#Late night shoujo posting

[sailor-brunette]

Friendly reminder that Kakuriyo Bed and Breakfast for Spirits is getting a second season. Manga is licensed by Viz/Shoujo Beat. I have the first volume and plan to get the rest. Still hope for the light novels to be licensed in English.

[naetles]

i can't stop thinking about how excited this doofus was when he kneeled down to talk to sakura on the phone. look at him smiling and blushing and fidgeting. he is so clearly in love with her and it's maddening BECAUSE HE DOESN'T FUCKING REALIZE THAT HE IS.

[raven]

[missbluesunflowersstuff]

How do you imagine the adult!Damian's life?

First of all no evil pipeline and second no batman pipeline

I've seen some posts about him retiring himself and becoming a veterinarian but let's be real here, this boy can't stay still, he would enjoy the peace of civil life in the start but he will get bored soon and all his siblings and friends know it

Then I offer you: reluctant hero Damian 'I-said-I-want-peace-and-no-hero-stuff-but-I-see-some-bandits-and-I-need-to-protect-the-others' Wayne

The stories can help him help with the investigation, do a "hacker job" for some friends or siblings, fix some machine, literally punching villains and criminals in their face, being the family healer (he is a sorcerer guys), being the neighborhood cryptid, go some night as random vigilant because 'my brothers and father are so stupid for the fuckin' sake! I still need to do this shit' to save the city and/or his family

Also

Damian, in call with Tim: Explain to me again, why should I do it?

Tim: because I and Bernard are in our sabbat year and we all know how dad is when he is focused and your grades are perfect, Damian, no one would bother if you skip some class to help in this case

Damian: >tt< it's better you give me a nice souvenir when you come back, Timothy

_______

Damian: Jason... Why are you in my kitchen?

Jason: There's a bullet in my leg and I need you to take it out

Damian: ... You have luck that Alfred the cat like you

Jason: Are you not fixing this with magic?

Damian: How did you get shot?

Jason: ...me and my friends are drunk

Damian: you don't deserve magic

_____

Jon: Dami, please please please please please

Damian: I'm not a hero Jon, how do you expect me to invade the Luthor computer to help you? Do you want me to commit a crime?

Jon: please Damian! It's really important this time, I swear!

Damian: >tt< I'm in

Jon: you're the best Dami!

____

Damian gets an internship at the zoo and a group of criminals decide to steal the animals for genetic experiments

Damian: ... not in my watch

Damian, defeat the criminals and save everyone: you're late, it's yours and the girls' day shift

Duke: honestly? we came slowly because we knew you were here

___

Damian: today I just want to garden and read my shoujos

*literally aliens*

And the shit goes, sometimes he needs to be Batman because Bruce is old and needs help in some cases, and obviously the class "I'm not Batman!" basically adopt some random stray kid as young sibling now and carry them around everywhere

And also he will call his siblings for their first names in the future because they get Damian's trust but the most important family members still are: Alfred, Dick and Steph

And as a cherry on top: "you know what? I'm leaving! I can't have a shit in Gotham! I'm moving to Blüdhaven!"

Dick Grayson slowly picks up the box with a flamebird costume that "conveniently" fits on Damian perfectly

I say this because this boy has been disappointed by so many adults in his life and continues to be Robin, so the only conclusion is: he likes being a hero, not because of his father, but because of himself. That's why he wasn't just going to stop being a vigilant, he was going to continue being a hero even when he wanted peace

[tokyorevismylife]

Ladies Man- Pt.1

a ran x reader series

trigger warnings: a little cussing, reader is female

A/N:  I’ve decided to post more often, so here is a Ran dump I had saved in my drafts, because I love him so much.

Ran Haitani was the epitome of a ladies man. The very definition of one. His appearance and his charming personality was enough to with anyone over. Tall, well built but slim, with long hair tied up into braids, a pretty face and most of all, his calculating violet eyes that managed to capture the hearts of any girl he set his sights on. And he just was so seemingly effortless and graceful in all that he did. He was suave, charismatic, the list goes on. Not to mention, being able to take charge over the Roppongi district at such a young age and being apart of multiple gangs did wonders for the bad boy persona that so many females seem to like. Long story short, these advantageous traits made him extremely attractive. That’s why Ran Haitani, has always lived the good life when it came to dating. With one luck, he can wrap a girl around his finger. Who wouldn’t use this skill to their advantage?

