some new reading material

Hey guess what? The sequel to my serious Touhou fanfic, Eternal Blossom, is now out!

Except I couldn't think of a title for it, so I just released it as a continuation. Now EB is two one-shots in length! See more of my own personal interpretation of Touhou! Including this:

"Why are most of the characters female?"

I provide an answer! Kind of.

But that's not the only thing I want to talk about.

Remember a few months ago, I told you about a dream wherein I saw Ayu and Makoto from Kanon? And they were cute? But then I said I haven't seen Nayuki in a dream yet, and I had a sadface?

I'm not sadfacing anymore!

Not too long ago, I had a dream I was watching my Kanon DVDs. My mom walks in and asks me a question she's asked me in real life, "How can you even remember them? I can't even remembertheir names." (She asked this because my mom cannot remember Japanese names. At all.)

I respond, "Oh, that's quite simple! Makoto has her hair in pigtails, Ayu is shorter than the other girls, and Nayuki has a really pretty voice!"

And right on the screen, Nayuki said something in her beautiful (English) voice, and the mere sight of her with Ayu and Makoto drove me into kawaii-overdose.

But that's not the best dream I had recently.

A couple of nights ago, I had a dream I was hosting a party at my house. All is well and good, until I spotted some hidden microphones. I then realize that someone in listening in on me. I and the guests go around the house, finding several microphones. We ripped them all out. With the mikes in hand, I went outside. It was the day of the week that the garbage collector came, so the garbage cans were out in the front yard. I went and disposed of the mikes. As I did that, two girls I recognized came by, one blonde, the other brunette. They were invited guests, however, since they showed up after I ripped the mikes out, I was paranoid, and didn't want them to know what I was up to. The cans had been emptied by the collector, so I brought them back into my backyard, making it look to the girls that all I was doing was bringing the cans back in.

When the last can was back, the brunette girl stepped outside. She had something in her hand.

A giant meat cleaver.

I had nothing in hand to defend myself with. She swung at me, but I somehow parried her blow with my bare hands. It wasn't enough though, and right afterwards, she swung again, hitting me in the chest with the sharpened point of the cleaver.

I woke up. I recognized the girl; she was a character from a series of short stories I wrote in college. I had seen her in dreams before (fully clothed, mind you), but now she was killing me? And with . . . that, as her weapon!? And for further analysis, she didn't look like an anime character; she was life-like. (I based her image off of Natalie Portman. Oh yeah, she was one of two of the token babes of my series, the blonde girl being the other.) And I'll tell you right now, killing people like that would be entirely OOC for her, trust me.

This could only mean one thing; Oyashiro-sama's curse has spread to my hometown! But how could that be possible!?

Oh, here's something interesting. Hinamizawa may be a fictional place, but it's based off a real city, Shirakawa. It's a small village with less than 2,000 people living there, mostly mountainous forested terrain. (any of this looking familiar?)

But rest assured, I'm gonna read more Higurashi eventually. When that will be, I'm not sure.

a muscle revolution

Damnation! VNDB made me look like Masato just now!

The "Common" route in Little Busters just refers to the beginning part before it splits off into separate routes for the different girls!

UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

So now I can't do anything else until the patch is completed 100%. And even then, I'm probably never gonna play the Ecstasy edition.

But yes, this part is true: my favorite character in this Key Visual Arts product called LB is (GASP!) not a girl! It's instead a guy! An idiot jock, of all people! But that's what's so great about Masato; he's a good guy with a heart of gold, just don't ask him to flex his brain.

Yeah, the characterization is the best thing about LB's story. Except for Komari, I like all of them, and even then, I don't dislike Komari; I just find her to be a bland moe girl. But with that said, I will wait patiently for the final patch release.

Just like I'm waiting for the English patch for Umineko 5-8 to finish.

And the retail English release of ef - A Fairy Tale of the Two.

And for an English version of Rewrite.



......





