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basedkikuenjoyer · 1 year

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Lingering Snowblood: The Saga of Oyuki

Alright class, who’s ready for a fun bonus post? Waaay back in the start of this journey, we talked a little about Okiku potentially being inspired by a figure it the story that is likely an inspiration for Kin & Momo. Lone Wolf & Cub, it’s one of the most famous series of classic samurai movies. What Hawk & Chick are based on for any Bob’s Burgers fans and the TV adaptation had the actor Oda’s said their names come from in the lead role.

In that franchise, there’s a woman named Oyuki who pops up a few times. Dancer background, unassuming lady who’s absolutely deadly when pressed, tattoo used a lot like the mask, and has a calling card of taking topknots from her fallen foes. Sounds a lot like Kiku, yeah? And if you didn’t know, “yuki” means snow so we do have that shared motif. Feels like in both cases, and the ones we’ll get to, the archetype is leaning a bit on the mythological Yuki-Onna. I was wrong though, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

So...this character transcends franchises. Wano has made me really interested in jidaigeki, I’ve actually grown quite fond of them and have a buddy who’s into old Westerns so we love talking how they play off of each other. As an aside, any RPG game masters out there...go binge an old Western TV show like Tales of Wells Fargo and you will find a gold mine of session ideas! Turns out Oyuki has a pretty cool history, and yeah it includes Kill Bill.

The funny thing is...if we’re talking Eiichiro Oda’s influences, it actually calls into question what was really pushing him to dust off Snowblood. See, she is a figure in jidaigeki, but a little before his time. That’s not a huge deal, Smokey and the Bandit came out over a decade before I was born and I still thought it was a cool Sunday afternoon movie that’s stuck with me from that single viewing fifteen years ago. Kill Bill was directly inspired by Lady Snowblood, coming straight from Quentin Tarantino himself. Oda loves Hollywood and American movies, so which one really piqued his interest for Okiku?

Because y’all...the deeper we go the more obvious this was part of the inspo for Okiku. Wano’s just a big kid giddy to show his young readers all the shit he thought was cool growing up.

Yeah, I bet you know this woman’s entire deal looking at this. Proper lady right up until that short sword comes out of the parasol...though she’ll probably whoop a wave of mooks with the umbrella alone. At the end it’s her standing in the middle of a dozen dead bodies without a drop of blood on that pretty kimono. The dancer or acrobat background is really common, vengeful motivation driving her as well as lowborn origins. Gotta have some reason she’s not content to start a family and all, right?

So this 1973 movie based on a 1972 manga’s it right? Lone Wolf was a little later and Oyuki there was mostly just a one-shot appearance that they reused for a movie. Well...see, we can go deeper.

Finding stuff like this is what makes digging so worth it. See, if we’re talking beloved Okiku...the Kill Bill/Lady Snowblood inspo is missing the mark on one big thing. Kiku’s not cold-blooded or vengeful. Let’s go back to the late 60s though, the same era that gave us a pretty feminist wave of Japanese media like Attack no.1. This was a TV drama that ran for a season, Red Swallow Oyuki. Starring the lovely Junko Miyazono who’d go on to have a nice run of movies playing the same type of kickass lady. One of those by the way was Hannya no Ohyaku. Fun bonus tie. This aired in 1968, so likely influencing Lady Snowblood, and you can find the first two episodes on Toei’s official Youtube page. With subs! It’s awesome, imagine Samurai Champloo if Fuu was the badass in charge...so Bakura Town.

Where I really think this initial iteration of Oyuki shines through in Kiku is the personality. This version, she’s really cutely naive. Raised in isolation and trained to pass on her father’s sword style, but he balked at the end. Sent Oyuki away to “become an ordinary woman.” Only use the sword to protect yourself. But of course, when push comes to shove she’ll use it to protect the innocent. Yes, it does end up feeling a lot like Himura Kenshin which is it’s own obvious part of Kiku’s DNA.

I also love this idea of Oyuki sorta taking on a life of her own. It’s very Kabuki, it was a cool character concept so why not lift and repurpose. Not quite the same, but reminds me of the thing about the name Kikunojo. How it has a history as a stage name for many famous Onnagata. But seriously...watch one episode of Red Swallow and tell me that isn’t what a story with Kiku in the lead role would feel like.

