#tenjo amanohokosaka

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

Sometimes I fall down this rabbit hole of trying to understand the Tenjo Gender Paradox, like; Why do Bang, Kagura, even Homura call her a man throughout the games when surely they would have know otherwise? People say she was passed off as a man after her death in Ikaruga to help hide the fact that it was the Imperator Herself leading the 'rebel' faction, but how would her closest companions, her own family, not know the truth? If Bang was really her direct disciple, if she trained him, there's no way he wouldn't know, right??? They'd have to have met??? This makes no sense...

I need to remember that this whole paradox only exists because of localization error. In the original text, no gendered language is used for Tenjo in the main series. The male pronouns, and the confusion they cause in the fandom, were only introduced in localization as the singular 'they' had not been adopted in mainstream media at the time. So the whole 'paradox' just doesn't exist in the world of the games themselves; it's an issue unique to our world.

If I'm not mistaken, 'Tenjo of Ikaruga' being described as a 'big scary man with a scar' was still a rumor passed around during and after the war as an NOL misinformation campaign, but that doesn't cause the same narrative issues. It makes sense that characters like Bang and Kagura wouldn't bother to directly refute the rumors. They were valuable to keeping the truth of the war a secret for both parties.

Besides, speaking of Tenjo directly as a woman, even as her subordinates, may have been seen as disrespectful. The Imperator is meant to be a divine figure, and in several cultures this divinity can be reflected by avoiding gendering a person, classifying the position they hold as something 'above' gender. But now I'm just musing about a fictional society's cultural practices.

Homura would probably be an exception to this, able to refer to Tenjo as their 'mother' (contradicting the use of "father" they use in CP) but considering Homura is also never gendered, they may also avoid such terms, possibly as a sign of respect for the station they've inherited. Thinking about that, I went to find the scene in Japanese to figure out what Homura says... and heard them use "chichi," which I believe generally means 'father'???

I have heard some people talking in such a way as to suggest that masculine language can be interpreted as gender neutral within certain contexts in Japanese; for example, "兄弟" can be used to mean brother or any sibling, and would be the word used when asking someone if they have any siblings.

Assuming that's true, this use of "chichi" may be the same; used to refer to either gender of parent. I actually have seen it used in this way on some websites! But I can't be sure if this is entirely correct, as I don't actually speak Japanese. Hmmm...

[kan-zaiaku]

(repost cause i scheduled at the wrong time orz)

The second half of Jin's past episode for BlazBlue Central Fiction Extend is now live! Aside from video editing, I also provided new artwork for Akane Teruhiko in his Academy uniform, Tenjo Amanohokosaka, and an entirely new CG! You just might recognize it when you see it ^^

Alongside the main story for Central Fiction, we're also doing supplementary "past episodes" for almost every playable character that covers their Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shift stories and, in most cases, even includes new scenes for expanded context to account for lore (whether official or newly written by Heroton Productions) that came after CT/CS. As always, we'd appreciate any support for the project!

[blazbluebrackets]

ROUND 2: Kazuma Kval vs. Tenjo Amanohokosaka

Tenjo had defeated her junior in battle, but how will she fare against a student from the Mage's Guild? A story of vessels and souls, who will reign supreme?

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

We have some knowledge of this, but not much! We know Celica's power of 'opposing Seithr' is somehow linked to the Power of Order. I always interpreted Celica as being born to be a counter to Nine's incredibly power to draw Seithr- the two of them balance one another out in the environment. While I won't get into it right now for lack of time, I feel like applying a similar "force of nature" lens to Celica really enhances her character.

Jin's connection to the Power of Order that seems to overtake him as Hakumen, then, is also directly linked to the disaster his elder sibling poses. He was born to address the issues that Ragna's existence created; if Ragna is doomed to be the Black Beast, that which destroys this world, then his brother was born to become the one who slays the Black Beast, he who saves this world. We can see the way this 'destiny' or 'soul programming' (or whatever you want to call it) threatens to override his actual personality/personhood- it's the heart of his psychosis, it's what Yukianesa capitalizes on and draws out so powerfully. It's why he can't have a normal relationship with his brother.

I'd have to do an actual, sourced refresher on BB to scrounge up all the information we have on the Power of Order as a force (and that might be fun) but for now, the last note I can think of is when BBDW made some very loaded implications when applying it's "Order" trait to certain characters.

The main series explains Celica, Jin, Hakumen, and Izayoi-Tsubaki's connections to Order- but what the HELL is going on with Drei, Hibiki, Homura, Tenjo, and Kiiro!???!