WAITING FOR VISUAL NOVELS MAKE ME SAAAAAAAAAD!

Girls, Guns, and Games

A long-ass time ago, I believe in the late 1990s, there was an ad for either a magazine or a website, I can't remember for sure, that reviewed video games, and claimed that theirs was the best source for Girls (included a picture of Lara Croft, since people still cared about Tomb Raider then), Guns (a necessity for the survival of the video game industry), and Games (obvious). Guns won't feature too heavily into today's entry, but two other things will.

Part One

Longplays. What's a longplay?

It's essentially a Let's Play of a video game, but with no commentary, and it's not a speedrun either. Longplays show everything that can be done in a game in a single video. True to their name, they are long, sometimes several hours long. I've known about longplays for a little bit since Retsupurae rips on longplays of Sega CD games (how 'bout that riff of Earnest Evans, guys? Fuckin' hilarious! I love games of the early 90s), but I've never actually tried to watch any until now.

For example, do any of you remember the Amiga game Another World, AKA Out Of This World? I never played it, even though there was an SNES port. (my loss, I know.) But I saw the longplay, and I can understand its importance in game history. That's what's great about longplays; even if it's a game on a system you can't run, or can't emulate on your computer, you could still experience it in video form. Heck, you don't even have to go through the frustration of playing the game and dying a thousand times to see the ending! I can see myself old, and unable to play games properly anymore, but still watching longplays of favorite games of mine to relive them.

The easiest place to watch longplays is here. Aside from Another World, I also watched a little bit of the cult classic Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, both the PC-Engine original, and the PSP remake. I'd like to actually play that someday, but it's nice to be able to compare it to other Castlevanias for now.

Now, not every game in the world has been longplayed yet. I already checked; I can't find any Touhou ones out there, nor any visual novels either. But you can watch the classic LucasArts adventure games of the 1990s on that channel. Ah yeah. The video game artform will never die now!

Part Two

Guess what I started playing again? Little Busters.

I completed the routes for Kud and Mio, but their routes were boring, and really burned me out, for two months straight according to the save games timestamps. Well, in spite of that, I completed the Yuiko route earlier today, well, okay, I meant the Kurugaya route, since she hates being called Yuiko.

It's the best route yet.

It didn't play out anything like a typical Key story. It subverted me completely, and I loved it for it! Of course, those "fans" on VNDB acted like hers was the worst, said the ending sucked. That's horseshit. I like Kurugaya now more than ever, and I'm more psyched for LB more than ever! I just gotta do the Common route, then wait for the final patch, then I can see the true route of the game! But gawd, why are otakus so damn hard to please with endings? I know I've complained about that before, but mark my words; I'm gonna get back at them in a youtube video eventually, on this very subject. It is inevitable.

Anyways, Little Busters, uh, you know, I'm on the fence regarding Rin. (Rin Natsume, not Rin Tohsaka.) Now . . . I can't decide if I find her Moderately Cute, or Insanely Cute. I'm on the fence with her. If I finish the game 100%, maybe I'll know for sure then.

Oh, speaking of visual novels, aside from Umineko, and aside from Key's own Rewrite, did you know there's one other VN out there that I want to try out? You wanna know what it is?

Ever Forever: A Fairy Tale of the Two.

There is an official translation int he works, so I'm curious to see what will unfold. As for LB, I should have the Common Route finished later this week. Until then, I leave you a quote from my favorite character from LB:

"KINNIKU KINNIKU!"

LATE EDIT: Oh man, you have to see my reaction to the "common route". Just hit the "newer post" button to find it! Oh god; my reaction is exactly like a scene from LB itself!

Life is beautiful-

-when you are a fan of cute magical girls.

Shocking as this may sound, I'm not the only fan of cute girls out there. Get this; according to the Touhou Wiki, one reason Aya's articles have interviews with the other characters is because she likes to have interviews with cute girls from Gensokyo. Probably to drive up sales. But this leads us to an interesting revelation of mine:

You know what I started to play just now? Shoot the Bullet, and Double Spoiler.

