#just gorgeous artwork

[silverfoxstole]

BF covers done right. Simpler than many but absolutely friggin’ glorious. Wish they’d stuck with this format. By Rafe Wallbank.

[maedictus]

Tinúviel was dancing there to music of a pipe unseen. And light of stars was in her hair and in her raiment, glimmering.

[hotwaterandmilk]

I've been scanning the Yami no Purple Eye art book and it got me thinking about why I still feel so strongly about Shinohara Chie's horror-tinged works in particular. They don't have the sweeping settings, period detail or political intrigue of her historical titles, but they're still the works of hers I revisit most often.

I love the way Shinohara captures the physical and psychological horror of being a teenage girl. How truly overwhelming it can be to come into a new physical state and be hit by heightened strengths and fears. All while grappling with how to reconcile this new, hungry state with the "good girl" you were before the change. It's the way she combines this age-old puberty parable with an escalated 80s bent on 40s Hollywood female monstrosity that never fails to linger in my mind.

Let me unpack my rambling thoughts on this a bit and yeah they are pretty rambly I'm sorry I've got that neurological thing going on and it makes being articulate harder than it has ever been before. Forgive me!

Spoilers, bloody images and rambling re: Yami no Purple Eye, Ao no Fuuin, Umi no Yami Tsuki no Kage and Mizu ni Sumu Hana below.

The heroines of Shinohara's longer horror works are all seemingly average girls who are awakened to something horrific within them as teenagers (be it Rinko as panther, Ruka to psychic abilities, or Souko as an oni). Suddenly they're overcome not just by abilities but feelings, appetites, desires. They go from being good, average girls to young women battling forces within them stronger than anything known to science. There's always a boy there to support them through this, but they feel otherwise isolated or dangerous, unable to seek support from anyone else.

Yami no Purple Eye is frequently compared to the 1942 film Cat People and understandably so - in both you have a beautiful young woman descendended from "cat people" whose beastial side can take over when base urges overcome their normally sweet demeanor (though this film is absolutely not the first example of a 'cat person' in speculative fiction). The major difference, I would posit (aside from the more explicitly sexual nature of Cat People's change), is that Irena is an adult and while she also struggles with her identity and powers this battle is not new to her, she is hopeful for a way out but also somewhat resigned to the way things are.

Rinko from Yami no Purple Eye is new to being a panther, she is fearful of her secret getting out but also fearful of herself, of her purple eyes and her "unnatural" urges. While so much of Cat People is a relatively subtle look at female sexuality as a monstrosity in itself, Yami no Purple Eye shows a transformation that at puberty can be harnessed as a form of protection but also remains linked to the animal kingdom and not "enlightened" modern human society.

While Rinko's incredible strength saves her from all sorts of precarious situations, it feels new and out of her control. It isolates her from normal humans and it paints a target on her her back for Kaoruko, the primary antagonist of the series. I think what makes these pubescent power awakenings so alarming for all Shinohara's horror heroines is this lack of control. They didn't willingly trigger their transformation, they don't understand it properly, and they cannot control it. Ultimately each of them goes through a period of feeling incredible isolation from human society, which is common in a lot of speculative texts where the lead finds themselves estranged from society at large.

In Umi no Yami, Tsuki no Kage Ruka has the double-whammy of losing her normal life and her twin sister, Rumi, who has become deranged while coming into her own psychic powers. Although Ruka has the support of love-interest Katsuyuki, it is this love rivalry which put a wedge between her and her sister in the first place. At times, Ruka feels lost with all the destruction triggered by the sisters' transformation, held by Katsuyuki but with a 1000 yard stare in her eyes. Both Ruka and Rumi know deep down that only they can defeat one another, but how do you defeat your identical twin? How do you fight what is essentially your shadow self and your base instincts run riot?

It requires an understanding of the transformation, an acceptance of the change that has taken place, and a peace with what must come next - all of which takes Ruka the better part of 18 volumes to achieve. Mizu ni Sumu Hana takes a shorter route on a similar theme with the two Rikkas and the seeds, giving us another set of two near identical yet drastically different girls fighting for survival.

And being a teenage girl in these stories is very much focused on trying to survive. Another consistency across all these series that underscores the isolation of the heroines is the loss of those around them. Family members and friends are murdered or manipulated indiscriminately. Even if Shinohara's heroines try to seek support from someone other than their love interest, it is very quickly put to a stop by an opposing force. For a young woman in these worlds, struggling to understand her new body and changed mind, there is no option for support outside a male romantic interest.

