#does shadow even really feature in four's games or is he just a manga thing

[skyloftian-nutcase]

LU healthcare has been stuck in my brain. I adore our boys working hard to help people feel better! But Im also thinking about who may help them feel better? Healthcare is a draining field after all.

Malon and Time leaning on each other when one or both of them are having a time of it, making a point to hang out together at home doing absolutely nothing. Maybe watching a movie, ordering food in, but taking a break from being on their feet all the time. Twilight becoming part of their veg sessions.

The group checking in on Sky every so often, dropping by to hand off food or just hanging out with him in the same space. Just in case he's getting bad again.

Shadow ordering enough take out to feed four people for him and Four when he's had a hard shift, letting him rant about whatever bullshit happened and nodding along. Even if he doesn't quite get all the terms used.

Just... Gah!! Support systems!! Love them

Malon and Time have a little water fountain in their house and some days when they're both fresh off work stretches they'll just put it on, sit on the couch, and say nothing and do nothing. They'll just cuddle and be close to each other <3

I can also see them having movie veg sessions with Twilight, as well as Wild <3

fjdksljafieowajkfdsl yes the group checking in on Sky like that is TJEIWAOJFEWAKF T-T <3 <3

Four finds solace in playing video games and going to bakeries and cafes to read. He also does hobby blacksmithing :D Usually, he'll run into his friends while going out - Hyrule in particular loves pastries, so they'll run into each other a lot at the bakery. Twilight will go shopping for tools with Four, and they'll spend the whole day hanging out.

[doublerainebow]

Artist Resources (Part 1?)

This is basically just going to be a bunch of resources I have found to be useful. I can’t say that I’ve used all of them, but I’m sure they’re all worth checking out.

I’m also gonna try to put a detailed description for most of the links so you have a better idea of what you’re getting. I apologize in advance if some of them are redundant lol

(I put “Part 1″ if in the case I make another one)

~Links to Tutorials, Tips, Resources, etc~

Another Resource List -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Apparently, the post isn’t mobile-friendly, so it’s suggested to view this on Tumblr browser. Has a bunch of other links. I’ve checked out a few of them (mainly the copyright stuff lol), and it seems that some of the links may be a bit outdated. Still, it doesn’t hurt to check out the links.

Arms and Legs -- Leads to another Tumblr post. A handy tutorial on elbow and knee placement.

Art & Game Dev -- This leads to my personal playlist of a bunch of YouTube videos. Has a bunch of tutorials and interesting videos that I’ve collected over the course of a few years lol.

Blamblot -- A website that contains resources and tutorials on comic lettering. This is primarily in reference to western comics, but it doesn’t help to take a looksie.

Commission Calculator -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Helps artists to stop selling themselves short.

Comparing Heights (hikaku-sitatter) -- A height comparer for centimeters.

Comparing Heights -- A height comparer for feet and inches.

Mouth Shapes and Lip-Syncing -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Useful for... drawing mouth shapes.

Reference Angle -- Useful for when you’re trying to map out a face from an odd angle.

Soft Proofing for Printing -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Helps when you’re trying to make prints of your artwork.

Textures -- A website full of different and mostly free textures. While this website is made for 3D texturing, it can also be useful for 2D drawings. Signing up gives you 15 free credits everyday, and you can use those credits to download some textures for free.

The Models Resource -- A website of models ripped from a wide array of games.

The Spriters Resource -- A website of sprites ripped from a wide array of games.

The Textures Resource -- A websites of textures ripped from a wide array of games. 

~Links to Stock Images~

Please check out whatever policies they may have for their images before using them!

(not sure if any of them are active anymore as I followed some of these accounts a long time ago when I used to be more active on Deviant Art lol)

adorkastock (formerly senshistock)

anatoref -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Has a bunch of hand photo references

charligal-stock

HumanAnatomy4Artist -- Does contain nudity

null-entity

PhelanDavion

RobynRose

~Links to Other Artists~

Akihito Yoshitomi -- Yoshitomi is a mangaka who has tutorials on manga making. He also has an insightful series in which he drafts and draws a 30-page manga in 18 days. Remember that every artist works differently and his process may be different from another’s.

Drawfee -- Drawfee is an improv drawing show of four artists: Nathan Yaffe, Jacob Andrews, Julia Lepetit, and Karina Farek. While they don’t have tutorials in a sense, their videos explain the different processes they go through as they draw. They also occasionally provide tips, tricks, and resources in their videos. They do have another channel and a Twitch channel where they host drawing classes in addition to other fun shenanigans.

EtheringtonBrothers -- Has a bunch of useful and eye-catching tutorials called “How to Think When You Draw”.

Mark Crilley -- Mark is a comic artist, specializing in manga, who has a bunch of tutorials about anatomy, perspective, comic making, and other things.

Miyuli -- Miyuli is an artist who posts tutorials on their Twitter. Their tutorials range from anatomy to clothing to other things. They even have a few books of art tips. Currently (as of the time of posting this), their 2018 version is free for download, so I highly recommend you download that. Some tips may be outdated, but they should still be helpful.

Whyt Manga (Twitter/YouTube) -- Odunze is a comic artist, specializing in manga, that has a bunch of tutorials on manga making and drawing characters of color.

~Links to Free Programs~

Blender -- A free 3D program if you’re into 3D modeling and such. I also personally haven’t used Blender (I use Maya lol), but I know it’s a respectable program.

Krita -- A free painting program if you can’t afford Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint. I personally haven’t used Krita, but I have recommended it to a few friends and they have positive reviews about it.

Paint Tool SAI -- Okay, this one isn’t free, but it’s a significantly cheaper painting program where you don’t have to pay a subscription. It’s 5,500JPY (~50 USD). I’m not sure how well it still works on modern computers (the last update was 2016), but I still use it here and there because I love the pen tool feature it has, and it still works like a charm for me.

