#someya tae

[lilac-melody]

Fantasia LOVE&KISS Novel Masterlist

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Epilogue

[deus-ex-mona]

h e l p not yujiro’s twig legs—

[toranekooo]

hai :3 ambrose directed me to you so. please tell me about lip/hiyo i love drama and discourse so much (non forcing btw)

みなさん、おはこんばんちわ !! my name is ess but u can call me vyn, maiko or secchan~ and i will be your announcer for today <3 ! today we will be discussing why i dislike lip/hiyo ! this is gonna contain a lot of buffers so i dont get caught up in the tags or the search results so um. im sorry if its a pain to read. please be warned these are MOSTLY personal opinions and i don't intend on infringing on ppl who do ship it. i do not care. simply DONT tag my shit as it and we're good ^_^ except ppl dont listen and i find it fucking annoying so. here's a full blown explanation i guess

first ! lip.hiyo is a ship between hi.yori su.zumi and the members of lipx.lip ai.zo and yu.jiro . hiyo/ri is their manager and she's a girl from the countryside who moved to tokyo to study and work on becoming a track and field athelete . lipx/lip are themselves. their relationship in canon is. friends at best. something else at worst. being the little shits they are, lip/lip are nothing short of assholes to hiyo.ri for the majority of their earlier canon interactions. she states multiple times in her stories that they make her feel stupid. while i do think they respect and care for each other as coworkers, i still dislike how they treat her as a person, especially how they put down her feelings. before and after her.oiku where hiyo.ri undergoes a transformation courtesy of lx.l dressing her up so she can confess to another member of the idol series, asu.ka kai.do (discontinued due to the collaborative project ending) — they continue to tell her that had it not been for the pretty dress or the makeup, she wouldn't be worthy of being called a heroine. she wouldn't be a "girl" in their eyes. which is where a lot of the ships stem from.

but wait! you're probably asking yourself, or well, me: "secchan-sensei! lipx.lip bully each other a whole damn lot too! they bicker and they insult each other! wouldn't this put shipping them in the same category as lp/hy?" excellent question! while i understand why people can perceive it similarly, there is one big difference. the idols and hiyori exist in an unbalanced power dynamic. no i do not mean that in a literal sense, but in a social, emotional sense. you said it yourself, lip/lip bully each other! theyre mean and rude and crass and jerks to EACH OTHER. there is a back and forth movement. they bite and bite back, so to speak. while with hiy.ori as you're aware, she swallows her pain and bottles up that sadness and holds back those tears, she never responds or insults them back because she's not that kind of person. above all things, hiyori remains kind to ai and yu but the fact that they hurt her in ways they don't even acknowledge are not mutually exclusive.

if you're familiar with hone.yworks lore, as well as lx.l themselves, you probably know at least an adequate bit of their trauma. to put it simply, a.izo struggles with interacting with women, to the point where he finds them difficult to be with. this is often translated to him hating women, so as an idol with a predominantly female fanbase, this is a big problem. this trauma stems from his mother, who for the greater part of his childhood, was an abusive drunk. not only that, his older brother, whom he looked to for support and comfort when their home life was at their worst, is a playboy who toyed around with women and relationships with hopes of avoiding the loneliness at home. while ken grew out of his issues and ultimately became a better person, his actions growing up had a significant negative effect on ai.zo . he isnt jUst a miSoGyniSt dear fuck

yujiro, on the other hand, is the stepson of national treasure, tamagoro someya, a master of kabuki. his mother, tae, married into the family and he has a younger stepbrother, koichiro. tamagoro very explicitly tells him that he will not inherit the kabuki legacy, stating that he "lacks beauty" and is half-hearted. this is despite the fact that yujiro pushed himself beyond his own strength, to the point of starvation and isolation, all for the sake of pleasing his father — who never intended to acknowledge him in the first place. yujiro remained inadequate, lacking, some part of him, despite his best efforts, would never fit into the beauty of the roles his father had crafted for the stage.

“Father is father, and there’s nothing I can do about that. I think he didn’t have a choice in telling me to give up…” “…Were you never allowed to stand on the kabuki stage?” “There’s no way he would have let me. It was only my brother who could have…” (That’s really messed up…) If he had no intention of letting him perform on stage, why did he let him practice? It was cruel to put so many expectations on a child, only to rip his hope away from him. (LOVE&KISS novel, Chapter 7) [1]

how is this relevant to hiyori?

then, we talk about the infamous hero.taru anime. now, honeyw.orks anime have this curse where they're either bound to flop incredibly or butcher the characters enough it appeals to a general audience and completely destroys their characters. the hero.taru anime was made to promote lip.x.lip and profit off their popularity in the idol genre showcase hiyo.ri's heroine story. the story spans multiple mvs, from h.eroine iku.sei keikak.u -> her.oine wa hei.kin ika -> her.oine tarum.ono . there's a general difference with as.uka being cut out and replaced with nagisa after he's finally released from the honeyw.orks basement. aaand i'm getting sidetracked. as someone who watched every single anime hnw has put out, i can confidently say...

her.otaru fucking sucks.

