#medaka box fighting game

[tokiro07]

I recently read and really enjoyed the Medaka Box fighting game ideas you made. Is it possible in the near future you could come back to that idea and make a final part 7 covering Fukurou, those in the Shiranui village and the intern student council. I think the Abnormal Negator post should have foundation on what their movesets would be.

Oh man, I haven't thought about those posts in years! I'm glad you liked them!

Looking back over them after reading things like @wickedsick's UUUnite series, I'm pretty ashamed of how basic they are

I'm not really big into fighting games, so I don't have much of an understanding of what makes the mechanics interesting. In my head it's all about the aesthetic and being faithful to the imagery of the source material, so making movesets for characters without much to go on is pretty difficult for me

The interns would be the easiest since they actually have something resembling a fight, but that's also why I bundled them into Wanizuka; in fact, I feel like I should have leaned harder into it and had them show up for multiple attacks and not just one, but I probably didn't want to overlap with the aesthetic of Saki's summons

If I had to take a stab at it today, though, I'd probably try to focus on how the characters actually play. Please note that I'm not super familiar with fighting game archetypes, so I just found a list online - if any of this is inaccurate, it's cus I'm a dummy

Takarabe tries to avoid direct conflict and prefers to torture an immobilized opponent, so I envision her as a Keep Away fighter who progressively debuffs or otherwise weakens the opponent, until she's comfortable enough to become more aggressive and act as a Rushdown to finish them off. Aesthetically, this would require adding new tools to her kit, like perhaps a beartrap or barbed wire, maybe laid as part of her heavier attacks since they take time to set up, while her usual tools are her lighter attacks since they're quick but tend to deal less damage

Kikitsu has arguably the least to go on of all of them since we only ever see her using a butterfly knife in combat, so she'd require the most embellishment. Fortunately, since she's a gamer, we at least have a theme to base her aesthetic on. I think I'd like to make her a Puppeteer, using her game to summon and control various video game parody cameos. Since I'd like there to be multiple cameos, I think that would also make her something of a Stance character, with each summon having its own style, though also being permanently defeatable

Kibougaoka's pretty easy; she's only been shown flying and kicking, so she seems like she'd be a Rushdown character, but with a fuel mechanic thrown in to limit how long she can consistently be in the air. Giving her some kind of ammunition would make sense, but there's no precedent for it, sadly

Tsugiha's tendency to use real weapons and pretend that they're magical objects and spells might work well with making her a Mix-Up character, focusing on confusing or otherwise throwing off the opponent mentally. I don't really know how per se, but perhaps a lot of her moves start out looking pretty similar, like pulling out different chemicals to splash which have different effects or hitboxes. Maybe the visuals become progressively obscured by illusion, as if she's dragging the opponent into her delusions as the fight drags out

Fukurou's only fight took place while seated, so I like the idea of him moving as little as possible, moving slowly and even sitting down when not moving. Maybe it's a sort of Stance, where while he's sitting he's setting up certain moves based on his position. It's difficult to tell whether he's actually prepping a move or just sitting there, making him a Bait & Punish character

The Fake Suitors still don't offer a lot, so they require pretty heavy conjecture, but for the sake of completion:

Kairai - Mixup, switching rapidly between swords and guns

Shinkirou - Grappler, releasing his power limiters to get progressively stronger

Genjitsu - Zoner, using various spells and illusions

Sakugo - Bait & Punish, his timid appearance makes him look open to attack but really he's setting up a horror-themed attack

Kariteru - Glass Cannon, has a frail body as a scientist but unleashes strong attacks by turning into a monster momentarily

Gizou - Shoto, acting as a send-up to Akuma since he's the "Boss" character of the Fake Suitors

Aaand for good measure...

Bukiko - Hit & Run, with her spear keeping her out of enemy range

If I were more familiar with fighting games, I could probably wrack my brain to get something more worthwhile out of any given character, but at the very least I feel like this is a more interesting approach than my previous one since I can actually envision what makes the characters fun to play

I hope this lived up to your expectations!

[eeriecode-fgo]

FGO FanServant - Misogi Kumagawa, the Lying Demon

(artwork by ぱるにわ, originally found here)

Ascension Stages

First Stage: Kumagawa looks as he did during his tenure as Student Council President at Hakobune Middle School. He wears the same uniform he commonly wears throughout the manga, but his hair are significantly shorter.

Second Stage: Kumagawa's standard look from the manga, with his middle school uniform and longer hair.

Third Stage: Kumagawa switches to the formal uniform he wore for barely one chapter as Vice-President of the Hakoniwa Academy Student Council.

Parameters

Class: Pretender

Alternate Classes: Avenger, Assassin

Source: Medaka Box

Region: Japan

Voice Actress: Megumi Ogata

Rarity: 0-star (functionally an SSR)

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Attribute: Human

Deck: Quick/Arts (Buster: 1 hit; Quick: 3 hits; Arts: 2 hits; Extra: 4 hits)

Traits: Humanoid, Male, Weak to Enuma Elish, Threat to Humanity, Underdog

Passive Skills

Avenger - Rank A

FGO Effect

Increase own NP Gain when taking attacks by 20%

Decrease all other allies' debuff resistance by 10% (including sub-members) (Demerit)

Oblivion Correction - Rank C

FGO Effect

Increase own critical damage by 6%

Presence Concealment - Rank B

FGO Effect

Increase own critical star generation rate by 8%

Hundred Gauntlets - Rank E

A skill that reverses causality. While the original skill has long since been sublimated into All Fiction, remnants on this Minus manifest as a Passive Skill, allowing Kumagawa to subtly manipulate fate to bring misfortune to his enemies: of course, Kumagawa being Kumagawa, this misfortune ends up hindering him as well.

FGO Effect

Increase own Target Focus by 30%

Apply an effect that ignores Debuff Immunity on enemies when inflicting debuffs to self (Debuff Resistance and Success Rate still apply)

Append Skills

Extra Attack Boost

Increase own Extra Attack Card effectiveness (30~50%)

Load Magical Energy

Begin battle with NP gauge charged (10~20%)

NP Gain Boost

Increase own NP Gain (15~25%)

Bond Skill

Decrease Debuff Resistance for all enemies while on field by 20%.

Active Skills

Charisma of the Underdog - Rank (C)

A variant of Charisma focused on the destruction of privileged enemies. Those who are powerless receive a boost that allows them to triumph against enemies stronger than them, with the power increasing the more privileged the enemy is.

FGO Effect

Cooldown: 7~5 turns

Increase ATK for all allies for 3 turns (13~25%)

Apply [High Rarity] Special Damage to all [Underdog] allies for 3 turns (50~100%)

[Innocent Minus] - Rank -A

A skill representing Kumagawa's identity: a tendency to protect those he cares about at great risk for himself, a stubborness that allows him to fight through grievous wounds for his goals, and the repulsive aura of a Minus that wears down on whoever dares to interact with him.

FGO Effect

Cooldown: 6~4 turns

Increase own Target Focus by 500% for 3 turns.

Increase own DEF depending on current HP (20% at max HP, 80% at low HP. Does not scale with Level)

Apply [Minus Aura] buff to self with the following effects (5 times, 3 turns)

-- When attacked, has a 60% chance to apply Curse to the attacker (500~1000)

-- When attacked, has a 60% chance to remove 1 latest buff from the attacker

-- When attacked, has a 60% chance to decrease the attacker's DEF for 3 turns (10~20%)

All Fiction - Rank E(X)

[Great Lying Demon] Rank: E (EX) Type: Anti-Event Range: 1 (unlimited) Max Targets: 1 (unlimited)

A skill developed by Kumagawa through alteration of the skill that reverses causality "Hundred Gauntlets", this Minus allows him to make anything he wishes "nothing": from erasing wounds and scars, to erasing traits such as senses and auras, to even reversing one's own death, this ability has seemingly no limitations, to the point it would qualify as an EX-ranked Noble Phantasm in its own right.

Of course, given this ability could easily erase the world itself and any semblance of game balance if used carelessly, the version Kumagawa can access as a Servant is severely restricted.

FGO Effect

Cooldown: 6~4 turns

Apply Guts to self (1 time, 4 turns) (30~50% HP)

Noble Phantasm

Book Maker - Rank B

[Refusing the Creation of Books] Rank: B Type: Anti-Unit Range: 10 Max Targets: 1

Kumagawa's original skill, the ability to turn someone into a Minus. By stabbing the opponent with a specialized screw, the target's parameters are synchronized with Kumagawa's, reducing them to his level physically and mentally and preventing them from using their abilities. The effects of this skill cannot be negated or cancelled, making this an extremely effective counter to most enemies: depending on the target's personality, however, it is possible to resist the mental effects to some extent.

FGO Effect

Arts Noble Phantasm, 0 hits

Apply Buff Success Rate Up to self for 1 turn (10~20%, scales with Overcharge)

Has a chance to apply an unremovable [Book Maker] debuff to 1 enemy for 7 turns with the following effects (80~100% success rate, scales with NP Level. The effects listed below are not cumulative)

-- 1+: Decrease ATK and DEF by 30%

-- 2+: Decrease Critical Rate by 100%

-- 3+: Decrease Charge by 1 every 3 turns

-- 4+: Apply Skill Seal and NP Seal to self

-- 5+: Decrease damage dealt by 5000

-- 6+: Disable all active buffs on self (permanent buffs are unaffected)

Writer Notes

This fan-Servant was inspired by Xorn's works on SpaceBattles. After reading his Worm/Medaka Box crossover Hundred Gauntlets and his Re:Zero/FGO crossover Save scumming? It's on my character sheet (highly recommended, they're both excellent works), I was inspired to try and work out an implementation of Kumagawa in FGO.

