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clanwarrior-tumbly · 4 years

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Hello!! Can I request some headcanons about Rantaro, Mukuro, Kazu, Taka, Kokichi, Nagito and Leon with SHSL Moodkeeper/Caregiver (i dont know the word)? They is, like, always on a guard to calmly end every arguments and tences in their group, and to give a hand or shoulder for cry to anyone who is in a bad mood. Ultimate stress-relive person, i guess? Also, they has good empathy, but still is very bad in guessing ofters opinion about them, so they really didnt notice someone loving them. Thx!!

I’d say they’re a SHSL Peacekeeper! ^^

.......

Rantaro

He likes how you mediate situations when they start getting out of hand.

Of course, he’s good at calming people down, too, though he’s glad to see you step in as well.

The fact you could settle conflicts between the rowdy ones like Kaito, Miu, and Kokichi so easily is like a miracle.

You also swiftly came to Kaede’s defense when everyone got upset with her for forcing them through the Death Road of Despair.

Before leaving, Rantaro witnessed you hugging the pianist as she cried.

You’re just so kind and caring to everybody.

It was those positive qualities of yours that just naturally...drew him to you.

And eventually they made him fall for you completely.

But despite your talent of reading people like open books...you aren’t too certain about what they think of you.

So when Rantaro hangs out with you more, you just believe he’s a close friend and nothing more.

Though when he visits your lab one day with your favorite gift and asks you out...you pretty much short-circuit.

Someone as sweet and as handsome as him??? Liking you?????

Mukuro

Watching you resolve conflicts without violence is an eye-opening experience for her.

You mean you don’t have to threaten to stab someone??? Or prepare yourself for an attack???

So when you break up a fight between her and Junko with just your words alone, she’s completely baffled.

You feel bad for Mukuro, helping her up when her sister kicks her down, saying she doesn’t deserve to be degraded so much.

She’s even more confused because she thought the insults were Junko’s way of showing familial love.

But perhaps..the soldier was wrong about that.

Over time, she starts giving you more of her attention.

Makoto smiling at her was one thing..but for you to actually care about her?

She just wants to give every bit of her heart to you.

But you aren’t sure what she exactly thinks of you, so...for a while you don’t notice.

She’ll never get past admiration from a distance, though, as she doesn’t know how to express those feelings to you.

Eventually, you’ll notice and reciprocate them.

Kazuichi

He’s perplexed at how the hell you manage to keep so calm all the time, especially when almost everyone was panicking on the island..

No matter how much the class argues, you always end those debates peacefully somehow--even in trials.

After spending some time with you, he eventually confides in you about his insecurities and such.

And you always listen no matter how much he pours his heart out to you.

You just pat his back and offer your sympathy whenever he gets emotional, never judging him.

He’s glad he can someone to rely on..to the point where he feels like he can be his true self around you.

He grows to like you for more than just your talent, though.

You have great looks and a cool personality!

Unfortunately you’re kinda oblivious, so he’s nervous to confess in fear you won’t return the feelings.

He’ll probably need advice from his buddies.

Taka

Like him, you always strive to reach the best compromise among your peers.

And he admires that a lot!

You usually solve conflicts sooner than he does (probably because you aren’t always yelling and can read the room better).

Plus, you’ve taken a sort of therapist role in the class, having a lot of empathy (which Taka himself sometimes lacks) and always willing to help people out.

Sometimes he’ll go to you just to rant about the stress of his studies and whatever else he’s dealing with.

He trusts you enough and thinks venting is a healthy way to get his emotions out.

The talks often end with you hugging him while he cries into your shoulder.

But he always feels a hundred times better afterwards.

It’s not long before he finds himself catching feelings for you.

He can hardly look you in the eyes while you’re speaking, tending to blush when you just smile in his general direction.

Like Kaz, he’ll probably need advice from someone because he doesn’t know how to confront these new feelings.

Kokichi

You two are basically polar opposites.

He’s a little shithead that gets people riled up on purpose.

While you’re the mediator who reassures them he just wants to cause mischief.

Not even he can say he’s lying about that.

So he makes it his mission to get you annoyed with him.

He’ll try speaking over you by blurting out another lie in trials...

Only to pout when you ignore him.

Then he tries cheating in games he plays with you..

Only for you to explain how it’s more fun when everyone plays fairly.

There’s just no winning for him, so he eventually stops and huffs.

You definitely like playing hard-to-get.

Especially when he realizes you’ve become more than just a “friend he can annoy” in his eyes.

He’ll get frustrated when you don’t immediately realize that, too, though.

Nagito

Of all the talents he’s observed, he finds yours most admirable.

Insists you should never let yourself--or anyone--take your talent for granted (and of course, you don’t).

He sees you lending a helping hand to anyone who needs it and is awestruck

You’re truly a shining example of hope.

He’s hesitant to come to you with any of his troubles, convinced trash like him isn’t worth your time.

But you empathize with him and understand why he feels that way.

He’s been stuck in a cycle of luck all his life, usually hurting or killing those close to him.

As time goes on, though, you get him to open up.

Soon he falls in love with not only your hope...but also, well, you.

He’d tell you directly, but...it would be more interesting to watch you figure that out yourself.

Leon

He's surprised how easily you can settle disputes with everyone.

Doesn’t it get tiring for you?

Though you always tell him it’s never a bother.

You understand everyone has their insecurities and tend to lash out.

He gets a bit defensive when he realizes you mean him, too.

But he just proved your point.

Sometimes he’ll rant to you about baseball practice giving him unneeded pressure and his uncertainties about what he really wants to do in life.

You suggest he feels misguided due to his attempts to impress random girls instead of focusing on himself.

He’s stunned you could read him like an open book.

Before long, he finds himself lovestruck yet again--not just because of your looks but also because of your sweet and upbeat nature.

So he tries improving himself first before he’s ready to ask you out.

Though when you don’t know for sure how he feels around you...he’ll get agitated and ends up blurting out his confession.

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stargazer-balladeer · 4 years

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Them with a Shy S/o [Persona 5]

anon: Hello! Congratulations on your Followers! I wanted to ask if you can write the "Them with a shy s/o" for the Persona 5 cast as well? Thanks!!

Characters Included: Akira Kurusu, Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Niijima, Haru Okumura, Futaba Sakura & Goro Akechi

Note: A lot of you guys like Persona 5 huh? Oh well, I can see why :) Hope ya’ll enjoy this!

Reader’s Gender: Neutral

Warning: none

Akira Kurusu

This guy? He'll find it cute— no, scratch that. ADORABLE that his s/o's shy. He'll be all over them when he laid eyes on them, they better be prepared >:)

We all know this guy's a tease, right? And you are NO exception to this. Actually, you had it worse.

Because you are shy, he'll find every reaction of yours cute and always seem to tease you about it, until you were pretty much the twin of an apple -_-

But he knows his limit, of course. If he sees that it's either making you uncomfortable or hurt by what he's doing, he'll stop.

When you two first meet, it's you avoiding him and him pouting as you ran away. Pretty much a cat-and-rat chase, which the Phantom Thieves find funny, watching their leader chasing his s/o.

The reason why you're running? You heard the rumors and thought it was true. Not wanting to be his next victim, you ran whenever he's near you.

He only managed to talk to you (without you running away) when Ann drag you over to Akira, the group have had enough of this shenanigans.

You two hang-out in either LeBlanc or outside, but mostly in LeBlanc though. You two just chilling while drinking coffee (or tea, or whatever beverages you prefer) and just talk.

He'll find it hilarious if he finds out you're talkative, he might tease you about it but other than that, made no comment about it. He loves your voice so it's a bonus for him :D

How he ask you out? He asks you in a straightforward manner while you were drinking, which made you successfully chock. You two panic for a bit before you answered him yes, with a bit of embarrassment ofc.

