#( i have many thoughts about kiwa… )

[casketcat-archived]

Various Ob.ey Me Kiwa Headcanons !

under the read more because this is a long post !!

Sleep ; Kiwa has a few odd sleeping habits! For one, she usually sleeps mostly in the nude. Typically just shorts! She overheats really quickly at night and it wakes her up, so she figured that would be the easiest way to handle that. On some nights she does just have a very loose, thin fabric nightgown though! For sleepovers where clothes are kinda, y’know, necessary— She likes tank tops and shorts!

Sleep 2 ; Kiwa sleeps with a ridiculous amount of stuffed animals and other various cozy, cuddly items. She is a ridiculously cuddly individual and actually can’t sleep well if she doesn’t have her arms wrapped around something. She also just always loves being surrounded in a little pile of soft things!! She will, however, sacrifice some of her plush space for a partner to share her bed with her though… they wouldn’t fit otherwise lol

Bed ; Kiwa’s bed is covered in stuffed animals, pink, and many kinds of pillows and blankets. She doesn’t use the blankets too much, but she likes the texture of most of them! Her bed is also set up with a soft pink sheer fabric canopy, and she has a few extra stuffed animals atop the canopy for storage in a place she can still see them when she lays down! The bed is SUPER fluffy to sit on and very cozy!!!!

Art ; Art is a very, very important thing to Kiwa! Quite a few different forms of art too! She adores painting, and actually has painted a small mural on the wall of her room! Yes, she argued with Lucifer over it at least once lol. He could not stop her no matter how hard he tried. The mural is of various types of flowers with some clouds. She adds small new things to it sometimes when she’s bored! A few of the added things have been clouds in the shapes of various animals! She’s been considering asking Diavolo if she could paint a larger mural somewhere around R.A.D.

Art 2 ; Another form of art Kiwa really adores is music! She’s generally pretty good with a two instruments— piano, taught by her mother, and the guitar she learned in high school! She doesn’t play either too much anymore, but they’re still near and dear to her heart! If you catch her glancing longingly at a piano, it’s probably cause she misses the one she has at her parent’s place back home… she’s just not gonna say anything about it.

Art 3 ; A big (but subtle) way Kiwa shows her affection is sketching things of people she’s close to. She kinda finds herself doodling crushes of hers in class pretty frequently. She also draws them gifts and little sticky notes with motivational drawings very often! That applies to friends too, they always get cute little stuff on their books, doors, and various little places they’d stumble across in their day to day! She just wants to give them little random mood boosts!

Art Supplies ; Kiwa has and uses many different types of art supplies! These take up a good portion of her room and storage within it! Canvases, many kinds of paint, pencils, pens, stickers, and more! She has drawers upon drawers full of them. She typically goes for nicer brands, she’d rather shell out more money for higher quality supplies than have to buy more supplies bc cheaper ones run out faster! A good chunk of her funds go into art supplies. She also has a very large tower of storage drawers full of fabric!

Sewing ; Kiwa is a seamstress who runs her own small business. On top of her various other forms of art, sewing is one that’s especially important to her. Her adoptive father was a fashion designer as well (though he is now retired) and taught her a lot of what she knows about it! She did a lot of online classes about it as well— one of the few school-like things she’s ever been able to focus on. This blossomed into her running a small business making custom lingerie focusing on plus sizes.

Small Business ; Kiwa’s business started while she was in the human world, it’s one of the big ways she paid rent and bought her art supplies and fabric! Her business did continue into her moving to the Devildom, and she’s been having a lot of fun making lingerie for demons now as well! She has also started shifting into making regular clothing clothing items as well since coming to the Devildom. May as well expand her abilities as long as she’s somewhere new!

Angelic ; Kiwa is a human. Her mother, however, was not. For many, many years her mother was angel in the celestial realm. However, her mother eventually fell in love with a human man and gave up her blessing to become a human and live with him. Eventually Kiwa was born from their marriage, and she is completely a human.. but some angels can possibly sense she has a bit of angelic descent in her. Kiwa’s mother unfortunately passed away due to a human disease when she was a pre-teen, a disease that for a long, long, long time wouldn’t have impacted her at all.

School ; School…. isn’t really Kiwa’s thing. She’s not super good with it, nor has she ever been. Even throughout her time in the human world. It’s actually why she dropped out of college to just pursue her small business and the like. Even now enrolled in R.A.D., she’s not doing too well in majority of her classes. She’s a little frustrated about it, and it makes her upset more often than she’d like to admit, but she’s trying… kind of.

Side Business ; Kiwa started doing cam girl-type work around the time she turned 20. Alongside her lingerie business, it brought in a good amount of money! She paid rent, bought her supplies, and lived pretty nicely. She also gave a bit to her parents to assist her brother’s college fund! She really enjoys the work she does, she finds it a very nice way to express herself and her sexuality a little more, but she’s also not super attached to it. She would drop the more explicit work once in a relationship if her partner wanted her to! She would love to still do suggestive photoshoots with her own lingerie on occasion if her partner was comfortable though.

Side business 2 ; despite Kiwa being a cam girl, and doing very explicit stuff for strangers on the internet, she’s never dated or really had any romantic or sexual partners in person. She’s been far too busy, but it’s not for lack of interest!!! She hasn’t even had her first kiss in most situations solely because she’s just… busy. She has always been busy!

Brother ; Kiwa’s younger brother, Shion, has always been someone she’s very close to and who is very important to her. She always values Shion’s opinions and always enjoys being around him! This is possibly because on top of being his older sister, she did spend a good chunk of her teenage years basically half parenting him because of how busy their dads got. Their fashion design business picked up at a super unfortunate time, and they tried to be their for the kids as much as physically possible, but Kiwa assured them she didn’t mind helping out taking care of Shion. She did a decent job basically parenting him!!

Parents ; Kiwa’s birth parents unfortunately passed away when she was still fairly young, pre-teens, but she was adopted by two family friends after that. Her dads are two of the kindest, most loving, sweet people ever. One of them used to be a fashion designer, while the other was basically his secretary and assistant. They worked so well together and Kiwa always looked up to them! They are now retired and teach a pottery class in her hometown. Their hometown is small and in the country side, not very big, but warm and welcoming. One of her dads became mute from an accident a few years before her time in the Devildom, and as such, Kiwa, both of her dads, and her brother all learned and know JSL to communicate.

Mornings ; Kiwa isn’t much of a morning person. She can’t really wake herself up too easily— when she first wakes up is one of the main times you can ever really make her mad or see her grouchy! She’s pretty huffy in the morning when she first wakes up unless it’s on her own terms. She falls back asleep pretty easily too! If you try to wake her up, and you don’t see her put her feet on the floor, she’s probably gonna fall back asleep. She’s a little better about mornings if she has a partner who she shares a bed with— waking up cuddling someone she loves negates any possible bad mood.

Pets ; Kiwa has had quite a few pets throughout her life— animals are something she is ALWAYS going to adore. She’s always cared so much for animals. Currently, though, she has a few pet ferrets. There are five total, and they are absolute little trouble makers. Their names are Cupcake, Macaron, Donut, Bonbon, and Pudding! Their enclosure takes up about an entire wall of her room, and she takes wonderful care of them!! They are her babies!! HER BABIES!! They have plenty of toys and places to hang out!! Sometimes… they run around the House of Lamentation.. chaotic babies.

Magic ; Kiwa has an odd and distinct lack of magical power. She doesn’t have much of an interest in pacts, but she doesn’t have much innate magic either. She struggles to learn it and doesn’t do well in classes that teach and involve magic. She doesn’t really seem to mind it too much, mainly because she knows there’s other things she’s good with! Maybe one day she’ll be more interested in pacts with the demon brothers, but as for now, she’s a little uneasy about the idea.

Love Languages ; Kiwa’s main two love languages are physical touch and quality time. She is a cuddly, touchy, lovey thing and being able to touch and be close to her partners (and friends!!) is so important to her. She respects those who are nervous about it, and she does her best to be considerate about it!! Her brother isn’t much of a cuddly person either, so she’d adapted to try her best to ask less affectionate people before just tackling them into a hug. She forgets sometimes but she’s doing her best!! Quality time is also very important to Kiwa, she’s the type who’s very content just being in the same room with someone she cares about even if they’re doing completely different things. It’s bonding time that she really treasures.

[xamassed]

⟬ @kissespink ⟭

“Hey, Mammon— have you ever thought about getting married? Do demons do that?” The question came out of absolutely nowhere. Like, they’d been talking about birds all of two seconds ago. Now she was asking about marriage. Truth be told, it was really only on her mind at the moment because she’d heard one of her friends back in the human realm was getting married and it occurred to her she’d never thought about if demons get married. Especially considering their lifespans.

Was that context given at all, though? Absolutely not, because it was Kiwa, and she never really thought too hard about those sorts of things. Nonchalantly asking your long term boyfriend what he thinks about marriage and if he wants to? Totally normal. He definitely wouldn’t assume she meant to her. Didn’t even occur to Kiwa.

/ hope it’s okay to send this random little thing in LOL i was thinking about them today !!

"M—Married? Like, t'someone I love? I, uh——!" He had, on more than one occasion. In fact, some days he daydreamed about it more than once.

All it took was a breeze rolling past, the smell of it touched with the sweet scent of flowers and it made him wonder what they would request from the florist. Then he would wonder about the cake, how many tiers it would have and what the flavors would be. But once he started thinking about food, his mind would wander to his brothers. Catering would be a pain with Beelzebub around, but it wasn't as if he couldn't have a wedding without them.

He pictured what it might look like to have his brothers there, watching as he and Kiwa made their vows and became bonded for the remainder of her days.

"Ain't th—thought of it much, but — y'know. I have thought about it." He coughed once around the knot in his throat, but it remained lodged in place.

"Demons, we don't do that. Marriage up where you're from, even if ya ain't got faith or anythin', is full'a holy suggestions. It ain't for us, but we got our own things that we do here. It's a little deeper than human marriage, though. 'Cause, y'know, we're old as all hell down here. If we get bonded with another demon, it's cause we're serious about it.

Up there, ya got divorce, ya put physical distance, ya just drop those feelings like it's nothin'. All ya gotta do is take the ring off, take back all'a what ya said durin' the weddin', get it annulled. If two demons get bound, it stays forever. It's permanent. Thing is, if ya weren't serious about it from the start, ya regret it. The magic gets real stingy, so we don't screw around with that sort'a thing.

That was a while ago, though. I think, maybe, if someone wanted t'get married t'me, I wouldn't mind doin' it the human way." Another cough, this time meant to hide the crack in his voice. "Don't totally hate the idea. I'd at least stick to it. Ain't married anyone before, not for real, so if there was a certain, bone-headed human that really wanted t'be with me like that, I wouldn't dent 'er. Just sayin'. I'd make that promise a thousand times, and I'd keep it."