This is precisely the reason when his younger brother Rindou didn’t even bat an eye when yet another one of his girlfriends came over to his house to disrupt the minimal peace he had. Living with such a popular brother like Ran isn’t easy. Naturally, with talents like these, a little bit of bragging is clearly understandable, right? So, obviously, Ran showed them off at every given moment. At last, what seemed like centuries later, the girl left looking utterly pleased that she was able to spend some time with a guy that seems like he came out of some fantasy shoujo manga. 

After she left, Ran plopped on the living room couch looking bored and displeased. “What’s up with you?” Rindou inquired. “Shouldn’t your dumbass be smirking in my face telling me about how many girls you manage to pull?

 “Aw come now, I understand you’re jealous but that’s no reason to insult your phenomenal elder brother, now is it?” Ran retorted. 

Rindou merely rolled his eyes, however his exasperation quickly faded when he saw that the look on Ran’s face returned to displeasure. “Dude, what the hell is wrong with you? How can you look dissatisfied after hooking up with a girl?” Rindou asked his brother.

“I wish I could be as simple minded as you, Rindou.” The elder Haitani melodramatically sighed. “You see, when you’re as attractive as I am, you can get anyone to like you. And that’s exactly my problem. I get all these girls to like me, and majority of them are smoking too. But they’re all the same, just trying to get in my pants because they think I’m some hot bad boy gangster, which I mean, I am....but I think I just want someone to like me for me.”

Rindou blinked. “Bro... are you on crack?”, was the only thing the younger Haitani was able to spew out after hearing Ran’s rather surprising monologue. “I never thought I would see the day where Ran Haitani would be tired of hooking up and actually want to commit to a relationship.” Ran didn’t say anything but glared at his brother. Rindou, if he wanted to, could also be a complete asshole. “Well, Ran, you’ll find someone someday. But, there is no point in moping around. If you want a committed relationship with someone, get off your ass, find someone you like, and use your charms. And quit hooking up with girls who only want you for shallow reasons if it bothers you that much.”

Ran stiffened at being called out but grudgingly accepted that his brother was right. Rindou has always been the wiser one among the two. He simply tilted his head back against the couch and hoped that someone would come along soon...

“CRAP!!!” I’m gonna be late!!” You leapt out of your bed, when you realized that school would start in 20 mins. You had spent majority of the night before cramming for an extremely important test of yours, which lead to you oversleeping due to your exhaustion. Within a matter of minutes, you somehow managed to shove some sort of food in your mouth, sort your appearance out and pack your bags before bolting out the door. 

“I think I may just have set a world record for fastest time to get ready”, you said as you were jogging at a quick pace. You pulled out your phone and checked the time. “Oh god, I’m gonna have to speed things up a notch if I want a hope of making it.” You swiftly quickened your pace. Upon focusing on being able to maintain a steady pace, you weren’t paying attention too much, which caused you to full on collide with an extremely tall person, which caused them to spill their drink they were holding, on their clothes. 

You straightened yourself out before looking up at the stranger. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!! I was in a rush because I didn’t want to be late for class and I wasn’t paying attention.” You looked at the guy, who had shrewd, calculating eyes and stared at you. “Um, I’ll probably be late, but I can buy you a drink to compensate?” You got a better look at the man, and despite being soiled with his drink, he was extremely handsome, with long braids accentuating his pretty face. And..silent. He was starting to freak you out. 

