#Kazuki's nice too he's funny | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thequietkid-moonie · 1 year

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hey! hope you're having an awesome day so far. i recently just finished watching "romantic killer" and OMG I LOVED IT! if you don't mind, could i request some headcanons of kazuki, junta, and hijiri crushing on the reader who's a huge otaku (like a huge one. loves watching anime and reading manga when given the chance, owns as much merch as they can afford, and their eyes literally light up when anyone mentions her favorite series)? and one thing about them is that they're such a simp over certain anime characters, will literally squeal over images and video clips like "WHY IS (INSERT ANIME CHARACTER) SO CUTE/HOT/GORGEOUS?!" later, it turns out the reader also likes the boys back, and while they're happy about it, they're initially flustered like "you actually like me? out of all people, you like someone who does nothing but watch anime 24/7?" and even asking "you do realize that you're probably gonna deal with me screaming over my anime husbandos and/or waifus even when we date, right?" (may or may not have put myself on blast with this request. also, sorry if this got a bit too long LMAO). ty! <3

Their crush is a huge otaku

[ HEADCANONS ] [ Kazuki, Junta, Hijiri ] [ Romantic Killer ]

Dear are you sure you aren't my lost twin or something? 🤨 Because you have described me perfectly

Haha I loved your prompt dear, it was really funny to think

Tsukasa Kazuki

Since the first moment you had met Tsukasa you had always been like that, and actually that is something he admires, just being you is something that atracted him to you at first

It help that you don't pay much attention in his beaty, he hates to draw attention for his appearance and you had never made a big deal of it (mainly because you are always focused in the characters you love, but he still appreciate it)

Speaking of, probably you had emphasize his appearance at least once, and the first time you did it he get anxious (specially if it was when you two met), but he was surprised that in just on a second you started talking about someone else, a characters that looks like him (even if is just a little) and you just start ranting about them, not even paying attention to Tsukasa anymore, he was confused and shocked but somehow grateful too

He had never been bothered by your ranting, at first he find it problematic since he hates drawing attention, and with how excited you get it could be a little difficult to not to, but with some time he just gets used to and doesn't bother him anymore

He had never mind it at all whenever you talk about the characters you love, but he tent to ask you to calm down before you hurt yourself for how excited you get, if you show him pictures or videos of them he will see them (just because you asked nicely) but he doesn't say much about them since he cannot see what is so special about them (he doesn't say it out loud though, he had learned his lesson after the first time he did it and you explained to him all the good things you know about that character)

If you ever show him your collection, either mangas or different merch, he will find it a little strange (it would remember him a little about his stalker, but he calms down rather quickly when you start talking like always), he won't judge you though (at least try not to), and will give you some advice of how take proper care of it if you ask him (he is pretty good with the housechores so that could help)

If you ask him he will make you company while shopping whenever you go for more mangas or merch, he doesn't mind too much, but he will make you dress something not anime related

Tsukasa doesn't even realice when he started to pay more attention to whatever you are saying, when he start to made efforts to understand what are you talking about, when he started waiting to be able to talk to you just so he could hear you speak with such emotion nor even when he started to get annoyed whenever he heards you simp about one of your favorite characters, wanting to be the one you are talking about so lovely (but he feels embarrassed about feeling like that)

For him is a slowly process so he will notice his feelings for you after some time, when he had already fallen in love you, and his attitude doesn't change much, but he discreetly start to spending more time to you, you have become his safe space so he start being a little more clingy

He start to even pay a more close attention to you, to your voice and your expresions so it won't be so strange if he ask you from time to time about the anime you are watching, he may even unconsciously mentions it when you two aren't talking about it just to to provoke you so you will start talking about it (specially becouse by just hearing the only mention of it makes you noticibly excited, and he loves seeing you like that, it amused him)

He probably won't confess, it had to be you the who confess to him or either one of you do it by accident, unconsciously letting out at comment that express your feelings

And when you two admit your feelings for each other he never expected for you to asking if he is willing to accept you as the huge otaku and simp you are, he will look at you weirdly and say that he already does it and he loves you for who you are, he is already used to your craziness (and he will tease you for it)

Junta Hayami

Junta is really sweet and kind-hearted, even when he is bothered for something he has troubles to say it, but by the moment you two become friends he is always up to hear you rant about anime, he doesn't mind

From time to time he can get confused and a little bit overwhelmed for all your ranting and he tries to ask you to stop or to repeat yourself mainly because he is actually trying to undestand all you are saying, Junta really tries to get into the conversation, even if he doesn't really know the anime or doesn't say much he is always paying attention

He won't have much troubles to help you whenever you need it, like if you stayed up watching anime at night or were too distracted during class he will help you to cover it or explaining to you what you missed, but will scold you for doing it (no matter how much times you do it he never stop helping you, he just get more worried about you)

If you ever recommend him an anime or manga he promises to watch/read it, and he actually will make some time to do it, it won't be too weird if one day he came to you to ask you something about it or to tell you something he really liked it

Also, it won't be so strange if he ended up learning your favorite animes and characters, he actually did efforts too, and he even search about them a little more whenever something you say catch his attention

Whenever he heards you being simp over a characters he laugh nervously, at first it makes him nervous because is like if you were talking about something personal (since you like them so much), after some time he get used to but still it makes him a little nervous since you get so excited and even passionate whenever you talk about the character you love (and when he starts liking you he start being a little jelous too)

Junta doesn't have the heart to say something bad about them or ask you to stop, you seem to be having a lot of fun with talking about them and he will feel bad for interrupt you (even by accident). Also, if you show him pictures or videos of them he won't say much and just nod or say that you are right

Junta doesn't think much about his appearance and he is rather shy, so if you ever compliment his appearance he will get super flustered, even if you did it because he looks like one of the characters you love and start ranting about them, he doesn't mind (that actually help him calm down) he still appreciate the compliment, but after some time it would start bother him because he wants to be the person you like (he may even put more attention on what you say about them)

To be honest he was surprised the first time he saw your collection or when he accompanied you to buy something new, he has never thought that it would exist some much merch for just one anime, he really takes time to appreciate all your collection if you let him and he gladly hear you rant about it (like from what anime it is, from what scene, if it is a special edition and so on)

Also, he normally is busy with the school and the club (all the training and matches) but he will be happy to go with you whenever you want to buy more things for your collection (but he will be a little shy for it since that could easily be a date)

By the time Junta start liking you he will get a little more clingy and blushy with you, it would take him some time to notice it too but he tries to not make a big deal of it

He had never mind it all your excitment about the animes but now he start to get more flustered whenever you rant about them because now he pay more attention on your expresions and your voice, feeling that he falls more in love whenever he sees you and feeling embarrassed whenever he catches himself thinking like that. Now he will pay more attention on the characters you love the most, trying to see if there is something similar between them (maybe there will know your type or if he even has a chance with you)

The moment you two confess your feelings for each other you don't even have to ask him because he had let out his heart when he tell you how he feels, and he makes sure to say that he loves you completely , even that part of you that loves ranting about the animes and characters you love the most

Hijiri Koganei

Hijiri is used to be surrounded by people who admire and praise him, so to catch his attention you have to be different from them and not really pay attention to him. It could be either because you say that he is like a typical anime character or praise his appearance just to start ranting about one of the characters you love that he looks like

He doesn't even know what are you talking about but he is offended because you are comparing him with someone else and you seem to prefer the other. He will confront you right away, how you dare to compare him with someone else?, he demand to know it in that moment so you will have no other option than talk about the anime/character (not like you don't want to), that is the first time he heard you rant like that

At first he just stay by your side because he wanted to show you that he is obviously better that all that characters you talk so much, but soon he start seeing you as a friend (as much as he hate it)

He thinks that all your rant is dumb and usless (at least at first) and he will express it, but he will learn to at least tolerate it since offending what you love just makes your relationship difficult (either because you get mad at him or because it sadden you, both option lead you to avoid him)

After some time Hijiri go from criticize you for obsessing over something he sees silly to criticize the plot and characters, he may even admit from time to time that "is not too bad", maybe it isn't the best change but that shows the interest he started to win over it

Normally you two have this conversations in "dates", he accept to hear you rant about everything you want only if is in a date (for him is like a deal), and after some time he just get used to all your ranting and even start to get interested in it, and when he does he will start to search more about it (either him or ask Tsuchiya to do it)

Also, he tent to surprise you by having the iniative to talk more about that anime or saying some details that you could bet he didn't know, he says that is not a big deal, is normal for him to know so much but in reallity he loves to see your shocked expression when he does it and to brag about it too

When you had commented that you have a collection with a lot of merch about it, he find it strange (and he say it) but he demand to see it (he is curious too). Even if he is surprided by your collection (no matter if is a lot or just a few things) he will act like is nothing, saying that he isn't impress even when he is curious

He from time to time buy you some things too, mainly after he got interested on the anime (and in you of course), he doesn't go out of his way to buy something but if he find something casually that he reconize it from anime you like or that he even is interested in, something he knows you will like

What he will never like is seeing you simp over the characters, even before he start liking you, he will call you idiot for it (but will stop after learning that this make things more difficult) he just don't see what you see in them, why you put so much attention in them and not in him? What they have that he doesn't? He is embarrassed for it but he is jelous of seeing you so excited for someone else, he will try to avoid to talk about them and even cut you when you start talking (and that just increase when he start liking you)

After he started to like you in a more sincere way then he will do more efforts to know what you like, trying to remember the animes you like the most (at least the names), now he pay more attention what you say than in criticize it. And this time he does efforts to find some merch about it, specially if is a special/limited edition, too expensive or something that have a special meaning either for you or in the anime (he isn't going to accept it but he is trying to impress you)

He never really had a problem with admiting that he is interested on you, so a confession it would came either from you or him admiting that now he likes you in a more sincere and romantic way

And when you ask him if is real and if he is willing to endure you he gets a little annoyed, first because you are doubting his feelings and second because he had already endure your attitude all this time, do you think he will do that if he doesn't wanted? He just accept his love for you inconspicuously, in his own way

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thee-horny-thicky · 1 year

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Hey, Mama!

In honor of Mother's Day, here's a snippet of a fanfic I wrote about Kurusu Kazuki lusting after a single mother, because there's a disgusting lack of reader-insert fics about that blond assassin

If you're interested in the full fic, it's on Ao3 💓

If there was one thing Kurusu Kazuki loved, it was women. Though he was technically bisexual, he had a strong preference for the fairer sex. He adored their feminine curves, their soft skin, and even softer lips. He viewed them as walking works of art regardless of their size, color, or origin. Because in his eyes, women were just God’s gift to Earth, a reason to preserve in this cruel, cruel world. A wise man once said that though it’s a man’s world, it’s nothing without a woman or a girl, and Kazuki wholeheartedly agreed.

And the woman before him only reinforced that belief. With heavy breasts that hung beautifully, a soft tummy he just wanted to rest his head on, deliciously thick thighs that flared out to child-bearing hips, and adorably chubby cheeks, you were truly a sight to behold. A walking fantasy come to life, one that he couldn’t tear his eyes from. From the way you shyly smiled at him, he knew he was coming off a bit strong, but he couldn’t help himself.

His time at the daycare had exposed him to many women he deemed attractive, but they all paled in comparison to you. And based on your ringless fingers, unlike them, you weren’t spoken for. A single mother for a halfway single father, a match made in heaven.

“Papa!” Miri called as she dashed toward him.

Behind her was another little girl with cloud-like black hair, who bared a strong resemblance to you. As Miri called for him, the other child called out, “Mama,” and B-lined for you, confirming the blond’s suspicions.

“Hey, sweetie,” you cooed as you scoop her into a hug, your soft tone making Kazuki’s heart flutter.

She beckoned you to come closer. When you did, she whispered something in your ear, making you furrow your brows together.

“Papa!” Miri repeats, tugging at his pant leg and recapturing his attention. His cheeks warmed as he realized how unfatherly he was being. “Can Mia come over?”

“Mia?” he questioned, trying to recall the names of her friends.

He knew Miri primarily hung around two other little girls, but his daughter was a social creature who would make friends with a rat if given the chance.

“My daughter,” you volunteered as you joined the two of them, clasping Mia’s hand in yours. “She was just telling me about Miri. Say hi, sweetie,” you urged when Mia hid behind your legs.

“Hi,” she whispered quietly, barely loud enough to be heard.

“She’s a little shy around strangers,” you revealed with a soft smile that made Kazuki weak in the knees.

Shit. He needed to say something.

He grinned at you two, hoping it masked his nerves, and offered the girl a wave. “Hey, kid! I’m Miri’s father.”

“So can she come over?” Miri inquired, a small pout on her face at her question going ignored.

“If it’s fine with her mother, then sure!”

He’d like nothing more than to have you at his home. He’d have to make sure the living space was clean, as Rei was a messy being. Often, it felt like he parented two children, a hyper child and a teenager in the middle of his emo phase.

Miri nodded, before turning to you. “Miss, can Mia come over?”

Much to his daughter’s delight, you nodded. “Sure! Let me get your number so we can set it up. When are you free?”

You wanted…his number? Holy shit, you wanted his number! Even the fact that it was completely platonic and for the sake of your daughters didn’t put a dent in his joy.

“Yeah, of course!” Kazuki exclaimed; a tad too eager based on how Miri looked at him funny. Pulling his phone from his hoodie’s pocket, he unlocked it and handed it to you. “Go ahead and put your number in.”

You nodded and accepted the device, quickly inputting your information. Your phone vibrates, and with a nod, you hand it back. “Okay, all set! It was nice meeting you two!”

He felt the same way. In fact, he was thanking every God in existence that you were put in his path.

“Yeah, same here!”

“We have to get going. Say bye, Mia.”

“Bye, Miri,” she said softly, no longer acknowledging Kazuki’s presence.

Okay by him, since she’d have plenty of time to get used to him. Seeing as he was going to woo her mother and all.

#reader insert #x reader #black coded reader #chubby reader #plus size reader #buddy daddies #kazuki kurusu #kazuki kusuru #buddy daddies kazuki #Kazuki Kurusu x #kazuki kurusu x reader #snippet #ao3fic

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v-67 · 2 months

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Completed watching Romantic killer anime and it's sooooo wholesome and cute and different🥹❤️

WHY IS THERE NOT A SEASON 2

Fr though, it tackles simple and complex things, and I just love Hoshino's personality sooooo much.

She's simply kind, and helpful, and it's just really warm.

And the male characters and their own traits, it's really sweet

Kazuki's portrayal and his anxiety, his trauma, his catharsis and the way Hoshino was there for him. Also, consent, so much about consent. Even if it was a hug.

Junta's personality, him not being jealous but rather being like, 'it was bound to happen, she's just that amazing'. It was just really sweet. Man's just so adorable and kind.

The wizard, Riri aka Roro. Sweet, warm, helpful, and was a tad annoying at first but in the end I'm just happy he's back❤️

Hijiri, it was nice to see him blend w people and realise what tsuchiya wanted him to realise.

Also Saki and Makoto, idc if anything happens or not, but that particular moment was sweet and I hope they become good friends/anything romantic is fine too because Makoto is🫶 (for my girl Saki)

That asshole senior of Saki annoyed the fuck out of me. I see such things and it genuinely annoys me. Because he was being kind and stuff at first and then pulled off such shit and had the audacity to then tell people some made up story. Had the audacity to do that. AND fucker even met her at the festival and said all those things. Fucking creeps.

