#kota 100% done with humanity

[bnhaobservation]

I apologize for intruding in your post and I've to admit I can't be 100% sure of Horikoshi's stance and how much he documented himself here but I think a huge part of the problem lays in the fact Japan isn't really that much 'therapy friendly'.

Therapy exists, it's a viable option but for all my researches all I could find is that the social stance toward it is that you shouldn't need it but man up and face your problems and that your family should take care to support you.

Hence Touya doesn't get therapy when he starts burning himself in an attempt to regain his father's affection, nor when he snaps and attacks Shouto not because the family doesn't care but because... they don't think at it as a good option.

Nor Kota gets it after he lost his parents or Eri after she was freed from Chisaki.

If we assume that Quirk counsueling was kind of an equivalent of therapy for people with problems with their Quirk, we see that basically Horikoshi labels it as useless.

The kids at that elementary school get more help by interacting with Shouto and Co than by Quirk counseling, for Himiko Quirk counseling didn't work at all, it only tried to force her to 'act normal' and repress herself, the Heteromorphs were equally critics of it.

In chap 86 we're told the student received psychological evaluation and none of them suffered trauma. I would guess Bakugou, once saved received it as well... and it'll turn out they completely missed how he blamed himself for All Might's end.

And what about Rei who remained in a hospital for 10 years and only seemed to make progresses when Shouto visited her and when she felt she needed to do it after Touya's reveal?

Mind you, I'm not saying this sort of things don't help, but overall being in a hospital doesn't seem to give Rei any benefit and if we place this with the other instances of how therapy doesn't seem to work in the story, we get a story in which therapy never works.

Moving to prisons... in real life it seems they've started to implement therapy past 2000... but the implementation itself is very far behind.

In a fictional manga all this likely translated with Pop not even considering therapy could do good to Chisaki, or that he should ask authorities to give it to him, but that, as Chisaki's family, he should take responsibility and offer him his support, which is what he does.

As for the prothestics... I couldn't find out which is the stance about them in Japanese prisons... but I could find a prison banning the use of eyeglasses for an inmate as they "lent a menacing aura" to the man that risked "intimidating and inviting derision from" other prisoners.

The prisoner in question was a man in his 40s who has since been released and who had to live without glasses for months while jailed for a traffic law violation and whose eyesight was so bad that he ended up "bumping into other inmates" and suffering "bouts of strong headaches".

Lawyers has been called up as they said the decision violated human rights.

Now this is definitively way too little to give a judgement on prisons and prothestics and which is the societal stance on them and how a Japanese person like Horikoshi would represent the whole thing in his manga but it doesn't promise well. If it can be of some confort, Compress seems to have back his prothestic arm, but both his hands are kept tied, same as Geten. even though they're supposedly jailed.

They have it much better than Stain who seemed to be held tied permanently (though later he'll be shown free).

or of those inmates (who might be Muscular and Moonfish)...

Chisaki didn't have prothestics in Tartarus either and even if the story admits Tartarus has its hands full with accusations of human rights violations the story so far doesn't really bother to address this.

We don't even know if the contraption Touya is in, is done to keep him alive or to keep him from using his Quirk so as not to cause an explosion like he threatened to do previously. I hope it's just to keep him alive.

Who knows, maybe Hawks will promote for a more human handling of prisoners or the story will skip the whole topic.

For the moment though, I think in Horikoshi's mind Pop is thinking he's doing the best he can... which is likely more than what the prison felt like doing with him.

Of course, if you come from a country in which is believed therapy is a good option and all that's done to Chisaki constitute as a violation of human's rights you'll be not happy with what Pop is doing or by how the prison is handling him.

The real core of it all though is the intended audience. If Japanese readers are also disgusted they might push harder for a respect of humans' rights for inmates as well. If they instead accepts this as a normal punishment... what will impress them in the scene isn't the fact Chisaki's humans' rights are violates but that Pop will be there for him.

I'm honestly not sure of which one is true as Japan is changing on this sort of things so it can even be that BOTH are true at the same time and Japanese readers themselves are split in two groups.

For now we can only wait and see where Horikoshi will lead his story.

Said all this sorry again if I hijacked your post.

Why isn't Pops demanding better prison conditions for Chisaki? It's clear, Pops believes he's responsible for Chisaki, to the extend of wanting to scowl him until one of them dies. Yet, he's willing to turn a blind eye to Chisaki's mental and physical state? Where's Pops' so-called humanity?

Chisaki's mental state has deteriorated greatly since his arrest. He had his arms ripped off within the first hours in hero custody. He lost his arms, his quirk, and what he believed, was any chance to revive Pops, all at once. At no point, did any of the heroes think to send Chisaki to therapy to overcome the trauma, or even fit him with prothestics? Chisaki is unable to function without daily assistance now.

Yes, Chisaki is a villain—but where's Pops demanding to the guards that Kai get prothestics, all while scowling Chisaki about straying away from humanity? I'd expect Pops to be negotiating Chisaki's prison sentence, probably Kurono's too, reminding the heroes about the incident with the League and using whatever influence he has left to sway them.

At this point, Kai isn't capable of becoming Overhaul again, he's completely broken. Yet, Pops, and Izuku, are content with seeing Chisaki like this? What happened to saving the crying child or villain redemption?

[haleigh-sloth]

Hello,

I just found your page and after reading some of your mha posts had a couple things I wanted to ask if that's ok.

1. Since you feel Hawks is not justified because he could have chosen options other than killing Twice, do you think he would have been had he genuinely been made to choose between killing him and saving others? I.e. do you think it's just this killing in particular that was not justified and thus murder, or do you think heroes killing can never be justified, even if in self-defense or defense of others? If we take the "Heroes save people" maxim to its limits, it might be reasonable to argue for a deontological approach to ethics rather than a utilitarian one, so that killing one to save others is not justified because you actively break your code (as opposed to risking not being able to save others, which would be considered a lesser moral wrong under this mindset).

2. This might very well be a stupid question, but if we consider that heroes shouldn't treat others as an it and put them down for the "sake of society", do you feel this ought to extend to AFO too? I really don't mean to use this as a gotcha moment or anything like it, but I feel like if MHA is trying to move away from a punitive justice system in favour of a rehabilitative/restorative one, we ought to consider where people like AFO fall into this system as well. AFO is seemingly entirely unlike any of the other villains in the show, but if we judge that he deserves a different fate for this it also feels like playing into the "Some people just can't be saved" notion that's been perpetuated by hero society. It is of course entirely possible, if not likely, that he'll fall in battle, or that Shigaraki himself will kill him eventually, but I feel like that skirts the issue rather than answer it. As someone who does not seem to show any remorse, desire or even ability to be saved, and in fact feels rather inhuman, what should a reformed society even do with him? Even if we could convincingly argue him to be fundamentally different and thus deserving of punishment, it is much easier for us readers who have more information to make this call, rather than in-universe characters whose judgement will inevitably be based on something less than the full truth. So even if AFO's case in particular was easily answered, it would set a precedent for cases that may appear similar, but in truth be less clear cut. Basically, I believe you feel the villain league deserves another chance because they were victims of their circumstances, and thus not necessarily beyond salvation, because they never knew normality to begin with, but what about those who were not victims, those who by their nature have insurmountable trouble fitting into a peaceful society? Perhaps it's just my mistaken assumption that such people exist and I'm reading AFO wrong, or perhaps it's the opposite and I'm giving people like AFO undue consideration, or perhaps my assumption that AFO ought to be treated as a person rather than a carocature, a symbol, is flawed to begin with, but I just really don't think a manga that wants to argue that villains are people too should go "but here's THIS vile piece of shit, let's kill him!". Am I making sense here?

3. On another note, what do you think of Endeavor's recent speech and general recent development? I've seen some people who were upset by his "Would it fix everything if we showed you our tears" line, but rather than him being dismissive or callous I just see it as him awkwardly saying that he doesn't think anything other than actions can help him atone for what he did. He's still got a lot to work through, but him recognizing that he's got something to atone for and freely talking about what he did to his family is, as I find, certainly a huge step in the right direction.

WHOO hey! Sorry for taking a while to respond. You gave me some really well thought-out questions and I wanted to return the favor with well thought-out answers. Also I was heckin busy yesterday when you sent this. So, here we go:

To answer this question about Hawks, I first need to clarify what it means to be a hero in the eyes of the story that is BNHA:

This honestly doesn’t even make a dent in the amount of panels in BNHA that reiterate time and time again that heroes SAVE people, but I don’t feel like I should have to spend too much time looking for them, these I used above should suffice. The one with baby Midoriya and baby Tenko doesn’t even have any words in the panel, and it’s still powerful enough to get the message across. And make me cry.

Almost every story has its own “heroes” in it. And every story’s definition of a hero is different. In Marvel and DC superhero comics and movies, the heroes usually end up killing the villains, yes? I can’t say I’m familiar with these stories because they aren’t interesting to me in the slightest, but from the ones I HAVE seen, the final boss at the end dies. But all of the heroes get to keep their title of “hero”. That’s not really the standard we have in BNHA.

“Do you think it's just this killing in particular that was not justified and thus murder, or do you think heroes killing can never be justified, even if in self-defense or defense of others?”

So this is a fair point and I feel that the best way to answer this is by asking what you consider self defense? Say Hawks is at home mad chillin and not prepared for a fight in the slightest, and somebody breaks into his house and starts trying to hurt/kill him. He’s unprepared and at this point just trying to keep himself alive. If he ends up killing the guy, is he wrong? In my opinion, no. In real life this happens to people, and they aren’t considered murderers, as they shouldn’t be. To me, self defense is a situation where:

It’s either you or me. It’s one or the other.

I think it’s fair to say what happened with Hawks and Twice was absolutely NOT self defense. I’m not going to go into detail about how deciding to kill Twice was absolutely 100% premeditated, because there’s a wonderful post by someone else that already explains that in great detail here. But I’ll end this thought by saying that Hawks was not committing an act of self defense.

Nothing about this says “self-defense” to me.

“If we take the "Heroes save people" maxim to its limits, it might be reasonable to argue for a deontological approach to ethics rather than a utilitarian one, so that killing one to save others is not justified because you actively break your code (as opposed to risking not being able to save others, which would be considered a lesser moral wrong under this mindset).”

To make it simple for some people to understand these terms:

“Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on OUTCOMES.“ In a nutshell, utilitarian ethics means you make a decision based on how it will affect everything else.

“In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology is the normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than based on the consequences of the action.” In a nutshell, deontological ethics means you make a decision based on whether it follows rules or not.

So this is a complicated question, and my answer to this is....both? Throughout BNHA we’ve had this dilemma over and over again:

Break the rules and save the day? Or follow the rules and possibly suffer the consequences? Well, BNHA just says “Yes” lol. Do both. Break the rules and save the day. Make a decision based on the consequences of said decision, but also try to follow the rules as best as you can. Even in reality, people do this to get through life. You really can’t live life under a strict utilitarian approach or a strict deontological approach. If Midoriya hadn’t persisted against his classmates and the law to go save Bakugo, he WOULD have gotten kidnapped AGAIN. They were actively trying to take him with them. If Midoriya didn’t break the rules to save Kota, Kota would have straight up DIED. Muscular was actively trying to kill Kota, not to mention Kota had zero ways of defending himself. But here’s where I don’t think this is a fair comparison:

Hawks claims his killing of Twice was to save others. I don’t completely disagree with this logic, if the situation was more dire and dangerous for Hawks. The league was taking peoples’ lives. Somebody had to do something. The problem is that Twice was RUNNING AWAY when Hawks killed him. Twice wasn’t fighting Hawks back, he wasn’t endangering Hawks himself. Hawks stabbed him in the back. AND Hawks had Dabi to worry about, who was actively trying to attack Hawks. But Hawks chose to murder Twice instead of fending off Dabi. And if you refer back to the post I linked above about how it was a premeditated decision to kill Twice, you’ll see that Hawks had the capability of knocking Twice unconscious. He should have done this from the get go. And honestly? There are other heroes who could have captured Twice. There SHOULD have been other heroes to capture Twice. If Hawks was the only hope for the heroes in that war then jeez, the heroes suck at their jobs.

