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meruz · 3 years

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Aforementioned long ask post please excuse me while i try to figure out tumblr's new text editor. I’ll get into the art meme questions first and then the rest at the end.

Ok first of all thank you all for sending in questions! Giving me an excuse to talk hehe. I’ll address these in number order. Here’s a link to the ask meme for reference but also I’ll restate the question for ease of reading.

1. When did you get into art?

Super cliche answer but I don’t remember a time where I WASN’T the weird art kid! I started keeping a dedicated sketchbook when I was about 12? But here’s a page from my kindergarten journal about what I want to be when I grow up.

2. What art-related sites have you ever signed up for?

LOL this is a weird question. Not sure why so many people want to know. Anyways I definitely had a dA. more than one dA account. I used to browse oekakis when I was a kid but I think I was only signed up to some small ones that internet friends owned. What else...? Mangabullet,Tegakie, Paintberri, iscribble back when that was a thing, instagram if that COUNTs, I used to post art on livejournal and dreamwidth too. Patreon, I guess. Gumroad, inprnt, bigcartel, storenvy all for selling stuff.

In terms of resources.. I have a schoolism account that I’m sharing with friends. Used to take classes on coursera for free. I signed up to textures.com for work recently haha. I can’t remember if I ever had an account on posemaniacs. Did they have accounts...? I definitely used to visit all the time.

3. Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand.

Alright here’s me actually logging into my old deviantart account. These are from September 2008 So I was 13 years old. I don’t have a deviantart account from before then because 13 was the required age for having an account and I didn’t want to lie about my age because I wanted people to be impressed by how young yet clearly incredible at art I was LOL.

4. What defines your artistic style?

You guys are probably more equipped to answer this than me but uh... I wanna say... Focus on colors. And... a slightly heavy hand? Like confident... not always well-considered mark making HAH...

Also I think I have a pretty healthy mix of american comics/manga influences. I feel like people who are into american comics always think my art is too manga and people who are into anime/manga always think my art is too american. And I’m taking that as a good sign.

5. Do you practice other styles/have you tried other styles in the past?

I like to think I switch it up a bunch! I mean, these are pretty different, right?

I think I’ve mentioned this before but one thing I really took away from art school is that, for an illustrator at least, art style shouldn’t be consistent. Your greatest weapon is changing the aspects of your style based on the task, the emotions and message you want to illustrate etc. So depending on the project I’m working on, the fandom I’m drawing for, whether I want something to be funny or serious or dramatic, I’ll change things about my style all the time.

One thing I don’t rly post on here is really tight polished work and that’s because I do that for my day job haha. If you’re not paying me... I’m probably not gonna color in the lines.

6. What levels of artistic education have you had?

I have a whole ass diploma LOL. Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. from the Rhode Island School of Design. And I had a great college experience tbh. Besides the student loans. If any of you guys are thinking about art school feel free to e-mail or message me questions or concerns, I’ll be happy to help. Be as honest as I can be.

7. Show us at least one picture you drew or sketched recently that you did not put on a public site.

heres the wandavision kids. Uhh what else do I have...I feel like I’m rummaging for loose change here...

assorted valentines prep doodles

8. What is your favourite piece that you have done?

Well, obviously this is gonna change all the time and generally it’s gonna be my most recent piece LOL. So yeah, why the hell not. I’ll say it’s this one. I have a pretty short memory which I count as a blessing for an artist. I don’t dwell that long on older work and it keeps me moving forward.

10. What do you like most about your art?

I like that it’s something that only I would make! I had this thought fairly recently and I wrote it down in my sketchbook, it’s pretty cheesy and rambling but it felt revolutionary at the time:

So yeah. I like my art best when it’s the most me and for me. And I like it least when it feels like I’m just making something for social media or for other people’s expectations or whatever.

14. What do you like drawing the most?

Kids in baggy clothing are like my go-to LOL idk if that’s obvious. but also I like being challenged so lately I’ve really loved drawing multi-character compositions, environments, weird angles, etc.

oh i LOVE drawing the underside of shoes lol. And bandages. People that are kinda beat up.. I think it comes from getting a bunch of cuts all the time. I’m always patching myself up and I want to patch characters up too.

15. What do you like drawing the least?

mmm I try to find something to like in every drawing but lets see... I don’t like doing commissions of people’s dogs. Just because it’s normally like... a family friend and my mom volunteered me without my consent and I don’t even really know what they’re expecting me to draw and I don’t even get to meet the dog. Also I’m not that great at dog anatomy. Trying to learn though.

18. What is your purpose for drawing?

This could have a million answers! Uhhh to GIT GOOD??? But also to express myself... and also to make money... I mean it depends on what the drawing IS. I draw fanart mostly to connect to people in the fandom so if you ever see me drawing fanart please take it as like an open invitation to talk to me about the character haha.

20. How would you rank your art? (poor, mediocre, good, etc.)

Good!!! I have a lot of self-confidence primarily born out of ignorance and a short attention span. If I don’t think too hard about how many other artists are mindblowingly unfathombly good... its easy to think I’m good too! LOL

In all seriousness though, I think the opinion a person has of their art is like a crazy balancing act, right? Like you have to think you suck enough to want to get better but also you have to think you’re good enough to not want to give up. I think we’re all walking that line, I know I am! But also I’m a glass half-full type of person so. Most of the time I feel good about it.

22. List at least one of your “artspirations.”

This is a good question because I’ve been trying and failing to put together one of those “influence map” memes for like a full month now. What’s giving me a hard time is I feel like none of these are actually really obvious “““influences”““ in my art? Like it’s hard to see a lot of them in the work I make...? But idk maybe you guys’ll see what I can’t.

And these are just a couple! God there’s so many more. I could talk about other artists for ages, from all different genres of art. Daumier, Rockwell like every illustrator out there, Dana Gibson, Alex Toth, Hiroshi Yoshida, a lot of the Brandywine School. Lots of current working artists too, Karl Kerschl, frikkin Masashi Kishimoto lol, Jake Wyatt, Richie Pope, Edouard Caplain, Matt Cook, Sachin Teng, - lots of big internet artists, Sophie Li, Freddy Carrasco, Milliofish, Angela Sung... like all my friends from art school too. I could just keep going but I’ll stop for now lol.

24. Do you have a shameful art past? (recolour sprite comics, tracing art, etc.)

I mean if that’s how we’re defining shameful?? sure LOL. It’s not sprite comics but I used to do pokemon sprite recolors all the time. And I used to trace manga panels and color them... Granted this was all when I was like under 12 yrs old so it’s not even embarrassing. Can you really call it shameful when a 7 year old wets the bed or whatever? Not really. In fact some of these are cool as fuck. Look

25. Draw a picture!

Man I’m so tired now but here.

I used to get a lot of compliments for drawing people smiling lol but I don’t think I’ve drawn a lot of smiling lately.. here’s proof I’ve still got it.

OK MEME DONE. onto the rest.

I read this ask first thing when i opened my computer in the morning and it made me really emotional.. I’m so glad my sketches could help you!!

I think a lot of artists on social media talk about the struggle of making art but imo not enough people talk about the joy! Like I know it’s corny but. I really meant what I said at the beginning of that sketchbook about re-contextualizing art around process and progress > product and perfection. I think its super important..! The strength of messy, unfinished, and energetic art! For the feeling of it, for the love it!

That's crazy!!! I hope you like 'em. The whole line of x-books is really good rn imo.

Hi! I totally have the answer for digital stuff on my faq lol. But in terms of drawing on paper.. it varies! I tend to use sketchbooking and any on-paper doodling I do as a way to loosen up/warm-up or experiment. But right now my go-to aresenal is:

from top > bottom

- kuretake no.55 doublesided brush pen

- tombow fudenosuke

- muji 0.38 ballpoint

- medium size poscas

- grey tombow double brush pens

- good ol bic mechanical pencil

not EXACTly sure which inking you referring to from my sketchbook but if I had to take a guess it'd probably be the kuretake no55. That's been my main inker, lately. Great for sketching with the thin end too.

You can print out and eat my art if you like. Just please don't mass produce or re-sell. <3

Thanks! I've come to accept that my art is always gonna be sort of gestural and painty naturally. It's getting it to tighten up enough to be legible that's hard lol...

uh yeah lol I agree actually. I think yolei is great.

I assume these asks are related? LOL

1) Yeah totally true. I love David.

2) I don’t take requests, sorry! But if you want to commission me to draw Legion i would be MORE than happy to. Just e-mail me at [email protected].

<33333333333333333333333333

#ask #anonymous

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carriagelamp · 3 years

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I read more books this month than I anticipated. I should probably wait before doing a February book round up, but I already feel like I’m struggling to decide which ones to cut from my list so I’m doing it this weekend instead of next. If I read much next week I’ll bump ‘em up into March’s round up

Asterix and the Missing Scroll / Chieftain’s Daughter

I got the last two “new” Asterix books out of the library so I could officially say I had read them all. Over all my opinion is… they’re fine! None of these would ever become one of my favourites, but they’re all fine stories. The art is good, it is completely in-line with the original, and the stories are… fine. I liked The Missing Scroll quite a bit more than The Chieftain’s Daughter but I never find a ~hurr hurr teenagers~ plotline that interesting, whereas I do enjoy seeing Romans get chased down by unicorns so that’s probably not surprising. There’s some spark I can’t put my finger on that the new Asterix books just seem to be missing though… a bit of humour or cleverness or something. Still, they’re fine reads if you’ve been hungry for more Asterix and I’m glad I read them. (Though the library gave me the American translation of The Chieftain’s Daughter, something I didn’t realize until I started reading and realized that this is wrong??? I’ve been reading these books since I could read and I know this is wrong??? What the hell is happening??? The I realized the publisher was different and I simmered in fury the whole time I read it — WHY ARE YOU CHANGING NAMES AND WORD CHOICES IN A WELL ESTABLISHED SERIES THAT ALREADY HAS AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION YOU ANIMALS WHY ARE YOU DUMBING DOWN THE LANGUAGE AAAUGH

The Bride Was A Boy

This one was cute! The Bride Was A Boy is an autobiographical manga written by a transwoman recounting her experience with transitioning, meeting her boyfriend, and eventually getting married. It’s mostly done in a 4-panel style and is interspersed with lots of information about the LGBT community, particularly in Japan. A lot of it was stuff I was already familiar with, but I still found it adorable and a very worthwhile read. it would be a fantastic book for young queer people who are looking for more of an introduction into international queer space

Cul de Sac: Children At Play

Cul de Sac is just a weird, fun newspaper comic series about the children who live in a small neighbourhood. It fully taps into the children-as-semi-feral-chaos-agents, and there’s something hilariously nostalgic about the whole thing. Lots of times when stories try to portray children there’s always something… wrong about it, something that doesn’t mesh with true childhood, but in this comic I can see glimpses of my grimy, dirty-covered self as a preschooler running around the pages. I would definitely recommend trying them!

The Cremation of Sam McGee

I reread The Cremation of Sam McGee and The Shooting of Dan McGrew and man, they don’t stop being buckwild. These are two really famous Canadian poems that were then illustrated by equally famous Canadian artist Ted Harrison. Harrison’s style is gorgeous and distinct and given what strangely grisly stories these poems are they fit the mood perfectly. Everything feels just a little tilted and wrong and unsettling. If you enjoy an occasional poem (especially ones that are super fun to read out loud) and haven’t read these before, I would recommend them! Or do what my teachers did, and read Sam Gee to a young child in your life and watch them be baffled and concerned and horrified.

There are strange things done / in the midnight sun / by the men who moil for gold...

The Gryphon’s Lair

The second book of the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying series written by Kelley Armstrong; I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book! It’s a very cool fantasy series because it really leans into environmental stewardship and the importance of studying animals and conservation so you can find ways to live alongside a healthy ecosystem. In this book Rowan is officially accepted as the Royal Monster Hunter, which means a whole new set of trials and burdens. She has to contend with a baby gryphon that is becoming increasingly large and dangerous, plotting family members, doubt about her abilities, a potential curse, and a daunting quest deep into the mountains in order to set things right. If you’re looking for some very gentle high fantasy, this series delivers.

Hogan’s Heroes comics

What to say here. Anyone following this blog has suffered the knowledge that I’ve been rewatching Hogan’s Heroes lately. When I found out that there was a short-lived, shitty comic series in the 60s? Of course I had to hunt them down. And so I’ve read them! And they sure were a shitty comic series from the 60s! They were, shall we say, of wildly varying quality. Some were actually really funny (like #5, it easily had the best art and best jokes imho), others were a slog, and most were fine and amusing enough to read the whole way through but not much more.

If you don’t know what Hogan’s Heroes is about: it was a 1960s sitcom that took place in a WWII POW camp, in which the Allied prisoners trapped there had a massive, complex sabotage/spy ring right underneath the camp. The whole show is about constantly outwitting the bumbling Germans while keeping up the pretense that they’re all just normal prisoners. The show is hilariously funny and I would recommend that, even if I can’t say the same for the comics unless you’re like me and are just really thirsty for more content...

Magic Misfits: The Fourth Suit (Ripley)

The final book of Neil Patrick Harris’ middle grade series, The Magic Misfits. In this fourth book, the group is fragmented and forced to meet in secret to avoid notice from the mysterious and powerful Kalagan whose cruel machinations have already turned the quiet little town on its ears, putting people’s lives in peril and destroy Leila’s fathers’ magic shop. The Misfits are going to need all their skills to finally unmask this sinister magician and break the mesmerism he seems to have placed over the entire town before it’s too late to save no only the town, but their friendship and trust.

Super charming series, and the illustrations are gorgeous.

