#kinugawa atsushi - mentioned

[magical-boy-bracket]

Apologies once again for the long wait. (As mentioned in a previous post, I became quite busy the last few months.)

However, better late than never! Round 5 will be starting next *Tuesday* at the usual time! (Losers’ bracket starting at 3 AM GMT, and then winners’ bracket starting at 3 PM GMT.)

(I was originally gonna have it start at Monday as usual, but since next Monday is Christmas and lots of people might be either busy or tired that day, I figured it's probably better to have it a day later.)

Text under the cut:

Losers' bracket:

Ikuto Tsukiyomi VS Ben Tennyson

Atsushi Kinugawa / Battle Lover Epinard VS Jack Frost

Perceus Jackson VS Lucky / Shishi Red

John Constantine VS Tsubasa Yuunagi / Cure Wing

Winners' Bracket:

Masayoshi Hazama / Samurai Flamenco VS Vanitas

Akoya Gero / Chevalier Perlite VS Danny Fenton / Danny Phantom

Billy Batson / Shazam VS Mamoru Chiba / Tuxedo Mask

Merlin VS Syaoran Li

[thatlittledandere]

What the hell is app could and why is it talking to me about the Olympics

The only person, thing or entity allowed to mention the Olympics to me is Atsushi Kinugawa

[restinpeacesensei]

conquest club selling overpriced lemonade (to cover the costs of the premium organic lemons)

[angelluckovich]

This was supposed to be post on Saturday.... but I went to the beach got lost and also I got to renew my energy, Kaze is the third part of the “Beauties of Nature” Series and so I didn’t want to schedule the post over here and then post it on ao3.... I needed all to be posted the same way XD

[asheepbyanyothername]

Myself, Here and Now

En didn’t often think about the fact that he’d been on intergalactic television, twice. It wasn’t for any reason other than that he didn’t care. What happened in the past was in the past, more or less. He was much more of a “live in the moment” kind of person.

That didn’t mean that he never thought about it, though.

It was weird that it had happened, but it was even weirder that nobody had noticed. How were the hidden cameras placed? Who (or what) had placed them? Were there invisible camera crews following them around? Weren’t you supposed to sign wavers or something to be on reality shows? Who kept allowing Zundar to have access to television production equipment and staff?

He’d asked Wombat once before, out of curiosity, but either he really didn’t know anything important, or he was good at pretending like he didn’t. En was willing to bet on the latter, mainly because Wombat didn’t seem like a creature who dealt in specifics.

That had been a while ago, and the thought hadn’t passed his mind until Yumoto, tired of sitting around in the club room doing nothing, started asking the Beppu twins about an upcoming concert of theirs.

“Eh, another concert?” Atsushi asked. “I figured you two would want to take a break.”

“This isn’t an entire tour, just a single concert,” Akihiko replied.

“It’s way less than our typical workload. Concert tours, recording, filming commercials and PVs…” Haruhiko said, ticking the items off on his fingers as he said them.

“Uwaaa, being an idol seems like a lot of work!” Yumoto exclaimed, clearly awestruck.

“The schedule is a bit difficult,” Akihiko said.

“And all the traveling can be stressful,” Haruhiko added.

“But it has its perks,” they both said in unison. Sometimes En wondered if they were telepathic. It would explain a lot.

“What about the restrictive contracts?” the President asked, but the tone of his voice indicated that he wasn’t particularly interested in the conversation. Part of that was probably because of the stack of official looking papers that he was rifling through, but he also wasn’t a fan of idle conversations. Or the Beppus. Which had confused En at first; out everyone in their group, the President and the Beppus were probably the closest in terms of personality. Thinking about it now, that was likely the root cause of the problem.

The President had assured En that he was working on it.

“The contracts are pretty strict.”

“And you can be penalized heavily for breaking them.”

“Really?!” Yumoto was so easily impressed, it was endearing, in a way.

“Hey,” En said, “you two are idols, so you would know a lot about show business, right?”

“Clearly they would,” the President replied drily. En scowled, and Atsushi made an apologetic face. Arima, who had been content to remain in the background up until this point, very unsuccessfully tried to stifle his laughter.

“Anyway, I have a question,” En continued. “How exactly does this all work? You guys have to sign contracts to make appearances and be on tv, right?”

“Yes. It’s a lot of boring legal paperwork, and Dadacha usually did most of it,” Akihiko explained. “Why? No offense-”

“-but you’re hardly the idol type,” Haruhiko finished. That got another stifled laugh out of Arima; he seemed to enjoy personal jabs at En a little too much. He’d have to look into that later.

“Right, well, first of all, whatever you say after ‘no offense’ is probably gonna be offensive anyway, so you might as well omit that in the future. And second, I was asking because, as far as I know, we never signed any contracts.”

“You’re right, we didn’t,” said Atsushi. “We didn’t give consent to be on any kind of program. Our rights were infringed upon.”

“Oh, yeah, that too,” En said.

“En-chan, what do you mean, ‘that too’? Isn’t that why you were bringing up the contracts?” Atsushi asked.

“Ah, no, not really.”

“Then what was the reason?”

“Assuming there is a reason,” the President said. Arima didn’t even try to pretend he wasn’t laughing this time.

“It’s like you’re a robot whose only setting is ‘patronizing’,” En huffed. The President shot him a disapproving look.

“Please don’t start,” Atsushi said.

“Back to the point at hand…” Akihiko said, gesturing with his hand.

“Yeah, the point. So, not to be an Io or anything, but should we be expecting a paycheck from the CIDE people or not?”

True to form, Io did in fact perk up at the mention of a paycheck, which effectively ended the conversation he’d been having with Ryuu and Gero. All three turned to join the bigger conversation; before Io could chime in, Ryuu said, “Why would we get paid? Weren’t we technically supposed to be defeated or something?”

“Even if you play the villain, you still got hired to play the role, didn’t you? If you participated, you would expect to get paid,” Gero replied.

“I guess you’d know about playing villains, eh, Gero?”

“If memory serves, during my season, you were the antagonists, weren’t you?”

“Technically you were our villains too,” Haruhiko muttered under his breath.

“Who was trying to take over the world?!” Ryuu asked, indignant.

Gero shrugged. “It got good ratings.”

“Can you two please stop joking about that?” Kinshirou cut in.

Ryuu and Gero had the decency to look sheepish, which placated the President enough that he went back to ignoring everyone.

“Hmmm,” Akihiko said. “I guess it’s complicated.”

“You didn’t actually sign a contract, but they didn’t tell you about the show at all, did they?” Haruhiko said.

“At the least, they probably owe you some kind of compensation. You did participate, after all.”

“I’d get my lawyers to look into that if I were you.”

En and Atsushi gave the pair blank stares.

“…Not that you have lawyers.” Haruhiko sighed in exasperation. His brother elbowed him in the arm. “I mean, we could recommend-” Another elbow. “Offer! We can offer our best lawyers.”

“That’s a…nice offer,” Atsushi said. “I don’t think we’re actually planning on suing anyone at the moment, though.”

“Oh, good,” Yumoto said. “I don’t really care about court cases and tv shows and things like that.”

“‘And things like that’…but court cases and tv shows aren’t similar things…” Ryuu said under his breath.

En watched as Haruhiko rubbed his arm and glared daggers at his brother. “Wow,” he deadpanned, “benevolence must be difficult.”

The Beppus both flushed red, though whether from anger or embarrassment, En wasn’t sure.

“Leave them alone, En-chan,” Atsushi whispered. “They’re trying.”

“I think they’ve been doing pretty good so far,” Arima added. “The rudest thing they’ve said today is that you don’t look like the idol type.”

“Yeah, about that,” En said, turning to face the other boy, “is your sense of humor defective, or do you hate me today?”

“Maybe I just find this conversation funny.”

“It’s just awfully coincidental that you laugh every time someone sends snippy comments my way, is all I’m saying.”

Arima grinned. “Like I said, it was funny.”

“I’m not really sure what Kinugawa-senpai is talking about, I’ll definitely take you up on that offer. If I don’t fight now, I’ll have done all of that work for free, and I can’t abide by that.”

“That’s Io for you,” Ryuu and Atsushi said. Maybe they were telepathic too.

“Why in the world are you scoffing? You should all be more invested in this. I’m not sure why you aren’t more interested in the conversation, President Kusatsu,” Io said.

“Yeah, out of all of us, you’re the one who probably has the biggest gripe with the studio,” Ryuu added, leaning over Io’s shoulder to look at whatever was on his tablet screen. “I’d be mad if I were you.”

