#as for the second pic i just looked at his sprites and designed him off that; added a few ideas/interpretations to the mix too

[beatcroc]

a year!!! as of today i have now been drawing these funny little pizza freaks, to the exclusion of almost everything else, for!!! an entire year!!! i wanted to do a nice group shot/lineup of everybody to compare to when i first started trying to draw them because oh boy were they bad. i never even posted most of them anywhere because they were so bad. but im posting them here, now, to see how everything's changed/evolved.

this is probably the hardest time i've ever had trying to figure out how to work with a style, but we got there eventually; i'm pretty happy with the handle i've got on everybody now...dont let ur memes be dreams. lots of unimportant journaling and idle thoughts abt it below.

older pics

the first one is the VERY first time i drew them, before i thought i was going to actually have any interest in drawing them [lmao]; it was just the one isolated image, for my friendserver, to illustrate the funney message, so there was no attempt to make it Good or actually understand anything going on w/ the designs or style.

second is the original run of practices sketches to start trying to figure them out for real; done after i started having ideas for the comics and such and realized oh god maybe i am actually gonna draw fanart for this. [again, lol, and lmao.]

third one is the first pt art thing i posted on here. there were a couple weeks of sprite studies between this one and the previous image. the one on the top right wasn't part of that post i just threw it on as space filler; i'd intended to shift to doing Sprite Redraws But Stylized to explore tings more, but that was the only one i did. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

individual characters

peppino: by far the hardest dear god. bro what ARE your shapes how DOES your face work. jesus christ. everything i have trouble with this style for, peppino has it in excess. i draw in polygons! i need consistency! and that is the last thing this kind of style is concerned with. they are made of squarshy clay and i do not understand how to mold them. i was really hoping trying to learn this game's style would GIVE me that kind of flexibility for fun exaggerated facial expression but i don't think much came of it in the end 😔. anyway on the bright side all this means once i got peppino figured out a little bit everybody else clicked way easier.

fake peppino: honestly i never did anything with him on purpose except for how his eyes work + the perma-smile thing. i figured ok hes supposed to look weird and off model so whatever happens with him happens. and it did. and it kept happening. it is still, in fact, happening.

noise/ette: somehow, for every bit that peppino was the least natural thing i've ever tried, these two worked pretty much right off the bat. i still don't understand it, seeing as pretty much all the things at play for peppino are also at work for them. i think the new sketches are actually a little worse than older ones but not enough that i care.

gustavo: really funny bc i drew him on model twice and just went 'okay, cool nice, easy, um. he doesn't have any fucking legs?' fortunately he was the only one i had a strong idea for how to stylize him [square] and it worked exactly as i was hoping so wahoo.

brick: is an animal and therefore 5000x easier and more natural for me to draw/stylize than anything else in the cast. that is Just a rat bro. i can draw a rat.

gerome: i think the funniest one here. the most drastic and least necessary change imo. i was gonna have him be really small at first, like smaller than the noises, but then i just... didn't. he's just peppino-sized now. also i gave him like. actual human facial structure, which is funny bc in most cases i'd do anything to avoid, but it works well for his being A Rock to give him some angles and definition like that+ to differentiate his vibe from the rest of the cast who are all very squishy. also since he is essentially Just A Head it's good to emphasize that too ig.

john: i only drew john a couple times but he gets to be here because i like him. and because most of the stuff i applied to gerome was readily applicable to john, though i did try to keep him a little more uncanny because he is a Huge And Lanky Freak. i hate that he is barefoot btw but idk how to make his color balance look right with shoes.

pizzahead: i did not want to put him on here honestly but i Have drawn him a handful of times and more importantly i didn't know what i was gonna do with john's pose if i didn't have him there to be glared at. the only thing that's different with him is giving him wider-bottomed pants, which i got from when i tried to draw these guys in clone high style [i never posted that one either][i will eventually]

snick: he gets to be here because 1. he's like 6 lines 2. i like him and 3. ive scribbled him a few times offhand and it went pretty well

misc

there are some guys missing because those are guys i didn't draw enough [or at all] to have gotten comfortable with them. sorry

i would have Liked to shade these but for the time being i have accepted that my grasp of light/shadow has decayed to the point im not going to be happy with anything i try there, so For Now i am working on my presentation with flats i guess. gerome has a shadow only because he's shaded like that ingame and looks naked without it

anyway if you are still reading [hi?] i get to shamelessly plug now. i'm over the hill of my pizza run now, and while i still have plenty of things i want to make here, most of the bigger more in-depth ones have passed. pizza tower was the first thing in THREE YEARS to get me out of my oc groove to doing fanart, and once i am done with my ideas here i will be going right back to it. if you like my art or how i write characters/interactions you should check out my oc/webcomic blog @jamverse . i can't promise people who like pizza stuff will be terribly into my designs, but i can guarantee i treat my guys with the exact same sort of tone i handle the pt guys with. and hell, i've mentioned it a few times before, but like 70% of my characterization for fake pep is just copied off one of my characters, so if u are going to miss him... he will still be there in spirit >;p

and if you dont care about any of that and are still reading thank you anyway. actually making these comics + seeing how shockingly well-received they've been has done a lot for my confidence, and for seeing that my kind of stuff IS something people enjoy :')

[mindrole]

OK this is utterly random but I was digging for references to draw Dita and something about him looks. Off? I don't have the databook so my only references here are the CoM profile image and the in-game sprite in Interlude but then I realized that his eye color is significantly darker than Fragments we're currently aware of?? Even Eigha's are more Fragment red than Dita's. I think I'm losing my mind. Surely he wouldn't wear different contact lenses?

