[not-so-terrible]

So I've always associated Finger Eleven's song Paralyzer with Itachi and Kisame, to the point that I'd joke how it sounded like Kisame singing to Itachi years before I shipped them. Watched the music video for the first time today and the actor featured in it has Itachi vibes 😂

Well, I'm not paralyzed, but I seem to be struck by you I wanna make you move because you're standin' still If your body matches what your eyes can do You'll probably move right through me on my way to you

[not-so-terrible]

so Itachi and Kisame's names can kinda match

Like most characters outside Kiri, Itachi's name is written with katakana rather than kanji for weasel 鼬. But in Japanese, tiger sharks are called weasel sharks - itachizame (鼬鮫), with the first kanji from the meaning of Itachi's name and the second from Kisame's. While they're from a different family, another kind of tiger shark comes up in their meeting, as the description of shark pups devouring each other in the womb matches the otherwise docile sand tiger sharks.

And then there's Kisame's given name. While the kanji used are for demon shark, using different kanji, 樹雨 'kisame' is a noun. It's used for when fog settles around tree leaves and falls like rain. So a Mist Ninja finding their place alongside Leaf Ninja through the Rain Village/Akatsuki is literally summed up in his name

While being the only team to share ring placement and nail polish colour, the kanji on them, Vermilion and South, also match. Many of the Akatsuki rings are connected to heavenly beings in some way, but Itachi's, Konan's, and Deidara's are part of a set of Four Auspicious beasts - The Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger, and the Azure Dragon. They're all linked to different elements/weather/etc, tying the two of them together, as the Vermilion Bird is the deity of the south. Each of the symbols also has different phases of the moon connected to them, called mansions; one of them for the Vermilion Bird is 鬼, the first kanji in Kisame's name. And the main occurrence of the south kanji in the series is the Uchiha's Naka Shrine and Naka River; 'The Shrine/River of Southern Joy'. Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan activates at the river, the tablet describing Infinite Tsukuyomi is in the shrine, and they meet by a seaside shrine.

[not-so-terrible]

NARUTO DATABOOK STAT COMPARISON - INTELLIGENCE

With the databooks' occasional weirdness there's sometimes debate with if scores are meant to just be in comparison to a characters other abilities, or on a general scale, but I thought it was interesting to see where it'd put everyone. D1/D2/D3 shows stats that change through databooks; Databook 4 has different ones, so there's not many late arc characters

Apparently F-S rankings are sometimes used in Japanese universities with S for above 90%, F for anything below 49%, and A-B-C-D for 10% each in between. It's more of an overlay, but I thought the way it divied up skill tiers was interesting. I’ll be going through all stats, starting with intelligence

If used comparatively, Sakura's described as book smart from the beginning of Act 1, which would put 'brainy' characters at a 3.5+, which is also the most common point for battle strategy to take on a ninjutsu nerd vibe that draws on jutsu mechanics and general science (eg Shippuden Sasuke and Kisame, or Chunin Exams Shino). However, there's strategic moments and less smart decisions right up and down the list

S TIER 5 - Chiyo, Hiruzen, Itachi, Kabuto, Orochimaru, Sasori, Shikamaru, Tsunade |  Kakashi (D2/D3), 4.5 - Dan, Deidara, Ebisu, Kakuzu, Jiraiya, Shizune, Yamato | Asuma (D2/D3), Iruka (D2/D3), Kakashi (D1)

A TIER 4 -  Haku, Ibiki, Kidoumaru, Kurenai, Rin, Yashamaru | Asuma (D1), Gaara (D3), Iruka (D1), Sakura (D2/D3), Shino (D4), Temari (D3)

B TIER 3.5 - Baki, Hayate, Kimimaro, Kisame, Tayuya, Sai | Gaara (D2), Hinata (D3), Kakurou (D2/D3), Sakura (D1), Sasuke (D3), Shino (D2), Temari (D2), Tenten (D3)

C TIER 3 - Genma, Hiashi, Hidan, Might Guy, Zabuza |  Hinata (D2), Ino (D3),  Neji (D2/D3), Shino (D1)

D TIER 2.5 - Dosu, Jiroubou, Sakon, Ukon | Gaara (D1), Hinata (D1), Ino (D2), Neji (D1), Sasuke (D2), Temari (D1), Tenten (D2)

F TIER 2 - Anko | Chouji (D3), Ino (D1), Kankurou (D1), Kiba (D3), Naruto (D3),  Rock Lee (D2), Sasuke (D2), Tenten (D1), 1.5 - Kiba (D2), Rock Lee (D1/D2) 1 - Zaku | Chouji (D2), Kiba (D1), Naruto (D1/D2), Obito (D2) 0.5 Chouji (D1)

