#m by all means no kubo but well

[mixed-up-media]

HOW THE LAIKA MOVIES CONNECT TOGETHER!!!!!

Also known as history of the beldam!

Warning: most of this is just crack. This was my shower thought this morning and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. None of this is canon. This is just dumb crap. It is held together by 2 strings, 3 old gum pieces, a roll of duct tape, and a used bandaid I found behind the school bleachers. This post is also a long one. You have been warned.

Ok, let's start off with something that has been bothering me, and the rest of the Coraline fandom, FOR YEARS! What is the Beldam? As far as the internet is concerned, she's the villain in Coraline, not much more than that. However, other sources say that another meaning of beldam is "old hag" or "witch" which makes sense. Something that also stuck out to me was another website stating she was an evil fairy. I feel like a beldam is not a singular term for the other mother but rather a species of evil fairies. Once again this connects to one of our favorite detail in that movie, the mushroom circle.

Mushroom circles are known throughout folktales as gateways to fairy realms. Keep this in mind! So what other thing is connected to fairy realms? OH YEAH, TROLLS!

So, I have not read "Here be monster," that is my summer reading goal, it just has to come. So I don't know what lore drops are in there, all I know is that the book is the reason people say Egg's real name is Arthur, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯! What I do know that that in most mythologies trolls are evil and here that is not the case. Something that I noticed in Boxtrolls and in the little info piece on amazon for "Here be monsters" is that both towns end with a bridge. Cheesebridge, Ratbridge, you get the picture. So that means to me is that the trolls are connected to bridges. If you don't know what I'm going for here is the trolls that live under toll bridges. You know that thing that we were all terrified of happening to us from Monty Python and the Holy grail, yeah that thing. They make it very clear there is some sort of connection." Lindow states that the etymology of the word "troll" remains uncertain, though he defines trolls in later Swedish folklore as "nature beings" and as "all-purpose otherworldly being[s], equivalent, for example, to fairies in Anglo-Celtic traditions". (Wikipedia)

Otherworldly you say? Well as a fandom, WE KNOW PLENTY ABOUT THAT! So I'm getting that there is some sort of fairy world situation going on. Like there's a world with magic separate from our own where creatures come from, K.

Some else I noticed was the similarities between Kubo's aunts and the other mother.

Notice the white faces,red lips, and lack of eyes. Now I'm aware that the sister's designs are biased off of the Geisha, however there is something else that connects them, the obsession with ripping a child's eye out, which I would assume is something Geisha women don't do ( I could be wrong.) So I feel like there is some sort of connection between the Beldam and the moon king. A partnership, a teacher of how to remove the eyes of kids, the biological mother of his children. (Low key shipping them)

Then there the witch situation. Witches have been known throughout history as evil, but we watched ParaNorman, and we paid attention! WE KNOW THEY'RE JUST MISUNDERSTOOD! So we've established that there's magic, but we've never really come up with where the magic comes from. I have a whole theory on why Norman can see ghosts, ( I'll post that one later) but I'm pretty sure the magic effects genetics. Now, hear me out, what if the magic comes from the magic fairy realm thing from earlier.

SO POSSIBLE TIMELINE, MAYBE!

A LONG LONG LONG LONG TIME AGO, the Pre-Beldam Fairy was just livin her life. She discovers some sort of dark magic and turn evil. She goes down to earth but uses a portal thing to get there. Out from that portal thing comes some trolls that find a home under a bridge. After years of evolution they become boxtrolls. Then Beldam fairy meets the moon king and has his daughters helps him tear his grandsons eye out. The fairies in charge are like: Dude, the frick is wrong with you, and banashes her to what would become the american continent. They also strip her of her powers which then finds its way to the other side of the soon to be continent. There her magic connects to several families including the one of a little girl with long black hair. Over in Oregon country the beldam finds herself hiding for years and years. Eventually a family of pioneers show up and build a house. Not wasting any time, the beast uses her dark powers and finds a small hole in the wall. She discovers that it's made out of some of the magic ripped from her and uses it for her advantage. Eventually she develops the persona of "The Other World," and The other Mother. She eats kids souls until a blue haired girl defeats her. Who knows if she actually killed her or not!

How does Missing Link fit all this? Well TADA

Lionel found an old monkey carving from a old Japanese town, a newspaper clipping from a few years back about "Boxtrolls" and an old book from back when the mayflower first set sale (I feel like the book was something Aggie's mom brought with her to the new world and read it to Aggie for years)

THE END

People who might find this humorous

@evenceflux18

@officermaddie23

@kpyeeper

TAG MOREEEE

[ao3feed-uraichi]

by RayShippouUchiha

“Well kid,” Ichigo sighs as he brings one hand up to tap a finger gently against the baby’s pert little nose, “guess this means I’m your daddy now.”

Almost as if it can understand him, and hell it probably can, the baby grins up at Ichigo, rosebud mouth splitting wide in a gummy grin as those vibrant eyes almost glow.

Yeah, definitely not a normal baby by far.

But, regardless of all that, Ichigo can’t deny that a part of him, the part that’s been numb and dazed and aching for so long now, is almost excited.

He’s not alone now.

There’s someone here, pressed against his chest and held safely in his arms, that needs him.

Ichigo will handle anything else that might happen as it comes.

Words: 2428, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of A Berry And A Baby

Fandoms: Bleach

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Kurosaki Ichigo, Urahara Kisuke, Original Child Character(s), Kurosaki Mikan, Hogyoku

Relationships: Kurosaki Ichigo/Urahara Kisuke, Kurosaki Ichigo & Original Child Character, Urahara Kisuke & Original Child Character

Additional Tags: Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Hogyoku Shenanigans, Post-Winter War (Bleach), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Bad Parent Kurosaki Isshin, BAMF Kurosaki Ichigo, Protective Kurosaki Ichigo, Protective Urahara Kisuke, My Canon Now Kubo, Abandonment, Fluff and Humor, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Depowered Kurosaki Ichigo

[katara0524]

Impromptu Ramblings about the NEO:TWEWY Demo

In case y'all weren't aware, I've been a pretty big fan of TWEWY for a couple years now, and with the sequel coming out next month, the excitement I feel for this game is greater than ever :) I played the Demo for the first time yesterday, and following a couple views of some livestreams of others playing it, I felt like sharing my (very ramble-y) thoughts prior to the release of the full game. This post WILL contain spoilers for both TWEWY and NEO:TWEWY, so if you want to avoid those from now on, please block the tags: #twewy spoilers, #ntwewy spoilers, #neo twewy spoilers, #ntwewy, and #neo twewy ^_^ Oh, and if you wanna keep up with any other posts I make about my experience with this game, please refer to the tag "kat plays neo twewy" :)

-First things first: I have not watched the Final Trailer and I don't plan on doing so to avoid spoilers, especially after the pre-release era of KH3 where a lot of the later trailers spoiled a lot of the endgame content. That being said, I've seen some minor screenshots from the final trailer including what many believe to be characters from the original TWEWY, namely Shiki and Joshua. That is all I know about the Final Trailer and I would very much like to remain as blind as possible going into NEO :)

-The very first cutscene was quite ominous in the sense that this game is likely going to be about "changing fate" (a recently common theme in Squeenix games, which I do appreciate), perhaps leading off from the end of A New Day in the OG and trying to stop an Inversion of Shibuya. Also worth noting that A New Day had similar aspects in which the main character experienced "future visions" of tragic events, although in A New Day these events were not able to be changed, while in NEO it seems like one of the main "powers" our protagonist has is specifically to rewrite these events and avoid a "bad ending." Very interesting indeed!

-I really like the revamped comic book style dialogue scenes, it's much more fluid and modern, which is an excellent direction for the series to take!

-I would love to have an actual PokemonGO knockoff of Final Fantasy creatures, please Squeenix that would be incredibleeeeee

-Also the LINE stickers??? Are so cute???

-I would just like to point out that Fret is an absolute treasure throughout this entire demo, he's hilarious and I will protect him with my life

-UHHHH don't like that Fret picked up some Reaper Pins just out of nowhere.....or the fact that they're apparently popular all over Shibuya.............did y'all not learn anything from the OG game or what lmao

-Okay so when I first got the "curry or ramen" scene and heard NPCs talking about the new curry place replacing the old ramen place I became IMMENSELY distressed that Ramen Don was totally cut from the game because....well, Ramen Don is a King okay?? But I'm glad to learn that no, he didn't fall off the face of the earth, he's still in business and he's the one opening the curry restaurant lolol. PHEW, crisis averted!

-.....I don't like the sudden appearance of a Wall Reaper and being able to read NPC thoughts. Wtf happened when they left the ramen place??? Are they playing the Game alive somehow?

-Okay so I have my own theories about this "Swallow" character and what they're up to but considering this is only the Demo and I still Have No Idea What's Happening, I'm just gonna say that I think Swallow intentionally led Rindo and Fret to the Crossing so they could join the Game. I mean, add in the fact that Swallow still communicates with Rindo during the Game and you've got yourself a suspicious character right there lol

-"Hey they're shooting off fireworks!" Fret honey that's not fireworks oof (see also: "*laughs* I'm in danger")

-WOOOOOO way to traumatize Rindo right off the bat like that LMAOO

-The visuals for the intro are VERY GOOD, the song is pretty decent until it gets all "screamo" (which I absolutely cannot stand sorry lol)

-Shoka is every Customer Service employee ever and I respect that

-Susukichi went from being "meh" to "WOW THIS GUY IS FUN" in the span of 10 seconds and I also respect that (he is also built like an Absolute Unit which is hilarious)

-The Wall Reapers (and just Reapers in general) seem.....way nicer and more helpful this time around?? Like in the OG the Wall Reapers were SO RUDE gfhjgjdfkhn and yeah I'm sure we'll get some like that but the juxtaposition of the first Wall Reaper in the OG compared to the first one in NEO is insane.

-The puzzles are quite a bit more entertaining this time around even if it's generally the same "fetch quest" formula lol

-"Rindo's Group" way to go Fret HFKJDGHSDFKJ mans really left the default name in there lmao

-OKAYOKAYOKAY so to those who aren't aware I am a MASSIVE SIMP for Sho Minamimoto, he's my absolute favorite and I think about him daily. HIS INTRODUCTION IS. INCREDIBLE. I LOVE IT SM.

