uminohotaru

[uminohotaru]

Can u send me the link of dororo stage play? Thanks in advance!

yes I can, message me

[uminohotaru]

Oh, thank you for the clarification! Yeah, I definitely was misled by the “long hours” in the translation!

I can’t say it changes my view in general, though. I didn’t mean to say that Ash’s death was a suicide, but rather an acceptance. When facing certain death, people may react in different ways. Say, they may fight to survive irrationally, with all they’ve got, until the last breath, because they absolutely cannot accept the possibility of dying; sometimes it’s pointless, but sometimes it results in a miracle. People’s spirit contains incomprehensible power to defy even certain death. Even till the last minute, even understanding it’s futile, sometimes people would still fight because there’s something in their life they absolutely cannot bear to part with. But sometimes people accept death, either in despair, lacking the strength or the ability to hope, or on the contrary, they accept it with the sense of completeness. I think Ash’s case was the latter. Even though Eiji’s letter reawakened his willingness to take the chance for the different life he truly desired, Lao’s blade reminded him of the price. Earlier, Ash had accepted to remain just another beast in the jungle: he wouldn’t endanger Eiji by being with him, he would keep his distance because they are from the different worlds and the border cannot be crossed. Eiji said no, it’s not like that, I always wanted to protect you from your fate, you are no leopard and you can change your fate if this is what you want. And Ash finally decided to do it, to change his fate, to break from that world. And then the stab came—as the gate closing right before him, as a guardian of the border denying him the right of passage. But the choice had already been made: he would not belong to the “jungle” anymore. He would not fight to survive and go on with his life there like nothing happened, because it had lost its meaning after he had seen the mountain peak. So he didn’t even try to call an ambulance or anything, futile or not, there was none of that irrational fighting for his life—he did not want that life anymore, he wanted his Kilimanjaro (his land of the gods, his Eiji, his “normal person” life.) But he couldn’t cross the border “in open” either. I think we can’t explain the ending without bringing that mystical image of the closed gates, of the price that should have been paid. Because if we look at it fully rationally, Ash could still have a chance to survive in the hospital and then buy another ticket to Japan, or at least he could have hoped he did. That’s what almost everybody would have done in his place—desperately clinging to any chance of surviving, come on he’s not a surgeon he cannot really know if he can be saved or not. After Arthur had stabbed him, he passed out in a minute, and still survived. And this time, he at least was conscious long enough to reach the library. So, I still believe he accepted death not because he didn’t have any hope to survive that wound, but because he realized he can’t have it all: change his fate AND stay alive (“changing fate” here being not the choice between dying/ surviving, but between staying in the jungle/ climbing the mountain peak.) 

I wish I could express my thoughts more shortly and precisely but I hope it makes some sense.

Journey to the Land of the Gods

Banana Fish spoilers warning!

I’m late to the party but yeah, I just finished Banana Fish if you know what I mean. And maybe my heart would like to switch to smth other now to heal but my brain won’t stop thinking about that story. So I feel the need to rant into the void, at least. I have no idea whether there are Banana Fish fans among my subscribers but if you haven’t seen it, I really REALLY recommend you watch this masterpiece, and that you better scroll this post without glancing under the cut since I’m going to analyze the ending. Or rather, why could that story have had no other ending. 

And it all has probably been said and discussed already, but hey, I’ve told ya I’m late to the party, so I haven’t read any analysis except those in the youtube comments below random videos (well, there are some really good thoughts out there), so I need my own chance to rant. 

Continua a leggere

[uminohotaru]

How do you reply to the tags here? 🤔 ok so this is another interesting subject brought by @thebookwassomuchbetter that made me think:

Eiji's pov, continuing with the jungle/land of gods symbolism, is basically that of a pure angel who arrived to earth, was shocked by the evil but also mesmerized by the beauty and strength of the souls that managed to survive there and still keep that light inside. In Ash, he sees a kindred soul, the angelic soul of that child who was put through hell, that's why Eiji doesn't really see the barrier everyone else talks about. They live in different worlds yet they both come from the same origin. Eiji immediately recognizes the fragile and pure light other people don't see in Ash, noticing only the wild beast's persona he should put on in the jungle.

