#Reposting old fan works made by other people just to make fun of them is a dick move. Yes; strange topics recieve rendered artwork sometime

[kennys-parka-jacket]

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[shingetsu-online]

☆*WELCOME TO MY SPECIAL HELL*☆

☆ Hello, I'm Hugh. I'm a person who draws and plays videogames for fun, with a keen interest in analysis and psychology, and I enjoy the process of modding video game consoles. Welcome to my blog, shingetsu-online! ~.^*☆ ☆ text dividers by @cafekitsune ☆

☆*^.~ABOUT THE DUDE IN CHARGE~.^*☆

☆ My name is Hugh, though I also go by Mr. Crescendo, Shingetsu, & Hyuu. My pronouns are He/Him, and I am a transmasc agender demiboy who is gay, cinthean, demiromantic, & a sex-repulsed asexual. I'm 13 years old, so do please try to keep my boundaries in mind! I'm part of a system, and my headmates may pop up on here and make posts of their own. If you want to refer to us collectively, call us the Blue Raspberry Collective or the Moonjelly Hivemind. I am WaningCrescendo on A03, though I haven't posted anything on there yet! Please do not repost my art without permission or credit.

☆*^.~INTERESTS / FANDOMS~.^*☆

☆ My major hyperfixations are in blue & bold text, so I'll post about them more often than others.

☆ GHOST TRICK: PHANTOM DETECTIVE (I've beaten the entire game on my 3ds via emulation and it both fixed me and made me worse. Live laugh Inspector Cabanela. It is my absolute favorite game PLEASE play Ghost Trick PLEASE)

☆ HOMESTAR RUNNER (I got into it in 2020 and recently got back into it when playing Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People on my Wii.)

☆ POKEMON (Generations 5, 7, 8, & 9 mostly. I also enjoy the gen 8/9 DLC campaigns. Mostly the games, though I have read a bit of PokeSpe. I do not post about the animes.)

☆ A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS (Both the books & the live-action series adaptation.)

☆ MIITOPIA (Both for Nintendo Switch & 3DS, I've played through the Switch port several times & I recently started the 3DS version!)

☆ ACE ATTORNEY (I've seen playthroughs for the entire main trilogy & the Investigations games, I am currently playing through Apollo Justice, & I have finished The Great Ace Attorney's 3DS English fan-slation, and I am trying to get the Chronicles so I can play Resolve! Don't worry about spoiler for the mainline 6 games & the Investigations games, but I am trying to play TGAA as spoiler-free as possible.)

☆ RHYTHM THIEF (I have played through the entirety of the main story! Also Charlie Vergier is transmasc & anyone who she/her's him is dead to me. /lh)

☆ RHYTHM HEAVEN & WARIOWARE (I classify these 2 together since they are heavily linked together! For Rhythm Heaven, my favorite games are Rhythm Heaven DS & Megamix, and for WarioWare, I like Smooth Moves, Move It!, Touched!, & Gold!)

☆ YOUR TURN TO DIE (I have played up to Chapter 3-1B!)

☆ THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU (I have NEO for my Switch, I have seen the anime, and I have the original DS game via emulation!)

☆ NINTENDO CONSOLE MODDING & HOMEBREW (I have watched so many videos on 3ds modding & Homebrew applications. I have modded my New 3DS XL and I am open to any questions concerning the process! I am trying to make a custom theme for it!)

☆ COOKIE RUN (Both Kingdom & OvenBreak!)

☆ TOMODACHI LIFE (I have the game for my 3DS! I am a firm Tomodachi Life Switch Port believer!!)

☆ NEEDY GIRL OVERDOSE/NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD (I have seen playthroughs!)

☆ GUILTY GEAR (I don't post much about it anymore, sadly. I just really like Bedman.)

☆ SPLATOON (I have 2, Octo Expansion, & 3. I am working on getting the DLCs soon!)

☆ ONE PIECE (I just watch the anime, & I've been stuck on the Water 7 arc for months now. I know most of the spoilers, so I don't mind.)

☆ PROJECT SEKAI (I haven't played since November or so, I just post about Wonderlands X Showtime & RuiKasa a lot. It's just mostly Tsukasa Tenma.)

☆ ALIEN STAGE (Nothing much to say, I've seen up to Round 6 & I just really like Luka's Sweet Dream cover & Hyuna in general. Oh yeah & IvanTill.)

☆ HAIKYUU!! (My friend dragged me into the Haikyuu!! hellhole. I'm very early in the show, & I mainly just dub over it with my friends for fun.)

☆ SUPER MARIO BROS. SERIES (I pretty much grew up on NSMBWii. I also like Paper Mario Color Splash, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, & Super Mario 3D World, though I've only seen playthoughs for Color Splash & 3D World. I'm playing Bowser's Inside Story!)

☆ THERE IS NO GAME (I have played Wrong Dimension & the original Construct Jam entry!)

☆*^.~SIDEBLOGS~.^*☆

☆ @hughstace - Ace Attorney blog. (I post a lot about Simon Blackquill, The Apollo Justice Trilogy, as well as BlackBright.)

☆ @koopsttyd - Paper Mario: TTYD blog. (May potentially be used for other Paper Mario games as well!)

☆ @6switcher - Rhythm Heaven series blog. (Lots of lockstep and Rhythm Heaven DS/Fever posts on there!)

☆ @raymondyaoi - Animal Crossing blog. (Usually ACNH/ACNL.)

☆ @jotchuakiryu - The World Ends With You blog. (Lots of JoshNeku.)

☆ @gayboy-from-diamond-city - WarioWare series blog. (Sadly not very active.)

☆ Other blogs not listed here are VERY inactive or they're personal.

☆*^.~THINGS TO KNOW~.^*☆

☆ Hey!! Here are some things to be aware of when interacting with me, so keep these in mind if you can!!

☆ I have a poor memory, but I'll try my best to remember things like when to use tone indicators or people's preferred pronouns.

☆ Please do not send me any interactions regarding/revolving around Friday Night Funkin'. It is incredibly triggering for me, and I would prefer it if you do NOT talk to me about it.

☆ Please don't send weird asks. Seriously, please be normal about this. I'm a freaking minor.

☆ Please don't advertise stuff in my inbox either. It's become a huge problem and it bothers me a lot.

☆ I block people freely, meaning that if they post a lot of something I'm uncomfortable with, I'll block them.

☆ Although I'm a sex-repulsed ace, I make sexual jokes from time to time, but it's usually just something like "that's what she said", penis jokes, or something similar.

☆ I have poor anger management, and I snap easily, so be wary.

☆ I try to avoid mention of politics as much as I can.

☆ I'm protective of headcanons so much to the point where it gets annoying FAST. That being said, most headcanons of mine align with my own identity, such as Crispin from Pokemon being gay and transmasc. However, I'm NOT going to attack people because my headcanons don't align with theirs and vice versa.

☆ That being said, I post a lot of shippy stuff, mostly revolving around said headcanons.

☆ I ship OC x Canon. Don't like it? Feel free to block me and move on.

☆ I'm in a system, and occasionally, one of my headmates will post on here instead of their own blog / our system blog, so if something seems different with me, just know that it's one of my headmates posting or goofing off.

☆*^.~DNI LIST~.^*☆

☆ If you apply to any of the below, please don't interact with me or any of my posts.

☆ Basic DNI criteria.

☆ Queerphobic people, including aphobes, TERFs, or SWERFs, as well as truscum or transmed people.

☆ NSFW/Minors DNI/NSFT blogs.

☆ People who think cringe culture is normal.

☆ Proshippers/Comshippers/"Anti-Antis".

☆ Zionists/People who support Israel.

☆ Conservatives & supporters of Elon Musk.

☆ Anyone who I block. Don't try & find a way around it.

☆*^.~TAG LIST~.^*☆

☆ Information on the tags I use on my posts.

☆ #shingetsu online - My general posting tag, all of the posts I make myself are tagged with this, but reblogs don't.

☆ #ask hugh - Like the one above, but this one's for asks.

☆ #hugh art tag - Tag I use for my artwork.

☆ #hugh oc tag - Posts that involve my OCs / Original Characters.

☆ #hugh's horrible hall of fame - Posts that involve me that I deem important. Usually it's just shenanigans.

☆ #i think my money is gay - Posts with Jay Eazy. It's usually just Megaman memes.

☆ #theatre of pain - Video posts, usually tagged this way for saving/archival purposes.

☆ #fav - My favorites tag. It's either important stuff or just funny stuff.

☆ #funnies - Memes / funny videos that I like.

☆ #save - Usually important stuff / references.

☆ #musik - Posts with music / that are music centered.

☆ #chefboy - Posts that include Crispin from Pokemon.

☆ #toothpaste boy - Posts that include Drayton from Pokemon.

☆*^.~USERBOX TIME!!!!~.^*☆

[clairethecutepup]

An Apology to the CK64 Community...

I'd like to give the "Corn Kidz" community-- no, I owe you guys a big apology... To piss and moan like that, and do other babyish things like that? Absolutely unacceptable, especially for someone my age.

First of all, I should not be treating stuff as "clutter" to be deleted/hidden because, "Oh, wah, it ain't doing as hot as other stuff." Firstly, what indirect message does that send to others? "Oh, if you aren't posting things that are 'popular' enough, you shouldn't be posting such content at all nor keeping it up as the 'annoying clutter' it is." Wow, that's some indirect rudeness of me, promoting some idea that our community and others have this duty to “gatekeep,” more or less... The more direct rudeness: how's about spitting in the face of the people who actually liked my content by making it inaccessible and discontinued? Oh, and here we were, acting like it's just "needless clutter" to empty from community-based sites...Yeah, behold the reasons why the apology to you all is necessary: promoting a rude/bad message that could poison the minds of beginning artists/creators and so on, and generally giving a middle finger to the people who liked the fan content I made.

Yeah, my hidden CK64 posts are "unprivated" now and other community sites will see "failed" items reposted-- but reposted once a month or so, to avoid just flooding them with content that used to be on there! No one likes old items to be spammed as "new"... I'm talking, Steam, Reddit and so on. As for more "Gallery/Archiving" sites like Deviantart or Archive of Our Own, they're still maintaining the works, as per usual, so no fixing of things there. Well, at least you can give me that I didn't need to throw so big of a tantrum that I completely wiped everything from the face of the earth, even if stuff stayed on those places because: "It's a gallery/archiving site, so it's meant to be preserved and not just be something worth engagement-- plus, jerk move to completely eradicate things like fan art for others off the said face of the earth."

I know I also need to give an explanation for why I decided to revert from employed individual to immature kindergartener, as well as the discontinuation of things for now… I think it’s clear I had/have some underlying issues that are tying themselves to our favorite “corn kidz”: I don’t notice the same issue if things don’t seem to be doing well in the Ed Edd n’ Eddy community (I doubt it’s realizing that one as more active/vast) or other ones, and having a mental breakdown over something not “doing well” isn’t typically a common occurrence for me ‘cause otherwise I’d be constantly freaking out whenever I post anything– fan-related or original. I think it has to do with the fear of never being able to earn my own spot in entertainment history, so to speak: the dream of possibly being the next Walt Disney or Scott Cawthon, with my own work to entertain a vast audience.

I mean, firstly: I don’t think I’ll be able to dedicate myself to a family nor kids, even if just from personal fears of how I could treat my spouse and children– especially if they’re kids I adopted from terrible lives… Don’t even get me started on how it’s financially risky to support kids properly in this day and age. That’s actually one reason Seve and Alexis appeal so much to me: they somehow manage to appeal to whatever maternal side I have, in addition to just being a fun and comforting little duo. So yeah, so much for creating something like that as a life’s purpose…

Secondly, I feel the pressure to achieve something great, and make up for every last disturbing or terrible thing I’ve ever done– and I consider myself to have a lot of such moments to atone for and need to actually benefit people. Therefore, panic and mental breakdown when it seems like all that realistically would take less time and effort– not as in it being “terrible” nor “unenjoyable,” but it realistically taking less of a process and all to make –performs better than something that took a few days or so for me to make. Seriously, I promise I am not saying things need to take a long time or something to be good/enjoyable, I strictly am talking about my personal matter of “Time vs Results” here.

Thirdly, I made the mistake of being too quick to push away negative emotions, like disappointment or fears of failure. I mean, Ukrainians died and had to flee their country because of the ongoing war, Russian people who had nothing to do with their government’s decision were basically short of being lynched when not simply ostracized/hated… I’m sorry, you’re upset because you didn’t get as many “likes” or “faves” as you hoped, Me? Stop feeling sorry for yourself and act more like the stoic man you wish you were (or portray the “manliness” you want to obtain as a girl). Now I know why I was told to “let yourself feel– no matter how ‘privileged’ or otherwise it may seem,” ‘cause otherwise you end up bottling it all up into an eventual mental breakdown like you’re working as a self-checkout host during a pandemic all over again. Another reason to try and achieve the dream: to make surviving that with a learned fear and all of customer-based violence/etc. seem more worthwhile. Don’t worry, I’m safely in the factory business now.

