#story is very much in development too but hoping for webcomic someday!

[teeth-cable]

Hey. I've seen some of your HB rewrites and their pretty cool. I even like some of the ideas you came up with (ex. Stolas & Stella being political enemies rather than a married couple, imps being intersex & following a binary gender system, etc).

I was wondering if you could give me some writing advice with rewrite stuff. See, I have this portfolio-like series called 'Let's Reimagine', where I revision (i.e. rewrite and/or redesign) a piece of media (be it a show, movie, webcomic, video game, etc), whether it be something I like, or something that while I'm not a fan of, believe that it could've been great (or at least decent) had it been handled better, while also integrating my OCs (including self-inserts) into my revisions as if they were canon characters in said media. This is one of my passion projects that I'd love to bring to life someday, as I wish to make YouTube videos about them when I create my YT channel (which doesn't exist at this point in time) in the future, so for now, I'm starting small by making posts talking about my revisions on Tumblr & Reddit as like a practice run of sorts (like for ex. creating a manga and then having that manga get an anime adaptation, or creating a comic (like a webcomic) and having that be adapted into an animation of some sort (ex. series, short(s), etc), or creating a book or novel and having said book or novel being adapted into a movie and/or series).

I'm also an aspiring writer who wishes to share their stories with everyone for them to enjoy, including 'Let's Reimagine' (where Helluva Boss is one of the shows I plan on reimagining, due to the many issues it's got, especially with the increase of them in Season 2; as much as I like & enjoy HB, I do have to agree that it's kind of a mess, and I get where fans are coming from with its criticisms, especially towards Season 2). However, there are some issues of mine that I feel could detriment my writing abilities & projects (including 'Let's Reimagine') in general (ex. not thinking about potential plot holes, inconsistencies, worldbuilding/lore issues, & questionable/weak/bad writing choices/ideas, rushing into things before thinking & planning stuff out, worrying about my stories not being good enough for anyone to enjoy, feeling inferior compared to other artists & writers, people hating what I make, and thinking the worst possible outcomes; apologizes if that got a little too personal and if I (potentially) made you worried; I suffer from anxiety and have a tendency to get anxious and worked up too quickly, especially when thinking negatively, and trying to be a perfectionist, worrying that if I or my content aren't perfect, then I come across as a failure; but I assure you that I am trying to work on these issues and getting past them for the better).

So, with all that said, do you have any advice in creating & doing rewrites/revisions (ex. planning stuff out, character arcs/development, worldbuilding/lore, plot points, fixing & covering plot holes & inconsistences, fulfilling wasted/missed potential & missed opportunities, avoiding questionable/weak/bad writing choices/ideas, integrating ocs/self-inserts into said rewrite/revision, etc) to any writers out there (including aspiring ones)?

Feel free to respond back to me whenever you get the chance. Thank you and have a wonderful day/afternoon/night. 🤗💕❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💖💕🤗

This is very late, I'm so sorry it took me this long to answer your ask.

Things has changed sufficiently from when this ask was submitted. My HB rewrite is on currently on pause so I can focus on my Hazbin one instead.

I do like the concept of your Let's Reimagine series. It sounds like a fun passionate project in which you experiment with your writing and show tough love for the shows you're rewriting for. I hope soon you'll be able to release your first rewrite for the series.

I have some general writing advice and one specific advice for rewrites I personally use.

Create the world building first

If your rewrite takes place in a fantasy world, I suggest fleshing the world building first before the characters. This is a different world from our, so their rules and lore will affect these characters differently, and you should know why first to explain the certain elements of the both the characters and world. Fleshing the world building first can help create plot ideas and external conflict easier.

Have a Beta Reader

This one is standard. I suggest having a beta reader to review your rewrites and concepts. As writers, we think our stories make sense because we know the context, but to readers who don't know anything, our scripts realistically be confusing at first. Along the same vain, they can help you realize that an idea is underdeveloped or useless. Another good reason is they can offer new and improved concepts and ideas you didn’t or wouldn't think of before.

Be open to criticism

Criticism will help you grow as a writer. You don't have to like them all or listen to every piece, but still keep an open mind because they can and will help you. I heavily suggest being open to criticism specially when you’re writing a topic you have no experience in (Ex: mental illness, addiction, a specific identity). Again, not only will it help you improve, but also portray those topics better.

Rewrite

My only rewrite specific advice is to expand and flesh out ideas and characters, you felt the original show skimmed over. In both of my rewrites, I'm putting a greater focus on the world building, dark character concepts and how they intertwined with each other because the shows barely touches on them. It's your rewrite so do whatever you want with it, don’t feel limitless.

I hope this helps!

[yurimother]

Interview: Shilin Huang, Creator of Amongst Us and Carciphona

Shilin Huang ( @okolnir​​ )is a Canadian freelance artist and comic creator, known for her long-running series Carciphona. She has a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Western Ontario. Carciphona is a long-form fantasy story set in a world where demon-magic is forbidden. The series follows a young sorceress named Veloce, and the mythical assassin assigned to kill her, Blackbird.

