#tsushima no onryo
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Criticism of Blue Eyed Samurai
Well, I just watched Blue Eyed Samurai. Been spotting several positive clickbait thumbnails of it, so even though I didn't have high expectations based on the trailer, I gave it a go. And well, it was what I feared it was. I still enjoyed it though! And it's an engaging story, just not what I wish it was. Anyways, I wrote a comment on Reddit about it, which I thought I'd repost here.
Edit: I ended up going in and reordering some paragraphs under headings, as people on Reddit replied to by comment. Noticing people are nitpicking the historical accuracy of my commentary, which wasn't really what I was concerned about. It's more that certain cues in these stories make me expect certain things.
The main point of much of this text is to look into what makes Blue Eyed Samurai a noticeably American story, by comparing it to other jidaigeki stories with a similar setting made for and by Asian people, and stories set in Asia made by Americans (for Americans).
🚧 NB! I'm still working on the text. Text marked in cursive are just notes, so please ignore them for now! 🚧
Overall verdict
I did also think of Ghost of Tsushima while watching, but in the sense that Blue Eyed Samurai lacks what I liked about it. Ghost of Tsushima did a great job with its Japanese localization, and referenced actual bushido conduct, although a little bit off still. Blue Eyed Samurai throws around words like samurai and honor, but doesn't appear to actually understand what these words entails, and only focuses on the superficial badassery of it (...)
But overall, great choreography and compositing, engaging story and characters ... Blue Eyed Samurai is good, but does veer into the uncanny valley for me, which I know was an issue Asians had with ATLA. Guess I felt it a little bit more with Blue Eyed Samurai due how much (unrealistic) violence and (meaningless) sex is glorified, and made me question what exactly the overall moral message of the story was supposed to be beyond simply "revenge plots are cool but also destructive." As somebody else said, it's giving "guts and tits for the people."
Glorification of the badassery of revenge
So, somebody replied that they thought we should be careful about romanticizing bushido, and provided examples of samurai being deceitful. This is my reply.
You missed my point. I did not want Blue Eyed Samurai to romanticize bushido, I wanted it to discuss and explore it, exactly because it throws around words like honor and samurai. A first step towards this is to acknowledge that Mizu is not a samurai.
What is Mizu?
We could argue that she is a ronin, but then she'd technically must've been serving a lord as a samurai in the past, and should be at least be a tiny bit concerned with chivalry (at least enough to discuss or talk about it), which we know isn't the case. Mizu is closer to being a shinobi/ninja, since her goal is to assassinate her 4 maybe fathers. Another thing Mizu shares with shinobi is that both are often criticised by samurai because of their penchant for ambushes and lack of concern for bushido / warriors code. Yet she breaks the mold of being a shinobi, since she doesn't really sneak around in (civilian) disguise and will openly brawl her way through a dojo and into a fort.
Mizu has a lot in common with the titular protagonis of the manga Azumi. Both are female assassins with foreign blood (bluish eyes) fighting during the Sakoku policy. While Mizu's motivation is simply revenge for the injustice she and her mother suffered at the hands of the gaijin faction, in Azumi the motivation is to prune the country like a bonsai tree off individuals which may threathen a new age of peace, and prevent the country from slipping back into the Sengoku period of civil war.
But where characters in Blue Eyed Samurai is heavily protected by plot armor, allowing Mizu to be an almost invincible pin cushion, no one is safe in Azumi and injured characters requires months to recover and heal from cuts.
While writing this, I recalled that in episode 5, they interjected a story about a samurai marrying and fathering a child with a woman who descended from an enemy clan. He kills both her and their son, which turns her into a onryō. Mizu being an Onryō works, but I am left questioning how this fits into the story beyond its symbolism, as there's been no explicit supernatural elements in the story. Mizu is bullied for being the (devil) spawn of a quote "white devil" in childhood, I think it would be more interesting if they called her a "white ghost," since onryos (which could represent Mizu) are a type of vengeful female ghost. Furthermore, Taigen often compares Mizu to a dog, esp. when she does not live up to the samurai standards he holds her to. Not sure where that fits in either..
Orientalism
So the statement about samurai criticising shinobi was called out as orientalist. This was my reply:
As for orientalism, I guess Blue Eye Samurai is being orientalist then, which I was kinda feeling while watching but didn't really put into words. It's pretty stereotypical to connect Japanese with honor and samurai after all, contributing to why I felt the show was very American.
