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theblurbwitchproject · 9 months ago

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Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono

Published: June 1, 2021 Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

The Author

Eiko Kadono is a Japanese author and has published nearly two hundred original works, most of which are books for children. In 1985, she published the children's novel Majo no Takkyūbin, which was later adapted into the Hayao Miyazaki animated film with the same title. Both the novel and the film are known by the English title Kiki's Delivery Service. The book was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award, among others, and she followed on this success with four sequels in the same series. She lives in the Kanagawa prefecture of Japan.

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The Story

Half-witch Kiki never runs from a challenge. So when her thirteenth birthday arrives, she's eager to follow a witch's tradition: choose a new town to call home for one year. Brimming with confidence, Kiki flies to the seaside village of Koriko and expects that her powers will easily bring happiness to the townspeople. But gaining the trust of the locals is trickier than she expected. With her faithful, wise-cracking black cat, Jiji, by her side, Kiki forges new friendships and builds her inner strength, ultimately realizing that magic can be found in even the most ordinary places.

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The Vibe: coming of age, whimsical, cosy, episodic adventures, wholesome, quirky, comfort read

The Style: japanese translation, children's literature, middle grade, chapter book, cute illustrations

Trigger Warnings: none

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The Review

Writing this review in 2024, I'd be surprised if you hadn't already seen, or at the very least heard of, Studio Ghibli's 1989 film Kiki's Delivery Service. As with all Ghibli movies, it is a lovingly animated piece with quirky characters and a wonderful soundtrack. Less people may be aware that, rather than being an original screenplay, the movie was based off the 1985 children’s novel of the same name.

According to Kadono, the story itself was inspired by a drawing her daughter drew of a witch flying through the sky with a radio, musical notes dancing around her. When creating Kiki, Kadono framed the character around her own daughter, who was also 12-years-old at the time. Drawing inspiration from her own daughter definitely brought life to Kiki, who experiences thoughts and feelings that all young girls go through in a considered and realistic way. I feel that this is the true heart of the story, and is why it touched so many people when it hit the big screen. The book itself is written for Middle Grade readers, and is a very simple story that adult readers could knock out in a day.

“I want everything to be brand-new - my clothes, my shoes, my broom, too. I want to be reborn. I’m sure Mom’ll say, ‘You’re from a long line of witches, so you need to value the old.” But I’m me. I’m a new witch.”

As with the film adaptation, the novel starts with Kiki preparing to leave home for her “Coming-of-Age” day, an event which kick-starts the year of mandatory independence that every 13 year-old witch is required to undertake. (It gives me a Pokémon vibe; how such young characters are encouraged to leave home to undertake some huge adventure on their own.) Kiki is confident in herself in the way only a child could be. She’s ready to start her life on her terms, but over the course of the story she begins to grow and experience cute developmental moments that show that she is moving on from childhood and becoming more knowledgeable about the world around her. These moments really show Kadono’s understanding of young girls like her daughter. Kiki begins to have doubts and questions about how things work as she settles in her new town, but still manages to make herself a little home above a shop owned by the lovely Osono, a friendly and heavily pregnant baker. If more people were like Osono, maybe kids could actually have more wholesome adventures out in the world??

How can I discuss Kiki without talking about her familiar, the black cat, Jiji? Within the lore of the book, a new-born witches’ mother searches for a black kitten born around the same time as her daughter, so that they can be raised together (super cute!). As they grow, they develop a special relationship and learn to communicate in their own language that no one else can understand. It turns out that Jiji is particularly sassy and can be a little cranky, but always comes through for Kiki when she needs help. While he can talk, Jiji is very much a cat, “Jiji shot her a reproachful glance and then made up his mind to ignore her altogether.” If you liked Jiji in the movie, you won’t be disappointed in his book counterpart; he’s just the best, and a good companion for Kiki as she sets off into the world on her Coming-of-Age day.

“Gradually, everyone’s waving hands below grew harder to see, and all the lights of the town twinkled like a starry night turned upside down. The full moon hung in the sky, watching over Kiki. Eventually even the lights of the town faded, and all she could see below were mountains shaped like the dark backs of animals.”

Kiki chooses to settle in a seaside town called Koriko, and most of the novel focuses around her living in Osono’s spare room and running “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, her own small business. She meets a whole bunch of unusual characters, some of whom would fit perfectly into a Roald Dahl story. Her slow ingratiation into the hearts of the town is well done, considering the episodic nature of each chapter and the simplistic narration. In the witchy tradition of Kadono’s universe, Kiki doesn’t accept payments for her deliveries; she takes small things in return like food or being taught a new skill. In this way, she grows as a person and becomes more self-sufficient, while still experiencing typical tween-girl issues like dealing with crushes, “Mysterious? Is that how I’m supposed to act? Maybe there’s something wrong with me?” The book walks the fine line between simple writing and slightly deeper exploration of Kiki’s character extremely well.

While the film is very faithful to the core characters, especially Kiki, Jiji and Osono, there are a number of plot differences in the book. The young painter who lives in the woods is there, although she doesn’t play as large of a role in the novel. Tombo is also a side character, and while he is still a friend of Kiki’s there are a few major differences in his storyline, although they still have a cute, innocent courtship. The novel gives more emphasis to the various jobs that Kiki completes in her career as a flying courier, and no major crisis of confidence occurs that causes Kiki to forget how to fly her broom or talk to Jiji. Like I said, this is a children’s book, and even small amounts of movie melancholy aren’t present; it’s sweet and heart-warming rather than inserting drama for the narrative’s sake.

“Kiki, make sure you come back, all right? We’re so happy to have a witch as our neighbor. Everyone says that if they go three days without seeing you flying through the sky, they feel like something is missing.”

