#kanji and names are so important to him

[shewhoeatssand]

Kaneki looks very pretty on this page!

[unwillingtoreachout]

once again thinking about my ex-raven Neil au and 36 year old Neil meeting Ichirou's 15 year old daughter at a fan event

[vashtijoy]

shido's palace: those posters

And you know the ones I mean:

Shido, we can see right up your nose. But let's talk about the text on these. First, the really big bit on the left:

獅童正義 shidou masayoshi

Look at the kanji there. His given name is twice the size of his family name. Plus, his given name doesn't have the furigana (tiny text to tell you how to read it) that you can see against his family name—despite it being easily misread as a common noun.

Because, as eny fule kno, Shido's given name is spelled the same way as 正義 seigi, meaning "justice". This will be important later. The game lampshades this, by the way, in gossip chats around the election:

"Shido-san really lives up to what his name means. He's like justice personified." Okay, gossiping person, you do you.

united future

At the bottom, in tinytext next to his spooky Illuminati-esque Whole World In His Hands logo that isn't megalomaniacal at all, we have the name of his new splinter party:

未来連合 mirai rengou United Future

未来 mirai means future; 連合 rengou means a bloc, a coalition, an alliance or union. 連合ヨーロッパ rengou yooroppa, "a federal Europe"; 連合国 rengoukoku, "the Allied powers". So we get "United Future", perhaps less catchily "The Alliance for the Future", which is very much the sort of name new Japanese political parties tend to have.

what about that other bit

Hahaha, you mean this little thing?

This is Shadow Shido's slogan. This sums up his mission, his motive, the whole reason he wants power. And what does it say?

私のために、民衆は尽くす watashi no tame ni, minshuu wa tsukusu The people will serve me.

What a nice thing to say! What an excellent sentiment, befitting of a public servant in a democracy! And what an unashamed piece of shit, eh? You can see why Japan is underwater in his head.

Constructions of the form X no tame ni tsukusu are quite common; my dictionary lists several. So this little phrase is a play on words in at least two ways:

First of all, it's an adaptation of a well-known phrase, 民衆のために尽くす minshuu no tame ni tsukusu, "to serve the people". Shido has taken this and inverted it: the people will serve him.

But second—remember how Shido's given name, Masayoshi, is written the same way as seigi, meaning "justice"? One of those common little example phrases in my dictionary, under tsukusu, is the following:

正義のために尽くす seigi no tame ni tsukusu to work for justice

This is why his given name is in massive letters on the poster: because this play on words is deliberate on his part: Shido is justice, as his name should tell you; he defines what is good and right and true—and what's good and right and true is what is in his interests. And so the people will serve him. The same way they'd serve the nation, or society, or the public good.

It's a really interesting line. And, of course, it calls to mind Akechi—supposedly a detective, in the service of justice, and yet in reality....

BTW, don't forget this is Shido's Shadow talking. How much does Shido himself, the guy walking about upstairs, delude himself about all this? That's an exercise for the reader.

revision history

Click here for the latest version.

v1.0 (2024/01/14)—first published.

[mushimatsu]

I found the full versions of the job apps from this post! This was a collab with the restaurant chain Sukiya, so that's where the job app is for! Pictures from this blog post here!

Translation under the cut

Osomatsu:

Academic background/work experience (include relevant experience):

(dates left blank) NEET, factory job, Chinese food restaurant, etc Anyway I have experience with a lotta stuff! And more

About yourself:

Gyuudon! I can eat a lot of it! Beer! (something crossed out) I can drink a lot of it! 

Hobbies/Skills:

Horse racing, pachinko, all kinds of gambling!

Reason for your application:

Because I think I could eat a lot of gyuudon. And because I think a pork bowl made with a brand new model of charcoal grill would be tasty! 

Working hours (for example 9 ~ 17): (he left this blank and just put an x through Monday, Saturday, and Sunday)

Other requests:

I’d like to immediately take off days where a machine is being replaced, store remodeling days, and horse race days! 

What days would you prefer to work?: (left blank)

How many hours would you like to work a day?: (left blank) How long can you work for?: (left blank)

Karamatsu:

(in the furigana section where you're supposed to write the pronunciation of your name he wrote it in English instead of hiragana)

Phone Number: Secret (it's so important to tell you that he wrote "secret" as the English word in katakana, and not the Japanese word for secret)

Academic Background/Work Experience:

Theater Completed curriculum at Hybrid Oden cart (Hybrid misspelled as Hybrit) And more

About yourself:

When I take the stage called Sukiya... After that... Who knows...

(sorry if this is incorrect idk how the fuck to translate what he said. hate his ass /j)

Hobbies/Skills:

I can sing while playing guitar, and more...

Reason for your application:

Gyuudon, butadon, curry... Because your menu calls to me...

Working hours (for example 9 ~ 17): (left blank)

Other requests:

I'm not tied down to anyone...

What days would you prefer to work?:

What a foolish question...

How many hours would you like to work a day?:

I'm not tied down to any time...

How long can you work for?:

How many times do I have to tell you...

Choromatsu:

Academic Background/Work Experience:

Totoko-chan's manager Worked at father's friend's company And more

About yourself:

Personally, I would benefit from your company's management policy, so I think I can achieve results while working remotely. The other day, all my brothers caught a cold, but I was busy making content as a small influencer!*

Hobbies/Skills:

Kanji certification level 6, English certification level 6. Thank you very much.

Reason for your application:

Sukiya would benefit from an entrepreneur and marketing and advertising specialist with a concise plan to make KPIs a priority activity. Boosting conversions** can create solutions for Sukiya through engagement. Gyuudon benefits will surely create profit. Assign buffers and launch. Thank you very much.* ** like click through rate

Working hours (for example 9 ~ 17): (left blank)

Other requests:

Frankly, a pension plan is a must, with a minimum of 200,000 yen fixed and committed per month. Thank you very much.

What days would you prefer to work?:

I will send you the agenda for today's activities afterwards. Thank you very much.

How many hours would you like to work a day?: (left blank)

How long can you work for?: (left blank)

*(struggled so much with him and his business buzzwords if anyone has corrections please tell me)

Ichimatsu:

Academic Background/Work Experience:

Honored Squad Leader for Life at Factory Worked at Cat Cafe, as a cat And more

About yourself:

I want to gather some cats at the restaurant, but not like it would be a cat cafe, and make a "Cat Sukiya"...

Hobbies/Skills:

Cat certification level 2

Reason for your application:

I want to surround the restaurant with a lot of cats.

Working hours (for example 9 ~ 17): (left blank)

Other requests:

How many cats am I allowed to bring to the restaurant?

What days would you prefer to work?:

No particular preference

How many hours would you like to work a day?:

No particular preference

How long can you work for?:

As long as there's cats

Jyushimatsu:

Academic Background/Work Experience:

PRACTICE SWINGS

About yourself:

78 METER THROW

Hobbies/Skills:

BASEBALL

Reason for your application:

I WANT TO EAT LOTS OF GYUUDON!

(All the questions about when you're available to work):

I WANT TO EAT GYUUDON EVERY DAY!!

Todomatsu:

Academic Background/Work Experience:

Currently attending a very prestigious college Part time job at a trendy coffee shop And more

About yourself:

My brothers are all stupid, so I'm the best choice <3

Hobbies/Skills:

English and Japanese certified

Reason for your application:

The new menu item avocado gyuudon is my favorite, so you're going to release it, right? That is to say, you'll hire me, right? Right? Thanks <3

Working hours (for example 9 ~ 17): (left blank)

Other requests:

Rather than just beer, I want to sell kalua milk and cassis orange too ⭐

What days would you prefer to work?: (left blank)

How many hours would you like to work a day?: (left blank)

How long can you work for?:

Depends on if the customers are cute girls <3

thank you @totmatsu for ur help

[animeyanderelover]

Characters of your choice from JJK with a darling who has a tattoo of their ex please

Holidays, everyone! I finally have my holidays! I changed it slightly so that the darling has a tattoo of the name of their ex.

Tw: Yandere themes, toxic relationship, possessive behavior, obsession, delusional thoughts, clinginess, manipulation, controlling behavior, forceful behavior, death

S/o has a tattoo of the name of their ex

Fushiguro Megumi

💙You have never told him of your tattoo before, aware how paranoid Megumi tends to be. Perhaps that would have been the wiser choice yet instead he discovers the name engraved on your skin himself as you fail to cover the name on your shoulder in time as he accidentally walks in on you changing. Thick silence befalls the room as he just stands there, frozen as his eyes are glued to the black kanji signs on your skin. His mind repeats the name over and over again until he suddenly remembers where he has heard it before. His heart drops, a lumb of fear and insecurities forms at the back of his throat and his eyes widen frantically. You try to come up with something, anything to explain this to him yet he is faster. Suddenly he stands in front of you, arms seizing your shoulders as he asks you with a slightly raised voice why you never told him that you had a tattoo of your ex. Why?? Why would you do that?? Were...were they that important to you? What about him then?

💙He can't bear to look at you the same way as before after that for quite some while, not without imagining the name of your ex tattooed on your shoulder. It's like a marking that spells out that you once loved someone else and whenever he actually sees your tattoo, he feels something clenching deep inside his chest. His insecurities and paranoia increase as he starts wondering if you still harbor feelings for your ex. Going as far as carrying a tattoo of their name around is a pretty big sign of devotion after all. You find yourself having a harder time to calm him down, the tattoo on your shoulder triggering him whenever he catches a glimpse of it. It haunts him, torments him a bit and he has wondered a couple of times already if he has to threaten your ex as paranoia poisons his ability to think rationally and instead whispers into his mind that you might return to your ex. He knows that it isn't good for his sanity which is why at some point he begs you to remove it somehow. Please, it torments him.

Zenin Maki

💚​Maki has known about your tattoo for a longer while now, it's hard to hide something written on your wrist with black and permanent ink after all. She already questioned this decision of yours back then quite a bit because it's quite risky to get a tattoo of the name of your ex without any guarantee that they'll stay. All you could do back then was to give her a pitiful laugh as you couldn't help but agree with her. Back then this was still fine though but now it is a different story as she's grown rather possessive over you. The tattoo is an eyesore for her whenever she sees it and due to the visible spot you chose, she sees it multiple times a day. She lets out a scoff whenever her eyes find the kanji signs and her mood is almost always worsening a tad bit whenever she spots the name of your former lover. At least she is reasonable enough to understand that both of you have broken it up for good so she isn't as wavering and paranoid as Megumi. She knows that you don't have any feelings for them anymore.

💚​That doesn't mean that she hasn't completely forgiven you for your stupidity to get a tattoo in the first place. In fact she is scolding you more nowadays for your decision than before. Maki knows that you regret that mistake yourself but she can't help it sometimes, she is a bit mad and tends to express that with not so kind words. At the very least she notices that her words only cause you to feel worse so she tries to comfort you as good as she can everytime her tongue slips and she accidentally cuts you with her words. She makes it very clear to you though that she greatly dislikes that you have the name of someone else decorating your body whilst you're together with her and you can't even blame her for it. She would appreciate for you to somehow get rid of this tattoo and sometimes you have the feeling that her wish sounds more like a demand.

Gojo Satoru

🩵​It's perhaps not the best idea to let Gojo ever find out about your tattoo but how is that even supposed to work? The man is so terribly clingy and intrusive and despite his goofy facade, you have a feeling that he might react very badly to the sight of your tattoo. You try to figure out a way how to tell him as harmlessly as possible but you can't come up with anything. Maybe it wouldn't have made a difference in the first place. That's at least what you think as you try to wiggle free from his unusually tight grip, one of his hands lifting up your shirt as dull blue eyes stare at the name written slightly above your hip. Your breath hitches in your throat when those same blue eyes finally meet your own and you feel like you could drown within the abyss of the darkness swirling behind those beautiful orbs. A forced smile stretches his face as he asks you why you have someone's name tattooed on your body. Especially that of your ex.

🩵​You have a hard time convincing him not to go after your ex as your gut screams at you that something terribly will happen otherwise. You beg him to have mercy since both of you have ended the relationship years ago and you don't even have any contact with them anymore. You swallow heavily when his heavy and colder gaze rests on you yet still plead him to not do anything to them as you promise to do whatever he wants. Your wish is somewhat granted as Gojo doesn't harm them but he still wants to have seen the person whose name stains your skin at least once. Needless to say, he is disappointed when he sees your ex who is in his eyes a nobody but perhaps that reassures him a tiny bit. He can't help but torment and scare the poor soul though and they don't know even why. He organizes an appointment for you where the tattoo will be completely removed and only after that he seems to return to his usual self, happily kissing the now empty spot on your skin.

Kamo Choso

🩸​Choso is absolutely attached to your hips. He's needy, soft-spoken, careful and surprisingly considerate. If he wouldn't have been your kidnapper and creepy stalker, you might have appreciated him more though. There is something about him that sometimes just unsettles you and he himself doesn't even seem to notice when he's creeping you out until he witnesses your reaction. You don't even notice him until you feel his fingertips brushing against your skin and nearly jump out of your skin, turning bewildered around to see Choso staring at the same spot where your tattoo was only a few moments ago. He doesn't move as he now stares into empty air as if trying to process something until dark eyes finally meet your own. He swallows before apologizing that he just walked in on you without telling you anything. A few seconds of silence before you hear him asking you once again, this time in a slightly shaky tone, what that was he just saw on your back.

🩸​It's like Choso initially refuses to believe that a tattoo is something permanent as he rejects the thought that you will walk around with a name of your ex-lover forever engraved onto your being. You wake sometimes up in the middle of the night only to feel his hand rubbing against the tattoo as if trying to erase it himself, you notice the way his hands start trembling when he realizes that the ink doesn't fade away even a tiny bit and pray that he won't have a meltdown. Choso would never blame you for it but that means that his hostility is turned against your ex as he starts genuinely believing that they tricked you and manipulated your feelings, abused your kindness which is why you were fooled into getting such a tattoo. He never goes out to kill them though, only because you stop him though and successfully manage to coax him into not doing such a thing and instead he just clings onto you. He asks you anxiously more than once if there is a way to get rid of the tattoo and you know that it's probably the best way to preserve his sanity somehow.

Mahito

🔷​Good luck in general with Mahito because that is a recipe for disaster anyways. Mahito's perception of love differs greatly and is much more twisted and warped than anything and in his eyes he wouldn't even label his feelings as love. He likes to view you more as a sweet experiment, an interesting specism he just likes to spend time with whilst poking and tormenting you to gauge all of your reactions. The best you can do is try to endure it without giving him too much of a reaction because the bastard loves seeing you respond strongly to anything he does. Unfortunately you don't react quite as level-headed as you would like to have when he notices the dark ink on your legs and suddenly yanks you towards him, his hands roughly holding your leg, unimpressed by the way you're kicking and hissing at him. Cold fingers brush over the lettering on your skin, mismatched eyes curiously go back and forth between your eyes and the dark ink on your thigh before he asks you what this is.

🔷​He's genuinely interested to hear your reasons why you would decide to have the name of your ex tattooed on your skin and it is hard for you to tell if he is angry at all about it or not. He's definitely mocking and degrading you though as he labels you stupid for doing something like this despite never having known if they would actually stay with you. His fingers are still tracing over the tattoo and when he suddenly falls quiet for a while, you realize that he's thinking about something. Then he suddenly asks you if you just feel better if you have someone's name on your body which successfully makes you feel like you belong to someone. You're offended by his words but he doesn't give you time to answer as a grin suddenly flashes across his face, his grip tightening as he says with an excited tone that he wants to see his name on your skin too. You can't do anything but watch as your leg deforms in a grotesque way before returning to it's normal form. Your previous tattoo has disappeared and instead the kanji signs now read Mahito's name. Do you want more~?

[spooky-bunnys]

Title: Gloomy

Fandom: Tokyo Revengers

Pairing: Mochi x Kawata! Male Reader

Warnings: Violence, FLUFF, and over protective siblings.

Kawata (Name) was known for multiple reasons. First, he was the older brother of the famous Kawata Twins aka the Devil Twins. Second, like his brothers he had an unusual resting face. But unlike his brothers who had a resting smiley and angry face, he always had a resting gloomy face. Hince that is way he's called gloomy.

Not many people have seen him without his usual gloomy face. Only those he's closest to have seen him change facial expressions. Those being his younger brothers and obviously his boyfriend. (Name) had met Mochi by accident one day at a convenient store. They had both reached for a (favorite drink) and it was like the two instantly clicked.

~

(Name) sighed as he brushed his hair back. Unlike his younger brothers that had peach and blue colored of hair, (Name) had a hair color that if you see it just right it looks purple. But its also thick and curly. Which all three Kawata males don't enjoy too much. Although (Name) usually wears his hair up and away from his neck and face.

(Name) was busy making dinner for a special dinner tonight. Tonigh (Name) was finally introducing his boyfriend to his brothers. Although (Name) was nervous. He was hoping it'd be a good night for them. It was very important for his brothers and boyfriend to get along. They're the three most important people in his life.

If they don't get along (Name) isn't sure what he'd do. He doesn't want to have to choose. But even if he did, he'd always choose his brothers. (Name) shook his head and checked the stove. He was making his brothers his famously known beef broth ramen. (Name) swears sometimes its the only thing his brothers will eat.

As he finished the ramen the oven went off alerting the male. (Name) grabbed his personalized oven mits, (a gag gift from his brothers that says Best Big Brother), and carefull pulled out the pan. See (Name) is trying to cook something special for his boyfriend. So he's attempting to make a Korean Barbecue meal. So far its been going right.

The door bell rang catching (Name)'s attention. Since (Name) had his hands full and after checking and seeing it was almost an hour early. He asked one of his brothers to get the door. That turned out to be a very BIG mistake.

~

Souya and Nahoya had been sitting on the couch talking. They had both agreed that whoever this guy was, wasn't even close to be enough for their brother. Their brother was everything to them. When their parents up and left, (Name) stepped up. He quickly graduated out of school and got as many jobs as he could.

They can remember how exhausted he'd be when he came home. But no matter how tired he was, (Name) would always make them ramen. Which has been their favorite food since they can remember. So yeah whoever thinks they can come in and sweep their brother off his feet has another thing coming.

As they discussed what the plan for the night was the door bell rang. After hearing their brother ask one of them to get the door, Nahoya decided to get it. Figuring out who it was already. But as he opened the door he was met by none other then; Mochizuki Kanji.

Nahoya didn't give the older male a chance to think before he had already swung. Souya not far behind his twin. As the trio fought none of them noticed the rushing male coming towards them. Not until the twins were pulled off and (Name) was in the middle.

"What is going on?!" (Name) huffed. Before either brother could say anything (Name) turned towards Mochi and carefully cupped his face. "Kanji are you okay?" Mochi grimaced before nodding. Rubbing his jaw. (Name) turned towards the other two. "Nahoya. Souya. Care to explain why you attacked my boyfriend?"

The twins froze. "THAT'S YOUR BOYFRIEND?!" Souya and (Name) flinched. Mochi carefully wrapped an arm around (Name)'s waist. "Yeah. I'm the boyfriend." (Name) softly smiled and carefully kissed his cheek. The twins watched with wide eyes. For the longest of times they had been the only people able to make their brother smile.

They shared a glance. They may not like it, but (Name) is happy. So maybe they can give him a chance. Nahoya sternly looked towards the buff male. "Alright. But the first time you hurt our brother or you upset him. You're done." Mochi snorted but nodded and (Name) smiled.

BONUS

(Name) amd Mochi: *sharing soft kisses and smiling softly at one another*

(Name): This feels nice.

Mochi: *nods and holds (Name) close*

(Name) and Mochi: *lean in to kiss again*

The Twins: *barge into (Name)'s room* ANIKI!

(Name) and Mochi: *jumps apart*

The Twins: *quickly get between the two*

(Name): *smiles softly*

Mochi: *grumbles and scoots away*

[loganelfreeces]

Umemiya's Savior, Shitara Yuki, and the Old Furin (Knowledge and Theories)

Now, if anyone paid attention during the Umemiya's Backstory chapters (93-97), I'm sure we all noticed two important players in it.

