#hey you know i never even learnt about the world wars in history. i dropped it after 2 years of high school when we first got to choose

[decimateddreams]

[mentions anything related to the nazis to any of my non german friends] wait was that bad was that too much

oh??

#hey you know i never even learnt about the world wars in history. i dropped it after 2 years of high school when we first got to choose #my knowledge only comes from horrible histories (aka one of the best tv shows) #ask #loki tag #nazi mention #idk how to tag it tbh but yeah :')

[ranmanjuu]

titled “shin shin”.txt

came across a post... a long, long while ago about a god of death type reader and got super interested, since of all the cyikemen games, ikesen is the one most surrounded by death on a larger scale (cause, war and stuff), so i wrote this at... 2020? almost one year before, at 21th of july. i had more of it written, but i really didn’t like it cause it felt too “quirky wattpad reader” and plus me just copying from the original prlogue without adding anything, so... yeah. enjoy!

(also, very important that anyone who wants to do whatever with this idea, feel free, no need to ask me)

You didn’t like your existence

To call it “your life” would be simply wrong; you don’t breathe, you don’t eat, you don’t sleep. All you are is a walking, talking existence that has a job to do until you fade away. You didn’t even like your job.

To lead a soul from their death to the Land of the Dead was a grim job. You learnt their regrets, their anger, their sadness, all which you knew was personal. But you had to be there. You had to ensure that their soul is at peace, so when the time comes to cross to the afterlife, they don’t get reincarnated as a ghost, stuck forever with their past emotions.

Shinigami, was your kinds’ name. God of Death.

You were a part of the blanket term ‘yokai’, or as some would call in other names such as ‘ayakashi’. Those who fall under the category were spirits, demons, animal-like creatures, or, similar to you, gods. For as long as you’ve known, supernatural creatures didn’t mesh with humans well most of the time.

Fear of unknown from both parties led to anger, rashness, and cut communication and involvement altogether for perhaps half your life.

You’ve existed for long; you stopped remembering the exact number after 1.000 years. All you did now was remember the year you came to the world, and do the math. But that doesn’t matter much, does it? The only thing you concerned yourself with is when you’ll fade away.

However, for your own sake, you do take a break. Such a job is heavy for the heart, and a walk doesn’t help as much, but it’s a nice thing nonetheless.

Kyoto. You were just done leading a soul that got caught in a traffic accident. You never traveled outside of the country, but would it really matter if you did? You still appreciated everything as it were; there has to be some light in a life to look forward to.

This particular city was rich in human history, you knew that. Maybe it’d be a fun thing to do, even if you didn’t have much an interest in it.

“All your famous warlord knowledge, packed in a mag! Come get one now!” A boy’s shouts filled the nearby streets, attracting attention from the occasional passerby’s. Including you. A Quick Guide To Your Warlords, the magazine read on the cover. Sounds interesting, and you were bored, so you took one and stuffed it in your pocket.

With a blank mind, you were brought forth to a temple by your wandering legs. Honno-ji. A small, quiet, quaint place. The setting sky burned up above as the small cries of the crickets sounded all around.

You’ve heard some stories of the small memorial in front of you. One of the unifiers of Japan died here—betrayed, as you remembered. But you can’t draw an exact name.

While drowning in your thoughts, the approaching presence coming to you was acknowledged but not paid mind to further. Until you shift your eyes to the side as said figure was in your peripheral vision—a man dressed in a lab coat. The two of you said no words, only continuing to gaze at the stone in front of you.

You only started to react when the sky above you turned darker and darker—not by the setting sun, but by the awfully black and almost purple clouds gathering up above you. That’s unusual, you’ve never seen anything like that in your life.

The once bright and bold sky now rained down drops of water on your face. You didn’t even notice you shifted to your human form—and a look at your hands covered in specks of droplets confirmed that.

“What poor timing.” The man next to you said, causing your eyes to glance at him. He looked solemnly to the monument, then to you, “Are you alright? Do you have an umbrella?”

“No, unfortunately. I didn’t expect it to rain. . .” your eyes linger to above his head, where a set of numbers and a small text was visible to you only. The death profile, as the others call. A set of information that shinigamis can see in most creatures, usually entailing their names, time of death, and cause of it.

It’s a cursing bit of information; always reminding you of what you are.

Out of nowhere, a thunder ripped through the clouds and hit directly on the small monument—a loud crackle following along. Your arm flew up to protect the man next to you by reflex, as your body stood there in momentary shock. You’ve seen death by  lightning, but that was unlikely to happen now.

You whipped your head towards the human next to you, who seems the slightest bit appalled, but stood his ground. A strange thing catches your attention. . .

His death date. It’s flickering—changing.

From a century where he was supposed to die. . .to the 15-16th century.

A date of death changing has been a rare thing that happens, however unlikely, but—it’s never jumped that far before! To the past, too?

Utter shock froze you in place as the numbers flicker back and forth, leading your attention away from everything else—him asking you if you were okay, and most importantly—

—the black ball that formed where the stone was.

“Watch ou—“ before you can warn the man, the image of him next to you twisted and distorted, slowly getting sucked in whatever it was.

