#but if it ended up being the very thing that influenced mechas to do the golden trend that would be so so fucking funny

[no1ryomafan]

My friends randomly stumbled upon the existence of God Mars-it was SRWs fault-and we only watched a single random episode that wasn’t even the first one but it has left me with two questions

How the fuck is a 80s anime have so little of a budget that’s art style look's like it was produced in the 70s (unless it was literally like 1980 then I can forgive it more but Idfk when it came out just it’s 80s)

IS THIS THE FUCKING ANIME THAT STARTED THE GOLDEN MECHA TREND OR WAS IT SOMETHING ELSE

[laurarolla]

So, shorter game this time, and thank goodness for that. Gunhound has been the most frustrating gaming experience I've had in this year of playing new games, and it really feels like a few little tweaks to the game could have prevented a lot of that frustration.

First, a few things that would help with gameplay. First off, there are a few points where screen scrolling, even from just turning your mech around while standing still, can push you into a position where you take damage. A lot of this would be mitigated if either unit momentum or mercy invincibility were adjusted slightly. You can get torn to shreads be environmental hazards in seconds due to a combination of knockback and very short mercy invincibility. Additionally, I don't know why there's even an option to disable armor purging, as it's an extremely valuable and smart mechanic that is encouraged by the overall design. Another problem is that two bosses seem to have very hard to dodge attacks that trap your unit by grabbing it, and it would be nice to more easily get free of the grip so you could avoid the heavy damage follow-up attacks. Lastly, new weapons should be unlocked with stage completion, not total score. Without the score unlock mechanic, I wouldn't have had access to the absurdly overpowered beam cannon for the last bosses, which would have made the last fight an actual challenge. I was grateful to be able to avoid banging my head against that brick wall, but it is still pretty clearly a mistake in game balance.

I suppose that its fair that I'm so ambivalent toward most of this game since it has clear influences from the 1983 anime Armored Trooper VOTOMS. Narratively, the game is much more generic than VOTOMS, which was a more politically minded war/post-war story following a veteran with PTSD getting wrapped up in some messed up conspiracies and ending up learning the truth of who really runs his universe. It's a series with great themes and a unique vibe, but it falls off hard after the Kummen arc in the original series. The various OVAs in the franchise are mostly better, with Pailsen Files and Big Battle both being really enjoyable in very different ways. Armored Hunter Mellowlink has a vibe akin to Metal Gear Solid mixed with a solid revenge story and both acknowledges AND discounts the importance of the conspiracy narrative. Mellowlink is easily my favorite of the VOTOMS stories.

Anyway, this kinda became a rambling thing, but the most important point is that emulating the feel of using a mecha from an anime I like isn't enough by itself for me to just recommend that game. If you do end up like VOTOMS, you're better served playing Armored Core or the PS2 VOTOMS game. I feel like the Assault Suits franchise might do this 2D shooter/platformer arcade game better, but I haven't played much of those games. Gunhound was disappointing, but I'm not particularly good at these kind of games so I don't have much interest in them normally as is.

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review #2 - Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao

Okay, a week late but, book review number 2! (I feel less guilty about this than falling a week behind on my actual reading too, tbh)

I honestly do not remember how this book ended up on my tbr list - @lifeattomsdiner mentioned reading it, I think? Or possibly it just came up enough in posts by people whose tastes in books I generally agree with to be worth looking into. Anyway, I managed to go in pretty much blind, beyond ‘mecha sci fi late antique China pacific rim? Misogyny”. So the actual plot was more or less a surprise! Which is always fun.

(I mean, not much of a surprise – Li getting offed is the only beat that’s even slightly shocking, and that gets pulled back at the end anyway, but you know what I mean. I had no idea who any of these people were)

Anyways – I’ve now read my YA book of the year, I guess? It remains incredibly funny to me that ‘YA’ here seems to mean ‘the sex scenes are all strict fade to black, but torturing a guy to death on screen is A-OK’. A slight shame, really – I really get the feeling that the, like, de-YA-fied version of this would be an absolute all-time favourite of mine.

As it is, still a very fun read! But just, blunt and didactic at points? There were passages of dialogue that really felt like they were directed at the audience more than the other character, and things like Li’s alcoholism being something that was forced on him against his will (so none of it is his fault!) were a bit eye-roll inducing. The whole love triangle subplot also definitely felt like it was riffing off tropes I’m only barely aware of.

Anyways – I would be legitimately surprised if it was actually any sort of influence, but at some point reading it my mind made the connection that this is 100% Apollo’s Illiad from Terra Ignota transplanted onto a different culture and it hasn’t left my head since. You know, larger than life mythologized figures fighting out ancient melodrama, but with supertech and giant mecha? I think there’s something there, imo. I mean, not as much as the whole story turns out to be Lord of Light but with China instead of India, but still.

Beyond that, I mentioned I was reading it that this is the first Spec fic book I’ve read in a while that actually made misogyny/patriarchy such a salient part of the worldbuilding and plot? Or, well, properly – not something subtextual or understated or drawing on modern first world professional class gender politics, but full on late antique ‘women are chattel who are explicitly and openly considered spiritually and morally weaker than men, with no rights or authority and deserving of a disgraceful death if they step outside their narrowly allowed boundaries’ capital-p Patriarchy. It was honestly a somewhat bracing change of pace, compared to all the socially/politically minded spec fic centring around dystopian empires which had happily solved feminism at some point.

(Also like – foot binding is such a cartoonishly vile practice that it really would be hard to take seriously if it hadn’t actually been a real thing. The book really doesn’t hold back on how viscerally disgusting and torturous and just generally nightmarish it is, either.)

Anyway, fun read! Made me laugh a surprising amount, in a good way.

[coquettedragoon]

do you have any favourite design work, just in general? your mecha work has always struck me (as someone obsessed with that kind of thing), but the dreamlike feeling of the semi-abstracted backgrounds is incredible

im gonna make this a bit long and also gonna introduce the 'good asks' tag for asks i spend a long time writing an answer for so its not lost to time

a huge inspo for my sense of design, wildly enough, was space patrol lulucos backgrounds. i cant find a better shot in google images of the way it renders space, but the screentone clouds really stuck with me and influenced how i use it heavily. i was really obsessed w the collage like bgs in particular and v singular color grading

gunbuster and diebuster are hugely influential, in different ways. im obsessed with the palettes in diebuster.. everything about the lilac stems from the exelion in gunbuster, the zephyrantes took its root entirely from the idea of a warship so large it has a train network and painted skies inside of it etc... the oppressive mech cockpits are heavily drawn from gunbusters. the nerv stuff in eva is also a big source of inspo.

a huge impact on how i approached backgrounds for coquette was tsukihimes, the singular blue color is why i only use a v limited palette for coquettes backgrounds... where i got started with planning coquettes bgs was the thought of using the same filtered approach but to simple 3d instead of photos. i ended up good at 3d so it never was simple though

hidamari sketch is maybe my fav work on the planet, and its a huge part of why im obsessed with screentone... my attention to detail with the living spaces of characters comes from it and the detail it gives to every characters room in the apartments, and how they each use the same floorplan differently. its visually stunning top to bottom in a way that only comes through when you watch it imo.. the use of photos etc has stuck with me forever, it rly is a show using 20000 art styles at once and rly gave me a lot of thought on treating direction as collage of styles you like

heartcatch precure is one of my favs ever, especially visually... i love how far it leans into like being very digital looking and uses color so strongly to convey a mood.. i remember being immediately struck by how it uses this sickly green color for the world/sky during the fights etc to build unease. i love how high contrast it is, i definitely drew a lot from its stark orange and black backgrounds for doing the duchy stuff

a lot of movies definitely stick with me visually, but its easier for me to think in terms of 2d/3d... the mishima movie (lmao) has directly influenced my bg art heavily, especially when i use these kind of overhead diorama esque shots

in terms of how i do 3d and shade it etc... a lot of is heavily inspired by the use of 3d in the code geass ovas (lmao), noone watched this ever so none of its documented but this AMV has quite a lot of it. the harsh shading in the scene around 00:20 is what influenced me using that style in the ch3 opening animation... the snappy fast violent animation is kind of my ideal for how i wanna animate mechs

i think a lot of how i design things is through trial and error, but theres a lot consciously floating thru my head around what kind of look id like to achieve... i dont actually plan much, ever. i animate with no storyboards, write without an outline, only do one sketch before settling on any designs, and mess around w colors for a scene until its done

[short-circuit-the-great]

You Didn't Ask And I Answered: A Long Ass Post, Part 1

Questions are from this post. It is an ask game. I answered every single one unprompted. If anyone actually reads this post I will be impressed.

do you know how you want the story to end when you start, or are you just stumbling through the figurative wilderness hoping to find a road? It depends on the story. For all of my fics, I know the ending. For a lot of my books, I know the ending. For one particular project I am thinking of right now, I'm making that shit up as I go.

talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.” SPIDERSILK SAMURAI. FUCKING SPIDERSILK SAMURAI. Pulled out so much hair over that fic. I'm proud of it but none of the characters stuck to the outline I had.

on a scale of 1-10 how much do you enjoy incorporating romance into the average story? 10, but it's a very specific kind of romance. They need lots of time, they have to have lots of banter going on, and some other stuff I can't put a name to. Read my shit, there's a very specific way I write romance.

what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread? I don't know what a "plot bunny" is.

have you ever made a playlist about something you were writing as an elaborate means to procrastinate when you could have been actually writing and if yes drop a link, son Crossfire's playlist

do you have any kind of consistent writing schedule or just hoping for the best? I write every day.

tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote Immortal being reflects on life and death.

what’s your relationship with constructive criticism and feedback like? do you seek it out? how well do you take it? Don't like it.

in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not? TV show. Animated.

at what point in the process do you come up with titles, and how easy or hard is that for you? Early. Fairly easy.

what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general? I look things up as needed.

do you ever have trouble focusing on writing? how do you get around that?  No.

talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you. No idea what this question means.

what’s your worst writing habit?  Can't proofread.

where do you share your writing? AO3.

where is your favorite place to write? Library.

what is your favorite line you’ve ever written? "It won’t be the same, but I’ll keep you close forever, and we can run along the river in our memories, hearts and souls entwined."

what is your most and least favorite part of writing? Like writing fights. Hate proofreading.

what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most? Masashi Kishimoto, Akira Toriyama, Hideaki Sorachi, Hirohiko Araki, Chris Bradford, Chris d'Lacey, Jeff Kinney, others I am forgetting.

what is your favorite trope to write? Found family.

pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about. @mecha-milkers and I would write about unspeakable cosmic horrors.

describe your writing process from scratch to finish. Hallucinate, fight god, black out, stare at the finished product, hit post.

how do you deal with writers block? Change the last sentence and move on.

on average, how much writing do you get done in a day? Several pages if not many. Not counting.

what’s your revision or rewriting process like? You guys revise? The first draft is the only draft. I have been reworking some of my older stuff (books) but don't have a process for it.

do you like to write one-shots or series, and why? Series, more time to develop stuff.

do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished? 28. And who do you share them with? I share them with friends.

handwritten notes or typed notes? Keep notes in brain.

give us a spoiler for one of your stories. Bad guy helps good guy.

most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you. "Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are--it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can GET hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done."

tell us about one of your characters who’s an absolute joy to write Kusunoki Masashi from Our Samurai Souls--he's been through it all but still keeps his head up.

do characters influence your writing style? Yeah they running the whole thing.

do you start with the characters or the plot when writing? They come together, they tell me what to write. Half the time they're the ones writing it.

how do you name characters and places? They tell me their names, they tell me their world.

tell us about a character who’s very different than you who you love a whole lot Yuki from Our Samurai Souls. Despite what he's been through it's very peaceful in his head.

do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one. I have a character in one of my old books (not a fanfic) that is based on someone I've heard a lot about but never met. I drew a lot of inspiration from the descriptions and stories I've heard to create this guy.

when creating characters, what comes first: appearance, backstory, motivation, personality, something else? They come in as whole people, I don't know how to explain it. Aside from a few cases (see above) I've never sat down and thought about making a character. They come to me.

how many stories do you work on at one time? Five to ten.

are you an avid reader? I try, it is hard for me.

best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten. See earlier about "I don't like feedback."