-GOD hearing him actually SPEAK FULL SENTENCES is just SO SURREAL I love this sm

-Also the remix of his theme???? NEO TRANSFORMATION????? IT'S SO GOOD????????? It's like gone from a Boss Theme to a more triumphant sounding theme and I am HERE for it (every version of Transformation is just INCREDIBLE and getting a new one is even better)

-I Love Him, Your Honor

-Also idk how exactly but it's kinda weird seeing Sho in the OG vs NEO, cuz while he's mostly the same Insane Math-Obsessed Catboy, he's.....calmed down quite a bit?? Like OG made a whole point of how poorly he cooperates with others (not to mention just being completely unhinged and trying to kill everyone), whereas here in NEO he's......actually kinda working with others??? HELLO???? Sir what happened to you and Neku during those 3 years I would love to know all about it

-I guarantee you Sho is still probably scheming shite and will likely pull some total insane BS later down the road, and I am very much looking forward to that. Also, is he looking for a certain Pin or something??? Cuz he keeps talking about different Pins and even mentions "this is just another Psych Pin" like he's actively looking for a Pin to do something with. Maybe it also has to do with the "latent powers of Players" thing he mentioned as well??? What is this dude UP TO oml (also is he in contact with Neku at all?? they're both technically fugitives at this point right?? WHAT HAPPENED AFTER A NEW DAY I AM BEGGING YOU)

-I seems like Sho ALSO has an idea of what's going on in this specific game (even if he won't admit it straightforward). Per his quote "The game's 142,857. Factor it out," he's essentially saying, "This game is a neverending cyle, figure out how to get out of it" (or at least that's what I got from his "cyclic number" nonsense lolol)

-I do like how Sho mostly stays out of sight until he's needed for a battle or assisting with a mission, that's kind of on par with his whole "uncooperative" quirk from the OG, plus he might literally have to stay out of sight of other Reapers and Players considering he's likely breaking the rules of the Game (not surprising considering him and Neku broke practically every rule in the book during OG)

-The nicknames for Sho- I can't- They're so FUNNYYYY GFHJSDFKJ

-He goes from being called "Pi-Face" and "Tabooty" in OG to "Mr. Minami" and "M-Teezy" in NEO LMAOO

-(Wowee I just realized I've been mostly talking about Sho oopsies sorry y'all, this is what I meant by thinking about him almost daily he is THAT much of a fav of mine ghfkjsd)

-Okay RIP Fret and Rindo for not getting literally ANY explanation as to how the Game works OOF, that is kinda cringe that whoever gets the Pin earns points, not whoever erases the Noise (which like I understand but also URRRGGHHH I WANNA SEE THE SQUAD SUCCEED)

-"I should be going home now it's getting late" Oh you sweet summer child-

-Also love the mention of parents in this game???? KH you could learn a thing or two from TWEWY (poor Rindo's mom fhgjkdh)

-KUBO IS HILARIOUS I SUPPORT HIM AND HIS GROSS FACE (also thank you Final Trailer thumbnail for spoiling my suspicions about him very cool smh)

-Kaie is a LAD I also support him, go King type those funky texts I believe in you

-FRET PLS STOP SCANNING FHGJKSDHKJFGHFKJ he's like me when I scan in OG during Weeks 2 and 3 and see Taboo Noise coming after me ghfjdshfj

-Also Rindo can you stay off your phone for TWO SECONDS ik you're trying to figure things out but Fret is a jelly boi and I don't want him to be upset with you my guy

-Sho being an actual sorta mentor to the kiddos?? Who are you sir this is so unlike you ghfgskj what happened to the guy who tried shooting children in the face 8 times over LMAO (granted he's probably just using them but it's still nice to see him actually cooperating and sharing knowledge with the kiddos aaaaa)

-EYO EIJI OJI THE TIKTOK INFLUENCER IS BACK LMAO

-hgjkfshgkjf "we aren't glorifying capitalism on my watch" THATS SO FUNNY TO ME GFHJFSDGHJKS (also an all-orange ensemble is disgusting you deserve jail for one thousand years fkn Cheddar Goldfish Cheezit ass woman)

-WICKED TWISTERS NAME DROP EYOOO we love to see it

-gfhsgjf Poor Rindo embarassing himself for the sake of the Game that's incredible

-R e t u r n t o M O N K E. That is all.

-Dialogue during boss battles is HELLA cool i love that

-HHHHH THE KANON SCENE MADE ME A N G E R Y FRET STOP SIMPING MY GUY says the girl with a Literal Simp Encyclopedia and simps for pixels on a screen daily

-Can't wait to see the other Reapers :eyes emoji:

-CAN'T WAIT TO SEE NAGI MY BELOVED YEAHHHH WOOOOOO AAAAND that's about it for the demo lolol, I absolutely CANNOT wait for next month, this game is gonna be INCREDIBLE holy hell Prepare for more simping, more screaming, and more vibing from Yours Truly :) I fully intend on sharing more general thoughts like this on both Tumblr and Twitter so it's not just reblog-retweet-reblog-retweet with the occasional comment fhgskjd

If you wanna witness my insanity up close and personal I have a Square Enix Discord server called Sea Side Dreamers! You can look it up on Disboard, or you can add me on Discord @Katara0524#9244 for a direct link :) We have topics about Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, NieR, and ofc TWEWY (as well as other topics!), so if you want some good ol' chaos and chitchat, you're more than welcome to join!

[hashtagartistlife]

▲ dare I say,,,, i c h i m e,,,,, just because I’m interested to see what you might have yet to say after all this time and I’m on a salt bender since I’m rewatching the series AND ORIHIME IN HM ARC IS MAKING ME SO MAD. SHE WAS SO DUMB SERA.

likeanonymous and @purpleconscious also asked for this so lmfao *cracks knuckles* l e t s g o 

unpopular opinion: they actually had some real material to work with if they wanted to go this route in the manga

it’s

just

that

it

was

never

developed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ih isn’t bad because it was written badly. it was, in fact, written EXTREMELY CAREFULLY and EXTREMELY WELL to be a fucking terrible, awful, NOT NARRATIVELY VIABLE SHIP. it’s bad because it was written WELL. let me explain.

they rlly DID have a leg to stand on in terms of potential initially smfh. the fact that they met when orihime CARRIED HER INJURED BROTHER on her thirteen year old shoulders (or however the fuck old she was) to ichigo’s dad’s hospital, when ichigo himself has dealt with a loss like that before…imagine if it was raining while this happened! like can you THINK of a more tragic or poignant way for two very sad children to meet??? u REALLY could have done smth with this here but instead they used this incident to contrast how orihime just feels one-sided comradeship with him over this while it’s rukia that actually forges the bond w him by respecting his personal space. that was choice number one that was deliberately made. Kubo rlly took every single SCRAP of potential that IH had and made sure to turn it into IR fodder and DIRECTLY compare how bad IH was to how good IR was lmfao 

like, ichigo’s whole THING is the protector! it’s what his entire identity IS! you’d think that he’d be a good match with the girl who actively WANTS to be protected! but psyche, turns out that inoue’s destructive need to be loved and protected actually brings out the worst in ichigo! whereas rukia, who fought and rejected his declarations of protection till the bitter end, who told him she wouldn’t tell him thank you for this, is the one who brought out the most heroic side of him! like these r DELIBERATE choices!!! obviously there are so many more examples throughout the manga but im tired so maybe another time. but do not ever do yourself the disservice of thinking that ih was just a badly written ship and kubo was just a hack. i mean, he is a hack, but he was a hack who knew how to construct stories. ih was written extremely well, which is why it was an even bigger slap in the face when they went canon. thank you and goodnight 

[ramenspice]

Harribel Redesign

Ok so @zanguntsu made a post that inspired/prompted me to redesign Harribel (which I’ve been meaning to do anyways since she’s Queen of Hueco Mundo and needs a new look in my fic) and I was going to reblog it and add my stuff on but then things got too long and I didn’t want to hijack the post. I’d suggest reading that to understand this. 

But it was talking about how the women of Bleach should be way more muscular and ripped and how Bad the outfits are, Harribel specifically for those dumb titty plates. All that is super true, especially for Harribel because there were way more reasons to make her ripped than not. Like a. Harribel’s design and whole motif is based off sharks who are 1,500 to 2,400 pounds of pure muscle so it would make sense to give her a compact, athletic (ripped) build like a shark, b. she also has a water/ocean theme going on so a swimmer’s build would be accurate too (strong back and shoulders, thick dorito shape upper body, muscular hips), and c. her zanpakuto in particular gets massive and requires some serious core strength and balance. But what makes me really mad about her design, Kubo could have realistically kept so much of the original design if he had just changed it a little and then we could have had BONE ARMOR. 

How cool would it be if Harribel’s mask encompassed a piece of s k e l e t o n  armor? I always thought the titty plates were apart of her mask as they extended down from the face and that’s why those hard shapes against skin wouldn’t hurt if it was done right, but that’s the thing, even if you don’t think they’re apart of her mask if the armor was done right via realistic breastplates there’d be so little movement that chafing/discomfort wouldn’t be an issue. The way it is now, she’d literally have no nipples. Chafed out of existence. Her boobs probably would’ve fallen off too from all the bouncing.

You can see how free these ladies are as the armor only serves to hold them in the natural, bra-less position while doing nothing to protect her sternum (even worse when that plating collapses and pushes into the sternum stabbing her), all because the shape points down and out from the chest. But all you have to do is change the shape to compress and lift to solve the bounce problem, and guess what, we have stuff to do that with in real life - sports bras and binders!

Make those changes and already it’s much better. Tighter than your average sports bra but slightly looser than a binder, this keeps those pesky hobondonkeros out of the way and keeps the concept of chest armor/extended mask while still emphasizing the feminine figure. Well why can’t you just do that and still define the breasts like in the original design you ask? Because that’s not what real armor does and exposes the sternum (again) which would kill you. 

Actual breastplates are designed specifically to protect the sternum, bulging out around the abdomen at one point to redirect blows and distance the area of impact from the body. Having a cavity in the center right over the sternum redirects blows inward which is understandably bad, and though there are good arguments for and against molded shapes in the breastplate around the actual breasts it’s better to go with the closer variation of what we know existed and worked. You can accommodate for breasts by simply moving that bulge up towards the chest more. 

That’s what this center piece is for, to make a point for which to redirect blows off of and protect the sternum. AND, it still fits with the whole piece because b o n e s. It’s looking better, but something’s missing... I could have sworn there was something I talked about at the beginning that Harribel should have...

OH WAIT IT’S TIER PUNCH-YOU-INTO-THE-SUN HARRIBEL AND HER RIPPLING  M U S C L E S. This is the minimum level of ripped she should be. I combined all the build types suggested by her type of activity and themes to make a thicker swimmer/fighter build, but this still isn’t quite right... There’s still one con on the list to take care of...

AnD iT IS bOnES

This plus her jacket will look fuckin’ SICK and if you take the bone stuff to not be an extension of her mask (I hc that it is as a sign that she’s stronger than the average Joe and was a Vasto Lorde), she can still more easily fit layers under the armor to improve comfort. This is a design that carries death and prestige, perfect for the Queen of Hueco Mundo. 

Now, Grimmjow gets to run around tits-out no armor and fight pretty well pre-zanpakuto release, so the same is fairly acceptable with Harribel and exposing skin pre-release. The only sexy cutouts I accept are right over her sword-shattering abs.

This was fun, I’d like to do more redesigns/changes for the women of Bleach the more I get back into my fic.

[littleeyesofpallas]

BLEACH - Name Games

Here’s a neat one that works a little differently from the rest,

Suì-Fēng[砕蜂*], which is written with the furigana So-i-fo-n’[ソイフォン], indicating that it isn’t a Japanese name at all.  Indeed, Sui-Feng’s name is Chinese, matching parts of her design and her kung-fu/wushu aesthetic —right down to the classic kung-fu shoes.  In either language, the name reads,

[砕] =“Shattered/Shattering” and [蜂] = “Bee/Wasp/Swarm.”

