#mobile homes 2017

[userboygenius]

Callum Turner in MOBILE HOMES (2017), directed by Vladimir de Fontenay.

[season-two]

blonde callum just hits different

[cryptiddeer]

Ok so i hit max tag limit but i wasn't done. Someone should euthanize me

what is your most controversial video game hot take? 🎮🎮🎮

[hyperfixatedhells]

hyperspecific sso nostalgia

"you have taken a dangerous fall" or falling off of a cliff so many times that you get taken back to your stable. also the screen turning red when this happened.

magic horses only turning magic if theyre away from civilization.

having to spam W or else your horse will slow down.

waiting for the bus and using the bus ticket.

using the circus ticket.

having to drag and drop items from your inventory.

jojo siwa at the disco.

spirit around jorvik.

collecting the stars and being so excited upon finding one.

certain horses being cold tolerant, [fjord, icelandic, etc] the others slowing down upon entering the valley of the hidden dinosaur.

finding gary goldtooth in the middle of nowhere.

low quality saddle bag pets and that stupid torn saddle bag.

not being able to stack items.

having to build reputation to progress.

the saving nightdust quest.

april fools updates, especially the 2016 supershire.

the summer bonfire event, the birthday event, the st. patricks day event, all of the holiday and seasonal events.

how the areas would be decorated for valentines day, easter, etc.

those things that would temporarily change your starter horses coat into all sorts of wacky things.

the barrel race in moorland.

the old filter.

the trailers being star rider only.

the closets being star rider only.

jumping being star rider only, and justin teaching you how to jump.

no jumping in towns/cities.

the original home stable.

waiting for the fairies and just BARELY missing it.

the baronesses racetrack being under construction for SO LONG.

jorvik not having any snow during christmas.

the 2017 character update and the ORIGINAL original character, plus the original weird looking starter horse.

horse island.

unnamed stable girl, the one that came before maya.

all of the old npcs.

when you enter a new area, the name of it would flash in the middle of your screen.

speed boosts on roads.

star stable news with ylva and matilda.

the loading screen stable cat who gave you tips.

the kallters.

having to build your reputation with the hermit to buy his horses and having to build your reputation with the kallters to buy fjord horses.

the iceberg and the seals.

the clothing and tack being basically unidentifiable until you hovered over them, because the items just had a gray or gold icon with what the item actually classified as. [aka what it looks like on mobile]

the fort pinta shark.

the global store not being around and having to buy things directly from the shops or the mall.

the infamous purple car and bulldozer that would run you over.

having to fill your houses needs multiple times a day plus the little smiley face mood thingy.

only being able to care for your horse near stables.

only having three uses for your water bucket.

unused furniture.

starshine roaming around greendale.

the "glue man" and the little girl in your stable singing during halloween.

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

the chat filter being called phil.

stacy place oh god stacy place. also archie fails

all of the star stable commercials and ads, especially that one fucking disney channel commercial.

please add your own nostalgias onto this post i would love to hear them

[mariacallous]

MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE—Kateryna Nahorna is getting ready to find trouble.

Part of an all-female team of dog handlers, the 22-year-old is training Ukraine’s technical survey dogs—Belgian Malinois that have learned to sniff out explosives.

The job is huge. Ukraine is now estimated to be the most heavily mined country on Earth. Deminers must survey every area that saw sustained fighting for unexploded mines, missiles, artillery shells, bombs, and a host of other ordnance—almost 25 percent of the country, according to government estimates.

The dogs can cover 1,500 square meters a day. In contrast, human deminers cover 10 square meters a day on average—by quickly narrowing down the areas that manual deminers will need to tackle, the dogs save valuable time.

“This job allows me to be a warrior for my country … but without having to kill anyone,” said Nahorna. “Our men protect us at war, and we do this to protect them at home.”

A highly practical reason drove the women’s recruitment. The specialized dog training was done in Cambodia, by the nonprofit Apopo, and military-aged men are currently not allowed to leave Ukraine.

War has shaken up gender dynamics in the Ukrainian economy, with women taking up jobs traditionally held by men, such as driving trucks or welding. Now, as mobilization ramps up once more, women are becoming increasingly important in roles that are critical for national security.

In Mykolaiv, in the industrial east, Nahorna and her dogs will soon take on one of the biggest targets of Russia’s military strategy when they start to demine the country’s energy infrastructure. Here, women have been stepping in to work in large numbers in steel mills, factories, and railways serving the front line.

It’s a big shift for Ukraine. Before the war, only 48 percent of women over age 15 took part in the workforce — one of the lowest rates in Europe. War has made collecting data on the gender composition of the workforce impossible, but today, 50,000 women serve in the Ukrainian army, compared to 30,000 before the war.

The catalyst came in 2017, years before the current war began. As conflict escalated with Russia in Crimea, the Ukrainian government overturned a Soviet-era law that had previously banned women from 450 occupations.

But obstacles still remain; for example, women are not allowed jobs the government deems too physically demanding. These barriers continue to be chipped away—most recently, women have been cleared to work in underground mines, something they were prevented from doing before.

Viktoriia Avramchuk never thought she would follow her father and husband into the coal mines for DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company.

Her lifelong fear of elevators was a big factor—but there was also the fact that it was illegal for women to work underground.

Her previous job working as a nanny in a local kindergarten disappeared overnight when schools were forced to close at the beginning of the war. After a year of being unemployed, she found that she had few other options.

“I would never have taken the job if I could have afforded not to,” Avramchuk said from her home in Pokrovsk. “But I also wanted to do something to help secure victory, and this was needed.”

The demining work that Nahorna does is urgent in part because more than 55 percent of the country is farmed.

Often called “the breadbasket of Europe,” Ukraine is one of the world’s top exporters of grain. The U.K.-based Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which has been advising the Ukrainian government on demining technology, estimates that landmines have resulted in annual GDP losses of $11 billion.

“Farmers feel the pressure to plow, which is dangerous,” said Jon Cunliffe, the Ukraine country director of Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a British nonprofit. “So we need to do as much surveying as possible to reduce the size of the possible contamination.”

The dogs can quickly clear an area of heavy vegetation, which greatly speeds up the process of releasing noncontaminated lands back to farmers. If the area is found to be unsafe, human deminers step in to clear the field manually.

“I’m not brave enough to be on the front line,” 29-year-old Iryna Manzevyta said as she slowly and diligently hovered a metal detector over a patch of farmland. “But I had to do something to help, and this seemed like a good alternative to make a difference.”

Groups like MAG are increasingly targeting women. With skilled male deminers regularly being picked up by military recruiters, recruiting women reduces the chances that expensive and time-consuming training will be invested in people who could be drafted to the front line at a moment’s notice. The demining work is expected to take decades, and women, unlike men, cannot be conscripted in Ukraine.

This urgency to recruit women is accelerating a gender shift already underway in the demining sector. Organizations like MAG have looked to recruit women as a way to empower them in local communities. Demining was once a heavily male-dominated sector, but women now make up 30 percent of workers in Vietnam and Colombia, around 40 percent in Cambodia, and more than 50 percent in Myanmar.

In Ukraine, the idea is to make demining an enterprise with “very little expat footprint,” and Cunliffe said that will only be possible by recruiting more women.

“We should not be here in 10 years. Not like in Iraq or South Sudan, where we have been for 30 years, or Vietnam, or Laos,” Cunliffe said. “It’s common sense that we bring in as many women as we can to do that. In five to 10 years, a lot of these women are going to end up being technical field managers, the jobs that are currently being done by old former British military guys, and it will change the face of demining worldwide because they can take those skills across the world.”

Manzevyta is one of the many women whose new job has turned her family dynamics on their head. She has handed over her previous life, running a small online beauty retail site, to her husband, who—though he gripes—stays at home while she is out demining.

“Life is completely different now,” she said, giggling. “I had to teach him how to use the washing machine, which settings to use, everything around the house because I’m mostly absent now.”

More seriously, Manzevyta said that the war has likely changed many women’s career trajectories.

“I can’t imagine people who have done work like this going back and working as florists once the war is over,” she laughed.

[reasonsforhope]

Determined to use her skills to fight inequality, South African computer scientist Raesetje Sefala set to work to build algorithms flagging poverty hotspots - developing datasets she hopes will help target aid, new housing, or clinics.

From crop analysis to medical diagnostics, artificial intelligence (AI) is already used in essential tasks worldwide, but Sefala and a growing number of fellow African developers are pioneering it to tackle their continent's particular challenges.

Local knowledge is vital for designing AI-driven solutions that work, Sefala said.

"If you don't have people with diverse experiences doing the research, it's easy to interpret the data in ways that will marginalise others," the 26-year old said from her home in Johannesburg.

Africa is the world's youngest and fastest-growing continent, and tech experts say young, home-grown AI developers have a vital role to play in designing applications to address local problems.

"For Africa to get out of poverty, it will take innovation and this can be revolutionary, because it's Africans doing things for Africa on their own," said Cina Lawson, Togo's minister of digital economy and transformation.

"We need to use cutting-edge solutions to our problems, because you don't solve problems in 2022 using methods of 20 years ago," Lawson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a video interview from the West African country.

Digital rights groups warn about AI's use in surveillance and the risk of discrimination, but Sefala said it can also be used to "serve the people behind the data points". ...

'Delivering Health'

As COVID-19 spread around the world in early 2020, government officials in Togo realized urgent action was needed to support informal workers who account for about 80% of the country's workforce, Lawson said.

"If you decide that everybody stays home, it means that this particular person isn't going to eat that day, it's as simple as that," she said.

In 10 days, the government built a mobile payment platform - called Novissi - to distribute cash to the vulnerable.

The government paired up with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) think tank and the University of California, Berkeley, to build a poverty map of Togo using satellite imagery.

Using algorithms with the support of GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that uses AI to distribute cash transfers, the recipients earning less than $1.25 per day and living in the poorest districts were identified for a direct cash transfer.

"We texted them saying if you need financial help, please register," Lawson said, adding that beneficiaries' consent and data privacy had been prioritized.

The entire program reached 920,000 beneficiaries in need.

"Machine learning has the advantage of reaching so many people in a very short time and delivering help when people need it most," said Caroline Teti, a Kenya-based GiveDirectly director.

'Zero Representation'

Aiming to boost discussion about AI in Africa, computer scientists Benjamin Rosman and Ulrich Paquet co-founded the Deep Learning Indaba - a week-long gathering that started in South Africa - together with other colleagues in 2017.

