Soul Eater Chapter 68: Is that a sword under your dress, or are you just happy to see me?

[nenena]

Crona? What Crona? Apparently we need to open this chapter with five pages of extraneous failure from Team Failboat first.



We open in Team Failboat's hideout. Noah's all like, "Hey guyz, check out what I made." What could it be? Another robot puppy? Something as diabolical as the Morality Manipulation Machine? Maybe a demon tool that makes practical use of the BREW?!

No, of course not.

It's a belt.

"It's a belt," Noah says.

Oh, dear. Noah, your fashion license is officially REVOKED FOREVER. That is one hella fugly belt.

"This will increase the power of a demon tool by ten percent," Noah says. "But I'm a little bit uneasy about testing it on myself." Well, that's what Waffles is for!

"You called for me, Noah-sama?"

"Of course I did, Waffles-kun."

"You made a special demon tool just for me, Noah-sama?!" Oh my gosh. The look on Waffles's face totally reminds me of the look on my dog's face that she used to have on Thanksgiving Day. You made a whole turkey just for me?! Oh, I love you so much!!!!

Oh silly puppy, that turkey is not just for you. It is not even primarily for you. I don't think that this belt is intended just for Waffles, either.

"Yeah so like, put on this belt and go blow up a village or something," Noah says. Whoa! What a dick!

So Waffles flies off to some village AAAAAANNNNNNNDDDDD...

Epic failure. Of course.

Waffles comes back making an epic :< face. "I'm so sorry, Noah-sama... I broke it..." Maybe you broke it, or maybe it just sucked. I'm thinking that maybe it just sucked.

Noah, this is what you get for inflicting your epic awful fashion sense upon Waffles, who, by the way, is still dressed waaaaaaaay better than you are.

"It's all right..." Noah says. "Leave now..." Damn, it's a good thing I didn't test it on myself, Noah think-bubbles.

Waffles bawls, of course, then stalks off pouting. I failed again. It's HIS fault. It's all HIS fault! We've had nothing but failures since HE came along!

Oh my god. Can Kid really take credit for Team Failboat being nothing but epic failures since the end of the Baba Yaga arc? Really?! Because that would be kind of freakin' awesome. I guess that Kid is so badass that he can totally fuck up the plans of powerful villains just by sitting around and doing nothing. Awesome.

I mean, think about it: Both Noah and Justin were racking up the epic wins before Kid came along. Justin killed BJ and successfully framed Stein for it. Noah turned Arachne into pure crazybeans, killed Mosquito, and walked out of the Baba Yaga arc with the BREW and a pet shinigami added to his collection. Since then, however, things have gone completely downhill for both of them. Justin fails to kill Maka. Noah fails to, well, do anything really. Waffles fails, and fails, and fails again.

Hmmmm. Kind of makes you think.

Asura went insane, and now projects an insanity wavelength. Kid committed a string of epic failures ("I'mma gonna go after Mosquito! I'mma gonna run straight into Arachne's headquarters with no backup! I'mma gonna sit here and hope that creepy dude with the hat doesn't see me OH SHIT--"), so now maybe he can project his own epic failure wavelength?

It would explain so much.

And no, I don't know how Giricco would fit into that picture, because, well. He's Giricco.

Anywhoo. Noah flips through his book, looks up at nothing in particular, and ponders out loud, "I wonder if Medusa's experiments are turning out to be failures, too..."

Based on the next couple pages, I'd say no, not quite! Not yet at least. Then again, Medusa did seem to be grasping at straws when she declared her "success" in the previous chapter.

Said "success" suddenly appears right between Crona's legs. Oh, that's not a suggestive phallic symbol pointing right at Crona's crotch or anything. "Come to me, Black Clown..." Crona says.

Oh, cool! That is admittedly an incredibly nifty fusion thing that Crona's got going right now. Hmmm, kind of reminds me of this.