[usahanna]

what if Spamton joins the gang thanks to Kris! By giving Spamton half of their soul in desperation of keeping him alive!! heehee

also my interpretations of Addison Spamton and Spamton EX

lots of dumb stuff of this AU under the cut

ALRIGHT SO this is Player 2 AU!! A silly lil thing that I accidentally expanded on a bit too much.

It takes place after the NEO fight, and as stated above, Kris rips their soul in half in hopes of reviving Spamton, which works! to Spam’s demise,,

Spamton has joined the party! and is very confused about everything. Kris tries to explain and Spam has mixed feelings about the situation, and it’s still a lot to take in, he can clearly see the growing regret in that poor kid’s face as they’re trying to excuse their doings. He is still a puppet, right? he is just now being controlled by… something else

but the strings… they feel lighter

he can think and talk more clearly now, he feels more like himself

Kris was trying to do something good by giving him a second chance and risking their life

but by freeing spamton from his old strings, they consequently created new ones

Spamton has no other choice but get used to it

.

.

.

haha wait where was i

ah yes

After clearing everything up they meet up with Susie and Ralsei, who were already entering the room because Kris was taking a bit TOO long to go out and-

wait why is that puppet man alive

They both try to get Susie and Ralsei on the same page and they gladly accept him in the team!

There’s just one small detail left: they’re in the Queen’s Castle and the Swatchlings won’t be happy to see Spamton again, so Ralsei gets the idea of using Kris’ cape to cover Spam’s face, and so shenanigans ensue as they make their way to the third floor

Fast forward to the end after the fight with the Mecha Queen. Everyone is happy! The Queen (reluctantly) reconciles with Spamton and helps Kris to close the fountain.

When he’s in Castle Town, Ralsei helps him get a better suit and discovers that the addisons are there. It’s hard, but after so many years they are finally able to reconcile and apologize for their bad actions

It’s been years since Spamton felt happy, and truly at peace

.

Now, talking as if this was part of the game: by ripping the soul in half and placing it in another vessel, the player now gets the chance to play as Spamton too! The default is always going to be Kris, but during battles you can also choose attacks from him, however, the player’s influence in Spamton is not as strong as with Kris

Oh and Spam keeps his wings from his NEO form and transforms into EX whenever he feels strong emotions

Don’t question it too much

(A lil silly side note: the EX design was supposed to be a callback to Spamton’s suit from his Big Shot era (that’s why i drew him with the same pose), but i,, got too excited coloring that i forgot the idea,,,)

[lil-tachyon]

do you have any advice on drawing mechs :)? your art is amazing!

Thanks for asking! I will preface this with the same piece of advice that I always give people: you get good at art by practicing. If you’re not consistently drawing and working on improving, you gotta get into the habit of that first. With that out of the way....

In terms of the actual drawing, you gotta be comfortable drawing lots of boxes and cylinders in perspective. That’s crucial for getting stuff like weapons and limbs looking good. The underlying structure of lots of mechanical things like mechs or other vehicles are often pretty basic and it’s the details you add on top that make them interesting. But make no mistake, you have to get the structure down first or else nothing’s going to look good. Here’s some examples from my own drawings where I’ve tried to point out the usage of very basic forms underlying everything else:

Now do you need to get out a ruler and protractor and plot out every single point of every geometrical figure exactly right, Scott Robertson style? Absolutely not (although it doesn’t hurt to be able to and I encourage you to try that as an exercise!) But you should be pretty comfortable drawing basic forms in perspective.

When you can do that, the next step is being able to actually design a mech from scratch and this is where it gets a bit harder but also where the fun really begins. Probably everyone has a different approach to this- I’m just gonna walk you through how I do it. Usually I have a vague idea for both the visual appearance and the “context” of a mech before I draw it and I develop both of these together because they both influence each other. By “context” I mean, “in what kind of world could this exist?” I think this is an important question to ask with mechs because in reality they probably don’t make much sense. In most applications, a wheeled or tracked vehicle would probably work better. And sometimes you just want to draw a cool robot and that’s it and the context doesn’t matter. But personally, I think I draw more interesting mechs when I think about what they’re built for and the world in which they exist. There’s sort of a “plausability spectrum” for mecha with somewhat realistic designs on one end and bonkers stuff on the other.

On the realistic end you have stuff that’s smaller, more compact. These might be deployed in places with rough terrain where a car won’t cut it. They’re probably not much bigger than a hardsuit and if they are, they’re probably quadrapedal or hexapedal for stability and weight distribution. For inspiration look to Simon Roy, Boston Dynamics, Maschinen Krieger, GitS, and real-world legged vehicles:

Past realism there’s a huge realm of mecha designs that I would call “plausible-in-context.” Mechs that are built more on rule-of-cool than practicality but have in-universe justifications and fit the setting. Star Wars, Lancer, Battletech, Gundam and honestly probably the vast majority of mech designs fit in here.

On the bonkers side you get it all. Stuff that’s definitely there to look cool before anything else or stuff with pretty noticeable fantasy elements. Gurren Lagann, Mony Pich’s stuff, Ghibli mechs, the work of Makoto Kobayashi, and Shining Force fit here.

Think about where your mech exists on the spectrum and come up with a little backstory for it. Is it a robotic pack mule accompanying spec ops teams into the mountains? Is it the emperor’s mechanotitan guard automaton from the ancient times? This the kind of stuff that influences how I draw a mech. Think about what it does, how that would impact how it looks visually, do thumbnails, work out the kinks and pretty soon you’ll find yourself with something you like. I use reference pretty liberally at this stage, either looking at art I like or real-world mechanical details, or weapon designs. Don’t be afraid to use any and all reference! You learn by studying others and the real world.

Once I’ve got the design pretty much figured out that’s when I finally work out the composition/posing of the final drawing and polish it off. Doing it this way takes me a while. I know people who can just draw cool mechs off the top of their head and that’s a totally valid way to do it as well! But this is the process that, right now, works pretty well for me.

Last little note- something I struggled with for a long time was making mechanical joints look good. My advice is to heavily reference other artists and see how they do it. Someone like Ryan Barry might go ham on the details and greebles:

Whereas monypich might cover lots of stuff up in smooth armor plating:

There are many, many different solutions. Use your judgement and don’t feel like you have to figure it out for yourself! It’s okay to take inspiration from others.

Hope this helps and please let me know if you have any other questions! Sorry for letting this sit in my inbox for a while but I wanted to try to write out a good answer.

[siren-nate]

!! !!

I'll stick to ones you (probably) don't know about, rather than going over G7 or AGB again-

This is Salvage the Accident, my Sonic OC! Basically a robot that was born by complete accident in Eggman's personal junkyard, out of bits and pieces from tons of discarded one-time bots throughout the series (Silver Sonic, Tails Doll, Mecha Sonic, Mecha Knuckles, an Artificial Chaos droid, E-101 Beta MK 2, Hei Hou, Shiversaw). Eggman promptly recruited them, and they have something of a complicated relationship.

Salvage is not naive or stupid, but they're also good-hearted and don't really agree with everything Eggman is trying to do. At the same time, though, they continue to work for him because they think that they can keep him from becoming a truly terrible person by being a positive influence on him, and they're sort of right; a lot of Eggman's better qualities come from genuine care for his sapient creations. So, despite working for the main villain, Salvage is pretty personable and kind, and has more of a good-natured rivalry with the heroes after their first few encounters.

These reference images of them were drawn by my bestie @houndfaker! Also, nobody will believe me, but I had the idea for Salvage years before the Scrapnik Island comics series that explores very similar themes.

I don't have a ref for this next one, but my Kid Icarus OC is named Apollo, named after the Greco-Roman god of music of the same name. They're genderfluid and can pitch their voice to sing any way they like, but always keep a consistent appearance, because I didn't want to fall into that whole genderfluid shapeshifter trope after consulting with my trans friends. Despite being formally recognized as the god of music, Apollo moreso considers themself the god of humans and humanity, since music is a purely human creation and Apollo was born from humanity's collective frustration and discontentment towards all of the gods.

Because of that, Apollo has an innate distrust and resentment of nearly all other gods and godly figures - even the pure "good" ones like Palutena and Pit, Apollo finds wrongs in and disagrees with. They're not totally unreasonable to, either, since I think a badly under-explored theme in Uprising is that Palutena doesn't always know what's best for the world, and Pit is a little too dependent on her direction despite being unwaveringly kind and fearless and strong. I have a whole original storyline framework written out where Apollo is pretty much playing the part of the bad guy, dethroning all of the other gods and stealing vital magical artifacts to gain a piece of their power, eventually ending with them on the throne as Top God with tons of plans to fix absolutely everything they see as wrong with the world!

...But then, obviously, they learn that things are more complicated than that, and no one person - no matter how well-intentioned - can ever know what's best for the entire world. After making a colossal mistake and begging everyone for help fixing it, Apollo gives up on their plans. But despite that, the fact that they shook up the status quo so hard did enact a ton of positive change in how godly affairs work, so they manage to avoid falling into despair and keep up an active role in representing the helpless humans, making sure they never suffer unjustly due to godly fallout.