[kurogane-redfox]

He knew his size was above average but that wasn't too shocking when one thought about what he was. A Dragon. Why would a Dragon, especially one of his height and build be anything even remotely average? He didn't MIND that she was essentially a virgin. Sure, she might have done things with herself (and her toys which he had no idea she had yet), but she'd never been with an actual man before. He had no issues teaching her the ins and outs of love making. Because there was no doubt in his mind that, that was what they were going to do. Sure, he'd likely fuck her deep and hard that WASN'T going to be the ONLY way the Dragon took her.

"I give as good as I get, Kiwa. Yer teasin' just as much, if not even more, than I am,"

That was FAR from a complaint. He liked it. That much was pretty obvious given the devious grin now adorning his visage. His ruby eyes had darkened a bit, as had his voice, though it wasn't too guttural just yet, though she'd likely feel the vibrations as he SPOKE. He'd chuckle slightly, watching her face as her expression shifted and changed a bit. He wasn't being too mean, he hoped, she certainly SMELLED like she liked what he was doing to her.

His tongue would poke out from behind his pierced lips and she'd likely catch a glimpse of the piercing that was in the Dragon's tongue, the ball being a rather interesting shade of purple.

"Somethin' tells me yer likin' how I'm touchin' ya. Yer free to moan, ya know? It won't hurt my ears or anythin' like that."

Her lips were soft against his own, but that wasn't too shocking. Her SKIN was soft. He was going to have a lot of fun leaving marks all over her body. Wherever she would allow him to, he'd leave them. The Dragon was a possessive bastard and she was likely going to learn that pretty quickly. As her hands cupped his cheeks during the soft kiss he gave her, his eyes would close for the length of it. That, in itself, would show his level of TRUST with her.

Even if she'd told him that she'd never truly been kissed before, he wouldn't have teased her at all. Why? There was a fairly SIMPLE reason for that. Before her, he'd never kissed anyone either. It was instinctual though, for him, at least, to know how to do it. He knew how to use his fingers and tongue on women to really get them going. He was also naturally good with his hands. So that was PROBABLY a bonus.

As she shifted them, he'd chuckle, eyes opening to view her face once again. Now that he was on his back she'd feel even more of him pressing against her, but he knew what he needed to do to help ease any fears she might have about the actual act itself. Plus, he had absolutely no intention off genuinely hurting her during sex. No matter how many times they did it, he'd never intentionally try to inflict pain. He knew accidents could happen, and he'd obviously have no issues taking care of her if they did. Making her food, helping her bathe, stuff like that.

He was PROBABLY going to spoil her absolutely ROTTEN.

"Gods... Kiwa... now who's bein' the fuckin' tease?"

His hands would move to her hips as she round down against him and he'd dig his fingers into them hard enough she'd feel it, but hopefully not hard enough to leave any bruises.

"Ya gonna keep teasin' me or are we gonna finish strippin' down so I can take ya?"

❥ If she were being totally honest— the longer this continued and the more she could feel of Gajeel’s body, she was getting a little worried about how anything penetrative would go. Toys were… very different from the real thing, she knew that, but he was FAR FROM AVERAGE of the real thing. It was equally as nerve wracking as it was exciting— she wanted to ultimately feel all of him, but she also wasn’t sure if she was particularly capable of making sure everything was enjoyable both ways just yet… she did still have quite a bit to learn.

Any other thoughts in her mind disappeared the moment she felt his fangs nip at her ear, a flustered whine escaping her lips as her nails dug lightly into his upper arms. “Ha… Gajeel, c’mon… ya tease too much,” she’s one to talk.

Of course she’d taken note of the scars she could see and the tattoos that were visible— but with everything going on, she’d made the decision to properly admire and feel them later. Her brain was going much too fast to properly appreciate the intricacies of each tattoo right now, and the artist in her really wanted to check them out when she was a little less… occupied.

Rough hands on her thighs elicited another soft moan as Kiwa bit down on her lower lip, heart skipping a beat seeing the soft expression on her now boyfriend’s face. Oh, man. That look did things to her. He really was so sweet.

Her body momentarily tensed at the mention of an actual kiss from him— not a bad tense, but a small reaction as a whole new spark of joy and excitement coursed through her veins. His lips were impossibly warm, and the kiss pulled a pleased hum from her throat as her hands moved to cup his cheeks. More so than anything else in the night— a single kiss seemed to rile her up the most.

Did she need to verbally admit or acknowledge that that was basically her first proper kiss? No, Gajeel did NOT need to know that. He’d already teased her for being a virgin and she did not need to give him anymore ammo to tease her with. Still, though… she had to admit: kissing someone you cared for felt amazing.

This was a time Kiwa was incredibly thankful for being as strong as she was, because she’d taken advantage of the moment to adjust their positions slightly so she had Gajeel fully pressed down against the couch while she straddled him. Her chest heaved in excitement as she leaned over, moving to place another small kiss to the corner of his lips, then his nose, then above his eye in a flurry of affection that she intended to not give him enough time to react to. Hips rolled against him as she pressed one more kiss to the dragon’s face.

“Ya better. I need more kisses too… I need more of all of ya.”

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Yes, many people don’t know that KJ Apa isn’t white, because he plays a white character on TV.

Particularly when I was in the UK, I thought a bit about what it must mean for Māori and Pacific people who grew up in NZ to go elsewhere and just be understood in a completely different ways than they are in New Zealand. As coming from Te Moana Nui a Kiwa doesn't have a cultural meaning in a lot of the rest of the world - travelling elsewhere means being stripped of your identity. And you move from being the target of racialised hatred, to being seen as racially ambiguous, or even being read as white.

My sister was once at a party in New York and she told an actor she was from New Zealand. And he said 'Fucking New Zealand. Every time I go up for a part I'm put up against Cliff Curtis - and he gets it. And I am really half Mexican half Arab'. Which I think sums up the dynamic in a really interesting way. Because of course Cliff Curtis rarely gets to play a Māori man.

But I want to push back a little bit on your phrasing. Because like the anon talking about Jesy - I think it treats whiteness as an absolute fact, and I think it's more useful to think of it as culturally constructed power.

Whiteness isn't the same the whole world over - it doesn't have the same meaning and it's not held by the same people. One of the things about travelling is that your cross meanings that different places have. A light-skinned Samoan man with a Samoan name is white in Vancouver in a way that he's not in Auckland. The fact that he is read as white by Americans is already shaping his career.

What people in America don't know is that KJ Apa is Samoan, and that that meant that he has been racialised and the subject of racism in the context where he grew up.

[togachipblog]

KIWA Native Andean Potatoes

In previous blog posts, I have written about socially conscious companies including one that spends all profits on soup kitchens in the Detroit area.  These stories were focused mostly on the revenue side.  Today's post is the story of the supply side.  

There is an old Chinese proverb:  

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

The story below could create the following Ecuadorian proverb:

 Buy a potato from a small farmer and you barely sustain him for a day...... Teach a small farmer to grow a special potato and you help sustain him for a lifetime.  

KIWA was formed in 2008 by a couple, Martin and Natalie Acosta, that returned home from their honeymoon in Ecuador with the intention to help improve the lives of the people of Ecuador.   After a year and a half of determining their plans and educating themselves, they started selling vegetable chips. Today their chips are a leading brand of premium vegetable chips.  KIWA makes some of its chips from Native Andean Potatoes that are only grown from Colombia to Chile having originated between Peru and Bolivia.  I met Maria Jose Guillen of KIWA Snacks at the Sweets and Snacks Expo on Chicago.  She explained:

The variety is turned into a chip keeping its natural benefits.  The native Andean potatoes were almost extinct in Ecuador and KIWA is actually the only company that makes it possible to grow this type of potato in Ecuador, so it is a huge responsibility for us to keep making it clear for people the amazing kind of potatoes the are.

I thought the story would make an interesting blog post, and Maria put me in contact with Rodrigo Quevedo who is the agronomist for KIWA.   An agronomist is someone who studies the growing and harvesting of crops .  Rodrigo spends most of his time in agricultural fields in the mountains of Ecuador (with bad connections to cell phone and internet service.  His main activities are planning the sowing and harvesting of the fields, giving advice of the best practices to the growers, and seed multiplication.  Because of the communication challenges, Rodrigo educated me by sharing a paper that Martin Acosta presented to the World Potato Congress in Peru earlier in 2018.  The paper is entitled "Launch, Growth and Challenges of Native Andean Potatoes as we take them world-wide."   Per its web-site, KIWA is an acronym for the company's values.

Kuality: Meet and ideally exceed customer expectations creating an atmosphere of trust and consistency.

 Innovation: Transform ideas into solutions and opportunities.

 World View: Understand, respect and adapt to our markets.

 Amity: Is the way to achieve our goals, surrounded by people with positive energy and seeking healthy  relationships with all stakeholders.

In 2010, Martin received a call from a British person asking if he had access to Native Andean potatoes in Ecuador.   Native Andean potatoes are the single best alternative in terms of cost-benefit for low-income farmers living above 11,000 feet above sea level where these potatoes need to be harvested.  These potatoes were of superior quality because of their high nutrients (especially increased levels of Iron, Zinc, and Potassium that are important to child development)  including antioxidants than regular potatoes, but would have been expected to cost more.  Because of their higher cost, other chip manufacturers had shied away form using the potatoes.

Upon receiving the call, Martin had no idea what Native Andean potatoes were, and after hanging up, googled them and found the name and found the web-site of the International Center for Potatoes in Lima, Peru.  He asked his Research & Development ("R&D") manager to call the organization and by coincidence two of its representatives were in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, and Martin's R&D Manager met with them the next day.   The R&D Manager told Martin about the potential of the potatoes and Martin and his R&D Manager then met with them again on the following day, right before the two persons flew back to Peru.   For seven years, organizations had been looking for a partner in the private sector to help improve the income of farmers in the Andes mountains of Ecuador.   A few months later,the Native Andean potato industry in Ecuador was born.  After KIWA signed the contract with the International Center for Potatoes, the organization opened an office in Ecuador,  This collaborative effort has involved development organizations including the International Potato Center, the private sector, farmers associations and the private sector.  Their combined goal was to raise the income for low-income farmers.  

Despite their expected higher cost, as a premium brand, KIWA decided to take a chance on using Native Andean potatoes, especially since nobody from Peru was exporting these potatoes to be used as chips.  Initially two varieties of the Native Andean potatoes were selected, Puca Shungo (red heart) and Yana -Shungo (black heart).  

Under a long term  contract, the local farmers are paid more than twice the cost of production.   This is far higher than the price for regular potatoes and a lot more than the local farmers were receiving in the local farmers market.  