"You used to get to the top AI conferences and there was zero representation from Africa, both in terms of papers and people, so we're all about finding cost effective ways to build a community," Paquet said in a video call.

In 2019, 27 smaller Indabas - called IndabaX - were rolled out across the continent, with some events hosting as many as 300 participants.

One of these offshoots was IndabaX Uganda, where founder Bruno Ssekiwere said participants shared information on using AI for social issues such as improving agriculture and treating malaria.

Another outcome from the South African Indaba was Masakhane - an organization that uses open-source, machine learning to translate African languages not typically found in online programs such as Google Translate.

On their site, the founders speak about the South African philosophy of "Ubuntu" - a term generally meaning "humanity" - as part of their organization's values.

"This philosophy calls for collaboration and participation and community," reads their site, a philosophy that Ssekiwere, Paquet, and Rosman said has now become the driving value for AI research in Africa.

Inclusion

Now that Sefala has built a dataset of South Africa's suburbs and townships, she plans to collaborate with domain experts and communities to refine it, deepen inequality research and improve the algorithms.

"Making datasets easily available opens the door for new mechanisms and techniques for policy-making around desegregation, housing, and access to economic opportunity," she said.

African AI leaders say building more complete datasets will also help tackle biases baked into algorithms.

"Imagine rolling out Novissi in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast ... then the algorithm will be trained with understanding poverty in West Africa," Lawson said.

"If there are ever ways to fight bias in tech, it's by increasing diverse datasets ... we need to contribute more," she said.

But contributing more will require increased funding for African projects and wider access to computer science education and technology in general, Sefala said.

Despite such obstacles, Lawson said "technology will be Africa's savior".

"Let's use what is cutting edge and apply it straight away or as a continent we will never get out of poverty," she said. "It's really as simple as that."

-via Good Good Good, February 16, 2022

[kenntowol]

EMERGENCY; Longterm assault has led to the deterioration of my health + avoiding homelessness

I’ve been life-haltingly sick going on 7 years now, with several outside factors either exacerbating things or keeping me from getting treatment. The short version is, I did not ask for the things that happened to me that led to my health issues, I have fought like hell to stay afloat anyway. In my childhood I lost my trust, power, community, sense of self and my autonomy. In my adulthood I lost my time, health, stability, my home and any feeling of safety and its only getting worse because I can not afford to be this sick and pay my bills. **Now I’ve lost the ability to even eat.**

**I can not stress enough these are ACCUMULATIVE AMOUNTS. this is not money that I HAVE, this is money that has gone into rent, bills, doctors, moving to a cheaper place, medications, mobility aides, etc. it has gone to things that are necessary.**

I have not had a life of my own since 2017. I have worked tirelessly with measly breaks when I can’t take it anymore. My mental health is collapsing and it makes me ashamed when it shows. If I am not medicated, I am not even a person anymore- it feels like I am just the fear.

Any time I’ve started to see savings come together It all ends up going to the extraordinary taxes required as a freelance artist.  An ultrasound recently showed there is barely anything left of my thyroid and my new endocrinologist tested for hashimoto’s again, and it came back negative- meaning a great majority of issues I’ve had doctors blaming my thyroid for are completely unrelated and caused by something else. Currently looking into internal brain injury, but the need for financial support in order to pay bills and afford medical help is incredibly dire. Please help and reblog this GFM anything quite literally helps.

[lethalchiralium]

Diamondback Masterlist

BASED OFF OF: Only The Brave (2017), What We Lost In The Fire by Troy Baker

PAIRING: ??? (To be determined) x F!Reader

SUMMARY: The heat was something else. With a heavy heart and nothing to lose, you’ve ditched your ex-fiancé to chase your childhood best friend across the country to a small town in a wildfire prone area of the United States - Pine, Arizona. It’s nestled in a valley and is where your best friend, Alex Keller, calls home. He’s following his passion, his dreams, and soon enough, you’re following it too; but the flames are getting too close and soon you’ll be in the line of fire of your best friend’s superintendent, John Price, and his assistant, Simon Riley.

CONTENT WARNINGS: MDNI 18+. Firefighter!AU, heavy topics discussed, smut in later chapters, love triangle or poly (you get to decide 🫶). Major character death mentioned, maskless!Simon Riley, mentions of cheating/pregnancy (not reader).

IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGY:

Interagency Hotshot Crews (IHC, also called Hotshots)

Specially trained firefighters that provide an organized, mobile, and skilled workforce for all phases of wildland fire management

Fire watch (Fire watcher, fire lookout)

A person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a good view of the surrounding terrain, to spot smoke caused by a wildfire.

Prologue

Chapter One | Chasing Light

Pine, Arizona. You’ve touched down in Phoenix and driven up to a relatively normal sized city, more than ready to see your best friend and grossly underprepared for an interview you got twelve hours ago. It’s hard to tell if you’re ready, but now you have to be. It’s time to chase the light.

Chapter Two | The Memory Remains

Pine, Arizona. Your ride home with Captain Riley is… interesting to say the least. Your second day back as a Hotshot proves to be difficult, and a grocery run proves itself to be unique as well.

Copyright © 2023 lethalchiralium. All rights reserved.

[pillowfort-social]

Pillowfort now has over 150,000 registered users!

Hi everyone. We are very excited to announce that as of June 2023 we now have over 150,000 registered users who have made our little platform their home.

Pillowfort launched in 2017 and we weren’t sure where the journey would take us. What we did know, however, was that we want our platform to be known as a user-friendly safe space on the internet for creativity, communication, and content-sharing. 

Pillowfort’s success and existence would not be possible if it wasn’t for your continued support. By funding us, telling your friends about Pillowfort, signing in to Pillowfort, or even just giving us feedback: You have made a difference. You have made a direct impact in keeping us online. Thank you so much. 

As each day passes we are watching in real time more platforms become restrictive. The censorship of BIPOC, LGQBTIA2S+, NSFW artists, and sex workers in social media spaces continues. Some platforms have even disappeared without giving their users notice. 

We realize now more than ever our platform needs to be the counterbalance. We are one of the few platforms available that is staunch about moderating bigotry and hate speech, and we will continue to provide an outlet for fans and creators to have freedom of expression. We’re not going anywhere– as long as we have your help. 

For those new here, Pillowfort has been entirely user funded since the beginning. That means we have received no assistance from large investors or venture capital funding. While it is much more difficult to operate & grow a platform with limited funding, it keeps us accountable to the desires of our users instead of investors or shareholders. Your support has helped us continue to compensate our teams working on the platform, begin development of a progressive web app, and finally release our optional subscription service: Pillowfort Premium.  

In the next few weeks we will be sharing how we are going to tackle abandoned/modless Communities, provide an update to our discussions regarding AI Generated Images on Pillowfort, and release a Site Update with several bug fixes. We are also still tackling our 2023 Development Goals. 

Development Goals 2023

Goals with priority release / currently under development: 

Additions to subscription service: credit-only subscriptions, applying custom credit amounts

Post Drafts

Post Queue & Scheduling

Goals for completion by the end of this summer:

Progressive Web App for mobile with push notifications (!!)

Rebuild the post image uploader widget to be more good and less bad

Rebuild the way notifications are logged & retrieved in the back-end to be more efficient & reduce errors

Onboarding Guide for new users

Goals for completion by end of 2023:

Paid post promotions

Multi-account management/linking

2-Factor Authentication

Community Membership Applications

Community Topics/Organization Options

From the bottom of our hearts thank you again! We hope our community continues to grow and we are excited to share as many updates as we are able to. Stay tuned.

[forgottenporkbun]

Alright people. Buckle up cus it's finally time i tell you the history of Animal Crossing!!!! (After putting it off for awhile)

Originally named どうぶつの森 (Doubutsu no mori) in Japan meaning Animal Forest. It was introduced at Spaceworld 2000 in Japan and many people have claimed there was a playable demo there. I believe there is a bit if footage you can find on it but I may be wrong.

Doubutsu no mori released on April 14, 2001 on the Nintendo 64 exclusively in Japan. Only 8 months later on December 14, 2001 they released Doubutsu no mori + for the Gamecube which contained extra features left out of the 64 version such as the museum and the Able sisters (along with house upgrades I believe) and used the Gamecube's built in clock.

Finally, they localised and released the game under the title Animal Crossing: Population Growing in North America on September 16, 2002, Australia on October 17, 2003, and Europe on September 24, 2004 on the Gamecube

However, on June 27, 2003 Japan release yet another version of the game titled Doubutsu no mori e+ where they added even more new features for villagers such as: extended dialogue, the best friend system, sickness, likes/hates, catching fleas, etc. In this version of the game you could use the e card reader to obtain certain items. In this version of the game you could also buy an island from Tom Nook which you could access through Kapp'n. Once you got to this island you could name it, create a flag, and download it onto your Gameboy Advance to continue interacting with your islander or even trade islands with other players.

Animal Crossing Wild World released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on November 23, 2005, North America and Australia on December 5, 2005, and in Europe sometime in March of 2006.

On June 1, 2006 a Chinese version of Doubutsu no mori called 动物森林 (Dòngwù Sēnlín) was released for the iQue Player, a Chinese Nintendo console. Dòngwù Sēnlín is the original N64 version of the game despite featuring characters from Doubutsu no mori + on the cover.

Animal Crossing City Folk was releases in North America November 16, 2008 for the Wii followed by its release in Japan on November 20, 2008, Australia on December 4, 2008, and Europe on December 5, 2008. City Folk was compatible with the Wii Speak microphone, which allowed you to talk to other players who had it- essentially a form of voice chat. Fun fact: there's an add for the game where it is featured being used!!! One feature i absolutely love in this game is the fountain , where you can throw an axe into it and a special character named Serena will appear and she is how you obtain both the silver and golden axe.

Now onto Animal Crossing New Leaf was released for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan and South Korea on February 7, 2013. After that, it released internationally across June of 2003: June 9 in North America, June 14 in Europe, and June 15 in Australia.

Animal Crossing Happy Home designer was released for the 3DS in Japan on July 30, 2015, North America on September 25, Europe on October 2, and Australia on October 3. This game was very different from the others and the main goal was to design houses for villagers.

In November of 2015 we were cursed with Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival for the Wii U. The game only sold 490,000 copies and was considering a failure.

Animal Crossing Pocket Camp was released on Android and iOS mobile devices on October 25, 2017 and 40 other territories on November 22, 2017- but other sources say it was the 21. Sadly, in the last year we received news that it will be shutting down, but apparently from what i know they will be making another version of it or something of the sort.

