#my brother likes naruto but won’t finish the show or read the manga

[cloudabserk]

it’s kind of silly but i wish people i knew irl cared about the fandom stuff i care about :(

[captnjacksparrow]

Dear Sparrow, You have really amazing analytical skills and your detailed knowledge about the Naturoverse is just as impressive! It's always so interesting to read your posts and I value your opinion a lot. Now to my question... How would a realistic romantic relationship between Naruto and Sasuke look like in our eyes?

I'm not really interested in knowing who is seme and who is uke, but what their couple dynamic would look like? What would be their struggles? What would they talk about?

For example, what if Naruto wanted a family and Sasuke didn't. Would Naruto -as a Hokage- be hesitating on sending Sasuke on dangerous missions? What are their plans for the future?

Or how would they search for/react to/display/intimacy? Would they stay closeted (like they kinda are in Boruto XD)? Or would they be openly gay and live with each other? How would each of them react to homophobia towards them? I'm curious about your head canon! ♥️

Thank you so much for your compliments @itsmischiefsblog 😍😍😍

But you asked the wrong person!!!! LOLOL.... I’ve never read any SNS fanfiction so far  to even base my headcanon upon (except for 1 which had just 3 chapters and I just started 1 very recently)

But,

I can say you one thing. 

As you know very well that I treasure SNS ship a lot, A LOTTTTTT..... So I won’t just compare this ship with anything so easily. And if I do, which means it’s really worthy. I came to ship SNS only because Naruto and Sasuke’s interaction always reminded me of this other Ship I loved a lot before watching Naruto. 

And after finishing Naruto, I came to this conclusion that If Naruto and Sasuke were allowed to be together, then probably they will display their love very similar to the other Couple I loved. Because culturally they share the same value and the world is Ancient. Just like Naruto series has Chakra, they also have Spiritual Energy in their abdomen. 

And also, the Couple shares the same dynamics with SNS... That is, One is a  Bright, Cheerful, Messy, Prank loving Bubble and the Other is an Unexpressive, Stern, Elegant, Intense loving Heart-throb.... 

Oh by the way, in this Dynamics everything is similar to SNS except for One.... What happens if Sasuke stayed in the Light Path and Naruto went to the Dark Path??? What will Sasuke do for Naruto?? 

If that interest you, then this series will be for you.

I suggested this series to another SNS Blogger Friend of mine @seraphina-herondale ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Now she is Brainrotting and Gushing over this couple so badly.... Because they are very similar to SNS and has more Fluffs, many subtle Intimate moments and extremely good chemistry....

If you want to know my Head Canon.... You have to watch this series and I am sure you will never regret it!!!

Not to mention, Just like SNS has SNS toys, pens, mugs, perfumes and many other merchandise.... That couple also has a lot of merchandise and is extremely popular. It was based on a BL Novel and got adapted into Anime as well as Live Action Series... Live Action is what I am talking about.... It also has a Chibi Version of Anime as well....  

Novel has all the ‘Hot’ contents towards the very end.... But Live Action has passed that couple off as Soulmates because of Censorship... But still the Show Creators had found a round-about way to make the couples Marry on-screen indirectly in our plain-sight.... LOLOLOL...  Just like how Rikkudou Sennin made an unofficial Marriage for SNS.... 

If you ever decided to give this amazing series a try.... I suggest you to start with the Live Action, then Novel, Anime, Chibi-Anime.... In this particular order... Because Live Action has no Adult Contents and so Pure just like in Naruto Manga.... It will really make you gush over them a lot and then if you want to really know how they ‘Get together’, you can read the Novel linked here..[Link]

That series Name is The Untamed (Chen Qing Ling),based on the Novel named Mo Dao Zu Shi, available in Netflix, Viki Rakuten or in WeTV app. Please don’t google or Youtube to spoil yourself.... Just Go straight to Netflix and Watch it.... 

Anyways, I would like to provide you some Teaser in order to show you the similarities they share with SNS .... Just only few.... there are a lot actually...

BONDED UNDER THE MOONLIGHT

Both couples Bonded under the Moonlight... Actually The Untamed Showrunners mentioned in their interview that they decided to capture that scene under moonlight to provide a ‘Romantic Effect’..... LOL... Am sure Kishi must have thought that way way back in 1999..... 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

GOOD MATCH

Both the characters are so happy over the fact that they found their ‘Match’.... ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

WHO AM I TO YOU?

The situation is mindbogglingly similar... Naruto asked that Question when Sasuke is trying to avoid him and going towards that dark path.... This person also asks this same question when the other person was avoiding him and going towards Darkness....😔😔😔😔😔😔😔

OUTSIDERS

Both the respective characters, after getting into the Darkness, actively trying to push their Light.... By using the same term.... ‘Outsiders’..... Ooooof!!!!! 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

I AM TAKING YOU BACK TO...

Both these characters represents Light... They want to take their Bae into the place where they live.... In Naruto, it’s Konoha (Leaf Village).... In The Untamed, it’s Gusu (Cloud Recesses)

CRADLING MY BAE

Aren’t they adorable, warm and tender????? 

