This went from a historical project to cosplaying all the Hanguang-Jun, Lan Wangji in existence! The main concept is Lan Wangji’s (LWJ) novel/manhua/audio drama design. As the project started pre-pandemic, I didn’t consider the butler or dragon au in the design. That would be too much. There is a dash of videogame in him since there were some details I liked in that model. If the title is “Mo Dao Zu Shi” then I have incorporated Lan Wangji’s description and concept arts into my design.
Lan Wangji as known in The Untamed was generally avoided save for a tiny nod to the show’s Gusu Lan Clan. “Mo Dao Zu Shi” Wangji and “Untamed” Wangji are distinct in my opinion. Neither is superior from the other, just different enough that I need to pick one interpretation to play with. The actors of Untamed, especially Xiao Zhan, really claimed the characters as their own and portrayed them wonderfully. Wang Yibo’s Wangji is his Wangji, I won’t interfere that. If you want to see that interpretation of Lan Wangji, then go watch the show. It already exists.
A few caveats before you dive in:
1) I am not a seamstress or tailor so I don’t know all the proper sewing terminology in English or any other language
2) Also, modern romanization of Chinese confuses the shit out of me, a native speaker, so apologies for any spelling mistakes. The Yale Romanization made so much more sense but then China thought they understood the English alphabet better than native English speakers so here we are. Do as the Romans do, I guess.
3) I am not a historical costumer either so all my info come from conjecture and research
4) I am not a Chinese historian but I like to think I know enough about my history and culture through osmosis and the hell-hole disguised as Chinese school to talk about it
5) I am not trying to make an authentic historical costume, I’m trying to make an anachronistic fantasy costume. Historicity went out the window the minute LWJ and every adult character decided to have their hair down. I did try to make a semi-historically accurate version? Depended on the mood at time of construction.
6) I suck at being Chinese apparently so that will be my safety net if everything fails horribly :P
RYOFU is a biopic, sort of? So Ryofu is the Japanese pronunciation of Lu Bu, a historical figure made legendary by the Romance of Three Kingdoms. The title is romanized because Japan likes to use English when they localize Chinese these days. (Kanji and hanzi is not so easy to translate actually) This was a man-friendly show because, like Castlevania, there were so many old men in the theatre. In this case it is because Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the Roman Empire for Japanese men so a lot of Takarazuka fans brought their dads and husbands this time around. These old men, they had a lot of thoughts about the show ranging from surface value drooling over hot general silhouettes to confusion when the plot gets derailed. And I can agree with most of their sentiments.
Spoilers for a 500yr old novel (translated in Eng over 100yrs ago) based on historical events over 1000yrs ago.
Overall, the plot is solid and captures the highlights of the early chapters of the novel effectively and with great visual impact. Characters are static for the most part as this is a story-driven show where the audience is expected to already be familiar with the source material and enjoy the epic highlights at face value. To summarize, the story takes place during the Spring-Autumn Period of Han China when central power has collapsed, and remnants of the royal family are scattered. Old vassals have turned warlord and carving up the once great empire. The royal family is now a joke, and he who has the child emperor can claim legitimacy and use him as a puppet. In short, Three Kingdoms is Chinese monarchist propaganda so the characters and factions who are trying to restore the Han are portrayed as the undisputed good guys, everyone else sucks and you are not meant to like them. That has never stopped any Japanese IP from making team Cao Cao or any controversial figure in Chinese history look cool.
Enter Lu Bu, an unmatched warrior of great strength, making him a highly effective general on the dueling scene. Legend is his idea of a fair fight is himself against three opponents, at once. His martial prowess was what brought him great fame in his lifetime and cemented his place in history and popular imagination. He was not, however, as effective in the tactical scene. Lu Bu is remembered for his many faults – arrogance, violence, messing with other people’s wives, and unreliability. The man practically betrayed everyone he knew, rendering him a less-than-ideal retainer despite being a beast in combat. Often perceived as a simpleton and brute of a man, he plowed through life as a self-serving asshole with zero foresight. He spat in the face of Confucian societal expectations and moral values as his favorite approach to contracts when entering into a lord’s service was getting adopted as a foster son and swearing double filial piety as a vassal to master and son to father. Except loyalty evidently meant nothing to him since he would drop one father for another if it suited him, sometimes offering up the head of the previous father to another potential father. If anything, Lu Bu was a controversial man.
