#Idol Mitsu's here to say she loves you ~ <3

[bigbrainbiology]

"Dear Miss Genius Idol, Unmatched" <3

[kaix-maxi]

why you should love izumi iori

i’ll try my best to put all the events in chronological order, but forgive me if i can’t,,, ok so ‘WHY SHOULD YOU LOVE IZUMI IORI??’ time for me to start yelling about why you should!! it’s just got part 1 spoilers aka if you’ve watched all of the anime already, you’ll already know everything i’m about to mention! spoilers that go beyond the anime/ p1 has been separated with me boldly italicising area where spoilers begin to start so keep an eye out for that!

one, he absolutely loves his brother, izumi mitsuki, it’s so obvious, he wants the best for him! his dream was for mitsuki’s dream to come true, and he only became an idol just so that mitsuki was also scouted by takapro,,, LIKE DO YOU SEE IORI BLUSHING IN THIS GIF??? the izumi bros are so wholesome

plus there was this one time in a rabbitchat where they were doing a play and mitsuki had to sacrifice himself for iori, and he was like “yeah, i’d totally do it in real life situation too! i’m his older brother after all, i love iori!!” and iori was literally just like “nO >:((”

and he literally wants to disrupt mitsuki as less as possible?? like tamaki was asking iori for the ‘birds and the bees’ talk, and he was like “please ask osaka-san or nikaidou-san” and when tamaki was ike “why not mikki?”, iori’s just like “i don’t want you to bother nii-san with this kind of talk”

plus he will never mince his words regardless of who he’s talking to, unless it’s his beloved “nii-san”,,, please look at him attacking the (random) man with the screentone hair (this was right after the dude dissed idolish7)

also, i totally headcanon that iori has a little brother inferiority complex! he thinks rokuya nagi would’ve been mitsuki’s ideal little brother,,, i can’t find the 4koma manga panel but there was a moment of where nagi hugged mitsuki from behind and they were happy together, and then when iori hugged mitsuki from behind, mitsu’s just like “iori,,, are you ok??”

plus iori was full aware that he doesn’t really allow himself to be spoiled by mitsuki, especially because he doesn’t know how to!! he wants to be there to support mitsuki, and gets super upset when they get into a fight lmao,,, i have hereby dubbed izumi iori as a brocon (also shown in this post)!

there was this one fight where mitsuki came back from failing an audition again so iori’s just like “rather than trying to appeal them with your energy, how about you try focusing on your appeal of being cute??” and then that sparks a whole fight where mitsuki blows up at iori saying that iori should stop focusing on his dream of being more like zero and focus on his (iori’s) dream instead, and that even though he wants to debut as an idol, he wants to do it with his own personality, not one that he’s manifested to become an idol! this makes iori extremely upset because he’s like “i’ve been trying to make my brother become someone he’s not,,,”

also, have this,,, iori tries his best to be a brother that mitsuki will love!

two, he will never admit he loves cute things. the reason as to why he likes cute things (which i find really adorable) is because of the family bakery ‘fonte chocolat’! apparently, it’s got some pretty cute designs and stuff for the cake so he grew attached to that while he was growing up i’m guessing?

anyways, he was steaming at tsumugi for throwing out his cute magnets, and then when she was able to buy a whole set of them again, he was like “i’ll accept it since you went through the effort of buying it, it’s good to recycle after all”,,, like please,,, why do you still deny it?

iori,,, have you seen yourself in your ‘day off’ rabbit chats? he goes on rambling to tsumugi about these super famous paintings when he’s actually just at a pet store and looking at a cat, and when tsumugi messages him, he’s like “stop, you’ll scare it away” and she’s like “i’ll scare the painting away???” iori please,,, this is ridicuclous -cries for iori- ALSO,,, i like to think that the only cute thing he’ll admit to loving is his brother. he’s so worried about his image,,,

speaking of a person’s image, do you remember the rabbit hoodie that mitsuki always wears? iori was the original owner! it’s in a 4koma manga panel (i promise if i can find it, i will throw it here right away) where iori wore it once and was thinking “this doesn’t suit me at all” and he sees mitsuki wearing a more formal-like attire (who’s thinking “this is kind of baggy...”) then they just stare at each other, and then switch clothes, SO THE RABBIT HOODIE IS ORIGINALLY IORI’S!! he loves cute things so much,,, therefore, please appreciate iori, he’s making mitsuki look absolutely adorable (it’s this hoodie btw)

three, he helps out with management alongside tsumugi, he’s also a part of why idolish7 is so successful!! his dream now is for idolish7 to reach its full potential and become super amazing, just like how zero was!! iori is super observant as well, please don’t forget that he was the first one to notice riku’s heart condition

four, there is like,,, no filial piety when it comes to this one! have you seen him think when tsumugi was like “only 3 of you will debut”? after the audition, he was literally scheming this whole thing in his head “if you fail nii-san,  i’ll make a claim, destroy your reputation and make sure your agency goes down”, like do not mess with izumi iori unless you want to die. AND when riku’s like “iori! i’m older than you so you should respect me”, iori just downright refuses like an absolute savage

five! he’s super concerned about others even if he doesn’t present himself that way! when riku just put his hand on his chest before a concert during this one time, iori freaked out and zoomed straight to him, thinking he was going to get an attack! also, remember the music festival? he screwed up because he was so worried about riku getting an attack!

and honestly, he’s so good,,, remember when he told riku he was a bomb? originally, he didn’t expand on it but then later he was literally just like “you’re our bomb. it doesn’t matter which way you explode. if it comes our way, we’ll do our best to defend ourselves”!! he’s literally telling riku he can screw up ([because of his respiratory disorder] but try not to riku) and if he does, then everyone else will save him

six! iori has an extremely sensitive body take notes fanfic writers LMAO!! sorry i’m not trying to imply anything dirty so he’s ticklish about everywhere according to mitsuki! mitsu literally says that he kept on tickling iori when they were kids and he just went overboard during this one time, where tiny iori started actually crying because of how much he was being tickled!

seven! take note ioriku fans iori has the strongest faith ever in riku’s singing ability, more than anyone else i’m pretty sure! in fact, to him, he considers riku’s singing ability to be able to ‘cast magic onto the audience’ and it makes “the stars fall" LIKE LOOK AT THESE THREE MANGA PANELS and you will see what i mean

also, have you seen him when he’s just woken up?? he looks absolutely hilarious (do you see that high key judgemental stare?? nah, it’s just iori waking up and trying to get used to life)

from now on, it’s nothing but SPOILERS so beware!!

remember when riku couldn’t even concentrate on singing and dancing anymore (part 2 i think?),,, i don’t exactly remember how or why, but then it happened! (lol) as a result, idolish7 was starting to go downhill and everything was turning from bad to worse, so tsumugi was like to iori “i want you to be the new centre of i7 temporarily until riku gets better″ and iori just noped outta there, he’s like “it’s got to be nanase-san. if it’s not him, it’s not idolish7″ but when push came to shove, he came back to tsumugi and was like “ok, i’ll be the new centre of idolish7"!

“Perfection Gimmick” is one of the songs where iori is the centre and “Restart Pointer” is when riku returns back to being the centre of i7, hence the reason as to why iori turns back and smiles in riku’s direction i guess in the MV!!

and to conclude because i’m literally getting laggy from how long this post is! a gif of izumi iori, please appreciate him!

