#comics are so so hard to draw and yours looked like a legitimate manga

[anbaisai]

IT'S KALMIAAAA!! Her concept is genuinely so interesting and I really admire how much work you've put into her ❤ together with Mayu they can be the secret powerhouses of potionology that Crewel-sensei will praise while telling Adeuce to be more like them ww Also Mayu'd absolutely be bribed by the free food it's too tempting...

Congratulations on 100 followers Kris!! You have so many interesting and creative OCs and you really deserve it :D If it's okay with you, may I request my OC Mayu interacting with any of your OCs that you think might get along or have an interesting dynamic with her? Thank you! <3

HELLO SYDER!!! :DDD TYYYY it’s nice to see u in my inbox!! I let Mayu interact with Kalmia since i feel like adding her always makes an interesting dynamic ahaha;; They’re in alchemy class as that is both their favorite class!! If they got paired as partners sometime, they’d totally ace any assignment given.

Kalmia has ulterior motive as always, but I think she’d enjoy taking that class w Mayu!!

ALSO!! Want to take this time to say I LOVEEE UR ART SO MUCH!!! Your line work and artstyle in general is sooo good?? Honestly I have artstyle envy /pos I WISH TO REACH UR LEVEL ONE DAY!! SO I WILL KEEP DRAWING!!! Ty for sending the request, I hope u like it!!!

[kuh-boose]

While I’m on a rant. Lobdell needs to learn that connecting every little thing is not good story telling. Things are allowed to just happen and be random. Things are allowed to be normal and small scale and not massive, confusing, mystical events, and still be important. Good writing makes small, relatively normal events still feel important. Jason’s death was relatively small scale and normal for Gotham, it was the writing and the connection built to the character that made it hurt--gave it impact. Jason was an interesting character because he had a clear and relatable motivation. He was a person, he was hurt, he acted on that hurt. Comic book writers in general need to learn to write with either character arcs in mind, or just a general consistent plot with an overall goal (or both, I do like characters and plot). Mangas do a just fine job having arcs that have a start and end. 

 And things can be left in the past. Jason’s parents can be dead. They can be bad or useless people/parents and still be loved by Jason. It doesn’t have to be complicated and I don’t need to keep hearing about them. I’m not impressed or astounded that there’s some twist with his dad and Ma Gunn, I’m just annoyed that you couldn’t stop rehashing his origin and write him in an actually comprehendible story that doesn’t take me ten minutes every new issue to figure out wtf is going on and why he’s there. Legitimately, I am not sure what is going on almost every time I start an issue. And I generally don’t have a much better idea by the end of said issue. Stop. Jumping. Around. please, i’m so tired

There’s stuff I like with RHATO, obviously. But there’s so much that is just frustrating. Hundreds of fans working together write him more consistently and comprehensively than one guy manages to. They make him an actual person. And I KNOW Lobdell can do it. He managed it for like the first... dozen? chapters of Rebirth. And then it’s like he couldn’t help himself and had to make it progressively more stupid and overly complicated.

And who is hiring these artists? Jesus christ, just hire fan artists at this point, since half of DCs artists are drawing arms that look like braids and women that look like a laffy taffy with boobs. Don’t even get me started on faces. (Dexter, you can ignore this part, I love you. Jason walking through smoke in his classic outfit. *chefs kiss* the motorcycle??? yes. so much yes....omg side note since this is just a messy rant anyways, but like go look at Nick Robles art of Jason. I’d give that man my right kidney to draw a full series of him. the writing can be bad, idc, I just want female-gaze!Jason.)

Look, what I’m saying is being a Jason Todd/Red Hood fan is hard and the fans are the only reason I have been able to stay so in love with the character. Especially since, in canon, at this point he’s practically a ‘choose your own adventure’ book. Though really, that seems to just be comic books in general at this point. I’ve found Manga and whatnot to be far better at delivering comprehensive and clean stories with plots and character arcs you can follow, but I think that’s mostly because they’re contained within themselves and generally written by just a small team of people. 

[apixrl]

IT'S YOU.

hanta sero x fem!reader

WARNING(S): slight angst. mostly arguing / tension but fluff towards the end.

word count: 5.3k

song: it's you // gavriel

note(s): if u stan him ur immediately just so hot and sexc and if not ur just really stinky sorry not sorry

italian translation - translator !!

The heavy pouring rain waged war against your once dry and stylish jacket. The piece of clothing now resorted to an added weight as you strode forth to reach your apartment complex. Luckily you were only a street away, your hurried walk turning into a legitimate jog when the storeyed building came into sight. It was Friday night, meaning the day you worked overtime for the sake of earning a little extra as well as filling in for a coworker. Most of the day the weather had been miserable, the sky maintaining a mundane and drilling grey cloudy sketch that slowly collected into rain. Luckily your morning walk to work hadn't been affected by the downfall but the weather had chosen to stick around for your walk home.

Your jacket glued itself to your frame as its capability to keep you dry fleetly decreased, the hoodie underneath beginning to dampen ever so faintly too. Your pants were already taken to the rain, answering its call by absorbing the water into the fabric and making them exceptionally uncomfortable to wear. The pair of shoes on your feet struggled to bind together as they countlessly stepped in puddle after puddle, wearing and tearing with every step you took.

Cars passed by, tires causing gushes of water to hit the pavement. The street lamps did nothing to show your presence as they sped by, your body growing damper from the droplets of water hitting you. You briefly scolded the inconsiderate drivers in your head, eyes glancing ahead to meet an approaching individual. They were most likely a neighbour but given the darkness surrounding you weren't entirely sure, ultimately deciding to keep your head down and not draw attention to yourself.

In truth, this wasn't the only reason.

During the last week and a half, your want to socialise was relatively low, finding a lot of your spare time spent at home and in your own company. The separation from society was healthy for your recently plagued mind, spending afternoons finding all kinds of homely leisure to pass the hours by. It felt much more wholesome and enjoyable to endeavour in a story from your bookshelf or writing poetry in your journal straight from the heart rather than sitting aimlessly on your phone. Simply scrolling through social media to bore the day away.

Why the sudden stray from society to your own little world? Well... sometimes having a popular Pro Hero as a boyfriend came with its cons. Especially when hardships came between. As of the Tuesday approaching, it would be your ten-month anniversary with your partner - Hanta. Or what he was better known as; Taping Hero: Cellophane.

Yours and his meet was rather mundane truth be told. What started as a journey to purchase a recently released volume of one of Hanta's favourite manga comics took a drastic turn and became something much more meaningful. He caught you grabbing the final copy available, smoothly swooping in to attempt to charm you into giving him the comic (the ravenette had been to about five stores before that during patrol - a rather lousy thing to do but he justified his actions with lack of spare time). However, he walked out with a date two nights later instead, finding himself be moved by your own charms and attraction that Hanta urged himself to ask and not miss the chance.

From there, things were taken slow. His social status was shared pretty quickly, faster than Hanta felt comfortable with - liking the idea of you liking him for who he was over his fame and wealth. It didn't affect your perspective of the ravenette, since you had already fallen for him before such information could be told. It took a month before you officially became boyfriend and girlfriend, and life couldn't have been better for the pair of you. For the most part, your relationship was perfectly stable and as healthy as you could make it. But unfortunately, all good things must come with a cost.

See, one thing you were to learn with growing closer to Hanta was he kept his personal life extremely separate from his heroic persona. Such a statement was made very clear before you brought your relationship to the next level since the ravenette requested that if you were to become lovers that he would want it to remain private. So he could feel he had a somewhat normal life outside of his duties as a hero. Whilst becoming a Pro was his dream and the man loved his job, Hanta was also a sucker for peace and quiet too. Having that metaphorical and literal balance in his life granted him inner peace, and as his partner, you respected that.