I don't really have a goal here I just don't have anyone else to bother with my brainrot and you're chill so presumably up for someone else's brainrot. Cool if not tho

i got pretty curious, so i decided to see for myself. just to note, theodore has pure #FF0000 red eyes so i didn't include him, none of the others have anything like that. the databook makes sure to make a distinction when talking about hatsutori's eyes too (i.e. saying they're not pure red, that they're dark red. i assume the same applies to the rest too).

if you're curious, there is not really much on ditasword in the databook, there's a paragraph about it on shinano's entry that teases CoM's premise and the nature of the show, what it is, mentions miwa and gives a little information about him etc. i feel like the only thing that isn't mentioned in the interlude or other material is that eigha as a character appears in season 2 and 4 (so he isn't in season 1 or 3). there's a drawing in the databook that can be seen in thumbnail form in miwa's room. i think it's the poster with taka on it. it's a little hard to see tho. the poster with shiyo on it is based on the art on the CoM website with ryuu replaced with eigha. as far as i know there's no HD version of the half with eigha on it.

here is what i ended up with:

it's something like this. (sorry the pic isn't aligned neatly)

i compared in-game sprites. any inconsistency in other pictures, i think i personally rule out as just that, inconsistencies.

looking purely by value, ryuu's eyes are the darkest among the fragments, miwa in second, then izu, hatsutori, misumi. i included hair color too for some reason. i was most surprised that misumi has the lightest eyes. izu is weird because his eyes are more RED than anyone else. overall, there doesn't seem to be any pattern or correlation for why they're all different. my guess is that it's just a design thing. we say "pink" hair, but it's noted to be shades of magenta. so by the logic of design choice, it makes sense that miwa, who is a 60+ year old man who pretends to be 40 years younger and plays an anime boy for a living, has the pinkest hair (since it's cute). ryuu having a sort of muddy, ashy purple. hatsutori having probably the least blemished magenta since he's got an otherworldly cult leader sort of mood going on, etc.

my personal outlook on color variation for a while has been that not unlike a gemstone, there are different degrees of purity and such, and if you consider theodore the "purest", then the other fragments appearance suddenly start to make sense. something like this:

tho, idk if this has any basis in reality. it's just a funny thing i thought of... (yknow since fragments, rocks... etc)

as for eigha... his eyes are darker than ryuu's. i feel like that's consistent with someone wearing contacts over normal dark eyes. i do think this is a factor, because the contacts in miwa's bathroom are noted to be black, not brown. i think red would definitely look weird under brown contacts, since yknow that kind of thing does peek out a bit. someone would have clocked the deception pretty fast if they compared dita in the show and miwa out and about. of course it's a lot of show don't tell. you just find miwa's disguise in his bathroom. it's obvious the implication is "dita's look is what miwa actually looks like" but the vigilant might still consider other avenues. i'm lazy so i just go with the most obvious and probably intended implication. this is just an aside, but i honestly would have snapped, the fragments have lightly colored eyelashes and eyebrows, so on work days miwa would have to tint them to look darker going to the studio or whatever else, wipe it all off and get in dita costume, then put it back on to go back home, then go home and wipe it off again...

we don't know what either person who plays eigha looks like, but since it's the inverse situation... i guess it makes sense. (if shiyo really is actually a real harada, it'd be auburn dark red under there?!?!!?!! <-instant otaku death) he does have a sprite where his eyes are glowing, but since it's a 2.5D show i don't rule out special effects, post processing, etc.

since the game collaboration is based on the movie, i'm fully assuming it's shiyo, but there's really nothing saying it can't be taka...?? i have no idea!!! i think it's definitely shiyo though!!!

overall, i didn't observe anything abnormal about miwa compared to the other fragments, but i also have no idea why izu's eye color is so drastically different from misumi's. i expected them to be the same since it's misumi's fragment after all.

[askyofexplodingstars]

posting this wip to make myself legally obligated to finish it in time sdmsjka

there the silly guys go

+ my first set of NEO doodles i did to prepare for this, haven't actually drawn him at all til now

[onebizarrekai]

v3′s art is comically terrible for a professionally distributed game in a series: a compilation

in this not-essay I will list all of the mistakes and problems I have spotted in v3′s art. don’t worry, it’s entirely for fun and I’m doing this on a whim, so please feel free to not take this seriously but also it’s hilarious and embarrassing how ridiculous this is like what happened did they speedrun the whole production or what

see, there are some things you can take as meta like “they made it bad on purpose to allude to the downfall of tv shows that have been on air for much too long” but I have a very strong feeling this is not the case due to the nature of some of these errors

disclaimer, the more I study this art, the more I fear that the artists were underpaid and underslept, so if this is in fact the case, I am so sorry to all of them but also I’m going to make fun of the art anyway

anyway let’s get started!

if you study this image for longer than 5 seconds, you will see that kaede is the only one fully shaded and keebo is literally just his normal sprite pasted into the image. every other character is just an ordinary ref, hence most of them facing the exact same direction with neutral expressions on their faces. it looks like a bad edit, and is probably one of the worst pieces of art in the game. it kind of gets better from here on, but my roasting will not.

with that out of the way, here’s the problem that officially bothers me the most and clarifies my viewpoint of “this is not meta and an actual lack of company communication”

this freaking cg, which seems normal at a glance, but some wiseass was like “oh, kaede is a girl, so obviously she’s going to be shorter than the Male Protagonist™” ah, that’s funny. because if you look at the character bios, kaede is, in fact, one inch taller than shuichi and not like 6 inches shorter as she is shown here.

also shuichi’s shoulder is disproportionate and horrendous and he looks vaguely like a jojo character, but I wasn’t even thinking about that until right now.

thanks guys, 50% of the fandom who has never bothered to check these bios thinks that kaede is like 5′3 (did the developers really put so little thought into her to the point where drawing her correctly in the game didn’t even matter??)

also I would like to point out that, even though this isn’t related to the art itself, yes, a character kaede’s size being only 117 lbs is unfeasible, but this applies to literally every character in danganronpa ever and it’s not new news that it’s unrealistic

update: someone in the tags informed me that in versions of the game that use centimeters, like the japanese version, kaede is actually shorter than shuichi, which just adds another thing to the list of weird decisions the localization team made for no reason. that said, after confirming this, kaede is 167 cm in the original, while shuichi is 171 cm, which are approximately 5′6 and 5′7 respectively, but one inch is still nowhere near as drastic as it is depicted above. (in spite of this, I would rather depict kaede as slightly taller, so I’m probably going to keep doing that.)

the journey continues!

bro if you want kaede to have shoulder length hair then stick to it to begin with

you can pretend this is at an angle all you want but they definitely committed the shorter kaede sin a second time

wait a goddamn second.

