#paraphrased technically but still lol

[jamieaiken919]

*Tank, Takeo, and Nikolai come across some of Edward’s writings scattered across his desk*

Nikolai: He dedicates this to his girlfriend?

Tank: He must fuckin’ hate her.

[slayerkitty]

Only Friends: "Hot Take - Do Not Fuck Your Boss"

Credit to @chalkrevelations for the title, that part of your post made me giggle and pointed out an undercurrent of a theme that's running far in the background of the show.

Hot Take: DO NOT FUCK YOUR BOSS

We actually see this concept in four pairings on the show (sort of).

Starting with Sand and Ray (yeah, they did start as an employee/employer relationship). Ray was paying Sand to hang out with him. He paid Sand to drive him home that one time. Now, since episode two, when they slept together, based on Sand's "If I like you, I'll do it for free" line (paraphrasing), we can assume that Ray is no longer/hasn't paid him since. Essentially though, Sand fucked his boss and now look where he is. Ray still thinks he owns him, that Sand is a possession.

They've explored this with Top and Mew, too. Technically, the Fab Four are/were Top's bosses. They employed him (and are/were presumably paying him) to redesign the hostel for them. Top ends up sleeping with two of his bosses (Mew and Boston). He's actually manipulated into sex by his boss (Boston) and when the news gets out, Mew and Ray essentially fire Top. Boston, as one of the bosses, is loosely exiled from the group but not the project. Top is out of a job and a boyfriend (on the flip of this here, we know this is not Top's only job, he works with his dad at the hotel, but still).

We're also getting ready to see this with Daddy Dan (never calling him anything else, I don't make the rules) and Nick. Nick's been hired on for this project; Daddy Dan is super shifty that whole scene, blatantly coming on to Nick the whole time (whether that translation was supposed to be "Lick my ass" or "Kiss my ass" really doesn't matter, both amount to the same meaning here, lol). We all know this isn't going to end well for Nick. How we get there remains to be seen. Is this going to ruin Nick's chance for a career he wants? Will this fuck up his graduation chances? Will he end up with a sex tape on the internet (ngl, legit worried about this last one)?

The fourth couple this applies to is Yo and Plug. Yeah. So, their relationship has been subtle, playing out in the background and aside from their very pointed break up today, we haven't gotten much detail on them... or have we? In episode three, Plug and Yo talk about Plug being at the bar so much because he's a bartender. In episode 8, Plug says that Yo flirted with him for like a month before they got together. What that says to me is, Yo hired this guy has a bartender, thought he was cute and proceeded to PERSUE HER EMPLOYEE. Now, they're broken up. Does that mean Plug no longer has a job? Is Yo out an employee as well as a boyfriend?

It's an interesting exploration of power dynamics that a lot of shows, even ones that are office/work based BLs, don't quite seem to focus on the bad outcomes of. It's literally saying this is a bad thing, it can mess up your life.

So yes, hot take: do not fuck your boss.

Tagging the Ephemerality Squad: @lurkingshan, @waitmyturtles, @wen-kexing-apologist, @chickenstrangers, @ranchthoughts, @twig-tea, @clara-maybe-ontheroad, @distant-screaming

Apologies to anyone I forgot!

[a-vibing-potato]

Nevermind, I'm not done ranting about HFTH tonight

I just finished episode 81 and I'm crying a little bit and am ready to cry a lot more.

First of all, I've been desperately trying to find this post lately but I can't but it was someone who said something about episode 82 or 83 I think? made them cry more than MAG 200. And... I just can't. I'm so afraid it's not even funny, but here I am and I'm like, "Are you sure 81 isn't supposed to be the sad one?!?!"

Nikignik's Outro:

I was so ready for just a chill little outro but then they pause suddenly in the middle of a sentence for like a minute straight and then just say, "This is not easy."

Like oh my gosh, Nikignik, my heart can't take this today, but then they sound like they're so close to crying (which they do a decent bit, honestly, but same, and it still gets me every time).

And when they said, "It should be easy, none of these people actually effect me and I shouldn't care about them. I've seen so many species end but it still hurts." (paraphrased but still MY HEART BROKE)

One, I still stand by my statement that Nikignik is a depression reference/symbol. Two, I see myself in Nikignik.

I care too much about these people in the Hallowoods, and I've listened to audio dramas before and it never gets easier (cue my dramatic being depressed over Hector's death earlier) and technically they're not even real but I love them all so much and I just can't????? Oh my gosh I didn't want an existential crisis tonight but maybe it's what I needed????

The very end of the outro reminds me of my day to day struggles and how even though everything seems like it's just going downhill, we have to keep moving on, and pick ourselves back up and put ourselves back together.

"Nevertheless, I will continue, in the hope that it will get better, somehow. That these vestiges of darkness will melt in the light of some new sun. That there is still a reason to fight." - Nikignik (Oh my GOSH this is so beautiful but also I'm crying but also I feel this in my SOUL)

Then they use trepidatiously as their fancy -ly adverb in the last sentence and I always love a good use of the word trepidation. :)

But then I looked ahead to the next episode, 82: Polly, Clara, and Moth. Two of my favorites (and I love you, too, Clara and the rest of Downing Hill) and the theme is Failures.

I'm really scared and really sad but also really comforted for some reason??? I didn't realize I needed someone to tell me about grief and depression and always moving forward in the hopes that things will get better but I guess I did???

Anyway, hopefully things get happier lol. You can't have light without the dark.

[salvadorbonaparte]

Hey! I recently found your blog and was wondering if you have any knowledge about the translation career? I'm in my third year of an English literature bachelor and am strongly considering becoming a translator or doing something with (literary) translation because I really love languages! Do you have any knowledge or tips about the field of work? If not, that's fine! I figured I'd ask just in case <3

Hey! Thank you for reaching out :)

I just finished the taught portion of my MA in Translation Studies and I'm preparing for my PhD so I'm not technically a professional translator yet (I'm not being paid lol).

If you love translation and can imagine yourself translating as your day job I really recommend looking into a translation master's or diploma (depending on where you are). Some countries don't really have any regulations and just let anyone become a translator but I'm very critical of that. If you're in Europe or consider studying there, consider a European Master's in Translation.

When it comes to literary translation it's really difficult to get into but it isn't impossible. I met a literary translator recently actually. There's the Emerging Translators Network and specialised degrees. I'd still recommend to look into other fields to have a backup plan (examples include video game localisation, commercial translation, medical translation, legal translation, translation technology, terminology management, project management, audio description, subtitling, surtitling, dubbing).

Some more general advice:

Learn about translation technologies. Seriously. There's a lot of fear mongering about AI but to paraphrase a translator I talked to recently: computers won't take your job but someone who can use a computer better than you might.

Be aware of the ethics of translation. I'm not only talking about the texts your translating but the way you interact with the industry. Capitalism is... Bad and if you're beginner with little experience and no degree companies might try to hire you just so they can pay you less. At the same time, professional translators won't be able to get jobs and have to lower their rates to compete. That's one of the reasons we've been pushing for better associations and why I often try to convince people to get professional training before becoming a translator.

If you want to get some ethical practice to build up your portfolio consider volunteering to subtitle/translate TED talks or join Translators Without Borders. You can also translate fan works and things like that.

If you want to get some taster sessions in what a degree in translation would look like, I have a lot of resources on translation studies in a folder in my pinned post. There is a lot of information on basic theory, strategies, technologies, audio-visual translation (which is my speciality).

If you have more questions feel free to ask them :)

[fluentmoviequoter]

And here are some stuff that reminded me of Victor (I collect these like pokemon cards now)

Me describing Victor to my bestie that didn't read the book:

Victor about himself:

Me @ you:

This is like, Victor @ Sydney trying to be a good dad teaching her important life lessons

That's it for now sorry for being insane

These are better than any Pokémon cards could even dream of being!! Thank you for sharing; I love them so much! (My thoughts are below the cut bc I got excited and they got long lol)

The first one needs a few more resurrections (which still pains me), but it’s a very accurate description! It’s could actually be a direct quote from Mitch though; Schwab let him be the one to say “the man may be a murderer who keeps dying himself, but he dresses phenomenally.”

You could have told me that the 3 about Victor were paraphrases from the books and I would have believed you. “I wouldn’t call myself quirky but there is definitely something wrong with me” is pretty much what he says after he and Eli start experimenting with becoming EOs! The one about being nonchalant reminds me of Young Justice when Robin goes “Be as chalant as you like”; Vic is very chalant.

I kinda love torturing him a little bit, so I appreciate it. Especially the sick fic, that one was fun.🤣 He deserves love sometimes but there’s also room to make everything so much worse for him.

I can ABSOLUTELY see him saying that to Sydney!! He’s still getting the hang of being a dad to his technically kidnapped kid.

