#its not like osamu is a super important character anyway

[turbocao]

so. i look good in hats.

particularly brimmed hats -the wider the brim the better- or baseball caps.

(i do not look good in beanies, much to my displeasure.)

the thing is ive never found a way to wear wide brimmed hats that doesnt make me look like im wearing a costume. this summer, though, i tried on one of my brother's baseball caps (he started wearing them when he started balding) and i found out baseball caps are actually wearable for, like, day to day outfits. i thought i should buy a baseball cap myself.

i am not a fan of any baseball teams, of course, im not usamerican. and i dont particularly like to wear a hat with a brand logo on it, like my brother does. and when i look at baseball caps in the stores theres so many random designs to choose from i dont know what to get. like you can put literally anything on a cap. a picture, a sentence, a single word, nothing at all, you name it.

and then i thought:

WHAT IF

WHAT IF I GOT AN ONIGIRI MIYA CAP

[starzzmissthesun]

Since you asked I have to tell you abt this story I came up with like 4-5 years ago and have held so deep in my heart since! The characters are literally a part of me atp. So the main character is named Margaret Lainey and the whole story is basically in the format of her diary, it's 14 entries within the month of February and let's just say I put her through it😭. She starts off the journal entry explaining how she has to start writing in the journal as recommended by her therapist who she sees bc of a suicide attempt... yeah

And towards the the first half of the entries you see her getting better up until Valentine's day, a very pivotal part of the story, where everything just starts going down hill.

A lot of it as to do w/ her unrequited love, she's head over heals for this girl Lydia, who she believes is straight, now obviously Lydia not returning her feelings isn't the only reason she goes off the deep end, it just sets back on all the things she still hasn't healed from, considering she's been struggling for a looooonnng time.

What's a really devastating part of the story is also Margaret's best friend Jamie, now Jamie is a trans, mtf, but as the whole story is told in Margaret's perspective its unknown to her and the reader which means Jamie is dead-named and misgendered the entire time (shes still super important and gets her own story bc ive always wanted to also write a sequel for her) so Jamie is like really in love w/ Margaret, a lesbian, but Margaret thinks Jamie is a boy the whole time :(

At the end of the story the last chapter/entry is a suicide note, Margaret kills herself which is definitely foreshadowed throughout even though you also think she's gonna be better by the end, but unexpectedly it's actually a double suicide w/ Jamie so after reading the 1st part ur supposed to be like hello what!?!? Hence the sequel which is Jamie's story

I love them both sm, I have story names and outlines but I never feel confident enough to do their story justice😓

The story names have been the same since I came up with it

Part one: Through My Eyes, Love Margaret Lainey

Part two: Through My Eyes, Love Jaime Blue

So now that background story rant is out the way (sorry its so long😭😭) here are some fun facts abt them

Margaret

Her favorite colors are green and yellow, she paints her nails purple and blue and black constantly and always has them chiped from picking away at them,she cuts her own hair so it's always really choppy, she's got tons of beauty marks but she doesn't like them, her favorite books are No longer human by Osamu Dazai, The Catcher in the Rye, and Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, her favorite movies are Coraline, Heathers, Thirteen, and Girl Interrupted, she enjoys reading, photography, and collecting odd things, some of her favorite songs are Cigarettes out the window, Death of a party girl, I'll die anyway, Change (in the house of flies), Ptolemaea, she's constantly humming and writing on her arms, she's got a horrible sleep schedule and bad trust issues and horrible self perception/esteem, she loves to take pictures of Lydia whenever she sees her even though she knows it's odd and she shouldn't, her loves to hang out with Jamie, it always makes her feel content

Jamie

Her favorite colors are light pink and red, her favorite books are The picture of Dorian Gray and Speak, her favorite movies are As You Are and the Corpse Bride, she also loves horror movies even through they give her nightmares and make her keep her feet strictly under the blankets at night, some of her favorite songs are Heather, Family line, I can't handle change, Christmas kids, Heart to Heart, Out of Touch, and Sailor Song, she loves fashion and wants to have an odd shoe collection one day, she paints her toe nails red constantly with a stolen bottle of polish, she likes to sit in her closet with a blanket and a flashlight with a book like a little kid, she hates looking at herself in the mirror, she loves to hang out at the park with Margaret, swinging on the swings and pretending like it's a date just for five minutes

There's sm more to say and I also have a character sheet for Lydia cause she's actually great but I think this is all it's gonna be, if you actually read this whole thing ur kinda the best cause I ranted sm 😭

Oh my GOD!!!!!! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!!!! GENUINELY GOT A PARAGRAPH IN AND STARTED SHAKING A BIT CAUSE I GOT SO EXCITED!!!!!! THIS IS SUCH!!!! A COOL IDEA!!! I ACTUALLY LOVE THE WHOLE DIARY ENTRY CONCEPT SO MUCH!!!!! THIS SOUNDS SO AMAZING AND COOL!! I LOVE THESE CHARACTERS SO MUCH??? GENUINELY I LOVE THE UNRELIABILITY OF MARGARET???? AND THE STORY ITSELF IS SO COOL? I WOULD LOVE TO READ THIS ACTUALLY, LIKE COULD BE A BOOK IT'S SO INTERESTING??? AND LIKE I CAN JUST IMAGINE THE FORESHADOWING YOU COULD PUT IN HERE? I ALSO LOVE HOW YOU HAVE SUCH A GRASP ON THE CHARACTERS? LIKE THEY FEEL REALLY REAL. UGH I ACTUALLY REALLY WANNA KNOW MORE!!!! I TRUST YOU COULD DO THIS JUSTICE🙏LIKE YOU HAVE SUCH A GRASP OVER THE WHOLE THING, AND IT'S GOT SO MUCH TO IT? I THINK THAT YOU SHOULD PICK YOUR FAV CHAPTER THAT YOU THINK COULD DO THE BEST AND START FROM THERE!!!! (also if you have any character designs lmk cause I'd draw them for you totally:D) ugh this is actually so amazing, if you ever wanna say more, feel free!! Cause id be ECSTATIC!!! Also, I really love the idea that it's almost destined for her to die, but it's so unexpected when she does. :DD

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Ch 37: Undead + Unluck

Little fanartist

This cover is super sweet and the little details like the stubby crayon and the way the socks gather are so wholesome! I love the blending of genres, too. Little Fuuko has drawn a sports manga scene from You-Me and has a magical girl on her shorts, and the cover itself is a time travel.

Space soccer club invasion arc sounds like a real page-turner, tbh. I'd read it.

The panels we're shown all match up with something that happened during the Acks battle. ⬇️

They point out several times that To You, From Me has 101 volumes, which corresponds with the tablet that keeps track of penalties.

Something that bugs me here is that Juiz gives them instructions without explaining why doing those things is important.

I wish she would give them more context like what she thinks they might find. It feels like she's still keeping some of the important info to herself.

Andy concludes that they'll need to make a manga to get into Shueisha HQ. Which is just an absolutely delightful thing to happen after the heavy Unbelievable Arc.

Fuuko has every fanfic author's dilemma:

Andy mentions Osamu Tezuka, the "Father of Manga," whose famous works were created in the 1950s-80s. One of his later works was Black Jack, and the main character has some similarities with Rip.

Black Jack also has some chapters that have been changed or removed from publication, much like You-Me.

Tezuka used what he called a "Star System," which was his rotating cast of recurring characters that appear in works in his universe, similar to looping in UU using the same character types for each loop.

Andy tells Fuuko to write what she knows best.

Fuuko says she's especially interested in learning more about herself through writing the story, so that she'll be able to summon even greater strokes of Unluck, which takes us back to Chapter 4, when Andy was trying to do the exact same thing:

BUT, now that Andy knows he won't die even if the world ends, what's the point of Fuuko trying to give him the best death??

What's the point of Andy's big dream to have a wicked sick death? What's the point of him staying with Fuuko? Unless, of course, he's developed feelings for her!

Andy gathers a team of helpers (except Shen, whose power is too dangerous for this project, but it's nice to see him speaking Chinese) and says he'll do the storyboards. Mico even brings Fuuko a set of robot arms to help her draw more quickly. Tatiana gives her some interesting advice on how to use them...

"Imagine looking down at yourself from above." BECAUSE THAT'S HOW FUUKO'S GONNA WRITE THE STORY! She's looking down at her own life and putting it on paper. She's writing what she knows!

There's even a panel of her drawing her manga!

Having Fuuko write her own manga is fun in a Bakuman kind of way, but I also think it's a comment from the God/Author. This is just one of the many ways the God/Author is making them suffer and toil, and of course the author feels that this is a real test of character and strength. They're making the characters suffer as they have.

It also gives the IRL author Tozuka a chance to throw in some light gags about the manga business and let Andy wear a fun hat.

No, he doesn't look like a shoujo manga artist--- he looks like Osamu Tezuka!

Poor Andy, he tried!

The Shueisha rep tells her a lot of very specific feedback that's probably the same kind of things Tozuka heard when he submitted Undead Unluck! The manga Fuuko submitted, with its wilder-looking Andy, matches up pretty well with the one-shot that started UU. I hope she left out the gropey parts.

Anyway, the manga impressed the Shueisha rep enough that she agreed to let Fuuko see the original manuscript for To You, From Me.

Now we know why we've been hearing so much about this manga, starting from page 1, chapter 1 where Fuuko is holding it while standing on the bridge over the trains. It's not just an "artifact" in the story. An ARTIFACT was used to write it!

Masterpost

[causenessus]

long time no speak! before i go on i just wanna let you know its perfectly fine if you dont see my asks/questions !! seriously ^^ i understand you're busy with writing or outside shtuff so dont add more stress to yourself hun <3

i do want to ask how you write dialog so smoothly? ive always struggled on writing conversations without it seeming awkward or really forced??

thank you again for helping me i really truely appreciate it more than i can express. you are a saint

-smau anon <33

SMAU ANON!!!!! HELLO HELLO <3 i hope you're doing well!! and i will always answer your questions even if it takes a little bit <3 thank you so much for being patient aa!! <3 and i was just thinking about you earlier this week i hope that your writing and planning has been going good!!!

