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doubleddenden · 4 months

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Back on my bullshit. I'm trying to analyze a direction the ZA starters could go. Just a bunch of rambling

If we bring up the Legends Arceus comparison with Hisui and Sinnoh, there's actually 2 different themes here

Sinnoh's was a form of myths or legends- Torterra was something akin to one of the many world turtle myths, Infernape references Sun Wukong from Journey to the West (Blaziken and Emboar also are references to the story), and Empoleon is both the world known emperor Napoleon BUT also has Poseidon's trident on its head.

Sounds complicated- which is ironic considering how the complicated method of getting Hisui starters actually yields much simpler origins.

In short, Hisuian starter variants are basically unified by Japanese themes of warriors and such. Samurott is a rogue samurai and possibly a reference to the famed demonic Muramasa swords. Decidueye is a reference to wandering ronins and archers with a healthy mix of martial arts and some swords, and Typhlosion is possibly a reference to yokai, monks/priests that were said to banish demons, and "Infernal Parade"- it's signature move- is based on the Night Parade of 100 Demons. Putting it simply, they're all very Japan inspired, some say that they even reference different eras of Japan in order of oldest to newest by generation.

So all of that is to say that we have 2 themes for the same region, with Hisui leaning more towards unifying completely unrelated starters to the same land while Sinnoh diversifies starters from the same land to have different origins.

So, that aside- let's look at Kalos.

Kalos is france, but the starters themselves aren't really French so much as they represent RPG classes. In fact, that's probably the simplest way to describe this set- Chesnaught is a knight or paladin, Delphox is a witch or mage, and Greninja is a rogue or ninja.

So, how do we go about looking at ZA starters? Well, as of early June 2024, we don't really know what we have yet, let alone if we're going to get another Arceus treatment of unifying various region starters to a new place. There's a lot that could actually change, in fact, such as convergent starters, non traditional starters or starter, etc. But if we assume we'll get 3 starters again like usual, we can kind of work with it.

Kalos Starters are actually weaker to their Alolan counterparts- not only are the Alolan starters performer themed (archer, wrestling heel, singer), they actually have types STRONG or RESISTANT against their predecessor of the same type. Ghost isn't affected by fighting, and the Decidueye line also has flying types in prior forms that are strong against Chesnaught's entire line. Incineroar and Primarina are much simpler, with dark being resistant to and stronger to psychic type and fairy being strong to Dark.

So perhaps if we look at the above, maybe we can complete this sandwich of type effectiveness by making the ZA starters weaker to the normal Kalos Starters somehow.

For Chesnaught, a Grass/Fighting type, we have options of rock, steel, ice, dark, and normal types as potential secondary types. If we assume normal starters, that's a bunch of starter type combos we haven't seen yet. I personally might throw my hat at the Steel type, since grass/steel has only been done by the Ferrothorn line and Kartana.

For Delphox, we have Fire/Psychic. Psychic is effective to fighting and poison- not a lot, but enough to work with. We only have Salandit and Salazzle if we consider fire/poison, but as always we live in fear of the fire/fighting type.

Finally, Greninja is Water/Dark. Dark is effective to Psychic and Ghost- we have not had either of these types for water type starters. Ghost is currently a game freak favorite with both Hisuian Typhlosion and Skeledirge being Fire/Ghost back to back, and Decidueye is a Grass/Ghost, so they could always finish the triangle with a Water/Ghost type.

However, we should also take into account type synergy between the three. Kalos Starters actually have double resistances or strengths against each other, with Grass/Fighting both being good against Water/Dark, Water/Dark to Fire/Psychic, and Fire/Psychic to Grass/Fighting. The Hisuian starters mimic this, with Typhlosion instead just not being affected by Decidueye's fighting type.

Let's assume that they could try that again- we're not really left with too many options to make that work exactly like Kalos. If we assume they use new starter type combos not seen before like with the og kalos starters, we could see something like Water/Psychic, Fire/Poison, and Grass/Steel- but there's a problem with Synergy no matter what between the grass and water end. If we adjust to Water/Psychic, Fire/Fighting, and Grass/Steel, we kind of have some leeway if we approach it from the same angle of Hisui of resisting rather than being effective- however, we're cursed with a Fire fighter. It's about the same if we account for something like Grass/Normal, Fire/Fighting, and Water/Ghost.

For now, let's assume Grass/Steel, Fire/Fighting, and Water/Psychic. It's not ideal, bit it does give us more leeway if we try to make those into variants of past Pokemon.

The popular theory of Serperior, Cinderace, and Empoleon can work with this- Serperior objectively being a better typing than Unovan and could work with something akin to a rapier tail. Cinderace being fire/fighting works because that's basically what most thought it was going to be already. Empoleon could work as that if we apply the logic of Psychic=Smart or Strategic, which both Napoleons could potentially be based on, as emperors, would fit stereotypically.

I'd they're looking to "shock" us by not going with the obvious, they could potentially go for Totodile, Turtwig, and Litten, or Chikorita, Chimchar, and Inteleon, or really any number of combos. We're simply talking about type combos in this post.

So on that note, let's explore another option with CONVERGENT starters. We don't really have a set pattern yet, so while I think it's more likely we'd get regional variants, convergent species are still on the table since we now have them outside of Gen 1 Pokemon like Dugtrio and Tentacool with the teacups from Gen 8. Much like how Hisui brought us our first starters with regional variants, it's possible that they could continue this trend of new surprises in this format.

So if we look at the above theories of crafting these to be weaker than the Kalos starters, we could try going outside the norm here. While we could get something as simple as a fire type bulbasaur, water charmander, and Grass squirtle, we could have fun by using the types we listed as weaker to craft non standard starter type Pokemon.

A Psychic/Ghost type and Fighting/Poison could be easily crafted as weaker to Greninja and Delphox's secondary types, but to maintain synergy might be hard despite all the types Chesnaught's fighting type covers. A Dark/Steel type could work in giving it quad weakness to fighting while maintaining a type weakness to Fighting/Poison and an advantage to Psychic/Ghost.

So Psychic Ghost, Fighting Poison, and Dark Steel- what could we craft from that? That's the question of the hour if we're trying to turn old starters to convergents of these types. Convergents are a bit more loose and lax, merely only requiring a resemblance to the original while claiming to be a different species (ignore Sinistcha and Poltchageist the "not" regional teapot Pokemon claiming to not be regional variants despite basically being regional variants).

That's where I tap out. You can try to assign a starter to the type, but to really match the spirit of Convergents like Wugtrio and Toedscruel, you want to make it a different species, and for the most part the starters don't really have that going for them unless you really stretch a design. You could maybe make Litten a dog, Chikorita a slug (a call back to beta designs), possibly Sobble into a stick bug, I guess.

I'm not really sure what I want. The only thing that matters to me is design, I don't care just how much research goes into every aspect of a design, if it's bad design then that's it- look no further than the Galar starters. I think we can probably rule out the Kanto, Hoenn, Kalos, and Paldean starters due to the megas or just already having relevance to Gen 6 + how recent Paldea is. That leaves a possibility of 15 starters/5 gens to pick apart from. I only bring this up because GF is bent on surprises, so they might not go with what we deem "obvious." Hell they could give us Mega kalos starters and call it a day.

If there's a wrench to be tossed anywhere, I could possibly say Totodile and Feraligatr could be chosen as the water or water adjacent starter due to the heavy French influences in Louisiana, aka a place very well known for gators and bayous.

But anyway, I totally forgot themes- I think they'll probably do like Hisui and just make them French as hell as a unifying trait, but if nothing else we could use more RPG classes such as a Monk, Berserker, Fighter, etc.

That's it for me

#pokemon #pokemon legends za #legends za #dd's theory corner

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aspiring-holistic-otaku · 8 months

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Season 3 Ramble#1 - New Year New Worlds ver.2

This is another one of those episodes where I almost feel like I’m betraying the name and purpose of the podcast, as this month I won’t actually be talking about manga or even anime for that matter.

The first time I did this whole New Year New Worlds thing was in Season 2 Ramble 1, where I focused on isekai manga and manhwa since I’d never really given the genre a chance before then. This month, again, I wanted to try something completely new to me and so I focused on Visual & Light novels.

Now my regular ramble format is to talk about top new reads on a particular topic/theme for that month, then give top reads I had on the same topic/theme before then. Seeing as this is an entirely new media format for me, there’s no way that format would work. So how this episode is gonna go is I’m gonna do a very quick once over of my top 3 isekai from last time, then get into this month’s media starting with Light Novels, then wrap up with Visual novels.

Lastly, before we get into it, I thought it would be useful to actually define these media formats, so everyone listening would be on the same page, veterans and newbies alike.

So…

According to wikipedia, Light novels are a type of popular literature novel, native to Japan, usually classified as young adult fiction targeting teens to twenties… In other words they’re books. Taking wiki at their word, light novels, or LNs as I’ll probably refer to them from now on, tend towards the YA novel variety you’d find in the west. The biggest difference being that they’re usually a bit shorter with an average length of less than 300 pages, but a crazy dense publishing schedule of 3 - 9 months between installments… crazy…

And visual novels, according to masterclass dot com, are text-based adventure games that combine interactive fiction and traditional anime or manga art styles, to give the gamer the experience of reading a novel in a visual format. The site goes on to describe different types and targets, along with 5 key characteristics of which I thought the first was really key and worth mentioning. Namely, Advancement; In visual novels, or VNs as I'll probably call them going forward, players do not guide a character the way they would in a traditional video game. Instead, they advance the story by clicking in targeted regions to refresh the text. Sounds kinda lame but trust when I say it’s the opposite. At least as far as my experience so far leads me to believe.

Getting right into it

A quick recap of my top 3 from Season 2 Ramble 1

#3) Loner life in another world - The ultra quick summary is in the name, as a lot of isekai tend to do for some reason… anyways, a loner gets transported to another world. Really it’s him and his classmates but he prefers to move alone. I thought it was pretty fun as far as isekai goes, mostly because it’s very lighthearted, doesn’t take itself too seriously and for the most part, at least from what i’ve read so far, it really felt like kids being kids. Which I really appreciated cause isekai always seem to go off the deep end.

#2) Murim Login - Again the ultra quick summary is that in this world, there’s the typical dungeon crawler aspect where special humans called hunters, protect the rest of humanity by going into special gates and closing them by defeating the boss monster inside. The MC is a low rank hunter that one day finds a VR game in the trash that actually sends him to another world. That’s the very basic premise but if i’m being real, the reason I dug it was because of it's heavy ancient chinese martial arts type vibe. The story has been enjoyable as well, split into two with his life in the real world and the one in the game, the one in the game so far being far more interesting… go figure.. but yh… I definitely have a martial arts bias so slight grain of salt there ig..

#1) Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint - This was my fav read that month and honestly I see it being my fav isekai for a long time. The story here is that the MC is a big fan of Light novels and happens to be the only person in the world to have completed one called Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse. Lo and behold the events of the story start to unfold in real life. Now I know that screams boring story overpowered MC red flags, as he clearly has a certain edge over literally the entire human population,, but TRUST. TRUST! it’s all handled really really well.

If i’m being honest, the really real reason I brought these up is probably because I saw some announcements earlier this month that two of them have started production for anime adaptations. #3 Loner life in another world and #1 Omniscient Reader’s viewpoint. Not that something getting an anime speaks to any inherent quality of a manga besides profitability, but in any case, if you liked the quick summaries, anime announcements or even just the names, I recommend actually listening to Season 2 Ramble 1 - New Year New Worlds, or reading its transcript for more structured descriptions and takes…especially on Omniscient Reader… so so good..

Now onto the stuff I actually got into this month, starting with Light novels... I say Light Novels plural and though I technically did read more than one, they were all from the same series

Durarara!!

I’m a big fan of durarara!! Watched the anime like ten years ago, and even back then I really wanted to read the source material but couldn’t find it anywhere, the source material being the LNs. I pretty much gave up.. but still 2 years ago I read the manga for Season 1 Ramble 12 - Delinquency and still enjoyed it. Finally. Finally. I’ve gotten my hands on the light novels thanks to a 7 year old reddit post. Thank you reddit.

Durarara!! is a story written by Ryohgo Narita with illustrations, like the cover and a few more for emphasis on certain scenes, done by Suzuhito Yasuda. In total there are 13 volumes which started publishing in 2004 and ended in 2014. Of these 13 I’ve read 4 so far. This is the third time now I’ll be speaking about durarara!!, the first time was Season 1 Ramble 8 - A is for Anime (solo reprise) then Season 1 Ramble 12 - Delinquency. Of course I encourage you to check those out but seeing as I clearly love Durarara!! I don’t mind giving the synopsis again.

Durarara!! Is the story of Tokyo’s downtown district of Ikebukuro and the people who live there. There are three central characters who the story mostly revolves around and a few more that make up the full main cast. The main three are mikado ryuugamine, a kid from the countryside who’s tired of the normal everyday life and so, invited by his best friend, moved to Ikebukuro to get closer to all the excitement. Mikado’s best friend who invited him, Kida Masaomi, is the second of the three. A rowdy, dye haired playboy who’s lived in Ikebukuro for a while and serves as mikado’s guide. Last but definitely not leat there’s Anri Sonohara, a plain girl who lost her friend on the first day of school.

There are others like the strongest in ikebukuro, shizuo, the most dastardly in ikebukuro, izaya, the random black Russian sushi store employee simon, and etc., that all affect the story one way or the other but there’s one more character that probably brings the central cast up to four and that’s celty sturluson, a dullahan, aka headless horseman, looking for her head that’s been stolen.

Not sure if you can tell from that not so short synopsis or the fact that there’s thirteen volumes of this thing but ALOT is going on in this story. For comparative reasons I'll bring up the anime here that has two seasons, the second being split into 3 cours, and they cover about 6 of the light novels. I say about, because I've only read four of them but I know for sure that season 1 covers the first three, and the fourth novel lines up with what happened in season 2 cour 1 so that’s where my assumption comes from.

In any case if it sounds like i’ve said a lot without saying anything, i’m aware and I hate it but it’s kind of a mystery story so i’ll give myself a small pass and hope you all can forgive me., Like this is one of those stories it’s hard to speak on without spoiling some aspect. I will say though that delinquents, katanas, superhumans and the yakuza are involved so… yh… Lastly the narration is great as almost every chapter is from a different person’s perspective and sometimes this goes back and forth through time so the story comes together in a very neat but crazy exciting kaleidoscope. One thing the anime had over the Light novel is that along with this changing vantage point, the narrator would change independently as well which I thought was really cool and really solidified the feeling that nothing goes unseen, whether on accident or by design, but the Light novels gave a bit more depth to the character's train of thought so I guess it balances out a bit.

Not much more to say but having watched the anime, read the manga and now the light novels I think it’s obvious that I definitely and holistically recommend durarara!!

Now onto the Visual Novels

The order I’m gonna mention them in is just the order I played them in, usually I’d do some sort of ranking but If you know anything about visual novels, and I guess story heavy games in general, it’s that they tend to be on the longer side of things so sadly I only finished one.

1) Steins;Gate

Released in 2009, developed and published by MAGES & Nitro+ with an approximate playtime of 44hrs. This was the only VN I actually got to complete a playthrough of this month.

I watched the anime 10 years ago and though I don’t remember much of the intricate episode to episode details, I do remember time travel being involved and it fucking with my emotions in the last half. In fact I went to check old tumblr posts I made back then to see if it would jog my memory but there was only one post and all it said was that the last 4 episodes were feels…

In any case back then I had no idea what VNs even were so I pretty much thought that was the end of it, but as the helix of time would have it, I’m back here again.

For those who have no idea, Steins;Gate follows a rag-tag band of tech-savvy young students who discover the means of changing the past via mail, using a modified microwave. Their experiments into how far they can go with their discovery begin to spiral out of control as they become entangled in a conspiracy surrounding SERN, the organisation behind the Large Hadron Collider, and John Titor who claims to be from a dystopian future.

Yes i know it’s kinda crazy that technical time travel was stumbled upon with a microwave but one it’s fiction, and two the series really doesn’t ask you to suspend your belief all that much otherwise. Getting into it, I really like the VN way more than the anime, the time difference is probably a factor but I don’t recall the anime being as thorough in explaining the science of different theoretical time travel mechanics and how they may or may not work. In fact the VN was way more thorough in general, from individual characterization to the overall settings, but to be fair to the anime, they have a limited time to work with and there’s no way they could fit everything in there. No reason to either as they told their own story and to be clear the anime was great and obviously having things moving about is a strength that the VN could never touch, but as a person who really loves the specifics of things, as well as a healthy interest in time travel, the VN just wins out.

Moving clear of the anime now, the VN playthrough is actually multithreaded, with several branching routes and independent endings which plays into the whole time travel, chaos theory, cause and effect type stuff brilliantly. Especially because the choices generally aren’t very obvious or with clear impact or storyline segmentation, besides the split in chapters which is independent of your choices. In my head, going into VNs I thought it’d be like you’re presented with a situation and there are some obvious choices with obvious impacts like do you want to be evil yes or no? But in steins;gate, you’re really just advancing the script almost unknowingly and the only choices you make are to answer a text or not to answer a text and the preset choices only present themselves when you choose to answer a text but i swear to you they are almost always about the most unimportant things that have absolutely nothing to do with the task at hand of trying to complete successful time travel and escaping a future dystopia.

Real example, a friend texts you and asks you if you want some anime frogs.., i only know this because I chose to look at the text but you’re free to ignore almost every text. In any case the options were like what tf is that? or why tf would i? (paraphrasing ofc) + even if you do open the text as I said you don’t have to answer. No idea what that or my even more insane conversations with the cat girl maid had to do with anything but somehow I ended up where I ended up.. In the end I somehow caused the MC to get stuck in the same cycle for some unknown time until his soul pretty much died and he was on the verge of turning to heinous criminal activities but ended up just leaving his time period behind at the risk of taking on extreme mental illness.. No reflection on me and my character of course, as I said the choices aren’t anything obvious like become evil or become good, it just turned out that way somehow but that’s part of the fun because the anime only had one ending but here there’s i don’t even know how many in the VN and I can’t wait to playthrough again.

Also want to mention that it’s largely from a first person perspective so even though the story could have had the feeling of being completely independent from you and just click click click powerpoint powerpoint powerpoint, that first person perspective gave it a feeling closer to that of things slowly slipping through your fingers as you desperately try to keep a handle on things… and art imitates life… great decision by the dev team there but yh… besides that the art and sound direction was great.. The character art specifically was pretty unique like I could definitely spot it in a lineup of 100 anime art styles… phenomenal story of course and though I’d say if you have no exposure to steins at all it could feel a bit slow in the beginning, like I distinctly remember having that feeling when I watched the anime back then and I’m sure my knowledge of the insane pickup had something to do with not feeling it so much now, but I feel it had more to do with the VN having less time constraints, so they were able to make deeper character interactions and with that, the individual characterizations became that much more fulsome and enjoyable.

Definitely definitely highly recommend both the anime and the VN, I think any order is fine as who says time itself is strictly sequential anyways..

2) Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen

Released in 2002, developed by AQUAPLUS, Leaf & STING, published by AQUAPLUS, DMM GAMES & Shiravune, having an approximate playtime of 35hrs.

Now I had never heard of this before but I’d asked a trusted twitter mutual for reccs and this was one of them. shout out LZ one time. Seeing as I didn’t finish I’d feel bad trying to give it a summary or overview with my limited knowledge so I’m gonna go with the description from vndb dot org, which for the record is also where I snagged the description for steins;gate.

In any case, Utawarerumono is about Hakuowlo, a man who wakes up in a tiny backwoods village near the mountains with heavy injuries, no memory, and a mask he cannot remove. After being nursed back to health by Eruruu, the girl who found him lying at the point of death in the forest, he starts to view the village as his new home. But when an oppressive ruler threatens the peaceful life of Hakuowlo and his newfound friends and family, they find themselves hurtled towards war, chaos, and a destiny far greater than any of them imagined.

Pretty simple storyline I guess but it’s all in the execution and from what I’ve played so far, which amounts to about 22hrs, they did a pretty good job. Personally they get extra points from me for justified political upheaval brought about by the consciousness of the masses due to the unjustified cruelty of the ruling class.. But i’ll digress.. Character design was pretty neat, typical anime type beat i guess, great soundtrack, loved all the wind instruments. The character interactions were neat too, definitely feel like i’m gonna do a little part 2 thing cause the more I go on I feel like there’s a few technical commonalities I wanna speak on but yh, again I didn’t finish, though I think I got pretty far, but i still I don’t wanna speak too long or hard directly on it.

Last thing on Uta is that it did have a lot of battle aspects, or at least a lot relative to my expectations for a VN, and that came in the form of a turn based tile map type beat. Think advanced wars or some megaman and final fantasy games.. In any case those were fun, i had it on easy mode cause I was more there for the story so that part was pretty much a breeze but it was refreshing coming off steins which was strictly text based + i haven’t touched any games in a good little while due to the economy™, I’d recommend this for sure, maybe not a super push but I definitely want to finish it which again implies that anything i say on this has to have a little bit more than a grain of salt.

3) Fate/Stay Night

Released in 2004, developed by TYPE-MOON & Notes Co.Ltd, published by those same developers along with Kadokawa Shoten & Kadokawa Games with an approximate playtime of 88hrs.

Just wanna start with no, I haven’t watched the anime, but of course i’ve seen the random clips on twitter, pretty much inescapable at the height of its popularity with ufotable doing undeniably excellent work on it, and i could tell that from just a few clips. But I was in my strictly manga phase back then so I let it pass. The only other exposure I had to the fate series was the gacha game Fate Grand Order which I played for a short time because of one of my twitter friends and then the fate strange fake manga because of that same friend which I will say I do enjoy and I think I even heard it’s getting an anime which would be really based. Anyways shout out jhin and I’m gonna go with the synopsis from vndb again but summarized by me cause it’s hella long, much like the playtime..

The Holy Grail War is a ritual that materializes the greatest holy artifact, the Holy Grail. There are two conditions to participate in this ritual: being a magus and being a "Master" chosen by the Holy Grail. There are seven chosen Masters and seven classes of Servants, beings akin to superhumans with incredible fighting abilities. If you wish for a miracle, prove that you are the strongest with your powers. Emiya Shirou is a high school student who finds himself engaged in the Holy Grail war as he gets attacked by a Servant. As he’s cornered, he somehow summons his Servant and manages to stay alive long enough to compete against the other Masters.

What’s crazy about this is that after playing Uta and reading the description for this I thought “oh so there’s gonna be fights and stuff” and yes there are but you kinda just watch them, well I can’t speak on the whole game but so far I’ve played about 30hrs and that’s what it’s been. Nothing bad, it’s a VN, just surprising given the nature of the VN. In any case I’ve enjoyed it so far, pretty much knew I would as most if not all the servants are famous figures from the past and it’s always cool to see clashes of famous figures across time.

I guess the bigger surprise was how much I liked the characters and their interactions, maybe they weren’t phenomenal but there’s always a certain set of folks on social media that will have certain characters as their profile pics and there’s always lewd art here and there and the trend that tends to follow from that is like the character is blown up by the fans to the point that when you actually get to the story it’s disappointing but… I get it…. Rin fans… i get it… saber fans… I get it… I only saw her briefly at the point where I got to but I’m a rider fan… Here my lawyers have advised me to mention that in the VN there is a disclaimer that all characters are over the age of 18… and i’ll just leave that there… Anywho I also dug the subtleties of the sound direction like if they were up high somewhere you’d have a light wind blowing along with the usual bgm or when they’re at a scene like lunch or breakfast there’d be the sound of plates and stuff clinking together… I thought little details like that were very cool… The art wasn’t much, typical anime stuff ig, doubt i could pick it out of a lineup but it was early 2000s so it gets a light pass ig…

Fate is a pretty big franchise at this point so I don’t think my recommendation for or against would sway anyone but for the record I would recommend it, grain of salt due to me not actually finishing it included…

And that’s it for stuff this month, thanks for sticking around to the end gotta shout out LZ again, that twitter moot I mentioned, they gave me reccs, set me up with sites and everything to get free to play, also shout out vndb dot org for the VN details, they’re doing great work over there and I would give the sites I got from LZ but loose lips sink pirate ships so i hope yall can understand… yh that’s it for the main stuff,, a little part 2 ramble is in the actual podcast if you're interested in listening but other than that, hope you enjoyed and have a good one o/

#just another day #mm..manga #writeup #light novel #visual novel #durarara!!#drrr!!#steins;gate #s;g #utawarerumono #fate stay night

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showamagicalgirls · 1 year

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Yusrarel, Minky Momo Episode 5

I posted recently about the fifth episode of Magical Princess Minky Momo (魔法のプリンセスミンキーモモ), which involves a made-up country somewhere in the Mediterranean region. The first comment I received on that post was a snide remark that it didn't appear to be an imaginary country but rather simply Spain. At first I felt defensive, but the commenter was right that there were flamenco dancers and, the more I thought about it, the more I felt like I should rewatch the episode and pay a little closer attention so I could parse all of the details, particularly because this is exactly the kind of thing I'm interested in.

The subtitles on the version of this show I'm watching render the country's name as Yusrarel. I don't know for sure but I assume that would be ユスラレル, which could also be transliterated into the Roman alphabet as Yusurareru. This is somewhat close to the way Israel is transliterated into Japanese -- Isuraeru (イスラエル).

The reason the prince of Yusrarel has come to Japan is to deliver a rare three-humped camel to a local zoo. This is, of course, the tie-in to the show's animal and veterinary theme.

In addition to the camel, another key cultural element that makes this country seem like it could be in the Middle East-North Africa region is the style of headdress they wear. We see two turbans -- a white/cream one and a black/navy one. Neither are exactly like real world headdresses from any region but they are certainly reminsicent.

One thing that I think is worth mentioning here is that the prince is depicted as having curly red hair and freckles. Of course, it's fraught to over interpret racial phenotypes in Showa era anime, and it is also noteworthy that these traits are more widespread throughout the Mediterranean region than we might guess based on stereotypes. For example, I have met people in Tunisia with red hair which might not have been what I would have assumed before I had been there.

Also, his name is Prince Tam Tam (タムタム王子), which I don't think really gives any clues to the culture they're constructing.

One thing that is kind of neither here nor there in terms of interpreting this imaginary country but that I thought was still very fun was the appearance of this Christian omamori (御守) for safe travels. It's funny to see something so Shinto in a Christian fom.

So my commenter was right that part of this episode takes place in Madrid, Spain. This was the line I missed the first time I watched this that actually makes a big difference in trying to understand the geography of this episode.

The last scene does take place in the palace in Yusrarel, which looks very European to me. It looks like Versailles or something.

So, while some of the episode takes place in Japan and some does take place in Spain, Yusrarel is definitely imaginary and combines elements of several existing cultures, adding in a dash of the fantastic. It reminds me a bit of the way Showa majokko series treat Africa, which I also noted recently here and here.

All of this also reminds me of the contemporary series, Patalliro! (パタリロ!), which I am primarily interested in because of its groundbreaking queer content. But it also takes place in a fantastical European country called Malynera. It ran against Minky Momo on Thursday nights on a different channel.

#魔法のプリンセスミンキーモモ #magical girl #magical princess minky momo #minky momo #showa era #昭和 #魔法少女 #majokko #魔女っ子 #ミンキーモモ #mena #race

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rodeodeparis · 2 years

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another rambling tachioda analysis i impulsively wrote where i compare it to folk tales and talk about story structure. whoopee

so i’ve been working with the aarne-thompson-uther index lately. the atu is like tvtropes for folktales. it has two categorizations: one is for motifs, or common themes that can be found in folk tales. (ie wicked stepmother, shoe that only fits the true love, etc.) the other is for story types, which is common ways in which these motifs can be glued together. (cinderella is wicked stepmother + shoe that fits the true love, plus a bunch of other things.)

while browsing, this particular tale-type caught my eye:

lenore, the namesake for the type, is a ballad by german author gottfried august burger. inspired by the european renditions of this myth, it follows the tale type description to the letter. however, it includes an additional section where the human curses god for killing her lover, and is punished by the dead because of it. the deacon of myrka, an icelandic rendition, follows this as well to an extent, but keeps the human alive at the end and curses her with a haunting. in general, both involve a bare-bones 365 with different christian and local twists.

my first thought when i saw this was “tachioda”. probably just my fixation talking, but i recognized the story. not just in tachioda, and not in the way the description put it.

in a section below descriptions of types, it lists countries where the author found indications of this tale (with sources). i’ll save you the long list - it’s disproportionately european. despite recent efforts to internationalize it, the atu is still very euro-centric. (why go through the trouble of adding “walloon” as a distinct ethnic renderer of a story while you just put “iraq” or “morocco” to refer to those regions?) hence the “generic” description being of one of the tale’s most popular european forms. what’s more important here is the premise. so, when i saw a japanese version was listed, my suspicion was confirmed.

i think what i may have recognized was the peony lantern* (starts page 5), a famous “ghost story” in japan. i can’t find the book the atu lists as a source for the story having a japanese rendition so i don’t know this for sure.

the peony lantern is a literary adaption of a folk tale, written in 1666 by author ryoi asai. the original was a chinese story of the same name* from jiandeng xinhua ( something like ”new stories to tell after snuffing out the lamp”), a famous compilation of adapted folk tales by ming-era novelist you qu that’d come out some 300 years earlier. this makes asai’s peony lantern an adaption of an adaption of a story that’d probably been passed on and changed long before qu was born.

(*for the former - asai’s version is the first in japanese, but not the most popular - the plot summary goes from page 5-6. most of what you can find online is a translation of another, more popular japanese adaption that came after asai but added some things.

for the latter, yes, that was the only english translation i could find. they tend to be sparse for chinese literature unfortunately.)

the peony lantern - both qu’s and asai’s versions - is the same idea as 365, but with flipped genders. here’s a very very basic summary of both of them:

man finds ghost woman during festival. (lantern festival in qu’s, obon in asai’s.) she’s with her maid, who’s holding a peony lantern,

man falls in love with the woman ghost, and she tells him about her past,

discovered by neighbor peeping into his house, who suggests he travel to the village the woman was from for help,

he does, and discovers a coffin in her old house with an inscription that confirms the ghost’s identity. he then goes to get religious help (from a taoist disciple in qu’s, buddhist priest in asai’s),

despite having gotten help, the man is drunkenly lured to his death,

qu’s man is drunk after a friend’s banquet and wanders inside the temple he was staying at. he’s lured by the ghost inside and into a coffin.

asai’s man is called by the ghost from outside of his house. he drunkenly wanders with her into the temple.

people spot the man, now as a ghost, walking around with the woman ghost,

townspeople (qu) or the man’s family (asai) go to a (taoist in qu’s, buddhist in asai’s) priest (and in qu’s only, disciple) for help,

the priest banishes the ghosts,

in qu’s version only, the townspeople go to thank the priest and disciple who helped them, but find that the priest has disappeared, and the disciple is now mute.

don’t worry about the surface-level details not matching up to lenore or to each other. for example, i’m pretty sure that the horse is a european thing. the folk tale of oisin on tir an nog and the tale of urashima taro are listed under the same type - 470b - with the circumstances of how they happened as local flair. oisin’s stepping off the horse serves the same purpose as the box urashima receives. what matters here is the themes and main events, and those track.

lenore could have very well ended in the same way as the peony lantern - the human and ghost are spotted, and a christian priest banishes them - but it doesn’t. that’s because of a very important difference in the way these stories are set up.

if you know the difference between european five-act structure and east asian four-act structure, skip to the paragraph starting with “if the peony lantern followed”.

european five-act structure goes like this:

exposition - characters, setting, and conflict are set up.

bob needs to open the bottle of olive oil to make dinner. the cap is tight.

rising action(s) - conflict ramps up.

bob struggles to open the tight cap. he tries everything, but it doesn’t work.

climax - conflict comes to its highest point.

in frustration, he digs under the cap with a knife, and it flings open.

falling action(s) - conflict de-escelates and starts to wrap up.

bob closes the bottle and pours the olive oil in the pan.

resolution - conflict is resolved.

bob continues making dinner.

east asian four-act structure* differs by country, but the gist of it goes like this:

introduction - characters, setting, and pretense are set up.

bob is making dinner. he’s struggling to open an olive oil bottle with a tight cap.

development - situation is developed.

in frustration, he digs under the cap with a knife and it flings open. he pours oil in a pan.

pivot - story changes direction/introduces a new perspective.

alice comes to stand behind him. she sounds angry.

conclusion - story ends.

bob turns around and discovers that alice’s eye is swollen and red - the cap had flung into it. bob profusely apologizes while he cooks.

(*ctrl+f “east asian 4 act”.)

disclaimers:

4-act isn’t the only one used in east asia, and 5-act isn’t the only one used in europe

i’m not saying you can’t appreciate these if you didn’t grow up with them or something like that

these aren’t the end-all-be-all of story structures in general, but it’s easier explaining two than several. also, these ones are pretty big.

in a five-act structure, the protagonist affects the world around them. because of this, they need a problem - a conflict - to take care of. it’s probably best to think about conflict here more like “goal” or “motivation” - a character needs to want something, and that thing comes in conflict with something else. this isn’t always a character explicitly going after something or being pitted against an enemy - it can be internal as well. their goal/motivation needs to be at the center of the story.

five-act stories start with a character’s goal being solidified to the audience. after this, they can either do something about it, or something can happen to them which furthers complications. either way, they need “motivation” to keep going. if an antagonist is present, whether or not they’re out to get the protagonist doesn’t matter - the protagonist will end up confronting them since they’re in the way of their goal. in the end, a goal needs to be met or not met, antagonist defeated or not defeated. whatever won out in the end is the determiner of the theme the story’s ended on. this is why the ending is the “resolution.”

in a four-act structure, a character is affected by the world around them. the character can have a conflict and goals, but they need causality - significant events to happen to them - to move forward. the story is driven by how events take shape and how they compare to each other in the grand scheme of things. from there, a character’s reaction (or lack of a reaction) continues the chain of events while telling us what we need to know about them.

four-act stories start by something happening to the protagonist or the protagonist doing something that makes the story-starter happen. the story continues as the protagonist keeps reacting. what keeps them going is some sort of mental/emotional relation to the events at hand. if there’s an antagonist, it’s their goals that are propelling the story, as those goals inhibit the protagonist/their world in some way. when the protagonist seeks a fight, it’s related to the sequence of events - if they’re a goody two-shoes, for example, it’s when the antagonist’s violence goes too far. events lead to an ending that, no matter what it is, reflects the theme of the story. this is why the ending is the “conclusion”.

in the five-act example, the point of the story is bob opening the cap. in the four-act example, his opening the cap was a goal of his, but the point was that he wasn’t careful and hit alice in the eye. you can change the structure of these stories around to make one fit the other, but the focuses work because they’re tailored to those structures.

there’s philosophical/cultural/historical “backstories” as to why the four and five-act structures are the way they are that i don’t feel like i can articulate very well. they’re also a lot for a post about video game men. if there’s something i’m missing or not getting, please tell me. i’ll try my best otherwise.

if the peony lantern followed a five-act structure, i think it would go something like this:

introduction: man meets woman ghost at festival.

rising action: he falls in love with her. neighbor sees him and tells him this is dangerous. he goes to get help in her village. he discovers a tomb in her house with her name on it.

climax: he discovers a coffin in her house with her name on it.

falling action: although he got help, he’s drunkenly lured to his death.

resolution: his body is found and he’s buried. the ghost couple haunts the town. the townspeople/family ask for help, and the ghosts are banished.

feels weird, right? the peony lantern isn’t actually following a five-act structure. instead, it goes like this:

introduction: man meets woman ghost at festival. he falls in love with her. neighbor sees him and tells him this is dangerous.

development: he goes to the town where she’s from and discovers a tomb in her house with her name on it. he then goes to get religious help. even though got help, he’s drunkenly lured to his death.

pivot: the ghost couple haunts the town.

conclusion: the townspeople/family ask for help. the ghosts are banished.

four-act structure hinges on significant events to develop the situation, which leads to character development. we see this in two different ways - during the man’s life and after - because of the way four-act structure is set up to think about ideas: idea (thesis), opposition (antithesis), combination (synthesis). that’s why the “pivot” is the story giving him what he wants; the effect the man’s uniting with his love had on his fellow townspeople as they prowled the streets was not something he seemed to care about much. there’s no way he couldn’t have cared when he was banished. no matter how strong their love was, the story claims that there were more important things for him to consider.

compare this to lenore. if lenore followed a four-act structure, i think it’d go something like this:

introduction: human has a good relationship with her boyfriend. however, he dies. she is grief-stricken, and in mourning. her mourning is slowly escalating.

development: her mourning escalates to a point where she curses god at her loss.

pivot: later, his ghost shows up to her house, riding on a horse.

conclusion: ecstatic, she goes with him. she rides with him to the graveyard. she realizes he is really dead. she dies herself.

feels weird, right? lenore isn’t actually following a four-act structure. instead, it goes like this:

introduction: human’s boyfriend is dead. she’s grief-stricken, and curses god.

rising action: he shows up at her house. she goes with him. he asks her if she’s afraid twice, she says no twice. third time, they’re at the graveyard.

climax: she realizes he’s really dead.

falling action: she’s pulled to her death.

resolution: she’s dead.

like how the four-act structure hinges on character development, the five-act structures hinges on goals to drive a conflict. the five-act structure ideas as thesis vs. antithesis - goal vs. opposition. one has to win at the end, and this tension culminates in the climax. in lenore, the two opposing ideas are her love for the ghost vs. how she blasphemed. first, she blasphemes. then, her ghost lover comes back to take her, and it seems like the love will win out...but she soon faces the consequences of that love when she realizes her love was actually dead. when she dies, the latter triumphed, and her love is shown as not having been worth it.