First thought, GOD, these are hard! You know how in most Touhou games, you just hold down the fire button (POFV notwithstanding) and avoid shots, and you could win battles like that? That doesn't work in Aya's games! And it's all because the objective is different! You don't duel with people; you snap pictures of them as they're shooting at you . . . with danmaku! Sooo . . . you have to dodge shots, wait for the camera to reload, then get close enough, be at the right angle, and snap your shot (which you can't do while focused) and repeat til you have enough pictures, or until you die. But it is a lot harder than it looks, especially in DS!

The games themselves are good, though. And although neither of them have that many music tracks, they are outstanding . . . better than Ten Desires, anyway. It's a shame more people don't remix these scores, for they deserve it.

Oh yeah, I tried out another Touhou game, Mountain of Faith. I've never played it, not even the demo. I've tried out all the other ones, but MOF slipped though my fingers somehow. Well, I tried it. It was good, but not great. But the music! Well . . . I already knew MOF had a beautiful soundtrack (I have it on MP3!), but hearing it in-game, wow. However, I can't get past Sanae . . . on easy! On normal, I die before I get to the second boss. (Hina's too strong as a mid-boss!) Dang, these games are hard!

Oh, but that's not the only Touhou thing I want to discuss.

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Did you know I put out another Touhou Omake? Look at the title, "Mima Returns." Now you know why I waited until Ten Desires came out.

However, I had some inspiration. Remember how I said that there was a fanfic about Alice from the PC-98 era by someone named Max Knight? It was this, however, he and I talk every now and then. One thing he likes is fanfics based off the Power Rangers. Now, I was a fan of the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers . . . about 16 or so years ago. He still is, unlike me.

But you see, PR is something I have nostalgia for; I enjoyed it as a kid, yeah, but I don't like it anymore. Aside from the epic levels of cheese, I also found PR too formulaic, and once I started being able to predict the episodes, I stopped watching. (Although I didn't mind the camp as a kid though; it was the predictability that turned me away initially.) Nonetheless, the good times I had as a kid are still there. So, why not throw in a few PR references in this latest omake? Three guesses as to who plays the parts of Bulk and Skull in my fic, hint, it's not anyone particularly strong.

However, I don't have any concrete ideas for the next omake. I have a few ideas, but nothing solid yet. I still have Gensokyan Backstories, and the sequel to Eternal Blossom, though, so maybe I'll concentrate on those for now, when it comes to Touhou fanfiction and me.

ComiKet's over

Okay, I examined the new Touhou-ness as much as I could without actually playing it.

New characters are definitely well-designed by ZUN standards. I'll give him props for that.

The new music . . . uh . . . well, I know ZUN can still write music, because I loved the tracks for Great Fairy Wars, but most of the music in Ten Desires . . . I'm just not feeling it. I found it even more disappointing than UFO's score. Well, here's hoping the remixes can make up for that.

But for Comiket . . . I was expecting more fanvids. Well, still, it's not Reitaisai; Comiket is for everything, not just Touhou. Still, there were two new vids I liked.

One with the SDM looking like Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt (as in very Americanized), yet . . . so . . . stylish.

Oh, but that's not what you want me to ramble on about. I know what you really want me to talk about. The next Touhou Kinema Kan.

Holy crap. This is the greatest fanvid for anything I have ever seen. Most of the character designs are great (though I think Yuyuko and Yukari are too boobtastic for my liking), background art's pretty good, and the animation is as fluid as most modern anime tv series. But the music! Oh my god, the music! It's just like the music of the cartoons I watched as a child; beautiful, and fits every scene perfectly! And it's all Touhou remixes, naturally. I need the MP3s for this! Sound effects are good, too.

The only thing that's missing is audible voices. There is dialog, and lip flaps, but it's all subtitled . . . in Japanese. Okay, how long you wanna wait until another group fan dubs this thing? In fact, you could even dub it in more than just Japanese, also . . .

