Problematic Femslash Prompts

Title: Vs
Universe: Hyakuichijuu Sentai Gaoranger
Character(s): Taiga Sae, Washio Gaku, Odagiri Aya, Wendinu, Apostle of Destruction Jeanne, OCs
Series: in answer | Divine Metal | Reinforcements From the Future | Forever Red | Monster Calendar Worlds: tsukumogami | All Because of You | A Nation of Orugu (I, II) | A Nation of Ogres (I, II, III) | A Nation of Orugu (III, IV, V, VI) | Monster Calendar Worlds: Kaijin | Whisper of Demon | Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger vs Aliens
Rating: U
Warnings: N/A
Summary: In lonely warehouses and crowded basements, an illegal fighting tournament takes place nightly, the cries of its patrons loud and wild, human voices belonging to human owners willing to place bets on a fight between people, animals, or even monsters, whatever promised the best return. Alone in changing rooms, Taiga Sae wraps bandages about her fists and grits her teeth.
Length: 9048 words
Author's Notes: I wrote this when I started my new job earlier in the year mostly as a means to keep myself sane. It was written almost entirely on an ipad with no external keyboard, the first time I have written anything this big like that, although I gather that those younger than me do this often. I can't say I really enjoyed writing on an ipad, but, again, I did this to keep myself sane. I just wanted to write about a subject that interested me really, and I no larger goal than that. I'm still watching between 11-12 hours of Wild Force every week-end as some kind of bulwark against adult responsibilty. Additional notes here. also: external link.



( Vs )

I started thinking Saito Kyoko was great before I even really knew who she was. On the Yamanote Line at the time of writing this, there are a series of adverts and features on the television screens above the doors, and one of them is a weekly repeating drama starring starring Saito, nicknamed Kyonko, and Yamoto Yuuma as a pair of co-workers who go out for meals occasionally. I usually hate all this stuff, standing in the crowd, looking up to see the television trying to show me how to cook some kind of disgusting meat or watching actors visit restaurants for exotic meals, but whatever the case, maybe because this is a drama, maybe because Kyonko is so expressive, this one makes me smile whenever I see it.



Originally a member of Hinatazaka46’s first generation, I never knew Kyonko when she was in the group. In fact, if you ask me to name a single Hinatazaka song, I can’t do it, I can only tell you about Hiragana Keyakizaka46. Kyonko first arrived in 2016 before the name change with the song, Hiragana Keyaki, a B side on actual Keyakizaka46 release, Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai, a song which, like all Keyakizaka songs, packs more of a punch that is deserves to.

The idea of a sister group within the main group was a genius one, with Hiragana being allowed a softer, quieter sound initially than the full force of Keyakizaka. This group could easily have got lost as a subsequent generation of the original group, but instead became something else, pushing Kyonko forward through a storied career to these moments on the Yamanote Line when I look up and see her face.

By 2017, a year after her arrival, she was already acting as centre for songs like the folk-tinged Soredemo Aruiteru from Keyakizaka’s majestically presented fifth single, Kaze ni Fukarete mo. Can you feel the force of how impressed I was by Keyakizaka? By contrast, Hiragana were softer, gentler, less confrontational, and in a way, listening to the interplay between members in the songs, I always wondered if this was how NGT48 were intended to be.

Whilst I was failing to pay attention, Kyonkon appeared on an AKB B side for Sashihara’s graduation single, Jiwaru DAYS, as part of the SAKAMICHI AKB line-up alongside Shitao Miu, Fukuoka Seina. Yamauchi Mizuki, Okabe Rin, Oguri Yui, Sakaguchi Nagisa, Yahagi Moeka, and others from the sister groups and the Nogizaka groups, including Yoda Yuki who only graduated recently, and Koike Minami, who is my favourite Keyakizaka member. The song in question, Hatsukoi Door, is kind of great as well, a real mix of the sounds of both groups.

Last year, in a big event in Yokohama in April, Kyonko graduated, so the long and short of all of this is that I am an idiot who did not appreciate her when she was a part of her group, and it took a television series only broadcast on a trainline in another country for me to really come to appreciate her. Sorry, Kyonko! I’m supporting you from now on, I promise!