so the peony lantern is a story which can only read as harrowing as it does because it’s told in a four-act structure. qu’s and asai’s versions differed quite a bit, though:

ghost appearing during the lantern festival (qu) vs obon (asai)

disciple and priest (qu) vs disciple’s role merged into priest (asai)

man lured to death (qu) vs leaves house on his own volition, then lured to death (asai)

village asking for help (qu) vs human’s family (asai)

taoist priest and disciple (qu) vs buddhist priest (asai)

taoist punishment big part of story (qu) vs buddhist punishment, smaller part (asai)

most of these choices look like localizations. the family instead of the townspeople was probably to make those localizations make more sense. as for the significance of the banishment and the way in which the man was lead to his death, i assume asai changed these because of the specific story he wanted to tell.

a buddhist priest himself, much of asai’s writing focused on subverting buddhist emphasis on the importance of spiritual matters. a previous book he’d written is named for the term ukiyo (浮世), or “floating world”. this term had started picking up meaning to refer to a contemporaneous emerging culture of boisterous, red light district-prowling city life. this term is homophonous to another term pronounced ukiyo (憂き世), or “this sorrowful world”, a japanese term for the buddhist concept of escape from earthly death and reincarnation. instead of that, why not hedonistic, earthly pleasures? this was a sentiment which fit into asai’s writing, his time’s relatively stable contemporary politics, and the ukiyo subculture. (also, yes, it’s that ukiyo.) you can read tales from a floating world translated here.

with that, it’s easy to see the sort of story he was trying to get out of the peony lantern. “floating” suggests that most of his writing is lighthearted, and it certainly is, but much of it ultimately focused on critiquing politics/society at large. (though not always expertly.) he was a particular fan of pointing out to the readers what he felt were injustices or what was right instead. qu’s peony lantern and its warning of not faltering to love was a perfect target for a writer like asai.

jiandeng xinhua was influential for the novel way in which qu combined folk tales, buddhist lessons, and his political context. despite this, it was banned (and later unbanned) in his home country for political reasons and was more popular in vietnam, korea, and japan. as a consequence, the peony lantern is most well-known in asai’s form, scoring adaptions from further written stories, to kabuki, to tv, to several movies. it’s one of the most popular japanese kaiban and it inspired others like it. why did it last so long?

asai’s story still operates in a the same buddhist framework as qu’s. in both stories, for lack of a better term, the man’s love with someone he shouldn’t have interacted with came back to bite him in the ass. he’s ultimately punished along with his ghost-lover for having faltered to her in the first place.

but qu’s man was coaxed into his coffin. asai’s man chose to leave his house. the buddhist prayer to banish the ghost is one sentence long, as opposed to qu’s detailed taoist banishment. i think the longevity of asai’s peony lantern is because of these changes. it draws attention to the events that got the story to this point and their ambiguity. with this, we’re left with a ghost and the man who loved her. the relationship is even more in focus than it was before.

the basis of the religious subversion builds a framework for further explorations of the nature of the man and ghost’s relationship - the ghost’s apparent intentions, and the man’s apparent “loss” of agency. subversions never question the danger of the ghost, and don’t go great lengths to change the main course of events or introduce a conflict. they subvert by showing the love inside of that danger, what could’ve happened within, before, after, or outside of it. the change of context changes our perceptions. some adaptions even include the human and ghost being reincarnated together or the human dying with a smile on his face.

by keeping the actions and changing the context, subversions of the peony lantern are about how much the ghost and human mean to each other. the world around the human faces the consequences of the human’s actions. the drawing, oppositional factor here is the “forbidden love” on the part of the relationship’s existence. the important question is “who are these people, and why do they love each other so much?”

lenore had a level of cultural influence in europe to jiandeng xinhua. it inspired a lot of 18th-19th century romantic and gothic literature, specifically early vampire literature; english author bram stoker mentioned it as an influence on dracula*. the plot of dracula revolves more around the group of men who kill him at the end. dracula stalks, seduces, and eventually feeds on women. when he curses the protagonist’s fiancee, the hunt ramps up, and dracula’s eventually staked through the heart.

(*it’s a whole book rather than a short story like lenore or the peony lantern, so just read the wikipedia page if you’d like a full summary.)

the ghost in the peony lantern wasn’t this polarizing a figure because stoker wasn’t in the business of subverting in the way asai was. stoker wrote dracula in the fashion of a shitty contemporary trend. vampires have a history in europe of being portrayed through symbols associated with antisemitism against ashkenazi jews that i’d rather not get into. dracula was so evil because he was so cunning and seductive, “luring” you in, a trope which echoed that sort of anti-semitism. dracula’s allure gives the story a conflict in the same way the human cursing god in lenore did. the emphasis of the conflict just changed.

in lenore, the ghost’s danger was as inherent as in the peony lantern, but the woman’s love - her motivation - was similarly pre-established. what stuck here is the emphasis on that conflict - the question of the human’s priorities between her safety and her love interest’s allure. making the monster appealing in some way complicates things, as it gives her a “rational” reason to be lead to her death. it’s a question of the “benefit” vs. the “cost”. thesis vs. antithesis.

like in the peony lantern, the ghost’s danger is never questioned, but their intentions are. this is why dracula’s contemporaries in anglophone tv shows, movies, and young adult romance novels fret over their danger as much as their human love interests do. by showing that they don’t want to hurt their human, they’re given goals that “salvage” their dangerous nature. this focus on their “goals” not only paints them as worthy of sympathy, but drives the romance on both sides instead of just one. this portrays the relationship as a matter of mismatched compatibility in the way subversions of the peony lantern do, but the focus of the relationship is on how the individual sides fit together, rather than why they fit together.

by changing the focus of the conflict to highlight motivations, subversions of lenore are about how much this ghost means to the human. the world around the human warns the human about what they’re doing. the drawing, oppositional factor here is in the “forbidden love” on the part of the human’s and ghost’s motivations. the important question is “who is this ghost, and why does the human love them so much?”

essentially, these stories teach the same lesson - engaging with ghosts is bad - in two different ways. the effects of the human’s wrongdoing culminate in his receiving the worst fate vs. the human’s wrongdoing is cemented in her receiving the worst fate. these story structures are so ingrained in us that they impact how stories are told, even today - since the stories are set up in the specific ways they are, things like “dangerous” romance can be cultivated from them differently.

(second, completely unrelated side note: i doubt a 365-type story could exist in this form in the me/na. "spirits” are thought of differently. it’d have to change a lot.)

back to tachioda. no matter whether you’re more used to the peony lantern-type stories or lenore-type ones, this motif can be recognized. isn’t someone you care for betraying you with a secret which endangers your life sort of like a realistic rendition of a ghost dragging you into your grave? isn’t tachibana sort of like the human in those stories, where his love care for oda was what inspired him to not run away from his problems anymore by “sacrificing” himself?

oda’s something like the human, too - he did something he knew was against tachibana’s interest out of said poor judgement, which was blinded by his love. and just like both the human and the ghost were banished, oda’s judgement led to events that got tachibana killed.

regardless of who’s who, oda carried both tachibana and himself to their deaths. but is it more similar to the peony lantern, or to lenore?

let’s see if tachioda follows a five-act structure, for one:

introduction: oda works with tachibana. we know they’re very close, but not how. oda seems antagonistic towards kiryu for some reason. oda begrudgingly works with kiryu.

rising action: the search for the owner of the lot goes on. eventually, it’s discovered that it’s makoto, and they head to sotenbori to get her. we learn some stuff about their backstory from the video store owner. makoto and oda encounter each other, and seem to recognize one another. he’s antagonistic towards her.

climax: he eventually tries to kill her. kiryu stops him.

falling action: he spills and is left to fend for himself.

resolution: oda is dead. tachibana learns about it.

completely unrelated post-resolution occurrence: tachibana is inspired to stop running away from his problems.

in the five-act structure, the climax is the most intense moment - the moment where the main character’s goal and what it came in conflict with is at its peak. oda’s attempt to kill makoto is very intense, and where his antagonism both towards her and kiryu comes to a head. but what’s the conflict here?

if you want to find a conflict, you have two options: oda vs. makoto and oda vs. kiryu. since oda’s reveal is seen in the form of a buildup of antagonism that comes near his death, with his death serving as a resolution, there’s one conclusion here - oda is a twist villain. he dies, and makoto and kiryu won.

interpreting the story this way skews things a bit. namely, for a twist villain to work in a 5-act structure, they need to have been involved in the conflict that was driving the story all along. oda was a mole for shibusawa all along, yes, but...that’s it. it didn’t really go any further than him having given shibusawa’s men their location. in terms of a conflict of oda vs. makoto or kiryu, his death wasn’t the culmination of those things - not directly, at least. it didn’t “resolve” any arcs.

makoto’s main situation in the game is dealing with her life on the line with the empty lot in her hands and wanting to meet with her brother, not to mention grappling with everything she’s faced. within that, the identity of the person who trafficked her isn’t represented in a conflict. it’s a conflict - a question. that doesn’t mean it didn’t cause her significant trauma, and that doesn’t mean she isn’t struggling with it; it means that it was presented in a specific way. think about how she found oda - by chance when oda and kiryu came for her. after everything happened, and oda died, she had her answer. we see her reaction to it and everything else she’d faced in the rest of the game.

oda came across makoto so we would know what would happen when she saw him. makoto’s writing...could be better, to say the least, but i think this is a more harrowing presentation of what trauma can feel like. it’s not something that you overcome in a decisive conversation or battle, it’s something that sticks with you, even if you have all the pieces together.

kiryu’s conflict with oda pre-reveal was...nothing, really. even in 5-act structure terms. oda was just an ass to him. if anything, oda had been begrudgingly helping kiryu this far. nothing much other than that going on there, really.

with tachibana, the “conflict” between them isn’t so explicit. we may have some indication that tachibana knows something is going on with oda (which i talked about in my last post from a while ago), and we learn about their past together. until he learns about oda’s death, that’s the most of it. their on-screen interaction is mostly bare-bones.

so, yes, this is a conflict, but we only really see one party propelling the events in it. oda’s also going against tachibana’s interests, but tachibana isn’t involved, and doesn’t even know until it’s too late. he has no “goal” against oda. oda’s also trying to kill makoto, but even that’s only one-sided. she’s no big fan of oda, but she has no “goal” against him. if you see oda vs. tachibana as a conflict that’s driving the story, how tachibana reacts to oda’s death seems out of place - it has nothing to do with any sort of “goal” against oda, let alone resolving any goals, so we can’t say tachibana’s reaction is a resolution to a conflict that came before it. that’s why i put it as a “completely unrelated post-resolution occurrence”.

but oda had reason to be apprehensive - is an oda vs. himself conflict propelling the story? nope. even though it was something he chose to do under specific circumstances, oda’s already made his decision. he’s not convinced out of it until he’s caught. he’s conflicted, but his misguided perceptions motivate him to continue, so what’s driving him forward is not his internal conflict against anyone. it’s his goal.

he’s following his goal, which comes in conflict with tachibana and makoto’s goals, which is what makes events occur, which means that in terms of the four-act structure...he’s a twist villain? not so fast.

like pretty much every yakuza subplot that lasts throughout the whole game, the tachioda subplot follows a jo-ha-kyu structure:

jo: tachibana seems eager to get close to kiryu. he relays that he’s had difficulty trusting people in the past. on the other hand, oda seems antagonistic towards kiryu for some reason, but begrudgingly works with him. the search for the owner of the lot goes on. meanwhile, from makoto and wei han lee, we learn that she was trafficked while looking for her brother. the person who trafficked her had a bat tattoo. in a later scene, it’s revealed that tachibana has the same bat tattoo. later, kiryu and oda go to sotenbori. we learn about their (mostly tachibana’s) past from the video store owner.

ha: makoto and oda encounter each other, and seem to recognize one another. he’s antagonistic towards her, which climbs in severity as oda drives them to a “safe spot”.

kyu: oda tries to kill makoto, but he’s stopped. oda spills everything. kiryu leaves him to fend for himself. tachibana learns about his death and stops running away from his problems.

yes, that’s a new thing i didn’t talk about before. jo-ha-kyu is a japanese artistic structure extrapolated from the chinese literary concepts of fu-bi-xing. by “artistic structure” i mean that it’s a structure that’s applied to a lot of stuff. in our case, it’s a narrative structure used in movies, tv shows, and games.

progression-wise, jo-ha-kyu is similar to four-act, when you think about it. (sort of like how the five-act structure generally follows a larger pattern of “beginning-climax-resolution.) jo-ha-kyu is about a slow development of actions and context (jo), a sudden and quick dramatic heightening of the tension (ha), and an even quicker finish (kyu). the point of this is to show exactly how the “conflict” affects the story before it’s taken care of. the something it leads up to (or doesn’t) isn’t the “climax” - it’s as much of the point as the events are. like with four and five act structures, there’s a philosophy-based reason as to why this exists in the way it does but i’m not sure i could articulate it well.

what happens is that we’re presented with context and later get some indications of what’s “really” going on. then, oda and makoto see each other, and the pace heightens. as they escape from being pursued, oda’s antagonism builds until he tries to kill her. our questions are answered when he’s stopped and reveals everything, giving us context to everything we’ve seen. the conclusion is the rest - it’s not entirely linear because this plot affects both makoto and tachibana. with jo-ha-kyu, like with four-act, plots often don’t “resolve” and can lead to others.

the fun part about this is that you can incorporate a four-act sequence into a part of a larger jo-ha-kyu story to build it up even more. this manifests itself via the oda vs. makoto subplot like this:

introduction: makoto and oda encounter each other, and seem to recognize one another. he’s antagonistic towards her, and that antagonism builds.

development: oda takes them to the “safe spot”. eventually, he tries to kill her. he’s stopped.

pivot: oda spills everything.

conclusion: oda is left to his fate.

this is essentially the “ha” and “kyu” in the larger jo-ha-kyu of the tachioda subplot, and a part of the development makoto’s plot. with makoto, what happened to her was a significant part of her past, so knowing what would happen when she saw oda allows her to take matters into her own hands. (even though the writers screwed that up.)

with tachioda, it "pivots” from oda’s devotion to tachibana (thesis) and takes us to something that seems to contradict it (antithesis) before putting this in context of the devotion established beforehand (synthesis). oda and makoto’s relationship is also the “antithesis” to the thesis of oda and tachibana’s relationship and oda’s characterization as tachibana’s right hand arm man. the synthesis is oda choosing to leave himself to his fate. this also happens so tachibana can learn about his death, and we receive another confirmation - tachibana wanted to trust him.

tachibana’s death is also not a “resolution” to anything. since tachibana is tied to the main plot, this leads to complications for kiryu and makoto both. long story short, makoto confronts the lieutenants, and kiryu later confronts shibusawa. it wouldn’t have been so direct if tachibana hadn’t died, if oda hadn’t died, if oda had better judgement, if oda and tachibana hadn’t bumped into each other in the street in sotenbori, if oda hadn’t trafficked people. but still...

is oda a twist villain here? i’ll answer this by stating what i’ve been implying the whole time: oda as a character doesn’t work in a five-act structure. he’s also not important enough to the game’s plot for a neat yes or no answer. this leads us to some semantics. since we’re speaking in english, “antagonist” implies a character who’s an opposing force to the hero/protagonist, and “villain” implies that the force is tied to nefarious motivations or morals. the two are different, but there’s always some sort of opposition, like with five-act structure.

since we’re talking about a japanese game, japanese has these:

katakiyaku (敵役) - a character who’s role is to be against the protagonist

akuyaku (悪役) - someone who’s considered morally evil in a specific scene/incident/plot

akujin (悪人) - someone who’s very existence is evil; warumono (悪者) - a bad person

the first two japanese definitions are mutually exclusive from the third. they refer to context because they’re translations of the vaguer, european (or specifically anglo here) concept that these are intrinsic story roles. it’s not that villains or antagonists didn’t exist in japanese stories beforehand. it’s that in four-act, a villain doesn’t have to be there for “bad” to happen. see how those kabuki stock character descriptions primarily detail what characters do in a story? compare them to these commedia dell’arte stock character descriptions which primarily detail traits. a four-act villain is morally “bad” because that’s a reflection, not an explanation, of who they are in the story as a whole. that linkage serves as a counterpoint to the hero’s goodness and amplifier of their dastardly actions rather than as two inherently connected forces.

hero vs. villain is still a conflict in jo-ha-kyu and four-act story structure. you fight shibusawa at the end of the game, don’t you? he went out of his way to do what he did, which his less than “moral” backstory gives context to. the only things oda has in that regard are a checkered past and poor judgement. oda was propelled by his goal to do things that went against tachibana and makoto...after he and tachibana saw the latter’s family in a documentary. he came across it, and he reacted to it. oda’s association with the antagonists and former sex trafficking were bad, but he’s not a “villain” like shibusawa is - it’s not his role in the story.

if anything, i’d say that oda was absolutely intended to be a twist “bad guy”, as in twist “guy who did a succession of really bad things, realized the scope of them almost by chance each time, and paid the price.” but we can’t call him a “villain” in the english/five-act way because what he did, his role as a character, and his goals are entirely separate. the last we see of him is his rebuffing shibusawa when he asks why oda “screwed up” - even without kiryu and makoto there, we’re shown that his regret is real. the best we have to describe this in english is “morally gray”.

that doesn’t mean he’s portrayed as being in the right, and it certainly doesn’t mean you’re supposed to sympathize with or even like him, though. the game doesn’t deny that oda’s actions were bad, but it’s not in the business of exploring this through oda as a “ghost” figure pit against the “humans”. like i said in my last post, if they wanted to do this, they easily could have. the main story could happen without oda - his role is to flesh out the world tachibana and makoto find themselves in. he’s a plot device. that’s it.

part of this is done through makoto’s journey. the other part is through tachibana and oda’s feelings about each other. (and also in that they’re foils but that’s another post.) they’re in a chain of events that implies animosity - betrayal - but something is different from what we expect. oda’s devotion to tachibana is the obvious thing. the scene with the car that i already talked about in my last post, a little less so.

other than that, most of what we know about how they behaved, felt, and thought until the “ha” is implied or summarized through anecdotes outside of them. the one thing underlying all of this doesn’t come out until it’s too late. oda realizes the gravity of keeping this secret and chooses to “redeem”* himself by divulging and staying behind. once tachibana reacts to that knowledge, we truly know.

(*another semantics thing - “redeem” in english has the meaning of “redemption arc”, as if it negates bad things or makes up for them. i mean “redeem” here in the “culmination of everything he’d done” way.)

we see oda first as someone who’s close to tachibana, and we only find out what he did and why as he’s dying. in turn, his death is used to confirm something about tachibana that had only been hinted at - his fear and his vulnerability. his priorities in the people he cares about and how he wants to do right by them despite those. (he lost his arm for oda.) by focusing on how tachibana and oda felt about each other within the context of what happened to them, we’re given a story about two people who were close, and one of them trying to work against the inevitable by keeping it that way. the tachioda subplot follows the same style of subversion as the peony lantern.

regardless, oda didn’t come into the game as a “ghost”; he becomes one, both in the plot and in our perception. the focus is on their relationship within what’s happening. like in the peony lantern, what makes this so appealing is that you can connect the emotional dots yourself. both oda and tachibana’s deaths were inevitable, but whether or not they were “deserved” serves to deepen the emotional significance of their deaths on the part of the player, rather than clarified universally to drive the plot. for people like me who ship them, it’s not in spite of what oda did, but in tandem with it.

i think part of the reason why tachioda may be so contentious with english-speaking fans is because of all of this. remember: your view of the world is, more likely than not, never going to be perfectly objective.

tldr: intentionally or not, tachioda is framed in the same way supernatural romances like twilight typically are. pretty cool!