[not-so-terrible]

Konoha: Wow, it’s so great our double agent within the Uchiha Clan has the selfless Will of Fire, completely cancelling out the possibility for trauma, repressed emotion and deep love to trigger the Curse of Hatred and cause them to sacrifice the many for the few they care about. We can relax and leave it all to him :)

Itachi, trapped on a burning clifftop, wrapping Sasuke in duct tape in preparation to throw him over the edge: ~ I will kill our friends and family to remind ☽  you ☺ of ♬ my ☮ love ☠ ~

[not-so-terrible]

So Kisame's often considered the fourth most powerful Akatsuki member, but the top three are pretty unanimously Obito, Pain and Itachi. And with Kisame's motto being survival of the fittest and MO being taking out the weakest links, it’s fascinating to see him end up as one of the most well connected members of the Akatsuki. And since the top three never openly get to clash, technically speaking, he stays loyal to all of them. He's; 

- Working broadly for Pain, Akatsuki's open leader, who wants to create peace through traumatising the world through a cycle of war

- Working secretly for Obito, Akatsuki's real leader (and by proxy, Madara and Zetsu, Akatsuki's real-real leaders), who wants to create peace through trapping the world in a dream realm

- Working day-to-day for/with Itachi, the Akatsuki's biggest name, most powerful field member, and a secret double agent, who wants to create peace through becoming the most powerful shinobi that's ever lived,  and through using that power 'as much as he wants', 'lead the world to subjugation'

So either Kisame is the ninja equivalent of the minions, or the dojutsu wielding top three of the Akatsuki all looked to him and went 'yup, he's Henchman Shaped'

[not-so-terrible]

The Fabrications Make Me Sad in general, but only just noticed how Zetsu-y they actually are, not only of the clones in general, but with the original Jōzetsu from the Akatsuki

Given Kuu’s, they’ve probably all got the widely spaced, squared Zetsu teeth under the bandages. All of them but Kirara have Zetsu’s eyeshape, but Kirara’s pink and blue nail polish she collected actually matches Zetsu’s, who has pink fingernails and blue toes

And as people supposed to be disposable weapons with no individuality or will, their uniforms all being just a slightly different shade of purple makes me sad

[not-so-terrible]

Now Sarada's activated her Mangekyo Sharingan, I'm curious to see if/when getting the Eternal version comes up how an eye transplant is approached. Because if a sibling is the ideal transplant match, an uncle might be too distant, and Sasuke's eyes are Itachi's - the Rinnegan he lost was Itachi's main Tsukuyomi eye. Though that does mean both for himself and Sarada, Sasuke's own old eyes are sitting in a jar somewhere, and with stuff like Shin, cloned Sharingans aren't really off the table.

[not-so-terrible]

I did not expect to find Naruto casual cosplay vibes in a Uniqlo and White Mountaineering collab and yet

[fandommomhater]

stating to think there’s an inverse correlation between how good media is and how easily fandomizable it is 😁

[fandommomhater]

good media should make you stare at wall for 2 hours instead of immediately starting shippings wars and coffeeshop au and slowburn fics

[nonasuch]

no no you’re not wrong but also

there’s a reason for this.

[gallusrostromegalus]

My personal theory is that if Media is REALLY good, there isn't really... space, if you will for fans to add or change perspectives on it. Too dense, too complete. Like how coral won't grow on plastic because it's too smooth

Whereas some half-baked hot garbage has got ALL KINDS of plot holes, incomplete characterization, warped timelines, missing worldbuilding and other Spaces for fans to colonize, like coral growing on a sunken battleship.

And then if a series just sucks too much, it's not fun to interact with at all, and people won't fandomize it because it's toxic. Like how coral won't grow on sunken piles of burnt-out tires.

I call this the Fandom Barrier-Reef Theory.

[dreadgnome]

Legend of Vox Machina Japanese Dub - Voices & Speech Patterns (Ep 1-3)

Since Percy is living out his edgy Naruto-Running white haired anime boy dreams and the cast and crew all have their roots in anime, I wanted to take a look at how the Japanese dub adapted the characters. Thanks @mrsmarymorstan for sending through the actors names!

The sub and dub were done separately, and most characters are much more polite and formal in the sub. I also wonder if animals are redubbed in each language, or if Matt as Trinket will be the only voice across all international versions

While my Japanese isn’t super fluent, it seems like a strong, really consistent dub. A lot of the voices are very similar, including the ones with a lot of range (eg Percy), and it definitely adds to the surrealness of anime dubbers making their own cartoon. Things like varying pronouns add a couple of unque layers to characterisation, especially with the villains and how Scanlan presents himself. There’s even a couple of lines which I think may actually be closer to the stream than the cartoon?