Did Homura inherit whatever role Tenjo had, similarly to how Tsubaki was able to inherit part of Jin's role??? Should we assume that family plays a huge role in how a person may be born with the Power of Order, as it does in the two main series examples I touched on- or is that just Mori enjoying writing complicated families???

For now, no way to tell.

Hey, so I was wondering if it’s just me, but I always kinda read hakumen as a ‘force of nature’ type figure within the blazblue story, for how much focus there is on him being literally unbendable in his beliefs, and one of his epithets, “the World’s Choice”. I find that interpretation really fascinating, so, curious if it resonates with you at all :3

Well he does have power of order which is basically a force of nature in the blazblue world so it does make sense yah

[softcoresuffering]

Found this while looking through my phone. I don't think I ever posted it???

Tenjo animation showcase from BBDW. Skills, R/D/S, DD, and AH. Slow speed, no music.

[bbdw]

Character Art - Tenjo Amanohokosaka

5⭐️ Grimoire - Cascading Incandescence

The homeland this body of mine existed for was named Ikaruga. It was beloved by many citizens, it was upheld on the shoulders of many subjects. However, the sun sets upon it, and with that setting sun mine body too burns away. I can only pray that, somehow, our flames will be carried on.

[abyss-of-the-azure]

Okay this is confusing me, Lord Tenjo was the former Emperor of the NOL, as her child Homura is the current Emperor. YET, Jin killed her in the Ikaruga Civil War, which was so the Ikaruga Fed. could declare independence from the NOL. But she was also Bang's master, and he was part of the war against NOL. THIS IS ALL REALLY CONFUSING WHICH SIDE WAS THE EMPEROR ON!? (forgive me, I'm new to the clusterfuck that is the BB lore).

Tenjou Amanohokosaka was the Imperator of the NOL. Both Bang Shishigami and Kagura Mutuski were her students, and Homura is her child.

To the public, the war started because five different hierarchical cities formed under one as the Ikaruga Federation, and tried to claim independence from the NOL, which the latter didn’t like, and declared war.

During this time, Sector Seven decided to create a Kusanagi Unit, and the strings were being pulled by Relius Clover, Yuuki Terumi, and Hazama, with Hazama being planned to merge with Mu-12 to create the Unit. It didn’t work as Take-Mikazuchi fired on the laboratory, and the area became known as the “Burning Fields of Ikaruga”.

The war had another reason that Relius and Terumi were working towards, and that was making sure there was plenty of deaths. Lots of deaths were required to summon Hades: Izanami into the world so she could possess Saya’s body, but enough deaths didn’t occur until the events of Continuum Shift a few years later.The war was being dragged on to meet this criteria. Everyone knew that the NOL could easily destroy the Ikaruga Federation with its superior army and access to high-level Ars Magus. Relius went so far as to even create proxy troops for the NOL to fight despite the Federation having no idea about their existence.

Despite Tenjou being the Imperator of the NOL, there was a coup d’etat taking place inside it, presumably masterminded by Relius, Terumi, Hazama, and Meifang Lapislazuli. Tenjou’s identity as the head of the NOL was never disclosed to the public, and she was made out as the villain who was the leader of the Ikaruga Federation. Thanks to Hazama, Jin Kisaragi was to be the one who murdered Tenjou, and she didn’t put up a fight even though she had intended to survive beyond the war. Terumi ate Jin’s memories and disposed of Tenjou’s body, replacing it with someone else. At the time, Tenjou was infamous for wearing a mask, and no one knew she was a woman, but a rumour had circulated that she wore a mask to hide a hideous scar - the replacement body had a large scar on their face.

Thanks to Kagura, Hibiki Kohaku, Iron Tager, and Kokonoe Mercury, Homura was smuggled out of the Federation and into hiding. Valkenhayn R. Hellsing somehow got word that Homura was somewhere in the federation, and told Bang during CS. Some, including Bang, believed that Homura was killed by the NOL.

With the NOL now under new management, they became a lot stricter and enforced a harsher rule on the world, which made the public resent them even more (Linhua is a good example of a normal person who intensely dislikes them).

I guess that’s the Ikaruga Civil War in a nutshell.

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

As someone who was following the datamines while the game was active, I want to add that I don't think Tomonori, Akira, Clavis, or PS Valkenhayn were necessarily planned for release next.

They had been in the files since the initial release of the game, alongside several other characters, although the only one I remember at this time is Tenjo. After a few months of the game running, it became apparent that new characters (not found in the files) were being added to the game right before their release, being announced and coming out long before the batch of characters hidden in the files.

