オトメ❤️ノ守り方

The 4th short from Genius Party (2007) gave me chills.

A high school student, Yagisawa Yuu, is on his way home when a little girl at the railway crossing notices a doppelganger splitting off from him. When he gets home, he rings the doorbell and enters. All we see of the living room is a white flash of light, as if we are brought into another portal. 

His mother and sister look out at the genkan but don't see anyone. Turns out, the "other him" is already in the house. The doppelganger seems to be the only one who can see the real Yuu, and he looks at him in surprised amazement.

The same thing happens when he visits a friend's house. Throughout the short, it is left ambiguous whether strangers on the street can see him or the doppelganger (or possibly both). Finally he visits a girl friend, Yasuno Mai, at her mansion.

Downstairs, an elderly lady clearly see and talks to him. As Mai comes down and he goes towards the lobby, he notices in the reflection in the glass that the "other him" is coming up from behind. Turning around, he hurls his bag with full force at the doppelganger. Another white flash of light, and the doppelganger disappears. All is right with Yuu's world again.

At the end, as he enters the building, he sees the "other him" trapped on the other side of the glass, and flashes the impostor a little smile.

This story came to me at a juncture in my life where I probably really need to hear its message. It might be enigmatic to some, but for me the message is crystal clear. The doppelganger is symbolic of Yuu trying to be someone he's not. We are meant to identify with the Yuu from whose perspective we are seeing the short.

There is one scene where the "other him" catches up to him at the railway crossing. Seeing Yuu there, the doppelganger ducks under the barrier and runs across the tracks. After recovering from his dumbfounded surprise, Yuu gives chase, narrowly missing an oncoming train. The dangers of living a double life, or perhaps of facing yourself amidst a hidden existence, are undoubtedly immense, but nonetheless worthwhile.

When he meets Mai she tells him that, for a crazy moment, she saw two of him walking towards her. He replies: "I am glad that the one you see is me." Perhaps at home and with his other friends Yuu has felt the need to hide, but Mai sees the real him. And perhaps that is what gave him the courage to fight off the doppelganger in her presence, instead of giving in and quietly retreating like he did twice before.

Hi there, skip-beat-manga.tumblr.com/ seems to have scanlations by chapter. hope this helps :)

Drama CD: [幽幻ロマンチカ・破天荒] 第弐の謎 獏 ウタシロ

First post of 2020!!!! Happy New Year, and a special treat for all my lovelies - here is a bonus audio track from Yuugen Romantica's Utashiro (cv. Kimura Ryouhei). Remember, whenever you are feeling sad or down, he is always by your side. Just call out to him in your dream and he will be here...

This time the subtitle is hatenkou, which refers to a major feat that has never been accomplished before. The common theme seems to be that your demon boyfriend goes back in time to rewrite a tragic past event into a happier one using his magical powers and the strength of your love.

Oh wow, looks like I just spoiled the whole story? End of review. Bye bye (*^-^)/

...

(No srsly let's get started.)

This disc starts with three glass explosions [[#VOLUMEWARNING]] to make sure I was listening I guess... #RIPeardrums... ;_;

Anyway, you have a nightmare that you are in a creepy dark room. The ceiling is lined with needles and coming down on you, and Utashiro tells you that you have to escape before the candle burns out. He counts down to zero seconds and the ceiling collapses with a BANG,... but he tells you that the game is not over. It will just infinite-loop back to the beginning, until you are able to escape...

You wake up drenched in sweat, in your own bed/room with U-kun sleeping beside you. He comforts you and figures you must be nervous about the school camping trip tomorrow.

*

Next morning, ya'll head off on the trip. He disguises himself as a student and comes along to protect you, ofc. He's complaining about everything from the choice of location (deep in the woods), to the amount of food+cooking materials ya'll have to carry, blah blah. Better shut him up by sticking my tongue down his throat ;)

Apparently there's the rumours of the Seven Supernaturals nearby. He wonders whether to *make those rumours a reality* and scare the shit out of your classmates. This prompts you to throw food (and utensils?) at him, so he possesses you and touches you in a few non-erotic places, and you totally freeze and blush because apparently you are some kind of virginal Victorian maiden whose momma never told you how babies are made. Orz

At night you go to the bathroom and find him waiting outside for you. Turns out he has been sensing some *demonic energy* in this place. He possesses your body and rushes you back to the bungalow for some sexy fun times.

Back in the room, the girls are excited and stay up chatting late into the night. They ask you what you like most about your boyfriend, and to U-kun's horror, you happily tell them about the time he waited for you at the station with an umbrella when it was raining :3. He's sooo mortally embarrassed that he puts everyone to sleep with his demon powers. #useful #powersIwishIhad

With everyone down, however, you can't sleep because of the nightmare from last night. You tell U-kun about it, but he doesn't sense any 'nightmare vibes' from your dream. He thinks it's either: (1) a premonition, or (2) someone hacking into your dream with their evil plan. Then he changes into chibi form to comfort you, and ya'll fall asleep...

*

...And enter the 'nightmare'. The setting is an old house. There's Japanese dolls rolling around, paper amulets and blood bags lining the walls. U-kun still doesn't feel any 'nightmarish vibes' from it, and he tries to get you both out of there with his demon powers but guess what - IT'S NOT WORKING!! Dozen of lit candles appear, and bloody writing on the wall says: 「ここから出られるかな」 ('Can you get out of here?')

U-kun is all like: 'CHALLENGE ACCEPTED >:)' and yells at the dream-maker to leave you alone. Suddenly, the candles blow out. A timer starts, and you notice that the ceiling - which is gradually lowering - is lined with needles. U-kun tries and fails to blast through the locked door, and, panicking, he finally blows up the ceiling just in time. The two of you narrowly escape, by hiding in a corner where the fallen needles cannot reached.

You wake up in the bungalow, and U-kun notices that your hand has been scraped by the needles from the dream (i.e. if you had died in the dream, you would have died for real). U-kun kisses you wound and apologises for not being able to protect you with his powers. Then he tells you to keep awake for the next few hours, to avoid any bad 'after-effects' of the dream.

*

In the daytime, your class go hiking, and the two of you drop rank and stumble upon an open space in the woods. U-kun *generously* offers his knees for you to lay your head and make up your sleep from last night. Awwww~~~ (dies from kyun).

As you fall asleep, he kisses your lips to taste what kind of dream you are having. Just then, he senses a strong demonic force nearby...

That night, the two of you once again enter the recurrent 'nightmare'. U-kun asks the dream-maker why it's doing this to you, and the bloody writing on the wall appears again: 「ここから出られるかな」 ...Ya'll start running, but find that every room in the house is the exact same. Cloth appears and tie up both your bodies, and U-kun cuts them off with his powers, causing everything to return to peace and quiet.

U-kun immediately possesses your body to comfort you. He remembers back when the entire baku race died before his eyes, and vows to protect his loved ones and never let that happen again. Just then, he senses some uncertainty coming from the dream-maker, as you have remained unafraid despite repeated threats. Insert *inspirational speech* about how you are a fearless #sassygirl and u gonna get to the bottom of dis shit.

...You wake up back in the bungalow. U-kun is wondering if you have successfully escaped, and if your next 'nightmare' will be fatal, when he notices that you are actually holding a f-ing candle from the 'dream'. It's impossible to take objects out of a dream, which means that... OMG that is no f-ing dream!!! The horror house exists in reality. Dun-dun-DUN.

*

*

The two of you trek back to the open space from the previous day. There is an info sign that you missed before, of a hospital that was torn down around 100 years ago. The lingering spirits from this place must be kidnapping people in the dead of night and making it look like a 'nightmare'.

Over a century ago, a natural disaster caused many people to be admitted to this hospital. However, the treatment did not seem to be working, and their moans of pain could be heard every night. After the hospital was demolished, word spread of people living nearby being trapped in nightmares of this hospital: the rumours of the 'Escape Game', one of the Seven Wonders.

So, the mystery is finally revealed. The 'nightmare' is the work of the demon which has been spawned by the pain and anguish of the patients of this hospital. Demons are formed from the strong emotions of people, and this demon takes the shape of the hospital building.

To stop the threat to any more innocent lives, U-kun decides to destroy this demon... by himself. He reveals that he has felt known from the beginning that a love between a baku and a human would experience untraversable obstacles, and he would undertake all the pain to give you happiness.

*Of course* you could never be happy if anything happened to him, so you insist to tag along. He warns that he could be wrong and you might both die. But your reply gives him strength, he thanks you and apologises for trying to be the lone hero. And with that, you are off into the belly of the shark--!!!

*

Once again, you land in the horror house after falling asleep. U-kun announces to the demon that he knows its true form - that the knife attacks were actually surgical knives, the needles were for injection, and the cloths were bandages. His correct predictions send the demon into a state of panic once again. It sends out more surgical knives, which U-kun shields you from.

Turns out, the bloody writing on the wall is not an escape challenge, but rather an honest question: 「ここから出られるかな」 ('Can WE get out of here?'). The demon is not an embodiment of pain and anguish, but rather born out of hope, continually searching for someone who can reassure the patients that they will recover and be discharged from this place.

In the climax, he tells the demon that it can cut the two of you with a gajillion medical instruments, but it will never break your spirits. That the demon can be saved, and that is why you are here: to save it.

...

You are transported back in time to when the hospital was still running: patients lying in their beds, their faces distorted from the frightening dreams they are having every night. U-kun decides to help them by eating all their nightmares - to restore their happiness in the midst of despair, just like you did for him when he thought he had lost it all.

After eating all the patients' nightmares, their fears become soothed, and the dream-demon can be laid to rest eternally. The two of you wake up back in the open space, and it looks exactly the same as before. U-kun asks you if he actually managed to change anything, and you tell him: regardless of whether he did, the most important thing is to have faith.

Soon, it will be dawn. Cherry blossoms fall like snow from the surrounding trees, as if the patients are waving goodbye.

*

[Epilogue] The legend of the 'Escape Room Game' has changed: When the casualties of the disaster were moaning in the hospital at night, a baku came and saved them from their nightmares and soothed their fears. But whether all of them recovered and made it out of the hospital is anyone's guess.

Ojisama: Ichinose Yasunari (CEO, cv: Horiuchi Kenyuu) Wakazou: Ichinose Yuusei (Vice-President, cv: Sakurai Takahiro)

＊敬称略＊

ACT 1: Ichinose Yuusei rushes into his father's office with a shocking news: his younger brother, Minato, has a rumoured love interest in the office. But hearing this, Daddy is surprisingly calm - as it turns out, he has already investigated this rumour, and asked the girl in question to come and have a talk.

Enter *YOU*, confused and worried about why the CEO wants to see you. After introducing themselves, they tell you flat-out that they want you to *reject Minato's advances*. The reason? Minato is going to marry the daughter of a client company and become their future heir. This is his #destiny as the son of the Ichinose family.

You'd think that such arranged marriages should naturally be reserved for the oldest son (Yuusei) first, but see, Yuusei will be the future CEO of Ichinose Corporation itself, so he cannot be the CEO of the other company. (Maybe this guy could learn from Elon Musk and up his productivity. Just stay away from Twitter yo.)

Minato gets a lot of female attention all the time, but mostly from gold-diggers who are after the Ichinose wealth, so Yasunari is surprised to hear that you do not give two flying fucks about their money. They try to make a deal with you, that if you reject Minato, they will transfer you back to the Planning Department or wherever you like.

But! Your noble soul will not stand for such backhanded tactics!!! Although you aren't sure if you like Minato (...that would be a 'no' then...), you still refuse their offer, because they are not considering Minato's wishes in his own marriage prospects. Your reply piques Yasunari's interest. He gives you one day to make your final decision.

Both Yasunari and Yuusei are surprised by your bold honesty in stating your opinion. They decide it's best to give you time first, then later, if you really end up choosing Minato, then they will intervene. #perfectplanlol

When the time comes to give your answer, you say that you... need to postpone your decision some more. _(:3」∠)_. Yuusei is annoyed and threatens to transfer you to another branch, but Yasunari wants to... make you their personal mistress secretary and get to know you better.

Yasunari’s #evilplan is actually to trick you into falling in love with either himself or Yuusei and thus give up Minato. Yasunari thinks you are different from other women, but Yuusei still finds you boringly banal and uninteresting. Yuusei is also worried about this #evilplan, but his father is excited to see who will ’win' your heart.