In the sense of samurai simply meaning warrior, then we can consider Mizu a samurai. But Taigen (and Akemi) connects being a samurai with honor and complains about fair play. By making this connection, he invokes bushido/chivalry and excludes people who ambush others like assassins from the definition of being a samurai, and by extension criticises assassins like ninjas for not shying away from "dishonorable" ambushes. To restore his honor, Taigen wants to arrange a formal duel and even writes up a challenge letter (hatashijou), which makes sense in terms of the dojo trope. But well, the series does contradict itself a lot in favor of cool one liners, and what it means to be a samurai or knight has changed throughout history.
"Glory" in Azumi
As I said, the manga Azumi is what I was hoping Blue Eyed Samurai would be. Azumi is a gritty look into (among other things) both shinobi and samurai that does not romanticize either, and has won an award for its exploration of these concepts in relation to buddhism. In fact, everyone in Azumi suffers. The only one who is perhaps glorified is Azumi, who many critics compare to a boddhisattva.
Throughout the story, Azumi works to not become too attached to earthly comforts, but still suffers because of her attachment to her companions. As Azumi completes her pruning missions for her boss (the Buddhist monk Tenkai), she accumulates a lot of bad karma in the form of endless waves of people pursuing her for either revenge, the bounty on her head, the thrill of defeating a master swordswoman, etc. Because of it, 90% of her closest companions SPOILER die, and many of her friends are raped or permanently maimed, and has to deal with the trauma and practical inconveniences of it. Often because they are caught in the crossfire between Azumi's targets or those who pursue her.
By the end of the story, Azumi still ends up making new companions like usual and her boss continues wanting to send her on pruning missions. But she decides to leave them all behind, so that those she cares about will not be affected by her bad karma again. She knows she will have to stay on the road indefinitely and will never really be able to enjoy the comforts of settling down, because of her pursuers. The series makes the buddhist argument that earthly attachment in general causes suffering, and Azumi is enlightened by abandoning those attachments and by facing her karma, although that does not mean she will not end up with a violent death. The story ends openly with Azumi wandering off into obscurity.
Time period
Some people began nitpicking the historical accuracy of my commentary, which wasn't really what I was concerned about. I am open to artistic liberty. However, with BES it was a little bit harder, since they made so many historical references and leaned into the jidaigeki genre, but then broke it in ways that came off as uncanny to me. Looking back, I guess this uncanny feeling was the orientalism letting itself be known, though I couldn't put it into words back then.
As jidaigeki is a subgenre of historical stories, certain cues does make me expect certain things. Like when I see an English-speaking gaijin as the antagonist, I would make the connection that this story is probably set sometime after the Americans forced Japan to open up for trade in the 1800s. Yet this expectation is then contradicted when I learn that no foreigners are allowed in Japan yet due to the Sakoku policy, which makes me wonder what this Irishman is doing here all alone centuries too early and how he even managed to climb to such a powerful position while being so isolated.
Gaijins as antagonists
Why an Irishman as the gaijin antagonist? It'd make more sense if it was a portuguese or dutch. If Blue Eyed Samurai is set in 17th century Edo Japan, it's a long time off when the Americans forced Japan to put down the sakoku policy, and even then, why Britain/London? If anything, Japan and Britain liked each other enough to form an alliance for their shared fear of Russia.
Why not other colonial powers who were actually active in Japan and Asia overall at the time (the Dutch) or the ones who caused Christianity to be banned during the sakoku (the Portuguese).
My first thought of a precedent goes to Konishi Shizune, the Christian revolutionary leader in Azumi who's also mixed race like Azumi, which is based on the historical Amakusa Shiro.
(Depictions of Gaijins: Americans during postwar Japan in Hajime no Ippo. Senator Armstrong in Metal Gear Solid)
Japanese in Europe
With Mizu heading to Europe, I came across people discussing the plot armor and how Mizu wouldn't stand a chance against the guns nor London police. It came off as kind of white supremacist, and the entire thread was locked because of unsolicited opinions from outsiders.
To be fair, Japan had guns too at the time. According to Netflix themselves, Blue Eye Samurai takes place in the 1600s. If that's the case, it means that the guns were mostly muskets, rifles and pistols which took time to load, so people did still use swords even in Europe. And only a century earlier in the 1500s, when Dreamwork's El Dorado is set, people would still use firearms and crossbows side by side, and Oda Nobunaga also used firearms in his own warfare during the sengoku period.