So, while to Ash his meeting with Eiji brought the glimpse of the pure divine world he chose to try to reach, even for the price of his life (love being the ultimate manifestation of that world), for Eiji it was the other way around. Like an angel who happened to descend to the wilderness of earth and fell in love, he decided to stay there (while being urged to leave multiple times) and protect Ash's soul; he never questioned his own unconditional love, wasn't afraid of it, never hesitated, because that's how the angels are. It's like the most natural thing for them, to love. For Ash's sake, he chose to stay and face the cruel reality without averting his eyes; to learn, to experience all its worst and most painful things. It was his journey of growth. So, it makes sense that in the end Eiji couldn't stay in Japan (the land of the gods) and decided to return to NY, to the "jungle", because his journey was not complete with Ash's death: he had to experience the pain of grief and parting with his love that is also a major part of earthly life you can't really avoid. He chose to live it through, without trying to forget or escape. So, by meeting each other, they both got the chance to attain what they lacked, and ofc they are going to reunite in the afterlife.

Does it make sense? I guess it depends on everyone's perspective but for me thinking in these terms somehow makes it easier to accept the pain that is Banana Fish.

Journey to the Land of the Gods

Banana Fish spoilers warning!

I’m late to the party but yeah, I just finished Banana Fish if you know what I mean. And maybe my heart would like to switch to smth other now to heal but my brain won’t stop thinking about that story. So I feel the need to rant into the void, at least. I have no idea whether there are Banana Fish fans among my subscribers but if you haven’t seen it, I really REALLY recommend you watch this masterpiece, and that you better scroll this post without glancing under the cut since I’m going to analyze the ending. Or rather, why could that story have had no other ending. 

And it all has probably been said and discussed already, but hey, I’ve told ya I’m late to the party, so I haven’t read any analysis except those in the youtube comments below random videos (well, there are some really good thoughts out there), so I need my own chance to rant. 

Keep reading

[uminohotaru]

Journey to the Land of the Gods

Banana Fish spoilers warning!

I'm late to the party but yeah, I just finished Banana Fish if you know what I mean. And maybe my heart would rather switch to smth else now and heal but my brain won't stop thinking about that story. So I feel the need to rant into the void, at least. I have no idea whether there are Banana Fish fans among my subscribers but if you haven’t seen it, I really REALLY recommend you watch this masterpiece, and that you better scroll this post without glancing under the cut since I'm going to analyze the end. Or rather, why could that story have had no other ending. 

And it all has probably been said and discussed a thousand times but hey, I’ve told ya I’m late to the party, and I haven’t read any thorough analyses except those in the youtube comments below random videos, so now I need my own chance to rant. 

During my short journey through the BF content (finally I can google it all I want without being afraid of the spoilers yay!) I came across different opinions on the ending. Mostly pain, of course, but then it’s either acceptance or denial. My first reaction was violent denial. But funny thing, as much as I wanted to immediately forget the Garden of Light and drown myself in fix-it AUs (the latter, I still do read), I realized quite soon that I can’t. That no matter how painful it is, the original ending is the thing that MAKES SENSE. No, Ash dying like that wasn’t something that had been decided on for the sake of shock, as some of the most bitter opinions I came across accused. Neither it devaluates the whole struggle and his final decision to leave to Japan with Eiji and have a normal life. No, there was something a lot deeper there, I realized once I’d cried my eyes out. As heartbroken as I was, I just couldn’t bring myself to hate it and reject it, and I tend to do that with the endings I do not like, as it happened with some other stories that I rejected with my whole heart and even devoted a good amount of my time to write the fix-its for. But strangely enough, it was not the case with Banana Fish. Its finale just makes sense. In fact, it makes so much sense that I’d go as far as to say that this whole story is the story of a journey to death which stemmed from the image of the leopard’s inscrutable journey to the summit of Kilimanjaro, the House of Gods. I can almost see the author being captivated with that image, and as someone who’s been writing from the young age I know that often (not always but still) you start the story from its finale. You take some resulting picture that for some reason appeared in your head and mesmerised you, and begin to unravel it, like an investigator: what could have happened? who are those people? why did they end up like this? Of course, it is only my assumptions but if I allow myself to guess, I’ll say the entire character of Ash, him being the wild cat, has originated exactly from that short excerpt of Hemingway. 

