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limeade-l3sbian · 2 months

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Who was Kagney Linn Necessary?

(the gofundme for her memorial/funeral will be at the end.)

Kagney Linn Necessary was born in Harris County, Texas in 1987, and raised in St. Joseph, Missouri and in Ridgway, Pennsylvania. [x]

In her early years, she moved to California with ambitions of becoming an actress and a singer but entered work as an exotic dancer before signing with LA Direct Models, a pornographic agency. Karter entered the adult film industry in September 2008.[x]

But that wasn't the entirety of who Kagney was. At face value, the only information I could find with a quick search was the basic information above from Wikipedia. All anyone seemed to know about her was who she was when she was in the "industry." I wanted to see what I could find about her, the person. Not Kagney Linn Karter, but Kagney Linn Necessary.

I raked through interviews she had, her personal social media accounts, and any other articles that I could find just to find any little facts about her that I could.

I thought about omitting her time within the porn industry to focus solely on everything else except that. But I feel it would be tasteless to keep it out. I think it needs to be mentioned. I think it is important to show that women pulled into the porn industry are not these separate beings from any other woman with dreams. This was a 36 year old woman who was just like any other woman who was preyed upon.

Necessary released an EP, The Crossover, in 2018. In 2022, Karter released her debut album, titled The Take Over. [x] She would post clips of her singing covers of songs as well as songs from her upcoming EP on her Instagram.

In 2022, she began learning how to play the piano, even posting a video of her progress.

Necessary was also a recovering addict. In 2021, she posted about the things that helped her stay clean and how she was pleased at having a second chance at life. In an interview, she was intentionally vague about the substances she used, only referring to them as "candy" and "a little bit of everything." But with no insurance or money for rehab, she opted to detox herself at her parents home, working at their tanning salon for free in exchange for "produce."

She moved from Los Angeles to Ohio in 2019 and got involved with pole dancing fitness studios before being involved the opening of one in Akron, called Alchemy Pole Fitness. She posted many videos of herself having fun and practicing new/old moves.

In November 2023, she was posting pictures of her new house and how well it was coming together,

[their website leads to a website called Alchemy Space Studios and says that it was founded and run by a separate woman. But upon looking up the LLC for the business, Kagney is named as the registrant and she is named as the owner of the space in two separate articles.]

In 2015, Carter claimed musician Chris Brown paid her $2,500 to be his escort. She reportedly tweeted things like 'I WILL NEVER F*** A WOMAN BEATER EW DISGUSTING' and 'HE IS PURE EVIL' about Brown.

I just felt like adding that because what a queen.

From her students from the studio and friends, she was known to love animals, including her dog, Murphy, and had a deep devotion to the community she was cultivating in Ohio. She was known to be fearless and empathetic, creating her studio as a place for people to feel safe and accepted.

These were the things I could find of her from her personal accounts and the people who loved her. She wasn't an object that will be missed for what "uses" it had. She was a woman who had dreams, who had a community who love her, who had a husband who loves her, dogs she cared for and loved who loved her, and a mother who loves her. I didn't want her story to be another reblog of a lost life.

I know this post is sporadic and clunky, but I wanted to just grab any information I could without crossing boundaries (ex. contacting the family or something tasteless like that). I just wanted to share what she had already shared with the world.

Her friend, Megan Lee, has posted a gofundme that has already surpassed their goal. But I would still suggest donating if you are able. Rest in peace, Kagney Linn Necessary. 💜

#worked on this all morning trying to find sources #got emotional #gonna take it easy for the rest of the day #rest in peace

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yurimother · 9 months

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New 'I'm in Love with the Villainess' Trailer Announces October 2 Premier, New Cast and Theme Revealed

On August 10, a second promotional video for the upcoming television anime adaptation of isekai Yuri series I'm in Love with the Villainess (Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou) was released. The trailer unveiled the series' October 2 premiere date and previewed the opening theme song, "Raise Y/Our Hands!!."

Main cast members Yuu Serizawa (Rae) and Karin Nanami (Claire) perform the opening theme, as well as the ending theme "O.C. Optimum Combination."

The trailer also announced new cast member joining Serizawa and Nanami, as follows:

KENN - Rod Bauer

Daisuke Namikawa - Thane Bauer

Youko Hikasa - Yu Bauer

New visuals were also uploaded to the series website along with the trailer.

Previously announced cast includes Aimi, Ikumi Hasegawa, Sara Matsumoto, and Minami Kurisaka. The anime is created at Platinum Vision and directed by Hideaki Oba (Love of Kill). Additional crew includes:

Ayumu Hisao - Script Composer

Youko Satou - Character Designer

Hijime Takakuwa - Sound Director

Noriyuki Asakura and Usagi to Uma - Music Composers

Yachi Kiyotaka - Art Director

Yamagami Aiko - Color Designer

Sato Yoko and Kobayashi Toshimitsu - Animation Directors

I'm in Love with the Villainess is based on the series of the same name by Inori. Originally released as a webnovel on Shousetsuka ni Naro in 2018, the series was picked up by BL Bunko for digital publishing. It ran for five volumes, concluding in 2021. Hanagata illustrates the light novels.

A manga adaptation of I'm in Love with the Villainess began serialization in Comic Yuri Hime! in June of 2020. Aonoshimo illustrates the manga adaptation. Seven Seas licenses the manga, light novels, and the spin-off series She's So Cheeky for a Commoner in English.

I'm in Love with the Villainess is a popular series, especially with overseas consumers. It has been praised for its world building, characters, and emphasis on explicitly discussing LGBTQ+ identity and life.

The anime is set to premiere on October 2, 2023 and stream in internationally on Crunchyroll.

Source: I'm in Love with the Villainess Anime Official Website

#yuri #gay #lgbt #anime #news #i'm in love with the villainess #girls love #lgbtq #gl #queer #manga #lesbian #ILTV #Youtube

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the-monkey-ruler · 8 months

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what are some upcoming xiyouji media that you’re excited for?

Here are a few!

2020 Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons 西游降魔篇 - I think this is like a re-write of the whole Chow Xiyouji films into a tv series!

2020 I'm Not a Great Sage 我不是大圣 - the Six-Earred Macaque being seen as a hero when he is trying so hard to be a villain. (Correction there are two movies with the same name and I got the poster for the wrong one whoops)

2021 Seven Sages 七圣 - a movie all about Wukong's brotherhood like with Snub-Nose Monkey King or Flood Dragon King!

2021 Sun Wukong: Heaven Devourer Monkey孙悟空之噬天魔猴 Trailer - the animation for this looks AMAZING AND I CANT WAIT!!!

2022 King of Confusion: The Rise of the Great Sage / Four Monkeys in Confusion 混世之王：混世四猴 /混世之王之大圣崛起 - Super excited to see Wukong and ALL THE SPIRITUAL MONKEYS!!! FINALLY THE WHOLE GANG IS HERE

2022 Bajie: Movie Preview 八戒：電影搶先看 - I am a huge Bajie fan and this just looks ADORABLE!

2022 The Lower Boundary of the Canopy of Bajie八戒之天蓬下界 - Another Bajie love story and honestly this one looks precious, he really trying to just get his weapon back but oh no he is being WOOED!

