#‘and that there’s not much digital art unfortunately college has taken a lot out of me so traditional sketches is a bit easier atm’

[squoobest]

goodnight, tangle!

[pickalilywrites]

Marco works at Victoria's Secrets, watching the AOT ladies buying items for Valentines day coming up

apparently i had a lot to say about this prompt

god of lingerie

marco bodt. college au. 4415 words. read on ao3.

Marco has a unique ability, one that has earned him the respect of his peers and the disgust of others primarily due to their own misunderstanding of what his strange power entails. It’s not something that Marco shares proudly. In fact, he tries to keep it under wraps as much as possible due to the misconception his job brings, but word has gotten out somehow. He supposes it’s not that surprising. He works at shop in the mall after all, and it’s a popular place for students to unwind  after a week filled with frustrating group projects and three-hour long labs. If people actually took the time to talk to Marco about his job, they’d understand that it’s not all that different from an ordinary customer service position.  

As much as other people like to think otherwise, Marco had stumbled into his part-time job as a Victoria’s Secret salesperson on accident. He was a third-year college student, one that had been freshly kicked off campus to make room for incoming freshmen that needed on-campus housing more than he did. Finding housing close enough to campus was tough enough, but rent was seemingly manageable because he’d be splitting it with the rest of his friends in the short term. The problem was that in the long term Marco wouldn’t have enough income to contribute to the rent and utility bill each month. His friends were fine with covering him for a few months — Armin had his undergraduate research position, Eren and Connie worked on campus in the cafeteria, and Jean made enough money from drawing digital art for strangers online (mostly furry commissions) — but Marco wasn’t comfortable with not contributing to the rent and went out to find any job that would have him. Unfortunately, all on campus student jobs were taken up and Marco decided to search outside of the university for a job. He scoured the nearby mall for any open positions at different stores and applied to all of them. Victoria’s Secret was the first one to respond, and that’s how Marco ended up as an assistant manager at the women’s lingerie store.  

Well, that’s not exactly how Marco became an assistant manager at Victoria’s Secret.  

Marco started as a normal salesperson with sweaty palms and a nervous smile as he greeted customers, hoping that they wouldn’t find his presence in the lingerie store too disgusting and perverted. According to the manager that hired him, Traute, Victoria’s Secret doesn't discriminate against men when hiring employees but men were afraid of the way they’d be perceived if they were employed there and so Victoria’s Secret has few male applicants to choose from. Her words did little to assure Marco he’d be fully welcomed there by customers, but Traute didn’t seem to notice or care about his apprehension and assigned him to work the floor to greet customers and encouraged him to interact with them to increase sales. He only worked there a few weeks before Traute noticed Marco’s special ability and promoted him to assistant manager.  

“I’ve had multiple customers tell me that you were wonderful to work with,” Traute had told Marco when she had called him up to her office one day. It was a conversation that Marco was sure would end with him being fired for some reason or other, so the praise was completely unexpected. “Not only that, but you were able to help them find lingerie they were comfortable with and suited their preferences. Some of them admitted to be nervous about coming here to purchase our products, but you made them feel so at ease that they ended up coming back.”  

“O-oh? I’m so glad to hear that,” Marco stammered. He wasn’t sure what he was doing differently from anyone else. He was simply engaging with the customers the way Traute had instructed him to and recommending things according to what they told him.  

“You’re becoming popular, Marco. Some customers even said they headed over to this location even if it wasn’t the closest Victoria’s Secret to their house because their friends sang you such incredible praise,” Traute said, steepling her fingers and leaning over her desk. She narrowed her eyes at him. “How would you like to become an assistant manager?”  

Marco, of course, said yes. The position came with a raise, meaning he’d be paid more than minimum wage, and he found that the promotion didn’t differ very much from his previous position as a salesperson aside from managing his other coworkers. Unfortunately, his coworkers resented that a newbie hired only a few weeks ago got promoted so quickly and eyed him disdainfully whenever they saw him or at least until they found out how much of a pushover Marco was. Because Marco had a difficult time saying no and was so wonderful with customers, they pushed any customers they didn’t want to work with towards him. Sometimes they would redirect customers to Marco just because they didn’t want to do any work at all that day, and Marco would assist customers with a strained smile because his newfound authority was useless. 

It’s not as glamorous as most people think it is. His classmates seem to be under the impression that Marco gets to interact with models every day, that he gets to view women naked, that he gets to personally clothe them in lingerie, and that he has sex with customers in the dressing rooms. The truth is that Marco does none of these things. He simply greets customers, asks them if he can assist them, and then recommends products based on their needs. It’s not that different from working at any other clothing store except that this particular clothing store specializes in women’s intimates. 

With Valentine’s Day coming up, customers have been pouring into the store every day and, because his coworkers keep redirecting everyone to him for help, Marco has been overwhelmed with helping customers. At this point, his customer service smile is plastered on his face.  

“How can I help you?” Marco asks a woman so statuesque that she might as well have stepped off the runway.  

“I’ve been to three different locations. None of them had what I was looking for,” the woman says. Her blonde hair is cut in a bowl cut that would look ridiculous on anyone else but somehow makes her look even more impressive. She has such large, dark eyes that regard Marco coldly but he smiles even though his knees are shaking. She’s dressed in a silk button down shirt underneath a white pantsuit. Her outfit looks fit for a CEO.  

“Oh, that’s unfortunate,” Marco says, trying not to appear intimidated. “Maybe we’ll have what you’re looking for. Can you provide me with more details?”  

“I’m looking for something powerful, sexy, commanding,” the woman says. Her hands are tucked casually into the pockets of her trousers and she observes Marco carefully.  

“Ah,” Marco says. It’s always difficult when customers give him broad descriptions of what they’d like. It’s a higher element of guessing than he’s comfortable with, but he has to do his best anyway. He wonders if he should press for more information, but sometimes doing so agitates the customer. Instead, he takes in every detail about the woman and infers as much as possible so that he can make a recommendation. “Can I interest you in some of our bodysuits? There are a few that came in recently that I think would suit you.”  

The woman doesn’t look too impressed by his answer, but she shrugs. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to take a look.”  

“Great. Let me lead the way,” Marco says, gesturing for the woman to follow him. As he leads the customer to the new collection of bodysuits, he notices that his other coworkers are nowhere to be seen aside from those stocking shelves or managing the cash registers. He figures they’ve gone to hide in the storeroom to “check the stock.”  

Marco eventually leads the customer to the Valentine’s Day selection. There are bras and panties in red, white, pink, and black all with varying amounts of lace, faux leather, or ribbon. The more traditional sets aren’t what Marco is interested in showing the woman. He turns the woman’s attention towards the more daring lingerie: crotchless teddies with cutouts to expose nipples, backless satin rompers, and lacy corsets.  

“I think this one might suit your tastes,” Marco tells the woman and gestures at a mannequin in a bright red teddy made of lace and fishnet mesh. It’s backless with a halter neck and a cutout to expose a modest amount of cleavage. The panty is held together by more mesh and a thin ribbon of fabric in the back. It’s hardly any coverage at all, but it’s definitely sexy.  

The woman reaches out, pinching the fabric and feeling the fishnet mesh between her fingers. As she does, a smirk appears on her lips. Her dark eyes flit over towards Marco and she almost looks impressed. “The other stores didn’t show me anything nearly as provocative. I’m guessing it has something to do with my appearance,” she says.  

Marco assumes the woman is referring to her somewhat androgynous appearance. The woman is taller than average and thin, her curves small, although Marco doesn’t see why that should limit the lingerie she can wear. He tells the woman as much and his remark makes her smile.  

“I’ll be taking this,” the woman says, picking up a neatly folded teddy of the same design Marco had just shown her. She holds out a hand for Marco to shake. The woman takes a glance at Marco’s nametag.  “My name is Yelena. You’re quite the salesman. You’ll be seeing me more often, Marco.” 

“That’s wonderful to hear. I look forward to seeing you again,” Marco says. He reaches out to give Yelena’s hand a good shake and then watches as she leaves to make her purchase. Once she disappears towards the registers, he lets out a huge sigh and then turns around. When he finds a small huddle of women watching him from behind a shelf of underwear. He wonders how long they’ve been standing there. “Can I help you?”  

One of the women, a small woman with ginger hair, is nudged forward by a brunette with their hair tied up in a messy ponytail. The ginger woman glares back at the bespectacled brunette and hisses, “Hanji!” 

“Oh, come on. I don’t know why you’re being so shy,” the one named Hanji says with a laugh. They step out from behind the shelf, the rest of their companions inching out behind them. Hanji greets Marco with a smile. “Hi, my friends and I were looking for some lingerie and wondering if you could help us. Some of us aren’t quite familiar with the selection you have available here, and we’ve heard this location has an amazing salesman who has the ability to match customers up with the perfect set of lingerie.”  

Marco laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. “Oh, I don’t know if I’m all that amazing. I just do the best that I can, but I’m glad to hear that so many people are happy with my recommendations.” He smiles expectantly at the other women who seem much more nervous than Hanji. “Perhaps if you can tell me what you have in mind, I can help direct you to what you’d feel comfortable with.”  

Already, Hanji is wandering around the Valentine’s Day section without Marco. They’re reaching out to feel the fabric, an amused expression on their face as they browse the available selection. One set seems to interest them more than the others and they hold one up for their friends to see. It’s a teddy that’s made entirely of straps that is meant to conceal absolutely nothing at all. It’s a network of straps with only a few features that keep it from being just a mess of pink ribbon: a halter neck held together with a heart enclosure, open cups with an underwire, and a crotchless pantie. The sight of it shocks nearly all of their friends.  

“What about this one, Petra? I’m sure Levi would appreciate it,” Hanji suggest with a grin. They don’t flinch when Petra stomps over red-faced and snatches it out of their hands. 

“Hanji, oh my god,” Petra hisses, crumpling the lingerie set in her hands.  

“You’re not putting it back, though,” Hanji points out.  

“If you’re looking for an enticing set that is a little bit less provocative, may I suggest this one?” Marco says, raising his voice a bit to catch the women’s attention. He gestures towards a similar strappy teddy but without the open cups or crotchless panty. Rather than a bright pink, it’s a fiery red with floral lace decorating the bra cups and thong panty. There’s an intricate crisscross ribbon detailing across the torso and garter belt straps.  

“Oh, that’s actually a bit...,” Petra begins, but her voice trails off. She looks as if she’s restraining herself from reaching out to take it.  

Hanji takes one of the sets and pushes it into Petra’s arms. “You don’t have to be so shy, Petra. We all know you’re not wearing granny panties to seduce Levi,” Hanji says, and Petra’s cheeks burst into flames. 

“It’s different when shopping with friends!” Petra protests, but she keeps both teddies in her arms.  

Hanji turns back to Marco, hands on their hips. “I’m looking for something exciting. I want something that will get blood pumping, you know what I mean?” Hanji says, giving Marco a cheeky wink. “You can probably tell, but I’m not shy at all.”  

“Oh, I have a feeling you aren’t,” Marco says with a laugh. He does have something in mind and ends up leading Hanji and their friends to a mannequin sporting a mesh teddy. It’s black but the fabric is sheer. The fabric is cut intricately and has red hearts pasted on the bra cups to cover the wearer’s nipples. There's one more red heart in the back of the thong panty. “What about this one? It’s rather playful.”  

Hanji’s hands are clasped together and they let out a delighted gasp. “Oh, you’re brilliant. You’re good. No wonder everyone talks about you so much.”  

Marco feels his cheeks flush. “Haha, I’m sure I’m not nearly as popular as people say.”  

“Oh, you’re underestimating yourself,” Hanji laughs. They take a teddy for themself and nudges another one of their companions, this time another small woman but one with glasses and silver blonde hair cut in a short bob. “Rico, your turn!”  

“Ugh, I don’t know if I’m cut out for this,” Rico says. She keeps her arms close to her, wrapped around her torso. Her whole body language is tense and her mouth is set in a frown as she scans the store. “Everything looks so uncomfortable.”  

“It doesn’t have to be!” Marco says. It’s always a pleasure to show new customers that lingerie doesn’t have to be uncomfortable to be sexy. He waves the group of friends over to a small corner where the silk robes, lacy babydolls, and satin slips are kept. He finds those who prefer more coverage tend to gravitate to these styles. It’s probably something that Rico might prefer. 

“Oh,” Rico says, surprised. She takes a babydoll from the shelf and unfolds it, scrutinizing the design. Unlike most of the other lingerie sets in the Valentine’s Day section, this one is a pale purple. The cups are made of a purple lace with a cutout towards the bottom to tastefully reveal the underside of the breasts. It’s lined with a thin mesh. It’s simple with just the right amount of exposure for those that don’t want to reveal everything. “You know, I might be able to find something here.”  

“Ooh, help out Lynne and Nifa, too,” Hanji says, gesturing towards a brunette with a ponytail and a petite redhead with a short, choppy haircut.  

Nifa, the redhead, looks a bit apprehensive but Lynne takes a step forward and tells Marco, “I’d also like something that’s not too showy. It’s not that I’m a prude or anything, but certain cuts of underwear or things with too much ribbon or wiring hurts for me to wear. My skin can be really sensitive.”  

Marco smiles. “No worries. Lingerie doesn’t have to be complicated to be alluring,” he assures Lynne. He leads the women to a section of robes with ruffles and feathers made of silk or mesh. He notes that Lynne takes particular interest in a white satin robe with feathers on the cuffs and hem.  

“Is a robe really enough, though?” Lynne wonders aloud. It’s a question that Marco gets from time to time, and he answer as honestly as he can. 

“Knowing that your partner is comfortable is more than enough,” Marco replies. It’s the case for him, anyway, and he’s sure any person worth sleeping with would think the same. The answer seems to satisfy Lynne who nods and takes a closer look at the robe she was intrigued by.  

“Ah, what would you recommend for me then?” Nifa asks shyly. She twirls a lock of her red hair around her finger, her gaze on the tiled floor. “I don’t actually mind lace. It’s pretty, but I’m worried it’ll be uncomfortable to wear too much of it at once.”  

“Oh, in that case, you can just wear something like this,” Marco says and he takes a garter from a nearby shelf. He holds it out to Nifa — a red garter made of lace and silk ribbons. “It’s not a bodysuit, just a garter that goes over your thigh, so it won’t be as uncomfortable being covered all over with lace. It’s also something that can help you get used to it if you want to try out lacy lingerie later. Even if seems like a small accessory, it can really elevate your bedroom wardrobe.”  

Nifa purses her lips, but she doesn’t look uninterested. She takes the garter from Marco and feels the silky material between her fingers. “I think I might take a closer look at these,” Nifa murmurs. 

Marco turns towards the last member of the group, a tall, blonde woman with a short undercut. “And can I help you with anything?”  

The woman looks momentarily surprised and then laughs. “Oh, no. I already have an idea of what I want. I just came here to help the rest of them,” Nanaba says. She gestures towards another section with slinky, black selections and winks at the rest of her friends. “I’m going to take a look over here and pick something out. Let me know when you guys are ready to check out.”  

Hanji watches in admiration as their friend goes to look at the lingerie. “Ah, Nanaba is the type of person who knows what she wants. I love that about her,” they say admiringly before turning towards Petra with a wicked grin. “Petra, do you want to add anything else to your wardrobe? I’m sure Levi wouldn’t mind if you added a few more things. He gave you his card to pay for all of this anyway.”  

“Hanji!” Petra says exasperatedly. The ginger gives Marco a polite smile. “Thank you for all your help! My friends and I really appreciate it. It’s true that you’re wonderful at what you do. I think we can handle ourselves from here, but we’ll let you know if we need anything else.”  

