I'm reading School-Live, and I'm really identifying with Yuki, albeit at an odd impasse of thought. The way she acts, her excitement just to be around people she loves and to do things with them, reflects back to memories I have of being...well, seven or eight years old, not in my last year of high school. By my last year of high school, I had seen some shit. I had everything on my mind.
But younger, childhood--Yuki is a very innocent character, she's very warm and loving, and she thrives on that. She has favorite people and she wants to be around them and talk to them--I had forgotten about how I was the same way as a kid, I would impatiently await social events because it was the time when I got to see my favorite people...most of whom were adults.
It is weird looking back, but I just didn't get along with kids. Barring a few geeks who I shared common media ground with, they didn't make sense to me, and I didn't make sense to them. Adults, on the other hand, either found me suspicious or precocious. If they found me precocious, I would happily converse with them about my interests and things I was learning about. Mom allowed me to join these conversations with relatives or church friends, sometimes mature ones--not inappropriate, but mature. Ecumenical matters, struggles with depression, theoretical pathing of adulthood.
It should have been boring, but I didn't care. I was with my favorite people. I got to spend time with them. It was all I wanted.
I guess I was a lonely child. But it gave those moments when my favorite people were there, and everyone was happy, a special kind of brightness and purpose. I felt like I was doing due diligence by my kin, that I was helping the community thrive. I had a true sense of pride and joy in that--like I was earning my keep.
It's nice to think that simply existing, if you're willing to put the thought into it, is enough to satiate having a purpose for being alive.
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StarClan's tool
ID: a digital drawing that features Leafpool (Warrior Cats). She's seen from the above, her face is covered in leaves put in by StarClan cats' paws. Her eyes aren't visible, but her muzzle and ears are. At her paws, there are blue, starry pawprints of StarClan paws, simbolizing a path already traced by these cats. The path ends in a holly leaf, a sycamore maple leaf, already turned yellow, and a jay's feather, simbolising the kits she was bound to give birth to. End ID.
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In honor of Women's History month, I just want to remind people that some of the most influential and popular manga in the anime community are written/illustrated by women. And I'm not just talking about groundbreaking shojo like Sailor Moon, Fruits Basket, Card Captor Sakura, or Black Butler (or things like Chihayafuru, Migi to Dali, Sakamoto Desu ga?, Nana, Natsume Yuujincho, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Violet Evergarden, A Silent Voice, and a million more). To be clear, those series are also amazing, and I'm not demeaning them in any way. They deserve just as much respect as everything else.
But right now I'm talking about shōnen series or series that are usually marketed towards men specifically or have appeared in shōnen magazines. I mean things like:
Beastars, made by Paru Itagaki
Gangsta, by Kohske
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic by Shinobu Ohtaka (which I promise isn't what my screen name is a reference to, even though I love this show).
D.Gray Man by Katsura Hoshino
Dorohedoro by Q Hayashida
To Your Eternity by Yoshitoki Ōima
Mushishi, made by Yuki Urushibara (aka Soyogo Shima).
Noragami which is written by two women, collectively named Adachitoka, similarly to romance author duo Christina Lauren.
Blue Exorcist by Kazue Kato
Inuyasha (and Ranma 1/2 and Urasai Yatsura) by Rumiko Takahashi, which I know for a fact served as a gateway anime for a shit ton of people across generations (but especially for people my age).
I have to shout out Posuka Demizu, who illustrated The Promised Neverland, which is my favorite manga series. She may have given the characters weird looking facial proportions, but damn if she ain't one of the most detail oriented (and sneakiest) artists out there.
And finally, a little story you may know called Fullmetal Alchemist, written by Hiromu Arakawa (who also wrote Silver Spoon, The Heroic Legend of Arslan and lots of other stuff but I wanted to highlight those two specifically).
There's also been speculation that a small hidden gem called...what was it again?...Oh yeah, DEMON SLAYER is written by a woman. But Koyoharu Gotouge's gender hasn't been confirmed so it's still just a theory.
idk, I just love women.
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