But, there's something curious I observed. First, look at this image I extracted.

This came out just a couple of days ago. In early 2010, (I think), I published A Touhou Fanfiction About Nothing Part 3.1. Note the following descriptions:

"[Remilia] was short and petite; indeed, she looked like a 12 year old human girl . . . [Flandre] was shorter and smaller than Remilia, looking like a 7 year old girl . . . [Patchouli] is slightly taller than Remilia, but only slightly . . . [Sakuya] is somewhat taller than the Scarlets and Patchouli, and is much taller than the fairies . . . [Meiling was] a tall woman . . ." Do you know what this means?

[Imitates Chester A. Bum] THAT'S RIGHT! TOUHOU KINEMA KAN STOLED MY FANON! They must've been like 'We need to decide the height of the SDM. I know! Let's read a fanfic in a language we can't read without Google-ma-Translate!' Or, (gasps) OH MY GAWD! THEY HACKED MY COMPUTAMATOR AND READ MY (as yet unpublished) TOUHOU CHARACTER SHEET, WHICH LISTS THE EXACT HEIGHT OF THE TOUHOU WIMMINS, AMONG OTHER THINGS! like sanity. I'm Sure they were like, 'But this is written in American metrics! How do we convert!?' 'Just take the inches and multiply by 2.55!'"

[Back to normal voice] Okay, I'm just being paranoid now. But it's weird that they caught how I think Meiling is taller than Sakuya, even though I didn't specify that in my fics. (Meiling = 5'8'', Sakuya = 5'6''. This is a conspiracy, Satou!)

But one last I like about this short is, much like my own writings, it's not longer or shorter than it needs to be. It's not set to the arbitrary length of 22 minutes like a tv episode; it's just what needed to be shown. No filler, no padding, just Touhou in all of its glory. I now want more.

Oh, and the next Touhou Omake is coming along swimmingly. When it's published, you'll find out why.

Comiket is soon

The next Comiket should be starting soon. Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of the time zone I live in, so I expect that piracy new doujin releases should be unleashed upon the world later this evening. Personally, I want to wait until Monday before I check any Touhou fansites from this point. I want to give the fans a little bit of time to uncover the new music, artwork, and characters before I look anything up. Also, if any of you are reading this, don't tell me anything Touhou-related until Monday. I want to find out everything by myself.

But before I start my wait, I have two Touhou fanfics to recommend to you.

One of which is by someone named HakureiIllusion entitled Relentless Eastward Wind. It's an origin story for the Moriya Shrine, and it's currently only one chapter long. And it's the author's first fanfic. However, I was quite impressed for a new writer. So much so, I even wrote a review for it, (a critic coming to the defense of new talent; I must be crazy!) and only found one small thing wrong with it. I'm expecting an update in the future, for I foresee good things.

The other one has a little more substance to it. It is The Grimoire of Patchouli. It's basically Patchy describing people and things in Gensokyo. It is well-written, with some interesting fanon behind it.

But getting back to Comiket, I just realized that the original ebooks I will eventually self-published are technically doujin, for I will be releasing them myself to the public for sale. And also, some of my personal inspirations include ZUN, Type-Moon, and 07thExpansion. But Comiket includes self-published Touhou products, which would make them doujins of doujin. Do you think that would happen to my original works eventually? That people would make fanfics, fanart, and whatnot of my own works? I can actually picture people writing fanfics for my more elaborate ebook concepts. But if that ever happens, do me two favors:

1: do not sell your fanworks without my permission first.

2: If you have Rule 34 of my original characters, don't send them to me. Most of my ebook concepts don't even have sex to begin with, so why do it?

I will now wait warmly for the next few days.