Also, the police didn't exist yet, since the UK police were created in the late 1700s. As for the London battalion or royal guards storming her, it'd either amount to when she was stormed by the hand claw guys. The plot armor in the first season was a lot imo even then though. But sneaking up on them depends on the terrain and context, so I can see it happening.
Furthermore, it's not unrealistic for Japanese people to travel to Europe, because there's historical precedence for this. In 1613, Hasekura Tsunenaga was sent on a diplomatic mission to negotiate with the pope and the king of Spain, and some of his men even stayed behind to form the Japon clan in Spain. The expedition took 7 years, and ironically enough, once he returned, christianity had already been banned in Japan. The people who still kept the Christian faith in spite of this came to be known as kakure kirishitan.
Debauchery means it's for adults ..
The way characters (esp. Mizu) will throw out badass oneliners as if on a treadmill, only to contradict exactly what she said as short as 5 seconds later does mess with my suspension of disbelief.
The story also goes into protitution and patriarchy, though it also felt superficial to me. If anything it feels like an excuse for fan service, similar to Game of Thrones in a sense. Like they know that sex sells, and that's what "the audience really wants." That said, again I enjoyed both GOT and Blue Eye Samurai, even though some may laconically break the former down to "dragons and tits" and the latter to "guts and tits".
Token representation
Mizu's apprentice was born without hands, which could have brought about an interesting exploration of disability. But instead, he's relegated to being a quirky sidekick and comedic relief..
BES is an American story
Blue Eyed Samurai has all the visual motifs of a Japanese samurai story (jidaigeki), but the tropes and logic is extremely American. It does get the artifacts and set dressing of a jidaigeki story right (surprisingly accurate at some points), which is why it triggered the uncanny valley for me sometimes. When certain artifacts and set ups appeared, I expected it to follow certain tropes I'm used to from jidaigeki, but it didn't really do that.
Kung Fu Panda
In contrast, Kung Fu Panda is also in the same boat. It has the artefacts of a Chinese wuxia story, but it is ultimately based on Chinatown (a theme park-esque idea of China designed by and to cater to white people, as a Chinese American defense mechanism). However, where Kung Fu Panda is an American love letter to Chinese kung fu films, Blue Eye Samurai isn't really a love letter to jidaigeki, and caters rather to white people's idea of the stereotypical samurai.
My understanding is that Kung Fu Panda is pretty popular in China.
Yes, Kung Fu Panda is popular in China. I also enjoyed Kung Fu Panda, which is why I used it to compare what I felt was lacking in Blue Eyed Samurai. If I had to choose one to rewatch, I would rather watch Kung Fu Panda.
That said, Accented Cinema points out that although Kung Fu Panda is often used as an argument of successful orientalism, it's rather about China's own failure in representing themselves. In my opinion, Kung Fu Panda's perhaps saving grace was that it didn't take itself too seriously, yet still delivered on the serious bits when it needed to.
Patriarchy and gender roles
While I understand and appreciate your critique, I don't think the narrative is grounded in realism. It's more like expressing the need that women do have to see themselves in the shoes of a physically invincible protagonist. Also the motivation isn't simply revenge - what has happened to Mizu has convinced that her very existence is suffering. She's internalized the hate to an extent that it no longer matters whether she lives or dies. She will slowly change as a person and her motivations will also change, which I hope we get to see . All the characters are somewhere trying to rebel against their gender roles, and that I feel is the 'message'. Also as far as the right antagonist to show goes, Fowler seems an indictment of British colonialism a few centuries too soon, but his attitudes aren't unfamiliar. At all.
Blue Eyed Samurai doesn't explore the concepts it references or markets itself with, but seems to throw them around because samurai and honor sounds cool and is a stereotypically Japanese/Sinosphere thing. Instead it'd rather explore gender roles and patriarchy. And the character Blue Eyed Samurai primarily uses to explore these themes with isn't the titular protagonist, but rather Princess Akemi.
But Akemi's struggles with patriarchy, also comes off as more a Western suffragette story than a Sinosphere one.
The Princess as a Caged Bird
Other stories about gender roles and patriarchy in ancient Japan to which we can compare this to is probably Isao Takahata's Princess Kaguya, though this one is probably set long before BES in the Heian period.
