from the Otomate Hamefura Pirates Website, translated with GT & DeepL
Katarina: "Keith, does your body hurt? Are you injured? Do you feel sick?"
Keith: "I thought I could protect big sister properly this time, but the fact that your face is looking at me like that......"
Katarina: "What are you talking about! You protected me well!"
Keith: "I see......... That's good to know......."
Keith smiled softly.
The moment I saw his expression, I was so relieved and miserable that tears welled up in my eyes.
Katarina: "Keith, pull yourself together ......! Please don't die, Keith~!!"
Keith: "Big sister..... don't worry. I'll...... always be here with you......."
I feel like I was in a daze.
Keith puts his hand on my cheek, fumbling to wipe away my tears.
And then—
I felt something soft touch my lips as his face came close to mine.
Katarina: (......Eh?)
My skirt absorbed the water and sank heavily.
I thought I heard someone's voice in the distance, but my consciousness was not clear, probably because of the impact of falling into the water.
I'm in pain. I can't breathe.
I can't move my body properly.
What should I do?
If I don't do something, I'll meet my doom.
—somebody
please help me——
Nicol: "—Katarina!"
At that moment, I suddenly felt something touch my lips, and the air I wanted filled my body.
The moment someone touched me, I slowly stopped sinking.
I was supposed to be underwater, but somehow I felt the wind blowing.
I didn't know whether I was in the water or in the strong wind, but in the midst of this strange sensation, someone was hugging me.
Notes:
These are probably the last previews, I think!
They had announced that the game went from the original release date of December 23, 2021, to February 10, 2022. I haven't check but I’m assuming pre-order period will be extended as well. I’m not too surprised though, they probably wanted to extend the preorder period to last until to Christmas season to increase sales.
If this is the last preview, then translations will end here since I’m not too sure if I can get the game or not. I might translate any spoilers I come across though, we’ll see :))
Forbidden fruit ask time: Keith x Katarina. I know people in western fandom are understandably wary of this ship, but apparently it's one of the favourites for the Japanese audience and based on what I heard it actually has some decent foundation in novels (not as much as GeoKata, but still). Since you read novels and are #1 hamefura blog on Tumblr and know so much I wanted to ask you to tell us how KeiKata is doing in novels if it's okay owo??
owo!! lmao, I don't know about being the "#1 hamefura blog on tumblr" (I-I... I thought I was an art blog... :')) I mean I just like to ramble about hamefura lmao but I'm always happy to answer questions!
Yeah... Keith x Katarina is a hard subject to talk about considering how violent reactions can be depending on who you're talking to. I remember when Season 1 was airing, people really doesn't like Keith as a romantic option for Katarina due to them being siblings, and I'm honestly waiting for those people to react to the S2 OP and S2 in general. I've talked to a few people who don't like KeiKata at all, and they have the absolute right to dislike any ship that they want, but it did make me sad to know how much Keith is hated by the EN Fandom considering how loved he is in the JP Fandom. He's pretty much the most favorite male character and the second most shipped with Katarina.
-> hamefura x(s2) & ln spoilers ahead <-
A lot of people's issues with Keith stems from the fact that he and Katarina are step-sibling and that it's really weird for Keith to be romantically interested in Katarina (a person who sees him as a little brother completely). People are accusing him of taking advantage of Katarina's trust in him to keep her to himself and that pursuing her romantically would destroy the familial bond that they've had for years. The thing is that Keith treasures Katarina as a person, not as a sibling. Yes, Keith sees her as family, but he also sees her as more than family. To him, being able to be together with Katarina doesn't mean that he'll have to love her differently, but that he will be able to love her even more deeply and honestly. You can even headcanon that the reason Keith calls Katarina "big sister" is because he's asked to do so, and because it's a symbol of his acceptance into the family, but maybe not necessarily how he sees her.
Some of the material that will be covered in Season 2 is about Keith, so I don't know how much I want to talk about that since most fans will be able to see it themselves. Keith has it the hardest because his position makes it so that he's the least likely to get his feelings across to Katarina due to their relationship. In one of the upcoming arcs in the anime, Keith will be able to break Katarina's baka shield in the same way Geordo does: by using actions instead of words, and by just literally finding the courage to take the risk and tell her.
