#the long awaited shinji post

[canapotatoliteraryanalasys]

Something something… that Shinji post… something something…

I have seen many analysts and interpretations on Shinjis character but there is one aspect of his character that I have not seen anyone mention: his raging misogyny

Since the death of his mother Shinji has not had a close relationship with anyone and this shapes the way he views the people around him. He has a somewhat healthy relationship with his male friends but it is clear that he does not really understand his friends or how friendships even works.

Shinjis relationships with the three mane girls, Misato, Rei and Asuka, are very important to the show. These are the characters he most longs to be close with and pushes away the most. Because Shinji grew up without a mother or any other close female family member, he cannot se relationships with women as platonic, he can only se them as what society has conditioned him to se, sexual. It is clear Shinji desires something from these girls, the same thing he desires from everyone to be seen and loved, but his stupid 14 year old boy brain misinterpreted this as sexual desire, both because he doesn’t se women as entirely human but also because being horny is a lot less scary than wanting to be truly loved for who you are. Both Shinji and Asuka project their parental issues both onto each other and onto Misato, Asukas need to prove herself and Shinjis need to be accepted. During the show they do both often act as if romantically interested in each other but I believe they are simply convinced, as most young teens are, that romance is the height of validation. Shinji is also desperate for Reis validation because she reminds him of his mother and his deep jealousy of her for receiving his father’s validation, Shinji is desperate to be seen by his father and maybe if he is acknowledged by someone who is acknowledged by his father then he will be victoriously accepted in some way.

There are two scenes that I feel exemplify this diconance between Shinjis true desires and view of women. The first is when Shinji and eva 1 have been consumed by leliel, we see clips of Misato, Rei, Asuka and Shinjis mother trying to convince him to become one with them. Shinjis mother is obscured in shadow, motherly love is only a concept to him. And the three who Shinji actually knows are very much not like themselves they are all making the same face and saying the same thing in the same tone. This scene also implies that “becoming one” is somewhat sexual. The other is after death of Rei ii when Misato is trying to comfort Shinji. At first viewing I thought Misato was making a sexual advance on him, I believe the scene is purposefully framed for this interpretation, but I don’t believe that this is Misatos intention. This is how Shinji misinterprets this moment because he doesn’t understand human affection.

The dehumanizing of others that comes with oppression always comes with a dehumanization of the self, a threat that if you are not the oppressor you will be the oppressed. Shinji cannot grow as a person because he cannot accept that the woman in his life are just as human as himself. And because he cannot except that not treating them as such makes him a terrible person.

In the show ending of evangelion Shinji internally confronts his fears and weaknesses excepting himself and by extension those around him. In the movie ending of evangelion on the other hand Shinji is forced to confront that what he thinks he desires for Asuka, Misato and Rei is not actually what he desires. Shinji believes that what he desires is sexual gratification, romance and “becoming one”. When Shinji masterbates over Asukas comatosed body in the hospital he receives what he thinks he wants from her, looking at her boobs and beating his meat. And yet when he’s done, both Shinji and the audience are left with a feeling of dread and emptiness, this is not what Shinji wanted from Asuka. Misato kisses Shinji on the mouth in order to bribe him into piloting the eva one last time, i and many other eva fans dislike this because we dislike grown women kissing children. I personally do not believe that Misato would ever kiss Shinji in this way but Shinji cannot grow in the way he does in the movie unless he is confronted with the fact that he does not want this from Misato. But Shinji does also receive something else from Misato, her cross necklace, the one that her father gave her before he died, and just like then this represents a parental sacrifice as this is just before Misato dies. Shinji keeps the cross with him for the rest of the movie because it is what he actually wanted from Misato. And finally Rei causing human instrumentality offers Shinji to become one with her and all of humanity. Being one, without distends between people, without misunderstanding, without pain. This is what both Shinji and his father believed they desire most, and when Shinji finally receives it it is not what he wants. instead of becoming one with Rei he chooses to symbolically make a human connection, taking her hand as two separate beings.

And when Shinji has finally grown and accepted others and himself, he is confronted with Asuka. And for a moment all his growth washes away. He strangles her, maybe he cannot handle the guilt of seeing her after what he has done, maybe he is trying to prove that he knows Asuka, and that she will react the same as (maybe imagine Asuka) when they fought inside human instrumentality.

But instead of reaching like Shinji and the audience has come to expect from Asuka, she gently touches his face and tells him that he is disgusting. Confronting Shinji one final time with the humanity of others and himself.

I don’t believe this interpretation to be intentional at all considering the way this franchise treats its underage female characters

[ao3feed-ichiruki]

Becoming who we were meant to be

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/YTJ4uM7

by rainberries

Ichigo Kurosaki is about to embark on a new college experience when his sister Karin gets into an accident, one she doesn't survive. Knowing the kinds of danger that await his sister in Rukongai, Ichigo must face the choice he's been trying to avoid; commit to a life in the world of the living, or in Soul Society. Sometimes tragedy happens for a reason.

Ichiruki. Possibly some Hitsukarin. Rating may change.

Originally posted on FF.net in 2018. Somewhat of a rewrite. We're back, baby.

Words: 4192, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Bleach (Anime & Manga)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: F/M

Characters: Kurosaki Ichigo, Kuchiki Rukia, Kurosaki Karin, Hitsugaya Toushirou, Matsumoto Rangiku, Hirako Shinji, Ukitake Juushirou, Kuchiki Byakuya, Ishida Uryuu, Kurosaki Isshin, Kurosaki Yuzu, Abarai Renji, Madarame Ikkaku, Shiba Kuukaku, Original Shinigami Characters (Bleach)

Relationships: Kuchiki Rukia/Kurosaki Ichigo, Hitsugaya Toushirou/Kurosaki Karin, Karin Kurosaki/OC

Additional Tags: Life in the Seireitei, No more world of the living bullshit, Post-366, Forget everything about TYBW, Kurosaki Siblings, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Karin and Rukia are badasses, slow-burn, but not too slow, cause these fools have been longing for an eternity, Gotei 14, Nobles and their politics, Karin's love triangle, Sort Of, ichiruki supremacy

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/YTJ4uM7

[katibis]

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Blog Post Part 2

One reason I find “Neon Genesis Evangelion” so interesting is because of the premise. I believe that all of the main characters (except for Kaji) possess some sort of mental illness or trauma that prevents them from being normal and it is interesting to see how they all interact and try to achieve their goals through the Evas. In the later half of the anime, we see the relationships break down between these people, and the series starts to turn dark.

Asuka is an interesting addition to the anime. She is obviously loud and pretty, gaining the attention of everyone around her. But at the same time, see pilots Eva seeking attention. Asuka tries to be close with Shinji but fails because Shinji is not like a normal man she loves and also the fact that Shinji pushes away others to protect himself from the pain. Asuka also tries to grow close with Kaji, but he says she is too young and Kaji is also busy with Misato. Eventually Asuka loses her will to live which in turn makes her unable to pilot the Eva and so she rests in the ruins, awaiting death. I can relate to Asuka to some extent but not as much as Shinji.

We see all the established relationships start to deteriorate until episodes 25 and 26 which occur during Instrumentality. Instrumentality was mankind’s solution to loneliness; by combining everybody’s mind and soul into one, no one should be lonely. I think Rei is in control of instrumentality and tries to help Shinji overcome his problems through discussion with other people he is close with. Shinji learns from this discussion to overcome his problems by being more confident in himself and leaving his self-hatred behind. My takeaway from this series is to escape depression, you must not let you hold yourself back. You must learn to place less value on the perceptions of others, love yourself and leave your self-hatred behind. Life may feel cruel or like a struggle but as long as I keep having the will to live, I may one day be happy. I rewatch this series to remind myself of these facts.

[one-hell-of-otaku-is-here]

Evangelion 3.0 You can (not) redo be like... (my unfiltered reaction to the movie)

I am only cca 10 min in and I am already crying

WTF HAPPENED TO EVERYONE (but Kaworu bless his soul) I DONT LIKE THIS "GLOW UP"

This is some post post Apocalypse shit and NOBODY gives a shit for a boy who kind of scaed ur asses before and slept for like a long time and is confused af. Liek literally nobody like pm they are under an attack bit it looks like everybody blames Shinji for previous event (at least new guys) like ok without Kaworu everyone would be dead but who was supposed to know Adam and Lilith would fuse like this???

"Don't do anything" BRO MISATO-SAN???? AS INFJ (who's kind of similar to INFP's Shinji) that cold stare and words hurt me deeply

I can't believe I am saying this but I kind of liked anime series abs The end of EVA better than this

They even call my boy by some number as if he was some object. Excuse me he's treated as a criminal even though he technically didn't want to be and wanted to save everyone I AM SO MAD

Fine so we are getting our info...

Ya as I thought... 14 years passed... hahahha ofc they'd be a little mad but this is overdoing it... basically he'd die if he got too emotional lol (I wanna die and we didn't even get to Kaworu at this point he HAS to give my boi happiness)

Most depressing NGE arc... is 3.0

REI REI REI

KAWORU ON PIANO

And ofc Gendou is as same as ever lmao (this impact conversed him back to how he was in anime series Ig)

I wonder if NERV is still going to do Human instrumentality project Ig its kind of gives off these vibes (later I was right this didn't change ge anything for Gendou just made him even colder like he was written before)

OK so this Rei is different altogether from all pheromones versions. She's truly like a robot only following Gendou's orders

I feel so bad for Shinji.... rn he only has Kaworu who's obesssed with him obv but tbh at his position I'd take any friends I could get

My so long awaited gay moments I was waiting for are finally here - and the reason why I am still watching (ok that's a lie rn I do want to know how it ends)

"I was born to meet you= I love you" is making me swoon all over again

Well fuck Ig that answers what happened to everyone (the fact that freaking angel.had to show it to Mc is even more depressing)

Sometimes doing the right thing can cause massive destruction- a novel written by 3.0's Ikari Shinji

There is always hope - Big apause to the best character in this show I don't care what you think this is what we needed to hear

Fyutsuki trying to do right thing by talking to Shinji while giving us his lore lol (he should have done that sooner) but this will break him

OK so now that Shinji knows he didn't save this Rei he can't find excuse for tragedy he indirectly caused(and for which he shouldn't be blamed for remember SEELE is abs amwsyeb be the main villain of NGE. But I do understand bitterness of others)... so he's slowly losing his mind

HES TAKING HIS COLLAR ?it's scene I saw before when I spo8led myself) afabatvayzvahFga I can't be ever normal about Kawoshin

They're piloting together hahaha (Ig soon we'll see THE tragedy)

Bruh this looks bad (and yk it's bad when Kaworu is nervous)

Gadouh planned all this obv and now we're fucked (again) - but it's OK he'll be killed either way

Btw this is on side note: but I find Makinami kind of annoying in this movie - she's basically being little brat and too relaxed unlike Asuka who's in his war mode 24/7 and it irks me in bad way with that said

How did Kaworu not see this happening is beyond me

We're fighting new Adam Ig (I can't wait to watch theory on this so I'd understand all this better I feel like you're constantly confused how these angel awakening work)

Is there even anyone left to kill aside from WILLIE and what's left of NERV?? This is the second craziest shit I have seen after The end of NGE because ofc nobody can top that

Lololol

RIP Kaworu - we seen it coming but his last words>>>> dw your resting place will be entirety of the old world (this quote from Genshin is fitting for him rn)

Fourth impact averted at great cost fuck this was amazing

THAT ENDING SOMG ;-;-;-;;-;-;-;-;-; AGRESSIVELY ADDED TO MY SPOTIFY LIST

And so...

Bravo Anno you created a masterpiece that you always wanted. Now I can rest in peace before I watch Thrice upon time

[evangeliongirl]

love ill-fated

on the significance of Kaworu and Shinji. spoilers!

Despair and self-hatred, the defining feelings of Shinji during such a desolate time. Over and over, he kept losing, he kept being lied to, and he was alone, so painfully alone, drowning in the remberance of what he’s done. But it must be proper that he finds hope again in quite literally, a sea of change. Sitting there, aglow with the sunset, an angel to come save him, Kaworu.

Kaworu was fascinated by Shinji, he saw something in him that was beautiful, that he wanted to know more about, even if they met when Shinji was at his lowest. Bombarded with this attention, this pure unadulterated love, Shinji is flurried with emotions. With every other person in his life he had expectations for them that they never met, and so he was constantly dissapointed and at a certain point gave up on the idea of a life without loneliness. But now, he’s greeted by a stranger, a stranger who wants him without anything in return. Never in his life had Shinji felt so loved, and so his instant reaction is to return that love, an exchange which is so foreign to him.

