#mangaka-san to assistant-san to the animation

[setteidreams]

✿ Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to The Animation ┊ 91 sheets ✿

… a 2014 TV series with character designs by Hitomi Tsuruta has been added to Patreon.

[snalsupremacy]

12 MANGA BY LGBT+ CREATORS

Happy pride month!! My time has come. Years of seeking lgbt manga lead me some great finds, and here's all the ones written by openly LGBT mangaka!

1- Our Dreams At Dusk by Yuhki Kamitani, an asexual x-gender creator!

A classic in the lgbt manga niche. Literally google "lgbt manga" and you'll find this one in the top results. It's popular for a reason! Starting Tasuku, a gay teen, the manga deals with members of the queer community from all walks of life living in a small town, and how being queer impact their lives. Yuhki Kamitani's poetic and abstract story telling abilities enhances a simple story line into one of the best emotional roller-coasters you'll ever ride on. TW: Attempt suicide, mentions of said attempt, groping of a minor, lots of homophobia

2- I Think Our Son is Gay by Okura, a gay creator!

An ADORABLE story about a progressive mom trying to learn more about how to support her closeted gay son without making it obvious that she knows. Super sweet and adorable, and the author's notes were so touching! queer joy all around

TW: Discussions and verbal displays of homophobia

3- Boys Run The Riot by Keito Gaku, a transmasc creator!

Another classic in this niche. The story follows a trans boy named Ryo who bonds with the trouble student Jin over men's fashion, and together they decide to start a fashion brand. It's refreshing to see the struggles of a trans boy portrayed so genuine and authentically.

TW: Gender dysphoria, outing

4- My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Kabi Nagata, a lesbian creator!

Kabi Nagata is an biographical essayist that publishes all her work in manga form. In one of her most popular works, My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, Kabi tells the series of the events that led her to sleeping with a lesbian sex worker. Bold and authentic, Kabi has no fear to portray the ugly and fucked up parts of mental illness, in turn crafting an intimate and touching story.

TW: Self-harm, eating disorder, lots of discussions of mental illness, sexuality, and gender.

5- The Bride was a Boy by Chii, a transfem creator!

The biographical tale of the author, Chii, from realizing she's trans to meeting her husband, all told through 4-koma stories! The adorable chibi art-style and light-heartedness of this manga is sure to warm anyone's hearts! It's great to see the story of a trans woman told in such an optimistic and happy way. Details like the pop-ups of information about LGBT and Trans issues to the game-board illustrating her transition journey really show how proud Chii is of her identity, as she should!

TW: None that I remember

6- My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame, a gay creator!

The #1 non-sexual Bara, made by the #1 bara author. Tagame may be more known for his NSFW works, but his first SFW serialization shows the experience he's gained through the decades working on manga, even winning multiple awards (-) . After single father Yaichi's estranged brother passed away, Yaichi gets visited by his Canadian husband, Mike. A beautiful and sweet story of dealing with loss and overcoming homophobia, ft the cutest little child character and a very healthy divorced couple!

TW: Nudity (Technically non-sexual, but Tagame is a bear and it shows), Grief and loss of a loved one

7- To Strip The Flesh by Oto Toda, a transmasc creator!

An anthology book of various stories by Toda. The first of which, To Strip the Flesh (Where the manga gets its namesake) is inspired by the author's experience with dysphoria and coming out as a trans men. Toda was the assistant of Tatsuki Fujimoto (Chainsaw Men) during the serialization of Fire Punch.

TWs: Gender Dysphoria, gore, mutilation (no blood shown), house invasion, nudity, hunting and skinning of animals, gunshot wound, mysoginy

8-Gay Fuuzoku no Mochigi-san - Sexuality Is Life - by Mochigi, a gay creator!

Originally published on Twitter, Mochigi tells of his experience running away from home and coming to work in the bustling Shinjuku Ni-Chome, Tokyo's gay neighborhood. Through his sex work and work in gay bars, Mochigi tells an authentic story of the ups and downs of the gay culture in Tokyo.

TWs: Though not visually graphic, it goes into a lot of details about gay sex work

9- Vassalord by Nanae Chrono, a transmasc creator!

Y'all aren't ready for the synopsis... ok so this cyborg vampire who works for the Vatican is frenemies with this fuckboy vampire. They fight then make up then kiss and break-up (YOU!). Together they go on missions set by the church. Extremely emo and edgy vampires, actually really great action, and all the charm of early 2000's BL, now with extra blood! Nanae Chromo came out on twitter as trans only recently, and many news sources including Anime List still lists him as Female unfortunately.

TW: Bloody fights, enough homoeroticism to make your teeth rot

10- X-Gender by Asuka Miyazaki, a X-gender creator!

Miyazaki (AFAB) realizes at age 33 that they not only are X-gender, but like woman as well! The relatable and awkward biographical story of the author's experiences and new discoveries about their identity and the community. The manga also takes the time to explain all the terms used in the LGBT community, making it very accessible to those out of the loop! Also, the art-style is very cute.

TW: Lots of talks about sex and gender, possibly other things as I have not read it yet

11- Why I Adopted my Husband by Yuta Yagi, a gay creator!

The cute auto biography of Yuta and Kyota, a gay couple who have been dating for almost 20 years. The manga talks about not only their relationship, but also what it's like to live as a gay couple in Japan, and the draws and benefits of adoption as a way to seek the same legal rights of straight couples.

TWs: None

• Final Word •

I made this list to celebrate all the brave people who are open about their identities, but I also wanna point out that there are incredible LGBT manga out there written by anonymous or even straight creators!

Happy pride month to everyone but specially all the people living in places where it's not safe to be openly LGBT, everyday that you breathe is an act of rebellion, and we should be proud of that!

Here's a quickie of some other LGBT manga that didn't make the list for some reason or another- hmu if u want more details on them or just wanna talk about lgbt manga in general!

[sunniedesi]

Sakae Esuno's Old Blogs (Author of Future Diary)

If there is one thing Sakae Esuno is known for, besides being the creator of Future Diary and three other manga series, is his privacy. He’s never had a very active presence online like other mangakas, given that he doesn’t post much on Twitter and he’s also not given many interviews. That being said, Esuno did have a few blogs back in the day with interesting content to look into. While not active anymore, the blogs can still be accessed through the Wayback Machine, albeit lacking some of its images.

Esuno’s official blog was originally hosted on the site Sakura. The page went through many changes throughout the years, to update the blog whenever a new project or volume of his current manga was on sale. 

This is what the page looked like during 2005 - 2006, dedicated to his first manga “Hanako and the Terror of Allegory.” All the page shows are the history of changes to the site (top right of the page) and his schedule for publishing the volumes of the manga (bottom right).

Snapshot from April 2005

Snapshot from December 2005.

The top of the page says “As previously announced, a new series titled "Future Diary" will begin its publication in next month's issue of Monthly Shonen Ace. Since I'm busy with work, there won't be any major updates to the homepage. Please be patient and wait for next month's issue.” The other two changes in this snapshot were the addition of Amazon links for each volume of “Hanako and the Terror of Allegory” and changing the schedule to feature Future Diary’s release in January 2006.

When Future Diary came out in 2006, the page went through a major overhaul to center on this project.

Snapshot of June 2006

The text here features a synopsis of Future Diary

Snapshot from February 2007

The text here is announcing the sale of volume three, and at the bottom requesting for assistants.

The updated blog also featured three new subpages: 

The character vote, where people could vote for their favorite characters and leave their opinions in the comments.

The webstore for all of Esuno’s mangas.

And the official picture section, where Esuno displayed different pictures and banners free to use for people’s personal blogs, as long as Esuno was credited. While this page is saved on the Wayback Machine, none of the pictures load. It’s possible some of these were illustrations from the manga, but it’s also possible that a few of these were unique drawings from Esuno, meaning we might have some lost media here, unfortunately.

In 2009, Esuno moved his blog to a different domain, though still powered by Sakura. This new version of the blog brought about more personal posts from Esuno, such as updates on his work progress for both Future Diary and Big Order, sales announcements, his thoughts on the series and its many iterations, etc. This blog was active until June 2018.

Most of his blog entries are visible through the Wayback Machine, with the exception of 13 entries from 2009 and two from 2011. Many of the pictures are also inaccessible through the Wayback Machine. While I won’t translate every blog entry (since they’re mostly updates on sale dates), I decided to translate a few excerpts that I felt were interesting enough to look at in this post, particularly those about Redial and Esuno’s interviews.

Excerpt from entry of December 26th, 2012:

* About Future Diary: Redial It’s already been announced in the Big Order Obi (note: Obi is a strip of paper wrapped around manga that usually displays information about the product, special announcements or ads), but both the anime and manga of Future Diary will receive an OVA in July of next year. Both the comic and anime will feature new content (the book will not be sold as a standalone piece.) Both stories take place in the third world, and follow Yuno’s journey to meet Yukiteru again. They’re a sort of sequel to the manga and anime. I’m in charge of the plot, while Takayama-san (FD’s screenwriter) is in charge of the screenplay.  (I’m very thankful for the fun script he’s provided.) It wouldn’t be fun to write the exact same story for the manga, so I’m planning to go in a different direction.  Lots of characters will make an appearance in the anime (Akise included). Please look forward to it!

Now, onto an entry from March 12th, 2013:

* About Future Diary: Redial I sent the manuscript for Redial a few days ago. I’ve been taking a break from Big Order since last month to work on Redial’s manuscript. I apologize to the readers of Big order for this short wait, the series will resume publication on April’s issue of Ace. (Photo unavailable) (Here’s a drawing of Yuno trying her hardest to reach a candy that’s high up… lol) I asked my assistant to read the manuscript, and she pointed out that some of the pages were quite dense in content, so I should provide some explanations for the plot.   Hence, today I’d like to explain Redial’s plot a little. As I mentioned earlier, Redial is a story of how third-world Yuno regained her memories of Yukiteru. The anime will be sold in bookstores with the manga attached. Please preorder it through Kadokawa’s website or your local bookstore.  I wrote the plot for the anime, and participated in the script meetings. The manga is a little different from the anime, but they both share the storyline of “third-world Yuno recovering her memories of Yukiteru.” I’m sure that the anime will turn out well because Takayama-san’s script and Hosoda-san’s storyboards are very fun. It seems like it’s still in the works, though. Now, about the manga. You could say the Redial anime and manga are in competition with one another. The anime production team may not think so, but I do (lol). The anime and manga productions each took their own approach to the theme of “third-world Yuno regaining her memories.” Of course, I participated in the creation of the anime, so the basic premise for both is the same. (questions like “what happened to Yuno’s body after she died?” or “what happened to first-world MurMur?” will be answered in both.)   Both the anime and manga have their merits, I didn’t try to make any weird adjustments to the manga; I just had fun while making it. So, I think it will be interesting to watch and compare the differences between style and media. ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー A side note. I started considering them competing projects after “Next Project” was announced (we still hadn’t decided how to go about it). Kadokawa: “Let’s do another book store release.” Esuno: “Uh, there isn’t much to draw from the third world.” (in terms of story for the manga.) Production: “Please write us a premise, and we’ll decide what to do from it.” (hopefully, we’ll get material for the anime from there.) Esuno: (Huh? I was supposed to be making the manga, but now I got dragged into this…?) (Now I have to write a plot with the anime in mind.)  ~ After many meetings, the script was finished (a good one, of course). Esuno: “Well, I’ll take the more favorable aspects and write the manga on my own.” Esuno: (Ehehe, I’ll just do what I want, I’ll change the plot to suit the manga…) … That’s kind of how it went. ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー Well, the first part of the manga version will be published in this month’s issue of Ace. (It’s about 15 pages). I hope it will give you a feel for the rest. Though, please remember that for the reasons mentioned before, the content will differ from the anime.  Redial feels like killing two birds with one stone.

