Latest Posts by arius-starwalker-1412 - Page 2

As always, thank you for your analysis @marumafan !

YuuRam is so much more than just a possessive other world handsome guy and an ordinary japanese high school student (Yuuri would be so glad to hear it) who crossed over and got engaged. It's about time people saw their bond. It is beyond the boundaries of freindship or lovers... It is so much more.

Hi! I’ve been reading your KKM analyses, and I absolutely love them, most especially the YUURAM ones! Can you do some detailed ones on Love Letters and Crossheart too? Please, please?!

Hi @celinelean​!

Of course! I'm having a day and may not be drawing, so why not?

Also to everyone who likes analyses/discussions, you can always leave some questions/requests in my mailbox if there's anything you're interested in. I'll try my best.

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Love Letter

"Love Letter" was Takabayashi-sensei's first new short story in about 6 years. The first part features Yuuri and Wolfram writing sweet stuff about one another.

The excuse of being 'from Greta's point of view for her homework' gave them both the excuse to express their true feelings.

(Now a cultural point here: The more I live in Japan the more I notice people never tell you the truth about anything. They either don't say anything and let you know 'in some way' or you never find out. A fan of maruma I once met, who could speak English, thanked me for continuing to talk about a topic even after we had disagreed at some point about something. She said people who disagree in Japan simply drop the topic XDD . True story. XD They avoid talking about 'truths' in general. So I feel like this whole keeping your true feelings hidden is a very Japanese thing (which is the target audience for maruma, don't forget). So in this story, both Yuuri and Wolf can express their feelings for one another.)

As for the things they like about each other:

The first thing Yuuri sees that Wolf has written in the cards was some compliment about his awesome black hair. But when Yuuri asks if he should write about Wolf's appearance "How good looking he is" " How his green eyes are like gemstones", "How even his eyelashes are blonde", Wolf's like "Of course not, that's not something Greta cares about".  (Wolfie, never change. XD)

Wolf also writes: "How well he gets along with his spouse" which really shows along with his entire demeanor during this story, that even though there's no official title, he really thinks of himself as already married to Yuuri.

Yuuri then writes:  "He never abandons his PARTNER" Again, this is a word you use for people you're romantically involved with, but in a more 'earthly' slang. This reminded me of the Seisa arc when, during the bed scene, Yuuri mentions how happy he is to have Wolf there.

He writes another 12 good things about Wolfram, and he mentions that "his left cheek was hot due to the flames of the fire" , implying his right cheek was blushed due to what he was writing. So he's putting in there things that make him blush.

Yuuri asks then if they will get these cards back, and Wolfram assures him that yes they will. Yuuri:"So that we can read them many times and remember how much Greta likes us."

Wolfram: "Of course"

Meaning: Yuuri:  "So that I can read many times all the wonderful things you really think about me?" Wolf: "Of course"

However, Yuuri tells Wolf about the futility of having the cards, when you have the other person right there living with you. Yuuri says" Even without something like this, I'm sure that the feelings would be conveyed, "  (XDD see this is what I'm talking about! This Japanese mentality of ‘expressing in some way without words’ what you feel)

BUT! this is when Wolf says that in that case, the cards would be more useful to remember people who live apart from you.

So Yuuri's 20th thing he likes about Wolfram is " He tells me things straight to the point".

This means, it's Wolfram who pretty much tells Yuuri to go visit Conrad and have him write stuff about him, cuz he's not living in the castle and so that Yuuri won't miss him.

Wolfram asks if Yuuri's going out. Yuuri says yes. Wolfram's last card says: How honest he is. Yuuri's last card says: How kind he is.

And I mean, damn! If this isn't yuuram af, I don't know what is.

Second part is what was introduced in the first part, Yuuri goes to visit Conrad, he's living above Jozak's bar in a cold, dirty room. And Conrad writes and gives him the card about Yuuri, and it 'warms Yuuri's heart'.

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Comments on Love Letter: I used to think this was a lot more conyuu than it is, but re-reading it and seeing that it was all Wolfram's idea to begin with (and Yuuri knows it was Wolfram's idea), it really shows that strong relationship between Wolfram and Yuuri and includes Conrad's current situation (not living in the castle) as a trigger for getting in a little conyuu in the story and making those fans happy.

You see this 'conyuu afterthought to please the fans' in the first two stories she wrote after the break "Love Letter" and "Lame star Wars". After that, they're all yuuram centric stories. And before the break, they were very much so as well.

It's very clear in everything Takabayashi sensei writes, that she really likes her main couple, and had always planned for them to end up together.

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Crossheart 

This is an older story (2010ish), even if it was only published as an extra for the omnibus release in July 2013, and it was also used as part of drama cd 70 released in January 2013. But the contents of this story are the origin of another story published in 2011, so it must have been written before that. (EDIT: I found the original information at Ray Clover: CROSSHEART IS FROM APRIL 2006! (file: asuka1302). It was published as a mobile story, and republished as an extra in the omnibus re-release! )

The title: Although it could be a combination of crossword and heart, like hearts crossing/intertwining; or crossword and the last word of the puzzle" kokoro->heart",   I like to think that sensei, knowing a bit of English based it on the phrase: "Cross my heart and hope to die"; as in 'a promise' -> which is the topic of this story. 

Then the intro line starts with "That day, there was a strong wind blowing since morning, so I couldn't really go outside."  This line, much like the title of novel 4, has the concept of 'wind blowing' that makes reference to the proverb 「明日は明日の風が吹く」`Ashita ha ashita no kaze ga fuku'. Tomorrow, tomorrow's wind will blow. Which means something like "there's no point in thinking ahead" or "What comes next is up to life". Whenever sensei writes that enigmatic first line, it usually carries a lot of meaning and foreshadows what is to come.

The story starts with Yuuri and Wolfram alone at the office. Some event is taking place and everyone but them is busy. Yuuri is doing a crossword and struggling. Wolfram finally gets closer to see what's bothering him.

The first hint for the crossword, is 'a pet name for children'. Wolfram then remembers his mother used to call him Honey-chan (Hachimitsu chan). Yuuri immediately likes the name and says "Maybe I too will start calling you that from now on, honey-chan."

(Additional info: In MisePan2, 2011, Wolfram gets angry at being called honey-chan, because "Yuuri is younger than him" so he has no right to call him something that older people call younger people. Clearly, "Crossheart" where Yuuri discovers Wolfram's pet name comes chronologically before Misepan2. So we can pinpoint that Crossheart was written before 2011, maybe it was even a failed attempt at Misepan2. Misepan 2 came out with the last DVD box, which was delayed a year due to circumstances with Takabayashi sensei. We know this because in the afterword of Misepan2 , the author says: "I really can't apologize enough for this.... I honestly apologize to all of you for keeping you waiting. I'm really sorry for the inconveniences I caused to all the parties I kept waiting for this." So sensei apologizes and blames herself for the delay of the last DVD box. This might have been due to her health issues, which she only mentioned once, in 2010. EDIT: I found the original information at Ray Clover: CROSSHEART IS FROM APRIL 2006! (file: asuka1302). It was published as a mobile story, and republished as an extra in the omnibus re-release!)