For his class, I chose to make him a Pretender because of one line in the Sixth Lostbelt, where the involved Pretender's Saint Graph is described as "having no verifiable information": in Kumagawa's case, his fake personality is enough to cause the same effect and force him into the Pretender class. Considering his personality has caused people to faint with a single sentence in the manga, I figured "his personality can distort his Saint Graph" to be perfectly reasonable. Were that not the case, I'd probably put him as an Avenger, given how much of his motivation is connected to hatred. Assassin is also a possibility, since he canonically used All Fiction to erase his ability to be sensed (which is why this version has Presence Concealment as a skill).

As usual, I'm not doing the calculations for a precise stat line: if I were to add some stats, though, his HP and ATK would likely be close to Angra Mainyu's, to reflect Kumagawa's weakness. I'd make them identical as a reference, but Angra is basically the Reverse Blue-Eyes White Dragon of Fate, lore-wise we aren't allowed to have an Heroic Spirit weaker than him, so let's just say Kumagawa is barely above him.

Originally, I wasn't planning to add Hundred Gauntlets as a separate skill: his Noble Phantasm would still have been able to bypass immunities, but only that. I eventually decided to throw him a bone and made it a full-blown passive, just to make him a little stronger.

As for why the NP could bypass immunities, that's mostly for lore reasons. In the manga, Kumagawa's Book Maker was virtually unstoppable, able to affect both Ajimu and Medaka and unable to be erased by the Wrong Conversion Style. To reflect that, I made it so that the debuff inflicted by the NP is unremovable and bypasses immunities, with the only ways to stop it being debuff resistance (both for balance, and as a reference to how Medaka managed to still fight under the Minus's influence). Speaking of lore reasons, it's implied multiple times in the manga (both by Ajimu requiring multiple screws and the fight with Shiranui) that the number of screws influences the strength of the Minus: to reflect on that, the effect of the NP varies depending on the number of stacks, with the values being cumulative and independent from NP Level to avoid issues with double Kumagawas at different NP Levels.

As for All Fiction, obviously it couldn't be left at full power like it was in the manga, it would have been too broken (sidenote, that's the reason why I will not make fan-Servant versions of Ajimu or Medaka. Like, how do you turn someone as overpowered as them into a Servant without nerfing them to hell and back!?). I'm going with the lore reason that the skill is severely restricted by the Counter Force to avoid massive damage, and so it's closer in power to its degraded version from before the Iihiko arc.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Can you do a meta on Naze from Medaka Box?

Naze is a character who built herself a whole identity based on a philosophy that narrative doesn't take seriously. She's unambiguously wrong and the first half of the manga uses her every character moment as an opportunity to point out how wrong she is.

Kujira was born with talent and privilege, which she was always eager to put to good use, but she was led astray by the belief that wonders can only be born in hell. She gets an interesting setup as a challenge to Medaka. The person who wants to make everyone happy confronts the person who genuinely wishes for unhappiness. Naze being Medaka's sister is only an extra incentive for her to give attention to this clash of ideas.

And did this confrontation actually happen? No. Because the narrative never gives any level of merit to the idea that a human being would actually want to be unhappy. Naze is the only Thirteen Party member who goes down without a fight, meaning the idea she chose to represent is the one that's not worth fighting for.

Ultimately, Koga gets Taxed by Miyakonojou and Naze chooses getting revenge for her friend over furthering her research in these ideally unfortunate circumstances. She got exactly what she asked for and her philosophy immediately crumbled on itself when put to the test. No further elaboration because it's too childish to be even debated.

One key point of her backstory (that will be relevant later when we talk about Shibushi) is that she went through multiple bouts of amnesia in her transition from Kujira to Naze. Her conscious pursuit of misfortune resulted in so much trauma that her very brain chose to block it off, meaning her very body rejects her dumb point. Actively wanting misfortune is not just too silly of an ideal to any reasonable person. It's too silly of an idea to her own instincts too.

Take a look at Kumagawa, the face of negativity. He is the anti-perfection, the most Minus of the Minus, and even he can't go to this logical extreme. On the contrary, Kumagawa actively pursued the happiness of the Minus by dragging the top down to the bottom level.

Speaking of Kumagawa, the next time Naze is relevant is when Kumagawa tries to recruit her to Class -13. Thanks to her accomplishments and fame as a noncommital and evasive individual, he sees her as a useful asset that's more like-minded to him than to Medaka, and who is willing to double-cross for the promise of making her life worse. This gets to her for a moment until her first conversation with the Minus side unpromptedly demolishes her emotional contradictions and makes her double-cross the Minus. Once aware of her own happiness, Naze can't go back to her noncommittal self. Black White of the Thirteen Party is no more. She now has to pick a side.

Her main part in the Minus arc is her fight against Shibushi. Shibushi's Scar Dead is the power to open old wounds, and that heals Naze's multiple amnesias, making her relive all the trauma she suppressed. By her own worldview, this is the situation of maximum productivity. The opportunity to create something wonderful. But instead what she creates is her Minus, Ice Fire, a symbol of her noncommittal past. A tool she describes as horrid, and one that directly causes her to lose the game, even if she wins the fight. (Because Shibushi is also a Minus, so they both need to lose)

By having her ultimate hell produce something that wasn't wonderful, Naze's worldview is finally refuted on all levels. Nonetheless, Naze wins the fight, because above her personal views, there are the themes of the Minus arc. Class -13 is a group of kids going down a negative spiral because they let their trauma define who they are. Naze, on the other hand, is someone who instrumentalized trauma before she even had one, so won by using trauma as a tool to do something positive for Medaka's student council's sake. She's dumb in believing that trauma was something to pursue, but she understands better than Class -13 that having trauma is not the end of the world, and that useful things can come from it.

Her last hurrah in the series is her battle against Sui. This one really doesn't add much to her character, but at least it shows off that by this point she's a different woman. Her edgelord is there as usual and she gets one masochist gag, but her defining philosophy is already completely abandoned. This time she's fighting for Medaka and Zenkichi, fully aware of the bonds of companionship she values a lot more than her research productivity. Sui even makes a passing comment about how peace dulled the Kurokami family, to which Naze fully agrees, but this matured version of Naze sees that as a good thing.

[linkspooky]

This is kinda random, but what is your top 10 favorite otps?

Sure.

#1 of All Time SPUFFY

Spuffy, it wrote the book on both beauty and the beast archetypes, and enemies to lovers. For me the most important thing in a ship is the character development it brings about. Spike's redemption doesn't work without Buffy, because it's meeting the one person who expects better than him and won't put up with his selfish crap, that forces his character arc. Buffy's development is also nothing without Spike, it's meeting Spike that makes Buffy confront her dark side, and realize that being a good person isn't something you are, but something you work towards for the sake of your loved ones. The ideal ship should inspire this permanent character development and chane (Unless it ends tragically), they should be an inseperable part of each other's character arcs.

#2 Kumagawa / Ajimu

This is what I was talking about when I said "unless it ends tragically". Sometimes you ship two people who should never end up together, because they probably won't accept their differences. However, even in a failed relationship, two people can be important to each other. There's not really a hapyp ending for Ajimu and Kumagawa, despite their similiarities when they're together they just seem to make each other worse. In Medaka Box they are the anti-Zenkichi and Medaka. However, for Ajimu Kumagawa represents her only human connection, and for Kumagawa Ajimu represents the first person to be "good" to him even though their relationship soured at one point. Therefore I find the ship interesting because despite the fact that they are permanently separated they are still an incredibly important part of each other's identities and who they are now.

# 3 Matsuda / Junko

Basically for the same reason as what I said above. There is no universe where Junko and Matsuda end up in a happy relationship, as long as Junko is still Junko. However, Matsuda and DanganRonpa Zero as a whole add so much to Junko as a character. As long as Matsuda exists, Junko's more than just a black hole that only cares about despair, and I think together the side materials like IF and Zero show that Junko actually is capable of caring for people outside of her natural tendency to want to throw everything into despair, however, humanizing Junko in this manner doesn't actually make her a better person. She can have feelings like romantic, and familial love, and she still chooses to destroy those things and the people in her life. It just adds so much to Junko as a character, which is what I like ships as, an extension of characterization through character interaction.

#5 UIHAI

I love Ui and Hairu because it's like a broken fairy tale. It was a love that could have saved Hairu, but it didn't, because for Ui he always realized his feelings too late to save anyone. Hairu was obsessively chasing after Arima for the smallest amount of approval, when Ui was right there, and already in love with her. They seem like the perfect couple that could never get together, because Hairu is too fixated on Arima, and Ui is too fixated on his job. They are perfectly suited to giving each other what they wanted, and even in lots of side materials and sketches they seem like a pair, or Ui's feelings for Hairu come across as pretty clear but it never came to be in canon.

#6 ZACK / AERITH

Once again for the same reasons as above, it seems like a fairy tale romance of a knight, and a girl he wants to protect, but it fails completely to live up to that story. Zack and Aerith is a tragic story of first love for both of them, and it's also really formative for who Aerith is now as a character. Zack tried to be there for her, and he tried to be a hero to Aerith, only to very consistently not be there for her, and then disappear from her life all together. Much later on, Aerith is incredibly isilated, unable to fall in love with the real cloud without projecting Zack onto him. It's a relationship where in a better world they could have been there for each other, but also the failure of the relationship develops them as much as characters as them getting together might have. Zack and Aerith are one of those relationships that seems ideal on the surface but they are very different people with different wants, Zack wants to be a hero, Aerith just wants to be a person first.