If you’re a big fan of the Studio Ghibli film, this book is worth checking out, if only to spend a little bit more time seeing Jiji being the sass master that he is, but remember that it is very much a children’s book and therefore a super simple read. I would definitely recommend it for younger readers, particularly if they enjoy stories like The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy. Kiki’s Delivery Service is very cosy and wholesome; if you feel like reading the book equivalent of a hot chocolate on a cold day, it’s one for you.

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑

[Goodreads]

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linagram · 11 months ago

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𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝚋𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚎𝚒𝚔𝚘!

we have two december babies and the first one is eiko! have fun while you can, girlboss, because season 3 is going to hit you. uh. hard.

you can read the bday timeline conversation under the cut!

Shun: Uh.. Eiko-san, forgive me if I'm wrong..

Shun: But it's your birthday today, right?

Eiko: .. Wow, I can't believe you remembered.

Eiko: Haha, looks like your memory really is getting better.

Shun: O-of course I remembered!

Shun: I always try my best to remember the things I.. uh.. care about.

Eiko: But you can't even remember your own name or age sometimes. Does that mean you don't care about yourself?

Shun: ...

Eiko: Haha, sorry for asking such a deep question.

Shun: N-no, it's okay. I just..

Shun: W-well, I haven't prepared a birthday gift for you, but I thought that maybe..

Shun: .. D-do you want to spend some time with me today? You know, just.. hang out a little bit?

Eiko: It almost sounds like you're asking me out, really.

Eiko: But fine~ I don't have much to do anyway.

Eiko: "This guy is so creepy.. But I can't say I hate the attention I get from him."

#remember how i said that shun x kei (keishun? shunkei?) reminds me of 0104 #I WAS WRONG. THESE TWO ARE MORE SIMILAR TO 0104 #except if 0104 canon relationship is more platonic these two are more on the romantic side #“does that mean eiko likes him back” hhhh hard to say. t1 and t2 eiko definitely didn't have any feelings for shun and just used him #but i think t3 eiko will be a bit more attached to him.#💎prisoner 006: yoshioka eiko💎#💔prisoner 003: ishizu shun 💔#🎂 birthday timelines 🎂

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onmywaytofanfic · 2 years ago

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IBIKI's BIRTHDAY !!!!

Listen IS IBIKI'S BIRTHDAY AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I need to prepare something for him, since I suck up to do something for my Shino, hoping not to let this man out. Here just a few drops of drawings that I have done of him.

#happy birthday ibiki!!!!#IBIKI MORINO #Eiko Morino oc #HAPPY BIRTHDAY MA BOIIIIIII #oc stuff #naruto oc #naruto art #Ibiki Morino is the best I love him let me love him

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queenoffishingandcookies · 2 months ago

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Random Ramblings about Battler’s clothing style, and then clothing for Fem Battler:

Spoilers Below!!!

This is just me think on ideas for character designs that 1) I found interesting and 2) I’m not actually skilled enough to draw yet. Lack of practice kills, folks.

Inspired by @peachducy’s recent art depicting designs for fem! battler (and Battler missing her wife is i c o n i c, I like your designs very much. Please find their art here, and check out the rest of their work!).

This is also inspired by the artwork done by artist Yoshino Kaoru (pixiv), as well as several others such as Serico, Yoshida (RAN)/Shidacoo, Still/Still (Just) and OnoyaAko/Onoo Eiko. There's a lot more, but you probably didn't come here for a face full of links, and Tumblr posts have image caps.

The art can be found on either e-shuushuu.net (the first links, for all names after Kaoru) or Danbooru (second links), as far as I'm aware.

DO NOTE: Danbooru hosts a lot of NSFW (18+) pieces of art, so please be careful looking for artwork on the website if you don't want to get an eyeful.

This is me looking primarily at the Manga, since throughout the VN, there are essentially no other Battler sprites outside of the clothes he wore to the family conference (the exception being his cape/cloak).

Buckle in, because this is about to get real long.

I’m about 90% sure that the first time we see Battler depicted in ‘non-conference’ clothing is in Alliance.

Example 1 of Battler's Wardrobe (The Amusement Park):

Example #2 of Battler's Wardrobe (Ange's Birthday):

There are a few other images of Battler, such as that single panel depicting his and Kyrie’s backs together in Alliance (?), as well as the few panels where we actually get to see Asumu, he is also depicted wearing baggy hoodies.

For reference, I’m also looking at Baby Battler’s conference clothing from six years prior to 1986, in order to compare the stylization.

Rough Clothing Analysis:

As a young child, while Asumu was alive, Battler is commonly shown as to wearing hoodies, and trousers and shorts (plaid, camo, etc). If I remember right, there's another panel when Rudolf, Natsuhi, and Krauss are talking on the former's infidelity, and Battler's depicted in an open-overshirt or jacket with a pair of jeans on (think flannel shirts, except its a plain and solid white on the page).

This choice of clothing seems loose, baggy enough to allow for a range of movements (We can presume Asumu was the one who primarily picked out his clothes, and helped him get dressed, at least when he was younger), but still well-fitting.

Even in the more formal clothes he wore to the family conference, including the former vest over top, where the cuffs of his dress-shirt sleeves were fitted around his wrists, the main fabric of the sleeves 'puffed' out rather than lay flat on the skin.

In other words, they're clothes that you would expect a young and energetic child to wear. On account of the manga pages primarily being in black, white, and gray, it's difficult to discern the actual coloring of the fabric other than - this is either white, or a softer color, while this is black or a darker color.

Also, and I'll go into this more later, but the general 'looseness' of Battler's shirts, hoodies, and pants have a resemblance to Asumu's own style of dress, the rough shape of her blouses and skirts.

