Honey, It's in the stars 🌟

✨Mika✨Lover of animals, talented shitposter, I attempt to art, current hyper-fixation: Spy x Family

[mika213]

Hello new followers!

I’m reviving my tumblr so don’t mind me as I post some of my old art from a few months ago 😅 also, I’m VERY SORRY if you try to dig up my art tags and find my old cringe art. I’ve had this tumblr for about 12? 13 years now and I’m also very lazy to delete those…

Unfortunately, I hyperfixate on things and I’m obsessed with Spy x Family right now so… lmao, good luck with that 😅😅

[mika213]

To match Thorn Princess

[blvck-minou]

How about that chapter

[mika213]

[wondrousmay]

Endo-sensei’s commemorative illustration to celebrate the 100th chapter of SPYxFAMILY! (Source)

His comment:

“Thanks to everyone, I was able to continue to the 100th chapter. Thank you.

This is a memorable (?) chapter, but I don't want to worry too much about such things and just want to proceed steadily and carefully.”

[yumeka-sxf]

This weekend I got the chance to visit The Alley, a boba/tea shop that's currently doing a collab for Spy x Family CODE: White!

I met up with fellow fans @mika213 and @xxscarletxrosexx there! Mika's dog Rigby was quite photogenic - he didn't mind posing with the Forgers 😅

A few cosplayers showed up as well, including someone with a Great Pyrenees who looked just like Bond (minus the black socks...his owner told me he wanted to give him black socks but was having trouble finding them).

The collab has actually been going on for a while, but only for the SxF themed drinks...June was when the Alleys in my area would be getting the actual exclusive merchandise, which is what I was most interested in. Apparently not all Alley's were getting all the items, but we got lucky and this one had everything!

I mostly wanted the tote bag, bucket bag, pins, and acrylic keychains, which I was able to successfully buy 😄

The tote bag is double sided too!

What's really cool about the acrylics is that not only can they be used as keychains, but all 6 pieces can fit together (in any order) to create a neat little box 😃

Funny story about the acrylics: Scarlet and I had collectively bought 20+ blind bags of the acrylics but didn't get a single Loid or Yor. Considering there's only 6 different designs and we bought that many, this was extremely unlikely. When we told the staff, they were nice and let us swap out duplicates if we wanted as long as we didn't damage the wrapping too much. I bought another 10 and when we still didn't get Loid or Yor, I knew something had to be wrong. The staff showed us the big bags they got of each design that they mixed into a box that people picked randomly from, and just as I thought, they didn't have any bags of the Loid and Yor acrylics! They said that they would get them for us if we could wait, which we did. 30-40 minutes later, one of the staff came back and let us switch our extras for Loid and Yor. Lesson learned: persistence pays off and don't be afraid to speak up if you think something isn't right!

[mika213]

Hehe this was such a fun day!

I’m obsessed with Yor’s drink; it was so yummy! So glad you and Scarlet were able to get your acrylic keychains! I had to protect my wallet 😅

I’ll add a few more pics:

Rigby had fun too 🥹💗 thanks for the adventure!

[twistcmyk]

[fijiwater33]

I feel like there’s a lot of fans that don’t appreciate the good stuff that Endo has done with Yor. Do I want more Yor with Garden? Yes! But I highly disagree with the people who say Endo doesn’t do anything significant with Yor or that Endo is sexist.

[wondrousmay]

The Forgers at Abbey Road! Endo-sensei’s illustration for chapter 98 (Source)

[mika213]

