#natsuko icons

[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.

[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.

[daveth-isnt-dead]

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

[humanoidtyphoons]

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.

[officiallyashley]

FAIRY TAIL HEADCANONS— facts about the dragneel siblings

NOTES: enjoy! Just something that I made to tide ya over until more oneshots come out. I’m working on stuff for other fandoms, and I wanted to write something for Fairy Tail again, even if it is kinda small compared to other content I create. I can't remember if I've said this before, but here is the order of the children's births; natsuko & asher, alizeh, edrei & kazuo, keina, and himeko (so she's the baby of the family). 

WARNINGS: very brief mentions of depression, mentions of a character losing their arm.

{~~~}

NATSUKO FAYN DRAGNEEL:

Natsuko sings in the shower. 

She’ll deny it to the end of time, but she sings in the shower (she has a voice that’s similar to Hayley Williams’, the lead singer of Paramore btw, voice). 

So Natsu and Gray getting at each other’s throats can be aggravating at times as well as amusing

But let’s add hotheaded Natsuko in the mix :) and shit does she clap back xD

Natsuko likes to challenge Edrei to fights (which Edrei does not entertain lol). 

To everyone’s surprise, Natsuko isn’t a huge fan of spicy foods. 

She much rather prefers sour or savory foods. 

Also, she really likes kinesthetic activities. 

ASHER IGNEEL DRAGNEEL:

Likes to challenge Alizeh to fights because of the fact that she’s so stoic and doesn’t show a reaction. 

Probs challenge her to fights every other day I’m not even kidding. 

“FIGHT ME, ALI!!”

*cue Ali walking away and ignoring her older brother*

Secretly sleeps with a plushy that Himeko gave him when she was really young. 

Really likes sushi 

LOVES earrings and flannels

ALIZEH MIKA DRAGNEEL:

Really likes strawberry milk 

And lace. Ali really likes lacy things. Not too much lace, but just enough. 

Drinks any type of wine and cocktails when she’s older and obviously of legal age. 

Wears beanies religiously 

Has a soft spot for Himeko 

Honestly, Ali is a relatively apathetic person. This stems from her experience with depression.

Speaking of depression, she was diagnosed with it when she was at the age of nine. 

Hates long sleeves and blue jeans. 

She would rather wear tops and skirts or dresses. Tops and skirts are usually her go-tos though.

EDREI KIMIKA DRAGNEEL:

She doesn’t like bees.  

Like at all. 

Yeah, bees may be dying at an alarming rate, as the memes state, but Edrei Kimika Dragneel does not give a doggy style damn because she hates bees (honestly wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, and all of those motherfuckers are scarier than bees but okay—). 

When Edrei is older, like in her mid-twenties, she ends up losing her right arm during a very horrible fight and she had to get it amputated and replaced with a prosthetic arm. 

Hums to herself a lot.  

Sometimes she’ll sing, but after Natsuko walked in on her singing while putting some books away in the library of Fairy Tail, Edrei has been more cautious about others being around her before she sings a few notes. 

If you’re wondering, her singing voice is similar to Ariel Bloomer from the band Icon For Hire.

KAZUO REN DRAGNEEL:

He’ll sometimes wear glasses

But he doesn’t like wearing them tbh. 

He finds glasses annoying but he won’t change to contacts because he’s scared of anything being in his eyes. 

Kazuo reads a lot of books. 

In fact, he has read so many books that he’s probably read all of the books in the library of both Ice Wind AND Fairy Tail 

And those libraries are fucking HUGE. 

Plays chess and checkers with Keina 

Really likes wearing rings 

He falls asleep fastest in a cold, dark room.  

Really good at math 

Doesn’t like social studies because the things that are taught in schools are fabricated (which is actually true, especially in USA schools.)

KEINA MAEKO DRAGNEEL:

They’ll beat anyone at chess or checkers 96% of the time. 

Natsuko challenges Keina to fight her but Keina just ignores her as Ali does to Asher.  

Keina is the strategist of the family, next to Kazuo and Edrei. 

Keina actually ends up getting a magic-centric illness that puts her in a life-threatening situation (Fairy Tail and Ice Wind didn’t know what illness it was, so it was a race against time). 

Keina is really really bad at remembering names, so they’ll just give nicknames to the people they don’t know the names of or they’ll say something like “hey, you, come over here for a minute.” 

