(2025) Ibuki Taki Birthday

Thanks for coming and celebrating my birthday~ I'll be returning the favor too, so look forward to it, 'kay?

Characters

Writer

Happy Elements Staff

Translation

citrinesea

Era

ESY2 (2025)

Ibuki's entrance into AKATSUKI has insensitive parallels to the history between Japan and the Ryukyu Islands, specifically the annexation of Ryukyu into Okinawa from 1872-1879 onward. Click for more information

AKATSUKI is a unit embodied by 和 (wa, lit. harmony, but also a self-designator for Japan). The word 和風 (wafu, Japanese style) comes from 和. During the Meiji Restoration, 和 was central to Japan’s efforts to unify and assimilate new territories under a shared cultural identity. On top of his membership, Ibuki's active pursuit of 本当の和風 (true Japanese-style) being the reason he pursues AKATSUKI is inappropriate, bearing this in mind.

Additionally, the Ryukyu Disposition was driven by military interests, particularly securing Japan's southern borders from other nations. In Okinawan schools, national pride was linked to serving Japan’s military goals. This had devastating consequences, particularly during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II. This in mind, having Ibuki join the self-proclaimed "war unit" is also inappropriate.

Read the full-length analysis here: Unpacking Shinsei (新生) AKATSUKI; An Extended Translation Note and Analysis.

Before the Stream

I’m a real lucky guy to get to have birthday wishes from everyone, huh~

Hm? Are you interested in the sweets I’m holding?

I got these from Kanzaki-san~ I happened to run into him just before I got here~

And he’s gonna give me another birthday present on top of this one! What a real sincere guy, huh~♪

That makes these special, so I’m not gonna let anyone else have any, you know~

I’ll eat these, and then after this, I’ll have tons of fun at the birthday livestream~♪

Starting the Birthday Live Stream

The stream’s just started, and there’s this many people watching already~?

Nyahaha. So all of you are here because you wanted to celebrate my birthday, huh~?

I’m so happy, there’s so many comments I can barely keep track of them all~!

Even if I can’t pick them out, everyone’s going to the trouble of sending me such precious comments, so I’m gonna answer them all the best I can, ‘kay~

Please keep talking to me tons until it’s time for the stream to end~♪

During the Birthday Live Stream 1

Selecting "What kinds of presents did you get?"

Ah, there really are a lot of comments flooding in to ask questions, huh~?

Let’s see here~ “What kind of presents did you get”?

Oh yeah, I got the most high-quality headphones I’ve ever used in my life~ You can hear the bass parts of songs really well with them, so I’m pumped.

“Who gave it to you?” Well, try and guess. I'll give you a hint, it was one of my seniors in AKATSUKI!

Nyahaha, it looks like a lot of the comments got the right answer~! The person who gave them to me was... Hasumi-san~

During the Birthday Live Stream 2

Selecting "Tell us what your goals for the year are."

The next question is, “Tell us what your goals for the year are!” huh~

Let’s see~ I wanna do tons more lives, and I wanna convey the charms of AKATSUKI to tons and tons more people~!

And of course, I want all the people who support us now to watch us and see how far we'll grow~

I’m gonna do my best to make sure you never ever regret wanting to support me~

I’m gonna keep on improving from here on out, so don’t take your eyes off me, ‘kay~♪

Question and Answer Session

Haisa~i! It's time for the long-awaited Q&A~♪

This is the chance to get to know me more, y'know~ Don't miss out and enjoy yourselves to the very end.

What do you want to eat for your birthday?

I wanna have some steak~ And a big one at that!

You can add a lil’ salt and pepper to eat it, or if you wanna switch things up with the flavor, toss some Worcestershire sauce on it~♪

I hope they bring out steak at the birthday party after! Prayers in chat, everyone, manifest that for me~1

I want to hear you talk about your seniors in AKATSUKI~

They're three real nice guys~ Hasumi-san teaches me a lot about AKATSUKI, and Kiryu-san's always looking out for me, kinda.

And Kanzaki-san... we fight a lot~ But I think it means he's thinking of me in his own way, right~?

It gets real darn rowdy everyday with the four of us. Still, that's what makes it fun~♪

Have you been on an outing with anyone recently?

I went and tagged along on one of Esu’s adventures~ Well, maybe it's more accurate to say I got dragged along~?

I wasn’t that interested at first, but it ended up being surprisingly fun, we went to some pretty unexpected places~

Nyahaha, honestly, the adventuring bug mighta bitten me too now ♪

Office Conversations

Polaroid	Office Line
	I'm grateful for your birthday wishes, Hasumi-san. Of course I'd come to a unit member's birthday.
	I was a lil' nervous about our picture together. I think it captured our smiles, y'know.
	This picture came out real nice, huh~ I agree. It turned out nicely.
	So you came to wish me happy birthday, huh. I just happened to feel like it is all.

Translation Notes

1. ↑ Localized it a little here with "prayers in chat".