Another Speedpainting Study.

Another speedpainting study.

Crow Time - Statue 1

Arslan Senki Chapter 118 is out! Raw here and Japanese text summary here. This chapter is one for the Gieve fans… and there’s another departure from the novels at the end.

Thank you for sharing this……

But……..guys this can’t be the end? Are they serious? This is a big big big big cliffhanger. I mean come on…..reading this feels like that there is more. This can’t be the end….or is it the end? Feels like something is missing in the story.

Psycho-Pass Providence Review (with major spoilers!!! Don’t read if you don’t want spoilers!!)

As promised, I went to see Psycho-Pass Providence at Nijo Toho Cinemas in Kyoto. They had a little merch at the theater. They also gave everyone a booklet with artwork that I’ll include at the end of this review. If you want to wait until you can see the movie, please stop reading now because I will be basically telling everything that happened, good and bad. I was glad to see more people coming to watch the movie because when I bought the tickets most seats were available! We are a small fandom, but we are loyal! Now, please understand I don’t know any Japanese, so a lot of the information here is things that happened, but I can’t tell you much about the dialogue. I’m dying for someone to translate it once the movie becomes available everywhere.

Spoilers below:

The movie starts in a ship off the coast of Kanagawa, Japan, that is being attacked by the infamous peace breakers led by Akira Ignatov, Kei’s strange brother. The men in the ship are SAD agents that are getting murdered left and right. What do the peacebreakers want? Get something from a woman named Stronoyka who is currently traveling in the ship. From the synopsis we know this woman holds a dossier that details how to destroy Sibyl (or something of the sort, can’t quite remember). Kogami is the first on the scene in a suit reminiscent of a flying squirrel, but unfortunately, he’s too late. He looks hot as hell though when he jumps in the water.

The intro with a song by Ling Tosite Sigure had me excited to be watching a Psycho-Pass movie in a movie theater and surrounded by Japanese fans of the movie. It was sweet!

To skip ahead, SAD and the MWPSB have to work together. Akane, Kogami, Ginoza, Sugo, Saiga and Frederica travel to Dejima to investigate, I think. Let’s get to the meat of what the fandom wants to know.

Kogami and Ginoza Reunited

Akane is talking to Frederica and as they’re walking towards Division 1 office, they find Ginoza grabbing Kogami by the collar and yelling at him while Sugo is trying to separate them. What was Ginoza saying? No idea, but he was probably getting back at Kogami for leaving or coming back, etc.

At some point, however, Kogami and Ginoza fight together against their enemies. There seems to be some will for reconciliation.

Akane and Kogami Reunited

Akane walks in the room with Frederica when Gino is yelling at Kogami. Ko says “Kanishkan” at some point, so I think he’s addressing Akane, but her reaction is…should I say, enigmatic? Indifferent? Maybe she’s controlling herself?

SAD and the aforementioned team travel together to Dejima, and Akane and Kogami barely talk on the way. Once there, Saiga and Kogami talk and at some point they mention Akane. Later Akane calls Kogami while he’s in his room. They both sound like they disagree about something or like something is awkward between them and Akane hangs up on him, surprising him.

The thing about this movie is that they gave Akane the cutest outfits. Especially one in a very crucial moment. I’m so glad they made her look so cute and beautiful in the movie.

At some point the infamous peacebreakers begin their attack, and in the famous explosion scene, Frederica, Saiga, Kogami and Akane are walking down a hallway when an explosion goes off. Kogami doesn’t even think once about protecting Saiga or Frederica, he straight up runs to Akane and they fall to the ground. There are some lines of dialogue here while he’s laying on top of her. This is the part when Akane gets her bruised cheek.

In another scene, after Akira basically gives himself up, Kogami is interrogating him and then another guy shows up and shoots at them. Kogami gets shot and he ends up in the hospital. Akane visits him and when he makes to start smoking, she takes the cigarette off his mouth. There’s a moment here where it seems like he’s teasing her, because he sits up on his bed and kinda leans towards her. Very cute moment between them.

Saiga

Saiga and Kogami have a long talk about many things (I assume, remember, I don’t know any Japanese) but at some point they mention Akane.

A very sad, traumatic moment for Akane. They get attacked by a specially unkillable peacebreaker and Saiga ends up being held hostage by the guy. In the last moment, what we feared happens. Saiga’s last words are for Akane. Our poor girl suffers a lot and Kogami is there to console her and help her push through. They look so good together!

Akira, Kei, Maiko, Arata and Arata’s Dad

Honestly, most of the plot escapes me. Akira at some point even fights himself. He seems to be controlled by an old man who appears to be creating his own version of Sibyl. Akane is actually invited to Kei and Maiko’s wedding and on the same night Arata’s dad, with whom she seemed to have a very good relationship (there’s a lot of dialogue between Arata’s dad and Akane), killls himself while holding a photo of his family.

Craziness Ensues

Akane agrees to meet the mastermind behind all these terror attacks while a tactical team formed by Frederica, Gino, Kogami and Sugo fighting lasers from the air attack the headquarters of the peacebreakers. Here we see for the first time the two old dudes that become obsessed with Kogami in Season 3.