He was also the strongest element of the musical. That would be expected seeing the title of the show is his namesake. The entire musical captured all these complicated facets of his character. Houzuki An presents a troubled man of violent temper and arrogance with great passion. Together with Haon Mika dance-galloping across the battlefield as Lu Bu’s fiery steed, the Red Hare, they bring to life the warmongering general with unquenchable ambitions. Between Houzuki’s performance and the costume department’s amazing armor design, Lu Bu stands on the stage as a legendary and memorable figure. This is the Flying General the world knows. We also get to see him grow into a more reflective and gentler person in private due to his beloved Diaochan’s influence though he struggles with peacetime concepts and some more complex ideas are beyond him. But he is given some depth rarely seen in the character. However, Lu Bu is only one half of a pair.
Takarazuka’s bread and butter has always revolved around romance. Therefore, it is baffling that they managed to fumble a famous romance already written for them. Now I understand changes are necessary when adapting stories across various media. But of all the things Takarazuka could mess with in their adaptation of a renowned epic romance, my main complaint is…
Lu Bu married who now?
Historically, we know Lu Bu was a married man to one known wife, but no one cares about her. The novel decided to triple his love life and recenter it on his fabled romance with Diaochan, one of the Four Great Beauties of China. Now Three Kingdoms is a sausage fest, so there is not much we can glean about Diaochan the character. She is more of a plot device that informs us about characters surrounding her and supplies commentary. Her foster father pimping her out demonstrates societal decay, regardless if you interpret him as a scheming social climber or misguided patriot driven by desperation to save his nation. Aforementioned father betrothing her to two men at once to instigate backstabbing drama shows us usurper Dong Zhuo is a morally bankrupt disgusting pervert of a tyrant, and Lu Bu is a morally bankrupt brute who can’t keep his anger and dick in check. As for Diaochan, when she is not a femme fatale assassin she is a representee of the brutalities of war – even beauty is not spared in the face of destruction. Chaos reigns supreme and chivalry is dead. Or is it?
What makes Lu Bu interesting in the novel is his individualistic personality. His disregard for societal conventions and morays does cause him to chafe with his contemporaries and is to his detriment on the political scene. But to his credit, maybe because he lived so against the norm, he was quite chivalrous in regard to Diaochan. Regardless who she really was and her ill circumstances, Lu Bu accepted all of her. In some retellings, Diaochan confesses she is an assassin sent to seduce Lu Bu right in the bedroom with Dong Zhuo’s corpse still warm between them. Lu Bu doesn’t mind and still agrees to marry if she wishes it. If Diaochan is a victim married against her will and attempts suicide in the name of honor and to remain faithful to her true love, white knight Lu Bu happily makes her a honest and living woman. Regardless, this marriage costs Lu Bu his own reputation as everyone remembers clearly the betrayal and assassination of his own foster father and technical claiming of someone else’s woman. It is hard to say how clearly Lu Bu was thinking at the time or if he fully understood the consequences of his actions, but ultimately he willingly shouldered the stain to his name. Furthermore, where lesser men would not be able to take their woman back after sexual assault, being deemed damaged goods, Lu Bu overlooks that and accepts Diaochan for all that she is. Were it not for the greater intrigues of the world and Lu Bu’s ambitions, they could have lived a content, simple life together.
I don’t think the original authors of various renditions of this romance thought that far about their relationship outside of an extraordinary hero should be paired with an extraordinary beauty. But from the text, we can glean novel Lu Bu is a generous and open-minded lover in some respects. Though this little love story is straightforward, both lovers are given depth and there are a lot of challenging concepts about chivalry and defining integrity for men and women that can be explored in this epic romance. But none of this was to Takarazuka’s liking. It appeared they wanted some spice for their musical but the main story was too controversial. Perhaps the original heroine was not “pure” enough for company values and too passive for modern women to relate to. Not to mention patricide is a bad look for an already contentious protagonist.
