#i could kinda make an actual drawing with perspective and focus on the shoes but i dont have time oh my god

[stefisdoingthings]

Oh hey there (vashwoods your shoes)

because of this iconic post by @bendycxmet :3

[jsuika]

JUST FOUND YOUR BLOG AND I LOVE YOUR ART!!!!

Your line art is so smooth and the colors too! How are u underrated

Thanks :]]

Actually I remember doing thick linearts before to make it look like y2k bubbly styled and I was thinking of going back again since I wanted to make logos or icons like this one:

These ig were just a lil practice if someday I'll be making one (or more of these). Also this is just an example btw, these are artist-made game icons. Imo, if it were me to be commissioned to design one or if I was assigned by a game dev, then most likely its gonna look like something that y'all won't know who did that thing lol.

Besides, I'm pretty sure a lot of people were inspired by my artstyle. 😭 Also in case you guys don't know what these are, I'll show you guys mine. (NOTE: You can still check on archive, I don't mind though-)

Examples of my artworks with thick lineart:

The first one was Hatsune Miku fanart

I kinda remember drawing this back in the day since 2023, the sketch version (on my other sketchpad) was discontinued. Supposed to finish it but, sadly I gave up because the hair was something that reminded me of an Inkling from Splatoon (rarely I noticed the first miku fanart also reminded me too lmao).

I wish I'd do this again hopefully if I could use my artstyle, then yeah. Watch here if you want to see the speedpaint :3 : https://youtu.be/sRE3-snDGkM?si=op3tISbGFTjLCcdB

Next one is Bomb Rush Cyberfunk fanart

Okay LISTEN, I may not be good at anatomy but might as well tried especially RED's head. For the BG, I only duplicated the character + added a screenshot/fakescreenshot/whatever, to make it look related to both y2k & frutiger aero (same applies to Hatsune Miku).

Nothing to say much but I've been thinking of making more character concept arts in the future & maybe work on shoes since they look a bit too complicated much.

Overall, I'd say it isn't bad. I'll just leave as it is for now (until some BRC fan shows up and sees this).

Last but not the least, my very first artist-made album cover

I remembered drawing this for future use if I ever find a music composer either if they can do DnB, game soundtrack or whatever but it slightly depends on them. Also shout out to Lxchee Music! They're the ones who compose music like these. They even commented on my speedpaint video!!! (after using their songs lol).

Such a shame that I am limited to drawing only however, I wish I also was a composer of this whooooooole album then everyone's gonna listen to my bangers. One time I used to make music in Beepbox.co (a website where you can compose there).

There are some music-composing softwares that most people use for their game making & also songs. I wish I'd even use FL studio or other music-composing. Reminds me, I also have one friend who makes music (unrelated to dnb or any genre) using accordian & any other instruments that he uses. I swear, he is so good in composing Nintendo Orchestra-music related I can tell.

Conclusion

No worries though, I didn't say I hate using thick lineart but its sometimes too much for the anatomy still and might not fit pretty well. I can still do another one hopefully just to focus on more y2k aesthetic. But if it were me to learn anatomy, might as well use thin lineart and just increase to make it look like there is perspective on it.

Anyways, ig this might be a long one but I do hope you understand what I mean-

[fairycosmos]

3. I know i have to 'get out there' but it's hard when you've felt your whole life that nobody likes you. i literally only have one friend. i just feel really hopeless... i feel like im not meant for this kind of life, everything feels wrong and like im waiting for something's never gonna come, some kinda magic. i want of life of adventure and paint and write but instead i have to study because i'd feel like a loser w/o an education. i dont mind working i just dont want to study.

