#the Japanese translates to Family Photo

[thatonetwig]

When Mango tries to get his family to take a photo:

"Smile for the camera, won't you, son?"

"Get off of me!"

[arminsumi]

❀ 𝐈 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮 | 𝟏 Gojo Satoru / Geto Suguru

Falling in love despite a language barrier.

𝐂𝐡. 𝟏 | 𝐖𝐜. 𝟒.𝟔𝐤 | 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐱 | 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

Satoru's never really been in love before.

Sure, in high school he experienced crushes and a handful of dates. But the crushes were shallow and short-lived, and the dates were lousy and forgettable.

But you? Well it's funny, see, you live on a whole different continent and can't speak his language, and yet to him you're as unforgettable as the scent of spring.

His feelings for you seep into his skin slowly, beautifully; and yet he can't express a single one to you because he too can't speak your language.

During late-night video calls, Suguru tries to bridge the gap between you and his best friend. And in your group chat, both Shoko and Suguru combine their skills to help you and Satoru understand each other. They do it because they see how badly the both of you want to know more about each other; especially Satoru.

Satoru has never been so infatuated before; never quite so curious and unashamedly intrigued with someone else. You're all he thinks about day and night.

When you speak, he desperately strains his ears. When you text, he consults the dreaded Google translate. And he's always nagging Suguru to translate everything, because he wants to know your every thought and expression.

Around a year and a half after meeting you, Satoru realizes something when he's lazing in his bed with his fluffy white cat curled up on his stomach as it rises and falls with his gentle breathing.

He likes you.

On call, when you giggle at the cat's fluffy tail blocking the webcam, Satoru thinks;

あなたの笑いが大好きです I love your laugh.

When talking about you with Suguru, he receives a little teasing smirk from him.

あなたは彼女が好きですよね？ You like her, huh?

During lonely nights, he scrolls through your socials and stares longingly at photos of you, ones where you're hanging out with your real-life friends or family.

とても羨ましいです。私も彼女に近づきたいです。 I'm so jealous. I want to be close to her, too.

Listening to you attempt to speak Japanese on a call while him and Suguru are on a walk around Tokyo, he thinks;

私の言語であなたの声を聞くのが大好きです。 I love hearing your voice in my language.

Any photo of your face that you personally sent him, he looks at with heart eyes and saves immediately.

キスしたい。 I want to kiss you.

He'd be lying if he said he never pressed his lips to his screen and closed his eyes, pretending he was kissing you.

Satoru thinks poetically about you. He pens down these elaborative thoughts into his diary that he plans to give you one day. Maybe then you can get an idea of how deeply he thinks about you.

But even if he could speak English fluently, or you could speak Japanese fluently, he's sure neither language could be descriptive enough when it comes to his feelings for you.

He tries so hard to learn some phrases in anticipation of your upcoming visit, but all he can say when he meets you for the first time at Haneda airport is;

"Hi."

And he waves cutely.

"Hi!" you giggle, waving back.

And all at once, there's a bunch of thoughts buzzing in his head. He's looking at you like he's captivated. Even if he knew any solid English, he's sure he'd be speechless anyways.

実物の彼女はもっと美しい、信じられない。 She's even more beautiful in real life, I can't believe it.

彼女が何を言っているのか全く分かりませんが、いい感じですね。耳元で聞く彼女の声だけが私が望んでいたものです。 I have no idea what she's saying, but it sounds good. Her voice in my ear is all I wanted.

なぜ彼女は私ではなくスグルを抱きしめたのでしょうか？その瞬間は混乱の渦だったのでしょうか、それとも彼女は私を抱きしめたくなかったのでしょうか？ Why did she hug Suguru instead of me? Was that moment a whirlwind of confusion, or did she just not want to hug me?

When you excuse yourself to go to the bathroom, the boys wait for you in their seats at the little airport cafe. The neon sign glows yellow above, plants hang from the ceiling; it's a busy place.

They're talking about you over their beverages.

Satoru groans dramatically, throwing his head back, fluffy hair flopping cutely.

"Oh Satoru," Suguru chuckles, "What's the matter? Why the groan?"

"I want to hug her."

Suguru's heart melts. "Then hug her. She doesn't bite. I think she wants to hug you, too."

"But then why didn't she hug me like she hugged you earlier? Maybe I don't seem huggable to her..."

"It was a rushed moment, she had just arrived you know? Don't overthink. Satoru, just hug her."

Satoru lets out a long, stifled noise that's a mix between a groan and a sigh. He tilts his whole body back, balancing precariously on the plastic chair. Rubbing his eyes until he sees some phosphenes, a habit he did when he was nervous. Suguru notices.

"Are you nervous?" Suguru asks tenderly.

"Really nervous. She's prettier in real life. I don't know what to do with myself." he admits quietly.

"Yeah, she is, haha. Oh, there she's coming back now — や!"

"や!" you returned, giggling.

That was Suguru's 'thing'. It's cuter in real life, seeing how his eyes curve up into a smile when he says it. There are details on his face that you didn't notice through the screen; he has an attractive trio of moles on his lower cheek, and when he smiles the left side of his lips curls up more to reveal some of his upper gum.

Satoru's heart beats a little harder when you sit closer to him. He's thinking;

Yay, 彼女は私の隣に座っています。 She is sitting next to me.

"Suguru, ask her if we're taller than she expected." Satoru asks suddenly. You just hear his voice next to you and it gives you tingles — there was a quality to his voice that only revealed itself in real life. An endearing voice crack accompanies the middle of his sentence.

"Satoru asks if we're taller than you expected." Suguru asks you, habitually resting his chin on the palm of his hand while taking a long sip on his iced tea.

"Yeah! Actually, I was surprised, because I thought you and Satoru were the same height, but Satoru is very slightly taller... " you say.

Satoru is listening curiously, waiting expectantly for Suguru's translation. And then it comes, and Satoru smirks at you.

"Yes." he nods, "(Suguru, how do I say I'm taller?) — I'm taller."

You let out a short and sweet ha-hah that makes even Suguru's heart feel a little something.

Each time you laugh, Satoru's thinking;

私はあなたの笑いが本当に大好きです。 。 。 I really love your laugh.

You three leave the airport for your hotel, so you can check in. It's almost midnight, your plane landed late. Though he thought he'd be tired, considering he's not a night owl like his best friend, Satoru is energetically striding next to you, teasing you and laughing with you and throwing hand gestures to try and communicate better. Suguru's fondly eyeing the two of you out, admiring how your chemistry comes to life so beautifully — this is what his best friend wished about for so long; to be at your side. Now he's getting to truly enjoy your company. The dreamy-eyed exchanges between you and Satoru make Suguru think that the two of you ought to be in a novel one day, with how pure and wholesome your story is unfolding right now.

Though, he can pick up on Satoru's frustrated stuttering when he fails to communicate with you. Suguru doesn't mind being the translator, nor does he mind bridging the gap between the two of you; Satoru's nagging can never bother him.

They help you out when you're checking into reception at the hotel, but then suddenly...

"... oh, that's not good. He said your reservation got cancelled." Suguru tells you.

"What!" you panic, "Why?"

Suguru inquires further for you, and finds out that it's because of overbooking.

So you groan, the three of you walking out of the hotel lobby, standing in the glow of the light coming through its glass doors. Satoru silently offers to take care of your suitcase, attentively noticing how tired you'd become from pulling it around.

"Thank you..." you tell him.

"Mm." he nods.

Suguru is quick to offer that you stay at their apartment. "... if you're comfortable with it. Just for the night, until you can find another booking elsewhere. Or if you want to stay by us for the whole month, that's okay too — just mind the cat."

"Suguru... thank you. I'm sorry to be intrusive."

"You're not being intrusive, don't worry. And anyways, I think Satoru will be excited to know that you're staying with us. He was bummed out when he learned that you were gonna stay at this hotel, since it's a bit far from our apartment."

Satoru looks at the two of you curiously after he hears his name mentioned.

"She's staying with us." Suguru tells him. You quietly appreciate his voice, and how soft it becomes when he speaks to Satoru.

"Yay!" Satoru says with a very cute thumbs up. You can hardly believe that this man is older than you.

"Tell him he's cute." you request to Suguru.

"Tell him yourself." he teases.

"No! That's embarrassing! Ah, never mind."

Satoru already knows what you said, though, his ears picked up on that he's cute and your words repeat in his head like his favorite song while the three of you walk the streets at night. He feels dreamy.

There is something indescribably welcoming about Japan that you realize while heading across the street, looking at the faces passing by. It's clean. The lights glow warm and bright. The buildings stand tall, but not intimidatingly so. When you pass by chattering people, you wish you knew what was being said.

The three of you have to take the train to get to their apartment. While boarding it, a cute little exchange happens between you and Satoru that you can't quite explain, but it makes the two of you laugh shyly and look away.

Now squished into a seat at the very edge, another cute little exchange happens between you and him. Satoru is talking up at Suguru, who opted for holding onto the train handles after giving up his seat for an older woman.

Satoru uses lots of hand gestures even when speaking Japanese, his big hands fly around, dramatizing whatever he's saying — and then he accidentally flattens his palm right on top of the back of your hand.

Satoru's quick to remove his hand and giggle it off, but Suguru is even quicker to let out a teasing "ooh, cute" when it happens, so the two of you get completely flustered.

Satoru's heart thumps and throbs for the whole train ride. You swear you can feel a tension between your hands as they rest palms-flat on the seats, less than an inch away; you can feel his warmth, and he can feel yours.

But then the train ride is over, and before you know it Suguru's thumbing his key into the lock of the apartment door. It rattles, the door opens, and the automatic light comes on in the genkan.

"Just a sec — gonna see where Mint is. Make yourself at home." Suguru tells you quickly, voice shaking as he shimmies out of his shoes, and then he disappears down the hall to find the mentioned cat.

Satoru hears the name 'Mint' and gets the idea of what Suguru said based on that.

He nimbly unlaces his Converse, and leans down to neatly tuck them into the corner of the genkan, purposefully next to your shoes.

Then he straightens his body out, and you two have a small comedic exchange as you both notice the height difference between you and him.

"Uh..." he looks down at you. "Water?" he asks after thinking for a moment.

Your heart lurches at his thoughtfulness. "Yes, please."

"Mhm." he hums self-consciously.

He wonders if his accent sounds weird to you. Suguru's reassured him plenty times in the past that it sounds cute and oddly British, but he doesn't really believe that.

Satoru leads the way into the kitchen, clicking the lights on as he goes. And you follow. Such a simple moment makes him feel fluttery.

And then you drink some water with him in the tiny, cramped kitchen that's much too small to accommodate two people. You wonder how Suguru and Satoru can stand in it at the same time if even you and Satoru can't manage it without bumping elbows. He chuckles apologetically.

Ah, the kitchen scene. What a movie scene it is between the two of you.

"Uhhh..." he seems to be skimming his mind for any piece of English vocabulary, getting nervous as you blink at him, waiting for him to speak.

He holds up one finger, then pulls his phone out of the pocket of his jeans. He's a very simple, yet stylish dresser; jeans and a white shirt that's much too big for him. He is truly so opposite to his best friend's fashion that it makes you smile to yourself. Suguru's quite showy with his style, and you can tell he puts a lot of effort into his hairbun, too. But Satoru? Messy hair, in fact so messy that it looks like bed hair even though he did especially brush it and style it for you.

"Okay..." Satoru mumbles, typing things into his phone. Then he gives it to you, and you look at the screen.

飛行は乱気流でしたか？ Was the flight turbulent?

You type your response. He watches you. And oh how he watches you — he looks lovestruck. His eyes are full of wonder. His mind reads like poetry.

He reads your reply when you hand him back his phone.

It was. I realized that I hate airplanes. そうでした。私は飛行機が嫌いだということに気づきました。

He nods. "Scary."

"Yeah." you nod too.

Satoru hesitates.