5.12.24

Happy Mother’s Day to the best mama 💗

~~~~~

Added some doodles and might update with a mini comic soon. My finger is not completely healed so it hurts a bit when drawing

[yumeka-sxf]

Japanese Linguistic Observations in Spy x Family - part 1

This is a post series I've been planning for a while and I've finally had the time to complete part 1! 😃 I may have mentioned here before that I got my B.A. in Japanese/East Asian Studies, and even though I'm not fluent, I know the linguistics of the language fairly well. So I thought it would be fun to examine the interesting aspects of the Japanese version of the SxF manga that aren't reflected in the English translation. It might also be an informative experience for those who don't know any Japanese to learn a bit about the language through SxF! I'll try not to get too technical with the linguistics and keep my explanations at a beginner's level.

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Part 1 - Twilight's "honne and tatemae"

One of the main themes in SxF is how many of the characters have secrets they want to hide, so they act a certain way in front of others in order to mask their true selves. Japanese has a word for this phenomena called 本音と建前 ("honne and tatemae").

I remember learning about the concept of "honne and tatemae" during my Japanese college studies – a quick google search will yield a lot of publications on the topic and its relation to Japanese culture in particular. While the idea of hiding one's true intentions behind a fake facade can exist anywhere and is not something unique to Japan, it is enough of an occurrence in Japanese culture that there are specific words for it. The Wiki article has a basic but good definition of honne and tatemae, to quote:

A person's honne may be contrary to what is expected by society or what is required according to one's position and circumstances, and they are often kept hidden, except with one's closest friends. Tatemae is what is expected by society and required according to one's position and circumstances, and these may or may not match one's honne. In many cases, tatemae leads to outright telling of lies in order to avoid exposing the true inward feelings.

Sounds very much like the characters in SxF, doesn't it? Twilight especially, because unlike other characters like Yor and Anya, who simply have secrets they need to keep but don't create fake personas for themselves, Twilight does – the cheerful, friendly Loid Forger is a different person from the cold, calculating Twilight after all. Also unlike Yor and Anya, who speak the same way consistently no matter who they're talking to, Twilight uses different speech levels depending on which persona he's using and who he's talking to.

There are many different levels of speech in Japanese, ranging from super formal to totally crude. These speech levels are distinguished mostly by the pronouns the speaker chooses to use for themselves and who they're speaking to, as well as how they choose to conjugate the words they use. For example, 座ってください (suwatte kudasai), 座って (suwatte,) and 座れ (suware) all mean "sit," as in, telling someone to sit down. But the tone being conveyed is different: the first one is polite, the second one is casual, and the last one could be seen as rude if you're not using it with a close friend/family member.

As Twilight, he uses casual speech with the masculine and less polite pronoun 俺 or オレ (ore). This is the speech he uses when talking to a fellow spy like Fiona, and for his own inner thoughts.

As Loid Forger, he uses the polite 敬語 (keigo) speech, which is basically comprised of using the -ます (-masu) conjugation for verbs and the "to be" verb です (desu). He also uses the pronoun ボク or 僕 (boku), which is the standard male pronoun and more polite than "ore." He uses keigo to address pretty much everyone who doesn't know his true identity. When talking to a higher-up like Sylvia, he'll still use "ore" but will use polite speech instead of casual speech.

Anya is an exception to this: with her, he uses his most casual speech, the same as he uses with Franky.

I discussed a bit about this in part 24 of my Twiyor analysis posts, but this could be because Anya is a little kid, so he doesn't feel the need to put on any airs with her (same with Bond, whom he also uses casual speech with).

An interesting side note is that, as a child, Twilight used the pronoun "boku" but then changed to "ore" as soon as he became an adult/soldier.

Another aspect of keigo, besides using the more polite forms of pronouns and verb conjugations, is putting the honorific さん (san) after people's names. Twilight does this all the time with Yor, as she does with him. However, he switches to casual speech and drops the "san" part in her name when addressing her in front of people who (supposedly) believe they're a real married couple, such as Yuri and Fiona – because it would be weird for a real couple who have been married for a year to address each other in such a formal way, especially the husband. In the below panel when Fiona visits them, he's calling her "Yor" instead of "Yor-san" and using casual speech instead of keigo.

Oddly in these situations, while he uses just "Yor" when addressing her directly, he still calls her "Yor-san" when talking about her. During Yuri's first visit for example, he calls her "Yor-san" when telling Yuri how much Anya loves her (talking to someone about her) but then calls her just "Yor" a few moments later when telling her that he'll clean up the spill (talking to her directly). It's strange to me that he wouldn't just consistently use "Yor" whether he's talking to her or about her in these situations...I'm honestly not sure if he does this intentionally or if he just slips up since he's so used to using "Yor-san" in her presence.

Regardless, this is why the scene in chapter 86 is so significant – when Yor isn't present, there's no reason for him to refer to her as "Yor-san," especially in front of a fellow spy like Fiona who knows he (supposedly) shouldn't have any feelings for her. Yet, even after he just called Yuri by his full name "Yuri Briar" a moment before, he doesn't do the same for Yor and continues to call her "Yor-san" here, much to Fiona's dismay.