Shitara Yuki, Umemiya's foster care worker who looks after him.

And the Mysterious Furin 3rd Year Student who saved Umemiya's life.

I've done a little data collecting, analysing and theorising about what knowledge we do have about these two and what information they can tell us about the old Furin before Umemiya was even in middle school. And potentially where they are now and how they could return in the future.

Shitara Yuki (設楽 優希)

According to this Kanji translator, his name means:

設 means "establishment, provision, prepare" 楽 means "music, comfort, ease" (the tree radical in most Furin names is here, I think) 優 means "tenderness, excel, surpass, actor, superiority, gentleness" 希 means "hope, beg, request, pray"

Since we have more knowledge about Shitara, I'd say he's the easier puzzle to crack, so let's start with him.

We know he's a bit of a goofball who keeps a dorky, brave face for the kids to protect them from the violence surrounding Makochi at this time.

But he does deeply care about and is protective of the Furinen kids, scolding them when they worry him and kindly smiling when they need to talk some emotional stuff through.

What I'm most interested is what he says about Furin.

Notice how the other orphanage worker is talking about Furin and Shitara says "That stings", and she responds with "But I'm not talking about you?"

Then there's Mystery Student's comment about how "It's not like what happened during your generation".

Shitara Theories

From these comments we can all but confirm that Shitara was a Former Furin Student, likely while it was a delinquent school when the students were "a little more well-behaved" and didn't provoke the nearby teams. And Mystery Student could have known Shitara when he was a student, or heard second hand through Shitara about his time in the school.

Shitara could also be a glimpse into Umemiya's future; what happens after Umemiya gradutes? Does he stay involved in protecting the town? Or does he work in Furinen, being a good caretaker for kids like him? Or does he become a teacher in Furin, protecting the students?

But that's enough about Shitara. Now onto the main event:

Umemiya's Savior

We have comparatively less information about him, so I'm just analysing him to Hell and back.

What we can infer from the visual information is that he's a 3rd year student (so 17 or 18 when Umemiya is 9, making him 26 or 27 in canon time). He also wears a chain necklace with some kinda charm on the end. Less important, but he has lighter coloured short hair, but we all know hair is allowed to change in this world (Nirei, Kiryu, Umemiya).

I know a few people wondered if he could be Takiishi, but considering Takiishi is around the same age as Umemiya, it's unlikely.

First thing we can confirm is that he's strong. Specifically that he went to Furin because he wanted to get stronger "just like someone we both know", meaning himself and Shitara.

Second we can confirm that Savior was in Furinen for 6 months, 8 years before he met Umemiya (17 years ago in canon timeline). Savior would've been 9 or 10 years old at that time. Not only that, but Shitara kept an eye on this kid, the same way he's kept an eye on Umemiya since then. He also has a close enough relationship with Shitara to trust him to handle stuff he's ill equipped to manage.

Thirdly we can confirm that though Savior was one of the Furin Students wrecking the town, it comes from a place of wanting to protect it. He's trying to stop the teams and gangs from getting too big and becoming a problem for the local area.

So those are the concrete facts. Now for the

Savior Theories

Based on the information gathered, we can confirm that he's got either a role model or a peer he wanted to become stronger for, who Shitara also knew. This person was most likely also a Furinen orphan or a Furin student. And since Windbreaker does this pattern of Serious Guy & Silly Guy (Sakura & Nirei, Umemiya & Hiragi, Togame & Tomiyama, etc), I'm assuming the other student is the Silly to Savior's Serious. As of right now, we can't really make any more guesses about this person.

It's also highly likely that Savior has gone through something traumatic, in order to give him this outlook on Umemiya's situation. It likely influiences why he didn't try to talk Umemiya down from his suicidal thoughts until after Umemiya attempted it himself. He could well have been putting on an act of indifference though to, in a way, give Umemiya permission to make up his own mind about the situation without someone who "cared" about him getting in the way.

Based on the way that Shitara calls out Savior on the mess of the town and the idea that strength shouldn't be used in this way, and how Savior is trying to protect the town by taking down the smaller teams, part of why Savior could've wanted to be stronger is so he could physically defend the town and have what it takes to overcome life's difficulties.

Where Savior is now?

This is more thumbtacks and string zones, but I think he could be one of Suo's martial arts brothers, based on a connection @101suouexpressions pointed out in this fantastic meta here.

Or if I can be much more cracky with my headcanons, I think Savior could have trained Sakura or is the Weather contact in his phone, based on their Big Damn Heroes entrances when saving a weakling in an alleyway.

One thing I'm certain of is Savior is highly unlikely to be in Noroshi or one of the random towns folk. The character design and the significance to Umemiya's backstory even without a name reveal proves that this guy is too important to remain a shadow in Umemiya's past forever.

He, Shitara and the "Silly to Savior's Serious" character are most likely gonna turn up in an arc closer to Umemiya's graduation, when the fate of Bofurin's status as Defenders Of Makochi is under threat with Umemiya soon being forced out of the role by the Japanese schooling system.

Savior may turn up in a gang of his own that have been opperating under their own banner trying to protect somewhere near Makochi, but not near enough that Umemiya would randomly run into him and learn his name. Then they could be paralleled with the Noroshi, who are the Furin drop outs who never graduated and became trouble makers, focusing on this other team as being graduates of Furin who stop trouble.

Or if I could be self indulgent, I'd say that Savior is gonna turn up in the Suo Yakuza arc I imagine happening in the future (I'll make a post about this later.)

Guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes next.

[elipapayo]

Headcannon last names for the Tulpar 5:

Curly: Curly Anderson

Reasoning: Curly isn't a super popular boys name, so I thought it would be really funny if he had a basic bitch last name. Maybe his parents wanted to give him a unique first name so he wouldn't have an everyman name.

Jimmy (Sorry you had to read that): Jimmy Wilson

Reasoning: It sounded enough like a name I'd read on FBI's most wanted. Also, he doesn't deserve a cool name. So he gets the basic name of Wilson.

Anya: Anya Solovyov

Reason: Anya is a Russian/Spanish version of the name Anna, but I got distinctly Russian vibes from her? So I went with Russian. Solovyov means Nightingale, which is a beautiful bird. I thought Anya deserved something nice. If I were to go the Spanish route, her name would be Anya Figueroa. The reasoning is a bit more complicated. From what I researched, Figueroa loosely means "Fig tree," and although I'm not religious, I always interpreted Anya as someone who would be, or at least came from a religious background. Fig trees are extremely important in some religions and symbolise inner peace. I thought Anya deserved some inner peace.

Swansea: Swansea Jensen

Reasoning: Swansea, as a name, is from Old Norse. Swansea has a modernized version of the name. Since Norse typically came from Northern Europe - mostly Scandinavia, if my memory serves me - I gave him a very common, modern Scandinavian last name. It's pretty popular in America, too. So, is my HC!Swansea from Scandinavia? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, he's a Jensen.

Daisuke: Daisuke Fukuzawa

Reasoning: Daisuke is a Japanese name meaning "Big, Assist" if Google is to be trusted (Don't worry, I didn't rely on the AI overview), And so I decided to go with Japanese for the last name. Fukuzawa, according to Japanesenames.info, has two Kanji in it; Fuku, meaning "Happiness," and Zawa, meaning "Marsh." Daisuke Fukuzawa is a Happy, Helpful Marsh, and he deserves it.

[thoughtspresso]

Oshi No Ko was about Arima Kana all along.

And I think there’s a real possibility she may die at the end.

Or be placed in the way of grave danger.

I was reading some AquKane shippers say something about how they don’t understand AquaKana, and why the writers and directors keep clearly pushing Kana towards Aqua when they barely share any chemistry. Whereas, in their belief, his relationship with Akane is more honest, deeper, whatever. I’m not here to argue about that. But I get where they’re coming from. And the simple explanation is this:

It’s because this whole story was written for Arima Kana.

I’ve seen some Youtubers talk about how this whole story was meant to be fulfillment for Ruby/Sarina’s dream to become the next great Idol, something about Amaterasu favoring her.

And that’s near what I thought of it. But I really think if the God of Entertainment wanted to bless a child with cancer a second life as the world’s great idol, they’d also give her a great singing voice, y’know?

Spoilers for the manga, of course as we go along on this explanation. So anime onlies, get caught up before you start reading me ramble.

Here we go:

1. Arima Kana is the embodiment of Amaterasu, not Ruby.

Or at least, Amaterasu’s appointed representative, or her favorite daughter.

To give you a run-down of some of the core Shinto/Japanese Mythology that is important for the story, the Creator God Izanaki had three children:

Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun.

Tsukuyomi, the Moon.

Susanoo, the Storm.

The story goes that Amaterasu and Susanoo had a competition about who could create better gods. So Amaterasu took Susanoo’s Totsuka-no-Tsurugi* (longsword) and split it into three, from which she birthed the three Munakata goddesses.

And woncha knowit, there are three great actresses born in that year?

*A reminder that Kana plays the character Tsurugi, which literally just means Sword. And Akane’s character Saya-hime just literally means Sheath or Scabbard Princess.

In this bet, Amaterasu got clever with the rules and won on a technicality. Susanoo went on a rampage, destroyed Amaterasu’s ricefield, and flayed Amaterasu’s favorite divine horse*, and then threw its body at her loom.

*The name Arima is spelled with the Kanji of Horse & Exist/Live. 

Amaterasu, in her grief, flees into a cave, believed to be Amano Iwato cave, right in the town of Takachiho, Amamiya Gorou’s hometown, and the death place of  Tendouji Sarina.

The being that draws Amaterasu out of there was the Goddess of the Dawn, known also as the Goddess of the Revelry & Arts, a being that Aqua says he knows well, and believes there’s a grain of truth to:

And how does Ame-no-Uzume draw Amaterasu out of her grief?

By throwing an absolute rager, and dancing really wildly that it catches her attention and makes all the gods around them laugh so hard. Just like:

Ame-no-Uzume will later on marry a diety who tried to block her passage before, Sarutohiko, who in Ise is worshipped as the god who illuminates the world.

That’s some divinity-level AquaKana shipping right there.

Just like how Aka Akasaka wrote the story of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War about two lovers who couldn’t be together just like in the myth of Kaguya, but having his characters overcome all odds to defy divine fate, I do believe that apart from the parallels to the mythology like he did in Kaguya-sama, there is very literal divine intervention this time in Oshi No Ko.

I think what’s happening is that the gods, particularly Amaterasu and Susanoo are quarelling again about who could create better gods, just like before, but now more of whose favored child will shine the brightest and be worshipped by the most humans. But just like last time, Susanoo may have been enraged, especially at the sexual assault of his chosen Hikaru Kamiki, that he possessed him with a corrupting force that urges him to destroy shining stars before they reach their peak, hence the murders of Himekawa Airi, Hoshino Ai**, and Katayose Yura.

Which by the way, the name Hikaru means Radiant Light!

And Hoshino means Field of Stars!

Whether it’s because Amaterasu is angry that every daughter she sends to earth is slaughtered by Susanoo’s chosen, or just because she wants to win their competition, she appoints Ame-no-Uzume to assist in safeguarding her new favored one from Kamiki’s clutches. Her new favored one being Arima Kana.

And therefore, Ame-no-Uzume takes the souls of two motherless humans who had passed before they could shine and sent them to become Hoshino Ai’s twin children. It was all anyway happening in her territory of Takachiho at the most opportune time.

Ame-no-Uzume is also known as The Goddess of Dance, as well as The Great Pursuader. And wouldn’t you know, that’s exactly the gifts that the Hoshino Twins received.

An energetic performer who takes the stage with dance:

And a deceptive, persuasive, extremely believable actor, who:

fooled his own sister into believing she had been rejected from an audition

pretended to scout an idol from a competing agency to research them

get Director Gotanda to raise him and train him

make Akane not just date him, but follow him down a destructive path

convince Kana and Mem to join IchigoPro

impersonate Pieyon for several days straight

Anyway, I truly, truly believe that unbeknownst to Aqua, his true mission is just to keep drawing Kana out of her darkness until she shines the brightest. Which is what he keeps doing anyway:

2. The Timing of the whole Oshi No Ko plot is aligned with Arima Kana’s rise to unprecedented stardom.

The story of Ai Hoshino’s pregnancy and meeting of Gorou Amamiya in a quaint hospital occurs at the beginning of Arima Kana’s life, just after she is born.

She meets Aqua Hoshino around age 4, already talented, and already extremely arrogant which could have easily been the demise of her career. But meeting Aqua and seeing his acting was a necessary wake-up call for her, that it brings her to tears. She never forgets this experience that she brought that lesson with her to her adulthood: that she can’t be satisfied and keep working harder, and to be a better communicator with her colleagues. At their first point of contact, Aqua already becomes the reason why Arima Kana’s acting career survives the slump.

They meet again in high school, when Arima Kana has one acting job in a lackluster production of Sweet Today. The ratings had plummeted, if not for the fact that Aqua came onto the set to draw out the best acting Arima Kana could deliver. After this, Arima receives much more respect and recognition from her colleagues in the industry beyond just being cast to bring some legitimacy to their production.

It’s because of Aqua and Ruby that Kana joins IchigoPro’s Idol Division, and her career is reborn anew. Such that, even after quitting B-Komachi, Arima states she never regretted the decision to join, because otherwise the career of Arima Kana would have been already over. 

It’s because of Aqua’s presence that Arima trains to become better and better as an idol. Aqua kept drawing out the light from Kana’s eyes, to the point that it catches the attention of the crowd who previously had no interest in her.

It’s because of her experience as an idol that she regains the confidence and sense of greed necessary to grab the attention of the audience when on stage, such that even Akane recognizes this change in her when Arima takes the stage as Tsurugi for the 2.5 Adadptation of Tokyo Blade.

And it’s because of all of these that she captures the attention of award-winning Director Masanori Shima, who lines up some roles for her when her acting schedule had dried up. It’s once again because of Kana’s dedication towards Aqua that Shima D finds her so interesting that he was most willing to promise her the best role possible.

It was as if Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto appointed Aqua and Ruby to come draw Arima Kana out of her Cave, and bring the Sun out again, just like how the deity drew out Amaterasu.

If you think about the title of the show, Oshi No Ko, it literally means The Favorite Child. God’s favored child. Arima Kana had been born chosen by Amaterasu from the very beginning. And Ame-no-Uzume is sending Aqua and Ruby to aid on this quest.

Which explains why it seems like there had been a mission communicated to Aqua from the very beginning. And why Ai was never going to be reincarnated at all.

You would think that if The Crow Girl, which we assume is the divine guide Yatagarasu, was communicating with Aqua about his revenge plan or helping him find Kamiki, that Aqua would hold a more favorable relationship with The Crow whenever it appears to give advice, no?

But it’s exactly the opposite. Because The Crow is guiding him into something that is different from his personal goal that Aqua doesn’t understand.

And this is where I think Arima Kana could be put in danger.

3. Arima Kana is Hikaru Kamiki’s next target.

There were earlier theories that thought Kurokawa Akane was the one to die next, because of what people have now learned of Kamiki’s serial murderer profile targeting big celebrities before their peak, and because Akane had received a bouquet of white roses from him when she won an award.

The chapter when it was expected to happen was a fake-out from Aka Akasaka, and some people think it’s still possible that she’s the target. In fact, I keep seeing recent theory videos who discount Kana and say she’s “the safest”. Hah! If only!

The scenes with Shima D weren’t just a mere plot point to bring scandal to Arima’s name, and threaten her career and life enough that it pushes Aqua to reveal his mother’s secret in exchange. But it’s there because this is the upward path for Arima Kana. So far, the only people who have witnessed her dazzling star power have been fans of the Sweet Today manga, idol otakus, and people who attended Tokyo Blade. That’s not really masterpiece-of-the-century, performing-at-the-dome level. None of these gigs have placed her center stage in what could be Film of the Year, and a Best Actress spot. Now, the chance is here, and it’s real:

I think, The 15-Year-Lie will attempt to draw out Hikaru Kamiki, or that Aqua intends to reveal himself in the movie looking like him, and reveal the identity of his father.

But I also think what would happen is that they would be unsuccessful at taking him down completely. Instead, from the movie, he would be interested in Arima Kana, and target her through the course of her Shima D movie, and plan to kill her before an important awards night.

Alternatively, now that Kana is changing her focus to film, she may consider moving agencies, and ask Frill Shiranui about her agent. And if we’re right, she is likely represented by Kamiki Productions.

Either way, Kamiki will pay attention to her and try to kill her just before she reaches her highest.

But I don’t think Arima Kana will die. I think instead of being saved by Aqua, it’ll be Kana who takes Kamiki down. Echoing back to her getting mad at Aqua for thinking that avoiding her was protecting her, and Aqua believing that Kana doesn’t need help since she’s strong enough to take care of herself.

And then maybe, it’s Arima Kana who draws Aqua out of the darkness too.

And, just like with Kaguya and Shirogane Miyuki, Aka Akasaka is once again writing a story about two people who will defy a fate of divine tragedy, and come out of it being more truthful with each other than they’ve been with themselves all along.

[yuurei20]

(This was originally an ask received through Twitter)

"Back in GloMas (on JP), I think I remember there being a lot of madness surrounding Idia being close to Yuu. I think it’s because he referred to them as ‘Yuu’ rather than ‘Yuu-shi’, but I still don’t quite get it??"

Yes! Honorifics as a whole have already discussed more in-depth here, but Idia does drop his honorific for the prefect once in Glorious Masquerade.

Quick overview for those who may not know: when you don’t use an honorific with someone (-chan / -kun / -sama / etc), this is called yobisute (呼び捨て), written with the kanji for “to call” and “to throw away,” and the word might just not exist in English. It means “to refer to someone without an honorific."

Twst uses honorifics (and yobisute) to track the evolving relationships between the characters.

Deuce, for example, has a line about how he used to yobisute his teachers (i.e. he refused to add “-sensei” to their names) in middle school. To compensate for his past rudeness, Deuce now refers to every single upperclassman by “lastname-senpai.”

There is even a cute scene during New Year’s where Deuce greets Jamil by calling him Viper-senpai, but after Jamil feeds him an egg salad sandwich he changes—just once—to Jamil-senpai.

Epel is another character whose use of honorifics is significant: Epel is under order from Vil to always use honorifics with everyone. During Book 5 we see him using “-kun” with Deuce, up until Deuce refuses to let Epel fight the bullies trying to steal their blastcycle.

Deuce says that he is the one who took Epel out of the school and so he will be taking responsibility for his actions, and we get Epel’s first “Deuce” yobisute.

Cater might be the character who weaponizes honorifics the most.

He seems to be using honorifics as an over-familiarity-buffer-zone, as he is actively trying to avoid becoming too close to those around him (re: “Cay-Cay doesn’t really do long-term friends or found family").

There is one exception to Cater’s rule of honorifics: Trey.

During Book 1 Cater refers to him as “Trey-kun” for the majority of the story, until Riddle’s overblot makes things serious enough for him to drop it and call him “Trey” (even during these scenes, however, he keeps his honorifics for others).

The novel even comments on this directly, saying, "Usually, Cater does not ever yobisute anyone. When he calls to Trey, he always adds ‘kun’ to his name. This is probably one of his skills as a good-natured person. When Cater uses Trey’s name like this, it is only when he is really serious. Only when it is important."

This is all to say that, depending upon the character, yobisute can be a huge deal. It isn’t a black-and-white rule, of course—it varies by each character and their personality.

Kalim, for example, refers to everyone with yobisute, possibly because his status back home meant that he was simply never taught to defer to anyone, and/or because he legitimately considers himself to be close, personal friends with everyone he meets.

Idia is one of those characters like Cater and Deuce for whom yobisute is a big deal. There is exactly one person he refers to without any form of honorific, and that person is Ortho. Much like how he uses his tablet to avoid talking to people face-to-face, he is possibly, intentionally keeping up an over-familiarity-wall like Cater. 