He's still bitter that Suguru got a hug and he didn't; it's on his mind. He just wants to ask you, but a deep-rooted shyness holds him back.

That is, until you look up at him.

あなたは私を見上げようとしてとても頑張っています。かわいい。 You're trying so hard to look up at me. Cute.

His whole body buzzes with the desire to hug you. He's had dreams of meeting you in person, of hugging you, of kissing you.

The two of you feel your bodies naturally pull together, as if subconsciously desiring to embrace, so it just happens. It just happens.

And you hug and he thinks to himself;

これは私が今まで経験した中で最高の瞬間です。 This is the best moment I've ever experienced.

You can feel his heartbeat and he can feel yours. For a moment, the world around you becomes a dream; and you and Satoru are the only things that truly exist. Everything in the world except your love seems fake, unreal.

You hear him swallow like he's choking up. Then he sniffles a bit.

泣かないで。泣かないで。 Don't cry. Don't cry.

くそー、泣いちゃうよ。彼女はとても柔らかいです Damn, I'm gonna cry. She's so soft.

And you break away to laugh sympathetically, he feels a bit embarrassed.

He's crying so softly that it makes your heart lurch.

Your bodies aren't separate for long, because he dives right back in for another hug in an attempt to quench the thirst from deep within his desirous soul. This time he squeezes tighter; you can feel the tones of his torso and the firmness of his bicep muscles as they press against your sides.

He sniffles again, the sound makes your heart lurch again.

あなたに言いたいことがたくさんあるのですが、どうやって伝えればいいのか分かりません。 There are so many things I want to say to you, but I don't know how.

でも、このハグで私の感情を感じていただければ幸いです。 But, I hope you can feel my emotions in this hug.

And you can; that's how closely connected the two of you feel in that moment. You can feel the emotions radiating from him, permeating throughout the air and seeping into your skin.

You can feel that he likes you. And he can feel that you like him back. It's fascinating to you, because before him you've always been saying I love you and I like you and will you date me? to people, or been on the receiving end of those phrases. But those words are unnecessary for you and Satoru. In fact, they're futile.

If he would say I love you, it would just be an accessory to his already evident love.

Then a sudden embarrassment pries the two of you apart, and you both start giggling to cope with it.

"Sorry... a bit much?" he mutters, half-sure of what he's saying.

"No, not enough." you tell him. He kinda understands what you meant, and feels fluttery. His nose is reddened from crying. He quickly pats his tears off with the base of his hand.

It's like your bodies hate being apart now, you and him can tell by each other's body language. Now at least that's one language both of you became fluent in, despite only being in each other's company for a few hours.

He looks at you. And you flick your brows up and make a funny face, as if to ask him what he's looking at. And he looks away with a bashful laugh, as if to apologize.

The romantic tension is so thick in the air between you two that when Suguru comes back, he feels it hit him like a wave.

おお。さっきまで彼女と一緒にいたとき、世界の存在を忘れていた。 Oh. When I was with her just a moment ago, I forgot the existence of the world.

"That cat is a menace. A menace." Suguru complains.

"What happened?" you ask.

" 'Got scratched." he holds up his hand, showing off the Hello Kitty adhesive across his knuckles. "Anyways, It's late. Are you tired? Satoru's gonna sleep with me, and you can have his room. Unless you want my room. I dunno. You can choose."

"Ooh... I haven't seen your room now that I think about it, except for that one video of you two pillow fighting."

Satoru's already starting to feel a small bit of jealousy and frustration, because he has no idea what you two are talking about.

Suguru's quick to notice this, and translates with a quick tongue.

"Tell her my bed's comfier than yours." Satoru says smirkingly.

"Wow, rude — Satoru says my bed is comfier than his." Suguru lies, refraining from laughing at his own mischievousness.

"Ah, I don't care, I'll be grateful for any bed... ah, actually can I use the bathroom to freshen up a bit?"

"Like I said, make yourself at home."

"Thanks..." you smile.

So Suguru leads the way to the bathroom for you, and you lock yourself in there to freshen up for a while. You sniff your shirt and smile — you smell Satoru's subtle scent on it.

The boys are fussing over the bed situation.

"Don't we have an extra futon stuffed away somewhere, the one Shoko left here?" Satoru thinks out loud.

"Ohhh, you're right." Suguru nods, looking for it.

"Anyways you embarrassed me!" Satoru pouts.

"Haha, did I?" Suguru pulls out the futon from the tippy-top shelf.

"Yeah, earlier you showed off how good you can speak English." Satoru grumbles.

They're softly grunting as they ruffle blankets and pillows.

"Oh, I guess I did. Sorry." he admits, "gosh, maybe if you would have learned a little something in preparation for her visiting then — "

"I did learn stuff! I learned... how to write." Satoru interrupts defensively.

"But why didn't you learn some common phrases?"

"I don't like my accent when I speak, alright." Satoru admits, huffing as he dives into the bed, ruining the artful neatness that Suguru just put so much effort into creating

"Okay, fair enough — oh my god, why would you do that, are you twelve? Oh hey, Y/n." Suguru smiles. "Satoru ruined your bed."

"Oh — two futons? Am I sharing with you or Satoru?"

Satoru rears his head at you from the pillow, looking very cat-like right then with his fluffy white hair. You can tell he's struggling to stay awake as the hour pushes onto two in the morning. He hasn't stayed up this late since he had a video game addiction and played all night with Suguru. Keeping his eyes open was a grand feat.

"No, you get to have two futons." Suguru teases, "Princess treatment."

"Haha, shut up. Be serious."

"Well, you can share with whoever you want or Satoru and I can sleep here together. Whatever you're more comfortable with."

"Didn't you once complain that you hate sharing beds with people?" you giggle.

"Mmm, yeah, but I don't mind if it's with you. Satoru's a cuddler. He also kicks in his sleep."

"That's so cute — well, let's ask — ... hey, I think Satoru fell asleep. Satoru?"

And surely enough, Satoru is asleep; he fell asleep to the sound of your voice without meaning to.

"He's not used to staying awake this late." Suguru tells you, softening his voice so he doesn't wake the cat Satoru.

"That's so sweet. He's really so sweet." you tilt your head admiringly.

You and Suguru are just alone there together, gushing over how cute Satoru looks when he has his cheek squishing into a pillow and his lips pouty and puffy in that sleep-like manner.

A long, nice silence settles in the room. You admit to Suguru that you're feeling a bit too wired to sleep just yet.

"I can stay up with you."

"No, it's okay. You look tired, you should sleep."

"I just always look tired. The night is early, anyways. I usually brood until four in the morning, you know me."

You smile at him, and he has to look away before he swoons. There's a small tension between the two of you, but the both of you force yourselves to ignore it.

The two of you assume a comfortable position on the futons, chatting as if you're not emotional about the fact there's no screen separating the two of you.

"Satoru's never been an insomniac, but in the week leading up to your arrival, he couldn't sleep at all. We'd stand in the kitchen together at midnight, talking about all the things we planned to do when you got here. I've never seen him so excited in a long time... it's really heartwarming to see."

"Really?" you blink at Suguru. He side-eyes you for a prolonged moment, then looks at Satoru who continues to sleep indisturbedly.

"Yeah. You know, he's such an idiot, actually. Because I told him to learn some phrases and instead he learned how to write English."

"That's a start! I mean, look at me, I can barely say a damn thing..." you mutter with lighthearted shame.

"Maybe that doesn't matter at all... I mean, with the kind of chemistry you and Satoru share, there's not much need for words." Suguru says.

You feel your face warm up a bit when he says that. "What do you mean?"

He wiggles his brows. "Oh come on, you know what I mean. I could feeeeel the tension in the kitchen earlier."

"Huh!"

He smirks and begins to tease, "I've never seen two people flirt so much and yet use no words."

You chuckle shyly. "Really...?" you look fondly at Satoru, who's become more curled up by now, face half-hidden under the blanket.

There's a long silence. You're looking at Satoru. Suguru's looking at you as if spellbound. And then he snaps out of it, and reanimates himself.

"Anyways... we should probably get some good sleep if we wanna drag you around on a tour tomorrow. I want your first impression of my home to be how good the food tastes here."

"Ooh, a food tour around Tokyo? Sounds nice. Won't it be too hot tomorrow, though?"

"It'll be fine." he says surely, "Anyways, are you sure you'll sleep here with Satoru? Like I said, he's a cuddler. He will cuddle you in your sleep."

"It's okay. I don't mind." You giggle.

"M'kay, goodnight then."

"Mhm, see you tomorrow." you say, standing with Suguru.

"Wow." he suddenly exclaims when he looks at you.

"Hm?"

Suguru stops on his way out the door, he seems taken aback. "I can't believe you're actually right here. I'm so used to pressing a red button and you vanishing from my screen." he laughs in disbelief.

"Yeah, I'm still a bit in disbelief, too. I feel like I'm in a dream and not standing right in front of you."

Suguru smirks. "Mm... well."

He leans down to hug you, pressing your smaller body against his chest with a lovingness that you never envisioned he would possess.

"Have you ever tried to hug someone in a dream? It's pretty difficult." he jokes.

"N-no, haha." you chuckle nervously against his neck. He feels your laughter on his skin, and pulls away before he lets that tingly feeling spread across his chest.

"Goodnight." he murmurs.

"Goodnight." you mumble back.

You're glad when he disappears into his own room, because you felt like you were melting in his alluring presence. A boy as sultry as that requires you to take a breather.

Satoru draws your attention by letting out a sigh in his sleep. You head into the bed.

Though there's a distance between you two, somehow it closes, and Satoru rolls right over onto your futon.

Oh, he is indeed a cuddler, you think. You feel a warm arm suddenly hugging your waist as Satoru changes position, and you hear sleepy lip smacks; his face is very close. You can feel his sweet, warm breath on your face.

There's a comforting, human intimacy about sharing a bed with him. He's so gentle when he sleeps. His hair falls over his eyes, his lashes shudder as his eyes do that sleepy twitching thing.

He looks angelic.

You wonder what dreams he's having. And well, actually he's having dreams of kissing you. How coincidental that you were staring blinkingly at his pouty lips, wondering just how long it will take for the both of you to just — just kiss.

Roaming his features in the dark, you find aspects of his beauty that you never saw before through the screen. He's got a tiny scar above his eyebrow, that must be the one Suguru told you about — the one he got as a child when he fell out of a tree. You remember making a joke "but I thought cats always land on their feet?" and when Suguru translated that, Satoru laughed.

There's slight freckling under his eyes, and slight indents of eyebags stemming from the inner corner of his eye.

And yes, how could you not admire those lashes. They were more beautiful in person. You could count each one if you wanted to, that's how closely he slept to you.

Listening to his soft breaths nearly lulls you to sleep, but then he suddenly cuddles closer and whines in his dream.

Oh, that's close close, you think.

His torso is pressing completely against your side, his body melting into yours like it was made for you. Two puzzle pieces meant to fit together.

His leg comes over yours, and his muscular thigh nestles between your two thighs. It makes you aware of just how attractively long his legs are.

He completely entrapped you with his sleepy embrace.

The warmth of his gentle breathing tickles your cheek, and the tip of his nose slightly dents into your skin. Now that's when you fall asleep. When he's completely melted against you, snuggled up like a cat.

He stirs awake after a few hours of heavy sleep, and for a split second in that groggy wakeful mind fog, for some reason he thinks he's laying next to his wife. So he squeezes you tenderly and cuddles more affectionately.

Oops, he thinks, and pulls away a little out of embarrassment. But once he falls back into dream land, his body subconsciously goes right back in for those sleepy cuddles.

Now the morning dawns over, and you wake up to two bleary, blinking blue eyes right up close to your face...

© arminsumi

Do not plagiarize / repost / translate / copy layouts / etc.

Do not steal what I've worked hard to create.

