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cinderella-ish · 3 months ago

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Fic Recs: My Favorite Kyoru Fics

Pre-Relationship

Burn Me, by me T | Flash Fiction | Angst If Tohru had to pick one word to describe how Kyo makes her feel, it would be heat.

Completely Hopeless, by me T | Short Story | hurt/comfort Tohru swoons on the way home from school after failing one of her midterms. How does Kyo get her home safe?

Dreams of Paradise, by Sky_Cloudtide T | WIP | AU & angst The Sohma family's lives are forever changed after summer vacation. Unable to live with the guilt, Kyo and Yuki look to the past, to find a way to fix the treasure they have lost.

fantasize. E | Short Story | smut Kyo’s mind runs rampant after seeing Tohru in a bikini for the first time.

forbidden fruit, by ArtificialFlavorz E | Short Story | pining & smut He watches, jaw set, as Tohru scribbles some numbers across the paper, twirling a piece of her hair around her finger absentmindedly, and tries not to picture how it would look wrapped around his hand, her neck arched backwards in pleasure. He decides he cannot blame Adam for the bite that expelled him from Eden.

Grasp, by sparklyfaerie M | Short Story | pining & smut As it turns out, living with a girl is dangerous.

i'll come closer to you (if you come over), by littlerosette T | Short Story | pining Tohru goes for a swim. Kyo's unlucky enough to catch her.

is it me that you see when you fall asleep? by sunflowerstarfruit G | Short Story | hurt/comfort & pining “I-“ Kyo started, a little shakily, before he cut himself off, pressed a fist to his chest and curled the other in the thin blanket on his bed. He swallowed, clenched his jaw, then tried again. “It was a nightmare,” he admitted, the words coming forced and raspy, raking a hand back through his hair. “About you,” he added in a hoarse whisper.

Lifeline, by me T | Short Story | angst Tohru sat on the floor of her room, clutching her knees to her chest. It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay... She clung to the words like a lifeline, desperately seeking to reassure herself that she wouldn’t lose her mother again.

Lonely Future, by me G | Flash Fiction | angst Kyo Sohma didn't believe in soulmates.

Love Me Not, by me T | Flash Fiction | angst Tohru finds Kyo on the roof. Kyo convinces himself it doesn't mean anything.

must be love on the brain, by littlerosette T | Tohru/Kyo | pining Tohru has a secret admirer. Everyone reacts to it accordingly. Except Kyo.

My Hands on You is Just a Fantasy, by unscheduledmakeouts E | Short Story | pining & smut He likes exercising, it helps clear his mind. When it’s just him and the trail, high-tempo music pumping in his earbuds, he feels free. The steady rhythm of his feet hitting the dirt grounds him, reminds him that he’s strong and focused and capable. When he gets back home, Tohru is on her knees.

Pink Ribbons, by alytsum G | Flash Fiction | angst Kyo reflects as he is plagued by the color pink.

Roots In My Dreamland, by lucybeee T | Short Story | hurt/comfort But when reality confronted her in her sleep, it was hard to run away. There was no way to hide. She was at her subconscious’s mercy until she was released and allowed to wake up as a panting, sweaty mess.

Taking on Your Curse, by modzy78 T | Novelette | angst & drama Tohru didn't realize she actually made a New Year wish when she was talking to Kyo. And that some wishes do come true.

Year of the Cat, by Praemonitor M | Novelette | pining Contrary to popular belief, Tohru Honda was not naïve.

Getting Together

Adult Intervention, by Modzy78 T | Short Story | drama & romance It's obvious Kyo likes Tohru, but he hasn't visited her in the hospital. Can anyone help him get his act together?

Against All Gods, by Athena_theunicorn M | WIP | angst, dark, & drama Tohru Honda woke up in a hospital bed. Kyo Sohma woke up in a desolate cottage. Akito Sohma woke up on a crumbling throne. What would have happened if Akito locked Kyo up, despite Tohru's best efforts? He did lose the bet, after all...

A Mandatory Attraction, by cithara0211 E | WIP | AU & smut Government Quarantine is in effect! For 14 days, Tohru only has two things on her mind: her art and her hot new neighbor, Kyo. And Kyo has only one goal: finally making Tohru his

Cursing the cursed, by modzy78 T | Novelette | drama Arisa, Saki, and Megumi discover the answer to a question they didn't know existed. Can you curse someone who's already cursed?

Escaping the future, by Modzy78 T | Novel | angst, drama & fluff It's time to graduate, and Kyo's still cursed. Tohru doesn't want Kyo to be confined. How far is she willing to go to save him from his future?

ichigo ichie, by me T | WIP | crossover & drama Last Update: July 2024 | Ch. 1/15 | under 5000 words Fruits Basket x Ouran High School / Your Name AU

If You Ever Forget That You Love Me, by villianizuku G | WIP | drama & romance After three months of thinking she was dead Yuki stumbles upon Tohru in an old neighborhood only to find out that she has lost every memory she had. Tohru is wiling to risk everything to find the people she used to love and get her past self back.

inertia, by miss_coverly E | Novel | angst & smut a Kyoru friends with benefits AU

I think about you all the time, by lucybee M | WIP | drama & romance Kyo hasn't heard from her again since. And that's right. It's the way things are supposed to be. A post-canon AU in which Kyo never redeemed himself after the confession scene.

The Last One Cursed, by cithara0211 M | WIP | drama, romance & smut The life of a college musician is a rough one. Add in a partially broken curse and an unexpected attraction to his new roommate, and this new semester back in Japan might be more than Kyo could have ever expected to find for himself.

Learn How to Knock, by BringBackMaes14 E | Short Story | smut Tohru lives in a house with three guys, and she's hardcore crushing on Kyo. She uses what little privacy she can get to "take care" of herself, but it's not unusual for one of the boys to burst in when she needs them least. Or perhaps, most.

Left Wanting, by Shewrites13 T | WIP | drama, hurt/comfort & romance Tohru Honda is newly graduated but not sure what she wants to do in life. She gets a job working for the infamous Sohma family as a maid, but when Tohru unexpectedly gets reassigned to a member of the Inner Family, she accidentally uncovers the very dark secret the Inner Family has been hiding from the world.

The Night We Met, by pettyimperfections T | Novella | angst & romance Kyo never got the chance to chase after Tohru and tell her how desperately he wanted to be with her. Instead, they became strangers. They went their separate ways. Tohru with no memory of her time with the Sohmas. Years later, Kyo and Tohru's paths once again become unexpectedly intertwined.

Of Lost Cats and Half-Shadows, by me T | also Megumi/Yuji (JJK) | WIP | crossover, drama & romance Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara enroll at Kaibara High School to investigate the Zodiac curse and free the souls it binds. Kyo is immediately suspicious of the three new students and rejects their attempts at friendship. Will they be able to break this ancient curse before Kyo is locked up forever?

The One Who Stays, by me T | WIP | drama & romance What if Yuki hadn’t run after Kyo? Tohru confesses her love. Kyo confesses his sins. Yuki sees it all. And then Akito arrives.

Ripples, by proseprincess NR | WIP | drama & romance *Note: this is a two-part series. The first work is complete! What happens when one decision leads to unintended consequences?

The Way Back, by 8_characters_or_less T | Novel | angst, drama, hurt/comfort, & romance After three years locked away in the Cat's Room the curse has finally broken. But three years is a long time and the damage that's been done won't easily be repaired. If there's anything worth fighting for, it's love. Only time will tell if that will be enough.

What's a White Lie Between Friends (& My Family)? by AnxietyAvocado G | Novella | romance Tohru's cousin is getting married, and she's been invited to be part of the wedding. She can't show up alone, so Kyo decides he's going with her. But when her family assumes they're dating, things are going to get very awkward very quickly.

Developing Relationship

Always Only You, by cithara0211 E | WIP | AU & smut Finally back after being gone from nearly three years, Kyo enters his senior year ready to fix the mistakes he made that one summer. And upon seeing Kyo again, Tohru promised herself she would stop running from her feelings. Are they prepared for the crazy new desire eating at them?

Eating Out With Your Wife, and Other Spousal Pleasures, by inheritanceofgeek E | Short Story | humor & smut Kyo and Tohru have been married for six months and their relationship has never been stronger or more fulfilling. Yet their previous ignorance to sex means that some things just never occur to them... Luckily for Kyo, his new Dojo just happens to have a happily married lesbian woman visiting who is more than happy to pass on some advice on the subject.

End of the Banquet, by AveSolace M | WIP | drama All the geopolitical tension in East Asia has come to a head. China has invaded Taiwan, and Japan is immediately drawn into the conflict. The Sohmas' lives are thrown into chaos, even as the Zodiac curse remains unbroken.

Everspring, by f3tid E | WIP | smut Truthfully, the season and the weather are inconsequential. When they are together, it is always Spring.

Fanning the Flame; Waking the Animal, by TripleTyrant E | Short Story | smut Kyo is incredibly gentle, and Tohru wonders what she'll have to do to spark the fire she knows is in his heart.

Heaven, by vylias E | Short Story | smut Tohru swallowed before slowly sliding herself off of Kyo’s lap and down onto the floor in front of the couch. Nestling herself in between his legs, she held his eyes as he watched her start to reach for his belt. Then she saw his breath catch and realization dawn on his face.

Hold On, by Danyu T | Novella | angst, drama, & romance Kyou has accepted his fate as the cat. Relationships change and the bond between he and Tohru is cemented forever. But he leaves something behind, something precious enough to give everyone the strength to hold on.

ignite it, by littlerosette E | Short Story | smut Things get heavy between Kyo and Tohru in a storage closet.

i like my body when it is with your, by littlerosette E | Novelette | pining & smut A girl, a boy, and the evolution of desire.

i really (really really) like you, by alpacas T | Short Story | fluff “Do you think they’ve done it yet?” Haru asks.

Living with Mom's Boyfriend, by Geoduck T | Flash Fiction | Humor When he opened the door, he hadn't expected to catch the stupid cat with his pants down.

Melting, by vylias E | Short Story | smut But as Kyo pressed his lips against hers, Tohru could tell that this time felt different. This one was somehow filled with more urgency and fire than all the previous kisses that they had shared.

Memories of the Cat, by Modzy78 T | WIP | drama & hurt/comfort Kyo wants to distance himself from being the Cat. But he has one thing to deal with first.

On Top of the World, by me G | Flash Fiction | fluff Tohru has a surprise planned for her date with Kyo.

Orgasm Struggles, by fishcalledwanda E | Short Story | smut Tohru has never had an orgasm before. Kyo explores several ways to increase her pleasure, but eventually, it is Hanajima who comes to the rescue.

remedies for when you're feeling weak, by chicanerywrites E | Novelette | smut It struck Kyo, in that very moment, that Tohru wasn’t blissfully unaware at all. The look in her eyes was permission and trust and maybe a little bit of want and so, with that fleeting thought, his lips covered her fingers too.

Sweet Disposition, by truthwallflower E | WIP | pining & smut Tohru wants Kyo and Kyo wants Tohru. Too bad neither of them know how to go about it. A story of how Kyo overestimates Tohru's naivety and of Tohru remembering Kyo being disappointed in her. Even relationships that have faced millennia-long curses aren't impervious to misunderstandings.

