#hou-ou

Personal work - Shiratori Isamu

This confusing story seems to get its start in Persona 4, never mind the localization foible of "Phoenix." In Japanese:

ホウオウ (Hou-ou) = Fenghuang. How or why did this happen? I cannot even begin to venture a guess. It just did. 🥴 The model just seems to be an edit of Raidou Fenghuang to begin with.

SMT1's Fenghuang and SMT2's Zhuque are seemingly both based on birds with long tailfeathers (just in art? or real? I don't know! peacock, apparently!) and I'd wager that likely plays into this. Soul Hackers Zhuque is the same kind. Not really an answer but that's all I've got!

Shiho: Changing hearts, having Leda, swinging around a wrecking ball… I gotta say, it feels… right. 

Ryuji: Does it help that a certain girl in red we know is doing it with you?

Shiho: H-hey! Don’t tease me like that!

Ryuji: Haha… for real, though, Ann wasn’t kidding when she said you were why we do what we do.

Shiho: Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?

Ryuji: There’s a chance that if we ‘effed something up, Kamoshida or any Palace wielder could die. Me and Akira were still thinking it through when you… well…

Shiho: Ryuji…

Ryuji: Yeah… that was the day Ann awakened to her first Persona, y’know. I wish I had the shit with Akira that you two have.

Hou-ou. 

So here’s Mishil’s Zanpakuto! Ain’t they presh? Haven’t decided his color scheme yet but they’ll be very colorful~! Hou-ou is nonbinary, given their shape was born of two souls merging into one (male and female respectively) hence their ambiguous form.  Mishil speaks to them often, and they tend to be pretty protective of Mishil and doting. However Mishil notes that they haven’t fully entrusted / revealed their true power and potential just yet--given that they appear purposely as a child to her. 

They also dislike men, the cold, and people with weak convictions. Mishil only started bonding with them when she decided to rely on her sword more than just her martial arts and kido.

If you could use any of the Miraculous which one would you want to use and what would you call yourself?”

Morgana: Nice to finally have a question… honestly, I feel like I’d be best with Chat Noir’s Miraculous.

Akira opens his mouth to say something but ultimately closes it.

Morgana: Or maybe I’d do well with Hou-ou or Dragonica’s Miraculouses… I’m experienced with swordplay and healing, after all!

Morgana: As for my alias? I have no idea. I’ll figure it out when I get there!

Carved wooden panels from Japan’s pavilion at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. They depict the Japanese phoenix (Hou-ou).

Photos taken by John H. White