#sailor moon all colour complete edition

[real-life-senshi]

10 (Mostly) Spoiler-Free Reasons to Watch Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon 2003 Live Action

A countdown to the 20th anniversary of Act 1 air date!

Reason 4: The Costumes!

Yes, I'm serious. No, I'm not necessarily talking about the Senshi costume, though they aren't bad especially once you can appreciate the bulkiness is due to the necessity to protect the cast wearing them - let's be honest, wearing a skimpy sailor fuku isn't that realistic for battles (yes, I said it). And they get points for being more faithful to the manga material than ‘90s anime was.

Thematic, colour-coded, stylistic choices for the Senshi

Many fans know that Takeuchi Naoko is a fan of high fashion, just look at many of her official art that uses runway fashion! While the live-action isn't about that, the costumes team was certainly phenomenal in providing the Senshi with a stylish and thematic selection of everyday clothes that speak to their respective personalities. And frankly, the girls' daily wear feels pretty timeless for a series that's 20 years old.

Their costume choices were even explored in the "PGSM Complete Edition Memorial Book". As a treat, I translated the comments here:

In addition to this, generally speaking, Usagi, Ami and Minako's outfits are pretty feminine, next is Rei's which is a bit more of a mix of feminine and unisex, and Makoto's is mostly unisex, though I wouldn't go as far as say it feels masculine.

Symbolism in colour!

While the girls supposedly are matched with their own signature colour and stylistic choices for casual wear, they do switch up the colours often. The girls' costume per episode is occasionally symbolic of their dynamic and relationship when there's significant character interaction in the episode's plot. Some examples:

I’d also say that Minako's general style of black and white is quite symbolic as well given her character story in PGSM. But I'll leave that for another time when I introduce PGSM's spin to Minako's character later.

Seriously, this show is one where you can rewatch time after time, and you'd still find MORE symbolistic things slipped into the product, either subtly shown right in front of your face or hidden in the background. It brings me much joy when I feel like I caught another glimpse of symbolism in costume choices.

Past life Earth Kingdom style(?)

The Shitennou, Queen Beryl and Prince Endymion's costumes all got a huge upgrade in their design. The overall designs are a lot more ornate with golden or silver trims, and the intricacies seem to be of the same design, suggesting that royalties and guards of the Earth's Kingdom from the past life get their uniforms designed by the same designer?

I truly love that they colour-coded the Shitennou! The original manga/anime design was so plain it almost makes me think they feel more like foot soldier's uniform, only Kunzite had a cape to be fancy. In the live-action, all of them have capes and they are well-used! There are many mighty and flashy cape-flicking in the series!

I especially appreciate Beryl's costume, the ornate design just seems a lot more befitting of the queen. They managed to make the costume sensual but not sexual and also found ways to make the random horn on her shoulders stylish without making it seem like she's grown horns. Honestly, it was an amazing casting choice too!

Fun random costumes:

Similar to Usagi's gadgets allow her to transform into different costumes and personnel for sneaking into situations in the manga/anime, all Senshi have the means to copy any costume/clothing for situations as needed.

This leads to some hilarious and generally awesome scenes with the ladies dressing up in all sorts of random clothes. Some examples:

Like I said, the show doesn't take itself too seriously, despite some twists and turns they added to the storyline!

You can watch the subbed versions of the series at:

Miss Dream Fansubs

Sea of Serenity Fansubs

The series is also on other online streaming sites, but be cautious to only visit them with good adware and firewall installed.

7 days till the 20th anniversary of Act 1 air date!

Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

#pretty guardian sailor moon #pgsm #reasons to watch pgsm #bishoujo senshi sailor moon #sailor moon live action #bssm #pgsm 20th anniversary countdown #pgsm appreciation #pgsm costume #khmyh translates #khmyh's fansub & translations

[radix-outpost]

Various Sailor Moon fan design things (not in chronological order).

The big sheet 'o fanon form concepts was born out of some sprite edits I'd done recently: y'see, I wasn't satisfied with my first pass at the "Ultra" forms and tested something out on those sprite edits (using Sailor V's armour as a basis instead of that one proto-Moon sketch). Then I thought about what other forms I could make for everyone, getting as far as "Speed" and the basic idea for "Aqua" before I needed to draw them.

In addition to all the new stuff, "Mystic" and "Defender" got redesigned, too (mostly just putting the bow back on Mystic). Other notes:

"Elemental" is a simplified form of the early Sera Myu costumes; the name (and its attachment to Myu) came from AmethystSadachbia's AU.

"Blue Shift" has the distinction of being completely uniform (even Moon and Chibi Moon would have the same outfits), with only the brooch and tiara gem reflecting the wearer's normal planet colour. Largely inspired by cheerleader uniforms.

Everyone wears shorts in their "Gravity" form; the coats are about the same length as Mystic.

"Omni" is similar to what I was gonna have everyone's Cosmic form look like; more on that later.

"Aqua" is probably the most situational out of all of these; maybe it would see use on a planet that's 99% ocean?

Other stuff:

Redesigned Sailor Charon/Celia Spiros; her new hairstyle is modeled after a character (Monaka) from another Naoko Takeuchi work, "Toki Meca".

After going to the trouble of adjusting Naru-as-Sailor-Earth's colours... I ended up dropping this element from my AU entirely in favour of just elevating Mamoru to "Sailor Earth" (and Helios to Sailor Sun). :U But I didn't want the concept of an empowered Naru to go to waste, so now she's a pseudo-Guardian who uses Usagi's Disguise Pen to transform and takes the alias "Sailor Comet". (It's a common fan-Senshi name, but realistically not something that could spawn a Sailor Crystal.)

Omni Form Sailor Moon, the "good future" alternative to Sailor Cosmos--or, "I had to write around using the Classic anime as a basis for my AU". (Chibi Chibi will become Sailor Cosmos eventually, but because she's Galaxia's disembodied Sailor Crystal/daughter by technicality, she's not going to look like canon Cosmos) Uses Cosmos as a basis, with elements from manga!NQS.

#sailor moon #anime #fanart #radix art

[whatthecrowtold]

#unhallowedarts "Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs / Upon the slimy sea" Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner"

Coleridge's memorable Night Mare Life-in-Death by Sir Noel Paton

"Her lips were red, her looks were free,

Her locks were yellow as gold:

Her skin was as white as leprosy,

The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,

Who thicks man's blood with cold."

"'God save thee, ancient Mariner!"

From the fiends, that plague thee thus!—

Why look'st thou so?'—With my cross-bow

I shot the ALBATROSS."

"Water, water, everywhere / But not a drop to drink". Famously misheard. But probably not quite the condition of Coleridge’s, when he opened the gates for British Romantic literature with his famous piece of seaman’s yarn. Opium dissolved in alcohol, laudanum, was the propellant of choice to drive the Lake Poets to bizarre, picturesque landscapes, dreamscapes, when Romanticism dawned upon the Northern hemisphere and Coleridge consumed it quite like a sailor on shore leave. Or a depressed poet with a writer’s block, along with the travelogues of actual mariners and their journeys to the eternal ice of the poles. A heady mixture. And he became a dreamer, Coleridge did, grasped his Homer and set forth on a journey to the icy poles of his own imagination, populated by Gothic ghosties and ghoulies and other things that did go bump in the mindscapes of most of the age’s writers worth their salt.

"The souls did from their bodies fly,—

They fled to bliss or woe!

And every soul, it passed me by,

Like the whizz of my cross-bow!"

(Probably not Coleridge's most sure-footed lines...)

The sea herself, the natural habitat of Ancient Mariners, becomes a backdrop, a scenery for crime, curse and punishment and a low road to bring on the horrors and, at last, redemption for the titular hero. The Ancient Mariner. Who foolishly and famously shot an albatross and brought bad cess galore on himself and the ship’s company. The sea, the sun, stars and the moon, especially the moon, become symbol-charged stage props on the poet’s and his not-so-jolly tar’s Campbellian journey inwards, “white” as a colour of ill omen shimmers through Coleridge’s historising lines, a rare occurrence in Western literature and enthusiastically seized on by Poe and Melville from across the pond, in their maritime tales.

"The spirit who bideth by himself

In the land of mist and snow,

He loved the bird that loved the man

Who shot him with his bow.'"

But like his Bostonian admirer’s naval narratives from more than a generation later, Coleridge’s “Ancient Mariner” is spooled seaman’s yarn and not exactly Marryat or Conrad. But it apparently does not want to be a log at all. Even though Coleridge read at least some of those for inspiration. It is Gothic imagination and its set pieces of angels, demons, death and femmes fatales where Coleridge’s manifest dream content leaves the most lasting impression, even two centuries after its publication.  

"Upon the whirl, where sank the ship,

The boat spun round and round;

And all was still, save that the hill

Was telling of the sound."

Instead of the world-famous take on Coleridge by Gustave Doré from 1866, yours truly chose the less known but still quite evocative ones by Sir Noel Paton's, published three years earlier.

A complete edition with the full set of Sir Noel's artwork for Samuel Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1797) can be found below as facsimile:

#unhallowedarts #dark literature #dark poetry #dark art #dark aesthetic #dark academia #gothicliterature #gothic art #gothic aesthetic #samuel taylor coleridge #noelpaton

[multifandomsimagine]

Tag Games

Was going through my likes and found a few tag games that I completely forgot about so here they are now months late but still here lol Under a 'Read More' cause it's a bit long

Tagging anyone else who wants to be part of this! 

this or that - tropes edition

slow burn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // oh no there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt-comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation or character death // one-shot or multi-chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high school romance or middle aged romance // time travel or isolated together // neighbors or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or gender bend // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane  

1st anime crush vs current anime crush from the same anime

I don't really watch anime (I read manga more) so I'm just going by the first three shows that pop up on my reading list

Hayato Kamitani -> Usaida Yoshihito (School Babysitters / Gakuen Babysitters)

Mamoru Chiba/Darien -> Haruka Tenou/Amara (Sailor Moon)

Giyu Tomioka -> Obanai Iguro (Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba)

3 Characters Who Live Rent Free

How do I only choose three?

Wanda Maximoff (Marvel) - I don't remember how I was first introduced to Wanda but I've loved her ever since. Her character has gone through so much (not just in the MCU *cough cough* House of M) and it just makes my heart ache for her. She just wants to have a good life with her family and they just keep being taken from her. Why must she continue to suffer? Leave her alone!!! God I just want to wrap her up in a blanket and make sure nothing bad happens to her again

Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond (Steven Universe) - Rose is such an interesting character because I know she's so polarizing in the fandom. I think it's just so fascinating how we see her arc in reverse; at first, she's this character whose been put on this pedestal and described as this caring and loving figure and then we learn that she was Pink Diamond who was this selfish and childish authority figure. She's just such a complex and gray character which is why I think about her often

Andrew!Peter Parker (Marvel) - Andrew's Peter is my favorite of all the live-action Spider-Man. I love that they went in a different direction with his films by having his love interest be Gwen Stacy. Their story was so cute and I just love how passionate he was about playing Peter. My dork <3

Would You Rather

- musicals or plays

- lemonade or iced tea

- strawberries or raspberries

- winter or summer

- pandas or koalas

- beaches or forests

- planets or constellations

- pastels or neons

- diners or cafes

- unicorns or dragons

- gemstones or crystals

- hummingbirds or owls

- fireworks or sparklers

- sunflowers or hydrangeas

- brunch or happy hour

- sweet or sour

- Rome or Amsterdam

- classic or modern art

- sushi or ramen

- sun or moon

- polka dots or stripes

- macarons or croissants

- glitter or matte

- aquariums or planetariums

- road trip or camping trip

- colouring books or watercolours

- fairy lights or candles

- honey & lemon or milk & sugar

You've been asked out. The ninth recent picture in your camera roll is who asked you out

Thanks Bernie lol

#yoshino responds #tag game

[general-radix]

Return of the lo-fi doodles. These are the first two pages I’ve completed; neither has been edited beyond adjusting levels in PS, as worrying about fixing everything in post would defeat the purpose.