So TLDR for this question: Hawks’s circumstances were not drastic enough for him to be justified in killing Twice. As I said above, self-defense is one thing, where yes I could understand how if a life is lost while defending oneself is probably inevitable in some cases. But this wasn’t self defense. Twice was running away. Hawks should also be able to rely on his hero comrades to help him out.

Instead Hawks chose to be law-enforcement, judge, and executioner all in one moment.

I hope this answers your question? I tried my best. If I misunderstood or missed a talking point, feel free to shoot me a message or another ask.

Next question:

Believe me. I have thought about this! What about AFO? He’s human too isn’t he? You have a point. Should the restorative justice system extend to AFO? I would say yes. If I’m going to stick to my guns that the villains deserve restorative justice and not punitive justice, I should be fair and say it should extend to all villains.

The problem is not in the idea of exploring saving AFO, it’s just that there simply isn’t enough time to explore this in the story. If Horikoshi had said “I’m not going anywhere guys! We’re in this for the long haul!” I’d say it’s possible to explore that route. We don’t know anything about AFO except from what we’ve seen on screen, and what we’ve been told by All Might and the other OFA holders. Which still isn’t much to go on. You’re not giving AFO undue consideration. It’s definitely a deserved consideration. There are people in the story (and the real world) who may not be victimized in any way and end up being villains. Do they deserve a chance? I’d say yes. It’s in my nature as a social worker irl to give people the benefit of the doubt and give them a chance to learn. You’re right that in the end, the league being saved and the characters not considering what could have led AFO to villainy is just “skirting around the problem.” And honestly, that’s probably what we’re going to get. I wouldn’t be surprised for the thought to pass in Midoriya’s head. After saving somebody like Shigaraki, who everybody in the story (and many readers) considered to be “too far gone”, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Midoriya entertained the thought for a brief moment. “What could have saved AFO from himself?” So honestly I don’t have an answer to this question that qualifies both sides. I can’t say that AFO is “too far gone” without undermining that fact that I never believed Shigaraki was “too far gone”, simply because we don’t get to decide what “too far gone” is.  All I can say is that in the eyes of the story, there are far too many differences between AFO’s circumstances and Shigaraki’s circumstances to compare the two, and say they deserve the same type of sympathy from us readers.

Truly I have no sympathy for AFO, because the story doesn’t ask for it. The story wants sympathy for Shigaraki, Toga, Touya, Spinner, and even a tiiiiiny bit for Overhaul. It asks for NONE for AFO.

Another post I’ll link here that isn’t by me but by another awesome meta blogger (@hamliet​) is this.

In a nutshell it says:

It’s not that AFO can’t be saved, it’s that he won’t. That’s the best answer I can give to that question honestly.

As for the third question:

That press conference was just...eh. I mean yeah, Endeavor not denying the allegations was good. Not that he really could anyway. It sucks for the rest of his family though. But at the same time Touya deserved his revenge, even though it was at the expense of his siblings and mother. It sucks, it’s a double edged sword because somebody is hurting no matter what was gonna happen. Endeavor was an asshole to that lady but I don’t really care too much. I’m really torn on what I think is going on inside Enji’s head because the Todofam is either extremely dense, or Horikoshi is writing their dialogue extremely vague on purpose to keep reader’s on the edge of their seats regarding what they want to do about Touya. I really don’t know. I’m not thrilled with the way the Todofam plot is being written right now, even though I’m 100% sure Touya is going to get his happy ending. But right now anything to do with the Todofam that isn’t Shoto and Touya just bothers me. I don’t think Enji really understands yet what he has to do for Touya. Yes he recognizes that he has to atone, but he’s not recognizing HOW he has to atone. Right now he’s still stuck in that “I have to be a hero to absolve my crimes against my family” headspace and I don’t think he’s going to get out of that headspace until he comes face to face with his son and realizes that he can’t just fight villains and go home to a happy family that he terrorized for 20 years. He’s going to have to let his family go, let them decide when to let him back in, if they ever do (I think they will just because of the way the story is being written.) As a reader, Enji is just a character that I cannot vibe with, no matter what happens. I definitely appreciate his role in the story. His role is vital to Touya’s saving and redemption. Touya is in my top 3 favorite characters from this series and I’m emotionally invested. So while I appreciated Enji’s role in the story, I don’t like his character or anything to do with him, at least until it comes time to help save his son. Also the trio of Hawks, Best Jeanist, and Enji just gives me major back the blue vibes and I just can’t read their chapters and be in a good mood lol.

Thank you for the ask! I hope I answered everything! This was fun to answer!

[ignitification]

It’s me the Shigaraki survivalist again lol

It’s cool you don’t agree I guess I just want to get my thoughts out

You said it’s unrealistic for Deku to save Shigaraki and them to work together—but the way I see it is that’s exactly what the story has been building up to. In a world where nothing is really “unrealistic” I really truly think it’s very in the realm of where the story is going. Shigaraki does look tired, because he has never been given a break. The thing is, BNHA isn’t a tragedy! (I think Hawks’s arc will be a tragedy but that’s a whole different discussion)

I just cannot see how Deku will be crowned “the greatest hero who ever lived” meanwhile the one person who needed him most is lying there dead. It just doesn’t feel convincing, especially in a shonen story. As far as the story is concerned, Shigaraki is still a child and never had a chance to grow up (it’s a coming of age story for Deku and Shigaraki). And you can’t celebrate being the greatest hero who ever lived while a “child” is dead. And I 100% expect Shigaraki and Touya to be very difficult to save (kinda like Kota from the training camp arc, but Deku saved him didn’t he?)—they’re gonna decline the help at first obviously. They have no reason to trust heroes, which is why I think Deku and Shoto are going to have to prove that they mean it—and they will, because they do.

I just feel like Shigaraki dying completely cancels out Deku’s main goal of “saving everybody”—which has been his thing since the beginning. Shigaraki was, in the eyes of the narrative, All Might’s responsibility to save, and he failed. Not only is Deku going to have to clean up the OFA/AFO mess, he’s gonna have to clean up the mess that All Might could have prevented (I’m not blaming All Might completely but as far as the story is concerned, and All Might is concerned—he definitely bares some responsibility for Tenko’s fate).

It’s as you said we don’t know what Horikoshi is going to do, but a girl can hope lol

I just don’t feel like the story is going to end with the message of “not everybody can be saved”. I just feel that there is so much more hope in this story than people give it credit for! Shonen typically reeks of hope and optimism, and even now BNHA still has that hopeful, optimistic energy, not grimdark realism. I think Horikoshi will pull this off and it’s gonna be awesome. And if you are right and Shigaraki does die, I honestly will consider it a huge waste of a character who could have and should have been saved, just like Touya, who I also think is 100% going to make it out alive.

Hey, Shigaraki Survivalist!

Glad you’re putting you opinion out here. 

Getting onto matters, I would like to maybe clarify my statement: I do not think it is unrealistic for Shigaraki and Deku to work together (I think rather that it would be absolutely fair, and maybe cathartic) and I do agree that is what is likely to happen, sooner or later. 

As for BNHA not being a tragedy, I think that it already is. Look at how Touya, Shigaraki and the same Izuku grew up: discriminated against, bullied, neglected and abused. If this is not a tragedy, I do not know what is. But if by that you meant that the general mood of the story is supposed to be one of instilling hope and instead letting people know that there is always a way one, and that there is still some possibility of saving if there is a will. I fully agree on that. The themes in BNHA are the real tragedy, but you are absolutely right when you say that the message is ‘People make mistakes. But that’s not the end. They can change and correct those mistakes, apologise, amend. Things can change.’ and not ‘Not everyone can be saved’ (even if, here, I would like to argue that Twice’s death message is exactly that but I don’t want to digress).

Also, not going to lie, I really like the positivity I feel from your message. It puts a smile on my face thinking that there is someone out there fully believing that salvation will come because there is someone who wants it to come. It’s a good thing. It’s a thing I, for one, do not have so thank you for doing that, this really brightened my evening. 

Now, onto a more heavy part of the post. I wanted to talk about All Might, and how he did fail, even if not entirely by himself, to save Shigaraki. First of all, I would like to notice the particular panel which tells us that ‘You can save only those you can reach’. 

This panel is telling in more ways than one. All Might specifically addresses Izuku in saying this, while not literally meaning it (or at least not expecting Izuku to understand it so literally). All Might ( and I talked about it here) is a character which sets up the bar high for Hero standards (and is seen as an idol so far gone, that no one could ever possibly reach him) - and that is exactly why Izuku bears this 'lesson' stoically and tries to save everyone ever more than before. Because if All Might could do it, Izuku feels like he should be able as well (while not considering the disproportion in between them, and I mean in experience and just relatively emotionally).

I mean Izuku feels a high burden with OfA, and to deal with AfO, and sometimes he can get very much extreme - but exactly for that, as you said, he would never feel as if he succeeded if he does not manage to save Shigaraki. Because if All Might is capable of brushing this aside, justifying himself by saying that he couldn't have done anything to prevent it and that it is impossible after all to save everyone, Izuku is not. Izuku feel so deeply that he cries for others, he rages for others, he longs for others with a great smile on his face because that is what it's expected of him.

And he likes to fulfil those expectation, whether that kills him, injuries him or anything else (as we saw him being all bandaged up in 299 and with no sign to recover any soon). 

However, this what I mean when I say that Tomura looks tired: 

He fails to understand how him not being saved is not actually a fault of someone (heroes/society, you name it - even if he does realise much later), but his first instinct as a kid is to blame himself and to tell that this, is is his punishment. He deserved it. And he does deserve to a degree what has happened to him since, because he is guilty of something he will never be able to forgive himself for and that is why he is they he is now.

I do think, that Touya, even being more self-destructive than Shigaraki, is an easier subject to save. I am not saying this because I think Dabi’s trauma or problems are easier to solve, but because Shouto understood him (to some extent) and with the sentence ‘I am him? referring to Touya and his intentions he is unwillingly showing us that Touya’s path to redemption (summed with Endeavour’s arc) are all pointing at Touya being saved, no matter how bad the situation gets. He, still scarred and lonely, does have a family out there caring for him. Or at least wanting to get to the bottom of things and not leave him to burn to death, alone. Again.

Shigaraki, on the other hand, does not have such a thing. Kurogiri has been captured, AfO is using him and the only guy who thought of Tomura as a human being, other than a bad villain, is Deku. I do not want say that this is not enough, but with all the burden that Izuku is already carrying at the moment, can he also bear on himself the weight of saving Shigaraki? I really hope he does, but as anyway as it will be, I think that Deku will try. He will try to get that hand reaching out to Tomura and even if skeptical about it, I hope Shigaraki takes the chance and takes it. He does deserve a break. He deserves a blanket, a cup of steaming tea and a hot long nap in a warm bed. A hug is optional. 

