#stan katsumoto

[asexual-juliet]

we are not free characters ranked on how aware they are of minnow’s homosexuality

Keiko: Keiko canonically knows Minnow is gay <3

Tommy: Tommy is both incredibly insightful and undeniably queer so yeah I think he clocks it pretty early on. I headcanon him as aroace so i can honestly see him looking at the way Minnow acts towards Twitchy and objectively thinking like “ok yeah that’s exactly how Shig used to treat Yum-yum before they started dating that must just be how the Ito boys act when they have a crush”

Frankie: tbh I headcanon Frankie’s Uncle Yas as gay (old man living alone in San Francisco whose nephew stays with him because “he needs someone to take care of him”) and i think Yas has been like. subtle about it but not overly secretive and so they don’t discuss it but Frankie has seen the old photographs and letters Yas keeps in the attic and has put the pieces together and so I feel like he also clocks Minnow relatively early on because of his previous familiarity with the concept of homosexuality

Yuki: I also headcanon Yuki as gay (both because she likes softball and because of Bette’s line about “I don’t think I’ll ever understand her—she’s fifteen! You’d think she’d recognize a handsome boy when she saw one, but her disinterest is palpable”) so I feel like she knows what’s up. 

Mas: In a very big-brother way, Mas has always known that there is something undeniably different about Minnow and he hasn’t quite been able to put a finger on what it is, but he has his suspicions. 

Shig: Very similarly to Mas, Shig is aware of Minnow’s differentness but has always chalked it up to him being shy like Tommy. I do have a WIP where Minnow comes out to Shig and Shig is like “oh fuck everything is starting to make sense” so yeah i think he does not know but if he was told it would explain a lot for him and make perfect sense. 

Mary: Has not put much thought into it but if told would be like “yeah obviously”

Stan: Has not put much thought into it but if told would not be surprised.

Yum-yum: Has not put much thought into it but if told would be kind of surprised.

Bette: I am honestly unsure if Bette is aware of homosexuality as a concept.

Aiko: I am pretty sure Aiko is not aware of homosexuality as a concept.

Twitchy: Does not know and will never find out

[claudia-kishi]

🤪🤪🤪

[emgemwritesthings]

Stan Katsumoto for being the best third wheel 😂 

Me : *diseased*

Time of death: the moment #miggy entered church.

Cause of death: Magnum talking about marrying Higgings while they're walking down the aisle. 🥺

Credits insta/magnumpi-hawaiifive0

[asexual-juliet]

we are not free. but we are not alone. one song for each We Are Not Free Character

playlist notes under the cut

I. Minnow Ito - Everything Stays - Adventure Time Everything stays, right where you've left it / Everything stays, but it still changes / Ever so slightly, daily and nightly / In little ways, when everything stays The fact that both of Minnow’s chapters take place in San Francisco and bookend the novel make this the perfect choice for him as he reflects on how Japantown has both changed yet stayed the same as the city of his childhood

II. Shig Ito - Little League - Conan Gray And when we were younger / We wore our hearts right on our sleeves / Why did we ever have to leave? / Little league Shig’s chapter is basically him reflecting on his childhood in Japantown as he prepares to leave it and I think this song is perfect for that! There’s also the line “Do you remember days on our old block?/ Messin' with our neighbors who called the cops” which is SO Shig&Twitchy-core… them and their shenanigans!!

III. Yum-yum Oishi - You Are Loved - Defiance, Ohio And as the story unfolds over time / Things we once knew, they do dissolve into the sky / She swears she sees a brand new constellation / Every time somebody we know dies I love the bit in Yum-yum’s chapter where Tommy and Minnow are making up constellations and I have always associated Yum-yum with astral imagery because of it! I think this song really speaks to her unsurety about the future and I love the line “the radio plays a familiar song,” because Yumyum’s chapter is also where we get the first reference to Mas’ Silvertone radio!

IV. Bette Nakano - Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying - Sabrina Carpenter 'Cause I'm young and I'm dumb / I do stupid things when it comes to love / And even if I always end up crying / No, you can't blame a girl for trying I feel like I don’t even have to explain this one like this encapsulates Bette’s vibe EXACTLY!!! She would be such a teen pop girlie <3

V. Frankie Fujita - Amy aka Spent Gladiator 1 - The Mountain Goats Play with matches if you think you need to play with matches / Seek out the hidden places where the fire burns hot and bright / Find where the heat's unbearable and stay there if you have to / Don't hurt anybody on your way up to the light Thinking about this song as a Frankie song makes me FERAL!! something about the fire in this verse as a metaphor for his anger, him knowing he needs to do whatever he can to make sure he doesn’t hurt anybody with that anger… the first line of this song is “Do every stupid thing that makes you feel alive”...yeah. i luv you frankie fujita <3

VI. Stan Katsumoto - Once More with Feeling - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Don't let the people make you think / That just because you're young you're useless / You know it's not naive to think that you can change the things around / And that no man is an island This is mostly in reference to Stan wanting to go to college to be a lawyer for the ACLU which is a piece of his character that I absolutely LOVE!!