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Stars Align 5 - 8 | Dr Stone 19 - 21 | Shinchou Yuusha 6 - 8 | No Guns Life 6 - 7 | BnHA 67 | Iruma-kun 7

Stars Align 5

Geepers, I accidentally read some spoilers before watching this episode…so I realised that the person in te clubroom was Toma without his glasses, but it took me a bit to realise still.

“Makimaki”…cute.

Don’t give Maki’s father your name, Toma. Names are weapons for guys like him!

It’s ben a while since I’ve done this type of maths, although the answer appears to be correct.

Huh? The ED went straight to the teachers instead of going to Kinuyo/Ruriha/Kaori (whatever her name is)…

Oh! That heart gesture hints at the fact he has a sister (I’ve forgotten the guy’s name though) – he might’ve learnt some dance choreography from watching idols or magical girls with her. Update: That’s Shingo.

Dr Stone 19

Rule no. 2 of shonen – don’t underestimate the bishonen.

The guy who kinda looks like Kirishima with orange hair is definitely going to be important…(rule no. ???? of anime).

Ooh! The themes I thought would never came back…came back!

Some people do consider underpaying people a modern form of slavery, y’know.

Does Tsukasa always have to be called “the strongest primate”, though…? It’s a badass title, to be sure, but it certainly wouldn’t be said a lot in a normal conversation.

Judging by the flame (homura) she carries, I’d wager her name is Homu-oh, dangit. Her name really is Homura!

Senku teaches Fire Safety 101.

Ginro’s not holding his bokuto (wooden kendo practice sword) anymore…hmm.

I didn’t think Sulfuric Acid lady would be back…ever.

The funny thing is that Tsukasa seems to be a gender-neutral name, so telling the brawny men to “go suck on Mommy Tsukasa’s teat”…LOL.

Hyoga has that mask thing of his anyway, so he’s probably better off than, say, Homura.

Is that a Death Star??????!!!!

Kensaku means “search”.

Cell phone…you’d need extensive knowledge of electronics and/or IT and architecture (for the larger networks, or at least the towers) to get one running.

“…who’ll be our double agent?” – No duh. It’s either Gen (as suggested in the scene just before) or Taiju and/or Yuzuriha.

I never thought a smartphone would make me feel sad for what has gone before, but it just did when all these quotes from the past came through.

Okay, so one of the ingredients is steel (hagane).

I love how Gen gets the wine image. He’s a stage magician, so his fancy suit matches the image of a sommelier.

Byakuya seems to be the one represented in the battery image.

BnHA 67

Yay! Amajiki, my booooooooooy!

Shinchou Yuusha 6

I never thought I’d say this to my seasonal husbandos – I don’t even say this about zaShunina, the random yandere – but…Seiya, you a**hole!

Lemme guess…Seiya’s gonna use some speed seeds?

I read on Leviae’s status earlier that she has an immunity towards fire…*gulp*

A nurikabe is a wall youkai that blocks travel, while a hyosube lives in a river and eats rice plants.

What’s the age gap between Mash and Elulu? I know Mash is hot enough (in the manga) to be compltly within my range, so I’d say he’s about 16 at the youngest, but Elulu is, what, 12…? Update: There’s no real indication as to what the characters’ ages are, but Mash is lvl 16 and Elulu is lvl 8.

Ooh, this is new! Seiya’s thrown caution to the wind for once for the sake of Elulu!

No Guns Life 6

“Strong Smells” (on the can) – Yep, Olivier seems to be proving that name right.

Motor City…I didn’t really care for it at first, but now I’m starting to warm up to it.

Ooh, it seems the implication here is that Olivier inherited the title of EMS commander from her dad.

“…I’m gonna get shot!” - I guess when you’ve got a gun for a head, the assumption is you’re gonna get shot.

Armed Tokisada seems to be this world’s version of All Might…(but then is Juzo Deku? LOL.)

Iruma-kun 7

This OP is a lot more battle-oriented than I remember…

I want a GIF of sparkly Amelie, stat!

Iruma’s voice as Rin is too CUTE! LOL!

Kawaii Comics, LOL.

Ooh! I can recognise Opera by his nail polish now…! His nail polish appears to be purple today.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Opera express his own concern for Iruma until now. Maybe he’s like a surrogate mother to Iruma by now…?

They even have monsters to call out bell noises…LOL wut.

Hmm…I just realised Azz speaks to Iruma rather formally. Not just the –sama, but the keigo as well.

Azz is rather observant too…(Seriously, I swear he’s been teetering on the edge of being my husbando from this show, but since he’s so subservient, it’s a bit of a hard concept to grasp. Not to mention the guy is, what, 14…?)

Even the shadows of background characters are blue and pink…

The little arrow over Clara really sells the moment.

The bird is so cute~!

I only realised it this year, but boba is really in, all over the world, for young people. *stares at all the boba shops that have appeared around my area lately*

I think Ameri = watashi and Iruma = boku. It’s politeness all the way ‘round. I think Sabro might’ve used ore.

“Don’t let go. Desire is your life.” – Sarazanmai ad <- I think this quote is appropriate for this episode.

Oh! We see Kuromu the Akudol in the ED…I didn’t realise that. (<- knows about her due to spoilers)

Oh! I think next episode might be Clara’s seduction class! Ooh! Interesting…

Dr Stone 20

Come to the dark side, we have candy…amirite???

Dr Stone 21

The pun here is that tou is a way to pronounce “copper” and “steal”, so Chrome copped copper in the Eng subs.

Couldn’t Ginro just use the word “s***” instead? That would’ve made the pun a lot better, tbh.

Thy translated all the dialogue in the fake menus! Yay! (<- translator’s brain showing up) For instance, Senku’s attack is listed as 1 while Suika’s is 3 and Gen’s is 5…LOL. The one that really made me laugh was “Runs away the second he knows he’s at a disadvantage. You’re scum, Ginro!”

Magma wasn’t in the fake game menu…!!! (I like how Magma questioned how Senku suddenly started calling him a “friend”.)

No Guns Life 7

I feel like the length of time between distracting the guard and Tetsuro conveying his plan was a bit much, but…okay.

Shinchou Yuusha 7

LOL, Beel Bub…y’know, Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies.

If Seiya were watching No Guns Life, he’d freak out…

Is that Cerceus in the back-yep, thought so!

Shinchou Yuusha 8

I almost expected Rosalie to woof…that’s how doglike she is!

Why do I get the feeling we’ll 1) find out what the Warmaster looks like next ep and 2) find out Rosalie’s armour is actually the armour Seiya’s meant to look for…? I could be wrong, but my intuition has some chance of being correct, even if I think up stuff that’s pure speculation…

Stars Align 6

Does Yonex sponsor this show, like Mikasa for Harukana Receive…?

LOL, Mitsue’s reaction.

If this were the Amazing Race, the hometown advantage would suck…but this is Hoshiai no Sora, so this could go either way.

“How to Soft Tennis” indeed…sic.

Wait, who’s Takada…? Update: She’s on the girls’ team, IIRC.

The Takenouchi/Souga pair is a bunch of trolls…LOL.

Oji seems to be the leader, full stop. Same way Katsuragi has been running things.

It’s been a few weeks since I last watched this show, but…is Oji the guy who threatened to punch them all…? He is, isn’t he…?

