The Apothecary Diaries Does Such A Great Job Of Portraying How Traumatizing It Can Be To Be A Victim

always love this soukoku thing

It is 2024 I am once again asking for a tsubasa reservoir chronicle anime remake

More in depth analysis about the Spy x Family Manga Cover Chairs and Bonus Artworks (Or me just overthinking Endo’s decisions in everything and as always long post, please bear with me)

So I wanted to talk about something that I noticed about the various designer chairs that is featured on all manga covers.

Endo did say that he thought about how each chair matches the personality of the character, regarding it’s style, design or the color.

But I like to talk about something different about the chairs-it’s size or the seating capacity and how it reflects the characters relationship with others or their views about relationships. Also, I’m going to share something significant about the comedic bonus arts that also feature the chairs.

This focus mainly about Loid, Yor and Anya‘s Chair (including Fiona’s Chair) and the bonus illustrations that came with it.

Volume 1-Loid’s Chair: Le Corbusier LC2

There are two versions of this chair in the manga/anime, the love seat and the one seater. Loid is seated in the one seater chair in this cover, it means no one can sit there with him that reflects how reluctant he was in letting other people in his life. He wasn’t open for relationships (You can notice that those who are like him, intelligence assets; Franky, Fiona, Handler all sit in one seating capacity chair).

The bonus artwork was Anya sitting on the chair copying his pose. She’s the most fitting person to be in this seat because she can see through Loid’s mind, she basically knows who he really is and she likes him for that. Anya was fond of spies and she was excited about being part of his mission.

Volume 2-Anya’s Chair: Marshmallow Sofa

Anya’s chair has a large seating capacity and she was sitting at the middle, waiting for the empty spots on her both sides to be occupied. This depicts Anya’s anticipation for forming relationship with other people, about her wanting parents, a family, to be there for her.

The bonus artwork was drunk Yor lying face flat on Anya’s chair. This artwork, for me, reflects Yor’s unwavering affection for Anya and Anya’s appreciation of Yor. Even drunk, she’s determined to protect her, as if she was her real daughter as seen during the castle chapter. She is fond of Anya.

Volume 3-Yor’s Chair: La Chaise (Featuring Fiona’s Heart Cone Chair)

This is the chair I wanted to talk about and I have to use Fiona’s Chair for this analysis for Endo said that Fiona is designed to be Yor’s contrast and we can clearly see it in their chairs.

The seating capacity of Yor and Fiona’s chair greatly differ. Yor’s chair was big, Endo pointed how it didn’t even fit the cover, and even though Fiona’s chair is big too, she’s the only person who could sit in it. Other people can fit Yor’s chair but not with Fiona. I analyze this as Yor being open to genuine relationships and selfless while Fiona being closed off and selfish.

We know Yor’s motivation for being an assassin was for Yuri, for the sake of other people, and what is Fiona’s motivation? Clearly it was mainly for Twilight to marry her, love her and it was evidently show with all that stuff hiding behind her chair. I’m sure she experienced a lot of traumatic stuff that led to her being a spy but I don’t see other praise worthy and selfless motivations from her that was aside Twilight’s affection. Don’t get me wrong, she’s an interesting character and she isn't a bad person but I’m not really a fan of her personality just like I don’t like Yuri’s obsession with her sister.

In Yor however, she has nothing under or behind her chair. Just that blood that wasn’t even behind or below her chair. She wasn’t faking anything about her personality. It’s true that she accepted her marriage to preserve her assassin job but she genuinely wanted to marry Loid because he was the one who acknowledged her selflessness and that was enough for her to completely entrust her life to him. She welcomed Loid and Anya to her life because her longing for a companion to share her life with is as big as the size of her chair.

The bonus art in Volume 3 was Loid sitting on her chair. Despite the comedic set up of these illustrations, I think the people who tend to sit on the chair on the bonus arts were the ones who gets the person on the cover the most.

That is why Anya is in Loid’s (Because she can read his mind) Why Yor is in Anya's (Because Yor lost her parents at a young age too and she knows how to care for Anya because she did that to Yuri) and why Loid is in Yor’s chair (Because Loid understood her self sacrifice because he too, is the same as her) Also why Anya and Bond are in the bonus of Volume 4 because the two of them get each other, being both experimented on.

I also have some analysis about Volume 5-12 and the bonus artworks as well, but I might post them in another time since I haven't seen the translated bonus artworks in Becky and Emile and Ewen's Volumes.

But let me know if this analysis makes sense to you.

This has been a most worthwhile evening 🍽

what i love about Maomao is that she is ALL for the girls like she doesn't judge or look down on the concubines she calls the courtesans she grew up with her sisters and when Lady Lihua looked like she was about to fucking deck Lady Shin she literally giggled and was proud that Lihua was standing up for herself like Maomao is the NUMBER ONE supporter of women and strong women shes a cheerleader for women and i will always love that about her

the shoushimin s2 opening is so good, so sooooo good. i'm so exited for this season and urino isn't as annoying as in the novels when we isn't the narrator (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

We don't need Yugi's flashback because their story has been told for a long time. (an analysis) Part 3.

4. Aoi and Akane, continue.

Aoi is very similar to Hanako in her secretive, insecure and stubborn character. She is a cheerful introvert, it is difficult for her to reveal her secrets and vulnerabilities to others, she is inclined to solve problems by "giving up everything, all or nothing". Akane is open, straightforward, confident and goal-oriented, even if he has to work hard, he is not afraid of it.

Although I compare Aoi with Hanako here, and Akane with Tsukasa, there is a moment where they switch roles. When Akane strangles Aoi and says that he hates her.

After all, it is her fault that everything turned out this way, and since he is her close person, he has the right to say such things to her. This is just pointing out flaws, right? "I've known you since childhood." In this situation, it is as if Aoi is to blame.

