#also I love that she was a sukeban

[rosecandyart]

Finally, we have them all

[bacchuschucklefuck]

this has been a roller coaster of a design journey but finally I can present you: class swap artificer!adaine and rogue!fabian

[darkwehl]

[pumpkin-piiee]

I've seen people making up different story arcs on what will happen after the Noroshi War so here's mine.

*Manga spoilers ahead*

Maybe in the future, Nii Satoru-sensei might create a story arc about a sukeban*.

*A sukeban is a delinquent girl gang that emerged in Japan from the 1960s to 1970s.

History

Credits: yaz1ska on Instagram

Sukebans were formed due to bōsōzoku a.k.a. male biker gangs or the yakuza not accepting female members. The rise of sukebans has a huge impact on the feminist movement in Japan. Each gang has their own rules, hierarchy, and ways of punishment. E.g. Cigarette burns were considered a minor punishment if a gang member was disrespecting a senior member or stealing a boyfriend.

My thoughts if it were to come true

If the author included a story arc about a girl gang, I would have faith in him. I mean look at how well-written & well-designed the ladies in wind breaker are.

Credits: Pinterest

Credits: Mangapill

*I love how the author would draw sketches of Kotoha with major characters such as Tsubakino and Sakura. This means that Kotoha is more important than we have initially thought. Moreover, kudos to Nii Satoru-sensei for not sexualising Kotoha. I am sick and tired of mangakas sexualising female characters for no reason.*

Credits: Nii Satoru on X

Not to mention many of us know that Nii Satoru-sensei is good at writing complex characters such as Tsubakino.

Credits: MyFigureCollection

Story Arc, Characters & Operation

As for how this story arc will be executed, I believe it will cover topics such as feminism, struggles of womanhood and mistreatment of women.

Moving on to how this sukeban operates, here's my input. I believe everything they do is the complete opposite of Bofurin. E.g. instead of protecting their own town, they protect themselves. This is because the town they live in is also the complete opposite of Makochi, hostile and narrow-minded.

*I just thought of making this sukeban the complete opposite of Bofurin because I think it's interesting to see their reactions. It's also hilarious because the opposite of a boy gang is a girl gang. Get it? Okay, I'll stop.*

I also believe maybe this sukeban and its base can act as a sanctuary for women of its town who were mistreated by men such as giving them food, shelter etc.

I believe the overall vibe that they give is going to be like the military instead of high school.

As for their leader, maybe she'll be the opposite of Umemiya, stoic and serious. However, it is interesting if she was a good leader like Umemiya because so far we've only seen bad leaders in Wind Breaker.

As for their gang name, maybe it will be associated with elements such as water or space. This is because the other gangs e.g. Bofurin 防風鈴 is named after the wind element, Noroshi 狼煙 is named after the fire element, Gravel and Shishitoren 獅子頭連 are named after the earth element along with KEEL is named after or related to the metal element.

*I know that Shishitoren are named after animals but animals are also related to Earth sooo*

Final Thoughts

Overall, this is just a random thought of mine that I just want to share. If Nii Satoru-sensei doesn't include a story arc that talks about girl gangs, I won't be disappointed or upset as long as he writes a good story.

*P.S.. this is my first time ranting about an anime so feel free to critique or educate me if I've made a mistake. Also, I still have some opinions regarding this sukeban idea so should I create a part 2?*

[ladyloveandjustice]

I was talking to my partner about how I think the main reason "heroic" gyaru characters are so trendy in anime right now, is likely because the actual fashion trend is over now, meaning they're no longer "scary" for being girls that rebel against Japanese beauty standards and act "rough". I do remember a time where gyaru characters showed up a lot less frequently but were generally portrayed as aggressive dumb sluts when they did, you know the drill... I remember there was even an afterward in the sailor moon manga where Naoko described herself as being scared when approached by a gyaru because that was the culture of the time. They were considered scary delinquents.

But now that the trend is officially over, anime can look back and decide "that was pretty cool actually! maybe they weren't all dumb sluts! Maybe stereotypes are bad! Maybe those delinquents were cool! maybe it would be great to have a sexy gyaru girlfriend!" (it does fail to address that even if a girl slept around that's fine, all the gyaru characters portrayed as good in anime are generally chaste, which generally gets a big whawhwhwhwhwa reaction, you can't judge a book my it's cover it seems!!! okay but why are judging the book to begin with.)

like don't get me wrong i love gyaru characters i love delinquent girls with all my heart and am glad to see them getting their flowers even it's too little too late. But it's interesting.

There is one big exception to the "animanga portayed gyarus as bad and dumb" at the height of the trend (and probably a lot of smaller ones but I'm talking in broad strokes) which is a shoujo manga called Gals! The main "gal character" is portrayed as struggling in school and a little ditsy, but overall plenty smart. She's a role model! She's a gal for justice. I've been meaning to read/watch it so I can't say much more but:

When she was in elementary school, she was enthusiastic about becoming a police officer, but quit the ambition after learning that she won't be able to dye her hair or wear her favorite accessories.

Being a gyaru saved her from becoming a cop, thank god.

There's some other big examples I found are also shoujo: Peach Girl and Shiritsu! Bijinzaka Joshi Koukou...

Sukeban were considered a similar delinquent subculture rebelling against norms, and I don't know enough about manga scene then to how Sukeban were overall portrayed, but it also interests me that the most prominent positive portrayal of them was also a shoujo manga-- in this case Sukeban Deka/Keiji. This was in 1975 when sukeban was very much still a thing. And arguably, that manga is why a lot of Sukeban heroes/nice girls show up in media today despite being so incredibly anachronistic.