2022 Red Boy: Newborn Calf红孩儿之初生牛犊 - super fun animation! Really want to see the back story in this one!

2022 Monkey King and JJ大圣和江流儿 - I NEED THIS I NEED THIS LIKE WATER I NEED HERO IS BACK WUKONG TO BE A FATHER PLEASE

2023 The Legends of Monkey King 凌云志 - This was based on like a web novel and it sound more insane that it should be. can't say it is "good" but it def sounds interesting at LEAST.

2025Monkey King: The Havoc in Heaven西游记之大圣闹天宫 - I have heard that THIS is going to be a prequel to the 2015 Hero is Back Movie SO !!!!!!!!!!!! WOULD LOVE TO SEE MORE HERO IS BACK WUKONG HE IS LIKE MY SECOND FAVORITE!!!

2030Monkey King: Flame Mountain孙悟空之火焰山 - the animation here just looks so interesting and Wukong looks so uncaney valley I'm really interested about this one.

NullThe Monkey Prince - this one is kinda a cheat but it is a WUKONG-inspired character and honestly, this looks like a lot of fun!!

NullJourney to the West - I can only PRAY that the art style of the poster for this movie is the same as the animation. I have NEVER seen a Xiyouji movie done by the French but if they make it this whimsical and colorful attitude I'm HERE FOR IT.

Needless to say, I'm excited about a lot of things.

#anon ask #anonymous #anon #jttw #journey to the west #xiyouji #ask #zhu bajie #sun wukong

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sakurapika · 4 months

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Reviewing New Year Sale Outfits in Twisted Wonderland

In Japan, New Year's Day (お正月, or "Oshogatsu") is the biggest holiday of the year, and it is also my favorite. That being said, the TWST artists never disappoint when it comes to the art for this event, so let's review all of the cards!

Spoiler warning for upcoming ENG and JP sever event cards, including some Groovy art!

Round 1: 2021-2022

Kalim Al-Asim (SSR)

Look at him, he's so festive and cheerful

This Kalim, as well as Deuce's SR, have a special place in my heart. I started playing TWST the summer it came out, but I wasn't a "serious" player until around New Year. Kalim and Deuce were my first "duo magic" pair, and I love their interactions in the story as well.

I love his headband ribbon and how it matches his obi. The sparkly hakama also suits him. I'm excited to see Jamil's version of this outfit as well, but we all know it'll be a very long time until Jamil volunteers to work retail during the peak season.

12/10 he's so cute

Deuce Spade (SR)

I was surprised that this was just an SR, and that you could get him by finishing the event story. His outfit is so detailed!

I chose his Groovy art so you could see that he's wearing sneakers with his outfit, which I found funny. Cater is wearing similar shoes in his own SR, so it must be part of the Heartslabyul New Year attire. It still feels very in-character for Deuce.

The silhouette of his outfit is interesting. His jacket is short like a suit jacket, but has the sleeves of a haori. There are lots of elements of his dorm uniform, like the pins and sash around his waist.

Not only does he look awesome, but he chose to work during the New Year's Sale to buy a present for his mother.

12/10 very cool and wholesome

Round 2: 2022-2023

Ruggie Bucchi (SSR)

HIS HAIR!!!

Aside from Vargas Camp and his birthday cards, Ruggie doesn't have a lot of SSRs, so I'm happy for him. I look forward to getting him in the English server soon.

I love how Ruggie seems to have picked up a lot of merchandise from around the store. Aside from a fan, which all the boys are using as their "weapons" for battles, he has a little koi bag, which I love so much (I have a similar one). The little toy he's holding is called a den-den daiko (でんでん太鼓), which is popular for young children.

11/10 congrats on getting the job, Ruggie!

Cater Diamond (SR)

I chose to show his un-Groovy art, because it's easier to see his outfit.

His clothes are similar to Deuce's, except that his "vest" is red, and he is wearing a button-down shirt underneath. The mix of Japanese and Western influences reminds me of Taisho-era clothing. He looks like Kazushi Tatsuishi in the anime version of My Happy Marriage, which also happens to be set in the Taisho Era.

It's hard to see in this picture, but he has a hairpin in his hair!

10/10 he slays

Sebek Zigvolt (SSR)

He looks so dramatic with his gloves and fur collar, but are we surprised? He's a Diasomnia student, after all. I wish they had given him a different hat, though, because it looks almost identical to his dorm uniform.

This one makes me laugh, because he poses like my dad. Not seen in this image is Sebby's neon-green geta, which I think my dad would love (he likes having shoes in unusual colors).

10/10 who needs fireworks on New Year's Eve when you have Sebby?

Vil Schoenheit (SR)

He stole the show.

At first glance, his outfit may bear too heavy a resemblance to the regular Pomefiore uniforms, since they're already inspired by kimono.

With his fascinator hat, netted gloves, and black nail polish, though, Vil adds a sense of mystery and intrigue to his outfit. He looks like he is playing the role of a Taisho-era socialite who poisoned their lover and is now actively avoiding the police.

Either that, or he got divorced from Rook. After all, it looks like he is wearing a furisode (a type of kimono meant for single women) rather than a tomesode (worn by married women), like in his dorm uniform.

11/10. The storytelling potential is limitless.

Round 3: 2023-2024

Trey Clover (SSR)

I love his scarf and hat. His coat looks longer than Deuce's and Cater's, and more like a haori. Overall, it looks like a cozy combination.

Like Cater, he is also wearing a button-down shirt under his kimono, and his vest is green. Heartslabyul is the only dorm that gets a character in this event every year, so it's nice to see that the outfits are personalized for each character.

He looks like he could be someone's uncle, but you know for sure that he'd spoil his nieces and nephews.

10/10 very classy, if he was working at the store and I came to visit, I'd trust him.

Ortho Shroud (SR)

ADORABLE.

Something I've always found interesting about Ignihyde clothing is their use of sharp shapes and geometric patterns, especially in Ortho's case. I wonder how Idia's version of this outfit would look.

Ortho and Idia must've had so much fun creating this outfit together!

Infinity/10 if Ortho were trying to sell me anything, I'd buy it, regardless of whether I actually need it.

Rook Hunt (SSR)

He's wearing RED EYELINER!

His outfit is quite different from Vil's. While Vil is wearing a furisode, which is traditionally worn by women, Rook's outfit seems to have a more traditionally masculine silhouette (of course, this is just my interpretation). This probably means that Epel will get to wear an outfit similar to Rook's next time as well.

The peacock feathers on his red hat is also a nice touch.

His pose and expression remind me of Wen Kexing from the C-drama Word of Honor. They also have similar personalities.

10/10, he looks like he just stepped out of a period drama. I look forward to seeing the fanarts of him with Vil.

Jade Leech (SR)

Jade's card has to be my favorite from this year's lineup. I just love how they translated Octavinelle's suits into kimono, while keeping details such as the purple bow tie.