Gero shot a look at the President, who’d stopped looking through his papers and was sitting motionless, and then at Arima, who shook his head discreetly. “Ah, anyway, Naruko-san, what were you saying before, about the exchange rate?”

His abrupt subject change was obvious, but Ryuu and Io only spent a moment looking slightly confused before they jumped back into their previous conversation.

En could tell the President had just about met his daily quota of tolerance, and tried to keep his tone as casual as possible. “Come on, President. You’re the type of person who writes strongly worded letter when you receive subpar customer service. This is right up your alley. You could sue for defamation of character.”

The President noticeably relaxed, if only to roll his eyes at En. “Yufuin, did you have a point in all of this? What are we even talking about?”

“Do you not know what defamation of character is?” Akihiko gave the President a puzzled look.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not an expert on Earth culture,” Akihiko continued, “but defamation of character is a thing you can take people to court for, right? People do it all the time, especially to the media. When they’re portrayed in a poor light.”

“Yes, I have a basic understanding of the judiciary system, thank you.” The President was talking in that clipped way that meant that he was fed up with a conversation. En and Atsushi exchanged a wary look.

“We’ve had to threaten paparazzi with a lawsuit a couple of times,” Haruhiko mentioned, frowning at the memory. Yumoto looked like he desperately wanted to ask about it, but sensed that now was not the time.

“Although, thinking about it, would President Kusatsu be able to sue for defamation?” Akihiko asked.

“I guess you can’t really say you were falsely portrayed on a non-scripted show,” Haruhiko replied.

“Especially one you didn’t know you were on.”

“Everything you said and did would have to be authentic.”

“So I guess you wouldn’t really be able to claim defamation.”

“No matter how badly you were portrayed.”

“…You think I was portrayed badly,” the President asked, and the temperature in the room dropped.

The Beppus looked at each other in surprise, and then at the President. “That’s not what we meant!”

“Oh, no, I completely agree. It gave a horrible impression of me.” His hand was gripping the edge of his desk so tightly that En was afraid he would break it.

“We weren’t saying that-”

The President took a deep breath, and En was sure they were about to have their ears screamed off. “It’s one thing to show me changing people into monsters, fighting my classmates, and trying to take over the world. But to show me having a heart to heart on camera? And blushing? Unforgiveable.”

“We-huh?”

“I can’t just have them portraying me however they want. I have a reputation as a stern enforcer of reason and order to uphold.” The President’s demeanor relaxed, and he casually began stacking his papers on his desk as though he’d been this laid back all along. Atsushi and Arima looked as stunned as En felt, and the Beppus looked as though they were worried that the President was waiting until their guard was lowered to attack.

“Did you just make a joke at your own expense?” En finally asked, incredulous.

“Yufuin, some of us have a sense of humor,” the President replied simply, packing his bag. Arima turned away and started laughing, which caused Atsushi to start chuckling along with him.

“None of this is even real, is it?” En said, still shocked at the turn that this had taken. “What kind of world is this? We’re suing aliens, Arima’s been possessed by a malignant hyena spirit, and Kusatsu is cracking jokes?”

“The real world, Yufuin, don’t be melodramatic.”

“This is hell, isn’t it? I’m in hell.”

Io, Ryuu, and Gero turned to look at them with concern.

“If they tell jokes in hell, it can’t be that bad, right?” Yumoto said.

“Don’t say ‘hell’, Yumoto,” Io and Ryuu said in unison.

“I’m not a little kid,” Yumoto said.

“It just doesn’t sound right,” Ryuu said. “Somehow.”

“You’re right, it’s strange coming from Hakone-kun,” Gero said.

“I mean it, I’m not a kid!”

The President looked smug, Arima and Atsushi were still laughing, En was pretty sure he was in a parallel dimension, and the Beppus made a strategic retreat from the insanity that was the club room.

                                                          ***

On the way home later that evening, En laced his fingers with the President’s and squeezed them tight.

“Kusatsu, I’m sorry.”

The President looked puzzled. “For what?”

“That conversation back there. I know you’re still sensitive about the conquest thing. I should’ve thought ahead.”

The President smiled. “That’s kind of you. I was upset, a little bit. I thought I’d try your method of diffusing a situation with humor. I suppose it worked.”

“You were upset a lot, and it worked on a technicality, but I almost had a heart attack.”

“The Beppu brothers looked as though they did too.”

“Hey, you know those two weren’t trying to hurt your feelings, right? They just…have no filter.”

“I’m aware. But I’m not mad at them.” The President smiled sadly. “It’s not their fault I was a horrible person on intergalactic television.”

En frowned. “Kusatsu, don’t.”

“Why not? I was portrayed as a horrible, cruel, spiteful person because that’s the type of person I was. And you and I both know that sometimes, that’s still the way I am.”

“You aren’t-”

“Of course I am. You don’t learn humility or sympathy overnight. You don’t just stop thinking that if only things were the way you wanted them, everything would be much better. If only people followed your vision, everything would be perfect.”

“You can’t dwell on that.”

“It’s not dwelling, it’s a fact. I’m not a nice person, or even a good person.”

“Stop it now, Kinshirou.”

The President looked up at him with glassy eyes. En pulled him into a hug, stroking his hair.

“You are dwelling. Stop living in the past, okay? I won’t argue with you about the past, but the Kusatsu Kinshirou standing here is a good person. The Kusatsu Kinshirou of the present is working hard to become an even better version of himself in the future.”

The President wrapped his arms around En tightly. “I’m trying, but it’s so hard,” he said, muffled against En’s chest.

“Wanna know a secret?” En kissed the top of the President’s head. “Becoming a better person? It’s hard for everyone, at one point or another. So forget past you. The only you that matters is the you of right now.”

“That’s not true.”

“Not with that attitude.”

That managed to elicit a chuckle, so En felt he’d won this battle.

“Just take it a day at a time, okay?”

“…I’ll try.”

“Good. Now, let’s go leave vaguely menacing messages on the Beppus’ front door.”

“Hold on a second, what happened to being a better person?”

“We’ll start that tomorrow.”

“You haven’t told me anything about the me of tomorrow.”

“Look, it was a figure of speech, and you know it. Come on.”

“You’re a bad influence.”

“I try.”

“I’m not going to leave vaguely menacing messages on any doors.”

“I know. I only said it to make you feel better.”

The President squeezed En even tighter. “I love you, Yufuin.”

“I love you too, Kusatsu.”

[ioryuu]

I’m working on my fire emblem fates Au here’s some sketches for it I was to lazy to do digital so it became traditional

Some info and stuff I planned for them under the cut

Io and Ryuu are on the Hoshido side

En and Atsushi are on the Nohr side

Then Yumoto goes whatever kinda like Jakob/Azura/Kaze/Felicia

Io is a Samurai, he was originality a Mercenary but got switched to a Samurai because Mercenary is a Nohr class and he’s supposed to be from Hoshido, if he promotes he’s going to be a Swordmaster

Ryuu is a Sky knight, He has cherry blossoms patterns on his clothes I’m not sure if it’s noticible but I thought it would fit him, I haven’t decided if he promotes to a Falcon knight or a Kinshi knight yet but I’m leaning more at Kinshi Knight tbh and yes that’s the female uniform let him be pantsless

En is a Troubadour, if he promotes he going to be a Strategist even if Butler En would be lovely I think he rather stay on his horse lol

Atsushi is a Dark mage, if he promotes he's going to be a Dark knight

Yumoto is an Archer, if he promotes he’s going to be a Sniper

I haven’t made up personal skills yet but I am thinking Ryuu’s personal skill will be something like Gentilhomme, Demoiselle and Sisterhood mixed together

I’ve written Supports between Io and Ryuu it goes from C-S support if anyone is intrested in reading my badly written supports I can show you them lol

I’m planning to write supports Between Ryuu and Atsushi/En/Yumoto too I probably write up to S support with Atsushi/En then up to A support with Yumoto

There aren’t any children in this au I lowkey want to either give Ryuu or Io/Atsushi/En a child for jokes

The S supports probably only going to be with Ryuu I only ship Ryuu ships that’s why

I haven’t planned anything yet for the student council or the twins yet but I probably won’t touch them till I’m done with the main five

I thought it would be funny to make Io dislike nohrians so he dislike them kinda like Takumi does, yes he even calls them what Takumi does, Io did that to En and Atsushi but they didn’t even care.

The canon fates characters won’t be a part of this Au I’m just using them as comparison haha 

[yullen]

Okay, so... I made a list starting from 2015. Of characters I wanted to draw in a crowd of white-haired characters, and black haired characters. That I’ll probably never get around to lol.