Meanwhile, in Ran Haitani’s mind, he didn’t know how to speak. He couldn’t gather his voice. What the hell is happening? He thought to himself. He was basically a professional flirt, so why was he struggling so much to recollect himself? He looked at the stranger before him. She was tinier than him, and stared at him apprehensively, and not to mention, she was incredibly cute. Beautiful. But not like anyone he was used to dealing with. He was used to dealing with girls with top-tier designer clothes, heavy makeup, and professionally done hair, and well... she was the opposite. She had a basic school uniform thrown on, which was disheveled, and a couple crumbs of food on her cheeks. And, she spilled a hot drink on him. So, how did Ran Haitani manage to fall so hard? 

“Hello, dude...are you good?? Yes or no to that offer? I’d really appreciate an answer fast. I need to go to school.” You asked him, nearing the end of your patience. He snapped out of his reverie that you placed him in. “Hm..I dunno...I, Ran Haitani might need something more...” And at that, he internally cringed. Where had his eloquence gone? I, Ran Haitani?? Who says that in this day and age?? So, therefore, Ran wasn’t surprised when you looked at him funny. “Well, pretty...how about a date with me, hm? I think that’s payment enough. And, I promise it’ll be fun.” That should do it, Ran thought. Most girls would swoon if they could spend one NANOSECOND with me. And, your disgusted face made his heart drop, and he felt nervous. This was the first time he was so desperate for a girl to say yes. He wondered how someone like you managed to have so much power over him. How did you make him, of all people become a simp?

“Um...no thank you. I’m not really into the arrogant pretty-boy asshole type. But look! Those girls are!” You exclaimed, pointing to a small group of screeching girls staring at Ran. You pushed past him, as he stood dumbfounded. But, you quickly turned back and pushed a wad of crumpled bills into his unsuspecting hand. 

“For the drink. Sorry for the disturbance, Ran Haitani.” And with that, you managed to make Ran Haitani come to a standstill. All he could do is stare at your distant figure, that retreated quickly.

[iolite-moodboards]

powerpuff girls vibes

this isnt fanfiction!!! theyre just vibes I think the girls have 🤷‍♀️

If this does well I may continue to post them maybe

rrb version~°•☆

bubbles⋆｡°✩

stuffed animals

cream filled donuts

glittery eyeshadows, lip stain and fluttery falsies

french vanilla

iced lattes

cinnamon rolls

apple cheeks

birthday cake ice cream

diary entries written in blue, glitter gel pens

shoujo manga

beach days

self-care every day

planned outfits

OOTD

cute animal videos

fuzzy socks

dressing for the spring

ponyo

animal crossing

scented bath bombs

buttercup⋆｡°✩

jasmine and vanilla

forgetting to do laundry

late nights and early mornings

cookies and cream ice cream

iced americanos

gym days

instant ramen

always carrying an extra pair of socks

concealer, eyeliner, and long lashes

energy drinks

take out

decent grades

late night convenience store runs

good night texts

kickboxing

80s and 90s Japanese city pop

staying late in school

sweat pants

matcha

my neighbor totoro

blossom⋆｡°✩

strawberry and pistachio ice cream

studying

journaling

gel pens

lip oils, tinted moisturizers and mascara

pancakes

self-care nights

library trips

sugar wafers

milk tea

pink ribbons

walks in the park

cinnamon

tennis skirts

productive mornings

jazz

late night phone calls

fruit loops

scented candles

when marnie was there

[cleolinda]

Weekend links

We're having a late weekend post because my back is trash garbage and I'm trying not to be scared about it, since I collapsed with a herniated disc pretty much this same week six years ago. Also, I'm on muscle relaxers.

My posts

Apparently I stood at the window sometime after midnight on Saturday and watched an actual tornado. Nobody recognized it as such at the time, or else I would have been in the basement. I wrote a little about it on Patreon, but basically I stood at my bedroom window and thought, I should not be here looking at this. Turns out, I really shouldn't have been!

Also: this is not the time for your shit, Evernote.

Reblogs of interest

You better believe I will be using any disability aid or accommodation I can get my hands on this week

"Oh and Christine was like a werewolf except she turned into a cat girl sometimes, and the whole thing was '70s shoujo style": Phantom of the Black Rose Revue is now a game

BTS at the airport: it's for cheese

Come on down to The Steppe

"An incomplete list of unsettling short stories I read in textbooks": a Long Post

His ass cannot guard the barley

The Hanukktopus

Georgs Spider

Always remember: do not feed the trolls (I didn't feed two last night alone!)

