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#and I love Soga and I miss him
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Hello I’ve been very silent here but this is a reminder that I love every part of vigilantes.
I love Koichi. I love pop. I love Knuckleduster. I love the narrative. I love how the characters grow. I love how things unapologetically change. I love how we can’t go back to what happened before. I love how growth is the small things. I love how community care is shown. I love how we disregard the rules and care about people. I love how the narrative really doesn’t end because they’re still living. I love how Koichi’s dream isn’t an endpoint and it’s something that has to be lived. I love how I know that these characters are going to change and grow even after the story is finished. I miss it,
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lurkingshan · 3 months
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Japanese QL Corner
ICYMI: There are so many Japanese qls airing weekly, so I’m going to start posting this little round up at the end of each week. All but one of these are on Gaga and I highly recommend watching!
Chaser Game W
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Fuyu got a personality transplant this week and I have officially given up on this show being what I hoped it was. Enjoy the mess and the humiliation kink and don't look for consistent writing, logical plot, or deeper themes and you will find some things to enjoy. Like these two beautiful ladies making out a bunch!
Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yara ka
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I love this show so much, y'all. This week we got the return of Sakae's selfish chaos ex, Mizuki, and because this is a show by and for adults, this resulted in our leads engaging in some proper communication, clarifying their feelings for each other, and sharing their first kiss by the end of the episode. I loved seeing more of Sakae and Mizuki's dynamic, and I just know if Soga wasn't in the picture Mizuki would already be in with Sakae again. Sakae is a soft touch and Mizuki clearly knows how to play him. But thankfully, Soga has already wormed his way into Sakae's loyal heart, so he was not tempted to waver. And for Soga, who is experiencing a queer awakening via his relationship with Sakae, Mizuki's presence was a much needed jolt to sort out his own feelings and decide he wants to try a relationship despite his concerns about not staying in Osaka long-term. I also loved the way their friends rallied around them to push Sakae and Soga to figure their shit out, and the sauna scenes will never get old.
Perfect Propose
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It's official, I have adopted Kai as my child and will be forming a protection squad. This show is striking a good tonal balance of being fairly downbeat and serious, between Kai's past and Hiro's current work/life balance issues, but also uplifting in how their relationship builds. I like that they talk to each other so honestly about what they're feeling for each other, and Kai's quiet confidence that Hiro returns his feelings and just needs to come to terms with it is both hilarious and correct. My favorite thing that happened in this episode was Kai confidently noting all the ways Hiro’s body was responding to him and asking him to “be conscious of it.” Kai wants Hiro to be conscious of Kai’s feelings but also of his own responses, and he’s asking him not to look away from it and pretend he doesn’t know there’s something between them. I love the confidence of that.
And I sympathize with Hiro, as well, because it's not just that he's never considered being with a man before--he also just doesn't feel he has anything to offer to a partner right now given his brutal work situation. His guilt and shame for missing the festival after inviting Kai to go together was real, and you can see that he just can’t fathom having anything to give with the situation he’s in at work right now. The trick will be trusting that Kai can accept those limitations until he’s able to find a better balance, and then actually taking steps to pay attention to what he needs and wants, both in this relationship and in his career. Hiro has not been taking care of himself and it's catching up to him.
Ossan's Love Returns
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A downbeat week for this show, and an episode that did not entirely work for me. I liked some of the themes they were exploring in this one, but it was all missing the humor that I've come to rely on and I don't feel that all the story threads pulled together as tightly as they normally do. In particular, my head is inquisitively tilted at the show's decision to make Maki and Haruta's wedding episode feel like such a misery slog, to focus primarily on the tension and strife leading up to the event rather than the joy it should inspire, and then to stay in the melancholy after a small moment of catharsis for our couple (and some season 1 flashbacks) by focusing on the sadness their marriage inspired in their various lonely suitors rather than their own wedded bliss. Seeing a wedding in jbl is a practically unheard of occurrence; a bit more queer joy was in order IMO and its absence was notable. I also thought the swing from Kurosawa beginning to accept a new role in Haruta’s life to suddenly going back to being lovelorn felt abrupt and poorly constructed. It's not that I think these ideas are unfounded given the show's focus on older male characters who feel past their prime for romance, but the execution was not quite right. And of course I am not too keen on the death flagging we got at the end for Kurosawa; I really hope the show will not take this story in a tragic direction for him.
Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna 2
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I have still only seen the first four episodes of this; sadly, the next batch is not yet available to me. But soon! In the meantime, let's revisit Nomoto sobbing over a lesbian film. She's just like me fr.
Next week we'll be continuing all of these plus adding My Strawberry Film, the final Drama Shower (go here for an explanation on what that is from @bengiyo) show for the season! I continue to be delighted by this embarrassment of jql riches.
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bengiyo · 2 months
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Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yara ka Ep 10 (Finale) Stray Thoughts
Last week, the guys tried to figure out what a long-distance relationship might look like for them and it wasn’t great. Soga decided he’d rather leave his job than give up on this relationship, and Sakae felt guilty about Soga giving up on a big goal and an important promise. We left at Sakae ruining the sanctity of the sauna by initiating a breakup with Soga.
No! Don’t mention the sauna in the breakup speech! I’ll cry!
I actually liked the reasons given for this breakup and the execution of the scene. Because they’re in the sauna, they are essentially bare before each other. It’s a cool choice to highlight the emotional honesty.
I chatted with @lurkingshan and @ginnymoonbeam earlier and have to agree that it’s nice to see a show delving into the immediate aftermath of a breakup. Seeing Sakae struggle with work tasks because he’s distracted works well, as does Soga still remembering key details he had plans for Sakae.
I feel like sending a gift to your ex is a well-intentioned bad idea.
I love everything about this video message and gift. I love how awkward and nerdy Soga is. I love everyone heckling him. I love Kanda taking the glass back and declaring it innocent. I loved Sakae’s smitten smirk by the whole video.
Suddenly Mizuki. I still don’t trust this demon twink.
Hold on, Mizuki is giving good advice. Nevermind, I’m back on his side again.
Not the senpai café callback!! I’m okay with this development. I wish Mizuki and Ryuji the best.
I have really enjoyed the friendship between Sakae and Kaname the whole show.
Good job, Kanda. You have been a real one the entire show.
This joke about them both missing each other and going to the other’s city only works because of a robust transportation network. If you want your populace to fall in love, you need a fast and frequent intercity rail network supported by robust local networks.
The neutral ground conversation is kinda weird, but I’ll let it pass as a way to show them trying to find a compromise because they miss each other.
Soga is such an incredible character. “We’re definitely gonna fuck tonight, so let’s clear things up first.”
There it is: the blinding flash of love.
Final Verdict: 7.5, I Like the Characters. I want to like this show a lot more than I do. I think part of it may be that I’m missing some of the cultural competency around the differences between Tokyo and Osaka. I liked that both Sakae and Soga were coming out of important romantic relationships that didn’t work, and how that also complicated some of the cultural baggage they were bringing to their romance. I hoped we would spend more time with them working through that, and also that we’d involve food more consistently. Overall, I’m not sure I followed the romance of this easily despite really liking the entire cast and some of its ideas. Much of this is probably on me, because I was perhaps looking for something else in the show, which wanted to be about how change was still possible for adults.
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My memory is terrible so I wanted to do a breakdown of my stuff every once in a while. Might be monthly, might be whenever I feel like it. Also there are too many shows on and something is always finishing or starting so a month is a lot.
BL - Currently Watching
1000 Years Old [2/12] - It's silly, and entertaining and makes me laugh. The friend group is delightful and I'm having a good time watching them. Was excited for a minute when Yo suggested a haircut for Pun because I cannot handle that wig. 🤞
Anti Reset [5/10] - This is one of the most frustrating shows I've watched in a while. The show doesn't seem to settle on what is actually trying to say about the AI of it all, and when it says something I'm not crazy about it. Why is it so frustrating? Because they are so fucking endearing when they're together on screen. I wanna love this show so much.
Cherry Magic Th [11/12]– I love them so much. I'm fascinated by the choices that the show is making. As a big fan of the manga and the jbl I came into this with reservations and this show is just blowing my mind. This was the best episode 11 of all time and Tay/New are delivering. My heart is so full with this.
Cherry Magic Anime [7/12]– Another helicopter ride! Yay. The date song was hilarious. We're now getting to the point where they are dating and Adachi is feeling guilty for lying so I'm curious how the show will adapt the next phase of the relationship.
Dead Friend Forever [10/12]– Glad to see we are all on board with Tan's murderous impulses. It's been so much fun having more people join in on the fun. As for me, I NEED White to stay alive. That's really all I want. Getting curious about how Perth factors in to all of this.
My Strawberry Film[2/8] - I feel it coming. I see sadness in my future. But I'm bracing because I'm loving the look of this show. And pining boys are my favourite type of boys. I'm ready.
Ossan's Love Returns [8/9] - The videos messages destroyed me but then that ending made me annoyed. I don't know what to expect in terms of Kurosawa but I hope he's not actually dying and there's a really good reason for all this. Medical mal practice might be the thing. Although as @twig-tea pointed out to me, since it was said in show it might not actually happen. I want happy for the ending anyway.
Perfect Propose [5/6] . Why must I only have them for 6 episodes??? I need more. Kai is everything to me, and that back hug followed by that smile melted by cold heart. Hiro's boss needs something heavy to fall on him from a great height. And please Hiro,sweetie, I need you to eat better and sleep.