(clipping this so it isn't super long, sorry i YAP)

honestly 😭 i feel like sometimes i struggled with this too but what i think is choppy no one else sees so first of all it's important to remember not to be too hard on yourself!! i'm not sure if you're talking about texts or actual written dialogue but in case it's both, let me start with text:

i often think in a mindset of how i text. and to be honest while i'm outlining i usually get tons of ideas for little texts/entire conversations anyway and so i'll write it all out (for example, my love notes outline was 116 pages long LMAO because the entire thing is just me writing out text like this-

"atsumu: OKAY WELL NOW YOU GUYS REALLY WENT ON A DATE oikawa: i hope you gave her a new years kiss osamu: i think you’re putting too much faith in him bokuto: I HOPE YOU GUYS HAD A GOOD TIME!! suna: bokuto and osamu are the only good people here osamu: if you had to elope with one of us who would u pick"

-yes i did copy that straight from my document. so FIRST since writing that all out + outlines works for me, my outline is basically my rough draft and i think it always helps just to have an idea of what you're thinking of writing before you start writing it! so i'm pretty sure that i changed up bokuto's text in that clip because when i was writing the actual chapter, i didn't think it flowed well or was very in character for him. which leads me into my second point which is for texts and written parts! i think it gets easier if you try to just think from the point of view/mindsets of characters. like suna is obviously a very much more relaxed laid back guy who doesn't talk with a lot of enthusiasm while atsumu is a little more dumb!! (we love him) and loud!!! if you struggle with trying to imagine how they would talk, i would recommend doing things like rewatching episodes/clips of them. before writing love notes, i rewatched the inarizaki match to get a better feel for him (even though they gave me so little of my husband 😔😔😔 i took what i could get). pinterest also has lots of funny or romantic silly little text clips if you just search them up which is what inspired lots of the love notes epilogue (such as the "i'm going to strangle you" "can you even reach my neck" texts, that was literally something i found on pinterest) that you can get inspiration from or even your own funny texts with friends!

for written dialogue, i tend to imagine the scene playing out and then i sort of write what i envisioned. like i imagined suna and y/n on the train, how they're looking at each other, and what they would talk about and then wrote that out! i italicize how they're looking at each other because it's always nice to add descriptions to your writings sometimes :) and when you imagine the scenes, it's sort of second nature! i'd say it once again just really goes back to having a good hold and understand of your characters and how they'll interact. and when you understand them, it also becomes easier to envision them. and also remember everyone writes and interprets things differently!!! you will write your own version of characters and it will be perfect. do not worry about being "ooc" or anything! finding how you relate to characters and giving them personal experiences (if that makes sense) can help you understand those characters more if you struggle with it. and again, rough drafts are super helpful! and they're called ROUGH for a reason. like if you're not feeling a scene, don't force yourself to write it, just be like "y/n and kenma do this." and then move on! when i'm just not too sure about ideas or i can't imagine anything at the moment, i will literally just be like "y/n and suna see each other at onigiri miya." and then tab it. i hope some of this is helpful!! 😭 i keep going on and on because i'm trying to make sure i'm actually explaining things well and in a way that makes sense. i didn't always used to imagine scenes as i wrote them but i would highly recommend it if you're brain works that way! it's like making/watching a movie in your head and thinking of it that way makes it a bit easier for dialogue to flow at least for me so that's my number one tip <3 i hope this helped a little bit!! and i can't wait to talk to u again lovely <3

[hiraethwa]

Hi Ave 🥰🥰🥰🥰 long time no type!

Well not really bcs you know who I am behind anon (don’t tell anyone bcs I use this alias on other blogs lol 🫶🏻) but I know sometimes it’s nice to receive compliments and I enjoy doing it in anon form.

I can yap for hours about anything really. Oikawa, OSD, Semi, Osamu Compression Sleeves, you know. The important things.

You’re such an amazing writer, like the way you’re able to convey emotions is so special. In English we’re doing an assignment about how to “steal smartly” from writers we admire. We read things they’ve written and look at the structure in which they were formed.

When he mentioned authors we admire I so badly wanted to say you because one summer day feels like a book to me. A novel I’m not able to put down. Even though you’re supposed to know the characters beforehand, as it’s a fanfiction, you still do so much character and world building. I can see how much work and effort you put into your story and I can see how much you love it.

The way you love is evident in the way you express events. How everything happens for a purpose even if its purpose was to be purposeless. The background you give us on the characters makes them feel like so much more than just “Oh this is an Ushijima fic.” Because you can see the clear care in crafting the image of Ushijima you have.

He’s still the Ushijima we know but he’s also so much more. He’s more than just a character from Haikyuu. He feels so Human. In your story, he has goals and ambitions and aspirations. And he’s not perfect, he feels jealous, he has avoidant conflicts. He’s not good at expressing himself. He’s human.

Y/N. Don’t even get me started. She’s so perfect: and not because she’s actually perfect. But she’s everything. She’s smart and talented but not because she didn’t work to be talented. She’s not just a reader insert. She has her goals and they’re very clear in her mind. There’s ugly parts of her, lying. They make bad decisions BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT KIDS DO!

Anyways…this is my favorite fic I’ve ever read and thank you so much for writing it.

So I’m rereading OSD- as I said I would. I will comment my in depth rambles about it 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

-sincerely bakery anon 🍪

bakery anon, you flatter me 🥹

i try my best! (and i am only human) i am flawed (a perfectionist) which is also why i take forever to write (+ procrastination due to fears of bad writing) hehe, i am super honored that you consider me your favorite author (which means i must be doing something right here :))

your words on toshi and y/n is making my poor heart burst into happiness! i want y/n to have her own story despite it's a reader insert (secretly selfish because when i read i like to pretend i am someone else, which is why i enjoy reading—living so many lives alongside my own)

i hope you will enjoy the next 6 chapters of OSD <3

thanks for dropping by my ask box!!

[chil2de]

How are you today? If its alright with you, can I request a Atsumu x fem reader where she has a super tomboy style and ALWAYS wears baggy clothes, but one day atsumu comes over to hang out and the only outfit she has left is kinda a tight fitting shirt and for the first time ever Atsumu realizes just how curvy his girlfriend is

sorry if thats to specific! feel free to ignorethis!

warning - miya atsumu x reader

hiii! i’m doing okay anonie, thank you and i hope u are faring well!!! so um this ended up being a LOT longer than i expected pls forgive me it was supposed to be a cute lil drabble but now its like uh 2k words aJdhfhhd, i really loved this idea!!! don’t worry ab it being too specific i actually like that and it helps give me a general idea about the req

well whilst this isn’t tooooo nsfw there are a few small themes in the beginning + swearing since i write atsumu like that and implications of sexual content ig at the end but aside from that? just some fluff for our fav king. characters are aged up and i am unsure how it would work but call it anime logic and enjoy! thanks for requesting! (okay rereading the ending is lowkey smut why am i like this)

“b-cup.” atsumu huffed with confidence. he took a large swig out of his water bottle, nodding his head wisely in affirmation.

“really? i’d say c-cup.” suna chimed in, his half-lidded gaze narrowing.

“nah, it’s b-cup”

“what the hell are you two talking about?” osamu interjected, concern and disgust thick on his features as he came over carrying a few towels.

“(y/n)’s bra size” suna nonchalantly responded, his eyes flicking up for a few seconds as he accepted the towel from osamu.

“‘tsumu i knew you were messed in the head but, suna? have you caught his germs?”

“fuck are you making it sound like i have some viral disease?”

“you don’t?” suna snorted, plopping down onto the floor to sit cross-legged.

“why don’t you just ask her?” osamu’s gaze flickered onto yours from across the court. you felt your ears burn from the way the three of them were staring at you.

was something on your face?

a bug? dirt?

“huh? like i’m supposed to say, hey baby girl, what size are your tits?”

“i’m still saying b-cup”

“c-cup”

“i think b-cup” osamu joined in, watching atsumu screw his face at him

“you goddamn hypocrite-“ “who’s being a hypocrite?” kita inquired with a half-hushed tone, making his way over with a few protein bars

“oh my god i’m going home” atsumu groaned, resting his palms on his knees as he stood up. he beelined towards you, his exhaustion painted his lazy smile beautifully. he still had the energy to turn around over his shoulder and flip his middle finger up at his team whilst his right hand snaked around to your waist.

somewhere around your waist. it took him a little bit of digging through all the fabric.

it didn’t matter to him, though. as much of a jackass as he might’ve been, he never judged you for the way you dressed. even if it meant that sometimes you looked a lil bit homeless, at the end of the day- he still had that glimmer in his eyes whenever he saw you.

you would be his favourite baby girl, no matter what.

“is that my shirt you’re wearing?” he hummed, glancing down to look at it.

it was, in fact, one of his shirts. it was matte black in colour, with a small dip that would showcase atsumu’s collar bones. it was a little bit faded from the many wash cycles it endured throughout its lifetime, but he would always notice the small tear in the bottom right section of the fabric.

“sorryyy, i know you just washed it but it smelled so nice. also, wow, did you put on deodorant? you actually smell like a man it’s kinda creepy”

“i always put on deodorant you dipshit, you’re always crying about how pretty my face looks so your nose doesn’t pick up the scent. it’s verbena citrus, buy your own because i know you’ll try stealing mine so i’m putting a padlock on that shit.” atsumu scoffed, digging his fingers into your sides to tickle you as you walked. you squirmed, swatting him away as you dug your hands into the pockets of your joggers. they were not atsumu’s, unfortunately, for you found out the hard way that you would literally have to drag the excess fabric behind you like some train dress or bundle it up and fold it, which, in retrospect- did not look too aesthetically pleasing. you settled for your own joggers and favourite high-top sneakers to match.

“you know you’ll say all this but give me your deodorant anyway, right?” you stuck your tongue out at him. he rolled his eyes, ruffling your hair.

“hey.” he called out, causing you to direct your attention towards him.

he nudged your arm with his elbow.

oh.

“give it here.”

you uncurled your left hand out of your pocket, zipping it up to make sure the contents inside didn’t spill. atsumu slid his right hand away from your waist and opened his palm up, intertwining his fingertips between yours into a tight lock. he grazed his thumb over the back of your hand, giving you a small squeeze.

“that was the cheesiest and most corniest thing you’ve done and i hated it” you made a mock gagging sound, averting your gaze.

you could feel the blush fresh on your cheeks, heart pounding in your chest like it was about to explode.

“wait, you thought i was holding your hand because we’re dating? i’m just doing it because i know your dumbass would get lost” atsumu snorted, throwing his head back in laughter.

well,

you could still see the light blush tinting his cheeks. and it wasn’t the sunset.

“mmm, should i wear this one- wait-“ you grabbed the shirt, folding it upwards as you took a small whiff. well,, you did wear it yesterday… yeah, you did put it in the laundry basket,,, no, it didn’t smell toooo bad, but..

you groaned, tossing it back into said basket as you furrowed your brows in concentration.

you heard the doorbell ring which only caused you to panic even further. you just needed a shirt. literally any shirt. you were about to cut your freaking pants out and sew them together to another pair for a shirt.

since it was a friday, you had atsumu walk you halfway home. you only lived a street away from him, and the apartment was conveniently built on a fork between the road down to his house and the supermarket. hence, he dropped you off and went to the store all by himself like a responsible adult to grab some snacks for the weekend.

“it’s open!” you called out, leaning your jaw back as you shouted in hopes for your voice to travel further.

in that moment, just in the corner of your eye- you saw a familiar flash of black.

you swooped the fabric up, quietly humming in pleasure when it smelled like laundry detergent and fabric softener.

you lifted the shirt over your head, struggling to pull it down for a few seconds.

you admired yourself briefly in the mirror.

it was a casual t-shirt. it reached down to the middle portion of your arms, though it was significantly less baggy than all of your other clothes. you liked to sleep in it during hot and stuffy summer nights, but rarely found yourself using it otherwise.

it’s not like you didn’t like these kinds of shirts.

but when given the option to look “stylish” or comfortable, who wouldn’t pick comfortable? that’s what was important to you above all. clothes that made you feel like you were constantly in bed were a godsend from the heavens.

“hey dipshit, i spent twenty minutes jumping stores for you but no one sold any (favourite drink) so i got you-“ atsumu halted in his steps, the grocery bags curled around his fists were suddenly forgotten and discarded as he caught sight of you through the doorframe.

you were clad in a pair of old white shorts and a black t-shirt, complimentary of the fact that everything else was currently in the laundry machine. atsumu could outline every single damn crevice and dip on you, and he burned that shit so deep into his retinas that he would still see it when his eyes were closed.

he felt his breath hitch, something deep inside him resonating, growing feral like hunger.

he still stood by what he said,

baggy clothes or not, you were beautiful.

but he wasn’t expecting this

“so you bought what?” you inquired, twisting your torso halfway to greet him as you finished brushing through some knots in your hair at the vanity.

