#yep it’s a meme within a meme

[idrawgaystffs]

Working on something right now but- heh

[empty-movement]

Musical Utena ~ Blooming Rose of Deepest Black EVERYTHING

Oh, hey! Did you like what I did with the 2018 Musical Utena ~ Bud of the White Rose? With the posting a script, lyrics to the main banger, and links to download the everything I ever did about it?

I'm back to bring you all that tasty kibble, but for the sequel that followed the next year!

Musical Utena ~ Blooming Rose of Deepest Black EVERYTHING

You've asked, like, a lot a lot, and finally I answer! You want the script? You want some goofy memes and meta? You want to download (check the thread!) both the original crunchy streams on top of the Blu-ray, but also the soundtrack I made? Wanna read the translated program? The interview with Ikuhara and Yoshitani? Wanna see all the bromides? Yep, like last time I even collected the Twitter behind the scenes images.

Once again a massive undertaking both originally and in pulling together the script, which again, I did live on the subtitles, so I never actually made a script I could just copy and paste to show y'all! Well! Here it is!

Also, yes, I know you wanna see the banger's lyrics:

Two Worlds a Mirror Apart 鏡分ケる二つノ世界​ Kagami Wakeru Futatsu no Sekai​

KOZUE: With your sword, cleave into two…​ その剣により鋭く区切られた​ Sono ken ni yori surudoku kugirareta​ MIKI: ...the light and the dark reflected within the mirror...​ 鏡の中の光と闇​ Kagami no naka no hikari to yami​ SHIORI: The chosen live on, embraced by the light...​ 選ばれた者は光に包まれた生者​ Erabareta mono ha hikari ni tsutsumareta seija​ JURI: …while the rest are left for dead in the dark.​ 選バレヌ者ハ闇ノ中ノ死者 ​ Erabarenu mono ha yami no Naka no shisha​ WAKABA: The one you seek in the mirror...​ 鏡の中を探しても​ Kagami no naka wo sagashite mo ​ WAKABA: ...will never find a path to you...​ あの人は帰ってこない​ ano hito ha kaettekonai​ SAIONJI: ...so smash it...​ 鏡ヲ壊シテ​ Kagami wo kowashite​ SAIONJI: ...and make your own way to their side.​ アノ人ノモトへ​ ano hito no moto e​ NANAMI: You are illuminated...​ 光君は確かに僕の​ Hikaru kimi ha tashika ni boku no​ NANAMI: ...standing right here before me.​ 前に存在している​ Mae ni sonzai shiteiru​ EVERYONE: This is no illusion, so grasp my hand now...​ 幻想じやない僕の手を握っていて​ Gensou janai boku no te wo nigitteite​ EVERYONE: ...and let my warmth make its way to you.​ 触れた手のぬくもりが証明している​ Fureta te no nukumori ga shoumei shiteiru​ EVERYONE: Please, never let me go.​ ねえだからもうこの手を離さないで​ Nēdakara mou kono te wo hanasanaide​

MAMIYA: You are shrouded by an enveloping darkness...​ すぐ目の前の闇が君を包み込んで​ Sugu me no mae no yami ga kimi wo tsutsumikonde​ MIKAGE: ...feeling as though you'll vanish into nothing...​ 消してしまう気がするから​ Kesshite shimau ki ga suru kara​ AKIO: ...consumed by the light...​ スグ目ノ前ノ光ノ​ Sugu me no mae no hikari no​ AKIO: ...that has reached out to touch you.​ 君ヲ包モウトシテモ​ Kimi wo tsutsumou to shite mo​ EVERYONE: Hold on, and don't lose heart...​ 決シテシマエナイ心ニ​ Kesshite shimaenai kokoro ni​ ANTHY: Though in darkness, I know...​ 闇ノ僕ハ確カニ​ Yami no boku ha tashika ni ​ ANTHY: ...you're standing here before me.​ 君ノ前ニ存在シテルケド​ Kimi no mae ni sonzai shiteru kedo​ UTENA: None of this is real, so grasp my hand now…​ 現実ジャナイ僕ノ手ヲ握ッテミテ​ Genjitsu janai boku no te wo nigitteite​ EVERYONE: ...and never forget...​ 触レタ手ノ温モリハ​ fureta te no nukumori ha​ EVERYONE: ...my warmth will make its way to you.​ 忘レテイナイ​ wasureteinai​ EVERYONE: Please, never let me go.​ ネェダケドモウコノ手ニ触レラレナイ​ Nē dakedo mou ko no te ni furerarenai​ EVERYONE: These are two worlds, a mirror apart.​ 鏡分ケる二つノ世界​ Kagami wakeru futatsu no sekai​

​(Thanks to Nagumo and cowtown for help with the romanization!)

[pretzel-box]

Hiya! Im the anon that requested fir male reader that’s similar to Sebastian which was LOVELYYYY 10000000/10!

Now i have two ideas (?) You know that meme where we’re in his shop and out of no where either a baby wall dweller or a mini Sebastian pops up crying and he asks us if we wanna buy it? WELLL

1.) Male Experiment Reader that’s similar to Sebastian is roaming around the facility since we’re his assistant and find a baby experiment that’s like him and Sebastian

2.) An expendable stumbles upon an area deep within the facility with Male reader that is one of Sebastian’s sibling in a pod that is a completely different monster

3.) Another idea is that we’re pretty much chill with every single entity in the facility and Sebastian is beyond confused

These are just little ideas I came up during with! Also love your octoboy fics! Also could I be 🍀 anon? Have a good day, night, or afternoon!

Tags: Can be read as GN reader! Reader being besties with entities/j

Words: 1k

Authors Note: Ofc! Welcome 🍀 Anon!! ♡

Sebastian leaned against the wall of his dimly lit shop, tapping one of his arms against the rough surface. His fluorescent blue eyes scanned the shelves stacked with scavenged goods, but his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about you.

You, with your impossibly calm demeanor, even in the darkest corners of the facility. It wasn’t the most comforting place to be—a labyrinthine nightmare filled with creatures most people couldn’t begin to understand. Yet somehow, you navigated it all with an almost baffling nonchalance.

The chime of the shop vent opening interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up to see you stroll in, as casual as ever. Your relaxed gait was at odds with the usual tension that gripped everyone who set foot in the shop. You were different, though, and Sebastian still couldn’t wrap his head around it, trying to make sense of your weird behaviour.

“Hey, Seb,” you greeted, sliding onto one of the stools at the counter. “Found a new stash of batteries in Door 30. Thought you might like some.”

Sebastian blinked his three eyes at you, still trying to fathom how you could be so calm. “Yeah, thanks,” he replied, taking the batteries from you. “But… you were at Door 30? Alone?”

You shrugged, a lazy grin spreading across your face. “Yeah. I mean, it’s just Pandemonium’s turf, right? No big deal.” You waved it off, seemingly unbothered.

Sebastian nearly dropped the batteries. “Pandemonium?” he echoed, his voice a mix of disbelief and concern. “And you’re just… standing here, like you didn’t almost get torn apart?”

You chuckled, leaning back against the wall, watching the shopkeeper. “Oh, Pandemonium? Yeah, it showed up. Big creepy shadow thing, right? It did that whole ‘screaming at the top of its lungs’ bit, tried to smash through a wall, but I just told it to chill out.”

Sebastian’s mouth fell open. “You… told Pandemonium to ‘chill out’? And it worked?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” you said, still smiling. “It just kind of… stopped, you know? I don’t think it’s used to people not freaking out. Then it slunk back into the darkness.”

Sebastian shook his head, still trying to process your words. “I don’t get it. Every other person who’s seen Pandemonium has barely made it out alive, and you’re just… hanging out with it?”

You chuckled again. “I wouldn’t say we’re hanging out. More like… coexisting. Besides, it’s not just Pandemonium. Ran into Angler, too.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened even further. “Angler? The one that rushes through the room and kills people left and right?!”

You nodded, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “Yep. Caught me off guard at first, but I just told it I wasn’t looking for an fight and that I just wanted to see what it was all about. It seemed confused at first, but after a while, it just swam off.”

Sebastian leaned forward, his curiosity piqued. “You’re telling me… that Angler, the creature that literally lures people to their deaths, just left you alone because you weren’t looking for an fight?”

“Pretty much,” you replied, a grin still plastered on your face. “I guess they’re not used to people who don’t want to run away or fight them.”

Sebastian stared at you, a mixture of admiration and bewilderment in his eyes. “How do you do it?” he finally asked. “How are you so… calm around them?”

You shrugged. “I dunno, man. I guess I just don’t see the point in being scared all the time. They’re just doing their thing, you know? And as long as you don’t get in their way, they’re not that bad.”

Sebastian shook his head, still unable to fully comprehend your attitude. “You’re one of a kind, you know that?”

You chuckled, leaning back on the stool. “Maybe. But I think you’re just as unique, Seb. Not many people would run a shop in a place like this, selling supplies to people who barely make it out alive.”

Sebastian smirked, finally relaxing a bit. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But someone’s got to do it.”

The two of you shared a quiet moment, the tension in the shop easing into something almost like camaraderie. For once, Sebastian felt like maybe there was some sense to this strange, chaotic world. At least, as long as you were around.

Just then, a low growl echoed from the front of the shop on the other side of the vent, and the shadows seemed to stretch and writhe. Sebastian tensed, his tail flicking in anticipation. “Looks like we’ve got company,” he muttered.

But you just grinned, standing up and cracking your knuckles as you prepared yourself for another monster interaction. “Relax, Seb. It’s probably just Pandemonium again. I’ll handle it.”

Sebastian watched as you casually walked toward the vent and the shifting shadows, his three eyes following your every move. Despite everything he had seen, he couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of calm watching you. Maybe, just maybe, your way of looking at things wasn’t so crazy after all.

As the shadows closed in, you held up a hand and spoke in that calm, easygoing tone of yours. “Hey, Pandemonium, long time no see. How about we keep things chill today, yeah?” Your voice wasn't hesitating at all and Sebastian could hear how chill you were about the whole thing as if it's a natural thing to tell your death reason to chill out for a day.

The growling seemed to subside, and the shadows stopped moving, as if considering your words. Sebastian shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips. Maybe there was more to this place than just danger and fear. Maybe, with you around, there was even room for a little peace.

“Unbelievable,” Sebastian muttered to himself, not able to believe it and yet still smiling. “Absolutely unbelievable.”

And as he watched you stand there, unafraid and unfazed, he couldn’t help but feel just a little bit safer, knowing you were on his side.

[deadboydetectives-anonmeme]

Welcome to the Dead Boy Detective Anonmeme!

That's right, there is now a Dead Boy Detective Anonmeme up and running!

What is an anonmeme? An anonmeme (also know as a 'kinkmeme' or 'prompt meme') is where a person posts prompt (basic plot set up), and another user fills this request with either a piece of fan art or a fanfic.

Are NSFW prompts welcome? Yep, prompts of all kind are welcome on the DBD Anonmeme. This includes any pairing (or no pairings), NSFW, SFW, AUs, fix-its, and anything else you can think of! There are no right or wrong prompts.

Do I need an account to use the Anonmeme? Nope! You can leave prompts on the Dreamwidth meme without an account. You can also send them via Tumblr, and I will post it on Dreamwith for you.

What is this blog for? This blog works as a crossover platform for all prompts, both on Tumblr and Dreamwidth to show them to a wider audience. This means if you send a prompt via Tumblr, I will also post it to Dreamwidth, and vice versa.

Are there any rules? Yes, but just basic ones. However, as Tumblr and Dreamwidth work differently, there are some rules on Dreamwidth I won't go over here; please read the Rules and Guidelines page on Dreamwith before prompting on there.

1. Be clear in your prompt. If you want something, say it. If you don't want something, say it. 2. Spoiler warn for new episodes. 3. Do not repost/resubmit a prompt within 2 weeks - and only if the prompt is unfilled. If you resubmit a filled prompt, your submission will be deleted, so please check the original post first as reblogged versions will not be updated.

