#hsr blade

[porterwitch]

Spirited Away and Night on the Galactic Railroad Reference in Blade's Train Journey

(This post is cut text from my Himeko and Night on the Galactic Railroad article since this is more about Blade.)

The decision to have an explicit reference to the Spirited Away train at Seafeld City feels deliberate when considering that Star Rail draws a lot from Kenji Miyazawa’s Night on the Galactic Railroad. Miyazawa's writings are fundamental cultural touchstones to almost every piece of Japanese media, and so he naturally was an inspiration to Studio Ghibli co-founders: Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.

The basis for Night on the Galactic Railroad is believed to have come from a personal trip Miyazawa took after the death of his sister, Toshiko. He traveled from Iwate to Hokkaido to Sakhalin, with his journey ending at a beach where he composed the poem Okhotsk Elegy. It is believed that he was possibly looking for his sister in the afterlife, as he claims in the poem that he saw her spirit along the distant shore.

Both trains in Night on the Galactic Railroad and Spirited Away are heavily implied to be connected to the afterlife, as most of their passengers are souls of the dead. Miyazawa was known to have read Charles Proteus Steinmetz's Four Lectures on Relativity and Space and used that as a scientific basis in his world-building for Night on the Galactic Railroad. Steinmetz's book was a demystified explanation of Einstein's theory of relativity that introduced the 4th dimension of time. For Miyazawa, he envisioned his space train to be able to not just travel through time, but also between the boundary of life and death.

"That ticket will take you anywhere, even all the way to the true Heaven…No, perhaps even further! It will take you anywhere this four-dimensional Galactic Railroad is capable of going."

-from the chapter "Giovanni's Ticket", translated by Julianne Neville

So the decision to have Blade go on a voyage to attend his “funeral” by boarding a train and traveling to Inkford Hermitage (which is totally not Hokkaido) feels deliberate. When he reaches the World of Canvas, Graphia even says “We reached the shore you’ve been seeking”. Miyazawa sought the shore in Okhotsk, because rivers and oceans are believed to be associated with the afterlife in Buddhism. His soul-searching revitalized his religious convictions, finding reassurance in the waves that the tides of the cosmos will flow again. Somewhere between the cycles of reincarnation Toshiko exists. For Blade’s arc, he crosses the boundary and comes back reborn anew.

[tsalassopolis]

I’ve been going through characters' voice lines and stories in-game, and loved to see that all version of Dan Heng got new voice lines about new versions of Himeko and Blade. Comparing them side by side really shows his growth🥹

Dan Heng

About Himeko: If you have questions about the Express, Himeko can give you the best answer. About Himeko • Nova: Himeko once told me that we should embrace the past and look toward the future. After seeing her interpretation of those words, they carry a whole new weight to them now.

Everyone from the main trio has grown so much from the start of the journey, but Dan Heng is just so precious🤲

Added to Team With Himeko: Himeko, you can leave any contingencies to me. Added to Team With Himeko • Nova: Don't worry. I've already familiarized myself with the Starblazer's operation.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Added to Team With Blade: You... Keep your distance. Added to Team With Mortenax Blade: Here we stand, each of us guarding something we believe in.

This is such a stark difference! Each of them had to face their past, and each of them is better for it.

Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae

Added to Team With Himeko: As always, Himeko, I can handle it. Added to Team With Himeko • Nova: No matter how fierce the storm, we stand as one.

He doesn't try to shoulder things alone🥹? And relies on his companions for support🥹? He keeps leaning into his role as protector, but without a self-destructive he's had before

Added to Team With Blade: This is your last warning. Stay away from my companions. Added to Team With Mortenax Blade: In this form, manipulating water is most effortless.

From believing that he needs to protect his companions(family, really) from Blade to fighting alongside Blade to protect his companions (and others) - it warms my heart to see this new understanding between them. If we consider these lines alongside lines about Blade from Dan Heng's 4-star from, you can see an analogy of how both Astral Express and Stellaron Hunters are families and Dan Heng and Blade both take role of the protector in their families respectively. Additional fun fact: in the Data Bank, Stellaron Hunters, despite being commonly associated with Finality, are listed within Trailblaze section.

Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae

Added to Team With Himeko: I won't let a single comrade fall behind, Miss Himeko. Added to Team With Himeko • Nova: Miss Himeko, leave the safety of our companions to me.

He's just too precious for this world. I said this already? I'll keep saying this again and again, and it will never be less true.

Added to Team With Mortenax Blade: The Cloud-Piercer was forged for war. Now, it stands for protection.

DHPT doesn't have a voiceline about old Blade's form, but all his versions have a 'chat' about Cloud-Piercer.

DH: Cloud-Piercer is always with me. For my safety, and the safety of everyone else. DHIL: There is unfinished business between me and the maker of this weapon. DHPT: Cloud-Piercer was once broken, but it became more indestructible than ever after its rebirth.