By February 2011, KIWA chip products hit the shelves of the largest retailer in Ecuador and they were an immediate hit.  KIWA won an award from the German Chambers of Industry as the best corporate social responsibility in Ecuador.  The monetary award was used to fund KIWA's first technical agricultural officer and multiple seeds that were given away to farmers in Argopapa, the association of producers.   Today, KIWA provides the farmers with seeds, technical assistance, training and even financing.  InSeptember 2011, ANUGA, the largest food show in the world, awarded the KIWA National Andean Potato Mix as one of the top innovations in the world.  Only 10 companies received the award out of 6,500 exhibitors.  KIWA was the first Latin American company to receive the award.  Buyers flooded the KIWA exhibit with as many as 16 buyers visiting at the same time.    KIWA was also selected as one of the Top 10 social enterprises in Latin America.  

The collaborative organization has grown to 50 farmers with at least 300 indirect beneficiaries in three of the 23 provinces of Ecuador.  The long term contact helps sustain the farmers by providing them with a guaranteed yield.  Today, production has multiplied and the potatoes are now exported to 30 countries in five continents.  The Native Andean potatoes comprise over 20% of KIWA's total sales.  The chips are sold to retailers all over the world in sizes ranging from vending machine size, to Club sizes for customers such as Costco in Canada.  However, this effort has not been without substantial challenges as climate changes, particularly in September and October Spring in South America) in the Ecuadorian Andes mountain range killed 80% of the harvests in both 2014 and 2017.  

The current focus is to expand in the US, Middle East and Eastern Europe.  The first KIWA Organic Native Andean potatoes package was launched in March 2018 at the largest natural food show in the US.  

KIWA is currently working with its collaborators to develop new varieties of Native Andean Potatoes in Ecuador.  They hope these potatoes will be more productive and more resistant to climate changes.  They are working to improve the quality of the seeds so that the potatoes are more suitable for frying.  Production has increased, but is still far below the average that a large farmer from regular potato derives. The goal over the next two years is to further increase the productivity yield through partnerships with academic institutions such as Stanford University.  In 2017, Stanford sent a team to help develop a harvesting tool that will allow farmers to increase yields by 30% and reduce costs, mostly of labor during harvesting by 40%.  

KIWA is exploring diversifying the products its makes from Native Andean potatoes starting with frozen french fries and the first purple naturally-colored mashed potatoes. They also want to educate Ecuadorians about these native potatoes as only one percent of the urban population is aware of them .  Studies demonstrate the antioxidants in these potatoes, but they need to overcome the Ecuadorian stigma that naturally colored potatoes are rotten.  

Read more about the company including its formation and other products on its web-site at http://www.kiwalife.com/.  The tab "social responsibility" includes a video of interviews with the farmers as well as testimonials from them.  

Enjoy El Condor pasa-Peru

The Toga Chip Guy

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: 11 Movies to Look Out for in 2021

  The year that wouldn’t end is, miraculously, finally coming to an end! A lot of movies we thought would be coming out this year (understandably) did not. That’s okay, though, because it means we have even more to look forward to next year! In anticipation of the year ahead, we’ve sifted through all the anime movies slated to come out in 2021 and chosen a select few we think you should be keeping an eye on. There are plenty of big-name sequels on the way — including one that’s been in production for nearly a full decade — but there are also a few promising titles you may not yet know about. Without further ado, here are 11 anime movies to watch out for in 2021!

  Gintama: the Final

    Gintama is somehow, apparently, coming to an end! It feels as though Gintama has been around forever, and yet I still have no idea what on Earth it could be about. What I do know for sure, though, is that people LOVE it. So this movie adaptation of the manga’s 77th (!!!) and final volume is sure to leave fans rolling from laughter and wishing it weren’t ending when it comes out on January 8, 2021.

  Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

    Would it be a stretch to call this the most-anticipated anime movie of all time? It’s been more than eight years since Evangelion 3.0 left fans excited, baffled, and desperate to know what will happen next. Multiple delays have kept it from coming out, but on January 23, 2021 fans of the Evangelion universe will finally see the conclusion to legendary director Hideaki Anno’s Rebuild of the massively popular Neon Genesis Evangelion series.

  Princess Principal: Crown Handler

    Fans of Princess Principal will be delighted to know that after a short delay, the first of SIX sequel movies to the television series is slated to premiere on February 11, 2021. Masaki Tachibana is returning from the television series to direct the first of many more forays into the world of Victorian spy intrigue.

  Pompo the Cinéphile

    And what would a year of movies be without a movie about movie-making? Adapted from Shogo Sugitani’s manga of the same name, Pompo the Cinéphile takes place in Nyallywood, the movie capital of the world. There, eccentric movie producer Pompo makes B-grade flicks along with her movie buff assistant Gene. When Gene finds an extraordinary script written by Pompo, he demands it be made into a feature film. However, Pompo tasks Gene with bringing the script to life, and thus takes on the role of director. Opening on March 21, 2021, Pompo the Cinéphile is sure to deliver audiences both an entertaining visual spectacle and a passionate love-letter to the art of filmmaking.

  Farewell, My Dear Cramer the Movie: First Touch

    Sports anime fans, rejoice! There’s something for you coming next year, too, with Farewell, My Dear Cramer the Movie: First Touch. Based on the manga from Your Lie in April author Naoshi Arakawa comes a story about Nozomi, a middle school girl who yearns to play soccer but is worried about having to play against boys in official matches. Everything changes when she’s confronted by a boy from her past. This movie opens April 1, 2021 and serves as a prequel to the Farewell, My Dear Cramer TV anime beginning the same month.

  Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Movie

    Revue Starlight took many anime fans by surprise when it premiered back in 2018. Since then, they’ve been clamoring to return to Seisho Music Academy and its strange world of talking giraffes and underground theater fights. And thankfully, the wait is almost at an end. Revue Starlight’s sequel movie is scheduled to premiere on May 21, 2021. Not much is known about it yet outside of a teaser trailer, which in true Revue Starlight fashion features Karen cryptically standing amongst the dunes of a vast desert. As inscrutable an image as it is, we won’t have to wait much longer to find out what it means. 

  Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop

    From the director of Occult;Nine and Your Lie in April comes an eye-popping, boy-meets-girl movie in the form of Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop. This original story focuses on Cherry, a headphone-wearing boy who can’t communicate well, and Smile, a mask-wearing girl embarrassed by her dental braces. The two will meet by chance one day in what’s certain to be the feel-good hit of the summer when it premieres on June 25, 2021.

  My Hero Academia the Movie 3

    Not much has been announced about the third My Hero Academia movie yet, but come on, it’s My Hero Academia so it’s sure to be a hit. The team that’s made the anime such a massive success is back, and has left us with a cryptic teaser that states ‘HE WILL MEET ‘THE THREE MUSKETEERS.’” with an image of Bakugo, Deku, and Todoroki lined up together. Are they the three musketeers, or could the musketeers be a yet unknown threat? I suppose we’ll have to wait until summer 2021 to find out for sure.

  The Abandoned House by the Cape

    In remembrance of the tenth anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami comes The Abandoned House by the Cape. Based on the novel by Sachiko Kashiwaba, the movie focuses around Moeka, a 17-year-old girl who lost her parents, and Yurie, a woman in the process of escaping a violent husband. In the wake of the earthquake and tsunami, they’re assisted by an older woman named Kiwa and the three begin a new life together in an old house overlooking the sea. Releasing in 2021, the project is helmed by director Shinya Kawatsura (Non Non Biyori, Tanaka-kun is Always Listless, Kokoro Connect) with a script by Reiko Yoshida (K-On!, A Silent Voice, Violet Evergarden).

  Free! (2021)

    Not much is currently known about this movie (it doesn’t even have a name yet) but with a studio like Kyoto Animation at the helm, its quality is all but assured. What we do know is that this film will follow Haruka after the events of Free!: Dive to the Future as he takes his swimming career to a whole new level. It's scheduled for release in 2021.

  Sword Art Online the Movie: The Aria of the Night Without Stars

    Nearly a decade after Sword Art Online took the anime world by storm, A-1 Pictures is taking fans back to where it all began in the first Sword Art Online: Progressive movie. This series begins one month after thousands of players have been trapped in a deadly game called Sword Art Online. On the very first level of Aincrad, two loners named Kirito and Asuna will have to learn to work together if either one of them is to survive. This revised telling of the events of Sword Art Online is sure to offer something new for both longtime fans and interested newcomers alike when it releases in 2021.

  Which of these movies are you most looking forward to? Are there any you think we missed? Let us know in the comments below!

      Danni Wilmoth is a Features writer for Crunchyroll and co-host of the video game podcast Indiecent. You can find more words from her on Twitter @NanamisEgg.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Danni Wilmoth

[polyamorouspixie]

The term “poly” is bad why not just use polyam

Funny, I was just going to make a blog post about this actually! I literally came to sit down and write it and found this message.

Now, I do think it’s very important to be aware of the way you use language and the impact it has. For example, I try to make my blog trans friendly, including non-binary (and if I do mess up because I’ve had three decades in this binary-obsessed culture and sometimes I don’t notice, feel free to pull me up on it), not equating gender with genitals, and not referring to two genders, opposite gender,or anything along those lines, because it’s important. I’ve made an effort to use the word “bananas” more in place of ableist words because actually it’s kind of gross to be ableist, you know?

And sometimes you find out a thing is racist and even though you thought it was harmless, you should stop saying it. 

But it isn’t good to just accept everything you’re told without investigation. For example, there have been cases where well meaning non-Muslims have said things like “please can you not put a dog in that advert, dogs are offensive to Muslims”, and then a whole load of Muslims have been put in a position of having to say that they’re not offended by the existence of dogs, they just may not want to touch them, and could people stop making out that Muslims are super sensitive and need to be specially catered to all the time, because the racists love that and it isn’t true, and then there’s a load of newspaper articles about how Muslims are stopping white people doing ANYTHING now and it just increases racism and it’s all lies.

I did a little investigation and I think that a similar thing may be happening here with well-meaning white people. I assume, and correct me if I’m wrong, anon, but the issue is that poly can also be used as shorthand for Polynesian, and that by using it as short for polyamorous then you are somehow preventing Polynesian people from... this is where I’m unsure and please, again, do give me more information on this, am I stopping Polynesian people from celebrating their culture online? And connecting with other Polynesians? (I once was told by another Tumblr user I was preventing Polynesians from having a safe space, so I’m going to work from that)

Working off this assumption I did a Google search using only the term “poly”. Google offers as additional questions that people have asked when just searching “poly” has failed them, and some of those relate to “poly relationships” (and others maths), but for the actual results: the first result is a basic description; it’s Greek for “many”. The second result references Polynesians. Then, we have polymers, poly- as a prefix again, polygon, polytechnic, an app for making 3D models, a Chinese business group, a pretend currency called Polymath, a Cornish arts charity, a site that sells prom dresses; some of these things multiple times. Finally on page 5 is a single reference to polyamory. 