And just as Shinji was changed by Kaworu, Kaworu was changed by Shinji. Like all angels, Kaworu was created resenting Lilin (humans, those born from Lilith) and more importantly as the 17th angel, it was his role to truly end humanity. However, Kaworu was blessed to be different from the other angels, something I’d like to look into in another post, in the sense that he had the power to know and feel. He was not limited to the powers of just the Fruit of Life, he like Rei, had access to both Lilith and Adam. With this perspective and power, Shinji gave him a view of humanity Kaworu had never seen before. He looked at Shinji, someone he saw was capable of incredible things but was still bridled with the pain of the past, which hindered him from achieving all that he was capable of. How captivating that the exact thing which made humans so powerful, their minds, was the same thing that dutifully held them back. And so, seeing such a beautiful creature as Shinji in front of him riddled with heartache and loneliness, he felt sympathy for him, perhaps even empathy, and decided his own purpose.

This natural love between the two was a necessary acknowledgement between the angels and humans of each other’s existence. Kaworu loving Shinji was symbolic of all angels accepting humanity in all of its flaws and therefore accepting their fate; Kaworu was the catalyst of this acceptance and death of the angels. As the last of the angels he was meant to end humanity, but he recognized that he was not worthy of this decision and left it in Shinji’s hands, someone so dreadfully human. As “saviour” of humanity, which could only be saved with the death of the angels, Shinji had to love and then kill Kaworu BECAUSE he is human and our lives are full of sacrifice and self-destruction.  Shinji’s love for Kaworu was meant to show the pain of sacrifice that can push one to despair and resentment of those they save and themselves, which is elaborated on through instrumentality.

While doomed from the beginning, their relationship was crucial to the long awaited Third Impact. But more than that they gave each other meaning and a purpose; because of Shinji, Kaworu realized he was born to forgive humans and because of Kaworu, Shinji realized he was worthy and loved in spite of his shortcomings. Love can be full of struggle and sadness but this difficult reality doesn’t take away from the significance giving and recieving love (experiencing realtionship) has on our lives, no matter how it ends.

definitely going to edit this later bc im writing at midnight again *bites lip* also i want to make it longer bc they were NOT JUST FRIENDS

[luuxxart]

UR FUTURE EVA HCS ARE SO SO GOOD IN OBSESSED......if it's ok w you could u tell me more

well after consuming any media my brain is always immediately like 👏🏽 ✨future AU time✨

if I were to write anything out i think it’d be funny if it were called like neon revelation evangelion. anyway tho

keep in mind tho I’ve only watched the anime and End of Evangelion and like,,, I skimmed some wiki pages bc I’m not really much of a reader (and I cannot find ANIMA anywhere anyway nor do I have money to spend on comics/manga) so I’m a noob,, and even then there’s stilll prolly a lot I don’t fully understand

but put a dime in and get the 20 minute long song so (and spoiler alert jic) here’s the info dump

in the words of David Byrne, how did we get here?

Post-Human Instrumentality Project failure, Shinji and Asuka form a temporary truce to investigate the ruins of NERV once the SEELE soldiers all clear out

The HI Project failed and all the EVAs (besides Unit 01 I think? but it’s marked missing) are in relative disrepair, so no need to go any further. Best for the SEELE soldiers to fall back and await further instruction.

Shinji and Asuka manage to slip back into the old headquarters after navigating through all the rubble and destruction of Tokyo-3 where they meet back up w Misato and Ritsuko

They girlbossed their way into this I’m sure they can girlboss their way out of it

(and girl what was ritsuko’s plan literally maam why would u come to a gun fight and not wear a bullet proof vest is no one wearing a bullet proof vest???? anyway)

It takes a while, but things sort of get back on the road under Misato and Ritsuko’s leadership. Gendo can stay dead, as a treat.

Shinji finds Unit-01 through. idk some kind of Mom version of the Force. Same with Asuka and Unit-02. They immediately begin repairs in case the military comes back. Angels are no longer a threat, so humanity becomes the main villain. as it should be.

For now, bc nothing ever stays dead.

Rei certainly doesn’t, bc despite the trauma, she’s technically family, Shinji wants her back like stat. And Ritsuko isn’t happy to oblige but she finds the blueprints and gets to work. Perhaps Lilith comes back to possess her. The science is basically god magic in this show so I don’t think it matters. The important part is there are no more clones from this point on, and Rei remakes herself how she wants to look while keeping her hair color and some mild resemblance to Yui. She forces her body to grow up alongside Shinji.

Bc, for all intents and purposes, they’re practically siblings. By god, let them do sibling things.

Misato contacts their sister NERV stations and explains the situation under full confidentiality. They agree to help fund EVA production and repair. They even manage to get Unit-04 out of the Dirac Sea under direction from Misato trying to interpret Shinji’s story about his experience.

I think it would be cool?? If they mayb?? reworked the mass production units. Not that Asuka would go anywhere near them but, it’s an idea.

For a few years, the EVAS are used to help rebuild Tokyo-3 since *large*.

Misato finds the locations of and calls the students from Class 2-A to attain permission for them to come back and potentially pilot EVAS. They’ve still got all this LCL and don’t know what to do with it. Bc really. what are they gonna do. go murder some more moms??????????

Only 3 people come back, and like, they just dip and don’t tell their guardians. It’s Kensuke, Tōji, and Hikari ofc

Tōji can’t pilot an EVA anymore, so he helps monitor EVA pilots with the other scientists. He’s also relatively good at directing them, which Misato takes a notice of.

Kensuke and Hikari pilot for a while, but after a minor SEELE threat, they realize they’re not really cut out for it like The First-Third Children. Kensuke goes through a crisis realizing he kind of hates killing with the mechs and Ritsuko takes him under her wing for mech design instead. Hikari started shadowing Misato from the get-go, but as Class Rep, she takes to the position of Junior Assistant Major pretty well. (And Tōji calls her the JAM which she hates ,,,,, but secretly loves it ;3)

Years pass and Ritsuko, Misato, and the original staff leave NERV entirely in the hands of the kids who are approx. 30 by the time the OG staff leaves.

NGE is already quite a “sins of the father” story, but it becomes more spread out as the main six have to really talk about and cope with what NERV left behind. (like Rei, the angels, the LCL, the true purpose of the HI Project etc.)

And at some point, Shinji sort of falls back into a depressive episode, so Rei brings back Kaworu. Hilarity ensues.

But This Opens The Door For The Angels. Oops.

No idea what happens after that. Actual headcanon time

relationship headcanon time✨✨

The people who stick together most closely end up being Shinji, Rei, and Asuka and then Tōji, Kensuke, and Hikari.

Eventually they split off further as relationships develop. Asuka/Rei, Tōji/Hikari, and Shinji/Kensuke, with the last one only forming bc it suckssss being the odd ones out alone. Might as well be the odd ones out together.

Asuka’s still scarred from the events of the HI Project so she’s not the one to initiate her relationship w Rei.

After being rebuilt, Rei decides to take her life into her own hands, kind of like Anthy. She tries to mend the relationships she never really got to have under Gendo and the HI Project’s control. Ritsuko is like, a bit beyond her, but that’s to be expected, and Rei backs off from that. Asuka is a bit more open to being friends.

Rei, Hikari, and Asuka try having some ✨girl time✨ away from the group and end up forming a little offshoot that meets from time to time.

Through her time spent with the other girls, Asuka realizes she can live for herself and not for the expectations of men and ends up putting more time into hobbies like studying (and eventually writing) theoretical physics, psychology, and engineering to better understand her EVA. Yeah she’s punk but like. she’s a scholarly punk who does not give a shit abt what anyone thinks anymore.

Identity is still very important to her, so that’s why I gave her the “02” tattoo. It’s sort of like mom-heart but for EVA pilots ig.

Asuka and Rei pretty much bond over studying theory, shocking each other with just how smart the other really is. And once Asuka realizes Rei isn’t an emotionless robot, it’s all over. 🧡🤍💖

I guess Tōji/Hikari is just destined to be endgame. I mean, they’re pretty cute in canon. It just sort of continues on a natural path from where they left off. Tōji confiding in Hikari abt his experience w the EVAs, them realizing they caught feelings in high school, dealing with it while working, and eventually becoming partners, Commander Suzuhara and Major Horaki. Just a good old JimPam. Every series needs a JimPam. For Evangelion, it’s Tōjikari.

SO ANYWAY SHINJI AND KENSUKE.

It honestly just comes from like, episode four?? Where they camp together?? adorable. lovely. ten out of ten. would watch again if I was willing to put myself through the angst of NGE again.

Kensuke really tries to understand Shinji. He really does. Tries to be there as much as he can pre-HI Project. Probably has just a tiny crush on him at that point and disguises it as a fascination w EVAs.

After Tōji’s accident, he tries not to show how much it bothers him that being an EVA pilot is not the life he thought it would be. Even still, he wants to be one. And after evacuating there’s not really much to do but mope. As far as he knows, Shinji and the EVAs are as good as dead.

But then his (father? Brother? Undecided, but I like to think he’s related somehow to that guy Misato hangs w in the last eps) gets the call from Misato to come back to Tokyo-3 for the clean-up project. His guardian declines so Kensuke persuades Tōji to leave with him. Hikari wants to come too, bc the Class Rep has to take care of her city ,,,, and Tōjikari :)❤️

Kensuke is overwhelmingly ecstatic to see Shinji again when they finally make it to NERV (as are Tōji and Hikari, to a bit of a lesser extent), but Shinji is hesitant because of the incident. Shinji basically chooses to avoid them at all costs.

This creates a weird bit of tension bc Kensuke wonders if Shinji just thinks he’s weird or hates him for some odd reason (maybe bc Shinji hated piloting the EVAs and Kensuke was so obsessed?) and Shinji becoming a shining beacon of silence as the years go on doesn’t help.

Shinji and Asuka still live w/ Misato until she retires bc they’re practically family at this point. Kensuke lives w/ Ritsuko to study under her wing until she retires. The others have their own apartments.

And then Asuka eventually goes to live with Rei in a part-private study/part-public library kinda joint.

When the old divorced-but-kinda-still-married gals retire to a safehouse, Shinji and Kensuke find themselves alone, and they deal with it for a while, but Misato/Ritsuko really try to hammer in that they should *loud cough* move in together *loud cough* or else die alone.

Kensuke agrees only for the sake of observationally studying Shinji to figure out why he’s the best pilot of the OG3.

Eventually Shinji breaks and admits he’s felt guilty abt the destruction of Unit-03 and that he had no idea Tōji was the pilot. Kensuke never blamed him for it though, so they awkwardly try to rekindle their friendship.

And then what little crush Kensuke had on Shinji comes back and they fall into a sort of accidentally married trope bc “they were roommates!”

Now that that’s settled, they form the Dude Trio w Tōji again,,,, except this time ;) 🏳️‍🌈

Knowing that Shinji has no problem w Kensuke’s obsession w mechs, he becomes a lot more exuberant about them again and is constantly bragging about the upgrades he makes and talks excessively about how EVAs function (which Asuka definitely bonds w him over)

Shinji just kinda listens and is slowly like “oh fuck I like this nerd.”

Kensuke is the first to admit it bc he knows Shinji will never make the first move after *literally everything*.

Then kiss kiss, get married, Angel attack. Oops. What happens next? yes❤️

And that’s about all I got

I haven’t gone so deep as to have like “who’s the cook” or “who always steals the blankets” but I hope you enjoyed reading !! This took all day to compose 😭😭😭 maybe I’ll draw more in the future!!

[laughingpinecone]

ToT letter 2021

I am laughingpineapple on AO3

Hello dear author! I hope you’ll have fun with our match. Feel free to draw from general or fandom-specific likes, past letters, and/or follow your heart.

Art likes: characters doing something, even something very simple, illustrating a moment rather than abstractly posing. I also enjoy seeing them wear different clothes, getting a feel of what their fashion sense is like beyond their canon outfit(s). Or dressing them up for some outlandish AU!