This changes slowly as he gets older, slightly, from the references we have in the manga - some examples being the images I put in above. Battler progresses from loose shorts and pants to more fitting jeans (I think), and his hoodies - at least somewhat - give up their place to short and fitted jackets.

I call the jackets short, because they end somewhere around his waist area, and fitted because they lack the poof of the sleeves he wore when younger, and likely a difference of material possibly made them more 'rigid' compared to the fabric of a hoodie.

It's very tempting for me to think that the first jacket Battler wears is made of denim, as it reminds me of the jean jackets a few family members of mine own - and also, in Japan at the time, denim material was very popular (though I need to do more research on that).

The second jacket, on account of the belt buckles wrapped around each wrist, as well as hanging from loops around his waist, and the zippered pocket, I think I'd call it a bomber jacket? Those, at least in my experience, are usually made of some sort of leather. Interesting motif that, again, I'll bring up later (COUGH*kyrie*COUGH).

In comparison, I think hoodies are more commonly made of cotton? Anyway, I'm getting side-tracked.

Battler's jackets, on top of the pockets and zippers and belts, have chains attached to their hems (or, alternatively, his jeans). I find it interesting, since chains hanging from jackets or belts is something I personally have often read depicted as something representing a character seeming cool, or something that represents delinquency (which changes depending on the placement, the types of chain).

Battler tends to wear long-sleeved shirts, and solidly-colored ones at that, below his hoodies or jackets. Apart from the clothes he'd worn to the family conferences prior to the start of the VN (around 1979 or 1980, whichever you prefer depending on how you count his absence), Battler is always depicted with a dark-hued shirt in the manga, and the darker tones are indicated by the fact that his shirt is rendered in black ink. (Other option is that his shirt is actually black).

Additionally, he wears thick belts - and, such as on Ange's birthday, Battler seems to at least occasionally wear that at a slanted angle. Like I mentioned earlier, Battler also has chains attached - either to the belt itself, or the belt loops on his pants.

In the two instances of 'non-conference' Battler that I put at the top of the post, Battler also wears a necklace - both of which have hanging pendants. For Ange's birthday in particular, we see him wearing a necklace with a cross on it - a motif that his clothes in 1986 shares, as the zipper of his suit jacket is shaped like a cross.

Summary of Battler's Clothing.

As far as I can tell, Battler's color palette essentially follows this pattern. Darker, solid-colored shirts, with the pants and occasional jackets over top made of presumably lighter colors. His clothes are very simple, you could say. Real ornamentation is brought about the accessories he pairs them with, or the jackets he wears.

I wouldn't go so far as to call his accessories 'punk', but Battler favors simplistic chains attached to his jackets and so on - a sort of look that seems 'cool', similar to the occasional way his belt seems lopsided. This extends to jewelry he wears - simple chain necklaces, with small pendants hanging from them, and the thick belts.

He isn't flashy, doesn't wear particularly chunky chains or other large accessories to draw a lot of attention. Simple, sleek, stylish.

This coincides with popular styles in the 1980's, such as influences brought about by rising pop culture.

Similarities to other characters' clothing:

In my eyes, Battler's clothing choices - when he is a teenager, predominantly resembles two characters more than anyone else - Asumu and Kyrie.

I mentioned, earlier, that as a child the 'bagginess' of his clothes was reminiscent of Asumu's own silhouette. The simplicity of the accessories he wears, too, could also be taken from Asumu. However, he follows a 'darker' color like Kyrie, and trends towards styling what he wears in a similar.

These are all very small things I noticed, so this is just my opinion. I'll start with younger Battler's similarities to Asumu, who we never see in the VN, and only sparingly in the manga.

Asumu & Battler's Clothing:

Note: The two pictures labeled as Ep4 Asumu and Ep8 Asumu, I found on this post from @ramblingsofthegoldenwitch. There are immense spoilers in their post, which is about Asumu, so if you just want to see more pictures of Asumu, you’ll probably want to scroll to the bottom of the page.

Asumu favored blouses and skirts, if she wasn't wearing a dress. In other words, she had a traditionally feminine silhouette. Looking at the sleeves, you can match the puffy shape and the cuffs fitted to the wrists with the same sort of shirt that Battler wore six years ago, to the family conference.

Similarly her skirts, which roughly reached around the knee, were not fitted. They had flow to them, movement (I am not a fashion buff, despite nitpicking the tiny details in character design, forgive me for not knowing the shapes too well!).

In the panel where she's holding omurice with Battler's name on it (and he's so small and cute, I want to pinch his cheeks), Asumu's also wearing a sort of plaid-checkerboard apron. Matches with the plaid trousers Battler wore at the conference too, six years ago, and the looseness of the fit (as most children shorts are, I think?).

Her jewelry, too, is very simple. A necklace, with a single hanging pendant. In the full manga panel where Asumu’s image is depicted as though beneath cracked glass, we also see that she wore simple bracelets - the sort of plain bands without any other noticeable ornamentation.

This is something Battler also does, well after his mother has passed away - he has at least two plain necklaces that have simple pendants hanging from them.

Kyrie & Battler’s Clothing:

In a sharp contrast to Asumu, Kyrie is more commonly seen in blouses and pants (or, in the case of her sprite, a dress and pants). Rather than following ‘traditional’ portrayals of femininity as Asumu did, Kyrie’s style is noticeably more ‘modern’, you could say.

Unlike Asumu’s clothing, which was looser and fell straight or puffed around her body, and how her skirts flared out, shirt collars hemmed with frill or what I think might be lace (?) - Kyrie’s clothing is almost fitted to her body, from her sleeves and jackets, to dresses and pants. For the most part, she also wears long sleeves.

