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Perhaps For Love, Or Maybe Justice (A Tokusatsu/Magical Girl Quest)

Alright, what weapon should Akemi have?

  • Let her keep the gun!

    Votes: 9 33.3%

  • Give her a sword!

    Votes: 10 37.0%

  • More Magic!

    Votes: 6 22.2%

  • Hand to Hand!

    Votes: 2 7.4%
  • Total voters
    27
  • Poll closed .
Voting is open for the next 2 days, 9 hours
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Drama is bad for my health.
But more power to yall I guess...
Edit:
*Stares at Spider*
Yeah... sure... whatever you say.
 
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That's rolls.

Mental failed.
Social is 45 and hits the first threshold, 25 EP gets it up. Next update will be fun.
 
I've been reading a lot of manga recently, and from my experience, there's a lot of fun that you can find when you walk away from the traditional Shonen action genre and take a look at some of the other offerings. I believe that everybody in this thread and everybody who knows me on this site, knows that the hit Kagurabachi is currently my favorite manga of the new decade. I've in fact been doing a chapter-by-chapter review of that story. You can find that in my signature down below, which is perfectly accessible to manga newcomers.

But, after a trip to my local library, (which you should support your local library btw) I've found a new favorite. After reading the first three volumes, I can confidently say that I've found my second favorite manga, one which I love just as much as Kagurabachi.

Kermie recommends: Akane-banashi.

Akane-banashi follows Akane Osaki, a girl who is training in the traditional Japanese art of rakugo, a performance art where with only a fan and a hand towel as props, a storyteller entertains an audience by retelling a conversation and/or a traditional story. It's like when your mom or grandma used to tell you hilarious stories about her childhood, but on a grander scale. Her motivation? Six years ago, her father, Shinta Arakawa, was expelled along with dozens of other aspiring shin'uchi- instead of being one of the headliners of the rakugo world, he and all of his classmates were expelled in one fell swoop by their master, Shiguma Arakawa. Basically, she's got the "my father died" motivation without her father actually being dead. Instead, he's now just an office drone that sells concrete instead of being a passionate creator. Damn. Truly a fate worse than death.

The story combines sweeping and emotional art with amazing characters, bringing out the traditional stories and the vibrant personalities of each character. Each technique used in rakugo, from reading the audience well to bringing new life to old stories with modern twists are creatively summarized and described. But the real thing that ties Akane-banashi together? The heart.

This story loves rakugo as much as I love Kamen Rider. Each twist, each turn- all of it is easily felt and intriguing. The characters are beautifully engaged with rakugo, in much the same way as you would be interested in your favorite book. Akane learning to embody the characters better and meeting rivals is just as exciting as a traditional sports anime like Haikyu!!! and Blue Lock is. Combined with its great depiction of the absolute unmistakable experience of being any type of creative, Akane-banashi is a spectacular ride. And at 100+ chapters, it's going to be a great binge read for your holiday- I'll be picking up Volumes 4-6 this weekend!

Anyways, funny story/exceedingly in-depth review that wasn't meant to go that far holy fuck over. Chapter looks like a Wednesday or Thursday issue. Wait, scratch that, Christmas. Thursday or Friday then.
 
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Have we found the Kermie reacts once Lets read Kagurabachi catches up to present? Maybe!
Happy you found something new Kermie!
I got my own stuff to do, one of my folks got me The new Mario and Luigi game for Christmas, so I know what Im doing for the next few days.
 
SolarGemX said:
Have we found the Kermie reacts once Lets read Kagurabachi catches up to present? Maybe!
Click to expand...
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Mmm, maybe not, especially considering AKB has 140 chapters... but Kermie's Monthly Manga has been something I've considered for a long time, with four criteria: Art, Story, Binge Potential, and Emotion. Aside from Kagurabachi and Akane-banashi, I'd like to review the tragically cancelled Ruri Dragon, and the batshit insane Sakamoto Days.
 
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    • Finally, Akemi's turn to shine. I'm glad that she'll get some time for her own thing. Just as Rei has her own brand of craziness, so does Akemi.
     
    Kermie said:
    Social is 45 and hits the first threshold, 25 EP gets it up. Next update will be fun.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Roll etiquette is that if there are two rolls for something and there are more rolls to go, the roll that was ignored is redirected to another spot (aka why was Morrow's roll ignored and you requested a roll for Social when Morrow's 61 should have been valid for it).
     
    Merry Christmas! As a present, allow me to give you a snippet of finished update.

    You can't trust her.