Kilimanjaro is a snow-covered mountain 19,710 feet high, and is said to be the highest mountain in Africa. Its western summit is called the Masai "Ngaje Ngai," the House of God. Close to the western summit there is the dried and frozen carcass of a leopard. No one has explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude.

The concept is here. It was never a question whether Ash dies, it was the question of how and why he dies. Just like the riddle he’s been pondering on—what was the leopard doing near the summit? What did it seek there? Was it climbing or trying to descend? And that in either case, it must have realized it won’t return. The direct parallel to that leopard, in the end Ash finds the answers to all those questions for himself, on his own journey to the Land of the Gods.

The Japanese characters for the name Izumo literally mean “out of the clouds,” evoking images of a place where the seen and the unseen worlds blur together.

Long before there was a Kyoto or Nara, this region was the center of what was known as Shinkoku, the Country of the Gods.

This is no coincidence. Japan in Banana Fish, and for Ash especially, is the image of the world untouched by the evil where you don’t need a gun, rather than a real country with the same amount of evil and dirt as any other. The fact that Eiji describes it as the country where there are 80 thousand gods, and that he is from Izumo, the Land of the Gods, of all places, makes the spiritual connotation all the more evident. The white peak of Kilimanjaro soaring over the wild jungle, an impossible image of two different worlds in one--there could not have been a better symbolism. Ash, the character who in one of the early episodes says, “I’ve never repented, not even once”, cannot even imagine himself in such a world, just like the sinner can’t seriously think about paradise, or a leopard about climbing a snow-clad peak, so of course his immediate reaction is “Are you nuts? me in Japan? what I’d be even doing there?” But the invitation is there. And deep inside, he realizes that yes, he wants that. To be with Eiji, the angel, in his Land of the Gods. Yet his hands are stained with blood. He's been ruined and tainted in most horrible ways. Is it even possible? But what Eiji sees is his beautiful, fragile, wounded soul, and he says—yes, of course you can, and I will take you there, let’s begin with learning the language. This is when it starts—Ash’s journey from the jungle and toward the summit, toward the Land of the Gods. Or well, that’s when it becomes more or less a conscious decision. And maybe that is also when he realizes it will probably cost him his life. 

He tries to stop and turn back, more than once. Tries to convince himself that he will never belong there, that his fate is to be just another scum on these streets, in the world he has learned how to survive in, his jungle. Just as, more than once, he understands that no, he would rather die on his way to that summit, having decided to take this journey—but die with love, rather than remain in the jungle, even as the king, but empty inside. He has seen the white summit of Kilimanjaro above the wild forest, and that’s it—he can’t tear his eyes off it. 

He learns to repent. He learns to pray. And he even takes the ultimate step—asking God to take him in place of Eiji. Just like Aslan from Narnia, a representation of Christ, he learns such a deep love that he willingly choses to sacrifice himself for another; and it’s not to say he couldn’t sacrifice himself for his friends earlier—he could, risking his life constantly to save others, not exactly cherishing it too much to begin with. But his bargain, for the lack of a better word, with God in ep.23 was something different. It was a conscious offering, a prayer to the God whom he wouldn’t even consider asking for anything earlier, the scarred soul that he is—take me instead of him. Not in the mess of the fight, say, covering Eiji with his body from a bullet, but through a prayer, in the quiet hours on his knees before that window basked in the rays of light. The difference between an act and a prayer in that sense is the difference between one moment and eternity. I'm offering myself in his place, give him the divine protection, change his fate, please God--I'm willing to pay the price. It is different.