“That’s great, I’ll leave you to browse for yourselves then. Don’t hesitate to reach out. I’ll be around,” Marco says cheerfully. He bids the group of friends goodbye and then explores the rest of the floor for lost-looking customers that he can help. He doesn’t expect to see such familiar faces peering at him through a rack of teddies.  

“Marco!” Sasha cheers and the rest of her friends sing Marco’s name in a chorus.  

He knows he shouldn’t be embarrassed about working in a lingerie store, and normally he isn’t. It’s just that being seen here by his friends is somehow more embarrassing than having the rest of the student body know that he helps women pick out lace panties to help seduce their partners in the bedroom. 

Cheeks flushed red in embarrassment, Marco asks, “Sasha, Mikasa ... what are all of you doing here?”  

Ymir throws an arm around Historia’s shoulders and smiles cheekily at Marco. “We’re here to buy underwear, of course, and to seek your advice. Word on the streets is that you’re the best in the business when it comes to finding the best panties for people,” Ymir replies. 

Mina tugs on Ymir’s sleeve. She looks almost as embarrassed as Marco feels. “Come on, Ymir. You’re making him sound like a pervert,” Mina says. 

“Oh, he knows I’m just joking, don’t you, Marco?” Ymir laughs, but she cocks an eyebrow at the measuring tape hanging around Marco’s neck. “Although, maybe he is. Do you go measuring women, Marco?” 

Marco wishes the earth would open up and swallow him whole. “It’s part of the uniform,” Marco mumbles, which is absolutely true. He’s never used it and doesn’t plan to. He sometimes gives size recommendations after a glance, but he would never dream of pulling out his measuring tape for any reason.  

“Hey, Marco’s a busy guy. Let’s just get down to business so we don’t bother him too much,” Historia says with a toss of her golden hair. She’s very to-the-point as usual. “Marco, do you have any recommendations for us? Something in the Valentine’s Day collection would be good, but it doesn’t have to be if you think there’s something better for us.”  

“If this is too weird, we can go ask another salesperson,” Mikasa offers, but Marco doesn’t want to turn them away. It might be weird, but they’re his friends after all. 

“It’s not too weird,” Marco says with a shake of his head. He clears his throat and forces a smile on his face. He hopes word doesn’t get out that he’s helping his female friends with buying lingerie. He doesn’t want people to misconstrue everything again and it’d be terrible if it somehow tarnished his friends’ reputations.  

He starts by guiding them to the Valentine’s Day section. Mikasa and Historia seem more drawn to the simpler sets, preferring silk and satin over lace and ribbon, although Historia does appreciate little details like frills and lace embellishments. Sasha is amused by many of the sets that Marco shows them, giggling at the more revealing lingerie, although she attaches herself to a cute pink teddy later. Ymir is the loudest and most crass of the group, often taking bra and pantie sets and holding them against her body and asking loudly for Marco’s opinion. She does it mostly to get a reaction out of him and puts down each one no matter what Marco says and only picks up a black lace bodysuit that Historia said actually looked quite nice on her. Mina, much shyer than the rest of her friends, was a little harder to help. She couldn’t look at many sets without blushing furiously and averting her gaze but Marco finally managed to find a fluffy robe and a garter that she seemed comfortable with.  

The girls thank him before heading to check out. Ymir is even cheeky enough to blow him a kiss that Marco pretends he doesn’t see. He’s relieved that it’s not a more complicated affair, but only Ymir had teased him and although he knows she’ll probably talk about it loudly to everyone that will listen, he knows that she’ll probably punch anyone who speaks badly about him in the face.  

Marco wipes his sweaty palms on the fabric of trousers and then sighs. He wonders if he’ll be able to disappear into the stock room and “check inventory” like many of his coworkers do when they need a break from working the floor. He’s just about to do that when he can feel people staring at him from behind. He whips his head around and sees more familiar faces trying to hide behind a shelf of folded panties and bras.  

Marco sighs and walks over to where his friends are hiding. He folds his arms against his chest but he has his customer service smile plastered on his face. “Can I help you?” he asks through gritted teeth. 

Eren, Jean, Connie, and Armin are huddled together, guilty expressions on their face as they realize they’ve been caught. They argue in whispers, shoving each other as they try to find a way to justify their presence in the women’s lingerie store. Eventually, Eren, Connie, and Armin manage to shove Jean in front of them and the brunet gives Marco a sheepish smile.  

“We were, ah, wondering if you could help us choose lingerie,” Jean says and then realizes his words haven’t come out quite right. Face flushing as he corrects himself, Jean quickly says, “I mean, help us help other people to pick out lingerie.”  

Marco narrows his eyes suspiciously at his friends. “You guys might have the wrong idea about my job. It’s not sexy at all. I don’t get to see naked women in the dressing room. This job isn’t a chick magnet. In fact, most women are repulsed when they hear that I work at Victoria’s Secret. Do you see girls flocking towards me on campus?”  

“That’s not why we want you to teach us how to pick out lingerie for people!” Eren protests indignantly, although Marco isn’t sure he believes Eren. “We’re feminists. We want to help women!”  

“Yeah!” Connie agrees, nodding his head vigorously. “We want to support women physically and spiritually like, ah, what is it that you said Armin?”  

Armin’s cheeks have turned a bright pink. “Like a push-up bra for their souls.”  

“Exactly,” Connie says with a pump of his fist and Eren nods in agreement. 

Marco isn’t sure that they understand what his job entails. He’s also not sure his friends would be able to manage a part-time job at Victoria’s Secret on top of their current jobs and studies. It would be nice to have more coworkers to rely on. At the very least, his guidance would be able to help his friends pick out lingerie for their partners. 

“Alright,” Marco sighs. He picks up a bra and holds it out for his friends to see. “Let’s start with different types of cups.”  

[eowyntheavenger]

15 Questions 15 Mutuals

I was tagged by @valasania-the-pale, thanks so much for tagging me! :)

Rules: answer the questions and tag fifteen mutuals

1. Are you named after anyone?

Not my first name, but my middle name belongs to one of my mom's best friends, who I love :)

2. When was the last time you cried?

Hmm... I recently teared up while rereading The Silmarilion, does that count?

3. Do you have kids?

No, and it's not something I see for myself.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Sometimes, but I prefer to just outright criticize things rather than being sarcastic.

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

I notice how they treat me and others around them.

6. What's your eye colour?

Blue.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings! Although this frames it as a choice between two things that are not really opposites, so... I also happen to love tragedies.

8. Any special talents?

Depends on whether I'm actually talented, but I think I'm a good writer, and I also have some skill with drawing/painting, although I don't do it often enough these days.

9. Where were you born?

In the Pacific Northwest.

10. What are your hobbies?

Reading, writing, drawing/painting, photography, hiking, and martial arts.

I'm currently reading two books: one about the Coastwatchers in Solomon Islands during World War II, and the other about the Guadalcanal and Bougainville campaigns... also WWII.

I'm also currently working on some writing projects, namely the one giant writing project that has consumed the past three years of my life, although I've been taking a long-ish break for the holiday period (I've been too busy).

I'm also working on my first digital artwork, which has taken a few years at this point... partly because it keeps getting bigger and bigger! Ack!

There are a lot of things I'd like to learn how to do or do more of, like scuba diving, archery, and getting a pilot's license (but I need to save up money for that).

11. Any pets?

Two cats that I love very much. One of them is a tortoiseshell named Minou (there are pictures of her in the link). She is tiny! She is only 6 pounds. She doesn't really know how to meow, so when she wants food or attention she will gently and politely tap me with her paw (it is SO cute).

The other one is an orange cat with white socks named Percy, which is short for Persimmon. She is a troublemaker, and will steal ANYTHING from the kitchen. I once saw her running out of the room with a very long udon noodle trailing from her mouth. She is very cuddly and likes to spend all of her time on my lap, purring. Otherwise she's dashing madly around the house.

I also have a Juniper bonsai, which I think counts as a pet. I have had him for about three years.

12. What sports do you play/have played?

I played soccer as a child, and loved it. I played basketball for one season and it was not for me - neither was cross country. I started doing Muay Thai and boxing when I was 17 and I liked that a hell of a lot better. Then I started doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo in college. Nothing makes me happier than getting to do MMA multiple times per week, and I only wish that I could train regularly right now! I don't live close enough to the school I want to go to - but once I find a new apartment I'll be able to. I also enjoy weightlifting.

13. How tall are you?

5′4″... I would like to be taller, but this IS average height for a woman in the United States (where I live), which is what I remind people who tell me I'm short!

14. Favorite subject in school?

History, to be sure, which was my major. I also enjoyed Philosophy, Russian Literature and my language classes - over the years I took Latin, Japanese, German and Russian. Unfortunately my language skills are a bit rusty now, but I don't regret the time I spent studying them. :) I would like to learn some of the languages of the Pacific Islands - there are certainly a lot to choose from.

15. Dream job?

The one I have now, basically! Although I would like to live in the South Pacific one day. I work for a research institute and my field of study is the Pacific Islands. I love what I do, I get to travel, my coworkers respect me - I'm literally so happy! It's a big relief, because I was not happy at my previous job, and it's hard to find jobs in my field, at least where I live now.

Tagging friends: @softlypause, @wishiwould, @jtulipe, @lonelysocksclub, @orestes-hungry-and-pylades-sober, @frodo-baggins, @princeofnerds, @carinatae, @cosmologicalhedgehogephemera, @igotofetchthesun, @tuulikki, @belljarsandrabbitholes, @warrioreowynofrohan, @daegred-winsterhand, @katbatmagat, @softpyrate, @lie-where-i-land, @speckled-jim, @orangechickenpillow, @potatoobsessed999, @armenelols, @actuallyfingolfin, @backgroundelf, @stillcantgetoverthesilmarillion, @rhymes-with-sky, @kookyburrowing, @novemberblueskyink, @legolasbadass, @playingjax, @calliopechild, @randomphases Okay sorry I tagged a lot of people. No pressure to do it though! And anyone else can join in :)

[human-hetalia-imagines]

☆ Rules & Information ☆

This is a blog dedicated to doing imagines surrounding my original human au. Here’s a description for each character's place in the au and rules for requests — I’ll be adding more characters as I get more comfortable writing for them.

*I did change the names of some characters so that they would reflect the countries they come from

*Also: this shit long, so strap in and get ready

☆Rules for Imagines☆

I’ll do imagines, or a bullet point list of up to 6 characters at one time, or a written scenario for up to 3 characters

I’ll also do nyos and genderbends of each character (ngl, I simp after nyo!America), their placement in the au won't change.

I include South Italy and Prussia in the axis, and Canada in the Allies

I’ll write fluff, smut, angst, and everything in between

I absolutely won’t write: incest, explicit sexual assault or excessive gore

The only time I will do romantic/sexual imagines for the characters who canonically have the physical appearance of people under 18 is if you explicitly state that you want them aged up, or if the reader is also underage. If you request adult x minor, I will discard your ask & invert your rib cage.

☆Rules for Matchups☆ 

Before submitting, check if they’re open or not, they won’t always be due to not wanting my page cluttered with them

When requesting, include personality, interests, dislikes, any pets you have, fun facts about yourself, and possibly clothing style

Don’t bother to include physical features as those will not be taken into account when pairing you up with someone

Include whether you want the matchup to be romantic, platonic, or one of each

☆Character Au Placements☆

North America

America | Alfred Jones, age 19

A young man that's cheerful and strong, with a strong sense of justice. He often can't read situations and has a habit of ruining the mood, whatever mood that may be. While he’s usually labeled as “incompetent”, he’s attending college (or university, depending where you’re from) to obtain a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering. He plays as the pitcher on his college’s baseball team, able to throw a devastating fastball. He lives in a two bedroom apartment with his twin brother, Matthew. He had a crush on Amelia Earhart when he was younger, and it’s something that Matthew teases him about on a weekly basis. 

Canada | Matthew Williams, age 19

On the surface, he's an easygoing, softhearted and gentle young man, around his twin brother and close friends, however, he can be quite sassy, nearly bordering on rude on occasion. He's in his first year of college for a degree in statistics. For the college, he plays as the Center on the hockey team, where he lets out steam on his opponents. He has a pure white rag-doll cat named Kumajirou that follows him around his and Alfred's apartment. He curses regularly in french. 

United Kingdom 

England | Arthur Kirkland, age 23

He's either a quick-witted, sarcastic and stubborn man, or the paragon of a perfect gentleman. He enjoys reading, writing (although he doesn’t show anyone his stories), and embroidering. He’s gotten so skillful at it, that he has a well-traversed Etsy shop. He’s currently in his last year of getting his Postsecondary Education degree and a minor in linguistics. When he was a teenager, he was a delinquent, going to loud concerts, fighting, dyeing his hair wild colors, and smoking. While he says he’s over it, he still keeps various CDs of OK Go and The Rolling Stones, as well as band t-shirts. It’s something that his 3 older brothers refuse to let go of.

Baltic

Estonia | Eduard von Bock, Age 19

He's a graduated honors student who has avoided many problems with wit. Usually in front of people he acts calm, logical, and businessman-like, but in private he’s actually pretty chill, albeit a bit quiet. He’s awesome with technology, and works part-time at his college as an IT advisor while he studies to get his Quality Control & Safety Technologies degree.

Latvia | Raivis Galante, age 15

He’s a boy who has been through quite a bit, making him an introvert, easily intimidated, and kind of a crybaby. He’s in his first year of high school, but due to him having an anxiety disorder, he does it digitally. The only problem is that he strives to have friends who are close to him and care for him unconditionally. He secretly likes to read cutesy romance novels from the young adult section.

Lithuania | Toris Laurinaitis, age 19

He's a patient, shy, and gentle person who has the ability to become pretty serious when he needs to be. He works as a librarian assistant while he decides between a degree in social work or education. He, unfortunately, usually over-thinks his decisions too much, causing him to have anxiety attacks. When he’s not working, he’s typically just dragged around by his close friend, Feliks, but he has a good time nonetheless.

Nordic

Denmark | Mathias Køhler, age, 19

He’s a genuine sweetheart who often accidentally always yells. While he is kind, he’s also a bit thick-headed, although he always has the best of intentions. He considers himself to be very close to his friends, especially to Lukas, although the other man’s opinion on the matter is about the opposite. He attends college for a master’s degree in, surprisingly enough, Business Administration. When he isn’t studying, he enjoys clinging to his friends and drinking. He has the habit of playing online video games with Alfred and Gilbert for way too long at a given time. He also gets oddly competitive over his degree with Tino. 

Finland | Tino Väinämöinen, Aged 20

He's a gentle, cheery young man with a tendency to like the more simplistic things in life. He seems very mature, yet can be childlike. He loves relaxing in saunas, especially with his close friends. He has a small Maltese pup named Hanatamago who attends dog shows. When he’s not attending dog shows, he does online college for a masters in Medical Assisting. 

Iceland | Emil Steilsson, age 17

He’s a mysterious boy with a cool exterior and a hot interior, being a bit easy to provoke with teasing. His older half-brother often insists that he was ‘born in his emo phase’. He taught his pet puffin (geniously named Mr. Puffin) a lot of profanity in Icelandic, Norwegian, and English. He attends high school, which he is absolutely over. On a side note, even though Lukas is his half-brother, he often refuses to have any connection to him whatsoever in public. 

Norway | Lukas Bondevik , age 18

He is, like his half-brother, very introverted. However, he is considerably more cold to strangers, but to his close friends, he can (sometimes) be very sweet. He just recently finished highschool, but intends on going straight into college for an Applied Data Science degree. He practices Modern Paganism, or Wicca, as his religion. 

Sweden | Berwald Oxenstierna, Aged 21

He’s a guy with an intimidating air who doesn’t talk much. On the inside he’s playful, but it doesn’t show at all and he just seems intimidating. He works as a carpenter after he went to a trade high school, a job that he greatly enjoys. Other than that, he likes decorative arts and being a part of debates on his free time. While he can create furniture out of wood scraps without any blueprints, he can’t put together IKEA furniture to save his life. 