Likes: worldbuilding, slice of life (especially if the event the fic focuses on is made up but canon-specific), missing moments, 5+1 and similar formats, bonding and emotional support/intimacy, physical intimacy, lingering touches, loyalty, casefic, surrealism, magical realism, established relationships, future fic, hurt/comfort or just comfort from the ample canon hurt, throwing characters into non-canon environments, banter, functional relationships between dysfunctional individuals, unexplained mysteries, bittersweet moods, journal/epistolary fic, dreams and memories and identities, canon-adjacent tropey plots, outsider POV, UST, resolved UST, exploration of secondary bits of canon, leaning on the uniqueness of the canon setting/mood, found families, characters reuniting after a long and/or harrowing time, friends-to-lovers, road trips, maps, mutual pining, cuddling, wintry moods, the feeling of flannel and other fabrics, ridiculous concepts played straight, sensory details, sickfic, places being haunted, people being haunted, the mystery of the woods, small hopes in bleak worlds, electricity, places that don’t quite add up, mismatched memories, caves and deep places, distant city lights at night, emphasis on non-human traits of non-human characters (gen-wise, but also a hearty yes xeno for applicable ships), emphasis on inhuman traits of characters who were human once and have sort of shed it all behind

DNW: non-canonical rape, non-canonical children, focus on children, unrequested ships (background established canon couples are okay, mentions of parents are okay!), canon retellings

All requests are for both fic and art!

Death Crown: Death, trick

(I haven't played the DLC yet so, alas, no demons, or no spoilers for the demons, at least) I am absolutely charmed by the overall mood of this game and would like to see something more in that vein! Anything! Got more sacred (or unholy?) geometrical architecture for Death to interact with, maybe in greater detail than just wrecking it? What else feels like a contemporary take on a Bosch painting? Can Death get lost?

Ghost Trick: Jowd, Cabanela, trick, treat

Anything focused on Cabanela being an unstoppable force (confident, untiring, sparkling, stubborn, dexterous, loyal to the bitter end, legs) and/or Jowd being an immovable object (sarcastic, strong, depressed, self-deprecating but knowing he's hot stuff, also stubborn, clever but an emotional dumbass, round). Figuring out stuff? Something in the new timeline is linked to the old timeline? Coat? Dancing? Scarves? Halloween costumes?

I like Cabanela/Jowd and Cabanela/Alma/Jowd and Cabanela/Alma in scenarios where Jowd isn't around and Alma/Jowd in general (REALLY like all these, okay. like this is the one request where I'd love the most self-indulgent shippy takes as well), and dig Lynne/Memry. Yomiel/fianSissel and Emma/JM also cool!

Hylics: any, trick, treat

(I have only played the first game so far so please no overt spoilers for Hylics 2. Feel free to include stuff from it but... stealthily, I guess?) This is an "anything that feels somewhat like canon, please" sort of request! Love the mood, love the cast, love the little added details in their menu screen. Those can be prompts? Or the oddball stats? How do ToT's trick and treat freeforms apply to Hylics' overall... hylicsness, what would those guys think constitutes a "creepy" moment or a "fluffy" one?

Not into ships for this one, however I WILL say that Dedusmuln has all the proverbial curves in the right places. mostly their face.

Kentucky Route Zero: Weaver

Math, debt, the liminal state of almost being a ghost, seeing the world with a strange clarity... just anything Weaver, please! How'd she make her way to the town? What was it like for her to be working on Xanadu for a time? What about the community broadcast! Does she have an opinion on Carrington's oeuvre? You know... things... stuff. Weaver things. and stuff.

I love the whole cast and Weaver... wove... her story through most of them so feel free to bring in whomever. Not interested in ships here though.

Paradise Killer: Lady Love Dies, trick

A post-canon glimpse of life on '''''perfect''''' 25? That's not QUITE enough class consciousness to make the whole thing work, you guys. What does 'normal' life feel like to LD now? After following Henry's case and talking to Shinji so much, can she see that it's doomed to fail again, and then what? What IS Island 25 like, anyway? (what comes after Island 25, even?)

I liked the choice of canon romances - if it has to be just one I'd prefer it to be Crimson, but I'd also be interested in seeing what a V or triad with Doom Jazz would look like. They're all so chill about stuff

Pyre: Volfred, trick, treat

Pragmatic idealist, charismatic and bad at people, pacifist, activist, physiologically incapable of shutting up for a hot second, what's there not to love... I am very into either of the following: C. Volfred Sandalwood has a fantastic day; C. Volfred Sandalwood has a terrible no good day. Everything is great! Pre-exile antiestablishmentarian antics, maybe with Bertrude? Political gambits? The very physical dangers of the Downside which may or may not catch a scholar by surprise (who saves him?)? Tree problems? Meeting Oralech for the first time and Volfred thinks he himself is hot stuff but out of the two, Oralech is clearly the VIP? Feeling like he should live up to Lu Sclorian's legacy but he feels much closer to other Scribes (and what does Lu have to say about it, one way or another?)? The thrilling intimacy of Reading? The thrilling intimacy of lowercase reading also, maybe reading old manuscripts found in the Downside?

I very much ship him with Tariq and/or Oralech. The only canon ship I like is Hedwyn/Fikani. I also like Soliam/Gol, Bertrude/Pamitha and Celeste/Jodariel. Love all the Nightwings + Dalbert (+Deluge...?); love to dunk on Manley, Brighton and Lendel (I don't enjoy flat-out bashing, more like... I enjoy the way they are portrayed as horrible gremlins in canon and if they turn up in fic I'm not interested in more positive portrayals)

Signs of the Sojourner: Rhea, Elias, trick, treat

Once again pretty much an "anything in the style of canon" request. I love this setting, its themes and all the little lives that fill it. I am interested in a wide range of postcanon scenarios and love the whole cast - does Rhea come back to $town any number of years down the line and find $character? How'd their storyline end up in the medium-long term? What the hell is up with the Stranger (seriously, three runs and I never managed to speak with them, I have no idea)? What's life like for Elias back home, or in a new home if they can't keep the store, or if Rhea landed the Oscar ending or whatever (just, please, not dead Rhea. I love that ending but can't stand to consider what it'd do to Elias)? Or does he join the caravan just once? Who did Rhea grow to really like and can't wait to see every time? Any ghost stories or creepy encounters on the caravan's route? Does Thunder help?

I'm neutral on ships here - good with Rhea&Elias, good with background Rhea/Elias but I wouldn't like a romantic focus.

Totally Normal Wizard Apprentice: apprentice, wizard, master, trick, treat

(conflict of interest disclaimer, I illustrated this but didn't write nor nominate it) What awaits the apprentice outside the wizard's tower? It sounds like a pretty wild moon out there, I loved all the worldbuilding hints of the bigger setting. Does the wizard keep track of the apprentice, with her telescope or otherwise, and how does she take care of her ruined parlor? Was this all some sort of 5d chess on the master's part, and if so to what end? And what kind of otherworldly patience does this man possess, anyway, to handle the apprentice on a daily basis?

Twin Peaks: Margaret, Diane, Lucy, Tammy, trick, treat

(bass-boosted ethereal whooshing) For tricks, I would like to see any of these characters face the woods, the mystery of the woods, and/or a new symbol of your liking. Or: Margaret in the city, Diane and the moon, Lucy and the color blue, Tammy incognito.

For treats, a happy meeting. I love the whole cast and I'm always thrilled by gonzo "&" pairings, bring in whomever! Coffee and pie? The Bookhouse Boys? A kinder aspect of the woods?

Fandom-specific notes: love s3, love the books too. I like Lucy/Andy, Margaret/Sam fwiw, and rarepairs Tammy/Cynthia and Diane/Constance. Please no Fireman's-house-is-the-white-lodge, no Twin Perfect, no Judy-was-destroyed (nor is destroyable).

Arcade Spirits: Percy, Teo, treat

More than anything, I love the sense of group and camaraderie among the arcade's staff and regulars, and I'd love to see some more of it. I picked Percy and Teo 'cause they're my faves but anyone you may want to add, up to and including Sue, is very very welcome. Is there any aspect of gaming that feels like it could be adapted to this strange world of contemporary arcades? Cosplay shenanigans for everyone courtesy of Ashley? Any other activity that could show how Percy and/or Teo get along with the others, like they were all forming little groups during the beach chapter? It's such a feel-good canon, any feel-good situation would be great!

My Ari is with Percy but I'm not really interested in shipping here. All sorts of friendships though!

[gisachi]

#42 for the shinran kissing prompts maybe? (thank you for the nice tags on my art btw 😉💜)

Thanks for this request! 💞 Ahh, what can I say, your doodles are so funny and so lovely to look at!! I’ve never had the proper chance to thank you for your tags on my posts too so I’ll take this opportunity. It makes me really happy that you like what I write ;;_;; So I remembered reading one of your tags saying that you like Domestic!ShinRan so I’mma give that to you rn. I really hope you like this! 🤗

42. Distracting kisses from someone that are meant to stop the other person from finishing their work, and give them kisses instead. (1,551 words)

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9:00 PM.

It’s automatic, whenever the grandfather clock strikes 9:00 PM. Seconds after the last chime of the bell, he’ll hear the library door open, footsteps lightly approach him, then hundreds of pecks will wordlessly land on his cheek in the midst of his paperwork, disrupting the mind palace he’s put up for hours.

It did surprise him the first time, giving his wife a weirded out ‘What’s with you?’ look, but it doesn’t take a while for Pavlov to prove his theory to him when for the next four or five times, he begins to grow accustomed to this flow of events. He doesn’t even have to look at the clock; he just knows that once the library door clicks, it’s 9 o’clock, and he’s bound to ready his cheeks for the array of kisses that’ll shortly follow.

Though his mind has already been conditioned to this, Shinichi’s yet to admit that that is the most favorite thing he wants from his wife to do. After all, anyone who knows him knows that he must not be disturbed in the middle of his deductions. Well, they can, but at the expense of being ignored, or avoided, or humiliated for feeling like they’re talking to a brick wall.

Thus it has been a universal rule that a working Shinichi is an absolutely-cannot-be-disturbed Shinichi. And his wife knows this for sure.

Yet why? For what purpose is she doing this, persistently giving him something he never asked for? Something she isn’t even sure he wants, or needs?

Tonight is rather a busy night for him. He doesn’t usually bring home extra paperwork from the Department, but this present case - a child kidnapping case - calls for urgency. Since 5 PM, he hasn’t left the Kudo library and has even missed dinner. But hunger is nothing compared to the need for the case to be resolved as soon as possible. Time is the enemy. So for almost three hours, he reads, he closes his eyes, he writes, he thinks. On repeat.

“Yes, Megure-keibu. Yes. Among the suspects only the child’s aunt living in Minato ward can possibly do this. Said she’s never been in touch with the kid for years and- Yes. And yet she knows her routine after school. She’s been spying on her. Right. Please send the Team right away to her house. Be on guard. It’s possible there’s someone with her with a weapon. Mm. Let me know once the suspect is restrained.”

He paces back and forth the library, grave and relentless worry evident in his face. He waits, and waits, and waits. Forty minutes of frantic silence and tension, hunger and thirst unnoticed. For forty minutes his world zeroes in on just him and this case, not in the least mindful of his environment, of any sound other than his nervous heart and seeing nothing other than the flash of memories from back when he - and she - was young.

Finally, the awaited call arrives.

“Shinichi-kun, the culprit has been apprehended. Good job. We’ll hear more details on this tomorrow. You may now retire for the night.”

Thank goodness.

Slumping into his chair, he heaves a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Megure-keibu.”

He checks his phone clock. 8:58 PM. Wow, it took almost four hours. He doesn’t even realize. Oh, the effect of child kidnapping cases on him.

He stays in his chair, unmoving. That’s when it hits. The fatigue. The hunger. Minor unfinished paperwork still lays on his desk but he figures he needs a little breather.

For once he actually seeks for rest.

Ran.

8:59 PM.

How convenient. Now he just has to wait for one more minute. Then the grandfather clock will chime and the door will click and this time, he’s ready to welcome whatever intrusion there’ll be, as long as it’s from her.

Ran.

He closes his eyes, chuckles breathily. Hah.

For the first time, is he really actively waiting for her to come?

He waits, and waits, and waits.

Any time now.

Aaaany time.

9:01 PM.

9:10 PM. 9:15 PM.

9:20 PM.

Maybe it’s the tiredness acting up, and he’s not supposed to be cranky because he has just solved a kidnapping case, but right now, he cannot stop his brows from furrowing and his lips from curving upside down.

Where the hell is she?

Releasing an impatient groan, he decides to just continue with the minor paperwork. Maybe she’s already asleep; doesn’t wait for him anymore since he sure is taking his time with this. He mechanically grabs his pen, flips some pages over, and stares blankly at words.

