#some digimon are best avoided all together

[itsblazedragon]

Blaze just relaxes with a bag of chips... a bottle of tea. He needs food and a little rest after being chased by a horde of angry feral Waspmon.

[kazarinn]

Any chance for translation of Digimon Seekers since that done and it clear Bandai isn't going back to fix it?

I was real excited in checking it out but the MTL seriously turns me off.

The best way I can put it is that I'm "keeping an eye on the situation". The fact it's MTL offends me on a theoretical level for sure.

But the part I want to keep an eye on is the question of "how much damage will there be if it's not retranslated?", because regardless of how much something annoys me in principle, going as far as retranslating something with an official translation means doing it to counter practical consequences. So for instance, I will do this for things like Megumi Tachikawa manga because no matter how conscientiously or not the official translation was done, the fact is, the final product is misleading to dangerous levels that misrepresent the source material. Likewise, my problem with Digimon Adventure LAST EVOLUTION Kizuna's official translation is not about whatever process they used for the translation as much as the fact that all of the mistakes and shaky wording had to impact the parts where the movie's themes are most important. Same goes for The Beginning (to a lesser degree, but it's still a problem). All of these are human-translated, but all of them have problems in a way that I felt were dangerous when left unaddressed.

So what I want to look out for is exactly how damaging this translation is going to be to the final product, and how people are reading it (especially since I know I'm not the only person keeping tabs on this). Of course, there's going to be some damage; there's no way of avoiding the fact that a lot of the character personality doesn't feel right by vibe. Ideally speaking, this should have been properly translated from day one. But in regards to the issue of whether it's worth actually getting the team together for this and setting up a workflow to keep up with the entire thing...that's not something I can decide until I get a better pulse on how necessary I would be.

I'm sorry I can't give a more positive answer than this! If I had all the time and energy in the world, I would gladly do it anyway, but since I don't, I have to make sure it actually is more necessary than other priority projects first.

[digisurvive]

The case of the mysterious woman

So, my friend got digisurvive for their birthday and was diligently texting me about it. When he met the mysterious woman, he remarked "lol this is arukenimon again, isn't it?" (We watched Ghost Game together, but she hasn't actually watched 02 LMAO).

At any rate, this got me thinking the scenario brings out very fun points of interest for Shuuji, Kaito and Aoi, regardless whether we, genre-savy digimon fans, can buy it.

We get our first taste of Shuuji's risk aversion in this part when he quickly shoots down the idea of going out to explore, backed by Aoi. In true Takuma fashion, we push the decision for later, much to Saki and Minoru's disappointment. From Minoru's side, who has the tendency to act impulsively and plan poorly ("Let's go out and look for the Professor asap, we can look for food on the way"), it's not surprising he'd take this stance. Despite his fear being getting the spotlight in his arc, it's not like he lacks an adventurous spirit or dislikes entertaining bizarre ideas; it's more about how inconsistent he is to act based on integrity because of falling into his avoidance coping and priotizing his own comfort or giving in to his emotions.

From Saki is more interesting, I think, given she was chased around by Fangmon alongside Shuuji and finds the possibility of violent confrontation distateful, not to mention she's fairly conflict adverse too. Still, she emphasizes the idea of at least trying something in part 5, and, with her cultivated optimism, expects for the best. This very strongly plays into why her and Minoru trust Arukenimon so easily. Lots of wishful thinking and wanting to believe the best can happen. I think one could have a lot of fun playing into how eager she is to jump into the apparent easy solution. The disillusionment certainly starts to set for her past part five lol

Shuuji's stance is, as said earlier, risk adverse. He doesn't wanna take any chances and he immediately jumps into the possibility of getting them all killed. At this point, he still hopes a search party will find them and hasn't yet been shown that won't be the case, so he's not being entirely irrational here. However, the fact remains that it's a defined pattern for him to reject taking any risks and freezing and failing to respond to the situations before him. The other thing that is also a pattern is how easily he caves in to external pressure. He doesn't have much trust in his own judgment, and his own personality and upbringing make him suceptible to that sort of external pressure— so once the majority outnumber him, he takes on the responsibility of spearhearding the exploration lol This carries over to the way he fails with Arukenimon. He's suspicious of her but eventually caves in to what his juniors want to do, even though it's so ill-advised. Given the Cherubimon evo scene underlines the need for him to embrace his "selfishness" and trust his own judgment, it's pretty great how even early conflicts show us how badly he struggles to actually put his foot down and stand by his discernment. On the flipsode, this trait of his isn't always negative, not imposing on the group can lead to some necessary outcomes, but the fact is that these early "agreements" stem from being outnumbered and not having any real alternative than to follow the group, so they usually bring out his shortcomings more often than not.

In the case of Aoi, I think it's interesting that she initially backs Shuuji up, only to change her mind when she hears about the radio tower. In part two, she wasn't opposed to looking for the Professor and co, but she disagreed about going out unprepared, wanting the group to find food first. As she puts it in part four when scolding Shuuji after his argument with Kaito, they can't get by without ever venturing outside. So, she's not as risk adverse as him but tends to prefer caution and less plans when they don't have a clear goal. She rejects the idea at first, but once she hears about the radio tower and reasons the benefits it'll have (being able to communicate with the world), she sees the risk as warranted. Arguably, she agrees with Shuuji and Kaito about the Mysterious Woman because of pragmatic reasons but completely fails to rouse the group under this directive. While being a pushover often seems more of a her problem, this scenario brings out really well how her inaction or inability to assert herself can have negative outcomes for them as a whole.

With regards Kaito, this scenario is a great reintroduction to his character. The initial reason he gives for not trusting Arukenimon can boil down to just instict (Everything we have met this far is a monster, what makes you think she isn't), even in the face of the partnermon not being able to confirm his suspicions. Beyond that, he's so riled up by Arukenimon, he comes off as too irrational and violent (Shuuji and Minoru straight have to hold him back from fist fighting her, which is just hilarious). I think this makes him easy to dismiss by Minoru and Saki, even though his case is actually pretty credible once he actually explains it LOL The fact Dracmon straight up says "We'll go through this, and if we're wrong, we'll say sorry afterwards" makes it doubly funny. Despite being right and having pretty solid reasoning, he sure makes himself look pretty badly lol

[thebladeblaster]

I’ve created some Vanguard Digivolution lines. After Tamer ZERO I plan to do a different take on the crossover with different partners that’s more of a complete au.

These ones just include their straightforward lines and possible dark evos. I don’t know when this story is happening because I’m determined to finish Tamer ZERO first so here’s the lines😅.

I was thinking that him having a different partner for season 2 would make sense considering this a complete au where everything is Digimon instead of Vanguard. So instead of his deck getting poofed away it’s his partner with the two coming together as a jogress representing the Liberators.

I also kinda want to use Erlangmon with him at some point 🤔. I’m still deciding how I would want to implement that. Maybe it could be a form that his partner takes on due to the Messiah equivalent’s influence. I do like the idea of his Digimon going from virus to vaccine.

This is a different take from his partner pick in Tamer ZERO focusing more on the narrative idea on the development from Agumon representing young Kai to the distorted original Metalgreymon. With this comes with a shift from vaccine to virus as he becomes obsessed with gaining power to save Ren. I think BlitzGreymon is very the End-like.

Kamui’s alternate partner choice was so hard because I decided that every member of Q4 has a partner that’s a different one of the main types so Kamui ended up with free which I think fits him well.

Dianamon was a really easy choice fr😅. I also like the idea of her having a jogress with Kourin.

This line is more in reference to her manga/reboot deck whereas the Tamer ZERO one is based on og. Overall, I think it fits rather well as an alternate pick.

Loogamon is unfortunately too new to have an edgy recolor so the best I could do is Gabumon Black. I have considered giving him Dracmon too because I think they’d vibe. The only reason there is no ultra is because I can’t think of a good candidate for it rn.

You may have noticed a pattern with all the Psyqualia users (minus Ibuki because the choice for him is perfect regardless of if it breaks the theme) that their partners are all virus type (at some point at least). I thought it would be an interesting reference to the darker side of Psyqualia. Doing Leon’s made me realize that we need more aquatic Digimon fr.

There’s no way I couldn’t give Deletor Ibuki Arcadiamon. It’s WAY too perfect. Its power level even fits well. After getting friendship speeched he has Hackmon for obvious reasons.

There’s no way I couldn’t give him Veemon. Using a jogress as a normal evolution is a bit weird but it’s been done before. Also because I was thinking that Paladin Mode reminds me a lot of Chronojet Dragon Z. It’s mode changes as Imperialdramon could be interpreted as it’s many strides. In the future I might include UlforceVeedramon or a different version of Magnamon here (to avoid too much overlap) as references to other strides. The black armored Magnamon is from ReArise. I was thinking it would be a good non-Stingmon included ultimate for Imperialdramon.

I have actually made one for Akina but I want to wait for DivineZ to progress more before finalizing it. I’m still playing around with various ideas on what to give Yu-yu. I’m thinking maybe Dorumon as a reference to Aichi having a beta Digimon considering the Dress seasons seem to remix ideas from the original.

[digimonloving]

How about Machinedramon watching "The Iron Giant" with his tamer?

Machinedramon watching The Iron Giant with his Tamer

Machinedramon is only watching this movie because his Tamer roped him into it, really. The only thing he got out of his Tamer about the movie was the namesake and the fact that it was, well, about a young boy and a giant robot he befriends. His Tamer makes a small joke that it's sort of like their relationship, but Machinedramon simply states that he'll have to see about that.

It is near impossible for his Tamer to tell if he's enjoying the movie or not. Yet judging from how quiet he was, and how he seemed to be watching the large screen his Tamer managed to get set so Machinedramon could properly watch the movie, it was safe to say it had his attention for now. He seemed to more perk up any time the Giant was on screen, even if subtly.

The large Digimon would constantly let out soft growls every time Kent appeared on the screen as well. Trying to keep them covered, and yet it was clear to his Tamer how much he disliked the agent, and for proper reasons. He did let out small, amused huffs of breath whenever Hogarth and Dean appeared on screen together, though. He seemed to like the artist and how amusing he could be.

His Tamer would keep making small talk when it seemed right, telling Machinedramon that the relationship between the giant and Hogarth was a lot like their own - in how the Giant was meant to be a killing machine, but chooses to be good instead for his human. Machinedramon just shakes his head, mentioning how he didn't feed him a rock to wake him up and that they were destined partners regardless. A little too serious, perhaps, but it was clear he was trying to make a joke. He wasn't the best at it. His Tamer knew though.

Machinedramon, as always, doesn't give much away. Even during the final few scenes. Truthfully, he wished that agent was dealt with by the large robot, but that didn't seem to be in the cards if the Giant was to be doing good. And the missile... Couldn't he have destroyed it any other way? At least that's what Machinedramon was thinking, and pointed out the weapons on hand he had, but his Tamer was quick to debate that such a thing might not be the best idea when he wanted to do good and try to avoid using his guns. Guns were bad - at least in the movie they were. The large Digimon just couldn't wrap his hea around it and still huffed over it some.

He refuses to say it, but Machinedramon would want to watch the movie again. Simply because it was rather good for something animated. He may or may not quote a few characters and their lines... but he refuses to say if he's actually doing so. It sure amuses his Tamer at least, especially when they suggest watching the movie and all he does is slightly perk up before muttering a simple "whatever".

[ladyofthecastleproject]

The Awakening Of The Hurricane Sincerity

[AO3 version]

Summary:

The 02 group start searching for Daisuke and V-mon, who had disappeared suddenly from the last battle against Ranamon and Frostmon. Palmon mentions seeing Fladramon and a mysterious human-sized hooded creature in a village and led them and Mimi there. But... The place had been taken by the vile DarkSuperstarmon and his troops. In the heat of the battle, Miyako's pure desire to help those digimon and her friends grants her a wish.

[Note: this takes place in 2008]

It had been a while since the group went to the Digital World to help Mimi and Palmon. Koushiro and the 02 group had planned carefully all the details of such an adventure beforehand: Him, Taichi and Yamato had used the ol’ excuse of camping with the group to justify why a bunch of teenagers would pass a few weeks in the Digital World. But now, the golden trio being young adults could take responsibility for them. Well, the only non-adult in the meanwhile was Koushiro, but next year he will hit his 20s.

Anyway… Mimi had met the kids quickly and explained to them what had happened before. Ken Hadn’t been familiar with Gummymon and vice-versa, but that hadn’t been a problem at all.

Though, there had been a question in Ken’s head:

“When we tried to open the gate after Daisuke disappeared… It was locked. But we were able to come here in the end.”

“Uh… Maybe it was a malfunction?” Palmon replied.

“Or someone had unblocked it,” Iori mused, stroking his chin, “Maybe… Daisuke-san?”

“Hmm… Before the D-3 being created, the gate only opened at random occasions” Tailmon mused, “Maybe something blocked the D-3’s signal...”

“You think that could be the reason...?” Patamon asked.

“Whatever is the reason…” Miyako whispered, but due to the silence they all heard if  “It’s my fault Daisuke disappeared” and she avoided looking at the rest of the group, she kept sitting with them, inside Palmon’s house, looking at the teacup. Hawkmon frowned, and then said:

“It’s not your or Hikari-san’s fault. We got caught off guard… Sorry.”

“I’m sure he’s fine” Mimi tried to cheer Miyako and Hikari up, those two were completely engulfed in regrets at the moment “We just need to find him.”

“I have sent him a message since we came here,” Hikari said with an annoyed tone, “But he didn’t respond to it.”

They all frowned. If it weren’t for Mimi there, they could start feeling the weight of not having a leader. Not that Daisuke is a lead by nature, he just managed to keep them all together and… Sane? Determined? Ken seemed cool, but deep down he was… Worried? Scared? Not even himself knew.

“What should we do now?” Iori had a deadpan face.

“We get out and look for Daisuke-kun?” Takeru replied, “Or we should check if there’s some enemy around?”

“No, let’s focus on searching for Daisuke-kun” Hikari’s voice was serious, she finally set her foot on this, she wanted so badly to find him first “He was a target, remember? If he’s alone… He will need our help.”

