#kazu soma

[alienbabydraws]

I made some demon slayer ocs!

My Kofi. I also do Commissions.

[eleiyaumei]

Playing Sōma’s route after playing/watching Kanato’s be like:

Me when Kaji-san starts screaming: “I did not intentionally throw Teddy off the bed, pleasepleaseplease believe me, Kanato-kun!!”

And when Kaji-san starts crying: “Nonononono, everything’s fine! Look, here’s Teddy. I swear I will obey everything you’re telling me to do and I will never leave you!”

Thanks again to @tournesolia​ for translating Diabolik Lovers: Haunted Dark Bridal!

Hakuōki sharing seiyuu with Diabolik Lovers

[sarahreadsfic]

I saw your tags and figured I'd send an ask haha

All those names are really nice! I do think in future quests they'd end up using the name you gave him, so that's definitely something to consider. You do get one extra chance to rename him, so maybe try out Zihong for awhile and see what you think?

omg hello!! welcome, please don't mind the mess haha-- *hastily shoving posts and tags aside, attempting to look casual*

so the funny thing is i'm actually nowhere near that part of the quest yet lmao, like i haven’t even met him in-game yet. i'm just trying to get myself used to calling him a different name before i actually have to use it (and for writing purposes).

zihong is definitely in my top 5 names for sure, but the problem i’m having now is that there are just SO many names i’ve researched that would be good for him and i dunno which one he would like best lol.

i’m WAY overthinking this decision and taking it far too seriously, i know - from what i’ve seen, he seems pretty indifferent to whatever we call him either way, aside from his old names or other characters’ names. but still! i want him to feel satisfied with it. if he doesn’t feel so loved and warm inside whenever i call him by his new name i will have failed him >:(

apologies and you definitely did not sign up for this but i’m now using this ask to make a comprehensive list of all my other favorite names and their (supposed) meanings. wish i could just run them all past him for input hgjnfjhdj sORRY FOR THIS IT’S RLLY FOR ME ONLY U DO NOT HAVE TO READ ME WAXING ON ABOUT NAMES FOR WHO KNOWS HOW MANY PARAGRAPHS

First, all the Japanese names:

Matsuri - “Festival”, “enshrined”, “showing gratitude towards the rituals of nature”; has connections with Shinto and Buddhism. I don’t think this is commonly used as a name, necessarily, but the whole “gratitude towards nature” part struck me as a sort of nod to how Nahida helped him. And I like the idea of giving him a name that invokes joy, celebration, and life, because I want him to have those things and find happiness in his new self!

Soma - “A sudden sound of wind”, “true/real/genuine”. It’s simple and nice and what sells this one for me is the “sudden” part. Brings about a sense of movement and change and I really, really like it for that. Don’t know if the meaning is exact, though. It seems like Hayate has a similar meaning, which I also like!

Nataku - The Japanese name for Nezha, a Taoist deity. But also, this is just on the list because I was watching Saiyuki (ridiculous and very loose adaptation of Journey to the West, janky animation and terrible writing, fun to laugh at, highly recommend) with a friend last night and there was a character called Prince Nataku who is described as a “puppet assassin”. Immediate sirens started blaring in my head as my brain honed in on that as a possible name. Apparently Nezha is also known as the Third Lotus Prince, and I love the idea of associating lotus imagery with Wanderer.

Hansei - The cultural concept of “self-reflection”, acknowledging one’s mistakes and pledging improvement. I saw someone name him this and I like how it fits him. My concern is that it seems more like an admonishment and might hold him back from thinking of himself as more than his past wrongs.

Kazuki - "Hope of peace”, “serenity”, “peaceful tree”. I really liked that your name had a connection with Irminsul in the -ki suffix! Apparently -ki also means air, which suits him well, too. In this name, it comes from “hope” and kazu- is for peace. I do like the idea of giving him a name that could embody hope and I do want him to find peace within himself, but I worry he would find this condescending, particularly the idea of “peace” since that word just has so many connotations - he might take it as me wanting him to mellow himself out as if I wouldn’t accept him or am disappointed by him as he is.

Satoru - "Enlightenment” in the Zen Buddhism sense, “to know/understand”. Mostly I think that the way it sounds suits him. The only thing is that it’s a little bit unassuming and normal, I think? Which he might like, actually.