Eastern Europe

Belarus | Natalia Arlovskaya, age 19

While she can be extremely possessive over her older brother and sister, she means well. She openly looks up to both of them, as they are the only two people in her life that have remained constants. She lives with both of them in a house and works part-time at her sister’s flower shop. She’s also a part-time online student with a pursuit of a criminology degree.

Russia | Ivan Braginski, age 21

He has the simplicity of a country bumpkin, an easy-going personality, and the cruelty of a child, all mixed together. Coupled with his personality traits and the fact that he’s well over 6 feet tall, he constantly (and accidentally) gives off an intimidating air. He attends college for a Avionics Technology bachelor's degree. Deep down, he’s incredibly passionate about ballet, more specifically Russian ballet, his favorite being Don Quixote, with Sleeping Beauty as a close second.

Ukraine | Katyusha Braginskaya, age 24

Ivan and Natalia’s older sister who always recklessly gets dragged into their messes. She's an absolute sweetheart who strives to make the people around her happy, even at her own expense. She can be very emotional. She owns a flower shop where she let’s her younger siblings work part-time while they go to school.

Central Europe

Germany | Ludwig Beilschmidt, age 20

He's a young man with an overly serious personality and a pessimistic nature. He's very by-the-book and has a pet peeve for a lack of cleanliness. He attends college for mechanical engineering and dorms with Feliciano and Kiku. His older brother, Gilbert, regularly breaks in and hangs out with them. His hobbies are reading, making sweets and taking walks with his dogs (that live with Gilbert). He’s in a garage band with the three aforementioned guys. He does, however, want to be a soldier like the other members in his family. Unfortunately, due to an injury to his leg that he sustained as a kid, he can’t. 

Hungary | Elizabeta Héderváry, age 26

She’s a sweet, reliable woman with a bit of a boyish streak. For a career, she works doing maintenance on a farm that belongs to a close friend, Basch (Switzerland). In her free time, she likes riding horses, going hiking and practicing instruments, one of which is the tekerőlant. She has a young child, Julian (Kugelmugel), from a previous relationship with her ex fiance, Roderich (Austria). Thankfully, things are civil between the two.

Liechtenstein | Lili Zwingli, age 15

She’s the darling, adoptive younger sister of Basch (Switzerland). She has a big heart and helps out on her brother’s farm wherever she can, and because she spends so much time on the farm, she’s gotten decently close to Elizabeta. She enjoys feeding, brushing, and cuddling her two angora rabbits on her free time, as well as knitting. Sometimes she’ll submit her bunnies to be participants in rabbit shows (Cocoa has 1 and Cinna-bun has 3).

Poland | Feliks Łukasiewicz, age 19

He has a fierce anxiety towards strangers, and upon a first meeting, he'll act very shy. Once he gets used to someone, he'll act goofy and a bit childish, clinging onto his closest friends. He attends college for a degree in fashion design and marketing. He is also very opinionated. He often drags his friends to Francis’ patisserie for cute aesthetic pictures. 

Prussia | Gilbert Beilschmidt, age 24

He comes off as rude, loud and self-centered, but he’s actually incredibly sweet and loyal almost to a fault. He’s catholic and takes his religion seriously to the point of keeping a cross necklace with him nearly all the time. While he wanted to join the army like the rest of his family, his albinism keeps him from being able to. Because of this, many members of the family see him as the Family Disappointment™, causing a strain between him and them. Unrelated, but when Ludwig lived with him, he caught Gilbert trying to play all three parts of Suite en trio, Op. 59: I. Serenade by himself with all three instruments at 2 in the morning.

Switzerland | Basch Zwingli, age 25

He’s an intimidating man with a soft heart. He owns a farm that has been in his family for generations, and it’s a job that he’s greatly proud of and fiercely protective over. He has technically adopted Lili as a daughter, but they both view each other as siblings. Regardless, Francis has still referred to him as a DILF before. He doesn’t understand what it means, and Elizabeta has assured him that he doesn't want to. On a more pure note, he enjoys attending rabbit shows whenever there’s any in the area, and has encouraged Lili to participate in them with hers.

Africa

Seychelles | Veronique Bonnefoy, age 17

She’s a southern country girl with a big heart. She's a bit sloppy and has the tendency to laze around when the weather gets warmer. She often laments over her being lonely to her friends, especially to Alfred and Matthew. She enjoys cooking, singing, and dancing. She takes after her brother figure (technically adoptive father), Francis, being a bit of a romantic herself. She’s in her senior year of high school, and is excited to be done with it. Once she ate pizza rolls in front of Francis and he almost cried. 

Asia

China | Yao Wang, age 19

He’s a (mostly) easy-going person, if not a bit of a hermit. He works as a waiter currently, but attends several courses in hopes of getting his food-handlers permit to, one day, open his own authentic Chinese food restaurant. He lives with his 5 other siblings, all of which jokingly refer to him as “grandpa” due to how often he complains about back pain and makes acupuncture appointments every 2 weeks. When his 6th sibling, Kiku, moved out for college, he was pretty salty. In his free time, he mostly plays Mahjong the practices the Érhù. He’s unabashedly likes and collects cute things such as small charms and plushies.

Japan | Kiku Honda, age 19

While, at first glance, he seems quiet and serious, he can actually be quite goofy and irresponsible with his money, buying anime memorabilia and American comic books. It’s something that one of his roommates, Ludwig, lectures him about quite a bit. His other roommate, Feliciano, sees nothing wrong with it. He attends college for a degree in animation. He enjoys messing with machines and drawing.

South Korea | Im Yong Soo, age 16

He’s a hyperactive young man with strong aspirations when it comes to schooling. He shows the upmost respect to strangers and his elders alike, but when he’s around friends and immediate family he tends to be more loud and silly. He’s currently knee deep in the K-pop wave sweeping the world and practices idol dances on tiktok. 

Taiwan | Mei Xiao, age 18

She is a strong-willed, fashionable young woman, but she's also said to have become more of a nervous type in recent times, unable to stop worrying. She has the tendency to be a bit smart-mouthed with a somewhat quick temper. Other than that, she has a sweet and cheerful disposition. She lives with all of her siblings (China, Japan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Korea, and Thailand) and works as a hostess as a restaurant while she takes a break from schooling. 

Mediterranean

France | Francis Bonnefoy, age 24

He's someone who does things at his own pace and has an abundance of affectionate expressions for friends, family, and strangers alike. He owns his own patisserie which has become increasingly popular as a spot for dates and hipsters to eat cute, artfully made sweets and drink aesthetically pleasing coffees and teas. He loves culture and the arts, as well as paintings and clothing.

North Italy | Feliciano Vargas, age 20

He's a cheerful guy who can be a little bit of a crybaby. While he relies on his friends a lot, he deeply cares for them. He's attending college for a fine arts degree where he shares a dorm room with Ludwig and Kiku. He enjoys painting, singing and designing clothes. Also, while only a few people know this, he can play both acoustic and electric guitar. He’s in a garage band with Ludwig, Kiku, and Gilbert

South Italy | Lovino Vargas, age 22

He constantly starts arguments and fights, however he’s also a bit of a coward. He has the ability to be hardworking, but often doesn’t out of laziness. While he’ll never admit it, he’s quite the hopeless romantic, striving to find someone who will love him despite his flaws. He’s in college to obtain a bachelor's in agricultural studies with a minor in history, but absolutely refused to share a dorm with his younger brother, who he often teases about choosing to get a ‘useless art degree.’ He enjoys gardening, dancing, and playing the acoustic guitar in his free time. He also likes sketching, but due to feeling insecure, he never shows people his work, or even tells them that he does it.

Spain | Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, age 24

While he can be oblivious and even insensitive, he’s a generally friendly person with a cheerful deposition. He works as a bartender in a decently popular bar in the downtown of his city that’s within walking distance of his house. When he’s not working, he enjoys playing the flamenco guitar and practicing dancing. Since he’s very sociable, before work, he typically stops by Francis’ pastry shop to talk to him as he closes up.

Also, did you know that, in canon, Feliciano can play electric guitar and Ludwig can play the drums?? What I’m saying is: punk garage band w/ Kiku on vocals. Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.  

[paperwick]

Artist Interview with Kallie LeFave

Last week I got to sit down and interview an artist I admire, Kallie LeFave. Her work has inspired me for a while, and she very kindly agreed to take the time to chat with me about her social media, past struggles, and how fanart has impacted her freelance business.

Kallie Lefave is a self-taught illustrator with a focus in fantasy, and has been successfully freelancing for nearly 7 years. She has a keen eye for color and shape dynamics.

D: You're pretty active on social media, at least from what I've seen on Twitter. How many platforms do you maintain?

K: Right now I'm active on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr, all of which I can be found under @kallielef

D: How much of your day, or week, do you devote to your social media? Not just posting and retweeting/reblogging other's work, but also creating the artwork you use on social.

K: Well, my schedule has changed a lot with a toddler, but I'd say right now I devote about 2-3 hours of the day to creating work along with posting to my platforms. So, perhaps 30 minutes retweeting/reblogging/liking art and maybe 1-2 hours painting and drawing.

Weekends I get a little more free time, so maybe 3-4 hours then, but that can always change with a kiddo.

D: I believe it! Starting a family will shake up any schedule for sure. Has it impacted your approach or your artwork in unforeseen ways?

K: Oh, definitely! I waited (and contemplated) on having a child for almost ten years because I was worried about how it would affect my time to create. My daughter had some complications, a breathing issue after she was born which made my brain switch gears, and all my focus went towards her. For a while I found myself frustrated needing a creative outlet, but ultimately having a child helped me learn balance and selflessness. Because of her, not only do I have a more structured and valued appreciation for time dedicated to creating art, but being around a child really has expanded the way I look at and feel about art.

D: Oh wow, even in retrospect that’s scary to think about, I'm glad things worked out! It sounds like it's really changed things up for you. Did you struggle with balance before you had your daughter?

K: Yes, I did struggle, but in the sense that I had so much time on my hands and not enough discipline, and I would overwork myself. My schedule was a hodgepodge of doing studies, learning more about digital art, learning and practicing fundamentals, free art and commission work. Now, I know for the most part what to expect of the day and myself, but also that everything can change and I need to make the most of the time I'm given.

D: That's encouraging, I feel like it's a pretty common problem among artists to struggle with discipline and overwork. Do you have any general advice for people who are facing those same troubles?

K: Yeah, for sure! I always look at a creator like George R R Martin and Stephen King; both incredibly talented and creative artists, but very different disciplines when it comes to creating. I had a professor once tell me that I had a "dancing brush", which she said meant that I traveled a lot around a painting, not settling on one thing for too long. That's very much how my mind feels, constantly dancing and entertaining ideas. If I feel myself getting too overwhelmed or overworking something, sometimes I just have to verbally tell myself to stop and move on, otherwise I'll just get stuck. If I'm afraid to try something or don't have the confidence, or lack of motivation, I like what Even Amundsen once said, "f*!%$ it, Let's DO IT!"

D: Ha ha, I like that a lot!

K: Yes, it's on a sticky note on my computer!

D: How long has it taken you to build up a following? Was there anything that kick-started that process for you, like a shift in what or how you posted content? Or has it been a steady increase from the start?

K: I started working in digital art in 2014, where I began scanning in penciled drawings of all the Hobbit characters, and that was my introduction into fandoms. It wasn't until about a year later when I discovered A Song of Ice and Fire, along with the Game of Thrones series, that I really got invested in a fandom. That's where I created a piece of Sandor Clegane "The Hound" and Arya Stark, posting on Deviantart and got one of their Daily Deviations. I didn't know what that was at the time, but saw that it brought in a lot of new followers and interest to my work. That was exciting, I love having conversations with people and the fan art engaged me with so many other fans. So, I had a small following start there which grew a lot for some time in the GoT fandom. After that, I created works for The Hobbit and Dragon Age fandom, which I'm still currently creating artwork of, but I'm not certain my following has grown very much-it's been steady, but small. That used to disappoint me some, that I didn't have a huge following, but I kind of like my small groups; I get to spend more time talking to people and less pressure on myself.

D: Fan art has been a large part of your online work, how has it informed your professional work? Has having a fan-base built on fanworks impacted your business significantly?

K: A lot of the work I do professionally is because clients found me through fandoms, and it's definitely impacted my business. But one thing that is always flattering and fun are the clients who want me to create their original characters or concepts. For them to feel confident enough in my abilities to recreate their ideas means a lot and tells me I must be doing something right! That also helps give me encouragement to create my own characters, and hopefully one day make solely original content to sell (like Pete Morbacher, Charlie Bowater, Eli Baum, Valentina Remenar, Lois van Baarle, and Minna Sundberg).

D:Do you have a commissions page?

K: Thank you very much! At the moment I don't, but I'll be setting something up in the near future. I'll definitely let people know when I'm taking commission work again.

D: As a self taught artist, how do you feel about the art college dilemma? Especially with online course schools like schoolism and CTRL+Paint available?

K: Ha, I was just reading about the topic in imagineFX magazine. I went to school for traditional art with a focus in abstract expressionism and conceptualism. I'm not sure I really learned anything, unfortunately, BUT the discipline, structure,  connections and social networking I made at that time were helpful. I think a lot of digital artists would agree that going to art school has those same benefits and can help a lot of people who are lacking in discipline, creating a daily syllabi and have a hard time meeting people. But also, I have taken a few self taught Schoolism courses, and loved them. I think if you have the time to invest in courses like that (or the free ones like ctrl paint), and are willing to be disciplined, they can be very effective. In short, I feel both traditional and online schools have a lot to offer, it’s just a matter of what you're willing to invest in.

*when I say I didn't learn anything from school, I mean the fundamentals or "how to paint", haha. I did learn a lot otherwise.

D: What has been the most challenging thing for you in art?

K: The first thing that comes to mind is building up a memory of what I'm trying to learn or practice, like how light hits the planes of a face or how a figure should look when turned at a certain angle. I still have to reference things as my memory can betray me lol, but I'm starting to see things being remembered and clicking.

D: Is there someone lately whose art has really inspired you? Or some recommended reading you'd like to share?

K: A lot of the Pixar/Disney art teams, like Mingju Helen Chen, Corey Loftis, Minkyu Lee. I'm learning a lot about shape language looking at their art. There's always Charlie Bowater, too, who I think is a bit of a wizard with her brush. Art related reading-I have been listening to Bobby Chiu's "The Perfect Bait" on youtube, hopefully it will be in print again one day because it's a very resourceful art book. Non art-I read devotionals daily, currently one about the ego and it just helps keep me grounded.