YIN AND YANG

Just like how Sasuke represents Yin in Naruto.... The Person who is very similar to Naruto represents Yin in The Untamed.

Aren't they all similar????

So, Please don't google about this and try to watch it without any spoilers because the plot is equally captivating as our Main Characters’ chemistry.... Lots of Angst, Tears, Brotherly sentiment, Brother-Sister Bond, no annoying Female Characters.... And Don't just watch it for the fluff stuffs because the story and romance is like Yin and Yang... You really have to pay attention to the story to understand their Bond. 

First 2 episodes might be hazy... because the story is Non-Linear... But don’t drop it.. Starting from Episode 3 you will really get into the Flashback and then later you will understand what First 2 episodes are all about... 

So, Yeah!!!! The Tagline itself touts them as Soul Mates... 

This is my Head Canon about the Adult version of SNS... And the Actors are really handsome and talented enough to portray our Naruto and Sasuke in a Soulful Manner with such Tenderness. 

After watching this series, even if you have a shred of doubt that Naruto and Sasuke may be Brothers.... it will all fly off to the trash Can because, the show clearly distinguished how Brothers would Act around each other and how Soulmates act in a subtly Romantic Way. I wish those Antis watch this series and understand the meaning of Soulmates & SNS... That’s only my wishful thinking...

[[I am not saying one ship is better than the other ship.... All I am saying is One Couple resembles the Other and I love them in my own way, equally]]

The Main Couple in The Untamed are Officially Gay (in Novel) and Soulmates (in The Live Action Series). If they are Gay and Soulmates, then so is SNS.  

[cringeyvanillamilk]

☕️ Steph, my good clown, can I get your sexy opinion on your favorite battles in the shonen series (plural) that you have read/watched?

The clown has arrived with her answer! Thank you for such an interesting topic! It was hard picking out my top 3 favorites since a lot of my favorites are great in their own right, but I think I’m satisfied with what I chose.

For anyone who’s interested, here are my other favorite shounen battles that sadly did not make it to the top 3:

Itadori and Nobara vs. Curse brothers (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Maki vs. Mai (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Gon vs. Pitou (Hunter x Hunter)

Deku vs. Muscular (Boku no Hero Academia)

All Might vs. All for One (Boku no Hero Academia)

Luffy vs. Usopp (One Piece)

Gaara vs. Rock Lee (Naruto)

Zenitsu vs. Spider Brother (Kimetsu no Yaiba)

Tanjirou vs. Rui (Kimetsu no Yaiba)

Now let’s get to my top 3 favorite shounen battles! (Under the cut!)

3. Maki vs. Miwa (Jujutsu Kaisen)

For my third favorite shounen battle, I chose the fight between Maki and Miwa during the Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc! What I like most about this fight was the set up, spectacular choreography, and interesting characterization.

Before jumping into the fight, we are introduced to Miwa and Mai talking about Maki’s strength as a Jujutsu sorcerer. Here, Mai is downplaying Maki’s ability to fight which leads Miwa to underestimate Maki as a result. We then cut to Miwa being absolutely overwhelmed by Maki’s attacks. This short setup helped give impact to Maki’s true strength and abilities to not only Miwa, but the audience as well. The fake out was a nice surprise since we haven’t seen Maki fight thus far.

The choreography throughout the entire fight was absolutely marvelous. The use of perspective and slow-motion helped give certain attacks more weight as well as how the attacks look in a first-person perspective. We not only see how overwhelmed Miwa was, but also how focused and ruthless Maki can be. Despite Miwa being an antagonist due to her team’s order to kill Itadori, I find it amusing that we the audience end up sympathizing with Miwa in the end.

I also liked how the environment was used during the fight. The transition from the forest to the small stream down below when Maki literally kicked Miwa off a cliff was a nice change of scenery. The visuals of the water due to the character’s movement and weight was also a nice detail. I won’t be surprised if all the budget went into the water effects.

The fight between Maki and Miwa was incredibly one-sided where Maki seemed to have the upper hand for most of the fight and Miwa had no choice but to be on the defense. We can see how overwhelmed Miwa was due to underestimating Maki from the beginning. If Miwa was warned ahead of time, she may have had a better chance of standing against Maki. However, due to her trust over her teammate’s words, she ended up being blind-sighted. I really enjoyed being inside Miwa’s head for the majority of the fight. We can tell that Miwa is doing the best of her abilities, but just can’t beat Maki’s talent and quick instinct. The fight overall highlight’s Miwa’s weakness of overthinking her next move. We only heard Maki’s thinking process briefly after Miwa activated her simple domain, but she’s very quick to adapt and be unpredictable. The characterization in this small fight was very fun to watch!

Overall, this may be a small-scale fight in comparison to other major ones within the anime and manga, but that doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. Having a grand spectacle of a fight doesn’t make it the “best fight”. Sometimes, a short, but well-choreographed fight that makes good use of the environment can go a long way for me.

