I loved the first season of this drama, but this second season (really more of a straightforward continuation of the first season narrative, which ended unfinished) is a remarkable glow up for an already strong show. These creators did not come to play, and they had a lot to say about the experiences of women living in patriarchal cultures.

This drama tackled so many experiences that afab people go through as they try to build a life for themselves under pressure to conform to societal norms. We have so many different lived experiences of women in this show, all of whom are queer by way of falling outside the lines of what is expected of them:

Nomoto, who experiences a queer awakening, wrestles with the specifics of her sexual identity, and bravely forges ahead despite feeling pressure from her family to marry a man and procreate

Kasuga, who breaks with her family's expectations that she be a caretaker and insists on living her own life, even if she knows the culture she lives in will sometimes make it hard

Yako, who owns her asexual and lesbian identities, proudly forges a life for herself, builds community for herself and others, and advocates for that community both publicly and privately

Nagumo, who struggles to connect with others because of her eating disorder and mental health struggles and lives a solitary existence as a result, but through building bonds with other women finds the strength to begin healing

Sayama, who pushes herself to date around because she feels pressure to live up to expectations to marry, before reconsidering whether that is a goal she actually has for her life and realizing she is happy being unmarried

Fujita, who struggles through years of an unhappy marriage in which she is subjugated to her husband's family before breaking free and pursuing a divorce so she can live happily on her own

It means a lot to me to see a show that cares so deeply about these women and their stories, that gives them so much space to explore and think and communicate their feelings. And they do it all so naturally, by allowing them to form bonds with one another and figure out who they are and what they want through their relationships with each other. This story is all about how we can grow through kindness and compassion from others, and how important it is to pay that support back in kind. It's such a beautiful and unique and desperately needed message in the current media landscape.

take it easy but take it <- litany against burnout/apathy cycle

fuck it we ball <- litany against perfectionism

GSNK Anthology - The King’s Game, Nozaki-kun by Izumi Tsubaki

Scanned by setorabu (here)

Well, putting it together, it makes a bit more sense now. I guess it’s good enough for a rough translation. 

so I’ve been very much into gsnk lately~

The King Game, Nozaki-kun by Tsubaki Izumi

(part of the gsnk anthology)

Scans by setorabu

NOTE: in ‘The King Game’ one person (the king) gives an ‘order’ to the others each round (who is who is decided by drawing labeled (chop)sticks) …buut the concept is pretty much explained in the comic itself (so I’m not sure why I’m explainig it here anyway).

Mostly it's page 2 which I think I got wrong. Though, I thought it was Chiyo-sensei in the title for that one, which doesn't match with what Nozaki calls her...

GSNK Fanbook - Hori and Mikorin’s birthday drawings

Again, translation could be incorrect or whatever.

Well, I was curious about the knee-highs thing, and I couldn’t exactly cut the page in half, so… 

I’m probably going to turn around and find out that this was translated (better) on /a/ or something, aren’t I…