One of the themes I never touched upon is also, the found family of the League and Hawks. I really am waiting for more insight into the League’s members feeling for Twice, and maybe holding a funeral. I am also waiting for them to discuss Hawks. 

On which, my last point for this post: Hawks’ story, serves as a parallel to Dabi’s. We see how the abuse can bring to two extremes: one becoming a villain and focusing on hate, and the other focusing on idolising and becoming a hero (and in the meantime trying to forget everything else). I want Hawks to face consequences for his actions, and I want him to understand that he, too, is a victim and that atoning for his father’s crimes is not the way to go. He also needs to break free of the past and let go. I really hope that instead of clinging into past ideals and Endeavour, he realises that there is something highly wrong with the society he is fundamental part of and that he break free. If he doesn’t, as has been already put out there by some amazing posts I read, it will after all end in tragedy. Once a friend told me how Hawks was a tragic hero, and I might disagree but I do think that the name is fitting. But it’s not like that will change things. Only we can - and I hope everyone realises that.

-

p.s. Look at this panel, during the last moments of fight between Shigaraki and Deku.

And after that the realization of Izuku, that Shigaraki, who he does want to save is not only suffering internally, but as well externally, because of AfO and whatever is going on. Exhausted beyong recognition.

Look at Shigaraki's form. He looks like he is right about to collapse. There is a hand stretched out, in help, in resignation, in sadness, in pain. But his other hand is almost clenching, hard, noy wanting to let go. Tomura is after all trying to fight the entity within him, while also trying not to lose himself and look out for everything that might come in its way outside.

And finally, there is someone who looks through the hand on his hand, through the cracks of his identity, through every wall Tomura has put in between himself and others in order to protect them, and himself, from the absolute monster he thinks he is.

And it's, at the same time both ironic and daunting how these same words are also the works Deku speaks to Kacchan while saving him from the Sludge Villains. There is a direct parallel between Katsuki, who had hated Deku while being afraid of being inferior to him and that did not want his helo because he would feel too weak, and Shigaraki, who has no will of getting himself saved by anyone, but especially by the kid that denied him the objective of gaining OfA and defeating everything and the same kid who seems to feel something other than disgust for him. Both Katsuki and Shigaraki are opposites to Izuku.

So, if Izuku saved Kacchan, who in return saved Deku after accepting the fact that he and Izuku, are, after all, hero AND friends who care about each other, it would be nice to see where this is going to go with Tomura. And see if, maybe, just maybe, it is possible for Shigaraki to stop being Shigaraki and be Shimura Tenko instead.

[palettepainter]

What exactly happened, that Eri needed to rewind Shigaraki back into Tenko?

The story is still in the works so I;ll just idea dump here. The basics of this idea will remain the same, the problem is figuring out WHEN this all happens-

So if you’ve seen any of the manga chapters involving Shigiraki you know that Shigiraki goes from 0 to 100 real fast, I’ve tried to remain oblivious to the manga because I don’t want to spoil anything more, but spoilers are kinda..everywhere (mostly on insta) so sadly I have been spoiled for some of the more bigger events in the chapters. Anyway so way way in the future when Deku defeats Shigiraki he’s taken to a tartarus and is watched by cameras all the time (sorta like how All for One was held in Tartarus). The plan was the have Shigiraki moved overseas for his execution, they wanted Shigiraki to be far away from the city, and they planned for the execution to be private so as it could be done quickly.

Along the line Eri finds out about Shigiraki through her husband Kota (Eri and Kota in my NGAU are married), again not sure how but Eri then finds out about Shigiraki’s past as Tenko and the history with his family (if you don’t want to be spoiled don’t look up what I mean), and Eri offers a more humane solution to the problem. Kota and Deku back her up on her idea to rewind Shigiraki, it took a little more persuasion for others - but they’re eventually able to persuade Aizawa and Mic too, and the board soon agree to have Shigiraki turned back into Tenko. 

Rewinding Shigiraki back into Tenko was also done in private - the plan was to have Shigiraki sent overseas for his execution, but instead of executing he was rewound back into Tenko. Eri and Kota adopted Tenko as their own, as it would be easier to fool the public that he was their biological child (Eri’s red eyes, Kota’s black hair). Eri and Kota tried to keep him out of the public eye for as long as they could, they even took work leave for about a year or two and went to live with Kota’s aunt Mandalay and the rest of the wild wild pussy cats to make sure Tenko was comfortable. But with both being working adults, Eri running a therapy centre and Kota training to be a hero (Kota is training under Deku to be the next user of One for All), they eventually returned to the city - Tenko lives a normal happy life and is unaware of his past life as Shigiraki - Aizawa, Mic and other pro hereos took measures to make sure all media products of Shigiraki’s past where destroyed 

[iluvsexyvoltageguys]

Merry Smutmas ~ Iori

Fandom: Scandal in the Spotlight (Love 365)

Pairing: Iori x Reader

“Ho, ho, ho!” Iori’s voice bellowed out from the door into your apartment, startling you a bit. The clomping of his boots became louder and louder as he made his way into the living room and you had to stifle a laugh at his appearance.

A huge red felt suit hung over his frame, a false stomach giving the impression of him being even larger than he already was, and a fake white beard making him look about 40 years older. The band had hosted a holiday event for a local show and somehow convinced Iori to dress up as Santa Claus and take pictures with everyone.

“So, Santa, how was your trip? Did Rudolph guide your sleigh safely back home?” You giggled a little at your own joke, as he sat on the couch beside you, reaching under his coat to remove the false stomach and tossing the padding into the corner of the room so he could properly relax. “Did Kota dress up as an elf and help you pass out presents?” You asked.

“Unfortunately, Rudolph had other commitments. And no, Kota did not dress like an elf, so I was the only one who looked like an idiot there.”

You could hear the tiredness in his voice, so you moved closer to him, resting your head on his shoulder. “I’m sure the kids appreciated it, though.”

“They did, but I am so sick of people sitting on my lap. There must have been at least 100 kids who attended and every single one wanted a picture. My thighs started to get sore,” he sighed. “They kept pulling on my beard and asking if it was real.”

“I thought you liked when I sat on your lap, though.” Your tone was teasing, lighthearted. Adjusting your sweatshirt to flash him a peek of your lacy thong, you noticed the subtle clench of his jaw when he saw the fabric between your legs. Iori knew he was a goner, he could never resist you.

Grabbing your waist, Iori tugged you towards him until your ass rested on his thigh. “You’re right, I can make an exception for you.”

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you adopted a sickly sweet voice. “You know, Santa, I think I’ve been an awfully good girl this year.”

His hand pushed your thin sweatshirt further up, his hand moving to gently cup your ass. He wanted nothing more than to just take you right here, right now, but he was enjoying the game you had started. “Really, is that so? Because I can think of a few naughty things that you’ve done this year.”

Shifting closer to him, you pushed your chest out, trailing a finger up his shirt, stopping right at the exposed skin of his neck. He inhaled sharply, his body reacting immediately to your light touch. “Really? Was it naughty when I let you finger me under the table at the charity fundraiser? Or fuck me in the bathroom at Takashi’s apartment? Or what about the time I let you tie me to the bed and tease me with a vibrator?” Rolling your hips, you could feel him starting to grow hard against you. “Because I thought that I was just being your good girl.”

You softly palmed him through the fabric, still using his thigh for your own pleasure as words continued to spill from your mouth. “Or when you got home from a trip a few days ago and I wore nothing but your shirt and stilettos when you came home?”

Iori’s eyes glinted dangerously, his hand on your ass now squeezing the soft flesh. Those memories combined with you in his lap, giving him that innocent smile that could turn even the strongest man to mush, made his cock twitch. “I thought what you did yesterday was pretty naughty, sending me dirty pictures while I was out with the guys. And then leaving me voicemails of you playing with yourself.”

He could remember the moment he saw those notifications pop up on his phone, immediately tucking his phone back in his pocket so that none of the guys could peek at them. The boner he had, however, was much harder to hide for the rest of the night. Eventually, he found himself in the bathroom, jerking himself off as the voicemail played, your voice detailing exactly what you were doing to yourself, what you wanted him to do to you, words turning to moans and soft cries as you grew closer and closer to your high.

Sliding your hips forward again, you felt his muscles tense underneath you but that didn’t stop your actions, continuously working yourself against him. The fabric of his costume was soft between your thighs, the lace of your underwear providing a minimal barrier.

“But don’t pretend you didn’t love those pictures and that message, that you didn’t like seeing and hearing me come around my own fingers while saying your name.” You accentuated your words with sharp movements of your hips, shamelessly grinding your core against his thigh.

Without a second’s pause, Iori’s hand came down hard against your ass, causing you to rock against him, your pussy practically dripping. “I did love it, you’re right. But I prefer it when you come around my cock. Or on my tongue.”

The whimper that left your mouth was barely human as you pressed yourself harder against the rock hard muscles of Iori’s thigh, bringing you ever closer to release. His hand landed another harsh spank, before massaging the now reddened skin.

His hand tugged your sweatshirt over your head to expose your breasts, tweaking a nipple roughly. Leaning into his touch, you could feel his cock twitch, the layers of fabric becoming constraining. Wrapping your arms around his neck, you worked yourself against him until you finally felt your orgasm wash over you, your panties now ruined.

Unbuckling the lower half of his outfit, Iori shuffled the pants down enough that his cock, hard and leaking pre-cum, was exposed. He tugged you unceremoniously into his lap, your covered core rubbing against his length, drawing a soft hiss from him. “Are you going to ride me like a good girl?” he asked teasingly, his hands already beginning to push your underwear to the side, teasing your entrance with his fingers.

Nodding, you tried to lower yourself onto him, but his hands held you in place, quickly ripping the sides of your thong and yanking the now useless piece of clothing from your body. “I’m not sure if you deserve it.”

You whimpered, but he held fast, just running the head of his cock against your slit, letting your wetness coat his length. “Please, Iori,” you pleaded.

“Please what?”

“Please fuck me, please,” you begged, the words just tumbling out as you pleaded in desperation. He acquiesced immediately, sheathing himself inside you, groaning as the warm heat of your body welcomed him.

Moaning wantonly, you could feel the pleasurable stretch as your body adjusted to his size. Iori yanked the fake beard from his face, hurling it carelessly out of the way, so that he could easily kiss you, lips slotting against each other. He groaned into your mouth as you began to ride him.

His mouth skimmed over your neck and chest, loving the noises you made and the way your pussy clenched around him as he toyed with your nipples. Bracing your hands on his shoulders, you rode him, body rolling against him, as his hands gripped your ass firmly, guiding your motions. “I’m not going to last long. Get on your knees, I want to finish on those pretty tits of yours.”

A whimper came out as you slowly lifted yourself off of him, kneeling on the floor between his legs. Iori stroked his cock slowly, your mouth practically watering at the sight, so you inched closer, helping him out by taking the tip in your mouth. His hand swiftly went to the back of your head, pushing you further onto his dick until your nose was pressed against his pelvis, holding you there. “You take my cock so well, just like that.”

He slowly pulled his hips back to allow you to catch your breath, before doing that again, waiting until your eyes were watering slightly to pull back again. “Can I fuck that pretty mouth?”

Nodding enthusiastically, you let him slide his dick between your lips, relaxing so that he could control the pace. The head of his cock hit the back of your throat with every thrust, his large hands cupping the back of your head to keep you in place. He finally pulled back, eyes a little glossed over, chest heaving. “I’m close.”

