"Well, I'm a fan. First, I want to tell you how I feel as a fan. I'll speak on everyone's behalf. I really, really think it's great that the two of you are good friends..." -Yuri Yamada, NemuCha Ep. 21: "The Gathering of Miracles"
Emi and Manami decided they wanted to appear on "If You Can't Sleep, Drink Some Tea," or NemuCha, which is Yuri Yamada's "little things" podcast (she's the scriptwriter for the Tsukutabe drama, by the way) and asked Yamada if they could, even if it was short notice. It was Emi. She wanted in after seeing some friends also guest on this podcast. She knows Yamada as a friend at this point, too, so it was easy to get a hold of her, but then she shocked Yamada by saying she'd ask Manami to join in. Lo and behold~
It was mainly to tell Yamada how much they liked the draft of her newest book, which is coming out next month, but they mostly talked about Tsukutabe and the miracle connections that happened behind the scenes. The producer of the drama was also "in the audience" and, while you can't hear her for most of the episode, she is referred to a lot AND I did give her a soundbite in the document.
🎉MIRROR HERE [contains the original audio then a subfolder. The subfolder has the translation document and soundbites that go with it, if you prefer to just hear the quotes I translated and not the whole program]
I hope you enjoy it! 💖 And please! Let me know if you'd be interested in the section about Yuri's book! If there's interest, I'll translate it later! I just really wanted to get the Tsukutabe parts shared with everyone.
Chapters: 2/?
Fandom: Japanese Actor RPF, Real Person Fiction
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Higa Manami/Nishino Emi
Characters: Higa Manami, Nishino Emi
Additional Tags: Ambiguous Relationships, Secret Relationship, Travel, Vacation, RPF, Bonding, Alternate Universe, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Series: Part 8 of ManaEmi Parallel Universe
Summary:
Manami and Emi's careers haven't crossed in a well over a year, but their bond remains tight. It's as if they were being pushed and pulled by some gravitational force, coming together to relax when the time is right. Sure, they work hard when they're busy, but, by now, they know that fun times are always ahead.
The more they hang out, the more people start to murmur, but it's almost like a game to them at this point.
Thirtysomething-year-old woman discovers how Love has many different definitions, as well as learning to love all sides of herself regardless of society's pressures, after a "right place at the right time" moment occurs with another woman around her age. Likewise, the other woman, while more self-aware and open to being herself by comparison, still learns similar lessons about Love through this chance encounter. It leads to a friendship that grows closer with time.
This woman has a passion for one thing. Meanwhile, the other woman has a passion for a different thing. They still fall under a similar umbrella, though, and it was a truly serendipitous event that brought them together.
While their pasts were both tough in different aspects, it was through their shared experiences that they learned more about one another, including aspects of themselves they never knew before...
And, through the ups and downs of life, their bond grew deeper. To this day, they still enjoy spending time together and supporting one another, regardless of their initial, neutral obligations that brought them together in the first place~
Schrödinger's Couple - A couple that is both fiction and nonfiction at the same time
A big gathering happened recently...an end-of-year party with a lot of the Tsukutabe gang! Not sure who, exactly, went, but what IS certain is the leading ladies themselves showed up and even posed for the camera~
There's commentary, too!
Manami:
"Tsukutabe year-end party!!🥂
It was a great time with everyone all gathered together, eating and laughing a ton. Thank you for this year, too ♡"
Emi:
"It's amazing how, even though it's been three years since the Tsukutabe drama first aired at the end of 2022, the team members are still all together! ❤️🔥
Let's continue to enjoy life even more next year!"
Happy 2025, Tsukutabe friends. I can't wait to see what these two get up to next year (and upping my hopes for S3 to be announced too lol)
A Semi-Tradition (the crossover shipping of Manamis and Emis)
Earlier today, I was finally going to start my watch of "Tatsuki-sensei is Too Sweet!" (It's on Netflix as "Tatsuki: Too Kind for School"), but then a drawing urge hit. Since these are longer episodes, I definitely need to make time to watch...and catch up. Soon I'll be moving and I won't have reliable Internet for at least the first few days! But...I digress.
I know part of the story has the MC dealing with his ex and the family situation they had prior to splitting (what made him the teacher he is now?). His ex is played by Manami Higa, so some of us are already going "How do we turn this into yuri?" Somehow, even if they turn out to reconcile. We don't know yet, of course, but there are ways around that outcome, too~
Below the cut is me thinking about this new tendency of shipping Manami roles with Emi roles (whether based on her small credit list or we make a character up)...and it doesn't involve me at the wheel most of the time!