But the fix Takarazuka employed did not help much at all. In fact, it made have made the characters look worse. Instead of Diaochan, Lu Bu’s great love of his life has been swapped out for some chick named Xuelian. This is not a simple name change. She was outright switched with another character all together. While Diaochan is largely believed to be a fictional character, there are limits to hhow much you can change her without her losing her identity.
Xuelian is the daughter of Lu Bu’s first lord Ding Yuan. You know, the guy he betrayed and murdered for Dong Zhuo. On the surface, this doesn’t seem like a major change given Lu Bu’s track record. But Ding Yuan never pimped out his daughter. There was no need to. He was just warlording his merry way in his corner of China and made the wise political maneuver of betrothing his daughter to his star general to put a leash on the man. Since we are no longer following the original plot, the original conflicts are sterilized so Takarazuka needed to fabricate more lest the marriage to Xuelian devolve into a mundane political alliance where the main couple just needs to get to know each other better. To spice things up, Lu Bu is convinced by team Dong Zhuo to murder the entire Ding clan right before tricking Xuelian into marriage. This new scandal does drive home Lu Bu’s more negative traits, but he unfortunately never redeems himself to Xielian, making both of them look incredibly unforgivable for Takarazuka protagonists.
Lu Bu is irredeemably a dastardly traitor, murderer, and liar – as far from a gentleman as one can be. Also, their whole marriage and love is built on lies and familicide. He is allegedly moved by Xuelian’s virtuous and noble nature, yet he dies a selfish despot with anger issues. I take no issue with static characters, as mentioned earlier that was the approach with this musical. Problem is they framed the story to give Lu Bu room to grow. There is a pivotal scene where Xuelian rescues an orphan, interrupting her own wedding. The concept of mercy and grace to the downtrodden is seeded in Lu Bu, made clear by the blocking of the scene. Yet we do not get the payoff in Act II. All his actions after this is just in service of what he wants, it never pivots towards consideration for the common folk or soldiers under his care in reflection of the alleged love of his life. So now Lu Bu has been reduced from a man who attempts to make honorable choices under impossible circumstances to a brute who just never learns.
They also did “Diaochan’s” character dirty as well. Xuelian marrying under false pretenses is a great disservice to her character. She is rendered a less than stellar heroine for forgiving the man who murdered her family for no reason (being Chinatsu hot only gets you so far, Lu Bu…) despite her preaching righteousness. While there is no problem having problematic female characters or toxic themes, it seems to run contrary to Takarazuka’s initial intent in this production. They don’t even know which “Diaochan” they want her to be. Sometimes portrayed as just another victim of a cruel world, other times a femme fatale who is an active player in her father’s schemes; I suspect they tried to merge both. Now we have a woman who is simultaneously too pure for this world but also a sultry assassin-seductress who is half-assed at her job because Takarazuka heroines cannot be too competent in this department. The character’s inconsistency can be quite jarring to watch despite Amashi Juri’s best efforts. A woman who is anti-war decides violence will solve the conflict at hand. A proper lady raised in a respectable household with love somehow thinks she can be so scandalous as dance in public and seduce a dirty old man. The discrepancy between the character’s gentle personality and ruthless decisions is simply too wide a leap of logic.
Another problem is Diaochan still exists in this timeline as Wang Yun’s daughter, who is still being set up to marry Dong Zhuo. Neither woman can even claim the reputation of empire-ending beauty to her name as Xuelian easily impersonates the other woman anyways. Diaochan is just a meek little girl swept up in her father’s politics. But as she is no longer the female lead, she does not matter. Xuelian offering to take her place in marriage is meant to give her some agency and strength of character but much like her acts of kindness and charity in front of Lu Bu, the impact of her actions is inconsequential. She, a married woman, deciding to take someone else’s place in their marriage to personally assassinate a tyrant is a naïve plan and her husband has to bail her out halfway anyways. She makes decisions, but they aren’t meaningful. She is a great beauty with a twin. Strangely, the real Diaochan somewhat diminishes the fake Diaochan’s spotlight, causing confused mutterings in the audience during intermission.
Watching RYOFU for the sausage fest of the Three Kingdoms, was entertaining enough. But the main romance of Lu Bu and Diaochan was a very frustrating experience. While the intent of the changes were painfully clear, the sloppy and illogical execution resulted in diminished characters and muddled romance.
