#seto-kai

[obihiro-division]

ENAN and Seto-kai 3 years ago or something-

[nug-chuohku]

Seto-kai

Founded nearly 70 years ago, the Seto-kai family is headquartered in Chiba City. They have maintained themselves as a prominent power not only in Japan but in multiple countries including parts of the U.S. and Southeast Asia. The group doesn't stand out amongst the rest when it comes to violence, as they conserve a consistently peaceful (by yakuza standards) business image. Doing work commonly in money laundering, gambling, racketeering, prostitution, blackmail, loansharking, protection racketeering, and a more recent development in dealing bootleg hypnosis microphones.

Generally speaking, the Seto-kai doesn't start fights, having a strict no-killing rule amongst the group. Being a more consecutively successful money-earning gang, the Seto-kai is notorious for sweet-talking their way out of violent conflicts and helping citizens during major destructive events. This sort of weaseling does get on the nerves of many gangs around the Tokyo city area. Still, the family is near-untouchable so long as the money keeps on flowing. 

A couple of years ago however, the group had a hiccup when it came to their illegal hypnosis microphone business, leading to the loss of their partner business and the loss of several dozen members - either by death or by retirement. This waver has weakened Seto-kai a bit and as a result, they have been the target of several attacks by smaller gangs.

1. Oyabun

Name: Seiji Matsui (松位 晴慈)

Age: 42

Position: Head of Seto-kai

Bio: The exact opposite image of a gangster, Matsui used to double as a real estate agent when he wasn't busy intimidating someone for money as a yakuza member. At the age of 30, he became the head of the Seto-kai when the prior Oyabun had passed. The position was no easy task, however, with many members making attempts on his life to steal the seat. Despite those many years of hardship, he's earned his subordinates' respect as the current head of the group, maintaining the gang's snakelike charms while displaying a more kind and forgiving approach towards his kobun.

With whatever money he can spare, he likes to support children in unfortunate circumstances usually through anonymous donations to organizations dedicated to the cause. He has a sense of sympathy towards children in those circumstances, having come from a similar background.

"No need to fret about what you owe us! Take your time… Just know that the Seto-kai always cashes in on their debts. Always."

2. The Secretary

Name: Noriji Kudou (久藤 憲二)

Age: 47

Position: 2nd in Command

Bio: Colder, more calculating of the Seto-kai leaders, Kudou is the man in charge of wrangling each of the smaller groups together. Acting as an over-glorified secretary, Kudou loves order. If it weren't for the group's long-standing rule to not kill, he would have probably executed a handful of associates by now. Of course, he's loyal to a fault, all to keep order.

Kudou has been the right-hand man to Oyabun, protecting his life multiple times. As far as anyone knows, the two treat each other as brothers having grown up and eventually joined the Seto-kai together. 

"Accounting says that we are down a percentile… And the numbers don't lie. What sort of slacking has your department done now?!"

3. The Accountant

Name: Yuko Rachi (良知 優心)

Age: 49

Position: Head of Seto-kai Accounting

Bio: Yuko was lied to, to make this brief. Having been tricked into the group by a friend who recruited her under the guise of an ordinary accounting job, Yuko has now been loyally working with Seto-kai for decades. At first, Yuko was terrified of course! But with some of the coaxing from Kudou and the Oyabun, she's made herself the head accountant, managing the money which is brought in from all over departments. After all, what is a business without someone to manage all their money?

"I see that you’ve made some improvements since the last quarter! I hope you don’t plan on slacking now… Oyabun expects us to do our best!"

4. The Lawyer

Name: Syougo Gonda (権田 丞吾)

Age: 36

Position: Seto-kai Representative Lawyer

Bio: Even criminal organizations need a lawyer! Syougo works as the main legal representative to the Seto-kai, typically getting the group members lighter sentences for the charges they are given or even straight up getting members out of trouble completely. Syougo overtook the previous representative lawyer by miraculously helping the Seto-kai get away with a major money laundering scheme that had been exposed carelessly.

"What, you think that criminals don’t have lawyers? Everyone needs someone to back them up in every corner, including the legal side."

