#also. I have a LOT of art for this setting that I’ve drawn for world building / character design purposes

[loupy-mongoose]

I may have settled on a new fixation, finally.

I started thinking about an older story of mine, once more an original setting. For the past few days I’ve been doodling some of the main characters, but I also went to dig into my old laptop for the original arts and notes I have on there. And the old art is somethin’ let me tell ya. XD

The main premise of the story is this;

Amycus is a young prince, heir to the throne. But one day while his family is on a ship, they’re attacked by pirates. Amycus and his baby brother manage to escape with their lives, and wash ashore near a hidden, mild-natured town called Concordia.

The boys are taken in by a family living on the outskirts, and Amycus grows up preparing himself to one day return to the throne. But as they grow, the displaced prince finds it harder to figure out where his heart and duties lie…

While that's the main "spine" of the story, there are a LOT of characters and other little plots that branch off of it. In some ways it feels a bit like a self-indulgent stewing pot of a bunch of "This idea seems fun, lets throw that in there too". But it's still something that I hold dear, and a lot of the old designs still hold up, though some touchups are in order. (I've noticed quite a few writing elements that I've reused since. I guess old habits die hard. XD)

Also the people of this world are anthro beings, each capable of transforming into a single animal form.

These were all drawn before I did any digging on my old laptop, just to dip my toes back into that world. I may share some of the older arts later, but I may not. We'll see how I feel about it later. X3 I did notice that in the older stuff, Amycus is a year older than Celine, as opposed to the younger stated here. That was a slip up with my memory, but there's room for me to change it if I feel like. There's a lot of timeline stuff that needs a LOT of ironing out. X3

Anyway, I think it would be cool to at least start putting this old gem out there. I'd wanted to back in the day, but never got to the point of confidence I needed to begin. ^^

[cerastes]

Was Wisadel's backlash at all comparable to the Chalter incident and do you think it would be enough to make them ignore her for a bit, or do you expect them to give her a skin on the more normal schedule for limiteds? I know there are a lot of complaints that even went beyond gameplay stuff (like being a limited alter of a limited) but I generally shut out the community when it gets super annoying so have no clue how big the stink actually got.

As far as I know, there was no backlash for Wisadel, but I’ve also not had my finger on the Arknights pulse as of late, so maybe I missed it, but, again, as far as I know, there wasn’t anything like with Chung the Hung, which makes sense, all things considered, because Chung didn’t get her backlash due to being overpowered, it was a molotov cocktail of factors which included being overpowered. Wisadel had some complaints, such as what you mentioned — limited alternate of a limited — but nothing much beyond what limiteds get.

Wisadel as a while evades the Chung trappings:

Regardless of your opinion on her actual design, Wisadel’s artwork is of good quality. It’s proportionate, well drawn, stylish, the whole deal. Ch’en the Holungday famously had really awful E2 art.

Wisadel is overpowered, but she’s a character that’s been ingrained in the narrative since day one and this “upgrade” is tied to her actual growth and role in the main story. Ch’en was overpowered, but while you can make an argument her growth is part of it (since it’s offhandedly mentioned in her Files, I guess), it’s tied to an overall filler summer event, has her in a literal swimsuit, firing a jury rigged Super Soaker for more damage than several of her contemporaries could manage combined per shot, all while having three Skills that were all basically the same and S3 being the best one by far, which also used the Ammo mechanic so you could have insane practical upkeep on it. Comparatively, Wisadel actually has three distinct Skills, which leads to the next point:

Wisadel is actually entertaining and satisfying to look at: The bombardment S2, the huge death beam explosion of S3, the graphics, the sound effects, the sprite animations, Wisadel has actual flair. Ch’en the Holungday is painfully boring to play and look at, all Skills have the same animations, the same dull sound effect, no variation or flair. Her skin definitely helped on the flair department, like 3 years later.

Though you could (correctly) argue that Wisadel might also be doing this for limited alts of limiteds, Ch’en was setting a very awful precedent: Overpowered Summer Units, maybe even Overpowered Seasonal Units, a hallmark of trashy gacha design. Hypergryph had tested the waters with other scummy strategies before — the period of time in which Thorns and Surtr, AKA stupid strong characters, among others, were rapid fire releases with no accompanying lore or event to give them a place in the world the way others have, which haunts them to this day as ‘lorelets’ — so Ch’en In A Bikini Godtier didn’t sit well either.

Wisadel wasn’t the only good unit out of her banner; regardless of your personal take on Mizuki as a unit, he was widely agreed to be, and thus, perceived as a nothingburger of a 6*, and La Pluma, who is definitely a good unit but was a new archetype at that time, so people were cautious with her, so there was a clear winning roll and losing roll. Wisadel was joined by 6* Logos, who could easily be the limited 6* in any other banner, and 5* Fang, a highly anticipated character. Overall, the perception of these banners could not have been more different.

The overtuning of Ch’en is but one in a cocktail of complaints people had for her, basically. Any complaints there were over Wisadel were a fraction of what Ch’en got.

[lovebirdgames]

Progress Update - October, 2024

It is time…the first Quarterly Progress Update for our next game starts now! And we're kicking it off with a title drop!!! Drum roll, please! Tom, if you will help me out...

That's right! Heartbreaker joins the fray!

For the record that’s not the real logo, just a temporary one that I slapped together.

Before we get into it I would actually like to glance back at the past and detail what our development timeline looked like for Band Camp Boyfriend. It's possible this one might look somewhat similar.

2015-2017 - Writing 2017 - Commissioned art, created social media presence 2018 - Demo released on Itch.io in August Programming hell 2022 - Demo released on Steam 2023 - Full game released

The good news is this isn’t our first rodeo and I’m hopeful there won’t be so many growing pains this time.  We're also doing 4 routes and a shorter common route so that means less suffering for us. The bad news is I worked part-time 2015-2017 so I blazed through writing and now I work full-time…and I’m old…and my memory is failing me…but it’s okay, I’ve forgotten all the pain.

This time around we want to be sure we get all the writing down before we start commissioning art.  We had the tendency to keep going back and asking for more because the game kept getting bigger (saving up money was also a factor). We’re gonna make sure we know exactly what we want this time. We’d also like to save casting voice actors for much later in the process so they aren’t waiting around for years on end. So the demo for this game will not have voice acting. I believe I wrote about this a little before in our post-mortem. We’re learning from our mistakes, woohoo!

That said, this is what we’re hopefully visualizing for Heartbreaker.

2024-2025 - Writing 2026 - Big art commissioning year, a more exciting project reveal, hopefully demo release later in the year! 2027 and on - Programming hell! Casting! Soundtrack fun!

…If this was to line up with BCB that would mean 2031 release. Oh God. No, I wanna release it in this decade, thanks. This is very tentative and we’re determined to not take 7 years this time.

Enough about that! Here is what we’ve worked on this year!

Concept art: Lite was absolutely awesome (as always) and let us have sessions with her in which we worked on concept art of the main cast together. It was super helpful in bringing our visualizations to life and it will definitely aid in writing the story. I can't go on enough about how wonderful Lite is to work with, and it was amazing to watch her go. She would whip up a number of poses, face types, or hairstyles for us to choose from. It was really fun and we're very grateful for the time she spent with us.