I also feel so sad and frustrated about the way Kazuki might have felt. Him clutching his mouth, the portrayal of anxiety and being scared, it hits hard. And his father not being on his side when he needed the support. I love Arisa though. But the way they depicted his trauma, and showed us the things he felt, the way he hesitated to help someone because of what happened. Also the part where she(the stalker) had bugged their house and sneaked in and drugged him, I cannot fucking imagine how scary that is. That affirmation from Anzu and that hug which he so needed, felt so warm and right.

The best thing about this anime is, that Anzu never wanted to be forced into love, it also went against stereotypes, but kinda like stereotypes but reversed which was really funny and warm. She never wanted to pursue romance and avoided things that might cause it because she didn't want a forced romantic thing, but she was always kind and warm to people around her, she looked at them as people and she became a person who does the basic which is needed, which is being simply kind and understanding towards others. She was an understanding person, catering to boundaries, and helping people out and listening to them, and simply just spending time with them. Platonic love, at its best. She loved spending time with them and considered them all her friends and never backed down on standing up for them.

And for that, i have so much respect.

I loved this anime so much.

I was sad to not see a season 2

Any suggestions for similar anime is welcome

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ahoneesan · 3 months

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In high school I got permission to screen the 2nd Gurren Lagann movie in the school auditorium on the colossal projector and I feel like we are walking the same path

it was nice coming back to it after all this time! ttgl had genuinely dropped out of like, things that i considered My Media or whatever. it was a younger me who watched this after her first watch of evangelion, who couldnt even conceptualize the idea of being trapped in a shell, who bought her little core drill necklace off the internet. those memories are genuinely fuzzy now. time really flies.

but watching the movies for the first time (well, technically REwatching gurren-hen but still) at nearly 30, after being a girl for like a half-decade, really reminded me how much this series meant to me as a kid. how like novel and powerful the idea of looking at a fundamentally uncaring, unloving, even antagonistic universe and find the strength from others and eventually yourself to go on and go Further was. the idea that that whole time kamina was scared too, but seeing simon working so hard gave him the strength to keep pushing him onward. that even if it is all fundamentally empty and there isnt any capital M Meaning in life, despite how utterly illogical it is humans still create our own. it got to me as a little not-yet-girl who had been continually struggling with depression and questioning her christian upbringing for years. it still gets to me now. i feel pretty lucky that i can look back on that as "the past" now. but its still here in me. hopefully it always will be.

to say nothing of the style and presentation of it all. ttgl like other Teen Media is really what set me on the aesthetic trajectory im on. i tend to go to klk for that stuff nowadays for obvious reasons but chronologically its really ttgl (and like homestuck, of course) that shaped what i value about stories and animation today. it was what introduced me to the idea of real vs super robots! it introduced me to imaishi! and kazuki nakasima! kamen rider fourze, kill la kill, re: cutie honey all of this stuff for me traces back to me watching the ttgl dub on whatever pos streaming site i watched it on. im pretty grateful for that.

theres plenty of shit i could talk too, ofc. its a pretty misogynistic show in all the boring ways these anime tend to be. funny homophobic stereotype whos actually Cool and Awesome at what he does so it doesnt matter that hes a stereotype. another (the very first?) not fully baked Oppression Metaphor. due to being tv series compilations the movies' pacing can stumble at times (tho lagann-hen fares much better in this regard). but all in all this is The Way to revisit the series, i think. if you're watching for the first time i'd definitely recommend the tv show first. but for us who have been there n done that and want to remember how a drill works, you gotta watch the movies. im glad i did!

#thank u matt for letting me hijack yr ask so i could write a mini review.#lagann

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yaoisex · 1 year

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So. Buddy daddies ep 10 huh.

I started tearing up at the scene when Miri was climbing and Kazuki was scared for her and the worker told him that she’s fine. The worker said ‘otou-san’. The translation said ‘sir’. But he actually said father! THAT’s when the waterfall just came down. And since then it didn’t stop. I was crying but somehow laughing through my tears because Kazuki’s reactions were so funny (bless you Tosshi!).

I was basically crying the whole time, so I kinda watched the whole ep through blurry eyes.

So I’m gonna re-watch now (and probably cry again).

There are 3 eps left. I’m praying for a happy ending for our little family (minus her mom. I’m taking a deep breath here to not say everything I think about that woman).

I love them so much.

This ep hurt so much.

And I was waiting for an after-credits scene but there was none!! I can’t with this pain and unknowingness!

P.S

The indirect kiss was nice.

EDIT:

The re-watch was blurry too ;_____;

I can’t. When Kazuki was tearing up and hugging Miri it hurt so much!!!!

My chest hurt from all the sobbing. I just can’t.

#buddy daddies #anime

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curejiraiya · 10 months

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I saw a post in Korean on twitter that said something like "no matter how much I think about it, there has to be something more to Taiga's admiration of Kazuki." and I didn't feel like I should reply to them because it would absolutely get lost in translation, but I wrote up a post that I put in my circle instead. This is that post, if anyone is interested? This is probably the most character analysis I've done in my entire life lmao.

I think it would be disrespectful for me to randomly reply to this person, but I extremely want to reply "Of course there is [something more to his admiration], he's gay!" There's no world where Taiga isn't gay coded! Other than Louis he's the most gay character in King of Prism! Now I'm going to explain why I think this. :D

I know the 10? people in my twitter circle will not read this and not care, but it's important! Taiga is gay! Taiga's entire backstory is that when he was a child he met a street dancer who was really nice to him, and fell madly in love with him. It was his first childhood crush.

Later in life he finds out the performer became a famous celebrity, and he changes the course of his life to follow in his crushes footsteps. He's known for buying Kazuki's merch, and even wears his buttons on his uniform every single day.

(K Kazuki button + green bracelet)

There's plot and stuff I don't want to get into, but once he becomes a fellow student with Kazuki he makes it his mission to protect him. He puts himself in harms way for Kazuki, all the while continuing to look up to him and do his best to make him proud.

The two's birthdays are one day apart, and during Taiga's own birthday song for the game he wishes a happy birthday to Kazuki instead of himself! Like ??????????

But ok maybe you think, that's not gay he just idolizes Kazuki. Well maybe it was that, until SSS came around.

In SSS Taiga admits most of this backstory while naked in a bath with his friends, and when he realizes what he said he makes this fucking blushy face and freaks out.

Idk bro this is GAY PANIC if I've ever seen it.

BUT IF THAT'S NOT ENOUGH! This episode ends with Taiga having a confrontation with Kazuki, where all his friends encourage him to "Tell him your feelings." Taiga starts, but hesitates too much and loses his opportunity.

And that would be all, except in King of Prism: All Stars they run a call and response section where the audience repeats some of Taiga's famous lines. As a funny moment they added an alternative version of that scene, where TAIGA ACTUALLY CONFESSES.

Now I'm American, and I'm a gay man who specifically imagines all the characters in the media he likes as gay, but you can't tell me that this situation shouldn't be read as "they can't directly say he's in love with Kazuki, the show would be canceled."

So anyway if you don't think he's gay after this scene you're homophobic. ;) I'm kidding, everyone has their own interpretation of the characters, and I hope you enjoy mine!

If you'd like we can talk about how Kakeru is madly in love with Taiga at another time.

#king of prism #taiga kougami #kazuki nishina #gay #gay thoughts #ramblings #character analysis

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sarahreadsfic · 1 year

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I saw your tags and figured I'd send an ask haha

All those names are really nice! I do think in future quests they'd end up using the name you gave him, so that's definitely something to consider. You do get one extra chance to rename him, so maybe try out Zihong for awhile and see what you think?

omg hello!! welcome, please don't mind the mess haha-- *hastily shoving posts and tags aside, attempting to look casual*

so the funny thing is i'm actually nowhere near that part of the quest yet lmao, like i haven’t even met him in-game yet. i'm just trying to get myself used to calling him a different name before i actually have to use it (and for writing purposes).

zihong is definitely in my top 5 names for sure, but the problem i’m having now is that there are just SO many names i’ve researched that would be good for him and i dunno which one he would like best lol.

i’m WAY overthinking this decision and taking it far too seriously, i know - from what i’ve seen, he seems pretty indifferent to whatever we call him either way, aside from his old names or other characters’ names. but still! i want him to feel satisfied with it. if he doesn’t feel so loved and warm inside whenever i call him by his new name i will have failed him >:(

apologies and you definitely did not sign up for this but i’m now using this ask to make a comprehensive list of all my other favorite names and their (supposed) meanings. wish i could just run them all past him for input hgjnfjhdj sORRY FOR THIS IT’S RLLY FOR ME ONLY U DO NOT HAVE TO READ ME WAXING ON ABOUT NAMES FOR WHO KNOWS HOW MANY PARAGRAPHS

First, all the Japanese names:

Matsuri - “Festival”, “enshrined”, “showing gratitude towards the rituals of nature”; has connections with Shinto and Buddhism. I don’t think this is commonly used as a name, necessarily, but the whole “gratitude towards nature” part struck me as a sort of nod to how Nahida helped him. And I like the idea of giving him a name that invokes joy, celebration, and life, because I want him to have those things and find happiness in his new self!

Soma - “A sudden sound of wind”, “true/real/genuine”. It’s simple and nice and what sells this one for me is the “sudden” part. Brings about a sense of movement and change and I really, really like it for that. Don’t know if the meaning is exact, though. It seems like Hayate has a similar meaning, which I also like!

Nataku - The Japanese name for Nezha, a Taoist deity. But also, this is just on the list because I was watching Saiyuki (ridiculous and very loose adaptation of Journey to the West, janky animation and terrible writing, fun to laugh at, highly recommend) with a friend last night and there was a character called Prince Nataku who is described as a “puppet assassin”. Immediate sirens started blaring in my head as my brain honed in on that as a possible name. Apparently Nezha is also known as the Third Lotus Prince, and I love the idea of associating lotus imagery with Wanderer.

Hansei - The cultural concept of “self-reflection”, acknowledging one’s mistakes and pledging improvement. I saw someone name him this and I like how it fits him. My concern is that it seems more like an admonishment and might hold him back from thinking of himself as more than his past wrongs.

Kazuki - "Hope of peace”, “serenity”, “peaceful tree”. I really liked that your name had a connection with Irminsul in the -ki suffix! Apparently -ki also means air, which suits him well, too. In this name, it comes from “hope” and kazu- is for peace. I do like the idea of giving him a name that could embody hope and I do want him to find peace within himself, but I worry he would find this condescending, particularly the idea of “peace” since that word just has so many connotations - he might take it as me wanting him to mellow himself out as if I wouldn’t accept him or am disappointed by him as he is.

Satoru - "Enlightenment” in the Zen Buddhism sense, “to know/understand”. Mostly I think that the way it sounds suits him. The only thing is that it’s a little bit unassuming and normal, I think? Which he might like, actually.

Anything with the prefix Shin-, because I like that it can be read as both “new” and “heart”. But I also feel like 1) it would always end up reminding me of another character because there are SO many that have this name and 2) he might take it as an insult or a mockery, like, “haha, how ironic is it that you don’t have a heart and I’m giving you a name with the word heart in it”. Probably unlikely at this point, but I don’t want his name to cause even the faintest sense of melancholy or sadness in the back of his mind, so I don’t want to chance it.

Other names that I like the sound of are Seijun (pure, innocent, clean/righteous), Kiryoku (inner strength/willpower), and Katsuya (victory). While I do like these, I’m a little apprehensive that naming him any of them would be akin to imposing certain expectations onto him or the type of person I want him to be? Especially Seijun. But I could also see him choosing Kiryoku or Katsuya for himself, so I don’t know! I’m conflicted.

There’s also Ren (lotus or love) and Shou (to soar/fly - add the suffix -yo and it turns into sunlight/sunshine). Simple and sweet, but after all of the long and multisyllabic names he’s taken in the past, I think he might find something like this refreshing. I really like these two aesthetically. I also cannot decide between them for my life.

And then there are names inspired by mythology or religion:

Fujin - Japanese; god of the wind in Japanese mythology who is often depicted alongside the thunder god, which, in Genshin’s case, would be Raiden. I know a lot of people pick this one, but I think it has too strong of a connection with the past he’s trying to leave behind, although I like the way it sounds.

Shu - Egyptian; god of wind/dry air. I like the similarity with Shou, and also that it potentially would be more connected to Sumeru than Inazuma.

Akasa - Sanskrit; the Bodhisattva of void/space in Buddhism. In Japanese, it’d be Kokuzo. I know these were mentioned in my tags, but after some more consideration I don’t think they’re a great fit for him thematically.

Vayu - Sanskrit; in Hinduism, the god of the wind. Literal name meaning is apparently “that which flows”, which I think is pretty. I also think I just like names that start with V. Vaira was another option (Indian; “flowing air”) - I like that it sounds like it could be short for Vairocana, who is the cosmic Buddha that embodies the concept of sunyata, but I couldn’t find a good source for it actually meaning “flowing air” and instead it seems to be more commonly interpreted as “diamond”.

And finally, the Greek mythology names: Icarus, Aeolus, Zephyrus. I’ve seen Icarus suggested by a few people and while I like the way it looks and sounds aesthetically, the literal meaning is also “follower” which I don’t think he would appreciate. Also, I don’t know if I want to name him a tragic reference to his past hubris that caused his downfall. Aeolus (nimble, quick-moving) was the “keeper of the winds”, and though I like how grandiose and regal it sounds, I’m not really into the way it looks? Same with Zephyrus (west wind), it feels a little too soft for him (and if I recall correctly, the west wind was the gentlest one of the four).

So. That’s where I am now. I like so many of these, and I think there are ones that he would like more but I can’t possibly know for sure, and the more I research the more I find other names I like...

ok i’m so sorry for this long writeup JHDGKJGH ZIHONG IS STILL REALLY HIGH UP THERE JUST BECAUSE I CAME UP WITH IT ON MY OWN SO IT FEELS CLOSEST TO ME?? AND I CAN PICTURE MYSELF EXPLAINING THE NAME TO HIM VERY VIVIDLY. AND THEN SITTING THERE TENSELY AWAITING HIS APPROVAL AND THEN HIM GIVING ME A NOD. BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT HE’D ACTUALLY THINK OF IT.

wanderer why can’t you just pick a name for yourself. do u see what ur doing to me. i feel like that one image of the dude from always sunny connecting all the red lines on the board. WHY AM I LIKE THIS.