Like in Kaguya, the ohaguro set is presented as a symbol of oppression for Akemi. However, instead of being explicitly oppressed by outside forces like Akemi, Kaguya is instead pressured by societies and her father's idea of what a princess should be to become happy. Throughout the film, Kaguya questions what it is all for and even counters against her governess that "a princess is not a human then!"
Princess Kaguya as a roadside flower. To be plucked in a moment of fancy, and neglected once savored and bored. Merely a trophy to be won and stowed away in a display cabinet.
The film explores what makes life worth living, by exploring the difference between humanity and moon people.
Filial piety. Fulfilling your own dreams through your offspring. Showing off achievements to relatives (accumulating merit).
Geisha and maiko in contrast to the Oiran of the red light district. Streetwalkers. Prostitution - the world's oldest profession.
Oda Nobunaga's younger sister in Nobunaga Concerto and Azumi.
Hypergamy. Tradition of men being adopted into the wife's household. The Fujiwara clan of the Heian period, who continuously married their women into the imperial family for generations. Attitudes around cheating and monogamy (Genji Monogatari).
The Fallacy of the Stereotypical Asian woman
Oshin - Resilience and endurance.
Asian women as firecrackers. There's a reason why the stereotype of Tiger Mom even came to be, because Asian women and people in general are not weak and strictly submissive, although they are often mistaken as doormats.
Honne and tatemae
Yamato Nadeshiko
While writing about this, I ended up going on a tangent about Asian women, which you can read here: The Fallacy of the Stereotypical Asian Woman.
Gender roles in Genderbender
Kaze Hikaru
Ryou
Torikaebaya Monogatari, where a brother and sister in the Heian period is gender mixed at birth, to fulfil gender roles they're more "suited" for according to societal expectations. Another Heian period text about a guy who crossdresses as a woman to get close to a woman he has a crush on.
Gender fluidity has been the norm throughout most of history.
A wolf in sheep's clothing
I guess the show is more concerned about gender roles and patriarchy. I'm actually not all that concerned with historical accuracy, but I couldn't help but be thrown off by how it felt like vastly different time periods (and thus different expectations in terms of jidaigeki tropes) were meshed together. I still stand by that the show is a very (overseas Asian/) (Asian) American narrative, which made it uncanny how accurate it still was in terms of getting the artefacts etc. of a jidaigeki right. Sort of like a "wolf in sheeps clothing," though that doesn't make it a bad thing. For example, Akemi feels more like a Western suffragette, rather than an Asian feminist. Yet the ohaguro set etc. may be a reference to Isao Takahata's Princess Kaguya, which is about feminism.
The story came off as stereotypical to me. Yet it does get the artifacts and set dressing of a jidaigeki story right (surprisingly accurate at some points). I did cringe at some points or feel the uncanny valley, but again overall the show was engaging and enjoyable.
I've enjoyed other orientalist stories before, such as Kung Fu Panda and Avatar the Last Airbender. I've also enjoyed occidentalist stories like mohuan and isekai. Yet something with Blue Eye Samurai made me cringe sometimes. Comparing it to the others I've mentioned, perhaps it's because it's set in a more non-fantastical setting as opposed to a jianghu of sorts idk. Blue Eye Samurai is still entertaining though, and may be the start of a new genre.
It's hard to explain what it feels like for people who don't have the same cultural references, so here's an example of occidentalism. I noticed that when Genshin Impact (a Chinese game) released the new Fontaine region where they decided to mix Britain, Italy, France etc., which people claimed is just plain weird haha. But Fontaine has still been well received regardless it seems. On the other hand, I still cringe every time I see Senator Armstrong in Metal Gear Solid.
Historical references
Random, but here's a list of different artifacts and set dressings that appeared in the show. The little theatre play about the ronin and his wife uses kurogo (black clad actors) to manipulate the dolls, which was novel to see. Previously I've mostly watched kurogo being used to manipulate perspective such as in this Matrix Ping Pong skit and the Tokyo 2020 pictogram opening ceremony. Traditionally, Kurogo is used in Kabuki to create special effects and are supposed to be invisible to the audience.
Mizu's husband uses a naginata, which is basically a spear. Although also used by warriors in general, it was often used by women.