Things of note:

* I used coloured pencils for page 1; while I like how it turned out better than most other times I’d used pencils, my wrist was threatening to snap off my arm before I was even done. It was also rather time-intensive.

* Serenity of O:C is a sexbot. One of her kind staffing Cyberotica wouldn’t be noteworthy--except that Serenity is sentient, making her something of an abnormality for sexbots (as is being ace). Metis is protective of her, to say the least.

* Diamond and Ruby were the last of the Omni Strain “main” androids to get design updates. The gothic look may not exactly be prime Y2K futurism, but I like it better than Ruby’s old theme of [...].

* The first two ‘mons solidified for that ‘mons project, and the first members of Marina’s team. Since I’m coming up short on species names at the moment, these two will just be known by the nicknames Marina gave them (no, the chess queen Pride-type being “Elisabetha” was NOT an homage to Lizzie II).

* Charlotte, a witch, largely sticks to herbal concoctions. Ever since she moved in, Johnnie’s sense of smell has never known peace.

* Superhero League is proving to be a useful place to dump old Sailor Moon OCs. In this case, we’ve got Paracles, who channels her low-level electrical powers into the gadgets she uses to fight evil-doers. (All I can remember of her previous incarnation was that she was the second-youngest Guardian on her team and had a perma-visor.)

(EDIT: And “Paracles”, as it turned out, was False Memory Syndrome: that was actually the civilian name of one of her teammates. I’m keeping it as such anyway. :U)

#original #crossover #deus vocatus #ashlands #omnisciens cyberotica #omni strain #sapphirite nights #superhero league #misc #radix art

[haehaeming]

100 random facts about SJ members that may or may not help you with your FF

Or if you’re just... bored

1. Eunhyuk doesn’t like finger prints on screens, glasses, etc... It’s a little thing I find cute

2. Kyuhyun was a fan of SJ’s music before debuting with them

3. Leeteuk knows what ‘daddy’ means in a sexual context

4. Leeteuk also understands the concept of a sugar parent, but it was not a positive experience for him. It’s possible other members also understand this concept.

5. Kyuhyun likes men and women

6. Yesung writes his own music

7. Leeteuk has many unreleased songs

8. Eunhyuk has difficulty with his emotions in a general sense, so he’s thankful SJ understand him

9. When Kyuhyun was a teenager, he has to rebel against his fathers wishes to debut as a singer.

10. Kyuhyun dated many girls as a teenager, but only kissed one

11. Sungmin and Kyuhyun have the highest amount of testosterone among SJ members. This was public information a long time ago, though, and alcohol consumption has probably lowered the number a little over time.

12. Sungmin and Kyuhyun share a love of wine

13. Ryeowook is an affectionate drunk

14. Leeteuk is a Leo Venus which means he’s very annoying (read: passionate) in his relationships (This fact was corrected by @fanbynature , it originally said Heechul was a Leo Venus too but he’s actually a Leo Virgo, bonus fact!!)

15. Donghae thinks Eunhyuks lips look best in the morning.

16. Eunhyuk understands the concept of drag.

17. Yesung is very talkative but only when you’re close to him

18. Yesung would kiss SJ good morning back in the dorm days

19. Kyuhyun shows love through acts of service

20. Yesung shows love through quality time

21. Leeteuk is a huge flirt, any fan who met him more personally will tell you

22. As far as we know, Yesung used to collect all sorts of jewellery.

23. Ryeowook and Leeteuk are into cute things (phone cases with cute characters, charms, etc)

24. It’s said Yesung and Sungmin will sleep the least amount of time, but Ryeowook will sleep the most

25. Sungmin and Leeteuk share a moon phase (Waning Gibbous)

26. Back in the dorm, Donghae would also wake his members with affection, but no kisses.

27. Donghae lost his first love because he was too clingy.

28. Kyuhyun and Leeteuk were consider ‘mom’s friend’s kids’ in their school days because they excelled in everything they did. Like the scold ‘why can’t you be more like my friends kid’

29. Kyuhyun has a HUGE fanboy past. Now he can barely use the Internet without making it clear he’s old.

30. Shindong doesn’t like to be clothed at night or in the summer. He takes off his clothes unconsciously

31. Donghae was entrusted to Leeteuk by Donghae’s father

32. Donghae keeps his habits from the dorm days around Leeteuk even now. When he and Leeteuk would share a room, Donghae would cuddle Leeteuk. Even now, when they share a room to sleep, Donghae sings to Leeteuk to try and lull him to sleep.

33. Kyuhyuns relationship with Donghae has been a little bit confusing for him, but recently he said Donghae is like SJs son

34. Yesung’s favourite song is ‘I’ll Make Love To You’

35. Sungmin is the only introvert in SJ

36. Kyuhyun, Leeteuk and Sungmin are open to book recommendations at all times

37. Because of Koreas age system, Yesung and Sungmin are basically the same age.

38. Sungmin technically ages 2 times on his birthday.

39. Teenage Leeteuk celebrated little milestones in relationships like ‘100 days anniversary’

40. Leeteuk would rather be called his stage name than his given name.

41. DBSJ* worked with a ghost in the recording studio, according to Sungmin

42. Donghae and Eunhyuk share a love of strawberries

43. Kyuhyun does not like to be called with pet names

44. Yesung has always shown interest in Canada for whatever reason

45. Ryeowook played the triangle in his school band. Literally

46. Yesung, Donghae and Leeteuk don’t drink.

47. Leeteuk and Kyuhyun love the colour white

48. Sometimes, Kyuhyun unwinds by solving math problems

49. Kyuhyun cited himself in his college thesis on K-pop’s popularity.

50. Leeteuk is taller than Sungmin. It’s more drastic than you think

51. Donghae and Sungmin have both been deemed as ‘naturally cute’, but oddly enough, Sungmin has said he doesn’t act cute anymore. Donghae hasn’t changed in terms of cuteness once

52. Donghae is very fond of dogs. Kyuhyun and Ryeowook are not

53. Sungmin and Eunhyuk were the closest friends predebut. They would take the bus to SM together and make sure nobody else sat next to them. There’s a picture somewhere online of a predebut Sungmin resting his head on Eunhyuk during one of those bus rides

54. Leeteuk didn’t have many friends when he was younger. Leeteuk still thinks he doesn’t have many friends.

55. Donghae and Sungmin share forgetfulness.

56. Leeteuk and Heechul became friends easily because they’re the same age and look out for each other. Also because if Leeteuk was busy or resting, Heechul would be the oldest and have authority over the young SJ for him.

57. Leeteuk and Kyuhyun taught themselves how to cook. Ryeowook and Sungmin were good at it from the beginning

58. Leeteuk wanted to become an idol because of 90s kpop groups looking super cool. He wanted some of that for himself and now I think he’s one of the coolest people ever

59. Leeteuk smokes

60. Sungmin used to sleep in a pink nightgown. Even now, he doesn’t let the fact go, but he says it’s embarrassing

61. Predebut Eunhyuk stole a Shinhwa CD from SM to impress a girl

62. Leeteuks waist size is 26 inches. The ideal size for women in the west

63. Leeteuk entered to win special edition Nike shoes 100 times total. He won

64. When a younger Sungmin was frustrated, he would vent online. Similar to how Leeteuk would when he was younger

65. Sungmin recently said men ask him for his number when he goes out

66. As far as we know, Yesung used to worry about whether or not he would live to grow old :(

67. Donghae has always had a love of poetry

68. Kyuhyun’s originally near-sighted

69. Both Yesung and Leeteuk struggle to define their relationships with others

70. Yesung doesn’t smile a lot when cameras aren’t on him

71. Eunhyuk doesn’t like seafood. Donghae does.

72. Donghae doesn’t like sweets. Eunhyuk does

73. Sungmin was the first member to open his YT channel back in 2018.

74. Ryeowook is said to be a heavy drinker

75. Leeteuk finds peace in the rain

76. Kyuhyun is said to have one of the biggest hearts in SJ, alongside Leeteuk

77. Eunhyuk first appeared publicly in 1992 on a TV show by complete accident. It made him happy

78. In order to sleep in a new location, Donghae sleeps best if there’s something near him that reminds him of home. This is an old fact holds up today, Donghae often sleeps close to his members

79. Predebut, Eunhyuk and Junsu purposefully tried to make Donghae cry

80. Every roommate Donghae has had, he has had multiple complaints about all of them

81. Yesung bought a turtle a long time ago because he felt bored without a pet. Even after buying the turtle, he was still bored

82. Eunhyuk is constantly getting ‘friend zoned’ by Donghae. It’s mostly Donghae who calls them as friends, Eunhyuk got a million other words

83. Sungmin studies English and music every day.

84. Leeteuk loves to learn and is always studying something new as well

85. In high school, Leeteuk studied German

86. ‘Don’t give up’ was Sungmin’s motto in elementary school

87. Leeteuk and Sungmin are big Na Hoon Ah fans

88. When Donghae was in elementary school, he was taller than his classmates and even had a nickname relating to how tall he was

89. Sungmin is still mistaken for his 20s

90. Sungmin loves to eat, he talks about food a lot, but still diets strictly as a couple with his Saeun~

91. Eunhyuk is clumsy

92. Leeteuk is very different off camera, but he’s always aware of hidden cameras, so it’s impossible to catch him ‘normally’.

93. Leeteuk and Yesung curse like sailors

94. Kyuhyun and Shindong share great memorization skills

95. Donghae doesn’t like to eat alone

96. Yesung is the only Virgo in SJ. Kyuhyun is the only Aquarius.

97. Leeteuk finds some men to be cute. Particularly men with beards (in terms of dating)

98. Sungmin wants to record music in English for his international fans

99. Sungmin and Leeteuk both have a fan they consider a friend

100. Eunhyuk loves to be in Japan

#super junior #suju #eunhyuk #donghae #yesung #kyuhyun #shindong #ryeowook #leeteuk #sungmin #heechul #🖤 idiot

[myfawnwysimblr]

“Retro Moon” #1 - Ami

bgc

teen-elder, feminine frame

12 swatches each (bandana has no white swatch)

custom thumbnails, all lods and maps

colour tagged and disabled for random

This is a collection of various mesh/texture edited and recoloured items, inspired by the classic Sailor Moon anime. I love the outfits the girls wear and picked some out that I really want to make. I made a whole colour palette from various screenshots as well! This time it’s Ami’s turn! I chose the more pastel and summer colours for her outfit.

Bandana - This will work with several hairs (especially with full or side bangs), as it does not wrap around the head completely. I tried to minmize clipping this way.

Skirt - A nice and poofy skirt. Works best with tucked in, cropped or wider tops. Will definitely clip with most “tight” EA tops. I really liked the shape and therefore didn’t edit it to be flat in the front.