[foxymoxynoona]

"I love talking about writing but can you clarify for me, do you mean how to write in the different points of view? Or how to move between them (like with internal thoughts)? Or am I misunderstanding something else? ☺️"

it's exactly those two things foxy, sorry for not making it clear I think it was my translator

-anon

Oh geez there's soooo much to say so I'll just focus on a couple specifics and if you have more questions, I'm around for more :)

I think no matter what, it's important to remember that your narrator is a character, even if they aren't a named character in the story. The choices you make about what the narrator knows and tells the reader, and how, should remain consisten. If you want a narrator that is more like a character (or even first person the character!) then there should be more personality and bias, whereas the further in third person you get, there should be more objectiity. i see people struggle with this sometimes, where they write a close first person narrator but then have them omnisciently know things the other character is thinking or feeling. They can observe and guess but they can't actually read minds!

I personally like writing close third person best because you get to be a little objective in the narration but still point things out to the reader about what the main character is experiencing, and use those observations (whether right or wrong) to develop the character. When i write in that POV, I try to remain true to what that character would notice --so for example JK may not notice much about his girl's outfit but he may notice that it's low cut or tight lol, he notices smells a lot but not very normal mundane Korean things in a scene that someone like Sasha would because they are different/interesting to her. I lean into a lot of internal monologue very fluidly when I write this, and I tend to use italics to let readers know when something is a direct thought of the character rather than a narrated or paraphrased thought, and done in a close way that lets the reader understand they are sliding back and forth between a very close third person narrator who, for that section, also has limited (but not totally blocked) view into the other characters.

Second person is big in fandom and it's a funny one. Technically second person doesn't have to be actual read insert, it just means you are forcing the reader to embody the main character in a more overt way than in first person (where you are riding shotgun, but now you are sitting behind the wheel though not necessarily driving.) I think there's something powerful, done well, about using that tool to make the readers do or confront things that push their world view or understanding of themself and what they would really do, or allow them to escape the confines of their true self for a bit... but what I think is important in fandom to realize is that if something is a self-insert second person, you have to be more mindful about how you "code" this character. There's an expectation that you are writing more of a blank slate that the reader can insert their real true self in, and every thing you write whether it's action, thought, or physical description, is likely to alient some subset of your readers. Things you don't even realize wil be coded for height, weight, hair type, social interactions, etc etc. But a truly blank slate character will have no thoughts or actions they could take because nothing is actually universal! So it's a really tricky writing challenge for anything loner than just a scene or drabble.

As for internal monologue, the method should depend on what pov you're writing. If you're in first person, the distinction tends to be that an internal thought is what the narrator was thinking at the time they are telling you about, because otherwise the whole story is internal thought! For third, like I said I like to use italics. I think it gets tedious if every line is he thought, she though, he mused, he wondered. It also allows you to do some nice comedic set ups in third person where the narrator points out something very objectively clear to the reader and then the narrated character has a really idiotic and wrong internal thought 😂 I try to only use he thought as a qualifier when there hasn't been any internal monologue for a while so you're reminding the reader, or also as a subtle nudge to the reader of hey he is thinking this but it's just a thought, not my objective narration, and it may not actually be true.

Ok that's a lot :) I hope any of that was useful or interesting and happy to chat about anything else, it's fun to talk about!

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Your last Anon was really interesting. I won’t pretend to be smart enough to pick up all of their points, but they did get me thinking. Even if JImin had no intention of creating an image that had the double drag style that some of us see, does that technically matter? Art finds meaning in the act of being reviewed, considered and interpreted. Jimin’s intentions become secondary or potential unimportant in the act of interpretation and creation of meaning.

The other thing I considered is re the comments around Jimin’s inherent looks, that no matter what Jimin’s look is, it would involve some femininity because of his features. I mean, I may have misinterpreted that and I don’t necessarily see that as true for Jimin. I don’t see his features this way. But assuming this, or taking say, Taemin in his gender neutral looks where he’s often mistaken as female-presenting, can we really erase how we interpret what we see? Just because it’s understood as existing already/impossible to cover up, doesn’t mean it’s unintentional (in Taemin’s case it’s often 100% intentional by him or creative directors) or that we should disregard it in interpretation because it’s some sort of thing that can’t be helped. Minho once said ‘Taemin is pretty as it is/it can’t be helped’ (paraphrase) but also that he’s prettier than all girl idols. And that’s not me wedging in a ship comment, lol. Just because something can’t be helped (arguable considering his attempt at masculine phase pre solo) doesn’t mean it can’t be considered within the continuum it it points to. So, if Jimin has feminine features, we can still interpret how they’re styled and emphasised instead of hidden.

I completely agree with the first part of your ask re interpretation of art. That has always been my position and will be when it comes to artistic acts. Meaning is always created through interpretation because we are not passive receivers. And as to those who create and who are in the position of putting something out there, even or especially in cases which have to do with their self expression, I believe they are aware or must at some point accept that once it's out into the world, they have no longer total control over it. I also find that a work that opens the door to multiple interpretations proves its value.

As to your second point, I think you explained a bit better what I was trying to point out for the previous anon, by using the different photoshoots. It's about intentionality, as you also exemplified with Taemin's case. I think with Jimin's portfolio and other instances, he's aware of his features, of his body, of how he dresses that body, in order to create a self for a particular situation/purpose. And with Jimin, we're not seeing this only in situations that point out to a more female-presenting look, but also when he was trying to create a hyper-masculinity (thanks for reminding me of that, btw). He uses his face and his body as a canvas, in which he can look more typically masculine or moving towards a more feminine look, regardless of what is already preexisting. I might actually dare to say that in performances/photoshoots he gets the space in which he is able to accentuate the part of himself that he wants and there's an entire spectrum of gender performances that take place and not just moving between masculinity and femininity. And this can open up the questions of how/why/when he chooses to emphasize a part within himself. To what purpose in that particular instance? I think Jimin is aware of this sort of chameleon-like nature he has and he's using it all the time. We're just left to try and understand or at least examine what ends up as the result of that.

[aerelin]

Questioning Tumblr Ethics just before I sleep. Basically: there's an option to opt-out of being included in AI Scraping (which I have learned is actually illegal in European Countries but I guess the EU hasn't slapped Tumblr on the wrist for this), but TOS still states that Tumblr has the right to do absolutely whatever the fuck they want with anything you post.

Compare this to the scare a few years back with DeviantArt's TOS:

Paraphrasing, DeviantArts TOS stated in what may have been a poorly worded section that "we can't be held responsible if your content is stolen by third parties outside of DeviantArt's reach", and this was misinterpreted to being something like "we have all the rights to use your content without permission" of course, paraphrasing, but when reading the TOS yourself it was clear (despite being poorly worded) that they were indeed denouncing(?) Responsibility certain uses of hosted art, the unclear part was who was using the art in the art theft basically. I dunno this was a good few years back, I haven't seen the post since maybe like 2018.

But the scary thing is that Tumblr is NOT being vague or poorly worded in their TOS and how they can just do whatever the fuck they want with your content. If you make a viral hit post like the fuckin shoelaces from the Prez meme, they can make money off it without your permission and without monetary compensation for creating the meme for them basically. And I recall them not only selling the shoelaces meme idea as actual shoelaces, but several people were stating that they not only did not ask permission but didn't even monetarily compensate the original creators behind that post.

And that's okay in accordance to the Tumblr TOS.

From my understanding of the following screenshot of the section I'm referring to in the TOS:

That's allowed because it helps promote the services and, through them acquiring money and payments, helps improve the service (or so we'd wish they would lol).

That is to say that even if we opt out of AI scraping (which is extremely evil of Staff to make it Opt-Out and not Opt-In. They know they're catching the hundreds of fanart blogs that haven't logged in in years. They know they're catching literally thousands of deactivated blogs that technically no longer exist as profiles but their POSTS all still exist and by default they have access to scraping their posts because those posts *still* exist and the original Poster doesn't exist in order to Opt that content OUT of being scraped (could be misunderstanding this technicality of deactivated blogs but this does make more sense to me than staff being nice and like "oh we won't include deactivated blogs uwuuu" leave)), with Tumblr having some shitty AI service deal, they could really just argue that they can STILL! Scrape our content if the AI is used on Tumblr itself or somehow Benefits Tumblr in any manner. Because that's considered appropriate use of our content in the TOS regardless of AI involvement.

I may be overreacting, but either way I think this AI partnership bullshit is just that. It's actual fucking Bullshit. Those blogs I no longer remember the password for are all fair game for AI scraping and even if I remember the password I know I'm still at risk for my content being used however the fuck Tumblr wants to.

AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN like, a third party stealing content and Tumblr doing all this is that, third parties can be DMCAd. Tumblr has your permission to use anything you post for monetary gain simply by you signing up and using their services. And sure, they state this in the TOS. we agree to it. Technically they saved their ass here because we AGREE to this by using their platform. But just because they put this in TOS and therefore "we are not the bad guys, we told you clearly", does not mean this is all scummy and shady and simply a jerkass move.

[tacostrufflestragedies]

I feel like I've written this so many times today lol. But yes she did reply. She wrote a pretty long response but I'll paraphrase. She really values my friendship and thinks I'm a genuine and wonderful person. She has a lot going on right now and needs time to make something of her life. For some other reasons which I'll keep private, she's not looking for any relationship right now or possibly ever. But her sorta official answer at the end of her response was "not today but I'm not opposed to the idea". She wants me to continue dating and added a little note about planning to move to Scotland with her friend in a couple years, it seems like she's holding on to that as the big adventure, the big change, that will help her advance in her life and feel fulfilled.

Technically it is a no. I understand and I'm still her friend first and foremost so I'll continue to support her however I can. I'm definitely sad she didn't want something more with me but I think I'm more sad to see her struggling and that I can't do more to help. But someone close to me said that just being her friend is likely helping, so I will hold on to that.

I'm gonna continue being her friend of course, I just need to figure out the best way to go about this. My feelings for her are unlikely to fade quickly but I think being her friend for so long will make it somewhat easier to pivot back to that and reframe things in my head. I think limiting the time I spend with her is a good idea. I'll probably keep our Saturday WoW time but during the week maybe two days a week, and I just only talk to her then. I'll figure out. I want this to work. She's a good friend and a great person and I'd hate to lose her from my life.

[vargaslovinghours]

Desires? You should know better than that

[smiledog15578]

OK BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT LIKE... who the real villain is in wkm?

I think we all know who it is it’s pretty obvious it’s the house but I honestly think we don’t talk about it often? Literally that’s the mf who’s the real bastard here. ITS THEORY TIME 😼

While actor Mark is an asshole and technically a villain he wasn’t like like that before. Hell he was a generous man helping his friends and was a loved man. When Celine left his ass he was venerable af and the entity was like “TIME TO MANIPULATE THIS MAN FOR MY OWN GAIN” and made him the asshole the way that he is now. I think actor Mark thinks that he’s in control oh shit because he might of been told that but really the house is pulling the strings and making him believe that. He’s literally just about chess piece to use for this evil game of chess (lol analogy)

I’d also like to point out that Celine might of left actor because the house told her to. At the time actor wasn’t vulnerable especially with having a good life with his wife and having an outstanding career and the house probably didn’t like that. So in order to make him weak it took the only thing that he lived at the time, Celine. Another reason she left was because of bad vibes. That house is just infested with bad juju and Celine being a seer noticed that over time but back then since it was kinda discouraged to divorce especially for a women to do it luckily William knew and took her in. William has lived in the same house actor lived so I’m guessing he’s aware of the evil it contains since when he gets turned into Wilford hell even during wkm he isn’t weirded out by the things happening to the house and other weird shit. He was trying to protect Celine. Now again I just wanna say the adultery doesn’t excuse it still a shitty thing to do and William is still a stubborn a hole just as much as actor.

HOWEVER this situation is like novel: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925). (Btw if you don’t want spoilers skip this) in the book, daisy cheats with Gatsby behind Tom’s (daisy’s husband) back because like I said either during those times it was shunned for women to divorce their husbands and during those days women weren’t really independent back then. They were VERY pressured to get married and have children etc etc. Tom was an asshole to daisy and was even cheating on her but of course men and women back then had double standards where women couldn’t or should do this and same went for men. and I’m not saying that Celine didn’t love actor cause I’m sure they did love each other so much but it kinda explains why she left him other than just because. I also don’t think Celine was necessarily abusive nor do I think actor was at the time. Things got heated and the only scapegoat was to leave him and never return to that house again.

Another thing on my tiny pea sized brain is about the houses world. I have a theory that the house has created a universe inside it while Everything out side it is the original universe (or just our reality idk). This is why George (the groundskeeper) doesn’t appear in any of the new videos is because he wasn’t in the house during all this mess (in the character world idk if the actor for George just didn’t wanna be in the series but then you have to wonder why his portrait isn’t up in the hallway dark made in AHWM). You can think of the house as if it’s a movie set or a green screen. To us and the actors we see these worlds and weird shit when in reality there’s nothing there. Nobody actually dies in this universe because like movies no one actually dies they’re just not on the set. Even the side characters don’t really die cause us as the viewers revive them be just rewatching the video. Wilford knows people won’t die because 1. He’s seen his friend get up and walk around after being dead and 2. He knows that when people “die” they just come back by the help of your Or the entity. He acknowledges that in AHWM where he states that we can PAUSE the video. Almost none of the characters except Wilford has acknowledged that which makes me think he’s a lot smarter the we think or just has more common sense. Wilford is forgetful sure but that doesn’t mean he’s stupid he was a colonel for crying out loud one of the highest ranks in the US army lol. I’d like to also point out that Wilford uses this set ordeal to his advantage most importantly. In WKM we see William do it too by appearing one place then teleporting to another place. Kinda think of the house as the 3rd dimension. Wilford “escapes” that dimension to a new plane and can come back when in reality he’s just leaving what the house is previewing to everyone in the house. Everyone else In this universe except maybe actor, Wilford, and dark know that you don’t have to play along. These people in the houses universe are programmed to believe that they can’t escape have HAVE to play a character.

(Spoilers for wandavision) when I watched wandavision not that long ago it made me think about the MCU (not marvel cinematic universe😏✨ MARKIPLIER cinematic universe) and how it’s kinda like that. Wanda in the show creates this force field out of grief where everything inhabits it is turned into her liking of what fits the narrative. People are being held hostage to just play a part in Wandas sick tv show SHES made for her and her husband. People outside the forcefield are just normal people but once they put a person, object, etc it gets turned into what WANDA wants. I think that fits into the mcu because the house is EXACTLY like that. These mfs haven’t aged at all because time isn’t existing for their universe. Abe thinks that he’s been tracing down William for years but Mark said that “he thinks that but really wmlw is right after wkm” (that’s paraphrasing go watch the wmlw to get a better explanation LMAO) but like I said the house makes you feel like it’s been only years or days but it’s not even close to that.

With that all being said I don’t think anyone here is the real villain here or the hero. Like Mark said They’re all human which they have bad and good traits the only thing that’s the real asshole is the house. It’s like it’s a living breathing purgatory that creates chaos

BUT THATS JUST A THEORY

A GAME- or a youtube .. YouTube theory? YEA A YOUTUBE THEORY!

now mind you I’m not the best at writing so I’m sorry that none of this made sense feel free to correct me or chime in with your theories but I just wanted to share my theories and ideas :) and if you made it those far I’m sorry I wasted ur time HSJSJDJJSJD

[book-o-scams]

Ed, Edd n Eddy Series Bible (1996) -Analysis-

You can all finally read/download Ed, Edd n Eddy's official Series Bible right here! Thanks again to Chuckletons for sharing this with me and to Joey/Kongiscool0518 for sharing it in the first place, the Holy Grail of lost Ed, Edd n Eddy trivia!

One of the first posts I made for this blog was the Series Bible page. It was a composite of every source we had ever seen reference the series bible so far-- storyboarders in interviews, CN's old character guides, and the biggest source, an old CN UK posting about the show. Well, I figure now that we have the official source, I better update the old page (so everyone knows it's out of date), and make this new Series Bible post using the official source! Not much new information, but I was intrigued to finally learn the true phrasings of some things we had only heard paraphrased, as well as at least one detail from the movie that I couldn't believe came up this early in conception...

Unfortunately, Tumblr has apparently updated its post system to only let me add 10 images? Gonna try and only use images for what I need since you can read the actual document above, I guess I'll transcribe it too for easier reference and so we don't ever lose some archive of this.

Quickly, let's review what a series bible is:

A series bible is how creators pitch shows to networks. They can be called “pitch bibles” as well. Bibles do not usually get posted publicly, because they are initially under a strict Non-Disclosure Agreement by the network; also the creator may simply not wish to share it because it reflects the earliest stages of development.

The pitch materials typically include early concepts for characters, locations and episodes. Sometimes it exposes secrets, in this case, Ed and Eddy’s home lives, and sometimes the stuff in it is completely abandoned because it’s so early in production, in this case, casual references to school and adults.

Alright, everybody, it's time to gather 'round and read the Ed, Edd n Eddy Bible!

THE YEAR IS 1996.

YOUR NAME IS LINDA SIMENSKY. YOU WORK AT CARTOON NETWORK. A FRIEND OF YOURS, DANNY ANTONUCCI, IS WRAPPING UP A SHOW ON MTV. YOU GET THIS FAX.