Honkai Star Rail | Aventurine Waveflair
崩壊：スターレイル｜アベンチュリ・波と戯れる夏
📸 tanakapirori
Sneak peak! 予告
Also, like hell am I going to make a swimsuit for cosplay. The unit may be SP but the skin is casual so this cosplay is as casual as closet cosplay can get.
(Spoiler Warning? Since I talk about Nezha in modern fiction and I have been yelled at to check my privilege and that I can’t treat Chinese media like Western media even if it’s classic lit because English audience is relatively new and I can’t ruin their experience. -_- But Nezha is a legit deity and a lot of his lore are known legends within his home culture. For analogy, do we like treat the Bible as ubiquitous culture or literature? And what about the case of classic lit? How do we handle things like Jane Austin for new audiences, especially when the major beats are so widely known even among non-readers? Who is going to seriously read all of Investiture of the Gods if there is even an English translation out there? While I think this whole situation of needing to self-moderate when I just want to talk about my culture is unfair, I can understand the other side and want to contribute to the positive spread of my own culture, so I have done my due diligence. But I am not above complaining about it. Sorry for the rant, Nezha talk below.)
(Also, possible trigger warnings for conservative heteronormative family values, violence, and suicide)
Third Prince Nezha in irl is the Chinese god of children and family values. Immortal, he is forever under 20 years old. Blessed with the pretty face and stature of a healthy divine teen or as cute as a babe with rosy cheeks, you can pray to him for anything no matter how silly or selfish it is. But do not come to him for adult problems, especially about divorce. He doesn’t like it when mom and dad are fighting. You don’t want him to smite you. Omnipotent and armed to the teeth by his shifu, Taiyi Zhenren, with all sorts of divine instruments and weapons, he is equal to the Monkey King Wukong in a duel. Legend has it he only lost because the Monkey King is his bro and bros don’t kill their bros. Also, he may have been in a rebellious phase when his father ordered him into combat. Couple such power with the temper of an angsty teen who will throw tantrums like a toddler, it is not only acceptable but advisable you offer him sweets, meats, and toys for his pleasure. Though naughty and temperamental like all children ever, he is of course a good kid at heart. He is a god after all, the most perfect and worst son one can have. He obeys his mother and always respectfully asks her permission to play, tells her where he’s going, and comes home on time. Though there was an incident where he quarreled with the neighbors during play time, ripped out the dragon neighbor’s spine and wore it like a trophy before running home to hide when the dragon’s father flew over to tell his parents he was taking them to heavenly court. Naturally, his parents were angry, but he is a good and filial son, so honor killed himself to protect them and the good people of the city from the wrath of the dragons. Boys will be boys.
In fiction and popular imagination, he is often portrayed as an overpowered mama’s boy with daddy issues. Even though his old man Li Jing is a respectable general of heaven and god in his own right, clearly no one is afraid of getting smited for less-than-ideal portrayals of the man. We all know he got his promotions through his OPed sons, specifically Nezha. And still he had the audacity to burn down his own boy’s temple because the Third Prince was better at being a deity than him. Compared to his Master who revived him with an indestructible lotus body and spoiled him with some really leet divine weapons, it’s not hard to tell who the preferred father figure is. But childhood is very dynamic, so Nezha’s portrayal can become incredibly diverse.
Chinese people apparently like their Third Prince explosive and angry, regardless of age. The old adaptations of Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods from post-war to 1980s when the budget was in hell didn’t try anything interesting with his character. They’re just animated or live action retellings of his original legend with a healthy smattering of proper family values (listen to your parents’ absolute word, even if your dad is a dick, etc).
