#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.

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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

[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!

[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

[busaikuknee]

a quick look back at march and april 2024

i didn't initially intend to combine these into a single post, but "me remembering write my march post" coincided with "me being busy with work and watching mania weekend shows," so i figured it'd be best to wait until all that was done with so there would be plenty to sift through. with that established, let's get started!

general overview and numbers

ended up catching 131 matches during these past two months (51 in march, 80 in april), which is quite a lot for me! despite this, i still feel woefully behind on everything; i've been trying to keep up with a lot, but i don't enjoy half-watching things and i only have so much brainspace for wrestling. as a result, it's been a breadth-not-depth kind of spring.

tjpw came in second for "promotions i caught the most of," which i'm hoping to continue! most of my prior teej viewing has been of isolated individual matches, so it's been nice getting a more holistic view of the promotion. first place was noah—those monday magic shows scratch some kind of itch for me, even if a lot of the cards aren't that different from your normal sunny voyage fare

most appearances throughout the month(s)

if you're exclusively counting matches that occurred in the last two months, yuma anzai comes in at #1 with 6 appearances—i've been trying to keep up with his champion carnival run, with the keyword being "try" since i'm terrible at watching tournaments. expanding that to matches that were viewed during the past few months, katsuhiko nakajima's at #1 at 12 appearances, making him the Spreadsheet Champ of the Month(s). check out his match vs daiki inaba and the preview tag before it from his wrestle-1 run, they're fun.

anyway, there doesn't seem to be an up-to-date fullbody render for him and i'm not grabbing a screenshot just for my dumb photoshop bit, so simply imagine it in your mind's eye.

speaking of anzai and nakajima,

the part where i mumble about matches in no particular order

yuma anzai vs katsuhiko nakajima (ajpw, march 30th)

i have a habit of pausing matches to go and take a break less than a minute before the ending. just poor timing on my part. paused this match about 15 seconds before the finish, got up to walk around and stretch, and mentally drafted a whole thing about how, even though anzai definitely wasn't going to win, this was a great showing from him and did a good job making the case for him as a future triple crown champ. then i unpaused and watched those fifteen seconds. immediate egg on my face. i'm pretty excited for anzai, though! it's nice seeing promotions really get behind their young talent.

hype!2 (tjpw, april 19th)

i'm putting the whole show down, seeing as there's only one "traditional" wrestling match and it would feel strange to excise it from the whole performance. i loved the first hype and was looking forward to this; while i think you can feel that a lot of the show had to be changed last-minute in the final product, i still had a pretty good time with it. i'm very fond of wrestling shows that skew closer to being plays, they're something i want to dig further into when time allows.

athena vs hikaru shida (roh, april 5th)

while i enjoyed keeping up with mania weekend, having that much wrestling shoved into my brain in such a short time period meant that most of the matches have melted together in my memory. this one is one of the few that stand out. incredible work from two stellar performers. i don't like rewatching things often, but i'm due for a rewatch.

yamato vs mike santana (etu/dragongate, april 6th)

one of the other mania standouts for me. i don't have much to say about it—i don't think it's anything crazy—but it ended up really working for me

shunma katsumata vs hideki okatani (ddt, march 16th)

violent, emotional affair. thoroughly enjoyed the last-minute-high-school-production-of-tarzan levels of set dressing. i think shunma and okatani are kind of a golden combo—i so desperately wish that they could have a singles match without one of them getting injured. at least i'll always have the image of the plush snake wrapped in barbed wire

hub vs ryuya matsufusa (osaka pro, april 14th) and ryu fuda vs masaaki mochizuki (dragongate, march 6th)

i decided to fold these two together, seeing as they're both young guy vs veteran matches where i went in knowing little-to-nothing about said young guys (i only knew matsufusa by name beforehand and i believe fuda's been injured for most of my dragongate viewing) and came out caring a lot about them. while i can be a little take-it-or-leave-it about english commentary depending on the promotion, jae does an excellent job breaking down who fuda is, what his struggles have been, and how said struggles play into this particular matchup. good stuff. i went into the hub vs matsufusa match with almost no context and still enjoyed it, but digging around afterwards and learning a bit about matsufusa's history with hub and osaka pro as a whole really added to the experience. [guy who needs to cut down on how many promotions he watches voice] maybe i should watch more osaka pro

i'm pretty sure these posts are just me yelling into the void, but if you read this, let me know if there are any matches you particularly enjoyed from this spring! see you next month.

