#would you rly feel the same way if the roles were reversed be honest

[sn33z3s]

a fictional character headcanon’d as a gay man (in fan art drawn by a gay man) calling himself “mommy” is deeply problematic but the same character’s trauma and abuse being seen as passable so that he can be coupled with the source of his trauma and abuse is okay. because it’s just fictional.

[icharchivist]

hello icha!! i finally got around to finishing the stranger haha,, by which i mean i just watched it today. was veryyyy excited for it as i really like the poster design for this one. anyways. this event starting w/ the sort of portrait format or whatever / that narration is like. god. threw me right back to autumn troupe. I kind of love that the storytelling format itself is so distinct for autumn! the moment I realized it was omi I started getting teary… like oh man oh man… omi…. And the connection with him taking photos! ahh!! now that I think about it… omi kind of seems a bit like early version tsumugi, huh? also I keep forgetting this man is a college student lol. suspension of disbelief I suppose. onto the play i think like. mankai should invest in a fainting courch for tsuzuru. i also went to watch the play and 1) im betting yuki had a hell of a time costume design wise like the vines on the body? such fun costuming wise and 2) the ethical implications of whatever this play has,,, fun fun. tsuzuru was clearly having some kind of thoughts. i love zeros design and am always up for a3 characters crossdressing bc 1) i think its fun and 2) the costume design. i also dearly wish this whole thing was animated bc I feel like it’d be o fun to see taichi act as zero. or at least I hope this event gets full voiced one day... moving on to the scene where omi adds soy sauce to the paella I know it’s just like haha homare funny so lets five him a lil bit but like everyone in autumn troupe making their comments on the paella and like homare just jumping in. homare autumn troupe besties. just thinking. also the way they just r like. no no no omi it’s fine if u made a mistake!! it’s ok! we like it (you) anyways <3 it’s got it’s own special taste. something something omi’s perfectly pleasant as he is now but even if he weren’t on his a-game and was dealing with all of the biker gang stuff they would love him just as hard. another thing that got me was omi telling banri that he’ll give him something sweet so juza will stop grinding his teeth in his sleep… guys… guys you’ll give him cavities…. mb omi is a college student after all lol.

anyways when i saw the actual costumes. appreciative of them, i like the lil circuit-esque detailing on banri’s outfit, and that sakyo and taichi (nine and zero) both share that like collar detail? its very symbolic and probably also literal but its a nice way to sort of signify their relation to each other visually! also sakyo just looks nice. seeing him without glasses is so great. whoever thought up the like two mole detail for him was doing gods work.

something that confused me was ryo mistaking juza for nachi for a split second? like. does juza… look similar to nachi? or was it just that ryo only heard juzas voice and made that mistake. if it’s appearance wise too. kumon nachi confirmed. I’m joking lol bc I feel like I would’ve heard at least something abt it in one of the like small conversation comments, plus that doesnt seem like itd fit summer troupes style and kumon is for sure the wrong age… but still.

i really like how for this event, the roles for taichi and omi were kinda reversed. and taichis just so like. idk. smiley. rly lifts ur spirits. its kind of nice how this event contrasts to that cg where taichi is crying on omi. I also think like. idk. considering the story of the stranger. wolf gives zero a sense of purpose and life and I think that zero helps wolf lose his apathy. it’s about “the stranger” and the ending makes him like… not a stranger, right? because he’s got a companion. in the same way, taichi brings omi out of his emotional isolation. the picture taking! also the stickers coming back… thats such a good setup! the found family of it all!!

when he was trying to work out zeros character as soon as taichi mentioned a sharp speaking style I KNEW it was Yuki… yuki would never be as honest as zero is though lol… to me i imagine she’s got a sort of juza internal monologue feel? anyways. the taichi yuki dynamic intrigues me. havent yet decided how I feel abt it but when I do… yes. sorry that I make literally no sense. I think it’s very obvious that yuki is my fav chara kind of? I’m just. hmmm it makes me think! I’ve been monologuing to myself abt the yuki and juza dynamic lately which, to my a3 knowledge so far, doesn’t exist, but its ok bc I’ll make it exist! uhhh anyways this event was very good i liked the pacing. i think it didnt drag too hard and it really properly honed in on just omi and taichi, which was quite nice. they really did a lot for just an event!

time to listen to the event song,,, ok so. ah. i rly enjoyed just for myself it was very much to my taste so. out of curiousity i was like ok lemme look up the composer / producer AND IT WAS YUYOYUPPE....... that guy is like!!!! one of my FAV producers ever!!!!!! i know him from like. his vocaloid days and god leia is still one of my fav songs to this day...! this knowledge gives me so much joy omg!!! like wow!! wowwww!!! like i knew yuyoyuppe was out there doing other stuff (i know he worked on a lot of babymetal music which is cool) but like idk. to suddenly encounter it like this. heheh.... its so nice! made me soooo happy. going to relisten to leia now haha

WAIT ONE MORE THING. i was like "haha let me look at other songs i remember liking a lot" which. for me was rakuen oasis and don't cry. anyways. rakuen oasis is ALSO by yuyoyuppe???? oh my god!!! oh my god... sigh. feel like im in heaven.