#Blue Eyed Samurai#Netflix#review#criticism#Azumi#Kung Fu Panda#Ghost of Tsushima#Avatar the Last Airbender#samurai#bushido#shinobi#ninja#onryo#gaijin#Sakoku#karma#revenge#uncanny valley#kurogo#feminism#orientalism#occidentalism#decolonization#blog
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Best of 2020: Game of the Year
Nominee: Ghost of Tsushima
With the launch of one new system the previous incarnation had one last gasp for everyone to behold.
That happens to be a cinematicly pleasing homage to both Kurosawa and a well defined property on its own.
While this runs away with Runner Up status for Game of the Year.
Jin Sakai lives a modest life on Tsushima Island in mid 13th Century Japan, but when Mongols invade and lay claim Jin loses badly and nearly gets left for dead.
Working from the shadows as a figurative ghost, Jin assembles and learns ways and means to take back the island and free his family and people.
Goregous is an understatement with this, as the developers specifically wanted to target those who know the framework and legends of Kurosawa and his historical epics.
With the estates support the tech can allow players to replicate the style and features down to a t, where hidden fortress and magnificent Japanese 7 can be recreated and perfectly homage with stunning graphics and images.
Glad this was the last thing to come out at the twilight of a console cause this shows just how much could come from it.
And now we wonder what the PS5 version of this will look like.
SUM 22: Jin Sakai leads Ronin and enemy forces alike to retake his homeland in the PS4s swan song.
youtube
Ghost of Tsushima 
#Kurosawa#akira kurosawa#ghost of tsushima#ps4 swan song#game of the year#2020#2020 video games#nominee#Youtube#jin sakai#mongol empire#samurai#daisuke tsuji#south park memes#tuong lu Kim#city wok#tsushima no onryo#tsushima#best of 2020 video games#best of 2020#Tsushima island#sucker punch productions#seven samurai#hidden fortress
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tsushima-no-onryo needs a hideout
Coming to Japan had been a mistake ; a calculated risk on her part, to be fair, but a mistake nonetheless. S.H.I.E.L.D. had already gotten way too close to catching her in Vietnam, but she had hoped that they wouldn’t count on her coming here, given that even the average person knew that US-Japan relations were strong.
S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn’t sent any of their own here, which was a win in Arrie’s books, given that she’d been counting on it, but what she didn’t realize beforehand was that they didn’t have to ; they had connections here that could hunt her down for them. She cursed at herself for being idiotic enough to not realize the fact sooner. Either way, it sure as hell beat dealing with Purifiers.
Well, the bullet wound would say otherwise, if it could. She sure as hell didn’t seem like she was dealing with one though, given that she was running at full speed away from shouting people. Quickly glancing behind her, she noticed that she was briefly out of her enemy’s line of sight, and ducked into an alleyway, holding her breath as she ducked behind some trashcans. Her hand pressed against her side, pulling away to see that the bleeding hadn’t slowed down.
Shit.
{ @tsushima-no-onryo }
#v;run girl run#;closed#tsushima-no-onryo#tsushimanoonryo#blood tw#(( finally wrote this like omfg ))#(( i'll leave it up to you which one of your verses you wanna use tbh cuz this verse for arrie is set right before Winter Soldier ))#(( so S.H.I.E.L.D.'s still infiltrated by HYDRA ))
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[ text to @tsushima-no-onryo: ] there’s someone here trying to take my money
He couldn’t say much else, because he was in the middle of being intimidated by a particularly-gruff, though a little on the shorter side, old gentleman. All he could do was slip his phone back into his pocket and hope Jin would get the message and... rush over to save him, or something.
Nobunaga had hubris, but he was aware of when things were starting to look tense. As a businessman, he really couldn’t go around with ties to every yakuza in the area, and the danger of being in this place would only rise the more he brushed them off.
So, to mitigate that, he’d have Sakai-san come and stake his claim to scare away this money-shark.
It’d become a problem between those two organisations, and hopefully the pressure would be alleviated from him and the poor workers he left alone here for months at a time.
If Jin was going to come to the rescue, he would show-up right in the middle of their discussion; allowed by timid desk staff into the hallway that Mr. Oda’s office was attached to, where the door was surprisingly (and luckily) unlocked.
Maybe he’d even catch the look of relief in Nobunaga’s eyes when he pushed the door open.
The older yakuza in the room, however, wouldn’t turn to face him at all. Maybe he was patiently waiting for the rude interruption to be over?
