#at this point it’s obligatory for me to talk about this quote because I reference it constantly!!

[patron-minette]

Montparnasse had, in fact, encountered Éponine as she stood on the watch under the trees of the boulevard, and had led her off, preferring to play Nemorin with the daughter rather than Schinderhannes with the father. It was well that he did so. He was free.

So, now we find out what Montparnasse and Éponine were really up to instead of keeping watch on the night of the Gorbeau ambush… and also have confirmation that Montparnasse certainly did more than simply stop for a “chat” with Éponine outside the Gorbeau house!

As detailed in the footnotes of the Julie Rose translation of Les Misérables, this reference to Némorin is ultimately Hugo’s way of saying Montparnasse would rather seduce Éponine than engage with crime (note the other reference made here— to “Schinderhannes”— is a reference to a notorious, real life criminal). If anything, Hugo is practically confirming here in a tongue-and-cheek way that the pair slept together that night, and that Montparnasse likely abandoned Éponine after their tryst, which is why Javert was able to capture her.

For anyone interested, I’ve already made a long post unpacking this quote which can be found here. It explains who Némorin was and what Hugo was likely alluding to when he calls Montparnasse Némorin. I think it’s important to note that in the original French, the phrase is “être Némorin” rather than “to play” Némorin, this arguably demonstrates a deeper closeness between Montparnasse and Éponine than the Hapgood translation makes.

The meaning behind this “Némorin” reference can so easily be missed or simply passed over, but I think it’s crucial to acknowledge what these two were really getting up to that evening together— not solely because I’m interested in their pairing— but also because it provides such complexities when it comes to understanding Éponine’s character. It gives a unique insight into Montparnasse as a character too!

Anyhow, the important point in this minor detail is that Éponine and Montparnasse have some sort of unique relationship— I’m not referring to a completely romantic relationship here, but I’m acknowledging how there’s a certain closeness between them seeing as they seemingly slept together on the night of the Gorbeau ambush. It’s good to keep this in mind when we reach later parts of the novel.

#at this point it’s obligatory for me to talk about this quote because I reference it constantly!! #dw this isn’t my only LM Letters post of the day I’ve got plenty more to come because P-M are BACK #les mis letters #lm 4.2.2 #montparnasse #eponine #eponine thenardier #némorin #les miserables #les mis #the brick #quotes

[shakesqueers13]

The Macbeths' Missing Child:

So, this isn't really anything groundbreaking, but I've been studying Macbeth recently even though it's not really my favorite tragedy (I'm kind of a Macbeth hater... sorry) but I like it better when I think about in terms of parenthood. Dr. Gemma Miller at The Globe called Macbeth “Shakespeare’s most child-obsessed play” and it’s interesting to think of it this way! (Though Titus Andronicus might give it a run for it’s money…)

(Obligatory disclaimer that this is just an interpretation, and there is no "right" answer to any of this. Please don't comment and tell me I'm "wrong" unless I have my facts wrong - this is just theory, none of us can know what Shakespeare meant for sure).

Anyway, I read a post recently that said something like "some scholars tend to get obsessed with paternal themes in Shakespeare!" and like... yeah... that's where I am. But we can talk about maternal themes too...

So, the backbone of this entire theory is found in act one, scene seven:

Lady Macbeth: "Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know  How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me.  I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums  And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you  Have done to this."

I.vii.62-67

This is obviously a jarringly violent line, ESPECIALLY coming from a woman. There are a lot of moments like this in Macbeth; just gratuitously upsetting descriptions of death or violence, especially against innocents. This line draws attention and is often quoted to show what a monster Lady M is (more on this later). But what this line tells us is that Lady Macbeth had, at one point, a baby who she loved. It's possible that she had a child in a past marriage, but we know that her and Macbeth don't have any living children together - Macduff tells us that unequivocally in Act 4, Scene 3, specifically stating that Macbeth has "No children." So it isn't that their children are off stage, or that they've grown up and moved out. Either, they've never had a child together, or any children they did have together didn't survive.

(Additionally, this is minutia, but her use of that single male pronoun for the baby could potentially be notable because it's very specific - usually children weren't really gendered during this time period, you can read more about that in Dr. Miller's article, which I'll cite below. If Lady M wasn't referring to an actual son, she likely would've used 'it' twice instead of 'he' once. Take that with a grain of salt, but if we're really reaching, I think we can draw the conclusion that their lost child is a son). Anyway.

Scholars and directors deal with this in different ways. Perhaps most notably, Michael Fassbender's 2015 version opened with a silent funeral for the Macbeth's child, which is often talked about. I'm not sure if that version was the first to include the silent opening scene (probably not) but it's the most famous one, so I'm just using it as an example. It really changes the play if you have that opening scene for a number of different reasons, so if we operate on the assumption that yes, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth had a son who died young, here are some notable interpretations, as well as pieces of evidence that would support the conclusion:

Motherhood & Lady M:

First of all, mothers in Shakespeare are incredibly rare. It just didn't make sense for Shakespeare to write them in extraneously because he didn't have female actors, and women wouldn't have had as much agency in the story. So whenever a woman/mother is included in Shakespeare, she's there for a reason, serving a purpose that a single father couldn't. (There's so much to say about Shakespeare's motherless daughters, but that's a different essay). Obviously, Lady Macbeth serves a major purpose in this text. People, especially non-scholars, often have this misconception of Lady M as a bloodthirsty psycho who drives the very normal and well adjusted Macbeth to commit atrocities. In reality, that is not really what I think the text tells us. Also, it would be uncharacteristically lazy writing for Shakespeare to create such a one-dimensional deuteragonist. No, Lady M has just as many feelings as Macbeth does, and she expresses remorse and worry throughout the narrative, ESPECIALLY when it comes to Lady MacDuff, a mother. So what leads her to participate in these crimes?

Well, Lady Macbeth's violence is very closely tied to motherhood. In her first scene on stage, she says, "Come to my woman’s breasts/And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers," I.vi.54-55. We can potentially say that maybe Shakespeare didn't know how lactation works, but women only produce breastmilk after having a child. So, this line, along with the one about nursing a baby quoted above, really makes it seem like Lady Macbeth had a baby, at least somewhat recently. And if we get into interpretive territory, we can certainly take this line to mean that Lady Macbeth's anger and violence comes directly out of her grief for losing a child. Perhaps "murd'ring ministers" refers both to the spirits who are currently driving her to murder, AND/OR the spirits who already "murdered" or took her child from her. This line can be interpreted as her saying, if I've already lost my child, take away the womanly attributes that allowed me to create it, and let me become just as cruel and murderous as the world that took it from me.

However, when Lady Macbeth snaps, it's because of the murder of Macduff's family (more on that later). In act five, she famously says, "The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is / she now? What, will these hands ne’er be clean? No / more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that. You mar all /  with this starting." V.i.44-47. It seems like Lady Macbeth can excuse murder, but she draws the line at hurting another mother and child. This is what drives her to madness.

There's also an element of patriarchal expectation at play. Why is Lady Macbeth so power hungry? Well, usually that's attributed to just regular ambition (a fatal flaw, see all of Julius Caesar for elaboration), but maybe there's more to it. It's certainly possible that Lady Macbeth felt an immense sense of failure for not giving Macbeth a son. As I'll write more about in the next section, Macbeth mourns his childlessness, he wishes he could continue his family line. So, maybe Lady Macbeth is so desperate to grasp power for her husband because it's something she can do. She failed to fulfill her "duty" of providing an heir, but what she can do is get her hands dirty and try to fill that gap between them where a child should be with a crown.

Brief side bar: The love between the Macbeths, in my opinion, is an absolutely essential element of the play. Without it, the story crumbles. Macbeth loves and respects his wife; he calls her "my dearest partner of greatness" and tells her everything. If you've never read Denzel Washington's quote about how he thinks Macbeth and Lady Macbeth fell in love, I would highly recommend looking it up because it's beautiful. But their love and their trust in each other just cannot be discounted. I believe that Lady Macbeth wanted her husband to be happy - she knew he wanted more political power, and she desperately tried to get it for him.

Additionally, when Lady Macbeth dies, Macbeth just shatters. His life becomes meaningless! How painful it is to imagine that Macbeth lost his child, but by some miracle, kept his wife, not losing her in the very dangerous ordeal of childhood, and THEN, through their love for each other, eventually lost her anyway. Macbeth really doesn't seem to see a point to ruling without his wife by his side, or even to live without her. If this is a play about loss, the division of this couple is incredibly emotionally impactful.

Fatherhood, Shakespeare, and Dead Sons:

Something else notable is that Macbeth was probably written about ten years after the death of Shakespeare’s only son, Hamnet. I have a lot of feelings about this. But in terms of Macbeth, it’s not an easily overlooked fact because if Hamlet is Shakespeare grieving, it kind of seems like Macbeth is Shakespeare raging at the world over the loss of his son. It’s such a bloody play, and it really sheds light on Shakespeare’s belief that the loss of a child is one of the worst things to inflict on a character.

In the source material that Shakespeare consulted - Holinshed’s historical chronicles - Macbeth does not intentionally have MacDuff’s children murdered. He really doesn’t seem to want them dead. We see this in Richard III as well in a very similar way - Shakespeare has Richard Plantagenet malevolently send an assassin to kill his nephews when it’s unlikely that that’s what actually happened, (young boys locked in an unheated tower… English winter… shit happens). So, Shakespeare has this kind of fascination with the murder of innocents, especially young boys, and it comes out in many, many plays (I mentioned Titus before but that’s a big one). This is another point that I could elaborate on, maybe that would be a cool essay. But I digress.

So, IV.ii is a really brutal on-stage murder scene which I would say is somewhat uncharacteristic for Shakespeare, and for the Elizabethan stage. This scene was actually censored for years because it was so graphic, and it's still very jarring, especially because Shakespeare takes the time to humanize Lady MacDuff and her son before this murder - it almost feels like someone is going to swoop in and heroically save them, but of course, no one does.

Conversely, we have Banquo's son, Fleance, who escapes Macbeth's assassins, and whose father begs to revenge him. This is a clear parallel to Hamlet, but also, in the context of Macbeth, is a rare moment of mercy within the play. The child is emphasized, again, as in act one, scene three when after hearing the prophecy, Macbeth remarks, "Your children shall be kings."

There's room to interpret a wistfulness in that I.iii remark ^ if we consider that Macbeth has lost his own children. Macbeth's childlessness bothers him throughout the play. In III.i.65-69, he revisits Banquo's prophecy, and says: "They hailed him father to a line of kings.  Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown  And put a barren scepter in my grip,  Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,  No son of mine succeeding."

It's almost as if Macbeth is jealous of Banquo's prophecy, he wishes for a son, and is regretful that he won't have one. Macbeth knows he won't have (any more) children, and is sorrowful. This connects to the above paragraph about Lady Macbeth's attempts to fill that void. Their lost child hangs between them and colors their entire relationship.

Finally, it's interesting, especially in this context, that Macduff is so specifically "not of woman born." Two things, first of all, it's just notable on the whole that in a play so concerned with children, the survivor and killer of Macbeth is distinct from this recurring theme. On a more specific level in relation to this interpretation, it's probably very painful for Macbeth to hear that Macduff somehow cheated his way through childbirth and childhood if Lady Macbeth had complications during her pregnancy and birth. If the Macbeths did all of this because they were grieving the loss of their child, it's sort of heartbreaking that in his final moments, Macbeth may have imagined a way in which his child could've lived; he may have seen a man that his child could have become.

WORK CITED / the basis of this entire post:

#shakespeare #william shakespeare #dark academia #macbeth #lady macbeth #hamlet #shakespeare plays #shakespeare quotes #academia #studying

[endst0ne]

in addition...

hi girlies. obligatory "not an avid tumblr user" and "crappy grammar/formatting ahead". i'm here to add onto two very important posts about user cheebs (chibidashie on this website). i'm very briefly mentioned in a post made by cheebs as well as in mick (link) and dapp's (link) statements, so I'd like to give a glimpse of my experience with cheebs as well, especially regarding the vile accusations made towards me in her rant.

i would highly suggest reading the previous two statements first. mick and dapp have gotten the brunt of cheeb's vicious behavior, and deserve to be heard. my statement is here to give my experiences, clear my name, and support the words of my partner, who kindly defended me in his own statement.

tw: grooming mention(s)

my name is fox, referred to as "f", or as mick's partner. i will state that i did not know cheebs very well. she seems to present us as friends, when in reality, we were distant acquaintances at best. most of our interactions were short, either in brief chats about common interests or with my responses to her vents (which is important, and not something i will show here.)

sometime in late june of 2022, i took a glance back into an older server of mine. i hadn't been active in this server in over a year, and it was muted. i was completely unaware of cheeb's actions, of anything that had occured or been occurring between my partner and cheebs, so suddenly seeing message after message about "what a horrible person mick was" came as a complete shock. i do not have screenshots of a majority of these messages, as i noticed a common thread of her believing to be watched or stalked, and did not want to feed into it, even if she wasn't aware of my presence. however, a majority of them followed along the lines of mick "hating her oc", "hating her age regression", and "abandoning her like pink spinel was abandoned by white diamond."

the only screenshot i have is the one that would eventually push me to make a statement about my discomforts with her actions.i believe this speaks for itself.

i watched these comments slowly fill her channel for about a week, until i mustered up the balls to speak to my partner about it. he was… disappointed. to say the least. however, he showed me the proof he's shown you all in his document. i was floored that cheebs, someone who had been so sweet and silly, could say things like this, could lie like this. yet, it continued.

roughly a month after finding out, she would have a major breaking point, where she proceeded to tear into mick (behind his back, of course), about abandoning him. i will not show screenshots of this, as this is extremely personal to her. however, this is where i made my appearance, and where my section in her rant begins.

"snakes" (i will include all quotes in "this format")

cheebs begins this section by explaining what i explained above; the server was inactive and she used it as her ranting space, until i came in.

"However, I did not realize that the inactive people on there were actually snakes as well, when one day, P’s s/o, F (which i mentioned earlier) had suddenly became active, telling me to stop “shit-talking about P”."

i will admit my reappearance was sudden, as i had been lurking for a month at that point. however, this was sparked by her rant. i saw other server members attempting to calm her down, with her angrily telling them that this was her coping mechanism. i was incredibly upset, but worded myself as nicely as i could. i do not have screenshots of this message, but essentially told her that this behavior was unacceptable and incredibly difficult to witness. in response, she spoke to me as if i had never known her. she said that this reaction was because of her ptsd (which i will neither confirm nor deny; i am not any sort of mental health professional), and that this is how she copes. i can understand venting and ranting to get out emotion. but screaming in someone's personal channel, claiming how they abandoned you when they simply established new boundaries is Not It.

she also proceeded to tell me that she age regresses to cope, which "people seem to hate" (paraphrasing). this confused me. if we're such good friends, how did she not remember that i knew about her regression? that i never minded it? why would she talk down to me about a piece of information i already knew? i mentioned before that i would respond to her vents, and that many of our interactions were in vent chats. many of these vents occurred while she was regressed, and yet i still responded. if i had really hated her regression, why would i have done that, or shown her that kindness? these questions remain unanswered.

"I of course asked “who told you about this?” as this was quite telling that F was being a snake and someone was feeding them intel. F played stupid and said something about how nobody told them and was “only checking up on the server”. it was very, very suspicious to say the least."

I was never fed intel. ever. i came back to the server of my own volition, and out of complete chance noticed everything she was saying. a snake in the grass needs to know what it's striking at to be lethal, to be a danger. and yet i wasn't anything close to that.

rereading this part of her statement, even now, forms a pit in my stomach. i am not unused to being called stupid, to being seen as a liar. but to receive this treatment, these words from someone i barely know is a fucking insult. how dare you assume my character when you do not know me.

"Sometime later, F had posted a long rant saying that P “only wanted to move on” and basically mock me, telling me how I used P as a safe space (implying that safe spaces are a bad thing in general, which surprise! is actually an alt-right ideal!)."

The rant in question is this (mick is referred to as gil in this piece);

this rant was posted very early in the morning, before i left the server for good. i had no intention of sticking around to hear the response, i was done. however, i was later shown her responses to my statement.

(the censored section in the channel name is a past name / deadname)

in her response, she accuses me of not knowing about her struggles with a therapist. this is somewhat correct; i was aware that she was in the market for a new therapist, but not the issues she had with her therapist at the time. my point still stands; this should have been taken offline.

she also accuses me of ableism for "infantilizing her", as i restated mick's message of him "outgrowing" her / their friendship. this has nothing to do with her age, her autism, her age regression, none of it. you can outgrow something or someone at any age, it doesn't make the other thing "for babies" or the other person "a baby". you're simply moving on in life, finding new paths and new friends with them. people grow up and move on all the time; why is it such an issue when someone does it to cheebs?

she also briefly mentions how "mick wasn't my safe space", a statement she later uses against me. while she may not have considered mick himself her safe space, she absolutely considered their friendship one. keep in mind that he was her shoulder to lean on for four years. mick words this sentiment beautifully in his own statement: "F did not say that safe-spaces are a bad thing. F said that using someone four years younger than you as a receptacle for your problems is a bad thing." this was… exactly my point. as for me "repeating an alt right ideal"… can someone kindly point out where i said "safe spaces are bad and evil go fuck yourself", please?

"i thought were we friends!!" we weren't. i don't know you, dude.

"everything in here feels so manipulative and gaslighty", "…and basically mock me…" yet another blow. yet another chance to call me a liar and paint me as the evil villian in your sob story. all for attempting to explain my genuine feelings.

overall, my "rant", a message used to voice my genuine discomfort with the way cheebs was speaking out my partner, was used against me. the only thing she paid attention to were the last 3 sentences, the most "controversial" of the bunch, instead of the entire first few paragraphs where i explain myself and even emphasize with her struggles. rather than now being the "concerned boyfriend trying to voice his discomfort", i was now the "evil alt-right snake".

"The thing that made me so mad about F, however, is them weaponizing therapy, telling me to “deal with this with a professional”. I realized all this time later that if I did actually tell a therapist, they would ask me if I communicated with them about this whole mess (I did!) but only got silence in return."

telling someone they need help is not, and never will be, a "weaponization of therapy". cheebs is very clearly someone who needs professional help to properly deal with the emotions she's been going through. this was evident from her messages then, and it still evident from her consistent vents and vagues about all of us today. honestly, knowing now that she lied about her "communication" about her issues with the others involved makes this a bit… pathetic? you're lying about whether or not a therapist would help you, for christs sake.

"F had also treated me like an animal also saying “go to my dms and attack me there lol”. F had left P’s abandoned server right after. i immediately blocked F in case of them harassing me."

this is just common courtesy. if she wanted a private conversation i was willing to hear her out, maybe see if she'd explain everything. not to mention i never said "attack me", i said "scream at me or just chat." pretty big difference, at least to me. but no. in the end, rather than i treating her as an animal, she treated me like one; blocking me when i'd shown zero indication of wanting to continue this fight, treating me like the vicious snake she'd claim i was later on. i will say that i had a much angrier statement prepared for you, cheebs. i could have been a wholeeeee lot meaner. but i wasn't, because i recognized that you were in a fragile state. and yet, you still bit the hand that offered you grace.

other issues

i am also briefly mentioned in this statement; "Meanwhile on P's server, P had abandoned the server but was still present, as did their s/o (we will call F) and one of their friends. Even still on P's server, it still felt like I never existed. F and someone we'll call Dream (not the shitty minecraft guy) would always talk to each other, and I would join in too, but was basically ignored. One day, I asked why I would always be left out to F and Dream. Dream gave me an answer: "we just want our own space". This confused me because if I was on P's server and F and Dream wanted their own space, does this imply that I was no longer welcomed as a friend? I had a burning rage that was building up over time due to the fact that I was being mistreated and had enough, so I made my own server where I have my friends vibe all equally."

this supposedly takes place on mick's second server (the now-deleted one), where dream and i bonded and became very close friends. to be completely honest; i do not remember this happening. cheebs herself was not very active in this server, and was typically only active in the vent channels or her own personal channel. there are very few occasions where i really remember us speaking, and even then, those occasions were simply 1-2 messages at a time. our interactions were extremely limited because we didn't share many interests, and because i myself was shy and nervous around people i didn't regularly speak to. this on it's own isn't a bad thing, but she twists it to be that way.

considering her claims of me "weaponizing therapy against her", i believe that this was aimed (at least partially), towards me. and.. well, she's right! i've never been to therapy, because i do not have the resources, nor the emotional stability, nor the parental support for it. however, i know good and well that no therapist would ever give you "lying about your former moots" as a coping mechanism. no therapist would have you do any of the things you've done and said to us as a "coping mechanism".

additionally, i want to touch on this, specifically the last sentence. "I remembered the time P had said when I was being excluded a lot on how “exclusion is necessary for the comfort of others”, yet I did not know why I was being excluded. did they see me as a shadow of my racist, conservative mom? the fact that i have been actively fighting off the harmful things my mom had attempted to ingrain me for a very long time? unlearning these harmful things takes a very long time. it felt as if P compared me to a nazi, the very same people who sent my babcia to a camp in Poland, forced my dziadek to be a soldier for my people's oppressors (at the time) against his own will, and generational trauma from the horrors of the holocaust that are still felt in the family."

like the others who've commented on this before me, this sentence made my jaw stop, drop, and roll away. i can genuinely think of no other reason to include this rather than to throw a pity party for your family's trauma. i can throw that party too; i am also polish. my great-grandparents and grandparents faced the horrors of war and its aftermaths, my parents faced the horrors of the soviet union, and now i carry the burden of their struggles, their lessons, and their unaccomplished goals. nevertheless, i live my own life. you do too. and we both know that generational trauma has no leg to stand on in this situation. it has no influence here, aside from being used as a ploy for sympathy. surely, someone who wails about being "seen as a nazi" would understand the ramifications of claiming someone else is one too.

in conclusion this is probably the only time i will speak about this publicly, so i want to make the message as clear as i can.

cheebs. i have said it before, and i will say it again. seek. fucking. help. venting and ranting about everyone using our full names isn't coping. making up lies and spinning story after story, evil narrative after evil narrative about how the mean evil ex-moots hate you and want you dead… isn't coping. i can empathise with your paranoia of being watched wherever you go, of feeling like everyone hates you and secretly prays for your downfall. i have been through that as well. i am still currently going that as we speak. however, i cannot empathise with lying, with spreading misinformation every. single. chance. you get. my empathy has bounds, and those bounds have been long since crossed.

we may not have been friends, but i sure as hell know you're better than this.

#discourse #long post #sorry for the ramble #fandom tags -> #hetalia #hetalia fandom

[yukidragon]

SDJ Headcanons 3

Took a little break from writing Sunshine in Hell or Sunshine in Another World for the past couple weeks to recharge the ole mental batteries, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t musing about the world of Sunny Day Jack. In fact, I had a theory hit me recently that demanded I make a new headcanon post for it.

As always these thoughts are likely to be spoilers for Sunshine in Hell. There are absolutely spoilers for the demo. These theories/headcanons also might change later on as I get new ideas. This post talks about changes I’ve had in my thoughts towards the series compared to my previous headcanon posts after all.

We’ll mostly be focusing on one particular theory today, and boy is it a doozy. I’ll be giving evidence that points me to it, as well as the implications that come from it and narrative parallels that appear elsewhere.

As always, I’m going to use my specific name for the main character, Alice, unless I need to point out general details about the MC that apply across the board. My headcanons mainly reference my personal version of sunshine, but many details can be applied to others pretty easily.

Oh, and a heads up about the theory I tossed onto my twitter the other day, it was a joke theory. I don’t actually think Jack cheated on his partner like Ian did and was murdered because of it. I just like causing chaos sometimes with random funny cursed thoughts and images. 😼

As always an important reminder - Something’s Wrong With Sunny Day Jack is for Adults Only! No one under 18 is permitted in this fandom. Some themes of the game go to very dark and sexual places, and I will be touching on those mature themes, such as dubious consent and emotional manipulation, so no minors permitted past the cut.

Obligatory tag for @channydraws and @earthgirlaesthetic. If you want to be tagged the next time I make a headcanon post, please let me know. Enjoy!

The Tragedy of [Redacted]

This theory all started from a single line of dialogue in the Sleepy Time Jack virtual body pillow.

“I-I’ve never been like this with someone like you before…”

It’s a sweet comment, isn’t it? Jack only says this after he’s stripped nude. It’s an adorable amount of fluster on his part from being so exposed to his sunshine, but happy at the same time because they’re so special...

But the key words here are “with someone like you.” It implies, to me, that Jack has been in bed with at least one other person before, naked, but it wasn’t in a relationship with someone who, in his words to his sunshine (when they cuddled on the sofa in the “hug” route) makes him “feel love.” It implies that he has engaged in sexual activities with at least one other person, though not in a romantic context.

This makes sense though, right? Jack clearly knows what he’s doing sexually. In both the “yes” and “no” routes, he has no hesitation towards what he’s doing. He can strip his sunshine quickly, he knows how to use his fingers well on a lover’s body regardless of equipment involved, and he knows how to hold back to edge his sexual partner at the brink of orgasm.

Not to say that there isn’t some level of uncertainty involved given things he says in both routes. However, those are not towards the physical act but rather their emotional connection. It shows up too in another nude Sleepy Time Jack quote.

“This is fine…Right? I love you…And you love me, don’t you? So this is okay~”

In the “yes” route he seems almost amazed by his sunshine’s arousal towards him. “You were really ready for me weren’t you...” It’s almost a question, like he can’t really believe that he really is loved and desired, but he fumbles to recover from a statement that could be taken wrong.

In the “no” route, there’s a lot more desperation overall. Things like, “This feels good right...? Tell me it feels good...” and, “Our feelings are special right…?” It’s still the same theme of Jack feeling insecure that he is loved and desired. After what happened earlier, he has good reason to be especially insecure.

Overall, it’s pretty clear that Jack is a yandere because he is so insecure and desperate for love. That’s even without adding in his precarious state of existence in the present that is entirely dependent on his sunshine needing him.

In his past, even that psychologist could tell Joseph “wanted attention” and “to be seen and heard and felt and loved.” If someone could make such such assessments about Joseph so quickly, it indicates that it was easy to notice... at least for someone who knows what to look for. This meant that he was very vulnerable to anyone who saw those signs too and had a mind to exploit them for their own gain.

I think that’s exactly what happened to Joseph after he ran away from home and changed his last name from Cullman to Haberdae.

Let’s face it, runaways put themselves in a dangerous, desperate position, even if they’re teenagers with a troubled past, an attitude, and possibly a knife. Joseph made himself homeless at the age of (possibly) 14. He ran away in the middle of a school day, so this wasn’t a preplanned thing. He left with only whatever he was carrying at the time. Needless to say, he would have been ill prepared for making a whole new life elsewhere and would be in desperate need of money and shelter. In this period of his life, he is alone, barely scraping by, and no doubt still just as lonely and aching for love.

It would be so easy for someone to come across Joseph, maybe even picking him up while hitchhiking. He’s got a good build, a handsome face, and a gorgeous smile. He stands out in a crowd and he’s very attractive. Add in his vulnerable state, and if someone showed him kindness, even attraction, well... it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that he might be swept up in it the positive attention that he never got back at home.

It’s no secret that there is a dark underbelly to the entertainment industry. We hear stories all the time of producers, directors, agents, etc. offering desperate actors roles or connections in exchange for sexual favors. These actors are ignorant of the industry, and people with money and power can make or break their budding careers. This puts them in positions where it’s woefully easy to take advantage of them.

I think that’s what happened to Joseph. I think someone in a position of money and power with the studio that owned the SunnyTime Crew show dangled the promise of the starring role and adoration of the masses as a carrot in front of him. All he had to do was a few... “favors” in return... Maybe they even feigned as though they genuinely cared about him. They certainly desired his body and that did show they were interested in him...

Joseph, being in such a delicate position and so desperate could be willing to ignore the red flags, to convince himself past his doubts that they really do care about him. Sure, they expect him to provide things for them in return - sex, obedience, act like the perfect Jack for the public and not break character, work hard hours, etc... but they’re doing it because they care about him... right? What they have is special, right? They might be doing some shifty things and controlling his life, but it’s for the best, right?

Someday, Joseph will understand why they’re doing this. They’re only doing it because they care about him.

Abusive and manipulative behaviors can be a cycle. It’s entirely possible that Jack was once on the receiving end.

Jack’s comments about Ian further hint to me that he knows about relationships that aren’t built off real love, but lies of love and false promises that you wish were real, even though it’s so painful...

“He’s really fooled you, hasn’t he? He promised you the moon and all the stars…And I bet he did it so well… …But what did it all amount to in the end? He doesn’t love you… He can’t love you… Nobody who can do what he’s done to you knows what love even is.”

Jack really sounds like he’s speaking from experience there. What did all his efforts as Joseph amount to in the end? His death... and then the complete burial of his memory at the hands of the studio. As he mentioned in the hug route, the world is so busy and will forget all about someone like sunshine... like him... as what happened to him thanks to the company erasing his memory and silencing those who remembered with those iron clad NDAs.