“Then it’s settled. Let’s find Daisuke first, dagya.”

After leaving Palmon’s house, the group started planning a route to take and start their search. During their walk to the closest village, Mimi heard someone’s voice and waited for the best moment to leave the group and meet…

“Ah you’re around…!”

… A mysterious figure with a Lighdramon-esque armor. Except said armor details were cold colors instead of the yellow and red tones.

“Have you discovered something?” Mimi chatted with the stranger, while Palmon watched around to make sure no one would find them “Ah I see… No idea where Wallace is…”

“Mimi-san?” Miyako’s voice was heard.

“O-oh, I need to go…!! Please be careful!!” and she walked back to where the 02 group were, “I’m fine don’t worry Palmon thought she had heard something but it was just a fruit falling on the ground.”

“It’s not good to separate from the group” Miyako commented, “If you disappear too we’ll feel worried and panicked.”

 “It’s okay, it’s okay” she giggled, “Ah, there’s a town in this direction. We can ask the digimon if they saw Daisuke-kun or Wallace.”

“Yes, I noticed it by the D-terminal map Koushiro-san sent to us,” Ken pointed at the device on his other hand, “I didn’t get any message from Daisuke though.”

“The digivice has no reaction either” Iori added, “He’s not in this area… Or left it already.”

“Huh strange… I was sure I saw something moving around” Hikari raised an eyebrow, “Could it be Daisuke-kun but…”

“Maybe he’s in the village?” Wormmon wondered.

“Let’s go then” Palmon replied with a nod, “I will take you there, follow me!”

“Good, they’re moving” the masked shadow said, then looked back as if he was looking at someone “We need to move now.”

“Hurry up!!” he heard from a distance “The next village must be conquered at all costs!!”

“... We got one more thing to do here, I guess” and he and his ally left in the direction of the mysterious voice.

They followed in the opposite direction of the kids, going farther from there reaching a new area and town, which was under the eyes of this digimon army’s general, Frostmon.

“Ugh… stupid lizards” she wasn’t having a great time, seeing the Tyrannomon troops moving slowly “Can’t you walk more fast!?”

“You know, Tyrannomon species are not fast runners” she heard a voice.

“W-who’s there!?” and Frostmon looked around “Show yourself!!”

He jumped from the tree branches and landed in front of her. He was smaller than Frostmon and the Tyrannomon army, quite the size of a human teenager. But None of those digimon had much contact with humans so… They couldn’t tell the difference.

“Who are you!?” Frostmon interrogated him, “Why are you spying on us!?”

“I’m just a digimon passing by, relax” he chuckled, “besides… The town you’re trying to take control of has a guardian and a curse.”

“A… A curse?” The army looked at each other, and you could hear them rambling something.

“What kind of curse?” Frostmon squinted her eyes, “I never heard of it before.”

“You know, anyone who tries to take the town’s control is smashed by the town’s guardian” he shrugged, “I’d rather not risk facing said guardian. But you do you.”

More noise was heard by the troops, and he could see Frostmon’s face grimacing at that information. While none of them could see his face, he was smirking.

“That’s nonsense, soldiers! Let’s move on, don’t listen to a pipsqueak digimon and those fairy tales!”

“Who are you calling pipsqu-- *AHEM* sure let’s go with that”

“Hmph, stupid child level” and the army proceeded their march.

“It didn’t work…” he muttered, annoyed.

A small shadow was visible in the branches, but not a face except for two big red eyes.

“I know you’re going to say” the armored digimon sighed, “I should be more careful…” and then he looked at the town’s direction “Can you be a convincing god-like guardian, buddy? We will need that right now.”

But… This wasn’t only the mysterious masked digimon’s problem. In the meantime…

Mimi’s group had arrived in a destroyed village. None of them expected it to happen and Palmon even remembered that two strangers had helped them to save villagers and beat Cyberdramon.

“But now it seems… No one’s here, dagya” Armadimon frowned, and the group started examining the area.

“Strange…” Palmon frowned, “It was saved from the invaders…”

“Huh, someone was here?” Hikari blinked.

“Yes, and I saw Fladramon and a hooded human-size creature.”

The group’s eyes widened, “Fladramon and a hooded creature!?”

“Then… this means Daisuke was here before” Miyako said, “If he and V-mon were here, they’re alive and fine…? Or in danger, if Daisuke was wearing a hood…”

“Don’t be afraid, Miyako-san, everyone” Hawkmon called their attention “He’s with V-mon at least. It’s only a matter of time until we find them.”

“Hawkmon is right,” Ken said, but his eyes were focused on something he just found on the ground, “Daisuke is with V-mon and we know that idiot can survive alone.”

“What’s this Ken-chan?” Wormmon pointed at Ken’s hand, which had something looking like…

“Seems like a Starmon was here. This is a fragment from the Meteor Squall’s meteorites.”

“Wow! Sharp eyes, Ichijouji-kun” Mimi exclaimed, impressed.

“So whoever attacked this village might not be that far from here” Tailmon mused.

“Let’s be cautious,” Takeru added with a serious tone, “the residents of this village might be captured and hidden somewhere in this area.”

“In this case, what if we slip up?” Miyako suggested, “We keep contact via phones and D-terminals. Once we find either of them, we gather everyone again.”

“It’s a good idea,” Iori nodded, then picked Armadimon from the floor, “Armadimon and I will check this direction. If we don’t find anything, let’s meet here again and come with a backup plan.”

They went to different directions, to find the prisoners and the bad guys quickly. But… One by one, the group were captured, somehow. All they remembered was about a black hole popping out from somewhere and sending them to… Somewhere.

“Miyako-san” Hawkmon called her, and then looked behind him but saw nothing. So he looked back at her “Are you feeling okay?”

“Huh, why do you ask?” she babbled “Ken-kun’s right Daisuke can--”

“You seem nervous, is it because of Ranamon? It wasn’t your fault, Tailmon and I didn’t expect her to appear from nowhere and capture you two.”

“Argh, okay I’m worried!” she threw her hands up in the air. She could not think straight right now and Hawkmon was pretty aware of it, “We know Daisuke had been chased by Ranamon and that blue bird-like digimon! We let our guards down and it happened! Now… Now he’s missing and while you say it’s not my fault, not even Daisuke appears in front of me and says that will make me feel less guilty!”

Hawkmon frowned, he approached her quietly. He was about to say something but it got lost because he saw a black hole appearing in mid air. Then, he jumped on Miyako and both ducked on the floor, having the black hole pass through their heads.

“W-what’s that!?” she babbled.

“Hoho, you’re tough human girl” a digimon that looked like a Starmon, but with a darker color and wearing sunglasses appeared in front of them, “Can’t say much about your friends.” He showed the digivices of the group to her and Hawkmon, to make sure they couldn’t call for help.

“M-My friends!? T-those are...!!” Miyako gulped. Was her idea and now…

“I won’t let you guilt-trip her!” Hawkmon got up from the floor and threw his Feather against DarkSuperstarmon. But it didn’t work, and the villain hit him with a punch “GUH!” which followed by Hawkmon falling on the floor.

“H-Hawkmon!!” Miyako screamed, “I… I won’t let you hurt anyone anymore!”

“Miyako-san…” he got up from the floor, “Please, lend me your strength.”

“OK!” she grabbed her digivice, “Love Digimental Up!!”

Hawkmon armor-evolved to Horusmon and stood in front of DarkSuperstarmon with an intimidating glare at him. The enemy didn’t feel much intimidated though, but acknowledged the girl and digimon were tough opponents.

“Very well, then let’s get this party started” And the black star digimon attacked Horusmon, but now the hawk-like digimon had gotten more speed and dodged. Then, Horusmon spinned his body to generate a tornado, forcing DarkSuperstarmon to step back.

“This digimon seems stronger than a regular Starmon… ” Miyako mused, “Uh… don’t underestimate him, Horusmon!”

That battle was still on a draw, with just dodging from both ends. The enemy was tough, but willing to play dirty. DarkSuperstarmon opened a black hole right behind Miyako and she was swallowed by it. Luckily, he couldn’t steal her digivice due to Horusmon blocking his way.

“M-Miyako-san!!” Horusmon stared at him “What did you do to her!?”

“She’s with her friends now, and you… You will be dead soon.”

“OOF!" She fell on the floor and the digivice slipped from her hands, hitting someone “A-ah, I’m sorry!!” She got up and went to retrieve the slippery D-3.

“That’s okay” it was Ken!? “I guess we’re unable to leave this place now…” he laughed nervously, but stopped and handed her the red D-3 back.

“Horusmon is fighting! I need to help him but… how!?”

“He got our digivices...” and she heard Hikari’s voice; Iori, Takeru and Mimi were also there alongside their digimon and more residents from the town, “We can’t escape.”

“W-where are we?” Miyako asked.

“This is still inside the town” and now a digimon appeared, it was a Muchomon “One of the abandoned buildings. I was hoping for someone to save us again but… Our hopes are gone now…”

“Don’t lose your hope!” Mimi looked at the digimon and clenched her fists, “We still have a chance!”

 “... If… If I could do something else but I’m useless!” Miyako shouted, “I only commit mistakes! I want to help fix them! I want to help Horusmon and this entire town!!”

The digivice in her hands beeped and turned on the screen, which sent a light from it. The Digimental of Sincerity appeared in front of her and its form mutated to a big Shuriken like the one on Shurimon’s back. The only difference from Shurimon’s was the Crest of Sincerity being engraved on its surface.

“What is this??” other villagers, and the group exclaimed, watching Miyako hold it with her other hand.

“I… I don’t know!?” she babbled, “But… maybe this is the answer to my dilemma.”

“Uh, isn’t it very dangerous using that here” Patamon asked.

“Miyako-san please… Don’t do something dan--” But Takeru was interrupted by Miyako throwing the shuriken at the bars blocking their way.

… It definitely cut the jail bars. It surprised everyone, since they didn’t know if it wouldn’t reflect the shuriken against them.

“Whoohoo, I knew it would work!” she chirped and looked back “So, everyone go out and let’s take down those bullies.”

“Miyako-chan is scary sometimes…” Mimi whispered to the others, who nodded sagely.

The troops hadn’t yet arrived, so the mysterious Lighdramon-esque armored digimon managed to reach the town quickly and talk with the digimon living there. Despite doubting him at first, one of the residents of the town confirmed the masked-mon’s information.

And then… They gladly accepted his plan. The hooded digimon with him shrugged in disapproval, but couldn’t do much. Also, this cape made a ton of villagers curious about the digimon’s appearance.

“You can’t talk, just do some screams” the armored digimon said to the small one, “Like, unleash your inner beast!”

They were in the front of a temple, the perfect spot to bring this story into reality. The villagers were hiding in a safe part of the town. He was so sure this would work with no actual bloodbath that it felt like a harmless kid’s prank. The partner-in-crime wasn’t too confident about this though… But if no one might see the prank but the soldiers and Frostmon…

“Shush, get ready. Show your best AncientGreymon’s impersonation.”

The other sighed, and tried to roar but it didn’t feel intimidating…

“No, no you need to scare them! Focus on being like a terrifying Qinglongmon who hates everyone stepping on their yard!”

“The troops are coming,” the smaller digimon said, “I can sense them. Do you think this will work?”

“Don’t worry, bud. It will work.”

Horusmon was on the ground being stepped on by DarkSuperstarmon, who was laughing and toss juggling the digivices. While distracted, he didn’t see the Chosen Children approaching, or Tailmon jumping behind him and grabbing all digivices in midair.

“HEY, YOU STUPID POINTY HEAD!”  

“Huh!? Who’s calling my pointy hea--”

Miyako threw the giant shuriken against DarkSuperstarmon, hitting him and making him fall on the floor.

“GAH!”

Horusmon escaped from the enemy and met them. Miyako hugged him tightly and whispered “I’m sorry Horusmon… I won’t let them catch me again!”

“Ugh, you agai-- Wait how did you escape-- It doesn’t matter, without these you can’t--”

The group showed their digivices and angry faces. They were ready to fight. DarkSuperstar screeched and then snapped fingers summoning a group of DarkTyrannomon, “TROOPS, GET THEM!!” and flew away.

“Miyako-san” Iori said, “Go after him. We will take care of his lackeys.”

“Ok! Let’s go Horusmon!” and she looked at him “Are you okay though?”

“I’m fine, get on Miyako-san.”

She got on his back and they flew after the troop’s leader. The enemy wasn’t that fast as they thought and it was easier to watch it after all. Horusmon shot laser beams from his eyes (Red Sun) and hit the running star. But it didn’t work because the enemy's body was indeed resistant.

They stopped on a dead end and faced each other.

“Look, we can negotiate--”

“No, we can’t!” Miyako snapped, pointed at him and continued “You took control of this town, captured its people and later captured my friends! I have no time to make a deal with you!”

“Very well, then--”

“Horusmon, let’s go!” She pointed the digivice at her partner and its form changed to a bipedal hawk, with wings sprouting from his back and Egyptian God motifs -- Fauermon.

“W-wait, have mercy I will leave!!”

“... Will you really leave?” she asked.

“I will don’t worry!” he nodded, “But can we shake hands to make it a deal?”

“Fine, I guess.” she was still mad though, and approached calmly, until that shuriken appeared in her hands and she used it as a blade to slash DarkSuperstarmon in the face. Fauermon was holding her to not fall on the black hole that vile digimon had done.

“W-what!? How did you!?”

“I noticed you set a trap right when we cornered you!” she said angrily “You’re a vile monster!”

Horusmon then put Miyako away and summoned his rod, “Red Sunburst!”

DarkSuperstarmon screamed and then got destroyed by the laser beam coming from the sphere at the top of the rod.

“Miyako-san” Fauermon glanced at her, “I’m sorry I had to--”

“It’s okay. He wouldn’t stop anyway… And he can be reborn I hope so” then she looked at the shuriken in her hand “But… Where did this come from? And why did the Digimental of Sincerity turn into a weapon…?”

“Beats me…” he devolved to Hawkmon form, then looked at the others coming in “Everyone, are you okay?”