Top - Slightly edited bg blouse. Pulled out the side so it looks more loose and edited the neckline to be more square.

Shoes - Simply recoloured the bg heels.

Please feel free to message me if anything isn’t working! I’ll also help out with PSDs if you’d like, but mine are always really messy. ;_;

DOWNLOAD [SFS] - seperate files or merged

Preview Credits:

#11 Brows by @stretchskeleton

Ginger Lipgloss by @kumikya

Nails by @lehgaming (blog seems empty??? so i linked to maxismatchcc)

Thanks @fukufashion for the screenshot!

@maxismatchccworld, thanks for the hard work! :)

#s4mm #ts4mm #s4mmcc #ts4mmcc #maxis match #s4cc #ts4cc #/me #dl #retro moon collection

[mst3kproject]

SHORT: Undersea Kingdom

My previous experiences with serials on this blog have not been good. If I watch them all in one sitting they’re boring, and if I watch them one installment at a time I forget what happened.  I was therefore kind of dreading Undersea Kingdom, and I decided that if this was my last chance to watch the edited-down ‘movie’ version, I was going to take it.  Well, guess what?  I can’t find the edited-down ‘movie’ version! So here I am, tackling the whole twelve-part series.  Again.

An opening montage introduces us to Ray ‘Crash’ Corrigan, the finest specimen of white manhood ever to enlist in the US Navy.  He is invited to join an expedition let by Professor Norton in his extremely roomy bubble-powered Rocket Submarine, to make contact with the lost city of Atlantis.  Also along for the ride are Norton’s son Billy, Briny and Salty the obnoxious comic-relief sailors, Diana the reporter, and Sinbad the parrot.  They arrive to find that all is not well at the bottom of the sea.  Sharad, who is like the Pope of Atlantis or something, is engaged in an ongoing war with the tyrant Unga Khan, who wants to take over the city and then destroy the upper world with earthquakes so he can rule that, too!  You can tell the difference between the two sides because Sharad’s guys wear white capes and Unga Khan’s wear black ones and are assisted by their old allies, the Neptune Men.

I mean, obviously a city at the bottom of the ocean has ties with the Neptune Men.  Right? Right?

So after all the time I spent dreading this short, how much of an ordeal was it?  Well… I watched it over the course of two days, and honestly?  I kind of enjoyed it.  Undersea Kingdom is pure low-budget cheese, but it somehow feels like low-budget cheese people cared about.  Somebody was truly excited to tell this story, rather than just slotting themed setpieces into a formula.  The ending lost me, but the rest really wasn’t awful.

Literally everything that happens in Undersea Kingdom is ridiculous.  As Joel and the bots pointed out, the costumes are truly epic.  Sharad wears a cross between a crown and a chef’s hat, with big fake plastic jewels on it.  Unga Khan’s troops wear miniskirts and lightning bolts on their heads – his chief honcho, Hakkor, is played by Lon Chaney Jr, unusually sober and unsure what the hell he’s doing here.  Unga Khan himself wears Genghis' pajamas, and Billy goes around in his little sailor suits with a shirt that keeps changing colour from scene to scene.

The Most Ridiculous Costume Award, however, has to go to Crash Corrigan himself.  After saving Sharad’s life he is rewarded with command of the Whitecape army, and spends the rest of the serial in a scaly golden diaper, gladiator sandals, and a helmet that looks like it belonged to a Spartan who dressed as a chicken for Hallowe’en.  I love it.

The plot, as is usual for a serial like this, is a nigh-endless series of narrow escapes, breathless chases, near-disasters, and Corrigan doing the one wrestling move he knows, which is picking a guy up over his shoulders and throwing him into a few other guys.  People keep saying things like “that’s the end of Crash Corrigan!” and “there’s no chance anyone survived that explosion!” when they really ought to know better.  In Radar Men from the Moon and The Phantom Creeps this stuff was pretty tiresome, as it felt like the plot was just wandering around without ever really escalating.  In Undersea Kingdom, however, stuff actually happens and even has long-term consequences!

There’s an early scene where it looks as if we’re just going to get more of the repetitive shit, as Crash arrives in the nick of time to save Professor Norton from Unga Khan’s brainwashing machine – in the very next episode, Norton is recaptured and brainwashed anyway.  This made me groan, because I was expecting it to go on like The Phantom Creeps’ endless game of Capture the Meteor.  Instead, though, it actually moves the plot forward – the rest of the story ended up being about trying to rescue Norton, who didn’t want to be rescued because he’d been brainwashed!  Although it did make me wonder why Unga Khan didn’t just put Corrigan in the brainwashing chamber… he had several oppotunities to do so.

While Radar Men from the Moon and The Phantom Creeps made liberal use of stock footage from both newsreels and previous serials, I think almost everything that appears in Undersea Kingdom was actually shot for it.  The only notable exceptions are some of the sports sequences in the first episode and the sea battle in the last.  Even better, it completely lacks the boring recap episode both of those felt they had to shove in before the climax!  Some of the footage, like the shots of dozens of horsemen riding forth from Unga Khan’s underground fortress, is used repeatedly, but you probably wouldn’t notice that if you were watching it week-by-week.  Oddly, the horses are the only animals we ever see in Atlantis.  I wonder what the people there eat.

I was not looking forward to the episodes being peppered with the ‘hilarious’ ‘antics’ of Briny, Salty, and Sinbad, but to my surprise, they were barely in it.  They get captured in the second episode and are completely forgotten about until something like the sixth, where we find them working in an Atlantean boulder mine and ‘comedically’ trying to escape.  They must have managed it somehow because they reappear on the submarine at the end, but I think I missed how they did it.   Maybe they were so annoying and unfunny that the majority of their scenes were cut.

None of this, of course, is to say that the serial is in any way really good.  The costumes are ridiculous, the plot is dumb, and the whole thing is full of gaping holes in the logic, especially where the Atlantean technology is concerned. Unga Khan is able to spy on both Sharad and the Upper World through some kind of Atlantean CCTV, but it only shows him what the plot requires.  The Neptune Men have ray guns but can’t hit anything.  Unga Khan has a dirigible thing that would have been really useful during the siege scenes but never appears in them.  And this applies to the low technology as much as the high kind – all the Atlanteans carry swords and nobody ever stabs anyone.

The weirdest moment is the bit where Corrigan just straight up becomes Hercules and bends prison bars to get through.  He even bends them back afterwards, and his pursuers are astonished to find themselves unable to replicate the feat.  Why is he able to do that?  Does knowing one wrestling move and being able to walk a tightrope (which he does twice to get into or out of a place) grant superhuman strength?

Having been made in the 1930’s, the whole thing is kinda racist and deeply sexist.  The racism is pretty mild as these things go – everybody’s white but Unga Khan is made up to look kind of Fu-Manchu-ish because he’s the Bad Guy.  The sexism, on the other hand, is pervasive and sometimes puzzling.  Everybody refers to Diana, played by twenty-nine-year-old Lois Wilde, as a ‘girl’, even the title cards, but at least she does get to do one useful thing by telling Sharad that Unga Khan is plotting to invade the surface world. Thing is, Diana is the only female character.  In the whole serial I think I saw one Atlantean woman and she never spoke.  How do you survive in isolation for six thousand years with no women?

I guess it doesn’t matter, since Atlantis wasn’t fated to last any longer.  In the second-last episode, Unga Khan’s tower blasts off for the surface, piercing the roof of Atlantis and letting the ocean in.  Our heroes escape to the submarine in time to avoid being drowned, but what about, like, everybody else?  I think we’re meant to believe that a substantial number of the remaining Atlanteans were killed when Unga Khan bombed the rebel stronghold, but that can’t have been the whole population, can it?  Somebody’s gotta be providing food for everybody… there must be farmers and ranchers around, even if we never met them.  What happened to them?  An entire civilization was just destroyed, and nobody seems to care except me!

The most annoying thing about this is that I think the reason it was written that way was so Crash Corrigan could have a happy ending!  When Sharad made him commander, he made Corrigan responsible for the safety of the Atlantean people.  If Atlantis hadn’t been flooded, or if anyone had survived, Corrigan would have had to stay and help them.  In particular there’s Corrigan’s Atlantean BFF Molock, who owes him a life debt and pledges to follow him until he’s repaid it.  If he lived Corrigan would be stuck with him. With the whole place destroyed, our hero is free to return to his naval career with no hitches.

Well, there’s one hitch. At the end Corrigan and Diana get married – despite having spent almost no time together over the course of the story. I guess they live happily ever after or something.  I mostly enjoyed Undersea Kingdom, but the way it offhandedly killed all the Atlanteans so there wouldn’t be any consequences pissed me off enough that I refuse to recommend it.

#mst3k #reviews #undersea kingdom #30s

[morebedsidebooks]

Some Publishing History of Sailor Moon in English

Part 1 of 8 of my comparison of volume one of the Sailor Moon Eternal Edition

Bishoujosenshi Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi began publication in Japan in 1992 in the girls’ magazine Nakayoshi published by Kodansha, coming in by completion at 18 compiled volumes and since undergoing several editions as well as licensed in multiple languages.

The first 18 volume Mixx/Tokyopop USA Pocket Edition began in 1998 (the English Sailor Moon serialised the year before that in MixxZine, plus a more American comics single issue format as was standard at the time and subsequently other publications).

It was a product of its time with many changes, subtle slights or just general poor quality in all areas as a devotee populated frontier during the previous years in publishing Japanese comics in North America turned boomtown. The circumstances were so uneasy I remember readers being suspicious of things that there was no reason to think were deviations if you had read the original. Few in English-speaking fandom back at the turn of the millennium were apparently capable or, willing to refute all the incorrect chatter though leading to a kind of infamy. People accuse Stu “Whaddya Mean Dude” Levy of being the devil for a variety of reasons but, the edition of Sailor Moon from his company, while heavier handed than some other translated editions, is more a fascinating case study rather than amounting to being one of the evils. (Though the balls of acting like they had an exclusive interview with Ms. Takeuchi, or making it seem she addressed Mixx readers in the side panel comments!) Even in its filtered form in the process of its success Sailor Moon and other girls’ comics from Japan ended up in the hands of countless teenage readers across the Anglosphere, one form part of inspiring a generation to take an interest in storytelling, art, language or, who found in the characters something in themselves and now as adults are creating, teaching, standing tall and inspiring the next.

So, it was a big deal in 2011 when the Sailor Moon comic came back into print in English courtesy of Kodansha Comics USA touting an edition possessing an “incredibly accurate translation” and that was “completely true to the original”.

The 14 volume English release based on the 10th anniversary Japanese edition published during the live-action TV series in Japan from 2003 had some advantages and improvements over the Tokyopop USA edition such as the larger page count per book, color pages, revised art, and a philosophy of localization suffering less from Occidentalism. (Though on the other hand heavy reliance on a reader googling, as the CEO once advocated, is not an approach I feel like endorsing since accessibility and immersion is vital.) Sell the KC USA edition did but, it wasn’t as if the bar was set necessarily high in the first place by the previous OOP edition from a defunct publisher (at least at the time in North America). Unfortunately, the marketing from KC USA didn’t quite fit with the reality of its product containing a few missteps in translation, unnatural dialogue, as well as grammar, spelling and punctuation errors, inconsistency, lettering mishaps and even printing errors. Along with the question as to why some content like comments or the afterward strip specific to the 2003 Japanese release were absent. Eventually an explanation was given, Ms. Takeuchi didn’t wish for it to be included. The public also started to grasp at pieces of a much bigger picture of what was behind, as I described at the time, bad déjà vu with books being of a quality level more common a decade prior. KC USA hadn’t been established relatively all that very long back then and it showed, probably also to the exasperation of anyone (and there were veterans in the industry on the team) working hard on the edition. So once again there were a lot of exchanges about publisher styles, fanbase demands, target audience, lexicon, difficult deadlines and bureaucratic or language barriers between colleagues. Oh, and memes.