“huh?”

“you said there wasn’t any (favourite drink) so you got what? did you fall and crack your head open on the way here? cause it looks like it”

you could feel your heart squeeze, body temperature increased twofold as icy hot waves wracked every inch of your skin. there was a cold sweat that rolled down the back of your knees.

“shut the hell up, i hate you” atsumu grumbled, forcing himself to turn away from you and stomp off to the kitchen with a pout.

“jesus christ give me strength i hate this woman, where the hell does she get off thinking she can get away with looking so good like that” atsumu mumbled incoherent curses underneath his breath, shakily unloading everything he bought out onto the counter and stuffing the groceries into cabinets and the fridge.

“‘samu, i hate you but dude i need twin telepathy, give me strength so i don’t deck this woman right here right now” he cursed, gritting his teeth. his self-control was about to fly out the window.

“you okay?” you popped your head through the door, leaning into the kitchen.

he could see the outline of your prominent collarbones, the way the shirt still fell a little bit and hung loosely off of your frame. he could see the start of your stomach.

god, it should’ve been illegal the way he wanted to grab your thighs. he wondered for a second what it would look like with his fingerprints etched into your skin there.

“want a few tissues and some lotion?” you snorted, nestling up beside him to help. you gazed at him, watching him keep his eyes narrowed on the packet of pistachios he was fumbling with.

you thought it was cute.

“listen- if you’re not ready yet then i’d suggest that you find something else to wear cause holy shit if you don’t get away from me right now i swear i will not restrain myself-“

“i’m ready” you hummed, giving him an innocent smile. you toyed with your hands behind your back, fiddling with them as butterflies swept your abdomen.

atsumu snorted, eyebrows creasing in confusion. he turned to face you, setting the pistachios down.

“alright i’m not saying this to boost my ego, but, what did you say?”

“i said i’m ready”

you watched his brain stir, gears ticking and turning like clockwork.

atsumu let out a low sigh.

“yeah, yeah. well, then.”

his right hand slammed against the wall, caging you in. he leaned into you, looming over you as his half-lidded eyes burned holes inside your soul. you felt the air tense and switch around him, carnal desires swirling behind his gaze. his chest was so close to yours, practically flush, save for the tiniest gap. you could literally feel his heart hammering.

he was so invasive, so close, yet so respectful. he still kept his distance, just n case you changed your mind.

“are you sure this is what you want?” his voice was hot and slick against the shell of your ear, voice husky and octaves deeper. you could feel the sexual tension dripping from him.

you wrapped your arms around his neck, resting your forehead against him.

“i’m sure, ‘tsumu.”

a loud chuckle ripped from the depths of his chest. it was so hearty, and fuck, it made you clench.

atsumu swooped you up all in one swift motion, hands hooking underneath your thighs as he shoved you against the counter. he sent everything clattering and thudding in the process.

“don’t say i didn’t warn you, doll.”

[tsukkisbean]

how they cheer your up | headcanons

genre: fluff

characters: iwaizumi hajime, miya osamu, terushima yūji, kunimi akira x gn!reader

warnings: none!

a/n: hello if you’re seeing this, that means my scheduled post worked, yay!! hopefully this shows up in the tags otherwise i’ll have to reupload it at a later time (sorry in advance if that’s the case hehe). i’m also trying my hand at writing for other characters so hopefully this does their characters justice??

anyways, i hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy and happy! if you requested something from me, sorry i haven’t gotten to it even though i said i would. i’ll try my best to complete them when i get the chance, thank you for being patient with me 💖 all boys after iwaizumi are under the cut!

iwaizumi hajime

best boy iwaizumi would without a doubt use exercise as a way to cheer you up

but don’t get me wrong, he’s not going to force you to run a marathon or anything like that

i imagine him taking you to one of those entertainment/game parks (not really sure what they’re called ahh) where you guys just hang out all day

when you get there, he’ll immediately take you to the batting cage so you can just channel out all your anger into your swings

once your blood is pumping from the adrenaline he’ll take you to the trampoline area where you guys just bounce around and do flips into the foam pit to burn off all your extra energy

you’ll just be chilling, jumping up and down on one of the trampolines, your back turned to iwaizumi when he straight up scoops you up and tosses you in

he’s cackling and dying of laughter and when he finally offers to help you out you grab his hand and pull him in

when he doesn’t resurface you get nervous, where could he be?

from the corner of your eye you see the foam rumbling slightly but you react too slowly and iwaizumi pops out and tackles you in the biggest hug, peppering kisses all over your face and people are staring as you scream your head off trying to pry him off of you

for dinner, you guys indulge in all the greasy food the park has to offer, and by the end you’re stuffed

to help with digestion you suggest a game of mini golf which iwaizumi gladly agrees to

for someone who played volleyball his aim is absolutely horrifying

he argues that the windmill is IMPOSSIBLE to get a good score on and no one can ever get a hole in one

luck must have been on your side because you get a hole in one right after (and so does the small child behind you guys, but you choose not to tell him that)

you end up destroying him (he lowkey hints that he let you win but we know that’s not the case)

when the park closes, instead of taking you straight home, he’ll take you to a nearby park and the two of you just stroll around enjoying the chill of the night and the stars in the sky

miya osamu

he pulls you onto the couch next to him and the two of you look through baking videos on youtube and osamu being osamu cannot decide because he wants to make them all

eventually you guys settle on a cake recipe by cooking tree (a/n: 10/10 would recommend watching them, their videos are super soothing and aesthetic esp if you enjoy cooking asmr!!)

so at 9pm you guys set off to the grocery store to buy the ingredients you guys are missing 

the trip takes much longer than expected because osamu keeps putting in more and more snacks that you guys definitely don’t need

so instead of shopping osamu is trying to grab as many snacks as you can while you trail behind, trying to put them away  because your pantry is already way too full

by the time you get home it’s close to 12 and you’re tired but osamu insists that you guys start now

for the most part all goes well, you guys manage to get the batter to look smooth in the cake pan (definitely some playful flour throwing here and there)

the real problem is assembling the cake. at this point you’re wondering why you guys decided on a 3-layered cake that required cutting

teases you for cutting the first layer slanted and so you pass over the cutting to him but his slicing work is just as bad and you just have to bring up the fact that he owns a restaurant but apparently his knife skills suck

you thought cutting the cake would be a problem?? now you guys have to fill the layers and it’s a complete disaster; there’s whipped cream just everywhere and at this point you guys are half filling the cake half throwing it at each other

cake ends up being iced unevenly but that’s the least of your problems

you guys pour the decorative icing on top and instead of running over the sides only slightly, it drips messily down the cake and onto the counter and now you guys have a blob of a cake

you guys spend the rest of the night cleaning up and pass out on the couch and in the morning you guys enjoy a sweet breakfast together <3

terushima yūji

terushima is a free soul and so he believes expressing yourself through art is one of the best ways to feel better

when he sees that you’re down, he’ll immediately whip out all of his salon products and pull you into the bathroom

he takes you by surprise saying that he wants you to whatever you want to his hair - today his hair is your canvas

at first you’re reluctant, but he insists - as a hair stylist it’s all about experimentation with styles and colours and plus he can easily fix whatever you do considering that it is his job after all

so you guys scroll through pinterest together, trying to find some fun hair ideas that you’d be able to pull off on your own (with some instruction from teru of course)

you finally decide on a style and so together start on getting all the hair dye ready

he explains to you the different types of develops and how important they are in the hair colouring process - there are different volumes and will essentially affect how much your hair colour changes

after all the colours are mixed and ready to go, you gingerly grab a piece of hair, constantly checking your phone to make sure you’re doing it exactly like the photo

meanwhile terushima has the softest smile on his face, watching you through the mirror - he thinks you look absolutely adorable with the way your brows are furrowed and your tongue sticks on slightly as you focus

as you run the colour brush along his hair, he’s constantly encouraging you, telling you what a good job you’re doing and how he’s so excited to the end product

while the dye sits in his hair, you sit in his lap

once it’s time to wash out the hair dye, you bring him to the sink and carefully run your hands through his hair, trying your best to give him the best head massage he’s ever had!!!

after toning and a hair treatment, your masterpiece if finally done!! ofc being the boyfriend he is, he takes a million photos and posts them on social media to show how talented his significant other is - like not only is it your first time dying someone’s hair but you managed to pull off RAINBOW hair!! (a/n: think sehun from exo as a reference hehe) he literally will not shut up about you to his clients tomorrow

kunimi akira

kunimi has a rep for being lazy and just overall a really nonchalant kind of person but he’s sharp, so when you’re feeling down he immediately picks up on it even if he doesn’t confront you about it

however i don’t think he’d be as aggressive as the other three and do something huge rather he tries to make you feel better only in smaller ways and it definitely adds up

like in the morning he’ll make you coffee or tea or whatever you want - orange juice, a bakery bun? he’ll make an excuse saying he wanted something from the convenience store anyways and head down. when he comes back  with three bags of food and drinks he’ll insist that he just grabbed whatever he saw because he was “too lazy to decide” n b d

throughout the day he’ll be a lot more affectionate than usual, hugging you whenever he gets the chance, maybe even a kiss on your forehead

when you tell him you want to go out on your own for a bit  he doesn’t argue - whatever you need to do but when your back is turned he’ll slip you a handwritten note telling you to enjoy your alone time and that he l-word you and it’s even signed off with a teensy teensy heart that you almost don’t notice

when you get back, you’re greeted with the smell of your delicious food mixed with a burning smell and on the kitchen table you see takeout from your favourite restaurants and in the garbage is a black burnt mess - kunimi insists he doesn’t know how it got there even though its quite obvious

you bring the food to the living room and to your surprise there’s a blanket fort set up with pillows spread out all across the floor

when you try to question him, he just shrugs saying that it’s not that hard to throw a blanket over a couple of chairs, even a baby could do it

today he lets you choose the movie even though it’s technically his turn and when you choose a  comedy he doesn’t complain about the obnoxiously loud and hot headed lead character

when the movie is over, he quickly cleans up all the trash, making sure you don’t have time to move from your spot

when he comes back, he flops on top of you, holding you close

then he plays the spotify playlist that he made for you; it’s a whole mix of songs - slow, upbeat, instrumentals - anything he thought might help you feel even the tiniest bit better

and so you guys just lay there not speaking, enjoying each other’s presence until you fall asleep

[gunmaestro]

My Problems with Bungou Stray Dogs.

I want to preface this by saying that Bungou Stray Dogs is my favorite animanga. I’m not trying to tell Asagiri how to write the story and I’m not saying these things make it a bad concept--I just wanted to share my criticisms about the show and manga. These things absolutely don’t ruin it for me, and most of them are about the anime only anyway. Note that this list will NOT include the Tanizaki siblings although I do have a problem with their relationship because I’m focusing mostly on storytelling and character analysis. But without further ado, I’ll get into my first criticism. This one, my biggest problem with the series, will be above the cut, but the rest will be under it for length.

Dazai Osamu.

Given that Dazai as an author is a very significant presence in Japan, it’s understandable that he would play a large role in a series based largely upon Japanese authors. The fact that he has a large role is not the reason I dislike him--in fact, he’s been getting a lot less screentime in the manga recently. The reason I view Dazai as a problem with Bungou Stray Dogs is because of his mental prowess which borders on omnipotence.