Tsubaki's all like, "ZOMG three demon swords!" And I'm all like, ZOMG repetition of the three-motif SIGNIFICANCE ALERT! SIGNIFICANCE ALERT!

And Black Star's all like, "Okay, then. I've got the Phantom Sword in one hand, the power of JUDO in my other hand, and I'm good!"

Tsubaki immediately sees the math fail here. "What about the third sword?"

Black Star grins. "A man is always..." He thrusts his crotch in Crona's general direction. "WIELDING THE ULTIMATE THIRD SWORD!"

Oh thank God. It just wouldn't be a Black Star chapter without the obligatory Black Star Penis Joke, would it?

Tsubaki is not amused. "As a Spartoi, you should have grown past those stupid kinds of jokes by now. Everyone will think you're an idiot."

"Oh, speaking of which," Black Star says, "Hey, Crona. I always wanted to ask, but do you have, like, a fourth sword under there?"

"What?" Crona says.

Suddenly, Ragnarok appears! "What, you really wanna know?!" And then Rags tries to lift Crona's clothes--

--fandom collectively holds its breath--

--and Crona will have none of this crap. "Noooo! Stop it! Don't do perverted things to me!" Then Crona turns hir attention back to Black Star. "If you're going to say perverted things.... I won't forgive you for that."

"SCREAM RESONANCE!"

Oh, now we're talking.

Crona screams and kicks ass! The artwork kicks ass! Black Star, however, looks bored.

Medusa notices. "I got my kid to grow an extra arm and this idiot isn't even impressed?!"

The fight continues. "GET OUTTA MY SIGHT!" Crona screams. Black Star doesn't even flinch. Instead, he whistles. "Wow, you're loud."

Medusa is like, "Der? Der?"

Then Black Star draws in a deep breath.

IT'S SCREAMING TIME!

So now Black Star is drowning out Crona's screaming with his own screaming - no seriously, Ohkubo is like layering Black Star's scream-bubble on top of Crona's scream-bubble and oh god this is glorious - and Ragnarok's all like, "Blerk?!"

Then Black Star pulls back and punches Crona in the face.

Again. And again. And again.

Now, however, it's Crona's turn not to flinch. Or even to bat an eyelid. "Crona has black blood, you can't hurt hir with mere punches, blah blah blah," Medusa helpfully reminds us readers.

"YOU!!" Black Star snarls at Crona. "Just to get this stupid power-up, you, you--"

Black Star's punch sends Crona flying through the air.

"YOU BETRAYED MAKA!!!"

Crona gets up, undamaged. "What are you talking about...? What...? Who is 'Maka'...?"

Epic Black Star face. "Jiggawhu?!"

"I couldn't be there... I could only come back here..." Crona looks up. "Huh... Where was it that I came back from...?" Crona grabs hir arm. "The only one who really appreciates me is Medusa-sama... Because she's my mother."

"But Maka-chan always thought of you as a real friend!" Tsubaki protests.

"I don't want to just be protected," Crona says. "When someone gets tired of taking care of me, they leave me. I can't go on, always being afraid of that happening..." Zhe starts screaming again. "So who IS this 'Maka'?! I don't know that person!!" Hir clown-flavored soul powers up. "WHO THE HELL IS MAKA?!?!"

Blah blah blah Phantom Blade.

Blah blah blah Screech Delta.

Blah blah blah Crona violently dismembers like a jillion Black Stars. 'Sokay, though, the real one still has all of his limbs! (Wow, Black Star is doing better than Kid fared against Mosquito so far.)

Tsubaki's all like, "Oh noes, my totally awesome power-up form isn't working!"

"I LOL at puny Shibusen ninjas," Medusa says. "Also, even when fighting a friend from Shibusen, it appears as though Crona's 'Heart of Insanity' is stable." What the hell is that?! Is it like the Heart of Kandrakar, but evil?

"Don't back down, Crona!" Ragnarok cheerleads.

"Tsubsaki! Do something awesome!" Black Star shouts.