The demo: That's right, the demo is written! Woohoo! Unlike Band Camp Boyfriend with its twisting, long-winded common route, Heartbreaker’s common route is a single day! Alex can sigh in relief because that’s one less nightmare in programming for her.

The demo will contain the one-day common route and the first two chapters of two different love interests’ routes (the other two are locked at the start of the game so you’ll just have to admire them from a distance). 

Brainstorming: Ahh my favorite part…talking long walks or going for coffee and coming up with ideas. Brainstorming is ongoing and includes character profiles, world-building, and route outlines. This game has a lot more lore and world-building than BCB, so it’s more of a challenge, but we’re here for it. I've already done a badly-drawn map of the setting. Just need to finish up some profiles for minor characters and do some of my own badly-drawn concept art. Then we move on to fleshing out the route outlines.

The first route: One goal I have is to try and finish writing the first draft of the first route by the end of the year! Which is insane because October is super busy for me, but I'm sure I can buckle down when it gets colder. It's a bit ambitious, but aim high, right?

That's all I got for now! Hope you're all feeling hyped and uh, patient, because we won't be able to show you any cool art for a while. ;v; Thank you so much for sticking by us and we appreciate every single comment that has mentioned looking forward to our next game! Enjoy the rest of 2024!!!

P.S. Today is my mom's birthday and yesterday was my sister's birthday, and also my best friend's birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAAYYYY to these very important people. <3

[kukuandkookie]

“Unlike most manhua this one is paced quite well…”

“It’s so rare to find a manhua like this with nice art!”

“China isn’t sucking for once, so that’s a surprise…”

“This art is so nice for a manhua…!”

“Is this a sign Chinese anime will finally rival Japan?”

“China actually has good anime?”

“Cdramas are usually so bad but this one is actually good!”

“Can’t believe I found a good manhua…”

“This looks good since most Chinese anime look super cheap...”

“This manhwa (about a manhua) is sooo pretty!”

“This is one of the few cdramas with good pacing…”

“Most donghua have good animation but shitty stories…”

“Manhua usually aren’t written or drawn this good…”

“Is this really from China?”

I swear I am exasperatedly throwing at the heads of everyone who comments stuff like this a book—preferably a physical manhua.

I’m not even upset at the notion that these people are calling out how there are bad manhua and donghua in the world, because sure, of course there are! Everything will have both bad and good things. It came free with your existence.

But I just wish people would stop talking about manhua and donghua as if they know anything, because clearly they don’t. They haven’t read nearly enough manhua to make these assumptions that “most manhua are bad except for this one nice manhua I just found on Bato that was so good it compelled me to write a comment on how rare good manhua are.”

Most manhua go untranslated. Those that do get picked up officially sometimes hide their Chinese-ness by changing the names and localizing everything, and there aren’t many dedicated manhua fan translators. What makes you think you have enough access to Chinese media to say this???

Also to be a bit more salty, do we really think a country of 1 billion people won’t have some talents in there????

My only resentment is when people make the claim that “most manhua/donghua I’ve seen suck, so most manhua/donghua must suck in general.” 🙄

Nobody says this about Korean manhwa and yet we get so many people complaining about the same old cliché villainess isekai or the same old uncompelling abusive male lead romance stories that fail at relationship chemistry so it doesn’t feel romantic at all or whatever “slop” is flooding Webtoons recently.

And I’m not saying Korean manhwa is bad either!! I’m just saying there’s obviously so many manhwa churned out everyday where many manhwa readers will acknowledge, “Hey, quite a few of these manhwa are really bad, but they’re not representative of an entire country’s media.”

So why the hell do manhwa fans have the exact opposite mindset when it comes to China??

How are you aware enough to think, “Yes, there being a lot of bad manhwa does not represent manhwa as a whole,” but you lack the awareness to think, “Right, so me only finding bad manhua in English isn’t a sign that there’s only mostly bad manhua out there, especially since a lot of Chinese manhua go untranslated and they’re on websites I can’t access”?

I’ve visited so many manhua on fan translation sites and I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen comments about how this is one of the rare ones—a manhua with actually good art/pacing. If this statement applies to so many manhua, maybe it’s not an accurate statement at all—as in, maybe good manhua aren’t that rare after all. 🫠

Even more frustrating is when a manhua is good and people assume it’s a manhwa anyway just because it’s good. Pretty art? Nice story? Oh, it must be a Korean manhwa then! Because Chinese manhua all suck, right?

These people are literally setting themselves up to keep being this obnoxious by assuming “this one good manhua I found is a rarity because I don’t know many good manhua, even though in reality, I’m usually not even looking for Chinese manhua specifically anyway so I shouldn’t be able to make this judgement,” and I am baffled.

[worldsokayestmagicalgirl]

The first batch of pictures for Amoré's character journal are here! Also I have been so super sick that I've literally had nothing to do but to work on this for like almost 2 weeks so...

The cover to cover tour officially starts here. All I can say about the front & back is that I lament my lack of experience with my Cricut when I made these decals. I only had 2 "fun" colors to work with at the time & I was still getting comfortable drawing in Procreate, so my silhouette art leaves a lot to be desired compared to some stuff I've made recently. I also found it's incredibly easy to burn this leather book.

But she's volume one, everything with her is a learning experience, & I realized as much as it helps to have a mini heat press for tight corners & small spaces, the cloth barrier they suggest you use between the vinyl & the iron tends to make things harder to press on this scale. So instead I gotta quickly tap straight on the transfer film & hope I don't burn anything around it :(´◦ω◦｀):ﾟﾟ

So at the risk of thoroughly exposing my inner theater kid, Amoré set the precedent with how I went forward creating campaign characters. I started off collecting 5 songs to make a mini story arc (almost like a show choir set list 🙃) that helps me figure out an outline for the kind of story I wanna give them.

Somehow Amoré ended up with a truly horrendous blend of rock & theatre. Absolutely incredibe. No wonder she's always such a dramatic bitch.

It was a lot easier to go in & add little decals around these lyrics. I'm definitely cursed with the Too Much™ gene, but I enjoy the little pops of color they give ✨ plus it justifies me hoarding all these vinyl scraps printing stuff this small lol.

Stat sheet!

In all honesty, as my first character I had no fucking clue what I was doing when I placed these & if I could go back & change one thing I'd probably swap her Intelligence & her Wisdom. She’s definitely more people smart than book smart.

But everything else is...very accurate. She has all the upper body strength of a chicken nugget. Plus on top of the (already) negative I traded disadvantage on everything DEX for magic crystal shoes that can be periodically harvested. Just a way for her to carry around the family fortune without actually having to return to the vault✨

For something that started so average, her CON became a monster & always comes in clutch for her alcohol tolerance. I've played variations of her across a few different one shots & I always manage to roll well for anything alcohol related. The dice do respect a bit 🤣

Spells on the other hand, I floundered with a lot at first because we’re not a combat heavy game, but then I found Chaos Bolt & that was that. It’s essentially Amoré in spell form & I’ve had a ton of fun with it over the years. Also Mage Armor cuz my girl is SO DISTRESSINGLY SQUISHY.