Anything with the prefix Shin-, because I like that it can be read as both “new” and “heart”. But I also feel like 1) it would always end up reminding me of another character because there are SO many that have this name and 2) he might take it as an insult or a mockery, like, “haha, how ironic is it that you don’t have a heart and I’m giving you a name with the word heart in it”. Probably unlikely at this point, but I don’t want his name to cause even the faintest sense of melancholy or sadness in the back of his mind, so I don’t want to chance it.

Other names that I like the sound of are Seijun (pure, innocent, clean/righteous), Kiryoku (inner strength/willpower), and Katsuya (victory). While I do like these, I’m a little apprehensive that naming him any of them would be akin to imposing certain expectations onto him or the type of person I want him to be? Especially Seijun. But I could also see him choosing Kiryoku or Katsuya for himself, so I don’t know! I’m conflicted.

There’s also Ren (lotus or love) and Shou (to soar/fly - add the suffix -yo and it turns into sunlight/sunshine). Simple and sweet, but after all of the long and multisyllabic names he’s taken in the past, I think he might find something like this refreshing. I really like these two aesthetically. I also cannot decide between them for my life.

And then there are names inspired by mythology or religion:

Fujin - Japanese; god of the wind in Japanese mythology who is often depicted alongside the thunder god, which, in Genshin’s case, would be Raiden. I know a lot of people pick this one, but I think it has too strong of a connection with the past he’s trying to leave behind, although I like the way it sounds.

Shu - Egyptian; god of wind/dry air. I like the similarity with Shou, and also that it potentially would be more connected to Sumeru than Inazuma.

Akasa - Sanskrit; the Bodhisattva of void/space in Buddhism. In Japanese, it’d be Kokuzo. I know these were mentioned in my tags, but after some more consideration I don’t think they’re a great fit for him thematically.

Vayu - Sanskrit; in Hinduism, the god of the wind. Literal name meaning is apparently “that which flows”, which I think is pretty. I also think I just like names that start with V. Vaira was another option (Indian; “flowing air”) - I like that it sounds like it could be short for Vairocana, who is the cosmic Buddha that embodies the concept of sunyata, but I couldn’t find a good source for it actually meaning “flowing air” and instead it seems to be more commonly interpreted as “diamond”.

And finally, the Greek mythology names: Icarus, Aeolus, Zephyrus. I’ve seen Icarus suggested by a few people and while I like the way it looks and sounds aesthetically, the literal meaning is also “follower” which I don’t think he would appreciate. Also, I don’t know if I want to name him a tragic reference to his past hubris that caused his downfall. Aeolus (nimble, quick-moving) was the “keeper of the winds”, and though I like how grandiose and regal it sounds, I’m not really into the way it looks? Same with Zephyrus (west wind), it feels a little too soft for him (and if I recall correctly, the west wind was the gentlest one of the four).

So. That’s where I am now. I like so many of these, and I think there are ones that he would like more but I can’t possibly know for sure, and the more I research the more I find other names I like...

ok i’m so sorry for this long writeup JHDGKJGH ZIHONG IS STILL REALLY HIGH UP THERE JUST BECAUSE I CAME UP WITH IT ON MY OWN SO IT FEELS CLOSEST TO ME?? AND I CAN PICTURE MYSELF EXPLAINING THE NAME TO HIM VERY VIVIDLY. AND THEN SITTING THERE TENSELY AWAITING HIS APPROVAL AND THEN HIM GIVING ME A NOD. BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT HE’D ACTUALLY THINK OF IT.

wanderer why can’t you just pick a name for yourself. do u see what ur doing to me. i feel like that one image of the dude from always sunny connecting all the red lines on the board. WHY AM I LIKE THIS.

