#is because the mangaka's pen name is

[littleeyesofpallas]

NINJA to KOROSHIYA no FUTARIGARASHI[忍者と殺し屋のふたりぐらし]

[ladyloveandjustice]

Anime Expo Final Day: Q & A and Live Draw with Witch Hat Atelier's Kamome Shirahama

Sunday was not as bad as Saturday crowd wise, but still a bit hard to deal with.

I got into the second Witch Hat Atelier panel, which was a live draw with Kamome Shirahama! We weren't allowed to take pics of her of course, and she came in the Iguin cosplay and somehow managed to draw in it, but I did get to take a pic of the brush buddy:

And here's the live drawing she did (Quifrey by audience demand) which we were allowed to photograph.

I was taking notes throughout the panel but then the notes app just decided to stop working and I lost it all. But I did write down everything I remembered immediately after, so here we go:

When asked, Shirahama said her influences were American and French comics in addition to manga. She mentioned Akira and the French comic Mobius, as well as a French comic with "cities" in the title I couldn't catch.

EDIT: (According to gaston26 in the comments: "I think she talked about French comics artist Moebius and the french comics with cities in the title is most likely 'Les Cités obscures'. ;)" That sounds right!)

She says she was inspired by the art style and diversity of American comics. She was also inspired by children’s literature like The Neverending Story.

When asked about the diversity in her story, she quickly said that the diversity was intentional and the fact that its even a question shows that we need more diversity. She said, "Nobody would ask this if it was just a romance between a boy and a girl or something like that, so it shows there needs to be more".

When asked how she feels about Quifrey being so popular, she mentioned that Quifrey was going to be a villain but his design was so good she promoted him to a main character.

She stated that she tries to write a story her younger self would read, but she says she was a “twisted kid” so as a child she’d be saying things like “a Pegasus with those feathers wouldn’t be able to fly!”

When asked about the magic system she said she was still actually trying to learn the magic system herself.

She talked about magic as a metaphor for creativity and said her audience is very creative so she feels they could relate. She always wanted to write a fantasy. She mentioned again that she had a mangaka friend early on and that it really made her appreciate what goes into making art and got her thinking in that direction.

She stated that there are no real villains in her story, just people.

When asked about how she comes up with names, she said she “asks Google”. She wanted names where her character would be the only one that comes up in the google search. Early on, with names like Coco and Agott, she didn’t do this, but it made her mad when other things would come up in the google search. When asked if she was inspired by any sort of ethnicity/culture for characters, she asked to pick one, and was asked about Kustas. She said that was a tough question and eventually said she took inspiration from Rome and also indigenous Japanese cultures for him.

She said she doesn’t use screentone because she’s "lazy" and prefers to work with her ink pen. When asked about her assistants she said they are the best ones at doing speed lines, which she’s "bad" at.

She said Quifrey and Olruggio were partly inspired by people she knows- not in looks, but in personality. She said traits like being strict on the outside and sweet on the inside (I imagine she's referring to Olruggio there) were inspired by those people she used as models.

She also mentioned that she draws very fast!

And that's about all I got down.

After that, the day was kind of rough, as I temporarily lost my wallet but fortunately someone eventually turned it in to lost and found. I went to Little Tokyo and attended the pop up Akiba Maid War café there. I got a Ranko cookie! The maid who served us mentioned the cafe's rivals like the poison the drinks and did the spell thing. We got a singing performance where both our maid and the woman playing Manager danced, with Manager intentionally doing it very badly. It was fun!

And that's all for my con report! Hope there was some interesting info! I'll be posting cosplay I saw and art and merch I got later.

[sovereignjojoz]

How they’d react if their kid told them they have a boyfriend/girlfriend/crush.

Featuring: Rohan and Dio.

Warnings: readers position is ambiguous, fluff, crack.

Notes- Dio should’ve had a daughter too idc!!!! All kids are age 4. I had originally written others too but they got DELETED when I put it in my tumblr drafts, so I’ll rewrite them later.

Dio

“Hello father. Hi daddy!”

Dio glanced up from his book upon hearing Giorno and Baby Brando walking into the room. Giorno entered his peripheral vision first as baby Brando held his hand, skipping alongside him.

He closed his book and leaned back in his plush throne, “hello children,” He skimmed the room quickly, “where are your other brothers?”

Giorno shrugged in response to his latter question, “don’t know, I only walk home with her,” he gestured to baby Brando, “since she’s the youngest.”

He hummed.

“And school?”

“It was fine.” Giorno sighed, adjusting baby Brando’s school uniform collar as she smiled up at her coolest big brother, “oh and I’m going to Mista’s house in five minutes.”

Dio raised an eyebrow, “To do what? Why wasn’t I notified prior.”

Giorno clicked his tongue, his father was so nosey. “Just because. It’s not a big deal I go there every week anyway.” Giorno walked to the door, “anyway I’m leaving now, bye.”

Dio scoffed, pre-teens were so sassy, he wished all his kids could just stay at the age where they were cute and docile.

Baby Brando jumped on the couch, shoes still on, and opened the window, hanging out so she could see Giorno.

“Bye Giogio! Love you!”

Baby Brando’s eyes widened as dio lifted her up and placed her on his shoulder.

He held her securely by placing his hand on her back, “Don’t do that.”

Baby Brando smiled toothily at him, “Okay daddy!”

Dio brought her forward, hanging her upside down by her legs, “why are you so happy today stinks?” He eyed her suspicions.

Baby Brando giggled from the weird motion, squirming, causing a heart shaped chocolate to fall out of her school dress pocket.

“Because someone gave me a chocolate today in school!”

Dio’s face contorted into disgusted. What vile vermin was giving confession candy to his daughter? As if he (or her brothers for that matter) would ever allow them near her.

Dio put her down, causing her to look up at him adoringly. “Who?”