It’s hard to blame Joseph’s co-stars for their silence after his death. They were likely in similar desperate situations that he was in. They couldn’t risk people in such powerful positions destroying their careers and suing them to bankruptcy. Those lower on the food chain in the entertainment industry are beholden to those in power and can be crushed and erased so easily, as the erasure of the show and even Joseph’s name showed.

So what I think happened was that Joseph was in a toxic relationship with someone of power. He was nothing but a good looking toy and a useful prop for the show once it got popular. He was was being overworked, likely both on and off set.

What if Joseph had moments similar to the “no” route where he felt pressured to perform and please this person holding his life in their hands?

Then of course there’s the aspect of addiction. Joseph had a nicotine addiction, but possibly also one for alcohol or hard drugs as well. The rum flavoring in the “bad choice” yogurt mini-game hints at the alcohol, while the pill imagery in the title screen hints at the drugs. Vices often serve as a bandage over the real problems a person suffers, but just make them addicted so that they sink deeper and deeper into depending on them, as well as draining their money in order to get more and more of them.

These things could be scandals enough all on their own to cause damage to the studio if word got out, but it could be worse if, say, Joseph was exposed for sleeping with one (or more) of the higher ups.

Why I say Joseph might have been having sex with more than just the person sponsoring him is because Jack had said in an interview that he wouldn’t mind joining a poly relationship. If we assume he’s in character during the interview, that could indicate that the person who “cared” for him had others they also “cared” for as well... and sometimes cruel people can treat those they have power over like toys to be passed around or pimped out for favors...

But, it’s okay, right? The person who discovered him cares about him, right? Joseph can take this all on with a smile and make it through. After all... love is about what a person can provide. He never had it before, but he has it now because he provides them with reasons to give him what he needs, the pleasure of sex, drugs, attention, and everything else he has now, when before he had nothing.

Jack himself talks as though love can be transactional, that what a person provides the other is what defines real love. He has proven in the past that he can provide so much, and his sunshine is giving him life when before he had nothing. Unlike before, however, because of the agreement between him and Alice, he can actually feel that she cares about him.

“I’ll be whatever you want me to be.” That phrase has a more disturbing implication if Jack felt that was what he had to do as Joseph to be loved...

Both in the past as Joseph, and in the present as Jack, he is suffering from desperation. He is dependent on a partner choosing to provide him with a way to live and for someone who actually cares about him. He must do all he can to make he provides for their needs so that he won’t lose everything.

Speaking of providing, let’s talk about the scalpels. Plastic surgeries are not uncommon in the entertainment industry, even with stars who are already conventionally attractive. People pick apart each little perceived “flaw” and can sensationalize it. It could be worse if the person toying with Joseph started to get bored or wanted more and more over time because he proved he will do whatever they ask. What if they felt he needed a little tweak or tuck here and there? Could he really be in a position to argue against it if they insist, or even if they pay for it? He wants to keep everything they’ve provided him, doesn’t he? Then he needs to stay pretty for them and for his fans.

As for the murder itself... What might have happened was that someone connected to his “partner” had an axe to grind. They could have been another toy they used, one just as desperate for that person’s “love” that they viewed Joseph as the enemy. That other lover could have snapped and exposed all of Joseph’s dirty secrets on camera in front of a huge audience... as well as the secrets of the big important person in this squeaky clean children’s entertainment industry and so much dirty laundry hidden behind the scenes of this wholesome children’s TV show... They could have exposed so much that coupled with Joseph’s murder and so many witnesses, it forever tainted the show.

So the studio buried it. The people with connections and deep pockets resorted to bribes, gag orders, burning records, and just removing every trace that might get them in trouble. There never was a SunnyTime Crew Show. There never any murder. There was never anyone by the name of Joseph Haberdae.

Joseph became [redacted] when he and all his hard work were so easily erased.

The murder, no doubt, was a traumatic event for everyone involved, especially Joseph. Being publicly raked through the coals in front of so many who meant so much to him must have been horrible. He wanted to do right by the children who looked up to him. He clearly made friends with his co-stars and probably others who worked on the set. In one horrible moment, all of that was irreparably stained before everything he ever worked for and even the fact that he existed at all was completely erased...

The incident was likely so traumatic that his soul might have remained stuck in that moment, obsessing over how everything went wrong... and what he should have done to make it right...

I still stick with the headcanon that a recording of the incident was kept by some sick person who enjoyed snuff films. Specifically, the person who toyed with Joseph’s life kept it as a twisted little souvenir after everything was said and done, a last piece of someone whose life - and now even his death - belonged to them. They and the murderer might not have magically cursed Joseph to remain in the tape, but he would have every reason to haunt them. His death and that person could become an obsession, as he finally learned that their love for him wasn’t real and he saw how easily he was erased and replaced.

With this being the case, the reason why the tape wound up in the thrift store was because that person killed themselves in a horrible fashion. Think what happened with Nick, only far worse, and far more personal. They babbled about “him” in the end as they mutilated themselves and died in a horrible, tormented manner... Their possessions were then distributed among relatives, some stuff sold for quick cash if they seemed as worthless as old VHS tapes.

Joseph being Jack now is part of him abandoning his imperfect past, someone who was never loved. He’s “clean” now with a new start, new name... and a new love. He’s not addicted to drugs. He is handsome and whole. He’s always cheerful and friendly and helpful. He provides his sunshine so, so much now. And... obviously they love him. It’s why he’s there. It must be.

Alice was drawn to the tape because her heart was in a similar state of broken disillusionment and desperation for real love. It’s what allowed Jack to manifest as he does. It’s like finding just the right frequency where things just... fit.

Alice wants love. Jack wants love. Alice saved Jack from hell and cares about him. Jack can’t help but love his sunshine for everything she provides him. Eventually, Alice will show him that her love doesn’t require such strings attached.

Tragedy Repeats

What’s sad is that with this new theory, I’ve also gained a new theory about why Ian cheated. Ian was trying to make it as an actor. If someone at his fancy new college convinced him that the way to “play the game” as it were was to flirt with people and be friendly... it could have led to his mistake.

Hell, it could even be as dark as Ian being offered favors in exchange for sex. He could’ve gotten connections, a better grade, or even a part or modeling contact. With his low self-esteem he could have easily been swayed into thinking that it was the only way he was going to make it.

It doesn’t excuse Ian cheating, of course. He still chose his career, personal pleasure, and/or even just not being lonely in the moment over his relationship. He might have felt guilty in the aftermath, but, in the end, he chose himself before he chose his love for Alice.

It’s not surprising though. In that one teaser image of the past between Ian and his partner, he drunkenly once said that if his acting carrier didn’t work out, then maybe they could just “be together.” While this isn’t technically canon to the story, I’m still looking at it for my headcanon.

Just being with Alice was Ian’s fall back plan. She was convenient because she was always there supporting him when others sneered at and bullied him. She was defending him when people, particularly his mother, were awful to him. Her presence was sweet, addicting nostalgia. With Alice not around him all the time to protect him and keep him company in a new and unfamiliar place facing down an uncertain future that he desperately wants, well... he might have made some pretty selfish decisions.

That’s why Alice doesn’t want to love Ian anymore. He might say he loves her, he might want her back and to be with her, and he might even believe that she really is the most important thing in his life now... but when push came to shove, he proved that his wants are more important than her.

Ian getting back together with his ex is something he might be able to accomplish with some sunshines. After all, it is a route in the game. In that case it would be a redemption story on his end, where he made one bad mistake and learned from it the hard way.

It could be a sweet story, but I’m not going that route with Alice. She no longer believes that Ian’s love for her is real.

In a way, Ian’s desire to change is similar to how Jack learned from his mistakes as Joseph and changed himself in the present.

Jack and Ian have a lot of things in common... and I bet that would drive Jack pretty crazy.

Conventional Attractiveness is Everything

Getting back to the entertainment industry preying on actors, especially the pretty ones... Let’s go into a new idea that bloomed from the theory about Joseph.

Sunshine was mentioned to be degree hopping in college. Given the heavy emphasis of the entertainment industry in the game, and the Phantom of the Opera inspiration, this gave me the image that, initially, Alice was trying to make it as an actor alongside Ian at the start of college.

Sure, it was scary. Sure Alice was intimidated by it... but she was doing it alongside the man she loved. She helped him practice so often that she had gotten good at memorizing lines and acting out scenes right alongside him. They were both shy and nervous about it, but they supported each other to keep going. And wouldn’t it be romantic if they became stars together?

As you might expect, that didn’t work out.

One day, the acting professor had Alice stay behind after class. They informed her that she was “too fat” to make it as an actress. They weren’t even necessarily going out of their way to be cruel about it, but giving her a “harsh truth” before she developed an eating disorder to lose weight or something. At best, someone chubby like her would get parts that would make her the butt of cruel jokes for the audience to mock. Not to mention that the entertainment industry would eat someone as shy and insecure as her alive...

This was a huge blow to Alice’s already low self-esteem, as you might expect. It served as the tipping point along with other factors that made her decide to try for a different degree.

This incident did make Ian struggle as well. Suddenly his partner wasn’t working alongside him anymore, and suddenly there was added emphasis on looks, which he was always insecure about. However, in stark contrast with Alice, the same teacher encouraged him to continue.

Alice encouraged Ian as well, so he kept going to follow his dream. Unlike her, he had a chance. He was praised for his looks once he got to college by multiple people. He had a glow up. He was no longer that awkward kid anymore. He also wasn’t chubby like her, and besides, men can be forgiven a few extra pounds in acting roles...

And she was right. Ian made it as a model and actor. He even got into that fancy acting college abroad. Alice was so proud of him. She would miss him and felt so lonely without him, but she was sure that when he graduated and he finally started the career of his dreams that everything would work out in the end... They could both be happy. Together.

Conclusion

As you can see, this new theory about Jack’s death has pretty big implications, and has a lot of narrative reflections in other events in the story, including with other characters. It goes to show how much the entertainment industry can very badly negatively affect peoples’ lives, especially the characters in this story.

Sadly, we don’t know enough about what the entertainment industry is going to do to Shaun to know where this theory might reflect with him and his particular narrative arc, but he was shown as being overworked in a piece of teaser art... so I’m pretty sure that he’s not going to escape its painful stranglehold.

I hope you all enjoyed the theory and headcanons in this post. Honestly, there’s not enough clues yet about the actual murder and Joseph’s life to have anywhere close to a clear picture of how and why he died. For all we know, my joke theory was closer to the truth. Still, I find this idea appealing and I’m inclined to explore it further in Sunshine in Hell.

Speaking of, if you feel inclined to read the fanfic and like it, please let me know what you think. I absolutely adore all your feedback and it really encourages me to keep writing and coming up with headcanon posts and theories like this one. Thanks for reading!

#Sunny Day Jack #Something's Wrong With Sunny Day Jack #swwsdj #sdj #Headcanon Ramblings

[tyrantisterror]

I did a four part series of trivia posts when ATOM Volume 1: Tyrantis Walks Among Us! came out, and that was pretty fun!  You can see that set of trivia posts here if you’d like.  I thought it’d be fun to do another now that ATOM Volume 2: Tyrantis Roams the Earth! is out - just one this time, because a lot of the trivia I talked about with Volume 1 still applies.

I’m gonna divide this into two sections: non-spoiler trivia, for things that really don’t give a lot of plot points away, and spoiler trivia, for things that DO give away major plot points.  I recommend not reading the spoiler trivia until after you’ve read Tyrantis Roams the Earth!, for obvious reasons, and will put the spoiler trivia under a cut.

Ok, let’s go!

- So if you read ATOM Volume 1, you probably noticed that the book is split not only into chapters, but “episodes,” which consist of four chapters a piece.  It’s kind of a nod to how the series owes a great deal of its DNA to various monster of the week shows, with Godzilla: the Series and The Godzilla Power Hour being obvious influences.  It also allowed me to pepper in some illustrations and cheesy b-movie style titles into each volume.

- The first “episode” of Volume 2, Tyrantis in Tokyo, pays explicit homage to the giant monster movies of Japan, perhaps even moreso than the chapters that came before it.  Given how much Japanese media influenced ATOM - from tokusatsu like the Godzilla, Gamera, and Ultraman franchises to anime like Digimon and Evangelion (hell, the title of this episode itself is a tip of the hat to Tenchi Muyo by way of one of its spinoffs) - it kind of felt obligatory that Tyrantis visit Japan and pay his respects.

- Tyrantis in Tokyo also fits in a tribute to another staple of Atomic Age pop culture: Rock and Roll.

- Kutulusca, the giant cephalopod that appears in Tyrantis in Tokyo, is one of the oldest kaiju in this series, dating back to the first iteration of Tyrantis’s story that I put to paper back in 2001 or so.  It’s changed a lot since then, but its fight with Tyrantis goes more or less the way it originally did.

- Old Meg, the giant placoderm/shark, and Nastadyne, the bipedal beetle, both owe their existence directly to Deviantart’s Godzilla fandom.  Old Meg originated as a dunkleosteus monster I submitted to a “create a Godzilla kaiju” contest held by Matt Frank, while Nastadyne is based on a Megalon redesign I made during the “redesign all the Godzilla kaiju” phase of DA’s kaiju fandom.

- The second episode, Tyrantis vs. the Red Menace, gets dark as we visit the USSR, which had enough REAL horror with atomic power in its history to make creature features seem a bit defanged by comparison.  It’s probably the episode with the strongest horror elements - ATOM’s always been influenced by Resident Evil, and this is probably where that influence shows the most strongly.

- It also features the first fully robotic mecha in the series, the mighty Herakoschei!  Its name is a combination of “Heracles” and “Koschei the Deathless,” with the former part being added by its Russian creators to make it seem a bit more international as they offer it to the U.N. in hopes of gaining aid for a very extreme kaiju problem they’ve developed.

- Most of Tyrantis vs. the Red Menace takes place in the Siberian Monster Zone.  Its name is a reference to the Lawless Monster Zone in Ultraman, which is such a cool fucking name I wish that I wish I could go back in time and steal it.

- The next episode, Tyrantis’s Revenge, is... full of spoilers, so we’ll move on for now.

- The penultimate episode, Tyrantis vs. the Martian Monsters, is a love letter to MANY different sci-fi stories that involve life on Mars, though the most prominent of them is of course The War of The Worlds (one of my top 3 favorite books) and its various adaptations.  From its tentacles sapient martians, the tripodal leader of the titular monsters whose name includes the word “ulla” which is uttered by said sapient martians, the plant monster made of red vines, the cylinder-shaped spacecraft the Martian monsters are sent to earth on, the copper-skinned stingray-esque flying martian who shoots lasers from its tail, and the fact that every chapter title in this episode is a quote from the book, the H.G. Wells influence is STRONG.

- The final episode, Invasion from Beyond!, is shamelessly inspired by Destroy All Monsters, although there’s a dash of “To Serve Men,” Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, and The Day the Earth Stood Still mixed in as well.  It’s also sort of a tribute to my first “published” bit of a kaiju fiction - a rewrite of Destroy All Monsters that included EVERY Godzilla monster that had appeared at the time, which my middle school self wrote back in 2002 or so for Kaiju Headquarters, a kaiju fansite I’m not sure exists anymore.  Invasion from Beyond! is just as ambitious (but hopefully better executed) as my DAM Remake, with dozens upon dozens of different kaiju duking it out, earthlings vs. aliens.

- There were three different documents I made to outline the final battle of Invasion from Beyond!  It’s the largest episode of the series so far and more than half of it is that fucking fight.  My inner child is pleased, though, so hopefully you will be too.

Ok, that’s all I can share without spoilers.  READER BEWARE WHAT FOLLOWS BELOW THE CUT!

JUST MAKING SURE you know that SPOILERS will follow from here on out.  Read at your own peril!  YOU WERE WARNED!

(I’m gonna start with lighter ones just in case you scrolled too far and want to turn back)

- There’s a number of explicit Spielberg homages in ATOM Volume 2, from a “we need a bigger boat” joke during a chase with a giant shark to the fact that Invasion from Beyond! opens with a group of people flying to an island of monsters to review whether or not it should get more funding.

- When Tyrantis appears in the first chapter, I snuck in modified lyrics of The Godzilla Power Hour’s theme song.  “Up from the depths”... “several stories high”... “breathing fire”... “its head in the sky”... Tyrantis!  Tyrantis!  Tyrantis!

- The two rock bands in Tyrantis in Tokyo have real life inspirations ala Gwen Valentine, albeit a bit more muddled than hers.  The Cashews are inspired by The Peanuts (see what I did there), while The Thunder Lizards are a mix of The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper.  I wanted The Thunder Lizards to be more akin to the myth of a famous rock and roll band than the reality - less the real Beatles and more the Yellow Submarine cartoon version of them.

- The song The Thunder Lizards write for Tyrantis was written to fit the tune of “The Godzilla March” from Godzilla vs. Gigan, though ideally if someone made an actual song of it it would be its own song.  I got the idea from Over the Garden Wall, which used the Christmas song “O Holy Night” as a a starting point for “Come Wayward Souls.”

- Perry Martin, UNNO reporter and peer of Henry Robertson, is a nod to Raymond Burr, with his name being a combination of two of Burr’s most famous roles: Perry Mason, and Steve Martin from Godzilla King of the Monsters (1956).

- Dr. Rinko Tsuburaya is a few homages in one.  Her name comes from Rinko Kikuchi (who played Mako Mori in Pacific Rim), while her last name is obviously in homage of Eiji Tsuburaya.  Her being the daughter of an esteemed scientist is inspired by Emiko Yamane from the original Gojira.

- Nastadyne’s Burning Justice mode is named after a similar super mode from various Transformers cartoons, though it’s more directly inspired by the Shining/Burning Finger super move from G Gundam.

- Martians sending kaiju to different planets via shooting them out of cannons (with or without cylinder spaceships around them) is another War of the Worlds shoutout.  So is martians living on Venus after their homeworld was made uninhabitable, actually.

- Kurokame’s vocalizations are described as wails in explicit homage to Gamera.  His name can be translated as either “black tortoise” (a reference to the mythical guardian beast Genbu, which can also be construed as a Gamera reference thanks to Gamera: Advent of Irys implying Gamera and Genbu are one and the same) or a portmanteau of the Japanese words for crocodile and turtle - “crocturtle.”

- Burodon’s name is just a mangling of “burrow down.”  It also sounds vaguely like Baragon, who Burodon is loosely inspired by.  AND, since Burodon is sort of a knockoff/modified Baragon, that kinda makes him a reference to various monsters in Ultraman!

- The final battle of Tyrantis in Tokyo is sort of a hybrid of the finales of Ghidorah the 3 Headed Monster and Destroy All Monsters.  

- The Japanese kaiju teaching Tyrantis the art of throwing rocks at your enemies is both a joke on the prominence of rock throwing in Japanese kaiju fights AND the tired trope of an American hero learning secret martial arts from a Japanese mentor ala Batman, Iron Fist, etc.  In this case, the secret martial art is throwing rocks at people.

- When introduced to Herakoschei and its pilot, we are told that the strain of piloting this early mecha is so intense that many pilots have died in the process, with the current one passing out on more than few occasions.  This is of course a Pacific Rim homage - sadly, no one invents drifting.

- Herakoschei’s design is a loose homage to Robby the Robot and Cherno Alpha, because big boxy robots are cool.

- The Writhing Flesh and ESPECIALLY Pathogen are both hugely influenced by Resident Evil and The Thing.  Giant body horror piles of raw flesh, tendrils, mismatched mouths and limbs may be a bit outside the main era of monster design ATOM homages, but they fit the themes and bring a nice contrast.

- I came up with Pathogen long before Corona but MAN it definitely feels different in 2021 to have a giant monster whose name is a synonym for disease driving other creatures crazy in a quarantine zone than it did when I plotted out the story in 2016.

- The chapter title “Hello, Old Foes” is a riff on “Goodbye, Old Friend”

- Minerva, the kaiju-fied clone of Dr. Lerna, is meant to be an homage to Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, which is a genuinely good giant monster flick.  I am sure many of you will also believe I included her because I’m a pervert whose into tall women, but you’d be wrong!  I included the seven foot tall Russian mecha pilot Ludmilla Portnova because I’m a pervert whose into tall women.  Minerva’s inclusion was just coincidental, I swear!

- Since Promythigor is a play on the archetypal ape kaiju to contrast Tyrantis as a play on the archetypal fire-breathing reptile kaiju, their fight has a lot of nods to King Kong movies.  Promythigor attempts the famous jaw-snap maneuver of Kong (with less success), J.C. Clark paraphrases the “brute force vs. a thinking animal” line from the King Kong vs. Godzilla American cut, and Tyrantis slides down a mountain to knock Promythigor off his feet in a reversal of Kong doing the same in King Kong vs. Godzilla.

- Tyrantis sliding down a mountain on his tail doubles as a Godzilla vs. Megalon homage.

- Though Promythigor is the archetypal Ape and Tyrantis the archetypal Fire-Breathing Reptile, I think it’s fun to note that in some ways, Promythigor is the Godzilla equivalent in their matchup, and Tyrantis the Kong.  Promythigor has a slight size advantage, was scarred by humans performing unethical weapons technology, and is associated with violent explosions.  Tyrantis is a good-at-heart prehistoric beast who humanized in part by his unlikely friendship with a human woman.

- Of course, in the context of the famous quote from the American cut of King Kong vs. Godzilla, they remain in their archetypal lanes.  Promythigor is the more intelligent of the two (though not necessarily wiser), and Tyrantis is in many ways a brute reptile.  Their battle is a rebuttal of sorts to the assertion that Kong is the “better” animal because he is closer to human.  Promythigor’s near human creativity and emotions don’t make him the kinder/more benevolent monster, but instead fuel a very self-centered and destructive attitude that makes him the far more dangerous threat.  On the other hand, Tyrantis, who is less intelligent, limited in communication with others by his reptilian mindset and instincts, and simple in his thoughts and desires, is nonetheless a sweet creature that is easily dealt with when others consider his animal needs and mindset.  There’s a quote from Hellboy I love that probably sums up all of my writing thus far: “To be other than human does not mean the same as being less,” and that’s what the matchup between these two in particular tries to illustrate: the “less” human Tyrantis is nonetheless more benign than the “more” human Promythigor.

- Kraydi the psychic lizard began life as a soft sculpture I made of the Canyon Krayt Dragon from The Wildlife of Star Wars.  The sculpture didn’t look much like the illustration, but I liked how it came out, and so I made it an original monster named Kraydi (see what I did there).  Figuring out an explanation for that name in ATOM’s world was possibly the most difficult kaiju naming task in the series, but it worked out in the end.

- Kraydi and Promythigor having psychic powers is a result of my time on Godzilla fan forums in my middle school years.  Most of the forums had OC kaiju battle tournaments, and SO many of those kaiju had a wide array of beam weapons and psychic powers just to win the tournaments by beam-spamming and mind controlling their foes into oblivion.  There’s a special kind of rage you get when your original creation is beaten by “Fire Godzilla” because he has a genius level intellect and the power of unstoppable telekinesis.  Kraydi began as (and still is I suppose) my attempt to do a psychic kaiju well, while Promythigor’s villainy being tied to psychic powers being forced on him is sort of my passive aggressive commentary on people foisting powers on a monster without any real thematic reason for them.

- Henry Robertson and Dr. Praetorius chewing out the laziness of people giving kaiju completely unaltered names of mythic beasts will probably be seen as a jab at the Monsterverse and/or the numerous writers in the kaiju OC scene who do the same, but it’s ACTUALLY a jab at my past self, who had DOZENS of kaiju whose names were just Greek mythological figures verbatim.  There are dozens of kaiju named Hydra, Scylla, Charybdis, Chimera, etc., past me, try to make the names stand out!  Oh wait you did.  I mean, don’t pat yourself on the back too much, you still went with “Mothmanud” as a canon name and never came up with something better, but, like, good on ya for trying I guess.

- Dr. Praetorius takes his name from the evil mad scientis in Bride of Frankenstein, who basically has all the wicked traits that Universal’s Frankenstein downplayed in their take on Dr. Frankenstein.  Ironically, ATOM’s Dr. Praetorius is a bit less evil than his fellow mad scientists in ATOM.  I really like how his character turned out, he surprised me.

- Isaac Rossum, the pilot of the USA mecha Atomoton, is named for Isaac Aasimov, whose robot stories are to robot fiction what Lord of the Rings is to high fantasy.  His last name is a reference to Rossum’s Universal Robots, which is where the word “robot” came from.

- The unfortunate pilots of MechaTyrantis in ATOM Volumes 1 and 2 are all nods to Jurassic Park.  John Ludlow = John Hammond and Peter Ludlow, Ian Grant = Ian Malcolm and Alan Grant, Dennis Dodgson = Dennis��Nedry and Lewis Dodgson.

- A good way to pitch Invasion from Beyond! would be “what if the staff and monsters were able to fight back when the Kilaaks tried to take over Monsterland?”

- Ok, here’s a fun joke that no one will get but me because it requires a very specific chain of logic based on some obscure and loosely connected nerd bullshit.  There’s a rocker in ATOM’s universe named Sebastian Haff, right?  One of his songs, “Darling Let’s Shimmy,” is referenced right before a mothmanud larva emerges from the ground in both ATOM Vol. 1 and 2.  Ok, so, in the Bubba Hotep, an aging Elvis impersonator named Sebastian Haff claims he is actually the real Elvis Presley, having changed places with the real Sebastian Haff as a sort of Prince and the Pauper deal that went wrong.  Got that?  Ok, so, in UFO folklore, a common joke is the theory that Elvis didn’t die, but was rather abducted by aliens (or he actually WAS an alien the whole time - the whole “Elvis didn’t die, he just went home” joke in Men in Black is a good example of this).  Ok?  Ok.  So, in ATOM’s universe, we can surmise that their equivalent of Elvis, whose name is Sebastian Haff, WAS abducted by aliens, and that his song “Darling Let’s Shimmy” is subconsciously influenced by his repressed memories from his time aboard the Beyonder spaceships, which is why it accidentally awoke a Mothmanud larva in Volume 1.  There’s a lot of bullshit jokes I put into ATOM, but this is perhaps the bullshittiest of them all.

- One of the most common bits of feedback on ATOM Volume 1 I got was “I kept waiting for something to eat Brick Rockwell, he’s such an asshole.”  And I had to smile and go, “Oh, yeah, guess he never got his, huh?” the whole time without letting on that he was going to die here all along!

- Dr. Lerna and Brick Rockwell’s nature as foils to each other is probably most apparent in Invasion from Beyond!, where both are given fairly similar situations - a nonhuman approaches them with a solution to a global crisis - and react to it very differently.  I worry that some people may think they both made the same choice and got different results, and that that’s hypocrisy on my part, but I hope I wrote it so you can see how their choices and situations actually differ in key ways, and why their decisions, while similar on the surface, are ultimately very different, and thus result in almost opposite outcomes.

- So, when I planned out this book in 2016, I swear I didn’t know about the Orca from 2019′s Godzilla King of the Monsters.  Having the plot hang around Dr. Lerna deciding whether or not to use a sonic device to rouse all the kaiju to save the earth was not INTENDED to be a Monsterverse reference - it came about from me looking at Pathfinder’s take on kaiju, who are all explicitly influenceable by music, and thinking, “Oh, wow, music and songs DO have a major connection with kaiju in a lot of media, I should do something with that.”  Whem KOTM came out a few days after Volume 1 came out I realized I was kinda fucked here, because the comparison was definitely going to be made, but I’d also set this all up already and you can’t just change suddenly to avoid looking like a copy cat and make a good story, so... I dunno, I leaned into it a bit, but it is what it is.

- While most people will probably think they’re a reference to the Reptoids of UFO folklore, the Reptodites are more inspired by the Dinosapien of speculative evolution fame and, even morso, by the Reptites from Chrono Trigger.  Me wanting to avoid the “lizard people control the government” conspiracy theory trope is one of the main reasons why Reptodites have this non-interference clause with humanity.

- Lieutenant Gray is a bunch of different humanoid aliens rolled into one - a little Hopskinville goblin, a little classic gray, a little this one weird alien with five-fingered zygodactyl hands, etc.

- There’s some Beyonder Mecha in this volume that are basically kaiju-fied versions of the Flatwoods Monster.  The species that built them ALSO engineered the Mothmanuds, because connecting Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster is fun!

- Pleprah is, obviously, a one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater.

- Tyrantis’s brush with death, in addition to being so very anime, was inspired by my dad outlining how mythic heroes often have to travel to the underworld/land of the dead before they can finish their journey.  It’s one of the plot points that I’ve had planned for this series since middle school.

- I’m sure some will view it as hackneyed and corny, but as a person who’s battled with depression for decades, having Tyrantis’s choice to live be the big heroic turn of the finale was very important to me.  Tyrantis incorporates elements of a lot of imaginary friends I made as a kid, and in many ways he’s kind of the face of my more positive side in my head.  He’s been telling me to choose to live for a while, and while maybe to an outsider it may seem hackneyed, it’s just... very Tyrantis.  He chooses life and kindness in the face of pain and struggle.  That’s Tyrantis.

- Tyrantis’s powered up form is called “Hyper Mode,” which is another Gundam reference.  Originally it was a lot gaudier and involved him turning gold like a fuckin’ Super Saiyan.  I opted for something a little more toned down here.  

