I can’t get her out of my head. (Not that I would want to.)
Thus, MOAR IMAGE SPAM.
There are some duplicates from the other post, because everything’s in 720p love this time. Her voice is godly. She’s voiced by Nakamichi Mihoko (中道美穂子), who apparently debuted in 2009 in reaaaaaaally tiny minor nameless roles, so this is her first role of significance, I should say?
I really hope she’ll get more roles, and that she wasn’t chosen just because she could speak authentic Kyouto-ben. She can convey a certain rawness in her voice even if it’s not perfect and is a little forced on one or two lines. But she deserves a chance to shine. Goodness knows she’s got only about a centillion* times more talent than, say, the likes of Hikasa Youko (yes, I totally went there).
*That’s 10303 or 10600, by the way.
I’m very sad that I probably won’t get to see her for at least a month, maybe more. :<
Shinobu feels like a bit of a loner, so I highly doubt she’s participating in the team tournament either. Boo.
And my mind won’t stop shipping Chihaya with Shinobu either. I’m sure it’d work out really well if I think of it like how I treat H.G. and Myka’s relationship — just set a cut-off point for canon, and then rampant AU after that. Since you know the typical shoujo formula for protagonists — oblivious, oblivious, oblivious, oblivious, NOT OBLIVIOUS, THE END.
You know they were made for one another:
ZOMG. I just had an amazing idea. Yuri with the shoujo formula. It’s got to work better than “yuri with the soap opera formula” (SP!), “yuri with mecha” (YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT), “yuri trolololol” (Yamibou), or “yuri and a squick paedo” (Mai-Otome).
So, so, Chihayafuru would be the same, you see, only Taichi would be replaced with, I dunno, some girl voiced by Takagaki who has a crush on Chihaya after seeing her again, and Arata would stay as a platonic childhood friend (kinda like what he is right now), and Kanade would be straight (making her gay too would just result in SP! 2). And there would be Foe Yay between Chihaya and Shinobu, and Chihaya would be oblivious for the most part.
Crap, now I can’t decide if Seto should be with Takagaki or Nakamichi. ANYWAY, the show is already 120% better without Miyano. Which is good.
/more pointless brain thoughts
/crack yuri goggling
/delusional seiyuu fangirl
*is evil*
How’s chapter 3 of Connexion coming along?
Just kidding! =P Seriously, I’d read anything you came up with so no pressure on that score. If you did get around to writing Chihaya x Shinobu, would you recommend watching the series for the mythos? Or would you try to write something that could stand on its own? I’d have to find it somewhere…
Actually, it’s already written, remember? :D
I’ve just not been in mood to correct a minor mistake I realised one blindingly epiphanous day.
And I don’t know, I don’t think I would write Chihaya x Shinobu. They work out really well in my mind, but it would have to screw with so much canon (like going against the whole freakin’ genre) that I’m not sure I’d do it. And hm, I’m not sure where I stand on recommending the series. Honestly, if you’ve watched shoujo before and liked it/didn’t hate it, I would recommend trying it out just to see if Chihaya doesn’t grow on you.
And if you want to watch it, it’s incredibly easy, whether you prefer online streaming or downloaded, given it’s still ongoing right now. I’m sure you’d find it around the same type of venue that one could find Popular in, though of course on sites that focus more on Japanese media.
Actually, it’s already written, remember? :D
I’ve just not been in mood to correct a minor mistake I realised one blindingly epiphanous day.
*frowns slightly* I must have forgotten. Did you mention this in a comment here somewhere? *feels slow*
They work out really well in my mind, but it would have to screw with so much canon (like going against the whole freakin’ genre) that I’m not sure I’d do it.
When it comes to fan-fiction I am of a mind that canon is a fungible commodity. I’m all in favour of breaking canon and going AU to bring a story to life, just as I’m all in favour of sticking religiously to canon and pushing the story into the gaps.
Also, to me the defining shoujo as a genre is at once selling it short and giving it too much emphasis. I don’t deny that it has a long list of tropes associated with it but I’ve always considered it more a descriptive term for a target demographic mixed with a shorthand for the stylistic elements that will be prevalent. And even so I’m always hesitant to automatically force fan-fiction for a fandom into the same genre as the fandom. I would argue that fan-fiction has the unique ability of expanding a particular fandom’s genre whenever necessary, averting or outright subverting established genre tropes in the process. Genre shouldn’t be used as a limitation anyway, just as a guide.
*frowns slightly* I must have forgotten. Did you mention this in a comment here somewhere? *feels slow*
With the post that came along with the first chapter in “Connexion”. I mentioned there that the whole ‘episode’ had been written, just that I’d split it up into several, manageable sections.
I would argue that fan-fiction has the unique ability of expanding a particular fandom’s genre whenever necessary, averting or outright subverting established genre tropes in the process. Genre shouldn’t be used as a limitation anyway, just as a guide.
Hm, I would generally agree with you, but the idea of doing Chihaya x Shinobu somehow makes me think of the gazillion ‘Pyka’ fanfics out there, and it’s just… I don’t know. If you look at just FF.net alone, there are a surprising number of improbable straight pairings (all of which overshadow H.G. and Myka if in number alone, when they’re obviously the most viable pairing in all of WH13). You’ll get Pyka, which is kind of incestuous given they explicitly say both in-universe and as actors that they’re like brothers and sisters, and you get Steve/Claudia which just makes me frown deeply and shake my head*. DO YOU PEOPLE KNOW WHAT GAY MEANS.
*I even saw a description of one where Steve and Claud have drunken sex (???) and Claud gets pregnant. Yeaaaaah.
I can’t help but think that I’m pulling that sort of thing even with the idea of toying with Chihaya x Shinobu, since if you consider what the Word of God’s verdict would be, there’s no way they’re not a case of (Mutually!) Incompatible Orientation.
I always use the filters when looking for stories so I don’t even see stories that emphasise different pairings unless the author has in some way not been able to accurately describe their fic either through FF.Net’s woeful story property settings or their own inability to use the description field to full effect. Even so I do my best never to begrudge other people’s choices with regards to ships. There’s no margin in that as far as I’m concerned. Read what you read and write what you write is what I say. Others definitely will. =P Also, fan-fiction exists to subvert Word of God. tru fax.
What I value most in stories isn’t slavish adherence to character sexuality, although I tend to make exceptions where the sexuality is explicitly stated as not being heterosexual, e.g. characters like HG and Jinks should never be written as strictly heterosexual. My preference is for accuracy in character voice, and coherency and respect for the setting. You can always tell the Harry Potter fics written by Americans with no respect for the setting because they have Hermione drinking coffee.