Video

Glen Hansard and Lisa O'Neill perform "Fairytale of New York" at the close of the funeral of the Pogues' lead singer Shane MacGowan. It's the kind of song that gets people dancing in the aisles, and it's a lovely way to remember him.

A Pirates of the Caribbean/Carol of the Bells mashup. On harp.

IT'S POPPY FUCKING PLAYTIME MOTHERFUCKERS

(Nobody around here cares about this but me. My back is a nightmare, let me have my mascot horror)

"Mother, my brother and I have a request for dinner"

I will always reblog the Black Philip-Ass Turkey

A sculpture of the minotaur that was cracked on purpose

An array of damp scrunkles

no u

The sacred texts

ranibow sprimkle

Personal tag of the week

Plagiarism

[trashsouppossum]

Intro and Comic!

hello!!! Welcome to the trash pile, aka, my blog!!

Soooo introduction to me!!

I’m into a lot of different animes, my favorites being Saiki k, Oran host high school, MHA, and Komi cant communicate. I also enjoy cartoons like Craig of the creek, Hilda, She-ra, and TMNT rise. My favorite webcomics are Idiots don’t catch colds, Heartstopper, Jackson’s diary, and Not so shoujo love story. •I’m genderfluid and pan

•I love to cosplay

•I’m a sucker for romance! My blog consists of my art, my photography, reblogs and some poet trying!

FAIR WARNING! Some of my poetry verses or random posts have to do with venting about sensitive topics and things I struggle with or make me feel negatively. I do a lot of late night posting which is normally when I vent, but only some nights. Don’t worry, I try my best to be a family friendly blog, so you’ll mainly see the art or reblogs :)

COMIC!! Allegations⭐️

here is my comic so far, including cover art for season one! I’ll be finishing it up soon, since I have to digitally redraw everything, but I’ll start reupdating and giving y’all sneaks of the second season!!

(Click and zoom to read, it’s kinda hard to find the right reading order, but you’ll get it :)

[sailor-brunette]

Winter shoujo finally starts tomorrow with The Demon Prince of Momochi House premiere! I have volumes 1 through 7 of the manga and am currently on volume 4. Once I finish volume 7,I will try to get the rest of the volumes when I can. We also have A Sign of Affection coming on Saturday. And 7th Time Loop coming on Sunday. Then on Tuesday,Villainess Level 99. Then on Wednesday,Doctor Elise. ALSO! Yen Press is announcing new licenses tomorrow! So prayer circle for more shoujo!

[nozoditz]

To the Coconozo antis, I understand you're holding out hope that the ship will be sunk in the new distant sequel because of the franchise's current direction when it comes to age-gap and power-imbalance ships, but I'm just gonna say... no. No, it won't.

The first reason people cite for their hope is that more recent seasons like HaCha and Hugtto went for "girl has an unrequited crush on a confirmed adult and learns to get over it" plots. Yeah, Toei moved toward those because even preschoolers are watching Precure these days and may not know the difference between fictional fantasy and relationships that are good in real life, so they decided to teach the latter rather than court the former. Power of Hope, though? It's aimed at the adults who watched Yes as children. And, contrary to the belief system of the average anti, if you're not four years old, you've already learned that fiction and reality are not the same and you don't need to be kept sheltered and scolded if you watch a show with something unrealistic that wouldn't be good in real life.

The second point I have is the one that comes up every time puriteens look into the old seasons and gasp in horror (to the point that some callout post going around is making "ships Coconozo or allows it to be discussed" sound like just as serious an offence as, you know, actual problems in the fandom Discord in question). Coconozo was never meant to be realistic. Coco being only a few years older than Nozomi and passing as an adult while being for all intents and purposes an emancipated minor, as well as the power imbalance between teacher and student being evened out by that between mascot and magical girl (or, essentially, helpless and protector), are things that don't apply to real-life teacher/student scenarios. This softens the ship to make it less bad than it would be in real life. On top of that, come this sequel, they'll be adults and won't have been teacher and student for years and years.