Just some stuff

As you know, the next Comiket is in a few days, and with that, the new release of Touhou: Ten Desires. The last day of the Comiket will be the 14th, but to be on the safe side, I'll wait until the 15th to look up Touhou stuff. By then, people will have had at least a little bit of time to dissect the new content. As I've said before, the direction of the third Touhou Omake depends on what will be in the full version of Ten Desires. I can't say what detail just yet, but just know that I'm planning ahead.

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Oh yeah, I finished chapter 2 of Kara no Kyoukai. Started chapter 3 now. Haven't lost interest yet. Hey! If this keeps up, I could write a Kara no Kyoukai version of Love is Not A Toy! Of course!

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There are some things I'd like to buy. But for you, my readers, I know you only care about the products of entertainment. These are mostly things I already said I'd like to buy, but the last one is one I haven't admitted to buying here yet, and the rest of the entry will be about it. Anyways, the list:

Last volumes of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Eden of the East: Paradise Lost.

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Volumes of the Higurashi manga . . . IN DIGITAL FORMAT! (I'm telling you, man, ebooks are the way of the future.)

Skyrim . . . well, I'll rent it first. If it lives up to the hype, then I'll purchase it.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica . . . wait, Madoka!?

Yes. The only time I mentioned that here was when I was talking about Twitter, and that characters from this franchise had Twitters. Again, if I can (legally) sample Madoka, I'll do that first, but if not, well, know this. A certain fanfic author talked about Madoka to me, said it was a deconstructive masterpiece (even though this was shortly after the tsunami, and the last two episodes hadn't aired yet.) He also planted a plot bunny involving Madoka. He also plotted a Madoka plot bunny for me.

Mark my words, Neos; even if I don't become a Madoka fan, it's no longer a matter of if, but when. I don't have to like something to write a fanfic of it, ihihihi!

Speaking of friends, one of my friends on MAL, Archon Wing, listed Madoka on his favorites list after it concluded, as well as . . . I'm guessing the black-haired girl is the token stoic, emotionless warrior girl of that series? Yeah. Archon and I have pretty similar tastes in anime, and I asked him if I would like Madoka. He said I might, but only if I knew about mahou shoujo anime.

Well, I've seen the anime version of Cardcaptor Sakura in its entirety, I own every volume of the manga version of CCS, I know of Sailor Moon, including liking the SM manga (oh yeah, isn't that being re-printed now? All my money . . .) and I tried to watch the first season of Nanoha two years ago. I'd say I have some inkling. I know Nanoha tried to be a darker and edgier mahou shoujou series, but in my eyes, it failed in that regard. Failed as in it didn't entertain me. I know a few other things about Madoka:

-Its primary author is Gen Urobuchi, writer for NitroPlus, as well as Fate/Zero. (Another anime I'd like to watch.) I'm not familiar with his work, but apparently, it skews into heavy material.

-The character artist is the author of the Hidamari Sketch manga, Ume Aoki. You may recall that the anime version of HS  . . . left a dull taste in my mouth. I'm not exactly a fan of that art style either. Well, at least it's not Code Geass bad.

-The composer is Yuki Kajiura, who wrote the music for Kara no Kyoukai, and some other anime I've never seen. I've never heard her music outside of the Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle anime, but the music for that was the one saving grace of said anime. Hmm . . . looks promising.

-I saw MasakoX' review of Madoka's first episode. He seemed really impressed with it. Also, there were some cool special effects in what I saw. Hmm . . . also looks promising, or at least more so than Nanoha.

-Aniplex' American branch is licensing the show here, as well as recording an English dub. Strange; this looks like a show only serious anime fans would watch here, and most serious fans don't even watch English dubs anymore. The only reason they might do that is . . . if they plan to air it on television. Adult Swim and the Sci-Fi (it's not SyFy, god damn it!) channel are the only networks that still air anime that isn't kids' shows, but I can't imagine Madoka airing on Adult Swim. I wouldn't rule out Sci-Fi picking it up, though. Hmm, more possible sampling before I buy . . .