“-- Sakai-sama,” Started Nobunaga (how polite he could be when he needed something,) “This is Ozaki-sama.” ... Of the Namikawa, no doubt.
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Outings
Continued from here
Roman’s hands were raised at shoulder level, his eyes sternly locked to the man with the gun. Wrong place, wrong time again, it would seem. Or rather, he got the man he wanted, unconscious and off to the side, but he was found out by another.
His bosses?
“Depends on whether you’re gonna put that piece away. I have a hard time talking around some metal and lead.”
“You his guard?”
@tsushima-no-onryo
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sorry lol!
i just like.. imagine him minding his own biz, feeling disconnected in his humdrum noble life, when suddenly he feels this singular connection to this woman, like suddenly coming home and being able to lay all his burdens down at the door, all his cares suddenly drop away, and everything comes to focus on her. To Jin she’s the most beautiful woman he’s seen, he can’t keep his eyes off of her, but then he realizes that she’s either out of reach due to his position as Lord Sakai,
or maybe just always missing her by moments - wondering why he’s haunted by the momentary glimpse of her head in the crowd, her perfume as she walks unnoticed right by him, the glimpse of her lips, the flick of her wrist as she talks animatedly, but by the time he registers that it’s “Her” she’s gone again like mist.
all the “almost maybe’s”, all the missed moments
#replies#tsushima-no-onryo#liontamer1992#ghost of tsushima#jin x yuna#maybe i'll have to write a couple sad au's...
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[text] You haven't left for Japan yet, have you? [text] I need to meet with you one last time before you leave.
[text] I leave in 2 hours. Where would you like to meet?
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🕷
Drop a symbol for a headcanon || @tsushima-no-onryo || accepting
🕷 : Does your muse have any phobias?
There are a quiet few things Jin Sakai fears;
Lack of Control / Being Controlled: As Jin is highly independent, he especially hates the idea of being controlled by anyone else.
Insanity: Jin is always considering the future, moving on from the past and suppressing its memories to focus solely on his present to look upon the brighter, better future, he tries to see things from many perspectives and uncover knowledge. Dealing with mental struggles and being unable to have control of his own mind would become a significant and unacceptable source of fear.
Old Age: Since Jin is so future-oriented, as a result, old age holds more fear for him. When there’s not much time left to anticipate and predict for the future, does life hold less happiness? That’s what he would often wonder.
Stupidity: Jin absolutely abhors the idea of thinking that he is smart only to find out he has spent the entirety of his life making horrible decisions. He hates being around people who are making stupid decisions that will affect his life or their own, because he loves them even if they are idiots. This is a fear he would most likely face as he continues to take on the role of the Ghost.
Death: As universality and irreversibility of fear of death goes, it isn’t Jin Sakai’s number one fear. It isn’t so much that Jin fears death itself, but the reason he fears it is vastly different from what would be expected. Having a high tolerance for pain, Jin doesn’t get scared or holds himself back because of excruciating pain that follows. He is absolutely terrified of facing the end of knowledge, the end of learning, and the end of curiosity. Despite having brought up with the religion of Buddhism, and thus believes in cycle of death and rebirth called samsara. Through karma and eventual enlightenment, he hopes to escape samsara and achieve nirvana, an end to suffering, he would also fear the endlessness of death, or the unknown that lies after death.
Betrayal: Jin could be excruciatingly slow to trust others and let them into his life, so the idea of betrayal by someone close to him will hit especially hard (pssst Ryuzo pssst). Once he lets people into his inner circle, Jin Sakai is extremely loyal, so it’s very important to respect that loyalty and never give him a reason to regret it.
Mediocrity: For Jin, meeting expectations, competence, pushing the boundaries, innovating, and making a difference are all important. The idea of just “blending in” and getting through life without making a real improvement or impact would be immensely depressing for him.
#▬▬ι═══════ﺤ || the storm of clan sakai (headcanon)#▬▬ι═══════ﺤ || the legend of the ghost (iii)#jin sakai#ghost of tsushima#tsushima-no-onryo
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🌧
Send “🌧” for our muses to be caught in a rain storm!