Shilin’s newest book, Amongst Us, based on the webcomic of the same name, is an alternate universe comic that reimagines Veloce and Blackbird as musicians and girlfriends in the modern world. You can support the physical release for Amongst Us book 1 on Kickstarter today.

The first book of Amongst Us is coming soon. How do you feel about the release?

Eager and relieved!! I had worked for so long to make the web format viable for print format, as well doing all the extra drawings that were necessary--like covers--that I had to keep under wraps, it felt great to know that that part is finally done and I can release my child into the wild. I was very worried too before the launch of the Kickstarter, because though I am the one who made this story, I am not quite a slice-of-life type of person myself, and it was hard for me to see value in this mundane, not-plot-driven kind of story as a printed book. But I was very lucky to have that worry dispelled!

What drew you towards creating comics and artwork? Was it a dream of yours?

I’ve been drawing since before elementary school because I enjoyed it, and somewhere along the way, I wanted to create my own characters, and then I wanted stories for them. It was always just me doing what I felt like doing, more so than something that I aspired towards achieving consciously. If I had to analyze the allure myself, maybe it was because people and the world are so interesting, I’ve always loved thinking about their nature and circumstances, and art/storytelling was the best way for me to explore and share those thoughts.

Could you briefly walk us through your creative process for making a page of Carciphona or an episode of Amongst Us?

Carciphona is a long, plot-driven story, and so the scale of preparation required before the page eclipses the actual drawing of the page itself. [A] small moment has some larger impact in the plot, character development, and accuracy of world-building. So I usually spend about half a year or more writing out an entire volume, read it over many times over the course of the years, before I do the same thing with sketching the entire volume on the computer, rearranging pages and panels and entire scenes for best delivery, before I finally commit to drawing out each page in detail on the computer. 

Where Carciphona is like an elaborate set course where I chop up and measure ingredients and time their cooking with a careful game plan so everything can be served as they should, Amongst Us is more like an omelette that I’m making to taste. There is still planning and writing ahead of time, but each episode is much more self-contained, and I do more of the planning of the episode within the episode itself, adding and taking away details as I see fit before I feel like it reads naturally enough for me to fine line, colour, and paint.

You talk about being a self-taught artist, how did you learn to create artwork? What are some of your favorite educational resources?

While I did come across many tutorials, they were mostly short ones here and there made by my peers, so I don’t have any favourites in my mind that I can share ): . I learned by just looking at the art of my peers at the time and drawing a lot myself, thinking about what I could learn from each time I see something great, and what I could try next time to make the next drawing look better to me. When I had just started drawing digitally, the internet was quite new, drawing tablets expensive and uncommon, with no social media to share art or find resources. Over time, I did try to learn more properly by doing studies and seeking out professional tutorials, but I found that I hated it and decided that I’d rather learn and make mistakes at my own pace and be happy than to commit to effective and efficient learning and make myself dislike drawing.

Amongst Us is, of course, an Alternate Universe comic featuring characters from Carciphona. What inspired you to put your characters into a GL slice of life work?

Back in 2006, when I started drawing Carciphona, I had no plans of this frenemies dynamic for the two main characters, Blackbird and Veloce, and when the thought had occurred to me as I continue to tweak the story, canon GL relationships were still rare and rarely accepted. I was even told on many occasions by readers that they hope the two do not end up with some couples dynamic, or they will no longer be interested in the story. Ultimately, Carciphona was a fantasy story about an entire world, and I wasn’t going to risk the story’s reception over a small detail like whether or not Blackbird and Veloce sleep together, so I just played with the ideas of their relationship on the side, in paintings of many different AUs. Eventually, all that did was make me become so attached to the idea that I decided to say, screw it, I need someplace where they could be together, and I’m drawing an AU for real.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your work? Both Amongst Us and Carciphona.

I love a lot of things, feelings, aesthetics, and I eat up all of that and take it back out in the form of my stories. The inspiration is everywhere, from beautiful imagery I witness in pictures and in real life, to [the] lives of people that I hear about or experience firsthand, to the ethics and structures of professions from mechanics to medicine… In feelings, knowledge, and perspective, there’s an infinite amount of things that makes me think, and that thinking is what creates AU and Carciphona, whether or not that line of inspiration can be clearly drawn back to the root of the thought.

What are some of your biggest challenges or fears creating Amongst Us? Was there any realization or advice that helped you overcome those difficulties?

My biggest fear is always in relatability because it’s a difference between me and the reader that I do not and cannot have a solution for because it involves another person. In such a relatable genre as slice of life/comedy/romance, where the readers have more experience and therefore more varied but stronger expectations of a version of life that is relatable to them, I know that even if somehow I become a master writer, I still would not be able [to] say whether I could story that others would get or would be interested in, especially because I am aware I am an oddball when it comes to how I think, how I live, and what I value. What helped me the most was simply seeing that there were readers who did enjoy the stories for what it was, and reminding myself that I’m telling the stories to find those who might enjoy it, not to avoid those who might not. It’s a different perspective, rather than a solution, so the worry constantly resurfaces, but I hope it becomes easier over time as I am proven wrong more often!

