#my personal experience with someone older than me taking a particular liking to me and also being my coworker ASIDE. this is about THEM

[1327-1]

i have a post rotting in my drafts somewhere about this, but i think benson's age & paternalism over randy is soo important to their dynamic and i am a little freak about it

[astrobydalia]

Vietnamese astrology observations

Some observations on the Vietnamese astrology signs to celebrate the lunar new year. Disclaimer: these are based on observations and experiences from my pov as a dragon lmao As always credits to @novy2sirius for the inspo and knowledge of these things.

astrobydalia

🎋I've rarely seen Tigers getting married or having a relationship that lasted more than 1-2 years💀​💀 But the few ones that I've seen with stable marriages had spouses who were incredibly independent, someone who they admire and acts like they don't need/want the tiger person all that much. When tigers have these kinds of parters, they seem to be the most devoted and engaged in their relationships

​​💮​Tigers are highly attracted to danger (e.g. Mr Beast), sometimes to very concerning extents

​​💮​Tigers 🤝 having the attention span of an ipad kid. They like to command attention to themselves but don't like it when others demand their attention

​​💮​Which speaking of, Tigers ooze main character energy I’ve noticed. They are the star of the show and they know it. It's hard to not notice them in a room and honestly they really do have that 'it' factor, have this ‘unique’ energy to them (I think Lady Gaga is very representative of this vibe)

​​💮​My honest opinion on Tigers tho is that they’re annoying af, tend to be very abrupt and the kind of people who don’t know when it’s time to stop and stfu. Tiger men in particular I’ve noticed tend to say and do very inappropriate things often.... However I've seen older/more mature tigers that are pretty chill and simply have BDE

🎋Cats/Rabbits have beautiful smiles and a very youthful look to them. I’ve noticed however that they tend to smirk a lot, often appear cunning and mischievous cause they looooove messing with people, a lot of teasing and provoking. Very witty.

​​💮​Also, cats/rabbits are pretty horny and slutty. Even when they don't talk about sex at all their energy is very sensual, they come off as "easy" iykwim

​​💮​I’ve also noticed cats/rabbits have like some glow to them idk they look like this ✨🎀🪄 to me

🎋Horses are talented and really good at their job and crafts but they are also kinda bland and uninteresting tbh. On a surface level, they are cool cause they are rather playful, social and very engaging, they also have an approachable and warm aura. However they feel a lil vapid and superficial to me after some time. They don't look deeper into things and don't consider long-term consequences. They're also pretty aloof and inexpressive a lot of times

​​💮​Horses are very agile tho both mentally and physically. They are quick to respond to immediate or short-term situations/problems and I've also seen they are prone to be on the go 24/7

​​💮​I’ve also noticed horses tend to look strong, fit, muscular or in shape even when they don’t go to the gym

🎋I don't initially gravitate towards snakes but I always end up vibing with them incredibly well. Very profound, intelligent and insightful people. They have a lot of knowledge and wisdom about life. If you are looking to have philosophical convos they will totally deliver, both street smart+book smart

​​💮​It's extremely hard to get close to them on a personal level tho. They have sus energy and seem to hide a shit ton of things about themselves.

​​💮​Snakes are also very good at easing themselves into leading positions, they sneakily take charge of situations.

​​💮​Snakes have a wild side when underdeveloped tho. A lot of snakes I know are into conspiracy theories and/or are all about this idea of going against the system or the stablished rules but like in a very unhinged way. Tend to also make apparently mindless decisions that make ppl go "wtf are you doing?". In many cases they can become controversial af (e.g. Kanye, JK Rowling)

​​💮​Something I’ve noticed a lot with Snakes is that they tend to randomly ghost people. They’re the kind of people who you never really know where you stand with them unless y’all are super duper close. Tend be secretly very judgmental and have a very all-or-nothing mindset in their relationships (obsessive AF). They play A LOT of mind games with ppl all the time

🎋Both Tigers and snakes have difficult love lives and are prone to getting in abusive relationships. What I’ve seen with snakes in particular is that they tend to be the toxic and manipulative ones most of the times (e.g. Chris Brown). With tigers I've seen it go both ways but what stands out with them is that they tend to get in relationships where there is a MAYOR power imbalance in some way such as huge age gap or things like that (e.g. Amber Heard or Marylin Monroe). Tigers are attracted to forbidden people and that's also why they are the most prone to cheat

🎋RoostersI've noticed have very neat features, sharp jawlines, high cheekbones, nice lips, etc. They always look really snatched af and their bodies seem to have perfect proportions regardless of their body type.

​​💮​And yeah I've seen they are indeed the most arrogant out of all the signs here

🎋Both Snakes and Roosters are rather funny and sarcastic, but roosters pull it off more naturally. They guenienly have an unbothered and unserious vibe to them so humor comes to them effortlessly even when they don't try at all. With snakes it feels like they are intentionally trying to be punny so it doesn't land the same a lot of times

​​💮​A lot of roosters have memorable moments that become iconic memes😭:

​​💮​A lot of Roosters ik actually do not think of themselves as being funny or charming at all. They usually describe themselves as serious and hardworking

🎋Dragons have a very large and in charge personality, they often appear chill and normal at first glance but I’ve noticed they tend to be known for being unapologetic and highly expressive (Rihanna, Ryan Raynolds, Emma Stone, Adele, Kenue Reeves)

​​💮​When developed dragons quite literally and genuinely don’t give a fuck what people think, say or do to them. “Im just doing me” energy

​​💮​Dragons tend to enhance their own self-importance as a defense mechanism when they’re insecure tho. They might or might not be the most confident but they’d rather die than let others see that

​​💮​Dragons very often lack self-accountability or self awareness and tend to not handle conflict well. They are prone to having one-sided beef with people who aren't even thinking about them, I’ve seen this so much!!!!💀💀😭 It's giving:

​​💮​On that same line, Dragons tend to be advocates against mean or bad ppl I've noticed but this often manifests as them getting in personal vendettas about things that have absolutely nothing to do with them. So a lot of times all they're doing is causing a chaos nobody asked for

🎋Goats I wanna protect tf out of them. It's so hard to stay mad at them fr, they have the most endearing energy and they're very popular from what I've observed.

​​💮​When underdeveloped goats have the worst emotional intelligence and tend to be very emotionally volatile. Tend to take things personally very easily and make other people pay for their own issues

​​💮​Goats are the definition of a simp when in love or in a relationship. They LOVE romance and tend to be really good at it as well

​​💮​Goats are very soft spoken too!! I always find myself LOVING their voice or the way they speak, it's really soothing and hypnotic

🎋I honestly don’t like monkeys all that much, I can vibe with them cause we’re friend signs or whatever but they tend to be pretty childish, emotionally immature and self-centered imo. They can be very deep and intelligent but also fail to be responsible and take things seriously a lot of times

​​💮​The good side of them is that they are very creative and they are the type of person that never gets old to have around, they have many hidden talents

​​💮​Something else I like about Monkeys is they are really good with kids and are very family oriented. They truly love children and will prioritize the younger people in their life whether it’s their own kids, their siblings, etc

​​💮​I've also noticed Monkeys can be big big liars. They lie a lot and for no reason at all.

🎋Pigs aren't really all that ambitious, what they mainly want out of life is to live with as much comfort, ease and financial stability as possible and that's it. The good thing about this is that this can make them rather genuine people, not the type to have a hidden agenda or anything like that

​​💮​Pigs tend to be lazy but they can be hardworking at the same time. They drag their feet to do anything but when they finally bring themselves to put in the work they actually deliver great results. They are VERY financially smart too, you can count on them to get high-value and high-quality stuff

​​💮​Honestly pigs actually have a lot of potential, they can be very disciplined but their main thing is that they expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter

​​💮​I’ve noticed pigs are very likable but also tend to be socially awkward at the same time. They're like that one introverted person everyone loves and wants in the group

🎋I don't vibe with oxes for some reason. They appear calm, unassuming and grounded but my god they are strategic, calculating and ruthless affff. Very self-righteous too, have a very unapproachable energy😭

​​💮​Oxes have a very harsh and cold “you gotta do what you gotta do” mindset and which can be really good but I think that's what I find the most unsettling about them. If you try to appeal to their more emotive side once they’ve set their mind on something they’ll look at you like this:

​​💮​Oxes are very disciplined and resilient tho. If people try to tear them down those people will fail miserably. Truly a force to be reconned with

​​💮​Oxes are super duper loyal too in EVERY aspect of their life, similar to dogs

​​💮​A lot of oxes that I've seen were surprisingly into occult as well or were into holistic forms of self-improvement. They can be very "zen" people

🎋Oxes and pigs are the most materialistic signs from what I've seen.

🎋Snakes and dragons are the biggest gatekeepers. Not just with material things but with anything that is valuable to them and gives them sense of power (think of the legends of dragons always guarding a treasure and the sneaky and secretive nature of snakes)

🎋Rats are usually very playful and energetic I’ve seen but in a more graceful and charming way. Very good entertainers and cool people to have around to be honest, another sign that tends to be popular.

​​💮​Rats seem to be all-rounders, very adaptable, fast learners and open-minded which is the main reason why I've seen they find success in the matrix.

​​💮​The main negative I’ve seen with rats tho is that they can be rather opportunistic and hypocritical but they hide this very well. They’re really good at sweet talking others and staying in people’s good graces. Very manipulative and deceitful, they can easily hide any ulterior motives and appear genuine to others

​​💮​A lot of Rats I know are interested in health and wellness in some way, having good hygiene, eating good food, working out, meditating, etc. Cooking in particular is a big thing with them I've noticed

🎋Dogs feel very mid to me….. I recognize they are MUCH more creative, intelligent and clever than horses imo but their go with the flow energy can make them very unoriginal or predictable.

​​💮​Dogs are also the definition of “same old story”. Strong tendency to stay stuck in the past, going back to their old ways and never really reinventing themselves

​​💮​The good thing about this tho is that its true dogs are loyal and consistent af tho, the kind of loyalty and devotion most people would only wish to find in someone and they are also peaceful, compromising and charming

​​💮​Dogs are very pretty too, they clean up nicely but I've noticed they tend to be super insecure about their image

​​💮​Dogs appear kind and trustworthy regardless of what kind of person they are deep down. Either they're genuinely very lawful and righteous people or very fake and phony, the type to smile to your face while planning to murder you in their heads

That's all folks!

astrobydalia

[lecsainz]

FOOTBALL GAME

parings: daniel ricciardo x kelce!reader

author note: it's official, I'm entering my NFL era... taylor swift, what have you done?!?! 😭

summary: the one where you're the younger sister of the kelces and you go to a travis game and end up meeting daniel ricciardo.

✩. . . masterlist !

Y/N is the Kelce siblings' little sister, the protected one, adored by her entire family. Her three older brothers loved to tease her whenever they could. Nonetheless, Y/N loved being the youngest, except for the overly protective nature of her brothers. Shawn, Jason, and Travis delighted in intimidating any guy who came near their sister, and this had been the story of her life. The fact that Jason and Travis were professional football players didn't help either. Despite it all, she knew her brothers just wanted her to stay safe and find the right person. And that happened in the most unlikely way.

Y/N was at the Chiefs game, just like any other game, or so she thought. She had chosen to stay in the stands; Y/N wasn't in the mood to be in the player's family area today, especially after the appearances of her supposed new sister-in-law, Taylor. The fans had become obsessed with recording and looking for the singer-songwriter there. Today, Y/N wanted a peaceful afternoon. She had never been fond of being in the spotlight and was grateful that her brothers were the stars, not her.

As Y/N settled into her seat, she couldn't help but relish the anonymity she usually enjoyed in the stands. She liked to be just another face in the crowd, free from the constant attention that came with being a Kelce. But little did she know that this particular game was about to take an unexpected turn.

The energy in the stadium was electrifying, and as the game progressed, Y/N found herself getting more and more engrossed in the action. The Chiefs were playing exceptionally well, and the crowd's excitement was contagious. Amidst the cheers and chants, she almost forgot about her desire for a quiet day.

That's when it happened. Y/N was caught up in the moment, jumping to her feet as the Chiefs scored a touchdown. As she celebrated, an unfortunate collision occurred. Out of nowhere, a cup of beer was knocked from someone's hand, drenching her from head to toe. She gasped in surprise and shock, realizing her white Chiefs jersey was now soaked.

Furious and stunned, she turned to see who was responsible for this mess, and her eyes met a face she couldn't believe – it was none other than the famous Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, who was attending the game because of his Formula 1 race in Texas.

Y/N's frustration boiled over, and she shouted, "Are you kidding me? You just ruined my jersey!" Her irritation was palpable, and the entire section fell silent as all eyes turned to her and the unsuspecting Daniel Ricciardo.

As crowd silence hung in the air, Y/N could feel her face heating up with embarrassment and anger. She had no idea who this man was, only that he was the one who had turned her game day experience into a mess. But what she didn't know was that Daniel Ricciardo was not only a Formula 1 superstar but also known for his charm and charisma.

Daniel, caught off guard by her fiery reaction, was momentarily stunned. He glanced at the drenched jersey and then back at Y/N, a sheepish grin forming on his face. "Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry," he stammered. "I was just so caught up in the game, and I... I didn't mean to do that."

Y/N couldn't help but notice that, despite the situation, Daniel had an irresistible smile. It was clear that he was genuinely apologetic, and she couldn't stay mad at him for long. Still, she didn't know who he was, and her irritation was evident in her response. "Well, an apology won't dry my jersey, will it?"

At that moment, Max Verstappen, who was seated next to Daniel, couldn't contain his laughter any longer. He burst into fits of giggles, watching the entire interaction. "Mate, you've really done it this time!" Max said between laughs.

Y/N, despite herself, found Max's laughter contagious and couldn't help but chuckle along. "I can't believe you've got your friend here laughing at your blunder," she teased Daniel, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Daniel, red-faced and still grinning, extended his hand toward her. "I'm Daniel, by the way, and I promise I'll make it up to you somehow."

Y/N accepted the hand with a half-smile. "Y/N, nice to meet you. Just don't spill anything else on me."

Max chimed in, still amused. "Well, I think you've made quite the impression, Daniel.”

Max's playful comment only added to the amusement of the moment. As Y/N and Daniel continued to converse, they discovered an unexpected chemistry between them. His initial mistake had broken the ice, and they found themselves discussing everything from their favorite sports to their shared love for adventure.

As the game progressed, Y/N's initial irritation had turned into a delightful afternoon spent in the company of a charming stranger. She had completely forgotten about her drenched jersey and the chaotic start to their interaction.

As the final whistle blew, the Chiefs emerged victorious, and the crowd erupted in cheers. Daniel leaned closer to Y/N, and with a grin, he said, "You know, I've had an eventful day, and it's all thanks to you. Can I get your number? Maybe I can make it up to you with dinner or something?"

Y/N was taken aback for a moment, not expecting such a bold move. But his sincerity and the connection they had formed throughout the game were hard to ignore. She couldn't help but smile and replied, "Sure, why not? I think I'd like to see what other trouble you can get me into."

[angel-of-the-moons]

Agsfgs

He's a god of fertility, among other things

Imagine if Y/N prayed to Khonshu for their own fertility and just

Khonshu appears, offers them help with fertility, he gives them a few options. Just the regular magic method of helping or he physically helps them get pregnant... with his child, of course

Like, hot, but also can you imagine praying to a god, they show up and basically say "okay I can help you the normal way, or we can do this the fun way and make a baby together"

Obviously Y/N agreed to have a kid with him cuz like. C'mon. Look at him

He's of course a very attentive father and partner afterward. He's not blind to the struggle new life brings along with the joy

Okay, okay, I know this isn't exactly what you were picturing but--

Wings of A Prayer

Khonshu x Fem!Reader

TW/CW: Infertility problems, mentions of miscarriages, self-doubt, depression, suicidal thoughts, sort of alcoholism, fluff, hinted at sexy times but nothing is pictured, Marc and the boys learn that there's more to the pissy old bird than meets the eye! (Naturally canon-fudging and merging with the comics again) And a major time skip! My personal headcanon that Khonshu looks like Oded Fehr rears its head once more!

A/N: Whew... this one is long! Surprisingly, no smut in this one. But I realized I am sorely lacking on Khonshu fluff since y'all are almost always just as horny for him as I am. I also did some research and... Wow. Some scary stuff. I'm sorry if this strikes a painful chord with some of you. I had to stop writing this a few times and take a break because it was making me tear up.

It had been... horrible, to say the least. Your life had been one giant trainwreck so far. Your heart had been wanting for something for so long, and... Well...

Your apartment was a gray, flat... hollow living space to you. It was lacking in... something. And that something was a giggly, chubby, cuddly little person. You thought about getting a pet, but... there was an itching inside of you. And itching for something--someone--of your own.

You had been living on your own since cutting off contact with your parents; and dating had been an absolutely dog shit experience since your teen years. But as you got older, and your friends all went their separate ways, living their own lives and starting their own families, you realized... You wanted that. To be the home you never really had growing up, a source of unconditional love and understanding.

You weren't stupid--you did your research beforehand, looked into every legal document you could. Instead of getting pregnant, you'd looked into fostering or adoption.

But you just... you couldn't afford it. The cost of adopting would have bankrupt you, and your increasing financial instability as the economy fluctuated was an obvious deterrent for most agencies. The same was for fostering--you simply worked too much to bre as present as they wanted you to be for a foster placement. And it didn't help that your particular neighborhood wasn't... stellar or "perfect" for a growing child.

The worst insult, perhaps, was when you looked into IVF after adoption and fostering were out of the question. It sounded like the best option, and so you went to your doctor. As uncomfortable and relatively invasive as the pelvic exam and tests were, your doctor assured you a pregnancy was easy enough to accomplish with the fertility treatments if you were able to get into a program.

Only... you hadn't. Your insurance wouldn't even cover half of the procedures, and your heart was sinking at the thought of going bankrupt and not being able to afford the child you so desperately wanted.

That was a low blow, but, you knew you still had options. You could get pregnant naturally. The real trick was finding a man who was willing, healthy, and responsible enough to agree to father your child.

As distasteful as sleeping with someone relatively strange to you was, you made the decision to be tactful. You made a profile on a dating website with the clear intentions that you wished to find a partner that was clean of any STIs, drug or alcohol addictions, and wouldn't cause problems for you if the impregnation was successful.

And of course, you assured that should they not wish it, you wouldn't put them on a birth certificate or come after them for child support. It would be difficult, surely, but you knew you could manage. There was always well-fare and WIC to help out with needs, as well as a few charities you could apply to. Your elderly neighbors even agreed to watch over your baby when it was born because they didn't have any grandchildren of their own; and the presence of a baby would brighten up their droll days when you needed the occasional break.

When you found a partner who was ready and willing to commit to your "requirements"--especially the STI tests with you present to be sure they were not lying--you both agreed to meet several times a week at his apartment to get down to business.

You planned your meetings carefully around your ovulatory and menstrual cycles, drank and ate anything that supposedly "boosted fertility"; and took every vitamin under the sun to help ensure it.

And then, you got the most wonderful news. You had been late on your period for nearly two months. Missing the first month wasn't a cause for alarm; after all, you had relatively irregular periods--which your doctor assured were because of stress and diet problems--and you weren't insistent upon a pregnancy test until you began to get sick during random times of the day or night and your body began to ache in places it hadn't before, such as your breasts.

You got your blood tested at your doctor's office and sure enough... you were pregnant! You reached out to the father when you got home, and after some arrangements, he agreed to send an unofficial check to you for the baby at the start of every month, but he wasn't sure if he could promise to be present for their childhood; which worked fine with you. It was more than you expected, anyways.

You immediately began to budget, alongside with the financial aid of the father of your baby, and began to prep your bedroom into a shared nursery for your impending arrival.

And as you were settling into your new routine and adjusted workload, you awoke during one night with intense vomiting. As you perched over your toilet bowl, pain began to radiate from your abdomen and deep into your body and pelvis, like sharp, pulsing, searing pain from inside of you.