2. The Black Bulls vs. Vetto (Black Clover)

For my second favorite battle in shounen, I chose the black bulls vs. Vetto during the Water Temple arc. I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t watch enough shounen anime, but I felt like this was the first battle where a group of characters worked together to defeat an antagonist. I’m just so used to watching 1v1s, or if we’re really stretching it 2v1s, in shounen that seeing an actual group use teamwork was very refreshing for me to watch. Something to note about the difference in the manga and anime was that while the final battle against Vetto within the anime had Gauche, Charmy, and Grey join in, in the manga it was mainly Asta, Finral, and Vanessa. Despite the small difference, the fact that most of the members of the Black Bulls took a chance to fight Vetto and showcased their fighting abilities was a sight to see.

Before we get to the final fight against Vetto, if we don’t count Yami’s finishing blow at the very end, I really enjoyed Luck, Magna, and most especially Noelle’s attack. I liked how we got to see each character use their strongest attack and the unpredictability of who’s going to finish Vetto off throughout the fight. I was hype seeing Luck and Magna’s combo magic for the first time, but was surprised to see how ineffective it was to Vetto. This helped give us an idea of the power difference a normal magic knight may have in opposition to an eye of the midnight sun, which is why when Noelle gained an attack spell, Sea Dragon’s Roar, and did the most damage to Vetto, that basically hinted the potential Noelle has as a strong magic knight. But surprisingly, Noelle’s attack wasn’t the climax of the fight because that’s when Asta, Finral, and Vanessa joined in and worked together against Vetto. Now it was this specific teamwork that really made it for me.

What I love most about this team dynamic was how each of them had a significant role in winning the fight. Asta had the physical strength and most offensive attacks, Vanessa’s string magic helped propel Asta into any direction, and Finral’s spatial magic was utilized to transport Asta in any location. Both Vanessa and Finral helped give Asta the upper hand by making his attacks more unpredictable and adaptive to Vetto’s animalistic magic. It was impressive seeing Asta attack Vetto in different directions and dodging his attacks. But just when we thought they had a chance of defeating Vetto, he became a much bigger threat when he began to read through their attacks and successfully caught and broke Asta’s arms. And just when we think that Asta can’t fight without his arms, Asta reinforces his schtick of not giving up, igniting hope into his teammates. And with their final push and hint towards Asta’s devil powers, Vetto was finally defeated thanks to their determination and teamwork!

This fight had a nice combination of surprise, hope, and despair! But what makes this my second favorite fight was solely because of how each of the members had a moment to shine within the fight. There wasn’t an instance where a character was just watching and that makes me very happy! An overall great fight in Black Clover!

1. Gon vs. Hisoka (Hunter x Hunter)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txl2imn11bM&ab_channel=CrunchyrollCollection

For my ultimate favorite shounen battle, I chose Gon vs Hisoka from the Heavens Arena arc. If there’s one word to describe this fight, it would be “tension”. What I liked most about the beginning of this fight was how no word of dialogue was exchanged between the characters. The background music was ambient with most of the attention given to the sound of movement and grunts, which only makes you feel tense throughout the exchange.

In this particular fight, Gon was very quick and light on his feet while fighting Hisoka. There were even moments where it looked like he was levitating for a few seconds when throwing punches at Hisoka which shows how fast his attacks were. I liked how we see Gon’s thought process through his actions where he’d try multiple strategies to attack Hisoka. At first, he would try and do a barrage of punches towards Hisoka’s face, but then gain some distance when his attacks fail and then face Hisoka head on again. And while Gon is struggling to get the first hit, Hisoka is just observing Gon with a smile on his face and enjoying every bit of it. And it wasn’t until Hisoka surprised Gon with a punch that we finally took a breather. It was an intense fight right off the bat!

But my enjoyment of the fight doesn’t stop there. During the first exchanges within the fight, Gon’s attempts were very straightforward and relied mostly on his strength. But during their second exchange, we can see that Gon learned from his prior attempt and decided to use his wits. Instead of attacking Hisoka head first, he cleverly used his environment to gain the upper hand and finally punched Hisoka in the face! Hisoka may have underestimated Gon from the beginning, but I still thought it was amazing how Gon managed to pull that off! I’m going to be honest, I was not expecting Gon to actually be strategic and pull out the tiles off the floor to block Hisoka’s sight. It was so satisfying to see this type of development from him which makes it a highlight of this fight.

Honestly, this was this part of the fight that makes this my ultimate favorite, but that doesn’t mean what happens afterwards was nothing interesting. Hisoka’s nen abilities were very fun to watch and very unpredictable! I feel like Gon was meant to lose from the start since Hisoka’s fighting style is very adaptive against Gon’s more simple approach. Overall, an amazing fight! I highly recommend watching the fight for yourself!

[unpopularly-opinionated]

FINALLY FINISHED NARUTO AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Honestly, and this might sound harsh, but I think I give the series overall a 6/10. Being generous, I’d say it’s maybe a 7/10, but I’m deducting one point because I’m almost positive the only reason I’d rate it that high is because despite all it’s flaws, after watching 720 episodes across two series and 10 movies, you’re just going to be attached to the characters and show regardless of how you feel about it.

