ive spent the past several months working on this little yellow submarine retake project for my portfolio :3 genuinely wrote lore for all of this (which ill probably elaborate on later) BUT the actual character designs are done now..
i loaded this project with references and did so much research for it. i was pretty big into the beatles back in 2019-2020 so i guess it was only natural to return to it :) straight up bought the ys production book to learn more (and will probably buy volume 2 once that youtube paycheck comes in)
i intend to write my design process later, so keep an eye out if you’re interested!
Biannual reminder of just how much it sucks that Yuko has no presence in the story whatsoever because Kazama’s whole purpose is to unmoor the audience by starting out as a trustworthy symbol of paternal guidance only to be revealed as a murderer and liar at the very end of his life. And with that reveal in mind, the fact that he paid for Yuko’s medical treatment gets retroactively evolved from a fairly simple act of generosity into something… deeply, insidiously gross and invasive. Especially considering that Nishiki’s whole involvement in the Yakuza started in part because he felt indebted to him because of it, and Yuko & him functioned as Kazama’s surrogate children.
Like oh yeah, Kazama funded all efforts to keep Yuko alive for two decades. After killing her mother and father when she was a baby, without her ever finding out. You think she loved him? You think he loved her?You think she loved the idea of him more than the man, because he became so distant after she got sick? You think she wrestled with the part of herself that understood why he couldn’t visit her more often & the part of her that resented him for not making more of an effort? You think, when he did visit her, she was so glad to have his company but so offput by the fact that he basically saw her as a little girl, since that was when he had the most contact with her?
You think she admired his authority, but felt some twinge of bitterness knowing she could never claim any of that power for herself? You think she listened to Nishiki whine about not feeling wanted by Kazama and had to decide if she was sympathetic or jealous that he even had so many opportunities to be around him? You think either of them came to visit her when she was in comas or unconscious, and she woke up with choppy, distorted memories of their voices at her bedside? You think she cherished those, knowing she wasn’t forgotten? You think being spoken to while unable to respond disturbed her, and she tried her best to forget them?
You think she asked Kazama about her father when she was a little kid, and he dodged the question because it had only been a few years since he killed that man & Yuko is talkative and he just could not stand the possibility that she might start prattling on about her dead dad if he did share any information? You think she asked him about her mother when she got older, became a woman herself? You think he told her what little he knew, because he didn’t emotionally react to her death in the first place, she was just collateral damage & Yuko doesn’t look as much like her anyway, so the conversation feels less brazenly deceptive?
You think he bought her gifts? You think she looked at them and thought of how lavish her funeral would be? You think he got any of her belongings after she died, something small like a hair clip or a well-loved doll, because Nishiki took all the big stuff? You think she had already given him some little trinket long before she passed, because he saw her so rarely that it had the same effect as if she had already been gone? You think that morbid liminality reminded him of how it felt the first time, driving to some quiet part of Kamurocho, knowing you’re going there to end a life? You think she picked up on that unspoken, one-sided significance, maybe wondered why he sometimes seemed tense around her? Did Kazama go to her funeral? Did him and Nishiki talk at it?
And the writers didn’t even think her perspective on that series of events was worth bringing up. Fun!
2077 posts are such a disproportionate amount of my reblogs that poor @bubblgobbo couldn't keep up so I've made another sideblog to better handle the flow:
First fill for @haledamage, who prompted this for one of my Wayhaven Detectives, so have Janine and Felix being adorable :D ( somewhere in book 2 timeline-wise, but kept it vague since that’s not out yet)
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“So, I’ve seen you do some pretty impressive stuff.” The mischief in Janine’s eyes made clear the compliment was not as innocuous as it seemed. “Anything you can’t do?”
“Besides stop talking?” The words floated from a far corner of the room borne on a plume of smoke.
Felix ignored Mason’s snide comment in favor of grinning as he scooted just a little closer to Janine on the couch. “Still trying to find my weaknesses, detective?”
She smirked. “Comes with the job, and it’s only fair when I know your strengths so well.”
He laughed and pulled an exaggerated thinking face. “Let’s see, then. I never learned how to drive a car-”
“But you don’t need-” Janine protested, the interruption cutting off when Felix pressed a finger against her lips.
“Let me finish,” he admonished with a teasing grin. “Don’t know how to cook... oh, and I’m terrible at poetry.”
She raised a brow at that, pursed her lips in thought(or as if to kiss his finger, a version Felix liked a lot better), and then smiled mischievously as she shifted free of his quieting gesture. “Good thing I don’t require poetry as part of attempts to woo me, then.”
“Is that what’s happening? I’m wooing you?” Felix almost comically emphasized the word, batting his eyes at her.
Janine giggled. “Something like that. Though now you do have me morbidly curious just how bad terrible could possibly be.”
“Is that a challenge or a request?” he chuckled, leaning back against the arm of the couch.
She smoothed one hand down her dress and arched a brow. “Maybe it’s both.” The brow went higher when Mason muttered a curse and stomped out of the room. “That bad, huh?”
“You’ve been warned,” Felix shrugged. Far be it from him to let potential embarrassment stop him pulling a smile from a pretty girl. Especially this pretty girl.
A grin curved her lips. “Now I have to see.”
He gave the best flourishing bow he could while seated. “Your wish is my command.” He looked at her while he thought; from the expectant expression to the cherry-patterned dress to the way she’d tucked her feet up under her. Being terrible at this meant it wasn’t exactly something he did often.
Fortunately, something came to him after only a few seconds. “Alright, alright.” He tugged his waistcoat straight and tried to look serious, but his eyes had to be twinkling too much for that. “Ah, the lovely Janine, so sweet some might call her” --he waggled his eyebrows at her--”saccharine.”
Janine stared at him for a second before curling forward in a fit of laughter so consuming she almost pitched off the couch. “Oh my god,” she cackled as Felix grabbed her arm so she wouldn’t fall. “You were right.” Her forehead thumped against his shoulder for balance as her laughter continued so hard she giggle-snorted twice. (That alone made this worth it.) “That was terrible.”
“I told you!” he exclaimed, leaving his hand on her arm in case she started to fall again.
“God...” Still shaking with mirth, she sat back and tugged his hat down over his eyes. “You’re lucky you’re cute, you know that?”
“Goddamn adorable,” Felix corrected, grinning ear to ear as he shoved the hat back where it belonged.
“Goddamn adorable... You are certainly that,” Janine agreed with a sparkle-eyed smile, fingers brushing his cheek, and Felix resisted the urge to punch the air.
Sure, he’d made a fool of himself, but that was hardly unheard of. And he’d made her laugh; a real, full, honest to goodness laugh, free from the worry and stress that lurked to fall on her shoulders outside this room. To make her smile like this, he’d play the fool a dozen times over and not regret it for a second. Because he liked her. Really, really liked her.