And so were you.

Wait! He isn’t supposed to die yet—!

The world faded to black.

       Ugh. . .my head. . .

Your vision fades in and out, clear then blurry, until you’re finally wide awake. The scenery around you changed drastically, what was first a small place in the city of Kyoto is now. . .a dark forest. You’ve seen this kind of environment before in your memories—you just don’t know how you got here.

The lab coat guy—!

You immediately stood up from the dirt beneath you, looking around and trying to sense his soul around you. Nothing. Pursing your lips in slight unease, you started making your way through the criminally underlighted woods.

You’ve roamed around in the forest before. Most of your time on this world, you didn’t settle in a house or anything, you preferred to just wander around like a lost ghost. You didn’t have a need for one—you don’t need shelter, not food, not clothes, nor drinks. You were a lost ghost.

The branches and rocks and whatever else you tripped on didn’t bother you. All you were focusing on is now just. . .walking. Without even a set destination. The only guidance you had was the occasional moonlight that peeked through the trees up above.

As minutes pass by, you start feeling a faint presence of human souls.

It’s distant, and not much from how weak it is, but I should go and see.

All other senses were rendered useless for now as you focused on the source of the souls, and slowly marched your way to it. It grew closer and closer, until you saw a faint light coming in the middle of the forest.

Two people, you now concluded. Your footsteps remained silent and your presence unknown as you creep near the light.

A fire was set in a small clearing, and you can now see the two people. A man with dark hair, dressed in monk’s clothes and a scar marking his face, with another feminime-looking boy, purple-haired in armor.

“Are you ready for this, Ranmaru?” The monk spoke in a low voice. “You’re about to kill the demon. Bring him down for good.”

Kill, huh. An assassination was about to commence.

“. . .Yes, Master Kennyo.” The boy—Ranmaru—spoke, wavering in unease but still tried to be certain.

‘Master Kennyo’ smiled; a bitter, unresting one, “Good. They’ve light the fire at Honno-ji, arrive there and kill him. I will follow shortly once the fire has spread,”

“. . .Understood.”

Clutching his sword until it shook in his hand, Ranmaru turned around and walked off from the clearing.

You overheard the conversation and calmly watched his figure fade away. It isn’t your place to intervene—not if this is fate, but even so—you’ll follow him. At least you can rest the soul of the victim.

In silent steps trailing him, you heard a last piece from Kennyo. “Finally, we’ll have our revenge. . .”

      You took your time in following Ranmaru’s path. If whoever’s assassinated dies, it’s soul will still remain until they can go to the afterlife. Time stops for them as long as it takes to get their soul guided away from the living land. Is it immoral in a way? Perhaps.

Unless. . .you can stop them from getting killed. But often when you try to intervene, the death happens either way.

So what’s the point?

Nihilistic thoughts aside, you sensed more human souls coming your way; five, from what you can tell. But you paid no mind to that. Until it got nearer, and nearer, and nearer, and—

“Oof.” In your blank stated mind, you bumped into someone, causing them to huff in surprise. You yourself paused and looked—a brown haired man wearing red armor, “Hey, watch where you’re going—!”

His complaints died on his tongue as soon as he finally saw who he bumped into. His expression, from a slightly irritated frown, turned more into one of confusion, “Huh? Hey, what’s someone like you doing here in the woods? Nighttime, also? Such weird clothing, too. . .”

His spoken words made you raise an eyebrow, “Ignoring all that, I’m sorry for bumping into you. I just had some business is all.”

“In the dead of night? What are you, an. . .enchantress? Those stories of w-witches in the forest?” The man’s voice wavered more with each passing word. The quirk in your eyebrow deepens.

“I assure you, I’m not—“

“Yuki~! We leave you for a few seconds and you’ve already found yourself a partner?” A velvet and rich voice arose from behind the dark bushes and trees, all of them being pushed aside to reveal an auburn haired man, this one more built in his body.

The one you’ve been talking to—Yuki—blushed and shook his head vehemently, “Ugh, no! I’m not like you; we just bumped into each other is all. And I think it’s some kind of witch, too—”

The redhead man tutted at Yuki in a disapproving manner, “Now, now, Yuki. Have I not taught you how to talk properly in front of such a beauty all this time?” His attention turns to you, and in a second, his eyes lit in passion, “Forgive me for his prudeness, my goddess, dear Yuki needs a lot more lessons than I thought. However. . .if you want to be with a real man, I’m always up for service.”

“Will you stop flirting with everything you meet. It’s disgusting.”

Three more people emerge from the shadows, the small bits of moonlight pouring to their features. The one who spoke was a blond one, cladded in blue armor and with eyes that said he wanted to have nothing to do with any of this.

“But Kenshin, you can’t just turn away at such a beauty laid in front of your eyes.” The flirt replied to the cold comment with a smirk.

“Stop. Or I’ll kill you.”

The bickering of the two were left unnoticed as another man with dark blue hair stepped up, far closer than what you were expecting. His hand reaches and caresses lightly on your clothes, “I have never seen such a design or material like this before. How fascinating. Would you like to switch with one of my kimonos?”