I'm obsessed with his haori--it looks fluffy. I'd like to buy five.

His pose is so...

Like Trey, he looks like someone's uncle (it must be the fedora). However, unlike Trey, he looks like someone's uncle who may or may not be part of the Yakuza. Instead of giving you money on New Year, you owe HIM.

He also looks like he goes door to door selling products, and is about to sell me what he guarantees is a genuine Toshiba toaster oven and absolutely not an overpriced knockoff that will short-circuit and cause my entire neighborhood to lose electricity.

11/10 I will buy that toaster oven anyway.

Which cards are you most excited for? Let me know!

#I'm an f2p player so I've been saving for them ever since GloMas ended #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #twst #kalim al asim #deuce spade #ruggie bucchi #cater diamond #vil schoenheit #sebek zigvolt #rook hunt #jade leech #trey clover #ortho shroud

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avatar-news · 1 year

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Dante Basco will return to voice Fire Lord Zuko as an adult in the untitled animated adult Gaang movie coming to theaters on 10.10.2025!

It’s so exciting to be making a casting post for a new project so soon and who it’s for is even more exciting!

Dante Basco, the voice of young Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008), is returning to voice adult Fire Lord Zuko in the upcoming untitled animated adult Gaang movie (say that 5 times fast) coming to theaters from Avatar Studios in 2025!

Dante also previously voiced Zuko’s grandson Iroh II in The Legend of Korra (2012-2014), and you may also know him from his iconic role of Rufio in the 1991 movie Hook.

Of course, we didn’t forget about the rest of the Gaang...

A global casting call for Asian & Indigenous voice actors in their 20s is going out to find the adult voices of the Gaang!

Specifically, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph are currently being sought out, with Zuko already being found as we mentioned above, and Dante is officially attached to the movie.

They’re looking for Asian actors for Aang and Toph and Indigenous actors for Katara and Sokka (that’s not an exact quote, just the idea relayed to me), matching the characters’ cultural inspirations and the live-action casting process from across 2021-2022. All the roles are for the 20s age range, which matches up with our exclusive report that the Gaang would be young adults in the movie, and the exact in-universe year the movie takes place in which we’re not allowed to reveal yet.

Speaking of live action, I want to specify again that this is VOICE casting for ANIMATION, separate from the live-action casting for the live-action series. There will be a lot of characters overlapping but as far as I know right now they should be different time periods, for example Dallas Liu was cast as YOUNG Zuko in live-action while Dante Basco was cast as the voice of ADULT Zuko in animation. (Also speaking of them, did you know Dante mentored Dallas on playing Zuko?)

I can already see this getting confusing, so I thought about doing black backgrounds for voice roles or something but I decided against differentiating them too much-- at the end of the day it’s all acting and vital to the creation of the world of Avatar! I settled on putting that “voice role” label on the voice actor’s photo to hopefully avoid confusion because while Dante also visually looks like he could be Zuko, all the voice actors won’t necessarily physically look like their characters (I believe for example they just have to sound like they’re in their 20s, not strictly be in their 20s themselves). We actually already had two voice roles cast: George Takei as Koh and Randall Duk Kim as Wan Shi Tong, both voicing non-humanoid spirits in the live-action series.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that while these casting calls are specifically for the 2025 adult Gaang movie, I presume the actors will be the new voices for the characters at these ages across Avatar Studios’ whole animated universe. Specifically of relevance is the Zuko movie. Right now I have no idea what time period it’s set in, but if it’s also when Zuko and the Gaang are approx. in their 20s then it’s likely it would be the same voice cast!

But yeah, this definitely feels like deja vu. It feels like just yesterday I was posting the live-action casting calls for the young Gaang. 🥹 They grow up so fast... 😂 Jokes aside, I also want to mention ***I DON’T have insider connections for the casting process this time, so don’t ask me where/how to apply or anything like that because I don’t know.***

Today’s news comes from Avatar Studios’ closed casting process via DanielRPK, thank you for the major reveal dude!

#news #movie #aang movie #zuko movie #casting #cast and crew #dante basco #zuko #aang #katara #sokka #toph #danielrpk

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weclassybouquetfun · 3 months

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In 2021 the limited series on the career of designer Halston (Roy Halston Frowick, portrayed by Ewan McGregor) waltzed down Netflix's catwalk. Now we have at least three series chronicling the lives and careers of designers.

Currently on Disney+ in Europe is the exquisite CRISTÓBAL BALENCIAGA centering on, guess who? Spanish designer Cristobal Balenciaga, starring Alberto San Juan (Reyes De La Noche) as Balenciaga.

It's an interesting story about this enigmatic fashion genius that shows his steadfastness in his devotion to fashion to the sacrifice, some may say, of ethics due to the fact that while other fashion houses were shut down during Germany's occupation of some parts of France, he readily made clothes for the significant others of German soldiers.

The series also shines a light on Balenciaga's relationship with his creative partner and love-of-his-life Wladzio d'Attainville (played by Thomas Coumans).

Among the designers who appear or are name-checked in CRISTÓBAL BALENCIAGA is Christian Dior and Coco Chanel. These two fashion legends will appear in AppleTV+'s upcoming mini-series THE NEW LOOK with Ben Mendelsohn as Dior and Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel and takes place during Germany's occupation of France.

youtube

THE NEW LOOK will feature covers of classics by Florence + and The Machine, Lana del Rey, The 1975, Perfume Genius and more.

Sometimes this year (at least I hope this year) will be KAISER KARL (apparently the title may be changed) starring Daniel Brühl as Kunty Karl Lagerfeld

centering on him as a 38-year old trying to break into the Parisian world of high fashion where he finds himself in competition with he finds himself in competition with French fashion giants like Yves Saint Laurent.

The only Yves Saint Laurent depiction worth a damn. RIP beautiful Gaspard Ulliel

What is fashion if there's no one to wear it? For example, the high society ladies that will be depicted in the upcoming installment of FX's FEUD: CAPOTE VS. THE SWANS.

Hopefully this series will do justice to the mythos behind writer Truman Capote's nuclear fall out with the so-called Swans - a moniker Capote gave the socialites whose company he kept and whose secrets he didn't.

Playing Capote is Tom Hollander

Naomi Watts as Babe Paley, wife of CBS founder William S. Paley (which the annual PaleyFest is named after), Diane Lane as Slim Keith, ex-wife of famed director Howard Hawks, producer Leland Hayward amongst others; Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill, sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Demi Moore Ann Woodward who got her place in society by being the wife of a banking heir,

Demi, that looks like a flamingo, not a swan.

Chloe Sevigny as Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali muse C.Z. Guest, Molly Ringwald as JoAnne Carson, ex-wife of late-night talk show host Johnny Carson and the only Swan who remained friends with Capote after his ouster from their social circle.

TBT Elle magazine getting animated with fashion.

Goofy as Kunty Karl Lagerfeld.