At least at first, since you didn't think you would reach ten months together and still be hiding behind sunglasses whenever the pair of you wanted to see a movie.

You couldn't lie, it was endearingly sweet Hanta felt that way, partly anyway. The fact he cherished your love and relationship so close to his heart that it was only shared between you two. But your irrationality couldn't help but make you wonder how in a concerning way, Hanta's desire to keep you from his greatest achievement in life (becoming a top ten pro) almost felt like he was hiding you... like he didn't want you a part of it. And once that thought struck you as the ravenette rested peacefully beside you one night, it didn't shy away anytime soon. Given the fact you had spoken briefly about making yourselves public in the past with little to no issue, you didn't think you would cause harm by bringing it up again. But it seemed your choice of when to bring it up was poor, as it most certainly did not run smoothly between you.

Something about his day had irritated Hanta, and so you pinning such focus on the subject seemed to pass him over his limit. There were a few snaps here and there, which you didn't necessarily appreciate, and Hanta's lack of enthusiasm and care for your request made you all the more upset. So weighted emotions matched with the evident disagreement surely lead to Hanta storming out of your apartment with such a slam to the door you wouldn't have expressed shock if your neighbour's stepped out in the hall to see the chaos ensuing.

That was nine days ago, and so far neither of you had seen nor spoken to the other. You'd made attempts to contact him since then, attempts you knew before you tried would come out unsuccessful. But from observation, Hanta was surprisingly a complete mess when it came to emotions based on negativity. Whenever the ravenette grew angry or agitated he became a closed book, so hard for you to read that the only thing you learned that worked was to give him space. To let him get through his upset alone since he never seemed to allow for outer help and comfort to assist. Which you despised because you wanted to help him through his troubles. To be there as the big spoon or to be the shoulder to cry on. But stupid male pride got in the way, Hanta building a wall so high and thick between him, his emotions and you that truth be told you had no idea how to push through.

So you resorted to letting him get over it in his own time, knowing deep down he would come around eventually. It wasn't the first quarrel you'd had and hopefully not the worst, and you knew this was Hanta's way of dealing with it. Whilst you had been willing to wait it out, you placed that thought in your head thinking it to be only two or three days before Hanta made some sort of effort.

But it was nine. And that was beginning to concern you greatly.

You finally reached the stairs leading up to your apartment building, the relief flowing through your system so freeing and wonderous. All that was left was to type in the passcode by the main doors and you would be merrily under shelter, able to kick off your trainers and slip into some comfy sweats. Perhaps even make yourself a warm cup of cocoa and watch an episode of a show you needed to catch up on before the sweet release of sleep. Or so you thought it was going to go.

Twenty minutes later and your thumb grazed lightly over your phone's home screen, imaginatively stroking the black hair of a certain boy you loved dear as he smiled cross-eyed back at you. The photo was taken when Hanta took you ice skating in the countryside during the winter which previously passed. He discovered a secluded location hiding a spacious lake that had been glazed with thick, sturdy ice. After numerous times of losing your balance, Hanta deemed it amusing to take a photo with you as you sat on your backside in defeat. And whilst it did humiliate you, you adored Hanta's goofy looking face in the photo. Hence why it was your background.

You'd found yourself staring at the photo the night prior too, contemplating whether to try to call again or not. What if something was wrong? What if Hanta was injured and somewhere under repair at one of the numerous hospitals in the city? God... what if the doofus finally slung himself across the city as crazily as that Western hero he never shut up about and fell to his death? And your setback from social media was the reason you hadn't found out yet? See! This was a reason why you wanted to go public! At least in an emergency, somebody would know who to contact!

Your brows crinkled at that final thought, what began as concern moving back a step to annoyance and you settled on tossing your phone behind you on your bed in defeat. Proceeding to stand upright, you tugged the oversized hoodie (Hanta's hoodie not to mention) on your person and wandered through the rooms of your apartment to your kitchen. Where the bubbling of your kettle boiling water filtered your ears. The low hum calmed you as you leaned against the counter in thought, arms crossed over your chest and your eyes focused deeply beyond the wooden flooring.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The noise went unheard at first, so occupied in your head you mistook the sound for the kettle boiling. But when the triple trill sounded again, it dawned on you that that was most certainly not how a kettle was supposed to sound. Snapping out of your focus, your head lifted to the kettle before it scanned the room around you. Nothing seemed different at all, and nothing inside your apartment had a reason to make such a sound.

Unless you had rats... then maybe that would make sense.

Please don't be rats.

Having no initial success, you blankly went back to your thoughtful state - the kettle finally boiling. Permitting you to fill the lavender painted mug that waited impatiently on the side, four heaped teaspoons of cocoa powder begging for hydration inside. Now actually having something to do you hoisted yourself off of the counter, stepping to the one opposite to do the task at hand. But then just as you were going to pour the heated water...

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap!

This time it was more rushed and heightened, holding a lack of patience to a certain extent. It was there you finally trailed your eyes left, right and centre, your E/C irises landing on the french doors past your sofa which lead to your balcony. Doing as much as possible to downplay your panic by putting on a brave face, you manoeuvred from your perch in the kitchen and headed for the doors to glance outside. Thankfully the light on the balcony was switched on, giving you a glimpse of silhouettes to the arrangement of the outdoor area. At first, nothing seemed different at all. Just the usual setting your balcony always had. A few potted plants and a small sakura blossom which you'd been growing from the seed, as well as a glass table and four chairs. Not to mention the closed up umbrella and pole reaching for the stars above too. But looking over your observations, something went amiss. Since when did you have five chairs?

Squinting your eyes in a struggle to focus better, they were only set to widen as it hit you what you could see. There, perched on your balcony in a squatting position was a person... balancing perfectly on the thin pole as their head leaned forwards to occasionally peer inside the glass doors. It took a second or two for you to figure out what was going on. But the moment you recalled the fact you had a boyfriend with the ability to swing from rooftop to rooftop, your heart both plummeted to your feet and leapt to the heavens above simultaneously.

After realising what was happening, you moved to the lock of the glass doors and grabbed hold. That movement seemed to indicate shifting on the exterior because the person on the other side stood upright and casually stepped off the railing as though it were a stair. You swallowed thickly, clamping down on the inside of your cheek in worry that you could not see his face. Unfortunate for your nerves since at least then you could gain some form of presumption to what his expression read. So walking in blind, you unlocked the door and jiggled it open, the glass door sliding to the side easily. Quickly did the silent walls of your apartment be filled to the brim with the heavy downpour of rain and distant car horns in the distance. As well as the overhanging state of tension in the air as your eyes trailed up the slender frame of your visitor and meeting the ebony eyes you'd been missing for far too long now.

"What... what are you doing here?" You uttered out after a long twenty seconds passed. Upon opening the door no words were said, only the longing gaze of two conflicted lovers. Hanta stood before you with a discouraged expression, lips tightly pursed together with no catchphrase toothy grin to show. He was donning his hero costume, though his helmet appeared to be missing for reasons you didn't know why. But it didn't help Hanta one bit since his black locks were laced with the heavy downpour from above. You imagined his hero costume was drenched as well, damp spandex sounding all too discomforting in your head as you used it as a focus to ease the nerves you felt to the sudden visit.

"Hey," Hanta finally said after what felt like a millennium. What were his usual cheerful tones came out low and unsure, like the ravenette hadn't come prepared and was relying on other factors to push himself forward. With sunken brows and a clear of his throat, Hanta continued as he lifted his eyes to meet yours. "Can I come in?"

"Oh... right, sure," You stated blankly and stepped back for him to do so. At first, you wanted to ask him why he decided to come to your balcony of all things, but the look in his eyes had convinced you to wait for that chance. There was just something about those gorgeous orbs of ebony you couldn't say no to - conflict or not. Luckily your apartment flooring was hard, meaning any water from Hanta's shoes (or soles as his costume didn't use shoes) could be mopped up and dealt with later. Not that you were thinking about that at all. Your mind was too focused on processing what was going on.

"I was in the neighbourhood and you know that my tape is crap in rain so... I didn't know where else to crash," Hanta started once inside your apartment. He nervously laughed as though to ease inner feelings, hands meeting his hips in a lost attempt to make conversation. It was mainly due to the fact you hadn't properly greeted him, sort of dawdling between him and the sofa. You looked Hanta up and down and sighed, seeing how soaked he was.

"Here... slip this on," You lifted your hands over your head to tug the hoodie off, holding it out for Hanta to take. It was his anyway, and it would be a lie to say you weren't wearing it for his scent. Underneath the hoodie, you donned a simple black tank top you tended to wear during your morning jogs or times of exercise. The ravenette took it reluctantly, initiating you to head for your bedroom. "I'll go grab you some pants too. And a towel for your hair,"

"Oh... okay then," Hanta was genuinely astonished by the hospitality, watching you disappear down the hall. As you grabbed the aforementioned items, he began to remove the top half of his hero costume. It was true that Hanta loved his hero costume very much but when it came to the rain he wanted nothing more than to change the design completely. The spandex soaked up the rain and it took hours to drip out, not only dampening him but also multiplying its weight much more than double its usual. With his tape dispenser shoulder pads placed on the floor, Hanta stripped himself of his top half. Sighing when he discovered the rain had seeped through and dampened his skin. Luckily you entered the room shortly after, carrying some grey sweats of Hanta's and a freshly cleaned towel.

"So... is there any other reason you decided to scare the crap out of me on my balcony?" You questioned flatly, a hand on your hip as you held the towel out for Hanta, placing the sweats on the sofa cushion next to him. He mumbled a quick thanks, promptly starting to dry his upper half.

"Well yeah," The ravenette stopped momentarily to glance your way, ebony eyes finding you back at the countertop in the kitchen where you resumed the task of making cocoa. Hanta quickly expressed a sigh. "W-We gotta talk,"

"About?" You asked innocently, though you were fully aware of what was being implied. Chewing the inside of your cheek as you did your best not to make eye contact, Hanta furrowed his brows at you.

"I think you know,"

"Well, are we starting afresh or picking up where we left off? The moment you decided to storm out of here and slam the door shut?" You spoke in a passive-aggressive manner because truth be told, you didn't appreciate Hanta's way of handling your last discussion at all. So you were certainly planning on letting him know. Speaking of which, Hanta was now scrubbing his raven locks dry as his eyes closed in response. Almost like he expected you to react in such a manner. Though he refrained from biting back, knowing that would only make it worse. Not his aim for visiting.

"Starting afresh,"

"Okay then," Was all you said, stirring your spoon and tapping it quite obnoxiously on the side of the mug before dropping it into the kitchen sink. Then you moved to the fridge to grab yourself some squirty cream. The can practically empty, it reminded you how badly you needed to go grocery shopping the next day. As for a reply, from across the room, you could only see the essence of hesitance. Either from Hanta figuring where to go from that or ultimate regret for even coming. Your bets were on both.

"Look Y/N -," The ravenette began, relatively quick to dry the rest of himself off and to put on the remaining clothes. Just as he was prepared to skirt over to your side, his actions ceased upon seeing you setting yourself down on the armchair opposite. Hanta had a moment where he didn't move, unsure what to do before he resorted to sitting down on the sofa. Feeling it the only safe thing to do. "I don't want problems between us. It's the last thing I want, okay?"

"I um... okay," You said, fingertips tapping lightly against the ceramic mug filled to the brim with whipped cream and cocoa. Hanta met your gaze for a split second, hands proceeding to fiddle with the other much more prominently.

"But... I want you to know that I've been thinking about it and well... I guess if it'll make you happy, I'm willing to do it and go public," Hanta spoke through a sigh. Peculiar, because a week ago you would have probably broken into a bright smile and jumped straight into the ravenette's arms then and there. Yet, you remained in your seat and mouthed a small oh of... disappointment was it? Whilst you weren't certain what it was, it most definitely felt like that. Which was odd because the words Hanta had just uttered were the ones you had been waiting to hear for months now.

Funnily enough, it didn't take you long to figure out why. Because throughout the previous week and the lack of contact, that's exactly what had been the route of the problem. The way Hanta treated you during your last interaction and the lack of communication mixed with it. It wasn't the original issue anymore. Of course, you still wanted that. But you additionally craved a sense of closure for how you were treated.

"Hanta I...," Hanta's brows crinkled together in a frown, not shy to display his confusion to your hesitant tones.

"What? What is it? T-That's what you want right?" He replied.

"Yes, it's what I want. But that's not the issue anymore,"

"What do you mean? I'm not following...," His response made you scoff. Not exactly great for the situation at hand. You remained silent for a little bit longer, scratching the side of your head as you sat upright to elaborate.

"Hanta... you haven't texted or called me in over a week. You walked out of here after a fight and practically went radio silent!" Was your protest, watching as Hanta fell back against the sofa. Unbeknownst to you, there was another reason he did this. An inner conflict he had yet to unveil. A prolonged silence ensued as if Hanta was trying to find the correct words to say.

"Because I needed space Y/N... time to think!"

"Yeah well we both did... but even calling just to say that would have been reassuring," You weren't finished despite trailing off, Hanta seeming to notice by the way your lips were faintly parted. "I know you have a busy schedule but... but...," The thought entered your mind for a split moment, doing much more damage than intended.

"But what?"

"It doesn't matter. I-it's stupid," You tried to brush it off, suppressing the thought further down into your system so it wouldn't win you over. Hanta didn't seem to like that though, his head tilting your way with his eyes boring into your own. He could tell when something was bothering you, just from your body language.

"No. Tell me,"

"You're not losing interest in me, are you?" It sounded ridiculous the moment you uttered the words, and it sounded even more ridiculous as Hanta's hands met the bridge of his nose in a heavy sigh. Quickly causing you to further your point. "I-I just thought that you not wanting to go public and being 'busy' was a nice way of saying -,"

"Don't even finish that sentence,"

"Sorry," The silence lingering between you both drowned out your voice, to which you looked down at your hands with a sigh. The ravenette sat upright rather abruptly, shifting onto his feet and coursing a hand through his hair. There was a clashing frown on his face as he reflected on the words he just heard.

"I can't believe you would even think that... that I'm growing tired of you!" Hanta called out in disbelief, near offended by the accusation. His body twisted to face you, eyeing you down for some sort of explanation or justification to what you said.

"It's hard not to when you're giving off all these... these signs!" That was your best response. Though you were set to be cut off by another sharp sigh from Hanta. One of many expressed that rainy night. You watched as he walked on over to the glass doors he entered moments earlier, observing the rain slashing harshly against the clear surface. It had grown even heavier since his entry, the back of his mind relieved to be out of the dangerous weather and inside closed doors. He didn't ponder on it long though, returning to the situation at hand and leaving the indistinct 'pitter-patter' of the rain behind him.

"Y/N have you ever thought for a single moment why I've kept you secret for so long?"

"You said you liked your private life to be away from your hero one... a-and I get that!" You replied urgently. "I'm okay with all the publicity and the social media responses and -," As though he expected that answer, Hanta interrupted you with a near saddened laugh. It caused you to frown and glare his way, about to raise your voice if not for his own voice filling the apartment.

"You know my job isn't just walking around being a celebrity, right?" Hanta glanced back at you. "I'm a hero for crying out loud! I protect people from danger! People like you!" The ravenette pressed a closed fist against the glass pane of the door, forehead inches away from the surface since Hanta shifted most of his weight onto it. You tilted your head, frowning.

"I know that but -,"

"But do you?" Hanta's tone came off harsher than intended to emphasise his point. But he was quick to abandon it, clicking his tongue in defeat to a battle in his head when he realised he had to explain his case. He'd been reluctant to say anything about his activities in the last week since technically not even the press knew, but lying wasn't going to get Hanta and you anywhere. So he surrendered to the urge and spoke. "Listen, the reason I didn't message you this week is that I've been working non-stop over some drug trades going on. One's that have been going on for a while underground and ones that have gotten good people killed. I haven't had the time to focus on us even though our fight has been in my head all week and I've been shitting myself over talking about it because I don't want to lose you! I couldn't imagine life without you, Y/N and I feel like an ass for treating you how I did last time we spoke! But I haven't been able to tell you that because access to my phone has been slim, and I couldn't-,"

"Hanta?" You stood up gingerly, only speaking up due to the change of Hanta's aura. He had started curt and sharp but slowly tumbled into a more emotional demeanour. The more personal his small speech grew the more it started to affect him, probably the impact of his own thoughts taking their toll. There was even a voice crack at some point, one you'd never heard before. Hanta took a deep breath, bracing himself to speak again.

"It sounds like a lame excuse but it's the truth. I didn't want to say it. But I can't lie to you," He continued. "It's cases like this that have kept me from wanting to go public. B-Because if those people were to figure out who you are because of me...," There was a stifled shake of a breath, Hanta's voice quietening in fear just at the thought. "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself,"

You were speechless. So speechless you weren't even mad anymore. He was finally... finally being vulnerable with you and that seemed to be enough for you to erase all your grudges. Sure, work wasn't an excuse for everything. But in a circumstance like this one - with the job that Hanta lead, you could understand his reasons and in spite of your worry you knew the rules. No mobiles on operations. And finally, he was confiding to you about why he struggled with the thought of announcing your relationship. So in a very reluctant manoeuvre, you plucked up the courage to walk up behind him and wrap your arms around Hanta in a sorrowful hug. Hanta tensed up at first, breath running short, but he didn't push you away. A hopeful sign.

"I'm sorry for making it such a big deal when you had other things to think about," You said, pressing your lips to the back of his shoulder blade and giving the surface a peck. You remained there for a good few, adamant seconds before retracting. "And I'm sorry for never looking at it that way... or considering your feelings on the matter,"

"Y/n it's fine... just...," Hanta seized the opportunity to turn around to face you, running a hand through his ebony locks with one hand as his other slithered around you to return the hug. "I'm sorry I made you doubt me... I feel like shit about it and it wasn't my intention at all,"

"No! No! Don't apologise. It's okay, " You brought a hand to fiddle with the string of his hoodie. As much as it wasn't what you wanted, you had to see Hanta's perspective and understand his feelings too. This was a two-person relationship after all and had you known his feelings ran that deep, you wouldn't have pressed the matter as much as you had. "Look, we don't have to announce anything to anyone okay? If it makes you comfortable and happy then I'm willing to remain a mystery a little longer,"

That returned some colour to his face, almost like Hanta feared you would oppose him even still and the situation would grow for the worse. With a small sigh of relief, he finally allowed a smile to press to his lips. A smile you knew all too well and had missed for a while now.

"Thank you for understanding," Hanta exhaled, pausing as his eyes hovered onto you with an ounce of playful intent. "And I guess we could be a little bit less discreet when we go to the cinema together," You smiled faintly, finally satisfied with the decision you had come up with. Better yet, a compromise. The very thing you had wanted to start with... clearly your concluding thoughts had been premature.

"Thank you... it means a lot,"

"Yeah... I love you," Hanta spoke gently, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

"I love you too," You stood on your tiptoes to lightly peck his lips, Hanta humming softly in approval as he returned the gesture. After a few seconds, you pulled back though, feeling a smile on your face as you did. It was enjoyable to kiss his lips again, another thing you had missed greatly in your week-long deprivation of your boyfriend.

"So, how does some hot cocoa sound? I can imagine you were sat on the balcony for a pretty long time," You pulled away from the hug, but kept hold of Hanta's wrist as you tugged him along with you. Hanta shook a fist in grateful triumph, sighing out in bliss at the offer.

"Oh, I thought you'd never ask! Hot cocoa sounds amazing," He smiled, pausing temporarily before adding on. "But are cuddles on the table too?" You glanced back at him, half expecting the request. But there was no way you were going to say no. You shook your head in amusement before answering.

"I think we're both in desperate need of cuddles, so I think so. Yes,"

"Amen to that,"

[hetalia-reacts]

OOO OK:

Polnareff with a manga artist s/o (who is also part of the crusaders group)!

Polnareff

Polnareff is literally so invested in your manga/s

That was even before you became a crusader and his s/o

He’s loved your works since basically day one and has definitely asked you to sign his favorite volume of your series

Watches you draw all the time

Some might think he wouldn’t be able to sit through it or would distract you either by accident or on purpose

But Polnareff is well behaved and watches you draw like you’ve just blessed him

Asks you to teach him how to draw

He’s mediocre at drawing, neither super good or super bad, but at least you can tell what they are!

Makes lil’ comics/manga for you úwù

They don’t look great and the plot and flow is awful but it’s so endearing because he tried doing the thing you love doing for you

They are sharing the same brain cell so it’s likely Kak likes your work too

You can’t tell me he doesn’t fangirl over your work with Kakyoin and beg you to let them both sit and watch while you work

Literally never shuts tf up about you and your career or the fact you still keep deadlines while hunting down Dio with them

So proud and impressed by you

100% will offer you ideas left and right for characters and plot lines

He’s so creative honestly

If he ever hears anyone insult your manga or criticize it in any way it is hands on sight for him

He just can’t stand to hear them bad mouth your hard work like that 😤

And if one of the other Crusaders said anything bad Polnareff is ready to legitimately kill them for talking crap about you

Base a character off of him or a couple after you guys and he’s in tears immediately

He wouldn’t be able to hold them back after such a sweet sentiment

If you ever draw him a single page or just a picture in your manga style he either frames it like it’s priceless or pins it to the fridge with a dumb but proud smile on his face

[opbackgrounds]

As many of you noticed, the other day I posted Part 1 in what has become a series on my thoughts on sexism in One Piece. If you are somehow seeing this post first, I would recommend clicking the link as I’ll be adding to the foundation I built there. 

I already had some pretty strong thoughts on this topic before receiving the original ask, but in the spirit of not wanting to sound like a douche academic integrity I decided to do a little cursory research into what other people meant when they said that One Piece is sexist. Here’s a collage of some of my favorite hot takes

As much as I’m...confused? Unsurprised yet somehow disappointed?...I don’t want to mock or belittle the people who feel this way. I think one of the most dangerous things in our modern internet age is that discussions only get surface deep before they devolve into shouting matches, and when the other side is vilified as ignorant or immoral or whatever it only serves to divide people into groups that grow evermore hostile to one another as the shouting matches get louder. It’s a short jump from your opinions are stupid and bad to you are stupid and bad for having them and I really don’t want to go there. 