My point being that certainly polyamorous people do not have a monopoly (ha!) on the prefix poly. It has a great number of meanings, most of which pre-date polyamory, and are far more widely used. And yet I’ve still managed to connect with other polyamorous people online, by using the full term “polyamorous”. I rarely find myself talking to someone about my relationship and find that whoops! They’re talking about plastics!

If you Google “Polynesian”, you get roughly 201,000,000 results. The first few pages are definitely about Polynesian people, places, and culture. I can only assume the rest is too. Polyamory doesn’t seem to be mentioned.

An additional factor is that Polynesians, although I’m sure many speak English (for example in Hawaii English and Pidgin are very common), many speak as first languages Samoan, or Maori, or about thirty more different languages. Samoan is one of the most common ones, and their word for Polynesian is “Polenisia”. Searching for this word brings up many pages that are about Polynesia in some way, though I don’t read Samoan so I could not tell you exactly what. The Rock doesn’t refer to his heritage as Polynesian, he refers to it as Samoan; I can only assume that is common, and there lies many more words which Polynesian people can use to find safe spaces online, not to mention a lack of specialness for the word poly.

Although Samoan uses the clearly influenced word Polenisia, the Maori people of New Zealand (who are also Polynesian) use the word Kiwa. It seems to me that as many of the search results for Polynesian are travel agents, that both Polenisia and Kiwa would be more useful terms; not to mention the many other native languages. 

The English word for Polynesia was first coined in 1756. The prefix poly- I can’t find such a precise date for, but one assumes dates back to before 500 BC when the ancient Greeks developed their language, and has been used since then in medicine, science, and any time someone wants to feel important by referencing Ancient Greece--such as in Polynesia itself which means ”many islands”. Poly as shorthand for many (ha!) other words pre-dates the word Polynesian by thousands of years. It’s a common useful word, it was long used by a tremendous number of people before it was ever applied to a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. Trying to bring its usage to only one of those uses seems like an unwinnable task. 

I know that some people reading this aren’t going to be fully convinced; they think it should belong to Polynesian people. Here’s the thing: I’m not taking the word Polynesian from anyone. Certainly I wouldn’t want to re-use Polynesian to mean anything else. If it became known that the word Polynesian was problematic; I would, on the rare occasion I used it, use the preferred word as chosen by Pacific Islanders. I do sometimes wonder if, because it is a colonial word, if they would prefer something else, but it’s not for me to tell those people that their own description of themselves is problematic! The word “poly” isn’t sacred or special to Polynesian people, though it is less syllables (hence why it gets used as shorthand for so many things). It isn’t an offensive term--for example if people started using “eskimo” to mean something else, I’d be quite cross, as many of the people it’s used to refer to find it an offensive term. You start using slurs, you start throwing about sacred or important terms from other cultures--I’m going to tell you to stop it. Those are oppressive things to do.  Neither Poly nor Polynesian fall under these categories. Using colonial terms can be considered oppression, too, but it’s up to the group themselves to decide how they feel about that, and though I have looked I’ve yet to find any issue with Polynesians being referred to as such. 

I’m sure I’ll get some backlash from this, but I hope most people reading it have learned a little about Polynesian culture! M’s brother lives in New Zealand and has a lot of experience with Maori culture (did you know Maoris want everyone, Maori or not, to learn Maori in New Zealand schools? Did you know white politicians commonly use Maori words in speeches?), which I’ve found very interesting to hear about, and V lived in Hawaii as a child, and A studied there as an adult, and I’ve learned a little from them too (did you know Hawaiians LOVE Lilo and Stitch because it’s set there? They also taught me a little Pidgin which sadly I’ve mostly forgotten). Moari and Hawaiian are VERY different cultures, but both worth learning about. If anyone has any resources for learning about Polynesian cultures, please let me know, and I will happily share them on my blog!

If you want to send me any articles about how using the word “poly” is in fact oppression, that’s absolutely fine, all I ask is that the article is written by or at the bare minimum quotes at least one Polynesian. 

If you’re going to send me asks asking why can’t I use polyam or polya just in case 1) let’s go back to the “please stop encouraging racists to write articles about how non-whites are So Sensitive and we can’t do anything at all without offending them” particularly when those people of colour have not asked you to do anything of the sort 2) poly is established within the polyamorous community as a shorthand 3) polyam and polya are a horrible mouthful and awkward to type and 4) I don’t want to get into a “who is the most progressive” pissing contest that doesn’t benefit oppressed people in the slightest, and I don’t want to be mean, but some of you are doing that and going around being rude to people for no reason as well.

And because this is quite long let’s have a TLDR: 

“Poly” is neither offensive nor sacred or special to the people of Polynesia and that means it is not oppression to use it for other contexts. The word Polynesian remains exclusive to those people, as do the words such as Maori, Hawaiian, Samoan and Tahitan which refer to the cultures within the umbrella term Polynesian.

[zukadiary]

Arch of Triumph / Gato Bonito!! ~ Snow Troupe 2018

I feel a bit weird writing this up after only day 2 of the run, because I’m sure the troupe is still very much warming up... but this is when I happened to be here. Yukigumi fan life has not been ideal for me since Chigi’s retirement and this was BALM FOR THE WOUNDS in unexpected ways. Beware of spoilers.

Arch of Triumph

I happen to really like the original version of this show (from back when Tom was Yukigumi’s actual top star), but despite that the primary emotion I felt re: this show choice, as a Daimon fan who has to travel 7000 miles to see her, was saltiness at the stolen lead. I anticipated suffering through this and prayed that Fujii-sensei would carry the experience for me entirely, so I was truly taken aback by how much I loved Gaisenmon. 

There is a pretty long summary on the Takawiki page, and the original is also available from TIP with subtitles.

Just objectively as a show, it’s so beautiful, and it’s beautiful in ways that I didn’t know about at all because you can’t see them on the recording. It’s a dark story and the set is kept fairly dark as well, so all the meticulously colored lights and gobos and gorgeous rain effects dissolve into unintelligible black fuzz on an 18-year-old Sky Stage video. From the second floor you can also appreciate the incredible fluidity of the set rotations and scene changes along with the amazing choreography, of which there is A LOT. It’s a really impressive feat of direction; I am (despite my Takarazuka-related fervor) not a well-versed technical theater person at all and the artistry of it still struck me as something really special. The music is also gorgeous; it’s a very moving show, but I don’t like the main characters as people enough to cry from the culmination of the story... however, the reprise of main song, delivered in beautiful powerful troupe harmony as the curtain fell, murdered me, and I burst into tears on shonichi.

My main worry, especially considering that we have a guest lead and I adore Yukigumi as a whole with all my heart, was that it’s a very top-heavy show. Yesterday I was SO pleasantly surprised at how well-balanced it felt compared to my expectations; today, unfortunately, I felt the same from my vantage point but also realized it will probably feel just as top-heavy as the original on DVD. A sizable portion of the other main players’ stage time comes from beautiful but wordless dance scenes. But despite the light usage of most of the troupe I actually felt better than I did watching Robespierre. Everyone may be on stage less, but I felt like their characters were more lovingly crafted and very distinct from each other even with the simplest backstories. 

My two biggest gripes about Tom swooping in are 1) they often like to pretend she is still 25 which she is distinctly not and 2) in what I’ve seen recently I felt like she and the troupe she’s borrowed were acting separately from each other. I think a big reason why Gaisenmon worked for me is neither of those things applied. While there were a few insertions to balance the stage time a little better, the show is largely the same as the original, yet there is nothing in it that suggests Ravic—a surgeon who escaped Germany as the Nazis came into power—is any specific age, and he works at any age... specifically, even a large age difference between Ravic and Joan is totally reasonable and believable. Against the chaotic backdrop of refugee-laden pre-war Paris, an older doctor and a younger aspiring actress could absolutely meet and fall in love. Tom also meshed with the troupe a lot better than I expected. There’s no way to sugarcoat how shot her singing voice is, but damn the woman can act, and her otokoyaku mannerisms (stage kisses in particular) definitely show her long years of practice. 

Kiichan slayed, I thought she was even better than Tsukikage Hitomi. Joan is a REALLY HARD role; she’s practical out of necessity but a bit frivolous at heart, and she’s in love but also struggles to differentiate between actual love and the fear of being alone in an increasingly dangerous world. It doesn’t sound like it in writing but in execution it’s really easy for her to come off as weak, clingy, and annoying, when she’s actually a very nuanced character. Kiichan hit all the right notes, she didn’t appear intimidated at all by Tom, and even their romance seemed totally natural for the aforementioned reasons. Her sudden lovesickness could have been so one-note but I felt the tinge of anxiety behind it throughout the whole show, and I was so impressed by that. There is a scene of misunderstanding between Joan and Ravic at a cafe that in a way triggers the unfortunate events that occur thereafter, and it’s gut-wrenching, especially on a second viewing when you can watch it unfold with the knowledge of what’s coming. Her death scene is also extremely intense.

Salty as I am, I LOVE the role of Boris for Daimon. I’ve been feeling like I’ll explode if I have to see her do another sad French play, but after watching this somehow it wound up exempt. The story is heavy and all of the characters are struggling, but amidst the turmoil Boris is a calming presence, refreshingly level-headed and quite positive in a lot of ways (EDIT: in chatting in the comments the words I wanted but couldn’t find at 3am came out: he’s definitely got a cynical edge to him as well, but it was kind of like his cynical view of the world freed him up emotionally to be quietly supportive of the other characters’ problems... I think that’s what I mean by positive). And I can’t even express HOW LOVELY it was to see Daimon play THAT CHARACTER for a change, how fulfilling not to just watch her suffer for an hour and a half. Boris is in the story himself but also the narrator. In the story bits, he’s cool and reliable and there’s a really heartwarming sense of purity in the way he freely shows his emotions. Daimon seems to enjoy over the top acting just fine, but it’s her roles that rely on subtle facial expressions and body language that absolutely kill me—this was the latter. In the narration bits, she weaves an intricate tapestry with her voice. As I said every detail of the direction is intentional and beautiful, but so much of the mood also comes from the emotion in Daimon’s singing, not only in the actual songs (one of which she sang in probably incorrectly but nonetheless tantalizingly pronounced French, ugh ♥), but also particularly when she hums background tunes as other bits of action are taking place. She barely moves and her voice is so soft and yet STILL it reverberates throughout the entire theater somehow, like it flutters into every corner. And she was so beautiful, she worked the hell out of some costumes that definitely wouldn’t be flattering on everyone. I’m TEARING UP right now, my heart is so full. 

Here’s where things get bit eh for some people and downright unfortunate for others. Saki and Shou barely had anything to do, although I understand why they were relegated to those roles versus the Aasa, Hitoko, Kari group which although comprised of very distinct characters still felt like a single unit in a way. After a bit of prologue choreography Saki doesn’t show up until past the halfway point. She’s Henri, the handsome but creepy and possessive movie producer who lands Joan some acting jobs and then also shoots her in a fit of jealousy. She really only has two notable short scenes toward the end, when Henri first tries to coerce Joan into staying with him and then comes to Ravic pleading for her life after shooting her. Shou is a sexy doctor who talks on the phone sometimes. 

