#and also just how women are drawn in the manga in general

[note-boom]

I will say that I do find it a little interesting that Asagiri's writing more often than not is misogynistic/sexualises women while Harukawa's art....doesn't really?

[cenvast]

Laios, Monsters, & Toshiro: On Racialized Desire and Identification with the Other

Arguably, the most significant part of Laios' character is the societal ostracization he faces because of his non-normative interests and behavior. For the majority of his life, Laios struggles socially, and other humans mistreat him. When he rescues Marcille from the Nightmares, his nightmare dredges up his inability to fit into school and the army. During his early dungeoneering days, he's lied to and exploited by his fellow party members.

One of his earliest and most formative negative experiences with people is his village's abuse of Falin as a magic user. He shares that after the villagers discovered that she can use magic, "adults who were just kind yesterday, all began to bully [her]." Instead of protecting Falin, his parent tell her to leave the village. The prejudice Falin faces and his parents' response to it upsets Laios to the point that he leaves home.

While Laios cares about his friends, the Demon points out that Laios understandably does not care for people in general. Laios doesn't disagree with the Demon's assessment and suspects that the Demon "can sense all [his] thoughts." The Demon goes on to say that Laios actually "despise[s] all humans." Laios denies this assessment, but given the Demon's uncanny ability to sniff out people's desires and Laios' ashamed expression, at least part of Laios likely agrees with the Demon. It's not a stretch to assume that he's held onto some hurt and resentment towards humans due to their mistreatment of him and Falin in their youth.

In response to how human society has othered him, Laios distances himself from humans and invests his time and energy into monsters and demi-humans instead. In the DunMeshi world, monsters and demi-humans are the ultimate societal Other. People fear them, exploit them, and even hunt and kill them. As someone who's similarly been mistreated by human society, Laios resonates deeply with monsters.

His desire to become a monster and/or beastman reflects his desire to reclaim agency over how society has ostracized him. If he chooses to become a monster, he gets to place value on what society has deemed despicable. He gets to choose why society hates him and be different on his own terms.

Both textually and thematically, Laios' identification with the Other bleeds into the erotic. More blatantly, he says that he'd have sex with orc women, and his succubus is a monstrous version of Marcille.

The entire story is also steeped in the theme of consumption as carnality. Laios and his party spend the entire manga eating monsters — a taboo physical act which they reap pleasure from; the underlying eroticism isn't difficult to see.

The story also presents consumption as a form of extreme identification. Eating a monster makes the monster part of you through digestion. The line between consuming the monster and becoming the monster — between erotic desire for the monster, demonstrated by eating their flesh, and identifying with the monster — is very blurred. Note that digesting a monster is an act of absorption; it destroys the original creature. Senshi states that consuming a monster erases "its individual identity," and major manga spoilers, but Laios defeats and pacifies the Demon by consuming its desire to eat. We'll come back to this concept later.

As previously mentioned, Laios is disinterested in most humans. The notable exception to this rule is Toshiro and by extension, the Eastern Archipelago. Laios doesn't seem to know much about the Archipelago before speaking to Toshiro, so he isn't drawn to Toshiro because he's an Easterner. Instead, he's drawn to his "odd appearance."

Just like Laios views monsters and demi-humans as a visible Other, Laios views Toshiro as another visible Other. On the Island, Toshiro stands out as a foreigner at first glance. While Laios as a white tallman doesn't appear visibly strange to other people, he's drawn again and again to people and creatures who are immediately visibly "odd." He sees them as understanding what it's like to be different and be mistreated for it, and since he relates to that experience, he wants to learn about them and be closer to them.

Essentially, Laios behaves towards Toshiro and his culture the same way he behaves towards monsters; he wants to know everything about Toshiro's foreign culture — the thing which makes him different. Unintentionally, Laios unintentionally reduces Toshiro to being Japanese; if he wasn't Japanese, Laios would never have approached him.

While Laios doesn't have bad intentions, as Toshiro himself acknowledges during their fight, his behavior towards Toshiro still has negative consequences. Laios' harmless interest in monsters translates to fetishization in the context of Japanese culture. He enacts multiple microaggressions against Toshiro and crossing his boundaries.

Laios goes beyond merely learning about Japanese culture. He takes parts of it for himself when he names his sword a Japanese name. Akin to his consumption of monsters, Laios attempts to participate in Toshiro's culture while failing to respect Toshiro himself. Just as eating monsters destroys them, Laios consuming Toshiro's culture while enacting racism against him causes real harm.

Many people have already written about Laios' microaggressions towards Toshiro, but a couple include Laios telling Toshiro that he looks "odd" and asking where he's from, mispronouncing his name as "Shuro," and assuming his favorite food is rice. Laios' treatment and fetishization of Toshiro is racist and harmful. However, I'd like to dive beyond the surface of Laios' micro-aggressive remarks and examine how his obsession with Toshiro becomes a racialized mode of desire, paralleling real world phenomena.

Though no concrete canonical evidence of Laios' feelings towards Toshiro being romantic and/or sexual exists, his interactions with Toshiro have erotic undertones. Their fight dialogue, in particular, revolves around eating, an act the story consistently shows as carnal. During this fight, Laios places his thumb in Toshiro's mouth and asks him, "What's the point of even having a mouth?" Laios' penetration of Toshiro's body via his mouth and his question's potential as an innuendo lend themselves to an erotic reading of the scene's more obvious conflict. Considering the overlap between consumption and carnality throughout the story, it's not a large jump to read eroticism into Laios demanding Toshiro meet his body's physical needs.

Furthermore, Laios is more enthusiastic about Toshiro than any other human in the series. While he cares deeply about his sister and his friends, Laios repeatedly expresses how much he admires Toshiro. He retains and brings up things like Toshiro's (perceived) favorite food. He wants to go to the East in Falin's place after she rejects Toshiro's marriage proposal, and in the "What-If" extra material, he's adamant about setting up a scenario where Toshiro travels with him through the Dungeon.

Undoubtedly, Laios is drawn to Toshiro. Since he sees non-white-ness and monstrosity as equivalent markers of societal othering, Toshiro's identity as a foreigner is what cultivates and maintains Laios' interest in him. Even if Laios learns to care for Toshiro as a person, his desire for Toshiro, platonically or otherwise, is still filtered heavily through race within the narrative.

Laios' relationship with his masculinity is also fraught. He broke off his engagement with a girl from his village and doesn't express normative interest in female tallmen. Seeing how the nightmare versions of his parents ask him when he's going to give them grandchildren, Laios experiences societal pressure to conform to a normative performance of masculinity through being attracted to and marrying a tallman woman and creating a family with her.

Laios frequently talks about how cool and admirable Toshiro is when he performs masculinity through combat, etc. He might find Toshiro's Asian masculinity more appealing and more accessible to him than the masculinity that's been forced onto him, precisely because Toshiro's Asian masculinity appears non-normative in a Western lens. But co-opting the masculinities of men of color as a white man would only further feed into the white consumption of cultures of color.

Overall, Laios' entitlement to and consumption of Toshiro's culture mirrors the real-life way white people co-opt and fetishize non-white cultures. Laios' fetishistic treatment of Japanese culture, because of his attraction (platonic or otherwise) to Toshiro, parallels white people's treatment of Asian people in the Western diaspora. I can only speak on the Asian American experience, but Laios immediately being drawn to Toshiro's "odd appearance," obsessing over his culture, and primarily treating Toshiro as a conduit for his said culture feels eerily close to how some white anime and/or K-pop fans act towards Japanese and Korean people.

Similarly to Laios, real queer, neurodivergent, and/or otherwise non-normative white people are marginalized by white Western society. They relate to how society others non-white cultures and/or people of color and latch onto them. While forming human connections based on curiosity and shared experiences is wonderful, white people are often unaware of the racial dynamics at play when they engage with non-white cultures and people of color and unintentionally, end up consuming and fetishizing non-white cultures in detrimental ways.

None of this negates the reality that Laios and Toshiro canonically care for each other. For instance, Toshiro's willingness to hug Laios reveals his genuine familiarity with and affection for him. The racial dynamics of their friendship complicate their relationship in fascinating ways and open up a potential path for Laios' growth. With time and effort, Laios could absolutely unlearn his racism and become a much better friend to Toshiro.

