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mirai-e-jump · 1 year ago

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Hero Vision Vol.14 (2004/Spring) ft. Kamen Rider Blade Cast Interviews Ryoji Moromoto x Makoto Ito (Suit Actor) Segment (translation below)

Publication: May 20, 2004 (between episodes 17-18) Ryoji Moromoto (Hajime Aikawa) x Makoto Ito (Chalice Suit Actor)

"When did you two first meet?"

Ito: When? (laughs)

Moromoto: When we first met? I'm pretty sure it was before filming started. My first impression of Ito-san was that he was, "A kind big bro."

Ito: He made me think, "This year's also going to turn out cool" (laughs).

Moromoto: We talked alot about Chalice back then. You said, "Chalice has existed for 10,000 years, so I want to show you 10,000 years worth of my career." What were some of the other things you said again?

Ito:……not much, I really don't remember (laughs).

Moromoto: Ahaha! One thing we have in common, is that we have similar bikes, don't we? We've talked about how we want to go (motorcycle) touring together after the show ends. I ride a Yamaha SR400 and, ah...I'm sorry……(Note: The bikes used in Kamen Rider are provided by Honda)

Ito:…Sorry, but I'm also a WR250F (Yamaha) rider~, but before that, it's always been a Honda! I'd love to see Moromoto-kun's rumored SR. I've heard that they're loud and rather slow……

Moromoto: That's right! I actually modified it too much, and now it can only go about 80kph (50mph) (laughs). Right now, I'm too busy to work on it. I feel like my love for it is fading~!

"What were your first impressions of Chalice?"

Moromoto: I received a call from my agency, saying I passed the audition with, "You're Heart." "Eh?! You mean Momorenger?!," I was so surprised and alittle bit intimidated (laughs), but when I saw the design in person, it was cool and I liked it alot because it was something I had never seen before.

Ito: When I was first told about it, I jokingly thought, "Heart……(sinking in)…ah, alright then, I'll just act like a gay guy……" But, after seeing the design, I was relieved and thought about what kind of pose would suit this Rider. My first thought when I read his setup, was that it would be nice to have something wild and different from the other Riders. Compared to G3-X in "Kamen Rider Agito" and Knight in "Kamen Rider Ryuki," this is the wildest work I've ever done. Even with Kaixa in "Kamen Rider 555," I tried to keep martial arts like movements in mind, and to avoid any unnecessary movements. But with Chalice, there's just so many unnecessary movements…(laughs).

Moromoto: That's why I also tried to make the movements bigger in that fight scene (episode 9).

"Morimoto-san, "Hajime Aikawa is not a normal human being," what do you pay attention to when playing such a role?"

Moromoto: When my heart is closer to the human side, it's not so different, but when it's closer to Chalice's side, I try not to blink as much as possible, and when I talk to people, I try to give subtle pauses in my responses. It's almost like a foreigner hearing Japanese and interpreting it in their head before replying. In general, when I'm on Chalice's side, I don't think with my mind, but instead, try to act with my feelings

"Do you have any techniques for the dubbing process?"

Moromoto: I have a high pitched voice, so it can be difficult for me to make Chalice sound intimidating or violent. That's why I'm trying to lower the tone of my voice. I also did research by studying "monsters" such as the Hulk, Akuma from "Street Fighter II" and King Piccolo from "Dragon Ball Z." One time I even played the videos, and would try to voice the characters myself with the sound off, but there was still something wrong. What could it be…I don't know what Chalice's true form is yet, so my image may not be perfect. (Note: The actors have not been told where the story is going at this time.)

Ito: When it's my turn to "Henshin!," I'm trying to decide if it's better to change or to fight and further develop myself. Essentially, Chalice is supposed to be used to fighting, so I want to keep my methods in check. I'm so focused that I feel like I can see my opponent's movements, even when they've stopped. However, the tension is still high.

Moromoto: The way I say "Transformation" is different depending on if I'm fighting to protect Amane-chan or with my natural emotions. For Amane-chan, it's, "Henshin!" but naturally it's, "…Henshin" (lower tone).

"Did you face any challenges during filming?"

Ito: I'm not good when it comes to cold weather, so I almost cried during the snowy mountain shoot.

Moromoto: It was -15C (5F)! And when the sun went down, they brought out one of those giant fans! It kept spraying us with cold water! Man, I remember my face being scrunched up with anger (laughs).

Ito: When I did a test shot without the mask on, my hair ended up freezing. It wouldn't even melt when I put my head over the space heater, so I just had to keep it as is.

Moromoto: There was also the scene where Amane-chan's father gives Hajime the photo, with it being so cold I thought, "This guy, is he really going to die?!"

Ito: I'm bad with Winter, but I'm also bad with Summer too. When I wear a suit, my body temperature rises and my face turns bright red. My heart starts to race too and I think, "Ah, my life is getting shorter…"

Moromoto: It's good for Chalice though, isn't it? Blood rushing, a fast pulse, it's like an unleashing of the instincts.

Ito: But, when I get like that, I become quiet. In the Summer, Chalice becomes more like a domesticated cat (laughs).

Moromoto: Please keep doing your best~, I'm also prepared to risk my life for this role!

Ito: I also want to play the role of a Rider who will continue to remain in everyone's heart. Personally, it's frustrating to often hear people say, "Chalice looks like Gills (Agito)" (laughs), regardless, please continue to watch us in the future. We're going to give it our all!

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therummesoccupied · 4 months ago

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IDW'S SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, ISSUE #70 - THOUGHTS

Keeping with standard Review!Tay tradition, I'm very late to the party again, but at least this time the new issue doesn't come out tomorrow, so I'll take the wins where I can get 'em.

You've likely heard by now, but this issue was really, really good. Like, I'm not sure I even could find anything to complain about, even if I'd wanted to. Every single aspect is thoroughly on point. The closest thing I could even fathom to complaint is that I don't really care for Sonic Riders, so this arc had to kind of win me over, but even that was accomplished early in the previous issue.

And just like last issue, the first thing that really had me in this one's corner was the art. I've already spoken at length about how much I adore Min Ho Kim's and Aaron Hammerstrom's pencils, and with the phenomenal showing from Kim in Issue #69 (nice), Hammerstrom has absolutely followed up.

Keeping true to his Uekawa-inspired style, his art manages to drive the intensity and motion of the high-speed scenes, while also utilizing strong character design elements and posing to really sell certain panels. He even gives us some real Henshin shit out of Sonic here.

The writing also continues to entirely slam in this issue. I think I remember Evan Stanley once talking about her reputation for writing fluffy, low-stakes, side stories, and seeking to show how well she can handle action and drama, and I'm really glad to say she totally pulls it off here. The action never feels dull or slow, and the characters all feel active and driven.

Speaking of the characters, this issue might have the strongest character writing in the entire comic, hands-down. It's been said by other IDW Sonic aficionados before, but every single character gets something to do here - something that matters to that character specifically.

We get Sonic as the Phantom Rider, which I absolutely love. I said last time that I like Sonic occasionally displaying some roguish behavior, letting the noble, heroic persona down for a bit and being the daredevil showoff the series sells him as. He spends the entire issue daring the authorities in charge of the race to do something about him, and doing everything in his power to piss Jet off. Sneering in the face of power and taunting his opponents until they're red in the face is what Sonic does!

And it's not even like he's being a total asshole here.

Like, people get to be in danger, and he still helps, but like. Even then he tries to hide that he's doing it. It's Good! This is peak Sonic!

Surge gets some interesting stuff here, chasing off the Phantom Rider and being met with unexpected praise and applause. This is a really neat angle to play for her, because she was kind of built to crave Hero Worship by Starline, and she is the way she is partly because, when she was working under Starline, every single thing she did was met exclusively with negative reinforcement - a reflection of Starline's time spent working under Eggman. It's kind of neat that Eggman's treatment of Starline continues causing him problems long after Starline's death like this.

Then there's Jet:

And Jet gets to be all pouty because, not only did the Phantom Rider steal his spotlight during the race, but now Surge is stealing the spotlight after the fact, despite the fact that he won! This seems to be setting up a budding rivalry between Surge and Jet, which was a story beat I had never considered. I'd always wanted to see what Surge would do confronted with another one of Sonic's rivals like Knuckles or Shadow, but seeing it happen with Jet, somebody with an ego to match her own, is really cool. Also they're both green. They're the only two Sonic "rivals" outside of Metal Sonic that haven't experienced some form of heel-face turn, and remain pretty explicitly bad, or at best neutral, guys. And they're greeeeeen.

Our big bad, Clutch, treats the whole thing with relative unease, but I like how calmly he approaches it. Once more, he plays this manipulative businessman villain archetype really well, keeping his cards close to his chest until he knows what he's dealing with. He also sends Mimic after the Phantom Rider, which has some really cool implications.

It's entirely possible that Mimic and Sonic are on their way toward some form of confrontation, which I said last time would be a really neat dynamic to explore since they've never really met, and neither is the kind of opponent the other typically deals with. But more than that, with Mimic being under specific orders to quietly unmask Sonic, I could see things playing out so that they learn of one anothers' identities, with neither being able to blow the other's cover for risk of blowing their own.

I could even see this breaking really bad for Sonic if he even tries to expose Duo as Mimic, as Silver tried to do that once before and was not only seemingly proven wrong, but also had the trust the other Diamond Cutters had in him entirely shattered, while their trust in Duo was only strengthened. Sonic is already putting a lot of good will on the line with his Phantom Rider antics, if he ends up falling for the same game as Silver, it's possible he could not only ruin the faith the Diamond Cutters or the Restoration have in him, but in the image he has with the world at large.

Not that I'm entirely certain he'd care, mind you. Sonic has already shown in stuff like SA2 or Black Knight that he doesn't really care if he's in trouble with authority or if not everyone sees him as a hero. He just does what he thinks is right and that's good enough for him. So who knows?