“Yoshimoto, I’ve already claimed them! Don’t steal them right under my nose.” Flirt Man threw a light complaint, turning away from Kenshin for a moment.

“Art is to be appreciated by everyone, Shingen.” Yoshimoto simply responds, now tugging lightly at the sleeves of your shirt.

Okay, you’ll admit it. You’re slightly overwhelmed.

So far, you haven’t said anything, mainly because you don’t want to. It feels like anything you say won’t make the situation better anyway. But still. . .even in your long life, this is quite bizzare.

You observed each of them one by one. Then your eyes landed to the last one, the same brown haired man you saw earlier. Now, in. . .some sort of ninja attire. While you tilted your head in slight curiosity, you’re at least satisfied to see he was safe.

And his death date has changed, too. . .

Speaking of death, you’re finally reminded of following. . .who was it, Ranmaru? to an assassination.

Gently freeing yourself from Yoshimoto’s admiring touches to your clothes, you bowed slightly in front of them, “I appreciate meeting all of you, but I have to go.”

You don’t see Sasuke opening his mouth to say something, and neither do the others, as you walked off to the darkness.

       You thought by losing your way from your unofficial guide, you wouldn’t find the destination. But luckily, even going in the same direction as he did led you to it. Honno-ji. This time, it’s in the midst of drowning in fire. You made your way through the front door and entered where the fire wouldn’t reach you—but it wouldn’t make a difference anyway.

And in the middle of the room not yet entirely covered in flames, was who you assume the victim, sleeping. The cause of death, “died in an assassination while the building was set on fire”, said as much. Dressed in black armor, you could tell he was important, somehow. Not everyone can casually wear one, despite the past few people you’ve met been donning it.

The text displayed above the man’s head displayed the same old. Nobunaga Oda.

On the other side, you see a silhouette approaching steadily, sword in hand. Ranmaru, you guessed. You double checked yourself to make sure you weren’t visible to the human’s eye, and you were just fine with watching another death as you have—

Until, for the second time today, the death date for Nobunaga Oda flickered.

You froze as what was 21st of July, 1582, blinked into a later date. Much later.

What. . .?! That was the second time today—what am I supposed to—

Your chest felt heavy, and your hands trembled in uncertainty of what you should do. Do you save him? Watch him die? Would he even die at this moment? Or would it be later? You’ve never been in this position—the answer was always clear. And now you’re terrified.

Your body swayed back and forth violently, as two sides fought in your head of what to do. But time was running out—he’d be assassinated if you didn’t take this chance. And he’d die. That’s the same as you killing him, you thought, and you’ve sworn to never do such a thing.

From your disarrayed thoughts, your legs moved on their own and walked to him. You’re saving him, then.

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen #cyikemen #*writing #scenario #ikesen nobunaga #ikesen ranmaru #ikesen kennyo #ikesen sasuke #ikesen yuki #ikesen shingen #ikesen kenshin #ikesen yoshimoto

[grayzaweek]

Prompt 2: Travels

Written by: @born-potty

A/N: Sooo… this sort of got away from me. This is prompt 2 with a smattering of 3? Oops? Hope you enjoy regrardles~

“You were right, Gray,” Erza said as she tucked herself into a secure spot and gazed outwards. “This is… surreal.”

Gray only smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I get it right sometimes. I’m just talented like that.”

Before them, Italy lay spooled out towards the south. Behind them lay Switzerland, to the north. The view from about four and a half thousand meters above sea level made either country look flat as a table. The snowy peaks of Monte Rosa, Dent Blanche and Dom punctuated the sky in the distance.

Gray sighed deeply, watching his breath crystallise. He rubbed her arm over her down jacket. “You okay? You need some brandy?”

She shook her head and spreading out her hands, stretching. “No. I feel like the King of the World!”

Laughing, he put his rucksack down beside him and knelt down to bring out the brandy regardless. Summiting the Matterhorn was no mean feat, and he’d come prepared. Besides, it’ll help to get pumped before the descent.

Gray loved mountains. He’d climbed a fair few. Erza loved history. Anything to do with war, especially in the ancient or medieval worlds, and she’d be all over it.

So to commemorate five years of being together, they’d decided go backpacking through Europe. Specifically, walk in Hannibal Barca’s footsteps as he crossed the Alps on his campaign to conquer Rome. They’d started in Barcelona – apparently named so after Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal’s father – and planned to end in Rome. When it came time to cross the Alps, however, Gray had wanted Erza to experience the mountains firsthand. What better way than to climb the most recognisable peak in Europe?

Adventurous as she was, Erza had not refused. Though Gray knew that she wanted to feel like Hannibal. Still a dork at heart. Too adorable! God damn it. My heart! I can’t! Kill me. Kill me now!

So he’d trained her himself for four days before the actual climb. Her insane skills of acclimatising had come in very handy. At the end of it all, she’d become a natural. Gray had never been prouder.

It was one of the many reasons why he loved her. Erza could own any situation, with or without help. That kind of determination and drive and focus was rare. Rarer still for that same person to have as much kindness and warmth as she did.