“Are you going to cum on me and remind me that I’m yours?” Biting your bottom lip, you inched even closer to him, admiring the way his hand worked along his cock, continuing to urge him on with your words. “I love the feeling of being covered in your cum, does that make me naughty?”

“Fuck, ______.” He came with a throaty moan, ropes of warm cum landing across your chest. Leaning forward, he tenderly used his thumb to wipe off a stray drop that had landed on your chin.

Wrapping your hand around his wrist, you sucked his thumb into your mouth, looking up at Iori to see his expression, wide-eyed and lust-filled. “So, have you decided if I’ve been good or bad this year, Santa?” you asked, a teasing grin on your face.

Iori laughed loudly, never ceasing to be amused by your playful demeanor. “Oh, you’ve definitely been naughty. But I love it.” He helped you to your feet before setting you back down in his lap, wrapping his arms around your naked body and snuggling closer.

“If you think this is naughty, you should wait and see what I have planned for Christmas.”

SITS Masterlist

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 29 Day 18 Review (Aug 11th 2019, Tokyo, Nippon Budokan)

B Block Finals:

Toru Yano vs. Jeff Cobb  **1/2

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Taichi  ****1/2

Juice Robinson vs. Jon Moxley  ****

Hirooki Goto vs. Shingo Takagi  ****3/4

Tetsuya Naito vs. Jay White  ****+

The B Block came to an end with a really fun show held in front of a white hot Budokan crowd. Toru Yano and Jeff Cobb’s respective G1 came to an end with an entertaining, but preposterous match, when Cobb pinned YTR with Tour Of The Islands at 5:18, after surviving Yano’s antics (and rolls of tape stuffed down his tights. Ishii and Taichi had a tremendous encounter next, that might very well be the best match I’ve ever seen Taichi in. I’ve no idea why he doesn’t work like this all the time, but if he did more of this, and less of the human sloth stuff, he’d actually be pretty well thought of. This was a fast paced, all-action 11:56 hard-hitter, with Ishii doing everything possible to get Dangerous T out of Taichi. After Taichi nailed him with a series of Dangerous Backdrop Drivers, Ishii popped back up, but ate a gamengiri then was pinned with Black Mephisto. This was excellent, and could very well have been the best bout of the night.

Jon Moxley fell to Juice Robinson next, in a very heated outing. This wasn’t as good as their Ryogoku match in June, but was still great, and had the crowd pretty much 100% behind Juice. They even started to shout “Juice” and “Mox” and one point when they were exchanging blows. It all lead to a really good atmosphere. Moxley worked over Juice’s knee he injured in the White match on Thursday, and Robinson did a tremendous sell-job throughout. The story to this was that in their previous encounter, Juice succumbed to Moxley’s desire to make it a brawl, and it cost him. But here, he had no intention of doing the same, as any time plunder was brought in by Mox, Juice got rid of it. Moxley thought he had the match won whilst having Juice locked in an STF, so broke the hold like a fool to celebrate. To be fair, he should have won as Juice was blatantly done, but hey ho, that’s pro wrestling. Robinson battled back, hitting the Left Hand and Pulp Friction to end Moxley’s G1 at the 16:26 mark. In a match that I would have killed for 10 years ago, Shingo defeated Goto in an unbelievable war that lived up to the high hopes I had for it. These guys pounded each other in wonderful fashion for 15 minutes, as Budokan went crazy for it. Shingo, along with Ishii, has been something else in this G1, having consistently great matches throughout, and looking like a star. These guys beat the hell out of each other with hard Lariats, firearms and headbutts, before Shingo scores a near fall with Made In Japan, turned Goto inside out with a gigantic Pumping Bomber, then got the win with Last Of The Dragon, to put an end to Goto and his G1 hopes. Backstage, Takagi officially announced his permanent move to heavyweight.

Which meant the Naito/White main event was to determine who won the Block. This was another great match, but nowhere near either guys best match of the tournament, though the high stakes elevated the drama considerably. It must be said that Naito looked a little rough here, he seemed off on a few spots, and botched a reverse rana spot, all of which makes me concerned for where he’ll end up, physically speaking. The guy has landed on his head A LOT in the last 5 years. The match was slow and methodical, but really picked up in the final few minutes, with a hot closing stretch. Naito tried Destino, but Jay just lay down, laughing, then hit two nasty looking Saito Suplexes, followed by the Kiwi Krusher, for a near fall. Naito escapes Blade Runner, hits the aforementioned botched reverse rana, and hits Destino for a great near fall. Jay escaped another Destino attempt and hits the sleeper Suplex, then they had a tremendous, and very tense, battle of counters and reversals in which Jay goes for Blade Runner, but Naito countered into another Destino attempt, then Jay would try the Sleeper Suplex again, but Naito countered into another Destino attempt, until Jay finally hit the Sleeper Suplex, followed up with the cross-arm Bloody Sunday, and the match-winning Blade Runner at 18:51 to win the match, the Block, and to put an end to Naito’s hopes of ever being The Ace.

In the post match, White called out Ibushi, and told him that tomorrow, Gedo wouldn’t be at ringside. He and Gedo then attacked Ibushi, culminating in Jay destroying Kota’s leg with multiple chair shots, in an attempt to gain the dastardly upper hand. I like this match up, it’s a good old fashioned beloved baby face vs. nefarious heel encounter, that I have no doubt with be a fantastic, dramatic affair.

NDT

[osakawise]

OSAKAWISE002 TALK CONTENTS IN ENGLISH

Translators:Fu Kawashima and Tomoka Moli

Editor:Kota Tensaka

-8:40 Kota(K): Goon evening, for OSAKAWISE series two, I will be delivering from NOON+CAFE in Osaka, whilst welcoming a guest tonight. We actually met around 15 years ago when I first started going to clubs, as well working together here at NOON to organise parties, an artists that I admire; I have invited Taichi aka RHy-s. Taichi (T): Good evening K: Today, I’d like to interview Taichi regarding his performances of course, but also about his music production and recent activities. Oh and, Taichi, you’re the manager of NOON, correct? T: At the moment, although NOON is a nightclub in the night time, but there’s been efforts to open this place as a CAFE during the day. I manage the space in the evenings; when it turns into a nightclub, bookings for live events and managing the bar area. So yeah, you could say I’m the manager for the night time. K: I see. I’m guessing you’re interacting and meeting with a lot of local artists, as well as contributing to parties with variety of genres, so it’d be great if I could ask you about the Osaka music scene later on. For now, if you could explain briefly the equipment you’re going to use for LIVE show tonight, but I notice you don’t have your laptop with you? T: I went through a period of using a laptop, but I found that it was troublesome; in that there were probability that the songs would stop playing all of a sudden, I feel like the risks are too high to be using it for LIVE performances. Since it’ll be the end if the PC breaks down. Other than that, I mainly use two Electribe from KORG; the SX and MX. It’s three generation prior to the newest versions with vacuum tubes. I use SX as a main to create beats and put filters on the drums. With MX, I hardly hit the drums, but instead, I use the feature which allows you to produce 5 different synths to create that bass and upper sounds. I do use some sampler sounds from the SX, for example putting in speeches from films. Oh and, sampler using ROLAND SP-404; I don’t use the pre-recorded samples, but I record upper sounds without beats at home, then incorporate it in here and I use that a lot. K: Do you also record environmental sounds? T: oh yeah yeah, I remember last year when a massive typhoon hit OSAKA, I recorded downstairs at my apartment, and it had that `the end of the world` kind of sounds that I use a lot when playing LIVE. Lets give it a listen. -00:15:00

T: Sounds mad doesn’t it? haha Cranes nearby was swaying and made a melodic sound... I took my iPhone outside to record it... So yeah, I use SP-404 for things like this. Also I bought the ROLAND SPACE ECHO RE-20 recently, and I use it a lot; its pretty good for how it decays the songs, and by using it, I feel like it puts together the sound nicely. K: I see. Just started career using TAICH as his artist name for DJing, today I would like him to perform live as RHy-s. Later on, I would like to share with you facts and information on his music career, as well as party information in OSAKA. To all you listeners, you can download the Mixlr app and subscribe for an account, which will allow you to interact with us through the chat. If you have any questions to RHy-s, or comments, anything is welcome for us to make it a topic for today’s show. Before we move on to the LIVE, is there anything you would like to say to the listeners? T: Today I resembling the vibe from a normal LIVE set. I wouldn’t know how todays set would sound for you via internet, since I’ve only done it at home and at the nightclubs, but I hope you all will enjoy my LIVE set. K: I’m looking forward to this one! Let’s go!

-1:00:17 K: OSAKAWISE series two, delivering from here, NOON with guest RHy-s. Wow, that was phenomenal! T: Was I too keen? haha K: You just played for around 40 minutes, is this how long you’d usually play？ T: LIVE sets require focus so I usually only as for around 30 minutes. The longest was 90 minutes, but it gave me time to think haha K: For real! When I watch the set right in front of you, you’re always moving your hands and I do think it requires skills; but speaking of tunes, if you played them like in the first half, I reckon you could reach 2 hours?

T:

Yeah I could do it, if the concept of the LIVE show was like you said, more like techno,dancey sounds. When I play for longer though, I’d have to assemble tunes to some extent, so I feel like the improvisation vibes will be diminished.

K:

Yeah, since you’re playing in real time.

T:

Fundamentally, There’s the sequences I already made, and use them to take it in and out or change them. Or even remake them.

K:

Are you committed to the style of LIVE shows?

T:

For sure!

At first, I wanted to make tunes that I’m 100% satisfied with, a tune where I know its good whenever I listened back to it, for my own sake.

But from then, I changed my views when I was performing live in front of crowd and organizing parties like DEPTH at NOON.It really influenced me through the party style and LIVE sets.

At that time,in heads and IDM locality, There were artists who made completed sick tunes that were played on the LIVE set performances. I also saw a lot of LIVE sets of artists abroad, but even if it was one of my favorite artist, how it just finished with just performing already composed tune on their laptops didn't feel right; I almost felt disappointed that I watched their live performances haha

LIVE sets really is all about experience. It’s important for audience to enjoy the good music, but there has to be that element of impact of stimulation on the audience.

By the way, the LIVE set that left the most impression for me is Ceephax Acid Crew.

It was like listening to a hard core band’s live. I would always want to see his LIVE sets.

K:

I personally like how your LIVE set has that element of nervousness. There’s always that risk of making mistake, but there’s things that can only happen and be experienced in that space and time.

T:

Hmm, its in that moment you know, that's why I wouldn’t want it to be recorded sometimes. But I think it would be interesting for those listening to the live set.

I think I can create the atmosphere of a sense of live to a certain extent.

The reason I started to produce dance track was when custom law of ‘dancing is prohibited’ was set. So I opposed by just creating dance tracks haha

Till then I was only focused on music that can blow minds.

So yeah, then that influenced the counter movement of dancing at bars, not just dance floor of clubs; left an impression not just on the environment but the production side too.

K:

So I see, music production is influenced and inspiration are born from the environment too then.

A bit like the emotions trigger the production of tunes…

This is just my personal impression, but Taichi you’re usually sociable person, I just don't hear that side of your character in the music. I sense more darkness, anger and sadness.

T:

When I’m working at NOON, from the external perspective, I feel like I have to be that person with responsibilities, and I am like that. But when its music related, I feel like I can do anything and its liberating; I can deliver a message about my thoughts and what I like through music.