〖 WHITE 〗

Allen Walker (D.Gray-man), Shion (No.6), and Isana Yashiro (K) would be in the centre of the white group. And then Robin (ZONE), Sasha (Seikon no Qwaser), Add (Elsword), Senel Coolidge (Tales of Legendia), Hokuto (Shikabane Hime), Shinigami (Shinigami-chan ga Yuku), then Konoha (Kagerou Project), Shinya (Akuma no Riddle), Haseo (.hack//G.U.) Surrounding them are Xi Duanmu (Ling Qi), Ves (White Flame), Ren (I-Ren), Arthur (Mahoutsukai no Yakusoku), Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul), Horne (Horne.red), Honebami Toushirou Toku (Touken Ranbu) The above feature some or many of the following: white hair, eye scars/markings, eye powers, red eyes, silver eyes, silver-blue or blue eyes, yandere tendencies, tragic pasts, seems like they are prone to dying, and/or have a counterpart with a high black ponytail with sidebangs etc.

And then the third and then fourth layers would be more simply characters that have some of the above, and may also have traits such as being sly/calculative/schemey, are smart, age fuckery/immortal/etc, or are otherwise part of a ship that smells like yin/yang bullshit: Akise (Mirai Nikki), Art (Hamatora), Al Saiduq/Alcor (Devil Survivor 2), Fate (Negima), Bell Cranel (DanMachi), Frey (Fisheye Placebo), L-Elf (Valvrave), Nai (Karneval), Gauche/Noir (Tegami Bachi), Kakashi (Naruto), Gojou Satoru (Jujutsu Kaisen), Nakigitsune (Touken Ranbu), Tsurumaru Kuninaga (Touken Ranbu), Killua (Hunter X Hunter), Clear (DMMD), Near (Death Note), Zero (Vampire Knight), Kinshirou (Bouei-bu), Gintoki (Gintama), Makishima (Psycho-Pass), Jafar (Magi), Arslan (Arslan Senki), Sion Astal (Denyuuden), Furuichi (Beelzebub), Snake (Kuroshitsuji), Hope Estheim (FFXIII), Mitsuru Tenjou (Barajou no Kiss), Azul Ashengrotto (Twisted Wonderland), Break (Pandora Hearts), Victor Nikiforov (Yuuri!!! on ICE), Nakajima Atsushi (Bungou Stray Dogs) Will probably omit: Mikleo (Tales of Zestria), Totsuka Saika (OreGairu), Aizawa Kouichi (Nabari no Ou), Decim (Death Parade), Ban (Nanatsu no Taizai)

And then where Kaworu Nagisa (NGE) and Akise Aru (Mirai Nikki) are, it bleeds out to the grey/off-white-haired characters with a similar vibe with aforementioned personality features: Joshua Kiryuu (TWEWY), Komaeda (DR2), Hotsuin Yamato (Devil Survivor 2), Yukito (Cardcaptor Sakura), Snake (999), Bakura (and Yami Bakura, and Thief King Bakura) Honorary mention/omitted: Elios (My Deepest Secret), Flynn Scifo (Yuri Lowell's counterpart) (Tales of Vesperia), Suzuya Juuzou (Tokyo Ghoul), Hitsugaya Toushirou (Bleach)

【 BLACK 】

Kanda Yuu (D.Gray-man), Yatogami Kuroh (K), Ling Hao (White Flame), Kiran (I-Ren), Gakupo (Vocaloid), Saotome Alto (Macross), Ouni (Children of the Whales), Kanzaki Souma (Ensemble Stars), Oz (Mahoutsukai no Yakusoku), Yuzuki (Harvest Moon), Narugo Kaoru (Actors), Oogami Banri (Idolish7), Wei WuXian (Mo Dao Zu Shi), and Kurojou Tamamo (Momomoke Restaurant) would be in the centre of the black group. Tokisaka Kuroumaru (UQ Holder), Yogaru (Horne), Yuri Lowell (Vesperia), Katsura Koutarou (Gintama), Li Xing Ke (Code Geass), Nezumi (No.6), Yang Jinghua (Ling Qi/Spiritpact), Ning Yang (Ling Qi/Spiritpact), Namazuo Toushirou Toku (Touken Ranbu), Speed of Sound Sonic (OnePunch-Man), Miran (Denyuuden), Athrun (Beelzebub)

Black counterparts of or related to characters in the white list not included: Amon Koutarou (Tokyo Ghoul), Kuze Hibiki (Devil Survivor 2), Vance Lee (Fisheye Placebo), Gareki (Karneval), Gon (Hunter X Hunter), Kinugawa Atsushi (Bouei-bu), Hijikata Toushirou (Gintama), Kougami Shinya (Psycho-Pass), Sinbad (Magi)(disclaimer: I don't ship Sin/far), Daryoon (Arslan Senki), Ryner Lute (Denyuuden), Yukinoshita Yukino (manga v5 cover) (OreGairu), Oga Tatsumi (Beelzebub), Katsuki Yuuri (Yuuri!!! on ICE), Mutsuki Kurama (Barajou no Kiss), Ryunosuke Akutagawa (Bungou Stray Dogs), Ikari Shinji (NGE), Amano Yukiteru (Mirai Nikki), Kinomoto Touya (Cardcaptor Sakura)

Not included, but: Izuminokami Kanesada (Touken Ranbu)

last updated: 2020-12-26

[koolkitty9]

Novel III Summary  (Chapters 4-6(end))

DISCLAIMER: I Used google translate’s photo scanner, so these will not be 100% correct, but I didn’t have TOO MUCH trouble using it/understanding what it was trying to say. (I forgot to mark where the final chapter started so uhhh)

Started this bc last night @the-hebrew-impact-frame really wanted to know more and I own all three novels, so why not!

(Starts at chapter 4) 

Wombat has told Gora about the monster and all that has happened. Yumoto feels super sad for his “Special close friends”

Gora and Wombat are working together to find Yumoto, and for the first time ever, Gora has closed the bathhouse temporarily. They’re looking everywhere for him, including the city itself.

Gora says something along the lines of not knowing Yumoto as much as he thought he did.

Wombat asks what Gora means and they start talking about how sad Gora looks. Gora then says that he doesn’t know why he’s running around the city like this, and that to be honest, he can’t think of a place where Yumoto is likely to run off to.

Wombat then says “Then ask yourself, isn’t there enough love?”

To which Wombat then apparently denies and asks Gora if he thinks Yumoto’s stories are just rambling to him, or just elusive. Gora doesn’t say yes to this, nor shake his head. Wombat then says to not blame himself for it.

Gora tells Wombat that Yumoto always talked and seemed very happy.

Wombat says that he feels a deep love for Gora when he listens to Yumoto’s stories. Then says they need to search more and say they should check the school.

The duo go there and Gora keeps bringing up about how he keeps repeat asking himself if he didn’t have enough love, and Wombat keeps denying it and tells Gora to stop blaming himself.

They keep talking and remember “OH! We need to find Yumoto!” (They bring this up almost EVERY PAGE)

They go to the clubroom, then the monster attacks. They run to the cafeteria (Gora almost gets hit). They still don’t find Yumoto.

They leave and eventually Aki sees Gora and they start talking, and the narrator says (Pretty sure this is Dadacha’s POV), “Honestly, I don’t care about Yumoto Hakone, rather Akihiko, thinks it’s convenient for him to disappear” BUT They would NEVER tell Gora that unless he’d ask. Gora then tells the twins that they “look better together” than separate

The twins say they’ll look for Yumoto but Wombat mentions how they didn’t even bother. Wombat thinks about Yumoto and says it makes his heart hurt slightly.

Meanwhile Gora and Wombat were still searching for Yumoto (WOW YES).

Then Wombat spots En sitting at a children’s park.

En is confused about Yumoto being missing and says “Doesn’t he love Gora and the bathhouse too much?”

Gora then says this to En: “Yufuin-san is an old man, but he’s fun and like a father. He’s tall, and he says it’s funny because he’s a couple with Kinugawa-kun.” Now I’m not sure if this is how Yumoto described En to Gora but, it’s funny none-the-less.

Wombat/the narrator “Yufuin was a little shocked, but he could imagine the appearance of Yufuin talking to Gora so happily while pouring rice.”

This causes En to think “Dad? Am I like a dad?” even though he thinks of himself more as a big brother to Yumoto. Then En thinks that he also knew little what Yumoto was ever thinking about and says that “Maybe I’m only looking at his surface.”

Then this brings back up the bathhouse and En (Wombat maybe???) thinks “It was here where we first met.”

At a karaoke bar, Gora and Wombat meet up with Ryuu.

“While the girls are terrified by Gora and Wombat, Wombat is usually loved by Yumoto who throws away the microphone and leaves the room saying “SWEATY!” 