Stars Align 7

I feel like Mitsue’s bitterness is fuelled by personal experience in the manga field…

Well, the guy’s name isn’t Arashi (storm) for nothing! Update: The guy’s name is in katakana, which may or may not prove my point…

Arashi’s surname sounds like the Japanese word for “prince”, if you’re wondering.

I LOLled so hard at the line “Versus Arashi?” Y’see, there’s this game show with a group called Arashi. Therefore, its name is “Versus Arashi”.

I learnt most of what I know about tennis from Wii Sports, LOL.

I mentally cringed when I saw Itsuki’s burns again…

“…years and experience.” – That’s two things, Tacky!

Souya from Planet With would be in heaven here…what with all this meat.

Doesn’t “Kamuy” mean “god” in Ainu…? That Ouji, so conceited! *huffs at how arrogant the boy is*

Girls do eat like fiends…LOL.

I can’t believe 7 episodes in real life time was only a month in Stars Align time…

Yuta’s really sensitive to Toma’s mood…probably because the former likes the latter. (Yeah, I’m a derp for saying what we already know.)

Stars Align 8

I-I wanna cry…you do realise I gave up piano halfway through high school, only to become an absolute bum when I got into higher levels because I can’t use my piano lessons to demonstrate I can manage my time responsibly anymore???? I quit Chinese the same year and now it’s the one thing that’s preventing me from getting a bunch of beneficial opportunities because now there are so many Chinese people in my region! Studies are not your life! (distant crying can be heard in the background)

I kinda get where the mother’s going with this, but knowing what I know…please compromise, you two.

“The handsome half” – I wasn’t sure what that meant until I saw the image…”half” meaning ha-fu, or a person who’s half Japanese half something else. It’s like calling someone gweilow in Cantonese –it’s vaguely derogatory at the very minimum.

*Yuta’s sisters suggest clothes for him to wear* “Don’t tell mom about this.” – Oh, I have a bad feeling about this…(Then again, I got vaguely spoiled for this point by the This Week in Anime segment…that’s why I decided to watch 3 episodes in one shot.)

Maki’s shirt says “to continue”, as if it’s echoing his nonchalance. Like, “Yuta, please continue” or something like that.

To be real with you, the first resource I consulted to start thinking about the LGBTIQ+ spectrum (outside gender-bending fiction) was a book about an FtM person, so I guess I’m the most used to that sort of thing.

This is why empathy is so good, Maki.

Go, Mitsue! Be the diversion!

Who’s “Kanacat”? Kanako?...Oh, it’s Mitsue. Rigggggggggght.*facepalm*

Why do I get the feeling Mitsue wants to join the soft tennis club…?

Sakurai-sensei’s glasses are all fogged up, LOL.

Ohh (sounds down). These kiddos are soccer nuts.*grumbles about soccer nuts*

Update: To be honest with you, I’m fine with not making hard gender decisions too…Just so you know.

[osakaso5]

Mitsuki Izumi Birthday Photobook Rabbit Chat Part 5: All Their Gratitude. 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Iori: It is now the 3rd of March. 

Riku: It's hereee!!! Congratulations, Mitsuki! 

Nagi: Happy Birthday! 

Sogo: Congratulations, Mitsuki-san. 

Tamaki: Hbd, Mikki----

Yamato: Congrats. 

Tsumugi: Mitsuki-san, happy birthday!! 

Mitsuki: It's funny that we're group chatting even though we're all in our usual spot, lol Thank you!!! 

Riku: We can talk later, but there needs to be a log of this! 

Mitsuki: For starters, can someone explain  the situation? 

Iori: Yes. 

Nagi: It was a most wonderful performance from us, to our beloved Mitsuki. 

Riku: Iori tied my headband for me! 

Iori: You can't even tie a simple ribbon. 

Riku: Isn't it hard to tie when you can't see it!? 

Tamaki: You can just hang it on your neck like I did, Rikkun. 

Yamato: Then it's not a headband. 

Tamaki: You tied it on your wrist because it got in the way of your glasses too, Yama-san! 

Sogo: We're dressed as hardcore Mitsuki-san fans. I've prepared 30 orange glow sticks. I'm not sure if they'll be  enough, though... 

Mitsuki: I was wondering why it's so bright in here, lololololol

Mitsuki: Even your headbands are orange, lolol It hurts to look at, lolololol

Nagi: We even  ordered boxer briefs with  I LOVE MITSUKI printed on them :-O

Iori: Is everyone properly wearing them? 

Yamato: This Onii-san's more of a trunks kind of guy, so. 

Sogo: Yamato-san, are you not wearing yours!? 

Yamato: Huh, ah, yeah

Yamato: I'm feeling a huge aura of rage right now. Today's a special occasion, so let's all calm down--. 

Riku: I'm wearing mine! Can you see them, Sogo-san? 

Iori: Waaaah, you don't have to show them, please don't show them!! 

Tamaki: So-chan, I'm wearing mine. Feel free to praise me

Iori: You don't need to take off your pants, they're hanging so low that we can see your underwear anyways!!! Put them back on right this second!!! 

Mitsuki: What are you doing so early in the morning, lololol What about breakfast? Did you eat already? 

Riku: Actually, we got up at 6 a.m. to get ready, but... 

Yamato: We haven't eaten yet. Mitsu, food. 

Tsumugi: Since today  is Mitsuki-san's day, I've prepared some simmered treats and karaage (1) just in case! 

Tamaki: Karaage!!!!! 

Mitsuki: Girls are really something else!! 

Tsumugi: I'll come bring them to you later! 

Tamaki: I'm so hungry that the glow sticks look like popsicles. 

Nagi: NO, even if you of all people eat them, you will die... 

Tamaki: I'm not gonna!! 

Iori: Um, let's share our thoughts on the Mitsuki Photobook here, shall we. 

Mitsuki: Oh!!! I've been waiting for this!! 

Mitsuki: 

Riku: Mitsuki and Iori's grandma made her debut, didn't she! You seemed close! 

Tamaki: You gotta treasure your grandma. 

Sogo: He's wearing so little on the cover that it made me see Mitsuki-san's charm in a whole new light. 

Yamato: Sou froze for a solid 5 minutes when he saw the sample cover. 

Mitsuki: For real!? That's usually the reaction he gives to TRIGGER or Re:vale, lol

Yamato: Didn't do that with my cover, though. 

Sogo: You're always like that around the dorm, Yamato-san. You and Tamaki-kun tend to wander around half naked after taking a bath. 

Nagi: If you were to have a daughter, she would surely scold you, saying "Dad, you're the worst! Put some clothes on!" 

Mitsuki: lolololololol

Yamato: If I ever have a daughter, I won't raise her to say stuff like that. 

Riku: Mitsuki looks cool when he's undressed! 

Iori: That's right. Nii-san is very cool. 

Mitsuki: Don't just start saying embarrassing stuff like that, lolol

Tamaki: Hey, can I have one of those shirts with Mikki's cover pic printed on them? 

Sogo: Of course. I've got a ton of spares in my room. 

Tamaki: Ooh

Yamato: Personally, I'd like to get changed  already. 

Mitsuki: It's a special occasion, so you should wear it a little longer!! 

Riku: The birthday boy's word is law, remember! 

Yamato: I'm not sure how I feel about sleeping with this thing on... 

Riku: Really? I feel like it'd be a great way to wake up!! 