[jostenneil]

Hello! I saw your post about the well-written female characters so i would like to know if you have more suggestions? Any genre would do! Thank you! ( ◠‿◠ )

sure! i am going to assume you'd still like it to be anime / manga since that's what the original post centered on as well

ooku by yoshinaga fumi (manga) → this series basically operates by a reworking of jp history wherein the shogunate is largely female and served by harems of men, due to a disease several decades prior that nearly wiped out men and left women needing to fill their roles in society. the way it subverts gender roles and explores how women act when they saturate positions of power is pretty engrossing to read about!

asahinagu by kozaki ai (manga/film) → the dynamics between the girls in this are so endearing and inspiring! the protag is a timid girl who decides to join the naginata club (think japanese fencing) when its strongest member saves her from a pervert, as a way to build up her own confidence and strength. it's rly nice to see that she isn't bullied into "manning" up, rather the positive but stubborn reinforcement of her teammates pushes her to change

tokimeki tonight by ikeno koi (manga/anime) → follows the daughter of a vampire and werewolf who has the odd power of being able to change into a carbon copy of anything she bites lol! ranze has to navigate a normal life around this ability, all while falling for a human pretty boy, despite the fact that she's not allowed to fall for a human. great shenanigans, later serious arcs that are engrossing and divine, and ranze is just a rly easy to love character whom i think a lot of girls can relate to

emma by mori kaoru (manga) → good one if you're a fan of historical romance novels, although not as much wish fulfillment. follows two protags, emma and william, who fall in love in victorian england despite class differences. emma's a maid while william's part of the gentry, and obv, that complicates things. really love this one bc i think it grounds itself in a lot of realism. emma's a very well built protag, and it's interesting to see the interplay between her desire to be with william and her recognition of society's reality

skip beat by nakamura yoshiki (manga) → i mean, ok. this is a no brainer, but i'll put it here anyway since it's been running so long, there's bound to be newer audiences unaware of it. kyoko imo is one of the most awe-inspiring shoujo protags at present. she's stubborn and relentless in terms of work ethic but also very humbled by the fact that she's a newcomer to the entertainment industry with much left to learn in order to succeed. the slow burn between her and ren is Agonizing and why i ended up dropping the manga, but nonetheless, she's a wonder to watch evolve

guardian of the spirit by uehashi nahoko (novel/anime) → the protag, balsa, sets out to atone for eight deaths by deciding to save eight lives. she becomes bodyguard to a prince in the process, who's targeted for murder by his dad. balsa's very much the maker of her own life and someone who stands by her decisions regardless of others' influence, which i rly appreciate! it's also rare to see a female warrior protagonist so that's nice too lol

eureka seven (anime) → [plays days by flow and cries] i watched this over a decade ago so my memory is shite but eureka and anemone are my complicated DAUGHTERS whom i would die for please just take my word for it. it's crazy that eureka is kinda the forgotten mecha series on the western side of things bc it became so popular in japan there's like multiple animes and movies and everything idek

the ancient magus' bride by yamazaki kore (manga/anime) → aside from the fact that the anime for this is gorgeously animated and has one of the best osts i've ever heard, chise is a really unique protagonist to watch grow. she's a bit subdued in demeanor due to prior trauma from people treating her poorly due to her lack of control over her magic, but being under elias's (the ancient magus) tutelage allows her to build confidence, control, and a love for the world that she nearly lost due to people rejecting her

claymore by yagi norihiro (manga) → haven't read this in years so my memory's hazy but if you're a fan of berserk or the dark fantasy genre in general, and would like a full female cast, hello! also fun little piece of trivia but when claymores reach like peak power the feeling is likened to a "climax" and the series posits that only women were good at this so. male claymores are no more. idk it's just hilarious to me like yes men are bad at sex!

oresama teacher by tsubaki izumi (manga) → by gsnk's mangaka! about a girl gang leader who gets expelled and has to restart at a new school where a teacher encourages her to head the public morals club, which aims to reform delinquents and improve the school's enrollment figures since it's doomed with drop outs. super funny and from what i remember not rly romance focused so if you're looking for a female mc with slightly different priorities and a less standard personality in terms of shoujo, it's pretty neat

[the-phoenix-heart]

10 Amazing Futurama Comics

There is a severe lack of Futurama content on this and other sites (seriously, the Night at the Museum movies have more fics than Futurama). And, nobody posts about the Futurama comics. So I’m posting 10 of my favorites.

10. Attack of the 50-Foot Amy (Issue #33)

It’s actually not as sexual as the cover makes it out to be. The basic premise is that Amy mistakes the can of growth spray (that Cubert and Dwight want to use for their science fair project) for hair spray and sprays waaaay too much before her anniversary date with Kif. Meanwhile, Bender teaches Fry the wonders of video piracy, but after he gets scared by a movie home alone style he eats his disc of pirated movies and starts uncontrollably acting them out. You can probably guess how these two plots connect.

While I do list this one as one of my favorites, it’s far from perfect. The artwork is good, but the scaling on Amy is very wonky so she looks more like a twenty-foot Amy (also Dwight’s eyes are drawn weird in this comic, he looks blazed out the entire time). But I cannot help but be charmed by this comic. It’s got some sweet Bender and Fry friendship moments and actually makes me believe Kif and Amy’s relationship for a little bit. They are very sweet in this comic, although Kif does go through some pain in this comic.

Best moments: They way they resolve the plot is actually pretty funny and clever, plus Bender hopped up on pirated movies is a joy. At one point Fry gets shoved by Steven Spielbot (don’t ask) and Bender goes all Rocky on his ass saying “No one talks to my gal, Adrian, like that!” It’s very sweet and...subtextual if you understand my meaning. This one also has anti comic book piracy message at the end which was ironic for me to read.

9. Doctor What (Issue #32)

The Professor creates a time traveling port-a-potty so that you can pee in whatever time and space you want, although it’s completely random. However, Zoidberg accidentally breaks the potty, so him, Leela, Fry, and Bender have to keep randomly flushing to get back home. On each of these new worlds Zoidberg keeps accidentally saving the citizens, getting medals, and ends up becoming addicted to the fame he keeps winning. Which leads to them getting stuck in a post apocalyptic New New York.

This is the infamous Leela-Bender-Fry fusion comic, Leelan von Fry-Bot. His backstory is actually a little sad, but I won’t spoil it here. This one is pretty good, because it has Zoidberg as the hero. Actually quite a few of these feature Zoidberg as a fourth member of the delivery crew which is weird, but not entirely unwelcome. It’s also fun to see these other worlds, and now that I think about it it’s actually a little similar to The Late Phillip J. Fry, what with the time travel to different interesting worlds.

Best Moments: I actually liked Leelan’s backstory, and his interactions with his “parents” (you’ll understand when you read it) are actually pretty funny and a little cute. Fry really wants to be a dad you can tell.

8. The Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis II

The professor creates a device that takes characters out of their stories into the real world. Trouble is, he tells the mayor that this invention is useful because you can get slave labor out of the characters because they technically have no constitutional rights. The Simpsons end up working with the Planet Express crew, but an accident leads to the release of ALL FICTIONAL CHARACTERS EVER.

This is a sequel comic to the Futurama Simpsons Infinitely Secret Crossover Crisis (fun fact: a reference to several famous comic book arcs). I chose this one above it though because I think it understood the assignment better. The original is funny, but I just don’t think that Springfield is a good setting for a Futurama crossover. Springfield for all its zaniness, is not the future. New New York, however, is great for this crossover. We get several scenes where we see the Simpsons going through space and fighting off monsters. We even get to see the other residents of Springfield in the future, Mr. Smithers becomes a space pirate and Mr. Burns falls in love with Mom, it’s great.

Best Moments: Some of them I already mentioned, but I cannot stress enough how hilarious the Burns-Mom romance is, it’s especially good when you can hear their voices in your head. I also like the friendship the Simpsons have with the Planet Express crew.

7. Six Characters in Search of a Story (Issue #14)

This is a very interesting comic. The Professor falls asleep, so to pass the time the crew decides to look through his old failed inventions, and well, that’s a very bad idea. The most interesting thing about this comic is it’s designed so that if you want you can only read certain panels to follow one person’s story. The Futurama comics do this a lot of the time and it’s always interesting.

The shenanigans that occur in this one are really funny, and there are some great looking pages in this. Also the Futurama crew clearly took ideas from the comics, and this is one of them. You can tell from the cover art that this does have elements of “Benderama” in it, what with Bender cloning himself ad infinitum. I also really like the climax, it’s a little schmultz-y for Futurama, but I don’t mind.

Best Moments: Fry gets stuck with a Spanish speaking Bender and I don’t know why but it’s really funny to me. The professor also gets some funny moments in this one. And Scruffy. Scruffy is always a delight.

6. Igner-ance is Bliss! (Issue #63)

Yeah this is the infamous robot Leela and Fry comic. Don’t worry, like the cover says, it’s not as dramatic as it looks. The crew has to go to a world that’s too dangerous for humans, so Fry, Leela, and Zoidberg all have their consciousnesses put into robot doubles so they can make the delivery. However, it turns out this planet is a sort of getaway spa for robots, and the crew decides to party it up there, at least until Bender discovers that this is a front for an evil plot by Mom. The subplot is mostly about how Igner is not respected by his brothers.

This one is fun, and I love a comic where Bender has to be the voice of reason. It is clearly killing him to be the responsible one, but I love it. Also, I have a soft spot for Igner, so it’s nice to see him get thrown a bone for once. This also has some really fun jokes with everyone, but Zoidberg in particular gets some bangers. I think my only problem is it ISN’T as cool as the cover makes it out, but like I’m happy with what it is.

Best Moments: Fry beats up Bender at one point and wins, I think he deserved it. Also, y’all know Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars? He makes some cameos in this one. Also all the robots (sans Bender) make a Japanese style mecha and it’s the coolest thing ever. Plus everything I’ve said about Igner I love in this one. Oh also Fry beats Calculon at poker and I really love that.

5. Who’s Dying to be a Gazillionaire? (Issue #5)

This one is sweet. The IRS is threatening to bankrupt Planet Express, and if they can’t think of a way to make a million dollars they will go out of business. No one really has any ideas and doesn’t even really care, except for Fry who is determined to save Planet Express. He gets the idea to go onto Who Wants to be a Gazillionaire to make the money, even though it’s a trivia show and if he loses he will die.

This one really warms my heart, it’s Fry at his best, just doing what he can for the people he loves. Even the professor is great in this one. I don’t want to spoil it, but trust me when I say it’s good (god I hope I’m not building this up too much).

Best moments: The end panel. But also the resolution of the story is great, and I really appreciate this comic for Fry as a character.

4. Rumble in the Jungle (Issue #38)

This is a fine comic. Leela is mad that she’s not being respected by Fry and Bender, and it’s bad enough that they don’t believe her when she says they’re going to crash into a planet. They end up parachuting down and getting separated. Leela ends up as queen of some workers in the “Amazon,” meanwhile Fry finds Bender’s corpse and goes off to avenge him.

This one is fun, and another fun one for Fry, because he’s determined to avenge Bender and works hard for it. This also includes the original Frender, not the ship but fusion. Leela and Fry even have a fight scene against each other and it’s honestly great.

Best Moments: Fry is great throughout the entire comic, and Leela spends most of her time beating up random animals. Bender also using a lead parachute he made out of toys he stole from children is funny, especially because I’m always a sucker for Bender doing dumb shit.

3. Don’t Go Taking My Heart! (Issue #69) (nice)

Mom only has a couple weeks to live, unless she can get a heart transplant. It’s revealed that Mom uses the cryogenics lab to get new body parts for herself, and that Fry was supposed to be her heart donor! Unfortunately, because he was unfrozen she now has to get him to work for Mom Corp to make sure his heart stays intact for the procedure.

If you can’t tell I love the Fry-centric comics, and I also like the comics where Mom is the villain. Of course this comic doesn’t go completely how you expect it to go, it’s actually REALLY sweet. I also love the fact that in this comic Fry actually makes a great intern. He basically has the job of a secretary and he’s GOOD at it. And I love seeing when Fry is good at things. The reason why I put this at only 3 is because it doesn’t really have a subplot. Bender gets a job at mom corp to but it’s only there for a couple pages, and Leela’s new crew gets two panels and that’s it.

Best Moments: The moments with Mom and Fry, but also guess who Mom’s doctor is? I’m actually not going to reveal it because it’s so random but also hilarious.

2. Boomsday! (Issue #58)

The Professor builds Bender his own parents, as a way to placate/discipline Bender. However, these parents decide that Fry is a bad influence on Bender, leading to them kicking him out. Meanwhile, the Professor’s doomsday devices are all stolen, and he has to go find them.

Both of these plots are funny and good. Bender’s plot is also really sweet what with his friendship with Fry, and his wish for parents. Meanwhile the Professor’s plot is just really funny and I do love seeing the Professor in his element. The ending is mostly heartwarming.

