#i see a character named kitty i make her look like a catgirl

[rknchan]

ladies from ‘the illustrous client’

rip violet de merville you would love ‘criminal’ by britney spears

[s-aint-elmo]

digging out the eah content i created in a frenzy during last year’s summer of obsession part 1: my personal sapphic multishipping guide (created to explain to my friends which of these dolls i think should hold hands)

(more in-depth discussion of the ships below the cut)

the polycule that will take over ever after

kitty/lizzie; kitty/maddie; maddie/lizzie

self-explanatory. frequently purchased together do not separate. bonus shoutout to maddie canonically giving kitty a little kissie on the cheek and getting off scot-free in the books though. a wonderlandiful world was a banquet to me

cedar protection squad

once again a wonderlandiful world and once upon a time i owe you my life. kitty ESP being so adamant abt not giving a shit then turning around and fucking up those boys who were mean to cedar...... i love friendship

kitty/cerise

also self-explanatory. she was a catgirl she was a wolfgirl can i make it anymore obvious. also doribuki’s phenomenal fake dating fanfic....... transformative foundational transcendental

cerise/raven

YOU MUST UNDERSTAND. i entered eah a rapple shipper and exited the book series ready to burn at the stake for cerise/raven. book two was SO MUCH. it had everything. raven befriending cerise despite her attempts to isolate herself. texting in class. winking at each other. raven meeting the parents and hearing embarrassing baby cerise stories. cerise putting it all on the line to save raven. i’m ambivalent about shadow high but cerise gets literally one (1) mention and it’s in raven’s internal monologue wherein she equates cerise’s hood w feelings of warmth and safety. like how was that in any way necessary. i rest my case 

raven & maddie

self-explanatory as well. dabesties. the ride or dies. it means so much to me that raven always has a friend in maddie no matter how many clowns and jokers (derogatory) treat her like the antichrist. maddie the character ever

raven/apple

WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN. the gelphie dynamic is a classic and i am EXTREMELY vulnerable to it. they are THE ship and i will pay my respects to the end of time. i am a big fan of how they trade their roles throughout the franchise and how rich the drama and history are between them. it’s pure fucking poetry.

raven/darling

TBH. a serve. the only thing juicier than evil queen/damsel in distress is evil queen/princess charming. big big fan of darling giving raven the five star princess treatment after a lifetime of being feared and shunned and vilified. equally big fan of raven’s momentous act of rebellion giving darling the courage to be true to herself. ALSO. the absolute archetype-subversion slay of the Pure-Hearted Hero(TM) confronting the Mistress of Evil(TM) and dropping their sword. looking through the smoke and mirrors and the will of Fate itself to see the girl who has wanted nothing but to be kind beneath. swearing their heart and soul and sword to the one true good they have found. picture it. i can almost see the 100-word drabble

raven/apple/darling

now THIS is just THE fairytale couple. the evil queen, the damsel in distress and the princess charming ALL holding hands and riding off into the sunset together. dappling on its own doesn’t do it for me but raven in the mix just makes everything gel perfectly. she’s the tomato in the ratatouille the cornstarch in the spring roll water, etc etc

darling/holly

this is one of those ships where i read a really convincing fic and the more i thought of it the more it just made sense. like they'd read swashbucklers and tales of courtly love together. holly would 100% write a darling placeholder in her self-insert romance fanfic pre-relationship as a way to express her feelings. darling would 100% find out and gently pull her out of the pit of sheer mortification she drilled into the ground to escape. also the height difference is a thing of beauty

safe from the polycule

duchess/poppy

they have one singular episode to their name and it was enough. it was Everything. the dynamic you can extrapolate from that one single interaction is so incredibly appealing to me. duchess’s bitchiness belied by her palpable air of vulnerability coming up against poppy’s spine of steel tempered by her skill in gaining perspective. poppy can challenge duchess into being a better person and duchess can be poppy’s character flaw like idk she just has shit taste in women that was the price she had to pay to be moisturized and unbothered by destiny. i just think they have the potential to be the unexpected, inexplicable power couple of eah

briar/faybelle

do i even need to say anything they had a whole movie to make their case. they’re rapple if rapple got their shit together before armageddon, with the bonus of a potential curse-breaking true love’s kiss for the fanfic authors to thrash between their teeth. truly unlimited. also unlike rapple where raven is 100% against being a villain and therefore it’s apple who has to do the mental gymnastics to open herself to the possibility of a relationship w raven, faybelle is just chomping at the bit to make her momma proud and presents a compelling perspective for the whole “falling in love w your fated nemesis” thing

blondie/cupid

they are icons, they are legends, and they ARE the moment. these two are so chaotic individually, what with blondie’s criminal skillset and habit of menacing innocent woodland creatures and cupid’s matchmaking powers combined w her shitty aim, that putting them together can only mean good things. there’s this whole element of their shared passion as public figures who at their best seek the truth and guide others through matters of the heart respectively that’s always interesting as a point of irony/obstacle when they start catching feelings and have to decide what to do with them. their joint youtuber/podcaster slay can level nations

[eiseryn]

Vailei Siblings

The eldest siblings and older twin sister, Mingxuan (明萱) is a responsible and caring doctor/medic. In my headcanons, she would have been mentored by Elise as well as her mother Lei, so she should be capable in general doctor healer stuff as well as drug making. Her motto is "work-hard, party-hard" so she has some uh pretty bad coping mechanisms when she's off work. I really like her personality and I imagine if I were to play these siblings in a campaign, she's the first one I'd play :3 I hope she girlbosses hard 🥺 She has many angel/feather motifs in her design and her theme colour is green (more dark green). Her colours are supposed to be earthy and warm!

