a really interesting question for chiaki !!

for a short answer, chiaki's speech quirk wasn't that different from the way he currently speaks (i.e. 1st/2nd year chiaki uses ~dazo, ~da, ~da na, ore for first person, the rough-sounding suman for sorry, etc just like he currently does). but his demeanor and the way he speaks to others definitely went through quite a few changes as he grew older. he started out speaking a bit more politely until he started to make more close connections in his 2nd year, and then going for a complete "character change" in his 3rd year (expressing a more confident version of himself at all times)

long answer: the general way chiaki speaks in japanese is shared between him and characters like adonis, hokuto, keito, etc. it's sort of the classic "masculine-sounding informal speech", if a female character spoke like them she'd also give off a masculine feel. this form of speech can also make a character sound more "proper" (for example, this sort of character wouldn't be the type to use contractions like goin', somethin'). and one thing to note is that it isn't necessarily "polite", and can quickly make the person sound rude depending on their word choices/tone. for ex. hokuto never switches to a politer way of speaking when talking to his superiors, and the way he naturally speaks makes him sound condescending, so he ends up sounding rude to them.

these characters do have a few differences from each other, usually found in their word choices and tone. for example:

• keito uses much more rigid language sometimes (using a more archaic way to say "no" sometimes, for ex.)
• whereas adonis can sound a bit simplistic japanese (short/basic sentences)
• and hokuto can sound dry in his responses sometimes
• meanwhile, chiaki sounds a bit more energetic compared to them (he uses ~dazo way more than keito for example, and that can give off that more bold energy)

it's hard to put it in words because it's like, both Vibes but also japanese linguistic shit 😭 the way i described it above is mostly how i personally differentiate his tone from characters who speak like him. my main point is, chiaki doesn't have a "unique" speech quirk like shinobu (degozaru/sessha) or kanata (full hiragana), but his speech quirk definitely gives off a certain personality (speaks in a proper tone, with a lot of energy, can sound bold, etc)

note: actual, real-life japanese speech is usually different from how it's used in fiction. a lot of japanese fictional characters are characterized "unrealistically" to better convey their personality to readers/viewers. for example japanese people don't use the second-person pronoun "you" very often in speech (they're more likely to refer to you by name), but those various "you"s japanese has is used in fictional stories to convey the tone the character is giving. i'll be talking about his changes based on that

so! in terms of chiaki in his 1st, 2nd, 3rd year, and then post-graduation, most of the differences is mostly in his word choices/behavior when with others, and the way he presents himself to other people. OK! that's probably enough context... now! time for said notable differences!!

NO.1

chiaki uses kimi for "you" when talking to people, whereas current chiaki uses omae. kimi gives a friendly and polite feeling. if someone says this in an anime to a stranger, it feels "neutral" polite, not rude and not overly polite either. omae on the other hand sounds much more informal, and can be used to show superiority (for example, a villain might call the hero "omae" to indicate how much they look down on the hero, or a boss will call his subordinate "omae")

this becomes a plot point between chiaki and subaru in his 2nd year chapter 3, where chiaki goes from kimi to omae with subaru. at first subaru's put off by the switch because it's like "who tf do you think you are calling me by that..." (since it sounds more casual and therefore feels rude) but chiaki explains himself that using kimi might've felt like they were strangers to each other so that's why he switched to something more casual. the logic being that, since omae is such an informal second-person pronoun, it can indicate closeness if you use it with someone you feel close to, unlike kimi that's a lot more neutral and doesn't really truly indicate anything special about their relationship. (if... that makes sense. i think my tl note for that scene makes it a bit clearer)

another person he switches from kimi to omae with is kuro. in their 1st year he'd say kimi, but in their 2nd he switches to omae, indicating their closeness as friends.

other than those two, chiaki sticks to kimi for everyone else in his 1st and 2nd year, very fitting for how he felt pretty distant from kanata and madara until he finally got to know them better. in his 3rd year, he completely switches to using omae with everyone, and if he uses kimi it's to either sound dramatic or talking to a stranger (or anything like those situations).

NO.2

this one's obvious but chiaki uses -kun for everyone, which again, gives a polite and friendly feeling.

he stops using -kun with kuro first by their 2nd year, indicating their closeness. but -kun doesn't necessarily mean distance, just that not using -kun sounds more close like "woah those two know each other" kind of feeling.