[littlemssam]

Mod Updates & Translations

As always delete old Mods Files and the localthumbcache, when updating my Mods!

---

More Visible Wall Objects Photos should be compatible with Ravasheen's Photographic Memory now

Prefer Leftover Added Waffle Maker/PizzaOven/PressureCooker to be blocked. Prepped Ingredients like Batter, IceCream, Cheese in Fridges should be blocked as well now.

---

Translations Only Updates

Automatic Thermostat - Added Danish by Amz, Finnish by MaijaEllen Improved Spa Day Tablet - Added Finnish by MaijaEllen Sul Sul Weather App - Update of Italian by CriIncubus, Finnish by MaijaEllen Skate Everywhere - Added Finnish by MaijaEllen Calendar Tweaks - Added Finnish by MaijaEllen First Love - Added Finnish by MaijaEllen Go for a Walk - Added Finnish by MaijaEllen Choose who you Call to Meal - Added Finnish by MaijaEllen Let Friends Age Up - Update of Finnish by MaijaEllen School Holidays - Added Italian by CriIncubus Unlock/Lock Doors for chosen Sims - Update of Italian by CriIncubus More Visitors | Custom Lot Trait - Update of Italian by CriIncubus Gender & More | Custom Lot Trait - Update of Italian by CriIncubus Foster Family - Added Japanese by Elle Social Activities (Visit Friends, Family and more) - Update of Japanese by Elle, Swedish by namelessperson98 Can i come over? - Update of Swedish by namelessperson98 Food Delivery Service - Update of Swedish by namelessperson98 My Little Neighborhood - Added Swedish by namelessperson98 Preferences | Custom Lot Trait - Added Swedish by namelessperson98 Woodworking Table Rework - Added Swedish by namelessperson98 Improved Practical Spells - New Spell Harvestio - Added Italian by Patrick[Mylar90]

---

My Site with all possible Download Links: lms-mods.com

Support Questions via Discord only please!

[sy-on-boy]

(Potentially) new information from the Spy x Family exhibit book!

Okay, I’ve done some digging around and not gonna lie, some information in there has me excited. I can’t read Japanese so I took photos and put them through translate, so it’s not the most accurate, and please take this post with a grain of salt. Here we go!

Translations are more than welcome! Feel free to use these photos and feel free to DM me for clearer photos. I would also love to know what this all means haha. Japanese “raw” text is taken from Google translate and may be inaccurate to what is actually shown in the photos.

✩ The SxF world apparently has no Christmas!

I’ve heard claims of it, and here’s a picture I took.

“遠藤達哉先生 コメント

こちらは冬の休載イラスト です。 電飾一個一個を北斗 神拳ばりに連打して描きま した。 クリスマスっぽい雰 囲気を出していますが、 『SPY×FAMILY』の世界に クリスマスはありません。”

Google translate tells me that there’s no Christmas in the SxF world but he tried to create a Christmas-like atmosphere? Not sure but it would align with other people’s claims.

✩ Yuri apparently had a girlfriend in a rough draft!

This is Endo’s handwriting so the machine can’t recognise the words easily, but I think the woman in the bottom of Yuri’s sheet is his “girlfriend”? And Google translate tells me she’s Yuri’s “weakness” and Twilight might use her against Yuri / take advantage of the girlfriend? This is a very interesting idea that didn’t get used in canon (yet?). I think in canon, Yuri is popular but he’s too devoted to his sister. A new significant other of a prominent character would shake things up. Especially when it comes to Yuri, a member of the SSS.

By the way, Yuri’s potential designs are kind of cool. I like the ponytail.

✩ Apparently “Oscar” was one of Twilight’s potential names! + Early Twilight designs

I think we know Yor was originally short for Yorlanda (this is in the upper sheet). There’s a whole list of names beside Twilight and the name Oscar オスカー appeared frequently. There are also more names that I can’t decipher.

✩ Designs of some potential WISE agents! (And early Fiona)

Fiona’s sheet (next to Yuri’s) was titled “WISE spy (female)” and now we have a sheet titled “WISE spy (male)”. Was Fiona a placeholder spy that made it to the main cast? Or will this “male spy” end up having significance too? The two smaller heads at the left are apparently Twilight’s associates. Also, a Melinda sketch. Not gonna lie, the male spy feels kinda cute. Hope he’s not completely scrapped.

✩ Endo’s interview!

I feel like I should put this earlier but I was distracted with the Christmas / Yuri’s potential girlfriend thing. This is at the very end of the book. Apparently Endo was influenced by the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This interview was apparently taken in March 2023. I think it’s fairly important so I’ll wait for a proper translation before saying anything else.

✩ Comments on Donovan, Melinda, Redacted, and Sylvia!

These two pages are together and I found it significant because Endo discusses the SxF themes. (My notes are not direct translations.) Apparently:

Sylvia’s scene in Mission 20 is Endo’s favourite scene, and he was looking at materials related to war for a long time and wondered if he could make use of it. [JP below]

とてもお気に入りのシーンです。 「SPY×FAMILY」の連載とは関係無し 昔から戦争に関する資料は色々見て いたので、多少はこの作品にも活かせ ているのかなーと。

Donovan’s statement of “in the end, people will never understand each other” (rough paraphrase) is the theme of the work. And Endo wanted to create a feeling of Donovan being the final boss. He didn’t plan on arranging it from the beginning, but he thinks the Desmonds are a good contrast to the Forgers. (Does this mean the Forgers think people will understand each other?) [JP below]

作品のテーマでもあるセリフ ですね。 少しでもドノバンの ラスボス感を醸し出せればい いなーと思いながら描きまし た。最初から意図して配置し たわけではないですが、デス モンド家はフォージャーと 良い対比になっているのかな と思います

The chapters on Twilight’s past coincided with the anime so Endo thought it was a good idea to explore Twilight’s past. [JP below]

アニメが始まるタイミングな のもあって、黄昏〉という人 物を掘り下げる良い機会かな と思い過去編を入れました。 あまり重たくなりすぎないよ うに、でも伝えたいことは最低限伝えられるように、自分 なりにバランスを取って描い たつもりです。

Melinda is described as “friendly” (?) even though she is dignified. A positive description of Melinda… interesting. What’s also interesting is that after she learns that Yor is the mother of the child who got into a fight with Damian, she “shows interest”. Melinda, what do you want with Anya? [JP below]

ダミアンの母で、東国元首相夫人。気品に溢れつ つも、気さくな性格。 ヨルが息子と喧嘩したアー ニャの母親と知り、興味を示している。

I personally think these two pages contain hints about the mystery of the featured characters and would love to know what it means :D

✩ Early Yor and Bond!

There’s a lot more Yor but again the image limit is constricting me. I really like the Bond designs, they’re funny and he’s just a chonky little boi :)

✩ Comments on the panel of Twilight’s head in Yor’s lap!

“珍しいイチャイチャシーンです。 ヨルさん は一年中酔っ払ってればいいのに”

Which apparently means: “a rare flirting (?) scene, I wish Yor was drunk all year long”

?!??! Twiyor?!! Hello!! I cannot resist mentioning this one, this is one of my favourite Twiyor / SxF scenes. Are we gonna get more drunk Yor? More Twiyor? More flirting? I’m excited now.

I’ve reached the image limit, so here’s all for this post for now! Translations are totally welcome and again I would love to know what this all means. I’m sorry if I accidentally said misleading information, so please tell me so I can correct it. Once again, don’t take my words as complete fact. The Yuri girlfriend thing is really surprising to me haha.

[crios31]

Chapter 3: Childhood friends

Story building and fluff

Length 2068 words

“Sana, I think you can release him, others also want to say hello.” says her father looking at the two girls waiting in the room.

“No! It’s been too long since the last time we saw each other!”

“You’re not the only one who misses him, Sana.” retorts one of the girls before pointing to the other, “Look, even Mina hurried to see him.”

“Alright, sorry Momoring.” She ends the hug and takes a step to the side to let the two other girls pass. You notice her cheeks are puffed, it seems she is sulking.

Momo is the first to approach, giving you a strong hug, “Three years, smartass.”

“Yeah, it’s been too long, airhead.” You both stay like this for a minute before letting Mina have her turn, she lightly hugs you and you just have enough time to put your arms around her that she steps back.

“Shy as always.” You pat her head making Mina look down but you can see a small smile while her cheeks get a pinkish hue. “So girls, this is Wendy, she is working for me. Wendy, those are Momo, Sana and Mina, my childhood friends.”

“Pleasure to meet all of you.” says Wendy in English.

The three of them greet her back with Mina asking, “If you are following him as he moves, do you speak Korean?”

“Yes, I was born there.”

Mina smiles and to your surprise switches to Korean. “Good, then it will be easier to communicate with each other.”

“We won’t have to bother Mina to do the translation because the three of us learned Korean” Rejoices Sana as she hugs Mina from the back.

“I knew you wanted to learn it before I left Japan but I didn’t expect both of you to do it too.” You say looking at Momo and Mina.

“Sana convinced me to learn Korean with her and Mina joined us saying it was interesting.”

The presentations now done, everyone follows Sana’s father to the patio where the family of the Japanese trio is waiting.

You greet everyone, starting with Sana’s mother, then Momo’s and Mina’s parents finishing with their siblings. The girls start talking with each other as Kai gets beside you.

“Do you want one?” Asks Kai bottles of beer in his hands.

“Yeah, thanks.” You take a sip. “How is medical school going?”

“It’s going well, I’m finishing general study so the real deal will begin next year.”

“Do you have a specialty in perspective?”

“I may follow dad’s footstep in orthopedics but I still have time to make a decision.”

“Still playing American Football?”

“Yes, I joined my university’s team and it’s a lot of fun. Play something on your side? I see you have a good build now.”

“I mostly played rugby and some basketball. Also started weightlifting recently, and I intend to continue in Korea.”

You continue talking with Kai until you hear Sana's voice. “Guys come here, Wendy has a question and you're both involved in it.”

You join them. “So what’s it about?”

“I wanted to know how all of you became friends? Because from what I understand your families don’t live in the same city.”

“The first ones I met were Momo and Hana. When I was in elementary school, we moved to Japan for my dad's work. Momo's family was my neighbor and the three of us were going to the same school.”

“For the first year he was in my class so we were going and returning from school with him. Furthermore, we played a lot together outside of school so we became fast friends. Then he began to skip some grades, and he ended up in the same class as nee-chan for some time. They got along well before but really became close following this.” Momo says. “ Wendy, I have some funny photos of him as a kid, do you want to see them?”

“Oh yes! I would love too.”

“Careful Momo, I also have some of you.”

“Really you take your photo album with you? I don’t think so, aunty most likely keeps it.” She then sticks her tongue out at you. You can only grumble in response because she is right about that.

“My turn now! So Dad worked under his father and they got along really fast.” speaks Sana. “We regularly meet each other when our parents invite the others for meals or during company events. Thanks to this, when his mother was working to open her first school in Japan, my mom joined the project because she is a teacher. Now Mom is the Headmistress of the private school of Osaka. Also, she got to meet and work alongside Mina's mother. I’ll let you explain this part Mina.”

“Alright, Mom is a lawyer, she was hired by his parents for all of their matters in Japan, for example, she is involved with his mother’s schools from the start. So Mom befriended his mother and later Sana’s, therefore we all got to see each other regularly.”

“At first, Mina was mainly close to Sana and Kai to me. As for Momo and Hana, they met the others when my parents organized a party with their friends and their families. So that's the story of how our little group was formed.”

With Wendy's question being answered, the group continues to chat during the afternoon. The parents join you for a time retelling stories about their kids, some were funny, others somewhat shameful depending on your role in it. When the sun began to set, they went into the house asking you to follow them.

Arriving in the living room, everyone takes a seat with Momo’s parents on your left, Mina’s on your right and Sana’s in front of you.

Mina’s mother begins to talk, “Seeing that this girl, Wendy is following you, should be the one your parents personally handpicked for you. Finally, they decided to explain the hidden side of the scholarship program?”

