#how many of these are yuri manga? a good chunk!!

[mikami]

what are your favorite mangas? all-time favs and recent ones^^

Ohh, let's see!! I've been reading a lot more manga again lately and it's been nice, I'd been very anime focused for a while there.

Here's some lists with the individual entries in no particular order other than 'sort of alphabetical but I didn't try very hard'.

All Time Favourites: Akuma no Riddle by Sunao Minakata and Yun Kouga Bokurano by Mohiro Kitoh Death Note.................. Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya Gakkougurashi! (School Live!) by Norimitsu Kaihou and Sadoru Chiba Grand Guignol Orchestra by Kaori Yuki Litchi Hikari Club by Usamaru Furuya (R18!!!!) Kuroshitsuji by Yana Toboso (.......) Nousatsu Junkie by Ryoko Fukuyama A Lollypop or a Bullet by Kazuki Sakuraba and Iqura Sugimoto Tokyo Mew Mew by Mia Ikumi and Reiko Yoshida Vanilla Fiction by Megumi Osuga

Stuff I have recently enjoyed: Failed Princesses by Ajiichi Omoi no Kakera by Jin Takemiya Shimanami Tasogare by Yuki Kamatani The Ends of a Dream by Yumi Sudou

Ongoing stuff I am into at the moment: Amayo no Tsuki by Kuzushiro Liar Satsuki Can See Death by Ryouko The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumoku Ren

Some of these really require content warnings so if you are thinking of getting into any and need specifications on if a specific issue is in a work, please check first or ask me!

[doubleca5t]

i know you’re not a fan of the citrus anime, but is the manga any good?

short answer: no

long answer:

if you spend any amount of time in the yuri fandom, you will eventually have to contend with Citrus. It’s one of the most popular manga in the genre, so it’s kind of unavoidable. And whenever Citrus comes up, you’ll usually hear from a lot of people telling you not to read it because the core premise of Citrus is two girls, Mei and Yuzu, falling in love shortly after becoming STEP-SISTERS, and the first few chapters involve Mei repeatedly sexually assaulting Yuzu (this actually goes the other way around at one point as well, though that doesn’t exactly make things any better). I am here to tell you that those people are wrong.

Let me explain.

Citrus is an infuriating 10 volume cocktease of a manga. What I mean by this is that reading Citrus, it gives you the impression that it could get really good like any chapter now, and then it just never does. The art is good, the main character, Yuzu, is super compelling and entertaining (and imo I think she’s the reason this manga has such a massive fanbase because she can be a Mood And A Half sometimes), it’s got some pretty strong emotional moments and a lot of good comedy here and there. But this is a situation where the whole is very much less than the sum of its parts. This manga has a lot of elements that are individually satisfying, but they don’t come together into a compelling narrative. I think there are two big overarching reasons why.

1) Citrus does not create and resolve conflicts in a satisfying way

A romance manga like Citrus is very much about the journey, not the destination. You know Mei and Yuzu are going to get together, it’s just a matter of how they get together and what sort of obstacles keep that from happening until the very end. This is why so many romance manga rely on tsundere/enemies-to-lovers scenarios. The harder it is for the characters to admit their true feelings for each other, the more you can stretch out the narrative and the more chapters of manga you can get out of it. A good example of this in the yuri world is Bloom into You, where the main characters have done so many mental gymnastics to convince themselves they either can’t love or can’t be loved that as the audience you’re like “shit, I know these two are gonna get together eventually but how the fuck are they gonna get out from this nonsense?”

Citrus has no goddamn idea how to do this.

A huge chunk of the first four volumes is spent introducing side characters who appear to be potential romantic rivals for either Mei or Yuzu. These characters  can be pretty entertaining in their own right, but all the dramatic tension around them falls consistently flat. The solution to every problem presented by these rivals is just talking to whichever girl they were interested in, because said girl (either Mei or Yuzu) was never interested in the rival to begin with. These arcs feel unsatisfying because the way the problem is resolved would suggest, on some level, that these were never problems in the first place. All of this could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other.

And this same problem rears its head near the end of the series as well, the worst example being the ending. Mei separates from Yuzu suddenly and in dramatic fashion because her grandfather is forcing her into what is essentially an arranged marriage. The chapter where we learn about this is legitimately emotionally affecting, with the slow build-up to Yuzu learning that Mei never wants to see her again. It gets you in a way that nothing else in this series really does. But then the solution to all of this is just Yuzu proposing to Mei? And the whole family just goes along with this?? Despite them being step sisters???? Like you’d think the problem here is that Mei’s grandfather is very traditional and conservative. Like he doesn’t just want her to get married before she took over the academy, he wants her to marry a specific person from a rich family that he chose. But no, apparently the step sister marriage is a-ok! which means the only real problem here is that Mei didn’t tell Yuzu about any of this shit until it was already in motion, which brings us to the second core issue:

2) Mei does not change or improve

Mei causes a huge percentage of the conflict in this series. And not only does she cause it, she causes it in exactly the same way over and over again. Mei’s big, defining character flaw is that she’s emotionally distant and bad at communicating. Because of this, Mei repeatedly conceals information from Yuzu for, at least as far as the audience can tell, no discernible reason, creating conflict that never needed to be there. This takes the form of the previously mentioned final chapters, the first volume or so where Mei forces herself onto Yuzu rather than just telling her how she feels, that whole nonsense with Sara, and so, so much more. Citrus runs on the logic of a corny 90s sitcom. Every problem is based on a misunderstanding or a miscommunication, so everything can be resolved if the characters just fucking talked to each other. This sort of storytelling can work if you’re writing a farce (like every other Shakespeare comedy was based on a case of mistaken identity) but in a drama it’s fucking infuriating.

It would be one thing if there was an arc where the core problem was that Mei doesn’t know how to communicate, and at the end of that arc, she realizes what the problem is and spends the rest of the series actively trying to improve. That would be fine. But instead, no matter how many times Mei is shown that failing to talk to her step-sister/gf causes nothing but trouble, she just... keeps doing it, either because Saburouta thinks that’s such an important element of her character that it’s not possible to change it, or because it’s a cheap and easy way to add conflict to a relationship where none would exist otherwise.

I think the final straw for me was when I tried reading Citrus+, which takes place after Yuzu’s proposal in the final chapter of Citrus. Within the first volume, Mei goes right back to her old tricks of being moody and evasive and leaving Yuzu to guess at what might be wrong. THESE TWO ARE FUCKING ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED, BUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP HAS BEEN STUCK IN THE SAME PLACE SINCE VOLUME 5 BECAUSE MEI CAN’T IMPROVE! At some point, it starts to feel like that line about the definition of insanity from Far Cry 3. You’re just doing the same shit over and over again expecting different results.

So to put it bluntly, it would be inaccurate to say that you shouldn’t read Citrus because it’s about a pair of step-sisters taking turns sexually assaulting each other.

You shouldn’t read Citrus because it sucks.

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Dino Watches Anime (Dec. 21)

I postponed posting this for a while because I wanted to wait until the Fall 2020 season was over. Now, it’s almost Christmas. Some parts of the world are snowing, and as I feel the HUGE 2021 WINTER ANIME SEASON APPROACHING, I will reminisce about the anime that I will miss (or not).

Half of these aren’t even seasonal.

Anyway, I’m going to make some sort of “TOP ? ANIME OF 2020″ even though I haven’t watched half the seasonal anime I set out on watching HAHAHA!

Not Seasonal

As usual, I am periodically watching Gintama (which I’ve watched 106 episodes) and Hunter x Hunter (2011) (which I’ve watched 13 episodes), but I won’t finish those anytime soon. 

Gangsta (ON-HOLD - 3/12)

I feel like I have to be in the right mood to watch this, and I just haven’t been. However, I can’t say it’s a bad show at all. In fact, it’s quite good, especially considering that it was done by a studio that went bankrupt. Seriously, they closed up the season after this anime aired. Surprisingly, they’ve done a lot of good anime in the past. Samurai Champloo, Ergo Proxy, and some other ones.

Space☆Dandy (COMPLETED)

I was on and off in terms of dropping this. I didn’t enjoy a good chunk of the episodes because... a lot of them rely on fanservice. To be quite frank, this anime’s motives can be boiled down to being h*rny. However, some random episodes/segments are good. And the animation... the animation of the non-fanservice scenes are masterful. I’m actually going to dive into this a little bit to justify why I’m actually watching this.

Studio Bones is amazing when they commit themselves to an anime, and looking at the staff, you can certainly see that this anime will be fun to look at. It’s a spectacle. 

