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honey-hippie-harper · 3 years

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In-Laws Being In-Laws (Re-upload)

Hiii!

So, this is basically an old fic, which I deleted from my other account ( @dawniebb ) and was requested to be uploaded again.

This feels like a lifetime ago afgshjka, but I remember it was written for a Renegades content swap event, and it was for @healing-winston-pratt (hello, wifey!). The prompt was, basically, Nova and one of the Renegays being in-laws, and it was super fun to write! <3

If anyone’s reading this: Hi, you’re a beautiful human being, and I love you <3

In-Laws Being In-Laws

Dear Dread Warden,

I am not quite sure you will get this message because it is been a while since I last used my communicator but, in case you do: I hope you are having a nice morning.

The reason I am writing you this is that, as you must already be aware, right now Sketch and his teammates are taking part in the Annual Renegade Convention as special guests to be awarded for their heroic participation in the Second Battle for Gatlon. Hence, they are out of town. Due to my temporary resignation from the team, I declined the offer to attend the event and, for instance, to receive an award. This means that, unlike theirs, my routine remains the same as usual.

Unfortunately, I must see my therapist for my weekly appointment in two hours, and after that I will have to go to the supermarket to pick up some groceries and essential items. Under normal circumstances, given the nature of my relationship with Sketch, he would have driven me to the supermarket and then back to my apartment, as it happens to be located sort of far from the store and it could be pretty difficult for me to walk while carrying all those bags. However, as mentioned before, these are not normal circumstances and Sketch is not currently available.

I reach out to you with no intention to cause trouble; for instance, if I happen to be asking too much or disrupting your schedule (As I am conscious you are a busy person) and you consider you will not be able to help me, I assure you I completely understand. But: Could you pick me up from my therapist's office and take me to the supermarket afterwards?

I apologize for the inconvenience and I promise I will make sure this does not happen again. In addition, I also apologize for the alliteration in the greeting at the beginning of this message. I did not know whether you wanted to be acknowledged by your real name or your alias.

Sincerely,

Insomnia.

-.-

Hi, Insomnia!!!

So nice to see you!... Or should I say read you! Ha! It's been so long, it almost feels like an eternity! I hope therapy is going great! (We're all really proud of you!)

It doesn't bother me at all, sweetheart; of course I'll help you with that. Could you share the location of your therapist's office, please?

Oh, and also: What time do you want me to be there? (Not that I have anything to do today, I just want to be on time).

I'm excited to see you! Can I take you to eat something afterwards? How does that sound?

Take care!

(Agh. I forgot these things don't actually allow you to write your real name).

-S i m o n.

(Better).

-.-

He spotted Nova way before parking. She was sitting on a bench outside the building, staring anxiously at her phone. The body language of a nervous person.

Simon stopped the car right in front of where she was, and when she realized he was already here, Nova jumped out of her seat as if it had burned her skin, before jogging in an awkward manner towards the car.

Once she was inside, Simon couldn't help but feel a twinge in his stomach. He wasn't lying when he told her he was excited to see her. In fact, he was more than excited, and he had to hold himself back pretty hard to avoid hugging her, because it was evident she didn't want to be hugged right now, for she just directed a tiny smile at him and said:

"Hi."

She was the same Nova he had met some time ago, but at the same time she was different; she was wearing sneakers, skinny jeans and a basic white v-neck shirt; her hair was a little longer, too, to the point she could tie it in a cute little ponytail; Simon could tell she wasn’t wearing any makeup, but still her face looked healthier than before; less tired, with smaller under-eye dark circles and lips covered in chapstick. Finally.

She looked alive. More than before.

“Hi.” He finally responded.

Watching people get better was always satisfactory, but watching Nova get better was different. He had grown to appreciate her, since the very first moment he saw her with Adrian; since the very first moment he spoke to her and saw nothing but utter heartbreak in her eyes. Nova was hurting, and any sensitive person would’ve noticed that. So, watching her get better was a touching experience for him.

“You look so…”

Nova interrupted him almost immediately.

“I know. I...I barely had time to fix my hair. Gosh. It’s so uncomfortable and I want to cut it but I haven’t had time. I…”

“Oh, no, no, no! Your hair looks gorgeous! “ He chuckled, although he was confused by her reaction. “I was gonna say you look really good. Really, really good. The ponytail looks great on you.”

Nova gulped as she adjusted said ponytail.

“Oh.” She muttered in a hoarse voice. “...Well...Thank you. I thought…”

“No, no.” Simon waved his hand. “You look great. How.... how are you?”

She seemed to be processing the question, even though it was not that difficult.

“I’m…” Nova cleared her throat. “I’m doing great. How are you? How’s ...life going?”

“Absolutely great!” Simon smiled, clapping his hands together. “Things at home are great. You know, Hugh’s not currently here due to the Annual Renegade Convention. Adrian’s not here either (for sure, you already know about that) and Max…”

“Max went too, yeah.” Nova smiled. Her eyes seemed to brighten to the mention of Max’s name. Adrian had mentioned this fact about her a couple of times: Nova was fond of children. And even if she wasn’t, she had a tendency to protect and care about them. Since she had this type of strong personality, Hugh refused to recognize that as a truth, but Simon had no trouble believing it.

It was adorable.

“He called me when he got the invitation. He was eager to go.” She continued. “Which doesn’t surprise me. I...It’s his first time travelling, right?”

“Oh, yeah.” Responded Simon. “We’re planning to go on vacation this year. Because, you know, the convention’s being held not too far away from Gatlon and sadly he’s probably gonna get bored.”

“Bored?” Nova shifted herself in the seat, awkwardly. “Why?”

“Well...those conventions are...well, conventions.” Simon shrugged, smiling at her. “There are a lot of speeches, one after the other and, sure, the guests that represent Gatlon can skip some of them, but others are mandatory and they’re like 2 hours long and it’s so boring and…”

Nova hissed, grimacing, to which Simon nodded in agreement.

“I’m glad I didn’t have to go.” He admitted. “Though I do wanted to be there when Adrian and Max received their award. Too sad.”

Nova tried to speak a couple of times, until she finally had found the correct words to said her thoughts out loud.

“Why...why didn’t you go, then?”

“About that.” Simon chuckled. “Tamaya is going to be there too, as a speaker. And she’s also receiving an award. So...somebody had to take care of the Headquarters and Kasumi and I were left with that responsibility. However, it’s been pretty peaceful, as you may have noticed.”

“I have.” Nova nodded. “Not that I...go out very much, but yeah. Things have been calm.”

“People are behaving for once. And it’s awesome.” he sighed.

Then they stayed in silence. For a while.

Nova stared out the window, avoiding eye contact, while Simon whistled as he tapped his fingers on the wheel.

Not a word. No small talk.

Nothing.

“Sooooo…” Said Simon. “Shall we go?”

“Perhaps we should.” Nova said, immediately, as a flash of relief crossed her face.

So Simon smiled at her once again as he turned on the engine, while Nova put on her seatbelt next to him.

-.-

It took her so little time to come back Simon confirmed she was one of those people who would strategically write their shopping list so they wouldn’t be going back and forth through the aisles. It also surprised him that, being a person so young, she was so...focused on everything.

She really had only bought groceries and essential items. No junk food. No silly things she swore she would need and then she didn’t. Not even candy from the checkout area.

Simon hurried himself out of the car to help her put the bags in the trunk, but once she saw him and guessed his intentions, she quickly said:

“It’s okay. I can do it.”

“I know you can.” He clarified. Because, well, she indeed was a strong person. “But maybe you could use some help. That’s...a couple of bags.”

“Yeah. I know.” Nova nodded, already carrying the first two of the bags. “But I can do it. Please. I’m already causing you too much trouble.”

Simon was yet again confused by her reaction, and he tried to talk to her about it. But just like Nova looked like she didn’t want to be hugged right now, she also looked like she didn’t want to talk about it right now.

So he just opened the trunk for her and held it in case it would go down by its own. It had never happened, but just to be sure. Sometimes Simon’s anxiety made him overanalyze some situations.

Less than 10 minutes had passed by the time Nova finished putting all her stuff in the car, Simon figured she was still training, since she was as agile and fast as she was the day she notified them she would be taking some time off from the team and the Renegades in general.

They got in the car again, and before the silence could get as uncomfortable as the previous one, Simon took the initiative to speak.

“I think...you forgot to answer a part of my message.” He said, carefully. “You know...the part where I told you that maybe we could...go to a restaurant or something?”

Nova’s face, ears and neck turned so red she became a human-shaped cherry, and although in other circumstances he would’ve considered it adorable, this time he couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her. He had been there and done that many times; the messages Nova had sent were peak odd. The type of messages one would overthink over and over again because they had to be perfect. And if something, anything sounded off after you sent it, your world would be in shambles.

So he just smiled to assure it was okay. That he didn’t mind. That those messages didn’t have to be so formal in the first place.

And that, obviously, didn’t work.

For his experience, it never did.

“I...I...Yeah.” Nova scratched her brow. “Pretty much I...I...can recall not knowing how to word that so I just left it blank and I...must’ve forgotten to…”

“Nova.” Simon said, softly. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

“Did I...offend you or something?”

“Absolutely no!” He said. “Why would you think that? It’s just a slip. I know it wasn’t your intention and to be honest I still want to take you to eat something so...yeah, there’s no reason to get weird about this. There’s no need to worry.”

Nova took a deep, hasty breath. She was flustered, son Simon tried to keep her calm; to make her feel like she was in a safe environment.

Why wouldn’t she be, in the first place?

She was his son’s girlfriend.

Why would he want to hurt her or make her feel bad?

“Nova, darling.” He said again. “Do you have something on your mind?”

“I do.” Nova cleared her throat, crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t really...can eat out right now. I barely manage to afford my groceries, you know? It’s been…”

“But you’re not gonna pay your own bill. I mean, why would you do that?” Simon raised an eyebrow at her, genuinely confused, but still laughing nervously. Sweet rot, who had hurt this child so much? “ I’m the one who’s taking you to eat. You wouldn’t have to…”

“You don’t have to either!” She snapped. Not mad, but rather distressed, while breathing heavily.

Simon went still, afraid he would make it worse. Still, he couldn’t leave it like that, so he gulped and, once he reunited enough courage, he dared to speak again.

“What’s really on your mind, Nova?” He asked, this time in a more soothing voice. Nova’s whole being went red again, but the shadow of confusion in her expression was noticeable and hard to ignore. For this reason, Simon decided to provide some kind of scaffolding.

“For example: Why would you write a message that is directed to me in such a formal way?” He asked, patiently. “Why would you ask me to pick you up as if you were asking me to help you commit a crime? Why would you act so uncomfortable around me when it’s not the first time that we’ve met? Why would you…?”

“Because it’s you.” Nova answered, avoiding eye contact.

And he expected that answer, yes. But, at the same time, he expected to understand the statement once it slipped out of her mouth.

However, he didn’t.

“Can you elaborate?” He requested.

Nova clicked her tongue as she rubbed her neck, staring at the dash right in front of her.

“...I can disappear if you want me to. Would that make you feel more comfortable?”

“No. No, no.” Nova nodded, waving her hands, finally looking at him. “That won’t be necessary.”

“Then...would you tell me what’s wrong?”

Nova thought about it. She squirmed in her seat. Gulped. Coughed. Squirmed again.

Then, playing with her own hands, she spoke.

“...I’m ashamed.”

“Ashamed of what…?” Simon tilted his head to the side. “Ashamed of who…? What exactly are you ashamed of? ...Dating Adrian?”

Nova flinched.

“I would never.”

A spark of pride illuminated his thoughts and his insides in general, but Simon tried to pay little attention to it.

“I’m just...ashamed. Of everything.” Nova said, sighing. “I…”

And she cut herself in the middle of the phrase, realizing that once again she wouldn’t be able to finish it.

Simon didn’t realize he was frowning until he felt the muscles of his face slowly giving in. He understood.

And he knew that anything that had happened during the Second Battle for Gatlon had been her fault. She might have contributed in some way but, at the end of the day, she was just a child.

A very confused and manipulated child who just needed someone to listen without twisting her words as they pleased.

“...I just think that...if I were you I wouldn’t like me either.” She wasn’t crying, nor did she sound like she was about to any time soon. There was so much resignation in her voice that her words weighted as much as a giant rock. “Hugh gave me his blessing to...you know, date Adrian…”

“I can recall giving you my blessing too.”

Nova tripped on her own words.

“I mean, you did. You both did.” She said. “But still… It’s because… because you want him to be happy. And I get it. I really do. And I understand because, like I said, I wouldn’t like me either...I know I am loved. I know I matter for some people...but I also know I did...bad things, and I carry this sort of cursed last name…”

She stopped and breathed for a second before continuing.

“And I…” She finally looked at him. “I get it. You don’t have to pretend you like me, after all that happened. After I stole stuff from your house; infiltrated into your system; caused a terrorist attack...You really don’t have to pretend.”

Simon blinked, and if it wasn’t for her specific and controlled body language, he would’ve thought she was making excuses or even joking.

But Nova was telling the truth.

And it was heartbreaking.

“Perhaps you should think outside the box and picture a scenario in which you realize we’re not pretending.” That’s the only thing he said.

“Perhaps you should realize that we love you and you matter to us.” He reached for her hand and softly touched her knuckles. Her hands were shaking. “And that, yes, we want Adrian to be happy, but we also want you to be happy.”

Nova’s eyes seemed to be covered in crystals, but she remained in silence.

“You’re part of this family now, Nova.” He smiled. “And I’m sorry, but you’ll have to deal with that.”

Nova sniffed, swallowing, while lacing her hand into Simon’s.

“Artino and everything?” She muttered.

“Artino it’s not what defines you.” Simon chuckled. “You’re Nova. Just Nova... And we’re really proud of you. Not ashamed.”

She smiled back at him, wordless, and Simon gave her a quick handshake before putting his hands around the wheel.

Because even now, that her walls were crumbling right before her eyes, she didn’t look like someone who wanted to be hugged at the moment, and he accepted and respected that.

“I was planning to take you to my favorite restaurant, but maybe we can prepare a homemade meal instead?” He suggested. “You know? In-laws being in-laws? … Not to brag, but I make the best lemon pie in the world.”

Nova chuckled. Relaxed.

Happy.

“Sounds great.” She said, nodding.

“Excellent.” Simon turned on the engine.

“Let’s go home.”

#renegades trilogy #marissa meyer #dawnie writes #Simon Westwood #The Dread Warden #Nova Artino #Insomnia #Dawnie re-uploads saga #i love being a clown #no nomás tengo la cara de pendeja también soy JAJAJAJAJAJAJAAJAJAJA #this was before hcttr ruined my life #good times

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toilet-bound-messenger · 4 years

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Hananene cute scenario ideas 💗

Hi! To be honest I'm not much of a writer (even if I do try to write fanfics sometimes.) But here I'm gonna lay down some cute ideas I got for Hananene, so if some of those may or may not inspire you to write a fanfiction on your own then please feel free to borrow my ideas! But when you do please link me to the fanfic because I'll definitely want to read it! 💕💕

1) Yashiro teaching Hanako how to play video games/using smartphones!

Because Hanako is a space nerd he's probably also really interested in the development of science in general through the years. And since he's a ghost he sneaks into different classrooms to listen to the science teachers giving lessons to the students of the school. Yashiro had noticed that so she shows him videos of new technologies on her phone. Hanako finds it amazing how a tiny device like a smartphone can do so many things! It can take photos, record voices and videos, be used as an alarm clock, be used to write stuff on it, look up anything at any time in the whole world, etc. Hanako secretly wishes he could have a phone since it seems so useful but he's honestly not sure how to get one since he can't leave the school. Yashiro also lets him play some games on her phone even if he sucks a lot at first, after a little while he gets the hang of it! He prefers silly little games that involve playing with animals, cutting random people's hair and make it into a mess, adventure style games, etc. He's not a big fan of Yashiro's "raising idols" games though... he says that it's because he sucks at rhythm games and doesn't really like the songs but it's probably because he's pissed that the idols in the game are way too handsome 😂 Though he did ask which character in the game was Yashiro's favorite and of course, it was a tall blond hottie who looks like Teru which made Hanako even more irritated.

Also, Yashiro keeps a couple of Hanako's favorite games on her phone so he can play them when he wants. One time she encouraged him to try an idol raising game but this time with female idols (love live/bandori style.) Unsurprisingly he loved it because the game was full of cute girls. (Btw, his favorites in love live would be Honoka, Kotori, Chika and Riko because they all remind him of Yashiro since they have some similar personality traits, same for Kasumi, Tsugumi, Himari and Aya from bandori.)

2) Yashiro dressing up as Hanako for Halloween! It's a common idea in the fandom that Hanako would find Yashiro super cute in his hat, so imagine if she wore the whole outfit! Even better if it's a matching one rather than exactly the same as his, like, she'd wear all white to contrast with the fact that he wears all black.

3) So we already know that Yashiro has an embarrassing journal where she rewrites her everyday life in a really... shoujo-esque style. (The part where she wrote that her and Teru are secretly dating and he would always stare at her 😂) So one day she mistakenly brings it to school without noticing (maybe she was too distracted and grabbed her journal instead of a textbook or something?) So she tries her best to hide it but somehow Hanako finds it.

He knows that it's really bad to look through other people's stuff but he can't help but feel really curious. He knows it's gonna be torture since it's probably gonna be filled with lots of Teru and other handsome guys Yashiro fantasizes about but he's really interested to know in what is Yashiro into.

Well, of course she likes all the most cliche stuff there is... kisses in secret, getting trapped in a small space like a closet to be as close as possible with a guy, hugging in a dark place, being called a "silly girl"/anything that sounds slightly embarrassing, and of course: kabe-dons (that's the thing where you're pushed against a wall 😂).

So turns out that Yashiro does actually like physical contact, huh? And being called weird names... but the thing that surprises Hanako the most is that there are a couple of pages about him too!!! Especially the day of the confession tree when he destroyed kodama, it was written that Yashiro's heart skipped a beat when he took his hat off. It made Hanako incredibly happy to know that he did have some charm even if Yashiro still prefers tall prince-charming guys it wasn't like his chances with her were zero! After that he felt really giddy... and really cocky. He would grin all the time with Yashiro and try some of the things he read in her journal. He would also take his hat off more often.

4) The school festival is soon! Yashiro's class wasn't really finding any good ideas, it was all cliche stuff like takoyaki stands, haunted houses, etc. Stuff that other classes will also choose and maybe do better than them. After some thinking Yashiro suggests a cafe from the 1960s, since Hanako was alive in those years. Maybe it would make him happy to see students walking in old clothes and all instead of always wearing the school uniform?

The day of the school festival Hanako was really surprised. Did we go back in time or something? Everything was really well done, it really looked like back then. Hanako wasn't really sure what to think of it since it made him remember some happy times... and some not so happy times... but when he saw Yashiro all of his worries were blown away! She was wearing a super cute and colorful dress from the 1960s, it made Hanako stare at her all the time. Tsuchigomori noticed of course and teased him about it.

"You're really staring a lot, huh kid? It would've been pretty nice if she was one of your classmates back in the day, wouldn't it?"

Hanako is a blushing mess 😂 They also put popular songs from the 1960s in the cafe and Hanako manages to recognize quite a lot of them! Though his heart really races when Yashiro sings along to one of the songs. In the end they both dance and sing it together! It was super fun for Hanako and he loved the school festival because of that. Yashiro admits that she was the one to come up with the idea to make him happy and Hanako is even more touched.

5) it's kind of spoiler-ish, but what if after number 6's arc Aoi is able to see apparitions too? It would be really cute if she can sense that Yashiro and Hanako have a crush on eachother so she constantly teases them to make them get closer. Aoi really becomes the wingman(/wingwoman?) of Hananene, she does everything she can to make them embarrassed and self-conscious. She even gives advice to Hanako on how to flirt with Yashiro since she's her best friend she knows a whole lot about it. As for Yashiro, she gives her tips on how to "seduce guys" and encourages her to "try them out on Hanako to see if it works" *wink wink nudge nudge* but of course it always works on Hanako no matter what Yashiro does...

6) This is more of a AU idea since it's a bit OOC but, imagine if Yashiro becomes super flirty with Hanako when she falls for him? Like Hanako is just teasing/borderline trying to seduce her as usual but then Yashiro answers back with something even more daring and Hanako just becomes a blushing mess. It's literally the

"Why did you run away?!?"

"I didn't expect her to flirt back!!!"

meme 😂

Of course Hanako always clinges to Yashiro so there's nothing new there, but when Yashiro clinges to Hanako? Oh boy.

The poor guy can't align 2 words anymore. He's stuttering and wondering what's going on.

It would be funny if Yashiro is the agressive kind of flirt, the type that always roasts/shames her crush when she tries flirting. Most of the time she's trying to be nice about it but unconsciously most of her flirting is almost a roast session.

The worst (or best) part is when they're alone because Yashiro can say all the shameless stuff she can't in public 😂

Stuff like:

"Hey, you really are a perv for haunting the girls' bathroom out of all the places there is in the school. I bet that if I couldn't see you, you would probably look at my underwear, wouldn't you? 😤"

"It's not fair that you're always making me clean the bathrooms without any rewards... won't you at least give me a kiss on the lips? That's like, the minimum you can do. 🙄"

A kiss on the lips is the minimum?? Then what's the maximum?!?

Hanako is literally dying inside, anytime they're alone he panics, he's like "oh god it's coming, what is she going to say this time??"

How the tables have turned. Yashiro beat him at his own game 😂

Welp. That's about it for now. Which one was your favorite? I'm gonna be honest, mine is the Yashiro agressive flirting one! It really makes me think about that one Miraculous Ladybug fanfic where Marinette is throwing daring pick-up lines at Adrien left and right. Unfortunately I don't remember the name but it's a really popular one! You can probably find it easily, it's on tumblr and AO3 if I remember correctly.

#toilet bound hanako kun #jibaku shounen hanako kun #yashiro nene #hanako #yugi amane

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ranma-rewatch · 4 years

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Episode 1-The Strange Stranger from China/Enter Ranma

Alright, time to really start this thing off with the first episode, “The Strange Stranger from China”. I...don’t remember that being the name of the episode, but it has been about a decade since I last saw the series.

I feel like I remember what happens in this episode pretty well, it should just be an introduction to (some) of the main cast and kick of the dynamic between the two leads, but I could be wrong. Let’s see after the break, once I have rewatched the episode!

Okay first things first, the Opening. Musically, this song has always sat in a weird spot for me. It’s really freaking catchy and memorable, but it’s also kind of annoying? Like, there is a fine line between a great ear worm and a song you actually want out of your head, and “Don’t Make Me Wild Like You” by Etsuki Nishio is like right on that line. There are parts of it I think are adorably entertaining, like the whistle, and other parts where I kind of cringe. It’s not my favorite opening song of the series, but it’s not bad either.

Visually, it is Okay with a capital O. There is a reason Mother’s Basement has never done a feature on it. It is mostly just the cast running in place over pastel backgrounds, and some of them have the coloring that’s very different from what would end up being used later on once they appeared. That said, I have to give infinite props to Akane’s little snapping dance, because it is freaking adorable and I love ever frame of it.

Also, the title. What I said it was earlier, “The Strange Stranger from China”, was what Hulu has it listed as, and from what I can tell that was what it was listed as on DVD. From what I can tell from my expert translator, Mr. Google Translate, it’s kind of similar to the Japanese title, which says it is “He's from China!! A little weird!!”. But in the episode, the dub says the episode is “Here’s Ranma” which is what I remember it being. So...yeah. Apparently at some point they wanted to retcon the english title of the episode, but never changed the dub track to match.

So, what’s the episode about? Hell, what is this show even about? Well, the episode starts with a feminine person with red hair fighting a panda in the street, arguing about being betrothed to someone against their will, while onlookers watch in confusion. Then the panda knocks them out, and carries them away. Cut to the Tendo family estate, where Soun Tendo has received news that Ranma Saotome and his father Genma will soon be coming, and gathers his three daughters to explain the situation.

You see, in addition to being fairly well off in general, Soun is the owner of a dojo for the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and his best friend and fellow practitioner of the same art, Genma, made an agreement years ago to bind their families in marriage. Thus, Ranma will marry one of Soun’s three daughters. From oldest to youngest, they’re Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, who is the only one of the three to practice martial arts herself. When Soun reveals he has never met Ranma and has no idea what he’s like, his daughters are kind of pissed that their dad promised one of them would have to marry him, which is pretty fair.

Instead of the middle-aged man and teenage boy they expected, the red-head from before is dragged in by the panda, and they explain they are Ranma Saotome, to everyone’s confusion. Based on their body, everyone assumes Ranma is a girl, and Ranma and Akane actually become fast friends, sparring in the dojo. But after Akane has a surprise bathroom encounter with a very masculine Ranma that involves him seeing her naked, and vice versa, they learn the truth.

See, Ranma and his dad were in China training when they visited Jusenkyo, a seeming hot spring tourist trap, only to each fall in a different spring while practicing fighting there. Turns out all the water there is cursed because things kept drowning in the springs a long time ago. Now they’re both cursed. They each transform when cold water is poured on their heads, into a feminine body for Ranma and a panda’s body for Genma, and turned back with hot water.