Ryuji Sakamoto

He might not at all notice you, srry. Unless you're either friends with his friends (or his friends pointing at you) or you're a victim of Kamoshida. Yeah. That's the only way for him to only notice you.

He might not really care about you much but when he notices you everywhere he goes, he suddenly cared about you.

Like Akira, he finds your shy trait cute and find it hilarious when he finds out you're talkative. But he also LOVES hearing your voice so its a plus for him.

I don’t see Ryuji as a tease though, he might be as shy as you are! Which frustrates the group when Ryuji is being his Tsundere self. Like you would go up to him and he will either freeze or go away from you, that is, IF he realizes his feelings for you.

But he finds every reaction of yours cute but he wouldn’t admit it.

How you two meet? The first bulletin pls. If you’re friends with one of his friends, namely Ann, she would basically drag you over to meet him and the rest. If you’re a victim, chances are you appeared as a Shadow in Kamoshida’s Palace.

He would find your shy self indifferent really, he already has seen that reaction of yours everywhere he goes (his delinquent self and all). But he might get to know you if you two were (force) to be together or left alone, he finds silence uncomfortable afterall.

You two will be often seen hanging out during and after school, probably in front of a store or the arcade. Akira (with Morgana) and Ann will also join in but not all the time, so its basically you and Ryuji.

How he ask you out? Very hesitant, shy and in-denial. It might take some time, and his friends pushing, for him to ask you out. But when he does confess, you could hardly understand what he was trying to tell you. Him stuttering while blushing while still acting cool, yeah, you were hella confuse.

But when you DO understand, you’ll blush and nod, too shy to say anything (much to Ryuji’s relief and dismay).

Ann Takamaki

This girl’s basically gushes about how adorable you were and spoils you rotten, much to your embarrassment. You two definitely met by her approaching you and just start talking.

If she sees you were uncomfortable with her, she would keep her distance. Other than that, she’ll be stuck with you. Good luck with that.

She’s so energetic that she would drag you to places where you’ve never been before.

She’ll be the one who orders for the both of you if you are uncomfortable doing so, she really doesn’t mind.

She might tease you a bit, just to get a reaction out of you. But if she sees you were getting hurt or uncomfortable by her teasing, she’ll stop. This woman respects your privacy to a whole new level -_-

Like I said, Ann drags you places to places. You two are hardly ever seen in one place really, except for school, LeBlanc and that store that sells sweets.

She doesn’t really mind your shy self really, but when she finds out you’re chatty, you two will be talking non-stop. Your topics will keep bouncing from one to another, till there is nothing left to say (which would probably never happen since you two always seem to find something to talk about).

How does she confess her undying love to you? She does it in a cliche way, this girl lives for cliches :) She does it by giving you 3 red roses, which means “I love you”. Whether you know or not about flower language, she wouldn’t tell you at once. She’ll wait until you figure it out.

If you don’t know, either search in Google or ask someone (Siri?). You should probably go to Haru or Makoto for this.

If you already knew or just figured it out, you would immediately go to Ann and say your answer to her. Pls say yes ;-;

Yusuke Kitagawa

This boi doesn’t really care about your shy personality, no, he finds it endearing. You somehow managed to caught his artistic eyes. Don’t get me started with this poor boi. He doesn’t know how to approach you! So he did it the only way he knows how, following you around.

Ofc, this has an opposite effect than what Yusuke wanted. This made him creepy and stalker for you, so you keep running away while him chasing you. You even thought he was a kidnapper or a thief (not literally tho COUGH COUGH).

The group finds it amusing (Mommy Makoto sighing in the background) as they watch the scene unfold. But as the days go by, they were kinda worried and concerned about the two of you. So they decided to take matters in their own hands.

They managed to get you and Yusuke in the same room together. They even instructed Yusuke to not be weird. Yusuke, being confused, decided to follow their orders.

The two of you managed to have a civil conversation about sunsets of all things. Ofc, you were still wary around him but you soon found yourself being comfortable around him.

Yusuke isn’t a tease at all, actually, he’s more oblivious than you even! Yusuke doesn’t really understand the concept about love but is willing to learn about it.

(PS: Pls also feed this bby boi ;-; he needs it DESPERATELY)

You and Yusuke can be found either in a art gallery or his house. It’s also either watching him paint, listening to him rant or being his muse. It might be boring to others but you always found yourself enjoying his peculiar self.

He doesn’t mind if you’re talkative really. He likes to listen to you whenever you talk about something, he also finds this trait of yours endearing.

How he ask you out? Pls don’t ask ;-;. This boi doesn’t even know his feelings towards you, which was VERY obvious to everyone, heck, even you! You, being your shy self, is very hesitant to confess to him. WHAT IF HE DOESN’T LIKE ME? -_- <-- my reaction

It take everyone to explain to him his feelings. You might need to wait a bit long for him to finally realize his feelings. But when he does, he’ll immediately confess to you. This boi doesn’t know how to be embarrassed unfortunately ;-;

Makoto Niijima

This girl would notice you if you were in the Student Council or classmates with her or a victim of someone’s Palace. Other than that, you’re pretty much a background character for her.

You always thought she was intimidating so you avoid her as much as you could. When Makoto notices you avoiding her, she would be hurt ofc. Did she do something to you that she doesn’t know of? You can be sure that Makoto would rack her mind for DAYS, trying to recall what made you avoid her so much.

If she couldn’t find out about it, be sure that she’ll approach you the following day. Managing to corner you, which is unintentional for her part. She would ask you the question and when you answered honestly (you can’t lie to her), she would be confuse.

But ever since then, she would make an effort in becoming friends with you. She’s not bothered by your shy self, she finds it cute though :)

If she finds out you’re talkative, she’ll be surprised about it but it was warmly welcomed, especially during her time in being President. During her signing papers, you would talk to her about your day and some unrelated topics. She doesn’t mind at all, she finds your voice soothing.

Pls give this girl a rest ;-; she works wayyyy too hard.

You two can be found hanging out in LeBlanc or either houses. You two can be drinking coffee (or whatever beverages you prefer) and just chat with one another.

How does she confess? It might also take some time since she wants to make sure that what she’s feeling is true. Bc I can see her as the person who likes someone, it’s already that person that they want to marry and spend their whole life together.

But when she is sure about it, she would take it slow and confess to you. She’s patient so she watches as you fumble your words up. She’ll be overjoyed that you accept her feelings though.

Yay! Happy mommy Makoto :D

Haru Okumura

She already notices you wayyy before you notice her. She notices your shy self and talkative self, she finds it adorable though. I’m gonna bet that she will be the one who approaches you first and strike a conversation with you.

You couldn’t afford to run away from her, she’s too precious! TwT So you decided to converse with her also and find yourself enjoying her presence much.

Her aura around her gives out a soothing one, it easily attracts someone to her. It could be a weapon or defense, not sure. But one thing is for sure, you’re hook at once.

She might tease you here and there, but she’s rather passive. She enjoys cuddling and holding hands with you, even before you two started to date. She’s touch-starved ;-;

She is the kind of person who listens to other people talking. She wouldn’t dare to interrupt you while you are talking about something you are passionate about.

You two are never in the same place, like Ann. You two can be found everywhere, since I like to think that Haru likes to explore new areas. But she’s not gonna drag you around if you don’t like it. She would DEFINTELY stay with you at home, cuddling with you in the couch.

Haru might seem shy at first, but don’t be fooled! When she finds out she has feelings for you, she would straight-in confess her feelings to you. It might involve a bouquet or two :)

Pls say yes ;-; this bby deserve da world :)

Futaba Sakura

She doesn’t know you at all, unless you are either a part of the Phantom Thieves or a friend of her friends. Though she wouldn’t meet you either in that, so you best believe that you are a member of this outcast group or else you wouldn’t meet this hacker girl.

She can relate to you so much, although hers is much more of anxiety than shyness. She can still relate to you. You two might not talk at all, unless someone forces them to talk each other (i.e: mommy Makoto or daddy Akira :3 I don’t ship them tho).