The Aasa/Hitoko/Kari group, however—and, tangentially, Asu, Manaharu, Michiru, Kiwa, and Agata Sen—shone more than I expected remembering the original group (our legendary Yukigumi 3兄弟 Touko/Komu/Naruse Kouki). While they also only had a few scenes to themselves, those scenes were some of my favorites, and they’re the ones who got to decorate the outskirts of the other scenes’ action with beautiful dancing. Aasa is the only one whose role I’d call a step back from Robespierre, but only because she was my Robespierre MVP, and she was still wonderful as the more subdued Jaime. I felt distinct forward momentum from everyone else. Hitoko was absolutely adorable and injected way more into Rosenfeld than Komu did (which I can say even with the ultimate bias on my side), and Kari was truly outstanding, I could melt just looking at her and I’m so glad she landed a role with that kind of prominence. The whole Hotel International group just had so much humanity. 

Final shout outs go to Niwa who I love unconditionally in every role she plays but particularly here for a) A+ slimy awful Gestapo officer and b) the novelty of Kouju Tatsuki squeeing OMG YOU WERE KEN-2 IN THE ORIGINAL AND NOW YOU’RE SCHNEIDER?! in the talk show; and Miho Keiko who I was SURE they stuffed into Gaisenmon because Fujii-sensei demanded her presence in his show as usual, leaving me quite dumbfounded when she wasn’t in Gato Bonito at all. It wasn’t a role that one of our many boss beautiful perfect upperclassmen musumeyaku couldn’t have done, but nonetheless her presence leant some more gravitas to the show in addition to balancing out Tom a bit.

Gato Bonito!! had the opposite effect on me initially. I expected to dislike Gaisenmon and it wowed me, and then it wowed me twice over because that feeling of your expectations being so far exceeded is wonderful. Meanwhile I’ve been laying in bed at night screaming DAISUKEEEEEEEE into the darkness for months, praying he’d deliver me a perfect trilogy of HOT EYES!!, Santé!!, and now THIS!! (boy he loves double exclamation points doesn’t he). 

Well, it sure wasn’t HOT EYES. But in retrospect, that’s a damn high bar. After watching Gato Bonito today with my expectations in a reasonable place, I liked it more... especially when I think about how SUPER VOYAGER was everything I never want to see in a revue ever again tied up in one neat package, and this, in contrast, was a lot of things I want to see very much.

From the start I liked or loved all of the scenes individually, but something about the show as a whole didn’t come together for me, and after two viewings I think I have some idea of why. The sets and backdrops were off for me, in a way that I did not think could have such a large effect on the show’s overall vibe. Most revues will have a big eye-popping scene, then they’ll close the curtain and have people dance in front of it for a short transition, then open it again to another eye-popping scene. There’s a nice rise-climax-break-repeat flow. But there were so many scenes in Gato Bonito where they’d drop a curtain down, have a dance in front of it, then drop A DIFFERENT THING down and have a dance in front of that, and I just felt like I was being constantly led toward a climax that never came. When they did open up the whole stage I found the sets really spread out and airy, such that it felt as if no matter how hard they tried they couldn’t fill the stage with enough people. They were also FLAT, like literally flat on the floor, not enough gradated pieces with people standing atop them to fill the back as well as the ground. I might feel differently when I watch it from the first floor, but for now I think some pretty small adjustments could have given it overall more impact.

Also, WAAAAAYYYY too many LITERAL CATS for my taste.

THAT SAID, boy this was SO MUCH of what I love to see out of Daimon. It was hot and extra and the music was amazing and she got to stand there making these burning faces and do TRULY UNFATHOMABLY STUPID THINGS WITH HER VOICE and flamenco and tango and all that jazz. Everyone was melting pile of orange goo no thanks to the weather and the insufficient air conditioning, but other than that there were even enough good costumes to balance out those ruffle abominations (you know the ones) that of course showed up a bit. Saki was ON FIRE, I know I said I was tired of riding the Saki coaster but oops here we go up another hill. They made up for shafting her in Gaisenmon with a loooooot of juicy revue time. She’s gotten so good at emoting through her dance, she was just dynamic and sexy and 150% energy from start to finish. Kiichan has a little ways to go to catch up with everyone in her Latin dancing but there was already a really noticeable improvement between shonichi and today. 

Highlights:

Argentine tango to Yo Soy Maria ft. Daimon singing in Spanish, guessing by the lack of bedazzling on the suits that that was the ANJU-sensei scene. When the curtain opened on all the otokoyaku just mingling in the dark smoky background it PHYSICALLY HURT (it also began with all our boss beautiful perfect upperclassmen musumeyaku in slinky dresses)

There’s a scene with Saki, Shou, Aasa, and Hitoko taking turns grinding on Daimon in the world’s tackiest bodysuits, but there was something so inexplicably hot about the drag + otokoyaku hair despite the melting orange goo and poor Saki and Aasa absolutely drowning in their own sweat

The chuuzume starts with a conga line across the ginkyou, and EVERY PERSON IN THE TROUPE comes out in single file in rank order, it was A LOT for my Yukigumi-loving heart

Kiichan gets to do stuff, Daisuke is aware we have a top musumeyaku which is apparently a challenge for some people

Daimon enters from the back of the first floor singing Kuroneko no Tango at one point and when she reaches the stage there’s a daily “ad lib” (in quotes because I’m sure she’s already written them all down and rehearsed them ad nauseam), but her ad libs are so dumb I love her

ASU GOT A WHOLE SONG

I forgot to pay close enough attention through the applause today to grab the exact words, but I’m like 90% sure the final lyrics as Daimon is descending the stairs in the parade are something she also referenced in her +act interview right when she became top (I don’t have the magazine on me but I translated it as “we can live through today for the sake of tomorrow and for the sake of living tomorrow we can stand firmly right here today”). She was talking about the “soul of flamenco” and that being something that turned her whole outlook around during Don Juan, so I thought it was REALLY SWEET they threw that in as a nod to her continuing to grow. Haha nope, after 4 viewings I'm sure I was wrong, but I like my idea better Hankyu pls hire me

Did I mention her dumb stupid voice? I know Robespierre was literally written for her by a Broadway composer but for me there was no comparison; in both acts it danced and changed and filled the theater in ways that don’t seem like they should be physically possible. Like this is the ????th time I’ve seen Daimon live and I was still just absolutely slain by all the heretofore unheard things her voice can apparently do. 

I’m whole and healed and so surprised and delighted I didn’t have to wait till 2019 for that to happen. 

[selflesstwin]

“Merry Christmas, Kaoru!” A joyful chirp would greet them, Kiwa’s grinning face so clear as she held a gift bag out to her friend. Inside the carefully packaged present was a hand made picture frame. Kiwa had been working on it for the last few weeks, adding as many small details she could think of that may make Kaoru smile. “I made it myself! I thought you’d like to have something solid to display a picture of something you care about in!”

Christmas Vibes 2021! | @pommedoll

       “ Oh! Merry Christmas, Kiwa! ” The exchange student looked at the bag, blinked a couple of times, and then finally accepted it. For some reason, it was always difficult to simply take gifts from others. Even though they didn’t exactly need anything, they were still excited to see what their friend got them. After all, it meant that she was thinking about them and that made them happy. 

       Resting the bag on a nearby table, they pulled out some of the colorful paper and set it aside before grabbing the item. The frame immediately caught their eyes and when they examined it more closely, they couldn’t help the big smile on their face. It wasn’t anything store bought. She had made it for them. One of a kind. “ Kiwa! This is awesome! Thank you so much! ” Stepping away from the table, they moved closer to their friend and hugged her, thanking her once more for the wonderful gift. “ I love it! I’m gonna switch over the picture of my siblings and use this frame instead. It’s perfect! Thank you again! ”

[casketcat-archived]

@dangaer wished upon a star !

some would call it a childish habit, the way the young demon prince finds himself drawn to all things human like a dauntless moth to a flame, raising to stake his claim on it as if no doubt worried such things would swiftly been taken away ----- years of being taught a single standard being an immediate amplifier, multiple years of one reality enough to bore an immortal out of his mind despite how long he would continue to rule over it. but even he can recognise that this is as much a problem as it is a solution, something confounded buried into the notch of his brows as he ends up spending hours fiddling with the puzzle that had conveniently fallen into his hands. no side entirely the same colour and patterns far too different from anything he has found online. it feels more like a ruse than an actual rubix cube.

and maybe that's why he finds himself so downtrodden on the door of the house of lamentation, behaving in a demenaour he's certain will no doubt anger both the brothers and his butlers alike. the ability to solve this problem is suspected in only three people in the devildom, and kiwa is practically the one he trusts the most when it comes down to it, an embarrassed brevity crossing his features as he hides the puzzle behind his back, not quite able to meet her eyes.

❛   good afternoon, kiwa!   ❜  he begins, a little forceful / a little too polite. ❛   a fellow demon told me that puzzles in the human world were cursed to be much harder than the ones in the devildom ... would you mind showing me how to complete one?   ❜ 

The day had thus far been uneventful, and Kiwa did find herself to be a little bored.. she didn’t deal well with not having things to do. So, her day had been spent absorbed in a new painting she’d decided to work on— she planned on sending it back home to her brother. He’d mentioned he was redoing his room last they talked, and of course she needed to help decorate!

Painting was a fine way to spend the day— but guests were even better. When she first was told Diavolo was there to visit her, she was beyond excited to say hello and have some time to talk. The demon prince was one who she was very curious about— but never had quite enough time to talk to. She knew he was a busy demon, and she was thankful for the friendship of sorts they’d already managed to form through smaller talks.

The initial forced politeness did worry her, for a split second Kiwa wondering if maybe she did something to get in trouble and he was here to scold her… like she didn’t hear enough of that from Lucifer. It was a tone she wasn’t sure how to process or what it meant— until, well, the mention of puzzles. She couldn’t help but chuckle— the demon prince had genuinely come all the way over just to ask her help with a puzzle? Cute.

“Good afternoon! I guess human world puzzles are pretty hard, huh?” she thought back on so many she’d failed and passed on to Shion to finish.. he liked them much more than she did, the little problem solver he was. She didn’t want to disappoint Diavolo here, but… she wasn’t the best at puzzles either. This was a pickle. Her cheeks flushed a little— embarrassed, not wanting to admit she probably couldn’t solve it either— but she nodded none the less. She could try at least! “A puzzle? Sure! Let’s sit down and see if we can get it solved! If you have the time I mean!”

[zukalations]

MY HERO director roundtable talk

This feature from the March 2017 Kageki is a discussion of the then-upcoming show MY HERO, starring Serika Toa. It took place very early in the production of the show, before rehearsals started.