Tl; dr: I don’t care if you disagree with anything I’m about to say, but if you send me harassing messages please know that I will laugh at you for presuming to think that I care.

Dropping the S Bomb

So first things first, a couple definitions. Sexism is prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination against a certain gender, in this case women. Chauvinism is excessive or prejudiced support for one's own cause, group, or sex. Misogyny is dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.

I start with definitions, because there are an astounding number of people who misuse these terms when making arguments. When talking about things like character design, Oda’s typical hour-glass figure is leaning into a stereotype that leads to the objectification of (fictional) women. An argument could be made that One Piece is sexist in that way. 

But it’s not that cut and dry, and I am always of the opinion that context matters. I argued in my previous post that there would be a wider variety of female character designs if there were more women, and the exaggerated aesthetic of the series lends itself to the exaggerated busts and butts typical of One Piece ladies. 

There’s an interview that came out around the time Strong World was released that I think is helpful when talking about this sort of thing. 

I approached it thinking that since I’m drawing for a boys’ comic magazine, then it’s my job to make sure they enjoy what they’re reading. When you actually do become a professional you’ll start getting fan letters and other things and you’ll soon find that the overwhelming majority of them are from girls. Boys just aren’t the type to pick up a pen. (laughs) They don’t have things like stationary or stamps and they don’t think about going through the ‘grueling task’ of writing someone just to say, “That was cool.” Boys are a life form that enjoy something but won’t bother to tell you that they actually do.

So I learned that girls will flood you with their opinions and when I took at step back and looked at the world of manga, I realized that there are a lot of people out there that made me think, “This [author] is really just going along with the girls’ opinions.” And ultimately, if you’re considering those opinions as the ‘needs of the customer’ when you write the story, you’re just left with a girl’s manga. (laughs) It’s like, if you do that, you’re only writing to entertain girls, and that’s just wrong.

Oda writes for his target demographic, pre-teen and teenage boys. He doesn’t seem to care much for the opinions of his female audience, which again could be perceived as sexist.

And to an extent maybe it is, but I also think it’s smart. You only have to look at the mess that is the new Star Wars trilogy to see what happens when a storyteller tries to appease a fan base. The end result is that everyone goes home from the theatre miserable. 

Humanity has been telling stories since time immemorial. They’re so ingrained into into the collective psyche that we have developed certain metanarriatives, types, and archetypes that have in turn been refined and distilled and applied to certain types of stories meant for certain types of people. The “rules” for telling a “boy’s story” are different than the “rules” for telling a “girl’s story”, just like I would not expect a romance to be told in the same way as one of Shonen Jump’s battle manga.

Incidentally, this is part of the reason why I think many romances in shonen fall flat. Stories best suited for fighting, camaraderie, coming of age, and growing into the best version of yourself are forced to try to include tropes and story beats that just don’t fit, and the end result is often just...bad.  

And, yes, these rules are arbitrary. They can and do change. Just look at shonen battle manga of the 80s vs the titles that were popular when One Piece started in the 90s vs what’s running today. The fact that Oda maintained an audience for over two decades while writing for a demographic that ages out every few years is nothing short of incredible. He clearly has a pulse on what his audience wants while maintaining a clear vision for the direction he wants One Piece to go.

Nor is this an individual effort. Oda works with his assistants and editors when it comes to making these decisions. It’s impossible to say how much he’s been influenced by these other voices, both in the past and now, even if he is ultimately the person responsible for what does and does not get put to paper.

What’s more, society changes. What is considered sexist now would not be thought of as such a generation ago. Our descendants will shake their heads at all the crazy, backward, terrible things we think are normative, and that’s not even taking into consideration differences in culture that not only exist between generations, but nations. America is going to have different ideas of what is and isn’t appropriate behavior than Japan, which undoubtably influences Oda’s sense of humor, which in turn influences the sorts of gags he puts into his comic.

I want to walk a fine line here, because I think there are objective standards that people should be held to regarding sexism while also acknowledging that getting people to agree to those standards are is impossible. If people truly feel as strongly about Oda’s character design and fan service as they make it seem online, then by all means comment on it. It’s not going to change Oda’s mind, but maybe with increased awareness the next generation of storytellers will be better. 

At the same time, I think that the indignant masses need to take a deep, hard look at what they’re calling sexism. Are you really going to claim, as I’ve seen, that all fan service is sexist? Are you really going to say that Robin and Nami are weak characters because they don’t get fights? Are you really going to say that Oda’s the most sexist mangaka out there, using, Fairy Tale as an example of female characters done right?

Because if you are, you’re setting yourself up to be thought as just as vapid and uniformed as those who are only reading for tits and ass. There are legitimate criticisms to be had, but just because you don’t like a thing doesn’t mean it’s bad storytelling. Just because Oda puts something out there that you don’t approve of doesn’t make it sexist. Audiences need to be better at thinking critically about the media they consume and learn to look past the sensationalism of click bait articles to truly explore the issues at hand. 

This is getting long again, so I think I’m going to split this into another post where I’ll dive into some specific examples within the series itself. Once again, thank you for your time. I promise I’ll wrap this up soon and move onto other, hopefully more positive, things.    

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 220, Replies Part 1

1) “No the logo is wrong, the word hero shouldn’t be there, haven’t you noticed, we are reading a new manga today, BNHA is out, BNVA is in.”-

Shigaraki: Understood. (breaks sign) Us:… Shigaraki….What? Us: you know we’re gonna have to put that back eventually, right? It’s not like this’ll be My Villian Academia for the rest of the manga.

Shigaraki: (shakes hands free of sleeves)… You were saying? Us: MVA For Life!

2) “Oh what the- Are you serious Horikoshi? You putting a anime transition in your manga? I mean, it looks cool, breaking the 4th wall and all that, but, serious?”-  Horikoshi already put his own spin on Western Superhero comics, now he’s going a level deeper by putting his own spin on the anime based off of his Superhero comics! Comicception!

3) “Oh look at this shit, the pieces of the logo are falling. You really were thinking about the anime when you wrote this chapter, right Horikoshi? Well, this transition better be included when the episode comes out or I’ll be really mad.”- It’s stuff like this that makes the anime interesting- Horikoshi apparently had creative input in setting up some sequences and scenes with the anime team’s direction, but now he’s just writing his manga like it was an anime we were watching to cut out the middle man- and possible give himself more free time to draw up some future plot points and threads.

4) “Oh and it looks like we’ll get a quick recap of what the hell the league was up to, and going by the house it seems like they were going the X-man route and opening a school for gifted youngsters, except they became villains, not heroes.”-I have to assume, going by the fact that these clan rip-offs are both fossils and relatively isolated- thus giving the league a perfect excuse to rob them blind and likely get away with it for a long time before the local police realise somethings up- that this house is probably a family inheritance for the head honcho of this gathering to host his fellow racists and foster their anti-quirk discrimination clause. It means that there’s a lot of old money in the place, but unfortunately, probably little of actual value they can lug out the door- the house would sell for a sweet bunch to the correct interested parties if Shigaraki and the gang could broker a deal, but being wanted criminals tends to get in the way of legitimate businesses.

5) “Is… Is that the Klan? Did the Klan just showed up in BNHA? For real?

