albertonykus

[albertonykus]

There's no story behind this other than the fact that I watched Frieren recently and liked it a lot. I suppose Shizuka is more like Fern in terms of personality, but that's not a requirement for cosplay.

#Frieren #Frieren: Beyond Journey's End #Doraemon #Shizuka Minamoto #葬送のフリーレン #フリーレン #ドラえもん #しずちゃん #しずかちゃん #源静香

[albertonykus]

Lost Americans wheel. Watercolor and ink.

[albertonykus]

Reblog to let your followers know that despite your current obsession your previous obsessions still exist and are simply lying dormant until they awaken and strike again

#I still think about dinosaurs I swear

[albertonykus]

Nobita's Chronicle of the Moon Exploration isn't quite in my top 10 Doraemon movies, but I keep forgetting how much I like it. Fun premise, lovely artwork, solid foreshadowing, and good use of established Doraemon gadgets. It doesn't hurt either that Shizuka actually gets an important role in this one.

It's interesting to note that the movie was written by Mizuki Tsujimura, a fairly accomplished Japanese mystery novelist.

#Doraemon #Anime #Nobita's Chronicle of the Moon Exploration #ドラえもん

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"Not now, Suneo."

#Doraemon #Manga #ドラえもん

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Doraemon Long Stories Vol. 16: Nobita and the Galaxy Super-express

May contain spoilers below the break. My review of this story’s movie adaptation can be found here.

Like with Nobita and the Kingdom of Clouds, this is another story that I think works better as a movie than a long-form manga. In this case, it's because most of the plot consists of episodic shenanigans, which are entertaining enough, but it takes a long time for the main conflict to build up. The villains' plans don't have much direct impact on the protagonists until about 75% into the narrative, and the whole thing ends extremely abruptly once the heroes win. (There is literally only a single page in the manga to wrap things up after the villains are defeated.)

The artwork in this story is quite interesting to look at. Not only does it feature a wide variety of environments for the protagonists to traverse, there's also some subtle variation in the range of character expressions on display. It is fascinating to see that Fujiko F. Fujio was still trying different things with his long-established characters so late into his career. (This was the last Doraemon work that he completed.)

No discussion of this manga would be complete without mentioning its best joke: Suneo pointing out that Nobita acts more heroically in the long stories.

#Doraemon #Manga #Nobita and the Galaxy Super-express #ドラえもん

[albertonykus]

Don't mess with Shizuka and her lotus leaf.

#Doraemon #Anime #ドラえもん

[albertonykus]

For those following the annual March Mammal Madness event on Twitter, I was invited by event creator Katie Hinde to make an updated phylogeny poster including every life form that has ever competed in the tournament. Over 600 different species (not all of them mammals) have been in March Mammal Madness so far. Can you find your favorite?

#March Mammal Madness #Bioblr #Scicomm #Phylogeny #Mammals

[albertonykus]

New episode of Through Time and Clades! Humanity, a Prologue is back. In this first episode of a season focusing on human sociocultural diversity, @killdeercheer takes us through a brief history of anthropological research.

#Bioblr #Anthropology #Podcast #Primates #Through Time and Clades

[albertonykus]

With recent advances in genetic sequencing and analysis, we now have a pretty good idea of how most modern vertebrate animals are related to each other. One of the biggest remaining mysteries in vertebrate evolution (and a major theme of my own research), however, is the relationships among the major groups of living birds.

There are some things that we all agree on about the bird family tree (which in some cases were already recognized before the rise of genetic studies), a big one being that modern birds can be divided into two major branches: Palaeognathae (ostriches, emus, and their close relatives) and Neognathae (all other living birds). Neognathae is in turn divided into Galloanserae (chickens, ducks, and their close relatives) and Neoaves (all remaining birds, which constitute 95% of living bird diversity).

Despite birds being one of the most intensely studied animal groups, however, essentially none of the large-scale genetic analyses that have been done on them so far have agreed with each other regarding how the major groups within Neoaves are related.

A new study by Stiller et al. (2024) might represent a big step forward in solving this mystery. Their results suggest that Neoaves can be divided into four major groups.

Mirandornithes: Flamingos and grebes. Stiller et al. found that all other members of Neoaves are probably more closely related to each other than to this group.

