Umeda Hokuto (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
playingdoctor) wrote2005-11-07 06:11 pm
playingdoctor) wrote2005-11-07 06:11 pm
Canon information la la la.
YOU KNOW THE SCORE.
Umeda background! :D
Right, so. Umeda's a character whose motivations arise a lot out of, mm, well, the people around him. *g* So, let's start with family and loooooove! :D
The Umeda Clan: Left to right: Umeda Hokuto [our hero], Nanba Minami [nephew], Mother, Father, Io [older sister], Rio [younger sister]
The Umeda family, overall, is known for being off the wall, kooky, willing to help, and utterly willing to rip someone's ego into shreds if the opportunity presents itself. In this way, Umeda really fits into his 'type' -- he's a good doctor, and a good leader, and helps out, but college acquaintances of his still run away from him in tears at the sight of him, years later.
His parents were the perfect shoujo-manga couple stereotype. They both look younger than most of their kids, they're horribly in love with each other and act sweet whenever possible, and so on. Back when THEY were at Ohsaka in high school, they won the school dance's position of King and Queen, which basically means they'd be happy together forever and have the best of all things in life. They seem to believe it, at least. (Which, on a cultural note, is fairly interesting for a very family-oriented culture where all the children are female or homosexual, really, but!) Umeda and Rio, at least, seem a little embarrassed by them.
His older sister Io is a scary, scary woman who bullied her brother in proper older sister style while he was gorowing upas is entirely appropriate. She's really not as bad as Umeda makes out, but she DID make her son wear dresses all through his childhood when he'd rather be out playing fighter games, and made reference to doing the same to Umeda. He goes to great lengths to avoid her in the manga, usually because as soon as she sees him she gets ideas for how to torment him. In comparison, the younger sister Rio (young enough she's still in high school at an all girls' school, St. Blossom's), is a lot gentler than her other siblings and seems very sweet -- but tell her to teach people something (say, dancing) and her stubborn, commanding, scathing side comes out.
His nephew Nanba Minami -- Io's son from a wealthy businessman -- is an upper-year student and dorm head at the same high school (Ohsaka) that Umeda both attended and is now a doctor at. He's as heterosexual as Umeda is gay, and has quite the reputation as a lady-killer. Umeda loves teasing him and harrassing him and, you know, kicking him and so on; they're almost more like siblings than uncle and newphew. Nanba gives back as good as he gets, usually.
None of the family seems particularly embarrassed by Umeda's taste for men -- many of them pretend they don't know him, but that's more because Umeda has a reputation as a grouchy son of a bitch who likes to kick people or nail them in the head with a thrown book.
Sooo. From there to sexuality and romance!
Umeda is, as said in his app, gay as christmas. He's known it since before high school and 'came to terms with it quickly' and with a minimum of fuss and he hasn't had any doubts since then. He's also been in a one-sided love relationship for twelve years that he can't get rid of, and doesn't really want to.
Umeda's relationship Backstory: 3 chapters in volume 14 [13 MB. Please comment if you download, so I know where my bandwidth's going!]
To summarize - in high school, Umeda was closetted to everyone but his roommate, presumably because he thought he might otherwise get beaten by sticks or avoided. He started to get drawn to a guy in his class, Kijima Ryoichi, who he recognized as lying to everyone -- pretending to like them when he didn't -- and figure out how he ticked. It soon turned into a crush. Unfortunately, Kijima really didn't feel much for anyone except a psychologically traumatized kid, Masato, who his family (psychotherapists) were taking care of; Kijima was the only one the kid would open up to and they ended up really really co-dependant. Umeda eventually called him out on it, after Masato had gotten into an accident, and he and Kijima made out in the rain for a bit. The next day, Kijima kissed him again then told him to 'forget about it'; it's clear that the relationship never made it to intercourse, and continued not to over the next twelve years. But despite that, the connection doesn't die; we've seen Umeda bitching about "that bastard" since volume one, and occassionally we see them get together for drinks or so on -- Kijima, being a bit of a manipulative bastard, does things like demand Umeda wear certain colognes and so on, and Umeda does it. The relationshp isn't going anywhere and Umeda knows that, but he simply can't fall out of love.