Additionally, Kyrie's clothing is often rendered in grays and blacks, compared to Asumu's seemingly lighter-colored clothes (only so much you can tell from the manga pages, though). Predominantly, though not always, she wears darker colors.

Outside of formal events (such as the image where she's with Rudolf at a party), Kyrie doesn't seem to wear much jewelry. However, she does tend to wear her belts slanted to one side, such as in her VN sprite and a few of the images I put above.

When comparing Kyrie's style to Battler's, they share the selection of dark colors, the wide belts, and the habit of wearing them slanted. In both her VN sprite, and the image of her walking away from Battler, we can also see that Kyrie also has a similar sort of cross motif.

Her tie has a crimson cross on it, and on her blouse or jacket in the next photo over, the buttons are also shaped like crosses (this is probably a coincidence, but I thought it was cool at least, haha!).

Other lines of thoughts - Battler & Kinzo's clothing:

I was going to mention similarities to Battler and Kinzo's style of dress, such as the fact that Kinzo and Battler actually wear the same shirt color, looking at their sprites - also, all the Battler and Kinzo parallels in regard to personality and appearance. However, in contrast to the images we have of Battler's clothes vs Kinzo's (the depictions of when he was younger, at least), they seem more opposed in my head?

Younger Kinzo, prior to the Kanto earthquake, is depicted often wearing a white (or lightly colored) button down, often with the collar also unbuttoned and left rising upwards, rather than being folded down around the throat. In childhood, he wears shorts, and this progresses to pants as he gets older.

In comparison, Battler wears shirts with low necklines rather than high collars, and there's an intervening period of 60 years between Kinzo and Battler's birth - the fashion trends change, and even when Battler wears high collars (ex: conference clothes), they are folded down around his throat.

Following the Kanto earthquake, Kinzo's style changes - he gets layers. His shirt and pants are added to, such as a vest, a coat, a necktie. Later still, circa the 1950's, Kinzo also seems to be wearing a cravat or jabot of some kind - further divorcing him from Battler's more modern formal suit, worn at the conference. The style he wears, as well as his difference in age to Battler, adds bulk that we don't see on our eighteen year old protagonist.

The closest similarities I find in Kinzo, his VN Sprite, happens to be the tie between their shared shirt colors, and the fact that Kinzo - like Battler - wears a suit of lighter color than his shirt. Battler's is a cream sort of color, whereas Kinzo is wearing white. There’s probably more, but my brain is fried.

Fem! Battler's Clothing: In General and For the Family Conference:

(Artists names are in the ALT text!)

I don't see being born as a woman (or presenting as one) as drastically effecting Battler's canon personality or personal preferred aesthetic - she'd behave very much like Jessica does in canon, standing outside of 'traditional' portrayals of femininity. In other words, a tomboy.

Being a tomboy doesn't necessarily mean that Battler doesn't wear or like to wear 'feminine' things, though. Case in point: Jessica. You can still wear skirts and be a tomboy, since I think the matter is that you are otherwise behaving in a ‘boyish’ and unladylike manner. Sure, the way you dress can have a hand in being perceived that way, but it’s not the entirety of what makes someone a tomboy.

Outside of the Ushiromiya Family, away from Rokkenjima, I don't think there'd be much of a difference in her clothing compared to what we get to see in canon? Battler would just also be able to wear skirts, leggings, and so on. It would be the same dark shirts or blouses, jeans or skirts, wide belts, chain motif, cross motif, short jackets and hoodies, and simple necklaces (for example...)

Her upbringing as 'a lady of the Ushiromiya Family', would have an effect on the type of clothing she'd have worn when in relation to childhood prior to Asumu's death, and the Ushiromiya Family as a whole, though.

It's known that the Ushiromiya family very strictly follows the roles assigned to a person's gender, even clothing-wise. (It’s what makes Eva design in particular so interesting - she’s the only woman in the family wearing pants, traditionally men’s wear, and non-western style clothing). I also noted earlier that Asumu dressed in a 'traditionally' feminine style.

Even being from a branch family, Battler would very much be brought up with that ideology in mind, even tangentially.

In regards to visiting Rokkenjima, due to her social standing, Battler would likely be expected to dress as a proper young lady, and this means dresses - blouses, or skirts, styled in lady's suits. I don't think she'd be forced into it if she didn't want to as she got older, but Battler was still raised in dresses and skirts.

It should also be noticed that, at least starting from Banquet, Battler displays levels of toxic masculinity and levels of misogyny, albeit unintentionally and not trying to cause harm (referring to woman as never directly answering question, getting upset unreasonably, etc), so even if Fem! Battler doesn’t care for the social norms of the time, especially regarding how she looks and behaves (and I really think she wouldn’t, for the most part), on some level it would still effect her, when coming from loved one’s at least.

The expectation of being feminine, though it might not bug her as much as it bugs, say, Jessica - who worries that her brashness is what keeps boys from asking her out, and so on - If Battler were really concerned about seeming feminine, I don’t think she’d do it out of concern for seeming unappealing to others.

She’d do it for herself (Battler, however, is someone very soft and squishy like a marshmallow on the inside. So, if it’s someone she cares about or likes who makes that comment…ouch).

Considering how fondly Canon Battler remembers his mother, I think that Battler - born or presenting as a woman later in her life - would in some manner attempt to mimic Asumu's style, as well as Kyrie's - the two women that she respects very much, and - because she is a woman - would be most likely to view as role models on some level.

As a very young child, I think Battler would very much be styled similarly to Asumu (and also Ange). Blouses with the puffy sleeves, and a pinafore worn over it (and probably several petticoats or some sort of crinoline, because no skirt holds shape like that on its own). Blouses and so on have the small ruffle or frill (see OnoyaAko's images above).