While everyone is fighting and there are explosions and shooting everywhere, Akane has a dialogue with the mastermind. At some point she draws her dominator but his crime coefficient is around 40. The whole place begins to collapse and by then, the mastermind has shot Akane on the leg and has her cuffed. They discuss and debate when he shoots her again (that asshole!). By the time Kogami shows up to rescue her, the other man is pointing his gut right at Akane’s forehead while they debate. At some point Akane says something that irks the guy and he pistol whips her a little bit. Kogami shoots him and gets her out of there.

The craziest plot twist

They show Akane dressed in a ceremonial uniform (and she looks so beautiful!) while Kogami is confined to an isolation facility. He begins reading a letter she wrote to him. They show her at a ceremony where it seems she will be recognized for her achievements. It is here when Akane shoots Chief Kasei in front of everyone.

They show Mika running to arrest Akane for her crime and she yells at Akane with frustration for what she did. Akane offers no resistance. As Kogami is reading the letter he looks angry, frustrated and sad for what Akane did. Why did she do it? We will have to wait until someone translates the movie.

Akane’s face is plastered all over the news as the inspector who went crazy and killed her boss. They show a parallel of Kogami walking out of the isolation facility while Akane is walking in. They don’t cross paths, but once Akane is alone she completely breaks down sobbing uncontrollably. It was so sad to see her suffer like that! Then they show Kogami walking free on the street and he says something and then the movie ends. Did Akane go to jail because of Kogami?

I’ll write more thoughts tomorrow! Overall it was well made. Lots of CGI and explosions almost made me think at times that I was watching a Transformers movie.

I am glad that I could help you (didn’t even know what I did but yeah good 🤣)

And I am glad you finished this and shared it with us

I love it really. This is so soft and I can totally imagen Kazais soft smile when he looks down on a sleeping Shapur. Why didn’t we get a sleeping Shapur in the manga/anime, I feel betrayed

You can definitely sense the love Kazai had for Shapur through out those lines and I like the little tradition/ habit they both have. Makes their relationship somehow more sweet and the bond deeper that they both share.

And i would have loved to see their faces when they wake up the first time side by side. This must have been very hilarious 😆

The eastern sky turns a pale rose as dawn breaks over the horizon— quite the lovely shade if he says so himself.

Kazai has been awake for a while, ways before the world turned from black to indigo to pink with the rising sun and receding night. He's an early riser, always has been— even with the activities that he and Shapur were up to through the night, his body would not allow him sleep beyond dawn.

Well, it's not like he minds, anyhow.

Soft golden light streams through the high windows, all the while his beloved lays asleep and Kazai watches in gentle silence. He looks innocent, Kazai notes somewhat absently. Gone are any traces of harshness or strain on his face, as if they never were. Like he was some physical manifestation of peace, tranquility given mortal body.

If only he could extend the dawn, halt the time, for day to never come and for this contentedness to never flee Shapur's face, he would.

Oh, he would.

His beloved glows in the gentle light, and Kazai's heart leaps in this breathless sort of wonder— one that feels like it might break if he moved a single muscle... And he wonders if Shapur would look this lovely on the morn of their wedding, clothed in green and bathed in dawnlight as they both kneel before a great old tree to speak their vows.

He would look even better, he decides. The snow will have melted away, making way for them to be surrounded by the bright young blooms of early spring. Sweetness would fill the air, not only from the flowers but from their hearts as well. They'd be smiling, and oh wouldn't that be a sight to behold?

Kazai has dreamt and fantasized about getting married one day, even though in his dreams his husband-to-be was ever faceless...

But it changed one day— after they saw each other again, after... after everything, after the first time they ever slept together, after they became lovers.

And then Shapur himself proposed that they wed.

He swears he felt like he could've soared into the endless sky then.

Logically, his body ought to be too heavy to fly, he knows, but it feels too light to stay aground regardless— to have it be concrete, be tangible. To know that it's only an autumn and a winter away. To know that it will be real, though to the rest of the world he is merely Shapur's paramour. His steward and subordinate.

It doesn't matter, never will. Their children know. The Marda know. The woods and the spirits know.

And that?

That's more than enough.

Their love is strong. It will prevail.

He leans forward to press his lips on Shapur's temple, and the love of his life stirs beneath him with a soft noise.

Laughter blooms in his chest like unfurling petals, warms him from within. This is what bliss is, he thinks. And he'd like it to never end.

He still remembers the first time he stayed until Shapur woke, the restless stir of anxiety in his gut, his heart a fluttering frantic bird trapped in his ribcage.

He remembers the surprise that came from his lover, so much surprise that it knocked the sleep right out of his head in an instant.

He also remembers the first time he himself had fallen asleep in Shapur's bed in the first place, he teased Shapur for his shocked face but it wasn't like his own was any better when he woke up that morning.

It feels like something from forever ago.

Shapur has fallen back into tranquility, his breaths even and soft again. Good. It's not like Kazai wants him up at the ass-crack of dawn— he knows he can be... unusual, in this regard. Besides which, Shapur stayed up late last night. They both did. He'd much rather Shapur get some good sleep.

Kazai plants another kiss on Shapur's face before placing his ribbon and bells down on the pillow where his head previously rested. A little token, a small tradition of theirs. It too started out as an accident, but well...

Doesn't matter.

He knows Shapur will come find him later.

He always does.

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Special thanks to @marchdancer for giving me the motivation to finally finish this.

He is such an underrated character would love to see more of him

A Merlaine from the latest chapter!!