#btw i just do this for fun and for myself #tachioda #i guess .

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zacharyja · 4 months

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Monday, June 3, 2024

Exploring Kyoto, Nijo Castle, Shinsen-En Garden

Today began a bit more hectic than I had hoped, as I was woken up at 6:30am with a blaring alarm sound which I found out to be an earthquake alert. Luckily for me I didn’t actually feel any shaking or anything but the alarm was enough to scare me straight out of bed. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck the north-central region of Japan, in the Ishikawa prefecture. This was far enough away that I was safe, though apparently 5 houses that had been affected by the prior January 1st 7.6 magnitude earthquake collapsed with this second blow. The January 1st earthquake actually killed 260 people, so it is definitely not something to take lightly and I am glad it was not nearby - and also glad that there was no tsunami threat either.

After getting back to sleep and resting for a bit longer, I woke up finally at about 11am just in time to go grab some lunch after a nice warm shower. I rode my bike to a nearby Sukiya, as I was craving some delicious Gyudon. I got a cheese gyudon with miso soup which as per usual I devoured and left happy as a clam with a full belly.

Following lunch, I decided to ride my bike around and explore the area, and eventually stumbled upon a building that I had actually heard of before coming to Japan, it is known as the Face House (for good reason). This building was thought up by architect Yamashita Kazumasa in the 1970’s, and was designed to mimic functions of the actual human body. Eyes function as windows, nostrils function as vents for the house, and balconies function as ears on either side to allow for ventilation throughout the house interior. This house really helps to brighten up the rather dull street that it sits on, and now is occupied by a creative studio/shop, though i’d imagine people still live in the upper housing area.

I quite enjoyed riding around aimlessly for a while and just taking the city in, having no direction can be fun, especially after just finishing up a very strictly regimented booked schedule study abroad trip. The roads themselves are very scenic and fun to just stroll along and take a look at everything around you. I also stumbled upon a random Colorado themed coffee shop, which is pretty random, and I’d imagine my family will get a kick out of this.

After this I tried to make it to Nijo Castle in time to be admitted inside, though they closed at 4 and I was under the impression that I had until 5 to get there. I may try again another day but it was still cool to see it from the outside, though after seeing like 4 different castles it kind of becomes the same routine every time and I’d be okay missing out on this one as i’ve already seen the best one in Japan. The Nijo castle was built in 1603 as the home for the first Tokugawa Shogun, and was intentionally built close to the Kyoto Imperial Palace as a way to show the power that the shogun had over the ever weakening power of the Emperor.

After this, I rode my bicycle around some more and found a peaceful looking garden/temple close by to the Nijo Castle. This garden is called the Shinsen-En and was founded in 824, by Kukai - founder of the Shingon school of Buddhism. This garden is said to be the oldest existing garden in Kyoto, and definitely feels like it has a lot of history. The garden itself consists of a massive pond, with a temple situated on top along with a bridge crossing the pond leading to another section of the temple. I really enjoyed this temple and there were even resident Peking ducks (who were massive) that walked around and were cared for by the monks there. The koi/carps in the pond were pretty cool as always. The pigeons here have also learned that people will buy food to feed the koi and have decided to harass anyone with a bag of fish pellets. I saw a guy get swarmed by about 8 pigeons all flying up to him and standing on his arms, pretty funny sight in general.

I then rode back to my hotel to hangout for a bit and do some homework before leaving again to grab some dinner with my friend. We hit up Coco Ichibanya again for some mouth watering katsu curry.

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boklogofor · 10 months

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寡黙な死骸、みだらな弔い is such a neat collection of short stories. I haven't read any Ogawa Youko before, but she definitely seems to be in the same region as the other modern authors I've read (a bit like Murakami Haruki, bit like my beloved Kawakami Hiromi).

<long>

Among the short stories I've already managed to read in JP, a surprising amount have had deliberate inter-story connections. In 神の子どもたち…, all the stories end up taking up the earthquake in Kobe as some kind of peripheral-yet-important event, which makes the entire collection feel focused on something which never actually appears in the text. The main characters all stay far away from Kobe. Some are not even in Japan, yet the earthquake ends of infiltrating all of the stories in important ways. That the stories are treated, not just as individual, separate little content bubbles, but as distant parts of a coherent narrative... I really liked that.

But then I read 神様, and despite being structured very differently, it's equally fascinating. I like the stories much better than 神の子どもたち, anyway... The opening story of the collection, introducing the reader to the kind of writing Kawakami does so well, and inviting us into this Narnia-esque world of hers. In that book, you may be whisked away by winter spirits, come face to face with the little creatures that guard the pear groves, and it's all just completely normal and natural. There's nothing weird with a bear moving in next-doors; it's just how this world works. And after all of these cute stories, all tied together with the governing theme of 絆 / kizuna / "bonds between people", the story ends in a similar fashion to how we were introduced to it... the doors of the closet swing shut, and we're stuck here, outside of the world we've taken a tour of. Loved it.

みだらな弔い is a different beast though. It takes the peripheral earthquake from 神の子どもたち and throws it out the window. The first story seems contained, almost to the point where it seems to take place on a plane of its own. And on that note - it's very difficult not to think of げんじつ荘 by 小池昌代, where the main character walks past a coffee shop where "time itself is distorted, stretching like taffy" - this is the kind of feeling I got reading about the confectionery in みだらな弔い.

But then the second story starts, apparently unrelated, this short narrative where the MC is brought along to a very charged situation as emotional support. Many years after the event, after not having talked at all for the better half of a decade, the MC calls the girl again... and she's working in a confectionery. The girl we've gotten to know in the second story is the very same as the person standing in the kitchen of the confectionery, calling someone, crying. The same moment in time, narrated from two perspectives.

And this is far from an isolated incident. The entire book has, as its guiding theme... "絡み"? Maybe? Isolated stories and perspectives that end up tangentially touching each other in significant ways. After the third or fourth story, the structure is obvious: almost everything you read about in one story WILL reappear in another one. It's like a doubled version of Chekhov's Gun: the hamster in 心臓の仮縫い becomes important not just in the story itself... but it returns in the next story, and indirectly influences much of the narrative of the story at large.

It's like a story told via kaleidoscope. You could read each story on its own, but the real narrative is in the space between all the stories. I've heard 死んでいない者 described as a depicting the "outwards-facing roles" we play, social masks and what not... but I can't help but feel like this book illustrates that concept much more concretely. Throwaway characters in one story ends up as the MC in another. Situations play out from one perspective, then another, and then a third. It's pretty thrilling, even if it can get a bit tiresome.

One final note... the book plays a bit with the idea of meta-texts, with stories told in the story, and the border between the two. At least one story returns *as a story* - as a book which is written and read over the course of the other stories. The nature of the story we just read is called into question. Did we just read "fictional fiction" or "real fiction"? Was our version of the text the real, lived experience of a character, or is this text just the book on the shelf of the Dolphin Resort? Some lovely confusion.

All in all - surprisingly easy to read despite my limited ability, very engaging, maybe a bit too dramatic at points, and despite my thinking it was a horror story, it's probably more sad than scary (I've heard the word "unsettling" used too, and it's that, too). Looking forward to reading more of 小川洋子!

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doingthedirtydishes · 2 years

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My Story: How I arrived at this juncture in life – via the Express Train.

It was an early morning “hot” arrival after a late night out partying with local friends in Bali, Indonesia. There was no time to sleep, only to eat, shower and then off to the next social fete. Living in a third world country on a Western salary has its benefits. It surely allows for the life of an international socialite but a bit skint on spiritual growth. Though, ironically, while living on one of the most voted spiritual places on earth each year. Visiting a destination island as a tourist and living on one as a local who lives and works there is much different. Although my time there was out of a movie, inside, far below, I was crying out for rescue, severely unaware.

An old friend from my days living in Tokyo, Alexi, a stunning Irish and Greek Manhattanite, had recently returned from studies in India, a newly anointed Vedic Astrologer, carrying with her some prudent warnings for me to heed while living in South Asia. We both had lived in Asia in the late 1990s. We met on an ANA plane ride from JFK, NYC to Narita, Japan. Prior to moving to Bali in 2000s she informed me my social and business lines intersected there; and while there, over the next two years, each reading proved true. Over the next few years Alexi would provide me multiple readings, some more prescient than others, but none more foretelling than one.

She gave abundant readings over the years, and the biggest themes always fructified. The time I was warned against partying while in Bali and almost ended up dead, the victim of inner-tribal warfare. Another period I was warned to avoid motorcycles and within days nearly lost my left leg when forced to dump my bike on the highway at 90kmh or face almost certain death by introduction to a dump truck. But one year came a reading that floored even the normally unflinching Upper East Side debutante. It said that I would be removed from my feet; the lesson so severe it could never be forgotten. This was a first for her – she was confused, as was I.

In the interim, amid receiving that fate-filled reading and my meeting the express train, I had begun a consumer finance company, a company that was very successful. After numerous years of partial successes and failed entrepreneurship in the world of business, limitless toil and perseverance, finally it all came together, resulting in my first seven digit in sales company. All that success would come crashing down soon after – a deluge of pain and destruction lie in wait – all the while, I was ignorantly bliss of what was in store. In the end, the company went to ruin through embezzlement, at the hands of a few friends. My investor then sued me for $1M USD.

Fast-forward three years and I am awakened to a priest at my side, while laying on a gurney in a dark, cold and sterile hallway. I think, “Oh shit, this cannot be good.” And, “You have done it this time, Steven.” “But in my own backyard nonetheless,” I thought. “Father, am I dead, am I in heaven?” I will never forget his response: “No, my son, you have been in a tragic accident.” It was at that moment I realized I could not move any parts of my body, only my eyes, and even that was a struggle. It was also at that time I realized that no amount of phone calls or well-oiled connections could help me out of this. A defining moment: It was up to one person only.

Just a few hours prior to meeting Father Irish, I lay for dead under an inner-city train. It is obvious at this point I was not literally run over by a train, though the driver will swear to you he ran over a boy prostrated across the tracks. If I were him I would have thought the same. Prior to making my way to train station I was beaten with a heavy metal object in a city alley. Shortly before that I was out at a trendy bar with three girlfriends to celebrate Christmas week. My back was broken in three regions – neck, middle and lower. The blow to my neck, at a forty-five degree angle, meant to kill me, exploded six vertebrae like popcorn. A bad night in Philly!

Not ten seconds of an itty-bitty pity party had passed and it was at that juncture, the moment when deciding whether to be a victim of circumstance or a survivor of life, when a small voice came to me – it came into my head, seemingly from nowhere, in an assuring voice – and said: “You have really done it this time, Steven. It is bad, very bad. But you will get through this. It will take many years of pain and hardship but in the end you will walk again and go on to help others in tremendous ways.” Immediately my attitude turned positive, deciding this would not define who I am, rather choosing accepting the lesson(s), starting down a long road to healing.

The priest wanted to talk about things that he prejudicially thought had lead me to that night. Immediately my focus turned to the solution, quickly dismissing his set-in-stone, antiquated black-and-white clergymen’s course. I was already a spiritual person and knew better to start looking for the silver lining, the hidden blessings. I knew it would take a real hero’s journey, an introspective voyage extending within to the unchartered abscesses of a person’s core being, to their soul, to find real answers. The areas we try so hard in life to avoid, the emotions that we try desperately to suppress by any means to ‘busy’ our lives and keep us from our eternal truth.

The universe had warned me to alter my ways. The messages are always sent to us, yet we do not always recognize them. There are no mistakes in life – none. To me, the accident was not about my lifestyle so much as it was about where I was really intended to be in life. To me it was not a punishment, it was an awaiting lesson. What would I do with this challenge? Would I rise to the occasion, enduring the karmic balance of life, seeking out answers to questions that I had so clearly avoided (consciously and unconsciously), finding new meaning and direction? Well, within me existed a great thirst, a fire in need of quenching – a journey would result.

Over the next eight years I embarked on an endless adventure in life – a journey to becoming a new man, one born anew with and through spiritual guidance and cosmic purpose where, after a long excruciating painful recovery, unbearable psychological torture, a total mental cleansing, financial devastation, loss of friends and family, and a emotional tsunami with ripples that seemed to undulate infinitely throughout my life – emerging entirely reborn. A being lost but now discovered who, after traveling profound into the scariest annals of the heart and soul, coming into view with resolute intent and meaning, found my purpose in life. But now what?

Discovering your purpose in life is only the first part of the equation – sharing it is part two.

Throughout my experience notwithstanding, I’ve drawn a clear distinction between recovering and healing: one is of the body and doctor, and the other, mind and soul, respectively. Along the road to recovery it cannot go without mention some of the spectacular people who assisted me to those ends: My surgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Rihn, Jefferson Health, a world-class doctor who was open to any and all modalities of healing; my physical therapist, Elizabeth Watson DPT, Magee Rehab, who’s fervent spirit and unending belief in me fueled my drive to continue on; and Dr. Neil Liebman, DC for Philadelphia 76ers, an energy healer like no other, whose “magic hands” and boundless love for his patients and their healing helped carry me through the second half.

It was only through limitless fortitude and perseverance by confronting utterly seeming insurmountable odds that produced the greatest revelation in my life: The obstacle is the way. Without mud there can be no lotus. No pressure; no diamond. Without venturing into the most frightening parts of our-selves can one ever attempt to understand their true inner-self. Life is all about contrast; one cannot know happiness until one knows sadness. We have the choice in life in every situation how we react – determined by our attitude. Adjust your attitude and determine your outcome. Lessons never go away – what we resist will persist. It’s up to you.

If not now, when? – Zen proverb

Fall down seven times, stand up eight. – Japanese proverb

One amazing facet of that cavernous inward journey, the one that lulled me into the woods of Tennessee where I planned to pass onto the spiritual world (crazy story) by hanging myself on a camping site steel water pole, when I was homeless, living in a tent and out of my car for one year; plumbing the darkest and most frightening depths of my being my inner-self, my soul, the Holy-Spirit, God; where there is no turning back; with no other choice but to “do your work,” to slay your dragons; choosing no longer to be a victim to your past; opting instead for the road less traveled; taking control of your energy, your life, your happiness – is the world it opened.

The outcome was an intense inner quest leading me down a path to healing, helping others with struggle in life. My ‘Doing The Dirty Dishes’ life philosophy provided ripe conditions for real learning, opening space for ample growth and change, leading to a place of teaching others, resulting in inspiring and motivating others through writing a book, Unbreakable Mind. Soon after, I started two blogs: one Spiritual and the other for those for whom Travel is a challenge. Both are read worldwide, resulting in invaluable feedback and immense satisfaction. While traveling in a wheelchair for two years for my travel blog, I took a hiatus from my spiritual blog.

After years of untold discussions and capricious agreements, I finally capitulated to my mentors and trusted advisors in life, deciding starting my own YouTube channel & Podcast. I determined that I would start writing my spiritual blog again, but this time I would then follow-up each blog entry with a podcast version. In each new episode an exciting topic is discussed within a spiritual context. A spiritual podcast that explores all topics under the sun, causing you to smile, think critically or ponder the soul and universe. This is my newest venture. Please consider listening and sharing my YouTube channel or Podcast with friends. Thank you for your support.

By now we all know what Alexi’s “knocked off your feet“reading truly meant. The accident was the greatest gift of my life. I am forever grateful to the universe and my lucky train. Choo-choo.

Teeth to the wind!

Travel Blog: Click here.

Spiritual Blog: Click here.

Book: Unbreakable Mind. (Print, Kindle, Audio)

Doing The Dirty Dishes Podcast: Watch or listen to episodes and subscribe: Spotify, Apple Podcast, Buzzsprout. Also available on Google Podcast, iHeart, Tunein, Amazon Alexa and Stitcher.

Doing The Dirty Dishes YouTube channel – watch and subscribe.

Social Media links: Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin.

Travel Blog links: Covid-19 stranded in NYC JFK and Maine – also travel stories on Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Iceland, Colombia (Espanol version), Amsterdam, Germany, New Hampshire, TN and NYC.

Personal Website link where you can also find my book, photos of my travels and updates on current projects.

Thank you for your love and support.

#steven quigley writer #steven quigley blogger #steven quigley #stevenquigleyauthor #stevenquigley #unbreakable mind #unbreakable mind book #unbreakablemindbook #unbreakablemind #doingthedirtydishes.com #doingthedirtydishesspiritual #doingthedirtydishestravel #doingthedirtydishespodcast #doingthedirtydishes

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naomi-in-japan · 1 year

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6月13日 - Free Day | Universal Studios Japan

Not only did I grow up in Orlando, Florida, all my life, but my high school was literally a crosswalk away from Universal Studios. So it is no surprise that I've been to Universal probably way more than the average person might ever go to the park in their lifetime. The theme park was practically just an extension of my high school. So when I saw that I had the opportunity to visit the park in Osaka, I jumped at the chance (quite literally).

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Train line mixup 🚉

As we tried to find our way to Universal City (where the theme park was located), Google Maps kept trying to tell us to use a shinkansen to get to Osaka. Still, luckily, because of priorly going to Himeji, we knew there was a special rapid train that headed in the same direction. After utilizing the rapid train, we mixed up on transferring lines to another special train specifically for Universal. We quickly figured out how to make our way to the park, but it only made me wonder how much more difficult it could be for tourist families unfamiliar with the train system or even a basis in Japanese.

Universal City 🌏🏙️

While the Orlando location also has a city walk, the city walk in Osaka is much more extensive, with hotels and convenience stores galore. While a lot was replicated from the one in Orlando, Osaka's unique spin was superior in its accommodations to locals and tourists alike. I plan to eventually return on my own time to explore the area extensively.

Universal Studios Japan 🌏🎢

Where do I even begin? I wouldn't be able to entirely give my thoughts and opinions on the park without easily writing over 1,000 words so that I won't go into too much detail. The park was truly enjoyable. Though smaller than its Orlando predecessor, it is packed with various rides and character IPs for the whole family to enjoy. From the kids' area of Sanrio, Minions, and Snoopy to the thrilling areas of the likes of Spider-Man, Jurassic Park, and Hollywood Dream. One cannot mention Universal Studios Japan without bringing up Super Nintendo World. Growing up on all the modern Mario games from Super Mario 64, and Mario Kart, all the way to even Super Mario 3D World (to name a few), it felt so nostalgic and surreal actually to experience my childhood in a tangible way. One thing is for sure—I'll definitely have to bring my siblings and family.

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Universal Studios will always be a fond part of my childhood and teen years. I hope to one day share that love and experience with my children in the future. As a Japanese major, seeing how one of my favorite theme parks was adapted to the language and culture really made it one of if not the highlights of my trip thus far. I am so glad I got the opportunity to spend my free day like this.