Once that’s all out in the open, everyone except Ranma and Akane thinks that, since Akane doesn’t like guys, she would be the perfect fiance for Ranma since he is ‘half girl’. Akane is still upset with Ranma, both because she has a lot of issues with men and feels betrayed that Ranma never said he was really a guy, and also because he saw her naked. Ranma claims it isn’t a problem because he can look at himself anytime and he’s more stacked, and the dynamic of Akane hitting Ranma for the asshole-ish things he says is born.

So, lots of stuff to talk about for an analysis. I think I’ll go with a compliment sandwich, bundling up what was rough for me around what I liked or thought was particularly interesting. To start with, aside from a few places where there was clear corner-cutting of reusing animation and kind of needless flashbacks, I liked the animation. The original mangka, Rumiko Takahashi, has really great character designs, and I love seeing her personal art style brought to life by the animation of Studio DEEN, a group I am not super used to complimenting.

In terms of plot, I think it’s a pretty strong opener. It introduces a lot of the main cast, even if some of them are depicted fairly broadly and not shown as the characters they’d one day become. This might sound odd, but I also really appreciate how female nudity is handled. Maybe it’s just because, if anything, the way most anime handle ‘fanservice’ has just gotten more and more over-the-top as the years go by, but the way Ranma 1/2 handled it feels like a breath of breath air.

See, in most modern anime, full blown nudity of either sex is never shown. Instead, feminine characters’ bodies are incredibly sexualized, with lots of emphasis put on the breasts and other body parts, without ever giving the full game away. By contrast, this episode contained several example of the feminine form shown completely nude, but it wasn’t treated like some mind-blowingly sexy thing, it was just kinda shown without much fanfare. I’ve currently watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam, which came out around the same time, and it actually does the same thing a few times. It feels more similar to how nudity is treated in, say, paintings or sculpture, more tasteful, and I just kind of think it’s neat.

What is definitely less neat...is the music. If I had to throw out right away my biggest gripe with the show, it is the OST. Not all of it, there are a few bits near the end of the episode that are actually really good, they’re the kind of music I remember being in the show. But the more silly, goofy tracks more common in the first half of the episode really don’t work for me. They remind me of the generic ‘Silly Person’ theme songs from the Ace Attorney games, and maybe it’s just me, but those kind of background music always take me out of the experience and grate on my nerves. That’s actually my only big issue so far, but it did make both times watching this episode genuinely hard to get through at points, it annoys me that much.

Now, I will say right now that I will be referring to Ranma using male pronouns regardless of whether he’s in his cursed form or not, and I won’t call him a ‘girl’ or a ‘woman’. If you didn’t know, sex and gender are not actually the same thing, so even if his physical sex is changed to fit someone who would be Assigned Female at Birth, his internal gender doesn’t change. No matter how Ranma looks, he thinks of himself as a man.

Corollary to that, it was this time going through this episode that I realized something that I’d never thought of before: Ranma’s experience in this episode, and in some ways throughout the series, is actually a lot like that of a transgender man’s. Ranma shows up at the Tendo’s estate and they all see him as a girl because of how he looks, only for him to reveal his actual gender. When he’s hanging out with Akane, and she thinks he is actually a girl, and they’re getting along, there’s a part where she tells Ranma that she’s so happy he turned out not to be a boy, and you can see Ranma’s facial expression, he doesn’t want to hear that. Clearly, yes, you can read that as Ranma wincing at the fact that she’s in for a rude awakening later on, but it also gives off the same kind of vibes closeted trans people experience when they’re misgendered by people they know.

In fact, when you think about how his curse really affects Ranma, when he’s in his cursed form, he effectively is a trans man. He still identifies as a guy, but his body has been changed so that it no longer represents who he sees himself as inside. It just felt like an interesting real life parallel in this episode, and I’m interested to see if I feel it shows up more later on. But for now, let’s move on to character spotlight.

For the first spotlight, I thought I should center on the titular Ranma Saotome. Obviously this won’t be the only time I focus on him, he’ll get more spotlight pieces as the series develops, so right now I’ll try to focus on the Ranma we see in just this one episode.

To start with, who plays him? Well, that’s a funny story, actually. Not only does Ranma, due to his curse, have different voice actors in each language for his cursed and non-cursed forms, but in the English Dub they recast his masculine body’s voice actor after three seasons. I’ll talk about that voice actor, Richard Ian Cox, once we get to when he actually becomes Ranma’s voice actor, so let’s start with the masculine form’s VA’s.

Now, the Ranma I first met when I was a teenager was Sarah Strange, a Canadian Voice Actress who is not known for much else. Her Ranma has mostly been the one I think of in my head when I think of the character. A little nasaly, her take on the character is very average joe, very ordinary high schooler. There’s some brashness to it, sure, but it’s actually kind of a subdued version of Ranma. Looking at it now, I actually feel like both of Ranma’s masculine form’s voice actors don’t quite fit the character, but for opposite reasons. Sarah Strange’s voice is so normal sounding that it dampens the more extreme parts of his character, Ranma at his most arrogant and egotistical. Like I said, I’ll cover Richard Ian Cox when he takes over the role, but I’ll say in brief here that his version of Ranma is the polar opposite, too over-the-top and aggressive.

In contrast, his original Japanese voice actor, Kappei Yamaguchi, feels a lot better to me, at least so far. Again, this is basically my first time seeing the series subbed, so I’ve only heard him for one episode as opposed to the 3 seasons I had with Sarah Strange. Still, Kappei’s take on Ranma is just as normal sounding as Sarah’s, but I felt like I could already hear a little more of the more emotional side of the character I felt Sarah never quite managed to capture properly.

As for Ranma’s cursed form, I was kind of confused, because the voice I was hearing in the episode wasn’t the one I remembered. For a while, I thought she must have just grown into the role over time, but it turns out that is not the case. For the first six episodes of the show, he was played by Brigitta Dau, who was then replaced with Venus Terzo. Now, I did not know this until literally right now, as I am typing this, so I feel like I don’t actually have much to say about Brigitta. Her performance felt a little off to me, but not bad. Venus, though, really owns the role once she takes over. Her performance as red-headed Ranma has always felt perfect for me, selling the idea that this is a teenage guy in a feminine body, and she’s really good at selling Ranma at his most dickish.

In Japanese, this form of Ranma is played by Megumi Hayashibara. Now, I would never ever say she did a bad job, but from what I saw of her in this episode, I don’t know how much I actually like her as Ranma. Maybe it’s just the pitch of her voice, but she doesn’t sound quite to me like a guy in a feminine body, but just like a very emotional teenage girl. Of course, I do not speak Japanese and it’s a lot harder to really judge acting in a language you don’t understand, so I could be spouting utter nonsense, but that’s my thoughts on her as of this episode.

In terms of Ranma’s character, they don’t really give much away with this first episode. We know he’s a good fighter, has a difficult relationship with his father, doesn’t like his curse and wants to get rid of it, and has enough stubbornness to butt heads with Akane and stand his ground. I also felt like they did a good job telegraphing Ranma’s general fighting style during his sparring match with Akane. He spent the entire time dodging her attacks with incredible ease, which emphasizes his speed. Generally speaking, I’d describe Ranma as a very agile, thinking-on-his feet kind of fighter, but that’s something we’ll see more of in later episodes. I was going to do a big thing about his personality, but I feel like anything more than what I’ve said hasn’t really borne out in what we have, so I’ll wait for another time to do that.

Like I said in my Introduction post, I will be ranking each episode as they appear, and as this is the only one I’ve seen in the rewatch, it is both the best one and the worst one so far. The real question is how it will stand up next time, when I’ll be able to compare it to the second episode, “School is No Place for Horsing Around”. See you then!

#episode 1 #here's ranma #the strange stranger from china #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #akane tendo #lgbtq #anime analysis #anime rewatch

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trishyeves · 4 years

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Episode 4-Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Oh boy, we are back into the Ranma Rewatch and this time it’s the fourth episode, titled “Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another”. That is definitely the kind of title I remember more from this show: incredibly long and silly. I love it in any series where the titles are like half-formed sentences. As for what I’m expecting in this episode...I honestly don’t really remember. We’re already reaching the edges of my memory, so I look forward to seeing it with fresh eyes.

Yeah, I had pretty much forgotten about most of the stuff that happened in this episode, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The episode starts with Ranma having a bad dream about Kuno professing his love and asking him out. After waking up in a cold sweat, Ranma takes a bath and shenanigans happen.

There’s some cute banter between Ranma and Akane on the way to school, then a threepeat of the fight against all the guys trying to ask her out. Kuno makes an appearance at the end again, but this time he’d taken out in one combined hit from both Ranma and Akane. He’s tended to in the nurse’s office afterwards by Nabiki, who finds out from his sleep talking that he’s fallen in love with ‘the pigtailed girl’ in addition to Akane, and feels conflicted over who he should choose.

Seeing an opportunity, Nabiki abuses the fact that apparently Ranma is a heavy sleeper to activate his curse as he sleeps, takes a bunch of sexy pics, then turns him back, all without him ever waking up. Not too long later, she gets a surprise message from Kuno, asking to meet up.

He treats her to a meal, asking her the favor of delivering a cute doll he got as a present to its recipient: the pigtailed girl. Before addressing that idea, Nabiki tempts him with the sexy pictures of his new waifu, only letting him even see them if Kuno treats her to spaghetti. I thought that might be a dub change, but it’s not, either language they still go out for Italian pasta. She sells them to him for 1000 yen a pop, then asks if he’s giving up on Akane then. He clarifies that he intends to pursue them both, so Nabiki reveals there are Akane pictures available too. In exchange for free ice cream, and the same price per picture, she sells him those too.

Only with that done does she tell him how to get his present to the pigtailed girl: Ranma is the only way. She doesn’t explain why, but Kuno doesn’t dig too deeply into it. She couriers a letter to the titular protagonist, asking for a meet up, which Ranma goes to. Once it becomes clear exactly what Kuno is asking for, Ranma rebuffs him, saying he’ll never see his precious pigtailed girl ever again.

This threat becomes somewhat toothless when someone randomly dumping water out of their window activates Ranma’s curse, and Kuno quickly embraces the object of his affections. This hug becomes a little awkward when Nabiki appears and douses Ranma with hot water, and Kuno realizes who he is ‘now’ hugging. You might think this would mean he has some understanding of what’s going on, but Kuno’s immediate thought is that Ranma knows some vile sorcery.

When Nabiki realizes how dense Kuno really is, she decides to phrase it to him as Ranma ‘owning the pigtailed girl’s body and soul’, which is not technically a lie. That said, of course Kuno interprets that as meaning that somehow Ranma has the warrior woman he loves enslaved to him in some way, so a fight breaks out.

When Ranma sees the photos Kuno has on him, it distracts him enough to take a hit to the torso, just as Akane arrives. Just as Kuno starts getting serious, the air pressure from his piercing attacks alone strong enough to crack a statue apart, Ranma counteracts and wins, though it becomes clear his injury hurts like hell, even if he’s trying to ignore it.

And that’s it, no cliffhangers this time around. Now that Kuno’s love for Ranma’s alter ego has been established, the actual meat of what that means, namely how he sees them as two separate people and chases one while attacking the other, is what this episode works to make clear. It also sets up his and Nabiki’s dynamic more, but that’ll be something I talk about more in just a little bit.

There are two kind-of bigger things I want to pull out of this episode. First one being the dream sequence at the start. Now, I am fairly sure that whole bit is meant to be there for comedy, in a very ‘gay panic’ kind of way. Which honestly...does not play super well these days. Ranma’s terror at the dream, on a surface reading, has to do with him being super grossed out that some dude is in love with him.

Of course, there are other ways to read the scene as well. I’m sure some people might instead look at it as being less a nightmare and more like Ranma running away from his own possible attraction to another guy, and while that’s definitely possible, I didn’t really get that vibe at all. That said, if you did, rock on.

What I saw as more likely was a gender-based reading. Ranma is, more than anything else, freaked out by Kuno’s love declaration because it’s someone seeing him as something he’s not, a woman. Kuno isn’t interested in Ranma, he’s interested in a woman who doesn’t exist. Ranma has a lot of complicated feelings tied up in his masculinity, which his curse doesn’t exactly help with, and Kuno’s attraction to his cursed form just makes it all worse.

Speaking of attraction, let’s talk about Kuno. The fact that everyone calls his affections for two people at the same time ‘two timing’ is a bit vexing to me. As someone who has been in polyamorous relationships before, I can attest to the fact that liking more than one person at a time is totally okay, and if everyone involved is okay with it, dating multiple people is also okay.

That is kind of the problem though. Neither Akane or Ranma like Kuno, and neither is likely to want to date him, regardless of if he’s dating someone else at the time. Their problem with Kuno isn’t his dual attraction, it’s that they just plain don’t care for the guy. (And Ranma probably doesn’t swing that way, but he could be repressing it so what the hell do I know.) Even with that in mind, I still kind of roll my eyes at how Kuno ‘liking two girls’ is treated as a perversion. That just kinda sucks.

Last thing before the character spotlight I can think of is that I really liked the fight in this episode, the action was pretty good. ... Listen, I know that’s not exactly expert analysis, but it’s what I got.

I feel like covering Nabiki now is pretty much a no brainer. Of all the side characters introduced so far, she’s easily gotten the most shading, and this episode in particular develops her further for the audience. In terms of voice acting, she’s played in English by Angel Costain and in Japanese by Minami Takayama. Angela isn’t known for much else, which is quite a shame, because she’s pretty fantastic, in my personal opinion. Minami, on the other hand, has a pretty huge resume, and along with the voice actors for Akane, Ranma’s cursed form, Kasumi, and a character we haven’t met yet, was in a pop group called DoCo.

In terms of acting, they both play her fairly similarly. A normal girl at first glance, but with quite the amount of dry wit and sarcasm lying beneath that surface. The main difference I’ve seen so far is that Angela seems to have more mirth to her performance, while Minami’s is a bit more deadpan. Both are good, though I definitely prefer the english performance so far.

But what is Nabiki actually like? Well, of the three Tendo siblings, Nabiki hides who she is more than the others. For the first few episodes, she comes across as a fairly unassuming character, most known for her occasional snark. But this episode is where we get to see her primary character trait: greed. Nabiki is quite happy to take advantage of Ranma’s curse to make money, though how far she’s willing to go for the yen hasn’t really been made clear.

It is worth noting that, while her pictures of Ranma were very sexy and revealing, her pictures of Akane were just of her working out and stuff, far less of an invasion of her sister’s privacy. Does she have better respect for family than the freeloaders who live with them? That’s to be seen.

Another big character trait we’ve gotten so far is her...friendship? Sure, let’s go with that, her friendship with Kuno. Always happy to try and pop his inflated ego with her sharp wit, they have a good comedy routine going. At the same time, she does seem to legitimately be there for him, since she was taking care of him after he got knocked out. They get shipped a lot, which I definitely see the appeal of, but part of me just kind of likes the idea that they’ve just known each other for a long time, and they just kind of have a thing going. Not that any kind of friendship they may have is coming close to stopping her from bilking him from as much money and free food as she can. Of course, Kuno is quite rich, so he can afford it.

Some people have described Nabiki as a villain, but I wouldn’t really agree with that. What she is, is someone happy to create conflict. She’s a fun addition to the cast, and I can’t think of any time in my previous watch-throughs where I got tired of her being there. (Which is not something I can say about every character in this series.)

Now it’s time to rank the episodes once again. Of the four episodes so far, I can immediately say this one is in the top half. I enjoyed Nabiki’s antics and the marital arts quite a bit, but I don’t think it’s quite as strong as the second episode. So far, that means the rankings are:

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Will next week’s episode be just as entertaining? Well, I don’t know, but from what I remember about episode 5, “Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart”, I don’t think that will be the case. See you then!

#episode 4 #Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing It’s Another #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #akane tendo #nabiki tendo #tatewaki kuno #anime analysis #anime rewatch

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kewltie · 4 years

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“Papa, we need to talk,” Kasumi says, strolling into the living room with a thick binder tucked against her chest.

“Yes?” Papa stops folding their laundry and turns to her, adopting a serious expression on his face. “Unicorn’s vomit?”

Kasumi nods her head. Unicorn’s vomit is their secret code for dire, serious business that requires their full attention. “It’s about your marriage,” she answers gravely.

Papa blinks. "Say that again?"

"Marry," she says, enunciating the word carefully. "It's about time for you to get marry, so I brought some options for you to choose from."

"Kasumi-chan, I thought we’d talked about this." Papa frowns, looking concern. "I'm happy with just us two. I'm not looking for another person to add into our family."

Kasumi sighs, because they did but Papa fought it off every time like it's her happiness is on the line here and not his. She got this though. Didn't spend an hour rehearsing her argument to not win.

“Papa," she starts, "I’m getting older now and one day I won’t be able to take care of you anymore—“

“You’re ten,” Papa cuts in.

Kasumi scowls. “That’s not the point though! I’m just saying I can’t always be with you and I don’t want you to feel lonely when I’m not there.”

“I won’t be alone,” Papa points out. “I have your grandmother with me.”

“Who will die before you,” she counters viciously. And then, she sends a silence apology to grandmother for using her against Papa. “And where will that leave you?”

Papa winces. “Can we please not speak of death so early in the morning?”

Kasumi’s lips thin in displeasure, but she lets her shoulders hunched over, making herself smaller as she says, “I just want you to be happy and surrounded by someone who can love you even when I’m not there.”

Papa's eyes soften at her words.

Jackpot. Now going in for the kill, Kasumi looks away for a second and drops her voice to a slight tremor like she can barely contain her emotion. "A—and I always wanted to know what it's like to have another parent like all the other kids."

"Oh, Kasumi-chan," Papa breaths, and there's a slight wet sheen to his eyes. He catches her free hand in his and squeezes it comfortingly. His lips wobble precariously but he holds firm enough to says, "Okay, I understand."

Kasumi tries not to smile but it's near thing.

It's a silence and unacknowledged victory, but she'll take it. "Perfect," she declares, pulling away from Papa enough to show him her portfolio. "This," she points toward her binder, "is 'Operation: Get Papa a Rich Handsome Alpha Husband' or as I call it 'Get rich or Die Trying'."

"That's—" Papa frowns, making a face before finally settling on, "a cute name."

Kasumi puffs up her chest proudly. It took her some time to come up with it. "Isn't it?" She opens the binder and steers Papa's eyes to the first page. "Now, I'd carefully handpicked and narrowed down a handful of viable candidates so far for you. I'd chosen only the best of the bests for you, Papa!" She flips to the next page where several categories are listed out. "I placed each candidate in order by how they fair in the ratings in the criteria I found them in."

Papa cocks his head thoughtfully. "Such as?"

"Well, wealth for one, then looks, family oriented, reputation, employment," she starts, listing them off one by one, "character, likeability, past relationship, education, health, and feelings toward the quirkless."

Papa's eyes twitches. "That's very thorough, Kasumi-chan."

"I did my homework." She preens. It took her several months to gather all the necessary information needed for her data sheets, but she'd pulled through. The fact that a lot of things can be found on the internet had helped a lot, but it was a long and arduous work. Anything for her Papa, indeed.

"Thank you for the hard work." Papa's eyes crinkle and he smiles softly at her. "You're amazing as always, Kasumi-chan." And it's this kind of thing that make Kasumi's heart soar because only Papa, her dearest Papa, make her feels so elated that he wants to launch herself into his lap and scream in joy. She’d known that she’s strong and mighty only because she got Papa to support her up.

At the end of the day, Kasumi is really no good without her Papa.

So, right, she got a mission to complete. "Of course." She clears her throat. Turning several pages forward, she lands on a spread with a picture glued to a corner, several graphs, and blocks of text all over it. "Now, the no. 1 candidate so far at a 7.2 rating is Hirota Ryuu—"

"Our family doctor?" Papa's brows furrow. "And your highest is a 7.2 out of what, a ten?"

"Yes, Hirota-sensei! And there's always room for improvement." She huffs. "Not everyone can be as perfect as you and me, Papa."

Papa stifles a laugh into his hand. "Okay, go on."

"Alright," she says, straightening her back. "For one thing: he's handsome enough that you won't get bored looking at his face, he's a doctor so he must make enough money to spoil you, and he's nice. All the kids and parents I'd interviewed like him a lot. And so do you." Kasumi eyes Papa pointedly and Papa blushes. “He’s blond. Just your type, Papa.”

"Well, he is handsome," he admits wistfully. “And I do like blond hair.”

"Good," she nods her head, pleased with herself, "because I gave him bonus point for that. Anyone that you attracted to get extra points for making you happy,” she says, touching a careless hand to a stray blond hair of her own. Papa really does like blond hair.

Papa's lips wobble again and he reaches out for a hug but she steps out of the way, shaking her head. "Nope, not until I'm done then you can give me all the snuggles and kisses you want," she says, like it's a heavy burden to be basked in Papa's loving attention and care.

Papa's face fall as he sits back down, but he holds himself still and rapt in attention before her again. "Okay, so," she plows on, "Hirota-sensei scores pretty good all across the board, but the only reason his score is that low is the fact he's a serial dater." She makes a face."I can't have Papa competing with others for sensei's attention when it's the other way around. Your partner should always put your first and foremost!"

"Right," Papa agrees in amusement, which made Kasumi's narrow her eyes slightly because this is serious business.

It's Papa's happiness on the line here, so she's not playing around. "Alright, so next we have as candidate no. 2 is," she says, flipping several pages ahead, "Todoroki Shouto or as he is known to the public Hero Synergy. He's a 7.0 and a pretty good catch overall. I think he’s good secondary choice."

Papa perks up at that.

"You love heroes and he's from a family of them so that gave Todoroki-san a huge advantage over the other competitors,” she continues. “And if you look at his income bracket—”

Papa grimaces. “Kasumi-chan, is that category really necessary? Isn’t just enough if I like him at all?”

Kasumi gives him a look. "Papa, I may be young but I'm no fool," she says, rolling her eyes. "Love alone is not going keep a roof over our head and put food on our table. Here," she points toward a number distribution chart, "this is the average annual income for a top ranking hero. Since his father was a former no. 1 and he also got a good reputation with the public, Todoroki-san has a good amount of sponsors and contracts. That’s mean he’s loaded, Papa,” she says the last sentence carefully in case Papa hadn’t pick up the clue yet.

Papa heaves an amused sigh and nods. “Alright, he’s rich got it.”

“Now, his only downsize," Kasumi grimaces, "is that he got the personality of a brick wall."

Papa chokes out a laugh. "You shouldn't say something like that, Kasumi-chan!"

"Well," she starts, looking heavenward in annoyance, "he is a little dull. His interviews all come off as tedious as watching paint dry and I nearly fell asleep a minute in watching them. His beautiful face can only get him so far. A handsome partner is fine but if their personality is nothing but a stale bread then you'll only get bored later. Emi-chan told me that a relationship need some spice in it to spark passion," she explains. Emi is only a months older than her, but she held hand with a boy before so she knows what she's saying.

Papa reels back, flushing. "You're too young to have that kind of conversation with your friends."

"Okay," she lies effortlessly, like the lying liar that she is. "So moving on to no. 3 now." She turns the page once more, but this time reluctantly as she lands on the next one.

"He's—" she pulls a face, "not my prefer choice but, here is Bakugou Katsuki or Hero Ground Zero as you may know him with a 6.9 rating."

Papa immediately stiffens at that name and eyes zeroes in on Bakugou's page right away. No surprise there.

Growing up, how can she not noticed that Bakugou have always been a trigger for Papa. "I don't like him," she states flatly with narrowed eyes. "Sure he's handsome, powerful, and is the no.1 hero in Japan but he's also rude, belligerent, and annoying." She can tick off all his flaws all day, she isn’t going to waste her breath on him. "There are other candidates fairing much better than him all other categories. He's only rated so high," she eyes Papa meaningfully, "because you like-like him so much."

Papa stutters. "W-what?!”

"I know about the photos of Zero you've collected and hidden under the bed! You don't have to lie to me, Papa," she says, smiling sharply. "I know of your crush on him. You watched his entire interviews and bought all his merchs like you don't know I wasn't going to find it eventually. I even think he’s the reason you have such a blond fetish."

“Don’t say fetish. Who even taught you that word?” Papa drops his face into his hand and groans. "Mercy. Mercy, please, Kasumi-chan. Let me live.”

“I just pity any offspring produce from his DNA,” she grumbles. “They’re probably as terrible as him.”

Papa lifts his head and breathes, “Oh, Kasumi-chan, you’re going to regret those words so much.”

#bakudeku #fic snippet #if kasumi was born and raised in secret in canon bnha verse instead #and izuku is just a normal civilian single parent but HIS DAUGHTER #SUPER SMART AND TERRYFYING GOT IDEAS IN HER HEAD #kasumi in canonland

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polar-stars · 4 years

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3rd out of an 5 part ask of @smokeprincess24 (sorry that it took a bit)

👹 How does you OC act around different people and how does their personality change to match the environment they’re in? How do they act with: friends, family, strangers, children or their lover(s)?