K:

How is your music production recently?

T:

Not really sampling, but I have been using 1 bar patterns a lot recently.

I don't build up on that really.

Tunes I’ve produced before are all because there were deadlines for releases and what not, then there’s that sense of “I have to”, so then I finally finish making a tune.

When I have bookings, I always want to try out something new, so that gives me a reason to produce tunes.

Otherwise, when I feel real anger and sadness that can’t be expressed, I don't feel like producing tunes when I’m having a good time.

I can also escape reality for a bit when I’m producing music.

There seems to be some similarity with art and sports; allowing yourself to release them strong emotions through activity and feel refreshed after you know.

K:

I know you buy quite a lot of vinyls; do you get influences and inspiration from other artists?

I see you dancing at other clubs and I know you go to other places other than NOON.

T:

While on the job, there’s been times where I go out and have fun, I touch upon music that aren’t related to genres, but when I feel like producing tunes is when I’m listening to shit music haha

K:

Isn’t that also anger though? Haha

T:

You’re not wrong, anger does drive me to produce music. That's why I end up producing dark and scary music haha

When its from feeling happy, I use SP-404 to make a story-like snippets and save them like a diary, then I add on beats to that.

Not just dark stuff.

K:

I see.

I heard that you were on the news years ago for someone reporting you for lost in the mountains, so does you’re hobby of mountain climbing influence your music production?

T:

Actually yeah! It does! When I went mountain climbing in Canada. I’m gonna listen to it before the last half of the LIVE!

Known to only those who know, but it's a song I produced after I climbed a mountain with a DJ called Return Trip in Canada.

-01:18:35

-01:20:30

T:

So it goes like that.

I don't remember it clearly, but Takaaai, a legendary member from the DEPTH was there, and I think I borrowed his NODE LEAD to make the tune.

The sounds of footsteps, rain and lightning while mountain climbing is incorporated into the tune too.

That time too, I was climbing without any plans, I challenged snowy paths and was faced with serious situations; really made me think how small human were and the greatness of nature.

It was that time, that feeling of soul beating by the nature which made it into this song,haha.

The song was a great acclaim by Return Trip too, I wonder how he’s doing…

K

Ahh Return Trip, feels sentimental.

So Taichi, you’re also organizing new parties as well as DJing, right?

T:

Now, I’ve been doing parties called “moltal”, here at NOON, on a Thursday, once a month on a weekday.

There’s a hall with a decent sound system, but the party is based around the bar area with simply a DJ booth.

The concept is to have fun freely, not all about listening to the DJ or geeked out by the music.

Musically, we don’t really care too much about the genres either.

K:

You’re close to the DJ booth anyway.

About the combination of yourself and guest artists, what kind of artists do you welcome?

T:

Usually, those I see a lot at the club and get along well with.

There’s others that are willing to play and happily accept my offer.

I’m not all about the technique or the genre, but if their attitude and mindset are similar to mine, and can have fun with, then anyone is welcome.

K:

Osaka scene is narrow, and even though you know their name and their face, there’s not much contact. Sounds fun if the party is open to whoever then you know.

T:

When I started to go to clubs and parties ten years ago, there was an impression that genres didn't really matter; parties were put together by booking artists that varied in genres.

I wonder when that concept started to disappear…

K:

Any thoughts on the Osaka clubbing scene now?

T:

There are parts that I do like and don't like, but I’d like to make as many connection as possible. Without putting limitation on the genres to have fun.

K:

You are hosting the other event that is held irregularly?

T:

Yeah, “ECMN” short for ECM Night, which derived from a German Jazz label ECM established by Manfred Eicher; I was really into the ECM sounds, but realilsed that many people actually know the label ECM when I spoke to them about it.

Their artwork is unique, and the music has a vibe that can really be called ECM sound, really good.

Then, I was bored of listening to dance music, so MITSUKI, COTA, TSUTOMU and I started an event so we can listen to ECM in decent environment.

At the same time, I was watching a film at home while playing ECM music.When I switch tracks like DJing,it was like making soundtrack for films but ECM sound.It was quite fun, so we decided to do this at the club, I think haha

We just hung a screen on the stage and projected films, the DJs produced soundtracks in real time behind the screen, can even control the sound of the film; that was the format.

The floor had sofas haha

This year marks the 50th anniversary, so we should definitely do an EMC Night!

K:

For sure!

It almost time for the second half of the LIVE. However the online chat has been faulty today, and I have contacted the UK mixlr office, the chat should be up and running by tomorrow so I will be replying then.

RHy-s is gonna do second live set for the next 20 minutes, then we will be delivering you some information on parties in Osaka as usual.

Please Taichi-kun(RHy-s), take the stage!

-01:31:05

-01:54:35

K:

Love that; really enjoyed listening to that, haven’t felt this way since maybe February when I listened at Mole music. Taichi-kun, the atmosphere of your sound doesn't blur, but you can really play a lot of different sets.

Organisers and promoters should check him out.

T:

Thank you very much. I would love to play in different situation to be honest.

K:

Now, I’d like to deliver some party information for this week.

Umm, although we have just started, organisers of parties and events especially, if you could DM us your party information on OSAKAWISE Instagram, or directly through email. I reckon there’s more people out there doing fun things. Please don’t hesitate!

9/6(Fri)TUFF DISCO feat.LUCRETIO from The Analogue Cops at daphnia 9/7(Sat)2×4 at CLUB STOMP 9/8(Sun)HIGH TIDE at 和歌山Bagus 9/12(Thu)moltal feat. YAMADA the GIANT & MITSUKI at NOON 9/16(Mon/before holiday)Happy Monday feat.Prins Thomas at CIRCUS

So yes, many parties to come this week! I would love for you all to go out and listen to the music at the sites and have fun!

Next week OSAKAWISE on Wednesday 9/18, we will be inviting DJ AKIHIRO as our guest.

Taichi-kun, thank you very much for today. Even offering up NOON as the streaming station for our program today.

T:

No problem, I also had fun!

K:

To those who came on site to listen to his LIVE, and those listening over the radio, thank you all very much for your patience.

I hope you look forward to the next LIVE on 9/18! And for now, good night!