Iori: The cover even happens to be of him waking the reader up. 

Tamaki: You can wake me up at 12. 

Nagi: Tamaki, tomorrow morning is the live broadcast of that anime. 

Tamaki: No wait,   at 7!!! 

Choices/outcomes:

1. I think it's about time for you to get changed too, Mitsuki-san!

Mitsuki: You mean that thing! I've always kinda wanted to put those glasses on! 

2. Mitsuki-san, are you ready?

Mitsuki: As ready as I can be! And it seems my tear glands are ready to get to work too, lololol

3. Let's start preparing for the usual!

Mitsuki: Geeeez, I'll cry for sure!! Since you had to go and warn me ahead of time!!! 

Tsumugi: Everyone, are you ready! 

Iori: Of course, manager. 

Tamaki: Here we go

Nagi: Happy Birthday, my beloved Mitsuki!!!! 

Yamato: Here's a video of your cool moments. 

Mitsuki: What is this... 

Sogo: Iori-kun's good at video editing, so he made a "Mitsuki Only DVD" with the help of Banri-san and our manager. 

Riku: This one where you're running is really fun and cheerful! The fans watching you have great big smiles, too! 

Iori: Obviously. Who do you think he is? This is my big brother we're talking about. 

Riku: I know that! Geez, you're such a brocon! 

Iori: I don't want to hear that from you! 

Mitsuki: This... 

Mitsuki: The people who come to our lives are looking at me this much... 

Nagi: You cheer up both us and our fans. 

Sogo: Mitsuki-san's fanservice is godly. 

Yamato: Sou, you're in high gear today, aren't you. 

Tamaki: It's 'cuz So-chan really likes Mikki. 

Mitsuki: 

Yamato: Now do  you get it? 

Mitsuki: Huh? 

Yamato: There's no way a book all about you looking this handsome wouldn't sell. 

Yamato: I bet it'll do better than mine. A best seller. 

Mitsuki: Now this is just like last year... 

Mitsuki: I'll start crying..! 

Nagi: You are already crying. (The second time within this year)

Tsumugi:

Tsumugi: I've still got the log from last year! I do remember it going like this! 

Riku: Don't cry! 

Tamaki: Not yet, anyway

Mitsuki: Are you telling me there's more!? 

Nagi: We have yet to give you our loving words. 

Tsumugi: Everyone, please send your messages! 

Mitsuki: Woah woah!! 

Yamato: What (lol)

Riku: Mitsuki, happy birthday!!! You were always there to make us laugh when something happened. If anything happens to you, we'll be here to make you laugh! I wanna  stay friends forever! 

Sogo: I believe that we were able to settle down because you're a part of IDOLiSH7, Mitsuki-san. You're special to me, too. I hope that we'll keep cooking dinner, doing laundry, and drinking tea together. 

Tamaki: Mikki, hbd You're warm like a mom, and you properly tell me off whe you're mad. Thanks for always looking after me

Nagi: My beloved Mitsuki. You, who allows us to call ourselves your friends, will always be special to us. I wish that you never lose your smile. 

Yamato: Mitsu, congrats. You were the first person to come and scold me like you did. I hope  that we'll stay friends. 

Iori: To Nii-san. I don't want this to get too long, so I'll say the rest when we're alone. You're someone I respect, my family, and my friend. I'll always love you. 

Riku: Iori said he loves you!!! 

Iori: What, I can at least say that on my brother's birthday..! 

Riku: Say it to me, too! I said it to you on your birthday! 

Tamaki: And to me---

Nagi: Now, let us change our glow sticks to crackers. 

Tsumugi: Ready! 

Mitsuki: Thank you! Seriously! You're the best! 

Iori: Congratulations, Nii-san! 

Riku: Congratulations--! 

Yamato: Congrats

Sogo: We've even got special Mitsuki-san hankerchiefs. 

Mitsuki: I'm so happy

Yamato: Don't lose your way again. 

Nagi: The same can be said to you. 

Yamato: I'm not falling for that today. 

Riku: I took a picture! Mitsuki's laughing and crying with a really happy face! 

Iori: Send me that picture right now. 

Riku: Fine! 

Tamaki: Mikki's crying super hard

Mitsuki: You're next, Tamaki!!! 

Tamaki: Yeah. Can't wait

Tsumugi: Mitsuki-san, if you could write a few words to post online..! 

Mitsuki: Yeah! 

Mitsuki: Thanks for celebrating my birthday! Were you embarrassed to buy the Mitsuki Photobook? Feel free to blame Yamato-san! 

Mitsuki: For a while, I was worried about becoming someone's number one. But after talking to my seniors, friends, and even my family, I realized how many people think I'm special to them, and that people need me as the idol, Mitsuki Izumi. 

Mitsuki: I hope that you'll keep needing me. I'll make sure to pay you back for it so I can make you smile! 

Translator’s notes..? 

1) karaage means deep fried meat or fish in general, but it’s most often chicken

next up: tenn’s christmas 2015 rabbit chats! 

[seigyokus]

8.3 - A Special Time

Idolish Seven - Part 3, Chapter 8.3 For more Part 3 translations, click here!

Translation below the cut!

Momo: Alright, let's do it properly! Iorin, lay it out for us! Izumi Iori: Understood. Izumi Iori: Step One: Decide upon a theme. Step Two: Brainstorm more specific ideas. Step Three: Split into our respective groups and attain a firmer understanding of the task at hand.... Izumi Iori: I've calculated the following schedule using the time we have remaining. One hour will be dedicated to deciding on a theme, and we have until the date changes to finish the demo tape.... Izumi Mitsuki: Theme, huh. Since it's a charity telethon, something positive like love would be a good theme! Yaotome Gaku: There are so many types of love, though. Like romantic love, platonic love, familial love, and marital love. Nanase Riku: That reminds me, Re:vale hasn't been doing their married couple comedy act lately.... Momo: Yeah.... We've kinda hit a slump. Izumi Mitsuki: You can hit a slump for that!? Even though Big Brother Re:vale's married couple act is a surefire hit anywhere and always brings in the laughs!? Yuki: There's no need to treat us like entertainers. Nanase Riku: But why did you guys hit a slump? Momo: It got kinda embarrassing, you see....... Nanase Riku: Now, of all times...? Izumi Mitsuki: You're getting embarrassed now, even though you've been doing it for five years......? Nikaidou Yamato: Did you hit a slump too, Yuki-san? Yuki: I didn't, because I'm the one that shoots down the jokes. I am, however, always ready and prepared to shoot them down now. Izumi Mitsuki: So we are talking about you guys like entertainers then.... Momo: If we continue on like this, there's gonna be rumors that we don't get along. How about we lease the act to you guys until we get over our slump? Izumi Mitsuki: So you want us to do the 'Oh, we're super lovey-dovey!' thing too? Sure. Nikaidou Yamato: You're okay with this!? Also, you accepted that way too easily! Who're you even gonna do it with!? Izumi Mitsuki: Someone that won't get drawn in when I say the stuff, but will still get big laughs from the audience? I think if I did it with Riku, it'd just look cute. (1) Izumi Iori: Nii-san, it's fine if idols are cute and nothing more.... Izumi Mitsuki: Honestly speaking, I think TRIGGER would get the most laughs. There'd be a gap, yeah? If I had Yaotome's face I'd totally do it. Yaotome Gaku: Seriously? If you really insist, then....... Kujou Ten: Don't be swayed. Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: Do you think it'll be funny if I do it? Kujou Ten: Please don't get interested. Yaotome Gaku: MEZZO" should do it, don't you think? They're already a duo, so it works out perfectly. Yotsuba Tamaki: Uh, no....... Osaka Sougo: I don't think we could do it....... Nikaidou Yamato: We'd be the only ones laughing if MEZZO" did it, but I'm sure the audience'd scream their lungs out. Izumi Iori: Listen, it's fine if the audience screams and that's it. We're idols, after all....... Nanase Riku: Why did you decide on that joke in the first place? Kujou Ten: Nanase-san, please don't ask them the same type of questions you'd interview a comedy skit champion with. Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: Speaking of joke material, I heard you're really good with languages, Nagi-kun. Rokuya Nagi: Why are you bringing that up in relation to joke material? My excellence is no laughing matter. Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: I was just wondering if people who know a lot of languages are good at picking up dialects too. Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: I'm from Okinawa, you see. Do you think you can handle Uchinaaguchi? Rokuya Nagi: ....... Rokuya Nagi: There is no language in this world that I cannot learn. Izumi Mitsuki: Really now? Don't force yourself, alright? Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: Yay! Alright, I'll teach you then. Haisai, chāganjū? (2) Rokuya Nagi: Ha.... Hai-sai? Cha-gan ju? Izumi Iori: And how is this relevant? Nikaidou Yamato: It's love for your hometown. Yaotome Gaku: That's love for your hometown, alright.