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achehex · 1 year

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Digimon Ghost Game is now over. What a crazy crazy ride, thank you all for watching and for all the support. I didn’t actually contribute to this final episode, my last contributions were to episode #66 but the pressure last week was so high after the 3 weeks in between episodes that I couldn’t focus on drawing or writing anything, so I’m doing the catch up now. As always longer (way longer this time) thoughts after the cut. If you are curious about how I got this job the short story is knowing the right people at the right time, but the details are way more detailed so keep reading if you are curious.

I’m not sure how this is gonna go but I’m gonna write a whole reflection about my time in the show as opposed to just about the episode itself, so let’s go. Back in August 2021, Jake Ganz head of Yotta offered me to work on the new upcoming Digimon show. At first I said no, it sounded way too intimidating and I didn’t wanna make a fool of myself. But the next day I was scrolling facebook, and saw the poster announcement for Ghost Game, and it somehow clicked in my head that I had a real chance to participate in it. I tried my best to brush my fears aside, and said yes to Jake, as long as I was given a simple task. The process at the start was simple: Porkky, an animator broke down the basics of the tasks at hand, and he and Jubei9 met 1 on 1 with all of us at the Yotta team to deal with the specifics of our work. It was a fun learning experience and I feel like a lot of people really enjoyed it because a good chunk returned for when Toei asked us to help on episode 8. Episode 8 remains one of my favourites in the show, the high speed chase is so intense and the pace never lets up. It was very fun, but also a lot harder than last time. There were more digimon and with more complex designs, no frame could be static because of the wind, a lot of people had to draw go karts. Our next task assigned was Episode 9 right after, and this is the first time something interesting happened to me. The staff at Toei asked me to handle the 止め cuts, which basically means the cuts that don’t move at all, static drawings with maybe a mouth flap or a camera pan. At the time it was so incredibly honoring to be asked to do a specific task, I felt noticed. After that things slowed down a lot, Christmas 2021 was actually the first time since digimon ghost game had started airing where I wasn’t working on the show. So when we were offered to help in episode 18 I did not hesitate, I was actually so excited to be able to draw TeslaJellymon (who has become my favourite digimon!). However this time around our team was much much smaller, and also at that time I got Covid so I had to work through a lot of really annoying drowsiness. Episode 18 was definitely a turning point. I felt the excitement wear off in a lot of people that I was working with, but I was still just so excited to be working there, so it’s when I decided to keep working on Ghost Game outside of the Yotta team. Episode 22 was my first time working directly with Toei. It was honestly so cool that they accepted my offer. I did 6 cuts all by myself on episode 22. Next up episode 30 I did 7 cuts, and I felt ready to take a big leap and ask for a contract with Toei as opposed to the loose freelancing I was doing. That’s when you can see the leap to episode 36. In that episode I handled 25 cuts, a lot of them with very heavy action, a complete departure from anything I had done until then. It was incredibly difficult but it was the episode that really marked my start. After that I don’t have a whole lot more to say than what I’ve said in the respective posts for my episodes. I had so much fun drawing Gigasmon’s huge muscles on 36, Piemon and Flawizarmon’s scary smiles in 41, Kiyoshiro going over the top in 48, Canoweissmon and his butt wings in 56, Siriusmon’s super sick attacks in 62 and finally BloomLordmon’s super complicated cape in 66. It’s actually been incredible that I was able to be a part of this. I said this to someone before but when you are born in Colombia, growing up to draw Digimon never really felt like a possibility and yet here I am. This show completely changed my life, it filled me with excitement and ambition that I hadn’t felt since High School, it allowed me to move out of my mom’s house and live on my own, and afford incredibly important and personal things. I’m so glad I got to be a part of it, I know the episodic nature and wave-handy plot structure of the show was a turn off for a lot of Digimon fans, and I understand it. But around Episode 18 when my colleagues were happy moving on, I still loved this show. I don’t love it cus I worked on it, I worked on it cus I loved it. I could’ve moved on but I wanted to see this through all the way to the end and I’m glad that I did. Thank you so so much, to absolutely everyone, from the highest Toei staff to the newest Digimon fan.

#digimon #Digimon ghost game #hiro amanokawa #gammamon #my work #my animation

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facts-i-just-made-up · 1 year

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How many Final Fantasy games are there? I lost track?

It's easy to lose track but don't worry- It's simple once you know the history:

In the beginning, there was Final Fantasy 1. Released in 1987, the first Final Fantasy was then also released in 1989, 1990, 1994, 200, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2021. Final Fantasy 2 was released about as many times, beginning in 1988, but only in Japan. As such, it is known in America as Final Fantasy: The Lost Levequests. The same thing happened to Final Fantasy 3, which was released in America as “2 Final 2 Fantasy: Lindblum Drift.”

The second Final Fantasy released in America was Final Fantasy 2, which was Final Fantasy 4, the Japanese Final Fantasy 4 being a re-skin of an America only game called Chocoboki Panic. Final Fantasy 2, the first SNES game in the franchise, was acclaimed for being incredibly fucking depressing. Like you start the game by killing some kid’s mom and then there’s something about a cursed town maybe? I don’t know, it lost me early on and I never got to see Golbez or Zeromus or whatever. Also, I’m fine with even Dark Souls type menus now but I mean, in 1991 I wasn’t gonna spend 45 minutes trying to figure out how to equip a fucking shoe.

Final Fantasy 3: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate: Alucard’s Revenge 2 came out in both Japan and America in 1994. Introducing cutscenes to the series, Final Fantasy 3 (Abbreviated Final 3 or sometimes Fantasy 5: Hobbs & Sephiroth) was best known for its main villain, Kafka. Kafka was a difficult and frustrating boss who trapped the protagonists in endless bureaucracy and paperwork until they died of old age, never knowing why. It was later released again in Japan as Final Fantasy 6: The Fate of the Fantasy.

After this, the series switched from Nintendo consoles to the Xbox.

The first X-Box, simply called the Xbox, hosted Final Fantasy 7; The next Xbox, the Xbox 360, hosted Final Fantasy 8; The Xbox 1 hosted Final Fantasy 9, and the Xbox 10 hosted Final Fantasy X. Thus if X=7, 360>8, 1=9 and X<10, then Final Fantasy itself equals 11, which is ideal because Final Fantasy 11, the 14th game in the franchise, was indeed a remake of 9, which was the sequel not to 8 but 7, remade later as 13. This can be remembered with the mnemonic “SPUGNUT” but I don’t know how or why.

With fans confused and the Xbox being discontinued by Sega, Final Fantasy sought a new start with Sony and their NeoGeo: Turbografx master system. The first game for that console was Final Fantasy 11 2, not to be confused with 12. 11 2 and 11 3 were released before 12, but well after 14, known first as Final Fantasy Genesis, but re-titled after Final Fantasy 18 into Final Fantasy Genesis 19:18, or in Japan, Shin Megami Tensei.

Final Fantasy remakes continued with Final Fantasy 13, which was Final Fantasy 8, Final Fantasy 17, which was Final Fantasy 16, and Final Fantasy 21, which was Kingdom Hearts 5, and the upcoming Final Fantasy 22, which will be both Animal Crossing 6 and Land Before Time 15: The Longnecks Take Manhattan, featuring Pinhead from Hellraiser and Beyoncé.