Best Moments: Everything with Fry and Bender, and Bender has a sweet relationship with his fake parents. Also, the Professor uses Issac Asimov candles on the robot mafia which I found a great joke. Oh, and the Professor’s first doomsday device was made when he was four years old and I love that. The end of the comic also has very nice message.

1. Rotten to the Core (Issue #27)

The world’s weather has gone kerflooey, and the Professor has figured out that his invention that can drill into the center of the Earth has been used. It conspires that Bender sold it at a yard sale to some aliens call the magmoids. The magmoids are trying to steal magma from the Earth’s core and the crew has to go and stop them.

This is my favorite because it’s a great character comic. All of the main three have great moments, and it’s also a great science comic. The Earth’s core is incredibly magnetic so of course Bender starts spouting out folk songs, and also SECRETS. I can’t believe no one has used the fact that canonically magnets make Bender incapable of telling lies. Anyway, it’s just really fun.

Best Moments: Way too many to count. Bender and Fry are told to cut out the “Brokeback Moanin,’“ Leela and Fry are bitter at the end, Fry tells story about his childhood, Bender has some great secrets to tell, the Professor gets a really fun ending, Bender has a rare moment of generosity, and the entirety of the climax is all kinds of fun and sweet.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Getter Robo Retospective - Getter Robo Part 1 -Ryoma Nagare

So, Iv’e been wanting to do an overall retrospective of the Getter Robo manga franchise for a while now, and since the Getter Robo Arc is nearing it’s finale as of the time of this writing, and will either give it a definite ending, or be the final nail in the coffin that the series will never be finished before Getter Robo falls into public domain, I thought now might as well be the time to do it.

As such, I’ll be doing an overall analysis over the entire collection of Ken Ishikawa’s Getter Robo manga series, it’s plots, themes, characters, and covers the various ideas this crazy and amazing sci-fi series covers.

Also, this retrospective will NOT cover the various anime adaptations, or the behind the scenes stuff that has gone on with Getter Robo over the years, such as Go Nagai being credited as the writer of the original manga despite only having come up with the overall concept and designs for it(the rest was by Ken Ishikawa), or the way that Ken went back and added in some extra chapters in the original two manga to explain some things and to tie the early manga more closely into what came after.

For the purposes of this retorspective, I will be focusing exclusively on the manga itself, and what it has to offer, without going into anything else.

And of course there is no place better to start, than the beginning.

So, what is the story of the original Getter Robo Manga?

Well, the overall plot of the original manga is about the conflict between two sides of a conflict, as laid out rather well in it’s prologue chapter.

The first is our protagonists, the Saotome Institute of Japan, who’s leader and namesake has invented the titular giant mecha, the Getter Robo.

Powered by a revolutionary newly discovered form of energy called “Getter Energy”, this enormous metal behemoth is a fighting machine unlike any other.

This war machine was originally supposed to be used for space exploration, but due to necessity, it has instead been reworked into a fighting machine.

It’s only weakness is that it requires 3 different living pilots to operate it to draw upon its full strength.

Opposing the Saotome Institute, is the forces of the Dinosaur Empire

An empire of humanoid Sentient Dinosaurs that long ago was forced to flee the Earth’s surface after it was bombarded with a strange kind of energy from space that was deadly to their kind, their only way to survive being to use their incredible technology to hide on the only place on Earth where the rays couldn’t reach them. The Earth’s very core.

Now, after millions of years underground, and the rays that forced them beneath the earth to begin with having seemingly ceased, they have finally returned to reclaim the earth’s surface for their own. At it’s disposal, it has incredible technology, and giant cyborg dinosaur monster in it’s quest to wipe out the newcomers, the human race, to achieve total dominance over the Earth.

If you think this premise sounds very generic, and you’ve seen it in some form or another in countless other Mecha series, you are not wrong. Ancient evil group attacking the protagonists, and only the new giant robot can stop it, probably the biggest stock plot in mecha overall, having been done in everything from Neon Genesis Evangelion to Megas XLR in some form or another. The set pieces and details are different, but the overall plot is the same.

However, where Getter Robo fits into this, is that it was one of the first giant robot manga there was, and many, many of the tropes and ideas it pioneered would be used and imitated by its successors.

In fact, I would argue that Getter is the second most influential mecha series in history, only second after it’s big cousin, Mazinger Z.

However, we are not here to detail how it influenced the manga industry, but how Getter holds up on it’s own, and in this regard, despite having a plot that has been overused time, and time again by it’s successors, this isn’t really that much of a problem for Getter Robo. Because like any good Mecha series, Getter’s biggest strength is it’s cast of characters.

Starting off in chapter 1, we are introduced to the first of the Robot’s giant pilots.

Ryoma Nagare.

Each of the pilots of Getter Robo is given an introductory mini-arc to set them up, and Ryoma’s is easily the best of the 3.

We are introduced to the main character of most of the franchise at a very unusual spot to open a main character, especially for a Shonen protagonist.

At the end of a revenge story.

To put it bluntly, Ryoma does not start off this series as a particularly likeable, nor good person, as his introductory scene is him crashing a perfectly legal martial arts tournament and beating the everloving shit out of it’s referee, it’s participants, and the judges who arranged it.

His reasons for doing all of this?

Revenge for his old man.

As it turns out, Ryoma had a massive beef with the arrangers for this contest, as his father, Ichigan Nagare was a pro karate champion back in the day, whose reputation was purposely destroyed by those arrangers.

Now he’s come to take revenge by utterly crushing their disciples on national television, to hammer in the point that his father’s martial arts was superior to theirs for all the world to see.

During this whole thing, we also get a very good look into how Ryoma thinks at this point in time.

When the arranger tries to appeal to the “Sacredness” of the Sport to get him to stand down, Ryoma laughs in his face, proclaiming that there is nothing sacred about combat at all. The only thing that matters is who emerges as the victor.

This is backed up by how he doesn’t show the least bit of compassion or honor to the first of the contestants he defeats, easily smashing him to the ground then gloating over him after having demonstrated the sheer difference in the combat prowess between the two of them.

He is very blunt about the fact that he believes that one should pursue strength for strenght’s sake alone, and never stop until you have crushed anyone who stands before you. Always train to get stronger, and always seek out those who can challenge you and beat them too.

Might makes right.

This is a REALLY good introduction for showcasing Ryoma as a character. How he thinks, his immense near superhuman strength, his ruthlessness, his pride in his own strength.

It also ties in directly into the themes of this series, as this kind of thinking is essentially Evolution itself boiled down to it’s bare core. The survival of the strongest. What is the point of Evolution after all, if not this? Those with the traits to survive and thrive will do so, while those who cannot, will be crushed by those who can, who in turn will pass down what made them successful to begin with.

Of course that is not what the actual message of this series is, but it is a concept that this series is rather blunt about, and it’s not a coincidence that the most prominent of all the main characters of this series began his journey while believing wholeheartedly into that ideal.

All in all this scene is just great, and it sets up Ryoma really well, as well as making it clear that this is a boy who has a lot of growing to do as a person.

And so, having achieved his life’s work that he’s trained for for years and years, Ryoma nagare quietly leaves the arena, leaving behind a dozen bruised, battered and broken men on the ground.

Of course this display of power has not gone unnoticed, as in the audience were two men from the Saotome Institute who came here hoping to find someone strong enough to pilot their giant robot.

As it happened, they just found one that fit the bill rather spectacularly.

Then in the next scene we are showcased Ryoma’s home.

Ryoma Nagare, a fighting genius that at the tender age of 16-17 smashed the greatest karate practitioners in Japan with ease while being outnumbered a dozen to one, lives in a ramshackle part of town, in a rundown old building that has broken windows, a leaking roof, and can at best be called a ramshackle cottage.

It’s a rather brutal contrast to the sight of the prestigious, well made and maintained karate tournament building we were just in.

Inside we find the sight of something else rather unusual for a Shonen protagonist. Having now achieved his goals, and avenged his father’s memory, Ryoma is slowly starting to come to the realization that this has all been one giant waste of time. He hasn’t actually earned anything on this journey. His father is dead, he’s still poor, and his only belongings is this shitty building and the clothes on his back.

As we learn here, Ryoma has spent his entire life being trained in martial arts, to insane degrees even for an adult man, much less for a child. All for the purpose of one day doing what he did today, and avenging his father’s memory.

This scene really hammers in the fact that for all his ridiculous strength, Ryoma is a child, and he has a child’s way of looking at things.

He thinks back fondly on being pitted against stray dogs in death matches, and he reveals here that in his mind, this was all about “Redeeming” martial arts somehow, as if this display would really change anything in the grand scheme of things within the sport.

It wasn’t of course. This was all about revenge. Everything Ryoma ever trained for was for this moment, this moment of what should have been absolute and total triumph as he achieved a truly spectacular victory and proved his father’s fighting style the best in all the land and he has proven that he himself is the strongest fighter in all Japan.

Instead he is coming to the realization that so many people that wasted their lives on vengeance have come to over the years. That it was all a giant waste of time.

Revenge is a suckers game.

Having achieved his goals, Ryoma has found them to be completely empty, and has nowhere to go. This is a really fascinating way to open up a character arc, as usually a character that learns the lesson that David Xanatos knew so well, happens either at the end, or somewhere later down their line. Ryoma however, learns it in the very first chapter, and now has to find something else to live for.

However, his soul searching is then interrupted by a few gentlemen from the Saotome institute.

Who immediately tries to kill him.

Now before I discuss the next part, I wanna praise this overall scene, because it really works great within the context of this chapter.

Ryoma has been introduced as a massive asshole, who firmly believes in the mantra of Might makes right, and he doesn’t feel any regret at having brutalized a dozen of innocent people, just the fact that he realizes that there was no real satisfaction to be had from it. Now the other shoe drops, and HE is attacked in his own home, completely unprovoked for reasons that frankly he has no personal involvement in on his own side. While this attack does have an in universe reason behind it, it main purpose is that it serves as a nice cathartic moment for the reader, as while he’s never going to legally punished for what just happened at the tournament, he is punished by the narrative for his actions, which is something i’ve seen far, far too many stories do over the years fail to do with asshole protagonists.

It also serves to put Ryoma’s current belief in Might Makes Right to the test. After all, aren’t these men doing exactly what he said that those who practice martial arts should do? Seek out those stronger than them, then crush them.

All of this makes it a shame that it is horribly undercut by the one, genuine stain on the original manga. Namely that one of the attackers is this guy.

And it’s at this moment you realise, oh yeah, this was made in 1970’s Japan. The unfortunate fact is that Mangaka of this period generally based their depiction of black people on early American comics(Which had plenty of this kind of artwork), and Ken Ishikawa was unfortunately not an exception to this rule.

He would THANKFULLY not repeat anything like this later down the line(his depiction of black people is far more natural and realistic in later manga), but hot damn is it both uncomfortable and distracting to read the pages with this guy. And it’s a real shame too, because frankly, not only is the following fight scene very good as a narrative punishment for Ryoma, but it’s just a good fight scene in general.

Unlike the Tournament fight, which was mainly a beatdown to establish Ryoma’s ridiculous strength, this is an actual fight, which showcases Ishikawa’s ability to draw energetic, exciting fight scenes where action flows very naturally.