Animal Crossing New Horizons was released on March 20, 2020 internationally for the Nintendo Switch. This game introduced DIY crafting and in later updates, cooking. Eventually they added the Happy Home Paradise DLC on November 5, 2021 which essentially functions like Happy Home Designer, but unlocks new skill you can use on your island.

I must say, we've come a longggggg way with this game. It helped a lot of people through 2020- including me. Can't wait to see what's in store for us next. Hope you enjoyed learning about the history of the games and if you would like to know more (like stuff about merch or even the movie) ask away! :D

[fatehbaz]

“Dutch King apologizes for Netherlands’ role in slavery.”

The Dutch/Netherlands abducted slaves from West Africa; hosted the Dutch West India Company; operated an extensive profitable sugar plantation industry built on slave labor; and established colonies in the greater Caribbean region including sites at Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, and the adjacent “Wild Coast” (land between the Orinoco and Amazon rivers, including Guyana and Suriname). Many of these places remained official colonies until between the 1950s and 1990s.

---

Scholarship on resistance to Dutch practices of slavery, colonialism, and imperialism in the Caribbean:

“Decolonization, Otherness, and the Neglect of the Dutch Caribbean in Caribbean Studies.” Margo Groenewoud. Small Axe. 2021.

“Women’s mobilizations in the Dutch Antilles (Curaçao and Aruba, 1946-1993).” Margo Groenewoud. Clio. Women, Gender, History No. 50. 2019.

“Black Power, Popular Revolt, and Decolonization in the Dutch Caribbean.” Gert Oostindie. In: Black Power in the Caribbean. Edited by Kate Quinn. 2014.

“History Brought Home: Postcolonial Migrations and the Dutch Rediscovery of Slavery.” Gert Oostindie. In: Post-Colonial Immigrants and Identity Formations in the Netherlands. Edited by Ulbe Bosma. 2012.

“Other Radicals: Anton de Kom and the Caribbean Intellectual Tradition.” Wayne Modest and Susan Legene. Small Axe. 2023.

Di ki manera? A Social History of Afro-Curaçaoans, 1863-1917. Rosemary Allen. 2007.

Creolization and Contraband: Curaçao in the Early Modern Atlantic World. Linda Rupert. 2012.

“The Empire Writes Back: David Nassy and Jewish Creole Historiography in Colonial Suriname.” Sina Rauschenbach. The Sephardic Atlantic: Colonial Histories and Postcolonial Perspectives. 2018.

“The Scholarly Atlantic: Circuits of Knowledge Between Britain, the Dutch Republic and the Americas in the Eighteenth Century.” Karel Davids. 2014. And: “Paramaribo as Dutch and Atlantic Nodal Point, 1640-1795.” Karwan Fatah-Black. 2014. And: Dutch Atlantic Connections, 1680-1800: Linking Empires, Bridging Borders. Edited by Gert Oostindie and Jessica V. Roitman. 2014.

Decolonising the Caribbean: Dutch Policies in a Comparative Perspective. Gert Oostindie and Inge Klinkers. 2003. And: “Head versus heart: The ambiguities of non-sovereignties in the Dutch Caribbean.” Wouter Veenendaal and Gert Oostindie. Regional & Federal Studies 28(4). August 2017.

Tambú: Curaçao’s African-Caribbean Ritual and the Politics of Memory. Nanette de Jong. 2012.

“More Relevant Than Ever: We Slaves of Suriname Today.” Mitchell Esajas. Small Axe. 2023.

“The Forgotten Colonies of Essequibo and Demerara, 1700-1814.” Eric Willem van der Oest. In: Riches from Atlantic Commerce: Dutch Transatlantic Trade and Shipping, 1585-1817. 2003.

“Conjuring Futures: Culture and Decolonization in the Dutch Caribbean, 1948-1975.” Chelsea Shields. Historical Reflections / Reflexions Historiques Vol. 45 No. 2. Summer 2019.

“’A Mass of Mestiezen, Castiezen, and Mulatten’: Fear, Freedom, and People of Color in the Dutch Antilles, 1750-1850.” Jessica Vance Roitman. Atlantic Studies 14, no. 3. 2017.

---

This list only covers the Caribbean.

But outside of the region, there is also the legacy of the Dutch East India Company; over 250 years of Dutch slavers and merchants in Gold Coast and wider West Africa; about 200 years of Dutch control in Bengal (the same region which would later become an engine of the British Empire’s colonial wealth extraction); over a century of Dutch control in Sri Lanka/Ceylon; Dutch operation of the so-called “Cultivation System” (”Cultuurstelsei”) in the nineteenth century; Dutch enforcement of brutal forced labor regimes at sugar plantations in Java, which relied on de facto indentured laborers who were forced to sign contracts or obligated to pay off debt and were “shipped in” from other islands and elsewhere in Southeast Asia (a system existing into the twentieth century); the “Coolie Ordinance” (”Koelieordonnanties”) laws of 1880 which allowed plantation owners to administer punishments against disobedient workers, resulting in whippings, electrocutions, and other cruel tortures (and this penal code was in effect until 1931); and colonization of Indonesian islands including Sumatra and Borneo, which remained official colonies of the Netherlands until the 1940s.

[userboygenius]

Imogen Poots and Callum Turner in MOBILE HOMES (2017), directed by Vladimir de Fontenay.

[wanderersrest]

An Abbreviated History of Mecha Part 5: It's (Dahlia of) Wednesday, My Dudes (2000-2010)

I apologize for nothing.

Welcome back to An Abbreviated History of Mecha! Last time we left off, the 90's had come and gone, bringing with it a whole cavalcade of mecha shows as well as Pokemon in its wake. Now the Torchics have come home to roost, as Pokemon explodes in popularity in the 2000's. This means that mecha shows can no longer rely on child audiences in order to make their money. Add onto this the slow shift into the modern seasonal format throughout the decade, and we begin to see the start of the decline of mecha.

Though not all is bad news, as a fair bit of mecha stories would come out and become some of the most iconic stories of the decade. Heck, this era of mecha stories is rife with at least three examples of "Not Like the Other Girl" mecha shows, two of which are pretty bizarre as "Not Like the Other Girl" shows.

So with that out of the way...

Wake up, Dann!

FLCL (2000)

So, uh... what a way to start, huh?

FLCL (pronounced fooly-cooly) is a Studio Gainax/Production I.G. OVA series made in 2000 supposedly as a way to relieve the studio's stress from working on a little series called Neon Genesis Evangelion. FLCL is, to put it lightly, very bizarre while also being surprisingly heartfelt.

FLCL was another major [adult swim]/Toonami series in the US, and like The Big O before it, the folks at Toonami would eventually reach out to Production I.G. to produce sequels that, in my opinion, generally fail to capture the energy of the original.

Bionicle (2001)

LEGO would release its BIONICLE line of Technic toys in 2001 as a last-ditch effort to save the company from financial ruin, and boy would it succeed. Building off of the success of Throwbots, BIONICLE would have a serialized adventure centered around the six Toa as they fought against the forces of the evil Makuta.

Bionicle would last throughout the decade as well as a little bit into the next, until LEGO, who was at a much better place financially at this point, decided that it was time to pull the plug on the series. Bionicle would receive a reboot in 2017 only to be shut down a few years later.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002), Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (2005), & Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom (2024)

Coming in with a bang, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED would air in 2002. The first series of the Cosmic Era timeline is, without a doubt, one of the most important entries in the entire Gundam franchise due to how it renewed interest in the franchise. Gundam SEED would also be the first series in the franchise to use digital animation over the more traditional cel animation.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED would be followed up with Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny in 2005. There were plans for a movie releasing shortly after Destiny wrapped up its run, bit it wouldn't be until 2024 that the film, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, would finally release.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED is also a, shall we say, very contentious series to talk about. While it is almost always one of the most popular entries in Japan, the series is a lot more hotly debated about here in the west. A lot of people tend to downplay this series' importance (*cough*Professor Otaku*cough*). But that is not for me to say, as I have never really watched Gundam SEED or anything related to it.

Xenosaga (2002)

Returning to the director's chair in 2002, Tetsuya Takahashi and the newly formed Monolith Soft would release Xenosaga for the PlayStation 2. Acting as a spiritual successor to Xenogears, Xenosaga brings all of that complex Gnosticism goodness to a new console generation. Originally planned for six games in total, Xenosaga was ultimately cut down in size into three games.

Eventually, Monolith Soft would be bought out by Nintendo (if I had a nickel etc.), and Takahashi would be given another chance to explore the Xeno series once again. But that's a story for another time.

Diebuster/Gunbuster 2 (2004)

Releasing in 2004 as a sequel to 1989's Gunbuster, Diebuster would be the third of Gainax's Big Four series. If you're wondering why Diebuster is the fourth, that's because this OVA series would be the starting point for a lot of the members of the team that would give us Gurren Lagann in about four years.

With the slow death of Studio Gainax, both Diebuster and its older sister series Gunbuster would transfer ownership to Gaina (formerly Fukushima Gainax) at some point in the 2010's. Gaina has plans to make a Gunbuster 3, though that will have to wait until they at least wrap up production of Grendizer U later this year.

Megas XLR (2004)

Meanwhile, Cartoon Network would also see the release of the mecha parody series Megas XLR. Originally an alien robot whose head has been replaced with a car, this series would lovingly riff on a lot of the tropes present in old mecha shows like Mazinger Z and Getter Robo. Unlike most other shows at the time though, Megas XLR has become hard to find since it wrapped up its run. A lot of that has to do with, if I remember correctly, legal issues.

Gun X Sword (2005)

2005 would see AIC Productions release Gun X Sword, a mecha sci-fi/western mash-up directed by Goro Taniguchi. Set on the wasteland planet Endless Illusion, Gun X Sword pulls a lot of its aesthetic sensibilities from shows like Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, though another show that may have helped influence Gun X Sword is...

Mobile Fighter G Gundam?! I really hope that's a stretch from me...

As a series, Gun X Sword is often left out of the conversation when it comes to 2000's mecha shows. A large part of that stems from people incorrectly assuming its just a ripoff of Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, which is only remotely true due to some more superficial elements like the planet of Endless Illusion being similar to Trigun's Gunsmoke, and Van's name being a riff on Vash the Stampede (a joke early on is that Van is constantly changing his title).

Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven (2005)

In 1999, a group of former animators for Sunrise would leave to form Studio Bones. While they had worked on a fair bit of shows prior to 2005, including one RahXephon, Bones would come to be known for, among other shows, Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven (or just Eureka Seven for short). With a unique style and a focus on romance (specifically the romantic relationships present amongst the main cast), Eureka Seven would leave an indelible mark on a whole generation of mecha fans.

I would also argue, due in part to personal experience, that Eurkea Seven is one of the "Not Like the Other Girl" shows, though I think I can see why some might disagree: You need to have watched Eureka Seven first in order to make a claim like that, and boy is the original TV series hard to find online.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2007)

The year 2007 would see the publication of the first novel in the Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn series. Gundam Unicorn would be an important series in the history of Gundam due to both its popularity and the fact that it represents a changing of the guard, as Universal Century Gundam stories would now be handled primarily by Harutoshi Fukui instead of series creator Yoshiyuki Tomino.

I think I'd also be remiss to point out that Fukui is a rather divisive figure when it comes to Gundam, as the original Gundam Unicorn light novels lean much more into fascist apologia than any other UC series. This would, thankfully, be almost entirely cut out in the animated adaptation of Unicorn that would air in the 2010's.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (2008)

2008 would see a trio of mecha shows that would more or less serve as a capstone to the 2000's as a decade. The first I will cover is Goro Taniguchi's Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. Mixing in smaller mechs similar to that of Armored Trooper VOTOMs along with actual magic, Code Geass would cement its legacy amongst mecha shows by being one of the "Not Like the Other Girl" shows.

Which is weird, because the plot of Code Geass is that the show's equivalent of the British Empire is able to conquer most of the world through its use of the show's mecha, known in-universe as Knightmare Frames.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2008)

Also releasing in 2008 is Sunrise's Mobile Suit Gundam 00. Leaning into real life elements like the rising awareness of terrorism while taking inspiration from Full Metal Panic, Gundam 00 would be the second of the three mecha stars of 2008. Whereas Gundam SEED would be Gundam's first foray into digital animation, Gundam 00 would up the ante in what is possible. If anything, part of Gundam SEED's legacy in the west is marred due to it's release being sandwiched between Turn A Gundam and Gundam 00, both of which are considered to be some of the best Gundam shows in terms of animation quality.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2008)

Capping off this post is Studio Gainax's final series of their Big Four, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Created as a celebration of mecha stories, with Getter Robo in particular being a primary inspiration, Gurren Lagann is oftentimes considered to be the single most HOT-BLOODED entry in the mecha canon. What helps is this series would build off of the general tone of shows like its big sister show Diebuster as well as the aforementioned Getter Robo. I would even argue that other shows such as Mobile Fighter G Gundam and The King of Braves GaoGaiGar also had a hand in shaping this series.

Gurren Lagann is also, bizarrely enough, one of the "Not Like the Other Girls" shows. If you thought Code Geass was a weird example, then Gurren Lagann is far and away the most perplexing example of these types of shows. At least the other three have a "plausible" explanation as to why they're considered to be different. Gurren Lagann is pretty similar in terms of character dynamics and themes, not that similar to pretty much every mecha show I just compared it to.

Conclusion

That more or less wraps up the 2000's in terms of major works in the mecha canon. It's not until the next decade that we really see mecha works go into a true dark age, though the nature of the dark age is largely overstated. The 2010's is marked by a lot of duds, though I will not touch on the two biggest duds of the decade in the next post. It should be noted that the 2010's also has some major hits scattered throughout the decade, though a lot of them tend to be legacy titles from existing works. We'll also see two major entries in the canon appear from western creators that will also homage the works of old.

I...

.̴.̸.̵h̶o̵p̵e̶ ̸y̵o̷u̴'̴l̴l̴.̴.̷.̷

.̵̘̀.̶̡̦̄.̴̯̓͜t̷͖̆u̸̠̰͂n̴͇͗͘ḛ̶̥̇͑ ̷̘̃ḯ̶̻̋n̶̰͛.̴͈͈͋̀.̵̖̈́.̶̡̻̋

...

“̵͇͗͂͠͝Ï̴͇̮̝̽̾ ̴̡̜̯̽̽͜f̵̠̘̈́̔̽ể̸͇̗͐͜l̸̻̟͓͉̀͆t̶̢̫̱̜̔́̾͠ ̸͈̙̜̟̊̅̈́t̵̗̟̤͓̿̂̂͑h̶̖͌͌e̶͕̣̅̒ ̵̡̞̀b̶̪̾̾̓̀ù̵̳͊͑͑ľ̸̢͕̺̭́ļ̸̛̰̈́̍̀é̵͈̯̳͐t̵̪̱̾͜ ̸͖͖̃t̵̥̓͆̄̕ȅ̷́̅͜͜a̵̬̘̙̻̋͆͠͠r̷͚̲̟̠̆̔̄̈ ̴̩̂̌̋t̵̨̳̆͜͠ḥ̸̥̿̈́̂̐r̵̩͇̀͛̿͗o̵̟̮̙͋ͅȕ̵̧̳̙̆g̷̜̜̏̐h̶̡̤͔̃̚͝ ̴̨͈́m̴̳̦̅̎̑̕e̷̼̼̣̭͑͝͠.̵͚̌ ̵̟̺͕̈̎̎́Į̵͕̿ͅ ̶̖͙̑͆̔͝f̶̠̉̂̃ḙ̸͝l̵̻̈́̌̈́̃t̷͇̣̱͐͋̀͆ ̸̙̲̎t̸͔̝̀͠h̶̛̜͔͋̿͌͜é̵̦̼̆̋̓ ̶̞̂̕b̴̰̲͈̽́̔u̶̯͛̇̓ḽ̸̭̮̘̔̇͋͘l̵̰̒̇̇ẹ̵͑͠t̵̡̼̫̙͌̈͆̃ ̸͉͙̀̓͒͝t̸͓̣̮͚̽̈́̽ē̷̬̲ą̷͇͙͐̈͑r̵͇̮̬̾ ̷͚̞͕̎͑ͅt̴̤̥̽̏͒ḩ̷̬̌͆́r̴̯̓̍̿̕õ̸̝͓ṳ̶͈̫͒̎͠g̴͍̯͒͌́h̸̰̯͖͕͊͗̕ ̶̳̫͛m̸͉̏̉̋͜e̸͖͉̭̱͗.̵͓̗̞͓́̏ ̷̺͕̖̀I̵̫̟͌̓̄̈́ ̶̢̞̯͗̾͂̽ͅf̸̲̝̖̈́͜ë̴̱͓́́l̸̫͓̪̆̾͝ţ̸̱̟̼͒ ̷̱̇̚t̵̲͔̻̋̏h̷̠͋ẽ̴̢̦̤̦̔ ̵̻̠̊p̴̞͗r̴̗͉͐̒͑e̷̘͙̼̩͊̾s̵͇̰͐s̶̪͔͚͛͌̍ű̴̱̪͖̌̊̎r̶̪̬̿̈́ḛ̷͐̐̑ ̸̝͙̉͗̎̑a̴͍̜̾̒͝n̸̡̹̓d̸̨̲͎͎̏̃̄ ̸̛̱̙̦̤͌͝͠ȉ̵̡̟̱͖͘t̷̢̛̥̉̀ ̷̛̺͖w̶̨͋ȃ̶̢͕̃s̷̢̤̦̀̊̈́͘ ̵̛̥̲̰̂͂͗͜m̵̦̋̔̀y̵̮͈̼͐̋ ̸̥̹͕̦̿̄͘b̴͉͔̑͂̓ṛ̵̇̿̇o̵͖͎̗̰̊̾ẗ̶͙́̈́͑̀͜ͅh̶̢̺͉̖͌̔̓͝e̶̬͍̝̞͛r̵̗̩͛̐̂,̶̤͎͎̉̊̎ ̸̨̖͉̬̇͑̈̅h̸͇̏į̴͉̄̚s̷̨̝͈̽̓̅ ̴̟̩̃f̵̦͖̩͂̏ȉ̸̡̯̳̈́̈̾ś̶͙̺ṭ̵̜̯̭̓,̸̮̭̇̓ ̸͚̜̃̑ḿ̷̻͈̓y̸̡͌̊̓ ̵̞̈́̇c̷͍̘͌̃͜͠h̵͖̉͘e̸̮͙̊̎ş̵͚̚t̸̡̗́̈́͋̑͜,̸̜͋͠͝ ̷̧̣͎̙̓͌͝͝a̴̖̥̅n̶̡̯͆d̶̢̠͛̿ ̵̭̈́I̴͎͚̺̥͆̋̕ ̸̧̥͙̦̔w̷̭̐̈́å̵̢̙͔s̷̖̋̿ ̶̫̘̾͊l̴̨̧̙̐́a̸͎̹͕͕̔̓̾y̷̧͈͖͚̌̀̂̊i̴̠̝͗͌̕͘n̵͙̻͌̄g̸̛̥̯̹̫͝ ̷̣̔̋̀͠ọ̸̀̾̃̃n̵̰͐ ̷̼̄͂͗m̴̟͘y̵̩̻̺̪̎̽̐ ̴͔̹̀b̸̛͆ͅa̵̡̧̬̓c̴͇͝k̸̢̐̍̏́ ̸̼̠̳͕̑̃̏͝ä̷̫̣̂̓͝n̴̫̬̐ḓ̵̎̈͝ ̶̦͈̈́̆̓͜t̵̨͗̎̈h̶̭̗͔̣̋̑̆̕ę̷͈̗̰͑ ̷̛̪͎̞͒͌͝s̵̼̝̽͝͠ͅk̶̰̠̥̔͘y̸̝͐̆̓̈́ ̷͉͖̳̀̈w̸̛͇̝̭̺ȁ̶̳̥̰̐̉̄s̴͙̊̈ͅ ̶̟̐̿b̴̭̞͗̔̓l̴͉̰̓ų̴̒̓͘e̴͍̟̐̋,̷̡̀̎ ̷͈̈́̈́̉a̴͈̠̓n̴̽̾̊͜ͅd̴͙͍͇̲̾ ̴͇̭̩́̂͐m̸̛̭͉̈̒͂ỳ̴͙͔͉̾͂̽ ̴̻̙̊͝m̴̨̽̚o̵͍̠͆̓t̸̡̻͖̫̉̈́h̴̛̗̺̖̾ë̶̖r̷̥͗ ̵̟̱̞͖̎̿̒͝ḥ̷̂o̷̧̓̓ļ̵̻̜̊̇l̵̖̬̹͑ḛ̴͚̈̕r̵̪͈͈̭̄̈́̃́ȩ̴͇̥̽d̴̨̼͓̿̽͂ ̴̻͎̬̩̔͐́a̴̫͔͐̃̽t̶̩̏̏ ̷̦̭͋ȟ̴̺͚̤͖ḭ̸̝̺̐̆͗m̶̞̄̋͘͠ ̶͌ͅá̶͉̜̜̪̈́̆͂ń̵̘̪̮̉̃d̸͔̥̟͌͂͗͝ ̶̛̺̪̲̩́̑t̸͓̱͐̀͗͊h̴̠̮̄̐̽͝ę̶͔̏̈́̄͝ ̷̗̖̌̉͝ͅb̷̭̄̚u̷̮̎̇̃̀l̸͉̣̓l̵̦̺̟̔͗̾͜͝è̴̡͔̝̲̑͌ț̵̮̽ ̵͎̗̏̀ȟ̷̹̝͕̀́ȃ̷̪͒̋͜d̸̞̤͕̦̈́̑͠͝ ̸̻̤͆̈́̊͝n̶̼̆͌̑̈́ē̷̳͔̝͙͌́́v̷͍͙̻̘̈́ẽ̷̗̞̳̓͝͝ͅr̴̾̽͜͠ ̵̣̜̂̌͠ͅh̷̦̜̦͚̓i̴͓̠͖͐ţ̸̂̋̿̾ ̶͕̑̕̚ͅm̴̛̥̈́ế̸̟̠͔̳,̵̱͖̳̲̊ ̷̨͍͛a̶̗̞͝n̵̯͇̿̏̚d̸̙͎̭͆͊͠ ̶̬͍͐̇t̴̢̛̲̖̟h̴̙̿͗̎͜è̷͖̱̞́̇̀ ̵͉̆͘l̷̡̬̀̌̌̒e̷̢͋̈̃̓͜g̷̢̢͉͜͝ï̵̟͈͉̞̇̆̐o̴̺̜̒́̔͜n̸͉̏͌ṇ̷̀͝a̶̡̖̓̽͛̍i̸̬̮͂͋̕r̵̲̗̈ë̶̮́ ̵̨̣̓ẅ̷̲̹͓̗͗h̵̻͉̠̱͑̓o̶̹̱̺͉̕ ̶͖̝͚̎͆̂̓s̸̛̛̰͓͜h̵̤̐o̵̭̝̹̅̇͑͜͝t̴̠͊̋̾͐ ̴̠̰̞̟̇͒̾͠ḿ̸̟̤̗͈̊͗ȩ̸̟̏ ̸̻̀h̴͕͈̹̾͛͌̓a̵̻̬̝̰̅͛d̵̨̘̀ ̷̢̹͉͑̿͜n̷̯͔̏͊̌o̷͙̟͔̍t̸̋��̮͖ ̶͈̞̀̒ͅy̸̠͈͋̿e̷̮̬͍͂͛̑t̵̝̓͐͜ͅ ̶̨̛͓̌̐͐p̵̳̏̎̌̕͜u̴̗̎́̉l̵̢̩̩͇̆̍l̴͚͗̀̔̅e̵̞̼̐̎́d̶̜̲̃͊̈́̚ ̴̨̡͍̀̀̚̚t̶̘͙̤͙̍͋̚͝h̷̢̯͋è̵̹̳͑͒ ̴̳͋t̷̰́r̸̛̭̭̪ĩ̵̯̭̄̄g̶̻̹̥̅͛̀͠g̴͍͓̻̑̿̈́ͅẽ̴̦̞͚̾̀r̴̥̖͈̭̂͆,̷͖͕̊͜͜ ̵̧̤̪̻́̕â̵̯͂n̶͖̊͝d̶͉̠̭̠͆͂ ̵̗̫̪̬͘͠s̸̫̫̱̫̚o̴̡̤̘͊͒̈́ ̸̙̯͋̋ͅÍ̸͕̃ ̶̬͂́͆͝k̵̬̻̊̀̋͝ï̵̪̫̖̜ḻ̶̡͐̈́̂̄l̴͍͎̘̙̊̐̅͠e̵͛ͅd̸͎̰̋̊̾ ̴͇͖̗̃̽͠ḩ̴̟̓̀͆̕ĩ̸͚͐̆ṃ̵̧͍͙̊.̴̮̰͗̓ ̵͈̿̄͐Ḯ̴͖͎̊ ̸͓͍̮̲̀͝͠ḏ̶̘̲̐͋̕r̷͍̔͜a̴̧̛n̵̘̾͗͝k̷̰̋͑͝ ̵̪͙͎̆ḑ̴̱͙̔̈ë̸̙̝́̿͝ë̴̻̓͝p̷͖͔̔̎̎ ̵̢̪̣́͆͠ȁ̴̭n̵̡̧̗͒̌d̸͉̠̔͘ ̴̺͔̠̟́ḵ̵̫̈́̀͛̕ḯ̸̪l̵̠͋̂͋ͅl̸̼̯̬̲͛e̸̯̯̿͜ͅd̶͚͚͕̺́ ̵͎̩̃h̶̪͚̏̚î̵̩͍͍̲̒͗m̵͈͘ͅ.̷͚̼̪̺͐̈́”̶͙̌̊͝