Doesn’t like her middle name. No one knows why and she doesn’t talk about it. She just says “It doesn't fit me.” Or “I don't like it.”

They have matching earrings with Ali. Ali has the purple bow earrings, while Keina has the white bow earrings. Ali got them for her sibling on their birthday one year.

HIMEKO MAIYA DRAGNEEL:

This girl loves rice balls 

And I mean LOVES rice balls. 

“DON’T YOU DARE STEAL MY RICE BALLS, ASHER!”

“OW! WHY THE HELL DID YOU STAB MY HAND WITH YOUR FORK?!”

Always has her hair in pigtails 

Adores pearls, it’s her favorite gemstone

Her favorite color is white. Her second favorite color is pink. 

When Himeko was younger (like toddler years to five or six years old), Alizeh and Edrei would help her bathe. 

Himeko is the angel and baby of the Dragneel family 😇 

This means that she is often very protected by her older siblings since she’s the youngest.

Himiko can still hold her own though oh my god 😮✋🏼

𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 © 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑. 𝐢 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚. 𝐢 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐞𝐭𝐜. 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥.

[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

[chaiteaze-blog]

hey Natsuko, do you have any Family?

* …

Huh. If the bun is surprised by the sudden grey visitor to her shop, she doesn’t show it. A sidelined glance is all the anon receives at first, but after a moment, she gives a small sigh as she looks back to the menu she’s working on.

* あなたはうるさい… back in my homeland, I guess I had what you might call a family. My tribe mostly kept to themselves – outsiders weren’t welcome in our village, except to engage in business.

* The fact that I’m here probably tells you all you need to know about how i got along with them, nya. They were all really behind the times, so I came to the mainland to seek my fortune…

* And we all know how that turned out.

[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.

[oberlincollegelibraries]

Weekend Edition: Welcome Back

Welcome, Class of 2025! And welcome back to of our returning Obies! For those of you new to the Oberlin College Libraries’ (OCL) blog, you might be wondering what ‘Weekend Edition’ is. Well, Weekend Edition is OCL’s book recommendation series that is posted each weekend during the academic year. We will normally highlight books that have recently been added to OCL’s collection, but there will also be occasions when we recommend older resources, based on a particular theme. 

So what are we highlighting this week? For those of you who have had the Oberlin pandemic experience, you will be happy to hear that today we are showcasing four real, physical books found on our real, physical New Books Shelf*. That’s right! No proxy server, no scheduling pick up times, no requesting scans.... Just real books that you can check out or browse in the library! And these are only a few of the books on display. 

*The New Books Shelf can be found in the Academic Commons of the Mary Church Terrell Main Library. 

Spark: How Genius Ignites, from Child Prodigies to Late Boomers by Claudia Kalb "A look at genius, through portraits of 12 iconic figures in fields ranging from music to medicine, to explore what leads certain people to reach their creative heights early in life, whereas others don't uncover their potential until their later years"-- Provided by publisher

The Woman in the Purple Skirt: A Novel by Natsuko Imamura; translated from the Japanese by Lucy North "A bestselling, prizewinning novel of obsession and psychological intrigue about two enigmatic unmarried women, one of whom manipulates the other from afar, by one of Japan's most acclaimed young writers"-- Provided by publisher “ Almost every day, the Woman in the Purple Skirt buys a single cream bun and goes to the park, where she sits on a bench to eat it as the local children taunt her. She is observed at all times by the undetected narrator, the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. From a distance the Woman in the Purple Skirt looks like a schoolgirl, but there are age spots on her face, and her hair is dry and stiff. Like the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan, she is single, she lives in a small, run-down apartment, and she is short on money. The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan lures her to a job where she herself works, as a hotel housekeeper; soon the Woman in the Purple Skirt is having an affair with the boss. Unfortunately, no one knows or cares about the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. That's the difference between her and the Woman in the Purple Skirt.”--Goodreads.com Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology by Jess Zimmerman "This essay collection uses female monsters from Greek mythology to explore traits that women are taught to suppress, and encourage readers to embrace them instead"-- Provided by publisher The folklore that has shaped our dominant culture teems with frightening female creatures. In stories chiefly written by men, women who step out of bounds-- angry or greedy or ambitious, overtly sexual or not sexy enough-- are unnatural, monstrous. Through fresh analysis of eleven female monsters, including Medusa, the Harpies, the Furies, and the Sphinx, Zimmerman takes us on an illuminating feminist journey through mythology. She guides readers to reexamine their relationships with traits like hunger, anger, ugliness, and ambition, teaching readers to embrace a new image of the female hero. Monsters get to be complete, unrestrained, and larger than life. -- adapted from jacket

Motion Studies by Jena Osman Contains three essay-poems that begin as meditations on 19th century science. From chronophotography to algorithmic surveillance, from phrenology to fMRI brain scans, from Victorian specimen collections to the bleached bones of the Great Barrier Reef, each poem in this collection explores technologies of knowing each other within its contextual era.