Linda Simensky immediately fell in love with this concept because as a child, she was best friends with 2 other Lindas for seemingly no reason other than the shared name.

I love how Danny decided last second to pencil in the correct names over each Ed, since they're arranged out of title-order.

"They're friends because they have the same name."

-the Logline for the series.

Fun fact: one storyboard artist for the movie observed that the movie is essentially all about challenging the series' original notion that the Eds are friends ONLY because of their name.

"A Danny Antonucci Cartuna"

-the label Danny used to use under announcements of new productions.

PAGE 1:

Ed, Edd n Eddy

They're best friends because they have the same name.

A gag laden, beat generated CARTOON bumper car ride of 3 misfit youths on a cul-de-sac in the suburbs of America.

Through summer vacation, part-time jobs, or just hang'n out at the corner mail box, they want to belong....but CAN'T.

From home chores, helping neighbors or eating jaw breakers, they want to fit in...but CAN'T.

Ed is into "B" monster movies, model kits and is quick to break out into rashes.

Lots of luck...

Edd is into chemistry, biology and prone to crushes.

Later...

Eddy is into pranks, is stylish and flaunts himself to the world.

Ya Right...

Ed, Edd n Eddy is a show about confusion and contradiction, that awkward part of youth, pimples, big feet, oily hair and... girls???.

Puberty is unforgiving.

I was fascinated by the lack of art on this page, it makes the pitch feel very focused. AKA logo in the corner, the title logo again up top, then the logline appears again below.

I really love the breakdown of Danny's vision of the show. "Gag-laden, beat-generated, CARTOON bumper ride." Very accurate, and I think "beat-generated" is the phrase that interests me the most. I typically think of "animation beats" as sort of a give-in-- technically all things fit a rhythm, so all stories are essentially just a montage of beats. But this does make me realize how important the strength of the beats and their rhythm are to the pacing of a cartoon and making you feel like "that was a good one." I feel like the "seasonal rot" viewers feel over the course of a show, and the way that perception differs from person to person, depends on the type of beats you want. Even though I am very into the experimental beats of a show in its later seasons, I can definitely see how season 1's beats are more typically appealing to a wide-audience, and how important a focus on that is to the longevity of a show.

I found it really interesting how the scams are initially conceived of here as "summer jobs." It adds to the sense that adults were originally meant to be present. Honestly a little surprised nobody with access to this bible had ever thought to mention that-- scams are not referenced ANYWHERE. Their image in the Series Bible is that they have summer jobs and help neighbors, which is certainly a much cleaner reputation than the Eds ended up with in the show. Makes me realize though, were some of the early scams, like Ed's Hive Bee Gone and their newspaper routes, supposed to be leaning into this early idea of them with almost legit jobs for unseen adults?

I was very amused by the repeated phrase that the Eds simply CAN'T fit in.

Loved to finally see the official phrasing for the confirmation that Peach Creek is in America. Not much different than I was led to believe, but still nice to have the true quote.

Also love Eddy being described as "stylish and flaunting himself to the world." The bold-print reactions to each micro-description is a cute idea too, I truly wonder who we were meant to picture saying those things in reaction. Each Ed? Kevin?

The "corner mail box" is an oddly specific phrase-- the Eds do hang around mailboxes throughout the series, especially seasons 1-3, and I believe the canon map does have a corner mailbox, but the idea that the Eds hang out at one specific mailbox went the way of Bro's supposed secret treehouses.

PAGE 2:

Ed, Edd n Eddy

Show Description

Gag laden. True cartoon style, inventive, non parody, fast paced, stretch and squash

Beat driven. (even when characters stop they hold with a bounce cycle. Adults never bounce. Music can play important part, not just fill.) But not a musical.

Cartoon surrealism. (viewers see the show as Ed, Edd n Eddy would, less important things tend to blend into the background, while objects of Ed, Edd n Eddy's desires are focused. Premise driven.)

The school year's over, (yeah!!!!) and the long HOT summer vacation begins (gulp). What to do?

Stuck on a cul-de-sac in the suburbs of America is the last place you want to spend summer break, especially when you find life confusing and contradicting.

Ed, Edd n Eddy is about friendship, and serves to remind us that they're no "good ole days," just smelly runners.

You can tackle anything, when your with your pals.

Their days are spent, for knowledge, acceptance and some cash for jaw breakers. Armed with pimples, big feet and oily hair the three amigos trek into the unknown.

Ed, Edd n Eddy are dying to be grown-ups, but they're kids, and attack adulthood as only kids would. Simple situations turn into a manic rollercoaster ride. (Don't forget your barf bag).

They just want to belong, and they're willing to pull off any insane stunt to prove it. First they need to figure out what it is they want to belong to.

Found it interesting that on this page, the show's logo is replaced with the title written in a jumbled font. Seems like the font from the show's end credits.

Hehe, the continued reactions to the descriptions. Allow me to be Double D for a moment and point out the increased use of parentheticals on this page, as well as one wrong "your".

I love Danny's insight that season 1 is framed by the context of how hyped everyone still is just to be out of school, but also the sense of pressure to make use of their break.

I really appreciate Danny getting further into the details of his summary of the show's style on the previous page. It only makes sense that he had this much of a vision that early.

A second confirmation of the cul-de-sac being in America! I'm also really into the repeated focus on the Eds finding the world "contradicting." I always loved how EEnE's inexplicable cartoon antics supported that sense that the Eds are highly aware of contradictions in both societal things and the actual characters.

WOW, so I'm fascinated by this dual reveal. Before the wiggling outlines, which Danny usually calls a "boiling line" and describes as a tribute to wiggling inking in early animation, the series bible instead refers to him wanting the characters to do the iconic Fleischer "bounce," which is a much more commonly recognized rubberhose animation technique. Very interesting that Danny decided not to stick to that. Did it feel too out of place? Or was the overseas team not willing to animate a weight-shifting for every single held pose? Haha, guess I can see why boiling was an easier compromise. I wonder if he had any other ideas for how to make it more of a 1930s cartoon.

The other reveal to me here is that the movie's choice, that adults don't always wiggle in the show, was an idea from the very beginning! I guess I can better understand now why it's just too difficult to communicate a stylistic choice like that overseas-- no point making Bro not wiggle, that'd just create confusion.

Also, really disappointed that my wish for a musical is officially squashed in the series bible itself. That's a tragedy. The show's over, ya couldn't let me dream, Danny!? Conversely, I love Danny's forethought to say "non parody," I definitely noticed and appreciated EEnE's avoidance of derivative parody humor.

My spouse had to point out to me that Danny probably means sneakers here, lol. Canadianisms!

The comments about the Eds wanting to grow up but needing to figure out what they want to belong to are so great and relate to the movie so well. I've heard those comments before, but the correct phrasing was cool to see.

PAGE 3:

Ed, Edd n Eddy (image of Ed in right corner)

Character Description

Ed

Attention deficiency syndrome.

He has trouble...

He can't....um...

OK, he draws all day in class.

When Eddy gets a bright idea...Ed's in.

Ed is easily talked into doing Eddy's "hard work". He has great physical strength.

Ed's happiest with his Model kits and B-monster movies. He draws his knowledge from his movies.

Ed smells. Flies are attracted to him.

Ed has sayings for all situations

ED: "you can change your shirt, and Bingo was his name..."

Ed's perpetually a slave to his younger sister's whims and whines.

Ed may have to baby-sit his sister, or let her watch whatever she wants on TV, or let her dress him up in mom's clothes.

Ed breaks out in Rashes. He's allergic to practically everything, especially Guinea Pigs.

Ed's Mom xerox's his sketches and doodles for her therapist.

Ed's Dad hopes to pass on to his son, his knowledge on "pre-owned" auto sales.

Very cute bit wasting the space at the top of the page. Danny seems very invested in Ed's personality already. The old sources we used to have definitely tried to condense these down to simpler blurbs.

Weird how Danny wants to essentially diagnose Ed with ADHD here (phrasing it very poorly, but it was the 90s and... Canada?). I don't know enough on the subject to debate it, but I still gotta point out Ed's canonical cracked skull!

Interested in the comment about Ed being most allergic to Guinea Pigs. I don't think that animal was ever even mentioned in the show. Eddy mentioned an old gerbil once....

Neat to finally have the real phrasing of the official word on Ed's parents! I saw someone comment earlier that this seems to be hinting Ed's Dad is selling stolen cars. I've never thought to question the legality of his apparent second-hand-car dealership (I imagined he works with Eddy's dad, who has received a legitimate award for his salesmanship), but those quotation marks are certainly making Mr. Ed's practices questionable! Best case scenario, Danny meant that more like italics or something, but maybe Ed's dad IS up to no good...