#one piece #eiichiro oda #okiku #inspirations and influences #kill bill #lady snowblood #red swallow oyuki

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deliciousgears · 6 years

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Sweet Dreams (Femslash February 2018)

Fandom: Urusei Yatsura

Pairing: Ryuunosuke/Girls in General

Prompt: Day 26 - Dreaming

Summary: Ryuunosuke should’ve known better than to accept something that Ataru offered her, especially something he got from Lum. But at least the results weren’t as bad as she thought it might be.

Word Count: 1760

Notes: This is just me taking my habits of pairing Ryuunosuke with girls to the most logical extreme possible. Of course, this also leads to kind of crack pairings that I ship but with reservations. This is somewhat based on the dream berries storyline in Chapter 257 and 258 of the manga, and episode 144 of the anime.

Warnings: Nothing explicit, but there’s hinting at romantic pairings that some people would find uncomfortable for various reasons. I think that Ryuunosuke/Sakura is one I’m sure people might have problems with, so I mention this here.

Ryuunosuke must have been yawning for like the third time that morning. But she had felt so groggy that it was hard to keep her eyes open. She didn't know if there was some strange hypnotic quality to Onsen-Mark's English teaching, or if the constant working at the school store the night before made her so tired.

"Fujinami!"

Ryuunosuke's head jerked upward. "Yeah?" She inwardly cursed herself, even as her eyelids drooped down again. "Sorry, I'm kinda having trouble here..."

After getting chewed out by Onsen-Mark for several minutes, Ryuunosuke was kind of glad that it was lunch time when he was done. Of course, she noticed Ataru stuffing his face behind his books while Onsen-Mark was ranting at her, because of course he would be. She was just surprised that Onsen-Mark didn't notice from ten feet away.

Later on, Ryuunosuke was surprised to see Ataru suddenly crouch down in front of her. "Hey, Ryuu-chan! You having trouble sleeping or something?" He paused for a second, and smirked even wider. "What am I saying? Of course you would!"

"What are you getting at, Moroboshi?" Ryuunosuke snarled, raising herself up in her chair. "If this is you trying to flirt with me again, I swear I'm gonna..."

"Nah, I'm not trying to flirt right now..." Ataru said, grinning. "I'm only trying to help, you see? Here, let me show you something." And before Ryuunosuke could protest, he spread several little round berries across the top of the desk. "See these?"

Ryuunosuke peered down at the berries. "What are those?"

"Something I sneaked away from Lum when she was busy. Jariten said they were something called dream berries." He plucked one of the tiny berries up in his fingers. "You eat one before you go to sleep, and then you would have a really pleasant dream. One that not even wild horses could wake you up from!" He rolled the berry over to Ryuunosuke. "I'm offering these to you, free of charge!"

Ryuunosuke just stared down at the berries. "These aren't going to make me go schizo or anything, right?"

Ataru gave Ryuunosuke a weird look. "What? No. These are the real deal! No side effects or anything!" He jerked as the classroom door suddenly opened, and quickly ran back to his desk, calling back, "Just try one tonight!"

Ryuunosuke scooped up the berries and peered down at them for a moment, before she shoved them in her pocket. She was still somewhat suspicious, but she was really in need of something to help her sleep.

That night, Ryuunosuke was still peering down at the berries with suspicion. She had been having some bad nights recently, so Ataru's promise of a good night's sleep sounded tempting. But she knew that anything Ataru touched, or anything from Lum usually ended up with a lot of trouble and pain.

But then Ryuunosuke looked over at her father, sleeping like a log, and felt a pang of jealousy. Enough for her to toss one berry in her mouth, swallow it like a pill, and then curl up underneath the covers to try and get to sleep.

And the next thing she knew, she was curled up on a massive bed of silk cushions. And Lum was laying next to her, an arm draped over her side, her face up uncomfortably close.

Ryuunosuke jerked upwards into a sitting position, looking around the unfamiliar surroundings. She was no longer in the old school storage shed that she and her father would call home, but what looked like a beautiful ornate palace. She wasn't sure that if it was Indian, Arabian, or Chinese, but it was certainly all gold and glittery.