I’m adding these excerpts in because it explains a lot of things about Redial. If you’ve seen the anime and manga versions of Redial, you know that they’re substantially different. Finding out that not only were they purposely written to be different, but that the anime script was made before the manga, is also very interesting to me. I was always under the impression that the manga came first, and then they based the anime off that, but it’s the other way around. Though it’s very easy to tell they were written by different people; the anime went for a more fan-service/slice of life approach, while the manga centered more on Yuno’s mental dilemmas. Maybe I’m biased towards Esuno, but I always preferred the manga version of Redial for its more serious approach. 

Entry from March 21st, 2013:

I came across a lot of things while working out the manuscript.

This is Minene’s Mosaic cover. In the end, we only used the top part of the illustration, even though the bottom part was fully drawn. There’s more stuff, but I’ll only upload it if I find the patience…

Excerpt from June 25th, 2013: 

Incidentally, when I was interviewed in Italy, a reader asked me: “which is your favorite character?” (I often get asked this in interviews.) My answer was something like this: “If your kids asked you which of them is your favorite, you wouldn’t be able to rank them. So, in that sense, when I talk about my favorite characters, I’m referring to the ones I had the most fun drawing.” You might think my favorites are Akise, Minene or Reisuke (of course, I like them all), but there are no characters that I dislike. If that were the case, I wouldn't have drawn them in the first place. For example, my assistants really disliked Funatsu, but I still enjoyed drawing him… (lol) (As a side note, when I first heard Maruyama-san playing Funatsu in the anime, I was so impressed. I thought to myself: “he’s the real Funatsu!”)

I also remember reading that Esuno had a picture of a limited edition shirt in his blog. I’m not sure if this is true, but it might be on one of the 13 missing entries. I’m bringing this up because I’ve been meaning to obtain a better picture of the shirt’s graphic (I want to recreate it lol), or at least figure out what the circle surrounding Yuno is. I can make out what it says on the inside, which is Yukki (ユッキー) written over and over again, but I have no idea what the outer rings say since it's not Japanese. 

Before ending this post, I want to add that Esuno had at least two other side blogs before his official site, which are also accessible through the Wayback Machine. This is a personal blog that dates back to 2003 and a Bulletin Board Site, which is sort of like 4chan, where several people can comment on a forum dedicated to a specific topic. BBS sites were very popular back in the day, particularly in Japan, and Esuno seemed to be quite keen on them since it is a topic that’s often brought up in his first manga: Hanako and the Terror of Allegory.

These sites are more focused on the release schedule for Hanako, so they don’t contain anything Future Diary related (since they predate the manga), but I think it’s relevant enough to add for anyone interested. I assume Esuno must’ve been active on other board sites, but these are the two only ones linked on his official website, hence they’re the only ones I’m aware of.

Lastly, here are all the recoverable images from the Wayback Machine:

[mashimaarts]

2015.01.13: 描くためにアニメを2話目まで見た。[in response to @/udonkimuchikaki: そして‼︎‼︎‼︎なんと‼︎‼︎‼︎真島さんが、うたプリの音也を描いてくれました〜〜〜〜‼︎‼︎‼︎嬉しすぎる…(´；ω；`)最高のプレゼントです涙涙涙 掲載許可はもらっております‼︎‼︎]

I watched the anime up to the second episode to draw it. [in response to Kina Kobayashi*: And‼︎‼︎‼︎ How(beautiful, etc.)‼︎‼︎‼︎ Mashima-san drew Otoya from UtaPri for me〜〜〜〜‼︎‼︎‼︎ I'm too happy…(´；ω；`) It's the best present I've ever received tear tear tear I have permission to publish it‼︎‼︎] (Google + DeepL Translate)

*mangaka and one of Mashima's (currently) former manga assistants

[cmtdns]

memories of emanon - manga

angels egg - anime

moretones

thatbbgmia

closeknit

akebis sailor uniform - anime

yamada kun to nananin no majo - anime

danny phaton

a década que eu mais te amei - obra

wee

cherry blossoms after winter - manga

flowers from 1970 - livro

michiko to hatchin - anime

seventeen syrups - manga

pond snail robber - manga

sensei mou dame desu - manga

here u are - manga

if my favorite pop idol made it

our dreams at dusk

catch these hands/catch my fist of love

the moon on a rainy nigth 

legend of yunze

red river 15 - manga

she drives me crazy - livro

jay's gay agenda - livro

stuck - filme

zombie land saga - anime

wataten!: an angel flew down to me - anime

love to-LIE-angle - anime

netsuzou trap -NRT-  - anime

gabriel dropout - anime 

hyouka - anime

mangaka-san to assistant-san - anime

no.6 - anime

jennifer's body - filme

wonder festival (wanda e reset) - manga

worrydolls - jogo

emulator online - site

lonely castle in the mirror (mizuki tsujimura) - livro

finch: self care widget pet - jogo

casamento sangrento - filme

skam (norway) - serie

I AM NOT A ROBOT (tem na viki) - dorama

soniani - anime

vampeerz, my peer vampires - manga 

pessoas normais - livro

6teen - serie

shameless (eua) - serie

the boys - serie

sense 8 - serie

crush amor colorido - filme

love, victor - serie

interstellar - filme

lovely complex - anime

amor e ódio - filme/livro

koi to uso - anime/manga

as quatros vidas de um cachorro - filme

kimi ni todoke - anime

paper girls - serie

season of blossom - manga

magia record - jogo

starry flowers - jogo

2gether - dorama (youtube)

bad buddy - dorama (fansub)

tharntype - dorama (fansub)

dont say no - dorama (fansub)

my beautiful man - dorama (viki)

legend of yunze (special) - dorama (youtube)

i do livestreams in another world - manga

wan mu - manga

peach blossoms - manga

unbending flower - manga

saving my class 8 seniors - manga

as lovely as the peach blossoms - manga

two and/& too - manga

half - manga

Six of crows and Crooked kingdom (books), they also appear on the shadow and bone series (Netflix)

Skam Norway - series

Tanaka-kun Is Always Listless - anime

6teen - serie

children of the sea - anime

as virgens suicidas - filme

the watermelon woman - filme

my first summer - filme

but im a cheerleader - filme

crush - filme

portrait of a lady on fire - filme

rafiki - filme

the miseducation of cameron post - filme

saving face - filme

10 things i hate about you - filme

my first summer - filme

sound of metal - filme

parasite - filme

yesterday - filme

moonlight - filme

the way he looks - filme

the perks of being a wallflower - filme

little miss sunshine - filme

good will hunting - filme

the shawshank redemption - filme

dead poets society - filme

stand by me - filme

1Q84 by murakami - livro

Love To-LIE-Angle - anime

15 dogs - livro

Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures - livro

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - livro

Black Beauty - livro

The BFG - livro

MyFlixer - onde ver filmes

top gun maverick - filme

shameless - serie

Fate stay night - anime

Houseki No Kuni - anime

THE LITTLE VAMPIRE - filme

michiko to hatchin - anime

Mekakucity Actors - anime

Tsurune - anime

paradox live - anime

Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective - manga ou anime

slow damage - visual novel

idolish7 - anime

i admire magical girls, and… - anime

penup - app

36 questions - musical

vision of one - manhwa

shtdn - jogo

please love me - manhwa

Suzume no Tojimari - filme

mignon - anime

Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl - manga

alquimia das almas - dorama

The Life of a Stupid Man - livro

whisper me a love song - anime

i saw the tv glow - filme

gachiakuta - manga

Ex- boyfriends are

interfering with my death - novel

the earth is online - novel

the author's POV - novel

nobuta wo produce - drama

an accident in a broad daylight - novel

first class lawyer - novel KALEIDOSCOPE OF DEATH - novel

mist - novel

Gantz:E

Phantom Busters - manga 

Red River 15 by Chie Shinohara - livro

for all your not so beautiful things - novel ou manga

kohaku ichimura - manga

ranking system - novel

SWALLOW THE SEAS(TUNHAI) - novel

hypnosis mic - anime

Chungking Express - filme

marry my dead body - manga?

tsurune - anime 

it's not as if i wanted to dress like a woman - manhua

the last case - thai series

Wind/Pinball - Livro por Haruki Murakami

WH-1000XM4 - sony headphones 

cherry magic! 30 years of virginity can make you a wizard?! - anime

Never Have I Ever: Had a Bromance With a Teammate | #3 Never Have I Ever Series by Willow Dixon - livro

Maldito Pirata - livro 

the sun and the star - livro/filme

  Sekai-ichi - manga

  Kirei De Isasete - manga

 Todas as obras da MXIX - manhuas

 Pregnancy counterattack - manhua

I Failed to Divorce My Husband - manhwa

 The Villain Discovered My Identity - manhwa 

 The Dark Lady's Hero - manhwa

 Kill the Lights - bl

 Love Shuttle - bl

 Park Hanhoo's Manager- bl

mad dog - bl

Homura Subaru, 439226, Page

99 - manga yuri

Kiss The Abyss - ler

magic soup - ler

Garfield's revenge - ler

Love is love - ler

A beloved villain - ler

No rejection allowed - ler

The saintess has a showdown - ler

A basic B's guide to stealing a mans heart - ler

Tgof - ler

PUBG - ler

Dont be soft rice man - ler

l've gone viral thanks to my crush - ler

Please bully me Miss villainess! - ler

the blade and flower - manhwa

ghost gate - manhwa

dark fall - manhwa

secret inside my head - manhwa

vutori houjou and karin suzuragi - manga artists

Nishimata Aoi,Suzuhira Hiro, Carnelian, Mitsumi Misto, Akane Ikegami - work for vns mostly

overflow - anime sus

Tanoshii (Ji/Jo)goku wo irodoru nara - manga

Hikari no Ko (+ 2,3,4) - manga 

Dr Sunshine is dead - Will Wood and the Tapeworms

Chloroform - Belasco

Happy Together (Slothrust cover)

The taste of cockroach - Maretu

New Darling - Maretu

Paparazzi murder party - Vane Lily

weakheroclass1 - dorama

bloodhounds - dorama

myname - dorama

TWINKLINGWATERMELON - dorama 

Oferenda ao Demônio - filme 

fear & hunger - jogo?