Yotsuba Tamaki: I give up.... I'm hungry.... Izumi Iori: See, look! Yotsuba-san is reaching his limit because we haven't done anything!! Izumi Mitsuki: Oh...? "All of this isn't very picturesque and is frankly quite boring, so please decide who will be in charge of making dinner or buying supplies through lots." Momo: Ahahaha! Boring they say, even though there's so many idols gathered here! Osaka Sougo: Oh, thank you very much. I just received the box for drawing lots. Nanase Riku: Wow! It's just like a school trip! Yotsuba Tamaki: You don't really do this kinda stuff on a school trip. Yaotome Gaku: Alright, let's pull in order.

Nanase Riku: I'm in charge of nighttime fun! Osaka Sougo: As am I. Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: Me too. Are they talking about recreation? How about we do a test of courage? Nikaidou Yamato: So the people in charge of 'nighttime fun' are the ones that don't actually get what it means.... Nanase Riku: What about you, Yamato-san? Nikaidou Yamato: Buying supplies. Man, what a drag. Yuki: What a drag indeed.... I'm looking at the map right now, and isn't the store a little far from here? Izumi Mitsuki: It'll be okay! We'll make it there somehow! Nikaidou Yamato: Mitsu, aren't you directionally challenged though? Yotsuba Tamaki: I'm in charge of making food. Rokuya Nagi: I, too, am in charge of preparing dinner. Momo: Me too. I'm not too good at cooking though.... Yaotome Gaku: I'm gonna be cleaning the baths and laying out the futons. Izumi Iori: So am I. It appears that the baths are hot springs. Nanase Riku: Te-- Kujou-san, what about you? Kujou Ten: ....... Kujou Ten: Background music. Momo: Ahahahaha! That's hilarious!! Do you take requests? Sing a girl idol song! Rokuya Nagi: Oh! I'd like to request anime theme songs. Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: I'll teach you how to sing Okinawan folk music!

Nikaidou Yamato・Izumi Mitsuki・Yuki: We're home....... Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: What's wrong!? Everyone looks worse for wear.... Nikaidou Yamato: Mitsu got lost so we fell into some bushes.... Izumi Mitsuki: And then Yuki-san said he didn't want to walk anymore, so we hitchhiked. But after that.... Yuki: The truck driver said that there was a fourth person behind me. A girl..... Yotsuba Tamaki: Ahhhh!! A ghost!! Nikaidou Yamato: We couldn't exorcise her or anything, so we just went 'Yeah, it's fine. Just let her on".... Yotsuba Tamaki: So you brought her here......!! Yuki: It used to happen to me pretty often. Girls would follow me to my house right after concerts. Izumi Mitsuki: I expected nothing less from ya. Yotsuba Tamaki: This isn't the time to be saying that! Do something about it!!

Rokuya Nagi: Oh! Amazing! A lady has come to visit us, I see? We shall prepare dinner for thirteen! Yotsuba Tamaki: So you don't care if they have a body or not as long as they're a girl, Nagicchi......? Momo: That's a model gentleman for you! Vegetable skins come off once you boil them, right? Peeling them is such a pain. Yotsuba Tamaki: A real pain. Rokuya Nagi: Yes. Momo: Alright! Let's chop 'em up, toss 'em in, and boil 'em! And if we throw in some curry roux, we've got curry! Yotsuba Tamaki: Let's add in pudding as a secret ingredient! Rokuya Nagi: We should add in herbs and spices as well! Momo: Amazing! This is the real deal!

Osaka Sougo: I've never done a test of courage before. Just how should we surprise everyone? Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: Well, since the villa garden is so big, we could try hiding behind trees and going 'Boo!' to startle them. Osaka Sougo: I'll try hanging upside down. Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: Looks like someone's pretty excited. Oh? Riku-kun, what's the matter? Nanase Riku: You know how Yamato-san and the others brought back a girl? She said she'd help us out with the test of courage! Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: The girl Yamato-san and the others brought back......? Osaka Sougo: Help us out......? Nanase Riku: Like blowing air on the back of your neck! Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: Woah! It's true! That was cold air just now......! Osaka Sougo: As expected of a ghost.... I do apologize, but we don't have anything to repay you with.... Nanase Riku: She says that the curry will suffice as repayment, but it's probably a good idea to peel the carrots first. Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: That's true. Osaka Sougo: Is she still here? Nanase Riku: She said she'd go to the baths to do a dry run for the test of courage....... Yaotome Gaku: Ahhhhh!!

Izumi Iori: Waaah...!! Yaotome Gaku: The lights cut out all of a sudden and water started coming out! Izumi Iori: Someone just grabbed my leg! Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: She really didn't hold back. Osaka Sougo: Yeah, it's definitely different when it's a real ghost.

Yotsuba Tamaki: I can't take it anymore! I'm going home! I'm telling you, that's why I said I didn't wanna do the test of courage!! Kujou Ten: Look, the he hates it. Don't bully him like that. Yotsuba Tamaki: You're the only nice one here, Tenten.... Osaka Sougo: Sorry. I got a little carried away.... Yotsuba Tamaki: Shut up! Stop hanging upside down!! *sob* *sob* Kujou Ten: Don't cry, it'll be okay. Nanase Riku: Sorry, Tamaki.... Kujou Ten: Is she still here? Nanase Riku: Yeah. Kujou Ten: It's getting late, so you ought to go home. Nanase Riku: She says she doesn't wanna go back. Kujou Ten: You mustn't. We live in different worlds. Kujou Ten: We can't stay together forever. Nanase Riku: ....... Kujou Ten: Tell her we said thank you, and make sure to send her off politely. Nanase Riku: She says she wants to hear a song before she leaves. She used to be a fan of Zero's. Kujou Ten: Of course. I'll sing one of Zero's songs for you. Kujou Ten: Thank you for tonight. Nanase Riku: And so, Ten-nii began singing one of Zero's songs. As he sang, both Tamaki and the girl began to cheer up bit by bit. Nanase Riku: 'We can't stay together forever'-- it's almost as if he was talking about us. Nanase Riku: IDOLiSH7, TRIGGER, and Re:vale are all chasing after their own dreams, and we all live in different worlds. Nanase Riku: We all might be laughing together tonight, but a day like this might never come again. Nanase Riku: Tonight is special.