5. Head Shark

Name: Makou Jibiki (地引 引野)

Age: 38

Position: Head of Extortion 

Bio: A terrifying man, Makou is the expert when it comes to anything involving racketeering. Loan sharking, protection rackets, blackmail, you name it. The moment he gets a whiff of a money opportunity he takes it, no matter the cost. His group has the most members, as the Seto-kai specializes in extortion the most. Under him, he has many smaller sub-divisions headquartered in several cities as a part of their business.

He’s described as a loud, vulgar man, he’s harsh towards his underlings, wanting to maintain high expectations out of each one of them. Many subordinates describe him as a tough parent, but Makou seems to hate this notion.

"What are you shrimps doing, hah?! Quit fucking slacking, get out there, and make some fucking money!"

6. Queen of Luck

Name: Akiko Fujita (冨田 璃子)

Age: 36

Position: Head of Gambling 

Bio: The overseer of the more public businesses, Akiko loves anything to do with gambling. Organizing pachinko parlors, casinos, and horse races, they operate legitimately in and out of Japan. That doesn’t mean Akiko plays fair all the time, often rigging bets and running illegal games underground as a way to earn even more money. Their businesses get into trouble legally pretty often, but it’s nothing the Seto-kai lawyer can’t handle.

Akiko may indulge herself in the most luxurious items she can get, but despite her overly flashy display, most of the items she owns has been shoplifted. Kudou gets on her case for this often although Akiko dismisses him casually every single time.

"Darling! Isn’t that too low? Come on, let’s raise the stakes a bit, hm? I’ll throw in my car if you want…"

7. The Madame

Name: Sawa Chinen (智念 佐和)

Age: 73

Position: Head of Prostitution

Bio: An older woman, Sawa has been in the family longer than the others. Sawa is harsh towards most people, the only people having seen her gentle side are her subordinates and Makou (with whom she sometimes works). She stubbornly stands in her position despite many members insisting that she should step down and let someone else take over. However, it’s her belief that nobody can take over her position… Not yet at least.

"You think you can waltz in here and pick any one of my girls or boys to sleep with you?! Not with that empty wallet, you won’t!"

8. Little Arms Dealer

Name: Hiroki Ebinuma (海老沼 寛希)

Age: 28

Position: Head of Weapons

Bio: The youngest of the executives and the most inexperienced, Hiroki was promoted to his position when all of the seniors in his department were slaughtered in the incident. While nowhere near the same as the previous leader, this sole survivor managed to tough out the trauma and has revived his group well enough. While the Seto-kai does forbid the act of killing, Hiroki supplies the departments that go out into the public with the skills and weapons needed to defend themselves. This includes hypnosis microphones, which used to be the group’s main choice of weapon. However after the incident, supplies have been cut and as a result, Hiroki has had to establish connections beyond microphones to simple weapons, such as knives, tasers, and other less deadly choices.

Hiroki appears as a strong, silent leader but in reality, his anxiety and trauma has left him with a prominent stutter, which he is extremely embarrassed about. To combat this, he only speaks to his close subordinates who act as his speaker.

"Yyy… Yy-you shouldn’t b-b-be here. Iii-it’s a m-mistake to t-tressp-p-pass."

[whosyourfavevoicedby-polls]

[ydotome]

Miura is...totally staring at me! I'm sorry! Why are you apologizing? - Honey Lemon Soda - Episode 1

[seiyuucrossovers]

When you're voiced by Tsuda Kenjiro, muscles may be included

Anime: ACCA, Boku no Hero Acadamia, Gangsta, Jujutsu Kaisen, K, Yugioh

[sa-ku-ra-fu-bu-ki]

雑誌 『CanCam』 (Magazine)

[kairavki]

Been working on this for a long ass while. Finally had time to finish it.

[sweetness-pop]

Helluva Boss Dream Japanese Voice Cast: Striker

Striker being voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda

Tsuda's roles include

Nicolas Brown of GANGSTA

Kento Nanami of Jujutsu Kaisen

Tatsu of The Way of the Househusband

Mikoto Suoh of K-Project

Kai Chisaki/Overhaul of My Hero Academia

Vinsmoke Yonji of One Piece

& Seto Kaiba of Yu-Gi-Oh!