The Diamond Cutters are a little less present in this issue, mostly trying to bring down the Phantom Rider, but there is one subtle little bit of storytelling I really like here.

Lanolin, attempting to corner the Phantom Rider, knocks him into one of the course's glass tunnels, which shatters with the added weight of Clean Sweep's security crew, putting the racers inside at risk. The expression on her face and the small "no..." seem to reflect a bit of horror at realizing that her actions have directly put people in danger. A lot of folks have been hoping for Lanolin to face some kind of reckoning over her decisions as a leader, and while I really like Lanolin as a character, I think it would be interesting for this, and the eventual reveal of Duo, to really shake her faith in her skills and make her reevaluate her approach.

In addition to the Diamond Cutters themselves, we get a real quick bit with Jewel here:

Ever since Sonic and co. were disqualified from the tournament, Jewel has been trying to reach out to them to check in, but Duo, who appears to still be acting as her assistant - yikes - tells her over and over that he's tried every means of communication (which is, of course, a lie), and that he's had no luck getting in touch.

And here, we see our first little bit of someone within the Restoration having their doubts about Duo. I don't know what tipped her off - she seemed just as invested in him as anyone after the incident with Silver - but it's clear she doesn't buy everything he's saying here. She knows something's up. The question is: What will she do about it? What can she do? As Clutch pointed out last issue, she's got a lot of eyes on her. She's not an action-hero like Sonic or the Diamond Cutters. She's an organizer. But in this respect, she works as a perfect heroic foil to Clutch, who does not boast any special abilities of his own, just a diligent mind and a willingness to follow carefully laid plains with a subtle demeanor.

Lastly, we get a bit of Amy and Tails sneaking around the Restoration shuttle.

While Tails gets some nice bits here - namely a neat little nod to Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog with his dumpster diving - Amy is really the one with the best display here.

Amy has spent so much of IDW, and really a lot of recent Sonic media, being the collected one. The beacon of normalcy in a rag-tag group of child prodigies and daredevil speedsters. While she fills this role well, it also leaves her somewhat meandering for things to do in terms of character dynamics. There was a time when Amy had a hot-headed attitude to rival Sonic and Knuckles. She was a bit reactionary, and it gave her some neat character quirks.

There's a balance to be struck between these two extremes, but I think we're finally nailing it down with this arc. With Amy knowing her way around the shuttle after her time spent there during the Metal Virus, but then excitedly dragging Tails along, grimacing at his ruffling through the trash, shrieking with terror as a weird robot hand grabs onto her face, and barking in anger as she realizes whose hand it was, I get the sense that we have the real Amy here again!

Yeah, she's still "the normal one" (kinda, they've been playing up her ridiculous strength again lately as well), but she also has the spark that made her chase after Sonic on his adventures in the first place. I really like her here!

So, once again, this arc (Extreme Competition, as its been named in the TPBs) leaves me thoroughly impressed in way that I did not expect from a Sonic Riders-centric arc. This is some of the most on-brand Sonic writing with some of the most accurate art I've ever seen. It seems to me that, after all this time of IDW being good but not quite hitting the mark for a lot of fans, the series is finally hitting its stride. I remain excited to see what comes next, and hopeful that there's still lots, lots more to come after this arc wraps up.

One other thing to mention: It was revealed in the Fan Letters section at the end of the issue that there is currently an IDW Sonic crossover in the works:

Now, speculation has been rampant about what this crossover could be - TMNT, Transformers, MLP, even DBZ with the recently-announced TMNT/Naruto crossover setting a precedent for anime/manga crossovers - but I'm throwing my hopes and dreams behind what appears to be the popular theory: Godzilla.

It makes sense. Godzilla and Sonic are both properties IDW currently has the comics rights to, both owned by Japanese companies. Godzilla fits the notion of a "BIG threat" to Sonic and co., both in terms of size as well as the implication that the figure crossing over will serve some form of antagonistic role. Godzilla even works relatively well within a Sonic storyline, and Sonic is no stranger to kaiju fights. It'd be very easy to do a story about Eggman trying to awaken/control some kind of ancient, powerful creature, only to reveal that said creature is Godzilla, over whom Eggman swiftly loses control, and Sonic and friends have to find a way to stop his rampage and return him to his proper place.

Honestly, they could make it a canon story if they wanted to. Hell they should make it a canon story! I love Godzilla!! Make him canon to Sonic!!! FOR ME SPECIFICALLY.

Time will tell what the big crossover is, and where the comic will go next, and I'll be sure to be fashionably late with my review.

Till then, thanks for reading!

#sonic the hedgehog #sega #sonic #idw sonic #comics #video games #extreme competition #clean sweepstakes #issue 70 #sonic 70 #idw sonic 70 #godzilla #crossover #magic cordless drill

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guster-animations · 13 days ago

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Kamen Rider Gotchard Producers Symposium PART 1 Translation

i got! another producer roundtable translation!! this one is only the first part of 3 of the gotchard roundtable. i will have the next parts translated soon. thank you TTFC for formatting it this way

again, this is a project for the henshindex wiki! contribute today!!!

Kamen Rider Gotchard: TV Series Conclusion Commemoration Toei Producer Team Special Roundtable (First Edition)

“Kamen Rider Gotchard” will soon be at its climax! With that, we are delivering a Toei producer symposium like usual, split into three parts. Furthermore, the first and second volumes will be released one week before the final episode airs. The three-part talk totaled up to over 30,000 words. The participants are, of course, Producer Yosuke Minato and Assistant Producers Daigo Matsuura and Kaho Miyashima. In this first volume, we returned to the start of the show’s planning…!

Act 1: The Starting Point Was Part 2 of Kamen Rider What?!

Today is the TTFC tradition for all of you Toei producers and assistant producers gather and think back on the course of this year and then some, so I hoped that the three of you will start, Minato, Matsuura, and Harashima. But… speaking of the number “3”, there were talks of that becoming a main point of “Kamen Rider Gotchard”.

Minato: The original idea was alchemy (1).

The number “3” is written to be essential in alchemy-related texts. In Hotaro and others’ henshin poses, their movements form a triangle for that reason. The “Philosopher’s Stone” is said to need “sulfur”, “mercury”, and one more—“salt”, which has the power to combine that sulfur and mercury, so “3” was a big motif. So I thought that, if we do Kamen Riders who use alchemy, it would be interesting to put the number “3” in a lot of places.

TTFC: So was the decision to have three main Kamen Riders (Gotchard, Majade, and Valvarad) also…?

Matsuura: Actually, that was completely unrelated (Laughs).

Minato: Yes, completely separate. We just wanted to make it like “Kamen Rider Agito” (2001) (Laughs). We wanted that before we decided on the motif of “Alchemy”. Since we were planning it to be “(Kamen Rider) Agito 2”, we decided to have three Kamen Riders, and those three would each transform with their own different belts (Drivers) and cards.

TTFC: Hm? “Agito 2”?

Matsuura: For about how long were we calling it “Agito 2”? Was it about a week?

Minato: No, “Agito 2” was about a month (Laughs). From that, we had a main Kamen Rider, an animal Rider, a mecha Rider… it was that mental image. “Alchemy” was decided after that. So, results-wise there were also parts that changed form when the plans were changed.

Matsuura: With that logic, is Majade (Kamen Rider) Gills?

Minato: Yes, that’s true, their positions are similar. It doesn’t even stop with their base forms. Majade gets her power passed down from her father too (Laughs). Harashima, you joined when we were planning, but you really wanted to see something like “Agito”.

Harashima: I watched “Agito”. But, when I formally joined, filming was already about to start, so I wasn’t there during the “Agito 2” era and only learned about it just now (Laughs).

Matsuura: What, you didn’t know (Laughs). However, you fit with “Agito”. I remember hearing, “That’s interesting!”.

Harashima: That’s right.

Minato: When you asked “Are there any good works to watch since I’m in charge of the new Kamen Rider season?”, I feel like I just recommended my favorite works (Laughs).

Matsuura: What were the other ones you watched?

Harashima: “(Kamen Rider) Fourze” (2011) and “(Kamen Rider) Decade” (2009). I was also watching Geats originally. I think “Fourze” was because “Gotchard” was already decided to be a school season. “Decade” was related to Kamen Rider Legend. But I dropped “Decade” midway through (Laughs).

Minato: If a Rider newbie watches “Decade”, they’ll have a hard time understanding it (Laughs).

TTFC: Regarding “Agito 2”, that wasn’t simply just the idea of “Let’s do a sequel”.

Minato: That’s right. This is an example from another company, but it’s like with “Ultraman Tiga” (1996) in contrast with “Ultraman Trigger” (2021). There’s always been a question of how to make an IP (intellectual property) like Kamen Rider spread across the world more than ever, and for that approach, the method of a “reboot” like with “Kamen Rider Black Sun” (2022) from “Kamen Rider Black” (1987) is being utilized well. It’s not a sequel but rather a new work that inherits the original’s place. Even when planning the TV series, that’s a pattern we try to have from the start. It felt like we only thought about “Agito 2” as a direction for a brief amount of time. I certainly liked “Agito”, and two of “Agito”’s former producers (Shinichiro) Shirakura and (Hideaki) Tsukada were in charge of the planning conference, so there wasn’t a reason to drop it if they said they liked it (Laughs).

Matsuura: But, that period was only about a month. It’s not unreasonable that Harashima didn’t know about it (Laughs).

Minato: Personally, I watched “Kamen Rider Kuuga” (2000) too, but what I watched faithfully was its successor “Agito”, so that personal experience was strong. So, at the beginning planning stage, “Playing background tracks” and “Defeating enemies with Rider Kicks” and the like had already been decided. As the plan was progressing, it became what we know to be “Kamen Rider Gotchard”. I received lots of advice and warnings from many different seniors before broadcasting, but I stuck to the two points I mentioned until the end.

TTFC: Because this was the first work you’ve been the main producer for, Minato.