Quick Links:

Dreamwidth Anonmeme (Open)

Submit prompt via Tumblr (Open)

Submit prompt via AO3 (Open [Nov 2024 - July 2025])

Information about AO3 Prompt Meme Challenge

Tumblr Tag Index (Updated once a week)

Bluesky: DBDA_Anonmeme (Used to announce complete fills only)

This post will be pinned, and will be the meme mod will put all meme updates. Please read any updates below the 'subject to change' line before sending in asks.

—————ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE—————

Tag pages last updated: November 17

Archive of our Own Prompt Meme Challege now open -> HERE <-

Gentle reminder that reblogging prompts will give them a better chance of being filled.

—————#SAVEDEADBOYDETECTIVE INFORMATION—————

WANT TO HELP #SAVEDEADBOYDETECTIVES?

Check out Save Dead Boy Detectives

Sign the petition [Currently at: 20k signatures (as of Nov 12)]

Donate to the Dead Boy Detectives Billboard GoFundMe [Goal Met]

Keep being loud on social media using the hashtags: → #SaveDeadBoyDetectives → #AsTheFrenchSayMerde [Weekly Hashtag: 18 November - 1 Dec]

[tiredsmashbros]

🍔 TIREDSMASHBROS INTRODUCTION

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ W E L C O M E ! ! 🍔🍟🥤

🌿 howdy! my name is tomm + tsb + tired. i use both he/him and they/them pronouns. i'm queer, demiboy + pan + aroace spectrum, and i am an adult, twenty-one ; jan. 10.

🪵 i'm a comic, furry, and multi-fandom artist. i specialize in digital art primarily, minor wood handcrafts, bracelets, or play on my silly harmonica. currently senior year in college.

🌻 i struggle with dyslexia, i apologize in advance for any minor grammar errors! i'm a bit slow responding to responses + mentions so i'd appreciate some patience!

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ F A N D O M S ! ! 🍔🍟🥤

SHOWS / FILMS 📺; {bold = fixated atm} ↳ my little pony, south park, animaniacs, looney tunes, mickey mouse, ducktales, felix the cat, bluey, total drama island, grojband, danvs, regular show, gravity falls, ninjago, teenage mutant ninja turtles, moomin valley, how to train your dragon, centuarworld, dragon ball, one piece, naruto, fullmetal alchemist, jojo's bizarre adventures, hlvrai, khonjin house, eddsworld, helluva boss, hazbin hotel, lackadaisy, trolls, better call saul/breaking bad, smg4, meta runner, murder drones, fairy oddparents: a new wish, popee the performer, the great gatsby, holes, the sixth sense, kingsman, matilda, beetlejuice, deadpool and wolverine

VIDEO GAMES 🎮 ; {bold = fixated atm} ↳ minecraft, five night at freddy's, cuphead, super mario bros, sonic, undertale, bendy and the ink machine, poppy playtime, baldi's basic, garten of banban, cult of the lamb, friday night funkin, pizza tower, parappa, amanda the adventurer, choo choo charles, epic mickey, rabbits, spyro, rayman, duck season, billie bust up, genshin, wuthering waves, god of war: ragnarok, red dead redemption

NOVELS + COMICS / MANGA 📚 ; { bold = fixated atm} ↳ scott pilgrim, warrior cats, garfield, charlie brown, ganbare nakamura-kun, heartstopper, goosebumps series, mashle, usagi yojimbo, promised neverland, beastars, show-ha shoten, gokurakugai, + above

MISC ; {bold = fixated atm} ↳ dawko, matpat, fuhnaff, coryxkenshin, dashiexp, isaacwhy + the group chat, (yep) the boys, sam and colby, cg5, peso pluma, welcome home, sherlock & co

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ C O M I C S ! ! 🍔🍟🥤

MARIO COMICS 🍄 ↳ DONE mario and luigi superstars ; sketch comic ↳ NEW !! DONE bowuigi rewritten ; sketch comic SMG4 COMICS 🧢 ↳ DONE smg34: lip bite prologue {part one} ↳ DONE smg34: lip bite : chapter one {part two} ↳ WIP [HAITUS] !! smg34: lip bite : chapter two {part three}

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ T S B : S M G 4 A U ! ! 🍔🍟🥤

🍔 my smg4 oc, TSB! a yellow, white, blue, burger-loving, cartoon individual with a propeller hat who's beloved for his silly, looney, and mania personality. stick around and attempt to uncover the mysterious lore hidden within this animated maniac! if you want to know more, check out his tags, comics, and spotify playlist !!

#tsb official ↳ all official art and posts made by me #tsb / emmet eggs + #pipedream + #tsari + #tsmg4 ↳ characters + ships #tsb askbox + #tsb theory + #tsb memes ↳ misc content ↳ official tsb reference sheet + official emmet reference sheet

↳ comic tsb: strange, unpredictable, dangerous ↳ comic tsb: smg4, why don't you trust tsb with tari? ↳ comic tsb: outfit change w/ mr. puzzles ↳ fanfic tsb: happy birthday, bluejay [2k] ↳ comic tsb: painting tutorial ↳ NEW !! fanfic tsb: memories part one ↳ NEW !! comic tsb: memories part two

💛 thank you for stopping by, and hope you have a wonderful visit !!

[sexhaver]

Was coldsuggestions Taylor Ruth?

yep, she started it as a side project to express genuine emotional turmoil she was going through and then tumblr latched onto it as the meme du jour and we had dozens of [x]suggestion blogs within the month

she was also behind thisishangingrockcomics if that rings a bell for anyone

[lele5429]

Retired Assets - Story and Art Master Post

Story (Read the tags!)

Ch1: Prologue

Ch2: The Cold Within

Ch3: The Fire Won’t Light Itself

Ch4: Blind

Ch5: I Will Not Leave You

Ch6: coming soon

Ch7:

AO3 main page

Art

Illustrations for the Story (by Lele)

THE TITLE PAGE (Key Visual) - I’ve finished it but I’ll post it with the finale.

Ex Libris (book plate)

Ch 2: The Cold Within

Ch 4: Blind

Ch 5: I Will Not Leave You and Never Alone

Character Design and Sketches

A Precursor to RA Ravio: fanart for @shirley-99

The first drawing of RA Ravio

RA Ravio's costume design (spoiler-free)

ALBW vs LU vs RA Ravio designs

LU Ravio vs RA Ravio - comparison and design notes

RA Ravio in a more naturalistic style (first attempt)

RA Ravio smiles and Part 2

LU Legend vs RA Legend

Love transcends the veil of absence

RA Legend in a more naturalistic style (first attempt)

RA Ravio (TW: blood)

Ravio and Sheerow for an art challenge

Tagaki Ravio profile pic

Art Process

THE TITLE PAGE (Key Visual Time Lapse)

Key Visual - inking

Ch 2: The Cold Within - scrapped designs

Drawing Eyes

Ch 4: Blind - time lapse

Ch 5: “Never Alone” - scrapped designs

Unrelated dark Ravio

Artistic Responses/Art Gifts

Discussing the Script by @moonriver080

The Burning Bridge by @moonriver080

Emoticons ft. The cast @violet-xd09

Emoticons Part 2 @violet-xd09

Ravio’s magic and smile @violet-xd09

Illustrations for Ch3 @violet-xd09

Nursery AU @violet-xd09 and Part 2

Ravio in the headlights by @violet-xd09

Ravio Tegaki by @wardingshout

Ravio mural by @hero-of-fortune

Disaster bunny and his faces by @violet-xd09

Drawing faces (art challenge) with @violet-xd09

MS paint and Tegaki Ravio blorbo @violet-xd09

Mid-Autumn Festival @violet-xd09

Under Her Favourite Apple Tree by 枭柏

Innocent RA Ravio by @whatvioletdoes-blog

RA Ravio’s 2024 Halloween costume by @violet-xd09

A Happy Fic by @lennsart

Bonus

Memes / Crack / Fluff (my art!)

Ravio wants you to stop and read the warning tags

Ravio with STOP sign animated

Disaster Bunny

Going to work with your landlord?

Get-along Shirt

PAY NO RENT

Why does RA Ravio fear Hilda?

Blue Potions

To Heaven

Jet lag

Legend explains things to Ravio (Ch4)

Self care or draw 25 and Part 2

RA Ravio ™️

Nope/Yep

Goodnight Ojousama

Account Deleted

Nothing is perfect

Ch 6 Teaser and Part 2

Drawing with my eyes closed

Babies need a hug

Why dis bun look so mad 😭

Working Properties - Retired Assets Actors AU

Take a break

No work

Trick or treat

Chibi

Ravio hugging Sheerow

Legend ╭(°A°`)╮

Sticker Pack #1

Poster Pose

Happy Fable

The Cold Within but Chibi

Apple juice

Hilda reading Ravio’s diary

Hilda Boop

Nursery AU (The Cast as Kids)

Nursery AU - first drawing

Kid!Ravio tries lemons

Crafts

Linocut: RA Ravio

Linocut: RA Legend

Prints ft. the RA leads, signed and framed

PAY NO RENT: heat-transfer vinyl T-shirt

Lasercut on wood: some keychains and tickets by @moonriver080

Button-making (with a sneak peek of additional memes)

Ravio’s robe and scarf (cosplay)

Bracelets inspired by LU characters

Stamp

Shaker charms and Part 2

Sheerow doll (by Alex Lynn crafts)

RA Ravio sleep mask

Q&A

Search for #retired assets ask game

Ravio character notes [1]

[iluminaughter]

YIPPIEEE! I'm a shameless person (Come on, you forgotten that I'm still POSSESSED⁉️) Taking advantage of the fact that I did a total rework on one of my secondary blog, I also wanted to participate in the 1st day of BEFtober! Yeah, TECHNICALLY it has some darkness, right? Don't pay attention to that tape-bleeding radio! Haha! What's more, she's having fun! Look at her, screaming with happiness! >:D

Speaking of partying...

WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT TWO PLACES THIS MONTH?

First to all, BEF SERVER ‼️ The best place for talking about this goofy AU/crossover with silly memes for kids (yep, lying, THIS IS HELL! BUT A FUNNY HELL!) . It's running by a couple of great friends and with that, I can assure you that you can have a great stay! Well, i you accept the chaos within you!"

Oh! and I reanimated this Bip! Is from a old gif from an old user that I use for an old blog...that I revived for Sock Opera 10th Anniversary!

And the second place to go... BIPPER DANCES! My secondary blog, no much science here, just another daily blog I made maany years ago, it's about a same dancing Bipper animation with a diferent song every day! You can even put your requests in the inbox!

AaaaAAAnd, that's all!

Big things are really coming!

BIG. THINGS.

..🔑...

Happy Spooky Month! :3

[archivalofsins]

Mikoto's Advertising Secrets

So, today Star and I are going to talk about Double. Yep, it’s another team up to tackle one of the most difficult characters in Milgram. Today we’ll be discussing the Japanese and English lyrics of Double provided by the staff. Along with some fun facts and observations we’ve made from them. 

Preface

This will be going over the use of (MeMe) in the official French and English translations of Double along with the use of and etymology of the term “Newborn”. Due to the focus on these phrases since the release of Double and how the fandom has treated official translations in the past… Star and I believed it only fair to give the same scrutiny given to past translations to Double. It cannot only be a mistranslation when it’s inconvenient to how one personally views the character then absolutely correct and unquestionable when the translation (regardless of how many creative liberties it takes) supports what one personally wants to believe. 

If anyone has problems with having these topics scrutinized fully and objectively then this is not the post for them. If anyone is interested in finding out more about linguistics both English and Japanese, MeMe and Double parallels, and a lot of things about Mikoto Kayano then this post might be for you. The way I word things has always been incredibly direct and that won’t be changing over the course of this post.

This post wouldn't be possible without the discussions and help I received from not only @apatchworkstar but @tsuwmya and @doctorbunny.

With all that out of the way- Are you ready? 

Okay, well let’s jump into it!

This may have spelling errors and may be edited at a later date to add more context. Just like Mikoto's song lol~

Hi, this is Star here- Starting off this post! Gunsli and I were discussing some of the information floating around about Mikoto- them with more people than me. I was mostly bitching discussing how I found it interesting that people were taking a step away from their habit of brutally eviscerating the official translations of songs to hyper focus on the wording of Double. 