“Umm! I dunno his name! Think it started with a j but he said he really really really really loves me and I was like huh really!” She slapped her hands on her cheeks, re-enacting the scene for her father, making sure to capture the full dramatic effect of what happened.

His frown deepened, “Really?”

“Uh huh!”

Dio bent down to his daughter’s eye-level, partially smirking “shall I eat him?” He said with a guise of seriousness.

Baby Brando couldn’t believe he just said that! She covered her mouth with her hands and gasped, “daddy no! That’s bad!”

Dio snickered and lightly pulled on her blonde pigtails, “then no boyfriends.”

“Okay…”

Rohan

“Daddy Daddy!” Baby Rohan kicked her school shoes off and ran into the mangaka’s study.

His eyes flickered to the green haired girl, “Hm.”

“Look!” She came to stand in-between his legs and proudly held up a colourful piece of paper, a little bit too close to his face. “That’s me, and that’s you and that’s the cat and that’s mama!”

Rohan put his pen down and examined the drawing slightly closer, in actuality it was all scribbles yet even so he’d be framing it in his study.

“Wow, very good.” He pulled her to sit on his lap so he could resume his work, “when did you make this.”

“Today, at Josuke’s house…” she blushed.

Rohan clicked his tongue, yes, he had to send his sweet girl to that imbecile’s house yet it wasn’t of his own will, he had an important deadline coming up and his partner was at work, to say he was very reluctant to let Josuke babysit would be an underst- wait. Rohan closed his eyes, he had to have been seeing incorrectly because there’s no way he saw what he thinks he just saw.

Did baby Rohan just blush at Josuke’s name?

“Did you have fun at…Josuke’s.” He tested.

“Yes!” Baby Rohan nodded vigorously, “he’s so cool and fun!” She added, her flush deepening.

No way. Rohan’s mouth hung agape in disbelief as he pulled Baby Rohan closer to him. What did he do!

“Um daddy are you okay?” Baby Rohan asked concerned, poking his cheek.

“Yes, I’m fine.” He was so done with Josuke, when he next see him he ought to-

Ding dong.

Still irritated, Rohan dragged himself to the door, who could have even been at the door this time, it was almost 9pm!

“Hey Rohan I-”

Slam!

“Jojo!” Baby Rohan gasped, “Daddy open the door don’t be mean!”

Rohan opened the door the tiniest milli-fraction, “what.” He glared at the young jojo.

“Hi jojo!”

“Hi!” He reached to pinch the young girls cheek however Rohan was faster. He put up a finger warning him.

“Don’t.” He grit his teeth, “you know what Josuke. Take five steps back and maintain this distance.

Josuke looked befuddled but did as told anyway, “umm okay?” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, “anyway I left my wallet here the other day can I just-”

“Don’t take a single step in here.” He couldn’t come in and contaminate the house.

“I can get it!” Baby Rohan beamed.

“No.”

Rohan brashly grabbed the wallet and chucked it towards him. “Next time be more aware.”

“Thanks-!”

Slam!

[minyare2906]

[RELEASE] CHIISANA SHIMA NO YASASHII KOI FULL VOLUME

Title: Chiisana Shima no Yasashii Koi | Sweet Love in a Small Island | ちいさな 島 の やさしい 恋

Author/Artist: Asakura Kamui

Rating: +18

Summary: A small clinic on a small island.

This is a story about Kurasawa Shizuka who took over his late father’s clinic, and his childhood friend Tsutomu, a high school student, who works there part-time.

Tsutomu always has a poker face, and Shizuka is sure Tsutomu knows nothing about romance. Shizuka kisses him just to see Tsutomu’s reaction, and something changes in them…  It was only out of curiosity but now his desire is fired up…?!

In the meantime, Tsutomu has to leave the island with his father who is transferred to another location. What will happen to them after being apart…?

A tender love story that takes place on a small island, starts here…

Chapter 01 Read online: Gdrive

Chapter 02 Read online: Gdrive

Chapter 03 Read online: Gdrive

Chapter 04 Read online: Gdrive

Chapter 05 Read online: Gdrive

Chapter 06 Read online: Gdrive

Chapter extra Read online: Gdrive

Note: 

Hello!!! How’s it going? Are you okay or are you living in Spain? Jajajaja! Really, we should change the name to “HellSpain”, it should be forbidden to live in a place where it’s a miracle if the temperature goes below 40… 45ºC we had the other day and 32ºC at night, we can’t sleep!! I sleep in a pool of sweat.

Well, stupid weather aside, I know it’s been more than 2 months and I’m also sure that you’ll be saying “Where’s Hanakoi?! We want Hanakoi!!”. Don’t despair, it’s in our outbox (I need my digital pen for a little surprise before it’s released) but we left it aside for a moment because we left this project aside for far too long due to Hanakoi, and SlutSQ was kind enough to provide the raws and I didn’t want to leave her waiting for its release anymore. Plus, life happened along the way...

So here it is, a full volume. It has a second one that is still in its translation phase, I have a bit left to clean as well (I go slow as a turtle with the mouse). It’s a very sweet story that Adamay recommended in the group. When I saw that it was not done by anybody, I told her if she wanted to do it and when SlutSQ offered the raws we were ready to go. And don’t worry, even if it’s sweet, it has a lot of smut. I don’t know how many d***s I’ve drawn!! Aaaaand, just a small note, don’t let how the uke looks distract you, it’s not shota-con!! It happened to me at first, I thought that the seme was a paedophile, but that’s just how the mangaka decided to draw him. Also, as a person who doesn’t look her age, I feel totally represented by this. I'd love people to stop asking me if I’m of legal age…

Full volume in Mega will come later, you know how it goes. I may lower the wait to 2 weeks instead of a month if I don’t forget to upload it…

I’m so happy to have another project done with the wonderful duo made by Adamay and Toshirodragon! Real life delayed this release this time (it ALWAYS comes first, sorry) but they are always ready to come into action when the group needs them, I’m really thankful. I’m also thankful to @slutsq, as I’ve mentioned before, she’s the provider for this project and she bought it right away when I asked her about it, thanks for your kindness.