In conclusion, Laios' behavior towards Toshiro is a study in a marginalized white person's identification with and racialized desire for a non-white Other and how even a well-intentioned attempt at connection can replicate harmful racist dynamics. Toshiro's experience with Laios closely parallels real Asian people's struggles with racism and fetishization in our world today.

[musicalmoritz]

I talk a lot about characters being exclusively gay or lesbian on here, so I wanted to switch things up for once and talk about some tbhk characters who are most likely bi

Starting off with the most obvious and undeniably most bi-coded character in tbhk (can we even call it coding anymore?? the subtext has become text), we have my boy Kou!! His main love interest is Mitsuba, and in addition to the other characters teasing Kou about his feelings, the two of them have gone on a date together. While it’s true Kou offhandedly said it’s “not a date” (outside of a speech bubble even), AidaIro would not have labeled it that way if they didn’t want people to interpret it as such. They’re also often drawn very romantically together and…c’mon, their story doesn’t make a lot of sense if they’re just friends (in comparison to other male friendships in tbhk like Hanako and Kou or Teru and Akane that DO make sense platonically)

Kou also had a huge crush on Nene for the majority of the manga, and may still like her (he no longer gets flustered when people suggest that he likes her so imo it’s up to interpretation whether or not his feelings have changed). His feelings for Mitsuba don’t discredit his feelings for Nene or vice versa, so it’s safe to assume this man swings both ways. He frequently blushes around Nene and, as aforementioned, used to get very flustered whenever someone teased him about his crush. I believe in the pilot of tbhk he also confessed to her

So as we’ve established, Kou checks off both bi boxes. But what about Nene herself?

Nene’s main love interest is Hanako, but other than that she’s shown to be very boy crazy. She swoons over every man she meets, and dedicates herself to her crushes even when she doesn’t really know them. The sky is blue, the sun rises in the morning, and Nene wants a boyfriend

…Or a girlfriend? If you can’t call what Nene felt towards Sakura a crush, then I don’t know what you would call it. She blushed around her, called her a babe, compared her to a doll, emphasized her beauty, and got so distracted spending time with her that she forgot to stay on guard. This is how Nene acts around all her crushes, dazed and a little stupid. I also think it says a lot that she still seemed awfully friendly with Hanako when he got turned into a girl in ASHK. At the very least I’d say Nene is bi-curious

I bet you can’t tell which Aoi this is about lol. I theoretically could call out Aoi but I feel like it would be slightly more of a reach with her so for now I’m sticking with Akane. His main love interest is Aoi- hell, his whole word is Aoi. He worships the ground she walks on, and their character development is reliant on one another. I fully believe Akane would feel the same way about Aoi if she were a man; it’s not about her gender, it’s about who she is as a person. But that’s only speculation so let’s look at the facts

In the Confession Tree chapter, Akane fell in love with and started dating Lemon. Now, this is purely up to interpretation, but I don’t think a love potion would have the power to change someone’s sexuality, at least not something like the Confession Tree. It’s perfectly fine to disagree with that statement, but my takeaway here was that Lemon and Akane would both be fine with dating men (I would’ve put Lemon on this list but I don’t think he’s shown any interest in women, I do hc him as pan tho)

And lastly, we have Natsuhiko, who would love Sakura regardless of their gender…and who apparently is fine with changing their own gender at the drop of a hat?? Does he have something he wants to tell us??

I could have included more characters, but I wanted to stay semi-realistic here. A lot of people also bring up Hanako flirting with Kou when he got turned into a girl, and I will say he acts very flirty with Kou in general, but I have a hard time deciphering whether they’re just joking the way friends do or if there’s some level of seriousness to it lol. I interpreted it as a friend thing but I’m open to hearing different opinions, I usually headcanon Hanako as bi anyway

I also mentioned Aoi but again, I can’t tell if the way she sometimes gets a little too close to Nene is just girls being girls or if it’s girls liking girls. And I don’t rly count Mei falling in love with her in HKOM as evidence because Aoi didn’t like her back, although it’s reasonable to assume they started dating since they were mentioned to hang out a lot after that. But Aoi/Aoi is still a thing in HKOM so…I don’t know. She could like both ofc (that’s kind of the whole point here) but I didn’t see enough of her liking Mei to come to a definitive conclusion. Aoi definitely gives me sapphic vibes but I didn’t feel like there was enough evidence to put her on the list so for now I’ll leave her as an honorable mention. Then there’s Teru’s weird thing with the Aois but I don’t think anyone can decipher what’s going on there

In conclusion, bi rights

[autism-rizz-tournament]

Autism Rizz Tournament

Rizz: Originally short for "Charisma", Rizz (for this tournament, at least) refers to the appeal, charm or general "ability to pull" a character has, either romantically and/or sexually. (The character doesn't necessarily need to be attracted to anyone to have rizz. If they can make others fall for them, it counts)

How to vote

Propaganda

Triffany Lottablog (Bugsnax)

She uses a skeleton arm of her own species as a pointer during regular conversion She was so into archaeology she almost left her husband for it She's incredibly morbid, will occasionally just talk about how death comes for us all and odds are none of us will be remembered for long, then turns around and talks about ancient dance or matriarchy of ancient peoples She thought she found the skeleton of her grandmother, so she dug it up and gave it to the nearest evil scientist to do a genetics test, then gave the skeleton to them

At least two people are in love with her

Spock (Star Trek)

He is so autistic and Jim Kirk is in love with him for it (among a million other reasons Jim is in love with him)

Despite being extremely repressed, women love him, they keep wanting to get with him and he has to find creative ways to say "I'm actually gay and in love with my Captain" (just look at his mini monolog at the end of "This Side of Paradise"). He literally has to fuck every 7 years or he will DIE. In the show when that happened his wife divorced him and then he rolled around in the sand with his captain and it was very homoerotic. The subtext is text.

Marina (Splatoon)

While not canonically autistic, she does have a lot of autistic traits--she's rarely seen without her headphones (to the point where her ears aren't modeled in game), her tentacles constantly moving could be seen as stimming, and she has a very strong interest in machinery, to name a few. Marina also has a crush on her bandmate, Pearl. While it is never directly stated in-game, supplementary material basically confirms it. The Japanese version of the Splatoon database has described her as a "maiden in love," with the specific words used being in romantic contexts. Along with that, she has drawn a manga about Pearl, drawing flowers and hearts around her, and generally acts affectionate towards her in-game. It is unknown if Pearl reciprocates canonically, but she does have a very close relationship with Marina. She reciprocates Marina's hug at the end of Octo Expansion, and she is seen to be quite worried about her in the second trailer for Side Order. Pearl x Marina is a very popular ship in the fandom for these reasons.

is obsessed with heavy machinery, and is skilled in multiple forms of art (music, shoujo manga-style visual art, and stage design). she also notably chose team Order in the Chaos vs Order splatfest, and her dialogue in the announcement suggests she's resistant to change (though it could also just be interpreted as her being gay for her co-host)

people were so consistently horny for her while splatoon 2's splatfests were ongoing that it actually caused drama because her team typically had the popular vote and people chalked that up to participants voting based on their favorite hosts' opinion rather than their own. whether that's true or not is hard to prove, but the fact that it was plausible illustrates my point, and her popularity was even referenced in-game at one point. - she shows signs of having social anxiety in a lot of dialogue, and it even arguably extends into her visual design because of her consistently pouty eyebrows. - at one point a childhood friend of hers mentions a time she infodumped to nobody in particular about excavators for 2 hours straight, and then pearl says she regularly goes on for longer now. - she has skill in a ridiculous amount of art forms: music, stage design (for splatfest battles, not music performance), shoujo manga-style visual art, and even programming, game design, and 3d modeling. -the logo of the virtual-reality program she designed is an infinity symbol, which also shows up in a few other places throughout it.

[rikeijo]

Hello! :) Hope I don’t seem like I am trying to cause drama. 😅 I would like to ask how different and / or similar is the YOI fandom in Japan compared to the English fandom? Another thing I’m curious about is how do Japanese BL / GL fans view view Western shows with LGBT+ characters? For example does The Owl House have a lot of GL fans or do they not really care about the show?

Hello! Thank you for the message!