Wombat brings up the fact that he stinks like a beast while Gora’s sweat NEVER smells.

They mention how Atsushi was seen with Io and Ryuu mentions that Gora talks as short as possible (I’m PRETTY SURE Ryuu was flirting with a girl here??? idk)

"Oh I never brought my friends home” Gora slowly looks back at Zaou and strengthens his words, "But, when I met you, Yumoto changed! He said I'm looking forward to seeing you more every day!" And Ryuu says "seriously?"

Gora: “Yumoto loves you guys” and thanks them for welcoming Yumoto at the bathhouse, to which Ryuu replies “Yumoto is like my younger brother!” They are screaming this into microphones. 

Ryuu hopes that Io is coming to the bathhouse too after they talk about him.

Io and Atsushi went to eat curry together. Io and Atsushi see Wombat and Gora in the security camera and Io points his spoon in the direction of Gora. 

Gora tells them what happened up to this point and Wombat SHOUTS IN ANGER AT THESE TWO and calls them out for being "confused" and then at the end says "Yumoto talks about you happily to Gora each night"

"Yumoto's life changed when he met you! Yumoto received love from someone other than his family for the first time! I'm saying that I can't wait to see you every day!" (Wombat)

Wombat says that "it's about you, maybe you didn't have friends until now, but every night, happily talking about you, it's never happened before Gora." and Gora replies "ah..."

Then they {Atsushi/Io} reply “Yumoto does that?” And Wombat says “Yumoto treats you like you, I’m proud of him”

Gora thanks them for telling the truth.

"Yumoto always says that Kinugawa is kind like a mother. I really liked the curry you made. Yufuin is like a couple and it's fun to watch" Io (I think)says this to Atsushi, which makes Atsushi laugh and thanks Io for scolding him if he does something wrong within the club

Going back to the bathhouse, the twins are glaring at Yumoto, who’s on the rooftop. 

Now in chapters 5/6

Yumoto is sitting on the roof and everyone is calling to him.Someone tells Yumoto that it’s bathtime and Yumoto keeps telling them that he’s Running away.

Wombat says that he doesn’t understand him.

The twins say they’ll stay back for now since the atmosphere is sad. Wombat talks about love and how he can feel the love in the air between the Hakone brothers (apparently the DC are hugging one another) While Yumoto is confused.

and Wombat is telling him that he has to stay because "the Defense Club will not start without a base" (which could go as "oh ur the leader Yumoto!" or "oh we need ur bathhouse")

Yumoto then says "Please leave me alone! I'm alone--I want to be alone" and Gora is sad and replies, "but Yumoto, everyone's gathering around you. I know because I'm always looking at you from nearby" 

And then Gora reminds him that everyone is waiting for you and tHEN HARU WHISPERS "Well WE'RE NOT HERE FOR YOU"

and then the boys all tell Yumoto how much they mean to him. Ryuu is like "let's get together!" While Io is saying "time is money! I'm sorry I can't say any good words right now"  En doesn't really say much

Atsushi says they need to make curry together and eat it. Then Wombat adds Yumoto can cuddle him

And then Gora tells Yumoto he's not alone (and either he's tearing up or Yumoto is)

and this makes yumoto reply that he's not alone and the light returns to his eyes and Gora says he loves him and adds that all of his friends do too. 

THE TWINS ARE MAKING FACES (Haru thinks�� "NO I HATE HAKONE YUMOTO but i can't deny Gora's words")

Then the monster shows up, Gora gets hit and tells Yumoto that it’s okay and he needs to do whatever he has to, to defeat the monster and they transform.

The fight happens, and then at the end they start talking about cherries and friendship. They’re telling the monster about the importance of Friendship (all while the twins are watching them, transformed, on a rooftop).

After this, they heal the monster and they go to the bath. After their bath, Gora gives them food and cherries.

Then back to the twins, GOOGLE SAID “Haru is a frustrated shit.” (I’m pretty sure that’s not correct but i’m not sure).

Back to Wombat, he goes outside and thinks about how Gora looks relieved and how his chopping of wood is comforting.

Then in the last few pages, Yumoto brings up how all of his senpais aren’t at school because they have fevers. As he’s throwing down two pillows like beanbags and then throws a third at Gora. Yumoto also mentions that he wasn’t able to bathe today because of that (That might be an error but lol)

Then they lay down together and the book ends. 

[lune-kuruta]

Chapters: 1/1
 Fandom: 美男高校地球防衛部LOVE! | Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu LOVE!
 Rating: General Audiences
 Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
 Relationships: Kinugawa Atsushi/Kusatsu Kinshirou, Gero Akoya/Naruko Io/Zaou Ryuu
 Characters: Kusatsu Kinshirou, Arima Ibushi, Gero Akoya
 Additional Tags: Mentions of the Earth Defense Club, Short One Shot, Set during episode 12 from season 2, Kind of character analysis…?, Attempt at Humor, Fanboy!Kinshirou, Hints of Gero Akoya/Naruko Io/Zaou Ryuu, Not Serious, Maybe a bit OOC… or is it?
 Summary: The Caerula Adamas was eager to help their former enemies against those weird idols from outer space, for sure, but they wouldn’t take part at all that nonsense, would they? Still, watching that exotic fight between the VEPPERs and the Battle Lovers might be interesting somehow. Since they’ve come all the way back to Japan, they could at least sit back and enjoy the show. Putting personal interests aside, of course. * Also available on Fanfiction.Net

(Based on this post of mine here on Tumblr!)

[mashpit]

Hot Spring Antics

Season 1 of Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love! is about the formation of the club and creation of the superheros after a woombat-like alien bestowed them the power of love. Now, the club has to defend the planet from enemies, normal people who are filled with hatred, before the negative emotion goes too far. 

The protagonists, the Earth defenders are:

Yumoto Hakone, the main protagonist out of the bunch of main characters. Represented by the color red, his placement as the youngest of the bunch and naivety motivates everyone to continue defending the Earth.

En Yufuin, the oldest of the bunch. Represented by the color blue, his laziness and willingness to sleep is commendable. His friendship with Atsushi began with an invitation for ramen. 

Atsushi Kinugawa, the most sensible of the bunch. Represented by the color green, he is significant in the friendship triangle between him, En, and one of the antagonists. 

Ryuu Zaou, the pretty boy of the group. Represented by the color pink, he is a second year and the easiest to get along with because of his ability to adapt to anyone’s personality.

Io Naruko, the business person of the group. Represented by the color yellow, he is very wealthy with his amazing business and economic skills.

I recommend this show to anyone who wants to watch a light-hearted show. If you want a serious show, this is not the thing for you. There are lots of puns and slapstick stuff, creating a slice of life feel. 

Full opinion below!

I originally watched this show to make fun of with its ridiculous premise. When I first heard of this anime, people have always called a parody of the famous Sailor Moon. While I have never watched Sailor Moon, I know of the general premise to understand the comparison. However, this show takes it to the extreme with the emphasis of love and friendship. (As you can tell, I love parody animes.)

My favorite character is a toss up. I am conflicted between the two main third years. Atsushi aesthetically pleases me since I do have a thing for glasses characters, but his denseness irks me sometimes. On the other hand, I love En’s laziness. I think personality-wise, I like En more. I don’t know why but I really like the stoic kind of characters. 

One note-worthy issue I have with the show is how they keep mentioning Atsushi’s weight. I understand that he could be tiny, but I feel like it’s bullying. I could easily be taking this too personal since I do have difficulty eating (But I was never professionally diagnosed with an eating disorder). I also dislike that it’s a character trait of his that is negative. I’m glad they are not glorifying it, but everyone is making it seem like he is anorexic (I am unsure if he is, but I do not want to assume he is one).

I”m writing this piece on my memory of the show, which I had watched last year. So if there are any errors, please let me know!

[boueibu-valentines]

Creator: @my-yuujin Recipient: @chuuugs Characters/Pairings: Atsushi/En Comment: I do not usually write fanfic even in my native language, so this may be an embarrassing gift to give🙈 Please forgive any grammar/spellings mistakes and weird sentences you may found in this very short story.

———-

“Wow! It looks delicious, Atsushi-senpai!!” exclaimed Yumoto, sparkling eyes staring blithely at the inside of the lunch box Atsushi showed them. The youngest boy of the bunch cocked his head, deeply breathing in the delicious smell.

“Hey, now! You will drop your drool all over the brownies!” Atsushi drifted away the box from Yumoto’s hungry nose.  “Aren’t we going to eat this with everyone in the club?”