Ryuunosuke's eyes darted around in confusion. What the hell was going on? Where's her father? Where's the school? What was Lum doing here?!

"Darling..." Lum murmured, curling in a bit closer. Ryuunosuke looked down at her in confusion, not only because of what she was saying, but because she also noticed what she was wearing: an outfit of white cotton veils that looked like they were the minimum amount to be officially considered a dress, rather than a bikini or lingerie. A golden necklace and bangles adorned her body, a contrast to the pure white of her clothes.

Ryuunosuke could only stare down at Lum in confusion as she stirred awake, and rose up to a sitting position. "Lum...? What are you doing here?! What's going on?" She shifted back slightly as Lum turned to face her. "This is some kind of joke, right? Like this is something my old man came up with to make me more manly! Right?"

Lum just smiled at her, a soft and sultry smile. "Darling, you say such the silliest things..." And before Ryuunosuke could react, she already wrapped her arms around her shoulders, dragging her into her embrace.

Ryuunosuke's mind whirled in confusion. Not only did she have no idea where she was, but now Lum was cuddling up to her and calling her "Darling?" She looked down at Lum, nuzzling in against her neck. "Um... What happened to Moroboshi?"

Lum opened her eyes, and looked up at Ryuunosuke.

"Moroboshi Ataru? Your fiance?" Ryuunosuke could feel the sweat drip down her face the longer she looked into Lum's uncomprehending eyes. "The guy who played tag with you over Earth? The guy who runs around harassing girls? You remember?"

Lum shook her head, concern taking over her face. "Darling, are you alright? You don't seem to be yourself this morning..." She looked past Ryuunosuke, a smile on her face. "Oh, maybe you can help!"

Ryuunosuke turned around to see Shinobu rising up from amid the cushions, eyes blinking drearily. She turned to look at Ryuunosuke, and gave her a smile, before sliding her way over. "Ryuunosuke-kun, is Lum being clingy again?" And Ryuunosuke couldn't help but notice that Shinobu was wearing a pink bunny girl suit, with black fishnets and black shiny heels.

Lum pouted at Shinobu. "I am not being clingy, Shinobu!" She tightened her grip on Ryuunosuke. "I want to give Darling the love she deserves!"

"Aw, come on, Lum!" Benten's voice floated over from behind Ryuunosuke's other ear, and she turned to see her slide in closer, just as skimpily dressed as Lum and Shinobu. "Everyone knows you're always trying to jockey for position every night, when you're sure Ryuu-chan is sleeping. Maybe you should let someone else sleep next to her tonight..."

"It should obviously be me!" Kurama shouted as she pushed her way past Benten, her face creased with frustration. "It has been much too long before I could even get close to Ryuunosuke-kun! I have been pent up for weeks!"

"Oh, can I be next to Ryuunosuke-oniisama tonight?" Ryuunosuke turned again, and saw Asuka right next to her, dressed in a soft cotton yukata. Her starry eyes were filled with adoration as she gazed at Ryuunosuke. "I promise I'll be gentle with you!"

Ryuunosuke's heart started to hammer in her chest as more and more girls climbed out from beneath the pillows, all of them beautiful and looking at her with such loving eyes. Kanna, the ballet dancer she helped train once; Oyuki, wearing just her ice swimsuit; Ran in a lacy white negligee, bouncing up and down happily; Ryoko Mendou, wearing a light cotton yukata with an enticing look on her face; a pretty red-head with white roses in her hair in a deep red shift; another red-head who looked a few years older, lips daubed with red; a short-haired brunette with strangely blank eyes; a strangely beguiling young woman with long black hair. And so on, and so long and so forth.

Ryuunosuke found herself surrounded by beautiful women both familiar and unfamiliar. She had to back away from them all, trying to ignore the rising sense of panic that rose up within her.

Unfortunately, she found herself stumbling back into another soft body, and felt a pair of long arms wrapping around her shoulders. Ryuunosuke looked up to see Sakura smiling down at her in a way she had never seen Sakura do before, and her heart beat all the faster for it.