Eiji who had a 50% chance of surviving, I believe, survived exactly because of that, at least we can say that it was implied. Ash’s spiritual journey, from being the one who “never once repented”, through finding the spirit to hope and to say I want that, please take me to the Land of the Gods, and to finally offering himself in place of the one he loves—that journey is simply amazing. 

That's why his life could not be taken simply in the mess of the fight. Narratively it would have diminished that huge journey. So he defeats the strongest enemies and survives. Like Cain says, Ash will only die if he brings it on himself. The leopard dies near the summit, but you are not a leopard, you can choose—says Eiji. And we truly can say that Ash chooses to die—from a non-lethal wound (which is more clear in the manga.) Even then, God leaves him the chance to reconsider, to return to the jungle and lick his wounds. In a way, he is safe while he stays in the jungle. But once he tries to reach Eiji, to reach the Land of the Gods, after that prayer, it is no longer so as if fate says, you've exchanged your life for his, that's it. So Ash chooses to pay and to die, and he dies on his own terms to an extent—in the peace of that library, the only place in the “jungle” that has always been his refuge, a part of another world, and he dies smiling—which implies it is not the Grim Reaper who comes for him unlike back then in the hospital, bringing dead calmness devoid of any pain as well as of joy. No, what Ash sees in that moment is some beautiful and happy scenery, so we can say that yes, he sees the Land of the Gods, his paradise where their souls are together, the exact scene from the ED2. He dies, but he ends up reaching it.

So why does Ash, not the logic of the narrative, choose death? For one, this is his part of the bargain with God: and when he is attacked exactly at the moment when he finally runs to reunite with Eiji, he realizes that. Eiji has been able to live on because Ash offered himself instead. And he should have died exactly because he covered Ash with his body, exactly because there is a price for him staying in the jungle, as well as for Ash breaking from the jungle, and from the beginning, Eiji took multiple risks and he took that last bullet meant for Ash, too, because basically his very residence in Ash’s world was the act of his love and desire to save Ash. So of course, he does. But Eiji does more than just saving his life, he saves his soul—since in the end he provides the chance for Ash to say nope, I will not have that, I will ask God to save you and take me instead. Just like Aslan the lion's sacrifice that results in his rebirth. The pinnacle of his spiritual journey, his ticket to the plane going to the Land of the Gods. No, we couldn’t have had Japan as the real 3D country in this story. We simply couldn't.

...One of the distinguishing features of Izumo Taisha Grand Shrine: the shimenawa, or immense straw rope hanging from side to side in the front. The Kaguraden building shimenawa is the largest of its kind in Japan, measuring eight meters in diameter at its largest hanging parts.

It is a reflection of the main god enshrined here, Okuninushi-no-Okami, the god of human relationships. The Japanese word for this is enmusubi, which we can translate literally as “bound fate.” 

[uminohotaru]

ramblings about taichihaya

I’ve finally read the last chapter of the manga, and it was just, it was beautiful.

Incoherent ramblings abound. I felt a bit sad when I read someone post sorry to chihayafuru fans because they were put through an ichiruki situation, because i have always thought there was no such thing as a fated love in Chihayafuru. (Also this is ironic, because while I slightly preferred ichiruki, no way would I say that ichihime was farfetched, in the same way that there is absolutely no way taichihaya was farfetched considering the development, and again ironic because both chihaya and taichi have the sun and moon motif so they actually healed my heartbroken ichiruki heart, but I digress -)

Anyway, I need to process my words. When I say there was no such thing as fated love, I mean that as much as I loved taichihaya, if Chihaya and Arata ended up together, I wouldn’t say that there was no basis. There was such a thing as fated friendship between our trio, but unlike other shoujo manga I’ve read, I wouldn’t consider either Taichi or Arata as Chihaya’s soul mate (I consider the three of them soul mates). Other people have shed insights about how Chihayafuru is a story of transience and youth, and I think the finale maintained that theme until the end (like Arata’s joke for example about wanting to be with Chihaya at 28, as he said the future isn’t set in stone). 