That in itself is horrifying (though admittedly not as well-examined within text as I'd like, it certainly does feel like a comment) but it becomes a hell of a lot worse if your love interest's goals are at odds with your own. We see this with Souko in Ao no Fuuin who is revealed to be an oni that must survive by consuming humans. Her (false) memories are human and she has only recently learned of her oni nature so understandably she doesn't want to be a predator, yet she must eat people to survive. Akira, her love interest, rather than being a dutiful normal boy like Shin'ya in Yami no Purple Eye, is from an opposing family tasked with destroying her.

Eventually Akira's affection for Souko outweighs his duty to eliminate her and the two work together to try and figure out a way for her to become human and thus no longer require defeating. But initially in Ao no Fuuin, Souko is entirely alone with her growing hunger and power, unable to confide in anyone and unsupported by a romantic interest which proves just as isolating as it sounds. Like Rinko, Souko has gaps in her memory, a sensation that she's done something unnatural but a desperate need to be wrong about it, to be proven human despite all evidence to the contrary. As both heroines have entered their teenage years they have lost all they knew of stability, family and normalcy to have it be replaced by the uncanny, unnatural and unacceptable.

To have the body and mind become unreliable in your teenage years, to feel overwhelmed by forces you didn't know were within you, to feel like you're the only one experiencing such horrors... I mean it's all a big puberty metaphor isn't it? And yeah, to a degree these stories are simply turning the horror dial up to eleven on a cross-cultural feeling of coming into the power and bodily changes of adulthood before your mind can catch up with them (though in the case of Shinohara's stories every lead is shown to be attracted to the opposite sex and not explored as being anything other than cis, so there's definitely a lot left unexplored regarding pubscent queerness in her worlds).

All of Shinohara's long-form horror heroines seem to go through a period of grasping back for the safety and "normalness" of their childhood selves, of who they were before their body and mind betrayed them. Souko repeats to herself countless times that she is human not necessarily because she knows it to be true, but because she wants it to be true. She longs for who she believes she once was and we see similar grief for Rinko and Ruka, now awakened to their new lives as teenage monsters, as they reflect back on the comforting dullness of the recent past with a newfound appreciation and longing.

Ultimately, however, Souko was never a normal teenage girl. Rinko's power was dormant but she was always of panther blood. Rikka was always going to be used as a pawn between black and white dragons. Only Ruka, whose power was awakened after surviving a near-fatal bacterial infection, ever had an entirely normal human childhood and even then she must accept that what she and her sister had in their innocence can never be rediscovered. For some of these heroines there was never a "normal" to go back to and even for those that did have a glimpse at average life, it is ultimately gone from their grasp regardless. Time marches ever onward and for these young women there is no ability to wind back the clock, they must continue forward like all of us, even if their awakening to adulthood is more violent and bloody than most.

While everything I've touched on so far seems absolutely godawful, I think it's important to tie this all together with a bow of hope. Shinohara Chie's long-form horror and suspense stories put all their leads through the wringer, but they are never without hope. There is some degree of happiness out there for all her heroines, victims of circumstance and blood. However, it is not the happiness they had anticipated for themselves as adults and I think that is key to the whole exercise. Shinohara's heroines can at times be passive, clinging desperately to the idea that they can reverse what cannot be reversed. But in the end they must accept and embrace their new bodily powers. Just as we all must accept adulthood even when it doesn't adhere to our childhood hopes and dreams.

Rinko goes through absolute hell to try to get her happy ending and ultimately she doesn't get it, but her daughter Mai does manage to carve out a sense of happiness just by being with the man she loves. Souko can shed her obligation to the Kimon and be with Akira because her previous incarnation's daughter willingly takes on the role of heir for her. Ruka can live on but to do so must kill a willing Rumi and accept that what happened to them will ultimately be forgotten by the greater consciousness. Both Rikkas are revived and can choose their ultimate lifespan as the lost lotus flowers blossom once more.

None of these are your traditional happy ending, but what links them together is a sense of sacrifice. Part of the journey into adulthood, into surviving the horror of having a body as a teenage girl, is accepting the flawed state of adulthood. It comes at considerable sacrifice and it isn't necessarily what you dreamed it would be, but it is yours and you got where you are as an adult through the blood, sweat and tears of your younger self. There's a beauty to that and to Shinohara's flawed heroines and their often patchy narratives. Having a body can be horrific, it can be overwhelming, and it is inherently isolating... but it is essential to experiencing the beauty we do have in this world.