That's where one of the interesting things about hamefura comes into play: one of the reasons why people dislike KeiKata so much is that they feel like the reveal of Keith's feelings would awaken disgust and betrayal in Katarina. Few fanfics of hamefura portray it that way, that Katarina would be weirded out by his feelings and reject them immediately. Maybe it's because Katarina is aware of Keith as not only a sibling, but also as a romance-able character in an otome game (also because of the nature of this series lmao), that in canon, she doesn't take his confession negatively and is flushed/embarrassed by it just like Geordo's confession. I know the "weirded out" reaction is the most realistic, but maybe Katarina also understands that their relationship doesn't have a clear label. They care for each other very much and whether that bond is romantic, familial or friendship isn't something they bothered to really name, maybe? Lmao I don't know, that last bit is just speculation on my part, I can't exactly get into Katarina's head and pinpoint what she thought of Keith's confession.
If I'm being honest, she forgets about Keith's confession more often than she does Geordo, mostly because nothing really changed after he made his feelings clear. I wouldn't say that she dismissed it, it's just that she's forgetting it because in her perspective being loved as a woman and as family by Keith both means that he'll take care of her and shower her with attention (aka no difference).
When I think about how "KeiKata is doing in the novels", for some reason the first thing that comes to my mind is the line "how they treated Geordo in the anime, from a JP perspective". I know that sounds confusing, but what I mean is that a lot of Arc 2 - FL2 scenes with KeiKata is kinda fanservice (aka the thing they tried to do for Geordo in the anime which worked for JP fans but made him hated by the EN fans) (not me trying to insert Geordo in a post about Keith hehe :V). Excluding all the Keith scenes that are coming in Season 2 of the anime and the current arc of the manga, the story really likes to test Keith's self-control when it comes to seeing Katarina as a woman.
Keith's scenes with Katarina aren't necessarily "hot and spicy" by any means, but people nowadays tend to be quite bothered and annoyed at typical japanese romance tropes being played out in modern anime series (such as bed-pining, surprised kisses and kabedons). I mean yeah I'd be bothered too if someone pulled those moves on me in real life, but for the japanese audience this is what their fanservice is like so that's the kind of stuff we'll see in hamefura. Just like Geordo, Keith is given a few scenes where he's put in a romantic spot with Katarina after he confessed, but it always just ends with him backing out and hoping that it at least could remind Katarina of how he sees her (like bed-pinning in LN6 & affectionate touches from Katarina in LN8). A lot of hate towards Keith stems from these scenes because people sees this as a disrespect towards Katarina and the familial relationship they have. These scenes helps reinforce how Keith sees Katarina as a woman and not as a sister, but depending on who you're siding with, you're either gonna be disgusted at Keith or extremely pissed off at Katarina's lack of propriety & density.
Like, people are getting angry at Keith for being a teenage boy who is being bothered by affectionate touches from the girl he likes who is also always approaching him with only a nightgown? I mean blame the author or Keith all you want but at least put some responsibility on Katarina as well :V People are really saying "well, he shouldn't be bot and bothered by it in the first place, they are siblings! that's disgusting!" well again, Keith sees her as a woman and Katarina needs to be aware that she shouldn't be so touchy with the opposite sex regardless if it's family. Keith kinda blames Katarina for the way he feels given how she acts around him despite being unaware of his feelings, which is also the cause of some hatred towards Keith.
People are saying that Keith is dumping *all* the responsibility onto Katarina because she acts in such an affectionate way towards him, but in reality Keith feels really bad & also hates himself for being so attracted to her when she doesn't even know about his feelings. He puts a lot of blame onto himself and thinks he's just as bad as Geordo sometimes (not saying Geordo is bad, more like Keith's "idea of Geordo" being bad lmao). Keith always walks on eggshells around Katarina because he doesn't want to disrespect how he feels about her and how she feels about him. It's just sad to see people hate him for the few moments where his self-control breaks so that he can act on his honest emotion, and accuse him of abusing Katarina's trust :((
Just like Geordo, Keith has made it clear how he feels and strongly desires to pursue her romantically, but his problem of being the step-sibling is still there. I haven't gotten my own copy of JP Volume 10 yet, I feel like I just wanna wait for the EN version instead of using GT, but multiple spoilers have noted that while Keith hasn't made progress in getting approval of his feelings from Katarina's side, he's at least able to get an approval from his family. Well, by that I mean Keith has already confessed his romantic feelings about Katarina to their father Luigi, and he replied by saying that he approves of whoever Katarina chooses for herself. Keith realizes that all he needs to do is get Katarina to return his feelings. When he does, his family wont hate him, but instead he'll be able to love them and be loved in the same, yet different way.