charisma house - youtube 

golden stage - danmei

starry flowers - jogo

Adventres with anxiety - game

Similacra - game

Cutlery cupid - game

青春サツバツ論-Full size - musica

challengers - filme

spiritpact - anime

kiznaiver - anime

Koisuru Psycho no Shirayuki - manga

fleshbloodandconcrete - game

Flip Flappers - anime

the summer you were there - manga

[gintama-news-fr]

Hideaki Sorachi(nom de plume) est né le 25 mai 1979 à Hokkaidô. Comme la plupart des mangaka, il commence à s'interesser au manga dès son enfance. Il montra son premier travail à son père qui se moqua de lui, ce qui le découragea. Après avoir reçu son diplôme, il cherche du travail sans trouver, il revient donc à sa première passion, le manga. Il créé le one-shot Dandillon(que l'on peut voir dans le premier tome de Gintama) puis un autre du nom de Shirokuro. Et enfin, en 2003, il créa Gintama qui devint son oeuvre phare. A la base, il devait être une sorte de réadaptation de Harry Potter, mais avec le Shinsengumi.  Après plusieurs arguments de son éditeur, il accepte de faire un essai mais finit par y renoncer. Il prendra la base du script et le détournera pour en faire une série humoristique pseudo-historique. En 2008, il a créé un autre one-shot du nom de 13, avec une histoire assez drôle où un gars amoureux d'une fille, la met en colère en voulant se rapprocher d'elle, et de ce fait, la fille veut tuer le héros par tous les moyens.  Il a créé d'autre one-shot comme Samuraider(non continué), 3rd Year Z Class: GinPachi Sensei(2006) ou Bankara(2010). On peut ajouter qu'il a eu comme assistant: Kenta Shinohara(Sket Dance), Yôichi Amano(Akaboshi: Ibun Suikoden). Il a notamment fait un crossover Gintama/Sket dance au chapitre 349 de Gintama et 140 de Sket dance. Il se représente lui même dans le manga, comme un gorille. ************************************************************************************* Autres informations en vrac:  -Dans sa famille, il a une grande soeur, et un chien, en plus de ses parents. Il n'est pas encore marié.-Il voudrait se marier et avoir deux filles.-Il aime les femmes plus âgées.-Il préfère les filles mignonnes avec des lunettes. -Son premier CD acheté est Chage et Aska qu'il a acheté au collège. -Le premier manga qu'il a lu est un Jump, une édition saisonnière, quand il était au jardin d'enfant. -On le surnommait Aki car au lycée, il pété souvent quand il mangeait. -Il voulait devenir architecte. -Il a fait parti d'une équipe de basket, de kendama et de recherche sur le Nepal. -Il est allé au célèbre Lac Toya dont vient le sabre de Gintoki quand il était enfant, il n'avait pas acheté de sabre en bois, mais avait trouvé drôle que ses camarades le fassent. -Les films qu'il aime sont Kiki's Delivery Service et Porco Rosso.-Le drama d'époque qu'il aime est Onihei Hankacho. -Il lisait très souvent le Wanpakku comic. -Son personnage historique préféré est Sakamoto Ryoma. -Il veut visiter l'Inde, Hong Kong et la Mongolie.  -Il a avoué aimé plus la mayonaise que le sucre. Il préfère les ramens au sobas.  -Il aurait choisi Sadaharu comme animal de compagnie, plutôt qu'Elizabeth.  -S'il devait choisir une petite amie parmi les filles de Gintama ce serait Sachan car il est sadique, cependant s'il devait en épouser une, ce serait Otae car il a aussi un petit côté masochiste. 

[somegirlsnerdywords2]

Anime i’ve Watched

That begin with a M (Part 1)!

Yep this is how i’m going to bring over all the anime and manga i’ve watched and posted about on the old blog. It’s not so detailed but it will have to do. Anything new I watch or read from this point on will have their own posts.

Magic Kaito 1412:

Genres: adventure, comedy, romance, shounen

Synopsis:  Eight years after the mysterious death of his father, Kaito Kuroba, a slightly mischievous but otherwise ordinary teenager, discovers a shocking secret: the Phantom Thief Kaito Kid—also known as "The Magician Under the Moonlight"—was none other than his own father. The former thief was murdered by a criminal organization seeking a mythical stone called the Pandora Gem, said to shed a tear with the passing of the Valley Comet that comes every ten thousand years. When the tear is consumed, the gem supposedly grants immortality. Vowing to bring those responsible for his father's death to justice, Kaito dons the Phantom Thief's disguise, stealing priceless jewels night after night to find the Pandora Gem before his enemies can use the power for themselves. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 7/10

Finished airing in 2015 with a total of 24 episodes. 

My Thoughts: .... the noses. The noses still haunt me to this day. To be fair the noses are toned down a bit as the anime goes on but god are they distracting at first. A nose that could impale you with ease. After the noses were toned down though I may or may not have developed a crush on Kaito.... of course I did.  ALSO! The 2nd opening theme is one of my all time favorite openers of all time. I’m half tempted to up this animes score for that opening theme alone! 

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica:

Genres: psychological, drama, magic, thriller

Synopsis:  Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki are regular middle school girls with regular lives, but all that changes when they encounter Kyuubey, a cat-like magical familiar, and Homura Akemi, the new transfer student. Kyuubey offers them a proposition: he will grant any one of their wishes and in exchange, they will each become a magical girl, gaining enough power to fulfill their dreams. However, Homura Akemi, a magical girl herself, urges them not to accept the offer, stating that everything is not what it seems. A story of hope, despair, and friendship, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica deals with the difficulties of being a magical girl and the price one has to pay to make a dream come true. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 6/10

Finished airing in 2011 with a total of 12 episodes. 

My Thoughts: Honestly I don’t know why I didn’t much enjoy this anime.... I know there are plenty of people that love this one so maybe check out some other reviews before you give it a pass. Thinking on it now, I haven’t watched all that many magical girl animes... maybe it’s just a genre i’m not all that into? Mind you this IS a magical girl anime with a wicked twist though I think my theory still stands. Maybe i’ll try rewatching it some time. 

Majo no Takkyuubin (Kiki’s Delivery Service):

Genres: adventure, comedy, drama, magic, romance, fantasy, film

Synopsis: Kiki, a 13-year-old witch-in-training, must spend a year living on her own in a distant town in order to become a full-fledged witch. Leaving her family and friends, Kiki undertakes this tradition when she flies out into the open world atop her broomstick with her black cat Jiji. As she settles down in the coastal town of Koriko, Kiki struggles to adapt and ends up wandering the streets with no place to stay—until she encounters Osono, who offers Kiki boarding in exchange for making deliveries for her small bakery. Before long, Kiki decides to open her own courier service by broomstick, beginning her journey to independence. In attempting to find her place among the townsfolk, Kiki brings with her exciting new experiences and comes to understand the true meaning of responsibility. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 9/10

A film released in 1989

My Thoughts: Oh how I wanted to be Kiki when I was younger... A great movie! Though I doubt that’s surprising to anyone who has heard of or watched this particular film! 

Makai Oujo: Devils and Realist:

Genres: mystery, comedy, historical, demons, supernatural, fantasy, school, josei

Synopsis: The story revolves around William, an aristocratic family's progeny with rare intellect. One day, his uncle lost his possessions after his business failed. Fearing that his family's name has been tarnished, William returns home and searches with his family's butler for anything that can be converted into cash. A search of the premises yields an underground room left by an ancestor. In the room is a magical seal, and William unintentionally summons a devil. The summoned devil tells William his name Dantalion, and reveals that William is the designator who can choose the acting ruler of the demon world. (Source: ANN)

My Rating: 6.5/10

Finished airing in 2013 with a total of 12 episodes. 

My Thoughts: I. do. not. remember. this. at. all. That being said I feel as though they teased at it having some yaoi content or boys love and totally did not deliver. Bunch of pretty boys surrounding a pretty lead, pretty sure that sums it up. Can’t say much to the story or anything else. Anyone else watched this one?

Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to The Animation:

Genres: harem, slice of life, comedy, ecchi, seinen

Synopsis:  Yuuki Aito is a perverted manga artist who appreciates panties, wishing to draw as many as he can. Being surrounded by numerous female assistants, he is constantly asking to use them as references for the manga he draws. Although Aito has an extremely degenerate mind, he can also be a very kind, generous, and helpful person. The duality of his behavior confuses his assistants—do they love the considerate side of him that he rarely displays, or do they hate him for the perverted thoughts he has most of the time? [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 6/10

Finished airing in 2014 with a total of 12 episodes. 

My Thoughts: Nothing. I have nothing to say about this, at all. Looks like it might be pervy?

Mawaru Penguindrum:

Genres: mystery, comedy, psychological, drama

Synopsis: For the Takakura family, destiny is an ever-spinning wheel, pointing passionately in their direction with equal tides of joy and sorrow before ticking on to the next wishmaker. With their parents gone, twin brothers Kanba and Shouma live alone with their beloved little sister Himari, whose poor health cannot decline any further. On the day Himari is given permission to temporarily leave the hospital, her brothers take her out to the aquarium to celebrate, where the family's supposed fate is brought forth with her sudden collapse. However, when Himari is inexplicably revived by a penguin hat from the aquarium's souvenir shop, the hand of fate continues to tick faithfully forward. With her miraculous recovery, though, comes a cost: there is a new entity within her body, whose condition for keeping her fate at bay sends the boys on a wild goose chase for the mysterious "Penguin Drum." In their search, the boys will have to follow the threads of fate leading from their own shocking past and into the lives of other wishmakers vying for the Penguin Drum, all hoping to land upon their chosen destiny. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 10/10

Finished airing in 2011 with a total of 24 episodes. 

My Thoughts: What a ride. Things get a bit uncomfortable and cringy at times but overall this was a very interesting and unique anime with great art, music and characters. Highly recommend watch this one at least once! 

[animezodiac]

Anime cliches as zodiac signs

Aries: Shouting name of attact while doing it

Taurus: Running late for school with toast in mouth

Gemini: Sweating like crazy while being nervous

Cancer: When someone dies, the witness is screaming 

Leo: Protagonist don’t have parents

Virgo: Glasses glows for some reason

Libra: Nosebleeding while having perverted thoughts

Scorpio: Shonen characters eat a lot

Sagittarius: Discovering new powers while final battle

Capricorn: Male character falls and lands on girl’s breast

Aquarius: You can’t see character’s eyes, because it’s a serious moment

Pisces: Frendship/Love makes you stronger

[mhk-87]

Three types of nosebleeds. (^_^)

[mnei-jp]

[anime1688dakimakuraworkshop]

Nice tit XD

[panvani]

Mochizuki Jun The Case Study of Vanitas Anime da Vinci Interview - pt. 3 -

This is part three of my translation of Anime da Vinci’s interview with Mochizuki Jun regarding The Case Study of Vanitas. This is the final part. Thank you for all your support. Feedback and suggestions are highly appreciated. The first part can be found [here], and the second part can be found [here].

In summary: Mochizuki talks about her first impressions for the anime, her involvement in its production, what she’s looking forward to, and a final message for her fans.