*Technically in Chinese this probably would’ve been written [碎蜂]; but [砕] is a Japanese simplification of the character, [碎], so they mean basically the same thing.

Part of the wordplay here is that her offensive nature as a fighter is described in “Shattering Wasp,” as in “a wasp that breaks things”... but her abandonment issues with Yoruichi are described by “Shattered Swarm,” as in “a collective unit broken apart.”

So, I forget exactly where I’d heard it but back when she was still a fairly new character, I distinctly recall someone bringing up the idea that she was named after Bruce Lee.  It’s a peculiar link to make, and I’m not 100% sure it’s true, but here’s the run down...

Okay so as an aside, that I want to keep as brief as possible; Chinese is what’s considered a Tonal language, meaning the subtle differences in rising, falling, flat, and dipping tones of vowels are all distinct from one another.  For English speakers/readers that basically means a lot of words sound/look alike to us.  All those little notations in things like, mā, má, mǎ, and mà are all different sounds with different written characters, and different meanings.  Just keep this in mind as there will be a lot of different looking names here that actually all sounds pretty similar to one or more of eachother...

Bruce Lee’s actual Chinese name was Lǐ Zhènfān[李振藩] (More often romanized as Lee Jun-fan) but he worked under the name Lǐ Xiǎolóng[李小龍](alt. Lee Siu Long) meaning “Little Dragon,” and of course just Bruce Lee in English.  BUT some Chinese tradition includes giving a child a Rǔmíng[乳名]: “Milk Name” between the time of their birth and being given a lasting and legal name.  This period used to stretch as long as 100 days after birth, but more modern legal issues have limited the period to 1 month before legal documents including the lasting personal name need to be registered.

So, as it happens, Bruce Lee’s Milk Name was Xì Fèng[細鳳](but also romanized as “Sai Fon”) meaning “Slender Phoenix*.“ (Sometimes translated as “Small Phoenix” although it’s a slightly different kind of “small” than the Xiǎo[小] in his working name.)  And although it’s hard to tell from the pinyin romanization there, the actual pronunciation of Xì Fèng is roughly equatable to So-i-fo-n’[ソイフォン].  Also the name Xì Fèng seems to be a girl’s name, but that’s kind of a hard call to make because it’s not that the name is explicitly feminine, just uses characters more common in girls names.... but Milk Names by their nature more diminutive than regular names, so it’s possible that it sounds like a girl’s name because it sounds “feminine” because it sounds “cute” because it’s a baby name.  I know that’s kinda hard to follow...

ANYWAY so the idea in all this Bruce Lee referencing is that...

Xì Fèng[細鳳] was another name of Bruce Lee’s

and Xì Fèng[細鳳](Sai Fon) sounds like Soi Fon[ソイフォン]

and Soi Fon[ソイフォン] is how Kubo wrote Suì-Fēng[砕蜂]

AND Xì Fèng is a girl’s name, and Suì-Fēng is a girl

and Bruce Lee’s famous for his kung-fu flms

and Suì-Fēng has a Kung-fu/wushu gimmick

and also Bruce Lee’s super well known for his yellow and black-stripped jumpsuit from his final film, Game of Death

and bees/wasps/hornets are yellow with black stripes

and Suì-Fēng[砕蜂]’s name and sword are both wasp/hornet themed

so... yeah....  It’s kind of a round about and convoluted mess, but it does also seem like too many things lined up to be a total coincidence?  I just kind of wonder at what point Kubo was looking at Bruce Lee’s name and realized, “hey that sounds like Bees!”  And honestly most of the most hard to believe bits might really be as simple as recognizing that Kubo probably doesn’t have a very good ear for Chinese; because Xì Fèng[細鳳] and Suì-Fēng[砕蜂] do in fact sound pretty passably similar to an untrained ear.  But either way, it’s a really neat pile of factoids for one of my favorite characters in the series!  Shame she didn’t really get done justice outside of her first appearance...

Oh and her sword Suzumebachi[雀蜂] is written susume[雀] = “Sparrow” and Bachi[蜂] = “Bee/Hornet,” but also  Suzumebachi[雀蜂]: “Sparrow Hornet,” as in “Hornet the size of a small bird,” is just the name of the actual species of hornet, Vespa mandarinia. (aka the Asian Giant Hornet, aka Yak-killer Hornet.)  One of the largest species of hornets in the world, and one of the most lethal; Although not most poisonous!  It just happens to strike the perfect balance of venomous potency and sheer volume injected, via its 1/4in(6mm) long stinger, to kill more people per year than any other kind of hornet, wasp, or bee. (incidentally, these are also what the Pokemon Beedrill are based on!  Their pupal forms look exactly like Kakuna, and their larva have fat grubby bodies with a little head poking out that looks like Weedle’s little clown nose.)

*there’s a whole thing here about the use of the word “Phoenix,” but I went over it once when talking about Otouribashi Roujuurou [鳳橋 楼十郎] aka Rose[ローズ], so you can read that in the Visored post.

And since this has become a rather lengthy series now...

The Kuchiki family

The Kurosaki & Shiba families

The men of the Ishida family

The Shihouin family +Kisuke & Tessai

Renji & Ichika, Abarai

The Visored

Shunsui, Nanao, & Ukitake

The Kotetsu sisters, Kotsubaki family, & Iba family

Toushirou, Rangiku, & Momo

[sundaynightnovels]

10 Questions Tag

I’ve been tagged by @apollonkondric​ (have i been gone for a while that i didn’t realise your name change??)! anyway! it’s as usual for my wip like all things out of season, so here it goes: 1) How did you come up with your WIP’s title? What does it mean in relation to the story? i actually gave a pretty long answer to this here! feel free to give it a read (or yknow, take it as if it’s just to be poetic) 2. Do you title your chapters? If so, what’s your favorite? yes i do chapter titles! i remember making a post quite a while back about some of my chapter titles, and i remember some people commenting on how they sounded like fall out boy songs HAHA which is actually. very true. they can be quite long and unlike @apollonkondric​ ��s, very rarely straightforward, if ever. but they kinda do make sense if you think about it, and lets you know as a whole what the chapter is going to revolve around (which, yknow, is the point of chapter titles tbh) ANYWAY. hm. i think my favourite is still, the world is a different place when you know what the world is. makes sense, doesn’t it? (also i just realised how massively long my chapters are oops) 3. What’s a recent line you really like? hmm.

it’s not particularly recent, but idk. i like it.

4. Are there any writing-related quotes you really like?

hm. not that i can think of right now, no.

5. Do you have an idea for cover design for your story? i’m not super sure yet, but... if you know how chinese novel covers look like (not those... wuxia novels or the romance novels but more contemporary ones), i feel like maybe something like that?? pretty minimalist and aesthetic and of course, a lot of nature-ish elements.  let me see if i can google something.

not exactly these but yknow, these sort of really minimalist, simple designs. yup! 6. What sort of AU can you imagine your story being? all sorts. college AU mainly. 7. Which OC would be the most angry with you as the writer? uhhh. i’m thinking yu(f) or jia, because i break down their walls and make them vulnerable and they don’t like that. 8. If you had to tell the story from a different POV, which character would you choose?

my story has multiple POV! though i’d love to imagine it in some sort of god-like, lemony-snicket-style voice. that’ll be fun. i actually do wanna write that sort of story some day. i think i could be a pretty funny narrator voice if i tried haha 9. What would be your OC’s taste in music if they lived in our world?

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. this is a tough one. shou would like classical music tbh, though he’d somehow find beauty in all music forms eventually (after perhaps griping about some of them) zhen would... actually, as someone who loves to listen to music a lot, it’s kinda disappointing to me if one of my characters doesn’t really care that much about music, and that character would be zhen. really. lu would listen to those typical 2000s boys like girls-esque pop music. let him be! he’s a kid! and that music is fun . ren... hmm. hm. probs people like ed sheeran, and he does enjoy the new music that justin bieber puts out. teng likes taylor swift, beyonce, all the really addictive pop songs that you can dance and vibe to! he doesn’t listen to musicals because he’s not really exposed to them, but if he does, he’ll love them.  jun would listen to anything, but maybe something a little indie as well. that sorta vibes. yu(f) doesn’t listen either, or if she does, maybe something like studio ghibli soundtrack while she works. yu(m) hmm. soul. r&b.  jia would be something fun! anything fun tbh. reggaeton. electronic. clubbing music. 10. What’s one personal goal you want to achieve by the end of the story? same tbh. finish my second draft by end of march (not really sure if i can get it done by then tbh, but... there’s a chance) and yknow, edit it and all. just get a complete novel done! tagging @bahay-kubo​ @insearchof-solace​  @stardustscribes​ @kidsarentallwrite​ @cookiecutterwrites​ @tenacious-scripturient​

[tokusashi]

For real

invincibleHello guys, please her me out.

(My english is kinda bad but I’m trying my best. Also I DON’T WANT TO OFFEND ANYONE, if some words were poorly used then I’m sorry. But please, let me know)

Lately, reading posts about bnha spoilers, I’ve noticed that people are making a little mistake. I’m talking about blaming OP as the main source of the anime/manga falldown. At least- shounen m/a.

Well, let me say this- not really.

As examples, I’ll use three titles, “Fairy Tail”, “Bleach” and “Naruto”.

So, let’s start with the first one, shall we?

(about the Boku no hero Academia I’ll write at the end)

1. FAIRY TAIL - Hiro Mashima, creator of the FT had once said, that he’s not good with creating a big plots. And we could see that. When stories were short, it was funny, clever even and nice to read and watch. But when the whole Zeref problem was on the picture and whole DRAMA? Wellll... 

Biggest problems of FT were:

a) many, many characters that meant nothing

- Fairy Tail is an title with so many characters, that people can’t remember half of their names, but not only because of their number, but because of their lack of existence. Yeah, sure, they are there, but they don’t do ANYTHING important, mainly just waiting for the main hero (or his crew) to rescue them.

They’re just there for to be there and this is really not good. You know that Lisanna won’t do a thing, she’s just there for being pretty. You know that Evergreen won’t be a hero of the day, because there will be bigger shark, like Laxus or Natsu, to bite the enemy.

Even Levy was supposed to be the intelligent one, but in the end she was just a plot device as a damsel in distress and Gajeel’s lover.

b) main character without character development

- Natsu. Just... Natsu. He haven’t changed ALMOST at all. (I’m not saying completly).  Through the whole series, he always was just a loud idiot who liked to fight with strong oponnents and with those who have hurted his friends. I mean, it had it’s charm, but it was leading to nowhere. A breakthrough moment for him was the one, when Gildarts taught him, that he won’t always win. But we never ever see it again. Yeah, was this one time when he decided to leave Sebertooth members alone to be sure that Happy’s ok, but it wasn’t situation about win or lose. Natsu, all alone, was interesting with his problem about dragon and demon seed in him buuut... It get only worse.

c) almost lack of any training of the characters, they were always stronger because plot demanded it

- Like when they were with Spirits in Spirit world, and then learned that “Oh sh*t, we lost our all time for training”, and there was DEUS EX MACHINA, Ultear with “Sure, I can make it up guys”. And BAM! Done! Now we have super powered fairy tail members!