I hope you all like it and enjoy reading it. Wait patiently for the release of volume 2!! Cheers!

@cm-scans

[bakawitch]

Gemshipping au, where Ryou ends up being a successful horror novelist with many big titles to his name, post canon. One day, he's approached by his editor, who offers him a collaboration job with a famous horror mangaka who is often regarded with intrigue due to the unique themes his anthologies tackle in a way that seems like the creator personally experienced them. Ryou ends up agreeing but decides to use a pen name for the duration of the story's creation. Ryou and the mangaka only converse through email for a while before they decide to move their work to a messenger app for convenience. They start chatting casually, and Ryou finds himself developing a crush.

Ryou and the mystery guy decide to go on a short camping trip in a very secluded forest before ever meeting in person to gather some inspiration for their manga. They both follow coordinates and purposefully get themselves lost a little somehow, and Ryou reaches the agreed meeting location second where he is greeted by a somehow reincarnated Bakura.

They both freak out since neither of them knew who the other was because of the pen names. They get into an argument, their only line of communication with civilisation gets damaged, and Ryou runs away and hurts his ankle on accident. Bakura finds him and does first aid, and they try to have a civilised discussion about how they could get back into civilisation with a weakened Ryou.

Ryou is sort of surprised that Bakura didn't just leave him behind at camp because of his injury and is handling the whole thing sort of responsibly, and Ryou eventually starts seeing him as the weird/coworker he chatted with instead of the eldritch demon in his head. They have some difficult conversations, share ghost stories with each other, laugh a lot, maybe some spicy stuff happens with some rp sprinkled in because theyre still nerds, and by the time they make it out of the forest, Ryou practically has the whole script written out for their story.

Ryou starts visiting Bakura's place when they get back while he works, and they sort of end up doing the thing where they start dating without realising it.

(Fun fact: Bakura is a manga artist in many of my modern aus, idk why, it just sort of fits for some reason XD)

[just-antithings]

Hi! I tried doing some research on my own, but I couldn't find much. I remember reading somewhere around pro-ship / pro-fujoshi tumblr that some BL authors/mangaka would use female pen names when they were actually male. As well as trans(masc) mangaka creating BL. And I'm asking specifically about BL because I know gei komi is 99% of the time writen by gay/queer men for gay/queer men. Did I misunderstand a post or is this actually true? (Sorry for sloppy English!! ;_;)

Followers?

[neonscandal]

jjk having queer-coded villains seems to be an intentional choice. what are your thoughts on this

Anon comin in hot today! I feel like this doesn't really need a spoiler warning though it does detail info about characters yet to be animated so read at your own risk.

To be honest, I wouldn't even say that it's coding, JJK has an assortment of characters with varied identities from our protagonists to our antagonists which includes:

Megumi - a lot of fans interpret his non-gendered answer to what his type is, focusing instead on personality, to mean that he's pansexual.

Mahito - genderless ✨ and/or physically lacking reproductive organs that would typically define gender binary

Tengen - presumably assigned female at birth, has since transcended gender or is more non-binary

Kenjaku - another character who's just.. lived so long that they're just kind of gender fluid? Though, considering their history, intersex may be more appropriate? We know that, as Noritoshi Kamo, he mixed his blood with what would become the cursed womb paintings but she actually consummated with Jin for some extra razzle dazzle

Uraume - canonically they/them

Kirara - assigned male at birth (though I believe canonically referred to as they/them) with an androgynous gender expression

Please note: I don't consider myself an expert on the matter as gender identity, expression and sexual orientation exist on spectrums. Subsequently, if you think any of the above characters belong elsewhere based on canon or headcanon, I get it. If, based on canon, I'm outright incorrect, feel free to drop a comment and I'll edit accordingly.

With the distribution of the above in mind, I don't think it's unilaterally something focused just among the antagonists. Though, ironically, some of my color coding is also debatable at this point, I suppose. I think the more interesting observation is that, with enough time, such labels aren't as binding or lack the need for definition. Like, Tengen has all the time in the world to be whatever they want to be and they simply become. In fact, unrelated but kinda related, you see a similar idea in Hell's Paradise with the mercurial gender fluidity of the Tensens, too. Honestly, that's another show to watch with a curious lens.

All that to say, I think the varied representation is more interesting due to the conversation around the mangaka's own identity. Gege Akutami's anonymity has been shielded by their pen name but, also, I don't believe they have confirmed pronouns. While people argue that they went to an all boys' school previously, they also, during a stint as an assistant on another manga, unveiled themselves with a femme presenting avatar. Seemingly to avoid being defined by visual perception (or to pre-emptively avoid recognition by devastated fans..), they appeared in a video interview dressed as Mechamaru. Couple that with the fact that there is a notable lack of romantic pairings within the story, especially those that would be typical of a shonen story. Arguably, that could leave a lot of Aro and/or Ace characters that I'm too obtuse to have picked up on. In fact, one could interpret Akutami's previous comments about Gojo accordingly.

Subsequently, I don't think the intention is to vilify queerness just because some of the antagonists fit the bill. I think, if anything, there's just representation that isn't necessarily cultivated around "othering" queer characters or using their diversity as a plot line, if that makes any sense? Which isn't just concentrated on the "bad guys". For the most part, these are just subtle realities of the characters... okay, Kenjaku's identity can definitely be charged to the plot though. 👀 Seemingly contrary to what I just said about diversity as a plot device, I'm now having mixed feelings specifically with Kenjaku because their identity does inform the plot but also intrinsically brings nuance to them as a character. The more I think about it, this diversity is actually what humanizes them which, connotatively, still seems like a positive thing. Hm. Maybe I'm a hypocrite? Not sure but I'm curious as to your thoughts so feel free to leave them below 👇🏾

[rougepancake]

All the lonely people

FT. Rohan Kishibe x Ghost!F!Reader

WARNINGS: Age gap (you died in your 20s and he’s currently like 40 in this), this was written with the intent of it being sad (-_-). Probably ooc Rohan. No regrets??? Not proofread.