It also shows that for the kind of ridiculous strength Ryoma possess, he isn’t some superhuman, as early in the brawls he’s heavily wounded by the rather mundanity of taking a throwing knife to the shoulder. This is in general something that makes action if Getter Robo stand out from other shonen series too. When characters, or Robots for that matter, takes hits, they rarely shrug them off with no problem, instead taking real, genuine damage that doesn't just instantly go away. They might power through them, but that isn’t the same as them disappearing into the ether.

In any case, the battle ends up outside the house when Ryoma is thrown through the wall.

He’s then forced to do the classic, catch the blade between the palms of his hands trope, which is depicted much more believable than most cases I’ve seen, as despite succeeding, it still left him bleeding from those palms.

Ryoma then redirects the blade into the big guy who is attacking him from behind, killing him. I really love how the artwork sells that this is a desperate move on Ryoma’s part. He is genuinely fighting for his life here, and he’s pulling out every trick he has to to win despite his wounds.

He then follows that up by ripping the blade out, and throwing it at the knife thrower guy. I also like that after doing so, he immediately falls flat on his ass, in a rather realistic manner(he is fighting in the rain after all, so the ground is undoubtedly pretty slippery.), while also showcasing the force of the throw. My only main complaint is that for this one panel Ken forgot to include the wound and the knife on his shoulder, as I think it would really sell just how desperate Ryoma is here if we’re visually reminded in the moment that, oh yeah, he’s powering through and using the arm whose shoulder has a knife in it to to throw this thing.

Thankfully, that missed opportunity for visual grittiness is more than made up for by the next part.

Having now effectively won the battle(I think the swordsman broke his foot in the fall, at least that’s how it looks), Ryoma suddenly realises that, holy shit, he just killed someone. The contrast between here and how he looked as he challenged the tournament fighters couldn’t be more different. The cooky, arrogant youth is completely gone, and you're reminded that Ryoma is just a kid. A kid who just had to kill someone. The bravado is completely gone, leaving only a kid who is tired, confused, in pain, and probably pretty scared.

He is then approached by the man who just had 3 grown ass men jump and attack him, Dr. Saotome.

Wounded, and mentally exchausted as he is, he is in no position to argue as Saotome declares that Ryoma is what he’s been looking for, and as one of his men rips the knife out of his shoulder, Ryoma screams before losing consciousness from the pain. Afterwards he is dragged into a car, and bandaged up.

Then as they're driving, the’re attacked by a giant flying dinosaur that grabs unto the car and flies away with it, Ryoma and Saotome barely managing to get out in time, alongside one of Saotome’s unlucky goons who breaks his neck in the fall.

And so ends Chapter one of Getter Robo.

All in all, other than the horribly racist black guy, this is a really good first chapter, that sets up Ryoma Nagare really, really well, showcasing his way of thinking, his origin, and where he needs to grow, while also showcasing his ludicrous strength, and that he is fully capable of going balls to the wall to win a fight, which will be showcased many, many times in this series. It also ends on a reminder of the fact that oh yeah, this is a series about one side vs dinosaurs, as Ryoma gets his first introduction into the enemy he will be fighting time, and again in this manga. It also gives a distinct first impression of just how ruthless Saotome is, as he is perfectly willing to send 3 dangerous goons on a teenager just to test his prowess in battle, which is absolutely going to come into play in future chapters.

All in all, it’s a good start. Not an amazing beginning, but certainly a good introduction to our first main character.

[scope-dogg]

So I always see gifs about Getter Robo here and there and have only heard positive things ( I also dig the fat rounded mech designs!), but never anything in detail unfortunately. Seems like one of those properties where everyone who likes it is very invested though! As a mech enthusiast, could you explain what about the series you find appealing and what a recommended watch order (if there's any need for one) watch location might be? I understand some series of that age just aren't available legally in the West anymore, which is a big bummer

Honestly for a series as long and storied as Getter it can be hard to pin down the underpinning appeal to one single thing, but I'd say the closest you'd get to capturing the fundamental appeal to most people it'd be that it's perhaps that it's practically the archetype for a super robot series with a harder edge than most. It stood out on that basis even when the mecha genre was still in its relative infancy and it's managed to keep that distinction to this very day. It's a franchise that's never shied away from violence - from the genesis of the genre until today, the archetypical mecha pilot has been a spunky and/or sensitive teen, while your average Getter pilot, while still fundamentally heroic, is a borderline psychotic hard bastard, the kind of person that would probably be in jail in real life. Even when they're up against some really nightmarish shit they always seem to revel in the battle and resolve to win through sheer determination. You've probably seen Gurren Lagann, in which case that description might sound somewhat familiar. That's not a coincidence, Getter Robo is one of TTGL's biggest influences and even though the two series differ in many other ways, it occupied a somewhat similar space in the collective consciousness to the one that TTGL now occupies in the minds of most (and still does to a degree, it's one of the genre's most important founding works and as such has remained relevant for basically its whole lifespan.)

Later entries see the series get a lot more existential, and start dealing with the concepts of the future of human evolution and the fear of an unknown and possibly terrifying future that sees mankind blunder into the clutches of forces beyond its control and understanding. While the series initial core appeal of seeing hard men use their robot to battle hellish enemies remains, that cosmic horror aspect was really important to the franchise's maturing identity and is likewise a huge part of what makes it remain so appealing to so many - it's pretty much at the core of all the franchise's best installments.

As for where to begin, it's complicated and at the same time, not. As for anime, it can be tough to pick one. There's the Toei original series and its sequel Getter Robo G, though these, in addition to being old and dated, are arguably a softened-down version of the story meant for kids' TV that, while popular in their own right back in the day, don't really capture what most people now find appealing about the franchise. You're probably better off overall looking at one of the OVAs instead. In release order, those are Getter Robo Armageddon, Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo, and New Getter Robo. All three of these are basically various attempts to blend together various chapters on the manga, along with aspects from other works done by the original author Ken Ishikawa. The thing is though, Armageddon and Shin vs Neo both assume at least some level of familiarity with the existing characters and lore, even if each one is in its own continuity. New Getter Robo is kind of like a reboot and as such is more self-contained, but at the same time is probably the one that veers off from the established tone and lore the most wildly.

In my opinion, the best thing to do is go to the source, and read Ken Ishikawa's manga from the beginning. The Getter Robo saga consists of five different chapters, those being, in release order, the original, Getter Robo G, Getter Robo Go, Shin Getter Robo and Getter Robo Arc. While the original and G are definitely old they've been touched up for rerelease and are still very readable and easy to get through while having a ton of old-school charm to them. However, once you hit Go, that's where the party truly begins. Its the quality of work that started there that really built the series up from a relatively simple good-guys vs bad-guys story into what it is today. If disciples of Getter seem very invested in the franchise, it's most likely because of ideas that first get explored here. Go's followed up by Shin Getter Robo, which is a prequel to the events of Go that explains some important things but also sets up stuff that's important for the final chapter, Getter Robo Arc. Sadly, Ken Ishikawa died before the manga could be completed, leaving the story without an ending - until now. An anime adaptation of Arc has been airing for the last few months. The final episode, presumably featuring the final true ending to the Getter Robo saga, airs this upcoming Sunday.

[chao-writes-stuff]

DELTARUNE SPOILERS

Heyyy! I wrote a thing involving Jevil and the Chapter 2 Superboss! I'm going to put it under the cut, but at the end, there will also be an Ao3 link if you wanna support me there!

Thank you! Remember to Reblog if you wanna

The Lightner Trio walked down the stairs in the Queen's massive manor, their hurried footsteps echoing like a rough pitter-patter in the technological nightmare. The massive lair confused and bamboozled them, but they definitely wanted to figure out the mystery behind what the Fountains were about, what Queen's true intentions were… and what was in the basement?

"Uhh… Kris?" Ralsei asked, his soft voice echoing out. "Why are we even here? Aren't Queen, Noelle, and Berdly upstairs? And not here…?"

Susie quickly interrupted him, punching his arm lightly to get his attention. "Of COURSE they aren't here. But whatever is here is probably important. Right, Kris?"

"I guess!" The currently blue human replied. "I've been asked by some… guy, about doing these weird favors for him. He really wants me to be alone."

"We sure he ain't a p-" Before Susie could finish her thought, Ralsei muffled her mouth with his scarf. "Who is he? And why does he want you to be alone?"

"His name is Spamton, I think. I don't know much about him, but he gave me this Loaded Disk earlier, and--"

Suddenly, a strange, chaotic voice rang out. Everyone recognized it. The tail attached to Ralsei's cloak popped off, diamonds and hearts flying out with it. The tail spun and took form, and the chaotic Jester they quite literally put to rest yesterday was reawakened.

"Spamton? SPAMTON? The same Spamton who wished for me to go, to go, and be free, free?" Jevil laughed chaotically, with Ralsei caught quite off guard. "You know him?"

"That dorito chip was part of the reason why I was set free, he was! He used to rule this world, before the Queen I've been hearing oh so much about took over. Oh, I MUST know more of how you met that ridiculous lunatic! And that's coming from ME, ME! Spamton, oh Spamton, I'd like to have a word with him~!" Jevil looked quite pissed off, his normally jovial expression looking slightly stern.

"I didn't wanna go down there anyway. Just come back, okay? You're kind of carrying us with your defense boost." Kris, with a neutral expression, gave the clown the disk they were gifted by the malignant salesman, and watched as Jevil immediately sprinted off into the basement. They could hear an echoed "Buh bye~! I'll be back in a few hundred words!" As the jester descended into the decrepit basement below...

Jevil entered the musty, rotting cellar. Despite him rarely stepping on the ground, each step he did take left a haunting impact on his feet. It was silent, save for the occasional rustling of his clothes. He didn't have long to do this. His physical form only had a few hours to be out and about before he solidified, just like the young boy and the puzzle freak. Thankfully, that's all he needed. He was getting excited, almost giddy, to interact once more with his old acquaintance. Oh, what a wonderful conversation they'd have!

He didn't walk for too much longer before he found the train station that was buried deep below. Or was it a roller coaster? Whoever had this built clearly had some elaborate roundabout in mind… too bad they were still imprisoned, haha! Jevil walked and floated across the tracks, reaching a room with a decaying robot inside.

He knew this was a bad idea. But when did he ever have good ideas?

Without hesitating, the joker put the disk into the robot. At first, nothing happened, and he was getting impatient VERY quick. He gave the robot a swift kick in the lower area, before stepping back out of the room.

Step…

Step…

SLAM! The clown was admittedly caught off guard with how fast the silhouette from above came and pushed him onto his knees. With a small gasp for air, Jevil looked up slowly at the encroaching menace. The jagged movements, the glitchy, unsolidified form… this was him alright.

"KRIS… MY LOYAL [Sponge!] THANK… YOU. THE [Clown Around Town!] I REMEMBER YOUR [Disgusting] FACE. EVERYONE WAS SO [Thrilled] TO SEE YOUR [Calcified] FACE." The massive robotic behemoth loomed over Jevil, rage in his glasses. Spamton NEO.

The clown got up, a smug, shitfaced expression on his mug. He knew damn well that the dorito in front of him was pissed off, so he leaned back in the air to retort. "At least I drink plenty of milk, uee hee hee! As for you, you haven't changed one bit since we last spoke~! Or would it be a byte, a byte? Regardless, I do hope you've given up on the illusion of freedom, freedom~! The only one who can be free is MEEE!"