[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.

[aihoshiino]

am I the only one afraid of Hikaru Kamiki appearing in this chapter? because if his presence is seen it can't mean anything goof

This is EXACTLY why I'm so excited to see his rancid ass <3

More seriously, I think the feeling of dread his presence inspires is so fun...

While I have my complaints about how little we have about him as a character at this point, I do think there's merit to the sparse way he's incorporated because it makes any page time with him feel like a real OH SHIT!!!! moment.

It also injects a lot of real stakes back into the Movie Arc. Not that there weren't emotional stakes beforehand but the confirmation of his involvement and how deep it goes really goes a long way to cast this horrible shadow over everything that happens. Forget people's careers being on the line - there's a good chance that if things go even a little wrong then some people we really care about could end up fucking dead.

[byebyelemonpie]

byebyelemonpie's mid year book freak out tag.

This side blog was born as a bookish haven back in 2015, so now that I'm back from my years long reading slump, it's only fair if I share my own bookish midyear tag. (the questions of which are taken from withcindy on youtube)

Best book you've read so far in 2024: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It took me just one day to finish reading all four the volumes this book is comprised of. It tells the story of Marjane, the author, growing up in Iran during the time of the revolution, and afterwards during the war with Iraq and the establishment of the dictatorship. I'd never read anything by an Iranian author before and admittedly I didn't know much about this country's history. This was an interesting way to start learning about it from the point of view of a girl growing up in it. I also think it should be taught in every school, because there are some wonderful quotes that describe an authoritarian government exactly for what it is, but that's just me.

Best sequel you've read so far in 2024: since I started reading manga and graphic novels, I've been reading sequels more and more. I will have to single out, however, Spy x Family volume 11 by Tatsuya Endo. Each volume might be better than the last, but I really enjoyed the heaviness of this one's themes put together with the naiveness and fun of the character of Anya and her nerves of tungsten. According to my reviews, I enjoyed a lot the 13th volume as well, and I can't wait to read more. The author wrote on twitter that he's almost completed the next volume, so I'm excited to be able to read that one too!

New release you haven't read yet, but want to: Unfortunately I don't keep up with new releases, because they keep having to be advertised via tiktok or other media now and I just don't have time for that. I tried being a bookstagram years ago but it backfired and I stopped reading at all so. Goodbye. I'll read this year's books when I find them out in the wild and decide they interest me.

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: see answer number 3.

Biggest disappointment: Child Versus Parent by Stephen Wise. I chose this one as an entry for StoryGraph's reading challenge, but I was definitely expecting something different. I realised way too late that this book was written a hundred years ago, and for that, it could just merely give me a historical viewing of what I was trying to educate myself in. My linked review actually says it better.

Biggest surprise: Viaggiare in giallo, a collection of whodunnits set during trips and travels I decided to start reading on a train. I didn't have real expectations for this one, but some of these tales were actually fun to follow. I hadn't read an Italian story in a long time, so the language was a joy to rediscover instead of just being a translation of another one. My favourite short story, and my biggest surprise, was La Segreta Alchimia by Gaetano Savatteri, which made me discover Lamanna and Piccionello and their hilarious shenanigans.

Favorite new author: Hikaru Nakamura: I've started reading the first two volumes of Saint ☆ Young Men for the first time and they're very fun. Mythology and history meet with her fiction perfectly and they're hilarious.

Newest fictional crush: My crush isn't for a fictional character, but for a whole saga, and that's not new either. I've been reading the Cherry Magic! manga by Yuu Toyota since December 2022 now and it keeps being one of the cutest stories out there. It talks about LGBTQ+ issues and community, about friendship, about superpowers and it's fun and lovely as well.

Newest favorite character: It will have to be Nicholas Nickleby as penned by Charles Dickens. The guy is a kindhearted fellow, but also somebody who hates injustice. Sure, it's not the best story by the author, but still a good one full of interesting characters all in all.

Book that made you cry: Nimona by ND Stevenson. I love the freedom this shapeshifting... Nimona has. They're unique. They are the most powerful but they decide to be an evil sidekick. Their best friend is a man who was cheated by the government and then mistreated by it. And friendship stories born from the need for having someone fighting next to you are one of my favourite tropes.