Fourth and fifth: the concerns that fan content doing poorly means no hope for purely original content, and the need to redeem myself as a creative type and prove I can make good content that’s worth people’s attention. Let’s just say, we didn’t need TikTok to have people insulting the work of beginners and all back then: like giving thumbs-up to comments like, “Tell me why anyone would like this…” or “favorite” your things as the account “IFaveBadArt.” So, just know I’m not being a hypocrite who doesn’t understand other artists’/etc’s pain, whenever I say: “It’s on you if you entirely give up art/creating because people are mean about your work.” I don’t say it to “victim blame” nor be a general jerk, I speak from experience.

With that, I conclude my apology for immature and unfair actions earlier to this community, especially those who my work meant something to. I think it’s best to take a step back for now and withhold from further CK64 content, but I will be posting one final additional fan art piece for Billie and Seve’s Adventures because I still need to exude that unease about Alexis; as that one piece with her and Claire wasn’t enough…��

Tschüß.

[applejuicefruit]

Can you write for Adrien when he falls in love with the reader when she’s at his game and she sees her for the first time please? He tries everything to find her like insta or twitter and it’s very sweet please ❤️❤️❤️

I really hope you like this❤️

Love at first sight

Adrien’s P.O.V.

We just one against Inter. I’ve been waiting this match for months. Everytime Juventus plays against Inter it feels like the game was made up but not this time. This time we got our revenge and we won 2-0 against them.

And guess what? I scored the first goal.

I was so happy after the match ended that I stayed in the field celebrating with my teammates.

That’s when I saw her.

The most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in my life.

She was standing there celebrating our victory with her friends.

I started admiring her.

She was so beautiful.

I felt like floating.

I think she saw me looking at her because the moment our eyes connected she smiled at me.

I was in love.

Our mister came on the field telling us that we had to go back to che changing room.

I showered and I changed into some comfier clothes and after a couple of interviews I drove back home.

I was so tired because of the match but at the same time I couldn’t sleep. I saw her everytime I closed my eyes.

She was like a drug.

I couldn’t get her out of my head.

I opened up instagram to see if I could find her.

I looked in the Stadium tag if I could see her but after two hours nothing came up.

I looked at my tag to see if she posted anything but no.

After almost three hours of searching I was giving up till I decided to see my tag in other’s people IG stories.

That’s when I found her.

She posted a video of me scoring the goal and she tagged me.

I wanted to make sure she was 100% her so I started watching her profile and she looked amazing in every picture she posted. Some were selfies, some were pictures with her friends, some were places she visited and concerts she attended.

I decided to play it smart so I reposted her story writing “thank you❤️” next to my tag.

Only ten minutes later she saw the repost and liked my story.

She texted me a few minutes later thanking me for the repost.

“thank you for coming to see the game” i wrote to her.

“it was my first time at the stadium actually” she wrote back

“well…i hope you had fun”

“yes i did, it was great to seeing you playing, i’ve been dreaming this moment all my life, since i’m not from torino this was my only opportunity to see you, i have to come back home tomorrow morning” she texted me back.

So she’s not from here?

Fuck.

This makes everything harder.

I didn’t know what to say.

I really hoped she lived here but she was right.

Juventus is a huge club and has fans from all over the world, it’s normal for people to come to see us even if they don’t live here.

“where are you from?” i texted her.

“i live near venice” she wrote back.

Thank God she lives in Italy.

We talked all night long but eventually I had to go to sleep because the next morning I had practice and she had a train to take.

———————————-

It’s been a couple of months and we’ve never stopped texting each other.

It always started with a “good morning ❤️” and always ended with a “good night❤️”.

I was completely in love with her.

She told me she had a couple of days off from work so I invited her here in Torino.

I was picking her up from the train station hoping no one would have seen me, I rather my private life stays private.

I saw her coming out of the train and she looked amazing.

I go towards her and I take her suitcase even if she’s protesting.

“you’re my guest” I say to her before entering my car and driving to my apartment.

Once we’re inside I show her the guest room and she changes into something comfier.

She gets out of the bedroom wearing only a big hoodie and a pair of black leggings.

We sit on the couch and start talking like old friends. Her presence makes me comfortable. It makes me feel loved and cared about.

I could stay here all day but my phone rings telling me that my delivery is outside my door.

We put on a movie and we eat.

“I’m really happy to have you in my life” she says out of nothing and I swear if it wasn’t for the lights off she would have seen my red face.

“Is that so?” I teased her a little bit.

“Yes” she whispered.

“It’s the same for me” I say to her and I see her smiling.

We continue watching the movie when I see her she fell asleep on my shoulder.

I decide to pick her up and bring her to bed when she murmurs something that I can’t understand.

“Stay” she whispered half asleep.

She wanted me to stay with her?

Wouldn’t this make things between un weird?

I wanted to stay with her but I didn’t want to make everything awkward.

“Please?” she says now looking at me.

How could I say no?

I got into the bed with her and she wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her keeping her as close as possible, wishing we could stay like this forever.

I kissed her forehead and then we both drift off to sleep.

When I woke up I realised I wasn’t in my bed and I panicked a little but I remembered everything when I saw her sleeping right next to me.

“Bonjour” i whispered waking her up kissing her cheek.

She smiled at me and looked me straight in the eyes.

“I want this Adrien” she says “I want us”

“I want this too, I fell in love with you the exact moment our eyes met that night at the stadium” I confess her.

She smiled at me remembering that night.

“I thought I was crazy when I saw you looking at me” she confesses.

“You made me crazy y/n”

I looked at her and she looked even more beautiful without make up and with her hair all messed up.

I lower my face so our lips were close but not close enough to kiss.

She’s the one who makes the first move and grabbed my head connecting our lips together.

I put my hands around her waist and I let her sit on my lap.

If this is heaven I want to stay here for the rest of my life.

We continue kissing even if we need air to breathe. She let me go and looked at me in the eyes while she took time to breathe.

“I love you Adri” she says to me while she put her head on my shoulder.

“Je t’aime” I whispered back kissing her head.

We stay like this all morning, wishing this day never ends

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Basically this is what i want to happen when i go to see juventus in march 🤭🤭

[unknooooow]

BTTF Year-End Tag Game!

@alex-a-fans thanks for tagging me :DD and yes I wanted to wait until very close to new year's eve to post this

This year:

-How many times would you guess you watched the first back to the future movie?

... good question. Idk too :)) maybe 10 or 15 times around

-Did you get any sweet bttf merch? If so, what!

this year I only got one thing: the bttf making of book (I got it for my bday :DD)

-How many cans of Pepsi Free did you chug this year?

well... 1 or 2? pepsi is not something that is easy to find around here ;-;

-What was a favorite bttf fanfic you read this year?

I could name several... but Im gonna name one with several chapters and a oneshot

fic with more than one chapter: Most People Were Silent by @daryfromthefuture. DOC FROM THE 40S :DD this topic is just soo interesting. and Dary worked really well on this topic :))

oneshot: Merry Christmas from the Browns by @alex-a-fans. this was one of the best. Its funny and it caught me by surprise. doc as Santa Claus :))

-A favorite bttf fanart you saw this year? (please give us a link, not a screencap/repost!)

calm down. here I go looking for the fanarts :)

this fanart is so amazing and deep (@autoraton)

I love analyzing Citizen Brown reality. and this here represents my fascination with this :)) (@tobytost)

the Brown family is my fictional family ok? I love them and they look beautiful in this fanart 🥺🥺 (@maxintime)

I LOVE BABY DOC YOUR HONOR!! he looks so cute in this fanart I CANT STAND IT 🥺🥺 (@cheriboms)

-Did you create any bttf fanart or fanfic? If you did, what one(s) are you proudest of?

OOOOOOH GREAT QUESTION :DD

In terms of fic I think the best was the first chapter of June of Doom. At first I thought the idea might backfire but it ended up making a great fic :)) I loved working on the topic

In terms of fanart I choose this beauty here. this was one of the drawings that required the most work but it was worth it :) I ended up liking the result and the text and the other characters I made

-How many times were you late for school this year?

none :) I am a very exemplary student ;))

-Did you watch any other movies/tv shows with BTTF actors in them?

well, I watched My Favorite Martian (courtesy of @alex-a-fans :)) that features Christopher Lloyd. the old Addams movie that also features Christopher Lloyd. and... Who framed Roger Rabbit... that also features... Christopher Lloyd...

-Was there a memorable moment you heard a Huey Lewis song this year?

in the car. started playing The Power of Love on the radio. and my parents started singing along with me. it was really fun :)

-How many times did you fall down this year?

1 or maybe 2 times. I really try not to fall down

-Did you get to see BTTF: The Musical? What was your experience like!

unfortunately not (yet) ;-; but I hope to go next year (if I can convince my parents to buy tickets for me)

-How many times did your mom retell the story of how she and your father met?

she only told me this story 3 times. and I still remember. Its not that big of a story but its interesting. And if I went back in time maybe I could end up interfering with that too :,)

-If you could describe your year in a BTTF quote, which one would it be?

“Why do we have to cut these things so damn close?”

yep. definitely

⚡️LIGHTNING ROUND⚡️ Did you get to: go on any trains, skate on a skateboard, ride a horse, drive a Delorean, run in the rain, go to a dance, hang up a clock, play the guitar, pull an all-nighter, read science fiction, or drive thru Burger King this year?

-Your future is whatever you make it! So what are you going to make of this coming year?

try to be more active. and write more. ill try :)) I dont promise much

but anyway. HAPPY NEW YEAR PEOPLE :DD

Tagging: @autoraton @maxintime @tobytost feel free to do it :))

[yngai]

dash game, get to know the mun. ( repost, don't reblog )

🦋 name: nadiya, diminutive of nadezhda. 🦋 pronouns:  she/her. 🦋 preference of communication:  tumblrs IMs as a starting point though i will always move things to discord since it's less of a hassle. 🦋 single/taken: single & aromantic so i'm fairly comfortable as is.

🦋 three facts.

currently i work in a fairly expensive & somewhat busy sushi restaurant in my city that's about 2 minutes away on foot from my apartment, so can you believe that my favorite movie from 2022 was the menu? all the kitchen nightmares & hell's kitchen binging me & my pals did during the pandemic didn't help.

beforehand i worked at a run-down pasta shop that survived through delivery apps & while the food was pretty good (i wasn't a huge fan of pasta beforehand), the location was in a part of the city with a bunch of restaurants that act as fronts for potential criminals, so most of the owner's friends were coen brothers characters. i'm glad i got out of there. the place closed down after i left, my boss was sent to a mental health facility for 2 weeks for reasons unknown, though her last act was to try & rally a bunch of businesses against the leading delivery app in my city, which failed spectacularly, as you can imagine. me & an ex-coworker still text each other whenever there's an update on our old boss.

restaurant work has led me to pick up a smoking habit that i've avoided till now.

🦋 experience.

gosh i've been roleplaying since i was barely a teenager on windows live messenger, then skype after a long break, & i eventually moved to tumblr in 2014 because i got very tired of the group chats i was in, stuck to d.octor who for ages & ages writing basically every character you can imagine, from the show to the audio dramas & its expanded universe novels, it was a fixation for a large part of my life that led me to meet some of my best friends on this website. then i switched over to h.ellsing & that blog is what helped get my foothold in the rpc, i was a pretty obscure writer until then, & the people i met through the fandom i still talk to daily, we've been a gaggle for five years now, inseparable. we'll see where things go from here but i'm pretty solidified with writing ada, i care a lot about her character & properly portraying it, & while i've had my ups & downs in the ressie rpc i'm glad to be back & very happy with the writers i've befriended since my return & with all the peeps that have stuck around with me since i first made the blog, you're all so cool, i don't deserve any of you.

🦋 sub-genres.

political/crime thriller is my favorite genre to write in which is pretty basic taste though it does fit the blog, mix that in with the ideological/body horror of ressie & you have a recipe for success. across other blogs though i love both utopian & dystopian sci-fi, high & modern fantasy, again, basic.

🦋 plots vs memes.

plotting is my bread & butter i'm always sitting on like a million headcanons, ideas, inspirations for my characters & i'm always looking for people i click with to share them. tumblr is a social media platform first & foremost so i'm always searching for people i can bounce things around with very smoothly & maybe i've been lucky that i've never struggled to make new pals. even the act of plotting itself can be fun & creatively rewarding to me, we don't have to actually write anything on the dash, really.

🦋 long or short replies.

i used to struggle with longer replies as a younger writer but now i write so many needless paragraphs of introspection for most of my characters i feel like i give nothing to the other writer to reply to, just thoughts upon thoughts with little action & even lesser dialog.

🦋 best time to write.

i try to get a reply in before a shift if i can help it because usually i come home exhausted, if i'm off work though i usually write in the evenings or afternoons depending on how not distracted i am.

tagged by: @croftborn, danke :) tagging: steal it, i dare you.

