#so much of my art from that era is just the same cat girl with her arms folded behind her back so I wouldn't have to draw hands or ears.

[maychorian]

Found Family Anime Recs

I recently reblogged a list of found family anime recs and was a bit surprised by how many reblogs and likes it got. I had really reblogged it just so I can find it later to watch the shows I hadn't already seen on the list, but apparently I have a lot of followers who are interested in this topic! Well, I've watched a lot of anime, so here are ten found family anime shows that I absolutely love. These are in no particular order.

Buddy Daddies

This show is similar enough to Spy X Family that you might be tempted to call it a rip-off. It's really quite different though. There's a lot less comedy (though there's still SOME comedy) and a lot more healing from past trauma. The animation is gorgeous, and the relationships really tug at my heart. It's more realistic than Spy X Family, in some ways, though it's still pretty ridiculous. The melodrama in the last couple of episodes did annoy me a bit, but it's still a very satisfying show. It's like a fanfiction I would write, which is really the highest recommendation I can give, haha, because that means it's exactly the kind of story I would like. 

2. Samurai Champloo

This show was made by much of the same team that created Cowboy Bebop, but for some reason it never got the same cult status, which is really too bad. I love Cowboy Bebop, but I love Samurai Champloo more. It's about two ronin and a teenage girl traveling through Edo-era Japan to find someone the girl is looking for. Throughout the series, the three form a very strong bond, despite all of their communication difficulties and past traumas. I've rewatched this show probably more than any other anime. It's brutal at times, but so very satisfying.

3. Natsume Yuujin-cho

Natsume lost his parents as a young child and was passed around from relative to relative, most of whom couldn't deal with him because his ability to see yokai (Japanese folk spirits) made him a freak in their eyes. As the series starts, he's finally taken in by an older couple in a rural village who actually want him, and he's finally able to start forming connections with other people and find a support system with his new caretakers, his peers, and the yokai he tries to help. It's a very sweet, sad series, much more sentimental than the first two entries on this list, but a very soothing and lovely watch when you are in need of some relaxation. Warning, though, the flashbacks to Natsume's past families can be truly gutwrenching. He was not treated well for a very long time, and it's hard to stomach.

4. Barakamon

Handa is a calligrapher who gets essentially exiled to a remote island after causing problems on purpose. He has a hard time connecting with people and is struggling with his art. Over the course of the story, he forms relationships with his neighbors, especially an adorable child with possibly the best child voice-acting I've ever heard, and slowly rediscovers his joy in creation again. It's cute and funny and beautiful, and it makes me want to live on a remote Japanese island.

5. My Roommate Is a Cat

Subaru is a young novelist who recently lost his parents, who were pretty much his only connection to humanity. While trying to recover from this massive loss, he adopts a stray cat who quickly becomes the most important creature in his life. Through the cat, he begins to form relationships with other people, as well. The show is unique in that the first half of each episode is from the human's POV and the second half is from the cat's POV. It's a very lovely and soothing show. Pets are family, too!

6. Haikyuu

Haikyuu was the show that opened my eyes to the aspect of found family in sports anime. I know a lot of tumblr enjoys Haikyuu for the shipping, but to me it's more satisfying to view it through the lens of found family. Each team is essentially their own found family, in their own unique way, and the relationships are particularly realistic and well-depicted by this mangaka. I love Tanaka being a big brother to the first years, Kuroo and Kenma's mutual protectiveness and support, all of it. 

7. Kuroko no Basuke

This is the silly basketball show, and in my opinion it's not as good as Haikyuu, but I love the relationships here as well. Especially between Kuroko and Kagami, of course. Their mutual protectiveness is just chef's kiss. But the whole Seirin team is really great. I love them so much. The teamy goodness is what makes the silliness watchable for me.

8. One Piece

What is there to say about One Piece? This is, like, the ultimate found family show. All of the pirate crews with any kind of goodness at their core are found families, but especially the Strawhats. Luffy is just going around looking at people and declaring, "Okay, you're in my family (on my crew) now." If you've never watched One Piece before, I'm going to make an unorthodox recommendation and suggest you watch the live action Netflix adaption first. It does a really good job of capturing the feel and aesthetic and just pure loveliness of this story in a much more compact and approachable way than the anime. However, if you like it, I do recommend that you watch the anime from the beginning, because there is a lot of expansion on the themes there, and the characterization is slightly different. Usopp in particular kinda got shorted in the live action, so you'll understand him a lot more if you watch his introduction arc in the anime. But honestly both versions are great. I'm on my third rewatch of the live action version already, and I will watch and rewatch the anime until I die, probably. One of my favorite stories of all time.

9. The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash

I found this one slightly annoying in how it was obviously carefully designed to tug at my heartstrings, but it's working, so I don't have much right to complain. It's about a little kid driven out of her home who gradually gathers a found family of both monsters she tames and adult adventurers and guardsmen who take one look at this lonely child and go, "Well, guess I have a baby now." The isekai element is very lowkey, in that she basically just has a voice in her head giving her advice, and I like that it's about fighting local corruption instead of a demon army or what have you. I want more shows like this and less shows like every other generic isekai, haha.

10. Dungeon Meshi

This show is blowing up tumblr right now, so you've probably already seen it a billion times, but I'm going to make one more appeal for you to watch/read this story. It is so, so so good. And in my opinion, it is much MUCH more about family, both born and found, than it is about shipping. I could write a whole essay about Marcille and Falin's relationship that has nothing to do with romance, as I could for any other two (or three or four) characters in the main party, plus those outside. There is a LOT going on. I've been playing RPGs and LARPs for twenty years, and one reason I love the hobby so much is for the joy of creating found families with my best friends in new and different worlds, over and over again. This is the first piece of fiction I've found that really captures that particular aspect of party-based fantasy stories, the relationships that form and grow, the tight-knit bonds that keep everyone moving forward despite the monsters you must face (and consume). 

[pastorfutureletthembe]

Here we go again--

TRIP ABROAD TURNS INTO BUTTERFLY EFFECT

First thing worth mentioning is that the prime color in this artwork is pale blue. I feel like it's quite rare, most of INPLICK arts for Link Click have the same palette: burgundy red, shades of gray and black (except for the whole Surprise Beat thing which is splashed with flashy pink). All but this one:

(probably when they were 17 or sth)

For the sake of the argument, let's say it is a significant distinction to make. The reason is simple: the teaser taking place at the airport and the trailer prove that shit started three years ago, while CXS and LG's graduation trip. If this chronology is correct, then blue probably symbolizes Lu Guang's innocence or happiness. Blue used to paint Lu Guang but now he only sees the world in black, white and red. In the birthday official arts, blue is associated with his character. His flower is freaking Forget-Me-Not; Myosotis.

So yes, that's why I think the color palette here is relevant to the time period we're going to explore in the Yingdu Chapter.

The couch itself is blue when we're so used to the pair sitting on a brick sofa. The cakes and the flowers are the usual shade of red, though.

On the table: red roses in a vase. Petals are all over the place. Ominous. We actually see a roses bouquet in the PV of XETROverthink, held by Li Tianchen.

On the trolley: 1 bottle of wine, 2 CXS's feet, 3 glasses, 4 cakes, 5 individual desserts. The glass half full is Liu Xiao's, since it isn't on the trolley in the original artwork he is absent from. I said it in another post but the plate counts 4 portions, as in 4 antagonists, while the pudding might be Lu Guang's. The cakes are probably metaphors for timelines/curves, clocks dressed as desserts with a red fruit representing a dead Cheng Xiaoshi. V and VI are the only missing parts, just like Qiao Ling's one. CXS put his feet on the trail and I think it's both funny and tragic. I believe the correct saying is "put his foot in his mouth" but in french we say "mettre les pieds dans le plat", which literally translates "to put his feet in the plate" (to say something brutal with no tact or to do something stupid without thinking it through). He has both feet nearing timeline cakes and his head is five inches away from doomed flowers.