And then she does. Shadow Star Second Form: Moonlight Leaf.

Oh, now that kicks ass.

Wow, that really kicks ass.

Crona's armor is actually taking damage. "He damaged the black blood with just his fist?!" Medusa comments.

"What is this... This guy... He's too strong..." Crona whines. "I have to kill the scary man, I have to kill the scary person..."

"I wasn't certain that Crona could win against Black Star," Medusa says, donning the Captain Exposition hat. "But I thought zhe could do better than this. It appears as though I performed too few tests so far. Black Star brags that he will surpass God... I guess I can't really laugh at that idea anymore. If I let the two of them keep fighting like this, Crona will be seriously damaged... Oh well. At least I could accurately measure the stability of Crona's soul. This is still a success." Hmmm, grasping for straws again, are you, Medusa?

"Rather than worrying about your child's safety, shouldn't you be more concerned about your own predicament right now?"

What predicament?

Oh. It's Justin.

That predicament.

Medusa turns around. "Persistent, aren't you." She grins. "Because of your little stunt, I had to leave my previous facility in a rush, and left behind all of my experimental notes for Shibusen to get their hands on." Wait, what? Did Justin do something that caused Medusa to abandon that town in "Africa" in a rush?

Never mind. It's Law-Abiding Silver Gun time.

Back to Crona. "Please, stop this, Crona!" Tsubaki yells. "None of us are ever going to betray you... There's no reason to be afraid of us..."

Crona smiles sadly, but says nothing.

"Please come back with us," Tsubaki pleads. "Everyone is waiting for you... You found finally something precious at Shibusen, didn't you?"

"Something... precious..." Crona looks up at her. "Do you mean friends...? Who is Maka? And Soul...? Kid? Liz? Patti? Who are those people?" Crona looks back down. "Marie-sensei... Who is she..." Crona looks back up. "Even if none of you are going to betray me, I still betrayed all of you... I can't be there anymore... HUH?! What am I talking about? I don't know! I don't know!"

Then Crona's face gets creepy. "That's why it's better for me to be alone... I don't know how to deal with other people... That's why Medusa-sama gave me this power... Ragnarok... the Black Clown... If I use this power, then I can defeat you..."

"You're an idiot," Black Star says. "You don't understand anything, do you?! The most important thing isn't power, it isn't courage, it isn't even having friends! The only thing that matters is that you can rely on ME."

Wait, what?

"I am the most reliable man in the entire world! The whole world relies on me!" Black Star goes on. "Anybody who can't put their faith in me is a total idiot!"

"I'll kill you," Crona chants. "I'll kill you. I don't know how to deal with reliable people. I'll kill you. I'll kill you."

And on that note, back to Justin and Medusa! "To create an artificial clown is blasphemy against the Lord Kishin, oh witch... It is time that you realized a taste of true insanity..."

"How conceited for a mere executioner to say such flowery words," Medusa comments. Eruka... Mizune... We have an uninvited guest again... Retrieve Crona and retreat at once!

So Eruka appears (YAAAAAAAAAAY ERUKA!!!!!!!) and throws a bomb at Black Star's face. "WTF it's the frog lady?!" Black Star says. Yep, it's the frog lady, and the 3-form and 2-form Mizune (YAAAAAAAAAAY MIZUNE!!!!!!!) as well.

So now Black Star is fighting two Mizune. "Crona, let's jump in!" Ragnarok says, back in cheerleader mode. So now Crona and Ragnarok jump in the fray, too! Eruka stands back, watching this epic clusterfuck, and comments, "Ummmm, do I have to join the fight too?"

Black Star whirls around kicking ass, the Mizune fight, Crona and Ragnarok fight, and Eruka comments to herself, "Even if all nine of us were in there, we wouldn't stand a chance..." Eruka stares at the rest of them. "Um, retreat... We're supposed to retreat..."

Okay so now I turn the page and--

the hell?