Normally, when it started raining on her lunch outings, she had to make a dash for the awnings or try to keep the water off. She regularly denied herself something she loved in favor of someone she loved, and she’d do it for the rest of time. But she didn’t have to worry about that today. As soon as she heard the rain begin to come down, she had shoved her coat and umbrella at Jin and bolted for the center of the plaza. She didn’t care about her dry clean only dress or the fact that her heels were not meant for slick walkways. All she cared about was the smell of the storm and the drops on her skin.
“Isn’t this amazing?” Chen yelled over the sound of the pattering rain, doing a little twirl like a child.
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truth + have you ever done anything illegal and, if you have, what was it?
Truth Serum, oh boy. || Accepting.
“Well, I gave alcohol to a minor, does that count?”
“I also stole some food from a convenience store when I was a kid, and in high school I hacked into the school’s system to change a friend’s grade, she was going to get in a lot of troubles if she failed that class.”
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Hanzo (ronin verse) What would your character make a scene about in public?
crucial muse development questions. || @tsushima-no-onryo || accepting
10. what would your character make a scene in public about?
Hanzo Hasashi as a ronin is a definitely resolute believer in justice, and have extremely strong inner morals. He wants to do what is right, but because of his own personal traumas over his clan’s massacre and his family’s gruesome murder, often have a hard time finding a purpose in life. Most fundamentally, he is a caring person, and believe that karma is a very real thing. He has a natural belief that the wrongs in the world will find a way to right themselves, and are happiest when he sees this carried out. In that regard, he will always stand against the weak and even irreversibly humiliate, or even brutally kill them if he has to. They are nothing more than vermin to the society to him.
He will certainly do his own part when he can, and makes this one of his crucial life missions. While there is a rationalized thought of simple realization that he cannot do everything himself, he will make a stand when he can, whenever he sees injustices involved with privileged people (like who he was before as a samurai), especially towards corrupted Lords and even fellow ronins who prey upon the weak (just like in Westworld, Musashi dismembered his former subordinate who took on his title in a disadvantageous duel). He is literally the vigilante ronin, a Japanese Robin Hood that would only pillage and ransack from the greedy rich and affluent, or his enemies, in this case, the Mongols.
#✗ obsessive cathartic (headcanon)#✗ the ineffable testimony of spawned hellfire (scorpion)#✗ the castigating flames of salt and skin and blood (ronin verse)#tsushima-no-onryo
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She could tell Sterling wasn’t happy with her announcement that she was going to go out for a little bit after the debriefing had finished up, and they were settled back in their hotel room, but she didn’t stay long enough to let him get a word in edgewise. Shouldered her jacket, stuffed her keycard in her pocket and slipped out the door.
Another ruffled set of feathers she’d likely have to smooth later, but the most important ones were Jin’s right now. He’d been stiff and cautious during their meeting, open enough with Sterling but her presence was causing problems. If they were going to trust each-other through this ordeal (and that was immeasurably important), she needed to make amends.
She knew where he lived - and she knew where he tended to hang out. But she chose to wait by his apartment - out in the open where he could see her. She didn’t want to add sneaking up on him to the list of things she needed to apologize for, and she wasn’t going to tell him she’d been stalking him for the week she’d been in Tsushima after their little liason. She’d seen enough in that week to convince her he was not a bad man.
She leaned against the building, leather jacket hanging from her shoulders without her arms in the sleeves, slowly working on a cigarette while she waited. He could pass her by without saying anything if he wanted; but he couldn’t avoid getting close enough to her if he wanted to go ‘home’ for her to have time to say something to him.
@tsushima-no-onryo
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{ @tsushima-no-onryo }
What a lovely day for Japan’s most powerful man to admire some horses.
Well, for Nobunaga, that day was any day. Especially when he owned half the country’s very best right at his fingertips-- this ranch was one of many where horses caught for him and gifted to him would be kept happy and exercised daily so that they, in all their well-built glory, could be as useful (or even moreso, in some cases) as the samurai that would ride them in battle.
An onlooker who’d only heard of Nobunaga’s scary side, or perhaps an onlooker who didn’t know they were in the presence of Oda Nobunaga at all, would simply assume that this man was just... quite fond of the ranch. He wasn’t wearing anything that clearly marked him as the head of the Oda, either, beyond an odd, European pair of boots.
He stood at a fence overlooking one of the pens, hands holding the wood loosely. If he were in his younger years, he would’ve sat atop the fence.
Some few feet away was a slew of human traffick. Ranch attendants, guards and guests were making their way all around the property-- but right now, Nobunaga was attended by no one.