And it was just ugh. Like, no training arc or anything. Yeah, sure, when they were fightiung they were learning and “gaining lvl”, but not drastically.

And then we had power up “because”.

And then time-skip to explain why everyone are super powerfull right now.

And that’s kinda meh.

d) every villain who had tits was on list “to forgive everything what she had done” 

- Do I have to even explain it? Like Minerva. the biggest sadistic jerk of the females in Fairy Tail, who tortured Lucy, had FUN with it and so on. Buuuut why won’t we turn her into and lovely sheep and adopt her, because of her bewbs.

And sad story written on an knee.

e) lack of consequences around choices that main heores have made

- Again, Natsu. People were kinda worried, what’s gonna happen to him! Will he turn into a dragon?! Or a demon?! Or a mix of both?! And what have killed it all?

Igneel: Are you dragon or demon

Natsu: I’m human

WELL DONE, END OF THE PLOT.

Also Zeref had literally fu*ked a kid. Like, the body of Mavis was the one of a little girl. BUT WHO CARES.

Also, many many times characters did something, but it had no meaning whatsoever. Even the big plots, and that’s really nono.

d) Erza as a very bad written OP character

- Erza is an perfect exaple of op character, that is terribly bad written. Like, she’ll always win. She’ll be always the strongest, she’ll have armor for EVERYTHING, she’ll do the thing. I’m surprised that she had no fight with zeref 1v1, she could end the whole series a lot sooner.

Like, seriously, there’s no other character like Erza. She’s just there to win, that her whole plot. And it wasn’t suddenly. She was OP since the beginning till the last fight, and it wasn’t interesting at all. Hiro Mashima had no knowledge about “how to handle an op character”.

SUMMARY:

It wasn’t OP that destroyed Fairy Tail. Those were character, that Mashima-sensei didn’t know how to use, plot devices he had used poorly and lack of consequences and feeling of the real danger. Sure, Erza as OP was also a problem, but not the main source.

SO, NEXT’S BLEACH:

a)  Tite Kubo had continued the series after Karakura Arc.

- It was really good! The end with Ichigo who had lost his powers? Great!  Final Getsuga Tenshou! Zangetsu and Hollow Ichigo merged! Very nice!

And then... yeah. Continuation. We’ve seen that Kubo-sensei had no heart to this anymore. Next Arc after another was worse and worse. 

b) potential of whole Gotei destroyed

- To be honest, whole Gotei was not even as half interesting as Hollows.

Even worse, we had seen whole Gotei from the very bad view for more than a half of the series. Also captains (after KArakura arc) had almost no real meaning. They were just meh.

c) getting tangled up in his[Kubo-sensei] own mistakes

- Like making a hybrid of shinigami-hollow-quincy-human main character, just because shinigami with hollow powers was not enough for the audience.

Or creating a third crowd with bows in white out of nowhere, just for the plot.

Or making Ishida the Sasuke of this series with even more drama than before.

Or creating fullbring just to throw the arc away.

Or just Yhwach. Kubo made him so powerfull, that he had the same problem as Masashi Kishimoto. Had no idea how to kill it. Also, the whole Zangetsu-Yhwach thing was kinda out of... yeah. Just, there were a lot of things that had no sense or were just simply stupid, and that hurts. 

d) problems of Tite Kubo

- As I’ve said before. Tite Kubo had his own problems with Shounen Jump. It became the source of the flaws that Kubo-sensei had made, and we all know it.

SUMMARY:

Actually all of the main flaws are coming from continuation, because really- If Tite Kubo could end the series after Ichigo had lost his powers, then it would be a really great shounen! Buuuut we can see how it went. The biggest problem here was not an OP, the biggest problem was the fact, that Kubo-sensei had the toys, but had no fun with plaing with them, and it’s clearly visible. He drew because he drew, because people had pulled him by the ears

AND THE THIRD ONE, NARUTO:

a) no meaning of side characters

- DON’T BITE ME, I’m not sayin “completly”! there are those like Might Guy, but when we’ll look at Kiba, Temari, Kankuro, Ino and many, many others. They were not as bad written as the ones from Fairy Tail, but also not perfect. They had almost no effect on the “final bosses”, and were out of league, when we look at the golden trio- Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, who were almost like a gods at the end in comparison to the others.

b) ninjutsu was forgotten

- At first it was amazing. Techniques! Elements! Limited chakra! Kunais were deadly, and bombs and everything that ninja used.

And then they just forgot about all of it, and Made Dragon Naruto Ball Z. There were big effective blasts, and power flowing out of characters, giant beasts who made every shinobi not important [at all] and so on. I’m really glad that Naruto had won with the final boss because of the sexy no jutsu, becase, AT LEAST, it was a jutsu.

c) Madara Uchiha and what to do with it

- As I’ve had written above abour Bleach, I have to repeat myself. Uchiha Madara was the problem, that Kishimoto-sensei had no idea how to solve.

When he was stronger, Naruto had been stronger, and Sasuke to, but there he was even mooooore powerfull, so they also had to and, yeah.

He was just a poorly used plot device.

d) Love out of nowhere

- Let’s talk about Sakura. she did loved Sasuke only because he was cool, and then he tried to kill her, he betrayed the whole village, her and naruto over and over, had treated her as she was a nuisance etc. so what she did at the end? She walked after him so long till he made her pregnant and they’ve got married. Best romance ever. Except it’s not.

Also, Naruto and Hinata. Hinata is a great character, don’t get me wrong, but while she ALWAYS loved Naruto, Naruto never really payed attention to her, and it all was created very rougly and quickly at the end. He was always more focused on Sasuke, and there was also problem with that, because Kishimoto-sensei didn’t knoiw how to show devotion to someone, that’s not as romantic as Naruto’s toward Sasuke. And it’s obvious that it WASN’T INTENTIONALL, it just looks like it looks.

Also, the only one relationship that was builded was the one between Temari and Shikamaru (we can also say about Asuma and Kurenai but it was a really short one). 

And then the final chapter, everyone are married and with kids out of nowhere. Good for them, just, it was really weird.

f) who needs Akatsuki

- Akatsuki was an organization that was purely great as long as it was in the shadow. People were scared of it. It was a really BIG DEAL, and members of it were dangerous. And then in manga, and in shippuuden anime, when they started to show themselves, they... well, died pretty quickly. Also the whole thing about the chief of Acatsuki, Pain, who was in fact only a puppet of Madara... I mean, suddenly Akatsuki became nothing, and it was kinda unnerving.

g) Friendly Tailed Beasts

- Demons. Pet demons. Plushies who need to be understood.

Like, Tailed Beasts were a really interesting creatures, but obiously Friendship no Jutsu of Naruto worked also on them so here it is. Naruto’s Zoo.

Killed potential. There was a chance to show something with power and brutality, but nah, why we should have that? Demons can’t be evil obviously.

SUMMARY:

- “Naruto” is not a bad series. Just have it bigs flaws. But also here, like in Bleach or Fairy Tail, the OP’ness wasn’t the main source of the failure. It was lack of the proportion between main characters and side characters, and Kishimoto-sensei clearly had no idea what to do with his own villains and had really strong problems with creating a relationships. But in the end it wan’t about ninjas anymore, it was Dragon Ball with guy in a tracksuit, and that was the worst one.

SO, DID THE OP-THING DESTROYED THOSE THREE TITLES?

My answer is: nope.

OP characters are totally ok, as long as creator KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THEM. Kuchiki Byakuya from Bleach was an OP character, but still great, Hatake Kakashi from Naruto was an OP character, but also- still great.

Also I want to say, that I don’t hate Fairy Tail, Naruto or Bleach.

I don’t like FT, but with Naruto and Bleach I’m pretty ok. I’m just a person who understand flaws of the title she reads.

SO, ABOUT IZUKU MIDORIYA’S “OP’ness”:

Many have doubts how it’ll turn out, but what I want to say is that Izuku is supposed to defeat All for One, and to become the greatest hero. He have to become powerfull and have more than one trick, so for me 6-7 quirks works.

Also just look at chapter 215. Everyone cried that he can use “black whip” so suddenly, but the price for using it is STRONG PAIN and reduction of One For All limit, that is possible to use (20%). So now, add 5 more an every each with it’s own restriction. Yeah.

Izuku have a lot of strenght, but Todoroki or Bakugou are controlling their powers FAR BETTER than him. Tokoyami too! He still have to catch up, ant to learn a lot of things.

Also, how many quirks does All for One have? Is he invincible? Ofc not.

Also summing my babling:

Izuku’s “op’ness” won’t destroy a thing. Horikoshi-sensei (for now) know how to handle and OP characters.

If there will be a downfall of the series, then there will be a lot of another flaws, not just one to kill it all, so don’t be afraid. Have a faith.

[litttlebeast]

@ @ @

for every ‘@’ sent (anon or not) I WILL mention and post some positivity about a fellow tumblr user | accepting pls send them so i can spread positivity!!

// @ofmeanqueens -  I mean ??? Dottir??? I love Audrey so much if that wasn’t clear from how often she’s been featured or talked about here since the release of D3 and our thread in particular is so special to me rn! I love getting to write Aurora as a mom because she gets to be even more of a softie than she already is l m a o and you are such a talented writer and I love your Audrey very much

@siximpossiblethoughts - Max is an absolute joy and ??? I love him. He’s such a sweetheart and I adore his Alice and his grasp on her is absolutely an amazing thing to see, as well as how much he interacts with his followers. I know we haven’t written much yet, Max, but please know that I do still adore you and see you on the dash all the time and love it. You’re a very special mutual to me and I do hope we get to write together more in the future

@origcmibird  - We have hardly interacted at all but your love for Kubo and for Laika is such a wonderful thing to read! You evidently have a lot of passion for your muse and his world and his creators and I love that! Keep up the awesome work w/ the blog and I really hope we can get an interaction going soon enough bc I adore Kubo okay

[orenonahaichigoda]

Ichigo (and Chad, and Uryu) and Skinship (Platonic Physical Affection)

For what it's worth, it'd be easy to picture Ichigo as longing for physical affection like hugs. Any kind of skinship, really. First canon, and then what him being trans adds:

Canon: When he was young, he was quite a crier, and his mother, a living sunray, would always comfort him. She's almost always seen at least holding his hand. It's not hard to imagine she was a hugger. Sure, Ichigo is seen hugging Yuzu a couple of times, but he's the one there for her. It would take care of the completely neurophysical aspects of touch starvation, he wouldn't get as bad as I've seen some people put forth that some of the non-Nel Arrancar might be (seen one or two fics about Grimmjow, in particular, and it wasn't hard to imagine).

Issin cries crocodile tears as a gag, but we never see him exactly look Ichigo in the eye and tell him earnestly... anything, except in S1 at Masaki's grave. So he might tell his son his *mother* loved him *once a year.* It's clear he loves his kids, and that they don't doubt that (like they do his sanity), but again, he's not emotionally open in any honest way. Just manic gags.

