@shenanigumi / shenanigumi.tumblr.com
The ultimate ship meme for HaraChi ❤
Oh, there you are! Or someone else taking the opportunity to ask. (I wish read-mores still worked on asks, since it’s a long one…)
General:
Wedding:
Sex:
Children:
Cooking:
Chores:
Misc:
For real this sounds like a really weird request but HC on how the boys would react to MC being on their period and being more snippy then usual and what not
Not so weird that other people haven’t asked similar questions in the past! Can’t for the life of me find them, since they’re part of the infamous Truth or Truth series and are thus ill-tagged, but still. Anyway, I can sense this is going to get redundant if I go into everyone, so I’ll be looking at only the routed characters and sorting them into a few broad categories. (For convenience’s sake, I’ll refer to the MC as Chizuru and use her pronouns.)
Hello again! I’m not dead yet! It just happens to be my last semester at university, so in the interest of actually being able to graduate, I’ve all but disappeared from the face of Tumblr. But at long last, I finally managed to update something tangentially related to Hakuōki (huzzah!), so hopefully this is a sign of my eventual return to the fandom…
As for what exactly it is and why the link is to the second chapter, remember this weird little Castlevania crossover oneshot? Probably not, but I decided to continue it anyway, mostly because I’ve come back around to watching the show again. And, for those of you who would rather have undiluted Hakuōki content, I hope another installment of KazaSen won’t be too terribly long after.
Enjoy!!
Inktober 2018 19 - Chizuru Yukimura (Hakuoki) Copic pen and markers on recycled paper
Because I’m on a Castlevania kick, vampire blood is an ingredient in the Water of Life, and it’s canon that my boy Alucard has a Japanese alter ego for… some reason, that’s why. (Also because, in the Japanese version of the animation, he’s voiced by Miki Shin’ichiro. I couldn’t pass that up.)
It all happened so fast.
One moment Chizuru was fleeing from some ronin in pursuit. The next, they and their killers were all dead. She’d barely had time to take in the ronin’s screams of terror and the monsters’ gleeful cackling before they’d been cut off, quite literally, and now there was only silence.
Except in Chizuru’s mind. Cries of abject terror and twisted joy still echoed in her mind, mingling together in unbearable cacophony. What were those creatures? They looked almost human, but their actions were worse than beasts. Besides that, their hair had been white like their gleaming blades, their eyes red like spurts of blood.
Reminding herself at last to breathe, Chizuru looked around to realize she had sunk to her knees at some point. And then her eyes finally landed on her savior—not the small army she half expected, to have dispatched multiple bloodthirsty murderers with such ruthless efficiency, but rather a single man.
Though he had crouched down to examine the corpses, Chizuru could tell from his proportions that he was very tall. His kimono was black, its subtle pattern in what might have been red and gold. His skin was paler even than Chizuru’s in the full moonlight, and his hair was black and somewhat wavy, worn loose and hanging some way down his back.
And the man wore only one sword, its scabbard at his side. Chizuru had never seen anything like it. The hilt was shaped differently, and the blade was entirely straight, tapering to a fine and lethal point. Both its edges were sharp and glinting, just like the man’s dark eyes. “Shinsengumi,” he muttered, his voice quiet and husky and foreboding, and glanced up at Chizuru. “Are you unharmed?”
I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid any overt Chizuru hate during my time in this fandom, but I’ve seen quite a few people telling her off for ‘getting in the way’ of them and their man, as though she isn’t—you know—integral to the plot. As though she’s somehow ‘less than’, or unworthy of their attention, or otherwise ill-suited to her possible love interests.
Basically, I’ve seen many people treat her as though she’s in the way, rather than the central character through which we see the rest of the world. Today, I hope to show you why I at least think that Chizuru fulfills her purpose as both a protagonist (meta) and a deep character (in-universe). As seems to be usual, I’ll be including sections from my wiki, and those are as objective as I could make them—but again, I can’t vouch for my interpretation.