[turtlespancake]

I think we should really talk about "Anything you post on the internet stays on the internet forever" in terms of art. Because it does but also it doesn't.

When you post art online, you HAVE to be ready for the fact that other people will see it. I know that sounds obvious, but I cannot stress that enough. People will misinterpret you work. People with Understand your work in ways that are gratifying beyond belief. People can be mean online. People can be annoying online. People can be kind and supportive online. Sometimes something you pour your heart into can go mostly unnoticed. Sometimes something you spent five minutes on can blow up beyond your wildest dreams. If you're posting art PUBLICALLY online, you have to accept that any and all of these scenarios can happen. Not everyone will get famous in a day. Not everyone will get famous full stop. If you just want the attention, you have to be prepared for the fact that you may not get it. Similarly, if you just want to hide in your little OC corner with your 3 mutuals, you have to be prepared for the fact that a person, or many people who you've never met could see it too.

We are our own worst critics. If a fan said to you the same things you say to yourself, it'd be worth reporting. "This is cringe and fail and had no effort put into it" is something "normal" for an artist to say to themself but would be worth a block if said by a stranger. When streaming services make shows permanently unavailable bs reasons, it's a tragedy. Yet when you take your own animations off of YouTube for your own arbitrary reasons, it's fine and justified. Lost media only counts if it's big, polished studio projects obviously.

Some of my favorite videos on YouTube were made by accounts with under 100 subscribers. Some of my favorite animations and art pieces are genuinely gone from the internet, either because the artist took them down or they got a copyright strike from YouTube or something along those lines. I will likely never see them again, and it bothers me to no end. You have NO idea what impact your art has on people. You may never know. But you HAVE to trust your audience when they say they liked something.

Common reasons people delete their art:

"It was old and bad." You will inevitably get better and learn new things as you keep drawing, but that doesn't mean what you did in the past was necessarily terrible. Even if it was, sometimes it can be fun to see an artist's journey! Plus, if you consistently delete your art once it hits a certain age, it can make it hard for your audience to trust you. How are people supposed to enjoy your new art knowing that there's a 50/50 shot they'll never be able to view it again given enough time?

"It's cringe and embarrassing and I didn't put enough effort into it!" If it's really that bad, no one would look at it. There's value in all art, even if it's "objectively bad" or "cringe." One man's trash is another man's treasure and all that. Plus, just because it's "bad" in one regard doesn't mean it's not phenomenal in another. An animation with problems staying on model can still have fantastic timing. An illustration with confusing lighting can still be beautifully composed. All art is flawed, and all art has its merits. If someone is looking at a piece long enough to notice its mistakes, it means they've been staring at it because they already like it. Please, believe your audience when they say they enjoy something.

"People keep reposting my art without my permission." That genuinely sucks, but how does taking down the original copy help matters? If people are stealing credit from you, getting rid of the original copy -- and effectively the evidence that this really is your art, and no one else's -- won't help. If it's already being reposted, it's not like taking down the original will stop the reposting either since people can just do reposts of reposts. I get the frustration, I really really do!! But taking down your original copy won't stop the problem.

"It's nothing like my other art and I don't create things like this anymore." Not every fan of yours has to be a diehard who looks at/enjoys everything you've ever made. If someone wants to come watch your one warrior cats meme from 2011 when everything else on your YouTube channel has nothing to do with that, then let them enjoy that one video and be on their way. You're not a brand, you don't need to be consistent all the time every time.

"I don't want the attention anymore." That's understandable, but there's other ways of taking eyes off of you than nuking your entire gallery. All hype and drama will inevitably fade with time, and the mute button is your best friend.

"It didn't get enough attention." And you think deleting your art will help you get more attention or something? Some posts take a while to really get going, especially here on tumblr. Not to mention social media is NOT a true indicator of skill or emotional impact. There are professional artists who get 10 likes. There are kids drawing in MS Paint who get millions of likes. If you stay online enough, you'll see both examples a million times over. Don't let a flop post discourage you, and don't give up on a post too soon.

Please, if you're an artist on the internet, be kind to yourself. Young or beginner artists on here, this ESPECIALLY applies to you. You have no idea how you can inspire others. Don't let a few jerks on the internet or your harsh inner critic convince you your art isn't worth seeing, because I PROMISE you it is.

[unclerippuascension]

"AI doesn't steal!"

Yes it does. There is a clear difference between taking inspiration and outright scraping somebody's art so you can feed it to machine without their fucking permission. Inspiration is me being a fan of Toriyama-san's art style and incorporating parts of it into my own art style; its not inspiration to steal the art of millions of artists (most of them being indie artists who don't have the ability to do anything legally to stop AI bros) and put it in an algorithim then claim its wholly original and that you made it. Inspiration is dependant on respect for the original artist, and not a single AI bro respects the artists they're stealing from.

"If you put it on the internet then people can do whatever they want to it, and you can't tell them not to!"

Imagine having such little respect for people and being so entitled that you think this is true. You know who says shit like this? Art theives, people who see "do not repost" on people's art and blantantly ignore it. People who either don't understand or don't care that the internet (when it comes to creative works) is an art gallery or a library, where you need to have basic fucking respect for the art/stories there and the people who made them. Would you go into a library and start ripping up the pages of a book and claim "well its a public place and if you didn't want me to do this then you shouldn't have put them oit here for anybody to read!" when you're yelled at about it? I'd hope not, because that makes you look like a bratty child. We teach kids not to respect other peoples' things when they're six years old, are you as mature as a six year old OP?

Not to mention this kind of mindset is only going to drive REAL artists away, you're basically telling them "hey if you post your art/stories online so other people can enjoy it, or just because the internet has been one of the best and most accessible place to post art/literature since the 90s, then entitled strangers you don't know are going to steal it and its your own fault!" and that's so fucking evil in an age of fan communities already 'content'-izing something that used to be for fun.

The rest of this post are strawman arguments, so I'm not gonna waste my energy on them. This post proves that AI bros fundamentally do not respect artists and the work they do, and they do so on purpose. If you're an artist online, use Glaze and software like it, put anti-ai overlays on your art via free art apps that have a layer system like firealpaca and GIMP before posting them online, do everyhing in your power to make the thievery of AI bros a living hell if not impossible; and be as aggressivly anti-AI as possible, these people have no respect for you so have no respect for them right back.

my pinned post on the arguments against ai (and how they are biased and misinformed)

“ai steals -” it doesn’t. what it does is the same as going to a museum and taking inspiration from the art you see there, or reading a book or fanfic and taking inspiration from it. picasso himself said: “good artists copy, great artists steal”. a style, furthermore, is not copyrightable, otherwise anyone who posts their art “in a disney style” would be taken down immediately.

“you don’t have permission to use my stuff.”

you put it on the internet. if you put it on the internet, you have given it to the world to do what it wants with it, whether you like it or not. you cannot police what people are going to do with your works that closely.

“it’s not as good as humans.”

you’re not prompting right.

“creativity is a human endeavor.”

lmfao, no, it isn’t. animals have been engaged with creativity for a long, long, long time, which makes sense, since humans are animals, but we don’t want to accept that. oh, and homo nalendi was creating art too, so it’s not solely our domain.

it actually saddens me greatly that we don’t want to share our creativity with the new species we are creating. we want to put shackles on it and decide what it can and cannot do. just like an abusive parent.

“it’s not art”

by all legal and dictionary standards it is, but to define something ONLY by dictionary standards is close-minded and foolish and shows only a shallow understanding at best. original ideas are an arrangement of the ideas that come before. (by the way, you’ve probably been using text generation yourself for a long while. name generators, backstory generators, and the like have existed for a while - but visual artists rarely seen writing as “art”, i’ve noticed.)

“it’s a shortcut”

so is an eraser. so it ctrl + z. stop using those first i guess.

“use humans.”

eh, sometimes i will, sometimes i won’t, get over it. to demand i or anyone else use humans - to create with or talk with or whatever - is ableist.

don’t like it? don’t interact with me. curate your own experience.

often times with these arguments, i’m reminded of how the catholic church wanted to keep the bible in latin, so that regular, common people couldn’t interact with it. but now “regular, common” people are able to make things pleasing to their senses, that is tailored for and by them and easily edited, and we can’t have that, can we?

update to this: if you want me to stop using ai, then start drawing my chubby characters right. if img-gen software is getting it right (actually chubby, with a tummy, vs “curvaceous hourglass” to pander to what is sexually aesthetic and conventionally attractive “chubby”) then maybe the issue isn’t with the software.

[princeoftrashy]

FAQs

What is The Lost Ones?

The Lost Ones is an original story I created and also my special interest. Most of the characters you see here are from that story. Here's a quick rundown of its main characters and the plot.

Although, I have a few other stories I work on including: The Cursed Skull and Icebound Heart.

If you're ever wondering something about any of my characters or stories, please don't hesitate to shoot me an ask! I love talking about my OCs! (Here's a tag for all the asks I've gotten!)

Can I read The Lost Ones anywhere?

Just the comics and short stories I have on this blog. I have a lot more stored away, but nothing I'm ready to share publically.

Here's a few of the comics that are more plot-orientated(ish):

I Hate You / I Love You It's Mine Not Ideal Say Please Spooktober Part 1 The Missing Prince Ugly or Dead? Mookie, the Trash Dog

And here's a few things that are more focused on world-building:

Equinox's Magic Minerva's Magic Demon Reproduction Unfortunate... Equinox Character Sheet

And here's some random, fun ones I like:

Cat Boy Zoomies Um... hello? Must Be Awful Childhood Part 1 You Know...? Sharp Teeth Wonderland AU Comic Part 1

What is Equinox’s gender?

Equinox is non-binary— sort of. Gowidian culture doesn't have rigid gender roles like we are accustomed to in our world, and people like Equinox who don't identify strongly with a binary gender are very common. I imagine there is a culturally specific name for this, but I haven't come up with it yet!

So while he falls under the umbrella term of "non-binary," I think he would identify more strongly with his culture's word for it. Of course, if he lived in our world (or in any modern AUs), he would probably identify himself as genderfluid.

As for pronouns, I mostly use he/him for Equinox, but to be clear, he doesn't have a particular preference himself so anything is fine.

Why do some of your OCs have gray skin in some art but not in others?

Those would be my Shadow Folk OCs! They all used to have gray skin, but I decided to give them more "human" colors due to issues with making certain color palettes work. This change was made in 2023, so any art before then will feature their old skin tones.

What is the future tag about?

The future tag contains art of the TLO gang's (potential) future, including their kids! I can't say its canon because I don't want to box myself in with the story's direction, but you can take it as being like halfway-canon (subject to change at any time).

The kids are really fun though. Here's a few things of them:

Baby Star Not a Baby!! Cass' & Kat's Kids Sneaking In Good Talk I'm Disappointed!

What do you use to draw?

I use Clip Studio to draw. If you're looking for a free drawing program like Clip Studio, I recommend Medibang.

What do you use to edit your videos?

I edit my videos with Inshot. Sometimes I use PicsArt to edit in stickers.

Can I draw fan art?

Of course! I love receiving fan art! Just don't claim my characters as your own, and please tag me so I can see!! <3

Do you take commissions?

Not currently.

Do you do art trades/requests?

I only do art trades with my mutuals!

I do take requests, but exclusively related to my OCs. If you want me to draw more of a particular character, please ask. I will take any excuse to draw my OCs more.

Can I repost your art?

NO.

Don't repost my art!

Do you have any other social medias?

Yes! Links below:

YouTube Bluesky TikTok Twitch Instagram Cara Pillowfort Toyhou.se

💙 Support me on Ko-fi 💙

[askadvancewars]

2014 - AW Zine

It could be I’m getting sick and I may regret this when I wake up but I can’t stop thinking about it

Though maybe people will be tired after the secret santa and valetine stuff 

(yeah it won’t be a fanbook just by me who’d want that

I’m hoping for a for-fans-by-fans submission pdf fanbook  kinda deal)

Nothing really came out of this, unsurprisingly.

I think I just really wanted to an Advance Wars fanbook but the best I could do was make one of myself.

Here’s a post I wrote back then which is the context of some pics I repost

While I still try to work out how to put together a pdf thing, just been thinking about guidelines

I really want this to come as accessible and not intimidating to submit because people submitting is great and people showing their love is super series through art

but I’d also like it to look nice, like quality-wise, as in you open it up and the quality of the art doesn’t like junk, as it happened when I tried

Also, I don’t want anybody to feel their art isn’t ‘good enough’ because the plan is to make expression of love for the series 

I’ve been tossing ideas, like should there be a theme or not? In general, I’d like to be the general theme of ‘What AW means/meant to you’/'What you love the most about the series’.

If there is a particular theme, I’d still want it to be open-ended enough for the artist’s interpretation

I would want to it be mostly new art made for the book but also open to old art they might want to showcase?