Amongst Us readers have gotten to see Veloce and Blackbird as an established couple, and now we are witnessing flashbacks to how they first met. Where do you hope to take the series in the future?

I intend to tell both of these timelines concurrently, so as the couple timeline ended at episode 20, I intend to end the flashback at around episode 40, and then switch again at episode 60, and so on. While this kills the momentum for each arc, I made AU so that I can have the cake and eat it too--I want both their back story and a happy ending at the same time without having to wait 10-20 years for it, like I do with Carciphona’s plot haha!

What is one dream or aspiration you would like to accomplish? Even if it is unrealistic.

My only dream right now is just to finish both Carciphona and AU before my time’s up! Funny how unrealistic is specified, it made me realize that I rarely consider unrealistic dreams/aspirations as worth thinking about as they are unlikely to happen when there are so many other things I want to do that are actually possible. Most of my unrealistic dreams actually revolve around music, a profession I had left behind with an aching heart. I dream to play a concerto with an orchestra someday, or even learn to conduct, but for now, drawing my dreams out feels enjoyable and fulfilling enough a compromise!

What advice do you have for people wanting to create artwork and comics?

The true challenge these days I feel like is rarely in the work itself; there are so many readily available free resources that anyone who is capable of working hard and thinking critically will sooner or later be able to master skills they acquire to some degree. What is truly challenging is finding, and then accepting, what paths work for you. Someone might find great joy in working in a studio with a group on something big, while someone else might only enjoy drawing what they feel. Both, in this current climate, will be compelled to adhere to the standards of drawing what others want to see in order to gain recognition and financial stability, one will thrive, one will not. 

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is understanding what you want out of drawing/creating, and why. Understanding yourself is often not as straight-forward as it may seem, everyone has different circumstances that subtly motivates them to sometimes misdirect energy and misinterpret what it is they truly want. Some people need to be understood, some people want an excuse to execute, and some people want fame, money, recognition, validation. Whatever it is, and all valid, understanding and accepting your own motivations to create can tremendously help you find the path forward that is suitable for you, not anyone else, even if it might mean following an impractical path that no one else recommends.

Finally, after the release of the first Amongst Us book, what is next for you? Anything special your fans can look forward to?

My game plan through the decades has always been to just keep going. I did choose long-form projects such as the comics that I draw, and the best thing I can do is to just keep it up and reach those exciting points of the story that I’ve always worked towards, no matter how uneventful that may make my work routine sound. However, I do have a little side thing with a(nother) recurring theme that I’ve been doing here and there for fun whenever I had time, people who keep up with my social media art posts may have noticed. If I ever accumulate enough material, maybe there will be some bonus snacks for my readers on the horizon!

Read Carciphona and Amongst Us online now and be sure to support the physical release on Amongst Us book 1 on Kickstarter today. Also, be sure to follow Shilin on Twitter @Okolnir.

[thewebcomicsreview]

hussie said a thing abt the epilogues reddit. com/r/homestuck/comments/cuywff/the_homestuck_epilogues_bridges_and_offramps_new/

I also think many of the negative feelings the story creates isn’t just an urgent prompt for the reader to imagine different ideas, or ways to resolve the new narrative dilemmas. It’s also an opportunity for people to discuss any of the difficult content critically, and for fandom in general to continue developing the tools for processing the negative emotions art can generate. Sorting that out has to be a communal experience, and it’s an important part of the cycle between creating and criticizing art. I think not only can creators develop their skills to create better things by practicing and taking certain risks, fandom is something which can develop better skills as well. Skills like critical discussion, dealing constructively with negative feelings resulting from the media they consume, interacting with each other in more meaningful ways, and trying to understand different points of view outside of the factions within fandom that can become very hardened over time. Fandoms everywhere tend to get bad reputations for various reasons, maybe justifiably. But I don’t see why it can’t be an objective to try to improve fandom, just as creators can improve their work. And I think this can only happen if now and then fandoms are seriously challenged, by being encouraged to think about complex ideas, and made to feel difficult emotions. I believe when art creates certain kinds of negative feelings in people, it can lead to some of the most transformative experiences art has to offer. But it helps to be receptive to this idea for these experiences to have a positive net effect on your life, and your relationship with art.

Christ, he’s gone full Lennon. Imagine a good ending. I wonder if you can.

So, I’ve mentioned this a few times, but the most transformative art has ever been for me was a comic that actually started on the Homestuck forums

Prequel - Or - Making The Cat Cry: The Adventure - is a comic written by Kazared loosely based on the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It’s about a Khajiit girl named Katia who moves to OblivionLand to make a new life for herself, and the comic spent years building Katia up to bigger and bigger heights so that every time she crashed she crashed harder than ever before. The second time she relapses into alcoholism is where a lot of readers give up on the comic for being misery porn.