Although I Love You, and You? [7/10]- Sakae is letting me down. And by that I mean, the show is letting me down. Sakae needs to put his foot down with Mizuki and go back to being a fool in love with Soga.
To Be Continued [1/8] - It's not amazing. but I'm a sucker for second chance romance and there are two couples so there's a 50% chance I will like this. We'll see. Also, they need to start hiring younger actors for the high school flashbacks. This goes for A Secretly Love too. Having 27 year olds and up playing ten years younger just won't do. It's terrible.
Unknown [2/12] - I'm intrigued. Not completely sold yet but I'm liking it so far. Also nothing would keep me away from watching Sam Lin again.
Also watched the first episode of A Secretly Love and caught up with City of Stars but it's on the 'I need to shut of my brain' schedule so I'm not necessarily watching to weekly.
BL - Finished
Cooking Crush - I will miss all of them. I loved it so much. The whole cut/uncut version thing was annoying and the editing was weird at times but overall this was wonderful. Communication done right. Relationships and character growth was stellar and both couples won my heart. Aungpao really surprised me, considering he was surrounded my pros on all sides. Dynamite was a joy to watch. And OffGun delivering with all the kissing. Everyone should watch this.
The Sign - I mean, what they did to this show is absolutely insane. Not airing the finale like the rest of the show. Having to pay extra for happy ending is ridiculous (although I kinda predicted this and @lurkingshan is my witness. I said as a joke and it turns out reality is a joke.) Then waiting 2 whole weeks for whatever that was. Just the most unsatisfying experience. Go read this from Shan because I agree with everything said there. Also @bengiyo final thoughts here really echo how I felt about this show overall.
Happy Ending - 20 minutes split in 3. Why? No idea. Was it a happy ending? I think so. Was it cute? Sure. Was it great to watch Seong Hyuk again? You betcha. But I didn't love it. I need Choco Milk Shake S2, like, TODAY.
Playboyy - It ended.
Rose Watches OJBL - I feel bad about this. I didn't watch any of the ones I planned to. This might seem like whatever but I've been trying to catch up with awards season films, because since uni, me and a couple of friends always do it and finish it by watching the oscars together and so ojbl was were I dropped the ball. Gonna restart soon though.
Not BL - Watched this month
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Night Has Come Death's Game Shop for Killers
That's it for right now. As usual my ask box is open for gif requests and any other questions. All my gifs are under #rosygifs.
Have a good week💜
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kyuziipon · 3 months
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wait I feel like I missed something what is the promise of the cherry blossoms im so curious
EHEHEHE I LOVE THIS QUESTION…
Ok so the promise of the cherry blossoms is my oc story about a highschool basketball club!! I named it that because cherry blossoms are a huge signifier of change and new beginnings, and I want a big part of the overall theme of the story to be that there’s always hope, there’s always room to grow, and you’re never stuck where you started, you can have a new beginning. I haven’t made any actual materials for the story (yet) mostly because I struggle with which format would be best to tell it in.
The story itself focuses on each member of the club, as well as the two managers and their coach. Every character has their own personal story, usually intertwining with some of the others in some way. The other main theme of the story is the idea that what you see on the surface isn’t always everything to a person, and there’s a lot more to them than meets the eye.
The characters:
Starting with the players on the team, we have the captain, Soga Umeno (his surname is subject to change cuz I don’t like how it flows). He’s in his third year, and cares very deeply about the other members of his team, but struggles with how at home he was practically forced to become a parent to his three much younger siblings.
After Soga, the vice captain is a third year named Seki Matsuda (aka Matsu). While Soga is very warm and caring, he is extremely cold and harsh. He believes putting 100% of your effort into everything you do is the best way to be, to the point of it being extremely detrimental to his well being. He is extremely sleep deprived, extremely exhausted, and extremely stuck in his own head. He’s very autistic and has ocd. He’s also (fallen out) childhood friends with the next character.
Onto the other two third years on the team, Kazuha Yumeno (aka Kazu) is the token pretty boy. He’s spectacularly gorgeous, but also spectacularly self centered and vain. Similar to Matsuda, he strives to be the best, but instead of in everything, it’s specifically in beauty. He has an eating disorder and hates himself so so much, and he sacrifices a lot of his life in the name of his beauty, which was a major factor in his and Matsu’s falling out.
For the final third year, we have Akihito Tsukimori. He was one of the first characters I made, when I still didn’t know what I wanted the story to be, and he’s not as fleshed out as the others. He’s a really laid back, cool type, who is a passionate musician who is stuck under his parents’ thumb and cannot pursue his dreams due to their desire for him to follow in family tradition and have some boring normal job, like a doctor or something (I never decided lol. He’s not my fave tbh). He plays trumpet.
For second year, let’s start with Yuta Ito. He was originally the main character before I got rid of the concept of a protagonist in this story. He’s a (mostly) pre transition trans guy who just transferred to this school and has always dreamed of being a professional basketball player, and goddammit he will stop at nothing to be allowed on the boys team and prove he’s just as good (if not better) than all of them. Spoiler, he is better than all of them, not for special reasons, everyone else just kind of sucks.
Next is Kiyohiko Suzuki (or, later in the story, Kiyoko). She was the second character I made and I LOVE her. Upon Yuta’s arrival in the club, she’s introduced to the idea she may not be as cis as she thought, and begins experimenting, only to discover she is in fact a girl. She really struggles with her family in this regard, but especially her relationship with her two older sisters, and the fact that her family favored her for being the “only son”. There’s a lot more to the sisters but that’s too much for this little blurb lol.
For the final second year (there’s supposed to be a fourth but I just… have never made him), we have Hideyoshi Akazuma (aka Hide). He’s pretty much a shoe-in to be the next captain, and he’s essentially perfect at everything he does. He and Yuta don’t get along, especially due to Yuta’s similarities to his twin brother. Hide is extremely pressured by his parents and teachers to uphold this perfect persona, and it puts a lot of tension between him and his peers, but more importantly, between him and his brother.
The first years are arguably my favorite, so let’s start with Daishi Edogawa, as he’s the easiest. Daishi is by far the tallest on the team, and is extremely awkward and nervous. He grew up raised by his mom and grandma, alongside his little sister, Tsuna. Due to this, he never really had any male role models in his life, and now is struggling with his relationship to being a man and his masculinity, and what all of it even means. He also has a crush on the following character, Madoka.
Madoka Kume is everything. He is my boy. I love him. He’s the second smallest of the cast, and matching to his appearance, he has a very strong childlike innocence (for the most part) and naïveté. He was raised by his older sister Utaha, after his mother decided she hated him and severely neglected him. Utaha could have her own section with all this stuff… anyway, Madoka is very aware that his disposition can make it a lot harder on his sister, and desires to become stronger and more independent to ease her burden, but throughout this develops an avoidance to asking for help. He is also autistic, dyslexic, and possesses some other ambiguous learning disabilities.
Following on to my ACTUAL favorite, Hotaru Ibe (previously known as Haruka). He is a former child model who was extremely talented and beautiful, but also very lonely and desperate for human connection. Due to this he experiences some of the horrors of the industry with a photographer acting as his friend and taking advantage of him. After a particularly bad incident, Hotaru quits, decides he’s never doing this again, changes his name and his entire look, and does his best to repress all his trauma with the desire to be “a completely normal kid”. He’s got a lot of shit going on.
And the final player, Ryuunosuke Itori (aka Ryuu), Hotaru’s best friend (Ryuu has a hella crush on him btw). Ryuu is the top of his class, and is extremely similar to Hide and Matsu. He works hard and is is very smart, but the stress starts getting to him. When his delinquent cousin moves in with him, Ryuu finds himself becoming friends with some unsavory types, and soon finds himself spiraling out of control after getting involved in some drug related shit and becomes more and more apathetic and less and less of who he was before. His and Hotaru’s stories (which are actually very intertwined) are probably the heaviest topics.
Onto the two managers, let’s start with Shunichi Itori, a third year, and Ryuu’s older cousin. He’s a delinquent involved in some gang stuff, and after getting detained overnight, his parents are finally fed up and tell him he’s not welcome in their house anymore. His aunt and uncle offer to take him in, if he agrees to put all of that behind him. He takes the offer, and at first he keeps doing bad shit behind their back. They force him to join the basketball club so Ryuu can keep an eye on him, but after he accidentally gets Ryuu involved with his friends, he seems to realize what he’s doing is kind of fucked up, and starts to work on becoming a better person and putting all that stuff behind him, with the help of the other manager.
Aiko Tachibana is a first year, and she’s the third character I made! Her story has shifted a lot, and I have yet to find one that works perfectly. She’s similar to a lot of other characters, she’s very childish but hates being seen this way, has strict parents with high expectations for her, and struggles with her identity. She has anger issues and hates when people don’t take her seriously and struggles with her self image over this. She also has a crush on Suzuki, and believes she likes “mature women”, which factors into her desire to be less childlike.
And of course we have the coach. Her name Maki Ikegami, and she’s an ex professional basketball player who’s career was ended prematurely after an injury. She’s a relatively new addition to the cast and I haven’t worked on her much yet, but she struggles with the new route her life has taken and the way she’s been completely displaced. There’s also supposed to be a club advisor, but I haven’t made them yet oops.
We also have a ton of side characters, such as Utaha Kume (she could have her own section she’s probably the most fleshed out side character), Kiriko and Kaoru Suzuki, Tsuna Edogawa, Ryuu’s currently unnamed prostitute friend (I can’t think of anything that fits her), and many other siblings and family members.