And idk I just think that's neat.

Shinohara isn't an artist to everyone's tastes and I do think there are strengths to her historical tales that perhaps aren't as present in her more horrific works, but her super powered horror stories manage to capture a type of pubescent alarm that a lot of other authors cannot master. While all these works do feel dated to a degree and present a limited scope of gender and sexuality, there's something I find timeless about revisiting the horror and joy of being a girl both cursed and blessed with the burden of a body.

-

Edit 14/10/24: I would like to point out that my use of the term "horror" here relates to consistent thematic elements presented in these series rather than their specific genre labels, roots in other sub-genres or relation to other foundational texts outside of Shinohara's oeuvre.

Shinohara's speculative work is frequently labeled battle/suspense manga (with some shorter works earning a 'suspense horror' description at their most intense) and I am in no way disagreeing with these labels or trying to relabel the above titles as strictly horror. Nor does this post seek to break down the full context of these titles as they fit into the development of 80s/90s/00s shoujo.

This post exclusively reflects my personal thoughts on the bodily perils faced by Shinohara's super-powered heroines in the aforementioned texts through a horror lens (which in turn reflects my area of focus back when I studied film).

Everyone will have their own intrepretations of these texts and these characters and that's what makes hearing people's opinions so interesting - always open to hearing yours if you stumble onto this. ^^

[lunar-atrocities]

I remember seeing the hotd season 2 promo shots for the first time and just having a whole breakdown about how beautiful the portraits were. I might do more of these, but Rhaena’s shot was so stunning, I just had to fulfill those angelic Renaissance vibes.

[selfryed]

you want s.t.a.r.s? ill give you s.t.a.r.s... (oml this is so unfinished)

*bloody vers under cut*

[the-cooler-kizy-art]

Attempting to design my own Antinous design hehehehe

[chacerider]

oops, my hand slipped -

[lindariellanthir]

Artwork by ヤユム on pixiv

[bradshawsbaby]

Gallus (Rooster) from Si Vis Amari Ama // Commissioned artwork by @forsty

Words cannot even begin to describe how unbelievably obsessed I am 😍 The colors, the details—all of it goes above and beyond anything I could have hoped for. I will cherish this always! ♥️

[tmntkiseki]

THE SPLINTER FOREVER ONESHOT...

[bellepoque-20]

OMG THIS FUCKING GAME IS JUST SO FUCKING GOOD.

[vikramsharma007]

[the-blind-geisha]

Artist: kiko-sempai

I feel like the artist I commission lately just know when they made something I might like...so they hunt me down and follow me on other platforms to draw my attention to it.. lol

This dress was something I saw in passing but was like 'I need to behave even if I feel Violetta would look perfect in it'.. then the artist followed me on 2 other platforms, so I took it as a sign and here we are. LOL

[cdmodule]

Obvious Disclaimer: Everyone has the right to their own opinion/is allowed to criticize any show of course but the way people are excessively negative towards ION absolutely rubs me the wrong way Not Gonna Lie

It does so many things people in the OSC are too afraid to do ( visibly autistic main character, deviating from the usual format/style heavily, slightly more mature themes that isn't just cussing and the like ) and immediately everyone rags on it because It's too "ugly" & autistic/queer in a way that isn't cutesty and sanitized for fandom consumption to all hell like I'm starting to feel like people don't actually want creativity in this community at all lmao

[k1rameki]

me and my beloved @alex-dontknow were busy doodling on whiteboard together and here are some of my many many doodlies feat the entity ladies (amora and nikusa), tabi, agoti, aldryx and ayana >:3

@beans2cheese @appallinnballin (hello appa i hear you enjoy my entity humns so have the ladies plus everyones favourite brothers)

[kewpie-aisle]

𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙀𝙮𝙚𝙨

pairing: Miya Atsumu x gn!reader

notes: heavily suggestive, general horniness, dry humping, minors do NOT interact

wc: 988 words

First part of an ongoing series: Like what you see, going to be a compilation of other characters AN: Inspired by this artwork by @hlxtn ...yall lightning struck in my brain when I saw this. The clouds parted and the gods' themselves spoke to me that I had to write something after seeing Atsumu.