Now, people are still within their rights to be put off by it, and some even argue that that might make it worse because kids won't see the nuance. Indeed that's probably a big part of why later seasons had stories like Megumi's and Homare's and changed the focus from selling a fantasy to teaching kids that their innocent age-gap crush will and should be unrequited and how to deal with that. But again, Power of Hope is a late-night spinoff aimed at nostalgic adults who don't need to be scolded for indulging in something that isn't real.

You don't need to ship Coconozo or even approve of it. You might look at the fact that they are consistently written as making each other better people, helping each other grow, and supporting one another's dreams and just brush it off because teacher/student is still by its nature unhealthy in real life, even though they were one of the healthiest and most understanding and mutually supportive canon ships in late 2000s shoujo anime. But making desperate prayers to sink a ship that's been canon for longer than most of these scandalized kids have been alive because "think of the children!" isn't going to do anything, and if you don't like it. maybe watch something else. We've got 20 years' worth of other Precure seasons you could sit down with instead.

[taralen]

Announcement? Other things!

Hey, everyone, so besides commissions and all my SPECIL SALESMAN art, I would also like to share more things (like original art) and draw fanart for other things. Spamton G. Spamton is a mainstay on my blog. He is very important to me, and if you don't like him, then too bad!

My range of interests is absolutely massive, and as one fan/friend of mine said to me years ago, "You're like a mystery box of surprises!"

Here is what I plan to make art and possible theories or analyses for:

[[please note that a lot of my interests are 17-18+, but anything uploaded here will be kept SFW or cropped. All NSFW stuff will go to my Pixiv account. I highly recommend to NOT look up the origin if you are a minor or sensitive to explicit content.]]

Queen's Blade Franchise (17+) - I really want to make more art of my favorite character, Alleyne the Elven Fighting Master, and possibly her apprentice, Nowa!

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (17+ GORE HORROR. Do not look up if you are sensitive.) - Recently fell in love with this series. I consider the original anime from the 2000s to be a masterpiece. I want to draw my favorite character, Takano!

Taimanin universe (17-18+. Seriously don't look it up if you're a minor lol.) - I really love some of the characters of this series, like my waifu Ingrid. I've drawn her before, and I want to draw her again. Funny enough, one of my pieces is featured in the mobile game Action Taimanin as a poster on the wall for a level. Sometimes, I see people use my art as an icon. It's very flattering!

Dragon Half (15+) - One of my all-time favorite mangas ever made from the 1980s. I think it's long overdue I make a fanart for it.

Winx Club - I have numerous unfinished fanarts for this series. I love it so much, even though Sailor Moon is superior lmfao.

Shoujo Tsubaki (18+. BANNED WORLDWIDE. DO NOT LOOK IT UP if you are sensitive or if you are a minor) - I watched this two nights ago, and it's so sad... I plan to do an analysis of it. I honestly don't think it's the worst thing ever, but I can see why people find it offensive, as it touches upon A LOT OF taboo topics.

Psychonauts - This game series man... So good. I want to draw something of my favorite character, Helmut, and his husband, Bobby. I just absolutely adore them. 😭

Touhou Project - It's been a long time since I've drawn proper fanart for this series. I have A LOT on my DeviantArt account, but I'd like to draw my favorite girls again.

Super Mario Bros - Peach is my original waifu. I've tried drawing her many times in my style, but I've kind of failed. I also really like Princess Daisy's N64 version and want to draw her again. Rosalina/Rosetta, I will also think about it.

The Legend of Zelda - This one is a little... Difficult for me. This is one of my favorite game series ever, but I really struggle to make art for it. I want to since it heavily inspired my work, but damn is it hard... Hopefully, I can break out of my shell for this.

Various other Eroge titles (18+) - Eroge are any games with erotic elements that originate from Japan. There are so many I like that range from simply being romantic to utterly insane. If you're a minor, do not look up anything.

