quite hit the spot in terms of oomph-factor. I think it's because Joelle had to carry 90% of the show and was thus running on low-heat towards the end. Still had a blast!

absolute configuration: Love having all the girls on stage for these sort of epic battle songs. Gorgeous harmonies.

luminous sword: Same as above. Perfect transition and a lovely continuation of the epicness.

蒼穹のファンファーレ: Typically not one of my favourite songs but yet again, I found myself enjoying it more than I usually would. The heat on stage was contagious so I simply got swept away in the excitement.

En. the image theme of Xenosaga II: Don't remember much of this but it was nice.

En.nowhere: Wow, wow, wow! What an amazing performance. So much more energised than during the Kaji Fes concert. Definitely one of the songs where I very much appreciated my closeness to the stage. I could really feel the heat and had such a blast, especially when Keiko began to really interact with the audience. Almost made me want to stand up but in the end, I remained seated (really not the type to move a lot during a concert). I have to agree with everyone who has already shared their thoughts on the other Asia live performances, this was definitely one of the highlights for Hikaru as far as her vocal delivery was concerned. Her voice was very powerful here.

En.into the world: I love that this has become almost a staple of YKL. It's such a gorgeous song with a beautiful message and I think Joelle as well as Yuriko manage to improve the overall harmonies with their added vocals.

[lieximhuman]

wait i was just scrolling your blog and i saw that the summer hikaru died got an anime adaption confirmed, i've seen you posting abt it before but i have no idea what it's about could u like give me an overview/tell me abt your favorite characters or smth bc i'm interested in it and i'd rather ask you than google for an exciting synopsis 😭 (don't feel forced to respond to this, this is my weird way of reaching out bc hi we've been mutuals for a while but we never really talk <//3)

Hiiiii <3 yes ofccc (I'll try to do a spoiler-free version wich cuts out some main themes😭) Also additional apologies for my English cuz 💀💀 second language and all, and if I make any mistakes story-wise TwT

Honestly, I recommend reading the first chapter, it's pretty direct in what the themes are and who our main characters are and "represent". It's not like most manga that drags it on for a couple of chapters, I can private chat the link or u can just look it up since it's easy to find (I do NOT recommend starting through the one-shot/ chapter 0 btw!!).

Oh, and the art. God. The art is absolutely stunning so yea, the story works a lot better visually than what I can tell.

So! Those main characters are 'Hikaru' and Yoshiki, mainly Yoshiki. They are childhood friends and in their second year of high school (or third year in the complete four-year American system) living in a small town. In that sense it's a slice of life, going to school with friends and having fun. But!! The town is almost "haunted", it's full of ghosts and some citizens can see/ feel/ hear those, those ghosts aren't exactly evil but they can hurt the living. So it's also a horror with a detective-ish thing going on (with gore aspects too) because of those monsters and what they do and them trying to figure out how everything works because it's being hidden from them by the village elders almost.

It also focuses a lot on the emotional journey of the characters, mainly towards grief (oh the grief! very well represented and relatable :,/) and friendship. It's really striking when you see how the characters move their face and bodies to show those emotions even tho the speech is also incredible. It's as if the characters are actually real, they have their own little quirks with how they talk and move.

Some people also see it as a BL, which yes... it does have some queer aspects to it but I wouldn't consider it an actual possibility of the two main characters having a true romantic development. But I would say Yoshiki is queer. Also, it does have some - although rare - sensual(???) aspects but you get to see more through that later, which is very interesting.

-> SO, YEA. Main points:

astronomically beautiful gorgeous art in every panel

great characterization

interesting cast (both kids and adults)

interesting and deep lore!

death/ grief

moral dilemmas

Good mix of slice-of-life, horror and mystery

the characters are adorable holly hell <3

It's gutwrenching in the way you really feel it in the gut ahahaha

I really hope this was helpful/ entertaining and that if you do end up reading it that we can talk loads abt it <3 !!! Even if this was like... just me rambling and maybe incomprehensible 💀

Also not sure how the anime adaptation is even gonna turn out! Really hoping I somehow get to watch it tho ^u^ Plus, my favorite character... I don't know? I like the MC's but outside of them I like Asako cuz she speaks in emojis lol

[marimbles]

i started watching ouran tonight and omg i can't believe i'm watching this show. it's ridiculous but so fucking funny. i'm on ep 3 at the time of writing this but i've silently scrumpt about 10 times - eg when hikaru and kaoru saying them and haruhi should take french together and the immediate cut to tamaki sulking by a tree, and tamaki being self-aware that he and haruhi are the main characters + love interests. him loudly announcing "you boys are the homosexual supporting cast!" nearly killed me

i could do without whatever the fuck hikaru and kaoru have going on but everything else is great. thank you for putting this on my dash and i'm now seeing why this would be adrien's favourite show 🌹

FJDKDKDKD I’m so glad you’re having fun with it. it’s such a good time. I’m obsessed. Truly isn’t this the greatest screenshot in anime history