【日本語版】

-8:40 Kota(K): こんばんは、OSAKAWISE第2回、本日はゲストを迎えて大阪のNOON+CAFEからお送りします。 私がクラブで遊び始めた15年ほど前に出会い、ここNOONで共に働き、パーティーを共にオーガナイズしてきた、 尊敬するアーティスト、RHy-sこと太一君をお呼びしています。 Taichi(T): こんばんは K: 今日は太一君のライブパフォーマンスは勿論、音楽制作や活動内容について聞いていきたいと思っています。 あと、太一君は今NOONの店長なんやっけ？ T: NOONは現在、夜のCLUB以外にCAFEの営業にも力を入れていて、僕は夜のCLUBやライブイベントのブッキングやーバー周りを管理したりして、まー夜の店長という立場です。 K: なるほど。たくさんのローカルアーティストに出会ったり、幅広いジャンルのパーティーに関わっていると思うので、大阪のシーンについても後ほど話てもらえればと思います。 じゃあとりあえず、今日のLIVEで使う機材のセッティングについて簡単に説明してもらえればと思いますが、今日はラップトップないね？ T: 一時期は使ってた時もあるけど、ラップトップはトラブルで音が止まっちゃう可能性があってLiveメインで活動する身としてはリスクが高い、PCが止まっちゃうと終わってしまうので。。 他はメインにKORGのElectribe2台、SXとMXを使っています。これは真空管の入ってる最新のから三世代くらい前のやつ。 SXでメインのビートを作ってドラムにフィルターをかけたりして、 MXではビートをほとんど打たず、代わりにシンセが５本出せる特徴を使って上音やベースを出してます。 SXのサンプラーも少しだけ使ってる。映画のセリフとか入れたりして。 あとはROLAND SP-404のサンプラー。打ち込みには使わず、これは家で録ったビートの無い展開のある上音なんかをここに入れてたくさん入れてます。 K: 環境音とか録ったりしない？ T: あーそうそう、去年大阪にすごい大きな台風がきた時に自宅マンションの下で録ったこの世の終わりみたいな音があるんやけど、 これはマジで頻繁にライブで使ってるね。聞いてみましょうか。 -00:15:00 T: やばくない？笑 この近所のクレーンが揺れてるとこからなってるメロディーみたいなんが。。。 i-phone持って外出て録ったね。。 まーSP-404はそんな使い方で、 あとは最近買ったROLAND SPACE ECHO RE-20、 これも結構使ってて音の減衰の仕方がいい感じ。あとこれを使うと音がまとまったように感じる。 K: なるほど。 TAICH名義でDJとしても活動を始めた太一君、今日はRHy-sとして今からやっていただこうと思います。 後ほど活動内容や、大阪のパーティー情報なんかも共有していきたいと思います。 聞いていただいてる皆さん、Mixlrのアプリをインストールしてアカウント登録していただければ、 チャットに参加できます。RHy-sへの質問でもなんでもいいんで、 コメント入れていただければ後ほどのトークのネタにさせていただきたいと思います。 なんかライブ前にリスナーに伝えたいことありますか？ T: 今日は普段のライブセットに近い感じでやります。家やクラブ以外の環境で聞くとどんな風に聞こえるのかわかりませんが、 各々楽しんでいただければと思います。 K: じゃあいきましょーか！よろしくお願いします！ -1:00:17 K: OSAKAWISE第2回、RHy-sを迎えてNOONからお送りしています。 いやー素晴らしい！ T: ちょっと飛ばしすぎたかな？笑 K: 40分くらいやったけど、いつもこれくらい？ T: 集中力いるんで大体いつもは30分でお願いしてます。 最長で90分ってのがあったけど、途中で考える間を作る時間があったり笑 K: そーなんや！ 目の前で見てるとほんとずっと手動かしてるから実際は大変やと思うけど、 曲調とかで言えば前半の感じでゆっくりはめたりしたら2時間とかいけそうやけど？ T: まーそういう感じのコンセプトでやりませんかって話があれば出来なくも無いけど。 長時間やるとなるとある程度組んでやる必要があるので、インプロ感はちょっとなくなるかな。 K: リアルタイムで打ってるからね。 T: まー基本的なのは作ってるのもあってそれの抜き差し、打ち替えとかもあるけどね。 弾き直したりとか。 K: このライブスタイルに対するこだわりやっぱり強い？ T: あるね！ 最初期は自分が100%納得のいく完成された曲を作りたいと思ってて、いつ聞いてもいい曲だと自分で思える、自分のための。 そっからNOONでオーガナイズしてたDEPTHってパーティーの影響やライブで人前でやるってのもあって変わっていった。 当時はヘッズやIDM界隈でラップトップで完成された超かっこいい曲を披露するライブパフォーマンスが多くて、 NOONで働いてたこともあって海外のアーティストのライブもたくさん見たけど、好きなアーティストでもラップトップで最高の曲を披露して終わりっていう、、どーも上がり切らないというか。ライブ見るんじゃなかった、、って残念な気持ちになって笑 ライブはやっぱり体感型でないといけないと思ったね。いい音楽を聴かせることも大切だけど、ライブにはもっと刺激的な要素が必要だと。 配信してる今も現場で聞くのと、家で聞くのとでは環境が違うだけで変わってくるし。 因みに印象に残ってるライブはCeephax Acid Crewのライブ。曲のどこがかっこいいということじゃなくて、 ハードコアバンドのライブ聞いてるみたいやった。彼のライブは毎回見たいと思う。 K: 僕は太一君のライブは緊張感がある好き。ミスる可能性も常もあるけどその場でしか出せない展開や感覚があるとこ。 T: うーん、まーその場の思いつきやから記録とかに残っては欲しくはないけど笑　ライブとしては聞いてる人は面白いかなって思う。 現場の空気感を出せてるかなっと。 あとダンストラックを作るきっかけになったのは風営法によって"踊ってはいけない"ってことになったことが大きい。 じゃあ踊れる曲しか作りませんっという方向になった笑　それまではぶっ飛べる音楽しか意識していなかったけど。。 そーそれで当時はその影響でクラブのフロアじゃなくてバーとか、今まで踊る場所じゃなかったとこで踊って遊ぶカウンター的な動きや環境も制作面での刺激になったね。 K: 楽曲制作には周りの環境なんかもインスピレーションになってるというわけですね。 感情が制作活動を掻き立てるという、、 個人的な印象だけど、太一君は普段すごく社交的だけど音楽はそんな感じには聞こえにくい。暗黒の闇と怒り、悲しみって感じ。 T: NOONで働いてる時なんかは対外的には立場上ちゃんとしないといけないという気持ちもあるし、そんな感じだけど、音楽に関しては何をやっても許されるし解放される、自分の好きなことや思いを音楽を通して伝えることもできるんじゃないかと。 K: 最近の音楽制作はどうですか？ T: サンプルというか1小節のパターンはめちゃくちゃ作ってる。 それを曲に組み立てることはあまりやってない。 これまで出来た曲は、リリースの話や締め切りなんかがあって、 そーゆーのがあるとなんとしてでもという気持ちになってなんとか作り上げるって感じ。 ブッキングが決まった時なんかは新しいことやりたくなるので、曲作りのきっかけになったり。 他はやっぱり自分の怒りや悲しみなんかの感情の起伏が大きい時、楽しい時はあんまりそういう気にならない。 音楽制作を通して現実逃避になってることはあると思う。 アートやスポーツも似たようなとこあるかもしれないけど、そういう感情を行動で吐き出してスッキリするっていう。 K: レコードも結構買ってるみたいだけど、他のアーティスト��ら影響を受けたり、触発されるみたいなことはあんまりない？ 太一君はいろんなとこ行って、他のクラブでも踊ってるとこよく見るけど笑 T: 仕事上いろんなとこで遊ぶ機会があって、ジャンル関係なくいろんな音楽に触れるけど、曲を作りたいって気持ちになる時はめちゃダサい音楽聴いてる時だけ笑 K: それも怒りからなんじゃ笑 T: 怒りが制作の原動力となってることは間違いない。だからこんな怖い曲になる笑 楽しさきっかけでは、SP-404にネタ的なのを日記みたいにバンバン保存していってて、そこにビート乗っけたり。 ダークなだけではないのよ。 K: なるほど。 昔遭難届け出されてニュースに出たって聞いたけど笑、趣味の山登りも制作に関わってくることもある？ T: あっ！ある！カナダに山登りいった時の。ちょっと後半のライブの前に一回これ聴いてみよ！ これは知る人ぞ知るReturnTripというDJと昔カナダで登山して帰って来た時に作った曲です。 -01:18:35 -01:20:30 T: こんな感じです。 これははっきり覚えてないけど、TakaaakiっていうDEPTH伝説のメンバーがいて、 多分彼にNODE LEADを借りて、それを使って弾いたと思う。 登山途中の足音とか、雷とか雨降ってたのでその音とかも入ってます。 その時も相変わらず無計画で登っていて、スニーカーで雪山に挑んだりして大変な目に遭って、自然の偉大さ人間の小ささを体感しましたね。 その時の自然にぶちのめされた感覚を曲にした感じですね笑　ReturnTripにも大絶賛していただいて。元気にしてるかな笑 K: ReturnTrip氏懐かしいね。 んでTaich君は今DJもしてて新しいパーティーもやってるよね？ T: 今ここNOONで月一平日の木曜日に、"moltal”というパーティーをやってて。 NOONはしっかりしたサウンドシステムのあるホールがあるけど、あえてバー周りで簡易ブースを置いてやってます。 これは音にハマったり、DJを聴かせるというかは気軽に遊ぶ感じをテーマにやってます。 音楽的にもジャンルとかあまり硬いことは考えずやってます。 K: DJとの距離も近いしね。 Taich君とゲストって感じの組み合わせだけど、どんなアーティスト呼んでるの？ T: 基本的にクラブでよく見かける人や気が合う人。 あとはやらしてほしいっていってくる人も喜んで受け入れてる。 技術やジャンルというより姿勢やマインドが合って、一緒に遊べる人だったら誰でも。 K: 大阪は狭いシーンで顔や名前知っててもあまり接点ないってのもあるからそーいうオープンなパーティーもいいですね。 T: 僕がパーティーなんかで遊び始めた十数年前は結構ジャンル関係なく混ってる印象があって、 ジャンルが異なるアーティストがブッキングされていながらもまとまっていたり。 あれはいつからなくなっていったんやろか？ K: 今の大阪のクラブシーンについて思うことある？ T: 自分も好きなものとそうじゃないものとがあるけど、それでもいろんなところで繋がりを作っていけたらなっと。 ���楽ジャンルで遊ぶ幅を制限せずに。 K: もう一個不定期のパーティーやってましたよね。 T: “ECMN”、ECM Nightってい言うのをやってて、ECMってのはドイツのManfred Eicherって言う人のJAZZレーベルで、 個人的にツボに入ってめちゃくちゃ好きになったんですが、周りにいる人に話したら意外とECMの名前を知ってる人は多かった。 アートワークが独特で、音楽もECMサウンドと呼べる雰囲気もあって最高。 んで当時ダンスミュージックに飽きていたこともあって、俺、MITSUKI,COTA,TSUTOMUでECMを聞くイベントを始めた。 同じタイミングで、家で映画なんかの映像を流しながら音はDJの音みたいにして遊んでて、これをクラブでやろうと言うことになった、多分笑 家遊びやね笑 ステージに幕はってプロジェクターで映像を映して、幕の裏でDJがサントラをリアルタイムで作り、映画の音声もコントロールできるって言う形式。フロアにはソファ笑 今年はECM創設50周年なんで絶対やろ！ K: やろやろ！ じゃあーそろそろ後半のライブをやってもらおうと思いますが、 実は今日チャットが使えなくなってて、今UKのmixlrオフィスに問い合わせたんで、明日には返事が来て次回からは復旧するかと。 このあと20分くらいライブやってもらって、いつも通り今週のパーティーの告知をされていただきたいと思います。 それでは太一君よろしく！ -01:31:05 -01:54:35 K: いいねー！久しぶりにじっくり聴かせてもらいました。 今年2月のmole music以来かな。太一君はサウンドの空気感はブレないけどいろんなセットできるね。 オーガナイザー、プロモーターはチェックしてみて下さい。 T: ありがとうございます。そうやね、もっといろんなシチュエーションでやってみたいね。 K: それではここで今週のパーティー情報をお知らせします。 えっと、まだ始まったばっかりってこともあるけど、 パーティーやイベントの主催者には是非、各々のパーティー情報をOSAKAWISEのインスタからメッセージもしくは直接メールで送っていただければと思っています。ここで紹介するパーティー以外にも僕が知らないだけで面白いことやってる人たちはたくさんいると思うんで。 よろしくお願いします！ 9/6(金)TUFF DISCO feat.LUCRETIO from The Analogue Cops at daphnia 9/7(土)2×4 at CLUB STOMP 9/8(日)HIGH TIDE at 和歌山Bagus 9/12(木)moltal feat. YAMADA the GIANT&MITSUKI at NOON 9/16(月)Happy Monday feat.Prins Thomas at CIRCUS と言う感じで今週もパーティーは盛り沢山！できる限りみんなには遊びに出て、現場で音楽を楽しんでもらいたいと思います！ そして次回のOSAKAWISEは9/18水曜日、DJ AKIHIRO氏を招いてお送りいたします。 今日は太一君ありがとうございました。NOONという場所まで提供していただいて。 T: こちらこそ！楽しかったです！ K: 配信現場まで聞きに来ていただいた方、長くお付き合いくれたリスナーの皆さん、ありがとうございました。 次回は9/18！お楽しみに〜　おやすみー！

[darlingpoppet]

SNK Character Song Series 06: Levi (Image song & monologue translations)

Heeeyyy, Tumblr! Long time, no see :’) Did y'all enjoy SNK Season 2?

Levi and Erwin’s image song CDs were just released and I enjoyed listening to them a lot! ♡ So, I decided to pop back in for a bit and take on a new translation endeavor, something I haven’t really done in a while.

First up, this post is Levi’s image song and monologue! For the song, I included the original Japanese as well as romaji for karaoke purposes, if you’re so inclined ;) I also made a transcript of the monologue in the original Japanese, which you can read here (feel free to use it to translate into other languages.)

This should be obvious but keep in mind these are spoilers for the song & monologue, in case you wanted to experience them for yourself first. I definitely encourage supporting the official release & ordering the CDs if you haven’t already ♡

I’m also nearly finished with my translation of Erwin’s song and monologue as well, I’ll update this post with a link once it’s done ♡ ETA: Here is the translation of Erwin’s song and monologue!

SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN CHARACTER SONG SERIES 06: Levi

“Dark Side Of The Moon” (Vocals by Hiroshi Kamiya)

Side note: the melody for Levi’s song is based on the previously released SNK single, Reluctant Heroes.

Japanese Version

こんな世界を今 逆さにして振ってみても 確かなことひとつ 出てきやしねぇ¹だろう？

壁の外は地獄 中は欺瞞溢れてる それも併せ呑んで 任務を果たすだけ

感情���され死神喰われるか 足りない頭を回してみるか

※光当たらぬ月の裏 突き進むためには もっと速く時には 躊躇なき非情さを 間違いじゃないやりたきゃやれ ここに答えなんてない ただ後悔残さぬ 自らの決断を

ここで生き抜くなら 言葉でする教育より 痛みの記憶説く 教訓が必要だろう？

犠牲も危険も避けては 成果など 得られぬものだと 腹を括れよ

隠されている月の裏 いつか暴くために 乱されるな喚くな 状況を見極めろ 結果がなきゃ正解もない だから最後だけは ただ後悔残さぬ 自らの生き方を

背後で散った勇敢な兵士たちが 遺した想い力を与える 必ずいつの日にか目障りな 壁も壊し 自由になる為この命捧ぐ

※ Repeat

Romaji Version

Konna sekai wo ima Sakasa ni shite futte mitemo Tashika na koto hitotsu Detekiyashinē¹ darō?

Kabe no soto wa jigoku Naka wa giman afureteru Sore mo awase nonde Ninmu wo hatasu dake

Kanjō nagasare shinigami kuwareru ka Tarinai atama wo mawashite miru ka

※Hikari ataranu tsuki no ura Tsukisusumu tame ni wa Motto hayaku toki ni wa Chūcho naki hijōsa wo Machigai ja nai yaritakya yare Koko ni kotae nante nai Tada kōkai nokosanu Mizukara no ketsudan wo

Koko de ikinuku nara Kotoba de suru kyōiku yori Itami no kioku toku Kyōkun ga hitsuyō darō?