The robotic menace swung around to the other side of Jevil, making it very clear who was in charge of the conversation. A small concentrated blast of Pipis was fired at the jester, pushing him back with a surprising amount of force. "YOU ACT SMUG, BUT YOU [Crashed our stocks!] AND THEN YOU [Spoiled relations with our Esteemed Partners!] I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU… GOT IN HERE, YOU… [Tuna Fish,] BUT I'M NOT FALLING FOR YOUR [Roundabout!] AGAIN!"

Jevil laughed maniacally at this thought. This guy was mad! Over something that happened how long ago? Why even bother holding a grudge still? Petty, petty! He knew why, and it's why he came back too. "You influenced him. That pretty little kitty. You gave him enough funds to release me into that carousel of bliss and innocence! But I wasn't done, not one bit! And all those years, spent being free… they made me realize something, my dearest Spamton."

The oddly calm tone coming from the jester put Spamton NEO at an incredible amount of unease. "WHAT? WHAT COULD YOUR [Calcified Lump] THINK OF THAT WOULD MEAN ANY GODDAMN THING TO ME?"

"I CAN DO ANYTHING!"

The joker used his latent power to pelt the giant mecha with small white hearts. Spamton was caught off-guard, stumbling back a fair amount. Of course, you have to fight fire with fire, so the robot used his abilities to send out a Big Shot of blue Spamton Head Pipis.

"YOU [Saturated Marketshare!] YOU CAN'T SIMPLY ATTACK ME AND EXPECT IT TO WORK [As seen on TV!] I'M A [BIG SHOT!] [BIG SHOT!!!]"

Jevil hopped up onto the ceiling, clearing the first few Pipis on the lower row heading his way. Unfortunately, the higher row caught him clean in the face as he bounced between the two, making a small Jack-in-the-box melody as he pinged around.

"SPAMTON, MY BELOATHED! I DON'T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND, UNDERSTAND, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU'RE TRAPPED IN A CAGE WITH A SHARK, A SHARK! YOU GET BITTEN AND CHEWED UP!"

The fool retaliated by running circles around Spamton, turning into a carousel of horse bullets! The robot, in a surprising feat of puppeteering, dodged the attack almost perfectly… until a stray horsie cut a string, sending the mech's right arm into the horse race. One thing about arms with cannons on them? They fire.

As soon as it happened, Jevil was face to face with a swarm of Pipis all around him. He was stuck. All of them exploded brilliantly, sending the clown flying clean across the rotting tracks and into the wall. Tauntingly, mockingly even, Spamton NEO retorted.

"I'M THE SHARK NOW, JEVIL! I'VE CHEWED UP SO MANY [Failed Buisness Partners] THAT I COULD MAKE A WHOLE [Presentation] OUT OF THEM! STAY OUT OF MY GODDAMN WAY, OR [Sparkle like new!] YOU BRAT."

The buisnessman charged at Jevil, his hands becoming phones. "IT'S FOR YOU." Suddenly, before either of them could react, loud blasts of garbage noise manifest expelled from the phones, attacking the court jester with white blasts of energy. There was nothing he could do to stop this robot's onslaught, it looked like.

"OH SPAMTON, IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK? THAT YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S SO POWERFUL RIGHT NOW, NOW? I'D SUGGEST YOU LOOK UP, UP! YOU'RE NOTHING WITHOUT THOSE STRINGS IMPRISONING YOU, UEE HEE HEE! YOU'RE NOT A BIG SHOT, YOU'RE JUST A LAZY FRAUD WHO CAN'T STOP HANGING ON TO HIM! I GUESS SLEEPING FOR 100 YEARS DOESN'T MAKE LITTLE OLD ME MISS MUCH, RIGHT?"

Without warning, Jevil was myseriously gone from his corner. The spamware looked frantically for his target, before being struck in the arm, the leg, and the chest by scythes. Devilsknives. The last knive cut a few strings clean off the puppet, who briefly hit the ground before rising back up.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! [Hyperlink Blocked.] I'M STILL HIS LOYAL ASSOCIATE! HE MAY NOT HAVE TALKED TO ME IN [Employee of The Month for 144 months!] BUT HE'S STILL THERE…"

Jevil interrupted him cleanly and concisely. "FACE IT. YOU'RE NO BIG SHOT ANYMORE, SPAMTON G. SPAMTON. ALL YOU ARE IS A FAILED INVESTMENT, UEE HEE HEE!"

With those words, a purple blast came from behind the clown, striking the robot right in the noggin. He flew back a bit, giving the joker enough time to turn around to meet his esteemed guests.

"Ah, my imprisoners~! Didn't you guys have a Queen to rock-em sock-em?"

Susie immediately cut him off, as she punched him in the arm (causing his head to spring up, naturally.) "Well, Kris over here couldn't shake the feeling things were off. So they forced us down here, and now they're right. Somehow?"

"I know I'm right.. Jevil, who the hell is Spamton?" Kris replied, their worry about the situation starting to rise.

"It's of no concern to you~! His screws were almost as loose as mine, and I don't think it's my job to tighten them~! Uee hee hee! Thank you for the help, but I can do anything~! Even tell you guys that 3 coasters are about to come down and force you guys along for the ride~!"

Ralsei immediately stuttered something out. "Three… what?"

And just like that, with a loud rumbling, the heroes were swept up into 3 old, rusty carts, barrelling down the track. Jevil laughed to himself, proud of what he got to do. "Ah well, it's a shame I can't finish him personally…"

"But oh well! Are you proud, proud? They took care of him…"

"Doctor."

Ao3 Link!

[egelantier]

Tian Guan Ci Fu

where is it and what is it

it’s a chinese webnovel by mxtx, the same author who did untamed; it exists as a webnovel, finished and kindly translated here, the manhwa, the donghua (animated adaptation) happening right now, and there’s a live action adaptation in plans, directed by the same guy who did untamed. the donghua is gorgeous, the adaptation i’m unsure about but prepared to be hopeful, the manhwa seems to be very pretty. but all the adaptations only cover the very beginning of the novel for now, so i went ahead and read the novel, and i have no regrets. it helps that the translation is very good - not without awkward translatorese, but it has consistent and engaging flow and style, and it’s also pretty good at conveying mxtx’s humor without awkwardness. it reads pretty well.

what’s it about?

the world is split into two parts: mortals and various ghosts and demons and entities share the land, while ‘heaven officials’, aka gods, live in the heavenly kingdom in the sky. pretty much anybody can become a god if they do something really heroic or memorable and/or cultivate (meditation, training, virtuous behavior) really hard. when above, the gods rule their domains and fulfill their believers’ wishes; they work sort of like pratchettian gods, dependent on their followers’ beliefs and getting influenced by them. heavens are strictly hierarchical, with their own economy and pecking order, and the gods aren’t particularly sinless or benevolent; mostly it’s a question of scale.

our hero, xie lian, is a prince of a prosperous kingdom who’s been on a fast track to ascension for most of his very short life; he’s talented, he’s virtuous, he’s kind, he’s strong, and his only peculiar flaw is (somehow naive, but well-meaning) obsession with equality and value of human lives and so on. he becomes a god, unexpectedly, at seventeen, after slaying one especially dangerous god, and rises in heaven at the peak of his faith, influence and happiness.

…and then he finds out about drought and incipient trouble in his own kingdom, and, being a young and righteous god too close to his mortality, eschews heavens and returns to save everybody. it, to put it lightly, does not go well. at all. in fact, it goes catastrophically wrong, and, having lost everything, xie lian ascends again, only to get into a fight with the heavenly emperor, and get banished again, this time for good. he roams the mortal lands for next eight hundred of very lonely, luckless and hard years, technically immortal but not invincible, with his powers and his luck stripped away, and leans to make do, eking out a living as a scrap collector. his temples are desecrated, his name is forgotten, his kingdom is long gone, and - well. so it goes.

so it goes! until one day, to everybody’s great surprise, he ascends once again: a humble, gentle, immune to embarrassment, unflappable man, an embarrassment to heavens, a 'laughingstock of three realms’ who just wants to be left well enough alone. he’s Tired.

instead of rest, he gets sent to investigate a dangerous ghost stealing brides who pass through its mountain, and there, during the course of the interrogation, has his first (he thinks) meeting with a terrifying, old-powerful and vengeful ghost king named hua cheng, who likes to terrorize heavens from time to time. but said ghost king seems to be very benevolent and very interested in helping xie lian, and xie lian is pretty instantly smitten… with knowing what’s the cause of such interest.

…and meanwhile, in the beginning, there'was an unlucky boy, born under the worst stars, whom xie lian saved from falling once, while still mortal, and promptly lost track of. a lot of things happened to this boy, who wanted to be the most devoted worshipper to xie lian the god of the sword and the flower. as one does, you know.

that’s the beginning! from there on: investigations, heavenly secrets, old friends and enemies and acquaintances, thematic parallels, old tragedies, more pining than you can shake a stick at, grand acts of love.

is it good?

it’s very, very good. it’s the first fantasy cnovel i read (aside from the hilarious one about a guy traveling back in his own timeline and becoming a sugar baby to a mafia boss, which was in a very different league), so i don’t know which things are baseline and which things are unique, but it had a very solid foundation: ambitious multilevel, multi-timeline plot coming together in the end both events- and emotions-wise, beautifully iddy main relationship, maybe multifaceted characters who change and grow and clash together in fun ways, a clear and heartfelt understanding of its own core themes.

it’s also, unexpectedly, very funny, in this visual, slapsticky, begs-to-be-adapted way - i found myself laughing out loud over it a lot of times, and it possesses this gift of swerve between understated but earnest emotions and all-out jokes that i associate with… a bit of prattchett and a bit of gintama, honestly. take it as you will.

(oh my god the mecha. i will laugh over this one until i die.)

it also made me cry several times; granted, it’s not like it’s this time, but those were very heartfelt tears.

and the main duo?

first let me say that xie lian was lifted out, wholesale, out of my deepest character preferences. he fell really, really far, and did some bad things, and some very horrible things were done to him, and by the time we meet him he went through everything and achieved this effortless kind of traumatized, humble, accepting, wryly self-deprecating, utterly competent chill that makes a character incredibly appealing to me. he’s kind, and he’s sweet, and he’s gotten any possible embarrassment at least a couple of centuries ago, and he kinda made peace with himself and kinda didn’t. i love him.

and, thankfully for me, hua cheng, the ghost king, loves him a whole damn lot, a ridiculous amount, an epic, over-the-lifetimes, life-shattering amount, and he’s a terrifying presence to everybody else and a shy, protective, sweet dork to xie lian, and every time they’re together on page my entire heart is just. it’s AMAZING. he’s a great combination of playing the obsessive protective yandere stalker-lover trope straight and putting it on its head, by making hua cheng not just revere but respect xie lian, in all his good and bad decisions.

they are just so - good for each other, holy shit. they get each other so well. they’re the best ever power team. i love them.

(the rest of canon is various character reenacting “really? in front of my salad?” meme at them. it’s hysterical, and it’s the best. everybody teams up to tell xie lian that his boyfriend is Problematic way, way before xie lian clues into the fact that he does have a boyfriend, and he’s having none of it. i love it.)

and the themes?

okay, so. roughly half of this novel is ridiculous iddy pining, and a fourth of it is various tropes (off the top of my head: soulbond, sex pollen, body switch, de-age, various shades of identity porn… crossdressing…) played very shamelessly. but it also really benefits from having an overarching set of ethical questions, and while it deals with them a bit shounen-style, it still deals with them, and it makes the whole text fresh, and sweet, and bold.

is it possible to save everybody? should you try to save everybody? if you lack the powers to back your convictions, does it make you complicit? when is it possible to stop the cycle of suffering, what can you do if you want to but can’t? if you tried and people you failed turned on you, whose fault it is, where does the blame stop?