“Yes, they explained the basics when I met her and I learned the rest from a file Mom gave me before I left. But it lacked information on a specific point, the people running the program for her. I was expecting aunty to be involved with the program because she is in charge of one of the schools.” You say turning briefly toward Sana’s mother. “In your case, your firm treats every legal related topic for my parents in this country, so I was not entirely sure if you would have been in it or if it would have been someone working for you. So are you the only ones related to the program here?”

“Yes, the other only knows about it, nothing more.”

“Then, could you both explain your role in it, please?”

“My role in the program? Well my main task is to write the contract for each recipient of the scholarship when they join but only for those in Japan. I am also involved in the background check of candidates for the scholarship and sometimes to resolve some legal issues that come up.” Answers Mina’s mom.

“In my case, I became the head of the program in Japan when your family moved out. More specifically, I oversee the people in charge of different areas of Japan and the area of Osaka and Kyoto is under my direct supervision. Finally, I am part of the evaluation council in Japan and sometimes the one in Korea.” Explains Sana’s mother. “Do you want to know something?”

“Thanks for the explanation. I’m wondering if any of your kids are aware of this side of the program?”

“Well my daughter knows about it. One day, she read some of the documents I took with me at home. She was very interested in it, in particular the fact that it’s for you.” Sana’s mom gives you an amused smile before continuing. “I decided it was better to explain everything to her. Sana was still interested in my work and the program, so I decided to sometimes include her in my work. Well it’s only limited to asking for her opinion concerning girls of the program because she has a similar age as them, the goal being to avoid or resolve issues for them. And for the other kids…”, she strokes her chin in ponder. “If one of them knows, it would most likely be Mina.”

Hearing that you agree, Mina is the smartest of the group and she has always been very curious since childhood. From this combination results that whenever she wants to know about something, she will always find a way to get the information. Concerning Kai, he is very considerate of his parents' works and the privacy that comes with them. In Hana's case, she is unlikely to know anything because her parents, while aware of the program, are not involved in it. As for Momo, you're not sure because with Sana and Mina they share everything together, so she could have learned about it from them. 

“Alright if one of them learns about it, we’ll just explain it like in Sana’s case. Aunty, do you intend to involve more Sana in your work?”

“I’ll continue as it is for now considering the program. But for the rest of my work, yes it will give more practical experience as she’ll enter university to begin her teaching degree next spring.”

You continue to talk with everyone's parents about the running of the program in Japan, they then ask about how your student life was since the last time you talked to them. You answer their questions until someone puts its hand on your shoulders and rests its head on top of yours from behind the couch.

“So are you done with him? Can we have him back?” Asks Hina.

“Yes, yes. Take him with you, we'll have time to talk during the upcoming days.” Answers her father.

You stand just as you arrive before Hana grabs your arm and begins to drag you outside of the living room under the laughter of the parents watching a familiar scene. In the hallway Hina turns to you.

“It was easier to drag you before you got heavier.” She complains

“I build more muscle following my growth spurts.”

“Well yeah you’ve become quite big.” She traces the muscles along your arm up to your chest while looking in your eyes. “And very nice to look at.”

“Thanks, but I’m not the only one who got bigger and nice to look at.” You reply as you lower your eyes to glance at her ample breasts.

“Oh them, they may be bigger than you think.” She says, lifting up one of her boobs with her hand. “You’d like to find out, aren’t you?” She takes a step toward you.

“I would love that and more.” You also get closer to her making you feel each other breath with your noses almost touching.

“Is that so?” She puts a hand on your cheeks and pushes your head to the side. “Too bad it won’t happen and stay as a dream for you.” She then turns and walks toward the end of the hallway. “Let’s return to the other, now.”

“A dream? I like challenges Hina! We’ll see if it’ll stay as a dream or not

She chuckles,“Well if you want to lose your time, suit yourself!”

You both join back the group enjoying your evening. You only return to your hotel  far in the night.

For the rest of your stay in Japan, you go out multiple times with your friends. Doing sports with Kai or Momo with their friends, some that you already know. Visiting places you used to frequent in Osaka and Kyoto after a long time, like your old school. You also make the mistake of following the girls for shopping, well it was mostly carrying their bags but at least they were happy. You get to have dinner with the Hirai, the Minatozaki and the Myoui on multiple occasions where you had time to discuss with your aunties and uncles.

But every good thing has to end at some point because it was time for Wendy and you to leave Japan for Korea. Everyone took time to accompany you to the train station in the morning. And hours later, the plane lands at Incheon airport and both of you finally set foot in Korea.

[entertext]

HGSN 29-1

Chapter (Japanese)

(Please hit the green thumbs up at the end of the Japanese chapter to show support)

Rough translation by me

P1

Maki: Hey, do you guys

Maki: believe in ghosts?

Hikaru: Ghosts?

Yoshiki: You mean that photo...? The one you posted?

Maki: Ah...well...yeah. Sorry for making a weird post

Maki: It's like...

P2

Maki: Every night, these "legs" show up in my house.

Maki: At first, it seriously spooked me and I fell and hurt myself.

Maki: Day after day the number of legs have increased, too

Maki: Sure, it's really scary, but at this point, to be honest...

Maki: It's way more annoying than scary!

Maki: Shit!

P3

Yoshiki: ...I kinda get it?

Hikaru: Hmmm.

Maki: And on top of that, even though I've already got this broken arm

Maki: This weird rash has shown up on my leg.

Maki: Reason unknown, they said

Maki: I don't have any sixth sense, and I've never "seen" a thing in my life up until now

Maki: So why this all of a sudden?

Hikaru: Hey, Maki

P4

Hikaru: Do you keep any animals? Or maybe you kept one before?

Hikaru: Hmm...No, it's nothing. I see...

Maki: Huh? I've never kept any, why?

??: Yuuta! What time do you think it is!?

Maki: Ah, shit, I need to go.

Maki: If anything else happens I'll let you know, bye!

(sfx: ting)

Hikaru: Hmmm....

Yoshiki: Why an animal?

Hikaru: It had been like...hanging around Maki, but...

P5

Hikaru: Anyway, let's go to Ashidori. Maki's house is there right?

Hikaru: One of the holes should be in Ashidori.

Hikaru: It's hard to think that Maki's issues and the hole are unrelated.

Yoshiki: Yeah, I'm worried about Maki too.

Yoshiki: I get the feeling it'll be bad to leave him as is.

P6

(sfx: tap tap)

Mom: Wait! Yoshiki!

Mom: We need to send something as thanks to your classmate's mother(?) who drove you home yesterday...

Mom: And you're going out without saying anything again?...At least say where you're going...

Yoshiki: I'm staying over at Maki's place

Mom: ...good grief

P7

(sfx: vroom)

Rie: Ghost legs, huh... Come to think of it, I haven't seen many of those in town

Hikaru: Now that the holes are opening up for real, the old impurities of the people who were sacrificed must be coming out

Rie: Well, for now let's go and take a look. We've got to dig around for any clues about the hole, too.

P8

Hikaru: Are you scared?

Yoshiki: I'm not confident that I'm really ready for this...

P9

(sfx: gravel crunch)

(sfx: cicada noise)

(sfx: don...dodon...)

Yoshiki: The sound of taiko drums...?

(sfx: don dodondon...)

P10

(sfx: door opens)

Maki: Oh you're here. Hikaru! and...

Maki: ...

Yoshiki: ...what?

Maki: Yoshiki!

Yoshiki: What's with that pause?!

Maki: Uh it completely slipped my mind for a moment, haha!

Yoshiki: Not funny!

(sfx: creak)

Hikaru: Please excuse us~!

P11

Rie: Um...Is your family around? We should say hello...

Maki: My parents are busy with preparations for the festival today so they aren't around... which reminds me.

Maki: Auntie, who are you?

Rie: Right, ahaha

Rie: Um... I'm just a housewife who happens to be...

Hikaru: The strongest exorcist. She's seriously good

P12

Maki: What!? That's so reassuring!!!! Have you been on TV!?

Rie: I've never been...

(sfx: don don)

Hikaru: There's a festival today?

Maki: You don't know about the "Houko Festival"? It's pretty famous. Though to be honest, I've got other things to worry about right now...

Hikaru: Huh...

(sfx: door open)

==

Next Chapter: 2024/08/06

Twitter Extra (link):

Yoshiki: Your hair's grown out

(sfx: rustle)

Maki: It's 'cause I can't play baseball!

[gddancefloor]

kasane teto headcanons since i have a very specific portrayal of her

for context, chimera (in the way im going for here) are a type of japanese demons that take a form similar to humans (with the exception of wings and a tail) and are known for their mischeviousness. teto is part chimera from her father's side.

teto x miku is used in here, and ted and teto are siblings, ted being the older one by 6 years.

Text HCs below the cut [warning, long!]:

UTAU Teto (15):

Sapphic. Likes girls. A lot.

She was a kid with an attitude and never smiled in photos if she was asked to, only if she wanted to. She also usually can’t look straight into a camera and looks away.

Teto developed a crush on Miku when she quietly sang for her for the first time, and was completely mesmerized by her voice. Miku was her inspiration to pursue singing.

Speaks English very, very badly and has an extremely strong Japanese accent. She usually has Miku translate things for her, but not even Miku is that great either.

Has a bit of a “chubby”/round face. Didn’t grow out of her baby-face.

Her hair naturally curled into a drill-like shape once she put her hair into ponytails, and now she chooses to exaggerate their shape by using a curling iron.

Despite not liking stereotypical pop music, she secretly likes girls who listen to it as she is into girly girls. (ahem, miku)

She doesn’t like to have her hair down, she’s embarrassed by how she looks with it and was forced by her parents to wear it down as a kid. 

Cusses a lot when comfortable to. She is often horrible with manners and being “proper”, unless in a traditional Japanese setting. Otherwise, she gives zero fucks.

She has one of the most impressive singing voices and very beautiful control over her pitch, but doesn't like to sing in front of people due to stage fright.

Avoids eye contact. A LOT.

Her birth certificate lists “Chimera” as a sex by mistake from the issuer, and she is actually female. She sometimes identifies with it to mess with people and make them confused/frustrated.

As full chimeras age slower, Teto is often called a “31 year-old” despite being alive only 15 years. This is not true, as she ages normally due to being half human, and mistaking her to be older makes her angry. Unfortunately, she’s often called 31, or a “held back student” by her classmates.

She camouflages her tail as a belt, but it is very much so a real tail. She hates it being touched. In general, Teto hides any of her chimera features as much as possible in fear of being seen as a monster. If comfortable, or angry enough, they tend to come out on accident.

Miku is the only outsider that has ever seen Teto's chimera form because she trusts her. (Miku thought her wings were the coolest thing ever!)

She believes she's extremely unlucky, considering she was born on April Fool's Day, and has had nothing really go right in her life, especially in regards to bullying as a kid.

Definitely has sharp teeth. Gotta tear into that bread somehow!

Used to pull on Ted's hair and scream at him when she was a kid. To this day, she doesn't know why. He has nicknamed her "demon" for a while because of this.

Ted is quite overprotective of Teto and encouraged her to try her best to sing, even if Teto's singing was... quite bad as a kid.

She and Miku split up when they were kids due to a major argument and didn't speak again until Teto saw Miku on social media performing on stage. This is what drove Teto to become an "Online Idol" on niconico to regain the attention of her and hopefully get back in contact with her. It was just Teto made it very obvious she was being a Miku ripoff (hence the outfit).

Family doesn't like singers. They encourage every member of the Kasane family to pursue an instrumentalist career, but they never made it big, and so they had to resort to the "shameful" career of making ramen. Teto is the only successful musician AND singer in the family.

Synthesizer V Teto (late 20s):

MUCH more mature. Rarely curses, and tries to stay mannerable and quiet. She also has better control of her chimera form.

