#this manga has challenged me as a writer and artist
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I Think Hypmic's Portrayal of Gender Roles is Kinda Refreshing: An Essay
A.K.A. I'm Procrastinating on a Weekend Deadline :)
Hypmic's talking points on gender are hamfisted, corny, and melodramatic. "Maybe...we shouldn't have a wage gap," is not the hottest of takes. However, like most things in Hypmic, the writers have a lot more to say about gender and gender roles in the framing of the story itself that's much more nuanced. And honestly? It's kinda refreshing.
It's also something that went way over my head when I first became a Hypmic fan. Sure, I read manga and played Japanese video games--usually translated into English first--but I didn't have enough exposure to hundreds or thousands of pieces of untranslated Japanese media. I'm going to guess that most Hypmic fans don't either, which is totally fine and normal. We all exist within our respective cultural communities wherein we're bombarded with messages constantly telling us how to act, think, and speak. We tend to absorb these messages on subconscious levels and reflect them in the art we create and stories we tell, either by reinforcing them or challenging them. Thus, our stories don't exist in a vacuum, and divorcing stories from their cultural backgrounds can suggest the artist is the original thinker of a larger concept or hide their specific point of criticism. That is, if I wrote a story about a man who chooses to not catch fish, drink beer, and drive a Dodge Ram pick-up truck, we should be aware that I'm not the person who conceptualized the stereotype of dudes who catch fish, drink beer, and drive pick-ups. I wouldn't deserve the credit for dreaming up that exact image, and at the same time, it would be incorrect to read that as me targeting those three things randomly. The choice to not drive a Dodge Ram pick-up is not a commentary on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. It's a stand-in for the notion of masculinity.
Thing is, we're hit with messages about masculinity, femininity, and other gender-related concepts on a daily basis. No matter where you live or what language you speak, every person on Earth is inundated with messages saying, "This is what you are, and consequently, this is how you should act." Our relation to these messages is complicated, and this complexity is compounded by different cultural communities preaching different messages in their stories, marketing, and human interactions. For instance, the US's massive global cultural influence means that those outside the US can still easily recognize what I mean by catching fish, drinking beer, and driving enormous American pick-up trucks. But the location and cultural differences may add or subtract nuances. A person living in, say, Munich is unlikely to have Dodge pick-ups advertised to them the way a person in rural Texas would. Our fictional Munich person does not feel the same social pressures to buy a Dodge and represent their masculinity with a Dodge the way our imaginary Texan would. In turn, the Munich person likely sees a Dodge with an element of absurdity--who the hell needs such a big truck in a European city?--and foreign Americanness. The Texan wouldn't have that concern--why worry about navigating your enormous truck down narrow streets when you live in the countryside?--and sees Americanness as their local default, thus removing any element of foreignness.
That is to say, gendered messages aimed at people (especially women) who live in Japan don't affect me the same way as they impact those who do live in Japan. Like, it's not my dog in the fight, and there are plenty of people who are directly affected who write their own stories and commentaries on gender roles in Japan. Japanese women don't need a random guy in the US to stand up and say, "Damn, your gender roles are fucked!" 1) They already know. 2) They're already saying it. So I come at this from an angle of someone who already has deep, primary frustration with the gendered messaging in my culture and secondary frustrations when similar messages appear in other cultures. I don't have a bone to pick with Japanese media in particular. Plain and simple, reading and working on hundreds of pieces of Japanese media is what I do for a living. It's in my face constantly, and as a result, I am also perpetually bombarded by messages about gender roles in Japanese media.
It's not a hot take to say that Japanese media, like the media of every single other culture around the globe, has a lot to say about gender. There's a lot of slotting people into boxes and telling people what to do. It's chafing, as we see all across history in art produced in reaction to gender roles. In the past couple of decades, global shifts in gender roles have caused media to shift the messages they're pushing, but it's not controversial to say that Japan has lagged behind other countries like the US.
Many, many stories push arbitrary notions of how to be a girl or how to be a boy that don't necessarily come from the author themselves. The authors probably aren't even fully conscious that they're making these choices. If an author writes a story about a library and makes every female character a romance fan and every male character an action fan, it's likely a reflection of endless messaging that says action is for boys, romance is for girls. In turn, this story becomes yet another reinforcing message. If no fictional girls like action, and no fictional boys like romance, it becomes alienating for real girls and boys who don't follow these same rules. These rules are everywhere and have so much to say about gender that it's hard to know where to begin. Girls must like cute things. Boys can't like sweet food. Women must not express sexual desire. Men can't be shy. On and on and on.
Which is why, when there's a relative lack of this in Hypmic, it's kind of a breath of fresh air.
Wrong Ways to Be a Man
Actually, Hypmic does have a few moments where characters claim there are certain things men or women should do, but the writing always frames these messages as incorrect.
Take Samatoki, for instance. After Kuukou and Sasara leave MCD, Samatoki tells Ichirou, "Men shouldn't cry when they lose their friends. Men should only cry when they lose a family member."
(TDD chapter 10)
This line usually appears via Ichirou's perspective. In the stage play, it's told during a song Ichirou narrates, and as shown above in panel 3, the manga frames the line from the angle at which Ichirou sees it. In such moments, the audience is meant to read this as a cool line from a strong mentor figure to Ichirou. That's how Ichirou sees it, and he's a seventeen-year-old with too much on his shoulders who idolizes Samatoki. He is incapable of seeing how much pain Samatoki struggles with.
However, when the manga focuses on more intimate moments of Samatoki's life, we see that Samatoki does struggle quite a lot.
(BB/MTC+ chapter 6)
This isn't a cool, attractive figure meant to be idolized. While Samatoki's cigarette usage and aggressiveness are often framed as sexy or enticing, the juxtaposition with dirty laundry, overflowing ashtrays, and empty bottles make him a sympathetic and struggling figure. Therefore, we should understand that his notion that men don't cry is flawed. It's a means to distract himself from emotions he doesn't want to feel.
Later, as Samatoki begins to process his emotions and open up to his teammates, the unhealthy coping mechanisms recede. Samatoki is more confident, mature, and happier as a result of being more emotionally vulnerable.
We see a similar transformation with Kuukou. As a teen, Kuukou is reluctant to accept help or truly let anyone in. In a conversation with Hitoya, he says (and I am still completely unable to take this seriously), "A man's got to wipe his own ass."
(DH/BAT chapter 4)
However, over the course of his character arc, Kuukou learns that he cannot exist as a good leader or individual without the teamwork of his newfound "family." Only rejecting this classical and toxic notion of masculinity brings Kuukou joy.
In fact, most of the first-line characters have very similar arcs. At the start of the story, Ichirou is insistent on doing everything himself. He has to learn to be able to rely on other people (Kuukou, Samatoki, Ichirou and Jirou) to be happier and unlock his true strength. See below, his final attack and Ability use in the 2nd DRB, which is only possible when his brothers figuratively and literally support him through it.
(BB/MTC+ chapter 25)
Sasara struggles with emotional honesty and trust in favor of using humor to gloss over discomfort. It takes multiple heart-to-hearts with Roshou before he can let humor take a backseat and say how he really feels. Ramuda has difficulty trusting other people and being honest with his emotions when faced with stressful scenarios. Only through Fling Posse is he able to open up and ask for help instead of driving people away when the problems are too big for him to face alone. Jakurai struggles to connect with other people, work through and acknowledge his complicated feelings, and not place himself on a pedestal. Through Matenrou, Jakurai is able to ask for help, be more open, and ultimately be less hard on himself.
The second- and third-line characters follow similar arcs, and this repetition creates a core message for Hypmic: Trust and rely other people. Be open with your feelings. There's a wrong way to be a man, and that's to hurt yourself and other people.
Right Ways to Be a Man...Are Infinite!
But with that being said, there is a surprising lack of commentary on how else to be a man. Hypmic as a whole doesn't do much to constrain the male characters in terms of gender roles.
Sure, some characters do fit into more traditionally masculine roles--Ichirou, Samatoki, Riou, etc. The messaging makes it clear that it isn't wrong to play into masculinity provided it doesn't become toxic. (See above.)
Even then, however, these especially masculine characters are associated with less masculine traits that are either portrayed positively or not portrayed as a joke. Riou is an avid cook, but the joke is never that he wears an apron and knows his way around an outdoor kitchen (tee-hee, men don't cook!). It's that he cooks with horrifying ingredients. Samatoki is a fashionista, but the joke is framed as a counterpart to Ichirou's nerdiness.
(DoD chapter 1)
Here, it's funny that neither of them can shut up (the ペラペラ/blah blah SFX, the long bubbles filled with lots of text that's cut to indicate they kept going for longer), but the object of their attention--a model toy and a pair of jeans--are treated in the same neutral light. It's very common for stories to touch on, even defensively, the social taboo of men being into clothes. Hypmic doesn't even acknowledge that such a taboo could exist.
This is subtle but extraordinarily effective in giving characters the same consideration and weight. The more feminine characters are always treated just as sincerely (or, if there's a joke to be made, irreverently) as the more masculine characters. Take Ramuda, for instance. In Japanese media, a love of sweets is often characterized as feminine and will often be remarked upon, even in LGBT+ media, as atypical for men. Again, there's zero acknowledgement of such a thing in Hypmic. Whenever other characters talk about Ramuda's food intake, it's always framed as a concern about the lack of nutrition.
(FP/M chapter 11... I don't have the source lying around on my computer, so here's the old-ass scanlation lol)
It's also given the exact same weight as anyone else's junk food habits. Here, MCD goes out for burgers (a neutral to masculine-coded food due to the meat and high calorie count) while Ramuda opts to try a sugary Starbucks-esque drink. The parallelism in the comic's framing suggests that the two objects are functionally the same, and there is no comment that a sugary drink is feminine and therefore "inappropriate" for Ramuda. There's also no indication that MCD's preferences are in any way better. They simply happen to be the characters' personal preferences. The punchline is two groups splitting up, only to awkwardly run into each other again moments later.
(DoD volume 4 bonus comic)
Similarly, Ramuda's interest in clothes or fashion is never treated negatively--in fact, the discussions of clothes as a means to find identity and happiness make it a positive!
In ARB cards and promotional materials, Ramuda sometimes wears dresses. It's, again, portrayed in parallel to other characters wearing more masculine clothes and is never commented on as something "unusual." It's just who Ramuda is.
Hifumi is another interesting case. Like Ramuda, his playful personality often doesn't as stereotypically masculine. (To be clear, I read much of this as "gender neutral with a strong emphasis on youth" versus "feminine" in a way that I'm not sure has a good US equivalent...metrosexual/yuppie men's fashion, maybe? In the sense that it's a youth subculture that defies some masculine gender roles but is still focused mainly on men. I wish I was more well-versed in Japanese men's fashion and could give an exact term, but I'm what I'm thinking of is definitely an established thing--young, trendy dudes whose styles focus on poppiness vs. the rugged manly man or "idk, I'm just some guy" subcultures. It's a thing that pisses off old Japanese conservative men in the same fashion as people getting up in arms about "the gayz!!!1!" and their androgynous clothing lol.) Their personalities are often the butt of jokes, but only in the same way that Dice or Doppo are--that is, that they're exaggerated and over the top. There's no commentary on masculinity or lack thereof.