On the floor: 1 vintage phone. 1 camera. 2 envelopes, 3 pages of letters. 4 polaroids. Probably: 2 magazines and 3 pages of newspapers. The vintage phone could be relevant to THE TIDES, era-wise. The camera is taking polaroids and two of them are still dark, meaning they just took a shot and are yet to be revealed. The rest must be related to this chapter's plot. So much for holidays, guys (are they investigating CXS' missing parents?)

If you look closely, you'll see four different mentions of time:

Lu Guang's watch (hold this thought)

The polaroid: Big Ben

What looks like newspapers

The hourglass

We also have four mentions of information/communication

Letters

The polaroid: a public telephone box

Newspapers/magazines

Vintage phone (I was wondering why the phone had twelve numbers but after some research, I realized that some of them had # and *)

On another note, I don't know if their hands--

I mean, there's something definitely happening here but let's say for the sake of my sanity that what is supposed to be noticed are the sunglasses. If I'm being honest, this is the real oddity here and the teaser weirdly showed them off?? They're standing out because everything else is so blue for one thing.

They're pink-ish, which is close enough to magenta, so one of Lu Guang's colors (cf. Dive Back In Time). The color itself is weird for sunglasses. Lu Guang doesn't care about fashion, he wants practical. As a girl who loves pink sunglasses, I'll tell you: pink is shit at doing sunglasses' job. CXS told him to wear a cat hat, okay, but did he choose every other accessory?? My guess is that the pink served a purpose in connection with light.

And why is Lu Guang's watch on the other wrist in the artwork? I checked and LG wears it on his right wrist in the donghua and manhua. It can be the opposite for some artworks though... Or blocked from view for some reasons. It's almost as if we're not supposed to know which side is the actual reflection. 👀

Something else is reversed here, actually: the colors AND the pocket of Lu Guang's shirt. It could be a mistake, though.

>>>>> Basically, I think the artwork is telling us that the Yingdu Chapter is going to hurt and make us cry. If we're indeed about to see Lu Guang lose his humanity to try and save Cheng Xiaoshi for the first time therefore destroying worlds, I have no doubt it would be after Infinite Sadness™.

The real question this teaser isn't answering is either we'll go through the original timeline or a rewind. The last episode of season 2 makes me frown. How to be sure that the Lu Guang who dives exists before and not after the events we see unfold for two seasons? Is Yingdu Chapter a flash black or an actual dive itself? Lu Guang seems to be determinate and in a bad mood in the PV after all, could directly happen after one of CXS's deaths.

EDIT: someone mentioned that LG wears his watch on the left wrist when we get images of CXS getting stabbed. (It hurts right here in my meow meow)

[multific]

Love in Oil Colours

Chapter 13: Nothing Could Break Us Apart (The End)

Astarion x Fem!Reader

Summary: You just wanted to see the paintings. To see what new exhibits there were. You never expected for a simple oil painting to reveal so much about you and your past.

Your life took a complete turn after your reunion with Astarion. 

And yet somehow, it was still the same.

You lived in a secluded home, away from people where it was only the two of you and the forest.

It was different yet the same.

People didn’t come to bother you.

And you barely left your land.

The only time you did decide to visit Paris was right after Astarion gave you the prettiest ring and promised you, again, his eternal love.

You called him, Husband, after that.

It seemed like that finally during this era, you would be able to live the life you always wished for.

No more people yelling at you, no more people burning your home.

Just you and your husband.

Once again you found your love for drawing and painting.

You even painted a little something of your honeymoon. A nude as one would call it, of your beloved husband.

It was definitely one for your eyes only.

However unfortunately soon, your little art room will have to be reassigned.

You found out three days ago about the new life you were carrying.

A child.

A true proof of your love and the fruit of the hours of your love-making.

Now, you just needed to tell him somehow.

Even if you have lived centuries with Astarion, you had no idea how he felt about children or if he even wanted one.

But it was too late to turn back now.

“Your blood tastes different.” he commented that evening.

“In a bad way?”

“No. It’s just… It was always the same. Always sweet, but now… it’s somehow sweeter.”

“Sweeter?”

“Yes. I’m not sure how. Did you talk with the healer?”

“Yes, I went to the doctor.”

“Are you not sick?”

“No. I’m perfectly healthy for a pregnant woman.”

“Ah, good. Good- wait.” you slowly turned and looked at him, searching his eyes. “Are you lying? Tell me it is only a cruel joke.”

“It is no joke. The doctor confirmed. I’m with child.” his hand gripped yours as he couldn’t look away from your eyes, as if he was waiting for you to say it was all just a joke.

And when you never said anything, he hugged you. 

“I’m happy.” he said and honestly, you didn’t need him to say anything else.

The happiness coming from him and his touches were enough. 

More than enough.

You couldn’t wait to paint your child with him. You could only imagine him holding your child. You wanted to paint it already.

The End.

A/N: A HUGE thank you to everyone who supported this series!

The above photo is not mine! Credit goes to the owner!

Series Masterlist

Oil Taglist: @b33l1ghtfu11h0n3y @usuallyunlikelyfox @andromeda-gaylaxy @girl-with-an-orange-cat @joyfulfxckery @perseny @a-tong

Taglist: @fleursirvart @greenarrowhead @thisismysecrethappyplace @sincerelyfan @theoneanna @aestheticsandmarvel @rororo06 @castellandiangelo @destynelseclipsa @spilledinkindumpster@capsiclesdoll @puknow @alwayshave-faith @alex12948 @lxdyred @imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl @anonymoussherlockandmarvelgeek @praline357 @trshngyn @avengers-r-us @violet-19999 @top1bbgloak  @manduse  @jacalineiscomingforyou @mandoloriancookie @noname2246

In case you want to help out a dreamer: patreon.com/multific  

~Masterlist~

ˇAO3ˇ

DO NOT STEAL, REPOST OR TRANSLATE ANY OF MY WORKS

[stawpny]

hey

I know I haven’t like posted but that was cause I was in DC

it’s really cool

but anyways, have some NY headcannons I thought of while driving 8 hours there and back

(my drama club cast list is coming out tomorrow AHHH [we are doing mean girls])

-

-New York has got the best fashion style out of anyone in the statehouse, buuuuuttt since this years fashion week was.. something, he has been downgraded to the second best. Cal’s the first now, ever since whatever the fuck that was happened.

-Punk NY x Hippie CA is something I need injected into my VEINS. I feel like they would be so cute together anddd the fan art would be delicious bc I would eat it with no hesitation.

-New York has the hand writing of like a fancy founding father. Like one that wrote, “We The People” on top of the constitution, or when he has too much coffee, he has a handwriting of a third grader. (just like me!)

-I imagine that when it gets “hot” here in New York (higher then 80 is too fucking hot for me) he just flops himself anywhere in the NE part of the house and just lays there until someone gets fed up or helps him. (NJ would get fed up, MA would help him)

-he gets frequent headaches so he just carry’s around a small bag of advil or Tylenol, or sometimes keeps it like pocket candy in his pockets like he’s about to give it out to children.

-I feel like he would take care of states (mostly southern) when they were young, along with Georgia and Virginia. The only reason he did so was because Penn claimed he wasn’t “man enough” so he had to do what he also claimed, “women’s work”. (No shade to ppl living in PA)

-I believe that Long Island bullies RI for two reasons, he isn’t an island, and LI is bigger than RI. LI always says that he should be a state instead and Rhode should just merge with MA or CT. (this is true, as a Long islander myself)

-I know NY is bigger than like many states in the NE, but I like the idea of him being the same height as MA or a little shorter. New Jersey would be shorter, same with RI and CT, but I feel like they would be the same height. (ma and ny)

-MA, CT, NY, and NJ have some maaajor beef with PA.

-New Yorks room is filled with a bunch of posters. Posters of Lana Del Rey, TS, Laufey, Tyler The Creator, Steve Lacy, and others are put up, but he puts more “manly” posters up to distract from the fact he literally has a huge ass Taylor Swift, 1989 poster in his room, above his bed. He has all the eras, but how could he not have a huge poster of 1989 when she wrote a song about his city, like, come on! (my fav album)

- CA x NY= Golden Cat x Black Cat (I keep seeing TikTok slideshows of the two cats and it always makes me think of them)

—

soooo

I had a loooong weekend of hiking around DC

it was fun though

I liked seeing all of the state flags and whateva

anyways, i hope u liked these

ily guys, byyeeee!