#this is so embarrassing #i'm just out here rambling at one of my favorite writers on this site about wanderer names help wtf is wrong with me #i'm literally at work right now too doing this instead of my actual job #but like. this is why every OC i create is just a self-insert. you think i wanna do this every time i need to come up with a name #nah just slap my own on there and be done with it #it's also why when i was a kid playing with dolls every single doll had like 3 middle names i just couldn't decide on one #HE'S NOT EVEN MY FAVORITE CHARACTER he's my 2nd favorite rn BUT I FEEL LIKE I NEED TO PROVE MY DEVOTION TO HIM SOMEHOW. I CAN'T AFFORD TO C6 #sarah answers message #kaeyazuha #ky u are so sweet thank u for going out of ur way to respond to my inane tags!!#sorry i am a little starstruck rn ngl i've never interacted with u off anon before #haha (dying)#ILL STOP TALKING OK THANK U AGAIN <3<3 #genshin impact #genshin #wanderer #genshin wanderer #wanderer names #scaramouche #genshin scaramouche

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atopearth · 2 years

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The Fruit of Grisaia Part 3 - Komine Sachi Route

Sachi blushing and getting so happy over Yuuji patting her head as a reward is so adorable. I'm surprised the girls didn't realise Sachi has never rejected a request from any of them, because I thought that was obvious haha. But I guess when you're an observer, you can see how much Sachi lives by "helping people", but when you're friends with her, you might not notice how subservient she actually is to everyone. I wonder where she gets the money to help Makina get limited edition games or go on the Shinkansen to the rice farms to get Koshihikari rice Amane wants, I hope they pay her back lol. Anyway, Sachi is very weird especially with the random stripping, so I hope we see why she's so weird soon because even though she's cute half the time, she's too weird for me lol. I wonder if Sachi is going to break down when Yuuji finds something or a mission that she can't fulfill. Since it seems like she studies hard to always get the right answers in class. Them enjoying curry together was nice, and the head pats haha. Lol at all the girls getting worried about them haha, even Yumiko had to listen outside the door of Sachi's room to see if they were doing anything bad🤣

I guess I'm warming up to Yuuji patting/stroking Sachi's head every time she does a good job at something lol. It's really adorable because of how much Sachi enjoys it haha. It's kinda funny that even Yuuji enjoys it now though haha. Is it just me or is Sachi actually "not missing" and is just waiting at the wrong "usual place"? Loll. As expected, Sachi and Yuuji used to play together as kids, and the usual place was the playground they used to play at. How very silly but saddening... especially since she stayed there for like 28 hours and through the rain too. I feel sorry for young Sachi. It's a typical story, but I always feel so sad for children who get neglected by their parents because of work, to the point that the parents are basically working 24/7 and don't do anything for the kid, and don't spend any time with them. The worst thing is that they used to shower her with love, but now they're too busy for that, and that's sad. I still personally think that if it's making them that busy, they really should limit their orders etc, especially since they've always been family-oriented people, but I guess it's not that simple, but at the same time, they've got to give up something, and it seems like they've chosen to give up on their kid even after seeing outbursts from her that show how lonely and sad she is. Anyway, we finally get some insight into Yuuji's childhood! Depressing to hear that his dad called him trash interfering with his sister Kazuki's "genius" because she spends time playing with him when he's home, and that's why he hangs at the park, and that’s how he ended up becoming friends with Sachi. Children's park for loners🥲🥲 Aww, Yuuji said he'll take the place of Sachi's parents and praise her in their stead, no wonder why she enjoys his head pats so much and why this was the defining factor for her to realise that Yuuji really was the Yuu-kun from her memories.

Honestly, can't blame Sachi for bursting, not only did Yuuji end up having to leave her as well, but her parents always act like nothing is wrong and that everything is normal without acknowledging her feelings or anything. She's a child, but she understands things, especially when they've left her alone for years. Anyway, it was obvious that her parents would die, and it would be her fault, but it's always sad to see children witness their parents dying before their eyes. Especially since if Sachi just kept quiet like she always did, then nothing would have happened probably. Poor Sachi. It's always school that causes everyone to break, huh? I guess it's interesting that the first thing she thought of to fulfill the bully girl's request of getting rid of the midterm examinations was to burn down the school. I'm glad that Yuuji wants to "save" her because Sachi saved him back then. It's kinda sweet to see Yuuji do all these things for Sachi, such as becoming a slave to the others to try and show Sachi a more "normal" way of doing things whilst trying to stop her subservient ways by having him be the one to fulfill all their requests instead of Sachi. LMAO when Yuuji started making her train with him on a military drill as their "date" just because Sachi said she was fine with doing whatever he does on a typical day. I'm glad Amane knocked some sense into him, and also made him realise that even though he may not be able to say that he loves Sachi, she is definitely someone he cares for and he wants to make her happy. I think that's enough for now tbh.

I'm glad Yuuji is trying to incorporate different clothes into Sachi's life lol, hopefully she wears them. On the other hand, it's nice to see Sachi have emotions of jealousy and desire (for a lap pillow), she's starting to show things she "wants". The lap pillow was cute. I am very glad Yuuji did not have sex with Sachi yet, well he stopped halfway, but lol seriously, I couldn't believe he wanted to do it when Sachi is obviously still in a rather skeptical state of mind, AND they haven't even held hands or kissed yet but suddenly sex is the way to go about this??? I really don't know about that logic tbh. It's just weird considering how he's been trying to be considerate of her and do things step by step. I guess I was just as surprised as Yuuji when Sachi starting rubbing her chest on his back in the bath lolll. Yumiko is definitely quite lewd🤣 That CG shocked me though, I think I really need to stop playing Grisaia on the TV lmao, it's all-ages but dang, the CGs are still pretty suggestive with all the underwear hahaha. Honestly, I love seeing sexy underwear and stuff instead of 2D naked people, so this is good🤣 Lmaooo at Sachi enjoying how it feels to say good morning to Yuuji so she starts waking everyone up just to say good morning to them🤣🤣 I feel bad for Michiru, Sachi literally lockpicked her room and then smacked her awake because she got jealous and annoyed she was dreaming about Yuuji hahahahah.

Sachi telling Yuuji she wanted to wear the cute clothes he bought for her because they're going on a date is such an improvement, to think that she's finally ditching her maid clothes🥲🥲 I'm so happy they went on such a normal and cute beach date! The CG with Sachi finally expressing her "selfish" feelings of not wanting to go home yet because she wanted to keep playing with Yuuji was really beautiful. I guess in order to help Sachi, having her face the same request of getting rid of a test again will be important, I wonder what will happen though. I really like Yumiko, she's always such a kind advisor to Sachi and is concerned about her well-being, and she's good at noticing things. Well, I knew Yuuji was crazy too, but dang, bombing the whole school?! Lol. I personally think it was way too drastic of Yuuji to do that, but I guess he kinda just reciprocated Sachi's craziness with his own to make her realise how ridiculous she was being. Personally, I'm just glad it's finally gotten through to her to realise that being obstinate about being a "good girl" doesn't always yield the results she wants lol. I find it rather crazy she didn't realise she was activating a bomb even though she went around placing these things around the school and Yuuji even gave her a remote lolll. On the other hand, I'm glad the principal knew about it because I was worried about how they planned to deal with all this. Tbh, I feel sorry for the rest of the girls the most because this school was their only solace, and destroying it will cause problems regardless of how they fix it. Glad to know they decided to kinda "renovate" and that's why they approved of the bombing lol. On the other hand, it's sad to see that just as Yuuji and Sachi have moved forward one step, there is still the nightmare of her parents dying haunting her. Yuuji hugging Sachi and trying to soothe her from the nightmare was really gentle and sweet, I always love seeing his more gentle moments haha.

Yuuji really likes to say things that are easy to misunderstand huh? Like yeah, I don't know if he just trusts Sachi that much or what but telling her to kill the source of her nightmares which can be seen literally as Sachi's mother or to kill Sachi herself was scary. Anyway, even though the letter was very convenient in that it basically told Sachi everything about her parents' feelings at the time, it was still nice. Especially since if Sachi read it without meeting her mother in person, she might have actually continued to blame herself, thinking that she was wrong for being that way when her parents loved her so much, and then blame herself even more and be living in eternal guilt that she was the one who didn't love them "enough". So Yuuji telling Sachi to visit her mother first and remember how much her parents cared for her, and make her remember how much she loved the time she spent with her parents would have helped her understand that what her parents want the most is her happiness, and really nothing else matters. I think it ended on a nice note. As for the bad ending, I was expecting something more tame like Yumiko's, but instead I just went wtf at that ending lol! Is this the continuation of endless guilt and misunderstandings passed on to Yuuji? Loll. I couldn't help but think the whole truck thing all over again was silly, even though I would have hated to think about Sachi's uncle and aunt who would have to eventually learn that in the end, Sachi and her parents all died by getting hit by a truck, like geez.

Overall, in terms of story, I definitely enjoyed Sachi's route much more than Yumiko's. I think it helps that not only was it more relatable in the sense that most people understand the loneliness experienced during childhood because your parents are busy with work, so it was easy to feel what Sachi was feeling, and also understand the guilt she had to bear that wasn't her fault, but understandably couldn't get over. I really enjoyed how much time and effort Yuuji put into helping Sachi step-by-step throughout her journey of understanding that she didn't need to be a "good girl" and could be happy like her parents wanted her to be. I also really liked how cute they were in their childhood to now, childhood friends to romantic partners are so cuteee. However, I have to admit, I'm not fond of Sachi herself. She's okay when she's "normal", but I honestly can't take it when she lacks "common sense" or is some kinda idiot because it's not cute to me, and instead makes me rolls my eyes LOL, I'm sorry!! I know a lot of people like Sachi so I feel bad, but I really find her quite boring in terms of personality (in her route tbh because I like her in everyone else’s route loll) and even though Yuuji and her were kinda cute, I don't really think I felt that romantic spark between them that much. This in turn actually makes me think about the concept of story vs character, what do I regard as more important, and I have to say both. In Yumiko's route, I found her story super boring and wanted it to end ASAP but I quite enjoyed her romance with Yuuji, whereas for Sachi, her story was emotionally engaging but I really needed to take breaks from being with Sachi lmao, so yeah...guess it's nice to know how important both story and the LI are to me lol. Anyway, Yumiko was the best girl in Sachi's route imo with her all advice, maturity in handling things and concern over her friends. Considering my first impression of Yumiko, I definitely am glad I love her so much more now. As for Sachi, my opinion of her stayed the same, basically not my type haha. On to the route of the blond twin tail I love!!

#the fruit of grisaia #grisaia no kajitsu #grisaia

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komatsunana · 4 years

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My Reincarnation Isekai Villainess Rec List

So. I’ve gone and found myself in Isekai/Reincarnation/Villainess hell. For those who don’t know Isekai is a genre in which character(s) are transported to a different world. Initially you might be thinking “oh, she’s gonna share a both a series like Sword Art Online.” Oh no. You have underestimated the amount of taste I have. By which I mean I have none but that SOA is a taste I’m not here for.

Now a very specific sub-genre of that is the reincarnation one, particularly in which a character is reborn as a character from one of their favorite books or games from their previous, modern life. An even more specific sub-genre of that one is in which the MC is reborn as a villainess from that book or game, thus creating a bit of a challenge as villainesses usually are destined to die in the source material.

So! Here are my favorites, many of which are all 3 but some combine one or two of the above tropes. It’s my list so I do what I want. And most of my faves have a shojo genre tag, or at least a romance tag, because that’s where all the good stuff is:

Survive as the Hero’s Wife by Nokki

Canaria is reincarnated as the villainess of a popular cliche novel. Based on the novel, she is destined to be executed but can she prevent this from happening before it’s too late?

Why *I* like it: So this one was the one that really got me into the villainess reincarnation isekai genre! And it remains the top of my list. The huge draw for me in this one is that I actually really like the main couple! Like not even just lukewarm, I really like it! I’d read fic for it, if that existed. A lot of the villainess genre tend to portray the original heroine as vapid, unworthy of their status of heroine, or the actual villainess but in this case Gracie just turns out to be just an amazing strong woman who doesn’t actually need a man. (In fact I ship the three together full stop tbh lol). In fact, it’s a subplot that Gracie realizes (because of MC’s words) that if she wants to inherit her father’s title even though the law says a woman cannot... That she just should strive to change the law rather than be a tool with no use outside of marriage. And not to spoil anything, but she will definitely do just that.

And since I’m mainly finishing the rough draft of this list out of absolute RAGE at being made fun of for being into this genre.... A compilation of the main love interest, Cesar, because he’s absolutely beautiful. Look at those eyes! He’s such a great example of the sullen, dark love interest because he’s not those things when he’s with his wife, the MC!!! He’s so soft for her. And the whole point is that the love interest shows a different side to their lover right??

And like the great thing is Canaria, the MC, totally doesn’t notice for the longest time. She read the novel in her previous life so she’s *convinced* that one day Cesar will fall for the novel’s original leading woman, and she makes plans accordingly throughout their early days of their marriage. She completely hadn’t thought about the fact that since she’s not being a villainess this time around and not abusing him and everyone around her, and makes friends with Cesar... Like of course the course of events change. It utterly baffles Cesar when his wife keeps bringing up divorce because he’s so completely in love with her and you just gotta eat that shit up with a spoon because it’s so good and perfect drama but also funny.

There’s even a Halloween chapter where everyone wears costumes and basically I believe I was pandered to specifically.

Tbh, the arc going atm is sorta losing my interest but that’s because there’s political intrigue and I’m like just here for the romance lmao. So someone looking for substance and not just fluff might be more pleased than I. But it’s still on-going so. It’s just all in all a fun and great introduction to the genre imo.

I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags by Hidaka Nami (Art) and Yamaguchi Satoru (Story)

Eight-year-old Katarina Claes is the only daughter of a duke, living her life peacefully and without incident until she hits her head on a rock... and then remembers that she is not actually the duke's daughter. She used to be an otaku who died on her way to school after spending the entire previous night playing Fortune Lover, her favorite otome game. After noticing that her current surroundings seem oddly familiar, she is shocked to discover that she has been reincarnated into the world of Fortune Lover as the villainess.

The villainess in the game usually winds up dead or exiled, so Katarina decides to use her knowledge of the game and its routes to avoid any bad situations. But is it even possible for the villainess to reach a good ending?

Why *I* like it: Ok ok ok, lol. So this one is probably one of the most well-known of the villainess reincarnation isekai genre atm! Particularly because of the anime currently running. And for good reason... the MC is so brilliantly stupid in the best of ways. While she plots on how to escape her fate of being killed or exiled by learning to sword fight and how to garden, she’s more or less seduced every capture target in this dating game... AND all the female rivals to boot AND heroine. The thing is that she is completely unaware and continues training for the day she is inevitably killed or exiled, as per the game’s original ending.

It’s just a silly, fun series and all the women’s feelings for her are taken about as seriously as all the guys’... Which isn’t much because absolutely no one really has a chance of getting this woman to understand they are all madly in love with her. Not a series to take seriously which is part of it’s charm, but it retains a lot of heart especially when it comes to the MC Katarina (affectionally called Bakarina by fandom) remembering her friend and family from her past life.

This series also has a manga spin-off about what if she’d been reincarnated while already in high school and bullying the heroine instead of a child... So basically she’s in hard mode, and yet she still succeeds in getting even more people into her little harem she has for herself.

Whether you chose to watch the anime or the manga (or the LN, which I haven’t got to) you can’t go wrong.

It Seems Like I Got Reincarnated Into The World of a Yandere Otome Game by Hanaki, Momiji (Story) and Setsuri (Art)

As a precocious child, Lycoris suffers from a strange sense of deja vu. On the day her father told her about her fiancé, she realizes that her fiancé was a character from an otome game she once played in a previous life.

“I am the heroine’s rival from the game?

And in the bad ending, I get stabbed to death?

What a joke.”

A story in which the protagonist is determined to avoid a yandere situation.

Why *I* like it: Hear me out! I know what you’re thinking... Yanderes??? But here’s the thing... Just by the MC being kind and getting 2 of the “yandere” characters out of abusive environments, they no longer end up as yanderes as they grow up. They aren’t those tropes any more! While the characters remain protective, they aren’t possessive and are happy to see MC branch out, if a little lonely. And the yandere that remain aren’t treated as hot, but annoying. So like sorry to disappoint if you think yanderes are hot but this isn’t the series for you.