Now, Gunsli and myself have been very open about how we both believe the original lyrics and the translations both help add necessary context to all of the songs and that neither is less than the other. However, it is a bit… Irksome for people to just pick and choose what they consider a valid conversion of information. Especially since translating is already something that can be hard to carry nuance over. It also hasn’t escaped my notice what the official English translation is being used to support. Which is also aggravating, with everything else into consideration.

So, I took out my copy of Double and did what fans have been doing for most of trial two- looking at the Japanese lyrics within the cd pamphlet and comparing them to the translation. And boy was that interesting!

Don’t worry~

Mikoto is an honest man, guys~ Come on, would a guy with such tiredness in his eyes lie to us~?

…So, his song's translation has to be the pinnacle of accuracy; all with little to no artistic liberties taken, right? Well- no. 

Literally, there wouldn’t be any point of making this as a post if it was.

(Gunsli: Don’t mind the underlined parts in the english lyrics for now. That comes in later.)

Firstly,

“I’m Double (MeMe)”

“Double” is the only line actually said in this statement. “(MeMe)” is never said within the lyrics of Double. However, given that it is in parentheses (something that is meant to add additional context to a statement), “(MeMe)” technically does not have to be said within the song in order to be put into the lyrics in this way. This isn’t a case of the english lyrics being inaccurate per se, but a case of the staff using english language and grammar in order to add context to what is being said. Something that’s not only done with the English translation, but the French one too.

So this is additional context; a rare treat for fans in the west! Now, when Gunsli and I were discussing Mikoto’s second trial CD cover-

Gunsli speculated that they added in (MeMe) to hammer in that there were, in fact, only two of them. Especially given how prevalent trikoto was/is as a theory. However, neither of us thought the staff would go so far as to just present this as something that had been said when it never was just to drive in the point further. 

In every other instance during trial two when the prisoners have referenced their previous trial songs, it’s been verbally- i.e. within the lyrics themselves. Anyone can hear it, and the lines are noted in their cd pamphlets + the inside of the cd case, even if they aren’t translated as literally the lines that are said to be there are there.

Mikoto is the only one who’s official translated lyrics reference his first trial song without him verbally referencing it. 

Making this a literal instance of, “He did not fucking say that.” Musical edition~ 

I guess you could say that Mikoto is the creme de la creme- or, to phrase it better an outlier even among other outliers. Which I find amusing as hell, considering how Mikoto is being treated in Milgram currently. Because, despite the fact that he does not verbally reference his previous song in any way throughout his trial two song, the staff still chose to frame it as though Mikoto had within these translations and visuals. Like how are you gonna call yourself an honest man, then be a bigger liar than Kazui Mukuhara! At least the text that comes up in Cat is actually sung by him!

But this is something that adeptly draws attention to Mikoto’s previously stated skills and hobbies-

Q.04 Are you picky when it comes to fashion?

Mikoto: Of course I am. Nobody would want to ask for anything from an unfashionable designer, right?

Q.07 What are your hobbies?

Mikoto: shopping / darts / photography / cycling

Q.08 What’s the most rewarding part of your current job?

Mikoto: I mean, it’s the top advertising agency in the industry? Anyone would be proud to be a part of it. I put a lot of work in just to get here, too.

Design, photography, and advertising. All things that require people to know, not only how to conduct and present themselves, but how to present others and concepts to people in a way that will be favorable and hopefully increase revenue and sales. 

So, why wouldn’t Mikoto pull out all the stops to present himself in a way that would get him a more favorable response after the train wreck that was his first trial? 

To be fair, when we were first discussing it, I didn’t really understand how tacking on (MeMe) after Double would make Mikoto look any better. Then Gunsli stated that outside of the meta viewpoint, we’d tackled already (which I had to bring to her attention)- That there was a second thing that made this translation decision interesting. 

The fact that it served to connect Mikoto back to the song at all. As though Mikoto is trying to haphazardly put his name or presence on someone else’s work. Gunsli put it best,

“It’s a great visual example of Mikoto tacking himself onto John’s pain. Connecting himself to his suffering in order to justify his actions and avoid taking accountability. Really homing in on one of the core questions Milgram as a facility and project has continued to pose to those that participate in it- Is one’s anger justifiable when they are getting angry at something that did not happen to them. Or is it simply a case of know-it-alls not being able to mind their own business? Or in the words of Mikoto from MeMe, “This isn’t too much is it?”. At what point does defending another person become too much? Can it really be considered protecting yourself if the self you’re protecting is their own person in their own right? Or is this just a new layer of self-justification that Mikoto has created in order to downplay how much agency he had over the situation. “I’m probably not to blame, it’s probably nothing. I’m probably just having a bad dream, I need to wake up soon.”.”

“All I did was dream, and that’s what you found GUILTY?”

(Gunsli here- This line isn’t even the only one they do this with when it comes to the translations. They also do it again with the word us at the start of the Double. “Just the two of us, relieved, aren’t you? I’ll protect you (us).” Once again using parentheses to give further context or emphasize unstated things.)

Now, I’m gonna leave the second half of this to Gunsli-

Secondly,

"The “newborn” other you."

Gunsli here and-

Man, I really didn’t think we’d be taking the metaphorical as literal. Especially after all the fuss around the visuals of I Love You but- I guess things are only metaphorical or literal based on how convenient it is for things to be that in the moment. If we took every instance that the word baby is used in any song as literally as newborn is being taken here music would be rather complicated to say the least. 

Yet, I guess since this is a Japanese phrase it’s a bit more specific than that. That this phrase is only applicable when discussing newly born beings and nothing else. Well, not exactly. Regardless of how specific a language is there are still instances where words and phrases will have different meanings based on the context they are said in. A good deal of people like to poke fun at English for being a mutt language and incredibly indirect, but every language has room for miscommunications or misunderstandings to occur. 

Because every language is the sum of a culture's collective history. All languages are always building off of themselves and evolving and certain terms that meant one thing to the last generation can mean an entirely different thing to the next. This is true in the instance of not only the Japanese phrasing of this line but the English one as well. 

So, let’s start with the English one. 

“Me, the newborn other you, I’ll take it all on.”

Firstly, me in this instance is ore in Japanese. In the context of Milgram we know ore is used when John is referring to themselves. At least this is the pattern that has been presented. However, it is not always the case. Ore and boku can be used to refer to each of them respectively and collectively. However, for the sake of this example, let’s say it refers to John.

Me (John), the newborn-

Okay, we’ve gotten to the main offender in this sentence. Newborn. In English newborn is no longer contextually used to refer to a baby/infant or someone who was just born. Also, it never only referred to that to begin with and has not been colloquially used in this way for some time unless one is referring to someone they know very little about having a child. 

For example,

“Where’s Janice from accounting? I haven’t seen her in a good while.” “Oh, you didn’t hear? She had a newborn. So, she’s on maternity leave.”

Even then this is still rather formal and outdated. An interaction like this is more likely to go. 

“Where’s Janice from accounting? I haven’t seen her around in a while.” “Oh, you haven’t heard she just had a baby. She’s on maternity leave.”

Alright but they’re translating from Japanese to English and using baby or infant in the context of the sentence presented would be odd. Yeah, that’s right, it would be odd. That’s why in the beginning, I found it strange to even look into this line in this context as though it could in some way even tangentially be related to birth or children. 

If it would be odd to add the word baby in this context, chances are that this probably has nothing to do with them or birth in the conventional organic sense of the word. 

But born is in the word. 

Okay, let’s do what we did with Neoplasm. Because, clearly the internet only taught some people one meaning of these words. 

So, bear witness to this real quick-

Bear: To support or hold up.

Gif made by Star

Double: ““No, I need to do more…”, say what? You’re gonna break. Me, the newborn other you, I’ll take it all on.” 

This is rather self-explanatory. To say that one will take it all on is to state their intentions to take on the burdens, issues, or stressors of another person or of a specific event. For example to take blame and face punishment for a crime one did not commit in order to protect another.  Mikoto is also shown in Double using the bat for support.

Bear Down: Proceed forcefully toward.

Gif made by Star

While making the gifs Star pointed out that the word next to the three arrows pointing at the assailant here is "Savior" in sloppy English. This is emphasized by having "Save you" appear next to the figure as they continue to walk forward.  Showing that (whichever one of them this is) believes themselves to be their savior and that what we see them doing here isn't an attack or them hunting the other down but them going to save the other.  Adding more meaning behind these lines, "Cling to me, hoist me up as your “savior”, stand up and sing out your gratitude, that’d be good." - "Cling to me, hoist me up as your “savior”, stand up and sing out your gratitude, so why?"

Alright, all of that is very interesting Gunsli. However, bear is not the word that we’re here to discuss today. The word is “Newborn”. What possible bearing could this word have on that? That’s a good question. It just so happens that one of the root words of “Newborn” comes from bear. 

Since the word comes from both New and Born. 

New (Old English Niwian, Neowian)

Fourth Definition: Bring forth. 

MeMe

“Why?” 

““I” will save “me”.” 

“Switch, shake up that brain.”

“Why am I here?  It must be a mistake right? Take a good look at me until you find me.”

Double 

“I’ve got you, leave it to me!”

““He’s a liar”, you said, and made me out to be a scoundrel, why?”

“Hey, I just wanted to save you, so why did it come to this? Cling to me, hoist me up as your “savior”, stand up and sing out your gratitude, so why. I don’t remember a thing, it couldn’t be helped, I’m DOUBLE (MeMe). I was having such a hard time, I was trying so hard.”

This is not self-explanatory. So, I’m going to take the time to explain what was going on in my mind when I decided to highlight these lyrics. I was interpreting bring forth in the context of switching. Mikoto is shown throughout MeMe to be looking for himself. Throughout the lyrics and the visuals. This is something reiterated through Double in a more chilling way. As it starts with what seems to be John being forced to the forefront due to Mikoto becoming too stressed. Something we see occur in Mikoto’s first and second voice dramas. 

John even making it clear from the beginning that he’s not out because he wants to be yelling,

“AaaAAAGH! Fuck… Fuck… STOP PISSING ME OFF!” While audibly stomping around and possibly messing up his hair the same way we see him do in Double. Basically, throwing a tantrum.

Couple this with his first cover song expressly stating that feeling ashamed which can cause stress and anxiety will open a role for an idiot to play (something we’ll go into after this) gives us a good understanding of what occurred in response to Mikoto's verdict. 

Something that if we didn’t catch onto John was more than happy to bluntly state to us in their second voice drama.

Neoplasm Voice Drama

“I (boku) might be trying to disappear.”

“Evidently, the time I (ore) have been fronting has been getting longer, so this “me” has been able to stabilize. Isn’t that the reason we can talk properly?”

The mental stress caused to Mikoto due to his previous verdict has led to him not being able to properly cope with the circumstances and drawing inward more as a result. Now fronting less and less as John (the one portrayed as being more used to stressful circumstances and better at holding things down) takes the forefront. 

MeMe

 “Hurting it, holding it down, it doesn’t change anything, does it?”

Double

““No, I need to do more…”, say what? You’re gonna break.”

Neoplasm Voice Drama

“Yeah. I… probably come out to ease the stress Boku experiences. The fact that I come out for longer just means that Boku is constantly under extreme stress.”

"The fact that you judged against forgiving Boku is causing a lot of stress.”

Depending on which of them has memories of the crime this could be a good thing. 

"That’s why he’s entrusting me with his heart."

This leads well into the next definition-

Ninth Definition: Substitute.

Double: “Leave it to me.”- “I’ll take it all on.”-”Relieved, aren’t you?”-“I’ll protect you (us).”