[cognitivejustice]

Salt pan mining was heavily reliant on diesel, but a subsidy to encourage use of solar pumps has cut emissions and the cost of mining. Photograph: Ahmad Masood/Reuters

In October, as the monsoon recedes and the flooded salt pans dry out, farmers and their families hop on to trucks and tractors to migrate to the Little Rann of Kutch in Kutch district, Gujarat, where they pitch tarpaulin shelters and begin mining the underground deposits.

An estimated 10,000 families of farmers, known as agariyas in Gujarati, migrate to the marshes from across the state. They start each season by digging wells to pump out brine using diesel pumps; the brine is then poured into shallow, squarish plots carved on the salt pans and left to evaporate under the sun to produce salt crystals. These marshes produce 30% of India’s inland salt, typically table salt.

Life in the salt marshes is uniquely challenging. Drinking water comes not from pipes but tankers, children attend schools inside buses not buildings, and the only avenue to healthcare is weekly mobile vans from the health department. Basic amenities such as an electricity grid and toilets are nonexistent.

Diesel constitutes nearly 65% of the input costs in salt farming, and about 1,800 litres of the fuel is needed to produce 750 tonnes of salt

Introduction of solar panels to the pans has triggered a significant shift in the lives and lifestyles of the impoverished salt workers.

In 2017, the Gujarat government gave solar pumps to salt farmers at nearly 80% subsidy, as part of a larger push to cut emissions and bring down the costs involved in salt production.

“Solar-powered pumps have reduced the cost of salt farming to one-third of what it was”

With more than 5,500 solar-powered pumps now dotting the region, energy costs have fallen to about 90 rupees to produce one tonne of salt from more than 300 rupees before, according to local campaigners. The agariyas such as Mandviya are no longer as dependent on the capital from traders, which gives them greater negotiating power over salt prices.

Solar pumps and the financial stability they grant have improved access to health, education and mobility, while also offering freedom to salt farmers from an endless work cycle, campaigners say.

“Steady supply from the solar panels is powering not only pumps but also televisions. Children of salt makers are switching to state-run ‘edutainment’ programmes to make up for the loss of education,” says Bhavna Harchandani, a research scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, who has tracked the agariyacommunity as part of her studies. The panels offer rare shade for men to relax during breaks, giving women a few moments of privacy in their makeshift homes, she adds.

[ultra-violet-heart]

THE 2018 DENGEKI BUNKO INTERVIEW WITH 86--EIGHTY-SIX AUTHOR ASATO ASATO

Disclaimer: This translation is made by me for fandom purposes only. This interview, conducted in 2017, gives major insights on how the sci-fi mecha series 86--EIGHTY-SIX was conceived and written before it eventually won the Dengeki Novel Prize back in 2016.

Please ask my permission and credit me+this post if you will be re-translating this to other languages. PLEASE DO NOT REPOST ON YOUTUBE AND TIKTOK AND PLEASE DO NOT REPOST THE IMAGES ON THIS INTERVIEW. Please take the fan translations here with a grain of salt. 

Credits to @Yashamise from Twitter for copies of this Dengeki Bunko Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi magazine.

Erratum: This interview was conducted and printed in 2017, but this Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi magazine is dated 2018 as an advance issue of sorts. This interview has been summarized here. My apologies for the title.

I’m posting my Ko-Fi here as currently, I’ve been having financial trouble regarding my medicine, so if anyone can donate, I would be much grateful for the help, thank you very much.

AN INTERVIEW WITH 86--EIGHTY-SIX AUTHOR ASATO ASATO

“I wrote what I liked, in the way I liked them,” this author says. This tale is filled with the grief from war, the ugliness of racial discrimination, as well as the romance of mechas and of garter belts! In this interview, she reveals to us everything about its roots and its appeal! 

Text and Composition: My Street 

Illustrator: Shirabii

Translator’s Note: For purposes of this interview translation, the interviewer will be labelled as “MS” for My Street, since they layouted and probably conducted this transcribed interview. Also, for words that have brackets or parenthesis:

{} = implied by context                             

() = given emphasis/given parenthesis in the interview itself

[] = included in the footnotes/translator’s notes

A robot lover as far as she could remember

MS: Thank you very much for your time today for this interview. It was surprising to learn that the author {for 86--EIGHTY-SIX}, Ms. Asato, is a woman.

ASATO: I get that a lot (haha). My family says the contents of my work is just “the usual {for Asato}” though. I think my Afterwords have the impression they’re written by a woman, and I never hid that in particular (haha).

MS: This year {2018}, 86--EIGHTY-SIX placed first in the New Works category and second in the bunkobon {paperback} category overall. How do you feel about this now?

ASATO: I’m very happy. I knew of KonoRano’s existence [1], so I was hoping {86--EIGHTY-SIX} might be listed there somewhere, but it was a surprise that it placed higher than expected. As I said in this interview’s foreword: “I wrote what I liked, in the way I liked them.” I’m thankful that many readers found it interesting.

MS: For readers who haven’t heard of 86--EIGHTY-SIX, can you give us a summary of this work?

ASATO: It’s a lively, filled-with-clanks story of the protagonist Shin, his merry band of thieves, and their remotely-working-class-president Lena. [2] (LOL)

MS: 86--EIGHTY-SIX is your debut work. Can you tell us about the time you started writing this work?