Minato: After all, the Kamen Rider series is an important content for Toei, it has a long history, and it’s accumulated various success stories, failures and the like. So for about half a year, the screenwriter (Hiroki) Uchida and I would consider each point while talking with seniors. Nobody said “Stop that!”. In my personal experience, they say “Please consider what you will do.”

Matsuura: That was because you had a lot of ideas for Gotchard Daybreak, and you had to make a choice soon (Laughs).

Minato: True, true (Laughs). However, it’s not easy to choose that sort of stuff. I would use one for a little bit, and if I thought, “It’s wrong after all…”, I would throw away that component. There was a time when I kept working on that.

Act 2: A Kamen Rider Who Fails to What Every Time?!

TTFC: Uchida’s name has appeared now, but he was helping with plans from a fairly early time.

Minato: I’m new to being a producer, so I wanted somebody to help me. Even if it was sandbagging, I wanted someone that could take the punches with me (Laughs). So with Uchida, we really discussed a lot of things. What came from that was also connected to “Agito”’s Shoichi Tsugami— a pure amnesiac protagonist who is influenced by the people around him. I think we made good use of that for Hotaro Ichinose afterwards. Actually, there was a part about losing memories too (Laughs). Going back to what we were talking about, I was picky about the number “3”, but there were many unexpected and natural things that became the number “3”. Having three Toei producers (including assistant producers) is normal, and along with (Keiichi) Hasegawa and (Akiko) Inoue there were three scriptwriters, and honestly that was coincidence (Laughs). It wasn’t an intentional thing.

TTFC: Did Uchida join before Matsuura did?

Minato: Speaking chronologically, until I was told to do the series that would come after “Geats”, I was doing “Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger”. I left before the filming started, so I wasn’t listed in the credits (Laughs). Uchida and I got in touch on the day I approached him. It was officially decided that Matsuura would join as an assistant producer during filming for the V-Cinext “Avataro Sentai Donbrothers vs. Zenkaiger” (2023).

Matsuura: That’s right. At that point, the era of “Agito 2” was already ending (Laughs), and the idea of an alchemy Kamen Rider was being decided.

Minato: Then, the alchemy books that I’d stopped reading had to be studied.

Matsuura: At that time, what I heard was “a Rider who fails to transform every time” (Laughs). “Because alchemy has a history of failure.” I laughed at that.

Minato: I was indeed saying that. In any case, speaking of “relationships”, I wanted something to be a hook, and had many ideas for that. At that point, the creation of “wild mode” had already appeared. I guess that was “If you henshin you’ll turn into a grasshopper!”. We have “henshins” that are “when you open your eyes, you’ve turned into a giant poisonous bug” in Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”, but when connecting it to the motif of “alchemy” well, you mix it with the usage of various cards and such, and the idea of “failing to henshin” didn’t look interesting. There were times when I was worried about it. I eventually gave up on that direction, so I guess it in itself was a failure (Laughs).

TTFC: That was already in 2023, right?

Minato: It took until the end of March to finalize the plan. I’d already intended to ask Uchida to be the main writer, and he’d actually been looking over the story in its entirety for more than a year at this point. But at the time of writing the scripts for the so-called “pilot” episodes 1-2, we contacted Keiichi Hasegawa on May 1st. His first preparatory meeting was May 8th, and he was finishing the draft script at the beginning of June. Filming started in late June. The specific day we started that was actually my birthday (Laughs).

Matsuura: I never heard about it at the time. Why didn’t you say so?

Minato: No, it was hard to say “It’s actually my birthday…” while everyone was focusing on the shoot (Laughs). After all, that day was decided at the last minute. I thought, “Oh, it’s on my birthday…”, but I still didn’t have a chance to say that. In the end, Junsei (Motojima) received flowers from his manager on the very same day a year later.

TTFC: Uchida and Hasegawa were listed as writing episodes 1 and 2 together.

Minato: Before Hasegawa joined, there was a script that Uchida was writing. I feel like Hasegawa looked at that and dyed it in “Hasegawa colors”. At that rate, episodes 3 through 6 were also being written by Hasegawa.

TTFC: At what point did Harashima join?

Minato: She was already helping when we started shooting, right?

Matsuura: What about the last audition?

Harashima: At that point it still wasn’t decided (that I would join). In the spring of that year (2023), all of the new employees observed the last audition of “Gotchard” for training, and I was only one of them… I think it was three days before the start of filming when I officially joined.

Minato: It was that kind of last-minute timing (Laughs). I remember that the head of the department Tsukada said “It’s because she’s an excellent and capable person” at the time.

Harashima: I don’t know what made him say that at all (Laughs).

TTFC: You joined the company last year (2023).

Harashima: I’m not a new graduate, but I’m a recent graduate. How it went was that my training period was from April to the end of May last year, I was assigned to the drama department on June 1st, and I became an assistant producer for “Gotchard” in the last third of June. So that’s why there are a lot of things I’ve never heard about before now (Laughs).

Act 3: A Mysterious Phone Number

TTFC: So Hasegawa joined hastily.

Minato: To be more accurate, I was asking Hasegawa to join as a backup writer from the start. I have a feeling I called him about that a little too fast. Episodes 7 and 8 were the first two-part set of episodes, so I had decided to ask Uchida to do them. But there was also the winter movie, so it seemed like his schedule was getting pretty tight. So I realized a third scriptwriter would be necessary…

TTFC: And that was how Akiko Inoue arrived (3).

Matsuura: For Akiko, we called her at an early time too. Though it hadn’t been decided which area she would be writing from. At the start, our legend of the “impolite phone number” had already begun… (Laughs).

Minato: That’s right. We didn’t know whose phone number it was that Toshiki Inoue gave (Laughs).

Matsuura: I went to drink with the great teacher (Toshiki Inoue) when I asked, “I have an offer for your daughter, so could you tell me her phone number?”. Then he readily agreed, but the phone number that he thought was it was registered with only the three letters (in Japanese, hiragana rather than the kanji Akiko’s name is usually written with) “Akiko”, and the great teacher himself smiled and said, “Sorry if this is the wrong guy”, so I told Minato that part.

Minato: So frankly, while I was thinking about what to do with this snack “Akiko’s” number, I nervously called the phone. The way I started talking was, “Ummm… do you know Toshiki Inoue?”.

Matsuura: It seems like Akiko thought it was a scam call at the start (Laughs).

Minato: It was difficult, but it was the real person’s number, so it turned out good. Then, I thought about her joining various times, but her results were adjusting the whole of the series’ structure, and I asked her to start with a one-shot episode: episode 19, which has Majade’s television debut. Speaking even more minutely, I was first thinking about having her write two Gotchard Daybreak episodes, 16 and 17, but it didn’t seem like she would fit with two episodes (a two-episode arc?) at all. So, it became that episodes 16-18 would be written by Uchida, so she instead started with only one episode.

Act 4: The Legendary “Chemy-kko Gurashi” ?!

TTFC: What structure made it so that Majade debuted ahead of time in the winter movie and then again in the TV series at the beginning of the year?

Minato: It’s a balance between story progression and the schedule for the sale of related items. As the production side, we want to set Majade’s role as this work’s “secondary Rider” in stone. We were particular about that. On the other hand, the timing for Spanner becoming Kamen Rider Valvarad was also arranged for merchandising development, and we moved it back considerably. Again, what we could do within the year in the structure of the series was limited. That is to say, there wasn’t a gap where we could take our time making the story where Rinne becomes Majade. In the midst of that, the preparatory meetings for the winter movie began, so I proposed, “Let’s do Kamen Rider Majade’s debut ahead of time here!”. That passed, so it went as you all have seen.

TTFC: After Majade’s early debut became a surprise factor for the winter movie, the TV series at the start of the year also became chaotic with Gotchard Daybreak, Fire Gotchard, Majade, and (Kamen Rider) Valvarad.

Minato: The winter movie, in true winter movie fashion, had many ups and downs too. Opinions from each of us three were partially adopted.

Matsuura: Even during it, Harashima didn’t know why we were doing a Kamen Rider movie in the winter at the start.

Harashima: (Laughs).

Matsuura: For Shirakura, that seemed like a fairly critical opinion, and said, “Opinions from someone like you (assistant producer Harashima) are the most important!”.

Minato: Then, at the time of hon-uchi (preparatory meetings for scriptwriting), when we gathered ideas, she came and wrote an extremely long sentence.

Harashima: To be more accurate, we weren’t meeting the deadline… It was finished fairly hurriedly, so at the place of the meeting, I said, “Is it okay if I send this to everyone right now?”. So I mailed it, and said it verbally afterwards, that’s how I explained it. In the meantime, everyone was making a scene (Laughs). That time was incredibly nervous.

Minato: “Majade’s early debut” remained as my opinion, and now for Matsuura’s “Sumikko Gurashi”— I mean, “Chemy-kko Gurashi”?

Matsuura: The third movie was screening right as we were planning (Laughs). That movie was really good, so I paid respect to Pak… er, its vision (Laughs). You don’t expect it from things like “Sumikko Gurashi” and “Chiikawa”, but that was a story that made me cry. So from the advance advertisement step, with the Geats Chemy and Hopper1 standing at the front, I said I thought it was leaning more kids-oriented than usual, and couldn’t we do a movie that’s actually deeply profound? I mainly proposed parts that would fit the movie itself.

Harashima: As for me, in the story that I proposed, the “Geats” characters other than Ace Ukiyo are transformed into Chemies and become entangled with “Gotchard’s” characters— I was thinking of things like that.

Minato: The parts that the three of us thought of took on an amazingly fitting form.

TTFC: Minato and Matsuura, you worked as a duo from “Donbrothers”, but does it feel like that relationship has developed even further?