Additionally, unlike other series of this trope, the MC is pretty quick to realize she just needs to trust her lover, that he will not turn on her and kill her as he did in the game nor will he fall for the heroine instead of her. It’s somewhat refreshing, as a huge part of the trope is the MC typically doesn’t realize until it’s spelled out that by not acting as a villain.... the rest of the characters don’t want to harm them... And might even have fallen in love with them.

Another fun aspect is how MC doesn’t remember things immediately, but only remembers things from her past life (and of how the game went) until it comes up. Additionally, she wonders some interesting things that aren’t even mentioned in other series like... What if she’s destined to be exactly like the game character? Will she be forced to be exactly like her? It’s a fun exploration of some common reincarnation isekai villainess tropes if you have experience with the genre!

Ascendance of a Bookworm by Shiina You (Art) and Kazuki Miya (Story)

A book-loving student and soon to be librarian ends up crushed to death by the pile of books during an earthquakes and wakes up as a five year old girl named Main in another world where books are scarce only available to the elite. Main, retaining her memories of her past life, decides to create and print her own books so she can read again.

Why *I* like it: So here is we depart from solely the villainess sub-genre (but only briefly!) Because there is another sub-genre of reincarnation isekai and that’s in which the MC uses the things they learned on our planet earth to re-invent things like shampoo and the printing press. And no other isekai does it better than Ascendance of a Bookworm imo. Main’s love for books leads her to recreating things she took for granted on Earth and starts selling them from a young age... Which might just end up saving her life as she ends up having a terminal disease that ordinarily she’d only be able to survive by being a slave to a noble... But by selling her products she has a chance to save herself!!! And the products she creates are available to commoners, not just the nobles who of course make it impossible for the poor to have nice things.

Additionally, a majority of this trope centers around nobles and royalty (and all the best ones are historical settings)... The fun thing about this one is that it actually centers around a povert stricken family. It’s a good break from the noble hierarchy within most isekai.

Finally, this series is the one that hits most closely to my feelings if I were to be reincarnated in another world... Which is to cry at the realization that I will never finish any of the on-going books and manga I had going on. That’s absolute hell, I don’t know how any of these MCs deal!! ;_;

btw there is an anime and manga both. Also LN but tbh almost all of these have LN.

Isekai Omotenashi Gohan by Shinobumaru (Story) and Medamayaki (Art)

Akane, an ordinary office lady, gets summoned to a different world along with her younger sister and pet dog. There, she ends up treating rare guests one after another with hospitality through meals!! Can she satisfy the citizens of a different world with home cooking...?!

Why *I* like it: Continuing our brief deviation from the villainess trope, Isekai Omotenashi Gohan is my favorite example of another subgenre of isekai - one without reincarnation - but one in which a “hero” is transmigrated to another world to save it... The problem? Oppsie, 2 people were taken. Sometimes in this sub-genre there is a question who the true savior is but in Isekai Omotenashi Gohan’s case they figure that out pretty quickly. They quickly figure out the MC’s younger sister is the savior. At first the older sister (Akane) is set aside as unimportant... But her sister only wants to eat the food her sister makes and it quickly becomes obvious that Akane’s role is important.

Akane makes lots of allies and friends by sharing the food from Japan and of course has a very subtle romance going on with her guard. But honestly I just enjoy this series as a person that likes food manga, like that’s it lmao, so much so that don’t be surprised when I make a best food manga list and yeah sorry Food Wars won’t be on it.

But fr, even if you don’t love the food manga genre try it!! It’s a sweet series and mixes domestic with fantasy in a great way. Plus only a few series are complete, with the rest being on-going, so if you want a complete and finished series try this one!

The Duke's Fiancee, Why She Had to Go to the Duke by Milcha (Story) and Golae (Art)

When Park Eunha dies in modern-day Korea, she awakens in the body of Raeliana McMillan, the eldest daughter of a nouveaux riche baron. However, this is no ordinary world; it's the exact same one as a novel she once read. Beloved by her family, it would seem as though she is in a fairy tale. But Raeliana is far from the main character—she is a mere plot device, whose murder at the hands of her fiancé instigates the entire story.

Raeliana has no intention to accept her fate quietly. She sets her eyes on someone in a position of great power—the vieux riche male protagonist Duke Noah Volstaire Wynknight—aiming to completely change the original story. Using her knowledge of future events, Raeliana offers information to Noah on the condition that he acts as her fake fiancé, but the Duke's two-faced nature throws a wrench in her plans!

Why *I* like it: This one is a fun one!! It really plays with different concepts that don’t often get explored in reincarnation isekai like where did the original consciousness of the character the MC became go??? Because MC only remembers her life on earth and is otherwise treated as though she has amnesia.... But is it amnesia? Is she another person entirely?

Also the humor is... great. Listen I refuse to give the best joke in the series just to make you read it but... the series is worth it just for this running joke.

Of course the romance is good too. The dude is kinda an asshole but she gives as good as he dishes out and it quickly becomes flirting anyway. I don’t want to say too much and give any thing away... but s’good!

Who Made Me a Princess? by Plutus (Story) and Spoon (Art)

The beautiful Athanasia was killed at the hands of her own biological father, Claude de Alger Obelia, the cold-blooded emperor! It’s just a silly bedtime story… until one woman wakes up to suddenly find she’s become that unfortunate princess! She needs a plan to survive her doomed fate, and time is running out. Will she go with Plan A, live as quietly as possible without being noticed by the infamous emperor? Plan B, collect enough money to escape the palace? Or will she be stuck with Plan C, sweet-talking her way into her father’s good graces?!

Why *I* like it: Ok, big sigh. How do I explain the pull ‘Who Made Me A Princess?’ has on me? Now a lot of the pull for many people is how cute the budding father daughter relationship the MC (Athy) has with her dad. But like, her dad is the worst and I want to fight him. On the other hand, most of the fandom hates Jeanette, the MC’s sister who has done literally nothing wrong except make everyone around her miserable but it’s not her fault ok, and I’ll fight the entire fandom in her honor. So it pains me to rec this series knowing that more than likely anyone who picks up this series because of me might have Wrong Opinions and I invite you to tell me just so I can shake my head about another wrong person existing in this world.

Never the less, this series is very cute! All the other series I have recced had the MC remember their past life at early childhood at the earliest, if not as a teenager. Athy? She has the misfortune to remember as a *baby* and it’s exactly as hellish as it sounds for an adult to be stuck growing up as a baby and suffer through the absolute embarrassment of having people feed and wipe her ass.

The MC was an orphan in her previous life and the book that she wakes up in is a shitty book even by her standards but then she really only skimmed it it sounds like that’s what interests me. As Athy makes changes to the original events of the novel and depth is added to the world, I start to wonder if the added depth was in the original novel or if the world had to add its own depth to stand as an actual lived in world?

Additionally, since I made the cover image Athy and her dad you might as well see her with her 2 love interests (and Jeanette!). People need to know who to ship, I get it.

Also I need a moment to appreciate, up close, the beauty of Athy’s eyes. So gorgeous.

Living as the Tyrant’s Older Sister by Aperta (Story) and Chyobab (Art)

When I opened my eyes, I was inside a fantasy novel world! The beauty I see in front of the mirror is the future tyrant’s older sister, Alicia! She’s not even a protagonist or an antagonist, but a character that doesn’t appear much and gets beheaded by the (upcoming) tyrant little brother. My life is all about escaping that fate from the novel. In the end, I seduced the male lead’s merchant friend who also doesn’t appear much and was about to leave the country with him. How-e-ver. The face of the man who spent the night with me was extraordinary, and was the male lead himself!

Why *I* like it: ……………...keke. Ok so this one is one I like just for the laughs. The love interest is an arrogant asshole, but see… The important detail the summary leaves out is that the MC’s… cousin (?) wrote the book that she woke up in! Moreover she’s the one that told her cousin to change the MC of her novel and make him good at everything and also make him a freak in the sack. Like who is really at fault here??? Lmao. Especially when she goes out intending to seduce a character she remembers being rich from the novel and accidentally bags the MC from the novel, aka the dude who kills her and her brother in the original novel.

In seriousness though, it really is funny. The facial expressions of the MC is just… chefs kiss. She’s got a pretty face but then she makes all these goof ass faces and I love it. If you need any more reason to at least give it a go, just know that at one point the male lead comes to check on her, expecting to find her crying and instead…. Walks in just as she screams FUCK at the top of her lungs and then begins a tirade of very creative curses including "Bitch oompa loompa ass bitch" which how can you not love her? Anyway the face the male lead makes after that has me maintaining that’s the moment he fell in love with her lmao.. but this is not Confirmed so it’s not a spoiler!!

EDIT: as of August 2020, I’ve since dropped this series. It remains on the list since I’d still rec it to people looking for a laugh.

Seduce the Villain’s Father by bia and dalseul

Upon opening my eyes after a bus accident, I found myself in the fantasy world of a webnovel I enjoyed reading... the only catch is, I reincarnated 20 years before the novel begins! Reborn as Princess Yerenica of the small Lebovny kingdom, I'm determined to change the future in order to prevent the series of unfortunate events that will soon occur!

Why *I* like it: How many times have you yourself had a suuuuuper side character be your favorite in a series and be depressed to see them done dirty? Well MC has a chance to fix that, to save a character that basically one appeared in prologue and basically prevent the birth of the villain character that later kills his own father… by seducing his dad, before he can marry the villainess!!

Yerenica is just adorable in her attempts to thwart the original novel. And like, I have to give her lots of respect for seeing the villainess character and having herself a good moment where she had to consider seducing her instead lmao. She knows when to let well enough alone though so she immediately boards back on the dad train, much to his chagrin because she keeps calling him father……………….. Even though he’s like…. Not a dad yet.

The characters are still relatively early on in their romance, but I have high hopes for it yet!

Edit: As of August 2020, I’ve dropped this series. It remains on this list because I think it’s a cute series and I think anyone who feels really strongly about the main couple will enjoy it.

Death Is the Only Ending For The Villainess by Gwon Gyeoeul and SUOL

Penelope Eckart reincarnated as the adopted daughter of Duke Eckart and the villainess of a reverse harem dating sim. The problem is, she entered the game at its hardest difficulty, and no matter what she does, death awaits her at every ending! Before the "real daughter" of Duke Eckart appears, she must choose one of the male leads and reach a happy ending in order to survive. But the two brothers always pick a fight with her over every little thing, as well as a crazy crown prince, whose routes all lead to death. There's even a magician who's enamoured with the female lead, and a loyal slave knight! But somehow, the favourability meters of the male leads increase the more she crosses the line with them!

Why *I* like it: So this one is another relatively new one added to my list, but it’s shot high up rather quickly!! The other otome game isekai’s that I have on my list are just like the real world, but the interesting thing about this one, is that it also retains otome game mechanics such as she can see the love interests love meter and also she can chose to use the video game script choices to reply to the characters, in the hopes of raising their love meter. This adds challenge, since she knows that if she gets any of the dudes to -10 she’ll be killed even as she sort of wonders if she truly would die or wake back up in reality.

What’s interesting also is that while she is the villainess character in the game… It ends up that the character was actually abused for years and that her title as a villain is unfair and that the game can be played as the villainess as even a player as a ‘hard’ mode compared to the heroine character. It’s up to her to turn things around and it’s actually a fun take on the villainess genre. I’m really looking forward to how things proceed even as my fears about which dude she’ll end up with continue to increase.

Finally, another layer I enjoy is that the MC lead a similar life in her previous life. She’d only just escape her own abusive family before she’d ended up here and MC just desperately wants to escape once again… using any means necessary.

The Villainess Reverses the Hourglass by SanSobe (story) and Ant Studio (art)

With the marriage of her prostitute mother to the Count, Aria’s status in society skyrocketed immediately. After leading a life of luxury, Aria unfairly meets death because of her sister Mielle’s schemes. And right before she dies, she sees an hourglass fall as if it were a fantasy. And just like that, she was miraculously brought back to the past.

“I want to become a very elegant person, just like my sister, Mielle.”

In order to face the villainess, she must become an even more wicked villainess. This was the new path Aria chose to take revenge on Mielle who murdered both her and her mother.

Why *I* like it: If you thought that this list might be in descending order, guess again! This one is one of my favorites. Now this one lacks isekai, but is a reincarnation of a villainess!! Rather the MC was an absolute horrible person in her past life, but finds out at the last minute that her ~pure~ sister had been leading her by nose into acting like a brat just seconds before she is executed. Now that she has a second chance, she’ll be a proper villainess and turn the tables on her sister.

In her last life, Aria never bothered educating herself so now that she’s a teenager again she actually has to learn things again (it’s not just like she gets to act like she’s a genius and good at everything) but she works hard at maintaining a sweet image and making everyone love her, even as she snickers behind their backs, all the while subtly setting her sister up for failure.

This is a proper revenge story, I’m promised by those who read the LN!! Revenge stories about women are rare to come back, especially one that doesn’t make revenge look like a total evil thing lol. What can I say, I have my interests. Anyway, it’s super cathartic to watch Aria slowly unfold her masterplan to foil her sister’s plans and take everything that her sister had cherished in her previous life. And all that not to mention the certain powers that Aria later discovers she has at her disposal... :3c

Beware of the Villainess by Bbongdda Mask (story) and Pureunkanna (art)

I became the villainess of a novel! Do I hate it? No! I find it rather nice. A duke’s daughter equals a jobless rich person. How can I miss out on a chance like this?! This is the best chance to just enjoy life. I should throw out the main plot and just live life how I want to! Not long after waking up as the villainess, I witnessed my fiancé, the crown prince and the novel’s male lead, cheating. I saw him embrace a lady other than I and he was smiling so bright. I was brought to tears… Just kidding, I didn’t cry! My tears are worth too much to be wasted on that garbage. Instead of tears, I yelled out, “Your highness, are you trash?”

Why *I* like it: Listen there are 2 ways to react to waking up as a villain of a series you once read… Either you turn the tables and become a good guy OR you can embrace it! The world the novel is based on has the basic premise of the pure and good heroine winning the affection of 4 bratty, horrible men. MC is the fiance of one of them and says fuck that. She also has some thoughts that none of these dudes deserve the heroine of the novel but this one is still pretty early on so the jury still out on if she’s going to save this poor girl from her fate of ending up with any of these absolute assholes.

This one is along the veins of the previously mentioned Living As the Tyrant’s Older Sister, in that the pull for this series is even less of the romance and more about the comedy aspect… Also MC’s facial expressions are…. Choice. Just so good. Enough with pretty girls making pretty faces!! We need more girls being ugly. It’s what we deserve. Yell at cheaters!!!!!! Tell them to fuck off!! Yes please.

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter by Reia (Story), Umemiya Suki (Art)

Although she had reincarnated as the daughter of a Duke's house, by the time she regained her memories, the Ending was already here.

"After he cancels my engagement, the story would have me confined to a church. Where can I find my happy ending?"

Why *I* like it: I never read or watched Wolf and Spice but I imagine this is isekai Wolf and Spice… Well it’s got a lot about the economy at least lmao. That’s literally the only thing I know about Wolf and Spice. Anyway!! The twist in this one is that the MC remembers her past life just as she’s about to be exiled, the end of the original game. What the series focuses on is her life afterwards, as she scrambles to grab at any semblance of a good life… And she does so pretty quickly!