ASATO: I’ve been writing ever since I can remember, and I started with writing manga {scripts}. I switched to writing novels around before I started junior high school and have been writing them ever since.

MS: You’ve been interested in robots and military-related things ever since elementary school, is that right?

ASATO: Yes, that’s correct. My mother liked {Space Battleship} Yamato [3] and Gundam, and as I have a younger brother, I got into watching and reading anime and manga targeted at boys. I was rarely exposed to anime and manga targeted at girls. We had the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy [4] at home (which I’ve seen many times), and I also watched The Brave Police J-Decker [5] and The Brave Express Might Gaine [6], as well as other shows in The Brave [7] series. The only anime I had watched that is {targeted at girls} is Magic Knight Rayearth [8], which is another story with robots fighting in it (haha).

MS: I reckon such an environment led you to writing 86--EIGHTY-SIX. Can you tell us about your writing process?

ASATO: I originally submitted {works} to the Kadokawa Beans [9] Bunko Newcomer Awards. I avoided the Dengeki Novel Prize as it was rather {too hard to enter} due to the large number of entries [10] there. The novel entry I made on the 21st year of the Dengeki Novel Prize (2014), however, was totally not aimed at women at all, so I didn’t have any other choice but to submit that to said contest, as it has the closest deadline. It was a sci-fi fantasy work, with a theme of redemption, set on a time before and after {a} revolution. At that time, I thought, maybe I can go past beyond the 3rd round of screenings and unexpectedly, maybe placed on a good spot? However, the evaluation I got from the judges were “This is a 100% a work targeted at girls” and “Next time, we hope you will submit a work that should be Dengeki Bunko-like”. As Dengeki Bunko [11] is an all-kinds-of-genre publication, I didn’t know what ‘Dengeki Bunko-like’ even meant. I thought about it a lot but couldn’t figure it out, so I just kept on writing and finished my next entry, which is 86--EIGHTY-SIX.

MS: How did you come up with the idea and structure of 86, a war drama where unmanned drones and “unmanned manned drones” battle each other?

ASATO: I once read a newspaper article whose main message was “It won’t be good if a country sends its citizens to war, but it shouldn’t be a problem if they made an army of foreigners fight in their stead.” In that case, I felt very afraid that other people will be forced to fight instead of us, with the idea of “those aren’t people, but drones” justifying this and everyone just allowing it {to happen}.

MS: As written in Volume 1’s Afterword, looking back at history, it. is true that racism and racial exclusion existed to no small extent. So, why did you decide to incorporate “racism” into your work?

ASATO: Ever since I started writing novels, I have repeatedly written about boundary lines between “human beings and those who are human but not treated as human beings”, with 86--EIGHTY-SIX being in a similar vein. One of the bases for this is probably the class discrimination found in Final Fantasy Tactics [12], for example. A character there, Argath, who is an aristocrat, tells a commoner character: “But the gods have no eyes for chattel! [12]” This line has stayed with me ever since. After that, I continued to write with the motifs of “human beings and livestock in human form” and “human and those considered not humans”. I think BLACK/MATRIX+ [13] influenced me as well. This game deals with ethnic discrimination, set in a world where black-winged people are ruled over by white-winged people. In there, those who were discriminated against were treated harshly. They were treated like livestock, with the game having this line of, “Why is a mere slave like you wearing clothes?”

MS: Do you often play games?

ASATO: When my gaming consoles weren’t connected yet to the Internet, I used to play a lot of RPGs. I’m not good at action games. I did play a lot of Final Fantasy, like Final Fantasy VI, Tactics, VIII, IX, and X [14].

MS: Are there other works which influenced you? I wonder if there’s something similar like the war situation in Knights of Sidonia [15], which was mentioned in Volume 1’s afterword.

ASATO: I often watch a lot of robot shows, Knights of Sidonia included. In addition to the Gundam series mentioned earlier, I also watched Full Metal Panic [16] and Gunparade March: A New Song for the March [17]. It’s not a robot series, but I also have read Battle Faery Yukikaze [18] over and over. I like {literary} structures where the protagonist side is overwhelmingly inferior while the antagonist side is the superior one. I want to see the flow of emotions from the characters more than the fight scenes themselves. I think emotions such as fear, resignation and desperation show more in situations where {characters} are hopelessly in a big disadvantage. Winning a battle by domination can be exhilarating, yes, but those other emotions don’t show as much during that. That’s why I prefer for the protagonists to win through unrefined and tenacious means, rather than them winning by outsmarting {enemies}.

The work’s influences from horror films and in-depth military research

MS: The Legion are getting more ominous, and the deteriorating situation for Shin and his group is putting them on a very big disadvantage, if I’m not mistaken.

ASATO: 86--EIGHTY-SIX has been influenced more by horror movies than robot anime, with it being based on movies such as The Mist [19] and Screamers [20]. Mist is a horror story where the protagonists get trapped in a supermarket due to a mysterious fog and monsters, and the people gradually lose their ability to make rational judgments as they are unable to defend themselves or escape, without any rescue in sight. This horror movie has a great ending, so I’m inviting you all to watch it without further spoilers. 86--EIGHTY-SIX was initially set as a novel about a fog of nanomachines covering the walls outside of the Republic, and the “Legion” being an aggregation of said nanomachines. However, that kind of thing couldn’t exactly be defeated by conventional weapons, so it was rejected at the setting phase. These elements from this setting, however, were retained in the form of Volume 1’s final boss character and the appearance of those electromagnetic jammers clouding the sun.

MS: It’s rather surprising this came from a horror setting.

ASATO: The other {inspiration mentioned earlier}, Screamers, is a sci-fi horror film where autonomous war weapons evolved on their own and went out of control. In 86--EIGHTY-SIX, the Self-Propelled Mines, which look like wounded soldiers, are based on Screamers. The work is rather interesting as one has no ideas who their enemies are and everything else looks suspicious.

MS: So you have a situation like this, and you applied what kind of emotions you want to be shown in that situation, correct?

ASATO: Yes. Looking back, I think I was strongly influenced by the novel Chaos Legion [21] {in this regard}. Shin’s Personal Mark, which has a shovel on it, was influenced by his special ability as well as his role being the “Undertaker” responsible for collecting the fragments of his comrade-in-arms’ {Feldreẞ} units.

MS: The more I hear about it, it seems this work is really packed full of things {you} like.

ASATO: While I was writing this, I played the Black Hawk Down [22] movie repeatedly instead of just background music. It’s also a favorite {movie} of mine.

MS: I would like to ask you about military-related matters. What kind of material did you use for your research?

ASATO: I borrowed all relevant materials I use from the library, so I don’t have any specific references… About racial discrimination, I read materials about Nazi Germany [23], the internment camps in US as well as the 442nd Infantry Regiment [24] and Scroll of Agony: The Warsaw Ghetto Diary [25]. As for the weapons, the Juggernaut and the Legion are based and patterned from tanks, so I’ve read materials dating back from World War II [26] as well as the Gulf War [26], where 120mm tanks were the main weapons used. The Juggernaut’s 57mm cannon wasn’t used very often, so I had a difficult time finding research material for it. The unit itself is based on the M551 Sheridan [27]. This airborne assault tank has aluminum alloy armor, but the Juggernaut reflects the pitiful aspect of said flimsy armor which explodes upon impact by any stray attack.

MS: Why did you make the Juggernaut and the Legion multi-legged tanks?

ASATO: Because it’s romantic! I love multi-legged tanks! My first exposure with them is the X-ATM092 [28], a spider-shaped mobile unit from FFVIII. The loud, resounding footsteps it produced as it chased you away was very scary, and it left this impression of being a symbol of a very powerful weapon. I also like Ghost in the Shell’s Tachikoma [29] and the Tobigumo from the Swallowtail novel series [30]. In reality, multi-legged tank units aren’t really fast enough, and there is too much ground pressure for those to actually carry a 120mm cannon… but I make up for it with my imagination (LOL)

A character that embodies the idea of “to be human” walks alone

MS: Concerning those people called “Eighty-Six”, what do you think it means “to be human”, which you tried to depict in Volume 1?

ASATO: What I tried to depict in this work is “to respect other human beings, and to live without regrets.” However, I don’t think everything I wrote in this main part is actually correct. I think this is the answer the “Eighty-Six” came up with due to the environment they lived in. In Volume 2, the stage now shifts to the Federacy, so the theme there is now what will happen if said environment has changed.

MS: In Volume 2, I see this as a story where the “Eighty-Six”, who managed to get safety for the time being, nevertheless still returned to the battlefield. I think this sentiment was portrayed very well.

ASATO: Volume 3 will focus on what happens inside {Shin’s head} after he made that choice, so please look forward to that. After all, they don’t feel safe even after coming to the Federal Republic of Giad. And the war against the Legion isn’t over yet. Since the Eighty-Six think they will not survive if they don’t fight, I think they will continue to fight until the Legion disappeared. Then… what will they do after the Legion are eventually gone? …They will certainly have to think about that in the future as well.

MS: Do you have a favorite among all the characters?

ASATO: It’s Raiden. Of course, I love the two protagonists, Shin and Lena, but Shin isn’t really a very cooperative character with me, so I have a certain attachment to Raiden, who provides much support. Instead of simply just crafting the plot, I write in a way that captures how each character would act in line with {the type of} world I've created. That’s why I do not know what the characters think, what goals they have, or what pasts they bear unless they “talk” to me. Shin is not the type {of character} to talk about anything in particular, and he doesn’t even say anything much except for his name. It wasn’t until I finished writing that climax of a battle in Volume 1 that I realized what he was fighting for. After I wrote it, I was like, “Huh?! So, this is it?!” and was surprised as the author (LOL).

MS: So, you didn’t think about Shin’s background at first?

ASATO: Yes, that’s right. During that climax, I finally understood {everything} concerning Shin, so I went back on that part and wrote the details that I then added. 

MS: So even at the plotting stage, you haven’t put together the {setting and background} for each of the characters?

ASATO: To begin with, when I wrote Volume 1, I haven’t even made a plot. I didn’t even have a story structure in particular, and just wrote while letting the characters act. The first time I finished this volume, the last two pages were still missing, but Shin brought them to me, saying, “Sure enough, write up to this far.”

MS: What happened after Volume 2?

ASATO: I have submitted the plot… but stressed on the important scene that “I won’t know everything until I write it” then submitted it. As a result of this, only the boss character from Volume 3 remained in that plot I submitted. {I caused} my editors a lot of trouble.

MS: How did Frederica (the character) come to be?