I don't think that it's trying to cause drama... In case of YoI and all the very unusual things that happened with this IP, if we try to understand why it happened, imo, it's impossible to see the whole picture without taking into consideration how Jp anime industry&fandom perceive LGBT+ related stuff.

The main difference is that, in case of anime like YoI, in Jp, majority of people think "fujoshi" when they see it, not "gay representation/ LGBT".

This is a quote from an article I happened to read recently (link) that answers a lot of your questions. A person, who works for a company that specializes in BL marketing, talks about Jp and Asian BLs.

"In Japanese BLs there is a lot of settings and cliches expected to appear in the story. There is so much that I'll only give you an example here, one that is difficult to explain in words - for example, the seme (the man that leads in the romantic relationship) is cool and the most popular person in the class, and on the other hand the uke (the man that is led) is more plain, and a bit of an natural airhead - this pattern is one of the classics. In BL, part of the culture is to enjoy those settings and story templates.

(...)

Of course, in the West, there are also BL stories called M/M, which portray romantic relationships between men and they have a lot of fans in Jp. But according to Tsutsui: "In the West, those stories are created more in the context of LGBT and are of a different kind that Japanese and Asian BLs."

(...)

Also, in BLs there is a lot of taboos, called "jirai, landmines". If you detonate those because you lack understanding [of the BL culture], users will immediately go away.

One example of a landmine is when seme and uke swap places, called "reverse"."

Of course, YoI isn't BL, but fans of YoI ships have exactly the same mindset: one uke, seme(s), enjoying our fantasies, not interested in LGBT. Obviously, it's not 100% of the fandom, but the vast majority is really like that.

VicYuu (Victor seme, Yuuri uke) is the most popular ship (seme the coolest character x uke the main character "I'd like to read shojo manga, but they have women there and I hate those" template is the most popular fujo template for every story - for example, in case of JJK, the most popular ship is... Gojo Satoru x Itadori Yuji (15) with almost 700 millions views in total on pixiv). So, that Yuuri doesn't look uke enough and Victor looks like a "fa*got with fake eyelashes" (that's a quote), when he should be a masculine seme, in a lot of arts is one reason why fujos started to hate members of YoI staff. Just like that person in the article said - for fujos, it's a landmine. I've talked about it a few times before - one of the most hated YoI staff member is Mitsurou, and there is plenty of reasons why she was targeted, but one is that the way she draws Yuuri and Victor is more similar to how "YuuVic" fanarts are drawn (and often you can basically tell the ship by how the person draws the characters)...

I don't know a lot about The Owl House, but of course, it has fans in Jp as well - only, I think that those fans (of Western LGBT shows in general) are more from the progressive side and there is little overlap with classic fujos (so a kind of BL/dojinshi fan). Another example, the Witch from Mercury was also popular with the progressive people of Jp twitter and they were also bashing the IP holders because of the marriage controversy... Of course, more progressive people read BLs, too, but many are against being labelled as "fujoshi"... That's generalization, but fujos are those people who labelled and still call heterosexual love "normal love" - I think that says a lot.

In my observation, YoI's Jp fandom is in majority fujo-fandom (2016 was a few years ago...). In 2023, however, more and more people are more open and know more about LGBT+ stuff, so there is also growing "progressive" population of fans on twitter etc. and those people gravitate towards different shows/have different interpretations compared to classic fujos.

So yeah, generally & simply speaking, in Jp, fujoshi, BL =/= LGBT. And btw, as I was labelled fujo-hater in the past, I don't think it's "bad" that fujos like to feminize their uke so much to self-insert and fantasize about the masculine seme(s) loving them, effectively making the ship into a heterosexual ship, because that's what they prefer (although when a grown-up woman is fantasizing about a tiny teenager having sex with a man twice his age and size, well... I'm not sure it's healthy) but I just don't think that it has much to do with LGBT rights and being allies or anything like that, and that it's something that should be acknowledged, too.

[all-hallows-street]

Lingzi's Odaibako/Twitter Answers Collection Volume 2

Continuing the compilation of Lingzi's Odaibako answers. Click here for Part 1.

You can still send questions/comments/requests through Odaibako but please be respectful and mindful! As the author stated they will not respond to any questions or suggestions about future content! Also do not spam, Lingzi answers in rare bursts so they might not get to answer your comment any time soon.

A few clarifications. I will skip some doodle requests/drawn answers and will compile them later in a post with all of Lingzi's twitter drawings. Everything with [] marks an edit so the English sounds more natural.

16. Hello. I have a question. There is a scene where Nini imagines (delusions) having a child with Lily. Can demons and angels actually have children? Is there a mix of devils and angels? I was curious because angels themselves don't seem to reproduce.

Yes, that's just Neil's fantasy. Angels don't have the ability to reproduce~

Source

17. Hello Teacher Lingzi I'm Japanese and I'm learning Chinese. I would like to translate your manga All Saints Street into Japanese. But I understand copyright. Can I translate your comics and quote your images? (Also cite sources, of course.) Or is it difficult for an individual to do this?

Ah, sorry, I haven’t looked at the question box for a long time 😂 I don’t know if it’s too late to answer now 🙏🙏😭 If it is only for the purpose of learning and communication, it is no problem to translate comics that have been released for free! 👌👌

Very important answer for me lol.

Source

18. Do you have the names of the demon representative and the vampire representative? (Other representatives too) I like it very much😭

That's a new character created by the animation team, and I don't know him either... (laughs)

Source

19. Hello! I am Japanese. I learned about Halloween Street through anime and fell in love with it! I particularly like Ira. I want to know what kind of woman Ira likes🙇‍♂️💕︎💕︎ I like your comics❣️

Does it mean love in love...? I think he might not be interested in women... nor other genders... He is mainly not interested in relationships, but if I have to choose one trait, I think he might like [loves and is good at playing games] 】Female w

Source

20. Seven-year-old Anna looks similar to a seven-year-old human, so Damao must be in his twenties? How long is a werewolf's lifespan?

The lifespan of a werewolf is almost the same as that of a human, and Damao should be around 25↑🤔

Source

21. Hello Teacher! In the anime, Neil's age is stated to be 16 years old, but I read that in the original story, the devil is 80 years old and becomes an adult. Are the age settings different between the anime and the original?

Regarding this... I checked with the screenwriter of the animation before. They forgot the setting of the comic, so they wrote it according to the age of human beings 😂😂 So just think that the settings of animation and manga are different!

Source

22. Hello, teacher! I don’t know if there is a detailed setting for this, but I am a little curious about whether the ice cream that the devil eats (the name is really apt) is a real soul (?) Can the devil in the All Saints Street world eat human souls?

It’s a real soul 😂 But what’s frozen into ice cream should just be the soul of the fruit (everything is alive👌) Yes, they should like evil spirits and the like.

Source

23. I really like Neil's design. I love Neil very much and I have all his belongings around me. Neil has one side of his hair braided. Why does he braid it? I like it because it's very pretty. Do you think this is fashionable? (I'm Japanese so the translation may be different)

The setting is because Neil's mother's family has the habit of wearing braids for generations, so he and Nick both have braids. (But the real reason is that I like to draw braids and think they are cute)

Source

24. Hello, Teacher Lingzi. Does FENZ have any guidelines for doujin activities? (I would like to know if there are any rules like HMCH, such as distributing doujinshi but not producing goods.)

As far as I know, it has never been posted🤔...So I can't give a formal answer to this question. It's just for reference...As long as you don't take the official pictures privately ( Official comics + animation) should be fine if you print pirated copies and sell them, and do fan activities...

Source

Two similar questions are answered at once.

25. Hello! I recently learned about this through an anime translated into Japanese. All the characters are really cute and I really love them! Will a Japanese translation of the original manga be released…? I really want to read the original… When will the Japanese version of the Manseonggae original comic be released?

Because there are really many people asking about the Japanese single volume, I will give a unified reply here: Thank you for your interest in comics, but… I really don’t know! 😂😂😂 I basically won’t be involved in anything other than [conceiving + drawing] comics, so I really don’t know…but I haven’t heard any relevant news yet, so it should be…not available yet Plan it!