Kallie has a lot of great insight, and is just an incredible artist. You can find Kallie’s work on most social media platforms under her handle kallielef:

https://twitter.com/kallielef

https://kallielef.tumblr.com/

https://www.instagram.com/kallielef/

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 5/28/20

Dr. STONE, Vol. 11 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – Balloons! Yes, Dr. STONE is taking it upon itself to do something it does best, which is show off the gorgeous vistas of this not-really-that-explored future Japan it takes place in. And that means hot air balloons. It also means speedboats! But alas, just because Senku is a scientist does not mean he can cook. So they use some of the last remaining fluid to un-stone a butler-cum-chef-cum-everything, Francois, who is flamboyant and also a lot of fun. There’s actually some really good humor in this volume as well, be it the reporter getting her camera and its undercutting right afterwards, or Senku’s Einstein impersonation. This remains one of the essential Jump titles. – Sean Gaffney

Dungeon Builder: The Demon King’s Labyrinth Is a Modern City!, Vol. 2 | By Rui Tsukiyo and Hideaki Yoshikawa | Seven Seas – After wrapping up the cliffhanger from the first volume (he names his first monster girl, which gives her the power-up (and bust expansion) she needs to win), the cast gets down to the nitty-gritty of what he wants to do: build a city, not a dungeon, which feeds on positive emotions. Of course, there are a few problems. Location, labor costs, the neighboring demon lords, and of course Marcho’s impending death, which she seems to have accepted more than Procel has. This remains sort of mid-tier manga—not interesting enough to stand out, but the pages turn easily, and you could do worse. Also, brilliant pun for the back-cover blurb. – Sean Gaffney

Éclair Blanche: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart | By Various Artists | Yen Press – The second of the Éclair anthologies to come out over here, this one seems to focus more attention on love that is already in bloom when the story begins than love that we see the start of. There’s a nice mix of funny, heartwarming, sad, and generally melancholic. Some highlights are “Azalea Corner,” about a minion’s crush on the arrogant ojou she follows; “The Unemployed Woman and the High School Girl,” which should be awful but is by Canno so is cute instead; and “That Summer Won’t Come Again,” about a girl trapped in her sister’s past who bonds with a senpai and learns to swim again. There’s good and not-so-good here, but overall well worth buying. – Sean Gaffney

Éclair Blanche: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart | By Various Artists | Yen Press – This is the second Éclair anthology, but aside from two continuations, all the stories here are new. The quality varies, and it seems the better stories are in the front. The first story, Fly’s “Flowers in a Storm,” sets the tone for bittersweet, ambiguous endings with the tale of a first kiss that comes too late. There are also several stories about unrequited love for a friend who loves someone else, be it another girl, an idol, or a guy. Kabocha’s “Though Summer Won’t Come Again” is a standout, about a girl who assumes the senpai she’s developed feelings for prefers her older sister, as everyone else seems to. Unfortunately, I found the stories toward the end of the volume to be less enjoyable, particularly the final one, which includes the most awkward teacher-student embrace I have ever seen. Still, I will read the next installment when it comes out! – Michelle Smith

I Didn’t Mean to Fall in Love | By Minta Suzumaru | Futekiya (digital only) – Yoshino Kiritani is a beautiful 30-year-old salaryman who happens to be both gay and a virgin. With no relationship prospects on the horizon and wanting to finally have sex, he goes to a gay bar, meets a charismatic college student named Rou, and sleeps with him. The back-and-forth that follows between these two guys is so well done. Rou is a notorious playboy with a hot-and-cold routine he has employed many times to manipulate his conquests into falling for him and confessing their feelings. He tries this on Yoshino, even though he’s actually serious about him, but it doesn’t work. Self-effacing Yoshino genuinely thinks Rou wants nothing more to do with him, forcing Rou to face the seriously scary prospect of rejection by declaring his feelings first. There are a few explicit scenes, but they serve the characters and story well. Highly recommended! – Michelle Smith

Love Me, Love Me Not, Vol. 2 | By Io Sakisaka | Viz Media – First of all, a word of advice to the author: don’t sink people’s ships in your author’s notes, OK? Secondly, this continues to have the strengths of Io Sakisaka titles—it gets teenage love in a good way, has characters who are likeable but clearly flawed, shows gradual character growth, and has clean, easy-to-follow art. She’s still trying to balance out the idealistic girl with the realistic girl, though it may be leaning towards the former. Sadly, it also contains what’s always been one of this author’s big weaknesses to me—I like her series but never love them. Each volume is fun to read and I’d call it good, but it’s never going to be tops in my favorite shoujo manga lists. It’s not life-changing the way a Yona of the Dawn is. – Sean Gaffney

Ping Pong, Vol. 1 | By Taiyo Matsumoto | Viz Media – Ever since Matsumoto was a guest at TCAF in 2013 and spoke in depth about the series, its development, and how it fit into his overall career, I’ve been desperately wanting to read Ping Pong in English. When the excellent anime adaptation came and went soon after and the original manga still hadn’t been licensed, I didn’t expect that we’d ever see it translated. But it is actually here! The first of two beautifully designed omnibus volumes. And I am absolutely in love with Matsumoto’s Ping Pong. Ostensibly a high school sports manga, Ping Pong spends very little time explaining the ins and outs of the game even though table tennis is essentially omnipresent; instead, the series devotes its attention almost entirely to the characters themselves. With strong psychological elements, in part the work’s themes explore talent, motivation, and self-determination, all supported by Matsumoto’s distinctive and spectacularly dynamic and expressive artwork. – Ash Brown

Prince Freya, Vol. 1 | By Keiko Ishihara | VIZ Media – The land of Tyr is threatened by Sigurd, the empire to the north. Our “wimpy and weak” heroine, Freya, happens to be the spitting image of Prince Edvard, who’s just been poisoned by Sigurd, and so takes on the role of impersonating him to protect her country. Alas, Freya’s performance as Edvard (and characterization in general) is inconsistent and in a way that doesn’t seem intentional on the mangaka’s part. Sometimes she boldly and capably takes action, sometimes she just cries. In my notes I wrote, “This ain’t no Basara,” prompted by a panel in which Freya is making an extremely insipid face because of something sappy her love interest has just said, but then something super dramatic and unexpected occurs and… well, now I’m cautiously on board. It may turn out to be fluffier than I would like, but I will at least give it a couple more volumes. – Michelle Smith

The Quintessential Quintuplets, Vol. 9 | By Negi Haruba | Kodansha Comics – There’s less swapping in this one, but the one time there is a swap it blows the reader out of the water. I suspect Ichika’s popularity took a nosedive after this volume, as her ideal of “all’s fair in love and war” is taken to a somewhat cruel conclusion. She’s not even the thirstiest of the quints, as both Nino and Miku are trying to make their feelings for Futaro as clear to him as possible. Meanwhile, Yotsuba is trying the opposite tactic, saying that she’ll support whichever sister that isn’t her he picks, showing off a core of self-deprecation that we’ve seen before, but never to this level. And then there’s Itsuki, who seems to have forgotten she was supposed to be first girl. Great harem antics. – Sean Gaffney

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 9 | By Yu Tomofuji | Yen Press – I missed reviewing the eighth volume of this, for some reason; I’m not sure why. It continues to be quietly sweet, with a heroine who perhaps leans a little too much towards “can save everyone by the sheer power of being really nice.” That said, nice can only go so far, and when she discovers a country that’s being blackmailed into slavery, nice becomes determined and fierce. There’s also some tortured romance at the start—the king’s chief bodyguard and the princess’s attendant clearly are headed towards each other, but there are a few steps back here before we can move forward once more. I admit that I’d likely enjoy this more without its central conceit of animal people, but oh well. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 7 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – I admit I was a bit more surprised than Shirayuki was at the identity of the leader of the Lions of the Mountain. That said, it does remind us that Shirayuki is another one of those great “shoujo heroines who underreacts to everything,” which can be quite amusing when done right. That said, this volume is when the series transitioned from the quarterly DX to the main LaLa magazine, and as such much of the middle part is taken up with introducing new readers to the main cast and the situation. This includes an amusing “personality reversal” chapter where Mitsuhide starts acting like a chivalrous knight. the book ends with the implication that their love is going public. How will that go? Great shoujo. – Sean Gaffney

Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Vol. 1 | By Jougi Shiraishi, Itsuki Nanao, and Azure | Square Enix – This is a manga adaptation of the first fourth or so of the light novel, and it’s a very good adaptation. I will admit that Elaina is a lot more expressive than I was expecting… her delivery in the novels is somewhat cool… but it makes sense given the manga’s visual medium, and she’s cute. This volume shows off what we’re going to get from now on: some cute fluffy stories, some melancholic stories with deaths, some stories of Elaina having to extricate herself from a situation, and some backstory showing how she came to be wandering. The final story was one of my favorites in the book, and it’s the best one here too. A nice adaptation. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

[bloodydamnit]

You went to MICA, right? I’m currently going there and it’s good (stressful as fuck, but good) and I wanna know; what did you hate and what did you love about it? (Oh my god I sound like those end of year surveys they give you)

Hello there!!! Omfg I’m literally on campus right now for pride!!! LOL just got myself a smoky burger from OTH what what. okay okay okay good questions. 

MICA has changed quite a bit since I was there. Like, my freshman year was fucking lit. If you take the shuttle and get Mr. Robert or Ms. Yvette, ask them about the nudists. Shit was wild. 

Our freshman/foundation year was different in general too? Like

Okay. So. lol. Our classes were:

Elements of Visual Thinking - Which was a chance to explore concepts, mediums, learning how to properly critique, etc. 

Critical Thinking - Which was just critical theory, but more on your own practice I guess? I don’t really know how to explain it. 

EMAC - Which was exploring different forms of digital media and how to use them (Premier, Photoshop, Audacity, recording devices, etc)

Sculptural Forms - Which was a chance for you to explore 3d media. So it was held in what used to be 15/15 and it was woodshop, plaster, 3d printing, and cardboard. 

Then, this is where I get pissed off and seriously fucking angry about this change. 

But we USED to have Painting and Drawing. Now, if you got a 5 in AP art, you gained an extra credit and could skip Drawing/Painting 1. HAH. IMAGINE THAT. HAVING A PAINTING AND DRAWING CLASS AS A FOUNDATION FOR YOUR ART. BECAUSE IT’S KIND OF NECESSARY. 

can you tell im a bit fucking salty?

They were separate classes and I think, they were extremely fucking important to the development of not only my art but my peers. For example, I fucking hated painting when I went to MICA. Literally fucking refused to touch the medium. 

I went to my first class with Latoya Hobbs, tried oil paint, and everything fucking changed. I was a GD major (or that was my plan) and I immediately switched to Painting and I never looked back. 

Unfortunately, yall don’t have that opportunity anymore. Especially since when you choose your major, you tend to stick with those classes. Which really fucking sucks, because you can tell the variety of art has gone down since this change happened. And I think that’s the thing that I dislike about MICA NOW the most. I had the chance to take things, was required to take them, and then I knew how to do a variety of things BECAUSE of those changes. And from what I understand, you don’t have those opportunities anymore. Which really fucking sucks. Because you also miss out on the amazing fucking professors in other majors as well. For example, Karen Warshal. I HIGHLY recommend taking her Portrait class and her Anatomy class. I swear to god, those were the best, more useful classes I’ve ever taken. Is she crazy? A bit. But she’s the most genuine, caring, supportive, and one of the hardest professors I’ve ever had. And thats what you WANT. You don’t want someone to butter you up, tell you your art is poppin when it’s not, and to try and let you off easy because you look upset. Karen tells you how it fucking is and that’s so god damn important. no matter what major you are, TAKE HER FUCKING CLASSES. They’re important and they’re necessary to your development as an artist. Even if you’re not into figural art. - also she makes food and brings it in. and if you’re sick she might make you chicken noodle soup. shout out to karen

Honestly, Karen was probably one of my favorite things about MICA. Along with Mark Karnes,  TONY FUCKING SHORE. LISTEN. YOU NEED TO TAKE A CLASS WITH TONY SHORE (PAINTING). I think he might be doing a class on race (which haha he knows hes white as fuck) and i think it will be fantastic. so keep an eye out, AND RUTH TOULSON THE ANTHROPOLOGY TEACHER. IT MIGHT STILL BE A REQUIREMENT. HER CLASSES HAVE AN 80+ WAITLIST. IF YOU GET ON. ITS SO WORTH IT FUCKING TRUST ME. SHES OUT OF THIS FUCKING WORLD. PAUL LONG, HE’S AN ACADEMIC TEACHER (TEACHES POETRY AND SOME OTHER SHIT. HE’S GREAT. BRINGS SNACKS EVERY DAY), and others?? if you want to know more, please message me and i’ll give you them!

Anyway, I havent really answered your question!

Dislike:Housing situation fucking sucked. getting a room was fucking ridiculous. They ran out of room for us because they started accepting more (this happened when sophomore housing was required. My year was the first year that went into effect and they had to buy out bolton hill apartments. people had to break leases, etc. it was fucking ridiculous). 

The MICA store is eh? It used really good and held in dolphin. But it was literally falling apart. Now its too.. idk. It’s fine. I prefer artists and craftsmen. 

Access to studios and equipment is eh too. Because of time constraints. 

How the student body treats the fucking faculty is DISGUSTING. One girl literally called one of the sweetest security guards the ‘help’. Ms. Gloria (senior in security) is fantastic, Officer Green is everything, Ms. Yvette is so fucking sweet, and Mr. Robert makes my heart sing. 

The student body in general LOLOLOLOLOL. ‘Surround yourself with good juju’ - Former MICA Grad (my best friend) The fucking student body mica page is a fucking dumpster fire lol. 

I don’t like how white MICA is and how entitled a good part of the student body is. The amount of entitlement is fucking ridiculous. And the amount of ignorance is astounding. Also the obviousness to what fucking city you're in, is so wild i cant fucking even. Like. MICA is deceptively beautiful (the MICA bubble). Which is why it is high in crime lol. Just be alert and don’t be a god damned dumbass walking around at 3 am with your fucking headphones in, smoking a cigarette, and acting like you’re fucking immune to being mugged. Just saying. Take the shuttles and you’ll most likely be gucci. 

I don’t like how MICA spends its money (our money). And what they choose to invest in - like buying random fucking buildings and not telling the students what it’s for, and fucking raising the price of tuition and living in order to compensate. 

The total and utter lack of transparency, etc. It felt eehhhh I don’t know how to explain it. 

NOW. I KNOW THIS SOUNDS LIKE A LOT AND THAT IM JUST SHITTING ON MICA. BUT MY MICA EXPERIENCE WAS THE BEST OF MY LIFE. I LEARNED SO MUCH. AND I FIND WHAT I LEARNED THERE TO BE INVALUABLE (except for the fact that I’m 56k in debt. just saying)

But really. I loved MICA. I wish I could go back. I met so many amazing people, made great connections, and I don’t think I would have had the same love at any other art school. (I have friends in SAIC, Pratt, Parsons, FIT, SVA, RISD - they all complain about the same things. they in the grand scheme of things, are material. Which important because, hah, money. But, material nonetheless. If you have the means, I don’t think these things I explained are deal breakers)

Now what I loved about MICA. Because honey. I fucking LOVED MICA:

When I was touring schools, I was kind of eh about them? Not in the sense that I wouldn’t have a good time or be ungrateful, but I didn’t get that feeling. Does that make sense? For example, I took a tour at SVA and I have very very strong opinions about SVA, I had no feeling. When I stepped on MICA’s campus, that was fucking it for me. Not only was I comfortable there, but the professors that were at the tour, made it their duty and went out of their way to make myself and the other potential students feel welcome. They were personable, they were kind and welcoming, they were warm, and that continued even after I decided MICA was the place for me. 

My class at least, had no drama lololol. Again, my freshman year was a hell of a lot of fucking fun. We didn’t have any big racist shit going on like other years (ahem ahem 2018, 2019). INSTEAD, we had the nudists, we had carrot videos (ask around about that), it kind of felt less cliquey? Because everyone was generally interested in being friends? Idk. Like we definitely had groups and they became more evident as majors really clicked in, but in the beginning, everyone was pretty much together (this was the first year that the grill opened and leake was a thing. So we were all figuring out the dorms together). I mean we had drama but it wasn’t... idk. It wasn’t like mica student body (maybe its because we didnt have that to fuck shit up lolol). 

On The Hill was my shit. Still my shit. I fucking love on the hill with a fucking passion. Pom Iced Teas, where you at. The neighborhood in general was really nice. Baltimore is one of my favorite cities and the stigma of it will be broken as soon as you start exploring it. HOWEVER, BE FUCKING SMART. DONT BE A FUCKING IDIOT. IF YOU DON’T FEEL COMFORTABLE SOMEWHERE, YEET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE. TRAVEL WITH OTHERS. DON’T BE THOSE DUMB ASS WHITE GIRLS FROM RURAL FUCKING TOWNS THAT THINK THEY CAN WALK AROUND AT 4 AM OR JUST WHEN IT’S DARK OUT, ALONE, AND BE OKAY. TAKE. THE FUCKING. SHUTTLE. 