There’s a point where she she’s solved all her problems and even gets to join the mages guild - her lifelong dream - only for the woman running the Kvatch mage guild to mild control her into giving up all her stuff, including the stuff important to Katia’s only friend.  Katia is left naked on the streets literally digging through trash in the vain hope of trying to find a solution to at least one of her problems. And what she finds is a bottle of beer.

Twice already in this comic Katia hit a really bad patch and started drinking again. The comic has twice made us root for Katia to succeed, only to jump cut to her waking up in a stranger’s bed with no memory of what happened. 

She wanders into an empty church (OBVIOUS SYMBOLISM ALERT), and alternates between trying to find some supplies and fantasizing about everything magically getting fixed, which slowly morphs into fantasizing about drinking while getting increasingly furious at barrels for not having clothes in them.

One thing. You wanted one thing and you were too much of a fucking idiot to realize it was hopeless and pointless and bound to ruin everything. Stuck on some childish idea that you could be anything, do anything, and just be some selfish bitch that’s never happy with what she has. Fuck, you don’t even know what you’re mad at anymore, you just hate yourself and everything you ever ruined for yourself and everyone and want to stop thinking about what a worthless mindless thoughtless imbecile you are. You just want to stop fucking thinking about it.

You drop onto the chapel floor and just cry. You cry and cry because you’re stupid and easy and can’t fix anything no matter how hard you try. You cry because your best is worse than everyone else’s average. You cry because your parents never loved you and you’re a disappointment to everyone, even yourself. You cry because all you wanted was to be someone and that’s never going to happen. And when that’s done, you cry a little more because you’re ashamed of being such a crybaby.

You try to get all the emotions out, try to clear your mind and maybe, just maybe feel ready to tackle the night ahead of you, feel as though this is the time you finally turn things around. But no matter how hard you try, how hard you weep and bawl and try to get it all out, you’re still just a fuckup. No matter what you try, that knowledge is still there, gripping onto your every thought and reminding you that things are never going to change.

You’re not strong. You’re not a hero. You’re not even worthy of the name Katia Managan. You’re sad and angry and nothing makes sense, but you know this is probably the clearest your head is going to get.

Someday, things are going to get better. Someday, you are going to fight and persevere and everything will feel great. You think.But for now, you know what you have to do.

And at the very least, there is no way you could possibly make yourself feel any worse.

Katia, for the first time, manages to avoid drowning drinking. She overcomes her issues. And you know what happens next?

She accidentally sets the church on fire, because this is still Prequel. She passes out from smoke inhalation, and then there’s….

this, and then she wakes up and reflects on her managing to stay on the wagon.

Honestly, you just feel… kind of numb.

You fucked up. You lost everything you earned, were discarded by the people you looked up to most, gave away the package you were supposed to be delivering to pay your friend back, completely lost control of your powers, and after passing out naked in a church have probably ruined any chance you might have had at a good reputation in Kvatch. You were a wreck last night when this was all happening, but now… you guess it just feels like you’ve run out of sad. You’re just confused.

Personally, I think this stuff is way darker than anything that happens in the Homestuck Epilogues, which is mostly just over-the-top Warhammer 40k grimderp. This shit got to me, man. And around the time this is happening in the comic, I lost my job. And as the storyline continued past this point, I kept applying for jobs and getting turned down, and it started to really wear on me, I felt I had no useful skills, since my old job was supporting software that only that company used because they made it. Much like Katia got into great positions only to fail, I walked out of interviews thinking I’d aced it only to get turned down, while Katia kept making two-steps-forward-one-step-back advances and not really getting any closer to solving any of her issues. And one day, about six weeks into joblessless and starting to get into serious depression over it, I got two “Thanks but no thanks” calls from places I was feeling good about back to back, and I was just done. 10am and I was going to go into my room and lie down on the floor all day but first Prequel updated so I guess I’ll check it real quick oh hey a flash

This puzzle took me like 20 tries, I’m no good at them. Aggy ran out of inspiring dialogue and started looping. And if you’re not in the right mindset, in the right place, this probably doesn’t seem like much. But right there, a month and a half into unemployment, doing that stupid fucking jumping jumpy peg thing while a ghost cheered me on was life-changing. I was so fucking jazzed when I got it, I was fired up! I was so fired up I tabled my “lie on the floor all day in despair” plan, and started applying for a bunch of jobs. A few of those jobs called me back. One hired me. I still work there now. I always liked webcomics but Aggy Extrapolate is the reason I make them. Because good art is powerful. Good art changes lives, maybe even saves them. And it doesn’t need to be happy to do it, Katia still hasn’t succeeded at her goals (in part because Prequel updates at a rate Dresden Codak would make fun of).

What the hell did the Homestuck Epilogues do, by comparison? What’s the positive net effect on my life, or my interaction with art? “Sometimes things you like are bad”? Shit, man, I already knew that, I’m into wrestling. How is “John recognizes Terezi’s jizz on his dad’s car” supposed to make me a better person, exactly? Do you really think the problem with fandoms is that they’re not angry enough? Are you high, Andrew Hussie? 