Book that made you happy: Heartstopper volume 5 by Alice Oseman. Since the fourth volume was as sad as it could be, it was a pleasant surprise to read this one and cry of happiness instead. These characters are having a lovely coming-of-age development and it makes me really happy. It made me emotional to see Nick and Charlie confront their relationship fears and their own personal ones, and work on them together. And Tori coming out as asexual to her little brother on the top of a roller coaster might be poetic cinema (without poetry or cinema, but you know what I mean).

Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received): I bought four books this year, but none of them looks as pretty as a special edition would. This year was also the first year I actually went back to buying books, after a long while I decided to stop the clutter. This year was also the year I finally renewed my library card, so all these books I decided to buy might feel a little silly standing there doing nothing for a while more.

What books do you need to read by the end of the year? To complete the StoryGraph Genre challenge, I need to read Paul McCartney's The Lyrics, a book about food in Thailand, and finish listening to the audiobook of I Promessi Sposi I found on youtube. Then I started reading Pyramids by Terry Pratchett and Maus by Art Spiegelman, and I'm about to finish reading both. I hope I can manage to reread The Hunger Games trilogy before the end of the year, because that would mean I will be able to check out the other books related to the saga written by the author recently.

[My StoryGraph profile]

[ornamentelle]

KHOC Week 2023 Day 1: Introductions

I decided to participate in @khoc-week this year! My second time doing it, so I'm excited!

I thought I would focus on my character Yui, who I talked about a few years back. She's a mostly cool and composed and sarcastic big sister who sometimes lets her anger get the best of her. Beneath her stoic facade, she feels things strongly and is a bit of a lonely, broken mess on the inside.

Yui comes from a story I’ve started and restarted multiple times at this point, which primarily follows her younger sister Hikaru after their home world is destroyed by Heartless during KH1. Yui is sort of the deuteragonist of the story; where Hikaru learns how to carve out her own role in life, Yui’s journey is about claiming her own identity after spending her whole life haunted by her mother’s (more or less literal) shadow. 

The whole Stonewall family has a very special place in my heart, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a soft spot for Yui in particular. I never did get far enough into the actual written story to dig into Yui’s side, but hopefully one day I’ll be able to get there! For now, I’ll just share some ideas that I had for her later.

Name: Yui Stonewall

Age: 20 in KH3

Appearance: Short and uneven red hair, often dyed dark brown; bottle-green eyes; tawny skin; 5’7” (170cm)

Home World: Polaris

Personality: Distant, sullen, grumpy, protective, sentimental

Yui is a very reserved person. Around strangers, she is usually polite and distant, if a little curt; around her family, she can be grumpy and irritable. Years of having her actions scrutinized and being the target of her mother’s frustration has led her to close up emotionally and keep other people at arm’s length.

As the eldest child of the family, Yui takes it upon herself to watch over her younger siblings. As much as they frustrate her at times, and despite often berating them for their poor decisions, she believes it’s her responsibility to keep them safe and will go through hell to do so. As distant as she can seem, she is fiercely protective of the few people she has in life that she cares about.

At heart, she is a sentimental person who fears losing the things she cares about, which in turn drives her to keep her distance to avoid pain. But deep down, she desperately wants to connect with people and forge a life worth living.

A Very Brief Background:

Yui was born in the distant snowy world of Polaris as the eldest child in her family and had a tumultuous upbringing. Her family was frequently on the move, and the pressure of being skilled swordsmen was pushed on them all at one point or another in part due to their dad’s legacy in a world where sword-fighting was the biggest sport. For Yui specifically, it meant rejecting the path in spite of her talent because it wasn’t what she desired to do, and because the nightmares of a past that did not belong to her frightened her away from wielding a blade.

Her relationship with her mother had been poor and outright hostile at times, and though she cared deep down for her younger siblings, she often felt envious of them. The potent darkness she housed within her was only exacerbated as the years ate away at her.

Over time she became trapped in a cycle of resentment and guilt, which came to a head when the Heartless overran her world and unraveled her very existence—body and heart. While her sister Hikaru would journey to find their scattered family, Yui was left to stew in all the negative feelings that had plagued her for her entire life. Eventually she—or at least part of her—ended up in the realm of darkness, where she met a lost Keyblade master… and from there, things began to change.