DO YOU SEE THIS

no………… it wasn’t kaede who shrank. it was shuichi who got taller

speaking of which, can we talk about how shady the perspective is in this elevator pic? look at shuichi and kokichi in comparison to kaede. kokichi, who is canonically 7 inches (edit: or 5, if you’re loyal to the original) shorter than kaede, looks taller than kaede. he’s growing too. what steroids are these gays taking

running into the room, electric boogaloo: I don’t think tsumugi is supposed to be the same height as kokichi

gonta… gonta you’re lookin a bit like a jojo character there

I love how kaito’s head looks kind of like it was pasted onto his body. why is he the same size as shuichi? shouldn’t he be high school bully size or something? his torso is teensy

ah yes, white angie.

I love this cg but why is shuichi’s right hand so much bigger than his left hand

I also love how this cg looks like they literally took pictures of trees and pasted them into the background, especially on the left. the shadows are so weird, especially closer to the ceiling, it’s difficult for me to believe they didn’t do exactly that.

return of Enlarged shuichi

puberty update: kokichi is now taller than shuichi in spite of shuichi never missing leg day. what crimes will he commit

I have to mention it, guys. this has to be one of the worst danganronpa cgs. kokichi’s facial proportions look atrocious. look at the way his face sticks out like his jaw is in the wrong place. his scarf is a pasted texture. that’s it. this moment was so iconic but the cg just looks so… so… off. like something is terribly wrong, but you can’t put your finger on it.

you know what? let’s get into that ‘pasted texture’ thing.

let’s imagine you’re an artist working on a professional game. you’re assigned to draw cgs of kokichi ouma, who has a checkered scarf from hell. sure, it will be terrible to draw, but you only have to draw it once at a time! plus, perspective is pretty important, right? can you be bothered? nah, actually. let’s just copy paste a checkered pattern into the cg, because I’m sure nobody will notice. it’ll blend right in with the other cgs that someone actually put effort into drawing his scarf in, right?

no. the answer is no and I very much noticed. this genuinely looks terrible and I would understand taking a shortcut like that in fanart or even an indie game but this is a full price pc and console distributed game

(an addition: look at kokichi’s TINY HANDS in that last one)

meanwhile, they straight up forgot to color in kokichi’s scarf in this cg.

dude. I forgot about whatever the hell this cg was. anyway look at keebo please just look at him

lovin kaito’s baby arms

real talk, maybe you could argue that he’s missing muscle because he’s deathly sick, but most of his cgs don’t line up with this, and his arms just look disproportionate to his torso size (granted this is a consistent problem across all danganronpa games and a lot of characters have this weird problem, like hajime, but also kaito is bigger than hajime so I kind of have higher expectations of him) maybe it’s his stupid goatee and the way he reminds me of yasuhiro?? it creates this illusion that he’s older than he is and so I keep expecting him to look more like an adult

oh, also rantaro is missing some of his accessories in that video he made–you know the one–but I don’t wanna go back and screenshot it

also you may have noticed that I’m skipping all of the monokub cgs because I literally do not care about them and I’m not even bothering to check and see if they have artistic mistakes in them

JIMMY NEUTRON???

hey um uh kaito you seem to be missing your neck

hey guys do you like my pregame fanart

so, that done, the sprites are also pretty terrible at times. they’re not as interesting to go through, however, and downloading the full sprite sets for every character and studying every single one of them will drive me insane, so I’ll just sum some of the ones I noticed up. I made things for kaede and shuichi before deciding I wasn’t going to get into it, so here are these.

that said, other mistakes include kokichi missing his purple highlights in all of the sprites encompassing a specific pose, stray pixels all over the place on everyone, and everyone also has heavily inconsistent shading, but literally all I think about is how pregame shuichi is unshaded and two of kaede’s pregame sprites have glaring outfit change mistakes in them

anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my ridiculous ramble. in all seriousness, there’s this looming presence of some lack of communication in the development team, like with all the art and design inconsistencies, pieces and sprites that look rushed, stray pixels, and missing basic proportional stuff. these are the kinds of things that you supposedly have to pretty much have in the bag in order to get jobs in professional businesses, so it’s really weird to me that this game suffers from so many of these problems. it’s like they tried to make the art so much more crisp than the other games, but it fell on its face as they realized it was going to take longer to draw everything and they started to rush. it’s weird, because the coloring itself looks normal–it’s just sloppily drawn, and the proportions are a mess once put into the context of perspective. many of the cgs look like they were drawn by different people, and I’m still not over the fact that half of kokichi’s cgs have his scarf pasted in as a texture.

the moral of the story is that if you’re selling a game at full price that also happens to be in a series that has had 3 very good games in it already the stakes should probably be higher than this. v3 has been out for more than 3 years and it’s still $40 (did it cost more than that before? I sure hope not), and the overarching quality of the game is just not as high as the other games. I’m not saying that the other games don’t have any problems with their art at all, they’re just not as glaringly obvious and every artistic choice in those games feels intentional.

regardless, I had a blast roasting the art at 2am, so maybe you got a kick out of all this chaos.