For the most part, Yasu is just more open and comfortable around people he's close to. He's friendly and polite to strangers, but also rather closeted and he won't expose all too much of himself. Around his friends and family he's just a bit more prone to be more talkative, even joke here and there and just generally be more laid-back so to speak.

🍅 How easily is your OC embarassed? What subjects make them flush and why? What event has made your OC the most embarassed they’ve ever been?

Yasu is not all too easily embarrassed and when he is, he's still rather good at hiding it actually. He blushes mainly at sexual things being openly discussed because he thinks that's inappropriate.

He's usually good enough at reading people and a situation to know what to say…So when someone gives him the impression he said the wrong thing, that certainly embarrasses him as well.

💥 Are there any emotions your OC doesn’t know how to deal with, doesn’t understand or hates having to feel? Any reason behind this?

Answered already.

🏀 Does your OC have any skills that people wouldn’t expect them to have? Do they have a hobby or pass time that others would consider strange or weird? How did they learn this particular skill or pick up this hobby?

The fact that Yasu can dance as well as he can is much of a surprise to quite a few people and not many find out, since he does not often dance anyway and rather sits somewhere at the sides of parties.

He also has aa hidden poetic side to him and writes poems and song texts in secret at times. He himself doesn't consider them good enough though to show them to anyone.

⭐ Does your OC like to sleep alone or do they enjoy sharing their bed? Have they been to any sleepovers? Have they ever been camping? What did they think of the experiences if so?

As I've said already, he did share a bed at times with Chieko when they were really small smols and he never really minded it. It was fun listening to her discussing various theories and stuff she had thought over throughout the day and he liked it.

He does not have all too much experience beyond that, except for having to share a bed with his sister Kasumi at times (which was also not much bother to him since Kasumi is rather peaceful) and he does not think off it as anything special.

🍏 When your OC says “I had a bad day” what does that tend to mean? Is it really as bad as they’re saying or are they being a bit dramatic?

When Yasu speaks about a bad day it's most likely truly, truly bad. He's not really one to over exaggerate and he's also not one to speak up a lot over being upset or something in the first place. So when he actually opens his mouth and says he's having it rough this day? That definitely means that it's serious.

At the same time he doesn't really use this phrase as a way to say "please comfort me" but it's more of a way of telling whoever he's talking to that he's most likely not going to be as polite and friendly as usual….it's an advanced apology in a sense should he maybe snap. In order to avoid such he quickly retreats in his room anyway.

Again…Yasu pushes people away when upset.

🐉 How religious is your OC? Do they pray to any god(s) or do they not believe in that kind of stuff? What is their view of religion in general? Where do they believe people go when they die? If your OC is not religious why not and what do they believe in otherwise?

Yasu was raised to be a Buddhist by Ryoko and does hold on to the religion all his life. But at the same time his beliefs do not really affect his daily life all too immensely.

To him it does still have something comforting though in a sense.

💧 What is something from your OC’s past they’re the most ashamed of and why? What is something they’re really proud of? And lastly what is something in their past that could make them shake with dread?

What Yasu is truly going to be massively ashamed off is yet to come in the future,

Other than that, Yasu is very skilled off avoiding blunders and while of course he was embarrassed here and there there's no real major event so far that truly stands out to him as the most embarrassing thing that ever happened.

🐟 What was your OC like as a baby? What were they like as a child? A teenager? An adult? How do you think they’ll develop ten years into their future? Twenty years? Will they live to old age?

As a baby, Yasu was already more calm than other babies and didn't make all too much tumult; which Ryoko interpreted as a sign for having chosen the right name for him ("Yasu" means "peace, quiet"). He showed an affinity for nature early on and would show himself incredibly happy when Ryoko or Shun would take him outside into their garden or a park or something and set him down in the grass.

As a child he was not really the most social kid around but thanks to his mother he had learned enough polite phrases to get on everyone's good terms. While he did not make all too many friends, he was always pretty well-liked and in the end he always had Chieko as a friend. He ultimately spent most of his time with his parents however (Chieko in the end still lives in Tokyo, while he grew up outside of town and as I said he didn't spent all too much time with his peers in the small town he lives in) and helped them out a lot. His favorite hobby as a child was most definitely the exploration of the forest that's close to the family's house.

As a teen he'd grew into a very friendly and calm young man who does usually not have all too much problems to get on people's good sides. While he's still much of an introvert, he's more sociable and open than he was as child thanks to Polar Star's influence mainly. He also came to idolize his parents however and carries an everlasting fear of disappointing them.

Yasu won't change all too much as an adult, given that he was already rather mature for his age when he was a teen. He will have learned some of the errors in his ways however (like his overexaggerated protectiveness over Chieko) and also his worries regarding his parents will have been eased. I see him getting married rather late in his 20s honestly.

🍇 Does your OC have any bad habits? Does your OC have any addictions like smoking or drinking? How did they fall into these habits and why?

Yasu's major bad habit is definitely trying to gulp down all of his negative emotions because he feels he would be a bother if he were to vent and just let them out. He looks out for other people a good bunch of times but when it comes to his own emotions he likes to ignore them until he's alone with them at night creating the perfect conditions to overthink everything (which does not help…ever).

He also drinks on Polar Star Parties but he can hold his liquor. No one ever saw Yasu drunk.

🔮What does your OC think is their best trait. What is actually their best trait? What about their flaws? Are they one to admit these flaws or do they like to pretend they’re perfect?

Yasu thinks his best trait is his politeness but I'd say his best trait is his care.

A flaw of his is that his own worries, anxieties or envy can cloud his view and his judgement immensely at times.

🌸 What’s a sentence that would make your OC’s day better? One that would make them laugh? One that would make their day worse? Why? What words would you have to say to them to completely ruin their day?

A sentence that can always make his day better is certainly "Can I use your [insert fermentation product here]?" He really wants to support his mother's business on Totsuki and advertises it whenever he cans. It really makes him happy when his efforts pay off.

A sentence that can ruin his day is any sentence that has both "Chieko Marui" and "Shigeo Eizan" in it.

🌷 How much effort does your OC put into their looks? Do they care much about how they’re dressed or what their hair looks like or are they not bothered? Could they be considered a snob or a slob?

Yasu's pretty casual in his fashion choice and is mainly concerned over wether the clothes are comfortable and loose than anything else.

He takes rather good care of his hair though but there's not much else that concerns him a lot.

❤️ What inspired you to make this OC? How long have you had them? How have they changed in the time you’ve been developing them?

Shun/Ryoko was one of my first ships…of course I wanted to give them a child. Yasu is one of my first Fanchild OCs and was created alongside Kimiko, Mika and Hiroshi. He was really tough to design as I had a lot of trouble mixing Shun's and Ryoko's designs. Eventually I came up with the idea to give him Shun's blinding bangs and Ryoko's silkiness but…how exactly that would look changed multiple times throughout the years ahdhd He truly took long to be finalized in that area.

Character-Wise, I decided very quickly that he'd be Chieko's best friend. Because of course he would. It also didn't took me long to characterize him as peaceful, calm and such…given that I had literally named him that.

Over the years he hasn't changed all too much personality-wise. But I went through a lot, a lot of story-ideas with him…many of them very angst.

🧡 What traits of your own do you see in this OC? Are they a little bit self-inserty? Don’t be shy, we all put parts of ourselves into the creations we love!

I do always try my best to be polite, especially in Real Life. I don't think I excel at this as good as Yasu does because I do tend to be inattentive to my surroundings at times but well….It's still something?

I do ultimately prefer the ocean but I also like the forest as well. Also we have a bit of the same view on religion, although we're not part of the same religion ahdhd

What I majorly can relate to in Yasu though is his tendency to always attempt to shut down all negative feelings because I do as well like to pretend that sadness and anger do not exist.

💚 Are you writing anything with this OC or planning on writing anything for them? Do you rp with them or are they just for fun to mess around with?

You gave me asks for them but I'm still into figuring out how exactly to write them ; 7 ;

💗 Ramble a bit about this character!

Yasu can be greatly used for angst but in the end I do want to know him happy. He deserves it.

He'll makes some mistakes here and there but in the end, he's always trying his best. I really don't know how to construct his future really…ovo;; But I hope I'll eventually figure it out.

#Gofer answering to stuffz #Yasu Ibusaki #Shokugeki no Kimiko Stuffz

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bionicdragonguardian1 · 4 years

Text

Ranma 2/4

Part 3; Final: chapter 26-38

After this it’s on to good and proper timeline deliberation

These two are honest-to-God morons and I want to punch them in the face

*sigh* Ranma…

Y’know I almost had hope that this differed in the manga

Guess not

I DO NOT approve of alienation

However, getting emotional character development out of Ranma is like pulling teeth

So alienate away

Emotional Oof

THANK YOU!

*chuckles* Ryoga, you’re great

BREATHE

He’s dying don’t kill him early

FINALLY!

Ooo

didn’t see that coming

*tightly* I’m fine

okay, Ranma, you know what to do

*heaves giant ass sigh* RANMA!

*screams*

Look I know no chill, kay, shut up

RIP my shipping heart

*sighs* FUCK!

Not gonna lie, I’m Ranma

Careful, Akane might kill you

And with the way Hinako’s acting she deserves it

I’m actually with Nabiki on this one

I love how Ranma is rolling with this

Ooo that’s gonna sting

Those 3 are terrifying, honestly

Hinako, your timing is awful

STOP USING RANMA AS YOUR LANDING PAD SHAMPOO!

Ranma blubbering hurts WAY more than I thought it would

Ranma, you’re digging your own grave here

Someone call me when he learns his lesson FINALLY

*cringes* Yikes, tbh I can’t tell if she’s playing him

Ranma you shit

WHY

Why is it always Kuno?!

Oof this gonna hurt w Kuno’s understanding of Ranma’s curse

Expect all Ranma and Kuno- especially Ranko- interactions to hurt really bad

Ukyo, you’re an idiot

You too Ryoga

Honestly

Alright, that’s funny

Ukyo, you’re lucky they’re dumb

Oh God, you two are SO wrong, but I love it

Aaand what does that say about you two Akane?

Ooo I could make this really mean

It’s SO tempting

Well, that went nowhere

Poor Ranma

So many trans vibes, honestly

*screams* HOW? Who? WHY?!

Wha-wha-what?!?!

Ouch, that’s gonna sting SO bad

heheh

Ouch, that hurt surprisingly more than I thought it would

Further proof that Genma SUCKS

Just this once, gimme soft

PLEASE

Close enough…

Okay, this fight was AWESOME!!

*sigh* Why am I even surprised by Genma’s reasoning anymore?

If Ranma cries, Imma cry

Excuse me while I go scream

I literally don’t even know what to do with this

Chuck it in the fuck it bucket and move on, I guess

okay, the end was funny though

Soun, is that bird didn’t look out of it’s gourd I’d believe you

*Chucks whole birdhouse* “fair”

A+ pic of Ranma

In his defense, he can argue something else, they just won’t listen cuz Shampoo won’t go with the truth

Alright, so Shampoo is smart, but with Ranma she’s an idiot

Wouldn’t the smart idea be to send Ranma AND Akane in with all 4 objects at the start?

Ok, Shampoo Sleep-Fighting is funny

Ranma is so underwhelmed that he’s just not even caring anymore

How Kasumi the scariest one to be possessed

Alright, anything with Nabiki on the cover worries me

Holy Shit he played Nabiki

I’d be impressed if I wasn’t annoyed to hell

Let’s all be glad right now that Genma never mastered this

Where do you think he would’ve sent it?

My inclination’s the Tendos

If nothing else I’m impressed by Nabiki

Now play this man like a kazoo PLEASE

When Ranma lectures you on how you’re acting like kids, you done fucked up

I’m with Ranma

Are you sure Akane?

Cuz I’m not

Heheheheh

Thems the breaks Ranma

You deserve it

Holy Shit Ryoga, nice

Now, I understand that Pigs are your life, but you might be dead

And honestly, I don’t blame him

Okay, that one’s gonna hurt

No matter how you slice it

Morality, Ranma, I know you have it

I hate this

Ok, that was uncalled for

Ranma he’s gonna kill you

Also WTF are you thinking?!?

Oof

Wait… what?

I’m officially concerned

Ok, I actually kinda like this interlude

Akane… seriously, trust is a thing you need to learn

One would think she’d learn…

Okay, that is actually creepy

I would too Ranma, I would too

Jesus fucking Christ, you suck Happosai

LetRanmaMeetHisMomCOVID19!

Gemma you shit

Happosai, go fuck yourself

Nevermind, don’t let him meet her, this is ridiculous

“Where’s the fridge?” “Akane wanted it”

I shouldn’t’ve laughed as hard as I did

*sigh* I just want Ranma to have ONE normal parental figure in his life, is that too much to ask?!

I already hate this idea

He comes back Imma scream

Since when?

On what planet does penpal = boyfriend/girlfriend?

Ryoga, PICK ONE!

I’m getting annoyed with you Ryoga, which sucks cuz you’re one of my faves

Ryoga, how are you this gullible?

You deserved that Ranma

I would wish the fate of being Kuno’s wife on no one

Ever

Congrats Ukyo you’ve actually made me freak out

I don’t appreciate it

At all

*shudders*

Oh this is SO weird

Of y’all keep making comments like this WHY do you keep trying?!

Nevermind it’s Hiroshi and Daisuke, they’re in the know

I’m going to say it again

AKANE LEARNS TO SWIM LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!

This is why you don’t buy cheap food people

I can’t lie, I’ve been waiting for Akane to get possessed

That moment when the ghost is honestly being a bit too sensitive

Actually, he didn’t, so shut up

I could make the Hawaiian thing so Explicit

But I won’t, cuz y’know consequences and stuff

I’m not going to ask how Ashura drowned at Josenkyo

Taro, quit being a dick, you turn into a Minatour-like thing

God he’s dumb

When Crazy and Crazy wanna duke it out, Ranma’s got the right idea

Excuse me, what?!

Ooo, now you’ve made Akane mad, run

Wtf is wrong with you, Kodachi, he’s literally unconscious!

I think that was almost character development?

I can’t tell

Ranma should not look that good in a suit

Whoa, she actually like… said it

Damn

Everyone’s got 4 sec to start treating Ranma like a person

Oof, right in his pride

Akane, I need you to stop being cute for 3 sec so I can focus

Yeah, I ain’t making it dormant

Ranma, I can’t tell if this is sexism or jealousy, either way it looks ugly on you

“At least he’s scaring the cats” harsh Kasumi

Okay, so I’m 90% sure it’s just jealousy, which better but still ugh

Ranma, you can be kickass when Akane is too

Ya goddamn moron

I’m going to beat that into him

There will probs be some angst about that

Not gonna lie

Look I’m good at it

Sorry

Ranma, if you want to get MURDERED that’s the way to do it

Smooth one, idiot

Called out

You better do this right or I swear, I’ll kill you myself, Ranma

I believe that is a fail

Of epic proportions, congrats

You NEED to learn to keep your mouth shut Soun

Awww

But he’s not lying!

Ranma, just run, she’s actually pissed this time

FUCKING RUN!

Alright, Akane, NO

You’re playing into the patriarchy

Oh, right… 80’s...

I’m changing that!!

Oh My God PLEASE tell me Ranma gets deaged!! Please!

Ranma’s got more patience for assholes than I do

Jesus

Hah

He deserved that

Part of me wants to see Kasumi actually get pissed off

YES!!

I LOVE degaging plots!

Ranma, I want you to math that one out, just a little

YES!

I am LIVING for this!

There is so much wrong with that sentence Kodachi

Ok, that was a little too cruel Akane

Someone either get Mousse recognized as Legally Blind

Or someone get him glasses that work!

Either one, but PLEASE

I just got a “draw me like one of your french girls” joke from a horse

Even though the widespread joke is LITERALLY at least 30 years later than this image

OOF

Ice Cold

We’re running out of chapters for her to find out

She better have a canon way of doing it otherwise I’m gonna be really mean with it…

Bean… Gun… Plant…

Eh Seen weirder

Aww Valentine’s Day chapter!

Yes!

Poor Ranma

These two are blind to each other

Heheh

Aww

I love these dorks

Heheh oops, busted

I still just find the principal an honest annoyance

Wait… when did Ranma start wearing a school uniform?

Congrats Miss Hinako!

I just now realized that I’m going to have write someone who is ok with having a female chest

Gag me with a spoon

Bleh

I’m bad at that

I really do want to give Ranma clothes that do actually fit his female form

Ranma needs to look at the terms and conditions of good curse

Cuz this is getting creative

Uh oh

Ranma you have a brain, please use it

Hehe, she’s doing her body laundry

Oh shit

THANK YOU SOUN!

Fucking Happosai

Why are you the actual worst!

Oh shit

Goddammit Nodoka

That one was ALL on you

I expected this from Nabiki, but wtf Nodoka?!

Happosai you twisted fuck

Heheheh alright that’s funny

If nothing else Shampoo is sneaky

WHY is that the only way to undo it?!

Poor Akane she is so lost

Aw, poor Ryoga

Definitely not, Akane, but thank you for posing that question

Thank you for calling him out on his ego

This would be hilarious to see this before anyone had any bit of a clue about Ranma’s two forms

Also, Ranma, you need to keep her safe from the Kunos

*sigh* Akane, you’re wrong

Ooo, not good

And that is what no self control looks like folks

What is with that ending?

And this is what manipulation look like folks

Also, y’know, robbing someone blind

I’m assuming this is Konatsu and I love them already

I’m using they/them cuz I’m unsure of what pronouns to use

Y’know I thought the Cinderella thing was a joke, turns out I was wrong

I do not understand Konatsu’s thought process w Ukyo at all

Also, can you not knock them out?

I am forgetting the name of that one Hero from Supergirl but if my understanding Konatsu is correct I’m DEFINITELY going to do that

Yeah, that’s NOT how that’s gonna go over

Okay, can we all agree that the trick Kuno used on Ranma is HORRIBLE, right?

Wholeass mood for Ranma

Like you two need to shut up

I just want Ranma to wear a sun shirt and trunks to the beach ONCE

Ryoga… how are you so lost that you came up through the ground?

Ranma, how are you both a dick and a good friend at the same time?

Just tell me How on Earth did Akari justify the hot water for Ryoga with revealing that he’s Pchan

I’d like to think that’d be something they wouldn’t skip over

No questions, just punches a grave

Why does that grave hit back?

Honestly Nodoka almost finding is stressing me out

I could be SO angsty with the Neko-ken Fear thing

Someone tell me not to I’m that much of an asshole

So glad that she’s apparently gonna learn bc I would’ve been SO mean

God, Genma you actually suck

Oh, thank God she’s not too smart

The fact that he’s 300% ready to die is actually depressing

That was actually quite touching

If we ignore the way Ranma phrasing that is just plain wrong

Uhm… what?

C-can she do that?

I hope not

God, you two are so dumb!

Is her definition of “manly” emotionless?!

Bitch, have a heart!

Oh God make them ALL leave! ALL OF THEM!

You feel? You said “you’re leaving”

Ranma, the fact that you didn’t put that together I can’t help you Like my dad says “I can’t fix stupid”

The fact that he feels the need to run screaming from his own house…

Nabiki, WHY

I’m convinced at this point that there is something Nabiki HATES about Ranma and that’s why she’s making his life a living hell

Cuz you do realize at least ⅓ of his problems are because she told someone something that was private

I can’t tell if that’s an insult or a backhanded comment

Either way, RUDE

I can’t tell, is that Konatsu or is that Tsubasa?

Must go back and check cuz Akane’s comment about “trasvestite and a homosexual” confused me since Ranma mentioned being “the first male kunoichi”But then who HAS TO BE Tsubasa says they’re a straight guy

*sigh*

Yep, nope, that’s Konatsu

My understanding was that Konatsu was like actually trans in canon

Apparently I mixed that up

I’m making it canon

MtF Konatsu

Bisexual Konatsu

One of these days someone is going to teach people to cook before assuming they know what they’re doing

Seriously It’s not that hard

Did they seriously just try to marry an unconscious Akane to Ranma?!

What The Fuck?!

Aww, she’s cute

Ryoga has a bad sense of direction, but he’s never missed before…

Okay, that’s a little strange

Why is she hatching?

Poor Mousse

Lol, that was so sweet until Ranma was dumb

It’s still sweet, who am I kidding

“Do I look like I wear Totoro underwear” oh that’s GOLDEN

Le shit

Firstly, Genma is still and idiot

Second, how is he already in Moscow?!

Third, why do I find this hilarious

Oh fuck

YES Kick her ass Akane!

I’m confused

Ok, was heralding back to the first chapter intentional?

Why does he have the staff in the bath?

Ok, I THINK I know what’s happening here…

Oof Can you two leave?

Ok, I was DEAD wrong

Wait…

If she…

If the DROWNED AKANE Imma commit murder

Damn, if you wanna piss off Ranma that’s how you do it

I don’t know why anyone would think pissing him off is smart

Oh, thank God, she’s okay

What is with this kid?

Why is he such a pain in the ASS?!

So I know she’s not dead

Unless SEVERAL DOZEN Fanfics have lied to me

Which is entirely possible since they were all listed as AUs

Uhm… Ranma… you okay?

Good, get him out cuz he’s clearly in shock

This hurts

Okay, hate to be the one who complains that Akane’s not dead, but that doesn’t track

At all

Can I rescience this?

Please?

Am I going to be an ass about it, probably, but it’s me no one should be surprised by that in any way

“Honored and crazy guest” I mean, accurate

Alright, Shampoo you’ve got exactly 1 chance

Then I’ll maybe apologize for calling you names constantly

Oh I am gonna be such an asshole in this scene

Also extend it some

Oh, God I could be such a dick

I’ll restrain

I’ll just write one-shots instead

Mousse do the right thing

You have a Moral Compass I know that!

“Anytime THIS YEAR!” Damn the witty quips

Yeah, but you won morally

That’s what’s important

Why the Scooby-Doo line?

Go Ranma!

Ok, so that comment about Ranma basically fighting a God is NOT an overstatement

Noted

Congrats Ranma you made me Google a word

Turns out it is a word that had its height of use in the 80s

Neat

Explains why I had no clue what it meant

Someone shoot those damn chicken brains OUT OF THE SKY!

“Only rocks”, rocks Ryoga just confirmed are 3 Tons

*sigh* I’m gonna have to physics the shit out of that

Joy

I cannot tell you the amount my heart dropped when I saw a full color double spread

Jesus Christ

DAMN

You’re gonna make me cry, dammit

Aww

YAY!

Heheh poor Ranma

Chill, hun, you’re good

Aww he’s tiny!

WHAT IS WITH YOU 2?!

STOP trying to marry your kids while they’re unconscious!

I’m not crying you are!

*tightly* I’m fine

Kodachi LET IT GO

Literally everyone else too! I hate you all

Just so it’s on the record I’m pissed

Ok, so “back to the start” is definitely an oversimplification because Akane knows Ranma loves her Ranma knows she knows

Akane! Your turn!

Ooo, IDEA!

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falneou17 · 4 years

Text

BanG Dream Favorite List - 6

With the introduction of Morfonica and the almost completion of the third season, I figured I might as well update this list a bit. I will add Morfonica on the list for now but keep in mind that I have very little information to go on for them. I also don’t play on the Japanese server anymore, so I don’t know what kind of an impact the new girls have on the franchise in that regard. All I got are their designs, their introductions, their character profiles, and their MV.

Favorites

Yamabuki Saaya (1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1)

The same old song and dance right here. While the gap between her and Moca is really small, it is still there and Saaya is still standing at the very top. For now, anyway.

Aoba Moca (2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2)

And with Saaya at the number 1 spot, Moca remains on the number 2 spot. She’s definitely easier for me to depict in fanfictions than Saaya is, but... being easier to depict does not make me like you more, unfortunately. I also semi-recently found out about this (because she did a collab with Yukki (Lisa) and Meguchi (Ako)), but Moca’s seiyuu has a Youtube account now as well! Been quite amusing to watch her so far.

Mitake Ran (3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3)

Despite being even easier for me to depict than Moca is, Ran remains on the bronze medal. That said, she’s definitely got a lot going for her, and she’s still growing as a vocalist more and more. All the props to her seiyuu!

Hazawa Tsugumi (4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4)

And look! The Tsuguteru is still on the number 4 spot; Rinko hasn’t surpassed her just yet. I mean... is there really anything left for me to say about this adorable bundle of cute of Afterglow? She’s a selfless hard worker and she keeps her friends going; and, despite remaining relatively static over the years, in Tsugu’s case it’s a good thing. Don’t fix what ain’t broke, am I right?

Imai Lisa (5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 5)

As a matter of fact, Rinko even lost her number five spot to Lisa. I am kind of being unfair here, but it’s my list so I can make my own rules... the fact that I actually like Lisa’s new seiyuu (and semi-regularly watch her Youtube channel where she is a ton of fun to watch as well) helps to indirectly raise Lisa up the ranks.

Shirokane Rinko (7, 6, 6, 5, 5, 6)

What can I say? ENdori has officially changed Rinko’s voice from Akesaka Satomi-san’s to Shizaki Kanon’s. And, if it hasn’t been made obvious by now... Akesaka-san really made Rinko who she was and the shift has been really... jarring, to put it lightly. She’s still high because she’s Rinko and there are a ton of amazing Rinko cards left to appear in the EN server, but... she might drop even further at this rate...