The next Final Fantasy game is planned to be Final Fantasy 28, which will come in two editions, Final Fantasy Dark Cloud and Light Ning. Truly, the greatest franchise ever to spin off from Battletoads.

#final fantasy #square enix #nintendo #gaming #unreality

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touromania · 2 years

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THINGS YOU CAN ONLY SEE IN BRISTOL

BOOK ACCOMMODATION IN BRISTOL HERE GET TO KNOW THE CITY Bristol is the 8th most populous city in the UK, and it has the most populated area in South West England. It has been in the top three cities for over a millennium. It is located in the southwest corner of Somerset and Gloucestershire, and it is bordered by the towns of Bath and Gloucester, as well as the capital of Wales,…

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sisaloofafump · 3 days

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Last month we got to see the up coming covers for June and they included 3 from artist Daxiong that were immediately... suspicious.

Probably the most egregious aspect is how the hair runs into each other. When I first saw this cover, I sent a message to my friend saying "This one feels very AI generated both in the anime realism style and the way everything is rendered".

But then I looked deeper on the artists socials and they've been posting art in this style for years. The only difference is that it's all traditional, not digital like the submitted covers. The boy disgital art they have is from 2021, and at that point the rendering skill is not on par with where it's supposedly at now. But even in recent months, they posted art with that weird organic hair & texture aspect.

A couple hours after the solicitations were released (the covers were shown to the public), and right while I was talking to my friend about it, they posted the lineart of the drawings.

(Continued in reblog bc mobile photo limit)

#wonder woman #power girl #shazam

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chaos0pikachu · 1 year

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tldr: bitches want gay shit, not het shit, with data and numbers to back it up; bonus Bible’s booty

so thinking about @discluded‘s essay on Mile and Apo’s upcoming historical drama, and Thailand’s bid for soft power got my brain thinking thoughts. I’ve talked about Thailand noticing the soft power of their BL media before along with why I think Chinese, South Korean, and other East Asian media (from television to novels, etc) are popping off in popularity in the last 5 years or so. Idk where those posts are and I’m to lazy to link them thus is life

The point! The point is tho reading discluded’s post made me think about F4 Thailand. Ironic, I know, since F4 is a het drama based off Boys Over Flowers a shojo manga from Japan that was released in 1992 and ended serialization in 2008.

Firstly, Boys Over Flowers FACINATES me b/c the god damn chokehold this series has on various Asian countries. I told a friend it’s comparable to like, Romeo and Juliet, in that it’s been adapted, remade, re-adapted, re-booted, re-imagined, and so on over and over and over again. Like there’s audio dramas, there’s films, there’s multiple live action TV shows, there’s an anime. Japan’s made two feature films, and two seasons of a TV. Taiwan had two seasons of a TV show, Korea had a tv show, China had two versions of the same show (one was a remake), Indonesia had two tv shows, India had a tv show, and finally Thailand was the latest to adapt it into a TV show in 2021 - 2022. The legacy of this story can’t be denied.

Now, my point? Okay so my point is I witnessed online the marketing for F4 Thailand in real time. It was interesting to me b/c I very rarely - and have not since - seen a ton of talk about a Thai drama that wasn’t BL or a horror or action film.

When it comes to the Thai film industry, the three genres I see discussed are: BL, Action, Horror. You can see this in what Netflix (America) offers in regards to Thai series specifically what ones they dub which shows like: Girl From Nowhere (which Netflix invested in a s2 and is a thriller/horror drama), The Whole Truth (a horror film), and Thai Cave Rescue (which they also have a documentary based on). Netflix is still (STUPIDLY) reluctant to purchase a license for any SK or Thai BL content (I know Semantic Error would blow the FUCK up on Netflix you idiots!!!) probably b/c investors are like, hmmmm but would gays of color sell? I would say they also have Your Name Engraved Herein but that’s an easier sell b/c its a drama and has more of that classic gay Oscars vibe (this isn’t an inherent bad thing don’t come for me).

Okay back to my point I s2g I have one.

So marketing for F4 Thailand was interesting b/c I actually saw it. I don’t see marketing cross over into my international waters for Thai het dramas. What helped this, and I fully believe this was done purposely, is the casting of Bright and Win who gained international popularity from 2Gether. Like, it seemed pretty obvious to me that casting Bright and Win was a bid to peak the interest of the international market, combined with casting them specifically in an adaption of one of the most famous and well known Asian romantic dramas of the last 30 years or so. This show was set-up to be A Hit.

But I don’t think it really worked internationally; bare with me, numbers time.

Now, ratings for F4 averaged at .441% on Thai TV, higher than Bad Buddy (which aired on the same network) which averaged at .121% and Kinnporsche which averaged at .314%.

I compared F4 to these two shows specifically b/c they aired in a similar timeframe (all three shows aired over the course of 2021 - 2022 except KP which only aired in 2022) and arguably Bad Buddy and Kinnporsche were the biggest BL shows in Thailand in those respective years.

F4 also did well in the Philippines, and ended up dubbed into Filipino, and it’s scheduled for re-broadcast in 2023. Honestly, it’s difficult to see how well F4 did internationally as there’s not a ton of information available on it. When I google “F4 Thailand reception” there’s not a lot of results, if I google “boys over flowers Thailand reception” I get this:

ngl I think it’s pretty funny that one of the top four most asked questions is if F4 is BL and again, it’s def b/c of Bright and Win’s casting. But given that there’s not a ton of information available, I glean that F4 didn’t do great in the western (American/Latin American/European) market. Not to say it didn’t do well.

On Google ratings: F4 Thailand lands at a 4.9 rating with 2619 reviews/ratings and Bad Buddy stands at a 5.0 with 1085 reviews/ratings

On MyDramaList F4 has a rating of 8.5/10 from 11,982 users, and Bad Buddy has a 8.5/10 from 26,445 users

On IMDb: F4 has a rating of 7.8/10 from 2.3k users, and Bad Buddy has 8.8/10 rating from 5k users

This isn’t a comparison about quality, but activity. I’m not here to make judgements on either shows quality, but rather international impact and relevancy. Outside of Google, Bad Buddy has more active users who left a rating or review on the website than F4, almost double in fact.

If you go to GMMTV’s official Youtube page and look at the most popular videos on the channel it’s majority....2Gether. Like my god so much 2Gether the CHOKEHOLD this show had on y’all:

More date and a comparison of F4 and Bad Buddy’s international numbers below, we’re getting into the meat now.

Now the actual F4 official trailer has 3.7 million views on GMMTV’s channel. Bad Buddy official trailer, also on GMMTV’s official channel, has 2.7 million views. Both are set at 1 year ago so they’re within the same or similar time frames for comparison.

To throw in there, the Kinnporsche official trailer was released 10 months ago and has clocked 7.1 million views total on Be On Cloud’s official channel. To keep up with the comparison, F4��s OST Who Am I clocked 21 million views at 1 year, while KP/Jeff Satur’s OST Why Don’t You Stay has clocked 36 million views at 8 months.

