#natsuko icons

[druh19]

Hiii, pode fazer icons de Zenshuu? 💜

໑ — Zenshuu Icons ~ like and reblog if saved ‹3

[harmorii]

matching loser icons or sth

[mellorocket]

I KNOW the main jokes is that Natsuko's first love is OBVIOUSLY Luke, but god as an acearo person, this new episode was an absolute blast.

[dresspheres]

COMMISSION. 43 for Natsuko Kondo from Cardfight Vanguard. These icons are free to use, but please credit me if you use them. preview && download link under the cut.

download link.

[lyquynhnhu]

Episode 7 is fantastic

So, since she was a child, Natsuko was a person who is dedicated to her passion and seek perfection in everything she does. She even copy the entire guide of A Take of Perishing and follow the movie director lifestyle like a Bible.

And I was right when I wrote in this post that she was not cheering to the boy in the athletic club, instead she was yelling at him to run faster.

Anyway, I’m even more curious about A Tale of Perishing’s plot. Natsuko likes the movie even though she doesn’t understand it. The university senpai considered it his “favourite movie” and said that Natsuko has good taste in anime. Natsuko’s boss stated that Natsuko is a genius on the level of A Tale of Perishing director. So, is the movie that bad? From what was shown in the anime, I though it is indeed bad (for example never explaining Memmeln betrayal), but if it is really so bad, why it is still famous?

I mean, in the article about the director death, it was written “the director of A Tale of Perishing died from food poisoning”. Doesn’t she have other famous works to be remembered? Also, the movie seemed to be quite old. I have the felling that when Natsuko watched it for the first time in elementary school, that wasn’t the first release.

And about Natsuko’s first love. I think there are 3 possibilities.

Animation itself - she spent all her life studying even the smallest movements. Maybe the movie had very great animation

The movie of “A Tale of Perishing” - she stated that she didn’t understand the plot, but when she thinks about it she is more emotional. She also dedicated to become like the movie director, if she only like animation to become a master she would study other directors, too

Luke - she draw Luke more than the other characters and she is always emotional when thinking about what happened to Luke at the end of the movie (Just what happened? I want to know, now!)

And at the end, the bird director finally appears in front of Natsuko. I had this feeling since the beginning, but differently from other isekais, where the main character is reincarnated as a villain/doomed character and have to escape a bad ending or in which the main character hate the original story and wants to change it, Natsuko like A Tale of Perishing. But by changing the events, she is distorting/destroying the original story. I think this will be the main conflict between Natsuko and the original director, rather than the Great Void.

Natsuko doesn’t seem to care that she is drastically changing the story. She, as an animator, seems to be more focused in the animation aspect more that the writing. The “Sailor Moon” anime she worked she was in charge of directing, but the concept of the story was probably written by someone else. In “First Love” case, she has to write the story herself on a theme she is totally unfamiliar with.

In these latest episode, there were fewer reference to iconic anime scene. But, after rewatching episode 6 I notices that when Unio kicked Luke, the scene remind me of when Conan (Detective Conan) kicked the ball to stop criminals. Especially in Conan movies, when Conan kicked the soccer ball is always quite epic.

While in this episode, when the university senpai declare that he will become a “Great Master” while looking outside the window (don’t know if this is the translation in English, I watched the anime in Italian sub), that sentence in Japanese has the same grammatical form of Luffy iconic phase “I’ll be Pirate King” in One Piece.

As for the next episode, I’m really excited. Never expected a confession so soon. And as I quite predicted, Luke seems to confess that he likes Natsuko to Unio first.

Even without summoning, the anime still keep to do reference in other way.

But I’m really afraid that Natsuko will return to real world once she find the meaning of first love. Please, have an happy ending.

[i-am-snowils-admiral]

Seeing some absolutely incredible stuff about The Boy and the Heron on here but not much about Mahito's weird relationship with his aunt/stepmom Natsuko.

Even putting aside the psychological impact of your dad marrying your mom's younger sister not even a full year after her death, Mahito has every right to be kind of weird about this random woman who is now acting like she's his mom. He doesn't really want her around, he resists going to visit when she's not feeling well, he ignores all of her advice, he doesn't ask for her help when it seems like she might understand what's going on with the Heron.

And THEN he spends the entire rest of the movie trying to bring her home at great risk to himself. It seems like he never wavers in that purpose. He doesn't try to stay in the house with his actual mom. He doesn't go home without her even when given the opportunity. He stands in the room and begs her to come home with him. He calls her mom - not because that's how he views her, but because he wants her to live and come back with him and he knows this is how he'll need to do it. He CHOOSES to love her as his mother even though he's really not obligated to do so.

Iconic of him. He's such a weird guy but he deserves the entire world for this.

[swordshapedleaves]

Zenshu is the New Anime to Watch for Winter 2025

This is a love letter to animation as a medium. It is beautifully made and a delight to watch. Burnt out and struggling anime director Hirose Natsuko dies and reawakens in the world of the film that made her fall in love with animation "A Tale of Perishing" a dark fantasy about a dying world that ends in tragedy, but through Natsuko's powers of animation, she can rewrite and reanimate the story.

So far, each of her animations that save the day have been icons of anime history, which I won't spoil here. Bit I will say I am so excited to see what she draws next!

[greatwyrmgold]

When you watched/read Oshi no Ko, did you wonder what would happen if Abiko Samejima got isekai'd into a mid movie she loved as a kid? Well, Zenshu doesn't exactly answer that question, but it's as close as you're gonna get.

Which I didn't expect going in, because I saw that the main character was an animator and immediately stuck it on my to-watch list.

So. Things I like. Saying "production values" sounds dismissive, but the basics are solid. Animation and sound design and voice acting and stuff. And it's hard to analyze the story after one episode, but I like the characters.