Marsupilami

HOUBA! I watched a very bad TV adaptation of this as a kid that still managed to find a place in my heart, and so I decided to finally try reading some of the original comic! On one hand: it was exactly what I had hoped! The art is cute, the marsupilami is so dynamic and fun to see on the page (and has a way better characterization than he does in the show), and it’s really funny! Unfortunately! It is also pretty racist! Yikes! That seems to be a reoccuring downfall for some of these older Belgian comics... I also tried reading the first book of Les Tuniques Bleues and aye ye ye… I couldn’t actually get through that one. That being said, these were older volumes and frankly, North American media was also real fucking racist at that point so I’m not gonna write them off either. I really liked most of this book, and will probably try to get my hands on one of the more recent volumes of both Marsupilami and Les Tuniques Bleues to see if they get better with time. (If you’ve read either of those series and have volume recommendations hmu)

The Pagemaster

I’m a sucker for novelizations, I have no excuse beyond that. I recently rewatched The Pagemaster and decided to read the chapter book. And it was a solid little adaptation! It’s about Richard Tyler, a young boy with a head for statistics which unfortunately means he lives in constant fear of (in his opinion, statistically likely) injury or death. However that fear is put to the test when he gets caught in a horrible thunderstorm and has to shelter in a nearby library with halls and shelves that stretch beyond the imagination and with untold perils hidden among the pages of the books. Richard, with only his library card and three novels that hope to be checked out, has to venture through the different genres and horrors housed int he library if he ever wants to find the exit and get home to safety.

Pumpkinheads

A very charming little graphic novel. Cute art, and really loveable characters. Josiah and Deja work every year at a local pumpkin patch, and are best friends during those weeks. However this is their last year working there before going off to university and as the last day at the patch comes to a close they realize that they both still have regrets. Deja sets off on a mission to avoid work, eat all the interesting snacks around the patch, and get Josiah to find the girl he’s been crushing on every year and has never worked up the nerve to talk to.

After being deprived of human contact for almost a year, this book really hits you right in the heart.

The Screwfly Solution

A deeply upsetting scifi/horror short story! I read it on the recommendation of a friend and, yes, can confirm that this fucked me up a bit. I honestly don’t even know what to say about this that wouldn’t spoil it, but frankly with everything being as it is, this hit a little bit too close to reality. (That being said, it was very well written, like this is a very good story on a literary level and it does exactly what it sets out to accomplish.) If you feel like reading twenty pages and being really disturbed, give it a go! Otherwise go and read any number of the much happier books on this list!

The Whipping Boy

This was a book I remember reading as a lit circle book back in elementary school and really loving. After telling myself I’d reread it for years, I finally sat down with it again. If you somehow got through school without reading this one, it’s about a brat of a prince and his whipping boy — since it would be unspeakable to strike a prince, when the prince misbehaves it is Jemmy who gets whipped. Unsurprisingly, there is no love lost between the two of them, because the prince is always intentionally causing problems that Jemmy has to suffer for. Things begin to change though when the prince decides to run away and drags Jemmy along with him. On the run, being chased by highwaymen, and desperately trying to hide their identities, these boys go on a fast-paced adventure beyond the castle walls. It wasn’t as special as I remembered it being as a kid, but it’s a fine little chapter book.

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sillyfudgemonkeys · 3 years

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Comic buff with a thought, I notice the P5MM art and composition is more striking and closer to p5's art and style than the other manga, which is fine, but kinda... flat. (I find myself thinking there's something missing when I read it, then I look back at P5MM and I notice how there's more clever paneling, imagery, and stylistic choices akin to the games in it (like that one goro panel ya had a rant about) and I realize what's missing) That could be why P5MM is brought up more, just a guess. I dunno how you feel about all that though, I'm curious.

Under the cut cause it gets long cause of pictures:

I am very big on art style and visual presentation. I do actually judge a book by it's cover (manga, game, movie, show, yadda). If I find something pleasing to my eye I'll read it.....even if the contents are trash. Domestic Girlfriend is one, horrible manga (didn't finish, was holding out for Momo, aka best girl, and getting closure for her....then I bounced). Didn't watch the anime (didn't need to I was way ahead in the manga I think), but I know that opening is wasted on it. ldskfjaf Don't invest your time into it, it's not worth it, you would probably learn better morals from P5.......probably. But yeah I found the art style pleasing enough to try it out (I's not amazing by any means, but I like looking at it....or did.....that writing man....dat was bad ;w;).... *waves hands vaguely in air* yeah.

Fun fact, it's why I got into Persona. I happened across an ad for P4 on the PS2 in the Gameinformer magazine, it showed a screenshot from an animated cutscene plus one of the fully body art for the chars and I was like "Yes this is my jam!" (which only doubled down when I read what it was about, and it was a murder mystery and the article also talked up "the mystery of the glasses" which fakldjsalkfs yeah). So yeah it really clicked for me.

Tbh it's why I'm probably going to get back into freaking Bleach, and it's why I got into it and Naruto over One Piece (I don't think I'll ever read ON I'm sorry). Tite Kubo has sexy art what can I say? Can't trust a thing that man writes now but eh. It's also the reason I read a lot of Shojo (and now Yuri) manga, cause their art style is usually what I find very appealing (even if I've read the same gd shojo love story just by a different name for the 1000th time, give me the flowers and sparkly eyes! they are my life blood!)

And I've mentioned I really like Saito's art style. I've (attempted) to color some of his pieces on top of animate some manga frames (most of which I haven't actually published......I...I should....get around to finishing those up....haha...aha....haaaa). I really like his art, it's pleasant. But even with good art, I can still see past it and see what BS it's peddling and it can hamper my enjoyment of it. If I don't look at the context of the scene or the words on the page, I can be down with it. But when I'm reading.......I get annoyed. I balk at anything with Goro. I guffaw whenever Makoto's on screen (cause Saito nails her from P5, she acts useful but really she's useless but the narrative views her as useful it ironically makes her useless......it's the weirdest thing I've ever witnessed >.>). Like Saito really.....gets P5 it seems, down to it's flaws even (tho he can actually make the good parts of P5 shine, or at least parts that P5 failed to execute....execute in a way). But he also makes the flaws.....shine that much harder for me.

Now the Reg manga? it's nothing special art style wise, in fact it starts off VERY wonky, and while still wonky, has gotten a lot....better/cuter (esp Ryu). Not like shojo cute just.......I wanna squish their wittle faces cute (at times when it's not serious).

Like when it comes to Reg Manga these are the two pieces that have appeared in it that I feel kinda hit the P5 mark in terms of style:

(look at Mona, coming into this world like the pustule that he is 8U)

Which isn't much, but it's something. At least Reg's AOA is better looking than the anime. 8U

But I dunno, as the chapters go on, the Mangaka allows for more cuter expressions, and I just like their neat:

(btw I colored that page)

I dunno, it's not as overtly cutsey as Saito:

But they are still charming in a more simple way (without out having them go full chibi), it subtle but it gives it flavor. "Silly why are most, if not all those pics of Ryu and Anne?" I dunno guys maybe you should ask them how their backs are doing, cause they're the ones who are carrying the Reg manga when it comes to this! 8U

Tho I do think the first ch or two of Reg does a better job capturing P5's feel than the rest of the chapters, I think the mangaka is just.....bogged down by exposition and the game's BS that a lot of text on their pages so it almost reads like a novel:

ALots of text, not the most dynamic of framing with the panels. It's kinda eh. I haven't really read the manga past the 2nd dungeon tbh (I mean......as the residential #1 Makoto hater, I think that's fair.....that I'd start to zone out during my least fav dungeon....and then continue zoning out during my 2nd least fav dungeon askfdjaflk)

But during the first two dungeon arcs, I liked how.....bad the PT were at thieving, I liked how green they were. It was obviously a learning process. I also like some of the fight choreo (Saito did the best hand to hand one in the series in P4U's Yu vs Sho....which I actually animated....spoiler.....no I have no released that...my dumbass wants to tempt fate and see if I can redo it in color even tho it took me 4 days non stop to get that animated in just black and white.....but I am a fool so alas 8U). I mean it's not mind blowing, but it was simple and decently thought out, which is more than I feel like we usually get (esp with the anime shows....or at least P4/5's).

But I think what draws me in is....it's lack of P5 style. P5 style has them being still oh so cool despite being new at everything. It's tired me out. P5's how identity is style. It's....style over substance (gonna rile some feathers with that....Cvit(?) vid title). But P5 is overtly stylish, to the point it......weighs on me. Drags me down. Tires me out. I don't think they're cool, I'm bored with it. Ironically, Reg manga lacks that, which......def would make someone (and me usually) give it much of a passing glance. It's very basic I guess. But.....consider me, being in P5 hell, surrounded by all it's nausea inducing stylishness, sees a small break in the hellish hurricane to see.......normalcy. It kinda makes me connect better with the kids (kinda, it's still P5).

They feel like normal kids, trying to do their thing (sometimes trying to look/act cool and failing), and.....it's just the absolute antitheses to P5's brand......and I think that's why I like it. KLFJDSAFLKJA;

Anyway, who knows, maybe when I catch up on Reg in english and re-read MM with the official translation I might change my mind about a few things, or at least how I rank them. But for post length sake, and my sanity sake, I think I should keep the anime and mangas out of the "Which entry do you hate least" post......because I should just make another post where I go into both mangas as well as compare and contrast the anime! :D I'm just delaying some insanity for later haha....

Wait.........I just remember Day Breakers exists......and I liked it....still do....don't have much issue with it. Well shit, that is probably the one entry I hate the least. fklsdjfalkjdfkla;jsL;FJljsfdlskafaj *sobs* nO NO, I committed, and that's just a sad loophole. fdklsajflakfj *sobs* I still need to the game thing, cause let's be honest, the games are where it counts.

So right now my ranking for manga/anime is:

Daybreakers>Reg manga> MM>>>>>>>>>>TV Show Anime and it's OVAs (may the burn in the hell fire from which they spawned)

Oh, one last thing, forgot to put it in but I dunno where to put it now. I like how the manga tones down the pervyness some:

I mean Ryu is a fellow monkey. u_u .......but it's for the best I don't have to see his ape expression. ;w; (iirc the pyramid scene was a lot shorter/faster, but that's by the grace of reading and books rather than animation I suppose).

#silly asks #silly answers #i can't believe day breakers is what I hate least dfkjsalfjaf

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nuoc7mia · 3 years

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hi so I actually made this post months ago when I was fist reading Tokyo revengers (thank you Mandy), but I just finished this post today :3 most of this post isn’t rlly insightful--I'm either just screaming or rehashing takes that most people here have already made

warnings ofc for major manga spoilers although I also haven’t caught up on the last five-ten chapters:

look ik current!mikey could easily kill me, but he’s so cute:

rlly makes you wonder what happened when you look back after reading more recent chapters ahaha :’D but anyways, give him his flag!!!

(again I wrote this in June--I contradict myself later in this word dump LOL)

this moment was just so funny to me I'm sorry LMAO (’love & peace’)

hngjksnfgs I love this panel so much :((( sometimes with all of the action going on and how they act or are drawn, I forget that they’re just middle schoolers trying to navigate through life. and here’s mikey who has the weight of the entire gang--literal lives--on his shoulders, and is constantly depended on by the members as this ray of shining light. people literally are filled with relief when they see him during fights bc THE mikey is here to take over and he HAS to win the match, right? which is kind of interesting now that I think about it, because there’s also takemichi, who’s mentally 27 and still struggling to carry the weight of his loved ones’ lives on his shoulders. if a 27-year-old can’t be responsible for the lives of others--if I, a 19-year-old, can’t cope with the weight of my own--then how could we expect mikey to be strong with everything that happened around him added onto the weight of the gang? looking back now, I think what happened to mikey in the future makes sense, as odd/cheesy/out-of-the-blue as it originally seemed in my head.

nothing new but I fucking hate kisaki overall and I'm so glad he never got a redemption arc because there was nothing about him that could be saved

(this was an extremely harsh take but again I'm never forgetting what he did to everyone just bc he was pining over a girl from elementary school)

this panel ALSO messed me up, esp after reading some more recent chapters :( I think takemichi said once that he liked talking to mikey the most because he always feels at peace with him and described his eyes to be this calm sea (which almost reminds me of giyuu and his 11th form: dead calm) (I also might be remembering wrong bc I can’t find the chapter I saw it on). but it feels so double-sided if that makes sense? like with that peace comes a never-ending emptiness because he’s constantly consumed by whatever darkness he has in him (sorry for another kny comparison but it feels similar to muichirou before his whole arc), and so he looks so detached and empty. it’s actually kind of jarring at times when the panel zooms into his eyes because you really feel like you’re going to drown in them, but the way it’s cross-hatched is unsettling--like it’s more chaotic and fuzzy inside his mind. + if you compare the dullness in his eyes with the clarity of the other characters, especially takemichi, it’s as if he knows that there’s no future for him, or at least no future with the others. I ended up crying when he was grabbing onto takemichi and asking to be saved, because that’s the first time that we see any sort of light/reflection in his eyes (of hope, honestly), as well as the first time that he reaches out to have someone shoulder his own burdens + truly be vulnerable + depend on someone else rather than letting others depend on him.

(this rant is the result of me hate-reading the comments after every chapter on *******):

sometimes idk what some ppl want from takemichi LOL. actually, no, I do know exactly what they want: a strong mc who they can experience the story through and who solves the problem with the physical manifestation of their strength (the typical shounen protag). but that’s not the point of tokyo revengers imo, and if you’re expecting that, I think you’re missing the whole story ????? like the power comes from the fact that he’s an average person who continues to fight despite the knowledge that he has, the weaknesses that he’s constantly forced to reckon with, and the general helplessness + hopelessness that he feels. he just wants to protect the ppl who he cares for, and that desire trumps physical power or charisma. THAT’S what makes him strong and that’s ultimately what changes the course of things in the story (because we already have powers like mikey who still fall into darkness despite his physical strength). obviously it wouldn’t hurt to make takemichi more assertive in different ways and not see him get absolutely pummeled LOL, but that’s also how wakui chose to enforce his themes

also I'd like to make some more literal points:

1. the manga itself is really long, but when you think about the time frame, there’s not actually much time for takemichi to achieve everything he wants and grow stronger, esp with all of the plot twists that are thrown at him.