despite being an anime centered on hiy.ori's development as a heroine, it overuses fanservice and became a cookie cutter shoujo mixed with a little idol for the views. fuck, the main conflict was literally between lip.xlip's manager and their biggest fan who had a crush on aiz.o . DO YOU SEE MY ISSUE. ok that aside. the anime completely butchers hiyo's character by making her overly dependent on lx.l. not to mention the bathroom scene. ick. the anime also completely butchers lxl by erasing their issues and making them into "just backup male leads if nag.isa doesnt sell well" and he didnt bc he was there for one fucking episode . back to my point, the anime has a particular scene pertaining to their trauma, which i have elaborately expanded above, and dumbs it down to: [2]

bad, right? not the worst butchering of it yet. you see, SOMEHOW, the herota.ru anime made the already fucked hani.wa timeline WORSE by turning yum.e fanf.are into a song about hiyori. i'm going to start tearing and biting bc this frustrated me SO MUCH . yume.fan is a song of aizo and yujiro about their struggles as stated above, and yet it was percieved as a song made to make hiyo.ri fall in love with them.

god ok this is. incredibly long at this point but i have only pierced the surface. lets just get it down to brass tacks. i hate lip.hiyo.

a lot of people came out of hero.taru shipping lip.hiyo after seeing their relationship and interactions in the anime. people tend to ship them with hiyor.i because "sHe's nOt LiKe oThER giRls" . of all the things i hate abt lip.hiyo and the hero.taru anime in general, i hate how it ruins hiyo.ri's character. i hate how they refuse to acknowledge that she enjoys feeling beautiful, she likes being a feminine, she wants to be a heroine — her issues don't lie in her not being beautiful enough to fit in the heroine mold, but the fact that she can be heroine, regardless of how she perceives herself!

well, introspective reasons aside, i hate the ship on a personal basis bc i've recently found out most ppl who ship it are pushing to make people believe it's canon ? like who the fuck does that. ONE, hiyori does have a canon love interest, nag.isa shiran.ami. TWO, they have never even remotely shown any romantic interest to her ??? well fuck i mean if you count calling her derogatory names, telling her she'll never be a girl if she doesn't dress up, or saying she'll never get a romeo if she rejects nagisa counts as flirting then sure i believe you. THREE, you can literally ship it even if it isn't canon. there is nothing stopping you??? it's giving hypocrisy bc a long loooong time ago they were mad at ai.yuu shippers for continuously mentioning their parallels and the possibility of them becoming canon and they called them [BEEEEEP] . you get the point.

negativity aside, at this point i've probably put you through a horror. sorry about that. all in all, i prefer ai.yuu and nagi.hiyo over lp/hy. i dislike het.lip in general because why would you want to inflict this upon any girl. come on. they can do better. im kidding but you get it. ai and yu trust each other more than anyone, they are canonically each other's most important person, and they are equals in persevering to achieve their dreams. THAT is what yume.fan meant [3] . and i like n.ghy bc nagi.sa has had feelings for hiyori for years, even before she dolled herself up, even before she was a manager, he fell in love with hiyori, and no one else — because in his eyes, she's always been a heroine!! "zutto heroine da" - nagi.sa in heroine wa heikin ika [4]

in case for SOME reason this isn't enough, please feel free to peruse the following posts that expand on some particular parts of this: differences between the mvs and anime | the Trauma scene | yume fan.fare's meaning | personal thoughts 1 | personal thoughts 2

CITATIONS:

[1] LOVE&KISS Chapter 7 — translation

[2] He.roine Taru.mono! Kiraware H.eroine to Naisho Os.higoto Anime Episode 4

[3] Yu.me Fan.fare by LIP.×LIP

[4] Her.oine wa Hei.kin Ika by Su.zumi Hiyo.ri (CV: Ino.ri Mi.nase)

[orangeflowerpetals]

BAMF Tae Someya

Like if you agree

[mieltrabajos]

[saga-jihen]

Fanart of Sakura Minamoto, Tae Yamada & Saki Nikaido by Mekimeki, the mangaka behind series like Fantasista Doll, Only☆You, Toki, Someya Mako no Jansou Meshi (  Someya Mako's Mahjong Parlor Food ) & Ketai Shoujo Re:dial, among others. She also contributed a story to the official Zombieland Saga ANTHOLOGY.

[takanenene]

LIPxLIP’s “Kono Sekai no Tanoshimikata ~Secret Story Film~” additional characters profile translations

The official website for LIPxLIP’s movie, “Kono Sekai no Tanoshimikata ~Secret Story Film~” has just added profiles for 6 additional characters that are going to appear in the movie!

translations under read more!

Tamura Rei (CV: Sawashiro Miyuki)

President of the new entertainment agency, Mobius.

She has a background career of working for a big entertainment agency, and is also known for being a talented producer.

An audition was held to discover new idols for the agency, and she was quick to see through both Yuujirou and Aizou's talents, later putting them both to form a unit together.

Uchida Mayu (CV: Kayano Ai)

A manager who works for the new entertainment agency, Mobius.

She's in charge of Yuujirou and Aizou, who passed the audition.

She's having a hard time with taking care of both Yuujirou and Aizou, who often argue over trivial matters.

Shibasaki Yuko (CV: Horie Yui)

Aizou's mother.

She got divorced due to her husband's affair, and would leave her house often ever since.

She often lashes out on Aizou, and has a past that she's tried to push away. Even so, she used to have a gentle personality and would often accompany Aizou's singing by playing the piano.

Someya Tamagoro (CV: Hirata Hiroaki)

Yuujirou's father, but as someone whom Yuujirou's mother remarried to, he has no blood relation with Yuujirou.