It shouldn’t come to a surprise that Dazai would play a role in every major arc, given that he’s a main character and all. However, it’s very frustrating and almost boring to have arc after arc resolved because of Dazai. It’s even more frustrating when it’s implied that everything our protagonists do has already been specifically calculated by Dazai, as if their actions are not their own. Having an overpowered character like him makes the narrative seem boring.

At the time of this being written, the manga is in the middle of its arc with the Hunting Dogs and the Decay of Angels. I’m not sure if this is just me, but because of the characters (Ango, Atsushi, Dazai himself) admitting that Dazai had planned for certain events all along, I feel almost no stakes for the arc as a whole. It’s very hard to feel suspense whilst getting constant reminders that everything bad happening is all according to Dazai’s plan. I won’t even bother going into the dick measuring contest between him and Fyodor, either, because I’m sure we all know how that sort of thing can get annoying very quickly in stories.

Dazai being the super genius he is also weakens other characters around him. A striking example of this is Edogawa Ranpo, a character whom I have no problems with at all, speaking in terms of characterization. Ranpo’s entire character hinges on the fact that he is a brilliant detective and the smartest person in the agency--and to people like gifted kids, he’s a very relatable character. It greatly diminishes the quality of Ranpo’s character to introduce the idea that there are characters who know more than him; though Dazai has admitted to not being as smart as Ranpo, the narrative does not reflect this statement. Ranpo as a character works because there is grounds to his bragging--take away his status as the smartest in the series and he becomes nothing.

Similarly, Dazai negatively impacts the characters of Atsushi and Akutagawa. They’re two very interesting characters, but part of the reason they seem to fall flat to me is that they only ever act together when forced into it by Dazai. In fact, it feels like every single character on the side of good in this story would be helpless without Dazai there to guide them--and that makes them far less impactful characters.

Unresolved Plotlines and Bad Math.

Maybe I’m being nitpicky, and I didn’t mind this at first, but there are a lot of cliffhangers and inconsistencies throughout the story. Examples of the latter are easy to come by--Kunikida was initially stated to be a math teacher before joining the ADA, despite being only 22 at the present time in canon. Fitzgerald’s daughter would have been at most 14 at present assuming she was born when Fitzgerald was 18, which is hardly old enough for her to be sent to a boarding school in ANOTHER COUNTRY. These are small, but they somewhat decrease the quality of the story when questioned.

The unresolved plotlines and cliffhangers have a much bigger impact on the story during a time where it is still being released one chapter a month. John Steinbeck’s return has not yet come after two full arcs, despite it being teased by his appearance during Fitzgerald’s return. Going back further, we’ve seen astonishingly little of Agatha Christie--even though she was introduced around the same time as Fyodor.

In smaller cases, there’s the fact that we didn’t get to see what happened with Yosano, we don’t know where Akutagawa is at this point in the narrative, and we weren’t told what happened with the truck containing Margaret. These are small things that won’t be as annoying to read back on once they’re resolved, but having a story set up where everything is left open after every chapter is very disengaging for readers who just want to know what’s going on.

The Anime.

I know what I said at the beginning. The truth is, though, that there’s so much about the anime adaptation that bothers me that I have to summarize it by just saying the anime as a whole bothers me. I’m also aware that it’s very uncommon for mangas to get a perfect, spot-on anime adaptation.. but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a problem with it.

Here’s a speedround of things I don’t enjoy about the anime.

The art style. I’m sure we’re all very tired of the fish-eye lenses, and the weird smiles they’ve incorporated from Dead Apple. This being said, there are times when it looks good, but that doesn’t help the fact that I actually physically cringe whenever there’s a character who’s afraid or overly cocky making a facial expression that reflects this emotion.

The focus on certain characters (Dazai). I’m among the group of people that wanted untold stories to be animated this season instead of Fifteen, because it would have fit better with the plot of the season. The fact that the anime chose Fifteen was a good decision for drawing more attention to the show, since the fans of Chuuya and Dazai are in the majority, but it fits very poorly with the rest of the season. In fact, sorry for the spoiler, but Dazai and Chuuya aren’t even shown interacting in the main season, whereas Fukuzawa plays a major role in the cannibalism arc and Ranpo was visibly shown to have an important connection with him.

The tone. There’s not much to say, here. The anime takes everything very seriously, and one of my favorite parts of the manga are its humorous lines.

The humor. Speaking of humorous lines, they’re always said in a very obnovious way in the anime that makes it seem like they’re trying too hard. This is an opinion rather than an analysis.

The left-out details. Though the conversation between Fyodor and Agatha was not very important to the plot and nor was Steinbeck’s removed appearance in season 3, they both served as teasers for future arcs, and removing them shouldn’t have been completely necessary. 

The changes to characters. The Guild is a particular victim of this particular point. Whereas the characters in this organization don’t come off as a completely serious group of people in the manga, they sure do in the anime. Logically, I can understand why this would be done--they’re the arc’s antagonists, and they’re more intimidating if they aren’t funny. But it completely changes some of their characters if you remove certain aspects of their personality.

The Fandom.

It goes without saying that no fandom is perfect, and a lot of them aren’t even good. The Bungou Stray Dogs fandom comprises mostly of s/skk fans, which is unsurprising, but what makes me compelled to put the fandom on a list of my problems with the show itself is how much they completely warp the characters of Dazai and Chuuya.

I know I have a whole section explaining why I think Dazai is a major flaw of the series, but despite that I actually do find his character interesting, if a bit annoying with how big his presence is. I dislike the fandom’s interpretation of him, specifically the way he interacts with Chuuya. Did he not blow up Chuuya’s car? Did he not let Chuuya suffer for a few more seconds just because he thought it was funny? Did he not make Chuuya embarrass himself for no reason other than his own enjoyment? It’s very disheartening to see him portrayed as someone who would never betray Chuuya’s trust and who is completely devoted to Chuuya.

Speaking of Chuuya, he’s probably the fandom’s biggest offense in terms of making a character unlikable. In my particular case, the way the fandom treats him has driven me away from his character, which I actually do like. Because of how often I’ve seen the fandom treat him like nothing more than a blushing tsundere whose feelings for Dazai are soooo obvious, I’m impacted by these interpretations when I read the manga.

To Conclude + A List of Things I Don’t Mind

No, I don’t think the series is bad and I don’t think these listed things make it bad, but I’d be lying if I said they didn’t bother me. But since I’ve been nothing but negative, here’s a few things that bother most people but don’t bother me at all.

Mori Ougai. I don’t condone his behavior or “preferences”, but I do not believe he is a problem for the show. He is not supposed to be a good character and, as we see with his behavior towards Yosano, his actions are not portrayed as good. There is nothing wrong with the villain of a series being a p*dophile as long as it is not treated as something positive, which it is not.

Tachihara + The Hunting Dogs. This is a spoiler for the more recent chapters of the manga, but despite the lack of foreshadowing I am not bothered by Tachihara’s reveal as the fifth hunting dog. I also don’t care that the dogs are hunting the agency, because it makes sense, story-wise. The agency are technically international terrorists because of what was written in the book.

Lucy and her supposed crush. Romance is not the focus of the show and, likewise, Lucy’s “crush” on Atsushi is not put at the forefront of the plot. However, I have seen fans get annoyed by the fact that she seems to like him.

I’d like to thank everyone who read this for taking the time to do so. I’m not the most coherent with my thoughts and I’m bad at putting said thoughts into words, but I hope you liked the things I had to say.

[no-longer-tainted]

WIP Week 2019 [Day 5]

Question: What is your most used AO3 tag?

I guess it’s the shipping tag for Soukoku/both of them as characters + fluff

Your Canonverse or AU WIP

Fandom: Bungou Stray Dogs Shipping: Soukoku [Chuuya Nakahara x Osamu Dazai] Notes: I don’t have any canonverse WIPs so I wanna show you one of my Fantasy AU WIPs, I decided to make for the SKK Trope Bingo but it got too big with the idea so I created my own world for it. The WIP is the very first chapter and I hope you enjoy it <3

The darkness of the room was only broken with one almost burnt-down candle and a deep sigh was the only sound when a young man with orange hair let the red wax drop down on the envelope only to imprint his seal on it a second later. He couldn't tell how many hours have passed since he was working on that letter in front of him but it was a incredible relief having it done now. He closed his clear blue eyes and when he breathed in, he opened them again. "Atsushi?" 

The door was opened soundlessly and a white haired man with a single black hair strain appeared in the door frame. He had a nervous look on his face and swallowed hard. The atmosphere in the room was heavy and usually, he wasn't allowed to enter this room. "How can I help you, Chuuya?" 

Chuuya got up from his cushioned wooden chair with the letter in his hand and walked over to Atsushi. "You have to bring this letter to Kouyou." He reached the letter to Atsushi but he didn't take it from him right away. 

"Why me?", he asked and frowned at the pitch-black envelope with the dark red wax seal on it. It hadn't any name written on the outside and the wax looked like a drop of blood. Chuuya had a meaning look in his eyes. "Are you sure? You-You worked the last five hours on it." Atsushi swallowed again. "It has to be super important!" 

"Exactly." Chuuya held the letter closer to his friend and looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You're the only person I can entrust this letter with." With shaky hands, Atsushi took the letter and was anxious about bending the envelope by accident. "Can't you go yourself?" 

Shaking his head, Chuuya laid a hand on Atsushi's shoulder. "I already told you I have to travel the opposite direction today." Chuuya knew it was not an easy task to ask from his friend because even after all those years, he felt uncomfortable around Kouyou. "If you want you can take Akutagawa with you." A resigning sigh made Chuuya chuckle quietly. "Also Kyouka would be happy to see you again after all those months." 

"If you want to see me dead, just say so." Atsushi groaned and squashed the letter in his hands. "Wah-! I-I am sorry." He tried to flatten it between his hands and pressed it between them.

"You're my best friend, I just want the best for you," Chuuya answered with a fond smile and patted Atsushi's head. 

Atsushi licked over his dry lips and pressed them into a thin line. "Okay, you won. But do you really think it's a good idea to start your journey today?" With a doubtful and insecure look, he left the room together with Chuuya. "It's New Moon in three days, you know." 

"I know." Chuuya was more aware of the lunar cycle than any other person he ever met in his life and the mere thought made his stomach twist in loops. "But I'll meet up with Dazai in-" He stopped mid-sentence, not sure about how much time was left until he would meet up with this shitty mummy but it couldn't be that long anymore. "And you know about Dazai's ability."

Another sigh followed as an answer. "How are you able to trust him?" Atsushi looked at Chuuya and tried to read his facial expression but even with his better vision at night, he wasn't able to interpret it. 

Chuuya just shrugged with his shoulders. "Is it trust? We just both have the same goal and Dazai needs someone to do the tiring and stressful work for him." 

"I can't change your mind, right?" Chuuya didn't answer anything and that was answer enough for the other man. "I'm not sure if Kouyou will kill me for letting you go so easily or because I'll spend time with Kyouka." He sounded distraught and the 'Probably both' of Chuuya didn't help to calm him down. "Chuuya! Can't you take me with you and send someone else as messenger?" Despair was written all over his face when he stopped and turned around to Chuuya who fell a step back. "I'm still too young to die!" 

"Sorry." Chuuya looked with a apologetic smile at Atsushi and grabbed the diagonal belt of his leather bag with both of his hands. It only contained a few things he would need on the journey and his savings. "I have to depend on you for this." He would go to Kouyou personally if it would be possible especially because he didn't see her for a few months either but the new clue he got from Dazai yesterday was more important. 

"Then you have to promise me something!" Atsushi held out his pinky with a pretty long nail and looked at Chuuya with a serious expression. "Bring Dazai and yourself home alive!" 

"Can't promise I don't kill this shithead." Atsushi's gaze didn't waver and let Chuuya flinch backwards. Of course, Chuuya knew how much Atsushi looked up to Dazai even though he lived with Chuuya but his own relationship with Dazai was tense - to say the least. Chuuya hesitated with intertwining their fingers. "An Isud can't die anyway." He didn't met Atsushi's gaze but he intertwined their pinkies. And of course, Atsushi was aware that Chuuya was only a dirty Halfblood and his last slentence was meant for both Dazai and him. Chuuya himself never tested his limits but he had the power of two races in him so it should be no problem to get back alive. 

"Oh, Dazai!" Atsushi exclaimed happily and ran towards the man, leaving Chuuya behind and breaking his depressive line of thoughts. His inner beast shouldn't be a solution. 

It was only natural that Atsushi would see Dazai first thanks to his night vision and Chuuya had to rely on the candle in his hand. When he arrived at Dazai shortly after Atsushi- standing casually in the entrance of his cottage in the woods outside of the town, he greeted him only with a half-nod of his head. 

"Long time no see, Chuuya~", Dazai chirped and hugged him tightly as a greeting. His eyes lightened up when he saw Chuuya. "Atsushi already told me that you are so cruel to send him to Kouyou." 

Chuuya struggled to get free from the hug and only managed to do so with throwing Dazai over his own shoulder. Despite him being smaller, he was physically stronger than this clingy ocotopus. "We saw each other yesterday!" Then he threw a look to Atsushi who took a few steps backwards under the glare. 

A loud growl interrupted them and confused, Chuuya and Atsushi looked at Dazai. "What was that?", the youngest among them asked and ran outside. "Woah! Rad!" 

Curious, Chuuya followed the other two man outside and even without a night vision he could clearly see what was in front of him. 

Two majestic and bulky beasts. One of them was the purest white while the other was a the darkest black Chuuya has ever seen in his life. They had fluffy fur around their necks and ankles and the eyes of them were a bloody red. The fluffiness of them was destroyed with their huge fangs and horns. Chuuya took a few steps backwards and was overwhelmed. Seeing Beastmares was something happening not everyday because they were almost extinct. Their fur was the most prized thing in the whole Yishtair Empire. 

"May I introduce-" Dazai pointed with his whole hand to the white Beastmare and smiled like he would introduce his cousin to Chuuya. "Phinya and-" He pointed with his other hand to the black one: "Zeraphin."

Like they knew he was talking about them, they growled. It sounded different than before but Chuuya couldn't tell if that was a good or rather a bad sign. His brain still wasn't able to give him words to speak so he just stared at the Beastmares in silence. They were beautiful creatures usually living in the woods of Evirm. Chuuya never had the chance to see them in natural and only read about them in different books and heard stories from Kouyou when he was younger. And to be honest, they were even more striking than any poem could describe them. 

"I hope that's okay for your picky ass, Chuuya~" Dazai stepped closer to Chuuya and pointed at the white beast. "Phinya will be all yours for the time being." The white one growled and stepped closer to Chuuya and he took a step back. They were just fucking huge! Maybe three meters high. 

Chuuya swallowed when the beast bowed in front of him and laid down, the head on its front paws. Slowly Chuuya got forward to Phinya and without letting his eyes off of it, he put his hand on its snout. It felt really soft but when it suddenly licked over his hand with its tongue, Chuuya flinched back and fell flat on his ass. 

Dazai laughed. "She likes you." 

So 'it' was a she? A beautiful pure white lady. However, Chuuya would almost bet his life that she wasn't even close to being pure as much as her fur color. "Can I too?" Atsushi's eyes sparkled like the stars on the sky and Dazai just shrugged with his shoulders. 

"You're a beast yourself, they probably smelled you from ten kilometers apart." Dazai gave a command with his index finger to let Zeraphin come closer too. "Odasaku told me, they are siblings and about three years old." 

That was pretty young for Beastmares, Chuuya thought immediately. "So you got them from Oda?", Chuuya asked and a strange feeling let his stomach spun around like crazy but he put the blame on his nervousness around the beasts. He got closer to Phinya again and she grunted happily? At least it sounded like a happy sound she gave through her nose. "You're beautiful," he praised her and stroked his hand through her long neck fur while Atsushi did the same with Zeraphin. 

Atsushi was always good with all kind of creatures because with his tiger genes he bonds with them before Chuuya could even think about getting closer to any of them. 

Phinya laid her head sideways in Chuuya's tiny hand and clearly enjoyed the share of kindness and affection of Chuuya.  

Chuuya looked up when Dazai suddenly appeared next to him. "Don't make me jealous, Chuuya~" He sat down next to the other man and stroked through the fur of Phinya. 

"What are you talking about?", Chuuya asked confused and looked at Dazai for a moment before the beast girl snuffed to get his attention back. For a moment, Dazai hesitated with an answer, like he had to overthink his chosen words. "She hated me in the beginning."

While in the background was Atsushi's lighthearted laugh, playing with the black beast, Chuuya had a shit eating grin on his face. "Deserves you right." Phinya's red eyes wandered to Dazai and for a moment they just exchanged looks, before Dazai clapped into his hands and stood up from the ground. 

"Time to go."

Chuuya sighed. What a sudden change in the air. "Yeah." There was no time to play around. Atsushi's sad face when he said goodbye to his two new friends was gut-wrenching and Chuuya put a hand on his shoulder after he hastily rushed to Dazai and Chuuya. "I don't know when were back-" Chuuya looked over to Dazai who was pretending to not listen. "But as long as Kouyou receives the letter, everything is fine." 

Atsushi hugged Chuuya goodbye. "I'll take care of everything." He didn't sound convinced but Chuuya believed in Atsushi nevertheless. After that, Atsushi walked over to Dazai who was already sitting on Zeraphin. "Please don't make Chuuya angry too often. I don't think Kouyou's anger is a painless way to die." Taking a few steps back, he watched the two majestic beasts and the two men on them, walking away. 

Phinya had Chuuya let stay on her front paw and from there he jumped on her fluffy back. One last time he turned around to Atsushi. "Please take care of you and give Kouyou and Kyouka my greetings."

Before Atsushi could answer, Phinya growled loud and Atsushi blushed. "I-You! Please take care of Chuuya, Phinya!" Atsushi had the ability to talk with the animals living in the Yishtair Empire. The last thing Atsushi heard before they were out of is vision was another growl of Phinya.

[thedigitalpen]

5 minute anime review: “Black Jack” series

What it’s about? The series revolves around an unlicensed surgeon who lives in a house on a cliff overlooking the ocean, along with his assistant/daughter/"wife"/partner and their dog. Considered a doctor of the underworld because his business is shady and, technically, illegal, he's the person that people turn to when all other options have been exhausted and, in return for a handsome fee, he will attempt cure whatever ails his patient. The episodes are usually case-by-case, except for "Black Jack 21", which has an underlying story throughout the season in addition to the case-by-case format, and "Young Black Jack" which has mini-arcs spanning 2-3 episodes each. 

Titles concerning Black Jack directly, which have been subbed and are available to watch (that I've found), include:  - Black Jack OVA (1993-1996) (contains episodes 1 to 10) *** - Black Jack: The Movie (1996) *** - Black Jack: The Child Who Came From The Sky (2000) - Black Jack Special: The 4 Miracles of Life (2003) - Black Jack (TV series) (2004-2006) *** - Dr Pinoko's Forest Adventure (2005) - Black Jack: The Two Doctors of Darkness (2005) - Black Jack 21 (2006) - Black Jack: The Lost Episodes (2006) - Black Jack: Karte NG Extras (2007) - Black Jack Final (2011) (considered episode 11 and 12 of the 1993 OVAs) - Young Black Jack (2015) 

Other titles which feature Black Jack include: - “Phoenix 2772 (Space Firebird)” (1980) *** features Black Jack as the chief warden of a prison (where the main character is detained and made to work). As usual, he parades around like he’s the bad guy, but he’s really not; and  - “Ray The Animation” (2006) where the good doctor makes a cameo appearance (in the first episode at least) as the doctor who gave the MC her new and improved X-Ray eyes. 

The titles which may be difficult to track down are "Black Jack: Heian Sento" (1996), which was made for Tezuka Osamu Animation Theater in Kyoto and “Black Jack Flash/Internet” (2001), which are a series of web-only shorts made available only via subscription or digital rental. If anyone knows where to find it, please let me know. Also, with regard to English dubs, those marked with *** are available to watch, however finding the Black Jack TV series might prove a little tricky. More information on that here.

What I liked? After having watched every available movie/episode in short succession, one of the things I like most about this series is that the medical cases are always interesting and never the same, as each new episode brings a new medical mystery or challenge to tackle. Because the mangaka himself had a medical degree, the details of the case are more accurate than you would think and lends a sense of realism to the stories (dramatic liberties aside). The character of Black Jack himself is also a major drawcard because he's pretty much a bad-ass in his field and has a strong, confident personality which makes him appealing as our mc and makes you want to support him. His relationship with his charge, Pinoko, is also something I enjoyed immensely since she balances things out, providing comic relief, and giving our main character a chance to show his softer, more caring and personable side. Recurring characters, even antagonists, become familiars over time and are a nice addition to the show. In terms of the more technical aspects, the standout has to be the 90s series of OVAs (including "Black Jack Final" from 2011 which is a continuation of the 90s OVA) with its superb animation and storylines, which are allowed more freedom due to the OVA format. Continuity is provided by the ever-talented Otsuka Akio, reprising his role as Jack in every iteration, including "Young Black Jack" where, although Umehara Yuuichiro voices the younger version of Jack, Otsuka narrates as Jack’s older self looking back on his life. To me, that was a very important aspect because it provides a real connection to the character and also shows respect for the man who has voiced this character for over 2 decades.

What I liked a little less? Although the 90s OVA animation was strong, the "Black Jack TV series" animation started off a bit shaky, with character designs following the original 70s manga style just a little too closely and/or lacking some finer details with the basics, e.g. a lack of toes on feet. However, these issues are laid to rest as the series continues and the animation ends off relatively strong by the time we get to "Black Jack 21". People who are super technical might take up issue with the fact that although the cases are possible, there are some liberties taken here and there regarding the realities of some of the operation procedures and recoveries, e.g. people waking up during or immediately after an op is a bit unlikely and being able to move them after, e.g. open heart surgery, is even more so. But apart from those technicalities, there aren't many other issues.

Could, should or wouldn’t watch? Should. That is all. In all seriousness though, this is very strong "should watch", not only because you'd be watching a creation from the Godfather of Manga himself, Osamu Tezuka, but because it really is a great show. The independent nature of the episodes means you can watch them whenever and never really get lost, and while it might not be quite like the regular medical shows (which are more like romance shows anyway), it's got enough action, drama, suspense and story development to keep you well entertained. There's a reason why Black Jack is a legendary character in the manga/anime world, so why not take the time to give these shows a watch and allow him to show you exactly why that is.

[harusha]

I just saw your post about PJ and I'm wondering, do you have any book recs?

On mythology specifically or overall? I’m gonna do both since I’m not sure. Also sorry for the relatively late reply, I had to think about this, and I just got back from dinner.