*

ACT 2: A week after becoming their secretary, you have surprised both Yasunari and Yuusei by being good at your job and hard-working. Admittedly they both thought you were a gold-digging liar in the beginning, but now they have changed their minds. Yasunari in particular thinks you are a rare pure soul and too good for his son Minato lolol.

There's a meeting about business expansion in North America later this afternoon, and Yuusei has sent you to make some coffee before that. But you are taking a suspiciously long time, so he decides to come check up on you. Along the way, he hears a loud crash,... followed by some girls from another department running hurriedly from the break room. He enters to find you with spilled coffee all over your blouse.

(He then proceeds to rip the wet blouse off of your ripe, dripping body and ravage you in a fit of carnal passion... NOT.)

You claim that your hand slipped and spilled leftover coffee on yourself while emptying the pot, but Yuusei is not convinced. He has noticed some petty jealousy coming from a few of the female staff over your new promotion. He asks you to name the culprits, but you refuse, saying that you empathise with them: if you were in their position, you would also feel jealous towards yourself. Yuusei calls you a 「バカお人好し」 and compares you to Oscar Wilde's Happy Prince.

He excuses you from the meeting, and takes you shopping for a new blouse afterwards. (You need to attend some important business deal later that day.) He also tries to buy you a wine-red formal dress (for parties and events), but you decline angrily, because you are an #IndependentWoman à la Destiny's Child circa 2001.

The deal goes through swimmingly, and to thank you for your good work, Yuusei wants to treat you to the French restaurant at the top floor of the hotel. But just then the two of you run into... Yasunari! He has come to interfere with your romantic alone time >:D. You say you are tired, and he asks his chauffeur to take you home. Yuusei is understandbly displeased with this turn of events, and vows to get back at Daddy the next time...

*

ACT 3: The next morning, Yasunari is talking to you when Yuusei barges into the room unannounced. He has come to ask you to prepare the documents, and come with him next week to the business meeting in Kyoto. Hearing this, Yasunari also wants to tag along too, but Yuusei reminds him that he has talks with some new German company next week... XDD

That night after-hours, Yasunari forgot something and comes back to the office to get it. He is surprised to find you still working there by yourself. You are preparing Yuusei's documents, and the girls from the 2nd Sales Department (who are supposed to help you) have dumped all their work on you.

Yasunari low-key disses his son for not factoring in this bullying problem. He himself is well familiar with people's jealousy: when he was starting up Ichinose Corporation, he also encountered jealous people around him who did things to sabotage his work. He apologises for not taking better care of you, and promises to give 2S a stern warning tomorrow.

As with before, you try to stop him, but he explains that he needs to set a good standard for the whole company. You relent, and he helps you to finish up the remaining work, before taking you to one of his regular restaurants for supper.

At the restaurant, who do you guys run into but *Yuusei*, who has just finished meeting with a client. He eagerly joins you at the table, and Yasunari explains the situation with 2S to him. Yuusei mentions the coffee incident, and they both agree that they need to deal with the office bullying before it grows into a bigger problem.

*

ACT 4: On your Kyoto trip, the deal was concluded earlier than expected, and you have a good part of the day free. Since it's your first time in the city, Yuusei suggests to go sight-seeing with you.

You want to visit the music-box museum in Arashiyama, and Yuusei reminisces that when he was a child, his late mother used to have a music box with a dancing ballerina inside. Yasunari kept it away after her death, never to be seen again.

The museum turns out to have giant jukebox and furniture-like music boxes of all kinds, which surprises Yuusei. As you are leaving, you feel a bit lightheaded and almost fall over. Yuusei apologises for overworking you, thanks to the huge load of clients and projects lately. He also asks if you've been in touch with Minato, who is currently giving him and Dad the cold shoulder, because he's resentful that they snatched you away from him lulz.

Then, Yuusei asks if you have made up your mind about Minato, and... confesses his own feelings for you X3. Because you are very much the 'strong, silent type', he feels an urge to protect you and soothe your troubles. It's the first time he has ever felt that way about a girl, since he has been so wrapped up in his work that he hasn't had time for a personal life. But now that he has met you, Ichinose Corporation can go to hell!!!! He will not surrender you to Minato or anyone else.

He suddenly embraces you, and you get embarrassed because you are still out in public. Just then your stomach comes to your rescue and lets out a growl of hunger, causing him to laugh and let go of you. As you go for lunch, he kisses you on the cheek, and tells you not to care about people watching and to look at him *only*. ~~~(*´∀`*)ｷｭﾝ!~~~~

...At the Japanese restaurant, you again run into... Yasunari! (Are you seeing a pattern here??) Turns out he was the one who introduced this place to Yuusei, so he had an idea Yuusei would take you there. Yuusei asks him if he so enjoys foiling his son's romantic dates, and he replies 'of course!' XDDD. And as you sit down to eat, you pour sake for Yasunari first, making Yuusei envious, and he asks you to pour his cup too. Lol @ the competitiveness, I can't. (ﾟｰﾟ)ニヤニヤ

*

ACT 5: It's a three-day weekend!! Yasunari drops by for a surprise visit nice and early in the morning, and he remarks that seeing you in your casual clothes is giving him evil thoughts... XDDDD He drags you into his car, keeping the destination a secret...

... Turns out, he wants to spend the extended break with you in his holiday home in Karuizawa. Except!!! Yuusei is there upon your arrival. *By concidence*, he overheard his father phoning the mansion's butler during the week, and thus decided to invite himself along lolol.

Yuusei suggests that there is horseback-riding and tennis here, depending on your interests. But first, you need to change out of your lounge-pants and put on some makeup because you left in a hurry lol. A fancy lunch awaits, and afterwards Yuusei volunteers to show you around a flower garden nearby.

Yasunari explains that this mansion is special to him, as his late wife used to love coming here. Before her death, she asked him to take his 'special someone' here in the future, too. You are surprised by his words, at which point... #CONFESSIONTIME. He tells you that you are the first to take his heart after his late wife, and he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. He will wait until your return to Tokyo for your reply.

As he plants a kiss on your lips, you blush, and he's all like: 'Damn grrrl u acting all coy when u obvsly want me is making me want u moar.' *Somebody* sure has a high opinion of himself for an ossan. XDDD

ACT 6: After lunch, Yuusei takes you for a *long* walk nearby. He apologises for his father suddenly kidnapping you here #lolol, and reaffirms his feelings for you. In the beginning, he only wanted to trick you into falling in love with him so that you would reject Minato, but after getting to know you, he has fallen for you instead, and now he couldn't give two fucks about the company as long as he can have you.

He asks how you feel about him, and who of the three you will choose: him, Yasunari, or Minato. You reply that you can't answer straight-away, and he plants an understanding kiss (for luck!!) on you and promises to wait.

The disc ends with all three of you back from the trip. Yasunari and Yuusei both make one last bid for your heart before your final decision: 「君を愛している。どうか、私と一緒にずっといてほしい。」

*

Drama CD: [今、隣のキミに恋をする] CASE4 日向 傑

A sorta new (2018-2019) six-disc series from TEAM Entertainment Inc. Guy #4 is my first listen, and from the looks of it the first three characters are students and the latter three are working/adults. Some stats on #4 from the official site:

Age: 30 Height: 175 cm Occupation: Foreign investment company employee Relation: Your superior who sits at the next desk

♥

Our story starts with a meeting, where the boss compliments Hyuuga Suguru (cv. Hirakawa Daisuke) for having the highest # of clients this month. To which Hyuuga thanks his team and says he couldn't have done it without them.

Co-workers of both sexes question in awe if he is even human, because he has everything: looks, brains, AND a great personality it seems. Even the ladies from the other departments all have their eye on him, and it's hard for us mere mortals to even get near to him *le sighzzz*.

...Enter YOU, staying behind to work overtime because the bossman had dumped a mountain of folders on your desk. Hyuuga sees you just as he's about to leave after a time-consuming client. He praises your dedication, but says that you should learn to say 'no' to people occasionally or else you will die of karoushi. (Ok he didn't exactly say it like *that*; I took some liberties.)

So, as your senpai, he’s staying to help you with your work. In return, he only asks that you lend him a hand in the future if he's ever in a pinch ;)

Both of you finalllly finish your work, and he brings you a coffee. You ask him why he stayed to help you, and he replies that, as a man, he couldn't bear to see a girl struggle with everything by herself. Also, you are the hardest worker in the entire department, and he wants you to succeed~ (ง •̀_•́)ง Shucks ain’t that sweet?? :3

Afterwards. he offers to take you home, since there's no more public transport at this time of night and it's unsafe for a girl to go home alone. On the way he asks about the office drinking party on Sunday, which you are both planning to attend.

…At the drinking party, Hyuuga is surrounded by #drunkpeopleactingdumb. He notices that you are being rather quiet, and you explain that you are not much of a party-person. To which he replies that he's the same way!! You are surprised because he seems so popular, but he jokes that he must seem like an ojisan to someone your age. A cheesy exchange ensues:

You: Ojisan? That's not true, Hyuuga-san is cool af. Him: Cool? Whythankyouverymuch, that's an honour. Looks like I'll have to work harder from now on, in order to maintain my cool af image in your eyes! You: But... the way you are right now is enough... Him: 'The way I am right now is enough'... for what?

Just then you are interrupted by a drunken co-worker, who forces more drinks onto Hyuuga. Hyuuga remarks lovingly that everyone at the office is like his family, making the drunk dude cry tears of joy into his sake. Ay-yai-yai.

♥

NEWSFLASH: your department is going to have a reorganisation soon. You and Hyuuga will be on the same team, and you will become his new assistant! So then he casually asks about your document-prep time, and mutters 'SLOWPOKE' under his breath after hearing your reply. You thought you heard him say something and question him, but he denies it *whistles innocently*. Hmm...

After work, you show up at your regular bar following a long absence. The staff tell you they've missed you, and gossip to you about a new regular customer who goes by 'Suu-san'. According to them, this person has the face of an idol, but a completely *twisted* personality, always complaining about work. At that very instant, who else but Hyuuga enters the bar, and it is confirmed that he is the Suu-san they are talking about.

Hyuuga didn't see you, and before the staff can make the introductions, he cuts them off and places his order, launching into his usual work complaints. He bitches about his new female assistant who is sooo slowwwwww that he is forced to take work home and sacrifice his weekends. And all the other co-workers are either unhelpful retards or pathetic gold-diggers. THAT PLACE IS DOOMED, YO.

After his spiel (of which you heard every word), the bar owner turns back to you... and that is when Hyuuga finally notices you. He is so shocked that he spits out his drink LOL, and hurriedly pays and drags you outside to *talk*. He tells you that what you heard are his true feelings, while his 'work persona' is but a carefully crafted act for survival. Also, he only helps you with your work because your slowness affects his work.

Unsurprisingly, you are shocked and hurt by his confessions, but he doesn't even seem to care. In his view, you and the other co-workers only like his fake personality and not the real him anyway. His only concern is that you keep this a secret from them, and luckily for him, you agree to it without much fuss.

Next day at the office, you keep your promise and didn't tell anyone. But unfortunately, you look all #doom&gloom and are clearly avoiding him. Since you are his assistant, it would look too suspicious, so he orders you to act normal - i.e. like his loving kouhai... OR ELSE.

♥

After work, it's pouring and you've forgotten your umbrella. What's worse, it's not going to stop any time soon. Hyuuga sees your sorry state and makes you *beg* him to share his umbrella with you. At first you refuse, but, not wanting to be stuck at the office all night, you reluctantly beg him in the end and walk to the station together.

Along the way, he tells you to scoot closer under the umbrella (-ella, -ella,...) so that you don't catch a cold and miss work. #TSUNDEREALERT!!! Then he sees the #1 most cliched item ever to appear on a rainy day: An abandoned baby kitten in a cardboard box. He instructs you to take his umbrella home, while he takes the kitten with him and hails a taxi to safety.

…

It's the weekend! You are at his place!! And it's not what you think!!!!!!! (Wait, ...what ARE you thinking? ;P) There's an error in your document, and he's called you over to fix it before handing it over to the client. As your superior and a bona-fide #goodguy, he will have to take responsibility for your misses :'). He threatens that he gon' make you pay for wasting his weekend, and you cower in fear imagining unsavoury scenarios XD.

He teases you about your gutter-mind, and you become on the verge of tears. Your defenselessness makes him want to bully you more, so he announces that you will become his sex-slave, because... he is interested in you (!!), and this is how he treats people he likes. #ufeelingluckypunk??!