He acts as the current head of the prestigious Kabuki family, the Someya family, and is also considered as a living national treasure.

He treats the people around him strictly. He describes Yuujirou as someone who "has no beauty" and opposes Yuujirou, who's going on the path of art with half-hearted resolution.

Note: Tamagoro is saying 「華がない」 to describe Yuujirou,  華 can also means “Flower” or “Brilliance” / “Splendor”.  the word 華 is also used in Yuujirou’s solo song title, 青華.

Someya Tae (CV: Kuwashima Houko)

Yuujirou's mother.

She remarried Tamagoro, but hasn't been able to build a good family with him ever since.

She feels responsible for binding Yuujirou to the Someya family due to her remarriage with Tamagoro, but when Yuujirou has found a new-found dream of being an idol, she pushes his back and gives him her support.

Someya Koichirou (CV: Toki Shunichi)

A junior high school freshman and Tamagoro's real son.

He has the talent for Kabuki that he inhereited from his father and acting as the Onnagata on the stage.

He's not happy about his older brother, Yuujirou, who has no blood relation with him and treats his mother, Tae, coldly.

Note: Onnagata is a male Kabuki actor who plays female roles on stage.

[yume-fanfare]

just what I think. I would be extremely happy if I was proven otherwise. I could easily be wrong. Just her profile mentions how she feels responsible for binding Yuujirou to the Someya's, and Koichiro treats her coldly, so it doesn't seem like she does much to stand up for not just herself but her son too. I got off topic. But yeah, I just want someone, Rei or Mayu or Akechi, to actually be there for them. Because with their lack of self care, they NEED it,, sorry for the rant!

(2/2)

yes, i do feel like tae is a nice person (maybe she actually does go to all of their concerts?) but as you mentioned, she may not stand up much for herself. maybe she does provide openings for yuujirou sometimes but idk ;; she seems nice i hope she helps out

anyway yes i hope someone kinda helps but i,,, don't hope much

and dw about the rant it was nice thinking about this sdjksds

[recentanimenews]

HoneyWorks Anniversary Film LIP×LIP Announces Six New Cast Members

  Production group HoneyWorks is celebrating ten years of art and music with a film devoted to their virtual idol group LIP×LIP. Today, they brought six new cast members into the mix, filling out the back stories of the two fictional superstars.

  The film, fully titled LIP×LIP the Movie: How to Enjoy this World -Secret Story Film-, will detail the never-before-told story of how the wildly-differing Yujiro and Aizo first came to know each other. Joining the cast will be:

  Miyuki Sawashiro (Fujiko Mine in Lupin the 3rd) as Rei Tamura, president of the Mobius Talent Agency where Yujiro and Aizo were discovered.

  Ai Kayano (Darkness in KONOSUBA -God's blessing on this wonderful world!) as Mayu Uchida, Yujiro and Aizo's new manager at Mobius.

  Yui Horie (Tsubasa Habekawa in Monogatari Series) as Yuko Shibasaki, Aizo's divorced mother. 

  Hiroaki Hirata (Sanji in One Piece) as Tamagoro Someya, Yujiro's strict stepfather and a kabuki actor.

  Houko Kuwashima (Sango in Inuyasha) as Tae Someya, Yujiro's supporting and recently-remarried mother.

  Shunichi Toki (Allocer Schneider in Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun) as Koichiro Someya, Yujiro's stepbrother and a kabuki actor.

  (Name romanizations are not official.)

    The film was announced next month, with more information (including release date) forthcoming.

  >> LIP×LIP the Movie: How to Enjoy This World -Secret Story Film- Website

  Source: Anime! Anime!

    Check out more from HoneyWorks: I've Always Liked You is available on Crunchyroll!

  By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[lilac-melody]

Fantasia LOVE&KISS Novel Epilogue

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional translator

Masterlist here

🎤

Aizou left the bathroom and headed for the living room. When he opened the door, he found his brother standing in the kitchen. It was the weekend, but it was unusual to see him there.

(He’s wearing my clothes without permission.)

It was Aizou’s favorite jacket that he’d bought with anticipation.

As he sat on the couch in the living room looking at his phone, he heard a soft clank.

On the table in front of him was a mug. Ken picked up Kuro, who had been rubbing up against him, and put her on his shoulder.

“...Are you coming today?” Aizou asked quietly. 

The tickets for two that he had left on the table the other day were gone when he woke up in the morning.

“Oh, is today the last day of your play? Arisa-chan said she wanted to go, so I might go as well. Maybe,” Ken laughed with an awkward expression on his face.

(It’s a date then...well, that’s fine...)

Aizou stared at his cup quietly. “...You know, one of these days, I’m considering moving out and getting a place of my own...” It was something he’d been thinking about for a long time. He talked to Manager Uchida about it and she’s helping him find an affordable place to live. He didn’t see his brother that often, and they barely even spoke.

So he may as well say it now.

“Hm...sounds good, I guess?” It was the same light tone as usual. Even now, even though they lived in the same house, it was as if they were living separately. So there was no way that he’d be troubled.

“I haven’t decided when, but when I do, can I take Kuro with me?”

Ken stroked Kuro’s head gently as he looked at him. “Well, it’s fine with me...” He paused, “actually, no, you can’t.”