Gray looked at her, grinning broadly as she looked down at Italy like a general on a conquest. She wouldn’t be out of place at Hannibal’s side, he thought. She wouldn’t be out of place anywhere.

He smiled to himself as he sipped the brandy, felt it warm up the very tips of his numb fingertips.

Been five years and I still think I don’t deserve her. Stop fanboying, you loser!

“Gray?”

“Hn?”

“How many times did you say you’ve summited Matterhorn before?”

“Four.”

“Why do you keep coming back?”

“Good question.” He put the flask back inside his pack and stood. He stretched his back and turned to smile at her. She looked at him curiously, waiting for an answer. “People consider time to be a great teacher, and they’re right too. But time eventually kills off all of its pupils. Mountains are great teachers also, and better still, because sometimes, they let the odd star pupil live.”

She scrunched up her face. “And what exactly would you say that you have learnt by not dying?”

“When you reach an impossible ledge or peak, you gain a new perspective, you see the world differently,” Gray replied after a while. He took off his sunglasses and hung them in the front of his down jacket. “You change too. If you sit with your legs dangling over the biggest drop in the world, with the wind streaming your hair behind you and your shadow falling so far that it might never hit the ground… you notice new things. Climb a mountain, see the world from its highest point, and a new you will climb down to a world of subtle differences the next day.“

“Wow.” She sounded genuinely impressed. “You’re a poet, Gray. And you didn’t even know it.”

He snorted. “Honestly, this view?” He spread his arms wide.”This is worth it. Up here, the air’s like champagne. Up here, there are no grey areas. As you’re hanging on with eight fingers, then six, then five and then four and you know that if you slip, you’ll be a smattering of guts smeared on some rock, it taps into your deepest instincts. Everything becomes black and white. Up here, there are no regrets. No good, no bad. Only you. Only me. Just people discovering themselves. That’s why I keep coming back.” He looked at her then. “This is me at my most primal, Erza. And I wanted to share that with you.”

She shook her head and placed a gloved hand on his cheek. “Oh, Gray,” she muttered affectionately. He took her hand and kissed her knuckles.

“That isn’t the only thing I wanted to share with you, though,” he said quietly and sighed. “You know I love you, right?”

She stared at him. “If you made me climb a mountain to tell me that you’re breaking up with me, I shall be very annoyed.”

“What? No! Why would you even say that? Is that the kinda expectations you have of me?”

“Well, can you blame me? You were all deep sighs and ominous pauses! I got anxious!”

Gray rolled his eyes. “I was on a roll, y’know? You ruined my roll. I was saying all nice, good things like a boss and up pops your anxiety.”

“Fine, fine. What else did you have up your sleeve, O Gray the Great?”

“…you’ll never stop calling me that, will you?”

“Literally never.”

Gray sighed again. It was the most times he’d ever sighed on the Matterhorn.

“What I wanted to say is that I love you. I love you more than I can ever hope to put into words. So I guess there’s only one thing I can do to really show you.” Holding her hand, Gray lowered himself onto a knee. “Erza?”

He got a whimper in response. “Oh my god.”

“I, uh, I can’t find the ring.”

Unimpressed this time. “Oh. My. God.”

He fumbled in his pockets and sighed in relief when he found it. “Gimme a break. It’s hard with these gloves, okay?”

“Sure, sure. Take your time.”

The banter helped steady his nerves, so when he looked back up at her and found her smiling, he smiled back and held up the ring.

He’d spent an unholy amount of time with Ultear searching for the perfect ring, but he’d found it. It took the form of a platinum band with a round ruby in the centre. After he saw that, there was no point in looking for anything else. It had Erza Scarlet written all over it.

As it shone in the early morning light, and as he saw it light up her face and make her cover her mouth, he knew he’d made the right choice.

“Erza Scarlet,” he said slowly. “I’m going to disappoint you a lot, disagree with you more and probably get on your nerves a fair few times. I’m an idiot, I can’t help it.” He shrugged and heard her mutter ‘Of course.’ “But at the end of the day, you make me happier than I ever thought I could be.” He gulped. “And if you let me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way.”

She said nothing, but she grinned wider than she did whenever she saw a slice of strawberry cake. I guess I musta done something right, then.

“That being said, will you marry me?”

“Umm…”

He stared blankly at her. “Umm? Really? Umm? I nearly numb my knee on this dumbass piece of rock and snow and all I get is umm?”

“I need time to think! This is a big decision!”

Glaring, Gray rose to his feet. “Well then. You think. Imma keep the ring until th – oof!”

He liked hugs. He really did. Especially Erza hugs. But forceful Erza hugs atop a high mountain were risky more than they were loving. Gray dug his crampons into the snow as he wrapped his arms around her.

“Of course I’ll marry you, you doof,” she giggled into his chest. “You’re a dork, you know that?”

Smiling, he sighed in resigned relief. “Least I’m a romantic dork. I mean look at the view.”

“Mhmm.” She looked up at him. “I am.”

God damn it. Altitude thickened the blood, making circulation difficult. Yet his blood had no problem rushing to his cheeks. He looked off towards Switzerland, blushing a deep crimson. “You play unfair.”