SUMMARY: You’re nothing but a spirit, cursed to wander the world until it fades away into the nothingness. However, you’ve been lucky enough to encounter someone who can actually see you.

“I know you’re there.” The sound of his voice pierced the silence, leaving an uneasy feeling to overcome the room. Within seconds, you appeared and poked your head out of the wall, looking down at his sketch curiously.

“How?” You slowly pulled yourself out of the wall, now hovering over his sketchbook.

“How what?”

“How did you know I was here?” You drifted around as you spoke, your tone light and carefree. It was clear that you were curious. It had been such a long time since you’d last spoken to anyone, so it was incredibly hard for you to believe that what you were experiencing was real.

“What?” He finally looked up from his sketchbook, looking at you with a bored expression. “Do you not have anything better to do?” He scoffed. “Shoo. I don’t have time to deal with spirits such as yourself. Not anymore, at least.”

You couldn’t help but take in his appearance, observing him closely. Why was he so relaxed? Was he not frightened by the idea of having a ghost in his house? He was so uninterested that it surprised you.

“Rohan Kishibe?” You asked, floating off in the direction of his bookshelf. You were a lively one, weren’t you?

“How do you know my name, spirit?” He returned to his work, the sound of his pen scribbling on the paper dragging out the silence.

“I’m not illiterate.” A particular book caught your attention, but your hand fell through it as you reached for it. You poured and drifted elsewhere. “I’m Y/n.”

Silence filled the air, making you feel uncomfortable. Was he processing your name? Did he know you when you were alive? No- that’s impossible… biologically, you’re much older than him. Maybe he knew more than he was letting on, since he was being so quiet.

“So you’re a mangaka?” You finally broke the silence, now standing in front of him. Your torso being cut off by the table to stood in.

“Why are you here?” Rohan sounded frustrated, but why? It wasn’t like you had done anything wrong. You were just being polite, despite your existence as a spirit. “What do you want from me? My soul?” He rose from his seat unexpectedly, glaring at you. His expression read ‘I’m too old for this’.

“I’ve no need for your soul.” You sighed and looked into his eyes. Was he afraid of ghosts? Has he only encountered evil ones? “I’m just… rather lonely, that’s all.” You hid your pain behind a smile, looking down to avoid his gaze.

“Very well.” He walked off to somewhere else in the room, his back turned to you. Rohan reached up and grabbed another sketchbook, flipping through it as if he was looking for something. “Just don’t annoy me.”

Wait. Did that mean you could stay? The idea excited you greatly, and you couldn’t help but grin at him. After years of being alone, you finally had someone to talk to.

“Thank you, Rohan-sensei.”

Weeks passed, and Rohan had grown quite fond of your sudden appearances. It had become the part of his day that he looked forward to the most, though he didn’t know why.

At first, he thought it was because you reminded him of Reimi, but he soon found himself to be wrong. You were absolutely nothing like her, and you were much more at peace with yourself. You always wore a smile, constantly telling him that it’s better to be free while the opportunity is still there than to wait.

In time, he realized the real reason he cared for you as much as he did was because he was just as lonely as you. It made sense, because it wasn’t like Koichi and Yukako stopped by anymore, same for Josuke and Okuyasu. And Jotaro was overseas with his daughter.

He really was all alone.

“You know, sitting like that isn’t good for your back.” You chastised him, making your presence known my popping up through the floor. Just where did you go when you drifted through objects?

“I know.”

“Why the long face?” The question made him tense. Was it that obvious? He couldn’t believe that you had seen through him so easily.

“No reason.” A sigh escaped him. Did he really like the company of those fools anyways? Maybe he just liked the idea of them… the idea of being surrounded by people that respected him…

God he missed Reimi.

He was starting to see her in you with every passing day and it hurt him. He couldn’t even look you in the eyes anymore, out of fear that one day, he’ll call you by her name. And while he appreciated how you never asked him about it, he wished you would. Rohan desperately needed someone to talk to, someone to comfort him. He thought he would die without being able to confide in someone close to him.

He wanted to cry and to be held. To comfort and to be comforted.

Rohan Kishibe just wanted to be loved.

“Well… you haven’t left your room in a couple of hours, so why don’t you come downstairs and get something to eat?” You sounded genuinely worried, but he knew it was a ploy to get him to listen to you.

“I’ll be down in a minute.” He mumbled, hiding his face in his hands. What had come over him? What brought about this sudden feeling of worthlessness?

You sighed and hovered in front of him, causing him to shiver at the feeling of your cold body being so close to his. “You said that earlier, Rohan.”

The way you spoke made him spiral further into his despair. Why had you hung around for so long? Did you feel the same way he did? Oh how it pained him. He had so many questions for you that would remain unanswered.

“I said I’ll be down in a minute.” The bitterness in his voice surprised you, and you actually took a step back so you could analyze him. Had something happened? Did you do something? You had only wanted to help…

Frowning, you vanished before him, going off to who knows where as he collected his thoughts.

“Reimi…” His voice wavered. “Reimi I miss you so much…” Rohan let out a shaky sigh and leaned back in his seat, looking up at the ceiling with a scowl. “Why is she like you… Reimi I need you to answer me…” At this point his begging was pointless, regardless of whether or not Reimi could see him. “Why…”

He was distant after that. He didn’t know why, but he knew he had to push you away.

It seemed like every time he looked at you his heart swelled, rattling against his chest like some wannabe maraca. He could always feel his mouth get dry and his face heat up, chalking it up to be nothing more than his symptoms of old age.

“Would you look at that.” You leaned over his shoulder, watching intently as he drew. “Your new chapter is going to be something else. I’m sure your fans will love it.” The reassurance wasn’t what he needed to hear from you, but he reveled in your praise.