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Media Reflection 📹🎢

Mario is one of if not the world's most well-known video game character IP and franchise. If you ask most American kids what they think of Japan, one of the top answers would probably be Mario (after like sushi or ninjas). However, despite Mario being from a Japanese video game company, he's presenting very culturally ambiguous. Hello Kitty is another good example of an IP being ambiguous and easily globally marketed. And in such a sense, it addresses a more prominent cultural topic of how it represents Japan to the rest of the World, particularly the West, as often a lot of their media content, especially with video games, takes place in ambiguous worlds that aren't explicitly "Japan" or "America." Because of that, it allows audiences in places like the West to identify themselves with the characters as if they were from their region and not just simply Japanese products.

Going to Super Nintendo World allowed me to view Mario and his franchise through a different lens than how I did growing up. As a child, Mario represented Japan whenever it was featured in games as a country very much involved with its cultural history but slightly out of place within a game. However, those subtle features were seeds planted that ultimately helped spark interest in many children in learning more about Japan and its culture and language. Seeing the characters interact and speak in their original language and even how different children of different cultures identified with them in the park made me admire how a Japanese video game corporation like Nintendo spread its influence not only domestically but also globally, showing how in the modern World Japan can compete as the power of cultural influence along with countries such as the United States and France. But also realize that as ignorant as it sounds, Mario is indeed a Japanese product.

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dedtoot · 2 years

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Explaining my JSR iceberg meme

I'm talking about this bad boy that started existing like 2 years ago.

There are other iceberg images, but they put all the info from the entire franchise in one image. IMO it muddles the focus and you can't put all the spicy trivia and theories in, so it's only JSR related. One game can hold a lot more mysteries(especially now, with 2 leaked prototypes).

Before i begin, here's a lil' intro. This image is symbolic to me, as it's a sign of how i really got invested in this game and franchise, and got into archiving things all JSR related because unfortunetaly the situation related to it is not really fresh and missinformation is far and wide,but situation is improving.

Gonna try to explain as short as possible. So look at the OG meme because i won't write full entry names and i will joke around. Also look at TCRF arcticle for JGR( https://tcrf.net/Jet_Grind_Radio_(Dreamcast) ) because it has a lot of stuff that i can't include. If you want a more detailed explanation on some entries, you can ask.

Enough with the ramblings, let's begin.

Level 1

Hi-Scool! Seha Girls! - anime with humanised Sega consoles. It has various game themed episodes and JSR was one of them.

Jet Grind Radio GBA and JP names - self explanatory. Despite not being released in Japan, it uses Japanese character names for unknown reasons.

Regional differences - literally every version of of JSR that exists, from the first Japanese release to the remaster and to the Android port, has some kind of difference. This one refers to the more obvious one's - the original release, international release and the updated version of the OG release. The most major one is the inclusion of a new storyline, 2 new levels, new graffiti, the tutorial level and a different credits sequence in international releases. Even some censorship! A lot of music differences too. There are even unused voice clips indended for the English versions of the game, where DJ K doesn't use Japanese words. For this one an entirely new post will be needed to explain it all.

Darksuitmen and Burger Queen - first one is in-universe movie ad and another is a fast-food joint from Shibuya-cho. Both have been changed at some point. Pictures can be found at TCRF. Funnily enough, Burger Queen returns in the remaster, alongside Burger Joint.

Beat's face texture - despite never appearing without the glasses, he has a face texture. This fact is well known and in the fandom.

JSR Guidebook - refering to the Jet Set Radio Perfect Guidebook that was only released in Japan. It's mostly known here for some included profiles that reveal info like age and height of some of the characters.

Level 2

JP dub - this fact is often overlooked but yeah, every character except DJ K have a different dub. A lot of them give characters a different feel entirely. Like, Yo-yo doesn't say "yo".

De la JSR - JP exclusive port that combines aspects of the OG release and international one's with some bug fixes.

Typing Jet - a Java typing game released in 2001 for Japanese mobile phones. As of now, this game is lost.

Swatch bilboard - unused in the final game, but somehow got the chance to appear in the Seha Girls anime. Wild.

Benten Burning Easter Egg - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GoDxMX4xz4

Design differences and wrist watches - character designs are inconsistent in every art and game model. To list them all another post is needed. And the wrist watches that Tab, Gum and Beat have are very weird. Not only they don't appear in the art, but in early trailers they don't have them at all. What are they exactly?

Big Blackout - event caused by the Noise Tanks.

Dunny Boy Williamson Show - the most famous cut song from JGR.

Fictional brands and The Inu King - JSR features a lot of them. Rokkaku brands are plentiful and they show how powerful they are. A lot of ads and brands are parodies and have funny stuff. Some examples i compiled. The Inu King ad features Potts and maybe is a The Lion King parody. And the SB one is obvious.

JSR slot machine- self explanatory. The most interesting part about it is unique animated footage that it has.

Love Trap intro - It shows Love Shockers dancing on a building and jumping off it. Where is that building and where do they jump off is unclear.

Lever 3

Noise Tank's records - JGR manual says that they record sounds of the city with the help of recorders that are attached to them.

GG's don't take Potts for walks - self explanatory info from the manual.

P.Jam can talk to animals - self explanatory info from the manual.

"paste long judge quote here" - this is Onishima's catchphrase from the JGR manual. He doesn't say it in game unfortunetaly.

Cube is dead - JSR GBA manual description reads: "This stylish goth girl may look dead, but not only can she skate, Cube can spray with flair!"

Unique voices and designs for rival gangs - in the JP release there are different sounds for each of the rival gangs during the tag battle. VA is the same, but the way the sounds are made are different. Play the game to hear them lol. Design changes are in all versions.

Early Cube, Combo and Coin photo - in JGR a placeholder texture can be found for the photo that appears in Chapter 2. TCRF article has the texture. In Aug 22 proto you can actually see it in action.

Dreamcast Express Vol. 5 - a demo disc type thing. It heatures the earliest known JSR gameplay trailer. And it has the only appearence of DJ K shoes! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmKUJkvKmpM&t=8s

Ereki and version texture differences - i decided to combine these two, since they delve into one topic. Ereki is an early name for Beat that was discovered from one of his textures that was accidentaly left in the cutscene. JSR was rushed(it took 10 months to make it couldn't be not rushed) so early textures can be found left in some places. As soon as the cutscene that plays after the tutorial, in fact. The more versions there are - the more differences there are. Here some of the character one's moslty featuring names and minor design changes.

Cone - the apparent intended way of how Corn's name should be said. The proof is his logo and the pronunsiation of the name in Japanese, Kon.

E3 graffiti in the final game - a lot of assets that otherwise were replaced, still appear in the final game in the weirdest places like cutscenes or the Bantam Street train.

Slate in tutorial - in the demo that was included in Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine Vol. 8 and in the E3 demo, Slate replaces Tab.

DJ K rap - one of the many unused audios are rap numbers from the man. One is in English and the other is in Japanese.

P.Jam alt mask - in one of the vids from JSR slot machine, P.Jam can be seen wearing a mask with the letter P on it. Pic included in the meme.

The cat warehouse - everyone knows about the cat room from JSRF, but no one really talks about from one in JSR. There are less cats, but still.

Potts in Grind City - what da dog doin in chaper 2 cutscene

Towers in Bantam -

Level 4

Noise 66, Code, Nuts, Reco, Plug(Pench), P. Jam Black - various early names for playable characters thay can be found in the game files, referenced in graffiti and in the prototypes debug mode. These are names for Noise Tanks, Slate, Piranha, Cube, Garam, Unmasked P.Jam respectively.

Angry Onishima and Goji - both of these have an angry expression and Goji only has this one on his cutscene model. Possibly these were made for some cut cutscenes, or a gameplay thing in Onishima's case. Fun fact: Onishima has an unused voice clip where he yells WHAT THE-!? so maybe these are related. Also don't ask what is going on with Goji's textures.

Removed broken cop bike - a removed occurance that can only be found functional in E3 demo. Small pic is included in the meme. Bike that in the final game just crash into youand then rides away to despawn, actually were intended to fall over and stay in the level. The only reminence of the broken bike left in the final, is a texture. Rider is also depicted visibly injured there.

Unused spicy movie poster - look at TCRF article for more details.

e_mu_elec_001 - possibly unused audio that was intended to play in Grind Square. No matter what i did i couldn't trigger it in game. Also dude from the audio sounds like Hayashi. Listen to it here: https://youtu.be/NBCELA4IhGc?t=258

E3 2000 JGR stage show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XUL3Mui-gc

Gum picture in DJ K studio - it's just there. Does it mean that Gum is famous? Why K has it in his studio?

K and taxes - DJ K description from the JP JSR site tells that he knows everything about Tokyo-to, except how to write an income tax return. Yeah right.

The Rokkaku movie - referencing the ad from Bantam street. There is a possibility of Goji documentary movie being real.

Pink poet - aka Pink no Shijin, DJ K informant from Benten-cho. The guy that first got the news about the Devil's Contract. He is sort of an inside joke to me bc no one remembers him, and my first journey in the wiki stuff was writing an article about him on the old JSR wiki.

P.Jam with bats - concept art from the JSR documentary. Look at the art from there here: https://dedtoot.tumblr.com/post/642133419186372608/jet-set-radio-concept-art-but-now-you-can-look-at

Aug 22 build voice clips - this prototype revealed that in the final game some characters had their voice clips trimmed. I only noticed it with Piranha and Tab. I didn't check other characters for this thing, but here the Piranha sound. First the proto, next the remaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM2Y6SeA5M4

Aug 22 build loading screen - this random loading screen appears here and nowhere else.

Unused breathing noises - like in JSRF, characters here have a voice clip with them breathing heavily. Maybe they are not unused, but i definitely didn't hear them in the remaster. Does anybody know how to trigger them?

Slate's face - i had a nightmare about how i found a texture with how slate's face actually looks like and it scared me very much. It's funny so i put it in the meme. It's not the only weird dream i had but puting the other one's would be too strange.

digi - one cool person from asked me to put them in the meme so they are there.

Final Level

Removed Golden Rhino car - the enemy that can be found in the E3 version. interestingly enough, it's not the only instance of the cut car enemy in this franchise. Watch it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C4Gr_udZd0

Aliens - mentioned in one of the DJ K cutscenes. Are they really real?

Onishima's problems - JGR manual says that he hates young people because of some past trauma. One line from the JP JSR website description, that was removed from the JGR description, says that he claims to be able to live for a week entirely on booze and cigarettes. He is not ok at all.

Noise Tanks experiments - whatever the hell they did on Potts???Why???

P.Jam kidnapping incident - JGR manual says that they tried kidnapping a pretty girl, but stole a mannequins instead. They were playing up the old monster movie cliche card to a tee.

Garam moment - The sonic skull he has.

Gouji Laboratory - a sign from Bantam Street. What the lab does? What it develops? Is it related to Goji's son? No one knows.

Fantastic HA HA HA HAAAA Band - E3 version includes some unused music tracks in it's files, specifically two songs from Fuzita Blender that didn't made it in the final game. Ripped audios can be heard here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9M1_kX8hiQ&t=6s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YemnBIbUJaQ&t=28s

(UPDATE: it turned out the Fuzita Blender music thing was mentioned way back in 2013 in one of the Hideki Naganuma's tweets.(https://twitter.com/hideki_naganuma/status/341608944495648768?s=21&t=LTdpJxzxzZKK2ce5cE1Zpw) So i guess some real hardcore fan could know about it.)

JSR demo voice clips and sukebo - the demo includes 3 voice files, m, f and sukebo. The first two may be placeholders, but the last one may be for a cut character, that used a skateboard. All 3 files, go in the order that i said here(volume warning): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ7H9mJ-5RA

E3 version features more destruction - E3 version weirdly had more stuff related to destroyed enemies vehicles, instead of driving away and despawning, they stayed on the map. E.g. cop car from the first Kogame-cho level didn't crashed into a fence and fell in the water, but instead crashed and fell on the stairs and stayed there. The game is in general more chaotic. I assume that all of these were removed for optimisation and lack of time reasons. But it makes me wonder, what JSR could've been with more powerful hardware, experience and time?

ко рн без трусів - cmon now.

#one of the biggest recources in this was TCRF #without them i wouldn't be as interested in this sort of deal #and some other awesome people from this comunity #jet set radio #my stuff

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doubleddenden · 1 year

Text

so i beat the main story of Teal Mask, and I decided to try something wildly different with my dlc team than i usually do

More under cut

I was told the levels would be somewhat similar to IoA- roughly level 60s, so I made a very rough decision to box a lot of mons I actually WANTED to take with me because they're just too over leveled.

So instead of using like 3 pokemon i've used from my main team, 2 transfers, and 1 new pokemon, I decided to use... well, 1 mon from a past team transferred in to get me started, 1 mon for that that actually stuck, and 1 mon from my base game that I never really used. And in the case of H Samurott, I mainly had him at the very beginning until i could catch a new water type- I have this thing about needing certain colors and types. The rest are mons I caught and raised entirely in Kitakami.

Gotta say, it was refreshingly difficult. I actually had to work to get them high enough level because- spoilers- it's actually not that easy in Kitakami, and it actually gets harder- like level 70 and higher bosses harder- like teams comprised of level 70+ pokemon. I probably COULD have brought some old Pokemon and still have had trouble, but I decided on this bit and I stuck with it for a pretty refreshing team.

So, with that said, my team:

Hisuian Typhlosion- Shogun. Actually, this is the one non Paldean Pokemon I ended up keeping on my final team, and ended up the highest level. I caught after my Legends Arceus playthrough, and he's actually the same one pictured here

he served as my "starter" for Kitakami and did an okay job at it. Not quite as powerful as I'd like, but I always wanted to get another chance to try using one- and I got it!

2. Yanmega, Racer- My first catch upon entering the region. Always wanted a Yanmega! It's a lot cooler than expected- a bit of a glass cannon, but fun nonetheless.

3. Poliwrath, Fesh Pince- I think I used one a long, long time ago as a kid, but that Poliwrath has been lost to time. This one is named after a Poliwrath I had a fan game playthrough I did, and that one is named after the Fesh Pince of Blair- a stupid but funny youtube poop of Fresh Prince. I often found myself saying "We've got to attack him" as I tossed him out. He pulled some decent weight and was crucial as a wall in catching Okidogi and Fezandipiti.

4. Morpeko, MorMarnie- Okay so... She sucks lol, but it literally attacked me out of the blue and I decided I like how cute it is- especially Hangry mode. It did have one or 2 good victories and moments, but it did lose a lot lol. But still, I like having at least 1 designated "buddy" pokemon on my team anyway.

5. Baxcalibur, Hollabax- This one was added after I wasn't feeling certain vibes from my team, and it fixed it right up. He didn't even have a nickname until a few minutes ago- I was planning originally to use it in my first SV run, but I got too attached to my Cetitan after it literally waddled up to me and let me catch it in one ball throw as a baby. Hollabax is strong though, gave me a bit of a needed boost when things started getting difficult- but its typing actually balances it out, because while it is strong, it gets taken out pretty easily. I like him though- initially i was going to go with a "japan" themed team, and he kinda ironically fits if we go with the idea he's godzilla.

6. Blood Moon Ursaring, Yoginator- The very same one from this pic

He's a big boy, quite literally the tallest Pokemon on my team at 8 feet tall. When I first fought it, it literally almost wiped my team- if it weren't for Scout the Furret getting in one last good hit, I'd have lost. THEN Yoginator replaced him, lol. He's a living example of "The boss when you fight him vs the boss when he joins the party," as he kinda kicked ass but not nearly as much as expected. Still, he's neat and I like him.

Reserves:

Furret, Scout- Scout was actually my Furret from 3DS Silver, and one of my current favs right now. Such a friend shaped Pokemon

She got me started for the first small bit of the main story, and landed the last hit to win against Blood Moon Ursaluna. Wasn't really as strong as I'd liked, but it was still nice to have an old friend with me.

2. H Samurott, Muramasa- my starter in Legends Arceus, and at most a very temporary body guard until I found Fesh Pince. He's strong and actually helped against some raids I found while I was there. I wish I could have used him tbh- I hope Indigo Disk keeps the trend of higher levels, because if so I might bring him there.

3. Dipplin, Dipper- Was part of the team for a bit, but it was around getting Morpeko I started feeling a vibe was off in my team. Normally I'd prioritize a new Pokemon over older ones, but in this case I decided that I needed a bit more fire power after it kept losing repeatedly. INTERESTINGLY, Apparently Dipplin can use Eviolite- that means it theoretically can EVOLVE- just not now. Maybe in pt 2, and maybe then I'll try again with it

4. Ogerpon, name pending- And the special boy. Such a cute fella, and I wanna spoil him a bunch. I added him to my team, replacing Morpeko so I could take on the stronger Oger gang trainers and generally just explore more stuff I might have missed. Have I mentioned he's a very good boy? I love him

Overall, this team was a challenge to raise on short notice, but it actually made the dlc a lot of fun and not just a spam A to win fest.

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon teal mask #pokemon scarlet and violet spoilers #pokemon teal mask spoilers #pokemon team #hisuian typhlosion #poliwrath #yanmega #morpeko #blood moon ursaluna #baxcalibur #kitakami

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pink-plaid · 3 years

Photo

My Reality, installation view, Chicago Cultural Center, 2002.

Curated by Jeff Fleming, Susan Talbott

Japanese animation (anime), which has attained almost cult status among young people globally during the past several decades, is increasingly breaking into the mainstream. My Reality: Contemporary Art and the Culture of Japanese Animation investigates the effect that this form of pop culture has had on today’s art in Japan and other Asian countries and in the West. Presenting works by artists from these different regions, the exhibition explores how Western and Eastern artists have influenced one another through their shared interest in the culture of anime.

American animated cartoons and comic books became popular among Japanese youth after World War II as part of their rebellion against post-Hiroshima society. In a countertrend, Japanese anime became popular in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world initially through limited importation of Japanese comic books (manga) and animated films. While anime has its origins in Japanese wood-block printing as well as American animation, it posits technology as a positive force in contemporary society and, therefore, much anime has a futuristic quality. The works in the exhibition focus on slick, sci-fi concepts such as futuristic technology, cyborgs and other humanoid robotics, aliens and fantastic creatures, and a post-nuclear apocalyptic landscape. The exhibition also explores social and economic themes such as gender roles, consumerism, and pop culture. The works on view range from Paul McCarthy’s cartoon characters to Micha Klein’s glossy images inspired by club culture; and from Takashi Murakami’s sculpture, which uses anime directly, to Momoyo Torimitsu’s enormous balloon rabbits, which satirize anime’s exaggeratedly cute images.

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spice-chan · 4 years

Text

Fall in Azuchi

pairings : Kirishima Eijiro x (fem)reader

wordcount :5050 words

warnings : just fluff, lots of it. flirty kiri, soft kiri. Ancient japan setting ( kiri is a warlord) mentions of war and blood but not too many and nothing too descriptive.