(there's something to be said about how both delinquents being "good" comes with ties to the police, though with Saki it's more complicated because law enforcement is also depicted as incredibly shady and actually blackmails her).

I don't know what my point here all is, just that it's an interesting but unsurprising trend of rebellious women only getting sympathy when they're no longer active and no longer perceived as a threat, but the exceptions of sympathetic portrayal specifically when the trend is popular coming from shoujo manga...well it's only two examples so it could be a coincidence, but it's interesting. I think a very likely reason is the mangaka some girls who read manga might fall into those countercultures so they should have a story for them, or the idea rebellion might be more enticing for girls even if they are straight laced...

(actually it could be i don't know what im talking about i might delete this later)

[countlessimpossibilities]

Three random Baji headcanons i cant take out of my head bc why not:

•He's scared of needles. He thinks piercings and tattoos are amazing, but for the love of god stay away of him with the needles.

•Fidgets a lot with his hair in his mouth. Puts a strand between the lips, bites the tip of the hair, etc, he doesnt even notice he's doing it.

•Ryoko (his mom) was in a sukeban gang when younger. She knows the dangers of being involved in gangs, but also knows how good it feels to belong. That's why she let's him.

[rhaaclaws]

was thinking abt what Mondo's and Daiya's mom wouldve been like so here's their beautiful single butch mom Keiko Owada (大和田惠虎)

some thoughts or whatver under the cut

I chose the name Keiko w that kanji specifically since 惠 means "benefit, favor, kindness" and 虎 means "tiger, fierce, brave"

this is both to keep the tiger theme we see Mondo has and also bc I feel like she'd be a very tough love sort of parent, but still have both her sons' best interest at heart. they got their toughness from someone yk

I think it'd be fun to have her be a former sukeban, just to keep the gang theme going. I don't think she'd be much involved with the Crazy Diamonds but she found out very early and was like "well if youre going to start a gang, here's how you do it right. now don't get caught or youre in big fucking trouble"

Since Mondo never mentions his dad, I feel like its safe enough to assume that the guy is a deadbeat lol. but it got me thinking about how she probably got caught up with that guy when younger and felt imprisoned when she had Daiya, so when she eventually had Mondo she was tired of it and chose to raise them herself. She doesn't want either of them to go through the same thing, which is why freedom is such an important thing to all three of them

Keiko was more active with raising Daiya, but didn't get much of the same opportunity with Mondo since she had to constantly work to keep them afloat. Despite that, she still tried really hard to give them everything she could and make the most of the time she had with them

I think ill develop this more in another post but I think it'd be fucked if she gave her coat to Mondo so he's not too lonely at Hope's Peak. He altered it in remembrance of Daiya

This is a cutesy one but she gave them both good morning kissies every day. THOSE ARE HER BOYS !!!!

[deadbeat-motel]

For my rewrite, I wanted to tie each sinner who's staying at the motel to a specific deadly sin to make it easier to understand what got them in hell and just for the fun of it.

It doesn't apply to the rest of hell to have a specific sin, but I thought it was interesting that the inhabitants of the motel will represent a sin.

Some of these characters are still rough ideas and will be subjected to some changes once i finalize the actual lores for these characters:

First up, Angel Dust is easy to confuse as Lust because most people might assume that since he's a sex worker, its probably what got him in hell right? Though, his sin had nothing to do with being lustful since he didnt become a sex worker until then (plus being a sex worker doesnt warrant someone a tacket straight to hell). Instead what really did him in was Gluttony since it was his appetite for vices that got him into trouble and also inadvertently lead to his death and it was that appettite that lead him to take any and all clients to feed his appetite for angeldust.

Nifty's sin is Lust, though not in the traditional sexual sense that we know. For her sin's sake, Lust is all about an uncontrollable desire that leads one to do horrible acts in order to attain what they've been obsessing over. In the rewrite, I was going to let her be a lot younger (most likely an adolescent-young teen) with a very skewed sense of what romance/love is like and have her lean in more towards a yandere-type character or a crappy creepypasta kid character (think Nina the killer levels of crappypasta). I'm torn between the two ideas at the moment.

[Also fun fact, hearing that nifty was a japanese woman from the 1950's kind of took me off because googling it, she wouldve been a woman who grew up in the middle of world war 2 and lived through a bit of the Post war boom if we assumed she's also american as well. Having someone with a background like that who acts like she's mentally a child makes it feel like Viv did no research at all.]

Husk's sin remains as Greed, as gambling just seems so hard to quit for him, even when his life is on the line, especially when he's cheating death so many times. Maybe it was after he had his first close encounter with death in his youth... or the few couple of times during the war... that he began to think of himself as too lucky to die. Unfortunately for him, he'd have to learn the hard way that whatever force that was trying to save him can't do anything about his own body failing from years of self-destructive alcoholism.

[Husk will literally kill me with all the research I'll have to do from 1910-1970 to get his story straight.]

Alastor is one Prideful mf. As an intelligent serial killer (possibly cannibal), he was able to evade the police whilst keeping the high-profile radio host job he killed others for. He enjoyed leaving clues and slipping little hints around his scene that stumped the entire police department. In the end, getting sloppy because of his own overconfidence in his abilities was what did him in and he was chased down and shot by a hunter in his escape.

Sir Pentious is Envious of the Victorian family and those above the middle class. He believed that he deserved to have the same kind of privileges they have especially since he was a brilliant inventor who believed he could forward Great Britain to a greater future. So he gave up 15 years trying to take over the monarchy by himself and failing miserably. He died due to an invention gone wrong and that was the day Great Britain was rid of its persistent annoyance.