Chad and Uryu are probably the people he would be most likely to feel he could fall back on. If you want to envision that literally, that could work, too. There's an episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show spinoff Rhoda that...most of you are too young to know, but the main character and her husband are made to do a trust excersise where this is literal, and slapstick ensues. And this fits somehow.

But anyway, yeah, in a way, Kubo told a story that was coincidentally very American Gen X-esque. The kids, none of them really has a parent *there for them,* for that age group in Japan (20 year generations are not universal, so there's a couple in those years, but I'm Post Dankai Juniors,and so is Kubo), latchkeyism wasn't really a thing. But anyway, these kids, Kisuke and Yoruichi are really their best adults from the beginning. Kisuke will make sure they go forth as prepared as possible, and Yoruichi tries to go along to watch them. Others come in and out. Hachi almost takes on Orihime,But this is quickly ditched/forgotten by the narrative. The Vizards mostly only support Ichigo for a time. In the epilogue, wecan assume that Hiyori remained supportive of Ichigo when the rest went to Soul Society (leaving her after 100+ years herself...), as Kazui knows her by name and they seem to have a banter routine. But the epilogue was two chapters. For that matter, we don't see what became of Kisuke's family or Nel and Grimmjow at all.

Chad... had his band mates in the beginning, but they get quickly forgotten. We have no idea who he has. Before he can work, there must be some financial support, but it could be as clearly distant as Orihime's. Uryu... Ryuken is an emotional wall, clearly loves his son, but only knows how to show it practically and financially. He is as warm and cosy as those new all-steel-and-black kitchen designs. Even when his son is unconscious and can't hear him.

But focusing on Ichigo, because that's my muse, he's the best off of the gang, but his role is mostly*giving* support. Giving support is kinda his happy place, sure, but he's still a kid, and also, everyone needs to *get* support, too. You can't invite a homeless person to a hot meal if you don't have any food yourself.

My stuff:

So, men don't tend to receive much physical affection. If you're cis, you may compartamentalise it as physical affection being hugs for small children, claps on the shoulder from friends, and sex as a adult.

When you're trans, and you transition, you suddenly notice hugs are harder to come by. One of the great things about always having had mixed friend groups is female friends will hug you (when they know you're really a friend and not a creepy grabber) Women are freer with skinship, period, because men are stigmatised against it by machoism/sexism against women (it makes you "girly," which is posited as worse than death. It affects men, but it's from anti-woman bigotry) so men with male friends are always a distance apart and more emotionally reserved. And you'll notice you're expected to be that.

If we're in my verse where Ichigo and Chad have a daughter,well, *they had a baby together, obviously touching is not off-limits* even if they're no longer an item, per se.

And Ichigo had two things happen during transition that I didn't: death of the emotionally open parent, and leaving childhood. I had both of those happen as well, not just one, but decades before transition. So it was very clear once I started passing where the sudden distance was coming from. And easy to place--remember, always mixed-gender circles. So he might not automatically be able to assign anything a cause. And also, I can't exactly be sure of the amount of skinship-type stuff in older-teen/adult female relationship in Japan, even if I can say the emotionally open part remains the same on both sides of the pond. I came to the US as a teen.

I still feel like he might notice the sudden drop in open affection from others in general, that are not young children that rely on him some way or another (including his sisters, Yuzu in particular, canon included. Karin has accused her of hero worship...)

Either way, it would have tanked when Masaki died. I just kind of added another reason for it to. And since he would have had it, from her, at least in canon, in my stuff, in spades before that whole time, and there would be a loss he would definitely feel. Again, less so if we're further from canon for him and Chad both, though, because they've broken past the no-touching with each other.

I wasn't really intending to *go anywhere* with this, per se. I'm just stuck at home again because of what is probably 退行性関節症 and live alone, and don't take work home, I opened Tumbler, and this is where my thoughts went.

One cool thing to think about is I'm sure the majority of modern fiction really wouldn't change whether a character was cis or trans. I'll tackle the epilogue in a second, but for example, in my project, Kenpachi is trans. He's AFAB... Nothing changes except it's as far from that transphobic thing on this site a few years ago "trans men are all soft little flowers" as you can get. Most of the characters, nothing would change. Even the younger kids, to go all out here, the girls could be on puberty blockers, and several years of HRT in the epilogue. I'm not writing that anywhere, but I'm trying to make a point. Nothing changes.

In the epilogue, or for any former or timeline couple with kids, obviously both parents would have to be trans, as these are all M/F couples. The only case against Orihime being flippable to trans is how the heck would she be getting her hormones. She'd have to, as I have Ichigo, been on them for some time pre-series. And puberty blockers beforehand. Sora could've done that much, but voices only naturally drop, so intense training or puberty blockers to estrogen, which, after Sora's sudden death, would be hard for her to procure.

It'd be just as easy to flip Uryu the same as I did with Ichigo. Doctor dad.

Chad, honestly, he is just such a blank slate in many ways. Anything with him needs to flesh him out more. You can really go banananas. Obviously, I write him cis, but I still had to add more for him than for any of the teen combatants. He's as unfleshed as Chizuru, who I also went banananans with.

But, I mean, honestly, though, other than the fact it would be very hard for some characters to obtain any treatment they needed, it kinda doesn't change anything...

This is the beauty of fandom overall. Fans all putting our own ideas and works out there.

[alittlemuppetwrites]

Tag game!

Thanks for the tags @bahay-kubo​ and @the-neverland-puffin​, i think you actually were playing different tag games but  the questions were like 99.9% the same so i thought i’d just combine for convenience hehe :P

ONE / name

my parents didn’t give me one so you can just refer to me as “sir”, “captain”, “your lordship”, “bastard”, “wormhat” or “denim chicken”. 

TWO / birthday

25th June 

THREE / zodiac sign

cancer... AKA a lifelong excuse for being overly emotional and dramatic and i m a crab ?

FOUR / height

you know what? I actually never got confirmation on this for like the past 3 years, I think I’m like 5″4 but I could easily be 12″3 but no one’s told me :) (in short, that’s what i am... SHORT)

FIVE / hobbies

i like to put words in rows and lines and then get rid of them all when I realise they don’t meet my high expectations. I like watching mooooovies and tv. I like to walk in the woods with my hounds. I enjoy meditation on occasion. give me a football i might swallow it or something?  magnets,  little green ghouls. i think if i had a sword i would engage in regular sword-fighting and if i had a ship i would sail it. 

SIX / favourite colors

i think every time i answer this question i’m lying to myself. i always say purple but i never wear purple or own anything purple so i think something or someone is forcing me to say it in my subconscious. my room is red and socks right now are grey, i have blue eyes and my hounds are black and white and yellow is happy, make of this what you will. 

SEVEN / favourite books

i am afraid of this question. i don’t think i even know, but right now i’m reading the shades of magic series by v.e schwab and that’s fun, my favourite book is probably one of the harry potter books but i hate saying that bc i hate jk rowling :) 

EIGHT / last song listened to

the last song i heard was ashes to ashes by mr. bowie (ofc), the radio has me in mindd tonight, thank u radio. 

NINE / last film watched

North by Northwest (two comrades of mine will be surprised to know this doesnt have a certain actor in it... yeah i branch out sometimes )

TEN / inspiration for muse

usuually like songs or places help me to be inspired, or other books/films/shows. 

ELEVEN / dream job

would love to be a director     ! that would be A-OK! aka i would love very  much, but honestly any job working in the film industry would be a dreeeeeammm. or a lord. or in the fbi. :P

TWELVE / meaning behind your url

well, i’m short (so little), i write, and i was thinking about the goblins from the movie labyrinth ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

sorry this reads like i wrote this while i was half asleep. i can’t these without going off on one lmao

tagging: @alexisawriter @whoneedsasociallife @casslauriewrites @corsairesque @renee-writer @whatsanwritepocalae @theforgottencoolkid @writerproject (as alwways no pressure!!!!! )

[zeinovie]

2018 Year in Review

Rules: answer the questions about 2018 and tag some people!

(asdgffddhfhomg i’m tagged in something. ok, keep calm, keep calm)

I was tagged by @kellythepitiablefangirl​, thank you :3

I’m tagging... Ughh, i guess, i’m not much very close with most of my mutuals. Ummm... @stardustlavender​, hun?

Top 5 films you watched in 2018:

The Disaster Artist (me, the person who read the book in like four days 1 month before the undergraduate placement exam, watched the movie almost a year after it’s release? Scandalous.)

Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai ( It's about Katsushika Oi, daughter of Katsushika Hokusai and am ukiyo-e artist in her own right. Aaaaaghhh, the visuals are just gorgeous)

Incredibles 2 (Perception vs. Reality? Baudrillard? In my animated superhero movie? Yes, please.)  

The Shape of Water (I saw this... this year? How long was this year?!)

I'm also still going trough Universal’s Classic Monster Collection (My favourite unnecessary sequel was Dracula’s Daughter, lol)

Oh also Kubo and the Two Strings (i watched it this year too, huh)

Honorary Mention: Sigh, Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again

Top 5 TV shows in 2018:

Castlevania, All Seasons (no need to explain i guess?)

Brookyln 9-9, All Seasons (Huh. It turns out it was good as everyone told me.)

ACS: The Assasination of Gianni Versace (Never thought Darren Criss could unsettle me this much but here i am. Scared but impressed.)

Masters of Sex, S1 and S2 (Randomly stumbled, not disappointed. M. Sheen, sir, you are a very capable actor, you really are. What did you do in New Moon and Breaking Dawn, sir?)

Mindhunter (Huh. I stayed up all night watching this one at the time.)

Top 5 songs of 2018:

Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra (and not because of GOTGV2, will explain)

Soundtrack of Elisabeth, das Musical (Then came the German-musical phase. Suddenly, i can understand German again! Mine, girl, stop grinning, i know you do.)

Soundtrack of Mamma Mia 2 (For.Three. Months.Straight.)

First Burn - Rachelle Ann Go, Lexi Lawson, Shoba Narayan, Julia Harriman, Arianna Afsar

Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea and Twin Skeleton’s (Hotel in NYC) - Fall Out Boy

Us, Blue Lips and While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Regina Spector

(ok, thats way more than 5. eh.)

Top 5 Books you Read in 2018 (Ugh i did awful in reading department this year):

Portal: Blue Sky by wafflestories. (Does Fanfiction count? Eh, anyways. This one is book-length anyway. It single-handedly pulled me back into fandoms, fanfiction ad tumblr after a long period of denial, prouder than ever)

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (We don’t read this in school, so it was really a hidden gem for me)

The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2) - Brandon Sanderson

(Nothing else really. Nothing else that i completed. Nothing that i remember. This year wasn’t very good)

Five Good/Positive things that happened to you in 2018:

How long this year felt. Mean, I almost forgot that i went to Budapest in January. It was also a nice bonding trip with my sister.