The Count of Monte Cristo- Fantastic page turner, and a genuinely good “revenge” tale. It’s actually one of the first of that kind (or at the very least, one of the most popular ones). It’s also a book that a lot of people cite as the one that changes their mind on classics as “boring.”

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Somewhat of a controversial pick (both because of its subject matter and because it’s often “required high school reading,” ie “boring” to a lot of people.)

Huck Finn is an exceedingly complex character, and his friendship with Jim is really good. Pay attention to what Huck Finn does and says; he’s an unreliable narrator due to how he was brought up, his age, and his illiteracy. There’s also a lot of symbolism and other literary devices at play in his character (ex. notice his fixation with death and how it colors how Twain writes him). It’s very much a book I recommend if you want to study the unreliable narrator as a trope, the  Naïf version of it.

As a side note, it’s very poignant because of how Huck learns to condemn his racism. One of the messages you can get from this book is “If this uneducated poor white boy can learn to overcome his prejudices, so too can someone who has been educated, has money, etc.” It is a brutal condemnation of racism (though you do have to consider the time period, the “lens” of which you have to view through.)

Lolita- Another controversial pick, and one I’ll upright say as a lot of trigger warnings attached (google the summary, and you’ll see what I mean).

Beautiful prose (some of my favorite in literature actually) and a monster of a protagonist. When you read this, remember how Humbert Humbert is framing it. He is telling his tale to a court; he is unreliable and will frame events to make himself appear sympathetic. One notable factor of the author’s skill is how often Humbert gains the readers’ sympathy despite the atrocious subject matter. I personally felt viscerally uncomfortable reading his thoughts, and this is one of the few books that has ever made me feel that way. I didn’t fall into the sympathy trap, but look at any discussion of the book, and you’ll see what I mean.

I also recommend this author’s (Vladimir Nabokov) other works.

Franz Kafka’s literary works- Kafka is one of my favorite authors because he really showcases the isolation (both due to WWI, technological advancement, and the “beginnings” of modern capitalism) of the beginning of the 1900s, and he’s one of modernism’s premier authors. His works often deal with the themes of isolation, judgement, and outcasts. 

In particular, I’m fond of “The Metamorphosis” (cliche pick I know) and “In the Penal Colony.” The former is a short story so quick read if you just wanna try his writing style + it’s very influential (See Part 1 of Tokyo Ghoul for one example).

Also know that Kafka had a very strained relationship with his father and a conflicted relationship with his religion. I recommend reading “Letter to his Father” first to get an understanding of Kafka’s psyche to truly get pass the “nonsensical” nature of his works. It, like the title says, is a letter he wrote to his father, but his mother never delivered it.

If you want even more info on Kafka to understand his works, I recommend Kafka: Judaism, Politics, and Literature which covers a lot more (and in more succinct words) than I can on his works and life. As a fun fact, Vladimir Nabokov also placed him as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. On Kafka himself, he thought he was a failure of a human being and writer, and now look at him. He’s up there in the Western Canon with Shakespeare.

Paradise Lost + Paradise Regained- If you’re interested in Lucifer (or Samael if you subscribe to that theory), this is a must-read. Beautiful, haunting, and with a very charismatic figure in Lucifer. Alongside the obvious Divine Comedy, this work has influenced the portrayal of Lucifer and Hell quite a bit imo. Namely, the “sympathetic” portrayal you find in works such as Supernatural. It’s also an epic poem so it’s best listened to imo rather than read.

No Longer Human- Osamu Dazai’s work if you’re into that one show. An incredibly depressing book that’s often thought to be semi-autobiographical. It’s a haunting book that I don’t recommend for prose, but for the mood it evokes. I don’t recommend this unless you’re in a decent state of mind.

The Catcher in the Rye- Mildly controversial pick in that you either hate Holden or love him. It’s a book where you have to be in the “right” state of mind to appreciate Holden. For example, the period of moving away from home for college  This work deals with societal isolation and human loneliness and features an unreliable narrator.

It’s just a very particular feeling you have to be experiencing to appreciate Holden. I think anyway.

The Epic of Gilgamesh- Not super fancy or a reinterpretation of whatever. Just the oldest known written work of mankind. I like it a lot, but I like Sumerian myth so YMMV. It’s still missing a few tablets last I checked, but still a good read.

Also the related Enuma Elish, you get the creation myth.

Vampire Chronicles- I recommend the first three or four so books honestly. Afterwards, Anne Rice just goes off the rails. Prose is pretty, and Lestat is a terrible person but fascinating to read about. I am partial to Armand though tbh.

Dracula- I think this is another page-turner. I certainly enjoyed it. I don’t think it’s as scary as it would be in its’ published time period, but it is a classic Gothic horror. The unabridged version may look intimidating, but like Monte Cristo, you’ll sweep through it rather quickly.

“A Rose for Emily”- One of William Faulkner’s short stories. I think it’s a lovely piece and showcases the Southern Gothic (crumbling house, decaying and failing tradition and the southern nobility, etc.) There’s a theme of decay and time passing throughout this work.

As a side note, I actually enjoy Faulkner a lot, but he’s a difficult author imo. It’s not as apparent in this work, but more so in Intruder in the Dust (the first racial thriller) and especially The Sound and The Fury.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof- A play that deals with repressed homosexuality (maybe, it depends on how you interpret Brick’s dialogue and actions), loss, and denial. I quite like it a lot, and Tennessee Williams actually was gay (was because he’s dead and all). I read it, but tbh I feel like it would be better watched if you can find a performance on Youtube.

The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde’s most well known work imo. I enjoy the prose and the themes of corruption and indulgence present throughout the novel. There’s also a lot of allusions to Faust in it if you’re interested in that.

Peter Darling-a more modern choice but it features a trans and gay protagonist. Part of what I enjoy is how it’s not browbeaten into you that the protagonist is trans. It’s interwoven into the character where it’s an important part of him, but to where it doesn’t overwhelm his entire character. However, this is a novel where I feel the beginning and ending are great, but the middle is so-so. It’s a retelling of Peter Pan.

The Tain- Focuses on Cu Cuchulain and his cycle.

Poetic Edda- A must read if you’re interested in exploring Norse myths outside of Marvel. It’s basically a collection of tales.

Arabian Nights- Scheherazade is one of my favorite female figures from literature. She’s daring, clever, and particularly resourceful. It’s a frame narrative sort of tale so you technically won’t be seeing her as much since she’s telling each story, but it’s a lovely piece and perfect for a bedtime read because of its collection of tales. A lot of them have been referenced in media and related as well.

The Book Thief- Classic YA novel rec. It’s set in WWII and one of the novels that really showcases what YA could be. Basically a classic gem in the rough pile.

John Keats- He’s a poet, but I love his poetry because of how haunting and dark it can get; he often deals with themes of mortality.. Ode to Nightingale is particularly good.

China’s Four Great Classical Novels (Journey to the West, Dreams of the Red Chamber, Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms)- I decided to clump them here since this is already super long. Each one is incredibly well-known in Asia (and obviously China), and you can find allusions everywhere to these four novels. Each novel is rather long and expensive though (I paid like 40 USD for each set). Journey to the West follows Sun Wukong, unarguably one of the most well-known figures in literature (at least in the East; he’s super influential, but somewhat less so in the West; keyword somewhat). Dreams of the Red Chamber has some very pretty poems, but it’s often thought to be the semi autobiographical work of the author (it deals with the rise and fall of his family and the dynasty).

Daiyu’s flower poem is one of the most memorable for example.

The blossoms fade, the blossoms fly,  the blossoms fill the sky. Their crimson fades, their scent dies out,  and who is there to pity?  Drifting threads gently twist together  and float past the springtime lodge;  Falling willow floss lightly sticks  and strikes the lady’s window drapes.

Water Margin is a bit “bawdier” than the other ones imo, but it’s a good tale and has many notable figures and scenes. On Three Kingdoms, it’s the one I’d recommend to start with if you’re interested in military intrigue and battles.

I also have a Goodreads where I organize everything by shelf if you prefer to look at that. I do need to update it though tbh.

https://www.goodreads.com/Mahariel

[farmerinthesky]

Shotaro Ishinomori - The Man Who Created Heroes My review of the biographical TV special about the life of the King of Manga, Shotaro Ishinomori! So, I woke up really early this morning to watch the Shotaro Ishinomori Drama Special. Since I already made the effort, I thought I should write a review about it. So what I was expecting from this bio picture? Something close to GeGeGe no Nyobo, an early morning soap opera about the life of Shigeru Mizuki's wife. Of course, once Mizuki is introduced, the plot all goes around him, even if the show is still told from the perspective of his wife. The show is not about historical accuracy, but it's an entertaining watch to get a glimpse of some of the most important aspects of a famous mangaka's life. In some ways, this Ishinomori special is not so different, but incredibly more fast-paced due to being more of a feature-length film instead of a year-long morning drama. While I didn't necessarily dislike the special, there was nothing new here for me to learn. And I'm almost sure the parts that caught me by surprise were purely fictional. For those who've never heard the Ishinomori story, maybe this would be a decent enough introduction. As a long-time fan, I would like something deeper, but I don't think this special was made only for fans like me, but for casual viewers as well. And what would most casual viewers think of Ishinomori? He's the guy who created Kamen Rider, of course. And the movie makes this sound like the absolute high point of his career. Which is something that bothered me a bit, since I don't like how it perpetuates this idea Ishinomori was the "super-hero" guy. Such a versatile artist and writer should be admired for mastering all sorts of different genres and for what a huge influential figure he was for manga as a whole. But maybe I was expecting a little too much for a special called "Man Who   Created Heroes"? Still, the omission of titles like Ryujin Numa, Sarutobi Ecchan, Sabu and Ichi (other than a very brief scene which is not even about the manga itself, but more like "Look, Shotaro's manga is in bookstores!"), the Ryu trilogy and other important landmarks of Ishinomori's career, titles which he held very close to his heart, is something I just can't look over. Instead, it focuses on the commercial success of his TV series, which is already being celebrated every year anyway with the Kamen Rider franchise and its many theatrical releases. To give some perspective, even Cyborg 009 is barely mentioned in the film outside of a few brief scenes like Ishinomori coming up with the characters and learning about cyborgs in Life Magazine! Now, let's talk about the positives, so I can end this review on a high note! Well, the acting is fun, everyone does a good performance and they all seem to having a great time! The drama is pretty soft, which is not a bad thing, this is mostly a "feel good" film, even if it depicts some of the most traumatic moments in Ishinomori's life like the disapproval of his father to his career choice and, of course, the death of his beloved older sister, Yoshie, who was his greatest inspiration for drawing. It was already mentioned in the movie's pre-production that the plot would focus on Ishinomori's relationship with his sister, which feels right when it comes to a bio-pic about Shotaro  Ishinomori. However, I don't really like how they tried to tie Yoshie somehow with the origin of Kamen Rider, but I already made my point about that. The other artists from the Tokiwa-So apartments are all great and the movie does a good job portraying them as this big family, especially one of Ishinomori's best friends, the king of gag manga, Fujio Akatsuka! Also, it makes sure you will recognize these guys by showing their most iconic creations right in front of you. Now, about my favorite part of the film. It's Osamu Tezuka's role in it! This is precisely the main reason I would like people getting into Ishinomori to watch this film. How secondary Tezuka's involvement was in Ishinomori's life. For many, it seems impossible to quote one without the other, and Ishinomori constantly lives in the shadow of the God of Manga, which I always thought it was very unfair, not including rumors like "Tezuka taught Ishinomori everything he knew". Well, this film makes very clear how Ishinomori learned to draw manga by himself and that's what made him get the a letter from Tezuka himself inviting him to come to Tokyo to help him with Astro Boy/Tetsuwan Atom. In these scenes, Tezuka is not even present, he's running away from his editors while Ishinomori is asked to do the job in his place. Whenever Tezuka is in a  scene, he's cold and distant, nothing like Ishinomori's Tokiwa-So companions like Fujio Akatsuka,  Hiro Terada and the Fujiko Fujio duo.  And it also ends the rumors about Tezuka ever living in the apartment at the same time as Ishinomori, and his presence there is always depicted as a huge event. Also, it shows very clearlly how Tezuka was in the wrong about the whole Fantasy World Jun incident, with Ishinomori's friends and admirers of Tezuka making clear what he did was wrong. The scene where Tezuka comes to apologize to Ishinomori is depicted similar to Ishinomori's manga retelling of the same story! Another interesting aspect I liked and would have liked to seen more is Ishinomori relationship with his family. It's no surprise Ishinomori was obsessed with his work and barely had time for his family, but the movie makes it clear that was it a struggle for Ishinomori himself. We don't get to see many interactions between him and his wife Toshiko, but his sons Jo and Akira are a constant presence in the film's final act. One especially bittersweet scene is when Ishinomori picks a book of Jo's school records and sees a drawing depicting him and his family going to the amusement park all together. He quickly realizes: "But we never went to an amusement park...". That was one scene that stuck a cord with me, and by the end of the film, Ishinomori takes his sons to watch the filming of a Kamen Rider episode. There's a very emotional scene that fans of Ishinomori's  heroes will certainly appreciate. Overall, these are my thoughts on this special. While it was not perfect, I'm happy it was made and I hope Ishinomori's legacy will live on for many decades to come!