He refuses, however, to really let it get to him -- he's annoyed, and grumbly, but he doesn't pine or wait. He's well-known to engage in casual relationships regularly, and falls in and out of them easily. It's not self-destructive behaviour, that much is clear -- he's hooking up for the sake of sex, yeah, ("Why do you like men, Umeda-sensei?" "They've got a thing women lack."), but it's not impersonal ("That's not to say I'll go with anyone. I have to like the guy first."). He'll refer to people he sleeps with more than once as a lover, but isn't bound by them, or devoted to them, or 'seeing' just them; we see him have several one-night stands, inevitably nice guys who he meets and parts with on good terms. (Interestingly, for a manga with yaoi content, he seems to be a switch, defying the usual 'always an uke' or 'always a seme' stereotypical convention.)
Admittedly, some of this 'clinging to a romance that won't go anywhere/casual relationships with affection but no love' may relate to a fear of moving on or of actually developing a new romance; there's a character in the manga, Akiha Hara (a tall blond photographer AW HELL LET'S HAVE A PICTURE)
no comment on the uniforms.
Anyway. Akiha is in luuuuuuuuurve with Umeda and unwilling to let Umeda forget this. Umeda punches him, ties him up, throws him out windows, kicks him out windows, kicks him in general, shoves him out the door, and still Akiha sneaks in to smirk at him and be generally affectionate in a really overly cheerful way!
(A good example, whut.)
That said, although Umeda is CONSTANTLY denying that they're in any sort of a relationship, the main character, Mizuki, sees hickies Akiha's given him. It's unclear if Akiha gave them to Umeda while he was napping at his desk -- more than possible, given both their personalities -- or if they're actually in a sexual relationship that Umeda is denying publically, but there's definitely a tension there that isn't in any of Umeda's other relationships. Simply speaking, Umeda KNOWS he wouldn't be able to get into a short OR casual relationship with Akiha, and while he never really tries to get rid of Akiha beyond his usual grumpiness, he's not giving the same 'whatever' face that he does to everything else -- at this point in time, Umeda is QUITE open and comfortable with his sexuality and basically just tells anyone who has a problem with it to go to hell, and/or kicks them.
So, yeah. Something there about a resistance to commitment.
As for the pedophilia thing -- gay doctor in an all boys' school, the issue WOULD come up -- it's just nil. Umeda has no interest in children or teenagers whatsoever. He will occassionally joke about it, usually to freak people out -- Umeda is ALWAYS happy to freak people out! - down to the point of starting to strip and offering to heal people with his body, but if people ever start seriously gossiping he will cut the topic short right there.
Which sort of brings us to his students!
It probably would surprise just about NOBODY that Umeda is a grumpy asshole to the students. Every single student knows that he's a good doctor who will give them something to help them -- the captain of the karate club goes to him for chiropractic, for example -- but very few people want to spend much TIME with him, which he decides gives him a reason to nap in his office, things like that. If someone comes for help -- even for a small or pointless scrape -- he'll treat it, which seems surprising sometimes due to his irritable nature, but the thing is, he really does care for those kids and has a lot of pride as a physician. A lot of times they don't know about, he stands up for them (as for one of the main characters, Sano, when Mizuki's brother, another doctor, was unkind and unprofessional about Sano's injury, as seen here).
Of all the students, he's probably closest to Mizuki -- partly because he knows her secret. Mizuki, the main character of Hana-Kimi, is a girl who cut her hair, bound her breasts, and enrolled in a boys' school in order to be near her high jump idol. Despite the premise, it's really not all romance or idiocy; Sano figures out she's a girl in manga one, and does so by accidentally groping her, though he hides the fact he figured it out, assuming she has her reasons. The manga genre really is comedy high school with romantic edges, and it's got a lovely, off-the-wall humour that I think is nicely encapsulated in the above. ANYWAY. Umeda figures out Mizuki's gender really quickly, and after she realizes he's not going to report her, she sort of takes him as her confidante. He never tells her anything specific -- never gives away anything she can come to on her own -- but he's always there, listening, and prompting her to work things out. He is clearly immensely fond of her, almost despite herself, and it's pretty much a good sign to me as a RPer that, if given affection by the kids he's grumpy towards, he'll probably give it back.