Cantrips were more or less a bit of a toss up. Message was fun for the sheer idea of her using it to talk shit during social events without being caught. But aside from Light serving fun backstory purposes the other 3 are kinda just what looked fun ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ unless you count the idea that she would absolutely delight in zapping handshakes.

From there, I wanted to extend the world map made by our wonderful DM @cappierong into a full scroll. Ya know, for the aesthetic ✨

Our campaign started in Civania, where Amoré's main Estate is. I just wanted a quick mock up to reference, so I edited a preexisting picture I found that checked all the boxes (large, on a plateau, accessible only by bridge) and then absolutely smothered it in flowers.

But anyways... This is primarily where Diana & Amoré grew up together in their decade of backstory ✨

There was probably waaaay to much back & forth trying to keep the continuity between stuff I've already drawn & this big reference. But I think it turned out pretty ok? Not like if I make a mistake anyone will really know lol.

Scaling was also another big issue I had, & I moments where I thought something was too big I just kinda handwaved it away like "ehhhhh she's from a stupid rich family." But now I have a NEED to draw baby Diana & Amoré around like, the statue gardens or something cuz I feel like certain parts of this place are definitely ominous 👀 especially for children...

And lastly we have the back cover & the High Noble political relationship map! I normally have this closer to the front but for layout purposes it'll be here. I kinda feel like I need to do more for the decoration of it but I can’t think of anything else to add at the moment.

Sam if u read that no you didn't.

But now! Other than a family portrait that I've always wanted to draw, I think I'm ready to move onto the art for Season 1 : Arc 2. It's a pretty hefty amount of art in comparison to others, so I gotta get busy. Especially since I think I'm gonna have to draw a few comics *sobs*

If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading! I'm always excited to talk out our little idiots so thanks for indulging me ❀(*´▽`*)❀

[gay-little-izzet]

I love the funky little phyrexian shapeshifter so much and am curious if you have any spare bits of OC lore about them

I do!

Okay okay so a while back some friends and i were brainstorming what planes we would be from if we were characters in magic, and I tooled around with a few ideas but never really settled on anything, I was fascinated by the worlds and factions of every new set and couldn’t quite pin anything down.

When One started releasing story and cards, I realized I really loved the aesthetics of phyrexia, so I decided to have my self-insert/oc become a phyrexian metamorph, because I’m trans and basic and if I see a shapeshifter I want to be it.

I thought it would be cool to get that izzet angle by making them a surgeon who ended up being rejected from the progress engine for some flaw, and sent to the quiet furnace to be melted down—where they decided they actually liked being molten. Also, I think that the ideas of the “Great Synthesis” and the “Great Work” don’t really oppose each other as red and blue ideas often do, and could instead be combined into an endless cycle of experimentation and creative exploration.

Originally I thought of making them a compleated character, but honestly I feel like I can relate to someone born on new phyrexia—between being trans, being neurodivergent, and coming from an oil obsessed, imperialist, frequently awful country I…well, it’s not too hard for me to project onto some silly little robots.

With that in mind, I wanted to explore what phyrexians who escaped Norn’s mind control might have been able to do after the invasion, so here’s my take on one who decided to devote themselves to helping people have control over their bodies, instead of the typical “compleat first ask questions later” method with phyrexia. Although this is essentially a reference to all of the compleated planeswalkers and ocs I’ve drawn in the past, I imagine he would end up doing a lot more of the opposite, helping reverse the compleations of people who didn’t want to be phyrexians in the first place, or other surgeries. In addition to referencing my art, this isn’t actually too far off from what I’m actually studying to do irl! More the flesh stuff than the machine, unfortunately.

As for the safety of doing such things, I thought it could be interesting if their oil was somehow non-viable, at least to the extent that while they could use it to give others mechanical enhancements, it wouldn’t be infectious or transmissible from these patients. I really liked the comparison of phyresis to a viral infection in the latest chapter, because it makes a lot of sense for my interpretation of phyrexia in general—at their core, they’re just replicating and reproducing, like any living thing (or any protein shell full of genes). And it just so happens that their life cycle and reproduction is directly harmful to most of their hosts, like any parasite. Not necessarily evil, at least not at an individual scale, but certainly dangerous. I’m getting a bit off topic here, but suffice to say I think it would be interesting to see what happens when you remove the inherently infectious aspect of phyresis.

Uuhhmm this was a lot but I hope some of this is interesting to read!

[yinyangswings]

Can you draw One Piece art? I’ve been looking for a new fan fic to read and would love recommendations!

Hi! Oh I've drawn several fanarts for fanfic I love. Here are a few. Most of the are ASL related, and several are by the same author so keep in mind on that:

Twin Flames by @portgas-d-aroace (also known as SoccerSarah01 on ao3)

Greatest Gift of All by @portgas-d-aroace (also known as SoccerSarah01 on ao3. Honestly they have a lot of awesome One Piece fics. I've drawn for several of them lol)

The world Doesn't Deserve You by Dezace (This author has a lot of great One Piece fics as well and I've drawn several of them. This one is a part of a series that is Luffy was raised as a Marine, but now has more childhood trauma)

Heart and Anchor by @missmungoe (both on a03 and tumblr. I highly suggest reading a lot of this author's writings if you like Shanks/Makino. I've only drawn art for one, but they have a lot of good stories)

Let the Shadows Fall Behind you by mad_and_thick_as_thieves (this one has a lot angst but is so good!)

Retired doesn't mean Weak by Dezace

Sun must set to Rise by @portgas-d-aroace

Pirates are born Free by tyrianzzz

glass wings (shattered) by theprodigypenguin

There is thunder in our hearts by @taizi who is also @goodlucktai on here (taizi on a03) (another author that has a wonderful selection of One Piece fanfics)

Hand of Fate and A Twist of Fate by Beyond_Kailani

Take a Step in mine by @portgas-d-aroace (also known as SoccerSarah01 on ao3)

A New Tide in an Old Bottle by @missmungoe

All for One by @missmungoe

Tournesol by @missmungoe

put your faith in what you most believe in by @taizi who is also @goodlucktai on here (taizi on a03)

Big Brother, little brother by Akemichan

Brotherly Bonds by PhoenixKaizen

It was cold without you by my side by Dezace

Luffy was raised as a marine and makes it everyone's problem by Dezace

Lost and Found by tyrianzzz

a song to bring you home by @taizi who is also @goodlucktai on here (taizi on a03)

light up light up by @taizi who is also @goodlucktai on here (taizi on a03)

Defenders Without Fear by Fawnthefox this one is ongoing and the author is transferring it slowly from fanfiction.net by the same name

Hope these help!!

[ynfg-review]

Yume Nikki Fangame Reviews: Yume Tsushin

Wiki | Download | Play online

Yume Tsushin is a 2023 fangame by <°(((</pingupingn, featuring the dreamworlds of a girl called Wormiko who lives alone in an apartment in an empty, snowy city.