The protagonist, Hirose Natsuko, is enjoyable. I don't like her as much as Abiko Samejima, but if we spent enough time in the real world to see her properly clash with others and retreat back into her shell and go into a creative fugue like we did with Samejima, I might. Especially since, despite my comparison, she's honestly not that much like her? She doesn't have that tension between aggressive defensiveness and people-pleasing, but she does have a lot of fun interactions with the characters and plot of the movie she gets isekai'd into. She's clearly spent much of her life thinking about this story.

Also, I fucking LOVE Natsuko's design. Abiko Samejima looks fine, but look at Natsuko!

Her face is hidden by her hoodie and overgrown mane, but there's enough color that she's not completely invisible. And since this is anime and not manga, the hair can flow or shift to indicate expressions that would otherwise be lost. Like when she's eating Oyster-kun, who had to sub in for Truck-kun, and you can see her chewing by how the hair moves? Great stuff! Too bad I haven't figured out how to do gifs.

Anyways, all of that makes it all the more impactful when, nineteen minutes into the episode, we see her face.

This bit reminds me a little of Wonder Egg Priority, for some reason. In a good way, except the part where I got sad remembering how WEP absolutely failed to stick the landing.

Not a fan of how long it takes Natsuko to figure out what happened to her. She's not even in denial, she just doesn't consider the possibility that the people who look like characters from her favorite movie and fought a monster exactly like in the movie ("shot for shot") and rode away on said movie's flying unicorn might not be cosplayers until she wanders through the desert and sits through another whole movie scene and notices an iconic bit of architecture.

Also, from how she describes the movie's reception, isekaitis (or at least an isekai-themed dream) is probably more plausible than finding a whole group of A Tale of Perishing cosplayers.

Swinging back to compliments, I like Natsuko's interactions with the twice-fictional characters. She's not quite treating them as full people, which they notice but mistake for her just being mundanely rude (and also weird). I get the sense that Natsuko's developed some headcanons that overshadowed the actual text of the film, or at least that she flanderized some of the less pleasing or consistent actions of its heroes out of her memory. And she really doesn't like the unicorn, mostly because he's annoying.

And now for some more insults. I wish Natsuko had more hair in her face after the animation crisis resolved; she's got some hair in her face in a couple shots, but it feels like she's mostly going to wear her hair like a normal person in the future. Look at the ED.

Normal-ass long hair on a normal-ass anime lady. It's not even all messy and scrungly. And her clothes are just, normal clothes. Extra-with-a-name energy. Boring.

More significantly, we don't get any kind of animation action. Natsuko's talking ruler turns into a magic animation desk, and she starts drawing, and there's a bunch of production values (derogatory this time), and a sketchy monster shows up to kersplode the Void army. Eizouken, this ain't.

I'll keep watching, but unless there's either a really compelling character arc or more focus on the animation side of things, I'll probably drop it before the end of the season.

[daveth-isnt-dead]

Have a gander at the coolest thing I've ever done, if you want.

[namimikan]

finished desert punk! 9/10.

-i wish i understood the time skip parts better tbh, tho i liked that it was taiko we were following rather than kanta, tho i love kanta. some of the not understanding was fun tho, and trying to figure out what was going on with taiko gaining precognitive abilities

-i’m not sure a reread would help but you never know… it might have been hard to follow bc i wasn’t sure where it was all building up to, and the war going on made it hard to understand the scope of it.

-took a while to figure out that huron was referring to people with hulk disease… i think. which everyone has, apparently??? in different ways???

-i am sad that junko or rain spider didn’t do much in the latter half tbh. kanta at least was talked about occasionally. but junko? possibly a cameo, it’s heavily implied to be her even if she covered her face. it makes more sense that rain spider is uninvolved, tbh, but i love him still holding a grudge for kanta.

-if i’m to understand the last couple of pages… kanta deified himself??? like he’s alive but to some people he’s become their god/saviour??? that’s how he’s going to be remembered??? incredible. that 10 years later finally happened!

-i liked that the machine gun brothers were constantly around and keeping an eye on taiko for tbh. natsuko, less so, but also v. much there

-ngl taiko vs kanta… i kinda like that it took until the end for it to happen… and kanta wins anyway.

-i think the artwork was good and evocative but like… there were times i found it hard to tell who was who. scenery was always great tho.

-there’s something v. funny about everyone moving to the new desert that’s to the west. they’re just going to repeat the same thing and bring it to ruin again, i can tell. might take years but… it’s gonna happen.

-i can def. understand why there wouldn’t be a s2 of the anime tbh. the first half is better imo, but the second half is still enjoyable imo, tho more incomprehensible at times. but i’d prolly enjoy it.

-i do like that the mundaneness of life happening never really goes away tbh. people get dehydrated, famished. insane, constantly have hair cuts… and… idk, kept it real.

-kanta asking twice about taiko’s breasts… awful man, but extremely on brand for him. iconic, despite the terribleness of it all. he did NOT forget the deal taiko made with him.

do i prefer the anime? ultimately yeah, but the manga was fun too.

[superkixx]

Fave Females ¹³⁹/∞ - Natsuko Tora

[Requested by anon]

[iconnoteven]

Honda Natsuko from Ousama Game 📱

[ask-the-koopa-family]

Miss Natsuko, do you remember what was your first drawing in this blog?