Gisei mo kiken mo sakete wa Seika nado Erarenu mono da to Hara wo kukure yo

Kakusarete iru tsuki no ura Itsuka abaku tame ni Midasareru na wameku na Jōkyō wo mikiwamero Kekka ga nakya seikai mo nai Dakara saigo dake wa Tada kōkai nokosanu Mizukara no ikikata wo

Haigo de chitta yūkan na heishi tachi ga Nokoshita omoi chikara wo ataeru Kanarazu itsu no hi ni ka mezawari na Kabe mo kowashi Jiyū ni naru tame kono inochi sasagu

※ Repeat

English Translation

This kind of world now Even if we try shaking it upside down There isn’t one thing that comes out Which is certain, is there?

Outside the walls, it is hell Inside, it is brimming with deceit What’s more, we have to swallow it down We can only fulfill our duty

Will we lose control of emotion and be consumed by a god of death? Or will we try to use our dim-witted heads?

The dark side of the moon, untouched by light For the sake of pushing forward We have to be faster and at times Be heartless without hesitation It’s not a mistake if it’s what you want to do, so do it There are no right answers here Just being without regrets Is my own decision

If were to I survive here Rather than education with words Isn’t persuasion by memories of pain An essential lesson?

To avert sacrifice as well as danger Things like results Cannot be obtained Steel yourself for it

The dark side of the moon is concealed For the sake of someday being revealed Do not get agitated, do not scream Be certain of the circumstances Without results, there are no right answers Therefore only in the end Just being without regrets Is my way of living

Brave soldiers who died noble deaths² before us The hopes they left behind give us power Without fail, one of these days We will demolish the obstructive walls as well For the sake of freedom, we devote this life

Translation notes:

¹ It appears that Levi’s gruff style of speaking is present even in the lyrics of his song. The standard form of the verb here would be detekiyashinai (出てきやしない). ² The verb in the original Japanese, chiru/散る (or in this case, the past tense form chitta/散った) in the literal sense means “to fall” (in the context of leaves or blossoms from a tree). However, it also has the figurative meaning of “to die a noble death”. Even though we also say “fallen soldiers” in English, I worried that translating the lyric as, “fallen before us” or “fallen behind us” could both be misinterpreted, I decided to go with the more figurative meaning;;

++

Levi Monologue English Translation

Seriously now, I’ve had enough of this. This world is perpetual shit, and humanity is still toothless prey.

Those ugly titans are always going to take a bite out of us, and so we die a meaningless death.

Humanity is powerless.

When we won against the titans for the first time, the time when we sealed the wall in Trost district with a boulder, we could do it because of Eren’s power– a titan’s power.

The weak ones die quickly. How much power they use up doesn’t matter.

Eventually all of humanity, every single person will end up in the stinking maw of a titan, and while we experience the worst feeling there is, perhaps our miserable lives will end.

I realized it a few years ago. The stench of the gutters fills the inside of these walls. It’s been like this for over 100 years. It’s the way things are now.

Because I’ve had to breathe in this foul air ever since I was born, because I had no choice but to live crawling around in piles of trash, I thought that it was normal.

But when I went outside the walls for the first time, I realized how much I didn’t know about anything. It hit home for me, how much I had hated it.

The world outside the walls was like hell with titans wandering around, but the air I breathed there was completely different from the one inside the walls.

I realized, out there is what freedom is.

Freedom is something that absolutely cannot be obtained within the walls.

So I made a choice. I will continue to kill all of the titans.

If you want to confront the titans, information is never enough. So in order to survive, I learned how to live.

Quick action and callous decisions by assuming the worst is a necessary endeavor.

A moment’s hesitation, surrendering yourself to emotions, and you will be nothing but Titan bait.

If you don’t want to die, you have to always continue to keep this in mind.

And small choices will accumulate.

That is the way of living I have learned.

Risking no danger, making no sacrifices– there is no such easy discussion.

Even if there was, it’s all make-believe.

So far, I have lost numerous subordinates.

Whether my choice was correct at those times, I do not know. It’s always been like that.

Even if I believe in my own power, even if I believe in my comrades whom I fully trust, none of us will know the outcome.

Afterward, all that’s left is reality.

In that case, What can I do except make a desperate effort?

What can I do except doggedly press on?

If I have time to think about the bygone past, like if I were to have made a different choice back then, I will kill as many titans as possible within my power.

In that time, in that moment, a sudden, ridiculously strong power boils up from inside my body, and then I know what to do.

When that moment comes, I can no longer go back to my old self.

With these blood-stained hands, I accept my new self, I steel myself, and I only do what I must.

Was I correct? Or did I make a mistake? That’s the sort of thing no one knows, so it’s not worth worrying about.

All you can do is keep your mouth shut and make a choice without regrets.

Not understanding things about this world is true for everyone.

So I choose the guy whom I want to put my faith in.

Erwin is like that, too. No one knows what he is really thinking deep down.

But I trust his judgement.

He may be inviting the worst outcome, but he’s not afraid of that, he is able to choose something. That’s the kind of guy he is.

That’s why I chose to follow him. And I chose to fight.

In order to fight against this shit world, with this hand I’ll grab hold of the freedom of going beyond the walls for the first time.

I have chosen for myself.

Even if I am led into hell, I have no regrets.

Not one bit.

[some-sort-of-sidewalk-slam]

The Big Wrestle Kingdom 12 Thoughts Post

Some spoiler-free thoughts before we get into specifics under the cut. I thought it was an overall excellent show. This is the second Wrestle Kingdom I've ever watched, and while I thought 11 was better, I still think this is probably going to be the best wrestling show of the year, and I feel sorry for the Royal Rumble having to follow it later this month. I thought the undercard matches, especially the various tag matches, were better than 11's, but the major singles bouts were not quite as good. I did like the end of the main event because it makes me curious and interested for the future, and it was also just a fantastic match to boot. The Junior Heavyweight Championship four-way match was probably my favorite of the night, though the NEVER Openweight Championship and United States Championship came damn close to being my favorites. I wouldn't say there were any bad matches on the card per se, but a couple of them were disappointing for various reasons, which I'll get into in the spoilery section. Considering this was a four hour show (five if you include the pre-show rumble, which I didn't watch), I was entertained the whole way through, which is no small feat. Get New Japan World and watch this show.

I'm going to go through this match-by-match, and give a sort of general summary at the end.

Match 1: Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships- Roppongi 3K vs The Young Bucks

I should note that I'm generally not a fan of the Bucks, but they really impressed me here. Sho and Yo are a team I'm not super familiar with but I saw two of their matches before this and I was on board with them almost immediately. So I was expecting this match to be like... fine. Not great, but not bad. Just fine. But color me surprised, this is probably the best Young Bucks match I've ever seen. They set up a storyline pretty early in the match where one member of each team had a back injury and they would struggle with doing certain moves that require a lot of lifting. It's simple stuff but it's effective nonetheless. The only downside I found is the result. I'm not sure The Young Bucks needed a 7th run with the belts this soon, and I feel like they were wasting some of the momentum that Roppongi 3K had built from their strong debut. I only hope that this is the start of a larger feud that sees Sho and Yoh reclaiming the belts.

Match 2: NEVER Openweight Six-man Tag Team Championship Gauntlet Match 

This match was a mess, but a fun one. It's still one my least favorite matches on the card, mostly because it doesn't feel like a lot of care went into the booking. Trent getting the pin was a good for him and a good sign that his transition into the heavyweight division is going to go pretty well, but he didn't actually do a lot of wrestling. I mostly remember him breaking up a lot of pins. It was nice to see War Machine again, especially considering it's rumored that this is their last match with New Japan. Wasn't crazy about them teaming with Elgin, though. Like, visually it makes sense but ever since I read the news that he's a dong in real life, I've gotten real hesitant to watch him. I also don't feel like Suzuki-Gun brought their A-game. Aside from finding Zack Sabre Jr. a boring wrestler, I feel like they should have maybe replaced Iizuka with El Desperado or something to have some more athleticism. Also a side note: in the graphic for Taguchi's team, it said David Finlay was on the team, whereas it was actually Juice Robinson in that spot.

Match 3: Cody vs Kota Ibushi Special Match

I think this is my least favorite match on the card, which kind of hurt because Kota Ibushi is in it. I put this mostly on Cody's shoulders, who has slowly started to become one of the most embarrassing acts on the indies. He left WWE with all the hype in the world, and everyone was so excited to see the creativity and in-ring prowess that he wasn't allowed to show. But then he just sort of became a cog in the Bullet Club machine, who is a shockingly average wrestler, and gets pissy at Roman Reigns on Twitter. Brandi calling everyone who doesn't think she's the most attractive woman in wrestling “marks” while on the way to the ring really set the scene for this slightly mediocre match with an admittedly impressive Cross Rhodes off the apron onto the floor. If you can't have a good match with Kota frigging Ibushi at goddamn Wrestle Kingdom, you might not be as good as you say you are, Cody.

Match 4: IWGP Tag Team Championship- Killer Elite Squad vs EVIL and SANADA

I wasn't super hot for this match in the beginning. Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. are both really big dudes who are excellent at being dominant powerhouses, which was definitely the case in this match. I do admit to being slightly annoyed at how long SANADA spent on his back while Archer and Davey Boy kicked the hell out of him. SANADA and EVIL's strengths are sudden explosions of athleticism, which was good counter to KES's slow style. SANADA and EVIL didn't get to do as much as I would have liked in this match, but they got some great moments to shine, and I think putting the title on them was a good move.

Match 5: NEVER Openweight Championship Hair vs Hair Match- Minoru Suzuki vs Hirooki Goto

This match was rad from start to finish. There wasn't a lot of flashy stuff in it, but flashy is not the strong suit of either of these guys. This was an old-fashioned, no-nonsense fight. Minoru Suzuki looked like the monster he is, coming out of most exchanges on top. But slowly but surely, Goto managed to make comeback after comeback. It's a pretty simple story of an underdog overcoming a powerful adversary, but as I said before, simple storytelling works. The whole match was stiff and powerful, as expected, and they told a hell of a story through the match. It built to an excellent crescendo of Goto hitting a backwards and then a proper GTR for a well-earned victory. I also very much enjoyed the moment where Suzuki walked away from his faction to shave his own hair. It's a character-defining moment that shows that even sadistic heels like Minoru Suzuki still have a sense of honor.

Match 6: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Four-Way Match- Marty Scurl vs Will Ospreay vs KUSHIDA vs Hiromu Takahashi

This is probably my favorite match of the night. It was fast-paced, exciting, full of storytelling, and had some frankly ridiculous spots. I loved watching the storylines between KUSHIDA and Hiromu, Ospreay and Scurl, and even Ospreay and Kushida, all woven through this match, with a sprinkling of excellently devious heel tactics from Scurl. Seeing what he's capable of, I refuse to believe that Will Ospreay is a human being. He has to be some sort of human/cat hybrid or something. Seeing KUSHIDA incorporate some of Hiromu's moves into his own is a great callback to their feud. Probably my favorite moment was the brief unspoken alliance between Ospreay and Scurl. I think I would have preferred Scurl to retain here, but I would have been 100% fine with anyone winning this match, and I think this way Opsreay and Scurl can continue to have a one-on-one feud, which is always exciting.