Am I missing a page, or something?

I assume that's Crona's hand (who else has black blood?!) reaching for Medusa, but if so, then how did Crona get there?

Yeah anyway I seriously doubt that Medusa is about to die. Seriously, seriously doubt.

Oh well. Until next month!

Comments

[plushabilities.livejournal.com]

How much you want to wager that Justin does a powerboost and still fails?

[nenena.livejournal.com]

I think he already did a powerboost - what with merging with the clown and all - but I still can't wait to see exactly how he's going to manage to fail this one. I mean, he's already got Medusa's neck and hands in stocks. At this point, that means that Justin's impending inevitable failure is going to be completely epic.

[kiyuu.livejournal.com]

Oh god oh god oh god Chronaaaa. ;____; Poor woobie.

[alice-rm.livejournal.com]

Oh Noah...do something productive :<

An epic failure wavelength? that would be so much win xD

Ohkubo playing again with Crona's gender: the first one was Patti, now BS...epic lol continue like this Ohkubo, please~

I really liked the battle, and I'm happy that BS is still a little bit childish <3 but the third sword...now I understand the glowing crotch

About the last page...I was a little bit shocked, but I still think/hope that Medusa won't be killed there, it would be too easy.

Thank you very much!!!!!

[shinraisei.livejournal.com]

Maybe a wavelength of imperfection? I mean, Kid's all (though not too too much these days) about symmetry and perfection. So what if he projects the opposite in wavelength that causes everyone's perfect plans to fail dramatically?! :O

I hope I'm not onto anything.

Your commentary is awesome :)b

[insanityin3d.livejournal.com]

Oh Waffles, how I love you. X3

So, Black Star is the only one that matters, huh? Well then, that's...kinda new, I guess. Eh, who cares ERUKA'S BACK!!! YAY!!!! XD

[sagesoren.livejournal.com]

The thing about Waffles's expression was so perfect. I really don't like Team Failboat, though. Well, except for a tiny bit of Justin bias, but that doesn't count.

I like the direction the author decided to take with Chrona, though. I sort of have a feeling it will either get dragged out forever, end with a touching reunion, or both.

[kirschwassers.livejournal.com]

this chapter sounds utterly beautiful (the failing! the crona!), and i cannot waiiiit to read it. :0

but i will continue to wait patiently for crona's life to not suck. /parks self in corner

[zuki-san.livejournal.com]

This sounds like a killer chapter! Can't wait to read it properly!

[animeshen.livejournal.com]

ah ha ha, awesome! I can't wait to read the chapter- hooray for more Chrona!! (LOL, a belt, Noah? Really? REALLY?)
btw, diggin' on the El Hazard reference! XD "HEY MAKOTO, BONES OKAY?"

[zuki-san.livejournal.com]

I loved that cat. I loved that line.

[ash-ka-chan.livejournal.com]

Pfffffft, oh Noah and your belt OCD. (I refuse to call it an obsesstion...)

Crona's has to be so picky about sexual herassment, doesn't she/he? At this oint, I think that Medusa just stole Crona's gender. *sigh*

I think Black Star has a MJ fetish or something...

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Please do call it an obsession. OCD is something else entirely. ^^;;

[lmd-84.livejournal.com]

Your re-caps are so...lively. Thanks for this one. :)

So, it starts off with Black Star and Crona (ignoring Noah's...existence, at the moment. Can't believe he started out looking like a genuine, or at the very least entertaining threat) and then everyone tries to join in?

Looks like Black Star's attitude does pay off against Crona. Wasn't quite expecting that given the only way Maka got through to the child was to try to understand them (with violence).

Uh, if Medusa and Justin are together, any possibility the last page is him attempting to give her a "taste of true insanity" and the black blood belongs to him? You say only Crona has it, but it does seem turn up with other suitable nuts people (Maka briefly, and Asura IIRC) Can't imagine it'd work, naturally, but it's something. Personally, I don't want Justin dead until Shibusen gets to him. Stupid treacherous priest.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming that you haven't seen the final two pages of the chapter yet...?