(It's been a year since and there are still no news about an official Jpn manga publication)

Source

26. Hello, excuse me for asking! Previously, you answered in the question box that angels do not have the ability to reproduce, but how are the genders of angels determined? Sorry for the Japanese. I would appreciate it if you could answer. My favorite work🥰

Being infertile does not mean that you have no reproductive organs🫢(probably) I think you can imagine the body of an angel as that of an infertile human 🤔

Source

27. Hello Teacher! Does Abu have a sense of pain? If there is something that everyone has that Abu doesn't, or something that Abu has that everyone doesn't? Please let me know!

I still feel pain, but it’s a special place... Maybe it’s because I’m less sensitive to cold and warm. Even if I only wear T-shirts all year round, it’s OK, but I still wear them with the four seasons in order to better integrate with everyone. To change clothes.

This is being answered through Abu's perspective or the translator is confused af. Source

28. Hello teacher~ I just discovered that there is a teacher’s account on Twitter a while ago, so I looked at all the pictures on Twitter. The series on Ira is really warm and cute, but at the end I saw Ira lying on Teacher Lin’s shoulder. It made me think, is it possible for him to lie on top of others like this (stealing) and moving (lazy)? After all, hiring someone to hold a parasol in summer is equivalent to getting a free taxi without having to prepare sunscreen. Although I don’t know how to deal with the clothing issue.

Haha, it’s because of the clothes that he usually doesn’t do that. Although it’s really convenient... If you can change clothes at home, the probability of turning into a bat is higher. Forget it outside, the clothes will fall off. On the ground~

Source

29. Can devils go into church? 🤔 for example if someone they know gets married at a church do they just have to stand outside? wwww

Oh I never thought about that before, but I think you are right[.] They may not be able to get into the church

Source

30. Hello teacher, I’m interrupting you again (although I am anonymous). I want to ask this time, will an angel still be an angel without a halo? To be more specific, it probably disappears. Also, can angels share halos?

Logically speaking, the angel's halo will not disappear, but it may be damaged and destroyed. If it is broken, just go back to heaven and apply for a new one😌👌It's not a big problem. Yes, Lily also secretly used Teacher Lin’s aperture.

Source

Continue in Part 3

[arklayraven]

I don't know where this need to gender art styles came from, but I hate it and wish for it to stop.

I'm bringing this up because some people in the OM fandom now are calling this/these art style(s) "masculine".

Why they call it masculine you ask? The way Barbatos jawline is drawn apparently, etc... (BOY I WISH I WAS JOKING).

I can only suspect they call these art styles "feminine" now.

How dare a demon, who is a man, look masculine in art styles every so often! The nerve of those artist! FIRE THEM! (Fucking sarcasm here fyi, but I swear I heard people spew this same crap over Asmo when he was drawn more masculine looking than feminine. Over the damn demon of gender fluidity! Also for Mammon too, when he was drawn feminine presenting in that dame card, some people really didn't like that. lol And there's more examples I could share too fyi, but it could go on for awhile.)

Do you know how much this pisses me off? This shit honestly comes off kinda queer/transphobic to me, and will make peoples gender dysphoria kick in. Whether they are trans or not, because this shit will mess people up.

Imagine being either a man or woman, then being told your art is too feminine or masculine compared to how you look/present/identify. Even accused you didn't draw it because it doesn't fit with you. Or saying you must be a man/woman because your art is too feminine/masculine.

It's art, a art style, either unique to the artist, or similar to others. It doesn't need to be gendered, especially as a insult to the artist and their style of work.

And before you say "It's not a insult. It's just my personal opinion. People don't use it as a insult." No, it's often used as a insult I've noticed.

Also this is like a alternate way of telling men or women, trans/queer or not, they are too feminine or masculine as a insult/attack.

"You look too masculine" to a trans woman or women in general, queer or not. But if they are queer, and you hate butch women? Fuck you.

"You look too feminine" to a trans man or men in general, queer or not. Do not tell me men, queer or not, can't be feminine, because I swear--

Here's some other examples I found from others being told their art was too masculine/feminine in the past. Identities of people kept hidden but sharing the posts because of how ridiculous some are.

Yep. The manga artist of JJBA got damn dragged into this mess too, countless times.

So true, OP. And same can be said for guys who draw men too feminine. Do what makes you happy, fuck what others say or believe is "law of art".

The list goes on...

The idea of having to gender art and art styles, because of how feminine or masculine it looks to you. Is ridiculous, unnecessary and just displays how you view femininity and masculinity should be like.

"Women should only draw flowers and cute things."

"Men should only draw cars and dark gritty things."

This shit is old and needs to be left in the past where it belongs. Art is vast and has no limits or rules on expression, especially in art styles.

Rant over.

[redinbluee]

The development of Chainsaw Man and Tatsuki Fujimoto's writing (part 1)

Tatsuki Fujimoto is an talented mangaka who has written some of the most amazing works I have ever seen. A lot of people seem to undermine the complexity and seriousness of part one, most likely due to the fact that the story itself contains a lot of straightfoward humour and questionable sexual content that is difficult to be taken seriously... and also how a large portion of his audience are horny emotional trainwrecks who only read his manga to see Makima's ass.

Fujimoto is unafraid to be true and completely honest in his works, creating complex characters and a plot that defies typical shonen stereotypes. The general idea of Chainsaw Man is undoubtedly very shonen, but he has managed to warp his story into something that resembles more of a character drama which I think is refreshing and influential. I sometimes like to think that Fujimoto forced himself to insert the action into Chainsaw Man just to please the majority of the younger manga community while also labelling it as Shonen so it could be published onto a magazine as influential as Jump to recieve worldwide attention. But personally, I feel like Fujimoto does not excel at creating a plot that revolves mostly around fighting, action and adventure which are some of the typical shonen elements that are highly appreciated. In fact, I feel like the pacing and panelling in some early Chainsaw Man chapters weren't executed well. I especially have minor issues with the overly rapid pacing of, for instance- the beginning of Bomb devil arc (where I personally believe that Reze could have become a more fleshed out character despite the fact that she was putting on a facade for most of the arc- extending the period before her reveal by increasing the amount of interactions between Denji and her would heighten the tension even further, allowing her character reveal to be more dramatic and shocking. Not only this, although I love the idea behind the International Assasins arc - it wasn't executed as well as it could have been. It was just too chaotic and fast paced in my opinion, it leaves the reader very confused on their first read due to the lack of explanation and the constantly shifting of perspective in the panelling. Some of the earlier fight scenes in csm were also drawn messily, making it difficult for the reader to visually understand the ongoing action. Finally, I also think that some of the characters were just killed way too early, so early to the point where possible character development was unable to be executed.)

Despite these minor setbacks, Chainsaw Man part one remains to be one of my favourite mangas, not because it is flawless, perfect or anything like that. It was because of the characters. Makima and Aki were remarkable characters that are three dimensional and complex, and was- in my opinion, the characters that were the most interesting and fleshed out. Denji is a character who was meant to be laughed at, but underneath this lies a boy who has lived such a tragic life, you can't help but sympathise with him. I love Chainsaw Man because I have formed a deep emotional connection with it, a feeling completely separate from liking a story due to it's masterful writing and art. Writing characters is an area that Fujimoto excels at, he creates addicting, relatable, beautifully written characters that you simply fall in love with. This is an area that is in desperate need for improvement in works that fall under the shonen demographic. Fujimoto writes great female characters, he surely loves writing women haha. A lot of Shonen works have terribly written female characters who were only made to please the male gaze and add "diversity' to the cast- while female characters in Chainsaw Man are portrayed in a realistic manner, actually driving the story forwards and making impact. After Chainsaw Man part one, the popularity of this manga just continued to skyrocket. Fujimoto went on hiatus, producing Look Back and Sayonara Eri in the process. Below is a section of what Fujimoto wrote in his author's notes in "before csm" addressing his feelings while writing Look Back along with noting down some details explaining his struggles in pursuing art during his early years after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.

"I went back to volunteer one more time after that. Then I stopped. This was because I was doing oil painting, which gets expensive, and I had to draw manga in order to pay for it. From age 17, that sense of powerlessness has always been following me around. Every time there was another tragedy, my sense that my pursuits serve no purpose at all grew bigger"

"Recently, I drew a manga called Look Back to try and finally vent those feelings. Oddly enough, once I drew it, I think I was able to process them a bit. Looking at this collection of one-shots now, In that state of mind, I remembered a lot of things. Not just that I would draw while feeling powerless, but also that I would draw while really hungry, and how I was always practicing art with my friends. It brought back memories so fun that I have to wonder why I'd only been remembering the dark things. Now I feel glad that I got to have not just Look Back collected in a book, but these one-shots too."