Detailed spoilers begin from here, and i would REALLY advise to stay unspoiled, because the domino reveals are very fun

i loved the various ways the novel sets all those pieces up and then overturns them and then returns to them. xie lian wanted to save everybody and it was arrogant naivete of an untried, untested, privileged young man who never had a real challenge before; his presence made things escalate quicker, and yet everybody around him pretended it was his attempt to make things better that ruined everything, and not a combination of factors outside of his control. and yet he accepts the blame, because it dovetails with his shame at not having enough powers to back his intent up; and yet his triumph over bai wuxian is that he doesn’t, after all, renege on his initial drive to help people.

my most favorite part of this novel is that its turning point, the lynchpin of the whole novel, the moment that keeps xie lian’s soul and safety intact, is not his personal purity and drive; it’s not even hua cheng’s devotion and sacrificial love. it’s just a moment of little, grudging, human kindness from a little, petty, rude man whom the history will sweep away soon. the bamboo hat in the rain. the rest of the plot keeps twisting and turning and coming back to itself, but this? this was unquestionably, beautifully clear, and i loved it. it’s never about the gods, it’s all down to - fallen human is human, ascended human is human, and human is not some state, virtuous or sinful, you get stuck with - it’s a multitude of choices, and there’s never a final one.

and incoherent spoilery screaming for people who read it already

oh my god i had SO MUCH FUN. i’ve been flailing on meme for days, because somebody just finished reading there too, and i’m still bursting with ALL THE FEELS. ruoye origins oh my god! that hat! jin wu’s backstory and ultimate end! e-ming’s praise kink! pei ming’s little shippery 'hoho’! hua cheng’s horribly handwritten stick and poke tattoo of xie lian’s name! the lanteeeeeeeeeeeeerns. feng xin and mu qing on the bridge, making up with each other and with xie lian! hua cheng trying to explain to xie lian that his habit of using himself as bait and pincushion at any given moment is deeply emotionally upsetting to him, and succeeding! banyue’s learning from xie lian to be a truly horrible cook! the entire deal with shi qingxuan and he xuan and the wind fan in the end. THE CAVE. THE GIANT MECHA. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa and aaaaaaaaaaaaa and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa and i am beset, beset by feelings. come scream with me.

[flclarchives]

Amusing Himself to Death, an Akadot.com interview with Kazuya Tsurumaki (director of FLCL and assistant director of Evangelion) from around December 2001. In the article, Tsurumaki explains a few things about Evangelion, his mentality behind FLCL as a whole, and the meaning of the name ‘FLCL’.

Full article text is under the cut, or read the article in its original form [here].

Kazuya Tsurumaki was a relatively little-known animator when Hideki Anno selected him to work as the assistant director on Neon Genesis Evangelion. For the TV series, which became a smash hit in Japan and one of the touchstones of the current surge of interest in anime in the US, Tsuramaki served as the main storyboard artist as well as assistant director, and when Studio Gainax began production on a trio of Evangelion films Tsurumaki got his first directorial assignment.

As he tells the story, Anno came to him after Eva and announced that he was out of ideas and that it was up to Tsurumaki to dream up the next project because, "you are next." Tsurumaki let his imagination run wild, but by the time he had written a script, Anno - despite his declaration that he had no stories left to tell - was already several steps ahead of Tsurumaki and in pre-production for his next series, Kareshi Kanojo no Jijo, leaving Tsurumaki a chance to have complete and unsupervised creative control of his own series FLCL.

FLCL, referred to as "Fooly Cooly" (or "Furikuri" by its American fans), is unlike any anime series to come before it. Wild, maniacally fast-paced physical comedy; exaggerated, exuberant animation alternately pushing towards surrealist- as when mecha exuviate from a bump on young Naota's head - and deconstructionist - as when the animation literally stops and the story is told by a camera bouncing across a page of black and white manga art panels; and obsessively, often irrelevantly, referential to obscure Tokyo-pop bands and anime insider trivia; FLCL was hyperkinetic and disorienting, yet mesmerizing, almost transgressive, and undeniably original. It inspired enthusiastic admiration for Tsurumaki as a creator, even amongst the perhaps 90% of the series' fans who were absolutely baffled by much of it. One is tempted to refer to it as announcing the arrival of full blown post-modernism in animation, or perhaps as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable of the anime industry.

When Tsurumaki visited Baltimore to speak to American fans at the recent Otokon Convention, predictably, many of the questions were along the lines of, "Hi, I really loved FLCL [or Evangelion], but could you please explain this part of it to me?"

Tsurumaki answered all questions genially with a self-deprecating and often mischievous sense of humor. For example:

Why does Haruko hit Naota over the head with her guitar?

Kazuya Tsurumaki: Naota is trying to be a normal adult and she belts him to make him rethink his decision.

Why does Evangelion end violently, and somewhat unhappily?

KT: People are accustomed to sweet, contrived, happy endings. We wanted to broaden the genre, and show people an ugly, unhappy ending.

Why is the character of Shinji portrayed as he is?

KT: Shinji was modeled on director Hideki Anno. Shinji was summoned by his father to ride a robot, Anno was summoned by Gainax to direct an animation. Working on Nadia [Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water, one of Anno and Tsurumaki's earlier projects] he wondered if he still wanted to work like this. He thought that working on Eva could help him to change.

Is there any particular reason why so many Gainax series feature very anxious, unhappy young male protagonists with no parents?

KT: Yes, the directors at Gainax are all basically weak, insecure, bitter, young men. So are many anime fans. Many Japanese families, including my own, have workaholic fathers whose kids never get to see them. That may influence the shows I create.

Could you explain the mecha bursting from Naota's head in FLCL?

KT: I use a giant robot being created from the brain to represent FLCL coming from my brain. The robot ravages the town around him, and the more intensely I worked on FLCL the more I destroyed the peaceful atmosphere of Gainax.

Why doesn't FLCL follow one story?

KT: In the third episode Ninamori was almost a main character, a kid who, like Naota, has to act like an adult.  After episode three her problem was solved so we wrote her out.  She has many fans in Japan and we got plenty of letters about that decision.  For FLCL I wanted to portray the entire history of Gainax, and each episode has symbols of what happened behind the scenes on each of Gainax's shows.   Episode one has many elements of Karekano; episode two, a lot of Evangelion references, etc.

Where does the title FLCL come from?

KT: I got the idea from a CD in a music magazine with the title Fooly-Cooly.  I like the idea of titles that are shortened long English words. Pokémon for "Pocket-Monsters" for instance, and an old J-pop band called Brilliant Green that was known as "Brilly-Grilly."

Is there any reason why the extra scenes added to Eva for the video release were cut in the first place?  Did you think the story would mean something different with them intact?

KT: The scenes that were added to Eva for its video release aren't that important.  We added them as an apology for taking so long to get the video out.  Maybe they'll help people understand things, because the episodes were done under tough deadlines the first time around.

Can you explain the symbolism of the cross in Evangelion?

KT: There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we did want our story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us.   Because Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be mysterious.  None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians.  There is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols of Christianity look cool.  If we had known the show would get distributed in the US and Europe we might have rethought that choice.

After the panel, Mr. Tsurumaki sat down to speak with Akadot.

Do you enjoy confusing people?

KT: I have a twisted sense of humor.  I'm an Omanu Jacku, a contrarian.  [Writer's note- Omanu Jacku is a folk character a bit like Puck, a mischief maker]

What do you see differently now that you're working as a director rather than only as a visual artist?

KT: As an animator I have only the art; as a director story is really big.  I still feel as an animator and I often have trouble putting the needs of the story first.

Did you intend from the start for FLCL to be as bizarre as it wound up?

KT: From the very start I wanted a different flavor.  To achieve this I had to re-train the animators to be as stylized as I wanted them to be because I wasn't drawing it.  I knew that not everyone would get it.  I deliberately selected very obscure J-pop culture and anime sub-culture jokes and references.  Because Eva was so somber I always intended to make FLCL outrageous and wacky.

Why the choice to break out of conventional animation and use manga pages? Was it at all a response to how many anime are using computers to achieve smoother and more realistic visuals?  Were you trying to go the opposite direction?

KT: I like manga, not only to read, but the visuals.  The pen drawings, the frame breakdowns and layouts . . . This is the first time I have used digital animation, and those bouncing manga shots wouldn't have been possible with cel animation.   Personally I'm not interested at all in using computers for realistic animation.  I'm impressed by it sometimes, but I'm interested in using computers to do what was once impossible, not to do smoother versions of what has already been done.  I want to be less realistic.

Has using digital animation techniques changed the way you work, or the way you feel about your work when you see it?  Does it still feel like it's yours if a computer did much of it?

KT: Before I got into digital animation I saw other shows that were using it and I felt that there was no feeling, it was empty.   As an animator, there's a sense of release when you draw a cel.  There's something there.  Working on FLCL, though, I learned that computers can do more, and, most of all, that they allow room for trial and error and revising, more freedom to experiment.  That is why I now feel that cel art cannot win against computers.  For actual animation everything is still drawn on paper.  That work hasn't changed.  It's the other stuff, the touchups, and coloring.  If we didn't use paper, maybe the feeling would change.

Earlier today you said that you were trying to broaden the genre by giving Eva a sad ending.  Does the sameness of much of today's anime bore you?

KT: First of all we didn't use a sad ending to annoy fans.  When they're upset, that really bothers us.  Personally, I think a happy ending is fine, but not if it is achieved too easily.  That's no good.

For all the fans that are confused at all, if you had to define in one sentence what FLCL is about, what would you say?

KT: FLCL is the story of boy meets girl.  For me it is also about how it's ok to feel stupid.  With Evangelion there was this feeling that you had better be smart to understand it, or even just to work on it. With FLCL I want to say that it's okay to feel stupid.

Even though it may be strange to us, do you have in your head a logic behind it?  Are you trying to portray a story that follows the logic of dreams, or is it supposed to make sense symbolically?

KT: I'd like you to think of FLCL as imagination being made physical and tangible, just as it is for me when I take whatever is in my head and draw it.

So what are you working on next?

KT: Right now Gainax has told me that they'll support anything I choose to create, but I'm having trouble coming up with any ideas.

Why is that?

KT: Releasing titles for market, I know I have to make something to please fans, but I'm not a mature enough person to accept that fact.  If I'm not amusing myself I can't do it.  I feel bad that fans have to put up with such behavior from me.  I apologize. 

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Pairings: Past Aizawa/Mandalay, Pre-Bakugou/Kirishima

Word Count: 2,006 Words

Summary: The Sports Festival, part 2.

Warnings: Fighting Mention, Cursing, Fire Mention, Bullying Mention, Trauma Mention, Injury Mention, Teen Pregnancy Mention, Pregnancy Mention, Partial Nudity Mention, Death Mention, let me know if I should tag anything else.

Usernames: Existence Is A Prison   Aizawa: feral cat dad, Aoyama: gay salt, Hagakure: ranch flavored jello, Tokoyami: foil-mecha, Shinsou: farmer toshi, Kuroiro: life is a nightmare, Shiozaki: saviour, Tsunotori: schrodinger better run, Honenuki: pure, Monoma: nat20, Yamada: President Megaphone, Bakugou: deku-deck-you

Notes: Bakugou doesn't get chained down because fuck that part of the canon. The League will just go after him because he's powerful.