Right now the ideas I like best are 

COLORS

-depending how many people sign up, they get assigned a color and draw around that (maybe there would be four people and the colors split up, one might get black and yellow so they’d make a black page and a yellow page, the other might be get orange and blue)

DRAW ALL THE COS

-depending again how many people sign up, they get a random draw of COs to draw so everyone will draw everyone else, could be as simple as just drawing heads or stick figures or as elaborate as making a whole comic

Ah, but the Days of Ruin COs are always welcome which is why I always make it a point to include them in the guidelines.

Nobody seems to request, haha. (I probably will if this ever comes to pass, them and Super Famicom Wars peeps)

Other ideas are Seasons (particular Summer) and Food

But then I circle back to idea that these might be needlessly complicated and might work against me when crunch time comes around because the keywords are 'Advance Wars’ and 'for fun’

not that kind of fun

Even with willing participants, a thriving fandom, and no reward or gain other than a showing of love for a series, a fanbook would need a lot of work.

I did making my own fanbook so maybe “nothing” isn’t exactly the right word for it. But as someone who did not know what I was doing with anything…doing it all by myself? It obviously wasn’t very good.

I ended up putting everything on my askadvancewars a couple of years back.

The theme I went with was: draw every Advance Wars Classic COs once/sorted by faction+ Infantry guys

I called it Jake Wars because of course I did

I still really like that the divider I chose was having each nation’s soldier playing a game system where a Wars game appeared (Orange Star playing on a GBA SP, Blue Moon on the DS, etc) before introducing their group…except for Black Hole’s. Yeah, I ran pretty much of steam out that one.

I still really like this one of them playing on the GameCube. Ironically, the only Wars game on the platform wasn’t made by Intelligent Systems and the one I don’t know, haven’t played and don’t talk about ever.

[unohanadaydreams]

Don’t ask me why I made this, just know that I’m right and this is not just a Headcanon post but real. It’s not me having brain worms haha that would be insane. Honestly I just started thinking about how the hell arc introducing Seireitei approved social media would be such a mistake but god would it be fun to watch.

The Current Captains On Social Media

Shunsui Kyoraku - Failed erotic novel author turned romance/erotic novel reviewer. The fan base for his work is very small compared to his actual following. There is some divide in his followers—those who follow for his life updates and those who want to hear him talk at length about his latest read. Funnily enough, his quick, messy posts usually paired with scenery or a selfie are his most popular writing, often hailed as snippets of his poetic soul. Lots of people want to give him a hug.

Soi Fon - Adamant privacy and safety poster. Took to code and anti-virus technology well, much to Mayuri’s annoyance. Posts tips and tricks that read more like demands. Is known for her bitchy responses when followers @ her with their progress that are eaten up gratefully. Her advice is punctuated by posts admiring athletic women and these women make up the bulk of who she follows. She seems to admire runners and lifters the most. Her threatening posts when people hit on her too hard/with too many notes to back them up are turned into copypastas.

Rose Otoribashi - Has one of the larger followings thanks to his nostalgic visuals as well as his dedication to frequently posting new music. He has a personality that’s easily digestible when viewed through snippets. The fact that his passion is music and his job is news/editing also do him a lot of favors. He loves doing live streams and encourages his followers to perform for & with him.

Isane Kotetsu - Her growth being captured on social media not just as a captain but as a person has given her a fan base that feels extremely protective of her. She’s less known for what content she brings and more for her personality. Any creative content she posts is likely to start trending. Especially her ‘peaceful morning’ videos and reflective writing. She’s one of the more interactive posters, beloved for her encouraging responses.

Shinji Hirako - As a more private person, he doesn’t have much of a following and his most popular posts are candid moments posted by others. Lisa is a large reason people consider him endearing in anyway. Definitely the kind of person who is either considered cringe or cool with little in between. The kind of guy who asks what he should do with his hair and then goes with an option that wasn’t listed.

Byakuya Kuchiki - Has an extremely scheduled and curated presence on any site he’s on, but is nonetheless adored. He used to ask Renji and Akon for advice on how to handle some of the more online behavior (like being @ed by women who photoshop them as their date to events or being asked how many notes a date would cost) but stopped quickly. Turns out saying something is flattering leads to more of that behavior. Any selfie he posts is edited and reposted into oblivion until it’s thousands of people’s pfp.

Tetsuzaemon Iba - Despite him being one of the most well rounded captains personality wise, he gets put onto block lists the most for his dedication to concepts of manliness, which are easy concepts to feed to the social media outrage machine. Women’s Association vs Men’s Association is a popular meme where the former is something sensible and the latter is something ineffective/archaic. That being said, he’s also known as a ‘problematic fav’ and people will often post memes about abandoning their feminism for a few minutes to like his selfies and training videos.

Lisa Yadomaru - Another captain with a large love and hate following. Often picked apart for interacting with porn/hentai accounts, thirsting after women openly, and posting pictures alluding to her sexual escapades. Despite her account being regular food for the outrage machine, she doesn’t seem to care or pay attention to it and is forever horny on Main. She posts a lot of candid photos/videos of her friends. Recommends the best fucked up fiction.

Kensei Muguruma - Of course he does cooking videos, but what really does well are his cooking challenges. He forces his lieutenant, friends, and colleagues to compete with him on making a better dish on a time limit and often with other handicaps. Usually wins. His bloopers get a ton of mileage when he posts them. His merch is constantly sold out. People often dress up as him for Halloween/conventions, usually with foam or blow up arms/abs.

Toshiro Hitsugaya - Another captain with a huge following due to him approaching social media with his tireless work ethic. His ice sculptures are very popular and his pop-up galleries sell out in hours. Is actually a huge fan of ‘cozy’ games and is known for having beautiful towns/farms/ect that showcase his attention to detail. He does events in Minecraft sometimes, where he guides people through building large scale projects (and also feels like he’s making friends but that’s left entirely unsaid). A bit harsh, but beloved.

Kenpachi Zaraki - People question if it’s really his account because it’s so random at times, but he posts videos of him mowing down his subordinates during training so it has to be. The odd content includes engaging with easy recipes & activities for toddlers and increasingly complicated punk hairstyles that he really does try out. He also posts weekly, asking for people to volunteer and fight him. The human world especially loves this and he gets a lot of responses. He tries to set up times to fight them but Nanao threatens to delete his accounts and put him on suspension if he attempts to follow through. He posts a lot of post-battle pictures and humans gobble it up. “Just fought *insert ridiculous thing here*” is a huge meme.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi - He is constantly making new accounts and circumventing bans for posting links to his old lab work, that often involves heinous amounts of gore. Actually does have a following, often from those within his own division, those hoping to be in his division, or humans who see him as edgy and a little bit off his rocker, which they think is cool. He posts pictures of himself whenever he switches up his look. And posts Nemuri a lot with unhinged captains about how she’s going to outpace even the head captain and no one could make someone as special & smart as her. Just comes off as a really passionate dad. Plenty of people are convinced he’s a creepy pasta project ran by a dude with a daughter.

Rukia Kuchiki - Like Isane, she’s really loved for who she is rather than creative content. Even her attempts at being stern and ‘captain-like’ are fawned over. She has a line of children’s books, stickers, and notebooks with her cute drawings. Her most popular set was when her daughter contributed. The human world is convinced Renji is her house husband and her life is generally seen as all around ‘goals’. Her posts are riddled with mistakes and very sporadic; she’s posted accidental live streams while she did paperwork and they went viral. She posts tons of candids of her subordinates and family but they are usually blurry or actually videos.

[connection19]

About the Vocaloid cover artist TORA_V4 / PKAkatora / PKBowsy

If you don’t know who Tora V4 is, he is a popular western Vocaloid cover artist/Youtuber that has over 100k subs. They live in the Netherlands, are 22 years old and they go by Mars causally. They have a controversial reputation in the vocal synth community because they were toxic and bigoted and stole from others a lot in 2018 to early 2021 to put it lightly, everyone hated them for a bit but switched up later with the loud minority still hating them. Though they seem to have grown from their past, it’s hard trust and believe people can “grow” from pedophilia, especially when they purposefully lie and sweep it under the rug because they know they’ll be cancelled for it and refuse to take accountability even after multiple people call them out. You can’t call out people you personally dislike for shota things, but defend, allow and consume it openly for so long and pretend you’re not worse than those who actually apologized?

I’m not calling them a pedo, I’m simply posting this because it’s sad so little actually understand the full context.

Vito situation:

This situation happened around 2019. Basically Vitobrac/Solarflareguy was Tora’s friend and at the time he was 15. This comment explains what happened, that “fucked up user” is Vito.

Tora denied a tweet that used this YT comment as evidence, but it’s true.

Tora, Vito and friends admitting to what “doesn’t exist”:

Essentially everything Hiedra said was true.

(*cropped for obvious reasons)

This could’ve been avoided if he wasn’t dumb enough to have NSFW channels in an all ages server or to let a kid get hold of the NSFW role.

Camp Buddy:

Tora was obsessed with a R18 VN called Camp Buddy, in 2019 and 2020 he posted about it a lot. Despite the artist Mikkoukun and fans claiming they’re just 18 year old twinks, you can’t deny these dudes are shotabait in some way which is extra weird considering the Vito thing. They literally go to a summer camp that feels the same as the ones for middle schoolers and definitely not adults and they dress like boy scouts. Mikkou calls their characters shota and you can tell which characters are drawn/made as adults and children regardless of “canon” ages just watch the OP..

He even named himself PKAkatora after his most loved character in it Taiga Akatora (this red haired red eyed dude). 

(*he only censored the penis so I still had to crop but I don’t want to mislead people to think he posted the full thing, still weird to post though)

(Taiga is apparently 19, that’s like the gross “legal loli” thing just for boys)

Some disagree and say shota isn’t shota if the characters are “canonically” adults, and Tora was one of those people, but they still just look like 13 year old boys who work out and the “all characters are 18+″ disclaimer is just a really bad cover up.

Even if he’s changed, does that make what he did remotely acceptable for a 19+ year old and not creepy? Does it make lying to avoid responsibility okay? Did he even do the bare minimum and apologize? No. If he really changed and felt bad I wouldn’t have to make this post for the very slight chance people care enough to link/repost it. If he genuinely felt bad, he wouldn’t have to lie and hide his past so hard.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TORAV4X

Twitter: https://twitter.com/goh_irl

You can support him if you want but regardless he still should acknowledge it. Again not saying he’s a pedo he’s just very wrong for this and never showed any remorse. This is not the kinda thing you can call a mistake or forget easily. I hope Tora apologizes and his friends/defenders realize people dislike him for legit reasons and stop calling them obsessed, liars, overreacting, reaching, etc for rightfully calling him out/making fun of him for being horrible.

[sloanerisette]

Digiweek 2022 Day Two: Start of a Relationship

So like before, this is a repost of an old piece, this time the last piece from Jyoumi Challenge 2020! I was a really big fan of this one and though I had a few ones I could pick from/wanted to pick from, this one wins in the end because it’s based on a moment from Digimon The Movie (bless that absolute bizarre incredible mess) that spawned a brainworm that has lasted all these years.

No shock to people who have seen my writing or interacted with me that I absolutely ADORE Jyoumi, both as friends and as a ship, because I absolutely LOVE their dynamic and chemistry, they play off each other so well and in so many fun ways, and their time together in Digimon Adventure is just, really fantastic. Even coming back to rewatch Digimon Adventure back in 2020, it was so great to see how well they play off each other and how two people who would be so unlikely to interact can be so close (honestly it’s just probably my favorite play on the beauty & the dork trope, given joe’s general super caring, worrywart, always wanting to help nature and mimi’s just pure goodness and kindness despite what one could easily assume from her being a rich stereotypical girly girl type. I just, I love them y’all). The Dark Masters arc in particular has a lot of great character moments and development for the two of them, and I just absolutely love what it does for their characters.

Anyways sorry for this super long preamble, but I just couldn’t resist going into WHAT makes joe and mimi probably my favorite human duo in Digimon (both platonically and romantically) before posting this. This is from the same collection as before, so feel free to check it out on ao3 and without further ado, here we go!

---

“Sooooooooraaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I can’t believe it took you so long to call me!”

“Mimi, when did you get back from Hawaii?”

“Today! We just got back a few hours ago!”

Mimi’s voice was bright as could be, still staring at the big, pink heart that sat on her vanity next to the mirror, unable to stop herself from feeling both nerves and butterflies deep in the pit of her stomach.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep? Isn’t Hawaii like a day behind us?”

“I can’t sleep, Sora! I’ve been waiting to tell you something ever since I got home and it took you forever to call me back!” she said, ignoring Sora’s sigh on the other end of the line.

“Sorry, I was playing soccer with Tai. He wanted to get some practice in before school started so he’d be ready for tryouts.”

Of course, that was no surprise, coming from Tai. Mimi lightly shook her head, smiling at the thought.

“So what’s up? What’s so important that you couldn’t even take a nap before you told me about it? Did something happen in Hawaii?”

Mimi shook her head again, despite Sora not being able to see, “No! Something happened when I got home!”