The second hint for his crossword was the name of a famous mouse, so of course Yuuri is thinking Micky, since the last letters are cky. But it turns out to be "Rocky" a famous mouse character. So there's a legend that small animals, like mice, squirls, rabbits and even birds can see spirits. And this particular mouse is said to deliver messages from the dead to their families.

This triggers Yuuri to ask a question to Wolf: "What would you do, if I never returned?". Wolfram asks him to clarify what he meant. And Yuuri asks: Would you cry? To which Wolf says: I wouldn't. At first Yuuri is a little hurt by the cold answer, like you wouldn't miss me? But Wolfram explains, of course he'd miss Yuuri but he wouldn't cry. Because if he did, Yuuri wouldn't be able to live a happy life back on earth. Wolfram's promise of not crying so Yuuri could be happy, left Yuuri speechless and then he noticed the word that was formed vertically in the crossword.

The hint for that word: "What you use to share your feelings with your partner."

The word is never specifically said, but in the drama cd it's "ko-ko-ro" -> heart. Which would also circle back to the "heart" in crossheart.

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Comment on Crossheart:  This story as well as its natural continuation, Misepan2, are very yuuram oriented.  Do you want an exorcism, another contemporary story of these two, is also largely yuuram. And the same goes for all of sensei’s work including the very last doujinshi. 

I also want to point out the pet name she chose: Hachimitsuchan. Again, I may be over reaching, but she has enough English knowledge to know “Honey” is something you call children AND your significant other. The fact that Wolfram eventually gets angry at it, adds to the comedy of errors, which is one of the underlying tropes in maruma. Yuuri’s sweet words are generally misinterpreted by Wolfram.

I've been saying this for years. Takabayashi-sensei has liked this couple from the very beginning and has been building their relationship for novels on end. Every story she's written, shows them happy and together. The very last one even has them married with Wolfram wondering if Yuuri would want more 'wives' (as in, what about the other ships?) and Yuuri assuring Wolf he only wants him (no other ships are sailing from this port).

People who ship Yuuri with other characters aren't basing themselves on novel canon, which is fine, of course! But the novel canon is yuuram. Note: I use yuuram as a word to denote the relationship between Yuuri and Wolfram, also because it’s shorter than royal couple. I’m NOT talking about ‘who’s top’ in the relationship. I feel like this whole ‘top’ bottom’ talk is so 90s, we should get over it, much like Takabayashi-sensei herself has expressed she doesn’t care about that whole ‘top’ ‘bottom’ thing. 

Go go Honey-chan! (Wolf's gonna be so angry XD)

August 3, Honey Day

So I know there’s a lot of Wolfram fans around, and I’m always upset that there’s no official Wolfram Birthday, or Wolfram Day (Like we do have : Jozak’s Day 4/3 ,  Lion’s Day 4/4, Murata’s B-day 6/6, Yuuri’s Bday 7/29 ) ; but we do have Hachimitsu Day/Honey Day, which is today August 3. I think we should really start celebrating August 3 as Wolfram’s Day, since this is his pet name.

The song : The reverberating song forever 

lyricist: TADD

 Composer:西冈和哉 

Singer: 斎贺 みつき

Like always. I get it that Conrart is best boi (no, it's Wolf obviously, but anyway) for most but that doesn't mean you get to do this.

I started off with the anime (through Youtube way back a few years) and never associated with comments or anything. Even then, with all the ConYu going on and Wolf being shown as a possessive fiance, I still preferred YuuRam over all (And why did we have Sara×Yuuri again? It is clear that Yuuri in the novels was very clear on who was the most beautifully handsome angel in existence. The anime was so frustrating later that most of the time I just wanted Wolf to be loved- Wolfram is so much more that what the anime makes him to be). Then I discovered about the manga when I was surfing through YuuRam images (after stuffing myself with a lot of ffs- mostly anime based). The manga had so many more YuuRam scenes and the plot felt better (till it stopped following the novel- but it was still acceptable). Then ofc I discovered a queer picture that looked like a manga but wasn't like it- Thus I discovered this masterpiece of a novel! (Though most of the illustrations feel so baised towards ConYu... I can baredly get YuuRam scenes). My love for YuuRam and our angel Honey-chan has been growing all this while (from anime to novel and beyond).

I am actually glad I discovered MaruMa now, as we have all the novels properly translated and all. I feel so bad for the whole franchise, as not only YuuRam but even the characters were compromised to keep up to the wishes. The best thing about this novel is how it breaks so many stereotypes! Japan has an obsessiveness with constancy. One of the reasons for ConYu gaining more favour was because of that. At that point the only known trope in Yaoi was strong tall seme×meek small uke. While at that point, when the cover was enough for you to know the positions, Takabayashi-sensei introduced a couple who were, in every way, equal.

Since we are talking about ffs, I read a lot of them before reading the manga (and still read sometimes) and most of them were YuuRam! We are talking around 2009s. At that point, most of the KKM international fans were that of the anime. Still there were so many of them who wanted so much more of YuuRam that they wrote down their fantasies and wishes in the form of fanfics. There would've been so many more MaruMa fans if only they did it justice.

Yeah, so basically, I agree with the statement that don't try to change the canon. Nothing will come of it. Not even dying patients can escape from our angel's presence (so much so that they come to life) so how can mere mortals like us compete? And, the amount of fluff in the novels is pure bliss. Yuuri is more head-over-heels for Wolf than Wolfram and he is even starting to accept it already.

In short YuuRam is Canon and Wolf deserves every ounce of love in this whole universe!

P.S: Sorry I went off on this long rant. I love this work too much! A must read work!!

Maruma novels in China

I heard something strange.

Because watching the Yuuram’s video in BILIBILI website (Like a YouTube of China) in this year, I retrieved the love of Wolfyu. (Yuuram is ok for me now. I think both of them are the same.) I read these novels(KKM) 14 years ago, but I didn’t want to find any other resource of KKM’s on the net then. I started to search them and met some Yuuram’s fans of China a few months ago. They told me some terrible things about the rumors of KKM. It really shocked me.

The Yuuram’s fans left the ship in China.