The middle child who definitely feels like a middle child, Yuelan (月兰 / 月蘭) is the younger twin sister to Mingxuan and older sister to Ceres. She's rather anxious so comes off as cold, and has always lived in her twin sister's shadow. However, she has skills of her own, being a skilled decker/hacker (in my headcanons she would be trained by Artemis... if Artemis is alive after the campaign that will determine the fate of these siblings being canon XD). She is very catgirl-like and often styles her hair into cat-eared buns! She really really likes cats! She also has a combat kitty as her bot who does some fighting for her as well :3 Her design is based off of a russian blue cat (dark grey-blue fur, green eyes) so she needs to look as cat-like as possible! Plus of course, she has lots of moon themes from her name!

I'm particularly proud of the Chinese names I picked for the siblings cuz they both have "moon" in the first character and a flower (daylily for MX, orchid for YL) in the second character. I imagine MX was born in the day? Afternoon hopefully and YL at night. It's possible MX was born in the morning and YL at night but that's a long ass labour... RIP Lei XD

The youngest and only son of the three siblings, Ceres is heavily doted upon by the rest of his family. He is almost a carbon copy of his father in terms of looks and some parts of his personality (ex: his laid-back/easygoing personality), which has caused him to potentially have some daddy issues. He also has a hidden violent (yandere LOL) side when his loved ones are threatened or harmed. He feels very unskilled/incompetent compared to his older sister and the only time he feels free is when he's driving, usually on his motorbike. In my headcanons he has both cars and motorbikes but his signature motorbike is a model that has CHEETAH (he's built more for speed than strength) scrawled across it. He's supposed to be a catboy with toxic/poisonous colour themes (green/purple), with lots of sharp diamond/crystal shapes, and he's just a little dangerous 😳😳😳 But he cares a lot for his family so once you harm them it's over for you.

A little diagram that shows more design features in these siblings! :3 I tried to make it super clear what the main ideas are for each of them! One thing I want to point out is how they all have different necklaces! Mingxuan's is a feather for her angel themes, Yuelan has a moon for the her name, and Ceres' is from his mother, which was a gift (see the bonus stories I wrote for "Those Who Leave, Those Remain", specifically the bonus story "A memory lost to space and time") from the original Ceres! It also generally describes their sibling dynamic really well. They are a family unit of 3 siblings (and their parents if they're still alive but y'know parents aren't alive in cyberpunk XD) so DO NOT SEPARATE!!!

I imagine MX spends most of her days at the clinic doing her doctor work, Yuelan works at home but may spy on her siblings as they do their work to make sure they are okay, and Ceres often is being a driver? IDK what he does (kept man???) but he def makes medicine deliveries for MX! Maybe he's a guard for the clinic on the side? XD He is a "support" as in he "supports the enemies' rights to die". All three of the siblings can fight as they are the children of a runner and a doctor who can apparently shoot better than a sniper XD

[homosvxual]

hey everyone !! <3 i’m kahlo and this is the baby to end all babies... catra ! i’ll write da usual stuff under the cut including some bg info & whatever. spoilers for she-ra below,, if u ever need a non-spoilery breakdown just dm me and i’ll be happy to oblige !!

uploading data … ⟳ 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙿𝙻𝙴𝚃𝙴 ! welcome , CATRA. a long way from SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER , huh ? hm … a twenty year old waitress who looks like BRITTANY O’GRADY — could be worse. i heard you were at PIZZA PLANET when we un - glitched , & you (  gasped and whispered adora’s name ]. still the RESOURCEFUL & JEALOUS type , that’s why [ doc martens, ripped jeans, and snarky comments ]’s totally your vibe. the memory of DEFEATING HORDE PRIME is hazy , but maybe the ( mask and force captain badge ) waiting for you at the pawn shop’ll bring clarity. + catgirl , cisfemale [ she/her ] , lesbian.

ok so here she works at pizza planet as a waitress bc i think that’s funny as fuck and i love to put this bastard through misery. she hates the annoying ass kids running around w snot dripping out of their nose but she really doesn’t know what else to do. plus pizza planet....space... kinda reminds her of etheria in a fucked up way.

she has her long messy hair tho i’m sorry rip to the asking for the manager season 5 haircut 

but anyways..... yeah. she’s kinda aching for adora but really wants a new start and she���s like fuck it if working at a pizza planet is the way to go lets fucking do it baby ? 

i also feel like she thinks adora will see the word ‘planet’ and bring her big empty headed forehead over there,, so catra just stays put in case she ever comes (she is delusional jfkdlsfjkds)

catra just stares at the mask and force captain badge with disgust most of the time because she knows she was just.... so terrible back then. 

if u don’t watch she-ra, basically catra is like......a feral raging homosexual with mommy issues and has a bunch of repressed emotions. she’s a scorpio and evil -- jk, she was but then she got a kick ass redemption arc. she was literally in love w her best friend adora and took it out on the world like a freak ? always felt the need to prove herself but nowadays she’s mellowing out. she’s still a work in progress tho and can tend to be a snappy asshole. enjoys making fun of people and also starting fights. big teaser. needy. abandonment issues and has trauma from physical and emotional abuse from her supposed mother figure (miss shadow weaver smh)

but deep down she’s got a heart of gold and i think that is beautiful <3

she hates water. 

also physical touch. if u dont know her like that and try to hug her she will sue

likes cats :3 has a kitty named melog 

also i’m sorry that her name is catra what can u do with a cheesy 80′s reboot sjkfhdskjlffdjl u will look her in the eyes and call her a cat.

i dont think shes a catgirl in this virtual world but if u wanna picture brittany o’grady w ears and a tail i will not stop u

big lesbian

she has heterochromia so one eye is blue, the other is yellow !

i like to think she picked up skateboarding living on this world so fuck it. she skateboards to work 

will cause problems on purpose

she’s super smart tho and cunning and tactical <3 queen shit

if your character has any kind of morals she thinks they’re corny asf

ok some possible connections:

a FRIEND !! you might be thinking, well that’s lame and bland. but catra just does NOT make friends easily because she’s a dickhead. she pushes people away and keeps herself at a distance. especially after the whole ‘i had a friend once but then we fell in love after i tried to kill her multiple times’ thing! i’d like it if someone could redefine what it means to be friends for her :( that’d be nice. bc friendship leaves a bad taste in catra’s mouth.