[voidsentprinces]

Look I would like to congratulate Natsuko Ishikawa for setting up the entire tone for Shadowbringers in the first quest. What do we do with the first quest? We check in with Tataru and go out with her to the space between Mor Dhona and the Crystal Tower. To find our interdimensional miguffin. All while the voice of the Exarch is echoing in our heads. The last normal thing we do is say goodbye to Tataru. Arguably our most steadfast ally and the true pillar that keeps the Scions together. Where we are going, she won’t be there. We won’t have her thifty accounting knowhow to aid us in financial crisis. We won’t have her optomistic and shrewd mind to keep us going. We won’t have that iconic pink outfit. Her worrying about us and making us outfits to give us a reason to remember home. In the First Shard, there is no Tataru. There is no innocence left in the barren land. Its a predator world not of logic but of instinct. As Sineater eat man, woman, and child a like. The lucky ones die before turning into Eaters themselves.

And just to pull a one, two, punch. We meet a familiar face in the man, we first met on our journey to Eorzea at the beginning of a Realm Reborn. Though there is something oddly off about this version of him. He isn’t quite his usual warm welcoming self. There is a touch of cynicism to his character. He shrugs us off as a drunk wandering the woods but sends us on our way before long.

From there we travel to the edge of the Crystarium. And meet Lyna who treats us like a threat to be wary of. We speak nonsense to her and she is about to revoke out entry into the city. When not five minutes after we enter the realm. Do we meet our first Sineater who has devoured the man from the woods. Leaving behind his ring and nothing else. He is never mentioned or talked about ever again. Lyna is still apprehensive about letting us enter until the Crystal Exarch approaches.

This sets the stage for the meeting of our allies from hereon. Every meeting with a true ally is wrought with conflict or uncertainty. We meet Alisaie in the middle of a chase with a Sineater. We meet Alphinaud again in a quiet little bar on the outskirts in the shadow of Eulmore, the secrets within are appalling. Thancred and Ryne are met up with in the middle of a rescue mission and after being pushed back by Ran’jit. Urianger in a land where riddles and lies are currency and treated as a game. We then meet Y’shtola when we are surrounded by unfriendly natives to the LA HEE Great Wood. The Vii Sisters attack first and ask questions later.

And all of this is foreshadowed in the first quest and the interactions within and it is goddamn excellent.

[translationandbetrayals]

How Cutie Honey changed over the years. ∞♡*♥

Go Nagai as a mangaka changed the manga world, because his works had content that was considered explicit or taboo under the standards of the time, such as violence and erotic/sexual scenes, as well he was attributed to the creation of the Super Robot genre. One of his works is Cutie Honey, which is about Honey Kisaragi, an android who can transform into different versions of herself, which the most iconic is Cutie Honey, a heroine with pink (or red) hair, who fights against the villains that threaten her or the world (in most versions, Panther Claw is responsible of everything that threates the world). In every version, she is desired because of her power, which it could be considered infinite, therefore, they can be used for rule the world, but due to having emotions and empathy, Honey decides to use this power for defend humanity. Due to its popularity, there have been some takes with the pass of time, which reinvent the concepts and the world where the characters live, at the same time, many of these reinventions are closely linked to the audience they focus on, because they had the resources to carry out these projects and they had the opportunity to do so. Also, in this post i wouldn't cover all Cutie Honey reinventions, because althought i'm familiar with the franchise, i haven't watch/read all of them.

