#natsukay

[kay-selfships]

might’ve had a little too much fun with this trend started by @vergils-beloved ehe

[sparklyjojos]

Additional notes for The Saimon Family Case [spoilers, naturally]

— Aside from being a historical reference, the name Soga could have been inspired by Awasaka Tsumao’s mystery books starring the magician detective Soga Kajou. Kirigirisu was even shown reading Awasaka’s books, though not the Soga series, which would be first published in the 80s.

— They didn’t say it, but I think that the names of Yumeji (夢慈), Emu (絵夢) and Nemu (音夢) might all reference Yumedono (夢殿).

—  By the time of Joker, Ajiro, Juku, Shiranui and Yaiba are known as the “great four (shitennou) of Japan’s detective scene”. I can imagine Ajiro not liking that term a lot.

— It makes more sense now why Yomiko’s reasoning method is based on understanding people’s psychology (even as a child she’s already pretty good at magic that exploits it), and why she studied criminal psychology in particular (not only was she impacted by the Case, but her grandfather and uncle were yakuza bosses).

— I suspect the reason why little Yomiko calls Juku per Juku-sama is that they were supposed to eventually get married as arranged by their parents, which other books like Cosmic and Carnival Eve off-handedly mention; of course all those years after the Case it's a thing of the past (likely because all those parents are dead now) and Juku and Yomiko simply stay close friends. I'm not sure why Yomiko still keeps calling him with -sama when they're adults, but she's also the kind of person who uses watakushi and formal language in everyday conversations, so.

— The word for a powerful mastermind is kuromaku (黒幕), literally “a black curtain”, referring to the person who controls the black curtain in the back of a kabuki theater stage. When the important curtain in the book changes its stripes between red and black, it does so twice: right after Tamako gets on the stage during the celebration, and right when Tensui triumphantly returns to the stage during the show, possibly foreshadowing their role in the Case. (I know a striped curtain is not exactly entirely black, but I so want this pun to work.)

— Continuity nod: In the cemetary scene near the end of Cosmic, when Juku  uncovers Nagisa’s lie and she’s about to fall over from shock, he effortlessly catches her with one arm, making her wonder why on earth his arms are so deceptively strong. Now we know that not only did he get it from both his parents, he spent his early childhood as a professional acrobat. Juku is probably that one person who could bench press you despite looking like a twig. His past also helps explain why he’s often described as moving with utmost natural grace and perfect sense of balance.

— The Tsukumo family’s summer residence in Carnival Eve is called Shunkashuutou (春夏秋塔, “the tower of spring, summer and fall”), a pun on an identically pronounced term shunkashuutou (春夏秋冬, “spring, summer, fall, winter”). The building has three floors, each named after spring, summer or fall—harukai, natsukai, akikai—which makes Inugami Yasha wonder why the architect didn’t include winter. Knowing The Saimon Family Case we can guess that the place was named after Haruko, Natsuko and Akiko. The “three-tiered tower” made of umbrellas in the magic show may be a reference to it. I strongly suspect the tower could have been named by Jounosuke (Yomiko says that even though her father Yomi designed the tower, he didn’t give it that name).

— Both the glossary in Carnival Eve and the non-canon manga (and possibly Cosmic, but I don’t remember) claim that Nemu and Juku first got to know each other AFTER the Saimon Family Murder Case. I honestly don’t know whether this is a continuity mistake or whether Seiryoin has another really weird plot twist up his sleeve, especially since there are other mistakes (?) in that glossary that seem more like intentional hints about future books to me. (First rule of JDC: never trust anyone named Ryusui, the author included.)

— Honestly most things I could write here (like a full analysis of the magic show as foreshadowing for the entire series) would have giant spoilers for the Carnival books, so we’ll get to it, uhh... *stares at the 1200 pages she still has to recap* ...one day.

[kay-selfships]

so this is meant to be my last in the lil collection of totally late holiday/winter adjacent drawings of me with my enstars guys

which means i finished it before february, so yay yippee!!

[kay-selfships]

recently i got a duplicate of his exclusive outfit card so technically natsume is the character i have the most five star cards for. which means he literally loves me so much i guess