((I think my first draxing in this blog was the THE DIRST ICON of this blog lol))

[fantasynamesbymeforyou]

Hi everyone! Here's my first collection of names, a short list of names inspired by Summer. My sources are behindthename.com and google translate. Please let me know if I need to make any corrections! I'm going to be making longer lists in the future, so be on the lookout :-)

Amarror - m (Armenian) Summer day

Behar - m (Albanian) Summer

Byeong-Ho 炳昊 - m (Korean) glorious Summer, bright sky

Cayenne - f (English) hot pepper

Chinatsu 千夏 - f (Japanese) thousand Summers

Dāsavāla ದಾಸವಾಳ - f (Kannada) hibiscus

Firefly - m/f (English) a small beetle that blinks bright green on warm Summer nights, looking like little stars floating through the forest

Freckle - m/f (English) small brown spots on the skin that appear with exposure to the sun

Fúróng 芙蓉 - f (Chinese) hibiscus

Grishma - f (Marathi) Summer

Haf - f (Welsh) Summer

Haul - m (Welsh) sun

Ha-Yun 昰昀 - f (Korean) Summer sunlight

Hefin - m (Welsh) Summer

Hibiscus - f (English) A tropical Summer flower known for its beautiful, large, and fragrant blooms. It often symbolizes beauty, femininity, love, and joy

June - f (English) the month where Spring becomes Summer

Ka'ena - m/f (Hawaiian) the heat

Kaskazi - f (Swahili) hot season, Summer

Kembang - f (Javanese) hibiscus

Lieta - f (Belarusian) Summer

Liwar - m (Balochi) hot Summer wind

Mahana - f (Hawaiian) warmth, heat

Mahana - f (Tahitian) sun

Marigold - f (English) a Summer flower with fluffy, round, yellow-orange blossoms. It is associated with warmth, joy, optimism and good luck, and is also used to honor the dead.

Marysol - f (Spanish) sea and sun

Narangerel - f (Mongolian) sunlight

Natsuko 夏子 - f (Japanese) Summer child

Natsumi 夏美 - f (Japanese) beautiful Summer

Nou - f (Hmong) sun

Nway - f (Burmese) warm

Ochieng - m (Luo) born when the sun shines

Pepper - m/f (English) a spicy Summer fruit

Poppy - f (English) a cheerful looking Summer flower associated with sleep, peace, death, and remembrance

Radiance - f (English) being radiant, deep pink

Radiant - m/f (English) radiating rays or reflecting beams of light, vividly bright and shining, showing love, confidence, or happiness

Sayflayl - f (Arabic) Summer night

Shizuka 静夏 - f (Japanese) quiet Summer

Siqniq - f (Inuktitut) sun

Soleil - f (French) sun

Solfrid - f (Norwegian) beautiful sun

Solstice - f (English) the Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, while the Winter Solstice is the longest night

Somerled - m (Scottish) Summer traveler

Sorin - m (Romanian) sun

Sunflower - f (English) an iconic Summer flower known for its large sun-like blooms. It is often associated with joy, hope, and youth.

Sunniva - f (Norwegian) sun gift

Sunny - m/f (English) exposed to or abounding in sunshine, cheerful, like the sun

Summer - f (English) the season of Summer

Tesni - f (Welsh) warmth from the sun

Tonalli - f (Nahuatl) day, warmth of the sun

Toplica - m (Serbian) warm river

Udane - f (Basque) Summer

Un - m/f (Lao, Thai) warm, tranquil

Willka - m (Aymara) sun

Yáng - m/f (Chinese) meaning ocean 洋, or light, sun, male 阳

Yayuzun - m/f (Azerbaijani) long Summer

Yōta 陽太 - m (Japanese) big sun

Zinnia - f (English) a brightly colored, heat loving flower frequented by butterflies

[lyquynhnhu]

Thank you for liking my post. I never expected a reply. I've never been good at writing essay or do text analysis at school and english is not my first language. I just enjoy guessing the lore of anime a really like.

By the way, Memmeln being the second last to die make sense. I just suppose that Unio was the first and Destiny the last.

As for the movie being a total tragedy… There was a scene in the first episode after Natsuko collapsed and she as a child was at the cinema watching a scene of the movie with the 9 heroes together. I thought that was the last scene of the movie. Also, I just remember that according to the prophecy the Nine Soldiers are supposed to become the new light of humanity. This could mean that their deaths/sacrifice serve to revive the Soul Futures. So, maybe that scene in the original Luke die defeating the Great Void but after that he reunited with his companion in the afterlife.

As for the remaining heroes, I watched the episode 5 preview in which Memmeln list the names of eight of the Nine Soldies except for Justice (the two you mentioned are included - by the way all the cast was already announced before the anime aired and can be found in Wikipedia along with the seiyuus).

So, next episode will be about Justice, the title of the episode is also "Seigi" (it means justice in japanese). And in the preview we see Natsuko summoning the Sailor Moon homage. And Sailor Moon is iconic for the concept of "champion of justice". Also, it’s funny the way they use the titles in Japanese and in the same episode a character with the name in English appears. Episode 3 was “Unmei” meaning “Destiny” and Destiny character was introduced.

I didn't know about Sailor Moon original seiyuu voicing here. I appreciate that they are not only making tribute to old animes from a visual point of view, but also from the seiyuu side. To be honest, not having watched the original anime for the reference for episode 1 to 3, I didn’t get it at first. After doing a research I discovered that the Tiger Mask (manga) inspired wrestler to wear a tiger mask. I thought it was the opposite, that is a famous wrestler inspired manga and anime to create wrestler character wearing a tiger mask.

With episode 4 it was different, since I’m familiar with Utapri, Idolish7 and many idol anime. And Exister seiyuu is Mamoru Miyano, he voiced a character in Utapri.

Anyway, I wanted to integrate this in my post, but I’ll write it here. I read many comments that said summing an idol to save Memmeln was stupid idea and it make no sense. I rewatched the episode many times, and here’s my explanation to why Natsuko decide to summon an idol.