“Eh, why? It’s mostly me who takes care of her.”

He really thought Ken wouldn’t object.

“If you take Kuro with you, you won’t ever come back,” Ken replied, holding Kuro out. “But if you’re worried about this little one, then you’ll surely come back and see her every now and then, right?”

Aizou took her from his brother’s arms, and she squirmed, as if she preferred his brother. He adjusted his grip on her, taking care not to drop her, and she finally became comfortable and settled down.

Aizou looked at Ken’s face in confusion, not knowing what to say.

“Well, that’s how it is...anyway, I’m going to meet up with Arisa-chan,” Ken started to leave before suddenly pausing. “I’m borrowing your clothes, by the way,” he grinned at him, before leaving the room with a happy whistle.

“You’re already wearing them...” Aizou muttered, hugging Kuro tightly.

Even if he took Kuro with him, he was sure that he’d come back to the apartment anyway.

For him, he was always like that. He always tried to stay a family.

He finished getting ready and went to the front door, putting on his shoes and slung his bag over his shoulder. The house was quiet, and the lights were off.

He closed and locked the front door, and shoved the key into his pocket as he left.

(Alright, let’s go...)

💮

When Yujiro walked out the front door of his house, his mother came to see him off.

“I’ll be sure to see the show today, with your father.”

“Yeah...”

“Say hi to Aizou-kun for me.”

“Yeah...sure...” Yujiro replied vaguely.

“You two have to get along,” his mother chided.

“I know...well, I’m off,” Yujiro started to walk away, but was quickly stopped by his mother.

“Wait,” his mother took out a hiuchi stone and struck it, causing Yujiro to glance at her in surprise. She smiled at him. “I do this when your father and Koichiro perform. It’s a prayer that the play will be completed safely.”

She looked like she was about to start crying. Until now, she’d held back.

“Thank you, mom...”

“Do your best. Have a great day- and good luck.”

“Yeah...I’m going, now...”

(It’s time to go...)

To the world that was awaiting them.

⚔️🏹

The city was still quiet, as the people had not yet awakened. Only the occasional chirp of a small bird could be heard. It was a little dark in the distance, but the sky was beginning to lighten.

Two thin shadows stretched across the cobblestones of the square where the statues of the founding heroes stood.

“Why did you refuse the horse when the princess offered to give it to you? It would have been easier with the horse,” Aizou walked next to him, his arms crossed with a disapproving look on his face.

“Why didn’t you get your own horse? I don’t want one.”

“Well, if we’re traveling together, I don’t want to be the only one on horseback.”

“No one said anything about us traveling together. Why are you making all of the decisions on your own?”

After staying at the castle for about two weeks, Yujiro decided to leave because the injury on his leg had healed. He told the princess and her sister yesterday. 

However, he did not say a word to Aizou.

And yet, when he packed his bags and left his room in the morning, he was waiting for him, dressed in his traveling clothes, looking as if it was simply a natural thing to do.

Apparently, he had heard from the princess and her sister and decided that he would go with him.

Unlike Yujiro, Aizou had not been injured and could have left at any time.

The reason he had been taking it easy at the castle seemed to be because he was waiting for Yujiro to recover.

Maybe he was worried about his injuries, or maybe he was just too meddlesome, even though no one had asked him to do so.

Although he had no trouble walking, the pain was still there. Yujiro wanted to speed up, but he honestly couldn’t.

Yujiro glared at him, his eyes practically screaming “don’t follow me!”.

Aizou folded his hands behind his head and turned to the side with a whistle, as if he had no intention of listening to what he had to say.

This attitude was even more annoying, and the wrinkles between Yujiro’s eyebrows deepened.

“Come to think of it...did you remember anything?” Aizou was probably asking about a past memory that he had forgotten. The two were looking for the jewel to retrieve their memories.

“...No. Did you?” Yujiro asked as they walked to the city gate together.

“I knew it wouldn’t be so easy to make our wish come true,” Aizou took out the yellow jewel from his pocket and rolled it in his hand. He must have wished on it too.

He’d even asked the princess to help him find and read some books in the castle library, but no matter which method he tried, the end result was the same.

As usual, his memories of his life before the age of ten remained blank, and he couldn’t even find a clue as to how he came to be in this world.

Yujiro took his blue jewel out of his pocket. He wondered if it would simply take a long time for his wish to come true, or if there was some special way to get it, or if it is really just a jewel.

It's not that he didn't think that he had gone through all that trouble to get it, but strangely enough, he wasn't all that discouraged.

“Maybe it really is just a jewel,” Aizou held the yellow jewel up with his fingers and held it up to the sunlight that was finally beginning to shine. “If we sell it, we can probably make some good money.”

“I’m not going to sell it. I went through too much to get it in the first place.”

“If it’s just a jewel, there’s no point in keeping it...unless you want it as a good luck charm.”

If he kept it, maybe his wish would come true someday. The story never said anywhere that the wish would come true instantly.

“Well, for the time being, we can look for other ways to remember...like, maybe if I fell down or something,”Aizou continued.

Yujiro stared at him. “If it were that easy, don’t you think you would have remembered a long time ago?”

“You never know. A fortuneteller once told me shock can bring back memories.”

“If you think that, then go bang your head against a tree somewhere. Alone.”

“I already tried that, but it didn’t work,” Aizou shrugged.

(What an idiot...)

