#talkingtofu

[wobblytofu]

just wondering, what are your favourite ryou starring doujinshi and why? any ship or even none at all~

you got me browsing my shelves so I hope this is a satisfactory answer!

tldr: these are in no particular order. they just fit really well with my vision for manga ryou (Im very picky when it comes to characterization, to a fault) and my general likes when it comes to stories.

🌻 this is probably my top favorite doujin ever. its bakura reminiscing in his final moments + ryou introspection. ryous characterization here is if you mixed all of his canon characterization in balanced quantities (monster world + duelist kingdom + battle city).

showcases the turbulent relationship between the bakus and how despite it all, ryou wishes to understand bakura/bakura develops a soft spot for ryou. very melancholy.

bonus: ryou's name 了 is discussed, its brought up how/why bakura knows japanese, accidental bonding, and bakura calls ryou an accomplice (because he is 😌).

also look at the gorgeous front and back covers! I adore the art style very much.

🌻 this next ones a classic. the very first ygo doujin (and bkbk doujin) I read back when zelas.net was still online. its also the oldest bkbk doujin I own. published 2001!

its duelist kingdom (tweet #21 here)/early battle city ryou characterization, meaning he marches to the beat of his own drum and listens to nobody (also dsod compliant). theres a budding plot that unfortunately ends on a cliffhanger/has no resolution. it never got a part two that I know of. bonus for bakuras awkward attempt at... affection, I guess 🤭

also, again, very cute cover. theyre touching! clingy bakura. ryou is squishy-looking. very official-looking art style!

🌻 heres another classic! this artist's works are mostly, if not all, gags unfortunately, but this one isnt as over the top as the sequels. the comedy was actually enjoyable. ryous a little shit here (as he is generally in this series of doujins). bullies bakura lovingly...? and thats always fun.

ps. not a fan of malik's characterization in any of this artist's works at all.

🌻 going to gemship territory now. this ones very heartwarming (with some comedy). horakhty gives tkb a second chance: he has a week to make amends with ryou. its a 'closure' kind of story for the both of them. reading this was like watching an old, grainy movie with a friend.

ryou, again, marches to the beat of his own drum here. his interest in the occult is highlighted (his denpa is showing).

🌻 speaking of closure, heres a different kind! its about ryous story still continuing until he finds his own happy end. time seemingly rewinds (due to bakuras hourglass), the future changes, and hes headed down a different path than canon. it has a hopeful ending. tkb gets a second chance!

I like seeing ryou happy with his head held high, so this was such a refreshing read.

(cute gemship panels here)

🌻 collection is not complete without a brothers au.

or a boing boing I mean sisters au.

(heres the back cover btw 😳)

thats all Im gonna say abt that.

🌻 now this! this brings amane into the plot and how she contrasts with ryou. this artist does tremendous characterization not just for ryou, but also for tkb and bakura. monster world is a big part of ryou's introduction in canon, so I immensely enjoy it when its incorporated into stories.

🌻 now to this absolute monster of a book. its 262 pages of bakura venturing into ryous soulroom, which is a monster world × duel monsters mix, to save him. bakura is essentially an adventurer/player character.

despite really liking this book, I do have some qualms. the ending was pretty lackluster. tkb gets shafted in favor of bakura (as he is in most of this artist's works), which is ok? I guess? this is a tender book rather than a gem book after all. fine, I'll allow it.

Im mostly unsatisfied with ryous characterization by this artist in general: ryou always has oatmeal for brains. hes too soft lmao! its as if his entire character is reduced to that one instance post-battle city when he goes to steal the ring back from yugi's room. thats it. his whole personality is sweatdrops and the tilde symbol ~ (if you know what I mean. if not, thats fine. its abt the jp ygo manga).

to compensate for his softness, theres a darker twist to his past and is gloomy on the inside (manifesting as a "GM persona"). best I can describe it.

anyway, its a unique story, so I still really like it. I could not put this book down.

this book came with a case, so heres the front and back.

there you have it! some of my fave reads. I honestly need to just sit for a month and read the rest of my books, but among those Ive read, these stand out and are dear to my heart.