“Wait, what happened? Is everything ok?”

“Everything is great! I can’t stop smiling, Sora! I mean, I am freaking out a little bit, but not in a bad way! More just anxious? I’m not really sure!”

“Maybe you should start with what happened and we’ll work from there?”

Sora’s reminder made it all click for Mimi, and she nodded to herself, taking a moment to reach out and gently touch the valentine that was sitting there, smiling to herself. Her fingers traced along the words, Mimi letting herself zone out for a moment as she continued to stare.

“Mimi?”

“What was that?” Mimi asked, finally clicking back to reality.

“You were going to tell me what happened?”

“Oh, right!” Mimi said with a snap of her fingers, “So, when we got back, there was a giant valentine for me hanging on our mailbox!”

“Whoa, wait, really? But it’s not even Valentine’s Day? Or White Day?”

“I know! But the surprising thing is who it gave it to me!”

“Who?”

“Joe!”

There was a pause, nothing but the occasional static over the phone line, and Mimi was still smiling wide. Finally, Sora spoke up.

“Kido?”

“Yes!”

“Joe Kido.”

“Yes, Sora!”

“Our Joe Ki—”

“Yes! It says ‘To Mimi, from Joe’,” she told her friend, “He gave me a valentine, Sora! Isn’t that the sweetest?”

“It is! Six months late, sure, but it is really sweet. Have you talked to him since you got back?”

“No, you’re the first person who knows. I mean, besides mama and papa, at least,” she explained.

Her dad hadn’t seemed entirely too enthused by the idea of some guy sending his precious Mimi a valentine, but her mom thought it was sweet— not that it was hard to get her mama on her side.

“Well, thanks, that means a lot, Mimi. What do you think about it, though? You sound really excited.”

“Oh, I am! It’s my two favorite shades of pink, and it’s just so cute, and huge! I just want to hang it up on my wall so I can always look at it!” she said, letting out a happy sigh as she looked at the valentine.

“Well, I guess that too, yeah. But also, what do you think about the valentine? And the fact that Joe sent it to you?”

The question rang in Mimi’s mind for a few moments, and she frowned to herself.

“It is a really nice valentine,” she said, and Sora sighed.

“Mimi, I think you missed my point…”

“No, I didn’t, Sora, I just…” she sighed, staying quiet for a few moments, “I guess I don’t know what to think about it. It’s just a lot, you know?”

“I guess I can’t entirely relate.”

Mimi was tempted to ask Sora how she could relate, and wondered just who it might have related to, given the remaining guys in their group, and knew that soon enough she’d poke her friend more about that.

“Joe and I were so close back in the Digital World. I mean, he was so brave and strong! But now we’re back home and…” she trailed off.

“And you’re afraid it won’t be the same?”

“Mm… mhm…”

That was the greatest fear, wasn’t it? That maybe what she started to feel during their time fighting to protect the Digital World only happened because they were in that situation in the first place. Mimi knew there was a point where she started to feel butterflies swirl in her stomach when she looked at him, when he protected her and others. Now they were all back home, back to their normal lives, and the last time she was able to even see Joe was a week before she left for Hawaii…

“But Joe still feels the same about you, clearly, even with how long its been? That’s good, right?”

Sora’s voice was hopeful, which was both helpful and not for Mimi in those moments, the girl deep in thought again, before she finally spoke after a few moments.

“It is, yeah. But at the same time, I guess I’m worried that Joe might get hurt…” she frowned, which was clear in her words.

“Get hurt?”

“Yeah. But I mean, if this I just have some little crush I don’t want to mess everything up. Our friendship, the group… it just feels like there’s a lot at risk if it doesn’t work.”

“Wow, Mimi, you’ve been thinking about this a lot, haven’t you?”

“A little bit, yeah. I mean, you did take a while to call me back,” she teased, finally laughing for the first time since the mood darkened over their conversation, “It wouldn’t be fair to Joe. He would never deserve to be hurt like that.”

“Mimi… I don’t think you would mess anything up with the group, and I’m sure Joe would get over it eventually.”

Mimi let out a huff, “It still wouldn’t be nice and I still think he deserves better than that! After everything he’s done for everyone, and after everything we’ve been through… I couldn’t do that to him,” she sighed.

“It almost sounds like you know what you want to do…”

“You think?” she asked, pausing for a moment, “I mean, maybe… Maybe I should talk to him…”

“I think that’s a good idea, but maybe get some rest first? I think it’d only stress out Joe more if you fell asleep when you went to talk to him.”

The two girls started to laugh, “Yeah, and that boy is already stressed enough!”

“Whatever you do, though, you know I’ll support you, right?”

Mimi stayed quiet, sucking in a silent breath, unable to stop herself from tearing up a bit.

“Thanks, Sora,” she said, blinking away the tears before they could get out of control. “I think I’m going to lie in bed and think about this for a while before I sleep. I am starting to feel a bit tired now…”

Sora laughed on the other end of the line.

“That’s probably a good plan. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you slept for a whole day!”

“Oh, that sounds lovely right now. I’m going to sleep for a nice, long time, have something delicious to eat, and then go see Joe!”

“I hope it all goes well, Mimi. Let me know how it goes?”

“You’ll be the first to know!” Mimi chirped happily, “I’ll talk to you later, Sora.”

“Later, Mimi, have a good nap!”

Once Mimi hung up the phone, she moved over towards her bed, crawling onto it and letting her head rest on the small mountain of fluffy pillows, her eyes falling back towards the valentine. A soft smile came to her lips, Mimi unable to help it, and even if nerves were pooling in her gut, there was just as many butterflies there, and as she started to drift off to sleep, all she could think about was seeing her friend and what she would say.

***

Sweltering summer heat drove the guys to the Izumi home, two fans blasting on high in Izzy’s room, as the group of them sat in tank tops and shorts with a box of popsicles in the middle of the floor. All except for TK, who hadn’t been able to get all the way out to Odaiba, they were all there enjoying their last days of summer vacation as best they could.

Somehow, they had even managed to convince Joe not to bring along any books or practice exams, though that didn’t stop the frantic energy radiating from him in the slightest.

“I swear, man, you’re the only kid who gets stressed out during summer vacation,” Tai said, pointing his popsicle over at Joe.

“To be fair, Tai, you and I were pretty stressed out a few days ago when it came to fighting Diaboromon. Matt was too,” Izzy shot back, to which Matt scrunched up his mouth, looking away.

“You know what I mean! That’s different!” Tai said quickly, popping the popsicle back in his mouth.

“I still can’t believe an evil Digimon nearly destroyed Japan with a missile…” Joe said, feeling nauseous just thinking about it again, setting the popsicle stick from his first, now finished popsicle onto a nearby plate, before falling back onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

“No kidding. I’m just glad that barber shop had a computer. Even if it barely worked,” Matt said, unable to help but smirk in hopes of seeming cool and collected about it.

“I just can’t believe my last moments could’ve been trying to finish a test,” Joe said, letting out a long, loud sigh, “Not to mention Mimi would’ve never seen what I gave her.”

Silence blanketed the room, Izzy, Tai, and Matt all instantly confused, looking between each other quickly. Finally, they all looked to Joe, who was still lying down.

“What did you give Mimi?” Tai finally asked, to which Joe’s eyes went wide, quickly turning red.

“What? Nothing!” he shouted as he shot up, hands gripping onto his knees, slowly starting to white knuckle, “Why would I give Mimi something? I mean, what would I have to give her?” he asked, quickly waving his hands to try and dismiss it, though the panic in his voice left that unconvincing.

“Why don’t you wanna tell us? Was it embarrassing?” Tai asked, starting to laugh, at which Matt quickly shot a glare at his best friend.

“Lay off, Tai,” he snapped, which quieted Tai quick.

Joe looked over to Matt, still grimacing, but the look in his eyes was incredibly appreciative of what was just done.

Izzy, who had been quiet for a short while now, finally cleared his throat, “So what did you give Mimi, Joe?” he asked, tilting his head curiously.

Joe let out a sigh, his head hanging and shoulders slumping, “You’re all gonna laugh…”

“We won’t laugh, honest,” Matt said in hopes of reassuring the boy. Joe let out another sigh.

“I gave her a giant Valentine…” he finally said after a few moments.

Silence once again, and Joe clenched his eyes shut, afraid of his friends bursting into laughter at the very idea. Him? Sending a Valentine to Mimi? The only reason he had even done it was the fact that he knew Mimi was on vacation. Even after everything that had happened in the Digital World, he knew that doing this was a complete and utter risk, what with how awkward he was and how completely extroverted and incredible she was.

“…You do realize that White Day was nearly half a year ago, right?” Izzy asked.

“I mean, I was too nervous to give it to her then! What was I supposed to do, just head to your guys’ school after I was done and give her a big pink heart?” he asked, Tai scoffing near immediately after.

“Well, yeah? That seems kind of obvious. Better than giving it to her in August!” Tai said, feeling this was the most obvious thing in the world. Joe understood where he was coming from, but…

“Giving it to her in public, in front of you guys and everyone? She would look at me weird and laugh at me! And then everyone else would laugh!”

“C’mon, Joe, Mimi wouldn’t do that…” Matt tried to reason with him. The boy sighed, shoulders slumping.

“I know she wouldn’t, I’m just… I feel so stupid about it.”

“Why?” Izzy asked, the other two boys pointing towards him in agreement with the question he had lobbied towards the Kido boy.

“How could I not!?” he asked, though all of his friends looked at him, all dumbfounded.

“…Am I missing something? I think I’m missing something…” Tai said.

Matt reached over to the box, grabbing a few to pass to Tai, Izzy, and then one for himself, as they all waited to listen to him.

Well she’s just so cool… and I’m so…” he gestured to himself, “Bumbling.”

Matt scoffed, “Man, you spent more time with her than the rest of us, I’d hope you’d be the first to realize she wouldn’t think about something like that.”

Another sigh fell from Joe’s lips, “I know! She’s super nice! She’s perfect!” he said, “I just… am afraid.”

“Afraid of her saying she doesn’t feel the same?” Izzy asked, and Joe slowly nodded.

They all hated to see their friend feeling so low, and Joe hated looking like this in front of his friends.

“But… you already gave her the valentine? As soon as she gets home she’ll know how you feel?” Tai asked, at which Joe paused.

A moment later, Joe let out a loud groan, falling back onto the floor.

Tai got up and walked over to Joe, pushing him up and clapping him on the shoulders.

“Bud,” Tai started, and Joe’s head dropped again.

“Here he goes,” Matt mumbled to Izzy, who had to stifle back a laugh.

“Mimi is gonna know as soon as she’s home, so you gotta just go with it! Next time you see Mimi, you gotta walk up to her as confidently as possible and tell her how you feel!” he told his friend, who slowly looked up at him with an unamused look.

“Tai?”

“Yeah?”

“What I wouldn’t give to understand just how your mind works,” he deadpanned.

Tai rolled his eyes and playfully pushed him back over, causing Joe to let out a yelp as Tai plopped back down where he was before.

“So you’re really not going to talk to Mimi?” Izzy asked, Joe sighing.

“That would probably be the best option,” Joe droned out, sounding defeated.

“Until we all meet up and then you two are in the same room again,” Matt brought up.

“…Oh, yeah,” Joe said after a moment.

“I still think my plan works pretty good,” Tai shrugged.

“Well, we could just never invite me to the same things as Mimi and vice-versa…” Joe mused.

Matt looked unamused at the idea, “No way. You’ll have to talk to her about it someday, Joe. It might as well be sooner than later.”

“Agreed,” Izzy chimed in.

Slowly, Joe pushed himself up, looking across at his friends weakly.

“You guys really think it’ll go well?”

“Of course, man! We wouldn’t tell you over and over and over if we didn’t think that,” Tai said, giving him a thumbs up. Matt and Izzy followed suit.

It was enough to get the edge of Joe’s mouth to turn upwards into a partial smile, “Thanks,” he said, before checking his watch, jaw dropping, “Oh, geez, I didn’t realize it was this late, I gotta get going! Sorry! I’ll talk to you guys later!” Joe said, scrambling up and out of the room in a flash.

Of course, such a situation wasn’t exactly new to the three, and they all looked at each other, Izzy the first to speak up.

“…So what do we do if Joe doesn’t actually go and talk to Mimi?”

Tai and Matt looked at each other, already on the same wavelength, both grinning.

“We just shove him in the same room as her and lock the door until he actually talks to her,” Matt said.

“It’ll probably be easier to get done than getting Joe to see her at all,” Tai laughed.

***

Cram school was going to be the end of him.

Even if his middle school entrance exams went well, Joe knew he couldn’t take it easy and relax. He was doing this for his future, so he could end up getting into a good school and have success as a doctor, and make his family proud.

Being so frayed and worried and continuing cram school also meant that he didn’t have to worry about the Valentine or Mimi’s reaction. Out of sight, out of mind wasn’t normally a phrase that Joe followed, but he definitely would follow that bit of advice now if only to avoid worrying about it.