This Air is Blessed, by KyoDoodles E | WIP | humor & smut A series of short, sweet and steamy post-canon fics about Kyo and Tohru’s life together.

We Have the Rest of Our Lives, by me T | Short Story | fluff & hurt/comfort Kyo helps Tohru change her bandages after she's released from the hospital.

Established Relationship

Baby's First Birthday, by me G | Flash Fiction | mild hurt/comfort | Background Machi/Yuki Tohru can't seem to get her camcorder to work.

Fearing the future, by modzy78 T | Novelette | angst & slice of life Kyo faces his biggest challenge, and it terrifies him. How will he face his future?

Hold Me, by me T | Flash Fiction | hurt/comfort A year after the curse breaks, Kyo still gets nightmares.

Like a Bolt Out Of the Blue, by me G | WIP | fluff, hurt/comfort & pining (Hajime/Mutsuki) At their annual family beach trip, Hajime wrestles with some big feelings.

Like Father, Like Son, by me T | Short story | fluff When Tohru and Kyo can't find their two young sons one morning, they turn up in an unexpected-- and very cute!-- place.

Nightmares, by Modzy78 T | Short Story | angst & hurt/comfort Tohru Honda can't remember a time she didn't have nightmares. But this one is unlike any she's had before.

Part of the Fruits Basket, by Athena_theunicorn G | Short Story | angst & hurt/comfort A collection of five Fruits Basket one-shots

Second Visit, by Geoduck T | Short Story | hurt/comfort Kyo and Tohru visit the office of a medical professional. After they leave, they talk about it.

So Lucky, by me T | Flash Fiction | hurt/comfort Kyo always wanted to protect her. She was so incredibly precious to him. He never wanted to let anything bad happen to her. But, as he quickly learned, protecting Tohru was a lot easier said than done.

undertow, by hungryhungryhanachan E | WIP | dark, drama, & tragedy Tohru has always smiled through her pain. Why would this be any different?

Welcome Home, by me G | Flash Fiction | fluff Tohru anxiously awaits Kyo's return from a training trip.

Wish, by me G | Short Story | fluff Tohru and Kyo take their three children to their small town's Tanabata festival.

Here's a link to my bookmarks tagged with Tohru/Kyo!

#fruits basket #furuba #fruba #fanfic #ao3 #my fanfic recs #fruits basket fanfiction #tohru honda #kyo sohma #kyoru #kyo x tohru

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pityroadart · 6 months ago

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Hi Nic!! What's the thing you most look forward to doing when you're drawing/painting? I've never touched a paintbrush in my life, sorry if that's a super broad question. But say, your eye watercolours- is it trying to reproduce the tones with a limited (at least to a digital artist) palette? The initial drawing stage? Painting in the wispy lashes and brows? It all seems like magic to me!!! 😍

Hello I apologise for the late reply! Race week was busy, and I wanted to give your lovely message the care it deserves (& also I just love talking about watercolours)

That's a hard question! I really enjoy the process as a whole (except when I am complaining about it, which is an important part of the process), especially my eye paintings because they're so intuitive to me by now.

But, a few parts I really enjoy are:

1. Choosing the palette — both the actual paint palette I'll be using (I have so many), and the palette of usually 2-6 actual paint colours I'll be mixing my colours from. I'm a bit of a pigment nerd, so figuring out which paints are gonna have the perfect properties (granulation, staining etc) and mix the colours I want very enjoyable

2. The first wet wash, normally working wet-in-wet (applying diluted paint to already wet paper), where the goal is to simply place your colours in the approximate areas they should be, and let the watercolour work its magic.

Here's a couple WIP shots of my Yuki eye, in both that initial stage and the one I'm about to describe below:

3. Getting the darkest darks in, and all of a sudden, just like magic, it becomes an eye! This is normally the third layer out of an approximate 4, and whilst I try to save the individual brow hairs and lashes until that final stage, I'll often mostly block them in here. An artist I follow on youtube, Arleebean, says often that if you feel your painting is going through the Ugly Stage, you've probably lost your values and need to get the (relatively) darkest darks in to bring it back to balance. It's a rule I live by, and that's what this stage is to me. I also get any freckles/spots/splatters in at this point, which is very fun to do too!

I hosted a watercolour workshop on eye paintings back in 2022 (and have another planned for this year), and here's a step-by-step I made of the first four stages (sketch, wet wash, mid tones, darks) in preparation for that. The final step after that would be, as you mentioned, any fine eyebrow hairs and eyelashes, which I think you can tell it's missing here

4. And possibly the stage I get most excited about, from about the middle of the painting onwards if it seems to be going my way, is posting it in the group chat or on here and watching my fandom friends and mutuals yell about it :)) Big fan of that, even if I am usually terrible at replying to nice comments :')

Here's a selection of older eyes I painted again as workshop examples, all using a limited palette of four colours (quin gold hue, pyrrol red, ultramarine, burnt umber)

+ a selection of more recent eyes:

Thank you so much for the lovely message! I adore your art (& seriously, if you're ever in the mood for an art collab or something, you know where to find me), so I'm glad you enjoy mine too ☀

#f1 fanart #watercolour #eyes #art tips #wip #ask #dumbf1sketches

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review-anon · 1 month ago

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Despair Time Chapter 2 Review Part 1: The Good

Hey guys Review Anon here and what’s this? I’m reviewing something other than ASOOT arcs? Yes, yes, I am. Shocker I know but I am not treading too far as I’m still covering Danganronpa as I’m reviewing Chapter 2 of Despair Time now it’s finished. I have my thoughts on it and now I’ve taken some time to take it all in I can talk about what went well, what didn’t go well and what lessons we can take away from the whole thing. I was gonna wait until Bubbles does their review/rant but natural disasters are bitches and power hasn’t been restored yet. So, I’m doing this now to get out of the way.

And for any people coming here from non ASOOT related tags then I will apologise in advance because you are gonna be in for a LOOONNNGGGG read. If you are the type to go tl;dr then turn away now.

I presume the rest of you want to read it? Well, let’s get right to it. I’ve split this into three parts because I don’t want to do Google Docs for this, and it would be an easier read for those who came from the non ASOOT space as you guys aren’t used to my lengthy reviews. Consider this your crash course on how I review, in extreme detail and excessive word count. This right here is about 8.5k which is a bite size by my standards which should tell you everything.

Please bear in mind you will have to wait a bit for the next parts as I want to get my current project done before this. Its just I didn't anticipate this taking so long.

Anyway, let’s get right into it, shall we?

Chains of Friendship

Chapter 1s for any Fanronpa tend to be very shocking as it’s the creator’s way to try and surprise the audience and subvert any expectations they have. Some do this well, others do not. But Despair Time was one of those who did it well by how it handled the main protagonist Teruko Tawaki.

At first glance she seemed to be an atypical Danganronpa protagonist. Ultimate Lucky Student? Check. Has an ahoge? Check. Believes in friendship, trust, hope and all those bollocks? Check. Gets backstabbed by someone they believed to be a friend in the first chapter? Check quite literally. Forgives said friend and continues to be a ray of sunshine? Ch- oh wait hang on a minute she didn’t do that at all.

Yeeaahhh while Xander’s sudden attempted murder on Teruko was a massive shock, what was even more so that Teruko decided to say fuck friendship and trust and not trust anyone ever again. On one hand you can understand Teruko’s rage. She was very close to Xander and he used that trust to try and kill her. Min was also someone who supported Teruko and she was willing to throw Teruko under the bus to save her own skin. None of the others stood up for her as they all decided that Teruko killed Xander, and it was only thanks to the power of protagonist energy and using basic logic that saved them. As such Teruko was well within her right to call everyone out for being selfish bastards. Especially since as we get to know more of Teruko this chapter, we learn that what happened in Chapter 1, while extreme, is a snapshot of her entire life due to how ruinous her luck has been.

I don’t think I’ve said this before, but I will say it now, luck SUCKS in the Danganronpa universe. Look at all the Lucky Students we had, Makoto is the only one who has a decent life and he loses the most. Nagito is so ravaged by luck he’s become suicidal and depressed. Yuki goes through literal hell due to his luck and the less said about Utsuro, the better. And while it’s still very much a WIP, one of my OCs is a Lucky Student and her life is equally ruined by her luck. But don’t worry I’ve not copy pasted it from anyone else as the direction I’ve taken my OC is in a way nobody has done before. And what Teruko has here is a fine example of that. She is an orphan who was abandoned by everyone in her life, she has numerous wounds on her body, she barely has any education as she has to sneak into large schools as a student and then once the gig is up, run away and her finances are in ruins due to the hospital bills. Its little surprise why she likes the Killing Game, as she gets guaranteed food and shelter here, which is more then what can be said outside. But even that has a silver lining as we know whoever the mastermind is, they have it out for her.

However, while this is a massive departure from what the typical protagonist would go through, it’s a known fact that in a Killing Game, you NEED to work with others. Class Trials are decided by majority vote and so if you become a pariah, you are very likely to be ignored and might risk dooming yourself or others if what you are saying is true. Teruko doesn’t have to like her classmates, but she needs to learn to coexist with them. Especially since Teruko switching from “I hate and distrust everyone” to “We are all friends” is a major mood whiplash I doubt anyone would do. So naturally one of the main themes of this chapter is learning to rebuild trust after its broken and the consequences of not trusting anyone.

Two major voices object to Teruko’s self-imposed isolation and distrust of everyone. The first is Eden Tobisa. She’s always been a cheerful and optimistic person within the Killing Game and has taken Xander’s and Min’s deaths harshly. In a way Eden behaves more like what a typical Danganronpa protagonist does, wanting to be friends with everyone and being kind. When she tries to get Teruko to bake with her, Teruko reminds her the last time they baked was with Hu, Rose and Min and that was later used for Min’s murder of Xander. She calls her naïve for being optimistic and says she won’t be friends with her, because she knows that at some point, Eden will crack from the harsh reality of the Killing Game and the luckster doesn’t want a stake in it. Kindness will always be rewarded with cruelty.

But when she says this Eden surprises her as contrary to what Teruko thinks, Eden isn’t oblivious to the cruelness of the Killing Game and reality as a whole. Yet the small clockmaker chooses to be kind because it’s the right thing to do, and if you give someone kindness while people can backstab you, you can be rewarded. When it comes to trust and distrust you need a healthy balance.

When I reviewed Black and White Christmas, I didn’t like how Sunako was forcing the Quantum Crew to trust the 76 Squad for a couple of reasons. I tried explaining it at the time, but I felt I telegraphed it quite poorly and I’m sure that’s irritated Mod Poi. The first one is on me, as I didn’t really know the 76 Squad then and as such couldn’t really tell at face value if they were to be trusted or not. Since they are from NWPM and I struggled to read it, my lack of knowledge led to that judgement, but the other thing is that I compared the whole thing to Raja and the Last Dragon and how it mishandled the theme of trust. Expect I didn’t explain it very well or misunderstood the hate. The main reason Raja got betrayed the first time was because she trusted Namaari too much, which you should never do to people you literally just meet. Give them the benefit of doubt yes, but never open yourself up to someone you don’t know that well. Teruko made that mistake with Xander and that’s why she got a knife in her gut.