The studio spaces were really nice so as they’re taken care of. the equipment is really nice. take advantage of it while you can. because once you’re out of school. hah. you’re screwed. 

Networking was nice. 

Being close to the Walters was amazing and the ability to go to DC for the day only spending 8$ on the Marc train to get there was amazing. Having Penn right on campus. 

Again, the professors were in majority, fucking amazing. 

Some professors had classes outside of MICA (karen has model drawing classes at her studio) take them! They’re really worth it!

I actually didnt mind the dorms. 10x better than most colleges. 

Accessibility was amazing. Especially since its not a closed campus, but everything is in one place. That’s not the case with a lot of Art colleges. 

And most of all, I just loved being there. I loved learning. I loved the people. I loved baltimore, i loved the professors. MICA 10000% shaped how I am as an artist in the best way and I think it’s an amazing place to be despite the downfalls. 

Don’t take everything I said as gospel. like I said, these are just my experiences as well as a few of my friends in the same fine arts department. The others, I’m not sure about. But yeah. I hope this helps! You can always message me and I’d be happy to refer you to classes, professors, etc. Good luck with next year!

[yellowfang89]

It’s wild how much has happened and changed since 2010, and now going into 2020. I was going to put in a "read more" out of courtesy but for some fuck ass reason, when I came in to edit it, Tumblr isn't giving me that option and the code ain't working and now I'm slightly buzzed so what the fuck ever you can just keep scrolling if you don't care lol.

January 2010- Obsessed with Legend of the Seeker. Wrapped up finishing playing Pokemon Diamond- my first pokemon game on recommendation of my best friend at the time. My last semester of community college started.

March/April 2010- got acceptance letter to the local state college I planned on transferring to. Best friend didn’t get any notice on whether she got accepted or not, but got an acceptance letter from another college about an hour away, and decided to go there instead. After making this decision, she finally got the acceptance letter from the local state college. But she still ended up going to the hour away one. Also, I turned 21 and had my first margarita.

May 2010- Graduated community college with an AA in art. God, I remember when I used to love art.

At some point I ended up officially leaving Myspace for Facebook, kicking and screaming, because everyone had ditched Myspace for it. I hated Facebook but got used to it.

August 2010- went on a two week cruise to Alaska. Came back and started new college afterwards. Had no friends and was lonely, though kept in close touch with best friend over Facebook. Got new Macbook.

September 2010- Finally found myself in a new friend group. Saw a beautiful boy on lightrail I wanted to talk to, but had no courage to. Realized that this kind of shit was probably why I didn’t have a boyfriend, and I wanted a boyfriend for the sole reason of not feeling like a loser for never having one.

October 2010- Saw same beauty, gathered up the nerve and talked to him. Turned out he also went to my school. We started seeing each other regularly on there and things started taking off. 

November 2010- Started hanging out with him regularly, got my first kiss from him. Became an official couple.

2011- Can’t remember what months and for what, because things start blending in together. But

- Beloved cat of five years died.

- Lost my virginity

- Didn’t have much money in bank account and stressed out over it. Couldn’t get a job to rectify the situation cuz no experience.

- Started feeling guilty over the smallest things like asking to borrow a piece of paper from someone. Mentally acknowledging this was weird but also shrugging it off. 

- Lost my appetite and had food problems overall- despite always having “food problems.” Never wanted to eat.

- Distinctly remember my stomach rumbling in class and thinking, “good maybe i’ll starve to death!”

2012- Shit blended in together again this year, and for every year here on out.

- Came to the realization one day when walking to the bus that I literally would not care if someone came at me with a gun because I just… didn’t want to exist anymore. Saw nothing wrong with this.

- The thought “things would be better if I was dead” came to my brain out of nowhere. I briefly wondered if this counted as a “suicidal thought.”

-Decided to Google shit like suicidal thoughts, went down a rabbit hole that made me suspect I had depression. It explained things that I thought were off but didn’t care enough to do anything about.

- Eventually saw a counselor at school about this.

- Got a hamster. Hamster died this same year.

- Got a volunteer position at a library scanning old yearbooks onto a computer so I could have some sort of “work experience” to get a job.

- Boyfriend had got me Pokemon Heartgold earlier. I started trying to “collect them all” because why not.

- I switched from using an ethernet chord to WiFi and it changed my life. Especially since I was able to go on the GTS in Pokemon and trade, though it was fucky cuz you could only trade Pokemon you’ve already seen back then.

- Ended up getting Pokemon Black, and it introduced GTS Negotiations which allowed me to match with other trainers and trade Pokemon live. Due to this, I managed to obtain every Pokemon I couldn’t get in my other games. Except event legendaries, unfortunately. I consider this one of my greatest accomplishments and keep up with this to this day.

- Considered switching my major from Graphic Design to Digital Media because I liked my Digital Media class a lot more than my Design classes. And made that switch.

- I decided to minor in psychology because I had already taken a few psych classes for GE credits so why tf not.

- Towards the end, got a “student” job at that same library doing the same thing except with artwork instead of yearbooks. Finally had money. Depression starting to lift? But job was only a 4-8 hour a week deal so not that much money in the long run.

2013-

- Discovered demisexuality via a comment on Reddit. It described me pretty damn well. Weight lifted off shoulders I didn’t even realize was there. Things made sense omg.

- Joined Tumblr.

- Best friend came over for what turned out being the last time. She was moving to Arizona.

- Got a second job working at the tech company my Dad worked at, helping out the customer service rep.

- Slowly found myself drifting apart from friend. Depression still present. Made things hard but tbh she never contacted me either. I got the impression she was mad at me given she unfollowed me on Tumblr without explanation.

- Since not a lot of work to be done helping the csr, I ended up helping our our shipping guy and became his backup. Eventually the purchaser left on maternity leave and I took her place, eventually becoming the main purchaser because they moved her to accounts receivable.

- Decided that my depression was making me a piece of shit friend so I decided to contact best friend to see how things were, only to get a cryptic, passive aggressive, two-word response back. Ended up just dropping it and figured she’d eventually come around and tell me what was wrong. She never did…

2014

- Depression on and off due to the stress of going to work and going to school. At this point I hated all art and wanted nothing to do with any of it and only went to school for the piece of paper saying I graduated college.

- I think this was when I started calling myself gray ace instead of demi because why the hell not and I’ve only been sexually attracted to one person anyway. Possibly still demiromantic though- to this day I’m still unsure tbh.

- Boyfriend taught me to drive. I got my license. I got my first car.

December 2014- I graduated college. It cured my depression. Unfortunately, it was replaced with carpal tunnel. 

2015

- Carpal tunnel still full force. All I could do was read.

- I caught up on all the books I’ve wanted to read. Eventually came across Warrior Cats. Thought it was stupid for the first 50 pages, but then became addicted. Lost interest when I had to wait several months for the next arc to come out.

- The year I got into wrestling. I shipped Rolleigns so fuckin’ hard.

- Undertale came out and became one of my favorite games of all time.

- Find out brother is addicted to painkillers which is why he had been acting like such an ass.

- Dumped Facebook.

- Driver at the company I worked at quit. Company wants me to be “temporary” driver on top of purchasing, shipping, and assisting the customer service rep.

- Got into writing and wrote a book and continued writing off and on from then to now.

2016/2017/2018? I can’t even keep track anymore.

- Pokemon Go came out and I finally got a smart phone because of it.

- Brother gets girlfriend and then gets married after only being together a year. Brother seems to have gotten better.

- They started having marital problems almost immediately. My brother turned out being an alcoholic and fuck knows if he’s still doing drugs or not he says he’s not but he’s also a chronic liar. A lot of drama happens that I don’t want to get into. They are now divorced- after two years of marriage. 

- Got new laptop cuz Macbook got too old, although it still works.

- The company I had been working at, which had always been a shit company with no money, starts going down the shitter more than it already was.

September 2017- customer service rep quits and I have to do her job on top of purchasing, shipping, and driving. Mental breakdowns become common. Depression worse than it had ever been in my life. 

January 2018- get a 45 cent raise because minimum wage went up meaning I was now making minimum wage doing all the bullshit I was doing.

May 2018- Get new job doing ONLY shipping for a few extra bucks more an hour. Depression cured.

2019

- Got in a car accident (not my fault). Car totaled. Replaced it with a 2018 car so it’s all good.

- Experienced my first flat tire half a year later.

- Still get random bouts of depression.

- Still with same boy from 2010. Would love to move in together but fuck if I know when that’ll happen. 

- Still wondering wtf happened with my (ex) best friend and am still trying to get over it. Am considering the possibility that it was probably my depressed ass not talking to her at all for like 4 months. Unfortunately I have no way of contacting her to try and make peace because we both dumped Facebook.

- Got back into Warrior Cats.

- Dad got new girlfriend. Parents finally working on getting the divorce they wanted to get 20+ years ago but never did cuz neither one wanted to spend money on it.

- Briefly considered taking up drawing again but my skills have tanked significantly because I haven’t drawn since graduating college. Plus I’m lazy. 

- Obsessed with The Witcher.

So much has changed throughout this decade and fuck if I know how next decade is gonna turn out for me but I sure hope it's a better one.

Happy New Year to all, and to all a good night!

[itsbenedict]

Rendering the Incomprehensible Comprehensible

I am confused by the state of the art of psychiatric medicine.

Now, I'm not a psychiatrist. I'm a guy what makes computers is be do videogames, and I haven't taken a chemistry class since freshman year of college or a biology class since high school. Pretty much the extent of my knowledge of the field is that I read Slate Star Codex a lot. So, the questions I'm asking here are ones I have to assume actual professionals in the area have answers to.

That question being... why is it made of drugs?

I don't mean in an “oh, these are social problems and we must solve society and overthrow [racism/capitalism/millenialism/makesworldwrong] instead of medicating our free spirits” way. I mean in a... how do drugs work at all, kind of way? It makes sense they work for killing pathogens- all you have to do is come up with a poison that works on what you're trying to kill but not on the host. But for fixing the brain? What?

My model of drug discovery works something like this: 

- Scientists poke around at the brain and see a ton of hyper-complicated chemical processes happening in there, and make some educated guesses about what they're doing, based on measurements of levels of certain chemicals in certain places during certain mental states. They've got some vague ideas about what these chemicals are doing, but these are mostly statistical inferences and not detailed causal models. They look at these brain chemicals and how they move around, and infer that if they make some other chemicals that are shaped in specific ways, those chemicals will interfere with these other chemicals and make there be more or less of them under certain conditions. - Armed with these guesses, they go to the lab and synthesize these chemicals, and then spend billions of dollars running gigantic clinical trials to see if, maybe, putting a bunch of these new chemicals in the bloodstream will actually have anything like the desired effect. - Most of the time they don't, because these were just educated guesses based on simplified models, but with enough billions poured into running more trials, they'll eventually find a chemical they can p-hack into looking like it does something, and then exploit FDA regulations to get doctors to prescribe it for a thousand dollars a pill. Sometimes, if they're extremely lucky, they'll find something that has a positive effect that they don't need to statistically mutilate to show, and then we have a groundbreaking discovery.

I may just be super underinformed, but as I understand it... this process weirds me the hell out.

In my current job, I spend a lot of time fixing bugs in old websites. These websites are sometimes large and labyrinthine, full of old uncommented code some contractor wrote years ago before dropping off the face of the earth. This is, ignoring for a moment a completely unignorable difference in degree of complexity, kind of like trying to fix problems with the brain.

When I go in to fix a bug in a website, there's a lot of things I can do. I can look at the page's elements in the browser's dev tools. I can run the debugger and step through the code, looking at all the data and its values at any given point in time. I can go to the git repo and look back through previous versions of the code, to see what changes were made and when, in conjunction with Jira tickets describing what issue those changes were made to fix. And once I've figured out what's happening, I can go into the code, make changes, and see what effect they had.

Now, I can try to imagine what my job would be like if I had to do things like psychopharmacologists did.

First off, no making changes to the code. The code is compiled and minified and obfuscated and still three billion lines long. Even if I did figure out how to make desirable changes, that would be "digital eugenics" and I'd get fired.

Second, commit history only goes like three or four commits back, if I'm lucky. Previous commits have been deleted, since they're set to auto-recycle after a while and nobody knows how to turn that off.

Thirdly, no dev tools. I only have the rendered webpage itself, and when something goes wrong I have to kind of guess at whether it's a styling issue or a data issue or a connectivity issue or what.

What can I do, exactly? Well, I actually do have access to one of the dev tools, kind of: the Network tab. I can see the requests being made to the back-end API. Unfortunately, there is no API documentation, and the requests are just as obfuscated as the code. But I've also got Postman, and what I can kind of do is make my own requests to the API, to see what the output is and how it affects the system.

So, uh... hm, okay, I see a request being made to https://serotonin.presynapticneurone.neural.net. The data payload is gibberish, but I notice that when there's a lot of these requests happening, the webpage renders a little faster, and when there's not as many, it slows down. Maybe if I just copy the gibberish data and fake a bunch of my own requests, it'll go faster? ...Hm, okay, that kind of works on some pages but not others. Still, better than nothing- we have some users complaining about the site being slow, so let's just tell them to-

Oh, shit, wait, users don't know how computers work, I can't just tell them to spam Postman requests to the API endpoint. Um, okay, I'll write a little phone app that automatically spams the requests, and release that to users. Except- oh, for fuck's sake, I need to wait for FDApple to approve it for the app store, and they want us to prove that it works and doesn't contain malware. Except even I don't know if that works, so... okay, it's fine, we'll hire a bunch of testers and do a study that shows that overall it speeds things up, and doesn't kill anyone's machines. Good thing I work for a huge company that can afford to do that.

Aaaaaand here come the results, and- oh, god damn it, the study didn't achieve significance. Let me go get Steve, he can probably fudge the numbers here so the damn app store will let us release the fucking thing, we spent millions on those tests (and the tests of all the other interventions that turned out to do nothing because we didn't have enough information and guessed wrong), and we need to recoup our investment.

Sigh.

So... I'm hearing that the ROI on drug discovery is dropping, and that drug companies have pretty much given up on trying to fix things and have started repackaging the handful of blind hacky API spam tricks that miraculously have a consistent effect. This isn't surprising to me. I would not be surprised if, like, after decades of people banging their heads against a massively overcomplicated system, hitting it with differently-shaped hammers in hopes of getting anything to work... they've found most of the differently-shaped hammers that do anything.

At some point, someone has to invent developer tools, right? Find some way to actually figure out what the hell they're doing?

The big question: given the blatant inadequacy of the existing paradigm, why is the industry still trying to wring blood out of this dried-out stone? At some point, we're going to have to actually figure out what the brain is doing, but it seems like cognitive neuroscience is still in its infancy. "We don't know how this thing works" seems like the big obstacle to getting anything done, but most of the effort in this area still seems to be focused on finding new drugs to throw at the thing-we-don't-know-how-it-works. 

I know I’m not the first person to ask this question. I’m sure everyone who’s ever had to grapple with psychiatry in any detail is lamenting the same issue, and I’m sure there are people who are working very hard to try and solve the problem. It just... doesn’t seem like those people are getting very much done. The most I hear about is pop science articles claiming that Science Has Discovered The Part Of The Brain That Makes You Love Kittens, which inevitably turn out to be irresponsible reporting of extremely modest correlational findings. 

(Maybe AI will help? Maybe the brain is just too complicated to be reduced to something humans can understand on an engineering/problem-solving level, and we need something with a higher understanding-capacity? Except... most of the recent advances in AI are with neural nets that explicitly don't actually understand anything, nor do the researchers growing them.)