2. his main goal was never to physically grow stronger, but just to prevent hina’s death (and later Mikey’s). it was always to talk someone out of doing something or preventing a major event from occurring, which doesn’t ACTUALLY need power to be achieved

(ofc he rarely, if ever, achieves to make it happen, but the effort counts n is there)

3. the dude is constantly carrying the weight of his friends’ deaths on his shoulders SDHFSLD LEAVE HIM ALONE ;; i’d just shut down if I were in his shoes and try to forget that toman was ever a thing

4. mentally speaking, the guy’s 27 LMAO the last time he really fought was back in middle school, which means he has absolutely little to none of those skills left

once again, I have nothing insightful to offer; I simply like the way this panel was drawn

spouting nonsense out of my butt with this one: ngl it took me a while to get used to this art style? like I thought it was UGLY LMAOOO. but when I did, I really came to appreciate how the mangaka colors things in and uses lines to create movement on each page. for instance, here, you can FEEL the energy of toman not just from the speech and the action, but with the lines that wakui chooses to leave uncolored on the members’ uniforms and hair + how the trees are shaded (which is vertical and for me personally it adds a lot more pressure/force, like they’re bursting with energy). everyone and everything feels so alive !!! but at the same time, their art is so clean... SO FREAKING CLEAN. I just love it o<--<

stop it....... STOP IT......... if I don’t get my 100% happy ending I will bawl. (yes I'm aware that this will probably/definitely not happy and yes I have tissues ready for the final arc)

also timeskip!kazutora, inupi, and chifuyu all in one place........ goodbye!

on a side note: I think I'm just gonna be a manga only at this rate bc I tried watching the first episode and got impatient waiting for all of the big action skjdfskjdh but maybe it was bc I wasn’t in the best mood / head-space at the time LOL

(I've let this sit in my head a bit longer and yeah, manga only <3)

I needed to end this photo dump with this exact panel because I had to put my phone down and mentally take a walk after seeing inupi in heels.

honorable mention goes to ponytail!baji and toman founder!baji bc they’re both engrained in my mind forever. likewise with high school!chifuyu ;; he looks like he jumped out of a shoujo manga or some kind of slice-of-life

#moon babbles #moon reads tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers spoilers #if you actually managed to read that all then I'll love you till the end of time (to kingdom come as red velvet beautifully sings)#I swear I'll catch up soon ;; I'm just burnt out after cramming ti all in and distracted with the other series that I wanna start/catch up o #rlly freaking pysched tho esp after seeing the reactions in the Tokyo rev discord LOL #I probably should let this sit for a bit longer before posting #but I don't want this sitting in my drafts for any longer and my head is swimming from this messy format

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powerbottomeminem · 3 years

Note

For #19 of the ask writer prompt, why did you start writing?

There's two parts to the answer.

First: I always had pictures and characters and stories in my head as long as I can remember. I used to play along to audio dramas (I vividly remember pretending to be Simba singing my heart out about wanting to be king while perched on the backrest of my couch) when I was a child. It's a lot easier for me to understand some fictional character's emotions, desires and goals than my own. If there was a show or book I liked, I couldn't help but make up little scenes in my head that place into some of the empty spots every story has. Or I'd put myself into that world because it was a much better world than we actually live in (or so it seemed to my child-self).

But I actually started by drawing those characters that I came to love, that I wanted to be, that I made up myself. Because I usually think in pictures and images first, it was more natural to draw them out onto a piece of paper. That is the best approximation to my thoughts, if I could draw that well that is.

Second: I have been in love with the process of handwriting, letters and words for just as long. I used to copy passages and paragraphs from my favorite books into my notebook by hand, color coded, intensely careful to write as beautifully or stylistically as I could. I would do it to my favorite comics as well, writing out the drawn parts of the panel just so that I would have more words to write. And I sometimes still do that, like I started a notebook about my manga collection where I write every blurb by hand with different colors, trying to match my handwriting to the style of the series' logo.

Then I started to just draw words, scribble little graffiti into my school books, be as artistic with the form of the letters as I could be. Because words in my mind appear as the combination of letters, in different fonts or colors depending on the context. It made sense to try to put that onto paper this way.

At some point I combined the two, my never ending thinking about stories and my obsession with writing. I handwrote all my stories in the beginning and if I come across a difficult passage or need to brainstorm a story I still do. I combined them because I wanted to share myself with others and these stories and these words is all I really am, so when I finally was given access to the internet and found a community to share art with, I never stopped.

I've been writing and making up stories since I can remember and I shared them with the world for half my life now. There's no me without it.

#ask me shit #ask meme 2 #writebrl #also also #other writing systems are so beautiful #🤩🤩🤩#I had a notebook about them too #and about my own writing systems #and I stand by it #for my native language the Latin alphabet sucks #period

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kdtheghostwriter · 5 years

Text

SNK #119 - Jaeger ni Kissu

Let me get some Fs in the chat, pls.

So, what the hell? Shiganshina am I right? What’s the deal with that crazy place, huh?

You would think this fandom, more than all the others, would be used to getting the slider when they expect a fastball. (That’s right! I know baseball stuff!) Even I have to admit, though, Isa got me with this one. It’s all pretty thrilling to me as a reader. I’ll explain why later but first, some housekeeping. Remember when I said this a few months ago? That Eren’s expression was less relieved and more shocked leaning toward concerned? Welp.

Arm extended; mouth agape. The universal signs of “No, not that you asshole!” It’s also masterful paneling to have Colt’s cry of “Wait!” superimposed onto the Attack Titan, which we know can’t speak. Eren was mortified by the idea of his hometown being overrun with Titans yet again. That was hardly surprising. What did surprise me was Zeke’s look of shock as the Grice brothers revealed themselves. He still screamed, of course, as should have been expected. But that moment of hesitation…hmm. I guess he really did like Colt. It’s not out of the question. He just liked his plan more.

And since we’re on the topic, I’d like some words about this panel right here.

Dammit all, this one hit more than any of the others for me. See, Zeke, it’s not just you who understands the joys and the sorrows and the burdens of being an older brother. I do myself. Falco realized what was about to happen and tried to save his brother’s life by pushing him away. Colt refused and held him tighter.

Don’t worry, Falco! Your big brother will always be with you!

Fuck me, how am I supposed to keep my chill after a scene like that? Sure enough, Colt was scorched as his brother transformed into a mindless, lumbering monster which transitions me nicely into something else I said in the aftermath of #117. Someone did indeed have to die. I only guessed wrong who.

Reiner is going to survive this manga whether he wants to or not. More importantly, what a champion Porco is. Knew he was cooked, so he put all his energy into healing his body. Then he left the cockpit to distract Falco’s Titan and save two people. The fact that he did this right after seeing the memory of his brother confessing to Reiner that he lied is no accident. He wasn’t just proving to Reiner he was better; he was getting one back at his big brother. It’s equal parts heroic and tragic which is par for the course of this series. He died in almost the exact same way Marcel did all those years ago – saving Reiner’s dumbass from being nommed up. I’ll miss you Porco, but at least you’ll live on in the memories of the little one.

Speaking of little ones: maybe we should start calling her “Deadeye” Gabi Braun. This was such an inspired choice. Not just because of who pulled the trigger in the end (and partly because of whose gun she used), which got the intended reaction, but also because of who she hit. I thought for sure she would have taken aim for Zeke. It would have made sense. A wounded, stationary target is a lot easier to mark than one sprinting at full speed. (That’s what MGS3 taught me at least.) She’s a soldier, though, and the main reason she hijacked the blimp in Liberio was to kill The Usurper. It’s unclear to me if Magath’s mission here is strictly Dead or Alive or if they were trying to capture him but either way her mission, for now, appears to be accomplished. I say “appears to be” because it’s time for my favorite monthly mini-game:

WHY, SWAY, WHY??

There’s a lot we don’t know yet about Titan powers, Eldian biology and the transference from one vessel to another. If Marley’s goal specifically was to recapture the Founder instead of simply stopping Eren from using it, this is what Zeke would call a miscalculation. We know that Titan Powers get transferred Avatar-style to a rando newborn Eldian when a Shifter dies before succession. I actually believe there’s a lot of story left to go. But! There isn’t enough left to now try and track down, out of all the Eldians still in the world, which one holds this terrifying power. (That would make a great AU, though.) Not to mention, we don’t know what happens in the case of a Shifter holding more than one power. Do all three Titans go to one child? Do they get split up back into three by the P A T H S? We don’t know. All of this is reason to expect some chicanery in the next few months or so. Besides any of that we are no closer to knowing what Eren’s true intentions are in regards to why he wants to use the Founder. Isayama Hajime is absolutely the kind of author to blast his main character into oblivion before the story has concluded. He is not the kind of author to leave a stone unturned. We found out about the Shifters and we found out about the basement. Whatever knowledge was revealed to him will not be kept secret, even if it isn’t by his own hand.

Sidebar: decapitation is weird, even in messy circumstances like this one. The electric signals in the brain often keep firing for minutes after the head has been removed. This is how beheaded snakes continue to hiss and bite after the fact. My troll prediction would be Eren’s head landing in Zeke’s hand like so many baseballs in his lifetime; the Coordinate is activated and Shiganshina proceeds to have a bad time.

I don’t know, folks. I couldn’t help but think of one very important rule as I read the closing pages.

youtube

Always Double Tap, dude. Gabi just had to go for the swag. See, if she had popped Eren’s head like a bloody firework I would have said, “Welp, you had a good run, kid.” But nope. You went and left the most powerful being in existence an outside outside chance of survival, and if he does, even for a few seconds more, everybody is screwed.

No segue, I just love these two teaming up. It makes sense that Mikasa and Armin have gotten closer as Eren has gotten more distant. I think seeing how that dynamic evolves as the story builds to its conclusion will be very important. For now, on the surface level, they just really care for each other.

The last time I got a feeling like this, I was a young lad watching Samurai Jack in the early 00s. I would watch every week without fail on the Cartoon Network, engrossed for the entire runtime. And then, oh, the long and nagging wait. I can admit that having most stuff On Demand is impossibly handy for this particular moment in history, but goddamn do I remember having to wait a whole ass week for my favorite show to come back. Fans of Shingeki no Kyojin don’t realize how good they have it.

Replicating that feeling is almost impossible, not just because of how product is released now. Every story has been told before, in some way. Sometime in the last Millenia or so, our slimy lizard brains have come to expect certain beats and structure from stories. It makes the stories good, but also predictable. I can tell you as a writer, it’s so very difficult to find a way to surprise people in a genuine and engaging way.

This is going to sound more cold and callous than intended but, it does involve manipulating an audience to achieve your desired outcome. You want to lead them to the place you want to go and let them think it was their plan all along. This is the Art of Storytelling: I know what you want better than you do. This involves knowing your audience, and I think it’s safe to say after his “I want to hurt people with this,” comment that no writer on the planet right now knows his audience better than Isayama.

Fans of SNK should be happy. I’ve said this before: it isn’t the best book out right now (that’s still OPM, read that shit) but it is the most unpredictable. That doesn’t always make a story good, but in this case, it’s the greatest factor. Feel free to speculate and discuss. That’s what fandom is for. Just give up now on trying to work out what comes next. Only one person knows that. Isa has had this story plotted out for years with diversions here and there. We won’t know until it all ends. Enjoy this ride now. I can promise you we will never see anything like this manga ever again.

Stray Thoughts

- Still no Kyomi. Still no Tiny Queen. I know the main character just got his head yeeted but let’s get some deets now, pls.

- I was so looking forward to the memes and am happy to report that I wasn’t let down. Well done, friends.

- The 104th Squad continues to persist, as does Yelena. We’ll earmark this for later.

- The fact that both the Jaeger Brothers got shot before Floch Forster is high dark comedy.

- In a battle this chaotic, things like skill and experience are often nullified. It makes perfect sense that Eren would be caught off-guard by a soldier he didn’t even know was there, child though she may be. Right place, wrong time. These Things Happen.

- Armin taking out the Cart’s turret gun was a slick little callback to when he bought time for Eren to take down Bertolt.

- I’m interested in Armin’s game plan here. Marley’s infantry is about to be overrun by Titans, so what else does he aim to do? And how will Yelena interfere?

- Nile said he wouldn’t see his family again. We all knew he was right but man, the look on his face when his number was called. That’s tough. Shout-outs to Pixis, getting one last sip in. You a real one.

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kyojuuros · 6 years

Text

ahh so I’ve been pretty quiet about my chapter thoughts and I’m sorry if there’s anyone who was genuinely curious about what I thought. I started writing up a big post about it but I don’t want to publish it until after we’ve gotten the official translations and/or Japanese raws in case there’s anything I change my thoughts on. I get tired of backtracking when I realize something isn’t the way I thought it was.

I actually quite enjoyed the content of the chapter and have been drowning in a mixture of angst, laughter and relief about a number of things. I’ve been ignoring tumblr purposefully to allow myself the time to let things sink in and genuinely enjoy the chapter rather than get caught up in what I assumed was gonna end up being another serumbowl-style fallout. So I’m not sure what the climate is over here, tbh. And I’m still not going to go seek it out.

But for a really short oops it got too long bullet point ramble on my initial thoughts:

EMA makes me sad and I really need more backstory on the way Armin and Mikasa are behaving toward Eren. I can’t doubt that they still love him, but they clearly disagree with him and don’t like how he’s changed. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting a flashback or at least some more exposition on this. A panel placement has me excited that my theory about Mikasa’s role in EMA separation might have been on the mark though.

Levi is undoubtedly concerned about Eren and also very upset with him and gave us one of the most pained expressions I think I’ve ever seen from him in the entire manga. I hope to see this further explored. I’m not upset about the kick. I neither think Eren deserved it nor didn’t deserve it. I’m neutral on that. I need more context before I can pass judgement.

Sasha’s death made me feel really hurt but I also had been expecting it since she spared Gabi’s life and also due to her lack of an active role in anything plot-wise. I’m going to miss the shit out of her, though. I’m not upset about her last words, as they seemed in character since Sasha thinks a lot about food due to her history, and they had just been talking about supper. I also saw it as a small tint of Isayama’s dark humor, but mainly I just chalk it up to her suffering massive blood loss and just really lightheaded and not even thinking about the fact that she was just shot. Not everyone’s last words are going to be meaningful, and often I find that kind of storytelling unrealistic. So in a way it was kind of refreshing to see Sasha so out of it before she died that she was still just focusing on what made her happy - food.

