#Twilight Princess Manga

[ardenarts]

some twilight princess links i never posted!

[chaosfantasmic]

Ok so I saw Link in the tp manga and all I’m thinking is

this

And this

Are not the same bitch

The horrors of being the narratives favorite

[solarwreathe]

tp manga redraw

the wip. and if you scrolled past the read more

goobna

(zant’s pov)

[lilly-pilly-art]

Twilight time! I rendered my redraws of Twilight's expressions and poses from his manga. Normally I do one bit shaded/rendered expression but I couldn't choose between the 2.

[fourswordsannotated]

akira himekawa are unbelievably cool.

soooo here's the thing. i was looking at akira himekawa's website on a whim and found a public blog, with posts that go all the way back to 2009. many hours of google translating later, and i've developed an even stronger admiration of these two women and their exceptional career as manga artists. they share so much in these posts about the creative process, their thoughts on social justice, their connections with nature, and their most major original story, gliding reki, which seems to have always been a passion project in the midst of commercial work.

from what i could gather, reki is unique in that they were determined to do it in full color. and they did it, because after reading about their career, it's clear to me that when these women set their mind to an idea, they make it happen. see also: they just recently produced and distributed their own art book, because no publishers were offering to do it in a way that pleased them.

their stated goals for reki were to make something more adult than their previous children's manga, taking place in a city, involving a lot of mechanical art, and featuring stronger romantic and self-described erotic subtext. good for them. before i get into the four swords-related stuff, i'm sharing what i could find on the internet about reki.

more under the cut, because there's quite a bit to discuss :)

not much that i could find on the blog specifically references four swords, but they have many fascinating insights about nintendo, the zelda fandom, and the franchise as a whole. i can't know for certain because this information was surmised from translated text, but it seems as if their manga with chibi link made them feel a little stifled, which is why they took a long break before returning to do twilight princess. it's not lost on me that even a work like four swords, which they may regard as not their favorite or best, still has inspired and brought together so many passionate, creative, and diverse people. this is especially sweet because it seems as if they met each other, and formed their creative partnership, because of a shared fandom interest of their own.

honda and nagano have shared their thoughts and feelings on this blog for more than a decade, and they have a lot of thoughts and feelings. throughout their entire career they've made commentary on work-life balance, their experiences as women in a male-dominated field, and their desire to create original art while simultaneously enjoying some commercial work as well. they are passionate about social justice, particularly re: women and indigenous people, and offer insights on aspects of culture and history and the state of the world that really could resonate with anyone. and they really seem to appreciate fans of their work, and emphasize repeatedly the care and thought they put into their manga in the hopes it will inspire and bring catharsis to readers. they love animals (especially wolves), being outside in nature, being nerds about art they enjoy, a certain subgenre of romantic manga that appealed to and empowered female readers in the 90's and 2000's, and traveling around the world to partake in activities like horse riding and falconry.

the coolest part is, they're still updating the blog to this day :) in fact they seem to have recently returned to it, reflecting that twitter is not their preferred manner of sharing things online. they seem very familiar with and fond of older-school blogging culture.

there's a lot more i could say here about my findings, some of which do pertain to... certain ships 💜🖤 . but i don't want my genuine appreciation for these authors to be overshadowed by that kind of conversation. in addition to a link to the blog itself, i'm including a few translated posts of interests, which you can interpret and incorporate into your perception of the media however you please. at the end of the day, it's a really cool gift that these artists have chosen to share so much over such a long period of time. by making their personalities, beliefs, and insights more visible to fans of their work, i hope it brings new context to the stories we already love.

a modern-day insight:

re: the zelda mangas. these are from several points throughout their career. please note that they have so many fond things to say about zelda as a franchise and their work on the mangas, especially regarding the way they've affected fans. i encourage you to look for yourself, on their blog and their other socials!

re: gliding reki

re: the creative process (and in the latter two, the fandom that seems to have inspired them!)

re: their two goofyass adorable tiny dogs that they dress up in outfits while also loving wolves like a lot, they love wolves (both domesticated and wild), they really love wolves

re: wolf day (every day is wolf day,)

re: indigenous rights

re: painting serious works on commission vs their manga. i can't know for sure exactly what it means, but it really does kinda hit

re: a fan and manga artist in training bringing them art and a note

and a moment from a twilight princess manga interview i found very sweet :)

okay. you've made it to the end. i know you're wondering. here you go. please remember that this is and always has been a public blog, and these posts are actually from 2009 and 2010. also please remember that the point of this post is not to cause or fuel fandom discourse, but to appreciate these authors and the things that they choose to express.