To be continued....

TL Notes/comments:

thank u @kuriiii for proofreading!!!!!!!!

I’ll be gearing up and studying for the GRE for the next few weeks, but expect lots of updates after the 15th! I’ll be Actually Free to do stuff, so until then wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

and now for the real tl notes...

(1) vague subject wrt last part, the fact that yatsu is written in kanji first and then in kana second is throwing me oFF (2) はいさい、ちゃーがんじゅう？ (uchinaaguchi) --> こんにちは、お元気ですか？ (standard jpn) --> Hello, how are you doing? (english)

As usual, if you see any mistakes/mistranslations/etc, please message me!

Thank you for reading!!

[liuwdere]

Women Directors in Anime Panel - Transcript

Here are the slides and audio. (I dunno why you’d want the audio if you’re reading a transcript, but hey, who am I to judge.)

Prior to the start of the panel proper, I played the Animator Expo shorts “Endless Night” and “Tomorrow From There” so the early comers weren’t stuck sitting around with nothing to do. I then put on the first Kyousougiga PV as a lead-in to the presentation.

Hi guys, and welcome to Women Directors of Anime. I’m Micchy. You can find me on Twitter @liuwdere, where I post very bad content most of the time and also have opinions on figure skating.

To start us off: Who can name an anime director? Anyone, go as basic as you like.

Hayao Miyazaki, the obvious one.

Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Ninja Scroll.

Challenge: who can name a female anime director?

Sayo Yamamoto.

That’s cheating, I showed her name earlier. Well, anyway, point is, they’re a bit harder to think of.

Raise your hand if you’ve seen one of these shows. Looks like just about all of you. Yuri on Ice? I see a few Yuri on Ice fans here. (Audience member: “I don’t know what that is.”) Well, congratulations, you have seen an anime directed by a woman!

Why talk about anime directors? I’ve seen several panels about fictional representations, strong female characters, so I would also like to bring some attention to the real-world anime industry and representation in that aspect of anime. There are a ton of women working as key animators, writers, in-betweeners in anime, but very few have managed to get the higher roles of production. This is not to say the lower roles are not important—they’re super important. With key animators, I’m a huge fan of Megumi Kouno, who key animated Shelter, if you’ve seen that. This topic is kind of arbitrary, but there are some talented ladies out there and I want to talk about them. Also, honestly, it’s also possible to be very comprehensive because there are like, 25 of them.

What do directors do? Basically they oversee anime production. Their involvement can vary; some of them are very involved in the storyboarding, the music choices, the writing, while others are a little more hands-off, a little manager-like. Some directors rise on the production side—they’re good at managing people, good at making sure people have their stuff done on time, and that’s what gets them in charge. Some of them start as key animators and eventually take over the lead visual development. Of course, they are all beholden to the will of the production committee, which is made up of the sponsors and execs in charge of the show, because money—money’s gotta come from somewhere.

Where are all these ladies? If you look through the industry, they tend to be clustered in a few genres. Number 1: kids’ shows and long-running franchises. We’re talking things like Precure, with the Suite Precure, Happiness Charge Precure, and Heartcatch Precure movies. [Yoko Ikeda, Chiaki Kon, and Rie Matsumoto] all started by directing episodes of the show before taking charge of the movie. Cardfight Vanguard G, the second season. [NOTE: This is actually inaccurate; Yui Umemoto is not a woman. Apologies for the mistake.] The File of Young Kindaichi Returns, also the second season. [Both Umemoto and Ikeda] were taking over established franchises.

Where else? We’ve got kids’ shows, and obviously, anime for women. We’re talking shoujo and josei manga adaptations, otome games, what I like to call “manservice” (though this genre classification is really loose), and boys’ love.

With shoujo manga, you’ve got Vampire Knight (anime Twilight), Otome Yokai Zakuro, Nodame Cantabile (a romcom about music students), and Skip Beat. We’ve got Sailor Moon Crystal season 3, Ristorante Paradiso (old man moe), the fifth season of Natsume Yuujinchou (Kotomi Deai taking over from Takahiro Omori), and Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. (I hear a few shouts, nice.)

Otome games: These are visual novel dating sims where you play as a heroine character and get your choice of pretty boys to date. On that side of things you’ve got La Storia della Arcana Famiglia, Magic-kyun Renaissance, Diabolik Lovers, and its sequel Diabolik Lovers More Comma Blood—directed by two different women, because of course they are. (This is my favorite bit of Diabolik Lovers—you throw her into the pool. Just throw her in a pool.)

Manservice: This is what I like to classify the sports shows, the boy idol shows, the historical romances and stuff. We’ve got Meganebu! (cute boys doing cute things in a glasses club), Hakkenden, Prince of Stride; Free! (with one exclamation point), Cheer Boys!! (with two exclamation points), and Yuri!!! on Ice (with three exclamation points).

Boys’ Love: There’s a conversation to be had here about how women are kind of co-opting gay men’s stories, but that’s a topic for another day; I’m not talking about that today. You’ve got This Boy cycle from Soubi Yamamoto. These are a series of independent films, all short. Doukyuusei from Shouko Nakamura, a lovely story about two high school boys falling in love. And on the trashier side of things we have stuff like Junjou Romantica, World’s Greatest First Love, and Gakuen Heaven. Personally, I recommend Gakuen Handsome.

It’s important to note that even in these genres, most of the anime is still directed by men. Super Lovers—anyone?—that’s directed by a man. And of course, you can find women elsewhere; these are just the genres you’re most likely to find women. After all, who better to make anime for women than women?

Where else are they? If you look towards the edges of the industry—the avant-garde, the experimental animation showcase projects—you can see that some of these projects give younger women a chance to take charge of their own short films. Space Dandy was supposedly directed by Shinichirou Watanabe and Shingo Natsume, but in actuality, they gave a lot of creative reign to the individual episode directors, which is why every episode looks so different. Some of them were women. Panty and Stocking was another case of this. There’s also Japan Animator Expo, a series of web shorts released over several years, which featured quite a few women.

Talking about the women in particular: I’ve grouped them for convenience. I’m going to start with the ladies at Kyoto Animation.

A little about KyoAni: KyoAni is a unique studio in that all their animation is done in-house with a salaried staff. This is the case with most of the industry; most other studios hire animators freelance. Okay, you come in, you draw these few cuts, you go home. The only other major studio to do this—to have a salaried staff—is Studio Ghibli. Kyoani also has a strong focus on training young talent. Their veteran animators will spend a lot of time providing guidance to the younger staff. (Another studio that does this is Studio Toei, which produces Precure.) Both of these factors make it very conducive to nurturing young talent. Two of the names at Kyoani are Naoko Yamada and Hiroko Utsumi.