#7 LINK / MIDNA

The best zelda ship period. Once again the most important part of a ship interaction is the change that both characters inspire in each other. Midna begins not caring about Link at all, never referring to him by name, only seeing him as an object, an old legend, a hero to be used instead of a person. Midna's a manipulative freak, and Link breaks through to her because he actually isn't interested in being the hero of legend, he just wants to save the people closest to him at the village because he feels indebted to them, and Midna inevitably becomes one of those people. Link and Midna's partneship makes the game, because it's Midna who pushes him and makes him into a hero, but it's Link through his unfledging acceptance of her who inspires her to be a person once more, and not just the twilight priness.

#8 Morrigan / Warden from DRAGON AGE ORIGINS

This and Spuffy are like the only two on this list who actually end up together, so let me just have this. Once again my favorite aspect of a ship is the transformation the relationship brings baout in a character. The warden is a non-character, but for Morrigan herself, her relationship with the warden is what allows her to escape an abusive household, and beyond that decide not to repeat the cycle of abuse with her new family. What made this ship an all time fave was in witch hunt when the Warden gets to ask her what she wants, and she's just completely confused. Even with her mother dead, Morrigan is still a tool of her mother's ambitions, it's still all about her mother wants. It's her love with the warden, either through friendship or romance that awakens Morrigan to the fact she's allowed to exist as a person with wants and needs outside of what her mother wants her to be.

#9 Kaine / Nier

It's the Most Humanizing Ship Ever Between Two Mass Murderers. As a story, I think Nier is about finding the life, and love, in a story that is ultimately, fatally doomed. Nier only worse and worse as the game goes on but that doesn't mean there was never any love in his life. For every bad thing Nier does, he was not bad to every single person, specifically Kaine, it was Nier's love and belief in her that allows the wounds in her heart to start to heal. As Nier and Nier gets worse, Kaine's own shadow self says, that her feelings in her heart are no longer hatred, or even revenge, there's just a pure white light of love left. In a game where everything only rots, Kaine has healed to the point where she can love again when she never thought it was possible. It's why I like ending D the best, because it's Nier knowing he can never escape his own sins, but he can use his last action to heal Kaine fully all the way and allow her to live on a few more years.

#10 SATOSUGU

Once again, there's no universe where they end up together, and yet still on opposite sides of a conflict they remain each other's closest friends. The most important thing about a ship is the character development it leads to and Gojo would not be who he is today without Suguru. I generally get the sense that Gojo's idea of a good person isn't himself, but rather who Geto used to be before he broke. Gojo actually relied on on Geto for a lot more than he realized, considering it was the one connection he had that seemed to humanize him. Geto provided the chosen one who can do literally anything in the world with his powers, support and guidance. He was the jade, and the foundation of their two person friendship, and then the jade broke.

Gojo and Geto's broken relationship is not only the most emotional thing in the series to me, it's also an incredible part of who they are ten years after the fact. Gojo straight up didn't bother to make friends for ten years later after the fact even though he could have, Geto still told his daughters that Gojo and him were best friends, they just had a fight. He couldn't comperehend in Volume Zero that Gojo would still regard him as a friend after everything that they had done.

It's like one of those "Can't live with them, can't live without them" pairs. They want to be each other's one and only but it just won't work because they don't understand each other, and neither of them is willing to compromise. They are also each other's perfect yin / yang complement. Gojo is the opposite of Geto, and still carries a part of Geto within him, and Geto even after becoming the enemy of the sorcery world while Gojo is the savior, still carries that friendship with Gojo inside of him as well. While their relationship is a failed one, it's also a past I hope that the next generation Megumi and Itadori both learn from, even if Geto never truly comes back.

[polaristranslations]

The Twelfth Box

   ■   ■

Well, we've come a long way, but my story is finally reaching its climax—however, as for what lessons you'll take away from this story, I do not know. Calling it a lesson might be a bit of an exaggeration, but a tale, no matter its nature—as long as it is a tale told from one person to another—is a conversation. Even if the listener is listening in silence while the speaker is speaking, I believe it is still a conversation—I believe they are still exchanging words. Until one day in the future, when science has further developed and tales become entertainment that is machine-generated, I believe that tales, or episodes passed down from generation to generation, are a means of communication.

Even this story revolving around Hakobune Middle School's 66th Generation Student Council Executive Committee—it's a tale that's an unpleasant memory, a painful memory, and, in some places, a bittersweet memory for me. But in the end, it was not so much what was told but the act of telling it that was more meaningful.

And there was meaning in you listening to it.

So what I want to say is, thank you for listening to me.

   ■   ■

Chinu Namaji told me.

The reasons for my loss in the Formation Game.

"Well, I've been beating around the bush, but it wasn't any particular strategy worth putting on airs about—I'm sure even you've managed to guess at most of it, Kurokami-chan. You gathered only strong players, and I—well, it would be a bit mean to call them weak, but it might even be too presumptuous to call them players—I gathered only amateur players. If you think about it normally, your team had the overwhelming advantage, but the reason my team was able to win was exactly that—the reason it seemed like an advantage and actually was an advantage was the reason you lost, Kurokami-chan."

I listened to Chinu-senpai's words. I simply stayed quiet and listened.

Part of it was due to wanting to hear the reason I lost, but it seemed to me that she was trying to tell me something else, and if that was the case, I couldn't miss a single word of it.

That was the conversation between me and her.

Although, to that attitude of mine, Chinu-senpai laughed.

"Ahaha, it's not something you need to listen to so attentively. You'll be disappointed if you concentrate so hard—the point is, gathering only the strongest people does not make a strong team. This is why the theoretically viable all-star team is not necessarily the strongest team in the world. It's all about balance."

"Balance—are you saying that if everyone is at the same level of strength, then balance comes naturally?"

"Sort of, but not quite—strength is after all, limited to just one position. Even if you gathered nine pitchers that could throw a fastball at 150 km/h, that team isn't going to win the Best Nine Award, right?"

At the time, I didn't know very much about baseball, so I didn't understand the example itself, but now, there wasn't a metaphor more apt than this—of course, a metaphor was just a metaphor, so it wasn't like it applied directly to basketball.

But it was true that I hadn't thought about balance.

I simply called out to seniors that seemed to be athletic—maybe that would've been fine for individual games, but because it was a team game, it apparently backfired.

Backfired?

No, that wasn't it.

That sort of plan wouldn't just backfire normally—normally, anyone would gather players just as I did in order to form their team. That was the obvious strategy, and in fact, Chinu-senpai herself had guided me into following that strategy. She explained the rules of the game as if who I scouted was important—thinking about it, her going on about all-star teams and so forth was preparation, laying down the groundwork, wasn't it?

On the other hand, she must have quickly finished gathering her members in order to use the time spent waiting for me to instruct the five people she gathered on how to fight as a team.

How to handle the ball and pass it—in other words, teamwork.

Normally, if she were going to discuss why she won, that would be all—but the real reason she won was because she was able to make me not realize that this game was a team game. She'd made me think that it was an extension of an individual game—and, with me not seeing it as a team game, there was no way that frame of mind would be enough to beat her.

Rather than backfiring.

It never fired to begin with.[?]

"Well, in this case, your strong players ended up getting a bit arrogant, which made them unsuited for an off-the-cuff team game—in contrast, my weak players knew their own limits, and thus were able to follow my instructions perfectly. But that might just be secondary—after all, when I lost to President Kumagawa, we were definitely trying to face him with our teamwork."

"When you—lost to President Kumagawa?"

"If I said that, would it be a bit misleading?"

Chinu-senpai said.

With a lighthearted tone.

I wondered why she was being so lighthearted, but perhaps it was to keep the atmosphere from growing too heavy—in that sense, you could say her attempt was fruitless.

"After all, after that match ended, he said something like this—'Again, I couldn't win'."

Again, I couldn't win.

Chinu Namaji had said she'd lost, and Kumagawa Misogi had said he couldn't win.

In that case—it was a game with no victor.

Of course, it shouldn't need to be said now that that was basically Kumagawa Misogi's forte, but at the time, I couldn't believe that it was possible for a game to end with those results.

"By the way, the game we played was a game based on rules quite different from those of the Formation Game—however, the strategy he used was mostly the same. I... No, the girls' basketball team ended up being thoroughly beaten by his 'weakness'. We were beaten to a pulp, beaten so badly that we couldn't get up again—and then everybody quit."

"Quit—the club?"

The deserted gymnasium.

The solo club activities.

I figured that was the reason, but the reality was slightly different—the members that had been beaten up by Kumagawa Misogi were no longer here, not because they had sent in their resignations from the club.

They hadn't even sent in their resignations.

"What they quit wasn't the club, but basketball itself,"

said Chinu-senpai.

"They were unable to renew themselves, to flip the switch on their lives—they're still being dragged along by their defeat. Being dragged along slowly, and continuing to live slowly... No, continuing to lose slowly—it's tragic."

That's why I'm here,

said Chinu-senpai.

"That's why I resigned as Student Council Treasurer—I guess if I wanted to say it in a cool way, then I wanted to make sure they had a place to return to, I guess? But it's not anything that cool. It's more like atonement."

"...And by atonement, you mean?"

"So basically, I ended up getting those girls mixed up in the match between me and President Kumagawa—although the actual circumstances were a bit more complicated."