What I loved about the ending is how it was a culmination of everything they were passionate about and fighting against. For Arata and Chihaya who were passionate about Karuta, and for Arata fighting against or for what his Grandfather means in the Karuta he plays now, for Chihaya growing up to be more sensitive to the world outside of Karuta (her wonderful conversation with Retro comes to mind, as well as her gaining a new dream in becoming a teacher). In the same way that this story was all about passion, and for Arata and Chihaya for that passion to be directed towards Karuta, I find that there’s nothing wrong with Taichi’s passion to have been directed at another person - specifically - Chihaya, even as he was fighting against himself.

I loved the finale, because it showed how much the people around Arata and Chihaya, specifically the people who had nothing to do with Karuta, like Arata’s childhood friend and Chihaya’s older sister impacted them and meant so much to them winning. 

As a taichihaya shipper, I really loved the finale because it shows that it’s not just Taichi’s nearness that caused Chihaya to love him back, but at the same time it was him going far away that really puts things into perspective for her. It was just so Chihaya to confess even when she thought that Taichi had already lost his feelings for her. In others words, even if Taichi no longer loved her romantically, his confession impacted her that much that she had to answer it with a poem of her own. 

I love taichihaya not because I was sure it would be canon, but because I just really preferred it, and these are just some of the reasons. 

1. the parallels with harada sensei and his wife, as well as kana-chan and komano

I love parallels, ok? The parallel with harada sensei and his wife actually works two ways, harada sensei paralleling Taichi with the latter also becoming a doctor in the future, and both Chihaya and harada sensei’s wife saying all they wanted was to see their important person smile. It also works the other way around in that both harada sensei’s wife and taichi steadfastly supported their loved one’s drive to become the meijin and queen respectively. 

kana-chan, our beloved taichihaya ship captain. I still remember how she compared chihaya and taichi’s match with her match with komano, and how they were each pair’s best matches precisely because of how well they knew the person they were facing. the irony and not of how it was these two who finally managed to push chihaya and taichi to get together. 

2. the heartaches of love

I love how they each exemplified the highs and lows of love. How Chihaya showed how love could be greedy, in Hanano’s words, and how their experience was reflective of Taichi’s comment about love in the beginning of the series, about how love was painful but you still wanted to be with the other person.

How it showed from the very beginning that even if Chihaya wasn’t fully conscious of it, she had always been jealous of the girls around Taichi, first with his girlfriend, and even in the last chapter when Taichi mentioned Hanano. 

I always mentioned this, even after the angsty confession and break-up (?). Chihaya relies on Taichi like no other. To be honest, they were practically co-dependent. Which is another reason why I loved why everything played out the way it did. Chihaya’s crush on Arata always seemed easy in that it didn’t seem as if she wanted it reciprocated (a happy crush mixed with admiration), meanwhile Taichi needed to confess to have Chihaya reevaluate what he meant to her and how she was supposed to relate to him. 

And yet I’m so happy they made up first, Taichi was finally at peace with himself, and even chose to go somewhere for himself, even if it meant being physically apart from Chihaya.

It shows that Chihaya’s confession was not out of fear that she had to reciprocate to keep Taichi by her side like she wanted because Taichi had reassured her that their friendship along with Arata would remain strong even if she didn’t reciprocate. In other words, their friendship would remain the same, but it was now Chihaya who realized she wanted more.

3. spending your whole youth on it

Taichi’s conversation with Harada-sensei about wasted youth was both about Karuta and Chihaya, and yet despite his fears, he still kept working hard, still kept trying to reach out for the Chiha card. 