Doesn't mean she won't be bratty or snooty at times. That's just Teto naturally.

Hair reddened with age as any older Teto iterations prior to SV had her with pink hair. It's a chimera trait to have red hair and red eyes.

Is the one that handles all of Miku's (30-ish, NT) events and concerts, and likes to make sure that she's not overworking herself.

Now underneath a professional talent agency, Teto left behind her "copping Miku's style" thing behind and now dresses in something more like her style. She likes the military-chic look a lot.

Her and Miku don't get much time to hang out anymore, but they still keep in contact despite their hectic music careers.

Her and Miku are a married couple. You know how celebrity marriages are, except this one has no drama and they aren't public about it.

Teto's English is much better now and she can hold a conversation. Her accent is still quite thick though.

Just an older, more mature version of UTAU Teto. (I'll make a seperate post for her because this is getting LONG.)

I'll probably edit this a lot — it was copy-pasted from a google doc. Bear with any mistakes!!

[cherrylng]

My Chemical Romance exclusive sneak peek [INROCK (January 2011)]

L→R: Ray Toro (g.), Gerard Way (vo.), Mikey Way (b.), Frank Iero (g.)

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE Exclusive sneak peek of the private art studio for this magazine!!!!

REPORT: RIE FUJIWARA/Warner Music Japan (★) PHOTOS BY KAORI SUZUKI

Nov. 19, 2010 in Los Angeles

My Chemical Romance continues to treat their albums as works of art. This time, we got an exclusive sneak peek into their private art studio, which is the source of their ideas. The works of art there are, of course, being shown to the public for the first time in the world. It was as if the mysterious world inside the brain of one artist, Gerard Way, was unfolding…

The location chosen for the My Chemical Romance (MCR) photo shoot was an art studio owned by MCR themselves. The location is near Silver Lake, which is famous for being home to many artists and art professionals in Los Angeles. It is hard to explain because there are not many places like this in Japan, but the art studio owned by MCR is a room in a building that is a collection of many square spaces like a warehouse, but with white walls and high ceilings. Gerard's wife, Lindsay, also has her studio in this building, where she holds exhibitions and is the centre of the MCR family's art activities.

When I opened the door, I was first surprised at how small it was. The space is about the size of a four-and-a-half-tatami room [2.5 x 3 metres] (although in reality it was a little larger). Standing at the very back of the room were the four red, green, yellow, and blue dolls that also appeared in the music video for "Na Na Na". Above their heads is an illustration of the spider used on the album cover. One black-painted wall was decorated with handwritten "Na Na Na" lyrics, while the other wall was artistically decorated with Gerard's sketches and drawings. What appeared to be Gerard's sketches were also randomly placed on the desk. Naturally, this studio is all about MCR.

Ray was the first to arrive at the studio. He has that sociable, cheerful personality and chats with the hair and make-up ladies. Gerard was the next to arrive. It's still warm in Los Angeles, so why was he wearing a furry Russian hat with earmuffs? Mikey and Frank came next and went crazy over their souvenir Japanese sweets!! Their favourite was the strawberry-flavoured Koala March, while the second was the classic, Kit Kat matcha-flavoured. The matcha-flavoured Melty Kisses was also a big hit. They couldn't wait for their visit to Japan in February, and the four members fought over the chocolates while gobbling them down.

Once the snacks have filled their stomachs, the photoshoot can begin. First, from inside the studio. The members brought several different jackets. They all asked Gerard for his opinion on which jacket would look best with the background. Gerard checked the balance of everyone and gave quick instructions, saying, “You do this, you do that.” Gerard is in charge of MCR's art direction, but he also manages the band as a fashion leader, and the three members listened to Gerard's advice obediently, giving us a glimpse of the strong unity of MCR, or rather, their friendship, which was a very heartwarming moment. The shoot ended successfully with some shots outside the studio as well. The members were very tired after a gruelling two-week ‘European promotional tour,’ but they were harmonious from start to finish and allowed us to take many wonderful photos.

Translator's Note: There's something pretty funny to picture MCR just gobbling down Japanese snacks to the point that there's a small fight over the chocolates.

Please do support me with Ko-fi! ☕

[morphogenetic]

Interest Call for Raging Loop Official Merch at the Pop Up Shop

From December 13th to December 22nd, 2024, there will be a Raging Loop pop up shop in Tokyo to celebrate its 9th anniversary! I happen to be going to Japan during this time, and will be buying merch for myself. Several people I know were interested in me purchasing extra merch for them, and given the sheer rarity of Raging Loop merch, I am more than willing to oblige.

To facilitate this, I have set up an "order form" of sorts (more of an interest form than anything) so I can figure out what people want. I don't need immediate payment or anything, but I will be requesting payment for the items you bought (+ shipping) once I do buy them for you. There are so many items that I'll put most of them below the cut, but I'll put the primary interest for most people above the cut. That is....

...the plushies! They're ¥‎4,800 per plush, ~$32 USD each at the time I'm writing this. No I don't know why they made Nosato and not Haru justice for my girl please

Rest of items/prices under the cut - in yen only, I can't be bothered to convert everything. (They're also in the order form, lol.) All of these are rough names since I have abysmal kanji knowledge to rely on Google Translate for a few of them. Full post contains spoilers, you have been warned!

"Japanese-Style Werewolf Card Game" (probably just werewolf...) - ¥‎3,000

Feast Photo Playmat (used for e.g. Magic the Gathering) - ¥‎4,000

Prayer to Shin'nai Music Box - ¥‎12,000

T shirts - ¥‎4,400 for the wolf shirts, ¥5,500 for the sheep shirt

Reversible Bomber Jacket - ¥‎33,000 (no, that is NOT a typo...)

Die-cut Sheep Cushion - ¥‎3,000

Kaori-san's Special Furikake - ¥‎1,980

Kiyonosuke's Darjeeling Tea - ¥‎1,800

Yasunaga's Financier Cookies (comes with a can badge) - ¥‎1,800

Haru's/Mocchi's Cookies (comes with a can badge) - ¥‎1,500

Various types of Acrylic Keychains - ¥880 each

Family Crest Can Badges - ¥550 each

Large Acrylic Standee of Haruaki & Chiemi - ¥2,400

Various Character Standees (original game art & special art created for the pop-up!) - ¥1,800 each

Full sets of the Character Standees with Special Background Pieces - ¥30,600 each

Character Fine Graphs (fancy art prints) - ¥16,500 each

"Store Shopper" (...probably just a bag, will likely be difficult to mail this if it's just a paper bag) - ¥550

[winxwannabe]

I’m frothing at the mouth for as much info from the Winx encyclopedia thing as you’re willing to post thank you for your service

Good news! There are a series of pages regarding the girl’s childhoods that are ripe with✨family dynamics✨ and L O R E. I forgot to take photos of the pages before leaving for a weekend trip, but I can tell you what I’ve learned and post the images on Monday!

Before the good stuff let’s get the boring out of the way: there’s no new info on Bloom’s childhood since it was covered so extensively in Season 1. Expected, but I will tell you my favorite part: Bloom says no matter what Mike and Vanessa are her parents. You love to see it.

Flora has a distant relationship with her dad compared to her mom and Miele. He’s a landscape architect for ‘The Senatorial Chamber of Public Greens,’ and wasn’t around much. She was also one of those kids who could make flower jewelry. So jealous.

Stella was raised mostly by the Solarian royal staff instead of Radius or Luna. Big day for the Radius Haters. She always had a thing for brunette boys and either A) got the magic equivalent of Lasik or B) wears contacts. I’m going with B in my own head cannons.

Layla has childhood trauma from being forced to stay inside. Yay? We knew about that but you know what I found that was new: ANNE LORE! Aisha knows where Anne moved - a planet called Eros. There’s no mention of it anywhere else in Winx, so re-write people can go ape with it. (This is apparently on the wiki now but it’s not mentioned in the series so I never looked whoops)

Musa’s pages are just…a right mess of contradictions. Ho-Boe wanted Musa to become a singer like Matlin was, a TOTAL 180 from the series where he’s worried about Musa following in her mother’s footsteps. He’s worried about her going to Alfea to be a fairy? I don’t know I’m missing a key word in the translation or something, but I will report back!

Also, there’s a footnote about her mom’s hologram being stored in a camellia flower, which is important in Chinese and Japanese culture. Not surprising, but makes the whitewashing Fate did funnier.

And lastly, Tecna heavily implies on Zenith it’s common to have memories stored in virtual reality? A true gold mine of potential story content (especially when you did a season about time travel). They give Tecna anxiety to look though - which to be fair is a mood. But it does mention specifically Tecna’s always been a smart kid, even on Zenith, and that she had friends. I don’t know why that made me happy but it did (probably because ‘nerd’ characters are usually portrayed as outcasts, so I appreciate Tecna not going through that).

[fushiglow]

If JJK characters were in Non- Curse world, what would their job be if not become Jujutsu Sorcerer (in your opinion)? Why? Please pick your top 5 fav characters...

I love you for asking this, anon ♥ It's an opportunity to wax lyrical about something I've given a great deal of thought! These are my instinctive answers, although I could make arguments for a number of other professions for each of them depending on the life choices they made in this hypothetical non-curse world — but we don't need to get into that! So, here I go (in no particular order):

Yūta is an emergency paediatric surgeon

When he was young, he made the decision to become a trauma surgeon after losing his childhood friend in a car accident. He spent some time in hospital as a child and he knows what a scary place it can be for children, so he always does his best to make his patients smile when he's checking in on their progress.

He's brilliant at what he does — a once in a generation talent — but that doesn't mean he can save everyone. It's heartbreaking work on a good day, but when he's been at work for approaching 30 hours and he feels like he wants out, he looks at the photo of Rika in his locker and finds the strength to go on.

Kenjaku is a performer

If the average Japanese human enjoys at least 80 rotations around the sun, why waste them by playing the same role every time? That's Kenjaku's outlook on life — which is why they chose to go into acting. However, they quickly became bored by other people's narrow view of the world, dissatisfied by the limits of everyone else's imagination.

Nowadays, Kenjaku marches to the beat of their own drum in a one-person show. There are more than ten roles available, all of them played by Kenjaku — who is also the writer, producer, and director. Critics can't decide whether it's madness or sheer brilliance.

Megumi is a vet

He's grumpy with humans, especially if they're irresponsible pet owners. However, he's soft as anything with the animals, and his regular clients trust him implicitly with their beloved furry family members — because it's obvious how much they love him.

Megumi is really good at his job, but he's guilty of taking his work home with him and finds it difficult not to get emotionally attached to the animals he's treating, even after years in the profession. Although he'd never hesitate to make difficult decisions, the unique ethical dilemmas his job presents take a toll on his wellbeing — especially when human cruelty or indifference come into play.

Suguru is a school teacher

Teaching is neither recognised nor appreciated by most people. However, although Suguru had the brains to follow his friends into their highly respected fields, he couldn't imagine anything more rewarding than doing his part to ensure that the next generation have an easier time of things than he did at the same age.

He tries to be the person he needed when he was at school: a pillar of support for struggling children who have no one else on their side. Unfortunately, the school system seems determined to hurt the very children it's supposed to support, and some of the parents go out of their way to undermine any positive developments he makes with their child — not to mention the terrible pay and working conditions!

Satoru is a physicist

But he could have done anything he put his mind to. In fact, that's the only thing Satoru ever really found difficult in life: choosing one path to follow. Sometimes, he wishes he'd become a musician or a historian or an athlete, but in the end, nothing captured his imagination quite like the limitless bounds of the universe.

He's younger than most of his peers in the field, and his revolutionary ideas (alongside his casual disregard for traditional academic hierarchies) get him in trouble more often than not. However, he's a certified genius, and popular with the media, too. He's doing a lot to improve the image of physicists among the general public — which translates to more funding for research. That keeps them out of his hair, most of the time at least!