Aizawa, We Agreed No More Cats: Chapter 9

11:50 AM

Existence Is A Prison

gay salt: Yaoyorozu is amazing.

ranch flavored jello: She can bench press me anytime.

gay salt: To be fair, you'd let any strong lesbian bench press you.

ranch flavored jello: You're not wrong but you don't have to say it.

life is a nightmare: She did really well, I'm glad she's advancing despite that Tsubasa guy cutting her up with his glass.

deku deck-you: I think that guy might be related to one of my old friends before UA.

foil-mecha: What happened that you aren't friends anymore

deku deck-you: Tsubasa Ryuu? He got kidnapped or something during a break and I never saw him again. My other two friends? They were fake. They ditched me after the Sludge Villain incident.

nat20: I'll kick their asses for you.

deku deck-you: I wouldn't stop you from burning Aldera Middle School to the ground. For Deku's sake, mostly, but also because I hated those teachers.

feral cat dad: What happened at Aldera Middle School?

deku deck-you: Well, you probably know from Deku by now that I wasn't always easy on him or even this easy to get along with. From the time Deku was misdiagnosed as quirkless, I bullied him. Let's be honest, my reasoning wasn't important because I made his life a living hell just because mine was a living hell at home.

deku deck-you: We talked about everything the day after I moved into the dorms, so don't worry, there's no hard feelings and we're working through all the shit I did to him.

deku deck-you: But, anyway, the teachers at Aldera tried to fail Deku constantly because of his 'quirklessness' but I'd vouch his grades for him once I realized they were trying to flunk him out of the school. And, after the Sludge Villain happened, they began doing the same thing to me because they thought I was influenced by a villain even though I'd told them so many times that I was basically a hostage.

feral cat dad: Looks like I'm opening a formal complaint against Aldera Middle School after the Sports Festival.

deku deck-you: Don't, me and Deku just want to leave Aldera behind us.

feral cat dad: Fine.

feral cat dad: Oh, they had a draw while we were texting. Jeez, that was fast.

deku deck-you: Don't you dare underestimate Kirishima.

ranch flavored jello: Someone has a crush.

deku deck-you: Don't you dare speak of this. I'll launch Deku at you.

ranch flavored jello: Jeez, fine. Feral Deku scares me.

deku deck-you: Good. I gotta go.

12:20 PM

Existence Is A Prison

farmer toshi: Wow, Kats. You did great.

deku deck-you: Can't talk right now. She's in pain and won't let go of me.

deku deck-you is now offline

feral cat dad: Fuck, she overstressed herself.

farmer toshi: I want so badly to check on her but I need to fight Tokoyami now.

1:15 PM

Existence Is A Prison

farmer toshi: Katsuki, you're coming back soon, right? I mean, your match is next after Todoroki and Yaoyorozu.

deku deck-you is online

deku deck-you: I'm back, who's won?

farmer toshi: Kirishima won against Tetsutetsu in their rematch, I won against Fumi, Midoriya won against Toru, Kiyo won against Shizuka, Kaminari just won against Fujioka.

deku deck-you: Okay, good.

ranch flavored jello: I'm down by the entrance to the field. What's wrong with Yaoyorozu?

ranch flavored jello has started a video chat

[Yaoyorozu is shown fumbling around a bit in the ring and Todoroki is in a fighting stance, but drops it when she's facing the wrong way]

Yaoyorozu, why are you stumbling? -Unknown

Shut up and fight me, Todoroki! -Unknown

Something's wrong with you, I won't compete if you're hurt. -Unknown

Just fight me! -Unknown

[Yaoyorozu is shown collapsing and Midnight goes to check on her.]

Yaoyorozu cannot compete due to a previous injury, this match goes to Todoroki! -Unknown

ranch flavored jello has ended the group chat

gay salt: Mon dieu. Is she alright?

ranch flavored jello: She's muttering about her eyes.

ranch flavored jello: Oh god, there's glass in her eyes.

feral cat dad: Get up here, Toru. Now, you don't have to see that.

ranch flavored jello: I won't leave her alone without anyone she knows. I won't. She can't see, Dad.

feral cat dad: Okay, keep her company. But please be aware, they're probably going to do surgery to try to save her vision.

ranch flavored jello: It must have happened when she made that smoke bomb and Tsubasa couldn't see her.

feral cat dad: They're already having Katsuki against Kirishima to ease the tension in the stadium. Clearly, Katsuki's winning already.

2:00 PM

Existence Is A Prison

feral cat dad: Yeah, Katsuki won. So did Shinsou against Midoriya, Kiyo won against Kaminari, and Katsuki won against Todoroki.

ranch flavored jello: At least there's some good news.

deku deck-you: What good news? Icyhot wouldn't fight me with his fire and we spent like ten minutes yelling about trauma before the fucker got blown back so hard when his fire hit my explosion that he's now got a concussion.

feral cat dad: I understand you're angry, but you didn't do anything wrong, Katsuki.

deku deck-you: I know, I just feel bad. Now two of the people I've fought today are out of commission temporarily and I feel responsible.

feral cat dad: I know, and I also know they'll both forgive you. You went off with Uraraka for almost a hour and you didn't mean to injure Todoroki.

2:20 PM

Existence Is A Prison

feral cat dad: I'm so proud of all three of you.

farmer toshi: Katsuki, you're helping put my shoulder into place as a punishment for pulling it out. Recovery Girl already said it was fine.

deku deck-you: A punishment I'll accept fully for doing it in the first place. After I'm done visiting Pink Cheeks again.

deku deck-you is now offline

feral cat dad: My chaotic sons.

ranch flavored jello: Alright, I'm back. Momo can't leave the hospital tonight and she's been instructed to have Recovery Girl heal her in two days.

feral cat dad: There's my daughter. It's a good thing you kids are off for two days after today because you need time to heal after all that.

feral cat dad: Nezu's already insisted Yaoyorozu stay in the dorms because he doesn't want her too far from campus and her parents live in Tokyo prefecture and he feels it's too far for an injures student to travel.

feral cat dad: Tokage is already getting spoken to by Nezu, so she'll likely be added to this chat soon enough. Toru, can you turn on Yaoyorozu's screen reader for her so I can add her to this chat.

ranch flavored jello: Done!

feral cat dad has added Yaoyorozu

Yaoyorozu: Hello everyone!

foil-mecha: Hi, Momo!

Yaoyorozu: Hello! I'm going to take a nap, the surgery was very taxing so I'm quite tired. I'll message you all later when I wake up.

ranch flavored jello: I'll stay with her, don't worry!

Yaoyorozu is now offline

feral cat dad: You haven't changed her username yet, Hitoshi.

farmer toshi: I figure she probably doesn't know our usernames yet so I'll do it later after we tell her ours.

deku deck-you is now online

deku deck-you: Nezu's with Uraraka so I can't visit her right now.

farmer toshi: Is she okay?

deku deck-you: I don't know if I'm allowed to say. Honestly, if it were me and someone told other people I didn't know well without me knowing, I'd call it an invasion of privacy.

feral cat dad: Nezu said Uraraka should be fine. There's no need to worry about her, Recovery Girl is nothing if not adamant on the care of her patients.

deku deck-you: Alright, I'm allowed in now that she's asking for me.

deku deck-you is now offline

life is a nightmare: I wonder how badly hurt she is to want Katsuki there for comfort.

3:00 PM

Existence Is A Prison

gay salt: screenshotofurarakaslatestinstagramphoto.jpg

ochako&baby.jpg

Liked by blastyboykats and 57 others

uraravity Welcome to the world baby boy, despite being unexpected.

View all 15 comments

minabeana Oh my gosh, that baby is so cute. I love him already.

winniepie He's so cute.

kiripima Aw, welcome to the world, little guy.

sparklegirl He's cute, Ocha, mon ami!

michipeachy 🥰🥰🥰

farmer toshi: Does Uraraka have a baby sibling?

foil-mecha: Last I heard she was an only sibling.

nat20: Maybe her mom had the baby today?

feral cat dad: Alright, Uraraka is good now, not that I need to tell you since Aoyama apparently stalks people's accounts on everything.

gay salt: Hey, she gave me her account name willingly! I have all the other girl's accounts.

feral cat dad: Anyway. Tokage's also done talking to Nezu. Here's the girls of the hour.

feral cat dad has added Uraraka and Tokage

Uraraka: Hi, guys.

gay salt: Ocha, are you okay?

Uraraka: Oh yeah, Nezu said me and my baby can stay at the dorms.

gay salt: Quoi? Your baby?

Uraraka: Yeah, didn't Katsuki or Aizawa tell you all? That's why I'm moving into the dorms. I went after my match in the Sports Festival with Katsuki and they had to end up doing an emergency C-Section because they weren't finding a heartbeat. Thankfully, my idiot daughter is fine, just chaotic.

gay salt: What's her name?

Uraraka: Uraraka Emiyo.

gay salt: I will spoil her.

foil-mecha: How cute is she?

Uraraka: katsukicryingholdingemiyo.jpg

foil-mecha: Truly a glorious child. I assure you, us 1a students will assist you in your raising of dear Emiyo as best we can.

ranch flavored jello: I'm not good with baby-babies but I'll try.

Yaoyorozu is now online

Yaoyorozu: I'll help as well, once I'm able to.

Uraraka: It's okay if you don't want to, Momo.

Yaoyorozu: I don't believe you were there for it but, in the second rounds, I had to forfeit the match to Todoroki because, in the first round, Tsubasa Yuudai accidentally got glass in my eyes. My win in the first round was a fluke and I was running only off instinct when I got him out of bounds but, since taking the glass out can't fix the amount of nerve damage, I'll likely be blind for the foreseeable future.

Uraraka: Oh gods, Momo, I'd come give you a hug but I can't move around much yet.

Yaoyorozu: It's fine, Uraraka. It was an accident after all, he didn't mean to do that but the smoke bomb I made obscured his vision.

life is a nightmare: If either of you need anything, just text us, someone will get it to you.

Yaoyorozu: Thank you, but I have Toru for now!

Uraraka: Thanks. I'm good, I've got a Katsuki.

nat20: You say that like you've roped him in or something.

Uraraka: Well he's been proclaiming that he's Emiyo's uncle for the whole thirty minutes she's been in this world.

schrodinger better run: To be fair, is he not her uncle by now?

Uraraka: He is. He's the first besides my parents and me to hold her. He's definitely her uncle.

pure: Has he even put her down yet?

Uraraka: katsukiasleepwithemmiyoinhisarms.jpg

Uraraka: No, he hasn't. My mom's about to pick her up though. She's worried she'll fall and I have to feed her and all so he'll be temporarily losing holding rights anyway since I have to make him leave to feed her.

gay salt: He's sleeping, Ocha. Plus, I thought you knew he was 💅

Uraraka: He's gay?

gay salt: No, he's trans, Ocha, us girls had a whole meeting on including our ftm classmates on girl days if they're comfortable with it and you forgot?

Uraraka: Oh yeah, in that case I'm whipping out the titty so my mom can show my how to feed a baby.

Uraraka is now offline

feral cat dad: You kids are going to give me a heart attack one day and I'll put all your names on my tombstone as a reason I died.

@everythingisstardust