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Still a WIP but you can guess better what Rinka is up to. Anime Evolution Ireland is partering with Dublin Pride HQ next month for an event and this is part of a poster for it :)

#rinka #foxgirl #animeconvention #dublin #ireland #dublin #pride

#manga #mangadrawing #anime ireland #irish manga #fox girl #dublin pride

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A mix of both WIP and final inks. This time with a focus on Torben. He doesn’t get enough focus despite being a main character. Trying to fix that :)

#manga #mangaart #mangadrawing #torben #manga på norsk

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Kessy's Recommendations

A little while ago a friend who's into Little Witch Academia asked for recommendations and I immediately suggested Magic User's Club. It's one of my go to's and a great show, but it's pretty obscure these days. That got me to thinking about all the other great OVA's I've seen that everyone's forgotten. So here's a selection of my favorites from the golden age of OVA's (1980's -2000's). If you're looking for a thread that connects these, my personal tastes run to character driven stories. I've tried to emphasize titles that are easy to access, mostly ones that are free on Youtube.

Assemble Insert: 1989, 2 eps.

comedy, superhero, idol, mad scientist, police

The city is being overrun by a mad scientist and his mecha equipped gang, so what's the overworked underpaid police force to do? Obviously, hold a competition for the next big idol! Err, I mean superhero to save the city. Wait, is there a difference? Maron really wants to know, since she's the (un?)fortunate winner of the competition.

All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku (Bannou Bunka Neko-Musume): 1992, 6 eps.

comedy, catgirl (sort of), android, superpower, evil corporation

Ryuunosuke just wanted a pet, so when the minions of his overbearing mother accidentally kill the stray kitten he'd picked up his father does the only sensible thing: transplant the cat's brain into the experimental android body he's got in the back seat of the car. Ryuunosuke's new "big sister" is cheerful, energetic, able to bend steel beams with her bare hands, and overly fond of fish and sunbeams.

Nuku Nuku got a TV reboot and a second unrelated OVA called Nuku Nuku Dash, but the original OVA is definitely the best version.

Dragon Half: 1993, 2 eps.

comedy, fantasy world, WTF am I watching?, dragon girl

Mink is the child of a dragon mother and a human father. (Don't think about it too much.) Her father was formerly the champion of the evil king, who still bears a grudge. So there are evil minions, a guy named Dick Saucer who can't decide if he's a singer or a swordsman, a princess who's half slime, the finger water squirter of DOOM, and Beethoven! Don't wait for it to make sense, just enjoy the ride.

Plastic Little: 1994, 1 ep.

action, scifi, space opera, fanservice, yuri subtext

Tita and her galant crew make a living in the pet shop trade, capturing exotic animals in their planet's ocean of clouds for export. One day Tita runs into a beautiful young woman being pursued by a group of uniformed goons. Impulsively deciding to help the stranger, Tita and her crew are drawn into a military conspiracy to wreak havoc on the colony. Naturally, there's a caped villain, high speed chases, battleships, and ridiculously unsafe walkways over a vast chasm.

Elf Princess Rane (Yousei Hime Ren): 1995, 2 eps.

comedy, WTF am I watching?, magic, yuri subtext, idiot protagonist

Well, there is a plot to this one, but describing it would take too long, make no sense, and miss the point. Rane is a frenetically paced, gag after gag wild romp into hilarity and the absurd. There are fairies from another dimension who only speak an unintelligible language, a scheming corporation, a large group of identical sisters, and a protagonist so obsessed with treasure hunting he sees it everywhere to the point of being oblivious to what's in front of his nose.

Magic User's Club (Mahoutsukai Tai!): 1996, 6 eps.

comedy, romance, school life, alien invaders, magic, unrequited love, yaoi

The Earth has been invaded by aliens! However, the aliens are content to sit in their giant spaceship while observing humanity with robotic probes. So when Sawanoguchi Sae joins her school's club of neophyte magic users and the club president declares that they're going to defeat the aliens with magic, she's nothing but enthusiastic. And a massive klutz. What hope do they have considering that the rest of the club consists of Sae's best friend who only joined for Sae's sake, a vice president whose main interest is his crush on the president, and a freshman who frequently skips club activities to go on dates?

There is also a very good 13 episode TV series which is a direct continuation of the OVA featuring the same cast and hijinks but with a change in tone, not the least because the aliens are gone.

Birdy the Mighty (Tetsuwan Birdy): 1996, 4 eps.

action, school life, undercover aliens, conspiracy, gender bender, body sharing

Tsutomu is your average school kid out for a stroll one evening when he runs into a man running for his life from… something. The man turns out to be an alien in disguise and the something, well let's just say it radically changes Tsutomu's life as he's drawn into a conspiracy involving interplanetary criminals. A Federation Officer named Birdy Cephon shows up, but due to reasons he winds up having to share his body with her.

The series got a TV reboot called Birdy the Mighty: Decode. In my opinion, the original OVA is better.

R.O.D: Read or Die: 2001, 3 eps.

action, superpowers, secret agent, yuri subtext

Yomiko Readman is your average substitute teacher… Okay, no she isn't. She's absolutely obsessed with reading: her home is filled with stacks of books. She also has the ability to manipulate paper in any way she wishes, turning ordinary stationary into shields, weapons, giant flying paper airplanes, and so on. And she has a side job as a secret agent. So when a group of superpowered villains threatens the world, agent "The Paper" swings into action. Immediately after one of the bad guys steals her book!