At the time, Cutie Honey was planned to be a shojo manga, focusing on the characters' relationships and romance, and there wouldn't have much violence, but for reasons of television blocks' schedule and agreements with manga magazines, its demographics changed to shonen, therefore, they added more violence and nudity in her transformations for making more appealing to a young male audience, because in those times, it was interesting to see erotic content and scenes with sexual undertones, therefore, she would be considered the first "waifu" in the history of anime, due to her personality and her revealing design. Even so, Cutie Honey gained some popularity among the female audience, because Honey was the opposite of the stereotype of the japanese woman in the 70's, who were considered modest, delicate and shy, instead, Honey was a modern girl, strong but at the same time innocent, as she was also one of the first female protagonists in the shonen genre, therefore, Cutie Honey was a revolutionary product for the time, and at the same time, being a prototype of a Magical Girl. In this way, Cutie Honey became a female empowerment fantasy and the strong and sexy girl's male fantasy.

A good example of this were New Cutie Honey (1994) and Cutie Honey Flash (1997), which they were made in the same period. The first mentioned is 8 episodes OVA, where it occurs 20 years of the events of the manga/anime, where we see Honey that needs to remember who she was and for what she is fighting for, in a darker and more futuristic world, with similar Gotham City vibes, instead of a more colorful palette in the anime; and due to being an OVA instead of an anime, they took more freedom animating the transformation and fighting scenes, and why not, also the fanservice scenes; therefore, it appealed more to the male audience, introducing us to a more voluptuous Honey, with poses that left much to the imagination. While the latter, was more focused on a female audience, adding more romance and softening certain elements to make them more appealing. In this case, Honey is an actual girl rather than an android that looks like that. Also, this reinvention is closer to the idea of ​​the Magical Girl and the prototype idea that Go Nagai had at the time, along with a line of dolls. From this, it can be inferred with this duality, the girls relate to Honey, someone who can face the adversities of life, and who, at the same time, can be what they want to be; on the other hand, the boys want a girl like Honey, who is strong, beautiful and will always protect them.

In Re: Cutie Honey (2004), which are a 3 episode OVA, based on the live-action/tokusatsu movie of the same year, both directed by Hideki Anno, in this case, Honey has a more youthful and adorable attitude, contrasting with her normal life as a office worker, but still retaining the things that makes Cutie Honey as a franchise. This leads to problems in her private life, since she is seen as childish and useless, but at the same time, due to her lack of caution, she tends to cause destruction when she is fighting with the Panther Claw members, causing mistrust between the population. A character that I have to mention is this version of Natsuko Aki, which is the inspector who was taking the terrorism cases by Panther Claw and Cutie Honey in the OVA, and which, is the one who is best trained for this cases' style, therefore, when the police arrive, she (along with her companions) is the one in the center of the scene, while the rest is there, filling in the screen. Although both have similar goals, she is the opposite of Honey, since she is more serious and cautious on what she does, and also, she has a more modest design, but still looks imposing through her body language and the way she talks. When the plot progresses, both characters learn from their differences, where Honey learns to be more careful with the actions she does, while Natsuko learns to trust people. In case of the movie, Cutie Honey (2004), due to being a tokusatsu, it's filled with CGI, but some of the fighting scenes were made by frame by frame, also, the movie had some campy value due to the costumes that characters used, the color palette and the way special effects were used in the film. But to me, it felt like this would be the result afterwards, i mean, Cutie Honey is all pink and everything is over the top, right?

But, was there a reinvention that deviated a bit, i mean, a lot, from the standards we had for Cutie Honey at this time? Well, I would say yes, and one of them is Cutie Honey: Tears (2016) is a live-action movie where it occurs in cyberpunk dystopia; due to pollution problems and a virus, the society is controled through an Artificial intelligence based technology, in this way, the upper class oppresses the poor, through contamination that they produce, affecting their lives in a negative way. In this movie, Hitomi (yes, they changed her name) is a girl who is much more careful of her movements, because she is persecuted for her power and she is much more serious, helping people from the shadows, because she had to learn to hide herself rather to try to do something reckless. This movie doesn't have the fanservice scenes and the colorful palette that audience was used to look at. Also, maybe it's just me, but the movie focus on the backgrounds, making a good contrast between the dark and washed out palette in the low class live and the more light and more technological upper class.

In conclusion, it can be said that Cutie Honey, as a franchise, has had many reinventions, some of which take on a characteristic of the original work that could be better executed in a medium or to appeal to a specific audience, as they can also add concepts that can complement the franchise and in the process, they can create something new; because to me, it shows how the same thing is actually made in different periods of the history, where you can see changes on the techniques and plots; but after all, Cutie Honey appeals to the male audience by being the fantasy of the sexy woman in a tight outfit, and at the same time, appeals to the female audience by being the fantasy of female empowerment , where she can transform herself into whatever she wants without necessarily due to social acceptance, and it seems that these characteristics would still endures trought the time pass.