Her past life comes in handy as she sets to work managing a dukedom and fixes the economy!! Moreover, even though it pains my heart whenever two women are pitted against each other… It does a great job of putting into question the original heroine’s pure shtick as she spends extravagantly on dresses and would rather just donate to the poor one day, instead of Iris the MC who sets to work on fixing the economy and creating jobs for the poor and putting money into bettering their lives in the long run, rather than throwing money at them and running. Also, she’s grabbed the attraction of a mysterious man who takes a job helping her even though he is a prince aka the brother of her ex-fiance who he is fighting for the crown for.

And that’s it!! My list for now!! Tbh by next month there’ll likely be even more faves as I continue to add more and more series to my read list lol. Because this isn’t even a fraction of all the reincarnation isekai series I’m into, just the best for certain reasons.

BTW, if you’re like... wow this list sure is straight then true unfortunately. I’m waiting for the day “I Favor The Villainess” gets adapted somehow. Also there are several isekai in which a straight girl reincarnates into a yaoi novel but I haven’t found a true gem among them yet.

#isekai #i scream #long post #recs #this post was sponsored by pure spite #but frankly yes i know i didn't have to go this far #but this is just who i am... which is too much

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withered-rose-unbreakable-lotus · 4 years

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Sth that has been happening a lot to me since I got into visual kei and started interacting with other people who were into it is this (this might make some of you laugh or relate, hence why I am sharing xD, just in case I am able to raise some laughs in dark times. Maybe it’s funny only to me, though, fair enough xD, I tend to laugh with my own jokes so...I wouldn’t be surprised if that just looked silly to the rest of the fandom):

I will never understand why people, when we play silly fangirl games, tell me I’d look or be good with Byo. You know those games, you sure have played at least once when you first started being a fan or answered tests on fb about which member you are most likely to be with or who are you most alike xD. It’s been 8 years xD and whenever I am like yes let’s play this, most times people pair me with Byo (yes I occasionally still play this stuff, I am 5). There were times of course when your friends are nice and pair you with the person you are most into and there were times my friends actually thought I could match with my favorite one, but yeah xD.

I generally think I am fugly so when I play these games I play them very lightly, cause I don’t really think I could match with any of my favorites, cause both appearance and personality are meh, but it’s funny to me because I never said to anyone that I see Byo like that. I would love to have a brother like Byo for sure and there were times I talked a lot about him in front of a particular person but that was a) because that person liked him too and b) because I really admire him as an artist and also agree with several things he’s said in interviews or find them funny so yeah xD. My close friends know that even though I don’t talk much about him, Ikuma will always be first in my heart and then when I was asked about top 3s I always went Ikuma, Kazuki and Ruiza. This hasn’t changed through the years but when the games aren’t limited to my top 3 everyone says Byo. xD I played a game yesterday and I remembered it xD, I was like damn, every-single-time xD. And no one has given me a good reason why? I do act a bit like him sometimes, a friend used to call me Byo if I didn’t respond the first 3 times she called my name and I’d turn, but the fact we have similar humor and all doesn’t say anything. I have sth in common with all of my favorites. I mean if I was attracted to him, fine, but I never said I was. I guess it will remain a mystery xD. And I also remember one time, on my bday...a friend who was very close to me for 4-5 years that we hadn’t talked for a while at that time, on my bday, she sent me her wishes and a gif from Screw playing Gather Roses live when Byo was tearing his shirt open. At that moment I was like “Oooh bitch, that was a low blow, how dare you“, you know acting the fool cause I wanted to be nice, I mean she remembered my bday, but in my head I was like “....why Byo? xD I am not...oh man, there we go again“. And even the fb tests always said I was Byo or that I’d match Byo. And to be fair with you, I watch visual kei artists in my dream often, giving me courage when I am down or working with them and stuff like that and the first Screw member I ever dreamt of was Byo. Like, even my subconscious is against me xD. In fact I think I dreamt of him around 5 times before the others decided to show up. I don’t know. It’s started to creep me out. (no offense of course, Byo is a babe, just not my kind of babe. I have the same issue about that with Gackt, when I tell people who like him too that I can’t see him as/like a man they go “OMG ARE YOU FOR REAL?!“, even my sister who isn’t into visual kei has told me off for not being attracted to Gackt xD. I love him but not that way xD)

Side note: Sometimes I think I confuse people based on who I talk the most about but I do it instictively. When I was in junior high I was crazy in love with a guy and I was always talking about him, which had lead people getting bored of me, or friends struggling to find a subject to talk to me about besides him, so I think that, due to that experience, I chicken out from talking about those I don’t only admire but also am attracted to and turn it to someone that is somehow linked to them in my head. For example, I feel it’s easier to talk about Ruki than about Ikuma (when i first got into vkei many people compared them or called them twins so in my head, by talking about Ruki, I calm my need to talk about Ikuma), about Byo than Kazuki (cause same band) and for Ruiza I have no outlet so no one can guess he is my favorite D member unless we end up discussing about the band or sb notices how often I post his pictures compared to other members.

If you guys have sth like that happen to you, share, I’d love to see I am not the only one but well xD, I am in peace with the fact I am a weirdo xD. Who do your friends paired you with in such games? Your favorite or someone else? About those old vkei tests, I think sixth guns are more likely to have experienced this, like wanting a specific member and ending up with another xD. Although, after some time, if you had read enough interviews, you could get the member of your choice if you just followed the lines he had said. In Screw tests, for example, I knew who said what but I was trying to choose stuff I agreed with which often ended up giving me Byo by 1 point difference to Kazuki i think xD. For the Gazette games my results often pointed to Reita and I was wondering why xD. Cause I sure wasn’t picking his answers as often as Aoi’s (again by whether or not I agree with them, otherwise I would go straight to Ruki, I knew what to press to get there xD).

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jennibeultimate · 4 years

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Personal recap Cup of Russia 2019 - Men SP

Like always a bit of a disaster in the men SP...but some good performances still...

First of all Shoma was happy, so I am happy. ☺️ A better mood, a better score, a COACH by his side and a working 3A! 🥰

The first places aren't too far away, he selled the program...the fall yeah...the spin was akward and unnecessary mistake...but the vibe is good. Good vibes is all I want atm!

Of course I want Shoma to win here and it's still possible, but if not that is also not a problem, the GPF was out of reach already. (even if for my own sake I still would want him there)

Alexander Samarin - yeah well I have to admit this program ain't too bad, the 4Lz3T is just wow, I saw that fall on the 4F coming because he never holds under pressure, still managed 1st place and I think that's ok...the PCS well they were already high at IdF, so I am not surprised about that...probably never a fan of Samarin's skating, but I wish him well.

Dmitri Aliev was good. I like his dramatic breathing in the program even if it's a bit over the top😂. With the planned 4Lz3T he would have been the leader but in his programs it actually didn't look like he would attempt it. I like his skating far better than Samarin's but still no Russian men has the quality of dear Misha Kolyada.

Deniss Vasilijews was good. Finally a clean program! 👏👏👏 I love his spins, wow! The program is nice and he really has nice jumps, just sad that isn't able to do the quads...

Michal Brezina - being his fan is always heartbreak. 😢 A fall on a quad ain't that bad, but then doing a mistake on the 3A..boy why

I haven't really watched all of group 1, so I won't go much into detail...I didn't expect Daniel Samohin to be clean and he was a disaster like always, I don't get any feeling from Krasnozhon or Makar Ignatov, their skating is not my cup of tea and I have seen both of them live...the ones I liked in this group was Kazuki Tomono (though I am still not too sold on the program itself and I know the story behind it) and Nam Nguyen because I like how he sells this program, though his skating isn't as smooth. And scoring personal bests for each of them is a good thing. Also sorry Nam that I said before you wouldn't hold together and you did, so I apologize for not trusting you. Proof me wrong in the FS too.

Funny scoring when 4 skaters receive almost a tie with very different content. 🤣🤣🤣Deniss, Nam and Makar were almost clean, one did two quads, one did only one and one did none, still almost same score? Then we have also Shoma who got almost the same with a fall and an UR...well talking about quality I guess...

#Shoma uno #alexander samarin #Dmitri aliev #Figure skating #Personal recap #Cor 2019

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houkagokappa · 5 years

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Sarazanmai episode 9 thoughts and impressions

The episode starts out intense. Enta’s taken to a hospital and Kazuki’s left worrying for him. The cuts are short. Instead of focusing on Enta’s surgery we get to see Sara work on Keppi. Since he's turn into a blob of ice he’s slippery and glides away from her, gets run over by a car and breaks down into smaller pieces. It’s a really bizarre scene, especially when you watch it for the first time on a slightly wonky stream.

There are shots during Keppi’s “idou-chuu/on the move” scene that might be actual photographs, same with the first shot after the opening. It’s so realistic looking I swear it’s actual film. I think it fits well, it adds to the weirdness, but doesn’t stick out too much. This really is a Nobuyuki Takeuchi episode.

Tooi and Chikai have some down time on boat when Tooi finds a gun in Chikai’s possession. However, before he has time to react to it Sara’s show starts playing and Chikai who’s been sleeping is about to wake up and notice him, so Tooi jumps back and starts watching TV instead. Tooi finds out about Enta’s death and that his brother hung out with him for a while. The news claim that Chikai is the perpetrator. Tooi is upset and would contemplate on returning, if not for the fact that he’s all Chikai has, which is why Tooi decided to stay with him. Chikai repeats his line of how “only the bad guys survive in this world” which is chilling to hear.

Kazuki tries to tell some cops the truth of what happened, but since they’re being controlled by the otters they don’t believe him. The candy Chikai gave Enta is what frames him. Otone shows up and speaks in the kindest and softest voice possible. It’s been a while since we’ve heard her and I’m reminded of how much I love her. Kazuki laments the fact that no one believes him and pleades for someone to save him and for Tooi to come back. This is only the beginning of all the heartbreaking scenes episode 9 will throw at us.

Tooi and Chikai reach their destination and meet Masa, Chikai’s friend from before. Masa’s super excited to meet Chikai again and to see Tooi. It’s an odd bit of some comedy between all the pain, but probably needed just for that.

Then we jump over to Kawauso Kouban where Reo’s having a delusion. He tries Mabu’s ningyou-yaki and they taste just like they used to! He eats them eagerly and gives Mabu a passionate naked hug. Then there’s an otter that turns off the lights, takes the stage and starts singing into a microphone. That’s the scene. Oh and someone’s holding on to Mabu’s mechanical heart. It’s a bit worrisome.

Sara has collected all the pieces of Keppi and starts gluing them together. She succeeds in piecing him back together. He doesn’t look exactly the same, but good enough! In Sara’s words; whatever form he takes he’s wonderful!

Tooi buys some lollipops and I suspect that the guy he buys them from is voiced by Ikuhara, but I’ll have to check the credits to be sure (I checked and he’s not listed at all). He talks in a weird voice and ends the interaction with “merci” which is an interesting choice in Japan.

Kazuki and Otone have another discussion where they’re mostly whispering and it’s like music to my ears. This reminds me of some of the scenes Utena and Anthy had together while they were sharing the same bed. It sounds very comforting. Otone also shares some details from her and Enta’s past that the novel mentioned but episode 3 left out, how they were abroad and Enta spent most of his time alone before he met Kazuki. We get another flashback scene to their first meeting and it’s super cool because Kazuki repeats the same lines he used when Enta was having his delusions in episode 3! Only here he got to hear them for real!! The music is also great, it’s another version of Enta’s theme and it’s really beautiful! I love how they turned everything around here, not just for one of Enta’s delusions, but for several of them (not the kiss though).

The animation when Kazuki falls down on his knees is really nice. it’s a bit more sketchy that what Sarazanmai has been so far, but it stands out in a good way.

Anyway, then Enta appears in his kappa form. Keppi showed up and turned him, but he’s not completely back. He only has a limited time left before he’s gone for good. His sara has turned into a timer “Dead or Alive”. Don’t you love all these dualities in Sarazanmai?

The item for this episode is “Tokarev” which is a gun (and also a movie starring Nicolas Cage). It’s a Russian gun from the WWII era and it hasn’t been used in Japan, although a copy of that gun (the type 55 pistol) is apparently popular among the yakuza, so there’s our connection.

Chikai and Masa had some grief, Chikai shoots Masa which shocks Tooi. I think he might be starting to question his brothers actions some more. Immediately after that he runs into more guys from the organization. Chikai shoots one of them, they start shooting back and Tooi gets involved as well, possibly to Chikai’s dismay?

THEN IT’S TIME FOR REO TO ACT OUT WEST SIDE STORY. It starts out fun, Reo’s so happy he’s getting Mabu back he’s bought wine and Mabu’s favourite pancakes. HOWEVER. Mabu’s not home. He’s having maintenance. The funny peeping Reo image isn’t as fun anymore as it’s revealed he’s looking at the otter uhh... taking out Mabu’s hear to ...lick it.

Mabu’s completely nude. This is really lewd. Reo’s shocked the otter maintenancing Mabu looks like him. The otter taunts him and it’s horrible. It’s also a pretty cool scene with lots of important new information that I'll talk about more once we get the subs.

Reo only needs one more plate, which is currently in Kazuki’s possession. He and Haruka have a cute little talk about how Kazuki will save Enta, but also how Kazuki saved Enta and how both Haruka and Enta have been wishing for Kazuki’s happiness, which came true.

Tooi confronts Chikai on what their relationship is about. Chikai points a gun at Tooi’s head and we hear a shot. BAM! Time for the ending!

“I want to connect, but I cannot go along”

In the after credits scene it’s revealed that it wasn’t Chikai who shot his gun, but someone who shot Chikai. Then we get about 3 minutes worth of a painful death scene sprinkled with memories and moments from Tooi’s and Chikai’s childhood. It’s a really powerful scene. I like the effect it gets from being so absurdly long. This is also a clear death scene, you don’t show this and have the character return for the finale.

Wow two episodes in a row that ends in deaths. Will it be Mabu’s or Reo’s next? I can’t believe we only have two episodes left!! They’ve packed so much into these episodes almost anything could happen...

#sarazanmai #dish 9 #sarazanmai spoilers #sarazanmai thoughts and analysis #sarazanmai nonsense #long post

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zukadiary · 5 years

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On The Twentieth Century ~ Snow Troupe 2019

Oh boy. Oh dear. If you'd like some background, here is a fairly comprehensive Wikipedia summary, but since all signs point to this show disappearing forever (a tragedy), I will do my best to go through it roughly scene by scene in hopes of extending the memory.

“Perfect” is a word I’m still reserving for A-cast West Side Story ‘18, but boy is this close. It’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for, what in my wildest dreams I wanted Daimongumi to be, and feared it might never be. It’s hands down the best time I’ve had with my beloved Yukigumi since Chigi retired, and god I hope they continue on something even VAGUELY resembling this trajectory (tragic nihonmono, not optimistic, but,,,). I hope I can convey even a fraction of the joy that is this show.

Firstly, although it is the site of the first time I ever saw Komu live and thus a house of very treasured memories, I do NOT objectively like Theatre Orb. The third floor is too high for musical theater, the back of the second floor should not be A-seki, and the sound is abysmal. Unless you’re close to the front on the first floor, the instrumentals overpower the vocals, and everywhere I sat, including a pretty good S, there was an unpleasant echo. Like, if you can tamp down the power of DAIMON’S voice, something is wrong with your acoustics. The only time I had an improved experience I was on the extreme side of the 4th row and basically hugging a speaker, but if that’s the range for decent audio it’s a problem. And for some of the impressive songs in this show (and also just for Japanese comprehension of the speedy dialogue), it was a shame.