There is one translation note.

Studio Bones brings to mind scenes of action. Fight scenes with Roland are highly anticipated.

- The anime began airing in July. Please tell us your first impression when you heard Vanitas had been slated for animation.

Mochizuki Jun: First I was really grateful, like “Yaaay! I’m sooo happy!” then I got super worried and started thinking “oh God, I better be careful or I’m gonna die.” Of course I was happy to an extent, but I’m a total pessimist at heart. While the staff was getting chosen, I kept thinking “if I mess up now, all plans for the anime will vanish just like that,” and I got so so scared. My boss started getting on my case, saying “can you at least survive until we get a decision for when the anime will broadcast?” and such questions then went “wait wait, no, first of all, please just don’t die.” I was finally able to really digest what good fortune it was to have an anime announcement when I received contact that “Kajiura Yuki-san is going to do the background music!” and I still went “ah, but I still think I might die...” ... ahaha...

- Different mangaka tend to be involved with their anime in very different ways, depending on the lead director’s principles, et cetera. How was Mochizuki-sensei involved with the anime production?

MJ: Since the fundamentals of the anime were left to Director Itamura Tomoyuki and Studio Bones as their production, I considered it my job to be the go-between for my readers and the anime. I didn’t want to get in the way of the things the director wanted to do (if I made a nuisance of myself I’m very sorry Mr. Director). I gave my two cents when it came to stuff like “oh, if you cut that scene my readers will be very sad,” and “I think maybe this character should be depicted more like this...”

MJ: Director Itamura was always gentle, but he’d never concede when he wanted to make a point. I can’t thank him enough. If I were too cautious as the original creator, I’d end up getting stuck.

- Were you present during the dubbing process? Please tell us about any impressions you got from the seiyuu, or any performances you thought were especially impactful.

MJ: I’m someone who loves voice acting so I would’ve been present at all the recording sessions if I could, but the dreaded COVID meant I could only be present for the recording of the first episode. As the voices were put in place, I actually felt a more intimate understanding of my characters as the author. I’m really grateful.

MJ: Hanae Natsuki-san’s voice for Vanitas made his repulsiveness seem more appropriate for Vanitas’ age. I guess I sometimes need to be reminded that Vanitas is eighteen years old. I thought that Ishikawa Kaito-san’s voice made Noé out to be more honest and innocent.[1] I’m looking forward to hearing the characters that’ll be introduced from episode 2 onwards.

- What did you think when you saw the first episode of the anime?

MJ: I first the first episode during its advanced screening, which was also my first time seeing an anime adaptation of my work on the big screen. To see the characters of Vanitas move with so much energy and hear Kajiura-san’s music and everything else all really left an impact on me. Since the theme color of this work is “blue,” I was so happy to see the beautiful way “blue” was incorporated.

MJ: Then for a specific point, the scene at the end with the stained glass was so gorgeous, and it made me want to hurry up and get to Paris, and such I said to my assistant.

- Are there any scenes you particularly look forward to in terms of “how would this be animated?”

MJ: When you say “Studio Bones” you always think of these fantastic action scenes, so right now I’m really looking forward to battle scenes with Roland!

- Finally, do you have any messages for fans who may be enjoying the anime?

MJ: A team of such wonderful people have assembled for the production of The Case Study of Vanitas. I’m really looking forward to the anime as a viewer, and I’m trying my best to make the work more exciting as the original author. Please continue to show your support for my original work and the anime!

-

[1] The word I translate as “innocent” is 天然, tennen, which usually gets translated as “natural airhead.” This isn’t a phrase we use in English, so I took the time to look into what it actually means. Basically, 天然 isn’t used for someone who’s actually stupid, but someone who’s a bit naive or silly. It’s not really an insult, and usually gets used in affection. For example, the first result I found was someone talking about how a senpai they’re friendly with had taken to calling them 天然.

[piduai]

Interview with Noda Satoru from the Golden Kamuy fanbook

sharing anywhere is fine, but please credit me.

Q: Tell me how you feel about passing 6 years of serialization. Noda: I was already serializing at the time of my debut, so I guess I’d be able to give a summary when I’m finished. I don’t really think about how many years it’s been, it’s merely a checkpoint.

Q: What made you decide to become a mangaka? Noda: I feel like I wrote it down as my goal in my yearbook back in middle school. I also wanted to become a movie director, but as a mangaka you can create the entire thing by yourself. 

When Golden Kamuy just took off I was living in a tiny apartment and the postman, a young fellow and a reader of Young Jump, realized that I’m Noda Satoru. The magazine was sending me a lot of things, so it was rather obvious. “Are you the author of Golden Kamuy?”, he asked in a surprised tone while looking around the cramped entryway. I could feel feel his confusion regarding the fact that that vast Hokkaido world of the manga was being created in this modest apartment. Or maybe he just expected me to be making more money and afford a better place. Anyhow, I just thought again about how a manga can be created in even the smallest room in the universe.

Q: Who is your favorite character and why? Noda: As always, it’s Tanigaki. But well, I love all of them. I want to showcase only the best parts of them, and it hurts when I fail. For example I’m very happy that there’s a character who stirs the pot as well as Usami. He’d be Katsuo in the world of Sazae-san.  

Q: Which characters are the easiest to draw, and which ones are the most difficult? Noda: Characters like Shiraishi, Tsukishima and Nagakura, they don’t have a lot of hair and even if they turn out a little ugly their faces are well-defined so it’s easy to draw. In general faces that are strongly distorted and resemble caricatures are easy. Meanwhile Asirpa, Kiroranke and Inkarmat have neat facial structures on top of wearing Ainu clothing, so they are a very high-calorie effort for me. Ogata and Kikuta are difficult too. Their faces are distinctive and I have to make them look cool too, which is wearing me out the most.

Q: Have you decided on all 24 convicts at the very start of the story? Noda: Wouldn’t I sound like a badass if I said that that I have? Anyway. There were the ones that were based off real-life Meiji era criminals, such as Shiraishi, Kumagishi Chouan or the lightning couple, and of course there was Hijikata.

Q: Tell me of a funny thing from the manga that you are fond of. Noda: Gansoku’s “Hah! ☆”. And also when Koito Jr. Was flapping his arms and legs around trying to keep himself in mid-air.

Q: Why did you decide on Otaru as the starting point? Noda: I am from Hokkaido, so I’m familiar with Otaru and Sapporo. Otaru is close to both the mountains and the sea. Sapporo used to be a swampland, it’s wide and flat and there is no sea. Otaru is a place where foreigners come and go, there are many criminals roaming around creating danger, and money is found. There aren’t many big cities in Hokkaido. There were Ainu living in Otaru but sources are scarce, however Nakagawa-sensei, the supervisor over the Ainu language, told me not to worry too much about the difference of location, so I figured it would be best to make it Otaru.

Q: Was there any real life experience you had while growing up in Hokkaido that you turned into a scenario? Noda: When I was about 19 someone I knew told me that there is a locust graveyard on a nearby mountain, which sounded so ridiculous I had to laugh in their face. Turns out it indeed was a heap of locusts and their eggs left after a locust plague, that place was the Teineyamaguchi locust mound (a real historical site). I realized I ended up using this in my story. I owe that person an apology.

Q: Was there any scene that was particularly difficult to draw? Could you elaborate on it? Noda: The time Sugimoto went against Nihei and Tanigaki. It gave me a very hard time. Who goes where and does what, how does Nihei carry Asirpa, stuff like this. I had no time to waste either, I just remember that sequence overall driving me insane. 

There was also the sequence with Wilk, Sofia and Kiroranke being at Hasegawa’s photo studio. It’s really frustrating to draw something that you know will bore the readers, the story flow becomes less exciting too. I was praying for everyone to have a little more patience and keep reading, because the twist was so good.

Q: If you were to take part in the gold hunt, which group would you like to belong to? Noda: It seems that Hijikata’s group doesn’t have funding problems, and because Kadokura is there the atmosphere is relaxed too. I’d go there.

Q: If you were to find all that gold, how would you use it? Noda: No idea. Had a couple when I was younger, though.

Q: Were you planning to eventually transfer the action to Sakhalin from the very beginning of the series? Noda: Asirpa and Kiroranke have roots there, so I anticipated that the story will eventually move to Sakhalin. I also expected to have to travel to Amur river myself, but couldn’t go after all, only went as far as Khabarovsk. 

I was thinking of making Sugimoto eat permafrost mammoth. There was talk of a research team or an ivory excavation team’s dog eating mammoth. However there was no reason to make Sugimoto and Co go as up north as needed for permafrost, so I scrapped the idea.

Q: Tell me something about the hardships you experienced while doing research is Sakhalin. Noda: It was tough, but fun. I was only able to understand the clear differences between Nivkh and Orok people by going there; I couldn't by only looking at records and materials while in Japan. 

Complete unrelated, but I was surprised by how many stray dogs wander around there. One time my cameraman and I ended up being chased by one while looking for a factory and we had to run for it. The beast was big, about the size of a German Shepherd. The guide also warned us about junkies, it was really scary.

I also went to the Japanese military pillbox over 50th parallel north and prayed at a cenotaph deep in the mountains. I met a group of Japanese people in the hotel by the place where it's said you can still find remains of Japanese soldiers and their driver, a Russian, seemed to help with collection of the remains on the regular. He said that he's doing it out of reverence, even as a former enemy. As a Japanese, I felt gratitude. The 7th Division are villains in my story, but I don't have any personal bias against either side.

Q: What were the biggest differences between drawing Hokkaido and Sakhalin? Noda: Well... it's Russia. Even though Sakhalin is so close, it's already Europe. The structure of houses is strikingly different. There's also the differences between Hokkaido Ainu and Sakhalin Ainu, and differences between Orok and Nivkh people. There is no manga that will conveniently lay the differences of those down for you. 

It seems that the Orok and Nivkh's relation with Japan only got more difficult by the beginning of Showa era, there is only one person in the whole of Japan who can supervise on the Orok language. The professors in cultural studies I consult for Golden Kamuy are truly top-level; not only are they tremendously knowledgeable, they also understand how important to me is to stay impartial.

The wildlife, as well. There's a biogeographical boundary between Hokkaido and Sakhalin, observing animals I would never be able to see in Hokkaido was riveting. 

Q: Did Sugimoto really have a hidden plan during the whole stenka business? Noda: No idea. Even if he used it as a pretext to get everyone involved, though... cut him some slack. He's only a man. Sometimes he just wants to fight and win. Not for Ume-chan or Asirpa-san, just for the sake of proving to himself that he's strong.

Q: Your art is dynamic and detailed. I think your style changed quite a bit with time, though. How would you describe yourself as an artist? Noda: I want to preface this by saying that in no way do I think of myself as more skilled than other mangaka, but if you're drawing everyday for more than 10 hours you're going to improve a lot eventually, whether you want it or not. People who are able to keep the same style for years without change are the ones who are impressive, because it means that they achieved the peak of their potential. Ageing and health problems influence your art a lot, you know. I try to draw by observing. I use a lot of references. Drawing by memory alone is not a good thing.