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

2019 Megaman Valentine’s Day (Humor) Contest Results!

Apologize for the delay on this once again. Didn’t expect to be posting these results nearly a month after Valentine’s Day, but the extended deadline did help make sure we got a healthy competition this year. Thank you to all for your patience!

I’m going to start out this year’s results thread with a totally appropriate callout 4-Koma that is not technically an official humor entry from SubzeroIceSkater, even though it fit the rules. But it’s worth posting, to publicly humiliate myself anyways:

I'll take my token Akane-in-an-entry bribery any way I can get it, since nobody felt inclined to draw Mrs. Stelar’s fresh, piping hot, iced cinnabuns for their talent entry this year...Did I just type that? I mean, um...

Play me off, Johnny!

I kid, I kid! After all, these contests aren’t about me, it’s about the characters you love and want to draw. And that’s what makes everyone’s entries unique and helps motivate you to create time after time. And I am grateful for it, whether you are a long-time participant, or the yearly new contestant.

I’ll be doing things a little different this year, because the post would be way too long if I kept everything in one. So this first post will just contain the Humor category, and I will have a second, separate post for the Talent category. Raffle prize winners will be contained in both posts, so keep an eye out after my commentary on your art, for some possible winners here. The rest will follow soon. I’ll be contacting all winners soon enough, so sit tight!

Here are your humor winners and full gallery of entries, after the break!

Category 2 (Humor) -  Princess Sigmia Returns

A much smaller group of entries for this category, but the zany mergers were great, all the same. I thank you all for getting as creative as you could with this concept, as it was a little more than just a mere gender swap you had to consider, when designing your combined character. Whether you won or not, know I truly enjoyed seeing all of these pics. 

I know imgbox gallery gave people some issues before, so as always, let me know if images or links appear broken. Crossing my fingers this works smoothly this year! XD

After each entrant’s name, there will be a link in the character description to the entry, too, just in case the inserted external images don’t load for you. 

[Full humor gallery]

1.) SubzeroIceSkater - Arc Weldy Falls In Love (featuring Tundroll.EXE the Arc Weldy, plus ‘Master Albert’)

[Page 1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]

Comics with length and substance always seem to steal the show, and this year was no different. Joining the ranks of fenril-huayra, wintesm and so many others in recent years, I believe SubzeroIceSkater’s wonderful tale will stick with many of you, as much as it did me. As a humor piece, sure there are great sight gags and comedic lines all around, but it also has a lot of heart. You feel really bad for Arc Weldy to start out, but also feel so many emotions of compassion, friendship and love throughout. Wonderful work, and thank you for all the effort you put into this massive entry!

Also, are 21 pages not enough for you all? Well, SubzeroIceSkater also had ANOTHER 15 pages worth of ideas, alternates, and outtakes to go with this comic. And, while I won’t upload each link or image here, because this one entry is long enough, you can see them in THIS GALLERY LINK. They are also really great.

*For coming in 1st, SubzeroIceSkater has won $100 via Paypal, or a prize of their choice up to that value.*

2.) @drewblossom​ - Geminette 

Nearly equally deserving in length, Drew’s comic more closely followed the Bowsette-style transformation gimmick to give Snake Man his comeuppance. The classic bait-and-switch kiss, turned on it’s head with a ‘lil Search Snake rather than a gross Toad Man, was a funny end. 

Design-wise, I really liked what you did to create Geminette’s look. Splitting his helmet crystals to the side as like dual hair broaches, and keeping the motif with the choker, armband, garter straps and chestplate, worked out nice. I can see why Snake was so easily charmed. 

*For coming in 2nd, Drew has won $50 via Paypal, or a prize of their choice up to that value.*

3.) @wimzik​ - Rollbble.EXE

If dominatrix Devil Roll wasn’t enough of a pain in Rockman’s side, I shudder to think how bad a Bubble Roll would be, puku! Or, would her devotion to him be as great (or clingy) as Bubs was with Shademan-sama? 

Taking Bubbleman’s yellow flipper feet motif, and turning it into a fish fin design, both on her feet, legs, and hair ribbon, turned out pretty neat. If anything, I’m sure this transformation gives her very kissable lips, though! XD I have to wonder what her plan is with that Roll Navi Data chip, now that the chocolate is all gone, and what it will do to Rockman?

*For coming in 3rd, wimzik has won $25 via Paypal, or a prize of their choice up to that value.*

And the remaining wonderful entries, in alphabetical order by alias:

@3-oclock-blues​ - Dr. Willis 

What you talkin’ ‘bout, Wil-lis? Or Dr. WHY?!-ris, if you prefer. With that absolutely awesome wide-eyed grin, she’s hellbent on living together with Zero in a world where only Reploids exist. Being that they both have spent time piloting flying machine bodies, and have sorta possessed some form of an evil energy, it’s a rather fitting combo. Unless you are Zero, and it’s your dad and girlfriend merged into one being. Awk~waaaarrrd. 

The skull motif and spikes are subtle on Iris’ design, but fit in really well. Her bangs are just wild enough on both sides now, that it gives that Wily hair vibe, without having to give her a horrible, bushy mustache. XD

*3-OClock-Blues is the winner of Raffle Prize #2 - The X OCW artbook and Zero keychain*

@bracedshark​ - Mettayer

This might be a terrible concept, but I’m going to type it. When a Met pops out from under it’s helmet, especially in sprite form, usually all you can see is the whites of it’s dark, beady eyes under that helmet, on it’s dark grey/black blobby round body form. With Layer, you don’t get to see her eyes under her bangs, hardly ever. So staring at Mettayer’s underboob for too long, due to her chest armor mimicking a Met helmet, all I see is a Met’s pair of closed bottom eyelids, and I’m seriously waiting for those eyes to open up and start staring back at me. Would that not be the most wrong way for Mettayer’s eyes to work?! But I can’t unsee it! Her belly button even feels like a snoring, sleeping Met’s mouth. I’ll spare everyone of me editing this art to make my point. But it’s in your head now, isn’t it?