After Kirishima, on a passing, tried the dumplings that you made, he couldn’t get the taste out of his mind. Now that it’s fall festival, it’s about time he paid you a visit.

note: this work was done as a part of a collab with the theme ‘Fall Festival’ in mind. Thanks to all the encouragement of the amazing participants, this work turned out well ! thanks to @etegomanere / @dark-and-delightful for being beta and giving constant encouragement. Please don’t hesitate to check out the work of the others in this collab, they all worked so hard and did amazing !

collab masterlist

.........................................

Fall. The season of rebirth, of crispy leaves and chilled weather.

But in Azuchi, the most prosperous city of its time in the era, famed for its magnificent castle and fearsome warlord, Bakugou Katsuki (warlord most likely to unify the nation), fall isn’t famed for its abundance of orange leaves painting the ground. No, it was famed for its most festive celebrations that took place during it. Fall festival.

In a time of war and unsettlement, instead of collectively resenting our lives and how the cycle of rebirth let us down, we instead decide to unify and bring out the best in each other. Lanterns decorated the prosperous city, coloured orange to pay homage to the season and its beauty. Each tea house and corner shop brings its bakes its best selections, which didn’t stray too far from Yokan pumpkin cake, dumplings with pumpkin, pumpkin in this and pumpkin in that, it would be appropriate to send gratitude to the Portuguese for the wonderful fruit.

It’s a time where stalls litter every corner of the region, and where musicians display their talent to the joyous masses. It's a happy time. Especially for the infamous Kirishima Eijiro, warlord and head of the Kirishima clan, who just defeated a rebellion in his region and came to celebrate the festival on his ally’s land, Bakugou Katsuki, devil king of the sixth heaven. The blunt truth was that although Kirishima loved his homeland, Azuchi was a good place to unwind in. The other truth would be that Kirishima missed his friend and wanted to make sure he’s doing well.

But there was an unavowed, untold wish in there somewhere. It's got little to do with the vicious- yet- not really warlord that Kirishima made an ally of, and not his beautiful Azuchi where the colour orange reigned over, making the land appear like a painting for the faraway eyes. But to say that it has nothing to do with the festival would be a lie, because a certain tea house that Kirishima is dying to visit would surely be participating.

It started with Kaminari buying him some dumplings from there for their journey to ambush a camp of bandits. Kirishima fell in love with the flavour.

He never got the time to visit again, despite intending to, as an upheaval of battles barged their way into his life, disturbing any momentary peace he experienced. As his life often is, not that he hates it, Kirishima learned to love the symphony of clashing swords and the red paint that coloured a battlefield, he learned to appreciate it as an artist admires a finished piece of work that took blood, sweat, and tears to finish.

He learned how to find euphoria in the quickening of his heartbeat as it feared for its host’s life.

But when Kirishima tastes those dumplings, despite him being an amazing and talented cook, he was enamored with their taste, he found pleasure in something far from war, far from anything he found ecstatic in the ring of a bloodthirsty man.

That small rush of happiness that flooded his taste buds and went straight to his heart was short-lived, and Kirishima was starting to forget the feeling itself. But tonight, he finally visits the place. Tonight he will see the cute waitress that works there that Kaminari babbled on and on about.

So, dressed in a quite seasonal Yukata that was tailored with the best seamstresses in town, Kirishima left Azuchi castle to march into the festive town.

The harmony of instruments filled the town from the direction of the shrine, giving the already festive town and even more joyous atmosphere. Laughter filled the air as people walked by, purchasing from the stalls who went the extra mile to include many pumpkin flavoured and orange sweets. And while tōrōs were lined up in every corner and on top of every place, nothing compared to the brightness on people’s faces from every corner, every tea shop, every merry couple, and all bright-eyed children. From poor workers to prosperous merchants, everyone sported a type of smile that let you know they were pleased on this day.

It’s quite different from the savage, animalistic and feral look Kirishima has whenever he stands victorious after a battle, when he relishes in the afterglow of battle now that it’s done. When his one eye surveys the after damage, tears at the corner of it but not from sadness, but not quite exhaustion either.

Kirishima continued walking, his mind plagued by thoughts, whether unwelcomed or not, until he reached his destination, stopping abruptly when he realized he was about to walk past it. He fixed his eyepatch, and grinned wolfishly, albeit slightly when he noticed you. You were everything Kaminari described and more. Down from your cute smile to your bright (e/c) eyes, that looked warm and welcoming. Even your cheeks had a healthy tint of red to them, as if you were bashful. Kirishima’s feet carried him to you, not stopping at your shocked face, who wouldn’t be shocked at seeing the one-eyed tiger? But although that expression on your face was cute, Kirishima wanted to elicit another kind of expression.

“You are the one who made dumplings here a few weeks ago, right? Your dumplings are amazing !” Kirishima praised, a lackadaisical smile on his handsome face. He saw how you flushed, not expecting him to compliment you straight off the bat.

“Uh, thank you, I don’t believe I saw you around here m’ lord.” You responded politely, already acquainted with the one-eyed lord through seeing him through your town a lot, and hearing the whispers of castle servants who visited the merchants for different tasks. You heard how powerful he is, and you observed how popular as well, from the blushes on the maidens’ cheeks as they spoke of him.

You were quite flattered at his compliment, that someone of such importance was praising you, yet even willing to talk to you unprompted.

His smile got even wider at hearing your response, his tiger-like teeth sharp and fully on display as he flashed you a heart fluttering, fan worthy smile.

“Yeah, a friend of mine bought them from here. He went on and on about you, and I have to agree. “You familiar with Kaminari Denki?” At that, you gasped in recognition, nodding your head fondly as you flushed.

“Well, give him my thanks for the good words, at least I hope they were ?”

“All good, kitten.” You raised your eyebrows at the nickname, for sure impressed and embarrassed by the warlord's forwardness. You had many responses, but were afraid to voice them, lest you overstepped your boundaries. But this warlord seemed too friendly, too approachable then the others you heard of or met to get offended by your statement.

“Kitten? M’lord, you’re the tiger, doesn’t that make you the kitten?” You snarked, relieved when you saw no sign of hostility on his face, only a smirk appreciatively as your flirty tone set in.

“A lass with snark. I like that. Please don’t scratch this lord with your claws.” He teased, a finger caressing your warmed cheeks.

“Would you like a table, lord Eijiro ?” You questioned reminding him that he was standing in the middle of a tea house conversing with a worker. He nodded, telling you to lead the way with a ‘lass’ somewhere in his statement. He ordered some of the dumplings he was so enthusiastic about, and a nice serving of kabocha pumpkin yokan with tea.

His order arrived shortly, the restaurant owner being over-excited about having a lord in his premise. He took a bite of the dumplings, the firm texture crispy, until he broke through the layer to reveal the sweetness he was enthralled with. The deliciousness spread to his mouth, the taste transferring to warmth as it reached his very own heart. It tingled, and tickled, like someone was caressing it with a feather or blanketing it after a long day of winter and rain. He could never understand how one piece of dumpling can make him so happy, even though he was an avid fan of food, his own could never make him feel this way. He blushed slightly, not used to- well- anything having this effect on him. His clean hand went to his crimson hair, running through it as he tried to regain his composure. His fingers wrapped around the teacup, lifting it to his lips and taking a sip, slowly as to not burn his tongue. Even your tea was amazing, what in God’s name?

A crispy leaf flew, fluttering until it landed next to his plate. He took hold of it with his slender and calloused fingers, not expecting it to break due to its expired state. It’s weak in nature, perhaps similar to humans, but it would be more accurate to describe them as ephemeral. They feel easily, and their destiny is so swayable by the tides of fate.

Then he saw you, fluttering about, serving from table to table with a smile, a polite one, but it nevertheless enchanted him with its beauty. He wanted to see you smile even wider, a truer smile. He wanted to see that adorable tint on your cheeks get even redder when he teases you. He found you inexplicably irresistible. He thought you were just a talented but shy lass, but then you went and teased him right back, quite a bold and unexpected move. It showed him how much he truly needs to understand a person like you.

And as the warmth of the tea soaked his heart and made it feel lukewarm on a fairly chilly day, he made a resolve to see you again. He really wants to eat your food, and maybe discover why he loves it so much. Maybe it’s a trade secret? But he has a feeling it’s something to do with its very own creator: you.

And once he finished his food, he gave you one last look, willing the image of you to imprint on his mind before he found the will to leave. And once his shadow was made scarce, you looked at his empty seat, disappointed to find its previous occupant gone.

Kirishima walked around, trying to find something entertaining, like a token that he can take home with him. Or an interesting thing that will form a memory that he can keep. To say ‘hey I did this and that’ but nothing seems to appease the young lord.

His thoughts keep straying to you, as if they were not his own.

His hand involuntarily twitched to his sword, caressing the handle gingerly. Worn and sturdy, the handle still feels somewhat warm, despite Kirishima not touching it today, he hadn’t had a reason to. He’s almost wishing for one.

Alas, not all wishes come true. Kirishima could sit all day wishing that some bandits would terrorize some alleyway to an inconspicuous teashop, where he’d stumble accidentally, finding the pretty commoner who served him dumplings being manhandled, he’d waltz in and become her samurai in shining Katana. Nah, he’d be better off becoming a Noh fanatic.

He did find a stand that served dumplings though. And he purchased one, but as the taste hit, he found himself immediately dissatisfied. Je looked around, seeing every customer eating carelessly, none sporting the frown he has, laughing as they bit down on their dessert, not finding a problem with the texture, taste, feel, and paste.

After Kirishima had a taste of ambrosia, this felt like a premature grape, plucked too early and aged like milk instead of wine.

His eyes glazed over, before a lantern-lit up over his head. Why is he huffing and puffing like a child?! If he wants excitement, if he wants answers, then he’ll get them. Why else is he Kirishima Eijirou?

Kirishima dumped the dumplings he bought, running over to the teashop he knows you work in. Luck seems to be on his side, because when he arrived, he saw you leaving, wearing a different attire that did no justice to your beauty. A carmine colored Kimono. You and his match! That must be a sign from buddha!

He could up to you, his giant figure deterring the bypassers from wanting to bump into him.

“Kitten!” He beamed at you.

You furrowed your brows for a second, turning around to gouge where the sound came from, only for your search to be cut short as your eyes met a cheerful lord’s.

“Lord Eijirou, have you been enjoying the festival?” You questioned politely, wanting to fill the silence that would ensue as you resisted the urge to question him with what you are really thinking. You didn’t want to impose, you were all too aware of his situation and yours.

“So like, how much do you get paid a month here?” He asked. He watched your brows furrow quizzically as you answered.

“And what would you say if I offered to give you more then triple that if you make me dinner, with dessert and all ?” He further interrogated, piquing your interest.

“Well then I’d say lead the way, m’ lord !” You replied cheerfully, his nature must be contagious.

His lips quirked at your reply, his canines visible giving him a mischievous look despite the innocence his smile itself radiated. He grabbed your hand, to your astonishment, and zeroed through the crowd, his long legs giving him advantage, however, you were stuck using up all your stamina to even keep up with him in a crowded street!

He kept a tight hold of your hand, not stopping once nor did his lips cease to smile. He would have looked like a feral cat, his sharp teeth on display in excitement, running with a sole destination while everyone around him appeared to be simple herbivores, insignificant and incomparable to the majestic being he is. But he honestly looked more like a carefree child, his bloody eyes like bright berries, glinting in harmless excitement.

Eventually, the crowd was dispersed, and the castle was naught but a few feet away. You suddenly felt anxious, were you really going in there? Did you really hold hands with Kirishima Eijiro? It was high, really high, and you felt intimidated looking at it. Meanwhile, the male next to you rolled his shoulders.

“Man, I just couldn’t wait to eat more of your cooking! I’m sure some people must have enjoyed this festival, but after I had your food, I think I got ruined, so you have to take responsibility! Wouldn’t want this handsome lord to starve.” He confessed excitedly, rambling as he led you to the castle, at a walking pace this time, although the exercise he did and made you do didn’t seem to deter him or have the least effect on him. He walked over the bridge, and walked you through the entry of the castle as if it’s as familiar as home to him.

Kirishima however paused when he saw a blond warlord approach him with an unimpressed look. The intimidating warlord dressed in fancy embroidered orange kimono approached. The air around him felt hot and cold at the same time, and his face was devoid of any smile, instead, his full lips were scowling, and his hellish red eyes were glaring rather grumpily. His spiky hair looked as sharp as the swords he carries, and you found yourself shrinking behind Kirishima. Who seemed unphased, if anything.

“Hey man! Looking sharp, I guess even you like celebrating fall season huh ?” He observed, and to your utter horror, clapped him in the back. You half expected the famed lord, Katsuki Bakugo, to pull his sword out and slash the hand the touched him, but he slapped it away instead, seeming ruffled.

“You’re back huh? Too soon. You may leave again, shitty hair.” He replied gruffly. As if just noticing you, the warlord's intimidating eyes looked down at your softer (e/c) ones, the flame in his red eyes never diminishing.

You bowed in respect, saying a curt ‘m’ lord’. He nodded at you in acknowledgment, making you sigh in relief. He instead turned to Lord Eijirou with raised eyebrows as if to say ‘really? This is why you came early?’

“Bro, we are just gonna have dinner! But if something did happen, I wouldn’t be opposed…”

You blushed at his bold statement, right in front of the most powerful Warlord no less! Were you supposed to reply? Feeling yourself starting to clam up as both warlords stared you down.

“I don’t do it before marriage.”

…

Bakugo stared at Kirishima somewhat triumphantly, as if he gets a twisted satisfaction out of seeing his shitty haired friend be put in awkward situations.

Kirishima however, was surprisingly red. So… you wanted to marry him?!

“Well, I mean, uhhh, well I dunno ‘is too soon.” He rambled awkwardly, making everyone’s faces blank before yours twisted into a grimace while Bakugo’s seemed somewhat similar.

“Dumbass, who’d wanna marry your shabby ass?” Bakugo asked, smacking Kirishima at the back of his head then walking away; he had enough weirdness.

Kirishima, who was still flushed from receiving a marriage proposal from the cutest girl he’d met, shuffled his feet awkwardly, before coughing and recomposing himself.

“Uh, umm, dinner ?” You remind him, snapping Kirishima out of his trance. Oh yeah! He was gonna get dinner with you and discover what sort of sorcery you used to make it taste so good.

“OH, yeah, dinner.” He reiterated, taking your hand and leading you to where the kitchens near his bedroom are. Bakugo was aware of his friend’s hobby and gave him his own personal kitchen. A very nice gesture. One of the many that led Kirishima to believe his blond friend has a very soft core.

He arrived there with you in tow, making a grand gesture as you entered.

“And this is my not very humble personal kitchen. You may use anything and everything as you please.” He proclaimed, leaning down, adding in a whisper -“kitten”.

Well, now you had to make food so good, it’ll shut his teasing mouth. His teasing, pretty mouth.

And you got to it, moving in the kitchen with practised precision, sometimes adding your own touch. You made your favourites, things you’d learned from your mum, your grandma’s recipe, the last meal your dad ate before heading to war, saying it’d provide him with the blessing of Buddha. You hope it has, you heard he fought bravely and died a death warriors are envious of. No one should envy death, but you were glad your father had honour and respect even in his death.

You resented that food for a while. And the first time you made it after his death, you ended up crying as you took the first bite of it, remembering the way he scooped up serving after serving, maybe deep down knowing that it would be his last time eating it. Still, he smiled at you adoringly as he departed, never shedding a tear.

You wished you could smile a smile devoid of sadness, but instead, it looked like broken china, with tears streaming down your face as you remembered your father’s kind (e/c) eyes shining in the sun as he bid you farewell forever, reminding you that he ate his ‘fortune food’, you shouldn’t worry about him. Sometimes you wished you didn’t take his reassurances to heart. Maybe you would have hugged him tighter, or smiled at him brighter.

Nevertheless, the more you made Oroshi soba, the fewer tears you cried, the more fond memories of it started to resurface.

You laid out a perfect dinner table, even the smell of the perfectly seasoned and simmered food had Kirishima with his sophisticated palate salivating. He watched you closely while you cooked. Sometimes you had a frown, sometimes you smiled and sometimes you grimaced. Why are you so expressive? Especially when it comes to food, shouldn’t you be stressed, frowning and fretting, trying to please him, a warlord in such a high station he can get you beheaded in a matter of minutes- no, seconds?

But you were fluttering around the kitchen, whether as a butterfly whose wings were sculpted by the finest smith, or a fall leaf, seasoned by time, only a deity would know.

He invited you to sit with him, which caused you to pause slightly, taking in his words in disbelief.

“You really want me to dine with you ?” You said cautiously. Your heartfelt like a warm blanket enveloped it when he beamed and nodded, and you’d never realized how chilled it was until now. You’d never met someone so… down to earth.

You would be a fool if you refused that.

You took a seat in front of him, still cautious that he might change his mind any second. A few minutes went past and he didn’t.

“Why are you not eating? You made too much food so it can’t be the quantity.” Kirishima asked you after swallowing his bite. His face was flushed because of how warm this food made him feel. It tasted heavenly, and he is still in the starters.

He watched you carefully, you didn’t add any weird ingredients, so it couldn’t have been sorcery, so what is it?!

So you tentatively reached out with your chopsticks towards one of the sides that your grandma taught you to make. You haven't had it in so long, the ingredients are a bit hard to find in this market. When you ate it, a fond smile took over your features. Her recipe had always been unmatched. You could never find anything that was on par with it. Unknowingly, the young lord watched you, unable to keep his curiosity to himself, asked what prompted you to smile.

“Well, I just remembered my grandma, she taught me how to make this !” You exclaimed, a bit giddy at finally telling someone why you loved that dish so much. His carmine eyes studied you, trying to discern you. A family recipe. That’s why it tasted so unique.

He decided that it’s enough with the sides, despite how delicious they tasted. He couldn’t give himself a bloated stomach with him. His chopsticks reached towards the Oroshi soba, thinking it couldn’t possibly taste better than the Oroshi soba he had in Kyoto. It couldn’t beat it, right? That soba — was… fuck.

He could feel every flavour bursting out and mixing with the other in an amazing harmony, as if everything you cooked inside it was joined through matrimony. He filled his plate with it, eating with a haste that could put shame on his statues. He couldn’t help himself!

Is that the food you always eat? He could only wish to be as gifted as you.

“How is it so good ?!” He questioned with a mouthful, prompting an amused smile from you, a smile that sent arrows straight to his heart.

You took a bite of it, humming at the taste.

“Must have been practise. This soba means a lot to me, you know. It brings back a lot of fond memories.” You replied offhandedly, piquing Kirishima’s interest.

He swallowed his food, and wasted no time asking about this— this amazing soba!

However, the answer he got back wasn’t as lighthearted as he might’ve envisioned.

By the time you were done, his iced heart, hidden behind pointy swords that chill you to the very bone, was squeezing painfully in his chest.

Kirishima enjoyed war. He enjoyed the rush of adrenaline when he’s in the field that acts as the in-between for life and death. He enjoyed how his sweat-drenched him from brow to toe, and he relished in the hollers of victory. He didn’t mind death, but somewhere along the way, he forgot that there are many, many people waiting for him to be back home.