You two instantly click though, much to everyone’s relief and dismay. You can bet that Futaba would drag you in her shenanigans, better be prepared :)

SHE LOVES THAT YOU TWO CAN TALK ENDLESSLY :D

Where you two can be seen? In her room. She never leaves her room unless necessary. So you two hang-out there, hope you don’t mind. You two play video games together or her teaching you how to hack.

She isn’t much into touchy-feely things but she would welcome a hug or cuddles. She’s more touch-starved than Haru unfortunately ;-;

How she asks you out? Simple. She doesn’t. And the worst thing, you don’t either. So you two can be friends for so long until either one of you confess.

So you better toughen up if you want her to be your girlfriend >:) This girl would surely say yes if you (stutter your) confess(ion).

Goro Akechi

This boi is almost like Akira in so many ways, except for the fact that he handle his situation in a much different way. This two bois can be best bros if they want to -_-

Anyway, back to hc.

You two would meet during his school days or outside. He recognizes you as the shy girl in his class. He might scare you away though, since you can’t handle his fangirls or his charming looks, much to his confusion.

He tries talking to you but you always manage to find a loop-hole, much to his dismay. He managed to talk to you when you two were (coincidentally) riding the train.

That’s the start of the bittersweet friendship you two have.

Much like Akira, he WILL tease you to get reaction from you, he finds this adorable. He would leave teasing kisses around your faces and leave a lingering kiss on your lips, leaving you wanting more. He’s such a tease -3-

But he’ll stop if he sees you embarrassed or hurt, he’ll kiss your entire face in apology. At the end, you are as red as a Cherry.

You two can be seen either in either your home or in LeBlanc or anywhere private, since he has a fanbase. He would rather for the two of you to be at home or at LeBlanc since it really provides privacy.

His work schedule is all over the place, so be sure to always be prepared whenever Akechi wants to hang-out with you.

It’s also a plus if you can cook pancakes for him :) You get his approval

How he asks you out? In the most basic way, asking you if you are available tomorrow to eat dinner or watch movie. SAY YES PLS :)

(He’s internally panicking ofc)

BTW, be sure to be prepared when he breaks up with you at the end. You know what I mean :)

[x] Main Page || [x] Persona 5 Page

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shapeshifting-wildcard · 3 years

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Jou had heard about Mitsuru Kirijo a few times before. Thinking back, he'd heard Kanji and his friends mention her off and on a few times over the years. He'd never really paid it much mind, especially since they took pains not to mention her too much around him. Only now did he realize why, given all the secrecy that surrounded their shared powers.

He wasn't really sure what he had expected upon meeting her. Somehow, she both met and exceeded his expectations at the same time. She was a relatively tall woman, easily about his height even without the heels. She had long red hair that fell over one eye, immaculately styled in a way that clearly indicated she had a lot of money (and free time). She had on a white off-the-shoulder short-sleeved blouse, high waisted beige pants, and black stiletto-heeled boots. Her expression looked stern, her gaze seeming to pierce through whoever it landed on. She had an intimidating, commanding aura about her. Despite her relatively casual attire, she very much came across as The One In Charge.

Next to her stood a shorter young woman, one with short blonde hair and seemingly sporting some fancy headphones. She had on a business suit, complete with long sleeves and long pants. At the back of his mind Athena whispered, that's me.

The third young woman was the shortest of the three, standing at about the same height as Futaba. She had long teal hair, pulled into a fancy little french braid, the tail of which she was distractedly toying with as they arrived. She sported a pretty sea-green sundress, and had a darker green messenger bag slung over her shoulder. She was the one who greeted them, offering them a friendly wave as they approached.

"Hello! You must be the Phantom Thieves." She smiled at the assembled group. "I'm Fuuka Yamagishi. This is Aigis, and this is Mitsuru Kirijo. It's nice to meet you all."

The Thieves went around and introduced themselves, including their newest member Zenkichi. "So, what's the situation here?"

Mitsuru stood up straighter, making her presence that much more intimidating. "I'll start from the beginning. Some weeks ago, I attended a conference involving one Akira Konoe. Afterwards, he gave me a business card with his EMMA keyword on it. Upon entering it, I was transported into what I am told is known as a 'Jail.'"

"Wait, hang on a sec," Ryuji interjected. "Was it just you?"

Mitsuru paused and blinked. "Yes, it was. I happened to be alone at the time." "How did you get out of there, then? When it was me, Jou, and Mona we needed Sophia's help to get back out."

"I'll admit, it did take some doing," Mitsuru said. "But my Persona has some limited navigational capabilities. Plus, I'm used to undertaking missions on my own. I did have to rely on my Persona far more than I was comfortable with, but I did find my way to safety eventually."

"Dude!" Ryuji sounded impressed.

"Wow, so this is what a really experienced Persona user is like," Ann commented.

"Please continue, Kirijo-san," Naoto said.

"The moment I returned, I set about organizing a unit of Shadow Operatives to help investigate. Unfortunately, neither of our primary navigators were available at first."

"You have two navigators?" Futaba piped up, face lighting up.

"Yep!" Fuuka chimed in. "Me and Rise-chan."

Futaba's eyes practically sparkled.

"So, at first, I was the default navigator for our small team. We attempted to find a safe area to set up as a base, but were ultimately unable to find a suitable one. The Jail's defenses are too high. Thankfully, Fuuka managed to free up some time to help scout the area out."

"My power is able to extend across realities," Fuuka explained. "So I can safely navigate from outside the Jail."

"Wait, hang on," Futaba said, "outside the Jail? Does that mean you can summon a Persona in the real world?"

"Mm-hm!" Fuuka replied with a grin.

"That's possible?" Zenkichi exclaimed.

"Yes, though it's fairly difficult," Mitsuru said. "Fuuka is one of only a handful of people I know of that can pull it off. It's truly a testament to her skill."

Mitsuru's expression softened to a proud smile as she glanced over to Fuuka, who blushed and fiddled with her braid again.

"W-Well, it's not too far off from when we operated during the Dark Hour," Fuuka stammered.

"It's still impressive," Mitsuru gently insisted.

"What do you mean it's not that different?" Haru piped up.

"Oh," Fuuka stood a little straighter. "I mean, the Dark Hour felt... a little closer to the real world than the TV World and... um, Metaverse? Is that the right term?"

"That's right, yes," Haru said. "But... I'm still not quite sure what you mean?"

"The Dark Hour was like warping time and space in the real world," Aigis said. "While the TV World and Metaverse feel closer to separate worlds."

Jou recalled Kotone mentioning how the Dark Hour felt "different" from the Metaverse, but she'd never really elaborated. Warping time and space, though... that sure was a thing, huh.

"The Dark Hour can occur in any place, but only at a specific time," Aigis continued. "While the other two appear to be much more localized phenomena, from what you've told us."

"Yeah, we've only seen a few Jails pop up in specific places," Morgana chimed in. "And most Palaces only covered a fairly small area."

Fuuka and Mitsuru both blinked in surprise, attention turning to Morgana.

"...Did I hear that right?" Mitsuru asked.

"Yeah, it turns out that the cat can talk," Zenkichi said.

"Oh, so the rest of you can understand them," Aigis remarked.

"Huh," Mitsuru said, still staring at Morgana. She shook her head and returned to business as usual fairly quickly, however. "Anyway, I believe we still need to let you know what the keyword is, correct?"

"Right," Makoto said. "If you would?"

"It's 'Zephyrman.'"

There was a pause.

"Zephyrman?" Makoto repeated.

"Isn't that a really obscure super sentai-style show?" Futaba remarked. "Konoe must really like superheroes or something."

"Considering the way these keywords have worked out, I assume his Jail is going to have some sort of connection," Goro said.