I actually drew illustrations for a literary magazine monthly form March to August. It was, in a way, my first real job? The magazine closed down, thou, for financial reasons. Dommage.

A fact about me: I was an exchange student to Japan after finishing 11th grade, 4 years ago. This year the family that hosted me came to Turkey for a visit and tour. Well... You don’t know how much you have missed someone, till you see them again.

For the first time in my life i’m staying in a house of my own. Not a dorm. Not a shared flat. My own apartment. Small, affordable, nice. That lease has MY name on it! It’s something!

My acne healed, finally. After 3 years. I'm in my 20s, why it had to be acne?!

[omgkatsudonplease]

so my .02 on That Doujin that absolutely no one asked for:

so before we begin, a note: i didn’t get through it. i’ve read some really fucked up shit on the internet -- there’s a lot of really twisted fics out there, including the one that supposedly gave squick its definition (it was lucius/draco and a real literal mindfuck, for the record). but i couldn’t get past the first three pages because viktor nikiforov is a character i am emotionally invested in, a character i genuinely like and relate to, and the last thing i want to see is torture porn starring him. so i knew my limits and i clicked out.

and yeah, it’s okay to feel upset about this. we all relate to fictional characters. that’s what makes fiction so powerful. being attached to and loving fictional characters and seeing how they grow and change in different environments and circumstances makes fandom what it is -- is the cornerstone of fandom, in fact. and if someone else out there wants to make torture porn of my favourite character, that’s their prerogative, and the crux of my argument:

it’s okay to feel upset. but it is not okay to take it out on the artist.

first off, according to twitter that doujin was never meant to see the light of day.  we were not its intended audience; it was meant to be circulated through people who knew what they were getting into. the scanlator violated the artist’s wishes by uploading and translating it. so the artist didn’t even intend for english fandom to find it. so while you might be feeling upset that it exists at all, remember -- the original artist took precautions to keep it from being leaked to fandom at large, and then someone leaked it.

secondly, it’s fiction. 

i’m not going to bandy about the cause-and-effects of reality versus fiction but let me just tell you this: viktor nikiforov is a fictional character created by sayo yamamoto and mitsurou kubo, and no amount of torture porn is going to affect the fact that he is alive and well with all of his limbs and happily engaged to the love of his life. it’s okay to feel upset that viktor was hurt in this fan media about him. but then it’s important to remember that this is just one person’s story, and if it’s not a story you like, you can put it down and watch the show again. or go read through some of the amazing fanfics we have on ao3 of viktor being soft and warm and loved. i’ll even rec you a few in a bit.

the responsible way to recover from something like this is not to go screaming to the artist and sending them hatemail and trying to doxx them or whatever other hell tactics you wanna use to chase someone out of a fandom for doing something you don’t like. the responsible way to recover is to put the damn thing down and go be productive. write and draw soft viktor being loved. don’t give this thing more attention than it already has. i mean, like i said, the original artist didn’t want that much attention drawn to it in the first place, and i can assure you, sending death threats to a real person over a fictional character makes you look like a sad coward with no life.

okay, now lemme share some fics with you guys that i liked recently feat. viktor being very very loved:

23. M. Looking for a challenge. by @alykapediaaa​, rated t: “A cute boy with an ass like that says he’s up for a challenge and you send him a math problem?" (Giacometti, 2017). A (not-so) comprehensive study on the (terrible) mating habits of (beautiful) grad student, Yuuri Katsuki, and (future) Nobel Laureate Viktor Nikiforov D. Sc. (Or: That one where two physicists fall in love and set off a nuclear reaction. Except not really.)

limited time offer by @katsukiyuuristrophyhusband​, rated t: Yuuri accidentally mixes up Victor and Yurio's gifts. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

goodnight moon by @ebenroot, rated g: Victor smells like sunflowers, especially at the nape of his neck, and it’s strongest when he’s just stepped out of the showers.

with every mile by youaremarvelous, rated t: Yuuri looks into Viktor’s eyes—clear blue and overflowing with affection—and thinks of the glittering briny roads, the rattling buses, the cramped trains, the gossamer clouds, and all of the endless miles that have brought him to the day where he would marry the man who made every inch of distance feel like home.

puppy love by @adreamingsongbird, rated g: A class that Yuuri Katsuki is going to single-handedly petition this damn university into teaching: CRUSH 110, or "what to do when your drunk (and cute as hell) friend starts crying because your dog is too adorable for him to handle". Because honestly, he can't be the only person out there in this situation. Right?...Maybe it's better that it doesn't exist, though. He sincerely thinks he might fail the midterm.

Gonna Give You Something Better by @forochel, rated e: Everyone & their evil twin has done this: Yuuri wanks in a nest of Viktor's dirty laundry because of Reasons; Viktor walks in on him and - dick: hard clothes: off fucking: happens

(that last one isn’t necessarily soft, but let me tell you forochel’s stuff really helped me recover from the three pages i saw. so it works, trust me.)

[sundaynightnovels]

15 Questions Tag Game

i’ve been tagged by @ink-and-petrichor​ for this one, so thanks! raine seems really chill, and i totally understand what she means by just being on her own and watching the stars and feeling the wind on her face in the silence -- honestly, could use some of that right now myself. ANYWAY. i’ve done this before for Zhen & Lu, Ren, Jia & Jun, and Shou & Teng, so i’m up to my last two characters, and they are... the Yus. 

Yes, so there’s Yu(f), the girl who’s obsessed with work, and Yu(m), who I dub as ‘The Stoic One’. So let’s get to know them! I’ll be using the set of 15 questions that is more appropriate for my story! rules:  answer 15 questions as either yourself or one of your OCs, then tag 15 people. 1. What is your full name? Yu(f): Yu Yu(m): Yu Yu(f): Don’t get mistaken though, i’m on the fourth tone, like ‘Jade’. That guy’s on the third tone, like ‘Rain’ or something. 2. What does your name mean? Yu(f): Are you seriously wasting my time with these questions right now? Didn’t I just answer that? 3. What are your nicknames / other names?  Yu(f): (gets ready to walk off) Yu(m): Yu. Just sit down. Yu(f): I’m not your dog, you don’t tell me what to do! Yu(m): Yeah. You really want to prove Zhen right? That you can’t get your ass off of work for even 30 short minutes? Yu(f): (... slowly sits back done) Fine. You’re convincing her to cook for me after this. 4. What’s your gender? Yu(m): (holding a hand up to the other Yu) Yeah, I’m male, she’s female. 

5. What’s your sexuality? Yu(f): Seriously, are they allowed to ask such questions?  Yu(m): We were warned. Yu(f): Ah. Fine. Okay, I don’t really know okay? Maybe I’m straight. Maybe I’m bi. Maybe I’m just someone who’s trying to finish the paperwork that’s piling up on my desk because guess what? No one does any work around here! And guess who’s left picking up the slack? Yu(m): ... You caught her on a bad day. Anyway. I’m likely straight, but don’t really care either way. 6. Where are you from? Yu(f): We. Don’t Know. That.  Yu(m): We aren’t really supposed to know. Yu(f): That’s the whole point, isn’t it? We aren’t supposed to know anything about our pasts. We aren’t supposed to remember. We are dead and all those are bygones now -- it doesn’t matter. You are starting to sound like Shou. 7. How old are you? Yu(f): I don’t know. But if I had to guess, I’d peg myself as around the same age as Zhen. 21 maybe? 23? Who the hell knows.  Yu(m): I should be older. Maybe 25 - 26. Teng’s still the oldest among us, though.  8. Any special talents? Yu(f): Huh. Yu(m): ...  Yu(f): I mean, dear ol’ Yu here has the tendency to trip over his own feet and accidentally slice himself open on any surface he happens to fall on. Don’t judge him by his stoic good looks -- he’s a dork. Yu(m): I-I.. It’s not like I... sometimes, sometimes it’s like... my feet moves and -- Yu(f): -- yeah and the air comes over and trips you over. Sure. You don’t have to keep up your ‘cool’ facade with us. We all know it’s garbage. Yu(m): It’s not! A facade! Yu(f): Anyway. I guess my greatest talent is somehow still staying sane despite living right beside Zhen and her kid. And now Shou too, apparently. People like to say I’m impatient, but can they withstand those three chaos of human beings? Huh, yeah. I thought not. 9. How do you look like? Yu(f): How narcissistic do you want us to be, to describe ourselves? Yu(m): She’s not good-looking. Traditionally, I mean. Yu(f): He only can say that because he’s gotten big-headed from all the talk about ‘that cold, dark and handsome guy’ from the ‘Noisies’ but honestly. He’s standing beside Teng all day. It’s not difficult to be considered attractive. Yu(m): There’s Jun too. Yu(f): ... Fine, but Jun is a menace to society and everyone knows that. It’s like, do you want that pretty, delicate-looking boy who picks your pockets and threatens your children, or that ~~ unknown brooding handsome man ~~ who, as far as they know, has no odd quirks to speak of? Yu(m): I have no.... quirks.  Yu(f): Sure. You know you only speak to me ‘cause you can’t speak to anyone else. 10. What’s your aesthetic? Yu(m): She’s messy hair. And coffee. And work. A lot of coffee, and a lot a lot of work. Yu(f): I’ve already said it earlier, didn’t I? He’s that nasty brooding literature-character types that people just love to fawn over. People are just so desperate and lonely here, they’ll grab at anything. He even stands sullenly in the corner of the room! He’s got all the traits down! He pretends like he doesnt know what ‘trope’ he fits into but he knows it and he knows it well. Don’t be fooled. Yu(m): Hey! I... I don’t... uh... don’t besmirch my good name! 11. Who’s your best friend? Yu(f): Best friends don’t exist around here. We might get whisked off anytime, what for make friends? Yu(m): ... 12. Would you ever get a piercing / tattoo? Yu(f): Who’s to say I don’t already have one? Yu(m): ... You.. you do? Yu(f): Ha. You wish you knew. 