Natsuko was going to follow Luke’s plan and draw the Great Void

According to Luke, Memmeln’s cult worship the Great Void and they would do everything he says

When Memmeln transform in the Great Void, Natsuko had to think to a plan B on the spot and her solution was to create something the cult could worship

The keyword here is “worship” and according to the many idol anime I’ve watched, idol are indeed people that are worshipped.

The choir is not an evil organisation that wished for the end of the world. Cults are group of peoples that search for salvation through a god. In this case, they choose to worship an evil god (or the only thing more similar to a god that exists in that world. Does that world have religions?). Considering they live in a world with constant war and in the verge or ruin with only one city still existing in the whole planet, it’s not illogical they lose hope. Natsuko basically give them a new god to worship and this god is all “life is beautiful and worth living”. What the cult needed is salvation and something eternal to believe in. And art is something eternal, and idols are connected with music which is a form of art.

Maybe it seems that the cult change values too fast, but it does happen to suddenly fall in love with a song, book, movie, etc. That’s exactly what happened to Memmeln.

Also, about Memmeln not get punished for what she did. From what I understood, transforming the void in the priest was the first and only attempt of the cult to help the void. Before that, they only try random summoning rituals. From a viewer point of view, her motivation are lame and resolution too easy. Even Natsuko didn't expect Memmeln to be a "poor written" character. In the movie she was supposed to be cool and mysterious (her motivation was neve explained, after all). But even Luke, who is supposed to be the leader, a rightful hero, didn't blame her but feel pity for her. Maybe it's just a matter of cultural perspective.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to next episode for more unconventional way to defeat enemies.

A Tale of Perishing - analysis (part 1)

Just watched episode 4 of Zenshu and it was hilarious. To be honest, it’s since episode 2 that I’m curious about the original movie plot.

What we know is that “A Tale of Perishing” was an original anime in movie format. Just from the title it’s is expected to be very dramatic. Natsuko stated that the plot was depressing, the type of angst for angst sake.

Natsuko gets reincarnated at the start of the movie. At this point 8/9 country of that world have already perished. Only 1 city survived, the Last City.

The movie probably just introduced the hero party and soon after the enemy army attacked, like it happened in episode 1. Then Unio sacrificed himself to annihilate the enemies. This means that Unio just died before getting to know his character. However, from the bit of the movie that Natsuko watched on her computer, he was alive. Maybe Unio appears only in flashbacks.

Before Unio funeral, there is the voids attack from the sky. And somehow, Luke, who was devastated by the death of his best friend, somehow managed to defeat them. However, in episode 2, QJ stated that Luke has 3% of possibility to win. Like, in the movie he was mentally unstable but manages to win, while in the anime he was physically and mentally alright and still struggle? My theory is that Luke is able to trigger some special power under dire situation. But since Natsuko resolved it all, the condition to awake such power are not met.

So, after this attack, the city has time to held Unio funeral. There, Luke meets and fall in love with Destiny. We know that Destiny would died, but I think that happened further in the movie. In fact, I think that others of the Nine Soldiers died before she did. After every loss, Destiny stay with Luke to comfort him and give him courage (while also attracting problems). The Memmeln cult stuff probably happened in the middle of the movie. Destiny is probably the last one to die and Luke completely broke.

It’s unclear if the movie ended with Luke saving the world or the enemies winning. It’s probably the former, but it’s not totally an happy ending since almost all the cast have died.

Anyway, since it was an anime movie, the duration is limited and many parts got cut. For example, Natsuko know nothing about the choir and had no idea why Memmeln transformed in the Great Void.

As for Memmeln, she lived more than 200 years always in battlefield. But the void are supposed to have appears not many years ago. On the official site, it’s written that Luke and Memmeln come from different countries before the country falls. Since Memmeln lives long, maybe her country fell century ago while Luke’s fell when he was a child.

Memmeln says that she joined the cult recently. She realizes for a long time that her life is hard, but doesn’t consider taking her own life maybe because of her responsibility as a hero. The Nine Soldiers seems to have been chosen by a prophecy. Unio said that Luke was destined to be become the legend hero the day he was born. Memmeln doesn’t choose to be a hero, but she cares for the world and the people. If she died, void would continue to attack and the people would suffer more with one less hero protecting them. With the cult, she found people who think like her. By awaking the Great Void, Memmeln believe that the world would end peacefully and equally ending everyone suffering. Her decision is quite selfish and drastic, but her decision comes from her particular circumstances.

The cult doesn’t control the void attacks, they just want them to get the last Soul Future. Memmeln doesn’t want to create panic, that’s why transforming into the Great Void and attack Luke was her last card. But she regret it. In the anime she detransformed back because she was having second thoughts, while in the original movie she is easily defeated by Luke. Probably she didn’t even try to fight seriously.

In the movie, all her motives are cut. Nor Luke nor the audience understand this twist of the plot. No wonder the movie was rated bad. I’m quite convinced that the movie condensed the story too much. Like, there are 9 heroes, but they died without getting development. It’s already difficult to develop everyone with 12 episodes (I think Zenshu have only 12 episode, wish it had more), and the movie was 2 hours long.

I think from episode 5 to 9 the anime will introduce the remaining 5 heroes. In the preview we see the dragon who was also in the opening. Usually, in the opening should appear all the characters or at least the silhouettes. But the dragon is the only one that appears.

I really wished this anime has 2 cours.

[gossipchii]

Drive to survive

FF.net: here / AO3: here

Characters: Ishida Yamato

Words: 5100+

Notes: I promised this on twitter, and here as well and well, it happened. A Digimon story on my latest obsession. the Formula 1.

It’s safe to say I got excited, this is my longest story in forever!

Anyway, hope you like it as much as I do. Enjoy!