As she gets older, the silhouette of the skirts she wears doesn’t ‘balloon’ out as much, so to speak. They start falling down in a straighter line, and possibly more fitted around the waist in hips? Though not to same extent as Kyrie, where the fit is as snug as a glove - it’s still looser than that. Think pirate-shirt and slacks.

She probably starts wearing pants more often as well, after leaving Rudolf’s house to live with her grandparents (We don’t know much about Asumu’s parents, how traditional their views were. Whose to say whether they would have been concerned or not about Battler potentially dressing ‘like a man’? I like to picture they didn’t/wouldn’t mind much at all, though).

Personally, I've always sort of envisioned Battler (conference), wearing a blouse - or dress - with similar 'puffy' sleeves as Asumu wore, fitted at the wrists, same dark red fabric below the cream suit jacket that Canon Battler is known for. It’s just…her look, just as in canon.

I’ve think I've seen artwork where she’s wearing pants(?), but considering the social expectations of women in the Ushiromiya Family, to be feminine, proper ladies - as well as Battler’s prolonged absence where she literally left the family register, I feel like some level of stricter ‘code’ for dress would be followed for her - at the conference, she will eventually have to face Kinzo, after all (one of the misogynists to end all misogynists).

It would be best to try to stay on her ‘best behavior’. In other words, it would be best to avoid poking a sleeping beast (Kinzo) in an old wound (herself, dressing ‘inappropriately’ for a woman after having literally left the family for six years).

Therefore, for at least the conference alone, she’d maybe choose to wear a skirt over wearing a pair of pants, and maybe pack the pants instead as extra clothing.

The skirt maybe sits around the knees or mid-thighs in length. I'm not sure if it would share similar 'layers' or not, like Jessica, VIP Beatrice, or Natsuhi, though.

I made it longer than Jessica's and VIP Beatrice simply because, for the 1980's, their skirts seem to be short. Roughly the length of the miniskirt. They seem really short of the time period in Japan, and especially so for the family itself, considering it is the hyper-conservative and traditional Ushiromiya Family they are related to (literally).

Also, Kyrie or Asumu do/did not have 'layers' to their skirts, and considering Battler would likely emulate them on some level, maybe it would be edged with minor frill or some other minor embellishment, like lace, at the hem - instead of layers? If Battler were to have layered anything, it would be a really formal event...

For hair, I’ve always thought that Battler would have long hair. Majority of the fanart I’ve seen Battler depicted as a girl, she’s had long hair. I like to imagine it as long as Beato’s when loose, if not longer. It’s all that trauma from my childhood, I guess.

Though, considering both Kyrie and Asumu wore their hair short, taking the idea of her emulating them both and the sharing of parts of the character designs, it’s just as likely that she could have it cut short.

Also, I always see tomboys presented as having short hair and clothing deliberately selected to emphasis how their personality, favored past times, etc, is more like a boy’s than a girl’s.

However, Battler is a girl - and why would she have to act and look like a guy to do the things she wants, hang out with the people she want? What does her appearance have to do with that? (which, ironically, is exactly what makes her seem like ‘one of the boys’ majority of the time, she doesn’t care or really notice, and this leads to a series of misunderstandings where hearts of boys and girls alike are unintentionally broken).

It’s just something I always find interesting, the appearance of seeming traditionally feminine and almost demure on the outside, but being decidedly just another person - capable of being loud, of being brash, of being crude, sporty, etc - alongside it.

Formal Dress / Golden Witch Battler

This section is more self indulgence than anything else, so feel free to just skip it.

I’m fairly certain that, in both VN and Manga, there’s no depiction of the family changing to get dressed for dinner, but considering the high stakes and formality of the family conference, it’s always just been a sort of headcanon that sticks in my head and doesn’t leave.

A lot of Fem! Battler fanart depicts her in a dress, so naturally - I wanted to put her in a dress. Battler is hot enough in any world, that to see him or her (etc) in a dress would be fatal to most people’s hearts (Ladies everywhere hate him - haha).

But I always see her, in my head, as typically wearing the same suit - or an outfit I similar enough - to the family conference. Smooshing the idea of her in a dress with my headcanon of dinner was the perfect excuse for having both, essentially.

I think it’s mentioned somewhere in Turn that Battler’s family (and likely the others) brought several changes of clothes. So it’s possible!

I may also be a tiny bit salty that Battler, unlike the other witches in the series, didn’t get his own special ‘witch’ sprite (the cape is the bare minimum, and possibly counts as theft from Kinzo), so the fancy dress also gets to be her witch dress, once she solves Beato’s game.

Formal Ballgown Battler-wear is absolutely 110% inspired by Yoshino Kaoru’s art of fem! Battler (and I mourn the fact that there is no fem beabato art, though there are two pieces of masc beabato art 😏), as well as Yoshida (RAN)'s, and @peachducy’s witch Fem! Battler. Also, Still's artwork.

I ran out of space to add all those images because of the image limit, but know they're there in heart and spirit. Let me tell you, there’s no need for Kinzo’s absinthe in this household, because the characters and artwork in the fandom alone is enough to melt my heart and soul.

As I mentioned earlier, Battler probably wouldn't wear layers unless going to formal event - like the family conference, to her grandfather's western mansion on a secluded island. If you've got to dress up, you dress up to kill (bad joke was bad).

I don't have an exact idea that comes to mind for the sort of dress Battler wears, but the images I put above are along the lines of what inspires the thought of it. Part of me would want to put her in a victorian-inspired dress, with a sort of heart-neckline that rises up to her throat - hard to explain, really. Similar to the Shidacoo artwork, but the collar would rise encircle her throat? Also, the baggy sleeves, I really like the sleeves. Something like this, most likely (neckline-wise, at least).