Speaking of other artists, I once had one of the assistants I had working for me for years draw me a door knob from memory, and the result was a truncated cone resembling pre-packaged pudding. The actual shape of a door knob has an intricately angular circular shape. It's the result of being unobservant in everyday life. Good art requires constant observation.

Q: What was the foundation for your style? Is there an artist you were influenced or inspired by? Noda: Araki Hirohiko-sensei, for sure. During my time as an assistant, many authors told me to not even try to be original when it comes to battle abilities, it's already been done in JoJo, it has it all. He's kind of the Beatles of this industry, isn't he? 

By the way, I usually have no intention of parodying JoJo in Golden Kamuy, but my friends will tell me that they identified this or that reference from time to time. I read Part 1 about 30 years ago but I was obsessed, so maybe some things were just left in my subconscious. I only did one obvious parody, during the stenka fight. Funnily enough that trope started in Fist of the North Star, though, not JoJo.

Q: What's one thing that gives you the most motivation to write? Noda: Fan letters. I know how straining it is to write long and neat sentences by hand, and am thankful for them. I'm happy that people go that far to share their thoughts about my work with me. I'm really grateful to the people who keep reading and supporting Golden Kamuy.

Q: Did you have an interest in Ainu culture before starting the series? Noda: I did not. I'll be glad if my work makes people interested in the Ainu. Prejudice is born out of ignorance, so if you want to learn about the Ainu, don't limit yourself to Hokkaido only; there are museums all around Japan, and they have knowledgeable curators. It's important to remember to take into account the time period and the occupation of the person on which the research materials are based when you're trying to learn about the subject.

Q: You showed us a lot of aspects of life during Meiji and Taisho eras. Tell us about what surprised or impressed you in the process of research. Noda: It's not that I was particularly knowledgeable, so having to check every single thing was quite exhausting. The Ainu, the military, katanas - all of these needed research on my part. 

There are more regulations and rules set for things out there than one could assume, and mangaka who base their works on real life need to be especially careful about this. You have to take into account things like the size of the buttons on a military uniform, how a tea cup is held, and and how different people talk in different ways. For movies there's staff working on costumes and props, there's the cast, there are screenwriters, but in a manga you are the one responsible for every single detail. I wish I had a time machine and travel back to those eras. There are things I couldn't get right here and there that I keep having regrets about.

Q: Golden Kamuy was the main visual in the British Museum manga exhibition between May and August in 2019. I know you went there in person. How was it? Noda: The trip felt like a reward for all of my efforts. The exhibition is jam-packed by opening time, but I got special treatment and they let me inside early in the morning so I could walk around the vast British Museum in solitude. I also travelled between Jack the Ripper's crime scenes at night by taxi.

The driver in a taxi I caught by chance was wonderful, she looked up photos of the crime scenes and surroundings taken at the time of investigation on her smartphone and showed them to me one by one, saying things like "the third victim was found here!". 

I've always had a soft spot for Jack the Ripper, back in middle school I even wrote a screenplay for a school festival stage and played him in it myself. It was done in very poor taste, like that one scene in the Addams Family movie where there are arms blown away and fountains of blood gushing out. The audience loved it. 

Q: Please leave a message for the readers. Or maybe some advice for the troubled youth. Noda: I want people to say that everyone in Golden Kamuy had a satisfying ending, and I want that for everyone involved more than anything. As for advice for the troubled youth, there's none. Life is survival of the fittest. The weak ones get eaten.

[newsintheshell]

Crunchyroll, ecco i primi anime estivi che arriveranno sulla piattaforma di streaming

Già confermato il simucast di nove nuove serie e altre sono ancora da svelare.

Annunciati da Crunchyroll i primi anime che andranno a far parte dell’imminente palinsesto estivo 2021 della piattaforma, che come ormai ci ha abituato, fra novità stagionali e serie in corso, vedrà il catalogo italiano riempirsi di titoli un po’ per tutti i gusti, da seguire in streaming on demand, in contemporanea con la trasmissione giapponese.

NUOVI SIMULCAST

GIRLFRIEND, GIRLFRIEND

Serie animata basata su “Kanojo mo Kanojo”, la nuova commedia romantica firmata Hiroyuki (Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to, Doujin Work, Aho Girl).

Naoya Mukai ama Saki Saki sin dalle elementari, e quando lei finalmente accetta i suoi sentimenti, lui è al massimo della felicità. Poco dopo, però, una bella ragazza di nome Nagisa Minase confessa a Naoya di essere innamorata di lui! Non volendo ferire i sentimenti di nessuna delle due ragazze, Naoya decide di uscire con entrambe! Cosa uscirà da questo triangolo amoroso che sfida il senso comune?

L’adattamento è diretto da Satoshi Kuwahara (The Quintessential Quintuplets, Adachi to Shimamura) presso gli studi TEZUKA PRODUCTIONS (The Quintessential Quintuplets, Adachi to Shimamura). La sceneggiatura sta venendo curata da Keiichirou Ochi (Hinamatsuri, The Quintessential Quintuplets, Machikado Mazoku) e Kazuhiko Inukai, Mayumi Morita (Dagashi Kashi 2), mentre il character design è in mano ad Akiko Toyoda (direttrice d’animazione in Adachi to Shimamura). Le musiche sono invece composte da Miki Sakurai (Machikado Mazoku) e Tatsuhiko Saiki (My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom).

I’M STANDING ON A MILLION LIVES (Stagione 2)

Torna la serie tv tratta dal manga fantasy isekai scritto da Naoki Yamakawa e disegnato da Akinari Nao (Trinity Seven). La prima stagione di 12 episodi è andata in onda lo scorso autunno ed è già disponibile in streaming sulla piattaforma.

Il distaccato e razionale alunno di terza media, Yusuke Yotsuya, viene trasportato in un mondo parallelo che sembra un videogioco. Diventa il terzo giocatore e si imbarca in una pericolosa missione insieme ai suoi compagni di classe Iu Shindo e Kusue Hakozaki, teletrasportati lì prima di lui. Il freddo Yusuke rifugge ogni dimostrazione di emozione ed esamina ogni elemento con distacco, talvolta prendendosi gioco delle vite dei suoi compagni. Potrà proteggere il suo gruppo dagli attacchi dei mostri, i terribili incidenti e i piani dei nemici per vincere il gioco?

L’adattamento è diretto da Kumiko Habara (assistente di regia in Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion) presso lo studio MAHO FILM (If It’s for My Daughter I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, By the Grace of the Gods). La sceneggiatura è supervisionata da Takao Yoshioka (High School DxD, Bugie d’aprile), mentre il design dei personaggi è curato da Kaho Deguchi (By the Grace of the Gods), Eri Kojima (I’m standing on 1,000,000 lives) e Toshihide Masudate (In Another World With My Smartphone)

PEACH BOY RIVERSIDE

Serie animata basata sul manga adventure fantasy scritto da Coolkyoushinja (Komori-san Can’t Decline, I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying e Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid) e disegnato da Johanne, che prende spunto dal famoso racconto giapponese di Momotaro, reinventandolo.

Saltherine Aldarake è una giovane principessa sempre solare e allegra, desiderosa di andare all'avventura perché annoiata dalla vita nell suo piccolo castello in campagna. Un giorno, però, un gruppo di feroci demoni conosciuti come Oni arrivano alle sue porte, minacciando la vita di tutti nel Regno. Per fortuna, vengono salvati da un viandante solitario di nome Mikoto Kibitsu che uccide tutti mostri grazie ad un misterioso “Peach Eye”. Scossa dai pericoli del mondo esterno, la principessa decide di intraprendere un viaggio per conto suo, senza sapere che questo avrebbe messo in moto una catena di eventi tali da determinare il destino di questo mondo magico.

Il progetto targato ASAHI PRODUCTION (WAVE!! Let’s go surfing!!, Heaven’s Design Team) è diretto da Shigeru Ueda (Senran Kagura Estival Versus) e sceneggiato da Keiichiro Ochi (The Quintessential Quintuplets, Hinamatsuri). Il design dei personaggi è curato da Satomi Kurita (3D Kanojo: Real Girl) e Masato Kato, mentre la colonna sonora è firmata da Takaaki Nakahashi (Mannaka no Rikkun, Control Bear).  

THE AQUATOPE ON WHITE SAND

Nuova serie originale dello studio P.A. WORKS (Iroduku: The World in Colors, Nagi no Asu kara, Shirobako, Appare-Ranman!) all’insegna dello slice of life.

Il Gama Gama Aquarium è un piccolo acquario di Okinawa, a un'ora di autobus da Naha. Kukuru Misakino è una liceale diciottenne che lavora lì e conosce il “segreto” di quel posto: a volte appiano cose misteriose all’interno dell’aquario. Un giorno Kukuru incontra Fuuka, in piedi davanti a una delle vasche e con le lacrime che le scendono sulle guance. La ragazza ha rinunciato al suo sogno di diventare una idol e si è trasferita da Tokyo ad Okinawa alla ricerca di un nuovo inizio. Fuuka comincia dunque a lavorare all'acquario, che oltre a dare qualche grattacapo inaspettato a causa del suo “segreto”, rischia di essere chiuso a breve.

L’anime è diretto da Toshiya Shinohara (Iroduku: The World in Colors, Nagi no Asu kara) e sceneggiato da Yuuko Kakihara (Tsuki ga Kirei, Iroduku: The World in Colors), mentre il character design è ad opera di Yuki Akiyama (Iroduku: The World in Colors) e si basa su quello concepito da U35 (Lapis Re:LiGHTs, Magia Record Puella Magi Madoka Magica Gaiden Another Story). Akiyama si occupa anche di supervisionare il comparto animazioni, le musiche per la colonna sonora, invece, sono composte da Yoshiaki Dewa (Iroduku: The World in Colors, Nagi no Asu kara, Flying Witch).

THE IDATEN DEITIES KNOW ONLY PEACE

Serie animata tratta dal manga “Heion Sedai no Idaten-tachi” scritto da Amahara (Interspecies Reviewers) e disegnato da Coolkyoushinja Komori-san Can’t Decline, I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying e Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid).

800 anni or sono, gli dèi apparvero sulla terra sconfiggendo e sigillando i demoni che avevano portato l'umanità sull'orlo della distruzione. Le divinità di oggi vivono un’esistenza pacifica e non hanno alcuna esperienza in battaglia, ma i demoni stanno per tornare e per dèi e uomini è di nuovo tempo di combattere.

Prodotto dallo studio MAPPA (Dorohedoro, Jujutsu Kaisen, Zombie Land Saga), l’adattamento dell’action fantasy è diretto da Seimei Kidokoro (assistente di regia in Fireworks e Hells) sceneggiato da Hiroshi Seko (Dorohedoro, Jujutsu Kaisen), mentre il character design è curato da Nao Ootsu (Beastars, Land of the Lustrous).

RICONFERMATI

Serie tv in simulcast annunciate in precedenza durante altre occasioni.