Atmosphere: Yume Tsushin feels a lot like Yume Nikki, in a way which not all fangames achieve or aim for. From the start it gave me that same feeling of vast, incomprehensible open spaces with a similar soundtrack; although as I played on I discovered more of its unique features and vibes. It’s definitely a game about loneliness, full of grey and empty apartment blocks and lights in windows which you can’t ever enter. The atmosphere flickers between desaturated industrial areas and vibrant lights and foliage, although this melancholy mood is punctuated by moments of silliness and some charmingly weird NPCs.

Exploration: Despite having two endings and twenty effects, Yume Tsushin feels underdeveloped. I presume it’s still in development, but the dev seems to have deleted their Twitter account and I can’t find much info about the game. The nexus worlds are very big, many with not much in them, little to nothing to interact with, and only one connection – which then turns out to be a dead end. I really wish you could wander around this game more fully, because it has so much potential. A fun feature is that you can explore the empty city outside Wormiko’s apartment, which was actually what got me hooked on the game at first.  

Art: Yume Tsushin has a moody and dark colour palette, but it never feels drab. Some of the nexus worlds look a bit plain, but once you get deeper in there are some astonishingly beautiful areas – some of the prettiest pixel art environments I’ve seen in a YNFG, and with a really strong use of colour. Especially beautiful blues, now I think of it. It’s really worth playing to look for these places. The gore, when it appears, is also very well drawn.

Storytelling: All of the text in the game, including the menu and instructions, is written in a made-up script, which is a neat way of establishing a specific fictional setting. Yume Tsushin has some recurring motifs which seem to be ambiguously interlinked, and there are two endings at present. It’s a game of few events, and even fewer which feel like they have narrative implications, but the quirks of the game and its atmosphere of pathos have really drawn me in to trying to read between the lines. I do wish there were more NPCs and a bit more interactivity within the worlds, though.

Horror and CWs: Yume Tsushin has a repeating motif of of flesh, meat, body horror and some gore, but despite this it’s one of the less scary YNFGs that I’ve played. It doesn’t have as much of that ominous atmosphere which is usually the strength of fangame horror. There’s a chaser that shows up in an unexpected location (an otherwise very chill world), some zombie imagery, and one area which is exceptionally creepy and unsettling to explore.

Best thing about it: The beautiful graphics of the deeper areas.

If you like… The very precise vibe that Yume Nikki has, Yume 2kki, catgirls.

[musicalmoritz]

Mei (The Real Mei) ships like Aoimei and Meinene are such fascinating ships in the fandom and i really want to write and see more writing on them. But it hard to imagine how Mei dynamics would shine in both ships and how it would work with Aoi and Nene dynamics due to how Mei limited appearance (Picture Prefect, Hanako-kun of Magic and some promo arts). What your thought on Mei and what will be the dynamics of her in both ships?

Omg I love this question, Aoimei is one of my favorite TBHK ships and I absolutely adore Meinene as well. Mei is so obviously a lesbian to me so any wlw ships with her are *chef’s kiss* but especially her with Aoi and Nene bcuz omg, they’re all such girlfriends

I’ll start with Aoimei since they’ve been teased in an au. It stands out to me that AidaIro have chosen to depict them together twice in aus, to me it seems like they lowkey ship them lol. Or at least that they want us to know their characters would pair well together romantically. Aoi tends to be super friendly and flirty with women (vs. her tsundere behavior with men), but I think Mei’s forwardness would throw her off at first. She’s used to women going weak in the knees every time she so much as smiles at them, so when Mei openly flirts with her I think that would make her a bit flustered (seeing as she initially turned down her date invite in HKOM). I don’t think Mei would be the type to push Aoi to go on dates at all but I do think she’d be naturally flirty, and eventually Aoi would warm up to her and they’d start going out (bcuz despite turning down the first date invite, they were mentioned to hang out often after the love spell broke)

I like Aoimei because I feel it’s a ship that would be much less intense for Aoi than Aoi/Aoi and Aoi/nene are. Mei isn’t someone she’s known her whole life, and she doesn’t hold as many high expectations for her. She doesn’t depend on her approval, so I think she’d be able to breathe a lot easier with her. There would be some struggles with Aoi’s tendency to push people away but I think Mei would break through that simply by being an easy person for Aoi to get along with

And in turn I think Mei would be so down bad for Aoi, but for who she really is. I think she’d be drawn to all of the complexities that lie beneath Aoi’s surface. Aoi would be good for her because she would be understanding of Mei’s health problems but not in a patronizing way?? Like I don’t think she’d ever make her feel awkward for it, she’d just be supportive and there when she needs her. I don’t think Aoi cares much about art herself but she’d surely support Mei’s passion for it, and maybe even model for her after some goading

Okay onto Meinene, I could yap abt Aoimei for days lol

I initially preferred Meinene platonically but upon further consideration, I’ve realized I was dumb as shit for that. These girls literally went on a date!! They went on a pancake date together!! If that had been Mitsu/Kou people (me) would’ve gone insane. Mei thought Nene was an angel when they first met, that’s so incredibly romantic and poetic. That’s something straight out of a romance novel. I also love how, despite their initial rough encounter, Nene warmed up to Mei so fast. She really does adore every woman she meets, she’s so real for that. And most of all, I love how Mei helped Nene accept the uncertainty of her fate. A lot of fans overlook that part but it’s the reason why Nene’s journey with the Meis was my favorite part of the PP arc. Nene didn’t give up trying, but seeing someone who died young embracing their fate despite the tragedy of it really helped her realize that she’d be okay no matter what. If it’s her time, then there’s nothing she can do about it; but she’s still going to try and save herself because she wants to continue living. It was such a beautiful development and honestly the main reason I love their dynamic

Now, in an actual relationship? They don’t have a set au like Aoimei do so let’s imagine a world in which Mei is alive and well and Hanako and Nene are bestie vibes only. Original Mei and No.4 Mei are twin sisters in this universe because I said so. I see them being total high school sweethearts, the It Couple of Kamome Academy. They would be so cheesy and affectionate and Mei would carry Nene bridal style down every flight of stairs, or if she doesn’t feel like walking to class. They’d have a few arguments due to Nene’s insecurities causing her to overthink things but Mei would help her work through that in a healthy way. Omg Mei would absolutely spoil that girl, she’d take her to all the best breakfast stops in town

In any ship I imagine Mei being a total gentleman, the type of girl your parents secretly pray you marry. It’s what Nene deserves tbh, and she would love it. Mei wouldn’t make her earn affection like Fuji and Nakahara, and she’d make sure to compliment her every day. She’d buy Nene chocolates and flowers even if there wasn’t a special occasion. Nene would return the favor by buying Mei little things that remind her of her, like charm bracelets and stuffed animals. Soon enough Mei would have a small collection of all the plushies Nene’s bought her. Nene would also hold Mei’s hand at doctor appointments whenever she has to get shots, or just whenever she’s nervous. I could see Mei playing some sport like softball or volleyball and Nene going to all of her games. All in all they’d be a very strong and loving couple that cannot be pulled apart, the entire school would eagerly be awaiting invitations to their wedding

I would also like to present you with the poly ship of Aoimeinene, they are very silly to me. And I also ship both Aoi and Nene with the No.4 version of Mei as well, tho I imagine those dynamics would be different bcuz I interpret the Meis as being different. I love both Meis very dearly, they’re one of the highlights of the manga imo

[livewithyura]

Account update ! ( Ranting about Fortnight mv and kazujun / Tiktok acc for tekken edits? )

- Account update

I receive a lot of mailbox after I logged out! Sorry I’ve been invisible for a month , I have a lot of things to do irl so please forgive me . ( I will start working on all of your request , Thank you for requesting! aaa I love u guys so much! ) .