Fun Facts and Miscellaneous Notes:

Yui dyes her hair to look less like her mother. The two have a poor relationship, and Yui naturally looks like the spitting image of her—a fact she dislikes greatly.

Yui has an extremely potent darkness that she inherited from her mother (or perhaps it's better said that darkness escaped through her). Her darkness is her main source of power, but also the source of a lot of heartache.

She is a pescatarian.

She eventually works at Le Grande Bistro in Twilight Town.

Yui is a passionate violin player, though she is self-taught and rough around the edges.

Yui is bi with a stronger preference towards women.

[rigelmejo]

Little things I did recently:

Listened to 20 minutes of Silent Reading chapter 1 audiobook, twice. Understood more the 2nd time around. But I'm relying on remembering the plot to follow the description heavy portions. The dialogue portions I can follow almost all details, so they help me identify which scene I'm listening to. Exciting and humbling. Exciting because I CAN mostly follow the audio Drama now (i listened to a bit last week) whereas in the past I was lost with nl descriptions to orient me and limited comprehension of comversations. But humbling, in listening to the audio BOOK now, because back when I was reading modu as chinese practice I was Very Familiar with the descriptive words and the descriptive paragraphs were how I guessed what scene I was listening to (compared to chinese chapters I'd already read before and looked the words up). Where now, the descriptive words have faded from my mind, and are the harder parts to grasp the meaning of now. I think that...overall, my chinese listening is Better now than it was 6 months ago. But I can tell that the reading-only vocabulary I've picked up is much rustier in my memory, and much harder for me to recognize in listening with no hanzi to look at for reference.

Read 5 panels (chapters) of 19天. Ended up looking up 聚会 because I couldnt remember the "gather" hanzi was pronounced ju. For some reason I kept thinking it was zi like purple 紫. But no, it was ju, for gather: 聚集 gather (juji), 聚会 (juhui) reunion. Again, I recommend that manhua if you like funny, physical comedy, slice of life. It's fun, and even if you can't read something then the pictures have a lot of the comedy anyway.

Watched 40 minutes of qi hun (hikaru no go cdrama adaptation) in only chinese. NO subtitles. First time I tried watching a show with zero subtitles including no chinese subs. I've been listening to audioboks with no text recently though, so I guess I felt I might as well try a show with no subtitles. Hikaru no go is on iqiyi youtube free (still free thank goodness), and iqiyi is one of the channels that has no hard chinese subs - you can turn on english or chinese subs, but they arent pre-made on the video. It was really cool to try! 1. I understood almost every detail! I got lost when Chu Ying said some "sayings" to kid Shi Guang, and when Chu Ying explained playing go I only understood him saying the size of the board/placement number choices, I was confused about the rest of the explanation.

I didn't understand a few lines kid Shi Guang said, but he's speaking like a kid muffled and quick during those lines and I got the gist. It was really exciting just being able to WATCH the scenes, my focus not half torn on the subs. To actually hear how the lines are said, without translation changes. Some words I could guess from context like xia qi 下棋 for play go, since Chu Ying keeps saying 我想下棋。 and shi guang keeps saying to stop crying ToT. But I do think I could have guessed the parts I didnt grasp, like Chu Yings "sayings" if Id had the chinese subtitles on and saw the hanzi to help myself figure out what he meant. So I may rewatch the episode with chinese subs. But since this summer is about improving LISTENING COMPREHENSION, I am just pretty exciting it went so well. Also the show is just so comforting. Id totally forgotten Shi Guang's little intro where he explains what the show/journey will be about!

I wonder if they dubbed the show? I assume they dubbed it, probably, since most cdramas do. But kid shi guang and the other kids talk pretty natural sounding (not like trying to sound "acting" if that makes sense, with clear projected enough voices), which reminds me of To Dear Myself with zhu yilong which either used audio filmed During Scenes or instructed the actors to dub themselves speaking more realistically (i dont remember which, that show just had a Very realisticly visual audio and acting feel). Adult shi guang also has a very natural sound to how he speaks, like the sound of his voice we hear is how he would sound if talking to regular close friends.