I know it’s super popular, or was anyways, and I can absolutely see why, but there were just too many issues that bothered me personally. It’s frustrating because I want to like it, I really do. There’s so many elements at work here that are so just perfectly me that it’s almost weird that I don’t like it, but I don’t. Obviously I liked it enough to spend hours upon hours watching it, but I think I just kept expecting it to get better at some point, and that point never happened.

More about my issues with it below...

I don’t know how to frame this (I never do) so it’s mostly just off the cuff.

I’ll start with the easily dismissible criticisms, the movies. Obviously all but one of the movies are non-canon (and I’ll get to the canon one shortly...), and they’re made by other studios so it’s not entirely fair to criticize the series based on them. I’m far too used to this weird format from Pokemon and their non-canon movies, so it wasn’t a huge deal to me. I will say that, much like the Pokemon films, almost all of the Naruto films followed the same exact format: Naruto goes to a location we’ve never heard of before and will never hear of again and is forced to protect someone abrasive and annoying until the enemy is defeated and they become BFFs that we’ll never see or hear from again.

I’d say, in order from best to worst:

Road to Ninja - Naruto the Movie

Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel

Naruto Shippuden: The Movie 3: Inheritors of the Will of Fire

Naruto Shippuden: The Movie - Bonds

Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower

Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow

Naruto Shippuden: The Movie

Naruto the Movie 3: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom

Naruto Shippuden the Movie: Blood Prison

The Last: Naruto the Movie

Yes, you read that right. The one canonical movie I put in dead last. Originally I thought that position was reserved for Blood Prison, which offended me because of just how utterly contrived the plot was and how out of character everyone needed to act to get it moving. But somehow, The Last took last place because of just how bad of a movie it was that for some reason has the audacity to be canon. And look, I know why it’s canon. It’s where Naruto and Hinata ‘officially’ get together and it ‘explains’ some missing plot elements from the series (more on that...), so of course it’s canon.

But come the fuck on, the last movie in the franchise, the one canonical movie, the one that may or may not take place after the Great Shinobi War, I.E. the big final battle of the series, has Naruto going into the fucking hollow earth through a cave portal that takes him to the moon, which is falling because the man on the moon is an incel and hates earth? What kind of methamphetamines were the writers on for that one. The Hinata and Naruto bits were fine, but holy fuck was that plot bad. They may as well have put Naruto in a spaceship and sent him to Mars to fight Martian Shinobi, I mean if we’ve already crossed the line, why not run a marathon beyond it.

The movie was meant to explain away a one-off line made in the series, that admittedly I did sit and ponder whether or not they’d ever explain it, about the Sage of Six Path’s brother, Homura, who went to go live on the moon after they defeated their mother Kaguya. It was mentioned so briefly and only once that I thought for sure it wasn’t ever going to be brought up again. I also wondered where Byakugan came from since we’d gotten an explanation for Sharingan and Rennigan during the series, but never for Byakugan. I actually don’t mind the explanation that it came from Homura’s bloodline, I think that tracks well enough. The man on the moon bit was...odd, but when I thought of how strong Homura was, I didn’t think much of it. I actually thought he somehow was going to still be alive and he’d come down to earth after they defeated Kaguya, but that never happened.

Here’s the rub though, and one of my issues with the series as a whole, which is that the show seemed to keep writing itself into these weird corners where they’d be forced to do something completely nonsensical, purely because they were the ones who wrote them into those corners. It would’ve been simpler to just say all visual jutsu was derived from Kaguya’s power, or the Homura died so there’s no man on the moon, or that Tsunade died so Kekashi needs to become Hokage, etc. They didn’t have to write themselves into these scenarios, but they did anyway and the end result was them having to write complete and utter nonsense to rationalize why they did it in the first place.

Kekashi becoming Hokage doesn’t really make any sense, like at all. They literally bisected Tsunade during the war but willed her back to life when they could’ve just as easily killed her then and there since she’s largely irrelevant to the rest of the series after the war, and then it would’ve made more sense why Kekashi, the man who on numerous occasions said he didn’t want to be Hokage, would then be forced to become Hokage as he’d be the next strongest (eligible) shinobi after Tsunade. I feel like it was all meant to be a payoff to Obito’s dying words to Kekashi which told him to become Hokage, which even then I found myself asking why the fuck would he say that? Kekashi almost was Hokage once before and was so relieved when Tsunade woke up from her coma so he wouldn’t have to.

Also can we talk about how bad that final episode was? I mean don’t get me wrong, it was cutesy as fuck and actually brought a tear to my eye (when Naruto asked Iruka to be his dad I fucking lost it, I won’t lie), but they cut it off before the wedding? Before the aftermath? Before he becomes Hokage? Like I understand Boruto exists, but I don’t feel like that’s a justifiable excuse for ending your long-running series on merely the assumption that he’ll become Hokage in the future. Maybe if the show was a whole 500 episodes shorter I’d be comfortable with it ending on a vague, yet hopeful ending, but when I’ve spent fuck knows how many hours on this series you bet your ass I’m expecting some mother fucking payoff.