He was making history; he could not let himself forget it. Not ever had there been a Japanese driver to win podiums, and so far, during that season only, he had five. He had been working towards where he was right now ever since he was 8, when his dad had taken him to a kid’s go-kart circuit in Tokyo and had found out his heart had never beaten quicker. His mom had gotten scared when he told her how much he had liked it, and that he wanted to go back.

The owner of the place, a former engineer for Formula 1, was impressed as soon as he placed his eyes on him.

“He’s got talent,” he had told his mother, she shrugged it off. It was only a hobby, it had to be.

When his grandparents had gone visiting from Paris, Yamato had insisted on them seeing him race, he was only ten at the time. His grandfather knew he raced go-karts from his calls with his mother, but since she had insisted it was just a hobby, he took it that way. Of course, as an old French man, he was a big afficionado of car races, and nevertheless he was impressed by how fast his young grandson was.

“He’s a natural Natsuko, you must understand this is not just a hobby.”

Yamato traveled back to France with his grandparents, after he had heard them discussed with his mother about him taking a shot at race teams in Europe, professional ones. He had never been a professional before, he was not even sure what that meant, since Formula 1 was not a popular sport between his classmates, it was all about soccer and baseball, he did not know people could get paid by racing.

Michel, his grandfather, had a friend, who knew a friend, who was a part of the recruiting team of Renault’s quarry, and as soon as they saw 10-year-old Yamato behind his tiny wheel, they knew he was a natural, good enough to start training as soon as possible with their team.

It all happened too fast for him, he had to go back to Tokyo to pack up his life and leaving for good. He was not even certain if he were feeling sad or nostalgic, all he knew was school would turn into something he could do at home, and in French, and that he would be racing all the time. It all sounded like a dream, really.

“Don’t tell your grandma I’m telling you this but go kick those English kids’ butts!” had been the encouragement words coming from his grandpa before his first-ever professional race. He was 13 at the time, already gaining enough attention from the media, especially from his home country, despite only stepping foot in Japan once a year.

He tried not to read anything regarding himself, they tended to be mean, and underappreciating him. He knew after the first article he had read, he would never read it again, what was the point anyway?

“Next time I see anyone writing something mean they’ll be fired, even if they work elsewhere,” his dad had threatened.

“It’s okay, I don’t even care anymore. Let them talk, all I care about is getting podium, again.”

And so, he did, until he was old enough to jump to the bigger leagues. From Formula 3 to Formula 2, and finally, with only 21 years old, signing a five-year contract with the team Michel had always admired: Scuderia Ferrari.

Sadly enough, he had not had the chance to see him drive in red, because he had passed away due to a heart-attack, his grandmother passing away shortly after. People said she had died from heartbreak. Yamato only took it as another reason why he had to prove his best. His management team had told him media were already calling him the best Japanese driver in history, and that was nice, but only if he made it reality.

Yamato had helped Ferrari pound back to being the first-place team once again, after years of competing against Red-Bull and Mercedes. But he had only been the fifth best racer, not good enough if he wanted to make history.

That week he was back in his homeland, Japan greeting him as a hero for the Japanese Grand Prix. It was scary how much his face was everywhere he looked, even more so than pop-icons. He was glad his team respected his choice to remain mostly private, and when they wanted advertising, his team-mate, an Austrian dude who was six years older than him, was more than happy to do the interviewing.

It was safe to say he was not pleased when they asked him to do a photoshoot for a local fashion brand, up and coming worldwide, apparently. Yamato did not care much about fashion, despite him being called the best dressed racer a few years in a row. Not that he knew about it, plus he usually put on an all-black outfit and he was through.

“Why can’t Lechner do it?”

“They want you specifically, Ishida.” His manager said softly, “even the Japanese embassy is paying for this partnership. Aren’t you proud to be Japanese?”

“Of course, I am, asshole.” He smirked, rolling his eyes as he decided it was the perfect timing to visit his brother.

As expected, he was on a tight schedule, this could never count as a vacation visit to Japan, but he had asked his team to send him into Japan two days earlier to visit his family. It was a tradition he tended to do ever since he started racing world-wide.

He took his ever-loved motorbike and drove as fast as he could to Odaiba. Driving a motorbike had been what he could call his hobby, since karting had turned into his job, having built a couple of them while living in Italy.

“He better be home,” he stretched his arms as he opened the door in front of him, knowing damn well his brother always made the mistake to leave it unlocked. He heard him singing in his bathroom, which meant he was finishing taking a shower. He looked around to confirm his mother was not home and shrugged it off. He had drifted apart from her when he initially moved to France with his grandparents, and even more so when his parents (finally) got divorced.

“Don’t you dare opening that door if you’re naked.”

“YAMATO?” Takeru opened the door wearing nothing but his tiny white trousers.

“I truly do not feel like seeing you naked,” but of course his younger brother could not care less and ran to greet him with a hug. He was the only person on earth allowed to hug him.

“What a funny way of admitting how much you had missed me!!” He gifted him one of his traded white smiles, the warmest smile Yamato knew. “Nervous for this weekend?”

“As long as it doesn’t rain, I don’t see why I should be.”

“Even when it rains you succeed, you’re always making everyone proud!”

“Even you?” he served himself oolong tea. He was surprised to see beer in his mom’s fridge, forgetting for a second his younger brother was legally allowed to drink.

“You know I’m your number one fan, those old-rich men are nothing compared to the original Yamato Ishida stan!” Takeru walked into his room to get dressed, for Yamato’s relief. He had offered his mother if they wanted to move to a bigger apartment, considering he now had the money to provide her and Takeru with something better, but she had refused, and he gave up after the third time.

“Going out?”

“I was going to, with the good-old gang, but that was before I knew you would pay me a visit.”