It wasn't until you stood up to wash your face and brush your teeth that you realized you were bleeding. Your sleep shorts stained a disturbing shade of red. You immediately panicked; and simply ignoring the cost of an ambulance, you called 911, and phoned the father of your baby as dread began to soak into every pore.

It wasn't for several hours after all the tests and exams that the doctor from the ER finally came in with a sad, pitiful look on her face as she delivered the news.

You lost your baby.

It felt like the world opened up beneath you and you were swallowed by a void. You didn't even know you screamed until your vision went black around the edges; prompting you to take a much-needed breath. The father of your baby was sympathetic, he talked calmly to you, rubbing your back and speaking with the doctors for you while you struggled to cope.

They kept you for another day (after giving you some pill) to make sure you... passed the remains of the fetus so you didn't get sick from retained products of the conception.

You fell into a deep depression after that.

Weeks afterwards, you were a drone. You woke up, ate, worked, showered, slept, and performed the same duties again and again as if you were on autopilot. The father of your baby, Alain, checked in on you now and again, and at some point even introduced you to his new girlfriend (who was confused by the awkward situation at first, but in seeing what had gone wrong in your life, felt more pity towards you than anything).

Your elderly neighbors cried for you, made you food when you felt the absence of the want to cook or eat; and said they would offer up prayers for you.

You began to hide how... rotten you felt on the inside, after that. You feigned your old, "normal" behavior if not to just get everyone to stop treating you like some... Faberge egg that needed delicate handling. A doll so fragile from trauma and abuse you had to be put on a pedestal to avoid getting any more broken.

But deep inside you, that raw, twisted, pained feeling festered like a bad wound. It worsened when you discovered that your doctor had been horribly, profoundly wrong.

Your reproductive organs weren't in "perfect, healthy" shape. You had uterine scarring that appeared to line up with what was called Asherman's Syndrome. Your uterine cavity, as such, had a buildup of scar tissue and caused it to shrink, and the resulting damage is what likely triggered your miscarriage.

The doctor that had diagnosed your condition became suspicious, and called for an investigation into your primary doctor.

Turns out, he was responsible for many, many misdiagnoses on over a dozen patients. Many of which required some women to have hysterectomies done to save them; or have to be rushed into cancer treatments immediately. One had unfortunately lost her life due to a misdiagnosis and a fallopian torsion that wasn't treated in time. She left behind a husband and three little children who had to grow up without their mother.

The resulting lawsuits caused a media circus; and once again your life was thrown into disarray when you decided to be a part of it, having to recite the trauma of losing your poor, little baby to a bunch of strangers.

Your heart festered with rage. If you had known that your body was incapable of the one fucking thing it should have been able to do naturally, that you were one different decision away from the heartbreak you now suffered--you would never had tried to get pregnant. But like many of his patients, you took his word for it because he seemed so trustworthy. And if you couldn't trust the person your health was so reliant upon... who could you trust?

The doctor lost his license, and went to jail for the wrongful death, medical negligence and manslaughter of the woman he failed to properly diagnose and failed to treat.

The settlements were of little comfort to you all; those who suffered now-lifelong health problems, the family mourning a beloved wife and mother... and you, who mourned the life of the baby you never even got to feel kick, let alone name.

Your neighbors, Ebony and Malcolm Harris; Alain and his now-fiance, Amelia, had formed a bit of a cushion around you. Having an explanation for your misfortune, and then the financial boost from the punishment of the one responsible aided the pain somewhat... But it still hurt you so, so much.

Part of the settlement included paid-for counseling for those affected, and you took it. As dry and sour as it felt to yet again revisit the pain, you went through it.

But it still didn't help you when you looked at the toys, the unused clothes and set-up crib still sitting in your room, never to be used.

You spent a lot of time on the roof of your apartment building, contemplating... something. You wouldn't take the pills the doctor gave you. All they did was make you feel groggy and... numb. That felt worse than the guilt and grief, it didn't help.

You weren't sure anything would. You just wanted the pain to stop. You wanted to feel something, again.

You just wanted to be a mother.

"Oh, she's so... she's so..." Ebony sniffed, wiping at her eyes with her handkerchief. Malcolm sat next to her, rubbing her shoulders and sniffling himself. They loved you like their own child. They had none to speak of, since their son died overseas almost 20 years ago. You were the first person whom they felt a familial connection with--who didn't treat them as pitiful, childless old folks who were one bad day away from a nursing home.

"We're so scared for her," Malcolm whispered, pursing his lips. Just like his wife, he loved you like a daughter, too. And seeing you so consumed with pain and want hurt him badly. "She's hurting so badly."

"She wanted to be a mama so badly!" Ebony warbled, her wrinkled hands trembling as her husband held her. "That poor baby just wanted her own baby! She was so excited! Showed us everything, talked about it--I even started knitting a blanket!"

Malcom's own nearly-withered features twisted in sympathetic agony, "Please... is there something--anything--you can do for her? Help her, somehow? Like you helped us?"

The man sitting behind the desk kept his hands linked together as he peered over them at the couple. It was true. He had helped them.

When Ebony grew ill and eventually required dialysis, her body had been becoming increasingly weak and fragile; they were left without options. They tried prayers with pastors and in churches--but it didn't exactly do much with an absent god ignoring another desperate worshipper.

They were nearing the end of their rope when they heard through some whispers about him--the enigmatic "Dr. Moon".

They had only seen his face once, and that was after Ebony was miraculously cured following his strange "treatments", her kidneys back to functioning better than they had in her early 30s. After that, they attended private prayer sessions with him, the second high priest, after Marc Spector, whom he had only really interacted with a handful of times... And did not like how often he went against their god, Khonshu's word.

Begrudgingly, "Dr. Moon", later known to be one Yehya Badr, had started what would be known as the "Midnight Mission" with Spector. In his constant absence, the two agreed that it would work better if Yehya saw to the Mission while Marc traveled to hunt the cult of Ammit, and Khonshu's former high priest, Arthur Harrow.

And, while watching over the Mission and the innocent people... Yehya used his healing abilities and decided to open a free clinic from within the holy place. Many were hesitant to accept treatment from a religious institution, but soon patients and potential followers alike began to trickle in from the streets. People like Ebony and Malcolm.

Yehya felt for the couple and the story they now told him, his brow creasing beneath his white mask, mouth twisting into a pained frown. You sounded on the brink--ready to take one last hurdle into the beyond for the sake of the child you never got to hold.

"Healing something like that..." Yehya sighed sadly, standing up from his chair. The wheels squeaked softly as he pushed it back, and walked to the window that overlooked the street below. "...it won't be easy. I may not be able to do it alone, like when I treated you, Ebony."

"Can't you--can't you call on Him, again? Like you did before?" Malcolm pleaded earnestly. The love these two elders had for you touched him, made his own heart squeeze in his chest.

"Please... if--if His power can come from love, just--just take ours and give it all to her... please!" Ebony sniffled, burying her face in her hands.

Yehya swallowed the lump in his throat and slowly pulled his mask away from his face, walking over to take their hands in each of his. He could feel their heartache through their frail and gentle grip.

"I will see what I can do. Your faith--and love--might help this young woman you two adore so much. But I cannot predict how Khonshu will help her, should he choose to directly get involved."

Another repetitive day. You managed to force yourself to eat some takeout you had leftover from last night and microwaved that for dinner, eating alone in front of your TV as it droned on with some boring reality show you weren't really paying attention to anymore.

For the eighth time that week you contemplated packing away and donating all the baby items in your apartment. But every time you touched them you just broke down into a sobbing fit; your heart rending itself from the reality of what had gone wrong with you.

You couldn't even bring yourself to go into your bedroom, anymore. Everything was in there.

So, you'd taken to sleeping on your couch for the past few months. You only went into your room long enough to get things you needed, clothes and the like (the former just sitting in clothes hampers unfolded after laundry days) before fleeing in the bland space that was your meager living room.

After you finished eating, you sipped at the hard lemonade in your hand. Drinking to cope was bad, but something inside of you kept you from relying on it too heavily. And you never drank to get drunk; only enough to fuzz your senses enough to let you sleep on some nights.

And tonight was one of those nights.

You were on your fourth lemonade when the lights began to flicker in your apartment; your TV freezing frames when it began. Maybe your landlord was fiddling with the power to the building again? Had a fuse blown to the building? Whatever...

"I don't need this right now..." You grunted, taking a deep swig; one mouthful closer to the bottom of the bottle.

"Wasteful." A disembodied voice rumbled, making a chill creep up your spine.

"I... What--" Your head whipped around as you tried to figure out where it had come from--your TV was still frozen, so it couldn't have been that--you were still relatively sober so it couldn't have possibly been drunken hallucinations.

Suddenly, you jumped and yelled in surprise when the bottle went flying from your hand and smashed to bits on the wall, the drink within running down the drywall in rivulets from the impact.

"What the f--"

"My priest told me of you," The voice hummed. It felt as if something unseen was circling you like a predator does with its prey. "And of the pain you have endured, little one. There are those close to you who pleaded for my aid to help you, to heal you."

You felt the presence stop behind you, crowding you in and making your blood still within you; but you just couldn't bring yourself to turn around. The lights flickered weakly once more before going dead, as did your TV, swallowing you in darkness.

As your eyes adjusted to the inky darkness, this voice's words sunk in. "Heal you". "Help you".

"Who are you?" You swallowed.

"I am the god, Khonshu. I protect the innocent, I bring justice. I heal those that ask for it."

Yeah, no. You must have slipped and hit your head. You remembered Ebony and Malcolm saying they'd pray for you--but this was... this was impossible! But... some aching, gnawing, painful part of your heart begged for you to hear the voice out.

"How could you..." You cleared your throat, trying not to sound as scared as you felt. "How could you help me?"

"That remains to be seen." The voice replied with a thoughtful tone. "How do you wish for me to help you? I was told but precious little of your story--only from those around you. Not from you. What is it you wish my aid for?"

Your eyes slowly move to where you instinctively knew your bedroom door was. Even in the dark, you could feel the depressing aura clinging to the space call out to you like a siren in the black sea. The voice seemed to be able to "see" what you were looking at, as well.

Somehow--this Khonshu knew immediately what you were too scared to voice.

"I see." He told you, his voice growing soft and somber, if a touch sympathetic. His presence leaned away from you.

"You wish for me to heal the damage done inside of you?" He mused gently, "To enable you the ability to bear a child? It is easily enough done; but I sense something else bothering you."

Your hands knotted in the hem of your shirt; your stomach twisting itself into a nasty ball of writhing, anxious snakes.

"I... I can't go through it all, again." You croaked, your voice coming out hoarse. "The stress of finding... I just... I can't. It just... I don't want to--to risk it happening all over again, even if..."

"I see..." He murmurs again, giving you your space to breathe, "Then there may be another option--a guaranteed method--to ensure a healthy pregnancy and a healthy child..."

The way your heart hopefully leapt within your ribcage almost hurt--your stomach dropping into a pit. Sure, you may be going crazy and this could be a hallucination... But would it be so bad to give in, to live in some fantasy to alleviate the pain and grief you've been suffering with for nearly over a year?

"So you... you're... offering to... what, be the father of my baby?" You whispered.

A feather-light touch brushed your arm, the feeling warm and gentle on your skin, "Only if you wish it. I can help you, but only if you want me to. I can heal you, but only if it was what you truly want. When a child is produced, I will ensure there will be no struggles for you and the babe."

"You... promise? That it'll work?"

"I swear it."

You swallowed. Thinking hard.

But some part of you had already made a decision--and that part of you spoke: "Okay."

"Very well, then..." Khonshu murmured.

In the span of a breath, you felt large, warm arms wrap around your waist, tugging you close. And then, the next thing you knew... you were laying on your back, in your bed, with him hovering above your in the dark.

Even with the dim lights in the streets below barely filtering in through your blackout curtains, you couldn't clearly make out his appearance. The shadows that were being cast merely gave you an image that couldn't possibly have been true.

"Can I see you?" You whispered, your heart pounding in your chest.

"Only if you wish it." He reminded you softly, his hand caressing your hip, beginning a slow, sweet trek up beneath your shirt.

"I do."

The dim light of the candle at your bedside table flickered to life--the sweet scent of lavender and vanilla filling your senses.

You finally got to see him. And you weren't afraid.

Marc felt uneasy as soon as they got off the plane, and Layla soothed him with a touch as she linked her fingers with his. He didn't like being here--the city was teeming with cruelty and injustice... and he knew Khonshu wouldn't let him rest long. Him, Steven, or Jake.

"Marc, just breathe." Layla said to him as she adjusted the strap of her travel bag with one hand, her other squeezing his. "It'll be fine. If Khonshu has a problem with you taking it easy--"

Layla scoffed, blowing a puff of air from out of her cheeks as they walked out of the terminal, Marc hauling their suitcases behind him, their wheels squeaking sadly beneath the weight. Some of their less... legal belongings were being smuggled in and would be delivered to their destination later in the night.

"Well, the old bastard can deal with it. I'm here, and I'll pick up the slack if I gotta." She assured him.

Marc's shoulders sag; he can feel Jake plucking at the edges of his mind, giving him gentle reassurances and his oath that if anything happened; he would be the one to bear the brunt of Khonshu's work in his stead. Even Steven spoke up to voice his assurances that all would be well--after all, they had Layla with them!

"Yeah," He sighed, smiling at her and bringing her hand to his lips to kiss her knuckles, "You're right. It's also just..."

"Just..?" She led on, quirking a brow at him.

"The last time Badr and I spoke, it kinda ended in a fist fight." He smiled warily.

"Oh, gods, of course it did..." She snorted.

"I mean, I shattered his nose and he broke one of my knees, so... Yeah. Bad." Marc grinned, earning an elbow to the ribs from his lovely wife.

"Can it, Spector. Don't make me worry about you even more!" She laughed with him.

"Ouch!" A man holding a dry erase board laughed; the writing on his sign clearly stating "SPECTOR" in bold black letters on it. He stood in front of a pristine white car. It was Marc's. Or, well... apparently it was Jake's... A purchase he'd made without Marc's knowledge at some point... like the limo back in London.

Jake would apparently make spare cash when he would take over while Marc slept and Steven lay buried. All without their knowledge, of course...

"Hitting you with the Spectorrrr, is she?" Jean-Paul grinned, his thin, pointed mustache quirking like a fidgety caterpillar. "So cruel!"

"Well, he deserves it." Layla grinned, leaning in to hug him, "Frenchy! So good to see you! How've you been? How's Rob?"

"Happy as a clam in some nice clean water! And my physical therapy has almost concluded." Jean-Paul smiled, kissing each of Layla's cheeks in an affectionate greeting when she asked about his lover.

He lifted his eyes to spot Marc, bringing him in with a closed fist to give a shoulder-hug, "I'm glad you've gotten yourself sorted, Marc. Rob and I were worried about you!"

"As sorted as a guy with two other guys living inside his head that's in service to a pissy god can be, anyways..."

"Ahhh... Right. Right." Jean-Paul said, clicking his teeth as he popped the trunk to the car so Layla and Marc could load their things up. He opened up the back door for them to climb into the backseat."

"Hey, I can always drive us, Duchamp." Marc smirked at him, the corners of his eyes creasing in humor, "After all... it is technically my car."

"No, no--" Jean-Paul grinned, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "Let me do it, c'mon. It gives me something to do, today!"

Layla nudged Marc with a giggle and he relented, climbing in behind her.

Marc sighed as Jean-Paul helped them unload their bags, his eyes following Marc and Layla's to the building in front of them; the doors decorated with carved crescent moons in the frosted glass.

He had been to the Midnight Mission only a handful of times--and every one of those times was to assist Marc as his pilot during intense missions for Khonshu. And he of course met Yehya Badr, the two men had a respectful relationship. He himself had conducted a few healing rituals to help with the phantom pains Jean-Paul occasionally felt in his legs.

But he knew that Badr and Marc didn't always get along; Yehya being a die-hard and devout follower of Khonshu and Marc being a bit of a renegade who tended to go against his word and do things his own way. And he knew it had been a few years since the two parted on... well--rather bad terms.

"Well, better get the torture and inevitable lecture over with..." Marc grunted, shouldering one of the duffels. Layla helps gather the rest, letting Jean-Paul close the door and trunk.

As they crossed the threshold, Jean-Paul winced, "Oh, right! There's something you should know about, by the way..."

Marc looked at him over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Well, Yehya isn't the only one who lives in the Mission anymore." Jean-Paul grinned as their floors squeaked on the waxed marble floors.

"Okay, and...?"

He rubbed his mustache with his index finger, smiling a little bashfully as he looked away. "Well, er... it's kinda... Uh, awkward... Well, I mean, that is--"

"Spit it out, Frenchy." Layla smiled, rolling her eyes.

A door could be heard swinging open from somewhere down the hall as they leave the foyer, and Jean-Paul laughed, grinning from ear to ear as a small, rambunctious human suddenly appeared, colliding with Marc's legs and wrapping her arms around his legs and giggling.

"Daddy!" She giggled excitedly, rubbing her face on his jeans.

Marc on the other hand, began to immediately panic--his eyes going wide as he looked to Layla, whom in turn looked at Marc with her eyebrows risen the highest on her brow Marc has ever seen--awaiting an explanation.

Marc began to sweat, "Baby, I swear to God I didn't--"

The child looked up at him, and frowned. Her little brows creased and she pouted, her bottom lip poking out as she studied Marc. "...Oh." She said dejectedly, sighing deeply. "You're not my Daddy."

Marc's heart felt like it was gonna explode--Jake and Steven had come to co-front to see what all the fuss and anxiety was about. Steven immediately began to go on about how darling the girl was, her shiny and clear her eyes were--how smart and at the same time seemingly ancient they looked. Like polished obsidian stones, a dazzling array of lights shimmering from somewhere deep within.

Jean-Paul laughed and clapped his hands, his face turning red from the force of his laughter. The child brightened up and rushed towards him, allowing him to scooped her up and swing her in a circle, "Hello, petit gâteau!" He crooned, kissing the girl's cheeks.

"Uncle Frenchy!" She giggled as he swung her around one last time before setting her down.

"Yes, yes, it's been a while! A whole week!" He grinned down at her, letting her hang off of his hand. She swung from it for a moment, studying Marc and Layla curiously, the fabric of her dress flowing almost like water as she did so.

"This is--well, I guess this could technically be your... er..." Jean-Paul smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Your big brother Marc? And Layla, his wife."

Marc and Layla's jaws dropped, their confusion and curiosity only growing more and more.

(Oh, this'll be good...) Jake snickered, rubbing his chin. Through their reflections in a nearby portrait, Marc could see Steven elbow him.

'Ay, lay off! We can be curious without bein' rude about it, yeah?' The Brit huffed.

Jean-Paul was about to explain, but...

"Savah!" You sighed in relief, running out to see them. You knew Jean-Paul, from his healing sessions with Yehya and how he loved to babysit your daughter. He was apparently a trusted friend and ally of "Moon Knight's" so you knew he was harmless.

"I... agh. I'm so sorry if she jumped you..." You smiled apologetically at them as you scooped her up, bouncing the tot on your hip as she giggled into her hands. "We were playing hide and seek--and she must have slipped out when I wasn't paying attention!"

Steven couldn't help but squee at how adorable the girl was, Jake had to concede that, yes... she was stinkin' adorable. Even Marc was having a hard time arguing the point, and he was very, very awkward with kids.

"Savah, it's one thing to go up and hug your Uncle Frenchy, but it's another to go up to strangers you don't know." You say, gently scolding her. Her little grin falters, and she frowns cutely.

"I felt it... I thought it was Daddy..." She mumbled, plucking at one of the buttons in your blouse.

"Felt" it?" You asked, raising an eyebrow and looking back at Marc and Layla.

"Right! That brings us to the introductions, eh?" Jean-Paul spoke up, rubbing his hands together. "This is Layla el Faouly--er, well, actually Spector now, ain't it?--and Marc Spector, her husband. He's the Moon Knight."

Marc jumped, his eyes going wide at how casually Jean-Paul had introduced him with his mystical alter-ego, barely even registering it when he introduced you by name; "And this lovely little bon bon, is Savah, her daughter."

