#auranovablogger

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Bunch of Darkstalkers memes

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Hi there people. Just wanted to give my personal words regarding how the process of helping @yourweebmystic with this Darkstalkers media drive was. Let me tell you, it was a journey. So... I don't know exactly when I started helping them with the drive, but the first anthology manga I bought was this one:

Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge by Sony Magazines. The biggest reason I bought this was because of the story, 'Monsters and The Secret of Immortality'. Why? Because of the way Mei-Ling looked based on some preview screenshots I saw.

A story with crazy details and designs for characters, I tell ya what. Eventually after that, just started snowballing where I would go on Buyee and ebay to find and purchase whatever manga Weeb didn't have in the drive. I'd scan, clean-up, and send the files to Weeb so she could get them into the drive so we could share with many of ya'll who likely never seen this stuff since it just is little known in the public eye and conscious of the Darkstalkers fandom. As time went on and we had a list of manga we had and didn't have, things started getting harder. Beyond scouring the typical sites to buy second-hand manga, I had to implore more unusual tactics to get what I wanted. Going to the Darkstalkers wiki that had very barebone entries on the different manga, they interestingly had ISBN (International Standard Book Number) of each manga on their pages. From there, I was able to hunt down some other tricky manga on other places, like amazon. The most bizarre one was on a website called abebooks.com from a co.uk part of the site. I'd like to share the cover of which one it was, but my receipt doesn't really help and I can't find any info to corroborate which Vampire Hunter Manga it was. But yeah, we would search high and low. And yes, we did quite a pretty penny to get some of these purchased. But in good time, we managed to track down, scan, and document them into the drive! And it was rewarding to be part of a passion project that a friend started. 😃

While there are now more official manga left to purchase, there are still stories that we could get translated. During the height of our hunt, we did translate certain stories...mostly those with Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling cause I am biased. But yeah. Maybe we will pick up one day with getting more translations, but for now we are pretty content. We got stuff to do and make. Cheers everyone!😎🤚

Did you know it’s officially the one year anniversary of the Darkstalkers manga drive? Maybe go do yourself a favor and check out some obscure, officially licensed Darkstalkers mangas (including audio dramas!).

And to those that are already aware of it’s existence, thank you to for showing support for the drive <333

Link to Drive

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Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling Shrine

A shrine dedicated to mís corazóns y mís almas!🥰💙💛

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Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling Official Lore Project

Ever since I had watched this video, I have become inspired to make a video of a similar style and vibe:

First of all, please watch this video and check out Dan's other videos. Funny guys with a passion for Fatal Fury and SNK as a whole.

With that said, I want to discuss what I am planning and working towards in the future. I want to deep dive into making a detailed character essay video regarding both Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling of Darkstalkers. While video making is not new to me as I did so in the past (roughly +10 years ago on Youtube), this will be the first time I have made a lore/character essay. Research to a higher caliber and script writing will be first times for me in video making. Understandably, there is very little in the Darkstalkers games to work with and many would say to look at the Darkstalkers wiki. However, from initial searches beyond the Fandom site, there appear to be errors or straight up made-up information on there. Not only that, but some information is also missing... which is not the fault of the people there.

As it turns out, a lot of the lore and biographies in the series are behind a language barrier that those outside of Japan can't easily access. While some would suggest using Google Translate and image recognition to get the job done, that is out of the question. That program is quite flawed in catching the nuance of the language that only a native speaker would know.

You might be asking, 'Aura, what are trying to say?' Well, what I am in the works of doing is gathering all the Japanese text from scans of official Darkstalkers guidebooks in order to fully get the scope that the developers intended for Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling. I will do my best to detail all that is uncovered to help portray a cohesive narrative about the background and story of these two sisters in Darkstalkers. But not only that, I want to also head canon and analyze that information and every aspect of them to also draw out ideas. Their style of clothing, their names, their Chinese background, etc.