Also do not even get me started on Sasuke. What. The. Fuck?!?!? My guy literally just sends a note via carrier pigeon to the wedding? That’s it? Did I just fucking hallucinate the last 720 episodes or wasn’t Sasuke supposed to be like the second main character??? The absolute absurdity.

This isn’t even much of a comparison because it’s so much shorter than Naruto, but it’s all I got in the moment, but imagine if at the end of Return of the Jedi, Han Solo just decides to fucking dip. He’s just not there. He and Chewie hopped into the Millennium Falcon the moment the Death Star was destroyed and just dipped. No longer in the movie, just gone. Didn’t say anything to Luke or Leia, just up and left. That would be insane.

It’s even more offensive knowing him and Sakura end of together. My. Fucking. Gods. This has been the relationship I’d been dreading since the start when it became abundantly clear they weren’t doing even the barest minimum to actually establish a relationship between them. As it is, when I watched The Last, I thought to myself: “Well, Naruto and Hinata’s relationship hasn’t been the most well-developed relationship I’ve seen, but it’s still leagues better than whatever hatchet job they’re going to pull to convince me Sasuke and Sakura end up together”. We didn’t even get the hatchet job. That’s just how little of a shit they gave. They did not even bother pretending to give any explanation as to how I’m supposed to believe they end up together. I’m quite literally just supposed to believe it because I know it will happen. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, it’s just something that is and therefor I must accept it. Absolutely ridiculous. As it stands, the show gave us more reasons why Sakura and Lee should end up together than they did for her and Sasuke. Fuck, I’d even buy Sakura and Inu before I’d buy Sakura and Sasuke.

I could go on, I really could, but it’s late and I’m just looking forward to putting this behind me. At some point, probably not too soon, I will watch Boruto. As it is, my watch schedule is pretty thoroughly booked up for a while. I can’t foresee myself ever watching this again. I know I sound harsh on it, but I wanna reemphasize that I want to like this show. It’s not a show I think is bad period, it’s a good show I think was just done rather poorly. It all felt very off-the-cuff, much like this shitty review. I don’t know what the manga-to-adaptation pipeline looked like when the show was live, but clearly something got fucked up somewhere.  This really feels like the Fullmetal Alchemist to Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, and I can’t help but want Naruto to get the Brotherhood treatment...if such a treatment even exists.

[malignedaffairs]

Artist Interview

Some time ago I was asked to answer some questions for a Russian community that collects interviews from various fanartists - what a lovely idea! Here’s the Russian translation along with lots of other interesting interviews. Under the cut is the English version.

On the artist

Nickname: Fifi

Date of birth: December 11th

What city are you from? Berlin

What genre in music do you prefer? Are there any favorite bands/singers? Dark electro, industrial, gothic, EBM, new wave, with a little side of metal and rock’n’roll. My favourite band is Rammstein.

The book that made the most impression and why? There’s nothing life-changing, but I have a ritual of reading before bedtime and some books have been great companions, mostly because they are gripping as hell or because they build up a huge world to blissfully get lost in. I really enjoyed In Cold Blood, The Swarm, Out, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Fifth Woman, Into Thin Air, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings and ASOIAF.

What are your hobbies besides artistic creativity? Video games, reading up/watching documentaries on things like history, nature, the psychology connected to criminal cases or the obscure niche interest du jour, tasting and trying to cook food from around the world, spending time with close friends and family, planning trips and travelling, board games, being outside in nature, doting on my cat.

What movies (TV series) do you like to watch? Is there something you revise (recommend)? I prefer short thriller/mystery/horror series like Zone Blanche, The Sinner, La Forêt, Penny Dreadful, period dramas like Moon Lovers or The Tudors, movies/series that are funny and thoughtful like Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Intouchables and Better Call Saul, Tarantino movies, oh and movies/series about food!

Favorite anime? Mushishi, Hellsing Ultimate, Samurai Champloo, Kuroko no Basuke, Dragonball Z

Favorite manga? Vagabond, Blade of the Immortal, Naruto, Dragonball, Rookies, Shokugeki no Soma

Favorite pictures, installations? Romanticism paintings, they’re so atmospheric. And traditional artwork from indigenous cultures.

Is there something that you would have trouble parting with? (Some thing, for example) There are things like my old diaries or my hard drive full of photos and drawings, but in general I’m more attached to places than to things.

What are your future plans? Getting better at my job, falling in love, lots of drawings.

On the art

What was the beginning of your passion? Discovering how crayons work as a toddler, I guess.

Do you think the academic base is obligatory and should everyone go through universities to be good masters? I think a profound education can totally polish your technical skills, so the benefits can be great. But art is very individual, and you don’t need university for expressing yourself creatively. When I graduated from high school I thought about studying to become a professional artist, but decided on keeping it a leisure activity for me to unwind and express myself without any pressure.