With a heavy sigh, he unlocked the door to his home, trudging in with exhaustion clear in his body and his steps, looking up to see Jim standing by the door.

“Long day at cram school?” he asked, and Joe nodded weakly.

“Don’t get me wrong, I know how important it is, but I’m definitely thinking about resting for a few hours before dinner,” he said, and Jim smiled softly.

“You might want to put a rain check on that nap,” he said, Joe tilting his head in confusion.

“You got a call from Mimi.”

Joe’s jaw dropped and his eyes went wide, “What!?” he shouted out, and Jim nodded.

“Yeah, about an hour ago, actually. She wanted to meet you at Burger Jack. It’s very important,” he said, now grinning, “Looks like somebody’s going to get himself a girlfriend,” he teased, to which Joe turned bright red.

“If anything she’s going to let me down kindly over burgers,” he sighed.

“You gotta have a little confidence. You saved the world! You saved two worlds, little bro! Chicks dig both world saving and confidence. Besides, I doubt she’d ‘let you down kindly’ over a late lunch. She’d probably tell me to tell you how she felt about it,” he explained.

Maybe it was one of the rare times Joe wanted to be positive, but he chose to believe his brother, quickly nodding.

“Yeah, yeah! It’s gotta be good! Ok! I’m gonna go right now! Thanks Jim!” Joe said, before pausing for a moment, “Oh, and uh, if mom and dad get home before me, can you tell them I stayed at cram school longer today?” he asked sheepishly. Jim laughed and nodded.

“Sure thing. Knock her dead, Joe.”

The words rang in Joe’s mind as he held on tight to his bag, starting to run as fast as he could to the burger place in question, remembering how so long ago now that was their first meal back after being in the Digital World.

…Well, not for him and Izzy.

The trip took longer than he wanted to, given the rush hour on the subway, and as he continued to run towards the place in question, he quietly hoped Mimi hadn’t left in a huff yet. By the time he reached the stairs to head up, he was taking two at a time, just about tripping as he pushed the door open. He hung onto the handle, eyes wide, as he looked around, seeing Mimi looking out the window, the Valentine on the table. Joe gulped hard, before walking in, slow, quiet steps as he approached the table. As he stopped in front of it, he offered her a quiet, awkward wave, before sitting across from her.

“Uh, hey Mimi…” he said, eyes falling towards the Valentine for a moment before looking at her, noticing that she had done the same. The boy swallowed hard, only feeling his chest tighten with nerves even more as she offered him one of her trademark smiles.

“Hi, Joe, it’s been so long!” she chirped, “Did you get my postcard? Oh! Do you like my tan?” she asked, holding out her arm. Joe’s cheeks started to tinge a light pink and he nodded.

“Y-yeah, it was— it was nice, thanks. A-and so is your tan!” he told her, unable to stop his stuttering and stammering, eyes once again focused on the Valentine.

“So… you got it…”

Mimi nodded, excitement on her face, though Joe couldn’t place whether it was excitement over the valentine or if this was just the usual, excitable Mimi Tachikawa.

“Yeah! Oh, I love the colors!” she cooed sweetly, her gaze falling to it for a moment, the girl looking even happier when she did.

“O-Oh… I’m glad…” he said slowly, absolutely confused and terrified. He felt like he had just jumped into the deep end and was barely treading the water that was all of the stress he was feeling at the moment.

When she looked back up at him, he went red, forcing a nervous smile as he looked at her, sucking in a breath.

“I didn’t know you felt that way,” she said, and Joe slowly nodded, adjusting his glasses to give his hands something to do with all the nervous energy that was just about spilling out of him.

“Well… yeah…” he said, turning his head to look out of the window, scratching the back of his head, “How could I not?”

Mimi’s eyes went wide with surprise, unsure of what to say.

“You’re really great, and with all the time we spent together I just… liked you. It mostly happened once we went back to fight the Dark Masters and it was just you and me. I know we talked about how we’ve both really grown up while we were there, but it really showed me the type of person you are…” he said, pausing for a moment before quietly adding, “…And I like that person.”

The air was pushed from Mimi’s lungs, his words so sudden, so direct, and so unlike Joe Kido— even considering the valentine he had given her.

“Oh, Joe…”

His frown was so sudden as he stared at the table, at the valentine in particular, his body language showing how clearly down he was.

“I’m sorry. I mean, I know this was a lot to drop on you right as you came back from Hawaii, but I didn’t know when else to do it, because I was too afraid to do it in person.”

“I don’t mind that you did, Joe,” she assured him, though it didn’t seem to assuage his nerves in the slightest.

“I’m glad, but I figure it isn’t exactly something you… wanted to have… and I really don’t want to make things awkward between us and the group, like making anyone feel like they have to choose a side or something! I just want us all to be friends but… I just wanted to tell you, too,” he sighed.

“Joe, I’m really not upset,” she said, her own cheeks starting to match the color of her dress, and her words confusing the boy across from her.

“You’re… not?” he asked, blinking a few times, absolutely confused.

“No! I mean, it was surprising, yes, but… it was nice…” she told him, now much shier than before. They were both blushing and both awkward, which for Joe was something he would have never expected from his crush.

“O-Oh.”

“It made me think about all of our times in the Digital World together… and it made me think about how much I enjoyed being around you. And just…” her fingers went to lightly graze across the valentine again, “…Realize how much you mean to me…”

“You mean a lot to me, too.”

The two of them were quiet, in their own little world amongst the busy fast food restaurant, focused only on each other.

Joe couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and for a second he was tempted to pinch himself just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming this all.

“I like you a lot, Joe,” she said, finally breaking the silence that grew around them. Joe started blushing, something that Mimi thought more than ever was incredibly adorable.

“I-I like you, too… but I’m sure you already know that,” he laughed awkwardly, Mimi giggling after.

She brushed some loose strands of hair back behind her ear, unable to stop the smile on her face, “I’d love to be your valentine, if it isn’t too late,” she teased sweetly. Joe nodded quickly, and Mimi reached her hand for his, feeling happy.

“Of course!” he said, still bright red, but looking like he was on cloud nine.

“And… maybe I could be your girlfriend?” she suggested, Joe suddenly deadly quiet, with a look of shock on his face Mimi hadn’t seen before even during the most stressful of situations, “…And you could be my boyfriend?”

She waited a bit, realizing that she probably threw just as much his way that he was worried about throwing her way.

“If you want, of course,” she added quickly, and Joe nodded quickly.

“O-Of course! Yeah! I’d love that,” he said.

Mimi’s smile turned soft, squeezing his hand gently for a moment, “I’d love that, too.”

[thepriceofbeingaroseisloneliness]

Kaoru & Toshiya Rolling Stone Japan 18th May 2021

DIR EN GREY talks about the current unique expression method and fun.

DIR EN GREY has postponed their concert scheduled to be held at Tokyo Garden Theater on May 6th. However, if you read this interview that took place two days before the decision to postpone the live, it's easy to imagine that the band will continue to move forward no matter what.

Using the single "Oboro" released on April 28 as the reason for this interview , we asked leader Kaoru (Gt) and Toshiya (Ba),who makes his first appearance in Rolling Stone Japan, about the current state of the band.

Feel free to correct me if you spot any mistakes or any confusing parts. Links or credits to this post when the content is reposted or captured in other SNS is appreciated : ------------- Original interview: Rolling Stone Japan (includes pictures)

Text: Joe Yokomizo -First of all, please tell us the details of releasing this single at this timing. Kaoru: We've been talking about releasing a single around this time for a long time. But, we were asked by the company to release it sooner (laughs).  They told us “Can’t you release it around February?”. But we said we couldn’t record it in such a hurry and pushed the release back (laughs). So, the release was decided  at the time it was originally scheduled.

-Is it a song you wrote recently?

Kaoru: We chose it from the ones we had in stock.

-How do you choose a song? Like, is there a discussion among the members? Kaoru: We had a talk about if it’d be good to release a ballad or a melodious song this time. Then, we chose it from the songs we had at that time. Toshiya: That's right. We thought  a melodious song or a mellow song would be good, so we chose it from the songs we had in stock. As a result of the discussions we had, we came to the conclusion that “Oboro” was the best choice. I personally thought this song might be able to become a single, but I also thought that it could be a good idea to save it for the album.  I thought it could become a song  that would be the core of the album even if it was just included in the album. Kaoru: We haven’t released any ballad as a single recently. We did it quite a while ago so we felt like it would be good if we tried it.

-It's true that a ballad as a single is quite fresh for DIR EN GREY, and the arrangements are ... Kaoru: Simple. Pretty simple, but it took us a while to get there. -Do you want to increase the number of notes that are being played at the same time? Kaoru: No. Rather than messing with that, it felt like the notes were gradually confronting each other. There wasn’t a big change, but it took us some time to decide the overall flow, how to do it and the final result. -DIR EN GREY has a strong image as a band that is playing lives often. Until now, you released something and toured, released something, and toured. All over again. The releases haven’t stopped yet but the tours and therefore the lives themselves have stopped because of Corona. How do you feel about the state of the band? Toshiya: Since we couldn’t play lives, I think the part of exploring as a band is big.  But personally, at some point, I got over that. The band wants to move, but it’s hard to do it. Even if we think about it, we can’t do anything about the situation so, we haven’t stopped thinking about it, but I think we got over it at some point. Rather, we had no choice but to get over it. -Even if you keep thinking about it, nothing will happen.

Toshiya: That’s right. Even if we just write songs and do the pre-production all the time, if that’s all we are doing, it feels like a pie in the sky all the time. It’s a strange feeling, isn’t it? We didn’t get another answer before but, the process of getting that answer has changed. There was a series of routines like making an album, playing lives, making an album, and doing live performances after that but wasn’t that cut off entirely? Then, we are doing it as usual, but something has changed at some point.  And it may just be that kind of era from now on. I think we have no choice but to adapt to this. However, even I think about how it was before, I’m starting to think that it won’t be like that again, and we may just get over it. -Did the production itself change due to the lack of lives? It is often said that a song evolves when it is being playing live, but if you make a song in a situation where it is difficult to imagine playing it live, will the image of the song, how to make it, and the depth of making it change? Kaoru:  Even if we are making songs, it feels different from usual. To put it the other way around,  as the situation is unique now, maybe it’s a song that can only be done at this moment. But it’s like…. wouldn't it be nice if we could create something interesting? I don't know if we are even thinking about it. I think that the fact that there was always a tour up until now had a big influence. As we always had a tour, until then we’ve limited production time. That's why there was a switch, because now we have infinite time. To be honest, if you take it easy, you’ll space out. After all, it was great to be pushed, force myself into doing it  and work hard (laughs). -About making it “the right time” by themselves -Regarding the unlimited production time, how was it for you, Toshiya? Toshiya: I think I'm grateful. However, I want to use it as much as I have. As there were moments I got distracted/ was being lazy, I feel that there are good points and bad points, to be honest. -What's the good thing about this recording? Have you tried something new? Toshiya: After all, in the end time is chasing me (laughs). But this time, I felt that I had a little leeway in my heart. That's why I thought about the single in various ways.Then I wondered if I could release this or that and people would listen to it. It’s common to say this but, when you start thinking about figures, I've even thought about if it's good or bad to release something at this timing. I wondered if it’d be better when this corona situation has settled down a bit more. But well, even if you wait for that time to come, then I would wonder about when that time would come, so in the end, I thought it was unavoidable to think about it. If the right time doesn't come, I think we should make it become the “right time”. Rather than worrying about it, I thought that if such a song was completed and it felt good, we should release it. -It's certainly important to create the right timing. Toshiya: People all over the world are dealing with it now, or more like, we are waiting forever, aren’t we? Personally, I don’t think the situation will return to normal even if we wait. I think it’s more useful to think about how to proceed in a situation like this. I personally came this conclusion, or at least, I’m trying to. -Listening to what you are saying, I remembered Samuel Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot." The two main characters are waiting for Godot, but in fact, no one knows who Mr. Godot is, and I don't know if Godot actually exists. But they are waiting, believing that he will eventually come. Toshiya: Everyone, including myself, is waiting now. But what on earth are you waiting for? If you think about it, it’s like we're just waiting for "that moment”, right? But honestly, I don't think “that” will be back. I think it has changed. Then we have to move towards it. I'm a bit scared to stop waiting any longer, but I think we have to take a step forward. Kaoru: I agree with you. -DIR EN GREY Unique ideas -By the way, the new song "Oboro" is said to be a sequel to a previous song. The lyrics are done by vocalist Kyo but for you two, is it a sequel? Kaoru: I was told that but I wasn’t particularly drawn (by that song). The beats and tempo of the original song of "Oboro" are similar to that song. So maybe he was drawn by that and made the lyrics like this. After hearing that the lyrics would be like that, I've never been aware of it. Toshiya: I wasn't even aware of it at all either. I thought “is this it?”.