I empathize a lot more with Gabi now that Isayama finally allowed her to really emote and show the audience her real thoughts on her situation. I haven’t liked how he’s handled Gabi thus far, so this chapter was really refreshing in that respect. I can’t hate her for killing Sasha. Her homeland was attacked and people she loved died and she wanted revenge for that. It’s no different than Eren, the only difference being that she had a means to actually counter attack immediately where Eren never did. I’m really curious about her story arc and hope that her development can bring me to love her in the end.

Falco is fucking precious as always. I love how he tried to reason with Gabi and shows that he understands a bit more about the bigger picture. He will be crucial in Gabi’s development I think. I’m devastated for Colt losing his little brother though.

Ultimately I’m curious what’ll happen to Gabi and Falco when they get to Paradis.

Jean is MVP and his commentary after Flocke says to throw the kids out being “will this killing stop if we throw them from the sky!?” utterly gutted me. He’s managed to stay so level headed through all of this though it’s very clear how distraught he is. He accepts his role in this war and will kill people if it’s absolutely necessary, but he’s still the same Jean who’s always abhorred the loss of life in war and detests the idea of killing other people.

Pieck was on point as always. I suspected that she was suspicious of Zeke. My question is why she didn’t act on it sooner or if she was still trying to give him the benefit of the doubt since she had trusted him so much until that point.

Elenna, whatever her name ends up being, has piqued my interest immediately, especially if she’s truly Marleyan. Between her and Onyankopon, I’m really happy that Isayama is putting in Marleyan characters who are siding with the Eldians and want to see change in the system, or to dismantle it completely. The story has been screaming for this since Marley’s introduction, and I’m excited.

Zeke and his interactions with everyone were gold to me. He was very cold toward Gabi and Falco and I’m left wondering whether he cared about them at all or not. Or if he’s just irritated they got in the blimp. The banter between Levi and Zeke has me dying in all the best ways and I hope to see more banter from them. I also love how when Levi was cornering Zeke, Eren interrupted and spoke of the pros of the plan that took place, and when Hange started cracking down on Eren, Zeke hopped in and did the same. I wonder how much they’ve interacted to this point. Yeagerbros is a relationship dynamic I’ve been dying for since chapter 83.

The way Levi and Jean address Elenna I think shows they all have enough of a history together they can talk interpersonally. So I’m curious what happened after her ship arrived on Paradis and if she took one of the bigger roles in constructing the alliance between Paradis and Zeke.

Also, as of now, I’m absolutely convinced that Zeke is eager to work with Paradis and give Eldians their freedom. Nothing has given me reason to think otherwise yet. I’m going to do a lot of rereading to try and figure out his character a bit better. This chapter finally gave me the fuel I needed to do so, and I’m really excited. He bumped up a lot on my faves list with this chapter.

Hange was very upset and blunt with Eren and it hurts me, but I understand where she is coming from. Eren used them and that wasn’t okay. I really just need to know what the climate was between Eren and the SC. I felt that her relationship with Eren even before the time skip was strained after Shiganshina, so I wonder if they’d been struggling with each other this whole time, or if they did manage to move past the events of the serumbowl and this instead a fresher wound.

I was relieved to see Eren finally show some intense emotions when he learned that Sasha died. He starts with a quiet laugh and it shocks everyone so Jean calls him out for Sasha’s death (although I disagree that Sasha’s death was Eren’s fault, it was a “miscalculation” as Zeke would put it). But the comment seems to snap Eren out of the odd uncomfortable laughter and starts bringing out some anguish. So he’s been holding back a lot of shit the last few chapters and undoubtedly his own actions have started eating at him. He knows he did something horrible. I’m happy to see him let some of that out and off his chest. The Eren we know and love is still there underneath the newer, colder demeanor.

I have some theories and other thoughts but I’ll cover those later.

My bigger post later will probably just sound like this one again, lol, but I felt like getting some of those initial thoughts out there before my brain starts wracking into 50 different interpretations on everything as it tends to do when I have a lot of discussions. Anyway... yeah! I really enjoyed this chapter. Looking forward to 106!

#snk spoilers #snk 105 #mymeta #i guess?#not really just a bunch of rambling

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yupuffin · 6 years

Text

Why I love Nezumi

I’ve now had a week or two to digest the tail end of Juuni Taisen, and I have another week or two ahead until I watch it again (actually for the third time) when Funimation releases the dub, and of course Juuni Taisen is all that has been on my mind since then. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings swimming around in my head so it might help to write them down into a slightly more coherent mess.

Spoilers ahead! I recommend you finish the whole anime before proceeding!

(also just a quick warning this is a lOT LONGER THAN I INITIALLY INTENDED ;7;)

The vast majority of the time, when I watch an anime or read a manga, I will have one favorite character out of everyone, who I quickly latch onto visibly more than the rest. It’s not always easy to tell who will become my favorite when I start a new series. Especially not with the storytelling in Juuni Taisen, in which we barely get exposed to a character until they get one episode of “me” time and then promptly die. A few episodes in, I thought Dog was cool, Ox was cool, and Rat was okay (if only because I still have some mad respect for rats after watching/reading No. 6 a few times).

I semi-jokingly pondered to myself a few times that the only character I’d really get attached to was the one who got the most screen time and thereby won the Zodiac War -- in other words, the only one who didn’t die. Obviously, that’s what happened, although for additional reasons I hadn’t initially anticipated.

A few days after I finished the anime, I said to myself, “I was prepared for 99 things, but that ending was not one of them.”

By the time I started episode 11 for the first time, I hadn’t gotten full-on attached to Nezumi yet, beyond thinking he was kind of a neat character (mostly due to him surviving this long). But then, that STORYTELLING.

At the end of high school, I wrote an essay on another anime (Free! for anyone who’s curious) about the “hesitation effect,” a device used in writing to indicate a surreal, dreamlike and uncertain state. Put shortly, writers employ the hesitation effect via ambiguity and situations that are only just strange or unrealistic enough to make the reader stop and consider for a moment that maybe what’s happening isn’t 100% reality after all (hence the name).

Duodecuple launches into “Will you stay for an interview?” mode. Nezumi refuses, quietly gets up and heads for the elevator. In the middle of the descent, the elevator malfunctions, and Nezumi plunges to his death.

But then... it REWINDS! We’re back at Duodecuple going “Will you stay for an interview?,” followed by Nezumi refusing, quietly getting up and heading for an elevator - exactly as before. This time, foreseeing the elevator accident, Nezumi takes the stairs, only to be shoved from behind, (apparently) plunging to his death (again).

But then... it REWINDS! Again!

After enough iterations, I’m getting really sick of Duodecuple asking for an interview in the exact same tone, and it’s starting to give me a seriously creepy feeling. Moreover, watching Nezumi die several times in different, gruesome ways is far from pleasant. I’m laughing, but not because it’s funny - it’s that confused laugh that you get when a situation is really tense and strange and you want to dispel the pungent aura of anxiety from the air. I have no idea what’s going on, but what is certain is that this anime is making me feel exactly what it wanted me to feel.

Finally we get to Nezumi explaining how his special ability, “The Hundred Paths of Nezumi-san” (or “Hundred Click,” its Japanese name), allows him to read one hundred different outcomes of a situation and make his choice accordingly.

A few different lightbulbs go off in my brain at once. First is the satisfying “click” of the link bto the repeated death sequences. But perhaps more appealing is the second lightbulb moment. I’m brought back to one a quote from my favorite manga, Wild Adapter, written and illustrated by a genius named Kazuya Minekura. It goes something like: “There’s no point in regret -- no point in wanting to turn back time -- because there’s no guarantee that any choice is the right one.”

The genius of art is that two very different pieces can express the exact same notion. In this case, the two situations are opposite: as for Nezumi, he can find out exactly which choice is the right one, idealizing any situation to avoid regrets (supposedly!!). In the case of Wild Adapter, the character who thinks this quote went down a less-than-ideal path in life and ends up in a bit of trouble, but decides to think positively anyway precisely because he does not have Nezumi’s foresight ability to tell him “if I had made this choice differently a little while back, this is where my life would be right now.”

As Nezumi mentions later, there are some situations you could do-over one hundred times and still not have them work out. Things like that are just out of your control. Even if you think you slipped up somewhere, there’s no telling for sure that doing something different would have helped you come out the other side any better off. Regret can only do so much, so in a lot of cases it’s better to live without it.

That was just episode 11. That had me thinking hard for a long time. Fortunately, I was late enough for the hype train only had to wait a couple days for the final episode.

Knowing Nezumi was charged with coming up with one ideal wish out of one hundred possibilities, I started wracking my brain for real game-changing wishes that might make sense. Maybe he’d wish the Juuni Taisen would never occur again? Perhaps he’d wish away his special ability so he didn’t have to use a ton of effort just to overthink everything?

Most of the final episode was an anticipatory buildup. It was nice -- even a bit emotionally disarming -- to see all of the previous characters again, getting reminded why they existed and what they brought to the series. By the moment Nezumi was considering a hundred different wishes simultaneously, I was a nervous wreck. You’re totally overthinking this! I inwardly shouted at the screen. Just pick something! (My mindset is, if there’s so many good potential wishes, there isn’t really a “wrong” choice!)

Nezumi faced Duodecuple. “I’ve decided.”

I was leaning forward in my seat, staring almost accusingly at Nezumi as though doing so would make time move faster.

“Just let me forget.”

Feeling my tension evaporate, leaving behind an aching hollow feeling, I sat back down, essentially crouching in my seat. “Okay.”

As the episode drew to a close, I was feeling two very opposite feelings. One half of me was delighted, relieved, and felt like doing a happy dance because Nezumi was finally free of his trauma. The other half was grieving and wanted to turn off my computer and just have a good cry. Of course, the two of them conflicting and at a stalemate, I just sat there and stared at the wall for a while.

I was sad because such a simple wish felt very anticlimactic. If Nezumi forgot that the entire Juuni Taisen ever happened, then what was the point to the entire anime? Surely there were countless things he could learn from experiencing it, let alone one hundred separate times? Why wish for something dumb like “forget it happened?” Moreover, Nezumi was a level-headed, apathetic character throughout most of the series -- suddenly, in the final minute of the final episode, we have him crying right in front of our faces: a reveal of the unimaginable stress he hadn’t even hinted at until just now. I don’t know about you, but unexpected displays of emotion from serious characters tend to tug at my heartstrings quite a bit.

Which leads to the reason I was happy. Put most simply, it was refreshing and cathartic to see Nezumi finally content at the very end of the series, still alive, but having forgotten everything he and the reader had invested in the prior twelve episodes.

The thing is, “forget it happened” is far from a dumb wish. Sure, “I want a penguin” is probably a better wish from my standpoint, but when I think back to how anxious I was watching mere second-long clips of Nezumi dying while attempting to escape Duodecuple’s interview, I can’t imagine what Nezumi experienced dying -- probably violently -- ninety-nine other times in the failed Juuni Taisen “routes” and remembering every single one. I didn’t pay much attention when he first said it, but thinking back, his indication that those ninety-nine other deaths are still burned into his memory, even though they never happened, is crucial.

Another quote from Wild Adapter: “Sometimes it’s better not to remember.”

At a convention earlier this year, I gave a lecture-style panel on memory and trauma in the manga Deadman Wonderland. Long story short, my conclusion was the following: remembering traumatic experiences can be downright excruciating. In many cases, there are indeed things you can learn from them, but the question is whether this benefit outweighs the drawback of having to carry those memories with you as long as they last.

From Nezumi’s point of view, I would much rather forget dying 139 (99 plus the other 40) times than remember whatever satisfying tidbits on life I got from the experience.

As much as I would rather Nezumi have an emotional support penguin, forgetting trauma really is the best choice for him. Freed of the burden of overthinking one hundred outcomes of choices that can risk his life or death, he can go back to being a (relatively) normal high school student whose only expectations are to survive society, rather than a brutal war to the death among twelve fighters -- and then just use his ability whenever he thinks is necessary, like asking out a cute girl.

That being said, after all that, I’m sure if one of Nezumi’s top 100 wishes really is to have a girlfriend, or even a best friend, I’m sure there are plenty of members of this fandom -- including me -- who would be willing to oblige.

#juni taisen #juuni taisen #juni taisen zodiac war #if you read this to the end you should get some kind of prize or something it's so long #anime analysis

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gorgeousshutin · 6 years

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I couldn’t . . . update Seinen Kakumei by Xmas after all.

However!

I’ve manage to find the Chiho Saito X Ikuhara Kunihiko Special Talk they did for the new manga, After the Revolution, hosted on utena.su.

After the page cut is the google translated gist of it all. Enjoy and happy holidays!

Here it sounds like Ikuhara does have a hand in creating this somewhat male-centric manga. Oh well it’s a series, so who knows which character(s) the next chapter might feature.

The Interview

Why did you decide to draw a new chapter of "The Young Revolutionary of Utena"? Saito: This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the anime release, and that's why I often remembered it. Just at that time, I received a proposal from the editorial staff of the "Flowers": "Would you like to draw something for the twenty-year anniversary?" And I felt that I have a duty to "Utena", so ... (laughs) Ikuhara: Five years ago we could have refused, but twenty years have passed ... Perhaps someone will not want to read a new chapter. But I thought that it could be something like a fan service, another story about Utena for those to whom it is still expensive. Saito: The full-length film was conceived as a continuation of "Utena", but an alternative story turned out, so it justifies me a little. Ikuhara: I think it's good that there are many versions of Utena. A series, a full-length film, a manga ... I hope the fans will forgive us for the fact that the manga has now become longer. Saito: It's because anime so beautifully told about so many things that this new "Utena" became possible. I do not know if they'll forgive me or not, but I decided to try.

