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amaiguri · 1 month

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The WIP Questionaire

Thanks so so much from @verba-writing for the tag! I had such a fun time reading your answers too and I'm very excited for paranormal romance 😍

I feel like I wanna flag that a lot of my answers are very anime/gaming-sphere oriented and I hope I'm not totally alienating my mutuals by revealing just HOW MUCH I'm not a book person lololol But this is with what we're working:

The Questions are:

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

The very first thing I made was the high premise: It was synthesized from the Overly Sarcastic Productions question "What if all the Kings Under the Mountain came back...?" and then I added the context "...in a Nuclear Crisis to discuss piece?" And in my head, it was this HBO-style modern fantasy Game of Thrones meets West Wing type deal. But then... I didn't want to write the modern piece. (The modern piece should be written by people in countries from all over Europe about what it means to be a hero in various cultures.)

So I set it in 1800s fantasy world instead!

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

The first arc would be Dance in the Game by Zaq

The second arc would be Lacrimosa by Kalafina

The Gods' Arc would be Paper Boquet by Mili

3. Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

Is it to cliché to be like "my current self-insert protagonist is my favorite character I've ever made"? Her and my antagonist are just THE BEST and I love them.

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

Mmm, I think Untitled Yssaia Game's story would appeal to queer Game of Thrones fans who could FEEL the straightness in GoT, especially if they also like anime. I would hope I could get general anime fans as well as Arcane and Genshin Impact fans, but I feel like those are too mainstream and Yssaia is not. Realistically, I think I'm gonna get the Wadanohara people and the Ib people and, if I get really lucky, the To the Moon people.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Marketing lol -- explaining what it is to people in a way that they realize they want it.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Fuafua 🥺🥺🥺

Look at her! She is a six-legged, six-eyed slug cat called a Maret. Marets fill the same role as ocelots in Yssaia, except they're more semi-aquatic like otters and their skin has a stressball-like texture.

7. How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

They walk or ride Rumateurs (which are alpaca-like beings with ossicones) or take ships or airships or trains. I don't like writing about travel that much though so it is a background element.

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

I am pre-editing the first arc for my alpha readers and the third arc has another 50k to 100k words to draft. We're at like 250k words total right now and it is so unwieldy 😭😭😭

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

Oh, I have a convenient graphic for this. Hang on...

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

I was just diatribing about this earlier but the DREAM is to turn it into an RPGmaker adventure game and have it go viral and make a million bucks off it. I'd love to be the next Undertale but it'll never happen because I am not positioned to be the next Undertale, you know?

So yeah, that's what's what! Thanks again for the ask! This was so fun! I'm gonna pass this to @maiemorrae, @moonfeatherblue, @zebee-nyx, @winterandwords, @modernwritercraft, @words-after-midnight, @spideronthesun, @theprissythumbelina, @thepanplate, @thetruearchmagos, @maskedemerald, @moondust-bard, @pluttskutt and @emelkae 😍😍😍 I actually internalized Verba's WIP so well from this tag and I wanna make sure I'm updated on what all you cool people are working on! Open tag to any of my other moots too! 🥳

IMPORTANTTTTT⚠️

I will edit this to have a blank easily copy-and-pasteable question section when I get back to my computer. If I forget, @ me!

#writeblr #wip questionnaire #writing #indie game dev #interactive fiction #indie gaming #fantasy writing #dark fantasy #game dev #game writing #gamedev #yssaia #amaiguri

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thetinyshiloh · 4 months

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Nine People You'd Like to Know Better

Tagged by @thana-topsy, thank you!!

3 Ships Yyra Denirien x Teldryn Sero (OC x Elder Scrolls) - If you're following me and you don't know this... you must scroll tumblr with your eyes closed or something lmao. They are INCESSANTLY in my head 24/7/365. They are both so broken but trying their best and the most important aspect is that (in my canon story) their friendship happens FIRST and is MOST important before anything else occurs between them. I know all the smut I draw says otherwise, but I draw the smut because my main story is so slow-burn hahahaha. FemShep x Garrus Vakarian (Mass Effect) - I went hard for this one... it's almost like there's something about red-headed strong-willed women with snarky, non-human mercenaries with distinctive voices that just does it for me... Jude x Cardan (The Folk of the Air series) - Despite the fact these are "young adult" books, holy shit did they do something for me. Also 100000% better than any published erotica I've ever read AND a fantastic example of enemies-to-lovers. Anyways, I finished the main trilogy recently and these two have been rotating on a smaller platform in the background while Yyra and Teldryn continue to rotate in the foreground lol. I HAVE TO ADD ONE MORE, SORRY, I'M BREAKING RULES BUT NIKAIDO x KAIMAN (DOROHEDORO) HAS TO BE INCLUDED TOO, I am obsessed

First Ship I have such a hard time remembering stuff from my early life, but technically the first pairing of people that I fixated on (though this would be way before "shipping" was a thing I knew about) was Aerith x Sephiroth (despite how that canonically goes lol, but i guess i've always loved saying fuck canon).

Last Song "Magia" by Kalafina - Despite almost never watching anime, I binged Puella Magi Madoka Magica in one day (it's only 12 episodes) and holy cow that fucking show what the fuck. Anyways, the end credit song rocks and this is it.