PETTY ENEMIES !! catra is always sticking her tongue out at them, teasing them, giving them a hard time & ur muse is most likely returning the energy. what are they enemies about ? why can’t they get along? we can plot that out !! :3

her therapist. pfksdlfjsfls this one’s mostly a joke but fr maybe catra goes to ur muse for all her problems and she’s like “tell anyone i said that tho and i’ll kill u. ok see u same time tomorrow -_-” 

HOOK UPS! catra needs to get out her needy sexual frustrations because YOU try working at pizza planet all day, okay ? it’s disgusting. she’s lonely. but don’t touch her afterwards she’ll bully you.

A MOTHER FIGURE.. please oh my god ? catra has NEVER in her life had a positive motherly figure ?? give her advice. hand on the shoulder. scold her. offer words of encouragement fkjslfs

idk what else to put but yes thank u for reading i love you!!!!!! pls hmu to plot!!!!! or we can just wing it out ! i don’t mind either hehe :~)

[tinytanpopo]

Now that Gegege no Kitaro 2018 is over, and I remember it's one of your favorite Gegege no Kitaro iteration, what's your overall and concluding thoughts about it? What are your favorite episodes of all 97 (or each season) episodes? The positive and negative? Characterization of Sawashiro Kitaro and the other Kitaro family (including Mana)? I would love to know your opinion of the sixth remake!

This is going to be a long answer. And full of spoilers, for those of you looking at this who haven’t watched the 2018 version of Kitaro. Here goes!

What are your favorite episodes of all 97?

I watched all 97 episodes 3 times over the course of its run. I started out watching on my own, then eventually my friend wanted to watch with me. But the crappy Crunchyroll subs got in the way of his enjoyment, so I polished them for him, and then we started watching together.

So for each episode, I’ve���

1.) Watched for my own enjoyment when the raw came out

2.) Fixed the subs

3.) Watched and enjoyed again with my best friend.

Before my friend and I started watching together, I also did a rewatch of the series up to the middle of the Backbeard arc, so, 3.3 times? And it only made me like each episode more, and notice more tiny fun details about it. Sawashiro actually smiles a lot, u guys

Anyways, here are my stand-out favorites. Titles may be self-translated or shortened, as I’m looking at the Japanese wikipedia entry for the episodes, and my opinions are mostly disorganized gushing:

1: The Day the Youkai Awoke. Kitaro, Eyeball Dad, and Mana are all very cutely introduced, as well as their dynamics with each other. Great action, ends with the apparent death of the hero. (I was new to Kitaro.) Got me to watch the next week, that’s for sure! Also, world full of weird freaky monsters, already suited to my tastes.

3: Tantanbo’s Youkai Castle. The episode that earned Sawashiro Kitaro his “Gorilla” nickname from the fandom. Also Mana asked to be friends and made Kitaro bashful and the whole latter half is so sweet. FRIENDSHIP

6: Sunekosuri. This is the first Kitaro episode that made me cry, like I really wasn’t expecting that kind of emotional impact. Another thing that kept me watching was that, even though Kitaro has its formulas (as does everything), I still didn’t know what to expect.

7: Ghost Train. Ah, my first experience with the Ghost Train story. Y'know this is the only one where the human passenger pair are both already dead? I’ve seen many other renditions of this story, but this one’s the darkest.

11-12: The 808 Tanuki arc. The whole Kitaro Family shows off their skills in a big cool battle, and Mana overcomes an intense struggle to save the day (with some credit to Murder Momen Rollo Cloth). As my friend often says, Mana is too good for this world.

13: Wanyuudo. Got some insight to Kitaro and Ratman’s odd, long-lasting friendship. When I first watched this, I didn’t really understand why they were still friends. But over the next 2 years, I would.

The meta reason? Ratman was Shigeru Mizuki’s favorite out of all his characters.

14: Makura-gaeshi. The second episode that made me cry. (not hard for a show to do that, but still) Also shot my already-present respect for Eyeball Dad through the roof.

I’m pretty sure this is the episode that changed GeGeGe no Kitaro from “one of the shows I watch once a week” to “I must find and learn about the rest of this franchise.” I’d looked up characters and little facts here and there on wikis, and occasionally browsed the Kitaro tag on Pixiv before this point, but this was the tipping point.

The door to the unseen world was open, and I jumped through.

18: Kawauso’s Lie. haha, Mana’s a city girl who’s scared of bugs

22: Gyuuki. Body horror, despair, and a really good Catgirl episode.

27-37: The Backbeard arc, or 6th Kitaro’s version of the “Great Youkai War” story. For a refreshing twist, the designated “Witch” isn’t evil in this retelling. In fact, Agnes quickly became one of my most favorite and relatable characters.

She definitely had a rocky start with the Japanese youkai, and watching her develop friendships with Mana and Kitaro was great to see, and even better on the rewatch. My friend likes Agnes a lot, too. Just assume I cried at the Mana/Agnes friendship stuff, I’m sure it happened on the rewatch, too.

Also Kitaro finally invites Mana into GeGeGe Forest! She fucking earned it!!

38: Kasha. I had already seen Reverse Mochi Murder 3 different times by this point, but it’s best whenever freaky ghost-eyeballs are involved.

Also Mana punched Kasha in the face. Well, Kitaro’s face.

39: bang. I lost it.

40: This is the darkest version of Sara-kozo! And I like it. His song was best put to use in the 4th Kitaro series, and even had a callback in one of my most favorite episodes of that series. The song, of course, is terribly catchy.

42: The Great Youkai Trial. Having seen the other versions of this story, I’m glad the writers made the 6th series version stand on its own, weaving it into the overarching Nanashi plot.

43: Odoro-Odoro. This isn’t the first Odoro-Odoro retelling where Kitaro’s efforts are thankless and reviled, but it is the one that shows it the most intensely.