It shows Justin about to decapitate Medusa, and a black, bloody hand reaching toward the two of them. There's no way that the hand could belong to Justin because Justin's like, way far away from the hand. And you can see both of Justin's hands. The black-blooded hand belongs to neither Justin nor Medusa. It is a really confusing final two pages.

I probably should have specified all of this in my recap. But generally I've assumed that people reading my recap already have the raw and are following along. This is the first time I've gotten comments indicating that people are reading this thing without looking at the actual manga pages at the same time. (It's not just you; a couple people who commented above you too.) Had I known that, I wouldn't have skimped on my descriptions of what's actually happening on the dialogue-less pages, of which there were many this chapter.

[kyrafawxe.livejournal.com]

When I was looking at the RAW for this chapter I smiled. Then I read your recap and laughed.

♥ Thanks for making my night.


Also if Medusa SOMEHOW dies (which is doubtful) mightn't Chrona go even more insane?

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a good point.

I'm 100% certain that Medusa isn't going to die-die, but now that you mention it, she might very well "die" in the next chapter. What I mean is, this is a lady who already survived being cut in half, right? She might very well survive being decapitated, too. Of course, if Crona sees hir mother decapitated right in front of hir eyes, zhe might very well go completely ballistic, regardless of whether Medusa technically survives or not.

It would fit very well with the "everybody who cares about me eventually leaves me" thing that Crona's been repeating throughout this chapter.

[chiikaboom.livejournal.com]

So i guess Noah is hunky dory fine with Waffles beating Kidd to a bloody pulp and shet. I do support the epic-fail wavelength idea ahaha or maybe Shinigami sama put something on his son to curse all of his kidnappers/sex offenders/etcetc that would be quite awesome. Also GOD FSCKIT OHKUBO stop putting me through goth cowboy withdrawal already.

Also, Medusa better not die or I will cut Ohkubo in places he dont know he has |:

[sno-oki.livejournal.com]

Actually, that might explain why Shinigami-sama isn't very concerned about getting his son back. He knows that whatever the bad guys will do will backfire because Kid has a curse. Waiiiiit. Doesn't BREW amplify the emotions and wavelength of the user? Could it be possible that Kid's managed to keep BREW a secret and is using it to amplify his own wavelength to make Team Failboat fail? I think we're onto something Miss Chiikaboom. ^_^

[chun-e-ru.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, I always love your recaps, they are actually even more fun than the chapter itself XD Thanks!

[spirit-albarn.livejournal.com]

"Pay no attention to Gopher. We purposefully trained him wrong, as a joke."

[pachilove.livejournal.com]

I just had a fangirly explosive squee.
THIS IS INSPIRATIONAL FOR BLACK*STAR/CRONA FICCAGE/ART. OYES.

Beyond that, my brain exploded on the walls with the perversion level of this chapter. And Okubo's lolling at allll his fans right now. I know it.

:o

[morgana-707.livejournal.com]

Didn't read the summary because I want to read the chapter by myself, but just a question... where is the translation of this chapter? :S is already out? Mangafox neither Onemanga (the LAST one in Soul Eater updates I think u_u ) have it yet xD

Re: :o

[nenena.livejournal.com]

There is no translation out yet. I read Soul Eater in Japanese.

BTW Mangahelpers (dot com) is generally more up-to-speed than Mangafox or Onemanga. When a full translation is available, it'll be posted there.

WWWWonderffullllll

[(Anonymous)]

This was a delightful read. You have some fans at NarutoForums.
We have been talking about you for about 3-4 pages of our SE thread. Do check it out:

http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?t=35358&page=394

And please, if you are so inclined, create an account on NF and join our conversation. We believe your snarky humor would be very much at home in our community. Plus you could increase exposure to your blog. I think NF is one of the biggest manga forums out there, so give it a thought, k?