Currently Reading Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain by David Gerard I recommend both of these so far, but I'm also only partially through them because I always take a thousand years to read nonfiction.

Last Film Dearest Sister (2016) - It's weird if I'm not watching at least one horror film in the past week, but this was actually two weeks ago? I think I need to re-watch it, but I thought it was pretty good!

Currently Craving I was craving salted nori today but I do actually have some and so I had it a few hours ago. Right now I'm not really craving anything! I guess this question is more about creative works but as usual, I go with food haha.

I tag: @downontheupside @mishikaiya @ocheeva @dontiform @perilously @fliinnie @orfeolookback @bendingsignpost @drowsy-fantasy

#realizing just now how my favorite pairing have been f/m where m is .... Other #like non-human at least #LOL OKAY INTERESTING #tag games

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pb-dot · 8 months

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Music Talk: Magia

Haven't talked about music for a spell, so it's time to get back on that with the song I'm currently obsessing over. I don't listen to a lot of soundtracks anymore, but there are three exceptions. The (in my opinion) best works of Ennio Morricone, Guns & Roses from Baccano, and today's entry, Magia by Kalafina from Madoka Magica.

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I'm mostly going to talk about music stuff, but some (sizable) Madoka original series spoilers below the cut.

First of all, I love how this song starts. The rolling timpani (I think, it's been a while since my band kid days) into that eerily powerful choir of vocalizations that the rest of the instruments then layer in under is just such an attention grabber. The whole song comes rolling in like thunder and not even demanding attention as much as it states that you are now listening.

I also adore the vocal stylings on display here. Kalafina sings low in the register, contrasting with the higher-pitch nasal vocalizations and making the performance truly memorable, standing out both in tone and timber. The three vocalists singing in unison also adds power to the vocals and conjures up the mind of a Greek Chorus or one of many fate-tellers or -makers who work in triplicate. It tells the tale of a doomed struggle, but perhaps a heroically tragic one?

Another interesting thing about Magia is how it fits into the plot of Madoka and what it is perceived to convey. At first, Magia seems to be the theme song of the calamitous Walpurgisnacht, and the eerie power of the song appears to be an extension of the witch, who, to a greater extent than most witches, has transcended characterhood into a force of nature, an ender of all things.

It is only later, and perhaps after looking up the lyrics of the whole thing that one starts to pick up that this isn't the case. Magia is a theme song for sure, but not for the Walpurgisnacht, who is less of a conflicted character at this point than the lyrics would suggest since her motivations or even identity remains unknown, but for the standoffish and antagonistic Homura.

Now I could talk about the plot stuff around Homura in the original series for literal hours, but the relevant part here is how her story fits Magia both lyrics- and tone-wise so much better, and the point where it all clicks is the point where the show, to me at least, went from good to GREAT. Magia is a powerful song, yes, but it also feels like struggling uphill, like fighting against something that should be impossible to fight, like opposing the very plot that you're in.

There is also, I will add, a touch of vulnerability to the whole thing, the unison singing will drop away for a more personal-feeling set of lyrics. This neatly mirrors Homura's arc, as we get to see behind the cold and cynical facade, we see the young woman, a girl, really, who fights so desperately to save the one person she loves that she is willing to sacrifice anyone, even herself, even the world.

The lyrics really drive the point home, as they flit between dreams of a better future and the knowledge that this all might be for naught even if the most impossible were to happen. It might be a bit heretical to say this, but I love how goth it is. Not necessarily in that it fits the aesthetic, although I would argue it does in its way, but in how it sees the beauty in the hopeless and love in loss.

#peebs thinks #puella magi madoka magica #homura akemi #music #kalafina #Youtube

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zero-ek · 29 days

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It's M3 day!

I was particularly excited for this one, the releases on the past two were absolutely amazing, and the XFDs for this one also looked very promising. This time around i also took some time to check out some newer artists and see if i vibe with any of them.

First and foremost i want to give appreciation and massive props to ハルちゃん for putting together this behemoth of a roundup playlist, i couldn't check every single video but it was a lifesaver for me to have it at hand.

Ok then, starting with my Big Four™

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Oh my gosh...

I could go all day explaining the reasons why i absolutely adore this, but to list the main ones:

First, it's nayuta and i'm madly in love with her by default. Second, look at this art like holy god. Third, i adore her concept albums, in my opinion it's some of the best stuff she puts out, like, the worldbuilding and sheer atmosphere that "Imaginary Arcadia" and "The Girl in the Alleyway..." invoke is nothing short of incredible. Fourth, the composer for this one is RD-Sounds, who y'know, made me ugly cry last month, and also made absolute bangers like LaPri's "Sore wa Sekai..." and Tamu's "Son Joyeux", so i have super high hopes for this. Fifth, i'm into the scenario for this one, i swear i've read like 10 yuri mangas with the same premise, so i'm excited to see whay nayuta does with it.

From the XFD it seems that this one is following up on "Clarity" and leaning heavily on the rock direction, but i think the lyrics are going to be front and center on this one, so i'll see if i can hold out judgement until it comes out proper but i'm soooo absolutely hyped to see what these two came up with!!!