Also I just made a tiktok account for tekken edits / @Yurasbeentekken . you can follow me , but i will not update frequently because I more drawn to writing . Bhahahaha .

Fortnight Mv and Kazujun ( Fanfic Wip ) .

Warning : I don’t follow the plot in the MV , I just used a few reference .

Note : Anyone can use this as inspiration , It’s fine . We all can expand our headcanon . Do tag me , I would love to read about it ( or praising yall arts )

Starring Kazuya as Taylor swift . ( Yes role-reversal ) The setting took place on G-Corp lab where kazuya’s being experimented . Agree to become a lab rats for them for the sake of power . ( He’s literally a slave for power ) . I believe that he’s depressed at some point and he’s struggling with himself .

I imagined Kazuya wearing a mourning dress/suit in metaphorically way after he found out about Jun’s death and Jin’s existence . He’s empty and confused knowing the fact that he just lost the love of his life .

“I touched you , for only a fortnight”

Fortnight , a period of two weeks . Yes , their relationship is short but it gives impactful slap on Kazuya’s soul . Once in his lifetime , he can be vulnerable and safe .

“I love you , It’s ruining my life”

Hear me out , I believe that Jun ruined his reputation as a ‘Evil-Ceo’ . She stepped on his throne and tear his career as a evil man and this is the starting point of his failure . This is the first time where he’s in position where he need to choose either his devil gene or Normal life . ( Yes . maybe angel ) . In this process , He’s struggling . It weakened him until he lost in his father’s hand ( Twice or million time if you want to count his childhood lmfao ) .

But he DID loved her . He never felt like this , He found himself/He heal his inner-child/He’s in comfort .

I imagined he throw all of the lab reports and being absolutely insane after knowing that the love of his life just leave him alone in this world ( also the fact that he have a son too ) . He also scream ferociously , hurting the professor/doctor . asking the doctor to free himself so he can save her , even is too late .

Then , I want to put a scene where Kazuya remember all of the short moment with Jun . Dun Dun Dun , Flashback moment .

Also a flashback moment . Jun tried to help him . in other words….. FIX him . She’s this close 🤏🏻 to change his mind , but she failed because heihachi knocking on their ‘sweet home’ , Kazuya changed his mind and struggling again . Agree to fight Heihachi and leave Jun behind . Their relationship is not working out due to a weird circumstances .

“Thought of calling ya , but you won’t pick up”

Jun tried to search for Kazuya’s remains body but she don’t trace any clue . So she’s just let it be and raised jin all by herself . In metaphorically way , Jun called for him 1000 times using the public phone but he will never pick that call . Forever .

— So that’s all , for today . I have a lot of kazujun dump after ttpd released . Might update , frequently and share my thoughts! See you again .

[anaquariusfox]

No shade towards this user! But I would actually love to address this statement or thought process.

(And its actually £37 for you!)

But nonetheless, there are many things to consider when you’re criticizing an artist for the price of their works and here are a few!

How much time goes into the process of a piece(s)!

For example, I made not only one zine, but two in the span of 7 months. While working a 40+ hour a week active job. So all my free time was consumed with this zine. You may think $43 is a lot for a zine, but I am just one person make a whole NSFW zine. I wasn’t one of 20+ artists and fic writers putting one piece into a whole zine. And I won’t undervalue myself and my time! Also, most of my commissions, for one custom piece, cost more than not only my nsfw zine, but both my zines combined.

How much time goes into the technically side of the piece(s) (I.e. creating the actual zine with printing companies and sizing and resizing, and shipping and handling artists usually handle themselves)

For myself, it was hours and hours of file converting and resizing and in the end it still didn’t look good in zine previews, that’s why I decided to go digital.

The exclusivity of the artwork(s)

You’ll find a lot of things of this nature are either limited time products or exclusive to the product itself! For example, all my pieces in my NSFW zine, are for the zine supporters only, as well as my SFW being half favorite pieces and half new, zine exclusive pieces!

The content of said artwork(s)

My zine for example, is a “taboo” type of artwork, it’s basically a book full of porn. Not a lot of artist draw porn and even less nsfw artist, share it on social media! But here I am, sharing a whole exclusive zine of porn for two lovable characters! Oh, and as trans characters haha. They’re t4t in my zine because I draw the representation I want through my favorite characters!

* And in the end really! *

You’ve got to understand, as artists, we are putting out so much free content on social media. Whether it’s every day, every other day, once a week or once a month. You, as a consumer of our work, get free content (both old and new), all for free! Is that not wild?! For example, people pay $10 a month to see all the porn I’ve ever drawn on Patreon on then get to see the latest porn and sfw stuff I post! Ive been told by so many friends that I should charge more even! But that’s not the point of this post.

Artists could never share again, or put their craft and skills behind a massive paywall, but we love sharing and putting art into the world, cause fuck, a world without art would kill me. I literally love scrolling through my social media and seeing all my mutuals and artists I follow share their work and interests through art. I love seeing their minds work and what they felt so proud of to share it with the world.

And on top of that, if you think something is a bit too high in price, just remember all the free content the artist puts out, remember what art piece you love the most from them and why you followed them in the first place maybe! And by purchasing an item(s) from them, is a way of showing them support for all the joy their art has brought you 🫶😊 and just supporting artists in general vs large corporations who usually underpay their artists or just straight up steal art.

**In the end, I won’t undervalue my time and skill for a quick sale cause I’ve had people happily support me at the prices they are and I’m so grateful te for them.**

*** No artist should undervalue their work! We have a skill and took time to create this skill and study our skill to become better and better 🫶***

I do hope that anyone with the same mind set as this user, might have a new POV on the artists side/ BTS side of an artist and content creator when judging their prices.

[peterrsthomas]

Book Review: The Name of the Wind

I’m a bit late to the party with this one, I know. The book had been sat on my shelf for two years before I read it. It has been published even longer. (I’ve had a lot on, okay… don’t judge me!) I have now read it, and I understand why it has become an instant classic of the genre. And yes, I can now join the legions of fans anxiously clamouring for the third instalment. Hopefully by the time I’m done reading the sequel…

The Name of the Wind is an epic fantasy ambitious in scope. It truly lives up to the ‘epic’ part of the genre. Told in both third person (in the present) and first person (as the protagonist recounts his life story), it follows Kvothe as he grows up and attends university. It is a detailed, thorough, character-driven story that rarely relents in excitement. The character development is superb. I love a character with a background in the performing arts—it’s a great way of explaining their charisma, and giving them a way of plausibly talking their way out of trouble (or talking their way into trouble). It also makes them a little more dynamic than the warrior-hero archetype. Rothfuss strikes a great balance between the genius of Kvothe’s character (he learns fast, has great instincts for almost all his studies) and his flaws—he still has obstacles he finds difficult to overcome. He is intelligent, but occasionally foolish, and brash, sometimes over confident. He is limited by his background as part of a travelling troupe as much as he his aided by it.