They knew Yuuram and loved them because of animate. They weren’t willing to read the original of KKM, because someone spread the rumors that Conyuu is canon in novels without any Yuuram. In this era of network development, those rumormongers spread not only this rumors but also other rumors of all of Maruma authority are Conyuu’s fans including author, painter and official staffs. It made an amount of Yuuram’s fans in China sad and broke their hearts. They didn’t know why Takabayashi sensei let Wolf got engaged to Yuuri. They thought It was unfair for Wolf after being told the canon is Conyuu. Those rumors made many of them so sad that they left this ship. Until now, many Yuuram’s fans of China believe those rumors. They also tell me the animate of KKM was ever popular in China until playing KKM 3rd season. But Wolfram’s fans were still many in that time. I know KKM 3rd season is not good. That’s one of the main reasons they left quickly. The others are those rumors.

Someone did sinister things to Yuuram.

I tell them the truth. They start to read the novels and manga. After reading those, they never believe rumors that Conyuu is canon. They say it’s incredible that they have been tricked for 12 years. It’s “two wrongs make a right”. Recently, we found the original of “Love Letter” and translated it. They were as mad as hell because seeing incomplete version in Chinese before. That lost some parts of Yuuram and misinterpreted of the original. It made like a Conyuu novel more. That someone translating it is a Conyuu’s fan. They told me that Conyuu’s fans not only spread the rumors but also attacked Yuuram’s fans.

The one: They even grabbed the Baidu (the search engine of China) personal webmaster of Wolf’s and destroyed it a few years ago. Yuuram’s fans found that and complained to Baidu Official Website. This matter was resolved.

The other: They impersonated Yuuram’s fans to attack themselves and took a screenshot. They spread that Yuuram’s fans were too extreme to get along with them with a false evidence.

I don’t know what to say that because it’s so preposterous and unbelievable. How crazy they were!

Now we do somethings.

My friends and I know that it’s not all of Conyuu’s fans like them. But the crazy people are more than rational ones’ very much. We think they are so jealous of “Royal Couple” that they do those terrible things.

Anyway, we decide to translate the shorten-novels in Chinese by ourselves. In Chain, they can’t search the resources of KKM on foreign website due to some restriction. I provide those resources and my friends translate those. We want to let the Maruma’s fandom see the full translation. It’s a huge project. We hope that rumors will be disappeared after promoting correct information in China. I believe we can do it.

It was such a beautiful scene

“The lingering chilly wind after the rain clears tells that winter is on its way. But the warmth in my chest proves that the light surely burns. Though it’s so tiny that it might go out with a slight puff of air, it surely burns.”

Fruits Basket S2 EP15

This is so beautiful....truly...

Fruit Basket (2019) EP 3 Candle analogy quote~ ✨

Tohru & Yuki moment where Tohru explains to him what what kindness is based on her Mum's words and describes Yuki's kindness is like a candle 🕯️

You’re a human, Eugeo. Just like me.

Every time you make a mistake, you continue to struggle to find this meaning.

YES

Kyo: this is my girlfriend Tohru, and her girlfriend Rin, and Rin's boyfriend Hatsuharu, and Hatsuharu's boyfriend Yuki, and Yuki's girlfriend Machi

So true. I am so glad Yuki and Machi ended up together. They are totally meant for each other. And Mutsuki is just so sincere in loving his parents... I love them.

One thing I really, really love about Yuki and Machi is how they normalise being messy.

Often in fictional works, whenever we see a character’s room, it’s always tidy, cute, and styled in an aestheticly pleasing way that reflects a character’s personality. And whilst I’m sure that there are many people actually like this, for a lot of us, this is an impossible standard, and it can really feel like you’re doing something wrong when your personal spaces don’t look anything like the beautiful ones often presented in media.

Speaking as someone who struggles with depression (and minor hoarding issues), most days I’m not in the right mental space and can’t really muster the energy to clean, and I always feel extremely guilty and frustrated when I see the clutter around me, because to me it’s a representation of my incompetence and inability to function. So it actually does mean something when Takaya-sensei says through her characters that, whilst you shouldn’t let your messiness become a safety hazard, that a little bit of clutter and disarray is ok, even good.

So when I see Machi, who can’t maintain a clean room because of her mental health, I feel seen. When I see Yuki, who’s messiness isn’t presented as a character flaw, but rather, just a part of him and something that may even bring comfort to others, I feel relieved. When I see Mutsuki, who is actually proud that he inherited his parents’ habits because it brings them closer together, I feel just a little bit better about myself.

(bonus machi’s beautiful room)

This is me

anime_irl

Have to keep this going

A repost of a repost but I had to see this so you do too.

Really, thank you for making this blog where you talk about YuuRam! There are not many places or people who talk about this wonderful couple.

Hi! I’m Chara. Thanks for all the information you have provided for all Yuuram fans (including me, of course). Your notes are really enjoyable to read. Do you know if there is any chat groups or forums that we can talk about this ship? I can’t find any. Thank you.

Hi Chara!

I wish I could be of more help and direct you to a forum, but people don’t really use forums or facebook anymore, most of the maruma fandom is either on tumblr or discord. I use tumblr to talk about yuuram and maruma, because people can post fanwork or talk about it and stay on topic. (You can simply reblog someone elses’s post and engage in conversation).

The way you find post on tumblr is by using tags . For example if you use #kyou kara maou; your post will show up here: https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/kyou-kara-maou If you’re interested in #yuuram: You can check https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/yuuram When we had more people around we used to have online meetings once every 2 months or so, we would gather for a few hours and chat all together about maruma while watching something. But as fewer people started showing up, we stopped having the meetings. The other option is discord. I tried discord for a while, but everyone kept going off-topic (talking about cats and their personal lives), and it’s not for me. I care about maruma, and want to talk about maruma. If you use discord, I’m sure you can look kyou kara maou on that website/app and find active groups. ( But the only active group I know of had fans of different characters, so it wasn’t yuuram).

So tumblr is the most organized place I know to meet people and talk about yuuram with other yuuram fans. If you find any other place, I’d love to hear about it, but as far as I know, we’re mostly around here.

Your analysis and breakdown is awesome and detailed as always. It feels really good to read these and then remember the original at the same time!

I just love the way the whole scene plays and while Yuuri makes more than just a confession to Wolf. Plus, him giving Wolf anything also reminded me of the seisakoku arc. That arc was so bittersweet♡

For the point 3 though, I think they were already an accepted couple waaaay back right after that whole slap incident. (I think it's only Günter at this point who cannot properly digest it🤣)

Can never get enough of those cultural differences🤣🤣 Meow

P.S: Conrart needs a hug at this point, really.

You said misepan 2 is one of ur favorite yuuram short stories, can u give an analysis of it please!

Hello anon!

Ok! But I would really recommend reading it.  I have said this many times, there's something about Takabayashi-sensei style, the way she writes her stories, that I really, really like.

Misepan 2

Title: Misepan, means "Showing panties". So the first part (written 2 years prior and almost completely disconnected of part 2), was about a bet Murata thought for Yuuri. Yuuri said he was unpopular and Murata said he wasn't and bet Yuuri he could get someone to "show him their panties."