Where are we at with this? Are we getting anywhere? Is there encouraging progress in the field of learning-things-about-the-brain? Is the second derivative of that curve non-zero? Metacognitive revolution when?

[mckinleyroleplay]

Name of Character ›› Daniela “Dani” Faith Harper

Age & Birthday ›› Twenty; July 29

Birth Order ›› Youngest

Orientations ›› Homosexual; Homoromantic

Gender Identity & Pronouns ›› Cis-Female; She/Her

Area of Study ›› Art Major; Music Minor

Face Claim ›› Demi Lovato

+ driven, friendly, sweet, talkative, understanding

- flighty, naive, pushover, quirky, self-critical

HOMOPHOBIA TW, RELIGION CW

Born the second and last child to Dallas born David Harper and his wife Renata (née Córtez), there was a lot of pressure pushed onto Daniela to be perfect. She was supposed to be everyone’s definition of the perfect, pretty, polished little girl; a ballerina, Renata hoped. Above all, though, she was supposed to love and fear her Lord as fiercely as her parents did, and would attend church without fail each week. While Dani really did love God, she definitely didn’t share the same views as her parents. Quite frankly, David and Renata’s opinions were outdated, much like everybody else’s in their small town Catholic church. She also joined a ballet class, much to her mother’s delight, though while the other little girls were twirling around in their pretty pink tutus, Dani could be found in a corner, playing air guitar and sliding on her knees. Her parents were anything but impressed.

One area in which they did feel a lot of pride for their daughter was in her musical ability. It became clear from an early age that Dani had been blessed with a voice sent from the angels, and her parents were more than happy to have her showcase it with the older kids in the church choir. They’d beam proudly as they watched their little girl singing beautifully, voice louder, pitch more perfect than anybody else’s. Since ballet had clearly been a bust, they made quick work of enrolling her in piano classes; a skill Dani picked up very quickly. Before long, she was able to play the instrument by ear, but began to express boredom in the classical pieces she was assigned, and instead wanted to play more fun, upbeat songs. She hadn’t even reached double digits before she was begging her parents to buy her a guitar, though they flat out refused.

Voice and instruments aside, as Dani grew older, she began to express herself in ways her parents never approved of. She ditched the frilly dresses her mother insisted she wore, and replaced them with band tees and colorful hair pieces. Ripped jeans became a staple in her closet, as well as blazers, boots and sneakers. What had once been her journal soon became a place for her to express her feelings through song, with Dani writing lyrics to accompany her mood, though her songs were reserved for only herself. She managed to get ahold of a guitar from a friend, and taught herself to play using online tutorials. Above all of these things, though, Dani took an interest in art. As a child, she’d always opted for a crayon or sharpie and sheet of paper rather than the regular toy, and her ability to create beautiful (if not weird) pieces only grew with age.

Along with her new expression of the bright personality that had always resided within the young girl, she began to notice new changes in herself. Not only was she growing into a teen, but her interests were changing, her horizons expanding, and before long, Dani found herself questioning her sexuality. She was only a high school freshman when she realized she had no interest in the opposite sex - her friends all gushed and fawned over the boys in their classes, but Dani had no interest whatsoever. It became more and more apparent to her that her romantic and sexual desires lay with females, and while Dani was anything but ashamed, she’d been taught her whole life that homosexuality was a sin, so despite confiding in friends - some of which she lost along with her admission - she vowed to keep her secret from her parents.

It was during the summer between sophomore and junior year that Dani got a little braver than intended. Her parents had been bugging her, telling her that her outfits were too “masculine,” that she was a disappointment, and what was wrong with the beautiful dresses other girls her age would wear? The conversation had stemmed from a tattoo that Dani had gotten on the side of her hand; a small cross. She hadn’t intended on it being so visible, but assumed her parents would be okay with it, considering its meaning. They were most definitely not, and amidst their yelling and obvious disapproval, Dani finally snapped. She yelled back, telling them she would never be the perfect, prim, proper little darling they wanted, and that they could also stop trying to force the neighbor’s son on her, because guess what? She was “really fucking gay”!

The moment the admission had left her lips, Dani knew she’d screwed up. Everyone in the room fell silent, and the next thing she knew, her mother was in her bedroom, throwing Dani’s belongings into a suitcase, while her father yelled about how no child of his would be a sinner, and that there was no longer a place for her within the family home. With no care for where their daughter would end up, Dani was literally tossed out into the street. Luckily for her, she knew she had a sanctuary in her Aunt Sara’s home. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in Dallas, nor even Texas for that matter. Regardless, Dani spent the night at a friend’s house, and Aunt Sara had booked her a plane ticket out to Ohio by morning, where Dani was welcomed into the Krasnova family home with open arms.

Although Dani felt more love, care and sense of true family than she ever had done in Texas once in Ohio with her aunt, uncle and two cousins, something she never expected was to connect with the place so well. She’d always loved Dallas, in spite of everything, and had always told herself she’d go back there for college. However, when application time came around, Dani couldn’t bring herself to leave Ohio. McKinley University offered her both art and music, two things Dani loved and wanted to pursue - her dream is to be a tattoo artist; one that sings and writes their own music, of course - and enrolling was one of the better decisions she has ever made. Not only does she love her classes, as well as the friends she has made there, she also digs the show choir she’s apart of. Sure, Dani misses Texas sometimes, but it’s clear this Texan was made for Ohio, and McKinley University was made for her.

›› THE ROLE OF DANIELA “DANI” HARPER IS TAKEN. ‹‹

[officialotakudome]

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Sentai Announces New Acquisitions

Sentai Filmworks has announced several titles for the 2021 release schedule:

HOUSTON, July 27, 2021 – Home video distributor Section23 Films today announced its October slate of releases which includes Sentai Filmworks laugh-out-loud anime series, Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time. A Special Steelbook release will be available on October 12th.

    Product details follow, in order of release

  Coming October 2021

      Title:                 NAKAIMO ~ MY LITTLE SISTER IS AMONG THEM!

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         325 min.

Street Date:      10/5/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $59.98

  SYNOPSIS:  The terms of Shougo Mikadono’s late father’s will are strangely specific:  To claim his substantial inheritance, Shougo must first transfer to Miryuin Private Academy, find a nice girl from among the student body, and convince her to marry him.  As twisted and unromantic as that demand may appear, it does seem doable, right? Unfortunately, there’s an even greater moral obstruction standing between Shougo and a rich happily ever after, as one of the students attending the school is Shougo’s long lost little sister… and he has no idea which one she is!  Can Shougo navigate this minefield and find a future bride without committing a major sin? And if his little sister is revealed, will it be in a manner that’s socially acceptable?  Insanity is hereditary and Shougo’s about to go sibling crazy in NAKAIMO – My Little Sister is Among Them!

    Title:                 PETER GRILL AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S TIME

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         180 min.

Street Date:      10/12/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $129.98

  SYNOPSIS:  Peter Grill may be the most powerful warrior in the world, but in a culture where strength is everything, there are lots of ambitious young women who will do anything to “acquire” Peter’s superior genes in order to bear powerful offspring!  So, even though Peter just wants to marry his fiancée, he’s instead being beset by a bodacious bevy of Peter-obsessed females fiercely determined to get into his bed and/or ironclad pants!  That would be a sticky situation even if the bawdy belligerents were merely human, but with elves, trolls and orcs all craving a little private Peter action, can even Peter stand up to this wave of pulchritudinous force?  His flesh may be strong but his will may not hold up quite as rigidly when comely babe after babe keeps coming to test this poor Peter’s mettle in PETER GRILL!

    Title:                 NOZO X KIMI

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         75 min.

Street Date:      10/19/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $29.98

  SYNOPSIS:  What could be more embarrassing than being caught peeping into the girls’ locker room?  Being caught inside the girls’ locker room inside a locker!  And yet, that’s where Kimio Suga finds himself!  And even if it was by accident, as soon as that door opens and he’s discovered, he’ll be branded a pervert and maybe even suspended!  Except… the girl who finds him is Nozomi Komine, who lives in the house across from his, and she covers for him!  Unfortunately, that isn’t an act of kindness, it’s the prelude to blackmail!  Because Nozomi has certain games that she’d like to play and Kimio’s location and guilt make him the perfect plaything!  And if that’s not bad enough, the situation gets really out of control when she starts bringing other girls in to play with her toy in NOZO X KIMIO!

    Title:                 SAY I LOVE YOU

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         325 min.

Street Date:      10/19/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $59.98

  SYNOPSIS:  When Mei Tachibana was unfairly blamed for a tragedy, not one of her so-called friends stood by her.  In the heartbreaking aftermath, Mei found an easy way to avoid any future betrayal – to never make any friends again.  Only now, for some inexplicable reason, one her school’s most popular guys, the annoyingly charming Yamato Kurosawa, has taken an interest in the girl who might as well be a ghost to the rest of the class.  And when she needed help, he actually came.  Mei’s not a princess in a tower and she wasn’t looking for a white knight.  So why has everything become so complicated since he kissed her?  Is she ready to trust and risk her heart again?  Is it time, at last, to make the commitment with the three words that change everything in SAY “I LOVE YOU”?

    Title:                 SHE, THE ULTIMATE WEAPON

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         325 min.

Street Date:      10/26/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         English, Spanish & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $59.98

  SYNOPSIS:  Separated in the chaos when their city was bombed, students Shuji and Chise lives are shattered despite the actions of a mysterious defender.  After reuniting with Chise in the ruins, Shuji is horrified to discover that she is no longer the girl he knew. Twisted and reshaped by nightmarish science, her body has been transformed into something that isn’t completely human: a living weapon!  And even worse, the remaining facets of the person she once was seem to be fading away.  Can Shuji continue to feel love for the shell of the person Chise once was? And how long can Chise’s soul endure inside a device whose only purpose is to kill? As the fires of war burn, a young woman teeters on the brink of becoming the engine of the final apocalypse in SHE- THE ULTIMATE WEAPON            

    Title:                 VENUS WARS

Published by:    Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by:  Section23 Films

Run Time:         105 min.

Street Date:      10/26/2021

Format:             BD

Language:         English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP:                $29.98

  SYNOPSIS:  When an ice comet slammed into the planet Venus, terraforming its toxic atmosphere into one capable of sustaining human life, mankind’s dream of colonizing other worlds became a reality. Unfortunately for the colonists, Venus isn’t the paradise they’d dreamed of. As crops fail and competition for resources intensifies, hostilities grow until the two inhabited continents stand on the brink of war. Reporter Susan Sommers arrives in the capital of Aphrodia just as Ishtar attacks and only the intervention of Hiro Seno and his Battle Bike team saves her from certain death… but now Aphrodia is under Ishtar’s control and Sue, Hiro, and his teammates find themselves on the run! However, their unique skill at Battle Bike, which combines motorcycle racing with roller derby, may just prove to be the secret weapon Aphrodia needs to win the VENUS WARS.

      About Section23 Films:

Section23 Films provides home video marketing and distribution services for a variety of companies, including Sentai Filmworks, Switchblade Pictures, Maiden Japan, Kraken Releasing and AEsir Holdings.  With its special focus on genre entertainment, Section23 Films distributes some of the very best anime, martial arts, and horror titles on the market today.

HOUSTON, TX — July 21, 2021 — Today Sentai revealed the event and exclusive guest lineup for Sentai at Home 2021, Sentai’s digital panel experience for anime fans around the world. Anime enthusiasts can catch Sentai at Home 2021 on Wednesday, August 20, 2021 at 2 PM CDT and should visit athome.sentai.com to learn more about this free event. To bring the joy of anime to fans at home, Sentai will treat viewers to a lineup of exclusive interviews with an array of Japanese talent, including cast members from Non Non Biyori, Redo of Healer, Getter Robo Arc, Princess Principal, Mother of the Goddess’ Dormitory and other Sentai favorites. Fans can also look forward to interviews with anime directors Morio Asaka (NANA), Masayuki Kojima (MADE IN ABYSS), Jun Kawagoe (Getter Robo Arc), Takuya Asaoka (Redo of Healer), Shinya Kawatsura (Non Non Biyori) and Masaki Tachibana (Princess Principal), as well as inside looks at the work of sound director Soichiro Kubo and music composer Hisaki Kato of HERO MASK. Additional guests include the creator of Redo of Healer, Rui Tsukiyo, and decorated music composer Kevin Penkin of MADE IN ABYSS fame.

In addition to Japanese guests, Sentai will host a retrospective look at the influential Lone Wolf & Cub television series with special guests Max Allan Collins (author of Road to Perdition) and Cinapse film critic Ed Travis, who will discuss the widespread influence of this culturally significant work. Alongside comedic interludes from comedian Chinedu Ogu and YouTube personality Roxxy Haze, fans can anticipate exclusive dub clips, sneak peeks of Sentai’s upcoming home video releases, thrilling previews and so much more. Sentai hosted the first iteration of Sentai at Home in August 2020. To learn more about Sentai at Home 2021 and to stay up-to-date on the event’s latest news and developments, sign up for the Sentai at Home mailing list. For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

HOUSTON, TX — July 7, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired irreverent comedy series Mother of the Goddess’ Dormitory for the Summer 2021 simulcast season. Sentai will distribute the series to audiences in North America, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, South Africa, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Nordic Countries, Spain, Portugal and Central and South America.

Down-on-his-luck Koushi Nagumo wanders the streets unemployed, homeless and in search of his next meal. His fortunes improve after a chance meeting with a vivacious young woman whose proposition seemingly solves nearly all his problems. Thanks to her, Koushi enters the welcoming halls of a dormitory at a women’s college… only this particular assignment is no stuffy, sleepy affair. The Goddess’ Dormitory is known for housing the college’s most unruly students! If he wants to keep a roof over his head, Koushi must become the “Dormitory Mother” charged with maintaining order and good discipline. But doing his job and keeping his sanity are no small feat with characters as endearingly eccentric and untamable as these!

Mother of the Goddess’ Dormitory is directed by Shunsuke Nakaju (episode director: BanG Dream!) and produced by studio asread (The Future Diary). The series stars Misuzu Yamada as Koushi Nagumo, Ayaka Nanase (SWORDGAI The Animation) as Atena Saotome, Chiaki Takahashi (School Days) as Mineru Wachi, Risako Murai (Date A Live) as Kiriya Sensho, Asaki Fukuyama as Frey, Yuki Yomichi (Super Cub) as Serene Hozumi and Hikaru Nanjo as Khoroya Sutea.

Sentai will release Mother of the Goddess’ Dormitory in association with select digital outlets in Summer 2021 with a home video release to follow.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

HOUSTON, TX — July 1, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired partial rights to the anime TV series Getter Robo Arc, the hotly anticipated next chapter of the iconic Getter Robo saga, based upon the original work of Ken Ishikawa and legendary mangaka Go Nagai. Sentai will distribute the series in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, and Central and South America.

The world is on the brink of apocalypse following an onslaught of invaders. To fight the attacking hoard, one of the original Getter Robo pilots, Hayato Jin, has finished Getter Arc, a new fighting unit based on the final work and ultimate masterpiece of Professor Saotome. Now the son of Ryoma – one of Hayato’s copilots on the first-generation Getter – Takuma, the half-human half-Saurian Kamui, and Baku, younger brother of the extraordinary ESPer Tahir, step aboard the Getter Arc to combat the ruthless incursion and restore hope to their ravaged world!

Produced by Bee Media (Night Head Genesis, Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact) and Studio A-CAT (LBX Girls), Getter Robo Arc is directed by Jun Kawagoe (Shin Getter Robo, episode director for Baccano!) with scriptwriting and series composition from Tadashi Hayakawa (MÄR, Doraemon (2005)). The series’ character design is by Hideyuki Motohashi (Hikaru no Go, Fushigi Yugi).