~General Tips From Raine~

Raine admits that she’s guilty of not following her own advice, but Raine hopes that the tips that she does know will be beneficial to someone who will follow them. She’s also going to keep all her tips under the cut so as to not make this post a huge wall of text (even though it technically already is lol)

Also, if you have some resources, tutorials, tips yourself, please feel free to send them to me and maybe I’ll make a part 2 to this post!

ALWAYS LOOK FOR REFERENCE. This should really go without saying. You can’t draw from life if you refuse to observe life itself.

If you can’t find the exact thing you need, MAKE YOUR OWN REFERENCE. Time and time again, I can’t find something exactly that I need. So instead, what I do is that I take pictures of my own reference. Sometimes I even grab a friend and take pictures of them doing whatever it is I need.

Have a mirror handy when you’re drawing. Sometimes what you need is actually right there in front of you.

Having trouble drawing something? Do some studies. Take the time to understand what it is you’re drawing. I can’t remember the exact story, but I heard that the people who were working on Tarzan were having a hard time drawing his hands. So, what they did was spend a few hours looking at hands to try and understand how they work.

IT’S OKAY TO STUDY THE ART OF OTHER ARTISTS. Just as we look to the old masters as a reference, it’s definitely okay to look at modern-day artists for reference. Just don’t go copying exactly everything that they do, or worse, trace what they do. Just don’t do it... at all.

Not every line needs to be realized. The viewer of your work will automatically connect the dots.

DO NOT TRASH YOUR OLD DRAWINGS. Please, never ever do this. Your old drawings have value to them, even if they look terrible to you. Old drawings may hold ideas for things you could do for the future. They also serve as a way to see how far you’ve come as an artist.

GETTING BETTER AT DRAWING TAKES TIME AND EFFORT. You’re not gonna get better overnight. It’ll take months, or even years, to feel like you’re a competent artist, and even then, you’ll still have room for improvement.

DON’T LOOK DOWN ON YOURSELF IF YOU’RE TAKING A LONG TIME TO GET BETTER. It’ll be better for your mental health in the long run.

Alternatively, DON'T LOOK DOWN ON OTHER ARTISTS EITHER, ESPECIALLY TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER. You know the struggles it took for you to get where you are, so don’t go putting down other people when you’ve been in their shoes once.

KEEP DRAWING. If you’re not making an effort to get better, then you’re not going to be better. I get that it’s hard to find the inspiration to draw (I’m very guilty of this), but just keep trying. It doesn’t have to be big or spectacular. You don’t even have to post it if you’re the type who likes to post their art stuff.

Try to find references from real-life. It’ll help you better understand form, lighting, shadows, etc., especially if you’re going for a more realistic kind of art style. Otherwise, finding reference from things like cartoons, anime, comics, etc. are just as good.

Try new things. Try new art mediums. Try a different art style. Switch up the way you do things. Maybe you’ll hate it, maybe you’ll like it. Who knows if you don’t try.

Watch time-lapses (or speed draws/speed paints) of other artists!

Pinterest and Google are your friends if you need tutorials or references or whatever.

If you’re offering commissions, DO NOT WORK UNDER YOUR LOCAL MINIMUM WAGE. You are literally devaluing the work you actually put into a piece.

I like to think I’m an aficionado of Photoshop, so feel free to ask me questions on how to achieve something! I’ve used Photoshop for about 11 years now and know my way around the program. On another note, I do recommend setting custom keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop because the default shortcuts are terrible (in my opinion), and because having custom shortcuts increases the speed of your workflow.

Because I’ve been seeing this a lot lately in Twitter, you’re never too old to start in art. Art is just one of those things that anyone can pick up at any age because the only thing you really need to get good in art is time, diligence, and patience.

Try not to post hi-res images of your artwork to prevent art stealers from selling your artwork in high resolution.

Always, always, always add your signature and watermark on your artwork. I like to add my signatures and watermarks in places that’ll be hard to erase or crop out. I’ve also seen people add their signatures and watermarks in creative ways (ex. on a character’s shirt). You need to protect your work in an era where people will just blatantly steal it and make profit off your work.

Tag List

@reality-is-often-disappointing

[electricea-archive]

jassi’s adventures with the persona 5 manga, volume 2, pt. 1!

this volume was actually a bit of a struggle to get but i got it, it’s in my hands, along with volume 3!!

-so last chapter, i complained about ryuji’s awakening being sort of jammed into the end volume 1.  well the first few pages of volume 2 more than make up for it by showing him kicking ass, taking names, and enjoying the hell out of himself - it’s nice to see this cocky and confident side to him that he has as skull.

-at one point, morgana jumps in and summons zorro to help out being like ‘can’t you do anything without me?’ and later goes on to call ryuji sloppy.  the start of a classic rivalry.  also morgana calls him blondie lol.

-also this must have slipped past me but unlike in the game, morgana isn’t there for ryuji’s awakening and is surprised to see that he’s a persona user.

-they have to be reminded of their goal to steal his treasure by morgana but given we’re barely a few pages in, they make their exit to the real world pretty quickly after.

-ryuji’s a lot more confident after awakening his persona - meanwhile cat!morgana turns up and claims he’d noticed something special about ryuji all along and how these two were all part of his infiltration plan.  sure, jan.

-though i do like how ryuji raises of the point as to why didn’t morgana just steal the treasure himself if that’s so imperative.

-ryuji takes charge of the calling card - everybody thinks it’s a prank and it features his trademark crappy artwork but i do like how his wording ‘to the creepy bastard of lust, suguru kamoshida’.  get ‘im ryuji.

-oh there’s more - ‘we know how shitty you really are taking your base desires out on helpless students, thus we have decided to steal those twisted desires and make you confess your crimes, we will arrive today to commit the deed, prepare thyself, signed the phantom thieves of hearts’

-akira must have helped with writing that lmao - that or ryuji’s a lot more well spoken than i thought.