Returning to the beginning: Mrs. Saito, how did it happen that Mr. Ikukhara asked you to create character designs for "Utena"? Ikuhara: At that time, I was engaged in Sailor Moon, but I planned that my next project would be original work. However, I did not want it to be the same story about a girl who is changing clothes and doing something there. I was thinking. And then in the bookstore, where I sometimes went, I saw the release of "Petit Comic" with a cover from Ms. Saito - and it dawned on me. "It seems that I need it!" - I thought. If she started developing the design of my characters, then everything would go by itself. So I changed my mind and decided to make a shojo anime with an emphasis on the visual part. Saito: Then the "Utena", which he had conceived, was completely different. Ikuhara: I already gave Utena a name, but I had different ideas on her account. Even the "teacher in kindergarten." (laughs) I was not sure whether to make the girl the main character again, but the moment I saw Ms. Saito's work, they simply fascinated me. Without logical reasoning: "This is it!" I felt that they would help me create something beautiful. That is, you inspired these drawings? Ikuhara: It often happens to me. I love drawings that allow you to discard logical reasoning. In the works of Ms. Saito, there was such power. While I was arguing, they struck me in the heart.

Saito, how did you feel when Mr. Ikuhara offered you cooperation? Saito: First, the editor of Petit Comic told me that the director and the team responsible for Sailor Moon are developing a computer game, and I'm being offered to do character designs. "The main director of" Sailor Moon "own person ?!" I was amazed and answered that I was ready to meet him immediately. (laughing) Ikuhara: Actually, I lied about the game. (laughs) If I said that it's an anime, people from Ms. Saito's entourage would be on guard, so I originally talked about the game. And when everything turned up, I would say: "The plans have changed, we make anime." (laughing) Saito: In a word, I was asked to develop character designs. But there were no specific instructions at first. Something like: "Do in the style of your" Waltz in a white dress. "" Ikuhara: I still keep the letters of Ms. Saito of that time and the sketches I made myself. There was no email at that time, so we exchanged letters by fax. They drew and invented simultaneously. It's a shame to admit, but I drew inspiration from Ms. Saito's drawings - if they changed, history changed.

Saito: And at first it confused me. (laughs) The director asked me to draw a lot to expand my own idea of "Utena", but at first I did not understand it at all, so we constantly wrote to each other. Ikuhara: I could tackle the story itself when the character design was already ready. I needed to fall in love with these designs to begin to come up with the plot and characters of the characters. In a word, since I had no ideas myself, I needed to love what Ms. Saito created, and so I fooled her. (laughing) Saito: So I needed to draw something amazing to ignite the flame in the director. (laughs) But I did not understand what he wanted, and I thought that I only needed to develop designs. When I asked: "Maybe I should add a hairpin here?" - neither "yes" nor "no" answered me. But when I painted Utena and Anfi together, they wrote to me: "That's it !!!" - and for the first time I felt that I understood what was being said. (laughing) These designs were similar to the current Utenu and Anfi? Ikuhara: For the most part, they were already ready. With them, we almost figured out, and after that started working on the rest of the characters. Then the plot arose. The plot details of "Utena" were borrowed from Ms. Saito's manga and developed. For example, the relationship with Akio, the relationship between Miki and Kodzue ... All this quotes from the manga of Ms. Saito. Saito: I knew that the director and script writer read my work very carefully, but did not know that they were going to use it in this way.

You created a manga together with Mr. Ikuhara? Ikuhara: I always asked to show me storyboards. Saito: I always showed the first chapter to the director, and at some point he said: "Here I myself will make a storyboard!" (Laughs) Ikukhara: "Panels of this size!" - I said. (laughs) Ms Saito was used to drawing the manga more on the basis of the plot than the percussion. But in the anime characters were in the spotlight, and I wanted the storyboard panels to push them to the fore. So I lightly put my hand to her. What is the difference between the story of the manga and the anime story? Ikuhara: First of all, if you look at the anime scenario, then there are enough surreal moments. (laughs) If they asked me what they meant, I would not have answered it myself, even though I thought of it. To understand, it was necessary to do, but work on the anime took us a year. It was difficult to explain everything in words, and it's impossible to realize it in a manga. Saito: I did not understand how the story would develop when I drew the manga. I had no idea who Anfi was. I did not know anything about her and was surprised that she has an older brother ... Ikuhara: We did not know either. (laughs) They came up with everything on the go. (laughing) Saito: I had to be ready for the fact that I'm drawing a story about which no one knows anything and which should turn into a finished anime in a year. I did not understand anything, but I had to somehow move the story of the manga forward ... (laughs) Ikuhara: In fact, despite the existence of the script, my staff was very much supported by the fact that the manga left until the end of the anime. They often asked: "Yes, what are we working on at all ?!" (laughs) But the power of visual images is such that after the final of the manga of Mrs. Saito everyone realized: "Oh, that's what this story is about." After all, no matter how surreal the story may be, after such visual images everyone was reconciled. I think if we had only a story, the team would not be able to work normally. Saito: I was drawing, although I did not understand anything at all ... (laughs) Ikuhara: In my opinion, that's why history could develop to such a level - thanks to the attraction of the characters of Ms. Saito.

By the way, did you discuss the differences in the finals? Saito: In general, the manga and the anime broadcast had to be completed at the same time, so I learned about the anime finale from the script. I tried to comprehend it, but it was not possible to realize everything in the manga, so I changed it slightly ... Ikuhara: But we discussed surrealism in the anime finale and how it can be interpreted. (laughing) Saito: He is very artistically impressive, but when you think about his meaning, you stop understanding something, so I decided that the anime is one, and the manga is different, and I painted mine. (laughs) But when you watch anime every week, you think: "That's how it turned out ... What should I do ?!" - and so four times a month ... Then you think: "I give up!" - and continue to draw your own. (laughing) And now you're working on a new manga chapter ... Saito: I immediately understood the story the director had suggested. I thought: "This is not difficult!" - and was very pleased with herself. (laughs) But now, in the midst of work, I have a lot of doubts, I always consult with him, and the story is not yet complete. Ikuhara: In my heart of hearts, I really want to do something that no one else has ever done. When we were working on the anime, at some point all agreed on a certain plot twist: "Yes, usually it does." Then I decided not to introduce it, and all already turned pale. After that, we often decided on the twisted turns of events. I think it was hard for everyone, but thanks to the trial and error method, our history acquired such visual power. Saito: If the same happens now, it will really be hard ... Ikuhara: But now you already understand what "Utena" is. (laughs) If you do not prepare morally, you will only think: "What am I trying to do?" And readers now realize that "Utena" is a continuous surrealism, and if something surreal happens in the new chapter, they will just think that such this is history. (laughing) How do you work on "Utena" after a long break? Saito: It's still as before. Ikuhara: Yes, it is. Honestly, we have different views with Mrs. Saito on who are Toga and Sayonji, like every other employee in our time. But we once already dealt with them, so in a sense there is no doubt. In general, we act according to the scheme: "He has such a character, that's why he will do so, and so - no." And than "Utena" became for you? Ikuhara: In my case, this applies not only to "Utena", but also to my other works: "initiation." History as a rite of passage. If you do not win this competition, do not pass through the tunnel, then it will be impossible to move further - that's what my works become for me. I understand that they are out of common fashion, but I want to tell them at all costs, go through this initiation to get the opportunity to move forward. Saito: I used to draw the manga myself, so this was my first collaboration. Of course, it reflects also my own ideas, but I was very interested to know what the final result would be. And if we talk about the audience - I was able to show myself in something other than manga, so for me it was a "gift". Ikuhara: I wanted to create something unique that would make a deep impression on people and would remain forever in their hearts. In fact, I'm incredibly happy that until now, after twenty years, many like "Utenu." At that time, I was often asked: "Who does this story for ?!" - but now I see that she has found her audience, and I'm happy. Saito: In addition, it is dear to so many girls among the fans. In this work, our twenty-year-old employees put their experiences and worries, and those to whom these feelings were close, took it directly. Maybe the motives were drawn from my manga, but it is because of the emotions that the director and his collaborators presented to Utena that this story is so addictive. Ikuhara: Perhaps the feelings that we felt at that time because of our place in life really left a mark on this work. In addition, "Utena" certainly remembered to the audience thanks to the theme - "the girl is looking for herself." "What do I want to be? What role should I play in the society? "- all these questions that girls ask themselves. And I think that in the heart of "Utena" lies "defeat". This "defeat" including ourselves, its creators. Saito: If you think about it, girls have been accustomed to defeats since childhood ... Ikuhara: And the reason why "Utena" remained in the hearts of the audience is precisely this "defeat". I think if it was a story of victory, it would quickly be forgotten.

Saito: When we hear a story about a victory, we want to be like her hero, and when we hear about the defeat - we think: "Yes this is about me."

As for the theme "a girl is looking for herself": it is also raised by the "Confusion" that you are currently working on, right? Saito: I would say yes. The girls suffered a defeat back in the Heian era ... (laughs) Has the experience of working on Utena somehow influenced your further work? Saito: Before that, I did not draw in the genre, but I liked working on Utena, so portraying in "Confusion" the marriage between Yonokimi and Himegimi, who pretends to be a man, was also interesting. (laughs) They are married, but Himegimi should pretend to be a man, so there are enough exciting moments ... I think the experience of "Utena" helped me to portray these touching relationships between the girls. In the clouds: "I did not get enough sleep." "And the truth. The eyes are red. " The marriage of Young and Himegim (two girls) mangaka painted with interest. In "Confusion" she applied what she learned from "Utena". Mr. Ikuhara, were you inspired by other works of Ms. Saito? Ikuhara: Inspired. Recently I found a terrific story in the collection of Ms. Saito's works, but when I spoke about it, she asked: "Did I draw this?" I was shocked: "Ah ?! Have you forgotten about it ?! "(laughs)" How could you forget about such an amazing manga ?! " Saito: All my works for me are like native children when they are just finished. If someone says: "I read such and such your manga, I'm a fan," then I re-read it too, and it becomes even more dear to me. But if there is no reaction, I think that it was not a success, and then I do not want to reread it. There are a couple of works that I have not read since I drew them. (laughs) So I forgot about them completely. Ikuhara: Perhaps some authors and can endlessly come up with something new, but often we use all the same motifs, changing the main theme and characters. Subconsciously you think: "The last time did not work out - and if I put everything like this, will it suddenly come out?" I think in the works of Ms. Saito many motifs are repeated, slightly changing. Perhaps, therefore, it is difficult for her to remember each separate story. Saito: Quite often I can not express what I want. "Now it surely will!" - I think I'm trying again, changing something. This often happens. Ms. Saito, what were these thirty-five years of creative activity for you? Saito: I painted manga every day ... and now it seems to me that these years and months have passed very quickly. Two weeks after I made my debut in "Shoujo Comic", I was offered to publish regularly. Ikuhara: Right after the debut ?! Saito: I was noticed and offered to be published before the debut. (laughs) But my work did not like the readers. I was trusted, and I let them down ... This is my recollection of my debut in the manga. I started with failure, with worry that I was not accepted, and I learned to win the audience by trial and error. And how did you come to success? Saito: First I painted stories about family life. At that time, I was already married and knew how it really looked, but readers liked all sorts of calf tenderness. And I was young and proud, I wanted to draw not some teary stories there, but something sublime. But I could release them one by one, and the readers were happy. Then it helped me out. Then, when I was able to rest, I began to draw more erotic, sensual stories, and just then I was offered to work on "Utena". Ikuhara: I got the impression that Ms. Saito initially liked the aesthetics of the Baroque. If you take a love story from the shojo-manga of that time and place it in the baroque decorations, it goes perfectly. Saito: I think I've had bad luck, because I was working on something that was interesting to me alone. But when I got burned and listened to the readers, taking into account their desires on a par with what I wanted to paint myself - then, thanks to this strategy, success came to me. Ikuhara: Since the "Another puppet", the covers of your works have acquired a baroque character that distinguished you from other authors. Love lines also changed, recalling the taiga drama. The depth was felt, the horizons widened. Saito: I continued to work, and after the success of Utena, after the publishing house "Shogakukan" noted the "Flower Madonna" prize, I felt that I had achieved something. Before that, I had to invest in every work I did, and now I could breathe peacefully. (laughs) There was a period when I did not want to draw a manga. However, I realized that you can not quit work, somehow continued, and slowly the inspiration returned to me. And in "Flowers" there are so many veterans of the industry, and I am very pleased with the opportunity to be among them. Now I feel like I love my job. And when I think about how I painted the manga every single day ... I feel that life has not been in vain.

And in the end: what would you like to say to the fans? Ikuhara: Thank you for watching Utenu for twenty years. I had no idea that our characters would be so in love, and if those who first read the manga or watched the anime, this story presented an experience similar to initiation, this is its main advantage. Maybe the new chapter of the manga will be interesting to those who first get acquainted with "Utena"; maybe someone will be pleased when this title is again mentioned in the media. So forgive us ... and wait impatiently. (laughing) Saito: I too, sometimes, draw and think: "Forgive me ..." (laughs) It all ended so beautifully, the ending was so touching, and I was going to spoil everything. Fans will probably get mad, but they are already adults, so I hope they will forgive us ... (laughs) Ikuhara: Me and Saito talked about how we can destroy the impression of a story that is so expensive. But we decided that we still want to give "Utena" to those who waited for it again. Saito: I do not know if I can even paint in ten years. Take the same health problems ... Maybe this is our last opportunity. And I was just offered this work on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the "Utena" - as if they gave a chance. I had a feeling that I should accept this challenge. What would you like to say to your fans, Ms. Saito? Saito: I could continue to work quietly only thanks to readers who bought my manga. I wanted to draw stories that would delight them, support them morally, help them live until next month, when they can read the sequel. I just do that I draw a manga, and I hope that it helped someone in everyday life. I am very grateful to all my readers. Thank you both for the interview!