[thefightjournal]

GLEAT Ver.7: TOKYO DOME CITY HAL (12/30/2023)

G-REX Championship Match

Champion/T-Hawk vs Hayato Tamura/Challenger

《Semi-final》G PROWRESTLING [Tag Match]

G-INFINITY Championship Match

《Champion group》 Jun Saito & Rei Saito vs Soma Watanabe & Shin Yuya 《Challenger group》

Takehiro Yamamura vs Kaiji Ishida

Match 7 LIDET UWF World Championship Match

Champion/Hayato Fujita "Jr" vs Minoru Tanaka/Challenger

LIDET UWF [Double Bout]

Maya Fukuda & Hikaru Shida vs Tomoka Inaba & Azusa Inaba

LIDET UWF [Single Bout]

Ibushi Pro Wrestling Institute Riki Ashitaka Pro Wrestler Debut Match

Riki Ashitaka vs Tetsuya Ido

KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Check Shimatani vs SBK & TAKUMA

MICHIKO & Yukari Hosokawa vs Sayaka Eel & Aoi

Kazu Hayashi & El Lindaman & Kazusei Onizuka vs Colt Cabana & Brandon Cutler & Kuroshio

G PROWRESTLING [GLEAT Super 4WAY Battle]

Ryuichi Kawakami & Quiet Storm & Galeno del Mar vs Takanori Ito & Yusuke Kodama & Tomoaki Honma vs Kotaro Suzuki & Hartley Jackson & Keiichi Sato vs Jun Tonsho & JD Lee & Ryoo Aoyagi

[lonikita]

ja im kazem...

...a oni mi ne veruju. di smo sad? kud smo stigli? kud stigosmo? kata-faking-basis again. jeaaa! dakle, sad smo ponovo dole, u ambisu nedje. beasts ili had ili jbm li ga... reptilian zone. mrtvacnice, podmornice, paklovi... at the speed of thought. at the speed of sizofrena amplituda iliti neka frekvencija. svi znaju na cemu su sa mnom, svi znaju da je to uvek klizavo tlo. ocas posla, pukne led, kratak spoj, obrt, i idemo. predvidivost u minusu. oni samo mogu da predvide da cu se ja u nekom momentu naci na nekoj tamo tacki orbite. bitter orbiter. kao i sedna, znas da ce za 12ak soma godina da bude tu i tu. pa ti cekaj ako oces. ne isplati ti se al sta da radim. niti samu sebe niti za glavu niti za rep. ili mi je dosadno. nije da nije, i nije cak ni dosada, nesto peto je. nesto nedozivljeno, kao i sve do sada. mogla bih mozda to da opisem ali bih morala sa sobom ozbiljnije da porazgovaram. jer de facto i de jure, turnem ti kure, nisam danima pricala sa sobom, nisam se fejsovala sa sranjima. sa pravim sranjima jesam, bilo ih je ihahaj, ali sa metaforickim sranjima nisam. dakle fejsovanje sledi, ali ne nocas jer sam umorna. morala bih da preletim one textove (sranja) sto pisem u svesci i da vidim sta se zbivalo. odnosno da precesljam faze kroz koje sam prosla u poslednjih par meseci i nedelja. jer uopste mi nista nije jasno. ali ni pisanje ni kucanje nije kao fejs tu fejs spika. to je ono kad moras da cujes sopstveni glas. meet my alters. mislim, to je glupost i ne verujem u te neke kvazi dijagnoze ali opet, slikovito. katabasis, ali onako kad si svoj na svome. zapravo meni konzistencija uopste ne stoji. mislim da sam pogresno ubedjena u verodostojnost te osobine, ali da je uopste nemam. mislim da ne mogu da je imam. ako je i imam u nekom momentu, i dokazem da sam istrajala, ja to samo uradim da bih mogla da "nakrenem" kako je govorila moja baba. sto ovi kazu, prebacaj. i ja tako samo prebacujem. prebacujem kad mi se moze, kad mi se ne moze, foliram da sam fol dosledna. fol loliram.

[flustered-earl]

Aniplex Online Fest 2023

Seiyuu, Artist and MC lineup

｜Participating Titles

16bit Sensation: Another Layer

A Returner's Magic Should Be Special

ATRI -My Dear Moments-

Black Butler

Blue Exorcist

Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig-

Delico’s Nursery

Demon Lord 2099

HYPNOSISMIC -Division Rap Battle- Rhyme Anima +

MASHLE: MAGIC AND MUSCLES

My New Boss is Goofy

Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie -Walpurgisnacht Rising-

Rascal Does Not Dream Series

Rurouni Kenshin

Solo Leveling

The Concierge

The Demon Prince of Momochi House

The Elusive Samurai

UniteUp! 