In his own unique way.
Speaking of which, Umeda is utterly deadpan at all times, even when joking, but the fact is, he's got a wacky sense of humour. Whether it's giving away nude photos as charms against evil, or kissing people he dislikes to freak them out, or changing into a stripper costume, or whatever -- he's fond of dry, deadpan, shock humour, and unleashes it whenever a good opportunity arises, all while pretending to look serious.
And since this is a comic manga, it's probably not a surprise to say that there are a number of running gags with Umeda that I hope to work into the RP sometime:
1. Umeda is the Master of the Quick Strip - Umeda can get into and out of clothing in the course of three panels, and two or three comments in a conversation. It's one of his special talents.
2. I posted about this on campersfuckoff a while ago, but Umeda always, ALWAYS, if he's about to get into a sexual situation -- or is in a situation (ie, chiropractic adjustments) that can look sexual at a first glance -- someone will walk in on him. Please, any character ANY TIME is welcome to interrupt Umeda if he's about to kiss someone or getting particularly physically friendly. In fact, I encourage you!
3. More than anyone else in the manga, Umeda engages in casual, comic violence. This is something I'm worried about in CFUD, where violence is taken pretty seriously in general, but Umeda tips people out windows, kicks them lightly (or quite hard, depending on the joke) in the face, comments loudly on how it's "so fun to step on people's faces" and throws heavy objects at the students if they're annoying him. Again, it's all comedy, but I'm not sure how I can work it into the RP without being annoying.
And speaking of 'working things into the RP', I'm aware that my voice is sometimes a bit uneven. I can explain the problem there -- the manga's 23 volumes long, and almost every chapter was scanlated by a different group, from different sources. Not only the original Japanese raws are used, but also chinese and, IIRC, korean. Obviously, thanks to translation issues, Umeda's voice -- whether he uses first or last names, style of diction, level of deadpan-ness in his humour, etc -- changes drastically between chapters, because of that. I'm collecting the Tokyopop translations, but I've only got up to volume 5 so far, and ...well, you know. So. I've been working off a source that portrays him with differences in nuances but a solid core in grumpy, deadpan, helpful, humourous, and have been trying to get a uniform voice out of that. Please bear with me for a while, because of it. :)
And... I hope you like! Comments? I looooooove comments. :)
Umeda background! :D
Right, so. Umeda's a character whose motivations arise a lot out of, mm, well, the people around him. *g* So, let's start with family and loooooove! :D
The Umeda Clan: Left to right: Umeda Hokuto [our hero], Nanba Minami [nephew], Mother, Father, Io [older sister], Rio [younger sister]
The Umeda family, overall, is known for being off the wall, kooky, willing to help, and utterly willing to rip someone's ego into shreds if the opportunity presents itself. In this way, Umeda really fits into his 'type' -- he's a good doctor, and a good leader, and helps out, but college acquaintances of his still run away from him in tears at the sight of him, years later.
His parents were the perfect shoujo-manga couple stereotype. They both look younger than most of their kids, they're horribly in love with each other and act sweet whenever possible, and so on. Back when THEY were at Ohsaka in high school, they won the school dance's position of King and Queen, which basically means they'd be happy together forever and have the best of all things in life. They seem to believe it, at least. (Which, on a cultural note, is fairly interesting for a very family-oriented culture where all the children are female or homosexual, really, but!) Umeda and Rio, at least, seem a little embarrassed by them.
His older sister Io is a scary, scary woman who bullied her brother in proper older sister style while he was gorowing up
His nephew Nanba Minami -- Io's son from a wealthy businessman -- is an upper-year student and dorm head at the same high school (Ohsaka) that Umeda both attended and is now a doctor at. He's as heterosexual as Umeda is gay, and has quite the reputation as a lady-killer. Umeda loves teasing him and harrassing him and, you know, kicking him and so on; they're almost more like siblings than uncle and newphew. Nanba gives back as good as he gets, usually.