“I guess it’s for Valentine’s Day, is it, Senpai?” Io asked politely. The pale green haired boy unusually tucked away his smartphone, which screen was always full of complicated graphics regarding his activity of trading stocks. “I heard that heart-shaped pink brownies are being popular these days.”

“Yeah…, my sister told me that too,” Atsushi admitted as he arranged the brownies onto the plate. “I’m not really used to baking. She pretty much helped me with this, so I can say I’m quite confident on its taste.”

“Hm! You’re right!” Taking a bite of a piece, Ryuu agreed. “It tastes as good as the ones I received from my girls!”

“I love how it has both strawberry and chocolate flavors at the same time!” Yumoto pointed out. He gobbled up the brownie piece in one bite, and soon craved for another one. “Even though I’m still wondering if someday I can have An-chan’s riceball-flavored chocolate for Valentine.”

“That’s some absurd chocolate you’re fancying, Yumoto,” commented Ryuu with a sweatdrop.

“But still…,” Io talked after he’s done eating one piece. “It’s really a shame that Yufuin-senpai can’t try your chocolate, Kinugawa-senpai.”

“Now that you mention it, Yufuin-senpai is absent today because of cold, isn’t he?” supported Ryuu. “Though it’s sort of rare for him to suddenly get sick like that.”

Atsushi didn’t deny that.

“For someone who’s neither energetic, nor taking care of himself properly, En-chan had always been pretty healthy. That makes him being in bad condition kind of worrying….”

“So you’re planning to give him a visit after school?” reckoned Io.

Atsushi nodded. “I have to give him today’s lesson notes, too. Though…I doubt he’ll read them at all….”

“Rather than the notes, I bet Yufuin-senpai will be happier if you bring him your chocolate!” convinced Ryuu.

“You’re right,” Io complied. “It tastes this good, after all.”

“What is it? Visiting En-chan-senpai?” Yumoto suddenly butted in. “Count me in!”

Ryuu and Io jolted at Yumoto’s idea.

“No…, Yumoto! You don’t understand…! The point is…,” Ryuu struggled to explain, that he and Io wanted both of their senpai to be alone.

“That reminds me, Yumoto. Don’t you have to help Goura-san cleaning your family’s bath house today?” Io cut in

“Ugh…that’s right…. I completely forgot…!” Yumoto sighed in disappointment.

Atsushi smiled and patted the youngest boy’s head.

“Don’t worry, Yumoto. I’ll give En-chan your regards,” Atsushi turned to Io and Ryuu. “How about you two? Do you want to go visiting En-chan too?”

“Uh…we are…,” Ryuu was glancing around, looking for good excuse to refuse.

Io put up his right hand. “I’m sorry, Kinugawa-senpai. I have to spend my evening to arrange my investment strategy and some other stuffs.”

“M-me too!” followed Ryuu. “I have promised my new girlfriend to try some new cafe after school. So….”

“Well, that can’t be helped, then,” Atsushi smiled understandingly. “I guess I’ll go alone.”

“It’s fine, Senpai. Yufuin-senpai must need a good rest,” Io gave another good point. “The less people go, the better.”

.

.

.

Catching cold was always annoying. Especially when you didn’t usually catch one. Headache, sore throat, stuffy nose…. And worst of them, everything would taste terrible.

En buried his face in his pillow, rolling from side to another side of his bed, trying to find comfortable position to sleep. Exhausted, he finally settled by curling his body under blanket, sleeping without any pillow comforting his dizzy head.

En found himself waking up when the sun was almost setting. That meant he had almost slept for almost three hours. His pajamas drenched in sweat, and he felt terribly thristy. Reaching for a nightstand, he clucked tounge as he found the bottles on it were all empty.

In the end I’ll have to walk to get some water… En rose to sit, sighing lazily. How troublesome….

“Hm?”

En’s eyes rounded for realizing something wet fell from his forehead to his lap.

A towel?

He didn’t remember having that being put on his forehead before he fell asleep.

“Ah, En-chan! You’re already up?”

A familiar voice came from the door’s direction. Someone still wearing school uniform, was bringing in a tray with two steamy bowls on it.

“Atsushi?”

“Yeah…, I was asked by teacher to give you today’s note,” Atsushi put the tray on a round low table near En’s bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Not so good,” Eh shrugged. “And I’m hungry.”

“I know,” Atsushi helplessly chuckled.  “Just by looking your miserable figure sleeping on the bed, I knew you hadn’t eaten anything today.”

“Too troublesome to cook and eat,” answered En, which didn’t surprise Atsushi at all. Even when he’s fit, he wouldn’t move too much. Let alone when he’s sick.

“Well, I made you some chicken soup,” Atsushi turned to the tray he had brought in. “Eat up and don’t forget to have your medicine.”

En stared at the dish. Warm rice and simple soup consisting shredded chicken, sliced carrots, green onions, and bok choy. The broth smelled delicious. It was a shame that it wasn’t apparent to En because of his stuffy nose. But since it was Atsushi, En still could bet that it must taste good.

While En was eating, Atsushi remembered that he also brought En some melon.

“I’ll cut it for you,” said Atsushi. “Or do you prefer it to be juiced?”

En sticked up his thumb with his free hand. “I’d have the melon juice.”

So Atsushi walked out and left En alone in his room.  En could hear Atsushi‘s busyness in the kitchen as he cut and blended the melon. It sounded to take some time.

While inhaling the soup, En realized that Atsushi left his bag open in En’s room. At first, En didn’t really mind it, until he noticed a suspicious transparent little package containing some pieces of pink and brown.

En left his food to check on the package, and found out that the pink and brown things were actually some chocolate candies.

Right…, today is valentine, isn’t it? En pondered. Then, this must be for me, I guess….

En had enough reasons to believe that. The candies’ package was too plain to be a special gift from a girl. Even if it was just for obligatory chocolate. Besides, that wouldn’t likely to be one, since their school was all-boys.

En heard Atsushi ‘s sandals rubbed against the floor, heading towards his room. The blond quickly returned the chocolate to its place and fixed his position back to holding his chopsticks and rice bowl.

Well, it’s no good to take someone’s belonging from their bag, even if it’s actually a gift for you. I’ll pretend not to know and let Atsushi himself to give that to me.

Atsushi came with a glass on his hand.

“Here, the melon juice you wanted, En-chan,” he said, setting it on the table.

“Thanks.”

Atsushi approached his bag and put it on his shoulder. Good thing that he didn’t realize that En had zipped closed the bag he’d left open after getting En’s notes out.

“You wanna go already?” En held back his surprised tone.

Atsushi nodded. “I have to change my clothes and take bath after all. Don’t worry. I will be back here soon…, if you think you’ll still need me. But I guess your parents will be home tonight, won’t they?”

En didn’t answered. Instead, he quietly asked, “Say, Atsushi…did you get or give something for Valentine today?”

Atsushi blinked. That’s sure not something that En would usually ask. 

“No, I didn’t receive anything,” Atsushi replied honestly. “What’s the matter with that?”

En put his still half-filled bowl down, followed by his chopsticks. The next moment, the blond crawled back to his bed.

“Hey, what’s wrong, En-chan? Why didn’t you finish your meal?”

“I’ll soon finish it when I get my appetite back,” En’s voice was heard from under the blanket he’s engulfing himself with.

“And you’re still not taking your medicine either…!”

“I’ll take it after dinner.”

“En-chan…!”

“My parent will be home early,” En said flatly. “You don’t have to accompany me tonight. I’ll be fine by myself.”

Atsushi, of course, with En being like that, didn’t just buy what his best friend told him.

“Are you alright, En-chan? Did the soup taste bad? I can make the new one for you, while it’s still not too late to buy groceries…”

“No, the soup was fine,” En replied quickly. “I just wanted to be alone.”

“You’re acting weird, En-chan! Is it because of some monster again…” Atsushi walked closer and yanked the blanket off En’s head.  The eyes behind those glasses widened as they found tears on the corner of En’s cerulean eyes.

“En…cha—“

“Geez, just leave me alone, would you?!” En snatched his blanket from Atsushi, and covered his whole body with it.

Atsushi stared silently at the bulge under the blanket.

“Are you mad about something, En-chan?”

No answer.

“I won’t leave until you tell me what is wrong,” Atsushi stated as he took a seat on the bed’s edge.

Still no answer.

“Did I do something that makes you angry?”

The bulge of the blanket didn’t even move—

“Actually…, about chocolate, I did make some brownies for Valentine’s Day.”

—until Atsushi said that.

“I brought some to school, but Yumoto and the others ended up eating them all….”

The lock on En’s lips got loose.

“But I found a package of chocolate in your bag.”

“Eh, really?”

Atsushi immediately checked inside his bag. He jolted in surprise when he found exactly like En had said.