[ecargmura]

Honey Lemon Soda Episode 1 Review - Soaked In Lemon Soda

A lot of shoujo fans have been hyping the anime adaptation of Honey Lemon Soda. It’s actually quite a best-seller in recent times as it sold 12 million copies and even had a live-action movie adaptation a few years ago. However, shoujo manga fans have one fear when it comes to anime adaptations: the animation. It’s actually Russian roulette for shoujo fans when a popular shoujo manga gets an anime adaptation as the anime quality can be really good or really bad, depending on the studio. Last year, I watched A Sign of Affection where the animation was pretty despite it not being from a well-known studio and then there’s A Condition Called Love with its very subpar animation created from East Fish Studio. The fact that Honey Lemon Soda got an anime adaptation by JC Staff, a rather well-known animation studio, does make fans happy as it means that it would be getting good animation quality and for someone who likes art, I think it’s visually appealing!

Honey Lemon Soda is a story about first-year high school student Uka Ishimori who was bullied back in middle school for being stone-faced and having slow reactions to everything; she was nicknamed “Stone” because of that. The bullying has caused her to become very withdrawn and timid. While contemplating on the high school of her choice, she stumbles upon Kai Miura on the streets who suggests she go to Hachimitsu High School because he’d also be going there. Moved by the first instance of kindness from someone in her life, she makes the decision to forego her first choice school and go to Hachimitsu in hopes of overcoming her past and change for the better.

Yes, it does have the typical shoujo story cliches with a very introverted protagonist meeting a knight in shining armor who is her total opposite and becomes enamored with him. However, it is a very human story too with Uka very low self-esteem due to her parents’ overprotectiveness and the results of being bullied. Sometimes, these things can be very vital in a child’s development. If parents are overprotective, it gives a child a sense that they can’t do anything by themselves and grow to becoming overly dependent on them even as an adult even to the point that they can’t even make their own decisions without their parents’ permission. Bullying can also affect a child’s psyche in that it makes them feel very depressed and anxious. I actually can relate to Uka in the sense that I grew up with a very overprotective mom (though I can still make my own decisions as an adult) and that I have been bullied not in school but at church. I can totally get why Uka acts the way she does because of that—she believes she has no sense of self, but meeting Kai helps her believe that she does.

Regarding her love interest Kai, he’s actually not a red flag at all. I like that he doesn’t coddle Uka at all and is very blunt with her. He’s straightforward and speaks his mind, things Uka lacks, but they’re handled positively. Because he’s straightforward, he’s not hesitant on calling Uka’s passiveness out. He’s a good guy because he wants her to speak up and express herself. It makes me wonder if he had experienced similar things in the past or if he feels empathy for her in a way. I am curious to know more about him.

The other characters got me curious too. Ayumi feels like the girl who’d become her closest friend. I do wonder what Takamine and Seto’s roles will be in the story. I just hope there won't be a love triangle—the last thing I need in a romance anime is a love triangle. The bullies feel textbook—they better not get redemption arcs and just be NPCs.

The voice cast for the main characters are all ones that are decently popular. Kana Ichinose is definitely a rising star as she won Best Actress Award in the 18th Seiyuu Awards and she was in popular shows like Gundam and Frieren. I like her voice, though. Shougo Yano, on the other hand, is actually going against typecast for his role as Kai. Like when I saw his name on the cast list, I was actually surprised. He’s usually typecasted as soft and cute characters like Mafuyu from Given or cheeky cuties like Reo from Paradox Live—in a sense, he usually voices cuties, so for him to voice an ikemen using a more masculine tone compared to his more known high tone feels a little jarring, but I’m all for voice actors showing off different voices! For the other three, I’m the least familiar with Miyari Nemoto. I’ve heard Taku Yashiro and Shunichi Toki in many different animes, so I’m familiar with those two—it’s nice to hear Reo and Hokusai be in another anime together—I like their dynamic in Pararai. Okay, to be honest, out of the voice cast, the most well-known are actually Uka’s parents who are voiced by Ai Kayano and Kazuyuki Okitsu.