I’m also just now realizing how major a role sibling and family dynamics play in most of these plot lines (unmentioned is how Kazuha and Yuta’s respective brothers are major parts of their characters, among other things).
Sorry for rambling so much I just. Love this story so much and I get excited when anyone asks about it hshdhdjdh
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thelreads · 11 months
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I've been reading and enjoying your live-blog of Vigilantes as someone who couldn't get into it (Soga. I hate him!) I'm glad to see I haven't missed much! I don't think anyone's brought it up but you comment that Aizawa's backstory should have been in the main series (which I agree with) and I wonder if it was in Vigilantes to boost sales/interest/readership/etc. IDK how well vigilantes did sales wise but I haven't seen a lot of fan works for it
Oh I'm glad you're enjoying it! It is a shame the problems this series had, I wanted it to be better so much... But well, the end is approaching anyways, and if this is how we're gonna go down, well...
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We can always reforge reality.
And I do wonder if that was some ploy to gather more readers. I talked a lot before about how... Distinct, the start and the middle of the story were. At some point the characters changed but not in a way that signified growth, it's more like they started to become more in line with the stereotypical tropes. Koichi went from a cynical but good-hearted straight-man to a dense doofus, Pop went from a small celebrity secretly in love with Koichi who was looking for a chance to tell the truth but happened to have a short fuse to a generic tsundere, knuckles went from a funny bloodthirsty fighter hiding secrets from his friends who decided to pass the torch once he saved who was truly important to him because his fight was over to, well *gestures wildly* to whatever happened to him along the way.
And we won't even touch Soga and co.
My point is, it seems like they started to conform more to the usual shonen molds as it went, and I can't help but think it had something to do with getting more readers. The heroes from the main series also showed up constantly and pretty much highjacked the plot every single arc, which, sure, is cool when it was Tensei and Fatgum, since they weren't seen too much in the main story, but Aizawa got a whole arc dedicated solely to him, where Koichi showed up only twice.
And what about all the cool characters we got to know? What about Tamao, Monika, the criminal twins, that girl who puked on Koichi, the magician and his band, the president and her dancers, the people turned into nomus that were having trouble reintegrating into society, Rachel and Bam, the X-bros, koichi's mom... all of them discarded or forgotten or there just to fill the background. There were so many cool people back then who were severely underutilized, even Stain could have been more prominent in the story if handled correctly. Hell I wanted to see more of Pamela, she stole my heart, the best character in the series.
It is a shame, I wanted this to be so much better, I can see all that untapped potential just there, waiting to be used but alas, that will fall for us to solve...
The end is approaching for this series... And a new beginning shall take place... (:
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silvercrane14 · 1 year
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fell asleep b4 u reblogged it last night buuut for the character ask game ive just been reminded of them so. soga + shingo stars align?
Omg I miss them,,,
Soga
Sexuality Headcanon: gay <3
Gender Headcanon: cis dude
A ship I have with said character: him and shingou <333 they r boyfriends
A BROTP I have with said character: also him and shingou
A NOTP I have with said character: any adults ofc
A random headcanon: hmm. He and Shingou go to college together and get an apartment together with a puppy <333
General Opinion over said character: silly little guy I miss him I hope his dad chokes
Shingou
Sexuality Headcanon: bi but he's soon closeted
Gender Headcanon: cis male
A ship I have with said character: shingou and soga ofc
A BROTP I have with said character: him and soga lol
A NOTP I have with said character: any adults. Also his sister ofc
A random headcanon: he really likes magical girl shows he and An watch them all the time
General Opinion over said character: I love him <333 they should go further into his relationship with his parents tho
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garr9988 · 2 years
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I finished binging Dino Fury, and I already have some theories about Void Knight & Santaura, and a wishlist of things I want to happen.
I know Rita Repulsa's original actress (Machiko Soga) has passed, but now that Lord Zedd's back, it would be a huge missed opportunity for him not to meet her as Mystic Mother. It'd be great if Zedd could be convinced to be good by his own choice with a little encouragement from her, instead of forcibly purified of evil by Zordon's energy wave (Rita herself aside...). He's too powerful for a single Ranger team to beat in battle (so the only other option to defeat him would be another huge team up), but that also feels like a waste.
If Reaghoul weren't dead, it'd have been nice for him to have brought back Ecliptor (Astronema's/Karone's general who loved and protected her, if I understand right) so that he could be redeemed like her, since he was killed by Zordon's wave (while Rita, Zedd, and Divatox were purified).
The Sporix are indestructible, and were originally meant to be good (to fight to protect Rafkon from other evil) but were destructive due to incomplete testing, and have to be convinced (as easy as it is) to join Void Knight's cause, I want them to be redeemed too. Finding a way to destroy them seems impossible (and would be a cheap deus ex machina if made possible later), and containing them is both subject fo failure and, arguably, cruel to last for eternity. I want to see them stay on Earth and become members of Earth society, helping it instead of harming it. It'd help pave the way for SPD, too, since aliens are supposed to be living on Earth amongst humans by now (unless the show later establishes that SPD is in its own timeline like RPM and Dino Charge).
Also, Void Knight has a great and refreshing motivation (past Knight of Rafkon/Power Ranger, for sure, and maybe Santaura too). I am absolutely obsessed with Slyther, he's my favorite, please marry me. Amelia's missing parents are strange, though... I can't tell if Void Knight and Santaura are meant to be them or not...
Also, YAY, queer rep! Izzy's got an explicit girlfriend and, in "Our Hero", an (unseen) guy in the beach party crowd said he bets the Gold Ranger (Aiyon) is cute! We're getting there!
Why doesn't Zayto just use the Cosmic Dino Keys to open a portal to Rafkon, though...?
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quirkwizard · 3 years
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love your ideas, they're like no other! for my question, how could Soga's spike could be developed, such as supermoves? (A character from vigilantes) while its simple, but it can activate anywhere on Soga's body, which opens the possibilities a lot.
First off, thank you for saying that. It’s nice to know that you liked what I made and I hope you enjoy this as well. Second, can Soga form spikes anywhere on his body? I only remember seeing them made on his hands and feet. Unless you are talking about his monster transformation, but that was only when he was under the effect of Trigger. But for this post, let's say he can make them anywhere on his body.
Giving their similarities, I see him using the Quirk a lot like Togaru. He’d mostly be using them in offense and minor mobility by climbing with them. The only difference is that, given the spikes small size and reliance on piercing power, he would likely use them in augment his physical strikes then relying on the blades like Togaru does. Like when he goes to punch someone, he could make the spikes pop up to focus all the power of his attack onto a singular point. Which is probably be a lot of his Super Moves: attacking people with one or multiple spikes before or during them hitting someone. Like he yells out Spike Knee before kneeing someone with a spike. That or he could try grappling people more, like hugging an opponent to turn them into swiss chess. Otherwise, I could see him becoming like Miss Doublefinger from One Piece after some training. Like he would extend his spikes to better fight people from afar or damage people more with deeper wounds. Which could open up some more opportunities for Super Moves, like extending all his spikes out at once to hit multiple opponents at a time when he is surrounded.
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ciircularr · 3 years
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have u ever read ten? or other works of fkmt? and if so what are ur opinions on it?
hi anon I hope you don't mind I'm gonna use your ask to just give a little personal review of the major fkmt works 😭 but yeah I have read all of the big 7! prefacing with my bias that I think all of these are really good series and none of them are misses, even tho I'm critical of a few of them
in the order I read them:
kaiji: masterpiece.... obviously I think this ❤️❤️ the best the greatest the object of my obsession for the past year and a half. I could talk forever about it but I will spare everybody ❤️ I will just say kaiji himself is quite possibly the most likable character in any piece of media I have ever engaged with. I have never seen a mc so positively recieved by everybody... you just can't help but love him
kurosawa: incredible. remove some of the small unnecessary uncomfortable bits and it would literally be flawless. there are so many gut wrenching parts in this that idk what even to say??? easily fkmts most emotional work. cried like a baby more than once. I don't think kurosawa would resonate with everybody but the issues within it were ones that sit extremely heavily with me personally so everything really felt like some kind of targeted jab at my heart. as an aside, fkmt is evil for making a sequel as dogshit as shin kurosawa. I didn't believe people re: how dogshit it really was, but my god there is nothing redeeming about it
gai: I don't have a lot to say about gai! It's good! It's short! It's different! sits firmly in the middle of fkmts works for me. explores some very deep concepts and gai is a fascinating protagonist to put with these concepts
zero: I love love love love zero... fkmt feels so heavy all the time so it's really nice to have a series that feels comparatively lighthearted. the gambles/puzzles are super fun and every single character is so good... Suezaki my love.... idk zero is so feel-good!!! to me it weirdly feels similar to kaiji in a lot of aspects that I'm not sure I can articulate, but it felt really nice. that being said it gets docked points for being amazing and just stopping...?? fkmt please ditch shin kurosawa and write part 3 I'm begging you
gtk: i think I like gtk a lot less than most people seem to? idk it doesn't really do it for me... i think older fkmt in general appeals less to me in general? some of the gambles seem too simplistic when compared to his newer works which inherently make them less interesting. highs were good (kamui obv, I also like art dealer arc which most people seem to not be into??) but the lows are rough. i struggle to care about ginji and moritas relationship because they are weirdly apart for most of the story and I don't feel like I ended up seeing the development I wanted from them. dislike the ending quite a bit, it really shows that fkmt was stopped short, which isn't his fault but still makes for a dissatisfactory conclusion
ten: I still don't know how I feel about ten... I'll be honest w you the first 40 some chapters are the worst fkmt has to offer, for me... absolutely dragged and the straightforward mahjong could not keep me interested, it took me months to get thru it... That being said the entire final part was absolutely mesmerizing. one of the major highlights across fkmts entire body of work. i will never forget the dialogue between akagi and soga.... peak peak storytelling. I have a feeling if I read ten again I would appreciate it a lot more and have a more positive view of the first half
akagi: I didn't think anything could top kaiji for me but akagi tried really, really hard... I still like kaiji better subjectively and am more attatched to kaiji characters but akagi is incredible and objectively, probably fkmts greatest work. super brilliant and definitely the cream of the crop art wise, fkmts paneling is insane in akagi. insane how he can write a story about a guy that cannot lose, you know he cannot lose, and it still ends up being as compelling as it was... was on the edge of my seat the entirety of washizu mahjong... a+++
sorry for so much text I love talking about fkmt 🤓
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sparklyjojos · 4 years
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THE SAIMON FAMILY CASE recaps [1/13]
These will be full recaps of the latest JDC book, The Saimon Family Case (彩紋家事件) from 2004, which is a prequel taking place in the late 70s. While it’s a prequel, it can be read without any knowledge about the series. (It does spoil one death from Carnival at the end, but I feel like everyone already knows about this particular one).