ROD also has a TV series that has the same setting but completely new characters and plotline. The connections to the original OVA only gradually become apparent.

Murder Princess: 2007, 6 eps.

action, fantasy world, action girl, body swap, yuri subtext, lost technology

Alita and Faris are from such different backgrounds that you'd never expect them to meet. Alita is the princess of the kingdom of Forland and has lived a sheltered life in the capital. Faris is from a tragic background and survives on her wits and her skill with a sword as a bounty hunter. However, one night there is a palace coup and Alita is forced to flee for her life into the dark and dangerous Ellend forest, where Faris is hunting monsters for the price on their heads. The two literally run into each other and straight off a cliff. During the fall, the shared near death experience causes them to switch bodies. They're forced to reluctantly team up to defeat the coup and uncover the forces behind it.

Electromagnetic Girlfriend (Denpa-teki na Kanojo): 2009, 2 eps.

drama, mystery, romance

(Note: "Denpa" literally means "electromagnetic wave," but is colloquially used to mean "crazy" in much the same sense as "tin foil hat.")

Juuzawa Juu is a high school delinquent. One day a girl he's never met comes up to him and declares that he is a reincarnated king and she is his servant and knight. Despite Juu's best efforts to get rid of her, she continually follows him around. As if this wasn't enough, there's a serial killer stalking the town, and Juu suddenly finds himself caught up in the case when he's the one to find the body of the latest victim: one of his own classmates.

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For the first time in years I’ve drawn a panel with Ashling in it. Most of the week goes to Last Day, but I like keep some weekend for my old webmanga :)

#ashling #bataneart #manga #ireland

#irish manga #ashling #mangadrawing #wip

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Detailed background and sketch foreground? It’s usually the otherway around, but sometimes I want to get the scene right before placing in people :)

#opal #don #wip #norskmanga #manga #background #cityscape

#mangadrawing #manga på norsk #working with cityscapes

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Working on branding for my space opera manga for kids.

I feel those years of playing Final Fantasy might of had an impact on my taste :P

#manga på norsk #branding challenges #space opera #manga for kids #final fantasy memories

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A gift for @hobnob-moth Her villainous OC, Lilin, is a vampire and undoubtedly about the worst boss possible.

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Redressing Rinka for @animeevoireland ‘s upcoming Yu-gi-oh tournament. I wonder how many Attack Points a “Dark Magician Fox-Girl” could have?

#manga #mangaart #mangadrawing #anime ireland #irish anime convention #magical fox girl #yugioh #dark magician girl

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Queen Elaire for the Coffee Party cover is now inked. I’m still getting a sense that she’s pissed at me. Maybe because I haven’t finished the colours yet? (I dunno…)

#eclair #evilqueen #villaness #coffeeparty #manga #wip

#manga #mangaart #mangadrawing #evil queen #wip

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Going to be a crazy couple of weeks until the finish of Coffee Party. I might end up the same expression as Aoife here when we are done :P

#aoife #coffeeparty #manga #internationalmanga #collaboration

#manga #mangaart #mangadrawing #aoife #coffee party international manga

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Happy New Year from the entire Rakkan Gang!

#happy new year #norweigan manga #manga på norsk #rakkan

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This Christmas time marks 20 Years since I first came up with the idea of Bata Neart. This series has followed me since my very first days drawing manga and on journeys around the world.

It’s been a hell of a journey, and there’s more to come!

#irishmanga #ashling #aoife #áine

#irish manga #mangaart #mangadrawing #aoife #anime ireland #ashling #áine

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It has been a *long* time since I last drew Ashling from Bata Neart. But why now? Well…you’ll see…

#ashling #bataneart #manga #wip #ireland

#manga #mangaart #mangadrawing #anime ireland #ashling #irish manga

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Realizing that things in Coffee Party make no sense at all outside of the book. “The one true Coffee” doesn’t seem scary….but trust me it actually makes sense….in Coffee Party :P

#coffeeparty #manga #wip

#manga #mangaart #mangadrawing #international manga #espresso #coffee humor

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Slowly working away at Coffee Party pages. Gotten to where I can start playing with backgrounds again :P

#manga #mangaart #mangadrawing #collaboration manga #aoife #planet scenes

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Something bad is happening with Aoife in this panel from the next Coffee Party relay manga. Deadline is next week if you would like to join this international collaboration manga project!

#aoife #manga #coffeeparty

#manga #collaboration manga #international manga #aoife #coffee party

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Croix is a time traveler!

Little Witch Academia crackpot theory #17: Croix Meridies is really a time traveler who visited the future. Aside from explaining where she got all her tech from, why do I think this?

I sometimes put Star Trek: The Next Generation on as background. Something comforting to break the quiet that I don't have to pay attention to. Today I happened to have an episode called "Ethics" (s5e16) and I realized that one of the characters is awfully similar to Croix.

Brief summary for non-Trekkies: One of the crew suffers a serious injury that leaves him paralyzed and the ship's doctor isn't able to treat it. A specialist (Dr. Toby Russell) comes on board promising a miracle cure. It turns out that Dr Russell is prone to using patients as guinea pigs for her unproven, experimental treatments.

Does this sound at all familiar to anyone? On top of this Dr Russell has a similar personality to Croix, charming on the outside but ruthless underneath. I think she even sounds and looks a bit like Croix. Here's the two of them side by side.