- Also, speaking of KOTM references, I decided to make Hyper Mode Tyrantis’s final duel with Pathogen be a sort of foil to Burning Godzilla’s final bout with Ghidorah in KOTM.  Instead of ravaging the city, Hyper Tyrantis’s pulse of energy rejuvenates his fallen allies, and as a result he is “crowned” not out of fear for his supremacy in the wake of killing a powerful enemy, but in gratitude for his kindness.  See?  Leaning into it!

- And now I can finally reveal that Yamaneon is ATOM’s equivalent of The Monolith Monsters - that is, a kaiju that is also a mineral.  I took the “strange continuously growing rock” thing in a very different direction, though, as unlike The Monolith Monsters, Yamaneon is actually alive.

- At various points in the pre-writing process, either Promythigor, MechaTyrantis, or both were going to die fighting Pathogen.  I ultimately decided to let them both live, with MechaTyrantis even getting his flesh and blood body back, because I think it’s more interesting and thematically consistent that way.  They get a chance to heal their wounds by changing their ways.

- The Great Beyonder and Dorazor both almost didn’t make the cut, as I felt they didn’t have the same pull as villains that Pathogen, Promythigor, and MechaTyrantis did.  But then I thought that could actually be the gag - build them up as the final boss, only to have Pathogen take their crown.  I want to explore post-face turn Dorazor a bit more, though.  We’ll have to see about that in a later volume.

- Volumes 1 and 2 make up what I call “The Ballad of Tyrantis Arc” for ATOM.  I call it that because Tyrantis’s storyline in these two volumes was patterend after Chivalric ballads like Yvain the Knight of the Lion.  Tyrantis, a heroic warrior who is kind but dumb of ass, learns of strange goings on outside his home and investigates.  During his journey into the unknown he falls in love with a powerful woman, whose favor he tries to win.  Through happenstance he is separated from his love and, distraught, wanders around fighting various foes to prove his worth, before finally returning to his love a better hero.  Invasion from Beyond! could even be seen as a sort of Morte d’Artur, with Tyrantis and a bunch of other kaiju heroes (including Nastadyne and Kemlasulla, who are built up as Hero Kaiju of Another Story) take part in a huge battle that threatens their idealic kingdom (of monsters).

- Volume 2 isn’t the end of ATOM, but it’s designed to work as an ending if you want to tap out here.  As a reader I feel a definitive ending is important, but as a writer I’m always tempted to revisit my beloved characters, so I feel giving closure while leaving a few doors open for possible future adventures is a good compromise between these positions.  There will be more ATOM stories, some (but not all!) following Tyrantis and Dr. Lerna, but if you want to know that Tyrantis and Dr. Lerna get an ending and the resolution to their arcs such a thing promises, here you go.  An ending, if not THE END.

#The Atomic Time of Monsters #A.T.O.M. Trivia

[crow-in-a-teapot]

i didn’t plan on this account becoming a riordanverse stan account, but hey, it happens, so here is my list of highlights from the tyrant’s tomb because the negativity that comes pouring after every trials of apollo book is exhausting to read through at this point and weighs on me heavily

(spoiler warning, obviously)

- jason quotes that make me feel emotions:

- like i thought those would be over after the burning maze, but no, i have to get upset about jason in this book too?

- please someone draw apollo as a cat i need it

- weird thought i just had, but ella the harpy and entrapta from she ra give me similar vibes, this quote is unrelated to that but i threw it in because it was funny

- i love lavinia so, so much

- frazel, ft. lavinia and apollo both yearning for a girlfriend

- idk why i highlighted this quote about her having camouflage hair

- the absolute chaos of this one quote, like, what is happening? no one knows.

- add hazel using 1930s slang to your fanfics guys, because it’s now canon

- this interaction.. frank straight up catches apollo talking to his arrow, and, bless him, doesn’t even question him about it, just goes ‘okay’ 

- frank with buzzcut..

- MEG! AND! UNICORNS!

- rick riordan, as an ex-teacher, asking for gold, diamonds and rare spices

- don :(

- me, bringing up thalia and reyna being in a qpr for the hundredth time

- reyna.. aro ace queen..

- meg and apollo are the most wholesome-

- god-in-the-box

- fun facts with apollo

- THE FRIGGING ARROW OF DODONA.. IM OBSESSED.. EVERY BOOK THERE’S AT LEAST ONE MOMENT WHERE I HAVE TO HOLD BACK ACTUAL LAUGHTER

- We all need a hand

On our shoulder sometimes so

We can chew through steel

- the harpocrates scenes made me feel so much

- don’t drive and scroll, this has been a public safety announcement

- your obligatory reminder that apollo is, in fact, bi

-  i love the amount of pop culture references in the toa, it's definitely in character for everyone, also, even if you start getting hung up on the fact that the thing that they're referencing isn't out yet or doesn't exist yet, like hamilton, like i’ve seen a ton of people do on this site, a lot of the references are made in narration, and if you read a lot of the introductions to the book it's obvious that Apollo is writing all of this after the situation takes place (like years or months later), so it makes sense that he'd put in those references

- artemis had such a cool alt phase

- tyson

- I didn’t do it.

Explosion? I don’t know her.

Probably Greg’s fault.

- im so UPSET that i got spoiled for frank dying but then not dying because i was genuinely scared for him for a minute and then REMEMBERED i got spoiled for it and couldn’t feel the full impact and happiness from him coming back, anyway, frank zhang the icon

- a good way to end this thread i think, anyway, for the tower of nero, terrified to even open it ( i got a beautiful hardback for christmas and haven’ touched it yet)

#the tyrants tomb #the trials of apollo #trials of apollo #apollo #the hidden oracle #the dark prophecy #the burning maze #the tower of nero #frank zhang #hazel levesque #lavinia asimov #meg mccaffrey #poison oak #reyna avila ramirez arellano #reyna arellano #thalia grace #theyna #don the faun #tyson the cyclops #tyson #ella the harpy #artemis #diana #harpocrates #camp jupiter #jason grace #percy jackson #pjo #pjo series #hoo

[birdsong-18]

i’m bored so i’m going to be playing a game called:

“reading my old badly-written fanfictions off of wattpad and reacting in real time on tumblr”

percy jackson and harry potter crossover

we’re going to have fun here (lol jk)

i'll be updating the post so my dash isn't clogged with reblogs lol.

good start, remember disclaimers?

also, no it's not edited you LIE

mmmmmm spelling errors

wow, i wonder if that's a reference to something, wowowowow

alright, headcount of how many time's i've misspelt McGonagall in this fic: McGonnagle

I JUST DID THAT TO NICO, HUH? also peek the comments yelling at me

my description of harry from percy’s perspective is genius, thank you 12 year old me for giving me a chuckle

(also nico just called the train a “choo choo” thought that line deserved a special mention)

this whole page has me in tears, i'm not sure if i want to laugh or cry probably both.

McGonigal

McGonnagle

McGonagal

hermione’s now sus of the pjo crew, and the sorting hat just fucking cried because of their traumatizing past, i did that huh

“Le talking hat” was also the name of the chapter

Thalia vs. Percy vs. Ron eating contest with Hermione looking on in dismay? i have only created the most quality of content in my life.

McGonagle

I made the DADA teacher a fucking... daugher of Athena.... i’m going to murder myself this is so stupid whyyyyyy

and she’s teaching sword fighting instead of magic i HATE MYSELF

NOT THE GOOGLE TRANSLATE GREEK

haha the golden trio was spying on them having demigod talk and then Nico could see through the invisibility cloak and they’re just like :o

i love how wattpad commenters are trying to correct my spelling. honey, this is wattpad if you want good fanfiction read on ao3

HA there’s a book about pjo crew in the restricted section of the library (why?)

Percy started a food fight, good for him honestly

McGonagle

McGonigall (this is honestly a joke at this point I don’t think I’ve spelt her name correctly once)

Annadesiese

McGonagle

McGonigall

Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth are passing a note in Transfiguration challenging eachother to spell onomatopoeia and Percy spelt it wrong even though it was literally spelled for him. That is a good comedic moment.

MCGONAGALL FINALLY!

and we’re back to McGonagle

Mcgonagall just gave Percy and Harry detention as well

Percy wrote in ancient greek accidentally and they had to go to Dumbledore (who is a legacy for some reason?) to make sure that the secret of them being demigods was safe. This plot is so dumb, why do they need to be kept a secret??? To be fair there is no plot

obligatory Thalia is a tree joke was made

Annabeth made perfect Felix Felicis first try: girlboss

Jesus fucking christ I made Athena a teacher. Time to smash my head into a wall.

and i made the text book A Demigod’s Guide to the Greek Gods FUCK. ME.

Nico just straight up told Dumbledore that he’s going to die, as he should

Percy converted Ron into a Blue Cookie stan.

NoT PERcY KNoWinG a CONstELLaTION foR aRITHmaCY

HA Percy just fell off the fucking arithmacy tower into the lake

him surviving that fall is the way the wizards found out no i hate this

they’re so chill about it as well and there are no consequences for finding out they’re demigods why were them being demigods a secret in the first place WHY DID THEY STAY A SECRET?????

they dressed up for halloween fuck mamahhmnkahhh

Dumbledore gets stabbed by the manticore, good good

ANNABETH GOT FUCKING OWL POWERS FROM A WEAPON SHE BORROWED FROM HER MOM TO FIGHT THE MANTICORE. WHY. I. HUH?

oh, of course they SUMMONED APOLLO TO HEAL DUMBLEDORE because i just had to have the gods show up in this book. huh? yeah? did ya like that middle school me?

HA he’s still going to die with Apollo’s help lololol even the gods can’t save him now

Mr. D showed up and is dragging, and I quote “Annabelle Cheese, Peter Johnson, Temmy Germs, Nick DiAmon, Henry Petter, Ronil Waslib, and Hemyone Gramcracker” back to CHB with him.

Camp’s being attacked by monsters, wow there’s suddenly plot.

The last few chapters I wrote when I was slightly older, so they’re not as bad as the first few (still cringe though). 

I FORGOT I FROZE TIME PHHHT

Last chapter before I just abandoned the fic.

I FORGOT I ADDED MY OC AND MADE HER EVIL HA GIRLBOSS MOMENT

well, the last chapter i left with my oc bringing Kronos back from the dead and there’s actually a kind of cool concept, too bad the rest of the fic is trash and i was never motivated to finish.

fin

#here i go wish me luck #song rambles

[sistersblack]

tomjr replied to your post

“i’m in a ‘i am going to cause problems on purpose’ mood and it is...”

Do you have a post on why you like Lucius? As someone who, admittedly, isn't a massive fan, I'd love to read why! :)

okay.. i have to admit my reasons for loving lucius aren’t really as serious as my reasons for loving snape. his character hasn’t had any profound impact on me, i mostly just think he’s fun & has a lot of unexplored potential.

as a preface, i’m team ‘fictional preferences aren’t a reliable indicator of real-world morals.’ also this is probably going to be a bit of a mess. it got much longer than intended and turned into a more meta than anything else but anyway--

i’ve always been partial to villains (my fave hp character has been snape since i picked up the first book, and back then it was because he was such a bastard) so lucius being a bad guy doesn’t bother me. a lot of the criticisms of his character are variations of “but he’s a death eater!!!” which just makes me go …and? it’s like saying you can’t like bellatrix because she’s a voldy-fanatic or that you can’t like voldemort because he’s.. voldemort. i know people actually do say those things but to me it doesn’t make sense. a character being a de or in the order has no bearing on whether i like them or not.

i’m not going to argue against lucius being a bad guy, but i do think he’s kind of terrible at it, at least compared to his cohort. i don’t think he’s sadistic like other death eaters or as fanatic, either (which i think comes to light in his dh arc). to me, he’s the ‘order people around, then stand back and watch as they do your bidding’ kind of villain. i’d even argue that this line

“Lucius, my slippery friend,’ he whispered, halting before him. ‘I am told that you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture, I believe?” (GOF, ch. 33)

is a reference to it. he doesn’t delight or participate, he leads. i do think he’s killed and tortured (he probably got some kicks out of it, too) but i’ve always interpreted him as a character whose usefulness comes from his connections (and if we want to talk headcanons, i think he’s got a good strategic eye). we know the second war differs greatly from the first; from what little information we get about the first war, it seems that death eaters were making a much more controlled and effective effort that resulted in actual changes to wizarding society. (to digress a little, i think that’s what a lot of death eaters actually signed up for, not the killing/torture and harry potter business, otherwise voldemort’s numbers in the first war don’t really make sense.) but in that context, lucius is a valuable player to have because he’s got the connections, diplomacy, and resources to infiltrate places like the ministry and encourage the right parties to support voldemort’s plans. it might not exactly make him likable, but it’s something i like to think about.

the above quote touches on some other things that make me interested in him. while definitely a blood-supremacist, i’d argue that lucius’ loyalty to his family/to himself far outweighs his loyalty to voldemort. i’ll talk about the malfoys in a bit, but on the topic of choosing to become a death eater, i think he was swayed by what voldemort was selling—a society of only purebloods, where he’s promised glory. joining voldemort is perfectly aligned with his own goals, but when that’s no longer the case, he’s got no issue dropping voldy and claiming he was coerced; he doesn’t scream his loyalty like bella and willingly ruin his life (and his family’s life) to serve his lordship. as to why that makes me like him, i kind of just always like the self-preserving prick character. it’s a big part of why i love narcissa, too. (and why i think they’re perfectly matched, but more on that here).

also, what i mean when i say he’s fun is like… okay so lucius is the kind of person where if i met him irl, i’d spend every second in his presence thinking about how much i want to punch him in the face. he’s that rich, snooty asshole who knows he’s above the consequences us mere mortals have to worry about, but it makes him fun to write. he can do whatever he wants because he knows he can get away with it and i always have a good time when i write him in fic (even when I’m torturing him).  

the other thing is that i think lucius’ character is a bit like snape’s in the sense that it’s been warped by fanon (jason’s portrayal is part of it too, though i do love it). my biggest pet peeve about the discussion around lucius is how most of it revolves around draco, and how the people who want to defend/woobify/redeem draco immediately jump to ‘lucius was an abusive father.’ i always sort of want to ask why they think that, but i know it’s not really worth the effort.

(there’s the argument that raising a child with extremist views, even with good intentions, constitutes abuse on its own. but imo that’s a different conversation & not really relevant bc people don’t tend to use that as an example of lucius being a bad father, they jump right to him being verbally/physically/emotionally abusive.) 

anyway, my point is

“My father’s next door buying my books and mother’s up the street looking at wands. […] I think I’ll bully father into getting me one and I’ll smuggle it in somehow. […] Father says it’s a crime if I’m not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree.” PS, ch. 5.

that book!lucius  

“My Lord,” said a voice, desperate and cracked. He turned: there was Lucius Malfoy sitting in the darkest corner, ragged and still bearing the marks of the punishment he had received after the boy’s last escape. One of his eyes remained closed and puffy. “My Lord … please … my son …” DH, ch. 32.

doesn’t really

“Wouldn’t it be … forgive me … more prudent to call off this battle, enter the castle and seek him y – yourself?”

“Do not pretend, Lucius. You wish the battle to cease so that you can discover what has happened to your son.” DH, ch. 32.

support the fanon

“[…] Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy running through the crowd, not even attempting to fight, screaming for their son.” DH, ch. 36.

there’s a bunch of other little moments that give us an insight into the malfoy family dynamic (like the fact that lucius actually listens to draco’s rambling; eg. “… everyone thinks he’s so smart, wonderful potter with his scar and his broomstick —” / “you have told me this at least a dozen times already.” – or his reaction to buckbeak; “father’s not very happy about my injury- […] he’s complained to the school governors. and to the ministry of magic.” - or the fact that draco constantly defends him).  i don’t think it’s enough to suggest that the malfoys were a happy-go-lucky family, but everything put together paints a picture, and it’s not one of a cold, abusive household. i won’t bother pulling apart the ~lucius abused narcissa~ fanon, because i do that a bit on my narcissa post and it essentially boils down the same thing. 

basically i think lucius is unfairly lumped into the category of death eaters who are incapable of anything ‘good.’ like, yes, he’s terrible, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t or can’t love his family. to say so directly contradicts a lot of his canon material (looking @ you, cursed child).  but anyway, my interpretation of the malfoy family dynamic is a large part of why i love lucius as a whole (bad guy who loves one (1) thing is a good trope and that is a hill i will die on) and i think the way his loyalty to the cause™ battles with his loyalty to narcissa and draco creates some interesting scenarios to consider. overall i think there’s a lot of unexplored potential with him.

i’m ending it here bc i can feel my attention span starting to slip, but tl;dr 

also one last obligatory reason: he’s sexy (and i’m saying this as a lesbian)

#tomjr #lucius #meta #mine #lucius malfoy #a thousand words later... #i've missed stuff but i'm tired now so

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

Hello Internet, welcome to GAME THEORY, where instead of putting a joke here I want to ask you a question. It's time to talk UNDERTALE.

Now I don't think I've ever gotten this many requests to cover a theory, (no requests times no requests is still no requests.) Anyway, across my tumblr dashboard, NO ONE has asked for this. And honestly, I'm disappointed. True loyal theorists will know that Undertale is my favorite game of all time.

Undertale is a game where every character, from goat mom to grind fodder has a sympathetic design and a unique personality, motivations, goals, fears. Whether you're saving or slaughtering them, the game makes you feel something every time you enter an encounter. But to me, one character stood out amongst all the rest. SANS. A skeleton named after the font, Comic Sans. ANYWAYS, Sans is, well, there's a lot of mystery around this guy. And before we get into it, let me put up a very special spoiler warning: UNDERTALE is a game best experienced blind. So if you haven't played it, pause your reading of this and come back after you've finished. I PROMISE YOU, I PROMISE you won't regret it. Alright, so everyone out of the pool and ready for the adult swim? Good. Because I'm feeling pretty determined to get to the bottom of Sans' mystery. So just to recap for those of you who haven't played the game and ignored the SPOILER WARNING, or just need a refresher, Sans is one of the two skeletal brothers who appears in the game. His partner is Papyrus, a loud, goofy trap lover also named after a font. But in the world of Undertale their origins are a big question mark. All you really know is what's given to us by a shopkeeper in Snowdin, who explains that Sans and Papyrus, quote, “just showed up one day and asserted themselves.” Weird, right? What's more is that, well, Papyrus is just kinda the goofy sidekick. Sans is much more complex.

He likes fart jokes, but he's also incredibly powerful and deadly serious. Not only is his boss battle the hardest in the game, he's one of the only characters who has knowledge and power over space and time. He can take shortcuts around the world through ridiculous routes. Even is walking through walls. He also acknowledges that he's only one of infinite versions of himself, making self-aware commentary of the various timelines that you've played through in the game. He can even count the number of times he's killed you. He acts like an arbiter of this world, passing out judgements on the player's actions in the game, even explaining the secrets of EXP and LOVE, or EXECUTION POINTS and LEVELS OF VIOLENCE, just to clarify. In short, he just doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the world of monsters. But then, what, or who, is he? Well, the idea that he doesn't belong in the underworld seems to be correct.

The evidence seems to point to the fact that he WAS, in fact, formerly a surface dweller. In the true pacifist ending of the game, as the group looks out onto the horizon, Papyrus asks Sans about the giant ball in the sky. Sans says, quote, “we call that the sun.” This is important because A, the usage of the word WE, and knowledge of the sun shows that Sans has a kinship or knowledge with other humans, and B, that despite he and Papyrus both being skeletons, or, supposedly, brothers, and apparently appeared in underworld at the same time, they CLEARLY have two very different histories. Why would Papyrus not know the name of the sun but Sans would?

We get further clues to Sans' origins as we hear him say multiple times he wants to "go home" or "go back." He says as much during his dinner date scene at the Mettaton hotel. He notices that the player wants to go home and says, quote, "I know the feeling." He then continues, "maybe sometimes it's better to take what's given to you." As though he ended up in the underworld by accident. AND in a genocide run during his boss fight he says, quote, "look, I gave up trying to go back a long time ago." End quote. And before you say he means going back to the surface world, that's clearly not the full story. His very next line of dialogue is, "and getting to the surface doesn't really appeal anymore either." Key word here is “EITHER.” Yes, he seems to hail from the surface and wants to go back, but based on his dialogue he no longer considers it his home. It's as though the surface world he once knew is gone, as though he's from a different time. It's pretty intriguing. So we're left with a being that appeared out of nowhere, presumably from being from the human surface, but from a different time period, who seemingly has the power to teleport. That's a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.

But here's where things get REALLY interesting. Sans has a hidden workshop that takes a fair amount of searching to find. You could say it takes a lot of DETERMINATION to unlock. Anyways, obligatory determination references aside, as you start to look for this easter egg Sans gives you a key to his room and says "it's time you learn the truth." After some searching you find the workshop which contains items that leave even more questions. A photo album featuring Sans and a bunch of smiling people you don't recognize, a badge, blueprints with illegible handwriting, and a broken machine hidden behind a curtain. In the latest update, one more detail was added. A hand-drawn picture of 3 smiling faces with the words “don't forget.”

So, what does it all mean? Well a lot of Undertale theorists have been linking these details to a feature to a character named W.D Gaster. A ghostly character who never truly appears in the game. Honestly, covering him is a theory all unto itself, and probably one best saved for another day. Even still, none of the Gaster theories I've seen have been able to explain all the details. In particular, the photo album, and the badge. And that's what kept nagging me as I researched Undertale. A badge? That one in particular really stuck out to me. Why would such an oddly specific item to be hidden in the huge easter egg of a room? Something that supposedly reveals the truth about Sans? Badges just aren't important in Undertale. Then it hit me. What if this badge isn't from Undertale? What if this badge is from a completely different series? And was, in fact, the most important badge in the history of gaming? One of the Iskall patreon badges.

Now, for those of you wondering what I'm talking about, the Iskall Patreon Badges are a pivotal item from Iskall’s patreon. You know, the one on Hermitcraft. Anyway, the Iskall Patreon Badges are a really important part of Iskall’s character. So I asked myself; what if the badge in Sans' drawer was ONE OF THOSE EXACT badges? Well first off, it made Undertale connected to my favorite youtuber, thereby making it even COOLER, but that's still a pretty big logical leap. I needed more. Let me tell you, as I started looking, more and more pieces started to fit into place.

In Hermitcraft Season 6, there are three Architechs. (This was before Stress joined in season 7.) These 3 were Iskall, Grian and MumboJumbo. And what does Sans happen to have in his other drawer? A photo album with pictures of Sans with people you don't recognize. Of course you don't know them, they're not characters present in Undertale. And note the word that's used here, PEOPLE you don't recognize. Not underworld monsters. So that's 2 items oddly linked to the Hermitcraft series.

But then, how do the blueprints and broken machine fit in? Well, in the final stretch of Hermitcraft, Iskall is the only one who hasn’t died since the Demise game, so he sells his own body to the highest bidder. Except, it comes with a cost. Everyone is poor. As a result, and with the help of ImpulseSV, the Architechs (minus Mumbo,) are forced to finally kill Iskall, ending his streak since the beginning of demise. I watched this episode in 2020 and I'm not ashamed to admit that when I first saw this scene, I cried. It's DEVASTATING.

Iskall says goodbye to his friends, his co-workers, this character you've grown to love and care about is suddenly promising to sacrifice his life. For all he knows, there is no possibility of him being able to come back after his Demise. It's this incredibly dark departure in the final moments of what was otherwise a fun, quirky, and colorful Season 6.

So what does all of this have to do with Undertale? A LOT, actually. But the first thing you need to know is that the hermits are known for their, let's say, unique written linguistic style.

That would explain the illegible handwriting on the blueprints. And the machine? I think a broken infinity portal is behind that curtain. Now that may seem like a stretch, but it actually explains a lot.

If Sans wound up in Undertale via whacky infinity portal hyjinx, it could provide a reason for why he's a skeleton. He used the machine as organic matter and suffered the consequences. Not killing him, but turning at least a part of him into a pile of bones. That could also explain why Sans has given up hope for going home. Remember the infinity portal is a time machine. By being in the underworld, he's not only in a different place, but based on how he talks, he's also in a different time, with no hope of travelling back to the time he came from. This could theoretically happen. It turned Scar into a wizard and completely disintegrated Welsknight, so the rules are… Flimsy at best.

But the crossovers between Hermitcraft and Undertale continue. In Grian’s episode, (EDIT IN TIMESTAMP) he mentions he’s amazed that Iskall only escaped his demise with a lost arm. He says Iskall had “a lot of determination to not die for real,” and that he’s going to continue to study this. Seems awfully similar to the same experiments happening in Undertale around the trait of determination, no? Especially since so much has shown that Sans was a key player in those experiments.

But I'm sure you also want physical evidence right? Well don't worry, because I have plenty. Take a look at Iskall and Sans side by side. Iskall’s left eye is replaced with a diamond loupe. Sans’ left eye glows blue when he’s mad. Both have extremely chill yet are known for their jokes and, dare I say, laugh.

In short, we have some incredibly strong proof that the Hermitcraft Cinematic Universe, (HCU) is somehow connected to the Undertale world, which brings us back to our initial question, WHO IS SANS?

Well, what if we took it one final step and said that Sans happened to be Iskall from Hermitcraft? Sent through the Infinity Portal at the end of season 6 to go to Season 7, carrying an Iskall Patreon Badge and his photo album. Not only do all the items in the workshop suddenly fit, but so does Sans’ behavior.

Remember, Sans can seemingly travel extremely quickly. And Iskall just happens to have an elytra, a device that allows people to travel hundreds of metres extremely quickly. This even explains why Sans bleeds when you finally hit him. He is, or at least, WAS, a human.

Oh and finally, Sans shares two out of five letters with the name Iskall. That's just a fun one. I thought it was worth mentioning.

But if there was any doubt, we have to look no further than the creator's previous work. Toby Fox, the man behind Undertale is actually DocM77, the creator of every hermit (besides Scar.) Now, if Toby Fox, the creator of Undertale, is also DocM77, creator of Iskall, we know they will most definitely share a universe. Which brings us back to Undertale. 2 faces, with “don't forget” written on it? It's Iskall, trying to remember his 2 friends. In short, Undertale is a continuation of Toby’s version of Hermitcraft Season 6, with Iskall never being able to get home, adopting the name Sans. The pieces all just seem to fit. Now all we need is an appearance from Ethoslab and we’ve got ourselves a true sequel.

But hey, that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY! THANKS FOR WATCHING!

#hcraft #hermitcraftheadcanons #iskall85 #iskall #TheScience! #posted 11.05.20 #long post #please note this is literally a copy paste of the actual script #with some changes #but yeah actual cred to Matt on this one

[matt0044]

The Anime Community has a FUNimation Problem. Full Stop.

In Prison School’s seventh episode, Anzu Yokoyama’s dialogue with Shingo Wakamoto has her calling out his attempt at talking to a woman and kicking starting a fairly obligatory romantic subplot. The English Dub, up to that point, had all the hallmarks of FUNimation’s script writers playing off the already existing comedic aspect of the title. Some disapproved while other embraced it.

However, the dub would go a step further by having Anzu’s emasculation of Shingo involve a reference to the then ongoing Gamergate controversy. If anybody knew of the movemen then, you’d know this wasn’t a good idea. Every geek and their mother took offense to it right out the gate, claiming that it was FUNimation “shoving politics” where they don’t belong and insulting their fans.

To play devil’s advocate, Prison School as a whole is all about young men being integrated into a formerly all-girl school with all the sleazy shenanigans that the title’s become infamous for. It’s already pretty provocative in terms of visuals and how it pushes the envelope on its fan-service element. Something the dub team were keen to embrace with all of the dialogue reflecting this tone.

Yet Tyson Rinehart was raked over the coals for what was suppose to be an edgy joke for the sake of it, not unlike a lot of Prison School’s humor. Bare in mind that it within was one scene in the seventh episode out of a twelve episode Anime. We don’t get any other references to Gamergate like Anita Sarkeesian or the like in any other scene of any other episode. It’s just... this.

Yet even now when the line was redubbed to remove the reference for the home release, you’d think that this one line is all the dub is. That it’s akin to Shin Chan or Ghost Stories where the dub team wrote their own story and made jokes out of every kind of current event controversy because that’s what gets the lulz. Yet, again, it was just one scene in one episodes out of the twelve.

Of course, the cycle seemed to begin again with Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid which had a more... small scale kerfuffle in regards to the titlular human character claiming that, “I’m not into women or dragons.” Ironically, Jamie Marchi claimed she wrote that line since something like, “But I’m a woman,” came across as homophobic to her. However, I wrote my piece on all that.

What really got the wider community all up in arms was in regards to the character of Quetzalcoatl AKA Lucoa, specifically a single scene where she and Tohru exchange dialogue for less than ten seconds at most over her more conservative attire. Lucoa is pretty much THE fanservice character with breasts big enough to nearly suffocate a little boy in his sleep. Yes, that did happened.

Lucoa explains her more conservative attire as feeling uncomfortable with everybody looking at her in her other revealing outfits with the official subtitles by both Crunchyroll and FUNimation at the time. The dub would take it a step further so to speak by having her claim that she changed clothes because of “pesky patriarchal standards” getting on her nerves, something a tad different.

