#just for you yabusame

[singular-yike]

I must ask about Yabusame. Anything interesting about them? What are some neat secrets they might be hiding ~ ?

Ooh, Yabusame is quite the tough one, we really just know so little about them! Anyways, I'll try my best though!

It's the Flawless Thoughtlessness — Yabusame Houlen

Name: Yabusame Houlen

Since we're talking about their name, I'll be using the Japanese order here, Houlen Yabusame (鳳聯藪雨).

The first thing you might notice is the use of an L in the romanization of their name Houlen. Japanese doesn't actually distinguish between /l/ and /r/, so either is technically fine as long as we're consistent, but JynX does actually consistently use R. So why the L here?

It's so that when combined with Tsubakura Enraku, their names can combine to give Len'En!

In Houlen, "hou" (鳳) refers to the Fenghuang (鳳凰), a bird in Chinese mythology said to be the king of all birds. It is often paired with the Yellow Dragon to represent the Emperess and Emperor and China respectively.

Although rarely used on its own, "ren" (聯) carries the meaning of "link" or "pair". Perhaps used in reference to the title of the entire series "connecting chain".

In addition, "houren" is also the reading of 鳳輦, which refers to a type of palanquin decorated with a Fenghuang on the roof, used specifically by the Emperor. Nowadays it also refers to the same type of palanquin used in Shinto shrine processions as well.

In "Yabusame" (藪雨), "yabu" (藪) means "grove while "same" (雨) means "rain". Read together it refers to the Asian stubtail, given this name as their cries are said to sound like rain pattering on a grove.

Curiously enough, while Yabusame's name is indeed a Bird's Name, they are the only character so far with multiple birds in their name that are not related in any way, literally or through wordplay.

Titles

Yabusame is one of the few characters to have two titles. First, their default title: Flawless Thoughtlessness (天衣無縫の能天気)

天衣無縫 is a phrase that literally means "a celestial's clothing has no seams", which refers to something that is naturally flawless with no trace of artifice. So this is where "flawless" comes from.

能天気 refers to an easygoing person who never thinks deeply about anything, which is where we get "thoughtlessness from".

In their chef form in BotC, they're titled Chef Unbound in Any Direction (縦横無尽な調理人).

縦横無尽 literally means "vertically and horizontally endless", and refers to someone who acts freely and as they wish, hence "unbound". 調理人 simply means "chef".

Basis: Dimensions and String Theory

Similar to fellow protagonist Tsubakura Enraku, it's difficult to identify any particular figure, historical, mythological or otherwise, in them. However, it is fairly clear that Yabusame is based on dimensions and string theory.

Dimensions

Yabusame's most obvious tie to the concept of dimensions is their ability, "something like crossing dimensions". While Yabusame is indeed shown to be able to do so, like in BPoHC's tutorial where they crossed into an alternate Mugenri, how this is achieved is unclear.

Curiously, JynX personally considers Yabusame's ability the most dangerous in the series so far, although the reason remains unexplained.

The most common application of Yabusame's ability is their "hyper-dimensional pockets", portals that connect two different dimensions. They use them to send and retrieve things to and fro between dimensions, an example being their spell Confused Origins "Screen Shuffle", as seen below:

There are a number of possible curiosities possibly related to Yabusame's abilities, such as:

Yabusame is apparently only "technically human", whatever that means

Suzumi's abilities seem to have next to no effect on Yabusame at all, and even if they rewound time after killing them it would apparently still leave them dead, according to Suzumi

While Yabusame seems to have free control over their ability, EE's bad ending would imply that they need to fall asleep to truly transport themself between dimensions

JynX said that there are "no longer" alternate Yabusames across different dimensions, the Yabusame we see always being the singular Yabusame (Which raises very curious questions about BPohC, actually)

A popular theory as to why this is, is that Yabusame exists simultaneously as one being throughout all the dimensions.

It would seemingly explain why they are so very scatterbrained, as their attention is literally scattered across various dimensions; as well as why killing them would be a permanent action even if time was rewound, as time is a dimension itself.