 But time goes on. In 2013 for the 20th Anniversary back in Japan a new, pretty, A5 sized Perfect Edition of 10 volumes restoring more colour art and with again new cover illustrations was released.

Then the Bilingual Japanese/English Edition in 2017 crediting the same English translator who handled a number of volumes in the 2011 KC USA edition.

So KC USA had additional chances beyond the revisions done for reprintings (there have been several btw). After some delays, in September 2018 the huge, shimmering, much anticipated first volume of the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Edition hit the street.

The question of course being does it live up to its name? I couldn’t be happier to say yes!  (Seriously pictures do no do it justice.) So, if you’re interested in in a longer but, not all-encompassing comparison of the first volume I’m breaking it down Act by Act in following posts.

#girls comics #shôjo manga #pretty guardian sailor moon #naoko takeuchi #美少女戦士セーラームーン #bishoujosenshi sailor moon #武内直子

[phoenixroha]

I’m curious about how many races/clans of elves there are within Xadia and who their leaders might be so I’m going to try breaking down how many there are simply based on the flashback sequence and the brief mentions sprinkled throughout TDP.

Warning: Spoilers

Right! So, off the bat in EP1 we are presented with these four bad-asses. Let’s look at them from left to right:

The first woman is likely a Sunfire elf (first mentioned in EP1 at 11:53). From the very brief details gathered in the show, these elves draw their powers from the sun and are exceptional blacksmiths. This point is also backed by the blade used in EP7 by the border soldier who uses a Sunforge blade to defeat his opponent; according to Rayla, Sunfire elves are able to imbue magic into their weapons, allowing them to cut through anything (except, of course, the binding cloth).

Based on the crown I’d suggest she’s most likely the leader of the Sunfire elves, or at the very least a high ranking general; moreover I believe the staff she wields hints to the fact that she is a Fire Mage.

Next is the ethereal looking elf. Based on the insignia on his chest, I’d say his clan relates to the primordial power of stars. (Personally, I think they’ll be called Starlight or Starshine elves, but that’s just me.) This may be a bit of a reach, but I believe that these elves are excellent navigators. I’m making this point solely on the fact that in the flashback when revealing the divided kingdom, (most likely) his hands are the ones unfurling the map. It would also make sense, considering that sailors would use constellations and specific stars to find their way.

I’ll skip over the next guy simply because he appears to be another Sunfire elf (likely a commander like Gren to General Amaya) and move onto the last major character in this frame: the Moonshadow elf.

It’s safe to say we know the most about these elves. Moonshadow elves are at the height of their power during full moons; moon magic not only enhances their physical strength and senses, it allows them to turn themselves completely invisible.

Although their prowess as assassins is certainly explored in the first part of TDP, I’m more interested in the character introduced in the last episode of season 1, Lujanne the Moon Mage. Because of this, I can safely say that Moonshade elves are most known for their life like illusions and tricks.

Edit: Runaan also created the illusion of trees to disguise his group when the Katolis soldiers came to their hidden camp.

In this next image, there are mostly Sunfire and Moonshade elves but there is one new elf. The most distinct thing about this elf is the fact that, unlike all the other races of elves in the show, he has wings. I’m willing to bet that he is related to the primal power Sky. Unfortunately, he is the only one we are able to see up close but by now I think it is safe to assume that there is a race of elves to correspond to each of the six main elements. (No idea what to call them until a canon name is given. Any suggestions?)

But I do think it is interesting to note the glowing staffs. The Sunfire elf gave the staff she was holding to another elf and a Moonshadow elf is holding one in the shape of a crescent moon. I theorize that each element has (at least) one staff which signifies that the wielder is a High Mage like Lord Viren.

In this last image I just wanted to point out the elf in purple riding the white and black creature (I don’t actually know what their called; anyone know?) is probably another Starlight Elf, purely based on the fact that as far as we’ve seen they’re the only ones who use the colour purple. It also leads me to the question, “Why did the other star elf literally look like stars?” For now, I’ve got no idea.

In general, I believe elves have a much longer life expectancy than humans. In EP7 (6:39), Rayla briefly mentions humans’ “sub-century life expectancy” inferring that they must live significantly longer than humans. They are also born with interesting markings on their bodies which can also be used to determine which clan they hail from. I also believe that, because of the primal magic sources theme, there are at least two other elf clans that haven’t been revealed: the ocean and earth elves.

Maybe there’s even one more race - a secret one related to the dark magic element? Or maybe that’s just humans.

tl:dr - I think there’s an elf race for every magic element, they’re old, and that they have cool tattoos.

#the dragon prince #the dragon prince spoilers #tdp #tdp spoilers #theory #tdp theory #the dragon prince theory #tdp elves #tdp sunfire elf #tdp moonshadow elf #rayla #runaan #long post #analysis #tdp analysis #the dragon prince analysis

[sailormoonartblog]

A short guide to the different editions of the Sailor Moon manga

As promised, now that I’ve reached the milestone of 200 readers, I’m posting a brief guide whose purpose is to help newcoming fans choose which edition of Naoko Takeuchi’s masterpiece is the best one to buy. Please keep in mind that this is not going to be a full-fledged review (especially since I happen to personally own a grand total of one of these editions and can’t therefore judge the others properly), but just an overview of what differentiates one edition from the others, which is ultimately the factor that is going to be the most determing in your future choice. Unless you choose to fuck the system and just download all of this material from the net.

So, without further ado, let’s start! Like 99,99% of manga, SM was published on a regular phonebook magazine before being compiled into collected volumes, so this initial incarnation of the manga is the one that must be considered first. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon was serialized on Kodansha’s monthly title Nakayoshi between February 1992 and April 1997 for a grand total of sixty chapters (please don’t try to do the maths - I can already tell you that two single issues during this five-year period were skipped). On, the other hand, Codename Sailor V! was host by Nakayoshi’s companion magazine RunRun, which used to come out once every three months, between April 1991 and October 1996 on a much less regular basis; this series counts a total of sixteen chapters. We must also add that eight different short stories and one much longer extra chapter were also being contempourarely published between Nakayoshi, RunRun and the bimonthly issue Nakayoshi Deluxe, with a very irregular pace; finally, a tenth extra story was later published as a stand-alone well after the end of the manga. With all of this in mind, we’ve got a grand total of 85 back issues (and an artbook, but Parallel Sailor Moon is a wholly different story) to track down if we want to possess the original version of this amazing manga series. Good luck with that! Finding them these days is very rare, and finding them at a reasonable price is simply impossible (magazines are the cheapest way to read a manga while they’re still in circulation, but bless you if you want to find some older ones), so you must be a veeery dedicated collector to start the hunt. The good news is that the amazing people at Miss Dream have upped of all this goodness for download, and while it’s not the same as actually owning the issues, it’s still something - I mean, surely it’s enough to know how the manga originally looked like. Yes, because if there’s a good reason why you’d want to give this version a look, it’s because it features art that was never seen after - Takeuchi went through a lot of effort to polish her artwork upon the series’ volume release, which is why many panels and even entire pages from the Nakayoshi version will look vastly unfamiliar to you in you’re not used to seeing her rougher style! All in all, I think this is enough of a reason to, well, at least download the files and compare the pictures with what the manga would come to be later.

Shortly after it hit the shelves in phoneback form, the manga was compiled into a series of collected volumes which came out between 1993 and 1998. The original tankobon incarnation consists of 18 volumes for Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and 3 volumes for Codename Sailor V!; the side stories were randomly thrown around inside the main books, though it should be noted that this edition lacks Parallel Sailor Moon, since it was first published in the Materials Collection artbook, which came out in 2002. These books are the same small size of every regular tankobon (or pocket-sized comic, for that matter) and each sports the standard 180 pages for volume, more or less; and, like all standard editions, they’re completely in black and white. Admittedly, you could say it wasn’t much of a loss, since all coloured illustrations that had appeared on Nakayoshi were also being compiled into a series of artbooks, but these did not include the coloured comic pages that were not pin-up art. This means that, for a long time, the original paperback serialization was the only way to get your hands on all the coloured parts of the manga - not to mention the fact that the Sailor Moon artbooks completely glossed over Sailor V, so that series was even less lucky than its more popular younger sister, and collectors were basically forced to buy RunRun in order to have all colour art ever made. What’s interesting about this edition, then? What makes it different from the others and therefore worth being bought (apart from lacking a single short story that is present in every subsequent edition, which isn’t arguably a great factor)? You could mention the cover art, for starters: every SM!volume featured four new colour illustrations that Nakayoshi-only readers would’ve missed - one on the front, one on the back and one for each side of the flier sides - while the SV!volumes only featured new stuff for the cover and just recycled art for the other parts; it should also be mentioned that every SM!volume came bundled with a double-sided poster in full colour, but they all featured already-seen art from the chapter pin-ups that were also present inside the books, though in b/w. But, truth to be said, you can still own all these pieces of art without possessing the original tankobon edition, since they are all featured in the artbooks - and in a much bigger and cleaner format, to boot! Though sadly this applies to Sailor Moon but not to Sailor V, as usual. No, the reason why you really want to check this edition out is inside the books: first of all, the first page usually features some tankobon-exclusive b/w art (which means that it was born in b/w and not converted from a coloured source to a b/w print) which, by virtue of being b/w, was totally absent from the artbooks. You’ll also be treated with Takeuchi’s liner notes wich were then suppressed from later editions (this tankobon-exclusive feature took the space that was devoted to sports and commercials in the Nakayoshi version)! And, aside from the illustrations, the greatest difference is actually the artwork in the manga pages themselves: as I’ve mentioned, almost every page was retouched to varying degrees when transitioning to phoneback publication to book release, and sometimes full pages were even added! In the end, what makes this edition unique is that it features an incredible quantity of panels that would be later redrawn (again!) for the next release, which is why I think it’s very important to at least give a glance to the original tankobon’s scans. Oh, I should also note that the division of the story into chapters was vastly rearranged for this version: comparing this arrangement to the way chapters were actually published singularly in Nakayoshi, Sailor Moon went from 60 to 49 chapters, while Sailor V went from 16 to 15. * But well, this is more of a formal difference, since none of the content from the magazine edition was eliminated - it was either altered or added, but never cancelled. As a final note, though the tankobon edition is out of print, it’s still relatively easy to find copies at a reasonable price, so it’s not as impossible a mission as hunting for the original magazine release is.

*= The issue of splitting Sailor V into chapters is a huge problem by itself, since the series actually started as a one-shot which we are now used to calling Chapter 3. The fact is, chapters 3-4-5 were the first to be published on RunRun as a sort of experiment and, once their popularity reached a certain degree, Takeuchi went back and gave birth to chapters 1-2 to explain the origins of the heroine in a sort of prequel fashion. But after that chapters 6 to 16 were all released in subsequent order, though skipping some issues of RunRun to make space for Sailor Moon side stories. Just know that all book editions of the manga arrange its chapters following the logical (but not chronological) order in order to give the story some actual sense. I think George Lucas is proud of Naoko Takeuchi.