#revolutionary girl utena #shoujo kakumei utena #sku #utena #manga #new manga #after the revolution #Kunihiko Ikuhara #chiho saito #new revelations about the original 90s anime and manga

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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The Wild and Wonderful World of WEBTOON Series

Many anime fans are familiar with manga, with lots of classic and modern anime being adapted from the medium, such as Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, and many more drawing on their graphic novel counterparts. But this season, a different comic tradition is responsible for starting a new anime trend with the adaptation of Tower of God: Korean manhwa, specifically, WEBTOON series! But what are WEBTOON series and what makes them so unique? Aren’t they just Korean comics? Well, you may be surprised to learn that WEBTOON series are a global phenomenon, with readers and creators all over the globe! And furthermore, they’re a wholly unique digital platform that relies on the screen of your phone to help tell the story. If that’s got you curious, then read on!

First, it’s probably important to specify that WEBTOON series and manhwa aren’t the same word. Much like manga, manhwa just means “comic” when translated from Korean. WEBTOON series are a type of comic, but a very specific digital medium—compared to print comics, there are a lot of differences! WEBTOON series occasionally get printed as paper copies, but these are mostly collectible items rather than the regular way to read them. Instead, WEBTOON series are designed to be read vertically on screens, most specifically smartphone and tablet screens. If Tower of God made you curious enough to go check out the WEBTOON series, you might already be aware of this verticality, but for new readers, WEBTOON’s approach to reading style is very unique and can take a bit of getting used to—but it's certainly rewarding when you dive in!

Unlike manga or American comics, WEBTOON series don’t generally rely on panels and gutter layouts on single pages. Instead, WEBTOON series use an “infinite canvas,” with readers scrolling vertically down as they read chapters. WEBTOON series chapters vary in length, but many of them are pretty long. If you were to try and print out an entire chapter, you’d find yourself printing 30 plus pages or more for most titles, and a lot of those pages would be blank! When I started reading WEBTOON series, this negative space was something that really caught me off guard—at first, I kept thinking my screen wasn’t loading. I realized that titles used this white space (or black or gray!) to space out story beats and big reveals, making tense, dramatic moments even more hair-raising as my own reading speed affects how quickly I’d see what happens next. (This may come as no surprise, but WEBTOON series are really, REALLY easy to binge read!)

In fact, this use of vertical reading space and chapter size makes another aspect of WEBTOON series somewhat shocking in comparison to manga: they’re in color! While many WEBTOON series use negative space to help with that burden, it’s still quite impressive to think about how much work goes into creating weekly chapters with full color, and these vibrant comics really make their unique worlds pop on the screen. In many cases, WEBTOON series will change their background colors from white to black, or some other variation, in order to transition between things like time changes (night and day or even past and present) or to really ram home emotional moments. Watching all of the color drain out of even the page you’re reading can make the gut punches in some WEBTOON series really hit hard!

Similar to manga, WEBTOON series cover almost every possible topic. You’ll find WEBTOON series about school life, professional careers, sports, fantasy, sci-fi, and almost everything in between. On the off chance that you catch up on a long-running series, you’ll find plenty of other titles to take their place. When I first started reading WEBTOON series, I only read about five stories. Now, my subscription page is up to fifty titles! Let’s just say they can be addictive and leave it at that! Perhaps something that fewer people know, though, is that WEBTOON series artists aren’t just Korean. There are many creators from all over the world publishing WEBTOONS series and the variety of art styles and storytelling really make the platform something unique and magical to explore.

In 100 percent honesty, I was actually a pretty late adopter to WEBTOON series, as I always preferred reading physical mediums over digital and never found reading manga on my phone very entertaining. Something about "turning" pages digitally, waiting for them to load, and other things just made the experience less desirable than picking up a volume and reading it. During a layover on a flight earlier this year, I found myself stuck without much to entertain myself with except my phone and remembered that a friend had suggested I check out Tower of God. Five hours and one flight later, I had nearly drained my entire back-up battery and read my way through most of Season 2. Since then, I’ve been hooked. If you’re like me, and skeptical of digital media, I really think you should give WEBTOON series a try. In fact, I’ve got a few personal recommendations ready to get you started! All of these can be found on Naver’s WEBTOON website or app check (here for Apple or here for Google)and you can start reading them right away!

Tower of God

This is the WEBTOON series that got me into WEBTOON series, and from other Tower of God fans I’ve spoken to, that seems to be par for the course. The series has been running for nearly ten years now, so you have a LOT of reading to catch up on if you’re only just getting invested thanks to the anime this season! The adventures of Bam, Khun, and the rest of the Regulars sucked me in with it’s deep, unraveling story and I found myself having to force myself to stop reading “just one more chapter” before bed. Creator SIU has stated he’s had the story planned out from the start and it really does feel that way as you read through it, seeing little details you didn’t think about before suddenly become relevant, or small bits of dialogue or art that you didn’t understand before suddenly rushing back and making you go “HEYYY, wait a minute!” as some new development unfolds. SIU manages to follow a large, diverse cast of characters throughout Tower of God and the series absolutely deserves the attention it’s getting right now. If you’re curious to see what happens to Bam and company after the anime ends, there is plenty of Tower of God waiting for you in the WEBTOON series!

GOSU

I’ve always been a huge fan of martial arts movies. I fondly remember how I used to watch badly dubbed martial arts flicks with my grandma as a child. GOSU, by Giun Ryu and Mun Jeong Hoo, takes me back to the magic and excitement of martial arts stories. GOSU might be the most gorgeous WEBTOON series I’ve ever read and the authors really know how to let visuals do the storytelling—there are some truly breathtaking moments in GOSU that are conveyed solely through still, almost unchanging landscapes. Protagonist Gang Yong is really quite something and there have been times when I’ve audibly gasped or yelled at big moments in this series. With the wave of WEBTOON series titles getting adapted into anime, I’d absolutely put GOSU on my list of series I’d love to see get an anime. If you like martial arts stories, or just really gorgeous art, GOSU is worth the read!

Lore Olympus

Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus was a series I frankly never expected to read, let alone love. Talking about Greek mythology usually makes me think back to college humanities classes or playing God of War, and while both of those were great, they weren't usually my cup of tea. I’ll admit that I actually ended up reading this one because I kept seeing it so highly ranked on the WEBTOON app—seriously, it’s number one in like, every demographic and overall—and finally gave in to the not so subliminal message that I’m obviously missing out on something here. And boy, was I! Lore Olympus is a simple concept: reimagining mythological Gods and Goddesses in somewhat “human” situations. This story is a bit mature and dramatic, but the romance and suspense in it are really something, and the art is colorful and gorgeous. Persephone and Hades’ story has never been so gripping and I find myself always waiting for the next chapter to drop.

The God of High School

Yongje Park’s The God of High School was an easy sell for me since it evoked memories of classic school battling anime like Tenjho Tenge and a hint of fighting games. Since the anime is about to begin, I won’t spoil anything, but the action in this series is top-notch with gorgeous art to match! Like Tower of God, this WEBTOON series has also been running for quite a while, meaning you’ve got plenty of material to get through. Jin Mo-Ri is a pretty deceptive protagonist, too. At first, I just assumed he’d be the usual battle-crazed fighting style character, like Goku, but he’s got his own unique personality that helps set him apart. A lot of my enjoyment of The God of High School comes from the supporting cast, which Park has really done an amazing job with. The main trio of characters is fun and strong and it always feels exciting to see various martial arts and skills used in this series.

Sweet Home

If you like horror or zombie movies, this series might be right up your alley. I got quite a few friends into reading WEBTOON series by getting them to read this relatively new title that features some of the creepiest and imaginative monster designs I’ve seen in a while. Sweet Home’s authors Youngchan Hwang and Carnby Kim really manage to hit that survival horror itch, and in terms of using the WEBTOON series medium, I can’t think of many other titles that take advantage of the vertical scrolling pages like Sweet Home does to deliver some absolutely bone-chilling moments. As a monster horror series, it is only fair to warn you that it can be a bit gruesome at times, so please keep that in mind if you decide to check it out!

WEBTOON series are becoming a global phenomenon. The market for them is estimated to be over 300 million USD a year currently, and with anime adaptations and even larger potential audiences about to learn of them through Tower of God, The God of High School, and Noblesse, I can only see those numbers going way up! If you’ve never tried WEBTOON, then now is absolutely the time. I guarantee you’ll find a series you’ll absolutely want to read, and then another one, and another one, and another one… Uh oh! How did that queue get so huge?! Anyway, happy reading, and I hope this helped get you interested in the wonderful world of WEBTOON series!

Are you a WEBTOON series fanatic? Is this your first time hearing about them? Let us know what titles you like and what you think about WEBTOON in the comments!

➡️ Catch up on watching Tower of God today! ⬅️

Nicole is a frequent wordsmith for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

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carriagelamp · 4 years

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April 2020 Book Review - Quarantine Brain Fry Edition

This month of quarantine was much more challenging for me that last March... I suppose because we’re really in the throws of it, and the “extended spring break” feel has worn off. Between general World Anxieties and the incredible challenges of trying to adapt my work into an online setting, my brain has been absolute mush -- and I have a feeling I’m not the only one. Most of my books this month are either very easy reads (comics and children’s novels) or rereads or both! Honestly, I’ve been playing a lot more Animal Crossing than I have been reading...

So the theme for this month of reading? Treat your brain to a rest, and go reread that favourite comic or picture book or graphic novel from when you were a kid. We don’t have libraries or book stores at the moment, so dig deep into your shelf for something you love that you haven’t touched in a while. Here’s what I read:

Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and the Mystery of the Grande Chateau

I’m going to start with best and most unexpected book that I read this month (although this is actually a New Book and not a reread, so maybe it’s a bad start). It’s a Hardy Boys parody novel, and yes it’s by the Game Grumps. The only reason I even found out it existed was because my brother heard about it and we decided that this would be our next Sibling Read Aloud. It made a great read aloud. I was rather skeptical at first, but it was genuinely very clever and very, very funny. There characters were fucking delightful, as they bumbled their way through the mystery, and we ended up accidentally reading almost half the book in one sitting because we couldn’t put it down once we got to endgame. If you like satire and Classic Youth Mystery then do yourself a favour and give this a go. I am desperate for a sequel.

ISHI: Simple Tips from a Solid Friend

A picture book that was recommended to some of the local elementary children who are dealing with isolation from school and their friends. Its beauty is in its simplicity. It shows Ishi, a very simple white stone, experience challenges that it must then find ways to cope with. Things like loneliness, feeling empty or scared, being sad... all things children (and adults, I very much appreciated this little story) may be experiencing. This is definitely a picture book, not a self-help book, but it’s still very encouraging and makes me want to go and create my own Ishi. There’s a reading of it is online, and if you’re feeling like having a solid stone friend reassure you, I would recommend going to listen to it!

Bone 1-5

So, the first in my long list of books that I reread: I’ve started rereading the Bone series for the first time in years. Hands down one of my all time favourite graphic novel series. If you haven’t read Bone, it’s a classic and one of the best example of American graphic novels imho. It’s about Fone Bone and his cousins who, after being driven out of Boneville by Phoney Bone’s money-grubbling stunts, have found themselves across a desert and in a strange, fantastical valley where nothing makes sense. The three of them get drawn into the strange mysteries and adventures of Thorn, her grandmother, and the village of Barrelhaven. Such a perfect blend of beautiful art, comedy and off-the-wall cartoon-level hijinks, as well as really intense, dark adventure and tension as the story unfolds.

Also created this sequence, which may be the funniest two panels ever drawn in a comic

Here Is Greenwood v1

A charming ‘90s manga from my stash that I decided to reread. Honestly one of my favourite feel-good mangas, because it’s such a simple, pure, good-hearted slice of life without some of the gimmicks that other manga use. It’s about Kazuya starting at an all-boys school partway into the year, and moving into the school’s dorms. The entire book is just about him being constantly pestered by the well-meaning characters that share the dorm with him. It’s just goofy and fun, and has the fantastic aesthetic of a good ‘90s manga. Also, it was one of those books that, while technically not ~queer~ was also ~queer enough~ for my deprived teenage soul.

Blood Of Elves

The fourth book of the Witcher series that I’ve finished. I’ll be honest, not my favourite. I really enjoyed the beginning, the whole espionage thing with Dandelion, and then Ciri with Geralt, the Kaer Morhen witchers, and Triss. That was all really fun. It felt like it dragged a lot more though after Ciri joined Yennefer... And yet I love Yennefer as a character, she is hilariously snide and clever and really sweet with Ciri. But it felt like a scene that could have been done in a couple chapters took up half the book. Maybe that’s just because, as I said, my brain was mush and I couldn’t deal with it. I have the next book and as soon as my brain doesn’t look like chicken noodle soup anymore I will be starting it!

The Mouse and the Motorcycle

You know I love a good animal adventure story, and this is one that I adored as a child. The story of Ralph, a young mouse living with his family in a rundown motel, and how he and a young human boy discover that they can understand each other through a shared passion for vehicles... in particular a red toy motorcycle. There’s just something heartwarming about Ralph racing around a motel on a tiny toy motorcycle that runs when he makes motorcycles noises. I’ll have to find the second one as soon as libraries are open again.

Kit: The Adventures of a Raccoon

Another animal adventure story from my childhood, although this one is more of a chapter book than a true novel. This is a book that I’ve been lowkey hunting for years and finally came across in a school library. It’s a more realistic look at what a raccoon’s life is like, from birth to adulthood. Rereading it, it’s not a particularly exciting book and wouldn’t have otherwise stood out to me, but there’s still something that calls to me. It’s very gentle and makes this raccoon’s growing and learning feel very soft and compassionate, even if there are tragedies and death.

A quick edit because it was only just now that I realized that this is a Canadian lit book! Always exciting to discover that a favourite is Canadian!

Calvin and Hobbes: Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat

Calvin and Hobbes, yet one more bullet to add to the list of Comfort Comics that I’ve pulled out to keep my mind entertained while I can’t quite process Proper Novels. I doubt there’s anything I can say about Calvin and Hobbes that hasn’t already been said. You’ve either read these books already, and are nodding along with me, or you haven’t and therefore are not a human being I can relate to.

Spy vs Spy

I dug out some of the old Spy vs Spy comics we had as kids. They’re basically falling to pieces, but it was fun -- like so many other books on this list -- to revisit something so familiar but which I haven’t looked at in years. These were a very odd experience to reread, because on one hand Spy vs Spy comics have such a simple, goofy premise it’s hard not to just grin and laugh while you read them, but also like... yup they sure are old and kinda ~problematique~ eh? Whatcha gonna do.