-People on Beast's Lair keep evoking the mascot character Kyubey like he's fuckin' Gendo. Watch, those of you who have already seen it, watch, you're all gonna lose your shit in three . . . two . . . one . . .

"/人◕‿‿◕人\ xm, I can grant you your wish to become a successful writer, if you make a contract with me."

Sorry, but I don't sign contracts out of the blue.

But yeah, the hype for this series is immense. You guys better be right about this! Because if you're not, well, you know how scathing my reviews can be.

You cannot escape-

-the prowess of Kinoko Nasu.

I can't help but admire the craft and writing behind the original novel version of Kara no Kyoukai. I finished the first chapter earlier today, and I started chapter 2 not too long ago.

Even though this is a traditional novel and not a visual novel (despite a few images by Takashi Takeuchi), it has Type-Moon's signature all over it. Three characters are trying to make sense of a series of suicides that have been occurring. These people are Ryougi, Touko, and Mikiya. Ryougi is a young woman . . . who talks and behaves like a man. I like her! Mikiya, true to his appearance, is kind of like Shiki from the later Tsukihime; seemingly ordinary guy with a sarcastic streak. Touko is smart but cynical, kind of like . . . her sister. The first chapter only features one other characters besides these three, but they are fascinating. It's written in first-person narrative, so you really get to hear their thoughts. However, time keeps jumping back and forth, like a Tarantino movie. Not only that, the person narrating will change without warning. It can be confusing, but it adds to the intrigue.

After reading what I have read, I have to wonder; why does Nasu even need Takeuchi and background artists? He is very descriptive with words when he needs to be. The city looks just like Misaki city (noticing the Type-Moon signatures, yet?), and details that some authors (like myself) might overlook aren't overlooked here. Okay, getting back to my question, yeah, I know Nasu and Takeuchi are best friends, and I know Takeuchi has slipped in a few ideas throughout the years, but if I had Nasu's descriptive ability (minus the sex scenes), I wouldn't need artists. When Kara no Kyoukai was professionally published, it did sell well, after all. I guess the artwork must be for merchandise. Ah, commerce.

But now, we must confront Nasu's biggest flaw (outside of mollusks); his tendency to draw out scenes with a shit-ton of exposition. There is some of that here; all of the characters speak philosophically at least once at one point. BUT! It's handled rather well from what I've seen so far. It never gets out of hand like Nasu did for Fate/Stay Night. And also, you wanna know why Ryougi's my favorite character so far? Check this out; there's a part where she interrupts a discussion between Touko and Mikiya, and says:

"Well, cut it down to a phrase, will you? When you and Mikiya talk, it's like a goddamn thesis committee."

I laughed so much! A shame Nasu didn't take his own character's advice later on. (And even despite that, I still love the UBW and HF routes of FSN.)

There's also action in KnK. It's not like the action scenes in Fate, which were epic in scale. The action scene in the first chapter is more like the fight scenes in Tsukihime; low-key, with a greater focus on the psychology of the characters, and standing up against the unknown. I know I've only seen trailers for the anime version of KnK, but I got a feeling things may get more drastic later on.

Some people like the novel version of KnK more, while others like the anime more. I would actually like to experience both versions, (although it looks like I'll have to pirate the anime version also if I want to see it. Joy.) but I'm good with the novel for now. It hasn't lost my interest yet.

Oh, and I do know about Azaka. (Well no shit! She's in my latest Nasuverse fanfic!) Once she gets properly introduced, I'll see if I like her as well as the others. I can say right now that I'm looking forward to seeing her; she is kind of cute.




What else would you expect from me?

Eternal Blossom: behind the Scenes

You know how in literature classes, you're required to read "classics" from the past? A lot of these "classics" aren't really that good, or maybe, they were, but their messages have become outdated. But some of them actually still hold up, and are worth reading. This is what I aimed for when I wrote Eternal Blossom; a novelette that shows that even in an ancient time and place, true love transcends gender and race. Granted, no one could print that in a textbook until Touhou fell into the public domain, but that was my goal.