PAGES 4 & 5 (Ed's turn sheet and expression sheet)

PAGE 6:

Ed, Edd n Eddy (image of Edd in right corner)

Character Description

Edd

is really smart.

is really quiet.

Edd is unnaturally-- polite.

Edd hasn't been allowed to take gym ever since the Dodge ball incident. He's been excused to free study time in the library.

Edd doesn't like it when people touch his things.

EDD: "You may enter in my room, but don't touch my Lego robot. Thank you."

Edd's learning to play Peddle steel guitar. (his Mom makes him)

Edd's prone to "crushes". Girls in School, in his neighborhood, TV, anatomy books. He mails "true loves" his socks.

Edd is always ready for action, even though he can calculate the implications.

Edd constantly mumbles.

No one ever sees Edd's parents. They both work nights. They communicate to their son solely through Post-it notes. Edd's not allowed to touch anything in the house while they're gone. Anything.

Interesting how Danny slightly differentiates the barely-used space at the top here from Ed's description, to characterize Edd as more quiet and mumbly, adding an awkward "--" mid-sentence, perhaps to create the impression that Edd halts to choose words carefully.

Everything on this page feels familiar, from the character guides and other old sources. The most interesting thing to me here is that Edd's Mom forcing him to practice Pedal Steel Guitar is established this early, don't think I knew that, but I had noticed that it existed in his room from ep 1.

I love how the explanation in the beginning for why Edd goes along with their dumb schemes even though he's smart is basically just "he's always ready for action." ?!? I guess in a way???

That weirdly phrased Edd quote amuses me because it references Lego, just like the original concept background for his room before somebody nixed the copyright-namedrop.

Edd's prone to crushes thing has been reaffirmed over and over in character bios even though it really doesn't come up outside of the cupid magic in HPH and the pilot-episode heart eyes at Sarah that are barely canon. Still, I've always loved the truly disturbing statement that he mails "his true loves his socks" and how that managed to make it into canon with a comic book example, a cel animation example and a digital era example.

PAGES 7 & 8 (Edd's turn sheet and expression sheet)

PAGE 9:

Ed, Edd n Eddy (image of Eddy in right corner)

Character Description

Eddy

Exhibitionist.

Megalomaniac. (quote from his report card)

Eddy is the unofficial leader of the trio.

He's always got a plan, a stunt or a weird noise.

Eddy's the "class clown". He loves showing off. He loves being the centre of attention-- no matter how stupid the reason is.

Eddy is the only kid in his grade to have been expelled for aw hole week from school. It was his turn to set up the video for science class. He switched "Our Friend Yeast", for a video he "borrowed" from his parent's room.

Before Eddy's brother went....away, he enlightened Eddy with the "legends" of the neighbourhood. Eddy knows where all the abandoned tree houses are, which sewer pipers are safe to spelunk, and the secret recipe for the "El Mongo Stink Bomb" (it's been in the family for years).

He is the one who is most able to pretend that he knows it all... and doesn't care what anyone else thinks about him.

His genes are working the fastest.

Eddy's Dad is constantly concerned that Eddy may grow up to be a ...figure skater.

Eddy's Mom never believes his little darling was involved in such a heinous act.

Funny choice that Eddy's wasted-top-space is just two one-word descriptions, and allegedly lazily swiped from his negative report card.

Wow, we knew the report card quote and the "Our Friend Yeast" story from the UK show guide, but now we also know Ed's page says that Ed draws in class, and now I realize that Ed and Eddy have series bible school blurbs to match Edd's classic dodgeball incident blurb. Anyway, it's great that Eddy's showed his entire school some sort of sex video his parents have.

Very interested that the phrasing for the Bro/El Mongo Stink Bomb blurb even seems to suggest it's a family recipe. Eddy's Dad did have prankster stuff in his closet in JJJ... did Bro learn his prankster ways from Dad?? The neighborhood's secret tree houses have come up in other descriptions (at best, I'd say this could be related to that creepy shack the Eds found in the woods), but I think it's new info that Eddy personally learned the sewer routes from Bro. Interesting...

Thankfully, I had already heard about the Bible's awkward reference to Eddy being the most pubescent as "his genes are working the fastest," lmao.

Once again the Double D in me comes out to point out that the description of Eddy's Mom seems to switch to the Dad's pronouns.

PAGES 10 & 11 (Eddy's turn sheet and expression sheet)

PAGES 12-14 (Sarah, Jimmy, Rolf, Jonny, Nazz, and Kevin lineup of all 6, then 2 zoomed in lineups of the first 3 kids and last 3 kids)

(Funfact: the kids' designs were allegedly freelanced to an outside studio, hence why their refined later-season designs are so different from these lizardy starting places, lmao)

PAGE 15: (images of Sarah and Jimmy next to their blurbs)

SARAH

Ed's baby Sister.

It's her way or the Highway.

She has everything done for her, if NOT she'll "make" them do it.

She can be quick to judge.

Whinney.

A tatrum for every occasion.

More than a handful for Ed...or Edd and Eddy.

Thinks Edd is kinda cute.

Wants Eddy to MOVE...to another planet.

JIMMY

Sarah's best friend

He is always playing with girls, boys are just too tough.

He is accident prone, when ever we see him he has a different affliction, ie: band-aids, patches, casts, lumps...etc.

He is very clean.

The Ed's frighten him, "They're such brutes".

I'm surprised how much of the UK guide was accurate to what was really in the bible for them! Also surprised Danny misspelled "whiney" and "tantrum," one right after the other. Is this how Sarah spells them? ...Sorry, Danny, I yam what I yam.

PAGE 16: (images of Rolf and Jonny next to their blurbs)

ROLF

First generation of a landed immigrant family.

Nationality not important.

He's proud of his heritage.

He has peculiar traditions and/or customs.

He eats "weird" things.

He has hair on his back..... "yuck".

He confuses the Ed's to no end.

He confuses the other kids to no end.

JONNY 2x4

He is a wanderer and very inquisitive

From early morning to supper time, he is always outside playing, with his buddy, "Plank".

"Plank" is a wooden board that Jonny drew a face on with a crayon.

Jonny has wonderful conversations with Plank. ...Plank is a piece of wood.

Jonny makes himself very "accessible" to the Ed's.

Found it interesting that Rolf's bio is less clearly phrased than the UK bio set it up to be-- there they made it sound more like he mixes up who the Eds/kids are, here it's unclear whether it means that or (more likely) just means the obvious statement that everyone finds him confusing. If it's that, what a lame hollow bio Rolf got. This kid's based on you Danny, show some of that personal side!

Always loved Jonny's description, his life sounds so cute. Playing outside literally all day. Interesting to have it confirmed that Jonny drew Plank's face, I preferred to think the Eds drew him and sold him to Jonny, but whatever.

"Accessible" has always been an important vague description of Jonny to me. It really only applies to how chummy they could be with him in season 1, but it still sorta applies to his personality throughout the series as well.

PAGE 17: (images of Nazz and Kevin next to their blurbs)

NAZZ

She's cool, calm and assertive.

She is the most matured of the kids, or so she thinks.

She's into make-up and fashion magazines and Boys.

Sarah thinks she's awesome, wants to be just like her when she grows up.

When she enters a scene, all activity stops... boys freeze, they sweat, their hearts beat faster and faster. They lose their ability to talk. When she leaves, they recover and conclude it was something They ate.

She thinks the Ed's are funny.

KEVIN

He is cynical and sarcastic.

He thinks he knows the "routine". That's because he watches "60 Minutes".

It got a big laugh out of me that Kevin's description is only 2 sentences long. Nazz even has a more detailed character description from inception than Kevin. Love this for them.

Who's the Eds' rival? Well, he's cynical, sarcastic and he watches 60 Minutes, doesn't that tell you enough!?

I love the "mature... or so she thinks" remark about Nazz, a grounded flaw for her to have, being a little overcommitted to being mature like Eddy. It also perhaps suggests naiveté that makes it a little more reasonable that they didn't notice they were dumbing her down at the end of the series, but I do think the movie version of her better reflects the Bible's concept.

PAGE 18:

The Other Neighborhood Kids

Lineup of May, Lee and Marie.

The Kanker Sisters

These gals are tough. They bother, bully, provoke and bewilder everyone.

They live in a motor home park on the other side of the Cul-de-sac. The other kids have never been there.

They are proud of their Tammy Faye Baker memorabilia.

Their project "Cooking with Ketchup" closed down their school for a whole week.

No one likes them, especially the Eds.

They are determined to marry the Eds. They want them to do their dishes.

Amused that the Kankers are essentially being labeled backgrounds characters here, the role they mostly fell into in season 5. "Other" neighborhood kids...