Just looked through some old discord messages. In addition to Tomo, Akira, Clavis, and Valk, we could find Tenjo, Lambda, Shiori, Fuzzy, Chachakaka, Hazama, Sechs, and Avenge in the files since day one. Notably most of these characters appeared the same way the remaining Datamine Gang does- their card art was visible in the game files. But two were outliers- Shiori's card art wasn't in there but her sprite art was, and Fuzzy appeared as a placeholder (mostly for what seems to be Ciel content?) and in a different costume than the version we got upon his release.

Lots of characters released before and between the Datamine Gang. So, being in the files wasn't an indicator of who we would be seeing when. The best indicator was if anyone was added the night before a stream.

some really interesting finds in the bbdw datamine so far is

there seems to be enough character slots for pretty much every single blazblue character with a name, physical appearance, and certain degree of plot relevance to their original series to at least be an npc in the story mode.

If I had to guess the next batches of characters to be released the next pair would have been clavis and phase shift valkenhayn followed by tomonori and/or akira. clavis and ps valk both had a fair amount of in game data (although also to be fair clavis was already in the game as an npc) while tomonori and akira don't have as much but definitely have some confirming them to have been planned to be playable

I don't know if it's used at all in the story but there is a portrait of normal terumi. the face is shaded out but it's definitely him

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

The final moments of Meifang Lapislazuli

Variable Heart, Volume 3, Chapter 18

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

Happy birthday Meifang!

I // II // III IV // V // VI VII // VIII // IX

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

Annon-Guy: If XBLAZE got a Remaster, who would you like to do an English Dub for each character?

I think Eden Riegel should reprise her role as Es.

Good question!

I'd like to see Eden Riegal appear as Es again, as I really appreciate consistency in casting and, as I dislike the characterization used in Cross Tag, I don't feel I've seen her best work yet- I'd like to see more! I find her delivery in Cross Tag slow and stunted, and not in a way that enhances her roboticism; rather, I feel other VAs performances were also stunted at times in that game. Laura Bailey comes to mind, though she is typically a GREAT Rachel, as does Cristina Valenzuela's Nu, which again I usually love.

Though on the other hand, Ray Chase did a MARVELOUS Susano'o in that game for his debut, and I also really liked Amanda Celine Miller as Nine; so not all of Cross Tag's voice direction fell flat for me.

That said, I'm not sure I can answer this well. I don't have a good ear for tones, and nine times out of ten, I can't recognize a voice actor (I had to look up all the folks I mention above.)

It's a boring answer, but I do like how BlazBlue does voice actor sharing; say, all the Saya-modeled PFDs sharing a voice actress, Homura and Tenjo sharing, etc. In that same vein, I might like to see, say, Makoto's Cindy Robinson try Yuki Himezuru, seeing as the two are supposed to be somewhat similar.

The only other thing that comes to mind is that perhaps Kaiji Tang, from Bungo Stray Dogs fame, could carry that energy into Unomaru?

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

BBDW 4⭐ Grimoire = Imperator's Visage

Homura is still young, still small, But undeniably carries blood linked to nobility, Sharing the visage of the former Imperator, Tenjo.

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

can I get a receipt?

Edited from the wonderful work at @asoftersea

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

Reminder that an unofficial translation of Spiral Shift was completed some time around the beginning of this year!

You can hear more about it here, or read the novel here via Google Drive.

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

Excerpt from BlazBlue: Spiral Shift - Hero of the Frozen Blade

Chapter IV, Part I

There was a small bed on the floor. It was made of soft-colored wood and wrapped with a fluffy comforter and clean white sheets.

On top of it, a baby who probably couldn’t even stand up on its own was sleeping peacefully.

Tenjo’s footsteps crept up to the baby’s side, and she peered into the bed. The baby seemed completely at ease and didn’t seem to have been woken up by her approach.

Tenjo wondered if they were having a good dream.

The baby’s soft lips moved in small gulps as if it was trying to eat something.

It was a lovely child. The eyes and nose were enough to prove they would grow up to be beautiful. Their hair was soft and lush, still sparse, but dark.

‘I believe the face looks like mine, but it seems the hair is more like that of my partner. It is better that way.’ Tenjo thought as she gently stroked the baby’s head.

“For you, a life of hardship has been decided. If my wishes could be granted, I would have preferred for you to live in tranquility, but…”

Evidently, it is beyond my power.

As she whispered, Tenjo seemed to regret leaving, but still gently backed away and sat up.

For a while, she stared at the baby’s sleeping face, and then left the room.

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

BBDW 4⭐ Grimoire = Hero of the Frozen Blade

If Tenjo is killed, the Ikaruga Civil War will end.

One soldier, young in years, bearing the thoughts of his comrades on his back;

and her, who understands everything and accepts her fate.

As well as the new beginning stemming from this place.