    Akemi gains a temporary -10 malus to all interactions with [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS]!

    You're about to say something else, get away from her in order to… stalk her? Or something like that. Purrson's tail curls comfortingly around the back of your neck, as ready for danger as you are. He doesn't talk, though— you're both still in public after all. What now?

    That's when you hear a voice in your head.

    …hello? Hello? It's me. Atry. Hey. I'm the voice in Rei's head. The first one, actually. Rei wants you to stop being a creep.

    For a second, you consider speaking back. How dare this one voice tell you what to do? But then you see Rei.

    She's giving you a nasty death glare. She isn't shaking her head, but she certainly isn't nodding in agreement. She's glaring at you like her ice cream just melted and you're the one who tossed a Fire Glyph at her. Heck, if the Void came and manifested below her right now, you wouldn't be surprised.

    Again, don't get mad at me, because I can't hear what you're monologuing about, I'm just the messenger. She just wants you to uh… "stop assuming the worst of everybody, otherwise she's gonna slap you."

    This is how it's always gone. You come up with the shady/smart ideas that Rei doesn't. In exchange, Rei pulls you back when you need it most.

    Akemi's temporary malus is removed!
     
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    Pride 2.16 Pt. 2: Why Are You Like This, Akemi? New
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    • [X] Take Akemi's perspective for this mission.

    Saturday, March 8th, 2080, 10:30 AM
    Heaven's Approach - Eiganjo Side

    You are Kaneko Akemi, (Akemi Kaneko? Nah, last name before first name just sounds better) and right as you blink, you're teleported. There's no big flash of purple light or any big chant. Just a quick thump that reverberates through the entire room, before after a few seconds, the door opens.

    You're in Eiganjo. That was quick.

    Suzuki grins, before giving you a fist bump and getting up from his seat. "Alright, looks like AccelTech doesn't skimp out on their transportation. Not bad! I'll be seeing you later."

    As the door opens, he's one of the first to get off. You blink, and he's already walking into the crowd— and he's gone. He's likely off to a hotel, but knowing the work culture of executives like him, he might just be going straight to AccelTech. Hm.

    Some people walk out of the room, but you stay put on your seat. You look left, you look right, before unzipping your red purse. In a flash, Purrson jumps out and onto your shoulder.

    "Thank you for letting me get some fresh air. It's suffocating in there, Akemi." Purrson whispers into your ear.

    "Noted. I'll look into poking some air holes." you whisper back, your voice barely going above your breath. With all that done, you stand up and walk out of the teleporter room. Yup, you're definitely in Eiganjo. All the architecture looks like white marble, and— hey, are those multiple gold-framed paintings on the walls?!

    Well, it makes sense. This is the one place everyone who enters Eiganjo sees. It unfortunately checks out. As you walk out of the way of somebody's floating suitcase, you see Rei. She's talking with a girl with blonde hair, and it sounds like they're talking about… anime? The girl's talking excitedly.

    "Ok, so the Rakazuichi arc is top 25, all time."

    Rei speaks back, talking about some anime that her crazy HumaGear otaku boss made her watch. "Yeah, but it doesn't clear Namek or Shibuya Incident."

    "Ok, but then you have to admit that Orochi Rising is worse than Namek!"

    Rei sputters. "Wha— why would you do this to me?!" Her eyes widen in surprise, but as she puts her hands behind her head you realize that she's mostly just joking. You wave your hand above the crowd, and she spots you easily. Both her and the new girl walk over to you, and Purrson immediately shuts up and gets behind your head.

    Rei points at her, before pointing at you. "Aiko, meet Akemi, my best friend. Akemi, meet Aiko, my new friend."

    >-st friend… subte…

    Hm, what was that? One of Rei's headmates? Oh well, nothing to think too hard about. "Hey there."

    She looks you up and down, before nodding. "Nice fit."

    She looks pretty good as well, with her plaid skirt and all. "Same. Now if you excuse me and Rei, we're gonna be looking around a few places in Eiganjo…"

    You pull Rei by the elbow, but Aiko outs a hand out in front of you. "W— wait! Lemme show you around, you two seem cool. I've got time before my appointment here, and I know all the local spots."

    That sets off so many alarm bells in your head that it isn't even funny. How the hell does she know the "local spots"? "…what, are you a local here?"

    Her mouth opens and then closes, before she takes a look at Rei. After a second, she turns back to you. "Uh, yeah. My family lives up here, though I've got a room with some of my friends down on the mainland."