It won’t be obvious in the recaps, but the book consists of seven parts seven chapters each (similar to Maijo’s Tsukumojuku) with two additional parts at the end.
The novel is light in terms of content warnings (for a murder mystery, anyway), but small kids WILL die in this, and we’ll be talking a lot about a specific type of systemic xenophobic violence near the end.
See that big family tree above? Save it somewhere for future reference. Believe me when I say you will need it. (Also, as always in the recaps, family name will be given first, Japanese-style.)
Well then—has everyone found their seats? Is everyone ready to witness the most splendid illusion?
Let's start the show.
PART 1
A note at the beginning informs us that soon 20 years will have passed from the end of the famous Saimon Family Murder Case, often called the “Crime Revolution” because of its impact on the future of similar complicated incidents. The details of the case have been hidden from the masses, but the time will soon come when everyone will learn the truth.
--
It’s the very last day of the year 1999. The mysterious first person narrator of the framing device is an older gentleman attending a New Years celebration in Las Vegas with his wife. They watch a fairly young blond magician perform close up magic for the guests. The magician borrows a 10,000 yen bill from the narrator, seals it in an envelope, sets it on fire, and it suddenly turns into a rose in his hand. When the narrator is asked to check his wallet, inside he finds a bill with the same denomination and serial number, but of a noticeably larger size… among a few other stunning differences.
“Happy New Millenium!” the magician exclaims.
This little illusion awakens memories from that case in both the narrator and his wife. As the world heads towards the new century, they are the only people left who were so closely involved in those tragic events of old.
--
It's September 19th 1977, and the entire Saimon family celebrates the 99th birthday of their old matriarch, Saimon Tamako. The celebration takes place on a performance stage next to the family's main residence in Tsuwano, Shimane Prefecture. Tamako’s daughter Akiko pushes the matriarch’s wheelchair towards the stage.
A perceptive guest may notice two other old women in the crowd who look astonishingly like Saimon Tamako, though they are a little younger (97). These are twin sisters called—if you can believe it—Tsukumo Tamako and Tousen Tamako. The three Tamakos look near identical, and in fact once used that similarity for their magic acts: all secretly shared the single stage name of Soga Tenju. That was decades ago, of course. The Tamakos no longer look like the beautiful young woman (actually women plural) known from her most famous illusion, Courtisane and Bell.
Once Akiko and Tamako take their place on the stage, all the lights suddenly go out for just a second, and in that brief darkness two things happen.
One: the red-and-white stripes of the celebratory curtain decorating the stage suddenly turn into black-and-white stripes of a funeral curtain.
Two: Saimon Tamako dies.
--
Saimon Tamako is ruled to have died of natural causes, not unusual at her age, and the curtain changing color must have been just someone’s attempt at a distasteful joke.
However, the threat of something darker going on still seems to lurk in the background. There’s a lot of people with bad intentions in this world. As part of the Saimons, Akiko is well aware of that. She recalls what she knows about the family's past.
Back at the beginning of the 20th century, Saimon Tamako made her living performing magic with a traveling circus group. Eventually she met a rich man, married him, and with his financial help established the Soga Tenju troupe.
Of course, the magician Soga Tenju was actually three women, all looking identical, all having similarly unclear pasts and wandering with the same group, all being called simply Tamako because no one even knew their real names.
It happened that three rich men of Tsuwano, who all have been friends—Saimon Taishin, Tsukumo Taigen, and Tousen Taikun—fell for the same “Soga Tenju”, and upon discovering the secret behind the magician decided to marry one member of the trio each. Since this was the era it was, the women didn’t really have a say in the matter. (Akiko hopes for more emancipation in the future and feels sad that she probably won’t live to see it; she’s over sixty herself.)
The tendency for similar names came with all sides of the family, it seemed. The three rich men were themselves a little weird, and that shared “Tai” in their names was something they added intentionally to show their bond. Their respective firstborn children—Tsukumo Haruko, Tousen Natsuko and Saimon Akiko—were given names referring to haru (spring), natsu (summer) and aki (fall). Since the Tamakos were so similar looking, their daughters also looked close enough that one could mistake them for triplets.
Akiko herself has three sons—Taishi, Akio, and Takayoshi—but now that they are all adults, they no longer feel so close to her, especially the youngest Takayoshi, who never felt inclined to stage illusion and broke all contact with the family. He didn’t show up for Tamako’s birthday and even now, a month later, hasn’t contacted them yet.
On October 19th, Akiko is busy sewing new props for a magic routine, the Five-Ball Cascade, in which juggled balls seem to change colors between red and white in mid-air. Remembering her times as the young magician Soga Tenshuu, she attempts the act just one more time. As she throws the balls in the air, she feels a stabbing pain in her chest and suddenly sees familiar faces in the balls—her mother, her husband, her sons—changing from white to red, like a bloody cascade. As they fall to the ground, Akiko does too.
--
A month later, on November 19th, a few members of the Saimon family are combing the Tottori sand dunes in search for young Saimon Yuuta, who went missing the previous day after announcing he’d like to show them something at the site. Everyone’s on edge; it’s barely been a month since Akiko's death.
A rope is found sticking out of Umanose, the famous “horse-back” dune, and several people pulling on it manage to unearth what looks like a giant card—four of diamonds—and Yuuta’s corpse tied to it.
--
--
Not even a few years have passed since JDC’s founding when young detective Ajiro Souji and his wife Mizuki take part in Saimon Tamako’s tragic birthday celebration.
The couple feels at home in Shimane, both because Mizuki was born in the prefecture, and because Ajiro has been friends with the Saimon family ever since receiving their help during the Ajiro Family Murder Case—the experience which prompted him to create JDC in the first place.
That case, as usual, was solved by his grandfater Soujin and mentor Shiranui Zenzou [and if you want to know more about it, read Carnival]. Both of them are splendid detectives, but decided young Souji should be the one to become JDC’s representative instead.
...but we keep saying "JDC" here, and the truth is the tiny group doesn’t call itself by the fancy English name Japan Detectives Club yet. It goes simply by Nihon Tantei Club and occupies the third floor of an office building filled with boutiques, clinics and the like.
Aside from Ajiro the representative, the staff consists of six office workers and twelve detectives (not counting Soujin, who is almost always out on business). The detectives are divided into the Shiranui Section and Kirigirisu Section, named after their respective leaders. There is some tension between the sections: the Shiranui part puts more value on past experience and doesn’t approve of choosing young Souji as their representative, while the Kirigirisu part praises his potential and thinks of the organization’s future.
So far Nihon Tantei Club is pretty unknown, no dramatic and giant solved cases to their name, and everyone has a strange conflicting feeling: at once wishing for the peace to never end and wishing for the inevitable tragedy to just happen already; to just get to the point where what should be unusual becomes the new normal, because everyone knows deep down it has to happen one day.
On November 22nd, Kirigirisu Tarou as usual takes the train to work, thinking about how the world will inevitably change as the new century comes around—though, of course, he can’t be sure he will actually get to see it, as nobody knows what will have happened in over twenty years.
Maybe he’s mulling over the passage of time and worries about the future so much because he's a man without a past. Kirigirisu lost all his memories to head injury a few years ago, at the same time when he was wrongly accused of murder. Fortunately, he was proven innocent thanks to both Ajiros, could begin new life as a detective, and even found a wonderful wife called Kano. He would love it if this usual everyday life could continue indefinitely… although without crime, a detective like him would be out of a job. For now he wants to focus on helping the Ajiros as he can.
Kirigirisu arrives at the office, which is mostly empty this early in the morning. Well, except for the delinquent detective Raiouji Rokenrou, looking just like you’d expect a punk named after rock’n’roll to look like (sunglasses, a lot of hair gel…) and taking a nap on the couch. Apparently Ajiro Souji had a long meeting with him about something last night, and now wants to talk to Kirigirisu.
Ajiro Souji is a sharply dressed 29-year-old man, easy to mistake for a normal office worker in the crowd. (Kirigirisu always flinches a bit seeing his elegant tie; he himself has a strange phobia of wearing anything around his neck, which he suspects has to do with an unknown event forever hidden behind his amnesia).