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Summary of part 1: In part 1, some chick was looking for a ring her bf gave her in the river and Yuuri helped her. That and the bet is the entire story.

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Intro: Misepan 2 starts in Shin Makoku. The topic of 'lost item' continues. This time it's Yuuri who has lost something very important. A hand made necklace that Greta gave him.

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The first part shows Yuuri and Wolfram around the castle. Yuuri tells Wolf he's looking for the necklace because he lost it. They meet Cherie-sama, who is wearing a maid suit and bunny ears and tells Yuuri that she wants Wolf to wear the same to attract customers for her new shop (a bar to find love).

Wolfram says he will refuse because of the bunny ears, because Yuuri hates rabbits (the mascot of Seibu Lions opposite team is an orange rabbit). Cherie mentions Wolfram used to love rabbits as a kid, because cats grabbed the attention of Gwen, and that they need Wolfram's help to cure Yuuri's rabbit-hate. (Yuuri is thinking he doesn't hate rabbits just that mascot from that team).

Yuuri calls Wolfram 'Honey-chan', and Wolfram gets angry and tells him that because he's younger he doesn't have a right to call him that. (Yuuri monologues that 'it hurt him to have Wolf remind him he is younger’)

When Yuuri mentions the lost item made by Greta, Cherie-sama remembers the 'pig soap' that Wolfram made for her. To which Wolfram mentions that it wasn't a pig, it was, of course, Cherie-sama herself. XD Cherie sama goes speechless due to the shock and Yuuri pulls Wolfram by the hand, and trots away from that place; so that he wouldn't see them fight.

Wolfram and Yuuri are alone again, and when Yuuri reveals he needs the necklace because he's going with Greta to the zoo the next day, Wolfram starts unbuttoning his shirt.

Yuuri panics saying he shouldn't be exposing his skin , people could see him ! What if some younger girl saw his bare exposed chest!  Yuuri is making a huge scene as if Wolfram were undressing. He seems jealous that someone might steal a glimpse of his beautiful chest.

At any rate, Wolfram shows him a necklace, just like Yuuri's. So it turns out that Greta made the same necklace for all 3 people in the family, Wolf, Yuuri and herself. Yuuri also notices that the stone used in all 3 are the color of Wolfram's eyes.

Wolfram says he will lend it to Yuuri for the zoo trip.

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Important scene:

Yuuri holds Wolfram's necklace still around Wolf's neck with both hands, and then pushes it against Wolfram's chest.

And says he can't accept borrowing it.

Wolfram asks why, wouldn't you do the same for me, if I needed something and you had it.

Yuuri says: "Of course I would."

At this moment, Yuuri has both his hands on Wolfram's bare chest. He goes into a monologue about how anyone would get 'blood rushing' to their brain, if they had both hands on their partner's bare chest, feeling how their heartbeat is the same as their own, and were thinking about something serious. He's overwhelmed and needs to take a moment.

Then he says:" when it comes to things that I can give you, I would give you anything, Wolf. But this is different. Because it's a handmade item. I'm sure that the shape of the stone is slightly different."

--------------------------------------------------- Important scene analysis: This scene is huge. Let’s analyze:

Yuuri: 1) Has both hands on Wolfram's bare chest 2) Gets blood rushing to his brain (to be taken literal and/or a symbolism for arousal) 3) feels Wolfram's heartbeat beating at the same rhythm as his own (symbolism for being in sync, one person, in love) 4) is thinking about everything he would "do" 5) says he's thinking about "something serious"

He's overwhelmed. Can't function. He takes a while to calm down and when he does, he tells Wolfram that "When it comes to things he can 'give him' he would give him anything."

Do you remember the 5 last points? Touching Wolf, aroused, in love, thinking about Wolf, and a "serious matter".

The undertone here is that 'anything' is referring to his virginity.

There was a time in novel 2, when he thought he was going to 'lose " his virginity to Wolf. But here, he's very clear when he says, he would 'give' it to him. It's those little things in the stories that brings back a memory of past things that happened and wraps them up with a little bow.

It's such a good scene. And although it has this sexual undertone, I like to see it more for the theme of 'sacrifice'.

He loves Wolf so much there is nothing he wouldn't give to Wolf. His virginity is cool, but what about his life? Is he thinking about that? If he's thinking about everything he would give to him, and this overwhelmed him. Is he thinking about that too?

I mean, who hasn't thought of that? What would you do for a loved one? How far would you go? And here Yuuri says it clearly to Wolfram, he would give him anything.

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Second part Gwendal is trying to find Yuuri because he found out about the lost item and thinks it can cause an international problem. The rumors have exaggerated what happened. Conrad also shows up, and Wolfram tells Yuuri to escape. Conrad follows him and Wolf stays there to stop Gwendal.

Yuuri sees Wolf as the bravest man alive, then this scene happens:

---------------------- Interesting scene: Wolfram: "Don't worry! It is a husband's job to rub their henachoko wife's ass!"

Yuuri: "Wait isn't it, maybe, "It is a wife's job to wipe her husband's ass" ? Yeah, maybe. No, I mean, I'm sure."

Conrad: "Eh? You're letting him call you henachoko? How generous. Well, then let us rely on Lord von Bielefeld's words"

------------------------ Analysis of this scene: Preamble: Before we get into it-> Because Japan has like a 4000 year old culture, and the 'couples' terms are always 'female' and 'male', we see a lot of 'wife' and 'husband' even between two males. Some may read into it (the top/bottom stereotype from the 90s), and I will analyze it too, but there's also a lot about 'kanjis' having certain associations that don't really fit the gender of same sex partners.

Analysis:

1) Wolfram makes a joke about rubbing Yuuri's ass (and asserts he's the husband and it's his duty)

2) Yuuri says the proverb is incorrect and "Isn't it "it's the wife's duty to wipes her husband ass?" But then he says maybe I don't know, I'm not sure.

3) Conrad is only surprised at the lack of complain of "henachoko", and not all the other married couple/sexual innuendos they've been throwing at each other.

This is the Conrad I love. He's so supportive of Yuuri and Wolf. He could have said something like "Wait, how long have you been married?" and make them both self conscious, but he didn't.  Conrad is great, and I love him and he deserves all the best. I'm a yuuram fan, but I love Conrad. He's an awesome character and a sweety. He's been through so much and I feel sorry for everything he's been put through, simply because the fans forced Takabayashi sensei to bring him back from the dead. (Additional info: Conrad was supposed to die in novel 5 and Takabayashi sensei spent many years trying to kill him after that, but the 'Conrad' fans didn't let her. This has lead to Conrad just 'floating around' in the novels... she was so angry she even made him the enemy for a while)

About the proverb: I couldn't find the actual proverb Wolf and Yuuri are talking about. The internet says two things: 1) it's a wife's duty to cut her husband's ear hair, and 2) it's a wife's duty to take care of her husband's arousal. Now I have no clue whether either of them are old sayings ... I simply couldn't find it.