"Ohhhh..." You said, your posture relaxing, "That's why she got her "funny" feeling! Sorry, she thought you were her dad."

"I, uh... No harm no foul, but..." Marc laughed nervously, smoothing his hair back, "I could've lived without the heart attack of me possibly blacking out and oops'ing a baby with somebody at some point in time..."

Layla actually laughed, "Oh, please... like you have game with anyone but me, Marc."

He looked at Layla and deadpanned; "Yeah, well, you'd be surprised at how many people swoon for Jake's "Spanish charm"."

You blinked, looking at Jean-Paul for an explanation, and he gestured to continue down the hall, "Ah... let's go and... get some tea, hm? Explain a little bit."

"Right, right, I've never actually met this one." You reply, nodding.

"Mhmm, and he definitely doesn't know about you."

Basic introductions happened over warm cups of tea in one of the furnished rooms off the foyer. Badr had shaken hands with Marc, surprisingly polite and almost friendly before he briefly turned his attention to little Savah, helping fix her doll she had accidentally popped the leg off of when she got too rough, and ruffled her hair before leaving once more.

However... Jean-Paul had yet to fully introduce the two of you to the couple. He mostly let Marc and Layla explain who they were, and what they had been doing. Since obviously, you were so trusted as to even know about Yehya's identity as Hunter's Moon; they trusted to tell you about hunting Ammit, and ultimately defeating her.

It was less than an half an hour after that, that Savah suddenly perked up again, hopping up and down into place, her eyes sparkling even brighter. The glimmering lights in her dark depths caught Marc's attention, stopping him dead in the middle of his sentence, "Uh..."

"Oh... look's like he's home after all... wonder what he was waiting for?" You muse, smiling at your daughter happily, watching her as she ran to the door when it began to open.

A man with tanned skin, graying black hair, and a short beard walked in; his white suit crisp and immaculate. His hazel eyes were stern, his chiseled features only softening as Savah rushed up to him, holding her arms up expectantly until he picked her up and cradled her body gently against his, kissing her forehead gently.

"Daddy!" She squealed, giggling as she tried to wrap her tiny arms around him. It was now pointedly obvious this man was indeed to be her father--especially because of how many of his facial aspects she had. She had your skin tone and hair color, but certainly had his looks...

You rose from your cushioned seat and walked over to them, brushing your nose affectionately against his with a smile as he wrapped an arm around your waist.

"See? See?" Savah said excitedly, grinning like mad. "I told you I felt Daddy! I always do!"

"Yeah, you do, munchkin. Yeah, you do." You snorted, shaking your head.

Jean-Paul cleared his throat and awkwardly stepped around the three of you; "Well... I guess I don't have to do the rest of the introductions after all... I'll see you two later!"

"Bye bye!" Savah called out to him as the door shut with a faint click behind him.

Savah's father looked at Marc with a rather bored expression, almost... annoyed, really. Gave Layla the same look, as well. Marc rolled his shoulder stiffly, suddenly very uncomfortable under his unflinching gaze.

"It took the both of you long enough to get here." He said in almost a sneer; his voice unmistakably, painfully familiar.

Layla and Marc shot to their feet, almost falling over themselves as the realization dawned on them. Jake and Steven were in an uproar within Marc's mind.

"Khonshu?!" They both cried.

His brow quirked upward in an unimpressed gesture, "Gah. How can you two be so perceptive when hunting artifacts and evildoers, but cannot pick up on this? I am disappointed in you, Marc. You should have figured it out, first."

"Th-that's why her... her eyes--?!" He sputtered.

Finally, the corner of Khonshu's mouth tilts upwards in a cocky smirk; his eyes flashed an almost blinding white. And when Savah looked at the both of them, they could see the lights in her eyes swirl and shine even brighter and in tune with Khonshu's, shifting and dancing until they briefly solidified in an unmistakable crescent-shape before parting in a fractured dance, again.

"Yes, this is my daughter." He stated proudly, his arm tightening around you a fraction, "And my wife."

"Wife, huh? When did that happen?" You snorted, giving him a snarky look.

"I assumed it happened sometime after Savah was born." He hummed, his snark matching your own, "After all, you live under my roof, mother my child, sleep in our bed..."

You rolled your eyes and elbowed him, "Smartass."

You looked at the couple across the room and smiled awkwardly, "I never did get to explain much... But, since that's outta the way... mind explaining to me why there's such a weird vibe in the room, right now?"

Marc and Layla merely blinked at you, before once again exclaiming in unison:

"You had Khonshu's god-baby?!"

[mirai-e-jump]

Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger Photo Book: ~King of Kings~ Main Cast Member Interviews Support Cast Special Comments (translations below, LONG POST)

(other pages)

Sakai Taisei (Gira Husty)

-The Director's valuable advice on how to play Gira in a natural way-

I think that we were able to complete filming without any issues due to the support of many people over the past year.

As an actor, I was inspired alot by the many career actors in the King-Ohger cast. In particular, Morioka Yutaka-san, who played Douga, and Masato Yano-san, who played Racules, both of whom I had many opportunities to work with, were very important. However, both of them didn't give me any specific advice on the set. They always had the attitude of, "You're free to do whatever you want to do," and I was grateful for that more than anything.

Filming was done in front of a green screen in the studio, which was a special environment, but since I personally didn't have much experience in filming dramas, I had no objections to it at all. Sometimes we filmed on location, so experiencing the "live scenery" and "atmosphere of the site" was nice, but in our situation, we felt uncomfortable unless we were in front of the green screen (laughs). It had become such a normal thing for us.

As for the performance, at first I couldn't understand the Director's intentions and was just figuring it out in my head, but then Director Kamihoriuchi Kazuya told me, "Feel it with your heart," and that's when it became easier to act. After that, I feel like I was able to take on the role of Gira more naturally throughout those days of filming.

Also, I think we showed "Gira two years later" in the new chapter partly through the visuals and direction, such as his costume and hairstyle, but I also wanted to play the role showing a more relaxed side in my own way.

-The wonderful thing about Gira is that he's always there for others-

What I was most mindful of throughout the year was definitely the relationship with Racules. I wasn't told of any future developments, so I was surprised when I read the scripts for episodes 41 and 42. Even though he's his older brother I played the role with a strong sense of, "Overthrow Racules!" I had heard during filming for episode 20 that he was going to reappear later, but I had no idea he was destined to carry such a cruel burden……That's why I was deeply moved by our joint fight scene in episode 42.

After that, in episode 43, I'll never forget the scene where we hold each other's hands. Compared to Yano-san, I think I'm still inexperienced in some aspects of acting, but I did my best in my own way, so I'd be happy if you could grasp the feelings the two of us have.

From episode 48 to the final episode, many of the cast members who've helped us in the past reappeared, and the motivation on set was even higher than usual. The main Director of the last three episodes was Kamihoriuchi-san, and the six of us who play the roles of the kings have absolute trust in the Director, but he's also someone who's uncompromising in his approach to the play, so I worked hard to "hang in there until the very end."

The final day of filming was the scene in the final episode where the six of us are untransformed. I personally didn't intend to be overly emotional just because it was the final take. However, when the Director said "OK!," the cast and crew involved in the production, including Yano-san, who wasn't supposed to be filming that day, gathered around. I thought, "So many people were watching over us" and became overwhelmed with emotion……I think I probably cried more than anyone else (laughs).

Looking back on all the episodes, I think that Gira was always portrayed as a character who stood by someone's side. He always tries to understand people's feelings, regardless of whether they're a king, retainer, or a citizen, and I thought it was wonderful to see that kind of attitude as I played Gira

As time goes on, please don't forget about Gira!

Watanabe Aoto (Yanma Gast)

-Yanma's coolness is the charm that Director Kamioriuchi possesses-

Currently, when I look back at Yanma from a year ago, I feel alittle embarrassed because he seems so childish (laughs). I've jokingly said to the staff on set things like, "I want to reshoot that scene," but on the other hand, I felt that it was a performance that only I, who had just encountered Yanma, could give. That's just how I feel right now.

As for my role, it was largely created together with Director Kamihoriuchi Kazuya. In the beginning, I read stories about real kings and books by various leaders, and I tried to express them through "moving performances." In response, the Director told me to, "Take a more confident stance," and from that point on, I had the image of, "Even if he doesn't say much, his coolness will be shown through his actions." To be more specific, Yanma has something in common with Director Kamihoriuchi himself. I think that the Director's charm as a person is reflected through Yanma.

What I remember well from early filming was the N'kosopa scene in episode 2. We spent the whole day filming in the cold during the middle of winter with the participation of members of the TTFC (Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club), and it truly felt like a king and his people overcoming their difficulties as one. Episode 2 in particular was the one where I read the script repeatedly after my audition, so I'll never forget the excitement I felt when I saw the finished footage.

Every episode is filled with memories, but the developments that take place two years later starting from episode 27 stirred me up. At first, I thought he was going to be alittle more mature and relaxed, but now that his hair was a blonde pompadour, I decided to play a more active role. In episode 35, when they all go to take back the invaded N'kosopa, I felt Yanma's growth compared to episode 2. The actual successful recapture took place in episode 39. During that time, for the main episodes of Hymeno, Kaguragi, and Rita, Yanma had many funny moments, and as I played him I thought that even though things were tough, he doesn't stay down, which is another cool thing about him.

-The fans are part of the production!-

When he was being manipulated by Hilbil in episode 44, the interaction with Gira had many homages to the past. Usually, there are many opportunities for Yanma to say something preachy, but in this episode it's the opposite, and Yanma catching Gira's fist is also a reverse pattern from episode 17.

Also, defeating Hilbil using the 10 combination King-Ohger for the first time in a long time was a hot development, and in the end, we both said the exact same lines as in episode 2, being, "Lowlifes like you…(-Gira), Should know your place…(-Yanma), On your knees! (-both)."

From episode 48 to the final episode, new assets have been created, and I think that the viewers will enjoy the spectacular visuals until the very end.

In the scene where the "King's Proof" is returned, only my mouth is shown, and the Director told me, "The love you've received is too great, so it's okay if you cry." I intended to act dignified, but those words were like magic, and I was immediately overcome with emotion.

Other hot developments include the reappearance of major characters, and the relationship between the kings and the people they're meant to protect is also noteworthy.

Even after all the battles were over, Yanma still had work to do, and I was able to play the role of Yanma, who's always looking forward until the end.

After working on it for a year, first of all, I'm relieved that filming was completed successfully, and I'd like to take this opportunity to express my feelings of "thank you" to the many people who supported us.

Personally, I believe that King-Ohger was created by everyone, and the fans are also a part of the production. I'd be happy if you could think of us six kings from time to time.

Murakami Erica (Hymeno Ran)

-The key to playing Hymeno is "how to deal with life"-

Hymeno has a selfish side, but if she shows it too forcefully, her position as a king will be in danger. Of course, it's not just being selfish, and the reason was depicted in episode 3, but reading the script and actually doing the performance gave off a different impression, so I explored this through the opinions of the people on set and through interactions with the cast. Also, after learning about the setting in which her parents were murdered in episode 7, I thought that Hymeno's key point was "how to deal with life."

I was acting without knowing what was going to happen next, but it was interesting to see things in a different point of view once all the facts were known, such as the foreshadowing of the anesthetic in episode 8 being revealed in episode 42. It was like reading a serialized manga, and there was a competition among the cast to see who would get the new script first (laughs), and the person who got it first would upload a photo of the script to our group chat.

Personally, my favorite episode was episode 28. I had alot of conversations with Kaku So-san about playing Kaguragi, and I was able to see a side of Kaguragi that I had never seen before, and I think we were able to deepen our understanding not only of our characters, but also of the cast. Other than that, I also enjoyed episode 36. The matchmaking competition was hard to endure because everyone was trying their best to make me laugh, like Yanma's weird face when he was being controlled by Jeramie (laughs). Also, Hymeno, who was being impersonated by Kamejim, casually crossed her legs even though she doesn't usually do that. The uglier the fake becomes, the brighter the real one shines, so I was conscious of the gap between the two while concealing her true identity.

When I got involved with Rita in episode 5, Director Kamihoriuchi Kazuya told me, "I want you to perform the role of Hymeno as if she's aware Rita will be hard to deal with." At first I thought, "Hymeno and Rita are incompatible, huh," but as they got closer and closer through Moffun and the "Wrath of God," I feel that they've become a very special person to Hymeno. That's why when Rita came to Ishabana in episode 30, Rita may have just been fulfilling their duties, but I thought it was cute that they misunderstood that Hymeno had gone out of her way to meet them. To be honest, I was pretty excited to film the tea scene (laughs).

-I was lifted up by Hymeno's inner strength-

The existence of Grodie, the enemy of her parents, was revealed in episode 30 and defeated in episode 47, but before that, I personally thought episode 46 was important. Jeramie decides to use his"King's Proof" to give life to the immortal Grodie, and Hymeno accepts his decision. There's a conversation between the two of them where they said, "It's okay to cry" and, "I'll ruin my makeup." The script was based on the answer I gave to screenwriter Takano Minato-san when he asked me, "What do you want to do?" I suggested that if a little girl was crying and Hymeno came to her, she might say something like, "What a waste of a pretty face" or "Your mascara will be ruined" to keep her positive. When I opened the script, I was surprised to find that she wouldn't be crying, but I was happy because I wanted to show Hymeno's strong will!

In the end, it was an "all star" effort, and I was thrilled that she was reunited with her parents in episode 49. Although the scene took place while both of them were concentrating on providing treatment, they were able to communicate without having to talk, and I felt a sense of closure within Hymeno. In the final episode, it was cool to see everyone stand up against Dagded, there were some unexpected surprises, and we were able to reach a truly wonderful ending.

All 50 episodes are filled with the passion of the cast and staff, and I think that no matter which episode you watch, you won't be disappointed. During all this, I myself was lifted up by Hymeno's inner strength, and I'm so glad that I was able to work with all the cast members until the end. I hope to see you again in the future, such as the FLT, so please continue to support us!

Hirakawa Yuzuki (Rita Kaniska)

-Playing the role of Rita by moving their "mind" with their whole body-

The role of Rita is an "immovable" character, so the performance doesn't focus on movement, and their face is visible only through their left eye and you can't see their facial expressions, so it was difficult in the early days of filming. The solo performances were particularly difficult. In episode 12, there's the trial scene where Jeramie is listening to them, but since only my eye was visible, I was concerned that my blinking or the direction of my gaze might convey nuance that I didn't intend. At that time, Director Kamihoriuchi Kazuya gave me advice of, "If you perform by moving your mind with your whole body, it becomes an expression, so you don't have to be caught up in performing with only your left eye." This gave me confidence and made me think, "Maybe there's more I can do."

When talking about Rita, their relationship with Hymeno is also important. In addition to being king, Rita has the role of Chief International Justice, so there was a part of them that drew a line between themself and others, but after the interaction with Hymeno was depicted towards the end of episode 16, Rita was able to separate their work and private life, and the areas where they could express themself gradually became clearer. I thought that when they had tea together in episode 30, it was another scene that brought them closer together.

Also, Karras and Shiron are like parents to Rita. In episode 16, we learned some of Rita's past, which I thought could be reflected in future performances. After that, everything came together in episode 30. When I read the script and learned of Shiron's death, I was personally shaken, and during filming, I was able to fully feel Rita's feelings while acting. Also, while they were determined to seal Grodie in this episode, Hymeno stopped them from doing so, and it reminded them once again of how valued they are. Episode 30 is an unforgettable episode, not only because of their relationship with Hymeno, but also in the sense that Rita became stronger after preparing to die.

-It was a year of pursuing the role of Rita that I envisioned-

I was very happy to receive lots of feedback on SNS for the Idol episode.

The stage scene was only about two lines long in the script, but the set they created was so beautiful, so I went into filming thinking, "I hope the viewers will enjoy it."

It was the most difficult time for me, learning dances and recording at the same time as filming, but I have the impression that I did my best as "Hirakawa Yuzuki" in this episode, even though I was playing Rita.

Towards the end of episode 45, it was very exciting to see Kaguragi and Rita, who had never had a chance to really interact before, working together. Since we often filmed separately, when we met, Kaku So-san and I would report to each other with, "How did that scene go?"

I was also impressed by the scene in episode 48 where they launch the evacuation plan "Zero." It was really hard even for me to admit that they couldn't defeat Dagded, but I think that's just how much I got into the role.

At the end of the story that spanned a year, six people with very strong personalities come together, and if just one of them were missing, the story could not be completed, so I think it concluded in a way that was truly typical of "Ohsama Sentai."

Looking back, I had wanted to play the role of Rita since the audition stage, and being able to pursue my own vision of Rita for a year was an invaluable and truly precious experience.

Now that filming's over, I feel sad, but I hope that people will look back on the show after it's finished airing, and I hope that it grows into a show that'll continue to be loved forever.

Kaku So (Kaguragi Dybowski)

-Until I did the difficult role of deceiving and tricking people-

In the beginning I was told that the role of Kaguragi was a character that deceives and tricks people, but at the same time, the Producer said, "Please don't make him someone that people dislike," and I thought, "No, that's going to be difficult" (laughs). In a way, Kaguragi has conflicting aspects, but in episode 4, the resolution within me improved, and I began to enjoy playing the role more.

Also, the "Hweh?" response when he's acting silly in episode 8 wasn't specifically written in the script, and when I first tried to just do the facial expression, Director Yamaguchi Kyohei said, "I want it to have alittle more impact," so I also added the voice. It's thanks to the Director that I was able to emphasize his personality.

Then there's the relationship with his younger sister Suzume. Kamura Mami-san, who plays Suzume, had such a convincing performance from the first day that it made me think, "That's Kaguragi's sister," and through her I was able to bring out the comedic side of my performance alot more.

All the episodes are memorable, but if I had to pick one main episode for Kaguragi, it would be episode 37. While I've always played the role that rides the line between good and evil, that episode gave more weight to the fact that he carries a tragic past, and I myself became more fond of Kaguragi. The honest and pure Kaguragi I played in the flashback scenes are literally just me (laughs), so it was easy to do. His voice is usually deep and threatening, but at that time I tried to show his "difference" by using a tone that was closer to my actual self.

It was also interesting to perform the scene where he and Racules, played by Masato Yano-chan, were trying to expose each other's secrets. However, I wasn't sure about their relationship, and one time when I asked Yano-chan, "Do you know when they'll become friends?," he left me hanging with, "No, I don't know" (laughs). I first found out about their backgrounds when I read the script for episode 42. In retrospect, he was mostly absent in episode 36, was he perhaps discussing things with Racules behind the scenes? The line at the end of episode 37, "Let's take the dirtiest road ahead from now on," was also foreshadowing.

As for Kaguragi, he probably believed in Suzume and followed Racules, and I believe that he carried out his own will even though he was prepared to be deceived.

-Even now, Kaguragi's in my heart!-

Towards the end of episode 45, it became a main episode between him and Rita, someone he had little chance to interact with up until then. It was a new experience for me to work with Yuzuyan, and we enjoyed each other's presence. The scenes where they both communicate their feelings were performed separately because I spoke to their partner Morphonia, but even though they weren't in the same space, it was really cool to depict that they shared the same mindset. Kaguragi may be deceiving on the surface, but deep down, he just wants to make people smile, and I was able to portray that side of him.

The final episode completes the story, but there's also some room that allows you to use your imagination, which is what I like about it. If it ended properly, that'd be sad, wouldn't it? During filming, I worked hard until the end, but I'm personally the type of person who likes to joke around and have fun while doing it. I'm glad that we were able to spend time in a cheerful atmosphere until the very final moment.

Even after all filming finishes, I still have many more opportunities to play Kaguragi, including performances at Theater G Rosso and the FLT, and I still feel as if Kaguragi is in my heart.

Having a stance like Kaguragi's may not be easily rewarded, but I think it's filled with what's important for people to live their lives.

Whenever you feel like giving up or are having a hard time, I'd be happy if you could remember Kaguragi and think, "Let's do our best!"