Man... he’s pretty bummed.

“Done with the case?”

He jerks from his seat, heart leaping a little. Trying to keep a straight expression, he slowly turns to the door, and there she is. The woman he’s secretly waiting for.

Ran.

Shinichi watches her walk his direction before finally realizing how much he’s been staring, and then returns his attention to his paperwork.

“...Late.” He mumbles, so low she barely hears it.

She stops, quirks an eyebrow. “Oh. Were you waiting for me?”

“Wh— N-no. Not at all.”

How childish he might’ve sounded just now.

Trying to push past her teasing stare, he pretends to go over the piles of paper in front of him one by one.

But Ran knows her husband too well. She approaches his desk, and, after a faint giggle, gives a light peck on his visibly flustered cheeks.

“I tucked Sakura and Shinji to bed,” she says, giving an answer to his unspoken question. “Took me quite a while this time.”

He tilts his head, half-facing her. “And? Are they asleep now?”

“Yes.”

“Mm.”

She leans in for another peck and Shinichi instinctively offers his cheek, closing his eyes. Feeling her subtle smile against his skin, he cannot help but smile, too, as she gives him three more. Ran stands straight and sighs.

“You skipped dinner, Shinichi. I’ll heat up your food, okay?” She steps away, only to be abruptly stopped by a stubborn tug of his hand on her wrist.

“Ran, that’s...not enough.”

Swiveling his chair to face her, he opens his arms, catching Ran dumbfounded from where she stands. Then, without any word, she retraces her steps, slowly, until she’s standing between his legs, and his arms wrap around her waist.

“I was.”

“Was what?”

“Waiting.”

Cheeks dusting with red, Shinichi holds her gaze as she stares him down his seat; her eyes wide at the unexpected declaration before narrowing into slits.

“Mmm, really? M’not bothering you with your work?” She nudges her head to his desk.

“Nope.”

“But that’s not what I was getting before.”

“Hmm?”

“You've never reciprocated my kisses then,” she puffs her cheeks.

“Well…”

"You didn’t even notice I checked up on you before 9 o’clock. You were too engrossed with the case, spanning the room back and forth like a madman.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, so I figured it’s probably better not to disturb you until you’re done with it...don’t wanna risk being yelled at.”

“I’m not-“

“Oh, Shinichi. I understand, you don’t want any disturbance when solving cases, not even from your wife—“

He cuts her off with a kiss on the lips, dissolving Ran’s further complaints in his mouth.

“That’s not true,” he declares, then kisses her again, chastely. “Keep on doing that, okay? ‘Disturbing’ me or whatever...Even if I look serious,” another kiss. “Or annoyed.” Kiss. “Or cannot be bothered.” Long kiss. “Just...don’t stop doing that.”

He pauses for a good minute, admiring how she looks with her brows still wrinkled but face and ears now more crimson than his.

Ah. Yes— Now it’s clear.

What a shame for not having realized this sooner.

Breaking off his loving gaze, Ran pinches his cheeks, pulling them like dough. “Who says anything about stopping? Who’s gonna tuck you to bed when that happens?”

“Oh okay,” he chuckles, “so you’re really doing this whole thing to annoy me, huh?”

“Of course. Is there any other reason?”

He kisses her again, smiles fondly against her lips. “Because you love me?”

She returns the kiss, reciprocates the smile he doesn’t even bother hiding. “Now you’re being cocky.”

Hands intertwined, foreheads together, eyes closed, soft giggles lingering, husband and wife drown in each other’s comfort, forgetting about the time and hunger and everything else, his long day ending with her, at last. No one can take away this moment from them this time. Not even the minor unfinished paperwork.

Yes. This woman. His wife. Ran.

The only distraction he’ll ever want, and ever need.

“Aren’t you going to ask me what the case was all about?” He speaks softly, a little above a whisper.

“What is it?”

“Child kidnapping case.”

“Oh no,” Ran separates from him, expression visibly concerned, “and you’ve solved it?”

“Yes. The TMPD already apprehended the culprit.”

“That’s a relief,” she returns her forehead to his. “Though Shinichi, honestly I’ve never seen you so invested in a case before.”

“Yeah. It hits close to home.”

“What do you mean?”

Silence, then he takes a deep breath.

“Did you know that you were almost kidnapped when we were in Kindergarten?”

“I was almost...what?!”

“Let’s save that bedtime story for later. Dinner first?”

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[nomadicism]

I read that one posts. I agree with Sol. I think it's more likely that Dreamworks crunched the numbers, figured it wouldn't be profitable and just canned the project than them cancelling it because of a very small section of the internet. p1

“p2 Mecha is just a dying genre as a whole. Even in Japan, isekai has taken it's place and there are hardly any new mechas outside of Gundam. That's in Japan! In the west, mecha is even more niche of an interest and general audiences don't gravitate towards it. I don't think that any mecha movie wouldn't do well at the box office. I'm even worried about that Gundam movie bombing at the box office.”

Hi Anon, thank you for the Ask!

Yeah, I agree with Sol too—and at risk of repeating what I’ve said in other posts about the movie thing—it’s really hard to convey just how incredibly unlikely a property like Voltron or Robotech will ever be made into a live-action movie. It really is about the numbers, as it always has been. Since the 80s, there’s this whole persistent and stupid element of the cartoon industry that continues to delude itself that promises or interest from Hollywood will ever pan out. There are so many scripts sitting in production limbo, that it’s almost criminal.

No one wants to risk money on a live-action movie based on children’s media IP that won’t bring in rated PG-13 or R dollars from adults, and no one wants to risk repeating the 80s He-Man film. The exceptions are live-action films made from children’s media IP that are fully owned by the company paying to produce the movie. I’ve got more to say about the complexities of royalties, but that’s awfully long-winded when I get into it, and I’d rather be long-winded about giant robots. (◕ᴗ◕✿)

The topic of mecha genre dying out is what really interests me here. It’s a topic that I think about a lot, as the beginnings of the mecha genre had a lot of deep cultural time-and-place stuff behind it, even if the stories were just kids and teen boys hopping into a giant robot to beat up other giant robots and monsters, in what were essentially 30 minute long toy commercials.

Isekai will come-and-go as all genres do. It’s not a new genre, but right now the types of themes driving the isekai stories being made speaks to a lot of interesting things happening in the youth of Japan’s relationship with digital gaming and role-play escapism. It’s fascinating, even though the focus of the genre as it’s done today hasn’t really grabbed me in the same way that isekai of the 80s-90s did.

Mecha isekai exists, and it’s only a matter of time before someone either remakes Vision of Escaflowne, or does a more mecha-focused isekai story similar to Magic Knight Rayearth. I doubt anyone would revisit Aura Battler Dunbine, or Super Dimension Century Orguss, but an otaku can dream.

Before we can say the mecha genre is dying, let’s briefly skim over the genre trends of the past +40 years. Every decade or era of mecha anime has a trend that reflects cultural concerns built into it, in a way that I don’t think any other genre of animation can touch (until now, with Digital/Virtual/Fantasy RPG World Isekai).

Late 60s-70s was: Super Robot smashes monsters and alien robots

Mid-70s – early 80s was: Combining Mecha Sentai Team Super Robot smashes monsters and alien robots

80s was: Real Robot + “how many sci-fi/fantasy settings can we put a robot into?” + the death-throes of Super Robot (e.g. Dairugger XV, Golion, Baldios, Godmars)

Also 80s: What the hell was Super Dimension Fortress Macross about? Cold war tensions of escalating end-the-world arms race meets an alien species whose only culture is fighting. Where songs about love, and the culture of love, are what win the day, not just transforming robots and big guns. Macross is deeper than it lets on.

Fun 80s: GoShogun happened. The first parody-satire mecha anime that still feels more serious than they intended, but is actually hilarious once you get past the dated gender roles humor (which was also kind of intentional satire).

WTF 80s: Space Runaway Ideon broke everyone’s minds.

Still not done with 80s: Gunbuster happened. The first angst-driven parody-satire mecha anime that blew everyone’s minds.

Late 80s-early 90s OVA mecha was a mix of Serious Cyberpunk-influenced Real Robot for older teens and adults + Mecha with Tits & Tentacles for Adults (see also space elf lesbians).

90s was: The Franchises Will Survive With Prettier Pilots, and Super Angst-Bot That Was Way More Influenced By Drugs And Ideon’s Ending Than Anyone Wants To Admit (aka Neon Genesis Evangelion) + “Since Gunbuster was a success, how many parodies of Super Robot and Real Robot can we do?”

Mid 90s isekai gems: Magic Knight Rayearth and Vision of Escaflowne

Late 90s: Brain-Powerd (not a typo) happened and it’s a shame no one remembers it. I’ve seen it’s influence come up in the 2000s – 2010s.

The 00s seem to be filled with a lot of re-treading of everything that came before but with different cross-genre influences and some of it really damn good but hard to remember because it all kind of blends together.

The 2010s-today: I have no idea what’s happening now b/c I can’t keep up with anything that isn’t Gundam. And why bother when there has been a flood of classic 70s-80s mecha releases—many for the first time in the US—to binge watch?

Knights of Sidonia was cool.

Since I haven’t kept up, I can’t speak to what new mecha anime is like, or why it's less popular (though I have an educated guess). It was gonna happen eventually, and I suspect that the kinds of post-nuclear and Cold War existential dread that informed mecha anime of the 60s-80s has moved on as target audiences grew up. Those lates 80s OVAs, where the stories could be more adult, reflect that growing up (and also Blade Runner’s influence).

I see the 90s as very transitional, includes reactions to the prior eras, but also reflects a lot of angst by Japanese teens and young adults caught up in the after-effects of 80s stagnation, and the constant test-studying to get into the best school to get the best job (if it exists) and figure it all out before you’re 14 so you can pick the best school to test into. Also, salary-man dad works 120 hours a week and is never home. Get in the Angst-bot Shinji.

Excluding the stand-out brands that survived their respective eras: Gundam, Macross, Braves series, Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, Evangelion; there’s not much other ground that can be covered right now that would warrant a series. The franchise mecha shows are grounded in their respective niches. It’s kind of odd that there isn’t an isekai mecha franchise, b/c that’s a niche that hasn’t been owned in the way that the other niches have (unless maybe Machine Hero Wataru is still a Thing?)

It’s worth mentioning that Sport Anime has really been having a moment for almost a decade now, and that’s super interesting to compare against isekai. Isekai about dungeon slimes or whatever vs literal horse-girls racing each other like high-school track. Thanks Japan, are y’all all right over there?

A few last things:

The success of Super Robot Wars tells me that mecha genre isn’t dying. Consider the ages of players. How many of them actually grew up watching Yuusha Raideen (aka Yūsha Raideen / Raideen the Brave)? There is an SRW manga anthology series, and loads of gachapon and collector’s grade mecha figures from old mecha anime get released with regularity. Someone’s buying that all that shit.

SRW is nearly 20 years old now, and they are still making video games that do one thing really well: rotate a 40 year old cast of everyone’s favorite robots into a battle strategy game held together by a duct-tape plot that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The games are fun, and it’s cool to put all these mecha into the same field. It’s really great to see older shows that will never be remade have little cut scenes in a newer animation style that still feels like the originals.

There’s also the old staple that started it all: the tokusatsu genre of live-action Super Sentai shows (e.g. Power Rangers). They’ve been making the Super Sentai Series since 1975, and there’s still fun to be had watching color-coded warriors use special powers/tech to summon forth some combining mecha to do battle with rubber suit monsters from outer-space. The effects are much better these days, but it’s the same formula, year after year and people still love it.

So with respect to mecha, I think what’s died or dying, is that people are afraid to have shameless child-like fun with giant robots. The genre got too serious and too angsty (and too horny without the grown-up edge of 80s OVA Tits & Tentacles mecha). The franchises carved their niches and aren’t going anywhere, while the genre survives in video games and collectables.

A lot of that shameless fun has moved into other genres, because nothing else explains a title like: “Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girl’s In The Dungeon?” or the nearly-ecchi concept behind the sports anime “Keijo!!!!!”. But that kind of fun is less child-like and more self-deprecating or pervy-humor. Both sports and isekai anime have their serious side, but seem to be dominated by stories that don’t take themselves too seriously, or like Yuri on Ice, aren’t afraid to take a concept that no one ever saw coming, and shape it into a good story.