(completely unrelated sidenote but Vegas/Bible’s ass has 3.4 million views and I just find that fucking hilarious, the man’s booty got more youtube views than other studios episodes. The power of Bible booty)

You can watch episode 1 of F4 on GMMTV’s official youtube channel, but only episode 1 the rest are just previews for other episodes. Idk why, other series whether het or BL they have all the episodes available. There’s apparently 80 videos that are hidden, I’m wondering if you have to pay Youtube premium to access those. Since I only have episode 1 to compare, for comparisons sake, we can look at those numbers of F4′s ep01 and Bad Buddy’s, both of which are clocked at 1 year each, are as follows:

Bad Buddy ep01 [1/4]: 9.6 million

Bad Buddy ep01 [2/4]: 5.4 million

Bad Buddy ep01 [3/4]: 4.9 million

Bad Buddy ep01 [4/4]: 5 million

F4 Thailand Begins ep01 [1/4]: 1.7 million

F4 Thailand Begins ep01 [2/4]: 848k

F4 Thailand Begins ep01 [3/4]: 3.3 million

F4 Thailand Begins ep01 [4/4]: 747k

If you crunch these numbers, Bad Buddy’s total view count for episode 1 is around 25 million views. F4′s total view count is around 7 million views (if I’m doing my math correctly a bitch doesn’t work in maths).

Now, I don’t know what the premiere numbers for either of these series was. BUT, this shows that one series, Bad Buddy, has legs and the other, F4, didn’t.

Either way that’s a pretty sizable gap and a lot of international fans use Youtube as a means to legally watch and support these shows as shown in the availability of subtitles.

F4 has subtitle options in: English, Korean, Chinese (Taiwan), Portuguese, Turkish and Spanish

Bad Buddy has subtitle options in: English, Turkish, French, Indonesian, Spanish, Chinese (Hong Kong), Korean, Chinese (Taiwan), Vietnamese, Arabic, Portuguese, Polish, Italian, Burmese, Chinese (Simplified) and Bulgarian.

Bro, BULGARIAN.

As far as I can tell, IQIYI doesn’t release streaming data that I could find, so idk what the numbers are for Kinnporsche. I do know that Kinnporsche, since airing, has never let the sites Top 10 list which is an impressive feat after ending months ago.

So like, what does all this information mean~ exactly? Am I saying F4 Thailand was a flop? No, not even a little bit lol I don’t have enough data to really say definitively F4 was a flop nor is that really the point here.

The point here is about international impact, and the fact that in my humble ass opinion, Thailand’s het shows ain’t hitting internationally all THAT much. Not as much as their BL shows are and have been.

Objectively, going by Thai ratings, F4 did a lot better than Bad Buddy, but internationally? Internationally there’s a pretty visible gap from everything I’ve seen.

I think what GMMTV was hoping was by casting Bright and Win they’re pull in that international audience they had cultivated with the 2gether series. But het dramas are high key a dime a dozen in American/European/Latin American audiences. Folks go to Kdramas or Cdramas for het dramas (and I have theories on why those hit, namely Cdramas for the high fantasy aspects that Europe and America doesn’t deliver on and kdramas for being unashamedly high quality produced romances. Also the one-and-done factor).

Given the juggernaut success of Kinnporsche, not just in the west but also in other Asian countries I imagine that’ll influence other studios to try to follow suit even more to gain even a half-slice of that visibility and profitability. Kinnporsche, imo, is an outlier, it’s success is sorta like 2gether and TharnType in that there were a lot of factors outside of the show itself that led to it’s individual success.

Like, flat, argue with the wall, 2gether is NOT a good series. But, it was released right when lockdown began (literally, ep01 aired Feb 21, 2020), in a way 2gether was like Animal Crossing, GMMTV didn’t expect it to do THAT well especially internationally but it did partially b/c what the fuck else we people gonna do in lockdown? Watch a simple but cute gay romcom which there was a gap for - Love, Victor wouldn’t air it’s first episode until June 17th, 2020, and that was marketed less as a queer romcom and more as a queer coming of age story. There’s also the factor of The Untamed having ended - final episode August 20th, 2019 - and folks catching on to the growing and active existence of international queer media that wasn’t boxed in and tied down by American conventions.

I think what we’re going to see is the “next era” of BL. We saw the uptick in overall content post 2019/2020 with the success of 2Gether and TharnType, following the success of series like Why R U, Love By Chance, 1000 Stars, Lovely Writer, etc along with other countries getting in more on the game (namely South Korea) and the overall uptick in the amount of BL (and now GL!) shows across the board.

After 2gether we saw more BL shows, I think after Kinnporsche we’re going to see higher quality BL/GL shows. And I think we’re already seeing that. Semantic Error was a nice change of pace for SK b/c it was longer than 15mins, I think going forward given the success of SE we’re going to see SK branch out slowly into developing longer shows (no longer than 30 to 35mins tho to keep costs down) and better workshopping (some kisses in KBLs...my guys). While for Thailand I think we’re gonna see better quality shows. Not Me dropped the ball in some regards but visually the show was great. Cutie Pie’s story was incoherent sure but visually? Hot damn that was a good looking show. We’re also getting more interesting concepts out of Thailand too; like that Prince/bodyguard show coming out, the fact Kinnporsche did eventually get made and MileApo’s upcoming historical film.

this all got away from me but whatever, bitches want gay shit, peace

#mileapo #kinnporsche #tharntype #thai bl #bad buddy #idk what else to tag this as #here ya go here are thoughts y'all #chaos pikachu talks to damn much #chaos pikachu metas

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yurimother · 1 year

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Yuri of Absence and The Chair of Yuri: Combining Lesbian Manga and Science Fiction - The Secret Garden

This article was originally written in 2021 as part of The Secret Garden, YuriMother's exclusive series of articles, available only for Patrons. If you want to access other articles and help support Yuri and LGBTQ+ content, subscribe to the YuriMother Patreon.

In the “olden days” of Yuri, which is really to say anything in the ‘00s or earlier, there was not much variety in the mainstream Yuri market. If you wanted to read a manga about the romance between two women or watch an anime with clear lesbian elements, choices were between a sweet school story or a classic tragic school Yuri story. As I have mentioned many times recently, one of the most significant advancements in the recent Yuri genre is the advent of sub-genres. Once considered an element or subgenre itself, Yuri hosts various works from isekai to feminist literature. However, one of the most curious and certainly most well-known subgenres is science fiction.

Yuri science fiction is in the spotlight right now, with everything from visual novels like Synergia to webcomics like Ratana Satis’s Soul Drifters. However, one of the most prolific and rightly celebrated titles is Iori Miyazawa’s Otherside Picnic. The series began publishing under Hayakawa’s Bunko JA imprint in 2017, and over the past few years, it exploded onto the scene. It has an upcoming sixth book, a manga adaptation serialized in Monthly Shounen Gangan, healthy overseas publishing, and of course, an anime adaptation helmed by Kase-san and Stiens;Gate director Takuya Sato. It has garnered praise from critics CBR, Anime News Network, and Erica Friedman of Okazu. I wrote glowing reviews for the first few books, complimenting its worldbuilding, pacing, and characters. However, Otherside Picnic did not spring out of anywhere. Indeed, it is the product of gradual shifts in Yuri and sci-fi storytelling and Miyazawa’s genius theories and knowledge of the genres.