There is an overarching story that the book sets up but delves little into. Despite this, I didn’t feel in too much of a rush for that side of things to develop. The drama of Kvothe’s life as he moves from travelling performer to street urchin to university student keeps the reader hooked. There is also an expansive world with different magic systems, from runes and artificery to more abstract controlling-the-elements-by-speaking-their-names. The wider world is nicely constructed, with different peoples and customs that intersect at different places. It gives the setting depth, and let’s the reader know that there is more to explore.

The story slows down a little towards the last third, around the time that Kvothe finds out that he’s a heterosexual male and that women exist. Periods of courtship and pining after an elusive and mysterious woman become a little drawn out at times, but I can see why they’re there, and it doesn’t stall things for too long. In the end, the relationship the protagonist has with his love interest does drive the story forward.

So, safe to say, I am hooked! This is an epic story with excellent character development and an expansive world. I look forward to reading The Wise Man’s Fear…

[thygoddessouijathicc]

Compiling and analyzing Dave’s reptilian qualities

Ok so I have done a lot of analysis on DSAF Dave. Like more than I probably should have given that part of his appeal is that we don’t know what the fuck this man is. As you probably know my leading theory is that he’s some kind of alien.

But let’s cast the theories relating to what Dave actually is aside for a moment, and focus more on what Dave is very heavily implied to look like.

Yes, we do get art of how he looks in the game, and that is where I am getting a lot of my evidence for what he might realistically look like, however since these depictions are drawings, all semi, but not completely realistic, some missing important details that we do know.

Dave is most comparable to a combination between a lizard and a human, more along the lines of being just a humanoid lizard rather than a fusion. I guess lizard people don’t run the government, they just work at shitty pizza places.

Now Dave being not human is one of the few things we know for sure, not only is it pretty clear that just simply deformities, even in a fictional setting, probably can’t make a person look, and function the way Dave does. Not only that but Doggo himself has stated Dave to be a Cryptid, which is not a species, rather in this context I think just means he’s an inhuman humanoid who just kind or coexists.

Now that we’ve got the not being human out of the way, let’s talk about what a hyperrealistic rendition of Dave Miller would look like, in reference to him being reptilian, comparing his physical traits to one’s that exist in the real world to paint a picture of how he’d look.

First things first, general body shape. We know from a lot of art and his sprites that Dave is rather slim, in fact, most of the cloths he wears seem to give off the impression of being too big, or at least too wide. This, alongside his coiled neck has made me see Dave as being particularly snakelike, and in fact, I think that his neck would look like the body of a snake. As for his head, while I don’t recall ever seeing it from the side, from the front it’s very humanlike, although it may be more reptilian from a side view, we just don’t know that, however I find it likely it simply is very humanlike.

As for facial features, this is where it gets more snakelike. Dave does not have visible ears (he likely has ear holes on the sides of his head), he does not have a visible nose (it could be a very narrow snakelike one), and weirdly, he doesn’t show his teeth often, but we do know Dave probably has teeth because there is one image of him in the tapes in which he had human teeth, so Dave does have human teeth. Dave’s face is also visibly wrinkled.

To get into a detail I have not yet talked about, his hands. Dave’s hands are very interesting as they are probably the part of him the most similar to a real animal that isn’t a human. Dave has long fingers, and no visible fingernails, which is important because all primates have fingernails, unlike most other species which tend to have either talons, claws, or neither. On top of not having visible fingernails his fingers also come to a sharp point.

These strange hands have an almost exactly matching real world counterpart.

The hands of a marine iguana. Of course Dave’s fingers are longer and the composition is more humanlike, but it’s not a stretch that something with hands like the marine iguana could evolve to have hands like Dave’s.

Now, the point I’ve been sort of dancing around. Dave is purple. He also has purple blood, which is not seen in reptiles but does exist, although that’s not relevant right now because his blood has absolutely nothing to do with his pigment. Dave says ingame that he has a “scaly hyde”, I believe sometime during the good route of the third game. Dave is purple because his scales are purple. Scales are a thing seen on no actual depictions of Dave, but he definitely does have them, it’s something that’s always peeved me because he’s never drawn with arguably one of his key inhuman traits. This also means that Dave probably canonically CANT grow hair due to a lack of follicles. Now the size and shape of Dave’s scales is not known but I do believe they are probably relatively small and flat to his body. Also as a side note, I take Dave’s multiple shades on his body as canon under the belief that Dave has multiple shades of purple scales.

Now, why is he purple. This question actually matters quite a lot. There are 3 possible answers. The first is camouflage, unlikely and in fact impossible unless he comes from a place in which purple is a common pigment. The second is sexual selection, specifically akin to that of the peacock, the bright colour of the male peacock is due to the females of the species finding that trait desirable for the exact reason that it’s not, since the bright colours make it easier to be spotted by predators only the strongest survive, the brighter the pigment the stronger the bird would have to be, and thus to survive with this bright pigmentation means the peacock is genetically better as a mate than ones with duller pigments because in a counterintuitive way it actually means the offspring will have more overall fitness, Dave being bright purple could be a similar strange evolutionary path. The final reason Dave could be purple is that it could potentially be a warning sign, it’s common in nature to not want to be seen so having a bright, rare pigment is never ideal, unless you WANT to be noticed as part of a survival strategy, in order to encourage larger predators to avoid eating them many animals develop not only poison or venom, but a bright colour as well, it’s less common with venom because venom is less defensive more offensive, but reptiles are rarely actually poisonous and far more likely to just have a deadly bite, and that’s not to say none employ this warning sign, I’m not saying Dave is venomous but I’m also not saying he isn’t.

This is all the reptile Dave evidence I have thus far although I may find more. Now you are all ready to invision what a realistic rendition of DSAF’s Dave Miller would look like.

[starryeyedreviews]

BIRTH - Full Review

Author’s note: My first review! Though I’d gotten this game a few months ago on my birthday (hehe), I thought it’d be a fun game to start this blog with because, well, the name, and also it’s not as popular as I feel it should be! Enjoy :) 

Birth is a game about, quite literally, making a friend. In this point-and-click/puzzle game, you look for spare organs and bones to assemble this friend by solving puzzles and exploring a gorgeous hand-drawn macabre world. I don’t use the word “macabre” lightly — nearly every scene contains hints of decay like bones, severed body parts, running insects and rotting corpses. They are admittedly some of the loveliest depictions I’ve seen of those concepts, but if that’s really not for you, this game may not be as great an experience.