“Yeah, we managed to beat all the troops in town,” Tailmon said, “Now we can leave.”

“But where should we go now?” Miyako asked.

Meanwhile, Frostmon’s troops invaded a deserted town with the exception of a hooded digimon. Said digimon made sure to be seen by the enemies and ran away. The soldiers and Frostmon chased them and when the invaders found them in front of the temple…

… A wild wall of fire ignited from the floor, preventing them from reaching the creature, and a bigger one appeared through the flames roaring loudly and throwing fire against the Tyrannomon army.

An eerie voice came from the wall of flames, “I’m the great Ancient Digimon who protects this town. LEAVE OR PERISH”

The enemies panicked and ran away, including Frostmon. So the strange child level digimon she had met previously was right!? Better not mess with that town then. Their screams were heard until they faded in the distance.

The fire stopped and then the digimon from the flames turned small and covered himself with a cape thrown by the mysterious masked one.

“Did you see their faces!!?” and this armored digimon was delighted by the prank, “They were so scared that I guess they might not return here that early hehe~”

“Sigh, get the villagers back and let’s get out of here.”

“Fine fine~ At least laugh a bit… You used to find funny those pranks…”

“I’m busy now!” the hooded one growled, “no time for pranks!!”

“... Oh. You’re right.” he blinked. Behind the helmet he had a deadpan face “Let’s do it…”

Once they got the entire villagers out, the mayor of the town shook hands with the masked one.

“My young’mon,” Sorcerimon the mayor said, “We will be eternally grateful for your help. I have absolutely no idea what you and your friend did, but we’re thankful that it worked.”

“H-Haha, it was… a dumb thing I learned from human’s videos” he chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his helmet.

“What does that deity digimon look like?” a young Blucomon asked, “We will draw it and spread through the town, and write stories about it to keep mean spirited digimon from invading us.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” he said, “Let’s see… It's a flame element digimon, looks like Fladramon but with wings, and got hair, big terrifying claws and wonderful fangs! Maybe… AncientFladramon feels like a good name? What do you think, bud?” and he looked at the hooded digimon.

“Yeah, let’s go with that” and the small one shrugged.

“Cool!” Blucomon and more child level digimon around exclaimed, “Thank you mr. uh…”

The masked digimon then posed like a tokusatsu hero and said:

“I’m the warrior of the night, the silent knight… Lightnimon!”

The villagers' reactions were full of “ooooh!!” and some applause and cheers.

The hooded digimon shook his head.

“But I need to go now, more of those bad guys are coming and more towns, cities and villagers need me and… uh… Buddymon.”

“Alright, thank you Lightnimon and Buddymon” Socerimon and the villagers thanked them once again.

“Heheh~” Lightnimon grabbed Buddymon and ran away, leaving the town quickly.

Who’re that mysterious digimon duo and would they be a menace to the Chosen Children?

[nova-dracomon]

Shameless vent art, sorry not sorry. It's finally done! I've been working on this digimon oracle card for a couple months now. Inaction/Indifference -- I couldn't decide on a title so I used both.

The core idea behind the card is to speak about the virtue of patience sliding into inaction and indifference as those in power lose interest or accountability to preform in the interest of the masses. In this context, patience isn't being used to wait for the best time to act, but as an excuse to brush off responsibility all together.

If you're not familiar with x-digimon, the idea is that the god king who monitored the realm decided there was too much data being used and spread a virus to delete almost everyone. The royal knights supported them and trusted their will blindly--safe in the knowledge they weren't up for deletion and believing the means justified the ends with no action needed on their part besides what was directly ordered. Although Seraphimon is not one of the royal knights, they are the digimon embodiment of the virtue of patience and bear the crest of hope. The figure is myself dissolving into data as the virus within me spreads, left alone as a nuance to be silenced.

I didn't want to tilt the card into full-blown wrath territory because I felt the piece would lose some nuance. It's not about patience vs wrath / good vs evil, it's about losing sight of your values and ideals as challenges to them arise. About being complacent to avoid turmoil and strife. - Larka

[ozoraslegend]

How does Masaru & Hiro interact given how kind of different they view life & how to confront Digimon?

Well, the first, thank you for asking, even if you are anonymous!

For the question, it's a difficult one to answer, and I'm quite busy these days. But for a short answer:

Masaru certainly gets thrill at fighting, but he is not addicted to it or something. He won't bully someone or be violent for the sake of dominating and crushing the weak (basically, he obliviously hates Kouki for this). He may view his life as chances for fighting, but he has honor. Masaru specifically enjoys getting to fight against people causing trouble, or friendly fighting as a form of communication and acknowledging another as an equal. Masaru states several times that he wants to be strong specifically because he wants to protect his family and friends. So, I don't think he will be so annoyed at the way Hiro view life. Maybe some complaints here and there like "waste time to talk with them unnecessarily" if he is really discontented, but there won't be so much problem.

Hiro has a chill way of looking life. He calmly deals with problem, and he will fight if it is really, really necessary with him. But trying to defeat the enemy through battle is considered the last resort with Hiro. It's not that Hiro's never going to use it at all, but the thing is that Hiro would really, really like to not fight at all if possible, and especially not kill. However, he's and others definitely taking it to a point of absurdity – while certain very happy endings come out of this thanks to Hiro being perceptive and understanding, well… Hiro is a very naturally non-confrontational person, so he is going out of his way to avoid any kind of conflict as much as possible, to an abnormal state. But even so, Hiro has a kind of perceptiveness and understanding enough to try to understand Masaru's way of viewing life. Really, it's not like Hiro will complain, or be too much annoyed with anyone if they haven't done anything wrong.

Saying of that, in conclusion, Masaru and Hiro won't have too much difficulties in social interacting. There're certainly awkward times between them, but nothing so problematic. They are both 14 years old, after all. And it's not like they are too bad at social skills, at least not in such a terrible level that break relationship for Masaru. But I don't think they will be very close friends: their personalities are not very well mixed.

About the Digimon... Hiro has understood the need of killing Digimon after GulusGammamon, so although he will still check if violence is needed. But Masaru tends to go to battles too soon, and they will have "discussions". I will apply an open and positive mindset in Digimon writing way that Masaru and Hiro will try to find the best way to deal with Digimon. You can have your headcanons in how long and what way.

Anyway, we also should consider the context. If this is the '9Digi-Protagonists' context, I am quite sure others will prepare a plan to "improve" Masaru and Hiro's dynamic. Depending on the participation of Daisuke, Takuya and Tagiru, how well Taichi understands emotions and a bunch of other circumstances, everything will happen in a good or weird way.

As a gift, this is a drabble!

Masaru tilted his head at the scene at the park, with Agumon alongside him. Hiro was walking alongside him, holding Gammamon by his hands.

"Walking together in this place is a bit boring, don't you think so?" Masaru hummed, and Agumon chose to agree with him. "Well, I'd say aniki is right!"

Gammamon giggled at a dragonfly that decided to land on his nose before flying away. Hiro offered his "younger brother" some chocolates, and the Digimon seemed to enjoy his "Champion".

"Personally, I enjoy spending time like these moments. We almost don't have enough time just to relax together."

Enjoy it and tell me if there is anything wrong or weird in my whole post, my first asker!

[shihalyfie]

About the Adventure: reboot, the likely reason why it exists, the question of target demographic, and whether I would recommend it or not

I think this reboot has been kind of a strange outlier in terms of Digimon anime in general, in terms of...well, just about everything. I also feel like everything surrounding it has kind of been giving us mixed signals as to what the intent and purpose behind the anime is -- well, besides “cashing in on the Adventure brand”, but looking at it more closely, that might be a bit of an oversimplification.

I’m writing this post because, having seen the entire series to the end for myself and thinking very hard about it and what it was trying to do, I decided to put down my thoughts. This is not meant to be a review of what I think was good and bad, but rather, something that I hope will be helpful to those who might be on the fence about whether they want to watch it or not, or those who don’t want to watch/finish it but are curious about what happened, or those who are curious as to why this reboot even exists in the first place, or even maybe just those who did watch it but are interested in others’ thoughts about it. I'm personally convinced that -- especially in an ever-changing franchise like Digimon -- how much you like a given work is dependent on what your personal tastes are to the very end, and thus it’s helpful to understand what kind of expectations you should go in with if you want to watch something.

With all of this said and done, if you want to go in and best enjoy this series, I think it is best to consider this anime as a distinct Digimon series of its own. The relationship to Adventure is only surface-level, and by that I mean it’s very obvious it’s doing things its own thing deliberately without worrying too much about what prior series did. Of course, I think everyone will have varying feelings about using the Adventure branding for something that really isn't Adventure at all, but we are really talking about an in-name-only affair, and something that’s unabashedly doing whatever it wants. So in other words, if you’re going in expecting Adventure, or anything that really resembles Adventure, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. But if you’re able to approach it like yet another distinct Digimon series, and the other aspects of it fit your fancy, you’ll probably be able to enjoy it much better. And, conversely, I think it’s also important to remember that this series seems to have a writing philosophy with a fundamentally different goal from most Digimon series, and since it’s understandable for most long-time Digimon fans to have their tastes built on those prior series, it’s fine and completely understandable that this reboot may not be your cup of tea, for reasons that probably don’t actually have much to do with whether it’s an Adventure reboot or not.

There are no spoilers in the following post. (Although I use some emphatic language for the duration for it, these are mostly just my personal thoughts and how I see the series and the overall situation.)

On what exact relationship to Adventure this series has, and why it’s an “Adventure reboot”

If you ask why they did an Adventure reboot, the easiest answer to come up with is “Adventure milking, because it’s profitable”, but that’s kind of an oversimplification of what the issue is. This is especially when you take into account a key fact that official has been very well aware of since as early as 2006: most kids are too young to have seen Adventure, and therefore have no reason to care about it.

That’s the thing: Adventure milking only works so well on today’s children, and Toei and Bandai know this. This is also the reason that the franchise started going through a bit of a “split” starting in around 2012 (after Xros Wars finished airing), when the video game branch started making more active attempts to appeal to the adults’ fanbase with Re:Digitize and Adventure PSP. (Although they were technically still “kids’ games”, they were very obviously aimed at the adults’ audience as a primary “target”.) The generation that grew up with Adventure and other classic Digimon anime was getting older and older, and targeting that audience would require tailoring products more specifically to them -- ultimately culminating in 2015 and the solidification of “very obviously primarily for adults” media in the form of both games (Cyber Sleuth and Next Order) and anime (tri.). Note that Appmon ended up getting its own 3DS game, but since it was targeted at kids, it seems to have been developed by a completely different pipeline/branch from the aforementioned adults’ games, so even that had a split.

So if we want to talk about full-on nostalgia pandering, that’s already being done in the adults’ branch. In fact, Appmon development specifically said that they felt free to not really care about the adults’ audience because that was tri.’s job. Of course, the hardcore Digimon adults’ fanbase is still keeping an eye on the kids’ shows, and it’s good to not upset them -- and, besides, even if we’re all suffering under the hell of capitalism, people who work in kids’ shows still tend to be very passionate about the content and messages they’re showing the kids, so they still put an effort into making good content that adults can enjoy too. But, nevertheless, adults are still the “periphery demographic”, and a kids’ show is not a success if the kids (who have not seen and do not care about Adventure) are not watching it or buying the toys. Appmon ended up being extremely well-received by the adults’ fanbase, but that all meant nothing since the kids didn’t get into it.

Most kids are not super incredibly discerning about so-called writing quality (it’s not like they don’t at least unconsciously know when something is good, but they’re much less likely to be bothered by little things adults are often bothered by), so there’s a certain degree you have to get their attention if you want things to catch on with them. Critical reception does matter a lot more when we talk about the adults’ audience, but for the kids, the more important part is how much you’ve managed to engage them and how much fun they’re having (especially in regards to the toyline). Moreover, there’s the problem of “momentum”; Digimon’s sister shows of PreCure, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai have sometimes had really poorly performing shows (critically or financially), but have managed to recover it in successive years to avoid getting cancelled. Digimon never managed to get to that point, with sales nearly dropping to half with Tamers and again with Frontier. So in essence, Savers, Xros Wars, and Appmon were all attempts at figuring out what was needed to just get that “kickstart” again -- but things just never lined up for it to work.

So if kids don’t really care about Adventure, why would they do Adventure nostalgia pandering? The answer is one that official has actually openly stated multiple times: they want to have parents watch it together with their children. Both Seki and Kinoshita said this in regards to watching the reaction to Kizuna, and it was also stated outright as a goal for the reboot, but, believe it or not, there’s reports of this having been stated back as early as Savers (followed by an admission that maybe 2006 was a little too early for people who grew up with Adventure to be old enough to have their own kids). So the little nostalgia references in Savers, Xros Wars, and Appmon aren't really meant to magically turn the series into Adventure as much as they’re supposed to be flags waved at the parents to get them to pay attention, so that they can introduce their kids to Digimon and watch it together with them, until the kids eventually take an interest on their own and they don’t need to rely on that kind of standby as much. (I say “as much” because of course PreCure, Rider, and Sentai all are still very indulgent in their anniversary references, but they’re not nearly as reliant on it to the point of life-and-death.)

This is also why Kizuna’s existence and release date two months prior to the reboot is a huge factor in this. The reason tri. wouldn’t have done it is that it never actually reached a properly “mainstream” audience. It’s a huge reason I keep emphasizing the fact that tri. and Kizuna are two separate things with completely different production and release formats, because tri. being a limited OVA screening released in six parts over three years means that, although it was a moderate financial success that did better than the franchise’s other niche products, in the end, it didn’t actually reach the “extremely casual” audience very well. We, as the “hardcore Internet fanbase”, all know people who watched all six parts, and the difference between tri. and Kizuna’s release formats doesn’t hit us as hard because of international distribution circumstances, but even on our end, if you talk to your casual friends who barely remember anything about Digimon except what they saw on TV twenty years ago, you will almost never find anyone who got past Part 1, maybe 2 at most. (That’s before we even get into the part where a good chunk of them got turned off at the character design stage for being too different.) Sticking with a full six-part series over three years is a commitment, and if you’re not someone with a certain level of loyalty to the franchise, you aren’t as likely to put aside the time for it!