While it’s a heartfelt speech, it had a notable impact on Teruko as she didn’t know how to respond. When you expect nothing but betrayal and backstabbing, having someone be kind for the sake of it can shock you. It’s the same shock Kyoko experienced in Trigger Happy Havoc when she didn’t expect Makoto to keep his mouth shut about evidence that he knows is false, and he explained it’s because he trusts her, she didn’t know how to respond. While Eden isn’t the main protagonist, the same principle applies.

Eden isn’t the only person who objects to Teruko’s views that you should never have faith in others as the other is Charles Cuevas. Starting off Charles was your atypical smug intellectual who believes he’s superior to others, akin like Byakuya and Rei. But much like them, he softens up and learns to work with others though in Charles’s case it’s a bit more extreme. In Chapter 1 he was revealed to suffer from Hemophobia, so much so that if he sees blood, he literally goes into shock and can’t remember anything. Xander uses this to his advantage to try and frame Charles for his would be killing of Teruko, but when it seems like everyone is turning on Charles, Whit is the one who stands up for him, gives evidence why he couldn’t do it and so Charles is cleared. This has caused the formally smug chemist to go through a bit of character development as while in Chapter 2 he still thinks his intelligence is beyond that of most of the cast, he isn’t pushing them down as much and has soften up to certain characters, most particularly Whit and Teruko. The former because he stood up for him and is an honest friend and the latter due to demonstrating that unlike most of the cast, Teruko actually uses her brain. It’s a slow burn but assuming Charles survives all to the end, he will become a much better person.

So, when Teruko talks about her disbelief that he is trusting people after what happened in the Class Trail, he brings up some valid points on why Teruko is actually being quite illogical as cooperation with others is key to surviving this game and humans are social pack animals by design, we work better as a team.

Chapter 1 Charles is pretty much Chapter 2 Teruko but after learning he cannot look at a corpse and thus is incapable of surviving on his own, Charles has started to learn how to rely on others. In some ways he doesn’t like how everyone pities him now so Teruko is a relief as her interactions with him haven’t changed. But while Eden says why Teruko is wrong from an emotional and moral perspective, Charles approaches it from a logical and factual point of view. As many analysts have already pointed out, it’s impossible to do a solo act in a Killing Game, if you want to live, you need to learn how to work with others. Either to prevent yourself from becoming a target, or so others can help you when you are down, much like how Whit helped Charles in his lowest point. As such using his own experiences, he knows the direction Teruko is coming from and implores her to reconsider as eventually events will occur which will force her back to trusting others again.

I like this as we have two different characters, both who get tons of development this Chapter, attacking Teruko’s morals from different angles. But while they are definitely making dents, Teruko is able to justify in her worldview that she’s been beaten too many times to be like Eden, especially as Eden seems to have had a good life where her worst secret is that she’s a closet lesbian. Which okay its definitely something Eden might have been harassed over if bigotry is still a thing in this world, but with so many of the cast being LGBTQ, it’s not the worst secret in the world. And for Charles, he has a deliberating condition which prevents him from surviving on his own. Everyone knows about Teruko’s luck and she’s survived this well without needing help on it so she doesn’t need to rely on others.

Expect of course, she’s wrong, because during an interaction with Veronika, she brings up the suggestion that Teruko might have prosopagnosia.

While it’s not confirmed in this Chapter, I do believe Bubbles has a point that Teruko might have face blindness but I don’t think its prosopagnosia. Recall that Teruko has had a very harsh upbringing where she couldn’t get close to people or have a solid support network. It’s known that having a disruptive childhood can lead to arrested development in various areas. I recall a case where a woman had blurry vision for a long time as a child and wasn’t diagnosed as shortsighted until much later in her life and because this happened after the point in a child’s development where the sense of self develops, it means this woman had a lot of self-identity problems and has a hard time recognising herself or others. But she doesn’t have prosopagnosia as that’s a neurological condition you are born with. Rather I feel the face blindness is due to people fazing in and out of Teruko’s life so much that she doesn’t bother forming connections and that is what’s fucked her up.

Regardless of the technicities, it IS a problem in a Killing Game because it would be very easy for someone to trick Teruko by merely dressing up as someone else. That wouldn’t be a problem if Teruko has a support network in place, but if she doesn’t, then she’s a goner. So, like Charles, for medical reasons Teruko doesn’t have the means to stand on her own and needs others to help her.

But the one character who shattered Teruko’s worldview and made her realise what she’s doing is wrong is the victim of this chapter; Arei Nageishi.

When Arei was introduced back in the Prologue at first it seemed like she was gonna be an insufferable Hiyoko-like character. She’s vicious, mean and enjoys tormenting others. But Chapter 1 reveals some layers to her as when Eden invited Teruko, Rose, Min and Hu to bake, Arei got really upset because she wasn’t invited, implying she wants to be involved with the group but doesn’t know how to approach it in any way other than being mean. Then during her FTE with J, she reveals that she has a ranking system in place for how badly she bullies other, while some like J get mild teasing, others she will try to ruin their lives completely. And for kind people she will make sure they cry because she cannot stand anyone being kind, implying that Arei seems to have a real problem with people being kind.

As such when Eden goes to apologise to Arei for excluding her, at first Arei behaves like how Teruko would think she would, she belittles Eden, calls her dumb and says she’s gonna die if she keeps this up, which causes Eden to burst into tears and run away. But alone with David and Teruko, Arei confesses that she didn’t like doing that. She said that stuff to Eden to protect her, because she believes the world is like what Teruko says it is, that kindness cannot be rewarded with anything other than cruelty. And if Eden keeps this up, she’s gonna die. The reason for this is as you would expect due to trauma as Arei’s older sisters would torment her constantly and make her life hell, until Arei just had it and frame her sisters for a bunch of crimes which resulted in them getting send to reform school. This here is a snapshot of one of the main themes this chapter has so we will come back to it later. So, is Arei just reinforcing Teruko’s worldview? Nope. Because then Arei reveals that despite all of that, she WANTS kind people to exist, she HAS to be doubtful of Eden because she’s so kind and optimistic, the exact person Arei wants to have in her life, but her past experiences have gotten in the way. And as she breaks down sobbing due to that, something stirs within Teruko.

Without realising it, Arei has shot a massive wound in Teruko’s armour. She’s someone who is basically like Teruko, who is rude and cruel to others because every time she’s tried to be kind, it was slapped down and punished. She also believes the world is a dark and evil place, but she also wants to believe kind people exist, despite what her experiences have taught her. This is what Teruko is going through. The fact she does cactus puppet plays of Xander and Min, shows that despite what Teruko claims, she is not a sociopath and can care for others, and she wants to be friends with everyone but having been hurt so badly, she cannot get close again. Teruko, without realising it, sees a lot of herself within Arei. She denies it at the time but those words have an impact on her.

David’s speech to her, even though its hollow and not even Arei believed it because she saw his secret and knew he was a piece of shit, still didn’t mind it. The reason being is that even if someone like David, who is seen as a beacon of hope and sunshine, is a rotten bastard deep down, then its proof she isn’t too far gone. While obviously we don’t have David reveal this to the others, we see the conversation happen, and it clearly had an effect on David, due to him remembering it so vividly. Arei’s drive to become a better person wound up saving Eden’s life twice as she interrupted Arturo’s attack on Eden when she tried to reveal his secret to him, and by doing her stunt Ace, the culprit for this case, decided to switch targets and go for Arei instead of Eden. Which I’m glad that Eden didn’t die because if she did, that would convince many that Despair Time was gonna be a cynical work like the Another Series and The Mistake. And why of course Arei still died this chapter, her death was NOT caused by her reaching out to others because Ace was gonna kill regardless of what was happening. And Teruko’s rage at Ace for killing Arei was less about him having a shitty motive but because had Arei lived, she and Teruko would have become good friends, since she would have understood Teruko’s pain and her desire to want to trust others regardless of her past.

Teruko also suffered the consequences of shutting others out as by being isolationist, Teruko has missed the context for a lot of what shenanigans have unfolded among others, and due to believing her viewpoint to be the only correct one, she makes mistakes. During the Class Trial, Teruko misreads the time and assumed the murder occurred at 8pm and NOT 8am which is Arei’s true time of death. Had Charles not pointed this out, David would be ruled as the culprit and everyone would have been executed. Another major mistake Teruko made was in how to end the Killing Game. When Veronika said that Eden had an idea to end the Killing Game by being as boring as possible, Teruko said that wouldn’t work as that’s why motives exist, whereas she has an idea but she needs to wait until the next murder occurs. We are left hanging, and for Arei’s case quite literally on what she meant by that, that is until Ace was exposed as the culprit and Teruko asks Ace to do something outrageous; Kill MonoTV.

Teruko’s logic for this at first glance seems sound. The reason the Killing Game occurs is due to the fact they have to follow MonoTV’s rules, and breaking them results in death. However, with Ace due to die via execution, he has nothing to lose. If he destroys MonoTV he has a chance to save his own life, of course if he fails, so what, Ace is gonna die anything so it achieves nothing. In short, there is no downsides and only upsides.

Expect of course if you have been paying attention, this is not the case. Firstly, normally with the mascots they tend to have copies, one gets destroyed, another takes its place. Thus, the game will carry on, but then there’s another one and one that tripped a lot of people up. When MonoTV was asked who would be the blackened, he said whoever was the most “mastermind-y” Now a lot of people interpreted this as being whoever is behind the murder and not necessarily the murderer. This is why Bubbles proposed that while Hu would be the one to kill Arei/J, David would be the blackened as he was the one who manipulated Hu into doing so. But this logic doesn’t just apply to murders, when Ace obliges and tries to smash MonoTV, it doesn’t work due to the robot being more durable then initially thought, the AI said that while Ace did break a rule, he was gonna be executed anyway so it would achieve nothing. As such the one being punished would be the one who told Ace to break said rule; Teruko herself.

As the countdown for Teruko to get gatling gunned occurs, I wasn’t worried like Teruko, as I KNEW someone was gonna jump in front of her and take the shots. The question was; who? I was thinking either Eden or Charles would do so as both have strong connections to Teruko, and for both it would be a massive contribution to their characters. In Eden’s case its shows she’s not scared to fight what she believes in, and returning the favour. Teruko stood up for her when the culprits narrowed down to Ace and herself, and Teruko decided to focus on Ace, so the petite clockmaker would return the favour. For Charles, it would be him facing his fears as he is terrified of the sight of blood and gore, so him jumping in front of the way of a gatling gun, assuming he survives, would show how much he is starting to care for the others. Anyone else aside those two…I didn’t think so. Ace would have never done so as I’m sure he is the one who voted for Teruko. Nico clearly wanted to get away with their crimes and the others either aren’t close to Teruko or jumping in front of the gun would be out of character for them. So, when the timer hit zero, I expected a CGI of either Eden or Charles with a lot of bullets in them…

But instead, my expectations were blown wide open by the fact that Levi of all people jumped in front of Teruko and shielded her from the bullets. This reminded me very much of when Akane was almost blown up by a bazooka by Monokuma but Nekomaru blocked his way and got shot. Considering what we learnt about Levi in this Chapter, this really took me off guard AND bumped him up several tiers in my character rankings.

