#krkr gdgd fairies

[isitsafetodrinktherainwater32]

CRINGETOBER DAY TWELVE!!!!!!!!!!!! have you ever heard of gdgd fairies. if not Why

[glitterberryshortcake]

✨Gdgd Fairies✨

[flutterblunder]

A breezie version of krkr from the severely underrated anime gdgd Fairies.

I accidentally forgot the antennae and had to add them last second. Anyway, here's the lineart

[batboykyuu]

messy krkr Wip before bed, trust the process hssjh

[junktastic]

Days 8 & 9 of Inktober! Vriska (vriska) and Krkr (gdgd Fairies).

[kansetsukiss]

A brief introduction to the gdgd Universe

By rights, this should be nothing more than a season-end review of gdMen, but the preponderance of low ratings and confused comments about the show make me want to go a bit further. I can’t make anybody enjoy a series they don’t, and I can barely in the least make them understand its ‘objectively’ good qualities, but I hope I can offer a bit more cultural context in which to place it, which may soften the criticism borne from confusion...

What is gdgd? Literally, it’s a stylised form of ぐだぐだ - gudaguda, meaning (amongst other uses) ‘tedious, repetitive, rambling.’ As for the gd-verse, I’m unable to firmly grasp it myself - no incarnation or responsible party has been successful enough in the English-speaking anime community to warrant, say, a nicely-sourced Wiki page. A cursory study tells me it begins in 2011 with gdgd Fairies, a bizarre comedy starring three fairies having tea in a forest, chatting about anything and everything. shrshr generally introduces an absurd conversational whim, timid pkpk acts as straight-man, and taciturn krkr interjects with dark non-sequiturs and punchlines. It’s cheaply animated in MikuMikuDance, but uses its low quality to its advantage - for instance, frequently relying on terrifying stock models of old men for visual gags, reminiscent of early Garry’s Mod absurdism. In a recurring segment, the three VAs improvise captions to a brief, surreal video clip provided by the animation staff: sometimes referencing characters they’ve played on other shows; sometimes having a reference censored due to licensing restrictions; sometimes birthing running jokes later referred to in the scripted segments, as if they’ve written them into the gdgd lore. Next-episode previews insert the cast into direct parodies of popular shows; season 2 opens with a press conference apologising for this silliness, followed by a smash-cut to a Lucky Star reference. Coarsely put, gdgd Fairies does what the fuck it wants.

These are all the essential qualities of gdgd - cheap MMD animation, whole segments of VA improvisation with audible laughter, pop culture and meta-references, a general freewheeling disregard for structure and convention. Other projects by studios Bouncy and Strawberry Meets (the two sharing credit for gdgd Fairies; their exact relationship is still unclear to me) manifest this spirit of gdgd even when not invoking it by name, and have generally each tackled a particular genre ripe for parody. Chokkyuu Hyoudai Robot Anime follows three robots in the far future attempting to revive and understand the ‘humour’ of ancients - it’s incredibly dry, and deconstructs joke formats to the point that even I have trouble sitting with it. Mahou Shoujo? Naria☆Girls is a vague parody of magical girl tropes, though the ‘plot’ quickly devolves into a ridiculous string of unrelated happenings, and the majority of the show revolves around the VAs improvising off terrible prompts. It’s the worst-looking show of the gd-verse, motion-capturing the VAs into incredibly janky schoolgirl models that clip through each other (which has of course, despite its humour, translated into the lowest MAL score in the gd-verse). Minarai Diva, a copy of which continues to elude me, attempted to form an idol unit and write music on live broadcasts, similarly mo-capped and apparently riddled with technical difficulties. Tesagure! Bukatsumono follows an after-school club attempting to improve generic after-school club scenarios. And this year’s gdMen puts three male VAs in the lead for a change (sexual innuendo is much more abundant here) while riffing off isekai fantasy tropes - maybe especially funny to me, being totally apathetic towards the genre.

I’m urged to apologise for the gd-verse because I constantly see viewers repulsed by its face value, refusing the spirit of gdgd to a vehement degree. I vaguely understand why - when I finished the first episode of Naria Girls, I thought I’d found the worst show I’d ever seen. Thanks to its abysmal rating, I was entering with the assumption that it would be terrible, and the loose dialogue and poor animation are definitely qualities of terrible things. By the second episode, once the shock had worn off, its self-aware lackadaisy that had been disguised as ineptitude became wholly apparent, and I allowed myself to be taken along. I quickly realised I loved it. But I’ve seen comments that hint at viewers latching on to that initial attitude - “what is this?! It’s ugly! It’s so poorly written it almost seems improvised!” - and refuse to budge, even while staring the gdgd in the face. The initial expectation that it will conform to the traditions of anime encounters the non-traditional spirit of gdgd; in this conflict lies the absurd. The typical viewer can either accept the gdgd, or come to despise it - it is so at odds with expectations that it cannot be merely rejected. It must be destroyed.* By which I mean: I can understand initial confusion, but I can’t understand the viewer that sits through a whole season of Naria Girls and at no point realises that it’s all a big joke. People hate things they don’t understand, and it’s easier (and more fun) to hate than to attempt to reconcile yourself with something new - for instance, that animation quality isn’t the only metric of merit; or that not every piece of art is asking you to take it seriously.