But not only will I use the official lore from Japanese texts, I also intend to use this:

'What is this cover?' you may be asking. This is 'Vampire Hunter Gaiden: Lei-Lei Hen - Owaranai Haru (ヴァンパイアハンター外伝 レイレイ編 終わらない春)'. Translated as 'Vampire Hunter Tale: Hsien-Ko~ Endless Spring', it is written by Akihiko Ureshino (嬉野秋彦) with illustrations by Kohime Ose (桜瀬琥姫). While this is not canon to the games, it is a licensed light novel released back in 1996/1/1 that initial Google translations from Japanese wiki pages lead me to believe that I need to look into this story. There are mentions in how the personalities of the sisters, especially Mei-Ling, are similar to the Darkstalkers OVA versions of them, another licensed piece of media that released months after this novel and is one of the few rare pieces of media to leave Japan and be translated. To build a cohesive idea of who Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are, I feel it is important that I get this novel translated and read to figure out what the writer came up with for Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling, one of the first pieces of licensed media to do so. It will certainly cost a lot of money as I have over 224 pages worth of text that must be translated, but I am willing to do it for these two characters I cherish dearly.

That, for personal Cryas Darkstalkers reasons, and because this novel inspired a doujin that means the world to me, 'Share':

Overall, the scans from the official lore, the games, this light novel, and the OVA will be used to help try to build upon 'Who are Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling? What are they like? Where did they come from? Their goals and thoughts, what are they?', along with other bits I wish to convey as I find them fun to bring up and discuss.

Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling mean the world to me, and I wish to finally give them both the justice they deserve after nearly 30 years. Speaking of 30, I am planning to try and get this project finished by March 3rd, 2025, as that is the anniversary of Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge releasing into Japanese arcades.

I'll update of my progress as time goes on, so I'll leave you with what I have so far and my other plans for the video:

The scans of the novel have been fully finished and am in the process of getting a quote.

If you wish to see the novel yourself, whether out of curiosity or because you are fluent in Japanese, I'll let you have a look:

I am intending to commission artists to help illustrate aspects of the script when the time comes. Make it feel like a group effort by the community. 😊

If any of you are aware of good video editing programs that are cheap or free, please let me know.

For now, that is all I have for you. Cheers peeps. 😎✌️

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Been having a lot of thoughts about my Octoling OCs, Orra and Celeste. Got some juicy lore cooked up for the two from Before Splatoon 1 up to the present day. I just... would want to wait till I actually have designs for them. Till then, have these screenshots of the two goobers. They are meant to be adults. 23 for Orra and 20 for Celeste during the events of Splatoon 1. So just figure the passage of time for their eventually ages of 30 and 27 respectively.

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Aura's Darkstalkers Tier List

A tier list based on my personal feelings of each character. Looking at their designs and my thoughts on them with a combination of the canon games and OVA and discussions I have had with friends over the years. Note I only hate the character in F tier. With that said, I'd like to give my reasons for each in descending order:

The Shao Siaster, Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling: Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are my favorite characters of all time. They are the reason I even care about this franchise to begin with. When I first did my curious search on the Darkstalkers Wiki about Hsien-Ko in January of 2020, I was hooked on both of them. Their lore, their characteristics, their designs: something just clicked. But not just clicked, something connected to a soul like level. No other fictional characters have I ever obsessed over, made so much art of, thought about straight for years, or spent literally hundreds if not close to thousands on art commissions and merchandise. Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling mean literally everything to me. They are why I learned about this series, why I met some of the amazing friends I have now, and the inspiration for my drive with art. Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are truly the greatest. Equal in my eyes and in my heart.

Felicia: In general, I feel Felicia is a great character. The idea of her backstory, who she is, her goals, and personality are generally winners in my book. Despite likely being hated for purely being what she is, she still preservers and believes that peaceful coexistence can occur with Darkstalkers and humans. Noble are her goals and kind is her soul. Her design is kind of a mixed bag as it definitely has some horn to it, I feel, but I like the overall color scheme to her. Plus, who she is, and her lore heavily carries her.

Lilith: Honestly, she is carried by what I think of in my head. She has a hell of a lot of potential as a character. Design wise, nice juxtaposition from Morrigan. I dunno... I think she is cool the more as time has gone on and the more, I have talked with friends.

Jedah: He is a fascinating individual to think about when you think about the world he grew up in. Makai is a fucked-up realm, and the dude showed some semblance of actually giving a damn about the future of his home. But then he got fucked over by his confidant. All that stuff twisted his mindset and set him on the path for what he believed was the right path for all once he came back from death. Interesting individual indeed and a much more compelling antagonist compared to Pyron.

Jon Talbain: His backstory is fine. His personality is alright. I just really love the idea of a martial artist werewolf. And honestly, the idea of an individual trying to conquer his 'inner demons' is a cool set up. It has potential to be really cool in my head. I do like some of his sprite animations do show a bit of snark to him despite his generally stoic if not angry demeanor. Also the idea he looks after some kids and potentially teaches them martial arts is cute.