Minato: No, for “Donbrothers”, there wasn’t really a hon-uchi phase where everyone would discuss it. We received scripts from the great teacher Inoue, and we would do our things after that, like casting guest actors. There were times we wanted to surprise the great teacher Inoue, I guess. Compared to that, in “Gotchard”, we talked about a lot of things. Us two are alike in being nerds (Laughs), but our viewpoints are still different, so Matsuura notices the things I don’t, and if that’s enough, we know that’s an important component… We help each other in that sense. Regarding Harashima, I think she was especially difficult at the start. From a place where she didn’t know Kamen Rider very well to begin, she was suddenly put in charge, and if she came to meetings nevertheless, more names she doesn’t know like “The Big O” and Space Runway Ideon” are flying around (Laughs). I worried that she didn’t think this work was fun, but her opinions were useful in planning for the winter movie, so she actively tried to make more comments going forward. That was very difficult. For things like episode 19, too, we pretty much left it to Inoue and Harashima to depict Rinne’s feelings. That course of events was similar for the Zukyunpire episodes (22-23) soon afterward too.

TTFC: Minato’s “Majade early debut” idea and Matsuura’s technique of “getting ideas from the promo images” somehow remind me of the “Shirakura method”…

Minato: That’s because we were “Shirakura followers” prior to joining Toei, so I don’t know if there were things we took from him without realizing it. In various works, I have a history of being shocked by strong “tricks” and ending up going to the theater (Laughs). So, we made the new visuals at the start of the year, but before deciding concrete contents, we ourselves had also decided ahead of time that we would “launch” it as “get even more excited from the start of the year!”. It took about one month to decide the real structure of episodes 16-18, and that was difficult, but we left it to the three writers, Uchida, Hasegawa, and Akiko, to make the contents interesting, and I was always paying attention to the “tricks” with more energy. Of course, the fact that we made new visuals for a series while doing it that way— that was done just before by “Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger”, so that show was very much referenced. But the Kamen Rider series is something that has to start a new season in September every year, and the end and beginning of the year couldn’t help becoming an important timing point.

Matsuura: It’s hard. There were many things at the year’s end and beginning that were carelessly left out of what made it to broadcasting, but then, when you have new elements, it’s harder for viewers to follow what’s going on next time they watch. So there’s also a good aspect to having things that don’t change…

Minato: The way you enjoy a work changes with how you remember it. For “Gotchard”, as the ground rule of collecting the Chemies doesn’t change, we wanted to go higher than that one step. What came from that was really strong, the idea to have another Gotchard appear. There were those things, and then the first main reason for the Gotchaigniter toy package to exist isn’t Gotchard Daybreak like it should be. Because he was a person who didn’t originally exist for merchandising.

TTFC: Hotaro transmuted his own Gotchaigniter, and Kyoka further examined that and attached the same unit parts to the Valvaradriver.

Minato: So, with that really time-dependent point, the timing of Kamen Rider Valvarad’s debut changed. Thinking back on it, that area was really hurried (Laughs). The timing for the Gotchaigniter sale that allowed for Kamen Rider Valvarad’s steel to be packaged, in total, was Kamen Rider Valvarad’s visual release. Still, I think that device, even not being in the initial plan, was good in terms of results.

TTFC: Riders like Gotchard Daybreak which are color-change versions of the lead Rider have been seen before, but in the story, when it’s held a great meaning up to now, the presence becomes different.

Minato: We’ve had black versions of Sentai robos and such, as methods; it’s not really a new thing. Of course, the “way it looks” is pretty different. Because in the beginning, the establishment of Daybreak as “future Hotaro” wasn’t decided. In any case, because it started from the idea of “bringing forth a strong Gotchard”, there was a possibility that Daybreak’s identity could have been Mr. Minato [the character, not the producer] or Fuga Kudo.

Matsuura: Well, there are parts of “a strong guy coming from the future at a turning point of the story” that are inspired by a certain super-famous work (Laughs). [TN: this is probably referring to dragon ball or something but i will choose to believe matsuura is a homestuck]

Minato: Well, it’s natural, but we didn’t want to take that path exactly. So we decided that the person who came from the future was a future version of the protagonist himself.

TTFC: It’s a rather bold development, and more than having done it that way, you can’t just abandon the plot point halfway through. And that’s why I’m able to say it was admirably recovered in the summer movie.

Minato: I said it before, but being a first-time producer, many seniors gave me various advice. I feel that each view has its own individual philosophy, and I think none are wrong. But if you apply it all to Gotchard, they don’t all fit together. So then I decided on one big pillar, left to me by TV Asahi’s (Chihiro) Inoue, the fundamental policy that “This work’s protagonist (Hotaro) will be one who grows alongside the child viewers”. Because of that, we decided not to make him strong because of something that happened in his past. But still, while the conversation progressed, the opinions of “Isn’t it good for Hotaro to have a reason to be strong?” and “That’s not it, don’t the kids long for Hotaro?” came from all over. In the midst of that, while I thought about how Hotaro would become stronger, I finally arrived at the point of “meeting his future self!”.

TTFC: There being nothing in the past, you wanted a “reason for power” in the future.

Minato: That’s right. That meaning, I think there is a point that guided us there as we came to fight against the said “adults’ opinions”. Well, we’re adults too (Laughs), but it’s a denial towards the idea “stop changing things and look for stability”, even with age-related things. Hotaro acts as a protagonist who embodies that. While looking at past successes in various ways, we held the clear intent to not be the same thing as those, and that’s the motivation that helped us arrive at where we are now.

#i’m gonna be honest this part is pretty uninteresting #barring the toshiki inoue (and by extension akiko inoue) lore #and i know at least 2 people who would like the fact that producer matsuura is a chiikawa fan #kamen rider gotchard #avataro sentai donbrothers #kamen rider #op #guster translates rider

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mozillavulpix · 2 months ago

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self-indulgent bullshit story theory on how the bunny boys get to be precure in the tv show, version 1

So Nico decides the Precure won't be able to stand up to Gaoh (maybe they lose when he comes out in person), and so she absorbs the Precure's powers, since they originally came from the Nico Diamond, and goes off in her human form to fight

At one point they kidnap all the girls and use them as hostages to try and get Nico to stand down. It seems to work, but as they taunt Nico with saying how two humans and two animals aren't worth as much as everyone in Nico Garden, she relents and tries to keep attacking even though the girls are in the way.

But Gaoh knew she'd do that because he knows that at the end of the day Nico has been a coward and she can't bring herself to prioritise the human world over Nico Garden. So they know where she's going to attack and predict her moves and knock her down.

At that point all hope seems lost until they hear some rustling in the bushes.

It's Daifuku.

Suddenly, spontaneously, he turns into his human form and tells Nico the reason she lost is because she hasn't been able to trust humans. After all, it's the bond between humans and animals that caused the Nico Diamond to shine in the first place. She's been trying to take that burden away from humanity, but that won't help either world grow to deal with the challenges they must face.

And he'll show them what a bond between an animal and human is.

"Satoru, it's time to transform!"

Cue a big "Ehhhh???" from everyone. Including Satoru himself, who hasn't fully understood what's going on yet. (He's accepted Daifuku has the voice of Yuichi Nakamura now, that's fine. He just didn't think he would also be involved in this plan his rabbit cooked up.)

"Is that...really okay?"

"You want to protect what's important to you, don't you?"

Satoru nods and steps forward, the Mirror Stone does its thing, they probably get their movie forms because I doubt they'd use something else at this point. Dunno if they get a henshin bank scene. I'm already thinking about this way too hard.

Anyway they manage to disarm whatever the villains are for a bit and go free the girls. The villains get up and try to attack them, but get kicked by Nico for their troubles. Teamwork!

Nico gives the girls their powers back, realising she underestimated the power of those bonds they have and she really can't control shit so might as well leave it up to them.

Then...I dunno. The 6 of them go off to the final battle or something.

my thought is that when daifuku jumped out there he was basically bluffing. or at least, he didn't know he could spontaneously turn into a human again. He just knew he did it in the movie and he really needs to tell everyone the important themes of the show before they get themselves into big trouble so maybe if he just really believes hard enough it'll happen again and it does

this is 100% not going to happen but imagine if it did

#wonderful precure #shoutouts to jp precure twitter #for the copium and theories #it's not over yet pyonderful gang

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wanderersrest · 6 months ago

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An Abbreviated History of Mecha Part 2: AWAKEN! SUPER ROBOT!!! (1970-1979)

(Read in the voice of Tessho Genda) ITS NAME IS.... MAZINGER.... Z!!!!!!!!!

Welcome back to An Abbreviated History of Mecha. Last time, we covered the origins of mecha by highlighting some of the major works of the time including Godzilla and Ultraman, which are not really mecha but are just as influential to the genre as the other shows mentioned.

Today, we will be moving on to the 70's. Here we will see three extremely iconic entries to the canon make their grand entrances, known to Super Robot Wars fans as the Holy Trinity. We'll also see a lot of the classic mecha tropes become codified with a lot of these entries. So, let's MAZIIIN GO!

Kamen Rider (1971)

Kamen Rider is the second iconic series created by mangaka Shotaro Ishinomori and would be part of the reason why henshin heroes (that is, heroes who transform) would become so popular. More importantly, Kamen Rider would give us one of the most homaged attacks of all time: the Rider Kick! And in case you're wondering, yes, Ishinomori still has one more series worth mentioning.

Kamen Rider, alongside Godzilla and Ultraman, got a 2023 retelling in the form of Shin Kamen Rider, courtesy of Hideaki Anno.

Mazinger Z (1973)

Mazinger Z is one of the many iconic series created by legendary mangaka Go Nagai. If Tetsujin 28 was the original "super robot", Mazinger Z would be the series that would introduce a lot of the tropes now commonly associated with a lot of giant robot anime, including but not limited to:

A robot that has to be piloted from the inside

A chest blaster

Laser eyes

Hot-blooded pilots

The term "super robot"

And most important of all, the rocket punch

Let's just say that there's a good reason why Mazinger Z (and this is just Mazinger Z) is the first of the three pillars of the Holy Trinity. Mazinger also has, in terms of sequels and adaptations:

Great Mazinger

UFO Robot Grendizer

Mazinkaiser

Shin Mazinger Z/Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact

Mazinger Z Infinity

Getter Robo (1974)

Created by Ken Ishikawa with help from Go Nagai, Getter Robo would be the second pillar of the Holy Trinity alongside Mazinger Z. Getter Robo would be important for introducing concepts such as a robot piloted by multiple people and, more importantly, Getter Robo would also introduce us to the combining robot, which is why it requires multiple pilots to man.