Runescape - How I love thee. It's been a while since I've drawn fanart for it. I love the Elves haha!

Creepypasta or ghost legends/stories - I've been listening to a lot of these lately and I feel a bit inspired to draw some of the things that pop up in my imagination.

That's all for the non-original stuff. I'm still hesitant to post OCs here because they got 100% ignored last time. xD

Stuff of mine I won't ever upload to this blog:

18+ NSFW. Obvious. Do you want me to get banned?? I can draw fanart for something adult without it being NSFW.

Fetish stuff. I know I get commissioned a lot to draw fetish art, but all this will remain on DeviantArt.

Anyway, that's all I can think of right now.

[bittertomato]

A lil late but happy new year!

Characters under the cut, plus some fun facts

Tomato's faves for each month of 2023

January: Diana Cavendish (Little With Academia)

February: Diana Cavendish (Little Witch Academia)

March: True Rider — Hippolyta (Fate/Strange Fake)

April: Psyche Callista (Your Throne)

May: Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

June: Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

July: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

August: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

September: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

October: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

November: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

December: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

Brainrot of the Year 2023: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

Hall of Fame (aka brainrots of years past)

2023: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

2022: Tsuruhime Yachiyo (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2021: Tsuruhime Yachiyo and Yumeoji Shiori (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2020: Yumeoji Shiori (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2019: Tendou Maya (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2017 & 2018: Diana Cavendish (Little Witch Academia)

2016: Carmilla Karnstein (Carmilla the Webseries), Elsa (Frozen), Tohsaka Rin (Fate/stay night), and Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

2015: Carmilla Karnstein + Laura Hollis aka Hollstein (Carmilla the Webseries) aka my gay awakening

2014: Elsa (Frozen)

2012 & 2013: Higurashi Kagome (Inuyasha), Kuchiki Rukia (Bleach), Mouri Ran (Detective Conan), and Chiba Mamoru (Sailor Moon)

2011: Chiba Mamoru (Sailor Moon)

2009 & 2010: Kuchiki Rukia (Bleach)

Pre-2009: Who knows? My memory sure doesn't!

And I promised fun facts, so...

The early days...

The reason I can date my first fave to Rukia in 2009 is because that was when I made a Fanfiction.net account and posted my first fanfic. Don't read it I was young and foolish.

Bleach, Inuyasha, and Sailor Moon were my first animes. The first two I definitely watched on Adult Swim back when I still watched cable.

I used to be pretty skilled at self defense and even have a first degree black belt. One of the reasons why Ran from Detective Conan really left an impression on me.

There's a few unnamed faves that I also had from more obscure anime that were from so long ago that I can't pinpoint the exact years. A special shoutout to Asuka from Ask Dr. Rin! This show is in no way affiliated with Tohsaka Rin lol.

And yes, I do have male faves besides Mamoru! I love Hak and his constipated repressed feelings for Yona (Akatsuki no Yona) and my in-game name in FGO is inspired by Kurogane (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles). And for whatever reason, Fred is my favorite from Scooby Doo.

Honestly, I have to give Elsa some credit. I think she started the trend of my faves being "blonde/light haired "regal" rich/well off BAMF ladies who seem cold and distant on the surface but are actually dorks over-burdened and forced to grow up too fast, with a dash (or a ton) of family angst dumped on them." I mean, do you see any of my past faves being blonde? xD

The college days...

I was in denial about being queer and swore I was straight until I somehow found Carmilla the Webseries (I don't even know how) during the summer of 2015 and had a multi-step process of acceptance that went something like "Oh the actress for Laura Hollis is hot. Oh the actress for Carmilla is cute, pretty, and a huge dork. Oh everyone is pretty attractive. Wait mostly just the girls. Wait is that why I don't give a shit about men?"

Little Witch Academia is not only the first series where I published fanfic on AO3, but it's also the series that got me to write AND finish longer stories. So congrats, Diana! I really wanted to angst you :D It's also the fandom where I found my closer Discord friends. Love y'all, mwah.