There are a variety of settings in this little city, from bookstores and bakeries, museums and restaurants, to the individual rooms in apartment complexes. There’s a beautiful irony to be had, that a place painted with death could be bursting with such life. Madison Karrh, Birth’s developer, seems to have put a lot of love into each scene, giving the NPCs and rooms their own bits of charm and personality.  It’s really the little details that make the game a joy to play. ✨

Onto the gameplay itself! As a puzzle-lover myself, I didn’t find the puzzles very difficult, though sometimes I was a bit confused on what I was supposed to be solving in the first place. For the most part though, they were very calming to go through. Interacting with objects in the world was easy as well, since they would move as you hover your mouse over them. Unfortunately, as with many games of this genre, it lacks replayability, since the entire game has just one solution. There isn’t much I can say about Birth’s story, because there isn’t really one. There’s just the main premise (building a friend), and the journey towards it. But that’s okay! Like I said, the joy really comes from immersing yourself in the world, even if only for a couple of hours.

That being said, Birth is kind of a short game. I was able to 100% it in less than 2 hours, which, sadly, has led a lot of people to refund it after beating it. The game is a tad pricey ($10.99 on Steam) for its length, so if you’re running a little low on funds, I’d suggest waiting for it to go on sale. Or, if you want to keep scratching the itch Birth gives, Madison’s other games are either very cheap or free, and have the same type of gameplay and eerie humor! I’ll link them as well below. 🌠

Though simple in story and theory, Birth is undoubtedly a piece of art. It shows us the beauty in the process of life and death… and perhaps life again? Its morbid yet quaint style definitely sets it apart from other wholesome games, but I’d definitely consider it one regardless. I’m now excited for any other games Madison will put out, and hope she keeps them this wonderfully unique each time. 💫

Overall, 4 stars out of 5! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Buy Birth on Steam here! Check out Madison Karrh’s other games here!

If you have any questions/suggestions for me, please let me know! My asks are always open ✨

~ Gabi 🌙

[spammreviews]

A BRIEF DEVILMAN CRYBABY RANT

What on Earth is Devilman Crybaby?

I watched Devilman Crybaby, the 2018 anime, because I heard that it was like a mix between Neon Genesis Evangelion and Berserk.

That’s true, in terms of imagery, symbolism, structure. Even the soundtrack of Devilman is similar to NGE

 Devilman Crybaby is also similar to Dune in that both series ask the question “What makes us human?” Answer that question very quickly, and then proceed to spend the rest of the series adding additional footnotes to this thesis.

With Dune, the answer is extraordinarily complicated. According to Devilman Crybaby, it our ability to cry.

Devilman’s themes are not really subtle or  complex. In fact, unlike the other three stories I mentioned, it’s kind of stupid, and that’s what makes it wonderful.

Beginning the first episode, the opening theme song and first scene made me think I was in a for a surreal, poetic experience. It’s a fantastic first scene, introducing us to the characters of Akira and Ryo and setting up the theme of kindness all the while having a wonderful atmosphere.

Then, we suddenly cut to a high-school track practice, and the next few scenes are a blur of horniness, weird jokes, and some of the most inhuman dialogue I’ve ever seen.

A lot of the scenes are also so nonsensically paced, either being way to slow or way to quick, ending either abruptly or a bit after they should have ended. There’s also so many scenes where the actions of character’s straight up make no sense, like that entire scene at the peir.

However, the end of the episode…it sure was something. It sees some pretty awesome body horror and an absolutely brutal fight.

A complaint I do have is the animation. It’s…not good. The character designs themselves are often enjoyable, but the drawing style is just kind of ugly. Ryo’s a good example of this. His design as this thin, regal looking, blonde, pale person who always dresses in white does a great job at telling you what he is as a character, even if it’s basically just the design of Griffith from Berserk. However, he’s drawn with these weirdly shaped eyebrows, and his haircut just looks bizarre. This seems really nitpicky, but it’s important.

A lot of the monsters also seem like they could be a lot cooler if the animation was a bit more detailed.

Not only that, but you can tell that this show was very low budget with all these instances of re-used animation and many obvious cost-cutting measures. There are multiple scenes where we barely see the characters talk and instead just see looping shots of the environment around them.

Oh, also this first episode is super horny. It’s close to being porn sometimes, and I’m not joking or exaggerating. I’m fine with art being horny, but there’s a certain point where it just becomes indulgent. It doesn’t help that, 90% of the time, it’s women being sexualized. 

I’m not even going to get into the way the character of Miki is treated.

The episodes after the first one…fine, I guess.

The problem is that this story jumps the gun on its weirdness and darkness, ending the first episode with something very weird and dark. As such, the next few episodes, which are remarkably less insane, just saw me waiting for things to go crazy again. 

Another problem is that the series is ridiculously quickly paced. I really liked the main characters of Ryo and Akira, and I liked their dynamic, but they barely had any time together. It doesn’t help that a lot of time is being spent with subplots.

This quick pace continues to hound the series until the very end.

People in this series keep talking about rising crime rates and how the world is going to heck, but this is never elaborated upon.

Characters like the beatboxing gang, Miki’s family, Miko, Psycho Jenny, Akira’s parents, the gay guy, Silene and her friend, and many others, go underdeveloped.

Stuff like government conspiracies, the tattoo gang, the demons having a secret plan, christianity, sexuality, and the meta aspect of the in-universe Tv show, are all underdeveloped.

Only a few plot elements feel completely finished, like running. The use of the relay race at the end is pretty creative, with Ryo not taking the baton, serving as a metaphor for his apathy.

Relay running is used similarly in many other placed. It symbolizes how the gay guy and Miko are being individualists, and Akira being the anchor shows how others depend on him. It ads a bite to Miki’s death. Blah blah blah. 

The PE coach was also a brilliant use of set up and pay off carried out over the episodes.

The idea of hands grabbing others is an image used repeatedly throughout.

Miki is also a really nice character, and while I was annoyed at how little agency she had for most of the show, I appreciate how she did help save Akira in that one scene. Unfortunately, that was it, and I feel like we barely knew her as a character.

The tv series has a racism metaphor that I would rank 4/10. It shows how racism against devilmen is bad, but it also claims that demons are ontologically evil and it’s okay to kill them all. There are suggestions that they do have hearts, but this is never elaborated upon.

We see a running pattern here, the show not having enough time. As a result, its themes are half-baked and overly simplistic. It talks about how we should get along, and how humanity are the real monsters, and how individualism is bad, and empathy is nice, and how imperialism is bad, and all that jazz, but it never tied these ideas together.

Compare this to Eva, where it feels like End of Evangelion managed to touch on every idea the show had set up. That’s probably because Eva was twice as long. 

It also doesn’t help that this show is almost laughably unsubtle. Miki’s “social media” post that saves people is so on-the-nose.

There’s also scenes that are just weird, like that one scene with Bonito flakes. Also, what was the deal with the kid looking up porn. Also, Donald Trump canonically exists in it. Also, who were the people shooting at the rainforest people? 

I’m sure there’s an explanation, but that’s not important. It’s fine if a show is ambiguous, but this doesn’t feel purposeful so much as it feels sloppy. 

It feels like the show doesn’t know what it wants to be about, with their being two or three episodes were are titular crybaby barely appears. That’s not great. 

I don’t hate all of these subplots, it’s just that none of them go anywhere. For instance, we watch this romance bloom between Miko and Frizzy Haired Guy for two episodes, and I will admit, I like Frizzy Haired Guy. I was rooting for him. Then, he gets killed off and is barely mentioned again. All that buildup was for nothing.