[Some people may read about him in history books and confuse him for an anti-monarchist when this man's entire goal was to replace the monarchy with himself.]

Cherri Bomb grew up as a resentful youth of the Japanese 70's being a sukeban of a delinquent girl gang. Their Wrath was known all across the other local schools in their area and they were known for their sheer brutality. However, Cherri Bomb in particular was also feared by other members of the gang as she was ruthless punishing those who wanted to leave the group. She doesn't ever disclose how she died to others and thus no one is ever really sure how she ended up down here but no one really feels the need to ask.

[I'm extremely unfamiliar with Australian history so Cherri Bomb will have to have grown up in Japanese 70-80's delinquent culture.]

.

There's one sin left.... but since I don't really have anyone in the HH cannon that could realistically fit Sloth, I'm left with two options: Characterizing the blank slate that is Crymini myself or leaving the last resident as a community effort "Build-a-Sinner."

So first poll ive done but....

[ryuichirou]

Any hcs on the Genderbent versions of anyone? I know you love fem Idia and got some Fem Azul art, but do feed my girl loving heart

Anon, first of all, thank you for your patience. This ask took a while, because at the very beginning I was like “well I kind of want to draw this, even though I’m not sure when I’ll have time to draw ALL of them”, but then I started writing, and here we are…

I’ll just say that I’ve written more about some of the girls than about the others, because, well, I don’t have much thoughts about some of them. Mostly about the Savanaclaw…

Also I’m still not 100% certain about some stuff that I talk about, so if I ever manage to draw something or write more posts about them, don’t be surprised if we change our minds about how this whole thing goes.

Ace – pretty close to the original both physically and mentally, she’s a sporty gal who likes comfy-sporty street fashion and basketball. She is a tomboy, but she also considers herself quite cute. She often makes jokes about how her future husband is going to be some rich old dude and how she’ll never have to work, because she is such a cutie. She doesn’t really likes guys all that much though, so it’s more of a “yeah I can do that, so what?” type of thing, because she knows this topic pisses Deuce and Riddle off.

Deuce – ex-sukeban, but a soft-spoken neat girlie with a proper ponytail and clean nails. Embarrassed of her previous behavior, so she tries her best not only to become a good student like  the original Deuce, but also to act accordingly to how society perceives “good girls” who would become “wife material”  when they’re older. She doesn’t really want to become a housewife though, so she is quite conflicted about it…. She’ll figure it out eventually. Also, she respects and loves her mom a lot; she is pretty much her role model.

Riddle – your average flat-chested tsundere girl. When it comes to her hairstyle, I’m torn between giving her pigtails (a classic for this type), a bun similar to what the Queen herself is wearing, or something completely different. I addition to all the agonizing rules the original Riddle has to oblige to, she has a whole separate set of rules for a proper lady. A little copy of her mother in the making, but a hopeless romantic at heart.

Trey – a full-bodied short-haired oneesan type, very attentive and sweet. In addition to her love for cooking and baking, she is also quite handy (at fixing things) and strong, so sometimes people joke about her being more of a dad friend than a mom friend. Also, she is scary when angered.

Cater – also pretty close to the original: trendy and stylish, maybe she wears more accessories than the original Cater, but not too much. She jokes about having crushes on male celebrities, but she actually likes girls.

Leona – probably more proactive than the original Leona, since she’s a lioness. Logically that would also imply shorter hair, but who knows.

Jack – another oneesan type, but also quite tsundere-ish. Her hair is long and fluffy, just like her tail.

Ruggie – pretty close to the original, but with a cute short ponytail.

Azul – she prides herself on being the next Great Sea Witch: she is sure that she is going to become one, but she never brags about it, just thinks about it to herself very smugly. She also uses her charms to her advantage, being all sweet and acting like a dainty and fragile little lady around potential business partners, which is funny, because it’s painfully obvious that she is actually super bossy, pushy and aggressive. Maybe even more aggressive than the original Azul…

Jade – an unnervingly polite girl that has the same aura as your average Asian flight attendants do…. Like, almost yamato nadeshiko type?? Very soft-spoken and very attentive, humble, poised, but there is still this feeling that underneath all that hides something truly terrifying… She either has her hair down or wears it in a neat bun. She is extremely tall, which makes her intimidating, and is quite busty.

Floyd – just as tall and busty as Jade (they probably have the biggest breasts out of the entire cast), but definitely different in everything else. She is truly a creature and acts, well, just like the original Floyd. She’s either sluggish or super active depending on her mood, and is actually quite a flirt compared to her sister. It’s super easy for her to make other girls flustered (which is something that Riddle specifically doesn’t like her for). She wears anything that feels comfy and cool for her, although when it comes to shoes she prefers to wear sneakers and men’s shoes. She also wears her hair down more often than Jade.

Kalim – oh I’m having a hard time with this one, but she is kind of like a Disney princess (an active genki one). Her hair is probably braided, but it’s still quite fluffy and soft and looks a bit unkempt but in a stylish way: Jamil braids her hair every morning. She just wants to have fun 24/7, so she is a bit unhinged, but also quite empathetic and nice. But a bit dumb.

Jamil – a woman of my dreams lol but in all seriousness, visually she is quite similar to the original Jamil: her hairstyle is pretty much the same, her outfits still have this “hip-hop”-y vibe, a bit sporty, a bit tomboyish, but I guess with a sexy fleur? A very subtle one though. Personality-wise it’s a 100% match.