Kizuna, on the other hand, was a full-on theatrical movie with full marketing campaign that was aimed at that extremely casual mainstream audience, including a lot of people who hadn’t even heard of tri. (due to it being too niche) or hadn’t bothered to commit to watching something so long, and thus managed to “hype up” a lot of adults and get them in a Digimon mood. (Critical reception issues aside, this is also presumably a huge reason Kizuna isn’t all that reliant on tri.’s plot; Adventure and 02 both averaged at around 11% of the country watching it when it first aired, but the number of people who even saw tri. much less know what happened in it is significantly lower, so while you can appeal to a lot of people if you’re just targeting the 11%, you'll lock them out if you’re overly reliant on stuff a lot of them will have never seen in the first place.) We’re talking the kind of super-casual who sees a poster for Kizuna, goes “oh I remember Digimon!”, casually buys a ticket for the movie, likes it because it has characters they remember and the story is feelsy, and then two months later an anime that looks like the Digimon they recognize is on Fuji TV, resulting in them convincing their kid to watch it together with them because they’re in a Digimon mood now, even though the actual contents of the anime are substantially different from the original.

So, looking back at the reboot:

There’s a huge, huge, huge implication that the choice to use Adventure branding was at least partially to get Fuji TV to let them have their old timeslot back. Neither Xros Wars nor Appmon were able to be on that old timeslot, presumably because Fuji TV had serious doubts about their profitability (perhaps after seeing Savers not do very well). This isn’t something that hits as hard for us outside Japan who don’t have to feel the impact of this anyway, but it’s kind of a problem if kids don’t even get the opportunity to watch the show in the first place. While there’s been a general trend of moving to video-on-demand to the point TV ratings don’t really have as much impact as they used to, I mean...it sure beats 6:30 in the morning, goodness. (Note that a big reason PreCure, Rider, and Sentai are able to enjoy the comfortable positions they’re in is that they have a very luxurious 8:30-10 AM Sunday block on TV Asahi dedicated to them.)

Since we’re talking about “the casual mainstream”, this means that this kind of ploy only works with something where a casual person passing by can see names and faces and take an interest. This is why it has to be Adventure, not 02 or Tamers or whatnot; 02 may have had roughly similar TV ratings to Adventure and fairly close sales figures back in 2000, but the actual pop culture notability disparity in this day and age is humongous (think about the difference in pop culture awareness between Butter-Fly and Target). 02, Tamers, and all can do enough to carry “adults’ fandom” products and merch sales at DigiFes, and the adults’ branch of the franchise in general, but appealing to the average adult buying toys for the kids is a huge difference, and a big reason that, even if they’re clearly starting to acknowledge more of the non-Adventure series these days, it’s still hard to believe they’re going to go as far as rebooting anything past Adventure -- or, more accurately, hard to believe they’ll be able to get the same impact using names and faces alone.

This advertising with the Adventure brand goes beyond just the anime -- we’re talking about the toyline that has the involved character faces plastered on them, plus all of the ventures surrounding them that Bandai pretty obviously carefully timed to coincide with this. One particularly big factor is the card game, which is doing really, really well right now, to the point it’s even started gaining an audience among people who weren’t originally Digimon fans. Part of it is because the game’s design is actually very good and newcomer-friendly, but also...nearly every set since the beginning came with reboot-themed Tamer Cards, which means that, yes, those cards with the Adventure names and faces were helping lure people into taking an interest in the game. Right now, the game is doing so well and has gained such a good reputation that it probably doesn’t need that crutch anymore to keep going as long as the game remains well-maintained, but I have no doubt the initial “Adventure” branding was what helped it take off, and its success is most likely a huge pillar sustaining the franchise at the current moment.

Speaking of merch and toys, if you look closely, you might notice that Bandai decided to go much, much more aggressively into the toy market with this venture than they ever did with Savers, Xros Wars, or Appmon (Appmon was probably the most aggressive attempt out of said three). They put out a lot more merch and did a lot more collaborative events to engage the parents and children, and, presumably, the reason they were able to do this was because they were able to push into those outlets with the confidence the Adventure brand would let them be accepted (much like with Fuji TV). Like with the card game, the important part was getting their “foot in the door” so that even if it stopped being Adventure after a fashion, they’d still have all of those merchandising outlets -- after all, one of the first hints we ever got of Ghost Game’s existence was a July product listing for its products replacing the reboot’s in a gachapon set, so we actually have evidence of certain product pipelines being opened by the reboot’s precedent. (The word 後番組 literally means “the TV program that comes after”, so it’s pretty obvious this was intended for Ghost Game; in other words, the reboot’s existence helped ensure there be a “reservation” for this kind of product to be made.)

I think one important thing to keep in mind is that Toei and Bandai have as much of a stake in avoiding rehashing for their kids’ franchises as we do. Even if you look at this from a purely capitalistic perspective, because of how fast the “turnover” is for the kids’ audience, sustaining a franchise for a long time off rehashing the same thing over and over is hard, and even moreso when it involves a twenty-year-old anime that said kids don’t even know or remember. Ask around about popular long-running Japanese kids’ franchises and you’ll notice they practically rely on being able to comfortably change things up every so often, like PreCure/Rider/Sentai shuffling every year, or Yu-Gi-Oh! having a rotation of different series and concepts, or the struggles that franchises that don’t do this have to deal with. And, after all, for all people are cynical about Toei continuing to milk Adventure or any of the other older series at every opportunity, as far as the kids’ branch of the franchise goes, this is only capable of lasting to a certain extent; if they tried keeping this up too long, even the adults and kids would get bored, and there is some point it’ll be easier to try and make products directly targeted at the kids’ audience instead of having to rely on the parents to ease them into it.

So it’s completely understandable that the moment they secured a proper audience with the reboot and finished up their first series with this, they decided to take the risk with Ghost Game right after. And considering all that’s happened, this is still a risk -- they’re changing up a lot (even if not as much as Appmon), and there’s a chance that the audience they’ve gathered is going to shoot down again because they’ve changed so much and they no longer have the Adventure branding as a “crutch” to use -- but they’re taking it anyway instead of going for something at least slightly more conventional.

Which means that, yes, there’s a possibility this will all explode in their face, because the Adventure branding is that huge of a card they’re about to lose. But at the very, very least, Ghost Game is coming in with the “momentum” and advantage that Savers, Xros Wars, and Appmon all didn’t have: a brand currently in the stage of recovery, all of the merchandising and collaborative pipelines the reboot and Kizuna opened up, a fairly good timeslot, and a premise somewhat more conventional than Xros Wars and Appmon (I’m saying this as someone who likes both: their marketing definitely did not do them many favors). There are still a lot of risks it’s playing here, and it’s possible it won’t be the end of more Adventure or reboot brand usage to try to keep that momentum up even as we go into Ghost Game, but it’s the first time in a long while we’ve had something to stand on.

Okay, so that’s out of the way. But the end result is that we now have 67 episodes of an Adventure “reboot” that actually doesn’t even resemble Adventure that much at all, which seems to have achieved its goal of flagging down attention so it can finally going back to trying new things. This series exists, we can’t do anything about the fact it exists, the period where its own financial performance actually mattered is coming to an end anyway, and we, as a fanbase of adults hanging out on the Internet keeping up with the franchise as a whole, have to figure out how each of us feels about this. So what of it?

About the contents of the reboot itself

One thing I feel hasn’t been brought up as a potential topic very much (or, at least, not as much as I feel like it probably should be) is that the reboot seems to be actively aimed at a younger target audience than the original Adventure. It hasn’t been stated outright, but we actually have quite a bit of evidence pointing towards this.

Let’s take a moment and discuss what it even means to have a different target audience. When you’re a kid, even one or two years’ difference is a big deal, and while things vary from kid to kid, generally speaking, it helps to have an idea of what your “overall goal” is when targeting a certain age group, since at some point you have to approximate the interests of some thousands of children. Traditionally, Digimon has been aimed at preteens (10-11 year olds); of course, many will testify to having seen the series at a younger age than that, but the "main” intended target demographic was in this arena. (Also, keep in mind that this is an average; a show aimed at 10-11 year olds could be said to be more broadly aimed at 7-13 year olds, whereas one aimed at 7-8 year olds would be more broadly aimed at something like 5-10 year olds.) Let’s talk a bit about what distinguishes children’s shows (especially Japanese kids’ shows) between this “preteen demographic” and things aimed at a much younger audience (which I’ll call “young child demographic”, something like the 7-8 year old arena):

With children who are sufficiently young, it’s much, much more difficult to ensure that a child of that age will be able to consistently watch TV at the same hour every week instead of being subject to more variable schedules, often set by their parents, meaning that it becomes much more difficult to have a series that relies on you having seen almost every episode to know what’s going on. For somewhat older kids, they’re more likely to be able to pick and pursue their own preferences (the usual “got up early every week for this show”). This means that shows targeted at a young child demographic will be more likely to be episodic, or at least not have a complex dramatic narrative that requires following the full story, whereas shows targeted at a preteen audience are more willing to have a dramatic narrative with higher complexity. This does not mean by any shake of the imagination that a narrative is incapable of having any kind of depth or nuance -- the reboot’s timeslot predecessor GeGeGe no Kitaro got glowing reviews all over the board for being an episodic story with tons of depth -- nor that characters can’t slowly develop over the course of the show. But it does raise the bar significantly, especially because it prevents you from making episodes that require you to know what happened in previous ones.

The thing is, the original Adventure and the older Digimon series in general didn’t have to worry about this, and, beyond the fact that their narratives very obviously were not episodic, we actually have concrete evidence of the disparity: Digimon has often been said to be a franchise for “the kids who graduated from (outgrew) a certain other monster series”. Obviously, they’re referring to Pokémon -- which does have the much younger target demographic. That’s why its anime is significantly more episodic and less overall plot-oriented, and Digimon wasn’t entirely meant to be a direct competitor to it; rather, it was hoping to pick up the preteens who’d enjoyed Pokémon at a younger age but were now looking for something more catered to them. This is also why, when Yo-kai Watch came into the game in 2014, that was considered such a huge direct competitor to Pokémon, because it was aiming for that exact same demographic, complete with episodic anime. When Yo-kai Watch moved to its Shadowside branch in 2017, it was specifically because they had concerns about losing audience and wanted to appeal to the kids who had been watching the original series, but since they were preteens now, they adopted a more dramatic and emotionally complex narrative that would appeal to that audience instead. So you can actually see the shift in attempted target demographic in real time.

Adventure through Frontier were aimed at 10-11 year olds, and here’s the interesting part: those series had the protagonists hover around the age of said target audience. We actually have it on record that Frontier had a direct attempt to keep most of the kids as fifth-graders for the sake of appealing to the audience, and so that it would be relatable to them. You can also see this policy of “matching the target audience’s age” in other series at the time; Digimon’s sister series Ojamajo Doremi (also produced by Seki) centered around eight-year-olds. Nor was Seki the only one to do this; stepping outside Toei for a bit, Medabots/Medarot had its protagonist Ikki be ten years old, much like Digimon protagonists, and the narrative was similarly dramatic. The thing is, that’s not how it usually works, and that’s especially not really been how it’s worked for the majority of kids’ series since the mid-2000s. In general, and especially now, it’s usually common to have the protagonists of children’s media be slightly older than the target age group. This has a lot of reasons behind it -- partially because kids are looking to have slightly older characters as a model for what to follow in their immediate future, and partially because “the things you want to teach the kids” are often more realistically reflected if the kids on screen have the right level of independence and capacity for emotional contemplation. Case in point: while everyone agrees the Adventure through Frontier characters are quite relatable, it’s a common criticism that the level of emotional insight sometimes pushes the boundary of what’s actually believable for 10-11 year olds...

...which is presumably why, with the exception of this reboot, every Digimon TV series since, as of this writing, started shifting to middle school students. That doesn’t mean they’re aiming the series at middle school kids now, especially because real-life 13-15 year olds are usually at the stage where they pretend they’ve outgrown kids’ shows (after all, that’s why there’s a whole term for “middle school second year syndrome”), but more that the narrative that they want to tell is best reflected by kids of that age, especially when we’re talking characters meant to represent children from the real world and not near-immortal youkai like Kitaro. In fact, the Appmon staff outright said that Haru was placed in middle school because the story needed that level of independence and emotional sensitivity, which is interesting to consider in light of the fact that Appmon’s emotional drama is basically on par with that of Adventure through Frontier’s. So in other words, the kind of high-level drama endemic to Adventure through Frontier is would actually normally be more on par with what you’d expect for kids of Haru’s age.

But at this point, the franchise is at a point of desperation, and you can see that, as I said earlier, Appmon was blatantly trying to be one of those “have its cake and eat it too” series by having possibly one of the franchise’s most dramatic storylines while also having some of the most unsubtle catchphrases and bright colors it has to offer. Moreover, one thing you might notice if you look closely at Appmon: most of its episodes are self-contained. Only a very small handful of episodes are actively dependent on understanding what happened in prior episodes to understand the conflict going on in the current one -- it’s just very cleverly structured in a way you don’t really notice this as easily. So as you can see, the more desperate the franchise has gotten to get its kids’ audience back, the more it has to be able to grab the younger demographic and not lock them out as much as possible -- which means that it has to do things that the original series didn’t have to worry about at all.

Having seen the reboot myself, I can say that it checks off a lot of what you might expect if you tried to repurpose something based on Adventure (and only vaguely based on it, really) into a more episodic story that doesn’t require you to follow the whole thing, and that it has to break down its story into easy-to-follow bits. In fact, there were times where I actually felt like it gave me the vibes of an educational show that would usually be expected for this demographic, such as repeated use of slogans or fun catchphrases for young kids to join in on. That alone means that even if the “base premise” is similar to the original Adventure, this already necessitates a lot of things that have to be very different, because Adventure really cannot be called episodic no matter how you slice it.