Sayo Yamamoto has done some incredible stuff in her career. Despite her role in Space Dandy season 1 being small (episode director of episode 2), I wanted to still cover her works. Her portfolio is massive, and she’s only 43. She did the storyboard for some really stylistic and unique openings like Arakawa Under the Bridge (both seasons), Kakegurui (which despite being heavily sexualized, is incredibly fluid and eyecatching even for me), and Psycho-Pass. She also did some storyboarding for the Attack on Titan ending and Samurai Champloo. Not to mention the obvious: She’s the director of Yuri!!! on Ice.

Shingo Natsume is a director for this series, and he has a lot of works too. For one, he was the director of One Punch Man season one which was really well-animated. He has also worked on some Masaaki Yuasa works, Gurren Lagann, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Last but certainly not least, Shinichirou Watanabe is also a director here, and even to someone who isn’t that versed in animation staff, he is incredibly well-known and skilled. He’s the director of many incredible works including Kids on the Slope, Zankyou no Terror (also the original creator), Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, and Carole & Tuesday (also the original creator).

There are even more amazing directors and contributors to this series, so rest assured, this anime looks good.  

But once you get past all the wonderful visuals, the characters are meh and the story is... not that good. The voice acting is great. Junichi Suwabe is amazing as Dandy, Hiroyuki Yoshino plays a good wimp as Meow, and Uki Satake actually surprised me because I haven’t heard of her really but she plays the perfect QT. This anime is like having great icing on the cake, but the cake is actually a cowcake.  

Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke (COMPLETE)

This anime is meh. Everything is meh. This was also done by Manglobe which went bankrupted shortly after Gangsta aired. The animation was alright. I thought this anime was older than it was because I wasn’t that impressed by the visuals. Cowboy Bebop looks better than it despite being almost a decade-and-a-half older. The voice acting was alright. I’m not the greatest fan of Kouji Yusa, but it’s mostly because I don’t like his voice. I’ve heard Junichi Suwabe portray other characters better because there was more substance in those other characters. The rest of the cast was forgettable. I didn’t even bother watching the parent series of this spinoff because it’s not needed, and after watching one episode of it, I wouldn’t be able to sit through the rest of it. There were some redeeming points to the story, but when your biggest plot twist is sticking out going, “LOOK AT ME, I’M A PLOT TWIST!”, you start to go, “I would be more surprised if they didn’t pull that plot twist.” And I guess it goes without saying, but the main guys do not end up together despite some of the hints they dropped. 

Another funny thing is that they put a disclaimer that “this is not based on real events”, but they put in a ton of references to WWII which can be... troublesome? I don’t know how to put it, but after watching Hetalia, I’m very apprehensive about any anime trying to portray real-life events like that.

Seasonal

Munou na Nana

Honestly, I found the manga better. The anime captures just a portion of the suspense and stuff that goes on in the manga, and the manga holds a lot more suspense. It’s kind of like how Junji Ito anime usually have a hard time. Horror is just like that in general though. It relies a lot on the psychological effect, and the anime just didn’t have it for me anyway.

[I also don’t like this show’s comedy and find it lacklustre]

Kamisama ni Natta Hi

You know how in my previous post I sensed this really going downhill? I was right! This anime got really shitty halfway through after Izanami’s dad had his touching episode. Next week is the final episode, but we all know half of Jun Maeda’s anime end off a cliff.

Tonikaku Kawaii

This anime got boring after a while. You know they did it off-screen. Puppy love is okay in small doses for me, but a whole anime about that and only that? It was... alright. I’m not the target audience, honestly. BUT, if you’re tired of stupid love triangles and misunderstandings, this anime is a breath of fresh air. Not to mention, it’s canon from Day 1. 

Ani ni Tsukeru Kusuri wa Nai! 4

This anime took no commitment, and some of the episodes were enjoyable, so I can’t say I wasted my time, but they truly only peaked in season one.

Jujutsu Kaisen

While I’m still not incredibly sold on the series, it’s really starting to take shape. The OP and ED are reasons to watch alone... and Gojo seems to be a popular choice for ladies who are into white-haired anime guys. Either way, it’s still a solid watch, but they need those character arcs to come in fast because the only thing I feel is really holding this show back is character depth (and I know they have it in the manga). The art, the voice acting, the music, everything else is there, and the story is, as I said, starting to take shape.

Maoujou de Oyasumi

I saved this one for last because this anime was so pure and wholesome, and it was definitely the biggest surprise of the season! I know some of the people I know are into those dating sims with the demon kings and whatever, but consider this demon king from this show. He’s an utter wreck, can’t be evil half the time, is a himbo, and you really wonder how they managed to keep their own castle together. The princess isn’t trapped in the castle with the demons, the demons are trapped in the castle with her. She commits burglary, assault, genocide, and mutilation is the name of a good sleep. Her name is also a pun on sleeping.

[grellsuke]

do you have any good lgbt manga recs? i just finished shimanami tasogare and loved it

yes!!!

Authors:

yuhki kamatani - the author of shimanami tasogare! kamatani is x-gender (and ace!) and thoroughly incorporates lgbt characters into their works. the others aren’t like focused on the lgbt experience like how shimanami is, but they’re all wonderful and beautiful and have lgbt characters and i highly, highly rec them.

akiko morishima - a lesbian mangaka who i really like! she’s really good abt tackling the traditional stereotypes in yuri manga as well as writing stuff about older characters and frankly discussing sexuality and shit. she also has works that are not yuri manga-centric but iirc a good chunk if not all of them still have lgbt characters, so they’re worth checking out as well! (she does have a few works with some fuckshit in them tho, fair warning)

takako shimura - i don’t personally know what her sexuality is (tho shes a woman, i know this), but shimura is pretty well-known for her lgbt works. wandering son and aoi hana are probably her most famous, at least over here in the west! she also tends to incorporate lgbt themes into her works that don’t center on lgbt characters as well.

ebine yamaji - another lesbian mangaka! yamaji’s works are very... realistic, usually about lesbian working through things. there’s a lot of trauma and a lot of sadness in her works, as well as sexual content, and i really love her art. i haven’t read ALL of her works, but what i have, i’m enamored with. they’re sad but rarely TRAGIC.

hiyori otsu - i don’t actually know otsu’s sexuality, but she’s a shoujo ai/yuri mangaka who writes a lot of genuinely sweet stuff. her works tend to very much be on the softer side of things, even if they can be bittersweet, and i’ve really enjoyed all i’ve read by her. it’s nice to just, be able to read a simple and nice lesbian manga without any major angst or tragedy or even sexual content sometimes, you know?

Autobiographies:

honey x honey by sachiko takeuchi - a slice of life little manga about the author and her girlfriend! it is abt a decade old, which you can see some of, but it’s a really cute peek into their lives and japanese lgbt culture. there ARE sequel(s?), but i unfortunately haven’t managed to find any english translations for them. if you do, let me know!

my lesbian experience with loneliness by kabi nagata - i own this manga! i keep it squirreled away in the bottom of my desk and pull it out every few weeks or so because it’s deeply, deeply relatable to me. the first time i read this manga i sat down and cried because i felt it deep in my soul. absolutely rec!!! there’s also a sequel, my solo exchange diary.

the bride was a boy by chii - a cute little manga about a trans woman named chii, recounting her early years up to her current life, her transition and how she met her husband (+ abt their relationship). it’s super cute and sweet, and very informative!! an absolute rec!!

i was born the wrong sex! by mayufu konishi - i haven’t quite finished this one yet, but this is a highly informative manga about a trans woman heading to thailand for her surgery! it’s extremely extremely informative about every single step of the process, and the author is an absolute delight, so it’s one i’d absolutely rec.

our journey to lesbian motherhood by emiko sugiyama/koyuki higashi/hiroko masuhara - have you heard of the lesbians that got married in disneyland tokyo? this is them!!! this is their autobiographical story of, well, their journey to lesbian motherhood! it’s very good, i definitely enjoyed it - it IS a sequel to another manga by them, but i sadly couldn’t find an english translation anywhere… it’s completely understandable without having read it, though!!

fictional manga:

my brother’s husband by gengoroh tagame - this is one i haven’t read myself, but is pretty damn high up on my ‘next to read’ list. the author is a prominent gay bara author - this is his first dabbling into more family-friendly series. he’s also recently started another family-friendly one called our colors that may be worth looking into as well!

whispered words by takashi ikeda - it’s been a good long while since i’ve read this, but i really enjoyed this when i was younger! (has it already been almost 8 years since it ended?? i feel old) it’s about two lesbians who are best friends - one of which is secretly in love with the other. unfortunately, she’s very much not her friend’s type. :( i vaguely remember some kind of weird crossdressing shenanigans with one character, tho, so tread lightly with that.

koimonogatari by tohru tagura - if you liked shimanami, this is also probably right up your alley! it’s a very realistic manga about a boy finding out that one of his classmates is closeted and gay - and he promptly decides to tell no one because he’s not an asshole, which leads to him being one of this boy’s main confidants. it realistically deals with the homophobia that gay people face, as well as the main character’s slow realization that he’s not necessarily straight, either (or at least, that’s my hypothesis - it’s still ongoing!!). i really enjoyed it.

lonely wolf, lonely sheep by fuka mizutani - two women with the same name, same birth month, and same injury end up meeting by complete coincidence at the hospital. i genuinely adore this manga and all it is. despite it only being one volume long, it deals with heavier topics such as depression, self harm, homophobia, and iirc even suicide. it’s really, really good though and i wish all the best for them.

kono koi ni mirai wa nai by morihashi bingo - i recommend this one tentatively, as the last two chapters are not yet translated (as of 1/11/19), but i enjoyed what was there. despite the label as BL on many sites, this story is actually about a trans woman (tho there is also a gay man in the manga!). the note left off on the most recent chapter, chapter 10, was a very uplifting note that she is not alone and that how she feels is completely, utterly normal, and i have hope for the last two chapters! the art’s really pretty, too, and the metaphors. but again - who knows what could go down in the last two chaps. fingers crossed!

i hear the sunspot by yuki fumino - PLEASE read this one. this manga is about two college-aged young men who end up meeting when one LITERALLY stumbles across the other. kouhei, one of the boys, is hard of hearing - and the other boy, taichi, starts taking notes for him in class in exchange for lunch, and thus begins a friendship that will blossom into romance! it absolutely gets in depth on the hoh/Deaf community in Japan, and is definitely informative - and the guys are just genuinely so sweet (as well as the other characters!!!) and I wish them all the happiness. it’s STILL ONGOING so like, warning on that, but i’m really enjoying it so far. i think there’s also a movie based off it!

cirque arachne by nika saida - this one has some sexual elements to it, so fair warning on that, but i really enjoyed it! it’s a single volume manga about two acrobats that fall in love. the art was cute and i genuinely liked the characters, quite a lot. would definitely rec.

yuureitou by tarou nogizaka - i have not actually read this manga, but it’s another that’s amazingly high up on my to read list. it’s a supernatural horror manga, and the main couple is a trans man and a cis man! i’ve heard good things about it - from people i know personally, as well as just in general - and it’s one i can’t wait to check out.

ohana holoholo by shino tarino - i FEEL like this one is completed, but if it is, the translation isn’t done. either way, i did love what i read from this! ohana holoholo is about a bi woman raising her son along with her ex-girlfriend and their neighbor, nico. it’s really good, one that i HIGHLY recommend, and one of the woman is implied to be trans, too! (fingers crossed they explicitly state it please please please-) overall, i absolutely rec it, please check this out!

no. 6 by atsuko asano/hinoki kino - who HASN’T heard of no. 6? no. 6 is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the government is, well, the government. it involves two young men working to take it down alongside others and they fall in love. and one of the other characters is non-binary! ...honestly that’s probably the best i can describe no. 6 because WOW is it a wild trip. it’s a wild trip that i highly, highly recommend though! you want gays taking down the government alongside killer bees and a magical bug goddess? this is the manga for you. please read it.

asagao to kase san by hiromi takashima & bloom into you by nio nakatani - two shoujo ai manga centering around high schoolers that i haven’t actually read yet, both of which recently got animated adaptations!!! i have heard genuinely fantastic things about both of them (ESPECIALLY) the latter, and bloom into you is actually next on my reading list. they absolutely sound fantastic and i can’t wait to read them!!

seven days by rihito takarai/venio tachibana - a two-volume manga about two high school boys. every week, a boy named seryou goes out with a different girl - he treats them very well, showers them in attention, and then promptly breaks up with them at the end of the week because he didn’t fall in love with them. out of curiosity, his upperclassman, shino, asks him out one week - and thus begins their seven day romance. i really loved this, i really really did.

tamen de gushi by tan jiu - it’s an on-going webcomic about how two girls, qui tong and sun jing, meet and fall in love. the characters are all absurdly fantastic, from the two girls to all of the supporting characters around them, and it’s an absolute TREAT to read. i would highly rec it, there’s some lovely shenanigans in there.

last but not least, i highly rec manga written by the year 24 group. this group was a non-formal group of female mangaka in the 1970s that really revolutionized and influenced the shoujo manga genre. many of their works are considered classics today, with works such as kaze to ki no uta, claudine...!, the heart of thomas, and shiroi heya no futari among them. a lot of their works really dug in and examined sexuality and gender, and you can find some of the original shounen ai, shoujo ai, and trans manga among them. i’m a sucker for the classics, and i highly recommend them. i honestly could have listed every single of one these mangaka in my recommend authors list, but decided it was just easier to promote the group as a whole. the best for last, you know?

hope this helps, anon!

[midsummernightsread]

Starting next week, I will be bring back Manga Monday. It was one of my favorite posts of the week but life got in the way and I wasn’t able to keep up with it. With that in mind, I wrote this post, so you all will be prepared for the next coming weeks.

I really do. Let’s get to it.

Here is what you should know about manga (insert what manga is). . . there are so many different niches that one bad manga does not mean that they are all bad. If you are reader, this is something that you should be fully aware of. Manga gets a bad wrap (dare I say much worst than graphic novels/comics) due to people not understanding the cultural difference, being pretty much racist AND unwilling to try new things.

First things first is how to read manga. Manga is read from right to left. In most books, you should see a page devoted to directions. This is important, not necessarily reading the directions but know how to read manga because you can quickly get lost.

Different Sub Genres 

*Note: I believe these would be considered sub genres as each manga is still broken down as Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary etc. This could be an American thing but I am not 100% sure about that. 

Shonen is geared towards young boys under the age of 15.

Seinen is geared toward to young men between the ages of 15-24.

Shojo is geared toward girls between the ages of 10-18

  Josei is geared towards adult women.

Kodomomuke is geared towards children.

Yaoi is also known as boy’s love and are stories about male gay relationships.

Yuri is also known as girl’s love and are stories about female gay relationships.

  Ecchi is has a lot of suggested content (i.e. sexual) and may contain nudity.

Hentai is pretty much pornography with a story behind it (not to say there may not be porn with a plot but yeah that is what this is).

There may be more but this is what I have for the time being. It is important to know what you are getting into but manga doesn’t exactly shy away from certain topics. They can be extremely detailed, so knowing what you want to deep dive into is a good start.

And just because there is a particular age group that the manga is set for i.e. the demographic, you can read any manga you want. I wouldn’t obviously recommend children to read the adult themes but you know what I am trying to get at.

I read manga in two different ways. By going to Kiss Manga or purchasing at a bookstore, usually Barnes and Nobles.

One things to note with Kiss Manga is that is can be overwhelming because there are a lot of choices. Not all manga will be available on this website but you still can find a chunk of it. So happy hunting!!

Listed below are some (because there are so much more) of my favorite manga and it includes a range also some new and old.

I hope that this post was helpful ^_^ I look forward to you starting your manga journey!

Vertical Comics Published May 24, 2016 224 Pages

Kadokawa Shoten Published Jan 26, 2013

Yen Press Published Jan. 20, 2015 208 Pages

goodreads.com

The Return of Manga Monday: So You Want to Get Into Manga Starting next week, I will be bring back Manga Monday. It was one of my favorite posts of the week but life got in the way and I wasn't able to keep up with it.

[smokedcapybara]

sometimes I get really curious how much my personal experience with and introduction to anime and manga(and manhua and manhwa) differs from the average experience and whenever that happens I kinda wish I could ask everyone who’s had any kind of experience with them what their story is

like, is it even normal to have a Story to it or do most people just stumble across it and that’s that? and for those who do have a Story, how similar is theirs to mine?

how many people stubbornly held out, believing they’d never get into it? how many people jumped in head first and totally immersed themselves immediately? how many people started with one and then through that got into the rest?

for how many people did it all happen all at once, slowly, over the course of several years?

there are two facts I need to share as context for the beginning of my Story:

fact 1: younger me was very much the kind of person who would read anything with words they could get their hands on

fact 2: my older sisters have both been into anime and manga for over a decade

I started reading Tokyo Mew Mew before I even knew what manga was - before I knew what comic books were either - it was literally the basis of my understanding of the whole concept of graphic novels

I started reading it because one of my sisters had a few of the books and they all had colorful covers and, of course, words

I was about ten I believe, give or take a year, and I loved it just as much as I loved any story - which is to say a lot

when I was eleven or twelve one of my sisters (likely the same as the one who owned the Tokyo Mew Mew books) left her copy of the manhwa Kill Me Kiss Me on the banister for at least a week(it felt like much longer to me but then I was tiny and young and being tortured by the temptation)

the entire time it was there I was at war with myself. on one hand: the cover and title had me worried about the contents, I didn’t want to scar myself again(never let a ten/eleven-year-old read Wicked or Return to the Secret Garden). on the other hand: words

eventually I gave in and it turned out to be a really adorable gangster romance and I loved it

around the same year as my kmkm dilemma, my two sisters decided to indoctrinate me and my brother to the wonders of anime

Jen went about it by sitting us in front of the tv and making us watch One Piece; Mike was instantly ensnared, I was not - in fact, quite the opposite

Ashley’s method was to invite me to watch her shows with her, turn it into a bonding experience. she introduced me to Ouran High School Host Club and Ah! My Goddess and, despite them being the exact opposite of everything I cared about at that point in my life, I loved them

unfortunately Ashley had a habit of also watching without me, resulting in me missing huge chunks of episodes, so neither show actually stuck

two-ish years later, around when my reading was starting to decline (I’d recently moved across the country and the school libraries worked on a different system that had me confused to the point where I outright avoided them) one of my friends convinced me to go with her to the school library so she could return her books and check out new ones - she also encouraged me to check some out myself, though I was pretty sure I wouldn’t

then I got a good look at the books she was checking in - the first few books in the +Anima manga - and fell in love. with the cover art, the summary. I had to read those books

so I checked them out and read them and then looked the rest up online and finished the series

that same year, I got really into Teen Titans and Young Justice (the cartoons, not the comics, I remain to this day not a huge fan of comic books - mostly cause dc and marvel are both so confusing I have no idea where to start and thus no desire to) and, like I did when I was super into Warriors, I started watching amvs on youtube (of course, these amvs are how I got from Teen Titans to Young Justice in the first place... but anyway)

and then I discovered that just watching amv after amv was a great way to have music in the background while doing other stuff and a good way to find new songs

and leaving autoplay on led me to anime amvs, usually filled with images from multiple different animes

and then there was one that was just one anime, filled with bright colors and pretty clothes and magical transformations and mermaids - everything I was too ashamed to admit I liked - and I looked it up

I started watching Mermaid Melody in secret, trying to only watch it when nobody else was in the room, and I loved it - but as soon as my family found out and started teasing me I dropped it like a sack of bricks

sometime around when all of this was going on - more before than during, actually - Jen introduced me and Mike to two things online; the webcomic Hannah is Not a Boy’s Name, and the manhua 1/2 Prince (which for years I thought was also a webcomic because I was a Foolish child) and while I dropped HiNaBN as soon as I realized it wasn’t going to updated any time soon(and it still hasn’t been kjdsfhk) I kept up with 1/2 Prince for a year or so until it kinda faded from my mind

and then freshman year of high school I watched an entire anime - Shugo Chara - over spring break, I started watching FMA because Mike complained about the Anime Club refusing to watch it, I started InuYasha - and dropped it within a couple months - because it showed up in an amv and I was curious, I started Katekyo Hitman Reborn - also because of an amv - and dropped it after the first episode (and then picked up again a few months later and dropped it after one or two more episodes and eventually got past the first twenty episodes during sophomore year and sped through the rest)

suddenly I was watching animes with Mike - things like Bleach, Soul Eater, Death Note, and later Fruits Basket, Baka and Test, etc - and building one of my closest friendships ever off of a shared love of anime (and drawing) with one of my classmates

and then, just as suddenly as it started, it all stopped around senior year

I went weeks, and then months without watching any anime or reading any manga

Yuri on Ice briefly broke the streak a bit after graduation, and there were a couple others that I tried to watch but never really got into in the year or so after that

and now I only watch anime when my mom wants to watch some with me and I only read manga(or manhwa or manhua) when I’m re-reading one of my first few

it all confuses me so much. how it happened, why it happened the way it did

idk

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Viridian Vanguard (Part 32)

Elsewhere in the Grove during the duels, Weiss was in her nest, Penny snuggled up to her chest, Cheese and Winter’s summons around her for company, menial tasks, and/or food as she watched holos through Penny’s projector. (The quality was far superior than her comm-crystal’s.)

“I feel it… the purity of their love…!” screamed the monster of the week. “This is it… the power, of YURI!”

A wave of purple-black miasma shot out of the monster, washing over the convention floor, reality itself beginning to warp and change as bright, prismatic energy was sucked out of them.

Hina gasped. “Akane, Aoi, look! All the couples, the anime and manga, even the doujins and the fan art—they’re all losing their gayness!”

“You monster!” Aoi screamed. “Do you know how long that slow-burn was between Diya and Nene?! This is an affront to all of Girls Love!”

“You’re going down, Yarama!” Akane screamed as she whipped out her spear, Hina and Aoi doing the same with their weapons.

“Piper, this show is so fucking stupid...” Weiss muttered.

“Would you like to change to something else?” Penny asked through an annotation on the holo.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t enjoying it!” Weiss said.

A fight sequence began, the tables and displays being torn up and destroyed from the empowered monster, the heroes trying their best to spare the panicked, confused convention goers, and the merchandise, too, if they could help it.

“Face it, Spiral Hearts!” the Yarama cried. “The power of women loving women is just too strong!”

“That is true…” Hina replied “… but it’s not as strong as the true fans of yuri, those who make and support new content for fans everywhere, not filthy parasites like you! Akane! Aoi!”

“On it!” they both cried, before they all joined their weapons into one giant cannon. “For the love of all that makes our lives worth living… SPIRAL PIERCER…!”

The projection suddenly stopped, Penny’s eyes flashing green.

“What happened?” Weiss asked amid the disappointed growls and groans of the summons.

“It seems there was a serious accident during Jaune and Pyrrha’s training!” Penny replied, untangling herself from Weiss’ arm, then hovering towards the window. “I’m afraid my medical expertise is needed on-site, apologies, Weiss.”

“Don’t you just have first-aid equipment right now?” Weiss asked as she sat up.

“Yes, but I still have my treatment database, patient history, and high-precision scanners,” Penny replied. “I’ll inform you of any new developments as soon as I can!”

Weiss sighed, frowning as she watched Penny fly out the window and out of sight. One of Winter’s summons gently prodded her on the side, and gestured to her comm-crystal charging on a dock in the corner; she turned to them and shook her head. “You’ll have to find out what happens next later, I’ve got a hunch I need to investigate,” she said as she stood up. “Help me get dressed, everyone!”

The summon sighed, before everyone available either fetched Weiss’ garments from the closet, or helped her put it on. “Cheese, you’re coming with me,” Weiss said as she scooped what remained of him from his plate, now just a small blob no bigger than her hand.

c:

“I’m heading out to the training grounds!” Weiss said as she passed by Winter in the living room.

“Don’t try to squeeze in more exercise when you’re supposed to be recovering, I really did mean that was the only time I’d carry you back!” Winter replied, not looking up from the Nivian-Actaeon book she was reading.

“I won’t, sheesh! It’s been what, four years since that happened?” Weiss said as she opened the door.

“I know you, Weiss, it takes a long while for you to give up on something you’ve put your mind to,” Winter replied as she turned the page.

Weiss shook her head as she shut the door behind her, called for the elevator before taking a bite out of Cheese.

He was down to just his soulstone by the time she arrived, by which point Jaune was securely strapped to a spine board and being carried away by Taiyang and Nora, Ren and Penny following them with medical supplies.

Futher away, Yang was on a bench, comforting the rather glum looking Pyrrha sitting beside her. After a few moment’s consideration, Weiss stepped over and asked, “May I ask what the hell happened to Jaune this time?”

“We were dueling, and I accidentally threw him far harder and further than I intended,” Pyrrha replied. “His landing was… ugly.”

“Should I…?” Weiss asked uneasily.

“In short: he looked a human pretzel,” Yang said. “Just so you know, the un-pretzeling process wasn’t pretty, either.”

“Uh... huh...” Weiss mumbled. “Do you need me to stay, or should I just leave…?” she asked, thumbing behind her.

“If your brain is functioning enough again for Pit Fighter business, sure!” Yang said.

“I’ve made quite a lot of progress on the weapon choice front, it’d be a shame to waste this time,” Pyrrha added.

Weiss nodded, and sat down with them. “So how’s it going, exactly?”

“If we’re being thorough about it, I’m halfway through the process,” Pyrrha replied. “I still haven’t explored any of the Fae firearms that weren’t almost-complete replicas of AFA armaments, but now I know for sure that I have a solid idea of what I’m looking for in melee weapons.”

“And what would that be?” Weiss asked.

“Something versatile with reach, coupled with a shield and elemental mediums for an all-rounded offense or defense,” Pyrrha replied. “Weiss’ temporarily limited powers aside, both of you are highly specialized fighters, and I’d rather not lose a good chunk of our effectiveness, or expose glaring weaknesses in our defenses should one of you be downed, or otherwise indisposed. Whether it’s defending against attacks from any range, leading a charge into our enemies, or wreaking some elemental havoc, I’ll be ready for it.

“That being said, I haven’t seen what Fae ranged weapons can bring to the table, and if the melee weapons were any indication, they should be quite the learning experience.”

“You should probably join us at the firing range later, Weiss!” Yang said. “Get a feel for how the Fae deal death from a distance.”

“I’d rather not,” Weiss replied. “After all that training at the Terrace, my arms will definitely become too sore to even hold a gun as soon as I’m hit the recoil.”

“I meant in a mental, tactical sense, see what you might go up against in person!” Yang replied. “You’ve barely seen anyone really use a ranged weapon outside of all-out war where tracking who fired what was the least of your worries. Plus, the special ammo will give you a great idea of what happens when you mix elements up—nothing wrong with your using pure, but you miss out on useful things like Melty Wash that way.”

“’Melty Wash…?’” Weiss asked.

“Melty Wash,” Yang repeated, nodding. “It sounds just as stupid in Actaeon, don’t worry.” She winced as her stomach growled. “Ugh, all this drama made me forget how hungry I am—come on, let’s go get some grub and a nap, then on to lighting shit up!” she said, getting up.

Weiss shrugged. “Alright, fine, I’ll go!” she said as she hopped up. “I figured I needed to get out of bed and do something productive today, anyway...”

Jaune was left in the cabin he bunked in, Taiyang and Penny stayed behind to take care of him and keep him company. Everyone else had lunch and rested a while, before discussing Pyrrha’s firearms training.

As elementally-infused ammo, alchemical grenades, chemical weapons and the like needed to be specially ordered by and used under the supervision of a senior watcher or other qualified individual, and Qrow was far too drunk at the moment, they started out with the standard Fae firearms.

In contrast to the practical, sleek, and streamlined AFA guns Pyrrha was used to, the Fae practically made it a point to have their guns as flashy and embellished as possible. Every one of them seemed to have as many engravings, stylized components, and decorations as they could possibly add without compromising function too much, like an iron sight made out of some long-dead predator’s skull, the gun barrel coming out of its jaws

Metal and wood were the materials of choice for most of them, all manner of colours, grains, and sheen from the varieties, mixtures, and treatments, with the rest of the parts made from bone, rock, crystal, plant fibers, and whatever else the Fae could get their hands or hand-equivalents on. There was barely any built-in magitech to be seen, no small-form targeting systems, recoil adjusters, or ammo management systems, just physical springs, levers, hammers, revolvers, and whatever else.

And almost all of them were powerful, even the quietest guns having massive impact.

Thip. Crack. Thip. Crack. Thip. Crack.

Pyrrha fired her “Fang Gun” into a log target, each bone projectile lodging an inch or two deep into the wood, splinters flying out from the holes, the cracks clearly audible to Weiss even as she watched from well away to the side.

She stopped after six shots, putting her rifle down and massaging her arms. “Not the kind of gun you fire just for fun, is this?” she asked Ren.

“Not unless your idea of ‘fun’ is accuracy competitions, or clean hunting kills,” Ren replied calmly. “Shall we focus on lower-caliber weapons that are easier to fire for sustained periods, such as repeaters? Most every Fae firearm hits the user almost as hard as they do the target.”

“No,” Pyrrha replied, picking the gun back up, and aiming for a farther target. “I suppose I’ll just have to learn to make every single shot a hit from here on out!”

Ren nodded. “One well-placed bullet’s all you really need, most of the time.”

“And the rest?” Pyrrha asked.

Ren smiled. “Two bullets.”

After Pyrrha started getting used to the intense recoil, and firing far less frequently than she would have with human guns, they started planning which weapons she was to try out, how she was going to test them out, and who would be involved.

Everyone except Weiss donned a set of armour; a small arena was built by a copse of smaller trees with the help of deployable cover, ballistic shields, and the foliage; and several dozen crates of ammo were carted out of storage, their contents transferred to smaller boxes set around the area, or to loaded into all manner of belts, bags, and quivers just waiting to be strapped on.

Before Pyrrha’s first live-fire exercise, however, Ren wanted to demonstrate how Fae opponents would be using firearms themselves, exchanging his usual sickles for two “Shredders,” Fae-style SMGs.

“The first thing you need know is, except for heavy weapons like Hailstorm cannons or extreme long-distance weapons like Shardslingers and Farslingers, Fae tend to prefer shooting on the move, and most can shoot quite accurately and survive getting shot at also,” Ren said as he loaded one of his guns with a clip.

He dashed towards some training dummies, shredding their canvas coverings with short, accurate burts. He maneuvered around their cover and shot them from behind, slid on the ground to slip through tiny gaps and holes in defenses, even leaped off a ledge and fired the last of his clip in mid-air.

“Predicting your enemies movements and firing where they will be in a second is a helpful skill in lower ranks, and absolutely vital as you move up,” he said as landed, pulled out his second shredder and loaded them both.

“The second is that, thanks to our biology and engineering advancements, dual-wielding guns isn’t as stupid and dangerous idea to us Fae as it is to you humans,” Ren said as he adjusted the stocks, shortening them and fitting them over his forearms. “In fact, it’s actually quite popular inside the Pits, both as a stylistic choice and a significant combat advantage.”

He calmly crossed a bridge lined with target dummies, both guns blazing and ripping apart targets on both sides, casually bending his arms further and more dramatically than any human could to shoot behind his back, over his shoulders, and even under his leg.

“And the third and arguably the most important is: we Fae are far, far more mobile and agile than any of you are right now, or will be in the immediate future, so do consider any way your enemies can outmaneuver and flank you,” Ren said as he holstered one gun, replaced the empty clip with a drum magazine.

He moved towards one of the “bases” in the arena, a tight cluster of trees with platforms rising up two stories above him, a small sniper’s nest on the third. Several dummies stood behind cover, well-protected from any shots angled upwards, free to pump Ren full of bullets if they were actually armed and alive.

Then Ren started jumping from branch to branch, running up and along the trunk and the walls, swinging from the ropes or running on top of the ziplines, raining metal hell down on all of them from above and behind.

Ren zipped down from the base, gracefully landing back down to the ground. He unloaded the empty drum, turned over to Pyrrha and Weiss said, “Generally speaking, never forget to look up. Now, any questions or concerns?”

“None,” Pyrrha said, smiling as she put on her helmet. “Let’s get shooting.”

“Oh yeah!” Nora cried as she shot out of her seat. “We about to get all John Woo up in here!”

Note: Aside from the tendency for special ammo and the like to deteriorate over time, to the point of being unusable or dangerous to use, it’s also expensive to produce, and capable of causing severe injuries to folks and damage to property that oftentimes require urgent, specialized treatment, thus the many hurdles to legally acquiring and using them. Due to the nature of the Keeper and her team, restrictions are a bit looser and relatively easier, but not by much.

The shardslinger is the non-elemental version of the farslinger. Though they use many similar designs, the key difference is in the loading mechanism and the insides of the barrels, with the latter being specially treated and much, much, MUCH more expensive, to be able to handle the severe wear of high-power elemental mediums. It’s not unknown for substandard barrels to simply explode or melt during stress testing.

This chapter was coded “Shooty Shooty Bang Bang.” The next chapter is coded “John Woo-ing It Up In Here.”

[demongames]

My thoughts on Doki Doki literature club.

WARNING: SPOILERS OF THE GAME INCLUDED. SCROLL AWAY IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THE GAME ENTIRELY. PLEASE BLACKLIST THE TAG "Doki Doki literature club SPOILERS"

So, like a good CHUNK of people, I recently finished watching @therealjacksepticeye play the game. While on the last part, I accidentally fell asleep(work) and had the first truly disturbing nightmare I've had since I was 6. I think it's safe to say that this game affected me haha. Coming from a person who's had many friends, as well as myself, deal with a lot of these issues(from natsukis abusive father, to Sayori's depression and yuri's self harm) I would like to give my thoughts on the game, from how the game handled these issues, how the game as a whole affected me, and creatively what I feel about this game.

1. Sayori's depression.

I feel this was shown beautifully! Depression is a massive issue that more people should be aware of, and that the symptoms for a majority of people are not shown to the public. Sayori comes off as the most cheerful of the bunch, as if her whole life is bright and sunshiny. It did raise a small red flag in the very beginning for me, as she seems to have a track record for waking up late, as well as being so cheerful. In the end, (albeit because of monika) she begins to break down, as people with depression tend to do, especially in adolescents. No matter what you choose, she will end her life, which... I'm against, but also for at the same time. Some people, feel there is no other way out. They feel as if they NEED to end it, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. But at the same time, for some, all they need is 1 person to tell them that they are wanted, loved, and cared for. That they MEAN SOMETHING to someone. But with how the game is created, with monika killing off the characters, I can understand how this was portrayed, and overall it was a beautiful thing to experience. Her story was also not triggering to me, but the image of her hanging, with that cute little bow on her perfect hair will probably stick with me for awhile.

9.8/10

2. Yuri's self harm.

Now here, I'll be talking about that ONE SPECIFIC ISSUE, and nothing to do with her antisocial tendencies or timidness. I'm not a fan in the way it was portrayed. Not every case of self harm is this extreme, or do the people have this.. sort of affinity for knives. It's hard to tell her motives for cutting, but throughout the story as a whole it appears to be that she finds joy in the feeling of the knife. I also want to guess that maybe she feels the need to get some relief from monika, and does it in this fashion. Her overall character was brilliant, and probably the most in depth. But the self harm part of it left a bad taste in my mouth for whatever reason.

6/10

3. Natsukis family issues.

These weren't really touched on in the game, and only VERY BRIEFLY mentioned. She notes with her manga that her dad would beat the shit out of her if he saw them, and that the club is her escape from her family life. It kinda sucks, because I would've liked to see more in character depth with her. There really isn't much to say on these issues, since they weren't touched on enough.

4/10 :(

4. Yuri's character.

Yuri was one of the most incredible characters I've seen in fiction. Her story and mind were very in depth, with everything from the outer, shy layer she appears to everyone else, to her obsessive tendencies, to the deep and very traumatizing burden she has lived with in trying to fit in. She is a character that could be comparable to human, and ironically, is probably the most relatable, at least to me. She is someone that has been... almost forced by society to act a certain way, and that she shouldn't be excited about her hobbies or share them. She has been molded to believe that her hobbies are not interesting to others, and so when she eventually DOES find someone willing to listen(you) she gets obsessive. I believe everyone has done this at least once(though not about knives, per say...) and that perhaps it shows the message to listen and let other peoples hobbies grow, instead of shutting them down immediately. Outside of that, we can tell, like natsuki, that she would rather not go home. Perhaps it is because of her extensive knife collection, but it could also be something else. Who knows?

100000/10, probably the best character in the game.

5. Natsukis character.

I feel this could've been touched on more, as I explain in point 3. I know there's more to her than the stereotypical cutesy but assertive girl. With her defensiveness though in the natsuki vs Yuri fight, we see that perhaps she is used to being bullied for enjoying the things that she enjoys, similarly to Yuri. She's very quick to say that her hobbies matter too, like baking and enjoying stereotypically cute things. I would still like to see more into her life.

7/10

6. Sayoris character

Outside of her depression, we notice that she probably has had to mediate in the past, and/or wants to do her best to avoid conflict. She definitely has some depth to her, though very subtle. She enjoys spending time with the main character, and we can tell that her and monika get along well.

8/10

7. Monika.

She is one of the most interesting characters in the game. She is self aware, and aware of the player. It seems she would like to give the illusion that you have a choice on who to pick, but in the end, choose her. On the other side of the coin however, it seems she purely enjoys the literature club and the people within it, but is split between her personal agenda and the players wants. The way her character is designed almost appears that she has some psychopathic tendencies, with her not blinking twice at the death of Yuri. But perhaps it's because she realizes that it's all game, and that they aren't real.

10/10 incredible meta character!

8. How the game affected me.

I'm not gonna lie, this game fucked with my head a bit. At first I was numb to it, but over time, and as the game progressed, I began to feel more and more uneasy, and on edge. I could feel anxiety begin to bubble up, and everything felt so so WRONG. As if none of the crazy shit that was happening was supposed to happen, and that really says something, considering that never happens to me in any horror game. Perhaps it's because I began to attach to the characters, or because I personally related to these issues, but whatever it was, it invoked a very horrifying feeling within me. I just finished reading yuri's decoded character file, and that DOES NOT help the uneasiness. This game is truly incredible in that aspect. I would've never expected this kind of indepth scripting out of this game. Meta horror is perhaps the best horror out there. I will be reccomending this game to everyone, cause if a game can give me legitimate nightmares, it's getting nothing but praise from me.

9999999999999/10.

Closing thoughts: I'll be having nightmares for the next week(most likely) and I probably won't ever get the image of sayoris bow and her cute little haircut hanging from a noose in her bedroom out of my head, but I wouldn't take back that experience for the world. This is a game everyone needs to play at least once.

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 12/9/20

SEAN: Two manga enter! One manga leaves! Who will prevail?

J-Novel Club has two debuts, both manga. One is Mapping, the long title of which I will not quote here, and an adaptation of the light novel.

The other one is I Love Yuri and Got Bodyswapped with a Fujoshi (Ore ga Fujoshi de Aitsu ga Yuriota de), whose title is also its plot. It’s by the author of Failed Princesses, ran in Comic Flapper, and can be described as “yuri adjacent”.

Also out next week: Demon Lord Retry’s 4th manga volume; Infinite Dendrogram 13; Lazy Dungeon Master 13; Tearmoon Empire 3, and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 7. Of those, Tearmoon is my clear pick.

ASH: I’ve heard really good things about Tearmoon Empire. (And not just from you!)

SEAN: Time for Kodansha, where I carefully double check the site before posting and STILL end up wrong as they shift release dates at the last second. Debuting this week in print is Life Lessons with Uramichi-Omiisan. It’s a black comedy that runs in Ichijinsha’ Comic Pool about a children’s TV show host who is… not a fun guy.

MICHELLE: I’m not sure I’ll like this, but the premise is interesting enough that I will at least check it out.

MELINDA: Hm, yeah, maybe.

SEAN: Also in print: Heaven’s Design Team 2, Perfect World 4, Rent-a-Girlfriend 4, Something’s Wrong with Us 4, To Your Eternity 13, and The Witch and the Beast 3.

ASH: I’m actually reading quite a few of these, but most of my attention is going to To Your Eternity.

SEAN: Two digital debuts. Shangri-La Frontier just debuted in Weekly Shonen Magazine, and is from the artist who does Attack on Titan: Lost Girls and Fairy Gone. That said, it’s an MMORPG manga based on a webnovel, so you know what you’re getting here.

The other is The Story of Our Unlikely Love (Kimi ga Kirai na Koi no Hanashi), a quick 2-volume shoujo series from Betsufure. He was a bad boy. She was a good girl. Can I make it anymore obvious?

ANNA: I seem to have a short attention span for digital shoujo, but 2 volumes might be just right.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I probably will end up reading this, too.

MELINDA: I haven’t really been reading anything digital at all lately, but this might be the right length for it.

SEAN: We also get All-Out!! 17 (the final volume), Peach Boy Riverside 2, Practice Makes Perfect 3, Seven Shakespeares 14, Shaman King: Flowers 5, Space Brothers 38, and We Must Never Fall in Love! 4.

MICHELLE: I had been waiting for that final volume of All-Out!! to hit so I could marathon the whole series in one chunk. That sounds like a nice project for my holiday break.

SEAN: One Peace has The New Gate 4.

Manly Appetites: Minegishi Loves Otsu (Minegishi-san wa Outsu-kun ni Tabesasetai) is one of Seven Seas’s debuts next week. It combines BL and food, and looks to be quite amusing.

MICHELLE: I’m very excited about this!

ASH: Same!

MELINDA: Always here for this combo.

SEAN: The other Seven Seas debut is the manga version of The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent.

Digitally we also get a light novel debut: Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells. Class transported. Our hero has no powers. Left for dead. Powers are actually really cool. We’ve read this before.

We also get: Cube Arts 2, The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter novel 2 (print), The Ideal Sponger Life 7, Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary 11, PENGUINDRUM 2 (novel), Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 3, Plus-Sized Elf 6, and Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! 4.

ASH: Every time Penguindrum is mentioned I remember that I still need to catch up with Penguindrum in many of its forms.

SEAN: Square Enix debuts the manga version of the acclaimed novel series The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto). It runs in Big Gangan, and is about a servant in training who finds herself in the midst of palace politics. It’s apparently VERY good.

ANNA: Huh, sounds interesting. This wasn’t on my radar before.

MICHELLE: Same! I might check it out.

ASH: I’m really looking forward to this one!

MELINDA: Well, wow. Sounds great!

SEAN: They also have the 2nd volume of the Wandering Witch manga.

SuBLime has Caste Heaven 4 and Punch-Up! 6.

Tokyopop has The God and the Flightless Messenger (Kamisama to Tobenai Tsukai), a one-and-done BL manga from Printemps Shuppan’s Canna. As you might guess by the title, it’s a fantasy.

Vertical gives us Bakemonogatari manga 6 (yes, I know I said this last week) and a digital release of Katanagatari 4 (yes, I know I said this two weeks ago).

Viz has no debuts, unless you count Super Mario Manga Mania, whose audience I suspect is adjacent to the normal Manga Bookshelf one.

ASH: That being said, I do know at least a few people who will be interested in this release!

SEAN: They do have How Do We Relationship? 2, Komi Can’t Communicate 10, and Pokemon Adventures Collector’s Edition 5.

MICHELLE: I’ve fallen a bit behind with Komi, but I’m in the mood now to get caught up.

SEAN: Yen Press has one debut: Slasher Maidens (Kaijin Reijoh), a Gangan Joker series that manages to combine horror manga and horny teen boys. It’s from the creator of Akame Ga KILL!.

Also out: As Miss Beelzebub Likes 11, Durarara: Re; Dollars 6, Happy Sugar Life 7, the 13th and final Hatsu*Haru, Restaurant to Another World 3, and Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 6.

ASH: I’m reading the more recent Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun in preparation for this one as we speak.

SEAN: So, which manga won?

By: Sean Gaffney

[nerdgul]

Ok guys we need to talk about "yaoi fangirls"

I get it. Yaoi fangirls can be pretty gross and “Cringy” soemtimes. but please stop fucking demonizeing then SO HARD Most of these peoole are preteens and teens and things like yaoi manga are their first look into anything lgbt (it certainly was for me and I know for a lot of others) and though this can lead to a warped view most are smart enough to /eventually/ realize all the problems with it or at the very least get boared of it. (Like the all the rape and femme uke and super masc seme dynamics) But the fact is, for many its a gateway into an entirely new community. Its easy to forget that the lgbt comminity isnt actually as out there and acsessible as we think because were all so use to tumblr and the like. but middle schoolers and high schoolers? Not so much. Theyre still discovoring things and still learning. Yeah its not the best way to learn but its a small step into normalizing homosexuality for a lot of people and its something so please stop bullying these kids and try to understand this when they leave “Cringy” comments on shit Cause lets face it yaoi/yuri and shipping is how a good chunk of us got to were we are today ok thank you

[koujakuzure]

Quick question cause your art is usually only from three-four fandoms and I'm curious- how many/what animes have you watched?

oooo ye i’ve actually watched a good chunk of anime and read a few manga in my time, im just too lazy to draw tbh LOL orz

the anime/manga i’ve watched/read so far are Hetalia, Ouran High School Host Club,  Blue Exorcist, One Punch Man, Death Parade, Boku no Hero Academia, Space Dandy, Free!, Yuri!!! On Ice, Mob Psycho 100, Samurai Champloo, Death Note, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure lol //I prolly forgot a few but dbfjfh this is most of ‘em I can remember

there’s also quite a few I started but never finished hhfbfh like Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Soul Eater, Black Butler (I might’ve finished watching the anime but I can’t remember adgjdbs), and prolly a few others :’D but ye^^

I still wanna eventually get into Cowboy Bebop, Gangsta., Gintama, Haikyuu!!, and shit lol

[parentsguidetoanime]

Making Moral Choices II: Sex, Romance, & Nudity

This is the second of five posts to help you think about setting appropriate standards for your children, based on your family morals. In this post, we will look at the sexual aspects of anime.

In Japan, many adults watch anime, and some anime do feature sex and sexual situations. The most extreme examples are explicitly hard-core pornographic anime and manga, which are called “hentai.” Hentai is the Japanese word for pervert, and these anime feature graphic depictions of intercourse. They often are also brutally sadomasochistic. These anime would easily earn an X rating if they were movies. It is a simple decision to absolutely ban all hentai for your children. The stories have no redeeming value and differ in no significant way from Western pornography.

Be aware that some hentai are homosexual. There are three main divisions within this category: bara, yaoi, and yuri. Bara is male homosexual pornography mostly created by and for men, yaoi is male homosexual pornography mostly created by and for women, and yuri is lesbian pornography created mostly by women for both men and women. While bara and yuri are small niche markets, yaoi is popular with many teenage girls. Many girls share yaoi manga, and it can be difficult to monitor their reading, particularly when they are away from home. This is a situation where open communication with your daughter and mutual trust are essential. I recommend explaining that yaoi is unhealthy for them for several reasons: First, this material can interfere with the normal development of relationships with boys. The vast majority of teen boys react very negatively to yaoi, and girls who are openly yaoi fans tend to drive boys away. Second, the behaviors depicted are extremely unrealistic and create false expectations about how boys and men act in the real world. Third, the relationships in these stories are often physically and/or psychologically abusive and can negatively affect your daughters’ ability to form healthy relationships in the future. Finally, yaoi depicts boys with extremely feminized features and can create unrealistic expectations about normal body types in the same way as photoshopped images in pornographic magazines create false standards for female beauty.

Anime that are one step down in explicit sex and nudity are called “ecchi.” Ecchi is the Japanese pronunciation of the English letter “H” which is the first sound in the word hentai. Ecchi often show nudity and sexual situations, but are not as explicit as hentai, and rarely include violence or sadomasochism. The predominant form of ecchi is sex comedies, and the characters are usually high school or college students. Just as with hentai, some ecchi are homosexual. Male gay ecchi are called shonen-ai, which translates as “boy love.” Similarly, lesbian ecchi are called shojo-ai, or “girl love.” The sexual content of ecchi is similar to movies like American Pie and Porkies’ and would generally earn an R rating.

It is an easy decision for parents to ban ecchi for young children and tweens. There is no need to expose them to sexual content, and they are generally not interested in such content anyway. We move into a gray area when we are dealing with teenagers. On the negative side, most teens do not need any encouragement to think about sex, and ecchi can be expected to increase their desire for sexual activities. On the other hand, just as video games can provide a substitute for real world violence, ecchi can provide a relatively benign outlet for sexual frustration. I would recommend applying the same judgment to ecchi as you would to R-rated Western material. Certainly, most seventeen and eighteen year olds can handle ecchi, while most thirteen and fourteen years old cannot.

Just to make life more complex, many ecchi are intentionally censored to reduce the nudity. Steam, lens flare and strategically placed barriers and placed to make the shows less objectionable. These visual blocks move the shows from an R rated level to a PG-13 level, which can make them more acceptable. Crunchyroll (www.crunchyroll.com) is the largest free internet streaming sites for anime and has many ecchi anime that are filtered in this way. Censored ecchi becomes problematic because in many cases, the stories are appropriate for many teenagers and their parents while being completely unacceptable for others.

Let’s examine a show that falls in this difficult gray area, where different parents can legitimately come to opposite decisions. The show is called A Bridge to the Starry Skies (Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi) and is available for free streaming on Crunchyroll. The story is an example of a “harem” story. The main character, Kazuma, attracts the attention and affection of six girls in his high school. The story follows the development of these relationships, which are complicated because the girls are all friends with each other and have very different personalities.

From a parent’s perspective, the story is undesirable because these high school students are actively pursuing partners in a way that is clearly intended to lead to sex. There are many sexually suggestive jokes and comedic situations throughout the series. The show also has a great deal of fan service, where the characters appear naked or near naked, although private parts are masked. Finally, both the students and their parents are aware of and comment on the sexual and romantic dynamics.

On the other hand, this story has some very positive aspects. First, Kazuma and the other characters are good people. They are kind, thoughtful, helpful, and upbeat. They watch out for each other and for others. Kazuma is sometimes oblivious, but never takes advantage of the girls who are trying to win his affections. Although important, romance has to take its place within day to day life: school work and homework take up a significant chunk of time, some characters have part time jobs, etc. We also see the typical fumbling and awkwardness of teenage love, with embarrassment, confusion, and mixed emotions presented in a far more realistic manner than most American teen comedies. Most importantly, we see resilient characters cope with disappointment and rejection in surprisingly mature ways.

So, do you allow your children to watch A Bridge to the Starry Skies? It’s a tough call and depends on your standards, your child’s age and maturity, and your best judgment. If you’re in doubt, I’d recommend prescreening the series and discussing the series with your teens to make sure that they are learning the right lessons.