Everything else was outstanding. I can’t describe how WONDERFUL it was to hear Yukigumi, the tragedy troupe no one asked for, get not just giggles but consistent roaring laughter again. The overall casting—both in taking a chance on giving this troupe this show, and assigning roles to some maybe unexpected people—was brilliant. I’ll get more into the individual performances as I go through the story, but in quick summary:

Maaya was absolutely the star, in both the weight of her role and the extremely satisfying application of her many talents. Lily is, in my opinion, unquestionably the crown jewel of her Takarazuka career so far, and if something ever tops it we’ll be luckier than anyone has any right to be. I’d kill for more of this treatment going forward; she’s talented enough to carry a show, and I think the dynamic of the entire troupe improves when she’s in this strong of a position.

Daimon, whom I love to death, was SO above and beyond what even I thought she’d be able to do with a comedy; I always suspected she could pull it off IF she had the perfect formula of support (which I wasn’t confident the current Yukigumi lineup could give her), but she was SO good and SO in charge and SUCH a tone-setter for the entire comedic situation, I was truly blown away.

Owen and Oliver are in my opinion the juiciest roles after Lily and Oscar, but maneuvering around rank to cast Aasa and Manaharu was brilliant. Aasa has been average for me after leaving a huge impression in Robespierre, but her performance as Owen was back to MVP status, and Oliver is an absolute jackpot role for Manaharu, who rarely gets to do much of anything.

I wouldn’t have wanted to see Saki in any role but Bruce; he’s the big dumb just-a-pretty-face movie star, the butt of many jokes and the most slapstick of all the roles, and her exaggerated physicality was I think better suited to that style of comedy than the quick banter in the Oscar/Owen/Oliver group (also, for the sake of their dynamic, I wouldn’t have wanted Bruce to be someone physically smaller than Oscar).

That put Shou, who conceivably could have been cast higher, in the leftover train conductor role. It’s not as exciting a part, but it was perfect if only to clear the way for the other casting choices. She got to be the center of several musical numbers, and she got to tap dance!

After a little introductory tap number by the four main train boys (Tachibana, Suwa, Manomiya, and Seika), the show opens with famous Broadway producer Oscar Jaffe’s right hand men, Owen (Asami Jun) and Oliver (Mana Haruto), running from an angry mob of unpaid theater crew from Oscar's most recent abysmally failed production (again!). They all but crash into Daimon cameoing Al Capone (because Chicago in the 20s!) as he’s escorted away by a policeman. Owen is more laid back and pretty much always drunk; Oliver is high strung and also prone to drinking. As far as my off-the-cuff brain will take me, Aasa and Manaharu have not had much experience playing off each other, but they worked SO well together. They were so funny, so in sync, perfect foils for each other’s characters, even physically similar enough that they just really looked like a matching set of long-suffering assistants. Since Owen and Oliver don’t have any money, they give the angry mob the slip, and read a note from Oscar instructing them to meet him on the 20th Century Limited, a 16-hour luxury train ride from Chicago to New York, and secure Drawing Room A. Then we go into the prologue number (pics are from the little bit of digest video and like one online article they gave us).

Although in retrospect I think it kind of subconsciously stressed me out the first viewing, I LOVED the music and choreography in this. Almost all the numbers mimic the rhythm of a train chugging along, and much of the choreography—when it isn’t just tap literally designed to sound like a train—has a feeling of commuter busyness to it. It wasn’t just on theme, it also enhanced the chaotic screwball atmosphere.

Owen and Oliver board the train to find Drawing Room A occupied. When their best middle-aged-white-lady-insisting-to-speak-to-a-manager voices claiming (falsely) that they booked the room weeks ago failed to work on the train staff, they deduce from some nearby luggage that Drawing Room A’s occupant is Congressman Lockwood (Touma Kazuki in a hilariously disgusting fat suit and combover with her shirt sticking out of her pants at all angles) reserved under a fake name. Suspicious, Owen and Oliver burst into the room under the pretense of delivering said luggage and catch the congressman fondling his much younger secretary (Sara Anna). They win the room by threatening to leak what they saw if he doesn’t leave—Riisha scrambling around in such a disheveled huff while Aasa loudly counts down from ten. Score! But just then the train starts moving and Oscar is still nowhere to be found.

Whoops. He loses his hat, Owen and Oliver pull him through the window, and despite his abject failures in both life and train boarding, he lands dramatically front and center, all pomp and ego, waxing lyrical about the glory awaiting them in New York. Poor Oliver, despite being generally more sober and organized, is also more abused.

Daimon, always so delicately pretty and deeply sad, nailed Oscar so hard I don’t have nearly enough words for it. Her eye makeup was stern and crazy (and pretty monochromatic, nice touch for the 20s vibe), her mustache was GROSS, her neurotic mannerisms were so on point and so funny. She AD LIBBED!! WELL!! I was CRYING of laughter on senshuuraku, and she wasn’t just reacting; she was DOING THE AD LIBBING. The way she fidgeted and flailed and whimpered and yelled and modulated her voice WAY high and back down again to drag us though Oscar’s manic journey was just soooooo perfect. Not that I had any doubt she’d kill the songs, but they were hard, so it was all the more impressive. As perfect as Aasa and Manaharu were together, the three of them played flawlessly off of each other too.

Interrupting Owen and Oliver’s failing attempts to convince Oscar that they are in fact heading for insolvency rather than glory, the conductor informs the passengers that they are approaching Englewood and Oscar flips out. He reveals actress Lily Garland, his former protégé and lover, is boarding there and will be staying in Drawing Room B. He gleaned this information from a bellboy who told a maid and stalked Lily onto the train without her knowledge, but insists that in the 16 hours to NY he’ll be able to convince her to star in his next show, solving his financial problems. Owen and Oliver are Stressed.

This leads into my absolute favorite progression of scenes: a flashback introducing how Lily and Oscar came to meet. Oscar is auditioning Imelda Thornton (the goddess Satsuki Aina) for the role of Veronique, a Parisian street singer who refuses to sleep with Otto Von Bismarck so he attacks Paris and starts the Franco-Prussian war as revenge (men!). If only the photos from this scene showed the parts I want; Daimon was SO funny. Imagine like, the face you make when you try to give yourself 8 chins and take the ugliest low-angle selfie you can. Daimon was that + a thousand-yard stare of skepticism, fidgeting neurotically and tapping the arms of the director’s chair, with Oliver and Owen standing behind, simultaneously goofing off and keeping things running smoothly. Also in the picture at this point: Max Jacobs (Agata Sen), a successful Hollywood producer trying to sign Lily in the present, but in the flashback, Oscar’s (later fired) useless assistant who can’t even take Imelda’s coat correctly. Imelda, an all-ego-no-talent diva, is freaking out because her regular pianist was sick so she had to hire a substitute last minute and she’s late. Enter now Midred/soon to be Lily (Maaya) through the audience, in oversized glasses, tacky pink house dress, and matching hair cap, dropping her sheet music all over the place. Imelda is furious, Oscar is disgruntled, Max is Stressed. Mildred sits down at the piano, Imelda declares she’s going to sing “The Indian Maiden’s Lament,” and tries to begin but Mildred is still dramatically warming up her hands and shoulders. Finally she gives the ok and starts playing something completely different (Imelda, furious; Oscar, melting into a pile of gooey discontent).

Take 2, Mildred begins playing the correct song beautifully, while Imelda sings horrendously and Oscar tries violently and wordlessly to convey to Owen and Oliver in moments of Imelda’s averted gaze that they need to stop this somehow. Imelda hits a sour note that’s just the last straw for Mildred, and she stops playing and corrects her (gorgeously, flawlessly, Maaya’s voice is a treasure). Imelda, flustered, thanks her and tries again, but isn’t any better. Mildred keeps stopping and correcting her, eventually just singing the end of the song herself, while Oscar, moving his chair closer with hilarious little Flintstone car footsteps, stares at her agape and then gives her a standing ovation. Imelda loses her cool and fires Mildred on the spot for ruining her audition; Mildred hulks out and demands her pay for the day plus train fare (Oscar, fully Team Mildred at this point, is mimicking all her movements behind her). Imelda pays and storms off, telling her assistant to call her an ambulance. Just as Mildred starts packing her things to go, Oscar declares he wants her for Veronique and asks her name.

I wish I could share with you all the sound that both of them made saying “Mildred Plotka,” pronounced “Mildred BLEGCH” with copious spit. I’m embarrassed to admit I just spent a good 30 minutes? trying to chase down a vivid childhood memory—I was 11, and watching Spaceballs on TV with my bff, and in the combing the desert scene they censored “we ain’t found shit” not with a bleep but with some absurd SCHMUSCHSG noise, and my bff and I laughed for approximately 8 days, because we were 11 and probably eating Gushers—and in my memory this and Mildred BLEGCH were the exact same sound, and I wanted you to experience it so much I watched every combing the desert clip on youtube fruitlessly, hoping one would be this exact censorship (sorry... I’m just... Daimon was funny??? and I’m very emotional about it????). Anyway, since no one can say Mildred BLEGCH, Oscar decides her new name will be Lily Garland. After some hemming and hawing about not being an actress, Lily decides to give it a shot. The house dress tears away and we have the snazzy number “Veronique.”

Maaya was absolutely brilliant throughout the entire show, but this number hit me extra hard. Not only was she exceptional vocally through a very challenging song (dancing all the while), but her aura of a freshly hatched starlet, packed with youth and hope and freshness and naiveté and raw unpolished talent, contrasted so vividly with the successful Hollywood actress still fueled by Mildred Plotka spitfire that we see in the rest of the show; I found it VERY striking. It was subtle but so effective and truly masterful acting. Veronique ends, Daimon re-enters from the audience and tosses a bouquet (the first time I saw it she missed the stage, and Maaya, fully in character and without missing a beat, just parkour’d off the stage and grabbed it and hopped back on), and we’re ushered back into the present.

The conductor enters Oscar’s room to inform everyone that a religious nut is vandalizing the train with REPENT FOR THE TIME IS AT HAND stickers, but not to worry because they’re doing everything they can to catch the culprit; and to drop off a play that he’s written about a day in the life of a conductor (to Oscar’s annoyance). Then the train arrives at Englewood station, and Lily boards with a flurry of paparazzi, her assistant Agnes (Chikaze Karen), and her attention-whoring movie actor boyfriend Bruce (Ayakaze Sakina). Maaya (in a GORGEOUS dress) is instantly the Hollywood diva instead of the wide-eyed starlet; Saki is the comic relief in what’s already a screwball comedy. Oscar is a terrible person, so if you can imagine how big and dumb and sappy and suffocating and clumsy Bruce has to be to make you root for Oscar, Saki was all that.

The two lovebirds put on quite a show of excessive PDA for the photographers while Agnes rolls her eyes, until it’s time for Bruce to leave the train.

Lily falls to the floor dramatically, wailing oh WHAT will I do without him, when Bruce bursts back into the room, declaring he can’t possibly let the love of his life go to NY all by herself (Lily, all sorrow a minute before, is not 2 seconds later annoyed to see him). So he’s now along for the ride to witness Oscar’s whole scheme.

Owen and Oliver, trying to take matters into their own hands, show up in Lily’s room to beg her sincerely to do a play with Oscar, hoping she’ll pity him and his dire financial situation enough to do him a favor.

Lily sings a whole song about how that’s never ever ever going to happen, and Bruce freaks out to learn that Oscar is on the train. Lily insists they have no romantic history, and then immediately lights up when she hears Oscar’s voice in her head. They sing a lovey duet representing that they’re still clearly both on each other’s minds. Despite the comedic and not at all tender nature of this show, and the love-hate relationship between these two characters, Daimon and Maaya’s chemistry, in my opinion, has never been better. I wouldn’t have thought it would take playing two self-centered assholes who both despise and desperately want each other to send the sparks flying, but BOY did it do the trick.

Meanwhile, the REPENT sticker situation is getting worse, and the audience at this point realizes that the culprit is the unassuming little old Letitia Primrose—played brilliantly by Kyou Misa.

She sings about how she’s taken it as her mission to encourage young people to repent for their sins.

Oscar hears from Owen and Oliver that Lily is with Bruce and is despondent; he declares that he still loves her will definitely steal her back from both him and Hollywood. Oliver is fed up with his nonsense and tells Oscar he’s off his rocker (bless Manaharu and her ability to simultaneously look like a squirrelly little dude in her suit and bowtie and also not only stand up to Daimon but rile her up and get even more out of her). They get into a big fight and as Oliver storms out of the room, Oscar notices a giant REPENT sticker on Oliver’s back and chases after him to remove it. When he removes and reads it, he’s struck with divine inspiration for a new play about Mary Magdalene, a part so good Lily can’t possibly resist it.

Oscar is so sure this will work he instructs Owen to go buy him a bible so he can start writing the script immediately. Owen reminds Oscar that the train is in fact moving and they can’t really do anything at all, when they see Ms. Primrose’s bible on a chair (and all fall dramatically to the ground). Oscar takes that as a second miracle, insisting this means there will be a third, and Owen and Oliver agree to play along with his demands.

Oscar, now filled with renewed confidence, and Bruce, just as big and dumb as ever, sing a duet about how Lily is theirs (not at each other, separately in their own rooms). Both of them are just awful men.

While the two of them are non-confrontationally fighting over the same woman, Owen is in the bar trying to write a press release about the triumphant return of golden duo Oscar Jaffee and Lily Garland. Ms. Primrose picks up a crumpled draft from the floor and muses that she’d love nothing more than to sponsor some big artistic project. That gets Owen’s attention, and she reveals to him that she runs a patent medicine company and doesn’t know what to do with all her money. Owen calls to Oliver that they’ve found their third miracle!

Back in her room, Lily emerges in lime green negligee, to Bruce’s delight. Things are just getting uh sexy I guess when Oscar interrupts them and actually confronts Lily for the first time.

Bruce is furious that Lily lied about her history with Oscar, who is sitting on the couch in back of the room drinking their champagne and eating all the olives out of their martini glass as they argue. Bruce eventually storms off, slapping his headshot onto the wall as he leaves the room (Oscar immediately stands and tears it up). Lily sits down on the couch, now arguing with Oscar and angrily joining him in eating olives. Their hands touch going for the glass at the same time; Lily sternly tells him to let her go but then turns around and caresses her hand happily. Oscar takes this moment to spring his play idea on her; Lily reveals that she heard the whole story of his bankruptcy from Owen and Oliver and tells him she’s on her way to NY to sign with a reliable producer (the formerly useless Max Jacobs who Oscar himself fired). Realizing he’s out of game, Oscar starts hurling insults and they sing another spark-flying duet—Lily insisting she has everything, and Oscar insisting movies are beneath her talents and she’ll rot in Hollywood and fall into obscurity.

Lily eventually kicks Oscar out, EARNESTLY throwing and smashing a champagne bottle against the door behind him. Oscar, without even taking a breath between Lily’s room and his, screams at his two traitors for ruining his plan and strangles poor Oliver (on senshuuraku Daimon held on for a comically long time, and Manaharu, refusing to concede that ad lib, then played dead on the floor for a good minute). Oliver and Owen save their own asses by telling Oscar about the sponsor they managed to find on board, and THAT’S ACT ONE (right before curtain, we see a tiny little plane labeled “Max Jacobs” flying above the train).