-

These are too obvious, but I thought I'd mention them anyway:

Yūji is a firefighter who remembers the names and faces of every single person he couldn't save.

Shōko is a pathologist who devotes herself to improving the diagnosis and treatment of disease, often at the expense of her own health and wellbeing.

Because they're *also* huge nerds, I imagine Sukuna and Yuki as physicists in slightly different fields to Gojō:*

Yuki is a brilliant mind, but she doesn't live up to her potential because she hates the oppressive nature of academia. In fact, she vocally criticises it and goes out of her way to undermine it, to the chagrin of all the old stuffy professors who try to discredit her at every opportunity.

Sukuna, like Gojō, is a genius who's fascinated by what he doesn't know, shaking up the field with his cutting edge (lol) ideas. I like to imagine the pair of them getting into heated arguments at conferences, though they both have enormous (albeit grudging) respect for each other.

*As long as Sukuna is, you know, ~normal~ in this hypothetical non-curse world. Otherwise, he'd be a chef that moonlights as a sadistic serial killer lol.

-

Thank you for the extremely fun question, I had the time of my life! I hope you enjoy my answers ♥

[sohcah--toa]

bullet train/マリアビートル details ~

Hello!! I recently dug up the Bullet Train script (if you search it up, you should be able to find it relatively easily!! I'm not sure if it's completely reliable but it seems to be the first version) and listened to the soundtrack. (It's awesome, you should listen if you haven't already!!)

There's a lot of stuff here about マリアビートル, I hope you enjoy reading 🥳 (It's really ridiculous)

-- 1 ) LEMON'S CHILDHOOD // BACKGROUND(??)

I attached a photo for reference in the book!! :D (there's highlighter marks, I'm sorry) His backstory is tragic and aahh noo 🥹... I won't say much on it because we're all thinking the same thing. In the script, this is carried over when Lemon passes out because of the water. But apparently, in the final movie, this isn't shown a lot. In the book and movie, they aren't brothers and have a considerably colder relationship, so I can understand why the childhood scene in the cut is so much more wholesome. (Still supersuper cool though!!)

-- 2) "I'm forever blowing bubbles"

The original reason why this song was chosen for Bullet Train was because of Tangerine's West Ham United sticker (turns out, that's a football club). Hey!! But wait a minute!! There's a funny coincidence because Ladybug in the book was trying to become a football star. He has a quote that's like "my friend told me that someone like me could either become a footballer or a criminal, so I did both" and he says that his first crime was stealing a football.

The song delves into themes surrounding fortune as well!! I love their music selection 🙇‍♂️😤

-- 3) THREE ASSASSINS/グラスホッパー REFERENCES

Okay this part (in a way...) contains spoilers for Three Assassins, which is the first book of the "series"! ! The story revolves around a guy named Suzuki, who appears again in Bullet Train!! He kinda-sorta becomes friends with Ladybug and it's like 😊 they are so happy. To be completely honest, Suzuki's a bit traumatised but so is Ladybug, right?? Lovely friendship!!

It's also so interesting that he's reading a hotel buffet menu because his wife used to love eating at buffets and he adopted the habit of hoarding all the food as well. He's on the train to meet with his dead wife's family (which was extremely difficult for him after her passing).

-- 4) BULLET TRAIN REFERENCES IN THE MANTIS/AX

There's this other book in the series called The Mantis or AX for the Japanese version. This one isn't talked about a lot but if you like family stories, this book is so so soo good. It really pulled at my heartstrings when I first read it but I can't say too much without spoiling everything. Anyway, it makes a few references to Bullet Train and literally starts with the main character, Kabuto (an assassin), having a flashback to talking to Tangerine and Lemon during one of his missions, where they had the same target so they worked together. The Twins really respect him, actually, but find it funny that he's so careful around his wife (YES KABUTO, AN ASSASSIN, HAS A WIFE). Some characters reappear so.. :")) yay!!

-- 5) 777

Ladybug comes back!! He comes back in the latest book in the series; 777. So far, the Japanese reviews have been pretty positive and I think there's an English translation coming in November!! 🥳 I like how the title is 777; 7 like 7 tails in Nanao (七尾), car 7, his favourite number is 7 (if I recall correctly), 7 the "lucky number".

-- 6) THIS GUY

No one asked but I heavily dislike the Prince in the book. (to be honest, who doesn't...) He's just mean for no reason and likes ruining people's lives, makes fun of poor Ladybug (this really isn't that bad compared to the other stuff he does) and yeah, the list goes on. Also apparently he (heavily) tortures other schoolmates and it's not like he gets paid for it like the Twins or the other guys. He just does it for fun?? OK!! The premise of his character is amazing and it's great to see a villain that's actually just straight evil but since he's designed that way, we are validated when hating him ww. He talks about politics as well for some reason... keeps referencing historical tragedies.... man.

-- 7) ASAGAO/THE PUSHER

The Pusher is back too!! Weee~ (not really)

In the movie, it seems as though this entire part got cut out which, like, is reasonable. I attached a photo from the Grasshopper (2015) movie for reference hahaha. The guy in the black suit is the Pusher!! Yeah, he pushes people!! (not in the fun way!!)

He is in charge of protecting Wataru from the Prince's guy, although he's reluctant at first. He's obsessed with bugs and stuff. Whenever he opens his mouth, it's probably going to be about bugs. The Pusher's also strangely poetic. Maybe it's because he likes old bands like the Rolling stones? Oh!! And he gets mentioned in The Mantis.

And speaking of the Kimura family, Yuichi Kimura says something very true and it's:

"who do they gotta make the train toilets so nasty"

-- 8) LADYBUG IS COOL

This is very much a fact. In Mariabeetle, he gets kidnapped when he's 8 years old because he gets mistaken for a rich kid (after he lost a bet with his wealthy friend and had to wear his "rich person backpack"), then in the place he's being held captive, he escapes by HIMSELF since his dad isn't able to give the guys money for his son back (since they took the wrong person!!). But heyy he's resourceful and smart.

AND guess what?? He gets traumatised because there was this other boy being held but Ladybug didn't save him and it's haunted him ever since. This is also one of the reasons why he ends up helping the Prince even though he knows it won't do him any good.

Obviously, it gets worse from there. He makes it back to his family and they're pretty happy. Unfortunately, they're far from rich and Ladybug has to study extremely hard to get into a college. Spoiler alert, he doesn't. THE THING IS!! He studied so hard!! It's just that during his exam, some kid sneezed on his paper and he wiped it, smudging all his work and even his name!! Nanao! No!!

-- 9) TANGERINE BOOK RECS

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

"We perished, each alone."

-> He really loves that quote. A lot. Also he's a Virginia Woolf fan!!

2. Forbidden Colours - Yukio Mishima

-> He's also a Yukio Mishima fan... I wonder if he's ever read "The Sound of Waves". What would he think about it? Hahaha this will keep me up at night 😅 (<- SLANTED EMOJI!!)

3. The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea - Yukio Mishima

-> To talk about Article 41 of the Penal Code of Japan. (Mr Kotaro Isaka, the author, studied law, by the way!! It's interesting!!) However, here, Tangerine quotes Mishima on Article 41 ;)

4. Hemingway and Faulkner

-> Actually it's a collection so it's not really a book recommendation but these two people are real - Ernst Hemingway (the Old Man and the Sea guy) and William Faulkner. They didn't really get along, by the way, and even though they respected the other's work, they criticised more than praised. Sounds like the Twins.

5. Demons - Fyodor Dostoevsky

-> "Crime is no longer insanity, but simply common sense, almost a duty; anyway, a gallant protest."

I think the author is a heavy Fyodor Dostoevsky fan, just because he also referenced his works in Three Assassins.

6. Crime and Punishment ;D

-> "Science now tells us, love yourself before all men, for everything in the world relies on self-interest."

(CONT'D) yeahh this book was referenced in Three Assassins and one of the characters is obsessed with it. Glad to see that Tangerine is a fan too hahahaha.

-- 10) LEMON IS AWESOME

Opinionated text here but Lemon is plain awesome.

"Between the principal's name and Doraemon's gadgets, it was blindingly obvious which one was more important."

To each their own and I know he's a criminal but he seems like he has no enemies. Sounds very wholesome.

-- 11) HORNET THE MVP

She's in Three Assassins AND the Mantis!! Hypercool. In both books, the Hornet is a team of a male and a female. The female is eliminated (this word choice ww) by Ladybug but the male is still up and kicking, though Ladybug feels bad about it. They use poison needles, like the movie, but they trigger anaphylaxis, which is a really dangerous allergic reaction that causes body shocks.

-- 12) SUZUKI: PHILOSOPHER AND ECONOMIST

"If people knew that they might be killed by someone tomorrow, economic activity would grind to a halt."

... well 😅 take from that what you will.

(that's Suzuki!!)

Cela dit... that's all.... so long, I'm sorry. But thank you so much if you read until the end!! I hope you at least found it a bit entertaining!! :"))

[yuki-shipnoda]

Do you ever wonder how would Western type vampires and yokai and yurei would interact with each other? Since a living corpse is kind of antithetical to Shinto beliefs regarding death, blood, impurity etc.

Maybe Yuki and the other vampires cannot enter a Shinto shrine and stay far away from the mikos and priests. Or there is an obscure sect within Shinto that ties vampires to Izanami, the goddess of the underworld and sees them as divinely blessed. What happens on Obon when Yuki has to take care of his family's graves?

One time Pierre stays at a hotel/ryokan that is infamous for being haunted and Yuki's presence scares the crap out of any residual spirits and thus no paranormal activity is noted.

I like to think that while Yuki and the Yurem are all Japanese yokais & yureis, Nyck is an exception as he is a Western vampire due to him being part Dutch (I would've made him the Indonesian vampire variant, but they're strictly female. Maybe in another time I'll write Female!Nyck or Transmasc!Nyck). They can interact with one another since, well, they're all haunted, but it's actually weird that someone undead exists to them.

Like in many belief systems, I believe that the vampires can't enter sacred spaces and consecrated grounds such as Shinto shrines (Nyck can't enter churches either) since they're all unclean spirits. Pierre is aware of this and they keep a distance from him whenever he enters and returns from a shrine or church, especially if a priest or miko blesses him and sprinkles holy water.

Anyways, story time!

Everyone in the Yurem died and wasn't given the proper purification rites, hence them all becoming vampires. In Yuki's case, someone murdered him and had to quickly bury the body, which was why he wasn't cleansed and cremated before burial, only given a death kimono. His whole family is gone (Riko is under her husband's family grave) so Yuki is the only one left to take care of the Tsunoda family grave every year during Obon. He has always hidden in his human form whenever Obon falls so no one would grow suspicious. Now that Pierre is in the picture, he helps Yuki clean the Tsunoda family grave, providing a fresh set of flowers and joss sticks during the day and taking lots of photos during the festival and parade at night.

Yuki follows Pierre everywhere he goes in both his bird and human form (and with that death kimono as well, Pierre does his best to take good care of it and keep it clean) and acts as Pierre's translator (he's doing his best to explain in English). One day, Esteban challenged him to sleep in a ryokan infamous for its rumours of being haunted, while going into the countryside to take photos for a tourism magazine. Pierre accepts the challenge anyway and brings Yuki along for companionship. When they both enter the ryokan, Pierre-vision shows no ghost presence, but Yuki-vision shows that he sees all the ghosts being terrified at his presence, mostly out of a caste system. Pierre wonders what's with all the fuss of it being haunted, but Yuki just shrugs in response, knowing that the spirits don't like him.

It's a win-win for both of them, Yuki gets all the blood he likes & protection from strangers while Pierre has a built-in translator, guide, and protection from the supernatural.

[bnhaobservation]

BNHA Observations, speculations and assorted info: Todoroki Mansion (Part 8: Butsuma room)

So, in order to write my fic, I spend much time observing canon scenes, comparing the manga and the anime version, take note of details, translations and info in them as well as finding out how are some things called.