From then on, she began to speak evasively. Instead of getting to the point, her explanation felt far more ambiguous than her prior explanations—so at the time, it was a little hard for me to understand, but now, I understood the circumstances. And I understood why it was so hard for her to speak.

To sum it up, it was like this.

Chinu Namaji, who had been appointed as Hakobune Middle School's 66th Generation Student Council Executive Committee Treasurer, was also a major player in the girls' basketball team—it didn't seem like she was forced to make a decision between the two, but I suppose it depends on how you look at it. The facts may not be so simple, but it was likely the club members thought that if Chinu-senpai were not involved in Student Council activities, she would concentrate more on basketball—it was likely they even wanted her to quit the Student Council. So, it seemed that the Student Council and the basketball team collided. The actual details were a bit more complex—perhaps Chinu-senpai couldn't excuse her teammates getting involved with the Student Council Executive Committee led by the infamous Kumagawa Misogi—basically, the girls' basketball team recklessly bet everything on their team leader, Chinu Namaji, and challenged Kumagawa Misogi to a match.

And then—they lost.

"...Well, this doesn't just apply to athletes—anyone who normally puts in the effort and works hard would think like this. No matter how much you may regret losing to someone better or greater than you, it's not impossible to accept that loss. It's just a math problem. It's natural that 2 is bigger than 1—and if you reflect upon not having been 3, not having been able to become 3, then that can become your next goal. But, if you're 2 and you lose to 1, or even lose to a minus, then what is there to reflect upon? How can you use that loss to proceed? Do you just accept that the world is like that and give up? Just accept that being better is not always rated highly, that excellence is not always recognized? Yeah—and so, everybody gave up."

No, not everyone.

After all, there's me,

murmured Chinu-senpai.

"Being better is not always rated highly, and excellence is not always recognized, but whatever—I can deal with that. Even if the world doesn't understand, it's fine as long as I understand—or so I put on a bold front. But what I can't deal with is when something that's stupid or worthless is given a high rating by society—that just kills my motivation to live. I wasn't able to accept my powerless defeat. It felt like all my effort, all the hard work we'd put in together—it all came to nothing. Like I'd been thrust with the idea that our lives were meaningless. And I lost all motivation for everything."

Born without meaning, live without relations, and die without worth.

That was what had been said.

By Chinu-senpai—and by Kumagawa Misogi.

"Well, ironically enough, with that as the reason, I was able to resign from the position of Treasurer, and keep watch over the basketball team. So in that sense, President Kumagawa wasn't able to win."

That was true.

He hadn't achieved the results he wanted—with the result being him losing one of his officers, what exactly was he trying to do? As a result of the match, both the basketball team and the Student Council Executive Committee had experienced losses. Well, that was more or less what Kumagawa Misogi was made of—but to me at the time, it just seemed like an uncanny act.

"Basically, that's why I quit the Student Council Executive Committee—and why you became my successor, Kurokami-chan. Do you understand now?"

"......"

I had no choice but to respond that I did understand—it wasn't like I could just deny her past. However, it was hard to tell what exactly I did understand. I had certainly wanted to learn why Chinu-senpai had quit the Student Council Executive Committee, and why the girls' basketball team was in this state... But now that I'd learned it, now that I'd understood, all that was left was a feeling of dissatisfaction.

No.

Perhaps I was angry.

Not at President Kumagawa—but at Chinu-senpai.

It might be a bit irrational, but why didn't she try and face President Kumagawa again, try and have a rematch with everyone in the girls' basketball team?—I may have felt that way.

It wasn't the time to give up, it wasn't the time to just wallow in your powerlessness—I may have wanted to say something like that.. But I couldn't. There was no way I could. So that I couldn't say something like that, she had made me play this Formation Game—in the same way she lost to Kumagawa Misogi, she made me suffer a defeat.

And that was probably a fraction, less than one-hundredth, of the "sense of defeat" experienced after coming face-to-face with President Kumagawa—at the very least, after having felt it, I couldn't bring myself to criticize the members of the girls' basketball team.

"Well, no need to concern yourself with us—that's our problem. It's not like I'm trying to tell you to take down our foe for us, to get revenge for us, or anything like that."

"Eh—but!"

Revenge was a strong word, but.

I'd been sure that that was what she was trying to say.

After all, Chinu-senpai had just said something to the effect of "taking Kumagawa Misogi down"—hadn't she? With even the condition of "using that same method"—so, that's what I had assumed all this time.

However, that wasn't it.

Instead of that—it was, to say the least, for her junior.

And for her successor, some pertinent advice.

"In the near future, you'll end up facing off against President Kumagawa—I don't know how it'll happen, and I don't know what will cause it, but there's no way a person like you and a person like him won't collide at some point. But when that time comes, challenging his 1 with your 2, challenging his minus with your plus—that's all meaningless to him. He won't take any damage at all from that. Kurokami-chan. If you want to win against Kumagawa Misogi—you will first have to begin by losing to him."

   ■   ■

Chinu-senpai's words were like some sort of Zen dialogue, so at the time, it was hard for me to comprehend them—and rather than a Zen dialogue, it felt more like an impossible dialogue. However, it was still frighteningly pertinent advice.

In fact, when the time came for me to settle things with Kumagawa Misogi here at Hakoniwa Academy, we unexpectedly ended up settling things in such a way—Former President Hinokage's "Evilize Training Camp" was made with that in mind, too. However, this basically meant that I had been unable to follow or make use of the advice given to me in middle school, which meant that I'd failed to fulfill the request of Chinu-senpai.

I'm ashamed of myself.

After losing the match, I couldn't even carry out the request that I got as the penalty—if the news would reach Chinu-senpai's ears that belatedly... After three years, I was able to settle things with him, then it would be a great comfort to me.

However, there was nothing special about Chinu-senpai.

In the sense that she had been a part of the Student Council Executive Committee, she was a special case, but like her, there were students all over the school whose lives had been turned upside down by President Kumagawa. There were students all over the school, including myself, who were ruined by the mixture of good and evil, mixed with victory and defeat.

I'd even go so far as to say that the entire school was like that—

With the exception of my brother and the Vice President.

However, it went without saying that when I heard the story from Chinu-senpai—when I heard the story from her through the form of a competition—it was a clear turning point for me.

The next day.

After school, I headed for the Student Council office.

Of course, I'd gone there once early in the morning, but at that time, the office had been empty—despite mustering all that motivation, it felt like a huge letdown in the end. But I didn't falter, pulled myself together, and opened the door to the Student Council office after school.

This time, President Kumagawa.

Kumagawa Misogi was there.

He was alone—neither the Vice President nor the Secretary nor the General Affairs Manager was there.

I hadn't intended on changing my plans had anyone been there, but this was certainly a favorable situation for me.

If I was going to confront him, then one-on-one was ideal.

「Heya, Medaka-chan—what's the matter? With such a dignified look on your face,」

President Kumagawa said.

「Although, Medaka-chan, I guess you're always making that dignified face, aren't you—even though you'd be better off living your life a bit more cheerfully and loosely. Then you'd be more popular.」

To those cheerful and loose words of his, I said,

"President Kumagawa."

It was a proclamation.

"The responsibility of the Treasurer position of the Student Council Executive Committee—I will humbly accept."

「...Huh? I thought we'd already finished discussing that matter?」

"No. To me, this is the starting line."

It was true that I'd been performing my duties as Treasurer in the Student Council Executive Committee for a couple of days now—but now, I was truly determined to fulfill my duties.

It was this very moment that I was truly "promoted" as the Treasurer, in the truest sense.

That I decided to work under Kumagawa Misogi—that I decided to fight against Kumagawa Misogi.

As a comparison, it was sort of like how a shogi piece gets "promoted" after entering enemy lines—although it was more like a betrayal than a simple turnover.

「Hmm. I'm just thankful to hear that, but... What led to this change of mind? Should I hear it?」

"I spoke with Chinu-senpai,"

I said. I had no intention of hiding it from him.

"I learned—about my predecessor, and the details that led to her being relieved of her position."

In actuality, instead of being relieved, she resigned on her own—President Kumagawa actually tried to hold her back—but this was neither a misunderstanding nor an attempt to mislead.

But even so, I expected a rebuttal.

And yet,

「Chinu...?」

said President Kumagawa, tilting is head.

「...Who's that?」

That was.

The reaction of someone who'd heard the name for the first time—as if he wasn't even sure that the word was supposed to be a name.

「Also, what do you mean by predecessor? The 66th Generation Student Council Executive Committee's Treasurer has always been only you, Medaka-chan.」

"...Is that so."

There was no meaning to disputing it.

Whether he'd actually forgotten, or whether he was simply concealing it, I had no desire to even think about it—however, I keenly felt it.

From now on—this was the opponent I would have to fight against.

I resolved myself to face off against Kumagawa Misogi—the Minus that crawls from chaos, Kumagawa Misogi. It was like a joke, pitting a Treasurer against an incalculable man, but this was my reality here at Hakobune Middle School.

「Is that all you wanted to say? Then, get to work, Medaka-chan. Maguro-chan and Kouki-chan will be here soon—along with Anshin'in-san, too.」

"Anshin'in-sa—"

「Don't worry, you might not be used to it in the beginning, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in an instant, Medaka-chan. I look forward to our long relationship together.」

Kumagawa said with a smile.

It was a smile with no emotion behind it.

「I'm sure it'll be an unforgettable experience.」

   ■   ■

And so, Hakobune Middle School's 66th Generation Student Council Executive Committee was established. What happened after that, you should know very well—we fought, we broke down, we rampaged, and we became a mess.