I love that the Kankers have a school blurb to match each of the Eds', and that theirs has similar destructive-intentions to Eddy's video premiere story.

I believe all of this was all known from the UK guide as well, but still, neat stuff!

PAGES 19 & 20 (zoomed in Kanker lineup and their height chart with the Eds)

PAGES 21 & 22 (early promo art that used to be on CN's old Eds webpage, the art of the Eds eating jawbreakers at the end of ep 1 with the overhead text "Ed, Edd n Eddy love JAWBREAKERS!!!", and the art of the Eds all running with overhead text "Ed, Edd n Eddy see something shiny...."Jiggers." That weird "jiggers" statement at the end was normally edited out and I don't know what it means. Looked it up and it seems to be Chinook jargon (like when Ed said he was "skookum at X's and O's") usually said in the same sense as "CHEESE IT!")

PAGES 23+:

The rest of the pages in that bible download are from a 2004 storyboard test. The storyboard sample "It's Raining Eds," which we've seen some submitted samples of before, interpretations with Ed attempting to fly or chew gum and Edd making radioactive gum, I was surprised to find out the outline is just the original outline for the opening sequence to season 3's 'For Your Eds Only', seemingly Jonny was not written into the original outline (or was excised for easier testing purposes) but Kevin's brief cameo was. Now I wonder if they knew this would be used for a test when they wrote it, and if they would've come up with a less random way to include him if weren't forced to be a concise bit for testing's sake. (Your limit is typically 40 storyboard pages in my experience.)

I also noticed that in the included background references, the anonymous adult neighbor house next door to Ed's is officially just referred to as a "generic house."

My analysis ends here, but be sure to download that sometime and enjoy all the raw storyboard sketches at the end of the document!

[facets-and-rainbows]

Blue Exorcist 10th anniversary book Q&A session

The 10th anniversary book has a section where Katoh answers 100 questions submitted by fans on Twitter, so here they are translated/paraphrased! May contain manga spoilers up to the recent flashback arc, so be warned.

(Note that I’m playing it very fast and loose here because there are A HUNDRED OF THEM, so not exact wordings, but it should capture the gist. Lemme know if there are any you want elaborated on)

1. Katoh likes the feel of traditional drawing more than digital but is impressed with how far digital has come

2. Meph THOROUGHLY ABUSES spacetime to watch all his shows and ensure that he gets all the merch he wants

3. Did the girls take all of Yukio’s school uniform buttons in middle school? Yes, they did (apparently it’s like A Thing for girls to ask for a button from their crush at middle school graduation, based on some sad movie from the 60s where a guy who got drafted as a kamikaze pilot gave a girl one of his uniform buttons to remember him by)

4. Rin's tail is about a meter long

5. There are tons of servants working at Mephisto's mansion. Belial is in charge of them

6. Katoh borrows from all sorts of neat real locations when making settings

7. Katoh identifies with pretty much all the characters the most! Except Lucifer.

8. Demon designs she's proud of include the impure king and hachirou, pretty much anything that was the main one in an arc

9. Katoh lists a bunch of her favorite musical artists/music she’s listening to recently: King Gnu, Official Hige Dandism, Kenshi Yonezu, BAD HOP, Sakanaction, Keyakizaka 46, Hypnosis Mic, Aimer, B’Z, Queen Bee.

10. Awww the rabbit manga that characters are often reading isn't just Robo to Usakichi, it's an even older one that she drew as a little kid

11. She likes industrial style interior designs

12. Rin and Yukio alternated who got the top bunk growing up, because they couldn't agree on it lol

13. Katoh cares a whole lot about panel layouts and speech bubble positions, might even be her favorite part of the process (it shows!)

4. Katoh does NOT have a mashou, lol

15. Rin has probably been practicing in secret so he can learn to carry stuff with his tail

16. Izumo probably got into shojo manga around 1st grade, her mom had some around the house

17. Specialty dishes: Rin - lots of stuff but especially nabe Yuri - stuff you can throw together quickly Shiro - stuff he learned from Yuri and/or cookbooks, alongside teaching Rin Yukio - Does. Not. Cook.

18. Can't pick a favorite place she's been on research, but there's no place like Japan

19. Kinzou's band isn't currently meeting because demons, but he's probably still thinking of new songs

20. Hardest characters to draw: anyone with detailed flowing hair. Hardest to write for: Lightning and Gedouin. She had to go read books about serial killers specifically for material for Gedouin, lol 

21. Suguro actually gets a dorm room to himself, though allegedly Yukio is technically assigned as his roommate, lol. Didn't end up that way what with Yukio being a teacher and also Rin’s whole...situation

22. Shiemi makes some of her own hair accessories! Cute

23. Katoh doesn't mind if you include stuff with fan letters but check with the editor first

24. Time for making each chapter: Planning/storyboarding: 1-5 days. Sketching: 3-5 days. Drawing/inking: the rest. Just...the rest of the time

25. Neither Suguro nor Izumo have dated before and neither is currently dating. But that's probably just because things were hectic for them! It could happen

26. Yukio breaks 5 or 6 pairs of glasses a year, someone get this kid a strap or something

27. How many spare glasses does Yukio have? Check the fanbook lol it's in there (dang it Katoh)

28. The demon she wants us to pay the most attention to is Lucifer. Because plot.

29. What's under the Order's big meeting table? It's a BOTTOMLESS PIT and if you fall in it you DIE that's what makes it COOL (laughs)

30. What are the job requirements for the angelic legion? Literally just Arthur liking you and inviting you to join

31. She WANTS to do more character profiles but just hasn't gotten to it

32. Rin's tail feels like a cat tail, texture wise

33. The "red Assiah fire" is literally just actual fire nothing special

34. Rin's current hair color is light blue fading to white at the ends

35. Thoughts on Rin's growth: she likes that he stays positive in awful situations and she also thinks it's very main character of him to face the past instead of avoiding it

36. Mephisto didn't purposely surround Rin with stuffed animals when he woke up after going crispy. Mephisto's bed is just Like That

37. Kurikara was based on a cool sword she found in a sword book, but that one was technically just a ceremonial sword. The symbol on it us a Sanskrit letter kaan (sp?) associated with Fudou Myouou

38. Kuro can communicate with normal cats and hangs out with them often

39. Sometimes Shiemi's skirt is extra fancy around the hem what's up with that? Apparently it's an optional accessory that comes with the skirts help I haven't noticed this and don't know any fashion terms in any language

40. When coloring, Katoh always tries to have an overall theme in mind ("emphasis on blue" etc) so it comes together in the end

41. Yes the twins are genetically related to Shiro because of Goro (she says they're like his nephews but I say GENETICALLY at least they'd be indistinguishable from his children)

42. Strongest mom of all the strong moms around here? Yuri! Did you SEE her give birth??

43. Are you careful about your own health Katoh-sensei? Not particularly! Her mom has had to bring her food at work sometimes! Don't do this at home kids

44. At the dating events Shura goes to, does she drink cocktails in moderation? Yeah, she probably downplays her normal drinking habits at these things. But normally she's down for just about any kind of drink

45. Lucifer just really likes oysters okay

46. How many pages of manga does Katoh draw in a day? If she's being good about self-care: three. Maximum number ever: TEN

47. Mephisto is one of those folks who can eat like a garbage compactor and never gain weight. Possibly because his body resists that sort of change the same way it resists aging etc

48. First food Rin cooked: fish burger type patty. Yukio's favorite things Rin cooks: fish simmered in soy sauce, yellowtail with daikon radish. It's fish all the way down

49: Did Rin ever get more monthly allowance from Mephisto? It doubled! He gets TWO 2000 yen bills now (rip) [T/N: That's uh, that's USD $37.26 a month or 33.10 euro]

50. Why isn't Rin more popular with the girls? He gets nervous talking to them, plus he's too oblivious to notice even if he DID have some fans

51. Why change Suguro's hair? She gets bored with keeping everything the same, and she wanted a visual representation that he was getting serious and going into kind of a training arc

52. Things Katoh pays extra attention to when drawing: trying to capture the feel of whatever she's drawing (like "that looks warm and soft" or "I bet that guy stinks" cough Lightning cough)

53: Does Rin take after Yuri more? (He's got her eyes!) Katoh tried to draw Yuri so she looks like both twins. Personality, too - Yukio has her smarts and Rin has her optimism

54: Do you ever wanna be like Mephisto? Well she'd like to be able to get away with just ANYTHING EVER, but no, let's not be like Mephisto

55. Konekomaru not only carries around a cat toy in case he meets any cats, he MAKES cat toys to carry around based on what he thinks the cats would like

56. How'd you come up with Shima? Go read the fan book!

57. Do the kids have Twitter/Instagram accounts? Rin - probably not. Konekomaru might be on some social media. Paku and Izumo are totally on instagram

58. Is there something Rin makes that you wish you could try? All of it! That's the whole idea! He's good at cooking!

59. Will we ever have a (G-rated) reveal of what ALL of Mamushi and her family's tattoos look like? Maybe! She'll think about it

60. Does Arthur have a repertoire of different hairstyles? Not really, he just puts some of it up on the top. Heck he might even have people to do that for him

61. If you wrote a shojo manga what would it be about? She'd have to do a lot of research before even coming up with a story, since there are so many style differences between the genres aside from just the subject

62. The other two of Mephisto's top 3 favorite foods: Cup ramen and....f-fried bubblegum?? Is that a THING???

63. Where do you start when drawing a character? Usually the outline of their face but if it's a complex pose/composition she'll start with whatever's in the foreground (like hands)

64. If Katoh could have a familiar, what demon would she choose? Mephisto. As the all-powerful author, she might actually be able to command him as a familiar!