[the-teddy-bear-butch]

Alright gay people. Be prepared to lose your shit:

Ronance Lemonade Mouth AU

Nancy is Stella!!! Because I said so!!! Nancy deserves a rebel era and I can so see her being upset about the arts funding being cut for sports, including journalism. Electric guitar player Nancy my beloved >>>

Robin is Olivia, the shy, socially awkward songwriter and singer!!! Going to have her living with Steve as opposed to a grandma or something, but keeping the cat (who ironically in the movie is named Nancy). Might keep the her dad is in prison part? Undecided on how I’m translating Olivia’s background to Robin.

Speaking of Steve, he gets to be Charlie, the drummer! Keeping the pretty hair and parental pressure, but instead of wanting him to go to Stanford or play soccer, his dad wants him to join the insurance firm.

Eddie is Wen because Stella/Wen friendship > Nancy/Eddie besties ofc. Rather than coming in with rap, he adds amazing guitar riffs and heavy metal elements to the band’s sound. His family trouble involves settling in with Wayne, rather than dealing with a new stepmom.

And Mo was hard to decide, but!!! Our own Chrissy Cunningham. Her mom puts so much pressure on her to be the perfect daughter and Mo’s relationship with the one guy translates far too well to Chrissy’s relationship with Jason. Chrissy bass player arc omfg.

The rival band includes Jason, Billy (the one shitty guy who always starts drama), Tommy H, and Lucas (mirroring the basketball team here). Lucas tries to settle the drama throughout the AU.

The story begins when everyone gets detention. Robin and Chrissy were skipping class, Nancy blew up at someone about a news segment. Eddie got mad at a teacher, and Steve hit someone with a basketball (on accident).

The music teacher is Joyce and she leaves them all alone and that goofy little music moment happens and they all sing together.

Instead of Mel’s Lemonade, hear me out: Argyle’s Lemonade.

Robin has severe stage fright, but the band helps her get through it, especially Nancy. She and Steve live together. Eddie is often over to help with lyrics. She has an old ass cat that’s the last thing she has of her mother, just like Olivia.

Nancy gets to be rebellious in this fic. Her dad thinks she should just settle for a white picket fence (when he bothers to pay attention to her at all), her mom doesn’t really fight it, so Nancy rebels. She’s also getting the school newspaper together after the funding cut. Tell me this girl isn’t the kind to protest lack of free speech and the removal of the lemonade machine.

Eddie was only just sent to Wayne. It’s supposed to be temporary. In the same way Wen gets used to his stepmom, Eddie has to get used to Wayne and they do eventually grow closer. The scene where it’s revealed that Wen’s stepmom is moving in is instead Eddie arriving home to all of his belongings there in boxes and his parents nowhere to be seen—his stay is suddenly much more permanent.

Steve’s dad wants him to be an athlete (basketball) and join the insurance firm, but Steve just doesn’t want that. He quits basketball for the band and there’s some family struggle.

Rethinking the living situation, I may have Robin and Steve move in together partway through the story as opposed to the beginning, but I’m unsure where that leaves Robin. Her background is the hardest to work out.

Chrissy learns to stand on her own, gets away from her mom’s expectations, and sees Jason as the manipulative shitheel he is. Naturally she falls for one of the band’s biggest fans: Vickie.

Dustin plays the role of the AV kid that helps the band throughout the movie. He shows Nancy around in the beginning, explains the budget cut, and he makes the first vinyls for the band.

Nancy gets to rock Billy’s shit because I said so.

In the end scene, it’s Max and Lucas who save the day. Lucas leaves the rival band to help Lemonade Mouth out, Max is the first person in the crowd to start singing.

Steddie is established already. Ronance is the focus. Any of the Wen/Olivia scenes will be Ronance instead because I said so. Rumors circulate that Eddie and Robin are dating because Steddie keeps quiet and Robin isn’t out and the whole band finds it hilarious.

[karamell-sweetz]

welcome to my blog!

pls drop a like once you’ve read this post! | last updated 24 october 2024

BASICS

my name is karamell! its a pleasure to meet ya :D

i go by she/her and am cis female :3 not too fussed abt pronouns tho!

at present i am 17, my birthday is the 16th of june. i’m australian + filipino, so sorry if i post something at an ungodly hour for your timezone lmao

this blog will be for my fandom reblogs, art and countless ramblings! i have a separate account dedicated to undertale multiverse content -> @karamellz-multiverse-l0g (i don’t post there a lot because undertale is on the backburner for now!) i’m currently aiming to get into an animation course for university, so all my art is working towards that :3

i am also self-appointed chairwoman of the rui kamishiro fanclub! not that that’s too important… but i like saying it lol

BYF

i don’t tag my reblogs/queue usually so uhh good luck poring through that >< all of my original posts are tagged for convenience though, you can find my tags in the search bar :3

in relation to that i’m VERY multifandom so srry if you get bombarded with stuff that doesn’t relate to you haha! but hopefully you’ll like the stuff i rb too, i’m a firm believer in the power of brainrot spreading and most of my fandoms are from the same niche anyway!

i dont have a dni because realistically i cant rlly control who sees my stuff, but if you or the stuff you post make me uncomfortable i’ll just block you. no hard feelings <3

FANDOMS + FAV LIST

project sekai - rui kamishiro, tsukasa tenma, wxs, n25, okay actually its everyone i love proseka soo much

vocaloid - miku, una + deco*27, n-buna, kikuo, pinocchio-p, inabakumori, picco, harumakigohan, maiki-p

d4dj - unichørd, hapiara, lyrilily

bandori - pasupa, morfonica, hhw, ras

enstars - trickstar, alkakurei

love live - rina tennoji, shioriko mifune, hanamaru kunikida, ruby kurosawa, you watanabe, ayumu uehara

fragaria memories - romarriche

milgram - amane, yuno, mahiru

undertale (utmv) - xtale, ink, murder time trio

danganronpa - shuichi saihara, kaede akamatsu, k1-b0

twisted wonderland - heartslabyul (deleted the game because UGH the grind)

denonbu - harajuku district

revue starlight - lalafin, karen, aruru (i love all of them tho)

cookie run kingdom - had a very minor fling with this one so you won’t see it a lot

genshin impact - also minor fling, have not played past liyue. solely here for the banger character designs

mcyt (idk if i’ll reblog anything from here but i know a little bit of the dsmp lore and am attempting to understand life series??)

other things you may see: lalaloopsy + other doll lines from that era, mlp, warrior cats, cute art i think is nice, lunime gacha games (i was very much a ‘gacha kid’ back in its prime), puyo puyo, writing stuff, THE COLOUR PINK, webcore, memes, cool crafts, yorushika, other teenage girl things idk

TAGS

karamell yells - ramblings and random stuff, may include headcanons and analysis

karamell doodles - my art! mostly fanart at the moment

karamell’s wips - works in progress (stuff i’ll never finish probably)

karamell’s pocket - posts i want to come back to

karamell gaming - random game screenshots

karamell rolls the gacha - my gacha pulls of varying luck

karamell’s mailbox - asks, submissions, tag games, all that fun stuff

karamell’s rq pile - drawing requests (which are always open btw, feel free to send some in if you’d like!)

karamell stop missing the blonde clown - thirsty? brainrot posts about tsukasa tenma because boy do i love him

karamell’s confections - various big projects (videos, edits, etc). all the cool stuff i make that isn’t normal art basically

karamell’s burning pile of ocs - see image below:

(utmv submissions for this will be posted on my sideblog)

UPDATE: the number is now 350 instead of 244!

when in doubt. rui scribble - various random scribbles of rui kamishiro because i like drawing him

karamell asks a question - mostly polls and stuff i need help with

say hi to my sideblog guys - self rbs from my utmv sideblog @/karamellz-multiverse-l0g. just for a little bump! :)

ALLIURA - general oc posting, inc. OCtobers, oc challenges, animatics, doodles etc. i might make a sideblog for this later when i have more time to work on it

TAGS FOR MINI-SERIES

karamell’s project precure au - project sekai x precure (updates never)

wxs revue au - project sekai x revue starlight (updates randomly)

karamell’s birthday treat cafe - food-themed fandom birthday drawings (on break for a bit)

kamikou seniors trio - tsukasa ena rui posts because i want them to hang out

the mizuruiena agenda continues - mizuki rui ena hanging out

rui dress agenda - rui in dresses what did you expect

rui fanclub sekai - read my blog description. just silly things about a hypothetical rui fanclub

FIND ME! (links are underlined!)

youtube - karamell-sweetz!

tiktok - karamell.sweetz

pinterest - karamellxsweetz

art fight - karamellxsweetz

ao3 - mirai_spxrk

FRIEND ID (GLOBAL SERVERS ONLY)

bandori - 4636316 (karamellxshowtime!) (i might be out of friend space tho)

d4dj - ffzoJpPf (mirai.chørd)

project sekai - 168505012555628545 (karamell?!)

enstars - 7709727947 (karamelloid)

that should be all. enjoy your stay on my silly little corner of the internet!! 🫶

[jariten]

March 2023 Roundup!!