FENA: PIRATE PRINCESS

IDOLISH7 THIRD BEAT! (Il primo episodio è già disponibile in anteprima)

MISS KOBAYASHI’S DRAGON MAID S

THAT TIME I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SLIME (Stagione 2)

IN PROSECUZIONE

Serie tuttora in corso, già presenti sulla nostra precedente guida simulcast stagionale.

KIYO IN KYOTO: FROM THE MAIKO HOUSE

BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS

DRAGON QUEST: THE ADVENTURE OF DAI

ONE PIECE

MY HERO ACADEMIA (Stagione 5)

SD GUNDAM WORLD HEROES

TO YOUR ETERNITY

TOKIO REVENGERS

WELCOME TO DEMON SCHOOL, IRUMA-KUN! (Stagione 2)

Come al solito, gli episodi delle serie arriveranno ogni settimana in lingua originale con sottotitoli in italiano; gli abbonati premium potranno vedere da subito le puntate, che però dopo sette giorni saranno accessibili a tutti gratuitamente.

* NON VUOI PERDERTI NEANCHE UN POST? ENTRA NEL CANALE TELEGRAM! *

Autore: SilenziO)))

[FONTE]

[somegirlsnerdywords2]

Anime i’ve Watched

That begin with a G (Part 1)!

Yep this is how i’m going to bring over all the anime and manga i’ve watched and posted about on the old blog. It’s not so detailed but it will have to do. Anything new I watch or read from this point on will have their own posts.

Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san (Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san):  

Genres: comedy, slice of life

Synopsis: Honda is a skeleton, but more importantly, he is a bookseller. And he'll tell you from firsthand experience that the job of a bookstore employee is more challenging than it may seem to the average customer. Alongside his equally eccentric coworkers, Honda constantly deals with the stressful requirements of the bookselling industry. From the drama of receiving new titles without their bonus material to the struggle of providing quality service to customers who speak a different language, the work of a skeleton bookseller never ends. Nevertheless, despite the hardships he faces, Honda thoroughly enjoys his job and strives to bring the best book selections and service to his customers. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 8.5/10

Finished airing in 2018 with a total of 12, 11 minute long episodes.

My Thoughts: A fun little short with memorable character designs and some spot of comedy. 

Gakkougurashi! (School-Live!):

Genres: slice of life, psychological, school, horror, mystery

Synopsis: Yuki Takeya loves her school so much that she does not want to ever leave! Megurigaoka High School is a unique and lively place where Yuki enjoys her carefree life as a third-year high school student and member of the School Living Club. The club, consisting of the president Yuuri Wakasa, the athletic Kurumi Ebisuzawa, the mature junior Miki Naoki, the supervising teacher Megumi Sakura, and the club dog Taroumaru, prides itself on making the most of life at school. However, this illusion of endless bliss is just a bubble waiting to be burst because Yuki is unable to perceive what is truly happening around her. In reality, all is not as it seems—the real purpose of the School Living Club is to escape from the shocking and disturbing truth: the girls are in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and have barricaded themselves inside the school as the sole survivors. Based on the manga by Kaihou Norimitsu, Gakkougurashi! follows a group of girls who are forced to adapt to a post-apocalyptic life all by themselves. They have no means of contact with the outside world and are surrounded by hostile undead waiting to devour them. The girls must not only contend with the challenge of survival; they must also strive to maintain a false appearance of normality in Yuki's presence. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 8/10

Finished airing in 2015 with a total of 12 episodes. 

My Thoughts: The twist messed me right up. The difference between the way the characters are designed and presented vs. the reality of their world and situation was rather jarring... to me at least. This one’s a ride for sure and half was decent in my opinion. Not perfect but without a doubt interesting. 

Gakuen Babysitters (School Babysitters):

Genres: comedy, school, shoujo, slice of life

Synopsis: After losing both parents in a fatal plane crash, teenager Ryuuichi Kashima must adjust to his new life as the guardian of his younger brother Kotarou. Although Ryuuichi is able to maintain a friendly and kindhearted demeanor, Kotarou is a reserved toddler still too young to understand the reality of the situation. At their parents' funeral, they are approached by Youko Morinomiya, the stern chairman of an elite academy, who decides to take them under her care. However, there is one condition Ryuuichi must fulfill in exchange for a roof over their heads and enrolment in the school—he must become the school's babysitter. In an effort to support the female teachers at the academy, a babysitter's club was established to look after their infant children; unfortunately, the club is severely short-staffed, so now not only is Ryuuichi responsible for his little brother, but also a handful of toddlers who possess dynamic personalities. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 8/10

Finished airing in 2018 with a total of 12 episodes. 

My Thoughts: Cute squishy babies being taken car of by what are essentially just older cute squishy babies. A cute story about family and life. The artwork is also very cute and soft. Cute is really the perfect word to describe this anime.  

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun):

Genres: comedy, romance, school

Synopsis: Chiyo Sakura is a cheerful high school girl who has fallen head over heels for the oblivious Umetarou Nozaki. Much to Chiyo's confusion, when she confesses to her beloved Nozaki, he hands her an unfamiliar autograph. As it turns out, the stoic teenage boy is actually a respected shoujo mangaka, publishing under the pen name Sakiko Yumeno! A series of misunderstandings leads to Chiyo becoming one of Nozaki's manga assistants. Throughout the hilarious events that ensue, she befriends many of her quirky schoolmates, including her seemingly shameless fellow assistant, Mikoto Mikoshiba, and the "Prince of the School," Yuu Kashima. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun follows Chiyo as she strives to help Nozaki with his manga and hopes that he will eventually notice her feelings. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 8.5/10

Finished airing in 2014 with a total of 12 episodes. Also has a special. 

My Thoughts: Give me more! The comedy is golden and the characters to die for. A perfect combination that’s tons of fun. There just isn’t enough. I highly suggest checking out the manga for this one!

[kenkamishiro]

Ishida Sui’s Review of 2019

I didn’t think I’d ever finish this with my onslaught of classes including pharmacology, but I somehow managed! 6k word count, the longest TL I’ve done to date besides Parvati’s interlude for FGO. Lots of insight into Jack Jeanne’s production and what Ishida’s been up to for the past year. It was tough to translate because it was so long, but I had a lot of fun.

Let me know if there are any mistakes, I’m sure there’s a whole bunch. Have fun reading!

Original can be found here.

＊＊＊

2019. I’m reflecting on this past year while flipping through my agenda. Since I’m writing this for my sake, there’s going to be a lot of sections without much explanation.

January

○ This was when Jack Jeanne had yet to be announced, so I was mostly doing preliminary work at the time. Stuff like “BU” and “character facial expressions” will be finished some time this month, is written in my schedule book.

○ New Year’s party in Tokyo from the 16th - 19th. The New Year’s party is a joint party that’s comprised of the 4th editorial department (Shueisha’s seinen magazine branch) that’s held every year in January. I attended the party with the staff every year during serialization, minus my first year.

2019 will be the first New Year’s party since the series ended, but I thought I should stop inviting the staff to attend since we’re not working together anymore (plus it’d be a hassle), so I didn’t really invite anyone. But the day before the event, Editor M brought up the topic inside the taxi and asked, “Are none of the staff coming this year?” (Even if they’re invited now, it’s going to be impossible, asking them to fly the next day and causing a ruckus…) When I replied, “Hey, I’m sure it’d be fun if you invited them and they all came~”, the editor contacted Goubaru-kun, and after said, “He said he’s going.” Guess he wasn’t busy. In the end, the staff during serialization and several people from OB and OG came, almost identical to the lineup from previous years, and it occurred to me that maybe I should have just invited them from the start.

Anyway, at this year’s New Year’s party, I don’t really remember much of what happened. I talked with my senpais from back when I was an assistant for Kingdom, and outside the venue I sobered up from the agoraphobic dizziness I was feeling inside. At the second party I remember people talking to me haphazardly and being photographed. I wish I’d refused. Also, I was sexually harassed by Rikudou Matsubara, my senpai from the same region as me. This New Year’s party will be my last.

February

Briefing session for the game held in Tokyo. Key visual created. It says here [on the agenda] that I want to go to Kagoshima. Every week there’s a checklist for 10 km of jogging and weight training 2-3 times a week. I spent about a week doing some composition work. It ended up being helpful for me, but it made me decide not to work anymore with people with different levels of interest from me.

○ TRPG is written for the 28th. Usually we use the DX (Double Cross) system, but this time one of our participating players, M’s schedule was under mysterious attack. As game master, taking consideration of everyone who’d made time in their schedules for tonight, I thought we could switch to Cthulhu and asked them to wait an hour. 2 hours later I finished coming up with a scenario and began the session. It was fairly fun.

March

Finish BU this month, is clearly noted down. BU stands for bust-up, which are drawings of characters in standing poses [sprites] that are common in ADV games. Normally, since it takes a huge amount of work, the BU work is always divided up. The original drawings are done by the illustrator, in this case I do the base illustrations (line drawing & colouring), and using them as the base, the department sharing the work cleans up the line drawings and recolours it...that’s how the process goes. But since I’m a mangaka and don’t have the technology needed to make gaming assets, I thought it’d be best to leave it to the pros in that field, so that was how that stage proceeded. At that point in time at least.

I also had plans written down to go to Kagoshima. Looks like I didn’t go.

○ TRPG on the 25th. Player M’s schedule lined up with ours, so we played DX with 6 PL plus me as GM. We went to the aquarium, were attacked by witches, and so on.

April

Finish BU, is faintly written down. It seems like the work was more or less completed earlier this month.

○ High school friend K’s wedding on the 6th. Up until then I’d only been to two other wedding receptions. The weddings were for a different friend from high school, and Tajika-san, one of my senpais from Kingdom. This suddenly reminds me of that time at Tajika-san’s reception, when I took a super early flight because I absolutely didn’t want to be late whatsoever, but I ended up not being able to fly for about an hour and a half because of engine trouble or whatever, so I entered at almost the same time as the bride and groom during the reception…

K’s wedding was the first time in my life where I was present all the way from the wedding to the reception, but how should I put it, I was struck by a beam of light. I don’t know who he’s getting married to, I have no clue what their relationship is like. But I was somehow bombarded...by all these thoughts that became jumbled in my head, like the energy in this place, the power of their oaths, questioning what it was, how light isn’t always justice.

I got the feeling that this was what proper, respectable humans take part in, but since I'm fine with not being a proper, respectable human, I decided to not do anything other than what my heart desires.

I'm definitely not good with places where I’m in the spotlight. But congratulations.

○ “Play Sekiro” is strongly noted down. Thank you for supporting me in the first half of 2019.

○ TRPG for the 29th - 30th. DX. Player M’s character dies.

May - June

My schedule book is starting to look more scattered now. On the other hand, since I’ve got a good memory of this time, I can write while recalling the events.

○ I did the covers for the Touken stage play book.

I drew the cover illustrations for the Touken [Ranbu] stage play that Mikasano-san, who I’m grateful to for his work on the anime and movie scripts for TG, worked on. In my mind, it feels like I'm watching the back of who I'd consider my older brother in the creative world, or a fellow comrade on another battlefield fighting to the death. I think it came out quite charmingly, so I’ll include the links for now. Link 1 | Link 2 | Link 3

During this time of work for Jack Jeanne, I was working on “model sheets”. Blueprints for the characters’ attire, not just from the front but also the internal structure.