Victor: His family dynamic with his big sister Emily is so bloody precious. And Victor himself is a generally nice dude. He just wants to make his creator proud and have a good life with his big sister. Lovable dude.

Zabel: My friends have tainted me, the bastards. But yeah, Zabel has a lot of class and style for being the zany, metalhead that he is. Great animations, lots of energy, and honest to god I love his tongue. Just how he swings it around in a lot of official art. He is a cool dude. Also, his general design has a great unique flair to zombies/ghouls.

Morrigan: Looking into her personality and backstory, she is interesting. Just too bad people only focus on the surface and porn. But for what she is, a hedonistic thrill seeker who is confident in herself, she is neat.

Donovan: The idea behind is backstory is compelling: due to having no control over his vampiric nature, he killed everyone he knew and loved, including his own mother. Traumatized and with a dash of self-hatred, he wants to find a way to right the wrong he did. Cool idea. And then he watches over this child with incredible potential in supernatural powers and has this wacky sword at his disposal. Nice, nice. One thing about his design is that I bloody hate how his top clothing is skintight compared to his clothing down below. It is honestly bad. But he is carried by his backstory.

Huitzil: Robots are cool. He can do cool stuff and one of them looks after this child. I think he is neat.

Anita: The mystery of her backstory and powers are cool and worth thinking about an exploring. But beyond that, not much else her. Sucks what Capcom did to her and ole Donny boi with VSAV.

Sasquatch: Lovable dude. I wanna give him a hug and take him out to get some smoothies and food.

Q-Bee: I have some personal gripes with the character: all petty things. Design wise... why is she the way she is? Considering that Soul Bees reside in Makai, I doubt their disguise would work well when there are not a lot in the way of humans. I mean...unless there are Makains who see them as weak cause they have human like looks to them. I dunno. The 'breasts' on their bodies kinda look dumb. If they really went in with the whole insectoid look, I think they would be cool looking. As is, they have some neat ideas: the fake eyes and face being able to open to a real mouth.

Pyron: He reads to me as a Saiyan. Prideful warrior who wants to be riled up in the heat of battle. Will start slow as he tests his foes. That is neat. But honestly, not much else.

Rikuo, Anakaris, Bishamon: Honestly, they all fall into the category of having some cool things, but not being interesting enough for me. But I like them more than those below them. Rikuo is a goddamn handsome merman with a wife and son, Anakaris has commandments and kingdom, and Bishamon has his dog and wife. Cool dudes.

Bulletta: I mean the idea of her looking innocent but deep down being this psychotic monster is good. But that is it. Not much else going for her. But it is good, just not enough compared to everyone above her.

Demitri: He is a general sore loser and pathetic individual who thinks he is hot shit but has picked fights with people far stronger than him. Dude lost to the literal strongest individual in Makai and held a grudge long enough that when it turns out the dude passed away, he directed his rage at Belial's daughter and heir. And she did nothing to Demitri other than exist and be the heir to the Aensland house. Sure, he gave Pyron a good suck, but he potentially still lost to Jedah if we take into a possible account that one recording where it implies, he was killed by Jedah. Also, I feel his clothing design, while fine, looks fucking stupid with being skintight. Dude is trying to have this sense of class and high society, but he looks ridiculous. He is dumb and terrible and in all that, it makes him fun to absolutely shit on. He is funny and that makes him likeable.

Marionette: The idea of her mirror match thing is interesting and the design if fine. But not much else to go with

Shadow: A tad less than Marionette, but same general premise. Except dude is a body snatcher.

Dee: The concept is sound. The idea of Donovan losing to his inner demons and becoming nothing more but a shell of what he was. Brilliant idea considering the other side of Darkstalkers: Darkstalkers is silly, but it is also grim. But this idea is all completely ruined by an absolutely godawful design. If this guy is a barely functioning shell of an individual, only continuing due to the idea of finding something, why does he try even dress up in the attire he wears? He should be in tatters, his hair unkempt, just overall look like someone who has not taken the time to look after themselves. But no, just take make him look like Demitri, but even worse.