“This is…?”

“Is it for Kusat—“

“It’s the chocolate candies my sister made herself yesterday!” Atsushi exclaimed. “She made these using the leftover chocolate we got after making the brownies. She told me it’s obligatory chocolate for her friends. So why was it inside my bag?”

En quietly peeked, “Your sister?”

“Was my sister trying to prank me?” Atsushi mused in suspicion. Even though his sister did give him obligatory chocolate every year, she always gave the chocolate directly without warping it.

This year, Kinugawa siblings had made their chocolate together. Naturally, Atsushi himself had eaten some of the chocolate, and regarded it as his yearly obligatory gift. He’d never expected to get another one from his sister.

“Atsushi,“ En came out from his hiding, cracking Atsushi’s musing. “Stay here.”

Atsushi blinked at the sudden change in En’s behavior. “Didn’t you tell me to leave some minutes ago?”

“I was wrong. Sorry,” En’s reply was quick. He’s now sitting on his bed, lowering his head toward Atsushi in apology.

Atsushi rounded his mouth, before trying to guess, “Don’t tell me…, you was restless because of the chocolate candies you found in my bag?”

En pouted a little, and shifted his gaze. “No, i just thought that you were lying to me about not getting any chocolate. That’s all.”

Atsushi smiled to hide his chuckles. “Well, I’d be glad to stay. But you do understand that I need to change clothes and take a bath, right? I’ll be back here after I’m done with―”

“Take your bath here.”

“Eh?”

“What? You have once had bath in my house when we were in middle school, right? Our bathroom doesn’t change that much, to the point you can’t use it anymore.”

Atsushi waved his hand in denial, “No, no, that not the problem. I still need to change clothes and―”

“You can wear mine.”

“But, En-chan…! Your parents will be home soo―”

“Ah. I was lying about that. They won’t be home until tomorrow. Sorry.”

“What?” Atsushi raised his voice a bit. “You’re worried about me lying to you, but you too were lying to me?”

“Like I said, I’m sorry….”

Atsushi sighed, “You’re so helpless En-chan…. If anything, isn’t that you who need to take a bath and change clothes right now? Your pajama’s drenched with sweat.”

“Then we can take bath together,” En rose from his bed and shrugged off his pajamas. The next moment, the blond lifted Atsushi from the bed’s edge onto his shoulder.

“Wait! En-chan! I thought you’re sick?!” Atsushi struggled. Where did he get so much strength to lift me around?

“It’s because you’re too light!” shot En, as if he could read Atsushi’s mind.

“Wait, if we take bath together, you’ll end up passing your cold to me!” Atsushi still tried to convince En.

“Then we will have cold together.”

“En-chaaan!!!”

“You’re the worst, En-chan. If I really end up getting cold because of this―”

“Are you gonna sue me?” En replied as he rubbed his nose against Atsushi’s naked nape.  “I can sue you for not providing me some Valentine’s chocolate too, you know.”

The shorter boy who wasn’t wearing his glasses now, sighed, as he was tracing his hands against En’s wet arms enveloping him from behind.

“That’s not my fault. I actually planned to go home, to fetch the leftover brownies I have in my fridge and give them to you. But since you forced me to stay here….“

“Well…,” En moved his chin onto Atsushi right shoulder. “To be honest, it’ll be pointless if my chocolate is just the same as the ones for Yumoto and the others.”

Atsushi chuckled as he felt En’s lips marking a kiss on him. “So… En-chan want to get a serious chocolate from me, huh?”

The kiss changed into a light lick, as En whispered deeply.

“You are my serious chocolate, Atsushi.”

[magicalgirlsandcerulean]

Studio Comet shared this image of the reference used for the Kinugawa Onsen key visual.

(The tweet specifically mentions it’s a Shinto shrine for honouring the war dead...)

“ 桜の時期が過ぎても、これから新緑がきれいな頃だと思いますので 防衛部のみんなと同じ場所で記念撮影はいかが♪” -  “The time period for cherry blossoms has passed, but after this, I think the new green leaves are pretty around this time, so how about taking a commemorative picture in the same place that everyone in the Defence Club did? ♪ ”

Update: There’s also tweets regarding the references used for the poses the oni versions of the boys take. En’s is Shinki, Io’s is Kinuta, Akoya’s is Rikki, Arima’s is Tateki, Yumoto’s is Tanjouki, Kinshiro’s is Jouinki, Haru and Aki’s are Yuushinki (Kinuko), Ryuu’s is Shiiki and Atsushi’s is Hankaki.

Shinki (En’s) involves a kanji for “sleep” (which is very En). Arima’s got a shield, and Tateki’s tate means “shield”. Tanjou (in Yumoto’s corresponding oni’s name) means “birth” though...

[magiccatprincess]

20 first lines

I got tagged by @maddymayobsesses to share the first lines of my 20 latest fanfics. I’ve never been tagged in this before, so here goes

1. Can’t Plan the Unexpected (boueibu, all my boueibu ships are in this one) Once At-chan and the other finally defeated that hideous creature, Kinshirou had been nothing short of overjoyed.

2. Stranger Danger (boueibu, ioryuu) There comes a time when you can't deny the truth any longer. 

3. Funfetti Birthday (boueibu, ioryuu) "Good afternoon." Io nodded politely to greet Akira-san, his daughter's pre-school teacher.

4. I’ve got your nose (boueibu, akorima) Ibushi couldn't help himself.

5 Kiss and tell (Classicaloid, betomotsu) Mozart wasn't too surprised when the door to his room opened and someone walked in.

6 Do you want to sleep with me tonight? (Boueibu, all my boueibu ships) "This can't be happening..." Akoya shuddered as he looked underneath his large bed for the third time in the hopes of finding more pearls.

7 Pink Blood (boueibu, pink bros) The day started out so ordinary.

8 Silent Night (boueibu, ioryuu and some others - tbh I’m still so proud of this one XD) They had woken up hours ago, but neither Io nor Ryuu had the will to move or get out of bed. 

9 Fantastic Kids and Where to Find Them (boueibu, no ships, less proud of this) It had become the norm, about twenty years ago, that the patronus test would be held every year. 

10  Amazing! Amazing! Amazing! (boueibu, ioryuu) "Ryuu...." Io sighed in exasperation, not pleased by Ryuu bringing this issue up again.

11 Akoya’s Wish (boueibu, no ships, only mentioned akorima) "I wish you two would join the student council this year..."

12 Thief Tanuki (boueibu, enatsu) "You can't ever be seen with that boy, god knows what trouble he and his family can bring us."

13 Sunday (boueibu, enatsu) It was a early past noon and the Kinugawa family was already having a very good day.

14. Believe Me (boueibu, ioryuu) Ryuu didn't have to look up from his test to know that the new homeroom teacher Haname Kaoru was looking at him. 

15 Phantoms and Commanders (boueibu, enatsu) Command track... Atsushi couldn't stop thinking about it even though he already knew what his boyfriend's answer was going to be.

16 Going Digital (boueibu, no ships) Climbing trees wasn't as easy as he remembered it 

17 Scars on your heart (boueibu, ioryuu, akorima and enatsu) If he just tried hard enough... maybe they would do more than just twitch. 

18  Alien Drinks (boueibu, ioryuu) This had clearly been a bad idea.  

19 Just Like a Dream (boueibu, ioryuu) "We are gathered here today to mourn, but also to celebrate a life.“

20 Not just an estimation (boueibu, ioryuu) So rude... 

-

I tag: @mostlikelytofangirl, @unfortunatelycake, @mystandthemoon and @nardaviel.

[crazy-grrrl-on-the-computer]

@amateurcatalyst​ asked: it's very interesting how they focus on Goura while En talks about chikuwabu; could he be the chikuwabu of their own group?

My original response to that Ask was here, but then...

@angry-jewish-magical-girl​ said: you know why i think the camera panned to goura when en mentioned chikuwabu? Because gora was initially supposed to be a background character who didn’t actually contribute anything to the story, and en was talking about how chikuwabu is pointless and had no reason for existing. The show was lowkey saying gora was a pointless character. I mean ok he’s not actually pointless, he’s yumoto’s guardian. but that early in the show’s development, as far as the writers may have known, gora wasn’t actually there to contribute anything to the plot other than be yumoto’s guardian

THIS WAS IT! THIS WAS THE EXTRA PIECE OF INFORMATION I NEEDED TO COMPLETE THE ODEN METAPHOR!!!!

I had completely forgotten about this interview (thank you so much to @intra-fiducia​ for the translations and @elucida​ for digging this up for me!!!) where Takamatsu explained Goura's development in season 1, but now that I have this information I can elaborate on a thought I had started to touch on in my oden post about the chikuwabu and what it represents.