hey love, i'm really sorry to hear that. i think it's totally normal to be disappointed and even more so to be unsure about your future - it's not an indicator of failure, it's a natural part of growing up and finding your place in the world. i'm probably ignorant and don't know what it's like to actually be in your shoes, so i apologize if i come across as frustrating at some points. this is just my perspective. but i'm wondering if maybe taking more time away is an option for you? maybe working somewhere, focusing on your mental health for a while.... because the thing is your level of education has nothing to do with your worth as a person, and even more than that, there's no set time scale for this sort of thing. you could go back to college at 35, and it wouldn't matter. your life doesn't have to follow that stereotypical linear trajectory we're all forced to chase, in order for you to find happiness and success. and you don't have to justify your own personal choices to anyone, least of all to yourself. i just think it's important to try to focus on the factors of living that are in your control, that will bring you a sense of stability and peace. i know it's hard to let go of the internalised capitalistic idea of having to prove yourself through academia and getting a 'good job', but it's always useful to remind yourself of just how exploitative and made up that entire construct is. you're here and you're experiencing the world and with that you are fulfilling your point, you are doing enough. you are enough. everything else is background noise, that we're forced to muddle through, but background noise nonetheless. you don't need anyone's permission to prioritize your own needs and wants.

however, if you're dead set on studying this topic you don't like (which, i totally understand why you'd make that choice bc i know it's not that simple), then i reckon it's alright to just let yourself feel shitty for a while. any sadness, anger, disappointment, pain you feel about it is to be expected - and even though it fuckin sucks to have to carry it, its intensity definitely won't last. one way or another, you will adapt and so will your ability to cope. just don't use those emotions as an excuse to engage in self destructive behaviour, cause that'll only perpetuate the cycle and keep you in a dark place. having to force ourselves to do shit we hate is always going to feel like an everlasting burden we're never going to escape from, even if that's not the case in reality. and i had a lot of experience with that in school too - the main tactic i can remember making a difference, was like you said, finding little things to make the weight of it more bearable. i think that often starts first and foremost with our own mental health before anything else, because it controls the filter through which we see the world. if you don't like it in yourself you won't like it anywhere. when it comes to your social anxiety, are you receiving any support/would you be open to that? i think consistently seeing someone while you're in school - whether that's a counselor, a therapist, attending a support group or even just calling a hotline to begin with - could really help you manage the stress you're so afraid is waiting for you. having someone to talk to and learning why you are the way you are, and what tools could help you specifically in terms of coping mechanisms and finding a support network can honestly do wonders for your self esteem and the way you approach others. and of course it takes time, maybe that brand of self care is a lifelong process, but it's still important to engage with it. so balancing school with prioritizing your own wellbeing might be something that lightens the weight of the experience. anxiety tends to have us anticipating worst case scenarios and drawing on old insecurities to convince us we'll be alone and in pain forever, but what you've been through is truly not a mirror image of where you're going. making friends especially as an adult is fuckin hard, and struggling with it doesn't mean there's something irreparably wrong with you. just means it's hard to get to know ppl, but that's not a personal failing on your part. it's just a fact. most of them are too worried about their own 'flaws' to take note of yours. but that doesn't mean there aren't ppl out there you haven't met yet who will love you, even if that's hard to believe rn. also a side note, it could be a good idea to build up a routine where you're engaging in something that actively makes you happy at least a few times a week. can literally just be watching netflix, or taking up a hobby, meditating, going for a walk - i know college is v busy and it may not always be possible, but having small pockets of deliberate down time to look forward to is crucial. im not saying it'll cure everything or anything, just that it might make it all feel less overwhelming. but lastly, i want to say that it's ok if you give it a go and then decide you can't do it. that's an option, too. it doesn't have to be black and white. don't fault yourself for not wanting to spend 3 years doing something you hate, but also know that it's possible to get through it if it's a means to an end for you, especially if you seek the help you need. and whichever choice you go with, neither of them are 'wrong.' it's just your path.

anyway, i'm sorry this got super long. i think discussing it with someone you trust might be a good move, just to know that they have your back whether you work through uni or not. you're honestly doing so much better than you realize and i'm proud of you for continuing to try and strive despite how painful it all is. but i really hope that you can catch yourself when your brain is being unnecessarily unkind to you, and that you can then make the conscious choice to change the narrative and approach it from a place of patience and self appreciation. i think your life is still worth living even if it doesn't match up to where you think you should be, which is something i've been trying to accept lately too. that so much is beyond our control and we can literally only focus on the silver linings of the factors that are in our hands. that we can still be okay, living like that. and none of this is permanent, not the way it often seems like it is, but especially not the confusion. it just takes time to live the answers to all the existential questions you have. take it a day at a time. ANYWAY im rooting for you with all my heart and if you want to talk about this properly feel free to message me!! my overarching point is that you're not as alone as you feel. and you won't be in college, and you won't be if you look for work instead. so many of us understand where you're coming from. much love to you, take care 💗💗

[jacscorner]

Thundercats Character Retrospective: Tygra

Okay, so design wise, this was always a cat I dreaded drawing. I mean, come on, what's with Tygra's design?! Who let him walk off the cutting room floor with that hair? I get that tigers don't have 'manes' the like Lions do, but really? I never even attempted drawing him as a child because of just how hard it looked. Although, to be honest, Tygra was never my favorite, so that might've also been a factor. Which is funny, cause I heard a lot of fans actually liked Tygra back in the 1985 series. I can't speak for all of them, but I think they just like the fact that Tygra, surprisingly, is more of a damsel in distress than the original two Thundercat ladies. This guy is practically Mr. Fanservice and he's the only guy fully clothed-save for his shoes. As a kid, though, I didn't see it. As an adult? I...kind of like him, but I feel the writers didn't know what to do with him half the time. Let's get the nitpick out of the way; why can't he normally swim? He can only swim with his whip turning him invisible and I just can't get why. Maybe it's a placebo thing, like he feels he can't do it without it? I feel that could make a neat episode if they ever got around to explaining it, but I guess since the main audience of kids, we were just suppose to not think about it. "Oh, he's a cat, of course he can't swim". Except, you know, Tigers are one of the few cats without a natural aversion to water-in fact, most Tigers are proficient at swimming since they hunt in jungles with lots of water. So, no Thundercats, Tygra is the one cat who SHOULDN'T have a swimming weakness-if anything, it should kinda be his gimmick. Now for the big problem with Tygra: his role, both from a narrative standpoint and in-universe. In the show, he's a scientist and archaeologist, with seemingly a specialty in chemistry. And that chemistry degree rarely comes in handy in the 30-ish episodes I've lost. It's so odd too, cause you think more-or-less being the Team Alchemist would give him the most to do in forms of story telling. If anything, he should have a utility belt of different potions and substances, but that's more of Panthro's thing. Okay, what about explosive capsules? No, that's the Wilykitten's thing. I mean, he's got his whip and invisibility...and that's it, really-for the most part. Narrative, he's the Lancer. When Lion-O's away, he's usually put in charge of the Thundercats and he has a lot of moments with Lion-O. These two are almost a perfect duo, in a way. Lion-O's young and hotblooded, Tygra's older and more experienced. In "The Fireballs of Plun-Dar", when he gets captured, Lion-O doesn't hesitate for a second to go running to him, even forgetting his Claw Shield. In "Feliner - Part Two", when Lion-O is sad Snarf is going to leave(he doesn't, sadly), it's Tygra who consoles him for a brief moment. See? There's enough shipping material between these two without the creepy step-brother context. Jokes aside, let's get to that last ability of his before I make my peace with 2011 and Roar's interpretation; his 'Illusion Powers'. It comes out of nowhere for Lion-O's trials later on down the road, under the context that 'well, I've been saving it for just this moment'. It's kinda dumb, but I like to think of it like this; Tygra is a Psychic and he uses his whip as a focus for his powers, hence why he wraps it around himself and why he needs it for his invisibility. It doesn't explain why he can't swim, but I like this theory-I didn't come up with it myself, but I fully support it. And projecting the trials is a feat that's usually done with multiple Master Illusionists, hence why Tygra uses the powers sparingly and only does Invisibility since it's a low-level Psychic power and it doesn't use up too much of those 'Master Illusion Points' that he knows he'll need for the eventual trial for Lion-O. That's the power of hindsight. Now for 2011 Tygra...I don't like it. I get what the writers were going for, to really buckle down on that brotherly angle the OG series was going for, but it really kind of falls flat to me. But maybe that's because I'm a younger brother and I had to deal with an asshole brother exactly like Tygra was in the reboot. It's nice to see his and Lion-O's relationship prosper and improve over time, but he's pretty insufferable most of the time. Like, half the time, I just want him to put a sock in it and I really didn't feel Tygra and Cheetara's romance was well handled. Now, in terms of the OG series and the Wildfire comics they got, the ship totally makes sense. But since we follow Lion-O's perspective and we rarely see Tygra and Cheetara interact, it just kind of came off as 'shock' and a blow to Lion-O for almost no reason-and the less we talk about 2011 Pumyra, the better. And as for Roar...I mean, I guess I get that Tygra didn't have a lot of personality outside of being noble and wise, so of course they gotta make him the Robin-I mean the nag. Someone, I guess has to be the Butt Monkey. I gotta feel bad for Tygra; a dozen different science degrees and no respect from the writers outside of the OG series. But at least he has a kickass theme song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZNHpMTTU_k&feature=emb_title

Makes me wanna workout and fight the heavyweight champ! Wait, wrong tiger song...nah, no it's not.

[afreakingdork]

Review Revisited: The Gentlemen's Alliance Cross

So after I posted my 2007 Manga Reviews I got to thinking about how those series formed my early manga opinions and how much I’ve grown as a person since reading them. In the spirit of that, I thought it would be a great idea to revisit those series of yore and update my reviews of them with my older, wiser perspective. 

The first up is the first that was on the list and a series that was closer to my heart than I remembered: Shinkuro (Shinshi Doumei Kurosu or The Gentlemen's Alliance Cross). Here’s the 2007 review as a refresher: 

ShinKuro: Or Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross for those that aren’t familar with it…Ok so I love this series and its awesome bottom line~ 1-3 are out currently, its one of those stories you gotta read over at least 4 times before you understand the plot, or maybe i have a focus problems who knows, all i know is you need to go out and read this, its got everything yo! Straight, yuri, yaoi…idk I’m not much of a gay fangirl, but hey ya gotta cover japanese basics~

Before I get into the veritable mountain of things I want to talk about (I mean, I have 14 years of feelings to sort through), I first want to tell a story of fate. When I decided to re-do these reviews, I went to look for my old manga. It’s not far, about 50 steps away to my bookshelf, but I didn’t see Shinkuro anywhere. Confused, I waited until the next time I visited my mom to look there and could not find it. I knew when I moved out of her house in 2017 I had sold some extra books to make the move easier, but couldn’t recall a specific memory of packing them up. I checked my email and the only clue was a listing on eBay, but there was no sold email attached. I’m usually really diligent with stuff like that, so I was totally stumped. Regardless, I had no manga, so I went ahead and started reading it on some pirating website. Now, I don’t condone these sites, but I couldn’t find the series anywhere else for whatever reason. I was only able to get a few chapters in before I just couldn’t take it anymore. The site I was using (one of the only sites to even have a pirated version. Seriously, why had this series totally disappeared from the US lexicon!?) only had a fan-scan of the series. Now, Shinkuro is something I’ve read many, many, many times and, while the fan-scan wasn’t unreadable, I kept getting really hung up on how different it was from what I remembered. I would read a line and my brain would make an error noise and respond with what the line should be. As I clicked through the pages, the errors piled up more and more and my brain was relentless about how the lines should have been translated. 

Frustrated, I totally gave up and the next time I saw my mom I told her of my plight. I could see the lightbulb go off over her head and she asked me if ‘that wasn’t the manga that didn’t sell on eBay and I gave to her to give away?’ I was taken aback; I hadn’t told her about the eBay email I found and instead only told her I couldn’t find the series I didn’t think I had gotten rid of. She said it was stored in a guest bedroom with a bunch of junk we were going to sell just before the pandemic struck last year. I was still incredulous, but she went back there with me to look for it. Now, no one knows my mom like I do, but I will tell you she is absolute garbage at describing stuff. She gave me this crazy description about a box that was the size of a loaf of bread and it had a hinge on it and I had no idea how that worked with cardboard. It took a long time, moving a metric shitton of full-to-the-brim boxes around to no avail. Since we were getting to the bottom of boxes that were stacked high, we were tag teaming the project where one person would lift and the other would rummage. It was at the bottom of a box in a 3-box stack that mom deemed the box incorrect by only shoving her hand inside. She said she felt a box, but it didn’t feel right so she moved on. I felt a pull and tilted my head so that I could see into the only sliver on the box, a tiny crack. I told her ‘I saw a box that looked kinda like a shoe box and is that what she meant by a hinge?’ She said she wasn’t sure, but we made quick work taking down the stack to reveal the smaller box. Upon closer inspection she said this had to be it and as I opened it there lay the entire 11 volume series. I tell you, I almost sobbed right there on the spot. What are the chances that I would try to sell the series, it wouldn’t sell (I listed all 11 volumes for 40$!!!), I would give it to mom to give away, she wouldn’t do so (she wasn’t sure what the age range for the books were), and then years later we would happen across it and mom would dismiss it while I pressed to check, to find these books. They were meant to stay with me is the only conclusion I can make and after re-reading the series I can say this is totally true, so let’s get into my renewed feelings: 

So, looking at my old review, I know exactly what my younger self meant by rereading the same bit 4 times to understand. Arina Tanemura has a penchant for putting 1000 screentones over every page and sometimes she swiftly moves through conversations and even locations between panels on the same page. It’s a breakneck speed to try to give every character of this ensemble class a time to shine. There’s also the hurdles of Tanemura’s style that can’t be ignored. When my partner saw the manga, he asked me if all the art really looked like that and I showed him that, yes indeed, and that was almost a pretty standard art style for shoujou manga from that time period. He was aghast and didn’t believe he could read something like that and I can totally see how that would be off-putting for the average reader (I’m not average in the sense that I’ve read it so many times I know all the ins and outs). For example, in middle school Haine cut her hair off and dyed it blond. She dyes it back when she goes to high school, but halfway through the series she cuts it and dyes it back to blond for Ushio’s sake. Tanemura doesn’t change ANY screentones during this time and you only find out that Haine dyes her her back ONCE AGAIN in a throw away line. I’ve held the pages up side-by-side and it’s totally indiscernible when Haine’s hair is blond vs. brown. 

That being said, one of the greatest parts of this series is how it was translated. There was so much love and care put into these Notes on the Text that it was the perfect series to start shaping my understanding of Japanese culture and writing. Instead of just a glossary saying what ‘-san’ meant as a suffix, these sections go so far as to explain why certain phrases were translated as they were and explain what the original Japanese text said and how it was a joke or a play on words. That is so rare to see in manga and I feel like it should be more standard. 

Now to face the elephant in the room head-on: let’s look into the LGBT+ themes in the series. 2007 Alex was quite afraid and prejudiced against queer culture. I can’t tell you where exactly it stemmed from because I don’t really remember feeling that way. I know it happened, I have evidence and my friends’ testimonies, but it doesn’t feel like I had that much hate in my heart. It’s systemic to our culture and that may be why, but regardless, I feel awful that I once felt that way. I was scared getting into this series that the LGBT+ themes would be handled so poorly as it often is in manga. Thankfully, that didn’t end up wholly being the case. In her author’s notes, Tanemura stated multiple times that she was not a fan of mlm or wlw content, but she wanted to use this series to push herself to do a lot of things she didn’t like otherwise. I want to put an excerpt on her final thoughts on those themes in the series here: 

I don’t know how the readers feel, but I’ve never been very fond of reading guy x guy and girl x girl relationships. But that was another reason for me to have done this series. I thought the series would have a nice twist to it if I tried to draw something I didn’t like. 

I regularly challenge myself to eat things I don’t like. I don’t like the idea of having dislikes, so it became an opportunity for me to get over that. 

And the result was... I still couldn’t get myself to be interested in it. So it’ll probably be a topic I’ll never write about again. But I think it was still worth it that I found that out. 

I won’t take the time to break down homophobia in Japanese society, but I find it interesting that Tanemura sees queer relationships not as a real thing in her stories, but instead as a commodity that she can compare to tastes in food. I found the story lines really compelling. Take Maora, for example. Tanemura refers to Maora as eccentric for cross dressing in her author notes, but in story Maora is actually characterized with a surprising amount of care on the subject. While some may view Maora as a ‘trap,’ I would instead posit that he’s genderfluid. Obviously he goes by he/him, but I think it’s so interesting that when told that boys couldn’t marry, Maora goes to great lengths to present as a female so Maguri and him could be together as they always wanted. When Maguri rejects this because he’s gay and prefers male presenting individuals, Maora holds on to his ‘femininity’ because it means something to him. All the work he put in is a representation of his love and later becomes something that he enjoys doing. There are, of course, a few pitfalls. I’m not a fan of the fact that when going to the Emperor’s Association meeting, Maora feels like he must dress more masculine because it’s a serious event (giving the connotation that dressing feminine is just a frivolous thing). I also really hate one of Maora’s final lines in the penultimate arc when the student council is breaking into Shuichiro’s house and he says “Don’t you blush! I’m a guy!” before kicking someone. I think Tanemura meant for that to be a cool one-liner, but instead it just undercuts who Maora is. 

On the flip side, I really like how Ushio’s love of Haine is characterized. While Ushio’s means of capturing Haine aren’t the best, I think her love is a beautiful arc. Ushio fell in love with a blond yanki that happened to break into her house to hide when she was at the lowest point in her life. When Haine has her night with Shizumasa and decides to ‘move back into the light,’ time stops for Ushio as Haine leaves her. Ushio is left looking for that person who saw her when everything else in her life was filled with hate. There is a beautiful story there where she realizes her love for Haine isn’t romantic or sexual love, but instead the powerful love in friendship. This story always holds the different types of love in high regard. It is stated multiple times that Takanari and Haine both hold their best friends in their hearts higher than their romantic partners and I adore that. It’s such a healthier way to represent relationships. Your romantic partners shouldn’t just supersede your other loves just because. 

The development of loves on the other hand can be a bit rocky. The bonus story between Kusame and Komaki is always one I held in such high regard because it’s characterization of changing love. Kusame, who’s been in love with Haine, starts dating her sister Komaki out of obligation and he ends up falling in love with her not because she’s similar to Haine, but instead because of how different she is and how those were things that he grew to appreciate and love about her instead. Can you say relationship goals?!  Contrasting that, you have the relationships between Itsuki Otomiya, Kazuhito Kamiya, and Maika Rikyuu. Maika and Itsuki were secretly dating in high school and Kazuhito sweeps in, steals the position of emperor from Itsuki by underhanded means and ensnares Maika in a marriage due to obligation for her family’s failing company. Over time, Maika grows to love Kazuhito and the whole thing always left a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe if the pages had been given a little more time it could have worked, there’s small signifiers, like how Kazuhito and Maika met and were friends before he pulled his repulsive plot. There was a precedent that the two got along and could have fallen in love, but instead it went full Stockholm and that is painted as ok. I do want to take a moment to say that scene where Itsuki returns from visiting Maika for the first time since all that happened where his current wife Ryouka stayed up because she was afraid he was going to leave her and he reassures her that he would have never done so was downright incredible. 