66. If you swapped Yukio and Rin's relationship around what would change? not much, you'd pretty much have Rin going to the Illuminati and Yukio going to the past

67. Top 3 foods/souvenirs to try in Kyushu? Well she doesn't know what’s good CURRENTLY but when she was there she always used to like burdock tempura udon, hakata torimon (a kind of manju with white bean paste inside), and Chikae style cod roe. today I learned Katoh went to high school in Kyushu

68. Katoh listens to music a lot while she's storyboarding, then when she and the assistants are all drawing and inking they put various videos/movies and stuff on in the background

69. For all his hitting on girls, is Shima actually popular with the ladies at all? He's got enough girls in his life that he probably COULD find a girlfriend if he really wanted, but the double agent thing tends to get in the way. He still wouldn't be as popular as Yukio though (side thought/translator’s note: Shima would be proud of being number 69.)

70. Katoh has the ending planned out in a big-picture way, but there are still a few details here and there that she's fretting over

71. It's cute when the boys put their ties over their shoulders when they're working on something! Where'd that come from? She just figured a tie might get in the way and that seemed like a realistic way to get it out of the way

72. Looks like Yukio is getting some facial hair! What about Rin? They're both about the age for it, but maybe Rin can't grow a beard yet. Maybe a little peach fuzz here and there

73. Katoh's favorite blue exorcist merch? There were some exorcist licenses a while back, and the exorcist pins. Basically it's really cool that these little accessories she drew ACTUALLY EXIST NOW, LIKE YOU CAN HOLD THEM IN YOUR HANDS

74. Okay realtalk how long do we have left, I don't want the series to end yet? We're solidly in the second half by now but it's not, like, ABOUT to end yet

75. Katoh would be a Knight meister, based on what characters she likes to play in games and such

76. How many people in the whole exorcism cram school? More than you think! She doesn't give a number but apparently licensed exorcists also attend classes for new meisters, etc, so there's a wide age range attending

77. How's Arthur feel about, like, studying Taming on the way to becoming Paladin? He's at least mostly accepted that you have to use demons to fight demons effectively

78. Konekomaru started wearing glasses in his first year of middle school, so like 7th grade (more recent than I thought!) He has one spare pair, in contrast to Yukio lol

79. Katoh's current obsessions? Ghost/scary stories! She's even been going to live readings of them recently

80. Media Katoh consumes for inspiration? A wide range of foreign teen drama, horror/suspense, shojo manga, light novels, anime, etc. Special focus on things where two boys are in conflict or there are brothers involved

81. If they weren't exorcists what jobs would they have? Rin - chef. Yukio - doctor. Shiemi - uh, florist?

82. Inspiration for the design of True Cross Town? Katoh and her assistants gathered up a bunch of references, picked out stuff they felt matched the tone, and mashed them all up together

83. Did you use any references etc for the school/exorcist uniforms? She says she probably should have but she just kind of made them up before publication

84. Favorite part of drawing? For color pages, picking out a color scheme. For black and white, drawing in all the little details (though she doesn't always get time to lately)

85. Once again confirms the demon kings' weird hair is a representation of their horns. ADDS THAT PEOPLE WHO CAN'T SEE DEMONS CAN'T SEE THE WEIRD HAIR

86. Now that Yukio's at the Illuminati, where's he gonna get his Jump SQ and spare glasses? Well he probably never planned to stay for long, but hey it's a big ship and they might have an optometrist and/or newsstand there

87. Do you base the demon characters on any references etc? Not really, she just gets a general idea of popular demon designs and then makes up her own in her own style

88. Merchandise Katoh personally wants to have made: stuff that an adult could just use in their day to day life. Also, it's not gonna happen, but if her favorite figure brand made AoEx figures she could die happy

89. If Beelzebub's host body was a beautiful woman, how would Shima react? Would the womanizing win out over the bug phobia? Katoh replies that Shima would probably just faint from being near a girl that pretty, before the bugs even got involved

90. Will the twins ever get to smile and eat dinner together again?? We'll just have to wait and see!

91. What do you check at a "scenario check"? what's a scenario check man I dunno They check for people being out of character or the setting feeling off. They had a lot of these checks for the anime, but they also do them for the drama CD, games, and all that other stuff where multiple authors are involved

92. Why does Shura use baldy as an insult for people who are clearly not bald? She feels like they have some kind of metaphorical, mental kind of "baldness" and she's calling them out on it. Whatever that means

93. After Blue Exorcist ends, what do you want to draw next? She has SO MANY IDEAS, SO MANY

94. Did Katoh make up the Shinto chants that, for example, Izumo used against Gedouin? They're assembled from bits of actual Shinto prayers according to what feels right in the scene

95. Yukio reads the Jump SQ, right, and, just hear me out here, he likes gag manga, right? Does this mean he reads Salaryman Yukio? It's something he would read, but let's say that in the AoEx universe there's just a very similar manga that he finds oddly relatable

96. What do Yukio and Shima do in their free time on the Dominus Liminus? oh my god you guys this ship has so many amenities.  Yukio probably spends time reading in the library, which they totally have. There's also, like, a gym, and a movie theater, and a THEATER theater, all of which are free. Shima probably hangs out at the pool (!) and goes to the movies, and hits on illuminati girls, lol

97. Easiest character to draw? The ones with boring simple hair, lol. Lightning gets an honorable mention for ALSO not having eyes in most shots, but Rin wins--he was specifically designed to be easy for Katoh to draw because that's what you want in your main character

98. How do demons understand gender? They just possess whatever feels like the best match to how they feel in Gehenna, whether that's a man, or a woman, or a rat, or whatever

99. Where do you start when you're coming up with a story? She starts with character design and how the characters relate to each other. Currently she's just continuing an existing story, so she works on splitting up the overall plot into episodes and fleshing it out with scenes and information about characters

100. When do you feel most happy? She honestly feels like she lives a very happy life overall. Mentions noticing a lot of little things, like how nice her cats' heads smell when she cuddles them or taking a nice cold refreshing drink of water. There's happiness in everything. aww.

[citricsystem-moved]

Hi lol

I found an old note in our phone and it made me cry (not neg.) and I wanted to ramble about it because it’s interesting

We were diagnosed with psychosis before DID, so some of the stuff is subjectively “creepy.” If any of that bothers you tw for below

(also it’s super long)

For context I’m Jace, I’m the current adult life host for my system.

I became an active host in highschool around 2016, and we didn’t get diagnosed with DID until 2019.

I have little to no memory of our childhood except for our trauma, but despite that Lee says I’ve always been around. He remembered me as an “imaginary friend” perceived as a big brother who helped him out a lot.

One time we spoke with an old friend of ours, who we knew since elementary school. She told us stories about the camping trips her and (technically) Lee would go on together.

During one of the stories it hit me like a ton of bricks, I did used to front when we were kids. She said,

“It was always so weird when you slept over. You’d do this thing where you’d sleep with your eyes open, if we asked you to do something you’d do it, but you never responded/talked to us-“

“-eventually you’d close your eyes and go back to sleep, but when we’d ask you in the morning you didn’t remember doing it at all.”

And Lee still doesn’t remember what she was talking about, he remembers the trips she brought up and what they did during them. But not all that weird stuff.

Before I got us diagnosed, I spoke with my prior therapist about my symptoms. I was already aware of our C-PTSD, so he mentioned DID could be a possibility, but he didn’t want to say for sure. He gave me a couple resources to look at, which eventually lead me to try and communicate with anybody that might be in my head.

The first time I was able to hear Lee “clearly” I was so scared I threw up and called my bsf in a panic at 2am (lmao)

I was so used to the hallucinations, to forcing myself to be rational- even if it was after the fact. But that experience was so real and jarring I couldn’t handle it and “woke myself up” to run away from it all.