“Thank you, Y/n. I’ve been working pretty hard on it.” And he left it at that. You knew he was acting strange, but you knew he had the ability to kick you out if need be. You knew better than to overstep your boundaries with him.

“Have I ever told you that you remind me of someone from my past.” You attempted to make small talk as you walked through one of the walls in his office. “They were someone I cared about deeply. But as time went on, we grew further apart. I had always assumed that I did something to upset them, but I know now that it was the underlying tension between us that resulted in our falling out.” Rohan had stopped writing to listen to your story, a sign that you had his full attention.

“I want to know what’s plaguing your mind.” You said after a long pause, your voice wavering. “I want to know why you’ve been pushing me away like I’m not good enough for you!” Your fists clenched at your sides, and you could feel your heart pounding within your chest. You were getting closer and closer to admitting what you were afraid of the most.

“I’m not. I’ve just been busy.” A shrug. He shrugged off your emotions like it was nothing, even though you knew for a fact that he had something he wanted to tell you. “Plus it’s not like you’d understand anyways.” He paused and leaned forward, resting his head on his desk with a sigh. “Can spirits even feel emotion?”

What a stupid question. ‘Can spirits even feel emotion?’ It made you cringe. Had he truly not cared enough to listen to you?

“Fine. Be that way.” You sighed and vanished again, leaving him alone once again.

But he didn’t want to be alone.

He wanted to be with you.

“God damn it.” He swore and slammed his fist down onto his desk. “I can’t do anything right, can I?” It was a never ending battle between him and his conscience, and he always seemed to lose.

How do you lose to your feelings? Do they just consume you? Take over your body until there’s nothing left?

It hurt.

Why had you even appeared in the first place? All you were doing was causing him more paint than he was already in, so why continue to haunt him?! There simply was no sense in doing so, and he hated to think that you felt the same way as him.

Rohan Kishibe was a bachelor and a mangaka, not some fucking hopeless romantic. He was better than this, and he knew it, but you had such a hold on him that he couldn’t let you go now. It would be cruel of him.

He sat there, silent as he waited to feel your presence again. But it never came.

A sense of bitterness overwhelmed him, tears forming in his eyes as he smiled ruefully. His lip quivered and his breath hitched in his chest, the emotions he had been working so hard to keep hidden from you finally spilling over.

What kind of fool falls in love with a ghost anyways?

[otaku-tactician]

i know people say bl manga is made majority by women, but i do wonder how many bl mangaka are also of other genders, too; especially with how the times are developing. and by this i dont mean gei komi, i mean bl writers of other genders. as many mangaka operate by pen names and icons for profile images, a lot of them are incognito in their identity, so i wonder if that's a possibility?

i say this because the designers for some of the most top class handsome guy anime that i watched in high school were men, like the main character designer for free iwatobi swim club. (my condolences)

it had me wondering a little.

[saotome-michi]

I can’t believe this video exists. It’s a discussion between not two, not three, but FOUR mangakas who’ve had works serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump, as well as in Jump SQ and Jump+; Shinohara Kenta (Sket Dance, Kanata no Astra, Witch Watch), Asou Shuuichi (Boku no Watashi no Yuusha Gaku, Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan), Aimoto Shou (Hokenshitsu no Shinigami, Kemono Jihen), and Ooishi Kouji (Inumarudashi, Tomatoypoo no Lycopene).

It is SO rare for something like this to be recorded on video and uploaded on Youtube. Ooishi, who seems to be the organizer, mentions in the beginning that they’re doing this without the editorial department’s permission. They don’t talk about anything scandalous (there’s even one part where they start talking about the Jump Survey results and get a bunch of interference and they joke that it’s the editors jamming their feed), but also this video is part 2/3, it’s been a year since and part 3 still hasn’t been uploaded, which makes me wonder if the editors found out and forbid him from continuing this... (though in that case, this video should’ve been deleted)

Some funny things in the video:

Asou is married to an idol. Meanwhile, Shinohara Kenta’s wife and Yabuki Kentarou’s (the mangaka of Black Cat and the artist of To Love-Ru) wife are sisters?! Making them brother-in-laws

Around 10 years ago, Ooishi, Asou, and Aimoto went to a coffee shop. Since Ooishi was the senpai of the group, he paid the bill, which somehow totaled to more than 10,000 yen (about $100) despite them only having consumed coffee. Now that both Asou and Aimoto have become successful, Asou with Saiki K. and Aimoto with Kemono Jihen, Ooishi jokes that they should pay him back. Shinohara asks how did the bill get so expensive. Aimoto replies that it really was just regular coffee, no more than 500 yen per cup ($5), but that she by herself had drank around 8000 yen ($80) worth of coffee which like... girl... 0-0 that’s around 16 cups

From 2009 - 2010, all four of them had serializations in Weekly Shounen Jump. Shinohara mentions that he doesn’t really have memories from the time he was working on Sket Dance (because he was in a “strange” frame of mind, probably meaning he was so focused on making sure Sket Dance wasn’t canceled that he blocked out everything else)

Aimoto asks if they remember the survey results. Shinohara says that he remembers the results for his own manga, but not others. Aimoto says the same. Ooishi then asks them what’s the best survey ranking they ever got. Shinohara asks if they’re allowed to reveal that, which then leads to everyone wondering if they can. Ooishi says that since they’re talking about really old results it should be fine. Aimoto starts talking about it, but then there’s so much interference you can’t tell what she’s saying, causing Ooishi to joke that the editors are jamming their feed. Everyone laughs and decides to change the subject.

Asou asks if they read comments from readers. Shinohara and Ooishi say that they do. Shinohara says that for a mystery story like Kanata no Astra, he would get nervous before reading the comments, because he was always afraid that someone would figure out the mystery and reveal it to everyone else. Asou says that for gag mangas, a lot of the comments were tsukkomi rebuttals to the jokes.