Erza laughed, the sound reverberating against his chest. It stirred something deep inside him, that laugh. Good God, I’m going to marry her. She said yes. He pulled her closer. This is real. Holy jumping fucking shitballs.

“Hey, Gray?”

That brought him out of his trance. “Yeah?”

“Give me the damn ring or I’ll hurt you.”

#grayza #grayza week #grayza week 2017 #day 2 #day 2: travel #travel #writing #submission

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Girls’ Last Tour 1 - 2 | Juuni Taisen 4 - 5 | Ancient Magus’ Bride 2 - 3 | Idolish7 1 - 2

The only one I’ve properly kept up with out of my 5 shows this season is Juuni Taisen, so I’m going to roll out the tag for that show first. Also, the Idolish7 first two episodes became free recently so I cover them here too.

Girls’ Last Tour 1

Pipes…grunge…hey, doesn’t this look familiar? *glares at Princess Principal*

I’ve only seen one episode of Made in Abyss but I get a bad feeling about these character designs…

I’m worried about this falling into the Yuri Divide. Sure,the fandom can do what it wants, but please don’t ship the lolis.

Oh right. Wind, meaning there’s an opening somewhere.

That dramatic eye opening made the outside world seem like an anticlimax. C’mon, show. You can do better than that.

I feel like Chito says “shut up” a lot, even though she’s only said it twice. I get how she’s kind of relatable, but this show’s not on the level of MMO Junkie or even Juuni Taisen. It’s just kinda…average.

Did Tangled ever teach you how to use a pan, Yuu?

Everything’s kinda WWI-esque. It’s kinda unsettling for a person who’s never properly seen war.

Even in this snowy world, you could still learn to hunt and cook, right?

If you kill your friend in a post-apocalyptic world, you’ll be lonely by war. Don’t kill each other, kiddos. Lives are precious.

This is serious, kiddos! C’mon!

Eating snow is meant to quench your thirst, but it’s not any good for hunger. Apparently.

Well, I’m quite lukewarm on this. I’ve already found my seasonal hits and I study globalisation, so it’s no surprise I find this stuff a lot like my weekly content. Nonetheless, whoever decided to put Classicaloid behind a paywall’s gonna have to pay (pun not intended)!

Girls’ Last Tour 2

I half expect a “hey you!” joke but they don’t work in Japanese…

What are the wiggly things on the ground next to Chi and Yuu in the OP??? Leeches???

Oh geez. Now they even draw cleavage on the lolis. Meaning these guys are just drawn young. That’s both a good and a bad thing.

Those letters seem to be…no language in particular.

Book burning. What a thing to throw in.

Oh. The blocky writing is actually hiragana or katakana. You just need to look at it closely.

I think that was meant to be comedy…but it was so cruel. Poor book.

I think what they’re saying is “don’t burn history”, but I think we learnt that a long time ago when the Chinese burnt books.

Maybe if these gals had Bear Grylls they’d survive a bit longer…?

Lemme guess: either Yuu burnt them all, destroyed them all or read them all.

The original joke was gomen wa, where ne is similar to wa. At least, I think it’s a wa. It could be a re.

The red circle said Yuu wrote the me wrong, so it’s actually probably gonun ne.

Well, someone funded a sakuga ending. Like the one from ACCA with dancing Lotta.

Juuni Taisen 4

I find it heavily symbolic that Nezumi likes eating eggs. Eggs represents chickens…and conundrums…

Ooh…bam. Nisio Isin’s going the Middle Eastern proxy route.

Hmm. Interesting, it’s basically Bystander Effect: the War.

The anime’s currently ahead of the manga, so I got slightly startled by Boar’s appearance. However, I’ve read some spoilers elsewhere, so I knew she was going to be in Monkey’s story somewhere else. I just didn’t think it was this soon.

Recycled footage…bad show! Bad!

LOL, CGI tank. Sorry for ruining the mood, but that stood out a bit too much for my liking.

“…participation is mandatory…” – Huh. I never saw that detail coming.

“Ow. I thought you were against violence.” – (LOL.) Yeah, but apathy isn’t good when something’s coming to get you in the sewers, so I’m with Monkey on this.

Wa-wait! Y’mean, Rabbit can use Chicken to use Eye of the Cormorant…so Monkey will die this ep??? [Monkey dying]’s exactly what I’ve been fearing for the duration of this episode. Update: If you want the spoiler version from the end of the ep…she didn’t die.

Notice Monkey uses moves that use the strength of her opponent against her. It’s a very pacifist touch, so to speak.

There are a series of images that flash by before the casual clothes part of the ED. If you observe them closely, you’ll see a lot of them involve the number 12. (Example: the cubes have lines on them that read “12”.)

LOL, I think I only just now spotted the bodyguard behind Boar. He’s hard to spot behind all the splatter.

Home boy and his T-bars make me laugh every time. Then of course, there’s Mr Floofy Jacket.

Oh, it’s Duodecuple who’s doing these next ep previews. I couldn’t figure out who it was last time I tried.

Juuni Taisen 5

Genius, with a capital letter? They keep calling him the Genius of Slaughter in his backstory, so I guess that’s where it’s from.