Not only that, even though the target audience consideration has yet to be outright stated, we also have interviews on hand that made it very clear, from the very beginning, what their goals with the reboot were: they wanted the kids to be able to enjoy a story of otherworldly exploration during the pandemic, they wanted cool action sequences, and they wanted to get the adults curious about what might be different from the original. Note that last part: they actively wanted this series to be different from the original, because the differences would engage parents in spotting the differences, and the third episode practically even goes out of its way to lay that message down by taking the kids to a familiar summer camp, only to have it pass without incident and go “ha, you thought, but nope!” Moreover -- this is the key part -- “surprising” people who were coming from the original series was a deliberate goal they had from the very beginning. They’ve stated this outright -- they knew older fans were watching this! They were not remotely shy about stating that they wanted to surprise returning viewers with unexpected things! They even implied that they wanted it to be a fun experience for older watchers to see what was different and what wasn’t -- basically, it’s a new show for their kids who never saw the original Adventure, while the parents are entertained by a very different take on something that seems ostensibly familiar. 

On top of that, the head writer directly cited V-Tamer as an influence -- and if you know anything about V-Tamer, it’s really not that much of a character narrative compared to what we usually know of Digimon anime, and is mostly known for its battle tactics and action sequences (but in manga form). In other words, we have a Digimon anime series that, from day one, was deliberately made to have a writing philosophy and goal that was absolutely not intended to be like Adventure -- or any Digimon TV anime up to this point -- in any way. And that’s a huge shock for us as veterans, who have developed our tastes and expectations based on up to seven series of Digimon that were absolutely not like this at all. But for all it's worth, the circumstances surrounding its production and intent don't seem to quite line up with what the most common accusations against it are:

That it’s a rehash of Adventure: It really isn’t. It’s also blatantly apparent it has no intention of being so. The points that are in common: the character names and rough character designs, some very minimal profile details for said characters, Devimon having any particular foil position to Angemon, the use of Crests to represent personal growth, the premise of being in the Digital World and...that’s it! Once those points are aside, it’s really hard to say that the series resembles Adventure any more than Frontier or Xros Wars resembles Adventure (which are also “trapped in another world” narratives) -- actually, there are times the series resembles those two more than the original Adventure, which many have been quick to point out. The majority of things you can make any kind of comparison to basically drop off by the end of the first quarter or so, and trying to force a correlation is basically just that: you’d have to try forcing the comparison. The plot, writing style, and even the lineup of enemies shown just go in a completely different direction after that. So in the end, the base similarities can be said to be a marketing thing; if I want to criticize this series, I don’t think “lack of creativity” would actually be something I would criticize it for. (Of course, you’re still welcome to not be a huge fan of how they’re still guilty of using Adventure’s name value to market something that is not actually Adventure. We’re all gonna have mixed feelings on that one.)

That they don’t understand or remember Adventure’s appeal: Unlikely. All of the main staff has worked on character-based narratives before, which have been very well-praised while we’re at it. The producer, Sakurada Hiroyuki, was an assistant producer on the original series, and I would like to believe he probably remembers at least a thing or two about what they were doing with the original series...but, also, he’s the producer of Xros Wars, which definitely had its own individuality and style, and, moreover, was more of a character narrative that people generally tend to expect from Digimon anime. (Still a bit unconventional, and it has its own questions of personal taste, but a lot of people have also pointed out that this reboot has a lot in common with Xros Wars in terms of its writing tone and its emphasis on developing Digital World resident Digimon moreso than the human characters.) All signs point to the idea they could make a character narrative like Adventure if they really wanted to. It’s just, they don’t want to do that with this reboot, so they didn’t.

That they misinterpreted or misremembered the Adventure characters: There’s been accusations of said characters being written in a way that implies misinterpretation or lack of understanding of the original characters, but the thing is, while I definitely agree they have nowhere near the depth of the original ones, there are points that seem to be deliberate changes. (At some points, they’re actually opposites of the original, and certain things that operate as some very obscure references -- for instance, Sora complaining about having to sit in seiza -- seem to also be deliberate statements of going in a different direction.) The lack of human character depth or backstory doesn’t seem to be out of negligence, but rather that this story doesn’t want to be a character narrative to begin with -- after all, we’re used to seven series of Digimon that are, but there are many, many kids’ anime, or even stories in general, where the story is more about plot or action than it is completely unpacking all of its characters’ heads. In this case, this reboot does seem to have characters that are taking cues from or are “inspired by” the original, but, after all, it’s an alternate universe and has no obligation to adhere to the original characters’ backgrounds, so it stands to reason that it’d take liberties whenever it wanted. (Again, the head writer outright stated that he based the reboot’s Taichi more on V-Tamer Taichi than the original Adventure anime Taichi. He knows there’s a difference!) Even more intriguingly, the series actually avoids certain things that are common misconceptions or pigeonholes that would normally be done by the mainstream -- for instance, the Crest of Light (infamously one of the more abstract ones in the narrative) is fully consistent with Adventure’s definition of it as “the power of life”, and, if I dare say so myself, Koushirou’s characterization (emphasizing his relationship with “knowledge” and his natural shyness) arguably resembles the original far more than most common fan reductions of his character that overemphasize his computer skills over his personal aptitude. In other words, I think the staff does know what happened in the original Adventure -- they just actively don’t want to do what Adventure did, even if it’s ostensibly a reboot.

That it’s soulless or that there’s no passion in its creation: Well, this is subjective, and in the end I’m not a member of the staff to tell you anything for sure, but there are definitely a lot of things in this anime that don’t seem like they’d be the byproduct of uninspired creation or lack of passion. It’s just that those things are all not the kinds of things that we, as Digimon veterans, have come to develop a taste for and appreciate in Digimon anime. That is to say, there is an incredible amount of thought and detail put into representing Digimon null canon (i.e. representing special attacks and mechanics), the action sequences are shockingly well-animated in ways that put most prior Digimon anime to shame, and the series has practically been making an obvious attempt to show off as many Digimon (creatures) that haven’t traditionally gotten good franchise representation as they can. Or sometimes really obscure “meta fanservice” references that only make sense to the really, really, really, really hardcore longtime Digimon fan (for instance, having an episode centered around Takeru and Opossummon, because Takeru’s voice actress Han Megumi voiced Airu in Xros Wars). If you follow any of the animators on Twitter, they seem to be really actively proud of their work on it, and franchise creators Volcano Ota and Watanabe Kenji seem to be enjoying themselves every week...so basically, we definitely have creators passionate about having fun with this, it’s just that all of it is being channeled here, not the character writing.

So in the end, you can basically see that this series is basically the epitome of desperately pulling out all of the stops to make sure this series lands with the actual target demographic of children, dammit, and gets them into appreciating how cool these fighting monsters are and how cool it would be if they stuck with them even into a series that’s not Adventure. The Adventure branding and names to lure in the parents, the straightforward and easy-to-understand action-oriented narrative so that kids will think everything is awesome and that they’ll like it even when the story changes, and the merchandise and collab events booked everywhere so that they can all be reused for the next series too...because, remember, they failed with that during Savers, Xros Wars, and Appmon (I mean, goodness, you kind of have to admire their persistence, because a ton of other kids’ franchises failing this many times would have given up by now), so it’s a bit unsurprising that they went all the way to get the kids’ attention at the expense of a lot of things that would attract veterans, especially since the veterans already have a well-developed adults’ pipeline to cater to them. This does also mean that this series is more likely to come off as a 67-episode toy commercial than any previous Digimon series, but it’s not even really the toys as much as they’re trying to sell the entire franchise and the actual monsters in the hopes that they’ll stick with it even when the narrative changes.

Nevertheless, here we are. The series is over. Ghost Game -- which, as of this writing, is looking to be much more of a conventional Digimon narrative, complete with older cast, obviously more dramatic atmosphere, and pretty much everything surrounding its PR -- is on its way, presumably thanks to the success of this endeavor. It’s hard to gauge it; we have it on record that they also intend it to be episodic, but remember that this doesn’t necessarily prevent it from having an overall dramatic plot or nuanced drama (especially since the abovementioned Appmon and Kitaro were perfectly capable of pulling off this balance). Nevertheless, it seems to be a lot more of the conventional kind of Digimon narrative we usually expect, so, as for us, adult long-time fans of the Digimon franchise (many of whom don’t have kids anyway), what exactly should we make of this? Well, as far as “supporting the franchise” goes, you’ll get much more progress supporting Ghost Game than the reboot; I highly doubt view counts and merch sales relative to an already-finished series will do nearly as much for the franchise’s health as much as the currently airing series, and, besides, it’d probably do us all a favor to support the endeavor that’s actually new and fresh. So when it comes to a “past” series like this, it’s all just going to come down to a question of personal preference and taste: is this a series you, personally, want to watch, and would you find it entertaining?

For some of you, it’s possible that it just won’t be your cup of tea at all -- and since, like I said, the majority of us here have based our expectations and preferences on up to seven series of Digimon that were not like this, that’s also perfectly fine, and in that case I don’t actually recommend you watch this. Of course, I’ve never thought that it was ever fair to expect a Digimon fan to have seen all of the series released to date; the more series we get, the more inhumane of a demand that’ll become, and I think this franchise becoming successful enough to have so many series that most people won’t have seen it all is a good thing. (It’s actually kind of alarming that the percentage of people who have seen it all is so high, because it means the franchise has failed to get much of an audience beyond comparatively hardcore people who committed to it all the way.) But I think, especially in this case, with a series for which adult fans like us were probably lowest on the priority list due to the sheer amount of desperation going on here, it’s fine to skip it, and if you’re someone who lives by a need for character depth or emotionally riveting narrative, the fact this series is (very unabashedly and unashamedly) mostly comprised of episodic stories and action sequences means you won’t have missed much and probably won’t feel too left out of any conversations going forward. That’s before we even get into the part where it’s still completely understandable to potentially have mixed feelings or resentment about the overuse of the Adventure brand for something like this, especially if Adventure is a particularly important series to you.

But for some of you out there, it might still be something you can enjoy on its own merits. I’ve seen people who were disappointed by the limited degree of Digimon action sequences in the past or the fact that the series has gotten overly fixated on humans, and had an absolute ball with the reboot because it finally got to represent parts of the franchise they felt hadn’t been shown off as well. “Fun” is a perfectly valid reason to enjoy something. It’s also perfectly possible to be someone who can enjoy character narratives like the prior Digimon series but also enjoy something that’s more for being outlandish and fun and has cool Digital World concepts and visuals -- and, like I said, it does not let up on that latter aspect at all, so there’s actually potential for a huge feast in that regard. I think as long as you don’t expect it to be a character narrative like Adventure -- which will only set you up for disappointment, because it’s not (and made very clear since even the earliest episodes and interviews that it had no intention of being one) -- it’s very possible to enjoy it for what it is, and for what it does uniquely.

[meruz]

i was gonna draw tonight but i dropped my tablet pen and the barrel of the pen broke off and flew somewhere underneath (??) my bed (?) and now i cant find it so I’m just gonna answer asks before bed instead. just some art asks and more mentions of infinity train LOL

What program and brushes do you use when making your art?

@ravki hi! part of this is in my FAQ but i’ll say it again anyways LOL: I use photoshop CC and have used photoshop for pretty much....my whole art career. I’ve dabbled in clip and paint tool sai in the past but photoshop is my true wife, we eloped away from her awful father adobe many years ago and are very happy together. 

as for brushes... I should prob put this info in my FAQ too lol,... my default brush set is actually free to download here! Tho I will say I also use steve ahn’s storyboarding brush sometimes and lately i’ve been using shiyoon kim’s brushes A TON. Shiyoon’s cost a couple bucks but they’re super worth it imo

How do you choose colors?

This is kind of a difficult one to describe from scratch but hmm.... I’ll put it this way. Generally when I go into coloring or painting something I already have some colors in mind. Like for a certain piece I know I want a bright green, or a magenta, or a dark blue in certain areas. A lot of the time I know a mood I want. So I’ll start with that core color tone and build around it. I’ll use an example from a recent piece

So you can see here that the first color I accessed was that bright cyan. So I start with that bright cyan and then bring in its “friends” in the form of analogous colors (shown below on the far left)

greens greys etc. THEN I know I want the characters to stand out against all the blue so I start laying down warm contrasting colors for them (middle group). the mat under them is orange, skin tones are warm, ryans flannel is red etc. then to get them to work together I work more cool colors into the shadows and slightly warmer (not too warm because its a cool img overall so in this case, greener LOL) colors into highlights. 

hope that makes sense? for me choosing colors is a lot about story and composition. If you know what you want to say, the mood you want to create, where you want to go, the path to get there becomes a lot clearer imo.

Have you ever considered making an art book?

I have! But I don’t think I currently have enough...original illustrations for one LOL? Not that an art book has to be all original work but if I were putting fanart in an art book...at that point I’d just make a fanzine. I’m making more original work lately though so maybe this year....? Who knows. For now, I do have a sketchbook up on gumroad. Hoping to do one of those next year too.

Any tips for keeping background drawings from getting super stiff, especially since things like interiors have a lot of straight lines?

This is a really interesting ask. Really great question that I don’t think gets asked enough - forgive me if I get a bit art school here but I drew up some examples.

First I think we have to investigate the assumption that straight lines make things stiff. That seems true on an instinctual level and certainly proves to be true very often But I don’t think its actually the straight lines themselves but the sort of arrangements and compositions they tend to dictate. Take this for instance.

pretty big difference, right? there’s a couple things that make a composition feel stiff and one of the most significant is lines that are perpendicular and parallel to the frame. it feels locked in and solid, like bricks. but the moment you shift these angles even a little the composition instantly becomes more dynamic because our innate senses of weight, gravity, and directionality can sense movement.