The animation and music are good. I think it’s been a while since I last saw a shoujo anime where the heroine’s eyes are humongous, but I like how they’re colored. Her eyes are yellow like Kai’s hair to showcase the theme color, which is lemon yellow. I really like how the opening and ending are animated though. The opening is beautiful while the ending has a lot of characters and movement that it feels like a school environment.

I do think this could be a good shoujo romance story as the first episode doesn’t tell you everything at once—the beauty of these types of shows is learning more about the characters the more you read/watch. If I am allowed to say one more thing before I end things here, it’s that I really like Uka’s room—all those plants make it very cozy and gives the room personality! Let me know what your thoughts are about the premiere of this anime!

[mojinchiimanga]

[eien-no-gakusha]

Touken Ranbu:  The Contradictory Tale of Genji

Went in expecting fanservice and just a good time, left impressed.

Part 1/3 - Plot:

The videogame source material has a very barebones plot because it knows what it is:  a gatcha game for fujoshi to collect sword husbandos.  Basically, something evil is trying to change (Japanese) history and make the universe implode.  You, the player, are an onmyoji or priestess who is summoning famous swords like mad to save the world.  The touken danshi themselves basically have the personalities of their famous historical figure owners or forgers coupled with quirks related to random facts and legends surrounding them.  Some come with a Hachiko streak from losing their masters or their service in some darker parts of history.  (only your love can heal them!). Classic gatcha game fare.  In other words, there is a lot of room to be creative with this framework.  Just look at all the sexy derivative works spawned from the thirsty fujoshi.  This aspect of the fandom is surprisingly relevant to the plot of the musical.  Stick around and find out. 

Anyways, the plot of this specific show features a Tale of Genji crossover.  The usual evil is messing with history again and a squad of swords are dispatched to fix it.   The problem of the day is the entire Heian court has been isekai-ed into the novel Tale of Genji.  The author Murasaki Shikibu and her fans have all gotten merged with the characters of the book.  The Heian era swords are unavailable for vague reasons, leaving a bunch of young swords not forged in this era to untangle fact from fiction.

Thus, we start with team Kanesada finding themselves escorting a lady-in-waiting who explains that everyone around her has been suddenly larping Tale of Genji and she’s the only sane person left in court.  They realize they are trapped in the book and reenact all the early chapters as they figure out how to undo the curse.  Some of the more hot-tempered swords try to brute force their way out only to realize that book characters have protagonist halos to protect them from getting KOed.  At the center of this vortex, the titular character Hikaru Genji is effectively an NPC who has gained sentience a la RE:  Creators.  We learn he functions similarly to the sword boys as the embodiment of the book.  Not being a weapon, he can’t do much by way of fighting but he is unkillable and can act as dungeon master in his own story by transferring protagonist status to his victims.  In other words, Genji can possess targets to simulate his story as a substitute while he dicks off.  He uses this power to go OOC and try to retcon his own story.  This is all quite convenient for him since he has a complicated relationship with his author.  He is half reverential of her and half resentful.  This culminates in Genji ultimately killing his own author.  In the merged universe, Murasaki Shikibu and her readership have merged with the female leads of The Tale of Genji with Murasaki taking the role of the unobtainable Fujitsubo no Nyogo, Genji’s true love.  In breaking the story with literal death of the author, all hell breaks loose with Genji going rogue.

As the touken danshi dig deeper, they learn the source of this chaos was a result of toxic fan culture!  While many people enjoy Murasaki’s book and come away from it positively, a stalker fan voices his concerns that this is all vapid fiction with no value nor contribution to reality (the “wake up, loser” argument).  They debate about the point of writing “fake” stories.  While Murasaki understands the man’s point of view, she disagrees and refuses to put down her brush as this work is her passion.  The man becomes so upset he is taken over by the evil powers to cause the time rift and alter history.  His reasoning is if everyone is so obsessed with the book, they may as well live in it rather than face the real world. 