47-49: Nanashi arc conclusion. Each Kitaro anime has its harsh and intense moments (even the relatively gentle 5th series), but 6th is the one that goes hard most consistently. Not just into darkness, but

50-51: complete and utter sweetness KITTENGIRL dgjklfhjlkHFDGKMBHKjl

54: Dorotabo. Sometimes, there is no “right” choice that can make everyone happy. Being a mediator can be hard, frustrating, and sometimes impossible. But despite all the stress, frustration, and repeating the same tragic scenarios, Kitaro keeps on trying.

Also, Kitaro totally carried that frog up to the roof of his house for company at the end of the episode.

56: Vampire Elite. The most sympathetic retelling of Johnny’s story. And a great Kitaro/Ratman friendship episode.

57: La Seine. He doesn’t have a top hat this time. A great retelling of Hand, and a Kitaro/Mana friendship episode. Two vampire episodes in a row, and it didn’t feel repetitive at all.

58: Kamaboko. 6th Kitaro’s crossdressing episode, with Sawashiro Kitaro at his most vindictive. Fun for all sorts of reasons. :3c

59: Ushiro-gami. Also known as the youkai cactus episode, somewhat of a series staple. This one had great horror vibes, and Mana overcoming her fear and risking her life to help Kitaro save the day. Never gets old! Mana’s the best.

62: Kitaro and Ratman fighting like children. Kitaro’s shocked face when Ratman steals his pork. Kitaro’s admiration for Ratman’s persistence to keep on living, and appreciation for yanking him back to reality during the end of Nanashi.

The Kitaro/Ratman friendship dynamic is eternal.

64: Suiko, the Water Tiger. If you find an old jar in a dirty hole somewhere? Don’t open it, don’t drink it, don’t let anyone force you to drink it. And if the jar starts talking, shove some dirt in it.

That town full of assholes totally deserved what they got, though.

66: The Grim Reaper and the Hidden Village. Well, in this context, “hidden village” is more like “Shangri-La,” which is what I changed it to in the fixed subs. The only other version of this I’ve seen is the one from the 2nd Kitaro anime. It’s a well-known trauma episode in the fandom.

In the 2nd anime, Kitaro got the trauma. In the 6th one, Mana did, and Kitaro already knew it was coming.

68: Hell Exile. Yet another one where I wasn’t sure if it’d end cynical or hopeful. One of the fresher takes on the Hell Exile story, too.

69: Ibukimaru. Nicely advances the Four Treasonous Generals arc, and has some interaction between Rei and Mana. Oh yeah, this arc introduced Rei Isurugi, an intense chuuni with Megaman demon powers. It’s neat to watch how Rei and Sawashiro Kitaro bounce off each other as individual characters.

70: Mysterious Footprints. Calls back to another one of 2nd Kitaro’s infamous trauma episodes, incidentally one of my favorites. This was great, but the 2nd anime had more intense face-melting.

72: Iyami. Mana Is Gay. That is all.

73: Yamata-no-Orochi. A great take on Kitaro’s Orochi story, now with more monkey’s paw shenanigans!

74-75: Conclusion of the Four Generals arc. Mana convinces Kitaro not to resign himself to shouldering the heaviest burden alone, as he so often does. Agnes and Adel make an appearance(yay!), and they team up with Mana and Catgirl to help save the day. Rei finally chills out, and gets a new mentor.

77: Neko-sennin. Nurarihyon startles the holy hell out of Kitaro, and further establishes how he’s going to operate this time around, connecting to his previous actions in episode 76.

Also, cats. Kitty Kitaro. Cats are my second-favorite animal, so I appreciate the many Kitaro stories involving cats.

78: Mouryou. This one gets retold in several of the other Kitaro series, with decent variation. This one has its own 6th Kitaro touch, with that fucked-up photographer, and an ending I was positive would be dark.

80: Onmoraki. I’d also consider this story a Kitaro staple, though Onmoraki was way tougher this time. Must have had something to do with Nobuyuki Hiyama. :B This is always the episode where Kitaro puts on his old painter costume, and proves he can’t think up fake names worth a damn. Gets me every time.

81: Hideri-gami the mangaka. I love comics, I translate comics, GeGeGe no Kitaro originated as a comic. This episode’s just a love letter to the medium. And seeing Kitaro genuinely enjoying Hiderin’s Totally Original Comic Do Not Steal was adorable.

83: Houkou. Some kind of disaster usually happens in this story. In the 4th anime version, Kitaro was burned to ashes. This one hit harder. Nobody won. No one was happy. We’re reminded of Dorotabo, and how Kitaro never “gets over” tragic situations like these, no matter how often they repeat. I think it’d be worse if he was desensitized, and gave up trying to make anything better.

84: Mr. Chin. The Japanese dialogue is full of puns involving the word chin and yeah I lost it. Sunday morning changes with the times, and they still get this guy in.

I died at “three rainbows” ghjghjk

89: Te-no-me’s Curse. Te-no-me is a youkai who either shows up in the youkai trial story, or has an episode for himself. Also, we finally get to see that Kitaro can just pop his hands on and off. Well, maybe not as casually as in the comics…

90: Sazae-oni. Normally you’re not “supposed” to do “it was all a dream” endings, but this is the first time they’ve done that with Sazae-oni, and the dream reveal means we just saw inside Sawashiro Kitaro’s mind. The fancy sushi restaurant exterior, the plain sweets shop, the body pillow how does he know about those?! Does he know why they look like that?!!

Kitaro seemed disappointed that he didn’t get to sing on stage. And Rei was in his dream-audience! An adorable episode.

93: The Phantom Train. Catgirl got Homuhomu’d. But KitaNeko is finally canon. This whole episode left the fandom reeling, as usual for 6th Kitaro. Best retelling of the Phantom Train story yet.

94: Hot Springs Trip. Mana carried Kitaro over 90 episodes ago, and Kitaro doing the same for Mana repays that favor, in a way.