The practice of these crossover/crackships actually began in 2024, via a Japanese fan I was watching on Twitter. They have since gone quiet and even locked their acct, so I'm not sure if I can ever share their vision properly.
Imagine, if you will, Kyoko Nikaido from the Japanese version of Sky Castle. What if that wasn't even her real name? What if she used to go by Yuki Nomoto, had her quiet relationship with one Totoko Kasuga, but a man named Nikaido had his eyes set on Nomoto since they were younger. He has money and clout. Nomoto (supposedly) also came from a well-off family; basically, let's combine for the sake of more power. Nikaido knows about Yuki's relationship with Totoko, so he blackmails the latter and tells her to get far, far away and never make contact again. Yuki gets her name changed and starts a family but it's just not right...she yearns for Totoko. As this fanfic develops, she learns that Totoko is safe and what her husband has done to keep them apart. Part of the fic is fuzzy now, but, if I recall, Yako helps them hook up again and plot a way for Kyoko/Yuki to escape, she divorced her husband but also gains a sadistic side over the time of this plot. We eventually learn it was all just a dream, and when Nomoto relays it to Kasuga, it turned out she had that same dream as well. And that was it for a while. It was a neat fanfic done in a visual style, using screenshots from both dramas with some added effects to make the universes collide.
Manami would then do Forest, but meh. It was so...so-so that no one really wanted to figure out how to yurify it lol. I think there was once a joke that Kaede (Manami's character) would literally get lost in a forest and encounter a Kasuga-like character but it was just a quick joke lol
...Well, there was that time a Manami fan had a vision of another sequel to Keiji to Kenji where, instead of the old man prosecutors Manami's character, Minami, would have to deal with, perhaps she works with a lady prosecutor? She's strict at first but then she finds her softer side~ hehehehe...and then, oh! Looks like it was someone like her missing in her life all this time! 😂 I helped bring the vision to life, as you can see in the image above lol
Then we get to 2025. Bullet Train Explosion comes out and we get to see Emi in a new role! Manager Yamamoto! That summer, the latest entry in the Occupation/Siege of [x] series comes out. That's the series where Manami plays Dr. Yuko Musashi, wife of the cop protagonist. When the new entry was initially teased, the official account asked fans where they thought the new series would take place. A friend jokingly answered, "the Shinkansen" and put a paired up shot of Yuko from one of the previous entries and then Manager Yamamoto (Emi). Imagine another tense train situation but with terrorists aboard! They're taking hostages! With the help of the rail company, the police (and protag) handle things but Yamamoto recognizes one of the hostages as an old friend...someone who was close to her until she married a man. She offers her expertise to help with the situation, secretly for the sake of keeping her old friend safe! And, somewhere along the way, the feelings they had in their youth reignite. Yuko is tired of getting into these situations. She's tired of her husband. We never figured out what to do with their daughter, but there were possibilities. Yamamoto is there where the hostages are released and freed and Yuko makes a beeline for Yamamoto, surprising the other woman.
....now, something else happened along the way. Bokuhoshi! This summer drama had Emi in the minor role of the school nurse, Kikuchi. She was the complete opposite of Yamamoto. She was kind, chill, and really loves her chai lol. So there were teases of pairing her up with Yuko as well. A calmer life there. ...and then my bsky and twt followers broke a poll and had me craft up a polycule fanart once 🤣 Technically, though, Kikuchi isn't paired up with any, one Manami role...yet.
And that's where we sit now. Niko Tama didn't quite offer anything new for shipping, so it got skipped like Forest did. But Tatsuki-sensei seems to be making some of us curious again. Can we help Yu find a happy ending (with another woman) of her own? We shall see~
...I can only surmise what Manami asked Emi in that video...
Ahem! So, the Okinawa trip ended up being a point of discussion today on bksy, and I asked a friend what they wanted to see. They picked the VIP-only video of Emi doing the kachāshī at an Okinawan village that Manami took her to (we're both VIP members, so we know the full context lol)
But what you need to know is that the video is taken by Manami simply based on other things they did share freely from that trip. Also, Emi is dancing, yes, but she immediately turned to look at [Manami] and then nods to something as a response before resuming her solo dance (there's also a group of tourists partaking in the dance in the distance, but Emi and Manami are off to the far side, based on the footage). The video is silent, probably to avoid revealing who the cameraperson was, but...Emi. We know. It's VIP anyway, you could've let it roll lol