Now let's return to the first parallel. "Do you love me at least a little? Are you sure you love me?"

You have to really drag words of love out of these two (Aoi and Amane), because you're not sure about it because of their behavior, huh. (Hello, Nene on the far shore.)

So, how does this relate to Yugi?

The twins were very close, but that's obvious. Amane was a shy boy, and Tsukasa was easier to get along with people, and Amane remained in his shadow.

They lived an ordinary life until that fateful day - Tsukasa sacrifices himself for Amane. He makes a contract with a supernatural in exchange for the life of a loved one, and becomes half supernatural himself.

Tsukasa is also very traumatized by what happened. He is fixated on Amane and wants to know more about his brother for the aforementioned reason.

The boy who returned to Amane was a slightly different person. He acted differently, and distance began to form between them, tension in the family grew (especially considering the behavior of his mother) and at one point Amane was brought to a state in which he believed that a good solution to the problems would be to kill his brother and himself.

Amane also says how he hates Tsukasa, and that it was as if he was guilty. "If you weren't a fake, everything would be different," as if Tsukasa was to blame for the current situation. (Compare with "if you hadn't closed yourself off and lied, everything would have been different, it's your fault that we're breaking up, Aoi." Akane, on the other hand, was not to blame for anything, although he was the one who scared Aoi with his behavior and he's the one strangling her now. Amane killed Tsukasa, but Tsukasa was also the one to blame, yeah.)

It's worth noting the differences between Yugi's story and others.

1. Kou and Mitsuba. There's a difference in who Mitsuba is and who Tsukasa is, and why one is more "real" than the other. I'll leave a link to my analysis of the nature of these two.

2. Hakubo and Sumire. Hakubo eventually realizes that he didn't appreciate Sumire, while Amane is far from it. Also, Hakubo is an autistic demon, while Amane is much more human by birth, even if he also shows autistic traits, it is in his nature to cope with it better. But in the end, he behaves much better than a horned demon with low empathy, although he talks a lot about feelings and guilt, that is, Amane understands this concept, but in a purely human cruelty continues to push Tsukasa away from himself.

3. Aoi and Akane. There is a certain difference in the behavior of Akane and Tsukasa. Tsukasa is much more independent from Amane personally, although he builds his goals on him (!). He is able to act separately and show interest in other people and things, and not all of his motivation is built entirely on Amane, he has purely personal motives, which Akane never had, concentrating only on Aoi. Also, words of hatred are thrown here by Akane and Amane, and not Aoi and Tsukasa, although these two probably have something to complain about in the behavior of a loved one, they continue to tolerate it, and even if they speak out, then much more gently, not throwing around the words "I hate" so easily in relation to someone who is dear to them.

Thus, if we collect into one whole everything that goes under the line "what does Yugi have to do with it", then we will get their integral story, in which there are almost no unknown moments, only Amane's motivation for murder is not yet entirely clear, but only because we do not know it, and I am sure that when they show it to us, it will definitely parallel with something already written, because Yugi's story runs like a red thread through the entire manga and is reflected in all secondary conflicts.

Parts 1 and 2

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We don't need Yugi's flashback because their story has been told for a long time. (an analysis) Part 1.

We don't know much about the twins, but I think that's enough because their personal story parallels all the characters in this manga. And w

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We don't need Yugi's flashback because their story has been told for a long time. (an analysis) Part 2.

3. Hakubo and Sumire. Mystery and yorishiro continue. How does this relate to Yugi? Tsukasa is also a sacrifice to the demon hole in exchan

the way i love how tsukasa is the moon and amane the sun, it goes from their names, to:

night = time of spirits → tsu grants wishes for spirits/yokai

day = time of the living → amane grants wishes for living humans

but you can also consider how amane has always loved the moon, at least until his death and how he loves his brother AND ALSO the distance he put with both of them (giving up on his dream and "not going anywhere", giving tsuchigomori the moon rock AND with tsukasa killing him and then abandoning (?) him)

and THERE'S TOO how the moon can't shine without the sun, so it can be a metaphor how important amane is for tsukasa and how he is the reason for so many of his actions

and

and and

I have responsibilities like self torment and isolation

Spy x Family volume 14: bonus chapter and official timeline translation

Volume 14 was just released and it included a ton of great extras, including an extra bonus chapter and a timeline of events! Firstly, here's my translation of the 4Koma (4 panel) bonus chapter!

Lol at Anya telling Yuri to go to work 😂 I also love how Anya has a teacup once Yor is home ❤️

Next, much to everyone's surprise, Endo provided an official timeline...sort of. It doesn't have specific years and a lot of information is redacted, but it's something! Sorry for the sloppy editing, I pasted an excel sheet over the original text since that was much easier. Also, the letters in the "Character Age" column refer to the first letter of the character ("L" for Loid for example).

Did I forget who "Coco" was or was that never actually in the manga?

Even though much of the timeline is redacted, it does confirm a few things, like how old Henry and Martha were during some past events, and in the present, as well as Loid's age when he joined the army. I also find it interesting that Anya is included even though this timeline is about the wars...was the facility she was at involved with the war somehow? 👀 Were the experiments on her related? But it also includes Franky's breakups, so who knows, lol.

Next, a bonus illustration of Damian picking his outfit for the gala, just like Jeeves mentioned in the latest chapter. Ewen is telling him to pick black since it looks more more cool and mature. But Endo says that the overlapping patterns make it hard to see, so he should pick white. Obviously being the creator, whatever Endo says goes 😅

Stella progress illustration. Anya is the only one with tonitrus...

And lastly, the main cover and inner cover featuring young and old Henderson (maybe Martha for volume 15?)