OH HI FRIEND!! so good to see you with an a3 update!! :D

godd yeah The Stranger started so strongly and the idea to still incorporate portraits in his story was really something to make us cry!

And linking Omi and Tsumugi like this is pretty interesting :O <hat is your reasoning exactly? :O

For the fainting couch for Tsuzuru LMAO and i'm letting you know there's a webcomics that addresses it in Act 2 (hough there's no spoilers aside from the fact Chikage is here)

Im glad you liked the costume and the play!!! yeah i love the designs and it is always a blast to see them this into it, and yeaaah Tsuzuru has thoughts huh. It'll get voiced sooner than later hopefully and there we'll see more in details :3c but also that's what made the seiyuu live so fun bc they perform the songs in play cosplay and replay a bit of the play everytime and it's *chief kiss*

HOMARE AUTUMN TROUPE SOLIDARITY YES. LOVING IT.

And yeah the scene itself was so cute TwT they all want to reassure Omi and be there for him it's so sweet :( but yeah i love how you say it all, Omiimi TwT

and dLKFJDFLKJFDFD Giving Juza cavities is the price to pay for sleep i guess??

yeah agreed on the costume they all look so cool! and nice catch on how those three seem linked like that with their costumes, Yuki (and the designers) does such a good job! and god yeah for Sakyo.. yeah. He has sucha good design dLKJFDF

aND DLKFJD yeah no Juza is supposed to look like Nachi physically, but mostly his face? like i think Nachi was had green hair? we see a sprite of him in a future story, and yeah, everything is in the eyebrows. so Kumon should be safe? Omi mentions he sees a lot of Nachi in Juza, and while it is mostly due to their passions i think, the fact they're also rough looking guy with a heart of gold must play a part as well. but yeah, he does look like Nachi a bit.

and i love your deeper analysis of the event yeah!!

I feel like Taichi is really an emotional core of the troupe in the sense that is, he tends to catch on what others are feelings easily. And he uses it in the early chapters to ease off the tensions and stuff, but he was being held back by knowing he was deceiving them. So now that he's more free, he can be more of himself. but yeah i also love the contrast with how Omi was the one to help Taichi through his breakdown and guilt, and now it's the other way around, it's Taichi helping him through it. and the parallelism between the play and their dynamic is spot on imo! well said!!

and god yeah the sticker things made me cry sO HARD, and the pictures! and everything!! sobs it's such a sweet found family i'm going to cry :(

And! i love what you say about Yuki, Taichi and Juza on this one. I love that Taichi keeps bringing it back to "that childhood friend" and it's always like. so obvious who it is for us rip. But it can make you wonder if Yuki was more honest as a kiddo when Taichi knew him, though now he's clearly not. I love the mention of how Zero is more like Juza's internal speech (which, if anything is another argument about why you should let Juza wear a dress, cOWARD)

but also your mention of the Yuki and Juza thing, while i can't think of them having a dynamic per se yet, but i actually wrote a post during my reread about how i was baffled at the fact they treated Muku the same way?? like both of them tried to push Muku away because they were scared of how people would react if they say pure, sweet Muku was associated to them. And i find it fascinating because i guess those two are pretty aware of how the world see them, and it used to stop them from fully allowing them to be themselves.

I also find it relevant with the fact Yuki says in his personal song that while all of this way people judge him weight on him, he rather be himself, and "I want to love myself". Meanwhile we have Juza who's also aware of the way people judge him and it weight on him, and he wants to change himself from this person he hates, this self loathing - and in a way, he can grow in a way to be "someone" he may not hate, even on stage. I feel like those two have quite a bit in common in this way of being rejected by their peers in some sort of way.

I really want them to share some stuff at some point because there's really a groundwork on it all :(

But i'm really glad you liked that event!! agreed on the pacing and i do love what it brings to the characters! it really fleshes them out and have them move forward a little and it's pretty sweet.

