A3! Summer Troupe Gift Exchange.

A3! Summer troupe gift exchange. 

Tenma always gives signed autographs of his face and is like “hold onto that, it’ll be worth something in a few years”. Little does he know the reason why everyone is really happy to pull his name isn’t for the picture, but because he always puts $20 in the card.

Yuki always makes their gifts, that’s no surprise. It depends; sometimes it’s clothes for their plushies (like if it’s Kumon, it’ll be tiny versions of Juza’s play costumes for the Juza doll tm, or if it’s Muku it’ll be little shoujo manga cosplays for William). Other times its just custom outfits because who doesn’t love a good Yuki fit.

Misumi just gives triangles. Like, I don’t have to elaborate. If Misumi pulls your name out of the hat, you are getting a triangle. It’s that simple.

Muku will find the perfect manga to fit whatever your genre of choice is and... sobs. Like Yuki now has a collection of manga about fashion design and Misumi has a special place on his shelf for the only triangle-related manga Muku could find (it’s a geometry textbook). 

Kazunari will get you the most thoughtful gift, that he found through a TikTok advertisement. Like the gift is catered to you, so Muku is getting a manga he found on booktok or Yuki is getting some hair curler he found that is very likely a part of a pyramid scheme. It is just all very... TikTok

Kumon gives homemade gifts that are just the most wholesome things in the world. Like yes, the bonsai he gave Tenma is half dead, but he still spent the past 4 months catering to it and he is so proud. And yes, Tenma does have a special space on his shelf for it. 

I love friendship

Update: it’s gotten worse. They cried real tears over chapter 40 and recommended it to their mom.

My only claim to fame is getting multiple people to read fan fictions for fandoms they aren’t in, get emotionally invested in the characters, and then get into the fandom without ever engaging in the medium the characters are from while still being able to partake in fandom content and discourse

Yes this is a vague post about A3! And OCAM

Sakuya Sakuma | [SR] Festival of Blooming | Sakuya as Citron

Sakuya: …

Tsuzuru: (Sakuya’s watching that TV show so intensely. Wonder what it’s about.)

Tsuzuru: …Eeh!?

Sakuya: Ah, Tsuzuru-kun. What wrong?

Tsuzuru: “What’s wrong” is what I should be asking you… I figured you were watching something serious with how intently you were staring at the TV, but you’re here watching manzai performances…

Sakuya: Oh! This is a special program I recorded the other day. Do you wanna watch it with me?

Tsuzuru: No, I’m good. But the bigger question is why are YOU watching it?

Sakuya: Actually, I’m using this to role study for when I act as Citron-san.

Sakuya: So… For my performance as Citron-san, I figured I’d try out some of the many things he likes to do. And manzai was one of those things.

Tsuzuru: Many things? You’re trying out more than one?

Sakuya: Yeah! I also learned how to do a strange dance from Hisoka-san that he and Citron-san do together, and I played mahjong with the mahjong club members…

Tsuzuru: You did all that too!? So diligent…

Tsuzuru: That said, that is the Sakuya thing to do.

Sakuya: But even with all that, there’s still a side of Citron-san that’s hard to grasp.

Tsuzuru: Like what?

Sakuya: It’s just Citron-san’s natural personality. That’s why it’s difficult to play him…

Tsuzuru: Ah… That’s true. Citron-san’s originally from a royal family, the way he grew up is completely different from the way we did.

Tsuzuru: Although, the whole purpose of this project is to just “strengthen our understandings of each other”, so you shouldn’t be too worried about it.

Sakuya: But… I still want to do this as best I can, and if I’m going to act as Citron-san, I can’t leave that part out…!

Tsuzuru: There’s that strange Sakuya-like stubbornness… Well, I guess that’s still a pretty important thing regardless.

Tsuzuru: Ah, I’ve got it. How about you ask someone who knows Citron-san well as part of a royal family?

Sakuya: Someone who knows him well…

Tsuzuru: C’mon, you know one person who was watching him the closest.

Sakuya: …! Right, I’ll go ask!

· • — ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: …So, that’s why I want to know more about Citron-san when he was a prince in Zahra.

Guy: Understood, I’ll do my best to help.

Sakuya: Thank you so much!

Guy: If I remember correctly… Citronia used to study Japan a lot.

Guy: I believe he was always very lively when he was researching various things about Japanese culture in secret.

Guy: I used to often see him learning about other countries and wondering what they were like.

Sakuya: I see…

Guy: Citronia was beloved by many of the citizens of Zahra.