But here's my interpretation. 1) Wolf says it's his duty to protect Yuuri as the husband 2) Yuuri says isn't that the wife's role? and in the end he's confused about the proverb. I think Takabayashi-sensei is 1, throwing sexual innuendos as usual here, and 2 is bringing ambiguity to the whole top/bottom stereotype. "Is he the top? Am I? I don't know", is what Yuuri says about this.

I think, as mentioned before, sensei addresses the top/bottom topic (because it's actually very uncommon not to bring it up), and says : yeah whatever, who cares.

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Third part : Yuuri has a scene with Conrad, where he realizes that his necklace was shorter than Wolf’s so that both, the blue maseki and the emerald necklace Greta made, won’t become entangled. Yuuri is moved thinking that Greta even thought about that.

They find the necklace Yuuri lost, and this part ends with:

"Things will always return to the place they should be."

This makes me happy. It makes me think that Yuuri will always be back to Shin Makoku no matter what. I hope that Takabayashi-sensei sticks to her words.

And there’s another clear meaning: Conrad (blue maseki) and Wolf (the emerald necklace) will not entangle and cause problems. Conrad will continue to be the friend, and Wolf will continue to be the spouse, and the ‘necklaces’ won’t disturb one another. Another very important symbolism. Everyone has their place and role, and won’t mix, entangle or bother Yuuri. 

----------------------------------------

Last part:

The end of the story goes back to the main story in Misepan 1. So Yuuri is there with the chick looking for her bf’s ring. An old dude sees them, then the three find a bag full of gold in the river and they appear on TV.

In the end, Yuuri gets shown panties "mise pan" by the old dude. And the story wraps itself with a joke.

In the afterword Takabayashi sensei admits she didn't know how to end the story. This means, for what I can understand, that she just wanted to talk about the royal family necklace and Yuuri and Wolf, while finishing up a story he had to finish for the DVD set.

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The main reasons why I love this story :

1) There’s a new canon yuuram trope:" the family necklace”. This necklace is the color of Wolfram’s eyes. Greta was the one to chose it, too. She could have chosen ‘black’, the royal color and the color of Yuuri’s hair and eyes (that everyone loves in Shin Makoku), but instead she chose the color of Wolf’s eyes. I feel this is a symbolism Takabayashi sensei threw in there to make sure everyone understands it’s not Yuuri and Greta anymore, Wolfram is 100% part of that family, and it’s his color that binds the family together.

2) Yuuri’s line: “When it comes to things that I can give you I would give you anything Wolf”. As analyzed before, this is the ultimate expression of love, and he has said it clearly to Wolfram out in the open.

3) Yuuri and Wolf as established as a couple as they can be, not only between themselves, but also by others. Out in the open they’re calling each other husband and wife (in front of Dacascos and Conrad), and no one even questions this. Meaning it’s been a long time since people have known them as such.

4) Yuuri calling Wolfram Honey-chan (and Wolfram getting angry due to cultural misunderstandings)

Anyway, it’s a really great story! Please read it!

I agree with the last point you made. Greta is her own person and Yuuri and Wolf understand and support it. And, we all know that Yuuri, being raised on Earth, has accepted the circle of life and death and it's short span (even though we still don't know about his acceptance of his long life- if he would have one). Plus, Wolfram slowly accepting Conrart shows his slow acceptance of losing his loved ones while he is still 'young'. I am sure that the moment they thought of becoming a parent to Greta they must've, at some point, thought of this issue.

This just gave me a nice fanfic idea. Mind if I borrow it?

Something I’ve been curious about but haven’t seen anyone bring this up but since Greta is a human does that mean she’ll age Wayyy faster than her dads (wolf and yuri) like she’s human so she’ll age like one right? Hence her lifespan is much shorter, am I correct? (And like does this mean she might like die before them????)

Hi anon!

This has been brought up a couple of times over the years, but it’s always good to revisit the topic for the new fans. Option 1: They can all move to Earth and age at the same rate

The ‘moving to earth’ thing would be a fix to the problem. The fathers would only be slightly older, but they could still be a happy family and all age at the same rate. (I also think Takabayashi sensei is partial to the word ‘daddy’ in English for Wolf, as shown in her work.)  In Yuuri’s ‘dream’ Wolf and Greta aged at the same rate as him, meaning this is most likely what would happen if they moved to Earth.

However, Takabayashi sensei has said she does not want to have an ‘Earth arc’ (her excuse is that the anime team did it before she had a chance and now she can’t do it). Whether she’ll stick to this or not it’s up to her.

---------------------------------------------------------

Option 2: Magic/Majutsu/Maryoku

How did the mazoku end up aging so slowly? The green tribe. (novel 1) They’ve only been in Shin Makoku for 2000 years and people are already averaging a life span of 400 years (In “Do you want an exorcism?”, Yuuri said the "middle aged/old meddling neighbor lady” was about 250, 80x5= 400 ). 

Before the green tribe showed up mazoku aged at the same rate as humans. It was the green tribe’s healing majutsu that caused the longevity of mazoku. In fact, earth mazoku age at the same rate as humans. The difference being that there’s no maryoku on earth.

What about Yuuri, what is it that he does again? Oh right, yeah, his box is the box of regeneration. And what else can he do? Yup, healing.

And who has he healed already? Greta.  In fact, Greta is the only person he has healed. He tried healing Wolf, too, but he would let him. 

An absolute possibility is that Greta gets so irradiated with healing majutsu that it will naturally slow her aging.

---------------------------------------------------------

Option 3: Natural aging, but it’s okay

Yes, Greta is the cute little princess of Shin Makoku now, but she’s getting educated to be queen. Remember when in novel 4, Hyscliff told Yuuri, what if her people want her back? What if she becomes queen? Shouldn’t she be prepared? Yuuri agreed and sent her to study abroad. In fact, she spends half her life getting educated to be queen.

Yes, she wants to be a ‘trap lady’ and have adventures now. She would love following in Anissina’s footsteps. But she’s 10.

Greta could very much end up having to return to Svelera. Currently, the revolutionary government is ‘destroying monuments of the past’ to erase the memories. So clearly people are still very much remembering their monarchs. She might be given a chance to go back. What if she’s 16+ and can choose? What if she wants to do it?  There’s a another huge possibility that she’ll have to part from Yuuri and Wolf’s side much sooner. At 16, Yuuri would be 22.

But it’s okay. It’s life. When Yuuri had to see her leave for Cavalcade there were tears too, but it’s part of growing up. And if Greta wants to return to her country, she should.

She’ll marry, have a family and Yuuri and Wolf will have time to adapt to her being away, being grandparents, visiting, etc.