VOICE ACTORS/SEIYUU

Vex - Ohira Ahiru (大平 あひる) Percy - Shimizu Yuzuru  (清水 優讓) Pike  -Yabuchi Yuumi ( 藪内 裕友実) Vax - Ishiguro Tsuyoshi (石黒 史剛) Keyleth - Ikeda Misaki (池田 海咲) Scanlan - Sawashiro Chiharu  (沢城 千春 ) Grog - Kaneko Hayato (金子 隼人)

Translations of kanji may not be 100% accurate, but I was able to find the most on Scanlan, Grog and Vex’s voices. Scanlan’s actor was fittingly also a stage actor, whose sister Sawashiro Miyuki (lots of anime credits and dubs Chloë Grace Moretz) got him into voice acting. Roles include Nishiki Sasa in Love Kome, Ritsu Shikishima in Caligula and Taiga in Tribe Nine.

Grog’s dubber is Denchi Shoujo in Gyakuten Sekai no Denchi  and Lihito/Pocha  in Kengan Ashura. Vex and Keyleth’s seiyuu have mostly done background characters. Vex’s seiyuu is also the Japanese dubber for Dolores Madrigal in Encanto

HONORIFICS Honorifics like san, chan, kun, and sama are almost universally not used, and never socially among characters, which makes their conversations with eachother sound a lot more direct. I’m not sure if it’s a trend when adapting western media, or a tonal thing for the series.

  - ‘Lady’ is used directly from English (eg redi kima, redi buraiawoddo, redi arura) instead of using higher status honorifics like sama (I didn’t catch pronouns from Kima and Allura)

- Uriel’s main title is ‘Uriel Gokuou 国王’ - king/monarch/sovreign in the sub, but the dub didn’t sound like it matched - The soldiers, Uriel and Vince call General Krieg, ‘Krieg-Shogun’, a de facto military dictator appointed by the emperor and holding significantly more power than them - In the sub Vex sometimes uses 'oni-san’ (big brother) towards Vax, but not in the dub - Mr Fisherman is literally written as ‘Fisherman-san’ - Keyleth calls the tree she talks to on the Shalesteps ‘Midori-san’, or Mr Green

(Pronoun and individual speech analysis below the cut)

Keep reading

[not-so-terrible]

In trying to guess who was responsible for Percy Naruto Running (so many of the Critical Role cast are in it), I realised I had absolutely no idea how involved Mary Elizabeth Mcglynn was...! I knew Liam O'Brien had directed some episodes alongside voicing Gaara, but she's voiced Kurenai, Mei, Tsunade, Tsume, Koharu, Kokuo and Katsuyu, and voice directed the dubs for almost all of the games and movies, and is one of the main voice directors for both part 1 and Shippuden

[katzirra]

Draw the boy

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE BOY??

[imgoneforevr]

@naruto-scifi-week day 3

dec 3dr - Alternate Dimensions // Cyberpunk

I don’t know what I did but I did it and I don’t feel sorry about it  🙃

[cezulian]

Still can’t believe we live in a world where its canon that Itachi said “Yeah medical nin skills are great but you know what’s the most powerful thing in the world actually? Love😌” and Kisame said

[cezulian]

If you haven’t read Akatsuki Hiden, here is a summary of the first chapter:

[not-so-terrible]

As the translator, can confirm this is 100% accurate

[not-so-terrible]

*whispers* kisaita and “things you said too quietly” or “things you said when you were crying” i can’t decide both of them are suffering-worthy

“Kisame, you need to sleep.”

Kisame blinks, refusal fighting to break through the bleary haze as he lifts his head. Thunder rumbles in the distance as he squares his shoulders and turns back to Itachi. From his place on top of his pack, Itachi huffs at his partner’s grumble of denial.

“It’s been four days. Even with your endurance, it’s only a matter of time before your brain shuts down. Especially with how much blood you lost.”

“I should still be okay for a little bit.”  The layer of light-hearted ease is thin, but it’s still there. “No hallucinations of dead teammates or fear that the tree over there will burst from the ground and eat me just yet. And when those shinobi catch up, that should wake me up.”

“Which shinobi?”

Kisame scrunches up his brows, thinking. “I….it would be those Kusa chunin. And hunter nin, there’s always hunter nin. We already got the bounty hunters, right?”

“Not these ones. And we killed the Kusa nin three days ago.”