Satou “MASKING” Masuki (20, 21, 10, 9, 9, 7)

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Season 3 has a lot of problems. But the one thing they did well is truly allowing Raise a Suilen to grow; both as a collective unit as well as individuals. And nobody has grown as much as MASKING has. She’s literally transformed from the girl in the shadows who had like three lines in season 2 to the girl with the biggest impact in season 3. I mean, CHU2 is close, but she can’t reach MASKING’s level. ...get it, ‘cause CHU2′s sho-

Uehara Himari (6, 7, 8, 7, 7, 8)

Himari has actually grown, which can be seen in her jumping up into the favorites, but... she can’t keep up with MASKING. That said, the new voice lines that the EN server has received as a result of the anniversary have really allowed Himari to shine some more in my opinion.

Udagawa Tomoe (8, 8, 7, 8, 8, 9)

Honestly... Tomoe’s pretty much the same as Himari in this regard. She gained a bit of ground relative to those at the very top, but she just hasn’t gained enough to close that gap entirely...

Loves

Asahi Rokka (12, 12, 12, 12, 11, 10)

Like MASKING before her, Rokka has grown to become pretty much the protagonist of the third season... and she’s done a lot of growing for sure!

Tamade “CHU2″ Chiyu (13, 13, 16, 14, 15, 11)

Probably... a more controversial choice to push her this high up again, but... listen... Season 3 has really done her justice. It really allowed her to grow, for us to see her past and the darkness in her heart and it allowed her to, at least a little bit, try and surpass that. Pretty big things for such a shortie.

Maruyama Aya (9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 12)

The first time Aya dropped from the top ten, and it’s by two spots, too. And it’s not even that something happened to make me like Aya less; it’s just that the RAS girls who have surpassed her are that much better in my opinion. Bushiroad really knew what they were doing with RAS, that’s all I am going to say. Speaking of RAS...

Wakana “LAYER” Rei (25, 20, 15, 11, 13, 13)

Out of all the RAS girls, Rei is probably the one with the least amount of growth. We saw Rokka grow from her Season 2 shy and reclusive self to her more determined and confident form in Season 3. Masuki’s growth is insane. CHU2 and PAREO both had an entire episode dedicated to their past and inner demons. LAYER... doesn’t really have any of that. Sure she had little flashbacks, but nothing to the extent of the other girls... She’s still pretty high, though.

Wakamiya Eve (11, 10, 11, 13, 12, 14)

A bit of a drop thanks to the RAS girls, but still nothing too extreme... I think... there’s really not that much I can say about her aside from the usual, really. That said, the Bushido is strong and Eve will remain strong.

Nyubara “PAREO” Reona (14, 14, 14, 15, 16, 15)

She technically jumped to 15th spot, but she’s still at the bottom of the RAS girls... despite having an episode dedicated to her past demons... I dunno, it was definitely not badly written or executed or anything, I just didn’t get moved by it as much as I did with, say... her precious CHU2-sama...

Okusawa Misaki ( 10, 11, 13, 16, 14, 16)

Back down to the lowest ranking she’s ever been to. At least she didn’t drop below that yet... but, let’s be honest... with how she’s been doing, it is only a matter of time... especially if Morfonica ends up shooting past her like RAS has.

Likes

Hikawa Sayo (17, 16, 18, 18, 17, 17)

Sayo is... still very weird for me to place. She’s had a little moment in season 3 where she clashed against Yukina (being the only Roselia girl who openly clashed against her, surprisingly) which did raise her a bit... but then she apologized as if she was in the wrong, which... you guessed it, lowered her again. So I think putting her in the same spot as last time would be fair enough?

Futuba Tsukushi (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 18)

The first Morfonica girl on the list, and one that might surprise some people who I have talked with about Morfonica. Again, I have very little to go with when it comes to Morfonica, but what I do have makes me feel like Tsukushi has a lot of potential. Only time will tell if this first impression was right.

Ichigaya Arisa (15, 17, 17, 17, 18, 19)

Losing her 18th spot to a fellow twintail, there’s nothing that Arisa did that really made her “lose” the spot. I don’t like her less, it’s just that I can see the potential for Tsukushi.

Tsurumaki Kokoro (16, 15, 19, 19, 20, 20)

And back to the 20th spot for Kokoro. Like Arisa, nothing of note happening for her to jump up again, it’s just... she kinda did.

Kurata Mashiro (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 21)

The Morfonica girl people would probably think be my fave Morfonica girl so far. A lot of potential as well, especially with her seiyuu being the youngest seiyuu of the franchise by such a big margin. She’s gotten a lot of hate already from what I can tell, and to that I say: give her some time to truly grow into Morfonica’s vocalist. It took a while for Kokoro (and, by proxy, HaroHapi) to really take off as well if memory serves.

Kirigaya Touko (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 22)

I am not going to lie... Touko might be the Morfonica girl I look forward to the most. From what I know, she’s got a pretty decent base going, she seems fun enough, and now all that is left is for Bushiroad to give her the justice she deserves. That every Morfonica girl deserves!

Udagawa Ako (19, 18, 20, 20, 19, 23)

It’s not really fair to call this a drop for Ako (and all the girls below her), because we did get introduced to five new girls. That said, she did lose her spot from Kokoro, but that aside... Ako is all right. Watching Meguchi collab with Yukki (Lisa) on Youtube is always a very entertaining watch. Even if Meguchi does end up on the losing side more often than not when they play games together.

Yashio Rui (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 24)

Rui is, not only for me but also for a lot of other people, the only Morfonica girl who people knew a little bit about her seiyuu’s background prior to appearing in BanG Dream. For those unaware: her seiyuu, Ayasa, has a Youtube channel as well where she does violin covers of a lot of amazing songs (including, at the time of writing this, three BanG Dream songs: Starmine, LOUDER, and Star Beat). That being said, it’s not fair to judge Rui based on her seiyuu, so I think this is a fair enough spot for her for the time being.

Toyama Kasumi (26, 24, 23, 22, 21, 25)

Those numbers really make it look like she dropped, but she didn’t. Kasumi is as great as ever and she’s even gained a couple new songs to her name!

Matsubara Kanon (23, 25, 24, 24, 23, 26)

Back up above Chisato, if only slightly. I think that Nico x Nico song of HaroHapi has really helped her out a lot. That, or seeing a more serious, self-confident Kanon (because we all know what happened to Rinko after I started seeing her in a different light).

Shirasagi Chisato (22, 22, 22, 21, 22, 27)

...again, a lot of potential. But as she is probably the biggest link to my least fave of the franchise (who, surprisingly, fell even more), it drags her down as well. If it were any other franchise, Chisato’s growth would have been much much better...

Above Neutral

Hiromachi Nanami (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 28)

I don’t really know what I can say about her. I can see the potential, I can see how Nanami can grow to jump a couple of spots... but at this point in time, I don’t really see the realistic path to reach that final destination. Not yet, anyways...

Hikawa Hina (24, 23, 25, 25, 24, 29)

A lot of potential, a lot of very impressive scenes... I think she would do better if she wouldn’t hyperfocus on her older sister as much as she does. While endearing and definitely adorable to a certain degree, it does... kind of limit her growth. Not to mention that we already know how much Hina loves Sayo by now, can’t we see how Hina does with other stuff?

Hanazono Tae ( 18, 19, 21, 23, 26, 30)

I said it before and I will say it again: Tae is a fun character and I love watching her seiyuu perform live and appear on livestreams. That being said, Tae really needs something to help her stand out in the crowd. BanG Dream is only getting more and more characters as time goes on, so being static is not a very good thing...

Yamato Maya (27, 26, 26, 27, 27, 31)

Maya is... definitely rising if only slightly. At the rate this is going, she might even surpass Tae one day. As I said in the previous entry, I went back to try and see Maya’s growth again, and I will be the first to admit that I kind of overlooked her in the beginning. She’s a lot of fun, but will she be enough fun to make a bigger name for herself?

Neutral

Ushigome Rimi (28, 28, 27, 26, 28, 32)

Rimi has definitely changed over the last month and a half or so since my last tier list, but... she’s been changing for both the better and the worse, which kind of evened out to keep her at about the same spot?

Kitazawa Hagumi (29, 29, 29, 28, 29, 33)

Hagumi has a lot of problems, being in HaroHapi where she is completely overshadowed by Kokoro is one (and my biggest complaint). That being said, when you cannot jump up the rankings, there is another way for you to be saved from being at the very bottom...

Minato Yukina (21, 26, 28, 29, 25, 34)

I’m not going to pretend anymore: I am disappointed in Roselia, I said that before in an answer to an anon. That being said, my disappointment in Roselia is only overshadowed by my disappointment in Yukina. Despite knowing how much Season 3 butchered Roselia’s personality, Yukina’s more than anyone, the issue is that... all my complaints, all my annoyances, and all the disappointment I have with Roselia... it can all be traced back to two words: Minato Yukina. And until Yukina manages to provide a song that truly befits the level in which she supposedly presents herself, I really can’t see her rising up the ranks anymore.

#BanG Dream! Fave List #Falneou17

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ask-the-phan-site · 5 years

Text

It came!

Well, it happened. Persona 5 Royal was released in Japan... Although, I can’t believe what happened in the Third Semester. I must warn you, the next few posts may contain spoilers, though, they may not make sense since the other admin helping me is struggling with Japanese. So if we have made any mistakes, don’t be afraid to tell us in either the requests or the polls.

NOTE: DO NOT EVEN THINK OF GIVING US ANY MADE UP STUFF OR MESS WITH US OR MISINFORMATION.

Speaking of the polls, it will now be changed to let us know what you think of the game so far. We hope to hear from you soon.

In the meantime, let’s hear what the Phantom Thieves themselves think of the game. Or rather, the Third Semester. Even Crow, who is now awake since a friend of theirs is back to his own self.

WARNING: SPOILERS AND TRUE IDENTITIES AHEAD!

AND REMEMBER, THE PHANTOM THIEVES ON THIS PHANSITE ARE FROM A FANMADE TIMELINE, THOUGH THE GAMES STILL APPLY.

... Now this just hurts.

Admin: I guess you really do wish you could rejoin the track team.

Skull: ... Maybe a little. I know I said that I wouldn’t go back to them because I was scared I would go back to the way I was before I met my friends. But I guess deep down, some part of me still felt like they belong to the track team. I just don’t get it.

Admin: So are you thinking of rejoing them now?

Skull: After seein’ this... I’m sorta at a crossroads now.

Admin: I hope this doesn’t mean that you’re giving up being an idol.

Hell no! I love bein’ an idol. Even if I do decide to go back to the team, I don’t see why I can’t do both. Just look at Galaxy Standard. They’re not only an idol group, they’re a stride club.

Admin: I see. Well, I hope you decide soon. We’re in our last year of high school and the year is almost over.

Skull: ... I’ll think real hard ‘bout it.

(sighs) Such a shame that me being human in this game came at a price. I feel cheated.

Admin: Speaking of which, how are you still human now?

Mona: Like you said, this is a fanmade timeline. Anything can happen. Still, look how happy I am now that I’m with Lady Ann. Maybe someday, in that reality in the game, this will become a reality... *cough, cough*Scramble.*cough, cough* But for now, I’m sure that that Mona will find some advantages of a cat.

Admin: Like what?

Mona: ... Free movies at the theaters.

(laughing) That’s true!

I guess this does kind of fit. I really would like for Shiho to continue being at Shujin, but I have to accept the fact that we don’t have to be in the same school to remains being friends. Besides, her school isn’t even that far. Just a train ride away. Plus, I found out hat we might end up in the same college, though in different classes. She wants to become an Olympic stride runner and I’m still studying to become an actress.

...

Panther: What? Don’t tell me...

What!? No! DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS WITHOUT ALL THE FACTS!

Okay, okay. You don’t have to be so defensive.

Sorry. Next thief, please.

So I’m back with Madarame? I’m surprised that my mother isn’t alive in this dream realm.

Admin: I guess there’s only so much someone like that can do. But at least your art got appreciated.

Fox: You mean the Sayuri? I’m only famous for that painting because I’m in it. It’s my mother’s painting. I wish to be appreciated for my own art.

Admin: I see. I hope you succeed, Fox san.

Well, it helps that I have some good models... Especially, Joker... I love him so.

I guess that is a nice dream. Me, Sis, and Dad all together again... But I know it wouldn’t be right. Dad will always be in our hearts. And me and Sis can always find time to be together.

It’s all about trusting each other. And as long as there is love...

Admin: “Those are the ties that bind.”

>A moment of silence for Robin Williams.

I get what Queen is saying. I miss my mom, but she’s always with us in our hearts. All I have to do is close my eyes, look inside, and there she is. (sniff)

Admin: Tissues to your left, Oracle chan.

(drying her tears) Thanks. I’m... Just so happy that even though the family I dream of didn’t turn out the way I thought, it’s still turned out to be the best thing that happened in my life.

I guess I did wished for my father to be back and that he would be a more gentle soul, but I know I still have to clean up after him. So I’ll just have to do the living for the both of us.

Queen: Just don’t forget to live for yourself as well... For me.

I think I would die for you.

>A little morbid, the two women still looked lovingly at each other.

First off, so happy to be awake again. As for this, it is nice to know that the real me in that game did something so noble as sacrificing himself to save the Phantom Thieves, though, me coming back to life like that would defeat the purpose.

Admin: And yet, here you are.

Well, this is a fanmade timeline. So, anything can happen.

Admin: But you’re still glad that you’re here now.

Crow: That’s right.

And right now, I’m not going anywhere just yet. Not for a very long time.

(whispers to herself) I still don’t have a proper sprite available. (normal speech) Kasumi, I was always so jealous of her. But she really did care about me. She gave me a second chance at life. After what just happened, I’ve decided I’m not going to let it go in vain. From now on, I follow my own path.

Admin: I’m proud of you, Violet chan.

Violet: Well, I don’t have a sprite available, but I’m glad ATLUS finally gave me my official code name... But in all honesty, I find it really bland. Violet’s already a name... Of a girl who can turn invisible.

Out of all the Phantom Thieves, this probably hurts me the most. This is such a picturesque scene. We’ve already been through so much already, don’t we at least deserve a break? ... Then again, Yu Narukami would be disappointed for choosing this path.

Yes, life without truth isn’t life.

When did you get here?

Long enough. The situation here is similar to what me and my friends went through a long time ago. Our leader had to make a choice. We had to destroy someone we knew in order to live normal lives, though the world would be trapped.

Joker: But he chose the other path. He chose to spare this person.

Aigis: That is correct. So do not worry, my friends have gotten along without having to rely on a false reality, so I am sure you will as well.

Yu: And if you every need any help doing that, you can always count on us. Me, my friends, Aigis, and Mitsuru san’s group, we’ll be there for you.

Joker: ...

Thanks. Both of you.

>Me and my fellow Wild Cards smile.

Joker: But I suppose there is one good things that came out of choosing reality.

Yu: What’s that?

This... PERSONA!

Yu: (amazed) Whoa! A second one!

Joker: I know, right? What do you think, Aigis san? ... Aigis?

Aigis: (shocked) A Wild Card... With a Third Tier Persona? (now worried)

Yu: Aigis san? Are you alright?

Aigis: ... I have to go. And Ren san.

Ren: Yes?

Aigis: ... Just be sure to call me, especially, if anything happens... With that Persona.

Joker: (curious) I don’t know. Raoul doesn’t seem so bad.

Admin: Alright, that’s all the opinions we have. Don’t forget to tell us if we made any mistakes do to misinterpreted translation. We’re back now. And don’t forget to send us any requests and to submit to our poll.

We’re back, Phandom.

#announcement #from the phantom thieves #persona 5 royal #persona 5 the royal #persona 5 royal spoilers #WE'RE BACK

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dimensiontripperkotori · 5 years

Text

Superstar In You (2/?)

“How many are we going to see?” Hanayo questioned as she took a seat at the rounded table with the other members of Muse. On the wall to the left of her showed the order of all the groups who applied to be part of the Battle of Music and when they would be performing. “Aquors, Arctic blast, Idols United...there are so many groups in this competition. Do you think we can do it?”

“No. I don’t think we can do it.” Honoka answered with a long sigh before a wide smile spread across her face. “I know we can do it.”

Umi let out an irritated sigh before turning back to the screen. “I want to go see fran...chuchu?”

“That's a strange name but sure. Any more suggestions?” Honoka glossed up and down the tv screen before her eyes locked onto a name she recognized. “A-rise?! They’re in this too?”

“Seriously?” Kotori let out a long sigh before another name stood out, catching her attention. She hadn’t heard of them before but she could of sworn she had heard someone talking about a band named HEART before. “HEART? Let's go see them too.”

“Who? HEART? Never heard of them. I doubt they’re even an idol group.” Nico questioned with a sharp scoff, turning away from the screen.

“It doesn’t matter if they are or not.” Honoka explained before she slowly took a bite from the bread the was hiding, surprised Umi hadn’t noticed. “Akari-san said that the competition was for Idols, bands and everything in between. Anyway, Aqours are starting soon and I want to see them.”

“Oh. I know of Aqours, nya.” Rin announced with a wide smile, lifting her hand into the air. “Their leader, Chika was apparently inspired by you, Honoka-chan.”

“Me?” Honoka questioned in surprise. She knew Muse was famous still but she never expected to actually inspire anyone into making their own idol group. “Well, we should definitely go see them.”

“There aren’t that many bands entering.” Umi pointed out before a name caught her attention. “Poppin’ Party? Wait, or is it PoPiPa? I want to go see them...and they’re on soon.”

“Well, I want to see these.” Nico added, pointing towards one of the names on the list. “Nagarekawa girls. They’re apparently Local Idols.”

Maki frowned in confusion and moved closer to the screen at unintentionally at the same time Kotori, her hand brushing against Kotori’s without her notice. “I know them, I think.”

“R-really?” Kotori questioned with rosy cheeks, looking away before Maki noticed. It had been two years but she still remembered how she use to feel whenever she touched Maki’s skin when they were together. Her eyes widened as Maki tapped onto the screen and the name, making it change to information about the group and images of who was in it. “Wait, you can find out more information about them?! Go back to HEART!”

“It’s too late, they’re too far up.” Eli answered, earning herself a depressed sigh from the ashen haired girl. “Fine, maybe at the end.”

Maki frowned as she looked at the pictures. There were two of them in total and apparently a mascot that wasn’t shown. A long haired blonde and a short haired brunette. “Is the only reason you want to go see them because you have a thing for the blonde?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?! NEXT!” Nico laughed awkwardly and loudly, leaning across the entire table to touch the back button before swiping as hard as she could through the list so they lost where they were up to.

“Whatever. PoPipPa and slash or Poppin’ Party are about to start. Anyone else coming?” Umi questioned as Kotori and Honoka stood up, moving to her side.

Honoka turned around towards everyone else as Umi and Kotori started walking. “Could you guys look into Arise and how they’re doing?”

“Leave it to us, nya!” Rin nodded before jolting up onto her feet, knocking her orange juice over. “My...juice…”

Nico let out a long sigh as Rin fell her hands and knees, looking down at the floor. “Come on, rin…”

“Shhh.” Rin spoke on a soft voice, raising her hand into the air. “I must grieve...”

Honoka could barely hold in her laughter as she turned away, catching back up to Kotori and Umi. Moments like that was what she missed about Muse the most. Not the singing or dancing even though she did love them but the special moments where they’re all just themselves.

---

“Thanks for listening!” Kasumi called out to the cheering audience, slightly breathless from singing a few minutes ago. “We’re Poppin’ Party! We hope you enjoyed the…” She paused as her eyes scanned the audience, widening when she saw a familiar face. “K-Kousaka-san! Please wait there, I’ll be down in a second! Thank you all again!” “You sure have a lot of fans.” Kotori said, leaning close to Honoka. She wasn’t surprised if she was honest. “Do you know who that is?” Honoka shrugged, clueless. “Her name is Toyama Kasumi.” Umi piped up from Honoka’s other side. “She’s the lead singer of the band from what I’ve read but that’s all I know about her. And she told us that before she started singing. Weren’t you two listening?“ Kotori grimaced. “Um...I was texting Maki-chan.” Umi looked to Honoka who shrugged guiltily. “I was distracted by the girl playing the drums?” “The girl playing the drums?” Umi echoed, her brow furrowing as she tried to think back. She vaguely remembered a girl with her hair up in a ponytail. She frowned, trying not to think about how similarly Eli used to wear her hair. “Kousaka-san! I can’t believe you came to see us!” Kasumi herself appeared in front of the three members of Muse, her face slight with excitement. “I’m Toyama Kasumi, I’m a big fan!” Honoka gave a nervous chuckle at the compliment. “Oh, thank you. You sounded really good up there.” Her gaze drifted to the two girls standing behind Kasumi. One of the girls she recognized as the other girl playing the guitar and the other was the girl who had caught her attention playing the drums. “I’m Yamabuki Saaya.” Saaya introduced herself with a small smile, noticing Honoka looking at her. “I play the drums.” “I know, I noticed.” Honoka said brightly. “You’re really good.” “I’m Hanazono Tae.” Tae introduced herself with a slightly over energetic wave. “It’s nice to meet you, Kosuaka-san.” “You too.” Honoka shook her head, turning to Tae. “Oh sorry, these are my friends. Ko….” “Minami Kotori and Sonoda Umi.” Kasumi interrupted brightly. “We know. Of course. Muse are famous. Though...you look different, Sonoda-san. Oh, you changed your hair! It looks good.” “Thank you.” Umi said with a small smile, touching the ends of her hair. “Honoka-chan.” Kotori took Honoka by the elbow and tugged her closer, lowering her voice so the others couldn’t hear her. “What about Eli-chan and Umi-chan?” Honoka frowned at Kotori, confused by the sudden mention of Eli’s name. “What about them?” “I mean...they’re the ones you have feelings for, aren’t they?” Kotori asked softly, glancing at Umi. She seemed to be busy talking to Kasumi who had stepped closer to look at her hair. “You’re staring at the drummer.” “I’m not. I just think she’s interesting, that’s all.” Honoka mumbled, averting her eyes. She knew that Kotori could see right through her lies. “Is that all? It has nothing to do with the fact that she looks like Eli-chan?” Kotori raised an eyebrow. “Just be careful, that’s all I’m saying. I don’t want this...thing between you and Eli-chan and Umi-chan to change from a love triangle to a love...rectangle. It’s already complicated enough.” “I know, I know.” Honoka mumbled, rolling her eyes slightly. “So are you going to see anyone else?” Kasumi asked brightly, turning her gaze back to Honoka. “We were thinking of going to see HEART next if you want to come.” “Actually Rimi wanted to go and see Locodol performing so I told her I’d go with her. Arisa is going too.” Saaya said with a regretful grimace. “You can go ahead without us though. We’ll meet back up with you later.” “Don’t you think it’s odd that the contestants are playing at different places at the same time in some cases?” Umi mentioned, her brow furrowing slightly in thought. “It means that some people won’t get to see all of the performers.” “That’s just during the day.” Saaya replied knowingly. “Everyone is coming together tonight for the big concert. This way you can go and see the bands you…” She paused as Kotori cleared her throat. “Sorry...or idols, you’re most interested in twice if you want to.” “I guess that makes sense.” Umi mused thoughtfully. “So we’ll see anyone we missed during the day at the concert tonight.” “Exactly!” Honoka exclaimed brightly. “Anyway, we should go or we’re going to miss the performance. I think it’s in twenty minutes. It was nice meeting you all. Let’s go, Kasumi-chan!” Kasumi offered her group a wave before she started to follow Honoka, Umi and Kotori through the crowd to the exit at the back of the room. “I’ll see you back at the hotel!”

---

“Anju-chan…”

Rin tailed off as she noticed the orange haired A-Rise member pacing around in a small circle but not soon enough to avoid her attention. “Sorry, are we interrupting, nya?”

“N-no.” Anju answered as she watched Rin stop near them with Hanayo and Nico close behind. She closed her eyes before taking a deep breath, putting on a happy facade in front of the three Muse idols. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We...noticed you entered the competition and wanted to know how you were doing.” Hanayo answered as her attention shifted to the other two members of A-Rise. She wasn’t able to watch for long before Rin got their attention but it looked like they were all scared even if Tsubasa and Erena were trying to hide it.

“We?” Tsubasa inquired. “Does that mean that Muse is back together?”

“Yup!” Rin smiled widely as she held her competitor’s pass up towards A-Rise. “We all got these things.”

“We know. We...got them too.” Erena smiled and slowly shook her head before she noticed Tsubasa looking around. “What’s wrong, Tsubasa?”

“What?! Nnnnnnothing.” Tsubasa smiled awkwardly. She let out a long sigh as the other members frowned, seeing easily through her facade. “Okay, fine! I was just wondering if Honoka was here?”

“She’s looking at other bands with Kotori and Umi. Do you want some advice?” Nico finally spoke up, her arms crossed in front of her as she leaned against the wall. “Honoka’s love life is as tangled as a ball of yawn. The point is, consider yourself lucky you aren’t with her.”