TLDR; a lot has happened to Keith throughout the light novels. He's progressing slowly and steadily just like Geordo, and is leagues ahead compared to the other characters. He has confessed his feelings and got reassurance of his relationship with his parents. Keith and Katarina's relationship itself hasn't really changed though, but it's nice to know that Keith is at least laying the foundations for his hypothetical future with her. Katarina doesn't really think about Keith enough to be able to tell how she feels about his confession or if her opinion on him has changed at all though, so take that as either an L or a W for Keith.
Thank you for the ask! I'm sorry if this isn't as elaborate as you wanted, anon. I like Keith and Katarina but I guess it's because they aren't my bias that I don't pay too much attention to the tiny details of how Keith is written in the books qwq
Geordo and Katarina both really said "character growth" in this chapter :) Happy for Keith, too
// hamefura light novel spoilers
Yeah, they did :DD The self-reflection they both did in their respective POVs are stuff I've always wanted to see in hamefura that I'm going crazy just thinking about hgfjhdsfg. Getting progressions in their character is so satisfying, it almost makes me feels so bad that it'll take years for the manga and anime to get to it (head in hands). It's like Yamaguchi had a checklists of things needed to be elaborated on, needed to be addressed or the specific things people didn't like about Keith and Geordo and addressed it all in one book fjhgsjdhf
From what I could gather from Volume 11 from the various spoilers I've seen, there's honestly a lot of good moments in Volume 11 in general. I can't wait to be able to read this book myself in a few months.
After confessing in Volume 3 and 4, it's so nice to finally have their feelings acknowledged after 6-7 volumes. It shows that Katarina really is growing and maturing, and unconsciously really wants to eventually live wholeheartedly in this new world. The Geordo and Keith scenes, while really identical, is still both cute in their own unique ways. The endpoint is identical but I appreciate the minor differences that defines and distinguishes Katarina's relationship with both boys. Their reactions as Katarina leaves each of them with a confession of gratitude towards receiving their love is so cute, I want to see it drawn by Hidaka Nami so badly!!
And no one is really talking about it, but the fact that Katarina's POV mentions that her dream by the end of the day is herself, Geordo and Keith smiling happily together is so cute it's making me lose my marbles hgfjshdgf its so short but it stole my heart and the implications of it is turning my heart into mushy jelly.
KEITH GETS A NEW KISS!! My bby boi is catching up to Geordo!! I love the friendly rivalry between these two ships which makes both guys try harder to win her heart. Whoever gets the most kisses with Kata wins >:33333 (let's be real it's Geordo BUT STILL XDDDD)
I waited specifically after I translate the last(?) previews before replying to this but yeah. Indeed he does! Good for you and all your fellow KeiKata fans out there :)) Just because it's Geordo doesn't mean we should celebrate the victory of the other characters XDD No need to count all the chickens before the hatch (though I am on team Geordo ;))
Geordo and Keith are confirmed to get a kiss in the hamefura pirates game, in almost identical situations to their novel/manga counterparts, so I wonder how it'll be for Alan, Nicol, Rozy and Silva. I'm assuming they would get kisses too, and completely original ones at that! That's pretty exciting, actually.
If what I think happens happens in today's episode, the Tumblr will blow up with angry reviews... But as KeiKata stan, I'm just happy for any breadcrumbs we get 🤣
I haven't watched the episode yet (in fact I haven't watched any episode since S2 Ep8 qwq) but I can't help but agree! I'm not a KeiKata fan (I mean I do like it, it's just not far up top for me) but even I'm quite excited to see the anime finally reach this point. From the screenshots I've seen on tumblr it seems to see pretty well adapted (the KeiKata parts I mean) but I guess I can only really tell when I watch the episode.
Yeah, I'm not expecting everyone to be okay with the development in the current episode. I'm sure a lot of fans (anime-onlys) didn't expect Keith's feelings to be revealed so soon. Or at least Keith wasn't their next bet. But personally, with the release of Volume 11 and the Keith-related revelations in it, this week's episode is a great way for me to remind myself of Keith's side of the story and appreciate the good fortune he's currently receiving in the novels (which @maboroshi-no has translated and you can read it here. spoiler warning obviously).