These are again things I find self-explanatory, but I’ll explain for the sake of clarity. These are all things one says when taking on another’s responsibilities or substituting for them. Usually someone is given a substitute when they cannot fulfill their duties for one reason or another. How John describes the current circumstances in Neoplasm makes it sound as though he is substituting for Mikoto because as he said in his second cd trailer,

“I can’t take it anymore…”

Monopoisoner: “As for who is acting strangely, look here, it’s already been decided that I’m the normal one, OK?”- “Do you have a preference for plundering? Because what’s being stolen away right now is your life. “How’s this? How’s this? What do you think?” Even though the outcome was understood from the start… The foolish you is already done for “nothing to see here, move on, pay no heed”.”- ““Please, bring to an end this world today” but that hole opens up a role for me to play. “Please, feel ashamed of this self from today” but that hole opens up a role for an idiot to play.”

gif made by @apatchworkstar

“You’re overdoing it, you’re already broken. But if you persist, I guess it’s my job to keep things on an even keel. Me, the other you, I’ll take it all on.”

In my opinion the Milgram staff could not make it clearer who the actual killer is at this point outside of the third trial just blatantly telling us if Mikoto gets as cocky as Mu did in response to his Innocent verdict. (Remember those underlined parts from the beginning of this post? Yeah, that comes in now.)

Literally each time he says the other you in this song Me comes before it.  Plus like Star established earlier the staff literally choose to shove (MeMe) in here when again it is not said to further highlight this more subtle aspect to oversea viewers. 

They basically made it so if you line up every time this phrase is said you just get-

“Me, the newborn other you, I’ll take it all on.”

“Me, the other you, I’ll take it all on.”

The title of the first trial song and they only put this phrase in twice within the lyrics to give this effect. Like this isn’t even a stretch at this point. They’ve gone above and beyond to highlight that Mikoto did that shit but we’re focusing on “newborn” right now. Moment of appreciation for the best translated lyrics of trial two. Like honestly the amount of information they had to shove directly into this man's lyrics due to his rather disjointed mv (that they still managed to get a lot of information in as well by the way) and still managed to get in is impressive. 

It’s actually jaw dropping when one takes the time to look into it.  

So, now that we have a bit of the history of the word “Newborn” how does it apply to this sentence,

“Me, the newborn other you, I’ll take it all on.”

Well given the etymology of Newborn we’ve learned a few things. One of them being that newborn is not only used to refer to recently born things but newly discovered concepts. Yet to reduce my own point a great deal we only need one source and one source only Merriam-Webster. Well, that and an understanding of English grammar.

Are you getting it yet? Well, if not here’s an English refresher in a form most Milgram fans should be used to music-

Now, I'm assuming you’ve watched both of those great videos. So, how is “newborn” being used here exactly?

“Me, the newborn other you, I’ll take it all on.”

That’s right baby, that word is being used in its adjective form not its noun form. Newborn is being used to describe the Me in this sentence the newborn other you. That is what the pronoun me is being described as in this sentence. So, what does that mean folks? Well, it means that Me in this context is not a newborn individual but instead a recently born or born anew construct or in this case self. Definitively showcasing that the newborn being referred to here cannot and never could in this sentence be defined as a newborn individual. At least that would not be the only meaning in its adjective state. 

There’s a difference between referring to a newborn and describing someone as a newborn. Be it oneself or another person. I know this is very confusing. I’m sorry and it doesn’t get any easier going into the Japanese. Something that even I am going to need help with and luckily can get help with. 

That’s later though all one needs to know for now is yes, the adjective state of the word may be used to refer to things that are not infants or newly born. Think of it like the word discovered. You know in the sense that Christopher Columbus “discovered” America. The word is kind of like that. Yeah, that’s the type of shit we’re getting into later. Yet, for now let’s keep things simple. 

A better way to explain this is by showing the synonyms and example sentences for the adjective state of this word,

Know who the adjective form of newborn perfectly describes out of the two? Could it be the tired, bags under the eyes, lethargic John or Mikoto Hypnos’ favorite human?

Man, is it “I’ve slept for twelve restful hours” Mikoto or John the one displayed as being soooo tired he passes out on public transport. Literally one of the most dangerous things a person can do.

I wonder who it could be…

If only we had a clue or a hint? (Or a bed for John.)

Ah well too bad. There’s nothing like that… I guess we’ll never solve this conundrum. It’s not as though newborn can be used to describe someone who has been reinvigorated or has come across a new sense of purpose or direction. It’d be incredibly awkward if that were the case. Because even ignoring everything else that would be a very nice and subtle way, still open enough to be interpreted a myriad of ways, for this series to highlight even further that Mikoto did that shit without blatantly saying he did. 

Luckily that English word only refers to organisms that have just been born and nothing else and no one will find any sources stating otherwise ever. So, it’s best to not look and we should all just do what Mikoto- I mean John said,

“Come to know me as an honest man, eat your words, gulp them down.”

Okay, but what about the Japanese lyrics?

“産声を上げたもうひとりの俺が、全部背負うから”/ Ubugoe wo ageta mou hitori no ore ga, zenbu seou kara.

One rough interpretation of the phrase in english could be,

“Born again, I (ore) alone will take responsibility for everything.”

So, why use newborn instead of born again?

As we discussed before, no language is that easy to grasp. There are multiple ways for various translators to interpret this phrase. Not all of them will give the same exact perspective on a phrase and their translations are prone to be influenced by not only their own personal experiences but their relationship with the work being translated. For example I had DoctorBunny help me out when it came to getting a grasp of the Japanese in this instance. 

During the process he said this,

“Trust me this is a very newborn invoking line. It's a saying basically used synonymously with being born. A favourite of foetus musician Mao Sasagawa.”

However, the example he gave was musical. This isn’t problematic or anything but it’s kind of easy to form a rebuttal against it. Something I’ll illustrate now- while answering that question I posed earlier with this song.

Born again in the west has a very religious connotation and even though the word savior is used within Double the staff probably didn’t want to tie Mikoto’s character that heavily to religion. Because as Mikoto has stated repeatedly he views himself as his on “Savior” and-

Q.19 Do you believe god exists?

Mikoto: I don’t believe, no. I don’t feel so strongly that I’m gonna deny the possibility but- Like, what do I gain from believing?

Taking into consideration how synonymous with religion the term born again is and Mikoto’s characterization thus far, would it really be contextually appropriate for them to translate it in that way for a western audience?

Definitely not. 

Especially considering the timing of his second song's release. Ya know- Being right after the most religiously involved character in the franchise. Those are the type of things a staff has to take into consideration when translating information into other languages for vastly different cultures. Again, the consideration and care put into the translation of Double in particular, is apparent in every line, every word said or not that they added in order to make sure regardless of the language one spoke everyone was getting not only a unique but as accurate as possible experience. 

Personally, I believe that the effort put in in this instance should not only be respected but lauded. For now though let’s give the Japanese lyrics some much due attention. Because they are just as good. 

Believe it or not that idiomatic expression is what led to this entire post. When I saw this I couldn’t help but think of a phrase in English that is the exact opposite of the one highlighted. 

“This will never see the light of day.”

To see the light of day is a common phrase that on top of being another synonym for being born means,  To come to existence or be made known.

It’s a rather colloquial way of describing something becoming known or one's desire to let something be known. Like in the example I previously provided. This is what caused the idiomatic definition to catch my interest. 

So, what is an idiomatic expression, well it’s a colloquialism basically. 

Idiomatic means to use, denote, or contain expressions that would be natural to native speakers. Meaning that to first see the light of day is a common way of using this expression to native-speakers. 

Yet, the technical use of the word is still related to the first cry or children. 

As a native English speaker when I say, 

“Things I hope never see the light of day again.”  “Man, I hope someone sheds light on your actions one day.” 

I and other native English speakers know I am not hoping for someone to get a light and shine it on that person or their actions but instead I want what they’ve done to either be known or ignored. This song is a perfect example of the concept.

Now, what made this way of viewing the information even more interesting is how Mikoto’s second trial mv plays with light in general. Double does this through its day and night cycles. Unlike MeMe that takes place during the night only and displays Mikoto sleeping through the day in Double, we see John up during the day and taking a backseat at night.

As Mikoto is shown to literally be committing these attacks at night again through the dark lighting on his side of the train. The visuals go out of the way to show his side of the train remaining unlit while John’s has light during the very first attack.

Double quite literally doubles down on playing around with lighting as a visual storytelling method. Perfectly illustrating to us that there’s something Mikoto did that he never wants to let see the light of day. Yet, it does see the light of as you can see from above. What was once happening in the dark comes closer and closer to light until the two are basically overlapping. 

As though looking in a mirror

Light becomes dark then Dark becomes light and eventually inevitably the two overlap-

As we see them face each other at the climax. One facing the reality of what they’ve done while the other isn’t even capable of facing themselves fully let alone their role in this.

“I’m probably not to blame, it’s probably nothing. I’m probably just having a bad dream, I need to wake up soon. Why am I here?  It must be a mistake right? Take a good look at me. Until you find me- Why, hey why, I’m nowhere to be found.” - ““He’s a liar”, you said, and made me out to be a scoundrel, why? All I did was dream, so you find me INNOCENT, it’s that simple right? Come to know me as an honest man, eat your words, gulp them down.”

Then there’s these meanings for the phrase as well (which should seem pretty familiar after all this)

2. To be burdened with; to take responsibility for.

So, remember Bear? If not, here are some of the meanings for it applicable with this definition here. 

Bear: To carry. To endure without resistance. To support, hold up. Carry a burden.

3. To have (something) in the background; to be in front of something.

Bear: Bring; bring forth.

With this we’ve gone full circle. Yet, that’s not the only interesting thing about this meaning. Applying the third meaning to Mikoto’s characters specifically could make this sentence a very artistic way of describing fronting. As we discussed before with Bear. (Can't believe I've got to quote myself from earlier in this post right now.)

“I was interpreting bring forth in the context of switching. Mikoto is shown throughout MeMe to be looking for himself. Throughout the lyrics and the visuals. This is something reiterated through Double in a more chilling way. As it starts with what seems to be John being forced to the forefront due to Mikoto becoming too stressed. Something we see occur in Mikoto’s first and second voice dramas.” 

That’s it we’ve done it that’s everything that’s a full fucking language loop. So, hopefully from this we’ve all learned a bit more about not only Mikoto but language in general. My hope with this is that it gives people a newfound appreciation for not only linguistics but the tremendous effort the Milgram staff have put in over the course of trial two. Now, with all that out of the way. I can finally say (in my opinion)- 

This case is closed.

Also, John in Double be like-

second gif edited by Star

Well, that's all if you made it through all of this congrats. Hopefully you've learned some new interesting things.

[haru-dipthong]

罠英語・Trap Words pt 5

ソース → ❌ Sauce → ✅ Japanese style worchestershire sauce

In Japanese common usage, the word 「ソース」 only refers to a specific subcategory of sauce - japanese style worchestershire sauces. Although in certain technical circumstances, 「ソース」 may also carry the broader meaning that the english equivalent does, calling something like soy sauce 「ソース」 in a regular conversation won’t get your meaning across.¹

We can see this in the Japanese Wikipedia article for ソース. Though the article is about the broader definition of sauce, there is a notice at the top of the page:

“This article is about the general name for a liquid or paste used to season food (the broad definition of 「ソース」). For Worchestershire Sauce (the narrow definition of 「ソース」), see Worchestershire Sauce.”² (my translation)

Side note: I know it's a meme but "Worchestershire" isn't hard to say. It's just "wooster-sheer".

Though ソース can be found as a part of various other words ( ミートソース/meat sauce; ホワイトソース/white sauce; トマトソース/tomato (pasta) sauce), when it is used just by itself, it almost exclusively refers to worchestershire sauce varieties. For example, you can’t abbreviate ミートソース to ソース, even when the context is clear.

Within the category of what Japanese speakers mean when they say ソース, we have ウスターソース, which is similar to the thin English Worchestershire sauce; 濃厚ソース, which is sometimes marketed as tonkatsu sauce and is very thick and viscous; and 中濃ソース which is somewhere in　between. お好み焼きソース is also a type of ソース, similar to 濃厚ソース.³

グリーンピース → ❌ Greenpeace → ✅ peas

Yep… the word グリーンピース doesn’t refer to the environmental activism organisation Greenpeace, which I discovered to some surprise during an actual conversation with my Japanese partner. Since Greenpeace is famous for its anti-whaling stance, and Japan is the country with the highest levels of whaling in the world,⁴ it was only natural to assume that it was a direct transliteration of the organisation’s name. Maybe it’s a common point of discussion in Japan, I thought.

