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HOLY MOLY! The goal has been absolutely smashed! Spread the word (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/witstudio/totsukuni) and let’s have the series go out with a truly massive bang!

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Recently been a fan of The Girl from the Other Side and I wanted to congratulate Nagabe for the anime adapation. I tried to draw Shiva and Teacher the best I could. I always found this scene funny because Teacher can’t feel sensations, and the holes in the umbrella doesn’t seem useful. But if anyone has read the manga, ya’ll know what the umbrella symbolize. 

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😍🤩

A feature-length animation project to be produced by WIT Studio is in the works to celebrate the ending of the series. Teacher’s VA is Jun Fukuyama (Lelouch from Code Geass and Koro-Sensei from Assassination Classroom) and Shiva’s VA is Rie Takahashi (Megumin from Konosuba and Emelia from Re;Zero)

A kickstarter will be opening on March 10th and run through May 9th hoping to earn about $30,000.

Maybe this means a full-length anime will not come to pass, but if this is the final hurrah for the series, I will still be elated. I’m cannot wait to see it!

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Same Dad Energy™

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I’m just gonna live in my own little world where they’re fine and everything’s fine

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😍

I just think he’s neat

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Source:  The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún / Totsukuni no Shoujo /  とつくにの少女 

by Nagabe 

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Congratulations for getting through the year, have a good rest. Teacher and Shiva are rooting for you always. 

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Seems like a fitting end to 2020

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Stream the Short on Dec. 11th!

The Japanese Film Festival (https://watch.jff.jpf.go.jp/page/us/) will be making “The Girl From the Other Side” 10-minute short free to stream for 24 hours as part of its online film festival. It will be available 7PM PST. The festival runs from Dec. 4-13, it’s full of live-action and animated films and looks like a ton of fun!

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Topic #2: The Girl From The Other Side: Siúil, A Rún (Walk, My Love)

A.K.A Totsukuni no Shoujo (Foreign Girl). It’s a Japanese manga series created, written, and illustrated by Nagabe. It began in Sept. 6, 2015, and is still currently running up until now, with 9 official volumes released for reading. The manga series is confirmed to have 10 volumes in total, with the upcoming 10th volume to be the conclusion of the story and manga.

For me, I discovered this manga while browsing for other manga series to read that were related to or shared some likeness with ‘The Ancient Magus’ Bride’, another manga series that I’ve fallen in love with. It caught my eye as it had a cute, simple yet intricate cover and illustrations, and the story really is unique and something else.

For this review/discussion, I’ll be tackling the story, characters, and illustration of the manga.

1. Story

The story revolves around two protagonists, who are Teacher and Shiva, as they do their best to live another day in a world where humans live in the safety of what they call the ‘Inside’, a city which is heavily fortified against the ‘Outside’ world, where cursed beasts roam the land, infecting any people that they touch with their ‘curse’.

Shiva, a curious yet naive little girl, is patiently awaiting the return of her ‘auntie’, while her current guardian, Teacher, a cursed Outsider, watches over her, keeping her safe from the dangers that lurk in the Outside world. The two are fated never to touch one another, lest Shiva be cursed too.

The story of the manga starts off slow, as we’re introduced to our two protagonists, through their mundane routine to how they gather food and supplies from the world long abandoned by the humans that had once lived in it. While getting through each day, Shiva patiently awaits the return of her ‘auntie’, her grandmother who had mysteriously left her in their with only a note, a note which contained a secret Teacher does his best to keep from Shiva’s knowledge. Though as we progress through each chapter, the story gets more interesting and more lore is introduced to the reader. The story goes from light-hearted moments between Shiva and Teacher to lore-based chapters where the story gets progressively darker in tone.

2. Characters

First off, I’ll be introducing our two main protagonists: Shiva and Teacher.

Shiva is a human girl that lives in the Outside world, as she was abandoned by her grandmother (for reasons to be revealed in the manga). She was then found by a peculiar and unique Outsider whom she calls Teacher, as he’s often the one teaching her the things she needs to know about the world.

At first, Shiva is seen to be very curious, creative, and sweet. But she’s also quite naive when it comes to dealing with people or things that could bring harm to her, so Teacher often has to come to her rescue. She can come off as a bit childish or bratty at times, which tends to lead to small arguments between her and Teacher. 

Shiva’s character development tends to shine whenever she’s on her own, as she needs to learn how to protect herself without the help of Teacher. She then begins to realize just how dangerous the world around her is, and she slowly starts to mature in her thinking as the story progresses.

Next off, Teacher is an Outsider who found Shiva all on her own one day, with only a note from her grandmother pleading with the person that reads the note she left with Shiva to take care of her. Teacher then takes on the role of being Shiva’s guardian, making sure that she’s safe from the dangers of the Outside world that they live in. He’s one of the most unique Outsiders in the story, and his characterization is so far the best (for me).

It’s later revealed that Teacher used to be human before he was cursed, but his memories of his life as a human eludes him after he was cursed. He’s shown to be very protective and caring towards Shiva, but his protectiveness sometimes tends to come at the cost of Shiva’s happiness, which tends to result to misunderstandings and squabbles between the two. He’s quite knowledgeable on some things and skills, though his cooking skills needs some practice (a lot of it, honestly).

Despite of his close bond with Shiva, he’s unable to touch her because of his curse. This creates a sort of frustration or lament with him, as numerous situations befall the two wherein Teacher has to think of ways to keep Shiva safe from danger without touching her. But this doesn’t stop him from doing absolutely everything to keep Shiva safe, and he later learns that it’s important to keep his loved one happy too, which results in cute bonding moments between the two in the manga.

3. Illustration/Design

The illustration and character designs in the manga are amazing and unique, as it perfectly captures the kind of world the characters live in. For me, the art style truly comes to life in black and white colors, as it is one of its characteristics that makes the manga unique and aesthetically pleasing to many readers (myself included). When it comes to the character designs, I’d say that they’re very well done and Nagabe certainly has an eye for creating and designing one of the most exceptional mythical creatures I’ve ever seen in any manga; by mythical creatures I mean the many of the Outsiders shown and depicted in the manga.

To sum it up, I loved the way Nagabe illustrated Totsukuni no Shoujo, as the black and white colors really bought the story to life. I enjoyed every page whenever I’m re-reading the manga as it never gets old and I always find it stress-relieving to enjoy the manga’s unique world. In a way, it helped me escape the stress of everyday living whenever I feel like its getting too much, and it really showed me how beautiful yet tragic the world (both this one and real life) can be at times.

So, that’s my take on The Girl From the Other Side. Hope you enjoyed reading this and I sincerely hope that I’ve persuaded you readers to read the manga for yourselves. Stay tuned for more soon!

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any other queries before i get annihilated?

actually… actually, yeah, uh, do you–do you know why we’re in Hell? actually?

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😍😍😍 Definitely going to review this next!

Amor al manga del que nace esta ova 🖤

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Topic: Afterparty by Night School Studio

So, to start off my blog, the first underrated gem that I'd like to talk (or blog about) is:

So a little background on this underrated gem:

Afterparty is a game that was created and developed by Night School Studio, who's also known for creating Oxenfree, and was released back in October 2019. I first heard of this game back at 2018, where I first saw the trailer for it. I found the idea and concept of the game... intriguing. I mean, two protagonists (Milo and Lola) die and are sent to spend the rest of their eternity in Hell. But, a challenge is apparently being offered to any daring human (or humans); a challenge where if they can outdrink and outparty the Prince of Darkness himself, they’ll be granted another chance at life on Earth.

So, to further elaborate on the game, I’ll be delving into the characters, plot, graphics and gameplay of Afterparty.

Characters:

Even though I have unfortunately never played the game myself but instead watched numerous playthroughs on youtube instead, I had fun watching and listening to the playful and witty banter between the many colorful characters in the game. Our two protagonists are two relatable graduates that only want to continue on with their unfinished lives as they make their way through a college-esque Hell. While finding a way back to Earth, they meet various damned souls and demons who help them along with their hellcohol-fueled journey to outdrink Lucifer in their own peculiar ways.

My personal favorites so far are Milo and Lola (obviously), Sam Hill, Andrealphus, and Lucifer/Luke. I can relate to Milo and Lola’s awkwardness in some social situations, as I struggle with wrangling my social anxiety whenever I am socializing with new people. I found the various demonic characters in the game’s version of Hell very enjoyable and unique in their own ways, while also seeing that they’re not that different from humans (a bit). The ruling Monarchs of Hell were, for me, the most enjoyable bunch to see, as each one had their own personality that tend to either blend or contrast with their role/s in ruling Hell. Appollyon/Polly and Beelzebub/Beezle are the serious, business-first busybodies of the bunch while Lucifer/Luke and Asmodeus/Al are the resident party demons/Monarchs of Hell, who have abandoned their respective duties to party every night (and day too I guess).

The side characters were quite fun to interact with too (in my case watch), as they offer some bits of insight on how an everyday life in the game’s version of Hell works. It was a fun concept to see humans and demons mingling and partying together during their off-times from work, which is either torturing or being tortured. The concept of getting demons that mentally torture you (personal demons) was also very interesting, as it served as a way for the player to get to know our two protagonists better, by seeing their inner turmoils and weaknesses being used against them or as tools of mental torture by their own personal demon, Sister Mary Wormhorn.

Plot:

The overall plot of the game is interesting enough to capture most people’s attention, though to be honest, it still comes second when compared to the story of its predecessor, Oxenfree. To avoid spoiling anybody who’s reading this review who hasn’t played or watched a playthrough of the game yet, I’ll do my best in keeping this part spoiler-free.

Essentially, the plot, for me, is quite interesting and it was one of the reasons why I was intrigued by it in the first place. The concept of outpartying The Devil himself in order to get out of Hell was a fun concept that the game introduced to me. And the fact that we get to explore a version of Hell wherein demons and damned souls/humans party all night long got my attention in the trailer. So, I’d encourage you, dear reader, to check out the game yourself, and I hope that you’ll give it a chance by watching its trailer or a playthrough of it if you’re not planning on playing it yourself but are still interested in how the story will unfold.

Graphics and Gameplay:

For me, I definitely saw some improvement with Afterparty’s graphics, and the characters’ movements were quite fluid although a bit limited. But that didn’t diminish the quality of the game itself, as in a way, it gave the gane its uniqueness and colorful personality. The gameplay was new and interesting, though it had already been seen first in Oxenfree, but Afterparty gave it a unique and fun twist that made the game worth playing and watching.

Overall, the game’s graphics and gameplay, though not as phenomenal as other games are, is unique and fun in its own way, and its one of the reasons why I was personally drawn to it in the first place, as it reminded me of Oxenfree, a game that I’ve loved as well, and it added some of its hellish creativeness that gave it a new flavor that piqued my curiosity.

Would I buy the game in the future? Definitely. Why? Well, its one of those games where different choices lead to different wacky results that lead further into the story of the game. Each choice you make in the game, whether small or big, all have a different effect on the story, though others only have a minimal effect on the story of the game.

So, that was Afterparty by Night School Studio, introduced by yours truly. Hope you enjoyed my take on the game, and expect see more content soon!

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We must awaken the fandom of Afterparty 😂

I hope my writing inspiration comes back for many reasons.

The main one being; I wanna write some AfterParty fics even tho the fandom is dead af LOL