Vil – the type of model/actress you would see in a post titled “androgynous celebrities” and go “woah who is she”. Elegant, beautiful, super tall, Vil looks good in both dresses and pants. Just like the original Vil, she hates it when the clothes are described as “manly” or “womanly”: Vil wears what she wants to wear. Oh, and high heels are still a must: she is proud of her long legs and she’ll never let you forget about it. (Also when it comes to fem!Pomefiore, I wrote down “Lobelia but with a twist” lol)

Rook – someone you’ll look at for a second and immediately think “a lesbian”. She looks neat and wears makeup, but she is still quite tomboyish and has this vibe of a woman that could pin you against the wall. She is much better behaved now that she is in Pomefiore though. She definitely wore a plaid shirt when she and Vil first met lol

Epel – another tomboy. She doesn’t like girly things just as much as the original Epel, but I guess she is more justified in her hatred towards it than him lol She complains a lot about being forced to do stuff she doesn’t want to and has heated arguments with Vil, even though Vil doesn’t really force her to wear dresses or paint her face: she just wants Epel to brush her hair and stop swearing like a tractor driver. And wear sunscreen… Although Vil and Rook would like to see Epel dressed in both cute dresses and handsome princely outfits (the latter Epel especially doesn’t get).

Idia – tall otaku girl, the type of girl that would be mistaken for a dude online, because she tends to be a resident of online-spaces where all the men otaku hang out. The fact that she still uses “sessha” as her pronoun doesn’t help with that.  She is a liiiiiitle bit of a fujo, but her main focus is the same as the original Idia’s: animes with cute girls in it, gacha-games with waifus, all that stuff. Visually she is pretty much the same as Idia, well, other than the obvious differences. She also doesn’t own a bra, because she is rather small and wears big hoodies and jackets.

Ortho – well this is a tricky one. I think Ortho is also pretty much the same as the original Ortho, but maybe with cute little pigtails lol gotta think about this one more…

Lilia – pretty much the same as the original, the differences are minimal with this one. A cutie through and through 😔💕 and a war criminal

Malleus – whenever I think about her, I picture quite a mature looking lady, visually in her 20s, but I guess Malleus himself looks quite mature for a college student. Her figure is elegant and she is actually quite lean, but with wider hips. Maybe she has a headpiece similar to Maleficent’s, but she doesn’t wear it all the time.

Silver – I’m not sure if I want her to have longer hair or nah, she is also quite similar to the original Silver. She looks more delicate than she actually is because of her pretty face, but her body is actually full of scars and muscles. 

Sebek – she has much longer hair in a neat bun, she is quite full-bodied, strong and muscular. She is quite romantic in her beliefs that she won’t have a family because she is going to dedicate her life to her Queen.

[mostlymilkwood]

We're halfway through 2024! I know this has been a big Yuri year for you. What are some of your favorites you've read this year?

I will make every year a Big Yuri Year going forward!! but you're right, I've been making my way through my backlog and checking out new stuff as it hits but here are a few!

Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord We are forgiving Kitano Miyako for the crime of being a landlord because the series she's in is very sweet and gay and I like it a lot!! I'm not actually one who's into low conflict manga but there's just enough bite every now and then in Monthly, be it through Miyako's past in the idol industry or Asako's past breakups, that I think it strikes a great balance. I was also thinking the other day about how the main trope of this is kind of… There Was Only One Bed House lol. Anyway, it also nice to have the story keep going after the build up of the main couple getting together, I'm going to miss it so much once it finishes in the coming months :((( Fav panel:

Sukeban and Transfer Student Stella art that's made to mimics an 80s manga style to reinforce the time period it's set in? Sooo Good!! I love comics as an art form!! I love seeing them doing shit like this that only comics can do!!! I wish this was licensed so badly!! Anyway it's got a fun setup of two high school losers being losers in very different directions, which is always fun. I hope I get to read more of it soon! Fav panel:

False Marigold If I had a nickel for every yuri manga I'd read where the dual protagonist was a blind girl called Lily, I'd have two nickels! This has a lot of interesting elements at play, you've got the time period being the 1910s (ish??), you've got Lily's blindness, her love for Hana's brother and the fact that she doesn't know he's dead, and finally you've got Hana's failed attempt to kill Lily and her now pretending to be said dead older brother for Lily. So Like, It's A Lot!! A great mix of bitter sweet feelings from a lot of characters, I can't wait to see how it all plays out in the end. Fav panel:

How Do We Relationship? Ha ha haaaaaah. God. I'm late to the game on this series, it's already 12 volumes in and I kept seeing people who don't normally talk about manga, or yuri, or yuri manga say it's a really good and devastating read, so I was curious! THEY WERE CORRECT ON ALL FRONTS. Hat's off to the author for the total rug pull after volume 4 where you learn this is not a "story about what happens after you start dating someone" but is actually "a story about what happens after you breakup with someone"!!! God!!! But honestly, I can't say I've read anything quite like How Do We Relationship, it's rough sometimes but super compelling, it captures the college adolescent really well! I'm almost nostalgic for all the drama of my college days haha. Fav Panel That Is Driving Me Insane:

OKAY BUT LIKE, WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT THE FACT THAT YURIA IS JUST DRAWN AS AN ELF???? HER HAIR NORMALLY COVERS HER EARS SO YOU DON'T SEE THEM TILL THEIR FIRST TIME NAKED TOGETHER AND IM JUST MEANT TO NOT THINK ABOUT THE FACT THAT SHE'S AN ELF?? WITH POINTY EARS AND TEETH??? IT'S NEVER MENTIONED BY ANYONE!! THIS ISN'T A FANTASY SERIES WHY DOES SHE LOOK LIKE THAT???