Ikeda Masashi (Jeramie Brasieri)

-Jeramie, who's been alive for 2,000 years, shows his "composure"-

In my situation as Jeramie, I started out as the narrator, so my job began with voice recording. The other five had already started filming, and looking back, it feels nostalgic, as when I first greeted them, I was overwhelmed by their flashy costumes and everyone's aura. I made my first appearance as Jeramie at the end of episode 11, where I was suddenly performing with a mask on.

My real appearance began in the next one, episode 12, and since his character is set to have lived for 2,000 years, I thought I should have a certain amount of freedom in my performance. At the time, I still wasn't used to being on set, but it's not good to get nervous, so I just gave it my best shot. I was really happy that everyone was willing to talk to me during this time. Thanks to them, I was able to open up right away.

In the beginning, I think Jeramie was a character who he himself was hard to read between the lines (laughs), but as the story progressed, his growth was also depicted, which I personally found very rewarding to perform. In particular, I think that episode 26 was a turning point for Jeramie. Just before Desnarak VIII dies, the scene where they exchange the lines, "You'll become king, and make them see, that the Bugnarak are here" and, "You'll be there too……" is one of my favorites in the entire show. Desnarak VIII is family, as they share the same name "Narak," and the, "You'll be there too" was an expression of his feelings that he didn't want him to die, as Desnarak VIII's existence was a major factor in Jeramie's resolution to become king.

-The final episode had a perfect conclusion and everyone was satisfied-

After entering the new chapter, in episode 29, there was a scene in which I play a major role as the mastermind behind everything. It was difficult to find the right balance, but I acted with so much enthusiasm that I was willing to yell at everyone. As Jeramie, I wish for peace more than anyone else, as I want to protect everyone at the expense of myself, so I faced the situation as best as I could, which was both noble and heartbreaking.

Then, in episode 31, everyone fought to clear my (Jeramie's) name. I feel that Jeramie, who has been lonely for such a long time, had finally made true and kind friends. Also, the line "I love you" that he says to his mother (Nephila) in this episode really moved me. In episode 12, for those words he said, "There's no phrase in this world that's more cliche," but I didn't realize he would capture that foreshadowing so effectively.

There's a scene where he fights together with his mother towards the end of episode 49, and I'd like the parents who watch the show to pay attention to the relationship between us as parent and child.

Also, in episode 47, it was really intense when Grodie was given the "King's Proof." For Jeramie, the "King's Proof" is "eternal life," so he'll no longer be immortal if he uses it……The determination to reach that point was no ordinary feat, and it must've been very worrying. That's why the scene where Jeramie talks with Hymeno in front of the setting sun after making up his mind left such an impression on me. Marie was able to convey her thoughts clearly, so I was able to naturally get into the role, and I think the two of us were able to create a performance that worked well together.

The final episode perfectly portrayed Jeramie's role as the storyteller, which had continued from the first episode, and the story comes to a perfect conclusion based on what had happened so far. I was talking to everyone on set, and deep down, we feel we were able to end the show properly.

More than anything, I'm really satisfied that I was able to spend a year with this group. Throughout the year, I'm sure each of us had our own hard and painful times, but seeing everyone's faces on set made me feel at ease. I'm very grateful to the five of you who played the roles of king.

Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger: The Kings Group Discussion Over the past year of filming, the bonds of the cast have gradually deepened. Looking back on filming, we asked them about their "true opinions" that they can only talk about now.

-Fun memories from the past year-

Kaku: The first topic is "fun memories." Does that mean the casual conversations we all had while filming? (laughs). We all talked in the moment and everyone would laugh and go "wahaha" alot.

Hirakawa: On the other hand, filming alone made me feel really lonely. It was natural for me to be with everyone else.

Murakami: It was part of our daily routine to go out and eat with everyone after we finished filming. It was fun~.

Watanabe: Also, the day before the broadcast was part of the fun!

Sakai: It's really exciting to see your own performance on screen. And then there were the reactions after the broadcast.

Hirakawa: We were popular every week on SNS.

Kaku: Each time, the character with the most active role would be trending.

Ikeda: For me, the recording sessions were also fun.

Murakami: I'd see footage for scenes I wasn't in for the first time during the recording, so that was alot of fun too.

-The many true selves that everyone's seen-

Murakami: After spending time with everyone, the first thing that surprised me was that Taisei actually likes to play pranks.

Sakai: Eh? I've never played one once.

Kaku: That's a lie!

Murakami: You did stuff like add wasabi to our kaisendon (laughs).

Hirakawa: It was really spicy! (laughs).

Murakami: Or before our cue, you'd shout, "Whaa!" from behind us.

Sakai: I never did that~

Ikeda: Yes you did~

Hirakawa: He did that to me too (laughs).

Murakami: It was also abit surprising that Aoto, who I thought was cool at first, would also mess around.

Watanabe: Eh? Really?

Hirakawa: It's also surprising that he pretends not to know. Actually, he's "in charge of being cute" (laughs).

Murakami: Yeah, "the person in charge of being cute."

Watanabe: When I first learned about the cast of the kings, I thought I was going to be the "cute one" (laughs).

Hirakawa: That's what we're saying!

Sakai: For Marie, even when we were filming late at night and everyone was tired, she had a fun aura surrounding her.

Kaku: Her jokes were amazing. We listened to these awkward jokes as we continued to perform at other sites.

Murakami: My nickname became "Mood Breaker."

Watanabe: Eh? This is my first time hearing that!

Murakami: Are you a liar?

Watanabe: That's a really straightforward insult! (laughs).

Murakami: Ahahahaha.

Sakai: The usual pattern is that Marie suddenly says something strange and everyone laughs.

Murakami: At first, I thought, "I have to do this properly," but halfway through I gave up (laughs).

Hirakawa: No, you gave up early on.

Murakami: Ehehe (laughs).

Kaku: For Masashi, he tried his best in the beginning to join in, but soon the two of us started speaking nonsense in our dressing room.

Ikeda: Conversations where you turn off your brain.

Kaku: That's it (laughs).

Watanabe: Definitely, when I passed by Masashi's dressing room, I often heard his voice from inside.

Ikeda: I have a loud voice!

Watanabe: Not a single sound came from the dressing room me and Taisei shared (laughs).

Sakai: You two seemed to be having fun.

Murakami: Yuzuyan is the youngest of the members, but she's like an "older sister" in some ways.

Ikeda: Yeah, she has the image of a caring person.

Kaku: Still, you're the youngest in your family, right?

Hirakawa: Yes!

Watanabe: It's fine now, but when we first met, she wouldn't even look me in the eyes (laughs).

Hirakawa: I'm a shy person, but I usually talk alot to hide my shyness. However, I was really nervous at the beginning of King-Oher (bitter smile).

Watanabe: And now, you're a lively person!

Sakai: I'm also from Kyushu, so I felt a sense of familiarity from the beginning. That's why I don't think you had any major changes from beginning to end, right?

Hirakawa: But, at some point, I started speaking with a dialect.

Sakai: Ah, that's right.

Murakami: Yuzuyan gave her all from the beginning.

Hirakawa: That's because Kaku-san, the oldest of our group, affectionately embraced all of us.

Kaku: Yeah! Say more of that!

Ikeda: Because of that, there was an atmosphere on the set where we could talk about anything.

Sakai: He really brought the five of us together.

Kaku: That makes me happy! Thank you (laughs).

Murakami: How cute~

Kaku: No, this is seriously embarrassing.

Hirakawa: (to Watanabe) Aren't you in charge of being cute?

Watanabe: (laughs).

Kaku: Conversely, I was saved by everyone's good character. That's why I wanted to support everyone. I've always felt that way.

-Feelings I want to share with everyone now-

Kaku: If we were to take this opportunity to say a few words to everyone, I'd first start with Masashi. Thanks for always messing around with me!

Watanabe: I hope Masashi will continue to do well with his friendliness.

Sakai: I want to work together again with you even after this job ends!

Hirakawa: I really appreciate the way you always looked out for everyone during filming.

Murakami: When we all go out together, he takes the initiative to invite us. Thank you for creating so many memories.

Ikeda: Eh! I'm so happy! Marie has always been cheerful, and I hope she continues to do her best with her cheerful and beloved character!

Murakami: Yeah! I'll do my best!

Watanabe: I hope you keep that smile on your face.

Sakai: She has the kind of character that I wish I had as a childhood friend or something. You always had a smile on your face and brightened up the set.

Kaku: For her performance, in the Hymeno episode (episode 36), Hymeno, who was being impersonated by Kamejim, was really interesting. I'd like to see a performance like that in a different production.

Hirakawa: Marie has always supported me with her "harmonizing" spirit. On the other hand, from now on, I hope to be able to help her as much as possible.

Murakami: Yuzuyan is the one who has always been there for me. I think that's her strength, and I hope she continues to be there for many people.

Hirakawa: Of course! Thank you.

Kaku: Despite being the youngest, she was the hardest worker in our group. During the idol episode (episode 38), even though she was having a hard time during filming, she simply said, "I have to practice tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and then the day after the day after tomorrow I have a costume fitting." That's what gave me courage and energy.

Watanabe: She was more aware of her surroundings than anyone else. You helped me there too.

Sakai: That's right. When I was alittle out of the loop, she'd casually come over to me.

Watanabe: I'd say it's okay to think for yourself from now on.

Ikeda: Right, take care of yourself more.

Watanabe: Be selfish.

Hirakawa: Well then, I guess my goal is to be Hymeno (laughs)

Murakami: For Kaku-san, when the time came, he'd show off his "dependable big brother" nature.

Ikeda: He's got a heart as generous as the universe itself.

Hirakawa: I asked Kaku-san for alot of advice during filming, and he always listened to everything. I'm sure I'll be asking him for advice again in the future.

Kaku: Please do, please do!

Watanabe: When I got heated, he'd calmly give me advice from an adult's point of view. I also got alot of advice from him.

Sakai: I'm not the type of person who can talk to others about things, but there were times when Kaku-san sensed that I was at a loss and approached me. That made me really happy.

Kaku: I was alittle worried that you'd all think, "How annoying" (laughs).

Murakami: Aoto seemed like he was laid back, but even when times were tough or difficult, he always made it a point to help liven up the mood.

Ikeda: Usually, Nabe-chan and I notice the same things. We'd both go, "Hmm?"

Watanabe: That's true! (laughs).

Ikeda: That made me happy.

Kaku: Also, he had a super funny and cute character. He made me laugh so much.

Hirakawa: In the beginning, I wasn't the type to talk much, but I was happy to open up to Aoto!

Sakai, Murakami, Kaku & Ikeda: Right?!

Watanabe: No, I think I opened up first.

Hirakawa: We opened up to each other. At first, I thought we'd never get along (laughs).

Watanabe: Eeeh~?

Hirakawa: I kept watching you from different angles, and then you spoke up unexpectedly. I spoke up too.

Ikeda: Such words! (laughs). (*she used alot of onomatopoeia)

Sakai: Aoto and I are the only ones who are the same age.

Ikeda: That's true

Sakai: Especially in the pilot (episodes 1-5), I still wasn't used to things, but I was really inspired by Aoto's good acting.

Watanabe: No, on the contrary, I was focused on Taisei.

Murakami: Taisei had a huge burden on his shoulders as the main character, and it must've been extremely difficult for him, but I thought it was really amazing that he didn't come off that way at all.

Ikeda: Yeah, I definitely respect that.

Hirakawa: You must've had a much harder year than us. Still, you never said "It's tough" or, "I'm tired" at all.

Sakai: No, there were times when it was tough.

Hirakawa: It's amazing that you never showed it.

Kaku: Taisei had alot of trial and error in the beginning, but halfway through, I learned alot from him, including how to switch between emotions and how to act. What'll happen when you play a different role in the future? Right now, I'm very excited about Taisei, and wonder what kind of actor he'll become in the future.

Murakami: After all, he's the "leader."

Ikeda: Thank you for being the leader of King-Ohger!

Sakai: Same here, thank you everyone!

Murakami: Even after this job ends, I want to see you all again.

Watanabe, Hirakawa, Kaku & Ikeda: We'll definitely get together again!

Retainer Cast Special Comments From the cast members who fulfilled their roles as competent followers, supporting the kings of each country, their comments have arrived.

Morioka Yutaka (Douga) Profile: A strong retainer who served as part of the entourage for Racules. After that, he went job hunting in the other countries but wasn't hired, so he became the retainer for the next king, Gira, and protected the country.

"Please tell us what you respect about Douga."

Morioka: He's someone who values etiquette, does his absolute best in everything he does, and lives his life honestly through his own convictions. He has a strong will that allows him to sincerely offer advice to his king, but I also like the fact that there's a part of him that's somewhat out of the ordinary and we get a glimpse into his cute side.

"What are your impressions of Gira and Racules (including Sakai Taisei and Masato Yano), and were there any memorable moments during filming?"

Morioka: I think that both of them have a perfect link between their own personalities and those of the roles they played. Sakai Husty-sama is kind to everyone, and his natural side that's visible in his hard work is endearing, which makes me smile when I see him on set. Yano Husty-sama built his performance with great delicacy and precision. He truly is Racules. Their appearance have a certain "aura" that allows me to be their retainer without forcing myself to be aware of it.

"Give a message to the character you played!"

Morioka: Douga, you must be exhausted from the many things you had to do to support your country and family…..Sometimes, it's good to spend time relaxing and not think about anything.

"What was your most memorable moment in King-Ohger?"

Morioka: It'd be episode 21, the episode where Douga's job hunting. I have fond memories of the staff working together to support me to the best of their ability, even in the silliest scenes, including the wonderfully strange costumes and props as I traveled around each country. Then, after the short but intense performances with the other retainers of each country, there was the serious last scene with Gira-san. It was great and I'm truly grateful.

"A message to all the retainer members of the other countries!"

Morioka: Shiokara, don't address the kings with "you." Sebastian, despite your appearance, I'm in awe of your physical ability. Kuroda, I'd like to learn from you your excellent fighting skills. Morphonia, you should try to be alittle more motivated everyday. (*form of "you" meaning you're inferior to the speaker)

"Please give a message to the fans of King-Ohger."

Morioka: This was my first time participating in the Super Sentai series, and I was surprised and moved by the amount of energy and love shown by all the tokusatsu fans, and I was able to make it through this because of everyone's support. I can only express my gratitude. Your words on SNS and other sites have been well received. Please continue to love King-Ohger!

Chiwata Yuhei (Shiokara) Profile: When they first met, he saw Yanma as a yankii with a bossy attitude, but admired him after learning of his manly spirit. After that, as Yanma became king of N'kosopa, he became his retainer.

"Please tell us what you respect about Shiokara."

Chiwata: There's alot, but the most important would be his charm. You could call it junior colleague energy, but I think he's good at building relationships and closing the distance with people. I was never good at such things, but as I got older, I began to realize the importance of it and started to practice, and little by little, my weakness turned into my strength. However, I'm still not as good as Shiokara-kun, so I'd like to use him as a reference (laughs).

"What are your impressions of Yanma (including Watanabe Aoto), and were there any memorable moments during filming?"

Chiwata: I feel that Yanma is a character whose emotional growth was depicted throughout all the episodes. I think it's cool that he's able to calmly, sometimes violently, confront everything that happens to him, and then use what he learns from it to take the next steps in his life. I think this is also due to Aoto's acting ability, so Yanma and Aoto are one and the same! The most memorable moment was in episode 10. I still vividly remember thinking that the way he created the atmosphere of the scene was wonderful, just like Aoto.

"Give a message to the character you played!"

Chiwata: Thank you so much for your hard work! Keep up with the most coolest Yanma-kun and follow him wherever he goes!

"What was your most memorable moment in King-Ohger?"

Chiwata: It's episode 35. I was very happy that Shiokara's character, which had been built up, was given depth, and that his past of being very different was depicted. It was a really hot development, and as an actor, there were many scenes that required alot of passion, so even preparing for it was fun. Until the actual performance, I would read the script everyday and think, "How would Aoto react if I did this?" Normally, I don't discuss the scripts with Aoto, so imagining it was part of the fun. What's more, we wouldn't know the title of an episode until the week before it aired, so when I saw the title, "Don't Cry Slack Jawed Tanuki," I was moved. The last bit of the episode was a perfect fit. Furthermore, I was overwhelmed with emotion when I heard that it was (screenwriter) Takano Minato-san who came up with the idea. I was also very happy that this episode won a special award at the "Toei Tokusatsu Fan Awards 2023."

"A message to all the retainer members of the other countries!"

Chiwata: Originally, I don't think the Super Sentai series featured so many sub characters. This is because there are already six members making up the main cast. However, I think the reason why the retainers have become so beloved is due to the fact that we all played appealing characters, and continued to support the main cast, who played the kings, in different ways in each country. This resulted in the popularity of "retainers". And for that, I'm grateful. Thank you so much!

"Please give a message to the fans of King-Ohger."

Chiwata: First off, thank you so much for sticking with us for the past year. I still think about how fortunate I am to have been involved in this production in the long history of the Super Sentai series. It was a great experience for me to see everyone's excitement online every week, and to then go to the set feeling like I was carrying everyone's voice with me as I performed. In this show, each character stands out, and I've seen the characters moving freely in everyone's minds through fanart, and I feel that this was a production that has been truly loved by everyone. There were alot of things that made me feel like, "Ah! I see, I definitely think Shiokara would say that! I think I'll do it! I want to play Shiokara like this!," and they were alot of fun to see. I also felt a real love for the people who participated as extras and prepared costumes for the different countries. Thank you so much. The Super Sentai series is revised every year, but I hope that King-Ohger will remain in your hearts forever. And, for those of you who are children now, I'd like you to go back and watch it again when you grow up. I'm sure you'll see it differently. Until then, let's meet again soon!

Yoshimitsu Hiroto (Sebastian) Profile: His real name is Romane Dearborn (aged 25). Under orders from Hymeno, he was given a "butler looking" elderly appearance through special makeup, and changed his name to "Sebastian" when he became Hymeno's retainer.

"Please tell us what you respect about Sebastian."

Yoshimitsu: I think that Sebastian's willingness to fulfill any of Hymeno-sama's selfish requests is worthy of respect. Sebastian's life was saved by Hymeno-sama, so he must be absolutely obedient to her orders. Well~ I think Sebastian understands the kindness and compassion that goes beyond Hymeno-sama's selfishness.

"What are your impressions of Hymeno (including Murakami Erica), and were there any memorable moments during filming?"

Yoshimitsu: I think that Murakami Erica-san is an impeccable young lady. There are no complaints when it comes to her appearance. She's bright and has a great personality! In addition, she's positive. Even when she's depressed because the performance isn't going as well as she'd like, she doesn't let it get her down, saying, "I've gained this experience, so I can use it in the next performance." In the first place, I don't have time to hold back (laughs). She had a hard time sitting down on set. When I asked her to "sit down," she replied, "Because all the extras are standing, I can't sit," which shows just how considerate she is. She's a really good kid!!

"Give a message to the character you played!"

Yoshimitsu: When playing Sebastian, my hair is slicked back, I wear glasses, and I have a mustache. His appearance is balanced by the fact that he wears a tailcoat, but while in casual clothes, with his "slicked back hair, glasses, and mustache," wouldn't he stand out? On the train ride home from the set, there wouldn't be that many people who'd sit next to me, right? (laughs). Well, that's because I did ride the train looking like that.

"What was your most memorable moment in King-Ohger?"

Yoshimitsu: Was it episode 25 with the 20 person combination? If I'm remembering right, I rode in God Scopion. It was a fresh new experience for me, both the cockpit and the controls. Also, episode 36, where Romane Dearborn appears, personally left a deep impression on me. It was Sebastian with his special makeup removed. We find out how the super handsome Romane Dearborn ended up in the special makeup, and why he serves Hymeno-sama as a butler who changed his name to "Sebastian"……It's my favorite episodes because it depicts the bond between Hymeno-sama and Sebastian.

"A message to all the retainer members of the other countries!"

Yoshimitsu: To all the retainers, thank you so much for getting along with me. Douga-san and Boshimar-san are relatively closer in age with me, so when filming ended in the evening, we used to go out and drink alot. Morphonia-chan was my partner who liked to talk with me alot about old man stuff. I also talked to Shiokara-kun and Kuroda-kun about various things. From now on, please continue to support Sebastian!