The cast includes Yuma Uchida (BANANA FISH, Grand Blue Dreaming) as the lead character Takuma Nagare, Naoya Uchida (Vinland Saga, Moriarty the Patriot) as Hayato Jin, and Kazuhiro Sunseki (The Walking Dead (Japanese Dub), Adventure Time (Japanese dub)) as Baku Yamagishi. Newcomer Arimaro Mukaino will make his voice acting debut as Sho Kamui.

Sentai will stream Getter Robo Arc in association with select digital outlets in Summer 2021 with a home video release to follow.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

HOUSTON, TX — June 29, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired TSUKIPRO the Animation 2, the latest addition to the TSUKIPRO multi-media franchise, to its growing catalog of idol properties like Utano Princesama, BanG! Dream and D4DJ. Sentai will distribute the title in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Nordic countries, Spain, Portugal, and Central and South America.

The bands of TSUKINO TALENT PRODUCTION are back and ready to rock in season two of TSUKIPRO the Animation! Whether you’re a fan of rock, EDM or pop, there’s a band for you to love under the TSUKIPRO label. Get to know the members of SolidS, QUELL, SOARA and Growth as they grow closer as bandmates, weather the drama of idol stardom and bring their music to the masses with style!

The series is produced by AZ Creative (Dame X Prince Anime Caravan) and directed by Shigeru Kimiya (episode director: Squid Girl) with series composition from Satoko Sekine (Mysteria Friends).

The series stars Takuya Eguchi (Akihiko Kaji, Given) as Shiki Takamura, Soma Saito (Takumi, Akame ga Kill!) as Tsubasa Okui, Hanae Natsuki (Tanjiro, Demon Slayer) as Rikka Sera, Yuichiro Umehara (Mitsuhide Rouen, Snow White with the Red Hair) as Dai Murase, Shunsuke Takeuchi (Brawler, Akudama Drive) as Shu Izumi, Kotaru Nishiyama (Ryuichi Kashima, Gakuen Babysitters) as Eichi Horimiya, Shugo Nakamura (Tomoki Takashima, Outburst Dreamer Boys) as Issei Kuga, Sho Nogami (Shiki Iseya, THE IDOLM@STER SideM) as Ichiru Kuga, Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Yuri Katsuki, Yuri on Ice!!) as Sora Ohara, Yuki Ono (Taiga Kagami, Kuroko no Basket) as Morihito Arihara, Makoto Furukawa (Saitama, One Punch Man) as Soshi Kagurazaka, Taishi Murata (Haruto Soma, Just Because!) as Ren Munakata, Chiharu Sawashiro (Argon, Show by Rock!! Stars!!) as Nozomu Nanase, Shunichi Toki (Ginji, Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits) as Koki Eto, Yoshitaka Yamaya (Itsuki Kawasumi, The Rising of Shield Hero) as Kensuke Yaegashi, Daiki Yamashita (Izuku Midoriya, My Hero Academia) as Ryota Sakuraba and Junta Terashima (Takumi Kijima, Ao-chan Can’t Study!) as Mamoru Fujimura.

Sentai will stream TSUKIPRO the Animation 2 in association with select digital outlets in Summer 2021 with a home video release to follow. Additionally, Sentai will stream the first season of TSUKIPRO the Animation in association with select digital outlets.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

HOUSTON, June 29, 2021 – Home video distributor Section23 Films today announced its September slate of releases which includes Sentai Filmworks highly anticipated film follow-up to the Girls und Panzer anime series. Girls und Panzer das Finale – Part 1 will be available on English dubbed Blu-ray September 14th.

    Product details follow, in order of release

  Coming September 2021

      Title: HEAVEN’S MEMO PAD

Published by: Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by: Section23 Films

Run Time: 325 min.

Street Date: 9/7/2021

Format: BD

Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP: $59.98

  SYNOPSIS: Narumi Fujishima has never fit in with his classmates. Joining the gardening club didn’t make him Mr. Popularity, as there was only one other member… but when he’s introduced to a reclusive girl who lives above the ramen shop, Narumi’s whole life changes radically. That’s because while Alice may be a NEET (someone who is Not Employed, being Educated or in Training,) that doesn’t mean that she does nothing all day. Quite the contrary. Besides collecting stuffed bears, Alice is an expert hacker and runs a secret detective service utilizing the talents of her other NEET acquaintances! To his surprise, and great personal peril, Narumi quickly finds himself drafted into this strange, elite team, and now his life is anything but boring as the NEETs take on a deadly new drug hitting the streets in HEAVEN’S MEMO PAD!

    Title: GIRLS UND PANZER DAS FINALE – PART 1

Published by: Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by: Section23 Films

Run Time: 48 min.

Street Date: 9/14/2021

Format: BD

Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP: $19.98

  SYNOPSIS: The tank-crazy girls of Oorai Academy are shell-shocked when Momo’s preoccupation with locating new tanks for the upcoming Caterpillar Tread Cup causes her to fail her college entrance exams! However, the diabolical minds of Miho and the Oorai teams concoct an uber-crafty battle plan to give Momo a second chance at her exams. The catch? They’ll have to promote Momo to the position of overall commander while Miho steps down to vice commander! With Oorai’s greatest challenge coming up, it’s a terrible time to break in a new general, and that’s only the first bombshell in a new series of barrages. Can duplicitous rivals, ridiculous contests and a maid-mad gang of juvenile delinquents stop Oorai’s mechanized path to victory? Gears grind, bombs burst, and all obstacles are plowed under as the mayhem ensues in GIRLS UND PANZER DAS FINALE – PART 1!

    Title: MAGICAL GIRL SITE

Published by: Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by: Section23 Films

Run Time: 300 min.

Street Date: 9/14/2021

Format: BD

Language: Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP: $59.98

  SYNOPSIS: Bullied by other girls at school and abused by her brother at home, Aya Asagiri’s life has become so bleak that she’s contemplating killing herself just to escape. Then a strange site on the internet promises to make her a magical girl and the consequences prove beyond terrifying when a toy gun left in Aya’s locker kills one of her bullies! Being a murderer isn’t the worst part of Aya’s new situation, however, as it turns out that there have been other Magical Girls before Aya, and someone has been systematically hunting them down, killing them and taking their magical artifacts! Together with her classmate Tsuyuno, Aya must now track down the other magical girls and discover who is murdering them and why… all before an ominous counter finishes a deadly countdown on the MAGICAL GIRL SITE!

    Title: DUSK MAIDEN OF AMNESIA

Published by: Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by: Section23 Films

Run Time: 325 min.

Street Date: 9/21/2021

Format: BD

Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP: $59.98

  SYNOPSIS: 60 years ago, a young woman was left to die in the abandoned original school building behind the exclusive Seikyou Academy, so it’s only natural that Seikyou is rumored to be haunted. Nor is it surprising that the school’s many clubs include one for students interested in “paranormal investigations.” What is shocking, however, is that the founder of that club is the ghost herself! Unable to remember how she died, Yuko’s spirit has been bound to the school for decades, but when a new freshman, Teiichi Niiya, turns out to actually be able to see her, she may finally be able to unravel the mystery of her gruesome death! But will that free her? Or will her sudden close association with a mortal have even stranger repercussions on both of their fates? The answers await in the DUSK MAIDEN OF AMNESIA.

    Title: MADE IN ABYSS

Published by: Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by: Section23 Films

Run Time: 330 min.

Street Date: 9/21/2021

Format: BD

Language: English, Spanish & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP: $69.98

  SYNOPSIS: Anyone can descend into the Abyss, but few who survive the massive, multi-leveled pit’s dangers make it back unravaged by madness and nightmarish physical transformations. Still, when 12-year-old Riko learns that her missing mother may be alive in the Abyss’ inky depths, she and her friend Reg decide to brave the ultimate darkness in the astonishing twin feature films that recap the acclaimed TV series, MADE IN ABYSS. But as harrowing and gut-wrenching as those adventures may be, the tensions will only continue to mount. Because now Riko, Reg and Nanachi must ford seas of corpses, survive fields of parasitic insects, and confront the most potentially dangerous entity of all, Bondrewd, the body shifting guardian of the gate to the sixth level, in the all-new feature length masterpiece – MADE IN ABYSS: DAWN OF THE DEEP SOUL!

    Title: TO LOVE RU DARKNESS 2

Published by: Sentai Filmworks

Distributed by: Section23 Films

Run Time: 350 min.

Street Date: 9/28/2021

Format: BD

Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles

SRP: $69.98

  SYNOPSIS: What is it about Rito Yuki that continues to draw beautiful alien girls towards him from all across the galaxy? It’s not as though he’s particularly attractive or talented, and his social skills are mediocre at best. And yet, somehow, this lackluster Japanese student has become the center of a girl-vortex that’s sucking in more out of this world beauties than a black hole during a sale in a lingerie shop! Between Develukan Princess Momo, who’s steadfastly determined to nail her Earthling paramour into a permanent relationship, even if she has to recruit family help to do it, and the transforming assassin Golden Darkness, who has her eyes set on taking Rito’s hide as a trophy, things are just as out of control as ever when the Develuke Saga continues in TO LOVE RU DARKNESS SEASON 2!

      About Section23 Films:

Section23 Films provides home video marketing and distribution services for a variety of companies, including Sentai Filmworks, Switchblade Pictures, Maiden Japan, Kraken Releasing and AEsir Holdings. With its special focus on genre entertainment, Section23 Films distributes some of the very best anime, martial arts, and horror titles on the market today.

HOUSTON, TX — June 28, 2021 — HIDIVE announced today that it acquired the feature-length recap of the Girls und Panzer anime series and Girls und Panzer: This is the Real Anzio Battle! The compilation film is titled Girls und Panzer Compilation: The 63rd National High School Sensha-do Games.

Charge ahead into tank warfare with the explosive recap of both the Girls und Panzer anime series and the events of Girls und Panzer: This is the Real Anzio Battle! Whether you’re new to the franchise or revisiting an old favorite, catch up with the tankery experts of Oorai Girls Academy as they practice Shensha-do, the art of tank combat. Watch as the members of the team face their fears, find themselves and cause a ton of tank-fighting mayhem in Girls und Panzer Compilation: The 63rd National High School Sensha-do Games.

The film is animated by studio Actas (Princess Principal, Girls und Panzer) and stars Mai Fuchigami (Sakura Trick, Assassination Classroom) as Miho Nishizumi, Ai Kayano (No Game, No Life, Say “I Love You”) as Saori Takabe, Mami Ozaki (Soni-Ani: Super Sonico The Animation, Witchcraft Works) as Hana Isuzu, Ikumi Nakagami (BanG Dream! 2nd Season, Glitter Force) as Yukari Akiyama and Yuka Iguchi (Ascendance of a Bookworm, A Place Further Than the Universe) as Mako Reizei.

HIDIVE will stream the recap film to audiences in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. The film begins streaming on Friday, July 2, 2021 at 17:00 UTC.

For more information on upcoming shows, visit HIDIVE at www.hidive.com and follow us on social media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hidiveofficial

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hidiveofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hidiveofficial/

About HIDIVE

HIDIVE, LLC operates the HIDIVE branded entertainment streaming service available via web browser, mobile devices and gaming platforms. HIDVE offers a vast array of Japanese pop-culture programming spanning six decades. From the latest anime simulcasts direct from Japan together with exclusive DUBCAST editions, to classic series and kaiju films of yesteryear, HIDIVE’s all-you-can-watch catalog offers something for everyone. HIDIVE’s parent, Sentai Holdings LLC, is a Cool Japan Fund portfolio company.

For more information, or to start a free trial, visit HIDIVE.com. HIDIVE and DUBCAST are trademarks of © HIDIVE LLC.

HOUSTON, TX — June 24, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired Girls und Panzer das Finale – Part 1, the highly anticipated film follow-up to the Girls und Panzer anime series. Sentai will distribute the film to audiences in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia and Nordic countries.

  Momo needs to get her priorities straight! Too much tankery and not studying for her entrance exams lands Momo in the hot seat. Luckily her friends won’t let her flunk out without a flight, and they’ve hatched a foxy plan to put her back on top… literally. Miho’s stepping down to let Momo take up the mantle of commander, because if she can lead the team to victory in the Continuous Cup, Momo will earn a second chance to retake her exams. The stakes have never been higher for the team as they fight for tank supremacy both on and off the combat field!

  The film is produced by studio Actas (Princess Principal, Girls und Panzer) and directed by Tsutomu Mizushima (Shirobako, The Magnificent KOTOBUKI). Reiko Yoshida (K-On!, Non Non Biyori) penned the film’s script. The film stars Ikumi Nakagami (BanG Dream! 2nd Season, Glitter Force) as Yukari Akiyama, Mami Ozaki (Soni-Ani: Super Sonico The Animation, Witchcraft Works) as Hana Isuzu, Mai Fuchigami (Sakura Trick, Assassination Classroom) as Miho Nishizumi, Yuka Iguchi (Ascendance of a Bookworm, A Place Further Than The Universe) Mako Reizei, Ai Kayano (No Game, No Life, Say “I Love You”.) as Saori Takebe and Kana Ueda (Fate/stay Night, Maria Watches Over Us) as Momo Kawashima.

  Sentai will release Girls und Panzer das Finale – Part 1 in association with select digital outlets on home video in Q3 2021.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

  HOUSTON, TX — June 22, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired Magical Girl Site, the darkly surreal, reality mangling series that flips the magical girl genre completely on its head. Sentai will distribute Magical Girl Site in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Spain and Portugal.

Aya Asagiri’s life could not get any worse. Relentlessly bullied by peers and family, she spirals into darkness and despair. Nearing rock bottom, she receives a mysterious invitation from Magical Girl Site, a website promising to grant her lifechanging magical powers. At first, Aya dismisses the lure as just another cold-hearted prank, but a fateful choice makes clear that dark abilities now grow within her.    As she discovers dangerous new powers, Aya learns she isn’t alone in her situation. Banding together with other “magical girls,” Aya must expose the Magical Girl Site and its true intention.

Animated by production doA (Is the Order a Rabbit?? Dear My Sister), Magical Girl Site is directed by Tadahito Matsubayashi (episode director for Vinland Saga) with series composition by Takayo Ikami (Penguindrum). The series stars Yuko Ono (Konohana Kitan) as Aya Asagiri, Himika Akaneya (Noragami) as Tsuyuno Yatsumura, Yu Serizawa (REAL GIRL) as Nijimi Anazawa, Haruka Yamazaki (Monster Musume: My Everyday Life with Monster Girls) as Sarina Shizukume and Aina Suzuki (Love Live! Sunshine!!) as Rina Shioi.

Magical Girl Site will be released in association with select digital outlets with a home video release to follow.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

OUSTON, TX — June 16, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired the Mushibugyou OVA collection, based upon the shonen anime series of the same name. Sentai will distribute the three-part OVA to audiences in the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa as well as Latin America.

As giant insects lay waste to the land of Edo, the Insect Magistrate Office gathers powerful warriors to defend the populace from the invading threat. A rookie swordsman named Jinbee Tsukishima seeks to atone for past sins by joining their ranks, but he’ll need to prove his worth if he wants to find redemption and curb the insect infestation.

Produced by Seven Arcs Pictures (Trinity Seven, Mushibugyou, Vivid Strike!), the Mushibugyou OVA is directed by Takayuki Hamana (Erin, Library Wars, Arte) with character design from Yoshimitsu Yamashita (Blade of the Immortal, Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, Samurai Flamenco). The OVA stars KENN (Ahiru no Sora, Beyond the Boundary, Space Brothers) as Jinbee Tsukishima, Rumi Okubo (Sabage-bu!, One Week Friends, Death Parade) as Hibachi, Takuya Eguchi (My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, My Love Story!!, BAKI) as Shungiku Koikawa, Takuma Terashima (Kokoro Connect, Log Horizon, MEKAKUCITY ACTORS) as Mugai and Yuu Serizawa (Real Girl, Magical Girl Site, How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno.) as Tenma Ichinotani.