“Then why do you still make it?” He demanded to know somberly. All the cheer he previously had dissipated seemingly out of nowhere. All he had was this pressing need to know more, to know why you went so far to keep the memory of this dish alive even though it’s very existence is a lie, it should cause you pain, yet you smiled while retelling how your father ate it before he headed off to war, never coming back.

You seemed somewhat shocked at his change in demeanor, but tried to not let it ruffle you so much. This topic is not one for cheer to most anyway, especially to seasoned warriors who are constantly out and fighting, whether they wish to or not.

“Well, whether or not my dad made it, that food was still something that brought him at least a semblance of happiness in his last moments with his family. If eating amazing food will remind a person that even though life is unstable, and it might not go on forever, everything is alright now at this moment! I hope it makes sense. I don’t talk about this a lot. I just, I want to make people feel like even though we live in somber times, we don't have to lead somber lives! “You confessed. Every word, exclamative and unsure phrase tugged at Eijiro’s heartstrings. Even in your passion, you found a way to share it and bring people the happiness you felt.

You were so ordinary looking, just a tea house worker, living and leading a mundane life. But Eijiro had never met someone so incredible, you didn’t carry a sword or fight bloody battles, but you sought to make everyone’s day a little brighter in your own way. He had never met someone so unique and intriguing, so lovesome. Nothing about you is mundane.

And that’s when it clicked. A notion so far-away, a person of his status didn’t question it anymore, nor wonder it. But it’s the reason he was so enamored with your food.

You made it with love.

You poured your passion, heart, memories into making every little thing, it’s a wonder how a person could possibly not be moved by it.

No master chief could compare to it.

And now that Eijirou is facing the possibility of never having it again, of going back and not seeing you for who knows how long, filled him with indescribable pain, like a void that you managed to fill in him is now all the more apparent. But what could he do? He had only met you today, really. With a resigned sigh, he accepted that he wouldn’t be seeing you all too soon after this.

He nodded, smiling at you slightly. Somehow, even with all the smiles he’d shown you all day, this one felt even more laced with emotion. Like the very movement was all the telling you need about how he felt.

And after that, he had dumplings.

And after, he bid you goodbye.

But not before he promised something.

“(Y/n), if I promised to be back, will you believe me ?” He asked you at the entrance of the castle just as you were about to depart.

“And if I said no, will you prove me wrong?”

“You know it, kitten. I gotta have that amazing food again and the amazing company that comes with it.”

The moonlight reflected off your eyes, making them look like gems to Eijiro. And another gem you graced him with was your smile.

Kirishima made sure that he had something tangible to remind him of the day. He decided to walk you back to town, and found a wood craft of an Autumn leaf. It was carved with a knife and coloured with colours varying from orange to yellow, also crafted with a stand. Kirishima thought it was a perfect memo of the magical fall day he had.

He kept it in his office, and looked at it every day to remind him that even though life is tough, you have to appreciate the good in it. He looked at it in the good days, the bad, and after battles.

And the next fall festival, he was back.

He stayed for longer this time, and visited a few more times throughout the year, his alliance with Bakugo still being strong.

And the one after, he brought you back with him.

……….

Bonus

Kirishima sat on the futon drowsily, having had a bit too much sake. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes looked dazed, yet they still lingered on you. You were reading a book about something Kirishima forgot. You frowned, your eyes leaving the book to look outside in contemplation.

You flipped the book, putting it aside and crawling your way to Kirishima’s side on the futon. Your eyes still seemed to be wondering with a faraway look in them.

“Eijiro, if you could do one thing right now, what would it be ?” You questioned him curiously.

Eijiro hummed in wonder, but his brain didn’t travel far.

“I could show you.”

“No, I mean like, anything-“

Eijiro cut you off by pressing his lips to your softly, stealing the words out of your mouth as they moved against yours tenderly.

“You simple fool.”

“Only for my kitten.”

Yeah, Kirishima could hypothetically do a lot of things, but at the moment, all he wanted was to enjoy the simple life with you. To cherish the little things and big.

……………

bonus 2

Bakugo walked into Kirishima’s kitchen, eyes scanning the place in search of him. He didn’t find him, but his nose found something else.

He took powerful strides towards the smell, seeing a table with some leftover food that the fool didn’t clear away yet.

He looked around, seeing no one, then took one of the chopsticks, and tried one of the dumplings you left on the table.

He nearly moaned as the sweetness hit his tongue, just the amount of sweetness he likes.

Bakugo finished the rest, a satisfied sigh leaving him. So, this is why Kirishima was so into your food, that he brought you over to make dinner.

Good for him.

Bakugo’s carmine eyes stared at the empty plate longingly, then his lips quirked down enviously. You seemed really cute too.

His eyes softened with an unfamiliar look, before hardening again, leaving the kitchen as silent as it had once been.

The End .

.......................

thanks for reading so far, hope you liked it ! don’t be afraid to comment, I always want to hear your thoughts.

coffee ?

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chernobog13 · 3 years

Text

MY FAVORITE DAY OF THE MONTH!

I’m not talking about bath day. We hates bath day, precious!

(Ahem) No, instead I’m talking about the day when my Bokksu box arrives in the mail!

For those unfamiliar, Bokksu is a monthly subscription service that sends you a box of different Japanese snacks from all over Japan.

You can get subscriptions for 3 months, 6 months, or a full year. The first box in a subscription is always the same: a delightful mix of snacks from every region in Japan. After that, the boxes follow monthly themes, containing snacks based around festivals or holidays. The box I just received is themed around the New Year’s celebration.

Each box comes with an informational pamphlet explaining the theme of the month.

You get to see the regions where the snacks you received come from. Many of the items Bokksu sends are regional, meaning they are generally only available locally, not all over the country. Bokksu sometimes includes snacks that they have made exclusively for the subscription boxes.

Each pamphlet also includes a brief Japanese lesson where you can learn some commonly used words, as well as how they are written in kanji and furigana.

The bulk of the pamphlet is a description of each and every item in that month’s box. This part is extremely helpful, as most of the packaging is written in Japanese.

I keep all the pamphlets to help me remember what I received, and so I can note items that I especially enjoyed. There have been some snacks that I’ve liked better than others, but I can honestly say there has not been anything in any of the boxes I’ve received that I did not like (I’m at the halfway point of my first yearly subscription).

At the end of the pamphlet there’s a brief explanation of various aspects of Japanese culture related to the theme of the month.

Finally, you come to the snacks themselves. They are so neatly and efficiently packed, to deliver to you the maximum number of goodies possible.

These look great. I’m going to take my time over the next few days to savor and enjoy each and every--

FIVE MINUTES LATER

(Burp!) Excuse me.

This happens every time: I eat one snack, enjoy it, and then decide to try another. Before I know it, they’re all gone.

Now I have to wait another whole month until my next Bokksu box!

Or do I?

Actually, Bokksu now has an online grocery (bokksugrocery.com) where you can order many of the snacks from the subscription boxes, as well as a bunch of other Japanese food and snack items. It’s a great service and I’ve used it several times, as my nieces keep raiding my snacks!

I know this may seem like a paid promotion, but I swear I am in no way, shape, or form affiliated with Bokksu other than as a customer. I just think it’s a great service.

It’s also a super gift for someone you know who is into Japanese culture and/or food.

If you do want to get the service for someone (or yourself), they sometimes have promotion codes where you can get up to 10% off the subscription cost. Check out Mrs. Eats on YouTube (safe for work, and very amusing) because Bokksu is one of her sponsors. I think her sign-up promotion code was EATS10.

And best of all: Bokksu has the Mammoth Kong seal of approval!

#Bokksu #Bokksu Grocery #Japanese snack #Mammoth Kong

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ruubles · 3 years

Text

A Bundle of Crimson Roses (Pt.2)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Pairings: Chuuya Nakahara x Reader

Warnings: Cursing , Alcohol , Suggestive Themes , Gore , Blood, Violence

Word Count: 7,234

“It has been quite some time since I was last in this room, four years if my memory serves me correctly.” (Y/N)’s hands entwined themselves with one another, nails digging harshly into the subtly soft skin along the back of her hand. Across the table were numerous pairs of eyes trailed along every movement as if at any moment she would seize the opportunity to kill. If it had been back before her leave, then perhaps she would’ve taken the gamble and gone for such a kill; But time has its way of weakening even the strongest of wills

“I believe you’re right. The last meeting you attended was just before you had taken the position in Russia.” There was no helping the sharp laugh that scratched through her throat, bleeding into the air as if it were a snarl from a wild beast. Ogai quirked an eyebrow as he took his rightful spot at the head of the table, it was as though he hadn’t remembered that day the same as she had.

It had been merely a week after Oda’s passing and without Dazai, Mori knew of no way to keep her ability under his control: Everyone in the Port Mafia was under high pressure with the sudden disappearance of an executive. The people under her command during that time must have informed Ogai of a sudden increase in impulsive decisions because before there was time to fix it she had been called to his office. There wasn’t room for objection when he informed (Y/N) of her new position, a reassignment to the Russian wing of the mafia effective immediately. That same night she was on a plane flying two thousand miles away from the only home she’d ever known.

That was four years ago and the most that had been heard from the boss were small orders spread thinly across the months, each one less and less specified until he had eventually stopped communication all together. It had been for the better benefits of both parties, without Ogai constantly looking over her shoulder she was truly able to help the mafia flourish and even go as far as berading the Russian Mafia into equal standing. Without the threat of her abilities looming in his ranks, Mori had taken over a large deal of the weapons smuggling in Japan which in turn had nearly doubled the yearly profits.

“Taking the position would imply that it had been offered, where I am certain it had been ordered. You hadn’t given me the choice to stay or to go before you handed me an executive order and told me to make my way to the headquarters.” Their gazes met from across the table, his eyes as cold as the continuous fall of snow that occured on a daily basis in Russia. Her words seemed to have sparked a memory in his steelin eyes, glossing them over as he recalled what the happenstance for her leave had been.

Russia wasn’t that bad of a place, it was actually quite the opposite once she had managed to sort through the chaos that was the mafia. It had only taken a month to reclaim almost all of the Far East and once that area was under her command, SIberia was quick to follow suit. Though Ural had been a warzone for a year before they managed to snuff out any traces of the Russian Mob, but by defying odds, they managed to come out of it with the lesser amount of casualties. As of now there are attempts to make connections in Volga, though it is slow moving since the mob seemed to know every move that had been planned to make. The northwestern, central, and north regions are still under the unwavering control of the mob: People loyalties didn’t seem to change even as they watched the rise in strength of the Port Mafia.

Southern Russia was a whole different tale for both sides. It was a no man's land filled to the brim with rats. No matter how long they fought with the mob, both sides had come to terms with the liabilities faced with the presence of such insullant people in what had been claimed as their land. Both could kill each other ruthlessly for months, but in the end they’d both agreed that the destruction of Dostoevsky was to come first and foremost: He posed a greater threat even with such slim numbers.

“My apology, it must have slipped my mind at some point since your departure. It was quite a hectic time for us all.” Ogai lowered his gaze, no longer holding that insufferable chill but instead what resembled some sorts of regret. For the seven years (Y/N) had been working under him, she hadn’t seen him hold such a sorrowful look since the Dragon’s Head Conflict. Even then it was more ruth than regret, he hadn’t been sorry for the lives that were lost but for those who survived to hold their memory. Ogai Mori focused on the future and honored those that had paid for it with their lives, he hadn’t time to mourn their passing.

“Hectic is an understatement. It was chaotic.” Her hands fiddled with the fork, a chunk of chocolate cake still sitting soundly on its tip. It had nearly forgotten as they’d moved to a topic she’d tried so desperately to forget. Now it seemed to be the only thing that could capture her attention. “Any word on Dazai? Last time he and I spoke was before Oda’s death and then he was gone.”

“He resurfaced two years ago working under the Armed Detective Agency.” Ogai seemed delighted to change the topic, but he wanted even more to return to why she’d been brought back to Japan. He wouldn’t be as rude as to force the conversation to go back to it but eventually they'd need to delve deeper into the issue they were facing. For now, a sense of normality should be rebuilt to keep everybody in the organization calm.

“Yukichi been giving you a hard time Ogai?” Yukichi Fukuzawa and Mori Ogai had both done a large favor for her shortly after she’d agreed to work under the mafia’s guidance, though the two fought for opposing goals. Her situation had managed to bring them to a mutual point of interest- one that brought reward for both parties involved. If it hadn’t been for their aid then both her and Isaac would likely be far different people than the ones who work so diligently to protect the few things they’d managed to so selfishly cling to for these years. “That old man is as hard headed as ever I assume. It must be difficult for any of you to make any progress in furthering your goals.”

Ogai nodded and with nimble fingers took off his gloves, the white material slipping off digit after digit to reveal the pale skin that seemed to radiate with a grim promise of light. If it wasn’t for the blood that stained them red he would surely be seen as an angel. Usually Mori preferred to keep his gloves on, but in the presence of someone who could now be considered of equal status it was more so a show of distrust. This was his motion to return the conversation to the topic that has been standing still in the room, even if we diverted the people’s ears to something else their minds would still be clouded with the possibility of losing their abilities. A simple gesture that spoke so much if you had the skill that was required to read the motions of other people. She had been taught that skill for longer than I could remember, it had become more of a curse than a blessing.

“Everyone’s been briefed on the bare minimum of the situation we’re facing and I’d like to know if you could add anything to it (Y/N).” Mori had already given as much as he knew of what they are up against and finding more was difficult to say the least. Information brokers had their loyalties but fear outweighed even the motion of getting paid for a job, but that fear gave hints as to who exactly could manufacture a drug like this one.

(Y/N) put the final piece of cake down, it had been on her fork for several minutes and yet she hadn’t found the heart to take the final bite. So many thoughts had found their way into her mind and dug into scorned memories that it made it difficult to even consider stomaching the delicious sweets from Ms.Young’s bakery.

Information was an important detail when it came to dealing with any affair, but finding any regarding this new threat would be more difficult than anyone could have thought. Assumptions made by (Y/n) always had a habit of playing out in one way or another. but with something so dangerous threatening to cut at our numbers, it was important that they worked more on fact than fiction.

“I’ve contacted seven brokers in the past twelve hours, none of them have any news on this drug you’re talking about. If it actually does exist then it’s a miracle you even found out about.” She grabbed the papers she’d brought with her and pushed the near finished plate of cake to the side. Fingers ran along the edges of the sheets filled with useless nonsense that wouldn’t help formulate even the simplest of plans. “Mori I need you to be honest with me, how did you find out about this drug.”

“One of our members got shot during a raid this week.” Her eyes moved up from the paperwork to the elder man sitting by Koyo, Ryuro Hirotsu. The black lizards were skilled members of the Port Mafia so being able to take down one of their members was an accomplishment to say the least. “Whoever manufactured that type of bullet knew what they were doing: She had completely lost her ability within five minutes of it being administered.”

“Where are they now?”

“Gone. Assassinated in her own home last night .” Everyone in the room could practically feel the anger radiating from Tachihara, his fists clenched the edge of the table as he gave his enraged answer. The Mafia was seen as cruel and heartless but even they cared for the lives of their members, their friends. Even people like (Y/N) who hadn’t found a close comrade would still take the time to learn the names and faces of those they would be working with: She herself had taken several hours to do so last night in hopes of knowing the majority of the people who would be attending this meeting.

A deep sigh rasped through her chest, chipping at the calm demeanor she’d managed to hold to since her return. Her head fell back and a loud smack was heard as it came into contact with the wooden back of the chair. Things never seemed to work out in favor of the young executive: You could see as such by the way her (E/C) eyes flickered with such hopeless pain and then returned to their usual gravely glare.

Chuuya watched his new partner with interest, his curiosity from last night now coming to a peak as he learned new bits of information about the woman who he’d only briefly spoken with. It seemed as though she was on good enough terms with Mori but that still didn’t gain his trust: In his line of work, it was important to hold his hand close to his chest as to not allow any scurrilous people to see who he’d become close with. For now he would hold his complaints with an overstrung tongue until she did what he expected from anyone who came close nowadays; Leave him to rot without a second thought as to how much of a pain it would be to fill the void they’d created.

“Have you moved the body?” Her head still remained laxed as she asked the question, addressing it to anyone who had an answer to give. It was as though such simple words had deflated her hopes, jabbing at any resilient confidence that she’d held to throughout the restless night.

“No.” Tachihara was quick to answer with a stern but simple response that left no room for doubt.

“There it is.” (Y/N) leaned forward, (H/L) hair masking her face in a cascading shadow. Her eyes trailed along the table as though she was placing pieces of a puzzle together, each one falling into its designated place as all those sitting around Mori’s table awaited her explanation. Chuuya leaned forward in anticipation to hear what this new comrade was saying. “The first lead.”

Around the table people collected their ideas and made harsh implications as to who exactly this mystery executive was. Out of the dozen people sitting solemnly in the room, only three had any prior knowledge of her and they made the correct decision not to hold a crude attitude towards her. Mori had, of course, known of (Y/N) for the longest time of the three: Having met her when she was only fifteen, several months after he’d taken the place of the former boss. Kouyou had shared little words with her but knew of her abilities to maintain such a high position in the mafia with what seemed to her as little effort. Hirotsu had merely known her name and had been tasked with keeping her under guard until this meeting, though he had ultimately failed, seeing as she managed to slip away only an hour after their first conversation.

(Y/N) pushed her chair away with a loud screech that seemed to push away the silence still filling the room. Her hands made deft work of the paper, their corners aligning in mere seconds as she ran her hands along their sides. The final piece of cake still laid untouched on the plate that now sat abandoned atop the table. Without a second glance, she turned, (E/C) eyes set sharply on the door, feet moving with gentle clicks of her heel; Her motions could be deemed practiced as she so confidently strode away from some of the most heinous criminals in the city. “Do you fear me?”

The room's quizzing thoughts seemed to come to a stop all at once, everyone’s eyes drifting back to the woman who was only inches from the door. Chuuya was prepared to follow her from the room, as they were now partners, but he stayed still with a significant interest in what she was saying. Of course she hadn’t meant to address any of those around the room as they had seen nothing of what abilities she truly possessed; Mori had.

“With your vehement skills I doubt there are many who do not fear for their life in your presence. I’ve been lucky to keep your loyalties under my reign, so I will not make the mistake of giving an answer to this question.” Mori stood, gloved hands folded behind his back in an almost arrogant manor. “I must commend how powerful you are (Y/N). Far beyond what I’d expected when I’d first had the pleasure of meeting you.”

Her laugh was gentle, like the crimson petals of a rose dripping with fresh morning dew in the fields of Elysium. It was a pleasant sound that caught any person’s ear and forced their head to her. “You are far more reserved than many of the people I’ve met in my lifetime, but I quite like that quality. Mori Ogai, may your rule over the mafia be beneficial to this city.”

Without another word, she left.