This story had to be from Yukari's perspective. As I've said, she is the true star of Touhou Monogatari. I started out writing stories in first-person, so writing this was like going down familiar territory.

It starts off with her saying the document is printed in English, so no one not versed in the language could know. She then admits that she's only romantically to people of the same sex. A lot of yaoi/yuri fanfics are very idealized, in that sexual orientation means nothing. In an ideal world, that would be the case, however, that's not quite true. Fortunately for Yukari, she's in Gensokyo, and she has power; if anyone found out and tried to blackmail her . . . they wouldn't get far. But the point is, would she ever find someone who was like her in that regard? Statistically speaking, most people, and I'm guessing youkai too, are not gay nor bisexual. Yukari does find someone eventually, but not for the earlier portion of her life.

When writing EB, I had to consult the web on Japanese culture during the Heian era, since I speculated that was when Yuyuko was mortal. A lot of it was information I learned way back in middle school, but it helped out. One, Yukari looks quite different back then as she does in the present. Also, it was actually true that Japanese noblemen could learn Chinese to communicate with China, but not women. The fact that Yukari, a woman (albeit one with a lot more free time and lifespan) knows fluent Chinese is intriguing, to say the least. Also, Yukari originated grazing, long before spell card duels existed.

Yuyuko was not identical, either. She was human, not a saintly ghost yet. She, like all the other humans, feared youkai. Also, although she still wears the same clothes, her eyes and her weren't pink. (A Touhou fanvid depicted her with black eyes and hair, hence my description.) Yukari disarms Yuyuko by pointing out that her haiku poems are stereotypical. When I was writing this, I was studying poetry, and I noticed that a lot of poems are not how people picture poems. Most of the good ones were not about love, longing for love, the beauty of the world, or anything like that. Also note that when they first meet, they address each other as "Yakumo-san" and "Saigyouji-san." People in Gensokyo actually used to follow honorific rules.

Over time, the two meet whenever they can. Yuyuko reveals she's to be married off, and that she can, in her words, "invite mortals to their death." She has only used this on lesser youkai that can't be reasoned with, but Yukari now has a new vision of Yuyuko.

But then, loves strikes. From my own personal experiences, you know you're in love when the first person you think about when you wake up is the object of your affection, and who should Yukari be thinking about other than that pretty noblewoman by the tree? She looked forward to meeting her more, even showing her trademark ability; forming gaps.

Then Yuyuko reveals about the tree that they visited under. It's the (now dreaded) Saigyou Ayakashi. She mentions it has killed people, including her own father. Yukari is understandably shocked. It was also during this conversation that they drop the formalities and address each other by first name only. Isn't that sweet?

Yukari now wants to be affectionate toward Yuyuko, but again, she's still unsure if another woman would love her back. Then we learn that Yuyuko ran away from her family because she skipped the arranged marriage. Why? because she likes Yukari more! Even to the point of abandoning her family! She doesn't say "I love you" since that's too cliched, but she did say, "I love everything about you, Yukari!"

The two of them are in tears, and Yukari finally embraces Yuyuko. (by the way, if this is ever turned into a manga, this scene here should be a two page spread.) They knew it was dangerous to stay at the tree because of its influence, so Yukari gaps into her house with Yuyuko.

Yukari's mansion is just how it is in the present, minus the technology. This was before Yukari met Ran and Chen, and instead had numerous fairies maintain the house. Yukari tells Yuyuko she's welcome to stay there, then kisses her on the forehead. (lip lock would again be too cliched, but a peck on the forehead? Priceless!) However, Yukari sleeps right afterwards. I think the Saigyou Ayakashi manipulated her into dozing off so it could kill Yuyuko; it's too contrived otherwise. Also, the hairclip mentioned in A Touhou Fanfic About Nothing was first introduced, and that its message roughly reads "Eternal Blossom." Yukari is Yuyuko's eternal cherry blossom, isn't that sweet! However, Yuyuko is gone, and Yukari has a hunch.