The English-language adaptation has translated his honorific of “-shi” as “Mr.,” but it’s actually gender-neutral, which may be why the English-language game’s continuity is so inconsistent, and why the moment of Idia referring to the prefect without an honorific did not make it to EN: while the honorific disappears and reappears in English, he actually uses it to refer to the prefect in Book 6, and it is otherwise in 100% of all of Idia’s dialogue in the original game.

With one exception: Glorious Masquerade.

This is why JP lost its collective mind when it happened (the fan-art is delightful, like this short comic of the characters pointing at Idia and chanting "yobisute"), because it was something Idia had never done before and has never done again, and it was with the prefect!

(This was revealed to be a proof-reading error that was corrected in the 2023 re-release, with "-shi" added to the prefect's name in Idia's dialogue.)

Yobisute is usually very significant in the game, like during Book 6 where Azul, who uses the “-san” honorific with literally everyone except Jade and Floyd, uses yobisute with Riddle when he is in danger, and when Riddle uses it with Leona just before his overblot in Book 2.

But for Idia and the prefect, it was just a proofreading error! :>

[ceruleanskies48]

A Happy, Satisfying Ending for Mizu

For Day 11 of @taimizu week, I wanted to discuss what would be a happy, satisfying ending for Mizu. When asked about future seasons, the creators have teased that even though Mizu is hell-bent on killing the four white men for her revenge, that’s not what she actually needs—what would make her happy. Instead, Mizu’s journey is ultimately one of learning self-acceptance and the importance of human connection.

To me, the most satisfying ending to the series (after Mizu completes her quest) would be for Mizu to be in a happy long-term relationship with Taigen, living in the countryside, doing some combination of running a dojo, raising horses, and/or forging swords. Although some might think of such an ending as regressive—Mizu ending up as a man’s wife/partner—that’s not how I view it. Mizu is not a Disney princess who was predestined for marriage and whose triumphant arc would lead her to be a single girlboss. When we meet Mizu at the beginning of Season 1, she is already alone and on a lonely path: she is a social outcast who was consistently treated as subhuman and made to feel unworthy of love. That is precisely her motivation for her revenge. For her to be in a stable, loving relationship would be revolutionary. 

Yes, the relationship is with one of the people who made her feel subhuman, but that’s part of what would make the ending so potent symbolically. Little Taigen represents the cruelty of the society Mizu was born into. As a child, Taigen did not know any better but to regard Mizu with contempt. For him to become a source of unconditional love and support would show not only personal growth on his part, but also represent hope for societal transformation. Already throughout Season 1, he continuously showed that he values her life (even over his own), views her as being better than him in the thing he cares about the most, and wants to help her fight her fights.

Also, most importantly, I think such an ending would make Mizu happy. Throughout Season 1, the happiest we see Mizu is when she is married to Mikio and living peacefully on the ranch. Her life there was by no means perfect—she had to deal with her mother’s constant judgment, and Mikio’s love was predicated on her hiding her abilities as a swordsman—but she was happy. In hindsight, her brief life of domestic bliss was a fragile house of cards, but she can build a stable version of this with Taigen. He has already been set up as a foil to Mikio in key dimensions: he is turned on by her fighting prowess, and he is brave and loyal to a fault. He on many occasions offers up his life to protect hers, even when they are “enemies,” in stark contrast to Mikio leaving her to be killed. Moreover, Taigen has already shown that he is happy to play a supporting role to Mizu, so if they are endgame, Mizu would be able to pursue her goals on her own terms instead of subsuming herself to support her husband like in her first marriage. It would be her forge, her ranch, her dojo—not just his.

Finally, there is a bit of evidence suggesting the creators might have such an endgame in sight. The kanji for Taigen’s name (泰源), which you can see written by Mizu in the screenshot below, means peaceful fountainhead/wellspring. This is an interesting choice for a man who is portrayed in Season 1 as anything but calm and peaceful. He is an angry ball of hatred and frustration for most of the season, but by the end, he wants a simple, happy life. Could he have this life eventually with Mizu? The connection with water/mizu is interesting too—he is literally a source for peaceful water. I hope we see him manifest his namesake by the ending, providing Mizu with the peace and love that she deserves.

Bonus: Regarding whether Taigen can make Mizu happy, Taigen in Season 1 wins the award for prompting the most number (3) of genuine, non-sarcastic smiles from present-day Mizu (see below). Also the only present-day Mizu laugh (tumble at the forge)!

[blazescompendium]

Blaze's Compendium Entry #9:Explaining the Origin of ShikiOuji

Note: This post was originally published in April 2024. However, since it is a complete research and dive into this monster, I figured out i could just repost it as a Compendium entry.

As always:

Warning: Faith and religion are important real life topics, that tackles the culture and way of life of millions of real life people. It is a cultural expression, and must be respected by all means. Here, we use a video-game ( some times) and other media series only to ignite the flame of learning about the matter, using its art when well depicted, but we do this with all due respect to the cultures we talk here, grounded by real life sources, cultures and people. And i mean this with respect. Hope you all enjoy.

I am sure that, if you played any Megaten game in the last 20 years or so, you ended up seeing this paper dude. His name is always stated as Shiki-Ouji, and he once shared the same design with the Demon called Shikigami.

The weird thing is that when researching Shikigami on my studies, I never found anything about this one so i put some detective work to find out about the origins of Shikiouji, the (yet another) dude who often repels physical damage in Megaten.

The creature is described in many of the series compendium as a powerful Shikigami, that only the most powerful Onmyoji could summon, and they have a vicious temperament.

When we talk about Shikigami, the first thing that comes to mind are paper dolls. This is no surprise, since Shikigami are summons Onmyoji binds to paper dolls or talismans, so they could interact with the physical world. This is also because paper is a very easy material to destroy, if things go south. Onmyoji are the equivalent of western sorcerer, that followed the Onmyōdō, a esoteric cosmology. It started in the 6th century in Japan as a divination practice, and evolved from there. I won't go into detail, because this is meant to be a short post. But materials about this practice are abundant on the internet.

The main concept concerning us here is the Shikigami. These are basically some kind of familiar, a spirit or demon if you want, the sorcerer could conjure to protect him or do his biding. The Cultural Alliance Brazil- Japan, which i already mentioned in other posts, states that:

''Shikigami can be Oni or demons, that should serve and protect an Onmyoji. Your abilities would be determined by the abilities of his master.

A Shikigami could assume the form of small animals, birds, etc... One Shikigami from a powerful Onmyoji could possess and control one animal. But only a real powerful Shikigami could possess a person.

When an Onmyoji is fighting another Onmyoji, they employ the use of their Shikigami. Some Onmyoji could spot the enemy Shikigami beforehand, and try to convert it to his side with magical powers. In this game, the converted Shikigami would come back to the old master, and attack with double the force. This pratice was called Shikigami Gaeshi.

Abe no Seimei is said to be the most powerful Onmyoji to ever exist. Some rumors say he had twelve Shikigami, while regular Onmyoji would rarely have more than one Shikigami at the same time.''

So, that is a rough definition of what a Shikigami is.

But, when researching this creature you would not be able to regularly find Shiki-ouji. The fastest method for him to appear, was the English Wikipedia article about Shikigami, which weirdly had this part about Shiki-ouji, but offered no source to it:

Having the kanji to Shikiouji, and some keywords, i found someone at Tumblr who asked the same question 6 years ago, in Eirikr's blog.

From there, Eirikr offered a link to a blog post writing about Izanagi Ryu Shikoku. Ryu Shikoku is an ancient folk religion and pratices from the Kochi prefecture. It is still practiced in the area to this day!

In this belief system there is the tradition of the Shiki-kui masks. Which.. bear a very uncanny resemblance to our paper guy, subject to this post:

These masks would be hang above the place the ceremonies of the Izanagi Ryu take place. They would have magical powers that could repel evil spirits, and non believers from coming to the ceremony and disturbing it. They would also serve as talismans, or paper dolls, in a simmilar vein the regular Shikigami pop image you have in mind.

Since they are used to summon spirits, bind them, and as talismans, these creatures can be, technically called a Shikigami.

With this knowledge in hands, i went to the Japanese web. And sure enough, i found this site: The Nippon Foundation Library. It has an article detailing the paper talismans used by Izanagi No Ryu Onmyoji, and their meanings, powers, and also explained a bit about Shiki-Ouji!

Here is what they have to say: (Please be warned that i do not speak Japanese, and used machine translation. Any corrections are Welcome!)

Shikē Ōji is a spiritual entity invoked by the taisa during prayers for the sick and the "toriwake" ritual to expel evil spirits causing illness or calamity. Its birth is described as abnormal, and due to its excessively violent power, it has no place to reside. Usually, it is sunk in the pond of Tendō-nanta, and summoned only when needed to guard ceremonies, to pray as the guardian deity of ceremonies, or as a prayer deity of Jumon no hakase. There seem to be several types of Shikē Ōji depending on their purpose, such as Takata no Ōji for toriwake, Gotai no Ōji for prayers for the sick, and Ōtaka-shiki for insect prayers. Additionally, talismans such as Sangoku Arashiki, Chimura San Ōji, and Sakago no Ōji are handed down, and it is inferred that they were used according to the content of the prayers, although many details of their usage are unknown.

Using the powerful Shikē Ōji against humans becomes a curse. In Kochi Prefecture, "hitting a ceremony" is widely used to curse people. Many people use this term without understanding its original meaning. "Hitting a ceremony" refers to attacking someone using Shikē Ōji. While Shikē Ōji can benefit people if used for good, it can harm them if used for evil. Talismans of Shikē Ōji, possessing such terrifying power, often have several incisions on them, each containing twelve notches, giving them a rough impression. However, unlike talismans found in mountains and rivers, they do not seem to have incisions for eyes or mouths. In this regard, they are closer to the cutting style of talismans for house gods and sacred gods. Here, one can sense the emphasis on the powerful nature of Shikē Ōji's talismans while also distinguishing them from strange monsters.

So, as you can see there is some key information about the creature here. But the most important ones:

1- It is bind to a talisman, just like other Shikigami. The text here explains it is a paper talisman with notches, just like regular ones used in religious ceremonies.

2-It has a powerful and violent nature, just like the compendium often indicates in Megaten games. It seems hard to tame and use properly without getting hurt.

3-Shiki-Ouji can be powerful and violent, but it seems they dislike being used to hurt people. Instead, they are better employed to use their magic to other deeds. However if you still use them in that regard, they will most likely curse you.

4-Their talismans have twelve notches, no incision for eyes and mouth due to their aggressive nature. This would help to control their interaction with the material world.

I am sure that, if we follow this trail we will find many more sources. Going by key words i found in this text, i found many other sites and books, but since i have no time now to fall a rabbit hole, nor do i speak Japanese... That is it, i think this is a satisfactory answer to where this Megaten Demon came from!

The real forms of Shiki-Ouji

The last thing in want to talk about, is Shiki-Ouji real appearance. Since we have a seemingly wrong impression of they in Megaten, since Kaneko took some artistic freedoms.

First and foremost: From the few things i studies about Shikigami, we know they do not have a real physical form. The paper talismans are just a way to give them physical form. But it was incredibly hard to find a Shiki-Ouji talisman, which was weird because it was so distinguishable. The main reason being that: Shiki-Ouji seems not to be believed to be easy or safe to summon, and also their talismans would be destroyed asap after use.

But with the description i got, it would be this one that matches it the most:

No eyes, or mouth. Twelve Notches, six from each side, and some incisions. Very similar to a regular talisman found in other types of ceremony. Just as the text suggested.

I got this picture from this book:

Tosa, Monobe Village: Shapes of the Gods

Monoba being the village where most of these rituals came from. The book is from 1999, and contains many pictures of actual talismans.

You can see that, aside from the head shape, Kaneko took some freedom with this design. The sources state that Shikiouji talismans should not have a face, nor limbs, since it was too powerful, and should have 12 notches. For some reason, Kaneko drew it in a human-like form, but the face still resembled the Shiki-kui masks. The earlier design of the demon was even more closely resembling the masks:

Shiki-ouji earlier design from Devil Summoner (1996). It was later repurposed as the demon Shikigami. It is almost an exact match to this talisman. I can not however identify the original source.

Shiki-Ouji current design by itself could have been based on this one talisman in specific, at least some parts of it like the head with horned-shaped appendages:

By the looks of it, its face could turn inside out, just like the Megaten Demon can do.

It was sourced by the National Museum of Japanese History, but the post went down. The low quality image of the talisman can still be seen on google, but the link is dead, unfortunately. It seems that this item is still in possession of the Museum in Japan. Kaneko could have seen it in pictures, or in person. This one seems NOT to be displaying a Shiki-Ouji thought.

Maybe the Kaneko take is that Shiki-Ouji was summoned with limbs, and facial features and became much more stronger as a result? We may never know...

And finally there is also an occult book that i found in Amazon Japan that is called: Exploring Izanagi No Ryu: ShikiOuji.

It is supposedly a manual on how to practice Izanagi no Ryu, and magics. I could not find the book online, just the summary. But it mentioned nothing about Shiki-Ouji. Probably has some sort of tutorial to summon it, in fact i was able to find many of those tutorials on the Japanese web.

Now, that is it. I think this puts to rest a little bit of mystery involving the origins of this specific demon. Kaneko sure took some freedoms, but it is still one of the more popular and recognizable characters in the series.

Final considerations:

This most likely is the answer to its origin, but i am not some sort of owner of all truths, so feel free to correct me in anything i said wrong. I am still an amateur scholar, and even if i do know a lot about mythology and ancient religions because i read many books and study a lot of hours of my days, i am by no means a specialist in Japanese Mythology specifically, specially Shikigami practices. The reason is that, i find it very difficult and time consuming to research Japanese sources, since i do not speak Japanese. I will one day, try my best since there are a lot of good Yokai to cover in future Scientific Papers.

I can, however, guarantee that i did my best possible effort in a deep search!

And i have spent a lot of time looking through pictures of Shikigami talismans, and i found some really cute. Like this one. What a whimsical little fella...

[periwinkla]

1-4 ending JP -> ENG comparison

Keep in mind: -Notes are in small text -The / is meant to separate paragraphs (I'll use it when it gets too visually messy) Disclaimer : I only studied Japanese for a little while. AA dialogue is pretty simple though. Also English isn't my native language either. Feel free to correct me on anything wrong here. Also note that I'm not trying to make the translations sound natural, I'm mostly trying to explain what the words are saying, sometimes I'll be more literal than others. Translation =/= localization.

Phoenix 終わったな、御剣‥‥。 Owatta na, Mitsurugi... So, it's finally over, Edgeworth.

Edgeworth ‥‥‥‥‥‥ … 成歩堂。 Naruhodou. Wright.

Phoenix ん？ N? Yeah?

Edgeworth: ‥‥‥‥‥‥ … ‥‥その‥‥、 なんと言えばいいのか‥‥。 ...Sono... nan to ieba ii no ka... I… I'm not sure how to say this.

Maya そういうときはね。 “ありがとう”って言うんだよ！ Sou iu toki wa ne. "Arigatou" tte iun da yo! I know! I know! Try "thank you."

Edgeworth そ、そうなのか。 So, Sou na no ka. I… I see.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

あ、ありがとう、成歩堂。 A, Arigatou, Naruhodou. Th-thank you, Wright.

Phoenix ど、どういたしまして。 Do, douitashimashite. Y-you're welcome. They sound fairly stiff here. Phoenix's response isn't exactly formal by Japanese standards... I'd say it's casual/formal, but the stuttering makes it stiffer, I feel. Also compared to how they behave in 3-5, I think it's very different. Will elaborate in a future post when I get to analyze that dialogue.

Maya うーん‥‥イマイチ、 ハリアイがないなあ‥‥。 Uun... imaichi, hariai ga nai naa.. I think you could have done better than that!

Edgeworth ム‥‥スマン。 こういうの、ニガテで‥‥。 Mu... Suman. Kouiu no, nigate de... Oof! S-sorry… I'm not good at this sort of thing.

Maya もう！　ダメだなあ、御剣検事は。 Mou! Dame da naa, Mitsurugi Kenji wa. You got a lot to learn, Edgeworth!

Phoenix （‥‥やれやれ‥‥） (...Yareyare...) (Dear, dear…) (this is not at all important but I noticed it's an expression Phoenix uses a lot: yare yare...)

Gumshoe うおおおおおおおおおおおおおっ！ Uoooooooooooooh! Whoooooooooooooop!

さすがッス！　自分が見込んだ だけのコトはあったッス！ Sasuga ssu! Jibun ga mikonda dake no koto wa atta ssu! Amazing, pal! You pulled through just like I thought you would!

糸鋸　圭介。この恩は一生、 わすれないッス！ Itonoko Keisuke. Kono on wa isshou, wasurenai ssu! I'll never forget this! I owe you one, pal.

今夜は、パーッとやるッス！ 自分がゴチソウするッス！ Kon'ya wa, paa tto yaru ssu! Jibun ga gochisou suru ssu! And tonight, let's party! Dinner's on me!

今月から給料がちょっぴり 下がったッスが、気にしねッス！ Kongetsu kara kyuuryou ga choppiri sagatta ssu ga, ki ni shine ssu! Yeah, my salary went down a bit this month… But who cares!

Maya ほらほらほら、御剣検事。 イトノコ刑事を見ならうの！ Hora hora hora, Mitsurugi Kenji. Itonoko Keiji wo minarau no! See, Mr. Edgeworth? You should take a lesson from Detective Gumshoe!

あんな感じにやると、カンシャの キモチが伝わるんだよ！ Anna kanji ni yaru to, kansha no kimochi ga tsutawarun da yo! That's how you say "thank you"!

Edgeworth ‥‥ム。 な‥‥なるほど。 ...Mu. Na.... Naruhodo. Mmm. I… I see. Note how he basically says Wright's butchered JP name, which is a pun for the game (it means 'I see' / 'I understand') but it also means that the gap between them is somewhat getting narrower. It could just be for comic relief, but...note that when he attempts to thank him the first time, he calls out to him with 'Naruhodou', but now on his second attempt he says 'Naruhodo' before trying to thank him. Unfortunately the subtletly and ambiguity of this cannot be localized. By the way, he also uses 'Naruhodo' before the final trial in T&T, will elaborate on in at a later date. (I don't know whether there are other times other than these two, I haven't analyzed enough transcripts yet)

コホン。 Gohon. ahem

う、うおおおおおおおおおっ！ U, Uooooooooh! Whooooooooooooop! This is, and I'm completely serious here, one of my most favourite scenes. Note the difference between Edgeworth's and Gumshoe's shouts: in the JP, 4 'O's are missing in Edgeworth's shout, while in ENG, 1 'O' is missing - the localization was careful enough to add that tiny difference, and although I am not sure why they reduced it to one single 'O', it's still interesting they differentiated them all the same.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

ダメだ。‥‥ヤッパリ、 私なんか‥‥。 Dame da. ...Yappari, Watashi nanka... I… I feel foolish. literal translation: No, that's not right. As I thought, / someone like me... *'someone like me...' : the underlying message seems to be: 'As I thought, something like this/acting like this wouldn't fit someone like me'

Maya まあまあ、少しずつ 慣れていきましょうよ。 Maa maa, sukoshi zutsu narete ikimashou yo. Don't worry. Take it a little at a time. You'll get used to it.

more literal translation: Come on, come on, little by little / let's get used to it! It seems to me Maya says it in a way to mean something like they'll do it together, so he shouldn't worry - implying he's not alone (anymore), again Japanese can be subtle so I'm not sure, but considering Maya's empathic character, I'd say that's what she meant. In any case, she's trying to encourage him. Very sweet! Phoenix （こんなスナオな御剣を 　見るの、１５年ぶりだな‥‥） (Konna sunao na Mitsurugi o miru no, juugo-nen buri da na...) (It's been fifteen years since I've seen Edgeworth this… unguarded.)

more literal translation: It's been 15 years... since I've seen Edgeworth (act) this honest (with his feelings)... Phoenix is saying that it's been a long time since he's seen Edgeworth be honest/sincere with his feelings/upfront with his feelings. The localization gets the meaning across very nicely. Lotta おっ、いたいた！ O, ita ita! Hey, y'all!

Maya あ、ナツミさん！ A, Natsumi-san! Lotta!