Naoko Yamada [the first female staff director at Kyoani] is probably best known for directing K-On. What I want you to notice about Yamada is her astute attention to character animation and body language. If you’ve seen any Kyoto Animation shows, you know what I mean; [the characters] act in specific ways, and [the animation is] very shiny, very polished. This particular attention to body language is what eventually got her the directorial position for A Silent Voice, which is about a deaf girl. Obviously [the girl] communicates through sign language, so you can see why the body language would be important there. (Also, [Yamada] likes legs. She has a lotta legs in her storyboards. It’s pretty obvious; you see knees all over the place.)

[A Silent Voice PV]

Going on to another woman at Kyoani: Hiroko Utsumi, who directed Free. It should be pretty obvious that this show was helmed by a woman just from the butts and abs on display [for the female gaze]. I mean, characters in-universe state, “Oh my god, those are really good butts and chests and abs and shoulders.” So that’s a thing.

Here’s where I get a little wibbly-wobbly: What I like to call the “Penguindrum alumni.” This is because there were several women working on this particular show that later went on to head their own projects. To talk about them, I need to talk about Kunihiko Ikuhara. This guy is the infamously eccentric director of Revolutionary Girl Utena, Penguindrum, and Yurikuma Arashi. He’s heavily influenced by the late Osamu Dezaki, with a strong focus on visual metaphor, cinematic language, and very surreal imagery. On one of his projects, Penguindrum, there were a bunch of ladies who were episode directors and assistant directors who later went on to lead their own projects.

The first one I’m going to talk about is Mitsue Yamazaki. A lot of her work is really pretty, but personally my favorite is her comedy work on Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. Here’s a clip where two boys play a dating sim game and get a little too into it.

[Nozaki-kun - Tomoda]

Another one of these ladies who worked on Penguindrum is Shouko Nakamura. She did a lot of early work at Studio Gainax working on Gurren Lagann and Panty and Stocking. You can see the Gainax influence in her style with loose, relaxed lineart—you could contrast it with, for instance, KyoAni’s polished realism. Last year, she directed a boys’ love film adapted from a manga by Asumiko Nakamura, Doukyuusei.

[Doukyuusei PV].

If you’re wondering which episode she did on Panty and Stocking, it’s the one where Panty’s sex tape gets leaked.

Akemi Hayashi: She saved the human race from the Zentradi in 2009. Actually, no, she didn’t. Fun fact: her name happens to share the kanji from a possible Chinese rendering of Lynn Minmay, from Super Dimension Fortress Macross, which made researching this one kind of hard. (I was like, I wanna find out about this director, but was only getting results for this anime girl. I like Macross and all, but that wasn’t what I wanted.)

Akemi Hayashi for real: She, like Shouko Nakamura, did early stuff at Gainax. You can see her work going way, way back—if you’ve seen the 1997 anime Revolutionary Girl Utena, she did key animation on the opening sequence for that. She’s been the animation director for a number of high profile projects, including Casshern Sins [and] the Rebuild of Evangelion films. She hasn’t had a full TV series or movie debut yet, but she has directed a few short films and the penguin episode of Space Dandy. What I’m going to put on for you next is a short film done for a collaboration project called Ani*Kuri 15: fifteen one-minute shorts from different creators in the industry. Hers was called “Namida no Mukou,” roughly “from behind tears.” Like Shouko Nakamura, she also has a strong focus on fluid animation. I especially like her use of subtleties in facial expression and body language, conveying emotion through that.

[Ani*Kuri 15, “Namida no Mukou”]

Getting to directors who did not work on Penguindrum (which is a ridiculous classification in itself): My personal favorite, Sayo Yamamoto. This lady is super extra: when she was in college, she wanted to work on animation, but the faculty told her, “No, you can’t work on animation.” She said, “Heck, I’m working on animation anyway,” and did. She caught the attention of director Satoshi Kon to work on Millennium Actress. Stuff happened and she didn’t end up working on that, so her first work at Studio Madhouse was some animation on Trava, which later became the basis for the movie Redline, if you’ve seen that. There she got noticed by Shinichiroh Watanabe, director of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. She was brought on to be an episode director on Champloo, and that’s where she says she first got creative control over her project.  [Yamamoto] has also directed a lot of opening and ending sequences; if you’ve seen the first ending sequence to Attack on Titan, that was all her: the sketchy charcoal drawing, that’s her.

Yamamoto’s one of those creatives that has a strong influence over story direction as well as the visuals. For instance, she has a fixation on the femme fatale character, as well as gender and sexuality in general—especially female and queer sexuality. You’ve got Michiko and Hatchin, which is about Latina women, one of them a lesbian. The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, literally an entire series about what makes the femme fatale—Fujiko Mine, the femme fatale character in the long-running franchise Lupin III—what makes her tick, and why is she bad? That show is about interrogating that.

Yuri on Ice also addresses sexuality in a way that’s a little more subtle than her previous works—YOI is a lot lighter, less gritty than the “sex and murder” tone of Fujiko Mine. Part of this is because it is a collaboration with manga artist Mitsurou Kubo. But you can still see hints of this fixation on sexuality and femininity in [for instance] episode 3, where Yuri literally works to channel his inner Fujiko Mine. There’s also a queer character in Fujiko Mine, so yeah, gender and sexuality is a big thing in Yamamoto’s work.

Also, butts. Sayo Yamamoto isn’t that open to giving interviews, but from people who work with her, we have reports that yeah, she was very insistent that they draw butts very well. She says figure skaters have such nice butts you can put things on them, and was really insistent that the staff draw them all. Also, she is on record saying that she liked the scenes in Lupin III where Fujiko took her shirt off—make of that what you will.

Beyond her fixation on butts and sex, she also has a focus on fairy tale imagery and sketchlike charcoal/pencil drawings. This is the ending sequence of Rage of Bahamut (which is getting a sequel this season, I’m so excited) and it’s quite gorgeous.

[Rage of Bahamut ED]

Wasn’t that pretty? (Audience member: yes.) As much as I would like to talk about Sayo Yamamoto all day—I will seriously talk about Sayo Yamamoto all day if you let me, so don’t let me—next we have Rie Matsumoto.

Rie Matsumoto is a director who started at Toei, animating and directing episodes of Heartcatch Precure. (If you don’t know what Precure is, it’s basically My Little Pony, but magical girls and Japanese. That’s the kind of fandom it has. Maybe a little less bad, but not the point.) At Toei, she directed the original promotional video for this series called Kyousougiga, which became a web series and eventually a 10-episode TV series. Then she went AWOL for a few years, later reappearing at Studio BONES directing Blood Blockade Battlefront. (She’s also really cute, I think. [Audience member: It’s true.])

Matsumoto’s another one of those creators with a strong storytelling stamp as well; she has a hand in writing a lot of these works. She as a creator is eclectic as hell. Kyousougiga is like a dozen shows in one, about nostalgia and regret and salvation through platonic love and depression and narcissism—it’s great. Some of the themes that reappear across her work, especially in this original part of Blood Blockade Battlefront, are family bonds, salvation through familial love. In Blood Blockade Battlefront she basically added an entire subplot that was about two siblings reconciling with each other, because that was [the story she wanted to tell]. That’s not even in the manga at all.

For Blood Blockade Battlefront, the artist of the manga [Yasuhiro Nightow] had only one request to the anime staff, and that was to make an opening sequence worth seeing a hundred times. That’s a pretty daunting task, but Rie Matsumoto was like, “heck, I’ll do it.” I’ll let you decide whether she succeeds or not.