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Reject futuristic aesthetics, return to tradition.

I love the diversity on this one, i know that Sennzai is best known for her "burning-down-the-house" songs, but with how unique and captivating her vocals are, i just love seeing all the different directions she takes her songs towards (i really recommend checking out her karaoke streams she sings all sorts of stuff in those).

I'm particularly interested on the instrumentation for this one, i love when songs mesh together traditional instruments with modern composition styles, and Sennzai in particular seems to marry this traditional-but-not-quite theme perfectly, so i'm really excited to see how this one plays out.

(i really want to hear her sing Kalafina's Hyakka Ryouran now)

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The Hifumi girls are taking a break from original stuff and putting out a cover collection this time around (apart from their usual commissoned work), and seeing how busy they were last year i don't blame them, get that bag and get some rest!

I'm particularly excited for Tamu's, she's covering "Killer Neuron" and Isekaijoucho's "Dimension" and i particularly want to hear how the latter sounds like in her voice, her vocals do have a similar texture to Ojou's but in a higher register, so i kinda wanna AB the two just to see what it's like.

Also also, the fact that they're covering each other's songs reeeeeeally makes me think that there's gonna be something big with these two coming soon, like the amount of "wink wink" vibes i've been getting from them lately is off the charts.

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The fourth and final installment on the "Colours" series. I don't have much to say here because while it pains me to admit, i don't listen to Endorfin a whole lot. I have been making an effort to listen to more of them since Nakucha's first live and also because i really liked "Qulalim Stella", which is also by sky_delta, but i'm gonna have to do a listen-through on the whole series before i can say anything concrete.

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As a college student these levels of comfiness are the stuff i fantasize about.

Not gonna lie, i was expecting this one to be much more low energy (in hindsight i don't know why she almost never does that), mainly because of the even-fluffier-than-her-usual-fluffiness visuals, but also because one of the reasons i love Nanahira is because her voice is actually very touching when she sings more calmly (see track 4).

Well, while not totally relaxing, i do like the slower stuff she's been going for lately, since her stuff is usually very upbeat, it's nice how between this and "It's a Message for You" she's been putting more "vibe-y" stuff in between the usual 200bpm madness. Something else that picked my interest on this one is that apparently the physical version comes with a manga, which as an overseas listener is out of my reach but the previews i saw on twitter were very cute, so it made me extra curious.

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A back to back yosumi release? What world is this we live in??

Well, while it is a lot less tracks than her previous EP (which was more like an LP) it's still just surprising to see her at all. It could be just me, but i feel like she's been getting out there a lot more lately, like anytime i go on Twitter (which i do very sparingly these days) i see a post of hers, and i don't think that's how it usually was, but then again i'm very forgetful and it could be just normal. Whichever way, good for her, it can only be a good thing.

I really like the instrumentals on these, i know she's closer to the Electronica and EDM scene but dang if the mixing on those guitars and drums isn't just soo satisfying to hear.

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Yuuri's got her first album ready! I've been keeping tabs on her since the NaYuri singles and i've been really enjoying her stuff so far. Her vocals are right up my alley, and from the looks of it she's going for that modern chill "slow-pop" vibe, which i also like quite a bit.

Also also, can i just say that for a first album this is incredibly well put together, the visuals are simple but very well made, and the mixing on the tracks is top notch. I noticed she has been getting some work on other albums but i do hope her solo stuff pops off because this is good stuff and i feel like she can make it very far with it!!

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Here's one i ran into by chance, this actually popped up on my Twitter feed because the illustration is by an artist i follow, so i decided to check it out. I can't place it but i feel like i've seen the front girl, NoiR, before, like her design and name feel very familiar to me but i can't tell from where.

I'm not completely sold on the songs just yet, but i do think it might be worth keeping up with the group, they seem to have been at it for a while now and it could be interesting to see where this goes.

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I absolutely love the vibes on this! Both of their voices are very gentle and easy on the ears, and they seem to have a very good grasp on how to blend them together. Not only that, but the instrumentals are also very well recorded and mixed, and go perfectly with their vocal profile.

I couldn't check both of them out in detail, but it seems that this is a very new unit, so i'm gonna keep an eye out to see what else they do.

And... that's it, again, i didn't check the whole playlist, so i definitely missed a few. But for my first time actually sifting through XFDs this extensively, i'm surprised not a whole lot caught my attention, considering i usually find something to like on pretty much anything. A lot of it was just instrumentals, or they had vocals that didn't particularly speak to me all that much.

Also, while i knew that male utaites are the minority in events like Comiket, i'm surprised that i didn't come across any looking through these, though, seeing the amount of kawaii pop in there i can see why they wouldn't find much of an audience there.

(also also the handful of ai generated album artworks there was a major bleh)

Well, while i did enjoy a couple of the albums, it wasn't particularly worth scanning the whole playlist for them, so i'm not that sure that i'll be as inclined to do another XFD deep dive on next M3. I did check out the XFD's from other big utaites that i don't follow (like Risa Yuzuki or Wotoha) and i liked it, but i'm still not super sold on them either.

I suppose i'll be sticking with the utaites/composers i already know for the time being. Now to wait for all of these to come out on streaming...