I knew the day would come but not this abruptly. The predicted decrease in my personal consumption of English licensed manga already came true (I read a record low 4 volumes of English manga in all of March) anddddd with the upcoming closure of Bookdepo, and imported books from america costing more and more I don’t think my commitment to english licensed manga will ever be the same. Luckily my favorite comic bookstore is still thriving and my local library system has done a huge effort in expanding their manga selection this past year so I won’t stop reading, but my personal collection of translated manga will not get much bigger. My Japanese collection however... 

I’m back to reading curated anthologies. One that got instant buzz was Mangaka! Sekai Bungaku: Tanbi to Heroine curated by Tosho no Ie and Hideo Yamada. This anthology is a selection of 1970-80s Shoujo manga adaptions of world literature (by “world” read Japan, Europe, and North America). The obvious star is Hideko Mizuno. The woman who raised the bar for what dramatic girls manga could be. For a long time she’s been away from the spotlight but recently has had a resurgence which led to the reprinting of her 1969 hit “Fire!”, the saga of a fictional Detroit rock band and its troubled lead man, Aron. The above mentioned anthology features her retelling of Cinderella which she based on the Brothers Grimm version. Her art in this story is so elegant and lavish I really hope the plans to reprint the rest of her bibliography is successful  so I can read even more. Check the anilist page to see who else is featured in this anthology! I’m also working through the 7 volume Shogakukan Shugyoku no Meisaku Anthology. Each volume is curated by themes such as “family”, “partings”, “tears” or “cats”! Its features primarily works and artists who are regulars in Shogakukan’s family of “Flowers” magazines aimed at girls and adult women of various ages and niches. Its very sneaky how its curated however using chapters from episodically serialized works. Regularly featured in the volumes are Moto Hagio, Akimi Yoshida, Akiko Hatsu, Yumi Tamura, and Keiko Nishi. I’ve really loved the picks so far the genres, settings, and themes are varied and span decades. Among the artists I’m reading for the first time through this series I’ve become very interested in exploring the bibliographies of Sakumi Yoshino and Misako Nachi once I get the chance. Check the anilist page to see the full table of contents!

And I love highlighting something silly and fun I read. Kaeranai Ojisan by Mariko Nishimura  is a gag manga about a group of middle aged men coping with a world that is trying to move on from the aggressive work ethic of the Showa era, by replacing overtime with... after work playtime. Together they do trust falls, skipping rocks on the water, stand in the middle of a train station in the middle of rush hour to feel like they’re in a drama, sword fighting with sticks, and practice NiziU choreography. Currently there’s a sequel series running and it recieved a short live action adaption fall of last year.

And I never formally said anything but Tokimeki Tonight is temporarily away from this blog until I do a reread. The caps were practically at the end of the Ranze arc and my Japanese has come a loooong way since I first read it so I want to go through it again with fresh eyes. In the meantime I will post from the side story Makabe Shun no Jijou! This 2013 miniseries shows us a bit of Shun’s childhood before the series started and what some of the main series chapters were like from his perspective. A cute little addition to the Ranze arc’s canon. 

Thank you for reading as always. Just feel the need to share that I’m moving away from licensed manga since that was such a significant focus of this blog and these roundups for so long. But its time for new priorities now that I personally don’t need translations for accessibility and buy manga licensed mainly bc it’s less of a logistic headache to acquire. 

[gemstone-golem]

Week 2 of my daily art project: OCtober!

this week was definitely more rough than the last one. i still feel happy with a lot of these designs, but drawing these were a lot more rough than the last week.

costume reasonings under the cut!

-ive shown off Broken Sky before this, she was chosen as Zeus from Hades because shes a thunderstorm of a woman, being dressed as the god of thunder just made sense for me.

-Viola and Martha are basically a lesbian duo who love eachother dearly, so having them dress up as what would basically be their inverses was fun. so yeah, luigi and king boo.

-Pcal is a dumbas catgirl i made for my girlfriend. so obviously i draw the dumb catgirl as the iconic dumb cat girl, neko ar- I MEAN! Arcueid Brunestud. shes an iconic fighting game character and i just thought itd be fun to represent her. im totally not a dipshit with this choice no. totally not.

-Johnathan Ilk is this weird guy. like scary weird. hes not ultimately trying to be harmful, but hes fucked up. he also has an inate connection to the forest, as he skins several dozen animals a day. making his costume be Leshy from Inscryption was basically a perfect idea in my head.

-okay so. chese is weird because its so specific. its a deltarune au character, ill explain. Chese is a robot, and its name stands for Chaos and Havoc Era Service Engine, so itsjust. a chaotic robot! making it based on Junkil REDUX, a robot body form (i think) whos also about chaos and whatever, it was a good idea in my head! i think.

-Megan and Souble are also a duo but its the same kinda inverse situation. i chose the two characters from clash of clans of all games, because one is a red cloaked black haired human thunder wizard and another is a beige clothed goblin rogue, but megan is a red cloaked red haired human rogue, and souble is a beige clothed goblin weather wizard! it was a fun inversion i liked. also fun fact, i actually used the color pallates of the opposite characters for their outfits in this drawing! megan has the colors of souble's outfits, and souble has the colors of megan's outfits!

-day 14 is the weekend, and on the weekends im planning to draw the ocs of my friends, so i chose a discord friend of mines bee oc. she asked for Jelly to be drawn as Buzzinga from My Singing Monsters, so it was p fun to. do this. i dont got much to say here tho.

[obb-z-scene]

Uhh here's a wip introduction for G-0073, everything is subject to change and I will probably eventually redraw him. My art style changes too quickly 😭. Also you will probably get at least a sketch of his morty and/or summer soon 👀

Rick G-0073, aka "Idol Rick"

He/Him, trans man, gay

Born October 31st

He hides his age on literally every document so nobody except birdperson knows it.

On the nicer side of the spectrum, though only because his toxicity is pointed towards himself. Also he hoards a bit too much, but it works in his favor.

Depression, restrictive eating disorder

Backstory

SUICIDE WARNING AND VERBAL ABUSE MENTION WARNING, BOTH VERY BRIEF

If you'd like a summary without one or both of the triggering things do ask me in any way and I'll tell u!

He used to be a girl with verbally abusive parents that ran away from home. He joined a group of girls at school that were, too, mentally ill. He spent his time in alleyways perfecting his scientific and mechanical craft. One day he's caught up in a fight and gets saved by a dimension hopping Rick. The Rick gifts him the power of portal travel, teaching him how it works and wishing him luck before going on his way.

Years later, at 16, he's turned pregnant by his boyfriend before said boyfriend runs off with Ricks best friend. Rick ends up having Beth, and by the time Beth was born, Rick was doing pretty well financially since he was becoming a growing kaigai j-pop idol. He raised Beth as best as he could, and she ended up meeting Jerry at her 18th birthday party. The same night, Jerry gets her pregnant. To Beth's relief, Jerry stays, and they end up having Summer and Morty. A month after Morty is born Beth loses the fight to postpartum depression, never having had it with summer, and overdoses to death.

By this point Rick has figured out he's a trans man, and seeks comfort and distraction in the citadel due to how upset he is from Beth's death. Jerry ends up having to raise the kids himself and becomes a little more competent than most Jerry's. He also finds out he's queer cause YEAH!!

Rick only returns occasionally to do concerts, and never goes home during his citadel Era. When he's not doing concerts in his home dimension he's doing concerts (and drinking copious amounts of alcohol. And hookups.) On the citadel. They're different than his on planet concerts, as on earth he still presents as a girl to keep his title of idol. Eventually his streak ends, realizing how lonely he is and he hesitantly comes back home. Jerry is a little hesitant to let him stay but the kids are very excited so Jerry ends up welcoming him back into the family.

--

Extraaa

Rick has a specific outfit and makeup routine for his on earth performances, unsure how I will draw it if I draw it at all.

@skimpilydressedwithanaxe had the idea of him going to his concerts by plane travel and honestly that sounds super cool I may implement that in there

Jerry has a boyfriend that's this large slime blob dude and he's pretty cool

Rick actually loves his grandkids, he has a mildly hard time showing it but he does. He also doesn't hate Jerry since he's a bit more competent. Jerry is still a silly little loser though.

He's not too much of an asshole to his family and friends, but gives his enemies emotional damage.

He's really flexible, he's like a cat. Him being very underweight + his flexibility allows him to shock Morty everytime he squeezes under super small spaces.

His voice is still femme, he just never cared to change it. Never bothered for any surgery besides removing his breasts either.

[bristlefrost]

🎠✨about me ✨🎠

🖤 rory, she/her, 19

🤍 cis femme lesbian, latina, full time college student

❤️ self described hopeless romantic. i only wear black, white, and red, and i’ve been described as “what would happen if cruella de ville saved dogs instead”. enthusiast of trash teen television. a pleasure to have in both class and the mosh pit.

🖤 i’m trying to take my art more seriously, so i’ll be posting mostly my writing and art. as for writing, i have a few fanfictions that i work on, mostly long ones, but i’m trying to get into writing shorter one shots to break up that flow. other than that, i do write original pilots and scripts, as i hope to be a tv writer one day! for my artwork, i do work with fiber, fashion, and furries! i also draw ponies, feral animals, and am slowly trying to hone my human artwork skills.

🤍 regarding fandoms- i’m in my riverdale era at the moment and i haven’t been able to think about anything that wasn’t bughead for 3 weeks straight. ask me about my lesbian bughead trutherism and you’ll get an essay in response. otherwise, i adore gossip girl (2007), my little pony: friendship is magic, undertale & deltarune, and erin hunter’s warrior cats novel series.

❤️ card carrying kinnie- the relevant ones are jenny humphrey (gossip girl 2007), betty cooper (riverdale), hollyleaf (warrior cats), rarity (my little pony: friendship is magic), and noelle holiday (deltarune). if you vehemently hate any of these characters i’m not going to tell you not to follow but i’m not sure there’s much for you here. if you kin any of them, it doesn’t bother me so long as you don’t tag my personal art/writing of them with kin tags (other characters in the same work are fair game, though!)

🖤 no dni just don’t be a bigot and we’ll be fine. i also try to make tumblr a comfortable space for myself so i may block people for no reason other than “reblogging a lot from a ship i don’t care for” or something similar, please don’t take it personally!

🤍 i try to tag common triggers but some things may slip through the cracks, feel free to shoot me a dm about it

❤️ i don’t think i’m scary and i want to make friends here! especially if we’ve got interests in common, send me a dm (my offer to discuss lesbian bughead trutherism is GENUINE my dms are open to all)!

🖤 last but not least, this is a remade blog, i’m trying to be more organized and less stressed by this silly app than i was last time, any old mutuals who find me are welcome back

[svnflowermoon]

“ WE'RE COLLATORAL HERE, MAN WE GOT HIT . . . ”

i hope you enjoy your time here <33

anon list || pronouns page || pinterest || spotify

➵ you can call me lucy or luce and any other nicknames that fit, also i adore petnames

basic info. ➵  they/she, 17, lesbian (also somewhere on the aroace spectrum idk babe I'm confused), certified romantic advice-giver, enfp, gemini, nz, i adore dogs, plant mum, i love painting, pesto lover, writing is my life, i love going on walks and picnics, I'm 100% a spring girlie, i can't live without music, spotify is the loml, pinterest whore, i hate coffee (sorry), avid lover of platonic love, i overshare on the internet, slytherin, i don't ship real people but idc if you do as long as you're respectful about it, i love character design!!! i've been told by my best friends that i'm a real life nick nelson & remus lupin (also a wet cat but let's just ignore that ahahaha <3 i am insanely obsessed with halley's comet by billie eilish and i literally have a tag for it that's how much i adore it (#THE SONG OF ALL TIME) i often disappear from tumblr for a while due to my mental health <3 free palestine!!!

music. ➵  billie eilish, conan gray, maisie peters, gracie abrams, chappell roan, FINNEAS, holly humberstone, lyn lapid, sabrina carpenter, olivia rodrigo, ABBA, arctic monkeys, fletcher, queen, claire rosinkranz, girl in red, phoebe bridgers, boygenius, renee rapp, troye sivan, lauv, harry styles, niall horan, lizzy mcalpine, griffy, johnny orlando, ricky montgomery, zayn, maggie lindemann, louis tomlinson, beabadoobee, ella jane, cigarettes after sex, emei, tate mcrae, lana del rey, melanie martinez, 5sos, the neighbourhood, chase atlantic, clairo, hozier, paramore, and more

books. ➵ osemanverse, hunger games, anne of green gables, the seven husbands of evelyn hugo, a good girls guide to murder trilogy, the other side of the sky, his dark materials trilogy, red white and royal blue, i kissed shara wheeler, marauders era (not the actual series just the marauders. also anti jkr ew fuck that bitch), six of crows, shadow and bone and more

movies + tv shows. ➵  spiderverse movies, marvel, stranger things, heartstopper, young royals, red white and royal blue, first kill, anne with an e, hunger games, gilmore girls, i am not okay with this, my policeman, shadow and bone, she-ra, httyd, and more

characters. ➵ natasha romanoff, wanda maximoff, james potter, kate bishop, loki, katniss everdeen, max mayfield, robin buckley, tara jones, tori spring, alex claremont-diaz, jimmy kaga-ricci, georgia warr, evelyn hugo, remus lupin, sirius black, regulus black, lorelai gilmore, remus lupin, sirius black, elle argent, tao zu, beth harmon, finnick odair, jesper fahey

art. ➵ i love art but posting it is terrifying. i've just started doing digital art last year but my stupid ass drawing tablet broke so uh yayyy no more of that for the time being. i mainly paint but I'm doing printmaking at school so that there's more variation

my blogs. ➵ 

alt acc: @goldwingangell

writing: @svnflower-writes + my ao3 is sunflowerrmoon

mediocre poetry: @lostmypagewhenyoukissedme

aesthetics: my moodboards @partyfavorr

billie eilish icons: @eilishicons

note. ➵ i would love to be friends with you, please do not hesitate to message me/send me an ask (preferably an ask im an awkward mess in dms) i literally cannot shut up so if you talk to me abt anything i love i will enthusiastically respond (often in all caps) <3 my discord is the same @ i use here and if we're close you can ask for my insta <33 if you know me irl please stop looking at my blog. there's a 96% chance i don't want you looking at this blog, please don't take it personally <33 also, i'm sorta selective abt who i follow back and i rarely follow people back who don't have an intro post or a bio with an age bracket, name, and pronouns.