"Oh yeah, that's a good point," Ann said. "What does the Jail actually look like? I mean, what kind of 'theme' does it have?"

"Mm, it's kind of... science fiction," Fuuka said, sounding a bit less than thrilled.

"Not a fan of sci-fi?" Futaba asked.

Fuuka shook her head rapidly. "Oh no, I love sci-fi! Just... this isn't the kind I'm fond of."

"Too hard or too soft?"

"Soft." Fuuka grimaced. "It's like something out of a futuristic dystopia movie. Bright neon lights everywhere, flying cars..."

"That sounds cool, though," Ryuji said.

Fuuka laughed. "I suppose to some people it would be. I just prefer something more realistic. You know, like technology that shows a lot of understanding of what people knew at the time, but expands upon it to create something that didn't exist. Or technological advancements that might actually happen in a few years!"

"Like a killer AI taking over the world?" Futaba commented.

Fuuka grimaced and glanced towards her bag. "...I think that's maybe a little too close to home."

"Actually, that reminds me." Zenkichi turned to Mitsuru. "Kirijo-san, why were you meeting with Konoe in the first place?"

"I was interested in his AI research, actually," Mitsuru said. "My company... dabbled in that back in the day, and I was interested in seeing what his company had to offer."

"Huh, I didn't know the Kirijo Group had done anything with AI," Zenkichi remarked.

"Like I said, it was a long time ago," Mitsuru said with a shrug. "And unfortunately, most of our research was lost in an accident almost twenty years ago. I haven't seen much of a reason to go back to it since."

Before anyone had a chance to press the issue further, a few growls issued from several people's stomachs. Jou suddenly recalled that he hadn't had a proper meal since they'd fled the hotel a few days ago. Mitsuru blinked at the teens, before letting out a soft chuckle.

"Perhaps we should continue this conversation over lunch. I'm more than willing to cover everyone's meals, so feel free to get whatever you want."

The teens broke out into a spirited discussion of where to go for lunch, excitedly discussing all the possibilities available to them in Osaka.

#!drabbles #!long post #!event: Summer Scramble

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murasaki-murasame · 5 years

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Thoughts on Fruits Basket 2019 Episode 12: “You Look Like You’re Having Fun”

My brain’s still kinda fried from the Sarazanmai finale, so my thoughts might not be super coherent or detailed this week, but I still wanna write up my thoughts on this new Fruits Basket episode, especially since it was even better than I expected it to be.

Thoughts under the cut. [Spoiler warning for the whole manga]

I think I’ve said before that by this point we’re in the midst of a fairly good stretch of episodes where the reboot is going to be very similar to the 2001 anime in what material it covers in each episode, and that continues in this one, as I figured.

This episode covers chapters 19 and 20 of the manga, which is the same as what episode 13 of the 2001 anime covered, and from what I remember of that version, the two versions are pretty identical in how they just adapt the manga 1:1, so there’s nothing particularly noteworthy there. I think episode 13 of the 2001 anime was one of the relatively few times where I think they actually did a good job of preserving the emotional depth and darkness of the manga, but I still think this episode did an even better job.

I’m kinda meh about the whole first half [since I’ve never really been the biggest fan of the part of the manga to begin with, which I’ll get into in a minute], but the whole second half with Akito was fantastic. It had been heavily teased at in some of the PVs we’ve gotten, but it still managed to be even more disturbing than I was expecting. It’s not like they added in anything that wasn’t in the manga [aside from a short flashback to that one time Akito had a mental breakdown and painted Yuki’s room black, which I don’t think had been hinted at this early in the manga], but it just executed the material really perfectly. [Though I think the bit at the start of the episode with Tohru seeing Akito’s car pull up at the school might have been a new scene]

The improved voice acting and animation really help drive home the extent of Yuki’s trauma in particular. Even though this is like the billionth time I’ve seen this scene in some form or another, it still kinda shook me, lol.

This whole part also really goes to show how important Tohru is as a person to Yuki, and also to all the other zodiac members in general. She’s someone that’s willing to stand up for him, and to give him happy memories to help outweigh his bad ones. Especially with his whole monologue near the end, I think the badminton scene is probably where he first becomes at least subconsciously aware of how he’s seeking out a mother’s love from her.

Come to think of it, it’s kinda funny how recently we’ve been in a bit of a pattern of going from a fun episode to a more dark one, and so on. It’s not a complaint or anything. I think it does a nice job of not spending too much time in a row on a particular emotional tone. And that sorta pattern should hold up with how the next episode is gonna be Ayame’s introduction, and after that we should get Momiji’s backstory and the grave visit.

And on the note of Ayame’s intro being the focus of the next episode, I’m still curious to see if they incorporate the part where Tohru and Yuki visit his shop in chapter 36 into it, or if they’ll just stick to adapting chapters 21-22 alone, and leave that other chapter for later. I don’t think it’d change much one way or another, but still.

Anyway I guess I gotta address the elephant in the room and say that I’m just not really a big fan of the material covered in the first half of this episode. I don’t hate it, but I just don’t like it as much as like 99% of the fandom seems to.

For one thing, that one Tohru-Kyo scene has always stuck out to me as being a little too . . . generic shojo romance-y for my tastes. It’s one of those few moments where the series unironically indulges in Kyo’s Bad Boy Aesthetic [tm] and it just doesn’t work for me. But I obviously get why lots of people love it.

The part that I’m more annoyed at is the whole sequence with Haru and Momiji’s outfits, and I feel like it’s something that I need to add a whole list of disclaimers to so that people don’t misunderstand me, lol. I just feel like it’s a really good example of how Takaya’s heart is genuinely in the right place when it comes to some of the more progressive sentiments in the series, but the specific angle she approaches certain things at leaves a really bad taste in my mouth, especially when you think about the story as a whole and how things end up.

Specifically I just have issues with how Momiji’s cross-dressing is handled. The part with Haru is fine and I definitely appreciate the whole point of how whether or not someone wears jewelry and piercings and stuff has no inherent bearing on their personality, though the whole bit with him dragging Makoto off to the bathroom, uh . . . maybe hasn’t aged well, lmao. But anyway, I feel like the whole thing with Momiji seems perfectly fine on the surface, but the more you think about it in the context of the whole story, the more it feels uncomfortable.

The message that he should wear whatever he feels comfortable wearing is completely valid, but I just dislike how the story goes about it by saying that ‘it’s fine because he looks good in it, and he’s going to dress normally when he grows up anyway’. There’s a lot going on between the lines here, but I just think it’s really shitty and deceptively regressive that they justify it by pretty much saying ‘don’t worry, it’s just a phase, he’ll grow out of it and dress like a “normal man” later on anyway’. Which is bad enough on it’s own, but then we actually get to see him grow up later in the manga and he definitely does seem to unceremoniously switch to more conventionally masculine fashion because . . . it’s what’s expected of him, I guess? It’s not like he ever seemed to lose interest in wearing feminine clothing, he just stops wearing it after he hits his growth spurt, and it’s framed as something natural and inevitable.

Even the sentiment of ‘he looks good in it, though :)’, in the context of the series as a whole, carries this uncomfortable undertone of ‘it’s fine because for the moment he’s short and looks sort of “like a girl” but once he gets taller and looks more “like a man” he’ll obviously start dressing like one’. It’s the sort of thing that seems like a genuinely progressive and accepting message about how we shouldn’t judge people for the clothes they like to wear, but if you look closely there’s an asterisk and a whole paragraph of fine text at the bottom of the page about how it’s actually only acceptable to cross-dress as a man if your body type, height, etc, make you look ‘like a girl’ in the first place, and that once you hit puberty you should dress like a man because feminine clothing ‘doesn’t fit you anymore’.

In general this series has some weird recurring hang-ups about the specific idea of ‘men wearing girl’s clothing’, to the point where it comes up in different ways with at least three different characters. I know it’s something that a lot of people in the fandom don’t like hearing negativity and complaints about, but I’m not gonna shut up about this, lmao. Y’all just have to deal with the fact that this series isn’t perfect and that I’m allowed to criticize it while also really liking other parts of it.