How long have you been drawing? I’ve been drawing from early childhood.

Tell us about the process of drawing. Where do you start, how do you finish? How much time is spent on drawing? When I’m super lazy, I just use one layer. I start with a rough sketch and refine it by just adding cleaner lines on top and erasing the messy parts. When I’m less lazy I do a rough sketch and a second layer of clean lines on top. During the process I often adjust proportions by cutting, warping and relocating parts of the content. For a comic I first think of a rough plot and draft the dialogue, then make a rough storyboard with page thumbnails. I usually only plan around three pages at a time, never the whole thing in one go. Colouring is another beast entirely. No system there whatsoever, I just put colours on there and hope for the best. Usually a drawing takes me at least two hours, comic pages take up to eight hours. I mostly use the same three brushes all the time.

How did your nickname appear? Fifi-la-fumeuse is a random thing I found in a book about curiosities I bought in Paris a long time ago. It’s basically a vintage doll that was used for educating students about the dangers of smoking during pregnancy. I liked how creepy it looked and the name sounds nice and a little similar to my real name, so I’ve kept it ever since. Malignedaffairs is an allusion to the “forbidden” nature of Itasasu, which was my OTP when I started my blog back in 2012/13. Nowadays I’m finding the name rather corny, but it’s what most people associate with my art, so I’m just keeping it.

What inspires you? Everyday life, my feelings, media, exchanging ideas with people within the fandom.

How do you feel about criticism? Do you criticize other artists? I’m not here for the criticism. My first and foremost goals in posting art on the internet are expressing my feelings, getting in touch with like-minded people and having fun, not necessarily improving my artwork or meeting any achievement goals. I’m grateful for constructive criticism if I respect and trust the person who gives it. I only give criticism if invited to do so.

Do you have your own characters? Or maybe the whole universe? Tell a little about it. No, I don’t have any OCs at all.

How did you come to the Naruto fandom? What kind of heroes do you draw and why them? My ex bf was a big fan of Naruto and always tried to get me into it, but I found it boring and childish. After we broke up though, I felt really lost and started to watch Naruto as a way to feel a little closer to him, and before I knew it I was super into the plot and the characters and then Itachi appeared and the story of the Uchiha brothers struck a very deep chord with me. I’m very much into beautiful, tragic, brilliant but troubled characters who are sweet cinnamon rolls inside, and Itachi and Shisui are like the posterboys for this concept. I feel like they’re the perfect muses for me to give some kind of shape to my ideals of love and mutual respect.

Do you agree with the opinion that national self-perception, as an intellectual factor, is present in the creative process? You’re always influenced by the social environment, the battles and the values you grew up with, and some of that can be determined by your nationality. Themes like identity, society, communication, politics and ideologies are often expressed in art, and if that’s the case you can’t and probably don’t even aim to separate it from national self-perception. I think it’s more present in original art than in fanart though.

What topics worry you and most often are reflected in your work? Belonging, mutual love, loss, sex.

Do you consider drawing to be your recognition in life? Do you plan to continue to devote yourself to this business? It’s an important part of my life and I’m going to do it as long as it feels right, but I won’t pressure myself.

What advice do you have for novice artists? Expect your drawings to look ugly in the beginning and draw all the ugly pictures anyway. Draw whatever attracts you, however silly it may seem. “Art block” means you should lower the pressure on yourself and allow yourself to draw something ugly, silly or uncreative, or even take a break from drawing. Art is not about achievement but about expression. Don’t take it personally when no one seems to appreciate your art right away. Instead actively seek out like-minded people in online communities or in real life, get engaged and show your art to them. Also: flip that canvas!

[namanari]

Anime Questionnaire

Tagged by @chileanli These were a lot of fun haha, so thanks~

1. Favorite anime?

If RWBY counts, it’d be that lol

I’d have to go with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It has good animation, great and fulfilling story, fun characters, and is a great length at 64 episodes.

I also adore Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. It never fails to make me happy. I have many more I love of course, but I’ll leave it there.

2. Your worst anime?

That I finished? Bleach. 

3. Do you read the manga that goes along with the anime you watch?

I usually start with the manga if there is one haha.

4. Most favorite genres?  

I really like me some action, though I  need a nice plot to go with it. A good comedy is nice as well. 

5. Least favorite genres?

Ecchi and Harem. Just no. I don’t do gravity defying boobs, thank you very much. 

6. Favorite character?

This is hard to do with anime lol. I have a lot of favorite manga characters…

If RWBY counts, Qrow and Ruby. Obligatory answer of Guren. Tenka from Donten ni Warau, bless this sunshine child. Roy Mustang from FMA:B. Hijikata from Gintama. And Ebisu from Noragami. Still makes me cry…

7. Least favorite character?

I can’t stand talking mascot characters. ugh. I do like Sadaharu from Gintama though, that’s a “mascot” character I can get behind. I also don’t like annoying villains who won’t die. /looks at you Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans/

8. Qualities you like in a character?

I like characters who may not especially like themselves but they try really hard for either an ideal or those they care about. 