dividers by @cafekitsune

“You like what you see, baby boy?” Your eyes peer up to look at the man behind you in the mirror’s reflection. His amber eyes follow your every movement, half hooded eyes observing as you finish dressing yourself. His eyes move with each movement of your hands, traveling up your leg, then to your hips as you finish buttoning your pants. He’s tracking you, eyes growing darker as if preparing himself to attack. Not that you’d mind. You clear your throat watching as his eyes flit up to meet yours again in the mirror. The question still lingering in the air, only further punctuated with your sleek eyebrow quirked up in wait. Atsumu’s eyes glinted as a devilish smirk appeared on his face. He had just come back from practice, still in his practice clothes. When he hadn’t been greeted at the door he was upset but heard music coming from your shared bedroom. Wandering over to see what kept you so distracted from him, he walked in on a sight for sore eyes. You were getting ready for some party or the other that he must have forgotten about. Half dressed and holding up a variety of options up against you and completely distracted. So he got to just drink you in, just in your underwear and a sheer long sleeved black mesh top. Tight against your curves, hugging your waist, wrapped around all the places he wanted his hands to be tracing. You had noticed your boyfriend leaning against the doorframe a few minutes after his appearance. Before you could say hi, you noticed his eyes fully checking you out. A few shots deep from your pre-game, the liquid already spread a base warmth through your system, but Atsumu’s hungry eyes on your body had you gulping niceties down. A renewed heat now rushing through your body watching him, watch you. But you needed to get ready and a quickie has never been in Atsumu’s dictionary. The man would spend hours after saying it’ll be quick, normally you wouldn’t mind. But after being late to so many friends’ night out, tonight needed to be the night to break the pattern. 

Continuing getting dressed, putting on your pants, but glancing at Atsumu’s reflection as you took your time pulling them up. Sticking your ass out just a little, back arching in the way you know he likes as you come up. Stifling a whimper at the way he licks his lips, biting your lip before asking the question bringing both your eyes to each other.

“Ya know I do.” His voice rumbles through you, a shiver running down your spine, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the setter. Smirk widening to a full grin as he stalks into the room and lowers himself into the chair in the corner of the room. Now sitting directly in front of you getting ready, his eyes never leaving your body in all his steps. Any extra words gulped down as you watched him spread out comfortably, a growing bulge in his shorts on full display. He watches as you finish getting ready. The finishing touches of a blush on your cheeks, gloss on your plump lips, and spritz of a citrus perfume that he catches as you brush past him to go into the closet to tidy up. On your way back he grabs your wrist to press a kiss on the inside, intertwining his fingers with yours. Pressing butterfly kisses up your arm where he could reach, he looks up from his lashes to see your expression. Eyes half lidded peering into his, no into his soul. Right into the center of him, seeing every part of him and his desire. A pout forming that he wanted to kiss away. “Tsumu, I can’t. I can’t be late again, my friends will never forgive me” “I’ll be quick babe” he lightly tugs on your arm to pull you into his lap, his other arm wrapping around your waist. Continuing his kisses up your arm, the mesh material of your shirt interferes with what he wants. To feel your bare skin, to grace his love flesh to flesh. He continues up to finally feel the softness of your skin at the bare spot on your shoulder. Kissing past the collar of the shirt he nestles into the crook of your neck. Breathing in the citrus scent wafting off you and feeling your pulse under his lips on your neck. He feels a chuckle reverberate through you, warming his heart. “Ya right, I’ve never heard that one.” A soft moan slips out as Atsumu slides his hand under your shirt, leaving a trail of fire as he rubs up and down your sides. You make the mistake of looking down at him. A flush across his face and his amber eyes full of lust, pushing back his hood and hat you run your hands through his hair. His eyes flutter close to enjoy the sensation, and with a light pull of his hair at the nape of his neck, you pull a low groan out of him. 

His hand slowly runs up your back, lifting your shirt in its wake, all the up to the back of your neck. His other hand on your hip bringing you down to grind on him, his full length pressed right up against you. The grip on your neck tightening to make sure you can’t look away, watching him make a mess of both of you. The friction of clothing and the heat rising in both of you makes everything hazy. A whisper of his name out of your mouth, your hands dropping to his shoulders as you line yourself up on his lap better chasing for more friction, the last bits of clarity leaving you.

With a tug, the last sight you see is his smirk before your lips meet, knowing you’ve lost this fight completely.