ONE SPECIAL NOTE THOUGH that there's this moment in chiaki's 1st year where, when madara is mentioned, he uses "mikejima-kun" for the first few times, but then eventually within the same conversation, goes with "mikejima-san" and sticks to that for the rest of it. i'm still not sure why it took him a few mentions to switch entirely...?? but there's that. he almost immediately switches to showing respect to madara from the 1st year.

NO.3

this one's the easiest to convey in the translation, since it doesn't have to do with how japanese speech quirks work. it's much more common in his 1st year, but chiaki speaks a lot more unsure or "plain" to people in terms of his word choice and tone. for example, his speech quirk is still the usual informal rough speech, but he asks something in a courteous manner.

in other words his personality itself was more "passive" in the past, not really treading on people's boundaries and stepping back when he's told to. or asking questions in an.. innocent? manner, and so on and so forth. fitting for his naive 15-16 year old self at the time.

he picks up much MUCH bolder ways to speak to people in his 3rd year, since in his 3rd year he adopts the "hot-blooded passion" demeanor. once he graduates he mellows down again but not 100% to the same level as his 1st/2nd year. just like... mellowed down and chill now because he's not a teenager living the best days of his high school level anymore LOL

aand i think those points are the most important ones...?

notable things that chiaki has said in general whether in his 1st year, 3rd year, or right now:

NO.1
there are a few moments here and there where chiaki words himself in a more meek or unsure manner and starts speaking more politely (when he gets scared that there's a ghost in 1st year chapter 1, when kuro first appears and freaks him out in chapter 5 ). he still does this sort of thing nowadays too when he gets scared, happens as recent as vs gourmet, praise of delicious flavors 9 (cute).

sweet halloween is the one that did this a LITTLE differently where he kinda talks more casually and plainly to express politeness. it's mainly in let's party 2, the "takamine-kun" line. i think, because he's talking to midori (someone younger than him), he shows that politeness by AVOIDING talking in a rough/informal manner, rather than showing it through wording himself in an OVERLY polite manner (which is how you would speak to someone older than or above you, and that doesn't work here when midori is younger than him)... (there's a lot more implications in that switched speech tone but that is an Entirely Different Topic)

NO.2
chiaki typically uses suman or sumanai to say sorry, which fits with his usual informal rough speech. but every once in a while, especially when he's showing a more vulnerable or weak-hearted side to himself, he says gomen, which is much softer in comparison to his usual way. this is shown in various stories, from meteor impact (switching between suman and gomen depending on the "emotion" he's feeling at that moment), to sweet halloween, comet show and even stella maris.

i think there's a few more things i could discuss about these points, but i can't fully remember them atm and the answer is long enough as is HAHA

all in all you're absolutely right to pick up the softer, politer tone, and it is indicated in some word choices in japanese!!! thank you for asking such a fun question hehe he's so cute... and sorry for taking a while to respond, i wanted to give this question proper attention because i find this part of japanese AND chiaki so much fun so...!! let me know if anything was unclear or if you have other questions!

oh high and low... such an amazing, important story for midori and everything to do with his arc. i haven't read it from start to finish in a Long while (though i do want to give it a nice look again now that ryuseitai is #healing) so i think i'll be missing some stuff AND i'm going based off memory with the quotes, but i'll mention the things that personally stood out to Me about high and low

high and low basically answered a LOAD of questions left hanging since comet show and especially since submarine. before the story was released, i was very upset that submarine completely glossed over the woes midori was facing, and how it was showing us tetora feeling so upset without any proper context, and all along high and low was going to be the answer to why they were so emotionally unstable in submarine. (and supervillain prologue explained the OTHER half of why tetora was so emotionally unstable in ryuseitai)

things we learn thanks to high and low:

• the massive misunderstanding that brewed between tetora and midori (and chiaki) post-comet show. namely, we learn that tetora misunderstood midori's actions in comet show as midori "proving with words and actions that he prefers chiaki over tetora as the leader", and this hurt his already crippling self-esteem and even made him feel insecure that midori doesn't care much for him. it also made him extremely upset with midori because he perceived midori's negligence in the unit as contradictory to his actions in comet show (after all, in tetora's eyes, midori is the one who pushed them to go to back to the original ryuseitai, so midori not trying hard for the unit felt sorta like a climax v2 moment to tetora)