The confession and Taichi’s behavior throughout the entire series always screamed to me about how self-sabotaging he really was. He is the one to bring Arata up during his confession. He never acts in a way to get Chihaya to like him because he was already sure that Chihaya loved Arata. 

And despite all that, despite all his fears, in the same way he was sure that he no longer had any luck in the draw, in the same way he was sure that he had no chance with Chihaya, he still loved her anyway, still supported her the best that he could. Wasted effort but one that he no longer considered wasted even if Chihaya never loved him back because he was finally at peace with himself. But of course, he was overjoyed when she said she loved him, because as he said, he would always be helplessly in love with her. 

I’ve always thought that in the same way throughout the story Taichi thought Chihaya didn’t notice him, it was also about Taichi never noticing how much Chihaya noticed him (the towel scene is really symbolic of this). It’s quite ironic how Taichi considers Chihaya dense, when he’s also a bit dense when it comes to Chihaya. 

4. how taichihaya might as well be self-fulfillment for ariwara no narihira and the empress

listen, listen, brilliant people who are more well-versed in poetry have pointed out the parallels between narihira, the empress, the emperor and taichi, chihaya, and arata. It was pretty on the nose with how narihira was even drawn to look a bit like taichi, and now chihaya and arata are the queen and meijin respectively. 

with how shinobu pointed out that the chiha and tachi cards were always paired together, nothing will now stop me from imagining chihaya and taichi as the empress and narihira who were reincarnated and can now be together.

I just really loved them, even way back in the beginning when I was just watching the anime. I was prepared for heartache, but even then, it wouldn’t diminish what they went through, so to have that last chapter is really heartwarming. I’ll probably be rambling more about Chihayafuru once I reread everything. Thank you for these past ten years Sueguetsu-sensei!

[uminohotaru]

Hi, just wanted to say, thank you for doing God’s work with the Dororo fanfiction. I have been in a funk all day because I just finished the series and Tahomaru’s death was the ONE thing I couldn’t accept in a beautiful finale. The way that you continued the story really ties up all the themes perfectly, and since it doesn’t change the canon, I don’t even need to suspend my disbelief. Can’t believe I found exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

Thank you for these words and sorry for the late reply! Ah, I'm so happy if I could fix it for you, I desperately needed it myself and realized a lot of people felt the same! I was soooo upset with the way they handled Taho's character but at the same time I'm grateful they'd left at least a bit of ambiguity there so it wasn't such a stretch to continue it the way I wanted :) and yes, all the pieces just kind of clicked together. I'm really glad I gave it a try. Now I just hope I can finish it, too haha

[uminohotaru]

Hello! I've just found your work "The story of Flowing Water" and I feel happy! It's Dororo fic that I searched for! Beginning to read it despite of my difficulties with English! But is there any Russian translation of this work?

Hello there! It makes me happy to know this work is still appreciated, despite my slow and inconsistent updating! Спасибо! <3 вау я наверное впервые встречаю русскоязычного фаната Дороро :) Я кстати тоже русская, хаха мир тесен! 

Не думаю, что кто-то брался его переводить. Я по правде сказать пыталась писать параллельно русскую версию, но как-то не пошло — по-русски я бы изначально иначе писала, но это двойная работа, все фразы перестраивать. Мне бы его вообще дописать)) Надеюсь, у вас хватит энтузиазма читать на английском, там конечно полно всякой средневековой лексики, я сама со словарем писала, чего уж))) фанфики кстати классно прокачивают английский, признаюсь, я его в основном по фанфикам и учила :D

[uminohotaru]

Chapter covers masterpost

The Story of Flowing Water (Dororo2019 continuation story)

(To be updated)

[uminohotaru]

Found a box of my old drawings. God, I forgot these existed! Alexei Cherepanov, a brilliant Russian hockey player who died during a game, and his "sempai" in Avangard Omsk, the legend, Jaromir Jagr. This were drawn back in 2009 iirc. Time flies...

[uminohotaru]

Hi, have you watched Inuyasha?