Kitaro also admits he has Terminal Kitaro Face.

95-97: The end. I did not think they would poof Kitaro. That’s the deadest I’ve ever seen him, in any version. And the most broken, worse than a giant hate-baby crushing his dad. Kitaro giving Ratman his chashu pork made my heart explode, Mana’s sacrifice made the heart-pieces explode, and Mana reuniting with Kitaro 10 years later made my heart whole again.

Nurarihyon offing himself made sense, especially with this being his most dignified characterization in any version. Glad they let Shu-no-bon live, even if he was an actual hardass this time. Shu-no-bon’s usually a teddy bear in comparison to dual-wielding gatling guns

I’m sure the prime minister didn’t keep her position for much longer.

Episode 97’s subs left out most of Mana’s text to Catgirl at the end, so here it is:

“Cat-Sis! Here’s the pic Nebutori took for us on our recent trip! Also, I found a sweets shop near my workplace. Let’s ask Kitaro to go there with us!”

A very sweet ending, indeed.

The positive and negative?

I wish we’d gotten to see more of Agnes and Rei outside of their own arcs, and the conclusions of other arcs, though they clearly had their own lives to live and paths to take.

We didn’t get Akamata or Shisa or a bunch of other youkai I was hoping to see in the episodes. We didn’t get stories for Jami or Kamanari, both of who showed up as bit characters at the very end. But I can accept this, too, as writers and staff working within limits, and telling the story they wanted to tell as best as they could.

I’m glad they focused more on new stuff than old, though. Maybe they didn’t want to risk a repeat of 5th Kitaro’s non-ending, but they were ready to end the 6th anime with the Nanashi arc. Even with a 2nd year, though, the writers didn’t lose their focused storytelling, and ended the series in a way that left my heart full.

Characterization of Sawashiro Kitaro and the other Kitaro family (including Mana)?

Sawashiro Kitaro continues to be that weird youkai kid, that boy who lives in the woods. He’s chill and has a bunch of comic book youkai powers, a unique sort of superhero, while also not being a cop, thank goodness. Every Kitaro is a bit of a pessimist (except 3rd anime’s Toda Kitaro, I guess), but Sawashiro is especially so. This made his gradual development  even more fun to watch. The fact that he never could give up on that dream, not completely, made me appreciate that development even more.

Sawashiro cried the least out of all the Kitaros—twice, and it was only onscreen once. He kept everything in so much, it’s no wonder he imploded and went to Ultra Hell when the prime minister pot-shot him.

And, Sawashiro Kitaro is so pure and cares so much it hurts.

Eyeball Dad. Since Isamu Tanonaka passed away in 2010, the legendary Masako Nozawa (the original voice of Kitaro) took on voicing the role. Like Kitaro, Eye Dad’s characterization changes a bit with each anime, though not as much. Nozawa’s performance made Eye Dad feel more laid-back this time, I think, and more patient. In older series, he had more “Showa dad” tendencies. And we got to see him outside of eyeball or mummy form! 6th series spoiled us!

Ratman. He’s usually the same between every adaptation, save for the voice. Sometimes he’s nicer, sometimes he’s more of a bastard. But he’s always Kitaro’s friend. He may nasty, greedy, and cynical, but he’s usually right about how the world works, and his priorities are hard to disagree with entirely. He knows how to survive, even when treated like dirt for centuries. Ratman’s got a particular brand of wisdom, if you look past the ringworm.

Catgirl. In other versions, she looks like she’s in elementary or middle school, and 6th anime is the most mature she’s ever looked. This is also Catgirl at her most tsundere, but with zero “mean girl” tendencies. All it takes is Mana shooting pure admiration at Catgirl for them to become friends, and that’s cute. I always like Catgirl, and the 6th anime is no exception.

The Kitaro Family. Sandy’s mostly unchanged, except now she doesn’t own the Youkai Apartments, and can use modern technology to make a shitload of money. Old Crybaby is 100% the same, down to his old person banter with Sandy.

Rollo Cloth’s minor interest in finding a girlfriend got turned up to 11. He’d get a lecture from every previous Rollo.

Wally Wall has less vocabulary, no wife and kids, and they thankfully didn’t show his mouth this time. Still a good dude.

Mana Inuyama. The 3rd anime had Yumeko, but even if she wasn’t damseled as often as you’d expect from a typical 80s cartoon, it still happened a lot. In the 6th anime, Mana clearly has more agency from the get-go, and refuses to leave herself out of Kitaro’s business. She’s serious about being his friend, and never stops being serious about it, even when things worse than she could ever imagine happened.

All she has are good memories with Kitaro.

Like my friend said, she’s too good for this world.

What’s your overall and concluding thoughts about the 6th Kitaro anime?

What an emotional roller coaster. The writers pulled no punches with this, and very much managed to make “their own Kitaro” while still firmly being “Kitaro.” With the dark and cynical twists it sometimes took, I often didn’t know if there’s be a happy ending to an episode, or a bitter one. It’s a Sunday morning cartoon at its core, but very good at making the audience forget that.

6th Kitaro was my introduction to Kitaro as a whole, and I was hopelessly obsessed by episode 14. Well, because of episode 14, probably. I downloaded all the other Kitaro anime series, got into the comics (official ones by Mizuki, official ones not by Mizuki, and a shit-ton of doujin), and now my brain is just “kitarokitarokitaro” all the time.

I don’t think it’s going to stop anytime soon.

[sonicfanj]

I’m a big fan of AUs and the freedom that fans have to explore Sonic or any fandom in ways that diverge from the source material, but with AUs and more recent Sonic stuff being what a lot of new fans brought in from the movie will see, the possibility of providing false information is far to high if we are not careful. That SEGA also spreads misinformation only makes matter worse and it is the heart of this particular post.

One of the biggest misconceptions of Sonic that SEGA perpetrates both through retcons and from Sonic Generations onward is that Sonic before the Sonic Adventure (Adventure henceforth )rebranding back in 1998/1999 is that “Classic Sonic “ as he is dubbed these days is possessed of an age of around eleven and is even shorter than Sonic’s 1 meter/3′3″ height. The height can actually be sourced to a profile of Metal Sonic’s that lists him at around seventy something centimeters as well as Generations making him shorter to account for the difference in proportions. But the truth is, Sonic was always listed at 1 meter tall, both before and after the Adventure redesign.

[Character height chart for reference - http://info.sonicretro.org/images/9/99/Classic_character_heights.svg]

Age on the other hand is where things get really strange. Again, a retcon for Generations makes sense to an extent, especially when you consider that the characters had their ages shuffled around as it was with the Adventure redesign. Amy aged up from 8 to 12 and Knuckles aged up from 15 to 16. Tails remained the same but Sonic actually received a subtle change. Bios that listed Sonic’s age before Adventure typically listed him at 15 to 16 years old. That would actually make him the same age or older than his Adventure onward counterpart. But it gets even weirder. According to the Sonic Technical Files (currently hosted by Sonnic Fansite Sonic Retro here - http://info.sonicretro.org/Original_Story) Sonic was actually originally thought about to be even older, around 18 years old. Suddenly, Sonic from his typically dubbed Classic Era is actually definitively older than his modern counterpart, yet is portrayed as a younger bubbly child from Sonic Generations onward. And I assure you, this is a retcon.

If you grew up in the 90s like I did and were introduced to Sonic when he debuted back in 1991, then you will remember the western advertising over embracing his teenager with an attitude description. And it wasn’t just in game ads, it was in all Sonic media available in the west. The US cartoons, the Archie and Fleetway comics, and so on, portrayed Sonic as an uppity teenager with an attitude problem (some cases being far worse than others). That teenager of a high school age mentality was the backbone for why the Archie Sonic comics were littered with teenager romance drama, which would look rather distasteful if you think about it post retcons now. But they were not at fault for portraying Sonic based on being high school age. The material and information they were provided told them as such and so they based their interpretations off of that available information.

But it wasn’t just a western mistake either. If not for input from key members of SEGA of America (henceforth SoA) Sonic would be rather different and would even have had a human girlfriend by the name of Madona who was anything but a child.

[Pic here - https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/d/dc/Madonna.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090313035151]

Madonna was not the only time it happened either as one of the last pieces of pre-Adventure release Classic Sonic material is the Sonic OVA or Movie produced by Japanese animation studio Studio Peirrot where a catgirl (read human girl with cat ears and a tail) was the main love interest and whom even Eggman/Robotnik wanted to marry (it’s weird, I don’t argue that). But more importantly, two of Sonic’s primary creators, Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima, were listed as Production Directors for the two episode Original Video Animation (OVA) and were rumored to be involved quite a bit with the film. You can typically find it on youtube though I recomend the subbed version, bad video quality and all, to get a better representation of the Japanese perspective. It’s really eye opening and was very nostalgic in when I first watched it post Sonic Generations release.

The thing is though, the OVA released in 1996, years before the Adventure rebranding, and is strongly believed to be how Naka and Oshima see the character. This is actually reflected in the Sonic Adventure redesign as Yuji Naka on record (a shame I can’t find the link) has stated that Sonic was redesigned to bring him closer to the original character idea and to erase the growing cute identity that he was developing due to marketing. He even goes on to say that Sonic was never intended to be cute and that being a cute mascot character would inevitably pit him against Hello Kitty which would not have ended well. Yet, SEGA retconned the Naka/Oshima Sonic into being a bubbly hyperactive kid who was much shorter and generally hyper cute compared to his more modern interpretation of the character. This retcon is only made even more complicated when SEGA decided they didn’t like their “New” Classic Sonic being treated as the same character as their Legacy Sonic and even retconned that come Sonic Forces to say that he was actually from a different dimension. Years after Sonic Forces release that decision still riles up many more dedicated fans as it breaks the series continuity. Arguably, it has too. After all, if Naka/Oshima Sonic is older than Legacy/Modern Sonic and has the same height yet New Classic Sonic is shorter and strangely mute then something had to be changed or it just starts to fall apart for a cohesive narrative. Of course Amy’s four year gain already threw things into question but on it’s own was fairly harmless considering her role in the franchise as the main female lead and primary love interest. But New Classic Sonic’s muteness is what this post will be carrying on from.

One of the biggest misconceptions of Sonic before the Adventure redesign is that he did not speak. The primary reason for this misconception I usually attributed to him not speaking in the classics. this is actually a false statement as Sonic speaks in Sonic the Hedgehog CD, SegaSonic the Hedgehog, and is quite the chatterbox in a Japanese only popcorn machine. Admittedly, these are all difficult to experience items, especially pre-Adventure, but by the time of Soinc Generations’ release a good deal of these could be researched and Sonic CD was readily available to the public again thanks in no small part to Christian Whitehead of Evening Star Studios. but even outside of the games SOnic was shown to talk quite a bit before the Adventure redesign. Again both the western comics and cartoons and even numerous Japanese comics all showed him speaking quite a bit before the Adventure redesign. Of a more canonical nature however, the Japanese instruction manuals for most of the games from the original onward will show Sonic talking.

So, where did this misconception gain enough steam to become a retcon? It’s hard to say, but there are a lot factors that could lead to it. Major fan backlash was threatened when Generations was first revealed if they got Sonic’s voice wrong and hat it’d be better if he didn’t talk at all. SEGA is known for overreacting to negative feedback at odd and seemingly random times and this appears to me to be yet another case of it. But his muteness only got weirder when people started latching on to him being mute as a matter of shyness. I don’t know where that one originated from, but Sonic’s shyness is actually a trait of his, but it is specifically tied to how he feels about his self-proclaimed Amy Rose. When asked about, Yuji Naka once said that Sonic does likely like Amy deep down, but is too shy to act on those feelings. Naoto Oshima expands further on that stating that Sonic has a boyish immaturity in regards to his feelings and thus won’t act on them but should he mature in that regard he would end up with Amy. In other words, boyish immaturity and shyness are part of Sonic’s character, but they only reflect on certain facets of his character. His shyness and immaturity of his feelings for Amy though were instead stretched out to cover most of his character resulting in New Classic Sonic being a mute, when Naka/Oshima, Legacy/Modern, BOOM! (just to throw in another iteration where he is shy about his feelings for Amy), and even Movie Sonic are all rather talkative.

So that there is three misconceptions about pre-Adventure Sonic that are perpetuated officially by New Classic Sonic effectively being placed over Naka/Oshima Sonic. Again, I don’t aim to bash fanfics and AUs as I love them and the way they explore the characters in new ways, but for the sake of new fans not being overly confused, it should be noted if your Classic Sonic is New or Generations based, or the Naka/Oshima, pre-Adventure version. There are hugely massive differences between them with things like height, age, and talkativeness being hugely noticeable. Otherwise, keep writing, drawing and having fun, and may all of the movie’s fans who find their way into the fanbase enjoy themselves

[zwei-the-penguin-with-a-pen]

‘Mr. Song’

Neon rolled out of bed and got to her morning routine, brushing her teeth and hair. She even brushed her tail, since it was warmer out and she'd started shedding. She could hardly wait for this awesome gig.

She and Flynt were performing at a formal dance later that night. Playing dress up was always fun, even if she would have to get her hair done. Neon had heard that those girls from Beacon had made their way to Atlas as well. They might even make the scene.

She would have so much to talk about with the Schnee girl and the blonde. They still hadn't gotten to hang out, what with the school being destroyed. She hoped those two and their teammates were doing alright.

Neon's Scroll buzzed. Probably Flynt reminding her to get extra cute for their gig. Or he might want to get one last practice in before the dance. Flynt almost never stopped practicing. Then again, he was a quartet by himself. Neon only played drums because Flynt needed a fifth person and Neon could actually keep up with his music.

Flynt was the most talented person Neon had ever met. She was proud to be his bandmate, teammate, and girlfriend. She liked girls more than guys, but they were both cute. Her last girlfriend had left school and moved to Menagerie. Neon wondered what the cute chameleon girl was up to these days. She still felt sorry about that incident, but the girl had broken the teeth of those who had made fun of her.

Neon had helped. It was a fun time.

Katt picked up her Scroll. Flynt had sent her a good morning text as well as a reminder to look especially stunning for the dance. The message ended with 'Not that I have to tell you to look incredible, love' and Neon blushed.

A knock came at the door. She answered to see her favorite couple, Saffron Dragonglass and Berry Blizzard.

"Alright, Kitty! Let's get you fine!" Berry cheered as she zoomed into the room, the small bear ears on her head wiggling excitedly. Saffron grabbed her girlfriend by the arm, wagging her fluffy fox tail.

"She's already fine, Berry. We're just getting her ready to serve nosebleeds..." Saffron was softspoken and unimaginably tall next to Neon. There was more than a foot of height difference between the fox girl with the flowing golden hair and her bear girlfriend with the short wine-colored spikes. That must have made their alone time interesting.

"Please try not to grope me that much, Berry. I know you want this body, but you can't have it!"

Berry scoffed. "Saff's got more than plenty of body for me!"

"Of course she does! Girl's got so much body she should be continued on the next girl!" Neon complimented. Saffron blushed brightly.'

The two girls got Neon dance ready in a matter of hours, and Neon made the scene early to catch a final practice session. Flynt killed it, as always, and Neon did well enough, she thought. Neon went to kiss Flynt, but he disappeared. Right, Blue Flynt was usually the real one. She'd leaned in for a kiss with Red Flynt. The striping on his hat changed colors for each of his copies.

There wasn't much of a way to tell when none of them were dressed, but that was fine with Neon. If they were all naked it was always a good time.

The original Flynt kissed her, all her worries melting away. She was always nervous before concerts, but her favorite boy's lips always calmed her nerves. "We're gonna kill it, Honeybee!"

"We ain't called the 'Killer Quartet' for nothing, Sweetie!" Neon grinned and kissed her man again. The crowds started pouring in, and Flynt and Neon readied themselves.

Neon saw the blonde bomb from Beacon. There was a dark-haired knockout with cat ears on Blondie's arm. She skimmed over the crowd looking for the Schnee girl, seeing her with the short-haired girl from their team. Aww, their teammates were their girlfriends. That was just adorable.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and everyone in between... Welcome to the Atlas Ball. My lovely girlfriend and I will bring the sultry sounds to your ears for this dance. We are Flynt Coal's Killer Quartet! This song is called 'Jupiter Jazz'!" That was Neon's cue. She tapped a cymbal in time and waited for Flynt's guitar.

The sound of his chords filled the room, and her drums came in behind him. Soon the whole spot was dancing, the slaying sounds of Flynt's jazz bouncing around the room. 'Jupiter Jazz' always got the crowds moving, but their next song would fire the place up even more.

"Now we're gonna do a Seatbelts cover! Any Cowboy Bebop fans out here?" A few cheers rang out, making Flynt grin. "Alright then, here's 'TANK!' for your listening pleasures!" This song got Neon especially fired up. It was an onslaught of horns and energy over a hot beat and some positively fire bass.

This one got the dancers hot. Speaking of hot, Blondie and her Kitty Cat were hotter than magma. It was hard for Katt not to stare. Not even their looks, although they looked breathtaking, the way they danced was remarkable. The catgirl's hips popped in time with the bass, and Blondie followed the beat with her steps. They dipped and twirled with the music as though they were one person.

A few songs later, Flynt announced that the band would be taking a quick ten. Music poured over a PA while Flynt and Neon had their break. Neon ran over to Blondie and chatted her up.

