#harumaru

[smbhax]

Chun-Li by Harumaru, for Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

"Harumaru is a female artist who worked at Capcom from 1998-2000. She is famed for being the lead artist of the hit 2D action side-scrolling title, Strider 2. Since she was 15 years old, Harumaru sent fan artwork to various video game and anime magazines — which eventually lead to her being hired by Capcom as the lead artist for Strider 2. [...] Harumaru also created a variety of promotional character illustrations and poster artwork for a variety of hit Capcom fighting games, including: Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Project Justice, and Capcom Vs. SNK." -- https://www.fightersgeneration.com/features/artistprofiles-p10.html

This illustration was used on the disc label for the Japanese Dreamcast version of the game--see https://smbhax.tumblr.com/741905745001496576

[thepasteldyke]

video version cus gifs get crunchy in live2d (though tbh i kinda like the crunchiness too)

their duet off Bunta's character album is so cute, and uh, youtube allows you to use it so I did. For the speedpaint also.

[hellcifrogs]

Inuzuka Sakura is the cutest thing in the world I love her your honor!!! ;-;

And I'm loving to hear which ones people like best 😭💖 Now some love for Inuzuka Sakura and her pink puppy too!

[wvoonie]

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˚₊ · ͟͟͞͞➳❥ INTRODUCTION !

（　💮　 — Hi, hi ! Call me Sweet , Harumaru or Star — and I'm your local fanfiction writer and artist with a hyperfixation on the hit anime Kimetsu no Yaiba ! I'm muslim and a minor — keep that in mind !!

I'm also a fictkin but I'm generally okay with doubles ! Just let me know if you are one <3

︶︶︶ ︶︶︶

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My (gorgeous) moots ! ( Follow them ! )

@muuumuiiii @ramuunene @iincogneeto @larz-barz @blueberrypie20 @hyacinthwhispers @cherieonow

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𝜗𝜚

[lumiori]

I literally have so many names I can't count 😭

There's Sweet, Sweetie, Ren, Rennie, Renne, Xia, Relicca, Mari, Koko, Star, Harumaru, Aenn and like 100,000,000 more someone please remind me

[pixelgrotto]

Cool Cold War Ninja

Capcom's Strider series holds the distinction of starring one of the coolest ninjas in video games. Hiryu feels like he was designed to look as rad as possible, from the blue suit to the red scarf to the tonfa-esque cypher blade, and his appearance was partially influenced by Spawn (another hero engineered to radiate style) because Capcom character designer Harumaru saw some Todd McFarlane books one day. Even Hiryu's name (飛竜, "flying dragon") is cool, mostly because it taught me that 竜 is the Japanese simplified form of the Chinese 龍, a character in my own name.

But despite his coolness, Hiryu is better recognized for cameos in the Marvel vs. Capcom series instead of his own franchise. This is most unfortunate, especially considering that Strider's one of the earliest video game examples of a cross-media property. Way back in 1988, Capcom greenlit a Strider comic with the help of the Moto Kikaku mangaka group while also assigning two internal divisions to helm an arcade game and an NES title. The intent was to make Hiryu into a hero who would span multiple mediums and be recognized everywhere, from the printed page to the pixelated screen. And that sorta worked, but not as well as Capcom hoped.

The first and most famous Strider - the 1989 arcade release - begins with Hiryu gliding onto the towers of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in a truly iconic bit of spritework. Within three seconds, you're hit with an array of action as Hiryu strides forward, explodes enemies in half with his cypher, and does a signature flip where all of his limbs flail outwards in a mid-air cartwheel. The action and setpieces never let up, and over the span of the game's five levels, Hiryu fights a council of politicians who morph into a multi-limbed robotic centipede, runs from mountain avalanches, explores dinosaur-filled Amazon jungles, hitchhikes a ride on an airship, and battles robotic anti-gravity cores in the fringes of outer space.

