The choke hold this man, and his hands, and his dimples have on me.... this is my anime side blog now because I thought it would be a good blog name and now I have a rant space! Yeah we're probably gonna talk a lot about Gachiakuta but hey, we might get some others in there to.
Senshi is love senshi is life! Senshi cares for his friends and nature! Senshi is humble and nurturing! Senshi is a great comic relief without losing depth of character!
Senshi is very caring and passionate about his love of culinary, nutrition, even the hierarchy of the dungeon itself. Senshi's well endowed shape can survive many winters. Senshi helps and teaches others regardless of reward. He is strong and capable of eliminating this year's Sexyman Victim! Senshi is foreveer
We've come so far already! We can do this! Vote Senshi!
Mononoke series' new Medicine Seller! Hello there Qian/Ken!
First of all: I love him already.
Second: we HAVE to talk about this outfit.
Let's go through this bit by bit, shall we?
(For simplicity's sake, I'll be referring to the sellers by their Japanese sword names, Ken, Kon, and Ri, and to the trigrams by their Chinese names, Qian, Kun, and Li.)
Firstly and most strikingly: the colours. We're leaning heavily on a yellow-gold colour scheme, with highlights of orange and a minty green and contrasting purple. Historically, in China the colour of heaven was yellow/gold, and in some eras only the emperor was allowed to wear this specific rich shade. Very fitting for the sword of Qian, representing heaven.
Secondly: the kimono and how he's wearing it. Ohhhh boy. So just like Ri and Kon, Ken is wearing a woman's kimono, though it's folded up slightly shorter than normal, presumably to make moving around easier when fighting, and to allow us to see those beautiful hakama, which we will come back to in a moment.
This kimono has furisode sleeves, and possibly some of the longest furisode we've seen outside of Ooku characters. These are typically reserved for unmarried women - interesting, because Qian is a deeply masculine trigram, arguably the MOST masculine, as it is three unbroken yang lines. Fittingly, Ken is wearing the kimono with one sleeve off, a style typically associated with samurai, ronin, and other physical fighters to allow for more movement.
His obi belt is also quite slim compared to how Kon and Ri wear theirs, and most notably, it seems to not have the massive bow knot at the back that the other two do. Hard to say more on it while we don't have a full turn around, but smaller and more subtle knots are, once again, a much more masculine way of tying an obi than we're used to seeing on sellers. The feminine vibe is still there with the himo (oh, and look, that's where he's keeping his mirror), but with it positioned further down and being a plain black, it's definitely more masc.
Hakama are a split-skirt type outfit similar to trousers, and perform a similar function - they were invented for horse riding, which makes sense, as the animal associated with the Qian trigram is the horse. While both genders wear them, they're much more common for men, especially if this is again set in a pre-Showa era time. Over all, the whole outfit is much more masculine than any we've seen before on a medicine seller, which is very interesting, and carries some implications for the Shingi of Qian too, as they tend to contrast with their sellers (just look at Kon's excessively loud and colourful outfit vs his shingi's very understated pure white kimono).
(Ri and Kon also wear trousers under their kimono, but they wear momohiki, or something close to it, cut close to the ankle and drawn up to allow for movement, much more common for working class people than hakama.)
This tight sleeve that ends in a ring on the finger is called a tekkou (or rather, the long version is a nagatekkou), and was typically worn by archers to protect the arms and chest from the bowstring, as they would typically disrobe one shoulder to fire in some instances. They can extend to the forearm, or all the way up to the chest. I don't have much to say about this one, but he is the first seller we've seen with one! I love how we can see some of his kumadori makeup peeking out, and speaking of which.
Interestingly, almost all of Ken's kumadori body paint is black, unlike Ri or Kon's which is predominantly red. We can also see a lot more of it. All the medicine sellers wear kumadori markings that echo those from kabuki theatre. They serve as a visual shorthand for what kind of character is being played. Red on white is explicitly youthful and heroic, with a sense of justice - very fitting for Kon's high energy character. Black paint, by contrast, is typically applied to villains and demons, particularly around the face and mouth.