~ x ~

Chuuya hesitantly looked over to the passenger of his car, his vermillion eyes trapped by her hunched figure. (Y/N)’s eyes scanned over the passing city, lights twinkling in the gloomy darkness of the night. The two hadn’t spoken to one another since (Y/N) had made her departure from the meeting; Their current situation had come about when she’d seen Chuuya leaving and he motioned for her to join him. He’d had a plan to speak with her but the silence that followed his gracious offer had swatted away that idea near instantaneously

This scenario hadn’t gone to either of their likings, Chuuya had wanted to go alone without the burden of another partner weighing him down. Yet when he saw her standing still in the setting light, waiting for something, he had the urge to strike up what would hopefully be another exhilarating conversation. Perhaps that was his desire to know who he’d be working with in these coming days in fear that they would become someone similar to his last partner.

On the other hand, (Y/N) didn’t mind either way if he were to accompany her or not. She’d been standing before the mafia’s headquarters waiting for a car that Mori claimed would pick her up soon, but after ten minutes she’d given up hope and decided instead to join Chuuya. Personally, she’d wished to make her way to the scene as soon as she’d left the meeting, but Mori hadn’t given her the go ahead until the sun began to set. It had been an annoying situation in her opinion but with the added hours of recreational time she’d managed to check-in with the mafioso who’d taken to running the Russian portion of the Port Mafia in her absence. Everything was going according to plan, which would mean that hopefully she’d be flying back to Russia within the week.

A quiet ring fluttered through the stifling silence but neither of them made a move for their phones. Chuuya could see his dark screen, without any sign of contact from his underlings. He knew it had to be her who was receiving a call but never did she move to answer; Instead her eyes, hollow and void, stayed trailed on the passing buildings. Soon those towering works of architecture would turn to natural tree’s of a forest as they neared their destination. After several minutes, the phone’s ring stopped only to start a moment later.

Sighing, (Y/N) reached into her pocket and pulled the phone to where she could see it. Her hands made quick work to silence the ringer but she didn’t ignore the call. Instead she pressed the answer button and brought the device to her ear. “What’s up?”

“Where are you?” Isaac was quick to the point, annoyance obvious in the way his loud words stabbed through her ear. Chuuya heard mumbled shouts through the line but couldn’t quite make out what was being said. “Dinner’s ready and I’ve yet to even receive a message from you, so I’m going to make the assumption that you haven’t even left the office yet.”

“I’ve left the office.” (Y/N)’s eyed the street as Chuuya made a sharp right turn, it was a clean motion that made it clear he was well acquainted with his car. “But I don’t think I’ll be able to make it in time. Mori has me doing some recon with a new partner.”

“Are you fucking kidding me!” Isaac snapped through the phone, she could only imagine the look of anger that had likely appeared on his face from her honest claim. Her plan had been to take her time checking out the scene then be back to town in time for Isaac to take her home, but Mori had put her in a bit of disposition. Instead, it was late and she wouldn’t be back in town for a while. “If I had my ability connected to you then I’d drag you here myself, but I guess this can’t be helped. You better make it up to them though; Disappointing me is a usual occurrence for you but they deserve more than that.”

Chuuya felt a bit bad as he could see the tiredness on her face and he knew that whoever was shouting on the other end of the line wasn’t helping. He watched as she took a deep breath, chest beginning to rise and fall in a pattern. “I’ll find a way. Have a nice night.”

Not long after she’d wish him a nice night did Isaac hang up the phone, two beeps signaling the ending of the phone call. She pocketed the device and leaned into the window once more, heat from her body causing fog to slowly creep along the once clear glass. Chuuya opened his mouth as if he wanted to ask a question, but there was little he could think to say as he watched her dissociate from her surrounding environment. Part of him believed she was naive, joining him in his car without even asking a question and the way she trusted him enough to turn her back to him in such a confined space, but he didn’t see her reflection. Though the latter was far different, her eyes had been glued to his reflection in the window from the moment she’d situated herself in his passenger seat; She waited for the moment he’d make an attempt to do something, anything, but it never came.

“Thank you for the ride.” It had taken a half hour for either of them to brave past the awkwardness inside the car and her tone was quiet as if she didn’t truly want to say them, but Chuuya took the moment to continue on.

“It’s no problem, I’d just finished up some paperwork and thought you could use a ride if we’re going to the same place. We are going to the same place, right?” The sudden realization hit that he hadn’t a clue where she wanted to go and he wanted to be sure that their destination was agreed upon. “The crime scene?”

(Y/N) chuckled at his distressed words, “That would be correct.”

Once again a silence overtook the car, their momentary conversation coming to an end after only a short share of sentences. (Y/N) had taken to her phone, it's screen alight as she scrolled through what seemed to be countless messages. After several minutes of reading she began to click away a very sternly worded message to one of her subordinates. Chuuya went back to driving, his eyes ever so often glancing at his GPS to ensure he was still driving in the right direction.

“You never answered my question.” (Y/N) slammed her phone down on her lap and Chuuya pretended not to notice her obvious anger. Chuuya quirked a brow at her question, head turning to meet her (E/C) eyes in the darkness. She was obviously tired with the way her eyes sunk into her skull and the bags presented them self so sternly. “Did you enjoy the wine?”

“Oh. Yeah, I did. It was quite the bottle, didn’t think I’d be drinking anything that fancy last night.” His face turned sour at an unpleasant memory. “Also didn’t think I’d be drinking as disgusting as the one your friend offered me.”

“In Isaac’s defense, I did ask him for the shittiest bottle he had on the shelf. Apparently it’s the one he gives to people he doesn’t like.” She smiled and turned her phone over when a message made the screen turn on once again. “Might explain why he gave it to me.”

“I thought you two looked close, was my assumption of friends not correct?”

(Y/N) dropped her head, skull smacking against the headrest as she let out a bitter laugh once again. “Isaac and I are a lot more than friends, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t hate him a majority of the time. He’s quite pretentious.”

“You’re different from that woman I met last night; More uptight, scrutinous. That woman who stole my hat wouldn’t have asked a mafia boss if he was scared of her.”

“What can I say, I have many different faces. Same could be said for you Mr.Nakahara.” (Y/N) jabbed at his last name, using a formality that he didn’t truly enjoy. Not many called him by his last name, though it was seen as informal in Japan, and he preferred it that way. “You seem a lot more relaxed than when you were yelling at that young man in the hallway this morning.”

Chuuya’s face fell as he recalled this morning's events: The hangover had only heightened his senses and formed a brutal knot that attacked his head throughout the day. While on his way to the meeting he’d had a run-in with a newer mafioso who had purposely bumped shoulders with Chuuya thinking he was better than the executive himself. That had ended in quite the outburst on the executives half, it had been loud but it got the point across. Disrespect was intolerable in Chuuya’s eyes and the ache in his head had only been nurtured by the yelling he’d done, so of course his anger at the newer member only increased as the day went on. He knew it was wrong but there was little he’d have done differently.

“He was a little punk.” Chuuya grumbled.

They both fell back into a silence, but it no longer rang with an unsaid tension or insatiable curiosity. Instead it seems to flutter with a peaceful wisp of camaraderie as both parties came to a mutual understanding: Neither of them wanted to be partners but until they could find a way out of this arraignment, they might as well do the bare minimum and get along with one another. It would be better not to build any new alliances to the core of the port mafia considering as soon as this was solved, (Y/N) would be flying back to Russia and likely wouldn’t maintain contact with anyone she’d met during her time here.

Finally, after what seemed to span the length of hours, Chuuya made the final turn into a large driveway. Whoever had passed was surely paid well during their time at the mafia. The driveway was circular, encasing a large tree with withered branches that seemed to scratch the star filled sky. Two cars were parked in front of a large house that seemed to hold remnants of classical French architecture, several hints of Japanese style building melded nicely with the classical look. It stood tall, enclosed by shorter surrounding trees, but it was still welcoming; Every part of it held a feeling of home as if someone had spent their whole life building wonderful memories inside the building.

(Y/N) was the first to leave the car, not waiting for any gestures of chivalry from the man who had been kind enough to drive her so far from the city. She’d realized quite a long time ago that people would do the bare minimum to help you but would ask for the world in return. Chuuya was quick to follow her lead, hand working to take the key from the ignition before leaving his car and being sure to lock it. The two walked fairly far from one another, their eyes wandering in case there were any unwarranted guests still lurking in the area.

The steps to the front door were quickly scaled, Chuuya using an unnecessary amount of his ability to propel himself up the half a dozen stone stairs. (Y/N) took the steps in pairs and in a moment was standing beside her newly assigned partner: Her eyes began to wander along his body, gathering every bit of his appearance to her memory- from the choker wrapped snugly around his neck and down to the slight heels of his boots. A light red coated his feet for a moment before eventually dissipating; She was left to assume it was his ability, Gravity Manipulation.

She’d spent her night researching the many new people who’d been taken to working under Mori in her absence; Many of them had dark and depressing tales, but she didn’t judge for her’s wasn’t much better. Instead she took note of which part of their past might have pushed them to be considered a vain and villainous member of the Port Mafia: Motives often told if someone would inevitably betray you. Yet the most elusive of them all seemed to be her partner himself, even if he were an executive she should still have had access to any documentation of his early life. Nothing. No mention of a family, no close friends, no reason to live a life like this.

All she got from an hour of scouring documents was his ability, an address, and several mission reports that when looked at through her perspective made little to no sense. Perhaps if she had been closer with Dazai around that time frame then some parts of it would have made more sense: King of Sheep, Arahabaki, Rando. Her only connections to Dazai during those few years were their shared title of executive, several miniature missions during the Dragon’s Head Conflict, and Oda. None of it had made for long, friendly conversations; She was much like him in some ways, never attending the meetings where she might have met Chuuya, but unlike him she never was one to take to a partner or a trainee. Another person would only get in her way.

She was a shadow, faceless to all but those closest to her, feared by those who knew of her power: Mori made sure that her true identity remained furtive. One thing every person opposing the Mafia knew was that trust was never an option, it would only take a single wrong assumption before they’d be stabbed in the back by what was thought to be their friend. Once the Dragon’s Head Conflict had come to an end anybody who knew of her true identity had gone missing under what is still considered ‘Mysterious Circumstances’, of course there were several who still knew what she was capable of but those were the people that there was no need to kill: They were either an ally or to far in her past to matter during that time.

Lost in thought, she was only returned when Chuuya attempted to open the door, soon to realize that it remained locked, a disappointed groan rasped through his chest. He had thought that whoever had been here last might’ve had the common sense to leave it unlocked for when the next investigators were to arrive. The house didn’t officially have an address so supposedly the only people who knew of it were those in the mafia; Well now that list would also include whoever had taken her life. Perhaps it was best that they didn’t have a way into the building, it was very late and (Y/N) seemed to be tiring rather quickly. Chuuya was in a similar stance, his vermilion eyes sunken with the pain of an unending headache.

“Well this is a major bust.” Chuuya made a turn and began to make his way back to his car, its black nearly hiding it in the darkness of the night. After a moment he realized that the presence beside him was missing as (Y/N) still stood rooted to her spot before the large doors. The two waited in silence, Chuuya’s eyes on her and her eye’s on the door blocking her from completing the job.

(Y/N) reeled her leg back, jumpsuit clutching to every inch of her body except for her hands and face- (S/C) fingers balled into fists as she prepared for the incoming impact to the door, face rigid with seriousness but still being just as beautiful as it had been gleaming in the bar light. She was the definition of perfect with a body handcrafted by whatever god pulled the strings of life, it was strange to see how all her little imperfections came together to make something so stunning. Chuuya hadn’t time to admire any of that, instead his focus remained on the fact that she had only the need for a single kick to take the doors down. Their hinges creaked under the force before the doors well flat to the ground with a loud thud.

“No need for a door if she’s dead.” Her words would come off as heartless to anyone, but Chuuya understood what she meant by it. To the latter it was merely her way of saying that they’d come this far and without anyone living inside the building there wasn’t much of a need for a door anymore. Perhaps he should have been angry with the way that she’d worded it, so cruel to a fallen friend of his, but there wasn’t a need to strike an argument over something so trivial. He understood well enough that people in this line of work weren’t ones to usually feel remorse at the loss of a life.

She was first to enter the house, not waiting for her partner to say anything more as she set out to find the truth as to what exactly was the reason behind her return. Mori had given her little information and no broker in the city seemed to know anything so the last hope was dissecting the body of their fallen comrade. Of course she felt forlorn, she hadn’t known this woman but yet was asking her to sacrifice her body for the sake of others. (Y/N) had killed, there was no denying that, but even after all the lives she’d taken, she still wasn’t numb.

Numbness would only succumb when the light of her own eyes dwindled from its constant flicker to a mere ashy stare. Hundreds have died at her hand and she felt little remorse, but every person was like a scar- digging their scared nails across her skin as she killed without mercy. The first scratch always hurts the worst but with every new person falling to their knees before her, the pain slowly begins to fade; But it was still there, in the very depths of her mind. After so many years she might as well just be considered numb; Her dither long since gone and any guilt for the torutre she’d put people through had slowly leaked from her mind as if it were an open drain. Their lives meant little to her, only stepping stools to allow her to climb to her status at the top.

The house was dark, itching with a silence that crept along the corners in fear of being smothered by rattling steps. Chuuya noticed the uneasy air as he walked mere steps behind (Y/N), it was as though the silence itself had taken a conscious form and was preparing to strangle them in a single moment. Their steps mixed to one in a dance of paired solitude and both their breaths seemed to do the same: In seperate bodies they became one to make the sounds of their presence near indistinguishable. In that moment their minor disagreements had faded and they became a team made in heaven but fallen to the hellish life of the mafia. If anyone were to still be in that house then their life would likely soon be ended.

(Y/N) was the first to come to the end of the hall, her steps coming to a halt in a matter of seconds as she scanned the large open area. The hall they passed through had only been twenty paces through the door, meaning that whoever had broken in to commit the crime had either been very quiet or came in via a different route. They had passed several doors along their way but nothing inside them had caught her attention; An office in pristine shape with papers stacked high atop its glimmering wooden surface, a closet only half full of shoes and clothing that likely belonged to a mixture of genders, and a bathroom with a set of standard mission clothes laying on its tile floor. In her mind (Y/N) could see what had happened that night: She had entered her home and quickly stripped from her blood soaked clothing, as for the rest she would likely find more the further she explored the house.

Whoever this woman had been, she had quite the taste in architecture. The hall led into an area that seemed to act as a living room of sorts, a couch and television situated by a large wall of windows. On the other side of the glass was a large garden with paths leading further into the depths of its secrets. To the left was a floating staircase that led to the second story and to the right was a kitchen, only separated from the living room by a marble island.

“I’ll search upstairs and you can take it down here.” Chuuya pushed by (Y/N) as he spoke, his voice low enough so that only she could hear. He doubted that anyone was still in the house, even if there were then they likely knew of their presence, but being cautious in these times would not only keep himself safe but his partner as well. “If you need help then don’t be afraid to call.”

He didn’t wait for a response as he climbed the stairs and disappeared into the depths of the darkness. Standing alone in the center of the house made her surroundings feel so much larger, the space behind her was no longer radiated with warmth. Upstairs she could hear the creak of the floorboards as Chuuya walked down the halls, (Y/N) focused her sights on the kitchen and slowly crept over. Her hand ran along the smooth white walls and finally, upon stepping foot on the kitchen tiles, she felt the light panel beneath her fingers.

She flipped the switch and the light hanging from the ceiling lit the room with a brightness that not even the moon could provide at this hour. Without the darkness lingering through the air (Y/N) was finally able to properly see the area around her. It was sparkling and clean, pristine as though it had been cleaned thoroughly the day before. No blood, no body, and certainly no danger. It was almost peaceful.

Almost.

(Y/N) could see the splatter of blood drenching the cushions of the light gray sofa, the red looked almost black from so far away but she knew the truth behind it. When blood is dried then it darkens and the stain is likely to never be clean from the surface. The woman had rid herself of her blood stained clothes and used a towel to wash away the visible streaks on her skin (It was impossible to erase the ones along her soul) and had rested upon the couch to recuperate from such a burdensome mission; Then she had been killed. Mori had said the body would be covered with a sheet in preparation of dissection, but yet there was no sheet in sight.

Someone had been here long before their arrival, and that person was no friend of the mafia. Whoever had come here and disturbed the scene had taken the body as to prevent any information from being extracted: With the blood having been left out for so long there was likely little remaining information to be collected from it. The body was gone and so were any of the leads that had been left with it. The only hope they had now was if those that had discovered the body before them had been wise enough to at least collect some samples of their DNA.

(Y/N) sighed and left the kitchen, light still fluttering throughout the bottom most floor of the house. Her feet clicked gently against the wooden floors as she slowly walked towards the blood stained couch. The blood clashed violently with the white cushions and it was obvious that her death had been the cause of blood loss, one large pool and several surrounding droplets proposed the idea of a knife wound rather than a gunshot.

She turned away from the stain in an almost defensive manner and scanned the rest of the area, eyes clawing through the darkness searching for something that wasn’t quite there. “Did you find anything down here?”

“Missing body. Cause of death likely a knife wound.” Chuuya jumped down the last two steps and stalked towards her, hands in his pocket. He walked past her and to the couch, his hand trailing along the top of the cushion and down to the stain.

“You figured all of that out from a couple of blood stains?” He nearly chuckled at the confidence that laced itself through her analyses.

“If it were poison there wouldn’t have been a blood stain. Gunshot wounds would be more splattered and less centered around a focal point. Whether it be a stab or a slice across the neck, a knife would cause the blood to drip to a specific point. It’s simple enough logic.” (Y/N) wasn’t paying attention to Chuuya as she spoke, her explanation dripping methodically from her mouth as her (E/C) eyes locked onto something.

The back doors gleamed with reflections of the kitchen's light, but through that bright light were shadows. Dark and dripping with mystery they encased the gazebo in an unnatural darkness. Chuuya continued to talk about what they were to do now, but his words fell on deaf ears as (Y/N)’s hand reached for the door handle. With one hard pull the door slid to the side and made an opening more than large enough for her to pass through. It seemed as though Chuuya hadn’t noticed as he continued to look around the lower floor to look at the stains on the couch.

With little hesitation, (Y/N) left the warmth of the house's walls and stepped into the cold breeze of the autumn outdoors. Her shoes had a different click as they went from the hardwood floor to a pathway of large rocks. The backyard was large and spiraled with countless flowers that danced in the moonlight, hundreds of bushes that still seemed to bloom even in the coming winter. Rows of Lilacs scatter around, their purple clashing violently with the numerous roses bushes scatter about, the red petals dancing with the color of blood and making (Y/N) cringe. They were such beautiful flowers, but they lulled people in with their beauty and then painted their petals red with their victims blood.

The closer she stepped to the gazebo, the more she noticed the shadows retreating as her eyes adjusted to the environment. Finally she was able to see what she had actually caught sight of from the house.

A head, severed from its body laid in a small pool of dried blood, far less than there should have been. It was clear that the head was from the victim, her long hair was matted with blood and the area where her neck met the concrete had gnarled skin and cuts that had scabbed with dried blood. Her eyes were open, glossed over as though she were still alive and trapped in a trance. Her mouth was slightly agape, trails of blood running from the corners of her mouth and down her face.

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