Strider is a blend of a hundred different things that the developers considered cool. But beyond all of the set pieces, the factor that sticks out to me the most is the Cold War futurism that drips from every level, feeling original but somehow dated at the same time. What other games start with your character infiltrating the "Kazakh Federation" and end with them fighting the sorcerous Grand Master Meio, a dude who seems like a thinly-veiled stereotype of a communist dictator gone wild? What other games commit to their "born in a geopolitical era of tension" vibe by featuring speech samples in multiple languages, including Russian, Japanese and Mandarin? Strider came out right before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and you can feel it. On that note, I don't think Kazakhstan has appeared in any other franchise as much as Strider. Honestly, the world would probably be a better place if more people associated Kazakhstan with Hiryu's adventures instead of Borat.

Strider didn't receive a decent conversion for home consoles until the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1990, and the NES "port" that came out around the same time wasn't a port at all. Instead, NES Strider is an early Metroidvania, and one that I actually enjoy a fair bit. This opinion goes against the norm, since while I can recall NES Strider getting lots of promo in Nintendo Power when I was growing up, popular internet consensus these days tells you that it's a broken game with controls that feel like they're stuck in a beta phase.

I can't refute that - NES Strider's controls stink, especially when you're forced to pull off a wall jump that's impossible to do unless you have perfect timing. (Thankfully it's only a mandatory move at two points.) The game's also got a weird glitchiness about it, with enemies respawning at an utterly aggressive pace and the edges of the screen flickering way too much every time Strider moves an inch. The bugginess of NES Strider supposedly kept its impending Famicom port from ever being released, making it a rare example of a Japanese game that sold in North America but not in its native country.

And yet, the ambition to NES Strider is admirable. The trend of backtracking through levels and using items to unlock previously inaccessible areas might be commonplace now, but it wasn't in 1989. The plot, while burdened by a messy English translation, also features far more of a story than any other game in this franchise thanks to its heavy basis in the Strider manga. (Which is pretty cool, by the way, and partially readable in English thanks to a fan scanlation of its first three chapters.) Instead of simply facing Grand Master Meio, Hiryu's got to dig out corruption from the ranks of his organization, and it's nice to actually get some insight into his companions, from a fellow Strider named Kain to a guy named Ryuzaki who left his Attack-Boots in China.

Strider never blossomed into one of Capcom's sequel-studded franchises of the '90s. The NES game was a bold but flawed experiment that didn't get much traction, and while the arcade game performed okay, many of its key developers left the company soon after its release. In the European market, though, arcade Strider received dozens of ports for home computer systems that really couldn't handle it, like the ZX Spectrum. Tiertex, a local developer behind a handful of these ports, got the rights from Capcom and made Strider II, a sequel with shockingly bad level design which also goes under the name Journey from Darkness: Strider Returns. Capcom effectively retconned Tiertex's work with an in-house Strider 2 in 1999, riding off of the wave that Hiryu received from his inclusion in Marvel vs. Capcom.

Released for the arcade and Playstation, Strider 2 seems to take place two thousand years after its predecessor, with the Hiryu the player controls a clone of the original. It's never entirely clear, as the plot was clearly just an excuse to have Hiryu fight a reincarnated Meio. Forgettable story aside, the game spans as many environments as the first Strider, and the opening level sees Hiryu fighting terrorists in Neo Hong Kong to the beat of some darn good music which sounds suspiciously like the Ozzy Osbourne song Shot in the Dark. There's also a rival Strider named Hein who wears an all-white uniform in a nod to Hinjo, the main character from Tiertex's Strider II, which is a polite ode to a game that Capcom has all but disowned nowadays.

My biggest issue with Strider 2 is that each level is divided into small chunks, with the player forced to sit through loading screens while the next segment loads. Most PS1 games released during this era suffered from long loadtimes, but it's annoying to deal with the same thing in an arcade game. Maybe the load screens are meant to give players a breather before the next spree of button mashing, but I feel like the game's pace suffers tremendously. It's hard to fall into the same "blaze through, slice 'em with the cypher, do a billion flips along the way" rhythm that the first Strider inculcated when you've got to wait five seconds after every major encounter.

Strider 2 released during a period when action platformers were nearly nonexistent in the arcades, and a 30-minute experience - which is about how long it takes to beat the game once you know what you're doing - wasn't going to really cut it on the PS1. And so the series went back into dormancy until 2014, when Capcom once again enlisted the services of a third party. Double Helix Games' Strider is yet another retread of Hiryu versus Meio, but there's a surprising ton of DNA from NES Strider present. These go from the music, which features an awesome remix of the NES game's level 1 Kazakh theme, to the decision to make Hiryu's journey into a full-fledged Metroidvania.

Double Helix clearly poured a lot of love into their work, and I give 'em props for that NES inspiration. But there's something missing from the experience, which is probably why you don't often see 2014 Strider on lists of the best recent Metroidvanias. Unlike the world-spanning levels of the other Striders, this one takes place solely in Kazakh, which is large but very samey. As a result, the game feels padded despite not being terribly long, and the in-game map is far too confusing due to different planes that Hiryu can jump across. While Metroidvanias are one of the few genres that tend to activate my completionist tendencies, I never felt the need to explore every nook and cranny or snag every ability. It's a shame, because Double Helix was almost there in melding Strider's disparate gameplay styles and finally bringing Hiryu back to mainstream stardom. But they didn't stick the landing, and Amazon Game Studios bought Double Helix right after Strider released, ensuring that the devs probably won't ever get the chance to improve on their formula.

It's been almost a decade since Hiryu got his own game. He most recently showed up in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, and Capcom threw Strider fans a bone with the character Zeku in Street Fighter V, who has a Hiryu-style skin and is said to be the dude who founded the entire Strider order. All of this is neat, but it's baffling that Hiryu - despite being one of the coolest ninjas in gaming - has never had a solo title truly take off since his debut. Some of this might be due to the fact that Capcom has to credit (and presumably pay) Moto Kikaku whenever Hiryu appears, and one could argue that the original arcade game's balls-to-the-wall action and high difficulty don't have a place in Capcom's catalog any longer, or at least aren't as money-printing as new Monster Hunters and Resident Evils. But I think you could easily make something like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice starring Strider Hiryu, and I wish someone would. After all, we're talking about one cool ass Cold War ninja here, and he deserves to shine once more.

[morsking]

feliz harumaru jueves....

[btrinidad01]

B2 size poster of Chun-Li by Harumaru for Street Fighter III 3rd Strike . . Poster I brought last month featuring the awesome art by Harumaru! It’s in great condition with no pinholes. There was some writing on the back, which I posted on my story, not sure what is says. Anyways it’s a great poster! And with that, this should probably be my last post of the year. It’s been a crap year but thanks to everyone that liked and followed! #Harumaru #ハルマル #ChunLi #春麗 #StreetFighterIII #StreetFighter3 #streetfighter3rdstrike #ストリートファイターⅢ サードストライク ファイトフォーザフューチャー #ストリートファイターⅢ サードストライク ファイト #CAPCOM #DreamCast #SegaDreamCast #fightinggame #fightinggameposter #capcomposter https://www.instagram.com/p/CJUunJxDtGk/?igshid=szo44onr9nyf

[uoji]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfZx5whDQ1W/

[nobodycatchme]

Setsuo Yamamoto x Etsuko Yoneda Destroy The Terrorists In The Occupied City ストライダー飛竜２(STRIDER 2)

[smbhax]

2019 Felicia illustration by Harumaru for the Darkstalkers 25th anniversary

"Harumaru is a female artist who worked at Capcom from 1998-2000. She is famed for being the lead artist of the hit 2D action side-scrolling title, Strider 2. Since she was 15 years old, Harumaru sent fan artwork to various video game and anime magazines — which eventually lead to her being hired by Capcom as the lead artist for Strider 2. [...] Harumaru also created a variety of promotional character illustrations and poster artwork for a variety of hit Capcom fighting games, including: Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Project Justice, and Capcom Vs. SNK." -- https://www.fightersgeneration.com/features/artistprofiles-p10.html

[tozettastone]

as mentioned in convo with @misfitmccoward

the awkward dinner scene from an awkward Itachi-Sakura Strangers Team Up mission—

--

It's a big hall: warm, with pale wood and rice paper that lets in only the dull burning glow of sunset. It's not full—they've lost too much of the extended Haruno family to the earthquakes for that.