I assume that Look back and Sayonara Eri are works that Fujimoto have always wanted to write- stories that he wrote for himself, not to please his audience anymore (after his immense success in csm, there was no need for him to gain further attention) I'm so proud of him lmao. Part 1 of Chainsaw Man is influential, iconic and an amazing piece of work- but did Fujimoto really like his story? Did he force himself to write Chainsaw man? Part 1 felt rushed, a lot of the story was improvised and messy at times as a result of his crazy work schedule. I sometimes like to think whether the end result of Chainsaw Man was really something Fujimoto wanted to create? What would have happened if he didn't have to please his audience and work under this terrible schedule that influenced his ability to fully express his best work? Fire Punch was a less successful piece that is quite different from Chainsaw Man (which actually appears to be more conventional when comparing it to the obscurity of Fire Punch). Did he try to create a piece of work that appeared to be shonen just so it could be attractive?

"All mangaka wanted to do this job because they love sharing stories and drawing, but when you actually become a mangaka, you realize you need to handle everything alone. When working for weekly magazine, you just don't have enough time. The schedule is too intense, and you need to work as fast as possible. I always end up improvising some things during the inking phase to save time. I'd like to do both the characters and backgrounds myself, but this is so difficult I need to ask my assistants to handle the backgrounds".

This was what Fujimoto said when someone asked whether the suffering of Chainsaw Man's characters actually reflect his feelings:

"I never thought about it, but it's all definitely inspired by my own feelings. It might be the reflection of my daily routine. I work alone for a weekly magazine. It's incredibly difficult, and I don't want my series to get canceled, so I work non-stop".

After Chainsaw Man part 1, we had the opportunity to see two oneshots that were not created under the pressures of time and success. Works that once again, had such lovable, remarkable and raw characters that reflected Fujimoto's talent in character writing along with art that was noticeably more refined, clean and beautiful. In my opinion, these two oneshots exceeded the quality of the entire first part of Chainsaw Man, you don't have to agree- but Fujimoto's development as a mangaka surely is prominent.

This is all for now, follow me for more content like this, I'll upload a part 2 to this where I begin talking about Chainsaw Man part 2!

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

For Acier Silva, can you please answer 2, 12, 14, 18 and 21?

Favourite BC mom! ^^

Will contain some manga spoilers!

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I have to choose one thing? I mean... if I have to choose just one thing, I think I'd have to choose her strength. Because she is someone who made it in men's world. Since Charlotte is a fierce spokesperson for women's rights in a world that is still dominated by men, I think that Acier becoming a captain during the previous generation is a mark of strength. She needed to earn that spot. She's fiercely protective, and immensely compassionate and caring, but takes no bs from anyone. Because being kind and compassionate, doesn't equate you into being a doormat or going along with the loudest person in the room. Granted that she's probably had to go along with some things in her life due to her status (I mean... would he have married a man like Papa Silva if she didn't), but she endured those things. She continued to care for her children as much as she could until her dying day, because she loved them. Not because it was a duty of hers, but because she wanted to do so. Acier Silva is one of the strongest characters in BC, and I will stand by that statement.

12. What’s a headcanon you have for this character?

My headcanon for Acier is that she used to be, in her youth, a bit of a trouble maker. Not one to cause harm for anyone, but she'd sneak out when she was supposed to stay indoors and practice something like needlepoint. In a way, I headcanon that she was a lot like Mereo. But less volatile and less eager to fight things.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Business casual meets modern viking queen

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

Like I said in Nozel's case, I adore Acier's mother-son relationship. I wish that we would have gotten more of it (awkward side-eyeing at canon), during the happy times. As in, sure, the goodbye she left was also touching and made me clench my heart, but damn... It was far from a happy reunion. Though there was relief in it too. It's more than clear that Nozel idolizes his mother, and that Acier loved Nozel (as well as all her children) with all her heart. But she got to develop the bond she has with Nozel the best because... he's the oldest child. And she had some years when he was the only child. She also (though it ended up being... uhh... rather counter productive) transferred the wish to keep the family safe onto Nozel. And I think this happened before Acier said it to Nozel blatantly.

21. If you’re a fic writer and have written for this character, what’s your favorite thing to do when you’re writing for this character? What’s something you don’t like?

Hmmm... Okay, okay, though I'd like to see more Acier-Nozel mom-son bonding time, I do like making it sting. As in, I've drawn such angst from this, and I enjoyed writing it. But I am drawn to the idea of writing something happy for them too, I just don't know what that might be. As to what I don't like writing for her, I suppose... well, saying that I would dislike it seems a wee bit strong, but I'm not particularly interested in writing her reasons as to why she married Papa Silva (however, luckily the fic has been already written by a lovely mutual, Lyra (if my memory serves me correctly)). I do think that it's an important fic to have in the fandom, but writing that particular story didn't appeal to me. Overall, considering her character, I don't think there's anything in particular that I'd dislike doing. Aside of maybe writing her out of character.

[kyouka-supremacy]

so, kyotag, your super honest opinion about bsd characters please (aka, who is your fave and who is your least fave. i promise, i am not trying to get you 'cancelled', i am just curious!) 🎤

Ever since I've gotten this ask I've been trembling, I don't think I can ever give bsd honest opinions for the sake of my own future mental sanity LMAO. The upside is, I can talk plenty of the characters I like!!

My favourite character is Kenji! For real, ahah. I'm just always drawn to characters that are just... Good. little guys only trying to do their best and be kind. I suppose there's also a factor of “that's who I want to be” that makes me like them in particular. I don't like the direction they went for Kenji's character in chapter 100.5, but really? I wasn't particularly let down by it either, like it's so fundamentally coherent with the worldview bsd expresses, if anything it was chapter 13 that was out of the scheme. I'm a professional canon ignorer at this point and I'll keep doing just that ahah.

↑ Saw this scene for the first time in the anime, went “Slay! Communist king!”, and he's been my favourite ever since lol.

Although, if we count in Beast, then my favourite character overall must be Beast Atsushi. I mean, have you seen him... Most fucked up guy ever. He went through unimaginable trauma and he still kept being so soft at his core. He just wants to live but everyone is making it so hard for him. He cares for Kyouka so much and he cares for Dazai so much and (to me) he cares for Akutagawa so much like little traumatized boy how did you manage to save all that love in you despite the Horrors. I can't put in words how much I love him but really he's the only character I can say I really sympathize with, like, I want good things to happen to him. I want him to spend the rest of his life coddled and adored.

I love all the female characters <3 I ADORE Kyouka, I think among the other female characters she's the most multilayered and complex character with a structured and compelling story arc. I think she's seriously nice, I really love this stark contrast between her sharp, cynical side and her side that is so sweet and kind and so utterly 14 y/o, and I love how these two sides aren't really in conflict but just come to be together and make her so authentically Kyouka. She's so dear to me. Also, she's the only female character who can compete with the s.kk / ss.kk four for the role of main character, so like, I'm rooting for her ahah.

I adore Yosano for self-explanatory reasons lmao. The chapters of her backstory may not be my absolute favourites for a mere matter of personal taste but I definitely think they make for the best written chapters in the whole manga. I really like how sensitive she is of others' suffering, I think she's amazing– I think her compassion is truly amazing. I want to read more stories of unapologetically compassionate characters. I also generally really really love “older sister” kind of characters!!

I love Kouyou with all I've got. I'm sorry, I genuinely think her story was this good on mistake, but still. I think her backstory makes her genuinely intriguing, I think she's extremely cool and powerful and a joy to see in action, I think toxic mother / daughter relationships are super fun to explore, I think she deserves so much more spotlight and should be back as soon as possible.

I love Mitchell lmao. Like I know it may not look like it but I truly think about her 24/7. I just love women that are kinda silly and over the top. She's got like four lines and every single one is a gem and I adore all of them. She's got those big evident flaws and they make her so human and likeable!!! She's my best friend. Not to mention how loyal she is and how much she cares about her family, I really like those traits of her. Oh, and gowns! I love love love gowns.