Yujiro sighed and glanced over at Aizou. “So why are you following me, anyway? Go travel by yourself.”

“We have the same goal. Wouldn’t it be more rational to travel together?” Aizou tossed his jewel up in the air and caught it, multiple times. “It’s not like I want to go with you too, you know.” His lips curled into a pout.

“What’s rational about it?”

“Ever since we started traveling together, we survived snowy mountains, slayed a dragon, and got the jewels.”

“Nothing good happens when I’m with you.”

“That again?!” Aizou frowned. “I won’t accept anymore complaints from you!”

“And I won’t listen to your nagging!” Yujiro slapped his hands over his ears.

Just as the city gates came into view, they heard a voice calling out to them. “Brave travelers!”

They turned around. The window of that inn where they were staying was open, and the innkeeper’s daughter was waving her hand as she leaned forward.

“Thank you for saving the princess! Have a good trip!” She tossed them both a red apple.

Yujiro and Aizou accepted them and looked at each other. Forgetting their argument from earlier, they smiled at each other.

They had not yet found the answer to what they were looking for.

But maybe someday, since the two were traveling together on the same path, they’ll find what they’re looking for.

Yes, someday.

(Maybe together, we can find it...)

The two men waved their hands, turned forward, and walked straight to the city gates, which was enveloped by the morning sun.

When one story ends, a new one begins. The regrets of the past, the fate that binds them to this world, leaving behind all the doubts, worries, and fears about the future.

To the shining world that awaits beyond the mysterious door, the world that someone dreamed of someday.

They were going to move forward together with the dawn. As long as they continued to believe, there would always be hope.

Because hope will always exist.

[deus-ex-mona]

[deus-ex-mona]

Heyooo so like do you think you could explain the Someya brothers relationship? It’s peaked my interest since the new songs with these two revolve around each other…

Yujiro and Koichirou aren’t related by blood, right? 🤔

Also, what do you think about the new songs that just came out?

Thank you so much for your time 💛💛 Happy New Years 💕

hi! happy new year~~!

this got kinda long so there’s a cut here for length sorry~~~

ngl i’m kindaaaaa fuzzy on the details about the someya bros’ relationship, but long story short, they’re stepbrothers (with koichiro spawning from the resident longleg tamagoro and yujiro being tae’s son, of course) who were kinda pitted against each other when it came to learning how to perform (kabuki) from tamagoro, because longleg’s gotta longleg ig.

then yujiro gets disinherited because the longleg’s still longlegging and koichiro takes to the kabuki stage by himself as the local “national treasure’s” sole heir. so, like, i’m guessing that the events surrounding yujiro’s disinherition may have led to their (frankly terrible) brotherly relationship of “an inferior older brother” and “a superior younger brother”?

though this dynamic carried on pretty much for as long as yujiro longed to perform on a kabuki stage, just like koichiro does (if we were to take the lxl movie’s word for it). then yujiro became an idol and started to work towards a different dream, breaking off from the path (kabuki) that he used to follow koichiro down, which i guess made koichiro start to see yujiro in a different light?

like, imagine you have a lifelong rival who strives for the same goals that you do. however, this rival of yours is less skilled than you, so you naturally grow to have a sense of superiority over your rival, taking satisfaction in crushing them while having full knowledge that they will never be able to beat you when it comes to your shared goals.

however, one day, your rival decides to aim for a different goal, completely ditching your shared goal and stuff, and they actually seem to be doing pretty well in their path to achieve their new goal. how would you feel?

because i get the feeling that koichiro’s initial response to that was to feel betrayed, in a “why are you running away (from kabuki)?” sense.

though, over time, koichiro seems to have gradually come to terms with yujiro’s idol activities, and their relationship naturally (albeit slowly) improved as the days passed, with them going on walks together and bickering with each other like brothers would. which, y’know, is cool of him in a way. he’s learning. he’s still kind of a brat, but he’s growing despite his past mistakes.

as for yujiro, well, he seems to have been looking out for koichiro in his own way from the very beginning? like, man chose not to go against koichiro’s mistreatment, opting to just lower his head and accept it instead.

was it an act of self-sacrifice to protect koichiro’s ego or something? heck, even in the lxl movie, he just took everything koichiro dished at him, and only fought back when koichiro dared to mock his bf aizo. which is. pretty unhealthy, yujiro bro. just tell him you have a proper brotherly love for him for goodness sake. your communication skills s u c k.

um. anyway.

tl;dr: stepbros made to learn kabuki because of their father. older bro gets disinherited, younger bro gets an attitude and mistreats older bro. this continues until older bro becomes an idol and begins to walk his own path. younger bro feels betrayed/annoyed at his older bro for “giving up” on kabuki. younger bro does eventually accept the fact that they have different dreams and supports older bro. seems like older bro has always been looking out for younger bro though, even though he doesn’t say it.

thoughhhhhh seriously, i’m not a someya expert or anything, i just like making fun of the longleg, so… if someone with a degree in someyaology could chime in, it’d be greatly appreciated~~~

as for the new songs, nagisa’s new song is the best of them all, no question. thanks for coming to my ted talk—

[lilac-melody]

So as I am seeing a new little influx of honeyworks fans, likely due to the shitty herotaru anime, I want everyone to listen up.