The Twisted Ones

The read aloud my brother and I did before Ghost Hunters, although we technically finished reading it at the very end of March, but too late for it to make that book roundup post. Look, I’m not going to defend myself here. Yes, I’ve read an obscene number of Five Nights at Freddy’s books. The first one of this series The Silver Eyes was honestly better than I would have expected. This sequel was not as good, unsurprisingly, but the main character is still so fucking bizarre, so different than the sort of protagonist I would normally expect from a series like this, that I can’t quite bring myself to stop reading them. And when I had a moment of Realization, about what might be in store for the third book, I genuinely screamed at my brother who was reading at the time. So yes. Somehow this youth horror is better than it has any right to be -- not good but better than it should be -- and yes I will be reading the third the second the libraries open again.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Another reread! This was a book I got as a birthday present when I was in... probably preschool? It’s a cross between a large picture book and a chapter book. It’s essentially a “novelization” of the original Disney movie, and it has such cute art to go along with it. Winnie the Pooh has always been a favourite of mine, and reading this old book was like a warm hug. Makes me want to see if I can get my VCR set up so I can watch that old movie again...

Frog and Toad Together

A friend found someone reading this book in a very asmr-style on youtube and recommended I listen because they found it super chill. And they were right! It is ridiculously chill. I’ve never read a Frog and Toad story before, but it’s really just a very cute old book that immediately launches you right back into grade one.

The BFG

This is my first time reading the BFG and it has all of Dahl’s usual charm and quirkiness. A young girl gets plucked out of an abusive orphanage by the Big Friendly Giant, who brings her to the terrifying Land Of Giants... all of which are bigger and crueller than the BFG, and who have an appetite for human flesh. It was quick and fun, and it’s always hard not to fall in love with Dahl’s sweet characters, especially this big eared, dream-catching giant.

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sleepykichii · 7 years

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11 Questions Tag

i was tagged by @pinkheichou @tiny-heichou and @salbelni so that's uh...that's 33 questions holy shit this is gonna be forever long lmaoo

Rules: 1. Always post the rules 2. Answer the questions given by the person who tagged you 3. Write 11 questions of your own 4. Tag 11 people

idk if it’ll tag you guys if i put them under the cut so! i tag: @tokyo-ghouls-eat-rawmen @kingtatsunari @bertoltssweat @sluttttysurveycorps @piningmarco @lesliebruhleria @iviarka @softymir @dallyingdivergent @levi-nyanchou @noodlesforlyfe don’t feel obligated to do this!!

1. Is there a book/movie that you’ve read/watched many times? Which one? i usually dont like rewatching/rereading things but my guilty pleasure is snk, i love to watch the dubbed episodes and compare it to the subbed episodes, i love going back and noticing details i couldnt bc i was reading subtitles, comparing manga panels to anime scenes, yknow, lil things like that 2. What do you love most about your friends? they try their best to cheer me up when they know i'm feeling down~ 3. Ever been a witness to someone doing something hella embarrassing? (You don’t have to tell anything about it) uh yeah, my best friend irl fell and literally slid down her stairs when she was drunk after prom last year and wanted to do it again 4. A fandom you didn’t think you would ever be a part of? tbh danganronpa. on my old blog, before i got back into watching anime, i thought their hair was rly...unique, to say the least, and didn't think i would ever give it the time of day 5. Do you have a “trash character” you like? komaeda :') and ouma, i know a lot of ppl rly don't like him lmao 6. Pastel or Black? black, i love pastels but i look rly good in black lmao 7. Pet peeves? when ppl ignore/interrupt me, unneccesary loud noises, lack of privacy, AND WHEN PPL CHEW WITH THEIR MOUTH OPEN OH MY GOD 8. If you had one free wish what would it be? (Wishing for xx/endless wishes is not allowed) i would wish to bring immense joy to myself and every person i crossed paths with! 9. What are your favourite tropes/AUs for your ships? holy SHIT im a slut for AUs. i lovelovelove actor AUs, zombie/post apocalyptic AUs, high school/boarding school AUs, college AUs, summercamp AUs, band AUs, coffee shop AUs, apartment AUs...i could rly go on but i'll stop lmaooo 10. Are you an emotional person? VERY 11. Are you more attracted to popular ships or rare pairs? i dont rly have a preference, if i see a ship i like, it's popularity doesn't concern me c:

1. Whats your favorite book? i rly don't know, i haven't read a book in forever fml i've already read all the books on my shelf and they're like...8th grade reading level :-// my most recent read was more than this by patrick ness and it was pretty good! 2. Do you collect anything? stickers!! i love stickers so much lmao what else...cute pins, and i'm slowly building a collection i call 'roadside paintings' where -- you guessed it -- i pick up deserted paintings on the side on the road. i currently have two hanging up in my room! 3. The last Song you listened to? sir sly - high 4. Do you like Tea? If yes whats your favorite kind of tea? fuck yeah!! tea > coffee, all day every day. i rly love blueberry acai green tea and papaya passionfruit black tea!! 5. Whats the first Anime/Manga you ever watched/read? if u wanna get technical, sailor moon was the first ever, but naruto is the first one i went out of my way to watch. the first manga was shugo chara! i would probably still read it bc the characters are adorable and the plot is interesting! 6. Whats your favorite childhood movie? pokemon 2000!! 7. Your favorite poem? the universe took its time on you crafted you precisely so you could offer the world something distinct from everyone else so when you doubt how you were created you doubt an energy greater than us both -rupi kaur 8. Your favorite Painting? i don't rly have one!! 9. Whats the most amazing thing that happened to you? still somehow being alive right this very second 10. Whats the Title of the last Fanfiction you have read? i wanna say it was something simple like 'roommates' or along those lines, i honestly haven't read fanfiction in a couple weeks;; 11. Write 3 Book, Fanfic and Manga Title that you totally recommend! i have the comprehension skills of a potato so idk if you mean three of each or three total so i'm just gonna do three total book: more than this - patrick ness (rly good, rly weird. makes you think about our reality a little more. worth a reread when you're finished so you can piece all the information together) fanfic: blue bear - afishoutofwater (snk/eremin - i was in tears by the end of this, it's so sad but very well written. major character death & angst, just a heads up!) manga: killing stalking (hoo boy. this isnt for the faint of heart, lots of dark themes along the lines of torture and murder. not everyone's cup of tea, and that's okay!! <3)

① What are you most proud of? this is probably stupid to be proud of but it's the first thing that came to mind even though i wasnt that good, i made it into my eighth grade talent show playing the keyboard i got up there in front of the entire middle school and fucked up tremendously BUT I DIDNT CHICKEN OUT! so!! +1 point for tay woohoo ② Have you ever been so impressed you were left speechless? if you mean impressed by someone's level of stupidity, yeah lmaooo, otherwise not rly ③ What’s your favorite time of day? 10AM - 2-3PM, i'm the only one awake during these hours (unless my mom has work) and the house is completely silent for once ④ Is there a certain song that gives you goosebumps everytime you hear it? history maker from yoi gave me goosebumps for a while but no song has consistently given me goosebumps lmao ⑤ Is there something, let it be a hobby/food/movie/book/song/etc., from your childhood that you still love today? i still collect stickers and i still rly love beanie babies...i also don't mind watching the berenstein bears/dragon tales with my niece bc those were my faves when i was a kid ⑥ What never fails to make you happy? my morning solitude and fluffy art/fanfics of my otps!! ⑦ Do you dream? If so, which one was most memorable? i dream sometimes, but my fave reccurring dream is where everything is neon, like the saturation has been yanked up 100%, and i'm just walking down a sidewalk minding my own business, and then it starts raining acid and everything starts melting away until i'm just kinda floating in the void lmao i usually wake up right after everything disappears ⑧ Who’s your favorite tumblr artist/writer/editor/etc.? Feel free to name/tag more than one! the first one that came to mind was @glassesgirl0401, rarepair mom for life ; v ; ⑨ What’s your favorite fanart? Could you please link to its source? omg i love every piece of fanart tht i reblog i cant pick just one!! i rly love how everyone has their own art style and ways of drawing certain things differently, the individuality is what makes art so amazing! ⑩ What’s your headcanoned sexuality/gender identity/romantic orientation of your favorite SNK character? omg there's so many tht i like aaaaa if i had to pick just one, it would be armin and he's hella gay :3 ⑪ ^May I draw them with their pride flag’s colors for you? AAAAAA PLEASE?? that would be so great?! thank you!!! <3

here are my questions, i tried to make them interesting! 1.) If you had one, what was your 'stereotype' in school? (jock, nerd, goth, etc) 2.) What are your favorite and least favorite foods? 3.) Who is your favorite character from your current fandom and why? 4.) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 5.) What are your favorite hobbies? 6.) Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter? 7.) What's one obstacle you've overcome recently? 8.) Yes or no: Pineapple on pizza? Fries dipped in mayonnaise? Ketchup on eggs? 9.) What is your most resourceful skill? 10.) If you could pick three fictional characters to bring to life, who would they be and why? 11.) What is the end-goal for you; What do you want to do with your life?

thanks for reading this far lmao sorry that took a lot longer than i thought it would

#about me #levi.txt

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franeridart · 7 years

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Hey hey hey, so I've seen your lack of Bokutoo art (or haikyuu art in general) and at first I was going to comment on it, but then I saw your art theft post and I hope that won't have too much influence on your haikyuu art? Of corse I'm gonna let you post whatever you'd like to post, I just miss it a lot y'know :0

Well. Okay, I’ve talked about this a lot but I understand people don’t just read all my answers and it’s totally my fault for procrastinating on that faq page so let me just go through this again in an as clear way as possible?

I haven’t stopped drawing for hq! As a matter of fact in the last week alone I have posted one, two and three things for that fandom for a total of five portraits and a three panels comic

That said I understand with the rhythm I update this blog you might think “well, that isn’t much at all, is it?”, which, again, is my fault because - even though when compared to most art blogs’ update schedules eight drawing in one week is more than enough - I’m the one who set the rhythm here

The “problem” with hq is that all my favorite characters are currently absent from the manga and there’s no anime airing, while at the same time my other main fandom (bnha) has both an interesting arc going on in the manga AND an anime season airing right now - I hope you’ll understand if my interest at the moment is mostly focused there, that’s a continuous stream of inspiration I have coming my way

To add to that some parts of the Haikyuu!! fandom are being unrespectful of what I post (this includes reposting, treating my stuff as if it were templates for their own art instead of ship/character specific content, honestly unrespectful comments and tags under a lot of my main ships posts and so on) which, you’ll excuse me, but dampens the joy I get from posting art a lot

Moreover, the creative side of the hq fandom is being, at least for what concerns the zones I frequent, pretty damn quiet lately, so I can’t say I get much inspiration from there either

I haven’t stopped and I can’t see in my foreseeable future myself stopping posting stuff for haikyuu!!, and all things considered I don’t think I’m posting too little for it either? Art and inspiration aren’t things I want to force, if I started I would stop finding drawing enjoyable really damn fast and I can’t let that happen - please be understanding, I first and foremost draw for myself, I can’t help it if sometimes I get stuck on one fandom or another

Anon said: Have you seen the latest chapter of haikyuu? I like how they are showing more Daishou. It’s fun to see his reactions and thoughts about nationals! And I will love to see him in your art style.

Anon, my friend!!! I have drawn Daishou in the past! As a matter of fact the last one was just after he appeared again in chapter 251! I love that snake boy a lot, seeing him there made me really really happy haha

Anon said:SAEKO NEE-SAAAAANNNNNN

SHE WAS AMAZING WASN’T SHE OH MY G O D !!!

Anon said:Kirishima and/or Bakugou being good at singing. And then gay happens.

BOI ANON I have drawn these boys singing to each other a whole lot already (like here or here) at this point I would assume you guys were fed up with it hahaha (… can’t say I won’t ever have them sing to each other again, though)

Anon said:DADZAWA IS SO REAL! But I’m actually so amused because Izuku is basically Ron Swanson with his “I can do what I want” permit except Aizawa wrote and signed the permit

No no anon it’s even better because Aizawa wasn’t like “you can do what you want” he was like “you can do only what I tell you you can do and it just so happens that I’m deciding that you can do exactly what you want to do but it’s still my decison” it was amazing lmao I love Aizawa so much poor man

Anon said:friendo, whats your opinion on the traitor kaminari theory? it breaks my heart but it has a good backbone to it?? like in the new chapter, theres a character that looks like kaminari’s dad/uncle/older family member and im worried for my electric baby

I still don’t think Kaminari is the traitor - as a matter of fact, I still don’t think the traitor is any of the kids. If that’s how it’ll turn out to be I’ll be sad about it, for sure, but right now I really, really don’t believe it. It’s true that the Kaminari-is-the-traitor theory is very cleverly worded and super convincing, but a lot of the things in it are really stretched out as far as I’m concerned

ie, taking the weird faces Horikoshi makes him make in the sketches and using them as proof that he’s got a double face? Too far out for me; his original design being that of a villain? Deku’s original design was villain-ish too, no one is calling him a traitor; taking the expression he made when Aizawa told him he could go to the camp and making it sound like he didn’t want to go? Might be believable as long as you don’t take into account the fact that he had just had a conversation with Midoriya in which he told him it was impossible Aizawa would let them go and that Midoriya was just being too optimistic, the “what the actual fuck is this” expression makes a lot more sense in that context; the fact that he makes clever quotes and uses a complex vocabulary used to say that he’s pretending to be stupid is unfair towards the very real possibility of him just not liking studying or thinking things through analytically but otherwise enjoying reading and being fairly intelligent in his own way?? - in the theory it’s also mentioned that it’s weird how during USJ he was worried about an electricity villain overcharging him as if that’s not perfectly normal, having an electricity quirk obviously doesn’t stop him from suffering overcharges, and later during the end of term exam they say it’s “weird” he refused to go all out with his qurik from the start, again, as if that weren’t a perfectly sensible decision in that context (you have to keep in mind that Kaminari is also studying to become an hero, him going “wait a second, maybe keeping on going stupid and putting myself out of commission every time I fight isn’t the right choice” is perfectly in line with him growing up and learning)

Now I don’t have the post open in front of me and it’s been a while since I’ve read it, but most of the theory as far as I get it is based on the idea that Kaminari can’t be lazy and an airhead and might talk without thinking now and again (the Stain comment), but at the same time be clever in his own ways, which just isn’t convincing for me. It’s taking this character’s three dimensionality and making it a plot-hole, why would you want to do that

(on a similar note, the Kirishima-is-the-traitor theory doesn’t convince me for the same kind of reason, it’s all based on the idea that he can’t just genuinely like Bakugou for who he is without having second reasons for it, which is just unfair and cuts too much off the personality of a really good, well written character)

As far as the new villain guy goes, I understand why most of the fandom might be weary and linking him to Kaminari, but we don’t know his color scheme nor his quirk and the pattern on his hair isn’t even a lightning bolt - Horikoshi has had to make up unique designs for a whole damn lot of characters, the fact that one random guy might have something similar to Kaminari isn’t really enough to make him his dad (again, it might turn out to be true, but in my opinion it’s still too early to make theories about it). Also, this guy is from the Eight Precepts. Weren’t you all trying to link Kaminari to the League of Villains? Isn’t the traitor supposedly tied with the League? How many people is this boy working for even

By the way, during the USJ attack the villains had informations they couldn’t have gotten from any of the kids aside from Midoriya (the “they told me All Might was getting weaker” comment) and tbh that’s enough for me to not believe any of the student is behind the informations leak, but all of this is just my opinion

Anon said:Your thoughts on mob psycho 100??