Tsubasa frowned in confusion but nodded slowly. She didn’t really know what the black haired girl was talking about but chose not to question it. “O-okay?”

Hanayo frowned when she noticed Erena’s smile fade quickly as she turned away. It was clear that there was something on the purple haired girl’s mind. “Are you all okay? Y-you look nervous.”

Erena smiled softly and let out a long sigh. “How obvious were we being?”

“Not very.” Nico answered. “But we have an annoying orange haired girl who has the same look but thinks she’s hiding it.”

“So what’s wrong?” Rin added, hoping whatever was wrong with the girls they could help with. They had all known each other for so long that she hated seeing any of them troubled.

“Well…” Anju took in a deep breath, not really sure how to answer the question. “It’s hard to explain.”

“We performed earlier. The first group to perform in the competition.” Tsubasa answered with a long yawn. “Sorry, I haven’t gotten much sleep. We...we sure that we did badly.”

“What?” Rin questioned in shock before she looked to the other two Muse members next to her. She wasn’t surprised to see they were both in a state of shock, Hanayo more than any other.

“But you’re better than us.” Nico announced before she noticed she shock expressions from Hanayo and Rin were now pointed at her. “What? It’s the truth.”

“It’s not.” Tsubasa spoke up with a soft smile. “Even if we didn’t want to admit it, the only reason we won the last Love Live was because Muse didn’t perform.”

“Excuse me?”

All six girls frowned in confusion as they heard another voice and turned to the side. Next to Anju stood a slightly taller blue haired boy in a strange sleeveless black leather jacket with a blue heart insignia on the back.

“Yes?” Anju inquired. She flinched as the boy suddenly held a soft tissue towards her.

“Are you okay? You all look upset.” The boy questioned as Anju slowly accepted the tissue, using it to wipe her eyes. Luckily her makeup wasn’t running despite all the crying she had been doing.

She frowned as she noticed another five tissues behind the one she used. “You certainly have a lot of tissues with you?” She questioned with a small chuckle, not intending to laugh but she couldn’t help it. “Sorry about laughing.”

“It’s fine.” The boy answered with a large smile. “My little sister keeps on giving me them so I have a lot with me.”

“Why don’t you just throw them out?” Nico questioned, surprised by the boy’s shocked expression. “What?”

“Why would I throw them away?” The boy questioned. “Even if it’s as little as a tissue, it’s still a gift so I treasure it.”

Nico nodded slowly before letting out a long sigh. “That’s weird.”

“Chrom! We gotta go!”

“Oh, right.” Chrom nodded quickly before turning his attention back to Anju. “Sorry, I have to run but you can keep the tissues.”

“Thanks...I’ll treasure them.” She replied with a large soft smile, waving as the boy ran off towards a girl the same age as him with brown hair tired back in a ponytail, carrying what looking like a guitar case. “He was nice.”

“Anju’s got a boyfriend?” Tsubasa inquired with a smug grin, leaning closer. She was slightly surprised to see the orange haired girl’s cheeks turn red. “Oh my god, you do like him?!”

“Shut up!” Anju quickly moved towards Tsubasa and covered her mouth. “I don’t like him like that. I...just want to be friends with him. That's all!”

Erena smiled and chuckled to herself. “Aww, that's adorable.”

“Stop it!” Anju yelled before she covered her face, looking away from the other members of A-Rise. She frowned as she peaked through her hands, noticing Hanayo and Rin were still in a state of shock from the news that they didn’t get through. “Just because we didn’t get through doesn’t mean we won’t be back. Anyone who was kicked out of the competition can watch the others.”

Hanayo smiled before her phone started ringing. “Oh, It’s Honoka-chan. Sorry, but we have to go.”

Nico looked at the phone and frowned, following the two other muse members as they walked away. She waited until they got out of listening distance for A-Rise and turned towards Hanayo. “Hanayo. No one called you. You just played your ringtone, why?”

“Because I’m terrified now.” Hanayo answered with a shaky voice. “I thought we might of had a chance but It wouldn't have been hard. But A-Rise thinks they might have been kicked out in the first round. They’re better than us so what hope do we have.”

Rin let out a long sigh before she smiled once more. “I don’t know, nya. But worrying about it isn’t helping either. We should meet back up with Eli-chan and the others and wait for Kotori-chan, Honoka-chan and Umi-chan to come back.”

Hanayo nodded slowly, holding her hands together in an attempt to stop them from shaking. “O-okay.”

---

Kotori narrowed her eyes as she looked at the stage. She wasn’t close enough to see clearly but she was sure that she recognized the girl on keyboard. The black twintails looked awfully familiar. “Kotori-chan. Kotori-chan. KOTORI-CHAN!” Kotori jerked in surprise as a hand hit her shoulder. She turned, wide-eyed to face Honoka. “W-What was that for?” “You weren’t listening to me.” Honoka pouted, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “I was asking if you knew that the girl at the microphone is called Saya too. I looked it up online, though it’s spelt differently from Poppin' Party’s Saaya.” Kotori sighed in disdain. “Honoka-chan, Umi-chan is right here.” “I know. I told Umi-chan too but I don’t think she wanted to talk about it. Maybe she’s busy talking to Kasumi-chan…” Kotori shook her head. “You’re so oblivious.” “Huh?” Honoka frowned in confusion. “What does that mean?” “Exactly.” Kotori rolled her eyes and went back to what she had been doing a moment ago, her gaze returning to the familiar girl onstage. She couldn’t place where she knew her from, not when the girl was so far away. She watched as the dark haired man at one of the microphones turned his back briefly to the audience to speak to the drummer. Her eyes widened at the sight of the jacket he was wearing. “No way…” “What?” Honoka asked, narrowing her eyes at the stage in an attempt to see what Kotori was looking at. “What is it?” “I-I designed those jackets.” Kotori muttered, her stomach sinking at the idea of helping their opponents. “Uni didn’t tell me she was in a band.” “Uni?” Honoka echoed. “Oh! Isn’t that the girl you were flirting with when I came to ask you to join Muse again?” Kotori hesitated but she couldn’t deny it. “Uh...yeah. I-I think I might have made the jackets they’re wearing.” “Seriously?” Kasumi gaped at Kotori. “Maybe you could help my group too. We need new matching t-shirts but jackets might be okay too...I’ll have to ask Arisa-chan.” “I-I don’t just make clothes for the bands we’re competing against.” Kotori stuttered, her face flushed. “I didn’t know Uni-chan was even in a band. She didn’t tell me.” “She probably didn’t have time.” Honoka smirked knowingly. Umi raised an eyebrow, confused by Honoka’s comment. “What does that mean?” Kotori felt a brief moment of panic. “Nothi-” “That Kotori-chan is dating the competition.” Honoka said with a smug smirk. “Or fooling around with them at least. Right, Kotori-chan?” Kotori grumbled under her breath, shaking her head. “I don’t think Kotori would do something like that.” Umi said rationally, her brow furrowed in confusion as she looked over at Kotori. “Kotori?” “I didn’t mean to!” Kotori exclaimed defensively, turning back to Umi. “I didn’t know she was going to be competing against us. I didn’t even know about the competition until Honoka-chan told me about it!” “Ssshh, they’re starting!” Honoka said, briefly touching Umi’s arm. She failed to notice the way Umi blushed at the gesture. Kotori smirked knowingly at the exchange and turned back to watch the band onstage, curious as to what the performance would be like. She’d had no idea that Uni was in a band. She was surprised to see Uni situating herself behind a keyboard. “Obviously not an idol group then.” Honoka murmured thoughtfully as she watched them. Umi rolled her eyes. “The two men didn’t give it away?”

“Shhh!” It was Kasumi’s turn to shush the two of them as she stepped forward a little to see better. “1, 2, 3, 4.” The drummer counted out, clinking his drumsticks together with every counted out number. Ater the count of number four the music started up and Honoka watched as the two singers at the front shared a nod. Her eyes widened as the music picked up. She hadn’t expected them to be a rock band. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting really but it certainly wasn’t that. “She sees them walking in a straight line, that's not really her style, And they all got the same heartbeat, but hers is falling behind…” The male at the front began singing in English, his eyes occasionally flicking toward the brunette girl next to him as he held onto the microphone. Kotori found her eyes drawn to the girl on keyboard. She was surprised herself. Uni hadn’t even told her that she was in a band, she’d just said that she needed jackets for her group. If Kotori was honest she had figured that Uni was the type to be in some kind of motorcycle gang. She wondered if Uni spoke English too or whether it was just the dark haired male on vocals. “He’s good.” "I wish that I could be like the cool kids, 'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in…” Kotori flinched at the feeling of someone leaning close to her but relaxed when she realized that it was just Honoka. “Yeah, They’re really good!” Honoka called into Kotori’s ear, trying to be heard over the man’s singing. Kotori winced at the volume but nodded in agreement. She hadn’t expected the group to be as good as they were. The crowd seemed to agreeing, considering how much they were cheering for the group. “He sees them talking with a big smile, but they haven't got a clue, Yeah, they're living the good life, can't see what he is going through…” “Whoa.” Honoka murmured, her eyes widening slightly as the brunette she had recently heard was named Saya began to sing. Her voice was of course softer than the man’s but had a slightly gruff quality to it too. “She’s good too.”

---

Maki smiled as she took a seat on one of the wooden benches near the competition. Even though she was far away, she could still hear a rock band singing on the stage in Japanese and English. She let out a content sigh and took out the book she had been wanting to read since it came out but thanks to her job she didn’t get any time. “Let’s see what happens in this chapter…”

“Is that Nishikino-san?”

Maki frowned and looked up from her book with a raised eyebrow. She took a quick glance before she returned to her book.

“Why are we hiding?”

Another voice questioned, making Maki close her book and look in the vague direction she thought the voice was coming from. Just behind a small wall there were two people crouched down with the top of their heads sticking out. One was Dark blue and the other was bright red.

“I can see you two. You may as well come over.” Maki let out a long sigh, returning the book to her bag. To her surprise, two members of Aqours came slowly walking over. “I know you two. You’re Kanan Matsuura and Ruby Kurosawa, right?”

Ruby nodded her head slowly from behind Kanan. “Y-yes. I-it’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m surprised to see you here.” Kanan admitted, stepping out the way so Ruby was next to her. “I thought Muse broke up.”

“We did.” Maki nodded. “But we’re back together for this last competition...probably.”

“Then that means we’re rivals.” Kanan smiled, her hands slipping into her jacket pockets. “Don’t get me wrong. I love the fact that Muse is back together. Chika will be ecstatic. But we’re not going easy on you.”

Maki let out a long sigh before looking towards the two Aquor members. “That’s fine. Doesn’t...mean we can’t be friends too.” Maki groaned, only just realising how much Kotori had rubbed off on her.

“Yeah.” Ruby added, the thought about them being friends bringing her a step closer. “You should meet Yoshiko-chan.”

“Yoshiko?” Maki hummed, the name sounding familiar to her. “Isn’t she the one that talks about her ‘Little demons’?” Maki let out a small sigh as the red haired girl nodded quickly up and down. “I’ll pass, but It was nice to meet the two of you.”

“Likewise.” Kanan nodded before she waved, walking away with Ruby close behind her.

Maki took in a deep breath before she reached back to her bag, grabbing the book once more. “Back to reading.”

--- “Raven! RAVEN!” Uni growled in annoyance at the fact that the man in question couldn’t hear what she was saying over the cheers of the audience. She stepped out from behind her keyboard and moved forward, grabbing Raven’s arm to pull him back a few steps. “Wha…?” Raven’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, Uni. What’s up?” “It’s her!” Uni exclaimed, nodding toward the crowd. “She’s in the audience! The girl I was telling you about?” She glanced toward Saya to see that her ex was looking at her in slight confusion. She quickly averted her eyes. She couldn’t even imagine Saya finding out about Kotori. “Where?!” Raven glanced toward the audience, scanning the area. He had seen a couple of pictures of Kotori. He spotted her in the audience and waved enthusiastically. The girl looked confused for a moment before she hesitantly lifted her hand in a wave. “Hey, stop that!” Uni hissed, grabbing Raven’s arm to pull it back down. “Damn it, what is she doing here anyway?” Raven stared at her for a moment. “Probably competing. You know she’s from Muse, right? The famous idol group? They’re Itsuki’s favourite.” “What? Wait, are you serious?!” Uni gaped at Raven in shock, her eyes briefly diverting to Kotori who was standing awkwardly in the crowd. “Damn it. Of course she’s an idol. What...what the hell am I going to tell Saya?” “Why do you need to tell her anything?” Raven asked, raising an eyebrow. “You two aren’t together anymore. Because…?” “Because they’re idiots.” Chrom piped up, causing Uni to jump in surprise. He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender when she turned to him. “Hey, I’m just saying. You never did tell us the reason you aren’t together. Even though you obviously both want to be.” “Does it seem to you like she wants to be?!” Uni growled irritably. “Uh...hey, Saya let’s go.” Chrom called, quickly edging his way around Uni. “We have that meet and greet thing right after this, remember?” “What meet and greet?” Raven asked in confusion as he watched Saya walk over to join Chrom. “Just something some of the other bands are doing. A meet and greet with fans. We decided to join them. It’s not mandatory or anything like that.” Saya said with a wave of her hand. “Most of the bands aren’t even doing it...or they’re doing something else.” “I heard one of the bands are selling merchandise.” Izetta piped up quietly as she stepped forward. “Um...Francho or something like that, I think.” “Maybe we should have merchandise.” Raven remarked, his brow furrowing in thought as he considered that. “T-shirts, bags, phone cases…” “We don’t need it.” Saya said with a roll of her eyes. She moved away, tugging Chrom by his sleeve. “I’ll see you at the hotel, Uni.” “R-Right.” Uni said meekly. “Uni.” Raven smirked knowingly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “See? Now let’s go and talk to your other girlfriend!” “Wait, wha…?!” Uni watched as Raven hopped down off the stage and quickly hurried to Kotori and the others. “Ah, damn it. Come on, Izetta!” Izetta gasped as Uni grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward toward the edge of the stage. She felt her stomach plummet at the thought that Uni was going to make her jump but thankfully, Uni sat down to slide off the stage instead, allowing Izetta to do the same. “Where are we going?” Izetta asked, puzzled as Uni continued to pull her through the crowd. She could see Raven ahead but he had seemed to have stopped already. When they reached him, Uni drew them to a stop too. “...Raven. I’m Uni’s friend and bandmate.” Raven seemed to be busy introducing himself, mainly to the blushing girl with ashen hair. “You must be Kotori, right?” “Um...yeah.” Kotori answered awkwardly, glancing at Uni. Uni sighed loudly. “I’m sorry about this. He’s an idiot. Um...this is Izetta.” She nodded toward Izetta who offered a small wave. “Don’t worry, she’s less of an idiot.” Kotori glanced between them, uncertain of their dynamic. She hadn’t been sure of what Izetta’s reaction would be but the girl seemed somewhat proud of being referred to as less of an idiot. She heard someone clear their throat and glanced to the left to see Honoka waiting expectantly. “Oh! Um, Uni-chan, this is...Honoka-chan and Umi-chan, my friends and um...fellow idols. And this is Kasumi-san, she’s from Poppin’ Party.” She hesitantly looked toward Honoka and Umi. “This is Uni. She’s my friend. And I guess you could say...client.” “That’s not all you could say.” Raven mumbled, earning himself a sharp elbow to the ribs. “Ah!” “If you and Kotori-chan are friends you should come with us!” Honoka exclaimed brightly, causing Kotori to grimace. “We’re heading outside to sit with our friends. Oh, maybe the rest of your band could catch up with us too!” Umi’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Honoka, I’m sure they have better things to d-” “No, we don’t!” Raven said quickly. He turned to Uni and Izetta. “You two go ahead. I have a couple of things to do first but I’ll catch up. I’ll bring Saya and Chrom too!” “Are those your bandmates?” Kotori asked Uni, not recognizing the names. Uni nodded silently, watching as Raven rushed off. She had no idea where he was going. Kotori lightly took hold of Uni’s arm and tugged her a couple of feet away. “If this is weird for you I can make up an excuse or…” “No. No, it’s fine.” Uni answered, shaking her head. She forced a smile to her face. She wasn’t with Saya now and she had to accept that. And she did like Kotori. There was no reason for her to shy away from her. They weren’t even official. “Let’s go….”

“Okay. Go, go, go, go, go, go!”

Honoka furrowed her brow in confusion as she turned to the right, surprised to see a brown haired man dressed in a red vest and black suit trousers leading seven girls behind him. He had a short black bowtie and wore his suit jacket loosely on his shoulders. “Who’s that?”

“I don’t know.” Izetta added as she finally finished putting her bass guitar in the case with Uni’s help. “Thanks.”

Uni nodded and gently nudged the smaller girl. “Don’t mention it.”

“Kotoro-sama. We need to stop for a minute.” One of the seven girls the man was leading took a step forward towards the man, letting the other members rest for a moment. “Tai’s ankles are almost...well...falling off from walking so much, we need to rest for a little…”

“REST!” The man yelled in a loud and silly voice, bringing his face closer to the red haired girl. “How could you be TIIIIIIIRED? The dead can’t…”

“Stop yelling in her face!”

Everyone’s eyes widened as another one of the seven girls jumped at Kotoro, planting her foot into his face easily knocking him to the ground. She had long blonde hair tired back into a ponytail with red and green streaks running through it.

“Come on, Sakura. Lets go.” The blonde scoffed before taking ahold of Sakura’s arm, pulling her away from the man with the other members of the group following behind them.

“T-the dirt…” The man started to chant softly to himself, trying his best to pull the little amount of dirt on the floor around him into a neat pile. “T-the dirt...

“Who are they?” Kotori questioned before she took a glance at the book she wrote all the competitors she knew in. “I don’t think I have them in here.”

Uni stopped next to the ashen haired girl and looked towards where they were looking, surprised to see the seven girls. “They’re called Franchuchu…”

“Bless you.” Honoka added before she turned her attention to the stage where the idol group in question were getting ready to perform.

Uni turned towards the orange haired with with a irritable frown on her face. “

I didn’t sneeze, it’s their name.”

Kasumi smiled as she looked away from the small group she was with, noticing someone nearby. “Oh, It’s Saaya-chan. HEY, SAAYA-CHAN!”

“What?” Uni questioned out of shock before she ducked behind the smaller Izetta. “Quickly, hide me.”

“Why?” Izetta questioned before she let out a sigh. “You can’t keep avoiding Onii-chan forever. You’re in the same band as each other.”

“I can try.” Uni frowned and stood up right as the Saaya from Poppin' Party walked over to them, stopping short of Kasumi. “Oh, it’s not our Saya.”

“Oh, these are people from other groups in the competition.” Kasumi smiled and turned towards the small group. “Honoka-chan, Kotori-chan and Umi-chan from Muse.”

Saaya smiled awkwardly before she turned towards Kasumi. “I knew your memory was bad but not that bad. We’ve already met Honoka-chan and her friends. Remember, when you called her out on stage.”

“Oh, yeah. Whops.” Kasumi chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. “Where did Rimi-ri go?”

“She went to talk to her sister. It’s not surprising her family would be here to support her. I’m guessing ours are too.” Saya turned at the sound of someone approaching, surprised she even heard it over the sound of the crowd.

Honoka smiled and walked over to the new Saaya with her hand held out. “It’s nice to meet you again. My name’s Honoka...s-still, but I hope we can be friends despite being rivals in the competition.”

“Honoka-chan.”

“Yes?” Honoka turned towards Kotori with a smile but was met with a less than impressed expression. “Can I help you?”

“Umi-chan is right here. Stop flirting with every girl you meet.” Kotori sighed and moved the orange haired girl back, turning her attention to Saaya. “It’s nice to see you, Saaya-san.”

“Anyway. Next.” Kasumi turned her attention to Izetta and Uni who had a bag of sweets in their hands their eyes widening as they realised everyone noticed. “Where did you get the sweets from?”

“One of our member’s, Chrom’s little sister got them for us. Miyu always get us sweets. It’s funny because she gives us sweets and her brother tissues.” Uni answered, returning the brown bag of sweets before Honoka noticed. “It’s nice to meet you, Saaya.”

“Oh, right.” Kasumi smiled, remembering what she was doing. “This is Uni-chan. Not Umi-chan but Uni-chan, and Izetta-chan from Heart.”

“Heart?” Saaya inquired. “Sorry, but I’ve never heard of you before.”

Izetta smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. “I-It’s fine. W-we get that alot.”

“So are you guys idols too, like Muse?”

“Nope.” Uni shook her head. “We’re a band, like you guys.”

“Guys.” Honoka spoke quieter as the crowd started to get exited. “They’re about to start.”

---

Eli let out a long sigh of relief and fell backwards onto the large Muse blanket Akari and the people hosting the competition provided. Muse wasn’t the only group who got a blanket. Everyone did, all personalised. She turned around at the sound of footsteps, smiling as Nozomi stood behind with two ice cream corns in her hands.

“I see you found a spot, Elichi.” Nozomi smiled as she slowly lowered herself onto the large blanket. When she was standing up she thought it wouldn’t have been big enough for everyone else but when she was actually on it her thoughts changed. She and Eli were barely taking up any of the space. “The blanket feels nice. Don’t you think?”

Eli nodded. “Yeah, surprising seeing how it was free. It’s really big too.” Eli frowned as she heard the sound of snickering and turned to the side. Three girls all in a school uniform she didn’t recognize stood a short distance from her and Nozomi, occasionally glancing over at them and laughing. “What are they laughing about?”

Nozomi shrugged, handing the blonde her ice cream. “I don’t know or don’t care. Here, try the Mint chip one.”

Eli tilted her head as she accepted the green ice cream. She took a small lick of it and immediately thrusted it back towards Nozomi, shaking her head quickly. “Ew, ew, ew, ew. No.”

“It’s not that bad.” Nozomi chuckled, taking the ice cream back. She held out the chocolate ice cream she had been hiding by her side in her other hand, smiling as Eli smiled widely. “You should try more than just chocolate.”

“No.” Eli shook her head and licked the ice cream, almost beaming with happiness at the taste. “Chocolate is all I need.”

Nozomi let out a long sigh before movement caught her attention, making her look past Eli towards one of the girls Eli mentioned walking towards them. “Can we help you?”

Eli frowned in confusion at the question and turned around. She started licking the ice cream faster when she realised the girl was one of the girls who laughed at them a moment ago.

“Are you Ayasa Eli and Tojo Nozomi?” The girl questioned, frowning a little at the hostile glare she was getting from the blonde.

Eli stopped licking her ice cream for a moment and nodded. “Yes.”

“What are failures of Idols like you two doing here?” The girl questioned as the other two girls she was laughing with made their way over to them. “We expected never to see you idiots again after your failure at the Love Live.”

“I heard their leader threw herself in front of a car just so she didn’t have to perform with them.” One of the other girls added with the three of them bursting out laughing afterwards.

“Hold this please.” Eli frowned in irritation as she stood handed Nozomi her ice cream.

“Elichi…” Nozomi nodded reluctantly and grabbed Eli’s ice cream despite there being hardly any of it left. “Don’t make trouble. We don’t want to be disqualified.”

“I know.” Eli stood up, turning her attention back to the three girls. “Listen. You can talk crap about me, but If you talk about my friend like that again, no one will find your body. Are we clear?”

“Oh, big talk from not only the failure as an idol, but as a dancer too.” One of the girls stepped forward until she was an inch away from Eli. “Come on then, do something to stop me.”

“Hey!”

Everyone frowned in confusion at the unfamiliar voice, surprised to see Saya from Heart stepping in the middle of them. She squeezed in between them, putting her arms out by her side so Eli and the girl weren’t next to each other anymore.

“There’s no need to fight. We’re all here to have fun.” Saya smiled as she looked towards the two agitated woman. “If you don’t like each other, go somewhere else.”

The girl frowned at Saya’s suggestion and glaired towards her. “Who the hell do you think you are telling me what to do? Get out my way before I make you.”

“I think I’m...Saya. And you should really be careful who you threaten.” Saya smiled, looking behind the three girls towards the crimson haired woman behind them. “Otherwise someone will put you in the floor.”

The three girls looked towards each other in confusion before they looked towards where Saya was pointing. Their eyes widened as they finally noticed the crimson haired woman dressed in military camo and the deadly glare she was giving them. “T-this isn’t over!”

Saya nodded before turning here attention to the woman. “Thanks, Hisa. Is Itsuki here?”

Eli blinked in confusion before she took her seat back on the blanket. “I appreciated the backup but who are you two?”

Saya smiled and took a step forward. “Well, My name is Himura Saya, I’m 21 years old an I’m the lead singer in Heart. I like reading Manga and singing obviously but…”

“I don’t think she meant that much information, Saya.” Hisa let out a long sigh as she gently hit the top of the brunettes head. “I’m Evergreen Hisa. What was all that about?”

“With those three? I don’t know. We were just sitting here eating out ice creams when…” Eli tilted her head in confusion for a moment before she started looking for her ice cream before her gaze eventually landed on a suspicious looking Nozomi. “Nozomi. What did you do?”

Nozomi smiled and chuckled. “You were right about chocolate being better than mint chip.”