Greta will grow up one way or another. Who wants to be a kid forever? And that’s okay. When people say “Omg! she’ll age way faster!" it’s like they forget that parents don’t really have their kids at home forever. Sure you visit your kids and grand kids, but you don’t live with them. You let them go be their own person.

People make it seem like ‘she’s dying now!’, but that’s not it. She’ll grow older and separate from her fathers long before she dies. She’ll live a full life, marry? rule? have adventures? have kids? all of this in her own life without her fathers, long before she dies. (I know, they’ll visit; but if you’re old enough to understand, you know living with parents and getting a visit once a month, or every half a year, is not the same)

And sure, yeah. It’ll be sad if she passes of old age and Yuuri and Wolf are still young, but look! It’s okay. 

Culturally, we say things like “A parent should never bury a child” but that’s only because due to the rules of our bodies, if a child dies before the parents it is due to a tragic event/ illness” not because they lived their lives to the fullest.

We have many cultural pre-conceptions that wouldn’t apply, if , like in this case, both the parent and child can live long fulfilled lives. As the child of old parents, I wouldn’t mind if they they were young and lived happily while I die of old age. Who would? They’re family and you love them. 

When it comes to a fantasy world like this, we need to expand our mind a little bit and try to get rid of cultural bias to understand what a full natural life cycle would entail when it comes to Greta aging and Yuuri and Wolf’s perception of it.

Have You Ever Seen An Eclipse From Space? Check It Out

On June 21, 2020 an annular solar eclipse passed over parts of Asia and Africa. Eclipses happen when the Moon lines up just right between the Sun and Earth, allowing it to block out part or all of the Sun’s bright face and cast a shadow on Earth. 

On that day, the International Space Station was orbiting over Kazakhstan and into China when this picture of the solar eclipse shadowing a portion of the Asian continent was captured by an external high definition camera. In the left foreground, is the H-II Transfer Vehicle-9 from Japan.

Here is another angle as seen from the orbital lab. In the left foreground, is the Progress 74 resupply ship from Russia.

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Constellations and the Calendar

Did you recently hear that NASA changed the zodiac signs? Nope, we definitely didn’t…

…Here at NASA, we study astronomy, not astrology. We didn’t change any zodiac signs, we just did the math. Here are the details:

First Things First: Astrology is not Astronomy…

Astronomy is the scientific study of everything in outer space. Astronomers and other scientists know that stars many light-years away have no effect on the ordinary activities of humans on Earth.

Astrology, meanwhile, is something else. It’s the belief that the positions of stars and planets can influence human events. It’s not considered a science.

Some curious symbols ring the outside of the Star Finder. These symbols stand for some of the constellations in the zodiac. What is the zodiac and what is special about these constellations?

Imagine a straight line drawn from Earth though the sun and out into space way beyond our solar system where the stars are. Then, picture Earth following its orbit around the sun. This imaginary line would rotate, pointing to different stars throughout one complete trip around the sun – or, one year. All the stars that lie close to the imaginary flat disk swept out by this imaginary line are said to be in the zodiac.

The constellations in the zodiac are simply the constellations that this imaginary straight line points to in its year-long journey.

What are Constellations?

A constellation is group of stars like a dot-to-dot puzzle. If you join the dots—stars, that is—and use lots of imagination, the picture would look like an object, animal, or person. For example, Orion is a group of stars that the Greeks thought looked like a giant hunter with a sword attached to his belt. Other than making a pattern in Earth’s sky, these stars may not be related at all.

Even the closest star is almost unimaginably far away. Because they are so far away, the shapes and positions of the constellations in Earth’s sky change very, very slowly. During one human lifetime, they change hardly at all.

A Long History of Looking to the Stars

The Babylonians lived over 3,000 years ago. They divided the zodiac into 12 equal parts – like cutting a pizza into 12 equal slices. They picked 12 constellations in the zodiac, one for each of the 12 “slices.” So, as Earth orbits the sun, the sun would appear to pass through each of the 12 parts of the zodiac. Since the Babylonians already had a 12-month calendar (based on the phases of the moon), each month got a slice of the zodiac all to itself.

But even according to the Babylonians’ own ancient stories, there were 13 constellations in the zodiac. So they picked one, Ophiuchus, to leave out. Even then, some of the chosen 12 didn’t fit neatly into their assigned slice of the pie and crossed over into the next one.

When the Babylonians first invented the 12 signs of zodiac, a birthday between about July 23 and August 22 meant being born under the constellation Leo. Now, 3,000 years later, the sky has shifted because Earth’s axis (North Pole) doesn’t point in quite the same direction.

The constellations are different sizes and shapes, so the sun spends different lengths of time lined up with each one. The line from Earth through the sun points to Virgo for 45 days, but it points to Scorpius for only 7 days.  To make a tidy match with their 12-month calendar, the Babylonians ignored the fact that the sun actually moves through 13 constellations, not 12. Then they assigned each of those 12 constellations equal amounts of time.

So, we didn’t change any zodiac signs…we just did the math.

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See the Closest Ever Images of the Sun

Solar Orbiter just released its first scientific data — including the closest images ever taken of the Sun.

Launched on February 9, 2020, Solar Orbiter is a collaboration between the European Space Agency and NASA, designed to study the Sun up close. Solar Orbiter completed its first close pass of the Sun on June 15, flying within 48 million miles of the Sun’s surface.

This is already closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft has taken pictures (our Parker Solar Probe mission has flown closer, but it doesn’t take pictures of the Sun). And over the next seven years, Solar Orbiter will inch even closer to the Sun while tilting its orbit above the plane of the planets, to peek at the Sun’s north and south poles, which have never been imaged before.

Here’s some of what Solar Orbiter has seen so far.

The Sun up close

Solar Orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager, or EUI, sees the Sun in wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light that are invisible to our eyes.

EUI captured images showing “campfires” dotting the Sun. These miniature bright spots are over a million times smaller than normal solar flares. They may be the nanoflares, or tiny explosions, long thought to help heat the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, to its temperature 300 times hotter than the Sun’s surface. It will take more data to know for sure, but one thing’s certain: In EUI’s images, these campfires are all over the Sun.

The Polar and Helioseismic Imager, or PHI, maps the Sun’s magnetic field in a variety of ways. These images show several of the measurements PHI makes, including the magnetic field strength and direction and the speed of flow of solar material.

PHI will have its heyday later in the mission, as Solar Orbiter gradually tilts its orbit to 24 degrees above the plane of the planets, giving it a never-before-seen view of the poles. But its first images reveal the busy magnetic field on the solar surface.

Studying space

Solar Orbiter’s instruments don’t just focus on the Sun itself — it also carries instruments that study the space around the Sun and surrounding the spacecraft.