Match 7: IWGP Intercontinental Championship- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Switchblade Jay White

I missed the build to this match but the video package did a decent job explaining the kayfabe reason for this match. What I can't understand is the out-of-kayfabe reason for it. His character is supposed to be an assassin of some kind? Or at least some sort of violent dude with a knife fetish. I do like that he's not part of any factions. It helps sell the lone wolf thing he's got going on. But once he takes off the leather coat and knife necklace, he just sort of looks like a scrawny dweeb. He just doesn't have the experience to carry a big feud like this yet. They want to make Jay White a big deal right off the bat by putting him up against Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom but I had a really hard time believing it. He's a pretty good in-ring worker, and he had some pretty good smack-talk in the ring, but this was not a Wrestle Kingdom-worthy performance.

Match 8: IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship No Disqualification Match- Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho

This was probably the biggest draw for most of us Western fans. To see Chris Jericho in a New Japan Pro Wrestling ring, and wrestling one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, was something we all wanted to see. And... I wish I liked it more than I did. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was very good, and the biggest reason that I wasn't a fan of it wasn't the fault of the performers or the match. I'm just generally not a fan of weapons and hardcore brawls, which the first part of this match definitely was. I understand that it was an important part of the match's story that needed to happen. It's Jericho's American brawling style contrasted with the second half of the match, which was done in Omega's cleaner Japanese style. Despite the stuff I didn't like about it, it was still a phenomenal match that told an awesome story.

Match 9: IWGP Heavyweight Championship- Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito

The one for all the marbles. This match had a lot to live up to, having to not only follow last year's 6-star main event, but also the four-year build of the Tetsuya Naito storyline development. This one was a conflicting one.  First thing's first: it was not better than last year's main event, but that was going to be hard to top so I'm not holding that against it. The match was excellent in its own right. I watched it in stunned silence as it built to its crescendo, watch two of the best wrestlers in the world go at each other. But the finish was conflicting. On one hand, it felt like it made narrative sense for Naito to finally win the belt at Wrestle Kingdom, as a glorious payoff for a four-year storyline, and having Okada retain instead feels kind of like wasted potential. On the other hand, the impression I get from the promo Okada gave after the match, and the way Naito smiled as he walked away from the match is that this story is not over. I, personally, thought the ending was fine. If nothing else, it intrigued me for what's coming next.

Wrap up

Wrestle Kingdom 12 was a spectacular show. It had some hiccups, as all wrestling shows generally do. I enjoyed 11 more because I liked its last three matches better. But 12 had better undercard matches, and I understood more of the stories going into it because I've actually been watching some of the stuff leading up to it. If nothing else, this confirms to me without a doubt that New Japan is the best wrestling in the world. The match quality is so high, the stories so effectively told, even in a language that I don't speak. Pro wrestling is so goddamn cool, and New Japan is the best place to watch it. If there was anything you wanted to convince you, let this be it. Start watching New Japan Pro Wrestling. It's so worth your time.

[vrvisioninc]

When Virtual Reality Meets Education

$1.46 Billion.

This is the amount of money virtual reality (VR) startups have raised in venture capital, which even includes up to $100 million when it comes to funding. This news emerged during the last 4 consecutive quarters. Virtual reality had been walking around the edge of technology but didn’t really get any commercial adoption or even mainstream application, ever since the 1950’s.

A Citi analyst named Kota Ezawa predicted that 2016 was going to be that one year where virtual reality will start taking off in earnest. The world is also expecting the virtual reality market to climb up into a mind-boggling $15.9 billion industry, by the year 2019. One of the Citi’s predictions also include that the market for the networks, content, hardware, and software will grow and end up reaching $200 billion by the year 2020. Pretty crazy, right?

The share of content that the market owns will be of specific interest – as the part of the technology industry has been addicted to gaming, since so many years. But, guess what? This world is continuously changing and we are now choosing different things than we used to. For instance, think of the VR industry as full of useful tools, or even an effective improvement for human interactions. Think of it as connecting people throughout the globe in order to enhance interaction and engagement – despite of geographic, social, and economic disparities.

Modern education has been taking huge benefits by this latest innovation. The tech world has been increasingly producing innovation products, which has led to virtual reality now meeting modern education. Maybe the unworldly applications of this new innovation will turn out to be beneficial for increasing understanding of cultures and other subjects among students around the world.

Many of the subjects in virtual reality-based learning include biology, geology, astronomy, and even anatomy as a part of greater understanding of lectures. Students find themselves in a deeper immersive experience, whether it’s a historic subject or simple biology.

Coaches, teachers, therapists, and other experts are using VRs around the world to expose their clients to their fears and to the things they haven’t seen before. As modern philosopher Jason Silva describes, that virtual reality is turning our minds inside out. It’s an immersive experience that lets you climb into someone.

As for the therapists, virtual reality can be a huge part of exposure therapy, where clients are exposed to the things they’re afraid of. This is not done easily – it’s mostly done after a number of sessions and then exposing the client to the subject via virtual reality.

There are particular companies that help people overcome their fears, step by step. If you’re afraid of driving, you can either choose levels that include you driving on highways, bridges, or other places.

If you’re afraid of spiders, you’ll be exposed to certain levels of increasing amount of spiders, as you continue to complete levels. There are such innovative initiatives that let you get real-time exposure therapy through virtual reality for an affordable price.

In the September of 2015, Google happened to launch a program called Pioneer Expeditions. In the program, Google provided the equipment a teacher requires to have a class under the immersive experience of virtual reality to 1000’s of schools. They provided the VR gears for only 1 day for a single school.

The equipment included Mattel ViewMasters or Google Cardboard which turns phones into virtual reality headsets, Asus phones, a tablet to help the teacher in directing the tour, as well as a router which allowed Expeditions to be run even without the internet. Not only that, it also had library of more than 100 virtual trips, allowing a wide range to choose from.

The world distribution of VR gear and letting students have the remarkable experience of virtual reality helps even an English teacher to take the students back to the environment of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, or a History teacher to show her class how the Mayans ruin show the way they lived and made their tools. All of this opens new doors to learning, just through the help of virtual reality.

With platforms like LectureVR as well as AltspaceVR (Initiatives that provide virtual reality education), teachers are now open to new ideas and possibilities of all types, since the technology of having multi-player sessions and creating avatars enables them to a huge level of outreach.

Generally, if these innovative platforms collaborate to enhance virtual reality experience, this would end up enabling an artist to guide 1000’s of people around a museum tour or even cultural sites, or a progress holding a virtual reality masterclass along with students from around the globe.

Soon enough, virtual reality might enable a 3rd-grade class in Mexico or India to hold a virtual trip with a 3rd-grade class in the U.S. It is now for more affordable for people around the world to have access to virtual reality gear for smartphones. Not only is it affordable for people now, but also for schools. Experts are seeing huge progress in the economic results of virtual reality.

Cost of VR hardware (which includes headsets, particularly) has been decreasing over time. With “Samsung Gear VR” for smartphones costing $30-50, Google Cardboard being only $15, desktop virtual reality devices have been a bit expensive. Oculus Rift, which costs $399 now, was once $599. The HTC Vive Focus which is set to release sometime Q4 2018 will be priced at around $1000 and will be a great entry level standalone (wireless) headset that we see getting widespread adoption. This is how affordable it is getting to experience virtual reality, making it easier for anyone around the world to get it.

So far, with Samsung Gear VR, now you can hang out with your friends through Oculus Rooms. They’re made for people with VR gear to hangout with anyone they want, whether they’re sitting next to you or living in another country. Students and teachers are looking for an ever-expanding platform to improve their skills and enhance the learning experience. Hopefully, soon enough, schools will begin to apply VR experience into their classes.

[bjadventures]

Fish Market + Orangutans

The last few days of the Borneo tour were great, but nothing big stands out that’s worth its own post. We had a day and a half camping in the jungle where I got to sleep next the hum of a roaring river, and the last day back in Kota Kinabalu was a full day kayaking and snorkeling. For that, we had a beautiful sunny day, and we ended it with drinks on the beach watching the sunset, and a dinner at a local fish market.

The fish market in Kota Kinabalu is a SCENE. Local fishermen bring in the day’s catch and sell it to local vendors, who then try to sell it for meals on the spot. As in, you point to what you want and they’ll cook it for you. And they had EVERYTHING. 20 different kinds of fish, two kinds of lobsters, shrimp, calamari, multiple kinds of crabs, a few things I couldn’t identify. The place is a zoo, and luckily we had our guide Hasif to walk us through it all. We decided on a mixture of red snapper, lobster, shrimp, and calamari. Hey, when in Borneo. As this guy piles all this seafood onto a scale, I’m chatting with a friend on the trip about negotiating. There are 6 of us eating - we decide the goal is to get it down to $100 flat for everything, so we’ll start at $80 and negotiate. The guy weighs all the seafood, does some math, and comes back that it will be $85. Total. We’re stunned. Do we still negotiate? It’s nearly 12 pounds of food! (They weigh it all before they cut it up and filet it, so 12 pounds of food probably turns into 4-6 when all is said and done). We take it. What a deal. It’s cooked perfectly and we enjoy a seafood feast for our last night together as a group.

After the tour, Lauren and I decided to go check out the Orangutans in Sepilok, a 40-minute flight away. There’s a rehabilitation sanctuary there, which sometimes isn’t what it sounds like, but this one does seem pretty legit. There are no fences or nets or cages, and the orangutans are free to come and go as they please. There are two “feeding times” where they put bananas and coconuts on a platform, and the orangutans can have their fill. The goal is to keep the food as constant as possible so the orangutans get bored of the food, and venture out on their own. Makes sense.

To view the primates, there’s a long wooden boardwalk that makes a big circle throughout the sanctuary and passes by the feeding area. Lauren and I just miss the morning feeding time, so we wander around, knowing we’ll catch the afternoon one. As we’re wandering, we notice there are sanctuary personnel every 50 yards or so. They’ll all carrying long, thin wooden sticks (as if that’s going to do anything). There are also various temporary barriers they sometimes close if they feel it’s too dangerous to walk on a certain part. We learn that because the sanctuary isn’t enclosed, “wild” orangutans can come and go in addition to the ones being rehabilitated, and the wild orangutans not accustomed to being around humans. Thus, they can feel threatened and potentially attack at times. Great.

During our stroll around, one of the areas is partitioned off. We ask why. “There’s a wild male.” “Cool! Can we see him?” “Try to go around the other side.” Ok! We turn around and go back where we came from. Because it’s a circle, you can only really see so far in front of you. So, we walk slowly, constantly checking our surrounding to make sure we aren’t surprised. As we get closer to where he should be, there are a few guards there telling us to stop and wait. Rawr! I want to see his guy. We wait and wait. What do we think, this guy is just going to come walking down the boardwalk? The guards tell us to “wait here” while they go check out the situation. They leave us and walk towards where the big male is supposed to be. We wait. Other people come up. We tell them the deal. They wait with us. We wait some more. Then, we see the three guards running towards us pointing the other direction and yelling “go go go!!” But I want to see him!! I’m holding my ground. I figure as long as the guards are between us and the monkey, we’re okay. The guards are still running towards us and now yelling “RUN!!!!” I stand there JUST long enough to get a glimpse of the male and he’s HUGE! He’s on all fours and, yep, marching down the boardwalk towards us. My heart rate jumps to probably 200 and we turn and run with the rest of ‘em.

I don’t think we were actually in any real danger, but it was a bit of a thrill. We went back in the afternoon to see the feeding where a mom and her baby showed up, and a bunch of smaller orangutans climbing tree to tree, rope to rope. Really a neat sight, and no more potential attacks. Phew! On to Bali for me!