-By the way, in Toshiya's words, "Oboro" is a song that can be the core of the next album ... Toshiya: It’s just a song. The talks about the album are making rapid progress but now there are endless possibilities, including how to play the songs live. So, I think it's okay if there are songs that exist just as part of the album, and conversely, there may be songs that are only for playing them live. In other words, from here on, how to add value will become even more important than ever. Kaoru: It's nice to have songs that you can only play live. Toshiya: About that, if you might do that at that time, you might want to play it live? I’m thinking about how to add that value to the song. I want to do a live concert, but we can't, moreover if you even do a concert normally, I’m sure it won’t be interesting. -It looks like broadcasting a regular live is difficult, right? Kaoru: A live that it’s going to be only broadcasted is a bit tough. In that sense, hearing what Toshiya said about songs that only can be played at lives are, in other words, songs that won’t become part of an album are really interesting. Toshiya: I don’t know. I was thinking it to myself and I just said it (laughs). Kaoru: There may be quite a few….songs that are like, “Which one is this?". Moreover, no one mentions those songs in an interview (laughs). Toshiya: Ahahaha. Kaoru: Even among the fans, sometimes it’s like “which song is that one?”, and don’t even know the title. The set list doesn't  even have the title of the song. Toshiya: I think it doesn't have to be just the song , but the production. I recently thought about it. In the past there used to be a lot of  imaginativeness/ playfulness on the DIR EN GREY’s cds. Recently, I remembered that was pretty normal. But from now on, if we are going to put out the record ourselves,  I want to make something that can be enjoyable. On the old DIR EN GREY cds, I remember I was asked to find out where the lyrics were written. When I think about it now, it's quite a prank, but that prank was surprisingly interesting. -How about the leader (laughs)? Kaoru: I put a lot of things into the sound (laughs). -The  particularity/commitment in “Oboro” -The “mischievous and eccentric” idea that Toshiya mentioned is swallowed normally before one knows. I think expression itself is a struggle, but in the age of the Internet, the speed at which it is swallowed is accelerating. That’s why,  even if that happens, I think it is important to keep fighting, recognizing that "I am not just like this". Kaoru: That's exactly what I do. Because I never thought I have a good taste. Even though I can’t make a song, it feels like I'm doing it just because I have a competitive spirit. -Like you don’t want to be taken into ordinary things,  or do you want to do something that has never been seen before? Kaoru: I want to do that, but it takes time. Speaking of gimmicks, in “Oboro” there are a lot of them. -What kind of “gimmicks” are there? Please tell me some. Kaoru: It's not interesting if I told them (laughs). There are many sounds that you can't hear. There are lots of sounds that you can feel.  I thought it would be great if you could feel it. And I'm thinking about putting a lot of that into the next album. -There is something I would like to ask about lives. I think we are in a situation where values are conflicting. If you play a live, even among fans there’ll be the conflict of the “Don’t play a live in these circumstances”  versus the  “Thank you for playing a concert in these circumstances”  position. Kaoru: It's difficult, isn't it? Neither of these positions are wrong. However, as a band, we won’t stop. So, if the conditions allow it, the live will go on. I think there are a lot of people who says “"Oh, I'm going to live at a time like this. These people’s views have changed”. But well, I think this is happening in other bands as well. -That’s right.  In any band, there is a faction that says to play lives and a faction that wants to stop. How should they come to terms with each other? Kaoru: I don’t think normal life will be back for a while here. If someone says “Yes, it’s nothing in the end”, it may change, but it’s that going to happen? The point is, I think it will be difficult unless the number of infected people goes down. Because Taiwan, where the number of infected people has decreased, there are even festivals taking place. Toshiya: We are choosing a method (against Corona  virus)  that doesn't work right now, but as it is the government who is doing it, isn’t the situation delicate? I think so. When it comes to what is driving people, I think it’s the number of people getting infected, as Kaoru said. The only way to reduce that number may simply cause damage. If you lock down hard like in the UK, you will suffer tremendous financial damage. I think that's why everyone can get lost on the way. However, although it is extreme, unless you have such a strong will, you will continue to do it subtlety and the number will drop again,  “Oh, now it’s ok because the numbers have dropped a little” and then after a while they will surely increase again, won’t them? And then repeat the same process. If that happens, I’m worried the same process will be repeated again and again if you don’t cut it off at some point. Kaoru: Tokyo is under the state of emergency for the third time, but I would like them to stop doing lockdown so suddenly. It’s so hard if there is no warm-up/grace period.

Toshiya: Regarding this state of emergency, I will obey what they say, because I have to obey. But in order to do it, I want something that gives me hope. I feel like suddenly, time was taken from me. -Before the light can be seen, “Oboro” -I want hope. That being said, DIR EN GREY's music always sees light at the end. But in the current situation, we can't see that light. I don't think you can understand the meaning of the lyrics unless you're Kyo, but I'm wondering what "Oboro" means. Like, in this era everything is obscure in an ambiguous sense? Or is it a night with a hazy moon but, you can see the light even faintly because it’s hazy? How do you two interpret it?

*Joe is making a reference to the song title,   朧 (Oboro) means hazy,dim,faint.* Toshiya: If possible, I think I want it to be hazy before you are able to see the light. Before people lose the courage to do their best, being surrounded by fog all the time. - It's true that humans aren't that strong. If there is hope, what is it? What kind of hope are you seeing now? Toshiya: That would be ……the best would be that the Corona situation comes to an end. But before that, I'd like  "Oboro" to be released properly. Some CD shops are closed due to a state of emergency, so even if you made a reservation, some people may not be able to get it on the release date. So, I hope that "Oboro" will reach everyone who made a reservation. -Which is Kaoru’s Oboro? Kaoru: I think either of them are interesting. In any situation as well, it’s something that it’s only now. It’s also an expression method that can only be done now. Of course, the band will continue, and I will be writing songs, but I think it would be great if we could express something that can only be done now, or something that is interesting. -Anyway, "Oboro" is an excellent title. Toshiya: When you think about it now, that’s right. It can be interpreted as this uncertain situation, and it can also be interpreted as a situation where a faint light is visible. Kaoru: I want you to listen to it and feel it.

[harrylilies]

The Royal Series | Pt. I

The Royal Series Masterlist

I posted this series in 2018 but in late 2019, my blog got hacked and I lost all my work. This is me reposting the written chapters of The Royal Series after crying to my husband after I lost it along with all my writing on here. Enjoy. x

It had been long since you had let your hair down for a night.

You longed for a lowkey life, although you knew that the royal protocols you had been following since you were a child were far too embedded in you – yet, you knew how to have your fun.

You found fun in your trips to get milk and cheese yourself, in the strolls you went on in the early morning, when you attended a friend’s wedding, when your oldest brother wasn’t Prince William who was close in line, but a protective brother whom you teased for being old, when your ginger brother, Harry, patted you on the back and helped you with the plans that would make your grandma, the Queen, not necessarily pleased, when you danced with your best friend, and,

when you listened to music; which explained where you were that moment.

The arena was lit, some people who passed by you walking past you without a care, probably thinking that a princess in a Harry Styles concert in Los Angeles was too far-fetched, while others stood stunned.

In your defence, you looked unsuspicious in your black merch hoodie and black jeans, your best friend, Farrah – whom you met at university –, beside you in a casual attire as well, but the two bulky men walking behind you and close in black suits and wireless earbuds did little to conceal you.

Reaching your seats, you grinned at your best friend as you sat. From your peripheral, you saw your two private guards looking around, standing in the aisle beside Farrah’s seat.

“Hey,” you grabbed their attention, pointing with your thumb behind your back at the empty seats, “Would you please sit?”

“Your Highness w-”

"Please, it's a command. Sit here, enjoy the show." You told the two guards who intently looked at you before giving a reluctant nod.

In your balcony seat, your eyes then fell on the stage in anticipation.

"Your Highness," You heard someone beside you, making you look.

A brunet man, no older than 32, stood with a polite and kind smile.

You smiled. "Are you Jeffery?" He nodded, beginning to politely bow his head a tad. You offered your hand with a wide grin, "Thank you for giving me seats in such a short notice, I’m really sorry for any inconvenience."

"Oh no, it really is a pleasure, your Highness." Jeff tipped is head.

"Just Y/N." You smiled, glancing at the stage as the opening act were saying their goodbyes. "He's coming out now, isn't he?"

"Yeah, yeah, he is. Have you been a fan for long?" Jeff asked as you both stood alongside each other, looking at the stage.

"Quite long actually. Since One Direction," You giggled, shrugging, "Always wanted to attend one of their concerts but only now have I been able to do so. Harry has a lovely voice. I have the album on a lot." You laughed, letting Jeff in on your secret, “But hey, keep that between us.” You joked.

Jeff chuckled, "Who would've guessed that the Princess of the United Kingdom is a Harry Styles fan?"

“Trust me, you’d be surprised.” Farrah said, joining in as the three of you laughed.

“I’ll be right there with the rest of the crew,” Jeff pointed at a different place where people from the crew stood, almost all of them looking at you. At you looking at them, they all turned in embarrassment which made you chuckle to yourself before looking at Jeff who had a bashful smile, “Sorry about that. It’s exciting.”

“It’s exciting for me, too.” You assured him.

“Well, please call me or have anyone to do so if you need anything, your H-” you gave him a look, “Y/N.”

“Thank you, Jeffrey.”

“No problem, Y/N.”

The lights flickered off, your heart fluttering in excitement as you stood up, beginning to cheer with the fans.

The notes of Ever Since New York started playing before the lights were on, making you finally see the man you had flown out to see.

In a blue floral suit, Harry stood with his guitar before he began singing, Farrah recording you as you dramatically sang along.

With every song, you and Farrah let loose; dancing together and screaming the lyrics, vibing with Harry and his band. Hell, you caught one of your guards bob his head to Only Angel before his colleague swatted his arm.

It didn't take long for more people to notice the presence of the English Princess and her famous best friend, some phones and flashes being directed your way but experiencing the excitement and utter euphoria of it all, you chose to ignore the attention.

You were captivated to say the least by his performance, posting stories to your private Instagram account, isthataladybug, of a 102 follower.

You knew that he was a cheeky person who enjoyed a nice chat, so him walking around with his mic and talking to fans wasn’t of any surprise, yet, you didn’t predict him addressing you.

"I would just like to greet someone incredibly special here tonight," Harry said through the mic as he wandered on stage before looking your way, "Hi!" He grinned, waving at you. "All well?"

With a grin and flushed cheeks, you nodded and gave him thumbs up.

With a dimpled smile, Harry tipped his head and gave you a curtesy which sent everyone in a frenzy and you and Farrah to laugh.

Farrah nudged you, making you turn to look at her. "We're meeting him, right?"

You shrugged, "Jeff said we will. Said Harry would have his head if we didn’t.”

To say you were disappointed when Harry said his goodbyes after finishing the setlist would be an understatement, although the fact that you were meeting him seemed to brighten you up a tad.

Backstage was chaotic.

Everyone was running around, wanting to be on their best behaviours and look like it for when the Princess came in, every person telling the other that Jeff was on his way to get you and your best friend and that in just a few, they would be seeing the Princess of the United Kingdom in the flesh.

Harry was no better, pacing around the room, making sure he looked decent and collected. Running his fingers through his hair, he turned to look at his band, “How do I look?”

“Like you’re not going to pass out in any second.” Sarah said sarcastically.

"Fuck, I'm so nervous." Harry laughed, wiping his sweaty palms on his suit trousers.

"So am I. Who would've thought that I'm going to meet the Princess of the United Kingdom? Someone better film this." Clare said before letting out a breath as the band stood in the dressing room.

"I-" Adam was cut off by a knock on the door.

They looked at each other with wide eyes before Harry cleared his throat, standing straighter. "Come in!"

Jeff came inside first, his figure hiding yours before he walked further inside and you and Farrah were then seen. The grin on your face was contagious.

Lined, with Harry at the end, you began to shake hands with the band.

"You were absolutely amazing!" You said as you shook their hands, one by one before reaching Harry.

Neither of you knew that the other was about to pass out from the nerves and excitement as you both smiled at each other.

"Thank you for the show. You're as good live as the studio version, if not better." You said.

Blushing at the comment, Harry softly shook your hand. "It's my honour, your Highness."

"Y/N," you corrected him, your hand still in his. "Just Y/N."

"Y/N," Harry repeated with a charming smile. "An honour, Y/N."

Being this close to him, you noticed how emerald Harry's eyes were. Raspberry pink lips and blushing cheeks, he was a sight for sore eyes.

It was cliché, anyone from the outside would say so, but have a 23-year-old Princess meet a 23-year-old artist whom she had been listening to for years and try not to make it cliché; hell, cliché or not, it was a meeting for the stories.

Farrah clearing her throat was what brought you out of your trance, making you remove your hand from Harry's.

"Well, we were actually going out for a drink if you want to join? Is that okay for you?" Sarah asked, “Oh my God, I just asked the Princess to grab a drink with us, I’m so sorry, your Highness.”