#Also also in tangentially related news both Kano and Tenjin Kotone are back to making music within like a week of each other and of this #That's awesome!!! And also kinda crazy it's so much to keep up with #utaite #m3 2024春 #Youtube

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herefortarlos · 1 month

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Hi Desi! Here is my nice ask for you:

Which show do you think has the best soundtrack? (It could be opening and closing songs or just music used throughout the show)

Have a good day! 💜

Dalawa 🥰 Thank you for letting me talk about one of my favorite things, music in anime!!! Anime has some of the greatest opening, ending and in between songs of all time and I have many favorites! I will include a song or music video for each and I apologize for the length of this ❤️

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - The show that started my and my friends 3 episode rule! You must watch 3 episodes of an anime at least to determine if you want to keep watching or not. The first 2 episodes of this show were cutesy and not too much was actually happening. And then episode 3 came in like a wrecking ball and turned this magical girl show on it's head! It was sooo unassuming and good and the music had a big influence on that too, and magical girl lesbians also helped! This show is the definition of, "I would burn the world for you!" And the main artist of the show, Kalafina, a beautiful Japanese women Gothic singing group, is just icing on the cake!

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Ousama Ranking - Such an unassuming show with the protagonist being a deaf and mute Prince, who has his rightful place as next in the line for the throne stolen from him! I love this show and the characters and music are a big reason why. The second opening of it is still probably my favorite opening song ever!!! Please everyone at least watch this video if you see this post!! 💖

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Yuri on ice - This show was one of my first big obsessions and I am so sad that there are still only 12 episodes and nothing else 😭 An Ice Skating anime that follows a Japanese figure skater as he struggles to get past his self-confidence issues so he can perform on the ice. This show has a fantastic cast of diverse characters and an exceptional soundtrack, as most characters perform 2 different routines and that means they need a song for each of those! I have to post the original opening for this!

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Zombieland Saga - Despite what you might think from the name, this show is about zombies, but they are a group of zombie girls trying to become idols to save their Japanese town! It is such a cute show with many great songs throughout sung by some talented people!! And as you learn more about the characters and how they died, you also learn that it's one of the few animes that features a canonically trans character!! The song I picked is sung by my favorite character, who I totally don't have a crush on.

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And not a show but I would be remiss if I didn't include one of the GOAT Japanese composers, Hiroyuki Sawano! The atmosphere his songs create in so many shows, most famously Attack on Titan, are unbelievable, chilling and other worldly! It's because of him that I started looking more closely at the music of shows and have found many a great artist because of him! Here's one of his newest songs from a fantastic Manwa (Korean Manga) turned anime, Solo Leveling!

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#Thank you sooo much dalawa and I apologize that I gave you more than one answer 😂#bonheur-cafe #desi answers #nice ask week #music asks

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theraspberrybushes · 9 months

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Sono Saki He Review

To commemorate finally having the finances to buy this album(even if it's just one type), I will do a review(with 0 musical knowledge).

Butterfly Dream. 8/10 At first I wasn't sold. But after a few listens it grew on me. I like the nice happy sound and it has a fantasy theme. I'm a sucker for fantasy themes.

Napa Rui. 10/10 I like the Celtic vibe. This is my fave in this album. I hope I get to watch this live one day.

Shirushi. 9/10 Nice and calm ballad. I can see myself listening to this when I want to chill. I like how Wakana's voice is so gentle here.

Kibo 8/10 I like this, the melody is good. But I'm still unsure whether I like how the high notes were done. But overall it's a great song. It's one of my favs in this album.

kara. 9/10 I never knew that this song would fit a game MV. But even without a tie-in, I still like to listen to it. I just have a little issue with a few parts that need more force and power. Also, I wonder if it's a conscious decision to do the last "SHO-wo" that way.

Sono Saki he - interlude 8/10 nice instrumental break.

Kemono. 7/10 I wasn't sold at first. I put off listening to it because I was so turned off by the start. There is a feeling of disharmony with how Wakana sang at the start and the instrumental. But after listening to it fully, I eventually liked it. The Vocaloid style was new and interesting.

Asu wo Yume Mite Utau 10/10 I just love ballads. Wakana's voice is so nice here.

Flag 10/10 I love it at first listen. I love the fantasy feel and the emotions in the delivery. Also, I love the contrast between the gentle parts and the powerful parts. I hope Wakana would have more tie-ins with games. I think this was the first time I heard her sing in such a strong and fast way in her entire solo career. I want more songs like this.

sono saki he 7/10 Nice song but compared to the rest, this was underwhelming.

Ato Hitotsu 8/10 Nice ballad. But nothing stands out for me.

Overall. A solid album. I like most if not all of the songs and I love that there are more songs with a fantasy feel. I hope Wakana would go more in that direction. Wakana is suited for fantasy-themed songs. Her voice has this ethereal feel, add a nice fantasy image and it would be perfect.

That said, I can see that Wakana is still figuring out where she wants to go with her singing. She still has a few things to improve on. Like to develop a stronger voice for a few parts. There are times when I wish she used a fuller voice in a part of a song. But compared to the start of her solo career she has improved a lot. I hope she continues to work with a vocal coach.