LIPxLIP, the idol duo featured in the anime, are a lot deeper than what the anime explains. I understand that it was Hiyori's story (even though they didn't get her personality right either lmao) so it's not going to go into detail about Aizou or Yujiro. I'm fine with that. I really am.

What bothered me was the small bits we were given are incredibly misleading for new fans. The anime exists more as fanservice for pre-existing fans. Fans who read the novels, regularly watch MVs, and so forth.

So I'm going to go over LIPxLIP's stories. Their thematic importance. Their relationship, and their relationship with Hiyori. I am quite sick and tired of seeing new fans blab about them as hateful misogynists, shallow, uncaring towards their fans...and all that.

Starting off with the local hero of the anime, Shibasaki Aizou.

Back when he was a small child, he loved singing. His mother played piano and his father played guitar (his father probably taught him how to play guitar? That or he picked it up himself. I don't think that was ever specified). He entered a children's singing competition, and ended up winning.

However, a couple years later, his father began to lie about going to work when he was really going out and having an affair with (another woman? multiple women??). This led to the father and their mother, Shibasaki Yuko, to constantly argue and scream at each other.

As a result, Ken (Aizou's older brother), would make pasta for himself and Aizou, as their parents were too busy screaming at each other for hours at a time. The novels stated that back then, their parents would argue so often that they would forget to buy groceries, and would leave Aizou starving. During this time, Yuko began drinking and getting drunk- which would scare her kids.

Eventually, the Shibasaki parents got a divorce, and Yuko began to drink even more heavily. She would cry and mourn. Aizou and Ken were still children at the time. Aizou, being the young child he was and recalling how Yuko used to smile when he sang, began to sing for her in hopes of cheering her up. Of course, Yuko just threw her alcohol at him and screamed at him that he needed to shut up- he was too noisy. It's also been heavily implied that she would hit Aizou too when she was drunk.

From this, Aizou stopped singing, being physically unable to. He began living out his days without truly living, just getting by. He had friends, but didn't hang out with them or join any clubs, having become depressed and understimulated.

In middle school, when playing his guitar one day, his mother broke it and screamed at him to never play it at home again. This led to him crying and not playing again...until he came across a musical instrument store, where he meets Morita. He, one day, brings the guitar in and begs him to fix it. Morita agrees, and even allows Aizou to stay in an upstairs room that used to be used for music lessons every now and then, on the condition he returns home occasionally. So he essentially finds a second home in the music store.

One day, he sees on his phone that there's an audition to become a teenage idol, so he signs up, which is where he meets Yujiro.

He (and Yujiro) both pass due to their spectacular performances, and are told to become a unit. Aizou now has his fire back, looking forward to the future.

.

Now, for Someya Yujiro aka Aizou's anime arm candy.

When he was little (maybe before he was born? or maybe before he was 5??) his birth father died (unknown cause). His mother, Tae, got remarried to Someya Tamagoro. At first, things were fine. His father trained him in the art of kabuki.

Yujiro, at a young age, desperately wanted to be on stage doing kabuki with his new father. In fact, the desire was so strong, that he turned down all invites to hang out and play from the kids at his school. He didn't watch tv, he didn't do anything that would be considered a hobby. He abandoned everything that makes up a childhood to pursue his dream.

However, one day...his father told him and his younger brother, Koichiro, (who looked down on Tae and Yujiro for joining the Someya family), that Koichiro would be his heir. Yujiro tries to protest, only for Tamagoro to glare down at him coldly and tell him that he can't do it...he has no beauty.

All these years training, and Yujiro finally understands...he was never meant to stand on that stage. His father trained him for years, never truly intending for him to be on stage. Koichiro holds this over Yujiro, always mocking him and shoving him around.

As a result, Yujiro was banned from even entering the practice halls, and he became a helper of the house. He cleaned up backstage after shows, did laundry, all of that. Along with that, Tamagoro became colder to him, while Koichiro mocked him and abused him- verbally and sometimes physically. Yujiro thinks of taking his mother and running away, but has nowhere to go. He is absolutely miserable.

Of course, one day, Koichiro, for some reason, allows Yujiro to perform at a shrine once in his stead. We do not have any details on this, except that it made Yujiro happy and was clearly a one-time thing.

In either case, Yujiro too, lived a life of silence and loneliness. He tried to smile for his mom so she wouldn't worry, the one person who spoke to him. He had no friends, no hobbies, he accepted his fate of being his family's shadow, watching as Tamagoro has Yujiro's name removed from anything mentioning the Someya name, especially kabuki sites.

He was, essentially, disowned.

Tae still encouraged him to find something that made him happy...which eventually came in the form of the idol audition, where he meets Aizou.

...

NOW. That's a hell of a lot deeper than herotaru gave us. And again, it's fine that they couldn't go all into depth- after all, it's Hiyori's anime and her backstory is more simple. We can't have the idols outshinng her now, can we?

In any case, going strictly based on the novels (as the Hanipre stories are their own thing...though I like to consider them canon, but I know they're technically not), the stories of Aizou and Yujiro begin.

After agreeing to become a unit (or they won't debut at all), the two do not get along at all. Aizou mocks Yujiro for his lack of strength and stamina, and Yujiro mocks Aizou for being unable to read sheet music, Aizou finds out that Yujiro's father doesn't think he has what it takes to be an idol. So, he takes him to his secret spot and the two practice and talk.