The timeline of Maika losing her memories confounds me as a way to keep her away from Haine. I know Kazuhito didn’t give her much choice in the matter, but she had a whole other child before she started to lose her memories and there is quite an age difference (like 7+ or so years) between Komaki and Tachibana, where Maika had her memories (for a few years?) and just made no effort to contact Haine in any way. It just seems overly cruel and unnecessary when Maika wrote a letter to Haine saying she would continue to write even though she couldn’t see her. I know a maid was watching her, but she couldn’t send a letter? She already sent one letter! Kazuhito’s goal was to give Haine back to Itsuki so she could live freely without the burden of his influence because he knows he’s an asshole that only cares about Maika and clipped her wings. He wants to atone for still keeping Maika trapped by letting Haine soar, but keeping Haine from at least talking to her mother through letters is just erroneous. That didn’t keep her free from him, it only made her miserable from not being able to talk to her mom. Ugh, just writing about it makes me so mad. 

It’s interesting to me that in her distaste for LGBT+ themes, Tanemura was about to have a polyamorous ending to the series. It’s disheartening that the only reason she didn’t do so was because she could only imagine there would be a power imbalance where Shizumasa would have been a pitiful party in such an arrangement. It’s not like I was rooting for a threesome (especially since two of them are twin brothers), but it’s an outdated view on what polyamorous relationships are actually like. Also, Takanari is the clear winner and I’m not sure why it’s ever a question for Haine. When you break it down, Haine really only spent one single night with Shizumasa while she actually had months and months of time built up with Takanari to build the foundation of a real relationship, but that’s neither here nor there. 

Overall, I’m so glad I re-read this series and I will never try to resell it ever again. It means so much to me and even though it’s CW levels of dramatic happenings (I can’t believe Toya pulled a gun on and shot Haine), there is a market for those things and they’re enjoyable in how bizarre they are. There’s obviously some failing to the story, but as a whole I still love it, even nostalgia aside. I think it’s a great series for those new to shoujou drama’s to read! 

Verdict: 

Read Right < Left 

[murasaki-murasame]

Chapter 19 sure was a lot more adorable than I expected it to be, lol.

I wonder whether or not this will be the end of volume three, or if that’ll be the next chapter. I guess we’ll just wait and see.

Anyway, detailed thoughts under the cut.

I love the title pages we get each chapter. They’re always great. Now I’m imagining what it’d actually be like in practice if the main crew were a JRPG cast.

Futaba looks really nice in that skirt. In general the clothes in this manga always look nice and realistic. I still can’t help but be envious of people who can draw clothes well.

I still have a huge soft spot for Futaba and Taichi’s dynamic, even if I kinda hope they don’t actually end up together, so seeing them hanging out and being awkward and socially anxious for most of this chapter was nice.

I feel like I tend to either eat food really fast or really slowly, with not much in-between, though when I have fast food I try and consciously make sure to eat fast because I hate the taste of it when it’s cold.

This entire scene is really showcasing how good Kaito is at drawing hands. Even if he sometimes draws them so realistically that they slightly clash with the rest of the character design. But still. I feel like I have a habit of drawing hands in a way that doesn’t quite fit the rest of my style too, so I can relate.

Seeing Taichi apologize for being kinda rude a few chapters ago was nice. Especially since he seems genuinely grateful toward her. He looks really cute when he smiles.

I’m kinda surprised that Futaba went all the way out to watch the game in person, considering that nobody else went, and Touma wasn’t part of it. Though I wonder if Masumi went with her.

Taichi’s slowly starting to realize that Touma has his own major emotional issues that he’s been bottling up, but he still isn’t able to fully comprehend what those issues even are to begin with. I wonder when the other shoe’s gonna drop and he’s going to find out about Touma’s feelings, if he ever finds out at all. It’d be kinda depressing if he never does. Either way, it’s good that this whole experience is helping Taichi acknowledge the fact that Touma has his own feelings and struggles and insecurities, even if he’s still in the dark about them for the most part. I think that for a long time Taichi probably, consciously or not, assumed that Touma was genuinely carefree and happy and confident and perfect, and he hadn’t really considered that that might not be the case, until now. I hope they can continue to open up to each other.