MY HERO director roundtable talk

Participants: Saitou Yoshimasa (director), Serika Toa, Houzuki An, Asazuki Kiwa, Oto Kurisu

Saitou: I feel a lot of happiness and also pressure in being assigned Serika-kun’s second lead show and her first lead appearance in Tokyo. Currently, Serika’s appeal is really blossoming, so I created this show in hopes of bringing her into full bloom, as it were, and showing everyone a Serika they’ve never envisioned before. As shown in the poster, her character in this show is really over the top (laughs).

Serika: So over-the top (laughs).

Saitou: It’s a show styled after a comic book, with a strong comedic element, so while the plot is very simple and easy to follow, it contains themes of friendship, love, unwavering courage, and I also wanted all four characters to grow as people over the course of the story. The character Serika-kun plays, Noah Taylor, is a top-ranking young actor. His father was a suit actor, like those who perform the action scenes in Masked Rider. Noah bears a lot of resentment towards his father, and after deciding ‘I don’t want to be an actor like my father who never showed his face,’ he became a big-time star. Personality-wise, he’s an impudent, conceited star.

Serika: (laughs)

Saitou: Supporting Noah is Terry Bennet, a stunt actor played by Chinatsu (Houzuki). Therefore, Chinatsu will also be in a mask.

Serika: Hahaha (laughs)

Houzuki: What are you laughing at (laughs)

Serika: I’m looking forward to it.

Saitou: You said it was like a high when you put the mask on, didn’t you.

Serika: It really raises the excitement level. Like ‘I’m becoming a hero!’

Saitou: In the poster photoshoot, as soon as you put the mask on you could get the poses instantly!

Houzuki: It’s not like I’m really into Power Rangers type stuff, but when I saw Kiki (Serika) in that costume I was like 'That’s so cool!!!’ I think it’ll get the audience really excited too.

Saitou: The two of them were at college together, but Noah ended up in the spotlight, while Terry was pushed into the background…they quarrel with each other intensely. But after Noah causes a scandal, he loses his film contract. While he is under orders not to cause any more trouble, he meets Hirame-chan (Asazuki), who plays Chloe Spencer, a struggling gravure idol who was formerly the 901st ranked pro tennis player in the United States.

Houzuki, Serika, Asazuki, Oto: (laughs)

Asazuki: This show Director Saitou wrote has so many characters full of individuality, and when all those characters comes together it creates great synergy - I think it’ll be a really fun show and I’m really looking forward to it.

Serika: When Kiwa-chan (Asazuki) was reading the script she was like 'Wah~’ 'So that’s it!’ and acting it out, so that was a lot of fun.

Asazuki: Oh, stop it~

Saitou: Chloe is under an immense amount of debt. The tw of them meet at the worst dip in their fortunes, and while Chloe becomes Noah’s manager and tries to be buddies with him, she only finds him really strange jobs. (laughs)

Houzuki: That’ll be fun (laughs). I wonder what it’ll be like… (laughs)

Saitou: That culminates with the Mask*J Hero Show. There, Noah meets Oto-kun’s character Myra, a volunteer at an old people’s home. While due to an incident when she was 4 years old she lives in a wheelchair, she’s high-spirited and puts her full effort into everything. Ah, the 4-year-old Myra will also be played by Oto-kun, if you don’t mind.

Houzuki, Serika: You’ll do great~ (laughs)

Saitou: Look, your seniors have given it their seal of approval.

Oto: S-sure. (laughs)

Saitou: As Noah begins communicating with Myra, he gains courage from her, and also discovers unknown things about his father’s past.

Oto: Since I’m supposed to be giving [Serika’s character] courage, I’m going to learn as much as I can from the senior actresses and give it my all.

Saitou: An then, as Noah is falling, Terry rises to stardom and becomes more and more popular. He is sponsored by 'Smile Company’.

Serika, Houzuki, Asazuki, Oto: 'Smile Company’!?

Saitou: They have plans of their own which become clear later. The goal of this show is through the bonds of father and son, and personal clashes that develop into mutual understanding and friendship, to give the audience energy and encouragement.

Serika: I haven’t had the chance to appear in one of Director Saitou’s shows since El Halcon: The Falcon, and when I first read the plot synopsis I thought 'What? I can’t show my face?’ (laughs) But after hearing the story, I think it has a lot of fun and exciting elements to it. I’m kind of worried about whether the rehearsals starting soon will be enough (laughs).

Saitou: We’re going to be doing filming, too. The idea is to screen a 'trailer’ for Mask*J The MOVIE before the curtain rises.

Serika, Houzuki, Asazuki, Oto: Oh~! That’s so fun!

Saitou: While Noah is egotistical, he’s not completely hateful. He doesn’t consider the effects of his words or actions, and subjects Terry to a lot of verbal abuse.

Serika: (to Houzuki) Sorry about that…

Houzuki: (laughs)

Serika: Since I’ve had a string of 'nice guy’ roles for ages, I’m pretty happy about this. And since it’s an 'Action Stage’ then of course there has to be…

Saitou: There will be plenty of action.

Serika: I’m still a bit worried about the action scenes, but I’m looking forward to it.

Houzuki: Even though Kiki keeps being cast as heroes on the side of good, she has a ton of imagination and so does Director Saitou, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of Kiki will appear in the show he’s created for her.

Serika: Thank you. But I’m not a hero of justice at all in the dressing room makeup area. I do nothing but meddle (laughs)

Houzuki: For sure (laughs)

Serika: In Me and My Girl, I was in a male-female couple with Chinatsu as Gerald and Jackie, but in terms of acting together as male characters…

Houzuki: We haven’t done that before so I can’t help looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Saitou: I thought that as well, so I decided to make the two of them completely opposite character types and make them confront each other. The two musumeyaku roles are also very different; it’s nice to show a lot of contrast, I think. To finish up, why don’t we all say what we’re excited for in this show, starting with Oto-kun.

Oto: I’m nervous since this is my first time appearing in one of Director Saitou’s plays, but I’m really looking forward to it, and I hope this wonderful show will raise the spirits of everyone in the audience.

Saitou: I’m hoping you will dive in fearlessly. While you’ll have your movement ability limited by being in a wheelchair, you’ll be able to dance popularly in the finale.

Serika: Ah! There’s going to be a finale with it! Hurray!

Saitou: It’s a Takarazuka Hero Show (laughs)

Serika, Houzuki, Asazuki, Oto: (laughs)

Saitou: Then, Hirame-chan…

Asazuki: I got really excited hearing about the story, so I’m certain the audience will be really excited too. I want to make sure I do my part thoroughly even though I’m in the midst of so many different characters. I hope it will be a wonderful, fun production.

Saitou: Some of Hirame-chan’s scenes will be central to setting the tone of the show, so I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll do with them in performance. What about you, Chinatsu?

Houzuki: I think there are a lot of things about this show that will make people think 'I want to watch that!’ so I want to work hard at making Director Saitou’s show the best it can be, as well as enjoying myself.

Saitou: I’m hoping you will be a hero who is an opposite foil to Kiki-chan’s character. Finally, Kiki-chan, go ahead.

Serika: Of course for Takarazuka, entertainment is the main point, but I think it’s best when a show isn’t just fun but also conveys some kind of message to the audience. I’ll do my best!

Saitou: I’m hoping this show will be great for Kiki-chan’s growth. I ended up writing that in my New Year’s statement for Kageki this year…

Serika: I read that (laughs)

Houzuki: She was like 'He’s advertising MY HERO!’ (laughs)

Saitou: It’s true. I hope people will enjoy the passionate drama and coming-of-age story surrounding all the heroes and heroines, starting with your four characters.

[notkirbiinut]

hi lol ignore everything that is below of this because it's about my little stinky kirbie ocs <3

rambling here so uhh yeah

Things to know about nk

• They are part dark matter but a small percentage of them is puff so they can be able to have the physical appearance of one that is similar to kirby in a way

• Because of an older role they used to take on when Zero was still alive, Nk is really good at spying on people and can be a pretty good lier when it comes to certain situations

• They haven't really eaten many things thought there lifetime because of there dark matter part. Dark matter don't really need to eat because of most of there energy is because composed from the negative energy they hold. There is an exception with Gooey

• Very few people on popstar actually knows that nk is in fact dark matter because of the trust issues nk has.

• Sometimes when Eye (the eye in nk's mouth) comes out it can be painful if eye is out of a while which can cause physical harm to both if them because they are attached to each other

• In the second thing I had said, Nk used to be a spy so Zero can see when it is a good time to attack popstar. They whole process would be that Nk would be the one moving around and eye would come out to see what is going on around somewhere. In a way eye was a camera (I'm not sure how it would work but it's the best that I can explain)

• they live in tree

aha moving onto Leafy

• She can be pretty trustworthy

• She lives in the deepest parts of Whispy Woods so it's easier to hide out somewhere because not many others go around that area. It's mostly restricted because of its dangerous creators there.

• There had been some times where Leafy might have killed someone.

• She lives in a cave

Yeah I really don't have a lot of information for her uhhhh moving on to mirror orb now

• Mnk was accidentally made because Nk was dumb enough to look in the mirror for 10 minuets straight

• They live underground. Its kinda like burrow but its more like a hideout than as a home

• almost got killed by the same fucking dude (dmk) almost 10 times

• From the contrast of the mirror world and popstar, Mnk is actually really social compared to Nk. From other things that I had said in the part where I was talking about Nk: Mnk is really bad at lying and spying yet they do have the appetite that they can control, when Meye (mirror eye) comes out its usually in a more panicked state then how regular Eye is more in a relaxed state.

• Even though Mnk might be more social than Nk, they try to avoid others sometimes.

that's all now time for long arm waddle dee

• Kiwa is a cyborg

• now explaining they cyborg part: Durning the Robobot Incident Kiwa was the owner of the Spring Smash Factory (stage 2-

man I wanna talk about nk but idk where to start

[tanzubee]

Bhutan-June 2017

In June this year, Sama and I took a trip to Bhutan. We had been discussing about taking a trip together for quite some time now and we eventually made it happen this year. We had narrowed our choices to Thailand and Bhutan, but the mountains ruled over the seas! 

Travel to Bhutan: Once we had blocked the dates, we proceeded to book our tickets. Now, there are a couple of options to get to Paro:

Druk Air operates between Delhi-Paro, Mumbai-Paro, Kolkata-Paro and Bagdogra-Paro. However, the flights do not operate everyday and you will have to coordinate your travel plans accordingly.

Bhutan Airlines also operate a flight from Kolkata to Paro

Tip: While travelling from Mumbai or Delhi to Paro, request for a window seat on the left (right for the return flight). The flight crosses by the Himalayan range and offers a spectacular view of the Kanchenjunga and Mount Everest! Sadly, despite securing window seats, we could not get a glimpse of the Everest due to bad weather :(

Travelling by flight though, is a little on the expensive side. Sama and I didn't have too many days at hand and owing to her motion-sickness, we chose to fly. The road option is less expensive, but consumes more amount of days. 