During the big ensemble number (”Life is Like a Train”) that opens act 2 we discover that the train is now absolutely covered in REPENT stickers, then Owen and Oliver take Oscar to meet Ms. Primrose.

I can’t stress enough how delightful Kyou Misa was, the perfect little ostensibly earnest but just subtly batty old lady; the way she stiffly hobbled around was adorable too. Ms. Primrose is thrilled to work with the great Oscar Jaffee, and even more thrilled to share the story of Mary Magdalene with the world, and asks him how much money he needs. Oscar nervously asks for $20,000, at which Ms. Primrose balks that that CAN’T possibly be enough and writes a check for $200,000. Oscar, Owen, and Oliver giddily sing “Five Zeros” in a manner not unlike Scrooge McDuck swimming in his gold coins, and over the course of the song Ms. Primrose bumps it up to $20,000,000 (in the 1920s!). Now they’re sure they’ll be able to lure Lily back.

Oscar is about to go grab Lily and introduce her to Ms. Primrose when the train doctor Dr. Johnson (Kujou Asu) busts into his room with yet another manuscript (A day in the life of a doctor!). I mention this mostly because a) I LOVE ASU DEEPLY, she is so underused, and b) the three musketeers leverage this manuscript situation later on in my other favorite scene. They get rid of Johnson and Oscar finds that Lily wants to see him also. She sits him down and asks Bruce to give them some time alone (on his way out, he goes to replace his torn head shot with a new one that comically unfolds into five headshots before Oscar violently chases him the rest of the way out the door). Oscar is fuming, and Lily tenderly asks him to sit, which he does with a grumpy face and a flamboyant kick as he reluctantly crosses his legs on the sofa. Lily explains that she’s embarrassed by her behavior so far, is so grateful to Oscar for her career, and wants to help him after all... so she reaches into her bra and pulls out a check for $35 so at least he’s not dead broke. Oscar, amused, stands up and, acting as if he’s a magician, folds up the $35 check and dramatically asks Lily to blow on his hand. Out comes the $20,000,000 check.

Oscar ushers Lily into his room to prove to her that Ms. Primrose is in fact a real person who wants to sponsor his new play, if she’ll star in it. Lily, despite still generally feeling like she’d rather die than work with Oscar again, is now enticed both by the role of Mary Magdalene, which is much juicier than what she’s been allowed to do on screen, and the prospect of raking in this much money without being beholden to the jerks who run Hollywood. Faithful Oliver has already prepared a contract, and we get “Sign It Lily,” probably both the most difficult/impressive song and biggest earworm of the show. Not the best version but here, have a listen.

Oscar, Owen, Oliver, and Ms. Primrose are all bombarding Lily trying to get her to put her name on the thing (I truly don’t know when Daimon breathes), while simultaneously trying to keep Bruce and his contrary agenda out of the room (Saki gets repeatedly slammed into doors and walls, closed into closets, suffocated with pillows, etc). Lily gets overwhelmed and runs back to her room, pursued by a cocky triumphant Bruce, who yells behind him that they’ll never get her back away from movies.

Oscar gets a lightbulb moment at the word movie, and the team files one by one back into Lily’s room, smashing Bruce in the head with the door each time. Oscar tells Lily that if she agrees to do the play, he’ll shop the movie rights to whatever studio she wants (to which Ms. Primrose responds WHY BOTHER, she’ll fund the movie too). That pushes her over to yes, and she takes the contract to read carefully. The conductor enters the room notifies everyone that they are approaching Cleveland, and that Ms. Primrose’s nephew and his wife sent a telegram ahead that they’d be boarding the train there to meet her. She turns cold and hurries off alone.

Owen, out for a celebratory entire bottle of wine, coincidentally runs into Ms. Primrose’s nephew (Machi Yuuka), who is frantically searching for his aunt. He says she hasn’t been all there since she stepped down from her position as company president, and just escaped from her mental institution. Owen asks about her money, the nephew says there is none, and Owen realizes they’re fucked.

In the frantic search for the missing Ms. Primrose, Bruce overhears Owen breaking the news to Oscar and Oliver, and tells Lily that Oscar deceived her again. She’s furious, and Oscar probably only escapes with his life because just at that exact moment, the formerly useless and fired but currently hot and successful Max Jacobs bursts through the door (Oscar yells MAX JACOBS like he’s going to burst every single blood vessel in his head and neck).

Max hopped a private plane to Cleveland to meet the train, because he has a brand new play written just for Lily (called “Babette”), and he’s so excited he can’t wait for her to get all the way to New York. Babette is a glamorous high society type role about a woman in love with two men. Lily starts reading the script, but finds herself wondering out loud if it can be changed to be more like Oscar’s. Max is incredulous and starts trash talking Oscar, and Lily slaps him REAL HARD in the face. She then catches herself yet again and and asks to be left alone to read the Babette script more carefully.

We’re taken to Lily’s wistful daydream of a classy party taking place in the Babette universe as she tries to wrap her head around the show and imagine herself in the title role. But she finds it dull, and every few pages, she has an intrusive thought about the more inspiring Mary Magdalene—one minute she’s milling through the impeccably dressed party guests, and the next she’s face to face with Owen or Oliver or Ms. Primrose dressed like an Apostle, until finally Oscar dressed as Calaf Jesus crashes the whole thing from behind.

(Yup that’s a screenshot of the bromide sample page).

But Lily brings herself to her senses yet again, drives away all thoughts of Oscar, and agrees to sign with Max.

Oscar has lost and he’s despondent. He walks into the train bar to find Oliver sulking behind Owen who is passed out drunk in a chair. He takes out a gun (Oliver tries frantically to wake Owen), and begins a melodramatic monologue about how it’s better just to end his life now because no one wants to see him become a beggar in times square.

Daimon hilariously mimes Oscar begging, then people throwing garbage at him, then dodging the thrown bits (on senshuuraku Aasa and Manaharu joined in with pretending to throw things). Eventually he leaves the room in despair, and Oliver asks Owen if he thinks boss would really kill himself. Owen is in the middle of saying absolutely no way when they hear a gunshot and run into the next room.

Oscar, now in a comical panic rather than a depression, is clutching his side and gasping that he’s been shot, and the heretofore still missing Ms. Primrose is in the corner of the room holding the gun by her fingertips, crying that she was just trying to put it away when it went off.

Oliver runs to get Dr. Johnson while Owen tends to Oscar who is (again, comically) writhing in a chair and complaining that being shot by a crazy granny is not how he wanted to go, and this is my second favorite progression of scenes.

Owen offers to call the pastor for Oscar (who, by the way, cannot identify WHERE he has been shot), and Oscar gets mad. Owen then offers him ice cream. Oliver sticks his head back in the door to ask of Oscar is dead yet. Owen says not yet and brings in Dr. Johnson (Asu, my love) who at first giggles and assumes that because it’s Mr. Jaffee he’s just acting. Owen and Oliver assure him this is real, and begin moaning and wailing as Dr. Johnson examines Oscar in earnest.

He stands up, and Owen and Oliver take this to mean it’s a hopeless case, and it’s time for them to say goodbye. On senshuuraku, Daimon verrrrrrrrry slowly slid all the way down the chair, so that Aasa had to hold her up by the arms to keep her from wiping out, AND had to kick her foot to a lower step of the stage so she could stand up again. The raku digest thankfully shows a bit of this, along with the Matrix move Daimon had to pull to jump to her feet when Dr. Johnson declares that Oscar hasn’t been shot at all.

(It does not, however, convey how drawn out and hilarious this was, nor does it show the chair then toppling onto poor Aasa, and it taking her at least 3 tries to get it off her again).

Oscar then gets another harebrained idea, and tells Dr. Johnson that he read his manuscript from before and that it’s SO GOOD he wants to give him an acting lesson right then and there. Dr. Johnson is stoked. Oscar tells him to just sit in the chair, stare at him solemnly, and shake his head back and forth if anyone looks at him (Asu, over the next few minutes, gives what my admittedly biased heart firmly believes is the award winning performance of the show). Oliver and Owen are to pretend Oscar is dying. The cherry on top of senshuuraku was in the moment before this all commenced, Daimon, immediately after the chair debacle, took an extra long pause before delivering (completely straight-faced) her usual line of “I don’t want to see any hammy acting,” after which the others took a comically long pause before replying, “Yep.”

Dr. Johnson takes his place in the formerly toppled chair, Oscar grabs a pillow and lays down on the floor, Oliver and Owen go fetch Lily and start wailing again. Agnes and Bruce also follow Lily into the room and start crying themselves at the sight of Oscar “dying” on the floor. Dr. Johnson looks around from person to person in a panic and starts hyperventilating. Owen and Oliver mime at him to look sadder, Asu licks her finger and dabs tears on her cheeks and then makes the dumbest crying face I’ve ever seen, shaking her head increasingly aggressively each time someone in the room looks at her. Daimon and Maaya are weepily singing “Lilyyyyyyyy, Oscaaaaarrrr” back and forth for deadass three entire minutes. I can’t believe how much vocal control Daimon has even lying on her back on the damn floor.

Lily eventually signs the contract as Oscar’s dying wish. When Max enters the room, Oscar immediately jumps up to rub it in his face, and Lily once again is furious at being deceived. Oscar claims that with no money to offer, the only way he could rescue her from a rotted career was through trickery. **I FORGOT BECAUSE I FINISHED THIS AT 6AM AFTER BEING UP ALL NIGHT that Lily gets the last word because she hasn’t actually signed her name at all but written PETER RABBIT. They throw things and hurl vicious insults at each other and then finally realize they’re just too hot for each other after all and throw open their arms and get married.

The finale opened with Agata in a top hat and tails dancing with a stick and a bunch of musumeyaku, then there was a huge golden group tap number and a lovely waltz for the duet dance.

I’ve been pretty upset that I had to miss BeruBara 45 and that I booked the trip I’m currently on before finding out Komu and Wataru would be returning to Bow Hall this summer, but being able to see this, especially since we’ll never see it again, was so so worth it. It was certainly a much needed boost for me personally, and it seems like it was a boost for the troupe and for Daimon and Maaya as a combi as well. I’m always torn about Broadway shows like this, because they’re SO good, and I WANT them to take on these kinds of challenges, especially when the result is so spectacular, but it’s such a bummer when they disappear forever. Many points to Harada for fitting this weird musical to Yukigumi like a perfect cozy little glove.

#takarazuka #reviews #on the 20th century #actual longest review ever #I didn't proofread it #I don't even want to read it #am i 東宝組 now 19

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verwelktesgedicht · 4 years

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Special vk moments in Japan (2019)

After 2 1/2 years I returned to Japan. Mostly this time I met friends and went to concerts. Since I would like to make my tumblr a bit more personal again I decided to text a bit about this and write down about the moments and concerts that touched me the most. Well, actually I write a few things about all concerts I went to this time but.. you will notice which one touched me the most xDD If you want to know more about one or anything else.. please just send me a message ^^

First of all, my first concert after returning to Japan: an Arlequin oneman! I actually wanted to see Royz live that day but ticket prices for fan-sold tickets were ridiculous, even for bad numbers. Regular kombini-tickets had soo bad numbers at that time that it was like... standing in the hallway. And travelling to that city where they played would have cost me too much for it being worth standing in the hallway. So I wondered if there is any other concert I might be interested in to go instead and i decided 3 days before the concert that I will stay in Osaka to see Arlequin live instead of Royz in Hamamatsu. Other way I wouldn’t have seen Arlequin while I would see Royz at their 10th anni. So, Arlequin was so much better than expected! It sounds mean but let me tell you: I DID enjoy every of their taiban/twoman I went to so much. Just for some reason the oneman I went to in 2015.. wasn’t the best live ever. Some parts of the live were so boring?! So I realized, maybe Arlequin just isn’t a oneman band but a taiban band for me. Because their taibans were so damn fun! Anyway, I went to see them live in Sep 2019 because i wanted to see them and it was the only chance for that trip! And it was SO good. It felt like they improved a lot - performance-wise and setlist-wise. Aki’s talk improved a lot. He got so emotional?! --> I got so emotional?!? They even made me cry at one point.... I was like wtf. But somehow... it might also because it made me feel like “Damn. I guess I forgot what it feels like. This is it. Live houses are truly my home.”???? “Utopia” was really great because we all messed up the “lalala”-part... 3 times. We could do the melody but not the very ending of it but Aki didn’t want to have any of that shit and let us do it over and over again WITHOUT SHOWING US THE CORRECT MELODY!! It just broke when we didn’t know how to continue. It was so funny actually xD Embarassing and funny. In the end he helped us. I’m still a bit sad I couldn’t see a small live house live of Royz but I am very happy I went to see Arlequin again. I’m fine with how things turned out!

Next was kizu-DIAURA-twoman (with gulu gulu as opening act). It was fun! I wanted to see kizu live so much ^__^ And I’m happy I finally did because them and arlequin are the bands I listen to the most during the past 1-2 years. But after them DIAURA played and I realized how high-quality DIAURA’s performances are xDD They are so GOOD! I took my not-vk-fan-friend with me and she enjoyed it too ^___^ And I got MASTER’s ゴミ aka water bottle.

Then I saw alice nine live?!? Spontanously decided. The live was nice. I’m so happy i FINALLY saw them. After 12 years. And they played shunkashuuto with Tora singing (... trying to sing. xDD). NOSTALGIA kicked through!!!

Then I went to see ACME at a taiban. It was my first live of them and it was great! I ended up in Saizen.. and need to write about this in another entry because holy shit.

GUILD was special. I saw them spontaneously back in 2015 and 2014. once as oneman, once as 2man and once at a taiban. Before that I saw them in 2010 in Europe without actually knowing them. It was 1 year after they formed. So.. it’s quite interesting to see them every 4 years xDD I see their improvement. Their change. The live was very nice and funny. I went with 2 friends. One of them I saw GUILD in 2010 together with. I really like GUILD’s songs and enjoyed the live a lot since.. they were on hiatus for quite some time so there aren’t TOO many songs I don’t know. And even the new songs I knew more or less xD It was a lot of nostalgia. And a lot of fun. I missed GUILD and I’m glad they are back.

We spontaneously saw LEZARD and DaizyStripper live next. I was so so happy to see Sora again. I didn’t since I went to my last ALIVE live in 2015. So it was really nice.... I loved to see him having fun!! I loved to see him being in a band he enjoys and belongs to. I’m really glad he seems fine ^^ That was all that counted for me that day! And Daizy were more fun than I expected. Saw them at an open air live in 2014 and it was.. okay. But this 2man was a blast. I was surprised!

Gazette tourfinal at Yokohama Arena was a cool experience but we stood/sat quite in one of the highest rows and were far (not the most in the back but far) from stage, so.. well, yeah. It was a nice experience but I guess I prefer smaller lives?? Best moment was probably when Kai shout without microphone xD his usual “kakattekoi!!” could be heard EVERYWHERE and I was like “so this is what it sounds like live.” and loved it.