I eagerly await a mecha sports anime (wait, no, I think that already happened), and I’d love to see a knock-out isekai mecha anime again. I think it will happen eventually, but probably not from Toei or Sunrise. If Tatsunoko could get beyond Moe Idols In Space, then the Macross franchise already has everything it needs to do a isekai series. That would be rad.

[dra-and-sdra2-imagine-writer]

The SDRA2 Crew stumbles upon a strange blog that appears to be writing about them in strange situations! How do they react? (Choose your three favorite imagines from any SDRA2 imagine blog and write the crew reacting to them)

This one has been sitting in the ol inbox for the longest. Only because I couldn’t freaking think of anything! I’m super sorry, nonnie! But your long awaited post is here!

“Ow! Hey!” Called one voice, “Stop shoving me!” Called another filled with anger. “Why are we all here?” A bitter voice said, standing out in the group. “I’m n-not s-sure..M-Mikado w-wanted to s-show is something..” A shy voice mumbled, it belonging to none other than Iroha Nijiue. “Show us something? It better be worth it, and if I get shoved one more time, I will start biting all of you!” Nikei yelled out in anger, his eye twitching from annoyance. “S-Sis! D-do you think h-he has something p-planned..?” Kanade asked, lightly squeezing the older sisters hand. Hibiki looked over her shoulder wii a bright smile, shaking her head. “No, I’m sure he doesn’t! And if he does, we can take him!”

“I don’t trust this, not one bit.” Yokuro stated, with a small frown on her face. Crossing her arms over her chest with a small huff. “A..At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt to see what this is all about, right? If it’s bad, we can always leave and be on with our day.” Yuki stated quite loudly, to calm the chatter from amongst the group. “You do have a point, Yuki..but where is he?” Sora questioned with glancing around the cafeteria, but there wasn’t sign of the magician.

“Who knows, but if he doesn’t show up soon I know I’m leaving.” Syobai grunted, with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. Looking as if he had rudely woken up, which probably was the case in all honesty. “We’ve been here for about ten minutes or so, maybe he forgot?” Commented Emma, with a slight puzzled expression herself. Kokoro only shook her head in response to Emma’s comment. Taking a moment, before speaking herself.

“It’s..unlikely, Sannoji knows fully well what he is doing. If I had to take a guess..he’s most likely is waiting to see whether or not if were going to leave.” Kokoro sighed, pushing up her glasses to the bridge of her nose. “Aww, why must you ruin my fun, Koko?” The one and only magician Mikado Sannoji pouted, poking his head through the ceiling. Not to worry, it wasn’t damage for he was using maaagic. Dropping through fully, only to land onto the table holding a laptop in his hand.

“Can we go now?” Nikei grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest adverting his gaze from looking at Mikado. “Now now, your in such haste to leave Mr. Yomiuri. You’re going to miss the most important thing of all!” There was slight mischief mixed with his tone as he placed the device onto the table, opening it up, showing the website that read, ‘Mumblr’ “Eh? Mumblr? I think I’ve heard of that site before.” Setsuka piped up, taking a small step closer for further inspection.

“Whatever it is, coming from you Mikado it’s bad news.” Boy, was Nikei radiating hatred towards the magician. Making the others confused as to why, from what they’ve seen. The two hadn’t interact as much, but looks can be deceiving. “Someone must have waken you up on the wrong side of the bed, Huh Nikei.” Hajime snickered slightly, lightly smacking the male on his back. Nikei flinched as a result, but calmed down rubbing his temple. “Probably, just didn’t get enough sleep last night. I was to busy writing my latest scoop until it was five in the morning.” He said, as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

“What?! You have to get at least eight hours of sleep!” Emma shook the journalist for a moment concern laced in her voice looking down at him. “I will tonight! I promise..!” Nikei has gotten dizzy from Emma’s shaking, but still able to give a proper response thankfully. “I’m going to hold you to that, Nikei.” Slowly, she stopped shaking him and flicked his hat. “Now that those two have gotten things settled, how about we check out some lovely things that I’ve found about us? It’ll be interesting for sure!” Mikado clapped his hands together.

His mask showing just how joyful he was to do this. “Eh? Go for it, I’m curious myself!” Teruya chimed, poking his head through to get a closer look at things. Mikado only laughed in response as he clicked the blog by the name of @imaginefanganronpas .

“Imagine fanganronpas? What’s a fanganronpa?” Hibiki asked, as the group slowly expanded around Mikado to each take a look at the computer. “Who knows, but I found something amazing, don’t you know! It’s called Despair Remnants Au! I can’t wait to read it!” Mikado took a moment, clearing his excellent reading voice and began reading.

“I-It’s about us t-turning e-evil and k-killing innocent p-people?! A-And I lost my eye?!” Iroha squeaked, clinging onto Sora our of pure fear. “Aw, I lose my tongue..? What a shame..” Mikado pouted not seeming to fazed by what he just had read. “I think I’m going to be sick..” Yokuro replied, looking away shaking her head. The thought of killing someone was who didn’t sit right with her stomach. Seeing how this person got her personality accurate, but..the killing..she would never do that, no matter what. She refused.

Yuki had a blue expression on his face, but Shinji’s gently placed a hand onto his shoulder squeezing it slightly. “Hey, it’s okay..little bro. It wasn’t real, only fake..you know as well as I that we wouldn’t do something like that. That goes for all of us, we wouldn’t ever hurt any innocent people, it’s just not who we are!” Shinji really was one of the people that brought happiness to the group. Keeping them maintained, Setsuka nodded her head in agreement. “Shinji’s right! We aren’t monsters, Big Sis knows knows as well as everyone else, that we would never do that. This is only like a spooky story! Halloween is right around the corner, ya know!”

That..managed to calm down the majority of them. “If that’s what you believe, I say it’s possible that it could or might have already happened and we just don’t remember it.” Syobai smirked, taking a hand out of his pocket scratching his chin. “But who knows, I might just be rambling, the point is. We all might be different in comparison to what we’re all acting like here.” It was simple, but enough to send chills down their spines. “Rei..Tsurugi..” The former merchant softly muttered, his eyes filled with sadness and worry.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Otori, I’m sure your companions are..safe.” Kokoro replied, looking at the merchant with a small nod of her head. “Is it just me, or is no one going to bring up that Emma and Kokoro kissed while blood was raining on them, Yokuro was with some person named Akane..and there was some guy named Utsuro?” Kanade suddenly spoke, for once without her usual stutter. Emma turned a faint shade of red, shaking her head and waved her hand for a moment.

“It was just a story, there isn’t a need to look into things, Ms. Kanade.” Mikado chuckled his mask changing expressions to one of pure happiness. “Now let’s move onto another one! I find this one to be quite..up lifting. At least, for those involved anyway. This next blog is called, @dra-and-sdra2-imagine-writer -writer . “This small tale is about, Nikei, Hajime, Emma, and Iroha. Oo, I can’t wait to read it for you all!” Nikei barely recovered from what was just read earlier. “Why was I with Yuri of all people?” The small Russian who had been silent for the majority of the time finally spoke, with a small glare thrown the journalist’s way. “As if I would like to be stuck with a despicable male such as you.” His tone was harsh, as usual when it came to men, so Nikei wasn’t all to fazed only sighing. “I should have expected that..”

After the two had gotten shushed by Teruya, Mikado has began reading about the four. Leaving out the parts relating them to being void members. In all sweetness, it was short but put a light hearted mood to the group. Those void members glancing at each other with a mix of surprise, yet slight happiness. “I-I liked it..” Iroha smiles warmly at the small story, Emma agreeing along with her. “As did I, I believed it showed just how close our bond is.”

“So you guys are like a small family, huh? That’s good to hear.” Sora spoke, with a soft sigh escaping from her. “I..um..liked it too.” Nikei softly mumbled, pulling his scarf up slightly to cover his face. It was easy to tell that he was happy about the small tale, even if he wouldn’t show it. “Same! It’s way different from what just listened to a few minutes ago!” Hajime grinned slightly at about it. “I figured as much, now onto the last-“ Mikado was cut off by Hibiki yoinking the computer away. “I wanna read one! I’ll find a good one! Oh! Look, this one is by @sdra2writer-imaginesandhcs s ! What this story is about..hmm..let’s see, ah! The SDRA2 boys as yanderes for their S/o? What’s a S/o?” Hibiki asked not being able to come up with the meaning. “S-significant other..” Kanade whispered to the older sibling before shrinking back into the group. “Oh! Well anyway, let’s get started!” And so, Hibiki begun reading.

Boy, was that something they weren’t expecting. The girls shuffled away, to depart themselves away from the boys. “Come on, we wouldn’t do that!” Shinji tried to reason with them. They weren’t having that, “Let’s before they can try and pull something! Look! Yuri’s already trying something!” Cried Hibiki and that was enough to get the girls running, Emma having to pick up Kokoro hurrying off. The guitarist snickered to herself, as she ran after them in their hurry.

Meanwhile, Yuri wasn’t even doing anything, at the very least just having his arms crossed. “This is going to take forever to convince them we aren’t yandere’s..” Nikei groaned, burying his face into his hand. “Perhaps, but it was a fun time reading, no?” Mikado asked, looking at the direction of the girls had ran off, before back to the boys. “For a first time, it was..pretty good!” There was a small thumbs up from everyone’s favorite big brother. “Y-Yeah, S-Shinji’s right..! Come on, let’s go and try to convince them that we aren’t like that! Who’s with me!” There was several yeah’s aside from Syobai who seemed pretty disinterested with the entire thing.

With Yuki leading them, they were off to change the female’s minds. The only one left was Mikado who chuckled to himself glancing around to see if he was the only one. Looking at the screen there was joyful wave. “I hope you’ve enjoyed~!”

The stories that were used was,

Vamp’s: Renmant Au, both male and female.

Mine: The Void family without Mikado included.

Annnnnd from Noir’s: Sdra2 boys as yandere HC’s

[cantfoolajoker]

Shinjiro&Ken Brothers Au October 4th. Your thoughts on what happens if Shinjiro dies and if he doesn't. And of course the aftermath of everything

man thats some big hurty thoughts right there anon (previous post)

if shinjiro dies:

i mentioned this in one of the other posts, but ken gets shinjiro’s pocket watch since it’s got a picture of him and ken. it’s actually the same picture ken’s got sitting on his desk, which is the only thing he can cling to while his thoughts run haywire over everything else.

ken refuses to eat. the idea of eating just makes him feel sick; up until that point, all he’d eaten were shinjiro’s meals, much like the rest of sees, but that’s taken on a whole new meaning for him now. yukari’s the one who actually gets him to successfully eat something after a while, sliding him some toast with salt on it so he doesn’t feel nauseous. 

while i like kala-nemi, i do like the idea of ken’s ultimate persona becomes tyndareus in this au. tyndareus is cited to be castor’s mortal father who’s also the king of sparta, and since it’s sorta believed ken had nemesis because he wanted a mother figure, in this cause tyndareus would be both a connection to shinjiro and also fill in the protective caretaker role that shinjiro had for ken growing up.

ken and akihiko clean out shinjiro’s room. it’s not like there was much in there to begin with, but there’s definitely an air of dust settled on a lot of things since it wasn’t like he was actively using stuff. ken has to take a break when they find the box of things that were lent to shinjiro like he was well aware he was going to die that night and left it all behind to be picked up; ken doesn’t want to consider if shinjiro really, truly thought he was going to kill him that night.

in hindsight too, ken can see why shinjiro had been so reluctant to fight back. it takes a few years for ken to properly and truly wrap his head around everything, but as he grows up, he starts to see shinjiro’s point in what he did and why he did things. there’s a part of ken that’s mad at shinjiro, not for the death of his mother, but for the idea of him leaving them behind and he’s never going to have an answer as to why that happened, only his assumptions and thoughts filling, but the other part of ken is glad he got to meet shinjiro again because he still looks up to him just as much as he idolized him when he was a little little kid.

if shinjiro lives:

so i imagine it plays out Pretty Similarly to the p3p outcome where he survives because the pocket watch takes the second bullet. when they make it to the hospital and get him situated to go into a coma and chill, the pocket watch is retrieved destroyed since yknow it took a whole ass bullet.

so ken gets shinjiro a new pocket watch. it’s the least he could do; shinjiro was ready to take a bullet for him when he was about to kill him, he reasons. akihiko seems hesitant on the idea, tries to explain that it wasn’t Owning a pocket watch but the significance it had, but he has trouble putting it into words without saying what got destroyed along with it in the first place.