-ann wonders if it’s because of shiho, meanwhile kamoshida flips the fuck out and demands to know who did this.  he starts accusing random students and rips that shit off of the bulletin board.  yep, he’s rattled lol.

-the group prepares to end the castle, but ann turns up - even in phantom thief gear, she immediately recognizes skull as ryuji and i guess came to the conclusion that they were the ones who wrote the calling card because kamoshida freaked out so much.

-she wants in on in the action too and there’s a funny exchange where ryuji is trying to explain how they have to go through a palace and she’s like ‘...a palace? yeah, i can see that.  it’s a castle.  so what?’

-morgana already crushing on her but meanwhile she’s just wondering how the hell that cat talked.  there’s a funny little callback to the ‘castle vs palace’ line with ann, who seems to be getting confused by the two.

-ryuji just kind of tells her to get lost and starts shoving her away - she looks to akira for help but he’s just like ‘we’ll take care of kamoshida’ - though to be fair, he does mention feeling bad about it.

-there’s a lot of castle parkour, ryuji nearly slips and falls off the side of a wall.

-a lot of the following pages are game accurate - morgana loves treasure, they grab it and try to carry the giant crown, kamoshida spots them, though he offers to trade them ann (who i guess at some point he captured) for it.

-the next chapter is ann flashback one, lots of references to her alienation by her classmates, they think she sticks out like a sore thumb because she’s not fully japanese, her hair and her eyes are too different, they treat her like a foreigner, they find her really aloof and generally just a lot of gossiping and whispering going on around her.

-‘this is what it’s like for me every day.’

-i can’t tell if this a first meeting between ann and shiho but it looks like they’re in art class and shiho tells ann her art sucks - but then says she finds it really unique and weird.  ann bursts of laughing at this and it looks to be the start of a best friendship here?

-she’s strapped to that crucifix looking thing - kamoshida grabs her face which just makes me shudder, and it’s mentioned she went back in and got ambushed by the cards.  he’s still trying to convince them to trade her for the crown.

-...they give it back - aww, such sweet guys, but asshole kamoshida never planned on being honest and calls ann an ‘interesting new toy to play with’ and says how he likes seeing the looks of helpless frustration on people.

-he grabs ann’s face AGAIN - asking what fun he can have with his new toy and cognitive ann makes her entrance basically saying that he can’t let ann talk back to him like that.

-i know that cognition is more or less well explained but it’s still disgusting that kamoshida’s perception of ann is that of a skimpily dressed, obedient, mindless sex slave.  the whole idea of cognitive ann is just so repulsive to me.

-ann rightfully calls him insane - kamoshida doesn’t like that and THREATENS TO DISSECT HER IN FRONT OF THEM, WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK.

-he goes on another disgusting tangent about how everyone is his slaves and calls shiho a stupid girl, saying there are more slaves where she came from and she was just a poor substitute for ann.  he says he had shiho ‘take her place’ and while it’s never outright said, i’m sure you can infer what happened and to put the icing on the cake, he blames it on ann saying that if she would have just graciously accepted his advances, none of this would have happened.

-he asks her if she thinks she actually has the right to feel angry - wtf man??

-ryuji and akira give her a pep talk saying how they’re nobody’s slaves and neither is she, even before they become phantom thieves together, they’re such good friends to her.

-ann’s had about enough of everything and is getting pissed off - i think there’s an awakening coming on!!

-her awakening is actually really cool, though with the black and white color scheme, her mask gives me catwoman vibes but carmen? super beautiful. ._.

-her tangent is more or less the same in the game - he took everything from shiho, she’s gonna take everything from him.  still super badass!!

-the first four phantom thieves have assembled - and kamoshida is not taking this well!

-he morphs into his shadow form and devours his own guards and from here, the next few pages are more or less the boss fight in manga form.

-there’s a panel where joker saves ann and they’re like staring into each other’s eyes, ryuji’s in the background being like ‘i helped too! where’s my thanks?!’

-kamoshida drinks from his giant drink glass and he’s all healed up.

even though the book feels about the same size as volume 1, it feels like there’s a whole lot more to go through with it, so i’ll be tackling it in parts, i think.  this volume doesn’t even end with kamoshida’s defeat, that’s only about halfway through - and they still have time to introduce yusuke afterwards, though i’m pretty sure that all of the actual madarame stuff is properly covered in volume 3, but yeah, ann was handled a lot better in this version, she got a lot more screntime, a lot more badass scenes, i liked the development with her.  kamoshida continues to be an immense pile of shit and it’s just fun watching ryuji grow more confident in himself as a phantom thief!

[4dorks-1windmage-1shadow]

The Links as D&D Characters, Part 5: Shadow Link

Inspired by a question I saw on @hauntinghyrule ‘s blog. My character analysis and thoughts on what character class the boys would be if they were D&D characters, and why. Also! @atinybitweird has been drawing the boys D&D designs, and she’s doing really great! I’ll link to her posts on the individual analysis as well as reblog them here so look out for those : D

Green / Red / Blue / Vio / Vaati / FS Zelda

As a preface, there won’t be any doubles on classes except in the case of dual-classing, and in those cases the first class I talk about my justifications for will be the primary class (i.e. the class they would have chosen at level one). My choices will be based on the character theming and personalities, even though at a base level it would be easy to say “they’re all paladins, duh” because of the implied “holy knight chosen by the gods to eradicate evil” concept. For Shadow, there are plenty of shadowy-themed D&D subclasses to choose from. Kaenith mentioned Way of the Shadow Monk in his initial answer on his blog which is actually not a bad pick for him. However, I wouldn’t initially say that Monk is the class for Shadow, because he’s shown relying on magic much more than martial arts (like a Monk would) or even swordplay (like the other Links). He has a sword in the manga, but I think it’s mostly for show- a visual parallel to Link, who does use his sword to fight. This is just a small part of the big reason why I’ve chosen the particular classes and subclasses I have for Shadow, so lets look at the reason as a whole: Shadow’s origin, and how it ties well into the Sorcerer class.