• midori feels like he failed saving ryuseitai post-comet show. comet show midori is his most shining hero moment in !! era, where he put EVERYTHING and fought with ALL HE HAD to keep ryuseitai together. and then immediately after... ryuseitai falls into a huge tense disarray and it really ruins him. he begins to have a very skewed perception of himself, as someone who "hasn't grown", hasn't been able to accomplish much, and just overall venting for the majority of the story because he's just Not Doing Well

• midori deeply misses yumenosaki days ryuseitai. So Much. those days of happiness mattered so much to him, and sometimes he wishes he could go back. but what we also learn is that midori understands that's impossible and that he and ryuseitai just have to make do with the current reality. one of the most precious things he mentions is how it's thanks to ryuseitai that he knows that happiness can be found ANYWHERE, so he wants to believe that ryuseitai can find happiness together even in these current struggling moments. this is why watching tetora and chiaki hurt themselves by hurling themselves at a wall (this wall is the "deadend" that ryuseitai was stuck in for a while) hurt him deeply, because he wishes there was more focus on just sticking together and figuring out a means of happiness together instead of them blaming themselves for not doing enough.

• the story HEAVILY explores midori's perception of the world and his psyche. stuff like how he's aware he's got a disposition that irritates others (cough... tetora was literally the example in the story lol but it extends to fans and society too), how he tries to comfort hajime when hajime feels overwhelmed by how Big ES is getting by telling him "there's only so much we can do as human beings, theres no point thinking past our capabilities" (he repeats a similar sentiment to tetora in the epilogues, telling him that midori "can only focus on lining up the vegetables in front of him"), and so on and so forth.

• despite all of midori's doomerisms throughout the story, especially with what's going on with the group that's stuck in the middle of nowhere and how he's avoiding tetora like the plague, he latched onto the hope that tetora can be saved the moment he saw the opportunity... highlighting how midori always, no matter what, will prioritize saving his beloved ones

• tetora comes to realize midori has always cared and loved him the same way midori dearly loves chiaki, and this is all it takes for a lot of tetora's worries to disappear. i think it highlights how subconsciously, tetora desperately wanted midori to prove his perception of things wrong, and midori did so not by talking it out, but by showing it through his actions: coming to tetora's rescue as soon as possible. it's part of why they're doing a lot better by the epilogues, despite them not being on the same page At All when talking to each other.

(there is so much more. this story is So Fucking Good for midori and to understand midori and tetora's relationship)

some foreshadows:

• the whole "we can find happiness again even in our current state" thing was a foreshadow of how ryuseitai Does find a new form of happiness, different from their yumenosaki days, by the end of supervillain

• the contrast between how tetora considers midori a hero who came to his rescue (+ how hajime constantly thanks midori for comforting him), and how midori barely recognizes his own feats throughout the story and brushes it off as "luck" or "i didn't do anything"... this one is so #pain because it goes back to how midori perceives himself and his own capabilities/accomplishments... so even though tetora felt SO saved and comforted by midori, in midori's eyes he has barely accomplished or changed at ALL ughgh...

my personal interpretation of this is because midori's growth is heavily tied to chiaki. in the epilogues of comet show, midori expresses how he feels like he didn't get to be a proper hero and that frustrated him. so he goes rogue and takes on a decision on his own in hopes of saving ryuseitai (trapping ryuseitai in a show together). then at the end, he felt extremely triumphant that he successfully got to make chiaki prioritize ryuseitai's happiness (which means chiaki's happiness) and keep ryuseitai together.

midori Really Thought that he succeeded in saving ryuseitai and helping them find their way back to happiness. but then it ALL falls apart right after comet show when chiaki starts shutting ryuseitai out by blaming himself for everything, and tetora starts desperately trying to do everything he can for ryuseitai even though his mental state is A Mess. so the lack of chiaki Actually Trying To Pursue His Happiness (and then tetora's emotional disarray) likely made him feel like a godamn idiot for thinking he succeeded. so :(( even though high and low is all like "no midori you ARE a hero!!! look how comforted tetora is!! how happy he is that you came to his rescue!!", midori himself cannot perceive it whatsoever when even after high and low, chiaki is still shutting them out, and tetora is still in an emotional disarray about other things.

ANYWAY my whole point is that this seems to have dragged midori behind and left him in a limbo as a hero, because he doesn't feel like he's accomplished what he's hoped to do as a hero for many months (notably, repaying chiaki for all the kindness he's given him). all the while ryuseitai actually slowly starts making sense of the situation and getting closer until they unite in supervillain THANKS TO THE SHIT HE TRIED DOING IN COMET SHOW. BUT HE STILL DOESN'T REALIZE IT!! i hope this makes... some sense it's hard to explain FUCK. basically high and low shows midori's at his lowest, and we've yet to see him get picked up from it, foreshadowing that he'll get something eventually in the future!