But it’s not just diagonals let’s take this one step further

when lines meet and terminate together those tangents can flatten and lock space so the best way to solve this is with overlap and complete intersection, forms continuing past or behind each other feel more layered and less like a flat mosaic... again, even in the simplest line drawings. So how do we apply this to a background?

ok I drew this really fast so its potentially not the best example but I think the idea is there. This space isn’t even particularly deep, it’s basically a room, a doorway, and a hallway behind it, and we’re not seeing that much of any of those things LOL. but when you draw an environmental object like a doorway in a way that lines up with the perpendicular and parallel lines of the canvas you’re automatically flattening it and making it look rigid.

and when you create tangents with objects and characters you flatten the space around them and make it difficult to tell what is actually in front or behind or if they’re on the same plane.

GOD I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE. Anyways. avoid those things and you’ll instantly have less stiff bgs no matter what kind of bg you’re depicting.

I wanna mention however that this isn’t to say a stiff bg with flat space doesn’t have its purposes.

sometimes you want to create parallels and tangents. it can make characters feel closed in, trapped, regimented, part of a routine, etc. it’s also great for making a composition look ornamental (especially combined with symmetry).

directors like wes anderson can even use these compositional elements to make images feel uncanny or harrowing! its very versatile. I think the important thing is to just be aware of when you are making something rigid and when that’s the last thing you want to do. conscious choices.

Can you speak Tagalog?

@lemuelzero101​ I can! BUT NOT VERY WELL LOL ;;; both my parents are from Visayas! but they met and had me in the states lol so I’m pretty American born and raised. We go back to visit family on occasion but not regularly. My tagalog is mostly absorbed from listening to relatives at parties lol and my parents speak bisaya at home so I’m marginally better at that. Sorry to any filipinos out there hoping I’d be better educated, I’m like a little baby...

I do love meeting and talking to other filipinos online though, I grew up in an area that was relatively diverse but the asian population was small and the filipino population basically non-existent. I was like one of maybe 2 filipino kids in my highschool of 2000.

Apart from infinity train what shows are you watching now? Have you seen jujitsu kaisen?

Man this is gonna sound so boring but I haven’t watched a lot of tv lately.  It’s not really part of my daily routine. Let’s see... I was sort of watching Amphibia, Craig of the Creek, and the new Digimon Adventure 2020 but I keep falling off watching those for one reason or another. Also there’s a lot of episodes, it doesn’t feel like something I can just binge and be done with.

The last thing I binged was Succession. I want that show and Euphoria back so bad, when I’m done forcing all my friends to watch Infinity Train im cancelling my HBO subscription until Succession and Euphoria return so they know exactly what I’m on their list for LOL. 

I have not watched jujitsu kaisen but I’ve kept up with some of the sakuga news (I keep up with anime industry news and production info like x5 the amt i keep up with actual anime) for it and their compositing/editing looks dope. I’ve read the manga actually LOL or at least part of the beginning. I wasn’t super keen on the whole finger eating thing. Also to be honest I kinda feel like its the new Bleach and I never particularly cared about Bleach. Characters look nice enough tho. I wholeheartedly support jjk fans.

Thank you! Thank you @keznodzieja​! <3

And thank you anons who don’t watch infinity train LOL...it’s always nice to hear when people enjoy my fanart despite not knowing the source material because it lifts a little bit of the “oh god am I being annoying???” fear off my chest. But also I think you should watch infinity train because it’s really good I have no reservations recommending it.

[uniarycode]

Takari Week 2021, Day 1 - Sibling Shenanigans.

Things have gotten too bad, Taichi and Yamato need an intervention. And if they pay close attention, they might learn something important.

Nah, who we kidding.

Written as part of @takariweek

In some ways, Yamato was Taichi’s closest friend. They had gone through hell and back together, forming an unbreakable bond.

That said, they had different tastes in music, TV, and basically anything. Taichi preferred to watch sports and anime, Yamato preferred dramas and cooking shows. Taichi flourished in the company of others, Yamato demurred in the presence of anyone he wasn’t familiar with.

But one pastime they could both agree on was a good old fashion round of Smash. Whenever it was just the two of them, they generally sat down, fired up the N64, and just let their preferred characters bash one out.

As they were doing until a few seconds ago when an unsightly banner obscured their view of the television. “intervention” was proudly displayed, with one ‘i’ dotted with the crest of courage and the other with the crest of friendship. The phrase was repeated in Japanese, just underneath, in case the translation caused them to miss the point.

Either end of the banner was affixed to a small wooden tripod, being gently lowered to the ground by a devious sibling.

“What’s going on?” Yamato grumbled, still mashing buttons on the control in hopes of gaining an edge. “And when did you even have time to make that?”

Hikari ignored the protestation “We’re here because we’re your family and we care about you. We hoped that time would heal this wound, but time is no longer on our side. You two will be going to college soon, and we need to break through to you before too late.”

“What are you talking about?” Taichi asked. “We were in the middle of something.”

“Smash can wait, we can’t keep putting this off.” She took a deep breath. “This may be hard to hear, but please understand, it needs to be said: You are atrocious when talking to girls.”

“What?”

“Look Taichi, you’ve already near exhausted all your high school options, if something doesn’t change, you’re going to end up alone and unloved, filling your apartment with pets for some form of companionship.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit dramatic?” he asked. She solemnly shook her head ‘No’ in response.

“Can I go?” Yamato cut in. “I have a girlfriend, if you remember. We’ve been dating for years now.”

“Yes, and she still calls me to rant about it after every date.” Takeru cut. “I can only clean up your messes for so long Yamato, you have to learn how to do it yourself. Or better yet, don’t make messes in the first place.”

“Ouch.” Taichi said, casting a sideways glance at his co-captive.

“You aren’t any better Taichi,” Hikari shot, “You had seven people and eight Digimon wingmaning you on a simple phone call, and you still managed to mess it up.”

This time it was Yamato who glanced at Taichi.

“Now.” Takeru said “The first thing you need to learn is observation. If you pay attention to someone and signal that you notice when something changes. This shows you care enough about the other person to actually look at them and remember what they looked like yesterday.”

He cleared his throat, “For example, if say, your girlfriend decides to style her hair differently, you should maybe compliment the style change, instead of being oblivious. Wouldn’t you say, Yamato?”

“It was one time.” Yamato grumbled.

“Perhaps a practical demonstration would be better.” Hikari said. “Oh, Takeru, Honey, sorry I’m late, the train was delayed.”

“Don’t worry about it Babe, I’m just glad you’re here. Hey is that a new ring?”

“Why yes, thank you for noticing,” she said, bringing her hands up and giving the ring a twirl. “my BFF got it for me as an end-of-middle school present.”

“Ahh, I could tell it was someone close to you, that’s your birthstone on top right?”

“Yep.”

Takeru turned back towards his unwillingly captive audience. “See how I not only noticed the ring, remarked upon it, but also showed I remember her birth date.”

Taichi looked across at Yamato, “Do you know any of the birthstones?” A shrug was the only answer.

“You may think observation is only for what you can see, but it’s deeper than that. Any piece of information falls under observation, and if you like a girl, you will do your best to remember anything you learn about her.” Hikari said.

“Observation is really important, right Hikari?” Takeru asked.

“Very, but knowing everything can’t help if you don’t know how to use it. Which brings us to lesson two.”

“Is this whole thing just a ploy for your sister to practice being a teacher?” Yamato muttered.

“Tact!” Hikari and Takeru declared in unison.

“Tact is pretty tricky. You mostly define it by what not to do. Like not being a dumbass.” Takeru said.

“True, tact can be hard to see when done well. It’s basically about avoiding the obvious traps. For example, when calling a girl whose Maine coon died recently, you should maybe try and avoid mentions about that dead cat, unless she needs to vent. Isn’t that right, Taichi?”

“That was one time.” He protested.

“Right, right, a demonstration?” Takeru asked, pulling a magazine out from behind his back, and pretending to flip through the pages.

“Oh Honey, there you are.” Hikari said looking him up and down. She paused for a few seconds, then pulled lightly on his arm. “Say, I hear there’s a Harry Potter-themed escape room running these days, how about we go there on our next date.”

Takeru put the magazine down “Oh, what’s that? Thanks Babe.” he asked.

Hikari turned back towards the couch. “Notice how I observed the story about his favorite basketball star being caught in a scandal, and deflected toward other interests, instead of stepping on that land mine.”

“How would we even think to notice that?” Yamato grumbled.

“With observation of course.” Takeru replied. “Notice everything, even the things that aren’t being conveyed directly.”

“Being perfect might work for you Takeru, but some of us are human.” Taichi said.

“Oh, I’m hardly the only guy with a girlfriend. You just have to put some effort in.” Takeru said, “Which is as good a segue as any to topic three: Compliments.”

“I know how to give a compliment.” Taichi said.

“Do you?” Hikari asked. “So if you were at the beach with say Sora, or Mimi, or Meiko, you would be able to properly compliment their swimsuits?”

“One time!” Yamato and Taichi yelled together.

“And yet three failures. Pretty poor performance when you think about it.” Takeru said.

“Compliments can be tricky; they require you to combine the previous two skills. You need to observe someone so the compliment makes sense, but you also need tact. Something that’s a compliment to one person may be a touchy subject to another.” Hikari explained.

“Especially when it comes to appearance and body parts,” Takeru said, “and you don’t want to get too accustomed to your compliments either, keep them fresh and exciting.”

“It’s amazing isn’t it Taichi?” Yamato asked.

“So many words and I don’t think they said anything.” He agreed.

“Perhaps the demonstration then.” Takeru said, turning to his partner. “Hikari, I saw you reading to some of the elementary students today, boy am I lucky to have such a kind girlfriend.”

“Don’t mention it. I enjoy it, and I like to think they did too. Say, can you open this jar for me? It should be easy for a strong man like you.” Hikari said.

Takeru mimed grabbing and opening a jar. “Anything for you Babe, say, is that a new shirt, you look positively radiant today.”

Hikari raised her hand to cover her giggle, “I’m so glad I have such a funny boyfriend. You know this is the school uniform, I’ve been wearing it for almost three years now.”

“Huh, you’re right. I guess I never noticed, every time I look at you I can’t help but be overwhelmed by those pools of milky hazel, whenever I see them, my troubles float away and I feel like I have the strength of a thousand men. I could spend hours just staring into those wells of pure emotion.”

“I, uh, uhh, I like your eyes too?”

Takeru let out a large laugh and the pair turned back to the couch to find it no longer occupied.

“That’s no good. They’ll never learn like this.” Takeru admonished

Hikari raised her hands again, twirling the promise ring on her finger. “Do you think they noticed?” she asked.

“Them? No way.” Takeru replied, “but that’s what makes it fun. See how long it takes before they catch on.”

“What if someone else tells them we’re dating first?”

Takeru shrugged, “Just say we already told them, they just weren’t paying enough attention.”

[sloanerisette]

Jyoumi Challenge 2021 Day #1: Jelly Beans

Ok we’re here and we’re starting! Big thanks to @jyoumifeels for putting this together and for letting me help with some of the prompts! I’m going to try my hardest to get all 30 down like last year, one a day, each day!

Gotta give all my love and creative energy to my favorite Digimon ship this month, and there’s gonna be plenty of stuff I have in mind, so I hope y’all are looking forward to it! We’re starting with something fun!

---

“I appreciate the help, Mimi, but don’t you think this a bit… childish?”

Joe stared at Mimi with a furrowed brow as she opened up yet another small bag of jelly beans and poured it on the table they sat at. There had to be at least three bags worth there now, and as various students passed by, each had a more confused expression than the last.

“Hmm?” Mimi tilted her head curiously as she looked at him with big eyes, batting her eyelashes as if nothing was amiss.

“All the jelly beans. I mean…” he trailed off, before leaning forward, “Everyone is looking.”

“And?” she asked, mouth turning to a frown as she pouted her lower lip.

“Well, uh…”

Joe blinked a few times, unsure of how to respond, especially with how much Mimi was taking this all in stride. There they were, at Tokyo University’s library, with numerous books and flash cards scattered in front of the two of them as they sat across from each other, while the large pile of jelly beans remained there, now missing one that Mimi had popped in her mouth, chewing it with a smile on her face.

Joe’s eyes looked at his girlfriend’s lips, before slowly trailing down to the pile on the table. Slowly, he started to reach for a red jelly bean, but was stopped by Mimi’s hand suddenly in his.

Joe blinked again as he looked at their now linked hands just barely above the mess of candy, Mimi lightly squeezing his hand.

“Uh uh, no cheating, Joe, you know the rules,” she teased sweetly, running her thumb gently along the back of his hand.

“Not even one?” he asked with a frown. Mimi kept her smile up and shook her head.

“Nope! Not until you answer a question correctly,” she nodded.

Joe let out a sigh, his eyes looking towards the jelly beans yet again. Studying was rarely fun, especially when it came to anything for medical school, and though he hadn’t been entirely sure when Mimi offered to help him study, he figured at the least it would help him avoid falling asleep at his desk while going between practice tests. Maybe flash cards wasn’t the most effective use of studying time, but Mimi insisted she would help provide the proper incentive to make the best of the time they had together.

He certainly hadn’t expected jelly beans to be the answer she came up with, but the inkling of a sweet tooth he had was definitely starting to crave the tiny candies. His free hand gently tapped a finger against the table for a few moments. With a soft sigh, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling, squeezing Mimi’s hand back, before he let go, folding his hands together in front of him.

Mimi couldn’t help but keep her smile up, just about vibrating in her seat with excitement at helping Joe. It wasn’t always easy to help him given how out of her depth she was when it came to most things academic— especially Joe’s focus on medicine— but she was always determined to do what she could, even if he argued otherwise at times. She took the mess of index cards that lay next to her and started to shuffle them up, catching how he looked down towards the jelly beans again.

Ok, she had been a little hard on him a moment ago, she could give him a softball just so she didn’t have to watch him look at those jelly beans so sadly. She had finished shuffling and cleared her throat, crossing her legs at the ankle under the table and sitting up straighter. The young woman shot him a mischievous smirk, unable to stop herself from waggling her eyebrows.

“What is known as the powerhouse of the cell?” she asked. Joe’s jaw dropped slightly as he looked at her in confusion.

“…What?”

“That’s not the answer,” Mimi hummed, wholly satisfied by how she had caught him off-guard. It was the only thing she remembered from her science classes and she was glad that it somehow was managing to pay off.