(Oh my god look at his little fang while he's fixing his earring i LOVE him)
For his face, we see something quite interesting - unlike Ri or Kon, he has barely any lip paint, but what he DOES have is a little bit of green on the bottom lip and an extremely thin purple line on the top. Around the eyes we see another little highlight of green on the eyelid, and thick black around the lower lid. Green is often a marker of the supernatural or the undead in kabuki theatre, which fits well enough here. He's still got that red stripe on the nose that marks him as heroic, but the incorporation of black into more of his makeup would give any kabuki-knowledgeable people a cause to be wary - this guy's just as likely to hinder as help you.
The sword. This is one scary looking sword if I'm completely honest. Maybe it's the bulging eyes or the way the teeth are rendered, it upsettingly resembles a bird with teeth to me. Let's consider the others for a moment.
Compare and contrast, Kun and Li. The sword of Qian has a narrow but MUCH longer hilt. The blade looks proportionally longer too, or at least the sheath is. As a result I'm not entirely sure how Ken fits it in his travelling pack - though we haven't seen what his looks like yet, so perhaps he uses something different to Ri and Kon.
Like the look says it all but I love the cut to the chapter title on the next page "A Living Hell"
Love my wifey, love how she we will inevitably slap the shit out of my other wife (Enjin) probably. Because yes he's charming, he's hot, but also HE STOLE HER BABY BWOTHA!! I hope they kiss and also fight. Just a Lil bit ♡.
(I do wanna go back to earlier chapters a big just to reskim what sort of dynamics the siblings have
Lol look at the baby here. Love this expression. He becomes so polite so quick, whiplash adjustment is crazy. Like "oops this is my friend/mentors super intense big sis. Better put some respect on that, shit" his little "Sorry Ma'am" gets me so bad lol.
I WANT THE RUDO BIBLE STUDY SO BAD IM SO FOR REAL!!!! RUDO TELL US MORE! GIVE US THAT LORE DROP POOKIE!!
And then we have the worst way to run into an ex
I love how chill Hyo is about though. Like girl is almost lethally casual in how she interacts. "OH hey man, long time no see" as if he doesn't look like he got his shit rocked so bad. (And now they'll bump into each other all the time if August gives her the right price to be his live in model lol)
I feel him so bad here. Poor baby boy
AND THEN THIS HEART BREAKING SHIT
SWEET BABY YOU ARENT NOTHING BURGER YOU SAVED SO MANY PEOPLE!!!
I already made another post about this. But I am excited to see her grow and maybe brush up on medical training she clearly has and her emergency response. Because she knows her shit, but she got too used to doing work via her Jinki. Im glad we are getting this moment because I have been waiting to see what will happen when the cleaners are faced with this. You know the real risk of consequence in life and death situations. They clearly really are sort of desensitized to them in a way UP UNTIL THEY AREN'T. Its fascinating in a way and I think sort of an interesting take on the "survives some insane injury somehow by magic/bean/potion" that usually happens in a lot of stories.
And im loving the parallels between these two
I do hope Riyo is okay, this has to be heavy on her and she seems to be going through something internal
Im hoping we get a little more insight into babygirl soon
And of course so glad my mans is alive
Like babe your life was almost extinguished for reals, please you wont die from waiting for your fix pls
can you imagine what being saved from the dragon must have been emotionally from Falin's perspective? waking up and realizing what was done to save you, not just killing the monster and the black magic, but the unbelievably difficult and frustrating and overwhelmingly intimate task of piecing your bloody skeleton together bit by bit?? I'd be embarrassed a bit, being so bare in front of my loved ones, asking so much of them, but knowing they didn't shy away?? that every flex of your hand and bend of your spine is undeinable proof of how deeply, profoundly you are truly loved???
yeah we all love someone enough to fish their skeleton out of a dead dragon and glue it back together just for the chance to maybe see them again but can you imagine receiving that kind of love? and then having to live with it?? god...
Now I gotta get more caps and do like a whole little post. But this is gonna rotate in my brain for a while.
Because, and I'll have to find it, but i have a NYC redimedic field guide from 2003. (Dont ask why). Its a little pocket sized book for paramedics to use out on the job. Has all sorts of shit in it.
Um. But there is a part of it, I want to say around a section concerning disasters. And just... there is some line in it about "non salvageable" bodies that just chills me. That necessity of having to sort *people* into categories of "salvageable" vs "non salvageable"
I dont know. Its something that can be jarring to think about. Like not that you necessarily *disregard* "this is a person", but you do have to set it aside so you can stay objective.