VII. Aiko Harano - Warrior Girl - Nicole Visco Warrior Girl only goes to where she wants to / Warrior Girl maybe has a heavy sword / Warrior Girl has no idea where she jumps to / But she jumps to where she wants to / And she's never ever bored This is absolutely Aiko’s song!!! She is a scrappy little warrior girl and I adore her for it!! There is also a refrain in this song about “maybe someday / there'll be some way I could get to roam free” which. yeah. I love you Aiko <3

VIII. Yuki Nakano - Crazy Dreams - Carrie Underwood Here's to you free souls, you firefly chasers / Tree climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players / Here's to you fearless dancers, shaking walls in your bedrooms / There's a lot of wonder left inside of me and you / Thank God even crazy dreams come true This just reminds me a lot of Yuki’s dream of playing in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League!! especially because there’s a part of the song that says “Never let a bad day be enough / To go and talk you into giving up” which reminds me so much of Yuki’s chapter!!

IX. Mary Katsumoto - Something About Lemons - Chumped And every day, I grow a little more resentful / Of the choices that I did or didn't make / Wanted this to feel a little more eventful / Every day that I'm awake just feels the same This is SO Mary!! especially the line about being resentful of the choices that she didn’t (get to) make… like that’s literally the plot of her chapter.

X. Kiyoshi Tani - Lion’s Teeth - The Mountain Goats And my arms get sore / And my palms start to sweat / And the tears roll down my face / Till my cheeks are hot and red and soaking wet John Darnielle called this song a “revenge fantasy” about standing up to his abusive stepfather and I think that Kiyoshi deserves that kind of catharsis.

XI. Mas Ito - human - Christina Perri But I'm only human / And I bleed when I fall down / I'm only human / And I crash and I break down Song about pretending to be strong and fake a smile and force a laugh until you literally can’t anymore and it fucking destroys you… hello Mas Ito!!

XII. Keiko Kimura - Who Knew - P!nk That last kiss, I'll cherish until we meet again / And time makes it harder, I wish I could remember / But I keep your memory, you visit me in my sleep / My darling, who knew? Fucked up behavior of me to choose this for Keiko but yeah it’s about Twitchy. Feels self-explanatory.

XIII. Twitchy Hashimoto - Brother - Kodaline We've taken different paths / And traveled different roads / I know we'll always end up on the same one when we're old / And when you're in the trenches / And you're under fire, I will cover you Very much chosen with the Twitchy&Shig dynamic in mind but also because Twitchy literally refers to the other characters as his “siblings back in Topaz”... and something about the line about “we were… the kings and queens” combined with the motif of royalty surrounding Twitchy & his relationship with Keiko (“company of kings,” Aiko’s thought about Twitchy treating Keiko like a “queen,” Keiko’s comparing Twitchy to a prince, the Cinderella motifs in Keiko’s chapter…. yeah) and ofc the reference to trench warfare… this is his fucking song.

XIV. Tommy Harano - Landslide - Fleetwood Mac Well, I've been afraid of changin' / 'Cause I've built my life around you / But time makes you bolder / Even children get older / And I'm getting older too something about Tommy finally making the decision to leave his parents behind… he’s built his life around a family that doesn’t treat him right but time has made him bolder as he’s grown up. and like. the references to snow in both the book and the song are beautiful and aplenty but i don’t have the time to unpack that.

XV. All Of Us - Disposable Youth - No-No Boy Disposable you / Disposable me / Disposable hearts / Indestructible teens Off an album named for the year the Japanese American incarceration of World War II began, this is songwriter Julian Saporiti’s “imagining of what it would have been like to be ever experience a Memorial Day bbq with people who looked like me” and has a very similar vibe to the scene at Tanforan where they celebrate of the infield after the Americans defeated the Japanese at the Battle of Midway. somethin’ bout teenagers getting to be wild and loving and free <3

[asexual-juliet]

Before I can say anything else, Bette calls him over. She’s corralling the guys off to one side so she can take a photo with the camera she ordered back in February. Frankie glares at her. Stan Katsumoto’s wearing a smirk like it’s an old comfortable jacket. Mas stands at the center of them all, beaming, with each of his brothers under one arm. Shig’s laughing, but if you’re paying attention, you can see he’s gripping Mas so tight, it’s like he doesn’t ever want to let go. Minnow’s hand is out, trying to pass a folded piece of paper to Twitchy, who’s pulling faces at the camera.

Tommy’s in the foreground, smiling like he never smiles when he’s with the family, because here, no one expects him to be something he isn’t. Here, he’s accepted just as he is.