Okay but seriously I love all female characters. I didn't like Lucy in particular at the start but she's really grown on me and now I adore her with everything. Wells is spectacular and I need her back as soon as possible. Every woman I didn't mention, from Higuchi to Egawa, believe me I love with all my heart.

I went off a tangent I'm so sorry </3 I know you asked for one character, but how can I not mention the others??? It's just been so long for me in the fandom now and I just can't but grow attached. And I've got so much untapped love for women I never get to talk about on my silly blog that focuses on two men. Following up the list, would be Akutagawa. And I don't want to talk about him because I suppose there's no need to after having made one trillion posts about him but also can I just say? I like him for the same exact reasons I like Kenji. She's just a guy trying to be good. The difference is that he sucks so bad at it, and it makes him SO fun to explore as a character. I really have so much fun playing with him. Then would be Tachihara, Jouno...

... ........................ For the characters I like least, I suppose, R/anpo. I'm so sorry peoples. In R/anpo's case, it's just... Why do you have to be so mean and disrespectful all the time. Seriously, dude. Why is he always treating others as less than he is. I'm sorry, I really am, but I just can't help but find it displeasant? Like it takes zero energy to treat other people with common human decency, c'mon dude. At least Akutagawa is trying to do better, but everyone treats R/anpo like he's entitled to be a jerk? Idk man.

K/unikida. In his case, I Do Get why he's the way that he is (and genuinely can relate to him to an extent), it's just... For the way I am, I consider to try and forcibly impose your own ideals on other people to be about the most insulting thing you can do. And he does that a lot, with Atsushi and Dazai and everyone else. He also has this whole forced lack of empathy thing going on like... I get why he does that, and I get what he went through that made him like he is, but that doesn't change the fact you're kinda being a dick to everyone all the time dude. Please get some therapy.

That doesn't mean there aren't moments when I've genuinely liked them both and found them seriously cool!!!! I still think K/unikida is an interesting character and I genuinely get why people like him. I love the helicopter scene, I remember when I was reading the manga for the first time, when he said “no one ruins my schedule”, I was like, whaa, I was completely in awe. For R/anpo too, the Untold Origins arc from what I could see from the anime was really nice, and I also highly enjoy that one scene of his in chapter 81, the “To tell the truth, I had absolutely no assurance they'd believe me”.

Thank you for the ask Nyusa!! I hope you could find this at least a little bit interesting (?). If anything, now you know a little more about me, ahah. Also not talking about Dazai this time because really I can't be here the whole day.

[goatpaste]

In a way, I feel like with how many women that are plot relevant in jojolion, I feel araki realized he fucked up with the way women were written/treated in SBR, but I feel that's wishful thinking. Then again, has araki even did art regarding SBR after it finished that isn't Johnny, Gyro, Diego, or Funny Valentine.

Also, you have a main blog?

It fhejidf it defiantly feels like araki went crazy when he wrote sbr then even out a bit part way into jojolion for sure lol

I'm sure he's drawn... something.. sbr that wasn't main charactera... maybe lol. But idk how much he draws anything from old parts that isn't main characters ykno

But the JJL woman are really a refreshing return to form with arakid female characters. Like araki I'd far from perfect but I always have to give him credit for being more fun and unique and caring of having interesting main focus female characters in his series compared to a lot of other Shonen type manga. Like stone ocean is great, him wanting a girl giorno, him writing lisa lisa with the comment of 'I want to do something not the same as iv done before I want a mean strong woman' when he made lisa lisa and his want to give her a fair fight with kars where she kicked ass

Then his horrible dip and lack of character for both his main female lead of lucy and really all his characters in SBR defiantly help make JJL stand out a lot more

But in general they had a lot of personality! From yasuho being a jobro that'd a lady who stands firmly as her own filled out character who works well as josukes bestie as well and being able to stand on her own and do thing separately from josuke. Kaatos who everything ouggh she was one of my favs of that part. And how kick ass all the girls are, they just don't take any shit I love them sooo much their filled with so much personality...

And lol ye I have a main my main is @dinopant it's nothing special, I just reblog and once in awhile post there. I'm mostly chatty on my twitter.

[bi-hop]

7, 10, 14, 15, 16 for any fandom you like

hehe these are spicy...

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

so I tried to look back through my old messages to see if I could find examples of this. for the most part, characters I hate are ones I hate of my own volition and people being obnoxious about said character just solidifies my hate, which isn't precisely the same thing. yeah, I don't have an answer for this. I think the closest I've come in recent years is due to people being violently weird about Marcille on Twiter, but my conclusion was just "I'm a better fan of her than them" and then walking off into the sunset at peace so-

10. worst part of fanon

so, obviously, the racism. obviously. the way white background characters are elevated in certain fandoms to unquestionable beloved status while characters of color, especially Black characters and especially Black characters that are women, are scrutinized, demonized, ignored, or outright tokenized. but also just the racism towards creators of color??? I was looking back again for the sake of number 7 and got blindsided by this from an old server I was in

this was at a friend of mine but I also got treated like this by the same person once they knew I was Black ODAAJSODOJSDD

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

weird ass gender essentialism. fics be so fine and then bam it's presenting this wildly inaccurate thesis on gender and gendered relations and what not. it's not just a fic problem, obviously, but the unrelenting cisnormativity of fandom that's expressed in fics pisses me off LMAOOOO like can we be normal. please.

15. that one thing you see in fanart all the time

WHITEWASHINGGGGG! every time Kabru is drawn with the same skin tone as my girlfriend, an angel dies screaming. heaven forbid they make him gray too. where is the lotion. I also hear people discuss Kabru being treated like the right image in certain ship content

and I'm just like... it's the racism... it's the hypermasculinization any popular brown man in fandom faces... they just can't do that delicate feminizing shit with Laios so-

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

dare I say the idea that Marcille despises Laios or merely tolerates him or doesn't care about him. like people take her moments of irritation or outright anger and put it as the whole of what their relationship is. and it annoys me bc they do like and trust each other. in general actually it's like people buy too heavily into the idea that the party despises Laios in a constant and genuine way and it's like... did we read the same manga? are we watching the same show?

and on another note, tired of the constant posts insisting Marcille's weirdness about gender and gendered presentation is just bc she doesn't want to look at a Falin that looks like Laios. Marcille can just be regressive. you don't have to jump through hoops to be like "well actually this is a woke Farcille moment" when it'd be even more good of her to accept how Falin likes to dress surely. the extremes of how she's flanderized, I suppose.

[nouveauxamoris]

i think u should post more design hcs... if i may suggest the big three in the bitch brigade :3

IM SO ON IT! just like the last design hc post, i’ll add little rundowns of some of the design traits!

DAZAI

my dazai design has gone thru a LOT of phases, as well as just a bit of exploration… a few common and solidified traits about him however:

- dazai’s very tan, and his hair is VERY curly, bordering coily. in my hc he’s ethnically mixed :3 (japanese and bangladeshi!)

- soft but sharp face, big nose, and soft big eyes. thick eyebrows too! i based his colour scheme off the manga one, so, dark brown almost black hair instead of a lighter brown, and dark brown eyes instead of a chestnut brown.

- SNAKEBITE PIERCINGS! in me nd the lovely @fiftyofhearts ‘ hcs (hes the asker here hai ethan :3), he got them done w ranpo and yosano.

- he’s fat. okay. i said so. the silhouette of his big ass clothes (the trenchcoat specifically) makes him look a little smaller, but thats still very much true.

- he’s scruffy. goes through periods of shaving vs not shaving but generally has a little bit of wispy facial hair more often than not. also, he’s transmasc!!! he binds w bandages also its not good. don’t do what he does. i don’t encourage unsafe binding

- 14 to 16-zai was very hyperfem. i don’t think he had that realization that he was trans until a liiiil bit later. maybe around 17? very subtly transitioned. i dont think he outwardly came out to many people other than probably chuuya, oda, and ango. everyone else just caught on eventually. he definitely went solely by his last name to disassociate from his deadname and eventually chose the name “osamu” as his first later on

- prisonzai is FULL of facial hair! his hair has gotten a lil longer too. that’s due to the fact that i’d imagine honestly his hair grows Very fast. and they’re not gonna give him a razor to shave this is literally prison

- he’s a lesbian btw

SIGMA

somehow, the sigma design has stayed relatively linear.