Also it’s so funny to hear you call tamaki self-aware bc technically the declaration that he and haruhi are the main characters/love interests IS self-aware, but in like the least self-aware way possible. bc he spends the majority of both the anime and manga 200% convinced that his feelings for haruhi are “fatherly” and he loves her “like a daughter.” because of family trauma you will not learn about for a while but mostly because he’s the stupidest person who ever fictionally lived!!!! As proven in that same episode when he was so confident he could trick everyone into thinking he was haruhi by wearing a dark wig despite being like two feet taller than her. lmao

HDKDDKDK I feel u about the twincest angle but honestly it stopped bothering my after a while since Hikaru and kaoru are just pretending for an audience lol. they are successfully appealing to the Sam/dean shipping demographic 😂 They are both little trickster turds who are constantly picking on tamaki but also he deserves it bc he’s literally so dumb. And also they’d both die for him with no hesitation underneath their mockery. The twins actually have a really interesting character arc, even moreso in the manga, and they became my favorites after tamaki and haruhi! I love how they start as identical in both appearance and personality but as the show goes on you see how they’re actually very different people

Feel free to update me about your watch through whenever lol! Ouran is still very much on the brain and I’m excited to talk about it with anyone who is willing hehe

[kazumahashimoto]

ok i wanna start by saying jaxon is such a fucking dick for being one of the top bladers in the country and then going back and fighting a bunch of amateurs 😭😭 so fucking funny. but to that effect i gotta say i think jaxon is like the best they've ever done of this type of character. burst really suffered from running so long imo, because the powerscaling was completely busted by the end. never forget bel beating lui with ease in the very first episode of s6. but what i mean is, they WANT a character, a MAIN character that's able to completely sweep the competition without sweat, but they also want to pull a valt and have the character be new to the game, so the audience can learn alongside them. but you cannot have your cake and eat it too! aiger failed especially in my mind because he came off the tail OF valt, and i'd say the same of hikaru, hyuga, and bel as well. splitting these two ideas into two characters works much better! and i especially love that they DID start robin with that same hikaru and hyuga flavored "but i've never lost before :(" after having only trained for one month battling against people who don't care that much 😭 i love it.

and for jaxon, instead of Actually making him a novice, he's just cosplaying as one. which again. is such a dick move 😭😭 and so funny 😭 like they haven't really touched on how morally questionable that is but jaxon's just such a sillygoofy guy you get swept up in how much fun he's having!!! i love that too. it looks like next episode is gonna drop some more jaxon lore which is SOOOOO exciting. i'll hold my thoughts on that. but he's really looking up to be a much more complex character than just "the dumb one" :3!!!! but ANYWAY like this just proves to me you can absolutely make the "undefeated" character work in this setting without making it boring. predictable, maybe, but not boring. watching jaxon fight is fun even if i know he's gonna win!!! and everybody else knows he's gonna win too! i feel like bel failed at this because he was 1 kind of the only Actual Character in s6. right? like ranzo was there and he was funny but he was never a challenge, bashara too. and then bashara ditched them so the main group was just bel ranzo and hana. beyblade does not work with no supporting cast! i feel like they would've learned that from s5 😭 and even with pri added for s7 he was still just. flat. i love a pompous self centered character but when they're the only character with a personality it's hard to make them like. charming 😭 but jaxon is one of THREE main characters! all of whom have their own personalities, views of blading, and overall goals outside of reaching the top! i'm sooooo glad they went back to this style, i swear the beyclub is a huge reason why s1 is so beloved. the dynamics between all of the members was what hooked me into the show to begin with!! but now i'm just complaining about the later seasons of burst.

i feel like jaxon is very quickly reaching up to my favorite characters of all time list. and soooo much of that is due to aj beckles' performance. i can't remember if i already said this but genuinely like. i think i would have liked jaxon anyway, regardless of who played him, he just has a lot of traits i love written into him already, but GOD the PERFORMANCE. UUYYGHHHG REMINDS ME HOW MUCH I LOVE VOICES!!!!!!! his inflections, the melodic way he speaks, raising his pitch at vowels where you can just hear the smile on his face like GOD. absolutely incredible, especially for a character with a mask (and kind of shitty animation) where SO MUCH of the characterization is forced upon the voice alone, he's doing so so fucking good. he just infuses so much WHIMSY into him it's perfect. it's fucking perfect. jaxon is so pointedly focused on just having fun, and that comes across flawlessly. but the calmer moments hit just as heavy, if not more so! since he seems to be so carefree, when he slows down and acts more serious, that melody to his words becomes much more sinister. i am. so excited to see more of his backstory, cos it's looking to be a lot heavier than he lets on.

i also love in this episode the reveal that jaxon is actually, even stronger than he is in legal matches?!?!?!? doing the backalley battle and cackling while he breaks the set and taunts his opponents to get back up 😭 i'm so obsessed with him. kinda reminds me of free's story from s2 actually now that i think about it. and that's really cool to have on the main team!! i am sooooo curious to see if they do anything similar to how free's story ended too. noooo clue how anything's gonna go with khrome, or with that other guy they revealed last episode?? very fun. i'm so excited. i love jaxon so much. spinning him around