Hi! No, I haven’t. I may though, the description seems interesting.

[uminohotaru]

Made another chapter cover. Continuing to struggle with facial expressions, after having a sudden realization that everyone i’ve ever drawn in this life was more or less like 😐 or  😠. hmm not much progress? (Mutsu is supposed to wear a poker face though lol)

“Where is Hyogo?” Mutsu’s question reached Tahomaru along with the sound of hooves.

She caught up with him and kept slightly behind.

“I dismissed him for today.”

“You are being too soft with him, waka. He slacks off too much recently.”

Stop lecturing me! Tahomaru barely suppressed his outrage. He jumped from his horse and walked to the cliff with the big lonely tree near the edge. He heard Mutsu do the same a few steps behind him. The high autumn grass was rustling ever so slightly underneath her steps. Their horses were puffing heavily from the fast ride. Other than that, there was no sound. The clear sky was stroked with the shadows of the clouds and the birds flying so high that his eyes hurt to look into that sharp blue infinity.

“Why are we here, waka?”

“Because I want to be here; do I need a specific reason to be where I want to be?” Tahomaru snapped, unable to calm down. His mind raced. His head was spinning as if he were about to fall into the sky.

“My apologies, waka,” Mutsu said formally with a deep bow.

Tahomaru tried to remember the words he had intended to say. He closed his eyes and took one long breath, then another. Mutsu waited patiently, watching him in silence. He knew she was watching him, probably with worry, her body relaxed but ready to react in a fraction of a second; her right arm ready to snatch an arrow and place it on the string of the light hankyu bow that her left hand would get off her horse’s back the same instant. She never let her guard down, not even here, on this serene field, where Tahomaru used to run away as a child to hide among the high grass from the world that wasn’t fair. She would always find him, and her hand would be gentle yet there would be a strain in it, and her eyes would glance all over the field and to the faraway forest, calculating any possible danger. She would never let her guard down.

“Something isn’t right. I have always felt it,” Tahomaru finally uttered, and those were not the words he had been preparing. His gaze was wandering over the horizon where the hills were glowing scarlet with the vivid colors of autumn. Somehow, it was not pretty. It seemed as if blood had been spilled all over the land. “Things are not as they are supposed to be. Something is off and has always been. Have you ever felt the same, Mutsu?”

There was a long silence behind him. She would never waver when answering his questions. She would never make him wait. But now, she did, and it could mean a lot of things.

“I have, waka,” Mutsu replied at length.

What exactly? Tahomaru wanted to demand but held himself back. It was his time to speak. “Yes. A lot isn’t right. My parents holding secrets from me. My mother’s indifference. The sadness in her eyes. The fact that I am being protected by you, too.”

“Have I not proved myself, waka?” Mutsu’s voice was quiet, almost a whisper, but there was steel in it, cold and razor-sharp.

“You have. And it is not right either.” Tahomaru took a deep breath and turned around to face her. His heart was racing as if he were about to step from the cliff and blow into the blue height. “I want to be the one to protect you, Mutsu. Always wanted to be. Even before I could understand what it means.” Read full chapter on AO3

[uminohotaru]

Chapter 8. The story of the unseen bridge. Part 1

From The Story Of Flowing Water (Dororo-2019 continuation story)

Summary: Some bridges shall be built, and some shall burn.

Notes: Continuing with the main plot. The boys are about to fight the demonic army of the still unclear origin; Dororo in the meantime meets Nui and Jukai. I decided to split this chapter in two parts, to keep it a reasonable length. Narratively, it also makes more sense this way. So, the second part is to follow (hopefully, soon).