“Right, the giant fireball….” He shakes his head slightly. Itachi watches him from beneath the tree, watches the raindrops slide down the curved silhouette of his nose, watches his shoulders slump.

“I’m pretty sure I can still manage it,” Kisame says, voice even thinner.

“You don’t need to.”

Kisame goes very quiet, and even through the rain Itachi can hear his own ragged breathing. He pulls himself up from his pack slowly, trying to angle himself to avoid the stabbing pain in his chest.

“It’s not safe, Kisame. For either of us. You know better than anyone what happens to shinobi who fall asleep at their post. And I can’t sleep anyway.’

Kisame pauses only a moment this time before sighing and shuffling back further into the canopy towards him, letting Samehada rest against a tree. This time, he doesn’t even ask if it hurts; he knows what the answer is. Itachi finds the outline of Kisame’s shoulders in the dim light and pulls him closer. Kisame lets himself led down to rest against Itachi’s lap.

“Sorry, I’m probably getting you all wet.”

“You’re no worse than me,” Itachi murmurs, raking his fingers back through Kisame’s sopping hair. It’s not entirely untrue; the mud on his own sandals is so thickly caked they’re practically boots, and wringing out his hair could only do so much. But Kisame is soaked to the bone, water still dripping from his clothes to Itachi’s, and skin tightening from the flare of his gills.

They need a fire. They need to get out of these wet, muddy clothes. They need a better meal than the stripes of rabbit jerky their supplies have whittled down to. They need to rest, and talk about things that aren’t surviving and killing and dying. They need time.

They have maybe a few hours; hopefully in his current state it’ll take Kisame less than one to fall asleep.

Itachi twists around to undo the buckles of his sodden pack to grab their thermoses, passing Kisame his before returning to rummage through maps and kunai. He likes to think that the ease of knowing it would be in its usual place is due to their years of quick escapes and the need for easily accessed supplies, and not about the fact that he’d be able to do it blind.

He thinks his is Blue Mountain Tea, but even after he first few lukewarm mouthfuls he can’t be sure. Still, it helps wash down the blood. He glances down at Kisame and isn’t surprised to see his cup almost untouched.

“Here,” he murmurs, reaching for the abandoned cup. He presses it close to his lips and breathes a steady stream of flame until he can taste the chamomile flavoured steam. The chakra leaves a dull burn from his chest to his throat, but if it’s worse than the usual ache he’s grown numb to it. He thinks some hurt must show though, from the defeated look on Kisame’s face. He must be little more than a silhouette with glowing eyes, but his partner can still read too much of him. As Itachi grabs his own cup, he watches the flames dancing in his partner’s pale eyes and wished the light reached the rest of him. Kisame’s lips move, and for a moment Itachi wished his vision had gone far enough that he couldn’t read the words.

I’m sorry

Itachi’s sharp intake of breath stabs deep within his lungs and he can’t meet Kisame’s eyes. He lifts his gaze to the canopy above them, letting the stray drops dash against his cheek.

“Please don’t be.”

“I’ll try, Itachi-san,” Kisame says softly, but he finally lets himself settle back against Itachi. While he holds his gaze, he can feel, more than see, the slow flicker of his eyelids as he drifts off.

He gently strokes the wet hair back from Kisame’s forehead, pushing back the strands sticking to the stitches. The rain has managed to wash out most of the blood from his hair, and hopefully the stitches would be able to come out tomorrow. Or was it today? Hard to tell in this light.

He had to admit it had been a good shot. They’d noticed Kisame’s healing quickly and gone straight for his head. Itachi had only managed to throw the last one slightly off track. The rest of the squad had not been given an opportunity to replicate their teammates attempt.

Nor would the ANBU or the hunter nin over the next week. Itachi hopes that they will head the flee on sight broadcast for Kisame and himself, but resigns himself that they likely won’t. By now, they’ll know they’ve been spotted, and believe there’s no turning back. Itachi supposes there isn’t.

They’ll be able to take them, him and Kisame. Even as they slowly fade away, they can take them.  But the hunters will keep coming for Kisame long after Itachi is gone. He might be able to take them.

He hopes Kisame will try.

‘Kisame?’ he whispers, but the only answer is Kisame’s soft breathing.  His own mouth opens again, but the words are choked in his throat.

Promise me…..I wish I could….I know you can….I need you to…please try….

Kisame doesn’t stir when the tears hit his cheek.

I’m sorry too

[not-so-terrible]

Going back through my old fic snippets, so have also just posted to AO3 as things we do not have

@esmeraldablazingsky also did some amazing art of it here!

[darkmacademia]

alignment chart: bookmark edition. tag yourself i’m scrap paper