13. When are you happiest? Yu(f): When people can just stop bothering me for one second and let me finish my work. And when people actually does all the proper paperwork and licenses for their shops. Yes, I am specifically referring to Zhen, my neighbour Zhen, who lives right beside me, the inspector who goes around checking for shop licenses when she has none. Yes, ZHEN. Z-H-E-N.  Yu(m): Are you admitting that you have been letting her go all this time? Yu(f): ... No. No, I’m admitting to nothing. I’m just saying, she needs to get her paperwork done and filed. And I have been lenient towards her, because I’m a nice and charitable person.  Yu(m): And that if you close her shop, you might incur the wrath of everyone in town? Yu(f): ... I don’t care about their wrath. Yu(m): So you care about her food. Yu(f): What’s with the interrogation? I want to invoke my right to a lawyer! 14. What’s your biggest secret? Yu(f): ... Yu(m): ... Yeah. It’s been bothering me. That day. With Jun. Yu(f): I told you, it was nothing. Yu(m): It doesn’t seem like you. Yu(f): Like I said, I’m a kind and charitable person. You don’t know anything about me. What about you, huh? What’s your problem?  Yu(m): I am fine. Yu(f): Bullshit. Yu(m): I am. Truly. Fine. I don’t know why people don’t believe that.  15. Do you have a sidekick? Yu(f): I wish people just get out of my way. Yu(m): ... I guess. I am the sidekick.  Yu(f): Ha! Yeah! To Teng! That’s hilarious Yu(m): I’m not proud of it. Thanks for the tag! Now i’m tagging back @bahay-kubo @klywrites @insearchof-solace @kidsarentallwrite @aslanwrites @xiuguri @quilloftheclouds @esoteric-eclectic-eccentric @pen-for-sword @rhiannon-writes @radley-writes @kaigods @lady-redshield-writes @dcdarrells @gettingitwrite       

[harocat]

ahhhh im not sure who else to talk to but lately i've been feeling really unhappy w/ yoi fandom and idk what to do. i guess it's because im seeing people from fandom all around the world and there's a lot of difference in culture, but some stuff i see just makes me want to never touch the show again. ik it's stupid that it's affecting my perception of yoi and the people working on it but i just can't disconnect it and it makes me question kubosayo's intentions as well. (1)

it's so stupid and i know i cant do anything about it bc ppl are entitled to do what they want and i cant force them to view yoi the same way i do but i just feel so lost bc this is the first time i’ve ever been in such a large fandom and i really enjoyed yoi but now im just sort of anxious and questioning fans of the show and the creators as well. im sorry for clogging up your inbox but i just want some advice. maybe i should just leave the fandom altogether? (2)

Have you considered just sort of disconnecting from the fandom a bit, trying to blank it out, and then rewatching the show on its own merits?

As far as fandom itself, just make sure you stick to following people whose opinions you’re comfortable with. Curate your experience. You can generally avoid the ugliest parts of fandom if you’re careful. 

I think Kubo and Sayo’s intentions are very genuine. If I wasn’t sure about it before, seeing them in person at Anime Fest and seeing all the genuine passion and love and dedication to this project from them would have convinced me. Their intentions were to make a good show about something they loved, nothing less.

There is literally no doubt that Kubo and Sayo are forced to walk on eggshells when talking about this project in interviews and such. We KNOW this for a fact. It’s been made clear in things they’ve told interviewers, in bullshit like the ring censorship, in Sayo’s comments about having to force the kiss through, etc. 

We already have people in the industry referring to YOI as ‘too much boy’s love’ despite the fact that they have worked their butts off to avoid it being pigeonholed in that genre, because they know it would be harmful to the show and the story they want to tell. There’s a precedent in blatantly romantic m/m content that isn’t ‘boy’s love’ having to be discussed this way. Hideaki Anno only acknowledged that Kaworu and Shinji’s relationship was romantic when he did an interview with an actual BL magazine. In other interviews, they were just forced to use super gay sounding words that if you’re that desperate and homophobic, you can still no homo. 

It’s weird to say but Kubo and Sayo don’t actually have that much power. They made the actual show, to be sure, but creators and writers are considered replaceable in the anime industry and that Sayo especially has been as bold as she has been is impressive to say the least. Putting it in the series itself is one thing, blatantly acknowledging that (what very clearly happened on screen) is the intent? Is another. It sounds kind of stupid, but that’s the way it is. 

I do not think MAPPA would ever dream of replacing Kubo and Sayo. They are behind them 100% of the way, and have been very much “we will let them do what they want!!” Otsuka, Mappa’s CEO, has openly talked about Victuuri being a romance, but he’s literally the CEO (and also a man), so he can get away with more. That being said, Mappa would never replace them, but YOI has to work with tens of companies through merchandising, marketing, broadcasting, etc Just because Mappa is open to things, doesn’t mean they are. 

I can’t get into Sayo and Kubo’s heads, but I 100% believe in their intentions based on what they’ve said. Kubo, I think, was a little more unsure how to handle everything at first, but she’s improved a lot over time and she even acknowledged that she knows now fans are frustrated by vagueness. 

[toraonice]

Yuri on Ice BD choreography commentary translation - Volume 4

You’re seeing right... At last, the full translation of the choreography commentary from the BD/DVD vol.4! I’ve just been really busy, I haven’t abandoned the project of translating all the BD/DVDs of course. The commentary is by Kenji Miyamoto & Mitsurou Kubo, as usual. This time it’s Guang-Hong’s FS, Chris’ FS, Phichit’s FS, Georgi’s FS, Seung-gil’s SP, Michele’s SP and JJ’s SP. As you can guess from the list it was very long so it took a long time to write down and translate (I’m already scared of vol.5 lol).

Notes: -It’s two people talking, not a written interview, so expect them to hop from one subject to another within the same sentence… Even if it sounds a bit unconnected at times, that’s how they said it. -I still arranged it a little to make it easier to understand as written material, by removing lots of “ehm” “uuhm” “you know” “yes” (I especially removed all instances where someone says “yes” in the middle of the other speaking) and fumbled words. -Amusingly enough both their initials are KM/MK, but I used the surname initials so M is Miyamoto and K is Kubo. -I put (LOL) when they’re laughing because otherwise some lines might sound serious while they’re actually joking.

***VERY IMPORTANT*** Do NOT use this translation for subtitles, in ANY way. I don’t support the upload of bonuses contained in BDs/DVDs, as they are meant to be (as the word says) bonuses for the people who spent money to purchase them. Unfortunately A*ex is a b*tch but still...

Translation under the cut.

Miyamoto: Hello, I’m the choreographer Kenji Miyamoto. Kubo: I’m the original planner Mitsurou Kubo. Hahh… M: Yay~ K: So, this time you will be able to see a lot of choreography footage. The first one is the choreography of Guang-Hong Ji’s free skating program, “The Inferno” from the movie “Shanghai Blade”. Regarding “Shanghai Blade”… in Yuri on Ice some of the choreographies are based on music from the soundrack of fictional movies. This is the soundtrack of “Shanghai Blade”, which is one of these fictional movies and is about the Underworld of Shanghai. It looks cool because it was made in Hollywood, but it’s a gang action noir with the themes of fraternity, bonds and betrayal. M: That was a very clear explanation! K: (LOL) M: I used kung fu-like kicks and other things in this choreography, but it was quite difficult to make it easy to understand… K: Oh, I see. M: Though, acting like I’m wielding a sword when the sword sound plays was a little embarrassing. K: The story was decided in detail, so there is a lot of gun and sword action, battle scenes, scenes like the character entering the enemy’s hideout alone, etc. I think it’s important to make it easy to understand. M: Yeah. K: Like, with this spin, the protagonist goes to the boss’ place led by his past comrade, but just before the goal he is betrayed and loses consciousness. There are quite a few portrayals of sadness, like the protagonist being betrayed by his comrade, or being confined, and some of them were actually shown with visuals in the anime too. M: Yes. I also kind of tried to play two different roles by putting on and removing glasses. Ah, sorry, you didn’t mean it like that, did you (LOL). K: I didn’t mean it like that (LOL). But, yeah, since you performed the choreography a few times, we put together different parts, so there are times when you have glasses on too. Is it easy to dance with your glasses on? Don’t they get in the way? M: Well, if you don’t do rotational jumps or fast spins, I think it’s ok. K: So indeed your glasses would fly away during spins or jumps. M: Yes. Is this the battle scene? K: The battle has started. I think we’re almost at the car chase, aren’t we? M: Ooh! K: Aah! M: He turned the wheel (LOL). K: He did (LOL). M: There was a vrooom sound (LOL). K: Yes. We’re almost at the climax. Here it is! Sword-drawing Ina Bauer, meaning that he performs Ina Bauer while drawing the sword. And here he’s also holding a gun. M: Yeah (LOL). K: No time to rest. M: It was quite embarrassing (LOL). K: The sword-drawing Ina Bauer was very cool actually. M: Was it? K: Yeah, this Guang-Hong was really amazing. The protagonist goes to save his sworn brother, who is cornered. How will it end!? Ah, here he’s timing the seconds of the spin. M: Yes. K: Ahh… It ends with a gunshot, and the protagonist being shot down as he protects his sworn brother. Thank you, Kenji-sensei. M: Thank you.

K: OK, the next one is the choreography of Christophe Giacometti’s free skating, “Rapsodie Espagnole (Spanish Rhapsody)”. M: Uff, had I known this would happen I would have set my hair. K: (LOL) Is it not set here? M: Not set. This pose too, I received lots of requests from director Yamamoto and Kubo-sensei. K: Yes. In all the choreographies we have asked quite a few times for poses that would leave a strong impression, but in this program there are a lot of wonderful poses, I really like it. M: Thank you. I tried a few different kinds of poses, to get closer to the image you requested. Like this (LOL). K: Ah, this! A pose where you’re kind of.. holding something in your arms, it’s nice. Though you originally practiced it when the rink was open to the public… M: Yeah (LOL). K: I remember that we decided that this was a nice pose with all the normal visitors skating around. Is it embarrassing if there are people looking at you? M: Once you get absorbed in the performance it’s not embarrassing at all, but if you look back on it it’s a little embarrassing (LOL). K: (LOL) We ordered this song for Chris’ free program, and we asked to make it sound powerful to give the impression of a program that can win, so we also requested the choreography to express Chris’ strength as a veteran, since now that Victor isn’t here he’s the oldest. Are there choreographies that look like “for veterans”? M: Well, doing wide movements, for example, means that you are moving with confidence, so I took that into consideration when I created this choreography. K: I see. M: The spiral that doesn’t rise (LOL). K: The spiral that doesn’t rise (LOL). M: I can’t raise my leg that much, I leave it to the animators to make it look nice (LOL). K: Right. Apart from your personal example, is it true that when someone is young it’s easy to do spirals and it becomes more difficult as they grow up? M: Well, men don’t really need to do it in the first place, and also a lot of the time is taken by jumps, so there’s no time to put it in the program. K: I see. M: Actually, I made this choreography symmetrical, so that it looks like he’s moving symmetrically left and right. K: Oh, really? M: Really. K: Symmetrical? M: Basically, I go to the right and then go to the left, using the whole area of the rink. K: Oh, I see. When you watch it it’s kind of vague, it looks kind of like the skater is twisting a curtain, like, they skate in one direction, then they rewind and then they go to the opposite direction again. I often watch figure skating with that image in mind. M: Sorry, I don’t get what you mean at all (LOL). K: I mean, it’s kind of like.. ah, it’s almost over! Hum hum~. Right. Hmmm Chris! Chris! And then in the Grand Prix Final Minako-sensei brings a flower crown and puts it on his head. M: I see.