“So Hikari and company, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah, even Taichi is coming, you should come, too!” Taichi was his oldest friend, the only one he missed when he moved to Europe.

“Nah, you know I don’t drink.” And it was not merely because of his strict diet, he was not a fan of what alcohol did with his mindset. “But you go and have fun, I must get back to my place, anyway, and be as early as possible in Suzuka tomorrow morning.” Takeru looked disappointed, Yamato felt a pinch of guilt for not being what a fun older brother was supposed to be. “But I’ll text Taichi! Remind everyone they’re invited this weekend, VIP seats and all!”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, brother.” Yamato smiled softly before playing with Takeru’s hair like he used to when they were kids, even if he was almost his height.

He took a chopper ride from Tokyo to Suzuka the morning after. He had much rather taken the train, but Ferrari strictly prohibited him from doing so.

“Are you insane? People would eat you alive, you’re pretty much as famous as Hello Kitty is in this place!” He ignored his comment, it was always annoying to Yamato when they were in Japan, because most of his team-mates were foreign to Japanese culture, and he did not have the patience to educate every single one of them.

It was Thursday, which meant he could do strength exercises before the testing race the next day.

“How’s my superstar doing?” the mere voice of his manager irritated him, but he had another year signed up to him, afterwards he had decided to work by himself. After all, he still had another three-year contract with Ferrari.

“He’s extremely focused,” and he was strength training was the hardest to him.

“Don’t forget you have that photoshoot I had mentioned you in an hour, and I wouldn’t like you to go there all sweaty.”

“Do you think I would forget?” but in fact, he had forgotten it, his mind had probably erased the memory of that specific event.

“I’m glad we’re finally on the same track,” he winked at Yamato, before shutting the door of the hotel’s gym.

Yamato did not have much of a choice, so he took a cold shower before heading to one of the hotel’s meeting rooms. It had all been transformed for it to look like a Sakura garden. In reality, it was October and Sakura’s were far from blossoming. He would be lying if he did not admit it looked rather breathtaking.

He had heard about this up-and-coming brand. They had turned the Japanese typical attire and turned it into mainstream. He had to admit he was a fan.

He had also heard the brand had been started by a young student from Bunka Fashion College, under the wings of a bigger brand. He had heard, not that he cared, really, that the founder was around his age. Suddenly, he was curious.

“Ishida Yamato, what a pleasure to finally meet you!” a man around his thirties greeted him rather enthusiastic.

“You must be…?”

“Oh, you’re a funny one! Yoshio Fujiwara, of course!” And the Fujiwara branding was the bigger one who had taken the young designer under his wings, he wondered where she was.

“Of course, of course,” he bowed, always traying himself to remain close to his Japanese customs and traditions. “A pleasure to meet you, Fujiwara-san.”

“No need to be formal with me, I’m very used to western traditions, having spent most of your life in Europe, I would have killed for an opportunity like that!” Yamato tried his best not to roll his eyes, faking his best smile. “It is our biggest pleasure that you have accepted to be the face of our newest collection.” Yamato saw a petit figure running around the room with pieces of clothing covering her, he wondered if that was Fujiwara counterpart.

“It’s always delightful to put Japan’s name high, you know.” He cleared his voice, “so, am I also going to meet Takenouchi-san?”

“You absolutely will, she must be somewhere around… Sora!?” The fast-paced person finally stopped, uncovering her face from the piles of clothing she was carrying. “Don’t be rude and introduce yourself to Yamato.”

“Sure thing, just let me finish up the final touches and…”

“Now?!” Yamato noticed a subtle sigh coming from her lips. She surely seemed young, barely his own age. For the first time since the encounter started, he felt safe.

She ran right next to him, her attention still clearly on the mess she had left. He could immediately tell how passionate she was about what she was doing.

“It’s a pleasure, Ishida-san. I would love to lie and say I’m a fan, but truth is this is my first time having an encounter with races, or cars in general…”

“Sora! You’re being rude!”

“Sorry, I still take the subway and I never got a driver’s license!” Yamato snorted, in those five seconds he decided that redhead was his favorite person in the room.

“Well, I’m glad to admit this is not my first encounter with your brand, I’ve read so much.” Her eyes lit up; Yamato could have even sworn he spotted a subtle blush in her face.

He was rather awkward in front of the cameras, never quite a natural. Another reason why his team-mate was the one to do most of Ferrari’s advertisements. But Sora helped him feel in his element, somehow. He liked how much she got into her character, almost ignoring him by how much she cared on how her designs looked on him.

“I think we’re good, we shouldn’t take much more of your time.” By then, Fujiwara had left the room, Sora was certain he had slipped into the hotel bar.

“That must have been the less stressful photoshoot I’ve ever had, thank you, Takenouchi-san.”

“Oh, don’t call me that! I’m not older than you are.”

“Then you must accept to drop the formalities with me as well.” A grimaced appeared on her face, clearly unsure.

“But you’re a client, that would be completely unprofessional!”

“I promise I won’t tell anybody,” Sora liked that, a dirty-little-secret.

“Fine, but if Fujiwara is around, I’ll go back in character.”

“Deal,” Yamato grabbed a bottle of water and doubted if he should say what his mind was begging at him to do. “Are you staying for the race?”

“I wasn’t lying when I said I had no idea how this worked.” She shrugged, clearly embarrassed. “I don’t understand why it lasts so many days, it’s confusing. This whole sport is confusing.” Sora liked sports, for instance, sports where a ball had to go from one side of the court to the other, not cars and tires.

“It’s not that hard, you’ll see,” they took a seat on the fake grass Sora had built for the photoshoot. “The first day is merely for us to get familiar with the track, nothing formal. The second day the places for the actual race, which is on Sunday, get settled. And that’s pretty much it.”

“And you get to travel the world for that?”