Maria Castañeda R.

[natsunoomoi]

Changed

And yup, I went ahead and implemented the changes. The new icon is basically more like me. I didn’t draw it though. It’s from a new kisekae website called Picrew.me, but it’s a quick and dirty representation close to what I look like now although the skin options were less than to be desired with options and I couldn’t find one that fit exactly for this kisekae. Meh.

The name change is two-fold. It means “memories of summer” or “Natsu’s memories”. Because my birthday is in the summer one of the names I went by when I was in uni was summer related, but I couldn’t really decide on which one I wanted. Like I thought Natsumi was too boring. Natsuko was too, but I kind of liked Natsuko? I kind of more or less settled on Natsue. I used them for my in-my-head explorations of the worlds I enjoyed watching in media, so my self-insert character was some variation of Natsu at any given time so I would just think everyone would *just* call me Natsu. I used it a lot for games and character creation too.

It wasn’t something worth writing down or anything and a lot of those kinds of fics are notoriously bad. The ones I did write when I was a child were definitely bad. I found one when I went home for Christmas and New Years when I was sorting stuff, but it was a group one I made with my sister and our friends in middle school and that was so facepalm worthy. I don’t remember writing any of it and my sister told me to set it on fire. I just threw it away along with all of our character profiles, but photos exist. That I shared with my sister, but of only our profiles. I didn’t take photos of the fic because it was a giant terrible clusterfuck anyway.

But anyway, that’s where that comes from and it’s more personal to like my inner thoughts and everything, which is more what this blog has become. The actual Japanese name I go by more often is Reika actually because it’s based on my Chinese name, which my grandma who chose it decided it was better to give me a Chinese name closer to my English name. My English name is Elizabeth, which is often written as  伊莉莎白 in Chinese. My Chinese name is  伊莉, so it’s basically like calling me Ellie or something. I probably could have a Japanese name that’s just “Eri” too, but that was too on the nose thank God. But I mean, technically it wouldn’t be wrong either if people called me that. My Chinese name in Cantonese is read as “Yilei” and in Madarin “Ili”. I never much cared for the Mandarin reading. In Japanese it uses the second character in my Chinese name as the first is basically meaningless. The second means “jasmine” and to kind of make my Chinese name more Japanese and sound nice, I have Reika written as  莉花 so that the meaning didn’t change much and using more of the Cantonese pronunciation. More commonly in Japanese it’s read as Rika, but like names are weird and you can use whatever reading you want. So yeah, that’s why my Japan blog uses Reika and this one I use Natsu.

Although I just remembered my Ragnarok Online assassin character I made...That one was a combination of using Eri and using “Natsu” and also combining it with my lifelong obsession with Hiei. My RO sin’s name was Natsukage no Eriko. I still love my character, but thinking about how I came up with that name is just....sigh. Ah, youth. I have a kind of obsession with flower names though because my name is a flower name and my main RO character was a turn undead priestess called Xiao Hua, and I usually use Xiaohua (purposely with no space now) as a character name for support classes even now as it’s a trend. I chose it initially because it was flower themed and this guy I liked at the time when I originally made that character had that for his Chinese name which I thought was different for him, but it stood out and stuck in my head and I needed a name for RO that wasn’t taken already by the other people playing. I even started during the 2nd Closed Beta and names being taken was still an issue. I have a full support priestess too that I actually use “Yi Lei” for though.

The header photo I use probably more represents me now as well as that’s a park that’s near my home. It’s from Ritsurin Kouen during hanami season almost two years ago. I went with my co-workers and it’s kind of impressive. They have the sakura blooming calculations up like a month in advance and posted in places like *Starbucks* so you can like plan your parties. Like damn, that’s serious business. It’s also one of those things where you don’t understand *how* serious it is until you’re here and then you realize how much thought and care they put into this ONE thing.

The side-bar thing has simple stuff about me. The middle thing is like alignment, horoscope, and other stuff like that. The last one is a charanavi alignment, which is hard to explain because it’s like a horoscope analysis thing that hasn’t really left Japan.

The Japanese in the footer is a quote from the Hojoki by Kamo no Choumei. It’s basically a quote that is a metaphor for time and how it keeps going and changing. Just like my life.

[fuckingmonikammm]

lesbian natsuki icons!! feel free to send in pride icon requests!!!!