There are also moments when Hifumi, Gentarou, or other characters play feminine characters in roleplay moments, which is usually (but not always) not the sole joke. The audience is supposed to find it funny, but the humor is almost always centered on the absurdity of the scene as a whole. For instance, in a moment where Hifumi and Doppo are pretending to be two drunk karaoke-goers, the humor comes from the composite set-up of Hifumi's hair twirl, Doppo's untucked shirt and tie, Doppo and Hifumi's exaggeratedly flirtatious poses, the spotlights and sparkles, and the same font as used on classic karaoke machines.
(FP/M+ September 2022 oneshot)
Hifumi and Doppo do not perform traditional gender roles in their homelife, and while it's easy to see and often commented on in the English-speaking fanbase when it comes to Hifumi, I find it just as prevalent on Doppo. It's true that Hifumi is taking a feminine role by doing the majority of the household's cooking and cleaning, but if we were to assume Doppo has the masculine role in the household, he would have the breadwinner duty. However, he isn't the main source of income for their household, and he's just as unassertive in finding a (female) romantic partner as Hifumi is. Japanese men are bombarded with media messages stressing the importance of taking an active role in career and romance. That Doppo does not would, in many stories, make him the butt of a joke for not living up to masculine gender roles. But he isn't; instead, Hypmic portrays him as a sympathetic character. It's tough, Hypmic says, for people to get good jobs and maintain friendships/relationships as an adult.
Similarly, it's noteworthy that Hifumi's self-appointed term "Gigolo" is consistently portrayed as a good thing in Hypmic. The meaning of the English term aside, the Japanese word ジゴロ (jigoro) is almost always used as an insult for a man who is financially dependent on one or multiple women. In the strictest sense of the term, Hifumi is a jigoro in that his income derives from his female clients. However, there is never any shame associated with that, and as a whole, Hifumi's career as a host is shown to be a positive thing. I can't express enough how rare that is in any sort of semi-serious media. Certainly, Hypmic acknowledges that his job requires too much drinking (Doppo's verse in Hoodstar), but the overall portrayal is overwhelmingly positive. Hifumi and his coworkers are never treated as uneducated, boorish, or pathetic for "failing" to find other work that does not require flirting with and entertaining women. (This is partially due to the overlapping judgment with sex work.)
All the various harmless preferences and personality traits of the male characters are treated equally with no judgement over what's masculine or non-masculine. Within the broader context of Japanese media, this absence of judgment stands out and reinforces one of Hypmic's core themes: Differences make us better, not worse. In the end, Hypmic suggests, there's no one right way to be a man.
Right Ways to Be a Woman...Are Just as Infinite!
But what about women? This series is, after all, marketed mainly towards women, and while female audience members can no doubt extrapolate the lessons learned from the male characters, it's worth taking a look at the female characters too.
The female characters do receive much less screen time than the men and are not the focus in the series; I'd argue that's less an issue of overt sexism and more that they fall out of focus in the story the writers want to tell. (There's a broader discussion to be had about inherent sexism in the writers' focus which goes hand-in-hand with rap industries across the globe favoring men and rap being an example of exaggerated masculinity, but that's a topic for another day.)
Even so, the framing of the female characters is interesting in a couple key respects. The individual character arcs and motivations of the main female characters are, in my opinion, some of the weakest parts of Hypmic--many times, Otome and Ichijiku do things because the plot demands them to, making them look incompetent or needlessly cruel for characters we're supposed to sympathize with. Nemu's story seems to be handled with more care and takes an interesting twist, wherein she openly acknowledges that she's disenfranchised as a woman in modern Japan but rejects the notion that she needs to find strength on either Ichirou or Samatoki's (male) terms. By choosing to be strong in "her own way" (whatever that means...it's not well-defined), the authors are using Nemu to reject the notion that strength and power are inherently masculine.
What I find to be far more interesting is the character design for the Chuuouku women, both in what is said and what is not said.
To begin with, the characters and their portrayals run the gambit from highly sexualized to completely non-sexual. Some characters (especially Ichijku and Honobono) have conventionally attractive, curvy body types and are often drawn in ways that highlight their bodies.
(FP/M+ chapter 4)
(FP/M+ chapter 14)
In some cases, especially Honobono's, the enticing nature of the illustrations is framed as the character's choice; in the above, her words indicate that she wants to seduce the off-screen listeners. The images included above are largely representative of these characters' raps, regardless of illustrator.
But on the flip side, other characters with large breasts or hips are never drawn in a sexual fashion. By way of comparison, here are two shots of Nemu rapping.
(BB/MTC+ chapter 12)
Even in shots with dynamic poses, no attention is drawn to Nemu's figure in any sort of provocative sense. Nemu touches her chest, drawing the reader's eye there, but the artist does not emphasize the size of her chest--they're allowing a chest touch to be no more than an emphasis of the self. At the same time, Nemu's body isn't downplayed. We can see in panel 2 on page 2 that Nemu has a small waist and wider hips, but once again, she isn't being sexualized. The action lines draw the reader's eye to Samatoki and thus put the action first and foremost. This creates the idea that not only can characters portray themselves sexually, but they can just as easily choose not to.
We see similar with Otome, who does not wear any sort of revealing clothing and is never shown in a sexual fashion. However, Hypmic doesn't equate revealing clothing to sexual portrayals either! While I wouldn't call Tsumabira's outfit revealing, she does have more visible cleavage than most Chuuouku figures. However, her bare chest is never sexualized like Ichijiku's.
(BB/MTC+ chapter 4)
Compare the non-emphasis on the chest and the power stance to any of the many shots of Ichijuku where her breasts are front and center in the camera. Speaking of power stance, Tsumabira remains confident in her power stance without being sexy--that is, no stepping on the camera and showing her whole leg.
Which isn't to say that Tsumabira is a sexless character. She's drawn visibly turned on by the male characters in such a way that is cartoonish but not, in turn, overly sexual. Were this supposed to be titillating to the reader, I would have expected to see a larger close-up on her face and tongue. However, the artist (who is no stranger to focusing on tongues!) devotes the majority of the panel to Tsumabira's body language (which, again, doesn't absurdly exaggerate any of her proportions or focus on her chest) and covers part of the mouth with text bubbles. Tsumabira is drawn as engaging in sexual behavior without being sexualized for reader entertainment.
(FP/M+ chapter 4)
The juxtaposition of such different views with little to no judgement attached to any of them suggests that it's perfectly okay to want to be sexy or not, to wear revealing clothing or not, to be involved in sexual situations without being the object of sexual interest, or to simply exist with an attractive body type without sex ever coming into the equation. Just as some characters choose to tie bodies to sexiness, some don't whatsoever--and either is perfectly fine!
The former idea ("I can choose to be sexy") may not sound especially revolutionary to US audiences, where sexuality is thrust upon women willingly or otherwise, but I find it fascinating because it lets the main characters embrace this idea without associated slut shaming. So much of Japanese media insists that women should be sexy but are also wrong for wanting to indulge in their own sexuality. Therefore, having characters who run virtually every iteration of take on the topic (I want to engage in sexuality and be sexualized, I want to engage in sexuality without being sexualized, I don't want to engage in either) with multiple body types (ie, Tsumabira isn't automatically not sexualized because she has a smaller chest; Nemu isn't automatically sexualized because she has a bigger chest) and no judgement involved feels like another breath of fresh air to me.
As a whole, I find the diversity of the Chuuouku uniforms and character appearances quite interesting. They're undeniably all feminine and relatively militaristic, but different characters wear entirely different wardrobes. Skirts vs pants, blouses vs dresses, high heels vs boots... Since every character has her own take on the common theme, it once again feeds into the idea that each character is her own individual and perfectly valid for defining femininity in her own way.
Haircuts, too, range from longer and more feminine hairstyles to pixie cut-esque looks.
(BB/MTC+ chapter 16)
Again, nothing of the framing suggests this short-haired woman is in any way different from her longer-haired counterparts on the edges of this screenshot.
Finally, while most Chuuouku women are conventionally attractive, I find it extremely compelling that Haebaru is a stereotype of an unattractive Japanese woman. To be extremely clear, I do not think these stereotypes should have weight, but the combination of chubby and/or muscular build, freckles, rounded nose, and non-glossy hair is often used as a visual shorthand for unattractive or otherwise undesirable women.
Sure, it's not fantastic that Haebaru is a scheming, two-bit villain. However, so is virtually every other female character in the series, and in particular, Haebaru is (the conventionally attractive) Tsumabira's counterpart. Both are treated with the same respect or lack thereof, suggesting that one's appearance has nothing to do with your ability to be a no-good baddie. Ha ha ha.
It would be lovely if the female characters were fleshed out further and given intelligent choices and diversity outside of the realms of physical appearance. However, I do think the writers' choices are limited by virtue of all women automatically being antagonistic side characters (which, again, is another discussion altogether). What the writers can and have accomplished is further reinforcing a celebration of differences. Just as there's no one right way to be a man, there's an infinite number of ways to be a scheming snake of a woman HAHA.
Intersection with LGBT+ Topics
Unfortunately, this is a very binary look at gender and gender roles, which, while largely representative of the current state of Japanese media, can be disappointing.
Hypmic appears to want to steer shy of LGBT+ topics as a whole, which is a bit of a shame. In a story so focused on gender and acceptance of diversity, it seems the natural next step to explore the notion of those who experiences don't align with a strict gender binary. Such stories are growing in popularity in Japanese media but have yet to be anywhere near the mainstream acceptance in US media (which is still in a fledgling stage at best). I would imagine Hypmic's writers are unable or unwilling to take a definite stance on these topics in the work due to fears of financial or career backlash. If nothing else, the sexuality of the main characters needs to remain in a limbo in order to have plausible deniability for both self-shipping and shipping with other characters. (Some deniability may be more plausible than others.)
The few instances in which Hypmic does wander into this territory are usually clumsy. I am no fan of the handful of scenes where male/male attraction is supposed to be funny purely by virtue of being male/male.
The inclusion of Urumi, the one minor character explicitly LGBT+, is not stellar either. I am hesitant to apply any definite label to her, as the real-life people her stereotype portrays self-identify as everything from trans women to cis men--or refuse to use these English labels at all! Still, we know from her profession (proprietor of a bar heavily implied to be a gay bar by the neighborhood it's in), appearance (poofy permed hair, exaggerated make-up), and demeanor (feminine speech style, a bit flirtatious) that she's AMAB and choosing to present herself in a feminine fashion. By writing Jirou to ask, "Aren't you a man?" in an exasperated fashion, the writers have put her gender presentation in a boke role--suggesting she's over-the-top, exaggerated, comedic. It's not great. I completely understand why readers find it offensive (and it is) even while I don't think the writers intended it that way. Ultimately, it would have been great to see other explicitly LGBT+ characters portrayed without the joking angle.
With that said, I'm not entirely unhappy with her character. She is a stereotype, but the authors have chosen to take only the visual elements of the stereotype and leave the rest on the cutting room floor. In other works of fiction, characters like Urumi are often hypersexual to the point of being in-universe creepy, especially towards underage boys. Other times, characters like her may be eccentric or off-putting in other ways. However, that's not at all the case here. Urumi seems to play a helpful big sister/aunt role in Jirou's life, and he's clearly comfortable enough with her to spend the night at her bar.
(BB/MTC+ chapter 17. "Sorry, but can I shack up here again tonight?" "Of course you can.")
While she seems to engage in some sort of a bohemian lifestyle, as evidenced by the alcohol and smoking, it isn't anything outside of what many of the other characters do. Additionally, while she isn't drawn in a flattering fashion in scenes where she's playing up her persona (which is par for the course with any character in this series, regardless of gender), there are plenty of neutral shots of her being serious. Finally, the art is never outright rude--that is, she isn't drawn exaggeratedly masculine or flamboyantly...snakey? I don't know how to describe this to anyone who's lucky enough to have never seen this--clearly LGBT+ AMAB characters drawn with noodly limbs and huge, overblown lips winding around male characters.