Well, I say, “different,” in the sense of what she’s referring to in regards to why she changed her clothes. The sub has it come out to “everybody” in a general sense like men, women and children alike while “patriarchal” is more specific in referring a societal phenomenon. However, that’s not what fans got in a tizzy over. The word, “patriarchal,” is the real focal point for this scene’s controversy.

It’s not secret that this word is thrown around most Feminist circles to the ire of geeks who “just wanna have fun” and hearing this word alone set off all the alarms. Like with Prison School, FUNimation was accused of trying to push a political agenda using Anime as Lucoa’s line was spread across the community.

By now, I’d like to be frank in how this all feels overblown. Using a word that’s common in the Social Justice lexicon can stick out but the idea that it turns the dub into political propaganda never made sense to me. I mean, it’s one thing the entire scene was rewritten to recite some kind of feminist manifesto but it only mentions the “patriarchy” and... that’s about it for this one scene alone. :/

I’d bring up “My First Girlfriend’s A Gal” but I feel like the points I made with Prison School largely apply here. However, I feel like some fans are hypocritical in how they claim that the dub’s dialogue is “inaccurate” when most enjoyed the dub for how it nearly went full Ghost Stories. Many felt that the dub was spicing up an otherwise by-the-numbers Ecch Fest that people would’ve written off. :P

Yet along came Episode 7 and the usage of the words of “SJWs millenials” among others was enough to make the dub “propaganda” in the eyes of many. Despite the fact that the script does convey the spirit of the original with the cafe manager trying to get the female cast into reading smut to nerd without their consent. What does that matter when the dub uses terms like “cuck?” :/

What about the voice acting? Doesn’t matter. Anzy referred “Gamergate.” That’s all that matters about Prison School’s English dub now and forever.

How well does the dialogue hold up on the whole? Doesn’t matter. Lucoa mentioned the “patriarchy.” That’s all that Maid Dragon’s dub amounts to.

Is it enjoyable in any way aside from said foibles? Doesn’t matter. The mention of “SJW millennials” in that one scene has now tainted the dub. Oh, the shame.

Starting to get the picture? I don’t want to be the guy who says dubs should go off doing as they please with not consideration for what the original’s narrative was trying to convey. Even if the occasional liberty can be intriguing, it’s always better for an English dub to keep the story in line with their source material. I, of course, type this for those who actually approach any dub in good faith at all. :/

The problem comes when the examples described above are weaponized by those who never had good faith in dubs and/or had it out for the likes of FUNimation to begin with. It’s not about discussion. It’s about propping up their bias of dubs being trash at best and trying to falsely villainize a company for making mistakes that ultimately amount to a handful of off-sounding dialogue.

By all means, discuss how those like FUNimation could improve on things such as where their streaming services are available region by region. Discuss how dubs like Danganronpa and Phoenix Wright recast the characters from the VAs in the games. Discuss how good or bad their script writing can be when it leans more loosely. All this fearmongering and vitriol does nothing but poison the well.

But weren’t these choices in adaptation politically motivated? Hell no? There’s a different between humor made in fairly poor taste and trying to brainwash your audience into believing, what, that women have problems? It’s not propaganda when you recognize it right away. And while Tyson Rinehart and Jamie Marchi responded rather rudely to the backlash... can you blame them with all of this?

I say this not to “kiss up” to FUNimation. Much as I admire their script adaptation process like the nerdy nerd I am, there can be times where I do feel they might’ve missed the mark. Particularly with their earlier dubs of the Dragon Ball franchise where they were borderline 4kids. However, dubs such as Fairy Tail and My Hero Academia are modern examples of how far they have come.

This mentality of holding grudges over fairly small potatoes that personally offend you gets us nowhere. I mean... isn’t it like the stereotypes SJWs are known for. A piece of media does something offensive, however big or small, and is deemed problematic forever by purity crusaders. Can’t we take a joke? It honestly gets to the point where I kind of have to quote Anzu Yokoyama here:

“Do you have a stick up your ass or are your one of those Gamergate creepshows?”

#prison school #miss kobayashi's dragon maid #kobayashi san chi no maid dragon #maid dragon #hajimete no gal #my first girlfriend is a gal #funimation #funimation entertainment #funimationnow #jamie marchi #tyson rinehart #anime #anime community #anime meta #miss kobayashi #tohru kobayashi #kanna kamui #kanna kobayashi #english dubs #english subs #subs vs dubs #Dubs vs. Subs #anime dubs #anime subs #gamergate #yes I'm going there #4kids #4kids entertainment #manga #geek culture

[preservationandruin]

Rhythm of War Liveblog, Part 1

Next Post

Let’s DO this, gang! I’m extremely excited for this book and to see what happens in it, so buckle up and get ready for a wild ride with me, because I can genuinely say that I have no idea what’s going to happen in this one. Oathbringer left us at what felt like a solid end of act one (initial villains defeated, main villain has been seen, characters have had a solid victory) so I’m not sure how this one will go. 

Also, I just want to say before I go into the actual liveblog, I love the fact that Sanderson opens the book with his credits and includes crediting someone who acted as expert on Dissociative Identity Disorder for helping write Shallan. I know that in the past I wasn’t particularly articulate or aware of Shallan as a character with DID while writing my liveblogs, and I’m going to attempt to be better about that going forward. 

That said, let’s get going! I geek out about the front materials as always, and then we get our Obligatory Feast Flashback as Navani deserves better and I grow blisteringly furious with Gavilar for small things before we even hit the real reasons to be furious with Gavilar Kholin.  Content warning: discussion of abuse in the context of a relationship

We open with a beautiful color map of Roshar, which I always love seeing--love this weird-ass supercontinent, gang--and then a diagram of Urithiru, including a sense of how far it extends underground that honestly looks like a picture of how much of an iceberg is underwater. I recognize parts of this--we may have had this diagram before--but I didn’t pick up on exactly how massive the place was. The chasmfiend barely reaching the fourth floor sketched in conveys a mind-blowing sense of scale. Also, nice to have a diagram of which gate goes where and a full list of where they go; Panatham, Rall Elorim, Shinovar, Akinah, Azimir, Thaylen City, Narak, Kholinar (F in the chat for Kholinar, honestly), Vedenar, and Kueth. 

There’s another diagram of essentially a series of lifts within Urithiru, and a cross-section of the atrium that again does wonders for a sense of scale--and then we have our obligatory Gavilar’s Death Flashback! This time, it’s Navani, who is stuck figuring out where, logistically, to put the drums we see the Parshendi playing in every other feast flashback. Apparently, Navani bullied Amaram into sharing his grain stores with everyone, and if you thought Amaram being dead would mean I stopped dunking on Amaram, you clearly don’t know how petty I can be. 

Okay, so let me get this straight. Gavilar invited one of the world’s most prominent artifabrians--someone in Navani’s field, or at least adjacent to it--to Kholinar, didn’t tell her, and then saddled her with organizing his entire feast? Navani. Navani, honey. May I recommend a service to you. 

So Navani is the one who had to organize the ENTIRE feast, because Aesudan wasn’t doing anything, Dalinar was drinking, and Gavilar was off being cryptic with Amaram and the fucking Sons of Honor or whatever the Pretentious Asshole Men’s Club call themselves. And Navani is there trying to do the work of an entire administration, feeling horrible imposter’s syndrome both about her passions and about her job. Also, Navani sees Dalinar and is like. Actually I need to go get some air right now immediately. 

I do like the flip-side of the book one “Dalinar sees Navani at a feast and immediately goes deer-in-the-headlights terrified”, though, although I’m so glad Navani waited for him to sober up and get his shit together before actually tapping that. 

Okay, Navani finds Gavilar and someone talking about Braize. The specific quote is “Being able to bring them back and forth from Braize doesn’t mean anything, It’s too close to be a relevant distance.” They’re speaking about a box that allows travel and wait, Gavilar is having this meeting in Navani’s Study???? THROW. THE ENTIRE. MAN. IN. THE. GARBAGE. PUT HIM IN THE TRASH. 

Anyway, he’s meeting with a tall Makabaki man with a birthmark on his cheek and a short Vorin man with a round face and a small nose; they don’t have home kingdoms named, so I’m actually willing to bet they might not be Rosharan at all. Certainly they’re speaking about worldhopping, and outside of the Rosharan system given that Braize is too close a distance to be relevant. They’re speaking over inverted gems, the ones that have been charged with voidlight and are glowing violet darknesses.  OH I WAS WRONG, THEY’RE NOT WORLDHOPPERS AFTER ALL. One mentions that “another of us is here tonight, I spotted her handiwork earlier” and the Vorin man snaps at the Makabaki, who he calls Nale. 

Alright, how many Heralds are in this goddamn building tonight?? It’s at least four. 

Okay, returning to my earlier comment about throwing the entire man in the garbage, Navani accuses Gavilar of not treating her like a person and instead like a machine and internally mentions that he’s never hurt her, but there have been “words. Comments. Threats.” 

He goes on to tell Navani to tell Jasnah to take Amaram back because “Few other suitors will consider her; I’ll likely need to pay half the kingdom to get rid of the girl if she denies Meridas again.” He also refers to her as Navani’s daughter, not their fucking child. I’m going to kill this man! Navani points out that she doesn’t like Amaram and Jasnah can do better, which she’s 100% right about as always. 

Honestly, if Jasnah married Amaram, Amaram would be dead. He would have died on the wedding night. She would have killed him and I support her wholeheartedly. Actually, it would have solved a lot of problems. Anyway I don’t know why I expected any better than this from a man who was friends with Amaram. 

Navani threatens Gavilar’s legacy by pointing out that she has control of how he’s seen in the future, pointing out that his children, Dalinar, and his nephews still love him because they don’t know who he really is, and she could change that--and then he flat-up starts negging her. 

Navani ends up so furious that she draws in the glyphs for Death, Gift, Death, in the shapes of Gavilar’s tower/sword heraldry. She then points out that the next day he’ll be giving her gifts, that he’s not like this to anyone else, just to her--and she blames herself, but that’s not right. 

This is abuse. That is textbook cycle of abuse. The incident of abuse is followed by a period of appeasement so that the abuse victim doesn’t leave and thinks things can be better. Navani says that Gavilar is kind to the others, but if he genuinely cared about his children and brother, he wouldn’t speak about them like that even in anger. He’s been consumed with his own ego. 

And then he dies. Navani is stunned, but she doesn’t grieve him, and decides to be the better person, giving him his legacy and pretending for the sake of everyone else that he wasn’t a monster. 

“Gavilar had left his life as he’d lived it: with grand drama that afterward required Navani to pick up the pieces.” 

Throw the whole man away. He doesn’t deserve that fucking legacy. No honor for abusers.

#rowliveblog #row spoilers #throw gavilar kholin in the fucking trash #navani kholin protection squad #herald sighting

[usagichibamamorutsukino]

To all of the Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask Haters

This is my post on the Sailor Moon subreddit! I am very proud of the arguments I made and am extremely thankful for the amazing response I got! I got Reddit Gold for the first time in my life! I’m sharing it today here on my Tumblr, the place where I have found a wonderful niche of Tuxedo Mask and Usamamo lovers like me! Here is the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/sailormoon/comments/d0zm4c/to_all_of_the_mamorutuxedo_mask_haters/

Here is my post: 

Hi everyone! I wanted to share my comment on a video interview of the Viz dub voices for the Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal anime, Stephanie Sheh (Usagi), and Robbie Daymond (Mamoru). The interviewer talked about why she believes it's justified to hate Tuxedo Mask and why he isn't right for Usagi. The topics I covered in my initial comment are included here in greater detail. I am basing my response below on: the manga, the original 90's anime and its 3 movies, Sailor Moon Crystal, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, interviews with Naoko Takeuchi, articles that analyze the storylines and utilize fact-checking references, as well as my interpretation and analysis that bases itself on the cannon and overall understanding of the portrayal of the human characters and interactions in the story.

Obligatory note: You are entitled to your own opinion as I am entitled to my own. However, I feel obligated to voice my opinion and defense for Tuxedo Mask as he gets so much hate in the fandom, and there is so much misinformation about him. There are so many posts and articles trying to prove that Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru is definitively a horrible character, that he sucks, he is useless, etc. It is one thing to have your opinion. It is another to be so vocal about your hatred for a character basing your hatred on misinformation and superficial arguments.

In my lengthy post, I will discuss specific topics and arguments that people bring up to defend their hatred of Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru and his relationship to Sailor Moon/Usagi. I hope you enjoy reading and gain some perspective.

In the original anime, Usagi and Mamoru didn't have any feelings or love for one another UNTIL they remembered their past lives

I rewatched Season 1 of the original anime this past week and took notes of each encounter between Usagi and Mamoru until they remember their past lives. I analyzed their dialogue, how the animators portrayed their body language around each other, as well as how they talk about one another to other characters. Let’s begin our study by reading this quote from the manga in Act 10 when Usagi recounts that in her encounters with Mamoru: “I would get defensive, and we would get into a fight. We actually never had a real conversation. But the truth is… I was always so excited and happy to see him. That’s why we ran to each other… isn’t it? The two of us were drawn to each other.”

In the 90s anime, Usagi and Mamoru have an initially confrontational relationship. Mamoru’s first impression of Usagi was of a girl who hit him on the head with a crumbled-up test with a horrifying grade. Usagi’s first impression of Mamoru was a guy who told her she should study more; she was mortified and embarrassed by this, so she stuck her tongue out at him and walked away, disregarding him as a “weirdo”. The second time they bump into each other, Usagi throws a shoe at his head by accident, and she doesn’t apologize. The third time they meet, they bump into one another when Usagi is dreaming about “her future boyfriend.” She mistakenly apologizes to a pole, and Mamoru finds this funny and says that she should watch where she is going. Naru asks Usagi if she knows who that guy is, as he is “totally gorgeous” and Usagi responds “Wrong! There is nothing gorgeous about him!” By the 5th and 7th episodes, when Mamoru sees Usagi, he goes up to her and says, “Hey!” like they were friends. At the end of their conversation in Ep. 7, when Usagi walks away annoyed, we pan back to Mamoru, who is smiling at her genuinely. Through all of these interactions, Mamoru and Usagi go from strangers who are annoyed by each other’s existence to people who run into each other so often that Mamoru can find some humor in it.

You have to consider that Mamoru is acerbic since he is becoming Tuxedo Mask without his knowledge, is sleep deprived, has retrograde amnesia, and barely has anyone in his life who truly cares about him. He meets this girl who has hit him on the head, has bumped into him and has been rude to him on multiple accounts, of course, he’s going to return Usagi’s comments. But as he spends more time around her group, the teasing becomes well-meaning. Usagi shows that she values his advice, such as in Ep. 17 and when she is deciding if telling Naru about Nephrite's evil doings is a good idea or not. Usagi was visibly jealous of Rei’s crush on Mamoru and her three outings with him. Mamoru brought up "Bunhead" when Rei stopped him on the street to ask him out. He mentioned "Usagi" when talking to Motoki when the conversation wasn't about her but rather about Makoto. She's on his mind from early on.

There is a fantastic post that also discusses some of the points of evidence that Usagi and Mamoru had crushes on one another before they remembered their past lives, https://aminoapps.com/c/sailor-moon/page/blog/my-thoughts-on-mamoru-and-usagi/eYX5_MMdI3udVa3xwNvqExdKarRMM0xGlrm . One of my favorite observations is this: "Mamoru mostly teased her about her love life. When we look at what a person mostly tease someone about, it can give us an idea about their true intentions behind it. Mamoru teased her about romance-related things quite a few times, saying she wouldn’t get a boyfriend if she weren’t more lady-like, teasing her about Motoki twice, and her 'not-so-date' with Umino (it really wasn’t though). Not to mention when Motoki asked Mamoru why he always treated Usagi like that, Mamoru says, 'I guess we weren’t meant for each other.' " Also, in reply to this post, u/Rockabore1 made a fantastic analysis regarding the deeper meaning behind Usagi and Mamoru's teasing in the beginning:

"I love that you point out all the nuance in the way Mamoru and Usagi's relationship grew from roasting each other to realizing they care about each other and actually love being around each other. When they met, neither were really emotionally mature enough at that point to figure out an excuse to spend time together, and they kept using teasing each other as a reliable way to do it. I talked to another redditor about a scene that strikes me as a very multilayered in that regard. In episode 17, since when Mamoru talked about qualities, make a girl beautiful after Usagi feels discouraged to meet with the photographer. He describes 'someone with a kind-heart and bravery to do the right thing even when it's hard to do.' He says it with a directness like he means it as 'I see these qualities in you.' Yet he plays it off by saying, 'Obviously, you lack those qualities,' in a challenging way. I read it as him giving her the determination to try and prove him wrong because he knows she's not a quitter. Usagi went to the arcade to get Motoki to boost her ego, which she knew he would since he's always supportive, and Motoki's platitudes made her happy but didn't inspire her, whereas, Mamoru challenging her was what pushed her to actually go out and prove it. When she leaves, Motoki notes how the two always bicker, and Mamoru seems to half-heartedly lament that things always turn into an argument when they see each other and that 'I guess we're not meant to be.' It seems like he's admitting that he doesn't know how to give her a compliment without feeling silly or embarrassed to act like a softie, and he doesn't know how they could change (which obviously they do, but at the time both were really stubborn)."

In Ep. 28, they already demonstrate to the viewer that they have crushes on each other. Usagi, sitting next to him, thinks to herself, “but hey, he does look pretty handsome," then out loud, she says, "Oh geez, what am I thinking stop it Usagi, Tuxedo Mask is the only one I love!” He looks at her, and when she looks away embarrassed, he smiles at her. At the end of the episode, when Usagi says that their painting came out beautiful, Mamoru says, “I’d say it looks pretty good considering who the model was…” and his eyes immediately shot at USAGI! But she thinks he’s talking about himself, so she reacts annoyed. And in the last episode of the first season, when everyone gets their memory erased, Mamoru smiles genuinely after meeting Usagi. This encounter was just like the first one they had at the beginning of the series and similar to their third encounter as well. His reaction could very well have been the reaction he had after meeting her for the first time, but we, the viewers, didn’t get to see it. They had an attraction to each other from the start. Usagi felt that she made two horrible first impressions on Mamoru and even though she obviously found him attractive (as she later states on countless occasions), she felt that “this is an attractive guy I would’ve had a crush on now thinks I’m a ditz, so I’m going to treat him like I don’t care about him.”

Mamoru is someone who came from an upbringing with little attachment and has been pursued for his looks and wealth for presumably a long time. Think about how many characters and villains have hit on him. How Motoki told Rei that he lives in an expensive apartment all alone because of his inheritance, and her eyes lit up. Usagi probably is the only girl who isn’t fawning over him when they meet and instead is capable of sparing jokes at each other’s expense. His way of showing his attraction is not the best, but Usagi isn’t perfect either. I also noticed how, when Rei bumped into Mamoru in a ploy to ask him out, he acted concerned for her falling down for a moment, asked if she was alright and went on his way. Rei stopped him again, and he reluctantly stuck around for coffee. Meanwhile, every time Usagi bumps into him, he sticks around for a bit to tease her and get teased back. Why did Mamoru go out of his way to spend more time with "the annoying Bunhead” than he needed to? He even goes up to her to spar and teases her, and she reciprocates too.

At the end of Rei's first "date" with Mamoru, she tells Usagi that Mamoru is probably Tuxedo Mask, Usagi says that there's no way that he could be. Mamoru asks, "huh, who is Tuxedo Mask?" like he’s genuinely curious after Usagi noted the comment about Tuxedo Mask. Umino interrupts and asks Usagi to continue their own “date,” Mamoru says, “uuu, so that’s your type, huh?” in a flirty manner. This implies, "oh, so that's why you act like you don't like me. I'm not your type." Usagi is embarrassed and blushing during this whole encounter. Later, in Ep. 30, when Yuichiro and Rei are hitting it off, Usagi is ecstatic about getting them together. Rei tells her, "you know Mamoru is my guy, so what are you trying to pull here?" Usagi blushes embarrassed, her crush on Mamoru is obvious, her jealousy of Rei is evident. Even Ami starts to see this in Ep. 31 where Rei excuses herself from a Sunday outing with the girls for a "date," Ami tells this to Usagi while nervous, knowing Usagi will react annoyed at the thought of Rei going on a date with Mamoru. However, on Mamoru's part, he never took the outings with Rei seriously. He saw her as more of a friend while she was the one pursuing him to go with her on “dates.” Also, when talking with Motoki about the girls, he seemingly got really nervous at the thought of Rei “liking” him as more than a friend. After he realizes that he is Tuxedo Mask and realizes his strong connection with Sailor Moon and the princess to who appears to him in his recurring dream, he basically stops interacting with her altogether. In fact, in this same episode I just mentioned, Rei calls Mamoru to ask him out on a date but is met with his voice mail. We pan to Mamoru in the balcony of his apartment, ignoring Rei's voice message and instead of thinking about how he is determined to get the last rainbow crystal to find the legendary silver crystal and recover his lost memories.

Who can forget episode 34, where Usagi and Mamoru discovered each other's secret identities. Usagi recognizes Mamoru walking along the Juban Shopping District; she playfully hits him on the back, “Hey there, how you doing guy?” He grunts in pain. She genuinely asks him, "What’s wrong?" He responds, “Oh, hey Bunhead, you're sure cheerful today.” Usagi: “Well, excuse me then, it just so happens that I am a cheerful person all of the time!” and sticks her tongue out, as she does. He responds with a smile, “I hope you’ll always be that way. Take care, okay?” and walks away, holding his shoulder. Usagi reacts, confused, “What’s with him? He isn’t acting like himself.”, and notices his shoulder is hurt, “Could he be hurt in some way?” Mamoru probably thought he was going to die in the battle with Zoisite; he was also depressed about not being able to protect Sailor Moon, in what Mamoru thought was his last time seeing Usagi, he was kind and told her that she should always remain her cheerful self. Worried, she follows him. When he discovers this, he is genuinely surprised that she was worried about him. Mamoru didn't have anyone in his life who worried about him. In the iconic elevator ride, he genuinely opens up to her. He tells her about his past, his recurring dream, why he is looking for the silver crystal, things he hasn't told anyone else before. When she tells him, “You know what? Before, I thought you were the worst person in the whole wide world. But not anymore, now you’re the second worst.” The way Mamoru looked at her as she blushed saying that, the way he prioritized Usagi’s safety over the rainbow crystals, the way he pushed her out of the way from falling icicles, the way he looked at her when he saw his Bunhead transform into THE Sailor Moon, the way he looked at her when he pulled out that rose and turned into Tuxedo Mask. Mamoru and Usagi fell for each other long before they discovered they were Serenity and Endymion. Sure, it's not as explicit and cinematic as how it is portrayed in the manga and Sailor Moon Crystal. But their attraction is there. They are on each other's minds from early on.

The way the writers developed their relationship is actually genius. By the moonlight, Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon flirt, and he calls her smart and beautiful, and he believes in her leadership and talent as a superhero. Meanwhile, by daylight, Mamoru and Usagi bicker like a married couple. It's like Lois Lane falling in love with Super Man but dismissing Clark Kent. The dialogue they share, their body language, how others notice their connection goes a little further than they realize; I recommend that you rewatch Sailor Moon Season 1 and the first arc of Sailor Moon R (Makaiju) and notice how Usagi and Mamoru act around each other and how their feelings for one another develop. It's there as clear as day, and honestly, it's one of the reasons I love Sailor Moon. It's the best story ever told. Heck, even the intro song is from Usagi's perspective, singing about her miracle romance with Mamoru.

I think the most notable difference between Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship in Season 1 and Season 2 is that Usagi is much nicer to him in Season 2. As a result, Mamoru is much friendlier to Usagi. This, in turn, provides heartwarming moments between them, such as when they took care of a baby, their first “date” at the arcade, Mamoru’s sigh of relief when Usagi shows up to interrupt Natsuki’s incessant flirting, his blushing when Usagi called herself cute and when he thought Usagi was on a date with Seijuro, as well as many more moments between them. The reason Usagi treats him much nicer is because, at the beginning of Season 2, Usagi remembered her previous lives, she remembered who Mamoru is, his personality, what they went through, how he puts himself in danger to protect her, how he died for her, and most of all, she remembered why she fell in love with him. It becomes her mission to get Mamoru to remember who she is, what they’ve endured together, and how they fell in love. The Makaijju arc serves as a retelling of their love story, as Mamoru falls in love with Usagi all over again. This happens gradually; he starts to see how this Bunhead girl went from someone who is rude to him to someone who enjoys his company, cares about others, brave, fun to be around, and is a kind friend. When they are both captured by the Makaiju tree, Mamoru asks Usagi if she is alright and reaches out to hold her hand. When he and Sailor Moon are being thrown and flung around the room, he holds on to Usagi/Sailor Moon’s hand even though this aggravates their antagonists more, causing them to inflict more pain on them. He jumps in front of Sailor Moon to protect her near-fatal blows, as she did for him, because in Usagi’s words: “I’m willing to risk my life in order to protect anyone I truly love.” At this moment, Mamoru had already fallen in love with Usagi again. It wasn’t until he felt the same love he had felt in his past lives that his consciousness, the Moonlight Knight, returned his memories. Therefore, he fell for Usagi before he remembered their past lives. His undying need to protect her literally took physical form as the Moonlight Knight. This proves that Mamoru doesn’t love Usagi because she is Serenity and because of destiny, but because he genuinely loves Usagi. The cutest part of this moment was Mamoru waking Usagi up after the battle, and calling her his little Bunhead Usagi Tsukino.

Many people argue that he fell for Sailor Moon and settled for Usagi once he found out they were the same person. It is undeniable that Tuxedo Mask felt strong feelings for Sailor Moon since he could sense when she was in danger and felt this urge to protect her. However, Tuxedo Mask made an enemy of Sailor Moon and the Sailor Senshi when it came to finding the rainbow crystals. In The Shining Silver Crystal, Mamoru and Usagi are confronted by Zoisite, who demands that Mamoru surrender his own rainbow crystals so that they can fight, and the winner takes all. Mamoru tells Zoisite that he will do so only if he promises not to harm Usagi and let her go. This was BEFORE he knew that she was Sailor Moon. He prioritized Usagi’s safety over his unwavering personal mission of finding the silver crystal. He didn’t do this for Sailor Moon; he did this for Usagi.

One of the most important arguments, if not, the most crucial evidence for the validity of Usagi and Mamoru’s love for one another is why they fell in love and if it is merely because of destiny, as many skeptics online cite this as the only reason Usagi and Mamoru are together because they feel obligated to stay together due to past in the Silver Millennium and “destiny.” I found a fantastic essay series by Sailor Moon and Me, all about studying the dynamics of Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship to ultimately answer if they truly love one another in the original 90’s anime. You can find the whole series here; I highly recommend you read it! https://sailormoonandme.tumblr.com/post/93343451085/usagi-and-mamoru-essay-series-contents-page-and

In conclusion, the author writes: “Would Usagi and Mamoru have wound up together if they had not regained their memories from their past lives? If given the right opportunities to get to know each other better, almost certainly yes. And those opportunities would’ve probably presented themselves somehow because their past lives/destiny would’ve been influencing them. Remember, they even met as children. Were they obligated to be together because of their past lives? Not exactly. Their past lives guided them and influenced them, but the personality traits that Serenity and Endymion found attractive in one another were present in Usagi and Mamoru and was likely what they’re modern-day incarnations found attractive too. In particular, these traits were on display as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask and Usagi and Mamoru already effectively loved one another in through those identities anyway.” The author highlights a key aspect, the reason Usagi and Mamoru have fallen in love over and over again: they find each other’s personality traits attractive! Earlier in the essay series, the author brilliantly proves how, in the anime, Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask and Endymion act in the same way, as well as Usagi/Sailor Moon and Serenity. They are the same people, so if they fell in love during the Silver Millennium, they can fall in love again for the same reason, they like each other’s personalities!

Mamoru's breakup with Usagi

In the anime, after they finally get together during Sailor Moon R, he finally feels like he’s not alone. Then he gets these visions prophesizing that the woman he loves will die if he continues to be with her. He struggles with what to do; he just found someone who completes him, who gave him his lost memories and the meaning of his life. Who saw the best in him and believed in him even after him being brainwashed and soul strangled by the evil Metalia. He knows the pain that he’s caused her. He still has memories of being under Metaria's evil magic. He realized how possessed he was, enough to attempt to behead Usagi without question. He just learned that continuing to be a part of her life could put her in grave danger. He doesn’t take this lightly and breaks up with her because he thought he would protect her.

Mamoru thought that HE, HIMSELF, was the danger to Usagi. That's why he tried to get her to hate him. Even I initially judged the breakup arc as a victim of "bad writing" for Mamoru and Usagi's relationship. A few lines littered over a few episodes are unfortunately very negative coming from Mamoru's part. I cannot defend them when taken out of context. I am disappointed that the writers decided to include those few lines since they don't even correlate to Mamoru's character growth and overarching character arc over five seasons.