Sincerely,
KidQuick

Re: WWWWonderffullllll

[nenena.livejournal.com]

No offense, but I'm not keen to join a forum where people are going to call me a "spastic cretin" and offer reps to any posters who bitch about my summaries sucking. Really.

There's a reason why I post my summaries in my livejournal, as opposed to making them posts in a community like shibusen or in forums like NF or Animesuki: Because they're my personal, opinionated reactions to each chapter, and on my own livejournal, I'm free to squee or snark about whatever I please. ;) As would be anybody on their own blogs, ljs, whatever. I mean, that's what a RECAP post is. It's one person's reactions and opinions to the chapter/episode/whatever. It's not meant to be a straight-up delivery of the manga script without any extra reactions or snark from me; if it were, then I wouldn't call it a "recap."

I think some people on the NF forums are confused about the nature of a "recap" - which is what I've always labeled my posts as, and I've never pretended that they were anything else. Recaps are reaction pieces. I'm not doing this as a service to fandom. I'm doing it to write down my reactions to the chapter. Honestly, do these people never read any other anime blogs? Or Television Without Pity? Or The Agony Booth? "Recap" has a very specific meaning, it's a personal post, and that's why I keep my recaps on my personal livejournal.

I realize that because these posts are full of my opinions and my attempts at humor, of course not everybody is going to like them. Such is always the case with opinions, or with any kind of humor. Neither is universal. I get that. That's why I keep my opinions and my humor in my livejournal, as opposed to posting them in communities where I might be inflicting my writing upon people who don't like to read it.

What I don't get, however, is why people feel the need to bitch about my blog entries. It seems totally pointless to me. Like bitching about some fanfic that you don't like. What's the point? It's just somebody having fun on the internet. If you don't like it, then you don't have to read it. So don't read it. Any extraneous kvetching at this point is just stupid.

Anyway, sorry for the mini-rant. It wasn't directed at you, obviously. ;) I'm grateful for your compliments and I appreciate your invitation to the NF forum. But I'm gonna have to decline for now. Thanks for stopping by, though!

[(Anonymous)]

Hey, um no offense, but your recaps have gotten rather bland lately and are almost to the point of being unfunny. You should put a bit more thought into them, or look to the other recaps to see what has made them great.

[rather_crassly.livejournal.com]

Just for the record, I disagree wholeheartedly. I need these recaps because I can't read Japanese, the scanlation isn't out yet, and only Nenena can tell me what's going on. That's all I want! :) If she wants to add extras like humor and graphics, that's the icing on the cake--but there isn't any need. She could write straightforward summaries with no digressions or commentary, and I'd still bolt over here to read them. But she doesn't, 'cause Team Failboat is too funny to leave alone!

[olgiebear.livejournal.com]

"That is one hella fugly belt."
Maybe that's why it broke.

And looks like Chrona doesn't wear underwear anymore.

[rarelyupdates.livejournal.com]

Did zhe ever?
heh heh, I like these new pronouns for the gender ambiguous...

[chiikaboom.livejournal.com]

seeeeeee your summaries have become so friggen tastic awsmly popular that you actually have haters!

Thats so awsm and hilarious at the same time, srsly dude. I mean psshhh you write epic lulz worthy highly accurate summaries in your own livejournal where people normally whine and betch about shet all the time, lololol you weren't even debating anything ahahaha hahahaah fkjhndlfkh sorry brb lol'ng forever.

.. on a side note, im sure you already know this, but still, dont let any of that shet get to you |: hating hookers can go die in a mudkip landslide and shet.

[(Anonymous)]

Did Black Star really just pull a Kamina back there? Ye gads I love how he simplifies everything by shoving himself into the equation. Rely on him indeed.

And I second that epic failure wavelength. Kid has been all about the failures these past few chapters so he needs something to up the badass factor a little.

Here's a theory on that last part: Justin has black blood...?