Lotta いやー、アンタら。 カッコよかったでー。 Iya, antara. Kakkoyokatta de. Y'all were great in there!

Phoenix ありがとうございます。 Arigatou gozaimasu. Thank you!

Lotta おッ。ニイちゃん。 無罪、おめでと！ Oo, Niichan. Muzai, omedetou! Yo, Edgeworth! Congrats!

Edgeworth ム‥‥お、おおきに。 Mu... o, ookini. Er… thank y'all very much. ookini = 'thank you a lot' in Kansai dialect (which is the dialect Lotta uses) I find it adorably funny that first he tries to imitate Gumshoe to thank people and now he's trying Lotta's ways...

Lotta ウチには、最初から わかってたんやで！ Uchi ni wa, saisho kara wakattetan ya de! I knew you were innocent from the start, of course.

あんたが無罪だ、ってなあ！ Anta ga muzai da, tte naa! Just look at you! You wouldn't stick your hand in the cookie jar even if no one was there! The ENG adds a lot here which wasn't in the original. in the JP, she basically only says: 'From the start, / I knew! / That you were innocent!!' (I think this is mostly done to convey Lotta's character, since the dialect wouldn't have been enough here to convey that I believe)

Edgeworth ‥‥たしか、初日の 検察側の証人だったような‥‥。 ...Tashika, shonichi no kensatsu-gawa no shounin datta you na... You… were the witness on the first day of the trial, weren't you.

Lotta まま。まあまあ。 細かいこと、気にしなさんな！ Ma ma. Maa maa. Komakai koto, ki ni shinasan na! Yeah, well, let bygones be bygones, eh?

Phoenix そういえば、ナツミさん‥‥、 今は、何を‥‥？ Sou ieba, Natsumi-san..., Ima wa, nani o...? Speaking of which, what are you doing now, Lotta?

Lotta おー、今か？ 大学にもどったで。 Oo, ima ka? Daigaku ni modotta de. Who, me? Aww, I went back to college.

スクープカメラマンになる夢は、 もうオシマイや。 Sukūpu kameraman ni naru yume wa, mō oshimai ya. I gave up trying to be an investigative photographer pretty quick.

Phoenix そうなんですか‥‥。 Sou nan desu ka... Really? That's too bad.

Lotta あれ？ Are? Huh?

Phoenix ？ ?

Lotta あそこにいるの、公園の マンジュウ屋、ちゃうか？ Asoko ni iru no, kōen no manjū-ya, chau ka? Isn't that the hotdog guy from the park?

Phoenix ‥‥え？ ...E? Huh?

Larry ‥‥死ぬんだぁ‥‥。 ...Shinun daa... It's over, Nick! My life is over!

Phoenix な、なんでおまえが そんなカオしてるんだよ！ Na, nande omae ga sonna kao shiteru nda yo! Wh-why the sad face, Larry!? What happened now!?

Larry 成歩堂ぉ‥‥。 オレ、そろそろ死ぬからさぁ。 Naruhodouo... Ore, sorosoro shinu kara saa. Oh, Nick… I'm not long for this world. (Just funny how he drags Naruhodou's name out in a wail here.)

Phoenix い、いやいやいや。 I, iya iya iya. Uh… you don't look sick… literally like 'n, nonono' but meaning something more like 'wa, wait wait wait' - it sounds like he's about done with Larry's histrionics and possibly shaking his head in denial...

Larry カズミがよお‥‥パリ 暮らすって言い出して‥‥、 Kazumi ga yoo...Pari kurasu tte iidashite... It's Kiyance! Sh-she's goin' to live in Paris! Paris, Nick!

置いていかれちまったんだよぉぉ！ Oiteikarechimattan da yooo! She's leaving me behind!!!

Phoenix （‥‥やれやれ‥‥） (...Yare yare...) (Larry, Larry…) I noticed Phoenix uses this expression a lot. It's quite funny to me, reminds me of an old man that is about done with his youngings' shenanigans.

Larry お。御剣。いたのか。 O. Mitsurugi. Ita no ka. Yo, Edgey! There you are!

Edgeworth ム。そりゃまあ、いる。 Mu. Sorya maa, iru. Um, yes, here I am.

Larry おめでとうな、御剣。 ‥‥コレ、オレからのお祝い！ Omedetou na, Mitsurugi. ...Kore, ore kara no oiwai! Congrats, Edgey! Here… a little gift from me in celebration!

Edgeworth “お祝い”？　‥‥めずらしいな。 "Oiwai"? ...Mezurashii na. Celebration? That's unusual for you.

Gumshoe お。アンタも後で来るッス！ ゴチソウするッス！ O. Anta mo ato de kuru ssu! Gochisou suru ssu! Harry Butz! You come along tonight too! My treat, pal!

Larry は、はあ。 楽しみにしてます。 Ha, haa. Tanoshiminishitemasu. Huh? Uh… thanks! Looking forward to it! （オイ、成歩堂） (Oi, Naruhodou) (Yo, yo, Nick!)

（アイツ、オレを取り調べした 　刑事だぜ‥‥） (Aitsu, ore o toriirabeshita keiji da ze...) (That's the suit that questioned me!)

（ゴチソウって、まさか 　カツ丼じゃねえだろうな‥‥） (Gochisōtte, masaka katsudon ja nee darou na...) (When he says treat… that's not police-talk for prison food, right? Right?)

Phoenix そ、それはないと思うぞ。 So, sore wa nai to omou zo. Uh, I think you'll be fine, Larry.

Edgeworth ‥‥成歩堂。 ...Naruhodou. Wright…

Phoenix ん？　どうした？ N? Doushita? Yeah? What's up?

Edgeworth ‥‥金が入っているぞ。 矢張がくれた封筒。 ...Kane ga haitte iru zo. Yahari ga kureta fūtō. That envelope that Larry gave me. It's got money in it.

Phoenix そりゃそうだろ。 “お祝い”だからな。 Sorya sou daro. "Oiwai" dakara na. Well, yeah. That's not that strange. People give money away to celebrate sometimes.

Edgeworth ３８００円だ。 3800 en da. It's $38.00, Wright.

Phoenix ‥‥また、ずいぶんハンパな 金額だな‥‥。 ...Mata, zuibun hanpa na kingaku da na... Huh. What a weird amount. I mean, it's not a little, but it's not a lot either.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

３８００円？ 3800 en? $38.00 exactly?

Maya ‥‥ななな、なるほどくん！ ...Na na na, Naruhodo-kun! N-N-Nick!

小学校のころ、御剣検事が盗まれた 給食費って、たしか‥‥！ Shōgakkō no koro, Mitsurugi-Kenji ga nusumareta kyūshoku-hi tte, tashika...! Wasn't that exactly the amount of lunch money that was stolen from Mr. Edgeworth in school!?

Phoenix さ‥‥３８００円‥‥？ Sa... 3800 en...? $38…!

ままま、まさか‥‥ Ma ma ma, masaka.... No… (I think the shock-induced stuttering in this line might be meant to parallel Maya's previous one. Cute!)

‥‥‥‥まさかああああッ！ 矢張、お前ェェェェッ！ ...Masakaaaaa! Yahari, omaeeee! No!!! Larry, it was you!!! There is a fun pun lost in translation here. Larry's JP name, Yahari, means 'after all/as expected/as I thought' - so Larry's name can be intended both as a vocative and a figure of speech here. "After all, it was you!" = "Larry, it was you!" The phrases basically overlap in JP, as if he were saying them at the same time.

Edgeworth 何をイロめきたっている？ 成歩堂。 Nani o iromekitatte iru? Naruhodou. What are you so surprised about, Wright?

Phoenix え？ E? Huh?

Edgeworth たしかに矢張は、あの日 カゼで学校を休んでいた。 Tashika ni Yahari wa, ano hi Kaze de gakkou wo yasunde ita. Larry was absent that day from school, right?

だが、だからといって 犯人でないという理由にはならん。 Daga, dakara to itte hannin de nai to iu riyuu ni wa naran. But that doesn't automatically rule him out as a suspect.

Phoenix え！ What?

Edgeworth １５年前の、あの日。 15 nen mae no, ano hi. Think back to that day, fifteen years ago.

休んだはいいが、タイクツだった 矢張は、学校に来てみたのだろう。 Yasunda hai ga, taikutsu datta Yahari wa, gakkou ni kite mita no darou. Larry took the day off, but he was bored, he came in to school anyway.

そして、まあ‥‥、ちょっと 手が伸びてしまったんだろうな。 Soshite, maa..., chotto te ga nobite shimatta ndarou na. Then he saw the money lying there… and the rest is history.

Larry 伸びちまったんだろうねえ、 イヤハヤ、これが‥‥。 Nobichimattan darou nee, iyahaya, kore ga... I never was good at History! Heh… The joke is a bit different here, Edgeworth jokes that Larry's hand must have 'stretched out' , but I suppose 'slipped' is more apt. And Larry is like 'Yeah, guess it must have slipped!' The translation would be something like: Edgeworth: And, well, / his hand must have ended up slipping (must have slipped). Larry: Yeah, guess it must have slipped, / eheh, well...

Phoenix ‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

御剣‥‥まさかお前、 ‥‥知ってたのか？ Mitsurugi... Masaka omae, ...Shitteta no ka? Edgeworth… you didn't know, did you?

Edgeworth ‥‥アヤシイとは思っていた。 ...Ayashii to wa omotteita. I suspected.

literal translation: I thought it was suspicious. (I find it endearing that he suspected but didn't say anything - despite how he acts, Edgeworth is really a softie most times, even towards Larry who he has the rightful urge to murder more often than not) いつもの矢張なら、 お前をかばうのはオカシイ。 Itsumo no Yahari nara, Omae o kabau no wa okashii. I just couldn't picture Larry protecting you like he did that day.

みんなといっしょになって、 ここぞとばかり責めたてただろう。 Minna to issho ni natte, Kokozo to bakari semetate daro. Everyone else was saying you did it. The whole class was against you, remember?

Phoenix ‥‥うむむむむ。 ... Umumumumu. Yeah… too well. Phoenix's blabbering is hilarious here. He's in utter denial. Like he's nodding at what he's saying but he's refusing the knowledge to enter his brain.

Edgeworth 成歩堂。もしかしたら お前は知らないかもしれないが、 Naruhodou. Moshikashitara Omae wa shiranai kamoshirenai ga, Wright, you may not know this, but we used to have a saying back in school.

この男は、こう言われていたんだ。 “事件のカゲにヤッパリ矢張”と。 Kono otoko wa, kou iwarete ita nda. "Jiken no kage ni yappari Yabari" to. "When something smells, it's usually the Butz." The saying actually means : 'In the shadow of an incident/trouble, after all, there is Larry' There is the usual pun 'yappari Yahari' so I think the localization of the saying and his name was done very well to render the original meaning.

Phoenix そのコトバなら、イヤというほど 思い知らされてるよ！ Sono kotoba nara, iya to iu hodo omoishirasa reteru yo! I know, I know. I would translate this more to: 'If you're saying that, why didn't you tell me!'

Edgeworth ‥‥いやあ、成歩堂。まさか、 キミが気づいていなかったとは。 ...Iyaa, Naruhodou. Masaka, Kimi ga kizuite inakatta to wa. Really, Wright. I'm surprised you didn't figure it out! '...Why, Wright. It can't be, / you hadn't realized.' This is so funny to me, in both versions. In JP it sounds a bit more teasing and cocky, but still. It sounds like to Edgeworth, shouting objection and reprimanding his classmates and teacher as a 9 year old was no big deal. So he didn't care to mention, thought Phoenix would figure it out. If not, no big deal. To Phoenix, it was life-changing. Phoenix is having a (mid) life crisis.

Larry 意外だねこりゃあ。 Igai da ne koryaa. Well, this is sure an unexpected turn of events, eh?

Phoenix ‥‥御剣。 ... Mitsurugi. Edgeworth…

Edgeworth ん？ N? Hmm?

Phoenix 言えよ！ Ieyo! You should have told me! Here it may look like a whole different thing but it's mostly that there is no other natural way to translate this. 'Ieyo' is just the imperative of the verb 'ieru', 'to tell'. It kinda gives the feeling of 'But (then) tell me, dammit!'

Maya まあまあ、なるほどくん。 もう１５年前のコトでしょ？ Maa maa, Naruhodo-kun. Mou juugo-nen mae no koto desho? Now, now, Nick. It was fifteen years ago!

これって“じこう”ってヤツ だよね？　御剣検事。 Kore tte "jikou" tte yatsu da yo ne? Mitsurugi Kenji. Don't you think the "statute of limitations" has run out, Mr. Edgeworth?

Edgeworth そういうこと、だな。 Souiu koto, da na. I'd say so, yes.

Larry そういうことだよ。 Souiu koto da yo. There you have it! In JP version, I found it funny how Larry parrots Edgeworth's words. 'Souiu koto' means 'it's like that'.

Phoenix ‥‥まったく‥‥。 ...Mattaku,,, Grr…

お前らにカンシャして弁護士に なったぼくの立場はどうなるんだ？ Omaera ni kansha shite bengoshi ni natta boku no tachiba wa dou narun da? Where does that leave me!? I became a defense attorney because of what you two did!

Edgeworth 感動的なまでのお人よし、 といったところだろうか。 Kandō-teki na made no o-hito yoshi, to itta tokoro darou ka. Well, I'd call you a goody-two-shoes to the extreme.

Larry とんだお調子モノ、とも 言えるよナ！ Tonda o-chōshimono, tomo ieru yo na! Yeah! And you get worked up too easily, too!

Phoenix し、死刑だ！ コイツを死刑にしてくれェッ！ Shi, shikei da! Koitsu o shikei ni shite kuree! D-death! The death sentence for both of you!

‥‥こんなことなら、 検事になりゃよかったあ！ ...Konna koto nara, kenji ni narya yokattaa! Man, if I only had known, I'd have become a prosecutor!

Edgeworth ‥‥それは私も同じだ。 ...Sore wa watashi mo onaji da. The same goes for me, only the other way around…

“もしかしたら、自分は父親を 撃ってしまったのかもしれない” "Moshikashitara, jibun wa chichioya o utte shimatta no kamoshirenai" For the longest time, I thought that I might have killed my own father. These are provided as literal phrases he thought: 'Could it be, I myself was the one that ended up shooting my father.'

“自分は罪人かもしれない” "Jibun wa zainin kamoshirenai" I thought I might be a criminal. "What if I'm a criminal, myself.'

‥‥私は、そういう自分を 罰する意味もあって検事になった。 …Watashi wa, sou iu jibun o batsu suru imi mo atte kenji ni natta. I became a prosecutor in part to punish myself.

Basically the same, but instead of saying 'in part' he says that was one of the reasons. He says he became a prosecutor for that reason as well (among others), the reason being that of punishing himself. ‥‥こんなことなら、 弁護士になりたかったよ。 ...Konna koto nara, bengoshi ni naritakatta yo. If I had known the truth, I might have become a defense attorney after all. 'If it were like this (if I had known), I would have wished to become a defense attorney.' The way he says it seems way more heartbreaking in Japanese. Naritakatta = wanted to become, which here becomes 'I would have wanted to become' because of context. I translated it as 'would have wished' because it seems more apt here. Naritakatta expresses a desire for something you had wanted in the past. 'I would have gone for being a defense attorney'... It indicates that someone wanted to become or achieve something at some point in the past, but for some reason, they were not able to fulfill that desire.

Phoenix ‥‥御剣。 ... Mitsurugi. Edgeworth…

Edgeworth かわるか、成歩堂。 Kawaru ka, Naruhodou. Want to switch, Wright? Says the same thing... and it sounds so resigned in both versions. It's curt, and their conversation ends just like that. Breaks my heart.

[beehiveofblorbos]

I like Ouma Kokichi’s name

Ouma, with the kanji for king and horse, and Kokichi, with the kanji for little and luck

it just fits so much meaning in there.

the king, the one who commands all. but not just that, king-horse, giving a chess implication when paired with his checkerboard scarf. so he’s a king, and he’s got chess implications, and the horse piece? why, it’s one of the most flexible, unpredictable, free-moving, and active pieces in the game. just packs so much in there

and then Kokichi. yeah, he’s little - he emphasizes so regularly what youth means to him and how important it is to preserve. he’s a child. and luck! not so much that he himself is lucky, but he has “little-luck” - indeed, pretty much everything that can go wrong for him does. in ch2, all his insect meet and greet does is allow Toujo to sneak around and get Hoshi killed. in ch4, his plan to end the killing game by fighting back are rejected by Iruma, in favor of her turning around and trying to kill him. in ch5, his plan to end the killing game by inducing widespread despair is thrown off by Shirogane successfully manipulating Harukawa into taking brutal action. he always gets cornered, in the worst and unluckiest way possible

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure: Our War Game, Part 1 of 2

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Eight children were kidnapped by an isekai and made to fight the embodiment of sore losers. Well, seven, but they swung by Earth to kidnap a spare while they were at it. After stopping a supernova from obliterating the universe through the power of self-esteem, they all said tearful goodbyes to their Digimon and returned home.

Now the gate between worlds is closed. But the thing about gates is that once shut, they can always open again....

Or you can just hop the fence. Y'know. It's a gate, not a door. The critical weakness gates have is that there's a sky above them.

Incidentally, the dub of this film is... complicated. Dub team cut the original OVA meant to start the series, Our War Game, and the first 02 movie together into "Digimon: The Movie". So for the dub portion, we're going to be looking at the middle chunk of a larger movie that actually isn't a movie because they just hot-glued three unrelated specials together back-to-back.

We open on Odaiba, late at night. Specifically, Taichi's apartment building. A giant swirling sphere made of smoke appears in the sky, with black tendrils writhing in and out of it. Y'know, the sort of thing you generally want to see in the sky. That seems fine.

Then it cracks open like a fucking egg and we move right along to next day.

While Sora passes by the building and stops to look at it, Taichi kicks us off with some of the most stilted letter-by-letter dialogue I've ever heard.

Taichi: To So Ra. Sob Ry For The O Ther Day. Cheer Up. Ya Ga Mi Ta I Chi--huh?

Moving into a sort of office room we haven't seen before, we see that he's trying to type at his computer and doing a poor job of it. In his defense, Japanese keyboards are hard.

But in his offense, he's visibly hunt-and-peck finger-typing, where you just stare at the keyboard and poke buttons with your index finger when you find them. Taichi is clearly not used to using a computer.

Also his spelling is bad. To be fair, this is an easy mistake. He tries to write わるかった warukatta, which is one of many words you can use to apologize. However, based on his narration of his finger-typing, he types わるかつた warukatsuta. Which. Is. Not a word.

This is because of the agonizingly small difference between the letter つ tsu and the letter っ which extends the consonant of the following letter. Whoever came up with these two letters should be punched.

Once he's finished, Taichi notices another error. Squinting at the computer, he sees that his name came out 鯛血 tai chi, which means "porgy blood". That's wrong, computer.

He tries again and gets 対置 taichi, which means to contrast a thing against another.

His third try gives him 大知 Taichi which is actually the name Taichi but it's not his name Taichi. It's like having autocorrect give you "Jerry" when your name is "Jeri". Yes, but no.

Then, on the fourth try, he finally lands on his name 太一 Taichi.

I told y'all Japanese keyboards are hard. Kanji makes trying to write Japanese by typing letters insanely frustrating.

But the important thing is that it's done. Taichi's finished with his email and can--

Hikari: Writing an email? Taichi: WAUGH!!!

Taichi spins around in a panic, smacking his hand on the keyboard and inadvertently adding a little heart to the end of his name. Taichi notices the heart, then panics and throws his hands over the screen to hide it from Hikari.

Taichi: D-Don't read it without permission!

Then he realizes Hikari is nicely dressed.

Taichi: Huh? Where are you going? Hikari: A friend's birthday party. And here is a gift!

Hikari holds out a small gift-wrapped box she'll be taking with her. Taichi suddenly grabs playfully for the box, doing grabby fingers, while Hikari jerks it out of his grasp each time.