And on the general note of how the series kinda drops the ball when it comes to pretty much everything to do with gender presentation, this episode brings us another round of the fun game known as ‘the Fruits Basket fandom is in shocked-pikachu.jpg mode at the fact that pretty much every new fan immediately “““figures out”““ that Akito’s a woman’. I wonder what gave it away? Was it that unavoidably female voice? The feminine/androgynous character design that’s explicitly compared to Yuki who’s already meant to look like a girl [apparently]? The fact that we’ve only ever seen Akito wearing either the sort of kimono that at least from a Western perspective would seem very feminine, or this tight-fitting turtleneck sweater? The fact that she’s had romantically/sexually charged moments with at least one or two dudes, which for better or worse ends up making most people view her as being feminine? The fact that like 90% of the dialogue referencing Akito ends up not even using gendered pronouns in the first place? I wonder what could have possibly lead to people naturally assuming that Akito’s a girl and glossing over the, like, five lines of dialogue thus far that even use he/him pronouns toward her, lmao.

One way or another, Akito being a girl has always been the biggest non-twist of the entire series, and the fact that it’s so obvious and that the only reaction new fans have to it is pretty much just ‘oh ok I didn’t really think it was meant to be some kind of shocking surprise or anything’ really just spells out how it’s not even meaningful or interesting as a twist anyway, and that knowing about it from the start does absolutely nothing to hinder anyone’s enjoyment of the series. It’s honestly hard to even tell for new fans that we’re even meant to feel convinced that Akito’s a man, with how little effort the series ever puts into ‘hiding’ her true gender.

I probably sound angrier about this than I am, but mostly I’m just baffled that even though the manga’s been over for like 15 years, people still don’t realize how incredibly lame and shallow this whole plot point is. Like seriously, y’all, what could the reboot have even DONE to actually lead to it not being super obvious that Akito’s a woman? Unless they outright changed her character design to be a lot more masculine, the only thing they could have done would have been to give her a male voice actor, which was almost certainly never going to happen for obvious reasons. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s not like it’s the reboot’s fault that things turned out this way. There’s only so much they reasonably could have done. And even though I haven’t heard much of Akito’s new dub voice, I think Maaya Sakamoto actually does a very good job at sounding androgynous/masculine, and in general her voice work in this episode was really effective and disturbing. I think she’s one of the most masculine-sounding female VAs they could have gone for [aside from maybe someone like Romi Park or Megumi Ogata, but I don’t know if they would have fit Akito very well]. I guess it mostly just bugs me that people are blaming the reboot for something that’s 90% just them following the manga.

Anyway, in spite of my gripes [which are more about the fandom and the series as a whole], this episode was still super good in and of itself, and had some of the most effective voice acting and music that the entire reboot’s had thus far. It’s very obvious why new fans in particular would really really like this one, and for the most part, I do too.

Also, Haru t-posing when he sees Yuki and running over to tug on his shirt is still the most Iconic [tm] thing ever, don’t @ me.

#murasaki rambles #fruits basket #y'all ready for PAIN? for EMOTIONAL ABUSE and TRAUMA? cause that's what this episode is about :)

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ask-the-phan-site · 5 years

Text

Phan Cam: A. Nigma of the School

>A. Nigma High School. Even though we’re just standing in front of it, we can already feel the mysterious vibe coming off of it.

Spirit said he’ll be waiting for us in detention hall. Wherever that is.

Finding it won’t be easy. This school is different from the ones we’re normally used to. Plus, we have that to worry about.

>Yusuke was pointing at some strange looking people in white.

...

Are we going to be okay here?

Not to worry, I have this. Straight from the desk of Max Modell. A message to Principal Gerneral W. Barrage allowing us to come to the school to seek out students would like to transfer to Horizon High.

>We go inside the school. The weirdness was stronger than ever. Even though a lot of things looked a bit normal. We go inside the principal’s office. Even this Barrage guy was an odd character just by looking at him. He takes the message and exams it carefully.

... APPROVED!

For real!? You’d do this?

Barrage: I’ve met Modell from time to time and I’m willing to give his idea a chance!

Thank you. I’m sure Max will appreciate it. In fact, there’s a student here at this school we’d like to interview first. Lee Ping.

Barrage: Ping!? You’ll find him and his little hooligan friends in detention hall in the basement! ... Here’s a map.

>He hands us a map and we go well on our way. After a while, we found the detention hall in the basement. We came in and the first thing we noticed was...

Zzz...

Uh. Hello?

???: Don’t bother.

>We turned.

The guy’s pretty much gone at this point.

Really? How come?

Lee: ... It’s a long story. Right now, Chaz Monerainian is our bigger concern.

Oh! Ve’re finally going to do ze Phantom Zeiving!

Hold it, Holger. We don’t know if we’re going with them.

Actually, we don’t mind if you want to help us. From what I’ve heard, Biffy kun, you’re good with communications. I think you and Futaba might work together fine you would.

Futaba: She’s got a point.

Listen to the chiquita, Biffy. These guys are professionals.

What did you just call Haru?

>Camillio was a little intimidated by Makoto’s glare.

Lee: (quickly) Okay, let’s just check the school new. It should be on by now.

>Biffy takes out his laptop and accesses the school’s website.

Hello, A. Nigma High! I’m Chaz Monarainian.

And I’m Tina Kwee. We’re here to give you the latest at our school. First off-

Chaz: On to Chaz’s Corner!

Tina: I don’t know, Chaz. Isn’t it a little early to-

Chaz: Yeah, yeah, that’s nice, Tina. Anyway, on to our main story.

I can see what the request meant. This guy’s really of himself. He keeps cutting her off.

Chaz: We just received word that eight representatives of Horizon High School (nine if you count their cat) have come here to scout for anyone who is interested in joining their school. I know I might like to try.

Tina: (groaning) Do you even know anything about science?

Chaz: I have a cousin in New York who went to Osborn Academy. How hard could it be?

>Tina just facepalms herself.

Makoto: I feel sorry for her.

Biffy: Did he say you have a cat?

Finally! I thought you guys forgot about me.

Biffy: (gasping with starry eyes) You do have a kitty!

Ren: This is Morgana. And I take you like cats.

Mew!

Biffy: Looks like Mrs. Rumplekittykat likes him... Does Mogana have a mate yet?

Hell no! I already have eyes for Lady Ann.

He says he’s not interested.

Lee: He’s right. Besides, didn’t she already have kittens?

Biffy: You never know.

>Just then, the door slams open and two people come in. One of which is very furious.

Camillio: Vaya, chica. Sabemos que estás molesto.

Tina: Upset doesn’t even cover it! I can’t believe Chaz blew me off like that again!

Better calm your girlfriend, Lee, before she tears the place up.

Lee: Right... By the way, how... On second thought, never mind, it’s you after all. Of course you knew we would be here.

Serpent: Well, it is your place here at school even though you don’t have detention anymore.

Lee: Gotta find someplace we can meet without Barrage or the Cleaners listening in. And we all know Sleeping Ugly over there won’t say anything.

>He was pointing at the sleeping teacher.

Serpent: Be nice to the man. We don’t know if he’ll ever wake up again.

Tina: Alright, we made you Phantom Thieves famous for helping the school with Horizon High, you better return the favor.

Relax, lady. We can do this.

Makoto: We already checked the Nav with Chaz Monerainian. He has a Palace here at this school. Now we just need to know what he sees this school as.

Camillio: The Nav? Oh, that’s what Lee talked about.

Akechi: Yes. To take us to the Metaverse, we need to give the Metaverse Navigator who are target is, a place that the target hold significance to, and what the target sees the place as.

Ryuji: We have the who and the where. Now we need the what.