They each light a cigarette and have a friendly conversation. Ajiro mentions that he recently tried to switch to cigars, but alas, it seems that it’s still “too early” for him to appreciate them; about forty years too early, according to grandpa Soujin. [Seeing as Ajiro is a huge cigar fan in most of the series, grandpa miscalculated by at least two decades.]
Soujin is a thin man of short stature who hardly looks like someone in their seventies, although his hair is just as white as his usual suit, with just a black bowtie breaking the color. He always gives off the air of a mafia boss, his sheer power of personality taking hold of everyone around. Soujin apparently feels constant wanderlust, so he almost never shows up at the office. In fact, Kirigirisu hasn't seen him in over two months now. Who knows what he’s doing.
But back to the situation at hand, Ajiro wants Kirigirisu's help. For the next few days, they will investigate a case together in another prefecture, Rokenrou taking care of Kirigirisu’s section in his absence.
The case surrounds a strange series of deaths. First, Saimon Tamako dying (seemingly) of old age on her birthday on September 19th. Second, her daughter Akiko suffering a (seemingly) accidental death on October 19th, when a misplaced sewing needle stabbed into her heart. And third, a very strange but (seemingly) accidental death of another Saimon family member that has just happened on November 19th. Ajiro and Kirigirisu are to investigate whether or not the perfectly spaced string of incidents may be an act of serial killing.
The case is of personal importance to Ajiro. After all, the person who requested their services is the same man that helped solve the Ajiro Family Murder Case: Saimon Ryuusui, known better as the great magician Soga Tensui.
--
(The third person narration swaps here to a completely different font, and informs us helpfully: but ah, before the two detectives could head to Tsuwano, they would go to Yamaguchi first, to watch the magic show of the Saimon family, a marvelous experience that Ajiro has already had a few times because of his friendship with the family, and that Kirigirisu would witness for the first time.
And from the very moment they were invited to see the show first, they felt uneasiness settle inside them. Only much, much later would one realize just how deep the hidden meaning of the show really was, and that solving all its mysteries was crucial to solving the Saimon Family Murder Case.
You could even say that the show itself, filled with so many wondrous mysteries to solve, was the true Saimon Family Murder Case. If so, then the magician Soga Tensui could be defined as its culprit—and if so, then Ajiro and Kirigirisu have just walked right into a marvelous illusion indeed.)
--
[>>>NEXT PART>>>]
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sambart93 · 5 years
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2019.03.20 and 22 Tsuki ni Hoero, Yoru wo Kogegase-kun Yo [Review]
I was highly anticipated the sequel to a stage I saw last year -- first stage’s review is here.
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Official Website here Official Twitter here Press Coverage and Video 1, 2, 3, 4
CAST and CHARACTERS
Oguri Ryo as Byakki / Byakomaru Satake Uki as Mibu Sumika Maruyama Shogo as Gedomaru (Young) Hattori Takeo as Yumemaru Yamamoto Mayu as Suzuran Kadono Sho as Kagami Saizou Hanaoka Meika as Nadeshiko (Young) Iwasaki Koji as Yagara Keiji Harigaya Saori as Kohaku Sekiya Mayu as Yukikusa Kimura Yuryou as Kumasaka Gyouki Aina as Hikime Shouji Masato as Takagai Eiji Nishimura Misaki as Tsubaki Tanaka Hiroki as Sayo / Tenkokumaru Mizuki Momoko as Nazuna Araki Miyu as Yukinashi Matsuda Misato as Fuji Oobaya Chieri as Kaki Tsubata Maruyama Raiden as Gedomaru (Old) Ogura Erika as Ayame Ishiibe Yuichi as Mibu Taigoku Takeda Tomohiro as Sunayama Ukon Ensemble: Umeda Shohei, Oda Shunpei, Uruhata Mirai, and Soga Kaoru
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NON-SPOILER REVIEW
Overall: Unfortunately my gut instinct that I got before the show started, turned out to be true: This didn’t live up to past ASSH stages, and this is the first ASSH stage that I’ve been somewhat disappointed in them. This play is still very good: great acting, great characters; the stage, the costumes, the music are all beautiful; and the comedy is very good and had a lot of the audience laughing really loudly.... I was especially in love with the background of the stage this time around, and I thoroughly enjoyed the falling cherry blossom petals that we got throughout the play too. One of my favourite scenes is a ‘in the river/lake’ scene; the sound work during that scene was great. And I also loved the Ryo vs Sho fight scene too! BUT the story didn’t have anything new or surprising. I felt the character introductions were too long (it’s something we’ve seen a billion times, no need to explain who’s fighting against each other etc.), and that they were trying to fit in too many story lines -- There are like 6 or 7 storylines in this and at least 2 of them have nothing to do with one another. Upon my second rewatch, you could’ve easy cut out the 3 - 5 characters who were part of this Women’s Only Fight Club, and that would’ve made the story stronger and would’ve cut the play down by about 20 - 30 minutes (the play is 2 hours and 25 minutes!) -- which we could’ve used to develop other character’s relationships. A thing I can’t blame them for is, I went on Shonichi (the very first performance) so of course it’s not going to look or be perfect. But in the first show, their fight scenes and choreography was very slow. But luckily at the Friday night show, their movements were much more refined and the speed was up and I could really appreciate some moments. Personally, this stage would’ve flourished more if they’d either: A. cut a storyline out, OR B. cut out about 2-3 characters, OR C. cut the introductions down, in order to make it a tighter show. I’m still hoping for a third stage though but it would be nice to have Sayo/Tenkokumaru as the main this time and not as the Storyteller as he has been the past 2 times. Rating: 6/10
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SPOILER REVIEW
STORY:
So we follow Gedomaru and the Young Boy around on their travels when they end up at a village where someone recognises Gedomaru. Soon, they are ambushed by a group of girls who claim that Gedo is the reason for their mother's death and that they are out to avenge them. All the while, the Young Boy is curious as to how he and his father met, so Gedo recites how. Soon enough Gedo realises that the group of girls' mothers had a part to play in that part of his history and the stories begin to entwine.
The backdrop to Gedo and Byakko's meeting is in the middle of two warring states (which are coloured Green and Orange). But in order to create peace, one side, Green, sends their daughter to be married to the other, but the other side (Orange) had other mischievous plans in mind.
COMMENTS
☆ I absolutely adored the background this time around. They made it look like the starry sky and had lots of glitter on it! It was so beautiful!
☆ I also loved what they did with the lighting! Depending on which side of the war we were on, the lights were either more green/blue, or more orange/red.
☆ The sound was great too! There is a scene where two characters are in a river and the timing of their movements with accurate water sounds were perfect! The music itself was great! Some tracks I could recall being in the first play too so it felt very familiar and nostalgic at times, especially some of the fighting and high tension(?) songs/tracks.
☆ Once again, Oguri (along with Sho this time) did the choreography for the fighting scenes! You could tell they were the more skilled ones, because the fight between them two (compared to everyone else') was so tense and so high speed and their movements were much more fluid. I really enjoyed one specific move Hiroki did too. It was when the Girl Gang attacks them and he does this move where, in order to stop/block the person behind him, the wings his sword around and behind him without even looking where his target is! And I thought it was hella cool. I also really enjoyed the choreography with the two Ninjas, they had lots of high kicks, lots of slides, lots of cartwheels etc. which I enjoyed watching (as an ex-gymnast myself).
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But I will say, on the first day, all the fight scenes were very slow. You could tell it was their first performance, because there were a lot of minor slip ups, and it wasn't perfect, and it looked very, very clunky and slow. But on my second viewing (which was the 5th show), they had drastically improved and I could see how fast and how comfortable they had gotten with the fights.
☆ Of course I thoroughly enjoyed the acting! There were some moments and some characters that really stood out.
☆ BUT, and this is a big butt, I didn't really enjoy the antagonist this time around. I don't know why but I found the bad guy very 1D and very bland. I don't even have a specific reason why. But he felt very much like an after thought; it felt like he was put in at the last minute because 'damn we need a big bad guy'. I'm not sure how to describe it. But, let me tell you his arc: So he's on one side of the warring states, the Orange side, and he's very much ready to fight and battle with the other side til one of them is standing. But agrees to take their sister and 'marry her'. But as soon as she's in his hands, he holds her hostage and eventually kills her. He then starts a big battle against the other side. But when his henchmen go against him, he doesn't hesitate to kill them, even though he was having a sexual relationship with one of them. To stop him advancing, the Greens and Byakki team up and defeat him. His arc and his story takes up like 10% of the entire play. He's killed off about 30 - 40 minutes before the end (or at least felt like that) so.... I don't really understand WHY he was chosen as the 'antagonist'. This play could've very easily stood well on it's own without him. We could've cut his stage appearance out completely and just had people discussing him and it would've had the same amount of impact. Maybe I missed something but I personally didn't find him compelling or interesting. In fact, I was more interested in his daughter's story.
☆ His daughter, Sumika, has ran away and gone into hiding because she holds the power of seeing the future when she sleeps. She believes she's cursed, and because of her power, she believes she's to blame for everything bad that has happened and now she's on the run, because both her father and the Greens are trying to find and capture her (for different reasons). She finds Byakki via one of her dreams and manages to track him down; she begs Byakki to kill her. But he refuses, twice. Her journey is basically questions why she was born, why she has these powers, and finding solace in Byakki who has also been ostracised for his 'abnormality'. I loved her and Byakki's relationship! And there's a scene where the Ninjas track her down and Byakki defends her, but once he's taken too many blows, she gets in the middle of them and yells 'he's not a monster! He's a human just like us!' and it really hit me in the feels.