Now, are you ready for yet another character study?
This is an amazingly deep analysis. I never ventured this deep into Chizuru’s character, so thank you for writing all this!
I always accepted her the way she is, because… Even in the anime, she is at least relatable and the situations in which she struggles to defend herself are understandable. Whenever somebody asks me of my opinion, if I was ever annoyed by Chizuru or found her useless - and that happens a lot when I show up on conventions cosplaying Okita, believe me - I tell them about the game. (Most people in Hungarian conventions either don’t know about the series at all or had only seen the anime.)
An addition about Chizuru’s fighting ability: I’m entirely with Okita in this aspect of hers. Remember when he told her that Saitou is actually right about her technique not being bad, and that her bravery is a good thing? He also tells her the only problem with her abilities: they are what’s called dojo ken amongst kenjutsu masters. (Let’s not forget he - as many other capitains - is a skilled kenjutsu instructor, and in charge of training new recruits, he sure had encountered it before.) This is important. Dojo ken basically means that, however knowledgable or skilled you are with fighting techniques, you could not hold up well against someone who’s actually out to injure you.
In a dojo environment, pupils get used to simulated scenarios, where a forefront attack like how Chizuru charges at Saitou is completely okay, because both parties follow the kata (premade sets of movements for attacking, defending or turning tables). Which normally doesn’t include knocking the blade out of your attacker’s hand just with strategically and swiftly unsheathing your sword. (Except in maybe Batto-ryuu, which is a separate style of it’s own, and in which Saitou did practice in. It’s called the art of unsheathing for a reason.) It takes long years, a lot of dedication and many of the less controlled kind of training matches to get over the boundaries of thinking inside these boxes called kata.
I was once a sufferer of this, because I knew fully well it exsists and I’ll get better with time, but the frustration of not living up to my expectations caused me to quit anyway. It takes a lot to keep your determination and push away insecurities if you know what’s happening.
Chizuru, however - as the conversation between him and Okita suggests - did not realize such phenomenon exsists, so she was at least confident in what she knows, which actually helps a lot, but can’t win her a fight as much as experience in uncontrolled combat could. That’s the reason why her blade is not hesitant, yet she still gets in a pinch faster than any of the capitains ever would.
(Or at least I thought, before Okita vs. Kazama came to my mind. But it’s a bit different where demons are involved. Oh, wait a minute, she’s sometimes up against fellow demons, too… Well, figure how that changes the equation.)
To add something about kendo as a kyusha.
Being determinate is an important thing if you want to win a jigeiko (kendo duel). It’s the time where we fight and try to applicate the kata in a real fight. It’s the time where you doesn’t simulate scenarios but you fight more “freely”. If you’re insecure, the sensei or you opposent could read all your movements. At least, I can tell practice kata is something where you can be confident when you know them but when you’re in jigeiko everything is so different and I swear it’s a little bit frustrating when you attack confidently (or think that) and receive a shinai’s punch without understand what happen. It’s something different and the time where you take opportunity to grasp your abilities under unrestricted situations like kata. Also if jigeiko or shiai geiko (which is the competition fight) is the time where you are more “free” concerning your fight, you need to keep the spirit in your techniques.
Moreover when you watch some kendo competition between Japanese police officers, you can see that their way of fighting has nothing to compare with how we fight in Dojo or others competitions. It’s a way of fighting to injure as you said.
That’s why the confident of Chizuru is interesting. Because it show us she know her dojo skill but never use its in a real fight or to be more clear in a fight where someone want to kill her.
Honestly, as someone who practice kendo as a kyusha and have some fights with my sensei (who are like the captains skill kenjutsu instructors), I can tell Chizuru is more confident than me and that’s why I don’t find her weak or useless.
Okay let me add an another thing thanks to a discussion with @lescahiersdesable.
