#u-suke

These are my English trans-lyrics for BurNing HeaRt. These are the other lyrics I did for the YTCLuka10th event you can learn more about here: http://ytchorus.forumotion.com/t7248-event-megurine-luka-anniversary-celebration

Original translation: I wanted to do this song for a while, so I commissioned my friend @vocaotome to make a translation. Go check her out~

Download Lyrics 

Check it! Check it! Feeling it! Feeling it!

The moment, when, I was next to you Caught inside of your charming, gaze, can’t explain, it’s a new feeling to me Something clicked, in me like, so~ Only you, make me feel this way

このたび、（株）LDFが母体となる一般社団法人ファブデザインアソシエーション（FDA)では、レーザー加工機を使ってスキャンした手描きイラストや写真・文字などのデザインを彫刻して、自分だけのオリジナルのスマホバーを制作するワークショップを開催します。 興味のある方は、ぜひご参加ください。 【日時】8月26日（土） 13時～17時

【場所】拓殖大学八王子キャンパス　 産学連携研究センター ２０７号室 【内 容】 ➀レーザー教室（レーザー加工機の特性や操作方法など）⓶デザイン作成・スキャン⓷レーザー彫刻（完成）

【定 員】１２名（※先着順・締切８月１５日　※最少催行人数5名）

【参加費（材料費・税込）】一般　5,000円 　会員・学生3,000円

【申込み・問合せ】042-665-2730（株）LDF内　[email protected]（U-suke）

※木製のブックタイプに手描きやPC（イラストレーター等）でデザインしてレーザー彫刻します。 （申込み時に希望のスマホ機種をご連絡ください）

2017年に一般社団法人ファブデザインアソシエーション（理事長・竹末俊昭）の企画で同団体の非常勤プロデユーサーを務める絵本作家のU-sukeによる絵本「ザキはん」が出版されました。

この絵本は、岡山県真庭市の湯原温泉の地域活性化を目的に企画されたもの。

当時、FDAがレーザー加工機を使って地元の子供たちとワークショップを行い、岡山を中心とする大学生と一緒にまちづくりについての提言を行ったことをきっかけに、名物である「はんざき」（オオサンショウウオ）を使った地域活性化絵本の企画を立ち上げ出版しました。 出版後は、湯原温泉の旅館やお土産物屋をはじめ、全国の書店でも販売され、全国各地の図書館にも所蔵されています。

「ザキはん」のキャラクターは、湯原温泉への送迎バス「ゆばらん号」に使用されたほか、日本オオサンショウウオの会真庭大会のポスターやのぼり、Ｔシャツや缶バッジなどの販売もされています。昨年は、街歩き企画「リアル謎解きゲーム」の重要なキャラクターとして使用され、ポスターやパンフレットにも登場。色々な場面で活用されています。

今回は、湯原温泉の方から聞いたそんな「ザキはん」に関するエピソードをご紹介します。

全国の温泉地を回っている営業マンの方のお話。 お孫さんに毎晩いろいろな絵本を読み聞かせしているのですが、５歳と２歳のお子さんがとても「ザキはん」を気に入っているとのこと。 ある日、お孫さんに「じいじはお仕事で岡山へ行ってくるよ」と伝えると、 「岡山の温泉？ザキはんの湯原温泉に行くの？いってらっしゃい」と言ってくれたそうです。 まだ小さな子供たちの心にも「ザキはんのふるさと湯原温泉」として、しっかり認識されているようです。 出張に行くときに、温泉地の名前をお孫さんから言われたのは初めてのことだったのでびっくりされていたそうです。

もうひとつ、東京都内に住む小学4年生の女の子のお話。 彼女は、著者・U-sukeが東京で4月に開催した個展で出会った「ザキはん」の絵本が気に入りTシャツもゲットし、気に入っているそうです。

4月からの新しいクラスの教室内に貼られている自己紹介カードの「行ってみたい場所」という項目に「岡山県の湯原温泉」と書いているほど。

2017年の出版から5年がたちますが、少しずつではありますが、じわじわと地域活性化のお役にたってきているようです。

今後もFDAでは、「ザキはん」と「湯原温泉」を応援しています。

Author: Kazamidori

Illustrator: U-suke

Label: Fujimi Fantasia Bunko

Release Date: 20 July 2019

LIGHT SPOILER WARNING: I won’t go into detail about how things happen and I won’t spoil the ending but I will be talking about some late plot developments so you have been warned. I don’t think that I will talk about anything past page 200.

This volume starts with Yuu being told that it will soon be time for him to go home. If this was Yuu from the first volume, I think he’d have been delighted more than anything else but this isn’t Yuu from the first volume. Yuu now has a life here and people that he loves and beind told that he has to give it all up is a complicated feeling, to say the least. He still knows that he doesn’t really “belong” in this world and a part of him does want to go back but does he really have to leave all this behind? Worse, it is later revealed that this world is slowly forgetting about him and his life for the past 3 years will soon be erased. He can’t leave anything behind and no one will remember him.

It’s painful and this is something that I am always wanting to see isekai series deal with: what happens when the protagonist has to go home? In most modern isekai stories, the protagonist does not have to go home, nor do they want to. Typically, the protagonist’s past world has nothing of value for them and it’s easy for them to create a new life in their new world but Yuu is different. Yuu had a life back in our world and it was something that he could not let go of for a long time. So seeing him gradually being able to live a life in this new world and then having it taken away from him is painful to read but is so interesting and is something that I wish more isekai series would deal with.

And then there’s Yuu’s relationship with Linaria. They have mutual feelings but he’s not going to act on it because he could disappear at any moment and he does not want to put her through that. Their romance is one of the weakest aspect of the series for me but you can’t help but root for them to end up together. The ending isn’t as satisfying as it could have been but it does work well.

Overall series thoughts:

Hokago wa, Isekai Kissa de Coffee o is obviously not perfect but it is a damn good isekai series. Yuu is an excellent protagonist and the series explores concepts that most modern isekai series do not touch and it executes them so well. There are some moments when I wished that it had explored it’s conflicts further but it was overall a very satisfying experience and I’d like to read more isekai stories like it in the future.

That being said, I have to mention that volume 4 is ultimately useless and you can skip it. The character that is introduced there and is focued on throughout the volume does not appear in volume 5 & 6 and is only mentioned a bit so you can definitely skip it without missing much.

Author: Kazamidori

Illustrator: U-suke

Label: Fujimi Fantasia Bunko

Release Date: 20 February 2019

Art Notes: I really like this cover. It’s so nice and soothing and comfy and it’s the perfect cover for such a relaxing series. Alas, despite being on the cover, Niltori is barely in this volume but she’s still cute.

This volume focuses on Aina, a character who was introduced as Linaria’s stalker back in volume 1. I haven’t mentioned her much because I didn’t know how they were going to handle her character but I really enjoyed her stuff here and she’s ended becoming one of my favorite characters in this series. This volume has Yuu learn the language from Aina and it shows a lot of the character development he’s went through and that he’s finally ready to accept this new world as his home, even if that does mean giving up on returning to his old world. The other thing that this focuses on is chess, which was another thing that I really liked. I mentioned that I liked that Yuu has this hobby that doesn’t really play into the plot all that much and, while it does play into the plot here, I liked how that was set-up in a previous volume so his interest in chess doesn’t feel like it comes out of nowhere. The structure was far improved from last volume, as well. I really enjoyed this volume and it’s probably my favorite in the series so far.