I… Holy shit I never imagined that in the future that BNHA takes place in, centuries after quirks have been around, there are still people that are prejudiced against anyone that doesn’t look like them.”- The Klan-rip-offs, but certainly based after them. Granted, it’s not improbable that there’s still prejudice around even after centuries have passed and the abnormalities outnumber the norms, but if there’s one great thing that the quirk generations will have brought about it’s that Discrimination has become both more difficult to do, and also very fucking stupid and short-sighted in practice. Like, there’s so many different types of quirks, not only is it difficult to gather enough relative ‘normals’ together (or those whose quirks barely do anything and thus qualify for basically normal) but it’s hard to find enough specific group types to be prejudiced against unless you’re going for the broadest possible descriptive terms, like people who have animal-trait quirks with varying mutations. These guys were not going to last long anyway, even if they did manage to go far enough to get klan-esque getups, if they actually went far enough to commit crimes agasitn their targets of discrimination, they’d be immediately arrested by some of the several hundreds of freelance heroes in the vicinity- heck I’d bet money that some heroes already have their eyes on them on principle, just waiting for them to give them an excuse to bring the law down on their entire organisation. 

Plus, they’re prejudiced against people with animal-quirks, like Shishida I.E quirks that grant them naturally superior advantages against ‘normal’ humans like these guys seem to be emulating- any victim of their choice could easily hand them their assess on a plate in self-defence. I know they’re supposed to be reprehensible and a sign that they’re still flaws in quirk society that heroes haven’t completely purged, but the sheer logical fallacies that stand in their ways of becoming a halfway effective racist Klan just make them come off as comically inept to me. This gathering is probably their equivalent to a Saturday morning barbeque with their mates where they can relax and be free to vent their thoughts about the current state of society, because that’s the only thing they can reasonably get away with without bringing the heroes down on their heads- and they have to hold it out in the remote part of the woods to even get away with that

6) “Oh my god, it was Spinner the one narrating it, oh lord we’re in for a really heavy arc, if now we’re dealing the goddamn Skull Faced Klan.”-  If twice was the hard-boiled noir narrator, then Spinner is the idealistic but naive youth trapped in circumstances beyond his control and yet aware of the flaws and issues that pushed him to this point- young teen growing into manhood, basically. It also lets us know that there’s a lot more going on underneath his apparent klutziness and poor-decision making thus far, showing that he’s a far deeper thinker than we gave him credit for and perhaps the only one in the league who actually gives a real damn about the message that inspired them all to join and hang out together, and what the goal of the league is beyond just survival in the face of the hero crackdown following AFO’s defeat.

7) “Those two little shits, they are casually going through their stuff like its no big deal. Well, it isn’t, those guys deserve to be robbed, but it is extremely funny nonetheless.”-  I mean, they were going to rob the place and leave the bodies piled up in a corner anyway- can’t leave witnesses alive to inform the heroes of their last known location- so they might as well get started on the robbery whilst they they’re gearing up for the murdering- plus, it’s Compress and Toga, the two most comfortable with making a living with what materials the universe provides them, who get started on finding the valuable stuff, presumably because they’re got a better discerning eye than the others, whereas Tomura just stands back prepared to cover their backs and Spinner isn’t carefree enough to drop his guard in front of one of the embodiments of the system that he hates- sure, heroes aren’t outright racist to Spinner, but his quirk’s appearance does designate him as ‘other’ to a lot of people he makes casual acquaintance with, as evidenced by his little rant to Tomura later, and it’s something that really gets under his skin- heck, maybe he suggested they rob/murder this place because he saw a bunch of targets just ripe for the karmic jackpot.

8) “You guys seriously gonna fight them off with candlesticks? Those guys can turn a building into a pile of dust by high-fiveing it, are you sure you don’t want to rethink your strategy?”- Again, it’s possible that none of these guys have a quirk worth a damn in an actual fight, thus grabbing a nearby blunt/flaming object might actually be more useful to them than their born superpowers, but it’s possible that, as part of their doctrine, they reject all quirks to make themselves as close to normal as possible, thus they don’t think to activate their God-given abilities to fight off the invading murderers with a combined body count in the triple digits. In which case, this is Darwin in action.

9) “You know what, the title was extremely misleading, not because it isn’t a chapter about the league opening a school for villains, but because they were called villains when they are clearly making the heroic acts of taking out the thrash.

C’mon Horikoshi, adding the stuff about robbing them doesn’t change the fact that league is just casually making a good, albeit brutal, action to help society.”- I mean, they’ll still be as brutal and merciless agasitn actual, good-natured heroes as they are with these guys, but the difference is that the league doesn’t have the luxury of doing so against heroes because of their current cash flow problems and general lack of stability in the face of the government-sponsored hero system hunting them down now and responding to all public action they make by swarming the area with multiple highly-trained fighters. The league has skills, but there’s no way they can take on a small army of heroes and win in the end, no matter how powerful they are. These guys had the bad luck of deciding to be trash in a society that doesn’t spare much thought for the garbage men who tidy up the mess, so long as the streets are clean.

10) “Oh yeah, this is clearly fictitious, since no way a group of racists with a big-ass house for their sick bookclub wouldn’t be rich as all hell, I mean, just take a look at real life. No, that completely breaks the suspension of disbelief, not realistic at all, 0/10.”- Yeah, the house is loaded, but everything of value in it has probably been shipped off elsewhere to help pay of the loans and cost up up keeping such a fancy house- the only thing of great momentary value left is probably the building itself, and unless Giran gives Shigaraki access to a ‘fantastic’ middle man, he’s not gonna be selling that anytime some- especially since it’ll probably end up going to one of the owner’s distant relatives in the will,

11) “That’s entirely on you, thos things were made to extract blood, not to stab people, you have your knifes for that.”- Well, given the nature of Toga’s quirk, and the fact the costume was designed with her in mind, it probably is designed to stab people in a frenzied fight to suck their blood super-quick- which it can still do, it’s just gonna have a more messy entry point than before.

12) “But okay, we’re getting the league back, and we’re seeing that Shigaraki is facing the harsh realities of being a leader, mainly that he need to feed and help his man. He’s learning it all, and in the worst way possible, by having to lift the the crown of command with his own hands.:- There’s a reason many aspiring criminals in films and fiction have day-to-day jobs, and it’s not just for the sake of keeping a plausible double-life and potential alibi going- crime might pay, but you’re running a gamble with every one and if you’ve not planned ahead carefully enough, or lack decent intel or where and how to find the good cheddar, you’re going to be running up against the costs of diminishing returns before long.

13) “Wait, seriously? This is where you guys are hiding? Dude, you had a fancy house, completely empty, you just would need to mop the floor. C’mon, its not like the SFK would have any use for it”- True, but I think it’s implied that the league agreed with Dabi to meet back at that abandoned Dumb as their rendezvous point whilst he was out ‘recruiting’ and since they all probably lack cell phones to avoid being tracked down, they’re got no means of communicating with him for long periods unless they stick to the designated meeting spot. Plus, even if the league were well-versed in how to dispose and clean up dead bodies (which I doubt- Kurogiri was probably the only one of them that knew how to handle a bottle of bleach correctly) the fact remains that those racists would have had friends and family who will flag their eventual disappearance to the authorities, eventually leaving to somebody investigating that house where they would have been known to meet up, and that would have brought more complications to the league’s agenda that they don’t need.