Taichi: (grabs) Gimme! Hikari: Stop it. Taichi: (grabs) Gimme! Hikari: Stop it. Taichi: (grabs) Gimme! Hikari: Stop it. Taichi: Geh....

Taichi gives up, overdramatically sighing and reclining into his chair. This leaves him vulnerable to counterattack!

Hikari: To send an email, CLICK!!!

Hikari grabs the mouse and hits the Send button, delivering Taichi's bad email - with heart icon still attached - to Sora. Then she scampers off to the next room before he can realize what she's done.

Taichi: H-Hey! Don't send it yourself! Hikari: (peeks out through doorway) Who did we send it to? Taichi: None of your business! Hikari: (pouts) That's mean... And after all that trouble teaching you how to send it, too.

Siblings, amirite? XD

The dub rearranges this scene and Koushiro's first scene, so we'll talk about their take on all this in a moment. From here, Hikari prepares to go out.

Yuuko comes home to find Hikari putting on her shoes.

Yuuko: You're going out? Hikari: Mhm. Yuuko: Be careful out there. Hikari: Yes, mom.

Hikari responds with exactly the bored tone of a child being told by their parent exactly what her parent told her. Then Hikari goes out and Yuuko comes in.

Meanwhile, Taichi's email returns undeliverable.

Taichi: Huh? Email rejected?

Taichi blames Sora for this as if she, personally, prohibited him from contacting her. Which makes sense today where blocking people online is commonplace, but was kind of a wild assumption for him to make back in the day before social media.

Taichi grabs onto his desk and angrily shakes his chair while ranting.

Taichi: What is with that jerk Sora!? Oh, you don't want to receive my emails, huh!?

He furiously shakes his chair so much it falls over and topples him to the ground in a bit of instant karma.

I have no idea what he said or did the other day but I'm with Sora.

From here, we cut to what the dub uses as the first scene of this portion of their spliced together movie.

Koushiro's tooling around on his desktop when he suddenly notices a code string appearing on his screen and going haywire.

Koushiro: What the....

It's not just him, either, as we see various other people kids around the globe at their computers seeing the same bizarre code pattern happening on their screens too.

Koushiro: D... Digimon...?

Slowly, like apicture being pulled up slowly back in the day, the resolution on the image at the center of the pattern increases line by line until what is clearly a Digitama becomes visible.

Oh shit? No. We're not at "Oh shit" yet. Oh shit is when the shell suddenly cracks, revealing a single yellow eye, and popping up a text box reading "HELLO" in English.

For the dub, Kari has the unfortunate job of trying to string this together with the original OVA and Hurricane Touchdown by providing voice-over narration. Once the OVA wraps up, Kari picks this scene to start us out on.

Kari (V.O.): It was another DigiDestined, Izzy, who first noticed there was trouble. Izzy: Huh!? (Izzy notices the borked code) Izzy: Prodigious! A computer virus on the internet! Wait a minute... Wow, it's attacking something! Huh, let me see if I can get an image of its target.... (Izzy pulls up the weird grid effect and we see other kids seeing the same thing) Kari (V.O.): Izzy wasn't the only one tracking the virus. The whole world was watching! But no one was prepared for what was about to happen. Izzy: Looks like... A Digi-Egg! Where'd that come from!? Wow! The virus is causing the egg to develop abnormally fast! I think it's gonna hatch! (The egg hatches and pops up its email screen) Digitized Voice: Hello!

A lot of extra dialogue here. Barely anything is spoken in the original version of this scene, but Izzy introduces a separate, unrelated virus occurring simultaneously alongside the generation of the Digi-Egg. This virus then... fuses with the Egg or something to make it hatch into what it's about to become.

This seems like a random detail they suddenly invented, but it... kind of fits in with what's really happening here? It's not correct. The Digitama is not being attacked by a virus. But I see where they were coming from, and we'll get into that in a bit when Koushiro gives us more detail on what he found.

From there, we go to the first scene with Tai.

Kari (V.O.): Across town, Tai and another DigiDestined, Sora, were facing their own problem. Tai: (narrating his typing) Dear Sora. I'm sorry about what happened. I haven't felt this bad since the time I accidentally threw up in your hat and didn't tell you about it before you put it on. I know our relationship has been a little stormy lately. You say you love thunder showers so what's a few raindrops between friends? Love, Tai. Tai: Love!? I mean 'From'! I mean... ugh.... Kari: Who are you writing to, Tai?

Tai's email is way more verbose and competently written than Taichi's. While also having him confess to something a lot worse than yelling rudely about her.

The dub cuts the bit with Taichi repeatedly having to correct the spelling of his name. Makes sense; That moment requires the audience to be able to read Kanji, which is a tall order for American 10-year-olds.

When he suddenly whips around, they add an edited shot of an English email where his finger accidentally changes the "From" back to "Love". I guess he accidentally hit Ctrl-Z.

Tai: (frantically covers his screen) I-It's just an email joke! What are you doing in here anyway, Kari? Kari: I wanted to show you my new dress! I'm going to a birthday party! (shows Tai the present) I got my friend a pink Power Ranger! Tai: Gimme! Kari (V.O.): My brother and I had a give and take relationship. I would give and he would take. Tai: (gives up after three tries) Eh, who cares? Kari: If you want to send an email, you have to click this! CLICK! (Kari clicks the Send button and runs for it) Tai: AUGH!!! I WASN'T GONNA SEND THAT LETTER!!! Kari: (teasing) Then what did you write it for? Tai: Oh, go to your party! Kari: (pout) Okay.

Not sure why Tai was writing an email he had no intention of sending, but this bit is pretty close to the original.

From here, the dub cuts out the scene if Hikari saying goodbye to Yuuko and we go straight to Tai angrily vibrating himself to the floor.

Tai: (Message being sent) I can't believe Sora's gonna read my letter! (Message returns undeliverable) Tai: Wait a minute. Unable to deliver? (furious) I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE'S NOT GONNA READ MY LETTER!!! YOU TRY AND TELL A GIRL YOU'RE SORRY AND YOUR COMPUTER SHUTS YOU DOWN--WAUGH!!!

Here, the dub changes the angle of Tai's frustration. Taichi inexplicably blames Sora and yells at her for the message bouncing back, while Tai more accurately blames the computer for his troubles.

This would make Tai come off looking a lot better than Taichi but... he did throw up in her hat without telling her. So.

I can't do a "Sora will remember this" bit about Taichi yelling at her because she is not present for it. But she most definitely will remember the puke hat incident.

Now the two versions are synched up and it's time for ONE LAST "BUTTERFLY" before 02 changes out the opening credits!

This movie inexplicably has two titles on its title card. The Japanese text here is ぼくらのウォーゲーム Bokura no Uou Geemu!" Those last two words are "War Game"; That's, uh, that's just what happens when an English word gets localized into Katakana and then literally translated back into English.

The first word, in Hirogana, is ぼくら Bokura which is a pluralization of ぼく Boku, a first-person pronoun. So the title is literally "Our War Game". But for some reason the title card also contains the English title "Children's War Game". No idea why.

While the credits play, we get our first hint of what all the Chosen Children are up to these days. Sora's still out for her walk. She passes a row of TV screens showing a flowery meadow and stops to check her hair in the mirror next to them. Then she continues on her way, oblivious to the newly hatched Digimon which has now taken over the screens.

Jou's waiting on a train platform for his ride. It pulls into the station and he gets ready to board, but the doors never open. He exchanges a momentary look of WTF with an adult man onboard, as eager to get off as Jou is to get on, before the train takes off once more.

Mimi's apartment is abandoned, and has been for quite some time. The mail slot is overstuffed with mail and the family's heart-shaped nameplate falls off the wall.

Someone on the dub team takes this opportunity to insert their ship into the movie. The big heart-shaped pink thing on the wall is the family nameplate. It has the name Tachikawa in big bold print, then each of the family member's individual names in smaller print underneath.

The dub drew their own version of the nameplate, but theirs reads: To: Mimi From: Joe

The sound you hear is the sound of me throwing things. IT'S THE FAMILY FUCKING NAMEPLATE. IT IS NOT A LOVE LETTER.

Koushiro puts those soccer legs to work and sprints full-tilt to Taichi's apartment, laptop under his arm.

Yamato and Takeru are away together, presumably at their grandmother's. Takeru's traded out his green helmet cap thing for the white hat that will form part of his new look next series.

Lastly, Hikari shows up to her friend's party with present in hand.

The dub's in kind of a sticky spot here because this is an opening credits sequence and very much shot like one but we are 20 minutes into a "feature-length movie" so it would be weird for an opening credit sequence to suddenly happen now.

Their solution? FLASH MOB MOTHERFUCKERS. The plot is being put on hold so that we can spontaneously throw a music video. Specifically, One Week by the Barenaked Ladies, presumably as a reflection of Tai's emotional state..

That's fun. At the end of the day, OPs are just precisely contextual music videos anyway. The song is very 90's and, far more importantly, is not Hey Digimon. I'll take it.

Once the OP's over, we rejoin Taichi in the kitchen. He opens the fridge to see various containers and then, like the child he literally is, complains to his mother who is actively unpacking groceries that it's empty.

Taichi: Hey... There's nothing to eat.... Yuuko: Hm? Taichi: (sighs, whines) Hikari~ is going to a birthday party where she gets to eat cake.... Yuuko: I can bake you a cake. Taichi: Yeah? Yuuko: Yes, really. Take out some eggs.

Both "That jerk Sora" earlier and this "Hikari~" are translations of adding の奴 no yatsu to the end of someone's name. Yatsu is a third-person pronoun that basically means they/them but in a condescending or disrespectful tone.

"That guy", but not like "Who is that guy?" but rather "What's with that guy?"

So, like, a literal translation would be "What is with that Sora person!?" and "That Hikari person gets to have cake". Calling Sora a jerk and adding a jealous little sneer to Hikari's name is the best translation equivalent I can come up with.

Taichi takes a single egg out of the fridge, but then the doorbell rings. Distracted, he leaves the kitchen, taking the single egg with him.

Yuuko: Let's see, I bought some wheat flour....

Taichi reaches the door just before Koushiro loses patience and yanks the door open himself. Which really goes to show how freaked out he is because this is Izumi "Infinite Decorum" Koushiro just ripping someone else's door open.

Taichi: Hey, Koushiro. Come on in. Koushiro: T-The egg! Taichi: Huh? Koushiro: THE EGG HATCHED!!!

Confusion printed on his face, Taichi's eyes ever so slowly wander down to the egg in his hand.

Koushiro: NO!!! THE DIGITAMA!!!

Finally, one more credit slide saves them from having to animate Koushiro entering the apartment, and we merely get to hear Yuuko notice him.

Yuuko: Oh, welcome, Koushiro-kun. Koushiro: Thank you.

It's left unclear whether Taichi ever finished taking the eggs out of the fridge like his mother told him to, but we'll give him the benefit of doubt. He wanted that cake.

In the dub:

Tai: Ugh... Mom? Yuuko: Hmm? Tai: Can I make a complaint? Yuuko: Hm? Tai: Well, Kari's eating birthday cake right now and all we have is leftover tofu. Yuuko: I can make you a cake, Tai. Hand me an egg, please. Tai: (distraught) NO!!! Yuuko: I needed to use up the rest of the wheat germ anyway. Tai: (disturbed) Ngggh.... (dingdong; Tai retrieves an egg) Yuuko: You get the door and I'll start on that cake! (Tai goes to the door; Izzy yanks it open) Tai: Izzy, you're all sweaty. What's wrong? Izzy: (breathing heavily) Well it's... about the egg.... Tai: Huh? Izzy: The egg has already hatched! (Tai slowly looks at the egg in his hand) Izzy: NO, NOT THAT EGG!!! A DIGI-EGG!!!

Because it happens over a credits slide, Yuuko's greeting to Koushiro gets cut.

Izzy does a good job with the egg gag. I admit, I was kinda hoping the much more rude Izzy would call Tai an idiot here. But I still like what we got.

Tai's reaction to Yuuko baking a cake is part of a running gag in the dub film, where Yuuko's culinary practices... leave something to be desired, let's say. Yuuko is planning to bake a cake using only one egg and "the rest of the wheat germ", however much that is.

Which is funny because in the original series, it's the Tachikawa family that has a running gag of culinary horror. Mimi's mother Satoe routinely inflicts whatever random kitchen experiments strike her brain on Keisuke and Mimi, both of whom adore her concoctions and devour them regardless of what comes out. The result is that Mimi herself has let's say esoteric opinions about how to properly prepare tasty food.

Taichi and Koushiro move into Taichi and Hikari's bedroom to check out the newborn Digimon.

Koushiro uses Netscape as his web browser. Oh my god, do you remember Netscape!? God, I'm old. In any case, Taichi and Koushiro discuss the new Digimon while munching on popsicles.

Taichi: Ha! What's that thing? It looks like a jellyfish. Koushiro: It's a new kind of Digimon that we've never seen before. Taichi: It's pretty cute! So, what about it? Koushiro: It looks like computer bugs from everywhere have gathered together in one place and formed the Digitama.

This, I think, is where the dub got "A virus is attacking the Digitama and it's causing it to develop abnormally fast." A shitton of computer bugs (bugs, not viruses) happened at once all across the internet and merged together to form this... eerie computer bug Digitama, which has now hatched into our jellyfish 'mon.

Taichi: How do you know that? Koushiro: One of my email nakama who lives in Russia analyzed the data structure from the eggshell. They're still in elementary school, but they already have a seat reserved for them at university. Taichi: (grumpy) I'm in elementary school too, but I only go to elementary school.

Yeah, and that's probably not changing any time soon, my guy.

We're not getting any rundowns on this creature, so now would be a good time to talk shop. Officially, this creature is called Kuramon. The name comes from the word 海月 kurage which means jellyfish. Taichi basically named it a moment ago.

Like Apocalymon, it's not really a Digimon in the typical sense. It has no attribute or classification. It's not a vaccine, a virus, or data, but a secret fourth thing. As Koushiro said, it's made of bugs.

In Pokemon terms, this is MissingNo. And yes, you should be very concerned about that.

In what was most certainly a promotional decision, this creature's debut is split between the card game and the film. Some of its forms were released in a booster from February 2000, then the film came out in March 2000, and then the rest of its forms were released in another booster in April 2000.

The dub explains it like this:

Izzy: My Digimon Analyzer doesn't even recognize it. Tai: It looks like a cross between a jellyfish and a contact lens. Izzy: I think it's part-Digimon, part-virus. Tai: A Digimon with a virus. So? Izzy: Are you kidding!? If it stays on the internet, it could wipe out all technology as we know it! Tai: If it just hatched, how do you know about all this stuff? Izzy: This kid I met on the internet emailed me. His name is Willis and he lives in Colorado. I don't know where he gets his information. He's smart, though. He's only in elementary school but he's already taking classes at Colorado State! Tai: (bitterly) ...so what? I'm in junior high school and I take classes at junior high school!

Koushiro's email colleague in Russia's been rewritten to be an American named Willis. This is to better fit it into the feature-length film mold that they glued these three OVAs into. "Willis" is a character from Hurricane Touchdown, and so they're name-dropping him here in order to set up his appearance further in the "film".

As for Kuramon? In the dub's continuity it is... (heavy sigh) ...half-Digimon, half-virus.

VIRUSES ARE A TYPE OF DIGIMON OH MY GOD (sound of throwing things) This is like introducing a new evolution for Dratini and calling it "half-Pokemon and half-dragon". What are we doing here.

I do, however, appreciate Izzy calling out that the Digimon Analyzer has no idea what this is. All Koushiro says is "we haven't seen this before". But. Like. That's hardly conclusive. It's not like they saw every Digimon in the entire Digital World during their Chosen Children drafting, right?

Izzy cuts the ambiguity and says "I checked the Wiki and it just had a shrug emoji, so there's that."

Suddenly, Kuramon's screen beeps and it changes form.

Taichi: It evolved!

Now in its Baby II form, the creature is Tsumemon. Named for the word 爪 tsume, which means claw or talon.

Tsumemon sends Koushiro an email. The subject line reads オナカスイタ onakasuita which means absolutely nothing because it's in Katakana, and Katakana letters are just context-free sounds. However, in Hirogana and Kanji, お腹すいた Onaka suita means "I'm hungry."

(Hahahaha it's become Koushiro's involuntary Virtual Pet! Hahahahahahaha! Have fun with your new Tamagotchi, my guy!)

Koushiro: This... It's an email from the jellyfish! (reading) Onaka suita.... Taichi: Huh!? It's hungry!? Koushiro: It grows by eating data! And it has a huge appetite... It's only at Baby stage, but if it keeps evolving like this, it could devour all the data on the network! Taichi: ...what happens after the data gets corrupted? Koushiro: All of the computers will go haywire!

While the boys talk, Tsumemon chews its way through a visual representation of the internet. We cut to the convenience store FactoryMark to show a young woman ringing up a purchase.

Checker: (bored tone) Welcome. That will be 125 yen--Ah!

She does a double take at the register screen, then reads off the "correct" amount.

Checker: (counting zeroes) One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand. (to customer) That will be 1,000,125 yen.

The man, very reasonably, freezes in place and drops his money out of shock. For conversion's sake, an $0.80 purchase just jacked up to about $6,400. So either Martin Shkreli just hit Japan or something is way the fuck wrong.

It's okay. You don't have to get it. Sometimes you write jokes for you.

Other supermarkets encounter similar errors, with all their products suddenly being priced at a million yen. We see checkout lines held up by furious customers.

Customer: Why should I have to pay so much!?

Back in the Yagami home, the unbelievably fast news reports on the event.

News: Systems are malfunctioning in supermarkets and convenience stores all across the country.

In the dub:

Izzy: Look! The jellyfish Digivolved! Tai: He's sending an email! It says "I'm hungry!" What, am I supposed to call for a pizza?

The dub rewrites the email to read "I'm Hungry!" in English.

Izzy: Oh, no! He's eating computer data! And when he's done in this buffet line, he's gonna look for a database with more food! Tai: More food!? What does he expect to find, a grocery store!? (Cut to FactoryMark convenience store) Checker: Okay, that's one box of chocolate. Your total comes to one million, one hundred--HUH!? Yeah, that's what it says. That must be really good chocolate. Paper or plastic? Customer: What, it was supposed to, whuh... (drops money in shock)

They snip out the shots of other stores from here and go straight home to the Kamiya residence.

News: In supermarkets all over the city, computer systems are failing causing congestion at the registers. And now for the weather.

As usual, Izzy's not great with the exposition. "Tsumemon will go looking for a larger database" is cut from the same cloth, but doesn't quite capture the same sense of urgency as "Tsumemon will evolve and grow and devour more and more until it's eaten the entire network."

Though I do love the checker shrugging off the upcharge like, "Hm, seems legit." XD

Yuuko, carrying a tray with two glasses of indeterminate brown liquid on it, pays the report a little bit of mind before returning her attention to the door in front of her.

Yuuko: Taichi, I'm coming in.

She steps inside just in time for Taichi to nearly bowl her over on his way out the door.

Yuuko: AH!!! Taichi: Excuse me! Yuuko: What's this all of a sudden? Taichi: We're using Dad's PC!

Koushiro bolts past her next.

Yuuko: (holding out the tray) Well, at least take these with you.

Koushiro stops, doubles back, and snatches a glass from the tray. He chugs it right there on the spot, then returns the empty glass to the tray.

(That's not what she asked you to do, Koushiro.)

Yuuko: Oh my, you were thirsty! Koushiro: Thank you!

When Koushiro enters the office, he finds Taichi inspecting the computer's monitor and trying to figure out how to turn it on.

Taichi: Let's see... How does.... Koushiro: I'll handle it. Taichi: Please. I have no idea....

Koushiro lifts the monitor off Susumu's desk and sets it on the floor, then does the same with the tower.

Koushiro: This is connected to the phone line, right? Taichi: Oh, yeah. With ISDN or something like that.

That's all Koushiro needs to hear. He switches on the tower, and both it and the modem come to life.

In the dub, we start with more of Yuuko's culinary experiments.