Columbaves: Consisting of two major subgroups, Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, and turacos) and Columbimorphae (pigeons, sandgrouse, and mesites). Notably, Columbimorphae has been found by some earlier studies to be more closely related to Mirandornithes, but a second paper that was published on the same day by some of the same authors as Stiller et al. (2024) reported evidence that this previous result was probably caused by misleading similarities between the genetic sequences of Columbimorphae and Mirandornithes.

Elementaves: Consisting of Gruiformes (cranes and their close relatives), Charadriiformes (shorebirds), Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightjars, and their close relatives), Phaethoquornithes (many waterbirds, including penguins, albatrosses, and herons), and the engimatic hoatzin. The exact relationships among these groups are still somewhat unclear; for example, Stiller et al. found the hoatzin to be most closely related to gruiforms and shorebirds (as had been suggested by an earlier study), but support for this result was not high. The hoatzin remains the single most difficult bird species to place in the bird family tree. The name Elementaves was newly coined by Stiller et al., referring to the fact that this group includes species specialized for life in the water, on the ground, and in the air (corresponding to the classical elements of water, earth, and air), as well as birds named after the sun ("fire"), such as the tropicbird genus Phaethon (Ancient Greek for "sun") and the sunbittern. This means that there is now a scientific basis for parodying Avatar: The Last Airbender using birds.

Telluraves: A big group consisting primarily of tree-dwelling birds, including songbirds, parrots, woodpeckers, kingfishers, and the various groups of birds of prey. An interesting result found by Stiller et al. is that owls are likely closely related to accipitrimorphs (hawks, eagles, vultures, etc.), which not all previous genetic studies had supported.

Stiller et al. (2024) provide further evidence for some bird relationships found by earlier analyses, but their results still doesn't exactly match those of any single previous study, so what makes this different from all those attempts that came before it? One is the amount of data. The genetic dataset analyzed by Stiller et al. was many times larger (both in terms of sequence length and the types of genes examined) than any study of this sort that had previously been done on birds. They also included over 360 bird species, which is more than what most previous studies had. Furthermore, they ran numerous tests to determine how the amount of data, number of species, and types of genes analyzed affected their findings, and in doing so were able to show that most of their results were relatively robust, or at least better supported than alternative hypotheses.

Another point of contention regarding the evolution of Neoaves is when the group originated. Were there already many neoavian lineages around during the Late Cretaceous, or did they mostly diversify following the mass extinction event that ended it? In the 2000s and early 2010s, studies trying to estimate the ages of bird groups based on rates of genetic evolution tended to find an older origin for Neoaves, but the majority of newer studies favor a younger origin, with most or all modern neoavian groups appearing after the Cretaceous (though one paper from earlier this year by a different team of authors advocated for older ages). Informed by recent studies on fossil birds, the results of Stiller et al. add further support for a more recent, mainly post-Cretaceous diversification of Neoaves (which I happen to think is more plausible than deep Cretaceous origins).

This almost certainly won't be the last word on these controversies by any means. However, at the moment I'm willing to tentatively consider Stiller et al. (2024) the closest we've gotten to approximating the true family tree of birds, and that is not a declaration I'd make lightly.

#Birblr #Birds #Dinosaurs #Phylogeny #Long post

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Which Stories from the Doraemon Manga Have Not Been Translated into English?

When I compiled my spreadsheet of Doraemon manga chapters available in English, I noted that 16 stories from the manga remain untranslated. (That number only covers Doraemon manga by the original author, Fujiko F. Fujio, and not the various spin-offs and adaptations by other authors.) However, at the time I hadn't gone to the trouble of tracking down exactly which ones these were. I have now done the work, so here I can provide the complete list of Doraemon manga stories unavailable in English.

As I'd observed previously, none of the stories featuring the retconned character Gachako were translated, of which there are five in total:

"ドラえもん対ガチャ子" ("Doraemon vs. Gachako", 1970)

"ロボットのガチャ子" ("Gachako the Robot", 1970)

"きょうりゅうが来た" ("A Dinosaur is Here", 1970)

"まほうのかがみ" ("Magic Mirror", 1970)

"おかしなでんぱ" ("Strange Electromagnetic Waves", 1970)

In addition to those, the following Doraemon stories lack official English translations:

"ドラえもんのおとしだま" ("Doraemon's New Year's Money", 1971): Doraemon tricks Nobita and his friends into giving him money for New Year's. (Early Doraemon had a somewhat different personality from what we're used to now...) A two-page bonus comic drawn to promote a manga contest.