[violetosprey]

Can I ask what it is that you like so much about yanderes? :)) I feel the same but just wanna know. I love your blog and your TTDUP / BTD analysis so much!

Thank you so much!  This is also really nice to get a question like this again.  I know I’ve mentioned a few times here and there already what I like about yanderes. This question made me really happy to see though, so instead of linking older posts, I’ll go ahead and just write my thoughts out here.

People who’ve been around this blog before may see me reiterate some stuff I’ve said in the past, but I’ll try to throw in some new points as well that I might not have covered before.

Short version:

-        The very personalized/ one-on-one relationship

-        The irony of love being a source of terror (if it’s a horror story)

-        The unpredictability and over-the-top nature of the character

-        The flexibility of a character for a story

I’ll place a longer version below.  A fair warning, I did originally start liking the character type as a horror element and still lean towards that even now, so my apologies if I emphasize that too much below. I’ll try to touch on the more romantic element as well towards the end.

“Love makes you crazy” is such a simple phrase.  People may act out of character or embarrassed in front of their loved one, or even put themselves in harm’s way to save someone they love.

“Anything in excess is bad” is another phrase I also take to heart.  For instance, all humans need water to live, but it’s physically possible to actually die from consuming too much water in one sitting (Don’t worry, it’d have to be a LOT of water- you’re not going to do this on accident).

Yanderes are a pretty good example on the validity of these statements.

Love is a very normal and necessary emotion for people to have.  Heck, if you grow up without love of ANY kind, there’s a good chance of a person developing into an unscrupulous character.  As for romance, nearly everyone desires to find that special person someday to spend the rest of your life with.  No one wants to be alone, society praises love stories and getting married is one of the most common goals in everyone’s lives.  Love is something that can bring out the best in us. Our compassion starts to thrive. There are so many stories where love is viewed as pure.  In stories of “good vs. evil,” of course love, compassion and understanding are the way of the good guys.

So what got me hooked on yanderes to begin with, and still remains one of my favorite elements about them? It’s the concept that even LOVE is something that can become terrifying when we have too much of it.

I’ve said it many times before, and I’ll say it again:  I love the irony that love can be used as a horror element.  Yanderes are essentially characters that are craving a very normal and wonderful connection with another person.  They’re focused too, so when they find the one they love, it’s intense and they dedicate themselves to that person alone.  It truly is romantic when I spell it out like that.  There are two main problems though.  The first being a yandere’s feelings are SO intense that they tend to go overboard with their actions.  They don’t know how to temper themselves at times, so what they do may seem weird or creepy even (ex. Excessive texting, odd or numerous gifts).  They also may not be able to accept other people getting in the way of their desired relationship.  The second problem being that a yandere may not be able to accept rejection.  This depends solely on if the S/O does reject the yandere for whatever reason, and what kind of yandere it is.  If it’s a selfless yandere, there’s a little less to worry about, but they WILL still remain persistent.  The selfish yanderes though, those are the ones where everything goes to hell when they realize things aren’t going their way.

Another thing I like about yanderes is, regardless of whether or not the S/O accepts the yandere, the relationship is ALWAYS very personalized.  One-on-one. I absolutely adore personalized relationships.

To explain my love of more villainous or antagonistic yanderes, I think there’s an element I never mentioned before here on this blog that helps get that point across a little more.

I love villain characters to begin with.  Plain and simple.  I have found media sometimes that I never pay attention to until randomly a villain pops up in the media that catches my eye (this may also explain a little on why I took to the BTD/TDDUP series).  

Now every hero needs a good adversary.  Not all villains are up to snuff, but when you come across one that you find interesting, everything becomes a lot more fun.  The best is when a piece of media is very good about developing unique relationships and interactions between the good characters and the villain.  It’s even better if you have the villain has a VERY particular relationship with just ONE of the good characters.

I have a little hierarchy of interest when it comes to one-on-one good guy and villain relationships. In order of least to most interesting here (EDIT:  All these relationships are interesting and fun for me, but this is categorizing which ones I like more):

5) 1v1 relationship between the hero and villain. This is purely antagonistic between the two, with one or both likely wanting to see the other dead.  Think of special rivalries like Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty.

4) Villain does not want to kill the hero.  This could be for a plethora of reasons such as a sense of respect the villain has for the hero, or the villain’s “game” would end without the hero around.

3) Villain wants the hero to join them.  This could be as a minion, a pet, a partner or their prodigy.

2) Villain is attracted to/in love with the hero.  Basically, a Batman and Catwoman relationship.

1) Villain is OBSESSIVELY in love with the hero.  THIS is where we get a yandere here.  The hero is now the pinnacle focus of the villain…not because the villain wants them dead, but because WANT them.

Like I said, the horror element is what snagged my interest first, but it certainly isn’t the only element to focus on for yanderes.