And More!

｜Performers and Voice Actors

Nobuhiko Okamoto (Blue Exorcist) *Video Appearance

Asaki Yuikawa (The Elusive Samurai)

Asami Seto (Rascal Does Not Dream Series)

Chiaki Kobayashi (MASHLE: MAGIC AND MUSCLES)

Genta Nakamura (Solo Leveling)

Hikaru Akao (ATRI -My Dear Moments-)

Jun Fukuyama (Blue Exorcist) *Video Appearance

Kaito Ishikawa (Rascal Does Not Dream Series)

Koutaro Nishiyama (My New Boss is Goofy)

Reiji Kawashima (MASHLE: MAGIC AND MUSCLES)

Rie Takahashi (Rurouni Kenshin)

Soma Saito (Rurouni Kenshin)

Taito Ban (Solo Leveling)

Takuma Terashima (A Returner's Magic Should Be Special)

Tomori Kusunoki (Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig-)

UniteUp! (UniteUp!) *Video Appearance 

Yurika Kubo (Rascal Does Not Dream Series) 

And More!

｜Artists

okazakitaiiku

KANA-BOON feat. Yuho Kitazawa

Shoko Nakagawa

Philosophy no Dance

｜DJ Performances

DJ Kazu

｜MCs

Hisanori Yoshida

Sally Amaki

*The lineup for anime titles and performers may be subject to change.

Aniplex Spotify Playlist

Black Butler will be one of the anime featured in Aniplex Online Fest 2023!

DETAILS

Date & time: Sept. 10, 12NN to 6PM JST

Content: Aniplex's popular anime announcements, entertainment news, and live performances

Organizer: Aniplex Inc.

Co-sponsored by: Sony Music Entertainment Inc.

Venue/time: Zepp DiverCity (TOKYO) 〒135-0064　

Diver City Tokyo Plaza, 1-1-10 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo

Can be viewed via Youtube outside Japan but limited to some countries & regions

Website: aniplex-online-fest.com

View the commentaries of the voice actors of Sebastian and Ciel (Daisuke Ono and Maaya Sakamoto) about AOF 2023! :

https://youtu.be/Nm3tTTrMovs

[demonsofthefleetingblossoms]

A collection of my favourite pictures of characters who only have one actor.

Source: hakumyu-fancom.livejournal.com

[hakuouki-rules]

OTOME TUNE AWARD 2021 (April Fools) Web [X]

I had to use google traductor since I suck at written japanese, so I won't consider myself responsible of funny misunderstandings .

 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

It seems this year some of our beloved otome hubbies are becoming Youtubers (because of different funny reasons) and we are supposed to vote for the best channel.

As last year were Okita and Saitou, this one we got Hijikata and Souma, so  enjoy their new outfits. THE CHIBIS ARE TOO ADORABLE I CANNOT.

Pst: In case any of you wanna try a more accurate translation, here you have HIJIKATA and SOUMA ‘s character profile links.

[murasakisama1863]

[edoblossoms]

Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds

Soma Kazue - CG Part 1 | Chapter 1

[shinsengumi-archives]

Souma Kazue: Last Shinsengumi Commander

Written by Kizu  

Thursday, 27 July 2006

A lot of us think of Hijikata as the last Commander in the Shinsengumi, it’s probably more appropriate to say that Hijikata-san was the last Shinsengumi Commander to die in the battlefield as four days after his death, Souma Kazue was appointed as the Commander of the Shinsengumi troop that had surrendered in Benten Daiba and Goryokaku along with the Hakodate army. He was appointed as the commander of the Shinsengumi by the Hakodate magistrate “Nagai” most probably because of the concern that confusion would happen after the surrender and they needed a familiar person in charge. Souma is described to have a been quite an Aide to the former commander Hijikata.