ken visits shinjiro in the hospital and waits for him to wake up. the nurse asks him if he wants a juice box or anything while he waits, and ken politely shakes his head and answers no, he’s good. the nurse makes a comment saying he must be staying strong for his big brother, huh? and ken is lost on a response as she does a check and leaves. he didn’t have it him to correct her, but he’s wondering why that was her assumption.

ken isn’t there when shinjiro wakes up, but he’s the first one notified along with mitsuru. he shows up and has his gift for shinjiro in his backpack, and he absolutely cries when he sees shinjiro awake, albeit tired, but awake and breathing and alive and talking to akihiko quietly when he goes into his room. he doesn’t want to cry in front of shinji, cause shinji’s cool, but shinjiro gives him a hug and mercifully doesn’t comment.

mitsuru tries to corner shinjiro and ask him what she can about medical history, which is absolutely embarrassing to experience in front of the other two, and shinjiro’s struggling to come up with answers. akihiko tries to get her to lay off, and while the pressure is off of shinjiro for a few minutes, ken takes that as the moment to hand off the new pocket watch.

shinjiro’s quiet, pausing as he looks down at ken and at the gift, and he takes it in his hands carefully to examine it. ken tells him the old one got destroyed, saved his life. there’s a look of panic in shinjiro’s eyes but it’s too late to ask what about when mitsuru has finally calmed down from her raising tone and clicks her heel against the floor in thought.

she finally speaks up and asks shinjiro carefully if he has- potentially, hypothetically- any other name they could find medical records under. all they have are his records when he applied to go to school, and it’s not like he came with a birth certificate from being in the orphanage.

shinjiro tenses up and delivers a glare at akihiko like he knows he was apart of this conclusion, and ken doesn’t understand the reaction and the silence that follows like shinjiro’s trying to come up with an answer, like there is an answer other than what would have been an assumed no. and finally, shinjiro sighs and provides a name: “amada shinjiro.”

mitsuru takes that answer and leaves to speak to the doctors and akihiko follows because he’s smart enough to read the room and know this is not a conversation he wants to be present for. 

ken’s in shock, his thought process finally catching up to him as he makes the long awaited realization, “wait, that’s my name.”

[recentanimenews]

My Favorite Art Books of 2019

This year I reviewed 62 art books, a dip again from the 74 I did last year, and 82 back in 2017. I attribute the reasons for the falling numbers to a combination of reduced readership for my blog ( less readers = less conversion, which unfortunately gives me less resources to procure books ) as well as the comparatively smaller number of interesting Japanese art books that I felt was worth picking up.

Despite the reduced quantity, there’s still plenty of great art books that were published in 2019, and these particular 10 are my favorites. I hope you’ll find something of interest in the list, and here’s to a happy 2020 ! –

1) Spider-Man : Into The Spiderverse – The Art Of The Movie

Published in late December 2018, this book narrowly missed my fav art books list of 2018, so I’m including it here for posterity.

Winner of the 2018 Academy Award for Best Animated Film, and a movie I’m super proud to have worked on, this book explores the stunning concept art created for the film, with a surplus of sketches, storyboards, character/environment designs as well as color scripts. The beautiful images that you see in the film were greatly informed by the amazing visuals the concept artists created, so if you like the movie, you’ll the art work in this book too.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

2) Tokyo At Night – The Artworks of Mateusz Urbanowicz II

Tokyo based Polish illustrator Mateusz Urbanowicz‘s first art book Tokyo Storefronts was one of my favorites in 2018, and he’s back again this year strong with Tokyo At Night, a collection of delightful watercolor illustrations that explores the the moody nocturnal sights of the sprawling, skyscraper topped metropolis saturated with neon lights, mysterious back alleys, wet cityscapes lit by reflections and more. It’s a stunning art book from start to end, and I love it.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon Japan | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK

3) Real Size – Katsuya Terada Art Book

Renowned Japanese illustrator Katsuya Terada’s Real Size is a superb collection of his black marker art works, many of which were created during his live drawing events. The title refers to the print size of the reproductions which are at 100% scale of the original art works, large mural pieces which are cropped and presented across several pages in the book. The complete drawings are also included, scaled down to 16% of the original size.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon Japan | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK

4) Making Solo: A Star Wars Story

Industrial Light & Magic Presents : Making Solo: A Star Wars Story is a handsomely photographed making of book by Rob Bredow, the SVP, executive creative director, and head of Industrial Light & Magic.

As a child, the production photographs of the AT-ATs from The Empire Strikes Back inspired Rob to become a filmmaker, and in meticulously documenting the progress of the production on Solo he hopes to do the same – to inspire the next generation of artists, engineers and storytellers.

The beautiful set photographs gives readers an intimate glimpse into the journey that Solo took from pre-production, production, and post-production, fully documenting how this film came to the big screen.

This book is a great companion for the equally fantastic Art Of Solo – A Star Wars Story, which focuses on the concept art behind the film ( and incidentally one of my fav art books of 2018 ).

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

5) The Idol – Sushio

Sushio is a Japanese animator/illustrator who started his career as an animator at studio Gainax for the TV animation series Neon Genesis Evangelion. After working on many renowned anime series and movies such as One Piece, he took on the character design work for the anime hit series Kill La Kill, catapulting his status in the animation world.

This book is his long-awaited first commercial collection that looks back over his career to date. It features notable works from Kill La Kill, Gurren Lagann, Momoiro Clover Z, along with a panel illustration of Anime Matsuri 2015, his work overseas for an annual anime convention held in Texas, and much more. This book also features Sushio’s illustrations of AKIRA: two original illustrations depicting the imaginary post-AKIRA world, which was officially approved by Katsuhiro Otomo himself, and two illustrations taken from the Tribute to Otomo art book.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

6) The Making Of Alien

The Making Of Alien is an in-depth and comprehensive book charting the complete story of how Alien was made, featuring new interviews with Ridley Scott and other production crew, and including many rarely-seen photos and illustrations from the Fox archives.

I already own several excellent books on the making of the Alien films, Alien The Archive and Aliens – The Set Photography just to name a few, but this huge hard cover volume explores plenty of material that I’m only seen for the first time, most notably the huge collection of “Ridleygrams”; detail storyboards draw by the director himself, as well as on set production photographs and a giant depository of concept art pieces by several artists like Eliot Scott, Chris Foss and Ron Cobb.

But the book isn’t simply your regular coffee-table book glossed over with just pictures and images. The small print text accompanying the visuals are cramped with detailed production stories and are more scholarly than just a casual read.

As a big fan of the franchise I’m absolutely delighted with this book, and I really look forward to the upcoming Making Of Aliens book, also by J.W. Rinzler.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

7) Children Of The Sea Background Art Book

Children Of The Sea ( Kaiju No Kodomo ) is a Japanese animated film directed by Watanabe Ayumu and produced by Studio 4°C, based on the highly acclaimed manga by Daisuke Igarashi. The art direction and background art is supervised by Kimura Shinji, who previously bought us the amazing background art in Tekkon Kinkreet and Steamboy.

Published in the same format at the fantastic Shiro ( White ) background art book for Tekkon Kinkreet, this hardcover volume is bursting at the seams with stunning background art painted by Kimura Shinji, with some 250 pages of art work.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

8) Hellboy – 25 Years Of Covers

I enjoy every page and panel of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy comics, but the art covers he has illustrated for the comic are something special; often drawn with just that extra, delicate detail. Over the years as the volumes of Hellboy and the shared universe BPRD grew it became harder and harder to keep track of all the covers that he has illustrated, and I started hoping for an art book that is dedicated to just the covers. Hellboy – 25 Years Of Covers is exactly that.

This hardcover volume features more than 150 full-page cover pieces from Mike Mignola, Richard Corben, Duncan Fegredo and more, all neatly collected for easy viewing and enjoyment.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon Japan | Buy From Amazon UK

9) Ikegami Ryoichi Art Works

An art book that is long overdue, Ikegami Ryoichi Art Works is a superb collection of illustrations from the famed manga artist of Crying Freeman, Sanctuary and Mai The Psychic Girl.

Running at a sumptuous 288 pages, the art book is split into 2 separate volumes, with one book dedicated to male characters, and the other female. While a good portion of both volumes feature illustrations from Crying Freeman, likely the artist’s most famous work; there’s still a good spread of content from Ikegami’s other mangas, and this is the biggest collection of his art work published yet.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

10) Akira Art Of Wall Art Book

This book arrived just in time to be included in this year’s list, and also made for a very splendid Christmas present.

Four sets of giant Akira murals ( see the pictures I took here, here and here ) used to decorate the construction walls of the Parco Shibuya shopping mall in Tokyo from the period of 2017-2019 are fully reproduced in this stunning boxset. The panoramic art work looks spectacular when fully extended, and would immediately class up any wall lucky enough to be adorned with it. I think this might very well be my favorite art book of the year, among all my favorites.

Read the full book review | Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon UK | Buy From Amazon Japan

Besides the 10 books that I’ve listed above, some other noteworthy mentions include Marvel Monograph: The Art Of Esad Ribic, Perfect Blue Storyboard Book ( New Edition ), The Art Of Kazuchika Kise and Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Mike Mignola Graphic Novel ( B&W edition ).

You can take a look at the full list of 2019’s art book reviews here, and I also recommend my favorite art books of 2018/2017/2016/2015/2014/2013/2012.

If you need help with ordering on Amazon Japan, the FAQs below will guide you through, step by step.

One small request – Due to the falling readership of my blog, I’ve been finding it harder and harder to purchase more books for review. I kindly ask that you use any of the Amazon purchase links in this post or anywhere on my blog to buy books; it won’t cost you anything, but the affiliate fee I earn as a result will allow me to continue reviewing more books. Thank you !

And lastly, I’ll love you hear about your favorite art books this year too, if you have any to share. Happy New Year !

The post My Favorite Art Books of 2019 appeared first on Halcyon Realms - Art Book Reviews - Anime, Manga, Film, Photography.

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Related Posts:

My Favorite Art Books of 2018

My Favorite Art Books of 2015

My Favorite Art Books of 2017

My Favorite Art Books of 2016

My Favorite Art Books of 2014

By: yonghow

[darkpetal16]

Apologies if these are out of order! For the Anon with 5+ questions about Bleach!Lilly. 

Anon your excitement really put a smile on my face and some of your ideas were pretty funny so I wanted to share. 

To show my gratitude for your excitement, here’s some pieces of the Bleach story I am still working on: 

Lilly’s zanpakuto: 

I placed the sword in the white sand and took a seat in front of it. It was a black blade--it had darkened to this morbid color the moment I touched it--and it gleamed with an almost malicious aura.

This almost made me want to pout because I liked to think of myself as someone who was not morbid or malicious. Most of the lives I lived I was a relatively good guy! 

Run the genocide route just a few times and you’re marked for life, I thought ruefully, shaking my head.

What else was there to do when cursed with immortality, though? It was bound to happen, I wasn’t that self-disciplined. I thought, perhaps, if I played the role of the villain that maybe my punishment--my karma--would be permanent death.

Nope.

The sinister looking sword remained stock still--not like I expected it to move, really--while I continued to give it a stink eye for its appearance.

I better not have an evil spirit inside, I thought. I’m a happy, bubbly, hero! Not a damn villain.

Only one way to find out, though.

I reached forward with my spiritual energy and forced my consciousness inside the spiritual energy that resided inside the sword.

<cut out> 

“This is a really morbid mindscape,” I observed with narrowed eyes, walking through the black gunk. “Ugh… don’t give me villainous powers, please.”

Then red eyes gleamed beneath the sea of black, and a wicked smile stretched underneath it.

“Damn it,” I cursed, now realizing I did indeed have the evil sword.

<LOT of cut out> 

Lilly requesting new minions. 

“You’ll be happy to know I’ve picked out a new lieutenant,” I chirped, folding my hands together behind me. 

Genryūsai looked up from his caligraphy, dark eyes assessing me. “It’s good to know a hundred years of nagging pays off.”

“I told you I was waiting,” I dismissively returned, taking a seat across from his floor table. “He won’t be with me for very long, though.”

“Hm?” Genryūsai’s attention returned to whatever he was writing. As always, my oldest student was pristine and meticulous in everything he did. His back was kept perfectly straight, and his captain sleeves were tied up to prevent them from dipping into the traditional ink slabs on his desk. He only ever sat on seat cushions—he hated chairs with backs, as he believed they were handicaps for those who couldn’t maintain a proper posture. 