Furthermore, from his part, these comments are blatant attempts to portray himself as a despicable person, so Usagi would forget about him and move on. He thought that by getting Usagi to hate him, she would distance herself from him and be saved from the horrible fate he kept seeing in his nightmare. Many people use this as "evidence" that Mamoru "didn't love Usagi," and that he is a "horrible person." It is very easy to judge a guy breaking up with a girl as wonderful as Usagi and being so cold towards her. However, when you see Mamoru realize that marrying Usagi will cause her immediate death and that his only way of protecting her from this doom is to break up with her, he already hates himself. To provide more perspective of how this impacted him when he meets King Endymion in the future and realizes he was the one prophesying Usagi's death if Mamoru continues to be with her, Mamoru charges at him with anger.

There is no logical reason that Mamoru would willingly choose to make Usagi suffer. Why would he purposely put the only person he considers his family and his soulmate through so much pain and suffering. The breakup is as hard on him as it is on Usagi. This is clearly seen in Ep. 69, at the end, when he is crying by his motorcycle. He should’ve told Usako the truth about the dream. But she beats him to it in a later episode, and they decide to take control of their lives and be together, instead of believing in the nightmare. She was the one to believe in the strength of their love and do the right thing. Thanks to this arc, they learned that together they are unstoppable. Mamoru learned to trust Usagi wholeheartedly and to trust himself, as he felt that HE was the danger in her life. After the revelation that the messages from King Endymion were to test Mamoru's love for Usagi, even Mamoru realizes he made a horrible decision to lie to Usagi and hurt her the way he did. He realizes how dumb he was and latches on to Usagi and never lets her go again.

Furthermore, to provide a silver lining to the breakup arc, we have further evidence of just how much Mamoru loves Usagi. If he didn't love her, as so many people in the fandom like to claim, the breakup was his way out. But he didn't just up and leave. He hated that he had to be apart from Usagi. He truly loves her with all of his heart. He never once stopped calling her Usako. He never stopped being in awe of Sailor Moon's power, calling her invincible when talking about her to Chibiusa. He continued to help her and the Sailor Senshi in battle. He dreamt about marrying her; he imagined her face reflected on rivers; when he continued to run into her after the breakup, he was solemn realizing that it is fate that keeps making them meet.

This breakup isn’t my favorite part of the season at all, but it provides real character development and allows us to explore Mamoru’s fears and heartache. You see Usagi gets heartbroken, but she doesn't lose faith; she doesn't stop believing in Mamoru and love; she still has her circle of friends and family to fall back on. Mamoru had no one. Usagi was the only one he let in his heart. In the Sailor Moon R movie, he tells Usagi that his years of loneliness were worth it because he found her, and that she is his family. For years, Mamoru had the same dream about a princess who pleaded to him “find the silver crystal, find the silver crystal.” And this princess ended up being a real person! The girl with the weird hair he kept running into, Bunhead, Usagi, Usako! Are we internalizing how insane that is? To have literally no memories before your sixth birthday, to not remember your parents, to be an orphan with no family or close relationships, to have a recurring dream that wakes you in a cold sweat about the same person every time that pleads that you find this mysterious crystal you know nothing about? It’s insane. Of course, Mamoru has trouble with interpersonal relationships in the beginning. It’s thanks to Usagi’s constant love towards him and their growth as a couple that he becomes a kinder and more trusting person as the series goes on. Mamoru's connection to Usagi is so much deeper than the anime lets on at surface level. Mamoru went from someone who has had his memory stolen already three times, to someone who has finally found the love of his life, who was no longer alone, to someone who was forced to break his soulmate's heart and be pushed back to loneliness.

I recommend this great article that talks more about the breakup and Mamoru's perspective! http://starlight.csmalecki.com/reads/breakup.php

Mamoru's relationship with Chibiusa

On that note, of course, Mamoru felt a connection to Chibiusa. He was an orphan with no family, he finds this little kid all alone, of course, he is going to feel an urge to help her feel less alone. He connects with Chibiusa because he sees Usako in her; because he no longer has anyone else to fill the void of loneliness. Mamoru and Chibiusa are some of the characters that carry the underlying theme of loneliness in the Sailor Moon story. Chibiusa saw Mamo as someone who reminded her of her dad, and for a little girl who feels helpless and is separated from her parents, utterly alone in this strange world where she doesn't know who to trust, it is reasonable for her to latch onto him. She sees these people who look like her parents and Sailor Senshi back home but behave nothing like them. Mamoru is one of the few characters who is continuously nice to her and there for her; logically, she would want to be around him. There is an excellent article that talks about Chibiusa's "Electra Complex," I highly recommend you read it: https://shojopower.com/beautiful-like-you-black-ladys-uncomfortable-electra-complex/. Basically, it concludes that Chibiusa's "Electra Complex" is NOT sexual desire for her father but instead not being able to relate to her mother, "The Electra Complex is less about a daughter’s sexual desire for her father, but much more about the relationship between daughter and mother; the female child and her best friend." Once Chibiusa becomes Black Lady, her innocent feelings of love and attachment towards Mamoru get exploited and tainted and manifest as "sexual" attraction. But in reality, once Chibiusa can relate to Usagi, her "Electra Complex" is resolved, and Black Lady is defeated.

Tuxedo Mask is "useless."

What a double standard. Just because he is a man, he has to be the Batman or Spider-Man of the story? It’s called Sailor Moon. She is Wonder Woman; he is Steve Trevor. Tuxedo Mask exists to help Sailor Moon and support her, but Sailor Moon is the protector of the universe. The story is all about her and her fellow Sailor Senshi. It’s a female empowerment story; if you think that a male character is “useless” because he isn’t the one saving the day, you are missing the point. Tuxedo Mask has physically aided the Senshi in combat on countless occasions.

Furthermore, during numerous battles, if Tuxedo Mask had not shown up to shoot a single rose, Sailor Moon and the Senshi would have been goners. He utilizes his knowledge of physics and math during battles and is capable in hand to hand combat, as well as a formidable swordsman. In the manga and Sailor Moon Crystal, he has his own super-powered attack, Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber. Even cooler, he has a combined attack with his daughter, Pink Sugar Tuxedo Attack. He takes the place of Sailor Earth and Sailor Sun, as he possesses the golden sailor crystal. Concerning Earth, he recognizes it as his guardian planet and can "see" what the Earth feels. Concerning the sun, Takeuchi made him a Leo, a constellation related to the sun, also, when he dies, Nehellenia states that he is "The Prince of Earth, protected by the Sun."

He buys the Senshi time to power up for their Sailor Planet attack; he's freed them from traps from where they can't escape alone, he distracts villains and disables them with supernaturally strong rose darts, allowing the Senshi to give the finishing blow. I have to note; his aim is deadly. His rose darts took down Queen Beryl and Fiore, as well as others. He doesn't leave the scene until he sees the situation is under control and that the girls can handle it from there. In his dying words during the Stars arc, he proclaims that the Senshi will stop Galaxia, that she doesn't stand a chance. He believes in each of the Senshi's strengths and gives them useful advice that they apply to the situation and helps them succeed. In the story, his character supports female heroes and helps them do their best. As a female, I feel completely empowered and inspired by Sailor Moon/Usagi, by each of the Senshi and the story in general. It is rare to see female superheroes kicking butt, in a world of countless Iron Man, Captain America, Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man movies and a less than a handful of Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel movies. A male superhero in a female superhero driven story is not "useless," they simply aren't the star of the battle, and there is nothing wrong with that.

The consensus is that Usagi's kidnapping by Prince Demande is straight-up assault and absolutely repulsive from Demade's part. And rightfully so, Usagi, in tears being grabbed and forced to kiss him is horrible and uncomfortable to watch. Compare this moment to Mamoru's kidnappings. He has been objectified and kidnapped by countless villains in the story. How is this different from Usagi's kidnapping? He is forced to kiss his own daughter possessed by evil, pinned against a wall by Fish's Eye trying to get a kiss from him while he is explicitly rejecting this and saying no, was submitted to bodily possession by Metaria's dark magic on two occasions with Queen Beryl (who is obsessed and infatuated with him) doing who knows what to his unconscious body. I could go on and on, Fiore, An, Mio Kuroki; there are many occasions where Mamoru has been objectified, kidnapped, and assaulted. It is disturbing that so many people interpret this as "weakness" from Mamoru's part. These assaults and objectification are against his will. A man who has been through these horrible experiences is NOT weak. Please don't contribute to this harmful double standard. A person being assaulted is a victim, regardless of their gender.

Finally, in the first episode, when Sailor Moon is crying because she doesn't know how to fight the monster terrorizing her best friend, Tuxedo Mask appears to her and tells her "Sailor Moon, crying won't solve anything." Taken at face value, this comment is bewildering since, in that scenario (and another battle scenario in Sailor Moon SuperS), her crying became ultrasonic and incapacitated her enemies. But this comment goes further, this comment sets the tone for Usagi's series-long journey into maturing and getting over her crying habit; this is part of Sailor Moon’s character development. This personal growth is highlighted in Ep. 74 when Usagi decides to face Rubeus alone to save her friends. She reflects on how, before she would've been a total crybaby if she had to go by herself to defeat a villain, she is amazed at how far she has come emotionally. She realizes that truthfully, "crying won't solve anything." As the seasons go on, her being a self-proclaimed crybaby is still used as a point of comedy, but in the moments of real desperation, she handles herself with maturity and bravery. So, ultimately, she valued what Tuxedo Mask said to her the first time they met.

Usagi and Mamoru's age gap

One of the biggest points of misinformation in Sailor Moon is Mamoru and Usagi's age difference and the legality of their relationship. Mamoru Chiba is 17. At the start of the manga, Takeuchi intended for Mamoru to be as young as 16. Usagi Tsukino starts the story as 14, but she actually isn’t 14 for very long. The Japan school semester begins in April, and her birthday is in June. This means that Seasons 1-3 happen pretty quickly. Therefore the age difference between Mamoru and Usagi isn’t that drastic at all. Furthermore, the fact of the matter is, Mamoru behaves older than he is. Why? He has had to mature very early on in his life. He has had to take care of himself for presumably a long time. Usagi has the perfect nuclear family and at the start of the series and is rather immature. She matures as the series goes on because of her responsibilities as a guardian and protector of the galaxy. At face value, it's easy to judge Mamoru and Usagi's relationship as one with a significant age gap. However, this isn't the case. 2-3 years of age difference is not outstanding at all and in Japan even less so. They are both above the age of consent of 13 and are still both teenagers. Even in the original anime, many scripts list Mamoru as a 17-18-year-old college student, and Usagi becomes 15 early on in the series timeline. He is shown to be extremely intelligent, so being a 17 year old in college is absolutely plausible. An important point to address, he is shown driving a car when the minimum driving age in Japan is 18. However, Haruka is 16 and drives a car and even a helicopter. I’m not losing any sleep over the fact that Mamoru could be driving a car before he is 18.

People argue that if Mamoru were precisely the same age as Usagi, the "problems" would be "fixed." But like I stated earlier, Mamoru behaves more mature because he was forced to be independent and self-sufficient from a very early point in his life. Even at 14, Mamoru would appear and behave much more mature than Usagi does. He is still obviously immature in how he deals with his crush on Usagi. When Takeuchi wrote the story about Serenity and Endymion, she was basing herself on medieval romance stories where the lovers are many years apart in age. Hence, the age gap was intentional in that aspect. Again, as I stated previously, 2-3 years of age difference is hardly noteworthy, especially as the series goes on, and they mature together.

Here is an excellent post that further discusses and debunks the age gap legality rumors: https://tiny012.tumblr.com/post/184025521241/in-the-defense-of-mamoru-chiba-because-bitch-im

Final thoughts and conclusions about Usagi and Mamoru's relationship and Tuxedo Mask

In the end, Usagi and Mamoru mature and grow together; they are each other’s rock. Mamoru becomes a more laid back person around Usagi, like when he takes her to see the cats at the abandoned house to cheer her up in Ep. 91. Usagi asks him, “but are we allowed to go in there?” and he responds, “I don’t know! Who cares!” and hands her a little kitten. I love Diana’s comment in Ep. 146 about how both Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion fake being sick together to get out of meetings and commitments.

Mamoru loves Usagi for who she is; in some ways, she is everything he's not, and he loves her for that - they complete each other; he keeps her grounded while she lifts him up into craziness. And he adores it. Mamoru has told Usagi: "Never apologize for being yourself.”, "Your strong will is what I love about you most.” and “Just being with you makes my life complete.” When Fish’s Eye questioned Mamoru on why he doesn’t want to be with anyone else but Usagi, he responds, "She’s full of dreams. That’s why.” In Stars, as Chibiusa is fading from existence due to Nehellenia’s curse on Mamoru, she pleads that he remembers that both him and Usagi have always shared the same dreams. Mamoru and Usagi are pretty different, sure, but in reality, they have the same visions for the future; they share the same values, and they have the same dreams. They complement each other beautifully, and that is why their love is as strong as it is. Usagi may be a bit clumsy and a crybaby, but in Mamoru's eyes, she's perfect.

People also bring up Mamoru's avoidance of public displays of affection with Usagi as evidence that "he doesn't really love her." In Japan, public displays of affection are seen as rude and inappropriate. When Mamo is alone with Usako, they share countless cute moments. Kisses, hugs, affection.. they love each other. Let's not forget when Mamoru gave Usagi a promise ring at the airport and kissed her like they were the only two people on Earth. His last words were "Usako." He has taken countless blows and stabs in Usagi's place, and she has for him too.

We saw them fall in love over and over, as Serenity and Endymion, and as Bunhead and Jerkface. Even when brainwashed initially in Season 1, Mamoru couldn’t bring himself to hurt her and kept unconsciously helping her succeed. You can brainwash him, kill him, erase his memory, separate him from her, but there is nothing you can do to make Mamoru’s love for Usagi fade. In the words of Toru Furuya, the voice of Mamoru: "He loves Sailor Moon and Tsukino Usagi with his whole heart. I think he’s a very great person."

Finally, Tuxedo Mask gives Sailor Moon strength; he supports her to become the best superhero he knows she can be. He does his best to help the Senshi in battle, but it’s a story about girls protecting the world. Takeuchi wrote this character to fit that narrative; he is one of the characters she holds dearest in her heart. Few people can really understand the beauty of Usako and Mamo together and how Sailor Moon is breaking the stereotypes of gender roles. If you can’t understand that, it’s your loss.

Tuxedo Mask is the hero Tuxedo Mask haters deserve, but not the one they need right now, so they’ll hunt him. Because he can take it, because he’s not a hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector, a Moonlight Knight.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

#sailor moon #tuxedo mask #usagi #usagi tsukino #usamamo #mamoru x usagi #usagi x mamoru #pgsm #sailor moon aesthetic #sailor moon crystal #anime #90s anime #mamoru chiba #mamoru #pretty guardian sailor moon

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Golden Kamuy Volume 1 Data Hunting

So this is a collection of assorted information about Golden Kamuy Vol 1 inclusive of data, points to ponder, notable quotes and so on.

It was a terribly long work and I don’t expect it to be perfect. If you notice something is wrong (especially in the translation from Japanese) or missing please, feel free to drop me a note.

I will try to do something similar for vol 2 as well but I don’t promise at all I’ll manage it.

Anyway, I’ll hope you’ll enjoy this!

VOLUME 1

Cover: Sugimoto Saichi

Chapters: 7

First printed: 19/January/2015

Volume only extras: A page explaining the Blakiston line, a map of Hokkaido and south Karafuto, Asirpa wearing an Attus, frontal and back image, the Ainu sentence ‘Kanto orwa yaku sak no arankep shinep ka isam’ (“Nothing comes from heaven without purpose”).

GENERAL INFO

Notable or recurring Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Gotō (後藤), Wilk (ウイルク), Retar (レタㇻ), Toraji (寅次), Umeko (梅子), Toraji and Umeko’s child, Asirpa (アシㇼパ), pimp (妓夫太郎 ‘Gifutarō’), prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group (杉元達を尾行していた囚人 ‘Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin’), Hijikata Toshizō (土方 歳三) , Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形 百之助), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見 篤四郎), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石 由竹), Wilk (ウイルク), Tsuyama (津山).

Maps of the places mentioned:

Meiji years mentioned: Meiji 1= 1868, Meiji 2= 1869, Meiji 23= 1890, Meiji 37=1904, Meiji 38= 1905, Meiji 40= 1907, Meiji 41= 1908, Meiji 44= 1912.

Weapons used:

- Arisaka Type 30 rifle: Japanese soldiers, Sugimoto, Toraji, Gotō, Ogata

- Arisaka Type 30 bayonet: Sugimoto, Ogata

- Mosin–Nagant M1891 rifle: Russian soldiers

- Ainu bow (Karimpaunku) and aconite poisoned arrow (Ay): Asirpa

- Ainu short knife for women (Menomakiri): Asirpa

- Ainu hunting knife (Tasiro): Asirpa

- Sharp stake: Ainu hunters

- Koishikawa Arsenal Type 26 revolver: prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group, Sugimoto

- Murata Sword: Hijikata

Convict appeared and their tattoo owners (at the end of the volume):

1. Gotō: Sugimoto

2. Prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group: Sugimoto

3. Hijikata Toshizō: Hijikata

4. Shiraishi Yoshitake: Shiraishi, Sugimoto (copy)

5. Tsuyama (Tsurumi)

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01. SUGIMOTO, THE IMMORTAL (不死身の杉元 FUJIMI NO SUGIMOTO)

First printed: 21/August/2014 Weekly Young Jump 38

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Gotō (後藤), Wilk (ウイルク), Retar (レタㇻ), Toraji (寅次), Umeko (梅子), Toraji and Umeko’s child, Asirpa (アシㇼパ).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: 203 hill in Port Arthur (current Lüshunkou) (China), Abashiri Prison in Abashiri.

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904  – 5 September 1905) Siege of Port Arthur (1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905), Hokkaido Gold Rush (1617), Meiji Restoration (4 January 1868)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Sugimoto, Toraji, Umeko and their kid.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

Hokkaido gold rush caused Ainu to store up 75 Kg of gold to fight the Japanese, who even after the Meiji Restoration were oppressing them by forbidding them to hunt salmon or deer, and stealing their lands. And then a single man stole it all, and killed the Ainu who owned it. The police were after the man, so he hid the gold somewhere in Hokkaido. But he was caught before he could tell anyone where it was, and thrown into Abashiri Prison, to be sentenced to death. He wanted to tell his comrades on the outside where the gold was, but he never wrote a letter as the guards would just steal it. No matter what they did to him, he didn't tell anyone where the gold was. In the end, one of the guards turned out to be a horrible man. He cut the tendon of one of the man's legs so he couldn't escape. So he tattooed on the bodies of his fellow inmates a code that revealed the location of the treasure. He mixed charcoal with saliva, and then slowly carved that ink in with a needle he'd kept hidden. Only his comrades on the outside can decrypt the code and this is what he said to the other prisoners: “Escape from this prison. Whoever succeeds can have half the treasure.” To crack the code, one needs all the prisoners' tattoos. Some of the lower members of the military heard the rumors about the tattoos and dragged the prisoners out of their cell, saying they were going to "transport" them as they were after the gold, too but that was the prisoners' chance to escape. The prisoners killed all the soldiers, and every last one disappeared into the forest. Nobody's caught them. And nobody knows what happened to the gold, either. (Source: Gotō)

Asirpa’s father was also among the men killed that night, during the ‘Noppera-bō incident’. (Source: Asirpa)

Character deaths: Japanese soldiers (shoot by the Russians), 6 Russians (killed by Sugimoto), 7 Ainu (killed in the Noppera-bō incident), guards that were transporting the prisoners (killed by the prisoners), Toraji (during the war), Gotō (killed by a bear)

Animal deaths: mother bear (killed by Asirpa), bear cub (killed by a bear)

New Ainu words:

- Kamuy:  “God”

- Kanto orwa yaku sak no arankep shinep ka isam: Nothing comes from heaven without purpose

- Attus: “Bark”. Traditional Ainu coat made from fibers harvested from the bark of the Manchurian elm or the Japanese linden

- Ainu: “Human being”. It seems however that among Ainu, you called Ainu only the men after the age of thirty, giving it the meaning of “man” more than just human.

- Matakarip: “Those that move in winter”. Bear which missed hibernation.

Food and drinks: Ant, Sake

Useful info and points to ponder:

- The first page of the chapter is coloured in red and green. All the soldiers are green except for Sugimoto who’s red, making him easily identifiable. The choice of the red though fits with the fact he’s the main character (in many colour coded groups the red character is the main character) but also with how red is one of Sugimoto’s colours (the cover of the volume has him in predominantly red colours despite the fact Sugimoto’s coat should have been blue) as red well fit with Sugimoto’s character.

- Sugimoto calls the Russians ‘Roske’ (露スケ) “Russky” (also written as 露助). The anime however preferred to change this, having him refer to them as ‘Roshia’ (ロシア) “Russians”.

- Gotō uses ‘-san’ to talk with Sugimoto. Sugimoto never refers to him by name, just with ‘Anta’ (あんた “You”) or ‘Oyaji’ (オヤジ “Old man”).

- As Gotō calls him, Sugimoto instinctively removes his hat as if to greet him to place it back on his head, realizing it’s just him. It’s notable because Sugimoto hardly removes his army cap.

- When talking with Gotō Sugimoto will remarks that he wants money, that he needs it. Later, when talking with Asirpa he’ll remark he needs money more than anything.

- Sugimoto took part to the Russo-Japanese war during which he fought like a ‘Kishin’ (鬼神 “Demon god”/“Ogre god”) (for more info go here) and was nicknamed ‘Fujimi no Sugimoto’ (不死身の杉元 “Sugimoto, the Immortal” [Lit: “Sugimoto, the not-dying”]) because despite the serious wound he received he didn’t die and healed fast.

- Sugimoto explains he didn’t get a medal and a cozy retirement because he almost killed an official he didn’t like (‘Kiniiranai’ 気に入らない “he didn’t please me/suit me”). This was never developed further though I hope the ‘didn’t please me’ is actually a Japanese polite way to say ‘he was a jerk’ otherwise Sugimoto had quite an overreaction. On another side attacking a superior officer was quite a serious crime that could warrant you a dead sentence so Sugimoto really got it easy.

- The “Order of the Golden Kite” (金鵄勲章 ‘Kinshi Kunshō’) was an exclusively military award, conferred for bravery, leadership or command in battle. It ranked just below the Order of the Chrysanthemum, Japan’s highest order. The award came with an annual monetary stipend and was awarded for the lifetime of the recipient, and following his death, it would be awarded to the recipient's family for one year after.

- When Gotō talks about the Ainu collecting the gold he says the Ainu were going to fight against the Japanese that EVEN AFTER THE MEIJI RESTORATION had stolen their land and forbidden fishing and hunting. The bit about the Meiji restoration is cut in the scanlations but it implies that the facts are taking place AFTER 1868. Instead, while the stealing took place after that date, the collecting took place much, much before. This will become relevant later on because, as soon as they boys will discover it, they’ll realize the gold is much more than they were told.

- The word used for tattoo is ‘Irezumi’ (入れ墨 lit: "inserting ink") and, during the Edo period (1603–1868), it referred to the tattoos tattooed to criminals' faces or arms, which marked that they had been found guilty of their crimes. Yakuza often would also have tattoo that were obligatory in some clans and had birth in protest for the branding of criminals with tattoo. However not all the tattoo had a negative meaning in Japan. ‘Horimono’ (彫り物 Lit: “carved/engraved thing”) were large tattoos, which covers a person's whole back, or arms, or chest, or full-body that weren't branded on criminals but on fishermen, firemen, and so on, people who had jobs were they wouldn't be wearing many clothes, so their skin, and the tattoo, would be visible most of the time. Buddhist priests would also have tattooed on themselves sutras or religious designs while ‘Irezumiko’ (入墨子) were the tattoos sex workers would make to show their romantic devotion to their regular customer and it would start with the customer's name, and end with inochi (命), meaning life. In total, the tattoo meant "I devote my life to (customer's name)".

- Gotō told Sugimoto he saw an Hokkaido wolf, and although the latter didn’t believe him as he thinks they’re extinct, this might mean Gotō spotted Retar.

- Sugimoto remembered/dreamed his friend Toraji told him to go with him to Hokkaido to search for gold because he wanted his kid to go to college so he doesn’t grow up to be an idiot like him, escaping from a life of poverty and a good doctor to look at his wife, Umeko as his eyesight is getting worse every day. Toraji heard from an American pal of his working for the railroad industry that America has the best eye doctors so he estimated for the boat fare and the operation a cost of 200 yen with the boat fare doubling if he goes with her. In his dream Toraji told him he has to hurry as relations with America will worse after the war and begged him, crying, to take care of Umeko for him, as they had been friends all their lives and nobody will want a woman with bad eyes and a kid. Sugimoto then saw Toraji being limbless and with intestines exposed sinking in a pool of blood as he claimed “I can’t go back to Japan” (俺は日本に帰れない ‘Ore wa Nihon ni kaerenai’).

- Although when Gotō attacked him it was kill or be killed, Sugimoto didn’t kill him. When he chased him his first though was he clearly wanted to know more about what Gotō knew but then he talked himself into how he was chasing him because otherwise Gotō would kill him.

- The poison on Asirpa’s arrow is a fast-acting one made from a red stingray spine and aconite root but a brown bear can move for 10 second after being hit by it.

- Sugimoto refers to the bears as “Monsters” (バケモノ ‘Bakemono’)

- When talking about Toraji first Sugimoto defines him as his childhood friend (‘Osananajimi’ [幼なじみ “childhood friend”]) then switches to comrade (‘Senyū’ [戦友 “comrade in arms/war buddy”]).

- When asked about what he wanted to do with Gotō’s body by Asirpa, Sugimoto at first claimed he wanted to take him to a nearby village, skipping to mention he planned to use him to find the Ainu gold and only when Asirpa told him he would have to kill the bear to keep it he told her the truth, begging her to help him to kill the bear.

- In scanlations Asirpa claims that night will be a moonless night, which clashes with the fact in the next chapter we’ll see a full moon in the sky but in the Japanese version her sentence might be read as ‘the moon won’t appear’ (because hidden by clouds). In fact in the next chapter for a while it will be pitch black then the moon will appear from behind the clouds.

- Umeko calls Sugimoto ‘Saichi-chan’ (佐一ちゃん) and he calls her just ‘Ume-chan’ (梅ちゃん).

- Asirpa believed her father was among the Ainu killed THAT NIGHT.

- The way the tattoo wraps around the chest and arms and is sectioned off at the median lines of his body is the same way one would mark a bear or a deer before skinning it. This, according to Asirpa, implies the man tattooing them never wanted to share the gold with the prisoners but wanted them to be skinned.

- Gotō might look like a plot device to let Sugimoto know about the gold, set him on chasing it and helping him to meet up with Asirpa however he’s also a symbolic representation of the temptation for Sugimoto (Sugimoto has stopped killing people but if he tries to chase the gold he’ll resume doing so), but he can also work as an interesting parallel with Sugimoto. Our first impression of him is of a harmless, friendly drunkard. When he later tries to kill Sugimoto it’s obviously because he feared for his own life, not out of hate or cruelty. However late it’ll turn up he ended in Abashiri because he got drunk and while drunk he ended up killing his wife and kid. In short he lost control of himself and ended up murdering his family. And much later Sugimoto will have troubles controlling himself.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “Worse comes to worst, we take a bite out of one of those damn Russians. I won’t die here.” (‘Iza to nattara buttobashita Roske no shiroi ketsu o kajitte demo ore wa ikinuite yaru’ いざとなったらぶつ殺した露スケの白いケツをかじってでも俺は生き抜いてやる Lit: “When the moment come, even if I’ve to take a bite out of the white asses of the Russkies I’ll kill, I will survive.”)

- Sugimoto: “I want money. I need money.” (‘Kane ga hoshī. Kane ga hitsuyōna nda’ カネが欲しい。カネが必要なんだ)

- Gotō: “They called you… ‘Sugimoto the immortal,’ didn't they? They say you fought like you were possessed by The devil himself. That you were running around the day after receiving a mortal wound. bayonets, bullets, cannonballs. None of them could take you down. Are the stories true?” (‘Fujimi no Sugimoto tte yoba re teta n datte? Kishin no yōna tatakai-buridatta-sō janai ka. Hinshi no jūshō o otte mo yokujitsu ni wa hashirimawatteru. Jūken demo kikan jū demo hōdan demo sugi moto o korosenai tte… hontona no? Sono-wa?’ 「不死身の杉元」って呼ばれてたんだって？鬼神のような戦いぶりだったそうじゃないか。瀕死の重傷を負っても翌日には走り回ってる。銃剣でも機関銃でも砲弾でも杉元を殺せないって…ほんとなの？その話？Lit: “You were called Immortal Sugimoto, weren’t you? It seems that you fought like a Kishin. Even though you were seriously injured, you would run around the next day. A bayonet, a machine gun, or a shell can’t kill Sugimoto...  is it true? This story?”)

- Sugimoto: “They’re true. I just don't seem to die.” (‘Nakanaka shinenai mon sa’ なかなか死ねないもんさ Lit: “It’s hard to die for me.”)