Guy: But now… He is loved as “Citron of MANKAI Company”.

Sakuya: …!

Guy: I liked his demeanor as the would-be-king, but now Citronia is an actor. He can be anything he would like and go anywhere he would like.

Guy: I’ve watched Citronia as royalty for a long time, but I’m sure that you know the Citronia living as an actor better than anyone, Sakuma.

Sakuya: Citron-san as an actor…

Guy: You should not play him based on what you have heard from others, but from what you have seen of him yourself, Sakuma.

Sakuya: …Got it, I’ll do that! Thank you so much!

*Door closes*

Guy: This is what you would want, correct? …Citronia.

· • — ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ — • ·

Citron: The time has finally come…!

Citron: Hmmhnmh… How will Sakuya play me… I can’t wait to see the spectacle!

Sakuya: Now I’m a little nervous with your expectations being so high…!

Citron: Don’t worry. Relax, Sakuya! Just act the way you’d like to act, like you always do~.

Citron: I won’t get mad no matter what!

Sakuya: Citron-san…

Citron: …Probably.

Sakuya: Eeh!?

Citron: Fufu, just kidding!

Sakuya: Y-You scared me…!

Citron: Now for you to put on my clothes. You can borrow these!

Sakuya: Thank you so much!

· • — ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: They should be something like this…

Citron: Oh, they were too big for you, Sakuya? Even though you’re an adult, you look like a child!

Sakuya: Ahaha… I wish I were as tall as you, Citron-san.

Citron: No, no, you are the best like this!

Sakuya: Wah! Ahaha, you’re squishing me when you hug me like that, Citron-san!

Citron: It’s like I gain a new little brother when you dress like that~.

Sakuya: Alright, I guess it’s time for me to start! And…

Sakuya: “How are you doing today, Madam!”

Sakuya: “Oh, may I have this many extra today? Thank you as always~!”

Citron: (This must be an exchange with the madams in the shopping district. Sakuya really does pay attention.)

Sakuya: “Are you lost? Follow me!”

Citron: (A scene of me helping a lost child… He’s playing all of my good moments.)

Sakuya: “Let me do a street act now. This is my partner, Tsuzuru! …It doesn’t matter if it’s manzai, as long as the audience has fun~!”

Citron: (Sakuya even did research on Citorun manzai acts… He must have studied a lot to play me.)

Sakuya: “...That is all! Yes, thank you very much~!”

Sakuya: And, scene!

Sakuya: U-Um… How was that?

Citron: …How do you think you did, Sakuya?

Sakuya: Well… I put a lot of thought into playing you, and…

Sakuya: The Citron-san I know is kind and never overlooks someone in need.

Sakuya: And he loves to make people laugh, in fact, he makes me laugh until my stomach hurts almost every time I talk to him.

Citron: Sakuya…

Sakuya: But at first, I had a hard time getting your royal-feel down.

Sakuya: But then Guy-san told me how you were adored by all the people of Zahra--.

Sakuya: So I realized the real Citron-san lies in your everyday behavior, not your royalty.

Citron: …You’re such a kind boy, Sakuya.

Sakuya: Eh?

Citron: Alright, finally we have to take the picture! Then it is mission complete!

Sakuya: Hey, Citron-san. Could I possibly borrow Citron Junior for this?

Citron: Yes, of horse! Here you go~.

Sakuya: Thank you so much!

Citron: Okay. 3, 2, 1… Say cheese!

Citron: You have a wonderful smile.

Sakuya: Because I’m imitating you, Citron-san!

Citron: By the way, Sakuya. Why did you decide to take the picture with Citron Junior?

Sakuya: Umm, well… Because you have gone on many travels, and you and Citron Junior have gone to so many places together.

Sakuya: When I thought of that, it felt like it was something that the actor Citron-san would do, not the royal Citron-san… Maybe.

Citron: The actor me…

Sakuya: So since this Citron Junior goes to so many places, he’s like a symbol of how much free you are now…

Sakuya: So that’s why I wanted to take a picture with this little guy!

Citron: …!

Sakuya: So now you can go anywhere, Citron-san. Not just Zahra.

Sakuya: And I believe that you can bring smiles to people beyond MANKAI and to all over Japan… No, all over the world.

Sakuya: And through my acting, I was able to see just how much of a loving person the Citron-san I know is!

Citron: …

Sakuya: Wahwah! It kinda hurts when you hug me that tightly…!

Citron: …I’m glad. I really am glad.

Citron: I promise I will continue to make everyone smile like I always have.