Or maybe a sort of capelet, which would parallel Kinzo's cloak-cape...sort of like the small shrug jackets, except the back elongates and the collar's tall, and it's worn over her dress sleeves if she has them...ideas, ideas, ideas...

Anyway, that 'stricter' victorian would probably be an aesthetic more fitting for the adults - or a female version of Kinzo, whom I've already gone on a rant about (though that would invoke interesting further parallel between the two...?).

@peachducy's design of fem! Battler is really really really cute. I ran out of space in the block above, so I'll ramble about it here. So, they used reference from Beato and Jessica's sprites, and provided Battler with a similarly layered skirt - whereas Battler is still wearing the jacket, and vest as in canon.

Battler gets leggings with eagle on them, and has cross-shaped earrings (the ever iconic motif), and I can say without a doubt that she is hot. She even has a cravat/jabot with a cross pin! It's cool! Witch Battler gets a massive ballgown skirt, similar to Beato's own dress except...simpler, with the one-winged eagle up the length of it, as well as a cape similar to Kinzo's.

I am not visible, but know I am valiantly attempting to evade keyboard smashing.

On the other hand, the reason I like Kaoru's art so much, is because it shares motifs with Beato - such as the low back, and the shape of the sleeves and the just-off the shoulder design which makes it just a half-step different, and what it drops in mimicking the scalloped folds of her overskirt and golden embroidery (Beatrice's, I mean, tying her to Kinzo's cape), the design is replaced by simple layers hemmed in lace (and I'm always weak for lace-hemmed anything, sorry). Also, the fabric roses - because that's a tie to Beato, and throughout umineko, roses are Important.

Such as a golden rose laying to rest upon a catbox at the bottom of the sea. That scene broke me, and was what got me to regain interest in the VN after spoilers-

Still's depiction of Fem! Battler is also really good, because the lines of the dress of sleek and formfitting - reminiscent of the modern period, over historical-leaning gows (or that's how my brain interprets it), and it also brings back Battler's cross-motif. Still's dress reminds me a lot of Kyrie, actually. Sleek, straightforward, and mostly to the point - though it's still embellished with ribbons.

(Also, look at her hand on her hip!! The confident smirk!!! 10/10).

There's also another image attributed to OnoyaAko, where Battler is again wearing a dress, similar to Still's where she is sleeveless and wearing gloves, and with Beato - who is laughing. At her, and calling her cute (I think?). Meanwhile, Battler is trying to shove him away with a loo of utter disgust. The art piece cute, and just look at her face!

Dress-design wise, again, it's very simple. I like the black frontpiece, and how the skirt is tucked together before fanning out. Just..so many designs, so pretty.

The Opera Stella Iplehouse doll is another dress design I liked, and also and these two dresses ...

I have saved so many images from pinterest running through ideas, its not even funny. I have like five separate boards. Help.

Anyway, here ends my rambling on Battler's clothes, and the types of clothes he may wear as a girl.

#umineko spoilers #spoilers #I wanted to add more images but the cap stopped me #This entire post is me ranting about clothing and then capping the word limit per block and of images #umineko no naku koro ni #ushiromiya battler #rule 63 #genderbend #female ushiromiya battler #genderbend umineko au

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suzdotranslation · 7 months ago

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[Interview TL] 4Gamer's Weekly VTuber Files #15 - Arurandeisu

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Name: Arurandeisu Company: Holostars (1st generation) Streaming platform: YouTube SNS: X (Twitter) Hashtags: Live #アランストリーム / Fanart #アランの画廊 / Clips #切り抜きナンディス Character/Model designer: lack Debut Date: September 8th, 2019 Birthday Date: November 11th Height: 184cm Introduction: He is a detective, phantom thief, teacher, samurai, sniper, and demon hunter. A mysterious Italian who has traveled wide and far through different worlds. He currently devotes his days to this world after being entrusted with the dream of becoming an idol. While he claims to be the man of brains, he often relies on his brawn in the end. He likes pizza, meat, and cola.

10 QUESTIONS FOR VTUBERS

Q01. Tell us your main (streaming) content! Game and planned project streams, I also do DJ stream sessions playing Holopro songs, and I pretty much dabble in various genres!

Q02. What was the cue that kickstarted your streaming activity? Because I'd like to experience lots of things, I only got one life after all!

Q03. Please recommend us your “newcomer’s friendly” videos or stream archive! First, the quadratic equation-solving stream with Hiodoshi Ao-kun! To be honest I actually own a teaching license in science course, so I was able to make something like this. Of course, there's Ao-kun effort to solve the problems, and it shows in her remarkable growth in this stream alone! Link to the stream

Secondly, Since I have a pretty sturdy physics and all, I tried doing an experiment on myself. Now that I recall, each of these "world-level" tastes is pretty strong on its own. Once I had mixed it all in, turned out there was one flavor that stood out… Which you can check on the stream itself! Link to the stream

The third is a quick and entertaining one! I'd like to do something like this again but with more people. Link to the stream

Q04. Tell us things that you like or something you’re good at! I'm good at playing Rubik's Cube! I can solve one in under 40 seconds. And I like to stream, do muscle training, and DJ-ing!

Q05. Tell us a hobby or content that has piqued your interest lately! I've been really into fighting games recently!! In my day off I'd like to practice in the training mode quite religiously too. I also like reading manga and I have a wide preference in terms of genre. Among the ones I started reading recentlyー Chi. (Orb), Sousou no Frieren and Yofukashi no Uta are among the ones I really like!

Q06. Is there any VTuber around that has caught your attention? Let us know! Hanasaki Miyabi. The pioneer of our group, quite an interesting guy.

Q07. What are other things you’re paying attention to other than VTubers? Eiko Kano-san. I really like watching streams that could make me laugh a lot.