• the focus on midori and tetora's relationship and making them come to their own unique "equal terms" helps build up towards blackjack and supervillain. in supervillain we see tetora be much more clear about What angers him so much when it comes to midori, but also that they're arguing again this time BUT SO MUCH MORE HEALTHILY AND ON EQUAL GROUNDS! without high and low, it wouldn't make enough sense how/why they'd be that way in supervillain...

• there's probably more. i'd say everything to do with midori is a foreshadow though because the things we learn about him here have yet to be fully addressed

THE MIDOCHIA CRUMBS:

• midori's whole woes in high and low is an indirect nod to midochia. as i've mentioned before, his growth is heavily tied to chiaki (we know this especially because of climax, where he even says at the end "thanks to you, even i've changed a little"), so the fact post-comet show he's like "i never changed :/ i never got anywhere :/" despite ALL THE EFFORTS HE'S PUT INTO CHANGING AND GROWING IN !! ERA IS SO... UGH. and it only makes sense why he feels that way when you remember THAT CHIAKI SHUT RYUSEITAI OUT ENTIRELY POST-COMET SHOW AND PUT ALL THE BLAME ON HIMSELF! literally the direct opposite of what midori was hoping would happen after his comet show decision.

• midori's "i wish we could go back to the yumenosaki days of happiness" vent starts off with him mentioning how chiaki would energetically wake him every morning. uuuu

• when hajime and midori comment on how it feels like they're in a whole different world, midori mentions that if there were a gloomy chiaki and an aggressive kanata, it'd feel like an "alternative world"... (which shows that midori has no clue how gloomy chiaki truly is deep down, huh.)

• kinda #pain to count this but... high and low is the climax point of tetora's observation of midochia's close relationship, and how his low self-esteem made him misunderstand that midori's care towards chiaki was actually him preferring chiaki as the leader all along... pain. but it's so good because it really shows how important midochia's relationship is in ryuseitai. i talk about this in a thread here if you want to read more

ANYWAY THIS WAS SOO LONG I'M SO SORRY i love what this story tells us about midori and i can't WAIT for us to see it in fruition in future content

cur!ouscat would NOT let me post this so i'm pretending it was on retro, especially because i wanted to answer it properly!

love the way this is all canon for midochia (now with the correct answer)

• regularly looks up any topic to do with chiaki online

• knows what's going on with chiaki faster than the rest of the ryuseitai members (hello?)

• memorized his talk shows "even though he isn't his fan"

• implied to search his name up MUCH more frequently whenever chiaki breathes 2 seconds away from ryuseitai

• LOOKS AT THE COMMENTS FOR AN AD CHIAKI STARRED IN AND READS THEM???

• was somehow able to block all of chiaki's accounts in a short amount of time??? ? ? i guess one could argue this is doable as they're unit members but ? THAT quick? this guy definitely has a list of them in a notepad idgaf (just my speculation though, we still don't know why/how he was able to be so quick to block them all lmao)

• my ultimate personal favorite: how, in my opinion, midori was only able to reach the following analysis of chiaki because of all the social media exposure and online searching about chiaki he'd been doing:

Midori: "He’s too good at [acting/imitating heroes] in fact, that not even society realizes Morisawa-senpai’s just an imposter acting as a hero. So they misunderstand and start unreasonably raising the bar for him — to the point that if he shows his true self now, they’ll accuse him of being a liar and a complete fraud… It’s pretty sad."
Chiaki: "You understand me far too well, Takamine. It just goes to show how much you love me."
Midori: "Just die."

mind you, chiaki HAS NEVER ONCE TOLD HIM ABOUT THIS PROBLEM HE'S FACING WITH SOCIETY. so midori literally figured this out all on his own through his own personal issues with social media (when he got paranoid over how fans perceive ryuseitai/him, so he'd try his best to keep an image in public to avoid slander) and from looking up about chiaki (which is inevitably mostly going to be idol hero chiaki). WHAT THE FUCK.