ASATO: Frederica is a character with a part further on in the series, so I intended to debut her in Volume 2. As I was writing her, however, it seemed she and Shin have similarities on what they carry on their backs. Since then, she acts as a mirror to Shin. As Shin is a character who is not very good at grasping his own emotions, {I had Frederica} serve as the one who verbalizes those emotions. I wondered then, what does it mean to have a 10-year-old verbalize {another person’s feelings}? (LOL) I simply wanted to show a little girl. In Volume 2, the heroine, Lena, is absent, but I can’t have another girl the same age as her as this volume’s heroine… and so, under this pretext, I brought out {Frederica as} the little girl heroine.

MS: For some reason, I thought there’s other many works featuring little girls in the battlefield.

ASATO: If this were about a real battlefield, it would have been filled with old men. I like older men soldier characters, so that would have been fun to see, but I don’t think readers would find that interesting. Cute little girls adding a touch of color {to a work} is important (LOL).

MS: Did you decide on the setting from the start?

ASATO: The setting was generally decided from the beginning. The scenes were written out as needed. For example, regarding the battlefield, the Legion are ground-based weapons, and it would be troubling if they’re easily eradicated by aircraft weapons. That’s why {I had} the Eintagsfliege, a Legion unit which has jamming, and restricted the use of aircraft and communication devices. This, however, would have prevented Shin and Lena from communicating with each other, so I then devised the special communication device called the Para-RAID.

MS: How deeply did you think about this world’s setting on itself?

ASATO: The necessary scenes have been chosen in detail, otherwise, the rest of the details aren’t fixed. For example, it’s not in the main story, but the Republic’s population has already been decided upon. It’s the reverse with the countries on the edge of the continent that aren’t scheduled to appear, as they might have a Chinese-like culture… that’s all I thought of it right now. There’s also this “sensory tuning”, which hasn’t been written in the setting yet, but is scheduled to be involved in the future part of the plot. However, as I said just a short while ago, the story {as a whole} is influenced greatly by how the characters act, so it depends on them to make the best use of the setting. From this point on, who will survive and who will die… is something that I still don’t know.

MS: Is it still unknown how the war against the Legion will move forward?

ASATO: The basic points {for that} have been decided, with the foreshadowing being built onto step by step. However, it is up to those two, Shin and Lena, if they will follow suit. (LOL)

MS: What about the Legion, then?

ASATO: About the Legion, the setting about them has been solidly established, including the future boss characters. However, I can’t say anything about them yet. Details about them have been foreshadowed little by little. I write hoping the readers will be surprised by this later.

The love for garter belts explodes! A talk about eroticism

MS: Changing the subject, what it is about your particular fixation towards garter belts [31] and pilot suits [32], both of which you spoke so passionately about in your Afterwords?

ASATO: About the pilot suits, on the outline for volume 2, I wrote "I don’t want men’s pilot suits paired with ground-based armaments!!!" using half of the A4 outline paper and submitted that (LOL). I’ve wondered whether pilot suits are really necessary, apart from space or aircraft or even ground battles. I’ve my doubts about it, and with said doubts I don’t want {characters} just wearing pilot suits, even in a robot thing. I do agree with the editor-in-charge about “Female pilot suits are justice!” so Lena wearing a pilot suit is scheduled to appear in the future [32]. After all, the garter belt shows a good place between sexy and cute. I think the eroticism {from the garter belt} dwells in its self-contradictory element: it’s just one additional item {in a set of clothes}, and somehow manages to show more skin―I think that’s the charm of the garter belt. In particular, if the color {of the garter belt} contrasts strongly with the skin color {of the wearer}, the impression of bare skin is more emphasized in spite of the wearer. Because of this, I think it’s wonderful that Shirabii colored the belt part {of Lena’s garter belts} black.

MS: It’s amazing the garter belt drawn by Shirabii has the functions of both a belt and a ring, isn’t it?

ASATO: Furthermore, Lena’s military uniform, a garment that is very much seen in public, has garter belts, which are usually private items, and I think that adds further to her ambivalent charm even more. As a matter of fact, at first, I argued that it would be better if {her} thighs were not visible all the time but could be glimpsed at occasionally, but after a 2 AM discussion with the editors-in-charge while looking at the rough draft of the cover art, they convinced me that “That ‘occasionally’ should be now!”, and we settled on its current form. The ideal situation {we have} was when {Lena} lifts her legs up and a glimpse of the black lace garter can be seen through the slit of {her} dress. However, as Lena is a prim and proper lady, the only situation I can think of where she lifts her legs while wearing a dress is when she is about to wear heels… I’ll have to ask Shin to do his best on this one.

MS: Rather a difficult situation, isn’t it?

ASATO: It’s Shin, after all. Also, a military uniform with pretty boy shorts + sock garters is also cute, and as Theo hasn’t appeared with his military uniform yet, I’m thinking to add that to his outfit now… (LOL). However, middle-aged soldier uncles shouldn’t show their bare legs with shirt garters! (Editor’s note: Please Google “shirt garters” for more info)

MS: Are there any {role/inspiring} models for your characters?

ASATO: Basically, none. However, as mentioned earlier, Shin is partly inspired by Sieg Wahrheit [33] from Chaos Legion, while Lena is partly inspired by General Garrison [34] from Black Hawk Down. In the film, {Garrison} is placed on a situation where he could do nothing but only communicate with his subordinates in adverse circumstances, and this inspired Lena’s position {in the series}. In Black Hawk Down, many characters died before we even understood them, and I think that influenced 86--EIGHTY-SIX as well.

MS: That’s right. They die when the chapters change. When you are writing, you’re writing without knowing who is going to die, isn’t it?

ASATO: There are some characters whose manner of death came to mind as I was writing them. I think they’re good kids, but I have no choice but to let them face their fates (oops).

MS: If the names of the Eighty-Six characters were names of Japanese people, would they still make good names?

ASATO: Yes. All their names can be written in kanji. For example, Shin’s surname, “Nouzen” is from the kanji of the Chinese trumpet creeper (凌霄花) {pronounced as “nouzenkazura”} [35].  I actually like the arrangement of the kanji {from that plant} within the kanji for “surpassing the sky” (霄を凌ぐ) {pronounced as “sora wo shinogu”}. If you use the same kanji and put the honorific (君) {pronounced as “kun”} on it, you can form the characters for the Eurasian goshawk (凌霄君) {pronounced as “ryoshoukun”} [36]. This is also a reference to Shin’s image, as he does resemble a hawk.

What’s next for this series? There’s so much more to write about!

MS: What will happen in Volume 3 of 86--EIGHTY-SIX? [37]

ASATO: It will be properly connected to Volume 1’s Epilogues, so please don’t worry about that. The battle scenes, which were limited in Volume 2, will be much increased here. It might be even tragic.

EDITOR KIYOSE: This paperback series will, of course, continue to be serialized, and the series will also be expanded into various adaptations such as comics [38] and other various media. This work will have a lot of side stories, so we hope you will all appreciate this series as a whole.

MS: Can you please tell us about the future developments of 86--EIGHTY-SIX?

ASATO: The stage has shifted to the Federacy from Volume 2, and as the war situation gets more violent, the environment surrounding the Eighty-Six and the others is about to deteriorate further. There will be new enemies for mankind to face, and their own numerous personal conflicts standing on their way one by one. However, they have survived far difficult circumstances up until now, and since Lena will join them in earnest by Volume 4, I think they will still survive, stubbornly, shamelessly, and boisterously. However, I really wouldn’t know what would happen unless I write them. (LOL)

MS: How many volumes does this series will have?

ASATO: Currently, I'm thinking of around 13 volumes. The war against the Legion has a general flow and an ending in sight already, so I'd like to get to that point first. In addition to that, I’d like to like to write a side story about Raiden and Shin when they just first met, if I have the opportunity [39]. There’s so much more I want to write about. From Volume 4 onward, countries other than the Federacy will be related, and there’s plans to stretch out the stage even more. The Queen's Knights [40], led by Lena, will also make their appearance. I think there might be some slight surprises about Shiden, who first appeared in Volume 2.

MS: Lastly, any message for the readers who have supported you and the series?

ASATO: I was never active on the web at all, and I was totally an unknown newcomer writer. I believe the reason why I and the 86--EIGHTY-SIX series have come this far is due to the readers who picked up the books and supported us. So, everyone, I will do my best to write bringing Shin and Lena and the Eighty-Six’s battle to conclusion, so from this point on, I look forward to your continued support!

{End of Interview}

Translator’s Notes (Most of the blurbs here are taken from respective relevant Wikipedia articles, and the notes also include the Magazine Notes from the actual interview):

[1] Kono Light Novel Ga Sugoi: Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! (このライトノベルがすごい!, lit. This Light Novel is Amazing!) is an annual light novel guidebook published by Takarajimasha. The guidebook publishes a list of the top ten most popular light novels according to readers polled on the Internet and votes from critics, influencers, and other people related to the light novel industry. 86--EIGHTY-SIX ranked 2nd and 5th in the bunkobon category here in 2018 and 2019.

[2] Lena is the class president of Class 2-E in the 86--EIGHTY-SIX Operation High School spin-off side stories and the manga. This is probably among the first references to said spin-off.

[3] Space Battleship Yamato: one of Japan’s most influential sci-fi/mecha series, a Japanese science fiction anime series produced and written by Yoshinobu Nishizaki, directed by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto, and produced by Academy Productions.

[4] Mobile Suit Gundam: The first series in this very popular Japanese military science fiction media franchise, it was re-released into a film trilogy in 1981.

[5] The Brave Police J-Decker: The fifth installment in the Barve series.

[6] The Brave Express Might Gaine: The fourth installment in the Brave series.

[7] The Brave mecha and sci-fi series: a Japanese toy and anime franchise Brave series made by Takara and Sunrise, and currently owned by Bandai Namco.

[8] Magic Knight Rayearth: a mecha, fantasy and isekai shoujo manga series made by the all-female manga artist group CLAMP.

[9] Kadokawa BEANS Bunko Award: The contest launched by Kadokawa’s female-focused light novel imprint, Kadokawa Beans Bunko.

[10] Dengeki Novel Prize: a literary award handed out annually (since 1994) by the Japanese publisher ASCII Media Works for their Dengeki Bunko light novel imprint, spearheaded by parent company Kadokawa. It is among Japan’s largest light novel contests, with more than 4500 entries submitted annually. 86--EIGHTY-SIX won 1st place in the Rookie Awards category in 2016, launching it to the spotlight.