(For like a contemporary example and display of what I mean... if youre someone into like medical dramas at all. Season 1 of the Pitt when they do the mass shooting. Thats a good example of triage in action, how quickly it has to get done and messy. Like realistically you have to be able to quickly accept "hey. We can't save this person, not with this limited time and resouces, and have to move on right now.")
Im pretty sure I was probably thinking of this page? Since it says "non salvageable" pretty clearly. The "Mass Causualty Action Plan" page is also opposite of it.
But I dont know, maybe its just the jarring thought that in emergencies, yeah, they cant spend a lot of time while assessing. Can't risk wasting time that could save other bodies on the small chance *maybe* this one could be brought back. If you aren't breathing and a quick adjustment or attempt to get you back doesn't do it they gotta move on because every second matters.
For like fun fact in case anyone is wondering since mental status is cut off:
'Cannot follow simple commands ' --> immediate
'Understands simple commands'--> delayed
Now again, this guide is from NYC circa 2003. Its falling apart and held together by just the dirtiest medical tape at this point
Gountess. My guy. You've MET the boy, yeah? Have you learned nothing?
More ch170 talk and spoilers under the cut!
An immediate cut to a table toss is the funniest shit tho.
Love how Wifey wasn't even bothered though. She's not phased in the slightest. Like something about it does have such big sibling energy too.
Like very "its all fun and games until you have to make big sis get up. Now i gotta pit you (appropriately) back in place."
Look i get the "ACAB! Fuck her!" reflex, sure. But i think she's mean and hot and keeps shit locked in and she could stab me and I'd say thank you. She is my Wifey.
But yo..ngl if she were a man some of you would be drooling and begging "yes sir daddy!" for discipline. Not sure some of ya are not ready for that talk tho.
Look. She isn't being systematically oppressive or power hungry (not saying the system isn't faulty or prejudiced or biased.) But her focus is doing her job. Maintaining order, and (presumably) following the letter of the law. She takes Rudo in sure, but looking over papers she's like "ah Corvus did his work. This all legally checks out so I can't do shit on that. Fine."
The bigger issue is the massive public damages and disaster at Doll Fest and what could've nearly happened to Enjin had Rudo attempted to use 3R on him
(Also can't believe "Yo. The mans is in surgery/stable/alive" was never at any point mentioned to Rudo in however long he was taken in. He assumed Eniin died of the wound and no one corrected him. Good going gang.)
But I Like how Kyouka is willing to let Rudo go ahead and get the anger out of his system. And then she proceeds to put him in place and re-centered around a talk that might be hard for him but he needs, straight up. Like just very direct "You started reacted and were not thinking. You could have very nearly done so much worse and irreparable damage because of that."
It isn't clear what 3R would have done had it been used. If it even would have worked. The closest they got to that situation was with Follo and they all did freak out about wether or not Rudo actually used his powers on him and if he would die from it because that tends to be what happens to objects Rudo uses. And he absolutely was not thinking about that when he went to go try, he saw two other powerful Jinki try and fail so he was gonna throw in a hail Mary the same way.
(I think its also interesting to consider how Rudo's philosophies diverge from others based on being raised a spherite (lol bible study when?) and also his belief in the like "life" of objects.)
Also so curious about the restraints! What's the lore? How do they work? Is it the material, something in the production process, or how they are utilized?
Is it some special metal mix that has something that blocks anima flow? Does the Hell guard have any sort of givers of their own, or almost giver adjacent sort of smithy that does something during the production process? Or are we like Neiji Hyuga-ing this shit and like they constrict a pressure point that blocks Chakra anima flow? I WANT MORE!! TELL ME YOUR SECRETS!
Also congrats to my other wife
So glad to see the mans lived. I was worried about you pookie! Lol who gave you your cigarettes, huh? So silly. He looks so fuckin tired. Love the "Sorry" without even a fight. He's just done. Baby girl you're ok. For now.
Love to see his tits. Love to see his hands. I wanna bury my face right against his chest!
gummygunk
vaporwave
baratheonpilled
2087
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