Yuuko: Tai! I made beef jerky shakes! (Yuuko enters; Tai exits) Tai: No thanks, mom! Yuuko: Where are you going? Tai: We need to use Dad's computer! (Izzy goes past her) Yuuko: Don't you want your shake!? Izzy: Ooh! (Izzy doubles back and chugs a glass) Yuuko: I'm glad someone appreciates my recipes. Izzy: Thanks, Mrs. Kamiya! (Izzy enters the office to find Tai trying to turn the computer on) Tai: We gotta be careful with my dad's stuff. Izzy: (bluntly) Get out of my way! (Izzy lifts the computer stuff off the desk) Izzy: A Digimon is eating the internet and you're worried about a few books!? Tai: But my dad likes his mess where it is. Izzy: (ignoring him) We'll have more capabilities if we network our computers together.

But at least Izzy appreciates her jerky shakes. And then immediately gets to show off how rude and thoughtless he is in this version when him tearing the computer stuff off the desk gets recontextualized.

Once Koushiro's done setting up the desktop, he takes out his laptop. Taichi has questions.

Taichi: Could we just delete that jellyfish thing off the internet? Koushiro: Delete it? How? Taichi: We tell the phone company or some computer experts about the jellyfish and-- Koushiro: That's pointless. My email colleague in Russia told a lot of people about it, but they wouldn't listen.

I dunno, Koushiro. I feel like people might be more inclined to listen in goddamn Odaiba, which was laid to waste by a colossal Dracula kaiju last summer. Might just be me, though.

As the boys reconnect to the internet, they find their jellyfish has evolved once again. This next stage is called Keramon, named for the onomatopoeia for wicked cackling, kerakera. This is fine.

They also, side note, find Keramon at what appears to be the official website for FactoryMark, having devoured everything and left the page blank but for Keramon's own rotating visage. This poor company.

Taichi: It's already evolved again! Koushiro: This must be its Child-stage. Taichi: That's bad... This is bad, Koushiro! Koushiro: Unless we defeat it now.... Taichi: How!? Koushiro: Well... Uh.... Taichi: Are we just going to sit here and watch while this thing keeps evolving!?

Koushiro has no answer. The boys sit in silence, thinking.

In the dub:

Tai: Hey, Izzy! Why don't we just call up the Digimon on the screen and then hit delete? Izzy: Don't you think I tried that!? Tai: If this thing is so dangerous, maybe we should call someone important like the principal or Bill Gates or someone-- Izzy: They won't listen! That kid Willis warned his internet carrier about the new Digimon. They said, "Great! Let's sign him up and give him fifty free hours!" (Izzy connects and brings up Keramon) Izzy: Alright! We're online! Tai: He's Digivolved again! Keramon: My name is Keramon. Izzy: I think he's at the Rookie level. Tai: This soon!? He's Digivolving too quickly! Izzy: He's probably at a fast food website.

Convenience store but I'm sure he's still finding great consumable products all the same. Oh shit, I bet that's why the cheddarwurst is always gone already whenever I walk down there. Fucking Keramon.

Tai: Now what!? Izzy: Nothing now. Tai: You mean we have to sit here and watch that thing eat the world out of house and home page!?

They say a lot of the same things in this bit, but jokier. I desperately want to know what Tai expects the school principal to do about Keramon.

Also they gave Keramon a line for some reason.

There is one odd translation choice. In the original, Koushiro stammers and stutters when Taichi asks what they can actually do about this. He doesn't know, and he struggles to find an answer.

Izzy confidently asserts that they should do nothing. Uh. That. Seems like a bad idea, Izzy. Why are we even scoping Keramon out if the plan is inaction? Academic interest?

While the boys sit in silence, an air raid siren blares in the background. They don't seem to notice. Eventually, Taichi speaks up.

Taichi: If only Agumon were here right now.... Agumon: Taichi. Taichi: (whine) Aaaaaagumoooooon! Agumon: Taichi! Taichi: If only you were here! Agumon: TAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICHI!!!

Taichi finally hears him on the third try. He jumps to his feet, frantically looking around the office.

Taichi: Agumon!? Is that you!? Hey! Where are you!? Koushiro: Taichi-san, here!

Koushiro calls Taichi's attention to the laptop.

Taichi: AGUMON!!!

A window pops up with the cute title "デジモンさんのかくれが Digimon-san no kakure ka" or Digimon-san's Hideout. We see Gennai's bonsai garden from his secret estate beneath the lake, where a cute little chibi Agumon is standing with Gennai.

Agumon: (jumps for joy) TAICHIIIIIIIIIIII!!! (Taichi and Koushiro breathe sighs of relief) Taichi: Agumon! Koushiro: Gennai-san.... Gennai: It's been a long time, hasn't it? Tentomon: (appears in a puff of pink smoke) Koushiro-han, have you been well? Koushiro: Tentomon!

The door opens and the remaining six Partner Digimon all spill out into the bonsai garden. Taichi tries to count them off as they enter but gives up partway.

Taichi: Piyomon! Gabumon! Palmon! ...everyone's here!

In a cute little visual reference, five of the remaining six Partners enter the garden in single file. However, there's about a second's delay before Tailmon, separate from the others, finally enters as well.

In the dub, there's no long silence or air raid siren. Tai cuts straight from his previous rambling to:

Tai: I wish Agumon was here to help us! Agumon: Tai! Tai: I can almost hear him now. Agumon: You can hear me now! Tai: It's like he was here. Agumon: I am here. Tai: Huh!? (Tai jumps up and looks around) Agumon! I can barely hear you! Take me off speaker phone! Izzy: It's a transmission! Tai: Huh!? Izzy: From the Digital World. (Izzy pulls up the Digimon's Hideout screen) Agumon: (jumping for joy) Tai! Tai! (Taichi and Izzy breathe sighs of relief) Tai: Agumon! Izzy: And he's with Gennai! Gennai: It's been a long time! Tentomon: (appears in a puff of pink smoke) Don't forget me! Izzy: Tentomon! Tai: Who else is there? (The other Digimon enter) Biyomon: Biyomon! Gabumon: Gabumon! Palmon: Palmon! Patamon: Patamon! Gomamon: Gomamon! Gatomon: Gatomon!

Solid. No notes.

Now that the Digi-gang's all here, let's talk shop.

Gennai: So, do you know about this guy? Koushiro: Yes. It's a new kind of Digimon on the net, right? Gennai: Ohohohoho! Just as I expected. Agumon: Listen, Taichi. That is a tremendously evil Digimon. Tentomon: We can't just leave it alone! Koushiro: Yeah, but how do we defeat this thing? Agumon: Taichi. We'll fight. Taichi: Agumon? But.... Gabumon: We'll go inside the internet.... Patamon: ...just like how you guys saved the Digital World.... Tentomon: ...now it's our turn to help you! Koushiro: Tentomon....

Taichi and Koushiro are both silent for a moment while they mull over the Digimon's suggestion. Then Taichi snaps into leadership mode.

Taichi: Got it. We're counting on you guys. You're the only ones who can do this! Koushiro, your Digivice? Koushiro: (holds up Digivice) I brought it, of course.

Ready to go to work, Taichi dramatically pulls up his Goggles of Leadership from around his neck and snaps them onto his forehead.

Taichi: Great! We'll evolve you with our Digivices! Digimon: Okay! Gennai: Great! I'll start sending our friends into the network now, so hold off for a moment.

Gennai conjures up columns of light that the Digimon can enter, transporting them into the internet.

Taichi: Yes! This is great. I'll go let everyone else know.

While the Digimon get into position, Taichi heads off to the phone to start making some calls.

In the dub:

Gennai: We need to talk! Something's threatening the internet! Izzy: We know! The Digimon's already caused some major problems in our world. Gennai: I'm not sure it is a Digimon. Agumon: But it is dangerous. The evil Dark Masters were cupcakes compared to this guy! Tai: That's it, then! Let's do it! Gabumon: We found a way to enter the internet. Patamon: We'll help you guys because you were the best friends we ever had! Tentomon: What better way to express friendship than to save your world? Izzy: Tentomon.... Tentomon: (tearing up) Please don't get so emotional! Tai: Thanks a lot, guys. You won't be alone! We'll be right here on the computer. Izzy, Digivice! Izzy: (holds up his Digivice) I'm one step ahead of you, Tai! Tai: (dramatically puts on goggles) Our Digivices will help you Digivolve and together we'll squash that bug! Digimon: (miscellaneous cheering) Gennai: It will take a minute for Agumon and Tentomon to get on the net. My modem's older than I am! Tai: I'll call the other DigiDestined so their Digimon can help too!

A subtle switch, but in the original, the Digimon were going to help to repay the favor from the children saving their world. In the dub, it's to repay their friendship.

Also, Dub Agumon brings up the Dark Masters in order to use them as a yardstick for how much more ultra-mega-terrible Keramon is than they were. In the original, there is no escalatory threat-measuring contest here. Agumon simply calls Keramon 巨悪 kyoaku, a great evil.

Lastly, Gennai suggests that Keramon may not even be a Digimon. This is probably because Dub Keramon is "half-virus, half-Digimon" so its nature is weird. Its nature is weird in the original too, but that's because it's made of bugs instead of vaccine, virus, or data.

Time for Taichi to start making calls, beginning with Jou-senpai.

Taichi: (on the phone) Ah, moshi moshi! This is Yagami. Is Jou there? ...eh? Entrance exams? Entrance exams for... middle school...? Yes, I understand. (hangs up)

Moshi moshi is a Japanese phone greeting. We've talked about it before, but it's just a thing you say when talking to someone on the phone, specifically. It start out basically meaning something like "Sound check, 1, 2, 3," to make sure you were clearly audible and then evolved into a context-free social tradition.

Yeah. All that studying for entrance exams that was so important to Jou? Today is the fucking day. This is where Jou was going when Tsumemon made him miss his train. These tests will play a pivotal role in deciding the entire course of his future.

We see Jou sprinting for dear life, barely making it into the school when all other students are already seated and taking their tests. He races for dear life to his seat, frantically whipping out his pencil case so he can try his best.

In the dub:

Tai: Hi, this is Tai Kamiya! Can I speak to Joe, please? Other Person: (unintelligible gibberish) Tai: A test!? He's the only kid I know who volunteers for summer school! (hangs up)

The shots of Jou frantically sprinting into the school and trying to get to his seat are cut out, but the part where he opens his pencil case and accidentally sprays pencils everywhere is kept. They also add an anguished wail from Joe.

So, in this version, Joe's out-of-reach because he likes to do extra schooling for funsies. He's not panicking because the train made him late for a life-changing event he cannot afford to miss; He just spilled his pencils 'cause he's a clumsy goober.

This meshes with how the original anime portrayed his studying for the entrance exams, but drastically undercuts how important these tests are for him.

With Jou out of reach, Taichi tries Yamato next.

Taichi: Eh? Yamato is out? He's with Takeru? Where? ...eh!? SHIMANE!?!?

Yeah, they're way the fuck across Japan. Shimane is out on the west side of the island nation. It would take them about ten hours to get back to Odaiba by train.

Koushiro: Shimane.... Taichi: I'm sorry, do you have a phone number I can reach them at? Yuuko: Koushiro-kun, would you like some Oolong tea? Koushiro: Ah, yes, please.

Taichi gets the number and punches it in.

Taichi: (muttering) Pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up Yuuko: (background) Here you go. Koushiro: (background) Thank you. (The line picks up) Taichi: AH!!! MOSHI MOSHI!!!

Unfortunately for Taichi, it's the old woman - presumably the boys' grandma - who picked up.

Grandma: (slowly) Who is calling? Taichi: It's Yagami from Tokyo! Sorry to bother you-- Grandma: (slowly) Could you please repeat that? Taichi: Um, could you please put Yamato and Takeru on? Grandma: Ah! Those are my grandsons. They're such good boys. Yamato: (noticing) Who is it? Taichi: Excuse me, but there's something very important I need to tell them! Grandma: I see.

Finally getting the message, Grandma hangs the phone back up on the receiver and turns to the boys.

Grandma: Yamato!

Meanwhile, on the other end of the line, Taichi is frozen in appalled silence for five straight seconds.

Taichi: (hissing furiously) ...she hung up....

This is not going well. XD

In the dub:

Tai: Hi! Is Matt or T.K. there? Other Person: (unintelligible gibberish) Tai: They're visiting their grandmother in the country? Other Person: (unintelligible gibberish) Izzy: HEY TAI!!! Any luck yet? Yuuko: Would you like a glass of potato juice, Izzy? Izzy: Great! I'd love some!

I don't know which home Tai thought he was calling where he could ask for "Matt or T.K.".

Also, Izzy suddenly yelling "HEY TAI" while Tai's on a phone call. Rude. I love how Tai just ignores him and then Yuuko makes him drink potatoes. The Yuuko gag is quickly turning into well-deserved karma for Izzy's rudeness.

Tai: (muttering) Be there be there be there be there be there be there be there be there be there be there (gasp) Ooh! Hello there! This is Tai! Grandmother: You're selling ties? Tai: No, my name is Tai. I'm looking for Matt or T.K. Grandmother: That's a coincidence! Those are my grandkids' names. Tai: That's great! Are they there? Grandmother: Mhm. Tai: Right now!? Grandmother: Mhm. Tai: Can I talk to them!? Grandmother: Oh, I'd love to talk to them too. They're here visiting me. Tai: Please, I need to speak to them right away! Grandmother: Okay, I'll tell them. (Grandma hangs up) Grandmother: KIIIIIDS!!! ... Tai: (hissing furiously) ...I can't take this....

Dub Grandma has an even harder time grasping this conversation than the original.

Moving on down the list.

Yuuko: Koushiro-kun, aren't you going anywhere for spring break? Koushiro: No, nowhere in particular. Yuuko: There isn't anywhere you want to go?

A familiar conversation for anyone who's ever been an introverted kid.

This brief exchange sets our timeframe, in case Jou's entrance exams didn't already give it away; In Japan, the ending of one school year and beginning of the next is framed around spring break, rather than summer vacation as it is in the U.S.

We've moved forward about eight or nine months from the original series.

Taichi places his next call. However, as we've already seen, nobody's at the Tachikawa residence to collect the mail or pick up the phone, nor have they been in days.

Taichi: Alright, next up! (dials) Ah, moshi moshi! Mimi: (recording) This is Mimi! I can't take your call right now! (beep) Taichi: Mimi-chan! It's Taichi! Call me back as soon as you can! (hangs up) Man, every one of them....

An interesting note is that Mimi's iconic pink cowboy hat is hanging up in her bedroom. Not only did she not take it with her, but... Like... She has it. Last we saw that hat, the wind whipped it off her head and sent it tumbling across File Island. It never left the Digital World.

So I guess she must have got a new one.

In the dub:

Yuuko: You know, Izzy, I can never get Tai to try any of my recipes. Izzy: I think they taste great. Yuuko: (excited) Wanna try my spinach cookies? Tai: (excited) I GOT MIMI'S MACHINE!!! Mimi: (recording) Hi, it's Mimi! I'm so glad you called. Let's get together for lunch! Leave a very short message after the beep! (beep) Tai: MIMI I-- (beep) (Tai hangs up) Tai: (growl) Rrrrrgh. That girl loves to talk!

"Leave a very short message after the beep" might be the funniest joke in dub history thus far. XD What the fuck, Mimi. Why. Who does that. Why. Hahahahahahahahahahaha

Little confused by Tai's punchline, though. The intent is clearly "Teen girls be yappin' on their phones" boomer-humor, which was all over the place in the 80's and 90's. But I don't see how that connects to the setup of Mimi's absurdly short answering machine window.

Taichi's running out of options at this point. With one obvious and glaring omission he hasn't yet tried, and still won't. Time to keep going down the list. Meanwhile, over in the kitchen, Koushiro's sifting flour while Yuuko works on whipping her cake batter.

Yuuko: (cheerfully) Sorry you had to pitch in! Taichi: Hey! Do you know the phone number to the house Hikari went to for the birthday party? Koushiro: (sifting) Like this? Yuuko: That's right. Don't let it get lumpy. Taichi: COME ON, MOM!!! Yuuko: Right, yes... There should be a note over there. Uri-san's house. Taichi: (rifles through phone desk, grumbling) What is wrong with everyone....

At the birthday girl's house, everyone's gathered around a giant cake, clapping and celebrating.

Girls: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

The birthday girl takes a deep breath, then stops when she realizes one of them is missing. Hikari is over on the phone.

One of the Girls: (hissing) Hikari-chan! Hikari: (to phone) I can't come home yet. We haven't even blown out the candles on the birthday cake yet. Taichi: I see. Then come home right after the candles are blown out!

But her social life!

How about you learn how to do the white glowy trick where you can evolve everyone's Digimon and not just your own?

In the dub:

Yuuko: (to Izzy) You're a real natural in the kitchen. Just like me. Ha! Tai: Mom, I need to get a hold of Kari right away! Did she take your cellphone with her? Izzy: So, do I have enough of this stuff? Yuuko: Beats me. It's the first time I've used flour to bake a cake! Tai: MOM!!! Yuuko: Of course she's got it in case of emergency. Tai: (rifles through phone desk, grumbling) Emergency...? What does she think this is!? (Tai makes the call) Girls: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! (clapclapclap) Make a wish! Blow 'em out!

The dub adds the sound of a phone interrupting the candle-blowing. In the original, it's the birthday girl's landline so there's an implication that someone came and told her that there was a call for her. She probably didn't answer the phone herself.

But since they rewrote the phone Kari's on to be Yuuko's personal cell phone, they can have Kari rudely answer it during the candle-blowing for comedic effect.

Girl: (hissing) Call them back! Kari: I can't come home! You don't understand. The magician's coming over later and I've already volunteered to be sawed in half. Tai: Whatever! Just tell the half with feet to run home soon!

This flows pretty well. The shot of Kari on the phone only shows the receiver, so the animation doesn't contradict the rewritten context. And the "half with feet" bit is another pretty good joke.

Dub team is also having a lot of fun with the "Izzy and Yuuko in the kitchen" shots.

Well, that's it. There's only one last call to make. The one Taichi can't make. This is the big one.

Taichi: KOUSHIRO!!! Koushiro: Eh? Taichi: Uh, you see... Could you please call Sora's home? Koushiro: Sora-san? Shouldn't you do that? Taichi: Just do it! Here!

Taichi flings the phone directly at Koushiro's face. Koushiro yelps, catches it, and slowly exhales. Then, very confused, he starts punching in the number.

Taichi lumbers over and grumpily takes a seat at the table.

Yuuko: Oh? Are you inviting any more friends? Taichi: I want an Oolong tea too! Yuuko: You won't even answer me?

Oh boy, I do not like the way this boy talks to his mother in this special. So far, we've seen him push past her in the doorway, ignore her questions, and yell at her for not answering him. Now he slumps down in his chair, doesn't even look at her, blows off her question, and demands tea.

All while she's trying to bake a cake because Taichi was complaining that Hikari got to go have one today.

Taichi is a child, so I won't fault him too much for behaving childishly. But this all raises uncomfortable questions about what he's learning from Susumu, since children emulate their role models and all that.

Koushiro makes the call, which Sora's mother Toshiko answers.

Toshiko: Okay, I just have to let her know to call the Yagami residence, right? (Sora comes in the front door) Toshiko: Oh, one moment. She just got back.

Cutting back to Koushiro, he can clearly hear Sora on the other end of the line.

Sora: Who is it? Toshiko: It's from the Yagami residence. Sora: Hm.... (beat) Sora: Tell them I'm not home. Toshiko: But-- Sora: Just do it!

Sora storms into her room and slams the door.

Toshiko: (returning to phone) Uh... She asked me to tell you that she isn't home.

Back in the Yagami apartment, Koushiro ends the call and tries to get Taichi to explain what's going on, while Yuuko continues mixing her cake batter in the kitchen.

Koushiro: Did something happen? Taichi: Not really.... Koushiro: Something must have happened. Taichi: Nothing happened. Koushiro: At a time like this, could you please stop bickering.

Taichi blushes hard and snaps at Koushiro for that remark.