I pouted at this blatant show of disinterest. I knew I still had his attention—he’s been hounding on me to get more people in my squad for over a century since the last of my members switched to different divisions.

Not everyone had the stomach to work with me, apparently. Although Mayuri only left because he wanted to focus more on research, and not at all because I bothered him.

What a fun fella..

Genryūsai knew me better than most, though, and he knew the best way to get under my skin was to not give me the attention and reactions I so craved.

Cheeky trolling bastard.

I was so proud of him.

Some kind of showing of interest would be nice, I thought, reluctantly handing Genryūsai the file of my future lieutenant, and squad members.

Genryūsai silently accepted the folder, setting it in his lap as he opened it and began to peruse through my choices. 

I finally got my anticlimactic reaction when he quirked an eyebrow at my choice of lieutenant. “Sōsuke Aizen? He graduates next month, but his grades aren’t particularly impressive.”

“I want him as my lieutenant,” I stubborn said. “He’s going to become the fifth division captain.”

“You’re third division,” Genryūsai idly pointed out. “You have no say over who rules over fifth division.”

“Shinji has been keeping an eye on Sōsuke for a while,” I said. “Shinji will try to take Sōsuke soon enough.”

Although Shinji’s watching Sōsuke because his instincts are tellin’ him that Sōsuke’s ba-a-ad news. He’s not wrong, but I’d be damned if I let this chance pass up.

Sōsuke Aizen was inevitably going to become a captain. Shinji’s division was the most likely one out of the bunch, since Shinji wants to keep an eye on Sōsuke and by consequences, he’ll get caught by Sōsuke’s trap. 

Which sounded like a hell of a lot of fun. 

For over a thousand years I was waiting for Sōsuke to hurry up and appear!

He tricks and outplays everyone, catching everyone by surprise.

For an old troll like myself I live for shocking people, and getting shocked. Sadly, very few have been able to get the drop on me since coming to Soul Society, though.

With Sōsuke as my lieutenant, though, I had a good chance of falling for one of his traps!

Super~!

“Not very nice of you to swoop in, then,” Genryūsai mused. “Certainly unorthodox to choose a lieutenant as a student instead of someone with proper experience.”

“I’m unorthodox.”

“Very true,” he agreed. “And these members of your squad… Gin Ichimaru, Kaname Tōsen, and Sajin Komamura. Komamura? Ah, are you taking him under your wing, then?”

Sajin Komamura was our resident werewolf. Genryūsai took a special interest in him when the two first met, and offered to sponsor him into the academy. Sajin, humbled and grateful for the opportunity, accepted it.

Unfortunately, the poor baby felt so horribly self conscious about his wolf-like appearance. He refused to go anywhere in public without wearing gloves, a helmet, and every inch of his fur covered. 

Which was such a shame! He was our resident furry, after all, and with all that fur he easily ranked top three as Best Cuddler, and top five for Best Boi. 

Poor pupp—er—poor fella.

Gin and Kaname were obvious choices. Sōsuke was already working hard at trying to recruit Kaname to his side, undoubtedly, and Gin wanted to stay close to Sōsuke to extract his Ultimate Revenge on Sōsuke for attacking his waifu, Rangiku.

Who unfortunately wasn’t graduating, yet, but I already put her in the file as wanting her the moment she did graduate.

Genryūsai hummed and tapped his fingers, needlessly drawing out verbalizing his decision to try and needle me. 

To combat this obvious attempt to annoy me, I started to whistle. 

Off-key.

“Fine,” Genryūsai immediately cut in. He knew if the whistling didn’t work I’d start belting out renditions of I Like Big Butts.

Quick as can be, he stamped his approval and I took my leave after blowing him a kiss.

<Cut out> 

Lilly monologuing and reflecting before meeting her minions. 

The barracks for the fifth division was one of the prettiest, and most feminine.

This was because I literally made it with my own two hands and decided to practice my woodworking skills.

Hey, I had thousands of years to kill before the story finally rolled around. Picking up odd hobies were a necesssity to keep myself from starting wars out of sheer fucking boredom.

Unsurprisingly after a while I used my skills on my division barracks. 

Every single post and wooden wall had some kind of woodworking design hammered into it. Most of it was flowers, or feminine-esque designs because it was so not want Genryūsai would want one of his bad ass military divisions to look like.

To this day, over a thousand years since I made the change, Genryūsai would still wrinkle his brow as he glared at the flowers every time he had to visit the barracks.

He even had the audacity to swap out all my pretty artwork for standard, uncultured, plain ol’ wood when I went out on a mission.

In retaliation, I gave the first division a fabulous hot-pink make over.

What followed next over the next century could only be described as an incredibly petty war between student and teacher.

It was hard to claim that I won just because I got my flowery barracks because my cunning student got me to promise not to decorate the other barracks without their captain’s permission.

So many wasted opportunities to make people misery went out the window because of that.

But I got my pretty barracks.

And inside my pretty barracks I eagerly awaited my new minions. 

The barracks had a main greeting room where meetings were intended to be held. It was a decently sized room fashioned like a traditional japanese main room. The floorings were made up of tatami mats, the doors were shoji (room dividers). On its walls hung artwork I had collected over my many, many years in the Soul Society. Some painted by myself, others by friends. A few were prizes I had stolen off the corpses of our enemies, and a couple were actually bought legally. All of them centered around tranquil environments—snowy mountains with a red sunset behind them, a stormy ocean, a field of flowers, and so forth. 

At the center of the room was a long rowan wood table—all the wood in the barracks were cut and carved from rowan trees—and some soft seat cushions. One seat cushion was placed on one side, and there were four opposite of it.

I prepared some ikebana, and a lovely tea party to greet my new squad members. The red tea was kindly provided by Unohana when she went out to forage for medicinal herbs, and I baked a rich chocolate pound cake, alongside orange scones, and lavender cookies. 

As I took my seat at one side of the table, I hummed a merry little song to myself. 

Soon, they would arrive.

While waiting for them to arrive I did another check over of myself. My captain’s jacket was kept neat—Genryūsai would throw such a temper tantrum (and not the funny kind) if it was anything less. I kept the sleeves cut off for better maneuverability, though. My pink hair was long, shiny, and well-groomed.

Not a speck of dirty was to be found on me, nor anything to give me a less than completely awesome first impression. Even my Evil™ sword looked spick and span in its black tabard. 

Although it still gave off a rather malicious aura if someone looked at it long enough. Even though I tied a cute little pink ribbon around it and everything! 

Stupid Evil™ sword.

Ah.

I felt their presence the moment they entered the barracks. One of them, likely Sajin, felt distinctly unsettled and nervous. 

It didn’t come as any bit of surprise that Sōsuke took the lead in entering first, uttering a polite, “Excuse me.”

The shogi doors slid open and I finally got my first good look at the future captains. 

Sōsuke Aizen, currently only in his fifties had the appearance of a young man in his early twenties. His scholarly chestnut brown hair was carefully styled to give the impression of soft and innocent. He had a pair of thick black rimmed glasses that helped convey the same tone. Even his expression went on to underline this!

What a smoother fucker. Honestly impressed. If I didn’t know better, I would have immediately categorized him in the moe-bishie section.

This only heightened my excitement at being tricked by him later on. What surprise would he have in store with my addition to the story? The fact that I couldn’t accurately predict what would come with his interference put a big smile in my heart.

It was that same feeling you get when you watch a fantastic movie and it reveals a plot twist you never expected, but made it all the better.

Next to Sōsuke came Gin, who was actively working on coming across as a little creepy and malicious. Or maybe not actively. Maybe he hated being next to Sōsuke so much a little bloodlust leaked out. 

Gin had a strained—and very clearly fake—smile on his face. 

Made me want to pinch his cheeks and stretch out his smile until it didn’t look so painful to look at.

Standing a bit further away from Gin and Sōsuke were Kaname and Sajin. Kaname instantly struck me as absurdly focused. He had an aura of: Don’t approach me, bitch. He definitely didn’t become a shinigami for the fun of it. 

He was either going to hate me more than he has ever hated anyone in his life, or he was going to adapt to my insanity and relax. Dare I say it, he might even have fun if he did so.

Standing the furthest away was our fwuffy boy, Sajin. He was the tallest of the bunch, and bulkiest. Every inch of his appearance was covered in either cloth or armor, and he reflexively kept a glove hand on the hilt of his sword. His appearance and stature might have been intimidating to some, but his spiritual energy was twitching in a clearly nervous fashion. 

I put a big grin on my face. “Welcome home, minions!”

<Cut out>

Lilly training her new minions. 

“Come on now, minions! Surely you guys can kill hollows faster than that,” I encouraged, sitting in the air as I watched the four of them struggle against a few dozen hollows. 

To be fair, this was before any of them had reached bankai, and none of them had worked together before. 

Which was why I (secretly) snuck them into Hueco Mundo for some good ol’ fashion hollow purging. 

Not a lot of people knew I could open portals between the three (four if we count Riddlefucker’s palace) worlds. Genryūsai would prefer if I kept that information on the need-to-know basis. He would rather the research team found their own way into Los Noches without having to rely on me.

Apparently he said I was too fickle. 

Me!

What a silly student I had.

Still, I tried not to get on his bad side too often, so I respected his request for the most part. Hence why I had to sneak these fellas here and lie to them about it being a random spot I found in the Soul Society. 

Although I don’t think Sōsuke believed my lie, he didn’t question it (yet). 

And now they were fighting off hordes of hollows with the teamwork of bickering teenagers. More than once they nearly bumped into one another, or another was accidentally caught in the crossfire. None of them were hot headed, so it didn’t lead to some hilarious shouting matches, but damn were they petty. Especially Sōsuke and Gin. 

Poor fluffy boy accidentally used a hado on Sōsuke, and Sōsuke “accidentally” returned the favor.

I wish I had brought popcorn, I thought, watching Kaname accidentally(?) kick Gin and use him as a launching pad.

Oof.

Sajin, poor baby, coincidently leapt up as Kaname was leaping up and collided into him. Since Sajin used a lot more force in his life off, Kaname was sent flying into Sōsuke who then collided hard enough in the ground to leave a crater.

And—yep, that’s definitely a glare Sōsuke tossed the apologetic werewolf.

“I know I said that we’d only be here until it was time for dinner,” I casually put in, “but change of plans. We’re camping out here until ya’ll can fight for at least a five hours without killing each other.”

A moment of stunned disbelief flickered over their faces as they all turned to look at me. There was even a touch of resentment in Sōsuke’s eyes that made me want to cackle.

I folded my legs together and blew them a cheeky kiss. “Have fun, minions.”

<OH SO MUCH Cut out>

Lilly meeting Orihime as a child.

“You see, Hime-chan, I have a ship,” I said. 

“A ship?” the small girl repeatedly cutely, big eyes looking up at me in wonderment. 

“Yes, dear. A ship I intend to make sure sets sail. And you, my dear, are on board this ship,” I went on. “Do you understand?”

“I’m going to help you sail a ship?” the child tried to guess.

“Yes,” I told her with a smile. “Yes, you are.”

<Cut out> 

Lilly advising how misbehaving captains should be punished.

“You know if you really wanted to punish these two boys you could just make them strip, and do a dance on a pole for their fans to see,” I wisely pointed out.

“Sensei,” he sighed. “No.”

[tobaricity]

I'm super late to make this post but since I've known for a while and am here, i feel obligated to say that yes, I'm aware satoshi won the alola league and I'm super proud of him

Aside from a few idiots (people upset that satoshi won this league and not an earlier league where he was "better" like sinnoh or kalos) it seems people have been largely supportive and i loved seeing all the cute art that came with the news. I can understand wishing it didn't take this long but most the people mad about it just hate the sm series as a whole

I had a whole post typed up just in case satoshi did lose but it seems like i won't have to post it. I will paraphrase it though

I never understood people who get mad at satoshi for losing leagues because to me, it always seemed super obvious that from like, sinnoh onward, maybe hoenn, he was always capable of winning one, and the only thing holding him back was the writers just simply not wanting him to win. Like i can see why satoshi would lose the kanto-hoenn leagues, you could say he was still honing his skills as a trainer and had things he needed to work on. But after hoenn it felt less like his own shortcomings were holding him back and more like "there just happened to be someone a little better." Which i guess you could argue that his "shortcoming" was not quite being in peak form yet, and yes in any sport the reality is that sometimes there will just be people better than you no matter how hard you train, but it was so obvious that these people were thrown in just to keep satoshi from advancing. Like these people would always conveniently be absent throughout the show before finally showing up just in time for the league (though in the case of alan he was around longer but he only decided to join the league at the last minute lol). How does that not click in people's head. How do you not see such an obvious interference and just go "oh well ash is just a bad trainer lol." Like hello????