“That was mine!” Eli compamined before she turned away, pouting before she noticed a blue haired man running towards them dressed in the same way as Saya. “So, I’m guessing he’s another member of Heart?”

Saya frowned and turned around, noticing Chrom stopping near them. “Yeah, this is Chrom. He’s the drummer in our group.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Chrom nodded and bowed politely before turning his attention to the leader of Heart. “Thanks for just leaving me behind.”

“I’m sorry, I thought I heard arguments and I did.” Saya smiled before she gestured towards Eli. “I don’t really know what happened, but she was arguing with someone so I tried to stop them.”

Chrom sighed and shook his head, only just noticing Hisa near them. “Oh, hi Hisa. Raven’s away with some other members of Muse.”

“We’re here!”

Eli frowned as she recognized the voice, surprised to see Honoka running over to them with a small group of people walking behind her. Out of them all, she only recognised Honoka, Umi and Kotori. “Honoka? I thought you were watching other bands?”

“We did, but then we decided to check on you.” Honoka smiled before she turned towards the group of people who just caught up to her. “Right, introduction time. So, This is Kasumi-san from Poppin' party.”

“Poppin' Party? What type of group are you?” Nozomi inquired before she noticed the guitar case on Kasumi’s back. “I’m guessing a band.”

“Yup.” Kasumi nodded with a large smile. “I’m the lead singer with Saaya-chan...not that one, is our drumber, Rimi-ri is our bassist, O-Tai is our guitarist and Arisa-chan is our pianist.”

Eli turned around and frowned at the familiar name. “Arisa’s in a band?”

Nozomi chuckled and shook her head. “No, I’m guessing it’s just someone else with the same name as your sister.”

“Okay, that makes sense.” Eli nodded.

“Next is Uni-san and Izetta-san who are both from Heart. Another band.” Honoka frowned before she realised one of them were missing. “They have another member called Raven-kun but he went away to talk to Akari-san.”

“Akari?” Hisa questioned followed by a long sigh. “Why am I not surprised? Anyway, It’s was nice to meet you but I have to find my little sister.”

“Bye, Hisa. Tell Itsuki I said hi.” Chrom waved as the older woman walked away. “So Saya. We still need to find a place for our blanket.”

“Why don’t you sit with us?” Nozomi inquired as she gently patted the grass besides her. “I’m sure there’s enough space here for Muse, Heart and Poppin' Party.”

“If you’re sure.” Chrom nodded and unfolded the blanket. It was a purple blanket with the Heart crest in the centre. “Are you going to get your band’s blanket. Kasumi?”

“Not yet.” Kasumi smiled and turned away towards the stage Poppin' Party were going to perform on. “Arisa and the others are still having their free time, you know. Meeting the fans we have.”

“Excuse me?”

Honoka turned around at the unfamiliar voice, surprised to see one of the competition’s workers a short distance behind them. “Yes?”

“There’s been a little bit of an error so Muse had been moved up. It’s now your turn to do your first performance.” The worker explained before he took a few steps away from them. “If you would all kindly follow me.”

Umi frowned for a moment and looked around. “Wait. Rin, Hanayo and Maki aren’t here yet.”

“Don’t worry about it.” The worker replied with a smile, his hands cupped together just in front of him. “You are not on yet. In about 1 hour so you still have time to wait for the rest of your band.”

Umi and Kotori turned towards each other and shrugged. “O-okay.”

---

Honoka looked down and tightened her grip on the microphone, feeling as if she was going to drop it with how much she was sweating. Besides practice with the rest of Muse, this was the first time she had performed in front of anyone in over two years. She wondered if she was still good enough to be considered an idol. The last thing she wanted to do was embarise her friends again. "Washi, washi!" Honoka jumped at the familiar voice, letting out a small cry of fear as she felt hands grasp onto her breasts from behind. "What the...?!" "Two years is a long time not to feel you, Honoka." Nozomi smirked, resting her head on Honoka's shoulder. She chuckled at Honoka's expression and quickly let go. "I'm kidding. I don't do that type of thing anymore. It's would be bad for a Psychologist to do that type of thing." "Oh. I see...It looks like I'm the only member of Muse who stayed the same." Honoka muttered to herself as she leaned backwards against the wall. "That's not true." Nozomi replied, crossing her arms. "You've become so much more mature since we've all been away from each other." Honoka stayed quiet and looked down at the microphone. The Battle of Music was going to be the toughest competition Muse had ever, no, will ever be in. Heart and Poppin' Party were both exceptional bangs and they still had Aqours and Franchuchu to go. "Honoka." Nozomi frowned, moving to Honoka's side. "You're not alone. We're all here with you. No matter what." Honoka looked away as her bottom lip started trembling. "Don't make me cry, Nozomi-chan. My makeup will run." "Okay." Nozomi smiled and gently moved the orange haired girl's head to her shoulder. "Then I'll stay with you until we go on." Honoka nodded and lifted her head from Nozomi's shoulder for a moment, wiping her eyes before any tears appear. She closed her eyes and returned her head to the older idol's shoulder. "Thank you, Nozomi-chan." "Anytime." Nozomi chuckled softly to herself. "It is my job after all." Honoka nodded slowly. "Hey, Nozomi-chan. Am I too old to be an Idol?" Nozomi frowned at the question and shook her head slowly. "Of course not. Well, you're too old to be a School Idol but so am I too." "B-but what If I'm not good enough anymore." Honoka inquired, glancing towards the purple haired girl. "I...I don't want to embarrass anyone." Nozomi nodded slowly so Honoka's head stayed on her shoulder. She smiled before bringing her hand to the top of Honoka's head, gently stroking her. "Your voice is amazing, Honoka. There is no way you're not good enough." Honoka smiled and snuggled closer to Nozomi. "Thank you." "No problem.” Nozomi smiled with a slight nod. “Let me know if you have any more worries."

"Okay." --- "We're sorry we're late, Nya." Rin announced as she ran into the backstage area with Hanayo and Maki close behind her. She barely got the words out before all the other members of Muse who were already there shushed her. In the corner Nozomi sat on the floor, her hand stroking the top of Honoka's sleeping head. They could only assume that to make sure she wouldn't let the rest of Muse down again she had been putting herself through extra training when she was alone. "Poor Honoka." "If she wants to cripple herself working too hard, let her." Nico shrugged, leaning against the wall. Kotori turned around to Nico with a scowl on her face. "Nico! I know you don't mean that." Nico facade faded away for a moment before the black haired idol turned away, crossing her arms. "Well, maybe I do. Whatever."

“We should probably wake her up soon.” Eli turned towards the sleeping Honoka, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She had always known how cute Honoka looked when she slept.

“Go ahead then, Eli.” Umi gestured towards Honoka with a smile on her face.

“Why do I have to do it?” Eli frowned and turned towards Umi, the two of glairing towards each other. It was clear to everyone else that there was still tension between the two Muse members even if the two in question didn’t think so. “You should do it. You’ve known her longer.”

“But you were the first choice for her so go ahead.” Umi retorted. The two idols glared at each other, both clearly trying to get one up on the other one.

“That’s ridiculous!” Eli scoffed at the news and turned to the sleeping Honoka. “It was clear that she wanted to be with you more. It’s why she never said she wanted to be with me.”

“Enough!” Maki yelled in irritation, the volume of her voice waking up Honoka. Honoka looked around in confusion as she noticed Maki stepping between Umi and Eli. “You two are both idiots. No one gives a damn about who Honoka liked more between the two of you. I came back because she wanted to be with us ALL. Not just Umi or not just Eli but All of us.”

“Like a harem, nya?” Rin inquired with a disgusted look.

“No.” Maki answered quickly.

Honoka was about to speak but hesitated, pretending she was asleep as Hanayo glanced over. It was just like two years ago all over again. Eli and Umi fighting over who Honoka loved more. Honoka let out a pretend long yawn and slowly stretched to the air, acting as if she had only just woken up. “Is everything okay?”

Maki glanced towards Eli and Umi before she nodded. “Yeah. We’re all just nervous about going back in front of an audience again.”

Honoka smile, choosing to ignore the fact Maki just lied to her. “Don’t worry, Maki-chan. It’s just like Nozomi-chan told me. “You’re not too old to be a school idol.”

Nozomi let out a long sigh as everyone else looked at Honoka in confusion. “No, Honoka-chan. I said, you were too old to be a school idol. You’re not too old to be just an idol.”

“Oh…” Honoka smiled, rubbing the back of her head. “Well, I knew it was something like that. Hahaha.”

Maki frowned in confusion still. “But that had nothing to do with what we were talking about.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Honoka smiled and turned towards the entrance to the stage. She took in a deep breath and glanced out of the curtains to the stage. The entire stage was packed with more people than she could count. “There are so many people. I’m so excited!”

“Excited?!” Eli questioned in a shocked tone. “I’m terrified.”

Honoka turned around at Eli’s admission and closed the distance between them, taking Eli’s hands in hers. “Don’t worry, Eli-chan. It’s just like Nozomi-chan said…”

Everyone except Honoka let out a long sigh at the mention of something Nozomi had said. They all knew that Nozomi was probably the wisest among them but they knew what Honoka was going to say.

Honoka frowned at the group’s long sigh but ignored it. “You’re not too old to be a school idol.”

“But that’s has nothing...nevermind.” Eli smiled softly and shook her heads. “We better get out there.”

“Yeah!” Everyone yelled in unison, putting their hands together. They waited for a moment, all of them taking a deep breath before walking out onto the stage.

---

“Yeah, Muse!” Kasumi cheared, jumping up and down with the rest of the crowd before she turned to Saaya next to her. “I can’t wait to see them live.”

Saaya nodded and smiled softly. “I haven’t seen you this excited in ages.”

“Yeah. This whole competition is just making me so excited. I’ve met so many people…” She trailed off as she noticed two people she had just been talking to recently. “Speaking of new people, Raven-kun and Izetta-san is over there.”

“Who?” Saaya inquired, recognizing one of them. She immediately remembered Izetta as soon as she saw Kasumi walking over to the two but the black haired boy was still a mystery. Kasumi had told her that there was another member of Heart who went away with that name so she assumed it was him. “Hello again, Izetta-san.”

Izetta frowned at the mention of her name and looked up from the notebook she had. “Oh. Hello again, Saaya chan.”

“Saya?” Raven questioned turning to the side. “You’ve changed since we last met.”

Saaya chuckled at the man’s comment, knowing that Heart had a Saya of their own. “No. I’m Yamabuki Saaya. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Raven Evergreen and It’s nice to meet you too.” Raven smiled and nodded before turning back towards the stage, writing something into the notebook in his hand. “Did you see how she stepped?”

Kasumi and Saaya turned towards each other, both of them confused as to what they were doing. They were clearly taking notes on someone on stage but she had no idea who.

“What are you doing?” Kasumi inquired, moving between the two Heart members and glanced into their books. She was surprised to see Kotori’s name with notes about her under it.

“We’re studying Uni-chan’s new girlfriend.” Izetta nodded as the two added another note to the book. “We just want to make sure she’s good for Uni-chan.”

Saaya couldn’t help but smile at the two Heart members. It was somehow sweet to see them looking out for their friend so much to make sure that the person Uni was dating was a good person. “That’s fair enough. Is...that the only reason you came?”

“No.” Raven and Izetta shook their heads quickly at the question.

“We also wanted to see them perform. Once they start, we’ll put our notebooks away.” Izetta smiled softly, gently nudging into Raven. “Isn’t that right, Raven?”

Raven nodded, returning his notebook to his pocket. “Yup. And my little sister told me I should watch the people after Muse too.”

“Shhh. It looks like they’re starting.” Kasumi added before getting a strange sense of Deja Vu. “I can’t wait!”

Saaya couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s excitement. She had known Kasumi for a long time but she was pretty sure that she had never seen Kasumi as excited as she was now.

---

Honoka stopped singing with everyone else, all the members of Muse gathering in one spot for the end pose. The wait after the music stopped felt like an eternity of silence and even though she only had her hands on Kotori and Umi’s shoulders who were knelt down in front of her, she could still feel that they were all terrified. She smiled widely as the crowd erupted into cheers with a few audience members shouting for an another song. She knew that they weren’t allowed but she would have loved to sing another song, even if she could feel her heart beating in her throat.

“Thank you all for coming to see us!” Honoka put her hands to her side as the other members of Muse got to their feet, standing with Honoka in a line.

“We hope you all enjoyed yourselves!”

The entirety of Muse spoke in unison before they all bowed towards the crowd. It had been the first time that they performed together in so long but it felt like old times so much so that they all instinctively waited until Honoka walked off the stage before they did.

Kotori turned to the side as she was about to leave and noticed Raven and Izetta, waving briefly at them as a kind of payback for when he waved at her. She frowned slightly in irritation as the black haired boy only smiled widely and franticly waved his hand towards her. It wasn’t the reaction she wanted. She wanted him to get embarrassed like she did.

“We did it, nya.” Rin yelled happily, bouncing around the backstage as if she had drank ten energy drinks. “It was just like old times.”

“Rin, calm down.” Nico commanded as she gripped down onto the younger idol’s shoulder’s, keeping her in place. “Geez, how many energy drinks have you had today?”

“5 so far.” Rin looked around in confusion at the shocked expressions on everyone’s faces. “What? Did you guys seriously think I was this hyper without the help of caffeine? You should see me in the morning, I’m like Nico-chan.”

Nico frowned at first in irritation before she shrugged, realising the orange haired girl was right. If she didn’t have three alarm clocks, she would probably never get out of bed. “Fair enough.”

Kotori frowned as she noticed Honoka had slipped away from the rest of the group and was standing at the edge of the backstage. She guessed the orange haired girl was looking out a the stage they were just performing on. “Honoka-chan?”

Honoka didn’t answer as she looked at the audience. She could see Kasumi, Saya, Raven and Izetta all standing in the audience with smiles on their faces. “Do you think we have a chance?”

Everyone was taken aback by Honoka’s sudden question with none of them sure how to reply. Honoka had pretty much just asked what they were all thinking. The competition was filled with great groups already like Poppin’ Party, Heart, Franchuchu and Aquors. Maybe there was more really good groups that they just hadn’t seen yet.

Kotori smiled and rested her hand on her best friend’s shoulder, squeezing slightly. “I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter.”

“Kotori-chan?” Honoka frowned in confusion and quickly turned to the ashen haired girl.

Kotori smiled and moved her hands down so they were covering Honoka’s. “We didn’t come here to win...don’t get me wrong, it would be great to win. But we came here to perform together.”

“Kotori’s right.” Umi smiled and took a step forward, resting her hand on top of Kotori’s. “You came to get every single one of us personally.”

“She’s right, nya.” Rin hopped over to the three girls, placing her hand in the middle too. “You could have just asked me to ask Kyo-chin to join, but you didn’t. You came with me to get her.”

Hanayo stepped forward, joining hands with Rin as she placed her hand sheepishly onto the four hands. “You came to get me and made me remember how great it was being an idol.”

Eli took a step forward, adding her hand to the group too. “You even came to get me and Umi. The two people asking to join would have been the most awkward for you.”

Umi chuckled at the statement and nodded. “You could say that again.”

“It’s just like I said before…” Nozomi chuckled to herself as she stepped forward, doing the same thing as everyone else. “You’re not too old to be an idol.”

Maki let out a long groan as she walked over, putting her hand onto the pile. “I swear if I never hear that sentence again it’ll be too soon.” Maki frowned slightly in irritation as she notice Honoka struggling to keep her laughter contained.

Nico let out a long groan as the other eight members of Muse turned towards her, expecting her to join. “What?”

“You know what, Nico.” Maki added, her frown changing targets to Nico instead of Honoka. “I did it, so you have to as well.”

“Urgh, fine. I did miss you all. There, I said it!” Nico reluctantly placed her hand into the pile of hands in a huff. “How long are we going to keep our hands here anyway?”

“Yeah, we can stop now. You all have sweaty hands.” Honoka smiled as the pile of hands separated, wiping her hand against her skirt. “We should go and wait for the results with Poppin’ Party and Heart.”

“Yeah…” Umi barely got the word out before something caught her attention to the side. She had felt like she was being watched for a while but chose not to question it because they were competitors. It would be natural for people to look at them. Her eyes fixed at a shadow of she could only guess was a buff looking woman nearby.

“Come on, Umi-chan or we’ll leave you behind!” Honoka’s voice called out from a few meters away with the rest of Muse waiting with her at the exit.

Umi shrugged, choosing to believe it to be one of the workers of the competition. She couldn’t help her mind from second guessing it though, maybe because she was a reporter and uncovering secrets was what she was good at. “Don’t leave me!”

TBC...

#HonoUmi #Honoe #Kotomaki #love live school idol project #bandori #zombieland saga #love live! sunshine!!#locodol #ocs

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thefinalcinderella · 6 years

Text

Tsurune Book 1 Chapter 4-Gift (Part 2)

In this chapter: The qualifiers start, Minato and Shuu have their fateful meeting, will Kazemai advance to the finals? (This is the fourth chapter of a six chapter book, which has a sequel, hint hint)

Glossary here

Full list of translations here

Translation Notes

1. Warawara means “swarming, shuffling” but also a way to say “wwww” (lol in Japanese internet slang, as you probably know) and I didn’t know which one to put so I put both

2. Uchiwa fans are round Japanese handheld fans, as seen here

3. Kasumi-mato are targets with concentric circle designs

4. An izume competition is a competition where when there is a tie between finalists, both keep shooting until someone misses the target and get eliminated

Previous | Next

It was the middle of May.

Beneath the almost-transparent blue sky, the preliminaries for the Prefectural High School Kyudo Tournament were being held.

The hakama-clad high school students in front of the venue were carrying long, rod-shaped objects covered in cloth, causing the passersby to wonder aloud if they were naginatas or the like. Since the standard length of a bow was two-hundred-and-twenty-one centimeters, naturally they were moving carefully to avoid hitting things like the top of the entrance and noticeboards.

The competition event was a kinteki (close-range) competition. The first day's individual competition was shooting four arrows in two sets while in zasha, and the ten archers with the most total hits were selected. For the second day's team competition, teams were composed of one coach and five to seven archers, and one boys' team and one girls' team were allowed to participate from each school. The competition method was a tachi of five people, four shots while in zasha, and an eight-minute time limit. The boys' team competition had thirty-eight schools participating, and the top ten teams with the highest total of hits in two rounds will advance to the prefectural tournament.

For Kazemai High School, Hanazawa, Shiragiku, Seo, Kaito and Nanao were doing the individual competitions, and Kaito, Ryouhei, Seiya, Nanao and Minato had entered the team competition. Their white kyudogi with their school's name embroidered on one sleeve emphasized that they were new members of a new club. There was also a suggestion that they should prepare headbands, but they postponed that idea for this time.

After they finished finding good spots to put down their baggage, cloths with numbers on them were attached to the right hips of those who were taking part in the individual competition.

Tomi-sensei cleared his throat theatrically.

"The fact that all eight members of the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club can gather here without anyone missing, makes me truly happy. Now, let's start the mission."

"Yes, thank you very much!"

"Masa-san and I will have to leave to take care of some business, but in the time leading up to the opening ceremony, everyone will move forward with preparations."

After seeing them off, those who were tense and those who were relaxed all made their final adjustments before the competition finally began.

Ryouhei looked around.

"Uwaah, all these people are doing kyudo? There's so many!"

"There's actually more high schoolers doing kyudo than kendo."

"Heh, I'm getting excited."

When speaking the tall Ryouhei, Minato instinctively raised his face up to talk. Maybe because of that, he felt like even his mood was heading upwards. In the practice competition they had before the tournament, he was able to get the high score of getting fifteen hits out of twenty shots, so if one did simple calculations, getting thirty hits out of forty shots in this competition wasn't a long shot.

Suddenly, there was a break in the noise. When he just happened to look in that direction, he saw a group clad in matching jerseys. People's gazes were fixed on the words carved on the back of their jerseys.

It was the Kirisaki High School Kyudo Club.

It wasn't only because they were a powerhouse school that Kirisaki High School attracted attention. Kazemai High School stood out today because they had a team composed of only first-years, but even the starting lineup of Kirisaki High School had more than half of its members as first-years. Looking at the program, it seemed like they had substituted members on that very day. Before the word "Kirisaki," Minato felt himself getting goosebumps.

On the other hand, Ryouhei and Nanao looked at each other with expressions of glee.

"See them? Is that the favorite to win, Kirisaki High? I guess the ones in kyudogi are on the team. They kinda even look strong."

"The number of people in their cheering squad is impressive too. Ooh, that girl is cute. Should I go talk to her?"

"Huh? Are my eyes getting bad? It looks like I'm seeing two people who look exactly alike coming this way!"

"No, I'm seeing that too?"

As they talked, the two people who looked exactly alike did not stop walking, and Nanao and Ryouhei panicked about whether or not they heard their conversation.

The twin brothers, Sugawara Senichi and Manji, stopped at almost the same time. Their bangs were arranged symmetrically to each other’s, and it was the one with his bangs parted to the left who introduced the two of them.

"Hellooo, are you the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club? We are the Sugawaras from the Kirisaki High School Kyudo Club. We're also first-years like you, so please treat us well. So, you there, the girls in our club wouldn't talk to a gaudy, airheaded guy like you. Oh, and that huge, dumb-looking guy over there too. Ah, you don't just look it, you really are dumb, right?"

Oh crap, they did hear us. They have pretty sharp ears, Nanao thought. Then, Kaito stepped forward.

"You guys have some nerve to come here and line up like some loser doppelgangers! Why don't you just piss off and make your faces even more like a horror movie!"

"Wow, what's with this rude boy?"

"Isn't the one who's rude here you guys?"

"Kaito, stop it. You two should go back to your own place as well."

As Seiya was calming Kaito down, the twins' target moved somewhere else. Scanning over the Kazemai High School club members as though evaluating them, their gazes stopped before Minato.

"…Hey, weren't you on the same team as Shuu in middle school. This guy over here, too. When I saw the program, I was wondering where I saw your names before, but now I finally remembered. Aah, Narumiya-kun and Takehaya-kun, right? I guess you guys must be pretty good to get teamed up with Shuu?"

When the older brother Senichi was alternately looking at Minato and Seiya, the younger brother Manji did the same. When they both did the same thing like this, it looked like they were drunk to someone else watching.

"It's really you, the guy who was the oomae for that three-person tachi. I remembered because the girls were screaming about how cool you were. If I remember correctly, didn't you get hayake at the prefectural tournament finals and self-destructed? Have you recovered from your hayake since then, Narumiya-kun? Well, our kai is also short, so should we worry about it?"

"Man, a short kai and hayake are two different things."

"Ah, that's right."

The twins laughed strangely, but the people around them kept their mouths shut. Not because they couldn't refute them, but because they were overwhelmed by the person who appeared from behind.

Gorgeous, un-Japanese, looks and disciplined movements. Someone who could not permit others to mimic him with his overwhelming presence——.

Fujiwara Shuu smiled elegantly.

"Sen, Man, you two are too talkative today. It's better to stop on that matter. ——It's been a while, Seiya. And, Minato."

"…Shuu."

As long as one continued to do kyudo, there was no escape from seeing the figure of Fujiwara Shuu. But even as he was resigned to that fact, his feet froze from seeing the person himself right before his eyes.

Shuu stepped forward, still wearing a smile, and stopped in front of Seiya, who stood in front of Minato.

"Are you still acting as Minato's knight like always, Seiya? I was surprised when I was told that you chose another high school as well, not just Minato."

"Aren't you the one who never changed, Shuu? I heard that you did a twenty shot kaichuu the other day. Even in high school, the name of the 'Young Lord' is still going strong."

"I have no interest in such a common name. Hey, Minato."

Shuu went past Seiya and stood next to Minato.

In that moment, Minato stopped breathing. Nobody could get close to the two, who were face-to-face with their right shoulders next to each other's.

"Minato, do you remember? How Saionji-sensei, who was a former Imperial Guard, had bad hearing in his left ear, so we always brought our faces close to his right ear like this to speak to him... We were still in elementary school, so when we wanted Sensei to listen to us, we would fight for his right side."

"I remember."

"And, Minato," Shuu put his hand on Minato's left flank. "Does this still hurt?"

"…No."

"I see, that's good."

"…I know that you turned your back on me, Shuu. We lost the championship of the prefecturals because I got hayake, even though you got a kaichuu… I, who ran away without being able to overcome my hayake, cannot face you."

"I have never turned my back on you even once. I didn't say anything because I believed that there were no words of sympathy or reprimands that would suit you. ——Four years ago, when you suddenly disappeared before me, I didn't know it was because you had suffered that injury. When we met again in middle school, I realized just how much I've been eagerly waiting for you. I still believe you will definitely return before me this time. Show me your kyudo again."

"Shuu…"

"Although he never said it, Saionji-sensei never taught anyone personally no matter how much he was asked. When he believed that it was the last duty entrusted to an old archer, he took it on. He seemed convinced that that duty was the two boys before him. That meeting was a gift from the god of the bow——. I should go soon, my senpais are looking for us."

When he looked, he saw a boy with a calm and carefree air about him and another boy, both beckoning them over with clear file folders that appeared to be idol merch.

Shuu took a step away from Minato, called the twins and left. The others, not to mention Minato, stood stock still as though wondering if they were having a dream.