But this had a total shock on Teruko, as she believed if she didn’t care for anyone else, nobody would likewise care for her, so the fact that someone cared enough to shield her from pain, and that they are on death’s door because of her, send shockwaves through Teruko’s body as when after Ace’s execution as everyone rushed to the infirmary to treat Levi, Teruko stayed behind to do something she said she would never do; mourn.

The amount of people who contributed to Teruko’s character development doesn’t end there as while those four are examples of positive interactions for Teruko, we have had two cases of negative interactions who serve a different purpose, the first is David Chiem.

When introduced David…seemed off. He seemed like an affable and friendly person who believes everyone has the motivation and desire to change, and Xander in particular seems to be a massive fanboy of him. But like most celebrities and people in public that is just a façade is in the Prologue when Xander went off to get something for his idol to sign, we see David chuckling to himself on how much of an idiot Xander is, without realising that Teruko was there to see it all, and his shock when she reveals she heard that, says it all. Chapter 2 brought up the suss meter even further when David ‘confessed’ his secret and implored everyone to discuss their own secrets, which far from doing good, ended up causing a lot of drama and tension. Anyone with a irk of sense could tell David was fake, I knew he was fake, Bubbles knew he was fake, pretty much most Youtubers reacting knew he was fake.

Another factor working against him is his VA. Quite a few SDRA2 English Dub VAs also worked on Despair Time, and for the most part is interesting to see their contrasts. Bblackroses is known for playing Hibiki Otonokoji, but here she is J who while Hibiki is a bubbly peppy girly-girly, J is a complete tomboy who hates the starlight and fame. Artimmissis Setsuka Chiebukuro, who is a very reliable woman with a prankster side to her, but here she is MonoTV an incompetent mastermind who tells the worst jokes. David Chiem’s VA is Sword of Swords who also worked on SDRA2, and what character did he play there?

Oh, nobody important, just Mikado Sannoji the Mastermind of that game, the leader of the main antagonist group Void and more or less a piece of shit.

At first glance the contrast seems to be that Mikado is an evil bastard whereas David is a moral force of good. But as the pressure mounts for David and the fact his secret is that he’s a manipulator who likes to deceive others, as well as how he mocked Arei’s desire for friends earlier, meant when it reached the boiling point the mask came off and David revealed his true self.

It’s here the true contrasts between him and Mikado become clear. Both are men who hide their true selves behind a mask, literally for Mikado and figuratively for David and both pretended to be forces of good before their masks slip and their true vile nature is revealed. David is obvious as he tried to be a good moral speaker whereas Mikado you might have missed it tried to be a hero and claim Void was a force of good before Rei and Teruya ruined it. In addition, their true selves are so VERY different. Mikado always remained polite and affable even when he is being extremely bastardry whereas David is rude, condensing and swears all the damn time. I also cannot help that David’s true self looking a lot like Utsuro, who is the main object of Mikado’s desires cannot NOT be a coincidence.

But what does David show for Teruko? Well, he seems to at a glance reinforce Teruko’s beliefs that nobody can be trusted as Teruko smugly pointed out she saw the warning signs of him being evil way before anyone else did. And whenever he talks to her, he seems to want to keep this act of Teruko hating everyone up, saying it’s her nature to distrust others and the only thing she trusts is the truth. And then here is his final confession he wants Teruko to trust what he’s saying. David is in a way a warning of the kind of person Teruko would become if she keeps on her current path. I also think that David had Teruko’s secret and knows it’s her fault the Killing Game is going on. The fact he keeps seemly praising Xander and calling him a good person is obviously an attempt to get under Teruko’s skin due to how she feels about him. I for one second don’t believe he cares about Xander.

Mr. Politician isn’t the only person who serves as a warning as the culprit of this chapter, Ace Markey does as well. Ace always seemed to be a coward as he is easily scared of his own shadow and while he talks tough, he doesn’t have the actions to back it up. However, in Chapter 2 Ace gets sick and tired of being a wimp and thus decides to become a bully, which is still being a coward as pretty much most bullies bully because they are cowards who want someone weaker than themselves to lord over to make themselves feel better. Yet what drives Ace’s actions is his Thanatophobia, fear of death which is a very bad thing to have in a Killing Game. Due to this fear, Ace decides to commit murder as he feels if he doesn’t kill someone, someone will do the same to him and the fact Nico almost does, reinforces this belief. Teruko is someone while not paranoid, is very distrustful of everyone and if she feels that anyone and everyone is out to get her, she could fall down the same slippery slope that Ace does.

Despite this, Ace still manages to surprise her as when Levi takes the bullets for her, everyone needs to get to the infirmary to treat Levi otherwise he dies, but the lift won’t work since Ace still needs to be executed. Ace has already made it very clear he hates and despises Levi, especially after the latter confesses that he doesn’t care about the former, which seemed to really hurt him, but seeing someone he hates that much do something so selfless, means he decides to do the one decent thing in his life, while also being his last, getting MonoTV to execute him so the lift doors open and Levi could be saved.

That I think was the final straw which broke Teruko. She has had mounting pressure throughout the entire Chapter but then someone who was a coward, sacrificing himself so that someone else could live, is the final crushing proof as well as the knowledge that while she avoided making the same mistakes as before, she just wound up making new ones, that caused her to cry alone in the Trial Room.

We also get interesting character interactions with Teruko and MonoTV throughout the chapter. Since Teruko isolated herself so much from the others, MonoTV hires her to do maintenance around the Killing Game since he’s too incompetent to do it himself. As Monokumas were originally butler robots this would have never happened in the main series. We learn a far bit about MonoTV, that he is a simple robot designed for the Killing Game and he doesn’t have full knowledge on who’s running the thing as he was only programmed to do what his tasks enabled. And as Teruko pointed out, he is sadistic as Min was executed before she could say everything she wanted to and Ace’s execution was dragged out for as long as possible, in both cases it’s to make the victims feel the most despair. The other interesting thing is that Teruko can use Monocoins to get him to remove other characters who are bothering her which is the complete contrast to FTEs. What should we call them instead? Exclusion Zone Effects or EZE? Nah that doesn’t roll off the tongue.

In conclusion, I really liked how Teruko was handled in this Chapter due to how much of a cliffhanger the previous chapter left with her. This chapter did so much to knock her down for her high and mighty view and while she won’t be buddy-buddy come Chapter 3, I do believe that she will be more approachable to the cast. Teruko’s journey throughout this fanganronpa will be interesting to see and I see her opening up more about her past as she gets more comfortable with the cast.

Trust in Nature

Every Danganronpa game has two themes, no matter how you slice it. The first theme is the most obvious one and this is a theme that the protagonist and the mastermind have in common. For Trigger Happy Havoc its Hope vs. Despair, Goodbye Despair is Future vs. Past and Killing Harmony is Truth vs. Lies.

Some have said that it’s too early to call what the themes for Despair Time are, but I disagree as Chapter 2 imo is the ideal time to introduce your themes, and I think I’ve worked them out. The primary theme is one that doesn’t take much to deduce and others have caught onto it and that is Optimism vs. Cynicism. Teruko is a very cynical individual and doesn’t think she can trust others but more optimistic people disagree, saying being jaded makes you more open to being deceived. Eden and Charles, who are 100% the partners in this fanganronpa serving similar roles to Kaito and Maki in Killing Harmony where one represents the emotional connection and the other the logical one. Eden is always a bundle of sunshine and wanting everyone to be happy, but unlike someone like say Makoto, she isn’t oblivious to the fact the world is cruel but chooses to be kind regardless because its decent and it’s the most moral thing to do. Charles is more logical based and originally was quite cynical but having been shown kindness by Whit, he has opened up a bit more to some other people and while he definitely is a work in progress, he is more optimistic about surviving and escaping the Killing Game.

And this brings me to the Rival of the Fanganronpa; David. Bubbles didn’t like David surviving past Chapter 2, ignoring their own hatred for David aside because they didn’t think David contributed anything meaningful to the overall narrative of Despair Time. I disagree harshly as if I am right with the main themes of Despair Time, David is 100% a perfect Rival character as he represents those themes so well. The cynicism side is obvious as David believes that everyone is gonna die in the Killing Game and there is no point to continuing so might as well get it over and done with. This is why when David’s true nature was exposed, he tried to claim to be the killer, which is another typical rival tactic, so everyone votes for him and they all die. This very logic is why Teruko said she is not the culprit because as soon as David went on his tirade, it would have been an instant win condition for her. And as the game progresses more and more people are gonna want to live to prove David wrong and his mental sanity is probably gonna decline as a result until his Rival protection cause expires in Chapter 5 where he probably dies in a way to try and spite the cast. Going back to the Mastermind, I believe they think the Despair Time cast are all horrible people that deserve to die, whenever that be because they are Neo Remnants of Despair or something to do with Teruko, and as such use the Killing Game to kill them all. By the end of the fanganronpa, Teruko would have become more like a typical Danganronpa protagonist and be able to defy the mastermind wanting to kill her by showing the world is not a bleak place and people can change and improve.

That brings me nicely to the secondary themes. The primary themes are shared between the protagonist and the mastermind, whereas the secondary themes are shared between the group and the rival character. This take a bit more thinking to figure out but I think I’ve cracked what Despair Time’s secondary theme is. Trigger Happy Havoc’s is working together as a team as the class are trying to work together to survive the Killing Game while Byakuya is trying to play the Killing Game in order to “win” and isolates himself from the others. Goodbye Despair’s secondary theme is a deconstruction of the idea of talent as despite being Ultimates, Class 77-B doesn’t really care about their talents and support each other for their own individual characteristics and despite Hajime being revealed to be a Reserve Course Student, are extremely accepting of him. Nagito by contrast believes Hope’s Peak talented and talentless system is gospel, praises his fellow Ultimates for their talents which they do not want to be reminded by and is extremely cruel to Hajime when he finds out he is a talentless person who thinks he can mingle with his idea of the elite. Killing Harmony’s secondary theme is wanting to remain stagnant and compliant as the V3 Cast are very content to stick to the status quo and carry on with their lives, whereas Kokichi would rather shake things up and challenge said status quo. All of these secondary themes are very important to the story. And with that I believe Despair Time’s secondary theme is if humanity is inherently good or evil.

That seems very similar to Optimism vs. Cynicism but it isn’t. This theme tackles if humans are capable of changing their nature or if they are always either good or evil. From this it’s very easy to see where David lies, he believes humanity cannot change their nature, people are either saints or scum. If someone can “change themselves” it’s because they were never that bad to begin with, whereas truly evil people cannot change. And Teruko also seems to agree on this concept because whenever Eden says she is a good person, Teruko tells her to stop as by saying that, she makes her feel worse for the fact she can change but she hasn’t made the effort to do so. Teruko always believed she was scum and would die like scum if she cared about nobody around her.

Naturally this chapter has a few characters who challenge this rule big time. Let’s start with Levi, the guy has always seemed chill but we get to see more of a scary side to him when he threatens to kill Ace if he doesn’t stop being an arsehole. We also have an interesting opening discussion with him and Eden where Levi confesses that he doesn’t see himself as a good person, contrary to what Eden thinks. This all gets revealed in the Class Trial when Levi admits that he doesn’t possess empathy and therefore cannot care about anyone around him, the fact he’s killed 4 people, one of whom being his own father and yet he treats it with the same disinterest as one would swat a fly, is very telling.