Now we come to the most well-known edition (and the only one I actually own): the shinsoban release was published between 2003 and 2004 and consists of 12 volumes for Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, 2 volumes for Codename Sailor V! and 2 bonus volumes for the so-called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Short Stories, which were grouped separatedly from the main series and included Parallel Sailor Moon for the first time. Even though the size of the books is about the same as the previous edition, they’re all quite thicker - each of them sports about 240 pages, more or less. And the first six are in full colour! Continuing on with the technical side of things, the shinsoban edition restored the original division into chapters from Nakayoshi and RunRun, but kept the tankobon rearrangment of the Sailor V reading order; in the end, the shinsoban way has become the official division and order for the manga, and the basis for every subsequent rerelases and adaptations. But what sets this edition apart from the others? First of all, the new coloured illustrations: every SM!volume (including the extra ones) features three new pieces of art - one for the cover, one for the back and one for the summary page; regarding Sailor V, this is limited to a single new illustrations per volume (the cover one) coupled with some recycled art. As an added bonus, all SM!volumes (so including the two extra ones, but excluding the two SV! ones) came with a page of stickers mostly featuring even more new coloured pieces by Takeuchi. And, this time around, there are no artbooks to have collected these artworks, so buying the books is essentially the only way you’ve got to be able to stare endlessly at all this awesome art. Speaking of the art, yet again a huge number of panels was redrawn in Takeuchi’s new style, and particulars were added to the Warriors’ uniforms which were present in their original design but had been scrapped before the manga hit serialization. This was the last time this was done, which means that a) the shinsoban has become the definitive version of how the manga looks like and b) there’s a total of three versions of the manga which differ from one another regarding the artstyle, and these are the Nakayoshi, tankobon and shinsoban versions. And the last is the best looking one, according to my very qualified judgement. It should also be noted that, in this edition, the tankobon liner notes were suppressed (their place was reassigned to some recycled b/w chibi art), but short two-pages comics about the making of the manga were added; and while the first change was kept in later editions, the omake content is exclusive to the shinsoban. The conclusion is the following: since the shinsoban edition is still being reprinted on a regular basis, it’s very easy to buy it first-hand, and to a reasonable price to boot - by virtue of being a deluxe edition, they’re slightly less expensive than your regular tankobon issue, but the difference in price is minimal and, since there are less books to buy, it even comes off as cheaper in the end; not to count that, even considering a single volume, the quality of this version is still much superior.

Then there’s the kanzenban edition, which was published between 2013 and 2014 and consisted of 10 volumes for Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and 2 volumes for Codename Sailor V!; as stated above, the division into chapters followed the shinsoban, but the side stories were once again reinserted in between the regular series instead of being distinctly separated. Now, unlike with previous releases, the kanzenban does not feature any sort of update on the artwork, which means that the shinsoban is still the definitive version of the manga. But of course there is something to differentiate this editions from all the others! First of all, there’s the new art: every SM!volume presents a brand-new coloured illustration that, once again, is not available anywhere else due to up-to-date artbooks not existing. Unfortunately, this implies that there is nothing new aside from these ten illustrations, since the back and side cover sport no art at all and the SV!volumes, poor Mina, use recycled art even for the covers. That being said, the main selling point of the kanzenban is the fact that it’s the only edition to feature all the colour pages of the manga: this is relevant even for artbook-owners since the kanzenban is virtually the only source to include the coloured pages from the manga that are not cover pin-ups and the coloured illustrations and manga pages for Sailor V, all of which are very much absent from the artbooks. This makes the kanzenban a sort of must-own for everyone who’s obsessed with Takeuchi’s art, and you can stay assured that I’m going to spend everything I’ve got on this edition as soon as an Italian translation is published. The kanzenban volumes do not come with any bonus material, but they make up for it with their incredible size which makes them the best medium to ogle at Takeuchi’s art properly without the need to use a magnifying glass (...I’m not the only one who does it, am I?) - for comparison’s sake, the books are only slightly smaller than Nakayoshi issues, but the paper and ink quality is on a wholly different level! Every SM!volume is very thick, counting about 300 pages each, while the SV!volumes are not different from their shinsoban counterparts in that regard - they’re just bigger and more coloured. Of course this comes with a negative side: this edition, being more deluxe than a deluxe version (keep in mind that the shinsoban was deluxe indeed), is very very expensive. With this I mean that each volume costs about 2,5 times the price of your standard all b/w tankobon that you can find at the newspaper seller. This is to say that, if you’re not a super hardcore fan like me, you can very well go for the shinsoban.

The good news for anyone who can’t afford any of these editions is that a bunkoban release has been officially announced to be due to be published between 2018 and 2019. Information about this version is still very scarce, though, so we don’t know how many volumes it will comprehend - hell, we don’t even know if this edition will include Sailor V at all! With this in mind, I can only tell you what I know about bunko in general, based on the ones I own: the great thing is that each volume is about 500 pages long and very cheap, but there’s a reason to this. Bunkoban books are in complete b/w and, perhaps more importantly, are positively minuscule, to the point that reading can be even made difficult by their small size. My personal advice is to buy bunko only if you absolutely have to. Oh, I should also mention the fact that this edition is not going to feature any new art, since the covers will recycle the same illustrations used for the first kanzenban volumes, as photos from the official site have revealed. Anyway, I promise to update this mini-guide with more info as soon as the bunkoban edition is actually released!

So, to put it short, my suggestion is: hunting down the Nakayoshi edition is a task for hardcore collectors only; at this day and age, the original tankobon version is outdated, but it still holds interest to a dedicated fan; the shinsoban edition is the default one to go for new readers and probably the best way to enoy the story; the kanzenban edition is only for very, very big fans; the bunkoban edition will irreparably destroy your eyesight. In the end, I think the most difficult choice is between shinsoban and kanzenban, and that is a decision you have to make thinking of what you value more between the story and the art. If you really can’t make your mind up, keep in mind that it’s not illegal to buy both! Still, never forget that the more buyer-friendly is the shinsoban. I very much hope this piece can be helpful for new readers! :) Please tell me if you spot anything missing and don’t hesitate to ask for more information! 

#sailor moon #naoko takeuchi #pretty guardian sailor moon #bishojo senshi sailor moon #pretty soldier sailor moon #kodansha #nakayoshi #runrun #nakayoshi deluxe #sailor v #codename sailor v #manga #chrono

[vamytas]

A (Very Rough & Ready) Guide to Alex’s Tattoos

I’ve been putting this off for a LONG time because I like to be meticulous especially with character visuals but with the amount of tattoos Alex has, especially on his expansive canvas of a 6 foot body, trying to find a pictoral example for EVERY bit of ink is... YEAH lmfao.

* As a guiding note, the indicating ‘left’ & ‘right’ etc. is from HIS left and right. All heart designs are typical cartoon shape unless stated as (anatomical).

NECK //

Underneath his ear lobe, on the left side of his neck is a hand holding a needle -- designed to look as if it’s pierced through his skin. At the top of the needle is a red thread which curves semi-loosely around the back of his neck and wraps around a red heart below his right earlobe.This can only be seen if you lift (or pull) up his hair since he never, if rarely ever, ties it back high enough. 

LEFT ARM // 

FINGERS: Simplified red rose gradually blooming from little to index finger, from bud to full bloom. This is just below the top of his knuckles, below them (closer to his nails) on each finger is a stem with thorns.  HAND: Bull face, directed towards viewer -- lineart with minimal black shading. FOREARM: Basically a flash tattoo / pork-chop sheet mixture (see here & here  -- middle pic). Omitting anything explicitly religious (apart from a cross or two) and culturally appropriative. Includes a range of panthers, snakes, skulls, hummingbird with beak in flower, handcuffs, full figure Betty Boop, inkwell and heart wrapped in barbed wire. All interspersed with Felix the Cat faces and little stars to fill blank spaces. Very clear linework and simple shading, only using bright colours: red, green, blue and yellow. Some of these are done by Alex himself, his first tattoo on his own body being an ouroboros snake.  UPPER ARM: Much of the same as above, except with the addition of a Sailor Jerry style pin-up with blonde hair in a corset and heels. Also a chain band just below his shoulder. SHOULDER: Lucifer from Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. First tattoo with complex colour-shading, done by his first employer in London who he worked with as apprentice. 

RIGHT ARM //

FINGERS: Skeleton anatomy on the full-length of his middle finger and knuckles, the rest of his fingers (near nails) and his thumb are blocked with plain black. HAND: Continues with skeleton anatomy. Entire design is clearly inked style shading (as in nothing that looks anatomically realistic) like this. FOREARM: Contemporary & post-modern designs. Inner forearm is covered with praying mule from And the Ass Saw the Angel book cover. Outer forearm is design pictured on the left here, picture was taken at an exhibition which I have the guide to and artist credit but .. whoever edited it  helpfully didn’t align credit with the picture so I need to manually look up each artist listed to HOPEFULLY find the one who did it.  UPPER ARM / SHOULDER:  Literally cannot describe but is piece by Jef Palumbo. Due to technique being incredibly skilled, I am taking full advantage of fictionality and tattooist with these mad skillz existing in early nineties for Alex’s sake... let him have this ..

CHEST / TORSO //

The largest / most expansive singular piece on his body. His chest and torso are fully covered with a design I lifted off a Jean Paul Gaultier add and tried editing onto his bawdy for promo graphic a while ago -- unlike graphic, the tattoo would still be in the same colour as Gaultier ad, but yellow of skull would be red instead -- less tribal texture and more lined mark-making like the skull featured in me blog background to the left of Alex’s head (I can’t find the pic in my folder..)

BACK //

UPPER BACK: This is where a little imagination is required as I’ll just be listing a bunch of images but they’re all collaged in a cohesive/overlapping way like Duncan X’s back -- pic taken by Liam Sparkes. So;  Saint Sebastian by Myles Karr down Alex’s spine. On the left: text from this photo by Tish Murtha complete with exposed brick effect -- in black and white. On the right: text from this, including a stencilised Pauline Boty rendered in Lichtenstein-ish comic print style, with matching Lichtenstein bright colour scheme. These three images together and with a certain scaling form an arc shape across his upper back, and the thread mentioned earlier on the back of his neck hangs an inch above the Saint Sebastian’s hands. Spaces in between filled by Jemma Jones style flash tattoos. LOWER BACK: I’m getting lazy so again, just imagine in style of Sparkes tattoos summat like this mixed with this on the left and again more flash tattoos imposed between and over blank spaces.

HIPS //

Handprints on each harr harr.

ASS // 

🙊 Only his partners know ... unless you attend classes where he poses for life drawing

LEFT LEG // 

THIGH (FRONT): Entire leg is surrealist/dadaist themed. Whole front of thigh is coverd by this collage by Otto D’Ambra. THIGH (BACK): Under his butt: Eliott Lane. Under that, another Otto D’Ambra. Around them, these (1, 2) by Caleb Kilby, and top middle illustration by Kathryn Kirk. KNEE: Left eye of Siouxsie Sioux, (right eye on his right knee). I’m imagining these are also embellished around the edges by a circular labyrinth symbol pattern to fit the shape of his knee joint.  SHIN: Fish-head man by Kerry-Anne Richardson, black and white. CALF: Hannah Hoch collage, but in black and white -- rendered much like D’Ambra tattoo on the front of his thigh (semi-realistic pointilism shading for woman’s face, simplified basic outline for images surrounding it). ANKLE: Smoking bunny by Sarah Whitehouse. * Spaces between these main pieces are filled by flash tattoos in style of Liam Sparkes. Entire leg is only black ink.