Taichi: WE'RE NOT BICKERING!!! Koushiro: (to himself) Definitely bickering. (Taichi stands up suddenly, nervously shaking) Taichi: A-Anyways, uh... Hey, isn't it about time?

The implication Koushiro's making is that Taichi and Sora are having a lovers' spat. An implication that Taichi catches, which causes him to react the way he does.

Meanwhile, in her room, Sora pops open her own little tablet computer. She fidgets nervously, twirling a hairclip in her hand, until her computer tells her that no emails have been received.

Sora: (angrily) Stupid Taichi!

Sora slams the tablet shut, clenching her fist around the hairpin.

Whatever happened between them, Sora's pretty upset about it too. I'm not sure if Taichi's misspelled and extremely brief email ending in "Cheer up" would actually help, but Kuramon eating it certainly didn't.

Deliberate sabotage. Kuramon ships Taichi/Yamato, clearly.

In the dub:

Tai: Hey! Izzy! Izzy: Huh? Tai: I can't get anybody on the phone! I want you to call Sora for me! Izzy: But you and she are really good friends. It makes more sense for you to call. Tai: JUST DO IT!!! (throws the phone) (Tai marches over and slumps into his chair) Yuuko: (excited) Are more friends coming over? I'll make three-bean salad! Tai: Nobody's coming over, Mom! Yuuko: Oh. That's alright, I only have two beans anyway.

Honestly, I was kinda WTF about this Bad Cook Yuuko bit but it keeps making me laugh. It helps that Yuuko gets to be the one delivering the punchlines most of the time. They let the absurdity of her bit stand by itself and get the laugh, rather than trying to have an over-the-top reaction be the laugh line.

(Izzy makes the call) Toshiko: I'm sorry Sora's not home, but I'll tell her to call Tai's house as soon as she gets back. (Sora returns) Toshiko: Oh, hold on! She just walked in! I'll put her right on. (Cut to Izzy listening) Toshiko: Sora, I think Tai wants to speak to you. Sora: I'M NOT HOME!!! Toshiko: But I already told him you're here. Sora: THEN MAKE SOMETHING UP!!! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU TELL HIM!!! Toshiko: But Sora, I-- (Sora goes in her room and slams the door) Toshiko: ...I'm sorry, but you have the wrong number. Goodbye! (hangs up quickly)

XD That is the worst possible way you could have ended that conversation. Dub Toshiko, you absolute madwoman. Hahahahaha.

Izzy: ...Sora said she's not home. Tai: Hmph. Izzy: Did you two have an argument? Tai: None of your business. Izzy: You must have been a real jerk if she doesn't even want to talk to ya. Tai: HUH!?!? I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!! Izzy: Uh, I meant that in a good way.... Tai: I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE'S STILL MAD AT ME!!! THIS WHOLE THING STARTED OVER A LOUSY HAIRCLIP!!! Sora: (thinking) He'd better have written me! Tablet: Greetings! You have no new mail. Okay? Sora: No, it's not okay! (affectionately) Stupid Tai....

Specifically, that hairclip she's twirling while checking her computer. The clip is subtle foreshadowing for the true nature of their argument, but the dub goes ahead and spells it out for the audience.

I like how they got over the hurdle of Japanese text by installing text-to-speech accessibility software on Sora's computer.

A note about Yuuko: Both versions are playing the disconnect between Yuuko's jovial attitude and Taichi's panic for comedy. Yuuko has no idea what's going on. So far as she knows, Koushiro came over to play with Taichi and now they're trying to get some other friends together.

This isn't intentional; They aren't deliberately misleading her. There's no reason to. She already knows about the Digimon stuff. It's just that nobody's bothered to tell her, "Hey mom, some serious Digimon shit is going down."

While all this has been happening, Keramon has been a hungry little bugbear.

We cut to Odaiba landmark the Daikanransha, one of the world's largest Ferris Wheels until it was closed down in 2022. Its name means "Big Ferris Wheel". See, this is the downside of learning languages. Everything sounds so cool until you know what they're saying.

We see from the perspective of two boys and a girl. The girl, visibly the youngest, is having the time of her life but the boys look bored as shit.

Girl: So scary! Older Boy: This is lame. Younger Boy: No kidding. Older Boy: Huh? Wait, is it going faster?

Going haywire, the ferris wheel accelerates to dangerous speeds, whipping its passengers around.

Younger Boy: THIS IS SCARY!!! Girl: ( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ )

Hahahaha they are going to die.

On the landing in front of the apartment, Yuuko watches the giant Ferris Wheel whip around like that.

Yuuko: Taichi? Is it spinning faster than usual today?

Taichi and Koushiro sprint into the office, with Koushiro carrying their drinks on a tray. There, Hikari's cat Meeko has been watching Keramon on the screen. She scampers off as soon as the boys enter.

Agumon and Tentomon appear on the screen, ready to roll.

Koushiro: Transfer complete. Taichi: Agumon!

Inside the internet, Agumon and Tentomon soar through the dataspace on their way to Keramon. Taichi and Koushiro appear like billboards in their path.

Agumon: Taichi! Koushiro! We're here! Taichi: We're counting on you, Agumon! Koushiro: Tentomon, this is a pre-emptive strike. It hasn't noticed us yet.

No idea where the other six got off to. Tailmon's an Adult. She could probably wreck Keramon's shit even without Hikari on-hand.

The dub cuts the ferris wheel bits and jumps straight to Meeko at the computer. She seems to be surfing the kitty web.

Computer Voice: Thank you for visiting Cat Voice: MEOW Computer Voice: .com. Tai: Meeko, get down from there! (Tai and Izzy sprint to the computer) Tai: Agumon and Tentomon should be on the internet by now! (Cut to internet interior) Tentomon: Does this information superhighway have a rest stop!? I've gotta go potty! Agumon: You should have gone before we left! Just hold it! Tai: You're gonna need a password! Izzy: You can use mine to get on the internet: Prodigious! Agumon & Tentomon: PRODIGIOUS!!! Tai: THEY'RE IN!!! Agumon: So this is what the internet looks like. They need new wallpaper. Tentomon: I hope this doesn't take too long. It's my bath night!

The bit about the password is referencing another set of screens they pass, which shows a password being entered and then suddenly reads "ENTER". The original never references or explains what that's about, so the dub filled the gap.

So, so many quips.

Izzy's password would be incredibly easy to crack if you knew him personally. Which basically means that only his friends can access his stuff without his knowledge. That feels like a personal choice more than a mistake.

Arriving in the internet, it doesn't take long to find Keramon hungrily devouring a stream of data.

Oh wow. Look at it go.

Tentomon: Shall we go!? Agumon: Huh!?

Before Agumon realizes this has started, Tentomon takes the first shot. His Petit Thunder hits Keramon dead-on, electrocing it and announcing their presence. Agumon follows up with multiple shots of Baby Flame, which all seem to hit home.

Taichi: YES!!!

Keramon, recovering, sends another enigmatic email to Koushiro. This one reads simply アソブ asobu. Again, because it's in Katakana, these are just sounds. But 遊ぶ asobu is a verb that means "to play". Keramon thinks Koushiro's playing with it.

(We know that well. It was one of Pinocchimon's favorite words. Also I'm kinda starting to feel bad for Keramon. I'm not sure that it actually knows better. I think it might just... be a kid.)

Taichi: What do you mean, 'play'!? Let's just defeat it quickly. Koushiro: Tentomon, evolve! Tentomon: Right!

While Agumon and Tentomon undergo their Magical Girl transformation sequences, we once again cut to various children around the world at computers. The other kids who witnessed the Digitama's creation, who are now watching this happen in real-time.

In the dub:

Izzy: There he is! Go get him! Tentomon: (whispering) He doesn't know we're here yet. Agumon: (whispering) Let's sneak up on him quietly. Tentomon: SUPER SHOCKER!!! Agumon: That's quietly!? PEPPER BREATH!!! (Their shots land) Tai: Huh!? That should have worked but it didn't! (Keramon recovers) Tai: Hey! Keramon's sending us an email! It says "So you like to play games, huh?" I've got a bad feeling about this, Agumon. Agumon: Mhm! Izzy: Better Digivolve, both of you, now.

Like the "I'm hungry" email, the dub rewrote this one in English too.

There's a tonal shift here. Taichi and Koushiro are going super-aggro and picking this fight. They are unambiguously the aggressors here. As Koushiro said, this is a pre-emptive strike. This isn't a thing yet; We're going hard and trying to kill Keramon before this can become a thing.

Strangling a potential future problem in its crib. It's pretty morally dubious the more you think about it. Are we the baddies?

The dub makes Keramon's response email more threatening and ominous. That way, when Tai and Izzy escalate to Adult forms, it's because they're on the backfoot and freaked out by the message.

In any case, the fight is on.

The area of the internet they're in seems to be, like, the programming for an amusement park based on all the amusement park imagery. Probably Pallet Town, the entertainment center where the Daikanransha can be found.

Since the dub skipped the ferris wheel, this just looks like random psychedelic imagery in that version. But there's ferris wheels and carousels and stuff floating in the void because Keramon's eating an amusement park.

In a goofy moment, Greymon and Kabuterimon both land on the ring of horses and carriages spinning around the exterior of the void and use it as a springboard. When they land on the ring, the flat images of horses whinny in protest.

Greymon and Kabuterimon chase down Keramon. Keramon fires off energy shots from its mouth. Kabuterimon returns fire with three shots of his Mega Blaster, which Keramon swerves around - Only to take Greymon's Mega Flame dead-on. Exploding in fire, Keramon lets out a pitiful shriek.

Kabuterimon: Nice! Taichi: It's so weak! Koushiro: Hang on.

On the computer screen, a data stream of 66666666666666 flows into Keramon. The image of Keramon suddenly evolves once more into a new form.

The dub keeps the bits where Greymon and Kabuterimon spring off the carousel ring. However, as usual, the sound effects get lost. No comical whinny protests. With the gag removed, it just seems like an unusually slow bit of action choreography.

They also take out Keramon's pathetic wail when hit by Nova Blast.

Keramon calls his attack Bug Blaster in the dub. It has no name in the original. In fact, nobody's calling attacks in the original; Not even the Partner Digimon. Additionally, Keramon only communicates by email in the original. It has no voiced lines.

Tai: You guys make this stuff look easy! Izzy: Um, hold that thought! Tai: Huh? Keramon: Keramon, Digivolve to: Infermon!

As the dub notes, its new form is called Infermon, named for the Inferno. Y'know. Hell. It's Hellmon.

If you've played one of the games that came out after this film and realized what's wrong here, shhhhhhh, spoilers. The boys haven't noticed yet. :P

Visibly, Infermon leaves its jellyfish shape behind and more resembles an insect, like an ant or cockroach. Y'know. Because bug.

Taichi: It evolved! Koushiro: That's okay. It's in the Adult stage now, same as ours.

Infermon's little feetsies work as suction cups to adhere it to a surface. We know that because it makes little suction cup sounds every time it steps or jumps.

Taking the offensive, it lunges and uses its bulk to try and crush Greymon and Kabuterimon. The pair dodge, floating in the internet's antigravity, and return fire with their own shots.

Though Greymon and Kabuterimon's shots hit home, there's no telltale shriek this time.

Greymon: Did we get it?

Greymon's question is answered when Infermon, unimpeded by their attacks, lunges through the smoke cloud their shots made. Pulling its limbs and head into itself, Infermon becomes a single aerodynamic bullet hurtling their direction.

Greymon and Kabuterimon fire off shot after shot into Infermon, but their attacks glance harmlessly off its impenetrable exoskeleton. They're forced to dodge aside just before its colossal size rips past them.

Kabuterimon: We can't even scratch it! What is going on here!?

Before anyone can answer, Infermon opens its mouth and fires multiple shots form a cannon inside. Greymon dodges the first volley but Kabuterimon takes a hit.

Kabuterimon: AUGH!!! Greymon: KABUTERIMON--HUAGH!!!

While Greymon's distracted, the second volley hits him, starting with a direct hit to the side of his face.

Taichi: GREYMON!!!

This is going bad.

In the dub:

Infermon: Nyegh! Tai: No way! He Digivolved again! Izzy: I've never seen this before. Now he's at the Champion level like Greymon and Kabuterimon! Infemon: Hmhmhmhmhm....

Yeah, Infermon's a chuckler now.

(Greymon and Kabuterimon take shots) Greymon: Yeah! Kabuterimon: Alright! (Infermon lunges) Greymon: What!? Infermon: Hehehehehehe.... (Infermon coasts right through their attacks) Greymon: He's stronger than a Champion! Infermon: SPIDER SHOOTER!!! (Infermon shoots Kabuterimon) Greymon: KABUTERIMO-- WHOA!!! (Infermon shoots Greymon) Tai: Greymon, no!

There's not a lot of actual words in this sequence and yet it still feels so different due to the decision to give Infermon a voice.

It's at that moment that Koushiro realizes the truth.

Koushiro: Taichi-san, I figured it out. Taichi: Huh? Koushiro: It's at Perfect-stage! Taichi: Then, a moment ago.... Koushiro: It evolved two stages. Taichi: Why...?

Yeah, that's what fans of the games that came later probably noticed. Keramon evolves into the Adult-stage Chrysalimon before going to Infermon as its Perfect form. Because of this sudden jump, Chrysalimon will not be appearing in this film.

Taichi: Then we'll evolve to Ultimate-stage too!

Good plan, but no. As Greymon and Kabuterimon begin Super-Evolving, Infermon lunges suddenly.

Taichi: (gasp) Koushiro: It's attacking while we're evolving!

Taking potshots from its mouth cannon, Infermon obliterates MetalGreymon and AtlurKabuterimon before they can even emerge from their Super-Evolutions.

After erasing its Perfect competition before they could even power up, Infermon lands. It begins vibrating and letting out this high-pitched cackle that sounds as much like a siren as a laugh.

Infermon: Yahahahahahaha! Yahahahahahaha! Yahahahahahaha!

THAT'S RIGHT THE DUB WAS CORRECT. Infermon is a chuckler.

A little button marked EXIT appears next to Infermon. It presses the button to open a passage back into the open internet. Then, blip-blopping on its suction cups, it spider-crawls its goofy ass away into the passage.

(Good thing we were just playing. I'd hate to see what would have happened if it knew we were trying to kill it! :P)

In the dub:

Izzy: I think I've got it figured out now! Tai: Huh? Izzy: He's bypassed the Champion level and Digivolved straight into the Ultimate level! He's too strong for our Digimon now! Tai: Then they're just gonna have to Digivolve again! (Digivolutions begin) Infermon: Not. So. Fast. Rrrrargh! (lunge) (as the Digimon Digivolve, Infermon comes in swiftly) Izzy: He's gotta Digivolve faster! (Infermon takes them both out) Infermon: Hehehahahahaha! Ahahahahahaha!

Pretty much the same. Though the dub doesn't have Infermon's goofy blip-blop suction cup sounds. Instead, it goes for this writhing insect sound, like a million bugs crawling over something at once.

With Infermon gone, Taichi and Koushiro are left to lick their wounds.

Pay no attention to the fact that all Taichi can see from this angle is a whole lotta butthole.

Taichi: Are you okay, Agumon? Agumon: Sorry, Taichi.... Koushiro: Tentomon! Tentomon: That thing is monstrous....

Relieved that their Partners survived, Taichi and Koushiro take a moment to sit in silence and breathe. Then, quietly, Koushiro speaks up.

Koushiro: We'll need to let them rest for a while. Taichi: (punches floor) Fuck! Isn't it cheating to mess with someone's evolution!?

(Somewhere in the Digital World, the reincarnated Etemon sneezes.)

Koushiro: Taichi-san, we got an email from someone in Australia.

The message reads, "Earlier. Was that what's called a Digital Monster? This is my first time seeing one. ~Toma"

Koushiro: He said it's his first time seeing a Digital Monster. Taichi: He was watching the fight just now? Koushiro: Ah, this one is from Singapore.

Koushiro opens up another email. This one reads, "There were two bodies against one body so how did they lose? Are they just weak? -Jane"

If that sounds like it was run through Google Translate, it's because it was. The email actually comes through in English first, then Koushiro's email software converts it line-by-line into Japanese. The actual message Jane wrote was, in all-caps, "THEY ARE NOTHING, KOZ THEY LOST IN SPITE OF DOUBLE FIGURES. -JANE"

That's much more rude.

Koushiro: "How were you weak enough to lose despite it being 2-on-1?" Taichi: Shut up! Koushiro: (scrolling through a long list of emails) What else do we--Oh! It's an email from the jellyfish.

Koushiro clicks on Infermon's email, revealing a profile pic of the creature's new face and the message moshi moshi moshi moshi moshi moshi moshi moshi moshi moshi just... repeating over and over and over again, line by line.

I don't think it knows how to use that phrase. To be fair, its age can be measured in hours.

Taichi: Moshi moshi moshi moshi... What the heck? Koushiro: This is really bad! Taichi: Huh?

Koushiro points at the email's From line. Infermon sent it from "@@@@@@djm.ntt.co.jp/sys/switchboard". That's gibberish to Taichi but it's making Koushiro piss himself.

Koushiro: Look at the email address! That thing is now inside the NTT system! Taichi: NTT? Koushiro: We need to contact everyone quickly!

Koushiro doesn't explain the urgency, but NTT or Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Company is one of the largest telecommunications companies on Earth. A closeup on the phone jack shows that NTT is, in fact, providing the Yagami home's service.

So. Uh. Yeah. That's bad.

In the dub:

Tai: Agumon, say something! Agumon: (woozy) Don't take me out, coach.... Izzy: Tentomon! Tentomon: I'm fine! Just one question... Who's Tentomon? Izzy: They'll be okay, Tai. They just need to rest for a while. Tai: (sigh) I can't believe that two Digimon at the champion level weren't enough. (punches floor) We're NEVER gonna be able to defeat this thing! Izzy: Check this out, Tai! We're getting emails from all over the world. Here's one from that kid Willis in America. It says "Izzy, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. Find a way to slow him down."

The dub once again draws new art to create Willis's email, slotting it in over Toma's. It says exactly what Izzy read off, but contains no signature.

Then they cut the footage from Jane's email and go straight to Infermon.

Izzy: Hey, Infermon is emailing us too!

Don't know why Izzy knows that name. Keramon was excused because he said "My name is Keramon" right after Digivolving, but this is the first mention of the name Infermon out-loud.

Infermon's email is also rewritten to read "Hello!Hello!Hello!Hello!Hello!Hello!" for many lines.

Tai: Why's he saying "Hello" over and over again? Izzy: Look at the address! Tai: Huh? Izzy: He's at the telephone company taking over all the phone lines! If we lose our phone connection, we're finished! That's the only way we have access to the internet!

Izzy spells out the implication since American children can't be expected to recognize the NTT by brand.

Taichi's first call is Hikari, which makes sense since she's the only one he actually reached the first time.

At the party, the girls are playing Old Maid. Birthday girl does not seem to be doing well but she's got a big smile on her face nonetheless. The girl on the far right, the one who hissed at Hikari for being on the phone, draws the Joker from the girl next to her. All the girls have a good laugh about it.

Girl 2: Did you get the Old Maid? Girl 1: Be honest, Noriko-chan!

Noriko-chan shakes her lying head like a liar, and they all giggle.

Suddenly, Birthday Girl stops laughing and glares at Hikari, who is once again on the phone. Given her vacant spot across from birthday girl and next to Noriko, it's probably Hikari's turn.

Noriko-chan: (hisses) Hikari-chan.... Hikari: (on phone, holding only one card) No, I can't just leave when I'm about to win first place. Taichi: It's fine! Just get out of the game and come home! (hangs up)

In Hikari's defense, she does have a solid shot at winning. It's her and the girl to her left that have one card left apiece. If she can match this card, she wins.

But also, Old Maid isn't exactly a game you can just drop out of easily. If she can't match the card, then she'll have two cards and be in for at least two more rounds. This is basically a more complicated version of Go Fish. If she has cards in hand and leaves... what happens with her cards? It might just ruin the game. And at a birthday party!

Devastating consequences for her social life.