OK, despite that awful paragraph, this is one hot Metall Mommy. Sorry, I’m starting this paragraph off pretty badly, too, I guess. ^^; Despite my interpretation of the combination, the design elements do stand out in a unique way. The fiery reddish-pink hair seems like a different choice considering the characters merged, but it plays off the red of a Met’s mouth and earpiece, and, well, fitting for Valentine’s, too! And instead, you get the Layer color scheme in the pickaxe, so it still connects visually.

@drewblossom​’s 2nd entry - Roll n’ Rock

This bonus entry from Drew flips the genders of both DLN-001 and 002. I liked Roll’s hair bow converting into more of a bow tie, and Rock getting her version of Roll’s hoodie, in a Blue Bomber color scheme. The V-Day card concept, complete with crayon-ish name writing, made for a cute entry. Hearts all around!

@supernovabee​ - Bayer

No, there won’t be any paragraph about underboob eyes for this version of a Layer transformation, as supernovabee has merged her with Bass. Bayer loves belting out her hard and heavy siren song to woo prospective love interests during karaoke night. 

Keeping Layer’s purple hair here actually kinda still keeps a Treble Boost feel, that the color scheme fits seamlessly, to go along with the more obvious Layer armor design pieces.

[s2he-gamewalkthrough]

Part 5: Defeating the Maka Yonshou (Again)

The title really says it all.

If you don’t know what this is about, please refer to this previous post.

[Any new comments by me will be designated by brackets.]

Back to where we left off last time...

The whale-shaped paopei, Kakoten, is attacking the town, for seemingly no apparent reason. If you've read the manga before, then you'll remember that these are the really devastating type of paopei that was used on the city of Zhou.

Oh hey, it's Youzen!

You don't get to read much of the convo between him and Tensho though, before you're rudely swept off to another area (I think) nearby.

Also, wow, the colors are really messed up here. [That’s not from my emulator, I think it was an intentional game design choice.]

And we get to see Nataku! Yay, it's like one big get-together party!

Unfortunately, the "reunion" doesn't last long, as you're immediately forced into a battle with a guy named Ma Reijyu and more of his annoying Kakotens. [The game forces you into a solo battle here between Nataku and this guy. You get to control Nataku.]

Wait... didn't Ma Reijyu get Houshined already? Anyway, just spam Nataku's third attack (a multi-hit attack), and when the Kakoten (the whale thing) gets destroyed, use your standard attack on Ma Reijyu (the... guy). Nataku's second attack is just a more concentrated attack that costs EP and only hits one enemy. You can use this to defeat Ma Reijyu faster, if you want, though it's not necessary and you'd want to save the EP for the Kakotens (which can respawn).

The Kakotens will go down pretty quickly--Ma Reijyu takes a bit longer to go down, and he'll probably summon another Kakoten during the course of the battle. Don't worry about the Kakoten so much; your main objective is to kill Ma Reijyu otherwise he'll just keep summoning more of them.

Nataku is pretty powerful, even this early in the game, so don't worry about him going down too much. I finished the battle in about 4-5 turns with the above strategy.

(I'll fully document Nataku's last two attacks later...)

After the battle, you're swept back to the village where Youzen and Tensho last left off their conversation.

(Youzen looks pretty cute here)

Anyway, he joins your party! Yay!

...My (Tensho's) level looks crappy in comparison here. orz.

Anyway, Youzen's action button allows him to transform Tensho's sprite into a different character. (Press the s key for the WS camp)

It's pretty fun to mess around with... You get random girl, random dude, another random dude, one of Ryuukitsu's disciples (I think it's Hekiun, judging by the hair), Hakkan (the turtle thing that guards the Houshindai), Hakutsuru Doji (the white crane yousei), a random yokai senin, and my personal favorite:

A sheep.

Yes, a sheep.

Just press the s key again to un-transform. I don't know if Youzen's transformation ability actually serves a specific purpose later in the game, as I've never really had to use it (except for my own amusement). We shall see...  Also, the characters are randomized, so it may take a while to get the one you want. There's nothing you can do about that unfortunately.

Going down from Tensho's house, you'll see this guy--the same guy who was talking to Nataku earlier. (I didn't cap that convo because I was lazy...) His name's Ma Reisei, and wasn't he also Houshined?

Going down again, and to the right, you'll meet TWO familiar faces--Ma Reikou (guy with umbrella) and Ma Reikai (guy with guitar). All together, including the Ma Reijyu guy you defeated earlier, they form the Maka Yonshou. But they were all supposed to be Houshined already, so what gives?!

Anyway, here's one of the rare instances where you can actually pick which boss you want to fight. You can either fight Ma Reisei, or Ma Reikou and Ma Reikai. (Ugh, too many "Ma Rei"s.) Ma Reikou and Ma Reikai are harder, obviously, so if you want an easier time, then go with the Ma Reisei fight.

You CAN NOT fight both Ma Reisei and then Ma Reikou and Ma Reikai, because after completing one battle, they will all run up in front of the palace, grouped together (along with Ma Reijyu, the guy we fought earlier using Nataku). But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

There are slight differences between the two battles, (which makes this chapter a bit of a pain to write...) If you choose to fight Ma Reikou and Ma Reikai, then Nataku will join your party then to fight them. If you choose to fight Ma Reisei only, then it's just you and Youzen on your own. I would personally choose to fight Ma Reikou and Ma Reikai, because you can get exp for Nataku there, which is nice. (He still leaves afterwards, though--but you'll meet up with him again soon enough.)