Just as we all are.

hey we are not free nation come get your juice!! traci chee commented AND reposted this on instagram so legally you have to reblog it!!

@igizzz @snarkiestchicken

[asexual-juliet]

we are not free + names

[asexual-juliet]

new we are not free playlist just dropped

[asexual-juliet]

I skydived into the inbox as soon as I heard the word sequel. Hand over the context

hiii ok so basically

tommy applies for and then gets a job at the general store that used to be katsumoto co. there’s some tension between him and stan for a little bit because of this but it does not last long

tommy and stan move into a tiny little one-room apartment in mr oishi’s building

tommy starts working as a stockboy at the general store and befriends his coworker/the owner’s daughter (a white girl named lucille)

yum-yum and her family return to japantown

this is all i’ve written so far and we are sitting at 4222 words but you can also expect:

the return of keiko kimura!

mas coming home from war

aroace tommy

a multitude of conversations that take place on tommy and stan’s fire escape

minnow and tommy’s queer-to-queer communication

tommy harano escaping his parents and finding happiness in a place he never thought he would!

a lot more i have not planned yet!

i’m literally insane about him. here is a snippet:

Minnow’s sketching the Golden Gate Bridge when Tommy slips out to join him on the fire escape.

“Looking good,” Tommy says, gesturing to Minnow’s sketchbook as he sits down beside him. Minnow looks up. 

“Thanks,” he says, but there’s something in his eyes that Tommy can’t quite decipher.

“You okay?” he asks. Minnow sets aside his sketchbook.

“We see it from a different angle up here,” he says. Tommy furrows his eyebrows. 

“The bridge, I mean. It’s like, I drew it so many times from the old apartment that it feels… wrong to try and do it from here. I mean, my lines are all wrong; the perspective’s fucked–”

Here, he takes the sketchbook back into his hands and shows Tommy what looks to him like a beautiful rendition of the view from his new fire escape. Minnow’s got that artist’s eye, though, he supposes. And thirteen years of drawing the Golden Gate Bridge from one angle.

“I don’t like it when things change,” Minnow says softly, and there’s a sudden ache in Tommy’s chest that feels like it's been there since before Tanforan.

“Sometimes, I miss Topaz,” he confesses. “The desert snow, the way you could see the constellations—”

He pauses. “Is that fucked?”

[asexual-juliet]

It's 1944 when you finally find your way back to San Francisco, and the neighborhood is so different that it leaves an ache in your chest.

Or, Tommy Harano returns to Japantown, reunites with some old friends, does some grieving, some dreaming, and then some self-discovery.

[asexual-juliet]

characters from we are not free as lyrics from 1942 by no-no boy

minnow ito i feel washed out punched in the mouth, private school playgrounds white knuckled, blue-eyed barbarians –dragon park

shig ito your language is my language, wet lips in laundry rooms hush hun and hold on, daydreams must do –heart mountain

yum-yum oishi oh, oh, love of mine take me out dancing beneath the stars oh, japanese parts american wheels will take you further than far –pacific fog

bette nakano i tell ya, man, it’s like some movie and she’s just tailor made for the part lamps licking the roof beams, she’s got good looking down to an art hear the old folks sing them old songs, the background just fades away our coffee can fire’s almost gone, she says, “i gotta get out of this place” –two candles in the dark

frankie fujita this girl, a pinpoint, that moment ya feel a spark brown boots, a dirt floor, we’re dancing like two candles in the dark dancing like two candles in the dark dancing like two candles in the dark –two candles in the dark

stan katsumoto get off it, or pick up a goddamn rifle there’s no revolution  at brown university –lam thi dep

aiko harano the time she was a little girl and climbed above the rest of the world scaled the tower at the santa anita racetrack where not even the boys dared go and she felt good for a moment or so –instructions to all persons

yuki nakano disposable you disposable me fearless child rolling up her sleeves –disposable youth

mary katsumoto a glance across the water last imperial daughter a trickster madame, not a thief i keep my dress both pressed and clean –han shan

kiyoshi tani he found a group of kids to find trouble with some little slice of living –instructions to all persons

mas ito through a clerical error, his friends and him got a bunkhouse to themselves, they called the “loafers inn” playing cards and telling jokes they felt good for a moment or so –instructions to all persons

keiko kimura undeniable parts sharp wit, dark eyes and runner's legs a mouth like new year’s day –disposable youth

twitchy hashimoto they fell in love through a war, fished flames from their breasts the girl was a poet, the boy did his best to float in between islands on black ink and sentiment –ogie/naoko

tommy harano born feeling wrong i sing my secrets in a song too unfamiliar to belong –lam thi dep

all of us disposable you disposable me disposable hearts indestructible teens –disposable youth

[asexual-juliet]

I learned a long time ago that the secret to academic success isn’t smarts. It’s knowing what they want from you and giving it to them with a smile. moodboard: stan katsumoto we are not free characters: 6/14