So, prepare yourselves for another spam of screenshots below the cut as we voyage into Oden Part 2: Return of the Chikuwabu!

~.~

First, some things I would like to point out from the interview that explain certain relevant moments...

That’s pretty sketchy *laughs*. Then, why is the first monster chikuwabu? Whose idea was that? Takamatsu: To be honest, while we were sitting at a drinking party, we started talking about how you could only find chikuwabu in Tokyo, and how people from other regions didn’t even know it existed, and the impression of that conversation stayed with me…I suppose that was it? Yokote: Right, right. Then we decided ‘let’s use this conversation as is’. But we learnt that a surprising number of people liked chikuwabu, so I was…a little worried about messing with the chikuwabu. Miyawaki: It’s okay! Zaou likes chikuwabu, so we’re covering for the chikuwabu thing *laughs*.

Ryuu's tone and the way he looked at the others with that cheesy smile seemed more comedic like "Well, I like chikuwabu. Anyone else with me? Huh? Huh?" while the others just give him a look like "wtf, Ryuu?"

And now I know why (although I will still stand by my "Ryuu sympathizes with the chikuwabu" theory). It's an in-joke with the staff poking fun at themselves because they realized how much they were ragging on something that was more popular than they had initially thought and Ryuu's just there to be their mouthpiece like "but chikuwabu isn't really so bad, please don't hate. *sweats profusely*" XD

Speaking of Gora, why does he keep chopping wood for a natural hot spring? Takamatsu: The Kurotama Bath is actually an onsen even though it’s a public bath. So we realized halfway that you don’t need firewood if it’s an onsen. Yokote: It was like, ‘ehh, at this point in time?!!’. Miyawaki: It would have been terrible to correct, so we had him continue chopping wood as he had been, and let Kinugawa critique that before the viewers could. Takamatsu: And then in the last episodes, 11 and 12, we redeemed ourselves since it was foreshadowing!

We all remember this scene from S1E6, right?

Oh, staff... Way to have Goura lampshade the fact that you originally had no purpose for him other than to stand outside the Kurotama and chop wood all day. Yes, Yumoto, listen to your An-chan. Do not become a "useless protagonist" who does nothing but stand with the main group and smile and look cute while the plot happens around you... oh...

Ryuu is smiling at En's attempt to give credit where credit is due, but Atsushi is having none of it.

He looks so tired. Being one of the designated "straight men" of the group (strictly in the figurative sense) is draining when he can see through all the fluffy bullshit that is constantly being thrown up in front of them.

If Atsushi is the staff's mouthpiece here, then En is us. “Eh?” Yes, Atsushi, do shed some light on the situation for us, for we have all been blind and it is the one with glasses who alone could see.

*click*

For about 4 seconds, Goura sweats profusely

before shutting his window.

He can’t answer and neither could the staff.

Look what you did, Atsushi, you fucked up a perfectly good background character is what you did. Look at him. He has anxiety.

Yumoto, why so harsh? But is this the staff taking a potshot at themselves, too? XD

Bless you, En.

And since they can’t just leave it on that unhappy note, we get the other bookend at the end of the episode…

Thanks, Atsushi. You really won't let that go, huh? Look, I don’t come into your house and ask you why you obsess over jigsaw puzzles, do I? Let the man run his business.

Ryuu, you’re not helping. And to be honest, there’s zero point in chasing skirt as much as you do, so what are you trying to say? *raises an eyebrow* 

Io, you have no right to talk.

Meanwhile, En is so disappointed in them. LET THE MAN LIVE!

Moral of the story: We accidentally gave a "useless" character an even more useless job, literally defeating his entire purpose for being there, so the only way we could fix it without making ourselves look sloppy and destroying the overall moral of this show that everyone's important was to turn it into his hobby and call it foreshadowing. *thumbs up*

I wish I sparkled like that when I sweat. Wow.

You’ve done good, Goura. Follow your dreams. You deserve them.

Did the previous battle lover, Gora, have any companions? Takamatsu: Umm, I haven’t thought about it at all *laughs*. At first, Gora was really only there for chopping wood, but in deciding the brotherly showdown episode he became a pretty central to things. If not for the developments of the final episode, I think he would have just kept on chopping wood until the end.

I wouldn't know when development for the season 1 finale would have taken place, but I think it's fairly safe to say that, even at this point in ep6, Goura was still just a background character. A staple of the Kurotama and nothing more. Until whatever point it was when they decided to turn him into a monster and play up the brother dynamics to sucker punch our hearts even more. In the interview, they mentioned that the development of the brotherly love message in ep10 was where they started to set us up for the pain because they wanted the brothers to battle.

So, that brings this whole thing back around to the chikuwabu...

Basically, the joke I got out of this when I thought about it made me laugh.

At this point in time, Goura looks like he might have an important role because the camera pans to him. He’s there. We see him. But he’s only ever chopping wood. He doesn’t do anything else. Goodness knows we all remember going through each episode during season 1 and wondering what his story was and coming up with theories about why he was even shown in the episodes and interacting with the other characters as if he was so significant if his peculiar presence wasn’t going to be explained eventually.

That’s it. That’s the joke. En is saying, “He just looks like he integrates into the plot, but he really doesn’t. You can stare at him and study him for hours and hours, but you won’t find anything of real substance. He’s good at blending in without actually doing anything. What you see with him is exactly what you get. He just chops wood.”

And then En goes on to say that he doesn’t know if he hates chikuwabu, he just feels like he’s looking at an unknown lifeform, and it’s funny when you think about how everyone just accepts Goura as the staple of the Kurotama because that’s all he is to them and then they still can’t figure him out when they really have to think about it. (Well, aside from Yumoto, of course. Goura means a lot more to him than to the others.)

But despite the fact that Goura is also chikuwabu, I still wouldn’t go so far as to call him a “pointless” character. Because even before he was given a more significant role in the main plot of the season and before there was any “foreshadowing” (I see what you did there, staff), he still had a purpose. Calling him “pointless” would defeat the point of the metaphor, you see.

In fact, all of the background characters, the loveless, and even the Press Society are the chikuwabu. They are only there as a throwaway character or to serve a single mundane purpose, whether they appear as a significant role in the narrative of an episode or not. But they are all still equally important because the show needs them to fill those roles in order to tell the story. Without them, the story could not have progressed the way it did if the only “important” ones were the main characters.

The background characters who have no lines or only a few lines here and there, whether that dialogue is filler or not, just to take up space on screen or prove a point a character is making…

The loveless, who are only used as pawns in each episode to serve as an object lesson in morality and receive life advice…

The Press Society, who shows up a few times to be a nuisance to the main characters and serves as a third-party antagonist so the Caerula Adamas could be redeemed…

The aliens and, heck, even Tawarayama-sensei, who is only used as vehicle of transportation for Wombat and isn’t even given the decency of respect… because he’s dead, remember, he’s dead and his life is but a mere joke to amuse us and the aliens have a penchant for puppeteering more than just human life and deriving enjoyment out of watching it happen…

And Goura, who faithfully stood outside the Kurotama chopping wood and was only much later on given the title of magical boy.

They are the chikuwabu of season 1. And even the chikuwabu, who we might not initially think of as anything important or significant, is a key ingredient necessary for making our beloved story what it is. They support the story while playing their own parts.

They are all oden, guys. Everyone and everything is oden. This show and even us, we are all oden. Oden is love, oden is life, oden is never over.

[otakushrew]

For the fandom ask: Boueibu, perhaps? =D

How I learned about the show for this fandom: Okay, this was quite a trip, let me tell you...Flashback to last year’s Tora-Con. (A.k.a. the only anime convention I can easily access) Attending as a special guest is premier geek comedian Uncle Yo. The special guests will sometimes run their own panels. Uncle Yo ran several, one of which was a little something called “Uncle Yo’s Magical Girl Boot Camp”. I, kitted out in my humble Pokemon Trainer Leaf cosplay, attended this panel for obvious reasons. And it is during this panel, where he mentions the existence of Magical Boys, that I first encounter the well-known regulars of Kurotama Bath. He says the show is trash, but he loves it. Knows the series for what it is and his arguments for its inclusion makes sense. Shortly thereafter I watch the first episode at school, hanging out with friends at the student lounge. (Where I held court as one of the two Mom-friends.) My friend was confused. I was enchanted. And that’s how I became a Battle Lover.

Fave character(s): Kinugawa Atsushi and Hakone Goura.