LOVE IT one of the best anime I’ve watched lately, without any doubts

Anon said: Being a bokuroo artist? More like drawing art but every time someone says brOTP, you get steadily more annoyed, lol - love your art, btw; you have a really cute and fluffy style

Yyyyyyyyeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhhhh… sadly you kind of grow used to it but it is incredibly annoying and one of the reasons why I’ve been drawing it less, t b h

Anon said:I love the concept of the bakubowl because unlike with other characters where everyone’s like “omf they’re so cute!!” the bakubowl is just “why is he like this. why do we ALL like him for this ffs”

WELP I don’t ship Bakugou with everyone so I can’t say I’m fond of the idea as a whole, and the ships I do ship Bakugou in are with the people that actually do like him for whatever reason (lmao), but I can understand why you’d find it a fresh take on the concept!

Anon said:Ily your art gives me life

AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!! *O*

#fran answers #faq #just so i don't lose the first one #and the one about traitor kami too #it got kinda long with that one but i love kaminari and i need people to stop calling him a traitor #or more like #keep on headcanoning what you want but p l e a s e realize that there's no canon evidence for it at all???#somehow it seems like my nice kids can't just be nice without it being suspicious haha #rip #anonymous

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quintesequential-blog · 7 years

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Wednesday Comics on Thursday (April 6, 2017)

It was a decent size release week for comics. Coming off a fifth week where DC gave us Hanna Barbara cross overs and Marvel handed us the fate of the X-Men and the Inhumans and not a whole lot else happened, it was nice to have a few new series and some of my favorites back in my stack. It also helps that it was a REALLY great week for comics.

Black Cloud #1 [Jason Latour, Ivan Brandon, Greg Hinkle, Matt Wilson]

There wasn’t much that was particularly live-blog worthy in this book, but it was a solid first issue, nonetheless. The story drops you into some narration about the dream world that Zelda comes from and lays out her scheme of selling access those dreams to the population of trust-fund kids that seem to make up most of the population in the city. There are some interesting dynamics at play between Zelda and the people she interacts with when she enters dream worlds. The inhabitants don’t seem to like her every much and I’m curious to see what’s going on with that. The art is solid and having Matt Wilson on colors can only ever improve a project and he’s definitely playing with some interesting elements here. I really dig Zelda’s character design and I’m loving her drop-crotch pants.

Story: 8 Art: 9 Rec? Give it another issue, then decide to drop or trade wait.

Eleanor & The Egret #1 [John Layman, Sam Kieth, Ronda Pattinson]

This book is absolutely delightful. I am a massive fan of almost everything Aftershock is putting out and Eleanor & The Egret falls perfectly in their line up of off beat, independent, books. Eleanor is an unassuming, regular person who just so happens to be a master of disguise and a master art thief. Also, her parter in crime is a talking Egret. The style of both the story and art can only be described as whimsical. The character designs and tone make it hard to place this in a specific time, which doesn’t work against it in a way that I thought it might. I’m really excited to see where this goes. More and more, Aftershock comics are becoming the books I look forward to the most every week.

Story: 9 Art: 9 Rec? Absolutely

Extremity #2 [Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer]

I don’t think I have any buttons left unpushed by this book. War in a sci-fi landscape, a fallen family, sibling drama, warrior girl and her family seeking revenge, big ass dinosaur monsters with a bunch of eyes, and a very soft boy with daddy issues and a brand new (slightly used?) robot friend named Shiloh. There’s nothing really worthwhile to say about this book because you should just read it. The art is beautiful, the story is compelling as hell, and I can’t wait to see what happens with all these characters. There are so many pieces already in play. It was just announced that this and the first issue are getting second and third printings respectively, so if you haven’t already, absolutely pick these up.

Story 10 Art 10 Rec? 100%

Paper Girls #13 [Brian K. Vaughn, Cliff Chang, Matt Wilson]

If you’re not already reading Paper Girls, then I don’t really know what to tell you except that you’re really missing out. While this isn’t the best place to jump on at all, the first two arcs have been collected in trade already. This is one of my default recommendations at work to people who come in looking for something new. Brian K. Vaughn has always impressed me with his ability to write believable teenagers, going all the way back to his Runaways days. As much as I love Saga, Paper Girls gives him a broader avenue to stretch that particular talent and I’m always excited to see that. While the girls are still split up somewhere in the distant past, Mac makes a discovery about the Hockey Stick they found in the future and KJ learns some interesting things about the future. There’s a panel towards the end that I’ve already posted that I kinda lost my shit over.

Story 9 Art 10 Rec? Stop what you’re doing right now and read this series.

Rock Candy Mountain #1[Kyle Starks]

This is a pure action comic with lots of homo-fighting and clever dialogue. While Jackson is in search of a mountain from a folk song, it looks like the literal devil is in search of Jackson in this post WWII homage to action movies and hobos. I might be completely wrong, but I think this is the first ongoing series for Kyle Starks? If I’m not wrong, then previous work with Image has been released in Graphic Novel form. If you’re a fan of any of his previous work, this book is not at all a departure from that. It falls right in line with Sexcastle in the ways in which it plays with genre conventions. I wish I had been able to find a digital copy floating around in the internet without paying for it a second time, because there are some truly fantastic panels in it, including the use of “bitch” as a sound effect.

Story 8 Art 9 Rec? “He’s got punch diarrhea and their faces are the toilet bowl.”

Shade the Changing Girl #7 [Cecil Castellucci, Marguerite Sauvage, Kelly Fitzpatrick, Dan Parent (back up)]

Saved the best book for last. Shade has become my favorite book over the last few months, it is weird and gorgeous in all the right places. Marguerite Sauvage was a flawless choice of fill in artist for this stand alone issue that establishes a lot of the background information on Loma--an alien from Meta who is considerably different from the original Metan, humanoid Roc Shade. This book also establishes a WHOLE BUNCH of delightfully canon queerness. Loma, a female identified alien bird, is shown laying on top of a self-identified “Meta Girl” and River is canonically bi. Not to mention the fact that Teacup mention’s having two mothers multiple times over the course of the issue. Sauvage kills it. Her style maintains the dreamlike quality of the book while adding her own identifiable style to the book.

Story 10 Art 10 Rec? Buy it immediately!

Not-So-Honorable Mentions:

Royals #1-- I am so curious about where Al Ewing is going to take the Inhumans coming out of IvX but man I wish Marvel would stop paring him with such bad artists. Meyer’s almost-but-not-really-manga style made this book impossible to read. I felt the same way about New Avengers, a book that starred several of my favorite characters. Jagged hair and small faces with disproportionate eyes are not typical aesthetic markers for superhero comics and they don’t work well at all. Marvel wants me to care about Inhumans and I am more than willing to give them a shot but I can’t with this art.

Still to read:

X-Men Gold #1-- I want to catch up on X-Men comics and IvX before I dive into this one, even though I now I probably don’t need to. Expect this one to be blogged about later. I have been letting myself become cautiously more excited about the X-Line as ResurrXion takes shape and now I’m at a point where if it’s bad, it will hurt my feelings. I don’t want to have my feelings hurt, so I’m putting it off.

#thursday comics #comics review #contains no spoilers #at least i don't think it does?#comic stuff

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ges-sa · 7 years

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Cosplayer Of The Month August 2017 | Kay Bee Cosplay

New Post has been published on https://ges-sa.com/cosplayer-of-the-month-august-2017-kay-bee-cosplay/

Cosplayer Of The Month August 2017 | Kay Bee Cosplay

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”26512″ img_size=”large” alignment=”right” style=”vc_box_circle”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”26522,26521,26520,26519,26517,26514,26513,26511,26510″][vc_column_text]Our Cosplayer of the Month for August 2017 is the lovely Kayla from Kay Bee Cosplay. Kayla is a Johannesburg based Cosplayer and I’ve always liked her attention to detail in her cosplays. Let’s find out a bit more about the lady behind Kay Bee Cosplay…[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Hi there lady! Tell us a bit more about the person behind the cosplay persona?

Hi! I’m Kayla. Bubbly, kind, enthusiastic and passionate about everything I do. By day I’m a 3D animator and character designer and when I’m not creating magic, I’m a full time fan girl.

How and when did you get started in Cosplay and why do you enjoy it?

I’ve always known about cosplay but didn’t know it existed in South Africa until I went to Geekfest in 2015. I was overwhelmed by the amount of cosplayers and I wanted to get involved too. So I promised myself for Geekfest 2016 I would do a full cosplay, wig, outfit, and the lot. I did it and I have been cosplaying ever since.

I love cosplay because it’s the one chance I get to be my favorite characters. It’s also another way for me to get creative and make new friends who are as passionate as I am about cosplay.

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of cosplaying?

Yes! Lots in fact. I love to read and sometimes I write. I draw all the time since I’m an aspiring fan artist. Dancing is in my DNA. I began Irish Dancing at age 9, moving onto Latin and Ballroom when I was 18. During this time I also took up horse riding, really enjoying dressage. Now I figure skate. Oh… I forgot to mention, I also take art lessons.

We all know that cosplay has been become a very expensive hobby these days, do you have hints or tips for other cosplayers as far as cutting down expenses etc. are concerned?

Wise things I’ve learnt

Create a budget, that includes cosplay outfits for the year, convention entrance fees, transportation costs and a little bit extra for just in case.

Look for bargains. Sales come up all the time so keep an eye out, you may be able to snag a great deal on something you need.

Raid your cupboards for odds and ends you could use.

Remember you don’t have to go to every cosplay event and re-wear your cosplays.

What is the one thing that you try and avoid when making a new costume?

I try to avoid comparing my work to others. Since we live in a world where we have access to large volumes of content, it’s very easy to compare. I start a new cosplay with the mindset that this is my version of a particular character and I’m going to try and do it to the best of my ability.

Every Cosplayer has a favourite part of creating a costume or something they are really good at, what is yours?

I love 3D modeling my props.

Tell us about your most epic fail ever, whilst crafting a cosplay costume

It was the week before ICON 2017 and I was busy with Princess Talia’s top. I had to cut out a particular shape on the front panel. So I marked everything, pinned it all down and cut the shape out. Needless to say I cut the shape out of the front and back. I spent the next hour unpicking and replacing the back panel.

Which character do you consider to be your Holy Grail of cosplays?

I believe that each year I will have a particular character who I will consider my Holy Grail of cosplays. One that will put my creativity to the test. This year that character was Princess Talia from Lolirock.

Which international con would you really love to go to and why?

I’m going to be cliché but I would love to go to the San Diego Comic Con. It was the con that introduced me to the world of cosplay when I was 13. To go would be an incredible experience. I would look forward to all the cosplayers, the panels with my favorite creators and I would go on a shopping spree in the artist ally.

South Africa’s convention scene has been growing leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. Do you have any tips for the other cosplayers as to how to stay comfortable throughout the day?

Tips and Tricks

Get a good night’s rest. Cons are really not enjoyable when you’re super exhausted.

Take a bag, with water, snacks and an emergency cosplay kit in it.

Stop and take a break every few hours.

If you’re wearing heels, pack a pair of flats.

Take the season into account when planning your cosplay lineup. You don’t want to be freezing or overheating.

[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”26515″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1445504261410border-top-width: 3px !important;border-top-color: #aa71e2 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Cosplayer Bio

Real name Kayla Bubb Cosplay name Kay Bee Cosplay Age 22 Current home town Johannesburg

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Find Kay Bee Cosplay On Social Media

Facebook Kay Bee Cosplay Instagram KayBee Cosplay Twitter @kaybee_worx

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Cosplayer Roulette

My favorite anime/manga is

Yuri!!! On Ice

Why do you like this particular title?

I love this anime with my heart and soul. There is just something about the characters and the storyline that had me hooked from the first episode.

Yuri’s story is inspiring and heartwarming. In many ways we are alike and I have never related to a character as much as I did with him. It brought back motivation I had lost and made me dream again. ”

My favorite platform to watch or experience my favorite titles is

Movies, TV Series, Books

Complete the sentence: I want to run after them and tell them that……

…………. if you can dream it you can do it.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”26518″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Pictures were supplied to GES-SA by the featured Cosplayer. We do not own these pictures so if you do, and you would like to us to add the credit please drop us a mail to [email protected]

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#Cosplay #Cosplayer of the Month #Kay Bee Cosplay #Cosplay Corner #Cosplay Features #News &amp; Chatter

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