None of the family seems particularly embarrassed by Umeda's taste for men -- many of them pretend they don't know him, but that's more because Umeda has a reputation as a grouchy son of a bitch who likes to kick people or nail them in the head with a thrown book.
Sooo. From there to sexuality and romance!
Umeda is, as said in his app, gay as christmas. He's known it since before high school and 'came to terms with it quickly' and with a minimum of fuss and he hasn't had any doubts since then. He's also been in a one-sided love relationship for twelve years that he can't get rid of, and doesn't really want to.
Umeda's relationship Backstory: 3 chapters in volume 14 [13 MB. Please comment if you download, so I know where my bandwidth's going!]
To summarize - in high school, Umeda was closetted to everyone but his roommate, presumably because he thought he might otherwise get beaten by sticks or avoided. He started to get drawn to a guy in his class, Kijima Ryoichi, who he recognized as lying to everyone -- pretending to like them when he didn't -- and figure out how he ticked. It soon turned into a crush. Unfortunately, Kijima really didn't feel much for anyone except a psychologically traumatized kid, Masato, who his family (psychotherapists) were taking care of; Kijima was the only one the kid would open up to and they ended up really really co-dependant. Umeda eventually called him out on it, after Masato had gotten into an accident, and he and Kijima made out in the rain for a bit. The next day, Kijima kissed him again then told him to 'forget about it'; it's clear that the relationship never made it to intercourse, and continued not to over the next twelve years. But despite that, the connection doesn't die; we've seen Umeda bitching about "that bastard" since volume one, and occassionally we see them get together for drinks or so on -- Kijima, being a bit of a manipulative bastard, does things like demand Umeda wear certain colognes and so on, and Umeda does it. The relationshp isn't going anywhere and Umeda knows that, but he simply can't fall out of love.
He refuses, however, to really let it get to him -- he's annoyed, and grumbly, but he doesn't pine or wait. He's well-known to engage in casual relationships regularly, and falls in and out of them easily. It's not self-destructive behaviour, that much is clear -- he's hooking up for the sake of sex, yeah, ("Why do you like men, Umeda-sensei?" "They've got a thing women lack."), but it's not impersonal ("That's not to say I'll go with anyone. I have to like the guy first."). He'll refer to people he sleeps with more than once as a lover, but isn't bound by them, or devoted to them, or 'seeing' just them; we see him have several one-night stands, inevitably nice guys who he meets and parts with on good terms. (Interestingly, for a manga with yaoi content, he seems to be a switch, defying the usual 'always an uke' or 'always a seme' stereotypical convention.)
Admittedly, some of this 'clinging to a romance that won't go anywhere/casual relationships with affection but no love' may relate to a fear of moving on or of actually developing a new romance; there's a character in the manga, Akiha Hara (a tall blond photographer AW HELL LET'S HAVE A PICTURE)
no comment on the uniforms.
Anyway. Akiha is in luuuuuuuuurve with Umeda and unwilling to let Umeda forget this. Umeda punches him, ties him up, throws him out windows, kicks him out windows, kicks him in general, shoves him out the door, and still Akiha sneaks in to smirk at him and be generally affectionate in a really overly cheerful way!
(A good example, whut.)
That said, although Umeda is CONSTANTLY denying that they're in any sort of a relationship, the main character, Mizuki, sees hickies Akiha's given him. It's unclear if Akiha gave them to Umeda while he was napping at his desk -- more than possible, given both their personalities -- or if they're actually in a sexual relationship that Umeda is denying publically, but there's definitely a tension there that isn't in any of Umeda's other relationships. Simply speaking, Umeda KNOWS he wouldn't be able to get into a short OR casual relationship with Akiha, and while he never really tries to get rid of Akiha beyond his usual grumpiness, he's not giving the same 'whatever' face that he does to everything else -- at this point in time, Umeda is QUITE open and comfortable with his sexuality and basically just tells anyone who has a problem with it to go to hell, and/or kicks them.
So, yeah. Something there about a resistance to commitment.
As for the pedophilia thing -- gay doctor in an all boys' school, the issue WOULD come up -- it's just nil. Umeda has no interest in children or teenagers whatsoever. He will occassionally joke about it, usually to freak people out -- Umeda is ALWAYS happy to freak people out! - down to the point of starting to strip and offering to heal people with his body, but if people ever start seriously gossiping he will cut the topic short right there.