➵ thank you for reading my intro post <3

“. . . HOPE YOU FIND SOMEWHERE SAFE FOR YOUR BAGGAGE .ᐟ ”

[here-there-were-dragons]

#AND THEN THERE WERE THE ADVENTURE SERIES#people meticulously remaking warrior cats books in Spore#original wolf adventure series#<- my favorite was Pheonix's story and even then I never played it all the way through#Ghost's reckoning was also pretty good#Pikachu9001 if you're out there I hope you are well#crowfish crap#also- back then I was around 10 y/o and all this was the closest thing I had to social media- which I did some pretty embarrassing things on

i remember when people would meticulously make entire tlospyro sequel fanfics to the order of hundreds of episodes and multiple series, with literally hundreds of individual ocs plus crossovers with eachother's fics, and literally every single one of them had the EXACT same forwards anime scene hair, crystal horns/tail, and that one green sparkly anime girl eye part. they always had a "dark side" that was just a recolored black and red/purple version of themselves with all their detail parts replaced with skinny bone horns and some name like "eclipse", their story always started with them hatching in a completely random nest out in the middle of an empty field with their soon to be dead parents standing awkwardly nearby, and they always had names like crystal and skyler. and there was ALWAYS an elemental valley. which was always a neon green area with a volcano in the middle and it was always the protagonist's main base. inevitably the creator would eventually upload a creation outlining the elements system in their version of the increasingly-dubiously-spyro-universe and without fail it would always be a massive list of redundant synonyms where things like "bug" and "insect" and "fire" and "flare" were counted as separate elements from eachother. their ocs were always tweenagers and they always had a generic boarding school arc with an obligatory mean girl bully. they always always always had a side deviantart account where they would post unironic mspaint warrior cats art of a cat with scene hair where the picture was split down the middle and half their face was evil. i planned to do similar things on adventure side, but could never manage to sit down and do. in retrospect maybe the fact that my own obligatory crummy mary sue chosenone glitterdragon oc was the only one i had ever seen anywhere that wasn't a teenager and didn't have hair was a sign i wasn't meant for that life after all.

i wonder what crystaldragoness and lydiadragon and their ilk are up to these days.

... i once saw one of those tlospyro fanfic series people who gave all their female quadruped tlospyro dragon ocs visible breasts.....

i distinctly recall at least one long-running warrior cats fanfic series in which the player character died and came back to life at least twice, reincarnated at one point, grew angel wings, and became the leader of a clan multiple different times. and had so many boyfriends.

one time someone remade the entirety of httyd in the adventure editor. i also remember someone else who just kept making adventures about how much they love micheal jackson and hated anyone that disagreed.

the era where everyone was trying to form spore "guilds" and clubs. there was this one created by some guy that was just called like spore+ or the spore club or something that for a particular stretch of time held such a death grip control via upvote/downvote campaigns over the most popular new page that it was functionally impossible for anyone that wasn't part of that massive club to get on the high rated pages at all. and then there was some falling out drama that guy had with someone named pat-somethingorother, who primarily made weird swear-laden adult adventures about humanoid cats, and it was a mess. people used to get CUTTHROAT about the most popular new page, man. you would almost think it actually mattered.

to this day i still have no idea what UBD is other than that it seems to be a catchall term for horror.

a unique effect of the way spore's sharing system worked that i noticed was just how... casual the culture of the time was around just crossing over anything at random. night furies and enderdragons both just Exist in your otherwise totally unrelated spore galaxy series world? yeah sure no prob whatever man. minecraft's here? sure throw that in too. your spyro fanfic is abruptly interrupted by your actual normal spore space captain showing up and becoming part of the fun? not even a blink. just give em the fucking, idk death note or something too while you're at it, it literally will not even register as anything out of the ordinary to anyone at all. it went beyond just cameos, it was more like everything was just sort of this malleable borderless franchiseless copyright mindset-free soup where any possible element and universe can just seamlessly slot in wherever and no one would bat a single eyelash at your arbitrary simultaneous inclusion of your night fury oc, the existence of the kung fu panda universe, a magic system blatantly lifted wholecloth from whatever tv show of your choosing, megamind, several species from star wars, several gods and lore events from directly conflicting modules of d&d, literally just sepheroth, and a hetalia character as a neon legwarmer wolf who's dating your oc and then they all end up somehow on the rise of the guardians planet into the exact same allegedly spore universe adventure about your captain fighting the grox with clark and stanley. it was so completely normal of a thing to do that it didn't even register to anyone as being a crossover. it was just There. these are elements of this universe now. it defies description in modern terms, you had to just.. be there. all the time otherwise completely 100% original/spore universe stories would randomly and for literally no reason include copyrighted characters or magic systems and whatnot as side characters that, i cannot stress this enough, were there for literally no reason at all and made absolutely no sense, and this was seen as totally normal. there were multiple instances where that grox-fighting scifi adventure randomly included hiccup httyd or some random mario character or a spyro oc as a side character and it was just never mentioned or explained on any level at all, it was just There.

also, everyone was really obsessed with the concept of lush overgrown magical safe haven valleys. i don't remember why... maybe it was just something about a quirk of the GA building engine that made creating that sort of thing an easy way to make a cool environment without resorting to invisible walls and particularly fun to put together.

god that post about spore just reminded me of the fucking. rp wolf heads. you're not a real spore og if you don't remember the goddamned wolf heads.

wolf spaceships, everywhere. every empire's fleet made out of floating canines announcing that they're online or bored or happy or eating broccoli. infinite furry accounts posting nothing but rp chatrooms and status updates about beef with fellow creators in the form of slightly recolored wolf head spaceships with little exclamation points if they were feeling spicy. and then the dragon heads. the fox heads. the warrior cats heads. though often, these other animal heads would just be the same wolf head template with a few added details. but always, inescapable, that damn recolored template wolf. it haunted me. it filled my every game. my meticulously designed speculative biology creations would be sullied by the rng of the game deciding in it's endless wisdom to christen their empire with yet another fleet of decapitated carnivora. endless wolf heads. i saw them in my dreams.

[rbayray]

Kinda funny how child me thought she invented catgirls.

[sweet-star-cookie]

3, 11, 21, 27, 30 for the weird art ask game!!

Eeeey these are great, thank you! :D I’ll put the answers under the cut to save a dash or two haha

3. What ideas come from when you were little?

I’m assuming this is asking “what ideas do you have now that started from when you were little”, so I’m going to answer it like that lol

I have a bunch of different story ideas and characters that are from varying eras of my life at this point, all of which I intend to reboot/finish eventually, but rather than getting into all of those at once, I’ll talk more about general subjects/inspirations that I’ve had since childhood. It's interesting to see what subject matter I was most interested in at different parts of my life though!

I was REALLY into animal fantasy growing up (Warriors, Guardians of Ga’Hoole, etc.) so a lot of my oldest ideas feature animals/fantasy creatures as the protagonists, something that absolutely did not change! My love for dragons in particular (thanks to Spyro the Dragon) is one of the first things that any new person I meet learns about me, though I also really love cats (especially big cats), birds (especially owls and raptors), dogs (especially foxes and wolves), and pretty much every cool mythical creature I can think of. I had friends who were horse girls, and I was the dragon girl (Spyro, Dragonology, Eragon, The Last Dragon Chronicles, Dragon-type Pokémon, you name it). Though I have done some much needed expansion of my skills and subject matter since, I still tend to favour animal characters and creature design to drawing regular humans, to the point that I didn’t actually start drawing humans until college! Even with humanoids or monster kids, I tend to give them a lot more animal traits where possible, as I usually find them most interesting to work with.

Runescape was an early inspiration for my love of knights and fantasy weapon/armour design, and that definitely hasn’t changed either! I’m glad that my ability to draw humans has increased enough that I can actually draw proper armour on them now lol

Despite how prominent my star aesthetic is now (primarily influenced by Kirby), that actually wasn’t something that would appear in my art as a significant motif/influence until later in life. Or rather, I’d use it a lot as a kid without really thinking about it, as a lot of general fantasy stuff uses that aesthetic too, but I wasn’t consciously aware of my love for it until much later, and thus I lean into it a lot more nowadays. The influence was there from the start, but I guess the sleeper agent in my brain took a bit to kick in lol

Honestly, I carry the vast majority of my interests from childhood into my current art, so this list is far from exhaustive! Not to get too philosophical here, but I think I primarily use my art to maintain the connection to those things, as they still bring me the same or similar joy as they did in the past, only now I have the proper skills to actually make those ideas real. I think child me would freak out if she saw what I can do now, so it’s a great feeling :)

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what?