Unlike most other games, Jack Jeanne has “performance costumes” in addition to normal attire. Because of its “revue” theme, costumes that will be worn onstage needed to be prepared. I was shocked when I suddenly admitted that I needed model sheets for 5 different performances (spring, summer, fall, winter, final) for the 6 main characters, making 30 designs in total.

Back in the TG era, these kind of drawings that I just explained, or drawings that needed a lot of layers, were a pain in the ass. Plus I wasn’t good at them, so I thought that I didn’t want to do it for the rest of my life if possible. But it seems like I have to do this myself. With a sense of determination, I decided to work solely on this for all of May. At the same time, I made nothing but curry for all my meals. There’s no deep reason behind it, but my aim was to kinda boost my ability to concentrate daily by choosing to be decisive in that action.

○ Working on model sheets It came with an unintended effect. Because I spent a month on work that required balance and consistency, my right-left checking skills got better, and completely unrelated, I improved in drawing perfect copies. The design work for the model sheets itself became really fun to do, starting around when I became obsessed with the scarf design (sumo wrestler drawing) I definitely couldn’t use for Neji’s summer costume. I discovered that it’s precisely because I’m not good at this that my labour bore fruit. I feel like this was my experience for the latter half of the year.

July

The cast members were chosen. Unlike TG, there are 6 people + 1 person who can be referred to as the main character, so it was interesting to have a cast with some breadth.

Seems like lyrical work was the main thing I worked on.

Lyrical work. In Jack Jeanne, each performance contains several songs to sing and dance to, so each one is supposed to be sung. ...hence the lyrics.

The topic of what to do with the lyrics was brought up in November 2018. What happens typically is that, let’s say there’s singing in an idol game, then a company that specializes in it is asked to produce the songs. Even for Jack Jeanne, there were several candidates I could pick and choose from. But after a quick look-through, frankly speaking, they all looked the same to me. There’s one person that’s good, it’d be great if we could get them...is what I thought, but, “Even though I don’t have the skills, I’m the one who understands this world the best,” crossed my mind. ...should I try? I tried it. To be honest, I was super embarrassed since it’d be seen by a lot of people, but it evolved into, “Who cares if you’re doing it?” And so Jack Jeanne’s lyrics were tasked to me.

I mentioned this earlier, but there are multiple songs for each performance. So if you combine those plus the opening and ending songs, that makes 17 songs in total. Lyrics for 17 songs that I’m fully responsible for. What the hell...am I doing? Maybe it was from that moment that I started losing it.

Including the lyrics that I’d been working on bit by bit every month, the remaining ones were finished in one go this July. By the time I finished everything, my current state was, “Give me more songs...let me write more lyrics!” But it wasn’t over just yet.

August

Every time I meet someone I tell this story. I’m thinking of keeping it up. Here I am, relieved to have finished the lyrics, when a message pops up on the Skype group chat. It’s from Yamashita Daisuke of Broccoli.

To briefly touch upon Yamashita Daisuke, he is a young man who’s been involved with this project since October of 2018, and a poor soul who was tasked with conducting very important meetings on his third day of working at the company.

The producer from Broccoli was going on maternity leave, so he was scouted as her replacement. As an aside, if I have to be honest, the exchanges between me and Towada-san, and Broccoli’s Jack Jeanne team up until then were quite frustrating. “How about doing it like this?” they would counter. And we’d respond with something like, “This part is going to be developed later on, and since this will become foreshadowing for the entirety of the story, it can’t be modified that easily.” This kind of situation, having to explain everything in detail one by one, going 3 steps forward and being held 2 steps back, had been going on for about 3 years, so the two of us would often whine about it over drinks, going, “When should we quit, this is ridiculous,” etc.

Finally when things began going more smoothly, the producer who was leading the project took her leave, so I wondered if we’d be able to get along with Yamashita Daisuke, but he was, how should I put it, very diligent. For the last year I've been working with people who don’t put in their best effort, so I was very hopeful and thankful to him.

But I digress. This was the gist of the message that Daisuke sent.

“Kosemura-san’s who’s in charge of musical composition wants ‘scratch vocal tracks’ for when the singers are recording.” “Does Ishida-sensei happen to know anyone he could ask for this favour?” “I’m sure it won’t be a problem for you!” “Frankly speaking, it’s okay even if they’re bad.”

Huh. Well, as you might have already guessed, even with the lyrics, it’s impossible to really understand the song at first sight without knowing what kind of rhythm, what kind of emotions are being expressed in the bar measure. Of course we’d need ‘scratch vocal tracks’ to explain the general feeling of the song.

Now, what Daisuke said was, “Do you have anyone you can ask? It’s okay even if they’re bad. Or even you can do it.” But if I found a “it’s okay even if they’re bad” kind of person, we’d still have to show them how to sing it and explain how the rhythm goes. Daisuke already knew which was probably why he asked for the favour. “The person writing the lyrics would be able to make the scratch vocal tracks the fastest.” ...come to think of it, the demo songs that Kunimitsu sent me every time that were sung using Vocaloid, weren’t they also scratch vocal tracks?

Daisuke must have been in a pinch trying to figure out how he should ask me candidly. Ishida-sensei, I couldn’t just ask you to sing it, so I had to ask in a roundabout manner.

I’d already given my answer, but I was still hesitant. It’s true that after I finished writing the lyrics for the 17 songs I’d already lost sight of myself, but if I sang, my singing would reach Broccoli and Kosemura-san’s team’s ears. But I couldn’t just leave poor Daisuke hanging.

So I consult Towada-shi, whom I’d been collaborating with in creating the scripts for Jack Jeanne, for advice. (He had been in charge of TG’s novels, and I’ve known him for a long time.) “Did you check Skype?” “I did.” “What do you think?” “Start by looking up scratch vocal tracks,” so we paid a visit to YouTube. The first search result that came up for ‘scratch vocal track’ was a video of a vocalist who was used to sing a scratch track for AKB or something. I see, so that’s what it looks like. Innocuous, but I could see it was very professionally done.

And the second result that came up was Tsunku♂-shi. The figure of Tsunku♂-shi himself recording a scratch track for his idols. The producer himself became an idol, and was singing really cutely, in his emotions and how he sang it. “This is it?” I said. “Yeah, it is,” Towada-shi agreed. If Kosemura-san and his team, and the people who will be performing the songs have to listen to it, it’d be a disservice to them to half-ass it. I don’t like people who don’t try their best. That means I have to show that attitude myself. Let’s come out of my shell for poor Daisuke as well.

“You’re gonna become Tsunku♂.” “Yeah...I’m gonna be Tsunku♂!” And that was how I became Tsunku♂.

I replied to Daisuke on the Skype group chat. “Understood, I’ll do what I can.”

So this guy, who doesn’t even know what the ‘D’ in DTM stands for, first downloads the software, and begins setting up a recording environment. Other work is pushed aside. I set 3 days to work on this.

I timidly begin working on the scratch tracks. From the perspective of someone who doesn’t have to listen to their singing for a living, it starts out as a living hell, but you get used to it as you listen to it over and over.

And so I kept learning new things. I noticed I was harmonizing with myself.

Just like Tsunku♂-shi, I’d change the voice for each character. If it was Jack (male in a male role) I’d sing like a man, and if it was Jeanne (male in a female role), then like a woman, while the main character Kisa (female) should sound cute... No, Kisa needs to be cuter! I re-recorded her part many times. Depending on the song, I’d sing for 7 people. I was Jack Jeanne now.

Tsunku♂ (I) recorded 17 songs in 3 days, and sent the data first to Towada-shi. Since I was now Tsunku♂, I no longer felt any sense of embarrassment.

“I listened to it,” the reply came, and I called him. Towada-shi was roaring with laughter. I regained the embarrassment I’d forgotten.

“Oh no, I was laughing ‘cause I was impressed,” he said, but my heart was already as fragile as that of an abandoned dog.

“Even this is a big help to Kosemura-san, and Daisuke should be grateful, right?” Yeah. Although Towada-shi guffawed at me, Daisuke will surely thank me. And then he’ll definitely tell me what a good job I did!

I dumped the music into the Skype group chat. “I did what I could,” I added.

How will Daisuke react to my Tsunku♂? I waited restlessly. Three days later on August 5th, a formal message arrived after it was received.

“Thank you very much. We will schedule a meeting with Kosemura-san…”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. My hard work got dismissed with, “Thank you very much.”

Daisuke, why? I thought you were in a pinch, so I...were...were you fooling with me from the start? Answer me! Daisuke! Just tell me I did a good job, or follow up with something, I’m fine with anything! So much for my heart being like an abandoned dog, it’s more like a grown-ass man left naked on a snowy mountain. I did what I could! This feeling was welling up inside me, but was it myself that managed to do it?

○ Later, at a meeting with Kosemura-san “It’s great that you could do this much for us. You didn’t have to do all that.” With the gist of those words, a warm blanket was finally placed over my heart, which had almost frozen to death.

“I didn’t know how to respond. I wasn’t sure if Sensei was the most who did it in the first place,” Daisuke said, so I decided to satisfy myself by threatening, “I’m gonna tell this story until the day I die.”

September

○ Responses to the Questions to Ishida Sui contest We did a “Ask anything to Ishida Sui” contest as a project for the art book “zakki:re”, where purchasers could apply with a postcard. I was writing the replies for them.

I thought there’d be a lot more questions about TG or its contents, but surprisingly there were a lot of questions asking for life advice. There were quite a few questions that I had to seriously think about to answer.

It was kinda tough since there were over a hundred of them, but I thought it’d be nice to get in touch like this every once in a while.

○ BU work for Jack Jeanne Once the music-related tasks like lyrical composition and scratch vocal tracks were completed, I worked on BU. ...BU work? Wasn’t it finished back in April?

Well, a similar situation arose just like what happened with the lyrics. Regarding sprite quality I might not be able to beat the pros, but since I’m the one who best understands how the characters look best and their body balance, I had decided to do all the line drawing colouring myself in June. I had no clue whether I’d make the deadline or maintain the quality, but thanks to Broccoli’s understanding, I was allowed to make it myself.

I realized once again that I’m terrible at splitting up work. If I can do it by myself, I will.

Plus, it’s, how should I put it, starting from my TG days, even though it wasn’t a lot I got to see various types of workplaces. I’d see places where there was no sense of responsibility whatsoever, or the work may have been divvied up appropriately, but it felt like they were making something without a sense of purpose, like a main plot line that isn’t going anywhere.

It’s impossible to accomplish big things with that kind of stance, and I understand that the more people that intervene, the more uncertain the core becomes, so I didn’t like that kind of approach. It makes me wonder whether there’s any meaning in creating a work that’s conservative and unchallenged, and if it’s nothing more than a money grab.

Since I don’t have any desire for material things, getting fed up about it is useless, but I just can’t help thinking about it.