In reality, it literally just means peas. Green peas. An instance of the plural being built into the transliteration (like バケツ), since Japan has no plurals. It’s weird that it’s not グリーンピーズ though, don’t you think? I guess we can just chalk that up to an initial pronunciation error that carried though to the modern day.⁵

Why hasn’t it been shortened to ピース? Well:

Because ピース means “the peace sign”. This word/pose is so common in Japanese culture that shortening グリーンピース to ピース would likely be confusing.

To be clear, the organisation’s name is also transliterated as グリーンピース, but overwhelmingly in regular conversation, グリーンピース will mean “peas”.

トレーナー → ❌ trainers (sneakers) → ✅ sweatshirt

This might not necessarily be a trap word for people from the US, but it is at least a funny place for 和製英語 to show up. According to this source, this word was invented by a fashion designer named Kensuke Ijizu, who was apparently a big boxing fan, and noticed that the trainers always wore sweatshirts, and so decided to name the clothing 「トレーナー」 when he released his designs in Japan⁶. It’s rare that a trap word has such a clear explanation for how it came about! めっちゃスッキリした！

However, スウェット and スウェットシャツ are also both commonly used in Japanese, meaning the same as トレーナー, so this is really only a problem while listening, not while speaking.⁷ It’s also worth noting that トレーナー does mean “trainer” as in like, a personal trainer. That’s where the weird word for sweatshirt comes from, after all.

Sources

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLpub5uXA1A

[2] https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ソース_(調味料)

[3] https://www.kurashiru.com/articles/b3134417-fc0e-4782-a5d8-40932613ea79

[4] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-08/whaling-around-the-world-how-japans-catch-compares/5361954

[5] https://twitter.com/japanese_eng/status/1562198000411193345

[6] https://zatsuneta.com/archives/007218.html

[7] https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/スウェット

[cheesecakeislazy]

I have insomnia, my phone is about to die, and I feel like I need to write! So here we go boys!! (And gals and non-binary pals) Sorry if this one is shitty TwT

Sensitivity is High

F!Reader x BEN Drowned Smut

You and Ben laid in bed together, just enjoying the moment. Nothing was going on today, it was a free day. Cuddling in bed, looking at memes, listening to music, and playing co-op games together.

While for most people, a day where you can relax with your partner would be quiet and calm, for the two of you, it was quite the opposite..

Within the other rooms of the mansion you could hear Jeff blasting metal music, you could hear Toby annoying Masky by doing anything possible, if you listened carefully you could hear the subtle sounds of Sally trying to sneak a few extra snacks before anyone noticed. While on the outside, you could hear the faint sounds of Clockwork exercising with Jane, the crunching leaves as Slender went on a walk, the sound of the front door slamming open because Masky started to chase Toby outside. Yep, this was home. Full of chaos, full of loud voices and sounds consistently. However, almost everyone within the mansion agreed that this hellhole was better than their old lives, or the life they would have now if Slender wasn’t nice enough to give them a job.

While normally you and Ben would have been joining in on the chaos, the two of you decided to really relax. No pranks, no jokes, no annoyance to others, just each others company in bed playing Minecraft. The life you had was hectic at best and mentally painful at worst, but having Ben with you? It made those shitty days not so bad.

“Alright! Tha-That’s our base d-done!” Ben was honestly really good at Minecraft, speedrunning, building, pvp, he was a Jack of all trades when it came to the game. Probably because the elf-like boy had been playing the game practically since it came out.

“Hm.. well now that we got the homebase finished, you wanna play something else?” You looked over at your boyfriend, as much as you loved playing MC with him, you were pretty bored right now.

Ben took a moment to think before he nodded, saving the game file and quitting the game before looking over at you. “S-So then what d-do you wanna play in-instead?” His voice glitched less during moments like this, alone, just the two of you in peace, it made you generate a gentle smile from your lips.

“Ah, to be completely honest? I kinda wanna just… shut down? At least for a little.. you get me?” Sometimes, as much as you loved gaming, you just wanted to take a 4 pm nap and cuddle. “O-Oh! Y-yeah! That sounds great! I-I-I wouldn’t mind that at all, Babe!” His ears tinted a slight pink at the tip, an indication that he was happy with the idea of cuddles.

As you both laid there, bodies intertwined with each other, arms and legs looped and twisted together like multicolored playdough, a part of your brain sparked curiosity. You had suddenly remembered Ben’s ears.. during more.. intimate moments.. the ears twitched consistently. It made you wonder quite a bit if the ears were extra sensitive, at least compared to the rest of his body.

Deciding to act on this sudden surge of curiosity and confidence, you shifted around slightly, making it look like you were just making yourself a little bit more comfortable. However, you were actually getting your head just a smidge bit closer to his ear, slowly you moved your mouth forward, and before Ben could question or react, you softly bit onto his ear.

The sound that came from Ben was a mixture of arousing and concerning, as you couldn’t tell if the yelp/moan was of pain or pleasure. You pulled away as soon as possible, and stared into his eye sockets.

“Sorry! I was just curious.. if they were.. sensitive.” You realized that after saying it out loud, your explanation for possibly putting your lover in pain, was extremely stupid.

“Uh- It- Uhm! N-No- N-No! Y-you real-really shouldn’t b-be-be sorry-!!” You could tell it certainly had some type of effect on him, as his voice had gotten much glitchier. You were about to open your mouth and make another apology, despite his statement, but as you shifted your leg you felt something poke you. Ah, it was that kind of sensitive..

You smirked to yourself, you found it quite adorable that by just biting his ear softly, you had given the poor man a hard-on. It was obvious that Ben was embarrassed by this fact, he hated to look needy in front of you. But unfortunately for him, he was about to look even needier..

Slowly and carefully, you began to shift your entire body lower and lower on the bed, until you had reached the point of his body that laid right in the middle of his pelvic bone. You laid right in front of his boner, Ben immediately knew what you were trying to do.

“N-no!! Y-Ya-You really don-don’t have-have to-to D-d-Do that!!” His glitchy stutters only turning you on more. You began to remove his sweatpants and boxers, as his cock lie infront of your face you looked up at Ben, wanting his consent before you actually ended up doing anything.

Thankfully, as you expected, Ben bit his lip and nodded at you to continue. Gently, you put his tip inside your mouth, precum already leaking from it. Sucking and licking softly at the head of his cock, tasting the slight sweet salty mixture, Ben threw his head back slightly and let out a few quiet groans and pants.

Slowly getting more and more of his cock into your mouth and down your throat, Ben whimpered for more. The feeling of his cocks tip hitting the very back of your throat as you sucked him off always felt so good on another level. The slight burn of your lips as they tried to stay open and fit his cock inside. Using your tongue to lick the underside of his cock as you bobbed your head up and down his shaft. Ben slowly began to get more overwhelmed by the pleasure and started to buck his hips upwards into your throat, causing you to gag slightly. The feeling of your throat gagging on his cock made him moan your name, tightly gripping onto your hair. God, you were so fucking perfect..

As you continued sucking and licking BEns cock, you saw his ears twitch in unison with his cock. Not only did it remind you of how you had gotten into this, but it also made you wonder if his ears were as sensitive as his cock..

But you weren’t able to ponder on the matter for long, as Ben had busted his load inside your mouth, filling and overwhelming your tastebuds with the sweet and salty creamy substance that made you addicted to giving this man blowjobs. Once you had lifted your head off of him, and swallowed the load he had just so kindly gifted to you, you looked up at him.

Ben looked back at you.. his red eyes no longer circular, little red hearts lay in their place.

“Switch spots with me, Baby~ And take off y-your clothes.. I’m g-gonna return the favor~” Ben licked his lips as he winked as you.

Your panties were already soaked from sucking him off, but the thought of Ben devouring your cunt made you shiver with excitement.

[saiwriting]

The Mask of Vulnerability 

Saiya Soublet

Emotional intelligence is the new fad. Deeper than any dietary restrictions or new dance craze, there is the diet of the soul. Today, we all crave the vulnerability and intimacy which was stolen from us through capitalistic fervor and divide-and-conquer social media tactics. We are living in a time where colonization and imperialism are more overtly pervasive throughout every facet in our lives. Vulnerability and the illusion of connecting to others on a deeper level is on the rise as a result of this. 

Oftentimes, I see posts that I think are both funny and incredibly relatable, but what part they are relating to is up for debate. These memes commonly take the form of making subverted or subdued attempts at being open, but also making light of our deep feelings through a cute-ification and heavily humor leaning medium. Admittedly, I think that I loved liking and retweeting and posting these collages of consciousness because I, too, felt the calling to express all of the deep emotion and struggle that was going to pour out from me sooner or later. Other than putting it into my writing, it was funny memes that, when actually analyzed (or…maybe over analyzed) could point to the true culmination of feelings inside. Unfortunately, this comes at a price of a waning authenticity that is pervasive in a culture that thrives on relatability and group-think instead of individuality, personal expression, and the cultivation of an honest exchange of the qualities of humanity. 

Never are we comfortable with exposing our shadow sides to others, especially strangers on the internet, but as the lines are blurred between what is a private struggle and what constitutes as a web-wide conversation starter or PR nightmare. As a whole, we share more of ourselves with those that we don’t see face to face because it feels good to project your shadow side into the ether. Your shadow blends well with the pit of darkness that is the internet so that you are not singled out as “the person” with “the flaws.” When expressing true vulnerability within the confines of real life, face-to-face interaction, there is no hiding that shadow and it may even be distressing to see how much we obscure our own light. Online, everything blends, so it is never truly you. 

This is seen with the uptick in what is called “therapy speak” as ways to avert our attention from inward accountability to external excuses or just compulsive labeling and shelving of things that should be picked apart and thoroughly looked to be put in the right place. It’s like looking at moldy dinner in a tupperware that was made a month ago and going, “Yep, that is my moldy month-old dinner in a tupperware,” and then not throwing it away. Labeling, now that we as a collective seemingly know most of what we can about how we function cognitively and behaviorally, is obsolete. It does nothing for us but create an echo chamber of back and forth accusations with no following justice. Sometimes our justification and healing for the more vulnerable side of things lie within the feelings and issues rather than trying to exist without. 

Of course, this is nothing new because there has always been a complex with the rise of the way we do social media now that emphasizes a more curated version of your authenticity where you can show yourself but it has to be polished because we’ve gotten so used to the consuming of others instead of interacting. So, this curation of vulnerability is on the rise as a result. I have personal experience with how that can be an illusion of opening up, but in reality, it is just a sarcastic mask masquerading as the mask of tragedy. There is no way to truly know this from an outsider perspective and it takes the less popular version of introspection and shadow work to really understand how we cut ourselves off from actually feeling authentically. Humor, sarcasm, and relatability are huge drugs for our ego. 

Vulnerability at its realest is a surrendering of the ego, a condemnation of the pressure built inside of us from harboring things that we try to file away in the back as our undesirables. That reality, however, does not align with the core principles of social media that keep us enmeshed into its patterns. As a society, we’ve finally understood the harmful nature of pop culture therapy speak, but have invented a new way of pathologizing our spiritual breakdown into our newest harmful pastime: relentless humor in the face of tragedy. Admittedly, as effective of a method as it can be to make sure that we still harbor joy in our lives, there is a time and place. Unfortunately, we have put too much emphasis on laughing together that the cries and pleas of those actually struggling fall on drowned out ears. It’s difficult because we want to be open. We want to be loved and seen for the light that we all possess, but it is difficult when we are uncomfortable with vulnerability and even more uncomfortable with the consequences we have seen time and time again where vulnerability on the net is met with scrutiny, shame, and even disdain. Even positive forms of vulnerability, such as sharing a sweet moment of drinking coffee with your husband on your porch, is met with vitriol. 