(also, this is the column they were referring to in image 1. it's FASCINATING. give it a read if you'd like!)

the dots are there. you're welcome to connect them.

thank you for your beautiful work and insights, honda and nagano. please never change.

[icecream-puffu]

I am very normal

I am so normal

I am the most normal

*dies*

[jaycee-penny-art]

I’m reading the Twilight Princess manga and I was not prepared for him to look like That™

[lilcreaturethingfromthewoods]

Something really funny that happened when I was reading the Twilight Princess manga was that I showed my siblings one frame of Link like 'omigosh he looks so cool look at him' and my sister asked '...why does he look so weird'

This then turned into an argument where she kept insisting he looked weird while both me and my brother defended him as the hottest man alive

In my defence, manga Link looks like this:

[maddrumsticks2]

Mad at the Twilight Princess manga rn

Because if you're gonna make them KISS, WHY'D YOU STILL NOT CHANGE THE ENDING 😭😭😭

I'm not much of a Link x Midna shipper but that manga might've changed my mind-

But man, the pain in knowing there's no way they'd see each other again HURTS AKDKAKFK

[linksfandomgmxreblogs]

The same friend:

This is normal friend stuff right???

[allnewalldifferentwildspider]

TPManga!Link has got the rizz

[state-of-franklin]

So I’m reading the Twilight Princess manga and I’m at the last book, and everyone remember the Hero of Time skeleton from the game?

Plus, given all the Time and Twi content and then the uproar in Wild and Twi content..this is forever ingrained in my mind

[chipster-321]

So the final volume of the Twilight Princess manga decided to add some more context to the whole “Midna shattered the Mirror for no reason” and it’s JUICY. (I apologize for the poor quality shots)

So, she was about to leave, no muss no fuss, was even hinting they would be able to see each other again, when right as she’s about to leave, Link/Twilight decided he wanted to be with her and she said no.

She reasoned the world of the light needed him but Link/Twilight was being stubborn sooooo

Slap. Can’t go telling a Princess/Ruler no. Very in character. Oh but don’t worry, she makes up for it.

That’s right, MIDNA AND LINK KISS. ROMANCE CONFIRMED. (The whole latter half of the series has him basically pining after her it’s great.)

Only then does she decide to break the mirror. She realized that she wasn’t going to be able to stop Link from chasing after her if the mirror was kept intact. The world of light needed its hero, and the Twilight Realm needed its ruler.

But he keeps chasing her anyway lol. The last pages of the books show that Twilight/Link left the village and went on a journey and found the golden wolf again and presumably is trying to find a way back to Midna. (It’s implied). Also, Ilia gets together with the researcher dude. So yeah. The manga really screamed MIDNA/LINK RIGHTS!

[lilly-pilly-art]

Twilight time! Not gonna lie I wish I had more of the books to do more goofy faces for Twilight. But I 100% HAD TO DO THIS ONE

[fourswordsannotated]

[blood-starved-beast]

Alongside my replays of the games I've been slowly making my way through the Ocarina of Time Manga, and I can't help but notice how despite the immense trauma of learning that 1) his big plan with the Princess failed spectacularly and 2) his body has gone through immense physiological and psychological changes that he never expected to happen - the Hero of Time takes his situation in stride. He accepts he's the hero pretty quickly.

By contrast, the Hero Twilight vehemently rejects the calling, denying it to the spirits' faces.

His feelings are complex to say the least. He feels inadequate over being the hero cause he's got his issues back when he pulled the sword and lost his entire hometown. And his feelings about swordplay tie directly into that. He feels he cannot match up.

At the same time though, this Link is interesting in that he craves violence. He enjoys swordplay, even when it's caught up in all those bad memories. When he gets the Master Sword the inner part of him that loves fighting is thrilled. Cause while yes he's got his inferiority complex tied with his trauma, he also knows he's good. I mean, he is good at fighting. He's the Hero. This whole thing interplays and culminates in Link manifesting his dark inner side - which ends with him knocking himself out in the end cause that inner dark side is him. His ego gets too big.

But alas, the inferiority complex strikes again when Fi rejects him so throws himself onto the floor crying about it cause it confirms in his mind all his fears he has about not being enough. He thought, for a moment that he was enough (too much). I really love this version of Link.

Anyways I bring up the Hero of Time's manga cause his response to TP Link's whole deal in volume 7 is contextualized so well when you realize how quickly he accepts his new role. He tells TP Link to get over himself cause

it is his destiny. He can't avoid it. And knowing that OoT Link accepted that. Accepted his fate so soon, and that the consequences of one's actions can cost so high, it makes sense no?