9. Short or long anime?

Medium. If they’re too short, they can feel rushed and if they’re too long…*side-eyes Naruto*

10. Anime or manga?

Both, though I usually prefer manga as they tend to be more in depth. Though I’m always down for some amazing animation and osts. And my favorite VAs, of course.

11. How do you choose the anime you watch?

I usually try to watch anime that are adaptations of manga I read. Unless Studio Pierrot gets it and fucks it all up. Other than that, I look for engaging premises with good animation.

12. Skip or listen to intros/outros?

If I don’t like it, I skips.  If I like it, I sits.

13. How do you cope if your friends or family don’t like you watching anime?

I either just don’t talk about it or elude to it when wanting to relay a joke or interesting plot. Like “oh ya, I met this rather famous Japanese author lolz” and then I give the name in Japanese so they won’t bother looking it up. People are always surprised when I make references to a show though or they catch a glimpse of my merch. I’m just super nonchalant about it all. My brother is more vocal about it though and can drag me in while in public. My parents may not see the merit in it, but they don’t care anymore as long as I’m still able to do well in school and such. 

14. Do you stop an anime midway if you don’t like it?

Yep. I’m not gonna waste my time if I don’t like something. I’ve tried on a few really popular series and still failed to get through them.

Looks like that’s it! I tag @sensendameda, @yaolilin, and @unicorn-gureshin. Whoever wants to do it and tag me so I can maybe get some recommendations lol.

[terranoctis]

Children of Fate

I have had a fondness for animated features since I was young. Every child in the United States is largely raised on Disney films, so it's not surprising in that regard. For a long period of time though, my fascination emphasized Japanese animation. You can see this in my love for Studio Ghibli films, in my admiration for the artwork of certain animated series, and my attention they put into music or backgrounds for any such series or film. 

Somewhere though, things change and you can't exactly love things the same way.

I used to like watching anime series quite a bit. Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, Code Geass, Kenshin, even Naruto... Fushigi Yuugi, etc. I still do, but I’ve struggled with finishing series after starting them in more recent years. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been good at watching a series the whole way through. I read significantly faster than I can watch a show, so I tend to prefer reading the manga at times over watching an anime. That being said, I still watch anime. Up until recently, I had not seen a whole series all the way through in awhile. I thought about it--and I realize I haven’t really found one that resonated with me on such an emotional level as the last two I actually finished prior to a little gem known as Houseki no Kuni. With the exception of Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun (which I loved for its humor and lightheartedness) and HnK (that emotionally resonated with me on so many levels), I had not finished an anime series completely in almost seven years.

It struck me just how long these years had been and made me sad. Because I definitely do pay attention to anime and manga. I just... I just never finish anime. 

The two shows I watched at the tail-end of a year and entering into a new one were two little series called “Mawaru Penguindrum” and “Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai” (or “Ano Hana” for short). I remember them rather well and I have tried to re-watch them in recent years, but I struggle to. I remember them vividly because they were stories I had consumed shortly after he died.

You don't forget such stories, especially when they put you through the wringer emotionally.

Mawaru Penguindrum, I remember vividly. The day he was buried, it was raining, and I didn’t want to sleep--so I chose at random a show that had three siblings living in a colorful house, with three random penguins that showed up in their life.

I still wonder if it was by chance or if I had seen some surreal quality in it that made it be the one I selected, but I remember thinking, in all its surreal and bizarre qualities, there was something about it that I understood wholeheartedly. At the end of the very first episode, we have a brother who questions “fate.” Can someone deny their own fate, even if it’s coded into who they are? That question struck me because there was one particular fate I would have changed a thousand times over in that night. Grief, guilt, and reconciling something that happened with your life does a lot of things to someone--and I think it did a lot to me in the coming months. It would do more to me than I care to admit, beyond natural grief.

The show is strange. I won’t deny that, but it’s a show on several levels that is layered heavily in metaphors, allegories, and an otherworldly quality to it. It was, to be fair, my first time experiencing an Ikuhara story. It is a story about fate and living as a human in spite of that. For the next few nights, I locked myself in my room and would watch the two brothers understand what has happened to their sister--and do almost anything possible to ensure the magic keeping their sister alive stays. By the end, for all its weirdness and varied themes, I remember crying.

I rarely cry watching shows or movies, but given the context of how much it took out of me to try to accept what fate is to different people, I didn’t know what I wanted. I just wanted to cry.

I learned about a famous story in Japan from this anime, written by the famous Kenji Miyazawa. Night on the Galactic Railroad is the title of the novella and the author wrote it shortly after the death of his beloved sister. The themes of the show often reference the novella, so it took some research on my part to understand why the symbols of apples, trains, and scorpion fires were so relevant. It’s quite a beautiful read, if you have not yet read it. And so is the show. It took me so much out of me to get through it however, and by the time I did, I didn’t know exactly what to make of it. You sometimes need that though. Art is meant to make you think and also be cathartic. I think, a small reason why I struggle finishing anime now is that I won’t have such a profound connection as I did watching Penguindrum or any of the anime I did before. 