When stepping down from ecchi, the decision making process becomes easier. Nudity associated with bathing is common in many anime these are aimed at younger audiences simply because bathing is such a central part of Japanese culture. In these shows, there are no sexual overtones to the nudity. Romances in shojo (girl) and shonen (boy) anime are also more innocent and sexuality is downplayed or completely absent.

I am going to suggest some general guidelines for parents based on your moral standards and the emotional maturity of your children. Naturally, you have to decide on the appropriate content for your family.

Children are tweens or younger: eliminate all hentai and ecchi material regardless of your personal standards.

Children are young to middle teenagers: eliminate all hentai and the vast majority of ecchi unless you personally screened it for objectionable content. Discuss content with your children to be sure they are learning the appropriate messages.

Children are high school age: If you routinely allow your children to watch R rated material, you can simply ban hentai. How much ecchi is acceptable is up to you. However, don’t be surprised if you see negative behavior in your children if they are sexualized at too young an age.

[azuregold]

＿( ᐛ 」∠)＿ *slides directly into the "all questions" button*

Ehehe HEY! :D

ask me about anime…

   1. My first anime

That’s kind of a tricky question, because I know I watched some (edited dubs of) anime when I was really little without having a clue that it was Japanese (like this one), but I have a hard time counting those as my first real anime. I guess Pokemon? Though I think I still didn’t really know what anime was until I started watching stuff like Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyasha, and Rurouni Kenshin on Cartoon Network.

   2. My favorite anime

This is such a hard question. But I’ll stick with my usual answer of Princess Tutu. There are series I like more overall, but most of them were based on manga and changed/removed stuff and/or didn’t animate the whole story, which makes it harder to wholeheartedly love them as anime. BnHA is pretty promising so far, though.

   3. The first anime character I was obsessed with

Um…hmm. Probably Kenshin? I think?

   4. My anime OTP

There are pairings I like a lot, but not really one I can point to and say “Yes, that’s THE OTP for me”. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

   5. An anime I can’t stand

Hmm…no specific titles are coming to mind, because how can I say I can’t stand it if I’ve never seen it? And I’m pretty good at picking things I at least think are okay (and when I don’t, I usually drop them before it gets further than “Eh, this isn’t my thing”). But in general, harem/ecchi anime. I’ll roll my eyes and put up with fanservice if the rest of the series is interesting, but when it feels like the only point is boobs and panty shots and how many girls will be fawning over the MC, I stay far away.

   6. An anime I want to watch

Hmm…I think I’ll go with Hunter × Hunter for this one. With all the streams available these days, it’s so much easier to try anything I’m interested in that I don’t have nearly as many “I really want to see this someday!” series as I used to. I’ve deliberately held off on HxH though, because I don’t want to be left hanging or forget about it if it goes on hiatus again. I’ll definitely get to it someday, though.

   7. An anime I never finished

Ahaha…most of them, especially in the past. And not even because I didn’t like them! Either I got distracted and just never came back to them (this happened a lot while waiting for the next DVD release), or I loved them so much I didn’t want them to be over so I could never bring myself to see the ending.

   8. The most recent anime I finished

Death Parade! A bit darker/creepier in places than I normally go for, but I really, really enjoyed it. I may or may not have reblogged this meme just because of this question >.>;

   9. An anime I never thought of watching but fell in love with

I’m going to say Tokyo Ghoul for this one, even though I went for the manga first rather than the anime when I finally gave it a try and am really disappointed with how the anime was handled. Please give us a FMA Brotherhood-style reboot? Please? ;-; I avoided it for a long time because it seemed too dark and gorey for me especially with the whole…eating people thing. I’m so glad I did eventually check it out, though. It’s an amazing series and it really helped keep me going last year. I haven’t enjoyed it quite as much lately as I used to, but I think it’ll always be a bit special to me.

   10. My favorite genre of Anime

Supernatural. 8DDD Especially if it takes place in the modern world.

   11. Shonen or Shojo

Both. I think I watch more shōnen overall,  but I’ve seen a lot of good series in both and I wouldn’t want to give up either.

   12. My favorite anime character of all time

Can’t pick just one. Nope. Impossible. I can cut it down to five at best. (A year ago I might have gone with Kaneki, but these days they’re all tied again X’D)

   13. An anime that I introduced to a friend

I…can’t really pick one? I mean, any friend I could possibly introduce to anime gets shown as many series as I think I can get away with without annoying them, so there isn’t really one…oh wait! There was one coworker at my old job; she knew nothing about anime, but she loved dark/horror/thriller movies. I gave her the first DVD of Death Note for Christmas one year. We didn’t talk about it all that much, so I’m not completely sure what she thought of it, but she at least liked it enough to borrow the rest of the series from me, so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

   14. The anime that I am currently watching

Right now I’m keeping up with at least nine series weekly. I watch other things while I wait for new episodes, but I just finished a couple series (one with my mom, one on my own) and haven’t decided what to watch next.

   15. An anime that never gets old no matter how many times I watch it

I don’t actually rewatch things that often, especially these days. The closest I usually come is reading the manga myself, then watching the anime with my mom (going by that definition, I’ve enjoyed the hell out of Boku no Hero Academia and Ao no Exorcist even knowing what’s going to happen). I’m going to be rewatching Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works soon, so we’ll see how that goes. I’d get tired of anything if I rewatched it too often, though.X’D

   16. If I own any anime merchandise

Oh boy do I. (°∀°) I collect figures, playing cards, and keychains more than anything else right now (especially figures), but I have a ton of plushies and charms and more wallscrolls than I could possibly put up in my room, plus a bunch of other stuff (mugs and glasses, a fleece throw, a couple pocketwatches, a lighter, a beach set, puzzles, magnets…I pick up a lot of different stuff at cons X’D).

   17. Yaoi or Yuri

Neither, if we’re talking about them as genres/tropes. I’ve tried to watch a couple “typical” yaoi series, and I couldn’t get farther than an episode or two. If we’re just talking two men or two women in a relationship, then I still couldn’t choose one over the other because it’s about the individual characters and their relationship for me, not what gender they are. (That said, more of my favorite characters are guys, so I usually wind up with more m/m pairings I’m interested in.)

   18. If I’ve ever been to an anime convention

Yes! (≧∇≦)/ I’ve gone to my local con every year since 2005 (wow, I feel old), and there’s another one I’ve been to a couple times as well.

   19. Who is my favorite anime voice actor

Suwabe Junichi. (*ﾟ▽ﾟ*) I love his voice so much (；ヮ；) (and it doesn’t hurt that he’s done some of my favorite characters, haha). I’ve checked out series I might otherwise have passed over just because he was in them. ^^; I have a shortlist of super favorite VAs but he’s at the top.

For English VAs, probably Chris Patton or Vic Mignogna.

   20. Sub or Dub?

Sub, though I don’t hate dubs and even prefer them for a few series. Usually I get attached to whichever cast I hear first. In the past, that was more often dubs on TV and DVD; these days I watch a lot of streams/simulcasts so I mostly see subs (I also enjoy trying to pick out words in the Japanese dialogue; sometimes I can understand a line without the subs and I’m very proud of myself X’D).

   21. If I could have any anime character’s hair style, who would it be

Why can’t I think of anything for this, I know I’ve seen some I really loved. ;OTL Uh…something long (at least waist length, if not knee) and thick, probably pulled away from the face in a ponytail or braid. Which isn’t too far from my RL hair aside from the “thick” part. ^^;

   22. Manga or Anime?

I can never properly answer this question, haha. Story-wise, I usually prefer whichever came first. Most of the time, that means manga. I also love the art for a lot of manga. But having color and motion and sound really adds to the experience for me. So…both. X'DD

   25. If any of my friends or family watches anime

My mom watches almost everything that I do.

   26. If I listen to any anime music

It’s pretty much all I listen to. X'DD Not because I don’t like other music; I just wouldn’t even know where to start with it. I tend to be more a fan of individual songs than bands/singers, so I just go about my life and when I hear a song I like I add it to my list. And I get more exposure to anime than anything else, so…¯\_(ツ)_/¯

   27. If I’m following any ongoing anime series

Yep! I’m watching nine this season. X’D Some more enthusiastically than others.

Not going to list names unless someone really wants to know. ^^;

   28. If I’ve ever been to an anime club

Yes, a friend of a friend tried to start one in our local library. I went to most of the meetings and a good chunk of the anime we watched were from DVDs I brought. X’D We just watched them, though; there wasn’t a whole lot of discussion or “club-like” atmosphere, and it kind of stopped happening after a while.

   29. If I’ve ever cried over an anime

Yes, a few times.

   30. What my last anime wallpaper was

This one (really big image, sorry ^^; ).