I think Revue Starlight might be the series that squeezed the most faves out of me. It holds a special place in my heart for numerous reasons, but the main one might be the collab fic I worked on with Quill, who is now my partner 😊So thanks, ReLive even if your gacha game is somehow even worse than FGO.

That said, the series I seem to always go back to seem to be the To aru and Fate franchises. Maybe it's because they're still ongoing.

Those two are also the reason I started messaging Quill back in the day, so they hold an extra special place in my heart. Even with all their flaws.

And then Lostbelt 6 hit FGO and blew everything out of the water. I rave about Morgan a lot but that chapter of the game truly had a stellar cast. Nasu wanted us to remember that he can cook lol.

Where is my Lostbelt 6 anime, Aniplex?

[canmom]

Animation Night 176: The Hedge-Pigge Whin'd

Thrice the brinded Cat hath mewed, Thrice and once the hedge-pig whin'd, Harpier cries, 'tis time! 'tis time! - Macbeth

For the fourth time, Animation Night encounters Halloween. What horrors yet await us? Oh, there are....... many...

I'm going to keep this writeup pretty short bc (as is probably evident from the Posting lately) I'm not in the best of sorts.

The traditional Animation Night halloween goes something like this: a vampire-related anime, some Yamishibai, and something weird and different. Sometimes that leads to discovering some truly great and unexpected films, like Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (Psiconautas) by Alberto Vasquez. I had been thinking of doing Vasquez's Unicorn Wars tonight, but I decided to hold off to rewatch Birdboy alongside it in a week or two.

Other gems we've encountered have been the Chilean stop-motion film obliquely about a Nazi cult The Wolf House, the 'gekimation' works of Ujicha, the gorgeous one-man adaptation of Suehiro Maruo's ero-guro manga Shoujo Tsubaki, and of course Phil Tippett's 30-year magnum opus Mad God. There's a reason I look forward to Halloween each year.

Animation is a tricky fit for horror stories, particularly traditional animation. The stylised and clearly artificial presentation intrinsic to animation can be distancing and make it hard to make things genuinely scary - so if anything, a lot of horror creators benefit from a deliberately low-fi style, which avoids being too obvious with displays of technique. But animation of all kinds loves horror images and themes, from gory OVAs of the 80s full of rapacious demons, to what you could call 'spoopy' works like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Hotel Transylvania and Paranorman which play around with all the Halloween/Hammer Horror imagery - the Draculas and Frankensteins and so on.

So what's the recipe tonight?

Well, for our vampire anime, we have now worked through the obvious ones, so it's on to... the Darkstalkers OVA from 1997-8, adapting Capcom's series of fighting games. Though in Japan it's called ヴァンパイアハンター THE ANIMATED SERIES (Vampire Hunter: The Animated Series).

Fittingly for a late-90s OVA, this is full of crazy sick animation, notably including a number of cuts by Yoshinori Kanada. The story is basically: two vampire clans are having a war, but then aliens show up. Somehow that leads to battling atop exploding zeppelins. I'm curious.

For our Western Animation slot we have something by Genndy Tartakovsky (Animation Night 35). While Tartakovsky is best known for his 2D animation and hyper-simplified graphical style, he's also directed Hotel Transylvania in 3D. I was rather dismissive of this one at a glance apparently, but I've been told it's good and I mean, it's Tartakovsky right? I'm definitely curious to see how his style crosses dimensions.

Hotel Translyvania was created at Sony Pictures Animation, the studio that would later blow everyones' minds with Spiderverse. Their history is this: Sony, the international media and tech giant, had a visual effects studio called Sony Pictures Imageworks. They were considering selling it, but then came the wave of CG films beginning with Shrek, and suddenly the smell of money was in the air. So Imageworks was retooled into a studio for making feature-length CG movies. Their early films were pretty formulaic, but they gradually began to get more ambitious.

Hotel Transylvania, which depicts a hotel for monsters run by Dracula, has had a rough history, with Tartakovsky actually the sixth director to take on the project. His goal was to try and take the vibe of 2D animation, with its squash and stretch and variable timing, and bring it to 3D - a concept that was perhaps ahead of its time! How did he manage? Let's find out.