Sentai will stream the Mushibugyou OVA in association with select digital outlets with a home video release to follow.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

About Sentai

A Cool Japan Fund portfolio company, Sentai is a leading global supplier of anime and official anime merchandise, distributing and curating one of the industry’s most diverse libraries of top trending and classic titles. Sentai offers thousands of hours of content across both traditional and digital platforms and is dedicated to bringing captivating stories and iconic characters directly from Japan. With hit series that include MADE IN ABYSS, Food Wars!, Princess Tutu and Parasyte -the maxim-, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight and O Maidens in Your Savage Season, as well as classic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and The Big O. For more information, visit www.sentai.com

[seamsmith]

Seamantics.

What’s in a SeamSmith?

You may or may not have misread my blog name as a typo of Sam Smith, the popular English Singer/Songwriter that everyone knows for singing “Stay with Me”. Unfortunately, we’re not actually here to talk about them. On this blog I’ll  be talking about the struggles of describing what I do exactly--in a professional sense. Since my first handsewn My Little Pony plush and cosplay in 2015, I’ve picked up every creative trade that was available to me, and I continue to expand my skillset every day. As a result, I’ve progressed to (in my opinion) rather intermediate levels, developing my visualization and production skills to as prime as I can get them as a high school senior. New skills come more easily to me now, and whenever I pick up a new medium I learn that I can shuffle through previous techniques and apply them all around, compound them on each other, and unlock infinity +1 possibilities.

This might sound great, but when people ask me “How did you learn to do all these things?” or when colleges or employers ask me to “Describe yourself in one word,” I really don’t know what to say. There isn’t a word for me, and I’m not just saying that to be quirky. They have words for woodworkers, blacksmiths, metalsmiths, seamstresses, painters, sculptors, but these are all so restrictive. They describe a person who does one thing really well for the rest of their life. I couldn’t even stick to one medium if I wanted to. If I’m sewing, chances are I’m also painting on the side. If I’m painting, I’m probably painting something I already made out of wood, foam, or metal, not just a canvas. If I’m creating a painting, it might not even be with paint. Could be with objects, fire, collage, or be done digitally. Heck, I’ve even styled a wig with one hand while stitching finishing touches to a piece with the other.

Saying I’m an artist is too broad, you hear it and you think “Oh, you must mean a painter? You won’t make any money!” The connotations associated with the words “artist” and “creative” won’t cut it in this world, and this travels beyond critical family members. When moving into the professional space, everyone’s an artist. "Artist” places us within a community, but it doesn’t say anything about the individual. It leaves too much responsibility on the listener to come up with their own interpretations of “artistic.” Oh, and I wouldn’t even think about describing myself as a cosplayer in the professional space, not only is it left up for interpretation, but there’s an incredible stigma around it. You need to be able to introduce yourself and your work in a short and concise manner that anyone can both understand, and respect. 

The English language and society’s interpretations of it weren’t doing me any favors in this aspect. The closest thing to a satisfactory word I could find was “designer,” but even this was too broad. So after a short creative identity crisis at 3 AM, I’d stitched together a new word: seamsmith. Seam (\ˈsēm\), a root meaning “to bind, to mend” + smith, the English suffix meaning “craftsmen.” Now, this word isn’t perfect. Not to mention no one uses it yet. But I think it has a lot of potential. Honestly at first I just wanted a word that described me as both a seamstress (weak, negative connotation) and a builder (strong, positive connotation). However it kind of developed further than I thought it would. This word means more than just a crafter of things. It represents the seam, the binding throughout all art mediums. All the expertise that goes into production, whether that’s sewing, woodworking, painting, or anything the artist community can dream of. Seamsmith is a multifaceted word to describe a multifaceted person, and the skills they can bring to the table to share with others.

This word may only exist in my world for now. Or forever. But even so, I’ll still like it, and it’s nice to be able to dream of the day I might be able to put something less “controversial” than artist, designer, or cosplayer on my business cards. I hope that one day other artists who share the struggle of not being taken seriously due to the one-word description of their career find a sense of belonging with this word. It is only a dream though.

[term7itmedia]

Reflection 24/03/2020: Middle Stages

So, here we are in the middle stages of the FMP, or as I call it, the TFMP. Here, I’m going to reflect on what I have done so far, and what I’m going to do in the next 6 weeks. While that may not be a lot of time, I’ll do my best to do as much as possible.

Week 1 - 03/02/2020 - Start

It all began with what everything starts out as... an idea. I started out doing some concept art, which is not one of my best features, but I gave it a shot anyway as I was going to have to make some at some point, because I wanted to.

Here is the concept art for my main character. The name in the top left “Darohn Terlex” is just a random name I came up with by combining multiple names together (Darren, John, Terry and Alex). I did this because I couldn’t think of a suitable name for my character who both has a male and female variant, as seen in the picture above.

But how about the actual design of it? Firstly, I chose to focus on an outfit style. I had ten in mind, five for both male and female individually. Each of them follow a different outfit (and hair style) that is worn by that, or both gender(s), excluding the headsets.

While the headset styles were wildly random ones I have thought of with no inspiration or facts, I chose to stick with the first one (Virtual Reality) as it is more realistic than the other ones. Like... have you ever seen anyone wear a headset that looks like a pair of bog-standard glasses? ...me neither.

As for colour schemes, I chose to stick with the grey, red and black one I mentioned in my Colour Schemes post. I have added those colours to the concept art, which is not a thing people normally do as concept art is mostly outlines and rough sketches. More on that in an upcoming post.

Week 2 - 10/02/2020 - Creating the character + base game logic

Creating the character in Adobe Photoshop proved to be tricky at times. Mostly because I didn’t know what outfit to pick. I chose to go with the Fashion style for the male character, and a mix of Summer and Fashion for the female. I have chosen to do this because I liked both designs, but didn’t feel comfortable with using just one. That, and I felt it was more appropriate.

As you can see, in the concept art, the character is wearing boots, while in the sprites, they’re barefoot. This is because I was originally going to give them jet-boots in the game, but decided to go with a more advanced approach instead, as I’m using this time to expand upon my skills. However, that doesn’t mean I’m going to keep them barefoot. I’ll probably give them basic shoes or something, but it all depends on if I feel like it or not.

After the characters were finished, I took to the game. This allowed me to experiment with animations and sound effects. During this time, I was using placeholder sound effects that were dumped from a video game called Undertale (more info on that in posts mentioning it), which I quickly removed shortly afterwards.

Unfortunately, I came down with an dizzy illness near the end of the week, causing me to feel dreadful throughout the majority of February half-term, unable to work on anything. I recovered just before the next week started, though.

Week 3 - 23/02/2020 - Enemy intelligence

What is a game without intelligence... ARTIFICIAL intelligence. Okay, granted, it is not programmed intelligence that lets a virtual being learn as things goes, it’s just hard-coded intelligence (meaning it cannot be edited without editing the source files).

During this time, I got to work on the first level of the game. While doing that, I also got to work on the parallax background (learn more about that in my 2.5D Platforming post).

You can also see that I have implemented a pie chart. But not just any pie chart... a life pie chart!

Basically, this pie chart is the artistic way of telling the player how many hits they can take before dying. More info on that in an upcoming post. Alongside the pie chart, there is a semi-transparent shape at the bottom of the screen with text on it. That is the game’s way of guiding you through what to do. It has been programmed to show for 6 seconds, after which it goes completely transparent, hidden from view.

You’re probably wondering how I keep track of every detail I have implemented... that is because I have been taking videos and screenshots of development! I won’t share any footage yet, but here is a picture of every video I have taken (as of 16/03/2020).

As you can see, I have captured over 13 hours of footage! I actually have over 17 hours now, as some of it has been recorded recently but isn’t shown in this image. I am not uploading these raw, but I will provide a link to an unlisted playlist on YouTube with these videos in, except for #5, which dragged on for too long. I’m putting all of these raw videos into an hour long time-lapse so you can see how this game was made from the ground up if these screenshots aren’t enough for you.

Week 4 was mostly bug fixes, I’ll post a video here when I have created it, and as such this section will be edited.

Week 5 to 6 - 09/03/2020 to 16/03/2020 - Sound design and playtesting

This video goes over what program I used to create the sounds. Adding them to the game wasn’t hard, as I knew exactly how to add sounds and trigger them to play on demand at random intervals.

The source code needed to play the sound isn’t hard to understand when looked at, but since I’m not posting source code online (apart from small extracts in images I’m posting here), I’m pointing out what does what, since you probably don’t understand source code anyway.

The Break... Out

As you’re probably already aware, the UK became part of a pandemic called the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, which affected over 5,000 people in less than a month. To contain the spread of the virus, all schools, colleges and universities had to shut... including mine. I picked up everything digital and stored it online via Google Drive (except for the timelapse video, which I exported then uploaded it in private to YouTube for me to download it later on so I can still edit it), YouTube and GitHub (which is a development platform that I can upload and download my source code from), seeing as we may not be back in college until the summer holidays... which would be too late to do anything.

Now that I’m stuck in my house for goodness knows how long, I can still work on my project with ease seeing as I have a powerful computer to deal with the situation, as well as having all the software I use at college, which has been made free for students by the software developers so that we can temporarily work with them during this difficult time without having to pay a penny.

Soon, I will have my time-lapse video ready, as well as a full playthrough (and download link) of the game when it is finished. Keep an eye out as I will have more development posts coming soon.

[balarouge]

John Mann, Sense of the West frontman as well as music folklore, dead at 57|Vancouver Sun

John Mann, the diva of Vancouver folk-rockers Spirit of the West, has died.The Calgary-born performer, who relocated to the West Shore to analyze taking action at Workshop 58 at Langara College as an adolescent, perished Wednesday in his used neighborhood of Vancouver at the age of 57, 7 years after he was actually identified along with early start Alzheimer's Ailment when he was fifty.

Along with deep unhappiness we reveal that Sense Of The West's John Fraser Mann (OBC) has actually passed away in harmony in Vancouver, the unavoidable end result of Early Start Alzheimer's Disease. Lisa Macintosh personal computer Digital photography pic.twitter.com/GX5DUvzCM9!.?.!— Eric Alper( @ThatEricAlper) Mann's publicist, Eric Alper,

verified his passing away in a claim Wednesday night, celebrating his wealthy legacy in the crafts." He was a potent interject popular music,

acting-- onstage, in motion pictures and on tv, and was actually globe popular as a songwriter," Alper mentioned. "Also, he was a foresightful lobbyist and philanthropic body for numerous practical associations. His job will reproduce long after his unfortunate passing."

Spirit of the West performer John Mann with his actor-playwright wife Jill Daum at their house in Vancouver, BC. December 10, 2015. Pals of Sense of the West singer John Mann have actually put together an online fund-raiser seeking $50,000 to send him down to Mexico for stem-cell therapy focused on decreasing his early-onset Alzheimer's. (Arlen Redekop/ PNG image) Arlen Redekop/ PROVINCE

Mann disclosed the condition in 2014, 4 years after obtaining the prognosis, which followed a two-year cope intestines cancer. He pressed on, carrying on to write and carry out music for pair of more years. Eventually, he was known as a lot for his courage when faced with his health difficulties

', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell,' Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;" > as he was actually for his 40-year career in the arts, especially his songwriting.In 1983, he initially talked to Geoffrey Kelly as well as J. Knutson and also developed the trio Eavesdropper, though they would alter their name to Feeling of the West by the opportunity they independently discharged their self-titled launching in 1984.

Even more focus was actually pulled through the team's student report, 1986's "Floundering the Steps." Along with all songwriting credit ratings split evenly one of the triad, the document was actually a diverse stunner, along with several tracks developed around typical Scottish and also Irish jigs.In 1988, the band-- with Hugh McMillan substituting the departed J. Knutson-- thickened its own credibility with the reputable "Work Day."

The wryly entitled breakup song "Political"-- accepted to Mann alone-- offered the band its own initial true smash hit, and also the band's third cd took place to attract each their initial Juno nomination and also the interest of primary labels.Spirit of the West authorized to Detector Bros. Records in 1989, as well as followed with" Save This Home" the following year, ultimately racking up the band its first platinum album.Their noise developed possibly much more greatly with 1991's" Go

Body." Their very first cd with a drummer( Vince Ditrich),"

Go Amount" directed the band's rootsy affects in to a substantially harder-rocking structure, with numerous songs taking aim at former Head of state Brian Mulroney.Even "Political "was re-recorded below, freshly shaken by electronic devices, and some supporters resisted-- a London

, Ont., viewers petitioned the band to conduct the initial version, for instance.While Spirit of the West's progression towards rock carried out rankle some, they would certainly never ever been additional well-known. They attacked platinum once again along with 1993's"

Faithlift," taking on concerns as hefty as riots, the Catholic Religion's sexual activity misuse detraction as well as Yellowknife's Giant Mine blast-- as well as gaining their chart-topping file in the process.Mann's heritage are going to live on with atrioventricular bundle's anthem, Property for a Relax, taken into consideration a Canadian songs classic.Spirit of the West continued to be prolific also to lessening office rebounds, discharging 3 albums over the next three years.As the band cut down and at some point took place hiatus, Mann maintained busy.He renewed his lengthy on-hold performing career, at some point recording tasks on "Stargate SG-1,"" Smallville, "" Battlestar Galactica" and" Cleverness.

" In 2002, he went solo with "Acoustic Kitty, "and also will discharge pair of even more reflective solo files in 2009(" December Nears" )and also 2014. That final file," The Reception room," took on Mann's lengthy fight with intestines cancer.He learned he was ill in 2009, and devoted months restricted to a medical center bed. He 'd fully recuperated through 2011. Feeling of the West

frontman John Mann on stage set as the band dips into the Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver April 15 2016.

Gerry Kahrmann/ PNG In September 2014 he made social his prognosis of early-onset Alzheimer's illness.

In a keep in mind on his site, he mentioned the diagnosis was actually not a surprise given that he will been actually harbouring particular" anxieties as well as suspicions."" However I do not wish to invest any even more energy attempting to hide my signs and symptoms," he claimed." I carry out

n't desire to believe ashamed. I would like to approve what has happened and reside. I will definitely proceed to produce songs and also I will certainly continue to carry out shows." He included that he would utilize an ipad tablet to aid with lyrics for his programs, as well as he will allow music supplement coming from buddies. "My Spirit of the West bandmates have circled me with treatment, "he added," as well as our team will definitely shape ahead of time as our experts have actually been carrying out the last 30 some odd years along with humour as well as friendly relationship, playing our hearts out." A four-time Juno candidate for his

partner with Feeling of the West, Mann and also his band ended up being underground heroes for their politically intelligent, musically unique songwriting, which integrated conventional strains of people, Celtic and turn-of-the- '90s alt-rock. Spirit of the West was energetic for greater than three decades, from its own beginning in the early 1980s to its own farewell performance series in 2016, which finished with three evenings at the Commodore Ball Room in April of that year. The band's last efficiencies, guest-filled occasions with pals such as Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy, Colin James and Paul Hyde partaking, were immortalized in the prize-winning 2016 docudrama Spirit Unforgettable.Mann invested his ultimate days obtaining palliative treatment in a domestic home and perished comfortably, encompassed through friends as well as loved ones and also, naturally, songs. Mann had 2 children, son Harlan and also daughter Hattie, with his dramatist spouse Jill Daum." John was actually a guy of unheard of guts," Alper pointed out," was actually a loyal and cherished friend, a men of terrific social conscience, as well as a soul brimming with ingenuity and excitement. "-- with files coming from The Canadian Push Is there additional to this story? Our company would love to talk to you concerning this or every other accounts you assume our company must learn about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.

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