It’s been fun exploring more about yanderes on tumblr!  You can certainly expand more on romantic element of the character type.  Heck, if you FORGET the romantic element (which unfortunately can happen sometimes), then you really don’t have a yandere to begin with.  As long you make sure the character remains obsessive and possessive towards a person they LOVE to a degree, you can still have a yandere WITHOUT making them the villain or antagonist of a story. Put some elements in a story that make the yandere not the main issue.  Or you can put have the yandere and the S/O actually in a relationship. That’s a very interesting dynamic right there.

The over-the-top and unusual nature of yanderes doesn’t have to end simply because they’re not the main problem in a story or because they finally got together with the love of their life. Anime’s most famous yandere, Yuno from Future Diary, does develop a relationship with her S/O, is full blown yandere and also is not the main problem in the story (aka there’s still the Survival Game).  One of my favorite male yanderes is actually No Onyu from the Metronome manga (or webcomic?).  At least he’s a yandere so far (translations are slow as hell).  That’s a yandere in a more heroic role.  He’s very protective and it’s fun see him not only go murderous at times, but also have to hold back at the S/O’s behest.

The best thing about having a yandere in a supporting or heroic role, is you can still guarantee that there won’t be anything “normal” about the situation.  Even if the yandere has a fair control of their emotions and/or is rather tame, the way they solve issues to help their beloved is probably not going to be as clean cut as a normal protagonist would do.

You can also take really extreme yanderes, or one’s that start out antagonistic, and have them go through some character development to get past their more problematic traits (especially if it’s to become more appealing for their S/O).

To sum it up, the base element of yanderes (that possessive and obsessive love) makes them fun to watch, but they can still be flexible characters depending on the situation you place them in.

I hope this explanation didn’t sound lackluster.  I’ve been a little busy this weekend, but I really appreciated this ask.  It’s always fun to reminisce and lay things out in the open.

[tekka-dan]

gosh, there’s no easy way to explain this.

I’ve been reading my favorite webtoon for over two years now and every chapter I can’t believe I can love characters and story development even more.

I’ve read great books. I’ve been obsessed with perfect imperfect but great characters. but it’s so rare for me to like a story, the stories progression, development and entire ensemble of cast and still be surprised each chapter and still believe in every characters own mentality and way of handling things.

I want this story to never end..I want this author to be offered a publishing deal where her story can become animated. I want this story to be an example of how story structures and character development is supposed to work. she does everything right. the flashbacks, the dialogue, the fight scenes, the little moments, the comedy, all of it flows so damn well that I just want to see her do great, I want to exist in a world where they announce an anime for this webtoon and I can say “I read that from the beginning! I loved it then and I love it now! she deserves this! I want her to be proud! I’m so happy for her!” And I’ll continue to be a loyal, die hard fan. Watching someone’s dreams come true and taking the action to still entertain people like me.

but the more I read stories (like hers and many others) the more I doubt my own ability to create something so..addicting. Comparing myself to people like her makes me understand I have so far to go..but I’m determined to get there. even now I’m terrible with words but I love writing and have ever since I was 6 years old.

reading her story and many, many others daily and weekly helps me realize that if you love your story enough, you believe in your own ability and you’re focused on creating something you can be proud of - you’ll be great too. that’s what keeps me determined.

I read her story with devotion and admiration. with enthusiasm and envy. I want to someday be like her but I want to also someday surpass her. I want to design a webcomic that I can proudly say “everything I envisioned has come to life” and I want to be able to thank her personally. for inspiring me to..keep going. for giving me a reason to get better.

this burning desire and passion hasn’t settled down in almost a decade because it feeds off my envy of watching others bring their dreams to life and others fall in love with it. it makes me wonder what I’m afraid of - failure? not making it big? realizing I’m still not better compared to the rest? and those things are so trivial..because it’s only me who it affects. me doubting my own ability will only make others doubt it too. if I can’t even believe in myself to stand on the same level as them, what business do I have proclaiming to become ‘better’ some day.

I want my dreams to shine before my eyes. I want my stories to inspire others like other stories continuously inspire me every day.

I have always loved reading and writing, ever since I knew how to hold a pencil. I loved spongebob squarepants so much that I wrote an entire episode that I told my mom “one day I’ll send this in to be animated..I’ll see my story on tv. I want it just like this! I wrote it for them to follow!” I kept that journal and still have that script for the episode titled “Spongebob’s Day Off” but because it was written in 2002 with pencil the led has faded and it’s barely legible..not to mention 6 year old me could spell as good as I could read which wasn’t too good. I learned how to talk through music and television. being autistic I grew up mimicking voices and memorizing speech patterns. my biggest influences being books, tv and songs. I didn’t start talking until I was almost 8 and even then I preferred handing books to people instead. pointing out my favorite sentences.

from the very beginning I always knew I wanted my story to change people’s lives or at least make an impact. the older I got I lost my passion for writing and reading but the stories in my head only expanded.

as I read these stories, biting my nails as I read through chapters and have to wait anxiously for the next week to see more, my passion only burns more intensely.

In 2020 I vow to create a story to bring to life on WebToon. Once I do that, I want to thank Uru-Chan creator of Unordinary personally for creating a story that’s changed my life.