Getter Robo would get multiple sequels and spinoffs including, but not limited to:

Getter Robo G

Getter Robo Go

Shin Getter Robo Armageddon!

Shin Getter Robo vs Getter Robo Go

New Getter Robo (not to be confused with Shin Getter Robo)

Getter Robo Devolution

Eventually Ken Ishikawa would pass away before he could wrap up the series with Getter Robo Arc. I will come back to Getter Robo at some point in this series though, but to give you a hint: the series does get a conclusion.

I think I'd also be mistaken not to link to Cheese GX's excellent video retrospective on Getter Robo.

Super Sentai (1975)

Because Shotaro Ishinomori wasn't content with creating two iconic series, he went ahead and made a third: Super Sentai. That's right: Ishinomori created the two most iconic versions of the henshin hero. Super Sentai is worth mentioning here due to the fact that the series would eventually start adding giant robots into the mix. This series would also eventually attract the attention of one Haim Saban, but that's a story for another day.

Microman/Microbots (1974)

Microman (the toy, not the wrestler) was a line of, and I'm not joking when I say this, "Tiny Little Guys" released in 1975 by the toy company Takara. I'm not super familiar with Microman, but I feel it is important to mention Microman here to understand that one of the biggest names in mecha is descended from this line of toys, as it would start out as a spinoff of microman. Something about transforming vehicles the micromen could pilot. Who could know?

Also fun fact, there's a wrestler named Microman.

Brave Raideen (1975)

(We'll have to settle with this clip from Super Robot Wars)

Brave Raideen is a series created by Studio Sunrise and is one of the first giant robots that is considered to be supernatural in origin. Raideen is important in the history of mecha as it is where two important figures would come into play: Yoshiyuki Tomino and Tadao Nagahama. While it is largely overshadowed by other bigger series, Raideen is still important due to it being the first stepping stone for those two directors alone.

Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers (1975)

Up next is Leiji Matsumoto's legendary Space Battleship Yamato. This series would be one of those watershed moments in anime history as Yamato would prove that there was, in fact, an audience who wanted more serious war stories. To say that this series isn't that influential would be a mistake, as we will soon see.

Space Battleship Yamato would eventually receive multiple adaptations, including a live-action film and an anime reboot in the new millennium. The success of Yamato would also help pave the way for other Leiji Matsumoto works like Space Pirate Captain Harlock and the Galaxy Railway 999.

The Robot Romance Trilogy (1976-1979)

(Pictured above: Voltes V)

The Robot Romance Trilogy is a thematic trilogy created by Toei and directed by Tadao Nagahama. These series would include:

Super Electromagnetic Robot Combattler V (V as in the letter)

Super Electromagnetic Robot Voltes V (V as in the number)

Fighting General Daimos

The Robot Romance Trilogy is known for building off of the innovations of its peers. Whereas Getter Robo combined by smashing three jets together (and thus was hard to translate into a toy), Combattler V was designed in a way where the parts of the robots actually made sense when combining to form the robot. This also doesn't even touch on the fact this trilogy would also help to popularize things like the five man band (alongside Super Sentai), mecha shows having more serious storylines with melodrama, and funnily enough, the motion capture mecha (specifically Daimos).

Voltes V is also extremely popular in the Philippines. While this isn't unheard of at this time, Voltes V was different in that it was banned from airing on television by the Marcos regime. Speculation behind its ban may be that its themes were similar to the plight of the Filipino people under Marcos, so you could say that Voltes V in particular is a symbol of rebellion in the Philippines. Heck, it was so popular that there now exists a live action Voltes V series filmed in the Philippines.

Zambot 3 & Daitarn 3 (1977 & 1978)

(Pictured above: Zambot 3)

Meanwhile, Yoshiyuki Tomino would continue to push boundaries as he got more into the groove of directing. On top of producing Voltes V (according to Wikipedia), Tomino would work on a few more series before the end of this decade. The first two would help to establish a pattern with Tomino's works, where he would follow up a more serious and depressing series with something more lighthearted and silly. Zambot 3 would help Tomino earn his nickname "Kill 'Em All Tomino," while Daitarn 3 would also show that he knew how to relax when working on a series. Both Zambot 3 and Daitarn 3 were big hits, but the next series would forever cement Tomino as a legendary figure in the world of anime and manga.

Mobile Suit Gundam (1979)

Mobile Suit Gundam, the final pillar of the Holy Trinity, is arguably Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise's single most important series date. Arguably the single most famous mecha of all time, Gundam would be the first giant robot to be treated less as a hero and more as a tool of war, and it would be Gundam who would kick off a new generation of mecha stories that focused more on things like war and how it affects the lives of the characters in these stories. Which is funny, because Gundam was initially a flop at first. Over time, the series would eventually become a hit thanks to its compilation movies as well as the sale of its models and, most important of all, its female fans.

Mobile Suit Gundam would also be a watershed moment in animation history, as it would be the introduction to a lot of people who would also become famous thanks in part to this series. This includes people who worked on the show like Yasuhiko Yoshikazu (the character designer), Kunio Okawara (mechanical designer, and arguably the first credited mechanical designer), and Ichiro Itano (animator, the same man who Itano Circus is named after). Gundam would also be a direct inspiration for one Ryousuke Takahashi, who would begin to really push the boundary for what one could do with military mecha shows.

Conclusion

I hope this was an enjoyable read. Next time, we'll be getting into the 80's, where we will begin to see a lot of series pop up as Japan's economy grows at an exponential rate. We'll also see how these giant machines will come to influence people outside of Japan on top of how they build off of the themes present in the first Gundam.

Will you survive?

#anime and manga #mecha #an abbreviated history of mecha #mazinger z #getter robo #robot romance trilogy #combattler v #brave raideen #zambot 3 #daitarn 3 #voltes v #daimos #space battleship yamato #mobile suit gundam #kamen rider #super sentai #microbots #microman #the toy not the wrestler

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ryuki23 · 2 years ago

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Don Kaito Is The Zenkaiger Arrow: A 100% Serious Theory (No Really I'm Not Lying)

Now that the Donbrothers finale has come and gone without giving us any answers about what the FUCK is up with Don Kaito (and I'd expect nothing less 10/10 no notes), I'm finally free to explain all about my most beloved theory/headcanon without fear that it will be disproved in the next week!

Basically, I think Don Kaito is something like what AkaRed is for Red Rangers, but for ALL rangers, and/or the idea/ideals/will of Super Sentai as a whole.

In his own words,

Background Info

AkaRed is the embodiment of the spirit of all Red Rangers, although the specifics of what that means and how it works isn't super elaborated on anywhere, he mostly just shows up occasionally to be a weird slightly cryptic guide to other Sentai. Much like another character I could name... 🤔

The possibility of an AoBlue/AkaBlue is jokingly brought up once in a Zyuohger special, but other than that nothing and no one else like AkaRed is ever shown or mentioned. EXCEPT...

*DRAMATIC GASP* Goran no Sponsor???? (no joke this is exactly how I reacted when I got to this part jkbjsdfgf)

So, in the penultimate episode of Zenkaiger, they're fighting the Big Bad, who has absorbed all the other Super Sentai's worlds and can use their powers. The Zenkaigers seem completely outmatched, and the Big Bad's final attack knocks them out of henshin and breaks their Sentai Gears so they can't transform again. But they get up anyway, declaring their resolve to fight even untransformed to save the worlds the other Sentai fought to protect. And then, this happens:

All the previous Sentai's powers respond to this and leave the Big Bad, lending their power to the Zenkaigers to make them new Gears. While this is happening, the Zenkaigers are transported to this place, where all the symbols of past Sentai float around the Zenkaiger Arrow, which they seem to be forming.

Basically, these powers have their own will, and all of them together are symbolized by the Zenkaiger Arrow. Which, I might add, is frequently shown in the rest of the series reacting to comedic moments and interacting with other characters.

So why do I think this arrow and Don Kaito are one and the same?

Well, because it's a fun idea to think about mostly! Honestly, it just came to me out of nowhere in the middle of the night and that's it. But the more I thought about it, the more things that happen in canon I found that could support it.

1: Hitotsuki and Sentai Gears

Hitotsuki that are based on past Sentai seasons drop Gears when defeated, no matter who defeats them or how they do it. And most of the time, regardless of who defeats them, the Gear ends up in Don Kaito's possession. That kind of makes it feel like this phenomenon is unrelated to his position as Admin of the Donbrothers.

2: "True Hero"

Jin Momoi shows A LOT of deference to Don Kaito. He's like. The ONLY person Jin is ever unfailingly polite to. Jin is surprised and shocked that Don Kaito would be working in a cafe. Jin KNEELS to this guy. I am rattling the bars of my cage. What do you KNOW, Old Man????

Anyway, "True Hero" and "Forever Hero" sure sound like the kind of titles one might give to the physical embodiment of the spirit and ideals of all Super Sentai.

3: Don Kaito Knows Santa Claus

Yeah him and Santa go way back.

So like, it seems like Don Kaito is NOT a Normal Human Age. And although Himitsu Sentai Goranger is only from the 70s, there are a lot of Sentai shows where the backstory has a Sentai, a similar team of warriors, or the source of the Sentai's power existing hundreds, thousands, or millions of years in the past.

In Conclusion:

I fucking love this concept, and as a bonus, it fits with some of the weirdest stuff about Don Kaito.