Joe started to sputter incoherently for a moment, adjusting his glasses as he tried to collect himself.

“T-The mitochondria.”

The words spilled from his lips clumsily, which Mimi couldn’t help but find adorable as ever. She nodded quickly.

“Good job, sweetie! You’ve just earned a jelly bean.”

Joe’s eyes scanned the table for a moment before he found the red one he sought earlier, picking it up carefully and popping it in his mouth.

“I’m pretty sure that isn’t one of the questions I put down,” he said, covering his mouth with a hand while he chewed.

“You wanted that jelly bean so bad I couldn’t help but take it easy on you,” she teased.

Joe ducked his head sheepishly, though when he brought his hand down, he couldn’t hide the smile on his face, and Mimi knew that was a job well done.

“Ok, ok, I’ll give you a real question now,” she said with an exaggerated sigh, snickering after. However, as she went to look at the first flash card, she couldn’t stop herself from frowning a touch. The brunette couldn’t even begin to think off the top of her head how to even pronounce some of these words. Not to mention some of these formulas and medications they talked about and all the intricacies…

It took a few moments to shuffle to find a card that seemed manageable enough to start at, and soon enough she was reading off the question to a Joe Kido who was intently listening and focused in.

“…The abdominal organ most likely to be injured by the fracture is the?” she asked, eyes fluttering up from the little index card to her boyfriend.

Joe’s brow furrowed in thought for a moment, mouth scrunched up, before he finally snapped his fingers.

“The spleen, right?”

“Let’s see…” she mumbled, turning it over, the wide smile that grew onto her face immediately indicative of the answer. “Good job!” she clapped gently, then pointed to the pile.

“You can take another jelly bean.”

Without hesitation, Joe grabbed a green jelly bean from the pile and immediately popped it in his mouth.

“You know, at this rate, I’m going to need to answer a lot of questions…” he mused. After he spoke, Mimi reached out for a jelly bean herself.

“Well, maybe I’ll take one, too,” she said, “Can’t let them go to waste!”

Joe chuckled softly and nodded along, “Yeah, yeah you’re right, it would be a waste.”

“Thank you,” she grinned, “Ok, next question! The… sternocostal surface of the heart is formed primarily by the… anterior wall of which heart chamber?”

“The right ventricle,” he said, and as soon as Mimi checked the back of the card she nodded.

“Great job!” she chirped, and they both reached out to grab another jelly bean, fingers grazing each other, causing Joe to let out a soft sound of surprise, and in his hesitation, Mimi scooped up the jelly bean they had both been after.

“Hey!”

“Gotta be quicker,” Mimi shot back just as quickly, throwing a wink his way. Joe took a bit of time deliberating on which one to pick up next, before settling on another red one.

While mid-chew, Joe went from looking down at his notes to looking at Mimi.

“Thanks for the help with studying,” he smiled.

“And for the jelly beans?” Mimi asked teasingly.

Another soft laugh bubbled from Joe’s lips as he quickly swiped up another jelly bean for himself.

“And for the jelly beans.”

[hitory--chan]

SasuHina Month 2021

Day 1: The beginning of us

Of playdates and dinosaur cookies

 Sasuke bit his lower lip, feeling shy for the first time in his short life.

 His eyes roamed the entire landscape in front of him, but they fervently avoided looking to his right side, fearful that if he did, then he might never look away again.

 That´s was what his older brother told him would happen if he did, and Sasuke, barely a seven years old boy, was terrified just thinking he would spend the rest of his life feeling the whirlwind in his tummy, the warmth of his face and the tickling sensation in his throat that told him he would throw up at any moment just by looking at his new neighbor.

 Instead he looked at Itachi, his seventeen-year-old older brother, who was sitting across from him as he talked animatedly to the girl's caretaker beside him about things he couldn't understand and didn't seem to match the rhythm of his lips.

 The four of them were at the park, sitting at a picnic table taking a break from the playdate that the older ones arranged for the two youngers who were now having a snack before going back to play each for their part, like they had been doing it for an hour.

 That day when both couples met, Sasuke had refused to let go Itachi´s leg, hiding his face in the fabric of his brother´s pants to avoid looking at them and let out a furious blow on the older's thigh when he heard him laugh with Kö - as he learned the man's name was - after Hinata - that's what she was called - asked them if his tummy hurt.

When Itachi and Kö left them in the middle of the playground to sit and watch them from a distance, Sasuke had done his best to avoid looking at Hinata, feeling inexplicably annoyed when she stopped trying to talk to him about what they should play.

 But now it was difficult because they were sitting together and there were a lot of interesting noises that caught his attention but he couldn't look for where they were coming from, because if he did, he would have to turn to Hinata’s direction and he would undoubtedly look at her.

 He couldn't allow that.

 So he keep eating the dinosaur cookies he´d brought especially for this occasion, feeling his tongue dry after putting a Pterodactyl, a Stegosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus Rex in his mouth at the same time, so he reached for the apple juice box he'd left on the table with one hand, but he squealed in surprise when his fingers collided with others as small as his, and before even think about it, he turned his head and froze when his gaze locked onto the pale eyes of the girl.

 A few seconds went through in complete silence, until he began to cry.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

 He didn't speak to her until they were both twelve years old.

 Honestly, it hadn't been his intention, the words that were hovering in his head had simply left his mouth without any warning.

 "Digimon is better than Pokémon"

 She looked at him in horror, as if he had just said the worst insult that could be said to a person, clutching the strap of the Jigglypuff crossbody bag in her hands.

 He bit his tongue and instantly turned away from the metal fence that separated his house from the rest of the world, determined to walk back inside his house and put his face in the first bucket of water he could find, but before he took a third step he heard her speak.

 "D-Digimon is a copy of Pokémon"

 He slowly turned around, feeling personally insulted.

 They both began to have a heated discussion about why one show was better than the other, launching arguments and counter arguments that were moved to the living room of his house after he invited her in to continue arguing while they ate cookies and drank lemonade as an Itachi´s courtesy, who simply walked into the room and put the refreshments in front of them when they were organizing a schedule in which they would watch both series together to showoff which one was the best.

  .*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Only a year later he realized, with the help of his brother, that he might be in love with her.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

At fifteen he took her hand for the first time.

 It happened while leaving school.

 He was walking a few steps behind Hinata when some older boys, seniors, approached and started harassing her.

 Like everyone in his class, puberty had caught up with Hinata.

 But while the other girls in his grade had barely defined their waists or their breasts just started to grow, Hinata had had to adjust her clothes and change bra sizes at least half a dozen times.

 And those changes certainly caught the attention of the boys at school and men on the street, who didn't care if she was still wearing her Togepi-themed stockings or the sheer number of pokemon-faced pins in her backpack, instead of stopping them, they actually seemed it cute and reason enough to try more insistently.

 Sasuke was bothered by that, but he didn't interfere because he believed she should be brave enough to stop them herself.

 Well, that changed when he saw how they tried to pull up her skirt.

 With a sudden wave of fury and taking advantage of his recently developed high -average stature for boys his age- in addition to his robust body, he walked faster, pushing the boy who was most actively teasing her aside and grabbing her hand to move her away with fast steps from that place.

 He only stopped when they arrived to the park and nearly collided with the ice cream man, just realizing her fingers had slipped between his and closed around. He squeezed her hand and stroked with his thumb as best he could in an attempt to comfort her when she rested her forehead against his shoulder, preventing him from seeing her face.

 She mumbled something and he laughed, motioning for the ice cream man to come over them, letting her choose the most ridiculously large and expensive ice cream that this ice cream man could offer.

 Later when they returned home, they watched a Pokemon marathon even though it was supposed to be Digimon's turn, as they had christened Fridays years ago.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Several weeks later, when she was no longer emotionally sensitive about what happened on that occasion, he confessed to her.

 To his surprise, she did not reject him.

 They started dating.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The first time they had sex, it was the night of the prom, which neither of them wanted to attend.

 They were seventeen years old, but they both felt ready to take that step in their relationship.

 And, well, they hadn't planned on doing it on that particular night.

 Instead of going to the prom, they preferred to celebrate on their own by going on a date to the ice-skating rink in the center of town. He fell a lot, he wasn't afraid to admit it, he had humbly accepted his legendary inability to handle any kind of rollerblades that might exist, but ice-skating was one of Hinata's favorite activities, and he would sacrifice his butt any day as long as he could watch her laugh happily while trying to teach him to skate.

 When they were finally exhausted they went out to eat and then decided to walk home in the cloudy night, ignoring the thunder that warned of the impending storm.

 They were close when it started raining loudly, drenching them from head to toe hopelessly before reaching Sasuke's door and entered the house, where they were all alone.

 They went straight to Sasuke's room. He pulled her towel over her head and began to dry her hair while Hinata took off her coat and helped him get rid of his. They hugged for a moment as they looked into each other's eyes, the space between them disappearing as their lips met.

 But the defining step was taken by Hinata, who pushed him onto the bed to sit and then climbed on top of him, kissing him again as she worked to remove her blouse and unbutton his pants.

 That night the cold parts of his body began to heat up with the touches they gave each other as they fused into one.

  .*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

 Having a long distance relationship was difficult, people always said it but they did not believe their relationship was so fragile that they could not bear a few kilometers between them.

 But being in universities so far apart from each other proved to be a more difficult challenge than they could bear. They were barely twenty and twenty-one years old, adulthood was still very young for both of them, and the process of adjusting to this new life was proving more complicated than they had ever thought.

 He didn't notice the decline in his relationship with Hinata until it was too late, but looking back, there was no other possible outcome.

 The first few months there were many love calls, talking almost every night until one of the two could not carry on anymore. But the further the semester progressed, the more difficult it was to talk, the calls went from being daily to inter-daily, then only on weekends.

 One call a week, one every fortnight or once a month.

 When they talked… well, they didn't talk, they argued.

 They argued over trifles or jealousy until one of them couldn't take it anymore and hanged up the phone without any warning.

 Then it happened.

 "I think we should break up"

 Sasuke was livid upon hearing that.

 His brain stopped registering the other words she said through the loudspeaker, and instead it repeated them cruelly over and over again, mocking him.

 I think we should break up.

 We should break up.

 Break up.

 He did not say anything and pressed the red button on his cell phone, wasted no time and blocked her contact from both his phone and any social network they might have in common and then threw the device against the wall, destroying it in one fell swoop.

 He didn't sleep an eye that night, not the night after or the night after that.

 And when he finally got to sleep, he dreamed of her.

  .*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

 Now Sasuke is twenty-six years old, he had finished his studies two years ago and returned to his hometown, got a good job and paid for his own apartment where he lived comfortably.

 Hinata hadn't come back, not even for the holidays.

 Kö had told him that she had stayed to do a specialty, that she was fine and happy. He wanted to see it for himself.

 So he looked for her on networks just to remember that he had blocked her, so he unlocked her phone number- which he had never deleted, and even if he had, it would not be a problem, since he remembered every digit of her number - and he unblocked her from Instagram, her Facebook was gone, it seems she had deleted her account.

 On Instagram there was nothing new, the last photo published had been three years ago, and reviewing the previous publications he noticed she hadn’t deleted the pictures both of them were together.

 He tried calling her only to find out she had changed her number, and that the one he was calling now belonged to an older man with a severe cough problem.

 He didn't try anymore, there was nothing more to try.

 He had to focus on the present.

 He is now a lawyer, the uncle of three little terrors whom he loved with all his soul even though he constantly complained about how loud they were.

 Soon they would be staying at his house to take care of them while Itachi and his wife went to another city to finish the transmissions for the adoption of a fourth child, the second that was not biologically theirs.

 That's why he was at his childhood convenience store, the only one that still sold the dinosaur cookies that had him so obsessed as a child, which his nephews absolutely loved and demanded every time they visited.

 He paid for a large quantity of them and thanked the clerk, opening one of the cookie packages for him as he turned to leave.

 The automatic door opened and someone rushed in, bumping into him and knocking the cookies onto the floor. He was about to insult them, but that person beat him to it.

 "I am so sorry! I'll pay for the cookies”

 He froze, recognizing that voice instantly.

 "Hinata?"

 "Sasuke?"

 His black eyes met her clear ones and the little breath that had remained inside was expelled from him. After years without seeing her, she still seemed like the girl - woman, he corrected himself - more beautiful his eyes had had the privilege of resting on.

 "It's been a while"

 He wanted to kick himself for commenting on the obvious; instead he bit down hard on the inside his cheek in the sneakiest way possible.

 "Yes ... quite ..." she looked at the floor and so did he, where the cookies had already beaten the five second rule more than a minute ago "I'm sorry again for your cookies" she said, this time with a little humor in her voice.

 "No problem, I have more" he replied, raising the bag in his hand, emphasizing his words with that action.

 Silence fell between them, uncomfortable as it had been in his youth when he had refused to speak to her during all those play dates Itachi had made for him without asking, but the lack of words or active movement allowed him to observe her more closely, listing all of the characteristics that had changed during those years without seeing her.

 Her plump cheeks were no longer as prominent, giving her face a more pronounced shape. Her eyes were still large and expressive, but even in the poor light of that establishment he could make out the darkened skin under her eyes. Hadn't she been sleeping properly? Was she working too hard? It had also seemed she had grown a little more, or perhaps he had shrunk, he was only sure that she did not reach the tip of his nose before. He couldn't tell from her baggy clothes - old habits hardly die - but she was probably thinner than before if her face was any indication of it.

 Before he could continue searching for the differences between the her of the past and the present, the door opened again and they were both forced to move to make way for whoever came in.

 "It was good to see you, Sasuke" she said and he could see the sincerity that was expressed on her face at her words. It was a goodbye, he knew it, and the storm raged inside of him as she walked around and past him, beginning to move away from him.

 It was a full-blown impulse when he leaned back and grabbed her arm, sliding his hand quickly towards hers noting the lack of any jewels that could make him reconsider his actions, secretly grateful for the lack of any kind of rings.

 "I know a place," he started, his brain working a mile for minute searching for the right words to say "It's near here and they serve decent food, maybe we should go there to catch up?" he said, increasingly unsure of his own voice and ending in a question, something uncharacteristic of his usually blunt attitude.