Her characters are everything and more ive ever wanted to see in stories. She gets it. She gets me..and she’s never even met me. But I’m also gonna surpass her one day..and I hope in doing that she can be happy for me too.

I’m gonna make it. 2020 looks promising.

[beedalee]

what are the stories/projects you work on or involved with?

EDIT 2019: FOR AN UPDATED LIST, GO HERE!

Oh gosh, it’s been a bit since I did a rundown of them… (I need to update my project lists tbh… ugh..) I’ve been working really hard on consolidating my characters and stories these last few years so I’m rightfully proud of my progress.. Even if no one can tell yet but me!! >8//); 

Despite how many we have, only a few of them I seriously want to bring to completion and/or publish first and foremost. The rest are really just for fun until I/we feel like they could become something bigger. Also, Dye has involvement in most of my stories whether it be a full collab or just helping!

It’s a long post… so, BELOW THE CUT WE GO!

Collaborations 

(with @dyemelikeasunset)

Ocean of Cycles: Our 4th Collab- Dye’s world-building project that I have the honor of helping flesh out. While we have our OCs and want to make it RPG ready for others to play in for fun, and we think making a book of the completed world-building someday would be fukken awesome, it’s largely a stress relief and creative outlet for Dye and I, so we’re not in a rush nor can Dye’s schedule allow for full-time work on it. Like Dye, I would like to do mini-comics about their adventures myself as well!!

Picture This Imagine That: (sorry this art is 4yrs old… T//w//T) Our third collaboration; Started small but became our means of reconciling our identities and coming out. After we came out some years ago, we put this one down to handle real life stuff and grow up a bit- but we do still fully intend to draw and publish their stories, we just took it offline and pulled back to a much more relaxed pace until it’s actually ready.

Solaris: Our second collaboration. Originally an Avatar: The Last Airbender fanstory, transplanted into an original universe. I’d really love to bring this one to life as a comic, but the plot hasn’t been finished yet! We love this one  to bits though and I’d consider it a likely choice down the road sometime.

White|Outlines: Technically our first collaboration, a soft slice of life about troubled supernatural teenagers. My branch in the same universe/highschool as Dye’s SalaDays story (No, the SD cast doesn’t really interact with mine)  I made this because Dye used to have the world open for RP, but we’ve long since closed it off. (That’s more geared toward OoC now) I don’t really have plans for pursuing this one outside of for fun!

Unlucky: A fun slice-of-life meets shounen kind of story set in a tightly knit chinatown. Dye helped create the bulk of this verse for a lot of homeless/floating OCS, like Quinn and Airi from my old beckoning cat magical girls team, Jake and Evelyn from anirangers, Tyberius and Farah from wwp’s “D’Amatos” godfather-parody show… stuff like that. It’s a bit more on the world-building side right now but I hope to draw things for it soon.

I also play around in or help with some of Dye’s more solo works like Kingdoms or Romaine Hearts, as well as a few offline projects that aren’t super involved/developed yet.

Magical Girls: 

(yes it gets its own section)

Forecasters:  My lovebaby of a story, featuring weather magical girls. My only active personal project that I want to make into a full blown webcomic right now. It’s 99.7% offline atm, I started this in 2013 after we put down PT. There’s still a lot to do, but I’m really excited about this one. It’s like my self-imposed college final project and/or legitimate story pitch I guess? I wanna post promo art for it so bad but I want at least the first two chapters drawn before that so bear with me…

Starless: Alien powered magical girls. Created from old (2008) tokyo mew mew OCs! The story’s been a bit ambiguous lately but I am very fond of this one and would consider it one I’d like to complete/draw for someday if the plot lets me WRITE IT lmao. Dye is helping me by adopting some of the characters!

Minor  MG Stories: (click the link in the last bullet to see pics of these)

“Book Keepers”: Literature theme college magical girls, collabed with Dye. Currently just a loose idea with really fun fleshed out OCs, but not a super high priority.

“Candyland”: NEW! Candy themed magical girls. A tentative title for a bunch of OCs I’ll be posting soon enough so I guess I’ll add them now. Some of them are old af, some are super new. They’re just an early concept and a bit of a style-experiment.

Cheers!: Drink-themed magical girls. A very old team I don’t really plan on doing anything with right now, just currently trying to redesign them to my liking.. -stares holes into them- LET ME LOVE YOU

Cosmic Club! another design prompt with no story.. YET…. I love them and they seem v popular so it’s possible! We’ll see how it goes.

Even more magical girls over here in this list but are all in a similar ‘concepts only at this time’ status (Lucky is on this list but is no longer a magical girl series)

My Projects:

Shards of Moon: A fateful fantasy epic about birds and songs. Formerly Anathema, the first fully fleshed out “serious” story I wrote… It was terrible! It was merged with another story that had no characters, so all my oldest OCs live here now. I’m very very fond of this one but I’m letting it percolate very slowly. It’s a far off goal for now, but it is shaping up to be a story I’d like to tell.