One of the lives that made me the happiest was HELLO. taiban. I wanted to see Aki live, my ALIVE boy xD But then I noticed that Nao (ex-ALIVE as well), would be support guitarist for that live and it couldn’t be better??? I ended up in saizen kami2 because the saizen girl wasn’t there for ALIVE and nobody wanted to be in saizen for the support guy and she BEGGED me to be in saizen when she found out I considered being there. So I was 1st row almost in front of Nao. It was soo great ._. I had perfect view on him and Aki and since at least Nao knew I would be there...... Not gonna brag stuff like “omg his smile was so cute T___T” ... but I loved seeing him smile at me. I loved seeing him kinda happy? He looked happy at least ^^ Nao isn’t in a band anymore but I think he does miss that time. At least it looked like that xD I don’t think they have THAAAT many fans. I mean... saizen was free right of me. But yeah, those were the support-spots, so maybe it was because of that xDD Anyway, I loved it. I loved to see them live again. I would love to see them live once again. I’m really so so happy I could go to this live. I mean, I didn’t know the furi well but I had a great Aki-gya next to me who was sooo nice and tried to help me and showed me the furi clearly while doing them during the songs. She even gave me their new CD as gift afterwards! It was only a taiban, so it was very short and I waited through 6 other bands of which I cared for only one but I definitely count this concert as one of the best during that trip. One of the few ones that made me the happiest. Because I could see the boys of the band smile that once were my (closest to-)honmei.

Another highlight of the trip was R-Shitei’s concert in Mito. I was sick and my voice was GONE that day. Really. Gone. I don’t know if this ever happened to me before but ... I couldn’t have ANY conversation. Anyway, the live was really fun!! And... at one point Mamo pointed at us saying that foreigners are here too today and if we’re having fun........ I screamed inside for two reasons: - First.. mamo-nii-chan noticed us ûu ..... xDDDD - Second: “... I NEED to answer but what if my voice isn’t existent again??” And my friend can’t speak Japanese so she had no idea what was going on...... I shout a bit during the live and sometimes it started working again a bit, sometimes it just died right away, so I took my chances and shout as loud as I could “Haaaaai!!” and ended it here because it came out fine and I didn’t want to tempt fate... xDDD I also met a friend from my year in Japan - by chance! She actually said she won’t go but she ended up there anyway xD Nice girl! She helped me with quite a few important things back then.

Then Royz’ 10th anni. When I went to their 5th anni I told myself I will be back for the 10th one. And I made it. 5 years ago I had no idea where I would be in 2019 and how my life would be and if Royz was even still around. But I told myself... if there is any chance for me to go to their 10th anniversary I would do it. I decided for the time of this trip because of this concert. Tbh, I was a bit pissed it was the very first time they made the anniversary live their tour final and also the very first time they held their anniversary in Tokyo. They always held it in their hometown Osaka. But maybe that time is over now. I wanted it to be in Osaka. But anyway...... You have to go with the flow? The live was nice! And the song Anniversary made me cry. I love the lyrics so much!? Also, they talked about Kazuki and his messages that morning. And ACROSS WORLD made me the happiest. It was the last song (of course?) and I was so happy... And seeing the people around me smile like crazy made me even happier xD I know I am not the best Royz fan anymore. I know maybe someone who is more of a fan should lead Royz-yade. I lost them a bit during the past years. But they are still awesome and I still enjoy their music and their concerts. I have so many memories connected to them and I won’t give up on them ^_^ I still love them. I am still happy for every step they make. For every goal they archive. Also, I talked to Kento!? xDDD Pretty boy.

R-Shitei in Wakayama was fun but Mito was more fun xD So no real review here. Except for... they played THREE ENCORE!

Last but not least, ACME. Nice concert! But the fans were strange... Yes, it was a small concert but nobody really called their names like bangya use to. Nobody shout. Many didn’t dance along. It was very strange?!? The band itself was great though! The songs are great, they are funny, their performance is good - and SHOGO is desperately afraid of guitar solo... xDD

I said last but not least, but actually... there was another concert xDD I went to see ALTL. It’s a tiny idol group with bandmen, one of them I like from his previous bands xD So.. actually I wanted to go with a friend but she didn’t make it so I went alone. And it was SO strange. It was in a club/small live house thingy and it was so strange to be there for an idol group??? The fans were different. The atmosphere was different. THE MUSIC WAS DIFFERENT XDDD But it was fun in the end? Way more than I thought. And you could take 2shots with your favorite member and talk a bit. I took.. 3 ûu” for 3000 Yen xD I enjoyed it but I felt lost xD I mean, I’ve been to many vk concerts alone. Also to very very small ones with only like 15 people. But at least that is my scene ^^” At least I knew what to do and what to expect. With that idol concert I was completely lost xDDD But I’m really glad I still went!

#vk #personal #text

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murasaki-murasame · 5 years

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Thoughts on Sarazanmai Episode 11 [Finale]: “I Want To Connect, So Sarazanmai”

Do you ever just watch an anime episode that’s So Much in so many different ways that it makes you immediately want to lay down and sleep for a hundred years, but in like a good and hopeful way?

Yeah.

It’s very fitting that the final episode title is technically self-referential nonsense that in practice makes complete emotional sense and leaves everything feeling neatly tied together. It just Works [tm].

Thoughts under the cut.

Even though they were in like 5% of this episode I just wanna immediately point out that Reo and Mabu are ALIVE and IN LOVE and my SKIN IS CLEARED. It didn’t exactly happen in the way I expected, but I was hoping that they’d get revived, and here we are. The finale gave absolutely no shits about actually explaining any of the lingering mysteries about them, but I can’t fault them for it when they gave them such an unambiguously happy ending together. And in practice it perfectly fit the dreamy, surreal, intensely emotionally-driven vibe of the whole finale. Seeing their connected rings morph into them flying through the air while holding hands and the sheer power of their gay love literally paving the way for the main trio to finally connect was one of those moments where you just gotta sit back and accept that Ikuhara’s throwing at you, lmao.

Realistically I thought they might get left off on a pretty bittersweet note like a lot of Ikuhara characters, but nah, they’re just straight up back to being alive and happy and they pretty much got to attend their daughter’s magical furry wedding, lmao. They didn’t even get their memories erased like I thought might happen, so the whole confession scene from ep10 is still perfectly intact and now that the whole otter thing’s dealt with, we can probably safely assume that the two of them made up and are back to being The Ultimate Couple. It also looks like the two of them and even Sara and Keppi are still hanging out in the human world, which is kinda unexpected. I thought that even in the best case scenario they’d all just head back to the kappa kingdom, but I guess since that doesn’t really exist anymore they’re just gonna stay in the human world. Reo and Mabu seem to be working as rickshaw drivers now, which makes it even more clear that they’re probably back to being more or less regular people and being part of regular human society, and they’ve probably given up their jobs as cops, which is nice.

None of this answers the still lingering question of ‘how the fuck does the manga even fit into the timeline aaaaaaa’, but I don’t care as much about finding out the answer to that after this finale, so it’s not a big deal. I guess we’re meant to think that it happened before the anime, though. My best guess is that Sara was intentionally sent into the human world as a baby to protect her from the kappa/otter war, or something, and then Reo and Mabu raised her, she magically turned into her teenage/adult self [in an instantaneous fairy tale-y kind of way], then she went back to the kappa kingdom for a bit, and I guess she arranged things with Keppi and had them get recruited into the kappa kingdom? I still think they’re humans that got roped into this like the main trio, so I think that makes sense to me.

Even more so than with the main trio, I think that those two getting a 100% happily ever after with no caveats or drawbacks really spells out how fundamentally optimistic and hopeful this series is, and how they were one way or another victims of a harsh system that didn’t deserve the shit they went through, and so they got given a happy ending. It’d be understandable if people feel upset that they got such a happy ending after having done undeniably awful things, but I don’t mind.

And on the topic of the main trio, hoo boy they sure were the main focus of this episode, lol. And by ‘them’ I mean ‘Toi’ because let’s be honest he was basically the actual main character of the show by the end, and the finale was like 99% focused on his character development specifically. Which isn’t a bad thing. Kazuki’s whole deal had already been more or less resolved by the end of ep6, so it makes sense that the second half in general focused more on Toi.

On the flip side, Enta kinda got the short end of the stick in terms of screen-time and development, and things end in a sorta wishy-washy way in regards to his feelings for Kazuki. It makes enough sense that his whole ending was about choosing not to drown himself in fruitless delusions, even if it feels kinda lame and disappointing compared to the more climactic and intense resolutions that Kazuki and Toi got.

Though tbh a big part of why I don’t feel too negatively about how Enta’s crush on Kazuki kinda fizzled into irrelevancy is because Reo and Mabu got their happy ending that preserved all of their character development, with the obvious implication that they’re back to being in a happy and stable romantic relationship. The fact that there’s at least one happy gay couple at the end of all this makes me much more willing to forgive Enta’s story being handled a bit differently. I mean, that’s part of the whole reason why diversity in storytelling is so important. When you include multiple different gay characters/relationships in your stories, you have the freedom to do different things with them, instead of having all the narrative burdens and expectations being placed on just one character/relationship. It’s annoying when the ONLY gay character in a show ends up having to repress and move on from their feelings, but it’s fine when there are other gay characters who get to have their own happy relationships.

Anyway, I really liked how Toi’s story wrapped up here. A lot of what actually happened in the finale was full on bizarre dream logic nonsense, but the emotional undercurrent of Toi being faced with the prospect of effectively committing suicide in order to free himself from the pain of human connection once and for all, and him coming to the realization on his own terms that he doesn’t want to let go of those connections, got through perfectly clearly. They actually went a lot further with his story than I expected. Literally further, in that we had a whole timeskip epilogue detailing how after the main story ended he went to juvie for a few years and then reunited with Kazuki and Enta when he returned. I’m going to assume that he turned himself in, since there shouldn’t have been any concrete evidence tying him to any of his crimes, except for maybe him shooting Reo [though even then, Reo’s corpse immediately transformed into one of those rings so I don’t think that counts as lasting forensic evidence, lmao]. It was definitely the most brushed-over part of the finale, but it didn’t need to be focused on that much, since the more important part was him reuniting with the other two afterward.

And in terms of timeskips and whatnot, I really loved the whole potential future flashforward sequence showing a what-if scenario of the three of them becoming professional soccer players and being slowly torn apart by interpersonal drama, while the different episode title cards are re-used in this new context to show how their emotional issues and hang-ups might lead to that sort of negative outcome. It did a really nice job of illustrating how they’re willing to face the possibility of future pain in order to hold onto their connections with each other. Which is what the entire show had been building up to, really. It was all about them becoming able to face the harsh realities of being known in order to lead fulfilling lives with meaningful personal relationships.

I do kinda wish their older selves looked a bit more distinct from their base designs, though. Aside from the difference in outfits you can barely tell that they’ve grown up, lol.

I was initially planning on rewatching episode 1 after this, but honestly after what actually happened I don’t really think I’d actually get anything new out of episode 1 now. The very first scene of the show is still a bit of a mystery, even though it’s obviously based around a lot of visual imagery and cinematography from the finale, and the whole deal with the ‘A’ signs is still up for interpretation. But I don’t really think it’s super important one way or another.

I’m actually very happy that the ending didn’t involve any sort of time travel, and that that’s not what the first scene of the show was hinting at. Especially with how this finale really hammered in the importance of living with the consequences of your actions and accepting the future for what it is, it would have felt very cheap if anything got reset in the end.

I guess it’s also worth noting that, at least with the main trio, there weren’t any romantic developments, which I think was fine. With how the story had been building up to this point I think it was fairly obvious that their ending was gonna be more about friendship alone. Which might disappoint some people [and the whole topic of Enta’s unrequited crush on Kazuki is it’s own whole thing], but at the very least, Reo and Mabu got their happy romantic ending together, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out, lol.

Part of me wants to be disappointed that we didn’t really learn anything new about Sara, and that she didn’t exactly, uh, DO anything even in this final episode, but honestly I feel like that’s kinda ‘the joke’. Like, she and Keppi come across as a super tongue in cheek joke about the fairy tale concept of princes and princesses. Sorta like how the Utena movie made the ‘prince’ into a complete joke, Sara and Keppi are just there to be funny plot devices, and their big ending is that they have a big fat furry wedding and that’s that. And honestly that’s fine by me. I feel like Ikuhara’s whole artistic career has involved him becoming more and more flippant and dismissive about the concepts of princes and princesses and how much importance is placed on them in fiction, and that’s valid. It reminds me a bit of how all of the actual major characters are all queer dudes and their relationships with each other are the actually important part of the narrative, whereas straight characters like Sara and Keppi and all the different faceless kappa zombie dudes are mostly just joke characters. There’s something both deeply amusing and deeply vindicating about how this show turns the tables like that, with how it frames different types of love and relationships.

The main trio’s story ended up being not super tied into what the show has to say about sexuality in general [and overall the show is less specifically ‘about’ that than Yuri Kuma Arashi was, from what I understand], but there was definitely a whole lot of social commentary about homophobia going on with Reo and Mabu, and thankfully that part of the narrative came to a satisfying and genuinely subversive ending, with them overcoming the death imposed upon them and regaining their happy lives together.

Now I’m hoping that Ikuhara will ‘complete the set’, so to say, and have his next anime be about trans/non-binary characters, especially after how Kazuki’s whole cross-dressing thing ended up being kinda unimportant and not about gender identity to begin with. Which is still kinda disappointing to me, but oh well.

Overall, this ending was almost aggressively happy and optimistic compared to what I was bracing myself for, so thankfully it’s left me feeling warm and fuzzy and content. All in all, it was a surprisingly straightforward story in terms of it’s central messages, in spite of it’s over the top and abstract framing, and I think it really benefited from that inherent simplicity, especially in this finale, which was so singularly focused on it’s central trio [and mostly just Toi’s perspective alone]. I was a bit worried the finale might turn into one of those things where a deeply personal conflict gets blown up and tied into literally world-ending stakes, but thankfully they didn’t go unnecessarily far with it. Even the kappa/otter war resolution barely involved the main trio themselves.

At least in hindsight, I think the anime was very tightly woven and was paced surprisingly well for it’s short episode count, and it’s hard to imagine how they could have spent much more time on the main trio, but now that we have a better idea of the timeline of the series, I really think that episode 6 should have been followed up by an episode that basically adapted the ReoMabu manga, plus parts of the twitter account, and the short chapter from the first light novel volume about how they met. That way it would have ended up with a nice round 12-episode length, and I don’t think it would have ‘spoiled the surprise’ of the later reveals and developments with Reo and Mabu. I just think it would have been really good to actually cover that in the anime itself, especially since even in the finale, the whole fact that they literally raised Sara as a baby never got addressed, so it feels like anime-only viewers are missing out on a big chunk of their story. But it’s not a huge deal.

I guess at the end of the day my feelings about the finale boil down to ‘Reo and Mabu are alive and happy and that’s literally all that matters to me’, lol.

I was really worried about how I’d be left feeling after this, but I’m happy that I’ve been following this series ever since it was first announced. This is the only time I’ve watched an Ikuhara show as it’s come out, and oh boy has it been an emotional roller-coaster. The fact that it ended in a satisfying way makes it all feel worth it, though.

I probably won’t get to it immediately since I think my brain needs time to recover from this one, but sometime soon I want to finally get around to watching Penguindrum and then Yuri Kuma Arashi. I don’t think I’ll liveblog them like I’ve been doing with Sarazanmai, though, if only since I’ve already been spoiled on bits and pieces of what happens in them, but we’ll see how it goes.

#murasaki rambles #sarazanmai #I'm so relieved that this ended up being so happy and satisfying lol

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