Ooishi asks about everyone’s method on choosing character names, as he feels this is something he’s bad at. Aimoto says that recently she was told, in order for her characters’ names to be easily searchable on the internet, she shouldn’t pick out names that are commonly used. Asou remarks that that’s how he chose his pen name, by finding something that wasn’t already used on the internet.

On that note, while Asou Shuuichi and Aimoto Shou are both pen names, Shinohara Kenta and Ooishi Kouji use their real names, something that they both regret now. They remark that their generation of Jump mangaka didn’t really use pen names. Shinohara says that whenever he gets a package delivered from Shueisha, he gets worried that the delivery person would find out his identity and address, so now he has a “pen name” just for package delivery. Ooishi says that he uses a different name for haircuts and food delivery, and that when the hairstylist asks about his occupation, he just says that he works at home remotely.

All four remark that signing stuff for fans is hard, because they can’t just write their names they also have to draw something, and they feel a lot of pressure to make sure that drawing is good for the fan. Shinohara comments that although the requests make him very happy, he also gets worried because he’s slow at drawing. Whenever he watches videos of Kubo-sensei drawing (Kubo as in Kubo Tite, the mangaka of Bleach), he’s in awe because he produces such wonderful drawings so quickly and without sketching a rough draft or any guidelines.

Ooishi asks them when did they decide on their autograph, recounting that Hamada Kousuke (mangaka of Hanebado!) already had his autograph ready when working as an assistant at 19 years old. Shinohara says that he only decided on his after Sket Dance got serialized. Ooishi comments that he hesitated thinking about his autograph because there was always the possibility that his manga wouldn’t succeed, which Shinohara readily agrees with, stating that with Jump, the risk of cancellation always loomed overhead.

Ooishi asks when did they decide to be a mangaka. Asou and Ooishi decided around the age of 20. (Aimoto does not state exactly when, but given that she debuted at 19, probably at least a year before then.) Shinohara is the outlier who decided at 28/9, after quitting his job at a video game company. He submitted works for the Jump 12 Outstanding Rookie Manga Award and did not win, but he was a finalist. After that he debuted in Akamaru Jump with “Red Panda Puppet Show”, which Asou says he found really entertaining. Aimoto was also writing for Akamaru at around the same time, her debut work “Hanasaka Hime”, which Shinohara says he remembers very well, because the art was so good. Ooishi says that she was probably the youngest person to have debuted, but Aimoto says that she thinks Yabuki (Black Cat and To Love-ru Mangaka) was the youngest, because he debuted at the age of 18. Shinohara laughs and remarks that he must be the oldest and Yabuki the youngest. They have a funny relationship where Yabuki is his senpai even though he’s the “younger brother” (remember, they’re brother-in-laws lol) 

Shinohara mentions that when he visits his wife’s family home for the new year, Yabuki is also there. Ooishi jokes, presenting a To Love-Ru scenario where Yabuki’s in the bath and Shinohara enters the room. Shinohara finishes the joke saying, “I slide on a bar of soap and then, ossan on ossan, we bash our crotches together.”

[jonathan-samuel-smith]

Damian The Mangaka

Word count: 5,855

Relationships: Jonathan Samuel Kent/Damian Wayne

Characters: Damian Wayne, Jonathan Samuel Kent, Lois Lane (briefly), Maya Ducard (Briefly)

Tags: I Was Sick When I Wrote This, Fluff, Getting Together, Coming Out, Manga & Anime, Middle School, damian is in 8th grade while jon is in 6th but they get together when jon is 14 and damian is 16, Birthday Party, Shopping Malls

Read on AO3

Excerpt under the cut.

It’s 6:30pm and Damian has already completed all of his school assignments as far ahead as his teachers would allow him to. He’s exercised in the morning and he will go on patrol tonight. He’s caught up on the anime list Jon recommended to him, and he’s read a great deal of Shoujo Manga in class after finishing his work. So Instead of doing any of those activities he might normally do to occupy his time, He goes to his drafting table and takes paper, his pens and ink and brushes and pencils, and a ruler, and starts making panel boxes.

His plan is this: He first draws the panels on the page, then he writes what happens in the panels on the page, then he draws the speech bubbles, then he draws the characters and backgrounds, inks, shades, expertly writes the text legibly, and scans it in.

First, though, he has to know what he’s going to write. He wants to write Shoujo, because it’s a great way to theorize about and study human behavior. Definitely not because it’s a nice daydream. Damian is confident that he is too mature for things like that. He turns on his phone and searches for common japanese names for his character. The female lead will be named Chiba Nakano and the male lead will be named Murata Haruto.

Nakano, the surname of a famous warrior. Her parents expected great things from her, and for her to perform their traditions with the greatest respect and diligence. She is well practiced in martial arts and ikebana. She makes ink paintings when she longs to feel free, like her own person.

Damian sketches out his design of the girl. She’s short, with sharp eyes that when resting look a bit bored, her mouth is naturally downturned at the corners. Her jaw is wide and her cheeks are chubby. She wears eyeshadow and lipstick and is beautiful. Her hair is cut short, similar to Damian’s, because he has the best reference for it and he is going to be drawing her a lot. She wears a school uniform and outside of class she wears skater skirts and baggy tops that drape over her shoulder. She acts brusque and pushes people away when they get close, but she gets the most angry when the people she likes don’t give her attention, so you can tell that she does care. She will make flower arrangements inspired by those she loves and gift them away. She likes animals and goes to the park every day to feed the ducks corn.

Haruto. A name that means light, sun, clear weather, and to fly or soar. A cheerful and sweet character like this should be perfect for slice of life. He should have messy black hair and glasses, be tall and the kohai of Nakano. He should have a dazzling smile. He’s so excitable that it scares most people off, but most are friendly towards him because he is friendly with everyone. They wind up in the same friend group and that is how they meet.

[gooseagain8]

Raimu Usuzumi - Ultimate Mangaka

Sloth

So far these are the only digital drawings I have of them

Their design is pretty basic

t-shirt, baggy pajamas, a big blanket over their shoulders and some socks. I'll definitely change up the color pallette and maybe the hair just a bit?