For the most part Souma Kazue was a common member of the Shinsengumi, he was the son of Heihachirou who was a Hitachi Kasama feudal soldier who joined around 1863. There is no record of “remarkable” work in either Toba-Fushimi, Edo nor Kyoto. When Kondo was captured, Hijikata instructed Souma to deliver a letter to Kondou in Itabashi and he went there under the name “Hajime Souma” but was caught. Since he was considered as an unimportant person by the enemy, they released him when Kondou was executed. After this Souma joined several troops including those in Sendai but after Sendai’s defeat he fled on one of Enomoto’s ship and sailed to Ezo to continue the fight there. It’s there that Hijikata who was now an army magistrate, saw him and took him into his team and Souma proved to be a matchless aide to Hijikata and thus Souma became a natural pick to succeed Hijikata to organize the surrender of the Shinsengumi under the Hakodate army.

However this appointment would affect him adversely and he is sent to Tokyo along with Enomoto, Arai and Matsudaira Taro to be investigated as the masterminds of the Hakodate war that June. He is banished to Niijima, Izu Nanashima in 1870 where he changed his name to either Tsukasa or Tonomo (apologies, I can’t make out the proper name, it’s one of those two. *sad*). There he married Uemura lived there for two years until he was pardoned in 1872 and re-appears in Tokyo. According to Akama’s interview with Matsuno, a descendant of Uemura he died in the following manner… Souma Kazue asked the others to do minor errands and when they left he commited seppuku. When the others returned the room was filled with a sea of blood and the shoji had been dyed red like the evening glow. However it is unknown why he had committed suicide nor the place he was buried and what date.

The details about Souma Kazue came from Suzuki Tooru who cited works of Kiichi Sato’s “Shinsengumi Taishi Retsuden” and Akama’s “Rekishi Tabi”.

[demifiendrsa]

Official Viz English translation of the author comments featured in Weekly Shonen Jump 2018 issue #49 and Jump SQ 2018 issue #12.

Black Clover chapter 180 - Yuki Tabata

Blue Exorcist chapter 105 - Kazue Kato 

One Piece chapter 923 - Eiichiro Oda

The Comiq chapter 4 - Kazuki Takahashi

We Never Learn chapter 86 - Taishi Tsutsui

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma chapter 286 -  Shun Saeki

World Trigger chapter 166 - Daisuke Ashihara

My Hero Academia chapter 204 -  Kohei Horikoshi

The Promised Neverland chapter 110 - Kaiu Shirai

Dr. Stone chapter 81 - Riichiro Inagaki

Hunter x Hunter chapter 387 - Yoshihiro Togashi  

Seraph of the End chapter 73 - Yamato Yamaoto

[eleiyaumei]

KW/EB CGs:     Mutual support

Note: By “mutual support”, I mean mutual emotional support - not nursing, nurturing or protecting.

Okita’s route is all about mutuality and equality in loving relationships, so it makes sense there are 2 pairs of CGs that show this.

[acghouse-sailee]

Hakuoki Shinkai Kaze no Shou Sketch Anime Postcard - Kazue Soma Doujin Style: Hakuoki Shinkai Kaze no Shou Sketch Anime Postcard - Kazue Soma Size: Around 10cm x 14.3cm Details: Postcard was printed by Xerox high quality printer on 240gsm conqueror paper, with plastic bag for protection. Shipping: We will send out item by Hong Kong Post (Registered Airmail), with tracking number for safe delivery Introduction: Hello, this is doujin circle "L" from Hong Kong. We're anime lovers and here are our works about different animation. ^_^ Buy it Now: https://www.etsy.com/hk-en/listing/280884598/hakuoki-shinkai-kaze-no-shou-sketch?ref=shop_home_active_10&sca=1 Note: - Please note that color may be different slightly with variety monitor settings - The listing price is for the postcard only

[aqvarius]

Masquerade Kiss: Do Bad Girls Like to Self-pleasure? Kazuomi Shido - otona love - chapter 1 summary/translation

my adhd means i love starting new projects so when i was browsing otkoi while procrastinating, this story caught my eye and i just had to read and translate it. basically this is a story from kazuomi’s pov as he catches you masturbating and getting yourself off, your fingers secretly extending where his tongue had just been... 

this is image-heavy so i’ll put my translation/recap under a cut. keep reading on for cute banter, steamy scenes, kazu being head over heels in love, and something shocking that he sees you doing... 