When you practise kendo, you use a shinai. The tsuru is the string which secure all the parts of the shinai but also materialize the sharp of the katana. In kendo we always return the tsuru. Because our aim is not killing.
As I explained this to @lescahiersdesable (we were talking about kiai and Chizuru’s kiai in Hakuouki 1x02) I remember something :
In the anime and also in the movie, Chizuru return the sharp of her blade like we do in dojo with a shinai.
It’s a good proof of her dojo skill ! It’s also explained Soji’s reaction in the movie.
He is not surprised because she did something unusual for a fight…He is surprised because she really knows how we fight in kendo in a dojo. He understands she was not lying when Chizuru said to them that she practised kendo’s lessons.
Even if she can not fight one of the captain or was may be a not “great” student in dojo (bcz if I remember well Chizuru practicised just some years), Chizuru can fight. She knows her skills, she can apply its for a fight (in a dojo contest of course) and she is determinate to use its in a fight…even against a more skilled opponent.
I have no interest in the anime, but this last point is deeply flawed.
If comparisons were to be made between shinai and shinken (and I’m not convinced you should), the tsuru would be the dull-edge.
Shinai is shinai. Shinken is shinken.
Sure, you have to treat a shinai with the same care as if it were a shinken, because of the attitude and etiquette, but the former weapon is not a non-cutting substitute for the latter (that would be the bokken).
We keep the tsuru turned up because if we did use it as a cutting edge, it could break and the four bamboo splits of the shinai would come apart and present a tremedous risks of injury or even death… (the splits could end up going through the mengane, the metal bars).
It’s just common sense within the practice of kendo, going any deeper than that would be reaching hard to say the least.
Thank you for your answer.
I’m sorry if I said something flawed. Of course I made this analyse through an entire anime which has of course a fanciful and fictionnal perception of kendo, even with its all details. I know it doesn’t really make sense to analyse too much an anime which takes liberties with kendo. I just wanted to explain some details I could understand or interpreted as someone who practices kendo even at a low level concerning an essay around a character. So yes we can tell that all I said is a little bit to much and not accurate with kendo. It was just an analyse of scene of an anime where I can find some practice and etiquette of kendo (with a fictional perception even with all their effort to be accurate as they could) which I could explain a little bit with my own knowledges.
At least I need to improve and learn more about kendo. I’m still a kyusha and even if I will be a dan I will always learn. Indeed I know the risks of tsuru using as a cutting edge but I didn’t think about it when I wrote my reply. Thank you to remember it to me and for the other details. I appreciate all the details you shared it because it’s interesting and help me to improve also.
Sorry for the mistake it was not my first intention to miss all this nuance of the practice of kendo.
I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid any overt Chizuru hate during my time in this fandom, but I’ve seen quite a few people telling her off for ‘getting in the way’ of them and their man, as though she isn’t—you know—integral to the plot. As though she’s somehow ‘less than’, or unworthy of their attention, or otherwise ill-suited to her possible love interests.
Basically, I’ve seen many people treat her as though she’s in the way, rather than the central character through which we see the rest of the world. Today, I hope to show you why I at least think that Chizuru fulfills her purpose as both a protagonist (meta) and a deep character (in-universe). As seems to be usual, I’ll be including sections from my wiki, and those are as objective as I could make them—but again, I can’t vouch for my interpretation.
Now, are you ready for yet another character study?
This is an amazingly deep analysis. I never ventured this deep into Chizuru’s character, so thank you for writing all this!
I always accepted her the way she is, because… Even in the anime, she is at least relatable and the situations in which she struggles to defend herself are understandable. Whenever somebody asks me of my opinion, if I was ever annoyed by Chizuru or found her useless - and that happens a lot when I show up on conventions cosplaying Okita, believe me - I tell them about the game. (Most people in Hungarian conventions either don’t know about the series at all or had only seen the anime.)
