Giichi Ichikawa

**Giichi Ichikawa (市川義一)** is a supporting character in the Tasogare Outfocus manga series and a main character in the spin-off Zanzou Slow Motion. He's a second-year student and became the president of the film club in *Overlap*.

## Appearance

Ichikawa is tall and slender, most often seen wearing his school uniform. His hair is black, straight and shoulder-length, sometimes tied in a low ponytail with a couple strands out. He also wears round glasses.

## Personality

Ichikawa is very passionate when it comes to creating films to a point of obsessiveness. He's a perfectionist - he will not allow his projects to fault in any way, which many people believe will make him an amazing director one day. A negative side to this is that he very loudly voices any criticism (constructive or not) he has when it comes to films, wether that be unsolicited or not. This makes him unlikeable to some members of the club, whilst it also gives some impression that Ichikawa doesn't like them personally (for example, Kikuchihara thought Ichigawa didn't like him until he got to meet him outside of the film club). He is extremely stubborn and won't apologise if he believes he's right, although he feels bad for snapping at people around him and blurting out everything that comes to his mind.

Despite his perfectionist tendancies, Ichikawa has a hard time writing and finishing screenplay, and often procrastrinates.

Ichikawa is a big fan of BL stories, so much that he wanted to make a film with his film club that features a BL romance.

## History

### before high school

When Ichikawa was a kid, the first film he shot won the first prize at the "Youth Art Contest Awards". During the ceremony, Ichikawa was in tears over the fact that his film didn’t win an Academy Award. After a kid sitting next to him asked him why he’s crying, he told him about his disappointment and how he felt let down by the people around him for not realising its' potential. He said that he'll start working on a new project as soon as he comes home from the ceremony.

### high school, year 2

At the beginning of his second year, Ichikawa’s grandfather which whom he lived with got hospitalised, so the school gave him an option of short-tern residency in one of their dorms with a student who has no roommates, to which he said yes.

Later on, was watching a promotional video for the film club that the third year students made, starring Jin Kikuchihara. After the screening, he called it boring, unimaginative and ridiculous, as well as called Kikuchihara incompetent, delusional, talentless and so on. They start fighting and end up accidently kissing in the midst of all the shoving.

During a meeting for the second-years in the film club, he announced that the theme for the short film they'll make for a competition coming up will be BL. He begged Mao to ask Hisashi if he'd be up for joining them as a cast member, convinced that he'd be perfect as the main character (punk). After class ended, he went to his dorms for the first time. While he was changing, his new roommate walked in. His new roommate was Kikuchihara.

The next day, unsure if Mao asked him, he invited Hisashi to their club meeting room and asked him himself. Hisashi said yes. Back in their dorms, Kikuchihara tried to be nice with Ichikawa, giving him a cheat sheet for around the dorms, offering his condolences and so on. He returned this with kindness.

On a different day, Ichikawa shows Kikuchihara his BL obsession, as well as suggests a couple volumes to him to read. They switched the conversation to Ichikawa hating Kikuchihara, in which he admitted that he never meant it on a personal level, but rather just as part of the discussion of the club. They made a deal to never talk about films in their room.

Another day, they're reading BL together, and Kikuchihara acted out a part of a dialogue, which made Ichikawa fluster. Ichikawa hid in embarrassment as Kikuchihara told him how cute he is and how he's happy he got to know this side of him.

   Mao and Giichi were on a video-call on their laptops and reflecting on their progress, when Giichi mentioned that Hisashi seemed cold during rehearsals, and wished "he would put more heart into it".

On a different day, when Kikuchihara’s crew members came into their room to tell Kikuchihara Tobe’s dropping out, Ichikawa snapped at Tobe for being unprofessional and inconsiderate. After snapping at Kikuchihara for being a bad leader and director, Kikuchihara yelled at him to shut up. After the crew members left, Kikuchihara told him that he's not a director, and soon won't even be a club president. Then, Kikuchihara admitted to not wanting to talk about films with him because he's in love with him.

The next day, Ichikawa's spiralling over Kikuchihara's confession, however he's not repulsed by it. He went over his opinions about Kikuchihara and took an objective look at his own faults and what he can do to fix his relationship. Back in their dorms, When he was ready to have a serious discussion about the film club, Kikuchihara started talking about BL and talked freely about his feelings for him, as well as warned him that he'll make a move the first chance he gets.