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☆ Another character I thoroughly enjoyed was Nadeshiko. She was played by Hanaoka (and if you remember, I absolutely loved her in Zigoma!) who is just one of the funniest women I know. Her comedy and the way she delivers her comedy is always so spot on and so well done! She has the perfect balance of being cutesy-funny and then switching to a 'deep-voice' funny. She's also not afraid to make fun of herself or her fellow actors. She had some GOLD comedy moments in this.
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☆ There was a cast change with Young Gedomaru... I have to admit, I was not happy the first time around. I felt like there was a complete change in his personality compared to the first version we saw of him. But then I saw how much laughter he was getting from the audience and how much the audience accepted him. Also this is set before the events of the first stage so of course he'd be a bit less mature, and more child-like and would have a more happy, positive view on things, so then I came around to this new Gedomaru and I just enjoyed his upon my second viewing. He is very funny and is another main source, besides Nadeshiko, of the audience's laughter and the comedy. He falls in love with Sumika straight away and vows to protect her. Also his stubbornness of wanting to win against Byakki so much. It's both admirable and stupid at the same time, and Byakki feels the same. But fighting against each other is what tightens and strengthens their relationship.
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☆ Sumika was really cute. I loved how quiet and how pleasant she was. But she was also going through a tough time and kept it to herself which proved how strong she was. She was also determined about dying while also showing how vulnerable and scared she was which was beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed her relationship with Byakki too. BUT I really wish we'd removed a character or a storyline or two so we could've expanded other scenes and relationships like this one. I would've loved an extra 20 or so minutes with Sumika and Byakki building a relationship, because it felt very much like: They met -> he protects her in a fight or two -> crying and super sad because he has to kill her -> End. It felt very rushed and I couldn't get emotional about the scene at all! So I would've appreciated it more and would've been more invested if we'd actually spent time to develop their relationship and feelings.
ALSO! The entire show I was like: Yo is this Young Boy's mother?! Are we finally finding out who she is?! But alas, she dies in the end so we're still left wondering who tf his mother is!! Grrrrr. We better be getting a third stage to finally answer that god damn question!
☆ Also on the topic of Young Boy and Hiroki; I was so pissed he was playing the story telling again! He was barely in the stage because he was only needed when we were in the present or hoovering over some of the past scenes. COME ON! GIVE HIM THE LEAD ROLE HE DESERVES! I was disappointed we got him as the Story Teller again -__-
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☆ In this we got to meet Gedomaru's older brother! Who is a priest at a temple. I loved how much obvious love he had for his brother, but also allowed his brother to grow independently and learn from his mistakes. I thoroughly adored the last scene with him where he tells Gedo that he's going back to the temple and accepts that Gedo will be going off with Byakki, and his last line is something like 'you know you can always come back to your home at the temple' which was really sweet. But now there's the mystery as to what happened to his brother, because in the present Young Boy asks 'how's your brother now?' and Gedo replies very vaguely like 'it's best if we don't meet again.' so I'm like super suspicious! What happened to his brother?! I hope he gets killed and Gedo goes on a manic revenge spree or something that Byakki has to save him from! Ohhhh that'd be good!!
☆ Towards the end of the play, we get sakura / cherry blossom petals falling down from the ceiling and oh my did it look beautiful! It was such a beautiful touch and I am so glad they added it into the stage because it's so emotionally and visually beautiful! I know it's such a simple thing and it IS used in so many stages, but every time, I can't not appreciate it!!
Now I want to get into the negatives in detail for a moment.
☆ For me this was their weakest stage so far. I've always been so impressed with their stages, and I had a feeling this one wouldn't quite hack it, and unfortunately, I was right.
☆ For me, I didn't find anything surprising or new in this stage. I am so used to ASSH taking a simple story and just having them put in such surprises that my mind is blown by the end of the story. But I feel they played it very safe in this one. There were no surprises, and nothing new. Also ASSH are known to be brutal with their killing off of characters but no one major died. No one's death was really that surprising or emotionally hurt.
I will admit that Sumika's death was impressive but that was all thanks to the actress' skills. She first gets her ear cut off and her scream during that moment is just pure gold and absolutely amazing voice and physical acting! But in terms of WHO died, there were no high stakes at all. Like ASSH have killed of WHOLE casts before!! Now that's theatre! That's drama! That's WOW! But this one was just ... safe.
☆ I also felt that even though the story was very stereotypical: two warring states/kingdoms and their daughters getting caught up in the shit shit, yet I spent we OVER-spent time introducing the war and who was on who's side. I seriously think you could've completely cut out the two leaders and just had his underlings talking about him. I felt the presence of the two big leaders were unnecessary and you could've easily just had them AS spoken characters -- I hope you understand what I mean: they could've just been talked ABOUT rather than actually getting actors and having them physically onstage.
☆ They also spent a whole scene dedicated to the three Girl Gang members and explaining their tragic past and why they joined this group. You could've cut out both of these parts.
☆ There were also too many story lines. Let me break down the groups and relationships:
Present Day:
(1) Old Gedo with Young Boy, eventually Old Nadeshiko joining. (2) Girl Gang: out for Revenge on Gedo because of what happened to their mothers.
Past Day:
(1) Orange Clan: We have the Leader who's marrying Green's girl but ultimately wanting to battle, and absolutely hates his daughter and trying to track her down thanks to his ninja henchmen. His henchmen are slowly questioning their leader's leadership, sanity and motives. (2) Green Clan: Just wants a peaceful land, sends daughter to marry Orange so they can have a peaceful, political agreement. After the daughter gets killed, they try and find Sumika for either help or entrapment. (3) Girl Gang (4) Nadeshiko and Sumika on the run and trying to find Byakki. (5) Byakumaru bumping into Gedo, becoming spar buddies and eventually friends. (6) Gedo and his brother: Out on their travels and find Byakki and won't leave until Gedo defeats Byakki. (7) Sumika and Byakki: After finding Byakki, she really wants him to kill her so her powers can stop. (8) Gedo falls for Sumika at first sight and now sees Byakki as a love and fighting rival.
As you can see... there is just too much. This stage/story would've benefited if they had either: cut 2 or 3 characters out, OR cut one story line out completely. Upon my second watch, I realised that there is literally NO POINT to the Girl Gang at all (besides gender equality and girls can fight too and being a conflict to present Gedo), so I think they should've cut them characters out completely. Also physically cutting out the two leaders and having them only in the dialogue would've saved a lot of time too.
☆ This play is 2 hours 35 minutes long. If they had cut out the parts I wanted, this could've been under 2 hours. AND if they really wanted, they could've used that extra time to actually DEVELOP relationships between the remaining characters. I have no problem giving that time to Gedo and Byakki, or Byakki and Sumika! We need their development in this story in all honesty! And thinking about it, to say Byakki is the same character, he's in it almost a little as Young Boy is! He's barely in the stage compared to some many other characters.
☆ Also I went there for Hiroki and his has the smallest part... again! He's playing the story teller... again! So of course my bias heart is sad about this! I really thought we were going to get HIS story this time around! I really thought we were going to find out who his mother was this time around! But alas, this stage was set in the past and he's just a bystander again *cries* I really hope we get a third stage and that he's main next time!
*
Don't get me wrong, this is still a solid play, with amazing acting and lots of great characters. Also it has a lot of charm, a lot of amazing scene and nice moments, some great lines, some very funny parts. However, this was just their weakest one for me. 'Safe' is definitely the word to describe this play. I am still hopeful and wanting a third stage! But seriously, if the next stage is not about Hiroki and his mother, I swear to god! xD Anyway, thanks for reading as usual!
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thelreads · 1 year
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Anyone else feel we're in a rush right now? A lot of things covered in one chapter, which isn't a complaint, but usually I feel we're at a third of this pace.
This story had taken a dark turn, and I hope it's acknowledged and not just swept under the rug with a happy ending. Still not buying Koichi and Pop no matter how much the mangaka tries. It still doesn't make sense and the details of this relationship could be thoroughly dissected by psychologists. Koichi needs to treat Pop better as a friend, and Pop is definitely going to be--, or should be super messed up after this. Koichi and Pop love story so far would be:
Pop had an unrequited crush on Koichi, several years her senior, for 3+ years. Koichi's adult love interest had to tell him to acknowledge this and do something about it. Pop responded with avoidance, which was immature, but also, she IS reasonably immature. Pop, Koichi's only friend, goes missing for an extended period of time, and Koichi doesn't even notice. Pop is kidnapped, mentally abused, implied physically abused too, and turned into a literal terrorist with a grudge against Koichi. Now Koichi feels guilty, which he should, but how gross of an ending would it be to end all of that with a band-aid kiss? This is without acknowledging how Koichi facilitated the illegal actions of a minor, which seems negligible compared to the rest of my points.
Anyway--, I hope Pop doesn't actually get to execute a second attack. It's bad enough she's classified as a villain (what's up with no real Pros/Eraser not responding to the terror attack btw?), but it's going to be hard enough proving herself 100% innocent. If she does it twice, and the justice system resembles anything of the real world justice system, she's going to be fucked considering the story starts with vigilantism and illegal performances.