"Please give a message to the fans of King-Ohger."

Yoshimitsu: Thank you very much for your support of King-Ohger over the past year. No matter how interesting a show is, it's not complete unless everyone watches it. This time, King-Ohger has been seen by so many people, and I think everyone involved in this production feels happy. If it remains in your heart and you remember it someday, King-Ohger will live on forever!! Thank you so much.

Hasegawa Kasumi (Morphonia) Profile: She's Rita's retainer and candidate to ascend to the throne as Gokkan's king. While she has a lazy personality, she's always concerned about Rita and never gives up on her work despite complaining.

"Please tell us what you respect about Morphonia."

Hasegawa: Even though she complained about it, no matter how difficult the environment or situation was, she was able to do her job. And, she never gave up on communicating with Rita. If it were me, I would've given up halfway (laughs). I also respect her quick thinking and ability to look ahead. She's a surprisingly capable kid (laughs).

"What are your impressions of Rita (including Hirakawa Yuzuki), and were there any memorable moments during filming?"

Hasegawa: I think Rita was and still is an interesting person. It's great that we're able to see them in many different situations, with the self they show on the outside and the real them. They're pure in a good way. When I first met Yuzuchin, I thought, "Waaah! It's Rita!! Rita's appeared!!" (laughs). When you talk to her, she's even friendlier, kinder, and more dependable than Rita. My partner. Also, I guess our most memorable moment was……the kabedon. I couldn't stop laughing (laughs).

"Give a message to the character you played!"

Hasegawa: When Chikyu is at peace, please relax and enjoy eating oranges under a kotatsu. Make sure to apply for paid vacations and eat lots of delicious food. Also, please continue to support Rita.

"What was your most memorable moment in King-Ohger?"

Hasegawa: It's episodes 10, 25, 38, and 45. I was impressed by the gradual deepening of her relationship with Rita. While reading the scripts, I felt that the way Rita and Morphonia relationship grew closer was very endearing. I remember that even when I was actually performing, there was a warm feeling within me. And the more we filmed these scenes, the more I came to love Rita.

"A message to all the retainer members of the other countries!"

Hasegawa: Douga-san, We look forward to welcoming your career change at Gokkan any time. Boshimar-san, I've had almost no interactions with the real Boshimar-san, so let's meet in Hakabaka if you get a chance. When the opportunity arises of course. Shiokara, I've been curious about this for awhile now, but what's up with your curly bang? Sebastian, you've been a great help to my Rita. Thanks for your continued support. Kuroda-san, next time, please treat me to some delicious food. Gerojim, you're alittle bigger than the others, so please consider your range when moving. That tail will hit you.

"Please give a message to the fans of King-Ohger."

Hasegawa: Thank you for supporting King-Ohger up to this point! Even though there were many strong "personalities" among the kings, they were able to reach the same goal in the end. Through this production, I also learned the strength of valuing one's own individuality and respecting the individuality of others. I hope that King-Ohger, which was created by many people including myself, will remain in everyone's memories. And with that, see you later!!

Kanzaki Hajime (Kuroda's Actor) Profile: A male kuroko who serves as the retainer to Toufu's king, Kaguragi. Although his face isn't shown, his movements are gorgeous and he's got a very nice voice.

"Please tell us what you respect about Kuroda."

Kanzaki: It's possible that he's known Kaguragi for a long time, but since becoming his retainer, he's kept the "king and retainer" relationship, and has been thinking and acting in accordance to his position as a kuroko. He's sometimes missing, but he has a cute side. And, he has a nice voice (thanks to Toriumi Kosuke-san!).

"What are your impressions of Kaguragi (including Kaku So), and were there any memorable moments during filming?"

Kanzaki: He's big! Of course, he's also tall, but his muscle mass and costume makes him look even bigger. In his spare time, he does muscle training with Masato Yano-san and others, and he'll work on his shoulders using a folding chair, so he's definitely stoic! Other than that, when the Director gave me the "OK" for a take in the film where I use a trampoline as Kuroda, he was happy and said, "You did it!" He's a magnificent man, not only with his body but also with his kind heart, it's as if he's Toufu's mother nature!

"Give a message to the character you played!"

Kanzaki: I read somewhere that originally there was no role for "Kuroda," but I started speaking lines along the way, and I'm grateful for this blessed year. Once the matter with the Uchu King has been settled, please take a good rest.

"What was your most memorable moment in King-Ohger?"

Kanzaki: It's episode 9, where I spoke as Kuroda for the first time. It was also fun to mess around with the other retainers! As for Toufu, it would be episode 37. It was like a Taiga Drama that condensed Kaguragi's past, which had been told little by little in the main story and the film into this one episode, and I was relieved that abit of Kuroda's past was also revealed.

"A message to all the retainer members of the other countries!"

Kanzaki: Boshimar-sama (Fukuzawa Jubun), I have fond memories of being mistaken for (Masato) Tsutamune-san when I first met him (laughs). He has a strong passion for acting, and I learned alot from him. I got goosebumps when I played the role of a soldier against him! Douga-sama (Morioka Yutaka), It was great that you got to play the role of a handsome old man with a family. On the other hand, when you were being interviewed in various countries, you were really funny and your actions were cool! Your style is good! Shiokara-sama (Chiwata Yuhei), He was always thinking stoically and calmly about how to make the viewers happy, which was a great inspiration! His style is good! Sebastian (Yoshimitsu Hiroto): Thank you so much for talking to me in your spare time and for thinking about a bunch of ideas for the flow of the performance on set! It's a pity that you couldn't do a backflip……If the opportunity arises, let's film it! Morphonia-sama (Hasegawa Kasumi), She had a "floaty" vibe, but she knew what was expected of her and was very stoic on the inside. It was wonderful to see her naturally embody what a senior colleague once told me, "Create fans among the staff." It's a pity that she couldn't do a back handspring……please do it if the opportunity arises! Gerojim-sama (Saitou Kenya, Suit Actor), With Gerojim's arrival, the retainer team became even more lively. The delicate acting that linked Seki Tomokazu-san's voice with his large body was wonderful! It's a pity that you couldn't perform a reverse somersault……If the opportunity arises… (laughs).

"Please give a message to the fans of King-Ohger."

Kanzaki: Everyone, thank you so much for supporting King-Ohger. It was a very meaningful year for me, as I was able to see the scenes in a different way than usual in the Action Club, I was able to appear on TikTok while rubbing shoulders with talented performers, and I was able to become part of the merchandise. Thank you so much for your letters and presents as well! I'll study so that I won't have any trouble when Kuroda appears again, thank you for your continued support!

Seki Tomokazu (Gerojim's VA) Profile: He's a Kaijim equipped with mayfly BNA and can mimic the appearance of humans by applying light refraction. He's currently working with Jeramie, who has become the king of the Bugnarak.

"Please tell us what you respect about Gerojim."

Seki: Ultimately, I think it's his unwavering faith. Even when he's lost, troubled, or frustrated, in the end, he tries to follow through with his beliefs. I respect his heart and attitude, which is like a blue flame, quiet but never extinguished.

"What are your impressions of Jeramie, and during recording, were there any episodes with memorable moments?"

Seki: First of all, I'm disappointed that I didn't get to work with Ikeda Masashi-san, who played Jeramie, even once during recording. When I saw Jeramie's performance during the broadcasts, I felt that his soft demeanor, intelligence, and his somewhat lonely appearance were all wonderful. I'd like to directly talk with him in person someday!

"Give a message to the character you played!"

Seki: I'm so glad you found a nice place to belong. I hope you'll feel safe and secure at Jeramie's side for all eternity.

"What was your most memorable moment in King-Ohger?"

Seki: That we were all able to ride the Shugods with the kings! I've ridden in Robo's as an enemy in previous productions, but I think the opportunity to ride a Robo in the Super Sentai series is very valuable! Even though it was just my voice, it was great to feel like I was in the fight with them!

"Please give a message to the fans of King-Ohger."

Seki: This year has flown by! I'm sure that everyone else feels the same way. However, I believe that the story will continue! Please continue to support King-Ohger, and let's see where we end up, together!

[thegreymoon]

Mo Ran is so gay it isn't even funny.

Now, this is just my opinion and I realise other people have their own interpretations, but this whole episode is super telling to me of just how unreliable his narration is about having tons and tons of sex with people of both genders in his previous lifetime. He's just so... oblivious. None of this reads as a man with a lot of previous experience with many different people. He did not pick up on her flirting with him at all. Sure, he did have a lot of insane sex in his past life, but as the book unfolds, it becomes very clear that most of that sex was with Chu Wanning. At best, there were only a handful of other people he was involved with, and one was a prostitute he was paying, while the other was his wife whose relationship with him was also transactional.

I know people argue that he is bisexual because he married Song Qiutong, but when we actually get her POV on their marriage, it turns out that they had unenjoyable sex only a handful of times, at least one of which was him taking her from behind and very much imagining that it was Chu Wanning in her place. There are plenty of gay men who end up married to straight women (and vice versa) for whatever reasons and none of this makes them any less gay. He also identifies as a 'cut-sleeve' himself at one point, so he doesn't seem at all confused about his sexual attraction to men. Later on, when we finally get his unaltered POV on his life in the brothel, it comes out that he considered the girls there as sisters at best, never as sexual partners. The only other named sexual partner is Rong Jiu, who is male, and I can buy that there were possibly other people who looked like Shi Mei that he was with under the influence of the cursed love spell, but there was never any real attraction there, which is why some argue that he is attracted only to Chu Wanning and would still be attracted to him regardless of gender.

But I think that this is also not true. He definitely was obsessed with Chu Wanning from an early age, which makes it hard to see what his preferences would have been if Chu Wanning wasn't in the picture, but that chapter when he finally realises his feelings also reveals that he does have a type, which he never dared to think about before because he thought he was unworthy of having a choice. However, Chu Wanning fits this type to a tee, so it's easy to run away with the idea that he is shizunsexual and that Mo Ran's attraction begins and ends with him.

With that said, we do get confirmation later on that he does find other men attractive, in particular, Jiang Xi. It's just that he never has the space or the inclination to do anything about it because of his preoccupation with Chu Wanning. In the extras, when Mo Ran misunderstands Xue Men's relationship with Jiang Xi and thinks they are having a love affair, in his unfiltered Taxian-jun state, he is full of approval because he personally finds these powerful, beautiful, prickly, emotionally unavailable older men to be the height of attractiveness. If Chu Wanning hadn't been in the picture, Mo Ran would have definitely been attracted to Jiang Xi or someone similar. Even Ye Wangxi, whom he also fixates on, fits this type (except for the older man bit because I understood her to be only a few years older than Mo Ran). The fact that she turns out to be a woman also cannot be used as an argument for Mo Ran's bisexuality because she very much presents as a man throughout the book (but whether or not she actually identifies as one is debatable).

In short, Mo Ran does have a type of man he is attracted to and it is definitely men that he likes, regardless of his few dubious and very unsatisfying dalliances with women. While Chu Wanning definitely fits this type of ideal man, there are other men out there whom Mo Ran finds attractive too, it's just that he is too unhinged about Chu Wanning to actually do anything about it. Also, I very much doubt that Mo Ran was nearly as promiscuous as he makes himself out to be because he reads as very oblivious when it comes to sexual relationships in general. Even with Chu Wanning, who was right there and about to pass away from sheer horniness that he couldn't even begin to disguise, Mo Ran was still going, "Shizun is so pure and virtuous!" 🙄

(I'm not going to get into the whole Shi Mei situation and how badly he misread him every step of the way too, but that is because his brain was so badly mangled by him that he really stood no chance on that front until it was entirely too late.)

[byemambo]

4Minutes EP. 6 - My Takeaways

Y'all...The way I was working OVERTIME trying to figure out how I wanted to explain my thoughts for this episode (this post is extremely long: take that as you will). So please welcome OG TymeGreat vs. NDE (near death experience) TymeGreat and their timelines (everything else under the cut!):

Great Version

Tyme Version

Key Events: Assessing the Timelines

I listed out key events that I felt matched up within each existing timeline (and I'm sure I missed more key events/details that aren't listed in my findings), no matter the person nor alternative reality they're in. For Great's timeline, the key events include:

Waking up to take his exam

Hitting Manee with his car

Receiving the call from Title

Korn being attacked

Great learns Tyme's identity as the attacker

Great confronting Tyme at the hospital the next day

Great confronting his parents for their crimes

Great renounces his ties to his family

While these events occurred regardless of the different decisions Great could make, what was striking to me was Great's distinct characteristics that existed in both timelines while also having characteristics individual to their respective timelines. For OG Great, he's extremely defiant and cynical, especially if he's able to get a rise out of his father for reasons prior to knowing about the business, I'm not exactly sure (except for him being the mistress's son before the first wife committed suicide).

Episode 6 vs. Episode 1

Given that we didn't get any scenes of him bonding with Korn throughout the episode unlike NDE Great, I can only imagine there's a bias towards Korn as the favorite son between the two where one listens and submits while the other vocal and disobeys. Along with being defiant and having the guts to gauge the wold with cockiness, he is also a coward that's easily persuaded and manipulated. This shows up most during scenes like the hit and run or when Title demanded Great to help get rid of Dome's body and in turn, become an accomplice to the crime.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 1

OG Great also operates on this mindset of being silver spooned his entire life more explicitly than NDE Great, and becomes hot headed when placed under immense pressure once he's unable to play mind games with his targets such as Tyme. Even though their hook up and Tyme leaking his sex tape caused a scandal with his dad's company, the amount of trauma Great has dealt with growing up (this kid never played a crane machine game so I can only imagine how lonely his upbringing was) resorts to him chasing after those dopamine hits and becoming shameless as a result.

One of the few times OG Great chose his own morals and acted upon them in the storyline was when he found out about his parents and their involvement with the scheme, but this decision only occurred when people he cared about died or got hurt, like Nan and Tyme. Because he had developed a short spanned codependency on Tyme (whether for more sex or because he found his serious demeanor amusing), once he had been left with nothing due to reasons beyond his control, he leaves his family behind after the confirmation of their crimes.

Unlike NDE Great, OG Great is self centered and only acts when pushed beyond his limits, but only if the consequences of that limit involves someone he genuinely cares about (this is the stark difference between Dome's demise versus Tyme's meltdown after Nan's death). Sure, people can argue that Great knows Tyme at a similar level of depth like he knew Dome (apart from being sexually involved with one another), but his interests peaks in Tyme once he finds out that he's seeking revenge against his father and finds that mere effort entertaining for him. In the OG timeline, Great's flaws directly causes his detriment in the end, getting shot by Dome's older brother Tonkla in vengeance.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 5

In Tyme's timeline, there aren't as many moving parts that we saw on screen as much as Great's (since their particular story is limited narrative through Great's perspective) but these events remain consistent in his story:

Tyme works a hospital shift

Den tells him about his NDE research

Tyme works the night shift with Great in his proximity

Tyme attacks Korn in search of Nan

Great confronts Tyme at the hospital the next day

What I found most interesting in OG Tyme's timeline was how linear and straightforward the events occurred in sequence, which would have been the case if Great never asked him about his occurring NDE symptoms like he did in the NDE timeline while being under Tyme's care. Tyme's prior knowledge to Den's research served as a seed planted in the back of his mind, which if Great hadn't asked him (if he chose to help Title get rid of Dome's body), Tyme would have went along with his plan and shelved Den's research with no intention in intervention. The difference in approach between OG Tyme and NDE Tyme was rooted in their initial encounters, both being Great bumping into Tyme and how it was handled.

If Great continued heading his way, Tyme's initial impression of Great would have been slightly annoyed (which we saw a preview of how he yelled at Great during the first cardiac arrest Great had when he bumped into Tyme and didn't help him). But if Great stopped to apologize and even help Tyme with the papers, there is a hint of consideration in that gesture, even if Great himself is a flawed person capable of doing bad things. For some, basic human decency isn't a mind blowing trait for people to fawn over, but this can be contrasted when Tyme asks P'Anne for his information and finally gets confirmation of Great's identity.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 1

Episode 6 vs. Episode 3

From the perspective of Tyme who's dedicated his personal life in bringing down the family responsible for the death of his parents, I'm sure having a painted image of what inhumane and vulgar things the family is capable of, Great's first impression as the younger son of the enemy is somehow normal? As if this man isn't capable of hurting a fly, let alone killing people like his father does (why did I think of fucking Lord Ozai and Prince Zuko when proofreading this loooooord someone send me to bed asap). Rather than treating Great as just a means to an end with no prior attachment and full intent in harming the family's reputation as OG Tyme would have, NDE Tyme's prior interactions with Great by him helping Tyme with his papers (the readiness to correct his faults while providing a solution to aid in the damage caused, big or small), Great bringing his hurt friend to the hospital without acknowledging his own injuries (a sign of selflessness and reliability) and asking Tyme about his symptoms related to his cardiac arrests and moments of NDE, there are layers being shed off of Tyme's preconceived notions about the family.

Episode 2

Episode 6

Not only are there layers, Tyme's curiosity peaks because why is the son of the family who killed his parents seemingly harmless and clumsy? Shouldn't someone of his background be more cautious and conceal himself more, especially when speaking to a stranger such as Tyme? Does he know what his parents do and the damage they have caused for countless families and victims? In comparison to OG Great who's callous and bold, NDE Great is soft and easily startled, therefore, needs a more calculative and somewhat honest approach to secure a connection to get closer to bringing the family down.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 3

Characterization: A vs. B

When writing my reflections, I found it interesting how TymeGreat's relationship develops within their respective timelines, especially how each encounter they had with one another fueled different emotions and residual feelings. In the OG timeline, their relationship is innately lustful with distance between them, their main objectives involve concealed vengeance, amusement in the series of events occurring between them and not being able to access the full story of the two worlds both individuals were a part of before their paths crossed.

Whereas in the NDE timeline, their relationship began with a curiosity that defied expectations and welcomed communication, such as asking intimate questions and offering valuable solutions to majority of their problems: Great asking Tyme about his cardiac symptoms, Tyme consulting Den about his research after Great's conversation, Great confiding in Tyme about his upbringing, Tyme revealing the cause of his parents' death, Great confronting his own family for their crimes and seeking accountability. All of these traits wouldn't have been present if that initial hit and run played out differently: they would have crossed paths regardless but their attitudes and motives would shape the state of their relationship.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 3

Episode 6 vs. Episode 5

However, there are innate traits that remained consistent in both characters. Great with his impulsivity and tackling his problems head strong, Tyme with his nonchalance and caring attitude towards the people he loves (such as his grandmother). What really caused the divergence of their whims were purely based in the circumstances they find themselves in during their initial encounters. When they met at the bar, Great's impulsivity charged the motion of their relationship, ending with his cowardice separating the two once Nan died at the hands of Samarn. Tyme's detached attitude that drove his girlfriend away from him and poses concern from Den as a fellow doctor in how he denies his patients of their own identity and autonomy, causes him to take advantage of Great's relations to the family, ending in his own death after denying the bribe by Great's father.

Episode 6

Episode 6

Episode 1

Despite it all, the most significant element that both Tyme and Great share is the leverage both have over one another through their emotional attachments, which may seem small in comparison to more flashy events within the storyline but for these two characters: it makes a world of a difference. When NDE Tyme reveals his identity during the ambush against Korn, which led Great to help Tyme find Nan and as a result, saving her life. This is critical as OG Great is inherently a coward with a dopamine deficiency and enjoys causing trouble for his father's reputation at his own demise.

Episode 4

When Tyme is willing to risk his life exposing Great's family to the press, Great reminds him of his grandmother, driving Tyme to accept the bribe from Great's dad and find safety at Aunt Ging's house together. Unlike OG Tyme, whose reserved and passive attitude enables his life to be filled with the absurd and mundane, that money is the driving force of life and the root of all evil that took his parents away from him, so what else is there to live for as long as he avenges his family?

Episode 5

Now for my questions for the last two episodes: if Great dies in the OG timeline and is actively dying in the NDE timeline, since Tyme's destined fate to die in the OG timeline has been altered once he's notified of Great's condition in the emergency room by Den, he has a chance of avoiding death that OG Tyme suffers from. It may be a stretch but look at the two hit men who targeted Tyme and Great.