anyway the story starts and you go to see kazu because you’ve heard a rumour he’s opening a new resort. something i learnt is that you call him 獅堂社長  which i love and find kind of hot. 

you banter a bit (he’s like news spreads fast and you say he’s a busy man does he even have time) and kazu basically says that isn’t it more meaningful to meet with the woman he loves than to just pass time [not knowing what to do] and you’re like i’m honoured that you think that time spent with me is meaningful. these two have so much flirty chemistry it’s wild.

anyway this outrageous man then says:

“nothing is more meaningful than time spent with your body”

he thinks you’re not the type to take his words at face value, but you're probably aware that he managed to squeeze in time for you. 

you’re chilling on the couch having wine and snacks and you mention there’s a new lady borden flavour out, which naturally kazu already knows about. you say that you missed out on that flavour last year so you’re really looking forward to trying it this time. kazu is too busy being mesmerised by the gesture of you putting your mouth to the glass and the comfortable way you talk when you’re off-mission. 

“it’s been a while since i spent time like this with you”, he thinks. 

you turn to look at him and smile, your eyes glowing with a shy sensuality, and kazu’s chest rings louder/his heart races. ugh he’s so soft for his mc fsl;kjdlafs

you tell him you get shy when he stares at you that much and he says

“the dignified appearance that you have when you’re on a mission is good, but your shy face is good too”

“how very mean of you to not let me see it”

you: “i don’t know what kind of expression i should have if you look at me so seriously”

“would you believe me if i said that i’m fond of any expression you make?” 

you: “i don’t know... you’re a good bargainer... i’d have to ask your lips”

honestly the tension between these two is TOO MUCH. 

kazu thinks that love isn’t just about romping around in bed, it also exists in these casual conversations. if you spend time exchanging love words and gazing at each other, things will be even better in bed. 

who knew that he was such a romantic alskdjfls

the moment your lips touch, your body jumps slightly and you make a “nn” sound. 

“whoa, we haven’t even kissed yet”

(i wish i knew how to translate the ”おっと” in a way that captures its cheekiness...)

you tell him you want more and he thinks well since you’re being so cute, there’s no need to tease you. so he picks you up, kissing you, and carries you to bed. 

you tell him you feel like you’re always at his mercy/being tossed around by him and that he’s always so composed. 

“you think so?” kazuomi says. 

he pushes you down on the bed and strokes your body. 

while writhing in frustrating pleasure [from being touched over your clothes], your hands suddenly touch his lower abdomen. 

“...don’t stimulate me so much”

he pins your hands above your head. when he carefully peels off your clothes and underwear, your breasts* bounce alluringly. 

(*i literally had to search for ages to figure out what 膨らみ meant in this context lmao which involved having to go on certain websites to confirm bc for a while i thought it meant his erection but why would he be talking about himself like that. i wish this language had more possessive pronouns.)

“i’m always turned on by you”

he puts his lips on your soft skin and grazes the tip of your pale flesh with his fingerpads. he pinches it lightly and your voice becomes sweeter and you moan his name.** he says it’s become pert so quickly, you must be really feeling it, and you’re like “that’s because you....”

**she calls him shido btw which i personally prefer but i kind of get why they have to use first names for western audiences.

“hm? do you like [what] this finger [is doing to you]?”

(you know my kotobazeme-loving heart is lapping this up)

enjoying the way your skin feels, he uses his fingers to search out your weak spots one by one. 

“the one who lit my fire is you”

while he squeezes your breasts and plays with your nipples with his fingers, his lips travel down your sides and your thighs... then he takes off your skirt and underwear and also removes his shirt which is irritating him. it’s nice seeing kazu getting a little impatient too haha, the perks of his pov stories right?

“i’ve only touched you a little but...”

you: “no... don’t look...”

“i’m always saying that that’s an impossible request.”

he stands you on your knees(or he gets on his knees? idk) so he can attend to your dripping ~flower bud~. to soothe your trembling neck/head(?), he loves on your ~flower bud~ directly with his finger. i’m assuming that 花芽 (kaga) and  蕾 (tsubomi) are euphemisms for your vagina, so i think this means that he basically starts stroking you with his finger. 