I don't know the status of Wakana's career if she's producing good return on investment. But I am glad that her music and stuff are still of good quality and that she's still getting wonderful songs and opportunities. I hope she gets more tie-ins with games. The game industry is a good industry, it's still growing and has a wide range of audiences. I wish all the best for Wakana's career.

I'm still here...

I'm still here, waiting for Spacecraft to figure things out to get Kalafina a reunion concert. Even if Yuki Kajiura is not ready to produce for Kalafina, the agency can still approach Keiko and Hikaru.

A concert is enough for me... Kalafina has so many beautiful songs. It'd be a waste if no one would sing them live.

#kalafina #wakana #wakana ootaki #sono saki e #going back to my cave now #will check again in a month

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fake-colors · 1 year

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[image description: screenshot from last.fm with "Top music from 2022" at the top and 3 columns beneath. the first column is titled "Top Artist" with #1 ALI PROJECT #2 My Chemical Romance #3 Kalafina #4 Placebo #5 BABYMETAL. the second column is titled with "Top Album" with #1 UNDERTALE Soundtrack by Toby Fox #2 The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance #3 Lil Mariko by Lil Mariko #4 BEST HOUSE ON A BAD BLOCK by 1 800 PAIN #5 incentivize unpaid overtime 2 by [email protected]. the third column is titled "Top Track" with #1 cool dad president by [email protected] #2 Bathroom Bitch by HOLYCHILD #3 Check Yes Juliet by We The Kings #4 Do It All The Time by I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME #5 Summerboy by Lady Gaga /end id]

#my post

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meltanop · 6 years

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Kalafina 10th Anniversary Live| CD Booklet

I tried scanning this booklet multiple times, it ended up looking crappy Every Single time... :’) does anyone have scan wisedom? Please bestow it upon me.

@chibalein I used my iPhone and sunlight to take these. I have no scanning wizardry knowledge but I do hope these are good for now. ^-^

2nd Batch here

#kalafina all time best #kalafina #kalafina 10th anniversary #live #cd #booklet

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spwitti · 6 years

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『Kalafina’s All Time Best 』Looks/Outfits Challenge idea

So, I was looking back into some Kala-stuff and in the middle of me admiring some of their different looks, the “Kalafina All Time Best” release announcement came up.

Then I thought, “Hey, maybe we can turn this into something fun” and the idea of this “challenge“ came to mind.

The idea is to choose your all time favourite looks or outfits of each one of the girls. But since choosing just one seems a bit too... impossible, I thought of making it a top 3 for each girl and in different categories:

MV/PV looks/outfits

Official Live Releases (DVD/BR) looks/outfits

Other live appearences (release & fanclub events, fests, featurings, TV, etc) looks/outfits

Prints (pamphlets, books, posters, calendars, magazines, etc) looks/outfits

Casual (interviews, documentaries, blog photos, etc) looks/outfits

If you can post a picture or pictures of it and tell a bit about why you like it, would be great! We could use a tag or something for it like #KalafinaAllTimeBestChallenge, #KalafinaLooksChallenge or anything along those lines... Let me know what you think and if you like the idea, we all could round up the details :D

#Kalafina #Challenge #Kalafina All Time Best #Kalafina Outfits

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putschki1969 · 3 months

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2024/02/19 Blog post by Wakana ふむふむの日2024を振り返ろう♪〜映画と衣装と肩の骨〜

❗This is Fan Club EXCLUSIVE content❗ ❗PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ ❗Do NOT SHARE on other sites❗ ❗Join her FAN CLUB! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗

Looking Back At February 6 2024 ♪〜Movie, Dresses And Shoulder Bones〜

The other day, I went to see the movie "Golden Kamuy" with a friend 😊I received a special git at the cinema! A panel drawn by the original creator＼＼\\٩( 'ω' )و //／／ I was so happy because I didn't expect to get something like this! 😍 The girl I went with is a big fan of the original work, actually, she is such a hardcore fan that she and her husband have even gone on a proper pilgrimage to Abashiri which is a place from the manga. I also enjoyed the manga so I decided to go and watch the film with her! The visuals were so powerful and the music was so wonderful that (despite the fairly fantasy-like setting) I felt a strange sense of reality that made me cry many times... It was the first time I watched a movie at the cinema since ``The Boy and the Heron'', I had a lot of fun! 😆 (By the way, the girl who went with me was the same friend who went with me when I watched “The Boy and the Heron” for the second time♪) Being at the movie theater for the first time in a long while got me really excited, initially, I only wanted to get some oolong tea at the snack bar but then, I ended up with all of this😂 How did this happen? When I looked at the menu, I got really excited 🤣I got a large popcorn and a hot dog *laughs*

Hello, this is Wakana (0￣▽￣0)／

I couldn't finish the giant popcorn and had to take it home *laughs* I quietly stuffed my mouth with the hot dog before the film had even begun🤤 Even though I had told myself that it would be better to wait until the film was over to avoid getting tired...🥺 Such a fickle nature🥺(Thankfully the movie was so interesting that I didn't feel sleepy at any point)

Now, I would like to talk a little about my “Wakana 5th Anniversary “Prologue” ~Premium Online Live~” which was held on February 6th! Here I am together with Saku-chan who joined me on the piano 😊We also made sure to take a picture where we look a bit cool📸 With this premium online live I celebrated a milestone, the 5th anniversary of my solo debut. I wanted to start my celebrations together with everyone from my fan club! For some reason, those five years actually feel like a longer time... or rather, it feels like a lot more years have passed already. I included the entire “journey” from my solo debut up until now in the setlist!