There were disagreements, there were misunderstandings, and there were mistakes.

Things didn't go the way I planned, and of course, Kumagawa Misogi never had any plans to begin with, so we never arrived at a future that had been predicted by anybody—power and intrigue only swirled, finesse only flailed, and eagerness never saw the light of day.

It was out of anyone's hands, and no one could be held responsible.

A battle with no victors, that would make no one happy, began and ended.

No, it failed to even end.

It simply carried on, unsettled.

I didn't know what Chinu-senpai felt as she watched it happen—perhaps she was disappointed in me, or perhaps she never expected anything from me to begin with, thinking, "Ah, of course".

At any rate, I failed. And I don't think I managed to recover from it here in Hakoniwa Academy. That—those things—were a failure that cannot be recovered from.

There were too many things that couldn't come back—and there were too many people that couldn't return.

And so, for you—for you all—I want you to not repeat the same mistakes I made. That's what I wish. From the bottom of my heart, I hope that you don't make the same mistakes again—I know you're going to say that you would never do something like that, but you know, something like that can happen to anyone.

Just like how Chinu-senpai wasn't anyone special.

Kurokami Medaka and Kumagawa Misogi weren't anyone special, either.

When two people meet and get involved, a tale is born—though the two of us in middle school could only produce a bad ending like this. But even if it's a bad ending, even if it's a childish, or even juvenile—there is no doubt that it is still a tale.

As long as I can tell it to you like this.

Torai Kudaki.

Hakoniwa Academy's 100th Generation Student Council Executive Committee General Affairs Manager Torai Kudaki—I can no longer participate in whatever Student Council activities you'll perform now, but if there's any advice I can give you as a pioneer on the front lines and as a defeated soldier, it is to be the hero of a tale that you can tell, a tale that you are willing to tell to someone else.

And then, someday, you should tell it to a junior that admires you.

The battle you fought—and, of course, the happy ending you achieved.

   ■   ■

Hm? Chinu-senpai?

What happened to Chinu-senpai after that?

She's still well, even today—in Hakobune Middle School, the basketball team never managed to be reformed, but she was able to move on to high school as a competent player, running across the court even now.

Yes, that was one thing that President Kumagawa taught me.

Even if a tale ends with a bad ending—

People do not end with a bad ending.

[ao3feed-danganronpa]

Goodbye Hope's Peak V3: Side Dancing in Despair

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2Ge3JX6

by linkzeldi

Kumagawa Misogi and Enoshima Junko enter the final killing game. The genre swapping, wild, reckless adventure finally ends in tragedy again as Junko fights against the strongest part of herself, her reflection, he own image as the Diva of Despair that always proceeds her.

The secrets of the Shiranui Village, Hope's Peak Academy, and the Kurokam Family unravel as the cast looks at their reflections in the mirror and try to find what lies beyond the looking glass. At the same time, Hitoyoshi Zenkichi grapples with the idea that the world may have ended, and his own world Kurokami Medaka may in fact be dead.

In the final battle, will Kumagawa finally win? Probably not.

Words: 13187, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 4 of Perfect Minus x Ultimate Despair

Fandoms: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Medaka Box

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Categories: F/M, M/M

Characters: Kumagawa Misogi, Enoshima Junko, Hitoyoshi Zenkichi

Relationships: Enoshima Junko/Kumagawa Misogi, Ikusaba Mukuro/Naegi Makoto, Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi

Additional Tags: crossover AU

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2Ge3JX6

[recentanimenews]

Sentai Filmworks Licenses GoHands' Original TV Anime W'z

  Sentai Filmworks has locked in the latest original anime from Hand Shakers and K anime studio GoHands. W'z is set to premiere on select digital outlets as part of the winter 2019 simulcast season, with a home video release to follow. 

  W'z has been licensed for the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Spain, and Portugal.

  Here's how Sentai describes it:  

Inspired by house music from a young age, Yukiya spends his free time as a DJ for a crowd of one and uploads his videos online. Like any young teenager, he yearns for something greater than his current life. He wants recognition and importance, but breaking out of his comfort zone means he runs the risk of getting hurt, so the cycle continues. That is, until the day he crosses the line of no return and stumbles across a mysterious live broadcast that will change his world forever.

  The series stars Katsumi Fukuhara (Hugitto! Precure, In Another World With My Smartphone) as Yukiya, Toshiki Masuda (Gakuen Basara: Samurai High School, Haikyu!!) as Midori, Jun Fukuyama (Ajin, Anonymous Noise) as Reijiro, Daisuke Namikawa (Medaka Box Abnormal, Ushio & Tora) as Fumiyuki, Atsumi Tanezaki (Hozuki’s Coolheadedness, Land of the Lustrous) as Hana, Takuya Eguchi (Love Stage!!, My Love Story!!) as Gai and Yoko Hikasa (K-ON!, No Game, No Life) as Yukine. The record label GOON TRAX is in charge of the series’ music, which will also feature the talents of numerous musical artists.

  -------

Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his webcomic, BIG DUMB FIGHTING IDIOTS at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox. 

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[tokiro07]

Toki Reads Shonen Jump 2024, Issue #52

HxH: Morena's card game begins, and she exposits that she was conceived in a state-sanctioned non-consensual orgy; Borksen learns that thanks to Nen restrictions, she actually does have actually does have an escape route. The implications of Morena's backstory are certainly staggering, but also lost on me

Yozakura: Taiyo has an "I know you're in there" fight with himself, ending with him expelling Asa by shooting himself in the heart. Taiyo's willingness to damage his own body to make it uninhabitable to Asa doesn't seem ideal, but definitely preferable to being possessed

Undead Unluck: Soul tries to force Andy and Victor's souls back together, but Rip cuts them apart permanently with Unrepair. This is Rip's capstone, where he finally uses Unrepair for someone else's happiness instead of ruining his own with it

Roboco: Roboco writes more shameless ripoff manga, but finally learns that her own original material is a lot better. I have no faith that this lesson will stick

Sakamoto: Atari's luck has literally run out; she reveals to Tenkyu that his friendship w/ Uzuki is irreparable; Shin resolves to kill Tenkyu, even if it means severing ties with Sakamoto. Both Tenkyu and Shin are losing their friends because they're killing in their name against their wishes; Atari's an idiot for using such an obscene amount of luck last chapter just to fire ONE bullet

EluSam: Tokiyuki and realKojiro gush over Kojiro as he fights Nagao; the scene cuts away to Mima getting into architecture and interior design. This seems to have an affect on enemy morale, but I feel like it's not worth ignoring what seems to be Kojiro's most important fight

Witch Watch: The flashback gang discusses the legacy of Familiars and their prejudice towards humanity; Kuon warms up to the team, and Taiga raises more death flags. The idea of magic fading away as a sign of peaceful times is a topic I've been thinking about a lot lately because I've been revisiting Medaka Box; this may inform a future essay

Blue Box: Taiki endears himself to Chinatsu's dad with his earnest, if a bit overbearing, nature. I'm glad we're not drawing out the tension too much, it makes the dad more relatable

Akane: Despite Miroku's refusal to let them perform, Shiguma and Issho learn enough rakugo for Kiroku to give them a slot; Miroku offers to grant Kiroku his name and rank if he will use it to expel the pair. This is clearly the event that led to the founding of the Arakawa School, but even with a foregone conclusion, it's a nailbiter

Kill Blue: Juzo and Shin use assassin techniques to advertise the bakery; Yoichiro wagers his staff's bonuses to whichever club can beat their challenges. Clearly he's plotting something, but I can't quite see yet how this furthers his plans

Nue: Rido spontaneously achieves his Bankai Spirit Armor and promptly passes out. It looks cool, but I'm already so unclear on this power system's rules that such an upgrade only serves to confuse me further

Kagurabachi: In a side story, we revisit everyone's favorite guy, Sojo, trying desperately to enjoy a bath despite his routine being ruined at every turn. Looking back, I'm sad that Sojo died; I hope he continues to haunt the narrative

Chojo: Keinain's new assistant, Makami, finds everything about the Chinjuku station to be lewd; this is not because she's a prude, but an extremely repressed pervert. Would

Astro Royale: Himuro reveals he became a cop to stop the Yotsurugi family from interfering with his dad's business, but only found out later that they were supporting him through hard times; the damage he caused this business relationship resulted in his father's suicide; he eats the Daybreak Ore and becomes a mutated mass. Himuro's motivations now reflect Kinpa's, but just like he hurt his dad by targeting the Yotsurugi's, his rage is misdirected and self-destructive

Kiyoshi: Asuta's time runs out and he gets away, cementing the sacrifices made to summon him; as he leaves, he calls Kiyoshi his soulmate in a perverse twist on Kiyoshi's own desire for friendship. Axe-deniers when the lead fails and lets 100 innocent people die - 🎉🍾🥳🎊🥂; throw the yaoi girlies in there too since there's about to be a huge boost in sales

Hima-Ten: Tenichi takes up the rear on the class hike; Himari fakes an injury to keep him company. Very cute, but how the hell does this moron not realize she's in love???