Shoutouts: I Want to Make Black-Knight Fall In Love With Me! and The Helpless Saint and the Powerless Princess, they're recently started in Yuri Hime and I've been enjoying the first couple of chapters that are out so far, looking forward to seeing where they go this year!

[thepostofficesketch]

i love lisa frankensetin truly movie of the year instant favorite i will show it to my children and say 'they dont make em like this anymore'

Anyway something something the fact that lisa's bedroom is pink and she keeps sentimental objects and she wants a love story to happen to her and she wants to be wanted belies her goth badass transformation in a neat way

While she is desperate for agency after her trauma, and draws from goth counterculture music and dress to express that agency, she still deep down just really wants the kind of pink hearts cuteness that every teenage girl wants. And she doesnt lose that feeling and i think eventually learns to embrace it along with the dark streak. She belts out reo speedwagon while also loving the cure. She uses her ability to be flirtatious to lure a kid to his death. She does not flinch from gore but never actually commits murder herself.

She is an embodiment of the subversion of femininity - teen femininity in particular. Much like the pop cultural asymilation of sukeban of 80's Japan, she turns the expectations of the boys into a powerful weapon to use against them and express her true desires by dressing as differently to taffy (the emblematic 'popular girl) as she can adopting the edgier and less refined goth/punk look which was in itself popularized away from its original manifestation as a counterculture.

[spandexual]

And for your own fave types you should consider: Mobile Suit Gundam original flavour, the first 3 seasons & finale movie AKA The Stuff With Char, who is one of the protozoic ancestor gay blonde anime bitches that all subsequent ones descend from. He's here to cause problems on purpose and taunt everyone in his slutty little minidress. In the second season he comes back after a big crisis having changed his name and grown his hair out and started dressing like image 2 here, Which Could Mean Nothing.

You get them as fully-dedicated murderous enemies, as grudging allies, as rivals with a deep understanding drawing them together as they fight...speedrunning the xavier/magneto arc. (Also Char even gets a bonus extra yaoi arc with his fruity little twink boss in the middle of all this)

For a completely different kind of rec, I love the "the only one allowed to defeat you" dynamic in Commando Girl Izumi, a 15-episode almost-toku sukeban show in which there's extremely that but, like...very one-sided on the rival character (Keiko)'s side? She thinks she's the epic ojousama rival meanwhile Izumi (ice-cold pseudo-cyborg supersoldier) is just like. who is this puny mortal [walks away very fast]. but also keeps flirting to like, unnerve her? anyway the climax of the show has Keiko write Izumi a love letter on the bandages she was hospitalised with and Izumi ties it on as a determination headband for the final battle

(not sure if this video link works) It might be the only show ever made?

oh I am very aware of Char lol I have been shown Many Video. He does seem extremely my type unfortunately I am just allergic to watching anime unless someone actually sits me down and watches it with me. I do like his cunty little outfits though.

One-sided "I'm the only one allowed to defeat you" on the rival's side is the most common type so I'm not really surprised. But I do so love a sukeban and no the video link didn't work :') please link in the replies.................

[syrupspinner]

top 10 most anticipated indie games!

in no particular order, not affiliated with any of em, etc etc

of the Devil

so, funny story. i had some fanart of this game set as my phone background when i went to get a new phone. check it out here! anyway, the cleric who only really plays ff14 looked at it and went "woah, what's that? it looks like danganronpa." and i was like. yeah buddy! sure does! then, of course, i began proselytizing, about how the game's demo did an amazing job at establishing not only the game's wonderfully directed art style, with the ui and the music and everything else working together to make a perfectly opressive cyberpunk atmosphere, but how the writing of the mystery and morgans character is so intriguing and compelling and auuuugh i wanna play this fucking game dude. i love morgans smile i hope she makes me eat a bomb

2. UNBEATABLE

so imagine muse dash, but instead of high-contrast anime girls and dubious dlc practices, it's just punk as fuck. theres nothing i can say about the game other than linking the side-story/demo and telling you to just go with the flow and dig the vibes. the soundtrack rocks hard, and the visuals are so well done. everything looks like a poster collage for a garage band youve never heard of. also the trailer for the full game showed off a graffiti mechanic and thats all i need

3. Demonschool

i talked about demonschool a lot back in my nextfest post, and my thoughts havent changed at all. im a slut for strategy rpgs, and a big reason for that is i like planning my moves in advance and seeing what the best use of all my ally's abilities are. so the game's mechanic of the shared ability meter that you use for multiple moves over one turn, plus the ability to rewind moves before committing to them, AND the high level of combo potential in everything's interactivity? pumped as hell. there was recently a dev update about how you can light yourself on fire and spread that damage to the environment with every attack if that helps sell you

4. Roman Sands RE:Build

i dont need to say shit. just look at it. LOOK at it. this is so ridiculously catered to my tastes on presentation alone that i cant even come up with a hyperbolic simile. its y2k dreamcast beach artstyle, its time loop with routing optimization, its arbitrary celestial puzzle with unexplained mechanics, its stupid gomotion noodle people, its abstract nonsense that is actively and literally hostile towards the player for trying to understand it. im gonna CUM dude

5. Sorry We're Closed

how often do you see a fixed-camera shooter about a woman with three eyes? the fucking atmosphere, man. even from the demo i can tell that a la mode knows what theyre doing. i love how there isnt like, a limit or meter on your third eye, thats something i can easily see another game doing. but the downsides of only being able to hurt enemies in range AND having to aim at their weak spots is already a good balance to encourage you to switch it up. its so deliciously frictional that you have to go in first person to attack anything, and theres a delay when you do it so youve gotta be really cautious and defensive. and oh man, the cleaver enemy! that was so tense, and so much of that was from the expert audio design that made it so unclear how close he is or where exactly he is, just that hes getting closer. im gonna lose my shit about this game when the full thing drops. fun fact: this releases tomorrow, so this is literally the last day that i can post this. oops!