I have a design of them when they just started out as a mangaka, just imagine the opposite; very tidy and still full of energy

Having always dreamed of being a mangaka because it's what helped them through tough times

They started making manga at a young age and right now I'm pretty sure i planned for them to be the oldest in the cast

Their name, Raimu can be read as Lime which I thought was cute so Lime is sorta their pen name and the name they use to present themselves online/publicly

They've been very overworked, currently working on many well known on-going mangas

They so desperately want to quit but would feel immensely guilty because what would happen to the people who love their works? How would people react if their favorite series just ended?

They understand that what they make is something truly important and an inspiration to some people. They love their fans and work very hard to not disappoint any of them

They don't want to quit, they love what to they do... but someone should give em a vacation or something

Back to the working hard thing,

Well... yeah they work hard but most of the time they try to procrastinate or have a hiatus any chance they get (Don't get me wrong they very much need it but fans are either understanding or would be very impatient)

Raimu is very weak and tired all the time, someone who doesn't move around much and just very done with it all. Constantly so tired but can never sleep, its very frustrating for them. It's probably best that you don't talk with them in between their breaks

-

Raimu is a hard working mangaka who just can't let their fans down and has ruined themselves trying to please them and live up to the name of Ultimate Mangaka

Anon - Ultimate Singer

Wrath

Just need to say that this 'not' what she looks like currently. She has a more muscular build and I'm still figuring out her design.

Anon is her stage name

She's an adopted child

As a child she usually bottled up feelings and thoughts, was told to never be rude or offend anyone and lived quietly. She's always loved music but only ever listened and sang a little, never even once considered being a singer because she never thought she had the same talent as the people she listened to

Throughout the years she's worked many jobs but her first job related to music was debuting as an idol in Japan. She eventually quit, although the idea of singing as a career never left her mind.

Being back to working a normal job her life has felt pretty dull and sort of... irritating. Still, she keeps everything inside

And let that go on for a few more years until she finally breaks and just wants to scream.

She doesn't want to keep these thoughts inside anymore, she wants to shout them out. She quit her job and wants to try music again. She's extremely frustrated with herself for wasting all these years doing pointless jobs she found no enjoyment in, all the people she's had to deal with for years and remembering how she could never speak up.

She was enraged with herself. She wanted to improve, so she started quickly.

She's been improving her singing and has been working out to get stronger

She pours out her heart when she's singing/on stage and she feels happy with herself

Although she's much more short-tempered now and says whatever without thinking, she can get.... very violent conceringly often

She knows when she sees her past self in someone else and it irritates her. She tries her best to make them more open and vocal in their opinions ( she's aggressively supportive so the person just ends up being intimidated and scared )

[octahyde]

it always surprises me when people use she for the hearts and octa mangaka

like yeah they use feminine pen names so it makes sense if you’re not familiar with gay manga but as a guy familiar with gay manga: these guys are men and they are EXTREMELY HORNY men

Yuuta is literally a fanservice character and I’m like actively astounded with how much shit they get away with because the manga industry doesn’t realize it’s all horny gay fanservice (Yana absolutely does when overseeing everything though. Based) (but also I am not complaining. I love fatboys.)

[gifmourningu]

Star Twinkle Precure watch guide

A list of episodes that let you know which episodes are less interesting and skippable.

I have to say this season was overall very engaging compared to most other Precure seasons; as a result there's not going to be a lot of skips here. The main issue with this season is episode 36, which I'll discuss under the read more (will contain spoilers).

Plot is bolded. Recommended filler (character development or background -oriented) is italicized. Skippable episodes grouped in block quote.

1 — Cure Star

2 — Cure Milky

3 — Taurus Pen (+ Hikaru/Lala development)

4 — Cure Soleil

5 — Cure Selene

6 — Leo Pen (Lala focus)

7 — Repairing Spaceship 

8 — Libra Pen (Elena & Prunce focus)

9 — Capricorn Pen (Madoka focus)

10 — Villain powerup (Hikaru focus)

11 — New Finisher (Hikaru focus)

12 — The girls make a movie (Lala/Hikaru focus + Comedic)

13 — Lala goes to school (Lala focus, also good context for the next ep)

14 — Scorpio Pen (Elena focus) 

15 — Capricorn Pen + Blue Cat Entrance (Madoka focus)

16 — Madoka’s Archery Finals (Madoka focus) This episode isn’t bad but basically rehashes the same lesson in episode 9 that shows Madoka embracing her friends as her support. Don't worry, she gets a really good episode later.

17 — Virgo Pen (Yuni focus)

18 — Hikaru’s mom the mangaka (Hikaru focus)

19 — Gemini Pen & Planet Rainbow (Yuni focus)

20 — Cure Cosmo

21 — Cure Cosmo part 2 & Aries Pen 

22 — Tanabata & Hikaru’s dad (Hikaru focus)

23 — Fuwa Panic (Yuni + Elena focus)

24 — Aquarius Pen (Madoka + Yuni focus)

25 — Festivities (Yuni + Lala focus)

26 — Pajama Party in Space 

27 — Water Planet (Yuni + Ayewan focus)

28 — Fixing the Rocket (Elena/Madoka focus)

29 — Cancer Pen part 1 (Lala + Madoka focus)

30 — Cancer Pen part 2 (Lala focus)

31 — Pisces Pen (Hikaru focus)

32 — New Finisher

33 — Fuwa wants to be useful 

34 — Elena guides a cactus alien (Elena focus)

35 — Student Council Election (Hikaru focus)

36 — “But Stealing Is Always Bad Even When You Were Stolen From First :(” (Yuni focus) This episode is. Oof. I disagree very much with the politics of it. Check the read more for spoilers and discussion.