Ichi: Just before the contest begins, Ichi sees a mysterious figure; the Kindake Magik vows to kill everyone who doesn't worship his mushrooms, then escapes into his mushroom forest. So much for not being a human-hater; Togeice's poor sense of direction will certainly make this challenge much harder on her

Shinobi: Yodaka sabotages Hachikuma's strings and turns them against him. Though heavy-handed, Yodaka straightening and braiding Hachikuma's discarded, tangled strings as a symbol of the value of putting effort into maintaining relationships is sweet

Hakutaku: The mechanics of the AR game are explained, but Hikuma sleeps through people actually enjoying it. Maybe it's cus I don't like mobile games, but I do not see the appeal of this game, which is probably the most damning indictment of a game design manga

Syd Craft: Elio is revealed to be Levie Olyn, Syd's favorite romance author, who became his assistant after he cleared her name in a case; she writes her books to vent her DEFINITELY NOT ROMANTIC feelings for Syd. That's a great dynamic, I love girls who pine, I'm super endeared to this idiot

My top 3 manga for the week are:

Undead Unluck, unsurprisingly, for its fantastic color page, multiple great spreads, and at least two of what will undoubtedly become the most iconic moments in the entire series; congrats on netting the final cover of the year!

Syd Craft for continuing to expand upon its concept in a way that really appeals to me; let it be known I never said Tsutsui was a bad author, I just said he was a coward

Kiyoshi for dodging the axe, establishing an interesting dynamic between Kiyoshi and Asuta, and the bravery to leave it on such a bleak cliffhanger

Runners up include Astro Royale and Shinobi Undercover, both for giving me some interesting symbolism to chew on, as well as Hima-Ten and Chojo for women in denial that fall short of Elio

Edit: I want to correct something I said last week - it does not seem like Bug Ego is joining Weekly Jump after all, I think someone I follow on twitter either got a bad tip or I misunderstood what they said. Bug Ego was added to the Shonen Jump app, not Shonen Jump itself. Apologies for any confusion!

[tokiro07]

Hot take from me who's just finished Medaka Box chapter 140 (I sent this since you and spooky are the 2 main MB analysts on here): Medaka's council was boring until the Minus arc. The only interesting thing the other members of the council ever did pre-Kumagawa was their fight with Medaka II exploring Zenkichi's past. Kumagawa showing up casted doubts on the council members and Ajimu successfully divided them after chapter 115. Before and after those 2 arcs they are simple yes men to Medaka.

Previous asker here. No idea why the phone keyboard hit it to 140. I read to chapter 150 with the new council battling in Antartic already and saw the former council members went back to their old ways with the obvious exception of the new President.

I can't say I agree with you, but I see what you're saying since Akune and Kikaijima get very little attention in the story as a whole

That said, I really like what contributions they have for the story in the Daily Life, Flask Plan and Medaka's Successor Arcs

Nisio definitely didn't give them the screentime that I think they deserved, but to a certain extent I think this is just an example of narrative utility: what benefit would Akune and Kikaijima have brought to, say, the Minus Arc that other characters didn't?

Akune vs. Shibuki could have been cool since Akune must have had a ton of injuries for Shibuki to reopen with Scar Dead, but Naze's emotional scars not only offered the same basic story structure that Akune's past as The Destroyer would have, she also expanded on what Akune offered by being reminiscent to the Minuses in her personality type

That doesn't make Akune a lesser character than Naze, it makes Naze a better fit for the story that Nisio wanted to tell in that case

In the Medaka Successor Arc, Naze only appears briefly every so often, but Akune has a consistent presence as the focus of Wanizuka's character arc, at least during the Clock Tower game. The lessons he's able to impart to Wanizuka and the change he inspires in her aren't things that Naze could have achieved because that's not even remotely what her character is about

Kikaijima, meanwhile, acts as a sort of moral grounding point for Kumagawa. She's not incredibly active aside from the Battle of the Bands performance, but she helps motivate Kumagawa and gives him a guidepost for how to move Hitoyoshi and Medaka's conflict to its resolution

As for being yes-men, that's kind of the point of them. Akune's blind idolization of Medaka is reflected in Wanizuka's blind idolization of The Destroyer, and Kikaijima was a member of the Student Council because a) she was being paid and therefore just doing her job, and b) so she could spend time with her friends like a normal high school student. Neither of them had any reason to be anything other than yes-men either in the context of the story or for the purposes of the story

Medaka said from the beginning that she wanted her Vice President to be someone who would antagonize and challenge her, so she wouldn't become a tyrant, but that's kind of an insane thing for, again, a high school student to say. It's abnormal, while the rest of her team was being perfectly normal about the whole thing

I'm not sure if I'm actually addressing what you're criticizing, but I hope it's clear that there is something to Akune and Kikaijima that other readers are able to find endearing

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.201 thoughts

[I'd Rather Play Bloody Seven]

(Contents: matchup analysis - Nico+Ichico vs. Language, speculation)

I am so sure that Tozuka is a Medaka Box fan. A shonen battle manga that focuses primarily on the romance between its two leads, a power system based on a combination of disadvantage and personal growth, and a tendency to replace traditional battles with games...that's Medaka Box, man!!! If Tozuka comes forth one day and just outright says Medaka Box was a major influence on him, y'all know who said it first!

Anyway, this chapter was super fun for me. Not only did it take me right back to my Medaka Box days (RIP Cipher Academy), it established pretty much immediately the versatility of all of the involved combatants

Language, of course, has access to all of the world's words, so she can theoretically do anything, but in order to make that happen she needs to set up specific rules that facilitate those words into context. Shiritori, then, is the perfect game for that, as in conjunction with Japanese's own versatility for loan words and compatibility with other writing and pronunciation systems, it precludes the need for the player to conjure something from nothing by giving them a jumping-off point. It's kind of like Scribblenauts Showdown with an extra layer of consideration

Nico, in similar fashion, turns that versatility on its head by quickly finding a way to reach his specific niche, transitioning from Aegi[s] to [S]cience. If Lan's familiarity with words allows her to do just about anything, then Nico can do the same with his familiarity with science. He'll still need to come up with words to keep the Shiritori chain going, but he can compensate for any words that don't inherently win a clash by utilizing that word's scientific principles OR the scientific devices he summoned on his previous turn. By summoning his Psycho Pods specifically, he's guaranteed that his usual kit is always available no matter what Lan throws at him, even if he needs to come up with a throwaway word in the meantime

The Psycho Pods have the added benefit of being usable by Ichico even in her soul state; while Nico may not believe in souls enough to actually be able to interact with Ichico, he knows that she's there and presumably believes that her mental capacity is present as well. Because of this, her thought patterns and brainwaves are able to be transmitted to the Psycho Pods via her soul without the need of her literal brain or nervous system, a concept that was once touched upon in this very lab during the Ghost fight. Because Ichico is just as adept at using science as Nico is, she can effectively serve as backup in this game by utilizing the Psycho Pods while Nico focuses on his word choice

How this will develop as the fight goes, I'm not sure, but we've definitely laid the groundwork for Nico learning to see Ichico's soul now that he has some undeniably empirical evidence of its existence (her ability to directly manipulate the Psycho Pods). If I had to guess, the final straw won't be that he believes in souls specifically, but that he believes in Ichico's abilities; technically he won't see "Ichico's soul," he'll see "Ichico," because he believes in her. I'm also willing to bet that keeping her alive in his heart, knowing that her soul is by his side, will be what triggers the awakening of Unforgettable - the drive to remember what he wants rather than being haunted by unpleasant memories

I know I always say I don't like to make predictions, but it's so hard not to when the potential character development is so juicy! Like we're definitely going to get some callbacks to the Ghost fight, how can I not get excited about that and keep my imagination from running wild???

I'm also wondering if the game is going to end with Nico tricking Lan into using a word that ends in N or if he's going to actually hit her with something that'll kill her. It's kind of hard to envision what can kill her, but making her break the rules would definitely do it. Going by her relatively clean state in L100, I'd say that's more or less what he did before

...Wait, wait wait wait...I'm having an epiphany...I'm probably wrong about this, but...what if Nico forcefully gives himself Unforgettable? Like Lan ends a word with the letter U or the A syllable and Nico uses that to create Unforgettable/Anfoogettaburu? Nico's Aegis was based on how he envisioned Fuuko's description of it, so if he imagines it to be a method of recalling lost memories, he might use it to figure out how he beat Lan in L100; he might even immediately awaken to his soul memories too since he'll be looking back at his previous self, giving the opportunity for the previous Unforgettables to chime in

Maybe that's too much of a stretch, but if I were writing this, that's definitely the route I'd take. Hopefully we find out this week, but if not, probably the next

Until then, let's enjoy life!

[tokiro07]

Cipher Academy ch.21 thoughts

[Face Reveal]

What’s this? Cipher Academy BEFORE Undead Unluck this week? Well, friends, that’s because this week’s CA was just that good

Friendship and Effort conquering Isolation and Deception! Clever puzzle solutions! A fourth wall break! Best girl face reveal!!!

Iroha completely turned the tables on Anonymity by doing essentially the same things that she did, but in such a way that proves he’s more worthy of being the CLP; because he spent time with all of his classmates, he got to know them and their idiosyncrasies, and was able to identify their tells when he had their cards in his hand, something that Anonymity couldn’t really do because she refused to engage with the class. The photo on this chapter’s cover, taken during the Baumkuchen cookout that Anonymity neglected to attend, serves as a brilliant reminder of this fact

Then for Iroha to throw Anonymity’s use of the discard loophole back in her face, and to be able to confidently declare that it isn’t cheating because it was a precedent that Anonymity had set herself! What a guy! And he even leveraged it to force Anonymity to take off her Glasses Weapon!