(This is, of course, nowhere near as important as stopping Infermon from eating the global internet. But Taichi hasn't exactly been forthcoming with context to... basically anyone in this special. All she knows is that her domineering brother keeps calling and yelling at her to stop having fun.)

The dub cuts this whole scene. There is no second call to Kari at the birthday party.

Taichi moves along down the list.

Taichi: Next. (dials) Phone: Beep. Beep. Beep. Taichi: Busy signal!? Damn. (hangs up, dials) Phone: Beep. Beep. Beep. Taichi: Another busy signal! (hangs up, dials) Phone: Beep. Beep. Beep. Taichi: Jou's place too!? (hangs up, dials) Phone: Beep. Beep. Beep. Taichi: (distraught) Even Yamato's house!? Taichi: It's busy everywhere. Koushiro: What about Sora's place? Taichi: But we already tried there!

A subtle note: After Hikari, Taichi makes four calls. He identifies the third as Jou and the fourth as Yamato. It's unclear if he tried Sora in the first two, then tried Yamato and Takeru's grandma for the last, or if he didn't call Sora and instead called Yamato and Takeru separately despite knowing they're at their grandma's.

"We already tried Sora" could mean that she was one of the busy signals, or it could mean "We called her earlier and she told me to go fuck myself off a cliff."

But either way, one of those calls he made was to Mimi's explicitly vacant house. Where he got a busy signal. That shouldn't happen.

A subtle but early warning of what's really happening.

Suddenly, Taichi's phone rings. He answers to the most flagrantly computer-generated text-to-speech voice ever.

Taichi: Moshi moshi! Text-to-Speech: Moshi moshi/Moshi moshi/Moshi moshi/Moshi moshi Taichi: (gasps, freaked out) ...not good....

Really selling Infermon's text-to-speech, each set of moshi moshi has an audible jump, like a static break that inorganically bleeds the end of the second moshi into the beginning of the first as the audio sample loops.

In the dub:

Tai: I've gotta warn everyone! (dials) Operator: All circuits are busy. Try again later. Tai: Oh, great! It's busy! ...Mimi! (dials) Operator: All circuits are busy. Try again later. Tai: Come on! How could that be busy too!? (dials) Operator: All circuits are still busy. Tai: Don't tell me.... (dials) Operator: Did you hear me!? Tai: What? Operator: IT'S BUSY!!! Tai: I'm sorry, lady.... (hangs up) All the phones are dead! Izzy: That Digimon did it! Tai: Not a single call can get through! (phone rings, Tai answers) Tai: Hello, this is Tai. Infermon: Hello! Did you program me? Hehehahahahahaha! Tai: It's Infermon!

In the original, as we're about to see, this call isn't unique to Tai. People all across Japan are about to receive these text-to-speech calls. So the dub changing it to Infermon directly taunting Tai is a bit more of a change than it appears at first glance and continues the trend of this Digimon being a lot more verbose in the dub.

Across Japan, phones begin ringing off the hook. Landlines, cell phones, every kind of phone.

Taichi: What is going on!? Koushiro: It's inside the phone switch server and making calls everywhere. It's trying to crash the lines. Taichi: Oh, that's bad. Without the phone lines, we can't contact the others, not to mention the internet-- Koushiro: AH!!! Taichi: Huh? Koushiro: (horrified) ...it disconnected.

Well. That's that. After winning the fistfight, Infermon has nuked our ability to even try that shit again. Its hunger will not be denied.

Out front, Yuuko's cake is baking in the microwave while she watches the news, blissfully unaware of what's happening on the internet.

News: Breaking news, the phones in the Tokyo metropolitan area are temporarily out of service. Yuuko: A lot of things happening today.... News: According to NTT, this is due to heavy phone traffic and some areas have stopped working due to the call volume.

Koushiro explodes out of Susumu's office and sprints for the front door.

Yuuko: Oh, leaving already, Koushiro-kun? Koushiro: I'll be right back!

As Koushiro hurries out the door, Taichi drags his feet to the couch and flops headfirst over it.

Taichi: (wailing) Mooooom.... Yuuko: What's wrong, Taichi? Taichi: It's hopeless! Yuuko: What are you talking about?

No idea what Koushiro's planning, but clearly he's more convinced there's still a chance than Taichi is.

In the dub, this is completely changed.

Kari (V.O.): Talk about speed-dialing! Infermon was looking for someone. He was calling every phone number in the world. Tai: His long-distance bill will be enormous! Izzy: (gasp) Tai: What? Izzy: (horrified) Connection... terminated.... Tai: (horrified) What... next.... (Cut to the cake) Yuuko: KIDS!!! Cake's almost ready!

It is not. Yuuko is lying. The cake still has 30 minutes left to go.

News: Phones have gone dead worldwide. If your telephone is dead, please call your phone company. Yuuko: Well, at least my sister can't call me three times a day. (Izzy explodes from the office and races for the door) Izzy: See ya! Yuuko: Are you leaving so soon? Izzy: Don't worry! I'll be back! Save me a piece of cake! Tai: (emerges, groaning) Yuuko: What's the matter with you? Tai: (groans louder) Yuuko: Hey, have you heard? The phones are out!

Original Infermon crashes the Tokyo metro area's phone network so the children can no longer mess with it. Dub Infermon crashes the entire globe's phone network because he's looking for someone; Presumably Willis, given his dub-exclusive email.

A lot of the dialogue here is just quipping, but Yuuko's salt-in-the-wound final line is solid gold. XD

From here, we go to Yamato and Takeru's grandma's home. Takeru is giving Grandma a back massage.

News: Currently, technicians are working to restore the downed switches and are urging consumers to refrain from using the phone or cell phone services. Grandma: Ahhh... A little more....

Takeru glances over to Yamato, who's receiving a busy signal from the phone.

Yamato: That Taichi... What could he want?

It's Taichi's turn to be 太一の奴 Taichi no yatsu. Yamato clearly isn't happy about having his vacation at grandma's interrupted for unspecified reasons.

We move back to the Yagami residence as the news continues.

News: However, if it is necessary to get in touch with someone, you may use the emergency voice mail system by dialing 171. Taichi: Huh? News: With the emergency mail system, your message will be stored even when the system is down or busy. Created in 1995.... Taichi: That's... That's it!

Taichi has a new plan! Stop that, Infermon!

...nobody tell Infermon or it might eat the emergency voice mail system.

In the dub:

News: The stock market is in chaos and people are rioting in the streets. Grandma: Ahhhh, that's nice. (Matt's getting a busy signal) Matt: Huh!? Tai says call, then he won't get off the phone! News: We interrupt this programming for a special bulletin. T.K.: Huh? Grandma: Goody! I bet it's one of those high-speed chases! (Cut back to Kamiya household) News: The phone company has set up an emergency voicemail system. Simply dial 171 for easy instructions. Tai: Huh!? Kari (V.O.): Believe me, it wasn't so easy. First you had to leave a message, then call back to pick up a message. Basically, it was just playing phone tag. Tai: Perfect! Voice mail!

The U.S. doesn't have any sort of equivalent to Japan's Disaster Emergency Message system, so the dub has to invent it as a brand new thing the phone companies are doing in this extreme global phone blackout.

With Narrator Kari stepping in to explain how such a thing even works.

I love that Matt gets snippy with Tai here, assuming the reason he can't get through is because Tai won't get off the phone. After Tai attacked Mimi for that same thing earlier, it's well-deserved. :P

Now armed with this new tool, Taichi once again tries to make calls.

Recording: This is the emergency voice mail system. To record a message, press one. Phone: (beep) Taichi: Moshimoshi, Yamato! As soon as you get this call, send a reply! It's important! Phone: (beep) Taichi: Jou! As soon as you get this call, send a reply! Phone: (beep) Taichi: Hikari! I told you to come home! Phone: (beep) Taichi: Sora! I'll apologize for the other day. So if you get this call, please respond right away!

Meanwhile, directly outside Taichi's front door, Sora hesitates with her finger over the doorbell button. After a moment's hesitation, she withdraws her finger and walks away.

Sora: Stupid Taichi.

...I don't think she's going to get this call any time soon, Taichi. Sorry.

In the dub:

Recording: To leave a message, press one. To retrieve a message, press two. (beep) Please leave your message at the tone. (beep) Tai: Matt! T.K.! This is an emergency! Call me right away! Oh, by the way, this is Tai! (beep) Tai: (angrily) Kari, if you want to see any of your toys again, get home right away! (beep) Tai: Sora! Sora, listen, I'm sorry about the hairpin but I need to talk to you right away! Call me! Or just come over! (Meanwhile, outside) Sora: ...ugh... Stupid Tai. (turns around and leaves) Hmph!

The call to Jou gets cut from the dub. Probably for time, since they're trying to trim three different OVAs down for this movie. I like that Tai remembers T.K. is with Matt, though.

With that, Taichi has one more call to make.

Taichi: Mimi-chan! As soon as you get this call, send a reply! Yuuko: Oh, I forgot! Taichi: Huh? What is it?

Leaving the kitchen, Yuuko pulls a card out of her pocket and gives it to Taichi.

Yuuko: Mimi-chan sent us this postcard. Taichi: Eh!? Mimi-chan!? W... Where is she?

Taichi snatches the postcard out of Yuuko's hand.

Taichi: HAWAIII!?!?

Cut to Mimi on a sunny beach, stretching and yawning.

Mimi: HAWAII IS SO NICE!!!

Somehow, she seems even less likely to answer Taichi's message than Sora.

In the dub:

Tai: Hi, Mimi! It's Tai. Please come over to my house as soon as you get this message! Goodbye! Yuuko: Oh, that reminds me. Tai: Huh? Yuuko: You got this postcard in the mail from Mimi. Tai: WHAT!?!? (Tai snatches the postcard) Tai: She's on vacation!? In Hawaii!? Ugh... Mimi.... (Cut to Mimi in Hawaii) Mimi: Hawaii is paradise! I don't have a care in the world! And I'm wishing you were HERE!!! Hahahahahahahahaha!

What a lovely place to leave off part 1, on this moment of pure jubilation and bliss. No, don't look at image 3, this is a happy moment. Everything is wonderful here.

[crossroads-of-the-raven]

The Hands of Time, Morro the Elemental of Wind, The Cursed Realm, Who Sent Him There and how Chen is at the center of everything | Ninjago

So first off, I've had this theory for the longest time that Morro wasn't supposed to be in the Cursed Realm and besides that, that he was being taken advantage of by the Preeminent.

When Morro first appears at the very end of Season 4, we hear a voice say Morro's name in a whispered raspy voice.

Now, I've heard many people say that, that is literally just Morro announcing his own name but personally I always thought that the voice sounded similar to a different ghost, i.e. Bansha.

Bansha is a ghost who has the ability to control others from a distance and even communicate between Realms, as seen when she forced Misako to fight Wu and when she communicated with Fenwick, the Master Writer, to allow her, Morro and his ghostly entourage into the Cloud Kingdom. As well as, later when Wu and Misako are acting as distractions so the Ninja can sneak into Stix. Bansha is able to use herself to allow Morro to communicate through her to his old teacher.

This, along with Morro's change of heart at the end of Season 5 (even though ghosts aren't supposed to be able to change) is what initially made me suspicious; then something else came up.

Manipula-Chen (Chen Starts a Time War) by rinkunokoisuru on Ao3 brought up something that I knew in the back of my head but never really thought about.

rinkunokoisuru brings up that one little fact that Season 4 repeated so often that I'm surprised I forgot. Chen's manipulation of the Elemental Masters during the Serpentine War.

Now you might be asking - why is that important, what does that have to do with Morro? Well think about it, who else did Chen manipulate other than a young Garmadon.

Garmadon went to train with Chen and sometime after, Wu takes in Morro, eventually training him to become the Green Ninja.

We already know that Chen was intercepting Wu's mail, considering he was able to steal his love letter to Misako, so whose to say that he also wasn't spying on Wu and Morro's training sessions.

This brings me to another piece of information that was brought up recently by @ataraxixx - that information being that on Morro's back is the Japanese kanji for 'evil'.

Now I know that everyone has made their jokes about Morro being an edgy emo Hot Topic kid for wearing the kanji for 'evil' - but as I thought about it, I began to wonder, "why would a kid who wants to be the hero, die with the kanji for 'evil?"

(And incase your wondering, Morro originally had a dragon on his back just like Wu, when he was younger.)

Going back to rinkunokoisuru's story - in the story, it's suggested that Clouse's dark magic might have played a part in Krux and Acronix's betrayal and possibly play a part in the betrayal of the other Elementals.

With Morro I could believe that and I'll explain why in just a moment but with Krux and Acronix, something just wasn't clicking fully even though I liked the theory. Until I was rewatching episode 3 of Season 7 (A Time of Traitors) for my, 'Morro comes back to life' rewrite.

As I was watching the scene where Kai is discussing the Vermillion war helmet with Dr. Saunders, something came to mind. The helmet is definitely a Vermillion helmet but when Kai said it looked familiar he realized that Krux and Acronix were wearing the exact same helmet in the painting of their fight with Garmadon and Wu. At that moment I realized that they were also wear those same helmets when Wu is congratulating the remaining loyal Elementals on their victory during the Serpentine War.

Why would they be wearing Vermillion helmets?

Thinking back on Season 7.

When Kai first shows Wu the helmet in episode 3, Wu tries to say the line, 'time waits for no one' the same line is said completely by Krux during his fight with Kai at the Museum in the very same episode.

To be fair, it's a pretty common line but I think it was ment to indicate that Wu recognized the helmet as one that the Time Twins wore.

Now you might be asking, why wouldn't he recognize it as a Vermillion helmet?

To that I say, one of the best ways for something to be forgotten is for it never to be spoken of. Which is exactly what we find out in episode 7 (Secrets Discovered) when the Ninja - minus Kai and Nya - speak with King Scales in the sewers.

The Vermillion Warriors were the first generation progeny of the Great Devourer with the same instincts to consume everything, they were something that was so feared by the Serpentine that they were not spoken of, with Scale even going out of his way to find out where they are so his people could avoid them.

Now this is pure speculation, but I wonder, what if a non Serpentine/Vermillion wearing a Vermillion helmet could have an adverse or even corruptive effect on someone, considering Vermillion armor is ment for a nest of Vermillion snakes to nest inside of to form a single Warrior.

(Side Note: this is where all you Snake!Jay fans can come in as to why your boy wasn't affected when he put on the helmet in episode 3. And on that note, shameless plug for my theory post as to there being a Serpentine curse on the Jiang/Smith family - on Ray or Maya's side - as the reason why Jay and Skylor both were turned into snakes thus implying that the same thing has happened to Maya or Ray and as such using this convoluted theory as to why Kai wasn't affected when he wore the Vermillion helmet, implying that like the Snake!Jay theory, that Kai and Nya might have some Serpentine passed down to them from one of their parents' own transformation.)

Getting back to the matter.

Where would Krux and Acronix get a Vermillion helmet in the first place - the answer, from a man who find war entertaining and has a vast collection of hard to find/hard to get artifacts with a particular fascination with Serpentine warriors.

A.k.a. Master Chen.

Even if you go with the theory that the Vermillion helmets are not corruptive, there is still the matter of Clouse's dark magic.

On that note, let's get back to Morro and his connection to Chen and Clouse.

Imagine if you will.

You are mad Cult Leader, anticipating the eve of war between the Serpentine and all of Ninjago. While your pupil, the Elder son of the FSM, may or may not stay on the side of evil, you have been watching his younger brother train his first student to become the Green Ninja, something, which if he is successful, could be a possible problem.

Now again, speculation.

Wu was able to gather every Elemental to fight in the Serpentine War, even if some of them eventually turned traitor. I wonder if during Morro's training, if as part of Morro's training, if he was introduced to the Elementals as a sort of know your allies interaction. Basically, baby Ninja Morro getting to meet the Elementals who were all probably older then him (teen to elder) considering how old Morro looked when he ran away.

Continuing the speculation.

Let's say that Chen's spies told him that Morro was outside of Wu's protection. Let's say that Chen had already begun seducing a certain Elemental to his side (traditional methods or magical methods, you decide). Now let's say Chen had this Elemental go to Morro with a present - a medallion of protection. Let's say that Morro accepts this medallion because it's from his allie and let's say that the medallion has two images - one on top that would soon crumble away and one beneath (the kanji for evil) that actually held a curse that would send the wearer to the Cursed Realm.

And who do we know that can send people to the Cursed Realm - the answer, Clouse.

In Season 4 episode 8 - Clouse attempts to send Garmadon to the Cursed Realm, only for said Sensei to kick the sorcerer into the Cursed Realm, the portal closing behind him.

Later, to defeat Chen's Anacondri Army, Lloyd uses a spell from Clouse's magic books to open a portal to the Cursed Realm, thus allowing the Anacondri Generals to curse Chen and his army, sending them all to the Cursed Realm.

Considering all this, what if Chen had already been luring Skylor's mother to his side and convinced her to give a young wandering Morro a false seal of protection that would send him to the Cursed Realm upon his death (what if Chen had laid hints to lead Morro to a swift death in the Caves of Despair, not long after or even had Skylor's mother unknowingly give those hints when she gave him the medallion)

(Two Side Notes:

First: I personally I think Skylor's mother would have been tricked by Chen into giving Morro the medallion but if you want her to have been evil and do it willingly then that's your call.

Second: I don't think it's too farfetched an idea that the symbol transformed into a large medallion that was tied around Morro when he became a ghost. Almost like it shifted to chain itself to him.)

Now consider, the speculative Green Ninja is dead and the Serpentine War begins. The Elemental Alliance has gathered and some question are asked of Wu.

Where is Morro?

How long has he been gone?

Why didn't you go after him?

War continues, Garmadon goes to help his brother and after some time Chen see the war begin to wane so he sows discord among the Elementals and soon the alliance has fallen apart with only a few Elementals remaining loyal.

Gravity survived an attack by Clouse's pet Serpent and Earth while having briefly turned traitor has returned to the Elemental Alliance - but that's fine because the Time Twins are still wearing the Vermillion helmets.

The five tribes are being locked away (the Venomari by Water/Maya and the Anacondri by Fire/Ray) and the Serpentine War has ended. The Anacondri Generals have been sent to the Cursed Realm, Chen and Clouse are now confined to Chen's island (possibly having already hidden Skylor's mother there). But all that is still just fine. For someone so incredibly fascinated by the Serpentine, one has to wonder how much he knows.

Chen has spies and willing pawns everywhere, how else could he open a successful restaurant chain on the mainland.

Did he know about the prophecy of the Golden Master. Did he know that when the Serpentine are released from their tombs, that they would unleash the Great Devourer. Did he know that the Devourer would head straight to the stone army where her Venom would bring the warriors to life.

Or possibly, I wonder.

If when Krux came out of the Time portal not long after entering it - his younger twin brother, nowhere in sight and personally desiring revenge - did he go searching for a way to get vengeance, possibly from the one who first gave him and his brother the helmets.

Was Chen the one to set Krux on the path towards using the Vermillion Warriors.

In Season 7 episode 3, Krux tells Kai that his parents were traitors who worked for the Hands of Time, however, in Season 4 episode 7 Chen tells Kai that there are dark secrets about his parents.

Of course, Chen could have been lying, however ...

Did Chen know that Krux had kidnapped Ray and Maya?

Did Krux ever have the Jiang/Smith parents do work for Chen in payment for the Vermillion Warrior eggs?

~~~~~

Like many of my post ideas, this one got kinda long and rambling.

Something else I wanted to include was that I recall that someone was lamenting that Morro didn't have fangs like the other ghosts and I wondered why, but then I thought of this.

Cole, Garmadon, Chen and Clouse - four people who were cursed/sent to the Cursed Realm (only two of which were evil) and all four of them, in ghost form, are lacking fangs; just like Morro.

(Side Note: Admitably, Garmadon might just be a special case of - Son of the FSM. Personally, I'm in the boat of, give the Dragoni fangs but that's neither here nor there at the moment)

One more thing before you ask if the other ghost have a kanji for evil on them, I checked. Most ghost with a visible (or partially visible) symbol on their back all have the same Cursed Realm emblem - Morro is the only one with kanji.