RIGHT LEG // 

THIGH (FRONT): Entire leg mirrors left arm in a mixture of classic tattoo designs/styles with pop-culture & illustrative character leanings. Multi-eyed devil (??) piece by Kerry-Anne Richardson. Full colour. Fishnet leggies by Just Jen on inside of thigh. THIGH (BACK): Skull emerging from chrysanthemum by Ben Shaw, underneath that: crescent moon by Kerry-Anne Richardson. KNEE: Aforementioned Siouxsie Sioux eye in labyrinth. SHIN: Wolf in sheep’s clothing by Iain Sellar.  CALF: THIS!!!!!!!! by Charissa Gregson. He hasn’t got a name yet.. suggestions welcome. Below him, more Iain Sellar stuff. ANKLE: Peachy-keen, piece by Holly Ashby. * Spaces in between main pieces on thigh are filled by Dennis the Menace & Peanuts panel. Out of sheer self-indulgence I’m adding this lady. Every other blank space refers back to Sparkes and Jemma Jones flash tattoos.

He doesn’t have any on his feet because he’s ticklish there..

#▏▪ HEADCANON. #(THIS IS AS MUCH as i can muster now #will reblog when his legs are decided on #FOR NOW HAVE THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!! #only visual descrip of tattoos. . meaning isn't elaborated on #squints and looks askance #EDIT: HAVE Added legs. . ideal #will probs add to this in future since .. amount of tattoos ppl can have is !! a lot !! #especially since alex prefers nothing that covers a whole limb .. apart from torso . .

[incurableweeabootrash]

Comprehensive list of ‘Safe to Watch’ Anime (W.I.P)

This post is made up of three lists: ‘Safe To Watch’ ‘Almost’, and ‘Blind Reccomendations and Suggestions’.

‘SAFE’ TO WATCH

If memory serves me correctly, these anime are free from overt fanservice or anything that slaps you in the face with how problematic it is. This list will be worked on an added to over time. I’ll only really be focusing on shows that I think are worth a watch

1) Tokyo Mew Mew - Watch subbed due to 4Kids style butchering in the dub. Luckily that doesn’t happen anymore these days in dubs.

2) Little Witch Academia - A series on Netflix that can only be described as The Worst Witch - The Anime. Watch sub or dub depending on your preference.

3) Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Also on Netflix. Probably one of the highest rated anime of all time, and has multiple well-portrayed female characters and even some racial diversity. It’s set in a Europe inspired setting, so I recommend watching dubbed. Although the dub is just great anyway. Skip episode 1 and go straight to episode 2, as the first episode is actually filler and even contains a spoiler.

4) Attack on Titan

5) Love Live! School Idol Project Season 2, and Love Live! The School Idol Movie. Season 1 of Love Live is an ‘ALMOST’, but I’ll get to that in the next list. You shouldn’t skip season 1 though, for story reasons.

6) Digimon Tamers - The most well written of all the Digimon shows, with good character arcs. Can be watched on Amazon Prime.

7) Tokyo Ghoul. Shame about the second season ignoring the manga almost completely though

8) Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions Season 1 - A story about young teenagers who either went through a phase of believing they had superpowers and were some kind of anime character, or still haven’t outgrown that phase and still like to pretend they have special powers.

There’s no real fanservice in either season, but season 2 has two seperate instances of a very minor homosexual female character being portrayed as a bit weird and deviant. Season 1 is completely clean though, so watch that and decide for yourself whether to keep watching.

9) Cardcaptor Sakura - Same genre as Tokyo Mew Mew. Again watch subbed for the same reason as TMM. It also has subtle portrayals of homosexuality, being a work by CLAMP, and there doesn’t seem anything wrong with it as far as I’m aware. People who are actually queer can have the final say on that though.

10) Strawberry Panic - A show about an all girl’s school where being gay is just the norm. And believe it or not, it’s NOT a porno! Again, people who are actually queer can have the final say on whether the portrayals are okay or not, but from my perspective everyone seems to just be a person who happens to be gay, considering that homosexuality is treated as normal and nothing special in this show.

11) Yuri on Ice

12) Wolf Children - An animated film that’s just really good. The story of a mother raising what are basically werewolves but with complete control over when they can transform. Her challenge is whether to raise them as humans or as wolves.

13) Yona Of The Dawn - Story of a spoiled princess in Ancient Japan who gradually grows into a strong individual. I’ve also been informed that the multitude of men in the cast are also all rather attractive, if that’s a selling point for you xD Yona of the Dawn can be watched on Funimation Now.

14) Madoka Magica - It’s been almost five years since I’ve seen this, but I’m absolutely certain there was no fanservice. I recommend you watch this only after seeing a show like Tokyo Mew Mew/Cardcaptor Sakura, or Sailor Moon, as Madoka Magica is part of the same genre ('Magical Girl’) but expects you to have already seen the classic magical girl shows or at least know a little bit about them. Give it four episodes before you judge it. Trust me, this is the most extreme example of not judging by the first couple of episodes. 15) My Love Story - I mean when a stranger gets arrested for trying to feel a girl on the train and gets promptly punched in the face for basically saying that 'she was asking for it wearing a skirt that short’, you know the writer’s got their head on straight morally. 16) Wandering Son - “ Effeminate fifth grader Shuuichi Nitori is considered by most to be one of the prettiest girls in school, but much to her dismay, she is actually biologically male. Fortunately, Shuuichi has a childhood friend who has similar feelings of discomfort related to gender identity: the lanky tomboy Yoshino Takatsuki, who, though biologically female, does not identify as a girl. These two friends share a similar secret and find solace in one another; however, their lives become even more complicated when they must tread the unfamiliar waters of a new school, attempt to make new friends, and struggle to maintain old ones. Faced with nearly insurmountable odds, they must learn to deal with the harsh realities of growing up, transexuality, relationships, and acceptance. Lauded as a decidedly serious take on gender identity and LGBT struggles, Takako Shimura’s Hourou Musuko is about Shuuichi and Yoshino’s attempts to discover their true selves as they enter puberty, make friends, fall in love, and face some very real and difficult choices.”

More to come

THE 'ALMOST’ LIST

These are shows that are about 95% okay, but have one or two tiny moments or a small aspect about them that are a bit 'ehhh’. Nevertheless, I believe every show on this list is still worth a watch due to them very good for the vast majority of the show regardless.

1) Love Live! School Idol Project Season 1 - Love Live is usually so innocent that it’s practically the Disney/My Little Pony of anime; singing and dancing included. But clearly someone on the writing staff was a little confused and thought they were writing some terrible Adult Swim comedy or something, because this one gag that they clearly thought was so hilarious it had to be included, left everyone including Japanese viewers thinking “What the hell!?”

If I could put the series into Windows Movie Maker and edit out five seconds from episode 2 and about 10 seconds from episode 7 (ESPECIALLY those ten seconds from episode 7) then I’m sure a large majority of the fandom would rejoice. It’s such a tonal whiplash and I’m kind of concerned for the writer who finds this funny. I’ve been told that apparently real high school girls in Japan do that to their friends as a prank or just to piss about, but the difference there is that it’s between friends who trust each other.

…However, there is actually a happy end to this story, as I’ve been told that Japanese viewers actually complained to the people behind the show, and THEY LISTENED! When working on season 2, they clearly listened to fan feedback as Nozomi never did that again. It was so out of place in the show anyway, and so uncomfortably portrayed.

Nevertheless, the other 95% of Love Live is this wonderful colourful, bright, heartwarming show with a great main character and catchy music and it went above all my expectations of it, and I while I wouldn’t normally condone ignoring problematic things, the fact that it’s literally such a tiny tiny amount of the show’s running time, and the fact that the complaints were heard and they learnt their lesson, means that with a well timed fast forward (I might look up the exact times to skip at some point ) you can skip past those two moments and improve your watching experience. I just wish there was a version with it edited out completely. ___________________

2) Death Note - Barely any female characters other than Misa, who may divide opinion on how she’s portayed. However it’s a fantastic watch regardless, and is fanservice free

3) Mirai Nikki/Future Diary - Mao. A bit of a problematic portrayal of a homosexual female as her sexuality seems to be her main character trait. She’s a minor side character though, so it depends how invested you are before she pops up halfway through the show.

There’s also a little brief female nudity, in a Game Of Thrones way that kind of comes across more as 'Look how mature we are!’ which of course has the opposite effect… However it’s never portrayed in a pornographic way from what I remember, and in one case is even used to unnerve/disturb. Opinions will vary though.

The third episode also features a slightly questionable moment where Yuno loses her bikini top in the pool. Now, you don’t see anything and she does hide herself, and in retrospect she probably did that on purpose to get Yuki more interested in her, but the gut reaction is more “um…. please don’t let my parents walk in right now :L”

It’s a bit more of an ask than the others, but the plot to this is so thrilling and twisting that I couldn’t help love it regardless

4) Parasyte: The Maxim

The quickest a show has ever redeemed itself. This show sees the main character’s hand getting taken over by an alien parasite, but the first episode decides that it’d be 'hilarious’ if the parasite hand accidently grabs his friend’s breast when trying to get the hang of controlling it. But a few episodes later, after several days of her being understandably mad at him (although the fact that it was the parasite’s fault and not his complicated it), he apologises (although missing out the part about the alien parasite) and I feel the show does a good job of acknowledging that it’s wrong and in no way supports it. It’s early on right there in the first episode, so once you’re past that it’s clean sailing for the rest of the show

5) Steins;Gate - While some find the first half a bit slow, Steins;Gate becomes phenomenal in the second half. Only problem is that the self-proclaimed mad scientist Okabe Rintaro is more science-smart than social-smart, and there’s a thing he does purely out of shock and scientific curiosity when he finds himself in an alternate timeline where a friend of his may now be a different sex. Needless to say, it’s better to just ask rather than check… He’s told off for it and the characters on screen are understandably shocked, but that’s exactly my reaction as well and this uncomfortable moment is a blight on an otherwise fantastic show

6) Sailor Moon - The classic Magical Girl show that influenced the likes of Tokyo Mew Mew and moved the genre forwards. It also features canonically a canonically gay couple about 150 episodes in. Looking back nowadays though, the Nostalgia Critic said it best (skip to 9:00): https://youtu.be/pa2oHxME-aY I never found it attractive in that way myself, possibly because I could see they were cartoons and not real with the 90s art style the show has, but it still can't be denied that it's a bit awkward with their age

7) Gatchaman Crowds, and Gatchaman Crowds Insight - A superhero show that takes a surprising turn into kind-of deeper social and politcal commentary. It really is fantastic, but some may look at the flamboyant looking character OD and see it as a perpetuation of a stereotype. One the other hand, he’s never actually stated or shown to be gay, just fashionable in his own way and flamboyant. To be honest he actually struck me as pretty awesome for just dressing however he wants, especially when the top hat comes in to the mix. I thought the same about Rui, a character refered to by everyone as male but wears clothes traditionally seen as female, as well as a wig, and looks pretty awesome doing it. Both these characters are never the butt of a joke and are generally just accepted by everyone without being commented on. I will also mention Utsustu, a minor character who sometimes just casually wears a bikini as clothes. But surprisingly there’s no camera close ups of her chest or anything fanservice-y. We view the show through the lens of the very open minded main character Hajime. When Hajime firsts meets Utsustu, she just comments “cute swimsuit!” and asks her where she got it from. To me this gave the impression that, like the main character Hajime, we shoud accept that this is how she sometimes likes to dress, and more power to her if she wants to. Not to mention that there is way more to her character than what she wears. I think the show in general has good elements of celebrating self-expression in these three characters, but I can see why some would disagree.