“とろけきっている蕾をもっとよく解そうと、あなたの膝を立たせた。 必死に首を振るあなたをなだめるように、花芽を指で直接愛してやる” (anyone who can translate/understand this better please help me haha these euphemisms are so hard to understand)

you moan and he says:

“that’s a nice reaction”

(!!!!!!!!)

he laps up your nectar with his tongue as his fingers stimulate your clit and inner walls. he slowly intensifies whatever [塗りつけ smearing?] he’s doing to your dripping ~flower bud~ and enjoys watching as he brings you to the peak of pleasure just using his fingers. 

he considers it foreplay for himself. we stan a man who gets off on making his woman feel good lol. 

you’re overflowing with sex appeal after he satisfies you, and then he slowly sinks into you...

then there’s a fade to after you’ve ~joined bodies and minds~ multiple times (yeah they really phrase it like that), you open your mouth with a melted look that you’d never show during a mission. you basically tell him that it’s too good every single time. kazu says his lover is great at giving compliments. 

kazuomi thinks of course he knows how absolutely satisfied you are by your body’s reactions. it’s this feeling that makes you have that satisfied face. and then he thinks the most romantic thing:

“there’s only one person i find so lovely... the only one i can remember who makes my heart race like this is you.”

the next morning, he’s drinking coffee when he feels a strange gaze on him. “what?” he asks, and you’re like “n-nothing...” kazu thinks it doesn’t seem like it’s nothing because you keep staring at him. 

“so, are you sexually frustrated?” 

you’re like “omg what are you saying...! why don’t you go take a shower already”

he wonders what you’re up to but goes to the bathroom anyway. and then quickly realises he wants to take a shower together so he turns on his heel and goes back into the bedroom to get you. 

with a hand on the bedroom door, he opens his mouth - but is greeted with an unexpected scene and his mind stops working for a moment. 

he sees you lying on the bed, moving. 

“your body is covered by the sheets, but that is definitely..........”

 AND THAT’S WHERE CHAPTER 1 ENDS! they are such a tease to literally leave us hanging right there!! i hope you enjoyed this - i love seeing the banter between kazu and his mc, and also seeing how completely head over heels he is for her. 

please let me know if you think i should continue summarising/translating this story. i’m also slowly working on translating “not your first night” with soma which you can find here if you’re interested.  i’ve set up a ko-fi page here and would be incredibly grateful if you would like to support me for translations and being able to purchase more routes to recap in english!

click here to read chapter 2

[but-thats-its-own-story]

Nemesis, SOMA, and what Weller is saying without saying: A Nightmare-Fuel gen:LOCK Theory/Essay

[Spoilers, for gen:LOCK through episode 5, and for the psychological horror game SOMA (and minor spoilers for an older season of CW’s The Flash)]

First, let me start by saying gen:LOCK is fantastic, and I can’t wait to see more. 

Part of what makes it, or any show like it for that matter, so fantastic, is the use of background detail to reveal incredible amounts of information before it’s necessarily relevant to the plot. That way when it does become plot-relevant, it feels like it’s been there all along, because it has.

Sometimes this is overt, like Migas hinting at Chase’s wings, or Cammie considering how to modify her holon’s legs to better suit her (despite both of these modifications already being revealed in full during the opening credits, which makes the choice to make them slow reveals of information we already have an interesting one).

Other times it’s subtle. Like Valentina being very specific about which variant of their name Kazu uses, because they switch names when they switch genders.

Here I propose to use background information of both kinds to predict the origin of Nemesis. The origin. Not the identity- that’s all but been revealed to be Chase. 

But not our Chase. 

At least... 

Not anymore.

Forgive the obligatory pun here but I’ll cut to the chase; If you’ve played or watched a playthrough of SOMA you likely see what I’m getting at:

I theorize Nemesis is a copy of Chase’s mind from an earlier attempt at gen:LOCK that wasn’t properly erased from the “always-on network between all uploaded minds” when his mind was downloaded back into his physical body. Somehow the Union managed to hack/hijack this network and download this copy into their own prototype holon, potentially modifying it to suit their needs. 