One can take a flight to Bagdogra and then travel to Jaigaon/Phuentsholing border by road (4 hours) and then to Thimpu (5 hours)

You can take a train to Siliguri from Kolkata. Siliguri to Phuentsholing is another 5 hour drive. From here, it is another 5 hours drive to Thimpu.

Many choose to stay overnight at Phuentsholing and then continue their journey. While the travel sounds tedious, the drive is said to be extremely picturesque! Phuentsholing is also where you have to take an entry permit to cross into Bhutan if you are travelling by road.

Most tourists cover Thimpu, Paro, Punakha and Haa Valley. Sama and I had time constraints and hence decided to stick to just Thimpu and Paro. 

Thimpu: We landed at Paro international airport and proceeded to Thimpu, via pre-paid cab that we hired at the airport. While we had initially decided to explore public transport in Bhutan, we realised the transport facilities are minimum. The drive to Paro was about 45 mins and extremely beautiful. Our driver Jempal was warm and welcoming and despite empty roads, drove at a steady speed of 65kms/ph. 

At Thimpu, we had booked our stay at Osel. This is a relatively new hotel, right in the middle of Thimpu. That evening, we strolled around Thimpu town square and explored the area on foot. The great thing about Bhutan is the roads are fantastic with wide footpaths. The pedestrians have right of way and everyone diligently follows traffic rules. 

While there is a mix of old and new structures, by royal order, all buildings, be it monasteries, hotels or apartments need to have sloping roofs,multi-coloured wooden facades and windows with small arches. This gives a sense of uniformity to the entire country.

On our second day at Thimpu we hired a cab for some sightseeing. You need to haggle a bit with the cab drivers or you will find that the cab rides can possibly burn a hole in your pockets. We visited the Buddha Dodernma statue, a nunnery that we encountered along the way, Bhutan post office and the museum. The massive Buddha statue is 169 feet in height and definitely a treat to your eyes.

In the afternoon, we enjoyed some traditional Bhutanese cuisine and some local beer.  What you see in the picture are red rice (chummap), white rice with corn (chumkap and kharam), potatoes (kiwa), cabbage (kopi), pickled radish (lafu), cheese (datsi), cheese and chilly (naki-datsu), red chilly chutney (izzi) and yellow lentil soup which they call daal. Naki-datsu is the staple food of Bhutan and quite spicy! Generally, each place/city has its own distinctive smell. By the end of our trip Sama and I realised that Naki-datsu is Bhutan’s peculiar smell that follows you everywhere you go! 

The Taschicho Dzong was about 2 kms from our hotel and we decided to walk that distance, soaking in the beautiful scenery. This Dzong is the seat of Bhutan government and houses various departments and administrative units. The pictures below show the exterior and interiors of the Dzong.

Paro: On our third day we headed to Paro. The drive was extremely lovely! We had made our reservations at the Gangtey Palace and we weren't disappointed! This beautiful palace hotel is situated on a hill overlooking the entire town of Paro. We were so in love with the place, that we decided to just spend that evening on the deck overlooking the town, sipping on multiple cups of tea and then beer! 

Meanwhile, Chandru, one of the hotel staff volunteered to give us a tour of the palace and educate us about the history of the place. To be honest, he thought we were sitting at the hotel out of boredom and not personal will and volunteered out of pity! It was really nice to see how aware Chandru was about the culture, religion and politics of Bhutan and answered all our questions with ease. He even demonstrated the correct manner in which one prayed in the temples there! (Sama and I often remember Chandru and his shennaigans!)

This was the view from Gangtey Palace hotel :) 

Tiger's Nest Monastery/ Tatsang Lakhang: We reserved our fourth day solely for the trek to Tatsang Lakhang popularly known as Tiger's Nest Monastary. We set out early in the morning and headed to the base. Our cab driver played some melodious and soulful Bhutanese music in preparation to our trek. 

You need to purchase a ticket at the counter at the base to step inside the monastary on top. Tip: If you are trekking up to the monastery, ensure that you take a walking stick on rent which is available at the base. They were such saviours! 

Many tourists choose to do the journey till the cafeteria on horses. The cafeteria also serves as a view point from where the Monastery is seen. Some climb up till this point, have a quick bite and then head back. After the cafeteria one has to cover some distance and then you are greeted by 700 steps! 

We decided to do the entire trek on foot. For a non-trekker like me, it was quite tedious. I huffed and I puffed but I made my way up! Sama was a like a goat, and ever so motivating- “Look Tanzu, that 75 year old grandmother just crossed us!” 

We met some lovely people along the way; a couple from Indonesia who were taking a series of "follow me to" photographs and offered us some honey ginger mint, an American who was picking up litter along his way, a couple from India with their two kids who didn't seem to get tired at all! 

As challenging as the trek was, the satisfaction of making it to and fro in one piece was fantastic! As you climb down the stairs you can see the gushing waterfall adjacent to the monastery. The Monastery is beautiful and one can only wonder at the way in which it must have been built at that height, considering the only means of transportation is on foot.

On our final day in Bhutan we did some sight seeing in Paro, visited the Drukgyal Dzong, Kyichu Lakhang, Paro Dzong and spent our time at a quaint little cafe in Paro town. 

These are the ruins of the Drukgyal Dzong in Paro. The dzong was destroyed in a fire in the 1950s and is now being restored.

This is the new Drukgyal dzong, presently under construction.

Kyichu Monastery is one of the oldest temples in Bhutan, built in the 7th Century. The temple has a beautiful orange tree in its compound which bears fruit perennially.

This is the orange tree in the vicinity of Paro Dzong. The Paro Dzong is lit up beautifully at night and we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it from our hotel.

Tip: When you visit a monastery, ensure that you are fully clothed with full sleeves shirts/jackets. They do not allow people in with t-shirts. We sadly lost out on monastery that way :(

Bhutan is a beautiful country; scenic, peaceful and culturally alive. More importantly, the people there are warm and affectionate. Whether Thimpu or Paro, Jempal or Chandru, everyone and every place is tied together by a common thread- a sense of unyielding contentment and happiness. 

[makinomariasama]

Blog Post Translation: November 20th, 2019

Enjoy, and please don’t repost without credit!

* "Hello Pro ONE X ONE" #1  Makino Maria (Morning Musume '19) X Takagi Sayuki (Juice=Juice)

http://yahoo.jp/U625C9

It's out now!!!! Please definitely check it out <3 <3

<3 Sayuki-onee-chama x Maria <3 Maria asked Takagi-san a lot of questions * Maria Takagi-san answered all of them <3 Thank you!! To be continued

Today, I did a recording, and a photo shoot Thank you very much ♪

Look forward to it okay

[Question 1] What did I have for dinner? * I had an early dinner

<3 Tasaki Asahi-chan <3 Happy birthday, Asahi-chan *

Bitter and Sweet ASAHI TASAKI Birthday Live 2019 "Part 1 - Tasaki ASahi Solo Red and White Singing Contest" November 20th, 2019 at KIWA TENNOZ

I went to watch it

My beloved Asahi-chan <3 She's good at playing the piano, the guitar, and singing <3 Asahi-chan. Today too, she was really pretty and cute <3 Asahi-chan. When I watched today's concert, I thought that it was like Asahi-chan was many different people. When the next song started, it was a different Asahi-chan. At the fourth song, Asahi-chan took a break, then started to sing when the song started. She was really cool, and my heart skipped a beat **. Asahi-chan's songs feel really comfortable. I thought that I always wanted to listen to them. Seeing her and hearing her was really fun <3 <3 I really love seeing her play the piano while singing. Asahi-chan's talking was also super cute :) <3 ♪ Asahi-chan sang a lot. Maria was really confused about if it was the red team or the white team.

Since Asahi-chan's songs also play as an appearance song at the stadium, I'm really happy!!!!

Tasaki Asahi-chan <3 Tasaki Yuuhi-san <3 Tanks

Please check out

Tasaki Asahi-chan's blog <3 And Tasaki Asahi-chan's Instagram <3

I love you, Asahi-chan <3 <3 <3 Asahi-chan, have a LOVE Rin year <3

From Maria

[Answer 1]

I'll win tomorrow too!! by SHINJO

To be continued

Look at Makino Maria's Instagram, okay

* Makino Maria *

[casketcat-archived]

xamassed​:

“M—Move in together? Y’mean like — together-together, as a c—couple?” He choked on the word, the sugary sweetness of it almost making his tongue go numb. Mammon didn’t hate the idea. He adored it, actually. In the past, his sin had made the idea of sharing feel wrong. What’s his was his, and he didn’t want others to touch, take or even look at some of his precious possessions.

Since her arrival, since the moment he felt his little heart sing for those darling eyes and bright smile, the notion of sharing didn’t sound as ridiculous.

He bought things for his brothers, for her, for the angels and Solomon. He felt more generous towards the little girl he had unwittingly taken under his wing. He realized now that the reactions of the people were just as shiny and precious as anything bought with money.

And it wasn’t as if she hadn’t already invaded his space. There were loose bottles of paint, worn brushes, bolts of cloth, scraps of homework and clothes already scattered about his room, most of it on the floor. It didn’t feel right if her things weren’t there, so what harm would it do if they did start sharing his room? She could move all of her things in, and there would still be room to spare. Plus, there was the oh-so alluring idea that he would fall asleep and wake up to her. Just her. No one else ever again. Ever.

The pat to his head shook him from his head, daydreams drifting behind him like small, iridescent bubbles. Along the way, he would reach out and mental touch at one within reach, mind temporarily wandering while he stealthily snuck his way to her room. Only when they scrambled inside did he finally feel his thoughts and feelings settle down.

“Bird dad, huh?” He snorted and shuffled over to her bed, where he carefully plopped himself. “This ain’t my first time doin’ this. I got what I need, but I gotta be careful gettin’ it all back here. First step was gettin’ it int’a your room, but the second step is just as hard. Man, sneakin’ around this much is a pain in the ass…”

It was worth it to see the bird eventually grow happy and healthy.

“Oh, before I forget! We gotta name ‘em! Even if it don’t become one’a mine, I still feel weird not callin’ it by a name. Any ideas?”

“Oh? If you have everything, I could go grab it! I think people would be less suspicious of me carrying a ton of random stuff, right? I mean… Lucifer has seen me with handfuls of stuff all the time! Just let me know what you need, that way you can stay here with the baby!” Kiwa was more than happy to make the trips back and forth to get everything needed to make the bird comfortable. Especially if it would make things easier! Her going in and out of Mammon’s room wasn’t very uncommon to see either. “Can we name them something cute? What about Biscuit? Butterscotch? Mochi? They’re so little and adorable, their name has to match!”