Except for past girlfriends, he hasn't invited anyone else to his place. Hearing this makes you slightly happy :3. What's more, he promises to treat you to some delicious food after you finish the work. (Awww I am melting~~~) You call him sweet, and he overreacts and denies it, making you laugh XDD. He tells you that, in the past, *some people* have said he has a bad personality, and it's stuck.

Later the stray kitten that he brought home came running out. He's named it 「アメ」 ('rain', after that fateful day of their meeting) and nursed it back to health. You observe that the way he talks to Ame is super cute, which embarrasses him, and he's all like 'SHUT UP AND DO UR WORK' to cover up his shyness wwwww~~~

Afterwards, he compliments you on a job well-done and calls you a responsible and almost-perfect worker - your only weakness is your speed (or lack thereof). You are surprised by his praise and start to reevaluate him. This is when he tells you his #assholebackstory:

Once upon a time, he was in love with a girl and tried his best to make her happy... only for her to tell him that he is a hurtful bastard who is abusive to everyone around him. This misunderstanding was a huge blow to his self-esteem, and ever since then, he started putting on the inoffensive persona that he uses at work, in order to navigate the treacherous terrain of social relations.

On hearing this, you become sympathetic, despite his protests to the contrary. You bring up the rain etc. as examples that he is actually a big softie, and he tries to come up with excuses how they are just normal behaviour. He also admits that he's secretly glad it was you who overheard him at the bar that day, instead of anyone else. His embarrassed confession is so adorable that you call him 'cute' again, and he gets all #angrytsundere trying to deny it lulz.

♥

At the next meeting, the boss assigns a big client to your team. Afterwards, Hyuuga invites you to lunch together, Your closeness starts to arouse the jealousy of some women in your dept, and they gossip behind your back (which Hyuuga overhears). During lunch, Hyuuga tells you that you are not only important to the team, but to him personally as well. You are all like #confusedpuppyeyes, which makes him doki-doki, but just then the waiter arrives with your food, and he swallows back his confession. #badtiming ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Days later, some v. important data for this case has gone missing, and Hyuuga asks the boss for some time to fix this. You apologise and admit that you might have lost it by accident, but he doesn't believe that you would make a silly mistake like that. Two female co-workers come over and badmouth you for your carelessness, and Hyuuga starts to yell at them but you stop him.

At this point, Hyuuga can't hold back anymore, and says outright that he saw the two of them at your desk yesterday after everyone had left. He threatens to check the building's security cam footage. As the culprits struggle to come up with an excuse, he flies into a fit of rage and goes ballistic on them at some length before storming out.

You chase after him and express your worry now that he has revealed his 'true self' in the office. But he doesn't seem concerned - more than keeping up his persona, he has now found something *more important* to protect. You don't get his meaning, and he's all like (┛◉Д◉)┛︵ ┻━┻ 'cos he can't believe how dumb you are. #rofl

So then FINALLY, dude confesses that he likes you! Your acceptance and nonchalance after seeing his true self, plus your knack for bringing out his gentle side, have (#reluctantly) won him over. He asks you to date him, and you laugh good-naturedly at his whole #ore-sama attitude before saying a resounding YES. (ﾉ*>ω<)ﾉ~☆

[Epilogue / half a year later]

You come out of the shower with your hair all wet, and he nags at you while drying it for you. He complains that you are more low-maintenance than a dude, and he feels more like your mum than your boyfriend XD.

Ever since revealing his true personality at the office that day, everyone has ironically grown even closer to him, and he wonders if you are all secretly a bunch of do-M's lol. Then he snuggles up with you for the night and thanks you for accepting every side of him, and promises to stay by your side 4everrrr.

♥

[Thoughts] I loved this story!! Sure it has a bunch of cliches and predictable elements in it, but I love the way he gradually changed his attitude and slowly warmed up to our lovely heroine. You also get to hear Hirarin as an オラオラ/ヤンキーtype, which is so out-of-character for him. He’s just too cute/hilarious when he gets angry to hide his shyness. And the way he raged at those two jealous co-workers... Is this even real?? OMG.

The audio is from the bonus track/free talk, where he does his special baby voice that he uses to talk to cats, and... I JUST CAN’T. EVEN. I mean just listen to it. wwwwwwwww~~~ XDDD. Hirarin also reveals that, on his 30th birthday, he got a msg from his dad explaining why they named him ‘Daisuke’. The reason is kept secret here, but apparently 「大輔」 means was a kind of high-ranking official title in olden times (pre-Heian). #don’tquoteme

Disc 2 of the Tsukiyogarasu trilogy; this time the subtitle is shuan, or crimson - in reference to the colour of stale blood.

∼⋆∼

[Synopsis] The story takes place in the Bunkyuu era, year zero. Our hero is a guy named Yatagarasu (lit. ‘eight-span crow’), a skilled swordsman. He was once part of the Choushuu-clan and slaughtered many people on their behalf, but honestly he has no interest in overthrowing the Bakufu government or fighting for the Joui. His only motivation is to be strong, because 'survival of the fittest’ is the law of the times. And thus he wanders the country alone as a rounin, or nomadic samurai without a lord, living through days of unpredictable flux and turbulence...

*

‘Let’s have a competition in self-control to see which side starts to *beg for it* first.’ ;)

--

Rainy afternoon, Yatagarasu aka. Raven-kun is passing through town when *you* come running towards him and begs him to help.

As it turns out, you are a courtesan from the red light district, there's a fire at the brothel where you work, and you have escaped amidst the chaos. Three men are chasing you, and you believe they want to kill you. Unfortunately, you are wearing a super eye-popping fashionable red kimono, which makes you an easy target.

Raven-kun is mildly annoyed, but he saves you anyway. As repayment, he takes you back to the inn where he is staying and has his way with you... or tries to, anyway. But it seems Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman learned her tricks of the trade from you ('no kissing on the lips'), and you satisfy your customers with your hands and mouth only, rarely (if ever?) letting them go all the way. #*Technically*StillAVirginAlert~~~

During foreplay, Raven-kun remarks that he admires how strong-willed you are despite your profession. His comment ruffles your feathers a bit you're all like: 'ARE U BEING A SARCASTIC A-HOLE? R U DISRESPECTIN' MY FAMILAY??' and he's all like 'geez calm ur tits woman' Orz. He seems pretty confident in his... um... *skillz between the sheets*, and bets that you will be begging him for it before the night is over (banner image above).

Next morning,... looks like he lost his own bet XDDD. But nevermind that. You tell him that the people chasing you yesterday actually want to kill you to shut you up, because you overheard some confidential info. Hmmm.

Raven-kun orders breakfast for himself, and you watch him eat with #sadpuppyeyes, until he finally relents and gives you half. He's such a softie omggg ԅ(≖‿≖ԅ). He also tries to strip you because your skin is too fair, and you should get a tan to hide from the brothel folks XD. (Do you live near Shibuya 109 and need to blend in with the gyaru crowd or something lmao??)

After breakfast, he teaches you to pull the weeds in the yard, making you roll up your sleeves so that you can tan your arms. He leaves you with the housework and prepares to leave... to do what you ask? Why fight monsters ofc!! The recent string of fires in town are caused by evil spirits that go around houses and climbs onto the rooftops. Makes sense, yeah? Yeah.

You seem to know a lot about these evil spirits too. Turns out, you heard about this from a customer with a spiderweb tattoo on his arm. It's info that you shouldn't have known. Raven-kun speculates that everyone who is privy to this info has been *taken care of*, and this is why The Organisation are coming after you next. This would also explains the recent arson cases. He warns you to stay in the inn until he comes back.

Out in the streets, it's chaos everywhere. Raven-kun tricks your attackers by wearing your eye-catching red kimono. Thinking it is you, they follow him down to the river bed, where he ambushes them. He asks if they are the ones who started the fires, and in response, an epic sword fight breaks out. They seem to know who he is, and they also have the spiderweb tattoos on their arms.

Finally, he kills two of them and disarms the remaining one. But just as he's about to torture the name of their organisation out of the last guy, a flying katana comes out of nowhere and kills the latter. He sees a shadowy figure in the distance, but he/she/it(?) flees the scene before he can catch up.

Raven-kun comes home in blood-stained clothes, but, exhausted, he goes to sleep immediately. In the morning, you wake him up to the news of a young woman who's been killed. What do you know, he had left your bloodied and tattered kimono by the riverbank, so now the whole town thinks you are dead. All you have to do is change your name, and you can start a new life from today onward. You are now free!

He tells you that he won't stay in this town much longer, but a spirited girl like you can survive on your own without any help. Thanks to your stay with him, you have learnt all the basic household chores, and can live a normal life from now on. Saying this, he claims that he needs to *check how much you have tanned* and undresses you...

As ya'll get *down to business*, he sticks to your 'no kiss on the lips' rule, but you decide to break your own rule 'cuz U FEELIN IT grrrl. Then he asks for consent (#JustEdoFeminismThings), and you're all like 'OMG JUST SOCK IT TO ME ALREADY'. Finally, the scene ends with you two going all the way like a pair of rabbits in springtime.

[cue commercial break]

...For the 12382595th time, he is NOT taking you with him. Women are a pain in the ass (not literally!), and besides, you are finally a free woman now so why you gon’ tie yourself down to a man so soon anyway?? The good news is, the innkeeper has agreed to take you own as a worker with room and board. Raven-kun continuing on a treacherous journey, and he warns you not to overhear any deadly secrets after he's gone and stay out of trouble.

- Shuan end -

∼⋆∼

Drama CD: [SEVENTH HEAVEN] Vol.3 -Itsuki-

[Synopsis] The Seventh Heaven are the 7 Gods of Death who can deliver people into a blissful death by serenading them with their songs. They only appear to those who truly wish to die. Once they have been seen, you have to stay with them in their Hiiragi Mansion until the final moment of death arrives...

*

You wake up in an unfamiliar room, and Itsuki (CV. Takahashi Naozumi) is waiting anxiously by your bedside. To his surprise, you had tried to take your own life by drowning yourself in the creepy river in the woods or whatever, so he brought you here and changed you out of your wet clothes.

As you keep staring at his face, at first he thought you were hungry (#logic), then later he realises... OMG you don't recognise him anymore. He's your long-time childhood friend, whom you just hung out with this morning!! AND! You promised to make his favourite plain omelettes next time!!!! NOOOOOOO~~~

After collecting himself, he apologises for his overreaction and re-introduces himself to you. Apparently you forgot who he was after arriving at Hiiragi Mansion. He also tells you that he is actually a God of Death, who can sing you into the next world.

Morning. He comes to look for you and *escorts* you to the rose garden, explaining to you the flower meanings: red rose = 'I AM DYING TO GET WIT U BAE'. But before he could warn you, you already tried to pick the rose and ofc cut your finger on its thorns. (Wouldn't be an otome story without the heroine injuring herself like a 3-year-old and her guy coming to the rescue, amirite?)

He disinfects and slaps a band-aid on you, and you apologise for being a clumsy idiot and giving him trouble. Then you get this super constipated look on your face,... and turns out you wanted to ask how he became your childhood friend as a God of Death.

Basically: Itsuki was reallllly bored with taking lives and singing death ballads all day erryday, so then Kanade (his boss) told him that there is an ultra-pure soul nearby who will end up taking her own life. He decided to seek out this soul, and he came to meet you when you were still a baby. Not only could you see him, but also you were all like ヽ(*ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾉｱﾋｬﾋｬ when you saw him.

So then he was all like ｱﾋｬﾋｬﾍ(ﾟ∀ﾟ*)ﾉ too, and he asked Kanade to allow him to live close to you disguised as a human. After doing *many favours* for Kanade (fufufufufu), Kanade finally agreed, and that's how Itsuki became the Boy Next Door whom you grew up with.

But he also made a promise with Kanade, that when you finally choose to come to Hiiragi Mansion, he would do his job and sing you the death lullaby to send you on your way. At first he kept guessing if your time has come when you were feeling down or depressed, but as time passed, he began to want to cheer you up when you cry and not let anything hurt you. He even wished that you would be the happiest person in the world, and that he could appear before you as a normal man.

...You have a dream where Itsuki went to great lengths to win you a rare special teddy bear that you really wanted. He teases you a bit as he gives it to you and reminds you that today is your birthday. Just then you get a msg alert on your phone, and he gets a bit jealous thinking it's from another guy.