Episode 1 vs. Episode 5

The hit man in episode 1 look significantly younger than the hit man in episode 5, but same facial hair? The shadow in the first image throws me off but it's freaky to speculate as it sent shivers down my spine whenever I got a better screenshot of them. If I put my two brain cells together: in the OG timeline, Tonkla targets and shoots Great but Tyme is also shot in episode 1, which makes me believe that their timelines are converging somehow as both of them enter their 4 minutes of limbo and their memories and experiences are warped.

In the NDE timeline, because Dome is saved and returns home to Tonkla, the only person reasonable in targeting Great would be Manee after she finds out which family is responsible for her son's involvement in illegal business (which her giving up her life savings and being given the 4th card during her ritual that calls for separation of loved ones). This separation in question is the separation of Tyme from Great as Great's fighting for his vitals to stabilize just as Tyme rushes to the OR?

Because NDE Tyme goes with his grandmother to Aunt Ging's instead of sending her on her own as OG Tyme does, both of them are technically off the radar from being targeted, or at least bought enough time to make a safe escape if Great's father goes back on his word outlined in the proposed bribe. Seeing as Tyme's wearing the same shirt in both timelines at this point, we're now waiting to see how this will play out, and I'm literally so excited to lose sleep all over again.

Episode 1 vs. Episode 6

If you made it to the end, pat yourself on the back! And if you've been actively reading my previous posts regarding my takeaways, I really appreciate the love they've been getting! I'm more than happy to hyperfixate on this series and help out with really digging deep in the details that could help those who are having difficulty following along with the series. Idk, y'all got to yell at Bible on Twitter then because he thinks he's so funny tweeting this:

If y'all would like to read more, check out my tags and thank you again for sticking around, see y'all next Friday or whatever day my brain finishes finalizing its thoughts to share with y'all :)

[antimony-medusa]

"There's just something about that guy that means I don't trust him"

Okay so, Phil has got the wrong read of Sunny. I'm gonna start off with that. He thinks they're a confident unconcerned material girl who is comfortable in the fact that their dad loves them, and potentially he thinks that they're a bit older than they are? Whereas people who have been able to see her one-on-one with Tubbo know that she's quite a bit more shy and insecure and young than she puts on! He's been taken in by the facade they're putting on, and I think that's part of why he is making jokes and comments that don't hit well. To understate how yesterday went. I think he botched the interaction with Sunny in the musuem and I hope someone tells him that, so he can apologize and fix that. And to be clear, as a phil viewer, this does interesting character work with Sunny as a sensitive child and I'm in favour of Sunnymin pursuing this line of lore. I'm staring with my little cube guy watching googles looking for the result when Phil realizes he scared a child, with great interest.

Because when you look at the musum one in context, my read is that was phil pivoting badly from an out of lore discussion into "oh hey I can explain something to sunny, who is confident and centred and knows her dad adores her" and then jokingly tried to explain the tallulah experience, and then we know from Sunny signs later that that went over like a ton of bricks. Mistake. However, when we're discussing it, I think it's fair to not have that understanding of the lore though, and to take a more pointed, villainous read of the lore! Go for it with discussing phil as cold and brusque to people who aren't his family, discuss Sunny feeling all alone in the musuem, fill your boots.

But guys, when you're discussing this as meta, I am seeing a lot of tags that are really really eager to paint Phil entirely and unequivocally as a villain and specifically cruel to children and cruel within the family, and there's an element to that that concerns me.

Phil, the cc, the guy, acts working class. He has an accent from a particular part of england that is traditionally working class, but he also has storytelling cadences and humour styles and attitudes towards challenges that are very familiar if you are from a working class or lower income community. I'm from an entirely different continuent, but the area I'm from is the sort of area that people make jokes about, and the whole way Phil acts as a CC is very familiar to me. (Note: even when he's talking about travel or stuff, he still has the "worked retail for a decade" mentality and pays attention to the staff and stuff and what they're doing, check out the brazil storytelling vod.)

And Phil's cubito, when he's not deliberately making a character like osmp crowfather, tends to have the mannerisms of someone who is working class. Even if you're not from a lower income area, I think most people can clock this, subconciously if nothing else. He swears a lot! He banters and roasts his friends and family but would absolutely do anything for them. He's informal in a very specific way.

Which is why when people pivot immediately into "why is he threatening and bullying children again" and "his wicked is showing", and "oh he's a evil stepfather/cruel stepmother" and "can we kill the child abusers now" I go Oh No.

Working class mannerisms are already stereotyped as especially prone to domestic abuse, among other ills. If you are going "oh something about him just always seemed like he would be cruel to children" maybe— push back on that one?

In the same way that during the election I was going "that may not be the play" about americans who didn't know what it was but something about Forever was just so angry and agressive (and they were talking from a perspective that viewed forever as a person of colour, regardless of how he's perceived at home), you might be talking from a perspective that encourages you to interpret Phil's behaviour with children as especially suspect. Potentially. Consider it.

And again, Phil biffed it in the musuem. That was a misstep that had me (autistic) going "oh no I see how you got there but you can all but see the sims negative relationship marker thing pop up". But I'd ask you at least to consider that it wasn't intentional cruelty, and that people can make social missteps before you jump immediately to interpreting their actions in the worst light possible.

[badgalsasuke]

Hi there! I sometimes see/hear fans, especially those who are anti sns (or anti other mlm ships in the series) say that Kishimoto modelled Sasuke and Naruto’s relationship off of his own with his twin brother. Naruto fans have claimed so many things about this man, some of which was just made up, so I was wondering if you could share your take on this whole argument? Did Kishimoto base SNS off of his sibling relationship, and did he want readers to see it in a platonic/brotherly lens, or was he lying (if this isn’t one of those things fans made up)? Thanks ☺️

Hello! Thanks for the question.

Any person that has read Kishimoto's interviews over the years can see he likes to beat around the bush and sometimes even talk in riddles rather than give a direct answer. That interview with Entermix Magazine where he talks about Naruto and Sasuke's relationship being based on his own with his brother isn't any different.

So here's the whole answer Kishimoto gave to the interviewer. Antis only take into account the last paragraph (because of course they would) but that is really just taking out of context what Kishimoto means.

The quote underlined in green is really what Kishimoto is talking about: their ability to feel each others pain. Kishimoto has been asked multiple times regarding the bond between Naruto and Sasuke and he's never given a direct answer but in each interview he let's us know one of the elements that are part of their relationship. In this particular interview is empathy. They're able to understand how they both feel because they've been through similar circumstances.

Kishimoto uses as an example both him and his brother being subjected to the Paro Special of Kinnikuman (which I believe is pulling someone's arms behind them really hard while jumping onto their backs), going through this as kids was Kishimoto's introduction to the ability of putting yourself in someone else's shoes. In Naruto and Sasuke's case is not that infantile, although they're both lonely orphans who have been outcasts of society, Naruto doesn't know what is like to be a survivor of genocide so it is through life experiences over the years Naruto grows and learns how to empathize with Sasuke and understand his heart. Basically Kishimoto explored in depth what he learned as a child as a victim of bullying his brother experienced before him. This is the first thing I take from the interview.

The second thing that I take from the interview that I find very interesting is Kishimoto talking about his college years in what's underlined in red. He's talking about his experiences with his friends and one sided loves? hmmmm and how he went "is this how my brother felt when he went through this?"

Not just that but in the red rectangle he's even talking about talking about a friend from college (not his brother) and how he thought that man, whoever he was, and himself got along really great. At this point Kishimoto is rambling and catches himself getting lost in these memories so he goes so yeah "brotherly love and friendship are the same thing for me" haha.

So here's where I'd like to bring out an older interview:

Here he's asked about the inspiration for his characters he might have taken from real life. Just like in the previous interview Kishimoto also mentions friends from college as inspiration for some characters (he doesn't specify which ones) and this makes me think...

Kishimoto had a friend in college he got along really great (his words not mine) that might have inspired Naruto and Sasuke's relationship but at the time Kishimoto didn't know how to put into words what he really felt so ended up using Naruto the manga as the medium to explore those feelings.

If we combine both interviews we get that Kishimoto tried to rationalized that friendship he had in college and the feelings it evoked in him with how he felt as a kid growing up with his brother. We're so close we're like brothers! type of friendship but Kishimoto wasn't really sure of this label hence why he spends the entire manga using Naruto and Sasuke as models for this theme.

Here's another interview from 2013 "Naruto Kizuna the Words that Bind" where Kishimoto was asked about Naruto and Sasuke's relationship after the chapter where Naruto tells Itachi he's a better brother to Sasuke than he ever was dropped.

I wanted them to be more brothers than blood brothers. I can tell you that is for me the hardest thing to put into words in this story. And it still is.

It's really interesting how Kishimoto was never really able to put this sentiment of being more brothers than blood brothers into words as we see in chapter 698 where Naruto himself states that he can't put into words why he can't leave Sasuke alone he simply suffers when seeing Sasuke suffer. A chapter that's been so many times dissected and analyzed only for us to get to the conclusion that it is about a love confession.

Also the whole "more brothers than blood brothers" is a common theme in queer media to denote intimacy between queer closeted men who are in love but can't find the words (or courage) to tell each other "I love you". It's literally studied in academia like it's absolutely insane Kishimoto said that and no one questioned him for that LMAO.

I'm serious. This shit is studied fr.

Anyway, I couldn't find it but I swear there was another interview in which Kishimoto talked about how when writing Naruto he always did so in a way he would make his first editor (Yahagi) proud of his work after they stopped working together and how that sentiment also transpired onto Naruto and Sasuke's relationship. If I find this interview I'll reblog it on this post.

So based on these three interviews we get the elements these dynamics lent to Naruto and Sasuke's bond. Ability to feel each other's pain; empathy. More brothers than blood brothers; intimacy. Wanting to make his editor proud; acknowledgement. There's a lot Kishimoto took from different relationships he had in real life for Naruto and Sasuke's bond but antis only parrot "HE BASED NARUTO AND SASUKE ON HIM AND HIS BROTHER!!!" like no, that's not true Ellen.

In other interviews Kishimoto has also stated how Naruto is basically him in some ways and a lot of people in the fandom if not the majority think Kishimoto used Naruto as his self-insert and I want you to think about the implications of that keeping in mind what I just wrote.

Listen, I know some people don't like to speculate about other people's sexualities (I personally don't care) but this story, Naruto's story is very personal to Kishimoto and I think he's let us know a bit on why is that.

[knuxadowmumbles]

I'm just curious what other ships do you ship and do you have fankids for them.

Good evening! Thank you very much for this ask!:] I apologize for taking so long to answer! This question in particular was a rather thought-provoking, and I practically had to draw every single child that came to mind (rather than Shard, Opal, and Cobalt)

Below, you will find one of the worst ship master lists you may ever see in your entire life.

—————

Knuckles x shadow

Blaze x Rouge

Mephiles x Silver

Sonic x Metal sonic

Sally x Amy

Espio x Mighty

Tails x Charmy

Scourge x Sticks..?

Fiona x Surge

Vector and CREAMS MOM (Vanilla)

——

Now, one may ask why these remain the main ships of the blog. To that, I say it is because I want to make an attempt to branch out to a few more found ships, followed by some rarer pairings. I want to make things more interesting and see what I can experiment with, and from my personal perspective, some of these are quite endearing.

And with shipping comes many fan kids. Why? Because they are a joy to create. (Offspring will be ordered from youngest to eldest)

——

Tick The Bee

Tick the Bee is about five years old and is the creation of Charmy and Tails. Before I explain his origin, I’d like to address something upfront—if someone says, “Tails would never even try drugs!” you’re absolutely right. He never would under normal circumstances. However, in this alternate universe, I’ve placed him in situations that changed him significantly as he grew older.—even how his mind works

In his early twenties, on one fateful night, Charmy convinced Tails to try a drug, and the two ended up crashing at Tails’ lab. While under its influence, Tails—driven by his genius, yet impaired state—created an entire child using his own fur and a bit of Charmy’s fuzz. When he woke up the next day, he was met with the shocking sight of the child floating in a large tube.

But this test tube child, Tick, didn’t just inherit his fathers’ DNA—he also absorbed the remnants of the drug in the process. As a result, Tick is extremely hyperactive, chaotic, and twitchy (He also tends to hallucinate almost constantly). He remains mentally unstable in various ways, though it’s difficult to tell, given the ever-present joyful smile on his face.

And no, I have not decided what the drug is yet

Extra Note: He can fly for short distances, and has a stinger at the tip of his tail.

——

Rascal The Badger

I honestly can’t even explain what made me think Sticks and Scourge would be a good ship in the first place. At first, I was going to write something like, “Oh yeah, Scourge and Sticks have a kid, then Sticks gets ditched,” because, let’s be real, Scourge is a terrible partner—just look at how he treated Fiona. But that just sounded like an horrible Ken Penders fan fiction, so I conjured something worse (but happier?)

The more I thought about it, the more I asked myself: What if I created a dynamic where Sticks doesn’t take any of his crap and, in some way, actually straightens him out? (At least when it comes to how he treats her.) So, that’s exactly what I did, and thus, Rascal was born.

Unlike some of the other kids, Rascal wasn’t lab-grown or artificially created—he was conceived the normal way. And let’s be honest, if Scourge ever had a kid, he’d absolutely pick a name as ridiculous as Rascal, and someone like Sticks would totally go along with it.

Now, at seven years old, Rascal is a spunky, adventurous kid who loves the outdoors more than anything else. He’s fast, athletic, and full of energy, but he’s also reckless when it comes to safety. Nearly every piece of clothing he owns ends up torn to shreds—though Scourge actually thinks the look is pretty cool. Despite his destructive tendencies, Rascal has a knack for finding hidden treasures, always digging up interesting things whenever he explores the forest.

——

Cobalt

Metonic fanchild. I’ve always loved the concept and endless possibilities of Metal Sonic being shipped with Sonic. And, as I tend to do with most of my ships, I wanted to give them a child they would never have under normal circumstances. Thus, Cobalt was created—his name taken from the deep, striking shade of Cobalt Blue.

But his creation wasn’t exactly straightforward. Cobalt was actually commissioned by Sonic himself, with Tails tasked with building him. Originally, he was meant to be a combat-ready robot, trained to fight and ultimately defeat Metal Sonic. However, his development was riddled with malfunctions, the worst of which was his AI model. Instead of a simple combat program, Cobalt ended up with an extreme level of self-awareness—one that panicked at its own existence.

As a result, Cobalt became a nervous, self-conscious, overthinking, anxiety-ridden boy failure of a robot. Despite his intended purpose, his training took an unexpected turn as he found himself interacting with both mentor Sonic and accidentally…Metal Sonic. And, over time, the two realized they had unintentionally formed a parental bond with him. (This confused metal the absolute fucking most)

So, in the end, they both quite literally became his fathers.

God. I am worse than Ken Penders. This would never happen. There’s an huge chunk of lore missing—trust me. THESE ARE BRIEF-

Extra Note: His limbs can stretch out very long and he remains with a function to see in the dark— followed with various others that sense body heat, help with aid,

——

Shard The Echidna

I don’t even know where to begin with the Knuxadow fanchild. She was the first Sonic fanchild I created when I got back into it. Shard was completely accidental—her existence wasn’t supposed to happen. Elsewhere in this blog, I’ve already provided a biological explanation for how and why she was born despite it being impossible.

Shard is about ten years old, possessing Knuckles’ immense strength but inheriting the absolute shit death glare of her other father. Her personality is cold, calculating, stubborn, and serious. Oh, and I also gave her a complex.

The circumstances of her birth left a heavy impact—her very existence was an anomaly, something that shouldn’t have happened. The happening of her egg completely shattered Knuckles, sending him into a spiral of identity crisis, and body and gender dysphoria. Watching her father struggle with what she represented even some years after, had created an internalized the belief that she was a burden, that everything about her was inherently wrong.

As she grows older, she starts noticing something troubling—she’s becoming increasingly impulsive, more short-tempered, and, at times, physically harmful toward others… even toward her own dads. (These Impulsive and intrusive thoughts will get worse.)

——

Opal The Cat

Opal’s creation is a bit unique—she’s essentially a collaborative effort between me and my roleplay buddy. I designed her and occasionally contributed to certain aspects, but I’d say my buddy truly shaped her personality and plays as her.

Opal is a smart, witty, playful, mischievous, and sly tween who happens to be Shard the Echidna’s closest friend. She absolutely adores her mothers and is very affectionate with her family (a trait she picked up from Rouge). However, if anyone points out her affectionate side, she’ll immediately dial it back.

She also possesses the ability to manipulate light and excels at jumping and climbing to high places—making her just as agile as her parents. (How was she created? I have yet to decide)

——

Isaphah the Hedgehog

Isaphah the Hedgehog was, hands down, one of the most challenging designs I’ve worked on. Given that Mephiles essentially looks like Shadow, I had to make sure he didn’t come off as just another Shadilver kid.

Isaphah was created through a combination of DNA, Chaos energy, and magic, essentially making him a demigod. At only about 15 years old, he has an ego the size of the universe and speaks with a confidence that borders on arrogance. Snarky and prideful, he carries himself like a young dark prince, with dreams of one day ruling the world.

His powers are nothing short of extraordinary—he can control antimatter and form it into building blocks that he uses as weapons. But he’s also learning to create black holes and even manipulate the stars themselves. He enjoys maintaining an air of elegance and indulges in the finer things in life. In fact, he once tore a hole in space, filled with tiny sparkling stars, and now occasionally wears it as a cloak.

Mephiles thinks this kid is kind of fucking awesome.

Silver, on the other hand, has absolutely no idea how to handle a child who’s going through the most intense power trip imaginable (MEP IS NOT HELPING)

——

Spike The…Im even gonna try to pronounce what I—you know what? Spike the Armadillo or Chameleon. Either works.

This design was a horrid process.

Now one may ask—How was spike made? Surrogate. (They would never do that)

Spike was one of the eldest kids I created. At eighteen, she’s almost like the mom of the entire group, always looking out for those around her, especially the more reckless ones like Tick and Rascal. As the child of Mighty and Espio, she combines a blend of stoic strength, laid-back attitude, and the occasional hint of sass.

When she’s not using her strength in combat, Spike has another ability—she can curl up into a ball, perform a spindash, and spike someone with the sharp spines that run along her body. She may seem calm on the surface, but don’t underestimate her when she decides to let loose. Spike isn’t without her flaws. Despite her laid-back demeanor, she’s not exactly the brightest in certain situations.

She can be a bit hot-headed, especially during arguments, and when she gets riled up, she tends to say things she might regret later. Her strong sense of protection for others can sometimes cloud her judgment, making her react impulsively. But in the end, her heart’s always in the right place, even if her words don’t always match her intentions.

——

Serenity The Hedgehog.

Serenity the Hedgehog was created with a very specific goal in mind: I wanted to make a character who’s deeply focused on all things organic—especially the healing powers of nature—without relying on traditional medication. This is slightly based on some people I’ve met before…At 19 years old, Serenity is obsessed with the magic of crystals. In the Sonic universe, crystals and gemstones do hold magic, but Serenity goes beyond that. She focuses on magic-less crystals, claiming they have the ability to cure various illnesses. (Way to fucking go)

Her claims can be pretty wild at times, like insisting that certain medications don’t work or are unnecessary. But while her approach at life is an utter a weakness, it’s also a strength. Serenity’s knowledge of herbs is extensive—she’s able to identify them on sight and knows their true healing properties. Occasionally, she even finds magical crystals that offer specific benefits.

And, on top of that, she’s got a talent for cooking. She’s known for her “watch me make brownies with black beans” gimmick, which she uses to make delicious recipes. These are especially helpful for those who need to restrict their diets for medical reasons or those looking for healthier alternatives. Serenity may be a little unconventional, but her heart’s in the right place, and her skills can be surprisingly useful!