So, how do we combat this? Well, for starters, we can be more honest. Take the humor out of spaces meant for reflection and honest expression of things that are more troubling in nature. Stop making your feelings funny! If you feel sadness, if you feel doubt, if you feel like things are not going to be okay, express that fully. Humor is a great tool to lighten our soul, but if we use it as a sedative for more serious emotions, we run the risk of numbing ourselves from what makes us feel truly human. Another way that we can combat this is by opening up the pit of social media a bit. Right now, it seems as though it’s a black hole of negativity, apathy, and overall unseriousness, but if we create more open and safe spaces for people to have conducive conversations about how they actually feel, then it can foster more spaces where we can express actual joy. 

Everyone is putting up a mask online, and if you don’t think you are, you probably just don’t know it yet. Take off the mask. Open your eyes to the sun and realize that you are not the sum of your parts. You are whole just as you are. I encourage you to be the initiator of honest conversations and the creation of safe spaces online. 

[sinfulequity]

Swing and...A miss!

Mikoto’s door is finally here!

Along with the announcement of his cover song and his voice drama name; how fun~

Now onto actually analyzing this thing lmao (Gunsli/Archivalofsins and I both worked really hard on structuring and formatting this thing)

TL;DR- Neoplasm is a fitting evolution from John Doe for both personalities within Mikoto. It is fitting for the one we’re familiar with due to the abrupt change in perception and the one we found out about afterwards because they are becoming more active/growing more defined as Milgram progresses. There are a lot of horror elements involved in Mikoto’s song and previous mv that both of us are excited to see elaborated on in Double. The door is likely based on some sort of operating room and the lettering of the song title in English is probably referring to division.

I.            The Title

Firstly, I want to go over how the title is formatted in English! Initially I was thinking of it in writing terms (i.e. how parentheses are used to add clarifying information to a sentence).

A parenthesis is a word, phrase, or clause inserted into a sentence as an explanation or afterthought. When a parenthesis is removed, the surrounding text is still grammatically sound. A parenthesis is usually offset with parentheses (i.e., round brackets), commas, or dashes. These are called parenthetical punctuation marks. A parenthesis is sometimes called an "interrupter" as it interrupts the flow of text.

Examples of them are:

·         Andrew Jacklin (last year's losing finalist) is expected to win this heat.

·         The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. (Journalist HL Mencken)

When parentheses (round brackets) are used to offset a parenthesis, the parenthesis is easily seen. However, some writers feel that parentheses can make formal texts look unorganized.

There are more links above, outside of the meaning, usage and formatting of parenthesis. If you’re interested, you can go through it all to see the way that grammar and formatting can help explain/emphasize a point! Being informed on this, at the very least, will be helpful for those that wish to more critically engage with and analyze written media.

Applying this logic to the English title of Mikoto’s second trial song, further emphasizes Mikoto being MeMe. As it can literally be read as Double I’m MeMe. Due to the lack of punctuation, this can be interpreted as both a statement and a question.

Something alluded to by Mikoto’s expression. However, this isn’t the only way it can be read!

We’ve had addition,

“Clothes Food Shelter + Love and Miss.”

We’ve had subtraction,

“Loving Affection (minus) Love, it’s tacky, this two-way deceit.” (Also, another effective use of parentheses.)

Now get ready for-

Division

Yep, the way I’m (MeMe) is written should be familiar to anyone who knows basic Algebra. Because this is exactly how basic division problems are shortened within that form of math and others.

Some examples,

This serves to follow up on what we were told within MeMe,

“Split in half, make that heart beat.”

Since that’s exactly what division is all about

“Division is a mathematical operation which involves the separating of an amount into equal-sized groups.”

Regardless of the outcome it will always be balanced and through recombining those groups will equal the whole. This is why any single number divided by itself equals one because it is equally distributed down. This is why uneven numbers when divided usually have solutions that are not integers as well. The exception being when they’re divided by themselves or by 1.

The point of division is breaking something down into equal parts that can be put back together to get the number you divided by.

For example,

7/2=3.5

89/2=44.5

In either scenario if one were to add this number to itself (essentially combining the two halves) it would make the number that was divided. Add forty-four point five to forty-four point five, to get eighty-nine and three point five to three point five to get seven.

Division is all about figuring out what number added to itself as many times as the number it is being divided by will equal out to the number that is being divided. So, in the case of our first two examples where we are dividing by two doubling the number we get will equal out to what we divided.

A more on topic example would be dividing Mikoto’s prisoner number by two.

9/2= 4.5

Ultimately, this would just be another way of stating something we know about Mikoto already. That he is the ninth prisoner within Milgram.

Let’s use Mikoto’s prisoner number in another division example,

9/3= 3

In multiplication three multiplied by itself equals nine, as many know. However, that doesn’t equate to three overall but three groups of three. Basically being,

3+3+3= 9

Only serving to further reiterate to us that Mikoto is the ninth prisoner overall. That’s just how math works. Now that we’ve gone over some rather basic math; what does the way they chose to organize the lettering on Mikoto’s second trial cd tell us?

Under this framing it could be read as Double I’m/(MeMe) or Double I’m divided by MeMe.

This could reflect that Mikoto’s current state of being is separated into these parts. Stating that these are the parts that make up I’m. Or to put it in math terms again I’m/(MeMe)= Y(X).

Get it because his first trial song quote is,

“Why?”

Also, because the solution, just like punctuation, isn’t here within the title. Something that further emphasizes this lyric in MeMe,

“Why, hey why, I’m nowhere to be found.”

In this case, the two me’s would be making up the I’m while being a source of division for it.

This way of reading it may allude to a disagreement between these two parts or just imply that both these parts are getting in the way of discovering “I’m” in some way breaking their overall sense of self down.

This is something, that has also been illustrated in Yamanaka’s tweet regarding the voice drama,

Which roughly translates to,

“I (ore) did it. I (boku) didn’t do it! You saw it through Milgram! What do you think?”

All this implies that we will more than likely be seeing Mikoto/and the other face this aspect of themselves along with the concept of identity in some way.

II.            The Door & Speculations on the Voice Drama Snippet

When it comes to Mikoto’s door, Gunsli and I couldn’t really agree on what it was. At first glance I thought it was an elevator door and she thought it was a train door. However, the door opens outwards while noticeably not being broken in any way that would force it to do so, illustrating that this door has hinges.

Meaning that both beliefs are incorrect.

Train doors also don’t have this on top,

This digital prompter is why I initially believed it was an elevator before taking into consideration how it opens. These words have been put on all the prisoner’s doors. However, they have always been in some way apart of them. This implies that this digital prompter is a part of the door, proper.

Making it more unlikely that these are the doors to a train. I’ve also seen speculation of it being a swing door (opening both outwards and inwards, which would be cool), but… given how fortified the frame is and how thick the doors themselves are… I find that highly unlikely.

The closest thing that we’ve come to a consensus on is actually…

Operating room doors (Operation Theatre Doors). Possibly, emergency operation ones? If this is it, I’m curious to what Mikoto’s MV is visually gonna be like. I think it would be hilarious if we didn’t get visceral imagery, but I don’t think that’s likely after taking into consideration the horror inspirations that can be noted within his previous trial (something we’ll go into later).

Those give his door a few more fun implications. Especially, if these are in fact operating room doors. This is because a lot of zombie/infection type horror movies take place in hospitals. If one were to look at his door through that sort of lens, wouldn’t it appear quite reminiscent to the doors seen at ground zero infection sites in virus or zombie genre horror flicks- The blood smeared on the door as people try to make their way in the glass smashed in hopes of reaching in and unlocking it or breaking a barricade. That airtight thick frame around the door. The likes of movies such as Contagion, 28 Days Later, or The Sadness. Warning for flashing lights on all these trailers by the way.

Outside of continuing these horror inspirations, operation room doors would be a good fit considering his voice dramas name as well. This time, the voice drama is called “Neoplasm”, which is not technically a word that exists, but does follow the format of a bunch of medical terms.

Now, I’m gonna rewind a little, because I haven’t given my opinion on the first trial voice drama name, “John Doe”, either (I promise this connects lol). John Doe applies to both personalities in Mikoto in different ways.

The Mikoto taken into Milgram (referred to within this section from now as Miko), is initially described as “mass goods”. In other words, an “everyman” or to quote Gunsli, “a dime a dozen”. Miko is an office worker, one of the most mundane jobs out there.

This touches on the fact that, like Gunsli has said previously, he could be replaced at any point without much trouble. As we know, John Doe is widely known to be used as a generic name/placeholder in order to withhold details from the larger public.

Either that, or the details don’t exist.

The Mikoto we find out about after Milgram has started, proper, (referred to in this section as Koto), is someone we don’t have an identifying “tag” for. The only (overt) way we know that Koto is out is that he has different behavioural mannerisms and vocabulary.

Even then, his use of personal pronouns seemed to be the same as Miko’s in MeMe, given the line:

“I” will save “me”.

This line uses boku in both instances of a personal pronoun.

In this way, John Doe could be meant in its more formal way; where a body is called this when the identity hasn’t been verified yet.

Incidentally, did you know that John Doe used to be a court term?

Specifically, to hide the identity of a plaintiff in an ongoing court case. There’s also a counterpart called Richard Roe, that hides the identity of the defendant.

There is a mild but real possibility that Miko could be trying to implicate Koto as the perpetrator within his second voice drama to skirt taking responsibility for his actions. It has been brought to the audience’s attention that the prisoners can hear what the audience has been saying about them since the beginning of trial two.

Though Yuno is the most candid about it,

Absolute Zero Yuno Trial 2 Interrogation

“It’s fucking bothersome- I told you this from the start; didn’t I. There’s no end to how much people will punish each other outside of the law. Due to that I really had no interest in Milgram.”

Yes, I remember that. You told me that you wouldn’t pay my judgements any mind and just continue as you have been.

“Oh, that’s right; I’m happy you remembered! Yet, at that time, I didn’t exactly hate it…Milgram. Sure, this place is full of nothing but weirdos but it was much warmer than my day-to-day life at least.”

It did appear like you were having fun the last time we spoke.

“Yes, it was fun! Sure, they’re all murderers but they’re interesting people. They put me at ease a bit, there was just something nice about being around others who also seemed to have something missing in one way or another.”

You’re saying that changed because of me?

“Yep! The situation has become more bothersome than fun. Now all the novelty of it that I found fun at first has been overshadowed- So, I’ve chilled out now that’s all.”

…

“And…Are you satisfied with this situation?”

Everyone within Milgram is a murderer, to the extent of clarifying the information I’ve been handed, to understand your sins… This job, my role, is necessary. Milgram will pull to the forefront not just your essences but the truths that lie within.

“Who are you trying to convince with that? Do those feelings and observations of yours not hold up unless you repeat them over and over again to yourself?”

…!

“You want to find the truth…huh? Pf…Haha!”

Yes, of course, as the guard of Milgram finding the truth of the matter is integral to correctly judging your sins-

“It’s the result of A LOOOOT OF sugar-babying: abortion.”

…!

“That’s probably my murder. Well have it, go and partake of the truth you were seeking so badly.”

…

“How is it, as good as you thought? Are you satisfied? If so, can we be done already?”

Yuno…you…

“You don’t surprise easily, do you? As I thought, you knew it from the song extraction.”

Well, yes, I considered it as one of many possibilities. However, that is the one I believed was most likely. Taking into account Milgram’s lack of specifications concerning the terms murderer and murder alongside it acting outside of common law I could not overlook the possibility it could interpret such a thing as murder.

“Yes, I’m sure. Well, more to say, I had this inkling that was your way of thinking. I could feel it.”

You could feel it…you say?

“Feel it, hear it, all throughout Milgram it’s probably the same with the others as well. Voices talking, observing, poking their noses into things that they ought not to and then discussing my sins.”

Something like that…

“Were those not the sort of thoughts you were having or something? It’s not as if I can really know for sure after all.”

…I don’t know. I wasn’t informed that Milgram could have that sort of impact. It is true I decided to forgive you with that thought in mind. However, that decision is only provisional.

“Haaa….”

…

“Well, then now I’ll tell you the second reason I’m so chilled out! Yaaay!!”

…

“You’re bad at going with the mood, huh.”

I’m starting to lose what little grasp I had on the type of person you are.

“You know it’s dull if you get too serious all the time.”

Noted. Continue.

“My second chillout reason simply put is the fact I was forgiven.”

What?

