Touken Ranbu: Su Yu

This work was probably finished around 2019 or 2020. The Sword Warriors who appear are also limited to those who existed at the time. Its original title was Touken Ranbu: A Complete Mess. I moved it over from the place where I used to hang out. Back then, I was really obsessed with Touken Ranbu. This story is all emotion and not much writing skill. I don't even know if I've made it through these past few years. I can't empathize with my past self, and it feels like everything has changed.

Synopsis:

I used to enjoy reading Touken Ranbu fanfiction. Later, I got tired of the stories I was working on and wanted to dig a new pit, so I thought of writing Touken Ranbu fanfiction. I looked up some information for it and fell straight down the rabbit hole, the kind you can't climb back out of.

The characterization is so out of character that you can't read it with your brain switched on. There are many personal interpretations, and some characters have fallen into darkness. The author doesn't have the means to play the game, so I can only piece things together by looking up information and watching related videos. I haven't researched the relevant Japanese history. While writing, I was tormented several times by the wild plot twists that refused to follow my ideas, and by my terrible writing, until I wanted to abandon the story. Then stage plays, musicals, and various other things dragged me back by force.

Since I tend to be easily influenced, the story will incorporate jokes and references from the stage plays, musicals, Hanamaru, Katsugeki, and the like. Whoever appears more often will get more attention. And lately, whatever style of novel I've been reading tends to influence the style of my own writing. There are bound to be bugs in the story that never even crossed my mind, so let me shout this out: You really can't read fanfiction while writing fanfiction!

The Sword Warriors belong to everyone. Any out-of-character writing is on me. Warning! The author's writing is extremely bad! This is a short story. The ideas are very bizarre, it's aimed at female readers, and the female lead is very idealized. The whole cast may have somewhat unhealthy mindsets. The story won't be limited to the Touken world, so consider this a warning.

Writing the whole story was also a journey from knowing nothing about Touken Ranbu to nearly memorizing the Sword Warriors' profiles, while falling into countless Touken-related rabbit holes. Of course, after finishing it, I read it over and made some final edits, and nearly blinded myself with how bad it was. If I'm going to go blind, I can't be the only one. (That's a bold statement.)

By the later chapters, I'd become obsessed with Touken Ranbu, from trying to understand the characters' personalities to picking apart the worldbuilding. The outline I'd written beforehand and the final story went in completely opposite directions, and I couldn't find any common ground, so the characterization fell apart even more.

Looking at the story as a whole, you should be able to see the protagonist and the Sword Warriors go from strangers to familiar with one another. They are wary and test each other, yet for their own different reasons, they keep trying to draw closer. Their worldviews are also quite far apart. Though I kept going back to make major revisions while writing, perhaps this is really a reflection of how I went from an inexperienced writer to a more practiced one.

Finally, the story uses the character for “talk back” pronounced with the fourth tone. According to the dictionary, it should be this character, pronounced dui with the third tone, but changing it might make the text harder to read, so I'm explaining it here at the beginning.

As long as my thoughts don't get muddled, I'll bring in all the male characters whose names have information available to look up. The main text is generally at least 3,000 characters per chapter, with one chapter scheduled to update at midnight every day, except for the first chapter. I started writing around March and kept going until mid-December. At long last, it's finished. It's probably the only little achievement I had in that year when I accomplished nothing. From the moment I started writing, this was the only title running through my head. I've always thought it was a bit odd, but I couldn't think of anything else. So, if you're still interested after reading all my rambling, you're welcome to come take a bite.

Theme: No matter how powerful you become, you must still hold the world in awe.