Yujiro eventually gains Tamagoro's approval, and the two do a commercial, though they are not very well known. They want to debut.

After multiple instances of various situations (including Aizou sharing his music room with Yujiro, some bullies shoving Aizou into a pool at a live show and Yujiro yelling at them and teaching Aizou how to swim, going through an aquarium together and Aizou winning a stuffed penguin and giving it to Yujiro when he sees how disappointed he is that he didn't get it), they finally get their debut song, Romeo.

Eagerly, they practice it together. During this time, they're thinking about whether or not they should go to high school. Aizou tells Yujiro how he wants to avoid one high school in particular.

Yujiro eventually decides he wants to, because Narumi Sena inspired him. She was the one who recommended Sakuragaoka to him. Because of her, Yujiro checks the school out and runs into Aizou. He admits to Aizou he's thinking about going here, and Aizou balks. He's absolutely appalled, and complains about not wanting to go there. (Which..??? Aizou..??? No one said you had to?!) Yujiro points this out and Aizou has the flimsy excuse of "it'll be easier for Manager Uchida to pick us up".

...I'm sure. But I digress.

Filming for the Romeo MV comes, and the two are inspired by Sena's professionalism, and at the end, Aizou finds Yujiro alone and, after arguing over who is the first lip in their unit name, they share a toast together.

The MV released in February, just before high school begins, and Yujiro and Aizou are proud to see themselves on the giant tvs in town. Yujiro remarks to himself how he feels as though he can overcome anything, and how he'll still be depressed- there'll still be days he can't even get out of bed, where he wants to run away, desperately endures tears, and so on...but he knows Aizou will be by his side.

School starts up, where they meet Hiyori. In the novels, Hiyori has to actually work hard to gain their trust and friendship (I did a full novel-to-anime comparison here. I am skipping over retelling it so I can continue with LIPxLIP's story, but rest assured, I will get back to it and explain their friendship.)

The end of the year comes- and I am assuming it's autumn or so when the next novel takes place, since they mention an upcoming "spring concert" and how they've been idols for a year now.

The two boys are getting along more- though they still have their argumentative moments. They are given an opportunity to be in a play as the main characters. Aizou is hesitant, but Yujiro, who has acting experience thanks to kabuki, accepts it immediately. Yujiro cheers Aizou on in his own weird way and Aizou accepts the job as well.

However...during the first reading...Aizou loses his place and the director goes off on him. I mean, even when I was reading/translating it, I was appalled myself.

Yujiro stands up for Aizou, and nearly gets them both fired because of his "bad attitude". They agree to stay on board, but now, there's tension in the air.

Aizou's new at all of this, so most people ignore him, esp the director. But Yujiro is good at what he does, so people expect perfection from him. He's suffering as well, on the opposite spectrum from Aizou. Hell, just one scene alone, Yujiro and some NPCs did for over two hours straight with no breaks. They've been practicing in general for a while now and this was, according to Aizou, the first mistake Yujiro makes...which causes the director to scream at him.

Now, multiple times already, Aizou has ran after Yujiro and abandoned his spot, and thinks about how he refuses to leave Yujiro alone, because he was worried about him.

He even seeks help from some female colleagues (who...know about Aizou's brother and mistakes him for him. Which leads to a genuinely hilarious moment of Aizou screaming in actual horror about the idea of dating a girl, and he only thought about it "for 3 seconds". He says he talks with a few girls but never wants to be personally involved with them) to help him better himself at acting.

Eventually, Aizou realizes what he has to do and...does it. He lightens up the entire room with his humor and even earns Yujiro's gratitude and respect (though...Yujiro kind of accuses him of trying to "woo him" when Aizou insists they practice together??? and says he may start some rumors??? Hello???)

Practice resumes, and Aizou takes singing lessons from IV of Ft4 due to not understanding how to sing with emotions and not just singing something well.

Dress rehearsals start, and Aizou recalls, back when he was a child, the joy of singing. He remembers the joy when he sang in the children's competition, and amazes everyone. Things are going well.

Until...Yujiro eventually collapses from a lack of eating and sleeping. Aizou catches him and Yujiro is taken to a hospital. Aizou worries for his wellbeing until he is able to check on him. At first, Aizou scolds Yujiro for not taking care of himself, before blaming himself for not realizing Yujiro wasn't taking care of himself. He admits to himself he saw Yujiro not eating and being tired during the day.

After the first day of the actual play, Yujiro tells Aizou about the time he was able to perform at a shrine, and Aizou, now realizing the truth about how Yujiro wasn't able to perform on stage, encourages Yujiro to dance for him, even assuring him that he was the only one watching.

After the director interrupt them, the two both think about how they have a future of hope ahead of them.

OKAY.

NOW that we are now all caught up with their stories, let's break down their relationship.

The two of them fight. They always have. They have their ups and downs often, butting heads about the best way to do things. However, they both acknowledge that fighting is part of their own love. Source.

The entire point of the Romeo novel was for them to realize they can rely on each other, how they are no longer suffering alone, and chasing their dreams. Aizou realizes that there's someone who will always stick up for him, even when they don't get along. Yujiro realizes that he doesn't have to suffer alone and can rely on a partner- not just for work, but for his emotional needs as well, as he points out in the epilogue.

The entire point of the LOVE&KISS novel (aside from telling an AU story, which half of the novel is the fantasy universe) was to nip their trauma in the bud. They have unintentionally begun to rely heavily on each other.