    An Eiganjo native?! How rich is she? No, what company could she belong to? You distinctly remember that some of the companies up here have some family connections, but who could she be?

    Uh…

    [Mental Check; DC 75/110]
    [17+19=36. Fail!]

    Uh, nope. You've got nothing on who she could be. But at the end of the day, that only means one thing. Any person, even an heir, with that much power? Anybody having enough power and privilege only means one thing, really.

    You can't trust her.

    Akemi gains a temporary -10 malus to all social interactions with Aiko!

    "Alright Aiko, we're going to be going…"

    You're about to say something else, get away from her in order to… stalk her? Or something like that. Purrson's tail curls comfortingly around the back of your neck, as ready for danger as you are. He doesn't talk, though— you're both still in public after all. What now?

    That's when you hear a voice in your head.

    …hello? Hello? It's me. Atry. Hey. I'm the voice in Rei's head. The first one, actually. Rei wants you to stop being a creep.

    For a second, you consider speaking back. How dare this one voice tell you what to do? But then you see Rei.

    And she's giving you a nasty death glare. She isn't shaking her head, but she certainly isn't nodding in agreement. She's glaring at you like her ice cream just melted and you're the one who tossed a Fire Glyph at her. Heck, if the Void came and manifested below her right now, you wouldn't be surprised.

    Again, don't get mad at me, because I can't hear what you're monologuing about, I'm just the messenger. She just wants you to uh… "stop assuming the worst of everybody, otherwise she's gonna slap you."

    You can't help but internally sigh. This is how it's always gone. You come up with the shady/smart ideas that Rei doesn't. In exchange, Rei pulls you back when you need it most.

    Akemi's temporary malus is removed!

    "…going wherever you think we should be." you finish, "You seem like you know this place better than whatever any tourist guidebook could show us."

    Aiko seems to perk up, before taking Rei by the wrist. Why does that make you— don't look into that. "Oh, of course, follow me!"

    She walks out of the room, and with one more glance shared between you, Rei, and Purrson (though he's behind you, so you're just guessing on that one) you follow her out, through the customs gates which you and Rei quickly dodge, and out into…

    Whoa.

    10:33 AM
    Eiganjo - Attraction District

    The first thing that you immediately notice is that the air's clearer up here. You can breathe easier. As you and Rei walk out, you see dozens if not hundreds of people, all walking out either into tunnels for a shuttle or into taxis they called up. Aiko turns to face you, before pointing out at the scenery. In the distance, above all the people and the different glass roofs of the station, are three other islands, floating in the air. They're each as big as a third of the average province, if you had to guess, and below them are differently colored rings. Each of them is connected to the others by a huge hard light bridge. You've only seen something like that once over at the Shibuya Crossing, how much did that cost?!

    "Alright, so there's four Districts, that's what we call each individual island." Aiko explains. "The one we're on is called the Attraction District, and if we were looking at it from afar, you could tell by the yellow colored ring of glyphs holding us up. Residential is the one with the green ring, Commerce over there is red, and Shopping— that's my personal favorite— is in blue."

    Rei looks around, before silently nodding to herself. "Wow, cool. Do you mind if I take some time to go look at the view?"

    Aiko double blinks in surprise, but nods. "Uh, sure! There's a viewing pavilion over there to the west."

    "Alright, sounds good. Akemi, I'm gonna be taking the cat. Purrson, get over here! Akemi, talk some more with Aiko." The "don't antagonize her" goes unsaid in Rei's sentence.

    Purrson doesn't even wave you goodbye, he just leaps from your shoulder to Rei's. Not that you didn't expect it. He needs his time to wander— as much of a god(?) as he might be, you've noticed that he's really much more of a cat than he realizes.

    "So, am I correct in assuming that you and Rei are coming up here together?" Aiko asks, turning her attention back to you.

    As much as you should be cautious, Rei seems to like her, so maybe you should calm down and just talk to her normally. You know that she likes anime and shopping, which… doesn't really do much for you, now that you think about it. "Uh, yeah! We're just here to look around, we've heard a lot about this place."

    Aiko walks closer to one of the walls, getting out of the way of a passing tourist, before responding. "Yeah, the tourism promoters really try their best. We have a few of the biggest malls and two amusement parks, but it really isn't that impressive. All nice for a one day vacation like I assume that you're doing though."

    "How do you know that we're only up here for one day? I never told you that, and I think that you and Rei were only talking about some anime."