[11] Dengeki Bunko: a publishing imprint affiliated with Kadokawa’s ASCII Media Works. Many anime adaptations from light novels were published by Dengeki Bunko, including 86--EIGHTY-SIX.

[12] [Magazine Note 1] Final Fantasy Tactics: A tactical simulation RPG released in 1997. The socially conscious storyline, which tackled friction between nations and the gap between the rich and the poor, became very much a hot topic during its time.

Please take note I used the Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions translation here as contextually I believe this translation has more in line with EIGHTY-SIX than the translation of the actual game Asato played, which is the original Final Fantasy Tactics. Also, Argath vs Algus :3

[13] [Magazine Note 2] BLACK/MATRIX+: A tactical simulation RPG for Sega Saturn, with the PlayStation port released in 1998. It has a unique setting where virtue and vice are said to be reversed.

[14] Final Fantasy: a fantasy anthology media franchise, first and mainly developed as RPGs, owned, published, and distributed by Square Enix. Currently this franchise has 16 main series game releases. One of these games, Final Fantasy VIII, has its main soundtrack (“Eyes on Me” by Faye Wong) featured on the Afterword of 86--EIGHTY-SIX Volume 7: Mist.

[15] Knights of Sidonia: A sci-fi/mecha seinen manga, made by Tsutomu Nihei and ran from 2009-2015 in Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon magazine. Its anime adaptation, which ran for two seasons, was produced by Polygon Pictures and aired from 2014 to 2015.

[16] Full Metal Panic!: a series of mecha light novels written by Shoji Gatoh and illustrated by Shiki Douji, published by Kadokawa’s Fujimi Fantasia Bunko and ran from 1998-2011. Its anime adaptations were produced by Gonzo, Kyoto Animation and Xebec respectively, from 2003 to 2018.

[17] Gunparade March: A New Song for the March: The anime adaptation for the Playstation video game Gunparade March, produced by J.C. Staff and aired in 2003.

[18] Battle Faery Yukikaze: a Japanese military science fiction novel series written by Chouhei Kambayashi. Its five-episode OVA adaptation ran from 2002-2005.

[19] [Magazine Note 3] Mist: A 2007 film based on the award-winning science fiction horror novella by Stephen King.

[20] [Magazine Note 4] Screamers: A 1995 futuristic science fiction horror film, based on Phillip K. Dick’s novelette “Second Variety”.

[21] [Magazine Note 5] Chaos Legion: A mixed-media action RPG released in 2003, getting a novelization by Tow Ubukata.

[22] [Magazine Note 6] Black Hawk Down: A 2001 war movie. Based on a non-fiction work about an actual urban war between international forces and guerillas that occurred in Somalia. The film depicts how a UH-60 Black Hawk​ gets taken down and this being dragged into a war situation.

[23] This is a very extensive subject, so please feel free to check out Nazi Germany on Wikipedia to get at least an overview.

[24] Another extensive subject, so feel free to check out 442nd Infantry Regiment on Wikipedia to get an overview.

[25] [Magazine Note 7] Scroll of Agony: The Warsaw Ghetto Diary: A diary kept by a Jewish teacher, {Chaim A. Kaplan}. It described the persecution and pillaging by the Nazis, as well as the three harsh years of {Kaplan’s} life.

Printed in Japan as (ワルシャワ・ゲットー日記―ユダヤ人教師の記録 or “Warsaw Ghetto Diary: A Jewish Teacher’s Record”), with Kaplan implied to have died in 1942 when he was sent to the Treblinka death camp along with other Warsaw Jews.

[26] Another extensive subject, so feel free to check out World War II on Wikipedia to get an overview. Feel free to also check out Gulf War on Wikipedia to get an overview on this topic.

[27] [Magazine Note 8] M551 Sheridan: an American tank developed to be amphibious, airborne tank. Its body was made of aluminum alloy to help reduce weight, but this made it vulnerable to anti-tank weapons and land mines, and it could explode when the shells it’s equipped with are triggered.

[28] X-ATM092: A spider-like robot boss enemy found in Final Fantasy VIII.

[29] Tachikoma: a blue-colored AI walker/roller tank that looks like a spider in the Ghost in the Shell cyberpunk media franchise.

[30] Swallowtail series: The sci-fi novel series written by Chitose Touma and published by Dengeki Bunko in 2008. The series is about artificial fairies, androids created in the form of humans, to be companions to still-living humans after parts of Tokyo’s population were wiped out in a pandemic, and one of these fairies, Ageha, is investigating a serial killer causing destruction. The work also has this multi-legged armored tank called “Tobigumo”. So far as I know this mecha doesn’t have official art, however, a fanart can be found in Pixiv here.

[31] [Magazine Note 9] Garter: They’re suspenders of sorts. “Garter belt” is the term for {a fabric strap which} which is clipped on over-the-knee socks or stockings. Having no shorts above garters is righteous! between the rich and the poor, became very much a hot topic during its time.

Asato’s interest in garter belts is not only shown in the novels, but also in the anime, which is noted to have a lot of thigh shots of Lena wearing said garter belts.

[32] [Magazine Note 10] Pilot suit: In this case, this is the type of suit that sticks really close to the body. As it shows the body lines quite clearly, it’s considered quite fetishistic. 

In the current time, 86--EIGHTY-SIX Volume 5: Death, Be Not Proud, has already been published, and Lena did wear the Cicada, which is Asato’s homage to pilot suits.

[33] Sieg Wahrheit: the protagonist of Chaos Legion.

[34] William F. Garrison: a retired major general of the United States Army who commanded United States forces during Operation Gothic Serpent including the Battle of Mogadishu, which served as an inspiration for the novel Black Hawk Down.

[35] The Chinese trumpet creeper, a native flowering vine species found in East Asia, usually in China, can mean “fame”, “honor”, “glory”, “abundant love” and “life filled with flowers” in the flower language.

[36] Eurasian goshawk: a medium-large bird-of-prey found in Europe and Asia and is among the species considered as “true” hawks. The kanji used in the article actually just refers to how Shinei Nouzen looks like a hawk, but upon further examination of said kanji in this reference, it pertained to that goshawk as well.

[37] Volume 3 of 86--EIGHTY-SIX was just about to be released in Japan around the moment this article was published, serving as a promotion of sorts.

[38] Several manga adaptations of 86--EIGHTY-SIX have been published as of current time. For more information, please check out this 86 Reddit Manga FAQ for further details.

[39] Besides Volume 1, Eighty-Six’s Interlude: Headless Knight II, Asato has managed to write this in the side stories Volume 10, Fragmental Neoteny Chapter 8: The Banks of Lethe and Alter.1: Claymore Squadron.

[40] The Queen’s Knights, formally known as the Brísingamen Squadron, was the squadron Lena became the Handler with after the Spearhead Squadron was sent on the Special Reconnaissance Mission. It was led by Shiden Iida and was pivotal in the Republic of San Magnolia’s defense during the 1st Legion Large Scale Offensive.

[thatstormygeek]

So for the next couple months, we are essentially Schrödinger’s Electorate. There is no uncertainty about Trump’s ambitions....But there is real uncertainty about his capacity to execute.

We won’t know until at least January just how dark things are about to get. There is a version of Trump’s second term where he talks a lot about mass deportation, but actually deports comparatively few people. He gestures at massive tariffs, but mostly as a negotiating tactic. The most dangerous parts of Project 2025 languish because they require more attention to detail than he cares to give. (Plus they would be unpopular. And Trump likes to feel popular.) This would be a Trump II that kind of resembles Trump I, when he talked a whole lot about “building the wall,” but lacked the will and skill to actually put the plan into practice. This is not a good future, mind you. But it’s the best possible of all the bad futures. Its one where we suffer through several years of mid-level corruption and a ceaseless barrage of Trump intrigue and incompetence. It’s a future that still yields a couple hundred more Trump judges with lifetime appointments to the federal bench, ensuring that no future administration can accomplish its goals. It’s also a future that sets us back at least four years on climate commitments, all while handing the plutocrats more money and power that they will ruthlessly work to defend. It’s, y’know, still really bad. But the other version of Trump II is the one where he deputizes and mobilizes a deportation force that removes tens of millions of people from their homes. Some will be sent back to their home countries. But most will be rounded up and sent to makeshift camps. And that’s a future where he also uses Schedule F to replace all federal workers with Trump ideologues, reducing the federal government to a cutout front for the Trump organization. It’s one where he shuts down all progressive organizations under the cover of fighting “extremism,” rendering the Democratic Party network incapable of competing in future in elections. One where his political opponents go into hiding, and the military is deployed against protestors, and press critics quickly learn that their constitutional protections are not self-enforcing. This would be much, much worse.

I’ve heard a cold-comfort, rally-the-troops message in some progressive circles: “we’ve been here before. We know how to mobilize against him!” I hate to be a downer, but… no. If your strategic plan for Trump II relies on a repeat of the conditions of Trump I, that is a very bad strategic plan. When Donald Trump assumed the Presidency in 2017, we had (1) a mainstream media that was eager to play a watchdog role, (2) a Republican Party that had not been entirely cleansed of Trump critics, (3) a judicial branch with zero Trump appointees, and (4) Trump and his team lacking even the vaguest sense of how to run the executive branch. We had, in other words, a huge attack surface. ... It’s also going to be harder to tie him up in the courts than it was in the first term. Trump appointed 234 federal judges, including three Supreme Court Justices. These Trump judges have shown no deference to precedent. Many are naked partisans, with no incentive to hide it. (Hell, a Trump judge just struck down Biden’s overtime pay Executive Order yesterday.) The Supreme Court has also gotten very comfortable using its shadow docket to speed up and slow down cases to Trump’s benefit. ... Here’s a rough outline of what I think might work. The basic assignment is simple: run out the clock. There are 102 weeks until the 2026 midterm election. There are 206 weeks until the 2028 Presidential. That’s a lot of time to be playing prevent defense against an opponent who controls all the structural power levers at the federal level. This will hardly be easy. But Donald Trump is not some strategic genius, enacting a meticulously-crafted long-term plan. He has grown older, but no wiser. He is as likely to focus on deporting 20 million people as he is to get into a weeklong Twitter spat with Mark Cuban. He is a ridiculous person, and tremendously vulnerable to ridicule. His administration will be staffed by devoted ideologues, not skilled operators. Rudy Giuliani was a devoted Trump supporter. So was John Eastman. Both were comically inept, and are now disbarred as a result. The benchwarmers suiting up now that they are off the playing field have no great excess of skill.