The Solar and Heliospheric Imager, or SoloHi, looks out the side of the Solar Orbiter spacecraft to see the solar wind, dust, and cosmic rays that fill the space between the Sun and the planets. SoloHi captured the relatively faint light reflecting off interplanetary dust known as the zodiacal light, the bright blob of light in the right of the image. Compared to the Sun, the zodiacal light is extremely dim – to see it, SoloHi had to reduce incoming sunlight by a trillion times. The straight bright feature on the very edge of the image is a baffle illuminated by reflections from the spacecraft’s solar array.

This first data release highlights Solar Orbiter’s images, but its in situ instruments also revealed some of their first measurements. The Solar Wind Analyser, or SWA instrument, made the first dedicated measurements of heavy ions — carbon, oxygen, silicon, and iron — in the solar wind from the inner heliosphere.

Read more about Solar Orbiter’s first data and see all the images on ESA’s website.

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Why does it take so long for the rover to reach Mars?

Can we hear mars from this rover?

What, in your opinion, is Perseverance's most groundbreaking experiment/ instrument?

What were some of the biggest challenges in this project and how did you overcome them?

What range/area will Perseverance be able to cover on the Martian surface? I'm assuming it's greater than the other rovers but by how much?

Will be looking forward to it!

That’s a wrap! Thank you all very much for the wonderful questions.


We’re so excited to send Perseverance off on her journey to Mars, and we will be launching on July 30 at 7:50 a.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 


If today’s Answer Time got you excited, team up with us to #CoutdownToMars! We created a virtual Mars photo booth, 3D rover experience and more for you to put your own creative touch on sending Perseverance well wishes for her launch to the Red Planet! View them all, HERE. 


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Three NASA Telescopes Look at an Angry Young Star Together

Science is a shared endeavor. We learn more when we work together. Today, July 18, we’re using three different space telescopes to observe the same star/planet system!

As our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) enters its third year of observations, it’s taking a new look at a familiar system this month. And today it won’t be alone. Astronomers are looking at AU Microscopii, a young fiery nearby star – about 22 million years old – with the TESS, NICER and Swift observatories.

TESS will be looking for more transits – the passage of a planet across a star – of a recently-discovered exoplanet lurking in the dust of AU Microscopii (called AU Mic for short). Astronomers think there may be other worlds in this active system, as well!

Our Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) telescope on the International Space Station will also focus on AU Mic today. While NICER is designed to study neutron stars, the collapsed remains of massive stars that exploded as supernovae, it can study other X-ray sources, too. Scientists hope to observe stellar flares by looking at the star with its high-precision X-ray instrument.

Scientists aren’t sure where the X-rays are coming from on AU Mic — it could be from a stellar corona or magnetic hot spots. If it’s from hot spots, NICER might not see the planet transit, unless it happens to pass over one of those spots, then it could see a big dip!

A different team of astronomers will use our Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to peer at AU Mic in X-ray and UV to monitor for high-energy flares while TESS simultaneously observes the transiting planet in the visible spectrum. Stellar flares like those of AU Mic can bathe planets in radiation.

Studying high-energy flares from AU Mic with Swift will help us understand the flare-rate over time, which will help with models of the planet’s atmosphere and the system’s space weather. There’s even a (very) small chance for Swift to see a hint of the planet’s transit!

The flares that a star produces can have a direct impact on orbiting planets’ atmospheres. The high-energy photons and particles associated with flares can alter the chemical makeup of a planet’s atmosphere and erode it away over time.

Another time TESS teamed up with a different spacecraft, it discovered a hidden exoplanet, a planet beyond our solar system called AU Mic b, with the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope. That notable discovery inspired our latest poster! It’s free to download in English and Spanish.

Spitzer’s infrared instrument was ideal for peering at dusty systems! Astronomers are still using data from Spitzer to make discoveries. In fact, the James Webb Space Telescope will carry on similar study and observe AU Mic after it launches next year.

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My poor little kokoro... ❤💖

[ Duality ]

I just want Takabayashi-sensei to work her magic already and write up the next volume! That beautiful yet exasperating cliffhanger and those extras really don't help my curious little heart!

Your analysis was great as always! I feel like there is someone there who is invested in this series just as much, if not many times more, like me.

Hi! Just wanna say I love ur blog (low key check it all the time to see if there’s anything new) but what do you believe the next book will mostly be about, what to expect from where we left off?

Hi @verydonutturtleexpert! Thanks for checking my blog, I’m sorry I’m not updating as often as I used to. It’s just a temporary thing, I’m sure I’ll be posting more often soon.  Speaking of, November 2020 is the 20th anniversary of maruma, so I hope everyone’s preparing for the celebrations.  As for what I expect the next book to be, I think it will have a lot of the info we’ve seen in some of the post novel drama cds, the manga, and the extras stories. I’ll explain why I’m taking these as reliable info soon.

My opinion on what might happen in the next novel(s)

First, let’s start with the afterword for novel 17: In it Takabayashi sensei said that the next novel will be titled: "The Ma!Light Burns in the Darkness! “ and that Wolfram might take a bit of a protagonist role in it . This makes sense because on the last chapter of novel 17, we could see that Shinou was threatening Yuuri’s and all of Wolfram’s family’s lives, if Wolfram dared to spill the secret to Yuuri.  This means that what’s happening behind closed doors can only be witnessed by Wolfram and not Yuuri, and why Yuuri can’t tell us what’s happening. 

 At the same time we have the post novel drama cd 71,  ”I can't sleep tonight". In it, Yuuri goes to Conrad to cry about how “Wolf hasn’t been around at night (he sneaks out in the middle of the night) and omg is he cheating on me!?” There’s also talk about Jozak’s recovery and how he has been visiting Murata at Shinou’s Shrine, and how Murata kicked Yuuri out when Jozak arrived, claiming he (Murata) had a cold. Now it seems that Murata and Jozak are plotting or doing something (yes a lot of love for this ship). The point is that they’re hiding something from Yuuri. Could it be they found out about the boxes that Wolf brought back without permission? Clearly Murata and Jozak are investigating whatever is happening with Wolf and Shinou. Why the drama cd? The drama cd was written with supervision of GEG and sensei, and it talks about everything that happened in the novels. (Wolf, Jozak, Murata).

Onto the manga: The manga was written by GEG, who we can assume had seen the plans sensei had for the following novels and ending, so we can imagine she tried her best to summarize that into the manga (without making Shinou the bad guy he’s being portrayed to be in the novels).

In the manga Wolfram falls into the box and is saved by Yuuri. This could very well be the case in the novels as well, with Yuuri finding out what Wolf’s been hiding and risking his life to save him.

If this happens, then the title will have a perfect double meaning: The bright light of Wolfram shining in the darkness (of Yuuri not knowing what’s been hidden from him), and the light of Yuuri/Wolf in the darkness of the box .