    It's in that moment that she returns the glare that you've been giving her, and it's in that moment that you realize that she hasn't been fully looking at you either. "Well, you don't have suitcases, and AccelTech usually doesn't just do object teleportation. And while there's a chance that you could have just forgotten, you don't seem like that type of person."

    Hm. She's not airheaded. Interesting. "And you? I imagine that you have things up here?"

    Aiko rolls her eyes, but sighs. When she next looks at you, her stern glare is gone. "My aunt has a house near the west end of Residential. I'll be staying there for the next two nights so that I can check on my sister and a few other things. And how about you? You still haven't clarified you and Rei's relationship."

    [Social Check; DC 40/70/100]
    [26+20+24(EP)=70. Success!]

    For a second, you consider brushing her off again. But then again…

    "Akemi. There's nothing wrong with keeping on your feet, but open up your heart once in a while. Both you and Rei need to calm down, keeping yourself so wound up all the time isn't good for you!"

    …dammit, Kasumi was right. "She's actually a friend from my childhood. This trip is basically one of the first times we've hung out together in years, really. That's how I know her so well. We actually pretty much share joint custody of Purrson."

    "That's— oh, the cat! Hm. You must be awfully good friends then. Lord knows I could never take care of a pet. Well, aside from a hamster or two…"

    She trails off as both Rei and Purrson return. Rei brushes a stray hair to the side, before opening her mouth. "Alright, I've seen enough. I'm ready to see whatever you think is most interesting, Aoki."

    Aoki claps her hands together and smiles. "Alright! I had this idea that we could go to this one shop alongside the east end of the Shopping District. If the window shopping isn't fun enough, we could watch a movie, the non-first premiere showings are pretty reasonable. But uh, you don't have to walk with me if you don't want to of course!"

    A mall? Lots of people there, it's not too unreasonable to assume that you might find someone to follow while shopping. Aoki's local knowledge could be invaluable, and both you and Rei are freshly dressed enough to fit in. But…

    You silently try to get Rei's attention, before mouthing out; "AccelTech?"

    It takes her a second to realize what you're saying, but she gets what you're trying to put down. If you're doing preliminary espionage, it does make sense to check out the shadiest company in the area. You might even meet Suzuki again— he seems just as smart as Aiko, maybe a bit smarter. As Rei talks with Aiko, you hear another one of her voices in your head.

    >we know the location. Either you or Rei could go up there and check out their reception room, ask a few questions… or we get Hatsume and her gang to teleport us.

    Right. Aoki's offer is tempting, but Rei has line of sight teleportation. There's only a few people who can do that with Glyphs, and the workers might be going on break soon. And at the same time, you could also check the other Districts. There's a chance for a lead that goes nowhere, but the Void is really easy to spot when you know what you're looking for.

    Decisions, decisions. Worst case scenario, you and Rei could split up, both of you have done that before. But if you do, what's your best plan?

    Akemi's Perk is revealed…

    [The Schemer]
    Trust only those you know you can. And think and plot as much as you possibly can.
    [Akemi may gain +10 or -10 modifiers to her Mental/Social checks involving one character, depending on what happens in narrative. This lasts until the end of the Week/Mission, whichever comes first.]

    [When Akemi is on a Mission alongside Rei, she may act independently of Rei.]

    (Pick one action for Akemi and one action for Rei. You don't have to go with Aiko, but doing so will leave her alone and have her not show up for the rest of the mission.)

    [ ] [Akemi] Keep walking and talking with Aiko.
    [ ] [Akemi] Go look at the AccelTech HQ.
    [ ] [Akemi] Wander around Eiganjo, go find something else to do.
    [ ] [Akemi] (Write-In?)

    [ ] [Rei] Keep walking and talking with Aiko.
    [ ] [Rei] Go look at the AccelTech HQ.
    [ ] [Rei]     Teleport into the AccelTech HQ?
    (This option was unlocked via Thieves Guild: Secret Six Samurai.)
    [ ] [Rei] Wander around Eiganjo, go find something else to do.
    [ ] [Rei] (Write-In?)

    Author's Note:

    I've run out of author's notes. Brain dead. It's the week between Christmas and New Year's and I'm completely out of it, just chilling. Glad I managed to get this out on Friday tho! Next update may take a bit longer, I have a Project Prometheus omake to do.

    Happy voting heroes.
     
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    • Hope you have a relaxing Week Kermie! As for the vote, Lets make Akemi socialize more and heck if Were been given the offer...

    [X] [Akemi] Keep walking and talking with Aiko.
    [X] [Rei]     Teleport into the AccelTech HQ?
     
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