I love talking abt the bakus and doujins, so Im grateful for the chance to do so 🙂‍↕️ asks like these are always welcome!

[wobblytofu]

Any recommendations for artists/fanfics/anything/ that focus on bakura and gem shipping?

hello anon! Im admittedly not the best to ask for recs because Im very picky, at least for fics. not many draw/write for gemship either. so this wont be much of a list 🥲

for art, I adore maridoodles and vickybelladona! their works make me feel warm and fuzzy 🤤

for fics, the best Ive ever read is still i will if i must. a must-read for gemship!!

not big on ongoing fics cuz Im bad at keeping up with chapters and tend to forget, but Im forever looking forward to Behind the Sun updating 🥹 Im captivated by the writing and premise.

its short, but Pretty Caskets has one of my favorite elements in gemship: tkb relaying his past/tales of his youth, or what he remembers of it, to ryou. more stories should be like this imo.

ancient egypt au where ryou exists, I enjoyed Moonlight for a refreshing read and Chrysalis for some smut 👀

for au/modern settings, I enjoyed Soulhood a lot. I know its not tagged as gemship, and I hope the author forgives me for this, but all I could picture here was tkb. the narrative is nonlinear and very atmospheric.

university au 👀 with smut 👀👀👀 you should have been mine is a lovely read. a cute and sweet one is Who knew laundry can be romantic?

if your interest extends to doujins, I rec'd a few gemship ones here!

if anyone else would like to rec art and fics, comment/reblog!

thank you for the ask! 💕

[wobblytofu]

Sorry if this is weird. I've been thinking about your occult AU and I'm trying to wrap my head around how Ryou was supposed to die in the car accident, someone else died in his place, and the universe is still trying to balance that out by killing him when the bit about someone else dying seems like it should already balance things, and I was hoping you could elaborate.

🥺😳 Im incredibly honored my AU has piqued your interest and that youve been pondering about its plot/specifics 🙂‍↕️ thank you for the ask! and Im so so sorry that Im slow as hell to write/draw it all 😫

ryou managed to escape death during the accident, so that actually doesnt count (but its still very important). its his subsequent deaths that upset the "balance": ① at the end of monster world, ② as collateral casualty from yami malik's penalty when bakura loses the duel against him, ③ when he disintegrates in dsod.

death is simply what it is in this story: death. Ive said in my other posts that Ive taken some inspiration from Buffy. in the show, when buffy first dies, the line of slayers moved from her to kendra. even when buffy came back, that succession stayed intact. it was not undone just because buffy is alive again. it did however pose complications.

so in that vein, just because ryous alive again doesnt mean he didnt die. he still died. nothing undid it. he just came back. every single death counts and there are Those who are keeping tally. do that over and over again, and, well, there are Those who are not enthused........

theres another factor at play here but we will keep that hushed for now 🤫 its what ties it all together.

hopefully that clarifies it! if not, such is the nature of the AU, Im afraid, until its all written as a proper fic 🥹

[wobblytofu]

Despite the lies that you're makin'

Your love is mine for the takin'

My love is just waitin'

To turn your tears to roses

[...]

I will be the one that's gonna hold you

I will be the one that you run to

My love is a burnin', consuming fire

[...]

No, you'll never be alone

When darkness comes

I'll light the night with stars

Hear the whispers in the dark

You feel so lonely and ragged

You lay here broken and naked

My love is just waitin'

To clothe you in crimson roses

[...]

I will be the one that's gonna find you

I will be the one that's gonna guide you

My love is a burnin', consuming fire

I'm just saying that these lyrics are SO tendershipping like UGH I cannot stop thinking abt them ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ

aughauggughh the crimson roses line GETS ME SO

entire song is just the church scene tbh, transitioning to manga memory world

[wobblytofu]

The shipping name for the Bakurae is Bakushipping if you weren't aware so your posts show up in the tags!

thanks, anon. but Im only tendergem.

to me, bakushipping implies all iterations of shipping between the three bakus. as I dont ship tkb and yamiba together, the tag doesnt apply to my posts. it would be disingenuous to use it.