 Now, I don’t think Shinou will just make the boxes ‘disappear’ like in the manga (that was a very rushed ending). Instead, with Shinou as the enemy I expect a final battle to unfold. (possibly in following novels)

Most boxes except for Earth (Gwendal's) are in Shin Makoku’s possession, and probably in Shinou’s Shrine. They had Wind box after the Caloria arc ; Fire box after the Seisakoku arc, and Water box after the Prison arc.  I don’t think Saralegui is about to surrender the Earth box anytime soon so we can expect a battle with Wolf/Yuuri/Conrad(?) fighting with the boxes against Shinou . We do not know if Conrad can actually use the box at will or not). A fight with the 4 boxes would be great , but the ending seems so near and Earth box so far away (at least an arc away). Unless sensei uses a plot like “Maxine has it in Seisa and he ships it over to Shin Makoku" , which would be hilarious and fit the plot, but who knows.

What I can tell is that the climax is near... you can tell by the introduction of the ultimate enemy, Shinou, who has been toying around with everyone. It’s payback time.

In the Prison arc (nv 16, ch1), Murata said that there was a place where the boxes could ‘rest’ forever, but with Shinou’s plans to control them, it seems impossible that they could go on that last quest to put the boxes to rest until the ultimate enemy is vanished.  So I can see the novel ending with the death of the immortal Shinou, and we finding out how he became immortal, what he did to Daikenja, etc.  (I can even see Wolf maybe dying at some point to get Yuuri to use his ‘regeneration’ magic on him).

Whether sensei feels like doing some extras and following through with ‘putting the boxes to rest’ is unknown.  And this is what I think the story might have been like... IF we wouldn’t have had the ‘bad ending’ (It comes equally to anyone I) turned to drama cd (Trick or Treat), turned to canon(It comes equally to anyone II)! Where Yuuri, at some point, during this entire mess, IS SENT BACK TO EARTH! While and I quote’ everyone is in danger int he other world’. So... yeah, I don’t know what to do with that. Maybe the box thing from the manga was changed, and instead Yuuri was shipped to earth and now he’ll be back and then we’ll have the ultimate fight? Also, how long was Yuuri unconscious in the hospital? A week? A year? Impossible to know. So yeah, that’s what I’m guessing might happen in the next novels.  Oh! And don’t forget Yuuri might need to get his head fixed cuz in  ‘Do you want an exorcism?”, which also has the post novel 17 info of Yuuri getting another voice in his head (Uesama Kai) after the water box incident , there was an explanation about getting the ‘people in his head’ to fulfill their wishes so they would stop manifesting.... but maybe that won’t get fixed for a while.

Happy Birthday, Dianxia!! Thank you Zelda-san for this sweet artwork!!

Happy B-day 0715 to Xie Lian~  (ﾉ*>∀<)ﾉ ✨🎉🎁🎂

*Naughty fafa does this to get away from writing practice =u=+

HuaLian .  Heaven Official’s Blessing (天官賜福) by MXTX

This is too beautiful!!

忘机吟 Resonance of WangJi & 陳情令 Command of ChenQing 

Julia was one of the strongest woman of Shin Makoku. And, if she, at the very least, shares even one trait with Yuuri- which she most obviously does, including a more valiant spirit than him- then I don't think sitting still would be in her list of options. And I think her death might've been orchestrated. I don't think she'd just let herself die like that even under pressure.

In essence, Shinou's a jerk and a tyrant. He should really mend his ways a bit.

Thoughts on Susannah Julia?

Hi there @halfbloodworthy!

Here’s my thing with Julia: we only know about her through other people’s words. I would totally take a full novel with her story from her point of view any day.  (Would have been preferable over that ”the facade of the lady whatevs” )

Also, I feel like there are inconsistencies about her, especially when it comes to her death:

Would you really be ‘happy’ to die to let some rando become maou? What? She was gonna get married. She had trained a ton throughout her life (80+ years I calculated). She got a position in the military despite her blindness. She was a bad-ass. She fought bears. She had friends, a life, a future. She was one of the three great witches… Why couldn’t SHE be the new maou?

And here’s another inconsistency: Shinou told Conrad that Julia said she wanted him to carry her soul to earth, BUT…. according to Gunter in novel 1 ‘Yuuri’s soul’ was supposed to be reborn in Shin Makoku, but because ‘there were people who tried to take the soul , political issues, etc’ Shinou DECIDED 'after the fact’ that the new maou was going to be born on earth…. SO… how could Julia have known the future (Yuuri born on Earth) if, allegedly, not even Shinou knew?

Furthermore, considering the last novel, novel 17, where Shinou is pressuring Wolf (to allegedly practice to control his box) to keep a secret from Yuuri, “or else Yuuri and his family gets it”, I wonder if Shinou didn’t do the same to Julia and said: “Aight girl, either you die or Adalbert”, and that’s how she “happily gave her life” -> for Adalberts.

Who would be happy to die for someone who you know nothing about? What if Yuuri was an asshole? A tyrant? A piece of shit? How could she had known?! And she was young, in love, engaged! Loved by everyone, it seems.

I also have my serious doubts about Cherie, and how much she has been Shinou’s hand on land to get things happening .

Oops! She magically chose the 3 descendants of the 3 keys? And guess what? She befriended the 4th key… well well well. Isn’t that a nice little coincidence? And she also called in Conrad to get his opinion on the dress. Oopsie daisies, it must be all that air in her head. And then Julia died.

Seems pretty fishy to me.

So my opinion on Julia: She was probably cool af. She studied a lot to be one of the best, so that’s also pretty chill. I believe she was probably forced to kill herself through some sort of manipulation and wasn’t actually ‘happy’ about dying. And what I can say is that I don’t believe a word from Shinou’s mouth, even if I don’t know what really happened to her. 

Yeah, you've got a point there. She didn't exclusively mention it.

And for the Royal Wedding, I completely agree with you XD

Yuri: So let me get this straight … So I’m the Demon King which makes Conrart my Knight and Wolfram is my fiancé so which means he’s my prince now ?

Conrart: I guess you can say that pretty much sums it up

Wolfram: WHAT!? THERE’S NO WAY IM YOUR PRINCE! For one we aren’t even married yet so it’s not official.

Yuri: Oh I guess that makes sense *awkward laugh*

Wolfram: Yea stupid yuri *blush*

Conrart: So your highness have you made up your mind?

Yuri: huh uh about what *blushes*

Conrart: About being the demon king ofc

Yuri: OH haha right I think I’m going to need a little more time

Wolfram: HEY I HAVEN’T AGREED TO BE YOUR PRINCE JUST YET YOU LITTLE WHIM!*blushing*

Yuri: Don’t call me that!

Conrart: And there goes the lover quarrel *sigh*