Sometimes life doesn't exactly make sense, but you hang onto the good and see the positive things in meetings, in fate, and all that.

Ano Hana was a little more direct in its connection with grief. In retrospect, I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to watch the show shortly after. The show is about a series of childhood friends who lost one of their childhood friends at a young age and all the different ways that shaped them and the way they grew up. If I cried watching Penguindrum, I’ll be honest and say I cried every single episode of Ano Hana. 

The series ends on a hopeful note, even with sadness wrapped so entirely around its resolution. 

Whereas Penguindrum I will occasionally try to watch random episodes again, I can’t touch Ano Hana. It’s too much for me. I would cry seeing it. I tried before in more recent years. It’s also more raw for me, because I understand better now how I’ve changed and how those around him changed. Like how I saw all those characters change in their own private ways in Ano Hana.

Grief and growing up does so much to someone. You cry for someone lost, grieve for the loss of who you were, and shed tears for a purer time.

GSNK reminded me again how much fun anime can be and how much I missed just enjoying a show for what it is with out reading too much into it. Houseki no Kuni, however, brought me to a medium. It is a profoundly beautiful show and story. I've had joy in watching Phos develop as a character, and also so much sadness in watching her disassemble herself the farther she is trying to go to help Shinsha. The show and story itself is brilliantly written in its world lore. And it's also light-hearted in the home Phos grows up in, but also dark when Phos learns more about the world and loses people she cares about, whether it's to death or it's because she can't see eye to eye with them. I admire, despite it all, how determined Phos is.

I laugh even seeing just the silliest of moments from Phos.

I think, like any good storytelling, anime can be pretty profound in the way you personally relate to it and also be a simple joy.

I want to reclaim my affection for Japanese animated series as something that is mine again. Not a memory’s. Houseki no Kuni might be that, or it might just be a symptom of who I am now as I grow older. I don't want to think too much into everything. I simply like the show very much.

I'm lucky that I've met a few people in my adult life who love anime and are pulling me slowly into shows they simply enjoy and pushing me as a result to enjoy anime again. And it isn't like I haven't watched any other anime since Penguindrum or Ano Hana. I have. I want to be able to reach their endings, no matter how difficult or tiresome.

Maybe now, I'll be better about letting endings be endings.

Not every story needs to be unfinished.

[christofuthemesa]

My non-existent experience with long shounen anime

Although I have seen a decent amount of anime, I’ve never seen any long shounen anime. Many of my friends and my brothers grew up watching shows like Naruto or Fairy Tail, but because I was late to the party, I still have yet to catch up on those shows. Of course, it will require a ton of time and effort that I don’t have right now. Not watching any of them meant that I have never put a ton of commitment into one really long show. One of the reasons this could be is because I never felt a good enough reason to put that much effort into one show. Currently, I am watching Cowboy Bebop, One Punch Man, and Cells at Work.

Now that may not seem like much, but I have way more shows that I plan to watch. Many of these shows are ones that I have “put on hold” which means that I have stopped halfway through watching them and plan to start watching them again in the future. The biggest problem with this is that when I do go back to those shows, it has been so long already that I have forgotten everything; thus I have to re-watch them from the beginning. I use MyAnimeList.com to keep track of all the anime I am watching, have watched, or plan to watch in the future. My anime list has 20 shows that are either categorized as “plan-to-watch” or “on hold.” The point is that I have a ton of shows to get through before I’ll have time to watch extremely long shows like Naruto or Fairy Tail.

Fortunately, a new opportunity has risen; one that would potentially let me be able to watch a long shounen anime entirely. It is a show called My Hero Academia.

Now, I have heard about this anime a while ago via Instagram feed and thought that maybe I could watch it one day after I finish watching my 20+ shows that I had already planned to watch. What I didn’t realize is that this show has a lot of potential to become a full-fledged shounen anime. It is in its relatively early stages compared to all other long shounen shows. Many of my friends have been watching this series for a while and the show does not seem to show any signs of stopping, so it very well may become one of the really long anime like Naruto or One Piece. If this show does become a full-fledged shounen anime, and I watch it, then I will finally be able to say that I committed to one of those long term shows. So with these reasons, I had decided to start watching it. So far, I have watched the first season and it looks promising. My friends want me to finish catching up to the third season by the end of the month because that’s when the My Hero Academia movie releases in the U.S., though I probably won’t since I am only a fourth of the way through and have about half a month left. I did consider reading the manga so I can catch up quicker, but that would mean I would have to sacrifice not watching the epic fight scenes. Since this is a fighting anime, I decided to just watch it. In the end, this may be my one and only chance to ever watch a long shounen anime. I have always felt that if you have never watched a show like that, you would not be able to call yourself an otaku. Hopefully watching this will bring me one step closer to reaching that otaku status. Let’s just pray that it does grow into one of those shows that kids and teenagers like me will be able to grow up learning from.