Tina: If that’s it, I guess we can help with that.

Biffy: My first guest would be a TV station since everyone in his family are pretty much reporters.

Ren: Let’s try it.

>I enter what Biffy said into the Nav.

Nav: Conditions have not been met.

Tina: I guess that would be a bit too obvious.

Futaba: It’s got to be someplace that fits his ego. Maybe a temple.

Nav: Conditions have not been met.

Camillio: How about a circus since media is kind of like that.

Nav: Conditions have not been met.

Holger: How about a zearter?

Ryuji: Zearter?

Serpent: I do believe he means theater.

Lee: Chaz is also a member of the drama club and plays the lead often.

Nav: Condition have not been met.

This is going to be tougher than I thought.

Serpent: If you like, I do have resources that could help us determine what his Palace is.

Makoto: At this point, we’re out of options. I guess.

Serpent: Good... Because I already did it.

>He takes out his phone. It was a recording of Chaz in his home talking to himself in the mirror.

Chaz: Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?

Are you serious?

Chaz: I am so well loved in that school. It’s almost like being in a fairy tale. Now if only that Tina Kwee wouldn’t be such a hater.

Serpent: Shall we try? It sound like fairy tale is just a good an answer.

>We all agreed and Serpent enters the keyword.

Nav: Results found.

Lee: Do I even want to know why you have cameras there?

Serpent: (annoying laugh) Not really.

Ryuji: So, let’s get going in.

Holger: Oh, can ve go in, too?

Tina: That’s right. I’m a bit curious about this Metaverse. Don’t worry, I won’t talk about it on the news.

Ann: Are you sure? It’s nothing like you’ve ever seen.

Lee: We’ve fought an evil cult, clones, weird robots, monsters, and of course, a cybernetic principal. I think that about this time, there’s nothing left to scare us.

Tina: Except that classes are about to start.

Lee: Oh, right. It’ll wait after school.

Ren: Good. We’ll be waiting. In the meantime, we’ve got some students to interview.

>After almost a whole day, school was over for the day. We were waiting in front of the school.

Ren: Okay, what have we got.

Ann: Let’s see. Two older guys called the 15th Graders seem to be interested. They have a lot of experience in shop class. A couple of Skaters also seem interested. There’s also the Dudes of Darkness, the Tree Huggers, an Outcast named Deuce Markowitz, the entire Genius Club, and even a Glamazon who wishes to remain anonymous.

If it’s Kimmie McAdams, she’s definitely not in.

Ryuji: Yeah, I heard she’s a total bitch... Maybe we should go after her after this.

Morgana: We’ll have to discuss it later. Here come the Detentionaires.

>The others came.

Okay! Ve’re ready!

What the!? Why are you in that!?

Lee: Because... He’s Holger. It’s what he does.

So he’s the positive type. That’s good.

Holger: Yes. And yet, not many people in school vant to hang out with Holger.

So is everyone ready?

Everyone: Ready!

Ren: Then let’s go.

Nav: Beginning navigation.

>A red wave passes us and the school was replaced by a fairy tail forest that has more of a sinister feeling to it.

(Insert song: You in Wonderland)

Tina: (a bit amazed) Wow.

(laughing a bit) Looks like you weren’t kidding about not being surprised.

Biffy: But I am amazed that you can talk... RKK, can you talk here too?

Rumplekittykat: Mew!

Biffy: (disappointed) I guess not.

Well, there aren’t many like Mona. That’s for sure.

Tina: So this is the world in Chaz’s heart. He thinks this school is some kind of fairyland where he’s king.

Then we’ll just have to dethrone him.

It’s not the first time we took down a king and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last.

Let’s take a look around.

Spirit: (will be called that while we’re in the Metaverse) Right. Everyone, stay close together... You especially stay close to me, Tina.

Tina: I’m not sure whether I should be flattered that you want to protect me or insulted that you think I can’t defend myself... But I guess I can stay close just in case.

>We venture into the Palace. It really does look like something out of a fairy tale.

Oracle: It looks like I’m picking something up. Look over there.

>We happen across what looks like a wanted poster on a sign.

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: Tina Kwee

Crime: For going up against our most glorious king.

Tina: (really angry) That jerk!

Hold on. It looks like there’s something under here.

>I lift the poster and see something carved on the sign.

Joker: Fox, can I borrow some paper and pencil?

Here. What is it?

Joker: We’ll see.

>I place the paper on the sign and begin rubbing the tip of the pencil on it. Then, an image appeared on it.

It looks like this sign is a map.

It is! Well done, Joker.

Camillio: Okay, homes. Can we get out of here? I get the feeling that-

>Suddenly, an arrow is shot. Luckily, it missed Camillio by an inch. It was shot by a Shadow that looked like Robin Hood.

Shadow: Stand and deliver, knaves! For our glorious King Chaz!

Crow: I’ve never known a Robin Hood who would say that.

Shadow: Never mind that. You have in your company, Public Enemy Number 1.

>He was pointing at Tina.

Tina: Over my dead body!

Shadow: So be it. The kind did say dead or alive.

Oracle: We already know this guy’s weak to Electricity and Curse attack. Joker, Skull, it’s your time.

Joker: Good. It’s been awhile since Arsene was out. Let’s see if he’s still got it. Persona!

Skull: Persona!

Queen: I’ll help as well. Persona!

Spirit: I’ll go, too. Persona!

>Spirit summons his Persona, Tokebi.

Oracle: Here come the buffs! Persona!

>Necronomicon boosts our stats. Archangel uses Psi on Spirit. He dodges it. Arsene uses Eiga. It knocks him down.

Joker: Let’s do this!

>After the attack, Archangel is still up. Captain Kidd uses Zionga. It knocks Archangel down again. He don’t do an All-Out-Attack this time and Captain Kidd uses Assault Dive. Tokebi uses Dream Needle. It didn’t put him to Sleep this time. Johanna uses Flash Bomb. It made him Dizzy. Archangel comes back up. He tries to attack us with Vajra Blast. Luckily, because he was Dizzy, the attack wasn’t very strong. Arsene uses Giant Slice. It was strong because of the boost and that Archangel was Dizzy. Captain Kidd uses Assault Dive again. Then, Tokebi uses Zionga. It knocks him down.

Spirit: Alright, let’s pile on!

>After the attack, the Shadow was gone.

Spirit: Wasn’t that tough.

Tina: I can’t believe they would do this because of me.

Serpent: You can still back out of this if you wish.

Biffy: Heck no. We still want to help.

Holger: Lee of Ping is our friend. We want to go help him.

Crow: Alright. But when the heist execution happens, we ask that you stay behind. We need someone to keep an eye on Chaz and it might get much too dangerous.

Camillio: No hay problema, hombre. We’ll make sure everything’s fine.

Joker: Alight, then it’s settled. We’ll do this.

>We all agreed and leave the Palace for now.

>We’ll be back for the Treasure.

#phantom thieves cam

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hopeymchope · 7 years

Text

Naegiri One-Shot - Umbrella - Danganronpa Fanfic

Based on @superduperandyeah‘s headcanon that he sent to @capndirossio,:

Can you imagine the first time Naegi and Kirigiri shared an umbrella? He runs up to see her soaking wet (claiming she’s fine) and he’s all “But you’ll catch a cold, Kirigiri-san!” She accepts his offer and they’re right up against each other almost shoulder-to-shoulder with his bright red face turned away after considering the closeness he initiated. She notices and decides to fluster him worse by saying there’s not much space underneath such a tiny umbrella so they better get even closer.

Kyoko Kirigiri picked up her pace a bit as the raindrops seemed to grow in number and volume. It was a real driving rainstorm now, and it was already a cold day even before the downpour began. It was little wonder, then, that every step that battered her with more rain also served to dampen her mood.