Which is why one might wonder if he was addressing anyone when he said:
“Aah, I’ve been annoyed lately. If only I could ride freely, to my heart’s content.”
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Get to know the mun!
I meant to post this yesterday, but I accidentally took a 3 hour nap after my appointment.
name/nickname: Kimi
gender: cis-Female
star sign: In the western zodiac, I’m Aquarius. Growing up, those little placemats at Chinese restaurants said my eastern zodiac animal was Dragon. However, if you look at the dates of the lunar calendar, I missed out by a few days. I’m a Fire Rabbit!
birthday: February 13th (THIS SATURDAY, HOMIES)
favourite bands: The Phenomenauts, Awich, Coeur de Pirate, They Might Be Giants, The Black Keys, Zombina and the Skeletones, Blondie, The Clash, The Go! Team, Reel Big Fish, The Aquabats, She and Him, Shonen Knife, The White Stripes
Song stuck in my head: "Out of my Head” by: Fastball
last movie: My husband and I recently rewatched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
last show: New Girl
when I created this blog: Summer 2020, shortly before I actually beat Ghost of Tsushima, lol. I couldn’t wait to play my samurai son.
last thing I googled: "yakuza Arai” because he was mentioned in a fic I was reading and I couldn’t remember who he was.
why did I choose this url: It has actually gone through 2 changes. When I started this blog, it was tsushima-no-goryo because goryo was a type of vengeful Japanese ghost that is specifically from the aristocratic class (which Jin, as nephew of the jito, very much is). However, I changed it shortly after because goryo are mostly martyrs and Jin isn’t that. Onryo are the scary, angry ghosts everyone is mostly familiar with (think Sadako from Ringu or Kayako from Ju-on), and I liked the idea of Jin being scary because by the time he goes full ghost mode, he scares the shit out of the Mongols. So I changed it to tsushima-no-onryo to reflect that. And then, like... I think it was last week? I took the dashes out to make it easier for me to track my tag. So I’m settled on tsushimanoonryo and I don’t plan on changing it any time soon.
average hours of sleep: About 7-8. I am a big baby and I need my rest.
lucky number(s): I like even numbers and fives (which somehow count as an even number in my OCD/Tourette’s brain). (Yes, I’ve officially been diagnosed, I’m not just throwing those terms around for funsies).
instruments: I taught myself how to play ukulele and guitar a little. I’m not great at them because I’ll play really intensely for like 2 months at a time, then not touch it for a year. I can also pick out a few songs on piano, but I can’t read sheet music.
what i’m wearing: Black ballet flats, maroon pants, a black undershirt, a grey and black plaid top, a silver watch, silver earrings, my glasses, and a facemask that looks like a 1990s arcade floor.
dream trip: Japan, Japan, Japan!!!!
favourite food: yes
favourite song: Currently it’s “Bad Bad” by: Awich, but I like a lot of music and my favorite song can change depending on my mood.
top 3 fictional universes i’d like to live in: I don’t really like Lord of the Rings that much, but I do want to be a hobbit. So if I could just live in a hobbit hole and not do anything all day, I’d pick that for my number one. I don’t care about elves and orcs and shit. I just want my second breakfast. The second universe I’d like to live in is the Mass Effect universe. I want to meet my true love, Garrus Vakarian and divorce my husband so we can be together. The third one? Uhh....I don’t know. Most of the universes in my fandoms kinda fucking suck and I would not want to live in them. Would it be cheating to pick the weird, fictionalized version of Japan in the Yakuza games? I mean, it’s mostly like ours, but there’s a bunch of weird side story bullshit going on that would be pretty funny to be involved in.
tagged by: @shieldsfilemistress
tagging: @odatodeath, @akechijubeimitsuhide, @savageorchids, @hxrbingxr, literally anyone else who wants to do this who hasn’t already done it.
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tsushima-no-onryo replied to your post: it finally came
I SEE YOU ARE ALSO A GENTLEMAN OF TASTE
(x) - (not pictured: my Ghost of Tsushima CD)
i’m really really happy with my funko and merch! and i love my hoodie tbh, very comfy
now if only Sucker Punch would hurry up and release that DLC
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"Did you ever get your head injury checked out? How many fingers am I holding up? Do you remember who I am yet?"
“I assume we spoke within the last three days, Mr. Sakai?”
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