“People can be very serious about their cars.”

“Incredible,” she locked eyes with Yamato, she was not familiar with his sport but she sure was with his face, and not only because it was everywhere she looked around the city’s billboards, but because she had studied it for the whole photoshoot, and even for the particular line she was about to launch.

“It would be fun if you stayed, some friends around our age are coming too, so it won’t be that weird for you.”

“Okay, but I’ll stay for fun, not as a part of my job schedule.”

“Great!” He said way too enthusiastic, regretting it right away. “I can get you great tickets, so don’t worry about that.” She chuckled, taking out her VIP pass.

“Don’t worry, I have that part settled.”

“Of course, you do,” he felt stupid, all sponsors got the best tickets, even better than he could even get most times.

“So, I’ll see you around? Do you say break a leg for this?”

“Absolutely not! But I appreciate your luck wishes.”

He was glad on Friday’s there was never much of a crowd, that way he could stay focused on what mattered: getting comfortable enough with the track. Whenever he raced, he felt an almost out of body experience, where he could disconnect from his current reality and be one with his car. Ferrari had nicknamed him the racing samurai, for how dramatic his recovering could be whenever he was behind on the race.

Japan had never particularly been the biggest crowd when it came to Formula 1, but ever since he had started getting podiums, and making a name out of himself, it had a 180 degrees change. Ferrari could not be happier with the now 23-yeard-old racer, he was smart, analytic, and cold headed.

When he got back to the Pits, he was greeted by his family, not expecting to see them until the day after.

“You were pretty fast out there!” his dad said, as awkward as he usually was.

“This was merely the boring race, we were just testing the track,” he smiled widely, greeting him by what could be considered a hug, or sort of one.

“But Hiroaki is right, you were extremely fast. That car you’re racing, is a beauty,” seeing his mother was always an adventure for Yamato. Ever since he left home, at such a young age, they had drifted apart. Naturally, she was worried for her older son, racing and putting his life at risk every time he did so. Yamato had heard her fighting with his grandpa countless times, until she finally gave in. She was never going to win, Yamato loved karting the same way she loved writing.

“You were tremendous there, superstar!” his manager came to greet him, as much as he annoyed him, he was not a bad person, he just clearly loved the money Yamato made him gain. “You better keep up the pace the rest of the weekend.”

“That’s the plan,” Yamato served himself a cup of tea, while he took a seat in front of the screen that was studying his track performance. He was nearly obsessed with improving, never not paying attention at even the slightest mistake.

“Before I forget,” his manager was French, and spoke a very heavily accented English. His family, apart from Takeru, barely spoke any English at all, hence why they did not communicate with one another. Yamato despised that, considering he could speak four languages. “Young Takenouchi asked me to give you her number, Romeo.” Yamato’s cheeks flushed, as he took with both hands the business card he was being given.

“I’ll quickly go to my room,” he excused himself with his family, promising he would meet them for a quick dinner.

He wrote and re-wrote his text message towards Sora, not wanting to appear desperate. Formula 1 drivers, at least some of them, had the reputation of being more than successful with the opposite sex, however Yamato was rather unlucky. He put so much effort into his performance inside the track, he tended to neglect everything else. Hence why it felt nice to have a close to normal conversation with someone his age, a woman his age.

“This is Yamato, I heard the rumor you wanted to have my number,” he finally sent, wanting to throw his phone over the window right after.

“How come we spent so much time talking yesterday and I had to ask your manager for your number?” she replied right after, Yamato felt relieved.

“I guess we lost track of time.”

“Hey, I had to come back to Tokyo, business matters. But I’m not one to break any promises, so I hope you still save a seat for me for the big race on Sunday. Did I say that correctly?”

Yamato immediately felt disappointment, but he had to understand he was not dealing with someone unoccupied; this was a young entrepreneur with a worldwide successful fashion brand.

“Are you sure you want to make a four-hour trip to see some car racing?”

“As I said, I’m not a promise breaker. Plus, is not Formula 1 supposed to be the best car racing in the world? I won’t miss it, and I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry, and your spot on Scuderia Ferrari will remain untouched.”

“Great, I’m actually pretty excited! You have turned it into such a big deal for the country, I’ve never seen such a media coverage on the sport before. How was the tracking test?”

Yamato’s stomach made a turn. He did not want to focus on the pressure it meant to be in his home country, he just wanted to do what he always did, which meant to give his 100% performance, and get better every time. He just really hoped it would not rain on Sunday…

Him and Sora kept texting for the rest of the day, and the morning after as he got ready for the weekend’s second race. His goal was to qualify on the front row, that was always a determining factor for the final race. His mom had been right when she mentioned his car was a beauty, because it may not be the fastest car, that would still go to Mercedes, but if Ferrari had something no other team could fight with, was beauty.

He was not one to make many friends, but he was always amicable with the rest of the drivers. He saw them more than he saw his family, and even grew up with a big amount of them, but he always tried to focus on what they really were: his competition.

The weather so far had looked hopeful, a rainy race was one of his biggest fears, he had already had more than one rainy accident, and they had been hard to get over. He tried not to put too much thought into it, how he put his life at risk every time he got into the car, because there was no point in doing so, considering he was not going to stop, racing was the most important part of his life.

He got behind his wheel and his team assured his car was ready to go for the last time, and he got into driving mode, forgetting everything else, the pressure, the people, the weather, his friends. He almost disassociated from everything, but the track, and his team speaking whenever there was something to say, like which place he was on at the moment.

He had gotten so used to Ferrari, after being over two years on the team, that he could go as far as to describe its motor as a part of him. The first few laps were always the most stressful ones, and were most of the accidents happened, everyone tried to gain that valuable P1 as fast as possible, but Yamato thought of it as a waste of energy, he would rather stay behind for the first few laps and give it all in after. It had worked for him so far, avoiding the turmoil behind it.