"遊園地になる木" ("A Tree That Becomes an Amusement Park", 1972): Doraemon plants a tree that does what the title implies. Out of all the untranslated Doraemon stories, this is the only one for which I can't think of any obvious explanation for why it has been omitted. It's a very short, one-page comic directed at kindergarteners, but other such Doraemon stories have been translated for the Kindle release, so... I've got nothing.

"はりええほんドラえもん" ("Sticker Picture Book Doraemon", 1973): An interactive comic in which the reader is encouraged to cut out provided images and glue them into blank spaces to complete the plot. Notably features the earliest appearance of the Mini Doraemons. Given that English Doraemon comics have primarily been released in digital format, it's understandable why this story has not been translated.

"じゅん番入れかわりそうち" ("Order Changer", 1974): Title page pictured above. This was the introduction to the Dorami spin-off in which she takes care of Nobita's identical-looking distant relative, Nobitaro. The other stories from the spin-off were later redrawn to be part of the main Doraemon series, rendering this one out of place for most future releases.

"ドラえもん百科" ("The Doraemon Encyclopedia", 1975): A bonus comic presenting an illustrated guide to Doraemon's gadgets, first published in vol. 6 of the 45-volume Doraemon print compilation. Based on the art style, this entry was not illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio himself, and it was not included in The Complete Works of Fujiko F. Fujio. It really only qualifies for this list on the technicality of being printed in the 45-volume set (the contents of which were selected by Fujio). Not to be confused with "ドラえもん大事典", which despite also translating to "The Doraemon Encyclopedia" and being first published in 1975, is included in the English Kindle release.

"ジャックと豆の木" ("Jack and the Beanstalk", 1975): Gian asks Doraemon for a giant beanstalk. This story was released as part of Fujio's Shonen SF Short Story Collection, so it is technically not part of the Doraemon series. However, given that it features Doraemon characters as protagonists, it can be considered a Fujio-authored Doraemon story.

"ドラえもんの大ひみつ" ("Doraemon's Big Secret", 1976): A two-page bonus comic in which Nobita learns Doraemon's backstory.

"未来の遊び百科" ("Future Game Encyclopedia", 1976): Doraemon shows Nobita games that people will play in the 22nd Century. Much of the material from this comic was later merged with "ドラえもん大事典" ("The Doraemon Encyclopedia") when the latter was reprinted in vol. 11 of the 45-volume set.

"さよならハンカチ" ("Goodbye Handkerchief", 1980): A two-page bonus comic drawn as a prize for a contest in which readers could send in their own gadget concepts.

"シューズセット" ("Shoe Set", 1980): A two-page bonus comic drawn as a prize for a contest in which readers could send in their own gadget concepts.

"人間そっくりたまご" ("Human Lookalike Egg", 1981): A three-page bonus comic drawn as a prize for a contest in which readers could send in their own gadget concepts.

That covers the 16 missing entries based on the total number of Fujio-authored Doraemon stories recognized by Yasuyuki Yokoyama, professor of education at the University of Toyama and founder of Doraemonology (yes, that’s a thing). However, there are a couple of remaining stories that should arguably be considered as well, and also remain untranslated:

"道路光線" ("Pathway Beam", 1980): A two-page bonus comic drawn as a prize for a contest in which readers could send in their own gadget concepts. Yokoyama didn't count this as a separate story because it was expanded in 1981 into a regular-length chapter, "歩け歩け月までも" ("Walking to the Moon") (which is available in English), but the argument could be made that it should be, much like how he considered the original short version of "Nobita's Dinosaur" and its extended Doraemon Long Stories version independent entries.

"ドラQパーマン" ("Dora Q Perman", 1979): A crossover with two of Fujio's other series, Obake no Q-Tarō and Perman. This story was primarily drawn by Hideo Shinoda, which is why it was omitted from Yokoyama's list. However, Fujio is still credited as one of the authors and it is included in The Complete Works of Fujiko F. Fujio.

I have added all of the above stories to my spreadsheet so that it now doubles as a complete list of Fujio-authored Doraemon entries.