Either way, if you want to level up now, you're still free to. There's nothing holding you back from exiting the town and going back to either the cave or the spaceship area. (Though it's not really necessary, and its probably best to grind after Nataku joins anyway.)

In this walkthrough, I'll only be detailing how to defeat Ma Reikou and Ma Reikai, as Ma Reisei is pretty easy to defeat without any help. (Though if you do need a suggestion, then just spam both Tensho's and Youzen's standard attack until he dies and use Tensho's healing move as necessary.)

But I might as well just detail Youzen's attacks now:

His standard attack is just a slash with the Sansentou (his trident-looking paopei).

His second attack (costing 3 EP) is one where he sends Koutenken (the giant dog-thing) out to attack enemies. Maybe it's just me, but I personally have a hard time getting this attack to hit enemies, and the damage it deals is about the same as Youzen’s standard attack. So I rarely ever find it worth it to use.

His third move (costing 5 EP) is some kind of supporting attack... I don't know what it does but I think it cures status ailments?

His fourth attack allows him to transform into one of the bosses.

For now you can only transform into one of the members of the Maka Yonshou. (It's randomized which character you turn into, and it costs 20 EP too, so beware of that.)

Youzen's fifth move (costing 5 EP) allows him to analyze the enemy you're fighting, which is pretty useful, I guess; as the enemies/bosses don't come with a hit counter so you don’t know how much HP they actually have.

Anyway, back to actually getting the Maka Yonshou out of town.

(Hint/Tip: You won't fight them until you actually "talk" to them.)

And since I'm fighting Ma Reikou and Ma Reikai, Nataku joins the fray!

Okay, onto how to defeat these guys... They're not as easy as Ma Reisei, but they're not too difficult, either. Just spam Tensho's multi-hit attack, stick to Youzen's standard attack (since, as I've said earlier, his second attack doesn't do much damage for the EP it costs), and Nataku's multi-hit attack.

Ma Reikou and Ma Reikai have some pretty annoying attacks of their own, but just have Tensho heal when it's needed and you should be fine. You should preferably take out the umbrella guy first, as he'll tend to block your attacks. After taking him down, you can just use standard attacks to take the other one down. All in all it still took me less than ten turns to beat them. Everyone should get a level up from the exp.

Now HEAL! And SAVE! Nataku leaves your party temporarily, but he'll join you in the next battle. Like I said earlier, all the Maka Yonshou have gathered in front of the castle.

...I must admit, their color scheme of just black, white, and... maroon(?) does look nice when they're standing next to each other like that.

Talking to them will create this monster:

Annnnnd, now we have to defeat it. Nataku rejoins your party here, at full HP and EP. (If you're wondering why he didn't just stay in your party before, well, that's because of the "split path" the game employs here... since you can choose which boss you wanted to fight earlier.)

Anyway, just use Tensho's standard attack, Youzen's standard attack (and secondary attack, if you want), and Nataku's standard attack. And heal with Tensho when the need arises. Yeah... there's not much in the way of strategy right now... especially with your limited characters and attack moves.

The combined Maka Yonshou... basically has all the attacks of the four members separated--making for a pretty annoying boss battle. But it's still a lot less annoying than those to come. (Oh yes... a LOT less annoying than those to come...)

The most annoying part of the battle is when the monster uses some kind of status effect. It's even more annoying for me since I can't read Japanese.

Oh, you can also do "team" attacks now... One with Tensho + Nataku and Youzen + Nataku. Beware, though; as they cost EP from both characters involved, I think.

Anyway, the reason I don't mention team attacks in the above strategy for this boss is because they're not as effective as the standard attacks... at least, not at this level. You'll be doing much more damage with the characters attacking separately, plus your team attacks can still miss, meaning that when it does, your two characters will have basically lost a turn.

After all is said and done, the boss isn't that hard. So far, for boss battles, I still have been able to defeat the boss in around ten turns or less. And everyone should level up again! Yay!

But then we get thrown immediately into a cutscene. Apparently the monster isn't completly defeated yet, so Tensho goes and throws the meteor he found earlier in the spaceship at the monster and it... dies? Well, talk about your duex ex machina!

After some more talking, you're finally free to walk around again. And the town has returned to normal! And Nataku has officially decided to stay in your party! Yay again!

You really have no place to go at this point, so go back and talk to Ki Hatsu. (Insert WALL OF JAPANESE TEXT THAT I CAN’T READ HERE)

When you go to leave the palace, this cutscene will appear. (Mostly capping this pic for Yuukyo... Because she only really has two "faces" in the game...)

Oh hey, Mount Kongrong 2 has now opened up on the map!

To be continued...

[dxfiedfxte-a]

I've got a very random, and probably not really mun-related question! Do you have any favourite official-ish art (like, not fanart that usually needs permission for using it anywhere) of minato? Or a few favourites? Is that one of your background a official thing too?

Hey there anon! I understand your question. 

My favorite art of Minato huh? Tbh I kind of just go with whatever I feel captures the image of the scene well. But there are definitely a few favorite Persona fan-artists I like that goes by the pen name Fuzzy-Ren she is one of the best artists that has made SUPER CUTE MinaFuu pictures. And tbh her art, in general, is just amazing. 

As the second part. I do love official art, usually from the Persona 3 game, the movies, and the spin-offs Minato/Makoto is in. But the bg of my theme was made by my dear friend Beckowsky and the art she used is official art from the Persona 3 Movie Series. she always uses official art so there’s no mix-up with someone else’s work and I try to do the same. 

As an added bonus there was one DeviantArt artist whom I did ask permission to use one piece of art they had made. I had it set as one of my old theme bg’s from my earlier days in the fandom. It was this beautiful art of what they thought Minato would look like in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and I absolutely love the design and style of attire picked for him. DeathNapalm even created a sprite art of Minato based on that same look and tbh I Headcanon that as one of his outfits. Every time I look at the art(especially the sprite art) it makes me wish he actually survived canonly.