As his childhood friend, you have promised to spend this day with him, and he makes you promise to spend your birthday together every year. Then he asks you to be his girlfriend, and pretends to be hurt by your surprised reaction. He confesses that he has strong feelings for you for a long time now, and says he will wait for your answer...

You wake up to the clock chiming and Itsuki telling you 'I'VE BEEN WATCHING U SLEEP' (´◉◞౪◟◉). You tell him that you dreamt about him, and after wrestling with his own sense of embarrassment for a while, he admits that the dream really happened, and asks if you are ready to answer him now. (At the time, you told him that you needed time to think about it.)

He adds that he doesn't want to lose you to other guys, and he doesn't want you to go anywhere - including to the next world. He asks you to dump all your pain on him and tell him that you want to live on.

You nod in reply, which makes him happy, and he reveals his *big plan*: Apparently, the Seventh Heaven have one chance to save a human soul by rejecting their own purpose / authority as Gods of Death while singing their death ballad. He found this out by sneaking into Kanade's room and peeking at confidential documents, and he was planning to do this regardless of your wishes.

You ask what's going to happen to *him* if he does this, and he tells you not to worry about that. (Probably just... become Kanade's sex slave forever XDD.) He says that you will lose your memory and forget about him afterwards anyway, and you make a super #sadpanda face in response. So he quickly comforts you by saying that he won't let that happen, or else he will just re-introduce himself until you remember.

At dusk, you go to the rooftop and see him there. The two of you do some deep breathing exercises that devolved into a tickle fight, which gives you a good chance to fondle his man pecs (*by accident* hehehehe ლ（ ^ิ౪^ิ ლ）). Then he notices that something's on your mind - clearly, it's about Operation Soul Saving.

To put your mind at ease, he tells you again not to worry, and asks you if there's anything you want to do. You want to fondle other parts of him a hug, which he happily gives to you. You also question if he has sent any other woman to the next world with his death ballad, and your jealousy pleases him. He tells you that he was always thinking of YOU when he was doing it (by which I mean *singing*, get your mind out of the gutter ffs) to other women.

The hug made him so...umm... happy, that he wanted to take you right there and then. But ofc you cockblock him, so he excuses himself and goes back to his room to cry and jerk off to porno cool his head.

ONE DAY, he finds you chopping ingredients in the kitchen. Turns out you are making his favourite plain omelettes!! He is overjoyed and devours your dish in 2 seconds. Btw, as a God of Death he has no taste buds, but the omelettes made him *feel* good anyway even though it tasted like nothing lmao.

The truth is, you cooked for him as thanks for his plan to save your soul. You ask if there's anything else he wants, and he hesitates before finally revealing that he wants... more of you. Regular hugs are not enough for him anymore; he wants to hug you with his dick too. As a God of Death, he would make a good partner because he will outlive you for sure and you won't ever have to worry about being widowed. #convincingargumentlol. He asks you to think about it and give him your reply the following night.

The night of the full moon, the clock strikes and you come to see him for your death ballad time / big plan. He grabs you and insists on making you his because he just CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMOAR OMGGG:

Him: I'm going to do it... [Me: ( ´థ౪థ) ] Him: ...kiss you. [Me: (-_-||) ] Him: I'm *really* going to do it... [Me: ( ´థ౪థ) ] Him: ...kiss you. [Me: (-_-*#||||||||||) ]

(Cue slurping kissing sounds X1000)

Finally, he makes you promise to tell him how you feel when you wake up after his death ballad.

...

[Disc 2]

[Prologue] A sober Hibari apologises for his drunken behaviour and waxes poetic about the sweetness of your lips. Since that night, you have exceeded his expectations and made a name for yourself in Yoshiwara - mastering all the basic skills from tea ceremony to literacy..

He regrets his own myopia in using you as a chesspiece in his game. As the #1 male oiran, he thought that he could resist the charms of any girl. But the human heart is unpredictable, and he has developed real feelings for you...

⋆

Hibari visits your room and informs you to get ready to make your debut. You're all like (ಠ_ಠ) ,... but before that, he has an important announcement to make:

Once you take your first client, the Game would officially begin. He confesses the whole setup and rules of the game to you, as well as the rumours that led to its conception.

Legend has it that a race of mermaids with the blood of the Happyaku-bikuni [link] possess superhuman life force, and their tears can bring eternal life and prevent death. However, the mermaid saviour has to pay the price of losing her voice forever. (Now where have I heard this idea before⁇ *cough*TheLittleMermaid*cough*)

During the Normanton Incident [link], a merchant vessel capsized near Kishuu-oki (present-day Wakayama). All the foreign passengers were saved but the Japanese passengers perished. This was chalked up to racial discrimination, but insiders claim that the ship was overturned by mermaids plotting to rescue *one of their own* who was aboard the ship.

After you floated ashore to the fishing village where you grew up, rumours spread among the locals that *you* are the passenger mermaid who caused the shipwreck. Out of fear of further angering the mermaids, they avoided publicly discussing the subject.

A local fisherman, your step-father, noticed that you are a good-looking child. He took you in and raised you, planning to sell you off to some brothel once you reach a suitable age and fetch a good price. This is where Hibari comes in: he found your step-father after much investigation and sent a pimp his way to acquire you.

Hibari planned and joined in his own game for the purpose of raising Yoshiwara's profile in the public eye and bringing in more business. His efforts have attracted five other participants from wealthy and powerful backgrounds. Hence, he himself has no interest in the veracity of the legend nor in eternal life. His only aim is for the other players to fight over you and create a tabloid-worthy sensation.

As such, your best bet now is to end the game a.s.a.p. and find one of the participants (excluding him) to marry yourself off to - in this sense both of you have a common goal, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to help you.

...After hearing all this, you are visibly shaken and can't even concentrate on your flower arranging lesson anymore. Hibari is all like 'SON I AM DISAPPOINT' and sends you off to bed. He's all confused because he thought you would be happy to be leaving Yoshiwara soon...?

*

Next day, he gives you a pretty dress and sends you to some steak restaurant to learn how to use a knife and fork... with Sakurai Takahiro('s character). Meanwhile he stays behind to see a client. Having to part with him for a day makes you a #sadpanda, so he decides to come and cheer you up when you get back.

You come home late, and he feigns cheerfulness when he hears that you got along well with Ta-kun. 'Everything is going according to plan... but why does it make me angry when I imagine her smiling at some other dude?' *punches wall RAWR*

*

The time has finally come, he announces that you will receive your first client: Sakurai Takahiro('s character). BUT... his announcement gets hijacked by a gang invasion - it's the shady characters from an earlier episode, here for the mermaid tears. Hibari beckons you to run and tell the guards, while he stays behind and buys time for your escape.

He trash-talks the bad guys, and they slash him with their katana and flee. (I imagine their thought process was something like: 'OMG does this guy EVER shut up??? *stab stab*) As he lay dying, he mocks himself: for giving up his own life to save you, yet not being able to confess his feelings to you directly. 'And so it is. My mad skillz are useless when faced with the woman I truly love.'

Later, you come back and tell him that the gang have been captured by the guards. With his last breath, he confesses that he's always loved you. He's glad to have protected you and confident that you will do just fine on your own. With trembling lips, you grant him one final kiss... and your tears touch his mouth. In that instant, he became... THE HULK!!!!

...No srsly. After a month-long sleep, he wakes from a dream where his body is getting dissolved by the waves of the ocean. To his great shock, you've lost the ability to speak. He becomes emotional and laments why you made such a huge sacrifice and chose a scumbag like him, instead of the other more eligible game participants.

He confesses his love for you and says that he can't imagine continuing his job as oiran and embracing other women ever again. He proposes that the two of you to escape from Yoshiwara and start a new life somewhere far away. Of course, you agree, and he makes a pinky promise to spend the rest of his life making you happy.

(He also takes your virginity,... but never mind about that XD.)

And thus, with his life savings as Top Host, the two of you begin a semi-nomadic life, skipping town every time rumours/scandals of the Yoshiwara escape start to spread. At the end, Hibari says that the day you saved his life was a rebirth for him. 'While I may not have a hometown, I will always have a home - which is wherever you are.' <333

*

‘Mermaid’ by Toriumi. Hot dayum.

[Thoughts] Let’s be real here, Hibari is kind of a dick. I mean, I would’ve accepted if he had believed the legend and sought Nanami out in order to obtain eternal life. That would have been a more excusable reason than ‘creating a scandal to attract business’. He almost forfeited Nanami’s future and *whole life* purely for his little publicity stunt. In that sense it’s not too much to ask that he almost sacrificed his life for her.

That said, the scene where he was dying and asking for a last kiss really got me. Toriumi sounded like he was really dying XDDD. (Noooo Sensei pls don’t die T_T) His emotional outburst after waking up and finding out that Nanami has lost her voice is also really touching and almost made me forget that IT’S ALL HIS FAULT.

On another note, I took the time to research a bit into the historical accuracy of the story, because (1) Nanami seemed a bit old to be a trainee, and (2) she was allowed to stay in Yoshiwara for many months without receiving any clients or making any money. Fwiw, trainees had a wide age range, although after the Edo period they were generally expected to serve clients during their training period. So... thanks Rejet for protecting your chastity, I guess?

Although there’s still the question of convention - a male oiran taking on a female shinzou - and the way Hibari talks: referring to himself as 「俺」 and using informal speech (あんなもんじゃねぇ, etc.), which does not seem to match the high-class etiquette and prestige of the oiran.

(To be fair, ‘high-class’ isn’t exactly a concept that I would associate with Toriumi’s characters - they usually give off the impression of being dignified cool on the surface and perverted wild at heart, kind of a 「裏腐設定」 if you will XDD.)

All things considered, this is still one of if not the best story I’ve come across of recent note. I will definitely be looking into the other discs of this series - esp. Guy #4 voiced by Shimono Hiro, the (psycho?) dollmaker who wants to make a lifelike replica of the heroine.

Drama CD: [黒吉原メランコリア] The First Night: Agumo Hibari - Part 1

Heyyy everyone I’m back~~~ with a series that is not like all the rest... except for the recycled seiyuu (#Rejet #eye-roll) and the setting (Yoshiwara; well at least this time you are not the courtesan).

The story revolves around a *rumour* that mermaid tears contain powers of eternal youth/life. And to test this out, a game has begun in the black quarters aka. ‘Kuro’ part of Yoshiwara. The rules for the players are as follows:

You must enthrall her.

You must not hurt her.

You must not let her escape.

The one who successfully achieves the three criteria above is the winner, and he can make the mermaid (i.e. YOU/the listener) his wife/mistress and wield the power of her tears. There are six players in total, including the game creator Agumo Hibari (cv. Toriumi Kousuke).

So, let the game begin.

*

NB. Each story in this series has two discs, so to keep this from becoming too long I will be doing a two-part synopsis and giving my thoughts at the end. 

[Disc 1] 

You can't sleep and are arranging flowers in your room, when Hibari comes over. He helps you and starts reminiscing about your first days here in Yoshiwara:

...It was the end of plum blossom season, the birds are chirping and the weather is nice. Your pimp (/guardian who raised you) brings you over to Kuro Yoshiwara in a horse-drawn carriage, and Hibari comes out to greet you. You glare at him in anger, and he's all like: 'Instead of hating me, why don't you hate your useless debt-ridden parents for selling you off?' #he’sgotapoint #burnnn

He promises your life will change now that you have come to Kirarou, the top house of Kuro Yoshiwara. Taking you up to the rooftop, he shows you the panoramic view, pointing out the burgundy gate of Yoshiwara - he warns that if you try to escape, you will face harsh punishment and possibly death.

He introduces himself as an old-timer/factotum and #1 oiran: Agumo Hibari. And oh btw he was the one who spent a fortune to get you into this place. ...But there's no time to be mad at him. You have to hurry up and get ready to serve the clients.

...Ofc he's not really going to make you perform hooker duties. He takes you into the lounge and blindfolds you, claiming that you are not allowed to see the customers' faces. But! Tonight *it just so happens* that there are no clients. So he's gonna evaluate you to see if you are a good fit for Kirarou.

Before he even starts, you hit him, and he bear-hugs you to restrain your movements. He starts assessing your appearance, mumbling to himself that he can't believe that you are actually a mermaid with the blood of the mythical Happkyaku-bikuni and who's gonna win this game---

He gives you your courtesan name: Nanami, which means 'the seven seas', in commemoration of your origins. You try to kill yourself by biting your own tongue, and he stops you and knocks you out to prevent any more funny business. Thus concludes your first day in Kuro Yoshiwara...