An addition about Chizuru’s fighting ability: I’m entirely with Okita in this aspect of hers. Remember when he told her that Saitou is actually right about her technique not being bad, and that her bravery is a good thing? He also tells her the only problem with her abilities: they are what’s called dojo ken amongst kenjutsu masters. (Let’s not forget he - as many other capitains - is a skilled kenjutsu instructor, and in charge of training new recruits, he sure had encountered it before.) This is important. Dojo ken basically means that, however knowledgable or skilled you are with fighting techniques, you could not hold up well against someone who’s actually out to injure you.
In a dojo environment, pupils get used to simulated scenarios, where a forefront attack like how Chizuru charges at Saitou is completely okay, because both parties follow the kata (premade sets of movements for attacking, defending or turning tables). Which normally doesn’t include knocking the blade out of your attacker’s hand just with strategically and swiftly unsheathing your sword. (Except in maybe Batto-ryuu, which is a separate style of it’s own, and in which Saitou did practice in. It’s called the art of unsheathing for a reason.) It takes long years, a lot of dedication and many of the less controlled kind of training matches to get over the boundaries of thinking inside these boxes called kata.
I was once a sufferer of this, because I knew fully well it exsists and I’ll get better with time, but the frustration of not living up to my expectations caused me to quit anyway. It takes a lot to keep your determination and push away insecurities if you know what’s happening.
Chizuru, however - as the conversation between him and Okita suggests - did not realize such phenomenon exsists, so she was at least confident in what she knows, which actually helps a lot, but can’t win her a fight as much as experience in uncontrolled combat could. That’s the reason why her blade is not hesitant, yet she still gets in a pinch faster than any of the capitains ever would.
(Or at least I thought, before Okita vs. Kazama came to my mind. But it’s a bit different where demons are involved. Oh, wait a minute, she’s sometimes up against fellow demons, too… Well, figure how that changes the equation.)
To add something about kendo as a kyusha.
Being determinate is an important thing if you want to win a jigeiko (kendo duel). It’s the time where we fight and try to applicate the kata in a real fight. It’s the time where you doesn’t simulate scenarios but you fight more “freely”. If you’re insecure, the sensei or you opposent could read all your movements. At least, I can tell practice kata is something where you can be confident when you know them but when you’re in jigeiko everything is so different and I swear it’s a little bit frustrating when you attack confidently (or think that) and receive a shinai’s punch without understand what happen. It’s something different and the time where you take opportunity to grasp your abilities under unrestricted situations like kata. Also if jigeiko or shiai geiko (which is the competition fight) is the time where you are more “free” concerning your fight, you need to keep the spirit in your techniques.
Moreover when you watch some kendo competition between Japanese police officers, you can see that their way of fighting has nothing to compare with how we fight in Dojo or others competitions. It’s a way of fighting to injure as you said.
That’s why the confident of Chizuru is interesting. Because it show us she know her dojo skill but never use its in a real fight or to be more clear in a fight where someone want to kill her.
Honestly, as someone who practice kendo as a kyusha and have some fights with my sensei (who are like the captains skill kenjutsu instructors), I can tell Chizuru is more confident than me and that’s why I don’t find her weak or useless.
Since it’s also Wild Card day here’s a sketch I was inspired to do. Everything that people have created for this event this far has been great :D
HijiChi week 2018: June 22
Yukimura Chizuru: Nine in the Afternoon [honorable mention for High Hopes] Hijikata Toshizo: (Fuck a) Silver Lining Okita Souji: Victorious Saito Hajime: The Good, the Bad, and the Dirty Toudou Heisuke: Turn Off the Lights Harada Sanosuke: Pas de Cheval Nagakura Shinpachi: One of the Drunks Sanan Keisuke: Oh Glory Yamazaki Susumu: King of the Clouds Iba Hachiro: Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met…) Souma Kazue: C’mon Sakamoto Ryouma: Hallelujah Kazama Chikage: Emperor’s New Clothes
A Chizuru drawing I did a while ago :)