Anyway reading these translations/summaries of yours has become something of a highlight of each month. Thanks for writing 'em~

[drifth.livejournal.com]

Whoops, I forgot to log in. Hi there. XD

[noirikiri.livejournal.com]

Wonderful chapter, probably my favorite since the Black Blood vs Black Blood battle of Crona and Maka. Crona is so much better now, great design and so much stronger, Crona is so much better as a villain actually because before Crona seemed a bit weak during the Arachnaphobia arc.

[(Anonymous)]

So I have been wondering. What is this Team Failboat deal about? I get the fail... But were does the boat come from?
Noah's ark???

I just realized the Clown and Medusa are now the only one's who know Crona's gender. Well Ragnarok might know but if he does he is so a troll.

The quality of these recaps seems to be going down. I rememberd that when I first found em they made me lol so hard... They are still fairly entertaining though.

I was also kinda surprised that Black Star said:
"You're an idiot," Black Star says. "You don't understand anything, do you?! The most important thing isn't power, it isn't courage, it isn't even having friends! The only thing that matters is that you can rely on ME."
He wasn't joking when he said that! Only a select few people can actually pull that off without sounding ridiculous.

It's so sweet to see Eruka (Yeah! <3) and Mizune again!
They were cool and the 2 Mizune variant is something new!
I wanna see what Free is up to, and the rest of Spartoi as well. I mean they have to be doing something right?

Justin's new look is interesting to say the least (and his mask). but he was cooler when he was still with Shibusen/DWA...

That hand! I wonder who's is it? It reminds me of the anti-spiral.

Crona is way better as an antagonist and now thanks to zher earlier heel face turn zhe can fight Black Star without risking death. It seems to me like Crona's second personality is coming up again!

STOP CALLING CRONA BROKEN GOODS EVERYONE! SHE'S JUST A ANTAGONIST AGAIN! WHICH IS AWESOME!
(Yeah, I wanna see Crona die in combat versus Soul)

[nenena.livejournal.com]

So I have been wondering. What is this Team Failboat deal about? I get the fail... But were does the boat come from?
Noah's ark???

"Failboat" is fairly common internet slang. I dunno where it actually originated from. I didn't make it up, but I'm using it here because - like you said - it matches the ark theme. ;)

He wasn't joking when he said that! Only a select few people can actually pull that off without sounding ridiculous.

LOL, I know! Black Star was so much ♥ in this chapter.

[sagesoren.livejournal.com]

Derp. Sorry to comment again, but I had no idea where to ask this. (Plus, it's entirely possible someone who wanted to ask the same question will see this, too, which would effectively double its usefulness!)

How does one pronounce "hir" and "zhe"? I'm assuming they must sound different than "her" and "she" or else the difference would only really be noticeable in written form, so I'm a little confused.

Thanks!;;

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Erk! I'm really bad at attempting to explain pronunciation in written form, but I'll take a crack at it.

"Zhe" is fairly simple to pronounce - it's like you're saying the letter "Z", the same way that you would when you sing the ABC song.

As for hir, well, all I can say is that the vowel sounds slightly different compared to her. I tried saying in front of a mirror, "Well, her boyfriend told me so" and "Well, hir boyfriend told me so." I noticed that when I said "hir" I puckered my lips more to get the "ih" sound across. But that's all that I can really tell you. Like I said, I'm terrible at describing pronunciation with words.

I'm assuming they must sound different than "her" and "she" or else the difference would only really be noticeable in written form

Actually, there are tons of words in English that are pronounced the same even when they're spelled differently in writing. It's usually not a big deal. My recommendation would be, if you don't feel confident about your pronunciation of certain pronouns, just stick to using the person's name instead. In spoken English we usually repeat names a lot more often than we use pronouns, anyway. So it really won't sound awkward at all if you keep saying a person's name instead of using a third-person pronoun, because a lot of us do that (without realizing it) when we speak anyway.