"I haven't seen you guys since the Vytal Festival! I'm glad you guys survived all that!" Neon sympathized.

"We've survived that and much more, Neon!" Yang told her.

"So I see you're still top heavy. Looks like your bottom's heavy, too!" Neon jabbed as she looked at Yang's partner.

"The name's Blake, and I'm usually a top. I only bottom for Yang," The cat girl with the black hair told her.

"Yeah, Yang's got the top energy. Say, who's the white-haired girl got on her arm? She's cute!"

"That would be my sister Ruby," Yang answered. Neon nodded, excusing herself to retake the stage.

\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/

Day 24: Character We Haven’t Seen in a While

NEON KATT! ANd Flynt Coal.

I’ve seen some art and prompts of Neon making jokes at the Bees, so here we are.

[fandom-susceptible]

Batfam Crossover I desperately need, Part 2

Followup to my earlier post, this time about Wolverine's crew with the Batfam.

Let's recap.

Batfam: The Batler, Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth Batman, Bruce Wayne Batwoman, Kate Kane Catwoman, Selina Kyle(-Wayne) Nightwing, Dick Grayson Batgirl/Oracle, Barbara Gordon (Grayson) Red Hood, Jason Todd Black Bat, Cassandra Cain Batgirl, Stephanie can't remember her last name right now Red Robin, Tim Drake Catgirl, Kitrina Falcone, the daughter of a mob boss who ran away, was adopted by Selina, and decided to fight crime Mar'i Grayson Robin/Red Bird, Damian Wayne These characters are all so popular I don't really feel the need to explain them.

Wolverine's family Wolverine, James Howlett/Logan/Jimmy/Jimmy Logan/dozens of other aliases but usually just Logan Sabretooth, Victor Creed, his brother who is sometimes a villain but God help you if you lay a finger on his baby brother Wildchild/Wildheart, Kyle Gibney, Victor's son who Logan ended up raising because Victor got a badly timed case of amnesia Dark Wolverine, Daken Akihiro, Logan's son who was kidnapped and raised by a mortal enemy to believe Logan killed his mother and abandoned him - but later learned the truth from Professor X and reached an uneasy peace with his father Rogue, Anna Marie Darkholme, the mutant girl that drains from anyone she touches, who Logan summarily adopted when she ran away from Mystique and Destiny Shadowcat, Katharine "Kitty" Pryde, who phases through things and is another girl Logan randomly adopted even though her parents are loving and alive X-23, Laura Kinney, Logan's female clone who he adopted as a daughter when she escaped from Weapon X almost exactly the way he did (she managed to avoid the massive explosions) Logan's also been implied to be related to about ten other people, but they're literally all some of the worst villains of Marvel (and want to kill him) or dead, so they're irrelevant here.

I want these two families to meet.  Because Logan and Bruce are both those guys who say "I work alone" only to join pretty much every team in their franchise and have the biggest families of said franchise. They don't even have to know each other's identities, though the feral family (that's what I'm calling Logan's) is honestly terrible at keeping theirs a secret.  They're unreliable about masks.  I guess they don't need to be too careful when they all share a healing factor. (or they would if Daken would get off his fucking drugs that are making his work so hard it's practically useless when he's injured) Just Bruce and Logan being the overworked dads.  Victor and Selina being the amoral cats that screw with them every chance they get but never seem to cause any real damage. (Screw movie Victor okay) Logan and Victor and even Daken bonding with Alfred talking about the old days, because as young as they look, Daken's probably only about fifteen or twenty years younger than Alfred.  And Logan and Victor are a century or more older than he is - they'd make Alfred feel young for once.  Wildheart being awkward and sweet because he's still recovering from losing his mind to Shaman, and Stephanie, Dick, and Babs automatically taking him in.  They see him as a cinnamon roll who must be protected and then they see him fight and kill more fiercely than Jason or Damian ever have and they realize how damaged this whole feral family really is.    Rogue hitting it off with Cass and Jason because they're all quiet ones who would really rather just read than try to socialize.  Kitty and Steph instant BFFs!  The batfam is annoyed by Steph accidentally picking up Kitty's valley girl dialect.  Nightcrawler, Rogue's brother through Mystique, and Kitty's boyfriend, showing up and being instant acrobat buddies with Dick. "OMG YOU WERE IN HALEY'S?" "OMG YOU WERE WITH THE GERMAN TROUPE?!" Nightcrawler and the ferals thriving in a city where their bizarre feral looks barely get them a second glance.  Laura and Damian actually getting along, Laura forcing Superman to get his head out of his ass about Conner because "If my fucking international mass murderer of a father could adopt me why can't the American farm boy step the fuck up?" Damian just likes her because she has zero respect for adults.  Laura and Kitrina getting along because they're both determined and angry, and maybe Kitrina teaches Laura how to be a little less bitter.     The batfam find themselves in the position of being the less damaged for once.  These people were twisted and torn apart and thrown back together and they find pleasure in the kill, even the good guys of the feral family don't deny they find a thrill in playing with a baddie before tearing them apart with their hands, claws, even fangs.  (to be fair, Kitty, Rogue, and Nightcrawler aren't among these individuals.  Rogue's got a guilt complex and Nightcrawler is messed up because he's Catholic and found out he's half demon, half freak of nature, but they aren't as bad as Logan's actual blood relatives.  Kitty's the only truly stable one in the family.) And just, the feral family and their adopted members end up staying in Gotham for a while.  And maybe Victor's accidental friendship with Alfred leads him to start patching up his schizophrenia and be able to hold back Sabretooth and just be Logan's brother again.  Maybe seeing Bruce with his kids helps Logan to chill with his own.  Maybe Laura learns how to let go of the past, thanks to Kitrina.  Maybe watching Damian, who grew up in an almost identical world as himself, accept his estranged father and even honor him, helps Daken to come to terms with Logan.  Maybe the batfam actually helps them heal.

Gaaah I don't know it's 3 am and I have a lot of feelings about these families and I need them to meet.