M-01 Yureru Haru M-02 Tsubasa MC M-03 Ai no Hana M-04 Aki no Sakura (Acoustic ver.) MC M-05 Orange MC M-06 Haru wo Matsu (Kalafina) M-07 Shirushi MC M-08 Kinmokusei M-09 Flag MC M-10 magic moment MC M-11 Sono Saki e

There are songs from my 1st album "Wakana", my 2nd album "magic moment", my EP "Aki no Sakura" and my 3rd album "Sono Saki e"! I ended up cramming in as much as possible since I wanted to create a setlist that would allow me to look back on the past 5 years.😊 During my MCs I tried to express my feelings from each period, hopefully I was able to share some fresh thoughts with you.

I once again realized that the "chat" may be the best part of an online live performances! At live performances with an actual on-site audience it's not really possible to have a real conversation, but online, everyone can talk about all sorts of things. Of course, even if there are no words exchanged between us, I know that people are watching and supporting me but I always feel very relieved when people say a lot of things in the chat (*´- `) It's honestly so reassuring to know that everyone is watching and listening (^-^)

Despite all of that, my surprise lyric mishaps keep happening, whether it's been 5 years or 15 years, I will never get rid of those...😂Why? ? 😂 I could really feel everyone's surprise and kindness from the chat messages, it was a special sense of gratitude that I probably couldn't experience at a live performances with an on-site audience. Thank you again to everyone who watched and supported me! ! My 5th Anniversary celebrations have only just begun. At my upcoming band live on May 12th, I would like to have the time to reflect even more on the past five years ! Details will be posted soon! Please be patient a little while longer~･:*+.\(( °ω° ))/.:+

Lastly, I would like to post some pictures of my dress from February 6th 😆This is the same dress I wore on the cover of my 1st album "Wakana"♪ I also wore it during the encore for my ``VOICE'' tour, at that time, it was altered a bit so it would work better for a live performance 😍 I had my hair down, which is quite unusual for me ♡ The makeup artist also added some sparkling hairpins 😍

I always wonder why my shoulder bones are so prominent...🤣 I think it's a skeletal issue because I am pretty sure not everyone's shoulder looks like that, right? 😂 I don't have any particular pain or problems in this area but I always feel like there's just a lot of bone sticking out. I envy people with smoother shoulders🥺

Anyway, I'm glad I was able to fit into a dress from 5 years ago ･:*+.\(( °ω° ))/.:+ For some reason, that got me super excited! 😂😂 Easy peasy🤗 Yay!

So, that’s it for today! Until next time~ ☆( *'▽'*)/

＊＊＊Wakana＊＊＊

『Wakana 5th Anniversary Live』 Details Revealed

To commemorate the 5th Anniversary of Wakana’s solo debut, a special band live will be held for the first time in 3 years! Once again, Wakana will be joined by Satoshi Takebe to deliver a unique live performance together with other musicians. Please look forward to it!

Title: “Wakana 5th Anniversary Live (tentative)” Date: May 12, 2024 ◆1st Stage◆ Open 14:45 / Start 15:30 ◆2nd Stage◆ Open 18:15 / Start 19:00 Venue: I’M A SHOW (capacity: 398 seats) Starring: Wakana, Satoshi Takebe (Music Director/Piano), etc. 【Ticket price】 All seats reserved 8,500円 ※An additional 600円 drink fee will be charged at the venue

Advanced Ticket Lottery for BL Members

[Ticket Sales Service] SKIYAKI TICKET ※To apply, you will need to register your SC ID at "Botanical Land" and your SKIYAKI ID on the SKIYAKI TICKET site/app. Pre-registration is possible, so it is recommended to do this before the application period starts. Please note: The registration procedure includes a verfication via text message which apparently does not work for some overseas phone numbers. ※On the day of the event, present the screen displaying the QR code issued to the SKIYAKI TICKET app (no prints or screenshots permitted); Please note: To display the electronic ticket, a separate app is required

Quantity limit: Up to 2 tickets per person Payment method: Credit card/convenience store payment Ticketing method: Download the dedicated app to issue a QR code ticket Application period: February 21 to February 27 Announcement of Results: March 1~ Payment deadline: March 8

#kalafina #wakana #wakana blog #botanical land #fan club exclusive content #wakana's shoulders are the sexiest thing ever #Wakana 5th Anniversary Live #I still don't know if I should make a trip in May #T_T #I hate that the Wakana lottery ends before the Jump Out lottery #I need to know if I have tickets for HiKei first before making any plans

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you-turn-it-into-light · 4 years

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A Decade of Kalafina - 2018

#kalafina #a decade of kalafina #gifset #10th anniversary #all time best #this one made me sad guys

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jpopchartsnf-blog · 6 years

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Oricon chart Album weekly top 20 jpop ranking 05-11-2018

#酔歌 #城田優 #GRANRODEO #Jyuryoku to Kokyu #STARTING OVER #Kalafina #Ensemble Stars! Album Series MaM #angela #Kalafina All Time Best 2008-2018

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canmom · 2 years

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PMMM?