6. .45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND

how often do you see a fixed-camera shooter about a woman with three eyes? ive never played parasite eve, which this is purported to be a spiritual successor to, but the action seems really interesting. sukeban's website explains it like this: "you move and dodge in real time while you wait for an Action bar to fill at a speed determined by character and weapon stats. Once that’s done you can then stop time and plan your offensive". that sounds stupidly fun. judging by the trailers and shit, theres gonna be a big focus on combo chains and your character having multiple attacks she can switch between, but theres not much i can really say about that until theres a demo or something.

7. YIIK: A Postmodern RPG (Update I.V)

i know an update is cheating a bit, but ackk studios considers it to be a thorough enough reimagining that it almost constitutes a sequel. if you havent played the demo then you should give it a shot. my only experience with yiik before it was secondary, through discussions and lets play compilations, and i was totally blown away. the combat was totally reworked, so instead of those repetitive and drawn-out minigames its a way more engaging system where you can use "karta" as defensive shields with passive buffs or sacrifice them for spells. its one of those things that sounds weird and complicated when you explain it, but in gameplay it just kinda clicks. it also seemed to double down on he surrealism and abstract psychological themes, which is my fucking jam. i think missed potential is the worst flaw something can have, so hearing that yiik is growing into its most flawless form is exciting as hell

8. FreeJack Online

unfortunately, i found out about this game about a month after its last online playtest. the dev's discord says they wont reopen unless they find a publisher, and theyre not sure if thats gonna happen reasonably soon. but secondhand, this game looks like a killer time. you guys know im super into this hip hop skatepunk urban style, so even if the gameplay is total shit ill still be all over the ost and character design. but this gameplay doesnt look like shit! you build up trick combos and that contributes to your speed as you parkour around and try to win races. its been a while since ive sunk myself in a competitive online game and i think thisll be what gets me back into it, someday

9. Hyper Light Breaker

yknow im kinda surprised this list hasnt been more roguelikes considering how much i play em. hlb looks like its aiming for an interesting combo of roguelike and open-world, and im really interested in how that shakes out. the combat looks like a really good transition of the speedy high-stakes fighting from hld into 3d. im really hopeful for this game, especially everything heart machine is going through with gearbox and the fanbase backlash for the delays.

10. The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-

im saying this counts as indie because im in denial. so, i mentioned how the phone clerk guy was a danganronpa fan, right? he played all the mainline games, and even got into zero escape looking for more (he played VLR before 999? lmao) but he had no idea what too kyo games was. never heard of Death Come True, or Akudama Drive, or World's End Club, or Rain Code, or Tribe Nine. really goes to show how much publicity matters, huh? anyway, in case you couldnt tell, i am a 'fan' of danganronpa. theres a lot you could say about it, like how the writing is juvenile and contrarian and how it consistently struggles to write unpredictable mysteries despite this and also how kodaka just fundamentally fails at writing minorities and the pacing issues and flat characters and... you get it. but its never boring. and considering they officially hired the guy who wrote the spin-off novel where kirigiri gets cloned into a houseplant, i feel like its just gonna get less boring from here

look at this shit. im along for the ride at this point

[animadi888]

Meet The Archon Family!

Note : It's not exactly an episode… it's simply a place where you can learn about the members of the Archon family plus some trivia.

I'm not from America and the school system will be documented in the story as it works in my country, to those who don't know, so it's like this: Kindergartens are usually for children aged 3 to 6. Elementary school is from 1th grade to 6th grade. Middle school is for 7th to 9th grade. And high school is for grades 10th and 12th. Of course college or university is later.

Zhongli Archon - Zhongli is the older brother of the family, he is 23/24 years old and just finished college.

He studied finance, business, economics, and accounting in college. And he thought of going to learn from sentences but gave up on it.

His nickname/username on most social media is Morax.

He has a lizard named Rex Lapis that no one in the family likes except maybe Venti and Nahida who have no problem with him but would still prefer another pet.

He is not so good with feelings or at least talking about them but still does his best to help and comfort his siblings but he feels he is not doing enough.

Likes to have tea with Raiden sometimes.

Likes to read and talk about stuff with Navida's before she goes to bed.

Love listening to podcasts no matter how boring everyone else thinks they are.

Loves wine.

His room is pretty neat but somehow he always has piles of paper there.

He has two jobs but it always feels like he doesn't have enough money.

Raiden Makoto Archon - Raiden is the second oldest sister of the family, she is 17/18 years old and is in her third and last year of high school (12th grade).

She didn't take the death of their parents (especially her mother) so well and now she keeps all her feelings inside.

Likes to spend time alone in her room, which is so tidy it's as if a military unit went through there and gave it a deep cleaning.

Her social media nickname/username is Raiden Shogun. But in in videogames her nickname/username is Ei.

Doesn't really like animals but if she had to choose a favorite it would be a cat.

Among her siblings, she gets along the least with Murata.

She has a sweet tooth. Plus sweets remind her of the time she used to watch her mother make sweets (even then she was a bad cook).

She is a gamer, Ya Miko loved most of the games (she has not met her yet but will meet her during the story).