“Well, to get specific, it isn’t the fact I was forgiven itself but…”

I don’t understand. Just state it plainly.

“Hm…well then, should I just tell you what I heard in my head, what those incessant voices were saying. “Because she’s pitiful.”, “There’s no doubt, she definitely had some sort of reason for doing it.”, “She’s probably this way because there were problems in her home life.”, “She just doesn’t know love yet!” Ah…! “Because of that… I’ll forgive her!”.”

It's true that my decision was impacted by that sort of analogical reasoning and those are all things I considered.

“Ah, yes, yes… Well, and I have to stress this is going to purely and fully my own personal opinion but- I find making those sorts of assumptions preachy and unpleasant!”

…

“It’s all worthless. Deciding that I’m pitiful, making up a backstory for me, creating this personal idealized version of me- This acceptable version of me that you can feel good looking at. Aa..h- They exist you know the sort of people who do that. Those sorts of people have never will never do anything for me.”

Yuno..

“I’m not pitiful, my family gets along great, and I’m not particularly struggling financially. I decided to do what I did of my own free will because I felt it was necessary for me.”

-End of Transcript-

Tear Drop

“Just shut it, will you? You know it all.”

During her voice drama, Yuno explains and calls to attention this new phenomenon within Milgram. Both before and after her the other prisoners conveniently omit the specifics of the information they have heard. Kazui being the most egregious display of this, as he does not bring up hearing the voices at all and only responds to questions after gaining more clarity on the situation. His entire voice drama really comes off as though he’s just leading Es by the nose.

Taking into consideration what was established through her interrogation (the implication that all the prisoners have heard the prevailing theories about their cases) who’s to say Miko has not weaponized the information he’s heard? Omitting he heard it like the others and using it to push the blame more onto the other personality. Whom if we’re being frank would more than likely be willing to take the fall for him anyway.

However, the fact that this is said,

“I (ore) did it. I (boku) didn’t do it! You saw it through Milgram! What do you think?”

Very quickly showcases to me that the one speaking is Miko here not Koto. Koto in the snippet of Double we’ve been shown is questioning what’s wrong,

“Why are you crying?”

If Koto is not aware of what is negatively impacting Miko in the song proper, why would they know what Milgram saw or how Milgram reacted to it? A thing stated to be specific to prisoners beneath Milgram’s control.

This is something alluded to during the second trial commencement notice. At that time Jackalope tells us Koto has been free and unchained this entire time.

Exempt from the rules of Milgram and unable to have punishment administered to them. This means the voices all the prisoners have been hearing as part of their punishments or rewards would not impact him.

So, once again, I ask- How the fuck would he know that anyone saw anything through Milgram? Especially the specific implication and pervasive theory that it was them (Koto) who committed the murders.

Something that gives more credence to this idea is how Koto has even interpreted the song,

“I should have saved you but why are you crying? Rely on me, praise me with your song, I am your saviour.”

As a form of praise and a way in which Miko is relying on him. Simply as if Koto doesn’t see a thing wrong with what was displayed on top of not knowing what is upsetting Miko.

How much Koto knows about the song and Milgram’s response to it is rather questionable as we’ve been expressly told he is not a prisoner proper yet.

This possible way of handling the situation on Miko’s part is oddly reminiscent to how the Devil within Not A Devil attempts to convince the viewers they’re good through lines like,

“Another clandestine rendezvous with myself. Drained, oh so drained, introspection and in prayer.”

MeMe

“Snuggle together and say, “Good night” switch, shake up that brain.”

“The minus energy that I swallowed hugged me.”

Double (though official translation liable to change)

“I should have saved you but why are you crying? Rely on me, praise me with your song, I am your saviour.”

“No worries, no worries everything’s fine. This is just a silly joke.”

Trial 1 Voice Drama

“Of course, I want to think of all this as a joke…Wouldn’t anyone?”

“Calm down, that’s just a rumor.”

MeMe

“I won���t forgive you if this is happening to me even though I’m right.”

“All those ridiculous accusations.”

“Now shut up and give me your signature. Not a devil, I’m not a devil. So, sayeth the devil.”

MeMe

“I’m probably not to blame, it’s probably nothing.” – “Why am I here?  It must be a mistake, right?”

Taking the court terminology, Miko implicating Koto as the culprit with his denial firmly puts him in the role of John Doe (plaintiff) and Koto in the position of Richard Roe (defendant). Beginning a back and forth of finger pointing where Miko implicates the other and Koto can either deny the accusation or accept it.

This makes his second voice dramas title “Neoplasm” very apt naming. Because over the course of Milgram, the mold (interpretation) Mikoto was put under as this every man, silly little office worker caricature has been reshaped into to something new and abnormal.

Miko’s possible response to this new perception of his character being pretending to be Koto to fit this new shape he’s been given within the voice drama while attempting to save face isn’t surprising coming from him. He would know that Koto uses ore as well. Since, the audience has repeated it consistently over the course of the intermission. If Miko has been hearing the audience, as has been implied, it’d be very difficult for him to not be made aware of how Koto behaves.

Taking into consideration how much the other has been discussed, drawn, and written about. It has been more than shown that the prisoners know our speculations, in regard to their cases, and they’ve all been shown making attempts to confirm the validity of the statements they’ve heard over the course of their voice dramas. As such, there is a real possibility that Miko has heard the argument that the other committed the murders and he is in fact an innocent harmless individual.

Information that he’d rightfully take advantage of in this situation. Because it’d be a bit more difficult for people to condemn an innocent and harmless individual. Even if the other one did it and the only way to punish Koto was through punishing Miko a few people would be hesitant about doing such a thing. Simply put it would feel wrong to do as it’s dragging down a blameless individual just to get to someone who for all we know may not be at fault either.

We now find ourselves in a very classic dilemma-

MeMe

“The truth will come to reveal itself. I won’t forgive you if this is happening to me even though I’m right.”

“The truth will come to reveal itself. I will NEVER forgive you if this is happening to me even though I’m right.”

“So, I will NEVER forgive you if this is happening to me even though I’m right.”

At this point, or maybe even from the beginning, they’ve just been in a finger pointing competition. And things are only about to get messier.

III.            Voice Drama Title

Now back to the title of the voice drama “Neoplasm” (orz). Remember how I said Neoplasm isn’t technically a word? Well, it’s technically not and is.

As many were quick to point out, Neoplasm refers to a new and abnormal growth of tissue within the human body that could either be benign or malignant. It’s a term to describe the discovery of new tissue growth such as a tumour that was not previously present. However, when this occurrence is discussed, the individual neoplasm is rarely referred to by name instead the phenomenon is usually referred to and discussed as “Neoplasia”.

As you can see in these lists of Human Anatomy & Physiology: Latin and Greek Word-Parts plasm is not included as a suffix.  

Now this may seem like semantics. However, it’s incredibly important to differentiate between these two terms. Neoplasms are the result of Neoplasia. Neoplasia is when neoplasms are formed. Through naming the voice drama Neoplasm Yamanaka plainly stated that a Neoplasm has formed but Neoplasia, the act of it forming, has not been observed.

Through using this term instead of the one usually used in cases of observing (discovering) this new tissue and the process of its formation this comes off as saying though an abnormality has been observed it was present when the patient arrived. Again, unlike in the case of observing Neoplasia when doctors usually go okay this was not here several months ago but it’s here now.

Meaning, the Neoplasm is more than likely not entirely new but it shouldn’t be there, and it wouldn’t normally be there.

Let’s move onto word roots and meanings.

Now we know that Neo has an etymology from Greek

"New, Young, Recent," from Greek neos and "new, young, youthful; fresh, strange; lately, just now," from PIE root *newo-. In the physical sciences, caeno-, ceno- is used in the same sense. Paleo- is an antonym of these terms.

However, modern day definitions of the word (Yes, I said definitions!) are a bit different,

As it can mean “something new” or “new or recent, or in a modern form”.

For example, within Ace Attorney there’s a show called the “The Steel Samurai” the location of this show is stated to be Neo Olde-Tokyo. A new/revived version of old Tokyo. In this case the use of Neo and Olde together better highlight the intricacies of this word.

A more recent example of this would be NEOTWEWY. The title of the revival/follow-up game telling us out the gate this is something new built on the foundation of The World Ends With You (TWEWY). It is also, canonically, a remade form of Shibuya that Joshua made at the end of the original base game. Albeit, one made to be pretty much the same as the original.

So, while the immediate thought would be that it’s something new, it could also mean that it’s something that’s been reformed and shown as “new” that way. Something I’m sure that Miko is fully aware of. In fact, I’d say anything in reference to him would be more likely to use a pop culture meaning! Especially when you take into account his active attempts to keep up with the times and be seen as popular.

Plasm, however, has two roots in terms of etymology: Latin and Greek. In Latin, its root means “mold”. In Greek, it means “something formed”/“formation” or “to shape”.

The term also has modern-day definitions!

The first one is,

“formative or formed material (as of a cell or tissue)”

But there’s also

“Any of the components of protoplasm”

Protoplasm being the building blocks for all life on a cellular level.

In medical science it can also be used as a prefix and a suffix, but let’s focus on the suffix here.

Suffix meaning living substance, tissue.

These definitions of plasm may seem similar, but there is a difference in nuance. The first definition listed here refers to it as the material itself, specifying that it’s used in cells/tissues. The second one refers to the fact that they act as smaller parts to a whole (the whole in this case being the -cellular- foundation of life).

And the third one focuses on what the material makes as a whole. In other words, living substances and/or tissues.

Let’s move back to Koto. Well, we don’t know that much about him, right? Except, since the last trial ended, it’s been stated that he’s shown up more often. This includes in the trial two website voice lines, somewhere we’ve never seen him before! This, in addition to the usage of ore in the Double preview, seem to indicate that he’s solidifying more of an identity for himself.

Going back to the topic of the lettering choices on the CD cover real quick; specifically the division idea brought up earlier. Considering I’m as the whole and Miko and Koto as (MeMe) in this framework once again reiterates that Koto may possibly be growing a sense of identity outside of Miko and vice versa. Since Miko may be growing a more solid sense of identity as well after becoming aware of the other. You know, something you could also put as separating/dividing from Miko?

Neoplasms themselves aren’t really a big deal unless it turns out they are cancerous. In fact, benign ones are extremely common.

This is something that is once again rather fitting for Mikoto’s character and the implementation of it within Milgram. Allow me to elaborate, Mikoto as a character has subverted expectations from his first trial. There is a clear pattern with him of taking things that are usually considered normal and distorting them into something easily perceived as extreme, odd, or out of the norm.

Turning the mundane into the terrifying, a very common thing done within the horror genre.

This is one of the reasons Gunsli finds it very exciting that his second trial will be releasing in October. As it’s not just the month of his birthday but Halloween. So, she’s really hoping for some more horror inspired imagery with all those very common horror lighting tropes.

IV.            Horror Influences

From static effects,

To flat lighting from a television,

Those fisheye lens sort of shot at the beginning,

Then there’s this shot,

and the usage of both anamorphic lenses and vignetting.

(Side note; if you want to look more into how lighting utilized in horror, check out this video- x)

The atmospheric lens allows the lighting to look more ethereal. This, on top of the colouring used for the lights, makes the overall shot feel cold and liminal. The usage of a wide shot also emphasises this feeling of isolation.

In addition, the pillar at the foreground on his right makes him look crowded in while the emptiness to his left highlights how alone he is. This is also where the victim comes in from. The framing and direction here make it look as though the victim is cornering Mikoto.

That combined with the vignetting, makes the shot the visual equivalent of being “between a rock and a hard place”. This is likely a representation of how Miko was feeling at the time of the crime; trapped and as if he had to do this to survive.

Leading into another point, the way that all of the shots in MeMe are set up. Is something I find interesting, because a lot of them are ones usually used for victims/horror protagonists. Something that contrasts wildly with both his crime and how callously it’s shown. This puts Mikoto in the interesting position of both predator and prey.

For Gunsli this is all the stuff that just makes a horror fan go, “Yeah, this guy... This guy fucking watches horror movies for fun doesn’t he.” while everyone else who’s normal and hasn’t watched almost every horror movie they had access to goes how do you know this- Just for her to respond with, “I’m not the one on trial here he’s the fucking murderer; this ain’t about me!”.