Often there’s a debate when it comes to localisation and censorship, but with most of the shows above I kind of wish that a censored version was at least available because for people like me they’d be an improvement. But I feel that as long as you acknowledge that a moment is wrong and acknowledge what’s wrong with it and talk about it, you can still enjoy the rest of the show since you won’t be pretending it’s okay and your own morals won’t be influenced by it. Feel free to disagree with me though _______________ BLIND RECOMMENDATIONS 1) Snow White with the Red Hair - Not one I’ve seen myself but was suggested to me for this list 2) Whispered Words. “ Murasame Sumika is popular in the high school for her excellence in the marks and sports. However, she has a secret: she is in love with her classmate Kazama Ushio. Ushio also has a liking to the love between girls, but she hasn’t noticed Sumika’s feelings and has always been refused by other girls.” Apparently a very relatable story for any closeted girl. 3) Samurai Flamenco -” Male model Masayoshi Hazama becomes the superhero Samurai Flamenco and fights crime. “

#anime #anime list #family friendly #fanservice #tokyo mew mew #tokyo ghoul #steins;gate #love live #fullmetal alchemist #brotherhood #attack on titan #death note #parasyte #future diary #mirai nikki #cardcaptor sakura #strawberry panic #Yuri On Ice #wolf children #yona of the dawn #akatsuki no yona #puella magi madoka magica #madoka magica #whispered words #wandering son #My Love Story #samurai flamenco

[hellomomo]

Fanfic Year in Review 2019

I’m actually really proud of how much I wrote this year so I wanted to give this a shot!

1. List of fics completed this year:

i send you a sign, send you a signal (Sailor Moon)

give me a remedy (Marvel)

double trouble couple (Sailor Moon) 

a romance for the small things (Sailor Moon)

if i'm going down i'm taking you all with me (Batfamily)

hope is something you give yourself (Batfamily)

you're my heart shaker (Miraculous Ladybug)

7!! I wrote/published more stories this year than ever before! Definetely found a new love for writing this year!

2. Number of words written:

51152 according to AO3

3. Your most popular fic this year:

populairy by hits then it’s

if i'm going down i'm taking you all with me, give me a remedy, and hope is something you give yourself 

they are from larger and more active fandoms so makes sense lol

4. Your personal favorite this year:

hope is something you give yourself and i send you a sign, send you a signal

both were a lot of fun to write and really reminded me of my love for writing I think

5. Your favorite scene:

Ahhh I’m terrible at picking favourite and have an awful memory slkdfjlsf

But writing frilly prose about how pretty Mamoru looks is one of my favourite past times so any of those scenes are bound to be up there on the favourite list

This one from a romance for the small things required a decent amount of pinterest scrolling to figure out because men’s athletic wear is usually pretty ugly lol

 “Tired?” He asked, sitting down next to her. Usagi tipped her head backwards and took a large gulp of water rather than responding. The water was cold, refreshing, and almost sweet; her dry throat appreciated it greatly.

 After downing about a third, she handed the bottle back to Mamoru. She turned to thank him only to find him staring fondly at her. Her heart skipped a beat but not from exercise this time. Usagi knew she probably said this about him every single season, but she swore Mamoru looked especially handsome in the fall. Dark bangs swept across his forehead in gentle waves, wonderfully tousled from the wind, the ends threatening to fall into his eyes. Eyes that seemed strikingly deep and blue among the orange and yellow shrubbery. With a loose dark-washed denim jacket on top of a thick grey turtleneck and form-fitting hiking pants tucked into charcoal coloured boots, he looked straight out of a fall edition of an outdoors catalogue.

6. A fic or scene that challenged you:

oh most defintely double trouble couple. writing ~sexy scenes~ was a very new experience and I felt a lot of embarassment writing it but thank you to everyone who left kudos/comments for made me feel a lot better lol

it was defintely a good experience and i am most definitely willing to write some more stuff in that genre

7. A line of writing you’re proud of:

other writers must be more intimately aware of their fics because i literally cannot remember anything i wrote LOL

this part from hope is something you give yourself hit a little close to home and I am happy with the emotions and tone I wrote so yeah :D

The room suddenly feels smaller and warmer and Tim’s heart is doing that funny leaping thing again and his hands start to feel clammy and shaky. He’s full of silent dread, waiting for his siblings to comment on his bruise or his cold or the drug case he hasn't figured out yet. Or lecture him on hiding and lying and ask him why he can’t even take care of himself. And Tim’s throat already feels thick and he’s about to cry and yell about he’s  trying to take care of himself . He’s trying and trying and trying and can’t they see that?  

Maybe they can see him trying and they see it’s not good enough, that  he’s not good enough. He’s just weighing them all down, getting sick because he was out in the rain for too long because he slipped and fell off of a roof because he’s not getting enough sleep because he can’t do enough during the day because there’s just too much to do and Tim’s not good enough to handle it all even though he should be.

I was actually very happy with most of my writing this year. I feel like a managed to get a good sense of my writing style while still challenge myself and trying new things.

8.  A comment that touched you:

all reviews make my heart flutter but this one from @floraone​ on i send you a sign, send you a signal is especially heartwarming

Ahhhhh I'm so happy about this??!!! Thank you so much?? This is SO SWEET??!

And waking up to this was the best gift EVER because here I am cramming for a big giant module exam and I FEEL THIS and it was SO CUSTOMIZED FOR ME and I LOVE IT and I'm so moved????

Anywhere here you get my unfiltered thoughts as I read haha:

Michiru in it!! She's so classy and amazinh and I love the idea of her trolling Usagi about her reaction to Mamoru in this AU and kind of inadvetendly or full on purpose match-making??? And Usagi the struggling student! Thank you so much for keeping her struggle! Random sex positive robot sex conversations! My jam!! Sitting in psych!! class! With all the right topics xD (we do get ungodly amounts of biology don't we lol? I remember that seminar on hereditary diseases where I had to memorize all the random hundreds of genes identified with the major groups of psychological disorders.....) Tubby time is the best time! Japanese candy! DARS!!! "Naive beautiful lotus" oh lololol best insult in this story "Thinking that going to the library is a date" ahahaha yes, obviously I think this is spot-on xD Using questionaires like a psych student would! And then not using them! SKINNY JEANS! HELPING HER REACH FOR THE TOP SHELF LAUNDRY DETERGENT BEING A TOPIC MAMORU SPEAKS FONDLY OF TEACHING MAMORU ABOUT MELON PAN AND OMG THAT CONBINI SCENE? WHAT?? MY HEART??? I loved this slow build up sp much and that conbini scene ahhh that ws probably MY FAVORITE? (Also giant kudos to you on the pacing - the short scenes with multiple scene cuts kept this so fast paced and allowed you to span so much time while showing us sweet details and interactions? Loved that style!!!)

Oh nooooo her haaaair?! CRANE GAME! That was so cute, and he managed to get her the rabbit! But then how SHE got his at the first try ahahahaha. I adored that bit so hard!!!

COOKING RAMEN FOR HER! The couch incident lololol (oh he was probably so dissapointed when she was gone in the morning!) KITTEN LUNA YOU GAVE ME A TINY MOODY HISSING KITTEN LUNA I LOVE YOU

And awwwww that little bit of established relationship in the end??? I live for tHIsss. And OF COURSE mamoru was pining all the time, OF COURSE.

Thank you so so so much for this fic, love, I WILL TREASURE IT! (And I'm kinda moved that you were nervous to write for me lol?? I'M JUST ANOTHER PERSON! )

it was definitely a confident booster and made me less afraid to publish stuff I wrote. I had a fear (and still kinda do) about posting my fics only to have no one read them and flora has definetely helped me face that fear, not only with this comment but every comment she’s left me.

9. Something that inspired your writing this year:

like I just said, @floraone is a big inspiration. She is so kind and encouraging to all Sailor Moon writers and it’s so sweet to see.

More generally, I am always inspired by other fics from different fandoms, stuff I watch or read. All of it influences the scenes I come up with and the words I use.

10. Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc)

Lol I finally finsihed one fic after 2 YEARS of leaving it incomplete so yay for me!!

I am just proud of myself in general for taking more time to write this year and trying out different things. I think I began to focus less on writing to get kudos/hits and more to on writing things I want to write.

11. Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

Write more! Write for more fandoms! Write different genres!

HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVERYONE!!

[drink-n-watch]

Editing Irina here: I have to admit this post got a bit away from me. instead of a simple list of anime directors I happen to like it turned into this little diatribe about the role of directors in anime production and now it’s way too long. Still I did enjoy writing it so I’m leaving it in but feel free to skip to the list section. I won’t be sad!

For some time I’ve been under the impression that anime directors have a much bigger impact on their end product than live action directors. By no means am I trying to imply that a traditional director does not shape the works they are a part of but for me, it wasn’t as flagrant. There are a lot of directors whose filmography stuns me. Unless they’re big names they don’t necessarily have that much control over the final cut so even renowned directors have some pretty confusing early movies. To me, I tend to notice writer directors way more, than those that stick to just directing.

But in anime, I almost never get caught off guard. I can usually see clear family resemblances between shows from a same series director even if they get produced by a different studio and are in completely different genres. I’m sure there are a lot of reasons for that but I think one of the main differences is storyboarding.

As far as I know, pretty much all shows and movies have storyboards. It’s a basic part of film production. I’m sure there are some rebels out there who just go out and wing it, but when it comes to animated works it’s considerably less optional. It also has more impact.

Even if a director didn’t write a particular series (or adapt it as is usually the case) they always have a final say on the storyboards, if they didn’t outright create them. The storyboards guide and shape the action in such a precise and deliberate way that it’s impossible not to leave a trace. This makes the director’s input as important and obvious as the writer.

or maybe not… no need to get mad

Of course, anime directors also have control of the appearance of a given series but unlike real life shows they are not bound by physical or budgetary constraints when it comes to setting and are never forced into bad casting…. Actually that’s not true. They don’t have to deal with any particular actor’s looks or physicality but they could get stuck with some horribly miscast voice actor and that can be just as damaging.

This said, as far as appearances go, animation in general allows for a much tighter control over the look of a series than would otherwise be possible. It also allows for easy signature looks. You know certain design styles and colours are favoured by certain directors and show up in most of their works. After a while you can tell at the glance when a new show is likely from a director you like. Of course you can get fooled.

The same type of signature look is very difficult and mostly, very expensive to recreate in a live action setting. Not to mention that because it is so involved, a lot of directors will purposefully avoid creating one as it can end up distracting from the story. I heard that in an interview. I don’t remember the director who said it but I like to think it was subtle shade at Tim Burton.