"You're being surprisingly skittish today, Ryuunosuke," Sakura said softly, reaching up to caress through Ryuunosuke's hair. "Maybe you need somebody a little more... experienced this morning?"

Ryuunosuke swallowed hard, and tried to think of a reply. But by then, Lum and Shinobu suddenly sidled up on either side of her. And then all she could see were the many adoring faces of passionate girls, all of them gazing down at her, needing her so much...

Ryuunosuke lurched forward, trying to push her way out of the grip of the girls. "Wait just a damned minute, will ya?!" She raised herself to a sitting position...

Only to find herself back in her futon, in her bedroom, her father glaring at her angrily.

It was a dream... Ryuunosuke groaned and flopped back into her bed. It was all a damned dream. And then her eyes fell on the small brown paper bag she hid her dream berries in. And then everything slid into place, with one certain unmistakable possibility making itself know.

Ryuunosuke ignored her father's contemptious glare, and tried to go back to sleep. Seconds later, she was back in the room with all the girls, but now she was considerably more ready to assert herself than before.

The next morning, Ryuunosuke arrived at class looking considerably more energetic. More energetic enough that she managed to wake up before her father did, bolt down breakfast, and head straight into class.

After the first class, Ataru quickly made his way over to Ryuunosuke's desk, grinning from ear to ear. "Ryuu-chan! How were the dream berries, you old dog?"

Ryuunosuke just shrugged. "Okay, I guess." She held up the paper bag. "Did you grow these... things? Because I ended up dreaming of getting swarmed by chicks!"

Ataru grinned even more. "Of course! Who else would make such a lovely dream if it wasn't me?"

Ryuunosuke nodded, and looked over at Lum, floating ominously behind Ataru’s head. “Yeah, it was definitely him, Lum.” She fought the urge to smirk as Ataru blinked in confusion, and turned around to see his fiancee glaring down at him, sparking with electricity.

“Darling,” Lum began dangerously, “Is this what you’ve been doing with my dream berries? Trying to spread your own sordid fantasies around the place?!” She floated closer, her expression turning more and more fearsome.

Ataru babbled as he backed away, trying to explain himself. Eventually, he just turned and bolted for the door outside, Lum floating after him.

Meanwhile, Ryuunosuke sat at her desk, pondering to herself what kind of bizarre and enticing dream that she would end up having tonight, all because of those damned berries.

After all, it was all just a dream, so it was probably okay to enjoy it as it happened, right?

#femslashfeb2018 #Urusei Yatsura #Ryuunosuke Fujinami #my fanfiction #my stuff

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basedkikuenjoyer · 11 months

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Moe Violence: or How I Struck the Jidaigeki Goldmine

I lost a close friend recently. A really close one and it was the kind of sudden bolt from the blue that’s really just fate waking up and deciding to kick you in the teeth. He liked old Western movies and was enough of a film buff to know how much back-and-forth there was with samurai cinema. So we had a lot of fun talking about movies. Made me want to finally get through a stack of films I’ve dug up on archive.org. Liking what I like, I think this binge has helped get a lot of clarity on where we started with looking at Lady Snowblood & Red Swallow Oyuki. (Oh...by the way. I plum forgot Snowblood’s auntie/confidant type figure was named Okiku. Always has a basket of yellow mums outside her door)

Started with checking out a trio of films the absolutely wonderful Junko Miyazono did after Red Swallow. Series is called Tales of the Poison Seductress; Hannya Ohyaku, Quick-Draw Okatsu, & Okatsu the Fugitive. They’re all standalone, caution though they’re very violent. SA is a factor too but from what I’ve seen most of the scenes may drag but try to keep it not too graphic. I say that as someone pretty turned off but “losing her virtue” is a threat hanging around frequently in these and there’s a torture element. This is 60s/70s Japanese Grindhouse cinema, the type of thing that inspired gory directors like Quentin Tarantino. It ain’t for everyone and that’s why I wanna gush about it here. What I’m getting more and more though is that pinning our beloved Okiku to one jidaigeki reference is a fool’s errand. My dears, she’s an ode to an entire subgenre!

Let’s not split hairs over the specific category of Toei films and slightly different ones with a female lead. The term I see used is “Pinky Violence.” Pinky coming from having female leads and being very sexually charged affairs. Toei needed to do something to compete with more Western movies making it over, so they opted for shock value and the way they went for it ended up giving us a pretty feminist genre. Not to say these were all jidaigeki which means “period drama.” There were a lot of modern ones I have yet to dive into heavily. Before Lady Snowblood Meiko Kaji gave us a really fun looking 6-part series called Stray Cat Rock for a great example. Machine guns, motorcycles, and LSD. They look awesome and check this aesthetic! I’m in love.

That knowledge does make me think of Nami and the early design with a missing arm. Jojo’s Stone Ocean as well while we’re at it. There’s also a fair number of Yakuza movies that fall sorta in between like the Red Peony Gambler (Hibotan Bakuto) series. It’s all a little nebulous if you want to get into the weeds. There’s a few different styles from a few different studios but make no mistake. These were popular movies in Japan. Big studios like Toei were churning them out as B movies to maintain relevance. Compete with television and Hollywood’s resources.

Know what isn’t nebulous? Yeah...the hallmarks of the genre are big things we see out of Okiku’s role in Wano. The otherwise perfect lady with some little hook that means she isn’t “marriage material.” The whole arc of showing she can kick as much ass as any man but always reminding you of the lady playing the part. A big, big shared element is this core theme of taking down corrupt officials who abuse their power. Urashima the Yokozuna is exactly the type of guy who’d end up a villain in these. Sticking up for humble villagers, looking out for other women and children. Being the collateral damage of “great” men’s ambitions is what we tend to see over traditional fare like say, reinstalling a dynasty. I love the running theme of these being so much more local in scope. And Kiku gets that modern twist of her being trans for the “excuse.” I adore that in contrast to anime trends of needing to make an excuse for the deviance. My dead sister was the favorite, I went silly due to trauma, etc. This trope and trend of subversion is a big reason I love the mistaken bride idea.

The more of these I see, and I’m friggin hooked these days, the more I see little bits and bobs that feel like they may have shaped our beautiful flower of Wano. And others! She’s a little more than a simple homage though. We do see the violence part pretty well for One Piece. Kiku gets the shit beaten out of her on Onigashima and it is gory by this manga’s standards. That’s where the modernization seems to be though. We tone down the sexuality for cute. Which isn’t that off base, the archetype in historical settings typically does have that innocent and sweet side. One Piece just isn’t the type of series you’re going to actually see things like making good on Tama’s intro of fleeing from being sold to the red light district. Even if it didn’t make it in the proper story, Kiku & Izo’s origin does flirt with that kind of content more than the series usually would. Hell, we do get Holdem torturing Tama and the series just fades to black on a similar spot for Tsuru.

Wano made this genre feel familiar already. Snowblood loves it some anachronic storytelling, Red Peony sets up and ends films with a non-diagetic theatrical framing. Ohyaku uses a big simpleton to bust out of a prison camp. Speaking of, can I please get someone whipping a hair stick like a dart? That’s my favorite little signature from the Red Peony. Oryu in those is a fun protagonist played by Junko Fuji. That’s one of the more accessible series, less graphic than One Piece so far, and she plays with gender as a theme more. Proclaims to be a man but we always see deep down she’s still a lady that wishes she could have married the honest merchant’s son. Oh...and almost all of these ladies are total daddy’s girls like Kiku acts towards Kin. That whole series gets its own because there’s eight of them and they’re soooo good.

Eiichiro Oda is a great writer and worldbuilder...but he’s actually pretty derivative. One Piece doesn’t break ground as much as refine the dominant genre when it started, even Rurouni Kenshin was more subversive for shonen. The more I see of these though, the more I see Oda just being this big kid who thought these old movies were so cool and couldn’t wait to rip into his samurai gang. Of course one of em if gonna be a little Junko Miyazono/Meiko Kaji being a fierce strong-willed lady of war. These movies are classic cool!

#one piece #wano arc #okiku #red peony gambler #hibotan bakuto #hannya ohyaku #quick draw okatsu #junko miyazono #junko fuji #inspirations and influences

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