- Sugimoto: “If I hadn’t nearly killed an officer that pissed me off… I’d have the order of the golden kite, and be enjoying a cosy retirement right now.” (‘Kiniiranai jōkan o hangoroshi nakya kinshi kunshō moratte imagoro wa nukunuku nenkin kurashida’ 気に入らない上官を半殺しなきゃ金鵄勲章もらって今頃はぬくぬく年金暮らしだ Lit: “If I hadn’t half killed a superior officer I don't like I would have received the Order of the Golden Kite and nowadays I would be living thanks to my cosy retirement.”)

- Wilk: “Break out of here. I'll split half the gold ingot among anyone who succeed” (‘Koko kara datsugoku shiro. Seikō shita yakko ni wa kinkai o hanbun yaru’ ここから脱獄しろ。 成功した奴には金塊を半分やる Lit: “Jailbreak from here. To the successful guy I’ll give half of the gold.”)

- Gotō: “The tattoos on all the prisoners only had meaning when they were combined.” (‘“Shūjin tara no irezumi wa zen'in de hitotsu no angō ni natte irurashī”’ 「囚人たらの入れ墨は全員でひとつの暗号になっているらしい」Lit: “‘It seems the tattoos on the prisoners were all forming a single encrypted code.’”)

- Toraji: “I can’t go back to Japan” (‘Ore wa Nihon ni kaerenai’ 俺は日本に帰れない).

- Sugimoto: “So then…what was that crazy story he was just telling me? Suddenly it's starting to sound a lot less crazy. Maybe he knows something else.” (‘Nanda yo… sakki no yotabana ga kyū ni shinjitsumi o obite kita jane~e ka! Aitsu mada nani ka shitteru no ka?’ なんだよ… さっきの与太話が急に真実味を帯びてきたじゃねぇか！あいつまだ何か知ってるのか？“What's going on... That gossip story suddenly tinged with truth! Does he still know anything?”)

- Sugimoto: “It’s kill or be killed” (‘Yara reru mae ni yaru shika’ やられる前にやるしか Lit: “I have to do it before him”)

- Asirpa: “It'll get extremely dark soon. There won’t be a moon tonight. It’ll be so dark you can’t see your own hands.” (‘Mō sogu makkura ni naru kon'ya wa tsuki ga denaikara jibun no te mo mienaku naru’ もうそぐ真っ暗になる今夜は月が出ないから自分の手も見えなくなる Lit: “It'll get extremely dark soon. Tonight the moon isn’t visible so it’ll be so dark you can’t see your own hands.”)

- Asirpa: “The weak get eaten” (‘Yowai yatsu wa kuwareru’ 弱い奴は食われる)

- Sugimoto: “It was my childhood friend… my comrade’s request” (Osananajimi de Sen'yū ga nokoshita saigo no tanomi’ 幼なじみで 戦友が残した最後の頼み lit: “My childhood friend… my comrade left me with this last request”)

- Sugimoto: “I need money more than anything!” (‘Dōshitemo kane ga hitsuyō nanda’ どうしてもカネが必要なんだ)

- Sugimoto: “So basically… they had planned all along to kill and skin him. And that's why he has tattooed like this?” (‘Tsumari… koroshite kawa o hagu koto ga zentei de kono irezumi wa hora rete iru tte koto ka?’ つまり… 殺して皮を剥ぐことが前提でこの入れ墨は彫られているってことか？ Lit: “I mean ... is this tattoo engraved like that on the premise of killing and skinning him?”)

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02. WEN KAMUY (ウェンカムイ WEN KAMUY)

First printed: 21/August/2014 Weekly Young Jump 38

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Gotō (後藤), Wilk (ウイルク), Retar (レタㇻ).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February, 12 hours before sunrise (In Sapporo from Feb 16 to Feb 28 sunset is at 5:14PM and sunrise is at 6:22 AM so we’re at around 6:00 PM)

Historical events mentioned: Hokkaido Wolf extinction (1890)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: None.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

Five years ago Asirpa’s father and six men from other villages were killed while transporting the gold to a new hiding place. Their bodies were chopped up and animals got them, scattering their remains. One of the lump of flesh resembled Asirpa’s father. Ainu were never even told that the man who'd killed them was arrested and sent to Abashiri prison, let alone anything about the tattooed prisoners. (Source: Asirpa)

Anybody involved with the case has probably been tight-lipped with the facts, since they’re all trying to get the gold themselves. (Source: Sugimoto)

Since Gotō is still living in hiding, this means the gold wasn’t found and the people in charge in the prison won’t execute the one who murdered Asirpa’s father and the others until they find the gold but the minute the gold is found the man’s life is forfeit. (Source: Sugimoto)

Character deaths: 2 Russians (killed by Sugimoto)

Animal deaths: Bear (killed by Sugimoto)

New Ainu words:

- Wen Kamuy: “Evil God”. Animal God which killed a human and can’t eat anything else but humans so he no longer fears humans and turn violent and dangerous.

- Sitat: Bark from white birch trees.

- Retar: White

- Sisam: “By my side”. Non-Ainu Japanese people.

- Asirpa: “New Year/Future”

- Teine Pokna Mosir: “Wet Underground World”. An Ainu hell in which all souls who do evil and commit taboo are sent after their death. It is a dark, cold, muddy and damp place, the lowest netherworld out of six. Being there is like a live burial, suffocating and lonely in a sort of karmic payback in which to hurt another is to dig a grave for yourself.

Food and drinks: Bear meat

Useful info and points to ponder:

- When Asirpa praises Sugimoto as a good warrior she comments it’s impressive ‘for a Sisam’ (a not Ainu). Actually Ainu didn’t have the monopoly of brave warriors so her comment comes out as prejudiced.

- Asirpa calls Sugimoto ‘Sisam’ until he’ll introduces himself as Sugimoto Saichi. Then she’ll call him just ‘Sugimoto’.

- After learning her name, Sugimoto calls Asirpa, ‘Asirpa-san’.

- Asirpa’s Ainu name (アシㇼパ) is written with a small ‘ri’ that needs to be read as just ‘r’ while the ‘shi’ needs to be read as ‘si’. Now, in the manga, Japanese characters usually write/pronounce Ainu words in the Japanese way (‘Citatap’ becomes ‘Citatapu’) while Ainu pronounce them in the correct way. However in Asirpa’s name case it seems everyone writes/pronounces it correctly, with a small ‘ri’ (though I’ve heard in the fandom this is up to debate). The anime didn’t care AT ALL about this and had even Asirpa say ‘Ashiripa’.

- While Asirpa didn’t specifically say the Ainu men killed were of HER village, the context implied she believed they were and even Sugimoto assumed so. We know though, the men weren’t all from her village. The Doylist explanation is Noda retconned this, the Watsonian explanation is that Asirpa doesn’t remember the fact correctly as she was a child.

- Sugimoto asks Asirpa to team up with him to find the gold. He acknowledges it belongs to the Ainu in the first place so he won’t ask for 50:50, just for a share. When Asirpa refuses because this would mean track and kill the prisoners and she doesn’t want to kill anyone Sugimoto claims that by finding the gold, they’ll trigger the execution of her father’s murderer, ensuring she’ll get revenge for her father and that Asirpa helped him because this is exactly what she wanted, so he volunteers to be the one who dirties his hands as she’ll only have to share her knowledge with him.

- It’s worth to mention that, although Sugimoto didn’t ask for an even split, it was never exactly established how much Sugimoto wanted. The scanlations say he asked for a small share but in the Japanese version he asked just for a share (‘Wakemae’ 分け前), without claiming it also had to be small. He likely hoped it wouldn’t be as in chap 3 he said he would also become rich.

- Ainu do not eat a bear who killed a human nor take their fur.

- The last page of the chapter has two panels, in one there’s Sugimoto and Asirpa, Sugimoto claiming he’s in this for the money and Asirpa is in this for revenge and therefore their destinations are different but they’re walking the same path and together they can be unstoppable. The panel below shows the bodies of the convicts, implying their path is built above the corpses of the convicts.

Notable changes from the magazine version:

- In the magazine Asirpa says Retar’s name out loud, in the volume she just thinks it.

Notable quotes:

Asirpa: “When a brown bear kills a human, it is cursed to never be able to eat anything else.” (‘Higuma wa ichido ningen o korosu to batsu to shite ningen shika kuenaku naru.’ ヒグマは一度人間を殺すと罰として人間しか食えなくなる。Lit: “Once a brown bear kills a human, as punishment, he can only eat humans.”)

Asirpa: “It no longer fears humans and turns violent and dangerous, it becomes a Wen Kamuy (Evil god)” (‘Ningen o osorenai kyōbōde kiken'na Wen Kamuy (warui kami) ni naru.’ 人間を恐れない凶暴で危険なウェンカムイ（悪い神）になる。Lit: “He become a vicious and dangerous Wen Kamuy (evil god) who does not fear humans.”)

Sugimoto: “I guess the bear figures out just how weak human beings really are…” (‘Bare chimatta wakeda... Ningen-sama ga yowai ikimonodatta’ バレちまったわけだ… 人間様が弱い生き物だった Lit: “The bear understood it. . . Human beings are weak creatures.”)

Sugimoto: “Just try and kill me, dammit! I'm Sugimoto the immortal!” (‘Koroshite miro ~tsuore wa fujimi no Sugimoto da’ 殺してみろッ俺は不死身の杉元だ Lit: “Try to kill me! I'm Sugimoto the immortal!”)

Asirpa: “You're brave and know your way around a fight. A most capable warrior! Impressive, for a Sisam.” (‘Yūki to tatakai no sainō ga aru. Yūshūna senshida. Shisamu ni shite wa yaru na’ 勇気と戦いの才能がある。優秀な戦士だ。シサムにしてはやるな Lit: “You have courage and fighting talent. An excellent warrior. Impressive for someone who’s just a Sisam.”)

Asirpa: “My father and six other men from the village were killed while moving the gold stash to a new hiding place” (‘Chichi o fukume mura no otoko-tachi 7-mei wa kinkai no kakushibasho o idō sate iru dōchū ni korosa retarashī’ 父をふくめ村の男たち７名は金塊の隠し場所を移動さている道中に殺されたらしい Lit: “Seven men from the village, including my father, seemed to have been killed on the way while moving the gold to a new hiding place.”)

Sugimoto: “Listen, Asirpa. Let's team up and find this gold together. It belongs to your people in the first place, so I won't ask for 50:50. All I'm looking for is a small share.” (Nā Ashiripa-san. Ore to kunde kinkai o mitsukeyou. Moto wa anta-tachi no kinda. Yamawake to wa iwanai. Daga orenimo wakemae ga hoshī ‘’ なぁ アシㇼパさん。俺と組んで金塊を見つけよう。もとはあんた達の金だ。山分けとは言わない。だが俺にも分け前が欲しい Lit: “Hey, Asirpa-san. Team up with me to find the gold. Originally it was your people’s gold. I’m not saying to split it equally. But I also want a share.”)

Asirpa: “We ainu don't eat the meat of a man-eater. We don't take the fur either. A bear that does evil things and becomes an evil god is sent to a hell called Teine Pokna Mosiri” (‘Ainu wa hito o koroshita inoshishi wa kuwanai. Kegawa mo toranai. Warui koto o shita kuma wa warui kami to natte teinepokunamoshiri to iu jigoku ni okura reru’ アイヌは人を殺した熊の肉は食わない。毛皮も取らない。悪い事をした熊は悪い神となってテイネポクナモシリという地獄に送られる Lit: “Ainu do not eat the meat of bears who killed people. We also don't take its fur. A bear who does bad things becomes a evil god and is sent to a hell called Teine Pokna Mosiri”)

Asirpa: “I don’t want to kill anyone.” (‘Watashi mo hito o koroshitakunai’ わたしも人を殺したくない)

Sugimoto: “Killing people sends you to hell? then I guess they'll be rolling out the red carpet for me!” (‘Ningen o korose wa jigoku-ikidato ku? Sorenara ore wa tokutō sekida’ 人間を殺せは地獄行きだとく？ それなら俺は特等席だ Lit: “Killing humans sends you to hell? Then I guess I’ll get a special seat!”)

Sugimoto: “I'll be the one getting their hands dirty. All you need to do is share your knowledge with me. I'm in it for the money. You're in it for revenge. Our destinations are different, but we're walking the same path. If we work together, we'll be unstoppable!” (‘Te o yogosu no wa ore ga yaru. Asirpa-san wa chie dake kashite kure. Ore wa kin de Asirpa -san wa oya no kyū. Mokuteki wa chigaedo michi wa onaji. Futari de te o kumeba oninikanabōda’ 手を汚すのは俺がやる。アシㇼパさんは知恵だけ貸してくれ。俺は金でアシㇼパさんは親の仇。目的は違えど道は同じ。二人で手を組めば鬼に金棒だ Lit: “Getting their hands dirty is what I’ll do. Asirpa-san, please lend me only your wisdom. I'm in for the gold and Asirpa-san is in for her parent's revenge. The purpose is different but the road is the same. If we join hands together we’ll give a metal rod to an ogre (we’ll be even stronger).”)

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03. TRAP (罠 WANA)

First printed: 04/September/2014 Weekly Young Jump 40

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), unnamed merchant, unnamed prostitute, Tokiko (時子), unnamed pimp (妓夫太郎 ‘Gifutarō’), unnamed prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group (杉元達を尾行していた囚人 ‘Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin’).

Location: Near Otaru and Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: Sapporo, Hakodate, Asahikawa, Southern Karafuto (current Southern Sachalin)

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904  – 5 September 1905)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: None.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

If the escaped prisoners are still searching for the gold then they wouldn’t have run to mainland Japan but remain somewhere in Hokkaido. As they’re not animals they can’t survive hiding in the mountains and an outsider would stand out in a small village so Sugimoto imagine they would want to go to a big town and blend into the crowd. (Source: Sugimoto)

Character deaths: None.

Animal deaths: Squirrel (Killed by Asirpa’s trap).

New Ainu words:

- Ikayop: Quiver.

- Ay: Arrow.

- Karimpaunku: Bow wrapped in cherry tree bark.

- Tasiro: Hunting knife.

- Ekimnekuwa: Hiking stick.

- Menokomakiri: Short knife for women.

- Cinru: Snowshoes for use on crusty snow.

- Saranip: Knapsack.

- Yukker: Deerskin boots.

Food and drinks: Fried shrimp, squirrels, soba

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Sugimoto admits to like squirrels therefore he wouldn’t want to kill them. Asirpa says she likes them too. As a food. It’s possible though Asirpa didn’t get Sugimoto didn’t mean ‘as a food’ hence why she was so upset when he didn’t want to eat them later.

- Asirpa, with her hunting abilities, becomes the money provider of the group as money will come from the animals she hunts and sell, for example squirrel fur but also in the previous chapter she explained how to sell the part of the bears that got killed.

- In hindsight Sugimoto’s plan to find the convicts is based on completely wrong premises that show how little he knew about Hokkaido and the convicts. Not all the prisoners were searching for the gold and one even left Hokkaido (Gansoku Maiharu). Nihei could have survive hiding on the mountains if he had wanted to and Hokkaido has plenty of seasonal workers who also travelled in small villages or small towns.

- Of course, while having a bath Sugimoto isn’t wearing his cap. However he has a towel on the top of his head. When Sugimoto removes it, Noda covers the top of his head with vapour.

- When the men at the bath comments he never say a body like Sugimoto his sentence is phrased as if he means ‘good looking’. When, however, we see Sugimoto’s body as well we are meant to get he’s referring to the fact his body is badly scarred, making impressive how Sugimoto managed to stay alive.

- When thanked by the man in the baths because he helped ensure the financial prosperity of Otaru Sugimoto points out the merchants are the only ones getting rich and he thinks he’ll get rich too, no matter what he has to do.

- The prostitute calls her co-worker ‘Tokiko-chan’.

- When the pimp grabs Asirpa his first worry is she’s there to make fun of the girls working there. A prostitute defends Asirpa, telling him to let her go, calling her ‘Kawaisō’ (可哀想 “poor thing”). When Asirpa beats him they side with her, calling her ‘Ojōchan’ (お嬢ちゃん “young lady”)

- The pimp asks Asirpa if she’s 12 or 13 claiming Ainu girls get tattoo around their mouths when they come of age. Coming of age for Ainu girl varied from 14 to 18 according to the village in which the girls were in. Noda doesn’t tell us which is the rule in Asirpa’s village.

- The pimp plans selling Asirpa, likely to a brothel.

- Asirpa hits the pimp with the butt of her small knife in the eye, forcing him to put her down but not harming him permanently. Sugimoto hits him with his thumb on his trachea, while it won’t do permanent damage, a blow on the trachea is very dangerous, as we’ve seen with Usami and Tokishige.

- The method chosen to capture the convicts is the one used to capture squirrels. However, there was a chance the convict would have ended up slowly strangled in the process or, worse, it could have broken his neck and kill him instantly. Actually, considering how fast the rope seems to move and how it manages to pull him up, it could have even been possible to decapitate him.

- When Sugimoto claims they got a prisoner he uses ‘hikime’ (匹目) which is the counter for ‘small animals’ not for ‘people’. So he’s basically saying they got one small animal. While part of his sentence is tied to the fact they caught him with the same method they use to catch squirrel it’s possible Sugimoto was already dehumanizing convicts so as not to empathize with them.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “What, you're going to eat a squirrel? But I kind of like them…” (‘Ee~ risu kuu no ka? Ore risu-sukina ndakedo nā’ ええ～リス食うのか？俺リス好きなんだけどなぁ Lit: “Eh, do you eat squirrels? I like squirrels…”)

- Asirpa: “I like them too. They eat nothing but nuts, so their meat is really tasty. We can also sell their fur and make some money.” (‘Watashi mo sukida. Risu wa konomi shika tabenaikara niku ga umai. Kegawa mo urerukara genkin ga tenihairu’ 私も好きだ。リスは木の実しか食べないから肉が美味い。毛皮も売れるから現金が手に入る Lit: “I like them too. Squirrels eat only tree nuts, so their meat is delicious. Since their fun can be sold you can also get money.”)

- Sugimoto: “Hey, old timer. are you a regular here?” (‘Nā otchan wa koko no jōren?’  なあおっちゃんはここの常連？ Lit: “Hey, middle aged man, are you a regular here?”)

- Sugimoto: “Have you seen any guys with strange tattoos recently?” (‘Saikin koko de myōna irezumi no kyaku o mitakotonai?’  最近ここで妙な入れ墨の客を見たことない？ Lit: “Recently have you ever seen customer with a strange tattoo here?”)

- Merchant: “Young man…are you a soldier? I've never seen any strange tattoos…and I've certainly never seen a body looking like yours. I can harldly believe my eyes. It’s amazing you’re still alive. It's thanks to soldiers like you that we got back southern Karafuto. Thank you for giving so much.” (‘Nī-chan… heitai-san kai? Hen'na irezumi wa mita koto naiga, anta mitaina sugoikarada mo mita koto nai na. Kori yā. Anta sore de yoku iki totsuna nā. Nīchan-tachi ga tatakatte kuretakara Nihon wa minamikarafuto o torikaeseta. Okage de kono Minatochō wa korekara motto motto sakaerudarou. Hontōni gokurō-samadeshita.’ にいちゃん…兵隊さんかい？変な入れ墨は見たこと無いが,あんたみたいなすごいからだも見たこと無いな。こりゃあ。あんたそれでよく生きとつななあ。兄ちゃんたちが戦ってくれたから日本は南樺太を取り返せた。おかげでこの港町はこれからもっともっと栄えるだろう。本当に御苦労様でした Lit: “Young man... are you a soldier? I've never seen a strange tattoo, but I've never seen an amazing body like yours either. Wow. It’s amazing you’re still alive. You young men fought, so Japan was able to regain Southern Karafuto. Thanks to this, this port town will prosper more and more from now on. Really thank you for your hard work.”)

- Sugimoto: “...the merchants are the only ones getting rich. And I'll get rich too. No matter what I have to do.” (‘..Mōkaru no wa shōnin dakedaro. Ore mo taikin o tsukande yaru. Don'na te o tsukatte demo’ ...儲かるのは商人だけだろ。俺も大金を掴んでやる。どんな手を使ってでも Lit: “…Only the merchants are making money. And I too will grab a lot of money. No matter what kind of means I’ll have to use.”)

- Sugimoto: “Gotcha! there's prisoner number one!” (‘Kakatta Mazuwa ichi hikime!’ かかった まずは一匹目! Lit: “Got him! We’re starting with one small animal!”)

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04. NOPPERA-BŌ (のっぺら坊 NOPPERA-BŌ)

First printed: 11/September/2014 Weekly Young Jump 41

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), unnamed prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group (杉元達を尾行していた囚人 ‘Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin’), Hijikata Toshizō (土方 歳三) , Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Wilk (ウイルク), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形 百之助)

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Pencil introduction in Japan (Meiji era from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Wilk.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

Although the tattoos are worthless on their own, the prisoners split up because the other prisoners just suddenly started killing each other. The prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group had no idea what was going on so he just ran away and since he couldn’t trust anyone he has been laying low all that time. (Source: prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group)

The killing means some of the prisoners must have realized they had to start skinning the other convicts. (Source: Sugimoto)

The guy who came up with the escape plan was a cold, violent bastard, a monster, compared to whom the prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group is just a small time punk and Sugimoto should have seen how had died the greedy soldiers who came after them. (Source: prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group)

Character deaths: Guards that were transporting the prisoners (killed by the prisoners), prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group (Shoot in the head by Ogata Hyakunosuke)

Animal deaths: None

Flashbacks or info about the characters past: None

New Ainu words:

- Makiri: “Knife”

- Menomakiri: “Knife for women”

Food and drinks: None mentioned.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- We will never get the name for the prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group. Maybe it’s a nobody as Shiraishi claimed. Maybe there’s more to discover about him and it will be revealed in the future along with his name.

- The gun Sugimoto is holding is the one the prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group owned and that he likely stole it from the soldiers who were escorting them, as this sort of guns were used by officers in the army (we saw Koito owning one). Nice catch for one who defines himself a small punk but, when Sugimoto will use it, Ogata will assume it’s Sugimoto the one who stole it from an officer, also because they were expensive (22 yen + 100 rounds of ammunition for 3 yen) and normally not given to the soldiers (the officers would buy them themselves). the price was 22 yen (currently around 44,000 yen) and 100 rounds of ammunition for 3 yen (currently around 6,000 yen).

- The scanlations talk of a ‘bloodbath’ but the Japanese version merely says they just started killing each other (Koroshiai sa “殺し合いさ”). Now, even if the Japanese version is tamer, there were 24 convicts and 22 for sure walked out of it just fine (we still don’t know the whereabouts of the last convict) and, even if we assume Wakayama killed the convict whose skin will become the Barato skin during that moment… well, it’s hard to think many tough guys who also were interested in the skins (Hijikata, Ushiyama, Boutarou, Sakamoto)  just escaped from him or watched him doing so or let him escape with a corpse (Sakamoto would have reached him). It’s much easier Wakayama killed the poor guys AFTER the convicts have parted ways. The Doylist explanation is the attempted slaughtering was removed from the story, the Watsonian that the prisoner either lied or overreacted to the prisoners attacking each other… or maybe Heita just went rampaging and this impressed him… or they just gave him an hallucination drug… but, as Sugimoto trusted him, he never questioned Shiraishi about why the convicts parted ways.

- Although chapter 2 implied Sugimoto’s plan was to kill the convicts and then skin them it turns out Asirpa agreed to help Sugimoto after he promised her he wouldn’t kill anyone. Her idea was they would just draw down the tattoos instead than skinning the convicts.

- When Asirpa will interrupt Sugimoto, reminding him he promised not to kill people, Sugimoto will claim his plan was only to threaten the convict he would kill him in order to get him to talk, but he clearly never discussed this with Asirpa.

- It turns out Asirpa has good drawing skills even if she has never used a pencil before.

- Asirpa will reveal her father was good with his hands too and this made him popular with ladies. He’s also the one who made her Menomakiri.

- Ainu men craft Menomakiri for the woman they like, so that the woman can look at their work and see how good of a providers they are.

- The prisoner will say the one who tattooed them was called ‘Noppera-bō’ (のっぺら坊 “Person who’s faceless”) because he didn’t have a face. He doesn’t explain how Wilk came to lose his face. Was it through torture? Or was his face the lump of flesh that was found and made people assume he died?

- Ogata was distant 300 meters when he shoot straight in the head the prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group.

- In hindsight if he wanted to kill the whole group Ogata should have shoot Sugimoto first, as the convict couldn’t go anywhere as he was tied, so the fact he shoot him first means he didn’t mean to kill Sugimoto.

- Sugimoto’s first assumption is that Ogata was another convict or, at least, one of his allies.

- Sugimoto acknowledges Ogata is a dangerous adversary which can’t be taken lightly.

- The number on Ogata epaulette is 27 but the 7 is hardly visible in both shoulders.

- In this chapter and in chap 5 there’s light in Ogata’s eyes. There won’t be light in his eyes in the following chapter. A retcon in the character design or it means something?

Notable changes from the magazine version:

- This chapter had a colour cover in the magazine version. In the volume version it has been turned into a black and white one.

Notable quotes:

Prisoner: “It turned into a bloodbath. The other prisoners just suddenly started killing each other. I had no idea what was going on, so I just ran like hell. I couldn't trust anyone, so I've been laying low all this time.” (‘Koroshiai sa. Totsuzen nani no maebure mo nashi ni shūjin dōshi ga koroshiai ni natta. Ore wa wake mo wakarazu nigedashita no sa. Dare mo shin'yō dekine~ekara hitori de senpuku shi teta nda’ 殺し合いさ。突然何の前触れも無しに囚人同士が殺し合いになった。俺は訳も分からず逃げ出したのさ。誰も信用できねぇからひとりで潜伏してたんだ Lit: “They started to kill each other. Suddenly, the prisoners started to kill each other without any notice. I didn't understand the reason and ran away. I didn't trust anyone, so I hid myself.”)

Prisonier: “Those greedy soldiers that came to get us? They were practically teenagers. You should have seen how they died. Listen, buddy. You'd be better off chasing rabbits.” (‘Kinkai ni me ga kuranda gaki mitai ni wakai tondenhei-tachi ga don'na shinizama o shita ka misete yaritakatta ze. Usagi demo okkakete tamauga mi no tameda zo, ni ̄-chan’ 金塊に目がくらんだガキみたいに若い屯田兵たちがどんな死に様をしたか見せてやりたかったぜ。ウサギでも追っかけてたまうが身のためだぞ、にーちゃん Lit: “I’d like to show you in which manner those young military settler colonists died, they were like brats blinded by the gold. It is better for you to chase the rabbits, bro.”)

Sugimoto: “Is that all you’ve got to say? Well, don’t worry… after you’re dead, you won’t feel a thing when I skin you.” (‘Iitai koto wa sore dake ka? Nāni… shinde shimaebahin muka reyouga itami nantenē sa’ いいたいことはそれだけか？なあに…死んでしまえばひん剥かれようが痛みなんてねえさ Lit: “Is that all you want to say? Well… if you die, you won’t feel the pain of being skinned.”)

Asirpa: “Hey, Sugimoto! You promised not to kill anyone! If you kill him, I won’t help you!” (‘Oi Sugimoto-! Korosanai to yakusoku shita hazuda zo! Korosunara watashi wa kyōryoku shinai’ オイ杉元ッ！殺さないと約束したはずだぞ！殺すなら私は協力しない Lit: “Oi Sugimoto! You promised not to kill! I will not cooperate with you if you kill him.”)

Sugimoto: “Asirpa, I was kind of hoping you'd play along. There goes my plan to threaten him and get all his information.” (‘Asirpa-san, soko wa engi shite notte kurenai to. Odoshite iroiro kikidasu tsumoridattanoni’ アシㇼパさん、そこは演技してノッてくれないと。脅していろいろ聞き出すつもりだったのに Lit: “Asirpa-san, here you have to act. I was going to threaten him to get out of him many info.”)

Asirpa: “I like this thing. this "pencil". It's useful.” (‘Sugimoto, kore ī na. Enpitsu tte iu no ka. Benrida’ 杉元、これいいな。鉛筆っていうのか。便利だ Lit: “Sugimoto, this is good. Is it a pencil? It's useful.”)

Asirpa: “Ainu men craft a Makiri and give in to the woman they like. she looks at the craftsmanship and decides how good of a provider that man is.” (‘Ainu no otoko wa sukina on'na ni jibun de hotta makiri (kogatana) o okuru. On'na wa sono dekibae de otoko no seikatsu-ryoku o hakaru nda’ アイヌの男は好きな女に自分で彫ったマキリ（小刀）を贈る。女はその出来栄えで男の生活力を量るんだ Lit: “An Ainu man gives to the woman he likes a carved Makiri (little sword). The woman measures the man's ability as a provider by his craftsmanship.”)

Prisoner: “…Noppera-bou. That's what we all called him.” (‘… Nopperabō sa. Oretachi wa sō yonde ita.’ …のっぺら坊さ。俺たちはそう呼んでいた)

Prisoner: “He didn't have a face” (‘Kao ga nai nda’ 顔が無いんだ)

Ogata: “Sounds like he’s using a type 26 looted off a dead soldier.” (‘Heishi o koroshite ubatta nijūroku nenshiki kyojū ka’ 兵士を殺して奪った二十六年式挙銃か Lit: “A stolen 26 model handgun gotten by killing a soldier?”)