If this were the case, then perhaps sleeping to travel between dimensions is merely for Yabusame to shift their main focus between them; and the fact that there are "no longer" distinct, separate Yabusames in each dimension would imply a fusion/takeover of some sort.

However, we should of course keep in mind that this is all a theory, and is nowhere near confirmed.

String Theory

Disclaimer: Physics is not my strong suit, and I know next to nothing about string theory, so while this is probably the juicy part I won't be able to say much here. All I can do is point out some neat little references.

Yabusame's birthday, 26 November (26/11) may be a reference to the dimensions required in different variations of string theory: The M-theory calls for 11; while the Bosonic string theory calls for 26.

The M-theory is also referenced in Yabusame's personal themes Wings that Transcend Spacetime ~ M theory and Feathers Flying off the Beaten Path ~ Eleven-dimensional.

EmEv Holdover: Serintsu

So I sort of, kinda lied when I said that we can't identify any basis for Yabusame. We do have one from Emergency Everyday, the dropped predecessor of Len'en from which our modern Len'en is based on. We should keep in mind, however, that JynX did not work on EmEv.

It is likely that Yabusame is somewhat of a renewed Serintsu.

A human with the ability of "something like crossing dimensions", from what we can see of EmEv's trial version, their story from their game is largely identical to that of Yabusame's in EE.

However, other than this, the two share no other similarities and it is fairly safe to say that EmEv's main influence on Len'en comes from its premise and story more than anything.

So! I think that concludes our little look at Yabusame. Truly a mysterious but extremely fun character, let's hope we get to learn more in the future~! Until then, I leave you with this early concept art of Yabusame, which I think deserves to be appreciated more! :)

[kkoct-ik]

yttd doodle requesties from today

[averagecatdoodlesenjoyer]

A terrible comic i made in Paint back in August. I may or may not have regrets

Alternative versions where the quality gets progressively worse

[dailykeiji]

today's keiji is: hugs for reko

[1emon-ice]

Reko art, my design ! Face is my favorite part!

[eveningrainstorm]

survivor

[rekofan101]

hihi i really like your art style and i feel i’d like to see more samurai yaiba!reko in your artstyle <3

DAY 208: from an alice bday piece i… never finished…

[rosehippiefield]

Some people dislike logic route for Shin's inactivity, thinking it is inferior to his previous behavior, but... I feel like him not having energy left is natural. While him not doing much may be yet another trick or manipulation, maybe he's just that tired. For a guy who has witnessed sister figure's death, has lived in constant tension last four days, was hit with a frying pan (given how abnormally weak he is) and on top of that has to deal with ex-friend that had ruined his life Shin is doing relatively alright.

I'm honestly surprised by his ability to still maintain something similar to composure

[alangdorf]

Sorryyyy for dropping off the face of the earth; got kinda shy after that last post but mostly I’ve just been writing though I cannot guarantee that any of that will ever be finished (also I’m very insecure about my writing AAAH). Figure I might as well post the valentines I had done (like two months late lol); interestingly this turned into more of a hand lettering exercise than I was expecting lol

[notyoinara]

alice yabusame art marathon 2024 has ended early.........it's okay there's always next year

[brain-rot-hour]

I could make some excuse about Inu not having ears cause they don't show until he shifts but really I just forgot 💅

(it happens more often than I'd like to admit)

Alignments are dumb. Thinking about it now Kagome is just straight up Lawful Good. Idk what I was thinking it's like 0430 right now.

These are level 6 stats and based solely on my interpretation of the characters

Also InuYasha has a +2 initiative ksnsbdskdks

Full sheets (Google Drive): Kagome||InuYasha

[houlen-yabusame]

hey guys.. long time no see…. gensou hardsound but for len'en

[evilkitten3]

kanna once i get us all out of here i'm going to have you sit down with reko so she can tell you about gay people. i promise this will be relevant to you soon

[datastate]

loving variations

[averagecatdoodlesenjoyer]

I wanted to do something for The Best Caharcter's Ever birthday but I'm too exhausted today so I just jeaned him as well.

[room-of-lies]

i can't find the boat emoji um

for the yttd ask game the otp question

still figuring that one out myself