The short answer is “almost anything”, as I usually just have my unorganized YouTube playlist going when I need to work for a while, which I’ve periodically added stuff to over the years whenever I stumble across a new track I like. My taste in music is so varied that it’s incredibly hard to explain, though generally I tend to favour upbeat/fast tracks while working, keeps that dopamine flowing, you know? Anything from EDM to 90s/00s pop to power metal to electroswing to VGM, whatever gets the gears turning in the moment!

That said though, I’m in the process of curating more specific playlists for specific moods or if I’m drawing a particular type of sequence or scene (like a battle music playlist when drawing two characters fighting, stuff like that). I do this for when I’m writing stuff too, as I’m currently in the process of refining my workflow for comics and such, so hopefully that’ll be helpful for getting into the mindset for each of those different scenes later on. I find that I can't usually focus on art with anything other than music playing in the background though, even stuff I've seen before. Not quite sure why, but especially in the case of cartoons/anime, even if I've seen it a million times, I still like looking at it too much lol

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

Answered here! :)

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with?

Honestly every time I remember that warmups are a thing, I ALWAYS forget to actually do them, almost like a weird object permanence type thing lmao

Maybe if I actually got into a routine I might find them useful, but generally I find just drawing circles and lines to be too boring as a warmup. Not by deliberate choice really, as I’m sure they’d actually be helpful with consistent use, but really I just kind of... start until something happens I guess? My methods are mine, sure, but I wouldn't call them efficient necessarily. Either I get into the groove with what I’m drawing or I don’t, and then I decide if I keep pushing through or I switch to something else, especially if I'm working a specific character design/concept. The way that I refine the art for my character sheets involves gradually erasing/redrawing the same sketch until it’s essentially cleaned into line art (I find it keeps more of the life of the drawing that way), so I’m used to this kind of approach when starting my art in general. If I have to doodle something first to start, it’ll usually be a head of some kind of dragon or other animal.

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated?

Oooh… that’s a tough one! It’s hard to determine if art you post gets what you feel to be the amount of attention it deserves, as so many factors like post time, subject matter, and luck can determine how many people see it and/or interact with it. I guess my logo design stuff in general is kind of underrated? In the sense that I don’t think there are a lot of people out there that specifically nerd out when they see it like I do. Or at least, I haven’t come across many people that do so far! I understand why of course, characters and such are always going to have a far more universal appeal, and character design will always be my main forte, I just really love logo designs too, as I feel they can have a certain “character” of their own when done right. [insert the "graphic design is my passion" meme here but like, unironically] Here’s one of my most recent logo designs that I’m especially proud of :)

It's posted here if you'd like to reblog it independent of this post :3c

[danny-chase]

wait selina had her own protege? Tell me more 🥺

[Image ID: A young girl (maybe like 13-15) with hazel (yellowish) eyes and short brown hair. She's wearing a lot of eye makeup, a little hat with cat ears, and goggles. She wears a tie, pink vest, and grey t-shirt with pawprints. End ID]

Batman (1940) #642

Kitrina Falcone - link to wiki

She was a Catwoman copy cat (haha sorry i couldn't help it) who grew up with her abusive uncle (Mario Falcone - he literally tries to kill her in the arc she's in, she calls him uncle - but others claim she's his little sister and she claims she's Carmine's daughter) and lived on the streets for a while. She looked up to Catwoman and imitated her, but Selina steals some of her maps (i think like blueprints for heists or smth idk) so she breaks in to Selina's house to steal them back.

At this point she was working for Penguin (she bombed a place it was a whole thing) - her map making skills are vital for taking down/locating Black Mask so she's vital (she's doing this for the bounty). And she and Selina get on and Selina gives her a costume and she becomes Catgirl.

[Image ID: Selina Kyle as Catwoman and Kitrina Falcone as Catgirl stand on a rooftop next to each other with the moon illuminating them. The Catgirl costume has a studded silver belt and collar, black claw-like gloves, black leggings, and a black tank. There are pink zagging stripes on the side of the torso and back of her calf that have silver behind them. She also wears pink ankle high converse with a purple cat icon patch on the side. She has a mini cowl with cat ears that are pink on the inside and pink scale-like bracelets/ruffles at the end of her gloves. Narration boxes (Dick): Or in this case, in the reflection I catch out of the corner of my eye - the swift and agile movement in the reflection of the windows across the street. Selina: He's gone, Catgirl. Kitrina: I want to follow him. I bet he has a cool hideout. Selina: No. You have much to learn... and lesson one starts tonight. End ID]

Batman (1940) #697

Idk if she has any appearances as Catgirl, but following her appearances listed in the wiki she lives with Selina for a while until Dick tries to talk her into going to boarding school (with Selina also on board) on orders from Bruce.

[Image ID: Dick and Kitrina argue on a rooftop, Dick as Batman and Kitrina in a white tank top and pink pajama pants. Narration box: I don't have much time to spare on a night like tonight. But Bruce wants Kitrina Falcone out of Gotham. I can't say I disagree. Dick: The Aldridge Boarding School for girls is one of the best in the country, Kitrina. It's everything you need. Kitrina: And nothing I want. Dick: You can't have what you want. I'm taking that away from you. Kitrina Why are you acting like such a dork? I've proven myself. I helped you. Are you forgetting all the - Dick: You're young enough... smart enough to have a normal life. And you're an opportunist... take the one I'm giving yo - Kitrina: No one gives me anything. I take. I have everything I need here. Support. Training. Selina (off panel): Listen to him, Kitrina. End ID]

Batman (1940) #710

Dick lecturing a kid about not being a child vigilante is just jdfklajdkfla hypocrite XD

Anyways from here on, she runs ahead on the case they're working on (i skimmed didn't actually read it) leaving him clues and such it's like the typical young vigilante storyline of being over confident. She gets in over her head, Dick catches up and bails her out - she runs (because this one actually has self preservation instincts unlike the 934758 other batfam characters). Dick gets shot in the head (again - but don't worry the cowl redistributed its impact *sigh* this man has so much head trauma, but comic book logic) by Harvey Dent's wife Gilda no less and wakes up later and finds this letter.

[Image ID: Dick looks down at a paper, bandages are wrapped around his forehead. He's drawn with blocky features there art style isn't doing him any favors. Dick: A letter from Kitrina Flacone. The note reads: Dear Batman, I am writing to keep you from worrying about what became of me. I wouldn't want you to think that "Catgirl" got in over her head. Or was kidnapped, or killed. They show the side of a travelling bus. Note: I'm leaving voluntarily. In fact, I'm going to try out that school you signed me up for. It's probably a dumb idea... but I'm a girl who likes challenges. Kitrina sits looking into the window, seeing her reflection as Catgirl, earbuds in her ears. Note: And putting up with a bunch of rich prissy debutantes will be a challenge. I'm sure I'll put a few of them on their rears by the time it's over. But the point I'm making is, don't count me out. I'll be back. And I will be bad-assed. - Sincerely, K End ID]

Batman (1940) #712

The arc itself is pretty dry and follows a pattern we've already seen from DC comics. Also she's like "I'll be back" and DC just went sike. So. Yeah. Reboot messed her stuff up. It's annoying to me that they made Lian Selina's new protégé or whatever when they already had this storyline right here, and to have Jade drop her off like that is ooc, especially because Roy was right there as well. And while Kitrina might not be for everyone personality wise, I personally would love to see her kick rich kids asses at boarding school. Or just have her train under Selina - because at the least she already grew up watching Selina and trying to emulate her, both in personality and in the skills she taught herself - so the connection for this character is already there - whereas "Shoes" just came out of nowhere.

Another thing I find kind of funny is the popularity of "Stray" fics, because she hits some of the same beats I've heard about (i haven't read any though this is second hand knowledge). To my understanding, when someone (Tim or Jason) is stray, they grow up on the streets trying to escape familial abuse (which she does) and eventually is taken in by Catwoman (which she is) and becomes her protégé (again which canonically happened to this character). Though she doesn't interact with her respective Robin (Damian at the time) too much which i think is also usually a part of said fics.