Kiwa excitedly clasped her hands together, grin still a mile wide across her face. “Also, yeah! Didn’t wanna say it earlier while we were sneaking around, but moving in together together! I think it would be really fun! Cuddles and kisses every night~ that sounds like pure bliss to me! What do you think, Mams? I wonder if the pets would get along…” she trailed off, eyes glancing over to the large ferret cage on the side of her room. She knew they could be evil little things sometimes.. and she wasn’t sure either if Mammon would want them in his room permanently. They could get a little destructive sometimes..

“Aren’t I right though? You basically are a bird dad! You’ve raised so many! It’s so cute and heart warming! I love how caring you are, and the beautiful birds you’ve taken care of show that part of you so wonderfully. I’ll never get tired of watching it!”

[doodlewash]

My name is Dominik Neuffer, and I’m from Germany, but I currently live in Switzerland. Maybe you know me from the Urban Sketching Group here on Doodlewash. I started sketching as a kid. My mother was a textile designer and I could learn a few things from her, like our daughters are currently learning from me, by watching and trial and error, of course.

Later, when I was older and more experienced, I also could help my mother every now and then. However after trying to study landscape architecture and lots of drawing and breaking up with it after my mother died, leaving me with a whole bunch of responsibilities, there followed a long hiatus over the years, where I did not sketch very much.

When I started to study computer science and successfully finishing it, I did computer graphics. But, I barely picked up a pen during the best part of ten years. Finally when our oldest daughter told me in 2015 she’d liked to start sketching seriously, I thought, well, that might be a good opportunity to reboot my sketching habit.

Since 2017, also thanks to World Watercolor Month, I’m back at a daily sketching routine. I think I’m a mixed media type. In school, I scribbled with pencil and fountain pen. I also liked crayons. After dabbling a bit on the iPad, the first sketches, I made again, were ink and color pencils. But, I was very fascinated by wet media and soon I bought my first watercolor set from Winsor and Newton.

Currently I’m most of the time sketching directly in document ink and adding washes of color. For ink, I use Sailor Jentle Kiwa Guro ink or Platinum Pigment ink in a Kaweco AL-Sport or Lamy AL-Star, because they‘re sturdy, not too expensive and easy to clean. I also like adding highlights in white with gel pens. Sometimes I throw the good old crayons in the mix or even use brushpens or ballpoint pens.

For brushpens I have a Tombow Calligrapy pen and a few identical Pentel brushpens, I refill with Kiwa Guro as well. The Akashiya Sai color brushpens are also nice for a change. For water soluble black ink for a broad stroke I recently discovered the Pilot Sign Pen.

For ballpoints, just a cheap pack of Bic Cristal from the supermarket. I also use Pelikan Skribtol directly out of the bottle (caution not for the faint of heart) With gel pens I had good experiences with the Jelly Roll and Uni Ball Signo in broad, but a Pentel Correction Pen can be fun as well (also not suitable for control freaks).

As for watercolors, I started with Winsor & Newton Cotman, switched to Prima Marketing and Van Gogh, but am currently most of the time using Schmincke Horadam because of their quality and availability. Also, The Schmincke work well with the old Schminke Gouache I have left from my mother which are still workable after 20 plus years. Sometimes I also use Kuretake Ganzai for plain color wahes.

Paper and sketchbooks, I’ve used a phletora. I really can recommend Seawhite of Brighton Mixed Media, they‘re affordable and can take a few washes of watercolor, but I have used so far with no complaints: Moleskine watercolor (good but expensive), Sennelier, Canson, Talens, Field Artist, Khadi and Pentalic.

For more watercolor work and loose sheets, I currently work with Arches Hot Pressed (satin) which I also use for bookbinding, but I‘ve also had very good experiences with paint on à grain from Canson. I‘m currently still searching for the perfect paper to combine ink work and watercolor or mixed media with crayons.

It was really eye opening when I realized that I’m a sketchbook person. I’m not that good with single sheets of paper. That doesn’t mean I don’t use them at all, but generally not much. I like to keep my visual notes, as I call them, in a bound book. Seeing it filling up day by day is something I find extremely satisfying. Also, keeping the mistakes and looking back at them later is really helpful for getting better, accepting and working on your shortcomings at the same time. As sketching became a daily routine, the motive of the sketch became less important.

If I wanted to get better at sketching, I realized, I had to sketch and not to be picky about what to sketch. The subject of the sketch doesn’t really matter. So, some sketches are really done for the purpose of sketching alone and that can be satisfying on their own. Basically, it really doesn’t matter what you’re sketching when you get immersed and enter the meditative sketching zone.

Most of the time, I like to catch moments and memories, though. For that I set the bar not very high. I like trivial things that become interesting the longer you look at them. Abandoned places, people on the train, old cars, I like to collect as I spot them. Also, living in Bavaria, the typical Swiss architecture is interesting to me. Most locals just fade it out. Since I’m doing this on a daily basis for 18 months now, I’m getting bolder. I’m sketching in restaurants, bars, at reunions and meetings. Just starting with a little scribble can be very beneficial as it opens your eyes and sharpens your senses. All of a sudden you’re starting to see motives everywhere around you.

Most of my work is done on the go. On the train, during lunch break. I enjoy jotting down the things I encounter on a daily basis. For example, when I was taking a short walk after having a quick bite for lunch, heading into a direction, I haven’t been yet, I discovered an old tower from 1542, which served multiple purposes throughout the centuries (prison, storage, sleeping place for soldiers). A nice motive for the 20-30 minutes I had still left of my lunch break.

When sketching from life, I first define the shapes with quick strokes in ink. Sometimes I start with pencil. After that I lay down a few washes of watercolor to define the basic shapes of the composition further. As finishing touches, I often add a few highlights with a white gel pen. When sketching on the go, watercolor is a convenient medium to add color.

For the composition itself, I feel free to move around things or leaving them out. That’s one of the benefits when sketching from real life. It’s more easy to distinguish between the interesting and uninteresting stuff. When looking at a photograph, for me, making that distinction is not as easy.  Generally, I try to work my way from the foreground to the background and trying to keep everything in between balanced and interesting, leaving details out where there isn’t my main focus.

I use too many sketchbooks. I’m trying to get the numbers down this year, but there isn’t the perfect sketchbook – at least not for me. Also last year, I learned how to bind my own books, that multiplies the possible combinations of papers and formats. It’s easier than it looks and it can be also a satisfying occupation on its own. You should absolutely try it.

For me, it all started with a sketchbook. I made myself on out of paper, my aunt gave me. Heaps of it. And since I’m not good with loose sheets, that was the perfect moment to plunge into bookbinding. The paper was decent, but nothing great, just right for quick visual note taking without worrying about wasting expensive paper.

When I have more time to sketch, I use better paper, preferably 200 gsm or higher. That’s when I bring at least three sketchbooks with me. Then I might draft the basic shapes with pencil or watercolor pencil as guides for filling in the colors. I also might use a pencil or graphite stick or even a black brushpen or diluted indian ink for adding value before coloring.

After the washes of watercolor, I add contours where necessary with fountain pen and black ink, highlights with a white gel pen and more contrast with crayons if necessary. Sometimes, however, I like to change things a bit and use ballpoint pens or red document ink for the outlines. Also sketching directly with water soluble ink before coloring can be a wonderful and freeing experience.

In 2018, I collected lots of memories that can be revisited by flipping through my sketchbook pages. Like the guys I sketched on the train and showed them the picture afterwards. An especially nice couple, even made a Polaroid of me as a gift in exchange. Another very particular and treasured moment is meeting three retired teachers in San Francisco and being invited by them on a day trip, because they enjoyed seeing me sketching.

Also in 2018, was the wedding of my cousin. During the festivities, I made 12 sketches of the event. That was my present for the newlyweds. For myself, I made five sketches on top of that to remember it. Being the “official” sketcher in addition to the hired photographer, I had a really great time, chats and drinks of course.

Besides that, the most treasured moments when it comes to sketching are the sketching ventures with our six year old. Kids of that age totally immerse themselves into the drawing. Usually, I can only get a quick sketch in while we’re out together, but I do enjoy having a memory of our shared moments.

Then, of course, there is the chatter you sometimes have with likeminded artists who spot you sketching or people who want to try sketching for themselves or start it again. I try to be very supportive when it comes to that, knowing how it made my life more colorful.

Then there is of course the “OMG, you’re so talented, I couldn’t do it” comment. I like to disagree on that with a soft but distinct statement. Because I don’t consider myself as very talented. Kids are naturally talented, but most of us stop sketching when entering adulthood. It’s all about practice and actually doing it.

I’m a fan of grinding. Back in the day when I was playing computer RPG games, grinding meant killing the same small monsters over and over to level up. While playing computer games didn’t teach me much about drawing, one thing I learned was that there can be quite a bit achieved by grinding. Or like the Japanese proverb says “Even Dust, When Piled up, Will Become a Mountain.”

Same goes for drawing. Constant practice makes you better and confident. Don’t venture out and attack the level boss first. Fight the smaller ones. If you’re overwhelmed by complexity, break it down into digestible bits or try something easier. I usually try to start as easy as possible.

Everything mustn’t be great, everything can’t be great, but by sketching regularly you eventually will get better and end up with a few good sketches, even great ones, you can be confident about and show with pride, because you deserve it. You don’t always have to share it. The sketchbook is yours, you can keep it all alone for you and keep it private. But, my advise would be to share at least some of your pages. It’s totally worthwhile.

Don’t try to judge yourself by the work of others. Only you can sketch like you can. Your line work is unique to you. Have fun and sketch often, then you’ll get better inevitably. While sketching from pictures can be good practice and I do it also as a second choice – preferably from pictures I made myself, going out and sketching from life is best in my opinion.

Also working with limited timeframes can be liberating. Knowing I cannot produce a masterpiece in 20 minutes can be a delightful experience. For me that means, getting a scene into my book without having the time to fret about mistakes. And that shows. Some of these quick drafts have a boldness that is hard to replicate when having all the time that would be needed.

Look forward and from time to time look back to see your improvements. Experiment to broaden your knowledge but also come back to the things you love and improve them. That way you’re building a solid foundation and confidence. Always carry a sketchbook with you, because the moment you’d like to catch probably won’t be waiting for you to be ready.

The new year is still young and now is a good time to start a sketching habit. As for my “resolutions”, I’m trying to get the number of my sketchbooks, that are in use, down as I’m trying to complete as much as possible before starting new ones. Also this year is all about reviewing and refining my style.

I’m also very interested in your goals. Let me know about your goals in the comments!

Dominik Neuffer Doodlewash Instagram YouTube

GUEST ARTIST: "Collecting Memories" by Dominik Neuffer - #doodlewash #usk #urbansketchers #urbansketching #watercolor My name is Dominik Neuffer, and I'm from Germany, but I currently live in Switzerland. Maybe you know me from the…