Sugimoto: “I was hoping to take him alive, but this isn't the type of guy I can afford to take lightly!” (‘Ikedori ni suru tsumoridattaga… tekagen dekiru aite janē’ 生け捕りにするつもりだったが…手加減できる相手じゃねえ Lit: “I was going to take him alive… but this isn't an opponent I can afford to take lightly!”)

Box: “The instant they moved apart… the man had pushed down the bolt stop and pulled out the bolt, rendering Sugimoto’s rifle useless” (‘Hanare sai… Shunkan-teki ni jū no waki ni aru borutosutoppā o oshinagara boruto o hikinuki sugi moto no jū o shiyō funō ni shita’ 離れ際… 瞬間的に銃の脇にあるボルトストッパーを押しながらボルトを引き抜き杉元の銃を使用 不能にした Lit: “When they had moved apart… in a moment he had pressed the bolt stop at the rifle’s side and pulled out the bolt rendering Sugimoto’s rifle useless.”)

Sugimoto: “He’s a member of a unit of frontier soldiers chasing after the gold. The unit renowned as the strongest in the army. The Hokkaido 7th division.” (‘Kinkai o otte iru tondenhei no butai rikugun saikyō to utawa reta Hokkaidō no dai nana bumon’ 金塊を追っている屯田兵の部隊。 陸軍最強と謳われた北海道の第七部門 Lit: “A military settler colonist of the unit chasing after the gold. The Hokkaido seventh division, which was claimed to be the strongest in the army.”)

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05. HOKUCHIN UNIT (北鎮部隊 HOKUCHIN BUTAI)

First printed: 18/September/2014 Weekly Young Jump 42

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形 百之助), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見 篤四郎).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: 203 hill in Port Arthur (current Lüshunkou) (China), Mukden (currently Shenyang) (China).

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904  – 5 September 1905) Siege of Port Arthur (1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905), Battle of Mukden (20 February - 10 March 1905)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: None

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None

Character deaths: None (although Ogata will be assumed dead)

Animal deaths: None.

New Ainu words:

- Kuca: “Temporary hut”. A cone shaping hut used for short camping trips in the wilderness.

- Citatap: “We mince it”. An Ainu dish.

- Ohaw: Boiled soup

- Pukusakina: Soft wildflower

- Hinna: “Thank you (for the food)”.

Food and drinks: Citatap with squirrel and ohaw in which it’s cooked.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- The name of the ‘Hokuchin Butai’ (北鎮部隊) or “Defeat the north unit” is formed by two kanji. One means ‘north’ and actually refers to Russia, the other means both ‘to calm down/to pacify’ but also ‘to dominate/to subdue’.

- When facing Ogata Sugimoto comments the sniper and his companions are probably “the dregs/failures of the unit” (師団の中のはずれ者 ‘Shidan no naka no hazure-sha’). This is actually wishful thinking on his part.

- When facing Sugimoto Ogata actually asks him “Who are you with?” (きさまどこの所属だ ‘Kisama doko no shozoku da’), which Sugimoto interprets with “Which unit were you with?” when it’s more likely Ogata is interested in knowing with who Sugimoto is working NOW as there were few people aware of the gold hunt, the convicts, the soldiers of the 7th, Inudo’s men and Wilk’s allies. That’s why Ogata relaxes when Sugimoto misunderstands and says he was with the first division but reached the term of his service and was discharged, because he indirectly confirms he’s not affiliated with any group searching for the gold and that’s also why Ogata talks about ‘kane’  (カネ “money”) not ‘kane’  (金 ‘gold/money’ though it seems when it means ‘gold’ the more common pronunciations are ‘kin’ or ‘ougon’ or ‘kogane’ or ‘kigane’)).

- Ogata uses ‘Kisama’ to say you, when talking with Sugimoto. Nowadays it would be considered very offensive, as if he has told him ‘you bastard’. However, up to WW2 it was the normal way soldiers would say ‘you’ among them (and prior to it, it was used by samurai and it was a polite way to say you… in fact it contains ‘-sama’). Hard to say though if Noda is using it keeping this into consideration or not.

- When Sugimoto tells Ogata he was in the 1st division he adds he reached the end of his term of service and was discharged. This doesn’t necessarily mean he was discharged AT THE END OF THE WAR. It seems in Meiji time soldiers were enlisted for 3 years, with them being called to enlist at 20. A recruit entering the Army was given the rank of 2nd-dass private and, as a rule, was automatically promoted to 1st-class private after 6 months so Sugimoto, who goes to was as a first class private, has already spent 6 months in the army. This means it’s possible Sugimoto was 20 in 1903, when he was enlisted (April/July), did his 6 mandatory months as 2nd class private, was promoted to 1st class private and, by February 1904, he was ready to take part to the Russo-Japanese war and would have to stay in the army till 1906. It’s also worth to mention that, although he doesn’t mention it to Ogata, Sugimoto claimed he beat half to death a superior officer. If this is true and wasn’t reconned, this might have affected his time of permanence in the army (prolonging it).

- Once learning Sugimoto was in the 1st division, Ogata wonder if they had met at the 203 hill. While possible, so far we only know that Sugimoto has met Tanigaki during that battle.

- While talking with Sugimoto Ogata scratches the back of his head (the sound effect in the scanlation was removed). Noda might have retconned the gesture into becoming his signature hair petting gesture.

- Sugimoto will reply to Ogata he’s not doing it for money but for the woman he loves [‘Horeta’ (惚れた) can mean “to fall in love”, “to be in love”, “to lose one’s heart to” so he’s clearly not implying just simple fondness]. Ogata will remember this.

- After sending Ogata on the ground Sugimoto breaks his arm and retrieves his bayonet, presses the tip on his neck and then attempts to stab it but Asirpa interrupts him, saving Ogata. Ogata will also remember this.

- When Asirpa calls Sugimoto by name Ogata connects the dots and realizes that Sugimoto of the first division can only be ‘Sugimoto the immortal’.

- Ogata escapes because he’s aware he can’t beat Sugimoto the immortal, especially with a broken arm.

- When Ogata begins to fall Asirpa attempted to reach for him while Sugimoto was surprised. Clearly neither wanted that outcome.

- Ogata falls from a cliff in the frozen river with a broken arm and after hitting his face and breaking his jaw. Sugimoto and Asirpa are above the cliff so they can’t recover him but assume he would die. Ogata managed to reach the riverbank and was found by the 7th division at dusk without him having succumbed to hypothermia. How he managed to do it is considered amazing by the members of the 7th division. People in the fandom speculated he might have received outsider help to survive (maybe from Kiroranke). As of now, if he made it on his own or someone helped him out of the river and then left him on the riverbank is unknown.

- After Ogata falls Sugimoto claims this was for the best and explains to Asirpa that, although he had promised her he wouldn’t kill anyone, if his life is on the line he won’t hesitate to kill. Considering they’re meant to face dangerous convicts Sugimoto had to know he wouldn’t be able to keep the promise when he made it.

- During that speech Sugimoto claims he’s not a murderer (in the scanlations he say “I don’t enjoy killing”) and quotes Asirpa’s line in his speech “The weak gets eaten” (弱い奴は食われる ‘Yowai yatsu wa kuwa reru’) although scanlation changed it in “The strong survive, and the weak perish”.

- Asirpa has several huts in the area.

- Asirpa knows so much about hunting thanks to her father who carried her along in all his hunting trips as she has no male brothers and prefers to be out than knitting at home.

- When Asirpa offers him the squirrel brain and Sugimoto complains he explains his complain not with “it’s all so new to me” but with “I’m not used eating this kind of things”.

- Sugimoto is introduced to ‘Citatap’, ‘Ohaw’ and saying ‘hinna’ to thanks for the food.

- The word ‘Citatap’, when said by Asirpa, is written ‘チタタㇷ゚　’ with a small ‘pu’ (プ) which implies you’ve to read it ‘citatap’. However when said by Sugimoto (and, in future, when said by the other Japanese members of the cast), it’s written ‘チタタプ’, implying they actually say ‘citatapu’.

- The image of Asirpa and Sugimoto happily having Citatap and saying ‘hinna hinna’ is placed in direct contraposition of Ogata’s bandaged and wrapped up in a cover body. However, although there are voices around him, no person can be seen near him in the page.

- Due to the dialogues of the soldiers we learn that the soldier who attacked Sugimoto is the ‘Superior Private Ogata’. Tsurumi’s troops actually don’t know why Ogata was wandering through the mountains.

- It was impressive how Ogata, despite the wounds, managed to crawl out of the river.

Notable changes from the magazine version:

Notable quotes:

Box: “The 7th division of the Imperial Japanese army. During the Russo-Japanese war, they were sent into the worst fighting during the Siege of Port Arthur and the Battle of Mukden. Despite suffering heavy losses, they were a vital contributor to the Japanese victory. The people of Hokkaido reverently call them the ‘defender of the north unit’. Tasked with defending Northern Japan, they are the strongest unit in the army.” (‘Dainipponteikoku rikugun dainanashidan! Nichirosensōde wa Ryojun kōryaku-sen hōtenkaisen to iu gekisen-chi ni okurikoma re dai songai o dashitsutsu mo shōri ni kōken. Dōmin wa ikei no nen o kome `hokuchin butai' to yobu. Kita no mori o ninau rikugun saikyō no shi kuni.’ 大日本帝国陸軍第七師団！日露戦争では旅順攻略戦・奉天会戦という激戦地に送り込まれ大損害を出しつつも勝利に貢献。道民は畏敬の念を込め「北鎮部隊」と呼ぶ。北の守りを担う陸軍最強の師国。 Lit: “The 7th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army! In the Russo-Japanese War, it contributed to the victory while being sent to the fierce battlefields of the Siege of Port Arthur and the Battle of Mukden, despite suffering great damage. The people of Hokkaido in awe call it the “Hokuchin Unit”. It’s the army's strongest division responsible for the protection of the north.”)

Ogata: “What unit are you from?” (‘Kisama doko no shozoku da’ きさまどこの所属だ Lit: “Who are you with?”)

Sugimoto: “I was in the 1st division… though I reached the end of my service term and was discharged.” (‘Dai ichi shidan itaga konaida manki jotai shita’ 第一師団いたがこないだ満期除隊した Lit: “I was in the 1st division… though I reached the end of my service term and was discharged.”)

Ogata: “Oh, really? Then maybe we saw each other at 203 hill. Listen, you’d be better off handing that corpse over to us. It would be a shame to survive the war and then throw your life away over some money. I don’t think you understand what a dangerous game you’re playing.” (‘Sō ka? De wa nimarusan kōchi-atari de atte ita kamo shiren na. Sakki no shitai wa otonashi ku kochira ni Watari shitahōgaī ano sensō de hirotta inochi wa kane ni kae raren zo. Dore dake kiken'na bakuchi ni te o dashite iru no ka wakatte oran noda’ そうか？では二◯三���地あたりで会っていたかもしれんな。さっきの死体はおとなしくこちらに渡した方がいい。あの戦争で拾った命はカネに換えられんぞ。どれだけ危険な博打に手を出しているのか分かっておらんのだ Lit: “Really? So maybe we meet at 203 hill. The corpse of before, you should quietly give it to me. The life you picked up in that war cannot be exchanged for money. You don't know how dangerous of a gambling this is.”)

Sugimoto: “It’s not for money. It’s for the woman he loves.” (‘Kane janē. Horeta on'na no tameda’ カネじゃねえ。惚れた女のためだ Lit: “Not for money. For the woman I fell in love with.”)

Sugimoto: “During the war, I figured out the trick to staying alive. You don't let anybody kill you. I don't enjoy killing… but if my life is on the line, then I won't hesitate to kill whoever I need to. the strong survive, and the weak perish. It's a universal truth isn't it?” (‘Ore ga sensō de mananda shinanai hōhō wa hitotsu sa. Korosa renai kotoda. Asirpa-san ore wa satsujin-kyō janai…de mo korosa reru kurainara chūcho sezu korosu. Yowai yatsu wa kuwa reru. Doko no sekai mo sore wa onajidarou?’ 俺が戦争で学んだ死なない方法はひとつさ。殺されないことだ。アシㇼパさん俺は殺人狂じゃない…でも殺されるくらいなら躊躇せず殺す。弱い奴は食われる。どこの世界もそれは同じだろう？  Lit: “During the war there's one lesson I learned in order not to die. You can’t let anybody kill you. Asirpa-san, I’m not a murderer… but if my life is on the line, then I won't hesitate to kill whoever I need to. The weak gets eaten. It’s always the same no matter where you are, isn't it?”)

Asirpa: “And what is that supposed to mean? Do you have a problem with Ainu cuisine?” (‘Dōiu imida? Watashitachi no tabekata ni monkude mo aru no ka?’ どういう意味だ？私たちの食べ方に文句でもあるのか？Lit: “What do you mean? Is it a complaint for our way of eating it?”)

Sugimoto: “Err, N-No…No problem at all. It's just all so new to me…” (‘A … iya sōiu tsumori janai datte ore sō iu no tabe nare tenaishi’ あ…いやそういうつもりじゃないだって俺そういうの食べ慣れてないし Lit: “Ah... No, I don't mean that, I'm not used to eating that kind of thing.”)

Asirpa: “Citatap means "We mince it." It's because we all take turns mincing that we call it Citatap.” (‘Citatap wa wareware ga (ci) kizamu (tata) mono (p) to iu imida. Kōtai shinagara tatakukara `wareware'Na nda’ チタタプは我々が（チ）刻む（タタ）もの（プ）という意味だ。交代しながら叩くから「我々」なんだ Lit: “Citatap means we (chi) mince (tata) it (p). It's "we" because we take turns hitting it.”)

- Asirpa: “Hinna, hinna! ” … “It's what we Ainu say to show appreciation for the food. We say it as we eat.” (‘Hinna hinna’ … ‘Shokuji ni kansha suru kotoba. Watashitachiha tabenagara iu nda’ 「ヒンナヒンナ」「食事に感謝する言葉。私たちは食べながら言うんだ」 Lit: “Hinna, hinna! They’re words to say thank you for the meal. We say them while eating.”)

- Soldiers: “We found him on the riverbank at dusk. Any later and he would have succumbed to hypothermia. Frankly, I’m amazed he was able to crawl up onto the bank with those injuries.” (‘Yūgata ni ni kawagishi de mitsukemashita. Hakken ga mōsukoshi osokereba tei taion-shō de shinde itadeshou. Kono kega de yoku kishi made hai agatta monodesu’ 夕方にに川岸で見つけました。発見がもう少し遅ければ低体温症で死んでいたでしょう。この怪我でよく岸まで這い上がったものです Lit: “We found him on the riverbank in the evening. If it was discovered a little later, he would have died of hypothermia. Despite these injuries he still somehow managed to crawl on the shore.”)

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06. PERSECUTION (迫害 HAKUGAI) 25/SEPTEMBER/2014 WEEKLY YOUNG JUMP 43

First printed: 25/September/2014 Weekly Young Jump 43

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石 由竹), Wilk (ウイルク), Umeko (梅子), Umeko’s mother, Toraji (寅次)

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: Kabato prison in Tsukigata

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: None

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Sugimoto, Toraji, Umeko and about Shiraishi.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: None

Animal deaths: Hare (killed by Asirpa… if not right then in the next chapter)

New Ainu words:

- Nipus hum: “The sound of trees splitting”. It’s a phenomenon where a sudden, extreme drop in temperature causes the sap inside trees to freeze and the trunk to split open.

Food and drinks: Hare.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Same as when they caught the previous prisoner here too, when Sugimoto claims they caught the second prisoner he uses ‘hikime’ (匹目) which is the counter for ‘small animals’ not for ‘people’. So he’s basically saying they got the second small animal. The trap seems the same they used for the previous convicts and for squirrels, though now it also looks like the one for hares.

- When questioned, Shiraishi, differently from the previous prisoner, refused to speak. At this point Sugimoto asked him if he’s keeping silent because his throat was crushed by the trap (‘Wana de nodo tsubureta ka’ 罠でノドつぶれたか), showing he knew their trap could be dangerous.

- Shiraishi’s reply to Sugimoto is actually based on a racist joke as he asks him if ‘that Ainu’ is his ‘kai inu’ (pet dog) since the word ‘Ainu’ and ‘kai inu’ sound similar and Japanese used to call Ainu dogs due to the following wordplay アッ、イヌ (“ah, inu” meaning “ah, a dog”) sounding like the word ‘Ainu’. Shiraishi is clearly trying to insult Sugimoto, who has referred to him as well as an animal, asking him if he also consider Asirpa too as an animal (normally Shiraishi never refers to Ainu in such a rude manner) but, of course, since Sugimoto doesn’t view her as such, he thinks he’s insulting Asirpa. At the same time his reaction shows a certain hypocrisy. He’s not okay with people he loves being called animals but he’s fine with doing so to the convicts.

- Asirpa, stopping Sugimoto from hurting Shiraishi, points out how she’s used to hear such things so she doesn’t care anymore. Sugimoto complies but thinks ‘where’s the need to get used to it?’ (‘Nareru hitsuyō ga doko ni aru’ 慣れる必要がどこにある), which, combined with his attempt at hurting Shiraishi hints at his disapprobation of Asirpa’s passive and non violent stance, thinking it would have been right to beat Shiraishi up or, at least, scare him into silence. He doesn’t get though that if Asirpa got used to it, is because way too many Wajin do those racist comments and that if she were to use violence or threats like him to make them stop she would end up at war with them as he won’t spend the rest of his life beating up whoever were to insult Asirpa. He’s missing the full picture and not really looking forward to an Ainu rebellion besides, when Asirpa in the future will consider not being passive anymore, he’ll insist others should fight in her place. Sugimoto means well but he is of no help whatsoever. It’s a bit like when he complained Ainu should have just let him kill their prisoner. He means well but he wants to butt in into things without a full picture, claiming his methods are better even if, at least, he doesn’t force them.

- After thinking there’s no need to get used to it, Sugimoto’s mind, by association, goes back to his past, to how his family got infected with tuberculosis and ostracized by the village while Umeko, the person he loves, is told to keep away from him. As three of his relatives dies and his father ends in a sanatorium, people started suggesting to just burn his house down. It’ll be Sugimoto who’ll burn it down one night, when he’ll hear his father died. Umeko will reach him and he’ll tell her he burned the house and will leave the village, while she should just marry their childhood friend Toraji who has liked her from when they were child and who’s also liked by Umeko’s parents. Umeko begs him to carry her with him but he refuses, running away in fear he could be infected as well. He however thinks to wait two years and, if he’s not sick he’ll come back for her, implying he planned to marry her then. However, when he comes back, he sees her dressed in a nuptial kimono also called Shiromuku kimono (白無垢, lit. "white pure-innocence") with her Wataboshi (綿帽子, lit. "cotton hood"), an all-white hood up, about to get married to Toraji.

- Umeko calls Sugimoto ‘Saichi-chan’ while Sugimoto calls her ‘Ume-chan’.

- Sugimoto claims he would feel bad if he were to scare the hare… a hare he would have tried shooting down if it weren’t hidden.

- Shiraishi was originally imprisoned for robbery but after repeatedly escaping and being imprisoned again his sentence for escaping became far longer than the original one for robbery. Since he’s a genius at escaping he’s nicknamed the “Escape king” (Datsugoku-ō 脱獄王). He’s able to easily dislocate any of his joint and can hid all over his body needles, wires, a razor blade and even a bullet.

- Shiraishi is sure Sugimoto wants to kill him, which is what pushes him to not cooperate with him, no matter if Sugimoto has him at gunpoint or if them both could die. He accepts to work with him only when Sugimoto promises him he won’t kill him.

Notable changes from the magazine version:

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “There’s prisoner number two!” (‘Ni hikime’ 二匹目一匹目! Lit: “Second small animal!”)

- Sugimoto: “What, did the trap crush your windpipe?” (‘Wana de nodo ga tsubureta ka?’ 罠でノドがつぶれたか？Lit: “Did your throat get crushed by the trap?”)

- Shiraishi: “I see you have your very own pet Ainu. Does she do any tricks?” (‘Sono Ainu wa omae-san no kai inu ka?’ そのアイヌはお前さんの飼いイヌか？Lit: “That Ainu is your pet dog?”)

-Sugimoto: “How about I smash your jaw, and make it so you really can't speak?” (‘Ago o kudaite hontōni shi ~yaberaren'younishiteyarouka’ アゴを砕いて本当にしゃべられんようにしてやろうか Lit: “Shall I crush the jaw so that I can speak really?”)

- Asirpa: “Stop it, Sugimoto. It doesn't bother me. I'm used to people saying things like that” (‘Yose Sugimoto. Watashi wa kinishinai, nare teru’ よせ杉元。私は気にしない、慣れてる Lit: “Stop, Sugimoto. I don't care, I'm used to it.”)

- Sugimoto: “But you shouldn't have to get used to it!” (‘Nareru hitsuyō ga doko ni aru’ 慣れる必要がどこにある Lit: “Where is the need to get used to it?”)

- Sugimoto: “You know, Toraji… he’s a good, dependable guy. And he’s liked you since we were kids. I know I can count on him to take care of you. You should listen to your parents and marry him.” (‘Toraji wa… majimede ī yatsuda. Chīsai koro kara omae o sui teru. Aitsunara makase rareru. Goryōshin no susume ni shitagaubekida’ 寅次は… 真面目でいい奴だ。小さい頃からお前を好いてる。アイツならまかせられる。ご両親の勧めに従うべきだ Lit: “Toraji is… a serious and good guy. He love you since he was little. I can entrust you to him. You should obey to your parents’ advices.”)

- Umeko: “Saichi! Take me with you!” (‘Saichi-chan tsuretette!’ 佐一ちゃん連れてって！)

- Sugimoto: “I don’t want to kill you, Ume.” (‘Ume-chan o koroshitakunai’ 梅ちゃんを殺したくない)

- Sugimoto: “I’ll wait a year… no, two years. If I don’t show any symptoms in that time, I’ll come back to the village. I’ll come back for her, and then…” (‘Ichinen… iya ni-nen tatte. Hasshō shinakere wa kono mura ni modotte koyou. Kanarazu mukae ni…’ 一年…いや二年経って。発症しなけれはこの村に戻ってこよう。必ず迎えに… Lit: “One year ... no two years from now. Let's return to this village if the symptoms don’t appear. I’ll certainly come to pick you...”)

- Shiraishi: “Pull the trigger, then! Getting shoot now or getting shot later makes no difference to me!” (‘Yatte miro ~tsu. Kotchi wa ima uta reru no mo ato de uta reru no mo isshoda’ やってみろッ。こっちはいま撃たれるのもあとで撃たれるのも一緒だ Lit: “Try it. It’s the same to be shot now or to be shot later.”)

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07. THE ESCAPE KING (脱獄王 DATSUGOKU-Ō)

First printed: 02/October/2014 Weekly Young Jump 44

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石 由竹), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Hijikata Toshizō (土方歳三), Gotō (後藤), Wilk (ウイルク), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形 百之助), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見 篤四郎), Tsuyama (津山).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Founding of Nippon Match Company (日本燐寸製造株式会社) (January 1907), Battle of Hakodate (4 December 1868 to 27 June 1869), Death of Hijikata Toshizō (20 June 1869)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: No, none

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

The tattooed prisoners are 24 but nobody knows how many are still breathing. The leader who took care of the escape is the only one who knows something about Noppera-bō’s friends. During the escape he pulled a sword from one of the soldiers and killed three of them immediately. (Source: Shiraishi)

Noppera-bō told to all the prisoners to head for Otaru. (Source: Shiraishi)

Character deaths: Guards that were transporting the prisoners (killed by the prisoners, 3 by HIjikata only)

Animal deaths: None.

Flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Hijikata.

New Ainu words: None

Food and drinks: Hare.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- The matchbox from which Sugimoto pulls out the match seems to be from the Nippon Match Company (日本燐寸製造株式会社) which was established on January 1907.

- Due to being wet and the sudden cold Sugimoto and Shiraishi have only 10 minutes before they’ll succumb to hypothermia.

- On a weird note Shiraishi’s adventure kind of parallel’s Ogata, only it’s much tamer. Ogata will have his jaw broken, while Shiraishi was only threatened to have his jaw broken. Asirpa stopped Sugimoto from killing Ogata, and stopped him from hurting Shiraishi. Ogata ends in a river and has to get himself out of it, risking hypothermia. Shiraishi falls in the river with Sugimoto and, although they both risk hypothermia they cooperate to save each other. Noda has said he originally planned Shiraishi to be a one-off character but it’s clear he changed his mind pretty soon. I guess I’ll never stop wondering how Shiraishi’s story would have been if he had stuck to the original plan.

- Shiraishi seems to be affected by the cold more than Sugimoto, even if, despite this, he still manages to make a deal with him, also thinking if he’s going to die no matter what he prefer sit there and watch Sugimoto die and won’t help him until he’ll agree with to make a deal. Once they’ll do though, not only he’ll help Sugimoto but he’ll also give him information.

- Although Sugimoto will claim he didn’t want to kill Shiraishi, just to keep him captive until they find the gold, he’ll hesitate making a deal with him.

- It’s worth to mention the idea to keep captive an assorted number of potentially very dangerous convicts for a prolonged time was beyond unbelievable.

- When Shiraishi will give Sugimoto info he won’t report how the convicts tried to kill each other nor if one of them died during it. He only say nobody knows if they’re still alive.

- Shiraishi says previously leader who took charge of the escape had been a model prisoner and all though he was a political one but he believes this was all a act. Shiraishi later found out he was a samurai who fought for the Shogunate and ended up on the losing side of the battle of Hakodate in which he was thought to have died and that he is Hijikata Toshizō also known as the “Demonic vice-commander” (‘Oni no Fukuchō’ 鬼 の 副長) of the Shinsengumi.

- The battle of Hakodate happened 30 years ago. During which Hijikata Toshizō supposedly died.

- Shiraishi refers to Hijikata first as ‘Jī-san’ (ジイさん) then, as he talks about him after the escape as ‘jijī’ (ジジイ). They both mean “old man/grandfather” but the first is more respectful than the latter which will be the one to which Shiraishi will stick.

- When Shiraishi moves to leave in the scanlations Sugimoto says next time they’ll meet he’ll take his tattoo. Actually the sentence is more vague because it’s just ‘the next meeting time’ (次に会うとき ‘Tsugini au toki’) without saying with whom Shiraishi could have that meeting so it can imply  ‘the next time you meet ME’ or ‘the next time you meet SOMEONE ELSE’ those someone else being the other prisoners or the 7th division about which he warns Shiraishi moments after. Sugimoto after all has no reasons to go after Shiraishi as they have made a copy of his tattoo and he’s warning him to escape, meaning he’s not really planning to go after him. However he could have left the ambiguity to persuade Shiraishi to escape.

-  When Sugimoto warns Shiraishi about the 7th division being after the convicts, he tells him they know the most efficient method to do it is to kill and skin them. This hints that even if Sugimoto agrees with Asirpa not to kill prisoners, he thinks it’s not an efficient way.

- We can’t see the soldier who informs Tsurumi of how Ogata regained consciousness. In the anime he has Tsukishima’s voice.

- Tsurumi says he’ll pay Ogata a visit.

- Behind Tsurumi we can see a tattooed skin hanging from a wall as if it were a painting.

Notable changes from the magazine version:

- Tsurumi’s character design was changed. In the magazine he has light in his eyes and the metal place covering his forehead is much bigger and also partially circles his eyes.

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “Damn it! I am not giving up! No matter what, I'll make it out of this alive!” (‘Chikushō ~tsu! Akiramenē zo! Zettai ikinuite yaru’ 畜生ッ！あきらめねえぞ！絶対生き抜いてやる)

- Shiraishi: “We thought he was just some old guy, a political prisoner. He was always real quiet. A model prisoner in every way. But as it turns out, that was all an act. Keep in mind that this is only a rumor, but…apparently, everyone thought that old man had died at the battle of Hakodate, but…he's actually the merciless vice commander of the shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshizou!…or so they say.” (‘Tan'naru seiji-han no jī-sanda to omotteta. Otonashī mohan-shū sa. Tokoroga dokkoi neko kōmutte ya gatta. Kore wa akumade uwasadaga ne… ano jijī wa hakodatesensō de senshi shita to iwa re teru… shinsengu no oni no fukuchō hijikata toshizō datte….’ 単なる政治犯のジイさんだと思ってた。大人しい模範囚さ。ところがどっこい猫被ってやがった。コレはあくまで噂だがね…あのジジイは箱館戦争で戦死したと言われてる…新選組の鬼の副長・土方歳三だって…)

- Sugimoto: “The next time we meet, I’m taking your tattoo.” (‘Tsugini au toki wa sono irezumi o hippegasu ze’ 次に会うときはその入れ墨を引っぺがすぜ Lit: “The next meeting time, that tattoo will be ripped off.”)