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing is the same in Japanese as it is English, so at least the pun is there.

LOL, this episode is pretty much all “stuff goes kaboom!”, and that’s pretty much the way of the Sheep. Haha.

Of mice and men, eh??? (I read enough spoilers to know who the victor is…but I don’t know how they win.)

Whoa, yeah, baby! Bring that action! (That happens to be exactly the way I imagine my own action stories – from the front seat, so to speak.)

The snake’s winking! So cute! I want me some plushies like those!

Old-Timer. Haha, great pun on so many, many levels.

Ancient Magus’ Bride 2

I started doing a productivity blog and got caught up in it so much, I neglected anime! Imagine that – me, neglecting anime!

Oh, there’s a little “open” sign near the door.

It’s anime Hogwarts! Only the train is more colorful…LOL. (Actually, Little Witch Academia is anime Hogwarts, so scratch that.)

Ooh, Elias has a good taste in faces. Not that I’m complaining or anything. (Looks like En-chan, to boot.)

Elias is like the NEET genius of the magic world here. It’s kinda funny.

What’s a Gem’s Bee? (No spoilers, I’m not a manga reader!)

Angelica’s like her (Chise’s) mother, LOL. Seeing Elias properly emote is hilarious, hilarious! (Why I procrastinated on this show? Because it’s a slow mover that should be appreciated in its own time, but I’m not good with binging so…that’s why I’m only watching it now.)

Oh! No wonder Angelica seems like a mother. She is a mother.

Ooh! Ice flowers. Pretty. I’ve already gotten way too many screenshots for my own good out of this show…As a writer, I feel like I could never make a story like this.This is a story best fostered under someone else’s hand.

Poppies, eh? To me, poppies symbolise war and sticking out, but that’s just a product of where I was born. In the case of war, poppies represent the blood of the fallen and those who rise above that.

Speaking of stories I couldn’t write, I’m currently bringing Next to Me to a close. I feel like that’s my best match to AMB, which is why my thoughts dwell on stories so much right now. Next to Me is one of those stories where the world matters just as much as the character building, if not more, which is why the understated majesty of AMB is a good match.

Seeing a blonde Englishman use –kun like a Japanese is a bit disorienting.

Simon really treats Chise like a child, eh?

The “open” sign now says “close”. What is this house, an apothecary?

The CGI door was a bit weird…

Whoa! That was a bit of a fast approach into the dragon scene, but apparently the dragon part of AMB was really hyped…

Ancient Magus’ Bride 3

How does skelly-man see like that?

The dragons look like…Pokémon! (That was my first thought, LOL.)

This blonde is Lindel from the promo material I’ve read. He looks like zaShunina (Kado), so it’s best to be wary of him.

Ooh, now there’s an application of shadows I’d never be able to think of!

Holy flame spirits, Batman! Elias has a tongue! (I got spoilered on that by ANN, but it’s crazy seeing it in context.)

Ancient mages shouldn’t be hot like zaShunina! Where are the real old fogeys like Kiku(hiko, SGRS)?

Uncle Nevin! I found it extremely charming this uil has a name beyond “Uil”.

Can these dragons read minds? Or is it just the power of Dragon Knowledge (TM)?

When they say “Anime saved my life”, I guess they never meant it this literally…or at least, Chise never meant it this literally.

That dragon has way too many eyes!!! Yipes.

Huh. I haven’t felt this feeling since SGRS. The feeling of a masterpiece on my eyeballs.

羽鳥チセ <- That’s how you write Chise’s name, so they did another “Western creature uses Japanese knowledge” thing…

D’aww. That was beautiful! No wonder people like it, now I like it too. Nothing short of majestic, guys, nothing short of majestic.

Hey, the guy who voiced Nevin is called Ryuuzaburo. Ryuu means dragon in this case. (Meta pun!)

Idolish 7 1

Crunchyroll really tried to hype this thing up! Wow. So, here I am at what could pretty much be called a premiere event of the simulcast commentary. Enjoy, friends.

By the way, I’ve tried a bit of the Idolish 7 game (but since it was on BlueStacks, I couldn’t do the “rhythm” part of the rhythm game very well and subsequently couldn’t get too far) and of course, there’s a vested interest through Shirai, Masuda and Nishiyama. Update: There’s no Nishiyama in sight. Sorry, guys.

Oh wow. This is exactly as I remember it in the game, right down to the word!

Yay! I was looking forward to seeing the basketball scene adapted, since it’s possibly the only scene I got to experience in the game in its (Japanese) entirety. Bring the dang game to the Western world, Bandai!

Riku is such a pure cinnamon bun when he gets the basketball back.

LOL, Nagi is such a flirt, kyaa~ (semi-sarcastic).

I don’t remember them dropping Trigger’s name so early…geesh, my memory must be sketchier than I thought it was.

Just as a reference, Iori (black) is 17 while Riku (red) is 18.

Ooh, I just spotted a Trigger ad on one building during that cut.

Ooh, good sense of drama these guys have got going.

Idolish 7 2

Expressiveness for a grump like Yamato, LOL.  