Since what I noticed/speculated/found out can be of use for other fic authors I thought to share as well.

Canon resources:

Chap. 249 “The Hellish Todoroki Family” (地獄の轟くん家 Jigoku no Todoroki-kun-chi) Chap. 350 “Bound to a Fiery Fate” (エン En)* Chap. 356 “Regarding the Enemy” (敵について Teki ni Tsuite?)

Ep. 105 “The Hellish Todoroki Family” (地獄の轟くん家 Jigoku no Todoroki-kun-chi)

School Briefs V “Awkward Year’s-End Soba”

-* In Japanese the title is written in Katakana, making impossible to figure out to which Kanji it refers. The reading for ‘en’ belongs to the kanji that can be translated as “flame/fire” (the first kanji in Enji’s name) but also to the one that can be translated as “fate/destiny”, “bond/connection/family ties” and “hatred”. The English translation tried to put all those meaning together into a single sentence.

OBSERVATIONS, SPECULATIONS AND ASSORTED INFO:

For start, what's a Butsuma (仏間)?

It's the name of a room whose principal or exclusive function is containing a Butsudan.

Okay so what's a Butsudan?

Butsudan (仏壇 "Buddhist altar"), is a shrine commonly found in temples and homes which looks either a defined, often ornate platform or simply a wooden cabinet sometimes crafted with doors...

...that enclose and protect a Gohonzon (御本尊) or religious icon, typically a statue or painting of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, or a calligraphic mandala scroll.

Its primary use is for paying respects to the Buddha, as well as to family members who have died.

The Butsudan is commonly seen as an essential part in the life of a traditional Japanese family as it is the centre of spiritual faith within the household, especially in dealing with the deaths of family members or reflecting on the lives of ancestors.

Traditional Japanese beliefs hold the Butsudan to be a house of the Buddha, as well as of deceased relatives enshrined within it.

HOW ONE REACHES IT?

We don't really know but it seems to be on the ground floor and both the manga and the anime shows if you try to reach it from the kitchen you'll have to pass through the corridor on which you can see the round Shōji window of the dining room.

HOW DOES IT LOOKS LIKE?

We see very little of it but from what we can see we can observe some things.

The Butsuma in the Todoroki Mansion is a washitsu (和室), which means “harmony room” but which is the name used to mean “Japanese-style room”.

It’s a room characterized by a tatami flooring (Tatami (畳) is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms)…

and sliding doors, be they Shōji (consisting of translucent or transparent sheets on a lattice frame) or Fusuma (vertical rectangular panels often painted)…

Specifically, this Washitsu has Shōji doors.

Generally, either the Butsuma is a small room connected to a bigger one or is the most formal reception room in the house.

In the manga the Todoroki seems to have a room specifically for it and they placed it on the right next to the entrance.

In "School Briefs" they refer to it as a side room.

The Todoroki Butsudan is a large and elegant wooden cabinet crafted with doors.

Its Gohonzon seems to be a painting of a Buddha.

Enshrined with it there's the memorial photograph or Iei (遺影) of Touya.

The Iei can be either a formal portrait or a snapshot of the deceased but normally the photo chosen is usually one in which the person is looking directly into the camera and if it's part of a larger picture, it is cropped to show only the head and shoulders. The landscape behind the photo is removed and replaced with a grey background. The chosen picture may depict the deceased as they wanted to be remembered, but more often than not depicts that person in a manner that reflects how the living wish to remember them.

We can see that's exactly the case with Touya.

By the way Touya is wearing a Gakuran (学ラン), which is the uniform for many middle-school and high-school boys in Japan. The colour is normally black, but some schools use navy blue. Touya's Gakuran is the one of his middle school.

The choice though might not be because the Todoroki wanted to remember him as a student but because the Gakuran is considered also a formal wear you can wear at cerimonies.

Anyway as it's Touya's photo that's enshrined there, for the Todoroki it means that the Butsudan is basically Touya's 'house', which is why in "School Briefs" Natsuo goes to the Butsudan and greets his brother and the story defines the room as "Touya's room" or why Enji talks directly with him when being in that room. To the Todoroki Touya is there.

The Butsudan should have been in the Todoroki house from PRIOR Touya's death as not only the Todoroki needed it for religious purposes before Touya died but, inside that room, there was also the photo of Enji's father, which is likely the photo that now is hung on the wall, near the Butsudan.

Long story short the Butsudan isn't placed in Touya's old room, proof is also that the doors are different from the ones which were in Touya and Natsuo's room and how it should be at the ground floor while the bedrooms should be all upstairs.

Along with Touya's memorial photograph, there should also be a Memorial tablets or Ihai (位牌) constructed of black lacquered wood.

I think it's the thing on the right, above Touya's photo.

The the vertically standing tablet in the Ihai is known as the fuda. The posthumous “precepts name” kaimyō (戒名) of the deceased is engraved in gilded calligraphy on the front of the tablet, with the age and date of death engraved on the back.

A person who has recently died is also referred to as a Hotoke (仏) and the living take care of it through offerings and regular interactions.

Offerings of food, flowers, incense and other things that the deceased might have liked (even beer, sake, whiskey, cigarettes, canned coffee, juice!) are regularly placed on the Butsudan, and candles are lit (though it seems it’s common to offer rice).

We see that Touya's butsudan has flowers and Enji brings him an offering of food, which in the anime seems to be fried chiken.

Canonically Touya didn't like fish but he might have liked meat, hence Enji offers it to him. In "School Briefs" Natsuo and Shouto will offer incense to him as well.

Eventually, after a number of years (commonly they range from 33 to 50), it is assumed that the Hotoke, no longer remembered by the living, is elevated to the status of tutelary ancestor, Senzo (先祖) and is believed to join the collective spirits of the generations of household ancestors and his photo is removed by the Butsudan.

33 years aren't yet gone by from when Enji's father died, so I don't know if his photo was removed from the Butsudan merely because Touya got the honor spot (the photo of the deceased can also not be enshrined in the Butsudan) or because they decided Enji's father became a Senzo early.

I'll go and assume they just gave Touya the best spot.

Enji's father is, after all, someone only Enji remembers, while Touya's memory is also alive in his siblings.

Next to the Butsudan we see that various objects are placed on a furniture (manga and anime of course not agreeing on the furniture's shape).

They likely belonged to Touya as objects dear to the deceased are placed near to the Butsudan. The manga has shoes, a toy car, a robot, a ball and plenty of books. Actually a couple of 'books are so tall they might not be books but canvas of paintings... though I can't tell for sure.

The anime keeps the car, the ball, the toy car... and I'll go and assume the blocks are meant to be books though I'm not sure. Still they're less than the ones in the manga.

From the drawing on the ball we can see it seems to be the same ball Touya and his siblings were playing with when Shouto was observing them.

"School Briefs" though, places that ball forgotten in a shed but hey, maybe the Todoroki kids had more balls (it can be each of them had one).

And well, that's all we know about the Butsuma.

[solradguy]

Hey Sol! I remember quite a while ago, someone asked you about how to get into archiving stuff and you answered with a little guide of sorts of useful programs/websites/etc.

Do you still have that guide up? Is there somewhere I can learn more in-depth about how to begin archiving too?

Tumblr search is failing me and I can't find that post now... So! I'll type it again. Lately I've been thinking about writing some kind of "archivist's manifesto" type thing for my Neocities in an effort to hype people up about archiving and to guide them on how to do it. When I write that up I'll post it here too.

Here's a big post I wrote on how to scan books and where to upload them (this is also linked in the big GG masterpost that's in my pinned): https://solradguy.tumblr.com/post/722512206034501632/sol-radguy-scanning-guide

That guide also has some tips on photo editing that may be useful for non-book scanning stuff, like some free program alternatives.

I've tried finding professional guides on how to archive media but most of them are written for people looking to archive family photos/things and not web media or physical books. None of them have been very helpful, honestly. One thing they recommend doing that I think IS helpful though is the rule of 3: Keep 3 copies of an archive somewhere. A physical hard drive, cloud storage, a second hard drive stored separately from the first (in case of accidents/hardware failure), uploaded to separate file hosts, and printing new physical copies are some. Doing any 3 of those is highly recommended. I do the two hard drives and cloud storage/file hosts ones. My hosts are generally Archive.org, Neocities, and Google Drive.

Be very careful about trusting image hosting sites with valuable scan data because they come and go like the wind. Photobucket, Tinypic, Imageshack... They're either dead or require a premium to host files now, which doesn't help hobby archivists at all. Imgur's demise is on the horizon. It's just the way it goes with these due to how expensive and space-consuming image hosting is.

Absolutely 1000% do not ever use just Discord for archiving/hosting things. Nothing on that platform can be backed up easily or with automation, and the guys that run it have already made weird choices the community didn't want while also putting more and more things behind the Nitro paywall. I suspect they're going to kneecap image and file hosting some day soon, too.

For archiving someone else's files, something that helps greatly (if it can be done) is either including the source of the file in the file's name or writing a separate document with the sources and whatever other additional information there is.

Here's a basic example of some Sol images from my Sol folder:

The first two are from the Counterside collab event and then the second two are official art but the file names are descriptive and it saves time sourcing them for things later. For archiving fan art/fiction, the filename is a good place to put the artist credit. Something like [Artwork Title]-[Artist Name]-[Original File Creation Date].format ("Sol Badguy Missing Link - Daisuke Ishiwatari - May 14 1998.jpg," or however you wanna organize the folder) works good.

Windows 11 didn't like working with Japanese text in file names for some of the Vastedge stuff I archived and I had to translate/romanize them. If you can't read Japanese/source's language, just do your best (number them instead?) and include the native language text in a .TXT file if possible.

A more complex example from the Vastedge .TXT doc:

The Vastedge materials archive is pretty dense and had a lot of contributors so the first half of the .TXT document's just credits for who did what. This is useful for if something gets lost because we'll know who to go bother about it. Among other things.

The next section is a long stack of details about the files themselves. I won't paste the whole thing here, it's pretty long. It covers how the archive came to be, issues with some of the files, how the files were obtained, and some other stuff:

The last half of the .TXT doc is a listing of the folder contents. I included this for quick reference and because sometimes archives get fractured by people only reuploading certain parts of it. Future archivists or anyone else going through this archive now have a list of what should be in there and will know if something is missing.

Archive.org/Wayback Machine has a browser extension for quickly archiving webpages. I have that and WebP / Avif Image Converter by Nullbrains (Chrome, might be on Firefox?) installed to quickly archive pages and convert image files as I save them.

In summary:

Upload/store things in multiple places

Include credits wherever you can, however is easiest for you

Try to keep files in the most widely compatible formats (jpg, gif, bmp, png, tiff, mp3, mp4, txt, pdf, flac, etc). Google's .DOC, Clip Studio Paint's .CLIP, and similar file formats meant for a specific piece of software may not be supported in the future.

A bad/incomplete archive is better than no archive at all. Consider how exciting Sappho poetry fragments are compared to what it would be like if we didn't have anything. Don't worry about making it "perfect."

Hope that helps some!! I'll try to write the manifesto for my NC soon

[real-life-senshi]

PGSM Five Performers Special Talk Session - Fan Translation

In celebration of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Live-Action)'s 🎉 20th anniversary🎉, I present to you the never-been-done-before, full translation of the Senshi talk (3 pages long) from the "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Visual Book" (first released on April 30, 2004)!

Some notes & disclaimer:

I'm not a fluent Japanese speaker, but I do know Hiragana, Katakana, basic Japanese grammar and kanji, and a few good tools to use for translation. All's to say, all mistakes are mine. Sorry if there's any!

I'm also not a professional translator. Due to the grammar differences between Japanese and English, some sentences will sound awkward in English for the conversation to make sense.