- Shiraishi: “I'm the Escape King! even if I'm caught, I'll just vanish like a puff of smoke.” (‘Ore wa “datsugoku-ō”da. Dare ni tsukamarouga kemuri no yō ni nigete yaru sa’ 俺は『脱獄王』だ。誰に捕まろうが煙のように逃げてやるさ Lit: “I'm the "Jailbreak King". No matter who catches me, I escape like smoke.”)

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VOLUME COLOR GALLERY

#Golden Kamuy #Sugimoto Saichi #Asirpa #Ogata Hyakunosuke #Shiraishi Yoshitake #Tsurumi Tokushirou #Wilk #Retar #Golden Kamuy Data Hunting #Gotou Takechiyo #Kenmochi Umeko #Kenmochi Toraji #Tsuyama Mutsuo #Kasahara Kanjirou

[cheriesjubiles]

please don’t look under the read more i’m just testing

Can you imagine a world where we're all represented by a font? Huh, I wonder which one I would be? sees Arial Too straight. No! Not in that way! Just, straight, as in unexciting. sees Badaboom Too.. uh... Deadpool.... BROADWAY! Now that's the one! Now THAT'S the one! Hello Internet, welcome to GAME THEORY, where instead of putting a joke here I want to ask you a question. If your personality were represented by a font, what font would you be? Take a moment and put your font in the comments. I'm really curious to see what everyone has to say. Maybe find a couple new cool fonts to use. I'm getting bored with ol' Calibri 11. And with that out of the way, it's time to talk UNDERTALE. Now I don't think I've ever gotten this many requests to cover a game. Well, except for FNAF. And I suppose FNAF 2. OH and there was FNAF 3. Wait a minute, should I be worried about something here? Anyway, across the board on YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter, you all have wanted Undertale. And honestly, I'm glad you brought it to my attention. True loyal theorists will know that Earthbound is my favorite game of all time. So a self aware RPG in a similar style, WHOA MAN, it's like a gift from the indie gaming heavens. Undertale is a game where every character, from goat mom to grind fodder has a sympathetic design and a unique personality, motivations, goals, fears. Whether you're saving or slaughtering them, the game makes you feel something every time you enter an encounter. But to me, one character stood out amongst all the rest. SANS. A skeleton named after the font, Comic Sans, hence all the font references at the beginning of the episode. If you haven't played Undertale I'm sure that was a really weird opening. ANYWAYS, Sans is, well, there's a lot of mystery around this guy. And before we get into it, let me put up a very special spoiler warning: UNDERTALE is a game best experienced blind. So if you haven't played it, pause the video and come back after you've finished. I PROMISE YOU, I PROMISE you won't regret it. Alright, so everyone out of the pool and ready for the adult swim? Good. Because I'm feeling pretty determined to get to the bottom of Sans' mystery. So just to recap for those of you who haven't played the game and ignored the SPOILER WARNING, or just need a refresher, Sans is one of the two skeletal brothers who appears in the game. His partner is Papyrus, a loud, goofy trap lover also named after a font. But in the world of Undertale their origins are a big question mark. All you really know is what's given to us by a shopkeeper in Snowdin, who explains that Sans and Papyrus, quote, “just showed up one day and asserted themselves.” Weird, right? What's more is that, well, Papyrus is just kinda the goofy sidekick. Sans is much more complex. He likes fart jokes, but he's also incredibly powerful and deadly serious. Not only is his boss battle the hardest in the game, he's one of the only characters who has knowledge and power over space and time. He can take shortcuts around the world through ridiculous routes. Even is walking through walls. He also acknowledges that he's only one of infinite versions of himself, making self-aware commentary of the various timelines that you've played through in the game. He can even count the number of times he's killed you. He acts like an arbiter of this world, passing out judgements on the player's actions in the game, even explaining the secrets of EXP and LOVE, or EXECUTION POINTS and LEVELS OF VIOLENCE, just to clarify. In short, he just doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the world of monsters. But then, what, or who, is he? Well, the idea that he doesn't belong in underworld seems to be correct. The evidence seems to point the fact that he WAS, in fact, formerly a surface dweller. In the true pacifist ending of the game, as the group looks out onto the horizon, Papyrus asks Sans about the giant ball in the sky. Sans says, quote, “we call that the sun.”

This is important because A, the usage of the word WE, and knowledge of the sun shows that Sans has a kinship or knowledge with other humans, and B, that despite he and Papyrus both being skeletons, or, supposedly, brothers, and apparently appeared in underworld at the same time, they clearly-- uuuGGHH take two CLEARLY have two very different histories. Why would Papyrus not know the name of the sun but Sans would? We get further clues to Sans' origins as we hear him say multiple times he wants to "go home" or "go back." He says as much during his dinner date scene at the Mettaton hotel. He notices that the player wants to go home and says, quote, "i know the feeling." He then continues, "maybe sometimes it's better to take what's given to you." As though he ended up in the underworld by accident. AND in a genocide run during his boss fight he says, quote, "look, i gave up trying to go back a long time ago." End quote. And before you say he means going back to the surface world, that's clearly not the full story. His very next line of dialogue is, "and getting to the surface doesn't really appeal anymore either." Key word here, is EITHER. Yes, he seems to hail from the surface and wants to go back, but based on his dialogue he no longer considers it his home. It's as though the surface world he once knew is gone, as though he's from a different time. It's pretty intriguing. So we're left with a being that appeared out of nowhere, presumably from being from the human surface, but from a different time period, who seemingly has the power to teleport. That's a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. But here's where things get REALLY interesting. Sans has a hidden workshop that takes a fair amount of searching to find. You could say it takes a lot of DETERMINATION to unlock. Anyways, obligatory determination references aside, as you start to look for this easter egg Sans gives you a key to his room and says "it's time you learn the truth." After some searching you find the workshop which contains items that leave even more questions. A photo album featuring Sans and a bunch of smiling people you don't recognize, a badge, blueprints with illegible handwriting, and a broken machine hidden behind a curtain. In the latest update, one more detail was added. A handdrawn picture of 3 smiling faces with the words “don't forget.” so what does it all mean? Well a lot of Undertale theorists have been linking these details to a feature to a character named W.D Gaster. A ghostly character who never truly appears in the game. Honestly, covering him is a theory all unto itself, and probably one best saved for another day. Even still, none of the Gaster theories I've seen have been able to explain all the details. In particular, the photo album, and the badge. And that's what kept nagging me as I researched Undertale. A badge? That one in particular really stuck out to me. Why would such an oddly specific item to be hidden in the huge easter egg of a room? Something that supposedly reveals the truth about Sans? Badges just aren't important in Undertale. Then it hit me. What if this badge isn't from Undertale? What if this badge is from a completely different game? And was, in fact, the most important badge in the history of gaming? The Franklin badge. Now, for those of you wondering what I'm talking about, the Franklin badge is a pivotal item from the Mother series. You know, the one with Earthbound. Or, maybe you don't know that one either. Uh, you know, the one with Ness from Super Smash Bros? Yeah well, Ness is from Earthbound, and Earthbound is the second part in this larger Mother trilogy. Alright? Good. Anyway, the Franklin badge is a really important part of that series. It gets its start in the very first game and carries through the whole trilogy, saving your life multiple times in the process. It's SO important that nintendo has made it a staple item in the Smash Brothers series. So I asked myself; what if the badge in Sans' drawer was THAT EXACT badge?

Well first off, it made Undertale connected to my favorite game, thereby making it even COOLER, but that's still a pretty big logical leap. I needed more. Let me tell you, as I started looking, more and more pieces started to fit into place. At the end of Earthbound you're given a photo album, covering your adventures throughout the game. To me it's one of the best, most satisfying endings in gaming to look back on your journey in picture form. And what does Sans happen to have in his other drawer? A photo album with pictures of Sans with people you don't recognize. Of course you don't know them, they're not characters present in Undertale. And note the word that's used here, PEOPLE you don't recognize. Not underworld monsters. So that's 2 items oddly linked to the Mother series. But then, how do the blueprints and broken machine fit in? Well, in the final stretch of Earthbound, Ness and his 3 friends must travel to the past in order to have their final battle against the evil alien Giygas. To do that, Dr. Andonuts (remember him, by the way, he's going to be important later) with the help of the science geniuses Apple Kid and Mr. Saturn, create what's known as the Phase Distorter, a machine that allows people to travel through time and space. Except, it comes with a cost. It can't transport organic material. As a result, the young heroes must put their souls into robotic bodies to use the machine, and thus, save the world. I played this game back in 1997 and I'm not ashamed to admit that when I first saw this scene, I cried. It's DEVASTATING. Doctor Andonuts says goodbye to his son, these characters you've grown to love and care about are suddenly promising to sacrifice their lives. For all they know, there is no possibility of them being able to come back home. It's this incredibly dark departure in the final moments of what was otherwise a fun, quirky, and colorful RPG. So what does all of this have to do with Undertale? A LOT, actually. But the first thing you need to know is that Mr. Saturns are known for their, let's say, unique linguistic style. That would explain the illegible handwriting on the blueprints. And the machine? I think a broken Phase Distorter is behind that curtain. Now that may seem like a stretch, but it actually explains a lot. If Sans wound up in Undertale via Phase Distorter, it could provide a reason for why he's a skeleton. He used the machine as organic matter and suffered the consequences. Not killing him, but turning at least a part of him into a pile of bones. That could also explain why Sans has given up hope for going home. Remember the Phase Distorter is a time machine. By being in underworld, he's not only in a different place, but based on how he talks, he's also in a different time, with no hope of travelling back to the time he came from. But the crossovers between Earthbound and Undertale continue. When you speak to Apple Kid at the end of Earthbound, he's blown away by the astronomical odds of Ness overcoming Giygas, saying that he's going to continue studying the trait called courage, in order to harness its power. Seems awfully similar to the same experiments happening in Undertale around the trait of determination, no? Especially since so much has shown that Sans was a key player in those experiments. But I'm sure you also want physical evidence right? Well don't worry, because I have plenty. During one of the endings of Undertale, we see Undyne and Alphys hanging out on the beach on the surface world. A beach that bears a lot of similarities to the tropical resort location named Summers that you play through in Earthbound. In fact, the geographic layout of the surface bears some striking similarities to the world of Mother. When Undertale's crew of monsters are finally able to reach the surface and look out over the earth, they're met with a beautiful sunset falling across the landscape of a tall mountain, a large city, and a sandy area adjacent to water. Notice the sun's reflection to indicate water, and a lack of trees in this middle section here, hence the sand.

Well, in Earthbound you have the big city of Fourside, complete with skyscrapers, which you reach via a desert that just so happens to be adjacent to some water, and to the east, the mountain in Onett where a meteorite lands on Earth. I always called it Aw-nett. But if that's not clear enough for you, Mother 1, Earthbound Zero, Earthbound Beginnings, whatever you want to call it, it's had a lot of names, had a map laying out the same geographic landscape. A tall mountain to the east of a large city, separated by a desert, with all of it up against a coast. I don't know about you, but to me it seems like there's a definite connection between the world of Eagleland (Eagleland? Again, unclear how its pronounced.) between the world of Eagleland and the surface world of Undertale. But the strongest physical connection, one that definitely unites these two franchises, comes from none other than Papyrus himself. He wears a custom-made costume known as his “battle body”. But if you look really closely at the design on the armor, you'll notice some markings on the chest. Is it just a throwaway detail? Ohoh NO, that right there is an exact match to the ones that appear on the chests of Starmen, the most iconic enemy of Earthbound. And look at the way he stands! I always thought it was awkward until i saw the two characters side by side. Papyrus’ curved arm and hand is a DIRECT match to the curved arms of the Starmen in the Mother series! In short, we have some incredibly strong proof that the Earthbound universe is somehow connected to the Undertale world, which brings us back to our initial question, WHO IS SANS? Well, what if we took it one final step and said that Sans happened to be Ness from Earthbound? Sent through the Phase Distorter during a test of courage, carrying the Franklin badge and his photo album and his trusty backpack. Not only do all the items in the workshop suddenly fit, but so does Sans’ behavior. Remember, Sans can seemingly teleport. And Ness just happens to have the PSI ability to teleport. Now look the way Sans always stands, hands in his pockets, directly facing the camera. It's a very similar stance to how Ness is depicted standing in most marketing for the game. It even explains why Sans bleeds when you finally hit him. He is, or at least, WAS, a human. Oh and finally, Sans is only one letter removed from being an anagram of Ness. That's just a fun one. I thought it was worth mentioning. But if there was any doubt, we have to look no further than the creator's previous work. Toby Fox, the man behind Undertale, had previously worked on a Halloween hack for Earthbound. But this just wasn't a simple reskin. The Halloween hack tells the tale of Dr. Andonuts after the events of Earthbound. Remember, I pointed him out? He's the one who made the Phase Distorter. In Toby Fox’s version of the story, we see that after Giygas' defeat, the souls of the kids never return home. Instead, by going to the past to defeat Giygas, they create a new timeline that they're stuck in. As a result, Jeff never reunites with his father Dr. Andonuts. And Dr. Andonuts goes crazy with guilt, because HE’S the one responsible for creating the time machine, and extracting the souls of his son and his son's friends to send them back to what he assumes was their death. In his mind, he's killed 4 kids. And in Toby Fox's game, he's lost his mind trying to deal with that guilt. I'm telling you, this hack is DARK. that said, you see a lot of Undertale in this game. The appearance of Amalgamates, the first use of the awesome song Megalovania, the prototypes for Flowey? And the theme of having the choice to be nonviolent in an RPG, SPARING your enemies. But then why's all this matter to the theory? Well, remember, in Toby Fox's version of the story, the kids don't come back. They're stuck in the past, with no hopes of getting home. Just like Sans. And, in the hack, one character is oddly missing, with no explanation as to why. NESS. Presumably in this timeline his soul is in a different place than his 3 friends.

In short, Undertale is a continuation of Toby’s version of Earthbound, with Ness never being able to get home, adopting the name Sans, and accompanied by Papyrus, a former Starman, an alien force able to speak English and still equipped with his armor, and signature posture, but without any knowledge of earthly things... like the Sun. The pieces all just seem to fit. Now all we need is an appearance from Pokey/Porky and we’ve got ourselves a true sequel. But hey, that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY! THANKS FOR WATCHING!

#it’s the sans is ness game theory video copypasta

[darthstitch]

10 Random Headcanons About Mr. Hart and Mr. Unwin

1. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a certain senior Knight newly crowned as Arthur, must be in want of a Guinevere."

The above piece of wisdom was delivered by one Roxy Morton, a.k.a. Lancelot, complete with a rather Significant Look directed at Eggsy Unwin a.k.a. Galahad.

Eggsy's response was an equally eloquent: "Sod off." Also, he was blushing so hard that Harry even noticed it after he walked into the room five minutes later. Which prompted a completely awkward (and adorable, according to Roxy) exchange that consisted of Harry fussing and Eggsy getting all the more flustered, not helped by the fact that at some point, Harry actually called him: "my dear," seemingly by accident. Harry called for tea and Eggsy had to sit through the rest of the Round Table meeting hiding behind a mug of chamomile and scones.

2. Tristan might be a badass assassin who doted on his dog and could easily kill a dozen men with a dull pencil, but he was also interested in crafts and had a puckish sense of humor. He gifted a framed, cross-stitched version of Roxy's quote to Eggsy. Eventually, Eggsy did end up hanging the damn thing in his own office. This was long, long after Eggsy could finally get over the initial abject horror and sheer mortification that John fuckin' Wick had noticed Eggsy's hopeless affections for Harry Hart.

3. It gets worse. EVERYONE actually saw that Eggsy was arse over tits for Harry Hart. "There, there, lad," Merlin told him much, much later, when they'd finally sorted themselves out. "Actually, everyone else had also noticed that he was equally besotted with you."

"Oi," was Harry's reaction to that, in a very deadpan, accurate imitation of Eggsy's accent.

4. Eggsy's "posh" voice gets any number of reactions when he has occasion to use it. His mates have all died of laughter when they've heard him use it in the shop. His mum is also not immune to the giggles, but only because, as she's remarked, "It suits you, Eggsy-boy." Originally, it was a beautiful, dead-on impersonation of Harry himself. These days, when Eggsy slips into that accent, every syllable crisp, cold, and clear, he can actually be terrifying. This is how Galahad takes command of half a dozen Knights in order to go rescue their King and how he even gets Merlin to snap to attention.

5. What most people don't know is that Harry is equally capable of taking on Eggsy's chav accent. The following exchange was recorded for posterity:

Harry: Ah, yer th'guvna, Merlin. Fanks.

Merlin: You're welcome, Galahad.

Harry: S'Arfur, now, innit?

Merlin: ...

Eggsy: *in the background, giggling*

Merlin: Arthur?

Harry: Yeh, bruv?

Merlin: Don't ever do that to me again.

Eggsy: *loses it completely*

6. Harry Hart, of course, spent some time privately agonizing over the fact that he'd gone and fallen for a man half his age. He'd ruefully thought to himself that if he HAD to go through the obligatory "mid-life crisis" he figured that living the life of a Kingsman would have sorted all that out. But no, he had to go arse over teakettle for one beautiful, brave, bright young man who deserved to have the world laid at his feet. Harry was a gentleman of honor and he was quietly prepared to never openly speak of his feelings. If he could have Eggsy in his life as a very dear friend, then Harry would count himself fortunate. If he could have that familiar voice call him " 'Arry" and laugh and tease and generally be the impertinent, mischief-making, cheeky darling that he was, Harry would be content.

(Merlin has heard all this and had to pour himself a very stiff drink, prior to banging his head on his desk because, OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE, HARRY ARTHUR FITZWILLIAM HART.)

7. Harry had quickly become wrapped around the tiny, sticky fingers of little Daisy Unwin from the moment they were introduced. Daisy adored her 'Arry and immediately demanded to be picked up and even Eggsy couldn't completely pry her away, at least until she'd finally fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder, one little hand fisted around Harry's tie. Thus, Harry soon became a regular at tea parties, helped Daisy dress her dolls and also helped her invent fanciful adventures for the dolls to go on, involving kings and dashing knights and dragons and princesses.

8. It was Daisy, actually, who'd managed to finally drive home some very important truths.

"I wuv you, 'Arry."

"I love you too, poppet."

"Eggy wuvs 'Arry too. Wilf you marry Eggy, 'Arry?"

Harry's normally brilliant brain had temporarily gone offline at that innocent question but he must've sputtered out some suitable answer: (Perhaps if Eggsy says yes... / O'course 'e will, 'Arry! Eggy wuvs you muchly!) And right on the heels of that, Harry had heard Eggsy respond in this broken, ragged tone that Harry dearly hoped he would never hear again:

"Eggsy would say 'Yes' - that is, if Harry would only ask."

Needless to say, the two idiots eventually managed to bring Daisy back to her Mum, so that they could have a private talk that involved several heartfelt confessions, kisses and other interesting things best left to the imagination.

No, Merlin, Harry and Eggsy absolutely did not end up defiling the Round Table. Why on earth would they do that when there was a perfectly acceptable bedroom?

In any case, the above incident had convinced Merlin that Daisy might well be a worthy "Morgana" to take his place one day.

9. After Harry and Eggsy, in their friends' own words, "finally got their respective heads out of their arses and sorted their shite out," Eggsy has observed that Harry is apparently incapable of at least going one day without addressing Eggsy by some sort of endearment or the other. "My dear" used to slip out quite accidentally, back when they were both mutually pining, which pretty much confirmed everyone else's suspicions about Harry's real feelings. These days, Eggsy will often hear Harry call him "darling" or "dearest" and it never fails to make him blush and feel all warm inside.

Of course, Eggsy has his own endearments and calling Harry "love" or referring to him as "my Harry" never fails to bring out the smile that Eggsy loves the most, the sweet, shy smile that will eventually give way to the one with the dimples.

10. In the wake of the former Arthur's treachery and the clear weaknesses he had in running Kingsman, Harry as Arthur took a different approach in rebuilding and making sure that changes for the better were made. Going out on missions was one of those changes. "Code Excalibur" became an official thing when it became patently clear that while Arthur and Galahad were already deadly working by themselves, they were absolutely lethal when working together. Of course, this was only invoked in missions where basically the fate of the world was at stake.

The most epic case in which a Code Excalibur was invoked happened during what should have been just a simple intelligence gathering mission that the trainees would be watching from the feeds in Merlin's office. Up to this point, the trainees had not realized that the apparently senior Knight known as "Harry" who so often shamelessly flirted with Agent Galahad and regularlymanaged to wipe the floor with the more arrogant trainees, was actually Arthur himself. Somehow, explosions, potential doomsday weapons and Arthur and Galahad being magnificently badass together happened, at which point Merlin just gave up and called the rest of the Knights in to help.

(Merlin: God help my sanity)

#hartwin #harry hart/eggsy unwin #harry hart #eggsy unwin #kingsman #harry hart is fitzwilliam darcy as a gentleman spy #daisy unwin #john wick #is a kingsman #you will pry that headcanon from my cold dead paws #i crack what i want #i regret nothing

[ravenwolf1132]

They Come and Go

This was just a quick plot bunny that I came up with on the fly while listening to the fma ost and merry go round of life. Shaggy, who as I picture him, is someone who values nature and the prospect of life, comes across someone attempting to do the impossible and breach the laws of nature and the way life flows to try and bring back his dead wife. A woman he loved more than life itself and had a very healthy relationship with, which unfortunately their time together has been cut short due to an untimely death. He's trying to bring her back to life and Shaggy has to talk some sense into him a la Fullmetal Alchemist style. (As in philosophy, heavy topics like death and grief, and trying to move on with one's life. Just a warning to y'all)

Kinda just jumps right into the confrontation between them. No set up what-so-ever as if it's just after the dramatic reveal and you turned on the TV at the end of the episode. So, LET'S-A GO!!

(Oh and Clarence and Myrtle were just names I came up with on the fly, so picture them how you want.)

~•~●~•~

They Come and Go

"Clarence?!" The Mystery Inc exclaimed all except Shaggy.

"But why?" Velma asked she was sure that the sweet and kind man was innocent.

Clarence scoffed, "because of my wife, that's why!"

"Huh?"

"Ugh, guys, like, it's easy," Shaggy drawled in a bored tone, all eyes were on him. "His wife is dead, and he wanted to bring her back to life. Isn't that right, Clarence?" He held up the book the man was trying to steal. "I have to say, all this set up and elaborate planning is a little much for trying to steal a single book. Then again, like, perhaps you wanted to scare everyone away so there would be no witnesses to the atrocity you were about to commit!"

"But how can wanting your loved ones back be an atrocity?!" He shouted in outrage, "Don't you have people you'd miss if they died?! Wouldn't you want to do anything to bring them back again?!"

"Yes, I do have people like that, they're all around me," Shaggy admitted. "But, like, there's a difference between wanting to do something and actually attempting it. There are many people who want to try and bring their loved ones back to life, yes, that's true. Hell, that's a natural part of the grieving process. But, there are few who actually attempt it, and even fewer that succeed. Even then, they're still losing that battle. But that's another story entirely."

"That doesn't make any sense, isn't bringing the dead back to life supposed to be impossible?" Fred asked.

"Exactly my point, Fred," Shaggy said. "It is impossible. The closest we've got is cloning, and, like, even then, those clones are different than the person we initially tried to bring back. There's no bringing the dead back to life, it's just not possible."

"So what?!" Clarence yelled, "just because those people failed, doesn't mean I will too!"

"Oh really?" Shaggy questioned with a quirked eyebrow. His voice was level and calm, and the others knew that Shaggy only ever got like this when he was pissed off. Wisely, they backed off and let him speak. "You really think you are powerful enough to play the hand of God? I'm not a big religious believer myself, but even I know that life is something way out of our human control. Nature is something that cannot be controlled, everything will eventually go back to the way it was, how nature intended it to be. That's the problem we have here. Going against that flow of life, that innate cycle that cannot be changed nor altered is the problem. You have to accept it, not fight against it. If someone were to be brought back to life, it would only disrupt nature's balance and destroy ecosystems. Let's say that the person you brought back was content wherever they ended up, would they be grateful to you and thank you for a needless rescue then?

"What if, even worse, they were brought back immortal? Can you name one person that would want to be physically unable to die? No, I doubt it. Immortality is considered more of a curse than a blessing. Not only would it throw a permanent wrench in the circle of life itself, yes I did just make a lion king reference but it's relevant! But it would also destroy the person who came back, unable to die while they have to watch those around them grow up and pass on themselves.

"How would they feel towards you if you were the reason they were miserable? That they were robbed of that chance of having a happy afterlife by you and as rubbing salt in the wound, would never be able to have that chance again, and would have to watch as other people die and are given it instead, because of you and your selfish desires to have the love of your life back? Well, I'm telling ya now pal, that's gonna get you an eternity in the dog house."

Clarence looked like he had been slapped across the face and it seemed as if he was finally woken up from his delusions. He hung his head in shame and his shoulders started to shake, the others thought he was going to explode with anger, but when they heard soft sobs coming from him, they realized he was crying. Shaggy doesn't usually like to make people cry and would try to make it up to them, but he didn't this time. He couldn't, he was right and he was standing by his belief, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to offer some comfort. He helped the emotionally distressed man out of his costume and binds and the man latched onto him and sobbed. Shaggy didn't say anything but hugged him back and let him pour it all out. When the sobs finally died down, he pulled back.

"Thank you," Clarence said in a quiet voice, "I see my wrongs now, but still. What am I supposed to do now? That hope was all I had left! Please, tell me, what I'm supposed to do??"

He was so distressed, the Gang had never dealt with a case like this, and it hurt them to see him like this and sympathized with him. After all, everyone has people they couldn't bear to lose, he had a point. But Shaggy seemed to know what he was doing.

"Like, I can't tell you that," he said with a sorrowful shake of his head, pulling out of the other man's vice-like grip. "You have to figure it out for yourself. I can't tell you what you have to do with your life as much as anyone else can, only you can make those decisions."

He stood up and turned his back to the man walking forwards a few steps before pausing, he glanced back and saw Clarence sitting there limp as a rag doll and he sighed quietly, barely a sound passing his lips.

"Well, if you want my advice…"

"Yes?" Clarence asked in a hopeful voice.

"You have to move on. Myrtle wouldn't want you wallowing in grief and self-pity, she'd want you to honor her memory by living a long, happy life even in her absence. But not for a second should you forget her."

"How could I? She's- or was- the love of my life, I- I couldn't just, just forget someone like that!"

Shaggy turned and smiled at him, it wasn't a confident grin or silly smirk, it was a genuine smile that had to make him wonder if this kid had been through something similar. "There you go," he acknowledged, "That's the first step to acceptance, admitting that she's gone. It'll be hard, trust me, I know. My dad, someone who I was really close to, was killed on duty. I know what it feels like to lose a loved one, but once they're gone, they're gone. No one can bring the dead back to life, Clarence. Not you, not me. But hey, I got through it. You will too. And anyone else dealing with it for that matter. It's a part of how life goes, and everyone will eventually have to face that same music too. But oh well, I'm just some humble hippie kid riding around in a van straight out of the 1960s with his friends and his dog, so what do I know?" He laughed and even the rest of the occupants in the room shared a chuckle. "Still, you have to keep going, Clare. To quote an obligatory teenage cartoon, 'you have two good legs, so get up and use them.'"

"Heh, you're right," Clarence said, "though I probably would have gotten away with all this if it hadn't been for you meddling kids and your dog."

"Rog? Rhere?"

The room's atmosphere lightened at the familiar quip. Then Daphne spoke up.

"Well, the good thing is," she started, "this whole thing was private and no one but us knows that you were the monster. So how about we let this one slide for once? We'll just return the book and say we found it when the monster disappeared, though we are also going to be sure to explain how the monster won't show up again. Not unless it's someone else doing it, of course."

"We'd let you off with a slap on the wrist, but I think Shaggy has that covered," Velma said.

He laughed, embarrassed, "Well anyway, like, how about we hit the town and get dinner? After all this excitement, I'm starving!"

"Reah! Re roo!" Scooby agreed with a wag of his tail.

That night consisted of returning the book to the museum, explaining to the town how the monster won't come back, then proceeding to hang loose with some fun. Only Shaggy could really turn from any heavy and depressing topic to something light-hearted so quickly.

~•~●~•~

The closest thing we humans have to immortality is human memory. Remembering those who have passed on. As cliche as it may sound, the phrase "those who leave us don't truly leave us, they will continue to live on as long as we can remember them" still has merit. It's the only thing we can hope for beyond our grave that we made a big enough impact on those we love to be remembered for generations to come, that way, we can truly live forever as long as our memory still lives. I hope all those struggling to come to terms with death know that things will get better, and to those of you who are debating whether or not you're worth living, you are. You'll find your acceptance too, you just have to keep living to see the next day to eventually get there.

Boy, that went long, but I'm glad about how it came out. (And don't worry, I'm fine. It's just something I think was appropriate to address after writing a story with such heavy topics.) Well anyway, it's nearly midnight over here and I need to go to bed, G'night!

#also go watch fullmetal alchemist if you havent its really good #i prefer brotherhood #but 03 is just as good #scooby doo #shaggy rogers #fred jones #daphne blake #velma dinkley #tw: death #tw: grief