For those who haven’t played/watched SOMA, I’ll briefly explain: 

The protagonist of SOMA goes in for a new type of brain scan, then suddenly wakes up in an unfamiliar setting (in a broken down underwater facility, to be specific). He soon learns that he is not who he thought he was, but a copy of his mind produced by the brain scan, downloaded into a robot body by a rogue AI decades after his original self’s untimely death. Later, he uploads his mind into yet another new body, only to learn, to his horror, that while the upload successfully copies his mind to a new body in what he initially believes was a data transfer, his first body still contains his pre-upload mind. He has, in effect, created a copy of himself, and as far as the original knows, the upload was a failure as he is still in the same body.

What brought this comparison to mind, aside from both gen:LOCK and SOMA being centered around brain uploading as the primary plot device, is the process by which in-game the protagonist of SOMA uploads his mind: a minigame in which the player must synchronize two oscillating wavelengths representing signals; one for the source of the upload, and one for the destination.

My theory is that gen:LOCK works the same way, despite Dr. Weller’s seeming assertions to the contrary. 

Seeming, because I believe he’s already admitted this to be the case.

The devil’s in the details:

One of the first things Weller says is that he’s tried cloning himself. I don’t think he was talking about his body; rather that he’s attempted to copy his mind. 

When Weller exposits about the abilities and limitations of the holons, he mentions that the pilots only have one mind, as “it’s not as though he’s making backups”. Why might he even suggest that possibility, if it weren’t possible, due to a pilot’s supposedly singular mind being transferred back and forth? Except he never says “transfer”; only ever “upload” and “download”- actions which are not transfers at all, but copies made from and back to an original source, respectively, in the latter case overwriting the original (We’ve already seen that in code form, not only can the digital minds be rewritten, entire memories can be erased outright). 

The neuroplasticity requirements. Because people’s brains aren’t perfect storage devices. After enough times storage is overwritten, they begin to degrade, like a hard disk. Aging out. “As many happy returns as possible.” 

Speaking of which... Second Birthday.

The day your second self--- your copy  ---is born. 

But Nemesis doesn’t call it Second. 

“You haven’t shut up since your birthday.”

He’s talking specifically to the Cammie in the holon.

“Copy... Kill copy...”

He’s talking to a more recent copy of himself. 

From his perspective the current Chase is the copy.

When the pilots upload, their bodies go dormant. When they download, the holons go dormant. But what’s really happening when either body wakes up is that the most recent version of the pilot’s mind is synced to that body. 

That is, after all, the purpose of the device gen:LOCK takes its namesake from: to synchronize two signals. But there are two signals. Two different versions of the same mind. And if they grow too out of sync, they’re no longer compatible. Like an old OS that hasn’t been updated in so long that it can no longer be updated to the most recent version.

Weller tells the pilots this as he wishes the new recruits a happy second birthday- as the camera pointedly focuses on him manually enabling the “maximum safe upload count”.

“As many happy returns as possible.”

But what happens if a pilot exceeds maximum uptime? How did Weller figure out that there should be safety protocols to prevent this from happening, lest the mind becomes incompatible with its original body?

The answer? My guess is that it happened to Chase already. 

And here’s the kicker:

Let’s say Chase learned the hard way that his uploaded mind was no longer compatible. What’s to say Weller didn’t just tell him everything would be fine, before erasing the copy from the holon, and waking up the pre-upload chase with no memory of any of it ever happening?

But what if that copy wasn’t fully erased. What if it remained on the “always-on network” in some form, realizing what had happened, and watching himself, (and eventually the others) copied back and forth again and again, moving on as if it never happened, powerless to stop it or reveal the truth. 

This alone would be enough to drive a “copy” insane (see: Savitar from the CW’s version of the Flash), but we’ve already seen how easy it is to modify a traumatized digital mind into a “near-psychotic feedback loop.”

Nemesis sure looks “near-psychotic” in his initial appearance... 

(They showed us the effect it had on Cammie for a reason...)

One last thing: Similar to the term “holon” being taken from a book discussing the concept of mind-body duality, but literally referring to “something that is both whole itself and part of a (greater) whole”, the term “Nemesis” has a deeper meaning;

For the most part we’ve come to think of a nemesis as an archenemy to a hero.

The original Nemesis was a deity of vengeance; retribution personified.

Let the good times roll...