Fans were quick to diagnose Levi with Antisocial Personality Disorder, and this is where DT Dev actually impressed me big time. This disorder is one of the most maligned within society, even more so in my opinion then those on the autistic spectrum. The reason being is simple, almost every single time a fictional character is revealed to have this disorder they are almost always a psychopathic villain who kills everyone around them and gives zero shits. To say how damaging this stereotype is unbelievable and Levi is frankly the most realistic portrayal of someone with this disorder. Yes, Levi doesn’t have empathy, or a very low level of it, but he still tries to be a good person not because of morals and emotions, but more so out of a sense of duty, especially as before Levi revealed it nobody suspected a thing due to Levi not behaving like the usual stereotypes. He isn’t very good at it because he's trying to figure out how to be a good person which isn’t easy when it’s not instinct. When Ace asked if he cared about him at all and Levi responded with flat no, while Ace screamed at Levi in his usual manner, it’s clear the jockey was hurt by this reveal as a small part of him wanted to consider Levi a friend.

So, for Levi to then shield Teruko with his body from the gatling gun, not only comes as a massive shock but I believe this is Levi’s attempts of trying to prove he is a good person. Chances are, he wasn’t happy with how he handled the situation with Ace and wanted to prove something to him, so that’s why he protected Teruko, not only because thinking about it, Levi was probably one of the few characters who could survive that, but to try and redeem himself from how he mishandled the situation with Ace. And the effects of this are very clear as Ace, who was trying to prolong his death as much as possible, upon realising the only way to save Levi is for him to die, demands MonoTV to execute him. If someone without a clear concept of empathy can be a good person, then isn’t that proof humans can change?

Arei is another character who also wants to believe she can change. After she decides to become a good person, the bowler saves Eden from being threatened by Arturo and then later that night confronts David about the fact she knows he’s full of shit. We heard some of this originally from Ace who overheard the conversation, but when David is thinking about what to say to Eden, we hear the other half where Arei says she’s glad David is horrible because it means there is no such thing as a pure good person. That even someone like Eden might have done something nasty and if he’s so deprived then there’s hope left for her. She even offers a hand of friendship to David because she thinks they are one and the same, and they can improve their behaviour together. The fact David remembers this means the conversation had a meaningful impact on him, even though he doesn’t show it. What Arei is showing is clear existentialism or optimistic nihilism. Nihilism which I’m sure 75% of people reading this believe in, is where you believe nothing in the world matters because it’s all meaningless. Optimistic nihilism by contrast is saying that yes nothing matters, but that’s okay because you have the power to decide what is most important. Arei clearly believes there is no such thing as a pure good person, but what she can be is a slightly less shitty person then she was before.

And finally, there’s Ace. Ace’s motive for killing Arei is the fact he is scared of death, and that if he didn’t kill someone, then he would be killed. His reason for targeting Arei was simply coincidence, his original target was Eden but upon learning of Arei’s desire to change, decided to exploit that to target her. Ace also demonstrates a level of intelligence we haven’t seen from him before given that he was able to memorise how Nico tried to kill him, replicate that method, overpower Arei with a method unique to him and since everyone thinks Ace is dumb, he was able to pull the wool over their eyes and he could have damn well gotten away with it, especially with David’s stunt making so many convinced he was the one who killed Arei. Goes to show that people are not as stupid as you think. He gets chewed out big time by Teruko who calls him a coward, his motive is dumb and that Arei didn’t deserve to die because of that. However, even when facing death there is still a chance for character development and that comes when Levi eats a rain of bullets. Not only does this change Ace’s opinion on Levi considering he hated his guts before, but he gives Arturo a well-deserved callout who claims he doesn’t know how to treat Levi’s wounds because of his mix-maxed medical skills, but Ace calls him a coward saying as a surgeon he should know the basics and apply that skill to save Levi’s life or at least keep him alive as he gets executed. And yes, despite being as scared as possible for his death, he accepts it as it’s the only way to save Levi as the lift doors won’t open until he is executed.

Onto Ace’s execution I was pleasantly surprised as I have seen somewhere on YouTube an Ultimate Jockey Execution where the horses are used to tear the victim up, and I would have complained MASSIVELY if Ace went down a similar route. But no, the execution is more tailored to Ace’s fear of death by him escaping horror scenario after horror scenario, no wonder Veronika was orgasming over it, until when facing an execution squad, they shoot confetti and Ace suffers a heart attack and dies from fear. This is actually a real way people can die as during the 1970s, there was a string of cases where Hmong refugees would die from heart attacks in their sleep despite being healthy and middle-aged. Doctors at the time concluded that they were suffering nightmares so bad it would cause heart attacks and kill them in their sleep, and if this sounds familiar to you, it should as it was one of the inspirations behind A Nightmare on Elm Street. There’s a reason you shouldn’t scare someone with heart problems and while Ace might not have any heart issues, he has been suffering a lot of stress which could have made his heart rate dodgy and then the execution delivered.

These themes are extremely heavy hitting and I’m glad Despair Time is covering them. I could be wrong about them but that’s my theory on what they are.

Murderer Among Us

And finally, my last big positive about Despair Time’s Chapter 2 is the fact we not only get an attempted murder, with the plot twist the would-be victim would later become the culprit but the fact that this attempt didn’t succeed means the would-be murderer walks among the cast still and they have to deal with the consequences.

I have wanted this since Killing Harmony when Monokuma offered the tantalising prospect that if there are two blackeneds, only the first murder counts. So, when Korekiyo confesses to killing Tenko, the cast cannot vote for him because if he didn’t kill Angie, they would have got it wrong. I REALLY wanted it to be that Tenko was Angie’s killer, my logic being that Angie invited Tenko to her Talent Lab for a chat which got into a heated debate about how Angie was brainwashing Himiko and Tenko, who is quite hot-headed and doesn’t always think straight, accidently killed Angie in the heat of the moment. She would then either cover up her crime or someone else like the Mastermind would make the locked room mystery which the cast discovered and when Kiyo announces he is gonna do a séance, Tenko grows worried as if the séance is a success, Angie would reveal the culprit so Tenko offered to become the vessel which led to her death. You could also argue that maybe she sensed Korekiyo was up to something and did it to protect Himiko. Either way that would make for an interesting Chapter 4 because tensions between Korekiyo and Himiko would be high, but of course Kodaka doesn’t do anything with that and as a result we end up with 4 deaths, and 2 ruined chapters.

No other fanganronpa tried anything like this as they were all not willing to commit so I thank Despair Time wholeheartedly for actually having the balls to do so. As Nico, being pushed to their limit by Ace’s tormenting of them, which is very similar to how they are ostracised for being non-binary, meant they tried to commit murder by hanging Ace on the fans, but they not only miscalculated the strength of the fans but Ace woke up from being knocked unconscious and struggled awake. Before Nico could try again, Teruko and Eden showed up, foiling any would be attempt. Not only did Nico try to commit murder, but they betrayed the trust of both Hu who was trying to protect them but also Rose as Nico stole Hu’s wire and Rose’s turpentine to use for their murder scheme. What’s interesting is they didn’t apologise because they not only were not sorry for trying to kill Ace but know an apology won’t cut it. J gave Nico a very harsh verdict that even though their attempt was foiled, the point is they still tried to commit murder and was willing to give up the lives of everyone here for their own, and betrayed the trust of those who reached out to them. Hu hasn’t had a very good time this chapter because two of her closest friends; David and Nico, turned out to be using her for their own schemes, and we see the consequences of her mother hen nature. I feel a major theme for Chapter 3 is gonna be forgiveness as both Nico and David have burnt a lot of bridges this chapter and the fact they still live, means they need to somehow get back into the good graces of the group. How they do this I don’t know; David probably would be fine being a pariah but I’m not sure if Nico is wanting to make amends. They might, but they might also think they went too far. I do hope that Nico tries, especially after they have seen that even people like Levi and Ace were willing to act selflessly. And who knows, maybe David might try but I think it would be a ruse, which will still work because this cast isn’t the brightest.

Does this mean Nico would be a survivor? I don’t know as I do believe between David and Nico, one will be a survivor and the other will die, probably as a victim but who I cannot tell as Chapter 3 would probably expand upon these two a bit more. Regardless I’m glad this is being touched upon and I for one am looking forward to see where it takes Nico.

And that’s all the positives I have to say about Chapter 2. Teruko had a good character arc, I like how we know the main themes, we know who presumably the partners and rival characters are, we have an attempted murderer walking among the cast, quite a few characters like Levi, Arei and Ace got moments to shine and the execution was well done. But it cannot be all sunshine and rainbows. As much as there is good, there is also bad so when we come back next time, I’m gonna talk about what didn’t go well for Chapter 2 and what DT Dev could do to improve things.

Until then, see ya! -Review Anon

#review anon talks #danganronpa #a student out of time #drdt #danganronpa despair time #danganronpa despair time spoilers #super danganronpa another 2 spoilers #don't ask me when the next parts are coming out #it will be for a long time #as i want to focus on my other projects first #and this is the easiest bit to talk about #the other two won't be so

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giuseppe-yuki · 4 months ago

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#f1 x reader #f1 imagine #f1 fanfic #f1 fic #f1 x y/n #f1 x you

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wanderingblindly · 1 month ago

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hehey :D how you doing liquid

i wanted to ask if you made any progress on that fic...... you talked about....... a few months ago............ about a very sexy very hot very flirty tattoo artist lando............ and an ink-virgin oscar willing to try on a slightly unleashed night..................... yk whatever even if it's a flashing thought maybe you didnt even think about it at all idk but. well. there you go :)

Hellloooooo love!!!

Oh my god I haven’t gotten a chance to start writing this, but P L E A S E know it’s still something I think about quite often. I think it’ll probably be the Next Big Project I choose to undertake once I get a few more of these massive fucking WIPs completed.

I literally cannot stop thinking about it.

I have visions of the shop being a loft style, with lando’s work station up in the second level and everyone else down below — he gets too distracted to work with the rest of the group. It would feel so weirdly intimate for Oscar, like no one can hear them or see them and it’s somehow so private despite fully being. Not. Idk the vibes could be so oscillating in the best way ((lando whispering to him then yelling down the stairs to Alex in the next breath, etc.)).

I also keep thinking about like…. The music in the shop? Like how it will vary drastically when Oscar drops by, because it depends on whose day it was to choose. The first day is very drum and bass, lando’s day. Maybe the next is like, full on thrash metal? And Oscar’s very ???? and lando’s like “oh, yeah, it was yuki’s day to pick and he’s pretty weird about it.”. Then, in the distance, we hear yuki yell “IT’S SO I CANT HEAR YOU FUCKING TALKING ALL DAY”.

Godddddddd there would be so many fun dynamics to explore, very “you bring me closer to god” material in that way.

#anyways sorry to ramble but! bUT!!! pls know it’s still in my mind. spinning.#I keep getting distracted writing other things!!! why!!!! am I like this!!!!!!#ask me :)#WIP

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qettleqorn · 2 months ago

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*Slams fists on table* THESE HEIRS for the wip ask game pls 😤

These Heirs | Multi-Ships | JJK | Consort AU

So, as you and the whole of the Anxiety Anonymous crew know, we have a charming little AU for the JJK verse. Which, I have shared this a little on the Group Discord but I'll reshare it again.