Which sort of brings us to his students!
It probably would surprise just about NOBODY that Umeda is a grumpy asshole to the students. Every single student knows that he's a good doctor who will give them something to help them -- the captain of the karate club goes to him for chiropractic, for example -- but very few people want to spend much TIME with him, which he decides gives him a reason to nap in his office, things like that. If someone comes for help -- even for a small or pointless scrape -- he'll treat it, which seems surprising sometimes due to his irritable nature, but the thing is, he really does care for those kids and has a lot of pride as a physician. A lot of times they don't know about, he stands up for them (as for one of the main characters, Sano, when Mizuki's brother, another doctor, was unkind and unprofessional about Sano's injury, as seen here).
Of all the students, he's probably closest to Mizuki -- partly because he knows her secret. Mizuki, the main character of Hana-Kimi, is a girl who cut her hair, bound her breasts, and enrolled in a boys' school in order to be near her high jump idol. Despite the premise, it's really not all romance or idiocy; Sano figures out she's a girl in manga one, and does so by accidentally groping her, though he hides the fact he figured it out, assuming she has her reasons. The manga genre really is comedy high school with romantic edges, and it's got a lovely, off-the-wall humour that I think is nicely encapsulated in the above. ANYWAY. Umeda figures out Mizuki's gender really quickly, and after she realizes he's not going to report her, she sort of takes him as her confidante. He never tells her anything specific -- never gives away anything she can come to on her own -- but he's always there, listening, and prompting her to work things out. He is clearly immensely fond of her, almost despite herself, and it's pretty much a good sign to me as a RPer that, if given affection by the kids he's grumpy towards, he'll probably give it back.
In his own unique way.
Speaking of which, Umeda is utterly deadpan at all times, even when joking, but the fact is, he's got a wacky sense of humour. Whether it's giving away nude photos as charms against evil, or kissing people he dislikes to freak them out, or changing into a stripper costume, or whatever -- he's fond of dry, deadpan, shock humour, and unleashes it whenever a good opportunity arises, all while pretending to look serious.
And since this is a comic manga, it's probably not a surprise to say that there are a number of running gags with Umeda that I hope to work into the RP sometime:
1. Umeda is the Master of the Quick Strip - Umeda can get into and out of clothing in the course of three panels, and two or three comments in a conversation. It's one of his special talents.
2. I posted about this on campersfuckoff a while ago, but Umeda always, ALWAYS, if he's about to get into a sexual situation -- or is in a situation (ie, chiropractic adjustments) that can look sexual at a first glance -- someone will walk in on him. Please, any character ANY TIME is welcome to interrupt Umeda if he's about to kiss someone or getting particularly physically friendly. In fact, I encourage you!
3. More than anyone else in the manga, Umeda engages in casual, comic violence. This is something I'm worried about in CFUD, where violence is taken pretty seriously in general, but Umeda tips people out windows, kicks them lightly (or quite hard, depending on the joke) in the face, comments loudly on how it's "so fun to step on people's faces" and throws heavy objects at the students if they're annoying him. Again, it's all comedy, but I'm not sure how I can work it into the RP without being annoying.
And speaking of 'working things into the RP', I'm aware that my voice is sometimes a bit uneven. I can explain the problem there -- the manga's 23 volumes long, and almost every chapter was scanlated by a different group, from different sources. Not only the original Japanese raws are used, but also chinese and, IIRC, korean. Obviously, thanks to translation issues, Umeda's voice -- whether he uses first or last names, style of diction, level of deadpan-ness in his humour, etc -- changes drastically between chapters, because of that. I'm collecting the Tokyopop translations, but I've only got up to volume 5 so far, and ...well, you know. So. I've been working off a source that portrays him with differences in nuances but a solid core in grumpy, deadpan, helpful, humourous, and have been trying to get a uniform voice out of that. Please bear with me for a while, because of it. :)
And... I hope you like! Comments? I looooooove comments. :)
no subject
It goes up to chapter 144.