She is the head of the student council.

She is on the kendo team at her school. She fights with both a sword and a naginata.

Murata Archon - Murata is the third oldest sister of the family, she is 15/16 years old and she just started high school (10th grade).

She is a combination of gangster, jock and a sukeban.

She likes to get into fights mainly because of the adrenaline but also because she is good at it and it gives her a sense of accomplishment. Something she doesn't feel much at school because her grades are the lowest in her family.

She hates being looked down upon. That's why she doesn't like Raiden and most of the teachers at school.

really like meat and spicy food.

She loved challenges to the point that she would do anything to win the challenge.

She doesn't have many friends so she is quite protective and loyal to the friends she has.

Zhongli reminds her of her father so she finds comfort in him.

Likes, playing pranks with Venti and Furina.

She and Furina love dogs but she likes dogs like a German shepherd while Furina prefers dogs like poodles.

Not much is known about her so I imagine she looks like Vennessa.

Furina Archon - Furina is the fourth oldest sister in the family and Venti's older twin, she is 13/14 years old and in the second year of middle school (8th grade).

Between her and Venti she is the "evil" twin. At first she might approach you and say something super passive aggressive like "Wow your test score is usually good" or "I'm sorry, am I bothering you?". It will slowly become more friendly until you are reduced from enemies to enemies to friends.

Her social media nickname/username is Focalors.

She do a good imitations of her siblings.

Want to be a lawyer/judge one day. Many believe it is because she likes the drama of the court. She won't say if it's true or not.

She and Venti are in the theater club together but she is also in the debate club.

Really good at making cakes (her mother taught her). And sometimes she and Raiden talk while they're eating or while she's making them.

Loves to read and listen to fairy tales and sometimes also history with Nahida.

She was supposed to share a room with Nahida, but after her parents died she moved into Zhongli's old room while he moved into their parents' room.

She has an indescribable amount of stuffed animals.

like to watch historical drama series.

Venti Archon - Venti is the fifth oldest brother in the family and as was said before Furina's younger twin, he is 13/14 years old and is in the second year of middle school (8th grade).

He gets along pretty well with everyone. Well maybe except the teachers but they can agree that he is a good boy he just needs to concentrate more.

His nickname/username on his social networks is Barbatos. Yes he and his twin sister are pretty dramatic…

He has the second worst scores in the family after Murata. His grades are either average or slightly above or slightly above average but not super good. Not that he cares.

He dreams of starting a band and he's going to make it happen no matter what!

Can play several stringed instruments, and he sings quite well.

He has a special bond with Zhongli  because they are the only boys in the family.

He doesn't have a problem with them being Zhongli's lizard  he just would have preferred it to be more interesting like an iguana or a chameleon. He also likes parrots. A lot!

Loves grape juice.

Unlike his twin sister he is a morning person while she is a night person.

Nahida Archon - She is the little sister of the family, she is 5 years old and just started going to kindergarten because before she stayed at home with their mother who is now dead.

She is super shy but also super curious.

She really likes books of all kinds but her siblings don't allow her to read graphic books.

I love mint tea with lots of sugar.

She's a vegetarian, kind of… I mean unofficially and she can eat meat if she has to. But she doesn't really enjoy it and her family knows who it is so they just don't give her meat.

Trying to behave the best she can because she doesn't want to burden her siblings.

Feels bad because she can't help her others much but she still does her best!

She would have preferred Zhongli's lizard (Rex Lapis) to be something cuter like a rabbit or a hamster or even a turtle.

Loves to braid her siblings' hair (she was the one who braided Venti's hair).

Loves trivia games and "educational" TV shows.

So you may have noticed that Tsaritsa is not there and how I mentioned only 6 siblings. So don't worry because here she is. I present to you Aunt Tsaritsa! Plus someone else…

??? Archon ( Tsaritsa) - She's their dad's sister and she's probably around 40… I don't know it's not polite to ask a woman her age! (Cheeky…)

"Tsaritsa" is not her name but almost everyone calls her that. (This is her username/nickname on social networks). But she is called by her nickname so much to the point that Nahida doesn't know what her real name is.

Pretty much rich.

She is this aunt who seems to be leading or a cult, or a pyramid scheme or multi level marketing. Or all together it's not clear…

doesn't get along so well with her family. She cut off contact with her mother and she and the Archon siblings get along only reasonably…

Not married but not intending to get married either.

Celestia Archon - She is our special editor and the mother of the Tsaritsa and the father of the Archon siblings. She's very old and can be a bit grumpy sometimes, but that comes with age I guess…

Hope you liked it :)

Previous chapter (prologue)

Next chapter (Chapter 1: A job! Yeah I think I need one of those…)

[ladyloveandjustice]

My Favorite Continuing Manga I Read in 2023

I went into the brand new manga I read in this post, but here's an update on some great continuing series!

Shout out to She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat for having phenomenal storyline about find the courage to cut toxic family members off, which is pretty rare to see (in manga especially)! The story explores how your family can impose a relationship with food that harms you in many different ways, and how finding acceptance of your food habits helps you heal. It also continues to be a lovely exploration of queer adults finding themselves that makes the point that your experiences don't have to fit in a box.  And I appreciate that they included a character who doesn't like eating that much for me to relate to! See my first review here, 

Now for a quick word about the other great continuing manga I read:

- I Want to be a Wall really upped it's game and included a nuanced discussion about asexuality that I loved seeing. See first review here.

