#so that’s sort of an exception. if there’s a tempura option though I’m getting that one

[seilon]

really evil that the universe decided I wouldn’t like eating fish of all things. there’s so few big categories of food i dislike and im like. why did it have to be that one. why couldn’t i just not like. idk. celery or something. it’s so unfair

[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.

[gregandnickunplugged]

January 5

Well, today was a whirlwind tour and no mistake. We got up at seven in order to fit everything into the day. Our bedding was switched out and replaced with the table again and our breakfast was brought in at 7:30. I had the Japanese breakfast (rice, miso soup, tofu in a sweet sauce, fish cakes and dried fish, pickles and other vegetables like burdock root) while Nick had the western one. After that and a quick shower we both made sure we had our cameras and hit the streets, taking a train a couple stops south and walking to my favorite temple in Kyoto, Sanjusangendo.

Perhaps I should have saved the best for last since Nick told me later that it was his favorite of the day but the travel logistics just didn't really work out. In any event, words can't do complete justice to the temple and photography isn't permitted so I can't save a thousand words by just posting a picture. The temple gets its common name (it's properly named Rengeouin) from the thirty-three bays between the columns that support the roof. In the center is a massive statue of the thousand-armed Kannon and to each side are five hundred more human-scaled statues of the same, each one slightly differing in dress, face and ornamentation. Then there are twenty-eight statues of Buddhist guardian deities flanked by two native Japanese gods. The effect of walking down that long hall and seeing those thousand and one statues of Kannon looking down on you is out of this world. We got a special treat today as a monk was performing a service in front of the main image as we walked through. Our trip also happens to fall more or less between two major ceremonies at the temple, the New Year's festivity and Toshiya, a recreation of a famous archery contest once held at the temple, now celebrated as part of Coming of Age Day. That would be something to see, one day. Following our tour of the inside and the history of the temple as seen in the back hall, we looked around the grounds. Before leaving for our next stop I picked up charms for both myself and Nick.

Next we walked across the street to the Kyoto National Museum where some sort of event was going on in front of the annex. We went through the main collection which had an emphasis on rooster paintings and figures in preparation for Chinese New Year. We didn't spend too much time but I didn't want to miss it entirely since we were right there, and Nick got a good look at some of the amazing pieces they have. It was interesting hearing his own experiences of temples in India and recognizing some of the figures as being shared between the two cultures. Following that, we headed towards the famous Kiyomizu Temple but on the chaotic madness that is the streets leading up to the main gate we took a quick detour so I could find the gourd shop where I didn't purchase anything last time and correct that mistake. After a bit of turning around I found it and now I have a nice new drinking flask.

The temple itself has been undergoing renovations but they were mostly cleared up when we saw it, except for one area. The crowds were thick but we still got great views and it made for great people-watching. There were lots of kimono-clad girls and of course lots of families. Temple visits are a huge thing right after New Year's and we're still in the middle of that rush. We got some good pictures and we both picked omikuji... and both got misfortune. So I showed Nick the proper way of disposing of the bad luck and we moved on. But just to be extra safe, we waited in the line for the waterfall that gives the temple its name and washed our hands and drank some of its water to receive its blessings. There's a very Japanese mix of new and old there, as the metal cups on a long pole that one uses to take water from the fall are an old touch but the UV sterilizers that you put them back into after you're done are distinctly modern. Feeling suitably blessed, we found a taxi outside the temple and went to Ryoanji.

As it was getting close to one, we stopped at the small café just outside the grounds for a bite first. I got a set meal of cold chasoba, tempura and rice while Nick had an ice cream. He's still a bit under the weather it seems. I also picked up some loose-leaf tea from the ladies selling it near the entrance, made from shiso and ume. We sampled some the last time I came here with Mom and Dad and now I got the opportunity to bring some back with me. The garden that is the centerpiece of Ryoanji is a wonderfully calming thing to observe, with its carefully raked pebbles and its 'islands' of moss and stone. The grounds themselves are also well worth strolling through and almost as soothing to the spirit. It's hard to imagine such a place of such peace within a city of over a million people but Kyoto has so many sites that manage it even amid the bustle.

After that we walked to Kinkakuji, the famed Golden Pavilion. On the way we both found ourselves wishing we had kept our ski hats on hand because it was cold and windy today. On the way I stopped in a liquor store and found that, wonder of wonders, they had more or less every blend I was thinking to look for along with a few I hadn't even heard of before. This after going into a store at Nishiki last night which had a placard specifically saying 'Sorry, we don't have X, Y and Z and we don't know when we will again, please don't ask us for it'. But I didn't have my credit card on me or as much cash as I'd need so I decided to go back to another branch close to Hiiragiya later on.

We were fortunate that the sun made a brief appearance through the clouds as we were ushered into the pavilion grounds, lighting up the building and setting off its gold foil beautifully as we took our photographs. Afterwards we took yet another calming stroll through its grounds. We found ourselves with just enough time to squeeze in Nijo Castle today (originally we planned to do it tomorrow morning before we left) so we took a taxi there and arrived ten minutes before they closed the main building to new visitors at 4. The nightingales were singing merrily as we walked through the castle of the Tokugawas, perhaps helped along somewhat by overly enthusiastic children visiting with their parents. Afterwards we wandered around the grounds and saw some amazing views of the city and the architecture of the castle walls and its gardens before they chased us out at closing time.

We decided to save our feet and cab back to the inn, where we made use of the Japanese bath in our room for a relaxing soak. After that we went out for dinner to a highly recommended okonomiyaki restaurant nearby. It's a dish that's somewhere between pizza and pancake and endlessly customizable in both the basic composition and the specific ingredients and it's something of a specialty in the greater Kansai region which includes Kyoto. Nick had a traditional type incorporating soba noodles and pork along with a sweet sauce while I had a thinner one with no noodles but with lots of negi (green onion) and beef. We also had the necessary sides of gyoza and beers (Kirin) to wash it all down with. It's not exactly the haute cuisine of the night before but it's one more thing I was able to expose Nick to and it was extremely tasty.

On the way back to the inn (meandering through some shops en route) I detoured to that liquor store branch and picked up an eighteen year Yamazaki that I love so much but is becoming impossible to find. I had the option of getting a twenty-five year but at roughly three thousand dollars that was just a bit much. Can't say I wasn't tempted though. Treasure in hand we returned to our room and then I set out again on my own to wander around just a bit more. I'm glad I did because while strolling along near the river I heard live music and went to check it out. A new artist was performing a public recital to celebrate the debut of her first single and gathered quite a crowd. I listened and chatted with some locals who were a bit surprised to see me hanging around for the whole set. Afterwards I bought one of those cds myself.

I returned to the room to type up the day's adventures before sleeping contentedly once again. I'll be sorry to leave this place tomorrow.