To paraphrase my note I jotted down; his voice sounded like he was speaking through a fan (you know, that thing kids did that made it sound funny), and every time he spoke my head would throb so hard and violently I could hear it against my eardrums. We overlapped each other, it was so obviously two streams of thought, and even through the weird voice he sounded scared. Most of what he said I couldn’t make out, because of the throbbing in my head.

Looking back I think it was what I did make out that made me panic. I’m sure anybody with auditory hallucinations would of, no matter how desensitized you were. He said, “-out of my head,” and “stop, you’re in my head,” and he sounded just as panicked as I was.

It felt like a horror movie, except my trusty anti-hallucination cat never reacted.

Eventually, I did it again. And again, and again, until he sounded normal and we were standing in that living room I burned into my brain as an “inner world.”

After that we both meant Harlow, and as soon as we did another ton of bricks hit me.

This one’s more funny I promise.

I fucking spoke with Harlow all the time.

Looong story short, I practice witchcraft, I “spoke” to something when I was down, panicked, in a tough spot, etc. I considered them a deity of sorts, but by no means worshipped them, just “worked” with them. It was never like they spoke back to me, it was always more like a feeling. But it helped, they always seemed to sooth me and guide me in the right direction.

Once I felt (heard isn’t the right word) them call themselves ‘Apollo,’ and since I’m from Greece, I was just like. Okay that can work.

Apollo

Apollo

Harlow

Apollo

Harlow.

I brought this up with him last year, when we first started attending therapy with someone who specialized in trauma related disorders. And this motherfucker just smiled.

He has yet to confirm or deny anything. But considering he’s a fucking wolf fox kitsune looking thing, I don’t doubt it was a  coincidence at all.

Lol sorry this was long, but I find looking back at this sort of stuff really interesting.

Because of how me and Lee divvy up our childhood I always end up doing the research and deep drives into our disorder to keep him away from what he can’t handle. But I love filling him in on what I find out and how I connect dots. Since he’s been dormant I don’t really have anyone to gush to since most of my other headmates don’t relate that far back in our lives.

Anyways if you made it this far send me any fun system ‘connect the dots’ or stories you have.

This shit tickles that itch in my brain ya know

[bookaboutabook]

dress by ts= rowaelin

this might be long but i thought of it and it has to be done :)

“our secret moments in your crowded room they've got no idea about me and you”

okay so literally in QoS they communicate basically entirely in silence, like they’re the only people in a crowded room, especially at arobynn’s party they are basically flirting without anyone knowing because at the time things are basically all platonic to everyone else. no one knows that they’re growing feelings or having secret conversations. 

“there is an indentation in the shape of you made your mark on me, a golden tattoo”

this is EoS and KoA energy-- the claiming marks, and the tattoos that rowan gives aelin. ALSO the choice of the color golden screams rowaelin because as we know thats the nightgowns color and i feel like it comes up a lot when describing aelin-- golden eyes, hair etc.

“all of this silence and patience, pining in anticipation my hands are shaking from holding back from you all of this silence and patience, pining and desperately waiting my hands are shaking from holding back from all this ”

QoS is almost entirely sexual tension so i think this is very self explanatory. they were both holding back the way they felt about each other when they both clearly wanted something more. this gives me vibes of rowan needing to cool down from aelin’s presence and taking forever to fall asleep with her so near yet so far away.  

“say my name and everything just stops i don't want you like a best friend”

um please so several points-- 1.) rowan is the first person that starts calling celaena by her real name, aelin ( if i remember correctly i don’t think he really ever calls her celeana?? only aelin and she gets mad, but i may be wrong bc it has been a while since i’ve read HoF) he makes her comfortable with her real identity and helped her come to terms with who she was and her name. 2.) fireheart. that’s it. it’s who she was to her family and its who she is now to rowan. ALSO “i don’t want you like a best friend” their relationship goes from basically entirely platonic in HoF to something more in the late books. in QoS, it took them forever to get together bc they had to break through the past definition of their relationship which was strictly friends, carranam, and fighting partners. but they obviously wanted more, and started feeling more comfortable with their past trauma and relationship baggage to face that. 

“only bought this dress so you could take it off take it off  carve your name into my bedpost 'cause I don't want you like a best friend only bought this dress so you could take it off”

ALRIGHT HERES THE KICKER. so this is obviously referring to the golden nightgown that rowan requests. i KNOW that he technically doesn't even take it off her and they don’t go there but she literally only bought it for him bc he said he would love that color. in conclusion it still counts and the sexual tension was there so.

“inescapable, I'm not even gonna try and if I get burned, at least we were electrified”

SO i feel like they both know that they are inevitable and i think it kinda ties into the idea of the mating bond being something that you can’t break or avoid. they subconsciously knew that being apart would not work. AND we have a reference to aelin’s fire... she might burn too brightly, but at least she burned.

“i'm spilling wine in the bathtub, you kiss my face and we're both drunk everyone thinks that they know us, but they know nothing about”

HAHA we have a little reference to aelin bathing rowan and washing his hair in that one scene. tbh this doesn’t really fit that well but it’s not too out of place-- i also may not be thinking of anything bc i havent re read them in a while. anyways, we also have another moment where rowan and aelin are kind of keeping what is blooming between them a secret from the rest of aelin’s court.

“flashback when you met me your buzzcut and my hair bleached”

their haircuts at the beginning of QoS... rowan cut his long ass hair and aelin had to dye her hair red to go undercover and not get caught... WHY DOES IT WORK SO WELL I--

“even in my worst times, you could see the best of me”

in HoF aelin was at the lowest point of her life. even though he was closed off was dealing with his own baggage, he saw the power aelin held. the light that had been snuffed out inside of her. he pushed her because he knew what she was capable of. and i forgot who said this, but rowan was never afraid of aelin the way chaol was. he saw every part of her and loved all of it. 

“flashback to my mistakes my rebounds, my earthquakes”

rebounds??? *cough cough* CHAOL AND DORIAN *cough* okay but for real these weren’t really mistakes but she had made plenty of other mistakes around that time. he helped set her on a better and clearer path. and i guess we could technically consider chaol a rebound...

“even in my worst lies, you saw the truth of me”

her keeping the mating bond from him? her keeping so many of her plans a secret? her pretending she’s okay and KoA and him seeing right through her? yea <3

“and I woke up just in time now I wake up by your side”

I think around nehemias death she was kind of in a trance where she felt like nothing mattered and her life was useless (the whole “i do not care” scene where she was lashing out is a good example), but he helped her out of that. she has that one quote that im gonna paraphrase about how he held her hand and walked back into the light with her. He essentially woke her up from the nightmare she was living and now she wakes up next to him. this literally also happens in HoF because he starts letting her sleep in his bed, which was a huge step in the right direction for their relationship. he started seeing her as a friend and he literally falls asleep with his hand over her heart bye. 

“my one and only, my lifeline”

mates are truly each others one and only and i think it’s beautiful that she says “lifeline” because that’s literally what it is to them. they are stronger together and even the forces of their existence are tied together <3

anyways if you read this whole thing thank u lol i just had to get that out:)

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

Somewhere in Philip Normans book, it said “John had contemplated an affair with Paul, but had been deterred by Paul’s immovable heterosexuality.” What does this mean? Can you further elaborate?

From what I understand, Yoko was also the one who relayed this message to him. As close as they were, I just find it extremely hard to believe that John and Paul never fucked lol

I'm not sure what I could elaborate on exactly. To my knowledge, neither Yoko nor Norman have directly spoken about that quote (although in 2015 Yoko was certainly downplaying John's interest in men as much as she possibly could while still calling him technically bi) since it came out. Paul has been asked about the book but I don't know if this specific passage was brought up. He deflected a lot, of course.

I always keep in my with that specific passage that it's veiled in layers of retelling. Norman is paraphrasing Yoko who is relaying this based on allegedly random, passing comments of John's. We don't know what John actually said that made Yoko come to this conclusion. She might've gone with the most "conservative" interpretation of his "chance remarks". We also have zero insight into the tone John had talking about this. What I'm saying is there's a lot of wiggle room in the unspoken details here, and Yoko has a history of not being thrilled with John's feelings towards Paul (and other men in general to lesser extent) so I wouldn't discount the possibility that John in fact implied more happened and she decided to take some "edge" out of that reveal. Also, an "affair" could've been meant in the sense of an actual long-term thing, rather than no-strings-attached one-time sex (but that's looking at specific wording when this is a paraphrase of a paraphrase so huge grain of salt). And just because John told Yoko, his wife who didn't particularly like Paul, that nothing happened, that doesn't mean it's true.

That being said, I don't personally feel they did have sex, and I mostly base myself off of John's "Or we could have had a homosexual relationship and that might have satisfied it." But I did want to point out how that quote isn't as cut and dry as it may seem.