- Yuri is My Job is still the best lesbian drama manga around and hits hard. See previous discussion here,

- A Man and His Cat is still the sweetest and Yona of the Dawn is as action packed and intriguing as ever...I feel a climax slowly coming!

- A Bride’s Story is still wonderfully done historical fiction with lush art while How Do We Relationship continues to develop its web of queer relationships nicely.

- Witch Hat Atelier is still a wondrous story of magic, creativity, accessibility, and struggling under unfair systems, all told in a fascinating fantasy setting with loveable, complex characters and incredible art.

A lot of manga I like concluded this year too, so let's take a slightly longer look at the conclusions!

Dungeon Meshi- The conclusion to one of my favorite fantasy manga ever was fittingly bombastically weird and fully satisfying. It filled you up like good food should. Live well instead of being consumed by fear of death and loss. Eat well instead of working yourself to the bone and neglecting your needs. Follow your own path, but cherish your connections and get together for a good meal. This series and its intricate world and wonderful characters will stay with me for a long time.

Catch These Hands- See my first review here. I enjoyed the cute conclusion to this series, and it was nice to see a little ace rep and a message about not conforming to society's expectations of "adulthood". It's an ode to delinquent girls that a sukeban stan like me can get behind! A lot of the stuff that annoyed me in the second volume was mostly dropped for the third and fourth, so that's also nice.

Run Away With Me Girl- See my first review here. I wish this had been a little longer, but the conclusion worked well and was cathartic.

Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon- See my first review here. A nice conclusion to a cute, slow-paced little romance series, with yet more ace rep!

The Two of Them are Pretty Much Like This- see my first review here. This conclusion felt a bit rushed, with plot lines still dangling, like it was cancelled early or something. But the series is still good overall, and I'll miss it.

My Love Mix Up -This sweet-as-pie series about cute gay misunderstandings leading to romance comes to a fittingly sweet conclusion. It's sad waving goodbye to these silly, good-hearted kids, but I'm satisfied with where they ended up.

[fleetwood-cheese]

PT Outfit Breakdown: pt 3

This is part 3 of my series regarding my opinions on the phantom thieves' metaverse outfits, as prompted by a poll by @waywardsalt. As with the previous 2 parts, these are strictly my opinions on the designs (oriented towards what i'd change about them), I'd love some discussion but I will ignore you if you're an asshole.

Akechi - Ann - Sumire - Futaba - Yusuke - Akechi 2

Next up is Makoto, as she's my least favorite female thief's outfit by far and my second option for worst outfit.

It must be said, much of my intense dislike for this outfit comes from the fact that Makoto just has so much potential to work with, and instead we ended up with this corseted monstrosity. I find it just as objectifying and sexualized as Ann's outfit, and firmly believe its overlooked only because 1) ann's arc is more egregious about this and thus takes most of the heat 2) makoto is presented as being more comfortable with the outfit from the onset of it appearing 3) it lacks the skin showing that most people immediately associate with sexualization, even if its skin tight and designed to specifically frame her ass and crotch.

The outfit seems to mostly be trying to pull on biker aesthetics, to match her persona, but I feel it doesn't do this very well outside of the obvious spikes. They could have also pulled pretty easily from Johanna's medieval and papal symbolism and history, which would have also nicely tied into her royalty-inspired code name, but they don't do this at all. Another possible source of inspiration could have been the sukeban, or the japanese girl gangs that arose in the 1960s and 1970s in response to bancho gang's refusal to accept girls in their ranks. This would have been an excellent tie in and contrast to her role as student council president, and created a deliberate juxtaposition with the over-sexualized idea of the Japanese schoolgirl and the way Kaneshiro threatened her and other female student's with prostitution if they didn't meet their deadlines. This isn't implied in game at all (as far as I'm aware) and is mostly wishful thinking on my part.

The first thing I would incorporate into this design is a jacket. I CANNOT believe they tried to pass her off as a biker character and didn't give her a jacket or vest of some sort, one of the major hallmarks of biker gangs. Either way, this outfit is entirely skin tight and desperately needs something to spice it up, and a jacket provides extra dimension and flair; I would personally prefer a leather jacket with patches, as again, that's the iconic biker look. Whether or not the corset is kept or removed I'm largely ambivalent to, as its one of the only medieval/papal themed elements, although I do think it looks extremely tacky.

I would definitely add knee and elbow pads, as those also lean into the biker aesthetic as well as emphasizing that she is a fighter. And for the LOVE OF GOD, give this girl some combat boots!!! She needs some damn curb stompers up on this bitch, not whatever weird little dress shoes she's got here. I do approve of the spikes on the knees and shoulders, those are 10/10.

While the scarf is kind of mid in my opinion, if you wanted to incorporate the sukeban look, you could change it to the sailor suit scarf or neckerchief, as they're iconic and easily recognizable. On the other hand, there's also the opportunity to incorporate the papal stole if you get creative about it. I've also always liked the idea of incorporating spikes into her braid headband, which has both rebel connotations and would mimic a halo or crown.

If you really want to mix it up, I'd really like to add a skirt to her outfit. A long skirt would billow nicely with action, create a juxtaposition between femininity and Makoto kicking shadow ass, and again adds some dimension. You could go pleated to invoke the sailor uniform skirt, or have it simple and pinned up the way medieval women would have to farm, similar to the photo below.

Overall, most of my beef with this costume comes from its sheer lack of originality and the fact that it blends together because the elements are all too dark and similar in color to stand out. By incorporating some of the rich potential of the elements associated with her character, this costume would become much more interesting and much more bearable. It's just so meh in its current state. I rank this one as 8th place out of 10 and an overall rating of 3/10.