But in live action series after that, there was more run time to tell in-depth stories. We begin to enjoy arcs where Nezha goes off to make friends with the wrong crowd like troublemaking monkey kings because he thinks someone is cool if they can last more than five minutes in fisticuffs. He’s less than the good little soldier under his father’s command, flopping down on a cloud in protest and making nasty faces until dad threatens to give him a good spanking. When he goes full asura mode and stretches out his 4-8 arms and two heads/faces, he sometimes banters with his other faces and cracks some juvenile jokes. But I digress, his contentious relationship with his father is often played for laughs. They just have normal family arguments that are power scaled up and dad getting beat and needing to beg other deities for help managing his own household is comedy. Nezha is disobedient because that’s just how boys are, but he will ultimately begrudgingly obey like a good kid. How a father who is weaker than his son can even threaten to discipline him is never explained but Nezha is filial because…cosmic order. His relationship with his teacher, the societal father, can border on rude as some directors just do the bare minimum and hit the plot beats of the source material. The lad goes and makes a fuss at his Master’s whenever he loses a fight demanding more power and gets his way, not because anyone condones such behavior but because Heaven is in a state of emergency and someone needs to beat that monkey king ASAP. Overall, character dynamics can be a little weak and relies heavily on canon for characterization.
Modern audiences are probably more familiar with the recent animated films such as Ne Zha (2019) and New Gods: Nezha Reborn (2021). In the films centered around him, he is a gremlin who can’t control his strength and is prone to anger. When in asura or teen mode, he is edgier and no less rebellious or destructive. All within the realm of expectation. But his relationship with his family is more humanizing and the dynamic is reasonable, exploring nature and nurture. His father is given some dignity for once and his troubles with raising an overly powerful son are explored. In fact, the parents enjoy a modern and egalitarian relationship where they work together to raise their family, though each have their own way of reaching out to their son. The same can be said of his Master, who is given more to do than just playing at deux de machina. However, the first film at least is focused on the mother-son bond so all the fathers, godfathers, and their daddy issues take a back seat. Within this cinematic universe, Nezha’s relationships with his family and other characters are generally modernized and the most normal.
Japanese Nezha, romanized Nataku, is often in his sulky teens – an emotionally checked-out, robotic killing machine. If he is obedient, it is because he initially lacks a soul or free will. Evidently, Japanese creators are as enamored by his rebirth into an artificial shell of a lotus body as they are by his raw power. To them, Nataku is exclusively a fictional character from novels brought over during the Edo era. While a few Taoist deities have crossed the sea, I have yet to see a temple dedicated to Nataku in Japan. Perhaps for this reason, more artistic licenses have been taken. A major part of his character development in Japanese media is gaining that light in his eyes, then he goes through a emo phase as he finds himself and place in the world. His daddy issues, if dad is in the picture at all, by far the most abusive overseas. In Saiyuki (1996) his father is a shameless social climber using his son as a tool. Nataku, in contrast to his Chinese counterpart, is stoic and aloof due to being raised in a strict household and groomed for formal court life. While he has his own views, he ultimately suppresses his true self to remain loyal to his father, gaslighting himself to believe they have a loving relationship. It is when he is away from his father, we see the carefree and playful boy he actually is. Ultimately, the relationship is toxic and irredeemable. Nataku’s characterization is much the same in Houshin Engi (1996). His daddy issues are pretty straight forward. In his first life, he is just picking favorites between his parents so ignores his father in favor of his mother like a punk. What really tips the scales against his father is when dad destroys his grave that mom built, pissing his reincarnation off. But while he had many chances to avenge the desecration and actually kill his father, he never follows through. One can say he is just being a brat and holding a grudge but doesn’t actually hate his father. Therefore, while the father-son dynamic is not so abusive as in Saiyuki, it is still violent and tense. In this series, the teacher is a much more prominent character and has a similarly violent relationship with Nataku but is actually able to communicate because he took the time to understand his disciple. Points in his favor for being that teacher who goes the extra mile and guides his students towards their goals by talking at their level along with some gentle parenting, in a manner of speaking. He is the cool uncle that lets you do whatever you want that everyone wished they had while bio-dad is being clowned on back down on Earth. Following killer puppet tradition, CLAMP’s X/1999 (1992) features Nataku as an androgynous, emotionless clone created to fulfill their destiny in the apocalypse. As a clone, they have no particular family outside their ties to their donor. They are related to their creator, Chairman Tojo, as their genetic material is derived from Tojo’s granddaughter, Kazuki. But they don’t have any emotional bond as Nataku is perceived as a tool. As the series progresses, they inherit their host’s memories, implying a form of reincarnation, and gain their own will. This culminates in them forming a final wish, which is to both die by and protect the person they love most. This wish is fulfilled by proxies of Kazuki’s parents. This is the closest we get to parent-child relationships in this universe, mostly symbolic.