In the same chapter, it's also significant that he uses "ore" when addressing Yor directly in his thoughts. Even though he's not speaking out loud, I believe this is the first time he's speaking directly "to" her as Twilight and/or his true self and not as Loid Forger.

But despite all this, I think that both Loid Forger and Twilight are tatemae…they're both masks to hide the person he truly is. The person who fondly talked about his mother to Yor on the park bench, the person who genuinely expressed gratitude for her sacrifice when leaving the resort island, the person who refused to kill Yuri in a life-or-death struggle because he knew it would hurt her…that's his actual honne. But of course, the ongoing conflict of the series is that he has yet to realize this. He won't even show his honne to his closest friend, Franky. Seems like it mostly comes out in dribs and drabs during his interactions with Yor...no surprise there, lol. The man is certainly a work in progress. When he finally starts letting his "honne" show, I'm curious what form of speech he'll adopt.

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Note: I won't be releasing these posts on a set schedule, but I do have about five planned for now, more if I come up with other ideas! Stay tuned for part 2 soon~

[mika213]

Thank you @yumeka-sxf

You summarized it beautifully 👏🏼👏🏼 I also learned more about Honne and Tatemae, thank you!!! Now I can put words to that “feeling” when Twilight/Loid is talking.

I agree with you on Twilight and Loid Forger still being a mask and Twilights Honne, that little boy that is healing, is slowly surfacing with Yor 🥹

[mika213]

Part 5 of my “If they had Cell Phones in the Spy x Family universe” saga

DTF = Down to F*ck? ……. Or this awesome yummy restaurant called Din Tai Fung 🙂

[mika213]

Sxf Discord Anniversary Event. I did the Honeymoon prompt for Twiyor as a gift for @ellsey 😊

[mika213]

SxF M85 Review & Discussion

Ahhh I've been quite busy these last two weeks. I wanted to make sure I can put my thoughts for this last chapter before a new one arrives tomorrow morning (It's Saturday night for me here - New chapter releases early Sunday Morning)

Sorry for the quick mini Summary & Review.

Lets go!!

We start off with Chloe slapping Yuri's face to wake him up.

I also love how everyone around Yuri doesn't take him seriously when it involves his sister and knows he's just got that attachment issue. Poor Chloe feeling somewhat violated by his sudden delusion being saved by his sister 🤣

Bonus points to Chloe for giving him the hard chop to the face regardless of how injured he already is to snap him out of his senses. Love that. Taking how Yuri was onto something about Twilight but his brain is too shaken to think properly, maybe it was a good thing lol ah, buts she’s a good teammate scolding her lieutenant and worrying about his health (I’m shipping them u can’t stop me)

Anywho, Captain and Chloe caught up with Yuri and suspected Twilight must have been involved. The captain is working on tailing Twilight or anyone in the sewers and he sent Yuri and Chloe to medical.

Change of scene. We are back with Fiona vs Wheeler. I was right to suspect she was in Beast Mode. The training in the mountains with the bears and boulders after the tennis match with Yor is showing strong here. Fiona went WILD.

I was wrong about Twilight though. Looks like my guy is really beaten up?? I am starting to get worried that he's actually that helpless right now; it was hard to believe but it is actually true? 😰 damn.

Wheeler caught on quickly that Fiona must have an attachment to Twilight because of her elegant way of disposing her weapon lol. I mean, it was either that or she’s super loyal to WISE and find Twilight as an important asset. Regardless though, both go against what wheeler considers to be a great spy or strength.

Agents are disposable so why protect Twilight? Lady protects Twilight because she has an attachment; that means weakness.

But does it really?

We see now that Fiona’s ambition is driven by her feelings for Twilight. It’s become her strength and BOY is Wheeler feeling that now. I love her telling him he’s weak because he has nothing to lose but his empty self. damn girl.

I’m curious about Wheeler though. It seems like he really is a lone wolf; he has no loyalty to anyone but himself. He is what Twilight was meant to be and in a sense it’s funny seeing Fiona beat the shit out of Wheeler telling him he’s weak for it. I wonder how Twilight would feel about this. He would understand where wheeler is coming from but… hmm. I also find it interesting that while wheeler was telling Fiona she’s weak for having attachments we get panel shots of Yuri/Chloe and the other Red Team member (dressed as Gascoigne). Bringing light to one of the main themes of this show; building trusting bonds with others is a strength not a weakness.

Well,

This chapter was wayyyy too short ahh but Fiona is so hurt too. She has a broken right arm, dislocated left arm, broken leg? Wheeler is getting damaged as well, that arm was broken and he lost a tooth or two and I think Fiona broke his other arm too right before she gave him what might be the final blow! WOWIE!

I really cannot predict what will happen next. I want to know how Twilight is doing. It makes me sad he had been knocked out so quickly (and off screen too 😡) by Wheeler. He also had a lot of mental strain from his fight with Yuri.

We got Red Team Member (Gascoigne) and SSS Captain in the sewers. I wonder if either of them is going to stumble onto the scene or watch in secret 👀.

Well, thankfully I have a few more hours before I find out LOL

[mika213]

He was trying his best to be modest…

[tinyapplecharlie]

Go back home🍺

[mika213]

I just needed to vent out some emotions through fanart. I still got my delusional shipper heart intact