LOL, there’s a shark in the back…

Iori has a cat shirt, hahaha.

Cool and sharp…stationery? Like a compass?

Iori’s so sarcastic, I can’t tell f he’s ever being serious or not.

I don’t know who’s my favourite so far out of these i7 boys. Probably the one similar to my husbando, Tamaki.

Ahh, gotta love me a good, honest hardworking anime gal. You don’t see them very often, y’know. It’s refreshing.

That was a great Iori impression Mitsuki did, even visually (note: I didn’t listen to Mitsuki do the impression, I only read the subs…hence my comment). Troyca really captured the style of the game, to boot, which is another cherry on the cake.

Notice Iori stands in front of the D.C. (da capo) and leaves to reveal it.

I researched who Riku’s brother is while I was watching ep 1 and…(spoilers for the uninitiated!) the brother is Tenn of Trigger!

There was a soba ad in the back in one lingering shot…

Hey, I get the feeling there’s CGI involved in this dance segment, but it’s…hardly detectable! Amazing! These guys seem to have gone a long way since the horribly animated Monster Generation MV.

Notice they (Troyca) only use CGI in (mostly) shots which don’t involve closeups.

Of course Nagi winks in the middle of his performance…

Whoo, yeah. That was a bold move by Crunchyroll, and of course that would grab me more than just leaking the first ep. I wonder if any critics covered this on their blogs…? Or would it not matter, since critics wouldn’t cover this “uncritical slop” anyway? Nonetheless, I covered it, and that’s what matters! (Update: Yeah, all the critics – Frog-kun, Lauren in Space, Mage in a Barrel etc. - passed on it. As expected of those critics…)

#simulcast commentary #girls' last tour #ancient magus bride #juuni taisen #zodiac war #idolish7 #shoujo shuumatsu ryokou #Chesarka watches Juuni Taisen #mahoutsukai no yome #Chesarka watches MahoYome #Chesarka watches Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou #Chesarka watches Idolish7

[renlyisright]

Season 6 Episode 2: Inside Information

I met some cool people at a party and discussed GoT (and Star Wars too) for an hour in a sauna with them. The sauna was sadly not on (poor party), so we had to be fully clothed to stay warm. But since we went there to get some quiet it was all good. But funny how things go. I haven’t talked a lot about this series aloud with people, and this time too I could only do it because the group was small and they respected my spoiler-freedom.

Bran is back. The old Child of the Forest (an Old God? Or just a guy who roots for them?) teaches him to open that third eye of his and achieve perfection. Flashback time! This one shows Ned, Benjen, Lyanna and Hodor as kids. Hey, it’s Benjen!

Yes, of course. A prediction fulfilled! At last!

Bran says that the Old Child shows him this stuff, but this is the first vision showing things he cares about. Did we miss a season of history and geography lessons? Too bad.

Bran can’t fly yet, and Meera feels like nothing is happening. They found what they were looking for in the lands of always winter, but it turned out to be some guy who could show visions to Bran and Jojen and told them to come here. Can he teach Bran to actually fly? To see visions of whatever he likes on his own (that would be handy)? Or was this just a giant waste of time?

Well I’m in for more flashbacks, but I thought that Bran would be further on on his training. The clock is ticking and before the end of the season he needs to be ready or he misses a lot.

In the Castle Black Thorne is just attacking Davos and the few watchmen loyal to Jon, when the wildlings attack the castle. With a giant on this side of the Wall and so very very few watchmen left (one fewer after the giant Wun Wun has had enough of these arrows) it’s just a formality. I can see how this is Thorne’s worst fear realized. He and his fellow conspirators are sent to the cells, and wildlings rule the Castle Black.

Lots of head-bashing these days. The Mountain (or “Qyburn’s Monster”) bashes one who talked very disrespectfully of Cersei. Cersei herself is not allowed out of the Red Keep, “by the King’s Command”. That means Kevan, right? Hey, she only wanted to grab all the power for herself, that’s what everybody is trying to do. So she made some very poor decisions like arming religious extremists, but everybody makes mistakes.

Like the Martells allowing Ellaria to be anywhere near a Lannister after she tried to murder one. Another Lannister funeral at the beginning of the season. Tommen must be thinking of who of them will be buried next. Jaime, Cersei, himself?

(It’s him, that’s my guess. But he won’t be having a royal funeral.)

It wasn’t Kevan, it was Tommen himself. Part of him is horrified of what his mother has done for her children, maybe even killing the Prince of Dorne to avenge Myrcella, and part of him is ashamed that he didn’t do anything for her when she was imprisoned and punished. So he locked her up.

The High Sparrow gives a lore nugget: The eye stones are used to show that while the dead have closed their eyes for this world they have opened them for the next. My theory was that they were originally used to make the Others believe that these bodies were already turned into wights and the Others should leave them be. It still could be, who knows how the traditions change while moving around the world.

The old man also says, as clearly as he is able to, that they are planning to overthrow an empire. He doesn’t specify which one, but I think he means this one. As I have said before, I don’t oppose getting rid of the monarchy and starting to build a more democratic Westeros, but they would have to fight a civil war or two for it if I have learnt anything of how things go in Westeros, and there are the White Walkers coming. And instead of a democracy the High Sparrow or his less-idealistic followers would create a theocracy anyway.