Extra Note: She doesn’t use a phone often and normally keeps it on airplane mode with the claim that: “The EMF’s will give you cancer. Trust me bro”

[gamesception]

Sception reads Batgirl (2024) #2

writer: Tate Brombal artist: Takeshi Miyazawa colors: Mike Spicer

Ok, so I'm done comparing this run to the Puckett/Scott Batgirl (2000) run. Got that all out of my system last time, this time we're just appreciating Batgirl (2024) on its own merits, and on those merits I actually like issue 2 a lot more than issue 1, so this time I get to be largely positive. No, entirely positive. I have a few minor complaints I could gripe about, like I think Brombal's leaning a bit too much into the faux-noire internal monologue that saturates so many Gotham titles, but whatever. I complained enough last week. This week I'll try to just focus on the things I like.

And the biggest thing I like by a wide margin is that the new team has started giving Cass her own supporting cast of original characters... or I think they're original to this book? If they were already introduced in previous post-reboot Cass stories than that's even better for finding and drawing on existing connections, which is something I wanted this book to do, but if they are original that's still great too. Either way, an excellent choice by Brombal and well implemented by Miyazawa, who gives Bà Bao in particular a super expressive and immediately memorable face.

Bà Bao is a fantastic character, serving a similar sort of character role to Jackie from the 'Shadow of the Batgirl' book, while also effectively functioning as Cass's own Dr. Thompkins in terms of convenient medical support. She's a trained doctor and experienced war veteran but makes her living running an ethnic restaurant in a way that feels pretty authentic to immigrant experiences in the US. And she can be a connection for Cass not just to a cultural heritage - albeit Vietnamese not Chinese - but more importantly to the people she's protecting in Gotham.

She's also already serving as Cass's own Alfred in terms of an older, wiser surrogate parental type figure able to offer advice, and already that's paying off with Bà Bao offering advice to Shiva on how to connect with Cass, advice that Shiva then sets her pride aside to take in, which is a great bit of subtle characterization showing how much Cassandra actually means to her.

Which is a nice bit of issue two carrying forward the one thing I really liked about issue one - the way it handled Cass & Shiva's relationship dynamic.

re: the watermark - I grab screencaps from the pirate site because it's more convenient than scanning pages myself, but I do buy my own copies and read the physical books first.

We don't see as much of the crew here as we see of Bà Bao, but I love this idea of Cass training her own little school of pupils in the back of her restaurant. I hope we get to know all of them individually as time goes on, see their lives, & struggles, get to know the city and Cass's place in it through them.

This supporting cast also gives Brombal someone Cass and thus the reader cares directly about that he can put in danger to highten the dramatic stakes, and on that note...

Later dialog maybe implies that the antagonist thinks he killed Bà Bao here, but I don't believe it for a minute, and if it turns out to be true I will take back every nice thing I just said. Not because dealing with loss shouldn't be part of Cass's stories, but because this character had way too much potential to kill her off in the same issue that introduces her. But yeah, I don't actually believe she's dead, so I'm not actually complaining.

But speaking of this dude, "Kalden the Unseen", yeah, we finally have an antagonist with a face and a personality. One issue late, but I'm not supposed to be complaining this time around. I just think these particular pages with him killing the firemen to cover his tracks but mourning them at the same time would have been better placed at the end of issue 1 rather than the start of issue 2. But whatever, he's here now, and while we don't know him well enough yet for me to call him a great character, he is immediately worlds better than the generic faceless ninja henchmen working for him.

And even they get a little bit cooler now that we see the gimmick that sets them aside from previous ninja clan Batman antagonists - a flower that gives them temporary mystical powers

though at the cost of their lives.

On the one hand, that downgrades them from 'faceless generic ninja mooks' to 'expendable faceless generic ninja mooks', but on the other hand it's a cool gimmick, so again I'm not really complaining.

And Kalden at least isn't faceless. His costume is a bit generic, but the facial scars are super distinct, and the Blind Master gimmick, while it can be a bit cliche, is a classic kung-fu movie trope for a reason. To the extent that this Batgirl (2024) has already been playing into that sort of thing he really fits the story he's in perfectly.

Brombal & Miyazawa also do a pretty good job of establishing Kalden as a real threat here, even to Cass & Shiva. Miyazawa in particular does a good job of expressing the pain Cass is in on her face.

The 'reluctant killer' thing is also a bit cliche, but again it's a well worn trope for a reason, and so far I think it works here, and works especially as a foil for Cass. A villain who agrees with her that killing is wrong, but is willing to sacrifice his own moral purity if he thinks doing so will prevent greater suffering is a strong challenge to her unbending commitment to her own no-killing rule.

So yeah, too soon to call this guy a great antagonist, we'll have to see how Brombal develops him, but the introduction at least is really strong, so there's a lot of potential here.

And we finally get to see Cass's face, as she's forced to accept Shiva's help and flee Gotham in defeat, abandoning her friends - and yeah the angst of all that does suit my preferences for Cass stories, so I'm ending this issue much happier than last time.

But in terms of Cass's face, Miyazawa does a solid job here. This is more recognizably Cass to me than she is without her mask in Birds of Prey. I do miss the bushier eyebrows, broader nose, and stronger jaw of her very early depictions, but those features had largely been lost years and years ago, long before the end of even her original ongoing, so their absence here isn't at all a complaint about Miyazawa's depiction.

..............

All in all, this was a really strong issue 2. It makes me sorely wish DC had opted to spring for a double-length first issue, because the two issues together would have been a much more effective launch for the new ongoing. Entirely apart from not standing up to Batgirl (2000) in my eyes - which no book really could, that comparison was inevitable but not at all fair - Batgirl (2024) #1 even on just its own merits felt incomplete. We didn't get a real antagonist, we didn't get a feel for Cass's life in Gotham outside of her relationship to Shiva, and we didn't get a strong breaking point to close out the first chapter - but these are all things issue #2 provided.

But whatever! It is what it is now. And as of issue 2 I'm actively enjoying this book, and really looking forward to seeing what happens next, so yeah. This is good. Hopefully I'll get another old school Cass review in this month, but if not I'll definitely be back for issue 3.

[cirilla-fiona-riannon]

Kicho's Birthday Story 2023

Translations may not always capture the exact nuances or tone of the original text. Expect grammatical errors.

This is just a rough translation.

As November began, the breath of the people passing by on the street started to cloud up.

Everyone was dressed in thick clothing, all in a hurry to reach their destinations.

Among them was Kicho, walking while flipping his white coat.

(If I recall correctly, the next business meeting is一hm?)

Child 1: "Hey, can you lend it to me now?"

Child 2: "No! Go away!"

I turned my gaze towards the bickering voices and saw two children fighting in front of a shop.

Child 1: "Hey, Dad, he's been hogging the toy since earlier."

Man: "Come on, you two have to play nicely. I bought that toy for both of you to share."

Child 2: "No way! This is mine."

With that, the older-looking child clutched the toy.

Listening to the lively exchange, the shopkeeper peeked out from the back of the store.

Shopkeeper: "Well, it seems that he really took a liking to it."

Man: "It's always like this. This kid is really possessive. I should've bought two from the beginning."

Shopkeeper: "Haha, thank you as always."

(I see. These kids are young, so it's hard for them to share something.)

(Possessiveness, huh?)

Subordinate 1: "Good work, Lord Kicho."

Kicho: "Yeah."

After returning to the trading post, my subordinate approached me and asked me about the planned business negotiation.

Subordinate 1: "May I ask you something?"

Kicho: "Sure. What is it?"

Subordinate 1: "I've been curious for a while now, but where did you buy the brush you're using?"

Kicho: "This one?"

I looked down at the brush in my hand.

The glossy brush handle was easy to grip, and the bristles absorbed the ink just right. It was clearly a high-quality item.

Kicho: "I didn't buy it myself. It was a gift from a business client."

Subordinate 1: "I see. You always have it with you, so I thought you really liked it."

Kicho: "Well, it's not like I'm particularly attached to it."

(If someone asks if I actually like it, that's not really the case.)

(I kept using it because the other party was pleased when they saw me using it.)

(Come to think of it, this guy mentioned quitting this job and returning to his hometown recently.)

(Then there's no need to continue using this one in particular.)

Kicho: "Do you like it?"

Subordinate 1: "Huh? Yes, it's a really nice brush."

Kicho: "I see. Then you can have it."

Subordinate 1: "Are you sure? Thank you so much!"

With an almost jumping-for-joy expression, the subordinate accepted the brush, bowed deeply, and left the room.

Subordinate 2: "Are you really sure about that, Lord Kicho?"

Kicho: "It's fine. It's not like I had a strong attachment to it."

Kicho: "He'll cherish it more than I would. If the brush becomes that person's master, then it's for the best."

Subordinate 2: "I see. With how happy he was, he'll probably treat it like a family heirloom."

Subordinate 2: "I don't think he would even allow anyone else to touch it."

Kicho: "Yeah."

(Now that I think about it, this is also somewhat akin to possessiveness.)

That night--

Kicho: "Is this the last one?"

I moved the documents I had just finished processing to the side of my desk and finished my tea.

After taking a deep breath, I looked around the room.

As the head of the trading post, my office was filled with personal stuff and items that had belonged to my predecessor.

(They are all easy to use, and I don't dislike any of them.)

(But if something breaks, I would throw it away, and if someone asks for them, I would give them away.)

(There's nothing that I must hold on to.)

(I suppose it's my way of doing things.)

Speaking of, I had never had the experience of being attached to something since I was young.

I didn't have any memories of being given something I could be attached to, either.

(I...)

Mai: "Kicho, are you still awake?"

Kicho: "Mai? What's wrong?"

Mai: "Sorry for coming at such a late hour. I saw the lights were on, so I thought you might still be awake."

Mai: "Do you have a moment? I want to show you something."

Kicho: "Sure. What is it?"

Mai: "Hehe, thank you. It's this."

Mai took out a delicate brooch that she seemed to have sewn with small beads.

It was in the shape of a butterfly and emitted a deep, beautiful green glow.

Mai: "I'm going to wear this on my dress at your upcoming birthday party."

Mai: "I initially planned to make a gift, but when I thought of you, this idea came to mind."

Kicho: "Me?"

Mai: "Because your name has the character for 'butterfly' in it."

Mai: "It became something special for me, so I wanted to wear it myself."

Mai: "It's weird. When I associate it with you in my mind, it suddenly feels very special, and the next moment, I want to make it mine."

Kicho: "Mai."

My heart beat a little faster at Mai's slightly embarrassed words.

Mai: "Sorry for saying something so possessive."

Mai: "Of course, I'm also thinking of a proper gift for you!"

Kicho: "Thank you. I appreciate all your feelings."

(That possessiveness...)

I quietly put away the joy that seeped into my heart and stood up.

Kicho: "By the way, you must be tired from working until late at night. How about some tea before going to sleep?"

Mai: "I'm so happy! Thank you."

Mai sat down with a smile, and I reached for the shelf to get a teacup.

At that moment, I saw her happy expression reflected through the cabinet door.

Her appearance, gazing at the newly finished butterfly brooch, was so adorable that the emotions that had just settled inside me welled up again.

(I see. So that's how it was.)

(I've had it for a long time.)

(I continued to immerse myself in this happiness that I couldn't recall for a moment.)

I have stronger possessiveness than anyone else.

And it is solely focused on one thing.

(Hm?)

Suddenly, our eyes met at the cabinet glass door.

Mai: "Is something wrong?"

Kicho: "Even though you're with me, you keep staring at that butterfly. It's making me jealous."

Mai: "Huh? Um..."

Kicho: "What is it?"

Mai: "It doesn't feel like jealousy."

Kicho: "Is that so? Then how do I act when I'm jealous?"

Mai: "That's..."

She thought for a moment, furrowing her eyebrows in a puzzled manner.

Mai: "I don't know."

Kicho: "I see."

(It seems like I've managed to keep it from showing too much.)

Kicho: "You don't need to look so worried. You'll understand it in time."

Kicho: "We'll be together for a long time, so you should be able to see through it eventually."

Mai: "O-Okay."

Kicho: "What's wrong? Why does your expression darken there?"

Mai: "Because I don't want to make you jealous enough for me to understand."

Mai: "I wouldn't like it if someone did the same thing to me, you see."

Kicho: "----!"

I turned to face Mai, taken aback by her words.

My chest tightened as I gazed at her with a somewhat melancholic expression.

Kicho: "You're right. I'd probably feel the same way."

Mai: "Nn."

With the teacup still in my hand, I leaned in and kissed her.

Just feeling her warmth directly on my lips, the possessiveness I had just become aware of grew stronger.

(Even though we're already in a relationship, I still want more.)

(What can I do?)

During a brief pause in our kiss, something gleamed in the corner of my eye.

(That’s it.)

On the day of my birthday, a modest celebration had been planned at Mai’s suggestion.

Mai: “Kicho, sorry to keep you waiting.”

Kicho: “No, my apologies. It’s not even the appointed time yet.”

Mai: “It’s okay. I’m glad we got a moment alone.”

Mai: “I wanted to see you in that suit, so I planned today’s celebration. I’m happy to have you all to myself, even if it’s just for a little while.”

Kicho: “I see. In that case, we share the same feelings.”

(She looks so beautiful today. I almost don’t want to show her to my subordinates and guests.)

Upon receiving my compliments, she smiled.

Mai: “Hehe. Do you remember? Not long ago, we stood here alone like this.”

Kicho: “Yeah, of course.”

(Back then, we weren’t lovers.)

(We were enemies一no, we were like distant beings who even hid that fact.)

When I faced Mai, the butterfly brooch on her chest shone.

It was something that hadn’t existed in our memories before, and it clearly indicated that our relationship had changed.

(Perhaps it’s a bit greedy to ask for more than this.)

Kicho: “I asked you to come early tonight because I wanted to give you something.”

Mai: “Eh?”

I presented the gift that I’d hidden on my back in front of Mai.

What was in my hand was a beautiful pair of shoes adorned with butterfly decorations.

Kicho: “Tonight, I’d like you to dance in these.”

Kneeling in front of my beautiful beloved, I took off her original shoes and replaced them with the ones I had held in my hands.

(Just as I thought. They look perfect on her.)

Mai: "Kicho, why did you give me this?"

Kicho: "You wanted to wear it, right?"

Mai: "But it's not even my birthday, yet I received this wonderful gift."

Kicho: "That's exactly why."

(You don't need to know yet. My feelings have no limits.)

The butterfly ornament on the tip of the shoes shone beautifully, concealing the boundless possessiveness that resided within.

(This butterfly will stay on her toes as she continues to walk to the place where my heart sways.)

(Just that alone fills my heart beyond measure.)

Kicho: "I wanted to give it to you because it's my birthday. Was it wrong?"

Mai: "No, not at all!"

Mai: "It's just that these shoes are so lovely that they raised the bar for the gift I had prepared for you."

Kicho: "Don't worry about it. Any gift from you will make me happy. You understand that, right?"

Mai: "Yes."

I stood up and gently embraced her.

(I already have in my arms what I desire more than anything else.)

(This fact will never change in the future.)

Mai: "Kicho, happy birthday."

Mai: "I received something wonderful first, but I have prepared many things for you too."

Kicho: "Yeah, I look forward to it."

With a soft smile, I leaned in, and Mai reciprocated with a smile.

I lightly lowered my eyes, and she slowly closed her eyes and brought her face closer.

(I can assure you that this love has brought me happiness.)

(And from now on, you will continue to teach me happiness.)

Our lips touched, like the merging of our emotions, and our hearts began to melt.

(I've finally obtained the only thing that belongs to me alone.)

(I'll continue to love you and hold you in my arms forever.)

[draw-you-coward]

in the middle of the street grove

set late pact days :)

“Remember, your star charts are due in a month,” Malomedies reminds them all as they begin to pack their things. “And do something interesting. Keep in mind that your task is not to track the path of the stars, but rather to read the story they have to tell.”

Roza pauses to jot down, Stars – story not path, in his notebook before he gets up. He thinks he knows which story he would like to tell; the stars over Orr are watching the land without the black haze of an Elder Dragon blocking them for the first time in centuries. And perhaps he can solicit some aid from a certain someone who knows its skies well.

The other students, mostly night blooms, file out of the hut. Some of their persons are waiting for them, despite the hour—less so friends, more so family, partners, beloveds. Trahearne is waiting for Roza.

He extends an arm as the distance between them sews itself closed, gloved fingers wrapping around Roza’s shoulder and pulling him in. He smells of nighttime, of crickets and darkness.

“Good evening,” he greets. “How was your lesson?”

Roza raises his head and inhales deeply, taking in the outside air and letting it percolate through his vines. “Informative,” he replies. “We are learning how the phases of the moon align with the rejuvenative cycles of magic. Did you know we had a full moon for nearly a week after Zhaitan died?”

“I am sure that information is somewhere in my paperwork.” Trahearne half-smiles at him. They begin to walk their usual scenic route home. It is after hours, and they prefer to take their time returning to Fort Trinity. “Here, I brought you some food. Didn’t want you getting hungry on the way back.”

Roza takes the gift—a savoury pastry—and gives it a sniff before nibbling at it. “What would I do without you, my Marshal?”

“Have an intensely boring life, I am sure.” Trahearne leans into his shoulder, and Roza rolls his eyes and pushes back against him. “No one to constantly pester, no one to test the bounds of authority with or socially experiment on… you would be miserable.”

“Alright, smart-arse. You are speaking about me as if I am a pet suited to a particular environment.”

For a moment so brief as to be nearly unnoticeable, Trahearne’s gaze flits downwards. Then he says, “I doubt anyone could tame you.”

“You could,” Roza suggests in a way he does not quite know how to define, in the private tone they use when they are alone.

Trahearne’s mouth curves, and he responds in a similar manner, “I would certainly have fun trying.”

They are walking close together, as they always do, but have to move into single file as they duck underneath a branch at the end of the narrow passage behind the mentor huts. Trahearne lifts it for him, ever the gentleman, and Roza steps into the meadow beyond.

Which is not quite empty yet. A few sprouts are chattering amongst the flowers, youthful and bright in the Dream. Night blooms, most likely, although some dusk blooms distract themselves with their scholastic undertakings well into the evening (current company lovingly included).

“Summer will come soon,” Roza catches as they walk by. “Do you think Secondborn Laranthir will drop by this year?”

“He must,” another says hopefully. “I’m going to see if I can get him to paint my porch. On a hot day, when he doesn’t need all that armour.”

“Perhaps it is you who needs cooling down more than he!” their friend replies, and the rest of the sylvari in the circle begin snickering.

“He’s popular here,” Trahearne says directly into Roza’s ear. “He is judicious enough to gain the respect of the older sylvari, and amiable enough to gain that of the saplings.”

“And exclusive enough to be in high porch-painting demand, apparently,” Roza returns without moving his mouth. They walk by the sprouts without much notice, wading through the knee-high grass.

“We shall get him to paint our porch, one day,” Trahearne says. “That is how we will know we have made it.”

Our porch? Roza peers at him from the corner of his eye, and sees a queer expression, as if he has caught himself in a trap he’d forgotten he had set. Then Trahearne gives him a tight smile, the one that means Drop it, and ushers him onwards with a gentle grip.

Roza swallows down a sudden swell of grief and lets himself be led. He stays quiet, his humour now a shelled husk, and Trahearne shoots him a few guilty glances before putting on a comforting, ungenuine smile.

“Let us take a bit of a detour today, if you don’t mind,” he offers. “I, ah, have something I’ve been wanting to show you.”

He leads them back the way they came, which means it wasn’t a particularly planned detour, but Roza does not protest, gazing at the soft glows of the Grove’s nightlife and letting them soothe him. Trahearne’s hand in his is warm.

They stop in front of a small hut secluded from the rest, overgrown vegetation softening its silhouette and merging it with the surrounding landscape. A brightly coloured sylvari stands at the entrance, raking away dead leaves.

He looks up as they near. “Trahearne,” he greets in surprise.

Trahearne inclines his head. “How grow the grounds, Kahedins?”

Kahedins? That sounds vaguely familiar. Roza smiles at this sylvari blandly. A friend of Trahearne’s, perhaps? A former lover? Is Trahearne taking him here to show him that he—

“Quietly, Eldest Brother. The life here slumbers in your absence, but sustains itself still. It knows you return to it sometimes, though your visits grow increasingly rare.”