But yeah Def check out all the peeps I mentioned, and def look at the pics I’ve linked. They are truly amazing.

[kindawriter-blog]

Retrograde - Part 11

(a/n: It’s been forever and a day since I’ve posted so character pics and parts 1-10 are here: https://kindawriter.tumblr.com/Retrograde 

Should I start marking whose POV it is? I’ve tried to make it obvious but I don’t want to be confusing. I didn’t expect to switch so often when I started this. If it helps, *** = setting & probably POV change; --- = setting change but not POV change; and -*- = POV but NOT setting change (a POV change within a scene). This Part starts with Tina’s POV. Feedback always wanted!)

Part 11

I watch Larry leave from my bedroom, digging my nails into the window frame. The paint chips off, lodging under my fingernail and I jerk my hand back. I quickly dig it out with another nail and look out the window again. I watch his back move down the street.

‘He’s not walking toward Marienne’s,’ I think with a sigh. I’m about to turn away when I see him stumble toward the side of the apartment building down the street, leaning against it. After a few moments he steadies himself, pulling his coat tighter and dragging his feet until they fall into step.

 Turning around, I look over my room. It’s a shrine to misplaced hopes and dreams.  A box of fabric overflows in the corner, my desk has stacks of filled sketchpads, and posters for Spirited Away, The Paris Opera Ballet, and poster boards covered in magazine cutouts of Couture gowns cover the entire wall around it. And fragments of Larry’s and my relationship are hidden in enough places that I’m reminded of him when I usually don’t want to be.

 The little white teddy bear he silently handed me one day hiding under the pillows at the foot of my bed. The hoodie in the back of my closet that he thought he lost, but it smelled like him; like ash and honey. So sweet you’d choke on it.

 Larry and I met officially at a party. I knew who he was, because rumors of the “hot pot head” got around. I’d seen him at one other party before, and I noticed his pattern. He was the candyman. He went from person to person, helping them feel good. He would tell girls he loved their smile, and boys that their hand-me-down kicks with sharpie-drawn designs were dope, he’d make sure to find the quiet people in the corners and make jokes until they laughed enough to draw a crowd. Then he’d turn and walk away as his toothy grin faded to the slightest hint at the corners of his mouth. I’d watch his eyes then; I could tell there was something bearing down on him. He looked lost.

 Finally, at the next party, he noticed me. I was quietly sipping a Sprite on the couch because I agreed to help my friend Izzy get home at the end of the night. I had just set it down and taken out my sketchbook when his skinny but surprisingly heavy body dropped onto the cushion next to me.

 He grabbed the back of his letterman jacket and pulled it roughly over his head, knocking off his snapback. The hat landed on my sketchbook and I grabbed it and tapped him on the arm with it. For some reason it took him a second to notice me. I was watching the way his thin arms suddenly made their muscles known as he pulled his arms free of his jacket. I considered trying to draw them but quickly snapped out of that when he took the hat from my hand.

 “Thank you.” He smiled. “What are you doing over here, all alone?” he asked as he attached his hat to his belt loop and ran his hands through his twists.

 “I just don’t feel like dancing tonight.”

 “What do you feel like doing?” he looked like he actually wanted to know.

 I shrugged. “I was thinking about drawing for a bit.”

 “You draw? Can you show me?” he scooted in the seat a bit until he was turned completely toward me, resting his elbow on the back of the couch and his head on his hand.

 “Um. Sure. What do you want me to draw?”

 “A fox.” He grinned, tapping on the paper. “Like... a magic fox.”

 “You’re going to have to help me with this.” I laughed, moving my pencil carefully along the page. I started with the ears and moved carefully down the silhouette, and ended with a wispy tail.

 “You’re really good at this,” he said, “but it doesn’t look very magical yet.”

 “I think that’s the part I need help with.”

 “Yeah, everyone knows magical foxes need a lot of tails.” He grinned, holding his hand up with his fingers fanned out.

 “Well, since you’re the expert...” I held the pencil out to him.

 He had been leaning closer and closer to watch me, but when I offered the pencil he immediately pulled back and shook his head.

 “I don’t draw. I can’t draw.”

 “That just means you need practice.”

 “I can’t, my-I tried. I’m really bad.” He stammered over his words. It was the first time I’d seen him uncomfortable talking with someone. He usually charmed his way through every conversation.

 I couldn’t remember the last time a guy talked to me and I definitely couldn’t remember ever feeling like the most confident one in the conversation. I wasn’t about to let go of that feeling.

 “Here, it’s not that hard, okay? You’re right handed?”

 He nodded.

 I placed the pencil in his hand and put mine over his, guiding us to the page.

 “Now, you just think of how you want it to look and go with it. I’ll try to help it come out how you want it to. It’s ‘magic’ so it can look like anything you want.” I smiled at him and our hands began to move.

 I could tell he was going for graceful designs and I tried to help them happen. I showed him how we could lay the pencil down to use the side of the lead to make broad ribbons. Eventually our picture looked like a fox sitting in a swirling night sky, with several tails curling and waving behind it.

 He looked at our picture for a moment then gave me a guarded smile. Then someone across the room called for him and I didn’t see him again the rest of the night.

  The next week Larry’s shadow fell on me in the courtyard at school. I was sitting against a low brick wall, sketching between bites of cafeteria chicken nuggets.

 “So what are you drawing today?” he asked. I could only squint up at his silhouette, I couldn’t see if he was smiling. Then he dropped to the ground in front of me, and his bright smile almost made me search for my sunglasses.

 I had pulled my knees up to hide my sketchbook out of habit, and I glanced down at it.