Hama Chisaki is the old stage name Izumi Rika used when working on PGSM. She changed her stage name to Izumi Rika after changing production company and returning to the entertainment industry after a hiatus where she focused on school.

Please note that everyone's name is written in the order of (Family Name) (First Name) in Japanese style instead of Western style.

You can find scans of the full Visual Book at Miss Dream.org! I own a copy of the Visual Book, so I made some of my own scans for some of the images and was able to double-check the text outside of Miss Dream's scans.

Without further ado...

No matter in transformation as a Sailor Senshi or out of transformation, all 5 girls are incredibly busy in their daily lives.   Although there are not many opportunities for all the members to get together, but just like their development within the drama, the bond between them seems to be deepening day by day.

Here is a guest-talk session with all 5 of them. In fact, this is a "first in history”!

Kitagawa: Among the 5 of us, don’t you seem the most feminine and lady-like? Azama: Is that so?

—For this round of work, the 5 of you are gathered to do this photo shoot for the Visual Book, but you rarely get to all come together in a full group when you're shooting for the drama, right?

Sawai Miyuu (Sawai): That’s true. I think the first time all 5 of us got to shoot together in the drama was the assembly hall scene (Act 18)?

Azama Mew (Azama): And after that, there were a couple more times.

Hama Chisaki (Hama): But for the other times I'm the only one that's not really there. (laughs) Right now I’m Dark Mercury (Editor note: this is how everyone calls Sailor Mercury on site while she’s under the enemy’s control). Because of this, I’m all alone. (laughs)

—From “Crank In” (= Japanese term for starting film shoot) till now, over half a year has passed already.

Sawai: That’s so quick!

Hama: Eh, that means it’ll be farewell soon? (laughs)

Kitagawa Keiko (Kitagawa): But you can also think of it as there’s still another half a year to go.  It’s kind of like a turning point for us.

Hama: I see. From that perspective, it feels like we still have a long way to go. (laughs)

The truth of the 5 girls! Would you want to go back to that day?

—In reality, among the 5 of you which of you is most unlike the character you portray?

Sawai: Isn’t everyone quite similar to their character?

Kitagawa:  Not me.

Hama:  I don't think so either.

Kitagawa: (without hesitation) Yeah, you’re not.

Hama: Hey now. (laughs) But Mako-chan (= Azama Mew) also isn’t, so isn’t everyone quite unlike their character besides Usagi (= Sawai Miyuu)?

Sawai: Wait, what?

Azama: You really are just the way Usagi is.

Sawai: What? …… But one of us is more mature?

Hama & Azama: (in unison) Who?

Sawai: Me! Sawai Miyuu!

Everyone: ……

Sawai: Eh, why? That’s how everyone thinks of me?

Azama: Fashion sense, hairstyle, etc. is different though.

Sawai: Not like that! I meant my personality, my way of thinking, etc. (laughs) …… But, I still think with the 5 of us, we all are like our characters in individual unique ways……

Kitagawa: We look similar.

Komatsu Ayaka (Komatsu): What do you mean by that? (laughs)

Kitagawa: Like our aura, I think we all give off a similar vibe to the original characters.

Komatsu: Ahh, you’re right, we do fit the vibes.

Azama: I don’t think my vibe fits though?

Everyone else: You fit—!

Sawai: Such as the part where you’re both feminine.

Kitagawa: Among the 5 of us, don’t you seem the most feminine and lady-like? 

Azama: Is that so? 

Sawai: Then we’re fine up until the last episode, Minako is alive! Komatsu: Got it. I’ll do my best. I won’t die. (laughs)

Hama:  Seriously though, even for the people who have not seen the show at all, if they see the 5 of us, I think they probably can figure out which character each of us plays (just then, a sound of “pop” came from beside her.) …… Usagi-chan, stop popping your bone. (laughs)

Sawai: Ah, please transcribe the sound you heard just now in a cool* way.

「シャキーン！」(Shakin) was the word Sawai used to describe her request. Which is an onomatopoeia commonly used in manga to describe something done looking cool and eye-catching, like a character's victory pose. What a Usagi-like behaviour... lol

Azama:  That makes no sense. (laughs)

—Now that we’ve gotten to the punchline (laughs), I'd like to ask which of the 5 of you do you think gave a first impression that is the most different from the reality.

Everyone: Chisaki!

Hama:  Me, because I’m shy……

Azama: When we first met, I thought she was not talkative at all. Then before I knew it, she started talking a lot. ....... I don't remember how it happened in between. (laughs)

Kitagawa: But we’ve all changed [since the time of establishing first impressions].

Sawai: That’s true. At first, we wouldn’t even joke with each other.

Hama: Yeah. And before, they wouldn't ignore me or anything like they do now.

Azama: Eh? We would ignore you now?

Hama: I didn’t mean it like that. (laughs) Before, when someone made a [bad] joke, you wouldn't just let it slide, or say something halfheartedly like "yeah, yeah", right? I wish I could go back in time.

Kitagawa: I don’t want to go back.

Komatsu: Yeah, you’d want to move forward. (laughs)

Kitagawa: Yeah, let’s keeping looking forward. Because we’ve all done such hard work to get here already.

Hama: And I don't want to go through that winter again (laughs)……

The Senshi team divided? What would Minako’s fate be?

—As mentioned earlier, it took quite a long time for all 5 of you to get together in the show, hasn't it?

Sawai: I was really happy about it.  It was like, "Finally, all five of us are here!"

Azama: My friends laughed at that assembly hall scene though.

Komatsu: My family too. (laughs)

Hama: Eh? Why?

Azama: Y’know, we paused to pose a few times didn't we? And after all of that, we end up not fighting as a full team after all. (laughs) They said, "Aren’t the 5 of you supposed to fight together?"

Sawai: Speaking of, Venus has a lot of cool-looking arrival scenes.

Kitagawa: Halation*. (laughs)

Halation: (photography/filmography terminology) It means a halo-effect when additional lighting is added.

Komatsu: Come again?

Kitagawa: It's what Director [Sato] Takemitsu said. “This is the scene where the princess appears, so we'll need some halation,” he said.

Sawai: He really did say that quite a few times.  “Halation, more halation”, he’d say.

Kitagawa: He'd say, “It’s an iconic scene. So give me more halation!”  It's strangely still ringing in my ears. (laughs) But by the time this book came out......

—Everyone would’ve found out that Usagi is the real princess, and Venus is the leader (Act. 25~26).

Komatsu: That’s true. (At Kitagawa Keiko) “You’re the substitute”. (laughs)

Azama: And, the rest of us are like the other 2 spares. (laughs)

Hama: The princess, the leader and the sub, and then blue and green, it does feel like that. (laughs)

—No way! (laughs) By the way, do you guys have time to watch the show at all?

Sawai: I watch it. After all, sometimes it’s hard to imagine how I would look on TV. Even with commercial shoots, you never know how it's going to look until the final product is finished .......

Kitagawa:  I’m the opposite. I’m afraid to watch it.  At first, when I watched it on the On Air* date, I felt frustrated and thought, "I could’ve done much better now.” I guess I watch it mostly when I don’t appear much on screen.

On Air: Japanese filmography terminology for the first official footage release of a program, typically means the first episode of a series.

Azama: There was a time when I didn't have enough time to watch it, at its peak I'd miss the show for up to a month's time. So I'd binge-watch all 4 episodes in one go the moment I can instead, and I’m still 2 episodes behind right now. (laughs)

—Excluding your own scenes, what scene has left a memorable impression on you?

Kitagawa:  There are so many that I can’t decide on one.

Hama: It’s practically impossible to say our lines when suffering from pollen allergies. Sawai: It’d be like “In the name of love and justice… achoo!” (laughs)

Azama: For me, the scene where Akumi-chan (Editor’s note: During the time as Dark Mercury, Hama Chisaki’s character Mizuno Ami is referred to as “Akumi”, merging “Aku” (evil) with “Ami”.) was on the merry-go-round was great.

Sawai: That sideway glance was really intense. (laughs)

—Speaking of intense, the confrontation between Rei (=Kitagawa Keiko) and Minako (=Komatsu Ayaka) was also very exciting.

Sawai: And ever since then, I notice those two (Kitagawa & Komatsu) have become very close. (laughs)

Azama: And, those two (Sawai & Hama) are also really close with each other, so I’m left all alone……

Sawai: That’s not true!

Azama: Odd numbers are not good to work with after all. (laughs) From now on, I'll get closer to Luna (Sailor Luna = Koike Rina) instead. (laughs)

Hama: Lately, most of my time is spent in the company of the Shitennou. (laughs) I feel like it's been a long time since I’ve met everyone like this.

Sawai: I've also been spending a lot of time with Mamo-chan (Chiba Mamoru = Shibue Jouji) lately. And most of the scenes are done with gloomy expressions. (laughs)

Komatsu: Minako’s also suffering from time to time...I wonder what will happen?

Sawai: She did say there’s only six months left.

Hama: Let’s make a decision now?

Komatsu: About my illness? (laughs)

Hama: Wouldn't that make it easier [to act]?

Sawai: In talking with the collective staff-san, the story is supposed to be that Sailor Moon protects Minako from dying using the Silver Crystal......

Azama: Eh? Mamoru* dies from the Silver Crystal?

“To protect”( 守る) is pronounced “mamo-ru” in Japanese. Azama mistook Sawai's choice of saying “protect” with “Chiba Mamoru” the character.

Sawai: That’s not it! (laughs) To use the Silver Crystals to "protect" Minako.

Kitagawa: I guess that'll be in the last episode……

Sawai: Then we’re fine up until the last episode, Minako is alive!

Komatsu: Got it. I’ll do my best. I won’t die. (laughs) But before the last episode, I might die a bit.

Azama: Die a bit?

Komatsu: No, I meant to say, “I might die a bit before”. (laughs) (At Sawai Miyuu), Well, I’ll be counting on you then. (everyone laughs)

Sawai: But six months is quite a long time, isn't it?

Komatsu: …… So you want me to die sooner? Even though I just bowed at you. (laughs)

The Sailor Senshi’s message to their fans

—Since Crank In in the summer, winter had come and gone, and now spring has arrived……

Sawai: Crank-in was so hot! And I was running all the time.

Hama: At first it was just the two of us, me and Usagi. And Naru-chan (Kawabe Chieco) too.

Kitagawa: And I joined in September.

Sawai: It would have been rough to wear a shrine maiden costume in August.

Kitagawa: No, because there’s the fireplace, it actually always feels like midsummer for me.

Sawai: Oh I see. But even though I’m really glad winter’s over, now there’s pollen allergy to deal with in spring. (laughs)

Hama: It’s practically impossible to say our lines when suffering from pollen allergies.

Sawai: It’d be like “In the name of love and justice… achoo!” (laughs).

—To wrap us up, would you please give a message to your fans?

Hama: This kind of thing is so hard to do. (laugh)

Azama: Let’s go in the order of the day of the week*.

Japanese days are named according to the elements. From Monday – Sunday: moon, fire, water, wood, gold/metal, earth, and sun. This means Mercury's and Mars's order is flipped when compared to the Senshi lineup.

Sawai: The order of the day of the week. (laughs) So I’m first? …… Hm~mm, it has already been six months since the program started and the 5 of us have come together, please support us until the very end. We will also do our very best!

Kitagawa: For purchasing this book, thank you very much.  It's very much appreciated.

Hama: You can see the 5 of us outside of our usual roles in this book. And you can also see how we spent our New Year's (laugh), so please enjoy this book!

Azama: When thinking about how things will unfold moving forward, I think everyone will be looking forward to how things turn out, so let’s all be excited and watch each episode together! (laughs)

Komatsu: They said everything already. (laughs) I don't know what to do……

—It's the closing of this segment, so please end it with style.

Komatsu: …… Only six more months left.* (everyone laughs)

OMG, she legit just quoted her own line, THAT line from Act 18. lol

—Thank you very much. (laughs)