Q08. Is there a recent thing that left a deep impression on you, and is there anything else you’d like to try out? Since I like to do a lot of muscle training, I'd like to be involved in work with a protein supplement brand!!!!

Q09. What sort of content you’d like to challenge yourself for now? I'd like to come up with stream ideas, like holding game tournaments and such. It would be nice if I could make a fun project that gets people excited and happy!

Q10. Tell us your message to the readers! Thank you for reading this article until the end!! If you're interested feel free to check out my channel! It would be nice if you could watch my stream and comment on it tooー!!

#topic: holostars #type: interviews #topic: arurandeisu

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darkprincecait · 1 year ago

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HEY SO... about ur next fancures... do you have some... VISUALS in mind? Some visual details... for hair styles... outfits... etc.. how they would look...

Hello! While I'm finalizing their mg outfits (I'm definitely looking at different styles of Lolita fashion for inspo), I do have a few picrew images of my gals, plus some extra notes and trivia for each one!

Shika Morikawa / Cure Petal

Her birthday is September 5th, making her a Virgo!

Unlike Hiroko, she has a girlfriend from the jump - Hotaru Honoo, the vice president of the student council, who's basically the devoted wife to Shika's workaholic husband.

She just has intense girlhusband energy, I don't know how else to explain it. World's most married student council president.

Her given name means "deer", and her mascot partner is a deer fairy. I love on the nose naming so much.

Her mother works at the local natural history museum, and Shika has something of an interest in it herself.

Shika is a member of the tennis team and is quite skilled at the sport, on top of being athletic in general. She also has a lot of stamina when running.

She's the defensive warrior of the team as Cure Petal - she starts out knowing how to create shields in Cure form and then later gains healing and energy reflection as powers.

Ai Yukimura / Cure Glacier

Her birthday is June 28th, making her a Cancer!

She's the oldest of five kids - her younger siblings are named Tatsuya, Ayame, Yuto, and Yoko.

She also has a dog - a long-haired chihuahua named Maron!

Every Cait story has that one handsome lesbian with a bunch of fangirls. That's Ai. Half the female student body seems to have a crush on her, and she will flirt right back with them.

Ai is usually a very chill person (heh) but she can get overly worked up when someone brings out her competitive side, to the point of developing severe tunnel vision.

She's basically the mom of the team, with the best domestic skills and a great way with kids. She also gives excellent hugs.

As Cure Glacier, she's the team's powerhouse, being the tallest and physically strongest of the group. Naturally, she brings some of her experience as an ice hockey player to battle.

Teruko Hidaka / Cure Helios

Her birthday is December 22nd, making her a Sagittarius!

She's the youngest of three children and only recently started working regularly at her family's ryokan

Teruko is actually girlier than people assume and mainly holds back on presenting more femininely due to self-confidence issues. She actually gets along really well with her fashionista fairy partner.

She is bi and secretly carrying a torch for her childhood friend, Genta. She's also very close with his little sister, Eiko.

She is known as "Teruru" to her closest friends, and her teammates go on to pick the nickname up as well.

She is a member of the softball team! Every Cure in this squad is an athlete, basically.

As Cure Helios, she serves as a secondary powerhouse within the team, being light on her feet and hitting hard with her fire-based powers.

Ayaka Oozora / Cure Zephyr

Her birthday is September 27th, making her a Libra!

She wants to be an environmental lawyer like her father when she grows up and is already doing her best to be both knowledgeable about and involved on that front, as much as a high school girl can. This girl absolutely knows about Tree Law.

Ayaka has almost as many fangirls within the student body as Ai does and is considered the princess to her prince. She doesn't seem particularly interested in romance herself, however.

Definitely the most fashionable of the group and will leap at the chance to help someone find a look that works for them.

While Ayaka does not consider herself a theater kid, she is genuinely good at acting and has taken advantage of this.

She is a member of the cheerleading team and is a highly skilled baton twirler. Since everyone has magic batons as a sidearm in this series, you'd better believe she brings that skill there.

She is the speedy, long-ranged fighter of the team as Cure Zephyr. While everyone on the team can fly thanks to fairy magic, she is also the most adept in the air.

Also, have a height chart while we're here!

#cait answers #lilbugprincess #precure fanseries #natural sparkle pretty cure #natural sparkle precure

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linalilia · 2 years ago

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[meet the prisoners!] prisoner 008: maruyama yurika

(edit: .. i forgot about her height. i'm sorry yurika i have to edit your profile AGAIN)

idk if anyone noticed, but i DID post her profile but then i quickly deleted it because i realized.. that i actually don't like her crime that much. idk, i really thought that the crime i originally planned for her was too weird and i thought that it would be "too much" compared to the other characters' murders.

thankfully, i already had other crime ideas for her (and all the other prisoners) so i didn't have to think too much about it and i actually like her new crime more, so i don't regret changing some stuff about her. but what i do regret is that i had to rewrite her mv because the original one had too many hints to her "old crime". i had to rewrite her whole profile actually.

General info:

Name: Maruyama Yurika (丸山優梨香) (her last name means "circle" and "mountain" and her first name means "kindness, gentleness", "pear" and "fragrance")

Age: 21 y/o

Gender: Female

Status: Prisoner 008

Birthday: October 10 (Libra)

Blood type: A

Height: 165 cm

Image color: #FF8484

Occupation: University student and a maid cafe worker

Personality: Yurika is a kind and polite young woman who loves helping others and who is always there to support them or cheer them up when they're feeling down. She tries really hard to hide the fact that she's actually a huge otaku, but she's not that good at it because she still keeps making references to her favorite manga/anime/games. Even though a lot of people tend to take advantage of her naivety and innocence, she's actually much scarier than she appears. When it comes to her crime, she tries to avoid the topic and she claims that she did it out of self-defense and that she's not lying. You can see the anger in her eyes when she talks about her crime though, so.. it's hard to say if she really regrets committing her crime. What she did after her crime is also a big mystery and the fact that she starts shaking whenever someone raises that topic and she keeps saying "I had to do it, I had to do it, I had to do it".. makes others worry about her a lot.