*

After putting you to bed, the barkeep brings Hibari the old newspaper he asked for, and informs him that there are suspicious characters hanging around the brothel quarters. The papers reveal news about a boat that capsized near the coast of Kumano, and a girl who drifted to shore with all her memory lost.

He speculates that this girl is Nanami, but cannot be sure that you are the rumoured mermaid, since your anatomy is fully human. He decides to investigate further.

Next morning, he makes you promise not to take your own life again, before loosening your restraints. He comments that your hands feel cold and are covered in scars - probably from your previous fishing job.

He tells you that he, too, was sold to this brothel just like you. However, he did not despair, and eventually became the Top Host here. He can afford whatever he wants and is allowed to exit the gates freely as he pleases. He admits that, if he ever quits, he has no relatives left and hence nowhere else to go.

He gives you a dried specimen of the oiransou plant - so named because its aroma is similar to the powder used by courtesans - and asks you to put it in his room if you make up your mind to become the next oiran; he would be your mentor.

After his morning nap, he bumps into you near the dressing mirror and asks you to sit down. He proceeds to... do your makeup. He wants to take you out to Asakusa for the day, to lift your spirits and prepare you for courtesan training.

*

It's your first time in a big city and, upon arrival, you almost get run over by the tram, so he holds your hand to keep you by his side. First he takes you to his acquaintance tailor and acquires a yuuzen uchikake-kimono and some casual wear for you; he insists on paying for them as part of his mentor duties.

After the dress fitting, he takes you to a newly opened parlour, and you both try this thing called an 'ice cream soda' for the first time. You stare at him as he shows you how to eat it, then you finally crack a smile when you get your first taste of this treat.

He remarks that you look more childlike and approachable when you laugh, but warns you not to show this side of yourself easily to clients if you want to become a good oiran.

As a special treat, he takes you to Ryōunkaku, the tallest building in Japan at the time, and the first to have an electric lift. You ride up to the 12th floor to see the panoramic view of Tokyo (the lift scares you half to death XD), and he points out all the landmarks to you: Sumida River, Sensou-ji,...

With the coin-operated telescope, you notice a disturbance near the gates of Yoshiwara. The two of you hurry back via rickshaw. There has been a disagreement, and some women tried to escape but were caught. They could neither return to the brothel nor start over elsewhere, as a result, they were forced to either seek death or take a medicine that would render them invalids.

Hibari warns you to be careful not to end up like them.

*

In the middle of the night, Hibari is awakened to news that Nanami has tried to escape. He rushes to the dungeon where you are held captive and asks you why you're doing this, despite his repeated warnings.

You attempt to bite your tongue again, but he stops you and claims that, since he's the one who bought you, you are not allowed to escape nor die without his consent. He calls you a 'caged bird' and explains the origins of the 'pinky swear':

For the courtesans of Yoshiwara, the only path to freedom is to rise through the ranks and become an oiran, who would then have unrestricted mobility and the ability to choose her clients/work.

In the past when a courtesan fell in love, she would *work extra hard* in order to be an oiran. During this time, she would make a pinky promise with her loved one: even though her customers may do whatever they want with her body, her heart belongs to him alone.

And so Hibari offers his pinky, in order to show you how committed he is to making you an oiran. He gives you the option to bite it off, but your *inner vampire* is off that day. Before he leaves, he asks if you still want to die, and seems content to see that you have wavered a little.

*

You knock on his door the following night, dressed in the yuuzen robe he bought for you, and hands him the dried oiransou to signal your resolve.

Aaaand you are on your way to courtesanhood. First things first, he will teach you some basic rules of Yoshiwara. He starts off with the toko-sakazuki: the practice of a mutual toast between newly-weds before their first night together - this tradition is also observed at Yoshiwara for the first time between a courtesan and a client.

Hibari tries to make up excuses for using amazake (a type of light, sweet wine), but later admits that he can't hold his liquor - although he is still Top Host without being three sheets to the wind every night. As the two of you drink, you share your childhood stories, and he thinks living in a fishing village sounds like fun, with surprise items floating to shore that make every day feel like a treasure hunt.

He tells you that he's already been sold off to Yoshiwara since he was old enough to remember, and so he's always been curious about life outside of these gates. While he has no complaints about his current situation, he isn't exactly ecstatic about it either.

As he gets more inebriated, he studies your face and says that you will become an oiran very soon, you've got what it takes. Men will be fighting for you, and he advises you to *snort in the face* of those you don't like, until you find the one that you really want. You are his chosen pawn in the Kuro Yoshiwara Game, and he wants to see you achieve happiness with your own two hands.

iirc I said before on here that CHARM of FATE is produced by Ninoya but I was mistaken - it’s actually from TwoFive, the company that gave us the Toubousha series. I have listened to a couple of them, and honestly I find it a cool idea but poorly executed:

The basic setting of Toubousha is that a hot guy who is seemingly on the run from the law suddenly approaches you in public and takes you hostage by threat. So there is that element of potential danger and the whole ‘suspension-bridge effect’ that makes you go all dokidoki. 

But the heroine in these scenarios ruins it by having no rudimentary safety awareness - she not only lets the possibly wanted criminal dude into her home, but also falls asleep with him, lets him shower and makes hot tea, laughs at his cuteness/clumsiness, and 100 other lovey-dovey things that I would not do with some random stranger who might kill me at any moment. 

So yeah that aspect of the story was completely unrealistic to me and ruined my enjoyment of it. I don’t know why so many otome games/dramas advocate this kind of 無防備すぎ behaviour as a plus because it wins the guy’s affections. This is just a bad thing to teach young impressionable teenage girls.

...Aaaanyway. Enough about that. The premise of CoF sounded interesting [three brothers with telekinetic powers], and I had no preconceptions. So here we go.

(This is a long post and I apologise for my wordiness but I will NOT shut up.) :D

*

The story starts with Kotoda Minori [cv. Shingaki Tarusuke] chasing an unknown character at nighttime. He orders the person not to escape, and suddenly the guy knocks over some trash cans and falls to the ground, where Minori catches up to him.

As he's handling the situation, he notices someone watching them in secret and tells the observer to come out of hiding - he is surprised to see that it's a young woman (i.e. YOU the listener). He asks his brothers, Hibiki and Shion, to take care of the rest, and tells you to follow him.

He takes you to a bar called 'Bar Voz' (off day so no customers), pours you a glass of water, and asks you what your deal is. You tell him that you were going somewhere on your way home from work and got lost. In return, he tells you his name, and that he's the owner of the bar. The guy that he and his brothers were chasing is a shady character who was trying to plant listening devices and hidden cameras in his bar. Then, he demonstrates what you just saw:

He commands you to take a drink, and you pick up the glass, forcibly fighting your urge to take a sip. Turns out, he and his brothers were born with this gift of being able to make people/things do whatever they tell them to. He apologises for being careless and letting you witness them in action, and asks you to keep it a secret. Of course, you promise to do so. As a gesture of thanks and goodwill, he casts a 'charm' on you to come back to the bar tomorrow night for a round of drinks on him.

(Sounds dangerous? I thought so too. But since this is an otome drama, dangerous hot guys with superhuman abilities trying to corner you into shady situations are always 100% harmless. Like totally.)

The second evening, you show up at the bar, and he hands you a menu with a secret memo telling you to stay until closing time. So you stick around, drinking very responsibly in the meanwhile. After the final customer has left, he comes over to you.

Turns out the charm he cast on you last night loses its effect once the day is over, so tonight you showed up by your own free will. It was actually a test to see how trustworthy you are, and... *you passed* (/*^-^)/. He and his brothers have a deal that any witnesses would either be threatened into silence or placed under surveillance 24/7. Oh and also it's a piece of cake for him to find out your workplace and home address... But *don't you worry* he doesn't plan to do anything to you. He only wants to make you a regular at his bar. (I guess #Abenomics isn't doing much for his business?)

As you are leaving, your forget your mobile phone and he uses psychokinesis to bring it to you. You stand there being all impressed and stuff, and he is all like hurry up and leave before you miss the last train princess~ 

_(:0 」∠)_

Next night, you show up all depressed and moody. He asks Hibiki to show the few other customers to a *VIP room*, and stays to listen to your troubles like a goddamned bartender stereotype. You again stay until closing time and apologise for complaining so much, but he laughs and says he doesn't mind at all - he can tell that you take your work seriously, and that you are objective and self-reflective when it comes to your own faults, which impresses him.

As he's about to call it a day, you... fall asleep right there in the bar XD. *Out of no choice*, he gathers you in his arms and uses 'charms' to collect your things and make you hold onto him securely... but a little *too tightly*, which makes him a bit flustered and he's all like: 「参ったな、これは心臓に悪い」 ('Oh man, this is bad for my heart.') #LOLZ

He takes you home to his mansion above the bar and you wake up briefly, and he 'charms' you back to sleep... and mutters that it's making him want to do something he shouldn't... XDDD

In the morning, you wake up all panicking and dishevelled, and he uses a 'charm' to straighten your open collar. He reassures you that his brothers were only here for breakfast earlier and didn't enter his room, where you were sleeping. And that he used a 'charm' across a closed door to help you change your clothes. And ofc last night he let you have his bed and he slept on the sofa in the living room.

When you thank him for all this, he replies that your sleeping face is enough thanks for him. ...Just, like, shut up and marry me already, you sexy gentleman who will never exist irl T_T

After breakfast, he makes coffee (it's Saturday so no work) and tells you more about their Charmed Family. (Does this make anyone else nostalgic for Pru, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige... or am I just a dinosaur and nobody gets my reference???)

Apparently each of them has a different 'expertise': Hibiki is good at commanding people to do stuff, Shion is good at healing injuries, and your bae Minori is good at moving inanimate objects and not so great with people. He says you are exceptionally easy to 'charm', and tells you that *it would be dangerous to become emotionally involved with the Kotoda brothers*.

Especially in the case of unrequited love: the 'charmer' might use his powers to manipulate his target, while the 'charmed one' might feel compelled to obey him to gain his affection. She would also develop a kind of dependency on the charms as a kind of side effect. So yeah, **you have been forewarned**.

*

On your next visit to his bar, you notice that Minori sounds tired. You offer to help him, but he refuses and asks you to just enjoy yourself. After a few drinks, you get some Zzzzzz in the bar again, he casts a 'charm' for you not to wake up yet and takes you home again.

This time, you insist on returning his care towards you. He deliberates for a bit and finally accepts you help. He reveals that he actually has a second job as a benriya (you know, that thing that those guys in Gintama do for a living). Only the regulars at his bar know about this, and they can place their requests secretly in the VIP room. He asks you to come meet with some people next Saturday night at a members-only club, so dress up ;)

Sooo. Your job at the club is to distract a troublesome man enough so that Minori can cast a 'charm' on him to make him hand over his business card. The plan works successfully, and Minori reveals the story behind it:

The job was a request from an old friend of his who is a detective, and the namecard is a piece of evidence needed in an investigation. In this youth, Minori used to hang with a bad crowd and use his 'charms' to steal and rob etc. Just before the point of no return, however, he became friends with this police officer, who helped him to turn his life around, so he wants to do something for him in return.

Also, Hibiki and Shion are actually his cousins, but their parents died in an accident when they were young, and they came to live with his family. Their superpowers were a disturbance to Minori's parents, so he wanted to start a business and buy a separate house for the three of them to move into. His benriya job generated the funds to open Bar Voz, but afterwards he kept working at it and donates the extra proceeds to orphans, as a way to make up for all his wrongdoings during his youth.

Aaand once again, you fall asleep in the bar (...s-should we be concerned? Do you need directions to an upcoming AA meeting/12-step programme???). After you wake up, he mindlessly strokes your hair, and it appears he's done this many times without you knowing. #notcreepyatall. But... he immediately catches himself and hurriedly stops and sends you away.

*

Another night at the bar. You stay after closing to help him clean up, and he saves you the trouble by using his 'charm' to do the dishes. You tell him that his 'charm' voice sounds *different from usual and more pleasant*. He speculates that it may be a premonition of the dependency effect, then quickly corrects himself and asks you to forget what he just said.

After this, he starts to avoid you. He asks Shion to take your orders at the bar, then you phone him and say you need to talk, but he apologises that he's busy and hangs up on you. Later, he stops returning your calls, so you show up in front of Bar Voz on an off day. He had just returned from drinking with his old detective friend and is kinda tipsy. He finds an excuse to get away, but you grab his arm, and he finally cannot hold it in anymore...