Sakuya: Citron-san…

Citron: But you have to do it with me! Okay, Sakuya?

Sakuya: Yeah!

top 5 homares

ok so hopefully quick saeru thread on why trying to empathize with him actually undermines his role as a character (im making this because im very passionate abt kagepro's overall narrative and it's themes, and saeru is a core part of that as the villain) this was originally on twitter and is very long so im putting it under the read more lol

to start off, all of azami's snakes were created from some sort of trauma or surivial instinct. despite his sentience saeru is STILL one of those snakes. his feelings are technically fabricated from azami's desire to find herself and later on her fear of change. the reason i believe he is sentient is the fact he was born from such a complicated wish, so he was created with the necessary complicity in order to carry out said wish for azami. and factors like other people, weren't taken into account for his creation. so the sentience wasn't an issue for the hundreds of years azami would be alone. it only became an issue when she met tsukihiko and started a family. this was an unexpected turnout on saeru's part, because the world azami created was one created from isolation and despair. saeru doesn't have the capacity to understand love or kindness because he wasn't born from it. (this is why the idea of him caring for kenjirou doesnt make sense either but thts a whole other can of worms). what he has for azami isnt love, it's devotion. such severe devotion that he is willing to do things that only hurt her just because it's what he believes is right for her. he has to keep living bc she needs him to survive. so now that we've kind of established saeru's character we can move on to his role in the narrative... kagepro obviously revolves around the idea of repeating time, or timeloops. from a simple story perspective it's because of saeru, he pushes marry to the brink of despair, causing her to rewind time in order to be with her friends again. going a bit deeper in manga route 2, we find out his real motivation is to keep living in order to grant azami's wish to find her true self. so lets go back to the idea saeru is only created from azami's loneliness, or her crushing isolation of simply existing, and combine it with the idea that SAERU is the one causing the world to repeat. that saeru hates the idea that azami could find happiness in others. that saeru believes azami cannot be happy in a world created in her image. that saeru causes so much suffering he recreates a medusa in marry, and he feasts off of that despair. what does this mean? thematically saeru is supposed to represent the idea of resisting change, resisting it through constantly forcing oneself to relive traumatizing and hurtful moments in life out of a belief that this is what it always should be. from the comfort in despair. so lets take that and apply it to a different character, the protagonist, shintaro. specially route x shintaro. in route x shintaro refuses to forget ayano, replaying moments in his head over and over and over where he shouldve reached out, shouldve done better. he ignores ene, someone who cares for him and wants to help him, because he believes that by completely indulging himself in his despair and regret over ayano, she will continue to live on in his mind. so, what is that similar to? it almost directly parallels to saeru's idea of causing despair in order to feed off of it to survive. but, there is something that separates saeru from route x shintaro. the fact that shintaro can understand love. when he deletes ene, he almost immediately regrets it. and is horrified by what he's done. he's so horrified that he literally ends his own life, essentially ending ayano's memory. this is the exact opposite of what saeru wants. saeru is desperate to keep living. to keep the despair, bc it's all he is. without it he's nothing. without it, azami is nothing. if saeru was meant to be empathized with, then it would encourage literally every bad thing to happen in kagepro's story. bc he is a representation of that, and can almost parallel to every character with it. kano's painful emotional stagnation, the unhealthy devotion seto has to marry resulting in neglect of his loved ones, kido's belief that she was born

essentially broken, etc. all of these r themes that show in saeru's character. the character that brutally kills the mekakushi dan over and over, seeing their lives as little more then warped reflections of his master. he views it as a game, he finds joy in tragedy. he mocks marry for finding love just like azami had, he mocks her for trying to change the repeating story he had written. he's a hypocrite, because just as marry tries to gain autonomy so is he. so basically, he is portrayed as pure evil because he is the resistance to finding happiness through others despite pain and trauma, and the entire point of kagepro is learning to love the world despite all of the horrible things in it because at least one person can still love another. that the time spent with others can be some of the most precious things in a lifetime, that even when those times pass, those feelings never leave. saeru is a subversion of this, basically screaming in the readers face that "good feelings are temporary and bad ones last forever". he is a direct antithesis to the narrative marry attempts to create as the new medusa, not a a story created from the despair of loneliness, but one from love and care. if saeru was ever meant to be empathized with, then it undermines the themes of summer time record completely. saeru is supposed to be a complete monster, and interpreting otherwise warps the themes jin is trying to portray in the first place.

I'm gonna miss this game so much where else do you get this kinda nonsense