[Kekkai Sensen OP]

Every frame of that thing has so much, the composition’s superb. Matsumoto is not directing the second season, unfortunately; she says she’s told the story she wanted to tell and no longer has interest in telling more. Someone else will be taking charge of that second season!

Here’s Soubi Yamamoto, another one of my favorites. No relation to Sayo Yamamoto. Soubi Yamamoto is unique in that she’s basically entirely independent. Most of her work she wrote, directed, and animated almost all by herself—kind of like Makoto Shinkai, director of the current hit Your Name, as well as Five Centimeters Per Second, Garden of Words, if you’ve seen those.

Yamamoto’s really young. Her This Boy series: This Boy Can Fight Aliens, This Boy Caught a Merman, This Boy Suffers from Crystallization, and This Boy is a Professional Wizard. They’re all standalone, thirty-minute shorts. She made the first one of those when she was 22. (She’s like, 27 now. Really young.)

Characteristics of her style: When you see a Soubi Yamamoto thing, you know it’s Soubi Yamamoto. It’s got a saturated color palette, limited animation (since it’s basically just her), on-screen text and manga-like textures/aesthetic. She also has a pretty large hand in writing most of her shorts. You see themes of loneliness, isolation, the difficulty of maintaining interpersonal connection—and boys kissing, there’s quite a bit of that too. What she did not write was MEGANEBU, her one and only TV series to date. This is about a bunch of guys in a glasses enthusiastic club. It’s about as dumb as it sounds. In this scene one of the characters is trying to go to club and is sidetracked by a praying mantis.

[Meganebu, episode 5 - about 3:00-4:30]

The rest of the episode escalates from there—he brings out a suit of armor and a flamethrower just to get past this bug. It’s pretty great.

Atsuko Ishizuka. She was the first [female] staff director at Studio Madhouse. In 2008, the head of Madhouse Masao Maruyama said of her that she was probably the most talented young director in the industry at the time. She’s managed to get a foothold in the otaku market with No Game No Life and several other reasonably successful properties.

She’s also very fond of very, very bold color design. Personally I think she goes a little overboard with it most of the time, but in this 2009 show Aoi Bungaku I think she handled it well. This show is an anthology of adaptations of Japanese literature. Ishizuka directed episodes 11 and 12, “The Spider’s Thread” and “Hell Screen,” both based on short stories by Ryuunosuke Akutagawa. (Has anyone seen Bungo Stray Dogs? Yeah, it’s that guy. He’s actually a real person.) Hell Screen is about a painter who’s commissioned to decorate the tomb of an emperor with his glory, but when he’s faced with the suffering and strife that’s going on in the country he paints a picture of suffering instead. This is the scene where he finally breaks when his daughter is burned before his eyes. [Its exquisite use of color] is really gorgeous; y’all should watch it.

[Aoi Bungaku, episode 12. No link, sorrymasen.]

Aoi Bungaku has unfortunately never been licensed because the market for adaptations of Japanese modernist literature is kind of small. (Its audience is me, mostly.)

Moving on, we have Eunyoung Choi. Choi is a longtime collaborator with avant-garde director Masaaki Yuasa. If you’ve seen Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong, Kick-Heart (which aired on Toonami a while ago, I think)... they also did an episode of Adventure Time together. Most of Eunyoung Choi’s work has been with Yuasa, so you see their styles kind of merge, with loose lineart, flexible animation, favoring dynamic motion over consistent character models. She did direct the ninth episode of Space Dandy herself (Yuasa came later in the second season with the fish alien episode). This is the episode where Space Dandy and the crew go to a planet where all the living things are plants.

Interesting to note that Choi is Korean, and not Japanese; if you look at the edges of the industry, with the ‘artsy’ projects, you can see a bunch of non-Japanese people. Kevin Aymeric, French background artist; Michael Arias, a director from America; Thomas Romain, French mech designer; Bahi JD, Austrian animator; a lot of them work on the same projects because they’re all buddy-buddy with each other.

So she’s directed this lovely but trippy episode of Space Dandy. [It’s a unique style on display here.]

[Space Dandy, episode 9, about 15:30-17:30]

That was Eunyoung Choi. Here’s another lady: Ai Yoshimura, who directed Oregairu, Blue Spring Ride, Dance with Devils, and Cheer Boys. She’s pretty good at handling moments of intense emotion: in Blue Spring Ride there are so many scenes where you can just feel the atmosphere dripping with romantic tension. (Sometimes it’s bad.) But my personal favorite thing of hers is Dance with Devils, which is basically an anime Broadway musical about a girl and demon boys. This show had the brilliant idea of making Cerberus a mashpotato dog. And he has a musical number. You guys should see it ‘cause I love this show to death.

[Dance with Devils - Loewen]

This show also has wonderful numbers like an extremely wannabe rap and a song called “Emo Liar.” It’s “I Won’t Say I’m In Love” but with anime boys and more screaming. Anyway, that show is great and I feel like everyone should watch it, but that’s just me.

I feel like I should mention the most prolific director in the entire industry, [Chiaki Kon]. I don’t think this is even a complete list of her work. Here I have Golden Time and Sailor Moon Crystal. Season 3, since the first two were directed by someone else. She, uh, sure does put out a lot of work. Not a lot of it’s very good, but there sure is a lot of it! Props to her for getting so many jobs. I mean, as much as I love Nodame Cantabile, those two seasons are not good. Also Junjou Romantica. I’m not gonna say anything about Junjou Romantica, but�� Junjou Romantica.

Literally everyone else: I of course did not have time to get to everyone. A couple of names I like on here:

Noriko Takao directing Saint Young Men, which is about Jesus and Buddha chilling in an apartment in Tokyo, and it’s pretty great. That will probably never get released over here because fundies.

Kotomi Deai directing the second season of Silver Spoon and the fifth season of Natsume Yuujinchou. She took over Silver Spoon from SAO director Tomohiko Ito, who was currently then busy with SAO.

Sayo Aoi directing The Merman In My Bathtub. See, there are actually two gay merman anime. I just think that’s incredible.

I also really like [Mitsuko Kase’s] Ristorante Paradiso. It’s the kind of show you watch if you’re really into older men. Like, if you want to sit back after work, chill and watch reasonably attractive older men do their thing, that’s the show for you.

(I have seen basically everything on this list. Some of it’s pretty bad. Some is actually decent. Not [Yukina Hiiro’s] Chu-bra. Nnngh, we don’t talk about Chu-bra.)

The anime industry today is obviously changing. There’s more anime produced now than ever before; we have dozens of new shows every three months. Go back a few decades, we had a dozen new shows a year. With that boom, the women’s share of the market is definitely growing. You see this with a lot more anime directed at women: the idol shows; the sports anime,which are intended for younger boys but have a significant female following anyway (hot guys); Touken Ranbu, which is more of a thing over in Japan than here; Osomatsu. With that, we have more female-led projects than ever before.

Of course, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. The wages in the industry are terrible. Animation is a really hard job! It takes a lot of skill, and they get paid almost nothing for it. Also, the industry is kind of a boys’ club and has been since the beginning. On the bright side, a lot of these women are really young and will probably do good work in the future, so I’m gonna beg you guys to support them by watching through legal channels. (I’m shilling for good friends at Crunchyroll.)

I then went through a few resources and places to watch the good cartoons, concluding with the same two Animator Expo shorts from before the panel for the people who showed up later. Thanks for playing!