Videogame Nezha sometimes gets a sex change! This is not offensive or unusual at all. He is canonically said to be as pretty as a girl in contrast to his raw martial power. Think of Inosuke from Kimetsu no Yaiba (2016). Fun fact, sometimes the Lotus Prince is portrayed as a woman and most likely a professional gymnast in C-dramas because only a girl can pull off the splits and backflips needed for his energetic fight style. I may be biased but when it comes to live action, actresses tend to be more fun and charming as Nezha than their male counterparts. One can even argue his portrayal as a girl serves gender parity. While usually depicted as a boy, he is still god of all children – not exclusively sons. However, as the games are not so attached to any source material and Nezha is sometimes just a summons, there are no daddy issues to unpack.
Ironically, Nezha’s characterization and relationships in Big Brother/My Senior Brother is Too Steady (2023)* is the most unconventional compared to other adaptations, even the Japanese ones. Nezha does not lack father figures here, which may explain why he is such a sweet, golden child. His biological father is not a loser but an upstanding citizen and present family man who Nezha actually respects. This is no small feat seeing that poor Li Jing is surrounded by OPed immortals, gods, and demons. Despite knowing he is way out of his league and having an all-powerful son at his disposal he still bravely stands his ground and opts to protect his underaged son, willing to sacrifice his own life as penance for Nezha accidentally killing the dragon prince Ao Bing. Nezha undergoes his asura puberty early of his own volition to save his father rather than being compelled by any adult. Fair to say father and son are on good terms and the Li family are very much a boring, typical family. Taiyi Zenren is also a very present cool uncle since Nezha’s birth along with the series’ protagonist. As they both have some foresight about the great war brewing in the future, the former spoils the boy while the later covers his butt so his childhood can be as smooth as possible. Most of Nezha’s negative traits are also attributed to being cursed with a literal inner demon but after explosive asura puberty, he is able to harness it, all thanks to the good influence of his great father. The worst he gets is getting bratty for celestial weapons like a kid at a candy shop. Even as a teen he is still the most well-mannered of his fictional counterparts. He bothers to apologize after he draws the Qiankun Bow right after his father explicitly tells him not to touch it. He is even remorseful for piercing the fabric of reality when other renditions of the boy would probably have him jumping in excitement about how far the bow can shoot. Somehow, the most recent Nezha and Li family buck the trend by being the most mundanely wholesome and well-adjusted of the bunch.
Conclusion: post-2000s Chinese Nezha media is the most wholesome when it comes to family dynamics and he carries the least amount of daddy issues.
*Yeah, I just wanted to talk about this one specific, incredibly small part of an otherwise basic bitch cultivation series.
While people tend to associate minimalism with Japanese art & maximalism with Chinese art, the trends of both countries have fluxuated over time. That being said, Chinese bird & flower paintings can and do make good use of negative space...this is not one of those cases. 😅 It's been years since I've started this "Four Gentlemen" inspired series and the autumn shoot still eludes me. I wonder if this project will ever be completed...
数年前にこの「四君子」という唐絵を元に得た画像プロジェクトを始めたのに秋の写真がどうしてもすり抜けています。
Will I ever finish this...
Spring春 hk_netwk (X/Twitter)
Summer夏 @tanakapirori
Autumn秋 （who will be the lucky photographer, I wonder...誰かな…）
Winter冬 hirosi_co (X/Twitter)
♤
For the most part, I agree with most of fandom on this one. They both look hella cute and I would totally love them as skins. Not terribly concerned about their mechanics since its predictable. Hoyo will design them to fit upcoming Elation gameplay and the SPs are meant to keep older character relevant to the plot by keeping them abreast of powercreep. But their designs, while loveable, are a little underwhelming to me. Was excited for fancy fits even if it’s just more fantasy tails and gowns. (I want an excuse to make a fantasy tailcoat, please Hoyo!)
But the designs make you wonder what the next patch is about. It seems we’re getting more of a filler beach episode than moving the plot forward. We just had action and drama in the last patch so it’s time for a slow, fun vacation as Aventurine put it.