Everything logically dictates that the story can't have a happy ending, so you can bet that's exactly how it will end. I can already see it, koichi is gonna shout pop's name, making her stop in her tracks and give a hint of her being aware of what she's doing, before he shots her down, remove the parasite from her head, then after she wakes up in the hospital they'll talk and he'll say that he always loved her and he just didn't realized, and they'll kiss before the story gives another time skip to everything being back to normal and Soga now being a respectable member of society and being dating Tamao.
Mark my words here, I bet my hat that this is how the story will end.
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sparklyjojos · 4 years
Text
THE SAIMON FAMILY CASE recaps [8/13]
In which we meet the children, Ajiro becomes a Big Damn Hero, and the detectives get a tour combined with even more explanations about magic.
--
Waiting for the morning of January 19th to arrive, Ajiro and Kirigirisu discuss the case once more.
If Tamako was murdered, then how? Did seeing the curtain change colors shock her to death? Kirigirisu muses that since the family is full of magicians, maybe someone hypnotized her in such a way that the color change was a signal for her to drop dead. Ajiro replies that it’s not plausible; hypnosis can’t actually make the subject do something they wouldn’t want to do on at least some level. Hypnotizing even someone with suicidal tendencies into dying would be pretty hard. A more plausible option is that Tamako was already dead before her wheelchair was moved to the stage. If so, then Akiko who brought her there would be the obvious suspect.
The problem is that Akiko was the next person to die. However, if her death really was a murder, then the culprit chose a very unreliable killing method, so maybe it really was just an accident.
Yuuta’s death was likely a murder. The witnesses claimed they saw a man digging a hole in the sand, but maybe that man was actually the culprit burying the body.
Daisen could very well have been murdered; if Takayoshi made it into the mountains and performed the switch without being spotted, then an assassin also could have hidden somewhere. Ajiro theorizes that maybe Yuuta went to Tottori using Daisen’s car, then got murdered, which would make Daisen believe he himself was the intended target. Of course, everything is just a hypothesis.
“The first thing we should be trying to learn is who is targeting who,” Ajiro says. “The target may be Fujita-gumi, but at the same time it may be the Saimons… I think we should keep an eye on the Tsukumos and Tousens as well. I don’t really have a tangible plan on how to do it yet, but—Tensui, you’re here, aren’t you.”
The sliding door to their room moves aside revealing Tensui standing quietly in the dark hallway.
“I had a feeling someone was there,” Ajiro says without surprise while Kirigirisu as always has to take a moment to calm down his pulse.
Just like before, the conversation between the three is done through writing. Tensui proposes that he and Miku will keep the Saimon household under close observation throughout the day.
Kirigirisu has a strange feeling that maybe Tensui is actually the murderer, grasping the chance to get closer to his next victim… but no, that would be stupid, considering the next victim may not even live in Kami-Saimon, and with two Tensuis in existence one could still move freely even if the other one was stuck somewhere.
The detectives can likely trust Takayoshi to keep an eye on the Fujita household too. That awkward anxious man is the last person Kirigirisu would suspect of murder.
This leaves one problem: if one Tensui is going to be watching his family all day, how will he know what the other Tensui is doing and if he’s not in danger?
Do not worry about it, Tensui writes. Whenever I’m out and about, the other I always secludes himself in the shrine. No one other than us can enter it.
By “the shrine”, he means the building on the little island in the middle of the garden’s pond. Before Tensui leaves the room to hide, he asks them to show up at the pond a little later.
--
In the morning, Ajiro and Kirigirisu take a walk through Kami-Saimon’s splendid garden, wondrous in the middle of a bright winter day. The shrine Tensui talked about is visible on the little island at their big koi pond, Ryuugaike. With its octagonal base and roof, the shrine looks highly similar to the famous Yumedono, the “Hall of Dreams” of Houryuu-ji Temple in Ikaruga.
Once the detectives make a circle around the pond, Kirigirisu realizes that not only does the shrine not have any visible entrance, there isn’t even a bridge leading to the island.
“The shrine is called Seiryoin,” Ajiro informs him.
Seiryoin… Kirigirisu imagines it might be written 清涼院 [like the JDC writer’s name], a fitting name for this “pure” and “bright” “temple”. Ajiro doesn’t actually know how the name is supposed to be written, but his pick would be 静療院, a temple of “quiet” “recuperation”. Maybe neither way is correct, who knows.
The detectives are waiting on the shore for Tensui when someone suddenly appears next to them. “Suddenly appears” seems like the right phrase to use, considering the man’s footprints begin in the middle of the snowy field as if he teleported there.
The man is, even more surprisingly, not Soga Tensui, but that quiet contemplative man who played the afro clown in the show: Saimon Akio. (Tamako’s grandson, Akiko’s son, Takayoshi’s and Taishi’s brother.)
“Good morning! Indeed what a good morning we have,” Akio greets them with a kind expression. “But more importantly—look over there!”
He points towards the island, where in front of their very eyes Soga Tensui emerges from the doorless shrine, seemingly phasing out through the stone wall. Then he starts walking into the lake—no, walking on the lake, getting only his soles wet, and casually makes it to the other side away from the detectives. His famous Sea Walk.
“Anyway, I’m going to be the one guiding you around today,” Akio says. It’s only expected, seeing as Tensui will be busy keeping an eye on the house.
--
Akio gives them a sightseeing car trip around town—Tsuwano is small enough that it’s not a far journey. The detectives climb the local torii to get a full look at the town from up high. It’s easy to notice where the Tsukumos and Tousens live; it’s a surprisingly wide space south of town, full of various buildings and trailer houses. The two families’ houses are actually connected with Shimo-Saimon into one complex, demonstrating just how closely their lives are intertwined. The entire complex is called Sanasou (山烏荘)—a strange wordplay on the phrase “the trio’s house” (三羽烏の家).
Akio drives them to Sanasou. As soon as they arrive, they spot a few snowmen and a lot of tiny footprints on the ground, and then several curious children come running their way, some happily shouting seeing Akio. A few kids are still holding snowballs; it seems the adults interrupted one fierce battle.
The oldest child present is Tousen Matoki, looking around grade school age and acting like he’s the kids’ leader.
“Look, look!” Matoki does the thing where you put your right hand in your left jacket sleeve and left hand in your right sleeve, and makes an attempt at a dignified princely expression. “I’m Shoutoku Taishi!”
“Oh come on, Maji-chan, you do this every time,” comments the girl next to him. It’s Matoki’s sister Yomiko, the one who played Koyomi. She may have looked older on stage, and may have seemed a bit creepy with her staring back that one time, but with kids her age around she turns out to be a really nice girl. The nickname Maji-chan probably came from an alternative reading of Matoki’s name and is of course a horrible pun on the word “magician”.
Matoki and Yomiko act quite brave and natural in front of adults they barely know. In comparison, the other girl present—Tsukumo Emu—is hiding behind Yomiko’s back, and even further behind them, keeping careful distance, staring at the adults cautiously, are Tensui’s twin sons, Juku and Joukei.
The twins look pretty much identical, but after several meetings with the family Kirigirisu has learned to somewhat differentiate between them. Joukei is the one lacking confidence and with constant scared look in his eyes. Juku’s eyes just seem emotionless and unimpressed. Though their intense, somehow unnaturally pretty stares are filled with different emotions, they equally make Kirigirisu feel like his consciousness is trying to slip away.
It’s hard to believe that either of the twins would play the cheerful, energetic role of Kotensui. The puppet’s voice must have been dubbed over by another boy.
Apparently the twins got here from Kami-Saimon on their bikes to play with the other children.
“Chisato and Chiaki already got here too,” Joukei informs in a timid voice.
Juku mutters something too low to be heard.
“What did you say, Juku-sama?” Yomiko asks. (Why the ultra-honorifics among children?, Kirigirisu thinks in surprise.)
Beautifully expressionless Juku mutters the same thing a bit louder. It sounds like Kudaranai… Ima wa kudaranai yo… Huh? “This is stupid”? “It’s useless now”? What is?
Before Kirigirisu can figure it out, they hear a woman scream at the top of her lungs.
“Ria! Koma! NEMU!”
Everyone turns to see the most unusual scene. Two Shetland Sheepdogs are running towards them at breakneck speed, pulling a sled with a crying tiny girl—Tsukumo Nemu—and being chased by the trio of Nemu’s terrified mother Yumeji, Matoki and Yomiko’s mother Maki, and the only still single Tsukumo sibling Ranma. Several white doves are flying around in chaos.
“What the… Nemu, watch out!” Akio shouts and runs towards her, Ajiro instantly joining his side.
Before they can reach the sled, the dogs see them approach and react with a sudden swerve, the force involved sending little Nemu flying high in the air.
In an instant, something similar to two long poles zooms past Kirigirisu. He glances back: Kotensui’s Magic Hands are being deployed out of Juku’s sleeves. They reach towards Nemu, and barely, just barely—
—miss their mark.
But Ajiro is already close enough, jumps in the air and grabs the girl before she can hit the ground. Nemu is safe in his arms.
Once everyone catches their breath, the newly arrived adults explain what happened. The dog sled is a toy strictly for the older kids. Nemu had to jump on when no one was looking, scaring the dogs and making them run for the hills.
The white doves flying around belong to Tsukumo Ranma, who takes care of the family’s aviary. Though in his late twenties, he still has a lot of a cheerful child left in him, and perhaps because of that all the kids in the family love him. When the sled incident happened, he was in the middle of loading doves up his sleeves to surprise the children with a Channing Pollock-style illusion, and the birds got out in the chaos.