Specifically, it was about how Sukuna as we know it does want to be considered the Prince Consort, more so the Emperor, even though that title does go to Shiu-Kong by technicality as he did father the first heir. (Yi Jeong, the firstborn child and son) But it starts off basically with Sukuna outright demanding he too should be able to have an heir with the empress. Pushing her up against a brick wall to show that he is very willing to provide his services still despite her not having visited him in some time other than to talk.

Which she quickly replies with a-

"You wish to be emperor, my prince consort, not out of love or loyalty, but out of desire to be seen as the all-powerful."

Because at this point as we all know the two know one another more than just between the sheets. By this point, he has been by her side for the better part of a decade. Izumi has already had their baby boy Yuuji approximately ten years ago as well. (How he hasn't managed to get an heir, well, Kin is just a very busy woman and is still trying to train him well enough for her cousin.) But the empire still only has one true ruler and every day she's getting pressured to pick, and every day it's looking less and less like it will be him.

Which of course, annoys the ever-loving crap out of him especially when he believes they both know he'd be the better option since they can even one another out. They have a good balance of level-headedness between them.

But she doesn't view it as such, it also doesn't help that she favors Shiu Kong and then also Nanami- a man who is not her consort.

Again, this annoys and pisses him off because- what is he doing wrong to not make her see he is good for the empire. As he is not just a brilliant mastermind of tactics, he's a man of the arts, he's driven with passion! Sure he can be brutish, but that's where she would come in!

Well, some time passes and he's lounging in the bath as Uraume scrubs him down. When they ask him a question,

"May I ask a question Lord Sukuna?" Digging their nails into the cloth as it scrubbed into Sukuna's tan skin. It was a thought that had only recently plagued them, but one they thought would not bother their lord. Shifting up as the still warm water drained from off his abdomen, dripping down his biceps and back. A crack in his neck as he stretched out the muscles. Sukuna gave an agreeable hum knowing it was not often Uraume asked much of him. Something he liked from the dual-hair-toned monk. Not holding back or stopping their efforts to clean the highly sought-after consort. Uraume was inwardly delighted to get permission to speak somewhat freely. "We have all heard how Lord Shiu Kong was brought on, Lady Manami, & Lady Yuki as well." Putting their weight into their scrubbing as they got to his shoulder blades, Uraume made a small hmph as they caught their breath. "Well, it left us curious of you. Not even the empress speaks on it."

It would lead to Sukuna dismissing them so he could finish his bath alone. Not answering their question outright, but just saying that he was the most expensive and skilled just as he still is. Which left him to think about how they really met the first time.

"As you know you may not disclose that the royal highness is here nor what it is that goes on between you both." The lanky old woman who presented herself as Mae-Hui's aid. "Yeah, yeah." With his client not yet before him, the pink-haired youth dismissed the old woman with a wave.

He thinks it's just another job, he'll pop her cherry, and then- boom. Another satisfied customer.

The reason why she was here was not for the sins of the flesh. Not as if it truly mattered what she was here for, she was paying for his time as it was. So what did it matter if she chose to just talk?

Except, she isn't, Mae-Hui Kim is the first client to actually try and talk with him. To get to know him and doesn't even sleep with him that night.

"Where are you from?" "A place far from here, it does not matter my lady." "But it does matter." Her fingers brushed over his knuckles, wrapping them around the tattoo markings on his wrists. "I wish to know of it so it does matter." The word pressed into his palm like a secret he desperately wanted to keep. But the alcohol he had spilt between his lips made it drip like a faucet during the winter months. "Megijima." Its name alone flooded his mind with memories. Pulling his wrists from her grasp, he wrung them around her own hands, thick and pristine fingers keeping them in a tight hold and pushing them back to her chest. The look of a dull moment written on his face. "Megijima?" "It's the island where I was born." "I've heard stories about-." "Peaches and ogres I'm sure, the peaches are delicious but there are no ogres beyond what you see before you." Shaking her head as she shut her eyes as if saying that he was wrong about the assumption he made- which he was. "The most famous poets get their best works from resting there." Despite the rather flat-face reaction, he was giving her. Sukuna was surprised she mentioned that. Before he had been sold off he could recall the poems the madam of the brothel had read to him and the other unfortunate children born of the dissolute harlots of her halls. The wench was brash, crude, and all around he knew she'd be in hell waiting for him with all the other sinners he had cursed. "I heard a retired general once visited and had come back with an abundance of treasure." Her lips curled as she lay there. She was actually enjoying this and he could not believe it. "About forty or so years ago from what I recall is when it took place, my father use to read me his writings. A rare chance encounter I know." He knew exactly who she was talking about. That man was the reason why he was here now.

So, when she denies him the opportunity to aid her, it hurts oddly enough.

Sukuna may not love her, but he respects her and he wants to make the empire an even stronger place. Wants to elevate its status on a worldwide spread just as she has with him to some degree.

She of course would then introduce him to her cousin. Who is absolutely enamored by him. They would have Yuuji but she'd have to give it away. Due to societal views.

This is then where Kin of course buys Sukuna's contract and begins to try and tame his feral ways so Izumi can have the man. This is where Sukuna would begin falling in love with Izumi from the constant predicaments Kin manages to put them into.

He likes her rabbit-like qualities, not just for a breeding kink joke, but the way she gets flustered. How she gives him something to make her work on and tease. She's a cute little thing that has enchanted him.

But sometimes loyalty and love can not mix. Sukuna feels a great loyalty to Kin and wishes to prove that he can be what they all "need". As I had stated before. BUT, but, this would later bring us to The Bug Hunt chapter. In which afterwards. Kin makes the ultimate decision to release Sukuna from her care and into Izumi's against his desires. Practically naming Shiu Kong as her Prince Consort in the process because Sukuna nearly gets Yi Jeong killed. Even though it was an unintentional accident that led the young prince to fall down a cliff.

This is of course when Sukuna and Izumi would get to grow closer and they'd actually get to properly know one another. He'd still be sour regardless of course, but somewhere along the line, she'd tell him about how she wishes she- well they, could meet their child.

He knows Yuuji is alive, they both do, especially after the winter party event. What she didn't know (and this is where I adlib a little because I'm not sure if it'll be group-approved) is that Yaga had messaged him about Yuuji sometime ago after Sayuri found the boy. After all Sukuna and Yuuji are practically the spitting image of one another.

MEANING!

Izumi and Sukuna might have a chance to meet their son.

It was one of those secrets that Mae-Hui didn't know about because he didn't want her to. Since he figured it would make him lose his chance even more. Just to later find out she knew Yuuji was alive because she had gone back to his old employer to hook up with some other consort.

Mae-Hui in this time though has also unintentionally pushed aside her favored cousin since giving Sukuna to her. Because now she is worried about her eldest child and less about her outer family.

This is where we get into Yuuta's portion of the story!

AND AND AND! DSFSDG- anyways, it's basically just about the drama of the royal family. How Sukuna gets kicked out of the palace, Yuuta and Yi Jeong are almost killed, Izumi and Kin get a little rift in their friendship, and just DRAMA!

#JJK | Consort AU #Anxiety Anonymous #I bet you weren't prepared for this ramble #Thank you Al! sdfsfs

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nrc-asteryn-crew · 4 months ago

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yuuto: ...did you really have to make the blog all cutesy looking..? kiyuu: yup~! c'mon, it's not like you'll be on much anyway! yuuto: ...eh, whatever. i dont really care. have fun. ____________________________________________________

[REVAMP CURRENTLY WIP]

(ooc) hello! this is a rp blog run by (@venaue) , for my two yuu ocs , Yuuto & Kiyuu!

general info and rules for the blog will be here , and below will be links to introductions that kiyuu and yuuto made for themselves !!

Kiyuu

Yuuto

General OC Introduction Post (from my main)

okok! run down of the blog! in character, this blog is run by both kiyuu and yuuto! each post in character will be signed off with either a '-Yu' (for Yuuto) or a '-Ki' (for Kiyuu), and pertains to whos posting what! this also goes for when yuuto or kiyuu do asks for other rp blogs!

conversations can be intercepted and are always viewed by both of them, eg., if you're talking to kiyuu, yuuto can come by and crash the party at any time! wow!

unless of course you're asking a question about the oc's lore, or anything of that sort, of which i'll of course respond ooc !!

anons are allowed !! no matter the reason for being anon, just be as comfortable as you can be while interacting!!

ships are an iffy topic, but of course platonic relationships are definitely on the table! give the yuu's friends !!!! (sevens knows they need them...)

next point! obviously, dont be a weirdo. dni list pertains to homophobic , transphobic , racist , sexist , ableist , proshipper/incest liking behaviour. like i said, weirdos! if your behaviour can be described using any of the above terms, and you interact, you will be blocked.

ill try to be as active as i can on here , but depression isnt very nice to me and i have a hard time with motivation , so i apologise if i take a while to respond to your ask or i stop posting for a bit :) here are the tags ill be using on posts!! #asteryn - used on all posts about or involving my ocs in any way #asteryn yuuto - anything involving or relating to yuuto #asteryn kiyuu - anything involving or relating to kiyuu #kiyuu/yuuto speaks - posts that are in character and are formatted as speach/roleplay #yuuto/kiyuu posts - posts that are formatted in the form of actual online posts rather than rp #ven yaps - in which i ooc yap about something oc related

some posts can be classified as both of the above and will use both tags (such as the intro's above)

i'll update this as i add tags! :D

____________________________________________________ yuuto: ...really kiyuu? you named the blog a pun...? kiyuu: it's so smart right?! because if you put yu and ki together- you get yuki! and yuki means snow! and then a synonym for ramshackle is ruins, so then if you put them together you get snowyruins-! yuuto: yeah. i knew that. ...i guess it's not that bad. kiyuu: you have no idea what you've just enabled my brain the power to do with that approval- >;3

#disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #twst #twst oc #twst ocs #twst yuu #twst mc #rp blog #oc rp #oc rp blog #aue's asteryn #asteryn kiyuu #asteryn yuuto

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evanescentdawn · 2 years ago

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i love when I was brainstorming and imagining this fic postcanon reunion in my mind, it was all fluff and sweet-stuff but then the moment I put it onto paper and start let my mind go wild, it turned into angstfest LMAO. well, it’s not really angstfest, to be honest. anyways, it looks like it’s gonna be FUN

#yuki talks wip #wip: aos postcanon #…..when I get to Actually Writing #but also *urgh* WRITING i just wanna DayDream about it #the conflictions of a writer #giving them More problems when they’re not supposed to have any problems now lmao #lol

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cinderella-ish · 3 months ago

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Fic Recs: My Favorite Yukeru Fics

Short Stories

and sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live, by DoctorBlazeIt T | Short Story | pining & romance For Yuki, growing older meant collecting some bad habits, like smoking, or falling in love with your best friend.

august, by reconquer M | Short Story | smut “I’m hungry,” Kakeru says. “What about you?” “I guess I could eat,” Yuki mutters. “Well, good,” Kakeru grins. “Because it’s your turn to cook.”

did you know that frogs don't have ribs or diaphragms, by yunsohno E | Short Story | smut Yuki and Kakeru have sex. And then they talk about frogs.

if i do anything i regret tonight, no i didn't, by sacrificialParsnip T | Short Story | romance In which Momiji orchestrates a situation that involves 2 beers, a shot, and 2 cocktails.