It was at that moment that I realized that the fact that Personal Package guarantees that Anonymity always maintains a poker face must mean that she’s actually quite expressive. Even if she’s capable of holding an expression, it would be meaningless to have such an ability if she was always deadpan anyway. And sure enough, we’re immediately shown that she’s actually very bright and cheerful! That’s some gap moe right there!!!

Ah, imagining those sparkly eyes, blushing cheeks and radiant smile saying such nasty things as “I’m surprised I got so many votes, is there anyone in this class less popular than I am?”! Through Personal Package, it must have been completely deadpan, but what voice did she really say it with? A slight giggle? A mocking sneer? A musical lilt? She must be so annoying under that mask~

...Ugh, even I’m grossed out by how much I’m playing this up

But seriously, I find this new angle to her character really charming, and apparently so does Iroha! Not only is he blushing immediately upon seeing Anonymity’s face, but he’s also continuing the game with a huge smile on his face because now he’s able to really have fun! He’s not going up against an unfeeling robot, he’s going up against a peer. He’s acknowledged her skills and how she would make for a good leader, but he’s also pointed out her faults in such a way that she may well be able to learn from them. By taking off her mask and showing her face, she’s opened up to Iroha in the same way that the rest of the class has, so now he can be satisfied no matter the outcome

And I think that’s the mentality that Nisio wants us to treat this battle with too, because it immediately cuts away before the battle is decided to Kogoe musing that she’s not concerned either way. The only candidate who doesn’t align with her interests was Yosaimura, but with her being knocked out last chapter, Kogoe could really care less who ends up CLP. Whether Iroha or Anonymity becomes CLP next chapter, we’ll be entering the first major conflict of the story: Cyberbrain World War 1!

What the hell does that mean??? Is it going to be a literal world war, or is this going to be just a Cipher Academy thing and the name is an exaggeration?

And what’s her plan for all of those Glasses Weapons? They’re clearly the same model as Iroha’s (and being distributed through Kick Attack Planning based on the logo), but will they be replacing the Glasses Weapons of the core cast or will they become threats that are distributed to the rest of the school in the battle for the Morg?

I have no idea how quickly all of this is going to escalate, but my guess is that we’re going to be facing off against another class or multiple classes before anything else. We might even skip straight to fighting Class M to really hammer home the comparisons to Medaka Box’s Flask Plan, why not?

Some stray notes to wrap up

I hope we get to see Anonymity’s previous expressions revealed in key panels, I bet she made some fun ones

It just occurred to me that she’s like Nabeshima, cheating by using exploits in the rules rather than literally breaking them. Anyone would call them unfair, but technically that’s how the rules work, so it’s not really cheating

I said a couple weeks ago that Kogoe drew all of the cards and that they must have been drawn once it was known who the final four were; that should have been the moment I realized they were drawn by the classmates. Not only were all of them different art styles, but some had specific handwriting and there are 14 categories while there are 14 students excluding the players and dealer. It was staring me in the face all along!!!

I think it’s very funny that every single card is considered its own puzzle, jumping us up from Q.24 to Q.76 in one go. Average Cipher Academy chapter contains 3 puzzles, actually statistical anomaly; average chapter only contains 1, but Ciphers Georg....

That cover page should have been a color page!!! Jump, put some RESPECT on my girls’ and boy’s names!!!

I WANT MERCH OF THIS DECK!!!

[tokiro07]

Cipher Academy ch.16 thoughts

[Joey Finds a New Favorite Character]

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you - The Drop

I was expecting to talk about how Iroha won the elimination round this week, as evidenced by how much importance I put on it last week, but in retrospect I was overestimating how much weight this moment had. This game was never treated with any more reverence than a simple game; Iroha never seemed worried about the possibility of losing and being knocked out of the running for class leading private, and the other players never seemed particularly antagonistic towards him. Karigane and Koshibai were treating it as a game from the start, and Mokumokuren and Mamushihishimeki were pretty quiet outside of the game itself. The conclusion of the game was fun and exciting as the solution to a murder mystery, but not a climactic battle that decides Iroha’s fate going forward; and that’s all it’s meant to be

But NOW!!! Nooow we have a definitive antagonist for the arc. Now we have a thematic foil for Iroha

I don’t remember if I’ve already mentioned this, but my main metric for assessing Jump manga is Jump’s three values: Friendship, Effort and Victory. Cipher Academy, with Iroha as its lead refusing to use the Glasses Weapon as a way to take shortcuts, is definitively an Effort series. Iroha’s entire character is centered around self-improvement through hard work and perseverance

And now, Anonymity’s first words are tantamount to “I cheated. What, you didn’t?” Anonymity establishes herself immediately as someone who does not value effort, at least not in the sense that anyone typically would. If she does, her sense of effort is more akin to “do whatever it takes” rather than “do it properly”

You may remember in chapter 8 when Toshusai said “it would be nice if disqualifications happened in real wars;” I believe this was meant to be a sort of thesis statement leading into this conflict. Anonymity won’t be disqualified for betraying the spirit of the game or for bad sportsmanship; she produced results that allowed her to surpass four other cipher soldiers by proving that she had the skill to covertly gather information quickly and efficiently, even being able to decipher ten codes of varying difficulty at a glance. Sure, she’s a jerk, but she won the battle with the skills that she was trained to use, making her an ideal soldier

Her argument is so sound, I can’t even say that she’s going to be proven wholly wrong by the end. For anyone who read Medaka Box, this is almost a perfect thematic parallel to the Flask Plan - Medaka and Hitoyoshi always took the hardest route they could to reach the end goal so that they could feel that they earned their results, so they could proud of who they were and crystalize their experiences for the future, but the Flask Plan was meant to create a shortcut for those whose efforts never seem to pan out, for the people whose bodies or minds prevent them from putting in the effort in the first place. Ultimately, Medaka couldn’t dismantle the Flask Plan’s goal or logic for being morally disagreeable, because objectively its goal was noble and would improve the world; the problem wasn’t the goal, but the means, as the experiments were willing to kill countless students in the school to achieve that goal. Medaka ultimately sanctioned and supported the Flask Plan, but only after ensuring that it would be carried out ethically and safely, after she knew that the end wasn’t being used to justify horrible means

Anonymity is absolutely right to have cheated in this scenario: the entire premise of this school is to cultivate information-gathering skills, and she undoubtedly thought that the rest of her group would do the same. She’s legitimately surprised that the other winners didn’t do what she did, because to her that was the game. I’m sure we’ll get more context for why her mentality is wrong and why fighting Iroha will be necessary to reform her, but in the end, I’m confident she’s going to be the same overall person with the same values, she’ll just change her approach slightly

All of Medaka’s enemies only really changed how they treated people or themselves, not who they were fundamentally, which is honestly a very Nisio Isin approach to character development; whatever happens with Anonymity, I’m willing to bet that she’s still going to value results over methods, but she’ll likely start being more respectful of others’ methods and learn that there is value in an honest, straight forward approach. Meanwhile, she’s probably also going to teach Iroha to be more willing to use what he has available to him when he needs it; this fight is probably going to be an analysis of the pros and cons of both approaches, and both will learn how to apply the lessons that the other teaches them in their own methods

But most importantly: Anonymity may well be the Kumagawa of the cast, using the exact opposite approach to the protagonist to fight enemies that the protagonist can’t use their normal methods to face in order to support the protagonist. Hopefully while saying buckwild shit to make her fun and interesting!

Also, I just want to thank Iwasaki for their art; Anonymity’s intro card is so intimidating while also being a fun subversion of the usual puzzle panels. She’s being framed as a puzzle, a problem to be solved, but one that can’t simply be gauged with the normal ranking system because she’s not going to play fair and she’s going to fight back. She crushes the star-rating system entirely in her bare hands, almost as if to say she’s a problem that can’t be solved

I also appreciate the call-back to “Class 1-A’s only X”, as it’s a great way to establish how much weight her introduction carries while also giving us a good gauge of her personality; “Class 1-A’s only ‘anything goes’ student.” I would have translated it as “sole wild card” myself, and I’d like to think Kumar would have too, but hey, Dan Luffey is doing a fine job so far, so I won’t knock points for simple word choice

I’m not claiming that it will be one-to-one, but the fight between Anonymity and Iroha is going to be the equivalent of Medaka vs. Unzen where everything gets a lot more serious and the themes of the story are put into stark, undeniable perspective, even if only for the moment and things calm down before the next conflict. How Toshusai and Yosaimura are going to impact the battle, I can’t say, but if I had to guess, Anonymity is going to prove just how much of a threat she really is by taking out Toshusai, as Iroha has already had a code battle with her and we have no context for Yosaimura’s capabilities as a code soldier, so it would make more sense for Iroha to face off against Yosaimura first

Of course, it could end up being a battle royale and we see how all four interact with each other at once, but I’m confident it will come down to Iroha and Anonymity

Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Iroha will beat Anonymity to gain the right to face Toshusai, the easy favorite for class leading private, bookending this introductory arc with Iroha proving that he no longer needs the Glasses Weapon to match Toshusai

This chapter filled me with so much excitement, I really hope that other readers feel the same and this build up helps elevate Cipher Academy’s standing in the polls. It’s been at the back of the magazine for a while now, but this might be exactly what it needs to turn that around. I’m sure we’ll get to see this fight reach its conclusion at least, but if it goes well, this will be what helps the series continue

To wrap up, I want to take the opportunity to go over the remaining cosplays, just because I think they’re fun.