Sakura moves towards Itachi at the head table like she's walking (in tiny, baby, furisode-steps) towards her own execution.

'Don't mention the massacre,' she thinks to herself, kneeling demurely beside him as though they are in fact the cousins they're pretending to be.

Itachi is prettier to look at than Harumaru had been by a wide margin and with no evidence of effort. It's something about the contrast: the unblemished pale skin, the bottomless dark eyes. It's also a certain.... countenance. Ninja clans stand on very different ceremony to civilian ones, but they both sure turn out sons with a towering hauteur.

'Don't mention the massacre,' she reminds herself. Sakura is not naturally graceful, or pretty, and she isn't wrapped in an impressive but grating cloak of conceit.

She's actually from this specific merchant family, though, and she does know how to pour the tea at this table, and she knows it's acceptable to pour for herself and Itachi now, as long as she does for her great-grandfather when he arrives, too.

Everyone seems to be watching her from the corners of their eyes—of course, the weird ninja girl, bred from the weird dead ninja black sheep of the family... Itachi watches her directly. He looks at her like she's the most important thing in the room. Perhaps she is, in terms of real threat, but she doesn't know how to feel about his serene and blank-faced scrutiny.

Her hands are steady like she's in surgery.

There's a lull before her great-grandfather, the steely family patriarch, arrives. The warmth of the room is stifling and voices rise and fall more freely than they will the moment he steps in.

'Don't mention the massacre,' Sakura thinks firmly.

She drinks her tea. Tiny sip. Itachi matches her. His stare makes her deepy uncomfortable for reasons she elects not to examine.

"Um," she says—her voice croaks, soft, nervous. "I know your brother. I mean. I knew him. Know him. Not that *he's* dead."

Itachi turns his head only very slightly, but his dark eyes drift from her hands to her face, slowly and inexorably. His face is completely placid.

But his eyes say 'you... are an idiot'.

With... debatable mercy, he opens his mouth: "...Yes."

Sakura can physically feel her face change colour. It's not too late, she thinks, to just leave through the window.

[rikkaidaily]

Seven Days Of Tenipuri

Day 3: Favourite Ship

MARUI BUNTA AND NIOU MASAHARU

[penicillinshock]

Junjou Romantica - Act 52 Online / Download

Thanks a lot @crazyjapanesecatlady, @nicegoinbigblue, @sauzawarudo, @akadinosan, @thedigitalpen, Bladeebla, Harumaru, @rara0587, @unearthlysoap, Sakuramiya, @snuffles005, @salomea-lehman and Katalyss for working hard on this chapter!

This one took a lot of time to finish. It’s a very important chapter, so I wanted us to do our best. It’s also the last chapter we’re going to release. I’m going to close the group, unfortunately it has to be this way. Thank you very much for all the support over the years. I wish we were a publishing company, things would be different. I will think of ways to deal with the other two mangas because there are many unreleased chapter and I don’t want people’s work to get lost. Please give me time to figure that out. Please believe that I really really tried my absolute best to the very end and tried to save this group, but in the end, me doing my best does not make other people do their best too. I’m sorry.

Please enjoy the release.

[judgmentblue]

I’ve decided to share my Naruto OCs with everyone. But before I do, I have to say that I not own Naruto. All original art belongs to Kishimoto, Shonen Jump and TVTOKYO, I just traced off the anime.

This is a Aburaya Harumaru (post Pain’s invasion), a short puppet master. Harumaru is Tsurugi’s younger cousin and teammates with Touya and Chou. She specialises in puppetry and she owns four different puppets, a regular sized one with several hidden blades (Knight), a small one spring loaded with senbon and shurkien (Pawn), one that looks just like her but with several openings for toxic gass (Bishop) and a very large one to protect her (Rook). Just before Pain’s invasion she lost her arm after Chou’s Jutsu was redirected towards her, and as such her role during the invasion was to run away from any Pain she saw.

Short and short tempered is the simplest way to describe this kunoichi. She’s always the first to detect flaws in flimsy plans and talk sense to whomever she’s working with. She came to despise Naruto after they shared a single mission together due to his tomfoolery.

[hawberries]

catcher caught my heart! (charms coming out in may)