14) “And, this is the thing, the league from before doesn’t exist anymore, it ended with the fall of AfO. That league that resources and manpower and all that is a distant dream. This league was born from the ashes of the previous organization, and it is clawing its way up, because Shigaraki needs to learn what is to struggle for what he believes in, otherwise AfO would’ve just given him his credit card before going to face All Might.”- It’s a harsh reality, but it’s an engaging story. Shigaraki, being Midoria’s opposite, was arguably given more support and encouragement by AFO to walk his path as the destined opposition to the Symbol of Peace and the hero society founded under the strength of the unbreakable hero All Might, and while both of them lost their mentors together, the shoe is now on the other foot. Midoira is still able to receive advice and encouragement with his mentor, who is slowly improving at being a teacher and instructor to the new generation (with additional backup mentors if he starts slipping in that regard) whereas Shigaraki not only can’t contact his mentor, he’s also lost almost all financial and emotional support that he was provided with before. 

Add in the fact that he’s still making up his whole creed and overarching villainous goals as he goes, besides a few vague end points he plans to reach eventually, and the fact he’s being actively hunted by heroes, and the authorities all over the country, and Shigaraki really has the odds stacked against him. Even with the addition of Giganto and the doctor on his side- and one of those has an additional catch involved in becoming an ‘asset’ at this point- Shigaraki has a massive slope in front of him to conquer, and no road map on how to do it. He’s got the willpower to achieve it certainly, especially after his little-heart-to-heart with midoria, but it’s the ‘what next’ part of the problem that’s got him stumped right now.

15) “HOLY SHIT, IS THIS WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN? THEY’LL FIND SOME TECHNOLOGICAL CACHE LEFT BEHIND BY AFO AND USE IT TO CREATE A NEW NOMU?”- ‘find a technological cache’- ‘get pummelled by a walking kaiju movie monster and his unseen handler’- same difference really. AFO invested a lot in horrific abominations of science and machine, and he made certain they’d be well guarded so that only the worthy, or the soon-to-be-dead, would gain access to them. Shame really, he could have made a killing as a horror movie director.

16) “Dabi is the one recruiting, and I believe that, besides him being able to deal with anyone that he doesn’t like, the reason he was chosen for this mission was because his vision of the league is the closest to Shigaraki’s one, so, he’s the only one that can be trusted with it.”- Actually, since Shigaraki is still somewhat meandering in regards to what the league should be, it’s actually Spinner than most shares Dabi’s ideals in regards to what the League should become, or at least he’s idealistic enough to  believe that the league has a point to it, rather than being a one-hit wonder that fizzles out after their first big performance, and who’s frustrated that the ‘face’ of the band doesn’t seem to be as motivated about their message as the special guest stars they hosted for one of their debut gigs. @thelreads

[thewebcomicsreview]

please do in fact make a comparison between homestuck and naruto now that youve mentioned it i need to read it

Honestly, I don’t want to read the entirety of Naruto for this, but the more I think about it the weirder the comparison gets. Homestuck has an infamously bad opening and then gets really good around Act 4, stays really good for a while, and then crashes hard. Naruto starts off great, and then slowly putters out as Kishimoto runs out of ideas (and hands!). I think the first year or so of Naruto is legitimately great, and is starts puttering out around the Chuunin exams

I think this is legitimately the best first page of any comic ever (even though it’s technically the second page). There’s just so much in these two panels. You’ve got the ninja village, you’ve got the most striking visual image in the whole series with ninja Mount Rushmore, and there’s a kid drawing dicks on it and laughing maniacally. You learn so much about Naruto’s character, his world, and his relationship to that world in a single page with no real dialogue. It’s excellent.

Now, granted, this chapter also introduces a crystal ball that can scry on students, which you’d think would come in handy later and is never seen again, but still. Good opening effort.

dustybins said to thewebcomicsreview:

oh man do you wanna shit on Naruto? together even? like how Chakra Natures, an integral part of the setting and something constantly used in combat is largely unexplained til like two thirds of thew way into the manga? about how the big climactic battle is with an enemy that appears from no where has no character and is of little consequence after she is beaten? about how Sasuke's whole arc becomes a FARCE after the timeskip? how about the HUGE disservice that the manga does to its characters?

A smarter nerd than I did exactly that, and it’s a good video if you’re in to that kind of thing. But there’s maybe another anime that’s a better comparison

Bleach was only slightly less popular than Naruto at its peak, and was one of the last anime I was really into as I transitions from “high-school weeaboo” to “college student who fell out of anime immediately after joining the anime club but that’s where my friends are so okay I guess”. While Naruto started great and slowly declined, Bleach followed a more Homestuck trajectory

Initially, Bleach was a lighthearted monster-of-the-week story about anime ghostbusters. The plot was kind of meandering, but it was carried by fun characters and a humorous tone. 

Then it introduced a bunch of kind of alien characters, about a dozen weridos, and their society. The series took on a darker tone, and this arc, the Soul Society arc, lasted as long as everything before it put together. People went nuts for it. And they especially went nuts for the Shinigami, and started making what we’d call Shinigamisonas (Shimisonas? Chimichangas?) today. And they were helped in that endeavor because the Shinigami as a concept were very modular. If you made a Shimisona, you basically filled out a character sheet with information like which of the thirteen groups of them you were in, which would indicate what your characters basic powers were

and then you’d get to the cool shit like the number of Katanas you had. (In Bleach, instead of characters themselves going super saiyan, their katanas did, which is the raddest idea ever, so everyone got to make three with an evolving concept). You had structure, but not so much structure as to limit your creativity. 

Bleach kind of lucked into that aspect, but Hussie’s big genius idea for marketing Homestuck, moreso evan than the shirts, was leaning in super hard to this idea. Troll blood color, classpect, even stuff like “what you put in your Kernalsprite” that didn’t catch on, were all intentionally made modular so that you could more easily make fanfics and personas (Hussie says this explicitly in one of the books). I doubt he pulled it from Bleach, but the same idea turned up. 

Anyway, Bleach made the transition to a dark battle shonen, Shinigami were massively popular, and the Soul Society arc is widely beloved by nerds of a certain age to this day. If the Ghostbusters stuff was Acts 1-4 of Homestuck, the Soul Society was Act 5.

But there was a problem.The Ghostbusters stuff set up a ghost called Grand Fisher as the main bad guy. He’s leading a bunch of ghosts, he killed Ichigo’s mom, Ichigo is the protagonist. Boom. Obviously, the guy who’s the strongest guy around who killed the protagonists’ beloved guardians was going to be the bad guy, right?

But then Shinigami got cool so they spent time on that and Ichigo was explicitly more powerful than any ghost about their powerups before the ending, so Grand Fisher can’t be the bad guy since Ichigo would squish him, so he’s out. He ultimately gets defeated by someone else who also has a beef with him but is in no way shape or form a protagonist

There’s a new villain, Aizen, and he’s got a new evil plan, but it doesn’t affect Ichigo at all and he kind of doesn’t give a shit about it. 

So there’s no narrative momentum anymore. Ichigo is going to fight the new bad guy because he’s the new bad guy, but there’s no in-story reason for it, and also once he does the story will be over, and it’s a really popular cash cow. You know what that means! 

Pointless

Fucking

Around!

Elements of worldbuilding were brought up and expanded upon, like “Wow, the Shinigami created artificial people for fun and now wants to kill them all! How villainous! How are we going to resolve this?!” and the answer being “lol vampires”

This is where teen me tapped out. The Mod Soul storyline, itself a filler arc, is aborted in favor of forty-odd episodes of vampires that never get mentioned again because it was a filler arc while the anime desperately waited in vain for something to happen in the manga. The Homestuck equivalent would be Openbound, but Homestuck is worse because at least you knew at the time that Vampires wouldn’t be important later

So you got less of the slow decline of Naruto or My Hero Academia or most popular long-running series, and more of the series getting bigger and more popular until suddenly crashing completely because something was broken on a fundamental level that was preventing the protagonists and antagonists from ever actually coming into conflict

This scene, in Act 7, four minutes before the end of the series, is the first time in the entirety of Homestuck that a main character interacts with the main bad guy.of Homestuck. 