Oooh, OK then. So I actually wrote an Animation Night post on Madoka, back on Animation Night 10 - hard to believe that's 81 weeks ago now. Back then, though, my posts were much shorter and I didn't discuss the production in much detail. However I did end up talking about SHAFT again later in the post about Kizumonogatari on Animation Night 51.

Anyway, I love Madoka. I admit, my engagement with the series has just been the original anime and Rebellion, and not any of the expanded world of gacha games and manga and the spinoff anime adapting the gacha - but I would rank Rebellion as one of my favourite animated films and I can't wait to see what they do with the upcoming sequel.

Last time I wrote about Madoka, I mostly wrote about Gen Urobuchi. I generally speaking think he's an immensely talented writer and I've enjoyed basically all the stuff he's worked on from Psycho-Pass to Fate Zero (yet to watch through Kamen Rider Gaim or play Sayo no Uta but I hear great things), but Madoka wouldn't be half the show it is without the incredible design work of Ume Aoki, distinctive direction of Yukihiro Miyamoto [and Akiyuki Shinbo overseeing all SHAFT projects, but see below], fantastic animation of too many key animators to name, gorgeous music of Kalafina and of course the absolutely brilliant Jan Švankmajer-influenced [Animation Night 50] collage animation of the incredibly talented duo Gekidan Inu Curry [see sakugablog for a nice retrospective of them].

The Madoka series excels in choreography and storyboarding - the classic austere, geometric SHAFT environments and striking camera angles, and the abstracted dance-like action sequences in which aesthetic elements and symbols flow into each other. And then they kick that up another notch or several in the movie, which indulges fully in Inu Curry's style. I still consider it some of the most beautiful sequences of animation set to music I've ever seen.

Anyway, I've only seen a bit of the SHAFT oeuvre (alongside Madoka, that's Bake- and Kizumonogatari), although the story of the studio is fascinating, like something out of a play - the charismatic Akiyuki Shinbo and his friends reorganising a fairly minor studio into one of the most distinctive of its time. Let me quote kVin (who else?):

The task Shinbo received at SHAFT wasn’t simple: he wasn’t going to direct a new series, but rather the whole studio. He became an overall supervisor of their entire output, while also guiding younger artists to make sure this style would live on. This marked the beginning of his unusual moonlighting, juggling jobs in a way that didn’t really allow him to do as much classic directorial work. To date, Shinbo has never been the sole director of a SHAFT series because he can’t. But he didn’t face this crazy challenge all by himself, of course. With his good pals Tatsuya Oishi and Shin Oonuma they formed the appropriately nicknamed Team Shinbo; a group of artists with compatible sensibilities, who had worked together in the past, and shared the desire to construct a new SHAFT.

kVin notes that the SHAFT style is an heir, through the influence of artist Nobuyuki Takeuchi who had had a significant role on Utena, to an incredibly influential director I've still yet to give a proper discussion on Animation Night, Osamu Dezaki, by way of - of course - the master of symbolism-dense, technically avant-garde anime, Kunihiko Ikuhara. I'll save a full discussion of that for another time, though. In any case, this was successful - perhaps too successful. Many of their best animators got caught up for years in the sprawling Kizumonogatari project, while kVin and other commenters more familiar with their work say the SHAFT style, once bold and innovative, became frozen in and lost its original contextual meaning, and some years later many SHAFT staff ended up leaving the studio for less overbearing work environment.

Madoka came just two years after Bakemonogatari, though, so the Team Shinbo style was still plenty fresh. Not surprisingly, it was quickly a huge hit. In Western fandom, it kind of became that meme show, where the magical girls have guns and being meguca is suffering. There's a bunch of extremely bad misreadings out there (it's grimdark! it's a 'deconstruction'! and the backlash to that - didn't you hear, gen urobuchi wants little girls to not have hope!) but that's just how anime fandom is I guess. It's certainly in dialogue with other magical girl shows, but to me it seems in a clearly appreciative way. Thematically, it's frankly not too far afield from something like Sailor Moon.

But you've asked for me to answer an ask meme, so let me do that instead :p

don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation

fav characters: Homura - more on that when we get to 'unpopular opinion'! - and Kyōko, I generally really like the concept of a burned out cynical traumatised magical girl lol

least fav characters: is it too easy to say Sayaka's cardboard violin-playing boyfriend with nonspecific anime disease whose name I can't even be bothered to look up? I guess that's the whole tragedy of her character, she wants to save this boy who just resents her for it, but you can do so much better Sayaka!

fav relationship: haha well Homura/Madoka is obviously the central framing one innit, but actually there are dynamics I really like here, especially in Rebellion. again, more on that in 'unpopular opinions'. outside of that, I think you could write pretty good fic of just about any pair of girls. They hint a bit at Sayaka/Kyōko during the last big fight sequence in Rebellion (possibly more earlier? it's been a while?) and that's cute. I admit I'm not much of a shipper these days.