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Octo Aura

I recently found out I could use my Pro Controller's cable to connect my Switch to the computer for easy transfer of photos. So, with all my pics from Splatoon 3 now on my computer, I wanted to go back and find pics of my Octoling. From their humble beginning to the present day. So first off, my avatar...or my specifically, my OC in Splatoon 3! Name: Orra Gender: Non-Binary. Pronouns: They/Them/He/Him/She/Her (Orra doesn't really care) So, to start off:

Orra's travel from beyond to the Splatlands with their Little Buddy they met on the road.

Thanks to help from friends from back home, they were able to acquire a weapon they hold dear from their homeland: The Inkbrush! With his trusty Inkbrush, she was able to begin their journey in making a splash among the Inklings and Octolings of Splatsville!

Slowly but surely, Orra managed to get more sick gear to show off their style.

While they still had not found what made her feel like 'Orra', he still enjoyed experimenting with what they could buy after a long day of Turf War. They even were joined by a new friend they made in Splatsville. 😀

Orra managed to find the hat of their dreams one day at Naut Couture! They even found this comfy shirt at Man-o'-Wardrobe. Been quite a long time.

This jacket and shoe are pretty swag. While Orra isn't too fussed about shoes, the top still wasn't entirely there. But still, a nice pair of threads.

As months upon months pass in their time in their new home of Splatsville, Orra made some new friends! One of them is even part of team of professionals!

Finally, Orra has managed to find the fit of their dreams! This style of wear speaks to the heart and soul of Orra! They shout out to the town and spring in glee!!! 😎

Oh what is this? Orra appears to have met a friend from the past, Celeste! Seems she is excited to see her friend, looking fresh as ever. They catch up and even style on the citizens of Splatsville. Even Little Buddy is here to meet Celeste!

Celeste seems to have arrived just in time for the recent Splatfest! After Orra has a long day of splatting for Team Fist Bumb, they both head out to town to eat some grub and party in the main square! Even though Fist Bumb lost, Orra still remembers the absolute blast she had with his friends. 🥰

Orra wanted to try out these cool goggles he got from Celeste, along with trying out the Painbrush. She heard that a new kit for this weapon might be coming out soon, so they want to get some practice in to get a good feel for the weapon.

Orra and Celeste head out to Wahoo World to go for a day of fun. Silly goobers had a great day.

And so far, that is the story of Orra. But of course, Splatoon 3 is still on going. And thus, Orra has more memories to make. I hope you enjoy this and look forward to more snapshots of Orra's time in Splatsville. 💙🥹😌

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Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are home!!!!

Look at mís corazóns y mís almas!!! 🥺😭

THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL!!! 🥹💙💛

The booklet was a surprise! Quite nice material and wonderful to see the beautiful art!

Oh yeah, here is Q-Bee and Marionette for fans of them🫡

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this puts a massive smile on my face and a spring in me step!🥺🙏😖

I just wake up to get back into the writing business only to witness your favorite artist reblog one of your post holy fucking shit I didn't even know they have a tumblr post! That's fucking awesome!

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Share (Murai Shinobu)

Alright... since you have to have a Tumblr account to even view things on Tumblr and I am relatively small in the grand scheme of things, I will take this time to share with ya'll a piece of media that means a lot to me. I do feel a bit iffy about this since it is a doujin, which are already a legal gray area. But... I just really wanna talk about it a bit.

So first of all, the cover:

What is 'Share'? Share is a doujin created by one Murai Shinobu as both author and illustrator. The story starts at the time the sisters are in their reincarnated lives. However, it then jumps back to the time period of Vampire Hunter, in their first lives. From there, the story follows Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling as they are going about their travels, hunting down Darkstalkers. The story takes place seemingly not too long after they used the Igyo Tenshin No Jutsu to change themselves. It is beautiful story of how Mei-Ling is trying to cope with the major changes that have befallen her younger sister as a result of their shared desire to save their mother. Wonderful art, great composition of scenes, and some heartwarming and touching moments, I feel it is a story that any fan of the sisters should give a read. Allow me to share just a few samples from the story:

You might have noticed the English dialogue. That is because I got the story translated by a wonderful translator, Zeus. Using the translations, I then went in to localize the translation and edit in dialogue that flowed in English better and matched with the personalities of the sisters.