But, Kaito was different. Even after the three from Kirisaki High School left, his anger did not settle down.

"Seiya and Narumiya came from Kirisaki Middle School? Seiya, when we first met, I asked you what middle school did you come from. You said something like 'I don't think you'd know the name even if I told you.' Aren't they a prestigious kyudo school… I thought you guys just lost in the first round when you said you guys lost at the finals of the middle school prefectural tournament. Why did you keep quiet? Ryouhei, didn't you know about this too?"

"Huh? I didn't even remember the name of the middle school Minato and Seiya went to. I just knew it was a school where kyudo was popular."

Seiya went between the two of them.

"Don't blame Ryouhei. I just didn't want to be interrogated if it was known that we were from Kirisaki Middle School. If you're that curious about it, you should have looked us up, right?"

"Haa, because of this, you guys… Are you guys happy to get looked up by me? Keeping secrets means you don't trust us. Why did students from other schools know, but we didn't? Don't screw around with us. Even though I was thinking that I could acknowledge you guys a little bit…" Kaito said as if spitting it out, then turned on his heel.

"Kacchan! I'll bring Kacchan back, so just go on ahead, guys!"

Nanao chased after Kaito.

Kaito sat at the edge of a flowerbed in a courtyard away from the kyudojo. His more-than-usual sullen aura was at full throttle, uselessly intimidating passersby. Nanao sat next to him, and tried his best to speak with a light tone.

"Ka—cchan, won't the opening ceremony and the yawatashi be starting soon? Let's get going."

"We don't have to be there, so isn't it okay? I'll stay here for now."

"Geez, Kacchan. You didn't have to get so angry about that, did you? They didn't mean anything bad by hiding stuff, and hiding what middle school they came from isn't that big of a deal."

"That's exactly why! What kind of teammates wouldn't even confide stuff that isn't that big of a deal to us? And on top of that, what's with those twins? Fujiwara and Sugawara, stop swarming me with all that warawara internet slang. (1) I won't forgive anyone who talks bad about our club members. That seriously pisses me off…"

"Even Kacchan is saying bad jokes…"

"Shut up, I wasn't joking!"

Oh, I see, Nanao thought. Kaito was angrier with himself for not being someone to depend on, even though they were all comrades, rather than having secrets hidden from him.

Kaito boasted a high hitting rate even in middle school, but he was never once chosen as a team member for a team competition. The reason given by the advisor was that there was no spirit of cooperation with a loner, but Nanao guessed that he was instead demanding a feeling of comradeship too much, and the people around Kaito disliked his company. No one was as devoted to kyudo as Kaito was, and there were many who believed that it was all fine as long as they were able to have fun. Their stances were different depending on whether one thought of kyudo as a martial art or a sport, and to say nothing of the environment of club activities in middle school, where the probability of those who possessed the same amount of zeal gathering together was low.

The power created by the feeling of "liking something" was great, for better or for worse, and the more earnest that liking was, the more confusion and misunderstandings were created. Minato, Seiya and Kaito were very similar to each other not just because they wanted to get better at kyudo, but also because they harbored a longing to win in a team battle.

They really are such irritating people.

Do they know zeal flows from high places to low?

Everyone's zeal is even able to pour into me. If you don't take responsibility for that, won't it be a pain?

"Alright, stop worrying about all that and let's get going! Don't you want to win the prefecturals?"

"Hah? What's got into you all of a sudden, Nanao?"

"If you don't go to the opening ceremony, I'll keep calling you 'Kacchan' here! Kacchan, Kacchan, Kacchan!"

"Nanaooo, you bastaaard! Do you have a grudge against me?"

"Everyone—, this person is called 'Kacchan.' If you call his name, he will cry from happiness. When I say 'One, two,' you say 'Kachaaan.' One, two—"

"Na-na-o!"

Kaito pursued the running Nanao, and two of them headed for the venue for the opening ceremony.

At that time, Minato and Seiya looked truly apologetic.

"Sorry, Ryouhei. You didn't do anything wrong at all."

"It's fine, Minato. I think Kaito-kun was just a little surprised, that's all."

Seiya then spoke.

"Kaito might be right. I should have talked to everyone properly. And then, finding out things about your teammates from an outsider on top of that doesn't feel too good, huh. I'm disqualified from being the club president."

"What are you saying? You're the only person I can consider to be the club president, Seiya. You're smart, and nice to everyone—a friend I can really be proud of."

"You're making too much of me. What if I was a bad person who was trying to use everyone?"

"You're not. I guarantee it. You're a good guy."

Seiya widened his eyes at Ryouhei, who spoke without any hesitation. Although he never tricked him, Ryouhei was completely unaware that Seiya's good qualities were all because he was highly calculating and extremely careful, and he always honestly admired him. He did not know how much Seiya was healed by that purity. Ryouhei's eyes, just like his dog Bear's, turned towards him. He didn't want to be the kind of man who disappointed them.

"When I get the chance, I'll be the one talking to Kaito properly about it. First, let's focus on the competition."

"Oh, that's right."

Ever since Kaito had hit the nail on the head about him, Seiya had cosntantly reflected on whether or not he had been acting a little cold towards him. When Kaito returned right before the opening ceremony, Minato and the others felt relieved for the moment.

After the yawatashi, the girls' individual competition started.

Hanazawa, Shiragiku and Seo put on their yugake, took their bows, arrows and tsurumaki containing backup bowstrings (kaezuru) and went to the third waiting area (hikae). Tomi-sensei also accompanied them as their manager. Kaito and Nanao also headed there a little later.

The first tachi of girls did their yuu bows with the signal to "start." While a great crowd watched, the oomae rose after nocking her arrow and went into the ashibumi position. Douzukuri, yugamae, she distinctly carried out the Shahou Hassetsu.

The cheering squad for Kazemai High School took their places in a section of the stands and waited for their turn. The stands were filled with groups putting up cheering banners and girls holding uchiwa fans (2) with kasumi-mato (3) designs on them. After many tachi finished, it was finally the Kazemai High School girls' kyudo team's turn.

Hanazawa hit with her first shot. They all shouted out "Alright!" at the same time. Cheering in kyudo was not permitted except for calling out "Alright" and applauding, but there was an especially good feeling at the moment where one was about to witness a kaichuu. Because the archer wasn't allowed to express emotions to their results, they could not take a triumphant pose when they hit, or feel bitter when they missed, only dispassionately moving on to their next action.

In the first round, Hanazawa hit, Shiragiku missed, and Seo hit. The second round was miss, miss, hit… Thus, Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo put out the adequate results of two hits, two hits and three hits respectively.

On the other hand, for the boys, Kaito was out of form. Even though he hit for his first shot, for his second and third shots he kept landing his arrow right in front of the target.

For Minato in the stands, Kaito's bad form felt like it was his own. He wondered if the confrontation with Kirisaki High School from before had a bad effect on him. Next to him, Masa-san also had a "hmm" look on his face.

"Isn't it unusual for Kaito be nervous? His tenouchi turned back to its form from before the training camp."

Even though it could have been fixed with one shout, once nyuujou began no one could give advice to the archers. That applied to even Tomi-sensei, who was standing right next to the shajo as the manager.

After all the individual competitions ended, the results were Motomura and Shuu from Kirisaki High School both getting kaichuu, and then after the subsequent izume competition (4), Shuu was crowned as the victor of the boys' competition. For Kazemai High School, Seo with seven hits would be advancing to the prefectural finals, but Nanao with five hits, Hanazawa with four hits, and Kaito and Shiragiku with three hits would unfortunately not be advancing. Everyone got advice from Tomi-sensei, and there were few words spoken as they set forth on their way home.

For the second day's team competition, the sky was covered with gray clouds—a completely change from the day before.

The first round. When the first tachi finished, the target viewers went to the azuchi to perform verification work. They held out a number plate that displayed the number of hits, and were crouching down on the left side of each target. An announcement came on.

"Please return the arrows. The results will be announced as follows. First shajo, for the first group: one, three, two, one, four, total eleven hits. Second shajo, for the second group: two, zero, one, one, two, total six hits. That is all."

By chance, Kirisaki High School and Kazemai High School ended up shooting alongside each other, with Kirisaki in the first shajo and Kazemai in the second. The shooting order for Kirisaki was Motomura, Senichi, Manji, Sase, and Shuu.

With the confirmation of names in the third hikae, the officials gathered their tsurumaki. They were worried about what would happen with Kaito's poor condition in the individuals, but instead of returning to his normal mode, he was more motivated than ever.

"It's possible to make up the difference between us and Kirisaki. Everyone, put in more spirit!"

"Roger!" Ryouhei and Nanao responded.

Minato could barely sleep last night, probably because of his meeting with Shuu, but now his head felt strangely clear. He was glad to know that Shuu hadn't given up on him, and a strong desire was born within him, not only for his hayake to not act up at all, but also to not expose an unsightly figure to Shuu.

A desire that was too strong—an obsession that the bow hated.

The nyuujou began. At the signal to start, they did their yuu bows, then stood up and went to the shooting line. Minato hid his fast-beating heart, putting on an expression of ignorance as he chose a hitote from four arrows.

The first shot. The oomae for Kirisaki High School was the third-year Motomura. A person who shot calmly, appropriate for a club president, he won the individual competition at the prefectural tournament last year. He drew his bow as though he was having a leisurely conversation with it, and hit right on the target.

On the other hand, Kaito shot offensively with plenty of vigor, releasing an arrow with a force that made his opponent flinch from the spirit, no matter that it was just an unmoving target. However, he still hadn't come out of his slump from the day before, and his arrow went over the target.

When the oomae entered kai, the second archer of each team began uchiokoshi. Since gyousha was carried out at intervals in individual competitions, one raised their bow at the previous person's "tsurune," but team competitions had a time limit so the intervals were quickened. Ryouhei stood up when the person before him finished his douzukuri, and smoothly switched over to shooting.

However, tsurune consecutively resounded twice from Kirisaki High School. That was because their second and third archers Senichi and Manji shot their arrows in exact rapid succession. Kirisaki's cheering squad seemed used to it, since they cheered "Alright!" "Alright!" rhythmically. But others were semi-dumbfounded at the unexpectedly quick hanare of the third archer. It could be understood if the time limit was imminent, but there was no need to shoot it that fast from the start.

Bewildered by the twins' time-difference attack, Ryouhei, who was entering hikiwake, missed the timing of his hanare and lost his chance to get a hit. Seiya, going after him in third, kept his own pace and got a hit.

Kirisaki High School's fourth was the vice-president Sase. Sase was an idol lover and called disappointingly handsome by those around him, but he was the type of person who only had to know the key points of hitting the target once, and then he would never miss on that day. He nimbly did hikiwake and clinched a hit.

Kazemai High School's fourth, Nanao, was always sparkling. Him feeling the strong urge to please others might have been because of the idol-like disposition he was born with. When he got a hit, there was a big cheer from the girls.

The ochi of Kirisaki High School was Shuu. His shooting was different from that of a high schooler. Perhaps it was because his grace was revealing itself from within. It was still different from Masa-san's dignified shots, but they both had a picturesque quality in common. He capitalised on the physique he was blessed with, and elegantly and grandly performed hikiwake. A strong kai without the slightest tremor. At the right time, his readied arrow ran ahead. He of course hit the target.

Kirisaki High School's intervals were quick, and Motomura finished his second shot with a hit, but Minato was slowly raising his bow.

Minato's shot was similar to the moment one immersed one's hand in running river water. The beauty of the limpid water and its crisp coldness were pleasant. He stretched out at kai, then got a hit on the three o'clock position on the target.

At his second shot as well, Kaito did not hit.

And then, to make matters worse, Ryouhei had a "shitsu" even though he had hit.

When shooting, there were times when a mistake could be made. This was called a shitsu, and it could be dropping the bow at hanare, or it could be a "hazukobore" where the nocked arrow came loose from the string during the gyousha after torikake (nocking the arrow), but in Ryouhei's case it was a "tsurugire" (bowstring break).

Ryouhei's head turned completely blank. There was an etiquette for dealing with shitsu, and it must be carried through properly, but he was at a complete loss as to what to do with his hands. Ah, he remembered. I move the broken string closer with my foot and get into kiza, pick up the string and hold it with my left hand and roll it into a ring with my right hand, then pick my bow up with the other hand, slide back to the shooting line on my knees and do a yuu bow that signifies shame.

He handed over his bow and broken string to the facilitator, and then the manager re-stringed the backup string outside the shajo, but during that time the other members continued shooting, with Seiya and Nanao hitting, but Minato missing. Ryouhei could not move onto the next movement because he had no bow, so he restlessly waited for it to be returned to him.

When he received his bow with the stringed bowstring, he quickly finished nocking his arrow and stood up. Although there wasn't much time lost even with a broken string, Kirisaki High School had faster intervals than the norm, with Manji already finishing his third shot. For that reason, Ryouhei got the wrong impression that they were late.

As Kazemai High School also went into its third set, Kaito finally got his shooting down. The cheering squad also cheered with all that they had.

Ryouhei hurriedly did hikiwake, and even Seiya did hikiwake as though following him. Nanao, standing behind them, also got flustered. If Seiya shot earlier than Ryouhei, then even if his arrow hit it would be invalid. Caught up in it, Nanao shortened the interval as well and lifted up his bow. Perhaps because he lifted his bow quicker than usual, the arrow missed the target along with an unpleasant-sounding tsurune.

While Kirisaki High School was smoothly making matooto (sound of arrow hitting target) resound, for Kazemai High School only Kaito and Seiya hit for their third shots. Minato was swallowed up by the premature course of events, and he ended up holding out at kai longer than usual. But, on the contrary his hanare became slacker, and his arrow bounced once before hitting the target.

In the stands, Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo were fretting.

"I wish they'd also count arrows that bounced once as a hit."

"It is because 'hakiya' are arrows that swept against the ground and did not properly reach the target."

"Kirisaki High School has so far almost never missed. I can't believe this is just the qualifiers for the prefectural tournament."

Ryouhei's rhythm was completely thrown off by his tsurugire. The matooto coming from the first shajo and the cheers from the stands made him feel as though he was being rushed. The more he thought about how bad it was to be slow because there was a time limit, the more he got impatient, until he couldn't even do torikake.

As though laughing at the Kazemai High School club members, Kirisaki High School went into their fourth set, one by one clinching kaichuu. Shuu got his kaichuu, just as expected, and exited the shajo while bathed in thunderous applause. That gave more and more pressure, and Ryouhei did not understand at all what he was doing right now.

At the fourth set, Kaito and Ryouhei missed their last shots and exited. Infected by their impatience, Seiya also missed his chance to get a hit, but Nanao managed to recover somehow, and Minato also got a hit with his last arrow just as the warning bell sounded.

After Minato exited the shajo, the announcement informing the results came on.

"The results will be announced as follows. First shajo, group seventeen: four, three, four, four, total eighteen hits. Second shajo, group eighteen: one, one, three, three, two, total ten hits. That is all."

Ryouhei knitted his brows together.

"Haa, why did my string break right at that time… Even though I replaced it with a new one yesterday."

Hearing that, Nanao had an "aah" look on his face.

"Normally, it breaks in the middle, but yours snapped from the end. Occasionally, there are strings that have ends that immediately snap. Also, it's not good to change to a new one just before a match, since the string isn't experienced."

"I see, I didn't know…"

"Well, tsurugire is common, you know? Let's switch our heads now!"

Tomi-sensei patted Kaito on the back.

"It's okay, it's okay. Predicting outcomes can be a hit-or-miss affair. Let's make a comeback for the next round."

"…Okay." Kaito answered with a meek expression.

In the afternoon, the second round began, but the wind that would boost the five from Kazemai High School did not blow.

Even Seiya, who was in good form during the first round, missed his first shot, and then the five ended up in the state where there was only a total of three hits by the time half of the ten shots were drawn. From behind Kirisaki High School, who was smoothly making matooto resound, the shouts of "Alright!" did not stop as the shooting continued.

Ryouhei's chest pounded as his palms became slippery with sweat.

Kaito fell into a state of losing self-confidence.

What's wrong with me. No matter how much I ask and answer myself what's wrong with me, this wave of slumps won't end. Somehow or other, I don't care how, please let one arrow hit, please, he ardently prayed.

Perhaps because Kaito's wish reached someone, all five members hit the target for their third set.

The results after the two rounds were finished were as followed.

(Circle means hit, x means miss; shots in order from left to right)

Kaito: ××〇×　××〇× 2

Ryouhei: ×〇××　××〇× 2

Seiya: 〇〇〇×　×〇〇〇 6

Nanao: 〇〇×〇　〇×〇〇 6

Minato: 〇××〇　×〇〇× 4

A "hawake" with twenty hits out of forty shots.

Ryouhei murmured as he looked at the record table on the wall.

"Could we advance to the finals with this…?"

"There's a fifty-fifty chance. We can only wait for the results for all the teams to come out, I guess."

Nanao rubbed his cheek with his thumb.

Kazemai High School got tenth place in the results from the prefectural tournament qualifiers.

They just barely made the last qualifying place.

Meanwhile for Kirisaki High School, Motomura and Shuu both got eight-shot kaichuu, Sase and Senichi got seven hits, and Manji got six hits—obtaining the high achievement of getting thirty-six hits out of forty shots, and achieved a passage to a first place that overwhelmingly outdistanced the others.

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#tsurune #tsurune translation

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furederiko · 7 years

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My interest is definitely building up for Kamen Rider Build...

As I have stated before, I'll be recap-viewing the new episodes in batch post. For this occassion, I'll be covering episode 02 to 04! Here goes...

02 - "The Love and Life that's Lost"

- After several replays, I can now admit that the opening theme song does remind me of "Kamen Rider Blade" and "Kamen Rider 555". And also a bit of "Kamen Rider W" and "Kamen Rider OOO". Just to be fair, I'm still not too keen on it, but it's definitely a standard Kamen Rider song. - This episode proved that Sentou is a much likeable protagonist when he's being serious. His confidence, deduction (albeit not so scientific), and compassion for Ryuuga's situation added actual charm to his character. At the same time, the others got their share to shine as well, particularly, the ladies! Episode 1 only showcased a very thin imagery of either Misora and Sawa, so I was really glad that we got to see more of these two. They unexpectedly added more (and much needed?) spark to the show. Misora's "I don't give a crap" attitude for example, was enough to make me feel curious about what's really going on with her powers. Sawa still served as plot-driver, but at least her inclusion as part of the team worked naturally. Well, sort of. She just casually walked in to their secret HQ, so the others couldn't really say no! LOL. Even Souichi wasn't as annoying as usual, and actually imbued the episode with an amazing 'WHAT THE HELIUM' moment that literally made me jump out of my bed seat. Dang it, this guy has SECRETS... - I wasn't too fond on the action this time around. Gorilla/Diamond's Dazzling Destroyer GORILLAMOND form looked... nice. A little heavy on the right arm, but still nice. And we got more motorcycle chase. Must the troops combined themselves into the infamous low-quality CG giant though? *sigh*. Oh well, at least the science thingy (using Ryuuga as bait to catapult Build)... made more sense than that weird 'Rider-Kick'. - The episode also truly capitalized on Eiji Aso's emotional talent, one that he has proven through "Kamen Rider Amazons S2". Unfortunately, this was also the part that felt... a little over-dramatic and overly-done. I mean, did the show really need to kill Ryuuga's... uhm, girlfriend (it's implied that way, but he never explicitly called her that) Kasumi Ogura (played by Risako Itou) so early in the show? That's a combination of dark and harsh! I know that Tokusatsu generally avoids romantic angle to its protagonists, so it's not a surprise. This one served to add shadows of doubts to Ryuuga too. But, was it really necessary? Shouldn't audience be given the chance to know more of her, to get emotionally invested, so the death scene had more impact? This felt rushed, so it's hard to sympathize with Ryuuga's loss. Oh well, I guess her sole importance was to 'produce' the Dragon Full Bottle for Ryuuga. As in, his next step towards becoming Kamen Rider Claws. - Speaking of girlfriend, dang it with all those yaoi teases!!! Sentou was even shown to be genuinely surprised that Ryuuga has a 'girl'-friend. These two needs to get a room. Oh wait a sec... they are, huh? Along with everyone else. After all, the secret HQ only has ONE small bed that we've seen being used by Sentou, Misora. Ryuuga probably slept there too now!!! LOL. - Bat-man himself, the elusive Night Rogue made his presence known! The way he dealt with Kasumi... showed what a ruthless fella he could be. Interestingly, if Build was using liquid to transform, we could see Night Rogue utilizing steam, as in Gas. Could we be seeing the next Riders representing the three other state of matters, then? Hmmm. What's more interesting about this reveal, was that it pretty much confirmed that neither Gentoku nor his assistant Utsumi was behind the mask. If either of them was the real Night Rogue, then Sentou transforming in front of him meant blowing out his cover in the company from the get-go! I don't think this show would be THAT sloppy. Then again, I can't really say I'm 100% sure about it, can I? Hmmmm...

Overall: Ain't this a wonderful surprise! While I noticed that many audience seems to see this 2nd episode in a somewhat negative light, it did a complete opposite to me. IMHO, it worked wonders, and actually scored a point in teasing my curiosity! Eventhough the second half felt a little too over-dramatic for my taste, at the very least the first half was great. It got me thinking, "I'm going to see more!!!". Quite surprisingly, the humor flowed more naturally this time. I actually LOLed at one spot, which means... it somehow worked too. The episode did have issues that prevented it from being great, but all in all, it's indeed a better episode than the 1st. The show should've started out with this one instead! Problem is... can the next episode deliver the same wonder?

03 - "A Facefault Parade"

- Wait... Wha.... WHAT ON EARTH JUST HAPPENED?!! Yes, the show caught me completely off guard once again, because its quality stumbled back to the way it was. Scratch that, this was even WORSE than episode 1. Arguably the weakest episode so far, it forced me to spontaneously facefault along the way... both figuratively and literally (that Net-Idol bit... Are you kidding me??!!). - After episode 2 won me over with Sawa and Misora, this one tried so hard to make me hate them. What happened to the cool and smart-talking Sawa? How did she become a bumbling over-excited lady who probably gave journalism a bad name? The same with Misora. Using her alter-ego Mii-tan to gain secret information from the netizens... was like... WAAAY too cheesy if not downright risky. She's obviously not wearing a disguise or a mask to hide her true appearance. The team was dealing with sensitive and dangerous matters, so shouldn't they act more... I don't know, DISCREET about it? No wonder the bad guy would easily set up a trap. The team was practically calling out for them to come. YIKES!!! - Not just them, almost everyone else felt like weird carricatures! Including the female victim Reika Kine (played by Machiko Kochi) and her son Kouta (whose actor CAN'T act!). Neither of their names were mentioned in the episode, that I had to look up wiki for them. Unlike the three Prime Ministers of the different regions. Yep, confirmed to be those bigwigs affected by the Skywall Tragedy, Masakuni Midou of Seito (played by Norimasa Fuke), Yoshiko Tajima of Hokuto (played by Ryouko Gi), and Taizan Himuro of Touto (played by Meikyou Yamada) shared one thing in common: they were all vying for the campy-camp of sinister glares and maniacal laughs! YIKES!!! - This episode reminded me of the major problem I have with the show all over again. The HUMOR! It got amped up to the point of ridiculous this time. And pretty violent too. Misora throwing a laddle to the guys? Ryuuga chaining Misora, in a scene that mimicked an abusive sexual predator? Another sexual harrassment joke right there. And what's with Ryuuga's grandma disquise joke? Dang it Build, you're killing my nerves. Tone the lame jokes down, will ya? They're NOT funny! - Hi there expositions! We got to know a little more about the Full Bottles and their Best Match compatibility system. Apparently, Souichi had a special panel at the secret HQ to check them out (only fit 10 slots), because "something crazy is supposed to happen" if every set is found. Hmmm... didn't this feel, a little TOO convenient? Sentou claimed he built the Build Driver for the same purpose. He had 9 Full Bottles so far: Rabbit, Hedgehog, Gorilla, Tank, Diamond, Dragon, with Vacuum, Gatling, and Hawk debuting in this episode. Only two Best Matches though, Rabbittank, and Gorillamond. Oh wait, make that three! Thanks to Ryuuga's childish simpleton logic. I actually dig this part, because Ryuuga's interaction with Sentou still served as a strong point of the show so far - Extra exposition! Skywall might have divided the land, but the wall has a very convenient opening through the water area. Here I thought all access was completely blocked! With the help of Reika and Kouta, Sawa, and Ryuuga went to Seito to locate Nabeshima's family. Now that I think about it, this meant civillians could always travel airborne between regions too. Even if travel authorization had been pretty difficult to obtain (according to Sawa), Japan would still be open for international visitors, right? So these regions weren't as secluded as episode 1 suggested. LOL to that. - Oh WOW, Sentou could come and go, and ask ANYTHING to Gentoku, just like that? Including sensitive facts about Masahiro Nabeshima (played by Ichi Oomiya) and the murdered 'Devil's Scientist' Takumi Katsuragi (played by Yukiaki Kiyama)? How convenient. Touto Institute of Advanced Matter Physics must be a really NICE workplace! But wouldn't that easily caused Gentoku and Utsumi to be suspicious of him? Hmmmm. This scene teased us again that Gentoku and Utsumi might not be Night Rogue, because they obviously didn't show hostility towards Sentou. Then again, unless you haven't picked up on the hint, Gentoku is the Prime Minister's son... so there's always the possibility that he was playing coy. And would you look at that, he's already holding a mysterious blue-colored Full Bottle! He even namedropped... Blood Stark's name. YIKES! - Soaring Wildman, HAWKGATLING might look cool and winged as Build's flight form, but in the end, the mysterious Cobra-themed Blood Stark stole the spotlight by knocking down Sentou with one single strike. I wonder who this mysterious really is. Is it Gentoku? Hmmm...