Tommen goes to speak to his mother, and asks for her help to become a stronger king. That means knives and heads on spikes, doesn’t it?

In Meereen the Small Council has a meeting. Yunkai and Astapor have gone back under the slavemasters’ control, there’s no news of who burnt the fleet and the dragons don’t eat. There are no decisions about the first two matters but Tyrion wants to meet the dragons and remove them from their chains.

Tyrion meets dragons! At last! Aaa! And they don’t kill him. Tyrion talks to them (how much do they understand the language of Westeros? Daenerys only spoke it with a couple of people when they were around. But they are smart.

Tyrion unlocks the chains but leaves them in the dungeon. No getting free and killing nearby farmers’ kids (but that one was Drogon, these two were innocent of that crime).

Arya, sorry, I meant the girl with no name gets her daily beating/lesson, and then the man with no name comes and tests her. She passes and is allowed back. This is a hard school, hopefully the girl gets through it while her list still has any names left.

At Winterfell the Boltons discuss the Starks. Sansa has escaped with outside help, and Jon Snow is the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Ramsay suggests attacking the Castle Black and killing Jon, and Roose wonders if his legitimized son does more bad than good for their rule. At some point they need to rule with other means than killing people all the time. Killing people doesn’t make them like you, it just makes them dead.

And then come the news that Roose now has another boy. And it’s on! Roose and Ramsay hug, and Ramsay is the first one with a knife out and in the other person’s stomach. Roose has lost his reflexes, and now he lost his life as well.

Yes, while this world isn’t a great place for good guys and common people, it isn’t that better for the bad guys either. I don’t except Walder Frey to live much longer either.

Speaking of people being at the wrong place at the wrong time (that is, anywhere and anytime)… Ramsay kills lady Wanda and her baby. You know what, I don’t think that this guy ruling Winterfell is going to do the place any good. Last time when he had control of the place he literally burnt it down. 

Interestingly, he has lost all the other named characters in Winterfell. That new lord Karstark and the maester have to stay around so he has anyone to talk to.

At least Sansa and Theon got out. Brienne tells her that she met Arya but couldn’t get her to join them, since she liked her companion’s company better. Brienne conveniently omits that she beat the man pretty hard and could well have killed him for all she knew, and only left her alone in the hillmen-infested hills because she couldn’t find her. But those are little details.

Sansa, Brienne and Pod are going to Castle Black for Jon. Theon says bye, he wants to go home. The best place to be at this point, even if what likely waits for him there is more of humiliation conga.

Finally back to Pyke. There’s Balon Greyjoy, and the moment I saw him I started to count minutes. I expected him to have about five left to live.

Four minutes later he is dead, dropped from one of their silly rope bridges. Killed in secret by his own brother, who has come back from far-away pirating.

I knew that’s how Balon would go. Well actually I thought of the wrong brother, the priest one. This one didn’t have any foreshadowing in the show. But the old woman in A Storm of Swords predicted the deaths of Robb and Renly, and the rest of the prediction fit Balon well. Actually in the book the rumors of Balon’s death came before the Red Wedding. This works better for the show as now it’s straight to next king’s election.

Ooh, they have elections. That’s nice. And Yara may not be elected because the Greyjoy name hasn’t been that good fortune lately. Two lost wars and everybody outside Yara and the priest either dead or missing.

The mysterious brother can of course mess things, and so can Theon, but… it just occurred to me, what are the stakes here? Someone is voted their new king, but they have lost every outpost on the continent, they can’t wage war against anyone now, so what does it matter to the big picture who rules these salty rocks that can’t even be sown?

Anyway, Yara’s first thought when they find Balon’s body is that she will avenge his murder. Normally, when people drop from a shaky bridge during a storm, the first explanation is not murder, so she must have known that people didn’t like his rule. And the Ironborn don’t suffer long those whom they don’t like.

The last of the Five Kings is dead. One dead king per season. Watch out Tommen.

Davos asks Melisandre to try to bring Jon back. Melisandre doesn’t feel like it’s possible, and she is having a crisis anyway. She listened to the Lord of Light, and he left Stannis and everyone else to die after having her burn so many people. I don’t know what parts of that she feels guilty about if any, but Davos makes her try resurrection anyway.

She does it by the book, using many more rituals than Thoros, who just prayed a little. Making things certain, I guess. If it doesn’t work she can say that she tried everything.

Likely the Lord of Light doesn’t care about specifics. If his plan needs someone alive that’s going to happen, good or bad. If it doesn’t… well, Stannis wasn’t as necessary as everyone thought.

Never mind me never liking Stannis, the Lord of Light was horrible to him. Maybe he will be equally horrible to Jon. Who made him a god anyway?

The resurrection... works! Not that surprising. Jon is alive again, let’s see which pieces of him are missing now. And we should not forget that almost half of the watchmen of Castle Black were amongst his stabbers, so how is he going to deal with that? Make wildlings new watchmen? Opposite day?

#game of thrones #renly is right #benjen stark