Maybe because I see so much worse continuing to be produced in this day and age, I feel like Hypmic could have done a much, much worse job with this character. She overall plays a positive role and is treated with much the same care as other side characters. It's unfortunate, then, that the writers have chosen to make her gender presentation the subject of a joke.
In other frustrations, I heavily dislike the unnecessary gender divide in background characters. All punks and other background baddies are male, whereas all adoring fans are female. (But Rhyme Anima has done an interesting job of subverting this!) The vast majority of other background figures fall into strict gender roles, which is likewise disappointing. It appears that diversity may be an accepted trait for none but a lucky few that form the main Hypmic cast.
All in all, I don't think Hypmic's portrayal of gender roles is groundbreaking, nor do I think it's fair to suggest that all Japanese pop culture plays into strict gender roles. There are certainly many Japanese works, popular or otherwise, with much more interesting things to say about gender. However, when compared to the vast majority of the titles that cross my desk on a regular basis, I notice and appreciate the level of care put in to Hypmic's commentary on gender roles. The work consistently reinforces the notion that it's okay to be your own individual, no matter how that plays into your gender, and I find that freeing. That's a message we could all do to hear more often, regardless of culture and language.
TL;DR: Oh no, my rapidly approaching deadline. :)
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Our Dreams At Dusk tribute piece with the Lunar Boy cast~
This manga was truly informative to me and is a constant source of inspiration for Lunar Boy.
#shimanami tasogare#our dreams at dusk#manga#lgbtqia#lunar boy#graphic novel#my art#this manga has challenged me as a writer and artist#my bible whenever I'm thumbnailing layouts cuz goddamn
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what would you say are horikoshi's biggest strengths as a writer and what are his greatest weaknesses?
ooh that's a really good question that i've had to think a lot about. it's difficult cuz while i've read his tenko oneshot and the original my hero oneshot, i haven't read his other two multi-chapter works (oumagadoki zoo and barrage) (though i have seen the raw scans of his other oneshot shinka rhapsody thanks to @codenamesazanka). boku no hero academia is obviously his work i'm most familiar with, and it's difficult to use mostly that as a metric for his skills overall.
on the other hand, bnha lasts for so much longer than his other works and is also so much more recent, so it's the main work that has to show off how growth or lack thereof as a writer, as well as his biggest challenges due to how punishing the manga industry can be and how it would have forced him into situations he may not have experienced with his past works. so in a way, bnha kind of has to be judged a biiit separately from the rest?
anyways with those caveats aside. his greatest strength is always and forever his art, which in manga is at least half of the writing. he has this special little touch with physicality and emotion that like. it's hard to describe how exactly it's different from other artists, who are also often great with physicality and emotion! but horikoshi's art often has that extra bit of weight to it that really sells it to me.
like i've said previously, i also think that he does have a knack for character writing that shines best when he's working with complicated, rough around the edges characters who aren't straightforward goody-two-shoes. shigaraki and bakugou i've already said are great examples of this. endeavour can get more difficult to talk about in this context due to the baggage around him, but i'd maintain that a lot of the series best writing does go to him, shouto, and the rest of the todoroki plotline (although it struggled a bit at the end there). twice, while ultimately a really nice guy, is still a very complicated criminal who gets theeeeee best development in the series. obviously there's toga, normal cute girl of all time.
a lot of that extends to horikoshi's affection for his minor/side characters as well. while i don't think he always nails it with integrating them into the story (fucking shouji. also vigilantes honestly did parts of this better), he does obviously put a lot of thought into them even when he doesn't get to use it. this is part of why i adore spinner so much, because he's that very typical minor side character who could easily be written out but instead gets a fleshed out and evocative role of his own.
i also think that horikoshi has a really strong instinct and potential for great horror/horrific material. again, this is where shigaraki proves himself horikoshi's best character - everything from his initial character design with the hands, the hints and insinuations about his backstory dropped over the first and second acts, all culminating in the beautifully gruesome shimura family massacre that just hits every single fuckin time. i honestly think it's one of the greatest payoffs in the series, basically bar none. (i know people try to give that title to the dabi reveal, but i keep getting taken out by how abrupt that particular instance is) it's the horror moments that make his art especially shine, he comes up with great scenarios, and honestly when he mentioned wanting to try his hand at a horror work after bnha i'm like, all in.
but that kind of segues into my biggest criticism of his writing - he holds back. he gets meek, he doesn't go all in. he had some interview where he admitted that the yakuza arc took a lot out of him because of how dark it got,
this extends to the entire series, especially in how the third arc has shaken out. deku and all might are really big victims of this, where there is absolutely a lot of complex development and criticism you can do with the way their characters are set up, but the story backs down from that to go "well maybe they're just. too heroic sometimes. self-sacrificing. that's an issue right." the 'dark deku' arc is a joke because while deku does extend himself beyond his limits, he never gets to the point of causing real harm to himself and those around him before class 1a swoops in.
i also have my conspiracy theories about hawks and how the fallout of his murdering twice was soooooo weak, where i think the popularity of hawks and his status as a hero scared horikoshi off of doing anything more critical with him, instead feeding that overwrought backstory as a distraction and giving the whole "government sponsored murderer who is wracked with guilt and bitter about the hypocrisy" to nagant. who again he didn't go hard enough with because then deku would have like, something outside of shigaraki to actually deal with. and would have to question the society that he's protecting. whatever.
he's also been so half-assed with the critique and deconstruction of hero society that he's set up, only to hastily and clumsily reconstruct it because superheroes are too cool to reeeaaaaaally say anything about, and also hero society has too many parallels with real life modern society, which might be awkward to critique in a youth magazine meant to satisfy as broad an audience as possible.
and then there's the heteromorph arc. goddamn the heteromorph arc. if you follow me you've probably read this but @stillness-in-green's conclusive write up of heteromorph discrimination as it's been laid out throughout the story and how that arc failed, which i think really signifies either the ways that horikoshi doesn't dig as deep into the concepts he brings up as he should, or doesn't realize how deep he needs to go with them.
i don't know if part of the way that horikoshi holds back or lands on the most boring resolutions for some of the ideas the story brings up is in part due to not wanting to rock the boat culturally, if he doesn't want to accidentally turn readers away after he's worked so hard to get to where he is now as a mangaka, or if it's the workload wearing him down, but it leaves the story half-formed.
i also think his other greatest weakness, which is a brutal one for shonen, is that he kind of fucking sucks at interesting fight scenes. like how much stuff ends with deku giving a big punch. it is my honest and greatest opinion that it should have been iida fighting muscular and uraraka fighting stain either alongside or in place of deku - their characters just had so much more to gain there. but i can also imagine all the fanboys who only care about power stats sneering and asking what iida and uraraka could have possibly done, which i think really speaks to a lack of creative thought not just in the fanbase, but in the writer. horikoshi can spin up all these cool and unique powers, but struggles to do anything really engaging with them. given that shonen fight scenes double as big character moments, it leaves a lot to be desired. big punches can only be inspiring so many times.
anyways. there's probably a lot more i can say. but that involves retreating more of the story than i am willing to do so right now. so alas.
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100 Hirumamo Prompt Challenge
I want to breathe new life into the fanfic sphere for Hirumamo because this ship has me in a choke hold & refuses to let go. I've come across some great stories but I got a problem - new fics are few and far between. Don't get me wrong, it's been a long while since anyone has seen Eyeshield 21 or has read / re-read the manga like I have. But I think that we can breathe new life into this ship's content sphere with this - a fanfic prompt challenge!
Each of these prompts that you so choose to create must be at least 1,000 words at the bare minimum.
Or if you're more artistically inclined, you can make any of these prompts into new pieces of art. If you do just tag me so I can see it please. There are #100 prompts in total so let's get started!
ALSO!!! IF YOU CAN POST THESE STORIES ON FANFICTION.NET OR ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN THAT WOULD BE FANTASTIC!! PLEASE!
Camping
First Kiss
Injury
Sick Day
One Bed
Wedding Dress
Confession
Protective
Practice
Game Day
Valentine's Day
White Day
Pocky
Summer
Beach Day
College Football Game
Pregnancy
Engagement Rings
Meet the Parents
Summer Festival
Making Out
Dance
NFL Super Bowl
Birth of First Child
Fantasy AU (Your Choice)
Hickey
Library
Dinner Date
Writer Choice
Masquerade Ball
School Play
Babysitting
Cuddling
First Time (NSFW prompt)
Locked in a Closet
7 Minutes in Heaven (Can be possible NSFW content)
Fishing
Photograph
Rain
Training
Las Vegas
Childhood Stories
Good Luck Kiss
Airplane Flight
Making Up After a Fight
Jealousy
Phone Call
"That's My Boyfriend" / "That's My Girlfriend"
Ticklish
Smile
Soft Touch
Comfort
Christmas
Birthday
Swapping Bodies
Indirect Confession
Piggyback Ride
Swings
Apartment
Avenge
New Years
Song fic
Movie Theater
Video
Retirement
Tango
Almost Kiss
Moment They Fell in Love
NSFW Prompt (Your Choice)
Music
Hand Signs
Honeymoon
Vows
Trauma
Sleeping on Their Shoulder
Cherry Blossoms
Fireworks
Welcome Back Kiss
Strawberries
Gum
Nickname
Massage
Winter
Guns
Family Planning
Rough Football Loss
Tears
Gossip
Lotion
Undercover Date
Rose
Father's Day
Mother's Day
Family Picture Day
Shopping
Clubroom
Chess
Swimming
Horny (NSFW Prompt)
French Kiss
I'm looking forward to reading your fics. Again, if you write any of these or all of them in one big collection. Reblog this with either a link to your story or to your fan art. Let's give more entertainment to the community!
#Eyeshield 21#E21#Hirumamo#Hiruma x Mamori#Mamori x Hiruma#Youichi Hiruma#Yoichi Hiruma#Mamori Anezaki#Riichiro Inagaki#Fanfiction#Fanfic Prompts#Eyeshield 21 Fanfics#Hirumamo 100 Prompt Challenge
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My part of the exchange with @fourtyfourcatss !
Sorry for the wait! I hope you like it!
Your kuroshitsuji match is….Sebastian!
Now listen it was a very tough choice cuz your runner up is Edward, but in the end I think your chemistry with sebby is better. Anime Sebastian is a sweetheart compared to how bitchy he is in manga (he is my fav but someone slap this man).
Sebastian is charming and very manipulative….he has a lot of facades and can just become your dream man if he wants to which means that getting down to the real him is the challenge of a lifetime. Heck who knows why he decided to court someone. But I ain’t here to analyse morally um…dubious characters or anything cuz we’d be here for the night and I’m a beige flag who loves red flags so anyways. I think Sebastian is the type to fall later and be surprised that he can even fall in love. This means that when he realizes it’s serious he will distance himself at first and then basically stay glued to you. He’s quite a possessive lover because love is foreign to him. This sums up how you got together and the biggest obstacle in the relationship.
Sebastian is a lover who’ll always hype you up and help you achieve your ambitious goals. It can get overbearing sometimes because you don’t want to disappoint him but really just talk to him about it as he’s not the most emotionally intelligent. He loves how passionate you are and if it’s in his field, he will happily coach you and help you out without showing off much. He also appreciates your honesty because dealing with fake people all the time can be so tiring (oh the hypocrisy…).
He is not a negligent lover but he’s also not always here due to his deals and job. He makes up for it when he’s back by giving you a divine royal treatment. Nothing is impossible for you (his words). I also headcanon that he tries to buy you gifts based by what other couples buy but he still finds the concept foreign because demons aren’t that materialistic. You two are also Undertaker favorite visitors due to your humor (he teases Sebastian about his feelings each time).
He lives to impress and he won’t rest until he can impress you. The main reason is pride. If this one hell of a butler couldn’t impress his lover then what kind of demon is he? No he won’t stand for it lol. This results in a pouty Sebastian that you can tease and reassure. Careful, he’ll return the teasing tenfold. This man won’t hesitate to show off his demonic strength and just exhaust you with work which is quite embarrassing cuz you’re physically active and tired while he is smirking. You’re more considerate than him and he’s a bad influence that’ll encourage you to put yourself first all the time even if it’s harmful to others.
Your artistic side makes him happy because you two can just enjoy art together and there’s a high chance he’ll tell you a story about the artist. Heck if he can he will even let you contact your favorite writers, even if they’re dead. Your logical side is a breeze to him because he’s surrounded by idiots whose savior is you. I mean you’re the only one who’ll patiently explain everything easily while Sebastian is just condescending to them! Sebastian is a little old fashioned but if you want to try a new creative way he will help you out. It’s shocking because he usually dismisses the idea when someone else proposes it.
Overall it’s quite an adventurous relationship who does have its up and downs due to Sebastian origins so…good luck. I don’t even know how I squeezed out so much from your description…is it me or do I write like I’m a couple therapist?
Your Hades match is…..Zagreus! With Hermes as a close runner up
Him and Sebby is like cats and dogs. Zagreus is the definition of the clumsy golden retriever boyfriend who means well lmao. He’s nosy, curious, creative, AMBITIOUS, and so honest it’s not surprising that you two got together. Your matchmakers were Cupid and Aphrodite even blessed your union (please they pushed him to confess after being tired of his rambling).
You two are so ambitious you’re making Thanatos go crazy. I mean you’re more rationable than him but you two always hype up the other which creates trouble. Zagreus is proud of it and proud of you. He’s always rambling about how creative and good you are to him. He loves to read with you and tries to help you out in your writing by giving you new ideas and such. Heck he walks around with a notepad in case you have a new idea you want to write down. He’ll take it out even if you two are in the middle of a battlefield. Due to his lack of self preservation, the thinking is left to you and he’s the bodyguard. Just because he’s reckless doesn’t make him less protective. Dying sucks, even if you come back to life, that’s why he will do his best to never let you die. If you die before him he goes on a rampage and then comes back all sad and apologetic to you (he wants to bring the head of your enemy but doesn’t know how you’ll react. That’s mythology romance lol).
Zagreus doesn’t mind how blunt you are considering his entourage, but he always has a witty comeback. Only he can make these comebacks to you. He is always optimistic and will do his best to improve himself for you. Even if you have issues empathizing with others, he will be patient for you and learn how to be more communicative. I believe that this and his family issues are gonna be issues in the relationship because if he feels that he’s burdening you he’ll break up thinking it’s for your own good. He does need reassurance.
Zagreus love language is definitely acts of service and words. He always compliments you and tries to remember the little things that make you happy. If he hears that something is causing you issues he will try to solve it for you in the shadows (if it works he will come all proud and if it doesn’t work he will come to you apologizing like a scared puppy lol). Also, at first his father doesn’t like you and tries to chase you away contrary to his mother. It’s only after the game events that his father will welcome you under the threats of his dear wife.
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Top 9 Movies
thequeenofsastiel tagged me to list my top nine movies, so here we go.
In keeping with the title of this blog you get BL and queer romcoms only.
I’m only choosing stuff that originally aired as movies so, sorry Korean short forms, you’re out. (Or they’d dominate the list.) Some of these are really nostalgic for me since they were some of the first queer anythings I saw with HEA, so I forgive them (much as I forgive BL now) for their sins against wokeness. They are what they are.
Shelter ~ Street artist surfer falls in love with his best friend’s older brother (explains my weakness for this trope + stepbrothers). Angst + a heavy dose of familial responsibility and tortured coming out sequences.
Latter Days ~ LA party boy makes a bet that he can seduce one of the mormons who just moved in. Instead they fall in love. Great friendship group. SUPER romantic. Triggery ttriggers.
I Can’t Think Straight ~ Chronic party girl keeps trying to get married but can’t because she’s hella gay. Meets and falls in love with gentle writer, but family expectations are a bitch. Introvert/extrovert pairing + secret romance.
D.E.B.S ~ Sure it’s candy but it’s queer candy. Lesbian spy (dressed as a catholic schoolgirl) falls madly in love with evil super villainess. Straight boy is the sidekick. Musical montages abound. This one prepped me for the levels of ridiculous BL can reach.
Were the World Mine ~ has some consent/obsession issues (hellloooo BL) and fantastical elements, but sublimely fabulously gay af.
Maurice ~ what can I say? I have been and always will be a sucker for a costume drama.
Will we ever get our gat kiss? ANSWER THE CALL, KOREA!
Restart After Come Back Home AKA Risutato wa tadaima no ato de ~ Atmospheric study in rural Japan meets complex family dynamics built on a romance framework of city boy meets country boy, grumpy/sunshine. It’s beautiful and icy sweet. Slow moving in places but ultimately worth the patience, low heat, low angst, very pretty. Full review here.
This was the first thing that finally convinced me to give atmospheric BL a chance. Up until then I had watched it but kinda dismissed it in annoyance, what can you do hen you’re raised on Takumi-kun? Restart broke through that for me.
His (Viki) ~ it took me a long time to warm up to this one. His is about being a grown adult and still struggling with coming out as gay. It addresses the consequences of life choices disingenuous to identity. Nagisa turns up on Shun’s doorstep with his precocious daughter in tow. This is a touch confusing to Shun since they were each others first love. Shun has retreated from society, rejecting the world before it can reject him, already brokenhearted because without Nagisa he never had a reason to fight. Nagisa went the opposite way, tried to pretend to be something he was not and ended up with a daughter he adores and a wife who hates him. This movie is beautiful and the setting is unique and interesting but I'm STILL not wild about the ending.
Silhouette of Your Voice AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru AKA I Hear the Sunspot ~ it’s certainly not as good as any of us wanted given how wonderful the original manga is. Also it doesn’t really end happily, but it’s on this list for what it COULD have been.
Irresistible Love 2 AKA Uncontrolled Love ~ obsession whipping boy romance but with a kinda happy ending quite violent, lots of tiggers. Why is it here? Well I found it after Addicted and Advance Bravely I was just so happy to see any kind of even slightly good resolution out of China at this point. Sure it’s challenging, but that’s what early BL is about. Of course I have only the secodn movie up here because the first one ends on a cliff hanger.
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I do LOVE Big Eden but I also didn’t find it at the right time. Too late on this one to make it truly formative for me.
(source)
#ABL recommends#recommended bl#bl list#Big Eden#queer cinema#gay romcom#Uncontrolled Love#Irresistible Love 2#Hidamari ga Kikoeru#Japanese bl#japanese cinema#live action yaoi#adapted from a manga#Silhouette of Your Voice#I Hear the Sunspot#His the movie#rakutan viki#Restart After Come Back Home#Risutato wa tadaima no ato de#Maurice#em forster#Were the World Mine#D.E.B.S#I Can’t Think Straight#Latter Days#Shelter the movie#early 2000s cinema
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Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-San Review
There are two types of people in this world: those who love taking a trip to their local bookstore, and those who hate fun. I happen to be part of the former group, and try to visit my local Indigo at least once or twice a month just to check out what’s there. Sometimes, its just nice to wander through the aisles, and casually explore what’s there, without really looking for anything in particular. Its a place so laid back, it begs the question: ‘Working there can’t be that hard, can it?’
As it turns out, working at a bookstore is pretty complicated, something that I learned after watching this month’s assigned anime: Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-San. Based on the manga of the same name, this series follows a skeleton named Honda who works at a non-descript bookstore in Japan, stocking shelves and helping customers. Each day brings new challenges which Honda and his odd-headed co-workers must face, in wacky (sometimes barely animated) hijinks.
Skull-Face Bookseller (abbreviated to SFBH from now on for brevity) is a series whose main focus is being a ‘relatable’ workplace comedy. Folks like me who’ve never worked at a bookstore might find themselves getting confused at all the workplace lingo thrown around, though the series does a good job at explaining the concepts to the audience. The series, though, has this overall sense of expectancy over it, as if the creators are waiting in the bushes for you to laugh at their ‘relatable’ jokes. Every time a character complains about working too long, about how customers are rude, or how their job sucks, the anime expects you to relate that to your own working experience and therefore laugh along.
And yet, it always stops before it gets too pessimistic. Most shows that I’m familiar with about people with jobs go down this doom spiral, where characters obsessively complain about work. Their job sucks, something happens that they weren’t expecting, they react negatively, rinse and repeat. Here, though, the writer steps back right before the spiral begins, acknowledging the problem but refusing to let it control their life. SFBH is a refreshing take on the time-worn workplace comedy, because it doesn’t make the entire joke of the series ‘Working sucks’.
Instead, the main joke of the series is the appearance of the bookstore employees. Just like in the original manga, Honda and her co-workers are depicted as wearing unusual helmets or masks, giving them a sense of cartoonish silliness that separates them from the customers at first glance. I’m not exactly sure why they look like that (my guess is to protect the identities of the real people involved), but the weird faces has an added benefit beyond simple aesthetics. In a series that revolves around a large cast of recurring characters, confusion is inevitable, especially since some manga artists suffer from ‘Same Face Syndrome’ with their female characters. Since the main cast of SFBH are all wearing weird head-coverings, its easier to remember who is who, and every character looks distinct.
SFBH’s characters also fall into this weird grey area when it comes to gender recognition. Since most characters have their faces fully covered, our only traditional means of distinguishing are from dialogue. Nobody ever mentions the word ‘man’ or ‘woman’ (and knowing Japan, I’d be shocked if the concept of non-binary was even hinted at), but the occasional ‘him’ or ‘she’ is thrown around when referring to someone. The Japanese voice actors sound like what one might expect from a ‘she’ or a ‘he’, but when it comes to Honda, things get complicated.
Honda is, of course, a skeleton, who lacks any stereotypically feminine or masculine traits. His face is plain, his bony frame is mostly hidden under a white shirt and blue work apron (and what would we even expect to be under there, besides bones?). By all accounts, Honda is pretty androgynous, something that isn’t too common in a series where that isn’t the main punchline.
What makes things interesting is how Honda herself identifies. In the anime, Honda is voiced by Soma Saito, who you might recognize as that green-haired wimp Tadashi from Haikyu. Because of this, Honda sounds very masculine, and the subtitles agree, referring to him as ‘he’ or ‘him’. At the same time, the character is intended to be representing the author, who identifies as female. There are a few times in the manga where Honda is read as female, including being referred to as an “older sister” type, or when a customer declines her offer to help carry a heavy bag because it would be ‘too heavy for a woman’.
Honda flip flops between being read as male or female, while showing no obvious signs of being either. The very beginning of the series has him lament about the typical image of a bookseller being a sweet, glasses-wearing young woman, and how he doesn’t fit that image. Yet, later in the series, when Honda talks with her manga editor about a live-action adaptation, they joke about which male actor they would cast as her. I’d like to believe that Honda is genderfluid, which would be groundbreaking for a Japanese manga, so it gets representation points in my books.
Beyond complicated gender identities, anyone who is even mildly versed in manga will get a kick out of this series for how often it references popular series. Characters will burst into a scene, asking if there’s more copies of a famous manga in stock, all the while the name is barely censored because of copyright. Well-known manga references are thrown all over the place, giving the fictional bookstore a greater sense of legitimacy. Instead of making obviously fake titles, they just said ‘screw it’ and used real ones, making it feel more real. While watching this anime, I found myself trying to identify all the manga mentioned by characters in dialogue, almost like a little game. Its pretty fun, if you know your stuff.
I’d also like to think that whoever recommended this series to me knows me really well, because the amount of references to yaoi or BL in this anime is shockingly high. The entire first episode is practically devoted to it, culminating in a scene where Honda has to deal with an English-speaking customer who is looking for an explicit doujinshi that his daughter wanted. I really don’t know what’s worse: the fact that a character mentioned a BL series vaguely in an off-hand comment and I immediately knew what it was (despite never having read it), or that I knew exactly which doujinshi the English-speaking dad was looking for. Let’s just say that I haven’t watched Gintama yet, but I have some experience with the main character...
SFBH is a good anime: not great, not fantastic, but not bad either. It wasn’t trying to be some over the top, zany comedy, or some deep meditation about workplace culture. Its a short, snappy, and visually distinct series with it’s own sense of humor, one that relies more on weird people and situations than pessimism and ‘relatability’. I enjoyed how much it had to say about how bookstores work, and I felt like I learned while watching it. One thing’s for sure: I have a new sense of respect for bookstore workers, after seeing all the hard work that goes into keeping everything in order. Now, I can rest assured that when I bring my big stacks of plastic-wrapped BL to the counter, the employee ringing me up is just as embarrassed as I am. What a relief.
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Fandom asks: 3, 5, 6 & 23! ^^
You can skip any if you don't have anything to say or don't want to answer to! /gen
Oh, lovely, LOVELY picks !
Thank you so, so MUCH Madness for the ask, and for the challenging picks :D I shall do my best to answer them, but I am so happy and hyped ! It might cover fandoms you are not interested in, but I hope the answers will interest you and the post will be enjoyable !!!!!!
Let's begin !
3. A character that fandom has helped you appreciate
Wesson (Rod's character in the Dirty Gary short movie !). I wasn't that involved with the character in itself because while I just appreciated and loved watching Rod in an acting gig, I didn't love the character to the extend of wanting to write about him. But fandom indeed happened, and working on a common project with a friend and discussing the character with another, they made me appreciate him more and more, and now he is one of my numerous blorbos XD
5. Something you see in fics a lot and love
It's so simple but yet so lovely, and it's just reading people's takes on my favorite ships. I love to see how many shapes love between characters can take, be them deep friendships, QRPs, enemies to lovers, boyfriends. I just love reading my favorite men being tender with each other, I love softness. I think I wanna indulge in soft romance shots from the near future, I don't know why, but I feel like I need it XD But yeah. I love seeing love win, no matter its shapes. This is the most wonderful part of fanfiction me thinks.
6. Something you see in art a lot and love
Dramatic situations (I am a sucker for drama, I don't know if you noticed XD /j), poetry, and on drawings, I am just in awe with watercolors. I'd love to make art with watercolors. It is similar to watercolors, but I just love seeing the work on colors from artists. I think it's a beautiful hobby to draw, and I love seeing people's art and fanarts because it is a rendition of their love and appreciation for life/for a media, I just dig it, ya know. And poetry is something I wanna achieve also, because I find so many things absolutely beautiful and I wanna share my feelings and my love for them. Poets have my deepest admiration to be honest. As well as artists.
Writers too. I just don't think of myself belonging in the artsy writers league. Would kill to be able to write things that are art. But I don't know how people do that XD
23. The fandom you're curious about because of a mutual
And it's actually a Tumblr mutual who has posted about that fandom for weeks on end at some point, and it just caught my interest, and I'd love to read the manga. The fandom in question is Bleach, and they got me curious enough to want to read the manga XD
I hope the answers are still enjoyable even tho it's not necessarily about fandoms that you like yourself. Thank you again so fucking MUCH for sending these questions, they were quite challenging ! My answers on art isn't really fandom related, but hey XD I do what I want XD
Thank you again so much, it was fun :D
#answering mcrmadness#It's not a long post but I am still happy with my answers. Got so hyped and delighted to receive these questions :D#You chose well. Very well if I may say so :D
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writer 20 questions!
so aoba tagged panda and yellow (@guesst), who tagged me, but i saw panda's post first for some reason. hi everyone. thanks for remembering i exist, i had to dust off my writer card. i will be responding to everyone's points…
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
36
2. What's your total AO3 word count?
125,372
3. What fandoms d(id) you write for?
mairimashita
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
dying doesn’t suit you either (433), trying not to move (same fic) (360), pandemonium (280), it’s not the end of the world (239), soft cream otoshichatta(191). what, no kidnapping fic on here? no vampirio? vampirio is still my second most iconic work; people mention it to this day
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
i think i do. enough that the number of comments is different from the number of comment threads.
6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
probably the one where kiri makes azu kill people and then it ends with him dissociating sitting on the bathroom floor knowing that his life is ruined. what a great fic. does anyone else want to read this fic? the statute of limitations has passed i don’t even mind
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
uuuu….. FIGURE IT OUT I DON’T KNOW
8. Do you get hate on fics?
never in my life lol i am a perfect angel
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
surprised to see other people saying they don’t. hey, if you get to write without being a disgusting pervert freak, why not me? if you can be motivated beyond a base impulse. if you can want something closer to pure, just for the satisfaction of pieces clicking into place, words coming easy for once– i want satisfaction in a bad way.
10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?
IN… theory. A. i love crackficcing and B. i feel like it’s hard to find an interesting crossover, which is a challenge, but hm, not really a thing i do.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
no, but someone once used my manga coloring for a fancam. i can’t be mad, i stole that shit in the first place lolol
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
nooooo (psy is not that famous) (never got a podfic either)
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
yes! i have been listed as a co-author for beta-ing and i have also written fics that were completely co-concepted and beta’d by the other person. never written by like, trading off chapters or had both people write extensive passages though.
14. What's your all-time favorite ship?
I’M POLYAMAROUS I DON’T HAVE AN OTP
15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?
vampirio #2… i drafted it out and everything… from WIP to RIP…
i don’t need to finish things for them to count towards my artistic development or whatever. you know, perhaps fans of my work would disagree. perhaps such people would prefer that i post things for them to read
16. What are your writing strengths?
this is too embarrassing. words pretty :> flow flow :>
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
i can’t structure and follow through on anything longer than 10k. i don’t block out time to write.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
tu quieres escuchar mi espanol terrible? en un fic? por que’ yo quisiera hacer este NFDNs?? escribir fic por the smash hit sensation EL CUARTO MISTERIOSO. yo debo mirar mas shows en espanol…. este keyboard no tene un numpad. fun fact. no alt codes para mi
19. First fandom you wrote for?
uuuuuuuuuu nope that’s LIMITED INFORMATION
20. Favorite fic you've ever written?
playing the victim. the aforementioned serial killer fic.
i am tagging @cometkov and @dragonofthedepths! and everyone. everyone at all. if you see this you have to answer all 20 questions. 500 words each. assignment is due 11/30 11:59. by the way, here is a blank to make it a little easier.
#jester tag#tag game#ik my main used to be my writing blog but i need my little offshoots okay. i need my webring
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An Honest Guide to Tumblr for Twitter Refugees (Part 0)
So I had posted Part 1 first, covering basic technical aspects like configuring your Tumblr settings and customizing your Tumblr. And while I was writing my draft for Part 2, I realized that all these “How to use Tumblr” guides are pretty much useless if you don’t even know what the heck Tumblr is and why you should even use it… Thus, I’m just gonna go ahead and talk about that first.
So, what the heck is Tumblr?
I’ve mentioned this in Part 1: Tumblr is a blogging platform. The name “tumblr” comes from the word “tumblelog.” But this definition is just putting things simply.
I’d like to define Tumblr as your own personal corner in the internet. What it really is depends on how you use it. This blog where I’m posting this guide is a blog I use for the multiple fandoms I’m in. Here, I talk about the latest anime episodes, reblog gifs, and sometimes post theories and analyses. My dashboard, then, is full of users who are in the same fandoms as me, and the posts I see most often are those about anime and manga.
Fandom is just one Tumblr use-case. You can customize your Tumblr experience to however you want it to be.
If you’re a writer, you can join the writeblr community and post about your WIPs. You can also follow other writers and talk about their WIPs.
If you’re an artist, you can check out the #artists on tumblr tag and see what other artists are making.
If you’re a developer, you can try making your own Tumblr themes and even join coding challenges.
If you like science stuff, check out the #science side of tumblr.
And if you want to wax poetic about your latest hyperfixation, you can start an fyeah blog. You can go as wild as you want, and people won’t cringe and call you weird for it.
Great! So now I can start posting and joining the x/y/z communities on Tumblr, right?
Not yet. I mean, you can, of course; there’s no hard rule for it. But I advise against jumping right into things.
Someone posted about this before, but I couldn't find that post anymore, so I'll just say it again: Before starting anything here on Tumblr, it's best you spend a few days just lurking around.
Don't make an intro post, don't rush to advertise your blog, and don't start begging for followers yet (the number of followers don’t even matter here). Just lurk. Observe. See how the veteran Tumblr users are doing things and learn from them.
This has been said many times before, but please leave your Twitter habits out the door. Tumblr culture and etiquette is not something you can learn overnight, so it’s wise to just watch first.
Familiarize yourself with the Tumblr terminology. Like, what does “meta” mean? What are ask/tag games? What does it mean when a user says they’re “tracking tags”? There are many other terms, and although it’s not necessary to learn them, you’ll enjoy Tumblr more if you know what they are.
Oh, by the way, it’s called reblog, not retweet. God forbid you call them retweets. And no, adding content to a reblog is not the same as quote tweeting. (I’ll talk more about this in Part 2 or 3 of this guide.)
Why should I listen to you? I’m gonna treat this place like Twitter, fuck you
You don’t have to listen to me at all. But I’m telling you, if you treat this place like Twitter, you’re just inviting hate and ridicule upon yourself. As much as Tumblr users like to call this place hellsite and complain about how it’s always broken, we are oddly very defensive of it. We do not want it to become a Twitter 2.0.
Is Tumblr right for me?
As long as you’re not a brand always trying to sell us stuff or a celebrity only using the platform to promote their show/album/movie, then yes, you are welcome here.
To enjoy Tumblr, you have to treat it like a place where you just hang out and have fun and not just another platform to get sales or followers or to chase clout. That just doesn’t work here. There’s a reason why @/neil-gaiman is Tumblr’s most beloved celebrity, and that’s because he understands this.
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a friend was talking about style influences earlier and it reminded me of this old meme and i wanted to do one!!!!! i'll talk more about each one under the read more, but if you want to do one, here's the link: https://www.deviantart.com/foxorian/art/Influence-Map-Template-174550753
Sailor Moon (particularly the 90s anime) - this is a big one! i remember drawing sailor moon in elementary school and playing pretend/LARPing sailor moon on the playground... the good old 90s anime style with the exaggerated expressions! cute girls! friendship! this general kind of soft, roundness to the style of the 90s anime? it has everything
Honey and Clover - this manga/anime means the world to me. i love the style, the way the mangaka draws emotions, but also the protagonist's story of finding himself? resonant. the manga especially is precious to me bc of the art tho, it has a sketchy quality that i love
Hey Arnold! - another childhood favorite... this one doesn't reflect on my actual style so much, but it's a big influence on the stories and characters i like and create. if i could make everyone watch only one cartoon, it would be hey arnold
this is a triple threat... Persona 5, sketchbooks, @meruz - if you look at more than one page of this blog, you can probably guess i like p5(r)!! a lot!! i love all the characters, even if you mostly see me drawing the protag and akechi bc i'm a shipper at heart lol... i'm always inspired by sketchbooks of other artists! especially proper sketchbooks, where they're messy and worked in and aren't curated to be "good looking" for people to look at. that said, this is a page meruz posted from one of their sketchbooks (go buy them) and i adore meruz's work! i got into their work a while back and their lineart really drew me in, the lineweight and use of spot blacks is delicious. i need to work more on those in my own art and meruz's work always makes me want to do just that
Dolls - and here we take a little detour from the obvious? i sadly don't own this doll :( she's a rune naito fashion doll and i want one so badly. i collect dolls, especially fashion dolls!! i love their designs!! i usually just leave them in their stock outfits bc those are part of the charm to me. i wanna draw my dolls more, but for now they're just a big influence on design and outfits for characters
Amanda Lafrenais - i've been following amanda for so many years i can't keep count anymore!! her style blends "western" and "anime" so well to me and also she just draws lots of pretty women?? also we love queens who draw different body types
Roleplaying (pixelated image from wiki-how) - i've been roleplaying, mostly just with my bestie erin, since i was like 14? i draw stuff inspired by our roleplays soooo much, whether it's from a scene or just "what if"s we threw around. erin is a brilliant writer, has great ideas, and she's basically the GM even tho it's collaborative writing-based rping lmao... im just like "erin come up with a plot and we can shoot ideas back and forth" lol
Drawfee - no idea anymore how i came across drawfee but it's a really fun and funny channel and i'll do some of their challenges on my own sometimes!! (my favorite is the 30s character from memory challenge, i'll have erin give me characters and time me) also they have a ttrpg-style series called Drawtectives that has great characters!!! also every time julia draws a scene im like "ah i want that to be me..."
The Golden Age of Illustration - i'm such a junkie for cartoons and anime and comics and such, i don't really know the classics OOPS... but in the past year or two i've gotten really into what's apparently known as the "golden age of illustration"!! roughly the 1880's to 1920s, there's a lot of fairy/folk tale art from this era and i'm obsessed with all of it. standout mentions that i love to look at the work of are kay nielsen and edmund dulac
honorable mentions are just... every manga i've ever loved. every artist i've ever obsessed over the art of. and HONORABLE honorable mention to drawingwiffwaffles who sadly hasn't updated in a few months... she got me back into traditional media tho and is a general delight to watch work
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Formal Introduction
Rules | Short Bio | Ask |
Hello everyone!
I hope this message finds you well. I am writing this introduction to share a glimpse into my world through the lens of my hobbies and personal interests. I truly believe that our hobbies can reveal much of our character, passions, and values, and I am eager to share mine with you.
One of my foremost hobbies is being a visual artist. In elementary school, I began my visual artist journey. I spent days drawing popular cartoon characters and wouldn't stop until I mastered each art style. It was then; I memorized how to draw those characters because DVR's weren't as popular and I didn't recieve a smartphone until 9th grade. In fall 2018, I dipped my toes into digital art and thus began my visual and digital artist era. Engaging in art has not only provided me with an outlet for creativity and self-expression, but it has also taught me valuable lessons in perseverance, discipline, and the joy of pursuing something purely for the love of it.
Another passion of mine is creating background music using FL Studio. In high school, to become "popular (which failed miserably)" I inserted myself as a rapper who tried to rap, but quickly discovered I could not. Guys, I can't even write poetry. In 10th grade, I discovered FL Studio on YouTube and, given my background with the keyboard, I figured I'd try it. It took a few months to acclimate, but I can truly say I am quite good at making happy, bouncy background music. I find great fulfillment and a sense of adventure in immersing myself in the world of art and music. Through this hobby, I have connected with like-minded individuals, learn from their experiences, and broaden my horizons.
I am an avid creative writer and manga reader. My love for art developed in elementary school after watching a series of nickelodeon cartoons, but I became a creative writer after watching the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie in the 7th grade. I thought, "The dialogue sounds so easy to write.... I can do something like this," and this my writing journey began. Now that I've figured out my art style is heavily based on anime designs, I began reading many mangas including Gangsta and JoJo. Writing brings me immense joy and allows me to tap into my creativity. It has also served as a valuable outlet for relaxation and self-reflection, providing me with a sense of balance amidst the demands of daily life.
Beyond these hobbies, I am constantly exploring new interests and seeking fresh experiences. I believe in the power of lifelong learning and continuously challenging myself to grow and expand my horizons. Whether it's [mention any other hobbies or interests], I approach each new endeavor with enthusiasm, curiosity, and a desire to learn and evolve.
I firmly believe that hobbies play a vital role in shaping our personal and professional lives. They provide us with an opportunity to recharge, explore new perspectives, and develop skills that can be applied in various aspects of life.
Thank you for taking the time to read this introduction based on my hobbies. I am excited to connect with you and discover the potential intersections of our interests. If there are any shared hobbies or experiences that resonate with you, I would be thrilled to hear about them and explore the possibility of embarking on a meaningful journey together.
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📺 CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT 📺
Introducing Comic Artist @erskye!
Full interview below:
Q: Please tell us about yourself!
A: I'm Syn and I've been in this fandom for three years now. I love cold seasons. I love spicy foods. I love doing lineart but my lineart isn’t truly lineart, they're just clean sketches (don't zoom in).
Q: Who is your favorite Persona 4 character/s and why?
A: Yosuke Hanamura. He is everything for me. I've always been weak towards comic relief-ish characters who kinda got screwed over by the writers and got misunderstood by half the fandom. I tend to immediately "adopt" them. Also Yosuke is VERY cute, kind, and funny. I want this twink obliterated.
Q: Which Persona 4 characters/s do you find fun/challenging to write/draw and why?
A: Souji Seta/Yu Narukami, I find the most challenging and fun to depict. Because everyone has their own interpretations of him and it's fun to witness each and every one. I find the most joy in trying to mix some of his different personality traits from the manga, game and anime. Or even putting emphasis on some of his more subtle traits I find have the potential to be intriguing but doesn't get addressed as much.
Q: What are your favorite Persona 4 ships?
A: Shuhana and Shuada. I also love to ship almost everyone with Yosuke to be honest.
Q: Which Arcana do you see yourself as?
A: Wheel Of Fortune, probably.
Q: What's your favorite trope?
A: I have many favorite tropes. One of them (and the most common) is childhood friends/best friends to lovers.
Q: Do you have a favorite Persona?
A: Yukiko's persona designs rocks (I'm particularly fond of Amaterasu).
Q: What made you want to become an artist?
A: Well I love drawing. So I use that to draw my fav characters in specific scenarios, heehee.
Q: How did you get into the Persona series?
A: Someone gifted me P3FES for my 12th birthday. Unforgettable experience.
Q: What would you like to accomplish with your contribution to AOA zine?
A: Most importantly, I want to have fun and do my part for the community. We all eating good together, fellas.
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PMMM?
Oooh, OK then. So I actually wrote an Animation Night post on Madoka, back on Animation Night 10 - hard to believe that's 81 weeks ago now. Back then, though, my posts were much shorter and I didn't discuss the production in much detail. However I did end up talking about SHAFT again later in the post about Kizumonogatari on Animation Night 51.
Anyway, I love Madoka. I admit, my engagement with the series has just been the original anime and Rebellion, and not any of the expanded world of gacha games and manga and the spinoff anime adapting the gacha - but I would rank Rebellion as one of my favourite animated films and I can't wait to see what they do with the upcoming sequel.
Last time I wrote about Madoka, I mostly wrote about Gen Urobuchi. I generally speaking think he's an immensely talented writer and I've enjoyed basically all the stuff he's worked on from Psycho-Pass to Fate Zero (yet to watch through Kamen Rider Gaim or play Sayo no Uta but I hear great things), but Madoka wouldn't be half the show it is without the incredible design work of Ume Aoki, distinctive direction of Yukihiro Miyamoto [and Akiyuki Shinbo overseeing all SHAFT projects, but see below], fantastic animation of too many key animators to name, gorgeous music of Kalafina and of course the absolutely brilliant Jan Švankmajer-influenced [Animation Night 50] collage animation of the incredibly talented duo Gekidan Inu Curry [see sakugablog for a nice retrospective of them].
The Madoka series excels in choreography and storyboarding - the classic austere, geometric SHAFT environments and striking camera angles, and the abstracted dance-like action sequences in which aesthetic elements and symbols flow into each other. And then they kick that up another notch or several in the movie, which indulges fully in Inu Curry's style. I still consider it some of the most beautiful sequences of animation set to music I've ever seen.
Anyway, I've only seen a bit of the SHAFT oeuvre (alongside Madoka, that's Bake- and Kizumonogatari), although the story of the studio is fascinating, like something out of a play - the charismatic Akiyuki Shinbo and his friends reorganising a fairly minor studio into one of the most distinctive of its time. Let me quote kVin (who else?):
The task Shinbo received at SHAFT wasn’t simple: he wasn’t going to direct a new series, but rather the whole studio. He became an overall supervisor of their entire output, while also guiding younger artists to make sure this style would live on. This marked the beginning of his unusual moonlighting, juggling jobs in a way that didn’t really allow him to do as much classic directorial work. To date, Shinbo has never been the sole director of a SHAFT series because he can’t. But he didn’t face this crazy challenge all by himself, of course. With his good pals Tatsuya Oishi and Shin Oonuma they formed the appropriately nicknamed Team Shinbo; a group of artists with compatible sensibilities, who had worked together in the past, and shared the desire to construct a new SHAFT.
kVin notes that the SHAFT style is an heir, through the influence of artist Nobuyuki Takeuchi who had had a significant role on Utena, to an incredibly influential director I've still yet to give a proper discussion on Animation Night, Osamu Dezaki, by way of - of course - the master of symbolism-dense, technically avant-garde anime, Kunihiko Ikuhara. I'll save a full discussion of that for another time, though. In any case, this was successful - perhaps too successful. Many of their best animators got caught up for years in the sprawling Kizumonogatari project, while kVin and other commenters more familiar with their work say the SHAFT style, once bold and innovative, became frozen in and lost its original contextual meaning, and some years later many SHAFT staff ended up leaving the studio for less overbearing work environment.
Madoka came just two years after Bakemonogatari, though, so the Team Shinbo style was still plenty fresh. Not surprisingly, it was quickly a huge hit. In Western fandom, it kind of became that meme show, where the magical girls have guns and being meguca is suffering. There's a bunch of extremely bad misreadings out there (it's grimdark! it's a 'deconstruction'! and the backlash to that - didn't you hear, gen urobuchi wants little girls to not have hope!) but that's just how anime fandom is I guess. It's certainly in dialogue with other magical girl shows, but to me it seems in a clearly appreciative way. Thematically, it's frankly not too far afield from something like Sailor Moon.
But you've asked for me to answer an ask meme, so let me do that instead :p
haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching | might watch | currently watching | dropped | hated it | meh | a positive okay | liked it | liked it a lot! | loved it | a favorite
don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation
fav characters: Homura - more on that when we get to 'unpopular opinion'! - and Kyōko, I generally really like the concept of a burned out cynical traumatised magical girl lol
least fav characters: is it too easy to say Sayaka's cardboard violin-playing boyfriend with nonspecific anime disease whose name I can't even be bothered to look up? I guess that's the whole tragedy of her character, she wants to save this boy who just resents her for it, but you can do so much better Sayaka!
fav relationship: haha well Homura/Madoka is obviously the central framing one innit, but actually there are dynamics I really like here, especially in Rebellion. again, more on that in 'unpopular opinions'. outside of that, I think you could write pretty good fic of just about any pair of girls. They hint a bit at Sayaka/Kyōko during the last big fight sequence in Rebellion (possibly more earlier? it's been a while?) and that's cute. I admit I'm not much of a shipper these days.
fav moment: There's many I could name, but one I keep coming back to is the sequence in Rebellion when the magical girl squad deploys and each of the girls gets a brief abstract sequence illustrating their vibe. The music and imagery is sooo good here. I also love the gunfight later in the film with the time-frozen bullet trails. And the incredible climactic battle when the whole world breaks down around Homura as she realises the truth of what's going on and becomes a witch again. Am I just naming the whole of Rebellion at this rate? OK, I admit it, years on in which I've watched literally hundreds more animated films, I still think this one's great.
headcanons/theories: This is clearly a redemptive headcanon that's not especially well signalled by the text, but the reason for all the nonsensical stuff about entropy and ancient aliens is that Kyubey is a low-level functionary who doesn't understand anything half as well as it pretends. The Incubators didn't cultivate human civilisation over the centuries and give us technologies, that's just a convenient lie in the moment, and Kyubey doesn't really understand what it is that they're harvesting from the magical girls very well at all. But because the girls are like, what, middle schoolers, they don't have the background to pull Kyubey up on his misunderstanding of thermodynamics lol.
unpopular opinion: OK. oKAY. let's do this again shall we. strap in. I went over this some time previously when I first watched Rebellion (good god that was hard to find, tumblr's search functions are a travesty) but my comments amounted mostly to *gestures at Stirner, who I hadn't read and still haven't*, so let's have another shot at justifying this Take...
Here we go: I still don't think Homura is the bad guy at the end of Rebellion. Which seems to be the shared opinion of every girl I know who's seen the film but in wider fandom is basically nonexistent as a take. I don't necessarily think Homura has the answer, but I don't think Madoka permanently sacrificing herself for the sake of every hurting person in the universe was a happy ending in the first place - Homura's insistence on being the one to save Madoka and her lack of imagination in trying to reconstruct the pantomime of a 'normal' life is surely an unhealthy fixation, but she's right that the situation was intolerable and something did have to be done about it. The tension between Madoka's agency and Homura's, and whether their desires and self-sacrificing impulses can be reconciled, is a productive one.
Now, the end of Madoka is something that produces endless interpretations. Back in May last year there was a fascinating discussion on here between @azdoine, @businesstiramisu and @anarcha-catgirlism getting into the characters' various saviour complexes and the possible religious readings of their arcs in the series's broadly Buddhist cosmology.
Visually, the film pulls out all the symbols in the SHAFT toolkit to suggest that Homura is as evil as she makes out - the mouth closeups, the headtilts, the cadence and tone of the dialogue. But it also gives us quite a few lines of evidence that Homura is onto something. Notably, it makes clear that Homura has not saved Madoka at the expense of all the other Magical Girls - outside her pocket universe, the Law of the Cycle still exists. Whether Madoka can truly be happy there is another question. It also gives us a very blatant image that Madoka as 'Madokami' is still suffering with an arm covered in self-harm scars:
Admittedly this film is about as visually dense as an Ikuhara anime and I don't blame anyone for not reading the implications in this very brief cut but it's fairly important, I think. Madokami may be taking the girls up to heaven, but it's a very impersonal heaven, and the strain it's placing on her is evident. Because I've increasingly caught on that a universal self-sacrificing impulse to save everyone, however understandable, isn't actually a great thing.
Even if you can't sympathise with Homura - and I admit, a lot of my sympathy comes for her rhetoric (desire over rules) more than her actions, and you could make an argument that trapping Madoka in a false pocket universe after struggling to escape one made by the Incubators and herself across the whole film is deeply ironic - overall, in any case, I feel that the ending of Rebellion is at least a very apt extension of the tragic arcs of the two characters. Not to mention a fascinating discussion point and far richer than the happy ending that was, I believe I read at one point, originally planned before Shinbo requested a darker ending.
Yeah, it is very sudden, probably too much so - that presentation does make it seem like a 'shocking twist! Homura's bad now' which is perhaps one reason why a lot of people reacted badly to it. I'm not exactly sure where they should have foreshadowed it; at least it's not like they don't spend a lot of time on it afterwards showing you just where Homura is coming from.
how’d you find it: Without Rebellion, I feel like Madoka is 'merely' a very good magical girl anime with excellent art direction, some creative twists on the format, and a darker tone than usual... with Rebellion, it's something fascinating that has completely hooked me.
So I really can't wait to see if they can keep the ball rolling in the Rebellion sequel, whenever that lands. Although the breakup of Kalafina will be a tragic blow. I don't know how you do Madoka without Kalafina.
random thoughts: More a bit of trivia than anything, but as far as one of the lasting influences of Madoka, Yoko Taro asked Kimihiko Fujisaka to think of the series when designing the Intoners for Drakengard 3. Which proved to be a great decision.
I admit, there's a whole side of Madoka which I am not familiar with. I tried starting Magia Record once but bounced off what seemed to be a simple recap of the opening beats of the series - I need to give it another shot some time because there are some spectacular clips from season 2. Per some of @azdoine's posts which I only vaguely recall, it sounds like they've been monkeying around a bit with retconning some of the themes and logic of the series which would be a shame but whatever, I don't believe in 'canon'.
Hope that satisfies you as an answer, anon!
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Reader’s Corner: Fly Me to the Moon, Meikyuu, and Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance
Fly Me to the Moon (Tonikawa), Vol. 7
To no one’s surprise, this lovely manga continues to be sweet and hilarious. Highlights this time include Tsukasa making Nasa do his homework to watch Avengers: Endgame, and the fourth wall-breaking line, “I hope she never reads this manga…” Of note, I felt like this volume had fewer pop culture references than usual (or maybe they were present and I didn’t just recognize them?). Also, volume seven is a little bit more, for lack of a better term, “risqué,” than its predecessors. Not that it’s literally risqué or fanservicey or anything, just that I felt like this volume moves a little in that direction. This manga has always teased readers with seemingly suggestive situations that get comically subverted, but I felt like volume seven edges very slightly closer to actual suggestive situations. It leads me to wonder if the series will end up getting less wholesome at some point; I certainly hope not. On the whole, I didn’t love this volume quite as much as those before it, but it’s still very good, and I will look forward to the next. ~ jeskaiangel
Fly Me to the Moon is published by Viz. Volume 7 releases on September 14th.*
Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance, Vol. 1
“The High Republic” is an ambitious series of Star Wars media—YA and adult novels, comics, and now manga—released starting this year and focusing on a time of Jedi prominence, centuries before the events of the Skywalker saga. I’m a bit behind, admittedly, but am excited about the project, which begins with a hyperspace accident that sets the stories in motion. The Edge of Balance is another admirable attempt by the Star Wars brand to be as as authentically Japanese as possible with its manga works, with creators from that country, both of whom I was previously familiar, working with Justina Ireland on this first volume that centers on an event that would seem small in the big picture of the universe’s happenings, as Jedi Knight Lily Tora-Asi assists refugees settling on the planet, Banchii, along with her master, the Wookie Arkoff, her padawan, and two younglings. Although a bit stilted at times, the writers and artist do a lovely job of creating a unsettling tone as the story rushes toward its climax and even past, juxtaposed against the expected “wisdom” of the Jedi that’s frequently spouted, including by Lily, who is a fascinating lead—young, beautiful, calm, and questioning, and the youth aspect that’s emphasized by Lily and the other junior characters. This is meant for middle grade to young adult readers, and as such, it may not provide the fullness that adult Star Wars fans expect, but there is complexity here to challenge adolescents and which satisfied me, and a compelling story that seems to be developing—though having only dipped a toe into the High Republic series before The Edge of Balance, I’m not sure if balance can be achieved without reading some or all of the rest. I have a feeling that the project is an MCU-ification of Star Wars, with The Edge of Balance being an entry point for younger ones. If so, there are worse ways to jump into an exciting new world. ~ Twwk
Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance is published by Viz.
The Promised Neverland, Vol. 1-20
Emma doesn’t want any of her precious family to die. Even after her world crumbles, she won’t let this crazy hope be crushed. But can a wish like that guide her in a world where humans are expendable, numbers, resources? A world of evil geniuses with unlimited resources and ancient enemies that defy her understanding? Ever since our writer thathilomgirl recommended it to me in a comment to my very first post at Beneath the Tangles, I had been wanting to read the full original manga of my favorite anime series ever (more so because I think that season two, despite a powerful beginning, lost its pace four or five chapters in). This summer, I finally found the opportunity to do so. I soon forgot that I was reading a black and white comic. The manga has every bit of the power the first season had. The art is amazing. The rhythm is on point. David versus Goliath stories are not uncommon, but few manage to be so horrifying yet adventurous, so clever and poetic, so funny yet so morally serious, so dark yet so full of light. The moment I realized what the pattern of the numbers was, for example, was one of sheer joy that reminded me of reading Sherlock Holmes stories as a teen. In the midst of the interesting twists and complicated enigmas, the characters, old and new, remain as compelling. The story of Emma, Norman, and Ray and the violent clash between hope and a dire world of lies, sin, and demons, remains one of my favorite stories in any genre in its manga form. It is true that, once the world is known, it loses some of its mystery, and I’d say that the first arcs are the strongest. But the rest is also artistically satisfying, intriguing, moving, and unafraid of making tough choices when necessary. And deeply, deeply hopeful. As Norman would say, “Come with me, and I will show you something cool.” ~ Gaheret
The Promised Neverland is published by Jump Comics.
Meikyuu: Labyrinth Kingdom, a Tactical Fantasy World Survival Guide, Vol. 1
We have not yet exhausted the potential for fun twists on the isekai premise. Taiga Andou-Garrett is a half-British, half-Japanese SAS veteran in his mid-thirties, with extensive training and years of special operations experience under his belt. After getting attacked by a bird-man and an eel-man in an airport restroom (really), Taiga finds himself in Million Dungeon, a place that’s sort of like if you crossed Tolkien’s Mines of Moria (there’s even a pseudo-Balrog) with the titular structure of Yokohama Station SF. The entire world has been engulfed by a chaotic labyrinth of caves and tunnels. I was also reminded of Spiderweb Software’s old-school Avernum RPGs, about survival in a vast underground maze. Anyway, Taiga soon finds himself elected king-in-all-but-name of a small band of disaster survivors. Adventures and hilarity ensue. Colorful characters aid him, such as Troach of the Complicated Past, a (former) thief, or Astoria the Wing-Blessed, a knight who livestreams her battles on the magical equivalent of Twitch/Youtube. I had a lot of fun with this volume and will definitely plan to read the next one. ~ jeskaiangel
Meikyuu: Labyrinth Kingdom, a Tactical Fantasy World Survival Guide is published by Yen Press.
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk, Vol. 1
I may have missed out on reading the ever-popular Daytime Shooting Star by Mika Yamamori, but I’m not missing out on the release of her new series, In the Clear Moonlit Dusk. What a refreshing beginning to a new shojo series! Heroine Yoi Takiguchi has been dubbed “Prince” because of her less feminine features and deeper voice. More often than not, she has been mistaken for a boy, but once Ichimura-senpai comes into her life and expresses interest in her as a girl, Yoi might be finding herself in a new relationship for the first time! I feel it’s not uncommon for many shojo heroines to struggle with how they look and/or feeling insecure, but Yoi honestly hits a whole other level in the world of shojo manga! In no way do I meant that as disrespectful to our “Prince” because I found her story to be one of the most realistic views on self-image struggles. I deeply enjoyed the premise of this story and how both Yoi and Ichimura (the hero) are respectful of each other’s boundaries and are willing to apologize for misconceptions they had about the other and/or the way they said things. It was beautiful, and I’m very excited for the next volume because I believe the mangaka is going to be flipping a trope of “destiny” on its head and I am totally here for it! Plus, that cliffhanger of an ending demands I know what happens next! Highly recommend this digital title to shojo lovers! ~ Laura A. Grace
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk is published by Kodansha.*
Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga, Vol. 3
I have finally finished my readthrough of the BatManga and let me tell you—it was a lot of fun. Volume three continued a lot of where volumes one and two left off with each story feeling like the old, 1960s Batman TV series. This manga was a villain of the week (or two) series and it worked for me. One of the fun parts about this is that you could literally jump in at any time. If your library had volume three and not volumes 1-2, you could jump into it and easily read through and have the same enjoyment. The stories build on one another chapter to chapter, but generally aren’t more than 3-4 chapters in length per arc. The next arc rarely comes back (if ever) to reference previous arcs. Frankly, that’s fine by me. Highly recommend for fans of the original 1960s Batman series and is definitely family friendly enough that my kids may be next on deck to read it. ~ MDMRN
Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga is published by DC Comics.
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Reader’s Corner is our way of embracing the wonderful world of manga, light novels, and visual novels, creative works intimately related to anime but with a magic all their own. Each week, our writers provide their thoughts on the works their reading—both those recently released as we keep you informed of newly published works and older titles that you might find as magical (or in some cases, reprehensible) as we do.
#Manga#Light Novels#Tonikaku Cawaii#Fly Me to the Moon#Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance#The Promised Neverland#Yakusoku no Neverland#Meikyuu: Labyrinth Kingdom a Tactical Fantasy World Survival Guide#Damu Tokushu Butai SAS no Ossan no Isekai Dungeon Survival Manual!#In the Clear Moonlit Dusk#Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki#Batman#Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga#Reader's Corner#Author: Jeskai Angel#Author: TWWK#Author: Gaheret#Author: MDMRN
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Paint For Me
Nishinoya, Tendou, Ushijima with a s/o who is an artist.
Nishinoya Yuu x Reader
Tendou Satori x Reader
Ushijima Wakatoshi x Reader
For Anon who requested this~ I kinda went a little A LOTTA soft on Ushijima’s but.... can you blame me.... Also, I’ve been reading Haikyuu-bu and Tendou’s little manga chapter was sooo cute I had to take inspo from it!!! Anyway, I’m going to try the minecraft hardcore 100 days challenge again and if I die,,, I will pass away on the spot so if I go silent it is minecraft’s fault.
WC- 1,687
~~~
Nishinoya Yuu
Nishinoya would think your artwork is the coolest thing he has ever seen,,,,
He will beg you to draw on his bags or notebooks, he wants you to customize all his stuff because he wants to show you off
Nishinoya would watch you whenever you’re working on something, but then get bored after like five minutes and start going through his phone
He likes being in your presence so even if you work on something for hours, he will lay right beside you with his head in your lap while he naps or plays games
Nishinoya would probably ask you to teach him how to draw stuff like a lion or something,,, you would have art lessons with him. His art is a work in progress...
Please, he is such a big show-off that if you give him something he will proudly go around presenting it to everyone…. Tsukishima is usually the person he always brags to
‘Did (Y/N) make that for you senpai’ ‘They did! How did you know?!’ ‘Well, I know you certainly can’t draw that good’
Cue Nishinoya tackling his favorite first-year and trying to steal his glasses. Yes, Tsukki is his fave first-year
If you ever want to go out to the park or the mountains or the beach to take pictures for inspiration or even do something cute like drawing the sunset, Nishinoya would tag along. Please, he would make it his own little adventure
Nishinoya has his own love for volleyball so he can really appreciate the love you have for art, he finds it super intriguing and it makes him fall in love with you even more~
“Right here!” Nishinoya points to the handle of his bag and you stare confusedly at him.
“You want me to paint on the strap?” You ask and Nishinoya eagerly nods, you squint at it while thumbing the fabric. “I’m not sure if it will work on this material.”
Nishinoya sighs dramatically and you flick his forehead.
“I can draw you something else though, here,” You lean up and kiss the area you had previously hit before digging right into your sketchbook. Your pencil flies across the paper and Nishinoya watches with interested eyes.
That lasts for about thirty seconds.
“Is it done yet?” You glance over your shoulder to see Nishinoya hanging off your bed, a bored expression on his face.
“Yuu, it’s been like two minutes.” You laugh and go back to the sketch you’re working on.
“Is that a yes?” He asks hopefully.
“Mmm, it’s a no.” Nishinoya sighs at your words, he drags himself off the bed and brings the blanket with him. You jolt slightly when you feel his body press up against yours and you glance behind you to see him curled up against you.
The sun continues to fall from the sky and you diligently work on the paper in front of you. Nishinoya wakes up from his nap with a quiet yawn, the sleepiness still inside of his body. His arms wrap around your waist and he rests his head on your shoulder.
“Are you done yet?” You answer his question with a brief head shake. “Let’s go to sleep do it later,” He moans and you can already feel him falling asleep against you once again. “I want cuddles.”
Tendou Satori
Tendou is that kid in school who always begged you to draw him when he found out you could draw
LOL like this mf will get on his knees ‘pls draw me’ and when you finally ask him what you want to draw he’d be like ‘me fighting a dragon’
Tendou would be very supportive of your art, he would love to sit there and just watch you paint or draw or make sculptures, whatever you do he loves to watch
He will sit there in your room and lay on your floor and just stare, watch every brushstroke you make, you’ll have to physically push him away for space
I feel like when he sees you draw he, himself, will want to draw something as well
Tendou will practice making little stick figures or draw portraits of you
You have to hype him up and put it in your phone case or hang it on your wall because it is too cute
Tendou will make you work with Ushijima to create his manga, he will have the two of you draw the entire thing
He’d love everything you create and will always cherish it like he will definitely have a little place just for all of your artwork
Tendou loves encouraging you in everything that you do,,, your hobbies will somehow also become his
“And then when it gets recognized we will become super famous!” Tendou tells you with excited eyes, his hands tightly gripping your shoulders. “We will get to work together in the future, angel! I get to spend even more time with you!” You laugh softly at his eagerness for the future as you continue to sketch in the tiny boxes.
“That’s the plan, huh?” You ask and Tendou nods, he swings one of his long legs to sit on the bench beside you, moving to practically sit on top of you.
“This is going to get sued for copyright.” Shirabu comments, his eyes narrow towards Tendou, as he reads through the manga ideas that Tendou created.
“I simply took inspiration from other shows, Naruto did it with Hunter Hunter!” Your boyfriend defends and Shirabu simply shakes his head, continuing to thumb through the papers.
“(L/N), I will take the next page,” Ushijima tells you, already reaching for another piece of paper to draw on.
“Woah, you’ve finished already Ushijima? Can I see it?” Ushijima nods and shows you his paper, your eyes widen when you look at his drawings. “This is really good, Ushijima! You’re good at everything!” You compliment and Tendou pouts when he notices your attention is no longer on him.
“I, too, am good at everything.” Your boyfriend tells you, moving his arm around your shoulders to bring you closer to him.
“If you’re so good then why didn’t you draw it yourself?” Shirabu asks, his eyebrows raised behind his bangs.
“I can’t be the writer and illustrator, Kenjirou!” Tendou defends and you put your hand over his own.
“We believe you Tendou, you’re the most amazing person ever!” Tendou practically melts at your compliment and hides his face in your shoulder.
Ushijima glances up at you, nods his head, then goes back to work.
Ushijima Wakatoshi
Let me first say. Ushijima is also kinda artsy,,,, he is the perfect man,,,, we all saw how he drew for Tendou’s manga! It brought Goshiki to tears!!!
He can appreciate all the works that you create because he knows how much effort is put into each piece
Ushijima used to draw a lot when he was a kid and was really interested in it so seeing you do your thing will probably pique his interest again
He might start drawing again, aimlessly, whenever he is bored and it’s all for you~
Ushijima loves when you show him whatever you create, even if you think it is bad, he will always find the beauty in it
He’d probably sit there while you describe what you drew and why, how you did it, stuff like that because he loves to hear you talk
Whenever you two hang out in your respective dorms, Ushijima probably reads magazines while you work on your latest project
He’d probably try to sneak peeks at what you are creating just because he is curious but he doesn’t want to disturb you when you’re in the zone
If you ever draw something for him, Ushijima’s heart would bust the fattest nut, he would be so happy. He would praise you for like ten minutes and then hang it up in his room
Ushijima loves how passionate you are about something that you like and in turn, he wants to support you with it!!! He’d probably buy you supplies as little gifts, even when you don’t ask for it
“Let’s paint the sunset!” You beg Ushijima, your hands cupping his own as you pout up at him. “Please, it’ll be so much fun!”
Ushijima glances down at you and then to the art supplies collected in his room from your daily visits, he really can’t say no, can he?
“Okay.” He responds and you squeal happily before placing a kiss on his cheek and grabbing all the things that you’ll need.
“Here, hold this.” You thrust your bag of supplies into his arms before grabbing a blanket. “Let’s go up to the roof.”
Ushijima follows you quietly, listening to you as you ramble about how excited you are. His heart soars at the happiness you emit at this moment.
“Wow.” Ushijima comments when you open the door, he knew sunsets were pretty but damn, this is something else.
“This is going to be so much fun!” You grab his hand and drag him to the center, placing the blanket down before hopping on it. Already you’re grabbing for the orange and yellow paints. “Don’t you think?”
Ushijima nods and sits down beside you, unconsciously making it a point to rest your legs in his lap, he always has to be touching you.
The sun continues to change colors and you keep up with it to the best of your ability, your canvas no longer the original color. Ushijima’s, however, is still blank. He’s been unable to take his eyes off of you the entire time. Instead of painting the sunset, he finds something better to paint.
When the sun eventually goes down and the two of you are now under the moon, you hide your canvas away from him.
“Let me see yours first before I show you mine!” You bargain and sit up, looking over his shoulder at what he painted. “That’s not the sunset.” Your lips part when you notice what he painted was you. Ushijima glances at you while trying to calm his racing heart.
“I know, I decided to paint something even prettier.”
~
Taglist.
@yams046 @why-am-i-sad-and-sleepy @xhanjisungiex @xxashshs @chaosamu @angelkogane @augustdearly @kunimwuah @littleshopoflove @osamuonigiri @pearzuko @darksxder @macaronnv @nerdygremlin @buzzybeebee
#nishinoya yu x reader#tendou satori x reader#ushijima wakatoshi x reader#nishinoya x reader#tendou x reader#ushijima x reader#haikyuu fic#haikyuu x y/n#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu x you
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