“Well… I’m trying to design clothing. Your fox started it. I’m trying to put fairy tales and city life together. I don’t know what to call it.” I relaxed my legs and angled the pad so he could see it. The outfit was a sort of 1950s style deep blue dress, with a crescent moon pattern on the skirt, and sunflowers drooping in the moonlight along the hem. The dress was sleeveless with a deep red faux fox around the collar, made to look like he was curled up sleeping.

 “This is art,” he murmured so softly I almost didn’t hear it. “The colors and the flowers make me think of that painter? The one who went crazy and sent his ear to some girl?”

 He glanced at me and I almost snapped to correct him (he was right about the story but the way he said it bothered me) but he turned back to the page too quickly. His rough finger traced cautiously over my lines. He didn’t smudge it even a little.

 “Van Gogh,” I said, watching as he studied my work. He nodded without looking away from the page.

 “Do you have more?” he asked as he reached to turn the page but he stopped and waited for me to answer.

 “I don’t have a lot more drawings, but I have ideas.”

 I told him about how I wanted to incorporate a shawl that looked like chain link fence into an outfit, and think of a way to use snails and garden snakes. I turned the page to show him a sketch of a girl in a rain coat patterned after a yellow taxi.  

 “You should make an umbrella for her that’s a leaf. You know Totoro?” He glanced away from the drawing to look at me. I felt my smile spring across my face.

 “Yes. Yeah I totally know what you’re talking about.” I nodded enthusiastically and he laughed lightly.

 “Try it,” he said, and gestured at the page. He watched silently as I drew the oversized leaf and began to add drops of rain.

 The sound of rain hitting my bedroom window takes me out of my memory. I look outside; there’s no trace of him on the street. I worry about him. I can’t help it.

 ***

 When Larry walked out the door, Laurent didn’t react how I expected. Mostly because he hasn’t reacted to anything how I’d expect. I thought he’d get quiet, and close off or go to sleep; the way he’s been this whole time. Instead his anxiety follows the form of Larry’s just moments ago.

 He’s pacing, and pulling at his hair and his eyes keep darting around.

 “Mari, we have to go after him. Where would he go?”

 “Lau, we can’t leave, we have to wait for him. I’m not going out alone right now, and neither are you, especially if that guy who threatened you is out there. He just needs to cool off. He’ll be back,” I grab Laurent’s hands from his hair and find his brown eyes with my own, “I promise.”

 -*-

 Looking at Mari I’m trapped between wanting to wrench my hands from hers and letting her hug me. Instead I gently squeeze her hands and let them fall, and turn away to walk into the bathroom.

 My breath comes out in a shudder and I turn on the sink to hide the noise. Steam starts to build up and I rinse my hands. The cut from the glass is healing. There’s so much I wish I could burn away from my skin. The fog shifts over my reflection and for a second I see Larry. But then I blink and I see what Larry has been seeing. I’m too skinny. My hair is wiry and dull, too lifeless to really call it an afro, despite Marienne’s best efforts. I don’t think about the rest of my body. I know what I’ll see there. I know every pattern of every bruise, flowering like poison roses crawling up my skin.

 Shutting off the hot water; I use my uninjured hand to scoop some cool water to my mouth. The motion makes my ribs twinge and I gasp, holding my side and gripping the sink until my knuckles ache. No. I don’t want to think about it. I can’t, I can’t. Fuck. I drop to the floor, and he’s delivering the first of many soul stealing kicks to any exposed part of me. He stops when Warren tells him to. They always do what Warren tells them to. I jolt back to reality with Mari’s knock.

 -*-

 Lau finally comes out of the bathroom and he’s not okay. I was hoping giving him a little bit of space, safely inside, would help him. But it had been like ten minutes when I heard that thud and I had to check on him.

 Now he still looks anxious but he also looks exhausted.

 “Lau,” I start, and he reluctantly makes eye contact, “I promise. I promise he’s coming back.”

 Laurent takes a deep breath and looks toward the windows. Suddenly lightning flashes across the sky and he jumps, “Shit!” he gasps and shuts his eyes tight.

 “Hey, hey, it’s okay. C’mere.” I pull him to the couch and rest his head on my lap, brushing my hand over his hair. “I’m sorry, it’s going to be okay.” But he gently takes my hand in his, and holds it still over his chest.

 “Please; please don’t do that.”

 “Oh, I didn’t even mean to do it, sorry. It’s habit, I thought it would help.”

 “I-It does, it used to,” he sighs, absentmindedly touching my braided bracelet on my wrist, still trapped in his grip, “Marcus used to do that to calm me down.”

 I watch him and he glances at me before quickly looking away. I push away everything telling me to interrogate him, find out who Marcus was and where he’s been. It’s not time. It’s not my place. I settle for not changing the subject, but also not digging deeper.

 “Did it work? Did it help you feel better?”

 “Sometimes. But I don’t… I can’t think about him right now.”

 “Okay.”

 Eventually Lau falls asleep and ends up on the opposite side of the couch. I don’t think he even does it on purpose. He’s so uncomfortable with touch, even in his sleep.

 I wait up for Larry until eleven, but I wasn’t lying to Laurent. I completely believe Larry is fine and he’s coming home. I finally brush my teeth and climb into my bed at eleven-thirty. By twelve-thirty I hear the front door open and shut. After some shuffling through the apartment I feel the bed dip behind me. His arm wraps around me so tight it’s hard to turn to face him. When I turn over he hugs me tighter and hides his face in the pillow.

 He’s in a dry t-shirt and shorts, but his twists are cold and damp. I run my hand over his hair. I smell the air between us out of habit, but I get nothing. “Did you drink?” I whisper. He shakes his head, still not looking at me. My hand moves to his cheek. “But you wanted to.” He nods barely and his shoulders start to shake. I hold him tighter and let him fall apart, cradling his head to my chest.

 I’m glad my comforting instincts can help someone. I have no idea what I’m doing anymore.