If that’s the case, had tiered units not become obsolete, Aventurine & Robin SPs could have been fun as 4-star units. Yes, their stats would need to be nuked to fit the downgrade, but that meta would fit the mood of a fun beach episode and the more casual outfits. They’re on holiday so you’ve caught them not at full power but they’ll have niche mechanics because vacation mode. Robin is resting her voice so not going to buff you like her 5-star form. Aventurine is taking advantage of his PTO so he’ll be coasting on his luck. They would be more accessible for new players or fans on a budget and, if designed right, mechanics could be fun for meta players when constructing creative or niche strategies. But since 4-stars are meaningless in this game, they could have been skins. I would buy them! Then there would be room for cooler skins that fit the tone of the overall story for SP release.
This is not a thesis, just thinking aloud. There is no point here. I just wonder if part of the underwhelming feeling fans are getting is how specific the skins look. The characters so far have been designed to match the overall world and do not look awkwardly out of place if transplanted to another map, because – you know – they live in the same universe where different worlds with the exception of Amphoreous are in close contact with each other. But Aventurine’s and Robin’s SP skins scream specifically beach resort, which is probably to match the story arc of the next patch or a couple tropical maps on Planarcadia. Surely Beach-churine would dress back up into his gay suit if he planned to warp to Jarilo VI to work, but as a player you are going to use Beach-churine as a unit when you need him regardless of how ridiculous it looks on screen. Sure, beach skins aside, other characters aren’t dressed for all environmental conditions. Robin’s gala dress isn’t exactly adventurer wear either but it suits her character, her homeworld, and overall vibe of the game for players to accept the visuals. So perhaps the main complaint is immersion. Are developers demanding greater suspension of disbelief from us along with our cash?
That’s enough midnight speculation. Watch as the next patch invalidates everyone’s arguments lol.
As someone who grew up in Taiwan and visited family there semi-regularly, I noticed that budaixi is so…normal. Compared to the reverence and respectability similar traditions like bunraku enjoys in Japan, budaixi holds a more mundane existence in Taiwan. To my knowledge it doesn’t hold any special position like intangible cultural heritage nor does it receive any form of government or NPO support. This might be because Taiwanese people themselves don’t consider budaixi art or anything of value at all. It is just another form of entertainment one finds while flipping channels on TV. Some people think it’s just for kids, some think the puppets are creepy and keep scrolling, and some people casually enjoy it as a nice action show. Most of Taiwanese budaixi are essentially low-budget wuxia fantasy filled with epic battles, sacred weapons and cultivation manuals, and romance (yes, puppet sex is a thing). Shows like Pili could have easily competed with the sad live action scene of 1980s Taiwan but in the modern era, most people prefer the much more big-budget C-dramas for their wuxia fix. At its worst, Pili or a sister series gave budaixi a bad name in the popular zeitgeist after a couple of unsupervised kids submitted puppet story summaries for their history homework and exams instead of studying. One such scandal nearly ended budaixi in Taiwan. At its best, it is a niche interest. And honestly, budaixi probably haven’t enjoyed so much positive popularity until now when Gen Urobuchi’s Thunderbolt Fantasy spin-off put the artform on the global map. But overall, Taiwanese puppetry is viewed more commercially. It is entertainment, product, pop culture.
But simultaneously, one can argue since budaixi is not recognized as an invaluable artform or traditional culture, it is allowed to be free. Once an artform is labelled cultural heritage, it is frozen in time. No one dares to experiment or change it; there are rules and regulations that define its protection status. But Taiwanese budaixi was allowed to grow and be creative. They film it for TV and one can see the anime and C-drama inspirations with just a glance. CGI and practical effects are allowed. The puppets have also gotten bigger and more technologically advanced in just a couple decades. They can flutter their pretty, long lashes and articulate cool stunts compared to their predecessors. Now some studios, like Pili Multimedia, even employ 3D printing and have upgraded other techniques to make the famous puppets. (can you make them cheaper please? When is the next BOGO for the collectables?) Thunderbolt Fantasy, by nature a collaboration, has even broken the tradition of single voice actor serving as narrator and voice of the entire cast. So not only is Thunderbolt Fantasy the first and only budaixi series in a different language, but it is also unique in using multiple voice talents. Though a traditional artform, it is clear budaixi in Taiwan survives through modernity and innovation compared to her sister puppet theatre traditions.