Read on AO3 ->

Also, here’s the map I’ve made for this fic (click here to enlarge) :

It was a story in itself how I tried to disclose the exact geography of Dororo to come up with the locations for this fic and clarify how much land Daigo actually possessed. The story is said to take place in Ishikawa, but the present Ishikawa Prefecture is actually the former Kaga Province, and Daigo was a vassal to the Governor (Shugo) of Kaga. So, his Ishikawa was only a part of the present days Ishikawa. We also had some more clues: located on the borders of Kaga; neighboring the Asakura and the Sakai clans; hilly area with at least one big river and the sea nearby; (and perhaps the most precise) Tatesuki pass is to the east of the Castle. All these locations proved to be existing in reality. Eventually, I connected the dots and came up with the most suitable location, or so I believe. It mostly overlaps with the former Daishoji domain (historically, quite an unfortunate one, btw; and also starts with Dai-) at the southern border of Kaga. I could write a lot about all this, since it was a fascinating virtual journey, but what is sufficient to know is that the Daigo domain I describe is about 23 km long and 25 km wide, which is a bit farther to the north than the border of the Daishoji domain was, but even that small an area, that you could cross in about a day or two, consisted of ~150 villages at the time (most of them tiny, though) and  amounted to ~100,000 koku (a dry measure; the amount of rice production measured in koku was the metric by which the magnitude of a feudal domain was evaluated.) It should give you the idea. Castles mentioned here also correspond with the ruins of the castles located in this area (most of them were later destroyed by the Tokugawa Shogunate under the policy of “One Domain - One Castle”) - like Daishoji Castle and Ookawa Castle (”Great River” in translation, which is known historically as Komatsu, or ”Little Pine”, Castle).

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[uminohotaru]

Fic: The Story Of Flowing Water | Masterpost

Hi guys! RL has been keeping me busy, but the next chapter will be posted soon, I just need to edit it. In the meantime, I made these chapter covers, cause I kinda missed that anime vibe only visuals can give. I'm not sure if i’ll make them for all the chapters eventually, but here are some for now. Chapter 1. The story of flowing water

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Chapter 2. The story of the lingering night  no pic yet

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Chapter 3. The story of Ikki no pic yet

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Chapter 4. The story of Sen

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Chapter 5. The story of hundreds and thousands

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Chapter 6. The story of two paths

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Chapter 7. The story of Shadow

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Chapter 8. The story of the unseen bridge. Part 1 

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Chapter 9. The story of the unseen bridge. Part 2.

Next→ Chapter 10. The story of the Three.

[uminohotaru]

Chapter 7: The story of Shadow

From The Story Of Flowing Water (Dororo continuation story)

Summary: The way into her Enemy’s den turned out to be the easiest part of the plot.

Notes: This chapter offers an OC's perspective on the Daigo's side of the story, mostly covering the anime events and a bit beyond. (Also, because it's OC, I'm nervous af about it.) (It is hella big, too. Like, ~30 A4 pages x_x)

Read on AO3 ->

And the concept of an original character I’ve drawn for this one:

[uminohotaru]

Chapter 6: The story of two paths

From The Story Of Flowing Water (Dororo continuation story)

Summary: They share something beyond blood that none of the living can know. The scars of the Deal.

Notes: A mess of a chapter, probably the longest yet. A lot of flashbacks. (Also the chapter that I intended to write after the first. Somehow it became the 6th in the process) .

Read on AO3 ->

[uminohotaru]

Chapter 5: The story of hundreds and thousands

From The Story Of Flowing Water (Dororo continuation story) 

This chapter follows the both brothers' lines.  Because of that, it's quite big.

Read on AO3 ->

Also, the art for this chapter I made quite a while ago. I can finally post it safe :)

[uminohotaru]

Chapter 4. The story of Sen

The Story Of Flowing Water (Dororo continuation story) Chapter summary: Winter. Hyakkimaru's journey.

Notes: It's funny that this chapter (and its continuation) was written back in October-November, before the whole pandemic and quarantine stuff. Writing sometimes turns out foretelling the nearest future, to the point of being not funny. (Has anyone noticed the same thing? I even keep a diary of such coincidences lol)

Read on AO3 -> These instrumentals (+a song) helped me a lot to set a winter mood, they’re lovely: