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magnetictapedatastorage · 3 months

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HM:AWL critical analysis. a looooong post

harvest moon a wonderful life gamecube edition has a LOT of rough edges.

everything is incredibly, painfully slow. that's not so bad on its own, you know, to take things at a less frantic pace... but it's the menuing. menuing is fucking glacial. buying something takes ages, with long animations and having to restart the whole dialogue for every purchase. the font size is huge which means it takes FOREVER to get through a block of text (this is understandable, a small CRT of the game's era would need a huge font). but every time i talk to takakura there's at least a 50% chance he's going to try explain to me the basics of cows, which is like 9 dialog boxes long. also every time you select soil it takes 3 A presses to get out of it even though you only get 2 lines of dialogue.

the game feels wildly uneven. the cow system is fantastic, it feels genuinely educational while also being engaging and profitable in the game.

the crops are dogshit, full stop. you can not make a reasonable profit. there are no multiple-harvest crops. instead, there's some insane hybridization system that i can not for the life of me understand the POINT of (and that you need to befriend takakura- the 9 dialogue boxes guy- to use). planting and taking care of crops feels genuinely punishing with very touchy controls and long animations. all for a profit of 5g. oh and here's the final nail that REALLY shows you were never meant to do it: YOU CAN NOT SHIP THEM. EVER. YOU CAN'T SHIP CROPS. or anything else for that matter, except eggs and dairy. everything else has to be sold at your own market stall as you wait for an npc to walk by and MAYBE ask to buy SOMETHING in your inventory. god help you if they ask to buy the watering can instead.

going to bed has you wake up a set number of hours later (around 6 hours), rather than a specific time of morning the next day. you may have to sleep twice in a row to get to the next morning. which is... neither bad nor good. it's just interesting. you get a pet dog that does absolutely nothing, and that you can feed for no reason. it doesn't need food. you can disable the background music on the farm by interacting with the record player, and thank god because there is no variety by season and it gets grating quickly.

it feels like the very first generation of a brand new split-off series, that died on the vine. and i guess it kind of was. no other harvest moon game has done things like that, for better and worse. there's a lot of mysteries about the game to this day, and it's much less documented than the others in the series.

the game released in 2004. there was a rerelease for ps2, that fixed some of these things in 2005. there's been a PC rerelease in 2023, and i have no idea anything about it.

the only reason i've been playing the oldest version is to use the gay patch... nami will be mine eventually lol

#hm:awl

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awlimagines · 6 months

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Forget-Me-Not Valley Tours

Forget-Me-Not Valley wasn’t well known. You had only heard about it from a friend who insisted on the group visiting. Of course, they were late like always, leaving you to wander the town alone. Unlike Mineral Town, which had accommodated the changing times, the town on the other side of the mountain remained stuck in the past.

The first house you passed was a farm run by a boisterous lady named Vesta. Her ranch hands were like night and day as they showed you their farm. Cecilia was bright and helpful, while the surly Marlin grumbled about how oblivious city people could be. He seemed a little brighter when you exclaimed how delicious the crops tasted compared to what you bought in the city. Vesta was sure to load you up with crops as you left after the compliment.

Across the little dirt road stood a simple cottage. A wizened old man squatted on the ground, his cane lying next to him as he furiously scrubbed a tombstone spotless. He generously agreed to your help when you insisted on helping him. The man introduced himself as Galen, and the gravesite belonged to his wife, Nina. She was a spitfire; you learned from his stories as you scrubbed the stone clean. After you finished, your friends had yet to arrive from the mountain path. Galen kindly offered to show you to the inn and introduce you to the innkeepers on his way into town. You eagerly took his offer.

You paid some money to a funny little man dressed in leaves trying to return home. As he mentioned returning to Coco Island, the tears that filled his eyes touched your heart. It felt as though you had done a more extraordinary deed than sparing some loose change. You turned to catch up with Galen, who waited just past the wooden bridge. A young man dozed on the riverbank as others passed to and from a trail ahead. Galen pointed each out to you as you walked alongside him.

The young man sleeping his life away was Rock, whose parents owned the Inner Inn. Nami was the redhead and was the inn’s only paying resident. It felt like Galen emphasized that she was the only one who paid. You wondered who occupied the other rooms and didn’t pay rent. The thought was pushed aside as Galen pointed out the green-hatted musician Gustafa and a little boy named Hugh. True to his word, Galen introduced you to Tim and Ruby before leaving to continue his day. You learned through their apologies that Rock inhabited their only other room, and they, unfortunately, didn’t have space for you to stay.

“Oh, I’m just visiting for the day,” you explained. “It would be great to live somewhere like this, though.”

The couple exchanged a glance before urging you to speak with a man named Takakura. He ran a combination farm and ranch with an extra house. The house once belonged to his friend who had passed, Tim explained. The man’s daughter had come for about a year before leaving due to other circumstances. Pony just didn’t seem fit for life in Forget-Me-Not Valley. If you were serious about living in the village, Takakura would be the best to speak with.

You promised to speak with him before you left and wandered from the inn to explore more of the town. As you followed the winding path uphill, you took note of the buildings. A lab sparked behind the inn, leading toward a brightly colored yurt and the beach. There was a small combination bar and cafe and a neat row of three houses along the roadside. You could spy a metal trailer and a round building on stilts to your left. The large, imposing manor to your right looked more intriguing, and you made it your destination.

The manor’s little lady, Lumina, greeted you warmly in the courtyard, assuring you that you would be welcome inside. Her Aunt Romana loved visitors but warned you to be on guard. Her aunt also loved playing pranks on people whenever she got a chance. You cautiously poked your head in, unsure what to expect. A prim and proper butler, Sebastian, offered you tea while Romana led you to a large picture.

The large image took ample space on the manor wall and pictured the citizens and a few you hadn’t seen. Romana seemed proud and explained it was taken on New Year's to celebrate the town. She had watched Forget-Me-Not Valley grow and develop around her once lonely manor. Now, it bustled and thrived with a life all its own. It didn’t contain the city's business, but Romana believed it held more character in its residents. She pointed out their newest member, Pony. The young woman had been a wonderful influence on the town for the year she was there. You wanted to ask what happened to her when the manor’s front doors opening caught your interest.

A woman stood in front of your friends, a woman who looked similar to Pony. She frowned, asking what you were doing. You explained that you had been speaking with Romana about the town, but the friendly old lady was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, you turned back to catch the concerned faces of your friends. What was going on? The tour guide suggested the group return to Mineral Town. You shook your head in defiance. You would not leave until you knew what was happening. Was this a prank of Romana’s, as Lumina warned you? Where did she go?

The guide stopped your friends from arguing with you and softly explained. The Forget-Me-Not Valley you experienced, which existed in the picture, hadn’t existed for many, many years. The image before you was taken around seventy to eighty years ago. The guide’s mother was Pony. She had left to attend to details regarding her mother’s death in the city when Forget-Me-Not Valley was attacked. No one had thought the war to be a concern. The small town stood no chance against the new weapon.

There were no survivors. Once the radioactivity lowered, Pony used her savings and inheritance to establish the town’s remains as a historical site. She spent all her life ensuring Forget-Me-Not Valley would not be forgotten. Most of the town was refurbished along the memories of Pony but filled with reenactors. You had seen the people pictured and experienced a small part of their lives. You followed your friends on shaky legs as they spoke with the tour guide about any possible radiation sickness affecting you.

#story of seasons #harvest moon #story of seasons a wonderful life #bokujou monogatari #sos awl #harvest moon a wonderful life #hm awl #awl imagines

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jearmin · 6 years

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aaaaaaa i can’t believe i busted this out in time to wear it day 1 of AX but god i’m so so happy with it

#i busted out two all nighters in a row for this and died #penguindrum #mawaru penguindrum #penguindrum cosplay #himari takakura

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jailhouse41 · 7 years

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Lobby card for Death Row Woman (Onna Shikeishu No Datsugoku, 女死刑囚の脱獄 ), 1960, directed by Nobuo Nakagawa (中川信夫) and starring Miyuki Takakura (高倉みゆき).

#Death Row Woman #女死刑囚の脱獄 #Onna Shikeishu No Datsugoku #Nobuo Nakagawa #中川信夫 #Miyuki Takakura #高倉みゆき #lobby card #Shintoho #japanese movie #japanese film #japanese cinema #classic film #classic japanese film

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untitledtallgeesepodcast · 3 years

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Our fandom artifact for episode 04 is a dōjinshi anthology called Phallus Sex Symbol, collecting works by the circle 黄色の畑 Yellow-Farm from 1999 to 2003. Yellow-Farm was made up of writer Minazuki Yuina 水無月ゆいな and artist Takakura Row 高座朗 and was dedicated entirely to making works where Duo tops everyone. Takakura lists some original published works in the back of the anthology, so they seem to have been succeeding in commercial BL manga and art as well. The anthology was published on August 16th, 2003 and republishes short works which were originally “copy zines” with released in limited quantities at dōjinshi events from 1999 to 2003. Dōjinshi is the Japanese word for self-published magazines, now often used to refer to fanzines with fan comics and fanfiction sold at big all-fandom events such as Comic Market and smaller “only” events dedicated to one series, character, or pairing. They are also sold or resold at stores such as Tora no Ana and K Books. “Copy books” or “copy zines” usually refer to short event-limited releases printed on the fly, nowadays often day of the event at the convenience store copy machines on the way or at Tokyo Big Sight.

Phallus Sex Symbol is an all-seme (top) Duo collection. I feel like usually (this is just a personal impression maybe from my biases) fujoshi want their favorite character to be the one who bottoms all the time—maybe it’s just me, but I want to see the boy get wrecked. But there’s another type of fan out there and that’s the one who wants their boy to be the greatest dick in the land, the dick of dicks, and the heroes of Yellow-Farm are those types of fans, dedicated to making sure everyone gets some of that Maxwell D.

A character relationship chart shows the relationships of the Phallus Sex Symbol universe, as well as “canon” pictures of each character so we know what they looks like transformed into Takakura’s distinct and beautiful style. The biggest transformation is Duo, which is what drew me to this cover in the first place: he’s big, broad, tall, his hair is even longer and more flowing, it’s blonde! He looks like Zechs. A great example of a fan adapting the art style to suit their characterization. The other pilots get minor updates: Wufei gets two cute braided buns, Trowa gets bangs drawn in a way that makes sense, Heero gets the most beautiful eyes and eyelashes and his hair color is darkened, and Quatre… remains a cute blonde.

The main Duo pairings get descriptions so we go into their stories knowing what the deal is:

Wufei’s feelings for Duo: Won’t say it but love (Duo’s back: Hides his feelings but a good guy)

Heero’s feelings for Duo: A tenacious love. “Mine only.” (Duo: Taciturn, unfriendly, rash; Heero and Quatre are mutually locked in a “Keep your hands off my Duo” relationship.)

Hilde —> Duo: LOVE ❤️ (Duo: Living together ❤️ ; the note for Hilde on the side adds that her feelings are one-sided, but Heero still considers her an obstacle.)

Trowa —> Duo: A secret romantic love (Duo: Kind and quiet)

Quatre —> Duo: “My darling.” (Duo: A gentle little rich boy)

Rashid —> Duo: Likes. Paternal love?! (Duo: Relies on him)

That last note is particularly ?! since Rashid, whom you may recall is the manly leader of Maguanacs Corps, the fighters who assist Quatre, gets an amazing comic where Duo fucks his insecurities right out of him. I’m glad to see Rashid getting some love, even if the story is a bit of Rashid feeling bad about being old and ugly and worshipping Duo’s young (white?) cock; at least Duo finds Rashid beautiful. I’m pretty sure Rashid and Duo interact during the arc where Quatre and Duo hide out in that problematically(?)-Middle-Eastern town, so I judge that to be enough interaction for the ALL-SEME DUO AGENDA to do their business.

Heero and Quatre’s rivalry comes up in a short comic where Wizard Quatre steals Duo’s penis while Heero is using it (discussed on the pod.)

Another short comic plays off the story of the King with Donkey Ears: Duo is a king with donkey ears and his lovers (guard Heero, hairdresser Trowa, cook Wufei, and a neighboring country’s prince Quatre) are sworn to secrecy. But Lover D, Quatre, can’t stand it anymore and he digs a hole in the ground. Into it, he shouts: “THE KING IS HUNG LIKE A DONKEY.” And so the secret gets out. Yes, this is a joke about Duo’s giant donkey dick. I love it and respect it.

In between the comics, the anthology includes four fanfiction stories by Minazuki: Advent: Risc Factor, Marvelous: Duo Maxwell Rape Story, Milky Shot: Ghost Love Story, and Criminal (罪人). These are various pairings but Duo/Trowa is prominent! Who knew! They’re all non-canon but the degree of AU-ness varies. The first one is the most interesting: it’s a modern AU where Duo is a college student and private detective. I didn’t delve very deeply into the others, but it’s fun to see how fanfiction tropes are universal.

After reading all this: I think I’m default a bottom-Duo fan but this has made me see the light of top Duo.

(Note: Sharing parts of dōjinshi online is a contentious issue for fan communities, so I kept the photos just to my poorly angled camera shots rather than scans. 黄色の畑の皆様がこれを見て消して欲しいなら、ぜひご連絡してください。)

#untitled tallgeese podcast #episode 04 #artifacts

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doctor48md · 7 years

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AKB48 49th Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo: Post-Mortem

Depending on who you ask, last night was either the best Sousenkyo in 48G history, or the worst, or in my case, a little bit of both. Starting from the atrocious beachside weather, down to the final speech in that concert hall in Okinawa, the events of the past 48 hours were so polarizing, that it made Dai Sokaku Matsuri 2014 look like a birthday party. This is the first time a 48G event has left me with so many more questions than answers. As much as I try to make sense of the numbers, I am still left in this state of confusion. But let’s try to see if we can find the order in this chaos.

1. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

Look, you’ve proved your god damn point. Enough is enough. Stop kicking us when we’re already down.

The glaring futility of this battle was obvious from the very start. Admittedly, I came into this year’s Sousenkyo carrying the same hesitation I had after last year’s results. I already knew it was going to turn out this way, yet for some reason, there was this tiny glimmer of hope that maybe, maybe things could still be a little different this year. Just maybe, we would somehow be able to overcome the almost-10,000-vote lead Sashihara had on Mayu?

Of course, though, as with all lofty ambitions and unrealistic goals, this dream came crashing down around Mayu and her fans, after which the ruins caught fire and burned away into the ashes of oblivion.

Maybe I’m just projecting here, but you could see it in her eyes, even before she got up from her seat. The disappointment, the frustration, the exhaustion, and worst of all, the realization that no matter what she did, there was no way she would ever experience victory ever again as long as the immovable object that was Sashihara Rino existed.

And that’s when it came. I’ve seen my fair share of graduation announcements before, but this is the first time where I truly felt a sense of anguish behind it. Again, maybe I’m just projecting, but when the words came out of Mayu’s mouth, they felt… heavy. It felt like she was finally giving up, her spirit battered and broken after years of fighting this godforsaken battle.

Of course, we should also take a step back and look at what this means in the grander scheme of things. With Mayu now making her intentions known, the challenges that lie ahead for AKB48 are clear. Team B’s manpower crunch is a priority issue that needs to be settled quickly; the solutions are there already in the form of our Draft picks and Kenkyuuseis, they just need to be executed in a timely, efficient manner.

2. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over… oh

Speaking of insanity, we can’t forget the one moment that’s currently blowing up the Japanese Twittersphere. An idol? Getting married? While still in the group? Talk about absolute madness!

I’m personally of the opinion that there’s no true right or wrong way to deal with a scandal, but this one really takes the cake in terms of its potential fallout. Sutou Ririka really made one hell of a gamble last night. #20 UG position be damned; she had bigger things to worry about. Bunshun was loaded and ready to fire, but no way was she going to let them pull the trigger. Before the S-bomb could even be dropped, she detonated it prematurely, going nuclear with a shock announcement during her speech that threw the audience of members into absolute chaos. Admittedly, she left us more questions than answers, with a chain reaction across the group that left members, staff and fans bewildered, and even a few visibly pissed off seniors. No doubt NMB48 is currently locked-down in full damage control mode right now. We’re expecting a press conference within the next 24 to 48 hours to fully explain the situation, but until then, someone needs to go and prepare the popcorn machine.

3. Flight of the Ibis: The Rise of NGT48

Now for the more macroscopic phenomena. The entry of an entire legion of junior members from Niigata brought with it an interesting break from tradition: NGT48, despite this being only their second Sousenkyo, would end up securing just as many spots as their seniors in NMB48, and even securing a Kami7 position extremely early on in their lifespan. Their overall rank share sports an impressive improvement of 11.25%, from 1 to 10, taking away positions from all the other sister groups in almost-equal proportions. That aside, though, the rest of the rank shares hold steady from before – AKB48 maintains plurality thanks to new entrants and promising juniors from Team 8 and their team of Kenkyuuseis, while both SKE48 and NMB48 focused their efforts more on pushing their existing rank-ins into higher positions across the board.

Back to NGT48, though; A shake-up in their hierarchy may very well be on the cards, considering how differently the management-back pushes performed in comparison to their peers. While Takakura and Nakai managed decent positions in the Undergirls tier, Kato fell way behind, only just managing to hold her position in the Upcoming Girls tier. In comparison, we have Row-2s like Ogino Yuka and Honma Hinata breaking into Senbatsu with vote leads numbering in the tens of thousands. One can’t help but wonder where this will leave the three frontliners in the months ahead.

4. AKB48’s Senbatsu Problem

For AKB48, however, despite securing a majority in overall rank share, their performance at the Senbatsu level leaves something to be desired. With only 4 native members in Senbatsu, being surpassed by SKE48’s 5, this is AKB48’s worst Senbatsu rank share of all time. The exit of several high-profile members from Sousenkyo this year (Kashiwagi, Shimazaki, Muto, Kojima H.) meant that we would be losing a huge share of votes in lieu of pushing in junior members at the lower tiers. Making matters worse, Mukaichi lost a whopping 12,000 votes to crash out into the Undergirls tier; while it’s still a Center position, some might wonder if this is an ominous sign for her career in the near future.

So what does this mean for AKB48? I had foreseen about two to three years ago that this would eventually become an issue sooner or later, so my personal opinion is that AKB48 should just ride it out. Juniors like Mukaichi, Okada, Takahashi J., Kato and Kawamoto have shown promise; they just need time to build up their fanbases to match those of their sister group seniors and peers. Maybe next year we’ll start to see more results on that front, but until then, resources still have to be invested into expanding their respective individual profiles.

5. The Sousenkyo Arms Race: Compressing the Curve

Black bars denote drops in vote-for-rank, and white bars indicate increases.

With the year-on-year trend of voter swings towards the lower tiers, we see a further definition of pre-existing voting patterns this year. Votes-for-rank at the Next, Future and Upcoming Girls tiers continue to climb steadily, with correspondingly-significant increases in the vote requirements for those tiers. On the other hand, votes-for-rank at the Senbatsu and Undergirls tiers continue to drop significantly, reflective not only of the shift towards voting for junior members, but also the exit of all the big names at the top driving voters away from those tiers.

The overall result is a compression of the curve; it is becoming increasingly difficult to rank in in the first place, but for those who are already in the game, making your way up the ranks is becoming significantly easier given the decreasing vote-for-rank requirements at the higher tiers. Members and fans would do well to take note of this ongoing trend, should they wish to take advantage of it, or at least to be able to plan their voting strategies accordingly.

What now?

So, was this the best Sousenkyo in 48G history, or the worst, or even a little bit of both? You decide. The results seem to point towards a mixed picture: 48G’s juniors are certainly proving their worth and living up to their promises, but one can’t help but be worried at the direction we’re heading, especially when we consider the complicated situation our higher-tier members must face in the year ahead. Things will undoubtedly be difficult for 48G and its leaders. It is up to the members and Management to reassess their chances, and to do what is necessary to weather the storms ahead. The bad weather at Okinawa was merely the start of their problems.

As for me? I think I need a break. Starting tomorrow, 19 June 2017, I am placing this blog on indefinite hiatus. Between the exhausting, hectic work schedule of a house officer, I find that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do what I usually do on this blog. I’ll come back every few weeks to say hi, maybe make a post or two, and answer any asks that may come my way, but I doubt I’ll be able to put up lengthy essays like this anymore in the near future. No point continuing, since it seems like I’m talking to a wall everytime I do so anyway.

I deeply apologize to all my followers, old and new, (especially the few that joined over the past few days). I will keep this blog online, my ask box will remain open, and every post that I have ever put up will still be searchable via the appropriate tags. I just cannot guarantee that any new posts on this blog will be as in-depth or as content-driven as before.

#48opinion #akb48 49th single senbatsu sousenkyo #akb48 #ske48 #nmb48 #hkt48 #ngt48 #stu48 #watanabe mayu #sashihara rino #sutou ririka #ogino yuka

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trainer-t0uko · 7 years

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Tagged by @dentos-wife

☆Name: Alexandra

☆Nickname: Alex, tsun,i have more but i forgot...

☆Gender: female

☆Star Sign: Aries

☆Height: 5′2

☆Sexual orientation: het

☆Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

☆Favorite Color: Blue/Pink/Teal

☆Favorite Animal: Dog/Penguin

☆Time right now: 11:30 pm

☆Cat or dog person: Dog

☆Favorite Fictional Character: Shouma Takakura for the 5th year in a row, despite what i say about him

☆# of blankets I sleep with: one

☆ Favorite Singer/band: idk? Probably Shakira

☆ Dream Trip:Im also a weeb i wanna go to Japan but mainly New York

☆Dream Job: I wanted something to do with art but i don’t feel like i like it so much anymore, now i just want a job that pays well i don’t think i even mind what it is, now im wishing i had decided to be a vet

☆When blog created: Feb 2011 but i didn’t start using it till July

☆Current number of followers: 912

☆Why did you make this tumblr: My cousin made me do it and ironically me and him don’t speak anymore either jane lol

☆ Why did you pick your URL: Touko with and “O” was taken and she’s my favorite protag

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mangaredditdotcom · 4 years

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Yannacchaukurai Aishiteru.

Alternative: I Can't Stop Loving You! ; Pure Love (French)

Description : Kyouji is a Buddhist exorcist, and although he can't see ghosts, his best friend and lover, Yu, can! Maybe they'd go all the way if Yu's incredible supernatural strength could be held in check. How can a steamy, sexy relationship survive such obstacles? Story and art by Row Takakura. from media blasters #MangaReddit.com, #ReadFreeMangaOnline Read Free Manga Online at MangaReddit.com: https://mangareddit.com/p/yannacchaukurai-aishiteru_1584417327.html

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tomk4e · 5 years

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Women’s World Cup Preview: Group D

Group D

England looks to build on their fine form after winning the 2019 She Believes Cup, while Japan is seeking to reach the final of the World Cup for the third time in a row. They are joined by Scotland, who is making their first appearance in the World Cup, and Argentina, who returns to the competition after a 12 year hiatus.

England (FIFA Ranking: 3)

The Three Lionesses will try to improve upon their third-place finish from the 2015 Women’s World Cup and are the favorites to advance from the group with Japan. England boasts a talented squad that has reached the semi-finals in their last two major tournaments. Qualifying for France was not too much of a hassle for England, who averaged three goals a game in qualifying. Captain and defender Lucy Bronze is coming off a fantastic domestic season after winning another Women’s Champions League title with French club Lyon. Diminutive forward Fran Kirby will also be making her second World Cup appearance, and should be England’s main attacking threat. Kirby had two goals and five assists in qualifying. This will be head coach Phil Neville’s first appearance in a major tournament after Neville was appointed head coach in 2018. But England have enough firepower and experience to get them back to the semi-finals in 2019.

Japan (FIFA Ranking: 7)

Japan have qualified for every single World Cup, having won the tournament in 2011 and were runners-p in 2015. Japan qualified for France after retaining their AFC Women’s Asia Cup title. And head coach Asako Takakura-Takemoto brings a relatively young squad to the World Cup. 22-year-old midifielder Yui Hasegawa will try to add to her six goals and 30 appearances for Japan while 26-year-old forward Mana Iwabuchi, who has 20 goals in 61 appearances, will be the spearhead for the Japanese attack. However Japan still does not lack tournament experience. Takakura-Takemoto coached the U-17 Japan team to a U-17 Women’s World Cup victory in 2014 and 31-year-old defender Aya Sameshima should be a calming force for Japan. The Nadeshiko love to play with possession and make quick, incisive passes and should be one of the most fun teams to watch all tournament.

Scotland (FIFA Ranking: 20)

Scotland needed to come from behind on the final day of qualification to advance and make their first World Cup appearance. Because of this Scotland are an unknown quantity heading into the tournament. All of their players have no World Cup experience, but that does not mean they cannot compete. Forward Kim Little has 53 goals in 132 appearances, and is finally healthy after recovering from a broken fibula and torn ACL. While captain defender Rachel Corsie is a calming presence in the backline and has plenty of experience with over 100 international caps for Scotland. With a phanatical following and an eventual match against rivals England, the Scots should be a fun watch for any soccer fan.

Argentina (FIFA Ranking: 37)

Argentina will playing in their third World Cup, however it will be their first since 2007. They only qualified for the tournament after beating Panama in a two-legged playoff. Coach Carlos Borello was appointed the job for the second time after managing La Albiceleste from 2003 to 2012. During that time Borello coached Argentina to its two previous World Cups and their only international title, the 2006 Copa America Femina. Captain Estefania Banini will try to add to her six international goals for Argentina. While fellow forward Soledad Jaimes will be searching for more major tournament goals after bagging five in the 2018 Copa America Femina.

Prediction

England - 7 points

Japan - 6 points

Scotland - 3 points

Argentina - 1 point

#women world cup #soccer #world cup

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mangaforsale · 2 years

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I Can't Stop Loving You (やんあちゃうくらい愛している) / Row Takakura - $20

Kyouji is a Buddhist exorcist, although he can't see ghosts his best friend and lover, Yu, can! Maybe they'd go all the way if Yu's incredible supernatural strength could be held in check. How can a steamy, sexy relationship survive such obstacles?

#i can't stop loving you #bl yaoi #yaoi manga #yaoi bl #manga sale #manga for sale #takakura row #row takakura #japanese manga #lgbt manga

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3librisoprailcielo · 9 years

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MANIC MONDAY: "I can't stop loving you" di Row Takakura

MANIC MONDAY: “I can’t stop loving you” di Row Takakura

Titolo originale: Yannacchaukurai Aishiteru Autrice: Row Takakura Tipologia: yaoi Genere: sovrannaturale, sci-fi, scolastico Anno di pubblicazione in Giappone: 2003 Casa Editrice giapponese: Biblos Volumi: 2 (concluso) Titolo in Italia: I can’t stop loving you Anno di pubblicazione in Italia: 2004 Casa Editrice italiana: Kappa Edizioni Prezzo: 8,50 € su Kappa Edizioni / 7,23 € su Amazon Volumi:…

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#Row Takakura #sovrannaturale #yaoi

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doctor48md · 7 years

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AKB48 49th Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo Day One Results: Take-Away Points

Now that we've had a week to let the massive surprises from Day One sink in, I've taken some time to work through the numbers to try and gain some insight into where we're headed come this Saturday on a beach in Okinawa.

First things first though, let me preface this with the obvious - we all know that the D1Rs as a tool for gauging individual ranks is absolutely useless; anything beyond the Top 10 remains incredibly unpredictable, save for maybe confirming a small handful of possible new rank-ins.

That said, I've found the D1Rs to be a useful tool for looking at 'macro' trends, such as rank shares between groups, getting a feel for how the cut-off points for each tier will change, as well as how much vote inflation/stability we can expect on a year-on-year basis. With that in mind, let's take a look at what this year's preliminary results can tell us.

1. Tons of New Faces

With several big names sitting out of the race this year, it comes as no surprise that we've got several high-flying juniors quickly stepping in to try and stake their claims on those empty spots. Up-and-coming juniors like Kurano Narumi, Kubo Satone and Taniguchi Megu; new-gen sister-group starlets like Shiroma Miru, Suto Ririka, Goto Rara and Takeuchi Saki; and even a few fan-favourite underdogs like Okita Ayaka, Fuchigami Mai and Murase Sae.

What is a surprise, however, is how quickly NGT48 has capitalized upon this opportunity to push in a significant number of their own members. Even more surprising is the makeup of these members: Takakura Moeka ranks in at an impressive #7, while Nakai Rika just manages to eke in an entry at #84, and Kato Minami is nowhere to bee seen. On the other hand, NGT48's fans have managed to push in a good-to-fair number of Row-2s into the ranks: Honma Hinata, Miyajima Aya, Nishigata Marina and of course, the most shocking result of them all, Ogino Yuka, whose Day 1 counts crushed the likes of Watanabe Mayu, Sashihara Rino and Matsui Jurina to come in first. Which brings me to my next point.

2. Unpredictability at the Top

D1Rs have traditionally been a more-or-less accurate measure of who we can expect to be the main candidates for #1. Past years have often featured group Centers and Aces in the top 4-5 spots, with names like Watanabe Mayu, Matsui Jurina, Yamamoto Sayaka, Sashihara Rino - all of whom are leaders seeking to claim glory for their own groups.

This year, however, featured two surprising additions - Honma Hinata (#5, 25,032 votes) and Ogino Yuka (#1, 55,061 votes), both of whom are neither group-based Centers nor leaders spearheading NGT48's PR team. With these two thrown into the mix, the Battle for Center this year looks like it could very well be a surprising upset in the same vein as Sashihara's victory over Watanabe and Oshima in 2013. It remains to be seen if NGT48's fans can keep up the pressure, or if Sashihara, Matsui or Watanabe's fans have hidden Aces up their sleeves.

3. Sister Group Rank Shares

What with all the unpredictability, though, I think there's at least one thing we can still count on: D1Rs as a relatively-reliable estimate of the eventual rank shares between the sister groups at the final results. This trend has held relatively true over the years, and there's no real reason for me to expect it to change this year yet.

Looking only at the top 80 ranks, we can probably expect that the general proportion of rank shares for AKB48, SKE48 and NMB48 will hold steady for this year. Except for NGT48 winning over a good number of ranks, I don't think we should expect any major swings one way or another in favour of any specific group, just in case the sister group purists start getting any ideas. Before anyone starts lamenting about STU48's performance, though, do take into consideration that the 1 spot that NGT48 took at the D1Rs for 2015 and 2017 were thanks to Kitahara. Give them time; I'll only start to expect to see their relative popularity pick up in the next year or so.

4. Vote inflation and cut-off points

Making a quick comparison to past years' cut-off points for each tier, the most noticeable increase would be in the Upcoming Girls tier (an increase in 1,056 votes), as compared to the other tiers, where the cut-off points have increased by margins of around 500 votes or less. With that in mind, I think we should be able to expect that this year's cut-off point to rank in at #80 will be subject to a significant increase corresponding to the D1R increase this year. I would therefore also expect that vote inflation will be hitting especially hard at the lower tiers this year, especially considering that we have so many new members competing to rank in from all across the organization this year (from NGT48, STU48, Team 8, and the new junior generations that have joined us over the past year)

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