 Instead of answering immediately, Hinata looked at him searching for something that he couldn't even guess what it was. Maybe he was wrong and she was with someone? Maybe she was looking for better words to reject him, she was that considerate.

 He tried to lower his hopes, but it was difficult when her own hand closed momentarily around his before releasing it again, perhaps it had just been a small spasm, nothing intentional.

 But when she smiled and her hand closed again, the weight of his shoulders and the nervousness of his body disappeared, being replaced with relief when she said...

 "Lead the way"

[melisusthewee]

Writing Tag Game

This took me by surprise!  Thank you @cleverblackcat @morganlefaye79 and @noire-pandora for tagging me!  I’m sorry my answers are going to be underwhelming lol.

1.  How many works do you have on AO3?

Only 6.  There used to be 7, but I orphaned one for another fandom once I decided to start using my account to serious dive back into fanfic.

2.  What’s your total AO3 word count?

11,223 words

3. What are you top 5 fics by kudos?

Anchor: 11 Impetus: 10 A Mage Would Be Far Less Trouble: 3 Ostagar Gothic: 2 The Brothers Trevelyan: 2

4. Do you respond to comments?  Why or why not?

Absolutely.  I know how much time it takes to stop, read, and leave a comment.  And I don’t get very many so I very much treasure the ones that I do get.  So I respond to every single one, even if it’s just to say thank you as I want the person who left feedback know that taking the time to do so meant a lot to me.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I’ve not published it to AO3, but my Qunari War AU has plenty of angst and most pieces I’ve completed for it don’t have any satisfactory or happy ending to them.  I’m aiming for bittersweet if I ever finish and publish it.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

From my published pieces?  Maybe “Anchor”.  It’s not exactly happy, but it ends on a hopeful note.  For unpublished/WIP pieces, it’s going to be my 10-part Alistair fic which I will finish one of these days as it ends with a reunion that my goal is to make the readers ache to see.

7. Do you write crossovers?  If so, what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Years ago, I plotted out and started to write an entire season of Doctor Who with a friend.  One episode involved a Transformers crossover where the TARDIS came into contact with the All Spark and became... well... a Transformer.  It was actually a lot better than I’m making it sound!

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No.  I have gotten comments from folks though that seem really... forced.  Like they’re only reading out of obligation and clearly didn’t actually read the thing but are just making something up.  Fortunately, I’m insignificant enough that I don’t attract trolls or anything.

9.  Do you write smut?  If so, what kind?

I have on occasion, but not regularly.  The smut that I have written can best be described as Porn With Feelings.  It’s not easy, and sometimes it feels a bit formulaic, but people love it so who am I to complain?

10.  Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not stolen, but I have been plagiarized in the past - within the Dragon Age fandom too - which is why I’m still on the more hesitant side of publishing things.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.  I didn’t know there was an audience for that sort of thing, but it would definitely be an honour.

12.  Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Back in high school, me and my best friend would co-write fanfics together.  The two of us worked extremely well together and it was a lot of fun.  I don’t know if I could do so now though as I feel I have a very distinct voice when writing.

13.  What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Alistair/Cousland and I am not sorry.

14.  What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

On the one hand, I feel like my Alistair/Warden fic “In My Arms Lies Eternity” is never going to finish... but I at least know where I’m going with it, I just have to focus on getting it done.  I’m probably never going to get my Qunari War AU off the ground though.  It’s mostly just a series of headcanons and scenes and isn’t enough to be a properly paced fic.  Not to mention I’m going to have to probably rework a whole crapload of stuff when DA4 comes out.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Narrative voice, I think.  I always try to make the narrator a character in and of themselves and so try to have the narrative tone and voice reflect whichever character’s POV I’m writing.

16.  What are you writing weaknesses?

I abuse commas, semi-colons, and italics - particularly when writing dialogue as I rely too much on them to tell the audience exactly the sort of emphasis in the line delivery that plays out in my head.

17.  What are your thoughts one writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Well, with Dragon Age, most of the languages aren’t fully formed linguistically languages.  So it’s really difficult to write out anything significant (unless I throw in some French for Orlesian).  As such, I try to avoid writing out anything other than a word here and there - usually if a character is cursing or in the case of Qunlat to describe or call someone something that doesn’t have a proper equivalent translation in Common.  But I try to dance around it, either by having the point of view character simply not understand the language and describe it as such, or if it’s a language the point of view character speaks and understands then there’s no need to write it out or translate it because we’re understanding things the way they are.

18.  What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Digimon Adventure.  I was 12 and it was bad.  Harry Potter was the first fandom I wrote actual good fic for.

19.  What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

The Alistair/Cousland fic I’m working on is basically a culmination of the first several years of developing a character and headcanon.  Part of why it’s been in progress for so long and hasn’t been finished and published yet is I’ve been working hard to make sure it’s my best stuff.

It’s late in the day, so almost everyone has been tagged at this point!  So I tag @inquisitoracorn @rosella-writes and @ronqueesha

[ahiddenpath]

My Projects/To-Do List

Chatter about stuff I wanna work on and where I am on the stuff I AM working on :D  More beneath the cut!

Puits d’Amour

There are currently seven remaining written updates for Puits d’Amour.  Of those, I still have two left to edit/complete between chapter updates.  However, I realized I want to add an update after the next one, so I will spend the next month making sure that is ready (I have four weeks before it would be time to post that).  So that’s... eight updates, or sixteen weeks of posting every other week, which takes us out to... early July.

It shouldn’t take me too much longer to finish editing, maybe two months?  But I am also really low on art made during campdigimonth2022, meaning I’ll be drawing a lot in the upcoming weeks.  Part of me is intimidated- I’m not much of an artist- but part of me is excited to draw the entire Adventure/02 cast, plus some characters I haven’t worked with before, like Wallace/Meiko/Osamu.  I can’t wait to make a master list with links to all the art!

So basically, updates will all be Puits d’Amour until July.  This is not the end of the story; it’s just the end of the material I wrote during Nanowrimo2021.  At this point, I’ll have to figure out what I’m doing next.

Ideas for what I’ll post next

A lot will depend on how I’m feeling in July!  I might continue PdA, or I might go back to TIL.  Those are the most likely things.  FY also remains open, but when I launched TIL, I meant to write and post in movie-based chunks.  I left Ketsui unfinished, so I would like to close out that movie before moving on to something else.  Also, as the person hosting Koushiro week 2022, I do want to have something written about him for that, so that’s circling my brain, too.

Other Ideas/Projects

Every now and then, I like to post a laundry list of projects I want to work on.  Here’s what’s in my orbit now:

-Developing the Camp Digimonth Discord and blog

So it turns out that folks enjoyed the Camp Digimonth discord and create-together atmosphere.  I don’t know much about Discord, but apparently most of the servers are based on specific seasons/characters/ships, which means that a lot of people are left out if they aren’t into that specific thing.  There’s special alchemy to combining the following: a place for all digimon content, a creation-oriented environment, and a place where folks generally know one another to some degree via the Tumblr community.

I’ve been trying to think of ways to keep the community content-creation vibe going!  It can’t be an eternal event, because everyone should have a chance for their events.  But if the bulk of goings-on is on discord, then we can avoid stepping on toes on Tumblr.  

That’s where we are now, working together to figure out how to best use the Discord.  For now, it’s limited to the original Campdigimonth crew while we figure out what it is we want to do, but eventually, we will likely offer invites to interested folks! 

-Koushiro Week 2022

I’ve scheduled Koushiro week!  I’d like to have the Tumblr up and the prompts written and available for circulation to Koushiro fans for further suggestions by the end of April.

I’m also considering reserving a single day of Koushiro week for a specific purpose.  Most of us Tumblr content creators are adults, with lots going on.  It’s really difficult to be ready for events.  That’s why I want to reserve a day of Koushiro week for reblogging your own existing Koushiro content (not anyone else’s, just yours).  Another idea is Koushiro recs- a day to recommend your fave Koushiro fics/meta/art!  I’m hoping that everyone can feel included with these days (maybe the same day for both old content and content recs).  Folks shouldn’t be left out because we’re adults with busy lives.  Koushiro for everyone, lol!  (AS IT SHOULD BE).

-Book Binding

Making my first book was so satisfying, I’m hooked!  My next book binding project will be a repeat of After August, but first, I want to read the existing physical book, then ship it off to its new home.

The problem is that I wanna make ALL OF MY FICS books- but I need to edit first, and editing takes more time than the initial drafting!  So this process is going to take literal years.  I really want to make Growing Up with You.  Can you even imagine it, book one with Mitty’s art?!  MY HEART!  I would cry.  No really, I would cry.

But honestly, prepping fics for book binding is more of a project than the actual... book binding part, so don’t expect anything soon.

-Stickers/Prints

I can make stickers and prints now!  I really want to make a sticker of the cover art for TIL! 

-Digimon Tarot

The Chosen as Major Arcana Tarot Cards is one of my all time favorite projects.  Now that I have access to a high end printer, I’ve been thinking more seriously about drawing art for my tarot card selections.  The trouble is that I mainly draw simple hips up portraits, lol!  And 22 illustrations for the Major Arcana is already a lot, and that doesn’t even touch on the remaining 56 cards (although you can substitute for ace through 10 of Cups/Wands/Swords/Pentacles using an ordinary deck of cards, and you also have jack/queen/king, at which point you need to create page or knight cards of each suit, depending on what you decide the jack is).  

I don’t have the skill to make this work, but maybe if I keep practicing drawing...

I love tarot, check out this video I made about my decks!

-Original Stories

Do you remember Tales of REM?  They’re a collection of ideas for stories based on dreams.  I have a lot more that aren’t listed.  

Unfortunately, I’ve more or less decided not to write them as fanfics (although I might toss up the one I’ve already written and have been sitting on for years).  The last time I wrote a story based on a dream, I had the sense that folks were confused/disappointed that it wasn’t like my normal stuff (it was a crackfic, lol).  I think my time would be better spent turning them into original stories.  

I’ve never really considered publishing before, and I’m not saying that I think I can just... put some stuff together and be successful, lol!  But I do think I could write a book.  If it’s just for me, fine.  If I buy an ISBN# and publish it digitally, fine.  In fact, I’m dubious of traditional publishing, because the author loses most of their control over their work via that route.

But, um, as someone who is sitting on...  1.4 million archived words on FFN, uh, yeah.  I can Book.  I am capable of Book, many times over.  What a strange thought!

I honestly think that holding the printed and bound copy of After August kind of... made this concept real to me.  I write books.  I have written actual piles of complete books, they’re just digital and unsuitable for publishing, as fanworks.  

I’m a book witch.  I create on a mysterious digital plane, then conjure those creations into the physical world.

What a thought!  What a power!  What a gift.  I’m in awe of creation, however small.

-Upcoming fanfics

Nothing, except for the rare oneshot/short story for events, particularly Koushiro’s event in October.  I need to complete something first.

That’s what is in my heart and mind!  Are any of these things particularly interesting to you?  I hope you are all well and creating, if that is your jam <3

[digimonloving]

Thank you for your hard work! Let's imagine a situation where human world and the digital world work together. Royal Knights are big celebrities in the human world. Which knights do you think would embrace their human fans most eagerly?

Crusadermon would be the one who would actively take it all in, as much as he initially HATED it... he's truly grown to adore the attention he gets from his fans and shows off for them any chance he's allowed to now.

Duftmon embraces it, but actively avoids meeting his fans. IF it happens randomly, he won't have much to argue with, he'll do photos but it's always a hit or miss for a request from his fans. He just can't keep up with the humans, he has other things he has to do.

Dynasmon completely blanks on his fans, and is mostly one who knows they are there, but he doesn't do much to actively interact with them. He appreciates the praises they give him, but that's about it for him. Usually attends things with Crusadermon, so a lot of their fans are mixed as well...

Gallantmon is a bit flustered over the attention he gets, and any time he meets a fan of his he bows and thanks them. He loves taking photos with those that are his fans, and if one asks him at any point, so long as he's not trying to rush somewhere, he'll actually talk with them and be in their company for a bit.

Gankoomon embraces it GREATLY. He would adore meeting his fans, and he'd even love to help train some of them in his own way. He tries to avoid doing anything extreme, since they're not exactly Digimon of sorts so it's... a bit rough. But he loves the attention and being looked at like the savior he can be when he's called to action.

Sleipmon both enjoys the attention of fans, but he also has far too little time to really interact with them. He doesn't mind them one bit! Though he feels bad he hardly has time to talk with them or interact when he's rushing all over the place -- even if he's one of the two fastest Royal Knights.

Omnimon gets flustered as well over the attention. He tries to hide the feeling, but it can show with how he interacts with his fans should he have a small run-in with them. He tries to make everyone as happy as he can, so long as he's not having to rush to take care f an issue.

Magnamon would embrace his fans with open arms near constantly once he realized he had them! He'd do constant meet and greets and would pose for pictures for them and with them and would do everything he could for his fans! He'd be incredibly open with them.

UlforceVeedramon is much like Sleipmon, though he manages to find small amounts of time where he can relax and see what his fans really think f him. He does his best to aid those around, Digimon and human like, so he tries to at least see how they are doing when time allows.

Craniamon... spaces out on fans. He is aware that the humans have taken to look at the Royal Knights like celebrities, but Craniamon has work he has to do. He will interact if he has time, but other than that he highly keeps to himself as he only has the focus of his work in keeping the world safe.

Jesmon doesn't... quite know how to handle the fans? He is a bit surprised he has them and gets overwhelmed by them. He looks to Gankoomon for what he should do, and as much as the other just tells him he should really embrace it, he tries to do it but always has a slight fear he might accidentally harm one of them.

Examon hardly notices. He knows that he might have some humans that admire him in a way, but he doesn't quite take to it all as much as the other Royal Knights do.

Alphamon is a Digimon who keeps to themself. So, they would rather not have quite a big crowd of people who were his fans... but if there were a few out there, he would secretly like it, but would never do anything to truly meet them, sadly.