(if thats not how that shipname works, I still wont use it out of principle)

[wobblytofu]

How did you learn Japanese?

tldr: I brute forced it, which I dont recommend lmao

I wanted to play an otome game (no translation/localization available) that was notorious for being heavy all around (kanji, lore, plot, length, etc that made it highly unsuitable for beginners). this was maybe in 2010 when translation sites werent as developed and were actually pretty bad. at the time, I also didnt know the rules of jp or their syntax... all I had was a dictionary and my game emulator.

I think my playtime was........ over 700hrs cuz I was translating and learning the language on the go. finished all the routes since the secret bachelor was who I wanted, and he was locked behind everyone iirc.

the kicker: title of the game was "hiiro no kakera" and I wanted to romance kutani ryou cuz he reminded me of bakura 🤭 unfortunately, his "ryou" uses a different kanji than ygo ryou. then there was kazama chikage from "hakuouki" who I was interested in cuz he also reminded me of bakura but had the same voice actor as seto 😂

(all of it goes back to ygo tbh)

anyway I just played a lot of jp games. I even played dangan ronpa 2 in jp. then I got a jp textbook to solidify what I know. Im a very casual learner but uh none of that was chill...

[wobblytofu]

Sorry is this is kind of a big question, since it is a pretty long manga, but do you know any other typo/thing that got corrected in future versions of the original Yugioh manga like that exemple of Bakura calling Ryou "aibou" one time?

Don't know japanese so i can only go by the exemples that the wiki has 😔

there are other fixes but nothing story-related like the aibou 相棒 from bakura iirc 🤔 theyre more like revisions in dialogue or corrections in kanji, and most of the changes Ive seen so far are y.yugis lines.

tldr: its hard to be a shounen manga protag cuz you gotta make sure what youre saying is politically correct or at least adjacent to it 😂

SOUZOUJI: What happens if you lose, Yugi?

① Y.YUGI: I'll give you my life.

② Y.YUGI: I'll keep you company at the bloodfest.

this one was just funny cuz in the original they did not agree what to call the great moth

HAGA: Perfect Ultimate (Form) Great Moth

Y.YUGI: Ultimate Perfect (Form) Great Moth

① "If everyone's betting their lives, then I'm betting mine too!!"

② "If everyone's betting their lives, then put me in the same situation (lit. condition)!"

① "You offered your life to fight alongside your friends!" + めぐり会う kanji

② "You threw yourself into the game to fight alongside your friends!" + めぐり合う kanji

theres nuance in the change in kanji.

original y.yugi just really likes high-octane bets, man. in the colored bunko, the furigana for 命 (which means "life") changes to "pride".

player killer's original response is, "All your careless prattling about life... hard to take your word for it, yknow..."

changes to, "Let's make this game more interesting, then..."

the most common change in kanji that Ive noted is from 賭ける (to bet) to 懸ける (to bet but "as a prize to the winner" says my research??). both are read kakeru but the nuance is different. jp is confusing I give up.

apologies I dont have pictures for these: bandit keith in the original referred to yugi as fuck yarou ファック野郎 (as in, "whoever the fuck") and okama yarou オカマ野郎 (derogatory for gay/cross-dresser) to refer to pegasus.

interestingly enough, one error that hasnt been corrected (or maybe this was made for the worse when revised, not sure) is this.

責めて (to condemn) vs 攻めて (to attack)

both read as semete but only one use in this context is correct.

Y.YUGI: On my turn, I'll summon a monster, attack in one go, and win the duel!

idk whom or how hes going to accuse/blame/condemn in that situation 😂

if youre interested in more of these, I do liveblog my jp reread of ygo under this tag #you cant take yugioh out of the girl.

[wobblytofu]

Where’d you get the Ryou plush?????

I made him! and the other two bakuras!

these ones were gifts actually so Im slowly making my own now 😆

the process (sort of) is under the #offline tag. you have to wade through a bit of stuff in between but not much.