...He uses 'charms' to get you into his bed, and confesses that he has been using his 'charms' to *touch you while you sleep without waking you up*, which heals his tired overworked heart. Now he 'charms' you into touching him as well, and he tells you that he will suppress his... desires... beyond this level of touching. (I guess if he gets an erection he can always 'charm' it away.) You both fall asleep stroking each others' hair or something, fuck knows.

In the morning, he's shocked to find you in his bed... before remembering last night’s events. He reassures you that he's only gone as far as *stroking your head and resting his head on your arm*. And that he's not using you as a stress-relief tool whatsoever.

He admits that he has liked you from the beginning, and even more so after you helped him with work and listened to his life story. As he prepares for you to kick his G-rated ass out of bed, you tell him that you... reciprocate his feelings :0. He makes you confirm your feelings, and kisses you to break the spell of dependency. Now ya'll can touch each other even *without* using 'charms' and stuff. Isn't this fancy new technology awesome hey??? I think it's called 'LOVE' or sumshit.

*

[Thoughts] I have to admit, this is much tamer than I thought it would be. I thought that Minori might show some dark (ura) sides and/or momentarily abuse his superpower. Especially since he mentioned that the ‘charmer’ might start to manipulate and the ‘charmed one’ would react with pleasing behaviours - this seems like the *perfect* conflict that would’ve added depth to the whole story, but for whatever reason it was left unexplored (or minimally explored I guess), which just feels like a lot of wasted potential.

...The hair stroking while you are sleeping thing is creepy right? Please tell me I’m not the only one who thinks so. But I mean, within the context of this story, (A) you like him back, and (B) he’s not a psycho killer, so it’s all cool. 

His backstory is also pretty sweet and made me interested in Hibiki and Shion, the first two volumes in this series. I thought the chase scene in the beginning was a nice thrill ride, and it would’ve been cool if they have followed up on what happened to that guy that they caught and what his whole ‘deal’ was. I mean, it’s not integral to the plot, but all these loose ends...

ON THE PLUS SIDE, Minori is a total gentleman, and I’m a sucker for these street-urchin-turned-successful-self-made-man stories. And probably because he’s the oldest of the three, they were probably going for a bit of an oniisan angle here,... In fact you know who Minori reminds me of? That bartender guy with the Kyoto accent in Gakuen K. (This guy.) I never finished playing Gakuen K because it’s like the otome game equivalent of watching paint dry, but yeah I would date the fuck out of him <3333.

So this also makes me wonder if Hibiki and Shion would be less... forgiving, and use threats and/or surveillance to prevent the heroine from leaking their secret. Which would admittedly make for a cooler story. (I swear I am not a do-M lolol.)

In the ANIMATE tokuten, Minori teaches you how to make cocktails, but whatever #fuckthatshit. There needs to be more (mutually consensual) touching in bed and icha-icha scenes ya dig??? If I wanted to learn to mix drinks I would go watch a YouTube video or something.

Drama CD: [華ヤカ哉、我が一族] ソフマップ特典「ナリキリ縁談」

Hiroshi: ‘Mmm Tada-nii your collar is not straight let me adjust that for you <3.’ Susumu: ‘Oooooh nii-san your pecs feel harrrd have you been working out? ;)’ Shigeru: ‘DAT ASS *squeeeeze*.’

*

I guess Hanayaka Nari needs no introduction. (Basically: 6 half-brothers, 1 very rich and very bored father, and you = their maid.) This drama features the following trio:

#2: Miyanomori Isami (31), Army Colonel [cv. Tasaka Hideki]

#4: Miyanomori Susumu (22), Police Officer [cv. Kakehashi Atsushi]

#5: Miyanomori Hiroshi (18), Aspiring Inventor [cv. Kishio Daisuke]

So Mr. Miyanomori has arranged blind dates tomorrow with potential marriage partners for two of his sons - Isami and Hiroshi. But! IT’S A TRAP. They show their brother Susumu (the ‘mediator’ of the bunch) the respective photos, and these women are older than their mothers, and not in an MILF kind of way. They ask Susumu to go on their behalf pretending to be them and reject the marriage proposals.

In preparation, Susumu tries to imitate the way they talk to make his act more believable. (The uploaded audio track.) He gives a super cheerful but ruthless rejection as Hiroshi: ‘I am not interested in you at all (/*^-^)/ ~♪’, and Hiroshi is all like ummmm can you be more... tactful? Then he turns around and gives some sob story in character as Isami (the old “you are a great girl but I’m on a mission” shtick), and Isami is like: #smh this is something I will never say ಠ_ಠ. 

XDDD LOLOL. In the end Susumu’s demos were completely unsatisfactory, and it’s back to the drawing board...

THE NEXT DAY. Back from the blind dates, Hiroshi asks him how it went, and Susumu replies that at least he managed to pass as them successfully and laughs enigmatically... Then Isami runs into the room raging because *guess what*? Susumu told Hiroshi’s date that he is dying of leukemia so he can’t marry. And to Isami’s partner he said that he already has 3 wives and 5 kids... which Hiroshi actually thought was pretty impressive XD.

No audio track this time sorry! But anyway, I’ve made sizeable progress on the Yuuroma series: Hifumi + Utashiro’s Hatenkou, Zakuro, Toneri, and a bunch of tokuten for everybody (/*^-^)/. I’ll do the 2nd Shinkocchou first, for continuity.

And I haven’t listened to the two individual discs before this, so I had no idea who they are... or that their names are actually Arahagi (cat demon; cv. Kaji Yuuki) and Toneri (dog deity; cv, Hirakawa Daisuke) until about 3/4 into the story, since they kept calling each other ‘Stupid Cat’ and ‘Stupid Dog’. Orz

Obvsly this time there is no bromance like in the 1st disc and they fight like... err... cats and dogs (for lack of a better description XD).

As before, hidden messages from the both of them:

１．壱、都市伝説『二次元カレシ』 ２．弐、手が<か>りはどこ？ ３．参、そこは見せか<け>の幸福世界 ４．四、ここにず<っ>といよう ５．伍、意地でも負<け>られない ６．六、この世界が壊れ<る>としても ７．七、 都市伝説『二次元カレシ』看破 ８．キャストトーク

Arahagi: bold⋆ spells 「どこにでも」 (‘No matter where [you are]...’)

Toneri: <⋆> spells 「かけつける」 (‘...I will rush to your side’)

...うれしいィィ！！ありがとね、二人とも～^^

*

[The Second Rumour: Urban Legend ‘2D Boyfriend’]

All the girls at your school are addicted to a mobile otome game app. Rumour has it that players can end up getting trapped in the game world, and their bodies are found in sleeping position holding their phones in one hand.

Toilet Guy has again asked Arahagi and Toneri to investigate. This time your team name is: the Pitch-Black Executors ~DARK (K)NIGHT MESSIAH~. Σ_(꒪ཀ꒪」∠)_. And both your animal manservants have the good sense to hate this abomination of a name. But it will come in handy later on...

So. First order of business is to throw *you* into the virtual world. It’s been rumoured that collecting a full set of accessories from one game character can accomplish this, so your animal bfs possess your body and go shopping.

They push a bunch of bling on you (Toneri makes you wear a choker that reminds him of a dog collar XD), and eventually you can’t take it anymore and run out of the store because you don’t wanna turn into the lovechild of Katy Perry and Flavor Flav. And anyway it didn’t work. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ RIP Operation BringTheBling1.

Plan #2: There is another rumour that players get sucked in when they access the app at midnight. So Catboy and Dogman (henceforth ‘CatDog’) camp over in your bed, and sure enough, when the clock strikes 12, you fall into a deep sleep and enter the game world.

The game is set in a high school that’s an *exact* replica of Nanagiri, with two characters who sound (and look) exactly like your Cat and Dog bfs. [Hirarin is the senpai and Kaji is the kouhai, ofc.] You are shocked by this unfolding of events, and the two of them think you have a cold and need to go to the nurse’s office to rest.

You take this as an opportunity to escape, and as you are running you hear Arahagi and Toneri’s voices from the other side. They successfully possess your sleeping body and enter the virtual world as well.

Senpai and Kouhai can see the demons possessing you. They forcibly exorcise the duo and drag you away. As the exorcised duo come to, they find themselves turned into their chibi forms XDD. Meanwhile, Senpai and Kouhai have taken you to the nurse’s office. As they are trying to approach you, you spray the fire extinguisher at them and make your escape. Niceee.

You manage to find Arahagi and Toneri hiding in the courtyard. They repossess your body to regain their powers and apologise for not being able to protect you. But you have come up with a battle plan: Operation LoveLetter1. Dun dun DUNNN.

The plan is to put a love letter in their shoe locker asking Senpai and Kouhai to meet with you next evening. Being in an otome game, they can only do as they are told to unlock the love event. (Also what is with this 3P-harem setting where you can confess and unlock event for two characters at once?? I need to get in on dis yo. ¬‿¬)

You and CatDog stay up all night to discuss the battle plan, and Arahagi thinks this whole game reeks of the work of a human being. He figures out that they can rob the game characters of their powers by stealing their phones. (Why do even the characters have phones inside the game??) And to power-up themselves, CatDog trade hugs and kisses with each other (I WISH!!) you to feed off of your human energy.

Next day, Senpai and Kouhai show up at the arranged meeting time, and CatDog appear to start a riot. They throw out your team name Pitch-Black Executors ~DARK (K)NIGHT MESSIAH~, which confuses their opponents and gives them the perfect opportunity to steal the opponents’ phones.

Toneri ties the two characters up with chains and Arahagi drops a bunch of machinery and shit on top of them, but dis ain’t ovah ya’ll. The two of them go into *dark mode*. They change the backdrop and damage the data of Arahagi and Toneri’s bodies. As they bury CatDog alive and take you away, you tell them that you believe in CatDog, which gives them the power they need to free themselves from entombment and destroy the game characters.

...When the smoke clears, they see a student that was sucked into the game world. Strangely enough, *it’s a boy*, and they figure that he must be the human that the game monster is possessing and feeding off of.

It turns out that the boy offered himself as a human sacrifice to the urban legend and created this game world to shield his younger sister from the harsh reality. The game world begins to disintegrate, and Toneri tells the boy to face his sister properly instead of doing this stupid shit in the name of ‘protection’. To Toneri and Arahagi, who come into this world all alone, every little detail of the familial bonds and ties between humans seems magical and deserves to be treasured.

The three of you wake up in your bed, and CatDog wonder if the boy’s little sister is going to be alright. You devise a plan... for the two of them to appear to her in a dream pretending to be the two game characters. Toneri flubs his lines and gets beaten up by Arahagi XD. They tell the girl they are relieved that she has finally awoken from her slumber, and invite her to play the game again whenever she is feeling down.

Now a new urban legend has arisen: that whenever a girl gets sucked into the game world, her 2D boyfriend tells her to get out or else she won’t make it to her own wedding in the future. (#meirl XDD.) What’s more, CatDog have erased the oniisan’s memories of the whole incident, and both he and his sister have returned to school as usual.

*Meanwhile*, YOU have become addicted to this game app XD. After unsuccessfully trying to snatch your phone out of your hands, CatDog tease you with kisses and promise to make your real life more exciting than any game ever... yes please Hirarin and Kaji the two of you can come and possess me any time I don’t mind fufufufu~~~ (´┓`*)

*

[Thoughts] ⋆敬称略⋆

Ok so this was my first introduction to both characters (Arahagi/Toneri). I kept thinking as I was listening to it: wouldn’t it be great if Kaji and Hirarin switched roles? Doesn’t it feel like Kaji has more of an excitable puppy-like personality (or quality to his voice, rather), and Hirarin has more of a slow, cat-like temperament??

In fact in the Free Talk when Hirarin said that he is 100% a Cat Person and he thinks Arahagi is really cute, I was all ready to jump out of my chair all like, ‘I KNEW IT!!!’ #notoverreactingatall._(:3」∠)_. ...I guess Rejet wanted to switch it up a little? Or maybe Kimura Ryouhei was busy, because Toneri [yandere + dog ears] sounds like the job for him. Also I can’t help but wonder how perfect Hirarin would be as Utashiro lulling me to sleep with his soothing voice...