Yugata lets her hair down and wears her coat over her shoulders to play Toshusai, riffing on her “you’ll be my manservant” threat from chapter 1

Oboro carries a little stuffed tiger (which is presumably hers) to play Mokumokuren, and even hides behind it to stifle her laughter. She’s so cute

Nohime styles her hair to cover her eye to resemble Hahakura

Umitsubame takes off her jacket entirely and puts on simple sunglasses to resemble Koshibai

Yosaimura borrows Mamushihishimeki’s bandana, presumably borrowing it from her since she’s wearing a hat instead at the moment

Nutaba wears Yosaimura’s goggles, which she took off to put on the bandana, but I’m willing to bet that playing in the ball basket is wholly a Nutaba thing

Kasuri holds up a chocolate bar to hide her eyes like Anonymity, PROVING that the censor bar is diegetic

Omomuro’s wearing Umitsubame’s (or rather, Oboro’s) star-glasses, which she definitely borrowed from her since Umitsubame is clearly wearing different glasses at the moment

Hahakura borrows Namasu’s mask, while Namasu manages to continue to cover her mouth because she’s playing Nohime and is able to borrow one of her poses

Yorokawa lets her hair down and wears glasses, which is kind of subtle, but can only really be Karigane

Anonymity and Botayama are a little hard to pin down because their cosplays are the most subtle, but they have to be Omomuro and Kasuri. I think that Botayama is Kasuri with her hair down, but she isn’t covering her face with it, so she might be just making the barest effort to resemble Omomuro’s short hair. Anonymity is covering her face, so this could be an extremely roundabout method of cosplaying Kasuri, but she’s specifically covering her face with bicycle chains, Omomuro’s signature weapon from chapter 1, implying that this is an overblown parody of Omomuro. But why she would do it that way when it’s so over the top and difficult to recognize, I have no idea. It’s not super important, but it compels me

I also think it’s worth noting that every group is laughing or having fun except for Group A, who are all looking at Anonymity with shock or disgust, which is pretty subtle foreshadowing that she was going to be the one to win from her group and that she was going to be a major threat going forward

I’m impressed I managed to finish this a few days early for once, but honestly I was so excited about this chapter that I just couldn’t wait any longer. And also I’m procrastinating on more important things, but that’s not important. This is the most excited I’ve been for a new chapter since the series began, so I’m expecting that the payoff will give me even more to say

Look forward to it!

[linkspooky]

Hey, I've recently finished reading the manga for medaka box and was wondering on your opinions on what happened to kumagawa after the end of the series?

So, I think one of the most interesting things about Kumagawa’s ending is on the surface nothing at all has changed. His last moment in the manga even ends with the same phrase that’s always used to describe him repeating: “Nothing went as he liked, and he never went as others would have liked.” He’s the only one of the main characters besides Ajimu who doesn’t get a “happy ending” or an “epilogue” that describes what he’s been doing all this time. 

Nisio has commented on this kind of ending before in the author’s comment in volume nine, the ending of the Zaregoto series. TRANSLATED HERE.

The author of this book believes that people don’t change–that bad guys don’t have changes of heart, that the unfortunate remain unfortunate–because the author’s ironclad philosophy lies in the question of how we live while under those constraints.

Kumagawa’s ending revolves around this contradiction: Things change, but also things don’t change. 

Kumagawa spends the entire story trying to get just one victory. His character is written around the idea that he always loses and he never wins. Kumagawa has always idealized that if he just won once, something would change. 

Kumagawa wants to win because he believes this victory will prove something, change something about himself. This win will somehow overturn the unfair balance of the world, where talented people succeed and losers like him just fail over and over again. The ugly will triumph over the beautiful, the weak will triumph over the strong. 

This is Kumagawa’s “I want to be the Hokage” it’s his central goal in the story that he like a shonen protagonist has to achieve by the end of the story. If he achieves that central goal, then something will change. Stories after all revolve around the idea of change. Naruto was the most unpopular kid in the village, and if he becomes the hokage then people will start to like him again, his circumstances will change. 

By the end of themanga Kumagawa has gotten his one goal. He won a victory over Medaka by winning a bet against her. 

There are two interesting circumstances to this first ever victory of Kumagawa’s. Number one his victory doesn’t come from winning against Medaka in a final fight.  It comes from believing in his friend. It comes from his trust that Medaka will come back alive anyway, despite looking like she’s going to die. It comes from his genuine wish for her to live, because the best part of Kumagawa has always been what he tries to give to other people, whether that be his fellow minus, his new friends on the student council. Kumagawa’s life sucks, but Kumagawa’s life is interesting because other people are in it. 

In his first fight against Medaka, ti’s shown the only difference between them is Kumagawa only cares about a small, select group of people even if he does genuinely love all the minus, while Medaka attempts to carry responsibility for more people. Medaka has opened herself up to others in a way Kumagawa hasn’t. When Kumagawa loses this fight, he doesn’t change, he isn’t saved, but he does begin opening himself up to others. 

Kumagawa’s last action we’re shown in the manga is to try to fix some of the things he’s messed up in the past in the manga. Even in this he’s denied. He doesn’t get a straightforward redemption arc, he doesn’t get the chance to fix the things he’s lost. 

Saki even says to his face she’s not even really interested in fixing their past friendship. That’s what this is, what’s gone is gone and it isn’t coming back. Saki doesn’t forgive him, and Kumagawa isn’t forgiven. This sounds utterly depressing as an ending like nothing has changed at all, but it’s not. 

Kumagawa’s final speech even repeats the same sentiment, everything he tried in the end was a failure. He not only failed both Ajimu, and Medaka the two girls he loved, he screwed things up irreparably with Saki, and feels like he accomplished nothing he set out to do.

IN SPITE OF THAT. 

Kumagawa was always still living in spite of constant failures. The central message of Kumagawa’s character has always been this. You don’t need to win, you don’t need to be a success. You don’t even need to be happy.

It reminds me of a quote uttered by Kaiki Deishuu another Nisioisin character.

“It’s not like you wanted to become a god, or become happy.” 

Kumagawa is fixated on the idea of becoming one of the happy person like that’s the only way to live. What’s changed is his perspective. He was living all along. By the end of the manga his perspective on his entire life has been flipped around to show this. 

He thought he was too weak to live. He thought he wasn’t strong enough. It’s not until his encounter with Medaka where he saw how somebody else saw him, that Kumagawa was able to believe those things about himself. Kumagawa starts the series alone, and ends up alone, the one difference being he’s allowed the perspectives of other people into his life. 

Which is also the greatest change between the Medaka and Kumagawa fight, and his interaction with Saki in the epilogue of the manga. Kumagawa during that right had almost nobody who would cheer for him, while everybody showed up to cheer for Medaka. 

Saki’s speech even reminds us of this. Kumagawa’s life circumstances haven’t really changed all that much. Winning once didn’t change everything like he thought it would. However, at the same there’s no loss Kumagawa can suffer that will mean it’s all over for him. Life’s not over. Whether he’s winning, or losing, no matter what Kumagawa will keep living. 

Kumagawa ends the manga struggling the same as he always has. However, what’s changed is his perspective. Now he knows, because of his encounters with people like Saki, and Medaka, because of the relationships built up between them. Even if those relationships ended in losses. Even if they only hurt each other in the end. THOSE RELATIONSHIPS DO NOT GO AWAY. THEY CANNOT BE UNDONE. THEY STILL MATTER. 

Kumagawa is still struggling, but now at the end of the manga he knows that he’s not alone in his struggles. Not only are there other people in the world who struggle exactly the same way he does, but he now knows that there are people who want him to succeed. Nisio wants to question how people live under the constraints of a world that’s not really like a shonen manga, the bad guys aren’t going to have a change of heart at last minute, the protagonists aren’t going to save the world. Yet, Kumagawa finds his answer in how he’s going to live even within the constraints of real life which is a game he can never truly win at, where winning or losing doesn’t really matter. The answer on how to live lies in other people. It’s the connections with other people that taught Kumagawa finally how to live his own life. 

[tokiro07]

medaka box

Five things I’d change about Medaka Box:

Make sure every character with a skill has time to demonstrate and elaborate on at least the basic concepts behind their skills, even if it’s just in the extra material

Give Akune and Kikaijima more screentime, because it is very easy to forget that they are meant to be main cast members

Show all of Kajiki’s wives, and time permitting dedicate an arc to the remaining Kurokami siblings (that I am convinced exist)

Make a fighting game

LET TSURUBAMI HAVE A REAL, ON SCREEN FIGHT

[tokiro07]

If there ever is a Medaka Box fighting game, I sincerely hope that Medaka has the dog suit, Hato's kimono, the black wedding dress, the labcoat w/glasses and her break-dancing clothes as alternate costumes.

Obviously she'd have her president uniform and her casual outfit (I...think that's casual at least...), so that would be seven outfits.

...I don't think anyone else in the series has more than three, much less seven.

Fuck, Ajimu doesn't even have that many.

...Actually, Medaka also has her soccer outfit...

Fucking hell.

[tokiro07]

Nisio has finally told us what Bami's powers are, albeit without an actual fight, so I can at least make something of a move-set for him. We'll consider it incomplete until he gets a real fight, though.

Tsurubami Kamome:

Light: Punch

Med: Kick

Heavy: Top

Special: Provocation Style (automatic knock-down)

Throw: "Where are you going?" (runs up to opponent and grabs them)

Taunt: "Jump Square is 100 times better than Shounen Jump" 

Supers: Octopus (runs up and steps on opponent's foot), Flip (switches position with opponent), Spinning Angler (shakes screen)

Final: Rotation and Revolution (top takes on appearance of Earth, hits opponent with the power of the Earth's rotation, sends them flying)