Of course, it may be difficult to get what I want 100% of the time, but I want to create things in an environment that I think is beautiful, even in places that I’m slightly involved in.

...in other words, BU work is tough, but I began remaking the sprites once again by myself. This was the toughest work I’ve ever done out of everything, including the serialization...

○ Scratch vocals training camp at the end of September I went to the recording for the scratch vocal tracks. Based on the scratch tracks that I made, we got professional vocalists to sing it again properly. This is what the actual cast would use as a reference to sing. (So my version was like the pre-scratch vocal track.)

I was stuck in Tokyo for almost a week. Wake up, get ready, go to the recording studio. Come back at 8 or 9 pm, rest and sleep, repeat.

It was like I was back in school, and since I don’t have a steady lifestyle, I enjoyed it.

Kosemura-san’s team is really great, and I know I mentioned this before, but I felt like their workplace was a very healthy production site. When I was drawing manga, I never had much time to talk with fellow manga artists, and I’ve never had the chance to experience what other professionals’ workplaces were like, so it was very exciting for me to see people as professionals tackle one thing seriously. The vocalists were as amazing as I expected, and although my scratch tracks were played at a loud volume to annoy me, I had a great time.

The game might have a high level of entry, but it’s worth listening to just for the songs, is what I truly thought.

○ Parting words to Editor M-shi This might have been back in August, but from 2018 to 2019 I had a lot of things on my mind, so I began talking to the editor.

In between the 11 years of serialization starting from my rookie days, I’d received guidance from him so it wasn’t easy, but I expressed to him that we should keep our distance for any future works.

“I want to become absorbed in myself, not to Ishida Sui or Tokyo Ghoul,” I told him. The other part said he also felt the same way, and accepted it. The next time we meet, I hope we can talk about what we’re into, what we’re going crazy over, he said.

And so, 2 months after that conversation was the scratch vocals training camp in Tokyo, and I had the chance for the two of us to talk again. That day I was completely tuckered out from recording the scratch track, but it was a day filled with accomplishments.

He took me to a restaurant with delicious food in Ebisu or somewhere, and after concluding our brief business meeting, I tried throwing out the cliched, “So, what are you up to lately?” As the lead writer, there was a part of me that was curious about how he was doing after that talk we had.

The editor began talking about homemade curry.

...that’s what he’s into? I decide everything from selecting and picking the ingredients myself, and next time I want Ishida-kun to also see how delicious the curry is...he told me passionately, but how should I put it, the conversation wasn’t very spicy.

The food was delicious.

October

○ BU work

What’s hard about BU work is that it’s difficult to separate the layers according to the face, hair and clothes, and they all have to have the same style and touch to it. If it was manga, then maybe...no, even in manga, there’s still some need to match the outfits, but it doesn’t really matter to that extent.

It’s because I don’t like game sprites. “This character has so much energy from their sideways pose! Amazing!” This never happens…

Around this time of the year, my older sister called this elaborate task, “the task you’re probably the worst at.”

○ The bean life I’m not really fat in particular, but I made up my mind to try dieting. At the time, my body fat percentage was at 18%, and I’ve never been below 10% ever in my entire life, so I’m thinking of aiming for that. Instead of eating rice with unseasoned chickpeas and black soybeans, I began my lifestyle of consuming vegetables and cuts of meat with less fat. Hopefully I can achieve my goal in about six months’ time.

○ Ano-chan, Honda Keisuke, and I After Ano-chan left “You’ll Melt More!”, her official Twitter account removed every single account she was following, but for some reason only two people remained. Those two people were Honda Keisuke and Ishida Sui. To Ano-chan, Honda Keisuke and Ishida Sui belonged in the same category. After some time passed, even we were removed, but I consider this one of my hottest mysteries of 2019. Ano-chan! I’ll always be waiting, so let’s have tea some time with Honda Keisuke!

November

○ BU Need I say more.

○ Main cast’s first recording session from the 26th - 27th.

I visited Tokyo with Towada-shi to supervise the main cast members’ recording session. Wow, everyone was so amazing~

Of course, not just the main characters. Terasaki Yuka-san who plays the main character, Tachibana Kisa, was wonderful as well.

In this kind of game genre, the position as the main character feels less important than the male characters, but I want her to stand firmly in this story’s script. I thought it’d be nice to have the main character not stand out too much and have her watch over the male characters, and I felt that Terasaki-san’s voice and acting fit that image perfectly.

About the cast members, it seems like there’ll be a chance to speak to them eventually, so I’ll come back again.

○ 1 month into the bean life I’m steadily losing weight. Basically I always work from home. I go to the gym and supermarket 2-3 times a week. I started cooking for myself. I got a brand new refrigerator to replace the one that suddenly broke. It actually cools things down now. Living standards have risen.

December

○ I break off ties with M who I played TRPG together with. He was a former classmate who was even chief assistant at some point during the series’ run, but eventually he ended up getting fired due to falling asleep at work. He said he’d attend the last session for the story that day (although his own character had already died), and I was working on a schedule to accommodate him, but once again he cancelled at the last minute.

It’s fine to cause trouble for me (although I’ll probably get pissed), but I can’t overlook treating others the same way. And it’s not the fact that his schedule didn’t match up, it’s because he was complete trash who didn’t know how to behave like an adult once he made plans with others, that I felt sorry for the other TRPG people who took time out of their schedules. Since I felt ashamed when I was together with him, I decided I’d had enough.

This was a year where I cut ties with a lot of people, but I think what they had in common was that I was ashamed to be with them. From now on, I don’t want to associate with such people.

What’s more, when I finally told him, he didn’t even try to deal with it and just gave up, responding, “So that’s how you felt about me. Okay. My bad.”

I won’t go anywhere with those kind of people again.

○ The bean life ⇒ the potato life. I changed it to potatoes.

○ BU is over...

On December 17th, I finally finished the BU work that I spent ageeeeeeeees on.

Although I said that serialization is tough, as long as I finished 18 pages a week that was it (although there were times where I was chasing myself with other work), so I could finish it as long as I didn’t sleep. I somehow managed to finish both the manuscripts and the colour illustrations this way, so expecting BU to be similar, I wasn’t really scared about it never ending, but BU truly was despair. When is this gonna end? I’m even working super hard… This is how it went on the entire time for over a month.

There were about 200 different sprites I had to make myself, including the different costumes and poses, and I had to do all of them.

For one thing, when, “This process is necessary,” came out, I had to go through the same process roughly 200 times, that it felt like I was facing the final boss who already transformed many times. Also, it’s like not equipping myself with a lot of equipment and recovery items in the previous town, but the dungeon I somehow managed to enter is extremely dangerous and even though there’s no safe points anywhere in sight, the boss suddenly comes up behind you, and you go I’m gonna die I’m gonna die

○ If you eat a lot while you’re losing weight, you’re going to have a bad time.

On December 15th I had trouble concentrating, so I tidied up the living room, created a space in the middle of the room, and darkened the lights. After an hour of meditating, only the sound of my breathing could be heard in the room, and so I went back to work with renewed concentration after confronting the issue (like a monk?).

On December 16th, I’ve been working the entire time since morning. I thought today was going to be the last day, but an entire day has passed and I don’t have any energy...

I’ll buy a midnight snack, replenish my energy, and end it once and for all. I’m trying to lose weight, but I went to the convenience store while thinking about how I’m gonna eat a katsu sandwich (I didn’t have the energy to cook).

While looking for something at a convenience store I can eat during weight loss, I think back over the last few months.

Like how it seems like BU is finally over, how a lot of things have happened, how I’m working hard, how lately I’ve been eating only potatoes, vegetables and meat.

And then I suddenly thought, “I wonder if the reason I don’t have any energy is because I haven’t had any rice lately.”

...I thought I should go on a diet in October, so I’ve been living a very modest life since then. Thanks to that, my weight has steadily decreased, and my body fat percentage has gone down 3% to 15%. What will happen if I continue with my relatively strict dietary restrictions during this difficult time?

...even if you’re losing weight, there’s a technique you can set up to binge eat during periods where weight loss stagnates, called cheat day (though results may vary), but what is it that makes no-cheating so inefficient even for weight loss?

...should I have a cheat day today?

“Huh, is it really okay?” I asked my mind. “Do it!” was the answer I got. From that moment, everything around me morphed into things I could eat.

No exaggeration, my knees trembled.

I crammed into my shopping basket carbohydrates, carbs, more carbs… It’s okay just for today, I say as I shove cream puffs, dorayaki, pudding, Family Mart chicken and ice cream. (Even if it's a cheat day, it’s probably not a good idea to take non-nutritional foods, but shh.)

With food in both hands and in high spirits, the first thing I ate was the delicious part of the Family Mart chicken.

I groaned loudly, all alone in the room.

Alright, let’s finish this work! I was energized, but my blood sugar levels spiked so much that I felt extremely sleepy and went to bed instead.

The next day on the 17th, I wake up at 4 am and immediately notice something unusual. My body is burning. I’m sweating.

I immediately wake up, and overflowing with energy, I head for my desk. I’m working actively, and I finish the BU work. It felt like I was pushing forward with only positive energy, feeling uplifted.

I break out a laugh at a slight joke I found funny from a foreign drama (The Mentalist) I’m playing while working. The greenery of the plants and the lighted sink glisten, and the scenery is vivid.

What is this?

I suddenly recall the story of a YouTuber I saw recently. He lives in a region where medical marijuana is legalized, and he explained in detail what changes would occur if you smoked cannabis.

To put it roughly, you feel calm and your senses sharpen. Trivial things can become funny, and funny videos can make you roar with laughter.

Then maybe...I thought, I'll watch Nagareboshi (a comedy duo) on YouTube. Usually I go, haha, that's funny! But that day I exploded with laughter...all of their videos were just too funny.

I learned that when you’re losing weight and suddenly eat a lot, it alters your mind and body as if you smoked cannabis. (※ Just to be clear, I don’t know what cannabis is like.)

Thus the BU work ended with me being high as a kite.

(※ I’m covering it with mosaics for now. I’ll remove it once I can announce it.)

○ I stopped playing TRPGs. I’ve been doing it for about two and a half years, but it also helped me in honing my creative skills. I’d sometimes perform, so it was useful when I was recording the scratch vocals… It was a good experience, managing to vicariously live the energy of ending a story. It was a story about a group of friends, so it was easy to appreciate.

Summing up 2019

After the weekly series finished in 2018, I was in a daze for a few months, but in 2019 I worked only on Jack Jeanne for the year.

This year I tried various things, and trite as it may seem, felt the possibilities within myself expanding. I had many opportunities to realize how important it is to keep a distance from bad things that don’t do anything for me.

During my work on Jack Jeanne, I vaguely thought about my future creations. The work I’m doing now in game production is fun so I wonder if I can keep working in this field, but I’d also like an environment where I can release things more constantly.

I can’t promise anything specific, but I’m going to work on things that I want to do.

I look forward to what 2020 has to offer. Have a happy New Year.

2019.12.31 Ishida Sui