K: The next choreography is Phichit Chulanont’s free skating, “Terra Incognita” from the movie “The King and the Skater 2”. This is yet another movie song. Phichit-kun used “Shall We Skate?”, from the movie “The King and the Skater”, for his short program, a song that he had always wanted to use. And… actually, according to the setting, “The King and the Skater” was a hit and so they decided to make a sequel. A song from the sequel is what he is using for his free program. The sequel is set in the near future. While “The King and the Skater” is about traveling back in time, in “The King and the Skater 2” the king of Thailand is sent from the 19th century to the future, to a 21st century skating rink that has become a clubhouse, together with the English skater who was hired as his tutor. They come to the 21st century and dance wildly together. The movie is a romantic comedy released in 2004 that became a hit in the US and is said to have supported the current popularity of figure skating. M: So that was the setting (LOL). K: Yes (LOL). Well, of course the movie doesn’t actually exist. M: The settings are always so detailed (LOL). K: Yeah, though well, this is the setting we thought when we were thinking about the choreography, so it’s a little different from the official anime setting. It was to create a detailed image for the choreography. M: I see. At the time I remember looking at lots of pictures together with you and the director because we wanted to include movements and dance poses of the Thai folklore. K: We did (LOL). We were like, what kind of poses look like Thai poses? And coming up with this and that. M: Yeah. K: So we incorporated lots of movements and then you couldn’t lift your left shoulder anymore… (LOL) M: Yeah (LOL). From the footage you don’t really see that it hurts I guess. My left shoulder was actually hurting, but I tried to show the choreography as nicely as I could. It was a really difficult program, because I moved my joints in directions I normally don’t use. K: (LOL). But I think that this choreography is really beautiful, it really shows Phichit’s personality perfectly. I see, so there are some directions you don’t normally bend your limbs in? M: Yes. For example, the way I use the toe here is unusual for me, and the way I use my head too, is something I don’t usually do. I’m actually laughing here though (LOL). K: (LOL). Are you laughing because it hurts? M: No, I was thinking, “this program is really tough” (LOL). K: We also ordered the song to sound, more than “Thai”, somewhat like traditional folk music, and I was told that the lyrics are in a fictional language. It’s really nice. And here it’s supposed to be a Klimkin eagle (cantilever) done in a Thai-like pose. M: I can’t do it, so in the footage it looks like that. K: Is the Klimkin eagle difficult? M: It is! K: I have no idea how they can balance themselves in that position. M: I haven’t either (LOL). By the way, Phichit-kun is popular in Thailand. It’s really amazing. K: Really? M: Yes. K: I’m so happy~. I really want Phichit-kun to have a great career in Thailand, I mean, I don’t mean as in a sequel of the anime, in general. M: Yeah. K: It seems that many fans of Phichit-kun are married women. M: Oh. K: Of course I’m sure that he has many young fans too, but I guess he feels like a young skater that you can safely cheer on. Ah, right, this last victory pose is so nice (LOL). M: That is kind of embarrassing! I was so tired I couldn’t move…

K: The next one is the choreography of Georgi Popovich’s free skating, “A Tales of Sleeping Prince”. In his short program Popovich-san performed Carabosse from the Sleeping Beauty, and since he is maintaining the same atmosphere, this time it’s the man’s feelings in the Sleeping Beauty, though it’s not a ballet song. The image of the story is actually pretty clear: I will become a prince, save everyone with my kiss and take back the girl’s smile. He regrets having cursed her into eternal sleep, gets depressed and feels lonely, so he decides to become a prince and save everyone with his kiss. He saves everyone with his kiss, everyone becomes happy, and in the end the girl wakes up and gets back her smile, and we have a happy ending. This is what happens in the free. M: I see (LOL). K: (LOL). Well, this is the tentative story we decided. When we talked with Kenji-sensei we told him some things about the image of the song ad asked him to dance with somewhat of a lonely aura. M: Yes. In the first half, and well, in this part too, I created the choreography to make it look like I’m feeling lonely. K: Yes, we requested the song to be that way, but we also made it on purpose so that, if you listen to the lyrics, one false step and it will sound like a stalkerish kind of love. We thought maybe it would fit a Russian guy (LOL). M: I see (LOL). K: Popovich is the same age as Victor-san and his birthday is the next day, so for all this time he couldn’t see the light of the day and stayed in his shadow. For this reason, we thought it would be nice if he could express love in a different way than Victor. I really love both this song and the choreography. M: I tried to raise my arms as much as possible when it says “promise”. K: Yeah, when it says “promise” he raises both his fists to the sky and I really like that. Makin’ up~. He’s kissing her! M: Yes. Ok, if you say it out loud it’s kind of embarrassing (LOL). K: (LOL). Yeah, but you know, what is nice is that there are lot of clear meanings in this song and they are all expressed. M: I made them visible. Also, this time I have a microphone attached to my left leg. K: Oh right, he’s not injured, this time he has a special microphone attached to him to record the sound of the edge grazing the ice as he skates. M: It made it kind of hard to perform. K: I guess normally you don’t skate with something like that. M: I don’t. K: I’ll save you now~. Ah, at the back you can see the sound staff holding the directional microphone, but he’s sitting right on the ice without anything under him, we were really worried he would freeze to death…

K: Thank you. Ok, the next choreography is Seung-gil Lee’s short program “Almavivo”. This is one of the songs that I really wanted Kenji-sensei to choreograph. The reason is that… it’s mambo! M: In this program too I did my best to incorporate easy to understand mambo movements. How do you like it? K: It’s perfect. I remember how I felt when we took this footage (LOL). The director and I were so excited, it was awesome. By the way, the theme of Seung-gil-san’s programs this season is “greed”. Since he is composed and isn’t good at showing his emotions, with this song he tried to radically change this image. M: I see. K: So basically, more than his expression, the costume was surprising. When I wrote the manga storyboard we still hadn’t decided the costume, but when it was turned into an anime it had become a costume that really looks like some bird living in the tropics… That’s quite a change of image (LOL). M: Here I was looking at the camera and dancing aggressively to catch the attention of judges, but yeah, Kanako-sensei was just bursting out laughing. K: Yes, Kanako-sensei is the one holding the handy camera and filming up close. It was really fun to look at too. M: Was it? (LOL) K: Yeah, Kanako-sensei was laughing too… Come on, look at the camera! (LOL) M: I was laughing too in fact (LOL). K: It was nice. Everyone was looking and I was also absorbed in filming. M: I tried to use light steps and dance following the rhythm. I looked a bit stiff though. K: (LOL). You know, mambo is not a music style that you can use more than once in the end. M: Yeah. K: So you have to choose the right time to use it. Seung-gil~. Thank you. So this was Seung-gil Lee’s short program.

K: The next one is the choreography of Michele’s, I mean, Michele Crispino’s short program, “L’homme Armé” from the movie “Destiny of Knights”. This is another song from a fictional movie, “Destiny of Knights”. For the costume we had Michele wear an armor costume in the European style everyone loves. M: He drew the sword. K: He did, another program where the skater draws a sword. But it’s not a Japanese sword, it’s European, I guess the drawing style is different? [translator’s note: I adapted this line because the original was impossible to translate literally into English. She is using the word “battou”, which literally means “drawing a sword” but it’s normally used to refer to Japanese katanas, so in the original Japanese line she is actually wondering whether there is an exact term to refer to the drawing of an European sword.] M: Since he is supposed to be wearing an armor I was careful to make his back look powerful in the choreography. I’m keeping my back straight so that it looks square, without bending it because it would make it look softer. K: Aah, it’s wonderful. The theme of Michele’s programs this season is “chivalric romance”. A knight worships his lady but it’s not romantic love, he must be satisfied with just spiritual love, and since Michele has never had a lover we had him represent this concept of carnal love being forbidden. Since he loves his younger twin sister a lot. The movie is an action fantasy movie set in medieval Europe and this is its theme song. It’s about the spirit of chivalry. Though well, in the end I just wanted to see an armor (LOL). Sorry for being that simple. You can hear roaring… some animal howling… I mean, not howling. It’s the roar of a tiger or lion. I discussed with the director on whether we should insert this sound or not, and in the end we decided to insert it. It’s nice to add this kind of sound effects (LOL). M: It makes it feel more realistic. K: Realistic (LOL). I felt that it would sound more like movie music, and it would be easier to have a clear image of the story. Now he just swore his loyal love. Thank you.

K: The last choreography is Jean-Jacques Leroy’s short program, “Theme of King JJ”. This song is so popular. With this program JJ did something quite wild. He got a rock band – a rock band so hugely popular in North America that they could get a Grammy Award – to write a song for him with his name in it, and used it for his program. M: But the song is cool. K: Yeah, i love it too (LOL). M: Seriously, when I created the choreography for this program the song stuck to my head all day (LOL). K: (LOL). It was the same for us. Aah, JJ is so cool. We pictured him as a skater representing North American strength, and he really turned out that way. I think it’s expressed very well. JJ. Though well, Victor has been on top of JJ for a long time, so actually he has never gotten a gold medal in the World Championships or the Grand Prix Final. M: I see. K: So he is referring to himself as “king” to encourage himself. Even though he’s still young. He says, “everyone, sing!” and from here the audience starts to sing the lyrics. M: Yes (LOL). K: In real sport venues you would probably annoy the person next to you if you started singing, and they would glare at you, but since this is an anime we thought it would be ok to do something a little unrealistic, so we had them sing. And some time ago there was an all night screening of “Yuri on Ice”, and the public was actually singing during this program. M: That’s cool (LOL). Before creating this choreography I was told about JJ’s, how do you call it, pose? But I refused to incorporate it in the choreography. K: (LOL). I’m glad you did. It’s fine. Ah, this is the cut version for the TV broadcast so it’s shorter. Ahh~ JJ, J-J, J-J! Stop! It’s JJ style. Waah~. This is what is happening now. M: Is it happening? (LOL). K: Thank you. We have looked back on a lot of choreographies. How do you feel? M: Well, uhm, first of all I’m surprised to see once again how many choreographies I made, and then I feel that you and the staff really have too much passion, and I hope that I was able to live up to that passion… K: Only you could have met our expectations so much, Kenji-sensei. M: No no (LOL). K: Thank you very much. M: I had a lot of fun working on this, though. K: Looking at the choreography footage I remembered that at the time I thought “oh, we’ll be able to see this animated!”, but even without seeing it in the anime, I was happy enough to be able to see your choreographies every day. I went home every day thinking that. Looking at the morning sun in Edogawa. M: Yeah (LOL). Everyone was chilled to the bone (LOL). K: Right. It was exactly one year ago. One year has passed, and “Yuri on Ice” is now a work loved by people all over the world. Thank you very much. M: That’s really wonderful. K: It’s really really wonderful. I think there is still some choreography footage left, but did your state of mind change from one year ago? M: I must say that I’m happy that in this way I was able to make a contribution to the world of figure skating. K: Thank you. Bye-bye~. M: Bye-bye~.

I personally appreciated that she asked him some of those “questions that you would like to ask but are afraid to sound stupid or a figure skating n00b” like “what happens to your glasses when you spin”, “why don’t men do spirals” etc.. Also, some techniques like eagles and cantilevers are famous because they are impressive and easy to recognize, but actually it’s not like every single high level skater can do them (sometimes it’s because of physical reasons related to joint flexibility etc., Akiko Suzuki explained that about the eagle in the YOI-related figure skating talk event in March). By the way, I think the cantilever is only called “Klimkin eagle” in Japan?

The contents of vol.5 or other interviews will be translated next... (Hopefully “next” is not “next month”, though I already have plans for almost ALL weekends until the end of November and it’s mostly YOI’s fault..)