37 — Costume Party (Kappard + Lala focus)

38 — Cosmo Twinkle Imagination (Yuni + Ayewan focus)

39 — English Speech Contest (Elena + Tenjo focus)

40 — Milky Twinkle Imagination (Lala + Kappard focus)

41 — Selene Twinkle Imagination (Madoka focus)

42 — Soleil Twinkle Imagination leadup (Elena + Tenjo focus)

43 — Soleil Twinkle Imagination (Elena + Tenjo focus)

44 — Christmas (Covers Elena’s decision for her future + cool fight in the sky)

45 — Star Twinkle Imagination (Hikaru focus)

46 ~ 49 — Finale

Below is reasons for my issues with ep 36: ↓

So this episode unfortunately falls into the pitfalls of false equivalency that we often see in media, namely the idea that if you do something against your oppressors you're as bad as they are. The other issue is that Yuni's whole situation tracks very closely as a metaphor for indigenous survival against colonialism and genocide, which makes this episode even worse. To top it off, we also have a cop character who wants to capture her that is basically posed as morally good because "stealing is bad" is their overall message.

"Stealing is bad" is a moral that you would expect to find in a kid's show for sure, but when paired with the history of genocide it translates terribly.

Recall that:

Yuni's original culture is the only one inhabiting her home planet, which they came to after being chased away from other planets. In other words, they are historically a persecuted minority.

Yuni is the only current survivor of genocide against her planet by colonial forces Notraider (who specifically say they want to take over all planets and milk them for their resources).

The Notraiders (through Ayewan) then stole all of her culture's artifacts and then put them on the black market

The black market is run by the Mafia

Auctions are held for the equivalent of billions of dollars (juu oku in yen), and there are billionaires. Which implies space capitalism and the plundering of other planets in general. Billionaires do not exist without the mass accumulation of wealth, and there are slums mentioned which Yuni donates to.

Yuni's culture's items have been stolen from her people and sold against their will. Yet, for some reason, if she's to steal them back, that's just as bad as the original plundering of her planet. This is simply false equivalence. Hikaru insists that she needs to ask for her items nicely back from the mafia, of all things (if they're the mafia they're in the business of killing people for money. Hikaru, hello?). To further this kids' moral, Yuni is reduced to begging for her culture's item back from the mafia boss, even promising to pay for it. Why should she have to pay for something that he shouldn't even own to begin with? It's just disrespectful on all levels.

Meanwhile, Hikaru, who lives in Japan, is part of a colonialist legacy herself who have similarly stolen land from indigenous people as well as their artifacts. All over the world, in the United States, and in Japan, governments in power have plundered indigenous graves for cultural remains and items and have not returned them despite repeated petitioning from said indigenous groups. Basically, asking nicely in the real world takes forever and forces indigenous groups to jump through 239480 hoops, all the while subjecting them to continuous destruction of their heritage. Yet the violence of them being taken in the first place is never questioned; it is accepted, while indigenous groups are demonized for standing up, trying to protect their lands.

Honestly, this episode was really bad. Its only saving grace is that Yuni says she won't stop traveling to get her items back, though it's unclear if she's planning to ask for them "nicely" back every time. Frankly, she should be allowed to steal them back. The billionaires who paid millions of dollars for the artifacts won't miss the money — the dragon guy sure didn't. Yuni is literally Robin Hood, and she doesn't even amass her own wealth; she takes back her cultural items and donates anything else she takes from rich people to the poor. I'm sorry, but this isn't even morally grey. She's doing everything right. The dog cop character is convinced Yuni needs to be locked up... why? Is this really the best use of the interstellar police forces' time rather than fighting than the Notraiders? It's not like any of them showed up to investigate what happened to Yuni's planet afterwards. She has literally gotten nothing from them and is being demonized for crimes against the market.

Anyway, given that it's a kid's show, at least Yuni's people are restored in the end, and by Ayewan herself as a form of a reparations. Since Ayewan undid everything she did (this would be impossible in real life) and worked to help Yuni's people afterwards, the rest of the Yuni / Ayewan plot gets a pass in my mind (even though that also runs on false equivalence). It's really just this one episode that is a mess because it refuses to deal with the structural oppression that exists and that Yuni is fighting against.

It's a shame, really, since otherwise Star Twinkle is a very solid show whose themes of embracing individuality and difference between people is incredibly powerful. Hikaru herself is great in every other episode other than this one, and wonderfully neurodivergent. So anyway, here's your warning for episode 36. Recommended skip if you don't want to spend your time fuming.

[webginz]

apparently japan is getting rid of pen names for mangakas. i feel really bad because there are female mangakas who hide behind male pen names and will be "outed" (for lack of better term) as women in this highly misogynistic field. :((

[salamancers]

DRAGON MANGAKA FROM ATLANTIS......... 👀

NON-BINARY THREE-HEADED DRAGON MANGAKA AND SOLE HEIR TO ONE OF THE THREE BIG ORGANIZED CRIME FAMILIES IN ATLANTIS

Xavion not Atlantis (not = born of) is my kids on brooms rp character that i made to be As Much As Possible, just as much Character as one can fit into One Guy/Gal

↑ pictured here without their signatute red stripes, both hair and fins have red stripes AND she will get even stripier when transformed into their dragon form (they transform when hurt/stressed) since its lion fish-themed

shes very outgoing and social but has had a hard time getting any real friends because of their familys reputation. instead xavion threw himself wholeheartedly into art, and makes manga professionally (under a pen-name, in secret from his family) and has drawn the slice-of-life school comedy watashi wa student-sensei (about a high school teacher that switches places with one of his students to relive his school life) for several years!

xavion is a huge nerd and wants to keep drawing manga full-time, but feels pressured to get into the family business. currently they are going to magic uni and is trying to Figure Things Out while also being the head of the schools new manga club

also he can unhinge his jaw like a snake, has lived a few years in japan, has a butler/body guard she sees as an older brother (the butler acts as a go-between for their manga editor), is a gamer™, was born as an egg and hatched two years later