There were 53 laps in the Japanese track, not that he counted them, but he always studied the tracks of wherever he was at. He just focused on staying in track, passing the rest of the drivers and being fast, and his team made sure he did not forget where his position was at the moment, which was a P5, his teammate was currently second. Fifth was not a bad position, it was still second row, but it was not his goal, he truly wanted first row. In the end he had managed to end up fourth, which his team congratulated him for, he still was not happy.

Back in Ferrari’s box, he had a bigger crowd greeting him, not only his parents and brother, but some of his closest childhood friends.

“Man, how does it feel to be able to fly!” Taichi said before giving him a big hug, which Yamato did not mind, he guessed he was also allowed to hug him.

“What I wonder is what that amount of speed can do with your body, I read you lose up to 3 liters every time you race,” Joe patted his shoulder, the soon-to-be-doctor never missed to drop a random anatomy fact on him. “And sorry, but it seems to Koushiro your car’s machinery is way more impressive than you.”

His third friend, a genius redhead, had been talking non-stop with his team’s engineers, asking questions Yamato could possibly never answer.

He spent the next few hours doing interviews, as much as he hated them, it was on his contract to do them before and after every Grand Prix. He also took more time studying his career, and where he could improve. He wanted to get podium on his home country more than he had ever wanted before.

But of course, he also took the chance to spend some time with his loved ones, catching up about their crazy adult lives.

“Koushiro could soon enough buy one of these teams, you know? He’s getting so rich!” Taichi had a big mouth, but they had gotten used to it. And to be fair with his brunette friend, he was not wrong, considering Koushiro’s software startup had gotten public, and the dude was only 22.

“And Jou’s about to be a doctor, and you, well, you didn’t get kicked out of Uni!” They all laughed, Taichi rolled his eyes. Yamato had gotten so comfortable with their conversation, he got scared when his phone began ringing.

“Yes?”

“Guess who’s just landed in Suzuka!” it was Sora, his heart skipped a beat. “I’m glad I made it a few hours before I had promised, I truly didn’t want to miss tomorrow’s race.”

“Where are you exactly? You should come join us! I’m at Ferrari’s tent with some childhood friends, I mean, if you’re not too tired.” His friends started yelling embarrassing things to him, as friends did whenever you spoke on the phone with someone, even if that someone was your own mother. Except, of course, it was not his mother.

“Great! I’ll ask the driver to drop me off.”

They spent the next few hours chatting, and laughing, and making fun of Yamato with embarrassing stories Sora was rather intrigued to keep on listening. Of course, Sora had hit it off with his friends, she was a great talker, they all had liked her, he could tell, especially with Koushiro, considering the man was the clearest book when it came to first impressions. He felt disappointed once he checked his watch to confirm it was time for him to go to bed, the big day was closer than ever.

Suzuka was one of the last races on Formula 1’s schedule, which meant every single point counted even more. He was disappointed when he checked the weather, there was a rain forecast, but there was nothing he could do, he still was willing to give the best race he had given in his career span. His friends and family wished him the best of luck, just as he dressed up in the famous red suit.

He had never felt this overwhelmed before, as soon as he stepped a foot outside of Scuderia Ferrari’s box, the crowd chanting his name was like nothing he ever heard before. He bowed shyly, turning the shouts even louder. Fame had never been something he had been looking for once he started racing in Formula 1, but he thought at the end of the day it was only inevitable. He really wanted to make his co-nationals proud.

P4 was not a bad place to start racing, yet he could hear his heart beating up to his ears. A rainy race was always messy, and there was always a bigger risk for accidents, not just for him, but for the other racers as well. He had to drive smartly; speed was not all that mattered in that moment.

His eyes were fixated on the checkered flag, as soon as it went down, his feet went all in. Suzuka’s Grand Prix finally starting.

As it was expected, some cars lost control on the very first curve, him being noticed by his team on the other side of the microphone. He hoped nothing bad had happened to them. On a rainy race it was important to have extra control while reaching a curve, and absolutely never trying to overpass another racer while on them.

By lap 30 he had improved to P3, the engine of the previous third place had had some issues, which pushed him into the pits. The Ferrari engine had significantly been improved for the current season, and it showed. It had been a while since the red team had had both of their cars in podium position, and he was doing quicker laps than the last year’s race.

Everything appeared to be going according to plan, Yamato wanted to win, of course, but he was not unhappy with the third place. Yet, the unthinkable happened on lap 49, when his teammate lost control of the steering wheel. It all happened so quickly, Yamato could barely avoid the inevitable crash, which was bad enough for them to call a red flag, every racer had been sent back into pits.

His teammate had been fine, he could even walk by himself; however, his car could have been confused with garbage. A shame, really, everything had been better than what they could have imagined. Now every podium expectation fell on his shoulders, and he could hear the public screaming his name even louder, as if he was some sort of rock star.

“Only 4 laps left, you can do it,” and he was now put in second place, a bittersweet feeling inside his gut.

The final lap felt like the longest he had driven, all he truly wanted was for it to end. He was less than two seconds away from the first place, which his team kept repeating. He knew he could do it, if he tried and overtake him near the end, right after the final curve… And so, he did, winning a podium for the first time in his short Formula 1 life career. He had not done it for himself only, but for Lechner as well. It felt insane, he was no longer feeling the ground, he was still flying somehow.

Champagne soaked him as soon as he stepped out of the car, being hugged by everyone on the famous red car team. He was not easily to make cry, but he could not help the tears coming out, and he wished, if he were ever going to cry again, it better be as good of a feeling as he finally lifted the trophy for Suzuka’s Grand Prix.