fav moment: There's many I could name, but one I keep coming back to is the sequence in Rebellion when the magical girl squad deploys and each of the girls gets a brief abstract sequence illustrating their vibe. The music and imagery is sooo good here. I also love the gunfight later in the film with the time-frozen bullet trails. And the incredible climactic battle when the whole world breaks down around Homura as she realises the truth of what's going on and becomes a witch again. Am I just naming the whole of Rebellion at this rate? OK, I admit it, years on in which I've watched literally hundreds more animated films, I still think this one's great.

headcanons/theories: This is clearly a redemptive headcanon that's not especially well signalled by the text, but the reason for all the nonsensical stuff about entropy and ancient aliens is that Kyubey is a low-level functionary who doesn't understand anything half as well as it pretends. The Incubators didn't cultivate human civilisation over the centuries and give us technologies, that's just a convenient lie in the moment, and Kyubey doesn't really understand what it is that they're harvesting from the magical girls very well at all. But because the girls are like, what, middle schoolers, they don't have the background to pull Kyubey up on his misunderstanding of thermodynamics lol.

unpopular opinion: OK. oKAY. let's do this again shall we. strap in. I went over this some time previously when I first watched Rebellion (good god that was hard to find, tumblr's search functions are a travesty) but my comments amounted mostly to *gestures at Stirner, who I hadn't read and still haven't*, so let's have another shot at justifying this Take...

Here we go: I still don't think Homura is the bad guy at the end of Rebellion. Which seems to be the shared opinion of every girl I know who's seen the film but in wider fandom is basically nonexistent as a take. I don't necessarily think Homura has the answer, but I don't think Madoka permanently sacrificing herself for the sake of every hurting person in the universe was a happy ending in the first place - Homura's insistence on being the one to save Madoka and her lack of imagination in trying to reconstruct the pantomime of a 'normal' life is surely an unhealthy fixation, but she's right that the situation was intolerable and something did have to be done about it. The tension between Madoka's agency and Homura's, and whether their desires and self-sacrificing impulses can be reconciled, is a productive one.

Now, the end of Madoka is something that produces endless interpretations. Back in May last year there was a fascinating discussion on here between @azdoine, @businesstiramisu and @anarcha-catgirlism getting into the characters' various saviour complexes and the possible religious readings of their arcs in the series's broadly Buddhist cosmology.

Visually, the film pulls out all the symbols in the SHAFT toolkit to suggest that Homura is as evil as she makes out - the mouth closeups, the headtilts, the cadence and tone of the dialogue. But it also gives us quite a few lines of evidence that Homura is onto something. Notably, it makes clear that Homura has not saved Madoka at the expense of all the other Magical Girls - outside her pocket universe, the Law of the Cycle still exists. Whether Madoka can truly be happy there is another question. It also gives us a very blatant image that Madoka as 'Madokami' is still suffering with an arm covered in self-harm scars:

Admittedly this film is about as visually dense as an Ikuhara anime and I don't blame anyone for not reading the implications in this very brief cut but it's fairly important, I think. Madokami may be taking the girls up to heaven, but it's a very impersonal heaven, and the strain it's placing on her is evident. Because I've increasingly caught on that a universal self-sacrificing impulse to save everyone, however understandable, isn't actually a great thing.

Even if you can't sympathise with Homura - and I admit, a lot of my sympathy comes for her rhetoric (desire over rules) more than her actions, and you could make an argument that trapping Madoka in a false pocket universe after struggling to escape one made by the Incubators and herself across the whole film is deeply ironic - overall, in any case, I feel that the ending of Rebellion is at least a very apt extension of the tragic arcs of the two characters. Not to mention a fascinating discussion point and far richer than the happy ending that was, I believe I read at one point, originally planned before Shinbo requested a darker ending.

Yeah, it is very sudden, probably too much so - that presentation does make it seem like a 'shocking twist! Homura's bad now' which is perhaps one reason why a lot of people reacted badly to it. I'm not exactly sure where they should have foreshadowed it; at least it's not like they don't spend a lot of time on it afterwards showing you just where Homura is coming from.

how’d you find it: Without Rebellion, I feel like Madoka is 'merely' a very good magical girl anime with excellent art direction, some creative twists on the format, and a darker tone than usual... with Rebellion, it's something fascinating that has completely hooked me.

So I really can't wait to see if they can keep the ball rolling in the Rebellion sequel, whenever that lands. Although the breakup of Kalafina will be a tragic blow. I don't know how you do Madoka without Kalafina.

random thoughts: More a bit of trivia than anything, but as far as one of the lasting influences of Madoka, Yoko Taro asked Kimihiko Fujisaka to think of the series when designing the Intoners for Drakengard 3. Which proved to be a great decision.

I admit, there's a whole side of Madoka which I am not familiar with. I tried starting Magia Record once but bounced off what seemed to be a simple recap of the opening beats of the series - I need to give it another shot some time because there are some spectacular clips from season 2. Per some of @azdoine's posts which I only vaguely recall, it sounds like they've been monkeying around a bit with retconning some of the themes and logic of the series which would be a shame but whatever, I don't believe in 'canon'.

Hope that satisfies you as an answer, anon!

#puella magi madoka magica #anime #madoka rebellion spoilers #solicit bryn's anime opinions

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