NOTE: This blog is currently inactive. But I’m making an exception for this. If anyone wants to know what I’m up to, please check my twitter and Instagram accounts, or follow me on Facebook: 

https://twitter.com/FelipeOnodera

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[liuwdere]

Women Directors in Anime Panel - Transcript

Here are the slides and audio. (I dunno why you’d want the audio if you’re reading a transcript, but hey, who am I to judge.)

Prior to the start of the panel proper, I played the Animator Expo shorts “Endless Night” and “Tomorrow From There” so the early comers weren’t stuck sitting around with nothing to do. I then put on the first Kyousougiga PV as a lead-in to the presentation.

Hi guys, and welcome to Women Directors of Anime. I’m Micchy. You can find me on Twitter @liuwdere, where I post very bad content most of the time and also have opinions on figure skating.

To start us off: Who can name an anime director? Anyone, go as basic as you like.

Hayao Miyazaki, the obvious one.

Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Ninja Scroll.

Challenge: who can name a female anime director?

Sayo Yamamoto.

That’s cheating, I showed her name earlier. Well, anyway, point is, they’re a bit harder to think of.

Raise your hand if you’ve seen one of these shows. Looks like just about all of you. Yuri on Ice? I see a few Yuri on Ice fans here. (Audience member: “I don’t know what that is.”) Well, congratulations, you have seen an anime directed by a woman!

Why talk about anime directors? I’ve seen several panels about fictional representations, strong female characters, so I would also like to bring some attention to the real-world anime industry and representation in that aspect of anime. There are a ton of women working as key animators, writers, in-betweeners in anime, but very few have managed to get the higher roles of production. This is not to say the lower roles are not important—they’re super important. With key animators, I’m a huge fan of Megumi Kouno, who key animated Shelter, if you’ve seen that. This topic is kind of arbitrary, but there are some talented ladies out there and I want to talk about them. Also, honestly, it’s also possible to be very comprehensive because there are like, 25 of them.

What do directors do? Basically they oversee anime production. Their involvement can vary; some of them are very involved in the storyboarding, the music choices, the writing, while others are a little more hands-off, a little manager-like. Some directors rise on the production side—they’re good at managing people, good at making sure people have their stuff done on time, and that’s what gets them in charge. Some of them start as key animators and eventually take over the lead visual development. Of course, they are all beholden to the will of the production committee, which is made up of the sponsors and execs in charge of the show, because money—money’s gotta come from somewhere.

Where are all these ladies? If you look through the industry, they tend to be clustered in a few genres. Number 1: kids’ shows and long-running franchises. We’re talking things like Precure, with the Suite Precure, Happiness Charge Precure, and Heartcatch Precure movies. [Yoko Ikeda, Chiaki Kon, and Rie Matsumoto] all started by directing episodes of the show before taking charge of the movie. Cardfight Vanguard G, the second season. [NOTE: This is actually inaccurate; Yui Umemoto is not a woman. Apologies for the mistake.] The File of Young Kindaichi Returns, also the second season. [Both Umemoto and Ikeda] were taking over established franchises.

Where else? We’ve got kids’ shows, and obviously, anime for women. We’re talking shoujo and josei manga adaptations, otome games, what I like to call “manservice” (though this genre classification is really loose), and boys’ love.

With shoujo manga, you’ve got Vampire Knight (anime Twilight), Otome Yokai Zakuro, Nodame Cantabile (a romcom about music students), and Skip Beat. We’ve got Sailor Moon Crystal season 3, Ristorante Paradiso (old man moe), the fifth season of Natsume Yuujinchou (Kotomi Deai taking over from Takahiro Omori), and Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. (I hear a few shouts, nice.)

Otome games: These are visual novel dating sims where you play as a heroine character and get your choice of pretty boys to date. On that side of things you’ve got La Storia della Arcana Famiglia, Magic-kyun Renaissance, Diabolik Lovers, and its sequel Diabolik Lovers More Comma Blood—directed by two different women, because of course they are. (This is my favorite bit of Diabolik Lovers—you throw her into the pool. Just throw her in a pool.)

Manservice: This is what I like to classify the sports shows, the boy idol shows, the historical romances and stuff. We’ve got Meganebu! (cute boys doing cute things in a glasses club), Hakkenden, Prince of Stride; Free! (with one exclamation point), Cheer Boys!! (with two exclamation points), and Yuri!!! on Ice (with three exclamation points).

Boys’ Love: There’s a conversation to be had here about how women are kind of co-opting gay men’s stories, but that’s a topic for another day; I’m not talking about that today. You’ve got This Boy cycle from Soubi Yamamoto. These are a series of independent films, all short. Doukyuusei from Shouko Nakamura, a lovely story about two high school boys falling in love. And on the trashier side of things we have stuff like Junjou Romantica, World’s Greatest First Love, and Gakuen Heaven. Personally, I recommend Gakuen Handsome.

It’s important to note that even in these genres, most of the anime is still directed by men. Super Lovers—anyone?—that’s directed by a man. And of course, you can find women elsewhere; these are just the genres you’re most likely to find women. After all, who better to make anime for women than women?

Where else are they? If you look towards the edges of the industry—the avant-garde, the experimental animation showcase projects—you can see that some of these projects give younger women a chance to take charge of their own short films. Space Dandy was supposedly directed by Shinichirou Watanabe and Shingo Natsume, but in actuality, they gave a lot of creative reign to the individual episode directors, which is why every episode looks so different. Some of them were women. Panty and Stocking was another case of this. There’s also Japan Animator Expo, a series of web shorts released over several years, which featured quite a few women.

Talking about the women in particular: I’ve grouped them for convenience. I’m going to start with the ladies at Kyoto Animation.

A little about KyoAni: KyoAni is a unique studio in that all their animation is done in-house with a salaried staff. This is the case with most of the industry; most other studios hire animators freelance. Okay, you come in, you draw these few cuts, you go home. The only other major studio to do this—to have a salaried staff—is Studio Ghibli. Kyoani also has a strong focus on training young talent. Their veteran animators will spend a lot of time providing guidance to the younger staff. (Another studio that does this is Studio Toei, which produces Precure.) Both of these factors make it very conducive to nurturing young talent. Two of the names at Kyoani are Naoko Yamada and Hiroko Utsumi.

Naoko Yamada [the first female staff director at Kyoani] is probably best known for directing K-On. What I want you to notice about Yamada is her astute attention to character animation and body language. If you’ve seen any Kyoto Animation shows, you know what I mean; [the characters] act in specific ways, and [the animation is] very shiny, very polished. This particular attention to body language is what eventually got her the directorial position for A Silent Voice, which is about a deaf girl. Obviously [the girl] communicates through sign language, so you can see why the body language would be important there. (Also, [Yamada] likes legs. She has a lotta legs in her storyboards. It’s pretty obvious; you see knees all over the place.)

[A Silent Voice PV]

Going on to another woman at Kyoani: Hiroko Utsumi, who directed Free. It should be pretty obvious that this show was helmed by a woman just from the butts and abs on display [for the female gaze]. I mean, characters in-universe state, “Oh my god, those are really good butts and chests and abs and shoulders.” So that’s a thing.

Here’s where I get a little wibbly-wobbly: What I like to call the “Penguindrum alumni.” This is because there were several women working on this particular show that later went on to head their own projects. To talk about them, I need to talk about Kunihiko Ikuhara. This guy is the infamously eccentric director of Revolutionary Girl Utena, Penguindrum, and Yurikuma Arashi. He’s heavily influenced by the late Osamu Dezaki, with a strong focus on visual metaphor, cinematic language, and very surreal imagery. On one of his projects, Penguindrum, there were a bunch of ladies who were episode directors and assistant directors who later went on to lead their own projects.

The first one I’m going to talk about is Mitsue Yamazaki. A lot of her work is really pretty, but personally my favorite is her comedy work on Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. Here’s a clip where two boys play a dating sim game and get a little too into it.

[Nozaki-kun - Tomoda]

Another one of these ladies who worked on Penguindrum is Shouko Nakamura. She did a lot of early work at Studio Gainax working on Gurren Lagann and Panty and Stocking. You can see the Gainax influence in her style with loose, relaxed lineart—you could contrast it with, for instance, KyoAni’s polished realism. Last year, she directed a boys’ love film adapted from a manga by Asumiko Nakamura, Doukyuusei.

[Doukyuusei PV].

If you’re wondering which episode she did on Panty and Stocking, it’s the one where Panty’s sex tape gets leaked.

Akemi Hayashi: She saved the human race from the Zentradi in 2009. Actually, no, she didn’t. Fun fact: her name happens to share the kanji from a possible Chinese rendering of Lynn Minmay, from Super Dimension Fortress Macross, which made researching this one kind of hard. (I was like, I wanna find out about this director, but was only getting results for this anime girl. I like Macross and all, but that wasn’t what I wanted.)

Akemi Hayashi for real: She, like Shouko Nakamura, did early stuff at Gainax. You can see her work going way, way back—if you’ve seen the 1997 anime Revolutionary Girl Utena, she did key animation on the opening sequence for that. She’s been the animation director for a number of high profile projects, including Casshern Sins [and] the Rebuild of Evangelion films. She hasn’t had a full TV series or movie debut yet, but she has directed a few short films and the penguin episode of Space Dandy. What I’m going to put on for you next is a short film done for a collaboration project called Ani*Kuri 15: fifteen one-minute shorts from different creators in the industry. Hers was called “Namida no Mukou,” roughly “from behind tears.” Like Shouko Nakamura, she also has a strong focus on fluid animation. I especially like her use of subtleties in facial expression and body language, conveying emotion through that.