I know not everyone accepts Keith's position as a contender for Katarina's heart, much less him being a close runner up right now, but I just want to emphasize that obviously hamefura plans on taking Keith's feelings for Katarina seriously. She wasn't bothered by Keith's confession, she didn't act disgusted because they are step-siblings, she was flustered and confused by it just like with Geordo's confession.
To anyone else besides the keikata anon who is reading this, I wont elaborate on Katarina's feelings on his confession (you can read the post I linked for some implications on that, though it's a lot of spoiler stuff) but to those who are disgusted by Keith's advances because of their sibling relationship I just want to say that you are perfectly valid for feeling that way. Just know that the series (and by extension, Katarina) is gonna be taking Keith's feelings seriously like he's a normal suitor. The series (and Katarina) recognizes his feelings as genuine and is giving him a chance to fight for her heart. I know lots of people would find it weird, but there's gonna be more where that came from, so :))
Hello. I also think jeord is the ultimate but I have questions about Keith. Keith has always loved Katarina and as a child it is understandable that I call her a little sister. Growing up, however, to keep calling her so I don't think it's a good strategy if you want to be considered as a man. Then for charity as an anti jeord barrier is perfect but in doing so will never develop real possibilities with her. Do you think the parents understood anything about the boy's feelings for katarina?
(Eyyy nice to see someone who doesn’t hate Gerald for once lol jk XDD)
Well, there’s a lot we don’t see from their childhood, so there’s a few small details that we can speculate on. Like you said, constantly flaunting his sibling status to Gerald is a great excuse to be as concerned of her as he is and makes it seem normal that he is always by side without suspicion.
(proceeds to pull out a scene from a different villainess otome isekai manga with almost the exact same dynamic hjgsjgsjdf)
There’s also the fact that Katarina has always wanted a little sibling, and I can probably guess that maybe Keith had tried to distance himself from the image of a little brother in the past in order to be seen more as a man than as family, but either the endearment to the term on his side (because it is was the start of joining a happy and warm family) or on Katarina’s side (since she’d probably be worried if Keith stopped calling her “big sister”, suspecting that he might be upset with her or unsatisfied to have her as a sibling) might be drawing him back from separating himself from it.
Though you are right to suspect that his lack of action is giving him bad karma now, as in Volume 6, he gets confused on how to act around Katarina because he fears that being direct and acting on his feelings might scare his beloved sister away. Even though being direct usually works when it comes to Katarina, he is still deciding whether or not to cross the line because he doesn’t know what areas his sister is comfortable yet when it comes to romance.
Gerald can easily be honest with his feelings, but Keith is very aware that he can’t act the same because Katarina views him as family. Good luck to him on trying to slowly find a comfortable area where he can have best of both worlds before transitioning to a full-fledged suitor in Katarina’s eyes fjsdhgfjs
As for Miri and Luigi’s stance on the matter, well we haven’t actually seen their parents in a while, and when we do it’s very short glimpses. Keith really doesn’t seem to act like a contender to Katarina’s feelings unless it’s around the student council members, so anything caring that he does towards Katarina in front of their parents is probably just seen as being a loving family member rather than anything romantic.
For a while there’s been some misinformation spread that Miri approves of Keith’s feelings (in fact it’s even in the TVtropes page for hamefura until now), and as someone who reads the English LNs and knows someone who reads the JP/CH novels, I can guarantee that it isn’t true. It’s fun to speculate on it, but if you want want concrete proof then I can’t give you any hgsjfgsj. The idea of their parents approving Keith’s feelings is very endearing, and it means they would love Keith to completely join the family through this way and hand Katarina over to someone who can fully devote themself to her, but also personally I already think that Miri and Luigi already completely sees Keith as a Claes so they might think of having a positive reaction like that immediately.
Then again, many have already told me that step sibling relationships are approved of, if not encouraged, during the era that hamefura seems to be set in, so who knows. They could probably approve of such relationship, but whether or not they know is something that I still suspect as being unlikely, unless proven otherwise. I’d like to hear other people’s take on it, if mine is too insensitive to Keith or his family or something jhgfsdfgdsj