So why go out of my way? Because when I got this doujin, my first ever, I was taken away by the wonderful art and what I was getting from context clues. Plus, it is a story centered around my favorite characters in all of media! I cannot read Japanese at all, so I was left to wonder what Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling were saying. There is actually a very specific page that really made me want to know what was being said! However, I'll share the original version:

How could you not want to know what in the world is going on here!? I certainly did and after finally learning what all was being said throughout the story, I was further enchanted. The fact is the art of the sisters done by Murai and especially this story are a major influence in the way of how I shaped Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling's personalities in Cryas Darkstalkers. Murai portrays Hsien-Ko as this very positive, cheerful individual who is willing to go forward and do what must be done. Not only that, but she also dearly loves her big sister and will absolutely do what she can to protect her from harm. However, she also does recognize that she has changed and is not human anymore in body. She isn't blissfully ignorant of that and is totally fine with the fact she is a jiangshi, even recognizing some of the perks to being one. Despite that, Hsien-Ko still believes she is still that same person she was before she changed. Mei-Ling is portrayed as a calm and thoughtful woman, if a bit too concerned. She plans out their travels, engages in affairs with humans, and is there to watch over and aid Hsien-Ko in any way she can. She still views Hsien-Ko as her sister, but is overtime concerned about the changes that have come over Hsien-Ko. In essence, concerned about the loss of Hsien-Ko's humanity and if this would overall change her from the sister she grew up with. It is some gripping stuff that tugs at my heartstrings and I love it! 😭💙💛

Now you may be saying, "Aura, this story sounds awesome! Can I purchase this awesome doujin and see things for myself!?'' Sadly, no. Since I last checked on Murai's BOOTH store, the doujin is out of stock. In fact, I am willing to bet a bit of money that I managed to purchase the last physical copy of Share. Maybe it was fate for this to happen? Who knows, but it happened.

I can possibly hear you shouting, "Aura, if this is out of stock, how can I read this awesome story!? HOW!?" Well, the answer lies in a Google Drive I have. So, while I tend to only do this for big fans of the sisters I find and friends, I'll give ya'll a chance to read this for yourself. I would ask that you do not go about uploading this stuff to any sites on the internet. Just please, share the drive with others if you wish to show others.

If you do read the story, please let me know what you think of it as I'd love to hear!

And Murai: if you somehow come across this and are not comfortable with the images shared and Google Drive link, I will absolutely be willing to take down the images and delete the link if you request so. While I would love others, especially English fans of Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling, to read this wonderful story, it is still your doujin and I will respect your wishes. 🙇

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Just to get things flowing here and to prove I am human, here is this amazing gift art I made for a Japanese artist known as Casa. She really loves Elena. Was suer fun to make. :) Check her out here: https://twitter.com/aoelena_3rd

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Big Run High Score so Far!!🤩

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So in the current Splatfest, had two moments where against Team Love, my own team and we had Squid Parties happen! Was cute. :) Spread the love!

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Hooray, Darkstalkers opinions: I do not like the Hsien-Ko x Zabel Ship. I have always viewed it as pure superficial in that 'hey, this woman is blue skin and a living corpse. This guy is blue skin and a living corpse too. They would make a great couple.' Heck, even the developers thought that idea in having Zabel have a thing for Hsien-Ko so he can ride the coat tails of her popularity. Yes, his sprite of being love stricken is cute and fun. And I inherently have nothing wrong with him having a crush for her. But at the end, it has no substance. It just exists.

I got good friends who are into the ship (I am calling you out @yourweebmystic and @missnessabless) and I will not bad mouth them for being into it. The art they make is cute and fun and I have seen some fun art of the two in pics. But just fundamentally with Hsien-Ko's personality and Zabel's personality, I just cannot see it legitimately working at all. I think it is worth exploring to maybe see why Zabel is even interested in Hsien-Ko beyond just her appearance. Yes, she is beautiful, but it would be neat if there was more than that. Falling for someone whom he will never obtain because the dude is not going to change who he is. Just anything is better than the typical shallow reasons.

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Dakis of Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling. Hsien-Ko I was able to purchase from the artist's Esty while I commissioned for Mei-Ling. They bring me comfort and good dreams. 😊💙💛

The artist in question by the way:

https://twitter.com/ryonesaru

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Salmon Run Tier List

In Splatoon 3, I have put many an hour towards Salmon Run. I love that mode so much, so therefor I have my own opinions about how each weapon feels to use. This is based on the fact that I am good at the game but use stick control in order to aim because I just can't use motion control. Subjective, but the only objective thing is that the Grizztana is legit god tier, and it is a skill issue if you have problems.