Inwardly, she chided herself for failing to adequately prepare. She knew that there’d be rain this afternoon, but she had felt overconfident that she would finish reviewing the files in the Administration Building well before it started to fall. To make matters worse, she’d opted to use a roundabout route from Administration to her father’s office so as to avoid the protests that had enveloped the central plaza. It made logical sense, but in rain this heavy, it was a choice she increasingly regretted.

“Hey, Kiri! Wait up!”

Kyoko paused and turned around to see Makoto Naegi running towards her with a green umbrella held over his head.

As he ran up alongside her on her right, he extended the umbrella over her head with a smile. “You shouldn’t be strolling through this without an umbrella. Earth and sand are really falling out here.”

Kyoko smiled a little, either because of Makoto’s kind gesture or because she was amused by his use of a well-worn idiom. “I’ll be all right,” she insisted as she attempted to wave the umbrella away.

“But you’ll catch a cold, Kirigiri-san!” he countered.

“There’s not much point in wasting the protection on someone who’s already soaked,” she responded. “It’s wiser for you to keep yourself dry at this point.”

“So… you’re sacrificing your health to protect me?” Makoto retorted. He brought a hand to his chest, feigning shock. “That’s so noble of you!”

Kyoko was taken aback by the smile that appeared on his face as he said it. Between that and how his eyes had slightly narrowed, it looked like…

Is he actually teasing me? she thought in disbelief.

“That’ll be the day,” she fired back with a smirk. At last, she grabbed the umbrella from his hand and held it over herself.

Despite being fully exposed to the elements, Makoto looked supremely satisfied with himself. Kyoko rolled her eyes a little. “Don’t get too cocky, Naegi-kun,” she warned him. “I’m entirely aware that you only teased me regarding the value my family places on self-preservation so that I would take shelter under your umbrella.”

His sincere smile broke into a full-on grin, and he shrugged. “Yeah, okay,” he admitted with a chuckle. “You’re right, as usual. Either way, at least it worked!”

“I can’t help but wonder where you learned such an insidious tactic,” Kyoko said with a knowing smile. “It’s very unlike you.”

“I hang out with some pretty clever people,” he said, looking over into her eyes.

When she looked back into his, Kyoko felt herself drawn to the shorter boy. “There’s… plenty of room under here, you know,” she offered. Kyoko held the umbrella to her right. In the process, she exposed her left shoulder to the rain but managed to shield most of Makoto as well.

Scooting to the side slightly, Kyoko’s right shoulder pressed up against Makoto’s left. A light pink glow appeared in his cheeks, and he quickly looked away.

“Wh-where are you headed, anyway?” Makoto inquired, avoiding her gaze.

“The old building,” she responded. She turned her focus straight ahead in order to keep herself from staring at him. “I need to speak with my father. He has me investigating some rather curious things in the school’s files. It seems our illustrious Steering Committee might be up to something.”

Makoto frowned a bit, but said nothing at first. He’d centered his view and appeared to be looking straight ahead when he asked, “And what do you and your dad make of all this?” he asked suddenly.

“Uh, make of what exactly?” Kyoko inquired in return. She suddenly felt acutely aware that Makoto wasn’t the only one feeling a bit flustered as they rubbed shoulders.

“The ‘parade,’” he clarified. Makoto gestured out towards a group of suit-clad students with signs that were visible in the distance to their right. The throng seemed to move like a wave as he headed for the newest building on the campus. “It’s growing bigger every day,” he observed.

Kyoko expression turned dour. “My father believes things are changing around here,” she suggested. “That this is a moment that Hope’s Peak and its faculty will always remember. Frankly, I’m inclined to agree with him.”

“It might not be such a bad thing,” Makoto offered. “Maybe this will push the Steering Committee to give the Reserve Course Students the kind of treatment and attention they deserve.”

Kyoko closed her eyes and suppressed the urge to grin. Whenever she heard Makoto speaking so openly and brazenly about his hopes for equality among all of the Hope’s Peak students, she felt a swell of admiration. It was one thing for Kyoko to speak in support of the Reserve Course students — she could defend herself against any student who aggressively disagreed, and she was further insulated by her father’s position within the school. Makoto, on the other hand, had no such skills or inherent protections, yet he proudly declared his support for unifying the school to anyone who was willing to listen. He did it not because he had anything to gain from doing so, but because he believed it was right.

Even mulling over those facts made her turn and smile at the boy beside her. “You know, we’re both still getting a bit wet,” she noted. “The umbrella’s too small to cover us side-by-side. Mind if squeeze together a bit more?”

Makoto’s face jerked to the left to look at her in surprise, and she instantly felt the heat emanating from her own face. “Y-yeah, of course,” Makoto replied anxiously.

They were only 15 meters away from the old school building by this point. Despite the short distance, however, they still pressed against each other beneath the umbrella. Kyoko moved the umbrella to her left hand so as to wrap her right around his Makoto’s back, and Makoto extended his left arm around her back in turn.

They walked silently like that for a while, which made Kyoko feel as though her heart was pounding loud enough to be heard over the rainstorm that surrounded them. Happily, Makoto showed no sign that he noticed it. The boy simply kept his eyes on the building while breathing raggedly due to his nerves. Kyoko heard his breaths and couldn’t help but wonder: Does he feel this nervous whenever he’s close to any woman? Or is it just me?

“Here’s your stop!” Makoto said, jolting Kyoko out of her ruminations. They walked up to a side entrance door that led into the old school building, and she lightly hopped onto the single step on front of it, taking the umbrella with her.

Turning back, she saw that Makoto had not followed her onto the small porch. “Wait, you’re not coming with me?” she asked.

“Ahh, no,” he said shyly, looking down towards the ground. The force of the rain that was now hitting him made the antenna atop his head jiggle. “I’m heading back to the dorm, in fact.”

Kyoko stepped back off of the porch and handed the umbrella over to him. “That’s… that’s the opposite direction from where we started,” she stated.

“I know,” he acknowledged as he took the umbrella from her hand. He shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

Kyoko smiled and shook her head. “You’re too kind for your own good, Naegi-kun.” She leaned in and pecked him on the cheek, causing Makoto to grunt “AHP!” in shock.

Turning away from him, she quickly explained, “That was merely my thank you for being such a gentleman.” With that, Kyoko Kirigiri jogged up and went through the main door, leaving Makoto standing stock still in the rain.

“You… you’re welcome… ”

#danganfanfic #danganronpa fanfic #danganronpa fanfiction #danganronpa fan fiction #fanfic #fanfiction #fan fiction #naegiri #kyoko kirigiri #makoto naegi

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firehawk12 · 7 years

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Your Name (2016)

Interestingly, this piece of key art shows Taki and Mitsuha meeting each other on the Suga Shrine stairs as teenagers — a meeting that never happens in the film.

Makoto Shinkai is the perhaps the standard bearer for the idea of the onenote director. His films all feature the same images and perhaps more importantly, all feature the same theme: mono no aware. Indeed, his films typically involve characters accepting the transient nature of life through doomed relationships.

This line from Children Who Chase Lost Voices sums up Shinkai’s ouvré.

Shinkai doesn’t stray far with Your Name, a film featuring two characters who are separated by space and time. Mitsuha, a teenage girl bored with her life in a rural town swaps bodies with Taki, a hapless teenage boy who doesn’t know how to approach his first crush. Yes, there’s the physical humour that comes from the body-swap situation, as both characters deal with the issues of living in a body of the opposite sex, but most of that set up and character building seems perfunctory. In fact, even the means by which they swap bodies is unimportant, as Shinkai is more interested in how the characters communicate with each other rather than the situation that they find themselves in.