In Japanese Glossika app, I've studied 1129 sentences, done 9137 reps (repetitions of sentences), and studied 24:39 hours. Glossika labels me in High A1 14.7%. While I've still got some significant complaints about the new glossika app japanese course, my stubbornness to complete all the fucking sentences and judge for myself how good/bad it is has definitely Motivated me to Study japanese more. I've studied those 24 hours in the past 3 weeks, so a little over 1 hour a day of studying on average. Thats way more than the ZERO time per week I was spending on japanese, and its audio so I've been able to do it with my regular life schedule.

(Truly glossikas Only Unique benefit to me is the listening mode, so I can press play and it gives me new sentences and reviews at time intervals it schedules on its own, so i do not have to put any effort into figuring out what to do next or take time away from other activities to constantly click my screen for an hour... i can just click play new, or click play review, and continue on with my life knowing I'm learning some new stuff and reviewing things i need to. If anything else fucking had this feature id jump to it instead. Clozemaster Kind of had this feature - and i paid for a while just for it - but clozemaster's Radio mode did not split new from reviews and did not spaced repetition schedule the reviews so there were a LOT of days i wouldnt hear new sentences or id review the same 300 sentences instead of different ones out of the 2000+ i had studied).

I am curious if the Chinese Glossika app course is better? I know the old cd chinese course was fairly good, as learner reviews mentioned some alternately worded things but nothing worded Wrongly. So if the new chinese app course, please please please, just used ANY of their people on staff who know chinese (like the maker of it) to human translate, then their chinese app course should be one of the app courses with the LEAST errors. Since its a language they, presumably, have the most access to human translators for. And im curious if therefore i could study using it. Or vice versa, if the new chinese app course is trash id like to review how fucking far their quality has tanked. I recognize more chinese than japanese, and i'd be able to tell within 500 sentences roughly what the error rate is in the chinese app course.

[mobumi]

Hello, this is just ask for fun....

Favorite female character :

Favorite male character :

Favorite animanga :

Animanga you are currently enjoying :

Animanga that exceeded all your expectations :

Unpopular animanga you really love :

Favorite romance :

Favorite action animanga :

Favorite fantasy :

Favorite sci -fi :

Favorite drama :

Favorite comedy :

Favorite anime movie :

Next in your watch list :

Next in your read list :

Favorite antagonist:

Thanks if you want to answer ....

Hello! Thank you for the ask! :)

This was so hard to answer, so I just mostly chose my current favorites!

Favorite female character: Nobara Kugisaki

Favorite male character: Megumi Fushiguro or probably Miyuki Kazuya, but there's also Mob omg idk

Favorite animanga: Ace of diamond or Haikyuu! (I've watched a lot of sports anime recently)

Animanga you are currently enjoying: I'm rewatching Run with the wind and it's amazing!! I'm also reading The summer Hikaru died which is incredible, Fermat kitchen and Run on your new legs ❤️

Animanga that exceeded all your expectations: hmm probably Mob Psycho 100, i thought it was only gonna be a comedy at first but the angst man, everything was so good even better than I thought! I was also really surprised by the anime Overtake! which was stunning visually and captured my heart.

Unpopular animanga you really love: Wind breaker! I think the manga is not really popular yet. Maybe it will once the anime comes out. But yeah, it's kinda been my guilty pleasure 'cause it's not what I would normally love.

Favorite romance: The Beauty Inside movie 2015, such a beautiful movie and I don't usually like romance, but this is one of my favorites among a few. Ore Monogatari is fricking cute too, I loved it!

Favorite action animanga: Jujutsu Kaisen

Favorite Fantasy: Harry Potter I guess, I can't think of anything else 🤔

Favorite sci-fi: Ender's game

Favorite drama: Monster (Kaibutsu) 2023, this movie broke me 😭

Favorite comedy: Everybody Hates Chris (my all time fave) or more currently Buddy Daddies

Favorite anime movie: Bakemono no Ko

Next in your watchlist: I'm on a sports anime binge so Ao Ashi or I might rewatch prince of tennis but there are way too many episodes. Also, I'll start Frieren soon so i'm excited to see if it's as good as people say!

Next in your read list: too many books to read... I'm an editorial assistant so I always buy books and have no time to read them all 😭 But anyway, I've bought some manga recently so imma read Wind breaker vol.8 and then Yomi no Tsugai (2nd and 3rd volumes)

Favorite antagonist: Moriarty from Sherlock bbc idk