(*ฅ́˘ฅ̀*)♡

But all this fantasy casting aside, every time I hear Toneri’s adorable grumpy/growling noises that he makes when he’s dissatisfied, I feel like they made the right casting choice after all. #omgWANT ლ(⁰⊖⁰ლ)

What else, what else... HmMMmMmm, the story and characters/pair dynamics this time round is a bit more childish and less ‘tight’ than before. So idk, I didn’t feel as much of *Deh Romantic Feelz* towards Arahagi/Toneri like I did for Hifumi/Utashiro. Although I still enjoyed it because I am immature.

The doppelganger bit was pretty kewl though. Although the battle scene kind of got resolved in a very #WTF kind of way and left me wanting more. Also the overprotective older brother story would’ve benefited from a better explanation/backstory of why he did what he did, no? Overall just kind of #わけわかんない, and not a very tight story, like I said.

The otome game theme was kind of relevant and interesting, esp the senpai character in the game who kept emphasising the use of this kind of romance fantasies as a form of escapism. ...Which got a bit philosophical/personal in a way, although I’m not sure if Toneri was the best person to expound on this because he’s so... erm... simple-minded XD.

Nonetheless, the overall message was clear: that it’s always better to face things head-on, and you have limitless potential as a human being. +++

But *then again* this series isn’t meant to be analysed very deeply. It’s more just for ya’ll to enjoy the cute huggable chibi things and the powerful demons protecting the fuck out of you. Yeah? Yeahh.

Although!! From the cast commentaries it seems like the seiyuu themselves can’t/won’t actually protect you from anything in the event of an actual urban legend/haunting. It’s funny how they voice all these powerful/scary demon and spirit characters, but when they see an actual horror programme or whatever on TV they quickly look away and change the channel!! (-_-|||) SENSEI I AM DISAPPOINT. 

Drama CD: [幽幻ロマンチカ・真骨頂] ≁Karasutengu Hifumi・Baku Utashiro≁

Ok I know this is out of order (I skipped over the previous Hatenkou discs, which I will do later), but I reallllly adore the Shinkocchou concept. This came at the end of a HECTIC week, so to myself and any readers out there, I say a well-deserved: お疲（憑か）れ様でした！

In this disc - the first in this subtitle - Crow-Heavenly-Dog Hifumi and Dream-Eating Animal-Thing Utashiro team up to fight crime and save the Universe... of Nanagiri High School. 

Before I say anything else, first look at the hidden msgs (x2) in the tracklist: 

１．壱、都市伝説『すきま』 ２．弐、スイーツに囲<ま>れて ３．参、湧き出た<も>のは ４．四、陰<り>から立ちはだかる ５．伍、穏やかな夜だっ<た> ６．六、戦うなら<い>っしょに ７．七、都市伝説『すきま』看破 ８．キャストトーク

Hifumi: bold⋆ spells 「すきだから」 (’Because I like you...’)

Utashiro: <⋆> spells 「まもりたい」 (’...I want to protect you.’)

...

(ﾟ艸ﾟ(｡艸｡(ﾟ艸ﾟ(｡艸｡(ﾟ艸ﾟ(｡艸｡(ﾟ艸ﾟ(｡艸｡(ﾟ艸ﾟ(｡艸｡(ﾟ艸ﾟ(｡艸｡ ) ｽﾍﾟｼｬﾙｳﾝｳﾝ

We also find out bits about each character's past - like how Hifumi had been cold and uncaring when he first mixed with the human world, and how he developed a taste for sweet foods because that's what people used to give him as offerings. AND how hilariously angry U-kun gets when people try to point out that deep down he's really just a softie/sweetie.

NB. The audio track is a bonus bit at the end of the final cast commentary track where the two of them do a hilarious 'Free Talk' in character.

*

[The First Rumour: Urban Legend ‘Sukima’]

Something's lurking in the cracks and corners of Nanagiri High School. So far five students have disappeared, starting with a girl in 1st year. Everyone is freaking the fuck out, and even the police have got involved, but this being a paranormal case ofc they are not going to find anything.

On the orders of Toilet Flower Dude (abbreviated TFD), Hifumi and Utashiro are investigating the urban legends to prevent them from destabilising the forces of the Supernatural Seven. And they have come to you for help - after all, youkai get their powers from the goodwill of humans. TFD has even coined a team name for the three of you: DARK DESTINY FAN CLUB. And ofc you are the leader, because vagina power.

As part of the investigation, first you all go to... the nearby cafe and eat cake. Because Marie Antoinette said so. Because apparently a couple from your school was attacked when they went on a date there.

Hifumi decides that you have to act like a couple to bait the monster into attacking you. (Except this is more like a 3P scenario and for some reason nobody finds that just a little bit odd...?) The two of them start feeding you and wiping extra cream off your face, and ofc you become all shy and resistant. So then both of them possess your body and start putting their lips on you to 'make you understand how the cake feels'. #mfw = (*>艸<)ｷｬｧｯ. (Not even kidding, I actually made this face when I was listening to this.)

You finally cannot put up with this treatment anymore, and when they stop, you pick up a chair and start hurling it at them. Damn girl u so hot when u maddd. So much for Battle Plan RaiseBloodSugar1. XD

Plan #2: Ya'll patrol the empty classrooms after school to look for clues. Eventually you find a ...fluffy/slimy-looking... monster consuming a 1st-year boy. When the three of you approach, the monster devours him whole and disappears.

You suggest using yourself as bait, with the both of them possessing your body to fight the monster in invisible mode. Sounds all fine and dandy... except their demon powers totally don't even work against this mochi-mochi monster!! After some failed attacks, Utashiro forms a protective shield to fend off the monster and allow Hifumi to fly you off to safety. (Such beautiful teamwork I could cry...)

Later Utashiro catches up to the two of you. It seems that the monster is so 'impenetrable' because it is feeding off the energy of some human somewhere, whose vulnerabilities it is exploiting. At this point you are still reeling from the narrow escape, so your two manservants boyfriends manservants decide to call it a day and escort you home.

Back home, you refuse to sleep, so the two of them dogpile you on your bed (is it just me or does that sound kinda dirty, sports fans? ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)). You request that they both change into their chibi forms and hug them to sleep. Hifumi doesn't mind at all but Utashiro hates it!! XD

Turns out you can't sleep because you are still terrified from the episode earlier. So they change back into their hot-guy forms and possess your body (because your bed is too small XD) and hold your hand and caress your head. After you finally fall asleep, the two of them commence the BL action pillow talk:

Utashiro is feeling down and blaming himself for not noticing your fear sooner. Hifumi is all like ‘I KNEW U WERE A SOFTIE U SEXY TSUNDERE’, but Utashiro tells him that all the other baku perished because they were forgotten by humans, and this is why he can't forgive and embrace humanity the way that Hifumi does.

As Hifumi correctly figures out, Utashiro is/was the Chief of the baku, even though he was not the most powerful nor the eldest. But Hifumi thinks it's enough that Utashiro did his best for his companions, just like *you* always do, you useless piece of sh... person!! I mean person!!. Hifumi trusts you even though you are a human, but Utashiro is unconvinced, since you never risked your life for him (the way you did for Hifumi)...

...Aaaand you wake up to the kinako-mochi monster in your room!!! Hifumi flies both of you out the window, but it's too heavy for him and he and he drops you both. Orz (well U-kun cushions your fall ofc b/c what are manservants for, amirite?). Meanwhile the monster has followed you out here and multiplied, so you all escape to the school grounds.

In the school gym, the monster and its spawns appear again, and Hifumi tries to fight them off, maxing out his energy much to Utashiro's alarm. Hifumi explains to Utashiro that he was born out of people's wishes,... and just when he was about to be forgotten, *you* appeared and gave him a new meaning to life. So he can't help but be fond of humanity and want to do his best for them.

You stop Hifumi from over-exerting himself, and volunteer to be swallowed alive by the monster so that ya'll can fight it from inside its stomach. Hifumi is all like ‘LET'S DO THIS LEADER >:)’, but Utashiro FREAKS THE FUCK OUT X( and offers to come with you, forming a protective shield to protect you. At some point he finally admits that it would be 'troubling' if something happened to you... This is about as much of a love confession as you’re ever gonna get here, so I'm savouring the fuck out of this line indefinitely <3.

Inside the monster's belly, you find... a girl that was eaten, and pull her into the safety of Utashiro's protective shield. The monster grows weak, and Hifumi uses this opportunity to blow it up into smithereens. All its spawns become inactive as well.

The girl turns out to be the aforementioned 1st-year who was the monster's first victim. She appears to be asleep, so Utashiro takes a peek into her dream: she is infatuated with a senpai, but too shy to talk to him, and can only watch him from afar. The pain of her unrequited love bore cracks in her heart, which the kinako mochi monster has exploited and subsisted on.

You ask Utashiro to change the contents of her dream from #badend to #goodend. As he does this, the cracks in her heart start to mend, and the monsters disappear. But ofc, changing her dream doesn't do much irl; she still needs to make her own happy ending.

Thus, peace is restored to Nanagiri High School!! >:D The five missing students are all found safely and soundly asleep in the school gym, and the first girl finally found the courage to speak to her senpai.

Hifumi teases Utashiro for risking his own life to protect you during Battle Plan MonsterBelly1, but Utashiro claims he only 'changed his mind a little bit about humans'.

But then Hifumi readily admits that he got to see both cool and uncool sides of you during this adventure, and it makes him like you more <3. Upon hearing this, Utashiro is all like ‘GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER’ and instructs you to stick with him so that he shall protect you from the Crow-Dog-Whatever that is *even more dangerous than any urban legend ever*! <333333

*

[Thoughts] OH WOW I got so used to the DiaLovers twisted personalities that I figured this was going to be like a Versus disc where they compete and fight with each other over you. But like I said, the teamwork/bromance is so beautiful it brings a tear to my eye :').

First of all, as KENN observes in his part of the Free Talk, this disc is kind of a parallel world where you are not strictly *romantic* with either of them. But at the same time both of them seem ok with some 曖昧さ (e.g. light touches/kisses) here and there. I guess it's less like a FB "it's complicated" situation, and more of youkai having some harmless fun with a human.

[cf. Remember how all the vampires stripped Yui down to her undergarments and bit her in all the embarrassing places, and she STILL thinks: 'They only see me as food T_T.' Yes that's totally non-suggestive, yes yes, carry on.]

Secondly, like Kimura-san notes, the two personalities make a striking contrast, and Utashiro seems *even more* tsundere than usual compared to Hifumi. But because Hifumi has one more disc than Utashiro, I think he's had more opportunities for character growth, so I'm optimistic about U-kun :)

I think between the two of them, Utashiro is the more mature and sensitive one - as shown by their hidden msgs, Hifumi's feelings lean more towards 'I like you'/displays of affection, whereas Utashiro is more about protecting you & supporting you emotionally.

Hifumi has a more impulsive/careless personality; sometimes he misses little details, and he's ready to take risks if you are. In that regard I think they counterbalance each other quite well, Utashiro talks sense and 'anchors' the situation; Hifumi brings the positivity and the momentum.

Using the two roles of the manzai (traditional Japanese standup-comedy) for analogy, U-kun is the 'straight man' who provides the tsukkomi, and Hifumi is the boke or the one with all the gags.

...Also it just occurred to me how most of the time the tsundere role is either like a younger/spoiled brat type, or a kichiku megane (à la Sakamaki Reiji). Utashiro is kind of like a... tsundere-oniisan? XD Not sure if that's a type, but in any case it’s kinda refreshing, plus he's precious and I love him :3

NB1. KENN's chibi voice is THE BEST. X3

[This post is not otome-related.]

I’m a long-time classical music & opera fan, so this news is of interest to me and I thought I’d post about it here.

Yesterday, the Royal Opera House suspended the star of its latest tour, the Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo, for alleged sexual misconduct - he groped a member of the chorus during curtain call, in full view of the audience, despite people around him telling him to stop. He is being suspended and replaced, pending results from an independent investigation.

My first thought was: good on the ROH for taking these kinds of allegations seriously. Stars shouldn’t be allowed to get away with unprofessional behaviour just because they can sell a full house. It’s like in professional sports like football, when a player gets carded s/he has to miss the next match/season, and if the offence is serious enough they’d be under a lot of pressure to resign. Honestly that should be the standard everywhere.

Although, I can’t help but wonder if the ROH was so ready to treat this seriously this time round, because: (1) he is not that big of a star so perhaps considering the financial aspects they could still afford to let him go, and (2) they saw how the Met Opera was criticised for not taking things seriously enough and want to avoid the same negative publicity.