Animation is a more independent venture than traditional film making. Unlike actors on a set, animators do not have to be physically in the same room to create a scene. Everything is compartmentalized. Designers come up with a design. The tons of artists draw the different elements and scenes, separately. The images go somewhere else to be cleaned up and coloured. They then get put together and edited by different people once more. After that the voice and soundtracks are created. And all these people never even have to meet. The producer and director become much more vital to making sure all the moving parts fit together.

it sometimes works better than others

Because of how central the anime directors role is, they tend to leave their fingerprints all over the production. Not to mention that generally speaking, aside from new media (i.e. YouTube) most media has more oversight than anime and as such anime directors have more freedom to mould their shows than even western animation directors. Let me tell you, most of the stuff that comes out of the big anime studios would never fly at Disney. Wait, does Disney own anime now? It’s possible, they own everything else…

Once again, I want to make sure that I don’t sound like I’m trivializing the role of classic directors. They can make or break a movie or show in any format. I’m just saying that I personally feel the director’s presence more in anime than other mediums.

And it’s therefore particularly bad that I hardly ever acknowledge them. I speak or writers, voice actors, studios but I hardly ever mention directors. I would like to fix that today with a very short list of anime directors I am currently interested in. This is by no means an exhaustive list!

Hiroyuki Imaishi

Renowned key animator, director and co-founder of studio Trigger. Regardless of what people may say about Trigger’s narrative choices, most do agree that their productions are usually stylish and distinctive.

As a director Imaishi has helmed:

Dead Leaves (2004)

Gurren Lagann (2007)

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (2010)

Kill la Kill (2013)

Space Patrol Luluco (2016)

Promare (2019)

Considering my deep love for both Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill and Promare, it’s not surprising that he tops my list. Beyond just the visual flare and fantastic palette choices, I find that Imaishi is very skilled at pacing high action with emotional verve. His works are often tongue in cheek and meant to convey deeper meaning and questioning through high speed antics and crazy over the top moments. He manages to balance out both plot and character development with good ole fashion fun in a way that has always managed to suck me in.

Kunihiko Ikuhara

A fantastic creator and veteran of the anime industry, if his name is attached to a project, it has my attention. Especially as a director. Utena alone was enough to win my devotion but this guy also directed:

Sailor Moon R (and a lot of Sailor Moon in fact – also Hell Yeah Sailor Moon!!!)

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Penguindrum

Yurikuma Arashi (will see this really soon)

Sarazanmai (I fell in love with this)

I don’t think I made my point clear enough, but Sailor Moon was a great series and it does NOT get enough credit. It should have been considered on of the Big Boys but somehow never makes the list. A travesty. Since Ikuhara often has a hand in writing or storyboarding the shows he directs, they often have a certain feel to them. That feel is bonkers. This guy loves him some surrealism and so do I. I don’t know what his next project will be but count me in.

Yuki Yase

Ok, I’m not gonna lie, I enjoy good visuals and strong compositions. I sort of give them disproportionate importance. So the director of Fire Force made this list. Whatever else it may be, the series has given me some of my best gallery posts by far.

Yuki Yase may not be quite as seasoned as the two I mentioned so far and although he’s worked as an episode director a lot (and in some very prestigious shows), he only has a few full series to his name:

Fire Force (TV)

Hidamari Sketch × Honeycomb (TV)

Kubikiri Cycle: Aoiro Savant to Zaregoto Tsukai (OAV)

Mekakucity Actors (TV)

Admittedly aside from Fire Force I’ve only seen Mekakucity Actors but it made an impression. I would say he is one of the most adventures directors I know, unafraid to experiment with productions. Sometimes even a bit too much but then again, I appreciate the verve. Both shows are distinctive and visually interesting which is enough to make me want to see what’s next.

Naoyoshi SHIOTANI

Naoyoshi Shiotani has been in the business for a while and racked up quite a few credits but as a director, he’s basically done two things. Blood+ and Psycho Pass. But pretty much all of Psycho Pass) I haven’t watched the second season of Psycho Pass (and I haven’t great things), but I have seen clips of it. And one thing I enjoy about Shiotani is his consistence. I can tell its Psycho Pass from a mile away. And it’s not all up to character designs and backgrounds. Colour choice, voice actor delivery, movement framing and camera angles. All of them have a very specific style and remain true in both movies and series throughout the years. There’s a dedication to his direction which I just appreciate. He also manages to spread out a complicated story in such a way that it’s clear for the audience without talking down to the viewers. That’s a gift.

Takuya Igarashi

Wikipedia makes a point of stating that Igarashi is a freelance director, I’m not sure why. And I might never have picked up on this guy until last season of Bungo Stray Dogs basically made me get a pinterest account so I could keep all my screencaps safe. It was gorgeous. The framing in the series, the angles… Beautiful and masterfully integrated into the atmosphere and ambiance of the series.

Bungo Stray Dogs (TV) : Bungo Stray Dogs (TV 3) :

Bungo Stray Dogs 2 (TV) : ) Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple (movie) : Bungo Stray Dogs: Hitori Ayumu (OAV) : Captain Earth (TV) :

Ojamajo Doremi (TV) :

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars (TV) (Hells Yeah Sailor Moon)

Soul Eater (TV) (whoa)

Star Driver (TV)

Zatch Bell: Attack of Mechavulcan (movie 2)

So I guess the moral of the story is, I like directors who worked on Sailor Moon at some point? Good moral. Let’s go with that!

I am going to start paying more attention to the production team when new anime get announced cause that’s usually the best indicator of how likely I am to enjoy a show. Who am I kidding..? I’m gonna look at the promo picture band decide entirely based on that. Reading is hard guys! But maybe I’ll look at the production staff of the first few shows! Baby steps.

Do you have any favourite anime directors? Who are they?

Way Too Long My Top 5 Anime Directors post Editing Irina here: I have to admit this post got a bit away from me. instead of a simple list of anime directors I happen to like it turned into this little diatribe about the role of directors in anime production and now it's way too long.

[its-lifestyle]

This year’s edition of Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week (KLFW) was a grand showcase of diverse styles. From resort to street and denim, it showed that Malaysian fashion does indeed come in all forms.

Alia Bastamam and Jovian Mandagie went for the classic, trendy and chic look, while Tarik Jeans and Pestle & Mortar Clothing upped the edginess with cool, streetwise outfits.

There were also a lot of firsts – Rizman Ruzaini debuted a men’s collection, while Innai Red showcased resortwear. A special project by the AirAsia Foundation saw upcycled outfits walking the runway.

Here’s the roundup of highlights from the 2019 KLFW.

Feminine Edge

Tarik Jeans staged its first full womenswear runway. It combined the use of creative music and visuals, as well as unconventional, rugged elements, for a truly unique show.

Comprising 20 different looks, the new collection is described as “romantic, melancholy and aggressive with the inevitable nosebleed of rock n roll”. It is also said to be a “love letter” to all the ladies who have always been a fan of Tarik Jeans.

According to head of womenswear at Tarik Jeans, Mimi Lee, the name Salvaged was chosen for the collection as it signifies preservation. This brings about the theme of fashion embracing the “green” movement.

“If you look it up, the word ultimately means ‘to save goods from damage or destruction’, which is what we are doing here with sustainability being the big idea,” she says regarding the label’s focus for this year.

Street Cred

Pestle & Mortar Clothing showed for the very first time at KLFW. The streetwear label, which happens to be a favourite among Malaysian youths, sent out sporty and fun looks, all of which focused on bright colours.

There was also a hippy, beach vibe going on with the collection. It showed plenty of outerwear – from windbreakers to parkas, and even a surf suit. Reflective materials seemed to be a staple as well.

The incorporation of tie-dye pieces offered a truly groovy feel. As were the vivid and cheerful Hawaiian shirts, which, are indeed a recognised major trend in the fashion industry for this year.

For a label that was first founded on offering creatively Malaysian-flavoured T-shirts, there was barely any tees on the runway. It seems that that Pestle & Mortar Clothing has proven that it can do fashion, after all.

Making A Change

AirAsia Foundation (AAF) made its debut in the world of fashion with the launch of its upcycle collection. It raised awareness about the importance of making mindful fashion choices.

The 12-piece collection, created in partnership with conceptual design house Projek Jahat, is made entirely from repurposed materials – from blankets to seat leather – sourced from the AirAsia’s warehouses.

AAF executive director Yap Mun Ching said, “Projek Jahat’s approach to AirAsia materials is completely fresh. These are not viewed as items to salvage but a treasure trove that excites their imagination as designers.”

For Projek Jahat curator Mohd Faizul Isa, the collection’s aim was to make a statement about the importance of considering an industry’s environmental footprint and to show that nothing is waste.

Freedom Of Style

Jovian Mandagie has taken the essence of a resort style as the inspiration for his latest womenswear collection. Nautical stripes, artisanal floral prints, and sailor striped motifs were seen on the runway.

From boxy and A-line tops, double breasted jacket to tailored suits, palazzo pants, cropped ankle-length skirts, flowy blouses and maxi skirts and culottes, it has something for everyone.

Mandagie said that he loved how the collection is relaxed, yet still stood out. He explained that it carries the feeling of spending time in paradise, and he wanted to give women the choice of dressing however they want.

“The team and I have been working really hard to produce this collection. I do feel that this collection is at once fresh yet effortless, and of course, utterly covetable at the same time for the women of today.”

Masculine And Sleek

Rizman Ruzaini surprised everyone by presenting its first menswear collection. This was produced in partnership with HP and inspired by the Spectre Folio convertible notebook.

The designer duo behind the label, Rizman Nordin and Ruzaini Wan Jamil, looked to the device’s sleek look for inspiration. This resulted in tailored pieces with clean lines and a luxe feel.

“Constantly reinventing while being committed to immaculate craftsmanship and attention to detail has allowed us to keep up with the evolving fashion industry over the past 15 years while maintaining our DNA” commented Rizman.

On the designs, Ruzaini added: “Taking design inspiration from the stunning HP Spectre Folio, you can expect leather, luxury and sophistication in our latest collection.”

Casually Cool

Innai Red presented its debut resortwear collection at KLFW this year. True to the label’s design philosophy, the outfits combined elegance and poise with a refined look.

Collectively, they work in presenting a fresh idea on luxury. Individually, the pieces offer ease of wear, dressing up or down while pairing with other clothes or accessories.

There were a number of summer-worthy pieces – from midi-length frocks and shirt dresses, to slit-cut palazzo pants, crop tops, bralets and pretty skirts in a variety of cuts.

According to Innai Red, the collection looked at rewriting the rules of resortwear. The colour white was a big focus, highlighting an idea of purity in design and femininity.

Sweet Romance

Alia Bastamam brought life to the notion of romance, with a Spring/Summer 2020 collection filled with lush, flowing pieces. The silhouettes channeled classic modernity.

As a designer, Alia stayed true to her aesthetic of sensuous resort moods – light fabrics, dresses that are poolside to party to black-tie ready, and always with a sense of empowerment.

“At dusk, when the sun sets on one side and the moon rises on the other, our heroine is in the tight embrace of her lover,” read the press release, playing up the idea of fashion drama.

“For 2020, the romance novel heroine is no longer the damsel in distress, instead she is the armoured warrior, the primeval beauty – decked in heavy metal accessories.”

from Style – Star2.com https://ift.tt/34iZkMw

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