The Four Swords manga and the Four Swords games don’t give us a lot of information about how Shadow Link was created (if he was born vs conjured like Dark Link) and also what exactly the Shadow Realm is. We never actually see the realm that Shadow came from (except for the Erune arc in the manga, and only a small town) so we have no idea if it is a true shadow version of Hyrule, like the Dark World/Lorule (if you believe they’re the same place) are. Furthermore we don’t see any evidence that there are others like Shadow Link, like we do with Lorule with Ravio being a parallel to Link and Hilda being a parallel to Princess Zelda. There’s nothing pointing to the idea that Shadow was born and raised the way a normal kid would be, and so the most logical conclusion canon-wise is that he was literally conjured from Link’s shadow. Magic would be weaved into every fiber of Shadow’s being, and we see this evidenced in the manga because he wields it naturally and easily against the Links. Sorcerers in D&D can be born as well as made, but the key thing that separates the magic sorcerers use from the magic used by wizards, bards, druids, clerics, and warlocks is that a sorcerers magic is innate, often carried through a bloodline or via transforming from the latent energy of a place. In this case, Shadow was literally made with the arcane magic he controls. Xanathar’s Guide to Everything introduced a Sorcerous Origin called Shadow Magic where the arcane magic is sourced from the Shadowfell (i.e. Shadow Realm for authenticity to Zelda), either through being exposed to and transformed by the energy of the place or from being descended from a denizen; neither of these situations are applicable to Shadow BUT I think being created from the source magic should and does count. The majority of Sorcerer abilities come from their Sorcerous Origin, but there are two features that all sorcerers regardless of origin gain that I think fit Shadow based on his story in the manga. Font of Magic and Metamagic can be linked to the Dark Mirror being Shadow’s source of life and magical power because of the abilities that Shadow is able to display while being linked to it. Font of Magic gives Shadow access to Sorcery Points, which he can spend to create new spell slots, or sacrifice spell slots to gain more sorcery points which effectively translates to giving himself more power to wield in battle. Metamagic lets him twist the magic of his spells to suit his own needs, using sorcery points to do so. It can let him double the range of spells, double the spells’ duration, potentially do more damage on a hit and target more than one opponent with a ranged spell that normally only targets one creature. I’m choosing to translate this as him getting a boost in power and flexibility that he normally wouldn’t have without the power of the Dark Mirror (though depending on your interpretation of post-manga shenanigans he could have these abilities anyway because of whatever method brought him back allowed him to have them). Back to Shadow Magic though. Thematically it makes the most sense: Shadow Link is created from shadow magic and thus is a Shadow Magic Sorcerer. But the abilities here are what we want to look at to see if it really fits. At 1st level, Shadow Magic gives Shadow a darkvision range of 120 feet, and the Strength of the Grave ability means he can charm his way out of death. That’s not entirely accurate- the actual text says he can take a Charisma saving throw and attempt to equal or exceed a target number equal to 5 + [amount of damage taken], and drop to 1 hit point instead of 0 if he succeeds. I think this makes sense- if he’s a shadow, he’d be able to slip out of battle or narrowly avoid life-threatening attacks just by the art of deception; this isn’t necessarily supported by the Sorcerer class itself, but if you mix the game canon into the manga canon, Shadow can technically clone himself and use those copies to his advantage. At 3rd level, he learns the Darkness spell without it counting against the amount of spells he knows, and he can cast it with either sorcery points or a spell slot (he can see through the effected area of the spell if he casts it using sorcery points). At 6th level, he can spend sorcery points to summon a shadow creature that effectively acts like an attack dog, which he can sic on a creature within 120 feet of him. Shadow is shown leading an army of monsters in the manga, so the Hound of Ill Omen feature actually lends itself well to that image- maybe one of the creatures he used to attack Hyrule Castle was his magically summoned shadow hound. It isn’t that far-fetched of an assumption to make. Shadow Walk lets him teleport through darkness and dim light up to a distance of 120 feet, which is an ability he already portrays in the manga and in the games. The only Shadow Magic ability he doesn’t get to benefit from is Umbral Form, and that’s because I want to call a parallel to Link that I think is fitting for Shadow’s role as his foil in the story. Shadow is not a copy of Link- I don’t want anyone to get confused by what I’m saying. However, he is still Link’s shadow, the reflection of everything Link could have become if he wasn’t the hero, didn’t grow up with all the people around him who loved him and supported him. Shadow’s main motivation in the story is loneliness and the desire to be recognized, but who is going to recognize him if he doesn’t make himself recognizable? I talked at length in my analysis of Green’s class about how Paladins take oaths that serve as pillars for their conduct and core beliefs as paladins, but what happens if you don’t have any of those beliefs or you did have them but chose to cast them away? In the Dungeon Master’s Guide, it describes a class option for Paladins called the Oathbreaker: essentially a paladin who has abandoned or broke their sacred oaths. Shadow probably never had any oaths to begin with, but he wanted to be recognized the way Link was, and so I think he chose to take the mantle of Paladin without really understanding what makes Link (Green) a true Paladin. He has to take at least 3 levels in Paladin to subclass as Oathbreaker, and that unlocks light and medium armor, shields and all weapons for him to use in combat. It also unlocks spells like Hellish Rebuke, Inflict Wounds, and if he takes up to 5th level in Paladin, the Crown of Madness spell. He still gets all of the normal Paladin abilities, but his Channel Divinity options are kind of the opposite of Green’s: He can control undead creatures with it, or use Dreadful Aspect to create an aura of fear around himself with a radius of up to 30 feet.  Depending on how you look at the option of Shadow being redeemable, there is an option for Oathbreaker Paladins to “atone” for their evil actions as an Oathbreaker. They lose the Oathbreaker features and gain the features of a Sacred Oath, and I can’t think of a more fitting tribute to his character journey than him becoming an Oath of Vengeance Paladin from the Player’s Handbook. It lets him fill a different niche of paladin than Green does, and takes his character into account in regards to the Tenets of Vengeance: Fight the Greater Evil (Faced with a choice of fighting my sworn foes or combating a lesser evil, I choose the greater evil). No Mercy for the Wicked (Ordinary foes might win my mercy, but my sworn enemies do not.) By Any Means Necessary (My qualms can’t get in the way of exterminating my foes) Restitution (If my foes wreak ruin on the world, it is because I failed to stop them. I must help those harmed by their misdeeds) Taking Oath of Vengeance in this way would replace Hellish Rebuke, Inflict Wounds and Crown of Madness with Bane, Hunter’s Mark, Hold Person and Misty Step, and the Channel Divinity features include Abjure Enemy (inflicting fear on a targeted creature) and Vow of Enmity (basically pointing at an enemy and saying “I choose you” and then he gets to attack them with advantage for a minute [10 rounds of combat]). In conclusion, Shadow ends up as a dual-classed Shadow Magic Sorcerer/Oathbreaker Paladin (later changing to Oath of Vengeance Paladin to account for character growth). 

[redroseinsanity]

In the Business of Love

Pairing: Oikawa Tooru/Iwaizumi Hajime

Tags: magazine writer! Iwaizumi, manga artist! oikawa, fluff, pining, oh my god they were roommates, post-canon

Chapter: 4/4

Summary:

Meet Oikawa Tooru: He’s a best-selling shoujo manga artist, a hardcore romantic and you won’t believe where he’s getting his lovey dovey fodder from…

Enter Iwaizumi Hajime: He’s Oikawa’s best friend, a realist who also happens to be a wedding magazine writer despite not believing in romance…

One thing anyone in the business knows is that the course of true love never did run smooth.

A rom com in four acts.

---

For the third time that evening, the book slipped from Oikawa's drowsing fingers to land in an undignified (and painful) heap of pages and hard spine on his face. With a sigh, he sat up, setting the book down without bothering to mark the page, and tapped the screen of his phone until it lit up to show no notifications.

The soft light from the table lamp cast the empty living room in shadows that danced and swayed in time to the trees in the breeze at the window. It would have been mellow and soothing, romantic even, if Oikawa didn’t feel the glaring vacancy of the apartment so acutely.

Is this what adulthood is like? He wondered, surveying the silent corners of the house, filled only by a hollow ticking rhythm that signalled his life slowly creeping by. Quiet Friday nights, no plans, no parties and falling asleep by, he squinted at the clock in the hallway, midnight.

"At least I don't look my age," he announced to no one in particular since Iwaizumi was out for a team dinner. He sighed, gaze involuntarily landing on the closed door of Iwaizumi’s room as something in his gut clenched. Things between them had been awkward to say the least since that evening at the club a week ago, and Oikawa hadn’t caught more than a glimpse of his best friend in the past seven days.

“Stupid”, he muttered, tasting sourness in his mouth as he abruptly turned away from the cream painted door, “Tried so hard not to ruin it, but I did anyway.”

Iwaizumi had stayed late in the office so often that Oikawa had started living off milkbread and combini bento sets for dinners, and in the past week, he’d taken to eating his breakfast of toast over the sink. He usually came back from his morning jog to find that Iwaizumi had already left for work, and the one time he deliberately skipped his run, Iwaizumi had left while he was in the shower.

It wasn’t a blatant avoidance, Oikawa knew that Iwaizumi’s entire office was in crunch time to churn out their latest issue and that the writer was genuinely busy. But even their meagre interactions had adopted a stiltedness that made Oikawa’s heart curl in on itself a little more. It was pathetic, really, that Oikawa was so hung up on his best friend.

That he was so desperate for a sign or anything that signalled more than platonic affection that he’d gone and blown it all. That despite everything, he would give whatever it took just to have it go back to the way it was before because having Iwaizumi as his closest friend was better than nothing at all.

Oikawa would take what he could get because beggars can’t be choosers and he knew that in this game of unrequited love, he was ironically, laughably and tragically, a beggar.

Drifting through the hallway like a phantom, he absentmindedly hummed a song from the radio, fingers brushing against the wallpaper as he made his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth. The apartment was quiet, too quiet without Iwaizumi around and it left Oikawa with his own thoughts more than he would have liked. He could hear the fridge groan as though protesting the indecent amount of ice cream that Oikawa had stuffed in earlier that evening, and the scrape of chair leg against floor as his upstairs neighbour took a seat.

The call came just as he finished brushing his teeth, startling him so much that he nearly knocked his buzzing phone into the toilet bowl. Trying to clamp down on pleasant surprise mixed with slight apprehension, he picked up with a delighted, “Iwa-chan!”

“Hello, Oikawa-san,” a cheery voice trilled and immediately Oikawa wrenched the phone away from his ear, horror etched into his features.

Sure enough, the words ‘Iwa-chan’ blinked brightly back at him. Cautiously he returned the phone to his ear, eyes narrowing.

“Refreshing-kun, could you pass the phone to Iwa-chan, please?”

"Yes, that's what I've been saying," the voice returned dryly, "You really haven't been listening, have you?"

Oikawa opened his mouth, ready with a pert retort when Suga continued.

“Anyway, Iwaizumi had a bit too much to drink, can you come and pick him up?” Suga's tone turned slightly apologetic, “I’d send him home but there are a few more girls who are out and I want to make sure they get home safely.”

“Such a saint, Suga-chan,” Oikawa replied smoothly, checking his hair in the mirror and deciding to go with his glasses since he was too lazy to put his contacts back in, “I guess Iwa-chan needs a knight in shining armour!”

There was an odd pause on the line and for a moment Oikawa wondered if Suga had gotten distracted.

“It seems he does,” Suga's voice sounded a bit softer than before but also with something Oikawa couldn't place. A hint of a smile perhaps.

“Alright, gotta suit up so I can save Iwa-chan, text me the address, kay!” Oikawa chirped and hung up without waiting for a reply. Turning to go, he caught his reflection in the mirror, lips half-lifted in a smile, eyes too bright and happy for someone who was simply going to pick up a drunk idiot.

He exhaled, a sound of wane desperation and mild self-loathing, disappointment in himself because he would never learn. Not when it came to Iwaizumi.

Read more on AO3

[ghostmartyr]

SnK 102 Thoughts

Any of you ever watch Imagine Me & You?

In it, some small child whose name I can’t remember asks what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. The answer given by one of the romantic leads whose name I remember slightly better but am pretending not to is that they can’t both exist.

Taking all bets, folks.

First thing’s first, and oh my gosh, it actually comes first in the chapter! What witchcraft is this!

That’s way more visually appealing in the manga, but. ...I mean, looking at it, all of my reasons seem very silly, because that is horrible and I could probably be spending this time making it better, but I’m not going to, so now we’re all sad.

It’s a metaphor.

(it wasn’t supposed to be)

Anyway, the in-universe confirmation that wow, this is all a bit much, are you sure any of this was a good idea? is greatly appreciated. Expected, on some level, but when the story starts going dark places, it’s easy to distrust the motivation. So I remain a mostly unhappy camper at this getaway, but canon taking a moment to pause and wonder why someone thought this was a good plan is nice.

I’m going to get lost in questions and character stuff very quickly, so for the sake of making sense of what is going on in The Plan, bullet points are my new friends.

Jaws and Cartman are were contained

Scouts are closing off the streets and killing enemy combatants

Civilian casualties are considered un-ideal--officially

Lamps are being positioned on high buildings

The plan is contingent on disabling the War Hammer Titan ‘in time’

Eren nomming the War Hammer is in his book as a Good End

Survival is emphasized over everything else

My guess is that no one wanted this (whatever it is) to turn into a Titan brawl. If everything had gone according to plan and stayed that way, Pieck and Galliard would be imprisoned, no Marlyean soldiers would be left alive within the internment zone, and the War Hammer and an impressive number of prominent government officials would be dead.

Currently, the Panzer Unit is live, Galliard’s running about, War Hammer is not contained, and the Beast Titan is here.

The Beast Titan would have appeared either way (like the lamps, which have me wondering if Armin is showing up), because no steps were taken to contain him. Both sides have been counting on the Beast Titan to be available in the coming something or other.

Zeke has been kept in the shadows as far as a lot of his feelings on things. He disdains war and copes by treating it as a game, and he loves his family. The inner workings of all of that isn’t readily available, making him a potential wildcard. Since Eren’s taken up baseball, the thought of something being up with him has been a topic of active discussion.

If things went as planned, the Survey Corps + Eren would have unfettered access to Zeke. Titan holder, primary instrument of the most vile Marley offenses, and someone with royal blood. Only two people alive can say that last one, and one of them is presumably still an ally to her military.

Confronting Zeke is a reasonable plan in most every category you could ask for. Wanting to face him in isolation makes perfect sense, and you can’t say that about many of the known quantities here. My questions are if what he knew what he would be walking into, if Eren wants something different from what the Scouts want out of him, and if Zeke’s commitment to Marley’s side is as plain as it looks.

Since the Yeager boys have been so hush hush about what they’re up to lately, I’m not very interested in speculating (Zeke’s face has Isayama lines, but to be fair, a lot of people just died, and he does dislike war), but I am looking forward to the answers.

...Well, I say that. However

If nothing comes of Galliard trusting Zeke’s presence to be a good thing while his frame emphasizes light next to Pieck’s silent shadow... I will be disappointed. If anyone’s keeping score, Eren’s frame is more of a midtone shadow. I believe Pieck’s is darker, but that could be an optical illusion since her frame is descending into darker tones, and Eren’s lighting is evenly dispersed within his frame.

And since there’s only three panels left on the page, the other people having flashlights on their faces are Magath and his surviving troops and Gabi.

Symbolism.

Or not, but I’d like it to be.

Let’s move on to angry children, also known as Gabi and Floch. With Gabi first because oh hell, kid. Kid. Her friends are dead. People she saw every single day on her way to achieving her greatest pride are dead. There’s no rhyme or reason to it that she understands, or even maybe could understand, given what Marley’s done to her, she’s still alive, and she’s angry.

We’ve seen that anger in the exact person it’s aimed at. Hopefully Gabi learns a thing or two from it, preferably without getting killed in the process. Her cousin’s still MIA (Reiner is either having a horrific mental breakdown, going to go full Warrior mode and make everyone’s awkward planning more awkward by exploding out of the ground, or unconscious, and all of these choices make me feel really bad for Falco--who is a character who can still have a worst day of his life instead of stopping to debate which one was truly worst), and...

Gabi may have no problem committing war crimes to win a fight, but she’s a child who wants to be a Warrior so she can help her cousin. She’s not innocent in the usual sense that children are, but she is a child, and she has a very soft heart.

Sasha spares her life, but Gabi’s living a nightmare, and the devils of Paradis brought it to her.

-rewards Sasha a “You Tried” star-

Our other angry child should know better, but even though it hasn’t been explicitly stated, it’s basically been established that therapy does not exist in this world. Floch is where he was four years ago. He’s upset at the injustices he’s suffered, and willing to lash out at anything connected to what’s responsible.

Jean’s best feature as a leader has always been understanding people’s weakness. But I think with Floch, he’s found something of a barrier to communication. We’ve seen Jean try to talk to him before, and if their interaction here is anything to go by, he hasn’t stopped. Except as much as Jean knows about personal weakness, hate isn’t something I think he gets.

Arguably, it’s because he knows so much about personal weakness that his feelings don’t fester into something dangerous (Connie has a similar moment when he says he understands why someone would kill Sawney and Bean).

Jean sees the big picture. He knows there are more victims than just them here.

Floch sees his personal pain, and bleeds all over everyone. He’s destroying a zone full of people who have been more warped and abused than he has any empathy for, and feels he’s in the right because look at what they’ve done to us.

And look at what their side has done to someone like Gabi.

I don’t think the two situations are the same, thanks to Marley’s copious awfulness getting into every potential interaction both sides of Eldians can have, but the emotional response is easy to see:

These people did a horrible thing.

They should be punished.

Only the root cause of everything goes so much deeper than all of that, and it’s not something that can be fixed by lopping off flowers. Gabi is like. twelve, and her emotional trauma just happened. Floch is like. twelve, and he was getting by just fine before the mess he survived four years ago.

And it is painfully obvious how much that specific event has trained Floch’s thinking. He wants Erwin to survive the Serum Bowl because Erwin is the devil humanity needs to break them free of their cage.

He’s grown up since then. Humanity doesn’t need Erwin to be their devil. Humanity just needs a devil.

Look. Eren?

Floch_is_agreeing_with_things_you_did.

Mikasa is not.

Regardless of what this plan is, you have made your mistakes and they are many, and the first statement does keep in mind that those mistakes might very well be the whole point but come on.

This chapter is hard to read, and I really wanted to open this post saying thank you for Mikasa Ackerman’s existence, because I don’t think I have ever been more grateful to see her.

I haven’t bothered obfuscating how much I loathe Marley. I think their conduct is evil, and the world would be better off if they got wiped off the map. All those angry child feels from above are actively present when I consider what they’ve done with their nation.

One of the recurring... is it a theme? It feels like a theme, but it’s also sort of just a random thing I’m pointing out, and the language I want to use implies things about the story that I’m not sure is really an objective. In any case, something we see over and over again in this series is that monsters are human.

Gabi watches a whole squad of soldiers get demolished. Among them is a man who watches the gate she passes in order to train to be a Warrior. He treats her as a child more than an Eldian, and knows enough about each individual Warrior candidate ask about their progress and laugh about Falco’s crush.

He’s a human being.

The children he’s being friendly with have been coerced into indentured servitude and live in internment camps that are under constant watch, where leaving is punishable by--well, people like him. He’s a cog in an abhorrent machine. One small piece that helps keep it running.

Humans do evil things. You could probably have a lot of fun arguing that a human’s capacity for evil is part of what makes them human. Evil monsters aren’t always creatures beyond understanding or sympathy. Sometimes they’re just people who take the easy path that someone else burned down a forest to make.

You could also argue that part of what makes a human human is their capacity for goodness in the midst of evil. The guard spends the last moments of his life trying to keep a little girl safe.

I don’t like Marley, but I like seeing the sparks of decency in people start a flame. You want to believe that if people can be good to each other even when they’re covered in muck and sin, that goodness deserves a chance to make it out alive and flourish. You want to think that if everyone could just be convinced to be their best self, the world would be okay.

A lot of sparks are snuffed out during this attack.

Marley getting wiped off the map without devastation and heartbreak is a nice pipe dream, and I might still daydream about it or hand-wave things in fics, but regardless of my personal angry child feelings, there’s too much death here to feel good about any of this.

So I really, really appreciate that Mikasa Ackerman exists. She’s here for Eren, and she’s actively participating in this operation, but you can see her heart breaking at what’s been done. People are dead. Civilian people. Children. This is something that’s happened, and there’s no fixing it. There’s only pain at the result.

Mikasa is the stoic badass. But all she’s ever wanted is for her family to be at home with her. However she counts them, they’re what’s nearest and dearest to her heart. She has extraordinary combat skills, and if she could go the rest of her life without needing them, she would be happier.

Someone suggested that one of the Scouts present could be the little girl that Mikasa saves in Trost. I have no idea if that will pan out or not, but I love the idea.

The anime’s handling of Mikasa deciding to live during Trost is what hooked me in this series, but the moment with that little girl is one of my favorites for her. She charges in, kills a titan, threatens a dude, and leaves. Perfect hero is perfect even with only that, but the little girl and her mother, instead of running to evacuate now that they can, stop and thank her. And Mikasa turns back and salutes them.

Their salute in this world is meant to represent offering up their hearts to humanity. Mikasa has select few people she loves beyond all else, but whenever she steps in to fight, she does so wanting people to be safe. She feels her responsibility towards her comrades more keenly and openly than many of the characters we’re familiar with.

Mikasa’s line about the world being cruel, yet beautiful, is one of the more memorable ones in the series. As a theme, it’s marvelous, but as something that comes out of a character’s head, it’s... very gentle and touching. The world is cruel, but while it’s being cruel, there’s still warmth. Even from people who are now gone.

Mikasa is a kind person who gives small children her time and nearly cries at her friend’s joy when he finally gets to play in the ocean. She’s known terrible cruelty at the world’s hands, but she also loves the world’s beauty. It isn’t an empty acknowledgment. She sees it, and she feels it, and she fights for it.

What Eren just did is... abominable. She loves him, but... hell, every beautiful panel of Mikasa and Eren before the War Hammer gets back up is a testament to how much pain he’s caused, and how much heartbreak is involved.

Mikasa is compassionate, and this arc... really needs that.

Even if now I’m wondering if “Too Little, Too Late,” is referring to her instead of one of the larger sides. That title really works for anything you want to stick it to, since the phrase is basically shorthand for “everything’s fucked.”

This series has gotten painful in ways I didn’t exactly need it to.

Monthly serials hurt.

[recentanimenews]

Dissecting the Art of SING “YESTERDAY” FOR ME Part Two

SING “YESTERDAY” FOR ME, the anime adaption from Doga Kobo of Toume Kei's manga of the same name, tells the story of four young adults right outside of Tokyo trying to find their purpose in life. Through their personal struggles, they try to better themselves, but more importantly, the people around them in their time of personal uncertainty.