Overall: I honestly couldn't fathom the logic behind this episode. The team was basically inviting trouble themselves. So despite Sentou's heroic speech about cracking a smile after saving others, the rest of the episode just felt short and problematic. And once again, the excessive humor totally ruined what could've been good moments. There were unnecessary parts that just made me literally scratch my head. Not saying that the episode in whole was utterly bad, but it's definitely a weak one.

04 - "Lost Memories, and Found Secrets"

- Congratulations Build, you've officially grabbed my attention. Faust was officially namedropped in episode 3, but the dark organization became clearer in this one. Creating the most powerful lifeform using the power of the alien technology that is Pandora's Box... is one of their goals. Blood Stark was definitely working with/under Night Rogue, but he had his own modus operand. The show also succeeded in turning one antagonist into a sympathetic figure. Apparently, being doused by a second dose of Smash essence (this time, in Gas form) would cost the test subject to lose his memory. That's what happened to Nabeshima, and likely a parallel to what Sentou had gone through. - Unlike the entire affair with Reika in episode 3 that screamed 'fake', the drama surrounding Nabeshima's family felt more genuinely heartfelt. The emotion was not exaggerated, and it was able to extract some strong points from the main characters as well. Sawa got to do more sleuthing in a more sophisticated way, and Ryuuga became selfless when he wanted Nabeshima to remember his family instead of clearing out his name. I also loved the way Sentou explained about Nabeshima's amnesia to his daughter. That's a clever way to use science, right there! Sure, that over-the-top exploding car thing didn't make any sense (everyone must have been super powered to have survived that impossible jump!), but the whole emotional angle was more than enough to ignore it. - But the episode got even better. Thanks to Blood Stark's poison, Sentou gained a bit more of his memory, and realized that Faust had a panel that looked... EXACTLY like the Best Match Compatibility checker they had in HQ. What did this imply? Well, it's not even that difficult to figure out. Both of them were clearly... two of a kind, and used to be part of one object. Yep, the Pandora's Box!!! - Ignoring the fact that (once again) Sentou could casually ask this to Gentoku (also, while we're at this, do pay attention to Utsumi's reaction, it might mean something in the future)... the latter confirmed that two Green Layers from the box have been stolen three years prior. One ended up in the hands of Faust, while the other? You got it... it was planted nicely on the walls of Cafe Nascita's basement. - According to Gentoku, an inside-man was working for Faust during the tragedy. He was one of the astronauts, and guess who used to be one? Souichi. HOLY CAMOLY... not only he was among the Martian Expedition crew, it's likely he was also that mysterious man who caused the Skywall Tragedy in the first place. There's no other reason why one of the stolen panel would be in his possession, right? - Meanwhile, we also saw an intriguing scene of Night Rogue placing a Full Bottle to the panel in Faust's HQ. It's definitely not the Ninja Full Bottle that was extracted from Nabeshima's first Smash form. Hold on, was that... the one that Gentoku was toying around in episode 3? After all, Blood Stark's penchant for game? Didn't that sound a bit like... Gentoku? Hmmm....

Overall: Episode 4 proved one thing: this show is GOOD when it's serious, and not trying too hard to be funny. Forced humor was still damaging the show, but this episode has other things that significantly toned them down, and made it really good. I even dare say, it's probably the best episode so far. I'm not even joking, because aside from that great emotional angle with Nabeshima's storyline, I totally didn't expect the truth about Souichi would come to light in just 4 episodes in. Now I'm getting more and more intrigued to see what will happen next. I can only hope the staff behind this show realizes this show's forte, knows what works best and what's not, so they can explore more on getting better in the future. I'm still not fully convinced to follow this show to the end, but let's just say, the possibility to that has gotten significantly higher than before. All thanks to this episode... Next Episode: A Faust Traitor? And a lead to Sentou's past...

Episode 02 Score: 7,4 out of 10 Episode 03 Score: 7 out of 10 Episode 04 Score: 7,5 out of 10

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Kamen Rider Build" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

#tokusatsu #kamen rider #kamen rider build #review

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ranma-rewatch · 4 years

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Episode 6-Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Hey ho person reading this blog. I am continuing my journey through Ranma 1/2, this week on the sixth episode. This one looks to be the end of this little two-part story arc, something I knew without having to look at the episode guide because I’ve never forgotten what happens in episode seven. I...legitimately don’t know what’s going to happen with this one, aside from Ranma learning about Tofu’s thing for Kasumi, and getting to see the two interact. Next paragraph, I’ll have rewatched the episodes and will be ready to regale you with what occurred.

As expected, this episode starts right where the last one ended. Though unlike I was expecting, Akane just flat out tells Ranma it’s Kasumi that Dr. Tofu likes rather than drawing it out further. Ranma isn’t sure how she knows that, but then the doctor himself shows up and starts helping Ranma with the baseball injury that sent him there. Dr. Tofu jokes about the injury clearly being from Akane, only for her to say something to confirm the idea. She’s clearly bothered by the implication of it, that she isn’t a very feminine person, but Dr. Tofu clearly doesn’t mind that she’s more of a tomboy.

Then Kasumi shows up, and the old lady waiting her turn in the lobby books it. As she leaves, she runs into an old man who was going to see Dr. Tofu, and tells him that Kasumi is there. It’s clear that Kasumi’s effects on Dr. Tofu are common knowledge to his patients. What are those effects? Well, she enters the room with him, Ranma, and Akane to give him back that book mentioned last episode and to give him a present.

In a millisecond, Dr. Tofu goes from being a kind, seemingly wise doctor to an utter buffoon. Any iota of good sense in him vanishes when Kasumi is in his presence, causing him to do things like addressing his panda assistant as Ranma or mistaking a present’s wrapping for being a mask. Akane leaves right away, and Ranma ends up following, but not until the silly version of Dr. Tofu has bent Ranma’s neck in a weird direction.

Akane is out on the edge of the water of a...river? Stream? Reservoir? I never know what to call those things. Anyway, she’s tossing rocks when Ranma shows up, and he’s clearly trying to cheer her up, following her around to try and help. It’s then that Akane perks up, asking Ranma if he actually likes her. He denies it, but she seems to be in better spirits, tricking Ranma into activating his curse by abusing the fact he tends to leap without looking where he’ll land. There’s a moment when he sees her laughing that the show focuses on, something Ranma really takes notice of.

Instead of heading home, Akane asks Ranma to lend her money for food, and they get some fast food together. Not long after sitting in a park to eat it, Akane’s mood sours again. She can’t help comparing herself negatively to Kasumi, and tells Ranma more details about how badly Dr. Tofu loves her, how it makes him act. This is when Ranma says the wrong thing, making an idle remark about her heart being broken, and that is it for Akane. They start arguing, Akane clearly hurt by Ranma’s cavalier words, but after Akane shuts down his attempts to offer comfort, Ranma bluntly tells Akane she’s going to have to get over it. She tells him that he has no clue what she’s going through, which seems to strike a nerve for Ranma, who asks how she knows that’s the case. Akane leaves, telling Ranma not to follow her.

Ranma goes to see his dad for hot water, and he uncurses himself with it as well, asking what’s gone on between Ranma and Akane. Genma makes it clear that the problem at hand is that sometimes one of them says something that hurts the other without them realizing it, and that he knows that pain. For an example, he tells a story about some girl who he was dating when he was young, who he broke up with. In the process, younger Genma talked on and on about how much better his new girlfriend was, getting him conked in the head in the past and the present.

Still, with that idea in mind, Ranma heads home. Akane is training, trying to settle her mood, when Ranma starts lightly sparring with her. When she gets annoyed he isn’t taking it seriously, and defending the fact that she likes to be angry sometimes, Ranma tells her she’s actually really cute when she smiles. This stuns her enough for him to poke her, and we cut from her getting annoyed in the moment to her ruminating on it all afterwards, in the bath. Akane seems surprised at the idea that anyone would find her attractive, or that smiling helps, even smiling in a mirror afterwards in her room. Ranma appears in the window, makes a snarky comment, Akane punches his lights out, end of episode.

This episode was a lot better than I expected going into it. I hadn’t forgotten any of the Dr. Tofu stuff, which I’ll just say right now I’m not a huge fan of, but the Ranma/Akane aspects of the episode were very strong, at least for me. I feel like there’s definitely a lot of Ship Teasing, though considering the rest of Ranma’s harem hasn’t been introduced yet, that’s to be expected.

This was the second time so far, that I can remember, where Ranma jumped without looking, only to realize he’d be landing in water. It’s a gag, sure, but it reinforces the character trait of Ranma’s that he’s a literally ‘leap before he looks’ kind of guy. It’s easy to then tie that in to his behavior that makes their argument worse, the same thing he often does to set Akane off: he leaps without looking. Ranma has a tendency to just say things without thinking through how the other person might feel about it first, and that often leads to him touching other people’s vulnerable spots without realizing it.

There’s also a bit of symmetry between the two of them: Ranma taking in that moment of the happy, smiling Akane, and Akane thinking back to Ranma telling her she looked really pretty when she smiled. Even as it becomes clear they have a lot to get past, there are more hints that each is starting to grow to like the other.

More fodder in that department can be seen when Ranma gets annoyed that Akane assumes he has no clue how she’s feeling. While one can read it as general indignation, it can also be seen as him getting annoyed that she has noticed he is feeling the same kind of thing. Namely, that Akane is so in love with Dr. Tofu that she isn’t really noticing him. I could be pulling that interpretation out of my shipping ass, but it’s just something I saw this time around. Sorry that most of my content for this one was about Ranma/Akane stuff, I can’t really control my inner shipper.

For this week’s character spotlight, I decided I might as well get Dr. Tofu out of the way now. I feel like I’ve kind of made it clear already, but I don’t really care about Dr. Tofu that much. He’s a fairly bland character, especially for this show, and the fact that, as far as I can recall, he basically slowly fades from the anime over time makes sense to me. I get what they were going for, and he does elicit some interesting development from Akane, but as a guy in his own right, he doesn’t do anything for me.

Still, this is his spotlight, so let me look into his voice actors. In the English Dub, his voiced by Ian James Corlett, who...did a lot of 90’s stuff? Honestly, not a lot there that peaks my interest. Oh, wait, what? His daughter Claire Corlett, who is a voice actress, is Sweetie Belle? ...that is pretty cool. Technically speaking, he was only the voice of Dr. Tofu for the first six and a half seasons, after that someone else took over, but I genuinely don’t recall that happening so we can discuss that when we get to it. In the original Japanese, he’s played by Yūji Mitsuya. In contrast to his American counterpart, Yūji has been in a billion things, including once again Japanese dubs of American media. In Yūji’s case, he was Marty in Back to the Future, Jack in Will & Grace, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from Amadeus.

What are they like as this character? Well, to compare and contrast, Ian plays Dr. Tofu as more warm and kind, but otherwise normal sounding, even when he’s in Kasumi-induced silliness. Yūji instead gives him a higher voice, and when he’s being ridiculous, that adds a lot to the idea that he’s now just a blundering buffoon. Their performances actually do feel rather distinct, and trend that character towards slightly different readings. I’d say I mostly prefer Ian’s, but that’s just because I don’t get a lot out of the humor of Dr. Tofu anyway, so the more silly Yūji performance doesn’t do a lot for me.

I should also say here that, to my amazement, Tofu is not his last name. His name is apparently Tofu Ono. This kind of baffles me. When people, at least here in America, talk about a doctor, they use the last name after the Dr. prefix. And in the Japanese version, I thought they were calling him ‘Tofu’ a lot, but as his personal name rather than his family name, wouldn’t they be more likely to call him ‘Ono’, since that’s generally what people do in Japan? Am I missing something? I’m probably missing something.

Name issues aside, the thing I will say I appreciate about Dr. Tofu is that, well, I get why Akane likes him. Aside from being a marital artist (though that quality of his remains mostly told and not shown), he helps people, and he doesn’t try to tell Akane she’s wrong for being who she is. As much as Akane is down on the fact that she has more masculine hobbies and doesn’t always act ladylike, Dr. Tofu calls her ‘spirited’ and compliments those aspects of her personality. The very fact Akane’s oldest sister is the ultimate picture of traditional femininity probably hasn’t helped her, and Dr. Tofu’s overt affection for Kasumi probably just makes that worse. Nonetheless, the doctor appreciates Akane for who she is, rather than who she could be.

Going into this episode, I was expecting to set it down at the bottom of the pack, but I’m such a sucker for the chemistry between Ranma and Akane that I have to put it higher. How high? Well, I’d say it’s the second best episode so far, only topped by the second episode because that one was just so dang delightful. That puts the current rankings as:

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

The odd numbered episodes haven’t been faring as well, that’s for sure. I don’t think that streak will continue though, because next week is episode seven, “Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’”, and oh boy I cannot wait for that! See you all then!

#episode 6 #Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen You Know #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #akane tendo #doctor tofu #anime analysis #anime rewatch

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ranma-rewatch · 3 years

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Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

AAAAAhhhhh! After 10,000 years, I’m free! Time to watch more Ranma 1/2! We’re getting ready for the middle part of what I guess you could call the Kodachi introduction arc, and like I intimated last time, she’s not exactly my favorite character. That said, I am interested to see how this can play out over the course of two episodes, so next paragraph I’ll have watched the episode.

Uh, so, I don’t think an episode has surprised me by being this much better than I was expecting so far in this rewatch. Like I said before, low expectations, but I really enjoyed this one. The episode starts with Akane and Ranma heading to school on the day before the marital arts match, only for Kodachi to show up and attack Akane.

This has nothing to do with the match, though. She literally just came by to see Ranma, who she has fallen completely in love with, but decided to attack Akane on-sight because why not. After Akane literally throws her at Ranma, he is suddenly confronted by our old friend Tatewaki Kuno, who is surprised to hear of Kodachi’s affection for this rapscallion. After a few seconds of thought, he makes it clear Ranma has his permission to date her, but when Ranma snaps about now being asked about this, Kodachi gets sad, feeling like maybe Ranma hates her.

Trying to avoid her wrath, Ranma runs and hides behind Akane, pointing out that he is her fiance, which would put a hamper on dating. When Akane confirms this, new stakes are given to their upcoming fight: if Kodachi wins, she gets Ranma. Kuno is totally down with that, since with Ranma out of the way, he sees himself easily winning Akane’s (and Ranma’s) affection.

It’s as Kodachi runs off, laughing, that Kuno finally reveals why he jumped into this conversation in the first place: Kodachi is his little sister. He’s aware that she has quite a few terrible qualities, and so warns Akane that she is likely to cheat quite a bit before and during their fight. As he walks away, Ranma and Akane reel from this family revelation, and Ranma notes that he can actually see the resemblance now.

From there, we cut to Akane practicing that night in the dojo with Ranma. She’s clearly gotten a lot better, though makes it clear the new stakes have nothing to do with why she wants to win so badly. Just as Akane notes that she hasn’t had Ryoga’s assistance in training for the last few days, or seen P-chan, the piglet runs into the room, carrying evidence that he’d been in Hiroshima and Kyoto. (Fun fact: my best friend went to Hiroshima while she was studying abroad there!)

There’s some banter over Ryoga’s reappearance, but then Akane trips on a tool, injuring her ankle in the process. It’s bad enough that Kasumi makes clear there’s no way she can play in the match, which means they need a substitute to avoid giving up. They consider that they’d need to find someone with great marital arts skills, who is really acrobatic, and looks like a girl. All eyes go to Ranma just as Ryoga enters the room, having once again used Soun Tendo’s hot bath to change back to human, and throws cold water on Ranma.

He offers to train Ranma through the night, though it’s clear quickly that Ranma’s general skills do transfer pretty well. The only big hurdle is that in Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts, the fighters aren’t allowed to deal direct blows, only use their themed weapons to fight. Akane observes at first, but they both tell her to go and get some sleep, which she ends up agreeing to. Once she’s gone, Ryoga gets serious in fighting, and reveals why he’s really doing this: he wants Ranma to lose. If he does, Ranma has to date Kodachi, which leaves Akane open to date him. He’s not trying to spar with Ranma, he’s trying to injure him bad enough that he can’t fight.

Akane wakes up the next morning and quickly hears the fight is still going on, heading into the dojo to find they’re going at it, though they’re both clearly exhausted. Oh, and the dojo is wrecked. Ranma is delirious from lack of sleep, and almost falls for a thumb tack in the hand trap from Kodachi when they go to the match at her school. Meanwhile, Ryoga is amazed to find that he’s managed to get from Akane’s house to the school without getting lost, and chalks the miracle up to the power of love. There’s another trick from Kodachi in the dressing room, and Ryoga is hit by random cold water while trying to get to the gymnasium, leading to Kodachi kidnapping him for some scheme.

Soon, it’s time for the match to begin, and Kuno is watching in the stands, ready to root for his sister for what he admits is the first time ever. Kodachi descends from the ceiling in a wedding dress while having rockets fired at her new opponent, all very on-brand for her. Ranma is asked what his name is, and he just gives them his real name, to Akane’s confusion. The Kuno’s both just take this as Ranma somehow having the exact same name as, well, Ranma, and some of their classmates in the crowd notice that they do look alike, pondering on how they’re connected.

The fight goes to start, but Kodachi begins by dazing Ranma with a twirly ribbon and an onslaught of black roses, then uses that opening to attach a chain to Ranma’s wrist. On the other end of that chain is P-chan, which Kodachi thinks will ensure she ends the match. But we don’t get to see that yet, because that’s for next episode!

So, a lot of thoughts, actually. First things first, I feel like this is the first episode of the series so far that’s really gone whole-hog into what a lot of people think of as the series’ main premise. For this whole set-up, Kodachi loves uncursed Ranma but hates Akane and cursed Ranma, Kuno loves cursed Ranma and Akane but hates uncursed Ranma, and Ryoga loves Akane and hates Ranma whether he’s cursed or not. This creates a network of alliances that all work against Ranma and Akane’s wishes. He doesn’t want to date Kodachi and Akane wants to get a victory for her school after Kodachi unfairly beat up the actual gymnastics team.

It all feels very farcical, in a good way. Throughout this rewatch, there have been times when the humor doesn’t really land for me, usually because it just gets too silly for me, if that makes any sense. But this worked perfectly, it was all very character driven while also being deeply ridiculous. Things like Kuno having the sense of mind to see that his sister is a weird one while not being cognizant of his own strangeness kind of brought it to earth in a way, and it was all just a good time.

I also quite enjoyed a lot of the animation, the changes to character designs, and the general dynamics on display. There was something weirdly smooth to how Ryoga entered Akane’s room and put his arm around Ranma’s shoulder that just felt cool to watch. The facial expressions in that scene, and throughout, were also in top form. The way he goes from clearly coming in with an ulterior motive, to revealing what he’s really up to, it all felt a little more devious than we get from Ryoga, but in a good way.

I’m not usually a big fan of leotards, but, uh, Ranma and Akane can both really rock them. (I’d also love to see uncursed Ranma in one, I’m sure his butt would look just as good.) Akane showed up to the match dressed like a ringside coach, and it just radiates powerful butch lesbian energy. The referee to the match is also dressed in a pretty masculine way, and similarly gives off wonderful vibes. Just a really aesthetically pleasing episode for me.

The pacing was also really tight. A lot of stuff got packed into the episode’s runtime, and I’d love to compare it to this section of the manga to see if that’s because it’s a particularly dense storyline or because they made the decision to just stuff the episode with as much manga as they could. We’ll get to my rating after the Character Spotlight, but this is just a treat of an episode, and one I have to say again that I wasn’t anticipating in the slightest. Major kudos to everyone who worked on this episode.

Okay, so, now let’s do a Spotlight on Kodachi. The big reason I held off on doing one last week is that her last name hadn’t been revealed, and her Kuno-ness is kind of a big part of who she is, I didn’t want to wait for the next time I decided to give her a Spotlight to cover that part of her.

Alright, so, as usual, let’s start with voice actors. In English, she actually had three different VA’s over the course of the series run. I’ve actually decided that, going forward, with cases like these I’m just going to focus on who the current voice actors are, and talk about the new ones when they appear. Her first actress in my native tongue is Teryl Rothery, who is actually more well known for her live-action work. She appears to play a main character in Stargate SG-1, which I have never seen, and has filled the role of Jean Loring in Arrow. (Which I have seen, but never noticed that Ray Palmer’s ex-wife was in the show in the seasons I saw of it.) In Japanese, she’s portrayed by Saeko Shimazu, who has actually played a role in every Rumiko Takahasi anime adaptation from that era, so that’s neat.

They definitely play the character a little differently. Shimazu is genuinely fantastic at playing Kodachi as the well known anime archetype of the Ojou. The way she does Kodachi’s laugh might be the best Ojou laugh I’ve ever heard, and she’s generally good playing the character oddly seriously. Like, if you didn’t know Kodachi was a dangerously violent person, her voice acting would just make you think she’s a soft spoken, very feminine girl. It fits her whole aesthetic really well, honestly. Rothery went in a very different direction. I feel like it’s hard to think of Kodachi as anything other than a villain in her voice, she’s more clearly malevolent, like a Sailor Moon villainess. Her version of the laugh is a lot more unhinged sounding, for lack of a more appropriate word.

That kind of leads into one thing I was kind of surprised to notice. It feels as though the Dub and Sub versions of this character differ quite a bit. In the English Dub, they frequently use words like ‘crazy’, ‘unstable’, and ‘mad’ to describe Kodachi, and in a way it kind of dominates her characterization. I’ll talk more about that in a minute, but I’ll say for now I had to sigh at those bits. But imagine my surprise to see the Sub instead talk about her being ill-mannered, stubborn, tenacious. As far as I can recall, they didn’t use any mental health-related words, instead just focusing on the idea that she will do anything to get what she wants.

This creates two fairly radically different versions of the character, at least for me. And I actually greatly prefer what I’m finding in the Sub. Kodachi there is played much more as a dark mirror to her brother. Ranma might say they’re the same, but they clearly aren’t. Kuno is a jerk, and doesn’t seem to take the objects of his affection’s input. But he also, at the very least, sees himself as honorable, a man of culture, and doesn’t seem like the type to cheat in a competition.

Kodachi has no such scruples. She is utterly ruthless, while also sadistically delighting in causing pain to other people. She is, in a way, defined by the fact that she is constantly trying to cheat, to get any victory she can, even while acting as though there’s nothing wrong with what she does, that’s she’s just a beautiful girl doing what she has to. The way they each fall in love with a different form of Ranma, while hating the other, is also a nice touch.

That was all a lot of nice stuff I said, but sadly it’s alls I gots for ya. Going back to the whole ‘crazy’ thing, that’s definitely the thing that, at least growing up, dominates her character. As far as I can recall, the fandom generally thinks of her as the ‘craziest’ of all the main cast, and that’s...not very good? I feel like, at least among some sectors of culture, we’re trying to be more aware of other people and trying to take in feedback, and ableism feels like one of the last big areas where a lot of people, even those who are otherwise far left, struggle to get past their prejudices. I’m including myself in there, I screw up all the time. But yeah, I think we need to kind of think a lot more about the ‘crazy’ tropes in media, especially the ones that associate with violence and evil characters. So far at least, I don’t really have a lot to dig into with Kodachi especially, but it’s something I’ll have in mind going forward.

The other area I feel like I have to rain on this Spotlight a little is just what Kodachi brings to the dynamic of the show. Which is mostly...not a lot. Of all the main characters who are a part of the primary love dodecahedron, she is the one who feels like could generally just not exist without impacting anything. She basically just does what Kuno does, but in the opposite direction. Ranma is going to end up with a lot of suitors, and someone else generally fills the role of ‘violent and amoral’ much better than Kodachi, plus she’ll be appearing pretty soon from where we are now. At least as of now, Kodachi is a character I find doesn’t hurt the show at all, but also doesn’t particularly make it better.

If it wasn’t clear from all the gushing before, I really liked this episode. But how much? Where does it fall among the ranks of all the episodes I’ve seen thus far? After some careful consideration, I think I’m actually going to put this at the number two spot. It really was that good, I have very little bad to say. The only reason it didn’t take the top spot is that I just love episode 7 too much. That makes the current standings:

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

This has been a really fun one! Next time, we’ll be covering lucky episode number 13, “A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!”, which will also be the ending to this little arc. I’m excited to join you then, and see if that episode fulfilled the promise in this episode’s set-up! See you all then!

#episode 12 #A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!#ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #akane tendo #ryoga hibiki #tatewaki kuno #kodachi kuno #anime analysis #anime rewatch

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