Least fave character(s): I’ve got a few. VEPPer, Hireashi, Zundar, Devil Imp (Kinosaki, I think? The one who didn’t use the camera), and a mild dislike of Dadacha. (Sure, he looked after the twins, but let’s not forget that he was using those two just as much as Zundar and Wombat used their respective groups of boys.)

OTP(s): IoRyuu (any), Atsushi/my OC *is shot*, Platonic everything.

Pairing that everyone likes but I don’t get: Mostly romantic anything. Not out of “ew, dudes with dudes”, it’s just...most of the time I don’t see it the way others do. Almost like Yumoto vs. Kurotori’s "love me” feathers.

Fave thing about the fandom: The people. Definitely the people.

The most despised thing: Despise is a bit strong, y’know? I don’t really hate anything about this fandom. Sure, there are things I might not agree with 100%, but that’s normal. (Though I’d be lying if I said the dead/kill Tawarayama jokes haven’t become a touch uncomfortable. I mean, there’s still his grandkid, if you think about it. Make him live and keep him alive, ffs...)

If there is something I would change about the show, what would it be? Characters being more involved/developed. Season 2 was mostly focused on Yumoto, and they only really touched on the whole “hey the third years are going to graduate soon” in episode 1. Almost never mentioned again afterwards.

[asheepbyanyothername]

Past Lives

Every so often, Yufuin could be persuaded to walk to school with Kinshirou in the mornings. Yufuin would generally complain about it, especially since Kinshirou was one who liked to be at school early and Yufuin was…not. But Atsushi and the rest of the Defense Club had somehow convinced him that it would be a nice, romantic gesture, and so he had agreed. This did not make him any more pleasant in the mornings, however, and Kinshirou was used to walking next to a rumpled and half-awake Yufuin in questionably comfortable silence.

And if anybody asked why he decided to indulge Yufuin that morning, he would claim shock that Yufuin had started talking in the first place.

“Hey President,” Yufuin said suddenly, “do you think we were enemies in all of our past lives?”

Kinshirou blinked. “Are you talking?”

“About past lives.”

“Do you know what time it is?”

“Too early. Answer the question.”

“Is it already time for you to wax philosophical about life? This is a bit early in the day for you. Usually you wait until lunchtime at the least.”

“President, it’s too early for this. Stop messing around.”

“Could you please elaborate on the question?”

Yufuin sighed. “Well, we have pretty opposite personalities. I don’t think base personality changes that much between lives, so, in theory, we’d have had similar personalities throughout all of our incarnations. On a good day, we fight like cats and dogs, so our past selves were probably the same way, right?

“You’re assuming that we would have known each other in previous lives,” Kinshirou replied, pulling Yufuin to the side of the sidewalk in order to avoid an oncoming cyclist. “What makes you so sure we did?”

“I think Atsushi is definitely an anchor point.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hmmm.” Yufuin tilted his head up to stare at the sky in thought. “Well, I figure in every life there are some things that are different, and some that stay exactly the same. So pretend our life is a galaxy.”

“A galaxy?”

“Yeah, humor me. In this metaphor, we’re random planets. Now, not every planet belongs to the same galaxy. These would be the people you never meet. Then, there are meteors and stars and things in your galaxy that you have a possibility of meeting, but it isn’t a sure thing. And then there are planets that orbit around the same sun as you, so you’ve got to meet up with them at some point. Atsushi’s our sun.”

“I think I understand your theory, although your understanding of space is questionable-” Kinshirou paused to yank on Yufuin’s arm and stop him from walking into a pole. “Please pay attention to where you’re walking!”

“If you’re gonna watch out for me, I don’t need to worry,” Yufuin replied. “Anyway, the metaphor’s not exactly solid. There are bound to be multiple anchor points in someone’s life, so there would have to be multiple suns. But for our purposes, Atsushi is our overlapping sun.”

Kinshirou scowled at Yufuin’s flippant attitude towards pedestrian safety, but continued the conversation nonetheless. “Theoretically, then, in all of our past lives we’ve been mutual friends of Atsushi, but enemies to each other?”

“Not exactly. It’s not a given that we were friends with him, just that we both knew him. But the situations were probably different.”

“So, for instance, we were all daimyo in a past life, but while both of our houses had amicable relations with Atsushi’s, we were rivals?”

Yufuin chuckled. “Who says we were Japanese? Maybe we were American, and we were on opposite sides of the Civil War, and Atsushi was Abraham Lincoln. Or maybe we were Angolans during World War II, and you were UNITA, and I was MPLA, and Atsushi was Che Guevara.”

Kinshirou looked at Yufuin in astonishment. “Do you actually pay attention to your history lessons?”

Yufuin made a face.

“At any rate,” Kinshirou continued, “do you have any idea how old the world is? We would’ve had countless reincarnations, so it’s feasible that we’ve been Japanese before. All of those scenarios are plausible. In theory.”

Yufuin grinned. “But that doesn’t take into account the increasing population of the world. There are more people here today than there were even 200 years ago, so the newer people would’ve only lived a few cycles.”

“By your logic, we might be people who’ve only lived a few cycles. Maybe we’ve never been reincarnated at all, and this is our first time.”

“Nah, we’ve definitely been around for a while. How else could there have been so much animosity between us over a stupid curry incident? Clearly, that had been building up for centuries.”

“Hmph.” Kinshirou crossed his arms. “Perhaps I’ve just always hated curry, and not everything in my life boils down to petty arguments with, about, or surrounding you.”

“Impossible, curry’s delicious. You accrued bad karma in the past, and that’s why you were born with defective taste buds this time around.”

“Excuse me? I am not defective!”

“You know, you still haven’t answered my question.”

“About being enemies? Yes, I imagine that we always have been. Even when we get along, we fight.”

“Exactly. Which makes this life extra special, doesn’t it?”

“How so?”

Yufuin wrapped both of his arms around Kinshirou’s waist, resting his chin on the shorter boy’s shoulder. “Well, how many times do you think we’ve overcome our differences like this? And so early in life, too.”

Kinshirou flushed. “Get off, we’re in public!”

“I bet my past selves are so jealous,” Yufuin continued as if Kinshirou hadn’t spoken.

“You keep making all of these assumptions about our past lives with absolutely no evidence to back it up. There’s no reason to believe that we’ve never…been together in past lives.” Kinshirou pulled at Yufuin’s hands, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Fair enough. It’s just the feeling I get. Like, every time before this, you’ve been the Tybalt to my Romeo, but now you’re Juliet. Or, I guess you’re still Tybalt, but now Romeo is in love with Tybalt and not Juliet.”

“In the future, please put more effort into your metaphors.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll work on it. The point is, I just get the feeling that this is the first life where we’ve gone from being enemies to being close. So maybe the next life will be the same. Or maybe we’ll get over being enemies faster and faster.”

“And then what, Yufuin? What’s the point of all this? Honestly, let go, we’re standing where anyone can see!”

Yufuin swerved suddenly and pulled Kinshirou off of the sidewalk behind a small cluster of trees. “The point,” he said, pressing Kinshirou back into one of the trees, “is that the sooner we get over hating each other, the sooner we can do this.” He leaned down and brushed his lips over Kinshirou’s, and Kinshirou shuddered.

“We don’t have time for this,” Kinshirou said faintly. “Besides, you’re talking as if we’re supposed to be together in future lives too. Are we switching from reincarnation theory to soul mate theory?”

“I didn’t say that,” Yufuin said, kissing Kinshirou on the neck. “But since you suggested it, what do you think?”

“I didn’t suggest it,” Kinshirou replied, sliding a hand into Yufuin’s hair. “I don’t even believe in reincarnation.”

Yufuin kissed the corner of his mouth. “But if you did?”

“If I did, I think it would be implausible that we’ve never been together before. After all, some things are different, but some stay exactly the same.”

Yufuin smiled. “You know, if our chemistry in past lives was half as good as it is now, you’re right, there’s no way we haven’t been together before.” He slid a hand underneath Kinshirou’s jacket.

“Hold on a second, Yufuin, we don’t have time for this. We need to get to class.” In spite of his words, Kinshirou felt himself leaning in to Yufuin’s touch.

“We left early, it’ll be fine,” Yufuin said, sliding his hand around to Kinshirou’s back. Kinshirou reflexively pulled Yufuin closer.

“Besides,” Yufuin continued, “we’ve been deprived for centuries. We need to take advantage of the moment.”

“Yufuin, be serious,” Kinshirou said. “Everyone will be able to tell-” Yufuin silenced him with another kiss.

“I promise I won’t leave any marks unless you ask,” Yufuin whispered, and Kinshirou had a hard time remembering specifics after that.

Incidentally, that was the first and last time Kusatsu Kinshirou was late to class, in any of his incarnations.