She gaps to the tree, only to find it dead. Not just mostly dead, all dead. Not only that, Yuyuko's dead body was there, too. There's a Touhou doujin out there that shows that Yukari was the first one to discover Yuyuko's human body, but in the doujin, she holds the body and cries dramatically. However, this is Yukari we're talking about, and this is Gensokyo; even if someone "dies", it doesn't mean they no longer exist. On edge, Yukari races to Higan, home of the Yama. She runs into Komachi (which I think is my only appearance of her yet in my fics) and races off to Higan. She encounters some Yama, including what fans would recognize as Shikieiki. She learns that Yuyuko's judgment was passed; that she would reside in the Netherworld as a spirit, and anytime she doesn't leave the netherworld, she can't die. However, she will forget her mortal life.

Yukari races to the netherworld. She finds her, except her hair is now pink. She is at ease, but remembers nothing about Yukari. Yukari cries, trying desperately to remind her, but it's useless. Yuyuko tries to comfort her, despite her lack of remembering. It's perhaps best this way, since Yuyuko couldn't remember her rebellious streak, and her having to kill herself to destroy the tree, which now resides in the netherworld. (did she expand the boundary of the netherworld to encompass the tree? This was nearly a millennium before the spell card duels.)

However, because of her amnesia, Yuyuko forgot her feelings toward Yukari. Fortunately, since the two of them are so close, she did eventually fall in love with her again, but it took decades for that to happen a second time. If you ever meet Yukari, don't ask her about the time she loved Yuyuko, but was not reciprocated, it's . . . it's a delicate subject for her.

Oh, also, I will admit, since I am only romantically attracted to (human) women, it's easier for me to picture someone desiring a woman as opposed to a man. However, there is a franchise out there that has a yaoi pairing I love. (No, it's not Naruto. It's not FMA. And it's not Kingdom Hearts either. Look deeper!)

As I admitted in the AN, I was mostly influenced by Recalled Lunar Romance by Usually Dead. Personally, I consider that superior to my own EB, but UD made a mistake; he added the yuri cliche of (in his story) Eirin and Kaguya interlocking fingers, while I avoided that! Ha! However, while I enjoyed writing this story, I have no plans to do another romance, hetero or not. EB's sequel won't be as emotional, either, but it will feature Yukari and Yuyuko being affectionate. (Sorry, still won't be any lip lock . . . or sex. GAWD! You don't need those things to tell a good love story! Haven't you heard the lyrics to "As Time Goes By"?) However, the followup will be the last of these shorts done in first-person perspective for the time being.

Expect bonus features soon

First up, the next Comiket is in a little less than two weeks from today. I will wait exactly fourteen days from today, then check all of the Touhou fansites, then tell you what I think of the full version of Ten Desires . . . assuming all goes according to plan, anyway. Here's hoping no quakes hit.

Secondly, an English translation for the novel version of Kara no Kyoukai is complete! And unlike the older unfinished fan job, this translation actually flows well in English!

Look here.

If I have enough spare time, I could seriously read that. Then I could use my newfound knowledge for my Type-Moon fics!

"Uh, xm, aren't you supposed to be writing original ebooks now, not fanfics?"

Shut up! It's not October yet!

And the last item, what the title means. I wanna do more behind the scenes looks at my completed fanfics. I've been meaning to do one for Eternal Blossom. I only held off on that since I wanted to do an introspective after its followup was published. I hate to say it, but Eternal Blossom's sequel is still in the backburner. True, it's shaping up, but I'll have to only look at the first part for now. My next entry will probably be for that.

My next entries will be for other fanfics I haven't looked back yet. Including Help Us, Professor Kokonoe.

One last thing; the direction I will take the third Touhou Omake depends entirely on the story of Ten Desires. You'll see what I mean when the time is right.