I suppose the story is trying to purposefully be unsatisfying, something both Eva and Berserk do, but when you do that, you need to have a reason. They could have made the scene where Frizzy Haired Guy die really tragic, but they instead make it all flashy and confusing so they can have us wonder if he’s maybe still alive for a bit.

Also, we had this whole episode introducing us to gay dude, and then he randomly goes evil and gets killed off in the last episode. So long, character development!

Comparing this show to Eva again, the ending is almost amazing. The imagery sounds awesome on paper, but the animation and character designs are so minimal. It also feels like Akira stopped growing as a character after the first six episodes. He feels almost removed from the destruction, as it’s all happening because of someone else.

I could also nitpick that entire last episode to hell for the thousand different moments that are written weirdly, like that one scene where Ryo doesn’t notice that Akira’s bottom half has been removed. Also, that ending shot was way to one the nose in looking like End of Evangelion. I know the Devilman manga came before Eva, but I don’t care. Why is the sea even red?

Despite all my complaining, I still like this show. The characters are fun, even if they really aren’t that complex (especially all the characters that aren’t Ryo and Akira). The world-building is imaginative and awe-inspiring, many of the action scenes are pretty cool, and there are moments when the minimal animation does work. 

Also, sometimes it’s nice to have a story that’s willing to be as bleak as this one, and as weird as this one.

To be honest, I feel like it could be weirder. I generally understood what was going on most of the time. In fact, the most confusing scenes were from the ordinary slice-of-life segments, like when that family had that giant The Last Supper painting.

I also think an idea which is carried out to its fullest is the idea of apathy. It’s the source of most of the conflict between Ryo and Akira. The ending sees Ryo destroying everything, including the one person he cares about, in his pursuits. It’s a tragic irony, I guess.

I feel like it would hit more if we had more time with these characters. What was Ryo’s reaction to learning that he was Satan and that everything he knew was a lie? What was the nature of his relationship with Psycho Jenny? What were Ryo’s actual motivations beyond “destroying humanity”.

If Ryo’s goals were more fleshed out, than the irony of him accomplishing his goals at the cost of the one thing that truly mattered to him would hit much harder.

This is definitely a story which you’re supposed to feel, not understand, but I don’t think I felt everything the show wanted me to feel. 

Another victim of the quick pacing is a lack of atmosphere. Now, the show does have a few sequences with some fantastic, otherworldly atmosphere, like the beginning. However, there are many times when it would be nice if the story could slow down a bit and let us enjoy the imagery.

The lack of atmosphere in the final episode is also a result of how needlessly complex the show can be sometimes. A lot of lore is thrown into our face in that episode, as well as a lot of character backstory and insight. A lot also happens in that 25 minutes. It would be nice if we got time to digest what was happening. 

I feel like I need to stop, because it seems like I dislike this show, but, there were times when I was on its wavelength. 

There is some beautiful and horrific imagery in here. I love Satan’s design, and I feel like it actually works with the minimalist artsyle. 

A lot of the scenes showing nuclear war in the last episode were pretty breathtaking, as the show is pretty great at showing scale and grandiosity. The use of filters really helps to sell the effect. The flashbacks to Ryo and Akira’s childhood also had an awesome juxtaposition, with these brightly colored childhood memories that use these long shots clashing with the dark and frantically edited present.

There are also many scenes of brutality earlier in the series that are legitimately pretty shocking, mainly the massacre at the track meet.

This is a series that has a lot going for it, but it ultimately stumbles at the finish line, ending up seeming more like an ant by the feet of the stories that the manga inspired.

However, they say the book is always better, so I’ll be sure to check it out.

[silvysartfulness]

Talk Shop Tuesday: How do you decide which scene in a chapter of HHaR to illustrate? And are there any scenes that you'd like to illustrate but haven't had time/energy/etc.?

It’s always a careful see-saw balance between “interesting scene from the chapter that I would enjoy drawing and think people would like to see drawn” and “I’m a lazy, low-spoon disaster and will cop out on anything too complicated”..!

For example, I absolutely hate drawing interior settings, so you will notice there are very few detailed indoor scenes - and the times they spend entire chapters indoors and I can’t escape it, the settings tend to be very vague. So usually, if I have the choice, I’ll avoid any scenes taking place inside.

Drawing unnamed, random npcs/crowds is also boring/taking too many spoons, so again I tend to avoid those (or making the people around them silhouettes or just very roughly sketched background figures). Architecture is another headache – if I have decent refs and I really want to convey the atmosphere of a place, I’ll sometimes draw cityscapes, but I’m a happier artist when I don’t have to.

So in short, if I can get away with character close-ups or doing landscape backgrounds, that’s what I’ll likely go for, especially if I’m a bit low on spoons!

Sometimes I really do want to capture something more complex, though – the latest one, with Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji as guest stars took me forever to draw, because I hadn’t drawn those two before, and I had to start by going through the last few episodes of the series to screengrab a whole bunch of refs, and then actually draw their faces, decide on which of their outfits I wanted to draw, then find refs for that etc. It took a lot of time and work. 🥲

And yeah, there are absolutely many scenes I would love to see drawn, even though I don’t have the time or energy for it – there’s a reason I so often wish for commission slots for birthdays and Christmas! I love to see others tackle those scenes! Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen meeting on the bridge in Hongqi, the three of them cuddled up together in the ruins of Dushou, the trio walking toward the temple of Yanxia Guan, almost drowning in the river after fighting the catfish yao… I’ve been blessed with so many gorgeous commissioned works!

Not to mention the amazing fanart some people have given me! It takes my breath away every time someone decides to draw something from the story just because they felt inspired to, absolute pure magic! The best feeling in the whole world! 😍

As for specific scenes I would love to see drawn, either scraping my own spoons together or commissioning others to… 🤔

Song Lan possessed by the mist spirits and fighting Xue Yang is such a striking visual in my mind, with his white eyes and mist trailing from nose and mouth!

Song Lan dragging/carrying a crying, drunk Xue Yang up the stairs and into his room in Muaishan, or possibly the following utter breakdown.

Song Lan’s shock when Xue Yang tells him about the death sentence awaiting him in Jinlintai and/or the follow-up shock when Xiao Xingchen is let in on it.

Xiao Xingchen and Xue Yang by the little impromptu shrine Xue Yang made for Jin Guangyao

More art of the three of them cuddling in Dushou, tbh, because it’s the first time they allow themselves to snuggle up that way on purpose, all three of them, and I love that for them! 🥰

The smut scenes – I’ve only drawn one of those. Now that we can’t post porn on tumblr anymore, it feels like there’s little point to put in all that work, because I couldn’t share such art in many places. But I still love to see it!

I originally wanted to draw the trio and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji having dinner and talking together for chapter 57, but was once again defeated by old nemesis - interiors. It was bad enough drawing 5 detailed characters in a single illustration, I would not also have to deal with walls and furniture and stuff. 😒

That's some of the ones that come to mind! So many scenes, so few spoons! (And apparently I'm supposed to be writing the damn thing, too! 😭)

Thank you so much for asking! 💚