In my mind, Don Kaito got involved in the story of Donbrothers because of whatever is up with the Sentai Gears that is causing them to turn people into Hitotsuki and in order to get them all back, and he set up Cafe Donbura so the absolute disaster group that is the Donbrothers would have an actual Home Base, because god knows they would never have come together by themselves. And also to support Tarou when he was fighting alone while Jin fucked around throwing darts at the city to choose Donbrothers.

And he looks like Zenkaito because uhhhh he thinks Kaito is pretty cool 😊

The End

#donbros #avataro sentai donbrothers #avatarou sentai donbrothers #don kaito #don kaito goshikida #what tag do people use for him????#anyway i'm actually so certain that they're never gonna explain anything about this man but i'm also so attached to this idea

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magical-boy-bracket · 2 years ago

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Welcome to the Magical Boy Bracket!

(Inspired by other blogs such as @who-do-i-know-this-man, @ultimatepinkboy, and @longhairedboybracket)

This blog's criteria for 'Magical Boy' (as you will see, my definition is pretty broad):

Character must be male

Character has magical powers/skills/abilities of some kind. A transformation sequence is NOT required.

Sources that are closer to sci-fi might also be accepted, but that is a case-by-case thing which I will be the final judge of

Characters from Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, and other tokusatsu henshin hero shows are more than welcome!

(If you believe a character you will submit only fits the criteria vaguely or is in a kind of grey area, make use of the final question on the form to explain why. But keep in mind I am still the final judge.)

Other rules:

Please no Harry Potter characters. I just don't want anything to do with that. Sorry...

You may submit as many characters as you want, but please don't send the same character more than once. Let their popularity speak for itself.

Don't be an asshole to me or to anyone else in this tournament, and please no excessive hate towards a specific character or source material. Otherwise, you will be blocked.

This tournament will work with a losers bracket. As in, first round's losers will go into a separate bracket, and then the final winner of that bracket will go against the winner of the normal bracket for the final match.

Character submissions will be open until May 31st. Once the polls start, you may either send character propaganda to my ask box or make your own post and tag me in it.

#Magical Boys #Bracket tournament #polls tournament #Polls #Tumblr polls

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hannahp0calypse · 6 months ago

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for the reverse unpopular opinion, kamen rider! gotchard. kamen rider gotchard.

okay so there's a guy in kamen rider gotchard called kurogane spanner. broadly, he's not my favourite cast member - but i really, really like the episodes around his transformation (heh) from a pseudo-rider (kamen warrior, i think they're calling them now) to a full-fledged kamen rider.

so, important context of the setting; the transformation item of the show is Chemy Cards, which are marketable collectable trading cards featuring Chemys, which are pokémon/yo-kai watch type monsters our heroes have to capture using cards which they then use to henshin. you get the idea. chemys are naturally peaceful and friendly, but if they get exposed to a human with enough malice in their heart they unwillingly fuse with said human to make a Malgam, the monster of the week for the show. simple!

spanner transforms using the chemy card Madwheel, which is a car. it turns him into Valvarad, who looks like this.

the whole arc around him turning into a kamen rider is to do with him having some unfathomable depth of darkness in his heart, Riku Kingdomhearts style, that the villain wants to stoke and feed so he turns into a really powerful Malgam. he grapples with the loss of his parents, their tragic sacrifice to protect him, and the memories he had altered to keep the darkness at bay and how it all fucked him up. it culminates in a really cool sequence of him unlocking his kamen rider form, doing a big cool henshin, and having a big explosive fight. the shonen kamen rider meathead in me loves seeing the big explosions and i cheer and clap my hands.

during this sequence he gets forcibly turned into a malgam by the villain after the darkness in his heart is pushed over the edge, and the chemy used to corrupt him is the same chemy he uses to henshin into valvarad. and the sequence of him turning into said malgam is REALLY FUCKING COOL, featuring the malgam's hand reaching out of his body to rip off his valvarad mask and turn him into the monster of the week.

i clap my hands and go yippee!! woohoo!!! fuck yeah!!!!!!

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astral-from-afar · 2 years ago

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Tokusatsu influences in Blue Period

Okay many people may not know but Magender in Blue Period is a reference to Tokusatsu, specifically Kamen Rider. I just want to spend my time going through some panels and just add a few fun facts as a fan of both shows.

Here is a brief rundown of Kamen Rider

It’s a long running TV show starting from the 1970s where a superhero who rides a motorcycle fight supervillains in order to protect Earth and their loved ones. When the franchise began they usually had an insect motif but has expanded in the last few decades to experiment with new ideas. There are 33 series currently and are split up into 3 eras (Showa, Heisei and Reiwa) based on the different monarchs who ruled over Japan at the time. There are other details but all you need to know is that it is pretty big series in Japan and has been making waves internationally.

First is the episode count. Usually kamen rider seasons shows last around 47-52 episodes on average however some can be as little as 31 episodes (kamen rider decade) and some can be as long as 98 episodes ( the original kamen rider series). The reasoning behind the episode count is that it runs all year round only a weekly basis. It starts from September and ends in August with a few breaks throughout the year.

Another staple in the kamen rider and tokusatsu medium as a whole is the transformation belt or “Henshin belt”. This is used by the main character to transform into their superhero form and they often cry out “Henshin” (transform in Japanese) as well as their catchphrase. As seen below Magender’s catchphrase is: Eliminate evil and illuminate truth.

Furthermore Henshin belts are one of the most successful pieces of merchandise in Kamen Rider due to it iconicness with each new rider having their own unique belt. Another piece of merchandise would be the helmet which Meguro wore in chapter 45. Both can be pretty expensive so I feel for Yatora ( i want one so bad as well)

Last bits I want to go over is what Takada said in chapter 51. The demographic in Tokusatsu has always gone towards young kids, mainly boys. However there have been interesting incidences where a kamen rider series is watched by a different demographic, adult women. This phenomenon was not only due to mothers having to understand the plot of kamen rider for their children but because they found the main lead handsome.

This caused the widely known ‘Odagiri effect’ (named after the lead actor in Kamen Rider Kuuga) which wikipedia states that “A program attracts a larger than expected number of female viewers because the program stars attractive male actors or characters”

This doesn’t mean all women watch kamen rider for the handsome characters of course but this caused a large shift in how actors were recruited which still happens in the present day

The last comment about the relationship between the two male characters is quite an often take when it comes to the two male leads of the series. The tension caused by the two and their subsequent interactions as they learn to bond over the 50 episodes causes many fans to speculate if their bonds go beyond ‘friendship’. I could name many incidents in almost all series that are homoerotic but it is rare to have anything confirmed. To add fuel to the fire it isn’t uncommon to see actors of a particular kamen rider series to go onto starring in BLs which has lead to several memes by kamen rider fans.

Okay so that’s all. I’m very happy if anyone read this far and I hope this gave a bit of an insight on the Tokusatsu medium through the lens of Magender as I love Kamen rider and Blue Period to bits. I’ve barely seen anyone talk about it online so I just wanted to dedicate a long post about it. Have a great day :D

#Blue period #yatora yaguchi #Blp meguro #Takada #kamen rider #tokusatsu

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cosmama · 2 months ago

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theories and questions with summer: this began as a joke post but turned into a rare moment where i share the inner workings of my thoughts on SM canon / theories in regard to my portrayal ( occasionally throughout this i will refer to princess serenity, usagi, and akari as a unit by calling them the 'moon trinity'. it's easier than typing their names out each time ). enjoy.

sometimes when i'm making verses i think: 'should i just make akari a normal person?' because everyone might not know her or she might seem like a 'lot' but then i remember that:

her power level is crazy. even when masquerading as a child and in her iconic 15 seconds of screen time. but she's part of the moon trinity so the trait of being silly and stupid is inherent apparently.

she just has...time travel powers over other people? she casually explains the galaxy's ultimate power to a bunch of 12 year olds before being like, 'okay go home now' and just teleports them back to their time lmao

her identity and source of power is still discussed/debated to this day.*although between updated manga translations, the movies, and the musical, her identity is pretty clear(tm) to me and i think most of the fandom has generally accepted she is some form of us/agi. but i respect people continuing to have their theories too.

cosmos not being in the 90s anime was viewed as such a major absence that they named the new stars arc adaption after her, a character that ends up having like five minutes of screentime at best, to say 'hey, she's here! we fixed it' (and while it makes searching for content for her more annoying now, i appreciate that!)

to some, she's too mystique / powerful to even need a henshin - which is a take i've seen that i do NOT agree with lol! if anything her transformation in cosmos was too short and also too similar to kakyuu / felt a tad bit recycled in places imo >.> i get why(tm) but i wanted MORE aka something like this to show her majesty - especially since her lil transformation in the movie has some subtle hints / references to usagi's ESM henshin already imo so it would've been a nice, full parallel. but i am biased. and greedy idc lol. ky/lo._ren_more.gif )

and finally: she's mother. dat's it.

okay jokes aside: usagi is the messiah of the sm universe and that viewpoint affects how i write cosmos ( and no, i'm not referring to the 90s anime specifically, although the general purpose / her being a savior is the same ).

this is a lukewarm take! however, the implications of what that means within the universe of sm itself or how that affects usagi as a person isn't really analyzed or talked about deeply in the greater fandom from what i've seen ( and i say this respectfully: most of the sm analytical content is kind of surface-level ). we have this person ascending to an ultimate holy status, becoming an immortal being with a deep, inherent knowledge of the universe and this process feels basically fated. while princess serenity's star seed is supposedly just like her mother's, there is also something...different about her despite that claim.

i think more happened in this scene but i just...can never really exactly narrow my thoughts on a proper 'what'. it doesn't 'feel' like it's just queen serenity bringing her daughter's star seed to be reborn to me. originally, i used to go back and forth on if this scene was showing the princess' birth or was after her death but it's the latter because:

in the manga, guardian cosmos theorizes that maybe the woman wanted to make a new history for the star after choosing to remain in the cauldron - which costs the queen her life as she joins the 'sea' inside of it.