Part of me, when watching Taiwanese budaixi specifically, appreciates it as a mature artform and believes it deserves more recognition as cultural heritage. But part of me also believes art and theatre are alive and maybe we should let budaixi be to do what it wants for the glory of art. It is hard to find the balance and many artforms today find themselves at this crossroads – adapt and change or preserve the beauty.
Very fun revue. However, I cannot tell if Yoshimasa just wanted to direct Dark Crystal and couldn’t get the rights or he slapped “crystal” in the title of his gay dinosaur swords and sorcery themed revue to pass it through management. Either way, carry on.
Speaking of dinosaurs, I need to find the otokoyaku who nommed me on the second floor! I'm faceblind and they were wearing dino-hoodies in the number. (Yes I know the number was dragon-themed but I had a laugh) But I doubt she was Ayami Sera. She's too high up to be assigned to second floor duty, surely. But that jawline...
Also, someone in Takarazuka is clearly playing Genshin. Chinatsu looks like Neuvillette, lol.
I have so many thoughts about RYOFU but first I wanna add my two cents to the Pursuit of Jade discourse, lol. So how pretty is too pretty for a martial figure? I think people on both sides focus too much on the face. I think that's the wrong place to look, but understandable since we all like to look at a pretty face.
Anyways, let the pretty face be. We all love a pretty face, male or female. It is, in fact, shoulders that maketh man! I know in the past, I've said military braids maketh man but I would like to amend that now that I have once again learned something new from Takarazuka. So I submit for your consideration, their latest show~
Top star Hozuki An was tasked with the role of Lu Bu, who is considered to be a very butch and hypermasculine man in the Chinese & Japanese imagination. As in, he has been historically & presently depicted as a huge dude who's idea of a fair fight is 3 vs 1...where he is the one. And while Takarazuka is filled with actresses who are experts at depicting men, once can argue they are generally more suited to the gentleman or dandy or basically track-and-field kind of guy by virtue of being overworked women. But seeing Hozuki An live I can say I was convinced at her portrayal of a giant military general beast of a man and killing machine. (and believe you me I've watched a ton of Takarazuka) This is also thanks to the costume department, they've upgraded the Chinese armors and I think the bixue or tiger head pauldrons are really doing the heavy lifting in bulking out the ladies. Not only did they give Chinatsu a nice general's silhouette but other generals in the cast as well. The martial side of this show was hella masculine. All the generals like Kazuma Asano as Cao Cao looked great. And you could even contrast them to young Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who looked too skinny as they were in plainer clothes and little armor. There was even a scene where all the generals were lined up and you could compare and see how a much a difference a full suit of armor made. (And before people complain about what they did to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, remember their lord was still broke at this time in history and could not afford nice armors so their depiction is within the realm of possibility) So in summary, if desired look of a general is hypermasculine but actor has pretty face then bulk him up and give him a nice suit of armor.
And don't forget the beastie detailing for that nice military manly man fashion. Cuz yes men like to be fashionable too, its just that their definition of fashionable is different and less "gay" as some people like to put it. Just look at historical pageantry armor, modern suits and watches, etc. It's out there. Men wanna be pretty too.
Gushing about fancy armors aside, I fail to see the problem in casting Zhang Linghe as a military man. Costume department did an admiral job bulking him up and giving him the proper silhouette when he's in armor. Yes he slims down in civilian clothes but even then his shoulders are still broad.
So yeah when portraying masculinity, one should consider the whole silhouette. (and I just wanted to say lots of nice things about the costume design in RYOFU, is all)
Honkai Star Rail | Aventurine
崩壊：スターレイル｜アベンチュリ
📸 ヒロ（X/Twitter)
And also possibly maybe Happy Birthday, Aventurine!
それに、お誕生日おめでとう、アベンチュリンさんというかな？
May the Mother Goddess thrice close her eyes for you, keeping your blood eternally pulsing. May your journey be forever peaceful and your schemes forever concealed
地母神が三度目を閉じますように
その血が永遠に巡りますように
旅がいつまでも平穏でありますように。
…計略が決して露見しませんように。