Last year the Met had a bitter fallout with conductor James Levine, who basically engineered a bunch of ‘casting couch’-like situations over the years where he behaved inappropriately with several teenage boys in exchange for advancing their careers. More recently, they asked tenor Placido Domingo to resign, after multiple women have accused him of sexual harassment on the job.

I have personally encountered these kinds of unwelcome sexual come-ons from older men, they happen often enough that I can’t chalk them up to bad luck/rare occurrences anymore, so I don’t have a hard time imagining these things could happen. But thankfully none of these people have any kind of authority over me, and most of the time I could simply distance myself and get on with my life.

But in the case of the Met staffers - the make-up artists, singers, stagehands, etc. - this harassment was part of their professional lives. It makes me angry that not only did Domingo manage to get away with this kind of behaviour for decades, but as he rose to fame and became more and more indispensable to the theatre companies, it’s his victims who had to make concessions. They could either put up with it for the sake of securing their jobs, or reschedule/take sick leave/whatever to avoid working with him, sometimes even forgoing & jeopardising their own career opportunities just to protect themselves when they have done nothing wrong. 

This quote from The Guardian from a soprano who was harassed by him says it all: “What woman would ever want him to grab their breast? And it hurt,” she said. “Then I had to go on stage and act like I was in love with him.”

Because the sad truth for her and for most of us, is that we need our jobs more than our jobs need us, and oftentimes when shit happens we can only tough it out. Meanwhile the Met tried to drag out some ‘innocent until proven guilty’ shtick for as long as they could afford to, because profit$$$.

Anyway, good riddance to these lowlifes. It honestly boggles my mind how someone like Domingo can sing all the righteous heroic roles that he has (like, basically all his Puccini characters?!!), and still turn out to be such a disappointing human being. It’s starting to make me question all his interpretations of all this stuff now.

Drama CD: [SEVENTH HEAVEN] Vol.5 -Shion-

[Synopsis] The Seventh Heaven are the 7 Gods of Death who can deliver people into a blissful death by serenading them with their songs. They only appear to those who truly wish to die. Once they have been seen, you have to stay with them in their Hiiragi Mansion until the final moment of death arrives.

*

You meet Shion (CV. Suzuki Tatsuhisa) when you are trying to slit your wrist, and he mocks you for not making a bolder statement, and asks you to come with him if you don’t want to suffer eternal pain.

In the house, he briefly explains his position and tries to get you to entertain him. When you fail to deliver, he sneaks up on you from behind. You struggle and (accidentally) elbow him. He complains that he’s badly hurt (’dying’, in fact XD) and asks for a kiss to heal him. You are strangely obedient. You even agree to give him another kiss, which makes him suddenly lose interest and he goes off to take a nap.

Kanade’s messenger raven wakes him up in the middle of a good dream, and he discovers a wandering spirit. He whistles and sends it off to the Other World to free it from its misery.  ♪～(￣ε￣；)

Later he finds you and drags you round to... invade the privacy of the other Gods of Death. In Akira’s room, he finds an instructional book about humans (Akira even put a fake cover to keep him from finding it.) He draws obscene doodles in the book and asks you to write a note confessing that you did it. In response, you shiver in fright (lulz), and he writes it himself.

Next is Hinata’s room, which is locked. He breaks in anyway and ransacks it. He eventually finds a locked box, which contains Hinata’s diary entries. Apparently one time, Itsuki ate something he cooked and went MIA the next day... I wonder why... XD

Shion is angry that Hinata didn’t write anything about him. The two of you move on to Yuuri’s room, which contains some creepy life-like dolls that he has made, and is apparently filled with a bunch of booby traps. Just then he hears Yuuri coming in, and you two hide in the closet. While in hiding, he notices that your soul smells delicious and asks for permission to lick you, because that’s what closets are for. ~_~

Afterwards, you tell him that you saw him saving the wandering spirit with his whistling. He is embarrassed and enraged, and goes off to play billiards. You interrupt his game to ask him why he saved the spirit, and he gets more embarrassed and enraged not wanting to admit that he did it out of the goodness of his heart. Then he suggests going to the beach for a change of mood.

At the beach, he is wayyy too protective of his sandcastle, which ofc gets destroyed by a tidal wave to his cries of despair. You laugh at his childishness, and he responds by splashing you with water. The two of you have a fun splash-fight. But when it’s time to go back to the mansion, you are reluctant, because it’s your last day on earth. Tomorrow will be the night of the full moon and your death.

He asks you why you wanted to take your own life when you seem so... well-adjusted. You thank him, and tell him that you’ve just been over-exerting yourself on all fronts, and don’t know which is the hardest thing that pushed you over the edge anymore #toorelatable. In response, he calls you a バカ, which I’ll admit warmed my heart more than a little :’)

Death Night. He asks if you want to get it over with swiftly. You say yes, but he wants to see your soul. You have a beautiful soul, you 大馬鹿, and he starts kissing you and making you ‘show the unknown parts of yourself’ to him. Just as things are starting to go in the R-18 direction, the clock strikes.

You start to cry, and he comforts you by saying that he will immediately forget you... while holding back tears. In the final moments, he tells you to keep your chin up.

*

I didn’t sleep well last night, a mosquito was using me as a blood bag >;(... So thanks to that I was wide awake and had time to listen to another drama CD.

Character #2 in the Yuugen Romantica series, Utashiro (cv. Kimura Ryouhei), is a baku: a mythical creature that survives by eating dreams and helps people get rid of their nightmares that way. It’s too bad he doesn’t eat unwanted insects in my room as well.

‘Sorry dude that’s not part of my regular diet.’

Anyway, going back to Nanagiri High School. This time there is a rumour about the only stairway that leads to Heaven the rooftop. Usually there are only 12 steps, but if you get to the 13th step, that means that you are on your way down into Utashiro’s nightmare territory...

After you try (unsuccessfully ofc) to escape, Utashiro takes possession of your body and makes you solve some hard maths problem in 5 seconds, threatening to eat you if you fail. Thankfully he stops possessing you, and you grab a mop nearby to defend yourself. With the mop handle you push him into a row of lockers, and he is forced to end the nightmare to prevent them from falling on him - which allows you to escape.

Gotta admit that’s pretty badass for an otome heroine. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ“ﾌｧｲﾃｨﾝｸﾞ!!

The next day he seeks you out disguised as a human boy so you don’t recognise him. He’s been looking everywhere for you for revenge for your counterattack yesterday. He throws you back into the nightmare high school world but you still don’t recognise him Orz. So he changes back into his demon form. And this time he got rid of the cleaning equipment so you can’t attack him lolol.

Instead, he has prepared a bed, where he lulls you to sleep. He plans to frighten you with monsters hiding under the bed, but... his brilliant plan backfires because you fall asleep sooo soundly that even demons screaming in Hell can’t wake you up. XD

Turns out you have been sleep-deprived lately because of a mosquito recurring nightmares. In fact that’s why you went to the stairwell in the first place - to investigate if it is related to the Seven Supernatural Wonders of the School. After some further failed attempts to intimidate you, Utashiro finally gives up and gently rocks you to sleep, swearing that he will get you next time. Lmao.

Next day you go and thank him for helping you sleep and he is still feeling salty. After school you stay to prepare for the bunka-sai (cultural festival) exhibition, and he tags along. You class is planning to make a haunted house, and he warns you that it might attract unwanted spirits,... but you cheerfully invite him to come and visit too ^_~.

Utashiro tells you that the state of the Seven Supernaturals has been changing due to the fickleness of humans. E.g., the Youkai with the Flowers in the Toilets [*voiced by Midorikawa Hikaru... I haven’t listened to his discs but I have a hard time taking this character seriously...] has disappeared, and he himself has emerged (since the original series). There is also a strange rumour going round that the nightmare on the 13th step is killing people in their sleep, and he’s offended that people think he’s that kind of demon.

You stupidly agree with him. To show you that he’s not all nice, he possesses you and touches and kisses you, knowing that you can’t fight back/react since you are in public and he is in invisible mode. So you run off to hide in a dark corner, secretly hoping that he will rip your clothes off and have his way with you. (ฅωฅ`)ﾃﾚﾙｰ♥

But alas Rejet is trying to keep it safe for the kids here so nothing happened calm your tits woman!! He ends up walking you home and carrying your bag for you (how sweet is this guy seriously). As he’s leaving he senses a... supernatural energy from you. So at night he sneaks into your house and, sure enough, you are having night terrors.

He consumes your nightmare, and is about to leave when you wake up. To hide his identity, he changes into his chibi-baku form. But you know it’s him anyway. You are scared to be left alone, so he becomes your reluctant dakimakura ԅ(≖‿≖ԅ). As he watches your sleeping face, he realises how he used to live for people’s happiness, before he became this yakuza demon from the ‘hood who terrorises people for fun.

Ok yeah Utashiro is that Moomin-looking thing from the Hifumi picture.

One day you bring him lunch on the rooftop as a token of your gratitude, but he seems to be having... indigestion pains from eating your nightmares every night. #youkaiproblems. He tells you that he used to do this for people regularly and they would come and visit him, but now times have changed and they don’t need him anymore, and all his friends are dead, but for some reason he’s still alive. He has remained in Nanagiri High School because of rumours that there might be another fellow baku lurking around.

At night you tell him not to eat anymore. He wants to insist, but his body is almost at its limit. He tells you there’s another way to end your nightmares - which is to confront the demon behind them directly. To protect you, he enters your dream along with you.

The demon uses the same haunted school grounds as his backdrop. However, there is an abandoned dried-up well in the courtyard which doesn’t exist in reality. As you approach, a baku emerges from the well and tries to kill you both despite your goodwill.

Turns out this thing is a youkai-kuzure, the remnant form of a demon that has been neglected, but still maintains a strong will to survive and holds a lot of resentment towards humans. Utashiro thinks he will end up the same way and sinks into a bout of “look kids, this is me in 20 years’ time” nihilism.

He begs you to run away but you refuse. You want to let the youkai-kuzure baku use your body and regain its energy so that Utashiro can restore his faith in humanity. In the end Utashiro ends up possessing you, and diplomatically talks the youkai-kuzure into exorcising itself. Basically what he says can be summarised as follows:

‘You are not alone. Me and this human girl are here for you... Now fuck off R.I.P.’

And so fuck off R.I.P. it did.

Then both of you wake up from your nightmare. Utashiro is about to leave but you stop him. So then he asks you if he can stay with you forever, because he has nowhere to go now anyway, and he doesn’t want to become that troll that lives under the bridge and throws rocks at people’s shins and glances at porno magazines through the konbini window.

*

[Thoughts] Very important update: The mosquito that was biting me is now dead now, too. And I killed it by force instead of using diplomatic exorcism.

This disc was really entertaining, I actually laughed out loud several times throughout. Kimura Ryouhei has a way of drawing out your emotions, idk, I mean most otome games/dramas are meant to do that, but his voice is just more... vivid to me in some way, I guess.

Utashiro is a totally adorable character. The way how he acts all tough and threatening but immediately panics and surrenders when the heroine is upset. Kimura-sensei calls him a ‘cute clumsy tsudere’ and thinks that he could be a good sleeping aid/pillow for people who... need that I guess.

[Reminds me of Tsuda Kenjirou’s commentary on Yomei Kareshi (a series where your guy has a terminal illness), where he’s wondering if we actually listen to it before we go to sleep. YES TSUDA-SENSEI WE DO I use drama CDs to help me sleep. With Vol.1 I was new to the series and cried buckets when the boyfriend was dying, but by Vol.7 I had got used to it and was already numb to all the tragedy. Yeah sorry.]

Actually I really enjoy listening to the Free Talks because they give you a glimpse into the cast’s personalities. I got the feeling that Kimura-sensei doesn’t really think through his replies and just blurts things out, and the spontaneity gave me a kind of a Mukami Kou vibe (in a good way though, I don’t think/hope he has Kou’s split personality lolol). I also get the feeling that he and Tsuda-sensei have similar temperaments and would get along great...

But anyway, back to the main story. Utashiro is really pretty tsun and he didn’t reveal very much romantic feelings until the very end, where it felt almost like he suddenly went from zero to sixty. It’s really different from Hifumi’s original story, which had romantic moments steadily throughout, like the date and the star-making/gazing event at night. But I think Kimura-sensei makes up for it with his very 色気のある voice.

I also liked the heroine’s personality better in this one. Hope she keeps up the epic-level KYness in the later stories.