the movie also has her specifically say that the queen was distraught so the implication to me on when this takes place became pretty clear.

considering the unknown nature around princess serenity's birth it just makes me go 'hmmmm'. did queen serenity come here when the princess was 'born' too? what did she know about the galaxy cauldron? something about this scene feels like an exchange - the three of them are linked together. it's reinforced by the fact that guardian cosmos makes a point to say she remembers the moment well. how much life has the cauldron seen leave and return to it? what would make this specific star seed so memorable to her? was she more directly involved in its creation?

basically what i'm saying is that it's very possible that princess serenity has two mothers: queen serenity and the galaxy cauldron itself. guardian cosmos mentions that there is a chaos seed and a guardian chaos but they've been pushed to the depths of the cauldron. the moon trinity's star seed is the 'cosmos seed'. they became a true star and was born while chaos is still desperately waiting to do the same.

but i am digressing super hard right now. let's continue!

all of this is a very long way from being a teenager who eats a lot, oversleeps, and doesn't apply herself to get good grades ( b/c i also don't actually think usagi is 'dumb' even if i jokingly say that. she's lazy and doesn't study, there's a difference ).

there's a tragedy within this too though: we have this person who deeply feeds off the connections she has with other people - for instance, a popular headcanon explaining why the princess became a senshi when they reincarnated is because of her wish to protect and fight amongst her friends. whether that's true or not, she's always doomed to outlive them all. there is also beauty in finding each other again and again - which a constant theme within SM as a series.

which i guess gets to the ultimate question that i unintentionally ended up exploring on this blog: is it right for god to live amongst us? to find love? to have a child? to find friendship in other people even when her very existence is a constant threat to them all? is that selfish? is that wrong of her? the series says no - and in my opinion, it is right. it doesn't mean life is easy for her: the stars arc has usagi confronted with the fact that her power isn't beloved or always helpful to others. there are senshi that resent her and what she stands for, blaming her for the endless conflict and misery they've been trapped in due to galaxia's obsessive desire for power.

then there's akari. she isn't that teenage girl anymore. she's not overtly bubbly or as friendly as she once was when she was younger or in the other lives between her and usagi. she's over 6,000 years old. she's depressed. she's tired. but she's trying to live again - to learn to have hope after coming so close to giving up. she is definitely more on the 'alien god' side of whatever spectrum the moon trinity exist 'on' but she's trying.

note: this may have just been some added flavor from the localization ( which is fine to me, i, mostly, support localizers / don't attack them in this house! ), but guardian cosmos refers to queen serenity specifically as a 'heavenly body' that visited her. the distinction felt notable considering she referred to the sol senshi as 'stars' just a moment prior.

ultimately, akari's 'girl failureness' results in trying to destroy all life in the galaxy rather than having bad grades. it happens!

a bit more on the moon girls and the galaxy cauldron.

in the english dub, usagi, sailor cosmos ( + chibi chibi ), and guardian cosmos are all voiced by the same VA ( and if it wasn't for - understandable - stunt casting for cosmos, it probably would've been the same for the japanese dub. although it should be noted that cosmos and guardian cosmos still do share the same va in jpn while usagi and chibi chibi are both voiced by kotono ). the connection between the three is pretty apparent. guardian cosmos is definitely sailor moon's power guardian but unlike with the other senshi and their power guardians...she's not with usagi. she seemingly remains in the galaxy cauldron at all times and may or may not be able to leave.

but cosmos is still always with sailor moon even if she doesn't physically appear by her side - her 'presence' is felt within usagi's power as a sailor senshi. we see it the most overtly with sailor cosmos though.

white is the reflection of all wavelengths and considering naoko's tendency to incorporate science into sailor moon, sailor cosmos fuku being that color is more than just an aesthetic choice. cosmos is a reflection of not just the sol senshi but every senshi. she represents them as the ultimate sailor senshi; the ideal soldier that they all aspire to be and a protector of not just earth - but the entire galaxy. this is sailor moon's future, and it is reaffirmed in an original line from the movie:

however, chaos may still be reborn. but i know sailor moon, if that happens...you will protect us once more. - guardian cosmos.

color and theming matter in the magical girl genre but especially in sailor moon. we see the direct link between akari, usagi, and guardian cosmos through the use of colors for them throughout the movie to emphasize their connection and what links them together: the galaxy cauldron.

whenever a power tied to the cosmos crystal is used ( and remember, the cosmos crystal is the sailor crystal of the cauldron itself ), it's represented specifically by a bright, iridescent color scheme - the colors on the visible light spectrum. akari is physically shown to appear this way but it's showcased whenever she uses her abilities too:

when usagi scarifies her life by using the lambda power, the ultimate power of the cosmos crystal, the same color scheming replaces her usual golden crescent mark and pink transformative ribbons:

finally, there's guardian cosmos. when she first speaks to usagi and friends inside the cauldron, she appears as nothing but light - it's in the same cosmic glow that akari and usagi have now used. when she uses her powers to teleport everyone out of the cauldron, the same color scheme that reflects 'cosmos', or the galaxy cauldron, is used here:

also guardian cosmos. guardian chaos. galaxy cauldron. GC. you're so funny naoko.

on being a mother.

there's also a theme of motherhood in the series beyond just the obvious usagi / chibiusa dynamic. while yes, the 'cosmom' thing started off as just for fun from mutuals, it's actually incredibly relevant to sailor moon thematically. in a series that is very loud and proud about putting femmes at the forefront, i would think yes: the primordial figures representing the balance of the universe, whose light and darkness is in every living thing being represented as women is intentional. so is the galaxy cauldron being a 'mother' that is the source of all life - one of the translations even refers to the sea inside of the cauldron as the 'mother lifestream' ( *i am not sure what the perfect edition translation says, haven't bought any of those yet ).

if the moon trinity is tied to galaxy cauldron by being a living personification of 'it' and its power then yes, they are, quite literally, the mothers of the universe. the most direct comparison i can give is the God to Jesus comparison - usagi even 'dies' so that everyone can start anew, including 'sinners' like galaxia ( while the manga and movie never state what happens to her, the musical makes a point to say that even galaxia was revived and got to return to her home star ). i could say more but this post is already long.

tl;dr:

somebody: why is sailor moon all about usagi :/

me: BECAUSE SHE'S LITERALLY GOD.

*also the last part is ( partially ) a joke, i agree with most of the critiques about how everyone not named usagi doesn't really getting their due in the manga. with that said, there are also fans of the series they just seem to hate and resent the main character of the series. screw them lol

#being from the south and raised as ch/ristian is an odd experience #b/c there's that paranoia of: am i gonna get struck by lightning when i hit post on this JKFNFFKNFM #anyway we slightly proof read and hit post. but yeah; akari will never be normal in my verses lol. thanks for reading #☽ ⋮ ✫ ━ ❛ one with the cosmos ⋮ headcanon.

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shadowsandbag · 3 months ago

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I've been meaning to get to this all month, so let's do these first 10!

Henshin! A Sentai RPG - I haven't played this one yet, but its on my shortlist of games to run.

Paranoia (Red Mongoose Edition) - I GM'd for this Sunday and we did mission de-brief, which is one of my favorite parts of the game.

Fellowship - I've run one campaign of this and played in two more in the past couple years.

Mouse Guard- Maybe it is cheating to choose a game based off an already gorgeous graphic novel series, but I don't think it is.

Paranoia - The writing in this is just so fun, it's a joy to read and i find myself laughing every time I go back to check anything.

The Quiet Year - I love the quiet year, and try to bring it and run it at a convention. I also played it at my local public library, where three of the people were brand new to TTRPGs, so i saw first-hand how easy it is to learn.

Murders and Acquisitions OR Paranoia - I'm not really sure what this question is supposed to mean so I'm going to take it overly literally. The former has a Resume Form you fill out for character creation, and the latter has a lot of forms you can fill out, such as the Pre-emptive Alibi Declaration Form.

Paranoia RAM deck - I really like all of the cards for Paranoia, but The R A M deck i bought last year is probably my favorite. It has suggestions for things to happen when The Computer Die is rolled, but they all Very Paranoia. Stuff like requiring every character to end whatever they say with "I am not a traitor". My favorite is one that gave every player one minute to draw "A Traitor" and whoever i decide did the best job gets a bonus card.

I'd really like to see some resources to better use physical cards online. Roll20 has a function to upload and create your own deck, but i've found it to be a bit glitchy. There are a few games I play that have some custom cards, and its a little annoying whenever i want to use them.

Capers, Paranoia, Mouse Guard - Capers is a game about 1920s gangsters with super powers, and so would be a blast to watch if done well. A Paranoia show would be great, but I think it might be hard to get the tone right. I'm still salty about the Mouse Guard movie getting canceled.

#tabletop #rpgaday #rpgaday2024 #paranoia #fellowship #The Quiet Year #Murders and Acquisitions #Capers #Original post do not steal #Mouse Guard #Mouse Posts

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rpking99 · 6 months ago

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Perks Of A Superheroine Girlfriend

OPEN RP (Preestablished Relationship)

"What a day...." Neon mumbled as she lay on her lovers, your muses, lap. The heiress to the Kurama family fortune, social media icon, and one of the many heroes of Japan known as Kamen Rider Na-Go, was home alone with your muse. The two of you, alone together in your shared apartment

It had been a long day for the young woman. A planned six hour straight stream with non-stop dancing, and being interrupted halfway through during a monster attack to Japan leading to a cancellation... And she started it up again an hour later, continuing the stream and adding an EXTRA hour to it. The woman had been working hard for eight hours and she certainly needed to de-stress

A gentle sigh slipped out her lips as she just sat there for several long moments. The streamer rubbed her eyes for a few long moments. Tapping her fingers against her arm for a few moments, she just... Lay there. Thinking, as she looked around their apartment. Very modest, the way she liked it. With a bunch of music theming everywhere

"You know... If it wasn't for you, baby, I'd probably have gone crazy by now." She mumbled with her eyes closed. Just staying there for a few more moments, a smile spreading across her lips "I think... You deserve a treat~!" She grinned

Slipping free from your muses lap, Neon quickly got to her feet. Doing a small twirl before coming to a stop, grinning at your muse

"Time for us to have fun~!" Neon winked "Good thing your girlfriend's a super heroine~!" She cheered, attaching the high tech belt to her waist. The DesireDriver flashing a bit as she was quickly enveloped in light "Henshin~!"