- LATINA SIGMA REALNESS!!!!!!!!!! a little ethnically ambiguous canonically because she was made from a book. duh. but tbh i think shes argentinian

- tan skin, very cool undertone. soft and droopy eyes, SUPER thick eyebrows, and white eyelashes. very round face and big and wide arched nose. she has a bit of a pathetic and sopping wet look to her, but she still looks very kind and gentle. most of the time while she’s masking (usually while working), that kinda works in her favour. adds to the warm and inviting feeling she’s got goin on. however, her resting face is very sad and miserable.

- she’s tall and lanky, kinda skinny. very lean and relatively average build. her colour scheme and outfit design is adjacent to the way she’s drawn in the manga. i love her so much but i dont like the anime depiction of her outfit… sorry bbg. she’s perfect in every way however

- i think generally, she’s very androgynous. enjoys dressing very androgynously too. you know how in stormbringer lippmann is described as like, so androgynous to the point where if he dressed femininely men would go crazy ‘nd if he dressed masculinely women would go crazy?? yeah. she’s got something similar goin on. switches between dressing femininely and masculinely and very in-between often. always doing something cute.

- in my eyes she is so transfem. no sort of medical transition, tho… just socially. came out that page serving cunt and she’ll continue to the day she dies

- she wears press on nails me-thinks. usually black almonds or stilettos, sometimes she switches it up to purple however.

- hair cut is kinda weird but like ???? its like if u mixed a hime cut w a wolf cut basically. or smthn like that. lots of layers. yes that’s her natural hair colour btw, she’s just cute like that.

- she’s also a lesbian btw

JŌNO

i’m only rlly getting into drawing jōno recently.. so lots of things keep changing. however, i HAVE decided on something.

- jōno is very much so blasian. lightskinted…. hair is pretty wavy but rests pretty straight just cuz of the haircut. the red is dyed btw. she didn’t care much abt the colour, someone asked to fuck w her hair, and she begrudgingly told them to go crazy. everyone seems to like it however, so she’s down w it.

- SMILE LINES. SMILE LINES AND EYE WRINKLES. product of keeping her eyes closed literally all the time. and her stupid smug resting face. she’s also filled with freckles and beauty marks. majority of them are on her face, but she’s definitely got some around her body as well.

- jōno is Tall. around 5’11” ethan has decided. she’s got a very graceful build but she’s NOT small, nor thin. lots of muscle and fat collecting around her thighs and legs, her strongest asset when it comes to physical strength methinks. have you SEEN how violently she’s able to kick people??? cmon now.

- very elegant woman in every aspect Except personality. i love her she’s actually SUCH a bitch

- again. TRANSFEM! if i like a male character.. heh… well… let’s just say they’re no longer male. (unless you’re dazai. he’s boybossing it up every day)

- she’s ALSO a lesbian btw

- i don’t have a lot to say for her i just love her so much omg

[becausegoodbye]

Lesbian Inflorescence

For the longest time, I was so cautious and ashamed about reading lesbian stuff. I felt unerringly drawn to it, but I had such a powerful internal prohibition against being an intruder in that space – a shameful interloper sullying it for everyone else – that I mostly avoided it. It's only now, well into my second year of transition, that I feel like those old walls are fully breached, and I'm finally free to read all the deranged lesbian novels and sappy yuri and horny dyke poetry I want.

The amount I want, it turns out, is kind of a lot. Here are some recent favourites.

*

Monique Wittig - The Lesbian Body

This experimental French novel from 1973 hits a high watermark of sapphic insanity that I'm not sure has ever been equalled. Most of it is the narrator and her lover performing surreal erotic surgeries on each other: digging through the viscera and loving each other from the inside out. Long past the point where an ordinary person would be expected to have died, these women endure: grinning and licking each other's brains, spooling small intestines in their hands, always finding more of each other to love. Absolute engulfment.

Sakaomi Yuzaki – She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat

On the other end of the spectrum entirely: the sweetest manga imaginable about two neighbours slowly wending their way into becoming each other's most important person, through the central mechanism of cooking and eating together. Page upon page is devoted to the wordless erotics of Kasuga methodically eating large amounts of food while Nomoto grins at her starry-eyed. They make a refuge for each other from the world, and everything they need is already there. It's so fucking great.

Bonus treat: there's a live-action TV show that's also a complete delight. I watched it through with my girlfriend (always over breakfast, the rule delightfully became), and while it's even slower to build than the comic, it also has gorgeous performances from both leads. You can find video files and fan-made subtitles for season one and season two here, provided by the lovely Furritsubs.

Beautiful Barbarians: Lesbian Feminist Poetry

I'm obsessed with this collection. Published by Onlywomen Press in the UK in 1986, each author is given a photo-bio and at least four poems, and they come to you like a series of sit-down conversations with older wiser women handing you earthenware mugs of tea and instructing you how to pay attention. There are a variety of styles and concerns, but the connecting thread is the aliveness, the nearness, the groundedness. There is breath in all of these lungs, and in yours.

Takashi Ikeda – The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This

Another lovely, quiet, slice-of-life yuri manga, with delicate attention to the relationship dynamic between its two leads (already in a relationship and living together), and a lot of lived-in insights into their work as a voice actor and romance writer respectively. I love the way Wako and Sakuma are always touching in this: lovingly flopping over each other, encouragingly patting a head, lazily stroking a thigh. I sent a genuinely ridiculous number of panels from this manga to my girlfriend, all giddily captioned "us!!!" It's gorgeous.

There's one fact about this manga that's kind of odd, and that is that it is – putatively – written by a man, Takashi Ikeda. I've generally avoided yuri written by men (for obvious reasons), but this one struck me immediately as an exception. It was only once I got to Volume 4 that it became clarified for me why. In that book, a new character is introduced: a highschool baseball player who also lives in their building, and who's very nearly the first male character of the entire series. (Whatever others there are are all extremely minor and incidental.) This kid sees Wako and Sakuma out together, mistakenly believing that tall, deep-voiced Sakuma is a trans woman – and not just any trans woman, but one who's pulling it off amazingly, with a cute girlfriend and a loose comfy style and an enviable ease about her – and immediately understands, "Oh God, I want that."

The kid has a bunch of normal egg doubts ("It's not like I hate my body ... and I'm aware that I won't look good in women's clothes ... and there's no way I can be the ace of a weak baseball team if I have a woman's body ..."), but the force of the revelation is obvious. She's a young gay trans woman, and seeing Sakuma and Wako together clarified the vision of that for her. It also, at the same time, clarified for me why this series is able to be so good.

Takashi Ikeda, you can take hormones! If you want to be a woman, you can literally be one! It's a messy process, but it really does work!

I know there are different schools of thought about how rude it is to draw these kinds of inferences about others, but honestly: it just makes so much sense of the whole series. I suspected even before the transfeminine storyline in Volume 4, just because of how lovingly observed Sakuma and Wako's dynamic was and how utterly peripheral men are to their world. (More precisely: I voiced to my girlfriend my suspicion that the author was a closeted trans woman or a cis lesbian using a masculine pen name. Either way, a straight man was off the table!) The introduction of the transfeminine highschooler – and that one devastating page especially: the scrunched-up face in the bath, the lurching memory of that want, the flash of a different body – was just the cherry on top. Politely, babygirl: no cis guy is writing and drawing that. Not like that.

It's silly, but I desperately want to tell this mangaka that I have never met: I promise it's possible. You can have this kind of relationship. You can look at your body with actual affection and pride, because you chose to make it more what you want it to be. I know it seems unfeasible now, when the obstacles are so much nearer and more clarified than the rewards, but once you start: all you'll be able to regret is not having started earlier. You don't even need to go through doctors if you don't want! DIY hormones are available with just a bit of intrepid Googling. Wanting it is the only requirement. This can happen for you.

And I don't say this from the position of someone who's transitioned flawlessly and completely, who's had a panoply of surgeries and is read as a woman in 100% of social situations. I'm in a much clumsier middleground than that. The world at large doesn't quite get it, and likely never will. But where it matters most – that is: in being loved by my girlfriend as a woman, having her experience my body top-to-bottom as a feminine body, and finally living as a lesbian in a way that it's just laughable for anyone to deny – I'm already there. I thought it would take so much longer, but I'm already there. And it honestly makes all that other stuff, all the other difficulties, pale in comparison.