AND OMG THAT'S SO COOL FOR THE SONG!! i'm so glad you liked it, but that's incredible it turned out to be from one of your fav producer!!! ahah sometimes life is like that where you end up finding the stuff you loved back into new stuff! and the fact Rakuen Oasis was from him as well... that's so cool!!! just, so so cool!

im pretty sure he has more songs going forward so i hope you'll enjoy the ride even more!!

thank you once again for sharing your thoughts about a3 :3c it always makes me so happy to see them!!!

Thank youu <3 have a good day :3c

[morievna]

Mafuyu, rings and leadership

Time for another round of speculation :D

On mix_1 cover there certain interesting detail – both Mafuyu and Hiiragi are wearing rings. What is more interesting is that they are wearing them on this same finger (index finger) though different hands (left for Mafuyu and right for Hiiragi). Of course, it could be simply token of friendship, but since I am person who likes digging into symbolism and stuff like that I had to check it XD

And you know? It fits quite good:

The index finger is closely associated with confidence and ability to lead a group. It makes sense that it's the pointer finger, because it indicates the ability to point out truths, succinctly share ideas and communicate with others. Wear a ring on your dominant hand's index finger when you're working with a team, and your leadership abilities will funnel out to everyone in the group. When you're having a tough time speaking up, wear a ring on your non-dominant hand's index finger to open yourself to the idea that you, too, can be a leader.

[source]

While Hiiragi is literally leader of his band, Mafuyu is driving force for Given too. Without him Given would be just good instrumental band, but with vocalist they became popular for real. The way his songs resonated not only with audience but with bandmates too – during practices of his songs, we see that all of them were being motivated and inspired by him. That too caused change in Mafuyu – thanks to being among people who support him no matter what, he started to learn how to express himself and look out for others. Gradually we see how he stops being passive and starts to take actions. He tries his best in relationship with Ritsuka and works on communication. While at beginning he is more clueless about others, we see how he is becoming more observant - he is no longer only focused on his pain, but begins to notice that others have similar experiences and that he is not alone in this. While he doubted his skills at first, he slowly becomes more confident and has clear vision what feelings he want to convey with his second song. After all his second song is not only about him accepting Yuki’s death and founding new love, but also wanting to help others who are lost like he was. And by all of this he is pulling others alongside him to grow up and move forward.

Of course, I don’t mean it the way that he will become literal leader – rather spiritual one. Think of it as the way where his character development is leading. All traits he is evolving are matched with those associated with leadership:

Right now Given as a band is in interesting position – all members except for Mafuyu are simultaneously working on another projects (supporting other bands like Ritsuka and Haruki, playing violin like Akihiko). I think Mafuyu will have central role and will be the one to keep others at balance. While he is having currently second thoughts about music, I think that losing CAC will only strengthen his dedication to music.

Like I mentioned in my first meta I believe that Given will have 3-act structure. Quoting Wikipedia again:

The third act features the resolution of the story and its subplots. The climax is the scene or sequence in which the main tensions of the story are brought to their most intense point and the dramatic question answered, leaving the protagonist and other characters with a new sense of who they really are.

In stories usually we have all characters meeting and working towards common goal at the end. My theory is that we will see some sort of collaboration between Given and Hiiragi’s band with Mafuyu at the center. This would bring all characters together and could result in interesting interactions and clash between personalities like we already got with Hiiragi and Ritsuka.

I think we will see callbacks to first volumes too – after all there is certain violinist, who is in similar position as Mafuyu at beginning of story – lonely and disconnected from outside world. I think that knowing similarities between them Mafuyu will try to help Ugetsu the same way it helped him - by making him going out of his hideout and playing music together with other people as band. On my wishlist is seeing them singing in a duet XD I think Ugetsu’s arc will end similar to Mafuyu’s that he will be more open and honest about his feelings with others and will get love back in his life. And all of this would cause for Mafuyu to look at his beginning from different  perspective and appreciate even more help that got from others.

Honestly I also always wanted to see reverse scene between Akihiko and Mafuyu from chapter 8– it was rich coming from Akihiko to tell some else to make peace with past, while he is so entangled in it himself. It’s not like I think of him as hypocrite, but while rereading this scene I had O RLY moment, so I want him to be call out on this XD After all it is quite peculiar that after chapter 17 there is almost no interaction between them, so I think Natsuki-sensei is saving something meaty for later.

Finally, Mafuyu working on Yuki’s song together with all people he cares about would be great to fulfill this wish in different way. I think it would cause him making peace with past – this apply to Hiiragi as well. Both of them want to be forgiven and need to forgive themselves. Performing Yuki’s song together at festival would feel like catharsis – even more powerful than first live performance.

I think that it would be great for final act of story, don’t you think? Of course it is just my speculation, but I think it would work great. And by the way narrative structure, where first part mirrors final one is called often ring composition ;)

As always thanks for reading.