The mixture of Yuri and science fiction is not anything new; it predates most other forms of Yuri save Class S school romances. You may not picture many of these when you think of modern Yuri sci-fi, but as early as 1975, we had Yuri stories like Boku no Shotaiken that included small sci-fi elements, in this case, transferring the mind to another body. Over the next two decades or so, a time during which so few Yuri titles surfaced, it is occasionally referred to as Yuri’s “era of Darkness,” multiple titles sci-fi titles including Dirty Pair, Project A-Ko, Bubblegum Crisis, and Iczer featured science fiction settings and Yuri elements. At this time, Yuri was not much of a genre as we think of it today, but more of a factor inserted into a larger narrative. Think of Yayoi and Shion from Psycho-Pass for a more contemporary example. In fact, except for Iczer, none of these titles feature any outright lesbian characters, just female casts with “Yuri-ish” moments of women standing close together and being companions.

These titles feature two key elements that many current series have shifted further away from, soft sci-fi and Weak Yuri. Soft, as opposed to hard science fiction, is the more established of these two scales. Science fiction can be separated between outlandish and impossible ideas, sometimes known as science fantasy, and those based in reality, research, and the hard sciences such as physics, astronomy, and mathematics. Sorting works between these two labels is, ironically, not an exact science, and fans and critics alike argue about their precise definitions. However, let us consider soft and hard science as a spectrum, with outlandish premises like Dragonball on the soft end and the reality-based concepts of Space Brothers at the other. One can sort most titles along this continuum. M Alan Kazlev does an excellent job dissecting this scale in further detail. Many of the titles we enjoy today, including Otherside Picnic, inhabit this transitory space, as it is not fantasy. Still, its reliance on anthropology and psychology’s soft sciences may put it a small step below more grounded hard sci-fi. Still, it is far above the aliens and superpowered robots in ‘80s anime, so we shall consider it hard sci-fi for the sake of this argument.

*Note: Many science fiction circles use the abbreviation sci-fi for soft science fiction and SF for hard science fiction. For ease of readability and common vernacular, this article uses “sci-fi” for both instances.*

Sci-fi Yuri did not break out of soft science fiction territory until very recently. In the 1990s, Yuri underwent dramatic changes thanks to Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena, which helped reform it as a genre rather than a feature. Maria Watches Over Us revived S Yuri traditions, and new titles were set in schools and focused on modern girls’ lives. In the 2000s, Yuri magazines began serialization and featured stories such as Kisses, Sighs, and Cheery Blossom Pink and Strawberry Shake Sweet (both serialized under different names). Despite being primarily aimed at adult women, the magazine found success with male audiences, prompting new stories appealing to men and boys. These works reintroduced action and science fiction into the genre with pieces like Kannazuki no Miko: Destiny of the Shrine Maiden, Blue Drop, and Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl (Yuriboke does a better job breaking all these down). However, all these were still vehemently in soft sci-fi territory, with Kashimashi’s only surreal element being an alien because the author was, to simplify grossly, unable to fathom the existence of transgender people (coming full circle from Boku no Shotaiken). Possibly the only contemporary mainstream hard sci-fi title to include Yuri and enjoy a modicum of success was Qualia The Purple. However, this series did not have the genre-defining power that later works would.

However, what changes between these series and those mentioned earlier is the Yuri itself. The relationships become much more explicit and central to the plot. You can deliberate whether or not Bubblegum Crisis is sapphic, but just try sitting someone down and arguing that Kannazuki no Miko is not built around the crux of two women holding romantic interest in each other. Yuri science fiction author Gengen Kusano proposes a dichotomy similar to soft and hard sci-fi to analyze these titles, Weak and Strong Yuri. He explains it in his own brilliantly convoluted and philosophical way, but in short, Weak Yuri relies on using logic and the mind to make the real imaginary, while strong Yuri is about emotionalism and realism, making fiction into reality.

Strong Yuri is Yuri that focuses on realism through feelings and emotions. Kusano describes it as fiction characters having real emotions. They have strong connections and affection for each other that are real and powerful. The audience experiences the feelings between the characters as they are felt and portrayed. Think of how emotional the exclamations and love, sorrow, confusion, and affection are in titles like Bloom Into You and Citrus. In a sense, they can be so strong that they transcend their fictional confines and become real, as they are experienced by considers, a stage called “radically Strong Yuri.” Most explicit Yuri, which is not subtext or suggestive content but in-your-face lesbianism, is Strong Yuri, although not all Strong Yuri is outright depictions of lesbianism; it is a square rectangle situation, not all rectangles are squares, but all squares are rectangles.

Weak Yuri is cemented in the areas of thought, logic, and epistemology. It deals with the theory of mind, the ability to attribute mental states to others or ourselves. For example, when we see someone smiling or laughing, we may not feel their emotion ourselves, as we do not have direct access to their mind, but we recognize that they are happy. In Weak Yuri, one uses their theory of mind to observe facts and deduce the existence of a Yuri relationship, even if one is not present. So-called “Yuri-ish” titles like Yuru Camp or K-ON! do not outright state or depict romantic or sexual attractions, but is attributed by the viewers onto characters. Said observer witnesses the interactions between girls and, using that factual and observable data, puzzles out a lesbian attraction they prescribe to the subjects, whether real. Shipping culture relies on Weak Yuri’s logic Kusano’s most extreme, “Radical Weak Yuri,” the relationships of real people, like idols, become imaginary through these projections.

Blue Drop and Kashimashi may have been soft Sci-fi, but unlike the soft sci-fi, Weak Yuri series of the twentieth century, they featured Strong Yuri and placed it more as a central aspect of the work with other elements built around, rather than as a side element. The next revolution in sci-fi Yuri came when hard sci-fi titles began production. A few of the principal players here are Kusano himself, Otherside Picnic Creator Iori Miyazawa, and editor Rikimura Mizoguichi, all of whom feature in the viral Yuri Made Me Human interview of Miyazawa. Most of the theories and ideas discussed in this article, including Kusano’s Weak and Strong Yuri arguments, came from these seminars.

It all started with Kusano’s existential widescreen Yuri baroque proletariat hard sci-fi Love Live AU fanfic of the popular ship NicoMaki, consisting of Nico Yazawa and Maki Nishikino. The revised edition of this story, Last and First Idol, was published in 2016 and became the first debut title to win the prestigious Seiun Award in 42 years. Satoshi Maejima’s post-script essay at the end of the Last and First Idol collection gives far more detail into these works’ history. However, Idol was the first prominent story to feature Yuri in a hard sci-fi narrative. It was not perfect. In fact, in its push to feature gruesome content and insane hard sci-fi that Yuri is pushed to the wayside during most of the story.

*Author’s note: The first time I read Last and First Idol, I was completely unaware of its contents, which was a shocking experience; the story comes with a severe content warning).

Last and First Idol did not create a woven hard sci-fi, Strong Yuri narrative. However, it was a definite proof of the concept, a testament that the sprawling details and imagery of hard Sci-Fi could work with Yuri relationships. Kusano’s next short story, Evolution Girls, which would appear alongside Last and First Idol in the collection of the same name, saw the author focus more on emotionalism and create a Strong Yuri work. Nevertheless, Last and First Idol was a massive success. Future hard proof that Yuri hard sci-fi was coming in force came in December 2018, when Hayakawa Shobo ran a special edition of its long-running S-F Magazine featuring Yuri stories. The issue, planned by Rikimura Mizoguchi, proved so popular for the second time in its then 59-year history, the magazine had to reprint before release.

While Kusano was developing theories on Yuri and Hayakawa Shobo worked to push the public eye onto Yuri sci-fi, author Iori Miyazawa was refining his own Yuri premises, ones that, though he did not know it at the time, would not only see Strong Yuri and Hard sci-fi standing side by side in the same story but would synthesis the two into a unique product that could attract new fans and expand the borders of science fiction and Yuri. The work in question, of course, is Otherside Picnic. This light novel series about girls journeying to another world to hunt creatures from occult internet lore is to date Yuri science fiction’s best execution.

As Miyazawa admits, he strives to create Strong Yuri by focusing on emotionalism and realistic characters. However, such character-driven narratives are often at odds with hard science fiction, which requires dense walls of text to explain the complicated science behind its concepts and world. Miyazawa avoids this trap by utilizing Yuri tropes, specifically scenic Yuri and “Yuri of absence,” and integrating Yuri relationship into these explanatory literary lectures. Examining the latter first, rather than using narrative or exposition dialogue to unravel the intelligence behind the world or elements of science fiction, Miyazawa uses the relationship between Sorawo and Toriko.

In Otherside Picnic, explanations of the mysterious Otherside come primarily from two sources, dialogue and Sorawo’s inner monologue. When Sorawo and Torikko discuss a nuance of the paranormal creatures they investigate, it no longer becomes a large infodump but a Yuri scene about their relationship through their interactions and responses. According to both the strong Yuri theory and Yuri’s traditional definition, these emotions and discussions are the crux of the genre – stories about females’ relationships. Similar emotionalism fills Sorawo’s inner monologues, specifically in the frequent romantic admirations of Toriko. Thus, an explanation existing in that same space becomes Yuri, as it mirrors the same emotions and attraction. Merely by placing the usual exposition into interactions and relationships, Miyazawa was able to open hard science fiction to new readers, who may have been apprehensive before because of these text walls.

Miyazawa’s other secret weapon is, as he describes it, “Yuri of absence.” Relying on the principles of Strong Yuri, that Yuri is fiction made real through emotions, Yuri of absence extends these parameters outside of characters. As Strong Yuri relies on feeling, not observable data like characters, anything that invokes two women’s feelings together is Yuri. It could be a song, or an empty bench, as one can imagine two women on it and feel emotions tied to that. Of course, taken to its extreme, nearly anything can then be Yuri, as I have joked before, gesturing to an empty chair proclaiming, “Behold, a Yuri!” However, Miyazawa uses this Yuri of absence sparingly, rendering it closer to scenic Yuri’s intimacy.

Scenic Yuri, a particular type of Yuri of absence, focuses exclusively on setting and imagery, a feature that works particularly well in science fiction as according to Masahiro Noda’s “sci-fi is all about images.” Traditional Yuri uses character interaction and supplements it with images and sights that help communicate characters’ emotions and intimacy, like fleeting shots or descriptions of the sky. Take the shot from Kase-san and Morning Girls where Yamada stands by the bus stop. The distance between the girls, the tree in the foreground on Yamada’s side, and the pole on the right all invoke emotion and help tell the girls’ story, distanced by their differences and upcoming life paths. Now remove the girls, the scene remains, as does its meaning and emotions, whether the characters are present or not.

Scenic Yuri is employed vigorously in more male-targeted S Yuri (a minority of the Class S genre). Here, the imagery provides intimacy so that the voyeuristic viewer could look into the characters’ private and forbidden lives, specifically the girls in all-girls schools. Take the shot from Strawberry “Mo Man May Enter Here” Panic. The sweeping view of the Strawberry Dorms atop Astraea Hill, a place where men are forbidden, gives the consumer an exclusive inside look at the private home of its subjects. Otherside Picnic uses these same scenic Yuri principles in its descriptions. In this case, the intimacy does not come from a place where men are prohibited or a shot describing women’s relationships. Instead, the reports of abandoned ruins and deserted open fields where only Toriko and Sorawo exist provide extreme intimacy. It is an emotional view of two of the few women in this world with nothing but each other; thus, Yuri.

Yuri science fiction is easily the most exciting place in the genre right now. Its creators are experimenting with new theories and storytelling methods to expand the boundaries of what science fiction or Yuri alone could never do. The subgenre has undoubtedly come a long way from its Weak Yuri roots and continues to grow. Industry leaders like Miyazawa and Mizoguichi will continue to push into this excited and uncharted territory, using tactics new and old to bring together Yuri’s emotional and romantic core with science fiction’s epic and provoking imagery. I have few doubts that we have seen all these pioneers have to offer and that Last and First Idol and Otherside Picnic are just the beginning.

Sources

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Hanson, Katherine. Yuri No Boke 百合のボケ〜百合が好きだ〜: Sci-Fi Yuri Anime and Manga. 17 Feb. 2012, http://yurinoboke.blogspot.com/2012/02/sci-fi-yuri-anime-and-manga.html.

Kit, et al. Tomo Choco Podcast Episode 58: A Trip to the Otherside. https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/tomochoco5287491142565609/id/14974343. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

Komatsu, Mikikazu. “S-F Magazine’s Yuri-Themed Issue Gets Reprints Before Release.” Crunchyroll, https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2018/12/18/s-f-magazines-yuri-themed-issue-gets-reprints-before-release. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

Kusano, Gengen. “[R-18] #SF #矢澤にこ【SF合同サンプル】最後にして最初の矢澤 - 節足原々（セッソクハラハラ）の小説.” Pixiv, https://www.pixiv.net/novel/show.php?id=4992326. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

M Alan Kazlev. “The Scale of Hardness in Science Fiction.” Futurism, https://vocal.media/futurism/the-scale-of-hardness-in-science-fiction. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

Masayuki Sakoi. Strawberry Panic S01:E21 - Like a Flower. Madhouse, 2006. tubitv.com, https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/558933/s01-e21-like-a-flower.

Maser, Verena. Beautiful and Innocent: Female Same-Sex Intimacy in the Japanese Yuri Genre. ubt.opus.hbz-nrw.de, https://ubt.opus.hbz-nrw.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/695. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

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#Yuri #otherside picnic #the secret garden #miyazawa yuri #yuri of absence #scenic yuri #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq+#queer #gay #lesbian

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