[Ani*Kuri 15, “Namida no Mukou”]

Getting to directors who did not work on Penguindrum (which is a ridiculous classification in itself): My personal favorite, Sayo Yamamoto. This lady is super extra: when she was in college, she wanted to work on animation, but the faculty told her, “No, you can’t work on animation.” She said, “Heck, I’m working on animation anyway,” and did. She caught the attention of director Satoshi Kon to work on Millennium Actress. Stuff happened and she didn’t end up working on that, so her first work at Studio Madhouse was some animation on Trava, which later became the basis for the movie Redline, if you’ve seen that. There she got noticed by Shinichiroh Watanabe, director of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. She was brought on to be an episode director on Champloo, and that’s where she says she first got creative control over her project.  [Yamamoto] has also directed a lot of opening and ending sequences; if you’ve seen the first ending sequence to Attack on Titan, that was all her: the sketchy charcoal drawing, that’s her.

Yamamoto’s one of those creatives that has a strong influence over story direction as well as the visuals. For instance, she has a fixation on the femme fatale character, as well as gender and sexuality in general—especially female and queer sexuality. You’ve got Michiko and Hatchin, which is about Latina women, one of them a lesbian. The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, literally an entire series about what makes the femme fatale—Fujiko Mine, the femme fatale character in the long-running franchise Lupin III—what makes her tick, and why is she bad? That show is about interrogating that.

Yuri on Ice also addresses sexuality in a way that’s a little more subtle than her previous works—YOI is a lot lighter, less gritty than the “sex and murder” tone of Fujiko Mine. Part of this is because it is a collaboration with manga artist Mitsurou Kubo. But you can still see hints of this fixation on sexuality and femininity in [for instance] episode 3, where Yuri literally works to channel his inner Fujiko Mine. There’s also a queer character in Fujiko Mine, so yeah, gender and sexuality is a big thing in Yamamoto’s work.

Also, butts. Sayo Yamamoto isn’t that open to giving interviews, but from people who work with her, we have reports that yeah, she was very insistent that they draw butts very well. She says figure skaters have such nice butts you can put things on them, and was really insistent that the staff draw them all. Also, she is on record saying that she liked the scenes in Lupin III where Fujiko took her shirt off—make of that what you will.

Beyond her fixation on butts and sex, she also has a focus on fairy tale imagery and sketchlike charcoal/pencil drawings. This is the ending sequence of Rage of Bahamut (which is getting a sequel this season, I’m so excited) and it’s quite gorgeous.

[Rage of Bahamut ED]

Wasn’t that pretty? (Audience member: yes.) As much as I would like to talk about Sayo Yamamoto all day—I will seriously talk about Sayo Yamamoto all day if you let me, so don’t let me—next we have Rie Matsumoto.

Rie Matsumoto is a director who started at Toei, animating and directing episodes of Heartcatch Precure. (If you don’t know what Precure is, it’s basically My Little Pony, but magical girls and Japanese. That’s the kind of fandom it has. Maybe a little less bad, but not the point.) At Toei, she directed the original promotional video for this series called Kyousougiga, which became a web series and eventually a 10-episode TV series. Then she went AWOL for a few years, later reappearing at Studio BONES directing Blood Blockade Battlefront. (She’s also really cute, I think. [Audience member: It’s true.])

Matsumoto’s another one of those creators with a strong storytelling stamp as well; she has a hand in writing a lot of these works. She as a creator is eclectic as hell. Kyousougiga is like a dozen shows in one, about nostalgia and regret and salvation through platonic love and depression and narcissism—it’s great. Some of the themes that reappear across her work, especially in this original part of Blood Blockade Battlefront, are family bonds, salvation through familial love. In Blood Blockade Battlefront she basically added an entire subplot that was about two siblings reconciling with each other, because that was [the story she wanted to tell]. That’s not even in the manga at all.

For Blood Blockade Battlefront, the artist of the manga [Yasuhiro Nightow] had only one request to the anime staff, and that was to make an opening sequence worth seeing a hundred times. That’s a pretty daunting task, but Rie Matsumoto was like, “heck, I’ll do it.” I’ll let you decide whether she succeeds or not.

[Kekkai Sensen OP]

Every frame of that thing has so much, the composition’s superb. Matsumoto is not directing the second season, unfortunately; she says she’s told the story she wanted to tell and no longer has interest in telling more. Someone else will be taking charge of that second season!

Here’s Soubi Yamamoto, another one of my favorites. No relation to Sayo Yamamoto. Soubi Yamamoto is unique in that she’s basically entirely independent. Most of her work she wrote, directed, and animated almost all by herself—kind of like Makoto Shinkai, director of the current hit Your Name, as well as Five Centimeters Per Second, Garden of Words, if you’ve seen those.

Yamamoto’s really young. Her This Boy series: This Boy Can Fight Aliens, This Boy Caught a Merman, This Boy Suffers from Crystallization, and This Boy is a Professional Wizard. They’re all standalone, thirty-minute shorts. She made the first one of those when she was 22. (She’s like, 27 now. Really young.)

Characteristics of her style: When you see a Soubi Yamamoto thing, you know it’s Soubi Yamamoto. It’s got a saturated color palette, limited animation (since it’s basically just her), on-screen text and manga-like textures/aesthetic. She also has a pretty large hand in writing most of her shorts. You see themes of loneliness, isolation, the difficulty of maintaining interpersonal connection—and boys kissing, there’s quite a bit of that too. What she did not write was MEGANEBU, her one and only TV series to date. This is about a bunch of guys in a glasses enthusiastic club. It’s about as dumb as it sounds. In this scene one of the characters is trying to go to club and is sidetracked by a praying mantis.

[Meganebu, episode 5 - about 3:00-4:30]

The rest of the episode escalates from there—he brings out a suit of armor and a flamethrower just to get past this bug. It’s pretty great.

Atsuko Ishizuka. She was the first [female] staff director at Studio Madhouse. In 2008, the head of Madhouse Masao Maruyama said of her that she was probably the most talented young director in the industry at the time. She’s managed to get a foothold in the otaku market with No Game No Life and several other reasonably successful properties.

She’s also very fond of very, very bold color design. Personally I think she goes a little overboard with it most of the time, but in this 2009 show Aoi Bungaku I think she handled it well. This show is an anthology of adaptations of Japanese literature. Ishizuka directed episodes 11 and 12, “The Spider’s Thread” and “Hell Screen,” both based on short stories by Ryuunosuke Akutagawa. (Has anyone seen Bungo Stray Dogs? Yeah, it’s that guy. He’s actually a real person.) Hell Screen is about a painter who’s commissioned to decorate the tomb of an emperor with his glory, but when he’s faced with the suffering and strife that’s going on in the country he paints a picture of suffering instead. This is the scene where he finally breaks when his daughter is burned before his eyes. [Its exquisite use of color] is really gorgeous; y’all should watch it.

[Aoi Bungaku, episode 12. No link, sorrymasen.]

Aoi Bungaku has unfortunately never been licensed because the market for adaptations of Japanese modernist literature is kind of small. (Its audience is me, mostly.)

Moving on, we have Eunyoung Choi. Choi is a longtime collaborator with avant-garde director Masaaki Yuasa. If you’ve seen Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong, Kick-Heart (which aired on Toonami a while ago, I think)... they also did an episode of Adventure Time together. Most of Eunyoung Choi’s work has been with Yuasa, so you see their styles kind of merge, with loose lineart, flexible animation, favoring dynamic motion over consistent character models. She did direct the ninth episode of Space Dandy herself (Yuasa came later in the second season with the fish alien episode). This is the episode where Space Dandy and the crew go to a planet where all the living things are plants.

Interesting to note that Choi is Korean, and not Japanese; if you look at the edges of the industry, with the ‘artsy’ projects, you can see a bunch of non-Japanese people. Kevin Aymeric, French background artist; Michael Arias, a director from America; Thomas Romain, French mech designer; Bahi JD, Austrian animator; a lot of them work on the same projects because they’re all buddy-buddy with each other.

So she’s directed this lovely but trippy episode of Space Dandy. [It’s a unique style on display here.]

[Space Dandy, episode 9, about 15:30-17:30]

That was Eunyoung Choi. Here’s another lady: Ai Yoshimura, who directed Oregairu, Blue Spring Ride, Dance with Devils, and Cheer Boys. She’s pretty good at handling moments of intense emotion: in Blue Spring Ride there are so many scenes where you can just feel the atmosphere dripping with romantic tension. (Sometimes it’s bad.) But my personal favorite thing of hers is Dance with Devils, which is basically an anime Broadway musical about a girl and demon boys. This show had the brilliant idea of making Cerberus a mashpotato dog. And he has a musical number. You guys should see it ‘cause I love this show to death.

[Dance with Devils - Loewen]

This show also has wonderful numbers like an extremely wannabe rap and a song called “Emo Liar.” It’s “I Won’t Say I’m In Love” but with anime boys and more screaming. Anyway, that show is great and I feel like everyone should watch it, but that’s just me.

I feel like I should mention the most prolific director in the entire industry, [Chiaki Kon]. I don’t think this is even a complete list of her work. Here I have Golden Time and Sailor Moon Crystal. Season 3, since the first two were directed by someone else. She, uh, sure does put out a lot of work. Not a lot of it’s very good, but there sure is a lot of it! Props to her for getting so many jobs. I mean, as much as I love Nodame Cantabile, those two seasons are not good. Also Junjou Romantica. I’m not gonna say anything about Junjou Romantica, but… Junjou Romantica.

Literally everyone else: I of course did not have time to get to everyone. A couple of names I like on here:

Noriko Takao directing Saint Young Men, which is about Jesus and Buddha chilling in an apartment in Tokyo, and it’s pretty great. That will probably never get released over here because fundies.

Kotomi Deai directing the second season of Silver Spoon and the fifth season of Natsume Yuujinchou. She took over Silver Spoon from SAO director Tomohiko Ito, who was currently then busy with SAO.

Sayo Aoi directing The Merman In My Bathtub. See, there are actually two gay merman anime. I just think that’s incredible.

I also really like [Mitsuko Kase’s] Ristorante Paradiso. It’s the kind of show you watch if you’re really into older men. Like, if you want to sit back after work, chill and watch reasonably attractive older men do their thing, that’s the show for you.

(I have seen basically everything on this list. Some of it’s pretty bad. Some is actually decent. Not [Yukina Hiiro’s] Chu-bra. Nnngh, we don’t talk about Chu-bra.)

The anime industry today is obviously changing. There’s more anime produced now than ever before; we have dozens of new shows every three months. Go back a few decades, we had a dozen new shows a year. With that boom, the women’s share of the market is definitely growing. You see this with a lot more anime directed at women: the idol shows; the sports anime,which are intended for younger boys but have a significant female following anyway (hot guys); Touken Ranbu, which is more of a thing over in Japan than here; Osomatsu. With that, we have more female-led projects than ever before.

Of course, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. The wages in the industry are terrible. Animation is a really hard job! It takes a lot of skill, and they get paid almost nothing for it. Also, the industry is kind of a boys’ club and has been since the beginning. On the bright side, a lot of these women are really young and will probably do good work in the future, so I’m gonna beg you guys to support them by watching through legal channels. (I’m shilling for good friends at Crunchyroll.)

I then went through a few resources and places to watch the good cartoons, concluding with the same two Animator Expo shorts from before the panel for the people who showed up later. Thanks for playing!