Entry~!

In a flash of light, Neon was in her superheroine form. Kamen Rider Na-Go. The super tight costume showed off her every curve as she gave a flirty wink "Ready to unleash your desire~" she winked the moment before the helmet finished spawning. The eyes flashing orange for a moment before returning to their natural black state, the cat themed armour and Spandex so tight as she teased the zipper between her thighs.

The tight suit showing off every curve like a sensual invitation

#read rules before interacting #open rp #open smut rp #open to all #smut rp #mature rp

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spei-sidus · 1 year ago

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Like a Fairy

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

No Archive Warnings

Written for UsaMamo Week 2023, Day 6

An injured Usagi leads the nijizuishou to not only replenish her energy, but also form the Ginzuishou.

Note: I really wanted to write a calm, descriptive feeling surrounding the Ginzuishou and wings. Instead I'm on this Reveal AU kick. I hope this is still enjoyable!

“I am the beautiful sailor-suited Senshi, Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I’ll punish you! – AHHHH!” The Senshi of the moon started running haphazardly as the youma began hurling acidic projectiles her way.

“Supreme Thunder!”

“Akuryo Taisan!”

“I didn’t sign up for this!” Sailor Moon screamed, still running.

“You stupid Senshi,” Zoisite said, twirling a lock of his hair, the final nijizuishou in his grasp. “Now if only Cape Boy shows up, we can finally end this.”

A red rose flew right into the youma’s chest, causing it to scream and cease its projectile throwing. Sailor Moon doubled over in relief.

“I’m not giving up my nijizuishou, Zoisite,” Tuxedo Kamen said firmly as he went to Sailor Moon’s side. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you, Tuxedo Kamen-sama.” She drew herself up to her full height. “Moon Tiara Boomerang!” she cried. Instead of disintegrating, the youma exploded upon impact, catching Sailor Moon full on.

“SAILOR MOON!”

Sailor Moon felt her fuku start to disintegrate, burning the injuries underneath. It was unbearable. “Forgive me,” she told her Senshi as she released her henshin, panting weakly. Before anyone could react, Zoisite had teleported to Usagi’s side, holding her like a shield, a hand holding her neck and the underside of her jaw, tilting her face upward.

“The nijizuishou, now!” Zoisite demanded.

Tuxedo Kamen was trembling, staring at the girl he knew all too well. His hand twitched in indecision.

“LET GO OF ME YOU JERK!”

Everyone, even Zoisite, fell to their knees at the ear-shattering noise, allowing Usagi to roll away from the Dark Kingdom General. “How DARE you use me as a hostage!” she shouted, clutching her torso in pain. The others raced to her side, shielding her protectively. Sailor Mercury was scanning Usagi swiftly while Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter looked ready to do damage. Tuxedo Kamen stood behind Usagi, ready to whisk her away at any moment.

“It doesn’t look good, Moon,” Sailor Mercury murmured. Usagi’s energy was draining from her wounds.

“It doesn’t matter,” Usagi murmured back, trembling with the effort to stand. “He’s not going to stop until he’s taken out all of us.”

“We should retreat-“

“No! I’m not letting Tuxedo Kamen-sama face him alone. And remember – I have nijizuishou, too. As Zoisite says, this ends here.” She took a deep breath before yelling, “Moon Prism Power, Make Up!” The magic enveloped her, coruscating in the night. Once again she was clad in her fuku, striking her signature pose, eyes glittering furiously at Zoisite. “For wreaking havoc and attempting extortion, I will not forgive you!”

“Big words from a little girl,” he said. “How old are you, twelve?”

“How old are you, with all of those wrinkles?”

“How dare you! I keep my face properly moisturized, thank you very much!”

There was a beat of silence.

“I didn’t know the Dark Kingdom had skincare products,” Sailor Jupiter snickered.

“Whatever it is, it’s not working,” Sailor Mars said with a smirk.

“SHUT UP!” Zoisite roared, flinging Dark Energy at them. All of them blocked; however, Sailor Moon, being already injured, fell to her knees. She was consequently cocooned in Tuxedo Kamen’s cloak.

“Stay with me,” Tuxedo Kamen murmured to Sailor Moon.

“I might not make it,” she gasped. “Just focus on yourself.”

“No.”

She blinked then looked up at him. She couldn’t make out his expression behind the mask. “Protect our princess, please,” she whispered, handing him her nijizuishou. “That’s all I ask.” She went limp, the henshin once again falling.

“Moon!” Mercury screamed as she ran to her friend’s side, having noted the critical energy levels.

“That’s one Senshi down,” Zoisite taunted as he started throwing more Dark Energy blasts at them.

“SAILOR MOON! WAKE UP! PLEASE!” The girls all screamed as they dodged the attacks. Then something miraculous happened. The nijizuishou appeared, hovering over Usagi, glittering with energy. She floated upward as the nijizuishou encircled her, like electrons around a nucleus, faster and faster, its magic reflecting off her pale skin. Then the nijizuishou coalesced, their colors mixing until a glittering crystal formed. The Maborishino Ginzuishou had formed at last. It lowered itself and disappeared into Usagi’s chest, the impact causing silver light to extend from every pore of her body. Then she was lowered onto the ground, slowly and carefully, back where she’d been by Tuxedo Kamen’s side, still sleeping, once again Sailor Moon.

“Her energy levels have stabilized,” Sailor Mercury said in wonder.

“MY GINZUISHOU!” Zoisite screamed, infuriated by this turn of events. He made to grab Sailor Moon.

“Supreme Thunder!”

“Akuryo Taisan!”

“Mercury Aqua Mist!”

Along with the three attacks, roses flew at the Dark Kingdom General. But he teleported, dodging effortlessly. A bubble surrounded Usagi; before anyone could stop it, she was back in Zoisite’s arms. With a sinister laugh Zoisite went to teleport back to the Dark Kingdom. Then a brilliantly bright light overcame them all, blinding them. The heroes felt the flutter of kisses brush their faces, energy caressing their forms. Zoisite screamed and gurgled, the power obviously overwhelming him. And then the light vanished. They blinked away the brightness. Sailor Moon, clad in wings, held a slumped over Zoisite in her arms. She lowered them slowly to the ground; the wings fading. The others moved to attack until Sailor Moon held up a hand. “He’s been healed,” she said simply; the others frowned in confusion.

“The Ginzuishou disappeared inside of you,” Sailor Mars said.

“Way to state the obvious, pyro.”

“No need to be snarky,” Sailor Mercury admonished, scanning Sailor Moon.

“Sorry. It’s been a long day.” She turned to Tuxedo Kamen who still hovered worriedly. “So, I guess I’m keeping your nijizuishou,” she said wryly.

“So it would seem.” He looked at Sailor Mercury expectantly.

“It’s disappeared,” Sailor Mercury said with a furrow of her brows.

“And her injuries?” Tuxedo Kamen pressed.

“You still have some physical injuries, Moon,” Sailor Mercury said worriedly.

“What’s today? Wednesday, right?” Sailor Moon asked.

“Yeah,” Sailor Jupiter confirmed.

Sailor Moon cursed. “I need to sleep this off.”

“Can you get your mom to sign off on a sick day?” Sailor Mars asked worriedly.

“No. The best I can do is sleep in.”

“You always sleep in.”

“I’ll just go slow, you know. Not run. Not…bump into things. What’s one detention anyway? Or a few…however long this is going to heal.”

“Business as usual, eh, Moon? So, what are we going to do about Zoisite?” Sailor Jupiter asked.

“He’s healed,” Sailor Moon said with a shrug.

“So…”

“Leave him,” Tuxedo Kamen said shortly. “Healed or not, what he did was unforgiveable.” He looked Sailor Moon up and down.

Sailor Moon blushed. “I’ll be fine,” she said gently. “Let’s just go home – wha-” she gasped as Tuxedo Kamen picked her up.

“I’m not leaving you to go home by yourself,” he said firmly.

“We can get her home, Tuxedo Kamen!” Sailor Mars said.

“Yeah, she’s not telling you who she is or where she lives,” Sailor Mercury added.

“I’ll be alright,” she promised, a gloved hand reaching out to cup his face.

His jaw clenched. “Very well,” he said reluctantly, releasing her.

She turned towards the group, blinking slowly. Then the silver light radiated once more, and ethereal wings expanded outward. Upward she flew, gracefully, with a trail of sparkles in her wake, like a fairy. The others were stunned as they watched her go, before they quickly dispersed. Tuxedo Kamen broke their unspoken rule; he flew after her coruscating form, watching until she reached what he assumed was her bedroom window. He hovered on a nearby rooftop long after the lights went out, waiting for a sign that she was alright, relieved that she did leave her home – late as usual – but at a slow pace. He quickly backtracked until he met her at their usual place, but this time he didn’t collide with her; instead, expressing his worry, he walked her to school. He spent the rest of the day being kind and solicitous until she grew suspicious of his interest. Still, he refused to fight with her.

He would worry about the Ginzuishou and the princess later. He knew the Senshi and he were on the side of protecting the princess. He was willing to work through whatever needed to happen – no matter how long it took.

Meanwhile, a bewildered Zoisite, who had lived on Earth more than a thousand years ago and had no memory of his doings while part of the Dark Kingdom, was roaming the streets of Juuban looking for the other Shitennou and his prince.

The End

#usamamoweek2023

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