Taki eventually falls in love with Mitsuha, but one day he finds that he is unable to connect with her anymore. The body swapping has suddenly swapped, and when he tries to call her, he discovers that her number is not in service. This sudden disconnection causes him to slowly begin to forget his time with Mitsuha, as he is left to wonder if the entire incident was simply a dream. Unable to connect with her remotely, he tries his best to try to find her and meet her in person by drawing on the lingering memories that he had of her life. He tracks her down to a mountainous region of Japan, using a sketch of the town’s few landmarks based on his memories of his experience in Mitsuha’s body. When he finally puts a name to the place that he’s been searching for, Itomori, he discovers that town was destroyed three years prior by pieces of a falling comet, killing Mitsuha and permanently severing his connection with her. Any hope he had of ever meeting her is gone, and the best he can do is try to hang on to the fleeting memories of the time he spent communicating with her.

It’s a ridiculously high concept premise for a romance story, but you can see the potential for mono no aware in this set up. Taki and Mitsuha may know each other intimately, but the circumstances that created this unique connection between them also creates an impenetrable rift between them. Indeed, we learn that Mitsuha actually tried to meet Taki in person, but since Mitsuha is three years ahead of Taki, she finds him when he’s in middle school and is heartbroken when he doesn’t recognize her (yes, this is very much like The Lake House (2006)). Just as Taki might give up on ever meeting Mitsuha after learning that she died three years prior, she gives up on trying to connect with him because she doesn’t understand that their body-swaps transport her three years into the future.

A veteran of Shinkai wouldn’t be surprised at the situation the characters find themselves in. From the high concept Voices of a Distant Star (2002), in which two lovers are separated by the science of time dilation, to the more grounded The Garden of Words (2013), which features a relationship between a teacher and a student that, at the very least, must be put off until the student graduates from his school, it is almost fated that Taki and Mitsuha will never be together. If this was a typical Shinkai film, perhaps the lesson to be learned is that we must learn from and appreciate our immediate experiences, allowing them to inform our futures. Mitsuha dies, but she is for a time, able to experience the life in Tokyo that she has always wanted. Taki, who is inexperienced in love, finally makes a genuine connection with someone and can perhaps approach his future relationships with more maturity. Certainly that’s the ending that I expected.

But then we’re hit by the final act of the film. Taki is unwilling to accept Mitsuha’s death and uses the fact that their body swaps transport him through time to save Mitsuha and all the inhabitants of Itomori. During this process, they both manage to travel to the same place — a small shrine in the middle of a crater that has mystically allowed the women in Mitsuha’s family to experience “dreams” of becoming another person — and they are finally able to communicate with each other. This is the climax of their relationship, as the characters are finally able to connect with each other. They promise to meet each other after the people of Itomori are saved, and try to write each other’s names on their hands so that they won’t forget each other.

Shinkai plays with his audience a bit here, because we see that the connection between the two is severed before Mitsuha can finish writing her name on Taki’s hand. When we get a shot of Mitsuha’s hand a few minutes later, we see that he didn’t write his name, choosing to write “I love you” instead. Okay, so maybe we’re given the happy ending where the town is saved and Taki and Mitsuha are given their moment together. They’re finally able to communicate their feelings, even if they aren’t able to act on them. It’s still in line with what I’ve come to expect from a Shinkai film, a moment of happiness in the pathos of the tragic nature of this impossible relationship.

The denouement seems to suggest that this film won’t be any different from his other films. Five years after the their meeting, we see that Taki and Mitsuha have moved on with their lives. Taki is now a college graduate trying to find a job as a landscape designer. Mitsuha, now also living in Tokyo, has seemingly moved on with her life, leaving her younger sister at home to presumably carry on her family’s traditions (and perhaps have a body swap adventure of her own). Both characters feel that someone is missing from their lives, but they’re unable to articulate the emptiness that they feel. In a scene reminiscent of the ending of 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007), Taki and Mitsuha take separate trains that happen to cross each other and catch a glimpse of each other through the windows. Now, I can only imagine how most audiences would have reacted if the credits started scrolling down the screen after this chance meeting. If I had to hazard a guess, I would expect quite a negative reaction to the characters being so close to each other but still unable to meet each other.

I think it would have been fitting, as the last meeting between the two was separated by time and now the final meeting would have been separated from space. Perhaps seeing each other would have been enough for both of them, for them to realize that their time with each other, swapping into each other’s bodies, was real. They could let go of any lingering doubt about their past experiences, recognize that they had a special time with each other, and while they have both essentially put their lives on hold for five years, they can finally move on with their lives with the knowledge that the person they’ve been looking for exists, even if they don’t remember each other’s names.

Of course, that kind of ending probably wouldn’t have led to Your Name being one of the highest grossing films in Japanese history. Shinkai was definitely smart to give the film the payoff that everyone most likely wanted after the emotional experience he put them through. In the final moments of the film, we see Take and Mitsuha rush off their respective trains and run toward each other. At what is presumably the halfway point between the two train stations, they meet each other on Suga Shrine stairs. The pair tentatively walk past each other, before they both decide to throw caution to the wind and ask each other if they’ve met before. In tears, they ask each other, “Your name is…?”, before the film cuts to the credits.

Interestingly, this piece of key art shows Taki and Mitsuha meeting each other on the Suga Shrine stairs as teenagers — a meeting that never happens in the film.

Shinkai gives the catharsis that the audience demands, smartly allowing the characters to connect with each other in a physical space that represents a state of transition. We can assume that Taki and Mitsuha, having finally found each other, will climb or descend the stairs together and make the connection that has been five or eight years in the making. While I may have preferred a more subdued (or perhaps morose, depending on your perspective) ending, I’m glad that Shinkai didn’t lean on the crutch of melodramatic schmaltz by having the two characters jump into each other’s arms and share a passionate kiss while the camera spins around them.

Of course, I don’t want to attribute any intent to Shinkai. Maybe he’s matured as a filmmaker and is finally willing to budge on the type of story that he wants to tell. Your Name certainly has many of the mono no aware trademarks that can be found in all of his previous work, but the ending (and perhaps the accessible nature of the story as a whole) makes it much more palatable. Or maybe he made a calculated decision to make sure people walk out of the theater happy, so that his audience would be willing to recommend the film to their friends. Regardless of the reason, while I feel that the ending is a slight compromise, it’s one that I’m certainly content with. Whether or not Shinkai is the next Miyazaki, at the very least he’s finally made his mark on the Japanese anime film scene and we’ll get to see more from him in the future.

Although I believe Voices of a Distant Star and The Garden of Words are stronger films (perhaps, in part, because of their shorter running times), I can’t begrudge the fact that Your Name is the film that propels Shinkai into the mainstream consciousness. It’s a film that is both crowd pleasing and also manages to convey the emotion of mono no aware, and I’m more than happy to place it next to (but admittedly, not above!) films like Takahata’s Only Yesterday (1991) or Hosoda’s Wolf Children (2012) in my personal list of favourite anime films.

Miscellaneous Notes

The film is gorgeous, and I think the CG animated sequences look great for the most part, but I couldn’t help but be distracted by the frame rate of the shrine dance scene featuring Mitsuho and her sister. It was something that I noticed in the Girls und Panzer film as well, and I assume it’s just a technological problem that will be fixed as more anime productions incorporate CG animation into their traditional animation production pipeline.

The time travel “twist” really did bug me, but upon reflection while writing this review, I’ve come to find it acceptable. Yes, I think it’s still absurd that the characters wouldn’t have recognized that they were separated by 3 years time — imagine if you swapped bodies with someone from 3 years in the past… if nothing else, you’d notice that Trump wasn’t the President of the United States. That said, the 3 year difference allows the film’s central conflict to happen but also allows the characters to meet and have their happy ending. For me a happy compromise might have been if the characters were separated by 30 years, so that they can still meet, but it’s about pushing them together romantically… but again, my version of the film probably would have tanked at the box office.

The Tokyo locations are real, but the town of Itomori is an amalgamation of a few different places in Japan. This post from Fast Japan and these posts from Mike Hattsu show many of the references they used for their backgrounds.

#anime #film review #your name #movie #2016 #film

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