Inaba came to second years to tell Ichikawa that Tobe will not drop out, and that he confessed to wanting to look cool in front of his new girlfriend, while the film required him to act on all fours. He also told him that Kikuchihara is willing to adjust to the crew’s requests, and while that might not make him a good director, that's what keeps his crew loyal, while the same cannot be said for Ichikawa. He did not like to hear that, so he let Ibana know that Kikuchihara's script was amazing until he had to cram everything everyone else wanted. After praising him a bit more, Inaba started teasing him over his admiration.

Back in their dorms, Ichikawa's trying to get Kikuchihara's attention, so he started rubbing his back with his feet while speaking. Kikuchihara got turned on and licked his foot before climbing on top of Ichikawa and kissing him. Ichikawa started tearing up out of frustration of wanting to talk to him, and Kikuchihara noticed before they had to separate because Chiaki wanted to enter. Ichikawa was laying on the floor next to the bed, and found an old photo of him and another kid at an award ceremony, resulting to him remembering how he met Kikuchihara.

He confronted Kikuchihara about knowing him from when they were kids. Kikuchihara reflected on how much they both changed, however concluded that he himself hasn't changed at all personality-wise, how he's still a pushover who doesn't strive for anything. Ichikawa kissed him and demanded they finish their talk. Kikuchihara agreed, but warned him that he'll make a move on him again. Ichikawa was okay with that. They continue their talk on a different day while watching a film. After their talk, they kissed and had sex. During the sex, Kikuchihara tells him that he loves him. After they finish, the film they put to play still hasn't finished, so they decided to go for another round.

The second years wrapped production in rain. The club had a heart-warming parting with their cast members.

In their dorms, Kikuchihara opened up to him about his crew realising that he's pathetic, however he turned it around with a back-handed compliment and said that his friends accept him for who he is. He then reassured him that he'll never grow sick of him, and they proceed to have sex.

The second years were filming a farewell video for the third years with Ichikawa on camera giving a what was supposed to be a heart-warming speech, which turned into a comedic sequence of him bashing Kikuchihara's films and talent, then giving him credit for good spirit and leadership, then again bashing him for setting high standards which he doesn't think he can fulfil.

Ichikawa's moving out of Kikuchihara's room because his grandfather's condition got better. They met up somewhere in school to talk, but he seemed distant. Kikuchihara kissed him and asked him if he loved him, to which he got more flustered and admitted he doesn't want to leave, especially because Kikuchihara's a third year and has limited time left. Kikuchihara reassured him that him graduating won't change anything. They kissed again and Kikuchihara repeated the question, which he answered with "I love you, too".

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/jyanome29/status/1390994989568598024
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jyanome (2023) ‘take5’, in *Twilight out of Focus 2: Afterimages in slow motion*. VERTICAL INC, pp. 145–179.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jyanome (2023) ‘take1’, in *Twilight out of Focus 2: Afterimages in slow motion*. VERTICAL INC, pp. 3–38.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jyanome (2023a) ‘take1’, in M.-G.R. Alexandra (tran.) *Twilight Out of Focus 1*. New York, NY: Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC, pp. 3–36.
5. ↑ Jyanome (2023) ‘take2’, in *Twilight out of Focus 2: Afterimages in slow motion*. VERTICAL INC, pp. 39–72.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Jyanome (2023) ‘take3’, in *Twilight out of Focus 2: Afterimages in slow motion*. VERTICAL INC, pp. 73–108.
7. ↑ Jyanome (2023a) ‘take3’, in M.-G.R. Alexandra (tran.) *Twilight Out of Focus 1*. New York, NY: Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC, pp. 71-104
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Jyanome (2023) ‘take4’, in *Twilight out of Focus 2: Afterimages in slow motion*. VERTICAL INC, pp. 109–144.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Jyanome (2023) ‘take6’, in *Twilight out of Focus 2: Afterimages in slow motion*. VERTICAL INC, pp. 179–211.
10. ↑ Jyanome (2023a) ‘extra’, in M.-G.R. Alexandra (tran.) *Twilight Out of Focus 1*. New York, NY: Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC, pp. 205-222
11. ↑ Jyanome (2023) ‘extra’, in *Twilight out of Focus 2: Afterimages in slow motion*. VERTICAL INC, pp. 212-223.