All while managing to draw attention to and show off Mikoto’s genuine love and eye for photography. Possibly even nodding towards a bit of an interest in cinematography.

Q.07 What are your hobbies?

Mikoto: shopping / darts / photography / cycling

Every shot in MeMe meticulously planned out and executed in a way startlingly similar to how his murders are alluded to have gone down.

All this makes it difficult for them to say the team doesn’t know what they’re doing when it comes to him. Mikoto’s character in general turns the benign into something cancerous or the mundane into something controversial. A skill that has made him the topic of many divisive conversations and instances in Milgram’s history.

The usage of neoplasm could also touch on how Koto was immediately stigmatized by most of the fandom. Just as everyone assumes the worst-case scenario from tumours showing up, they assumed the worst of Koto’s entire existence. From statements such as,

“Having a person with D.I.D being a murderer is bad rep” to “I can’t believe they gave someone with D.I.D a murderous personality again”.

All this, despite the fact we don’t know who committed the actual crime. Though we’re pretty sure it was Miko for multiple reasons Gunsli has covered elsewhere.

Closing remarks from Gunsli- It’s always fun to write with other people but it’s always the best when I get to write with Star. I initially came to her for help with this one because I was just in the worst of moods due to multiple circumstances. However, this wound up taking so long mostly because there was just so much to cover and talk about. Plus, we haven’t even went into his cover yet. I was rather excited about guessing Mikoto’s second trial cover song correctly~ However, in the excitement of that I made some rather hasty observations myself like guessing that the door was train doors. Luckily, I took a step back to observe it more and talked over a lot of things with Star. Hope people enjoy all of this and sorry for leaving the TL;DR to you Star.

Here’s my (Star’s) parting words. Or rather, image-

-We try and have fun here

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 29/07/2024

W.E. Are Number One?

Season 8 Featured on: The Joke-Explainer 7000™'s Highest Quality Rips: Sunrise

Ripped by Birdator

Tentative rip name: V.NR. One Was Four?

As SiIvaGunner grows, its bound to tackle more and more out-there and experimental ideas, to continue to raise the bar of quality higher than the season prior did. You'll see this be done through rips of less prominent games, such as with Last Freight-train Night and Owner of a Mahjong Board, or through rips incorporating long-though-dead jokes in all-new ways like with Satin PantE's - and, of course, the outright madness of rips like my rip :). Yet on the opposite side of that coin lies the other method of evolution, of refinement. In other words, to simply do that which has been done before on a level never before thought possible. Yep: With W.E. Are Number One?, it's once again time to cover a "Surprised this hadn't been done yet!" rip.

If you follow the channel on any sort of level, it's likely that you've seen responses such as the one quoted floating about in the SiIvaGunner comments sections. They're of course not meant to be taken as demeaning or insulting, but rather that they identify the rip as using a concept so brilliant and simple that you'd think it would've been done back in the channel's early years, the "lowest hanging fruit" concepts, if you will. For as much as I love the earliest years of SiIvaGunner, many of its rips were indeed simply taking the expected concept and...doing it. That is of course what gave us all-time legendary rips like Athletic Doctor, Mt. Dedede (extended) and many more, but even within Season 1 you could see the team noticing this pattern of people expecting what the rip was going to be way ahead of time and thus worked to find ways to subvert expectations. Yet, as we'd find out many times over across the channel's life, through events like The Disappearance of Super Mario and Your Best Nightmario, sometimes the greatest form of subversion is to simply accomplish the set-out goal to a degree so far above the viewer's expectations, to where they'll have no choice to be amazed.

Indeed, the Touhou series is bursting at the seams with music that has completely infiltrated all corners of VGM culture. Even as a non-fan myself it's been impossible to ignore the franchise's impact on online circles, and how it led to incredible rips like Imperial Touwer and Beautiful Dreamer - and even as a non-fan, every time I see U.N. Owen Was Her? in my recommendations, I'm desperately compelled to relisten to it just one more time. By that same token, We Are Number One endures as perhaps the most timeless and eternally-quality meme source on SiIvaGunner: This post will mark the 7th time I've covered a rip that's just a WANO rearrangement, succeeding the likes of Robbie's Rotten Mine, Chillin' Like A Villain, and so many more. To take a popular song from internet culture, or a popular source frequently used on SiIva, and rearrange it with We Are Number One's legendary meme-ska instrumentation - it is, again, like low-hanging fruit, not necessarily anything bad, but exactly something you'd expect to see done at some point. With W.E. Are Number One?, the task put upon ripper Birdator was thus to find a way to make this concept interesting.

Yet really, after you get past the initial shock of "two pieces of music I recognize, what an easy joke!" - that hook is already present from the word go. Compared to so many other sources on the channel and so many other pieces of viral online music, U.N. Owen Was Her? is a DEVIOUSLY layered track, a steady 4/4 time signature and percussion, yet with a lead melody that feels as if it's ping-ponging between hyperactivity, tension-building and full-on drama, like three different stages of an argument that the track somehow back and fourth between. How do you translate such a seemingly complex song into instrumentation as, in some ways, one-note as that of We Are Number One? Simple - you get creative within your limitations. For example, one of my favorite uses of the source in question is within Ska Cha Cha (Rotten Mix), where the funky vocal-sample driven sound of Hideki Naganuma's music is recreated through excellent sampling of Robbie Rotten's "HA-HA-HA"'s and other such vocal mannerisms. W.E. Are Number One? takes a page right out of this book and, for large parts of its runtime, ignores the We Are Number One lyrics, delegating them to a specific section of the song and instead relying on use of the saxophone, percussion, and - of course - the aforementioned voice clips throughout large sections of the track. Even without those lyrics, it is unmistakeably WANO, however, down to the absolutely insane touch of having the instrumentation add flourishes completely unrelated to U.N. Owen Was Her?, but instead calling back specifically to We Are Number One's saxophone melody. Althewhile using WANO's own percussion as the backing, WANO's vocals playing to the rhythm of WANO itself but playing alongside sections arranging the original Touhou music...

It comes together in a package that's so polished and well-rounded, to where I almost struggle to find the words to describe it. Birdator achieved making one of those rips that some deep-in-the-trenches losers like myself have been subconsciously dreaming of in their minds for years, and pulled it off so effortlessly that it feels as if that dream was just posted right onto the SiIvaGunner channel. Hearing the We Are Number One saxophone play shit as insane as the opening riff of U.N. Owen Was Her? is a magical experience, yet the rip continues to just go with the flow from there, never content in just being a novelty or single fun gimmick like a number of rips of the channel's early days did. With W.E. Are Number One?, Birdator pushed beyond what I thought would be possible for a rip of this concept - and shows, yet again, that one can never truly know what to expect from SiIvaGunner's dastardly rippers. Even when you get the expected, you can never be safe.

[superectojazzmage]

Sure it’s been said, but the real bread and butter of SpyXFamily imo is how Yor and Loid have polar opposite but equally batshit stupid and insane approaches to the whole “spies pretending to be a normal family” thing that lead to the same result of them functionally becoming their cover identities.

Loid has some weird denial complex from his life as a spy where he views everything he does as part of some kind of 5D mental chess game that he’s playing against some nebulous threat and approaches his cover identity accordingly, effectively being the “haha I was only pretending to be retarded” meme but with being a husband and father instead of internet trolling. Every interaction he has with his wife and daughter is accompanied by a machiavellian internal monologue about how this is all an elaborate scheme to further the mission. He could be taking Anya out for ice cream and be internally thinking “yes, now that I’ve given my daughter a delicious frozen treat, Westalis shall achieve ultimate victory!!!”. He could be dicking down Yor and he’d spend the entire time thinking about how his wife’s orgasm will bring about the fall of Ostania. He is so obsessed with being a fake husband that when he becomes a real husband, he just smirks and goes “all according to keikaku” while taking his family out to the zoo or helping Anya with her homework. And when the slightest problem for his family arises — like thinking Yor is mad at him or that somebody is being mean to Anya — he totally fucking melts down about it in a way that makes no sense for a detached spy, but he still goes through the effort of trying to frame his freak out as a problem for the mission; he’s not having a panic attack about his wife being mad at him because he loves her, he swears, he’s just worried about the mission!

And meanwhile Yor is just… all fucking in. She’s a method actor to the most unhinged extreme imaginable. She heard “you have to pretend to be a housewife to avoid drawing suspicion” and decided that meant she had to literally become a housewife. She’s the Daniel Day-Lewis of assassins. She throws her whole body and soul into every single thing she does, completely immerses herself in the “role” to the point that it isn’t a role anymore, it’s just her life. Within seconds of meeting Anya she’s like “guess I’m a mom now!!!!”, within seconds of Loid proposing she’s like “yep I love my husband!!!!”. She still has all her assassin instincts and training, but they’re all warped to fit her new life as a milf because that’s what she is now; she’ll brutalize or kill anybody who even looks at her family the wrong way, she approaches every situation from the perspective of “how can I eliminate this problem?”. And like any good method actor, she obsesses over whether her behavior is “correct” to the role. She is determined to be indistinguishable from a normal housewife to a point that you wonder how she has time to be an assassin anymore when all she seems to really care about is trying to win at being Totally Normal and/or being a good wife and mother.

And then in the middle of it all, you’ve got telepathic Anya just listening in on it and doing or saying the weirdest shit imaginable because she’s a kid and has no comprehension of why this situation is completely bizarre, this is just her mom and dad being cool spies.

It’s S-Tier stuff.

[deadboydetectives-anonmeme]

DBDA Anonmeme: Archive of our Own Version

Join the DBDA Prompt Meme Challenge!

This challenge will be open from November 2024 to July 2025, with a max prompt limit of 50 (AO3's limit). If you have more than 50 prompts, you will need to post them to Dreamwidth.

As with all prompts, your prompt will be crossposted onto all version of the anonmeme - this is to spread them to a wider audience, and hopefully result in more prompts getting fills.

Now for a quick Q&A:

Are any kind of prompts allowed? Yep, prompts of all kind are welcome on the DBDA Anonmeme. This includes any pairing (or no pairings), NSFW, SFW, AUs, fix-its, and anything else you can think of! There are no right or wrong prompts.

How do I sign up? Hit "Prompt Form" button in the menu to the left on the Prompt Meme Challenge, this will take you to the sign up form. You're allowed to submit up to 50 prompts on AO3. If you have more than 50 prompts, you will need to use a different version of the anonmeme.

How do I fill a prompt? Press the Claim button under the prompt to claim it, then go to My Claims and hit the Fulfill button on the prompt you'd like to fill.

Do I need an account to use the AO3 Anonmeme? On the AO3 Anonmeme, yes. However if you don't have an AO3 account, you can prompt on the Dreamwidth Anonmeme without an account. You can also send a prompt in via the Tumblr Anonmeme. All prompts are cross posted by the mod across all anonmemes.

Do I have to stay anonymous? If you want to stay anonymous you can, otherwise you can opt-out when submitting a prompt.

Please keep in mind that all prompts crossposted by the mod are automatically posted anonymously. For example, if you post an un-anonymous prompt on AO3, the mod will comment it on Dreamwidth anonymously. All Tumblr prompts are linked back to Dreamwidth as it is the original anonmeme and you cannot link back to a single prompt on AO3.

If you do not want your prompt to be anonymous, you will need to post it on Dreamwidth yourself.

Can I fill a prompt with art or other media? All kinds of media are welcome here - fanart, gifsets, manips, video edits or really anything that pops into your mind.

Can I re-prompt? Yes, if the original prompt has not been filled within two weeks.

Will my existing prompt on Dreamwidth be posted on AO3? Yes, existing prompts will slowly be crossposted over the next few days. If you want to re-post it to AO3 yourself, be sure to check to make sure the mod hasn't already posted it. If it has been posted, feel free message the mod with a request to take it down so you can post it again yourself.

Got a question that hasn't been covered here? Feel free to send an ask on Tumblr, or post a comment on the Rules and Guidelines post on Dreamwidth.