If I Ever Feel Better, by reconquer M | Short Story | slice of life & smut “You can crash here, it’s not a big deal.” “You seem too happy about this,” Yuki mutters. “Of course! I get to have a sleepover with my best buddy.” Kakeru winks at him and Yuki kicks the inside of his thigh again. Like he said. Hell

i wanna ruin our friendship (we should be lovers instead) by bloodyhalefire T | Short Story | romance Kakeru isn’t an idiot. Sure, he’s awful at some things and is occasionally a bit slow on the uptake, but he isn’t an idiot; he knows what touch starved looks like, and Yuki is the fucking blueprint. So he sets out to fix it.

Kisses Like Pink Cotton Candy (Talking To Everyone But Me) by yukiawison T | Short Story | romance “I’m sorry,” Kakeru mumbled. Yuki blinked. He’d expected him to laugh and tell him he was being stupid. “What for?” Yuki said, keeping his voice carefully even. “You know what for,” Kakeru said, which reduced the apology, perhaps, to half an apology.

laughing til our ribs get tough, by a-bigail T | Short Story | pining & romance Yuki and Kakeru have a long night. Yuki relearns what it means to want.

Mood Ring, by reconquer G | Short Story | romance Just like everything else, it starts in the student council room.

Open Season, by reconquer T | Short Story | fluff yuki gets trashed and spills the beans

say it again and again (tomorrow i'll hear it) by eurydicees T | Short Story | hurt/comfort & romance Kakeru confesses. Yuki misunderstands. Ayame's advice actually turns out to be… pretty useful.

student council naptime blues, by a-bigail T | Short Story | pining Kakeru, for once, isn't very tired. Yuki is strangely exhausted. Kakeru tries to help, and is faced with some wayward feelings.

tears falling like snow, by sunflowerstarfruit G | Short Story | hurt/comfort & pining Yuki has a panic attack at school. Kakeru finds him.

Tell Me Something, Tell Me What You Like, by yukiawison G | Short Story | romance He was always off balance. If someone ever wanted to kiss him, Yuki figured they’d sense this imbalance and give up before anything began.

We Go On Walks, by yukiawison G | Short Story | romance Kakeru thinks he’s cursed, sometimes. He’s cursed to keep wanting things he can’t have. He wants Machi to say more than four words to him at a time. He wants his mother to stop pestering him about college. And he wants Yuki.

Longer Fics

at least i got you in my head, by yunsohno E | Novelette | angst & smut Yuki and Kakeru go to a party. Yuki wants things to be a bit more.

desiderium, by tessohma M | WIP | hurt/comfort, romance, & smut desiderium - an ardent longing or desire. A Yukeru friends with benefits AU.

Does it Come as a Surprise? (Language of Averted Eyes) by yukiawison G | Novelette | romance Part of Yuki was convinced that Kakeru was making fun of him. He never knew when jokes went too far. He never knew when to stop pushing Yuki’s buttons. And he knew he was good at teasing him. Part of him hated Kakeru for that, for being so easy with his touches, for hitting him where it hurt.

fit back in, by luftballons99 T | Novelette | romance Crushes, curses, and contemporary literary theory: Halloween provides the opportunity to confront fear in all its shapes.

i wanna be dyed with your colours, by halfhope T | Novelette, background Tohru/Kyo | romance Sohma Yuki gay panics his way to self-actualization.

Like Fireworks in the Night Sky, by Princely_Hairdos T | WIP | pining & romance Yuki starts winter break in a relationship he feels unhappy in. He doesn’t know why, only knowing that he needs to get his act together and quick. Somewhere along the way, he falls madly in love with his best friend. Watch him throughout the year as he tries to reign in these feelings only to find out he might not actually need to.

On Different Pages, by TurnUps G | Novelette | romance Yuki thinks Manabe's teasing him about going on a 'date' with him, and calls his bluff. Manabe is not teasing.

The Other Side of Paradise, by reconquer T | Novelette | angst & romance Uotani points out that Kakeru and Yuki are always touching each other. Yuki panics and realizes some things about himself.

President Perfect, by draebelle T | Novelette | angst & romance Kakeru goes on a wild goose chase to find the forgotten love of his life.

Set it Free, by TurnUps T | Novelette | romance The fanclub girls are annoying Machi about being on the student council. Kakeru has a plan to divert their attention. It's a fake dating AU.

tongue tied, by b_o_i E | Novelette | dark & romance A brief history of boys that Sohma Yuki has kissed.

Here's a link to all my bookmarks tagged with Kakeru/Yuki! It'll include more than are listed here, since authors sometimes tag background/implied relationships.

#fruits basket #furuba #fruba #fanfic #ao3 #my fanfic recs #fruits basket fanfiction #yukeru #yuki x kakeru #kakeru manabe #yuki sohma

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starryc · 1 month ago

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[ENG Translation] Imai Shunto & Ando Yuto Interview | 『Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle-』 Rule the Stage -Grateful Cypher- | "We hope you can come to the theater and experience the 'force' we've talked about"

happy grateful cypher senshuuraku! don't ask me why i did this when i have a whole backlog of translations, a million wips, and actual work to do; i blacked out and it was done--

if you know me, you'll now that i've found myself a little too endeared by hifumi and gentaro's gen 2 stage actors!! i will forever miss gen 1 with my whole entire heart, but i'm glad it's andy and shunty who've taken up hifumi and gentaro's roles. i'm enjoying their portrayals a lot and i think they're both promising actors, so that's why i wanna share more about them! i thought this was a fun interview that gave some insight on hypstage behind the scenes and their friendship c: so if anyone's interested, enjoy!

links to the interview can be found here (first part) and here (second part). translation is under the cut! i'm far from proficient btw, so if you spot any errors, kindly feel free to correct me!

First Part

Starting October 4th, 2024 (Friday) in TOKYO DOME CITY HALL,『Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle-』 Rule the Stage -Grateful Cypher- raises its curtains.

It is the latest in the series of stage adaptations (more commonly known as "HypStage") based on the popular rap-based character project Hypnosis Mic.

Following -New Encounter-, which ran back in March 2024, all 18 members of the 6 divisions (Ikebukuro, Yokohama, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Osaka, Nagoya) return. The stage original Hachioji Division "WESTEND-MAFIA" will also be featured.

THEATER GIRL has interviewed Imai Shunto, who plays Yumeno Gentaro, and Ando Yuto, who plays Izanami Hifumi. In this first part, we ask them about their experiences in their previous work and discuss what they look forward to in this production.

Rehearsals Made Everyday Exciting

―The two of you made your HypStage debut in Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle-』 Rule the Stage -New Encounter-, which ran throughout March. Looking back on it, what was the production like?

Imai: Not only the performances, but rehearsals made everyday exciting. Every cast member and all of the DDB were brimming with talent. When the show opened, the audience had such amazing enthusiasm.

Ando: When I think about it, it feels like the final show came around in the blink of an eye. This was my first 2.5D stage play, and I had never done so many performances in a run before. From rehearsals to the stage, we would tell each other "Wouldn't it be better to do it this way?" and pushed one another to improve, so I feel like I've really grown.

―In what ways do you feel like you've grown?

Ando: During performances, I kept thinking about things like how I could engage with the audience and how I could hype them up. I think I've been able to grow by putting myself in the shoes of those who are watching us.

Imai: I actually worked with Andy (Ando) on another production (Butlers' Opera 『Devil Butler with Black Cat』 ~Rose Scented Ball Edition~ [TL/N: "AkuStage" henceforth]) afterwards. Andy had a role like that there, and he was very good at it.

Ando: You think so?! I'm sure a lot of it is thanks to my experience on HypStage. Shunty (Imai), do you feel like you've had any growth?

Imai: Personally, I know I had no sex appeal at all, so I studied how to be more seductive as a man. I learned how to move my gaze, how to hold it until the end, and other little details like that. I even went to Andy for advice.

Ando: That's right.

Imai: I also learned a lot from YUKI-kun [TL/N: Jyuto's actor]. But I feel like I still have a lot of room for improvement. This time, I'd like to show even more growth!

―What do you think of Ueki Go-san as a director?

Ando: Man, he's the best.

Imai: Both the cast and the audience get so excited under his direction that it gets me really pumped up while performing. Starting right from rehearsals, everyone's energy was incredible.

Ando: Very incredible! Everyone was so anxious during our first meeting, but Go-san gave us this passionate speech. That's when things really started getting into gear, wouldn't you say?

Imai: It really did! Go-san told us "You don't need to be worried. Just believe in yourself." That gave me a lot of confidence, and I feel like I was able to do my best.

Ando: Go-san constantly says "HypStage creates 'force'¹." We say "We'll make it!", but I wonder if we even come close to matching that force.

Imai: Good question. I guess it's about how much force you can unleash from inside you.

Ando: I think having a fighting spirit and a strong desire to "express" creates even more "force."

―On the day of a performance, when do you get into the mood?

Imai: It's when I put on the wig and costume. What about you, Andy?

Ando: Radio calisthenics.

Imai: Ahahaha! You did do those, huh.

Ando: Of course I do other exercises, but I love radio calisthenics.

―You don't do them with everyone else as part of your routine?

Ando: Nope, just me.

Imai: One time in the hallway, I heard him going "Radio Calisthenics Exercise No. 1~" (laugh)

Ando: Oh yeah. Shunty happened to be passing by, so I dragged him in (laugh)

Imai: I got completely caught up in it (laugh)

Ando: Radio calisthenics is great, though! When you really get into it, your whole body wakes up.

Imai: I feel that! Let's do some radio calisthenics again.

Ando: Let's, let's! I'll slowly drag everyone else into it too (laugh)

Imai: I'm sure you will.

Ando: Another thing about -New Encounter- is that each character makes their entrance one by one in the opening song. The person before me is Dr. (Jinguji) Jakurai (Kohatsu Allen), so whenever I hear Dr. Jakurai's part, I tug on my jacket and lock in. "It's all right! I got this!" I tell myself, and the switch turns on.

I'd Like to Make the Role My Own

―What are you looking forward to in 『Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle-』 Rule the Stage -Grateful Cypher-?

Ando: -New Encounter- was pretty faithful to the original drama tracks. But this time a stage original division will be showing up, so I'm excited about that. Before, I followed the drama tracks closely like a textbook for my line delivery and whatnot, but in an original production I have to figure it out myself. Using the drama tracks as a basis, I'd like to make the role my own while thinking "How would this character do it?"

Imai: Last time, the divisions barely interacted with each other. So this time, I'm interested in seeing what happens when members of different divisions get mixed up with each other. There's also the music, isn't there?

Ando: Definitely!

Imai: The music and dancing are getting better and better, so the quality is improving as well. I'm a little nervous, but I'm looking forward to seeing how the choreography will be like.

―Since you brought up dance, I heard that Ando-san has a lot of experience in dancing.

Ando: I've been dancing since I was 4 years old, so that's about 17 years now?