Back in the present, the touken danshi are having a bad time resolving the timeline.  They complain about needing grandpa Mikazuki’s help and keep getting possessed by Genji to reenact chapters while he escapes to cause trouble elsewhere.  However, during the final boss battle with evil Genji, the isekai-ed fangirls come to the rescue!  As they reminisce about their love of the novel (well, it would be equivalent of a serialized magazine at time of publication) and how it was therapeutic or inspiring for their real lives, they begin to return to themselves.  Now it’s important to note that Murasaki’s contemporaries did write derivative works or helped her transcribe chapters to share.  Therefore, these fangirls are effectively ancient Japanese fanfiction authors and thus have power to end Genji as much as the original author does.  But they love him as a character too much so are unable to strike the finishing blow and basically toss the responsibility to young Murasaki, Genji’s second wife who he had kidnapped as a child to groom into the perfect woman.  Unable to bear the suffering and moved by the women in his life both as characters and as his fans, Genji lowers his protagonist’s halo and accepts death.  The touken danshi are able to finally fix history and complete their mission.  When they return to modern day, they hear news that archeologists have found physical evidence that Genji existed as a historical figure and thus a conspiracy theory is born!  The touken danshi take this information with mixed emotions.

What an amazing story.  The theme was deep without being too obtuse.  The climax got meta and opened a lot of discussion about the value of fiction, derivative works, the dangers of escapism, censorship, and even spirituality.  Definitely worth a second viewing to digest all this.

There was a mini-revue number in the end where the cast performed an umbrella dance to anachronistic Touken Ranbu music.  Then the cast descended a staircase in parade order for final bows.  It was a much-needed break from the heavy and complicated plot.  It was also a small nod to the main cast’s Takarazuka roots or hina doll staging, which is a common set design when using Heian costume.  The umbrella dance reminded me of the finale Sakura dance OSK does at the end of their performances.  Perhaps this is a proud Osaka tradition.  I haven’t seen a different Touken Ranbu show (yet) so I don’t know if this is a part of the brand.

[cringefaillosershowdown]

[halflingchill]

Did I dig this character in my middle school years? Yes. Would there be murder if I had to room with him? OH YAH

pick one. this is your new roommate

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[ochotona-princeps]

...Technically not seto taisho?

These two feel like such a random mishmash of themes if you don't know what they're referencing lol.

I was going to have it so that Dishsciple and Apotstle fuse to make Phanturn, but... Taking Dishsciple to the place where you fuse yo-kai is. A really bad idea.

Dishsciple evo later (?)

[ydotome]

Come on, "He." He... "Lp." ...lp... "Mmm." ...mmm... "Ee." ...ee. Help me! Good job. - Honey Lemon Soda - Episode 1

[rainstormcolors]

Seto Kaiba, aged 40, decides he's bored of running KaibaCorp and retires. What does he do with his life now?

I feel like he'd enjoy flying --- piloting his own small plane, or a glider, or going hang-gliding. Maybe parachute too. He seems to enjoy his adrenaline rushes in the sky; but it's more quiet and private now rather than being in-part for maintaining his brand and image. He might visit arcades late at night and aim for the high scores on a series of the games there. So many arcades in the cities he's visited will have at least a few "KAI"s at the top of their scoreboards.

Still something of a loner. Maybe getting wanderlust at times. But sometimes some people will crowd around to watch him at those arcades too, bright in the night.

I think Seto genuinely enjoys being an inventor, and so it would be a hobby for him now. Part practical, part artistry. Try crafting more experimental games that wouldn't make much money at all but he can create them as his own projects.

He might help run charity drives in parallel with Kaiba Corp sometimes -- like holding some hologram art competition sponsored by Kaiba Corp and the ticket sales go to charity and Seto acts as the host and as a celebrity-of-a-kind for people to see at the event.

I tend to imagine Mokuba will have his own family in time, and so Seto may be an uncle to Mokuba's children, watching them grow. Hoping for the best for them.