For our Yamishibai slot we have Yamishibai.

...ok, for those just joining us this I should probably explain. It's kind of like creepypastas for weebs. Yamishibai is a series of limited-animation shorts in the style of kamishibai paper theatre, telling short horror stories. In the first half of the 20th century, kamishibai performers would go around telling stories with illustrated panels, and the form was influential on the early days of manga. They're usually a blast so we'll definitely see a few of these.

...and, given the late start that will probably be all we have time for, but if we're in the mood, I can pull out a couple shorter animated horror works. Next week, we'll follow it up with Alberto Vasquez, revisiting Birdboy and also checking out Unicorn Wars.

Sound fun? See you at twitch.tv/canmom; we will start the spooky playlist soooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnn...

[sidsinning]

All your posts are making me consider watch Hellsing again. Gotta admit, I didn't enjoy it that much in my teen years cause at that time we depended on badly made dvds and the ones I saw had pretty bad translated/confusinf subtitles. It seemed good but was difficult to follow given the circumstances XDDDD

The opening played super late into the night on TV when I was a kid and ironically I hated it bc it was dark and scary 😭✋️ I was buried in pure shoujo magical girl aesthetic back in the day (I mean,,,am now too but I expanded LOL)

I have been switching back and forth between eps of both versions this whole week rewatching 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️✨️✨️✨️

Both on crunchyroll now if you wanna watch!! If not 9anime is always reliable LOL

[jumpscaregoose]

my art summary 2023!

these are the pieces that stood out to me the most from each month of 2023! long ramblings about each of them under the cut

january

hororen! this might have been a prompt for the hororen bingo event but I legit forget and the original post was not helpful

february

this was art for an lmk fic by writing god @/pittdpeaches (not gonna be annoying with a tag). it has the most notes of any piece I've ever posted and that's unfortunate because I Do Not Like It That Much.

march

this was the only thing I posted in march. it exists

april

hororen but as that soukoku art everyone loves. this piece is hilarious to me because it showed up in google image search results while I was trying to get someone into bsd and they then tried to find it themselves when I wouldn't show them by googling my full actual name. that was fun

may

I really like how the colours turned out on this one. which is good because I submitted it as one of my art finals 👍

june

and here we see the start of my pressure opacity lineart thing. with my boy lyserg. the line through his hair was probably just a guideline I left in by mistake but I like how it kinda looks like a halo. because the xlaws are just like that

july

magical girl anna! those beads were so annoying oh my god. it's a good thing I never decided to draw anything with detailed repeating links again :) ever :) who would ever subject themselves to that :)

august

this was again the only thing I drew that month, but this time I actually like it! tamajeanne is really underrated they should get more love (still hasn't written that fic)

september

and here my drama and pressure opacity begins in earnest. this is one of my favourite pieces out of everything I made this year it's great. this was also the start of my detailed hair obsession

october

*something shifts in the fabric of the universe* so this is when I got into paralive. if you weren't aware. there's a companion piece to this one but I liked it a lot less so here we are

november

I made a lot of art I liked this month but I chose this one because. it was my favourite. the Other cozmez reflection piece I did got a lot more unhinged tags but I thought the anatomy was wack so it didn't get the spot. this one was fun though I did it in one sitting in the middle of the night

december

this year really saved the best for last because I am. absolutely obsessed with this piece. it's my phone lockscreen right now. and everyone else really liked it too which makes me very very happy

overall trends I noticed in my art from this year:

SHOUJO SPARKLES but mostly in the first half

sketchy pressure opacity lineart (my favourite thing now)

bright colours fuck yeah

glowy circle particles (have been replacing the sparkles lately)

more finished compositions than last year

[cardcaptor-lisia]

sorry for posting about this so much!! i've recently gotten a bit more free time and have had to fill it up with something so i've been... i guess exploring japanese tv as a late night hobby LOL. beats american tv usually but it's still tv so...

that being said i found SHOUJO ANIME!! on animax! natsume's book of friends?