Anyways here's her being called a stray lakdfjaslfdj

[Image ID: Kitrina as Catgirl slams into a car, Riddler's daughter following after her. Riddler's daughter: I need to warn you. I hate cats. Kitrina is kicked through the cars windshield. Riddler's daughter: Especially strays. Kitrina: Oofh! End ID]

Batman (1940) #711

I have no idea if this is a coincidence or not - this character has very few appearances, which date back to the Dick!Bats era - so i assume most of this fandom doesn't actually know who she is, but it's possible one of the first "Stray" fics used her as inspiration.

Also she freaking bit Dick as Batman which i find hilarious - i know fandom makes a big thing about Damian being a biter but like:

[Image ID: Kitrina bites someone's gloved forearm - it's Dick as Batman but you can't tell from the panel, forcing him to drop a knife. There's a chomp sound effect. Kitrina: What're ya? Crazy?! You're not killing him! Dick: Umff!]

Batman (1940) #696

*CHOMP*

[ja-khajay]

Stuff I read (and liked) this year

As promised, here’s a list of the novels, comics, manga, etc... I read this year, focusing on the ones I enjoyed and would recommend to people. Under a cut, this is going to be a little long.

-------- Books --------

Favorite book of the year: Stranger in the Woods, by Michael Finkel

Non-fiction. Based on the interviews of the man himself by the author, it is about a man who felt so unfit for society he decided one day to leave it, and spent the next 28 years as a hidden hermit in forest in Maine. The book details how he survived there, how he was eventually found, and some of his reasons for doing so. It’s a great reflection on the nature of loneliness.

Indian creek, by Pete Fromm

...Yet another detailed tale of living alone in the woods. This time, the diary of a student who spent a winter in the mountains to help tend for salmon hatchlings, and how he spent the rest of his days hiking, hunting, meeting the locals. It’s a fun little book who, being set almost the whole world away from where I live, was a nice way to travel.

Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

I don’t feel the need to explain this one since everyone and their mom has seen the movie adapted from it. The book, that I first read a decade ago before I actually watched the film, is a less romantized, more spirited telling of the same story. The writing is absolutely delightful and so is the world it paints, and it’s the first time in ages a book had me laughing out loud during my entire read.

-------- Comics (BD) --------

Favorite comic of the year: Monsieur Désire?, by Hubert and Virginie Augustin

A discreet young woman becomes a maid for a decadent, unbearable, byronesque young lord. Caked in the rigid and oppressive social hierarchy of the victorian era, you follow a mental and verbal joust between the two, as the lord tries his best to offend and corrupt his new unrelenting servant, to little success. The writing and especially the dialogues were stellar, drawing me into the tense atmosphere, watching this trainwreck of a character flamboyantly destroy himself. While there’s no precise content warnings that I can give, this is a mature and heavy story.

World of Edena, by Moebius

Anyone who’s followed this blog for over a month knows how much of a Moebius fan I am. Edena combines the vague, dreamlike, wordless storytelling from stuff like Arzach or The cat’s eyes with an actual plot. While I haven’t completly finished the story, the evolution of the main characters and how the story is told have been great to read through, and as always the art is beyond gorgeous. Unfortunately suffers from some good old sexism in the writing that even if minimal, tasted sour

Le roman de Renart, by Joan Sfar (book 1)

Sfar’s work always has a signature vibe of being dreamy and light without being light hearted, of being down to earth but drifting in the fantastical, and this one is no exception. It’s an adaption of a series of medieval folk tales I grew up with, who uses the same characters to tell an original story. If you’re familiar with icons like Renart as well as other mythological big boys like Merlin you’ll fit right in. There is something special in how the dialogues are written, who feel natural in a way that you’d overhear in a street corner and is very special to me.

The mercenary, by VIncente Segrelles

Another one I post about a lot on this blog. The mercenary is a king on the throne of fantasy cheese. The worldbuilding is interesting at times but the writing is a pretty pathetic display of glorious old time sword and sorcery sci-fantasy 10 years too late for it’s prime (warning for ye old sexism and orientalism that plagues the genre, cranked very high...) but you come and stay for the art. The entire thing is drawn in a series of hyper detailed oil paintings with an insane eye for technical detail, from the engineering of the weaponry, to the architecture and weather, to the anatomy of the fantasy creatures... Each panel stands out as it’s own painting which makes even flipping through it without reading the scenario a treat. Click here to see more of the art, in my Segrelles tag.

The ice maurauder, by Jacques Tardi

A short story about mad scientists entirely drawn like a 19th century engraving. In great Tardi tradition everyone is ugly and mean, it ends terribly, it’s both a hommage to the genre of late 19th cent. to early 1900s dramatic adventure novels and a critical eye on it, and it’s morbidly funny. Most people I saw online hated the way this was written but I’m not them and I really recommend this book. Die mad

-------- Manga --------

Favorite manga of the year: it’s a tie between the following two.

Cats of the Louvre, by Taiyo Matsumoto

Most wonderful comic I have read in ages. The story follows a bunch of semi-feral cats secretly living in the Louvre museum’s attic, and the small group of humans who share their life, walking through the museum as the night watch. When the cats are together, they are represented in a humanoid way, but still act like animals, and “become” cats again when a human is nearby. The plot is a sort of supernatural mystery centered around a kitten who walks around paintings. It’s a love letter to art, sincere and beautiful, with a unique art style and great characters.

Memoirs of amorous Gentlemen, by Moyoco Anno

A sex worker in early 20th century paris starts writing down a diary of the clients she meets, in a quest to cope with the troubles of her life. You follow her, her colleagues, and her bittersweet relationship with an abusive lover. I don’t have much words about this comic, but the art and writing both are amazing, it’s the perfect length and drew me in like little series had before. Obvious content warnings as this is an adult story that talks about sexuality, but also depicts both mental and physical abuse.

Hana, also by Taiyo Matsumoto 

A very short story, this was not made to be read as a comic originally, but served as storyboarding and visual development for a play, and the way it is written follows that. Hana is a slice of life story set in a fantasy world, of a young boy, his family, his village. Despite the setting being an original one, the character interactions are refreshingly... normal, and there is no huge plot to speak of, just a bit of the life of these characters. The art is beautiful, entirely black and white, with a scratchy style and an emphasis on contrast. Matsumoto is on a speedy road to becoming my favorite manga artist haha

Delicious in Dungeon, by Ryoko Kui

While not marked as my year’s favorite, I still consider this series among my favorite manga ever. The art and writing are amazing, and it’s both heartfelt, well concieved and plain hilarious. The story follows several parties of dungeon diving adventurers each on their little quests with a premise of our protagonists, on a panic rescue mission, surviving in the dungeon by cooking and eating the monsters they come across. From a DnD party turned cooking manual dinner of the week beginning, the plot creeps up on you and slowly thickens. I don’t want to spoil anything about the overarching story of this because it was a delight to discover for myself. While everything about DinD rules, I am especially fond of the design philosophy of the author, who puts great detail in the practicality and biology of what she draws, as well as the character writing. Everyone even side characters has so much charm and depth to them, the cast is so diverse and entertaining...! Each character is just a bit lame enough but endearing, and has their own little backstory that shows in the way they exist. It’s a delight

Chainsaw man, by Tatsuki Fujimoto

I went into CSM expecting a borderline campy hyperviolent dumb fun thing to read and was very surprised to find an uncomfortably well written story about a teenager being groomed. The hyperviolent dumb fun fights are here nonetheless and the series still qualifies as shonen for some reason, but the more mature character writing as well as some truly outlandish visuals make it something very special. If you can’t stand shonen, not sure you will like it, but if you don’t mind it, worth trying.

Witch hat atelier, by Kamome Shirahama

The oh so elegant fantasy seinen every cool kid started posting about this year, who I also succumbed to and fast. Witch hat is hard to explain, as most of it’s plot revolves around the rules of the world it’s set in, specifically the regulations around it’s magic and the social and historical reasons for them. It’s about growing up, learning, disability, making art. You follow a little girl taken in by a witch as an apprentice, her magical education, and learn little by little why her lovely teacher is so willing to break a lot of rules... While a bit too gentle and pretty for my taste at times, Witch hat has great worldbuilding and explores sensitive themes I rarely see in manga, much less in fantasy. And Berserk wishes it had art this good