(Drawing of us by Sardonic Tuna, commissioned by my girlfriend and sent to me literally while I was putting the finishing touches on this blog post. Lou I love you so much 😭)

[lgbtqmanga]

New Releases April 25, 2023

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card vol. 13 by CLAMP

Clear Card picks up right where Cardcaptor Sakura left off, with Sakura and Syaoran starting junior high school. With the Final Judgment passed, Sakura thinks school life will be quiet, but then all her cards suddenly turn blank! The mysterious new power she discovers will change how she thinks about her powers in this latest volume!

Cut-Over Criteria by Koala Omugi

Recent graduate Jin has been assigned to help out his upperclassman Seto, a highly competent but somewhat standoffish systems engineer. Though Jin is good at his job, he does seem to have his head in the clouds more often than not... and Seto's eyes always seem to linger on him more than they should!

A fresh new boys' love office romance in which opposites attract!

Otherside Picnic vol. 4 (manga) by Iori Miyazawa, Eita Mizuno, and Shirakaba

In search of Toriko, Sorawo and Kozakura make their way to the Otherside...at night! In the dark, the place overflows with danger and ill will. Every little rustle seems sinister, every shadow worth jumping at...

But things get even more complicated when, upon approaching a ruined building, the women come face-to-face with a doppelganger...and none other than Satsuki herself!

Her dear friend may have been located at last, but Toriko herself is still nowhere to be found...

Platinum Blood by Mor Ichigaya

The vampire Alucard — nicknamed Al — was brought up in a church, at the side of the kindly priest Kaname. Now all grown up and drop-dead handsome, Al has certain needs... The dutiful Kaname generously allows the vampire to drink of his body — and it isn't just his blood that Al's sucking! Still, physical needs aren't the same as emotional desires, and Al finds himself stuck trying to get the oblivious, straight-laced Kaname to realize that he means more than an easy meal to him.

Remnants of Filth: Yuwu vol. 1 (novel) by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

A historical fantasy epic set in the universe of The Husky and His White Cat Shizun! Two war generals were once close…until dark circumstances ripped them apart. What secrets will surface when they finally reunite?

The empire of Chonghua once produced two young generals who rose to prominence fighting side by side. Mo Xi, reserved in nature, was known for his commanding air and ruthless temperament. His best friend and comrade, Gu Mang, was the complete opposite: as charming as he was clever, he was beloved by his soldiers and the people. That is, until Gu Mang shocked the empire by turning traitor to serve an enemy nation.

Years later, a feral Gu Mang has returned, his mind broken. The public demands his death, and no one is assumed more hungry for vengeance against him than Mo Xi. But when Mo Xi stays his hand, the question must be asked—what is the true relationship between the pair? And what past secrets hide beneath Mo Xi’s icy exterior and Gu Mang’s tortured psyche?

The Seven Seas English-language large-trim, deluxe paperback editions as part of the Seven Seas Danmei label will include the uncensored text with exclusive new covers and interior illustrations from the artist St, who also illustrates The Husky and His White Cat Shizun.

Tsumasaki Ni Kourozu by Aki Aoi

One day, college student Iwai receives an introduction for a job as an assistant to a mycologist.

Upon his arrival, he is met by Murota, a seemingly moody and unsociable man. Iwai is uneasy at first, but he finds he enjoys the days he spends coming into contact with a world previously unknown to him, as well as looking after Murota when he forgets to look after himself. And, in the midst of it all, Iwai realizes his heart is gradually being drawn to Murota...

[ciaossu-imagines]

Hi! I just wanna chat with you for a bit. Hope you don’t mind. You mentioned Seri in your post, and I had to put in my two cents’ worth. It just instantly came back to me how I hated the way they made Seri’s bosom look noticeably bigger from Season 2 onwards for the sake of fanservice. Even Neko is affected by that, too, and it’s just freaking ridiculous. Also, the panty shots are too much. Seri is a venerable woman, and it’s so sad that she had to be used mainly for fanservice 😢😢

Okay, but it's always, always so okay to just chat with me for a bit! It makes me so happy when you guys decide to do that. And I very much agree with you there.

Now, I can love K Project with all my heart and soul and still admit that it has its serious problems and that one of those problems is definitely in the way it treats its women. I have a complicated view of fanservice - I can forgive it to an extent. Season 1 of K, I could forgive a lot of the fanservice, which mostly boiled down to Neko running around naked a lot, Seri's outfit, and one or two noticeable panty shots that jarred me out of a scene. But in a lot of ways, I could put those aside in the first season.

As far as Neko running around naked, I feel like, being a person who does not frown on nudity in any form and who does have a sort of casual acceptance of the naked human form, that felt natural to me, as Neko is very much pushed to feel like a cat who turns into a girl, and what would an animal think of being naked. I could feel that some of it was quite pandering at times, with the close emphasis and long slow shots and the ending to Season 1, but I could forgive that fanservice because I could make it make sense.

Does anything about Seri's outfit make sense, considering the rest of Scepter 4's uniforms being modest, considering the fact that she spends a lot of time liasoning with people in high positions who would not take her seriously in that outfit, considering that she fights quite a bit and that skin-tight skirt is a second away from riding up and just becoming a belt, even just standing still? No, it was very obvious pandering to a male gaze, hoping to draw in male viewers because they realized that their cast of mostly male characters, most of whom were drawn to be good-looking and who had close ties to each other would draw in the women and the fujoshi's and they were desperately trying to expand their demographics through cheap tricks like pandering fanservice. But I could forgive that because Seri is, at the root of everything, an amazing woman. She's tough, sensible, smart. She's accomplished and badass, as hinted at in the first season of the anime and throughout the manga add-ons and such. I could forgive the panty-shots even, because a lot of Japanese schools do seem to have very short skirts and most of the ones I remember involved someone wearing one of those very short skirts moving in ways where it would be inevitable for that to happen, but that she wouldn't really be thinking anything of in the moment.

And then season two happened, and I really do feel like the fanservice went from being largely explainable and acceptable, and became incredibly pandering. It wasn't there as an aside when it came to female characters, it wasn't there as an add-on to these fully realized, awesome female characters. It became jiggle physics and clothing damage and erosion of Seri's character to the point where it felt less and less like she was a genuine badass character and more that she was just a vehicle for fanservice, and that's something about K's second season that will always piss me off, and that in general is something that is guaranteed to piss me off in any series. For example:

Like, at that point, she becomes impossible to really take seriously. She feels more like a character that would be in a hentai scene, seconds before the villain rapes them, than someone who is, for all extents and purposes, the second in command of an elite fighting group such as Scepter 4. And that's not even going into the fact that boobs, and clothing, don't work like that. She stops being a character, stops largely being Seri, and becomes fetish fuel for the male gaze.

Another example - I mentioned GetBackers in my original post, and this is one where I can get past the fanservice in the anime for the most part. Does it feel pandering at times? Yes. But, largely, in the anime, it does also feel excusable or organic, especially since there's also fanservice, clothing damage and such done on the part of the men in the series. Ban sustained clothing damage in the Limitless Fortress and walked around a large portion of the time largely shirtless. Akabane has appeared shirtless several times, just to list a couple off the top of my head. There's a couple sly jokes put in there about male genitalia and the men are treated as much as sexual beings as the women are. Does it happen to the women more? Is there jiggle physics associated with Hevn that just don't make sense? Yes, but Hevn's less than modest demeanour also feels like an aspect of her character, in that it does feel like she knows what she's doing and is deliberately using her looks and body to her advantage. But I can't do the manga for that one, where it literally feels like it was drawn as fetish fuel for the illustrator/writer's kinks...where the women don't feel like characters but more excuses to show tits and ass. Glaring examples:

This is a brother and sister

This is a random panel from the manga:

This is the kind of fanservice I find inexcusable, because in the end, it almost always happens just to the women characters and I'm using the word 'character' lightly because it degrades these women down to just bodies and male fantasies and gets in the way of story-telling, rather than enhancing.

Anyway...thank you for coming to my TEDTalk on fanservice today.