And isn't the last line so relevant towards the Blade himself? Remember how in 4.3 storyline we were moving through the weapons forged by Blade and the closest to his heart/inner mind was Cloud-Piercer.

Another interesting fact, unrelated to Blade this time, is that all versions of Dan Heng have the same voiceline for Evernight (because ofc he never stops protecting his companions).

Added to Team With Evernight: I'll say this upfront: Please do NOT go against March's wishes.

And for dessert, my favourite voiceline ever.

DHPT, Returning to Town: When the heart changes, so does the world it sees.

It beautifully encompasses how our inner world shapes how we perceive the outside world. Nothing about Dan Heng's past have changed, yet as he had grown and changed his perception of the events have changed. All that we see and hear we perceive though the lens of our personal beliefs.

The way that people that believe themselves lucky focus more on the instances when that proves true, then the unfortunate events (and vice verse, people who believe that they are unlucky remember better their unlucky instances, as they reinforce that belief). In a similar way, for a long time Dan Heng considered his power, left from his past reincarnation, to be a burden. Yet as he learns to see himself as 'Dan Heng the Nameless' instead of 'reincarnation of Dan Feng', the power he has does not weigh on him anymore, and he is able to grow even stronger.

DHPT, Turn Begins: My strength is not what it was... it's more.

[danheng-dreams]

04. read at 2:14 AM

chapter 4 of last seen

previous chapters | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1

pairing: herta space station fem! researcher reader x blade

genre: social media au, accidental online lovers | fluff & angst

a/n: we have reached a turning point! sorry this is a shorter chapter but i hope you enjoy it!

taglist: @lavenderdropp @kirsteinsangel

if anyone would like to be added to the taglist for the remainder of the story pls leave a comment

you couldn't sleep...again. you had spent the last hour staring at the ceiling, scrolling through your phone, putting it down, picking it back up, and pretending you weren't checking whether he was online. he wasn't yet but you opened your messages anyway. your last conversation was still there, then your post. you smiled at the memory.

you knew you liked him. that wasn't the problem. the problem was you had been doing this for days. reading too much into every word. you didn't know what his life was or who he was outside of the pieces he'd given you. and that should have bothered you more than it did. especially considering your job.

you spent your days assessing otherworldly threats, researching potential enemies, looking for patterns in people and organizations that were dangerous precisely because they knew how to stay hidden. you had been trained to question incomplete information. to notice inconsistencies. to never assume someone was harmless simply because they seemed harmless. and yet here you were, talking to a stranger almost every night and slowly convincing yourself that you knew him.

so why did you keep coming back? you sighed and looked down at your phone. you wondered if he was thinking about you too.

yingxing had a long day. longer than usual. the kind that left his body exhausted but his mind refusing to quiet. he had spent most of the day moving from one place to another, following orders, dealing with people he had no interest in dealing with, and listening to conversations he had no reason to remember. usually, he didn't mind. he was accustomed to it. there was comfort in routine. in knowing what was expected of him. in not having to think about anything beyond the next task. lately, though, his mind kept wandering somewhere it shouldn't—to you.

it had been happening for weeks. a thought in the middle of a mission. a question he'd caught himself wanting to ask. something you'd said days ago resurfacing when he least expected it. he had started measuring parts of his day by when he would be able to talk to you again. he didn't like that. he liked it even less because he couldn't seem to stop. those conversations were the only part of his day that felt uncomplicated. when he spoke to you, he didn't have to be anything in particular. he didn't have to be a weapon. he could simply exist. for a few hours, he could forget. and that feeling was dangerously close to freedom. he knew better than to want something like that. freedom had never lasted long for him. neither had peace. he should have pulled away before this became something more.

instead, every night, he found himself waiting for your messages. tonight was no different. he sat with his phone in his hand, staring at your name. he could leave it alone. in fact, he knew he should. but the thought of going to sleep without speaking to you felt strangely wrong.

your phone buzzed and you nearly dropped it.

you smiled so hard, and for the first time since you'd met him, you didn't feel like you were talking to a stranger. you were talking to your boyfriend.

even if you still didn't know what he looked like. even if you still didn't know where he was. even if there were a thousand things you didn't know about him. for now, none of that mattered. you had each other.

at the top of the conversation, the status changed. read 2:14 am, and neither of you slept for a long time after that.

© danheng-dreams 2026 | please don’t repost as your own, translate, copy, or use my works to train ai ♡ comments, likes and reblogs are appreciated!

[kurosvg1]

immortal duo

[akvorssi]

Made an acrylic keychain as a gift for a friend! She really loves Blade(¯▿¯)

[kosket753]

[hsromegaverse]

STELLARON HUNTERS ✧

── ✦ blade

♡ second gender : omega ♡ scent : baijiu, fresh blood, antiseptic, rain, spiderlilies & blackpepper

[aren117]

Firefly the copycat - Copyfly