Let me tell you: if you’re enjoying a guide to an obscure comedy studio that’s riffing of The Myth of Sisyphus, you’ve got the spirit of gdgd in you. If you seek to explore the gd-verse with me, I recommend starting where it all began with gdgd Fairies. Let me know how you go. And to all who may be wary, I ask you to try, if only a little, to let the spirit of gdgd into your heart. You may absolutely fucking hate it, yes. You may well be changed for life.

なーんちゃって~

*I can’t help but wonder how prevalent this mindset is. Nichijou has a devout cult following, but massively tanked on release. Teekyuu has persisted for 9 seasons purely because one Blu-Ray sale funds the entire next season. Meanwhile, a billion cute-girl 4koma adaptations are pumped out yearly (not that they’re all bad, mind you). Am I overthinking things? I know I’m touting an intersectional review blog here, but I don’t want to come off as a snob.

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: Before VTubers, There Were Fairies!

  VTubers. They're dogs, pirates, and rabbits — they're all over the internet, playing video games, reviewing memes, and generally causing mayhem for our entertainment. If you've been active on social media at all lately, you're probably aware of VTubers. One of the biggest, Kiryu Coco, has even earned about 85 million yen in super chats alone, making her the highest earner on YouTube's entire platform. You may be a fan of a few yourself, but if not, you're not alone. Outside of the ubiquitous Kizuna Ai, I used to live in relative ignorance of these sensations. But recently, I took a deep dive into the world of VTubers to see what they're all about.

  What I found was a bizarre world where fiction and reality meld until finding the difference between them becomes part of the fun. The majority of VTubers are playing a character, visualized directly by the Live2D models that represent them, usually with elements like elaborate backstories to back it up. By embodying and being visually represented by anime characters, VTubers are just taking that idea to the next level.

That distinct separation from reality only makes it more amusing when the illusion is shattered, and I think that dichotomy is the key that makes it so enduring and lovable. If you watch the earliest content of any given VTuber, you'll find they are playing their role as closely as they can. But, as time passes, the facade slowly cracks in ways that feel completely natural. It's just inherently funny to watch a carefully crafted image fall apart in harmless ways, but I also think it's fundamental to why people grow so attached to them. These breaks in character end up becoming part of the experience, adding running jokes and fueling memes, making the whole experience even more immersive for the audience.

So, I started to understand the appeal of VTubers. In fact, it reminded me of something else I love, a little show that has mostly gone overlooked over time: gdgd Fairies.

    gdgd Fairies follow three fairies with similar nonsense names, shrshr, krkr, and pkpk (pronounced "shirushiru," "korokoro," and "pikupiku" respectively), as they sit in their home in the forest and talk to each other. Seriously, that's it.

  Some of their time is spent sitting at a table talking about something mundane, like why you can cry when you're happy and when you're sad, or debating the true meaning of popular idioms. One episode has them going into a knockoff "Room of Spirit and Time" where they can have similar talks but can summon props to add to the jokes. Also, every episode ends in a preview with faithfully recreated parodies from popular shows like Macross Frontier, Zeta Gundam, and A Certain Scientific Railgun — if you've seen the shows in question, it will be impossible to mistake them. The second season expands upon this and includes references to other anime in its intros, too. Each of these parts is almost or entirely scripted, and it speaks to the creativity of the writing that they are as amusing as they are.

  The fan-favorite segment, though, is called "Dubbing Lake," and this is the part that most reminds me of the VTuber phenomenon. Here the fairies watch a silent, absurd-looking clip with absolutely no context, and one-by-one they come up with jokes to say over the clip, usually in an attempt to explain what is going on in it. The kicker here? "Dubbing Lake" is entirely improvised by the voice actresses, and they make little effort to hide it. Not for lack of trying, I think, but simply because they can't. The clips they're shown are too ridiculous to keep a straight face, and the jokes the actresses come up with are even funnier. Jokes made here sometimes even become running gags in the scripted portion of the show, blending the line between the two parts more and more as time goes on.

    Sounds familiar, right? There are some clear differences here — VTubers have curated personalities, yet aren't traditionally "scripted" content — but it's easy to see how the appeal is similar. In both cases, we grow attached to the characters as they are written to be, but as time goes on, the personalities of the real people behind the scenes get mixed in, too. At one point, one of the actress' dads is even incorporated into a "Dubbing Lake" segment. Watching them come together and eventually become a new, unique character is a fun and different form of entertainment.

  Unfortunately, the episodes are fairly short, running about 13 minutes each, and there are only two 12-episode seasons, so you're probably going to burn through them pretty quickly. The good news is, there's more where that came from. The obvious next step would be checking out gdgd men's party, a sort of spin-off of gdgd Fairies with different characters and format, but the exact same type of comedy and charm that makes the original so special. Also, gdgd Fairies director Kotaro Ishidate has gone on to make other shows using his unique brand of parody and subversion, like Mahou Shoujo? Naria Girls, HIMOTE HOUSE: A share house of super psychic girls, and Straight Title Robot Anime.

  Like the wide variety of VTubers, each of these shows is hilarious and endearing in their own ways while sharing the same core appeal that keeps us coming back for more, so what are you waiting for? Check out gdgd Fairies today for wild laughs you'll never see coming because the characters didn't either!

    There are even more fun things about VTubers — what are your favorites? Tell us in the comments below!

      David Lynn can be found on Twitter @navycherub - feel free to bother him with VTuber recommendations.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll. Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com