If there is a takeaway to all of this, it's that the English Kindle release really is a very complete record of the Doraemon manga. If you read every Doraemon story available on Kindle in English, you will have read nearly every Doraemon work made by the original author, outside of a few exceptional outliers. That being said, it's clear that the Kindle version takes some liberties with its translation (as I have previously noted), so if one wishes to gain an accurate picture of the original dialogue, the Japanese version should always be consulted when possible.

#Doraemon #Manga #ドラえもん #Long post

[albertonykus]

Zoology trivia in a recent Doraemon episode: "勝ったらばガニ" ("Winner Gets to Eat Crab"), an anime-only story not based on the manga. In this one, the main characters need to defeat a king crab robot in at least one of three randomized contests for the chance to have all-you-can-eat king crab.

Gian thinks he can outmaneuver the robot in sumo wrestling because "crabs only walk sideways", but it reveals that king crabs are closely related to hermit crabs, and so can in fact rush forward to knock him out of the ring.

There are many benefits to being a marine biologist.

#Bioblr #Marine biology #Crabs #Carcinization #Doraemon #Anime #ドラえもん

[albertonykus]

New episode of Through Time and Clades! In this month's news episode, we discuss the origins of orchids, how a small fish makes one of the loudest animal sounds, spiny palm trees during the Age of Dinosaurs, and a fish that can unfurl its mouth like an elephant's trunk.

#Palaeoblr #Bioblr #Podcast #Paleontology #Through Time and Clades

[albertonykus]

If Nobita's Dinosaur had been written today.

Knowing of Fujiko F. Fujio's interest in paleontology, he almost certainly would have been aware of the dinosaurian origin of birds had he lived to present day. It is nice to see that recent Doraemon works made after his passing (such as the 2017 episode "Snow and Dinosaurs" and the 2020 film Nobita's New Dinosaur) have leaned into that.

This might be part of the "main character Shizuka" AU; I've deliberately left it ambiguous.

#Doraemon #Palaeoblr #Birblr #Dinosaurs #Birds #ドラえもん

[albertonykus]

Lots of "main character Shizuka" vibes in this one segment from Nobita's Diary on the Creation of the World. Fujiko F. Fujio once lamented that he had to discard over half the material he had planned for this story due to time and space constraints (and with a premise as vast as "the history of the Earth", who can blame him!). This was one of the subplots that he would've liked to expand upon.

#Doraemon #Manga #ドラえもん #Long post

[albertonykus]

According to a new article on the official Doraemon website, six volumes are planned for this series in total.

Shogakukan has also announced that volume 2 is scheduled to be released in April.

NEW English Doraemon Manga Series Coming Soon

After 10 years with no fresh releases, it has been announced that Shogakukan will be publishing a brand new series of bilingual English–Japanese Doraemon manga. This will be the third English–Japanese Doraemon manga series to be produced. Based on available information from the Shogakukan website, it looks like the stories in volume 1 of the new series will not overlap with those in past bilingual series, so it is likely that those who have already read the previous releases will be able to enjoy this one without encountering duplicate stories. A new feature of this series is that it will apparently include links to English audio recordings of the stories that can be listened to online.

Something that catches my eye is that up until now, the bilingual Doraemon manga series have pulled stories strictly from the original 45-volume Japanese collection. However, one of the stories slated to be included in volume 1 of this new series ("In 45 Years...") was first reprinted in Doraemon Plus instead, indicating that this series will contain at least some entries from outside of the 45-volume set.

Note that the bilingual English–Japanese Doraemon series are distinct from the English Kindle translation. (Consider that English story titles in this new series are different from those used by Kindle.) As I documented in my index to English Doraemon chapters, the Kindle translation already covers nearly all Doraemon manga stories. However, the Kindle release is only available digitally in the United States and Canada (outside of a limited print release in Southeast Asia), and contains more localization that is not always strictly faithful to the original. (I previously did a brief comparison of the bilingual vs. Kindle English translations here.) If you prefer reading the manga in print format or want an easy comparison between the original Japanese vs. English, the bilingual series are worth checking out.

I haven't found any information on how many volumes this series is planned to have in total, but volume 1 will be released on Feb. 21 of this year and can be pre-ordered on Japanese Amazon.

#Long post

[albertonykus]

Paleoart is hard.

#Palaeoblr #Dinosaurs #Doraemon #Manga #ドラえもん