Imai: 17 years! He's sure not playing around.

Even with that many years under your belt, do you find the choreography in HypStage difficult?

Ando: I know I've been in a lot of dance battles and seen all sorts of dances, but I think the choreography for HypStage is at a difficulty not meant for actors. It's on the same level as real dancers, everyone's drenched in sweat while we're doing them.

Imai: For real! Even the DDB say things like "This sure is tough." Honestly, I used to feel like I wasn't cut out for dancing at all. I didn't have experience to begin with. But since I was going to be a part of HypStage, I couldn't think that way anymore and decided I had to catch up to everyone else. I practiced over and over so no one would think "Imai is bad at dancing." Thanks to that, I've been feeling better about it.

―Did you get any dance advice from Ando-san?

Imai: I did. I also got my fellow division members (Mitsui) Junpei-kun [TL/N: Ramuda's actor] and (Kituya) Taiyu-kun [TL/N: Dice's actor] to teach me. During the rehearsal period of -New Encounter-, I took Taiyu-kun to a studio with me so we could practice together. But no matter what, I always went back to Andy for help.

Ando: I'm glad!

Imai: I was asking things like "How do I make this swing look sexier?" and so on.

Ando: You did, yeah. You see, it's not just about following the choreography, but also thinking about "How would this character dance?" and how the costume would look.

Imai: During my solo dance, there's a move where I raise my hand and then drop it. Presenting that part was the issue.

Ando: Oh yeah! I was like "You should do this with your fingertips."

Imai: Right. And also how to carry myself. I often asked him how to show off these moves in a way that would captivate the audience. It was like that all throughout the production period.

―Ando-san, what do you think of Imai-san's dancing?

Ando: I mean it's sexy, isn't it? I've been watching Shunty dance since we first started learning the choreography, so I can't help but feel like a teacher (laugh). When you see that kind of growth, it's like "Whoa, nice!"

Imai: I'm glad you think so.

Ando: Gentaro is the only one whose style differs from the others, so that affects his presentation. Shunty put a lot of effort into it and has really polished his skills since then, so I'm amazed seeing his improvement. That's something I'm also looking forward to in this stage play.

Imai: I'll give it my all!

―Imai-san, what do you think of Ando-san when it comes to acting?

Imai: He's very dexterous.

Ando: Wow! Really? I'm glad.

Imai: When we worked together in our other production, we had roles that clashed with each other quite a bit. I thought he was very dexterous and sensitive to subtleties, and he was good at attracting people's attention. I have a lot of respect for him, even if he is younger than me.

Ando: Hey, do you want to say that last part again? "Even if he is younger"?

Imai: Oh, it's nothing! (laugh)

Ando: As you can see, we really are friendly rivals.

Imai: Mhm.

Ando: Shunty's acting style makes very good use of silence, or like, how do you say it… "beats." But most of all, he's big on practice! Every time I saw him practicing our sword fight scenes [TL/N: in AkuStage], it made me want to work hard, too. There's a lot to learn from him in terms of work ethic.

Imai: Wow, it's embarrassing to hear all that.

Ando: Yeah, saying it in front of the person in question is pretty embarrassing.

Imai: Well, they aren't things you'd usually say to them.

Second Part

Starting October 4th, 2024 (Friday) in TOKYO DOME CITY HALL,『Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle-』 Rule the Stage -Grateful Cypher- raises its curtains.

It is the latest in the series of stage adaptations (more commonly known as "HypStage") based on the popular rap-based character project Hypnosis Mic.

THEATER GIRL has interviewed Imai Shunto, who plays Yumeno Gentaro, and Ando Yuto, who plays Izanami Hifumi. In this second part, we ask them about what they keep in mind for an original production, how they became friends, and what kind of work they would like to do together.

First Impressions Matter on Stage

―What do you keep in mind when performing in a stage play or a musical with an original story like this one?

Andy: I think that first impressions matter on stage. Once you see a character's first scene (that I'm playing), it should still feel like that character later on even if something is a little off. In my opinion, voice is especially important, so I always start by studying voice.

Imai: For me, it's presence.

Andy: You're pretty concerned with appearances.

Imai: I put an absurd amount of effort into studying appearance. Different characters walk in different ways. Even the way they stand while waiting, it's all different. When I read a script, I think about small details such as "Why am I here in this very moment?" I feel like everything is hinged on that.

―How do you objectively look at appearance?

Imai: I try to look in the mirror, or check out the videos from rehearsal when I'm at home. I also ask the director and the cast "How was that?" That's how I make adjustments as we practice.

―Ando-san, you mentioned "first impressions" a moment ago. Can you tell whether or not you've made a good first impression on the audience?

Ando: Nope, I can barely tell.

Imai: Seriously?! Didn't you feel like the crowd went "Whoa!" when the panels came out during the opening scene?

Ando: Ah, that's right! When I look into the eyes of the audience, they're dazzling… They're eyes full of hope and joy. It makes me so happy.

Imai: They sure are looking at us! (laugh)

Ando: I think that's when I get this sense of accomplishment. Like, "I've really made myself this character."

Imai: Uh-huh.

Ando: Of course, I'm happy when fans of Matenrou (Izanami Hifumi's division) look at me that way. But, let's say someone wearing another division's colors looks at me like that… They would have a more objective opinion since they're not our fans, no? When I see how fans of other divisions react, I wonder if I've hit the mark.

Imai: I can't see very well with just the ring lights², so I try to observe the audience's reactions when the lights are on them or when we get off the stage.

Their Influences Are…?!

―A Hypnosis Mic is something that affects your psyche. Is there anything in your daily lives that influence you?

Imai: There is! I play a lot of escape game apps, they really make you think.

Ando: Heh

Imai: What are you laughing at?

Ando: It's nothing, it's just that you're talking about them like they're some niche interest when they're pretty popular, so you don't need to explain what they are…

Imai and Ando: (laugh)

Imai: I've started to develop this "Escape Game Brain" from all these escape games. It's gotten to the point where I'm always thinking "If I were trapped in this room right now, what would I use to get out?"

Ando: Just in case you ever get locked up somewhere?

Imai: Yeah. I guess I have pretty good survival skills.

Ando: What are you even going on about? (laugh)

Imai: What about you, Andy?

Ando: Animation is what influences me. The last time I saw an animated film, I felt like there was a lot of thought behind the movements. I've even say they probably put more effort into studying gestures and emotions than they do for live action productions. I used to watch anime for fun, but now I've realized I can learn a lot from them when it comes to 2.5D works.

Imai: Hey, could you stop right there? You're making me look bad for talking about escape games.

Ando: It balances out, doesn't it? (laugh)

Imai: I guess. Thanks (laugh)

―You two are pretty close, aren't you?

Ando: Ahaha! We go out to hot springs and saunas together.

Imai: Yeah, we do that a lot.

―How did you two become friends?

Ando: Well, I think the best place to start is…

Imai: Is?

Ando: During HypStage's Osaka performances…

Imai: Stop!

Ando: When we were staying at the hotel~

Imai: That's enough! It's so embarrassing!

Ando: One morning, I was heading to our meeting place from my room when I ran into Shunty in the hallway. While we were waiting for the elevator, Shunty told me, "You know, I don't think you look that much younger than me" like some sort of confession³ (laugh)

Imai: Ahaha! Did I sound that serious?

Ando: I mean it was a closed space. It was all quiet, and no one else was there. So I was like "Huh? Wha?!"

Imai: Were you a little freaked out? (laugh)

Ando: Back then, I called him "Shunto-kun." But then he said, "Just 'Shunty' is fine." I was totally freaked out (laugh)

Imai: It really is embarrassing!

Ando: He told me "You don't need to be polite with me."⁴ I guess that's when we started getting closer.

Imai: Absolutely. But to be honest, I felt a kind of kinship with Andy right from the beginning.

Ando: So scary! (laugh)

Imai: I mean, don't you have a "friendship sensor⁵"?!

Ando: I do!

Imai: Mine went off with you.

Ando: You mean like you thought we'd get along?

Imai: Yeah. That's why I thought "This is my chance!" when we were in that elevator together.

Ando: Were you nervous?

Imai: I was nervous (laugh)

Ando: You see, it would've made more sense if you approached me during rehearsals, but this was after the Tokyo shows and during the Osaka run. It's just hard for me to change like that (laugh) Like calling you by your name or speaking to you so casually⁶

Imai: That's true.

Ando: But, you know, I did also feel my "friendship sensor" go off for Shunty.

Shunto: See!

Ando: Shunty may be older than me, but he doesn't really feel like a senpai. I think we were able to get closer because he has such a friendly vibe.

―What would you two like to do together in the future?

Ando: When it comes to work, I want to cross swords.

Imai: Like a sword fight?

Ando: We've done a sword fight scene before, but it was as allies, so I want to fight against you.

Imai: It's the opposite for me. In HypStage and our other work together, we've had roles where our characters are on bad terms or constantly at odds with one another. I wonder what it would be like if we played partners.

Ando: Good point!

Would you like to work together on film or on stage?

Ando: Ah, film also sounds fun!

Imai: Right? Film or stage, I'd like to do both.

Ando: A hierarchal dynamic between us could be interesting.

Imai: Which one of us would be the senior? You know, it would be really surprising if it was you.

Ando: For sure. I guess I'd be like (low tone) "Get to work~"?

Imai: Never mind, you're pretty bad at it (laugh)

Ando: Well, I haven't really had anyone work under me (laugh)

―Please give a message to those looking forward to your upcoming performance.

Ando: Whether or not this is your first time watching HypStage, whether or not you're already familiar with it, it's an interesting piece of work. We hope you can come to the theater and experience the "force" we've talked about in this interview.

Imai: We'll do our best to deliver a stage play that's even better and more exciting than the last. Definitely come to the theater prepared to have a good time. We'll see you there!

¹ the original term used here is 圧, which is "pressure" or "force." i think "force" just flows better, so i translated the conversation based on that imagery

² the exact phrase here is 僕は光にあまり強くないのです, which is literally like "I'm not very good with lights." i'm assuming shunty means the ring lights that the audience wears based on the context of the conversation, but maybe it's not idk i just thought i should mention that lol

³ the original term used here is 告白, which can mean confession as in confessing to a crime or like. a love confession WKJGHGH okay, so i just kept it vague because i wasn't sure which vibe andy meant here 😭

⁴ this is in reference to the honorifics used in the japanese language, which are used as part of polite speech

⁵ the exact term used is 仲よくなる人センサー, which is more literally like "person befriending sensor" 🥺

⁶ is a similar to ⁴ in that they're discussing the formalities of japanese speech depending on who you're talking to and how close you are

#hypnosis mic #hypmic #translations #ig i have a tag for that now but i don't promise anything else LMFAO #okay everyone #andy will be in the windbreaker stage play #among other productions #and shunty will be in mixtape 1 revenge #and he's got a dvd coming out soon #support them if u'd like 🫶#i'm kind of sad that the gen 1 cast who worked on mix tape won't be performing it 😭#esp sakacharo bc he is my fave gentaro...#but i'm sure shunty and the others will do a great job TwT #plus nb is back!!!! yippee!!!#i hope that means the other gen 1 oridiv will come back eventually ToT

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