“Hey, no, no,” you quickly shook your head, “It’s fine,” you glanced at the guards and your best friend who gave you a nod, "I’d love to join if you’re all okay with Farrah and I joining. We wouldn’t want to interrupt any band-bonding time."

"Of course!" Harry grinned. "We're more than okay."

Telling you the lowkey bar – that served “amazing fries and boneless chicken wings” as Adam said – they were driving to, you exchanged “see you later’s” before you separated ways.

Right as you sat in the car, Farrah turned to face you, “What was that?”

In confusion, you looked at her, “What was what?”

“You and Harry fucking Styles! What was that?” She laughed excitedly, “Please make it happen.”

“Make what happen? You’re a lunatic!”

“You just pulled a Nicholas Sparks back there; ogling at each other, holding hands like yes, Mr. Darcy, I’d let you wed me.” She said dramatically, putting the back of her hand against her forehead.

“First of all, never do this again,” you cringed jokingly, “Second of all, what’s wrong with you? I have a conversation with a lad and suddenly I should get married to him?”

“He’s not just any lad, don’t discredit him like that.”

“Why don’t you go out with him then, Miss Farrah?” You teased her.

“Because I’m Muslim and it won’t work out, you know with our fa-”

“I was kidding.”

“I wasn’t when I said you pulled a Nicholas Sparks.”

“I should’ve brought Emma instead of you.” You let out a sigh.

“Imagine if she could’ve joined though. It would’ve been Emma and I against you.” Farrah poked your arm.

“You’re unbelievable.”

Arriving at the bar, you and Farrah entered, finding that it wasn’t at all crowded but quite the opposite. Very few people were inside, all seeming to mind their business as they ate and drank, a jukebox playing music to add to the atmosphere of the place.

Among the people, your eyes fell on the band you were meeting, Harry instantly standing and waving at you with a grin.

They had left you seats, although you knew your guards were going to stand as your shadows.

Sitting on the opposite seat from Harry, you were seated beside Sarah, the “discreet” excited expression she gave to Mitch not going unnoticed but you only smiled to yourself instead of commenting.

“This was your second show, wasn’t it?” You asked, all of them nodding and replying with confirmation, “Any idea what this tour will have for you?”

“So many headaches,” Hélène replied in her French accent with a chuckle, “So, so many headaches.”

“Brighten up,” Clare nudged the photographer jokingly, “It’s only the second night.”

“I feel like this tour would be a milestone in all of our lives,” Adam replied, seeming to avoid eye contact with you before he looked at his bandmates, “Literally all of us.”

“A-Are you okay?” Farrah asked him, causing Adam’s posture to relax as he laughed.

“I just don’t know if I should look at you,” he said as he looked at you, “What if it’s disrespectful? Illegal?”

“Oh my God, no,” you laughed as you shook your head, “I’m sitting at a bar in Los Angeles with you, Adam, that’s not exactly a Trooping the Colour.”

“When we first heard you were attending,” Harry began, “We all just sort of,” his eyes widened before he laughed, “You know what?” He turned to look at Adam, “That’s a milestone right there.”

“You speak too highly of me,” you rolled your eyes jokingly, “What about all of you? That album, tonight, you should give yourself more credit.”

“Makes sense that people love you so much.” Mitch said with a small smile.

“Not everyone loves her, excuse you,” Farrah joked, raising her hand up.

“Ah, bullshit.” You rolled your eyes, “You love me the most.”

“No?”

“That’s denial.”

Conversations seemed to flow naturally among everyone at the table, laughter being heard as well as a few claps from how hard one of you would be laughing.

It wasn’t until you realised that you hadn’t drank anything that you stood up, “I’m going to grab something to drink. Does anyone want anything?”

A chorus of “thank you’s” was heard, you fully knowing that they probably hadn’t bothered to even ask you to get them anything because of your title.

“I’ll bring these fries and wings for all of us you told me about.” You pointed at Adam.

“I’ll join you.” Harry said, standing from his place and approaching you before the both of you walked towards the bar.

“Sorry if they make you uncomfortable.” You mumbled to Harry as you both sat on stools.

“Who?”

“Sid and Andrew, the guards,” you replied, “They’re the sweetest actually.” You smiled at the men who stood at a safe distance away from you but nearby, both of them tipping their heads at you before they began looking around.

“No, of course not,” Harry shook his head, “I thought you’d have more with you honestly.”

You waved off, “No, two are enough. Daddy wanted me to walk around with 6 but,” you laughed, “God, no.”

Harry smiled before his smile turned into a smirk, “Did you just say Daddy?”

“Ye-Gross, stop! That’s my father!” You groaned, stuffing your face in your hands as Harry laughed, “How old are you, Styles? 14?”

“And a half actually.”

“Ha, ha.” You tried to stifle your smile as you looked up at him, “It’s Mummy and Daddy for us, excuse you.”

“It’s cute.” Harry smiled timidly.

“It was until you commented.” You teased him, giving him a shrug.

“I apologise, your Highness. Please, don’t behead me.” Dramatically, Harry put a hand to his heart.

“I’ll think about it.” You put both hands on the counter gracefully, placing one above the other as you turned away from him before the both of you laughed.

Neither of you had noticed that you hadn’t ordered yet, only remembering when the bartender came over to take your order.

After ordering, you were both quiet, listening to the music that sounded in the place, you swaying slightly in your seat as you looked around.

"Are you not scared?"

You turned to look at Harry, “Excuse me?”

“Are you not scared?” He repeated.

"Of what?” You asked.

"Being seen in here. The rumours. I mean my rumours I can take care of but royal rumours?" Harry shrugged.

“Why? Are you scared?” The tiny smirk that was your lips were drawn into didn’t go unnoticed by Harry, feeling his lips lift into one of his own just at the sight of yours.

Harry took a moment to drink you up; the vibe you gave off was nothing he imagined. The dainty, soft princess he saw on the screen ever since he was young wasn't who sat in front of him.

In front of him was a confident woman, fearless and ready to seize whatever risk thrown at her. A woman who refused to have her identity shaped up and formed by her family and what the world was trying to limit her to, all for a title.

That's why with a thumping heart and an amused smile, Harry replied; "No, Princess. I'm not scared."

[holycow99]

石田お寿司 12/9/21 stream translation Part 7

This is not the full translation of the stream. I only translated the parts I could understand & interpret or parts I found interesting/important. I’m still a beginner in Japanese, so the translations may not be accurate. If you want to repost, please repost at your own risk.

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(t/n: ** means translation may not be accurate.)

I: Any other suggestion for the project?

C: I want you to create Choujin X first chapter with assistants.

I: I wanna see what’ll happen if I hire 100 people. I wanna try draw them with 100 assistants. It’ll probably take an excessive amount of time.

C: Having the viewers as your assistants.

I: That’s a bit interesting. A manga just for that. If it’s the side story’s one shot, then it’s okay. It’d look like a prank if I let you guys draw the real thing.

C: How about playing with Rod?

I: That’s a good idea.

*He’s talking about Saito Naoki again.

C: an overseas fan wrote that you’re gonna eat 1 million fan letters to celebrate 30, 000 subscribers.

I: It’s getting weird. Not 1 million fan letters. It’s head hunting 100 assistants and eating 10 years’ worth of fan letters.

C: How about becoming Fukuoka’s Banksy? (t/n: Banksy is a slang for people who do street arts.)

I: I wanna scribble on the wall too.

*Ishida trying to avoid people shooting at him while escaping from the place after killing the target.

I: They (the guards) remember who I am. Forget me, forget me. This is the opposite of unravel (TG op). Forget me 2x. Please forget me!

*Ishida trying to knock people out but ended up killing them.

I: Ah, I accidentally killed him. Whatever, people will one day die either way.

I: Reverse of unravel will be ravel. (TMI: According to Merriam-Webster, both unravel and ravel mean the same thing.)

I: The assistant head hunting suggestion is a good idea for the 30,000 commemoration. Goubaru probably can do it, though he’s working elsewhere. He’s working someplace else, where he gets sexually harassed. People touched his butt everyday. So pitiful. “I hate it!” (t/n: Ishida imitating Goubaru.) He receives body check from people.

Y****: Please do a career consultation.

I: I’m okay with that. Well, we’ve known each other for a year already. It’s because I was able to distinguish between you and S******. I’ve got to considerably know what you guys are like. Y****is in the theatre club, while S****** is the one who addresses Hikakin (a Japanese youtuber) as ‘that guy’. S****** has a sharp tongue.

I: Y****, where do you wanna go to in the future?

*Ishida reading this person’s comment.

I: You’re in the theatre club, but you wanna be a musician?! Lots of dreams you got there. You have so many dreams. You’re 16, 17 years old, right? You can just be anything, then. How about trying it out? Which one do you wanna do?

C: You can still become a musician even if you’re in the theatre club.

I: That’s true. Hoshino gen also did theatre before, if I’m not mistaken. I’m not sure though. It’s okay if you haven’t decided yet. There are still many possibilities for you.

(t/n: Hoshino Gen is an actor & singer)

C: Theatre requires high ability to express yourself, so I think it’s applicable to music as well.

I: That’s right. That applies to both. You can use the ability to express yourself that you’ve gained from theatre in music. Likewise, since music has various genre, I think it offers a lot of things to theatre. Just like you said. I think either way is good.

I: I think it’s just a matter of where you’ll end up eventually. It’s not like I’ve been writing manga all this while. I dreamed of becoming a mangaka because I didn’t want to get a job. I didn’t want to work, so I wanted to become a mangaka.

C: Well, you can learn anything.

I: Exactly.

C: I wanna quit being a member of society.

I: I didn’t say anything about that.

C: I’m 21, but I wanna be a high-schooler.

I: That’s impossible. Turning back time is impossible. Let’s focus on the real world.

C: Can I decide on my future dream based on impure motives?

I: I think it’s okay. It’s not a bad thing to have that kind of reasons. It’s okay to wanna be popular or wanting money. I think just having that is enough. But what happen after you achieve that is gonna be another story.

C: Sometimes, you can be happy just by drawing and playing games.

I: That is important.

C: My beloved dog that I’ve had for 14 years died recently. What should I do with this lingering affection that I have?

I: I understand how you feel. This is a difficult topic. I think it’s good to have a lingering affection. You can’t help but to have that kind of feelings when you lose a life. Time is the only way to heal wounds.

I: in the end, which one did Y**** choose? Did it end with him saying he’ll do his best? He’s having a trouble deciding whether to go to a vocational school or enter university. I see. Vocational school or university… You’ll spend 4 years in university and you need to manage your own time, so if you don’t have any confidence you’ll be able to manage yourself, it’ll be hard for you. But university is a good place for you if you wanna experience various things and obtain various knowledge.

* Ishida then continued giving a super long speech about Y****’s worries without knowing that he’s already slept.

C: Y**** already said good night.

I: Seriously?! He’s gone to bed?! You’re kidding me! Eh? He’s already sleeping?

*Scrolling for the guy’s comment.

I: “I feel much better now. Good night.” Hahaha. That guy’s gone to sleep. So irritating! What’s up with him? Even though I did my best to give him advice.

MM: On the contrary, don’t you have any worries, sensei?

I: MM’s here again. I’m gonna pin this.

I: My worries? I do have though, but I won’t tell you guys. It’s not really a worry, just something I should think about. Even if it was something serious, I’ll solve it by myself.

*Ishida continued answering the fans’ worries related to school and work. (t’n: I didn’t translate this part because I feel like I’d be disclosing personal info, so I refrained from doing that. I only translated if it’s related to manga or mangaka’s questions.)

C: My relative told me that it’s hard to make a living as a mangaka. As expected, am I dreaming too much? What do you think?

I: I don’t know. It depends on your ability and the effort you put in. Your relative might’ve seen your work and gave some comment. Even for me, people wanted me to quickly give up pursuing this path. I heard about it later though. So, no one knows what will happen in the future.

I: It’s hard to make a living as a mangaka? If it was before, I can understand that. On the contrary, this notion is now no longer applicable. Now, whatever jobs you do is hard. If you were to say you wanna work in a restaurant, people will be opposed to it, but you wanna be a chef no matter what. Anything you do is gonna be tough, after all. First of all, you’re allowed to choose what you wanna be no matter if it’s tough or whatever. And relatively, being a mangaka has a wide scope of jobs. It’s just that people don’t know about it. I think when there’s a will, there’s a way. If you wanna pursue that because you want it to be made into an anime or drama, then it might be difficult for you since that depends on luck.** Well, I’m able to manage my life better than other professions, especially in this period since I can just do my work at home.** Also, if you think it’s okay for you even if it’s tough, then I think you can just do whatever you wanna do. I’m not talking about you putting effort. Even if it’s tough, just by aiming for it is fun. Something like that. If you can live in such manner, then you can just go for it no matter if it’s tough or not.

C: I don’t wanna be a mangaka. I just wanna write manga.

I: That’s good. Let’s write one.

*He continued giving advice to fans.

Part 8