With Aizou, he finds his passion for singing again. Not just his dream- but the pure joy he gets when he sings. He doesn't need his mother's approval anymore (though she moved to France anyway and got remarried there, so it's not like he'll see her again).

With Yujiro, he's finally able to prove to his father, his brother, and the director too that he's someone worthy of being on the stage. Not just as an idol, but as an actor too. He even performed kabuki on stage- albeit it was supposed to be solely for Aizou's eyes only.

The two argued twice in the novel, and the rest of the time was spent worrying about each other, spent helping each other, and strengthening their bond. It's because of each other that they were able to overcome a harsh hurdle in their lives, the things that blocked them from becoming truly happy with their careers.

With a bit of offhand flirting and standing by each other firmly, the two have cemented themselves as the most important people in each other's lives. Hell, they even wear the same outfts in Chapter 7 as they do in Samishigariya, where it explicitly states that they're the most important people to each other (or, at least Yujiro is to Aizou), interconnecting this novel to the song in question.

As for Hiyori...no, she was not in this novel. She was briefly in Romeo at the very end when complaining about city boys, but despite working for them at this point in time, she does not show up at all in LOVE&KISS. Hell, she's not even mentioned.

I do not think it is a continuity error. I think this was done deliberately- because what purpose would she serve? I'm not trying to sound mean, I adore Hiyori. But she knows nothing of their backstories or trauma. And LIPxLIP are not the type to blab about their past abuse. It's taken them a while to be open and honest with each other even now. The novel is about Aizou and Yujiro and their bond. They had their own spotlight in Hiyori's novels.

With Hiyori, they obviously have grown to care for her. They've helped her dress up for Asuka and confess to him, and approved of Nagisa as boyfriend material for her, even encouraging her to go for him because they know Nagisa truly loves Hiyori.

("But Lisi! You said you're going based off of the novels and MVs!" Yes, but Hiyori's newest song and Nagisa's song both show that the event in the anime happened and are firmly continuing it, so it is...canon.)

Either way, the two still make fun of Hiyori and gang up on her, but despite that, they still are there for her...kind of? It's not like she really faces any hardships aside from the bullying incident that eventually blew over. But they do support her dream in being a track athlete.

They respect her hard work. They respect her.

Even so, despite them clearly being good friends, there's still a wall between them. Aizou and Yujiro haven't told her anything about their lives...and why should they?

If you're going based on the anime, they have every right not to tell her anything. Hiyori's first instinct when Ken told her a bit about Aizou was "thank god it's not real trauma. hmm how do I fix him?" and then yelling at Yujiro that he's not hated by his family because his mother makes him lunch.

Knowing what you know now, you can see where I'm going with this? Anime Hiyori seriously butted her nose where it didn't belong and, unintentionally or not, she completely undermined their trauma. Sure, they didn't hear her talking with Ken, but they sure as hell heard her when she said Yujiro wasn't hated by his family. And not to mention that aggravating as fuck scene of her comparing Aizou's dislike of women to her dislike of squid.

Aizou dislikes women partially because of his family, yes, but it's mainly because of his trauma with his mother.

They're friends, yes, but not personal friends. Aizou and Yujiro will help Hiyori, but they are not willing to let Hiyori help them outside of work-related issues.

LIPxLIP were able to grow as people because of each other, they rely on each other, they don't need anyone else because they have each other. They enjoy the presence of Hiyori and Minami, and they respect Ft4 as senpais, but that's about it.

Herotaru trashed their stories. Omitting things is fine, but not at the expense of ruining their backstories and personalities.

I think the anime should have been longer so we can focus more on their backstories and personalities. And give us a reason to truly believe that Hiyori, Aizou, and Yujiro are friends, rather than just shrug and say "yeah, they're friends because she said she has a dream".

And no, Yume Fanfare is not for Hiyori. The song is hinted to have been sung during high school, yes, this is after the bullying incident with Chizuru. We know this because we see Chizuru crying in the song Heroine Tarumono and the exact same frame is in Yume Fanfare, which Hiyori does not appear in. They are not gesturing to her, or looking out at her in the audience. She is behind the stage. As seen in the herotaru MV. They are gesturing to each other, singing and dedicating this song to each other. Hell, it goes over their trauma. It does not show us Hiyori's dream. Yume Fanfare is AIZOU AND YUJIRO'S ONLY.

Also Yamako, the creator of them, has said so herself as well. Sooo...yeah.

You can ship what you want, but you cannot and will not take Yume Fanfare from me because a shitty adaptation wanted to be special.

I hope this post has been helpful to anime-onlys.

LIPxLIP Novels: Romeo, LOVE&KISS

Bonus: Yujiro's solo dedicated to Aizou and Aizou's solo dedicated to Yujiro

[lilac-melody]

I like how we don't know any of the parents of the Honeyworks cast except for Gen 3

We know Nagisa's dad (somewhat). We know Narumi Ayaka and Yusuke. We know Someya Tae and Tamagoro. We know Hiyori's mom and dad. We (unfortunately) know Shibasaki Yuko

All of them are wildly different from one another and it's neat.

Happy Mother's Day to Ayaka, Tae, Hiyori's mom.

Stay in France forever, Yuko 😊

[deus-ex-mona]

[deus-ex-mona]