Of course, the economics of Shounen Jump meant that Bleach could stay collapsing longer than Homestuck did, but once Ichigo killed the Vasto Lorde, which was right before the Soul Society arc even started, the die was cast and the series was doomed. Likewise, once Lord English usurped Bec Noir as the main bad guy of Homestuck, the story was broken on a fundamental level, and while Hussie going up his own ass about metanarrative didn’t help matters, nothing would have. Once Bec Noir left the medium, the story slowly died, like it was infected with some kind of slow-acting disease where the host body kills itself. I’m blanking on what the metaphor is I’m looking for. Help me out, Karkat.

PCG: AND UNLIKE A NORMAL DISEASE, IT WOULDN'T GRADUALLY KILL ITS HOST FROM WITHIN PCG: THE CANCER LEFT THE BODY PCG: CHASED OUT, AS IF BY AN IMMUNE SYSTEM. PCG: BUT THE PROBLEM IS PCG: IT WASN'T ANY LESS DEADLY ON THE OUTSIDE PCG: AND NO LESS DETERMINED TO FINISH THE JOB.

PCG: SO I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE IT COULD BE PCG: WHAT'S WAITING FOR US AT THE END OF THE COUNTDOWN. PCG: JACK WAS EXPELLED FROM YOUR SESSION SOMEHOW PCG: HE THEN METHODICALLY DESTROYED ALL OUR PLANETS, PROSPIT AND DERSE, AND TRIED TO WIPE US ALL OUT PCG: SO THAT WE COULDN'T DO THE SAME THING TO HIM AGAIN PCG: BUT HE WAS ALWAYS SAVING HIS TRUE TARGET FOR LAST PCG: THE ONE HE HATED MOST. PCG: JACK WAS THE LIVING EMBODIMENT OF THE DISEASE ALL ALONG.

PCG: NOIR IS THE CANCER.

PCG: IT'S HIM.

Yeah, that’s it

[comicsinkcorporated-blog]

The Pigeon Gazette interview

CI: What got you into comics/web comics?

PG: I read a lot in general as a child, and comics (in ample supply at the library or in the Sunday funnies) were just part of that mix. I probably gravitated towards comics more and more however, given my own artistic side and because all those high school essays completely stamped out my desire to write at length.

CI: Why the name Pigeon Gazette?

PG:  I like to think that pigeons and I have an ongoing intimate relationship, mostly because my relatives always somehow managed to feed me them. Just always. Pigeons and I are one. Oh and I liked the pizzazz of “Gazette”. Sounded snappy!

CI:  You have a very humorous art style that lends greatly to your comic.

PG:  Is there any particular artist or series you draw influence from when drawing The Pigeon Gazette? Rumiko Takahashi of Ranma ½ and Inuyasha probably influenced my humor the most. My humor draws a lot from anime/manga in general, but her goofball silly humor really just hit me at the right time in the right place.

CI:  Is there any particular reason you choose to make your comic a slice of life style comic?

PG: Because I’m god-awful at commitment, lazy as **** and have a short attention span. Translation – I knew, especially starting out, that I could never sustain a plot-driven, long form comic. I just couldn’t. My artistic ability, my script-writing, my tools, my time, everything was still too rudimentary. I had failed enough times in more primitive attempts to take to heart the lesson that starting out with a colossal, epic vision, as so many of us tend to do, pretty much guarantees failure. I chose slice of life just to get me into the habit, the practice, of making comics. I’ve been doing it for two years now and I’ve definitely felt my ability to work, visualize, and focus all improve. I’ve been slowly but surely dipping my toes in longer form comics, so I’m excited to really take on a true story. I’ll botch my first few attempts for sure, but that just means I’m getting there.

CI: Is there any particular Pigeon Gazette comic that personally stands out as your favorite?

PG: That’s really hard to say but I can bet you that it’s probably one of my less popular ones. Funny how that works isn’t it, how usually something that just clicks with us in such a personal place is just too much an inside joke to reach too many others.

CI: Is there any franchise or series you would like to work on one day?

PG: No particular franchise I don’t think. Art has always been a fiercely personal thing for me, and I find that my enthusiasm and inspiration die very quickly when I’m recruited to bring someone else’s vision to life. It just rips from me this breathing, organic process that engages my mind, my history, my humor, and lastly my artistic skill, and reduces me to just a set of hands, drawing on auto-pilot. It’s especially torturous because there’ll obviously be points I disagree on in terms of execution or dialogue or w/e, and you can’t voice any of that. It’s not your place. I would like to work on some personal longer form comics though, and there are a select few people whose abilities, values, and story-telling line up well enough with mine that I might try a collab down the line.

CI: What is your favorite comic and/or web comic?

PG:  Oh gosh. Too many. Some big name graphic novels I’ve loved are Sin City, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Some straight up comics are obviously Calvin & Hobbes, Asterix & Obelix, Tin-Tin, Foxtrot, Garfield, Charlie Brown. Webcomics wise I think Lackadaisy Cats is an absolute masterpiece, really it’s probably more true-blue comic now than a ‘web’comic. Other webcomics are Owlturd, Hark a Vagrant, Oglaf, Dr. Ninja, Business Cat…I’m thinking of ones that I not only enjoy, but look up to and actively want to learn from. If it was just webcomics I love, the list would probably be 30+.

CI: Favorite anime?

PG:  Probably Mushishi, Chi’s Sweet Home or just one of the animes with a softer, matte palette and a more subdued execution. I dislike the aggressive drama and gloss of most animes and if there’s a manga counterpart, I will choose the manga version every time.

CI:  Any plans for a physical Pigeon Gazette book in the future?

PG:  I would love one, if only because it’d be one more step into feeling like I’m creating something legitimate and professional instead of just dicking around in my room. Unfortunately a lot of my comics are inconsistent in length but lean towards the longer side (that story-telling urge in me!) and I don’t have the head space right now to figure out how that could be translated into a physical book. But golly that would be swell.

CI: Do you have any non-Pigeon Gazette related comic plans for the future.

PG: Not in the immediate future, no, but after two years I’m definitely starting to feel restless in terms of creativity. I always desire to challenge myself and to contribute something original, and TPG was more of a personal “prove that I can” project. Now that I’ve proven I “can”, I’m itching to tackle something new. Maybe it’s time to finally look at all those short story ideas I’ve been saving up!

CI: Lastly would you like to leave the readers with any last words before we end?

PG: Only that I am grateful and humbled by the people who enjoy my comics. Whether it was a passing laugh as they try to waste time on their commute or they’re a dedicated fan, thank you. TPG is just one part of my ongoing artistic journey, and it may not be around forever, so I’m grateful for our time together. I hope they consider checking out my other works if/when they appear. Lastly, I hope they have a wonderful day. I hope if they aren’t, that TPG brings them a brief little escape. I hope they continue to try hard at their lives, their dreams, and when they get tired that they have a soft place to rest until they’re ready to try again. I hope they receive kindness and return it in kind. You can (and should) check out Jane’s fantastic webcomic The Pigeon Gazette

Here → http://thepigeongazette.tumblr.com/

Here → https://www.facebook.com/ThePigeonGazette/

And here → https://tapastic.com/series/The-Pigeon-Gazette