It’s kinda nice getting little moments from Futaba’s POV that make it clear that she’s genuinely attracted to Taichi. I don’t think I’ve really commented on it before, but the fact that we see her side of things a fair bit, even if Taichi’s still the main protagonist, is probably a big reason why this manga feels like a halfway point between shonen romance and shoujo romance. We get to see both male and female perspectives, not just one or the other.

If anything, in terms of the overall framing of the manga, I feel like there’s been more focus on Taichi and Touma being attractive [especially Touma] rather than the girls. Which you don’t really see much in shonen romances, which are usually based more exclusively around the male gaze. It’s not a super major difference, but it definitely adds to the overall feeling that this is a fairly atypical shonen romance manga.

Anyway, back onto the events of the chapter itself, I love how awkward these two are around each other. They’re so cute.

Oh boy, Taichi’s still trying to set Futaba up with Touma, even though Futaba just had her whole personal revelation about her feelings for Taichi. This sure is awkward. I mean I can’t blame Taichi at all, but still. On the one hand I’d hope that Futaba could open up about her feelings to Taichi, but that’s a lot to ask of her right now. So I can’t blame her either, for not being able to say that Taichi shouldn’t try and set her and Touma up.

I still wonder if Mami is going to stir up any major drama later. She kinda hasn’t done anything in this volume other than visit Touma a lot and be kinda shitty toward Taichi, but it’s obvious that she’s still trying to pursue Touma even though he’s already rejected her, so I can only imagine that this is leading to some sort of drama. Especially since Futaba obviously isn’t really going to be actively pursuing Touma anymore, so it gives Mami more room to come in and stir things up.

It’s a bit difficult to tell who was saying what lines during Touma and his brother’s argument, but it sounds like Touma was the one being like ‘you don’t understand anything about me’, and his brother was the one yelling at him for refusing to talk about his feelings to actually let anyone understand him. And I’m pretty sure he was also saying that Touma doesn’t understand anything about ‘the real world’. We’ll have to see what the whole context of this is next chapter, but I feel like it’s probably to do with Touma’s refusal to go to university. His brother probably wants him to go to university, for understandable reasons, but Touma is refusing to go, for reasons that he’s presumably not talking about, and so his brother’s snapping at him over it, and I guess thinking that Touma’s just being immature and not taking his future seriously.

I’m still curious about the whole university thing. Especially if he’s still sticking to his decision even after his accident. It still just seems strange that he’s actively declining the option, and limiting his chances in life. It at least made enough sense why he chose to go to a school with a worse sports program than other ones nearby, since it’s the school Taichi was attending and obviously Touma wanted to be near him. But there has to be a different reason why he won’t go to university at all. It can’t be that exact logic, since Taichi’s probably going to university.

The main thing, especially after the accident, is that Touma might be permanently destroying his chances of getting into a professional baseball team if he refuses to go to university. I’m really not knowledgeable about how sports works, especially in Japan, but I imagine that sports teams would prefer to pick people who have some sort of higher education? I’m really not sure. But either way, the fact that Touma got injured in his last year of high school probably plays a big part in this too, and it might make it even harder for him to get into a professional team. So both of those factors combined might be spelling doom for his career in the long run. Which, obviously, just makes me wonder why Touma’s choosing to do [or, well, NOT do] all this, since he does seem genuinely passionate about baseball. You’d think that he’d want to make the best life choices possible to set him up for a professional career, especially after things got so disrupted by the accident.

I guess we’ll see how things go next week. It also sounds like after next week we’ll be caught up to the JP release, so we’ll be getting one chapter every two weeks after that point, which will be slightly agonizing. Oh well.

Also, volume three recently got solicited for a release in early December, so I’m definitely planning to import that when it comes out.