The most egregious example is arguably tobias lol they straight up had to give him legendaries because they couldn't justify satoshi losing to him after defeating shinji otherwise

It doesn't particularly upset me too much because i move on easy but it definitely is dumb and I'm glad sm didn't seem to take that route. As far as a know alola didn't have any "mystery competitors" or randos who show up just in time for the leaague, everyone who participated is someone who's been set up long before the league started

So yeah, congrats to alola champion satoshi! It was a long-awaited and well deserved win

[supergenial]

[translation+lyrics] Artificial Rose by Roselina

Well I’ve procrastinated this one long enough. Pretty cool 2019 album with some gothic and yuri vibes, unfortunately the composer seems to have done nothing new ever since, and I have kept my eye on them all along. Hopefully they’ll come back some day because this album is really great, pretty telling that I still keep it in mind over a year later. Lyrics down below and see you all next time.

--------------------------------------------

Composer for the entire album: Mame

Vocals for the entire album:  三七

花占い 

(hana uranai, Flower Divination)

owaranai hanabira kazoete fuseta matsuge furuete mo yawarakai koyubi wo karamete hiraite yuku shoujo no mama futari no kami wo kasaneau kaori made wa ubaenai ima wo akai kuchibiru wa kegarenai iro

counting up the endless petals I close my eyes as they flutter around me with her soft little finger wrapped around mine the girl is opening up to me both shrouded in each other's hair even your aroma takes me away but even now your red lips remain untarnished

ai ni aite ai motome yureru dake no nonohana hitohira yurusarete hoo no netsu ni tokaseba saite saite kizutsuite mo yureru kaze wa yamanai yukusaki ni wa hana mo nai

tired of love yet wishing for love we are but fluttering flowers so allow this petal to melt in your cheek bloom, bloom even if it hurts don't let this wind stop where we're headed there won't be flowers

kakushi kirenai nureta manasashi wa kogetsuku kizuato nokoshite hikari wo tozasu no

I can't hide this tearful stare only my wounds can shy away from the light

ai ni aite ai motome yureru dake no nonohana hitohira yurusarete hoo no netsu ni tokereba saite saite tsume wo tateta senaka uso wa shitteru koko ni wa mou hana wa nai

tired of love yet wishing for love we are but fluttering flowers so allow this petal to melt in your cheek bloom, bloom even if it hurts don't let this wind stop where we're headed there won't be flowers

黒い花嫁

(kuroi hanayome, The Black Bride)

yurusarenu omoi kokoro no oku ni sasaru todokanai kimochi owari no ne ga kikoeru

these unforgiveable feelings pierce my heart these unfulfilled feelings play along to this tune of demise

「nee, doushite ano hito?」 wakari kitta kotae wa yukusaki wo nakushi yugande kieru

"why, why that person?" but the answer is obvious I've lost my way, but all doubts are gone

itsumo yumemiteita doko ni demo aru mirai wo wazuka na hikari wa toke koboreochi nagareru

I always saw it in my dreams, a future full of possibilities but that dim light has dissipated, it's entirely ran off

shiawase no hibi ga watashi wo kuro ni someteyuku tsumetakute kienai namida nagashite aishiteru hito wa watashi dake dato tsugeta no ni itsuwari dato shirazu watashi wa hohoemu

I've stained in black my days of happiness This cold won't fade away, these tears continue to roll My loved one told me they only loved me not knowing it was a lie, I smiled

kitsukanu furi wo shite kakushita uso de katamerareta kokoro no kizu wo nikushimi de nuiawase kibou de tsutsumi konde mo mou moto ni wa modosenai

I hid the fact I noticed but the lies only worsened the wounds in my heart This hatred was sewn together with my hope and so it can never go back to how it was

itsuka yumemiteita kono te ni aru zetsubou wo anata to tomo ni wakachiaeru ano sekai wo

I dream some day the despair in these hands can also be shared with you so you'll know this world

shiawase no kane ga watashi wo kuro ni someteyuku kanashikute hakanai hana wo chirashite aishiteru hito wa anata dake dato tsugeta no ni itsuwari dato shirazu anata wa hohoemu

I've stained black the bell of happiness It's so sad how fleeting a rose's petals are My loved one told me they only loved me not knowing it was a lie, I smiled

「aa, kono mama nanimo shirazu ni ochiteyuketara ii no ni... zutto ugokanai anata wo mite watashi wa shizuka ni warau」

"ah, how I wish I could remain blissfully ignorant... instead I just look at you, and laugh"

Bloody Justice

shiroi sora kara maiorita hikari matou tenshi wa akai tsurugi wo furikazashi inochi wo karitsutsukeru shikabane no yama no ue shoujo ga niramu saki ni janen to chi de nureta seigi no hikari

descending from the white skies the radiant angel wields its red sword continues to hunt lives the girl stands atop a mountain of corpses glares as the light of justice has been tainted in blood and wickedness

heiwa motome inoru hitobito 「hane aru mono ni wa chi no batsu wo」 naze sadame ni hito wa aragau kodoku kegare ukeirete

the people pray for peace 「the winged ones will judge by blood」 yet people fight against their fate as she is tainted in solitude

aa sono tsuyoki chikara wa dare no tame no mono nano? sora ni motome eta shinjitsu wa kokuu no naka wo samayoi ai ga kieta sekai ni kobore ochita namida wo kazoe onore no hirikisa wo shiru

ah, for whom is such an immense power wielded? the truth sought after by the heavens is an empty sky she sheds another tear for this world deprived of love knowing true powerlessness

kiyoki chikara wa hikari de kibou wo yadosu hana to naru hitotsu no seigi wo shinji tachi agaru

this pure power, this light will turn to a flower that wields hope believe in one true justice and stand up to fight

jouka wo motome inoru tenshi 「hane naki mono ni wa sabaki wo」 itsushika daichi wa mude michiru yowaki kokoro ukeirete

the angel that wishes for a cleanse 「I will judge all the unwinged ones」 someday it will deprive this land of it all even if it's discouraged

aa sono akai namida wa dare no tame ni nagareru? yami ni motome eta kotae wa tozasareta kokoro no naka ai ga kieta sekai de sagashi tsutsuketa ikiru chikara saigo no kagayaki wo tomosu

ah, for whom do those red tears flow? for those who've been deemed dark, letting her heart close up In this world deprived of love I'll keep searching for the will to live Until the last light fades

kiyoki negai wa omoi wa inochi wo yadosu hana to naru hitotsu no seigi wo shinji tachi agare

this pure wish to turn into a flower that bears life believe in a single justice and stand up to fight

Artificial Rose

kono garasu no ori no naka ni toraware mamorareta ikiru hana mada kienai yume no naka de anata ga yoko de sasayaku

Inside this glass prison lies trapped a flower that it guards like it's within an unfaded dream the one where you whispered laying next to me

「ai wo shiranai hana wa, nan wo motomete saku no?」 katachi nai kotae wo sagashi tsutsukeru

"a flower that knows no love, why would it ever want to bloom?" I'll keep searching for that answer

hitotsu no omoi ga egaita keshiki wa masshiro na kuuhaku dake no sekai de kagami ni utsuru hitori sumi de naku watashi wo yasashiku ukeireta anata ni deaete shiawase wo mitsuke tsunoru omoi wa kotoba ni natte kodoku no iro ga kieru sono toki made zutto ai wo kanaderu yo

a single feeling colors this scene a world only covered in white reflected on the corner of a mirror I'm crying because I received your kindness I finally saw happiness upon meeting you these raging feelings turned to words and so until this single color fades away I'll keep in tune with this love

ah, itsuwari no bara wa akaku karezu ni ah, yurusareru no naraba 「douka soba ni ite」 to...

ah, this artificial rose with it's unwilting red ah, if you'll forgive me then "please, be by my side"...

ai wo motometa bara wa inochi no nagasa wo shiru hosoku natta anata no yubi ni kasanete futatsu no omoi ga tsumuida sekai wa shizuka ni owari no toki wo mukaete futari ga utsuru garasu koshi no tooi hibi wa akaneiro ni somaru

a rose that does wish for love knows how limited life is as I caress your fingers our thoughts weave into our own world and we silently await our departure we both look back on those distant days which were so vividly red

anata ni deaete shiawase datta to namida koraete hohoemu futari inochi no oto ga kieru sono toki made zutto ai wo kanaderu yo

meeting you filled me with bliss so we'll both restrain our tears and smile until the tune of life stops beating I'll keep in tune with this love

Lilac

awai hikari no naka yubi no saki de fureta kokoro wa shiroku fukaku yasashisa motometa

within the faint light our fingertips touched our hearts reaching for that pure, deep kindness

kaze ni yureru hana wa tada nani wo iwazu ni naiteta konai asu no saki wo mitsume

the flowers waving in the wind cry without any words being said as they stare at the tomorrow that won't arrive

towa ni tsutsukanai sadame ah, owaranai yume wo mite

a fate that can't continue forever yet a dream that won't end

omoi negau yo soba ni iru kara warau kimi to no shiawase wo se ni futari kawashita tooi yakusoku

these thoughts and prayers are always by my side your laughter will always be with me and so will that promise we exchanged

「itsumademo zutto」

"always, forever"

moshimo tsumi ga kiete subete yarinaoshi ni natte mo ima no kimi to mata aeru kana

if my sin ever fades, I'd like to redo it all over again if only I could meet the current you

hanarete yuku hikari kieru te tsukamenai mama kimi to ita kioku wa mou suna no you ni kuzurete

the light draws away I can't grasp your fading hand my memories with you crumble like sand

dakedo nakanai yo soba ni iru kara kieru kimi to omoide wo se ni futari kawashita saigo no kotoba

but let's not cry because they're still by my side my memories with the you that has faded those last words we exchanged

「itsumademo zutto」

"always, forever"

You can buy the album digitally over at their booth!

(also lmao, I was going to post a translation for this instead, but right as I was about to queue it I checked the comments on that video and saw someone else had already done it! I scrambled this one up real quick to keep my self imposed deadlines. Good to see other people are finally doing what I shouldn’t be doing!)

[keniji88]

Fate/ Extra: Last Encore

Fate/ Extra: Last Encore is the latest addition in the Fate franchise with 128 masters fighting in a virtual reality. The first episode opened with Nero getting whopped by Saver — redolent of the Nen manifestation of Netero — and Nero’s ex-master in a bloodied end. The ephemeral yet memorable suspense was both bold and surprising, a promise for the rewarding answers should the audiences stay. Taking place in a virtual reality, with real consequences on reality — similar to SAO —  the story revolves around Hakuno Kishinami and Nero. Betrayed by his friend, Hakuno found himself unwittingly summoning Nero and unwillingly enmeshed in the battle royale for the Holy Grail.

The art style is an acquired taste, much like Marmite, you either hate it or …  your passion for it is stronger than the nausea you’re experiencing from trying to follow the story. FLE is dispensed with the clean cut style and the same 3D rendering that the last few Fate installments have adopted. The post-retro Sailor Moon style makes a return with highly contrasting colours and flattened shadows. The scenes are reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino with a page taken out of Drifters’ artbook. It’s ostensibly Puella Magi Madoka Magica sans mahou shojo.

Audiences’ responses to the series began with singing its praises, only to be assulted by a mercurial swing of hate the following week. Some fans voiced their displeasure with FLE’s apparent disregard of Nero’s tyrannical past and their unabashed emphasis on his hedonistic pursuit of extravaganza. Others loath the art style. I, for one, am wondering how did they get away with copying Officer Jenny!? The officers working for Mayor Shinji (what??) were blatantly Officer Jenny from Pokemon, if not some of her long lost cousins!

While the story looks like it’s written out of telegrams, requiring audiences’ own wit and imagination to piece the untelevised bits together, the main salvation so far lies in the number of servants and subsequently, their Noble Phantasm: the exact reason for fans to stay watching. By ep3, 5 servants have been shown, and Nero and Hakuno have barely just started. The screen time for each of them is fleetingly short and with the suspicious plethora of characters awaiting at other levels, this is beginning to feel like a palimpsest of Fate/ Grand Order. Starring Sakura Tange from Cardcaptor Sakura as Nero and the more-than-occasional ‘umu’.