Eldest Brother. Firstborn. Oops.

“And you, Commander!” Kahedins raises his head and gives Roza a beaming smile, which he returns at crooked half-mast. “I have heard much of you from our brothers. I suppose this is a long-overdue initiation, hm?”

He winks. Roza, puzzled, looks at Trahearne, who stammers for a moment before saying, “I just—er, I brought him here to see the house.”

“I see. And have you told him whose house it is?”

Trahearne scratches the back of his neck. He mumbles to the ground, “It is, um, ou—Mine.”

“You have a house?!” Roza says perhaps a bit loudly.

Kahedins laughs—a rich, warm sound. “Indeed he does, not that you would have any way of knowing! He more or less abandoned it years ago. But I am its groundskeeper, if Brother dear ever deigns to pay it a visit.”

Trahearne mutters something unintelligible at that, but to Roza gestures stiffly towards the front door. “Would you like to, ah, go in?”

“… Sure,” Roza answers, trying to read his body language. Does he want him to go in?

“Come on in, come in. This was before we had keys.” Kahedins beckons to him and pushes the door open to a dark interior. “You’ll be meeting the family next, I suppose, hm?”

Trahearne makes a muted noise, but only smiles when Roza glances back at him. Roza steps forwards cautiously, looking around the interior of the hut. It is barren, save the vines twisting out through the open windows, and the air is musty and lonely. He sniffs.

“It smells like you,” he notes.

“Do you hear that, Brother?” Kahedins sounds delighted. “It smells like you. Isn’t that a wonderful observation?”

Trahearne pinches the bridge of his nose. “And you wonder why I do not visit often.”

“You certainly never visit with company.” Kahedins smiles at Roza almost suggestively. “What are your favourite kinds of biscuits, Roza? May I call you Roza?”

“Yes. Um… the sugar ones?” Roza looks to Trahearne for aid. “I don’t really know…”

“He hasn’t had much opportunity to eat biscuits, Kahedins, considering what our duties demand of us.” Though Roza does not understand the second conversation the firstborn are having underneath this one, he does recognize Trahearne’s I’ve had enough of your bullshit tone, having been the recipient of it many a time.

Kahedins clasps his hands together. “Then a little family meeting is a perfect opportunity to try all of them and discover which ones are your favourites. You know, Aife has been dying to meet you.”

Roza’s alarm must show on his face, because Kahedins chuckles before remediating, “Perhaps one at a time, then. We may begin with the nicest, which would be me. Have you met Dagonet?”

Roza nods shyly, but Trahearne steps in front of him—literally—before he can process how to respond to the invitation. “I am not parading him around for you lot to gawk at—”

“Clearly.”

“—before he even reaches a decade! Grant him some peace.”

“A decade?” Kahedins whines. “Come on, Trahearne. That is years away.”

Roza’s face is bright lavender. A decade? Trahearne thinks he will—they will—a decade? Will they even remain alive for that long?

Kahedins is bargaining with Trahearne. “Teatime with Malomedies,” he pleads, pressing his hands together. “They have already met. Let him try biscuits, Eldest. Please.”

Trahearne draws in a breath as if he is about to protest, but stills when Roza lays a tentative hand on his arm.

“I… would like that,” he ventures. “I think.”

Trahearne’s hackles visibly come to rest. “Very well, then,” he says softly, to Roza, and then in a firmer tone to Kahedins, “A short visit next week, before your class, when you are not inundated with saplings. He does not like crowds.”

That look of delight has crept back onto Kahedins’s face. “I swear by Mother’s roots it shall be perfectly curated. We will have flowers, even. Afternoon sunlight filtered in through the leaves. Deer. Perhaps a moment alone for the two of you.”

“We already do that,” Roza informs him as Trahearne opens his mouth. “Trahearne takes me somewhere every week.”

“Does he? Thank you for letting me know, my dear. Young sylvari such as yourselves are such refreshing conversationalists.”

“We are leaving,” Trahearne announces. His glow is holding now as well, and Roza touches the tips of his fingers to his dotted cheek to catch it. His marshal glares at Kahedins warningly, for what he does not know, and Roza ends up getting his wave goodbye returned to him with considerable enthusiasm.

“He is nice,” he declares as they walk away, swinging their hands together. “Much nicer than Niamh. I still do not know why she wanted to fight me.”

“Nice is one word for it,” Trahearne mutters. “If they so much as let the tea steep for too long next week, I am whisking you away.”

Roza gasps. “My hero,” he says, pressing his fingertips to his chest. Trahearne looks at him with warm cheeks before muttering something and facing away. His hand is a comforting pressure in Roza’s, making him nearly forget the question that has been nipping at his mind for the past five minutes.

“Um, Trahearne? How does he know my name?”

~*~

“You did not get the sunroom.” Roza blinks at him owlishly.

Laranthir pauses, his paint roller hoisted on his bare shoulder. “The… sunroom?” he repeats.

“It is Trahearne’s favourite room.” Roza tucks a delicate bit of hair behind his ear. “It is warm in there, of course. Perhaps you can paint all the coats today. Or you will have to come back tomorrow.”

Whatever game he is playing, Laranthir is too weary to dissect it. “Point me to it,” he sighs, and Roza smiles, sweet as poisoned wine.

Trahearne is in the sunroom on a lounger, next to a small table holding a book and a tray of drinks that he notably cannot consume.

“Lemonade?” he offers, holding one up now. “For your services.”

Laranthir feels as if he is Tyria’s first exotic painter. “Thank you,” he accepts, gulping the beverage down.

Trahearne is eyeing the discarded shirt draped over his arm. “You know, it is quite warm in here. You don’t need that.”

Laranthir throws it at him. “Make me dinner,” he demands.

 “We need to supervise your work first,” Roza says from the doorway, and Laranthir certainly does not jump.

“When did y—you know what, I will take it. Help speed this along and move the furniture, at least. Show me that your martial lessons have been paying off.”

Roza preens and flexes his non-existent muscles, and Trahearne presses a hand to his cheek as if it is the most charming thing he has ever seen. Laranthir gets started on the wall.

~*~

[antlered-vixen]

Hi! I really look up to you, I guess because of your age and because of what you've gone through. It must be hard to transition so many times, but it must have given you a lot of perspective.

Can I ask you something? How do you keep going? I can't find a community that welcomes me. People here are hurtful, and hateful- why do so many transfems online hate transmascs and intersex people? I don't hate them. It makes me want to cry. All I do is exist, and they tear into me for my identity.

Do you know how to find people who are kind, and don't put you down for who you are? I thought that maybe you've experienced some of these same things.

Sorry if this seems like a vent. You don't need to reply to it if it's too much or makes you uncomfortable.

Hey there.

I imagine I am older than you and possibly more experienced, yes, so I'll be glad to share a few things I've learned on existing as an intersex vaguely transmasc person.

1) Community rarely is and in fact should not generally be an echo chamber of people comprised of the exact same overlap of identitarian labels. A politics of compassion, mutual aid and community cannot be built with complete sameness as its main pillar.

Sure, yes, most of my friends are queer of some type. But I have befriended and become close with people gay and bi and straight, trans and cis, intersex or not. I've even dated outside what might be perceived outside my normal pool, taking no particular offense if for example someone generally identified as a lesbian tells me "well, you happen to be just ambiguous enough that even though I know you're not a woman, I find you hot in a butch way". Whatever - respect my name and pronouns and we're fine.

Identities and boundaries of attraction, friendship, commonality of experience and whatnot are very fluid and complex. "Your people" is not some preexisting uniform niche you will ever find - you have to bring them together yourself.

2) Transfems, as some kind of villified monolith (for the love of god enough of that!), do not hate intersex people or transmascs. Many are rightfully frustrated with people who think misandry is a thing - it's not.

Yes, transmasculine people are oppressed in ways unique to their experience, but not because they are trans, and also men. Because being men per se isn't a category that is dismpowered. They are oppressed in unique ways because they are specifically trans men, and therefore not fully offered the privileges of manhood, and in fact often perceived as failed/fraudulent men and/or failed/fraudulent masculine women. That's just plain old transphobia.

Transmisogyny is a word that exists to point out that being a woman is, in and of itself, a category of oppression, and that can overlap and intersect with the specificities of being a trans woman.

Honestly, we are actually all of us with our heads way up in our arse if we see fellow trans people as some primary foe - we hold little to no systemic privilege over one another, as trans and trans-adjecent genders are frankly at the very bottom of the hierarchy of gendered power, and out there in the real world our access to resources, our professional opportunities, our housing situations, our medical care, is decided almost entirely by old cis men in power and maybe sometimes the occasional powerful woman a la Theresa May.

Our material conditions are not going to be struggled for over comments in a Tumblr thread, I promise you.Keep your pain and tears for the class war, and to fight against the structures and systems that meaningfully decide the circumstances of your life.

And if the occasional trans woman is being mean to you online and doesn't actually have a good point... just ignore her. Every single group of humans has annoying people in it, even trans women, who are, you know, a complex and diverse group of fallible human people.

3) Many people will question the truth of your experiences, because a lot of intersex people undergo coercions and cruelties incompatible with what people want to believe is "the state of modern civilziation".

Surely not! Surely people are not given hormones coercively, shadily, by some family doctor! Surely babies are not mutilated with money paid under the table! Surely teens are not lied to and given T-blockers under false pretenses! Surely we don't live in such a world!

Worse yet, you will surely hear "impossible; teens given hormones is not to easy or common - that's a TERF argument", which is such a silly position. No, teens are given hormones easily, as long as it is in the service of maintaining and strengthening the gendered systems of categorization and assignment, rather than disrupting them.

If explaining politely avails nothing, ignore. You truly gain nothing by arguing online. Ultimately those unwilling to truly summon empathy and imagine experiences very different from their own will not learn it suddenly, this 18th of January, on Tumblr.

4) The best way to get people to be kind to you is by being kind to people yourself.

Suffering and grief is a nasty process, as it often closes us in on ourselves and makes us bitter and solispistic and self-obsessed, rotisserie-chicken turning our own trauma and worldviews in endless self-examination and writhing. It's understandable, but it's also not good for us, and it can make us, unintentionally, poor friends and poor partners, when we are so lost in our own self-narrativization.

Break away from that at your own initiative, be more extroverted and kind to others and curious about them and their lives, and empathetic, and believe me, it will be returned, eventually, by those who will make good friends and companions.

Ps.

You can reach out in private. I won't bite.

[bubblesandgutz]

Every Record I Own - Day 840: Adrianne Lenker Bright Future

This is one of my favorite albums of 2024.

I love the American singer-songwriter tradition. But my love for the genre isn't so strong that I'll fall for any simple folk or country song. On the contrary, the older I get, the more particular I get about Americana. Yes, I love the Woodie Guthrie adage about only needing two chords and how the rest is just showing off. Yes, I stand with David Berman's statement that "all my favorite singers couldn't sing." I don't need an artist to reinvent the wheel with a simple 1-4-5 chord progression and a verse / chorus format. But does the world need another song written around the same handful of cowboy chords we've heard a thousand times before?

I guess the trick in the 21st century is to somehow take a very established tradition and to inject yourself into it in such a way that your songs feel comforting and intimate while also somehow making the listener see the world (or themselves) a little differently. And there are fewer and fewer artists able to do that. Really, it's been years since a singer-songwriter has put out a record that's hit me as hard as Adrianne Lenker's album Bright Future.

Lenker has an established career as both a solo artist and as a member of the folk indie outfit Big Thief, but both were completely new to me as of 2024. Perhaps this album sounds differently to someone steeped in her past work, but for me, it sounds like a collection of twelve songs that have gestated in an artist's repertoire for an entire lifetime. The songs are primarily centered around Lenker's voice and acoustic guitar. There's some piano, some strings, some electric guitar, and some vocal harmonies to round things out, but Bright Future is ultimately an album centered around a loan figure singing their songs against a sparse backdrop.

The songs are very much rooted in American folk music, though Lenker sounds like someone who is as happy with the unadorned approach to the singer-songwriter approach (see "No Machine") as she is with slightly more adventurous studio embellishments (see "Fool"). But Bright Future shines because Lenker's wavering and lilting voice, nimble but modest instrumentation, and simple storytelling are thoroughly captivating in their own right, and her decision to err on the side of leaving things naked, frail, and exposed gives the album greater dimension than if her arrangements were buried in studio magic.

Lyrically, Bright Future touches upon the heavily-tread subjects of love and heartbreak but provides a fresh prospective on the vulnerability and sacrifice that comes with it. There's also a healthy dose of recollection on a troubled childhood, but it's framed more as a relatable obstacle to intimacy as opposed to the more common reveling in personal trauma we've heard in a lot of modern indie / underground music from the last decade. Rather than basking in psychological damage, Lenker addresses her struggles as if they're a universal experience, another part of life that we must simply deal with if we're to move forward.

And ultimately, what makes Bright Future so powerful is that it conveys a sense of joy and hope despite life's inevitable losses and pain. Lenker's music generally relies on major chords, with the crucial minor thrown in for emotional weight. And that sonic balance between light and dark perfectly suits the emotional timbre of her stories. It's an album that celebrates love and happiness by occasionally referencing the harsh inverse experiences.

[creepercraftguy]

My Thoughts on JOKER VS GIORNO

Once again, we come back to another Death Battle review, where I share my personal thoughts on what we saw.

Unlike Omni-Man Vs Bardock, while I was excited for that matchup, as someone who is a MASSIVE fan of both these characters and their respective franchises, this one was one that I was really looking forward to, even though I knew the fallout for it, regardless of who wins, is probably gonna keep me off the Death Battle internet community for a week at least.

Before I do or say anything on this matchup, I know this sort of thing goes through one ear and out the other, but can we please be respectful in the chat? It's super lame to start a war and to hate on the DB creators just because their opinion on a matchup isn't the same as yours. Let's just try to be good people, please?

Everything is under the cut as per normal, because I will be spoiling the episode:

In case it wasn't obvious how my previous review ended, this was a matchup that I was very excited for. But on top of my excitement, I was also...kind of scared.

I won't comment on my personal opinion of the JoJo fanbase and the Persona fanbase, but one thing that I cannot forgo talking about is that both sides are...intense.

Which is to say they love their franchises and their characters deeply, so while I, as someone who likes both Joker AND Giorno, and their respective series (though I do have a preference for Persona 5 and Joker) am not looking forward to the fallout that this episode brings, because Death Battle are probably about to make half their fanbase very, very angry.

Well, I mean, what else is new? But this time in particular, even more than Omni-Man and Bardock could have.

The analysis portions were actually very good. They touched on a lot of stuff, some of which I even forgot about, but I do have two pretty big qualms with them.

First of all, for Joker's segment especially, though Giorno's suffers from a similar problem, I'm pretty sure I could have made a bingo card of obvious jokes they could make about the Persona series and Joker and the Phantom Thieves, and...yeah, I would have definitely gotten a bingo.

Akechi's pancakes, Mara, the fact that you can date your teacher in the game and that Joker likes older women (although admittedly when I saw that in his intro card, it did make me chuckle), and the idea of never hanging out with your friends again once you max them out are all very commonly appearing jokes in the Persona fanbase, and Death Battle would not have missed an opportunity to mention pretty much all of them.

And then Giorno as well, though not as common, does have the drinking piss joke and the like. Although, I will admit, I think Boomsticks point about Jesus being a JoJo was done in a way that was pretty funny.

My other big issue with the analysis, and this carries on in the post analysis, is showing that Golden Experience Requiem could counter Pucci's stand, and then later, be negated by The World Over Heaven. Feats that come from video games that aren't exactly canon.

In the end, I don't think it really matters that much, because the points they made still stand, but can we maybe get a fact check on whether or not we can use these abilities? Because I'm pretty sure you'd have to take into account the feats of other JoJo's in past matchups, specifically Jotaro, who has the same ability by the end of that game.

Maybe Eyes of Heaven didn't come out when Jotaro Vs Kenshiro did, so I guess I'll give it a pass? Either way, it bothers me, and I really don't know why, because it doesn't amount to much; just that it's used to explain a point they were trying to make.

Other than that, pretty well-stylized analysis portions, and I don't have any complaints. They did well to sell the characters, and honestly? Up until I saw them, I was pretty ready for Jokers loss. Leading up to the fight, I started to change my tune. And after them, I changed sides completely and went back to supporting my boy.

I do somewhat feel guilty for how it ended though. Speaking of which, the fight.

I'm gonna be honest, the fight was cool, but it wasn't perfect. The teaser that was shown on the DB cast looked fire as fuck, but then when the actual fight started, it didn't live up to what it was selling.

Which is not to say that the fight didn't fuck, because it did. The sprites of the characters, Giorno especially, are just a little clunky, static, and very obviously a sprite puppet rig, that's all.

It also felt...a little fast paced? It's weird because the buildup to GE:R and Satanael was well-handled and cool, but for most of the fight, it just feels like the abilities are being thrown around rapid fast, and there's not much time to soak all of it in.

Also, I'm pretty sure Die For Me is an instant kill move, so maybe they should have saved that for when Requiem came out. Just my opinion though. I mean, Die For Me isn't 100% accurate, and doesn't work on bosses, so hell, maybe Giorno either dodged it, or is a boss.

I mean, he IS a boss, but...Well, whatever.

But again, my overall issue is that despite the similar framing, the animation budget just...hasn't quite hit yet. Maybe that's the price of being independent, but I'm REALLY holding out for Moro next week to absolutely smash the next match.

And again, this fight was NOT POORLY animated. Just that there have been sprite fights that were WAY better. Like Dio Vs Alucard for instance.

Speaking of which, this fight is actually pretty similar to that fight in that the penultimate winner of the fight spends...quite a lot of the match just getting bodied by their opponent until they're successfully able to turn it around. Dio did it against Alucard, and Joker did the same to his son in the end.

One more point I want to make on the fight itself is the voice acting. Kieren Regan, who voiced Giorno, is someone who I'm actually familiar with. He's the voice of Shikanoin Heizou in Genshin Impact, and this is his first time working with Death Battle. Honestly? His voice for Giorno is pretty good, even if his tone is a little more whispery than Phillip Reich's rendition of the character.

But OH MY FUCKING GOD, I swear, during the build up to this episode, I seriously thought that Xander Mobus himself was the one doing the voice of Joker! He's actually voiced by Kevin Rivera (Who most would know from the dub of Undead Unluck) who previously voiced Alex Mercer and Dimitri in the last season, but my lord, his impression is SPOT ON! 10/10, no notes!

If I had to give an overall highlight of the fight, well...It'd probably have to be the beginning portion of it that was shown in the cast. The intro to this fight was solid as hell, and if I had to pick another moment in the fight that I was pretty pumped about, it was the sequence when Giorno uses his ability to turn Joker's grapple shot into a snake, and then Joker shoots the snake which reflects the damage back on him. Then the bullets that Giorno turned into bees earlier returned to Joker, destroyed his gun, which gave passage to the ultimate climax of the fight.

That portion was pretty sick.

And then the way the fight ends, while stunning, I do kind of wish it had been more climactic than a single bullet, but...then again, a single bullet put down Jaldabaoth, so there's no need to oversell that, and neither Joker, nor Giorno, are really known for anime screaming or fighting tooth and nail (well, Giorno is sort of) so I can't exactly claim it to be out of character to end this way.

And as for my last note, I think I'm gonna have to give the fight track by Therewolf and Brandon Yates a listen on it's own when it drops, because it's hard to analyse the lyrics and tune while the fight is going on, because it very rapidly changes with each side's sporadic moves.

BUT the vocals in the track are done by Saoirse, the same person who did the vocals for Phantom's Game, the track that Brandon Yates made for a Joker Vs Neku commission he did, and...yeah, that's brilliant, because I loved the vocals of that song, and she's a brilliant singer on the same level as Lyn Inaizumi for these tracks, so yeah.

Final score for me? I give it an 8.5 out of 10. Not perfect, and not quite a 9, but definitely close.

Next week is Eggman Vs Bowser, as I suspected it would be, so let's get pumped for this match, because it's been a long time coming.