Teary-eyed Yumeji thanks again and again for saving her daughter. It looks like Ajiro became an instant hit with the kids, too, graduating from an adult stranger to someone they can trust. Even shy Joukei and Emu, even stoic Juku are all smiling at him.
For some reason, Juku’s look of approval and respect towards Ajiro leaves an especially deep impression on Kirigirisu.
--
Akio leads them to the training studio. A few girls are already there: Chisato and Chiaki (Akio’s daughters) along with Akiko (Taishi’s daughter) are training their ribbon-hula hoop routine, while slightly older Tsukumo Seika observes them with a critical eye. The girls stop, not wanting to show the secret to outsiders, but Akio assures them it’s fine; Tensui actually wants them to explain the method to the detectives. Akio leaves for a moment to change into his costume while the girls perform the illusion.
Just like in the show, the girls dance with ribbons which suddenly turn into hula hoops. Chiaki and Chisato successfully make their moving hoops link together, Akiko approaches with her own, and—all the hoops clang down to the ground.
“What are you doing, Akiko?!” Seika yells.
While Akiko is staring on the floor with tears in her eyes, Kirigirisu takes a glance at the hoops… which turn out not to be as normal as he thought.
“She didn’t do it on purpose,” says Akio, suddenly showing up next to them in his clown costume, though without makeup. (How can this man just keep appearing out of thin air?) He picks up a hula hoop and it suddenly returns to being a ribbon with a sound like tape measure retracting.
Akio explains that the ribbon-hoop is a magic prop. What looks like the ribbon’s handle is actually hiding the entire hoop, which can zoom out telescopically in an instant. The resulting hula hoop isn’t actually a closed ring, but has an opening small enough that it can’t be seen while moving fast. The illusion of the Linking Hula Hoops is basically an unusual variation of the famous Linking Rings.
“But linking the hoops while moving so fast… could anyone accomplish such a feat?” Kirigirisu asks despite having already witnessed it a few times.
“We are the Circus of Magic,” Akio says. “Any illusion requires training to polish one’s technique, especially circus acts combined with magic. That’s why these girls are practicing hard every day.”
“And apparently can’t focus at all lately!” Seika comments harshly, but calms down a little when Akio asks her to demonstrate a few more illusions with him.
Akio and Seika first set up the little table from two planks; this too is apparently a special tool that can be bought in a magic shop. Then Akio produces three red balls out of nowhere and passes them to Seika, who turns them white with a stroke. Kirigirisu inspects the balls and realizes they are reversible, just like that handkerchief changing colors that Tensui showed him. (Even stern Seika looks tickled seeing Kirigirisu’s child-like joy as he keeps changing the ball’s color back and forth.)
Akio demonstrates the next part: turning the balls into long pins by inserting them into an empty tube.
“Are you familiar with Doraemon?” he asks.
“Dorae… it that also an illusion?” Kirigiru doesn’t understand why the girls start laughing at him when he says this.
“It’s a very popular comic for children.”
“I’m familiar with it,” Ajiro says. “My son Souya is a fan, so we’ve read through it many times. I think it’s a masterpiece.”
A short explanation on Doraemon follows. Kirigirisu finds the premise fascinating (a time-travelling cat robot from the 22nd century who has a four-dimensional pouch?!) and decides he and Kano will have to check it out later.
Akio invites him to watch the illusion again, but standing behind the table this time. He sets the tube on the table, then retrieves a white pin from inside his clown costume’s front pocket (maybe not as spacious as Doraemon’s pouch, but still big) and hides it behind the tube. So that’s how something can magically appear “from the inside” when the tube is lifted.
Kirigirisu inspects the tube closer and realizes the opening facing up is slightly narrower than the one on the bottom… and that’s because there’s something similar to a small pocket around that opening, where the squishable balls can be hidden. A spectator looking through the tube from its bottom end wouldn’t notice anything suspicious.
Next, another illusion making use of the spectators’ limited angle of view. Akio holds one ball between his fingers and with swift movements makes it magically multiply into three… except the two additional balls are actually just two empty half-spherical shells. What seemed like a single ball actually had those two shells covering it. It’s a variation of the popular illusion known as the Multiplying Billiard Ball.
Finally, Akio performs the Five-Ball Cascade for them, five balls changing colors from white to red in mid-air as they’re juggled. The secret here is astonishingly simple: the balls used for this particular routine have their halves colored differently, white on one side and red on the other. The rest of the act is just a matter of practice.
“A different method is used for the pins changing colors,” Akio explains. “Do you know what that could be, Ajiro?”
“Using a mirror, I think.”
Judging by the girls’ expressions, Ajiro got it right, but Kirigirisu doesn’t understand how on earth a mirror could be used that way.
Each of the three girls takes two white pins and stands in a triangle formation, while Seika heads slightly behind them… and disappears into thin air. The three girls start the juggle, but eventually sneakily throw the white pins behind them where they disappear, only for red pins to be thrown back instead. It’s not that Seika disappeared; she hid behind a large mirror to help with the act.
Kirigirisu understands now how Akio was able to appear out of thin air earlier. Mirrors.
Akio gets to the next illusion. He takes an empty beer bottle, puts it inside his hat… no, just pretends to put it there, while actually hiding it in his chest pocket. So that’s how. The sweets were likewise produced out of his spacious pocket rather than from the hat.
Finally, Akio gives them what looks like a remote control with a small lever, encouraging them to play with it for a second while he’s changing back into normal clothes. The lever turns out to move the arms of those tall three-armed fire stands from the show, opening and closing them back inwards like an umbrella. The stands are designed in such a way that fire can be extinguished in an instant by pushing the arms into the stand.
“Juku’s Magic Hands are a similar mechanical device, though a lot more complicated,” Akio says once he joins them again, then announces that this would be enough explanations for the day.
--
Akio continues to guide them around the place. He leads them to another building—for some unknown reason called Shakuya (杓屋)—where two hammer sharks are swimming in a giant tank under the watchful eye of their caretaker, Tsukumo Souma, the hunchbacked man who’s little Nemu’s father. He doesn’t seem to be one for much conversation.
As they leave the building, they bump into Ranma again—and thank god, because his calming personality is somewhat needed after those sharks. Ranma shows them around the aviary filled with countless dove cages surrounding a cramped aisle in the middle. There’s a particularly big mysterious box with closed double doors in the back.
“Do you keep birds in there too?” Ajiro asks.
“Oh, no. There’s just this big figure of a dove inside. We’ve had it for ages, it serves the role of a god protecting the birds. We call it Onikaru-sama.”
The detectives have already met Ranma, Souma and Miku, so it’s time to head to the main part of Sanasou and meet the fourth Tsukumo sibling, Tsushima, the man looking like a bank employee. That first impression turns out to be close to life, as the man manages the show’s finances, looking as stressed as one can expect considering how much debt they’re in. He’s constantly busy and doesn’t really want to talk to anyone. As they’re leaving, they spot the man’s nervous son, Touji, who quickly hides somewhere.
Tsukumo Karan (Seika’s mother who played the Courtisane Hana Dayuu) then shows them to a room in which elderly Tsukumo Tamako and Tousen Tamako are resting in beds next to each other, under full-time care of Tousen Natsuko. In another room Tsukumo Mitama is similarly caring for her husband Gensui (the old one, known as the magician Soga Tengen in his days).
They quickly leave as to not disturb the seniors. Akio tells the detectives about how decades ago, shortly after the war, the show’s most splendid illusion was the underwater escape as performed by Soga Tengen. One day during practice his son Souma forgot to lock the cage, resulting in the shark viciously biting Tengen. The magician survived, but would never be able to move on his own again. Thirty years later, Tengen still leads his life in bed constantly cared for by his wife Mitama, while Souma still continues to raise sharks in a neighboring building despite protests from a few family members.
The tour comes to an end around noon. Ajiro calls Daisetsu and Miku in turn, making sure everything is fine in the Fujita residence and in Kami-Saimon. Daisetsu says that maybe Ajiro saving Nemu prevented the day’s unlucky accident, so they have nothing to worry about now. Maybe the case is going to stop here? Indeed nothing happens until late evening, so Ajiro and Kirigirisu head to the same bar as the previous night, meeting up with Daisetsu, Takayoshi and Uyama (somehow with an even more pronounced way of sighing “oh, oh!” now) as well as with Hyousen’s son Hyousai. Surely nothing bad will happen before midnight.
Shortly before midnight, they get a message that Tsukumo Mitama was found dead in the bath, where she must have fallen and drowned. It is later ruled as an unfortunate accident.
The case is nowhere near to being over.
--
A month later, on February 19th, Saimon Akio dies due to electrocution when the water filter at the pond malfunctions killing him and all the fish he’s been taking care of. When the body is found, all the water in the pond is dyed red.
--
A month later, on March 19th, Saimon Chisato is found dead from blood loss after apparently cutting off her hand using the Arm Guillotine prop. It is noted that she has been suffering emotional instability from stress related to the Case.
--
A month later, on April 19th, Fujita Daisetsu collapses on his way home from the bar and is taken to the hospital, where he dies from alcohol poisoning.
--
None of the eight cases so far have been deemed suspicious by the police, all of them ruled as either death from natural causes, accidents or suicides. Nevertheless, this perfectly spaced string of cases can’t possibly be a natural occurrence.
Who is the target and who is targeting them?
Perhaps the next month will show us the Case’s another face—or should we say, a mask.
--
[>>>NEXT PART>>>]
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