i'd link my thread on it but it's way too old so i'll just post the relevant part: "midori experiencing the hell of fans' perception, expectations, and absolute mercilessness... and since he's an empathetic person, it made him come to understand a partial amount of why chiaki keeps up the mask in public even when he was told he can rely on them..." — and then chiaki's only response to it is "wow you get me so much you really do wub me he he he" like? it literally drives me fucking crazy ???

but all in all, the best part? he's this insane because chiaki was insane for a whole year with HIM. chiaki made him an unhinged stalker, actually 🥰🥰🥰🥰 good for them !!

in what sense do you need tips? like, for getting the card through event points, or for getting the card through the tour map? for now i'll list what i can think of but i'd be able to help more if there's something you're struggling with in particular !!

on basic if you just want to complete the tour map, you can do the normal lives (it has the unbloomed version of the card, and you won't see a yellow text on the top left). they're cheaper to complete and get the "get 300 lives" job done faster (and without the use of dia). i typically do normal lives when i'm more concerned to reach the end of the tour map rather than get 1.1m event points

otherwise if you want general basic event grinding tips (especially to reach the event point card), check out these tips i posted before!

for music... um... (sweats because it's just a Doing Your Best strategy). but if it helps you don't need to do score control missions (the ones where you get a specific score at the end) to get 77 stars on the tour map. so don't stress yourself with getting all stars TOO much and just keep using 3bp on each song every day. 3bp/3bp/3bp/10bp per setlist should only be for grinding event points to reach 3.5m and such

if you have questions feel free to ask!!

oh my gosh anon I LOVE THIS SO MUCH 😭😭😭 oh my gosh OH MY GOSH IT WORKS TOO WELL... what i also love is, chiaki starts off as the forest and assigns each of them an element and makes sure that they flourish in it (except for kanata, who chose a role for himself based on chiaki's teachings, one that ryuseitai absolutely needed!)

eventually, they embrace and take on this role more independantly, so for example chiaki no longer Needs to be a provider of both soil, sun, water etc... tetora can be the soil (mud), shinobu can be the sun in wintery (harsher, tenser, colder) days (I LOVE THE IDEA OF RAYS ON THE LEAVES), kanata can remain as the water for the sea is limitless with its supply... and of course, midori can grow and take on the high-expectations of being an infinitely growing great nature (spread more green everywhere, become an endlessly tall tree, etc)!! which i feel lets chiaki go back to being the "protect" part of "mori"... the protector of the forest and its ecosystem, the thing that he always WAS from day 1 but now he doesn't have to burden himself with other tasks if he can't do them (like be the sunlight for them 24/7, which shinobu could instead be because he's the light of hope in the darkness!)

I LOVE THE IDEA THAT THEY ARE A TREE NETWORK THAT SLOWLY GREW TO UNDERSTAND HOW EACH OF THEM WORK AND HOW TO FUNCTION TOGETHER 😭😭 it fits so well with their transition from ! era to !! era... like, crying so much i love this metaphor... i always loved the idea that midori is this bud that needed every single ryuseitai member to sprout, and it fits a lot with his attachment to ryuseitai and chiaki, but it never occurred to me to extend that to chiaki being the "originator" (in this case, the forest) of that... UUUU I LOVE THIS SO MUCH THANK YOU FOR SHARING IT!!! THE TREES, SOIL, WATER AND RAYS OF LIGHT THAT WILL PROTECT THE FOREST AND ITS ECOSYSTEM AFTER EVERYTHING ITS DONE FOR THEM 😭😭❤️❤️❤️

WAHH WAIT YOUR BRAIN ANON, I NEVER EVEN WENT THAT FAR I WAS JUST TWEETING A SILLY FUN FACT OMG..... the forest that built a place for others, with the help of very nourishing water... omfg i'm in love

I GET WHAT YOU MEAN (although i would be totally up for an explanation from you he he) sadly i don't know plant biology super well (especially how two different trees/plants help each other).... but i think, other than the obvious sunlight (chiaki) to a tree (midori)... chiaki's last name "mori", which means "protect", being homophonous with "forest" really suits both how he nurtured and fostered ryuseitai, and also how absolutely determined he was to personally make midori sprout into his full potential (from a tiny seed to an entire forest or tree that can reach the skies)...

it's so hard to explain though BECAUSE IT'S ENTIRELY VIBES BUT. BUT!!! NOW YOU'VE GOT ME THINKING ABOUT IT TOO... NOW I WANT TO SEE HAPIELE MAKE USE OF THIS HOMOPHONE IT'S SO FASCINATING....