MV Info:

Which canon Milgram song she would cover: Umbilical. It fits her vibe and her personality a lot!

Which DECO*27 song she would cover: Poison Apple.

If she could cover a song by a different Vocaloid producer, which one would it be: Kyu-kurarin by Iyowa.

Her MV description:

The first half of her MV would have bright colors like pink, orange and yellow, but they wouldn't be as bright as Kei or Eiko's MV colors. Later those colors would change to darker shades of green and blue.

The first half of her MV would actually have that 90's anime art style and it would be very cute and colorful. We can see Yurika getting ready for work, she's smiling and singing something and we can also see that her room is full of anime/game merch and we can see post-it notes everywhere that say things like "You can do it!" or "Let's hope today will be better than yesterday!". She finally leaves the house and the MV takes place in a maid cafe now. We can see her talking to the customers, smiling, serving food and being the cute maid that she has to be. She's also friends with her coworkers too and she seems to be the most popular maid here. Everything is fine.. but also it feels like everything is too peaceful.

Some time passes and Yurika can go home now, but right as she leaves, the colors suddenly change and become much darker and the art style changes to the usual Milgram MV art style too. However, now the MV has this weird effect, like we're watching an old tape right now. Yurika has a bad feeling and she keeps looking around as she walks home. But then, suddenly, the POV changes and we can see Yurika running away.. from us. She trips and falls and everything goes black for a second, but then we can see her lying on the ground, her clothes is torn and her hair is a mess now. It looks like we're pointing at her and laughing, but if you look closer, you can notice two right hands pointing at her, it's almost like she was attacked by two people.

Then, we can see Yurika slowly getting up and looking right at us. She stands like that for a moment and then the MV gets more surreal: it doesn't look like we're watching a video, it's like we're just watching completely different scenes that are not connected in any way. The POV is also different depending on the scene: we can see her cutting someone's hair in one scene and we can see her beating someone with a pipe, but most of the time we see everything right through her victim(s)'s eyes. We keep watching her torture someone, but you can also notice that now she is actually wearing gloves in some scenes. The colors become even darker and it's almost impossible to see what's going on, but we still can see Yurika talking to someone standing next to her and then looking at us and the very last scene shows her fully covered in blood, talking to someone again and then smiling and doing a peace sign.

It turns out that we really were watching her do all of that and right when the TV turns off and we get up, Yurika walks closer to us, smiles and gives us a hug. The MV ends.

Trailer 1 Voicelines:

"Hello! My name is Maruyama Yurika! Hm? Y-you want to know what I do for a living? Uh.. Well, I'm still a university student, but also I work at a maid cafe! Yes, as a waitress. So don't be shy, you can always ask me for help, master~.. Ugh, I'm so tired of saying stuff like that."

"I HATE IT! I HATE EVERYTHING! I'M SO TIRED OF EVERYTHING, IT'S ALL SO TIRING AND OVERWHELMING AND STRESSFUL AND- W-wait, what are you two doing here?.."

Trivia:

She had two victims and murder wasn't her only crime. She also seems more worried about what she did after her crime and not the actual murder.

(Edited after posting her VD) She doesn't want to be voted guilty because of her huge fear of death and because she's tired of bad things happening to her all the time.

She's close with all the female prisoners (at least she thinks so), especially with Eiko and Prisoner 010. Her relationship with the male prisoners is.. not as good and she prefers to avoid them most of the time. If you ask her which male prisoner she likes the most, she will try to change the topic.

Yes, Kei tried to flirt with her, he already thought she was attractive and after he found out about her job, he became even more interested, but for some reason he got very scared and after that he completely stopped talking to Yurika. Whenever he has to talk to her, he tries to run away or he asks someone else to do it for him.

If Naomi is the "mother figure" for other prisoners, Yurika is like their "big sister figure", even though she's not the oldest prisoner and she's still younger than Kei, Shun and Eiko. Younger prisoners just trust her more than those three, even if some of them (like Akio or Asahi) try to deny it.

It's hard to describe Asahi and Yurika's theme with one word, but if I had to, it would most likely be "hunger" or "not feeling satisfied", to be more exact. I actually tried to assign deadly sins to all of my prisoner OCs and both Asahi and Yurika got a mix of Gluttony and Greed, but what makes this theme really interesting is that both of them are actually on the opposite ends of the spectrum: Asahi comes from a rich family and he was very spoiled, but he still wanted more even though he didn't even know what he wants, meanwhile Yurika struggled financially before arriving here and she regretted getting a job at a maid cafe, because she wasn't paid that well and she thought that the customers were annoying and that's why she obviously wasn't satisfied with her life. Her original MV also showed her killing someone while eating/drinking with them and Asahi's murder happened while he was eating dinner with someone (at least according to his MV). Also, interestingly, her new crime actually sounds more like "Greed" meanwhile Asahi's crime still sounds like a mix of Greed and Gluttony.

Yurika and Asahi's backstories are actually "reverse" versions of each other, and it's not just about Asahi being a rich kid and Yurika having problems with money. But they're also much more similar than you would think.

#i like her character even more now HER NEW CRIME JUST MAKES SO MUCH SENSE #but also note to self: please have a copy of the profile just in case if you suddenly decide to change something again #and as i said in the original post i can talk more about the deadly sins part #milgram #milgram oc #linagram

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