  Crunchyroll was offered the opportunity to publish a translated version of a two-part interview series with Art Director Usami Tetsuya and Art Designer Fujii Yuta featured on the SING “YESTERDAY” FOR ME website to highlight how the team brought that world to screen. The translated version of Part 1 can be found here. 

Part two of the original Japanese interview with Usami Tetsuya and Fujii Yuta can be found here. The translated text follows.

  One of the essential parts of the anime SING “YESTERDAY” FOR ME is the background art. The ones in charge of the background art are the art director Usami Tetsuya-san and Fujii Yuta-san, who’s in charge of the art design. Both are from STUDIO EASTER and this is a continuation of the interview we had with them last week.

01: The “background art” for a story covering the daily lives on an ensemble cast.

Usami: I wanted the places to look like they were actually lived in. I wanted things to be scattered around the rooms, or someone might’ve tried to throw away a ball of paper, but they missed, so it’d end up here. Or say, this character would probably leave clothes lying around. I was trying to go for something realistic like that. Or have a bunch of paper stuck to the refrigerator ... (lol)

Fujii: You definitely added stuff around to all of their kitchens.

Usami: Yeah. The director asked for dish soap and sponges, but I added more to make it look like someone actually lived there. I thought about how things would be placed in Shinako’s apartment as well as Rikuo’s, for example. I remember also being very particular about how the props were placed.

Fujii: I had the director draw the basic idea of what he wanted Rikuo’s room to look like, and the way the photos are displayed, how he holds his camera, how things are scattered about, old school games ... You can see his vision in those details.

Usami: We made Rikuo’s apartment look like an old apartment that a poor student would live in and made sure the light didn’t hit it that much. We wanted it to be the very opposite of Shinako’s apartment. By comparing Shinako’s pretty apartment and Rikuo’s rundown apartment, you could also see the difference in their statuses, too.

For the colors, I thought things would look more realistic and feel more like SING “YESTERDAY” FOR ME if the colors weren’t too vibrant. By that, I don’t mean to make everything darker by default. But like adding some color to the shadows or adding a bit more blue if the shot is during the day, or adding some purple in the evening. Actually, that’s how things are in reality. I was hoping to show some realities we may not pay attention to usually.

Usami: What’s unique about this series is the colors change depending on the characters’ moods. Like adding more blue if things are a bit gloomy. If someone is feeling awkward or uneasy, using more green. Usually, the filming staff would be in charge of stuff like that, but with this series, the art team is doing all of that. We wonder if people watching would be able to tell the difference but ... (lol) If anyone is able to notice that, we feel like it might’ve been worth the extra effort. (lol)

For example, in Episode 1 where Rikuo gets dumped or the scene in the park at night in Episode 2, green is very prominent. In Episode 4 where Shinako and Ro are arguing, things start to turn gradually blue. Also, when Shinako starts to see Ro-kun as a man, the background slightly turns pink.

That wasn’t done in filming. We were doing that. And to go along with that, the colors used on the characters get adjusted. Whenever the characters are feeling gloomy and the atmosphere needs a little tuning ... That’s all done by us.

02: Tuning the “art” to go with the character performances.

Usami: The retakes on this are very detailed. Like we get asked if we could move a character a whole person to the left, or something is ruining the shot, or when someone is walking across the crosswalk, it just looks like they’re walking across the street. These are all things the viewers may not even notice, but the director always wants to make sure nothing looks awkward.

Fujii: During the 3D layout, there will be notes in the storyboards, asking us to be cautious about the vanishing points or the character's eyelines. For example, in Episode 2, when they cross the white line, there were directions from the director in the storyboard stage, so we were careful with that when we were doing 3D layouts. Also, whenever the director wants a scene shot in a wide-angle, we’d ask Doga Kobo to take care of details like that.

After receiving the storyboards and before he does the full layout, he’ll make 3D models, including the characters in the scene. He’ll then check the distance between all the characters, check their eyelines as well as the vanishing points, and make sure everything is balanced and not awkward.

Episode 2: The white line separating Rikuo and Shinako.

Fujii: When Doga Kobo contacted us and said they were done with all 12 episodes, they told us it wouldn’t have been possible without the 3D. (lol) Though they might’ve just been trying to be nice. (lol)

I think it’s beneficial for the design guy to do the 3D models. Usually, there are more people involved, so when I’m making the layout, something might not go with how the rest of the scene plays out. So I’d have to make adjustments while the director and the episode director works it out and that affects the art design. I think another advantage with 3D models and 3D layouts is the fact that other people are able to recreate them.

So the biggest 3D model we built in this is actually a bus stop that exists in real life and we made it pretty long. I was actually surprised while I was making it, like, “Do we ... really need this?” (lol) I needed to make sure it looked okay from any angle.

03: Now that the show has started its broadcast, people are really noticing the beautiful backgrounds! What did you think when you saw them again?

Usami: I’m very happy and honored. This series has many layers. I feel that way objectively even after watching the finished episodes. All the corrections were really detailed, and frankly, I’m still pretty amazed at some of the minor details we cared about in this series. SING “YESTERDAY” FOR ME had actually been completed a season before, and that rarely ever happens. Usually, all the episodes are barely done in time. Episodes might get delivered only two weeks in advance and some don’t even finish the video editing until the day before broadcast. With all that in mind, I truly think we created something very high quality and nice.

I think the characters truly bring out the best in this series, so I hope that people don’t concentrate just on the backgrounds but the product as a whole and enjoy it until the end.

Fujii: We worked hard on the eyecatches, too, so I hope people check them out. Those were done by the animators, but it might be fun for the audience if they can spot where the scenes in the eyecatches belong in the actual episodes. 

Thank you very much. We hope that people pay close attention to the background art that’s drawn in between reality and the story as well as the very realistic everyday scenery.

    Kyle Cardine is an Editor at Crunchyroll. You can find his Twitter here!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com