Sleep Tight: About a little girl and her boogeyman and conquering fear. The second story I wrote in high school. This one needs… a lot of rework and a bit of gutting- I haven’t decided the direction I wanna take it yet, but I don’t mind waiting. (I mean, look at what happened to Shards of Moon- I was so sure I’d trash that whole story and its characters.)

Superglue: I have like NO new art for this one yet lmao.. Young superheroes dealing with past actions they ran away from. A third high-school story that has changed so dramatically it’s not even remotely similar to its first version. It’s basically a baby story with old re-homed OCs in it because I felt sorry for them. ;w;;; I don’t know how far this one will take off yet but yeah

Others:

I’m gonna get ta’ play in @caiterprince​’s universes with Dye too, including the WIP Magical Girl Academy as a means to flesh out more magical girl designs (Eden is the most familiar, but I’ll have more soon), and a few cameos in Plainer in Hindsight and Weaver’s Debt eventually

Fancharacters like my SU gemsonas, my ponies, and my Tokyo Mew Mew OCs are purely for fun. If I want to write an original story about the characters (which has happened, see Solaris and Starless) I’d transplant them first.

I have a few other concepts laying around- placeholders like “fairyverse” or “spacewitchverse” where I throw similar-theme homeless OCs but don’t have a single story idea for, it’s just.. there. for now. So I won’t bother going over those. 

AUs (like elf gfs Band AU) don’t really count as separate unless they become canon. (i.e. what happened with Solaris)

If anyone’s really curious on the development of my worlds and ocs, I honestly highly taking a peek through my sketchdump folder on my DA. (start at the bottom, its infinite scroll) You can find pretty much everything I’ve ever conceptualized in these. I started to sort dumps by story- there’s actually quite a bit of storytelling / oc growth nestled in there if you’re into that sorta info-binging. I-I think it’s kinda fun tbh…. I do apologize in advance for any slurs or problematic wording you may find in the oldest dumps, I’ve been cleaning it over the years but might’ve missed something.

That’s about it for now! (-sweats violently- no more pls i have… too many children.. -wheezes and lays down-)

[literarilymanga]

Hello! I was lucky enough to have more interest in webcomic features than I thought. Today’s interview is with Merriam Hayden. Read it after the cut! 

Me: Hello! Would you share a little bit about yourself as a creator? 

Merriam: Sure! My name is Merriam Hayden. I went to college to study animation and did comics during that time because making a comic by myself was more feasible than pumping out animated shorts by myself.

Merriam: I'm a Lesbian in the Midwest as well.

Me: Could you give a short summary of Wrong Hand?

Merriam: Wrong Hand is the story of Lefty, who in a world where your Soulmate is determined by woman having marks on their left hand and men have matching marks on their right hands, has his own hand mark on the "wrong" hand. After meeting his Soulmate, Miles Write, Lefty learns more about "wrong handedness" and how there's many different ways of being "wrong" handed. The Wrong Hand is also the name of the bar where Miles works.

Me: Could you introduce the readers to your characters? Merriam: Lionel "Lefty" Rogers is the main character. He's a soon-to-be college grad who majored in accounting. He likes to play the Ukulele, but has no interest in pursuing music as a career.

Merriam: Miles Write is his Soulmate. He works nights at the Wrong Hand bar and days at the coffee shop called the Sun Dollar. Unlike Lefty, he's much more outgoing and open about his "wrong" handedness (even though he passes as "right" handed) .

Merriam: Sunni Syde is Miles' coworker at the Sun Dollar and a photographer. She dated guys in her early college days, but found the experience unsatisfying. She started dating women instead and found it much better. She's known to hang out at another bar called the Blue Cherry.

Merriam: Aura Easy is Sunni's soulmate and a detective. She had previously dated a girl when she was a teen, but they had a falling out. Aura is the one with the "correct" hand mark on her hand, but is much more butch than Sunni.

Merriam: Melanie Blanc is a blank handed woman who runs the Wrong Hand. She's not interested in dating or sex herself, but is always supportive of other Wrong Handed people who dream of meeting their Soulmates.

Merriam: Teresa Slater (deadname Theodore Slater) is a transwoman who realized she was trans much later in life and is roommates with Melanie.

Merriam: Sam Uno is a nonbinary comedian who always wears gloves and treats everything like a joke.

Merriam: Those are the main recurring characters.

Me: Who is your favorite character—and why? 

Merriam: Ah man picking a favorite of my own characters is like picking my favorite child. if I have to choose I think I'll choose Sunni. She's very cute and very passionate about what she wants to do with her life, which is to be a photographer even if she has to work half between a coffee shop and sometimes weekends at her father's restaurant (Eggbert's, it's a breakfast place).

Me: Who is your least favorite character—and why?

Merriam: Chad Prickson. This character is not the most evil villain in the world or anything, but he's engineered to be an absolute jerk to everyone. He's Miles' previous ex, rich and self-centered, who treats people like garbage.

Me: Can you offer insight into how you’ve developed your story and your creative process over the years? 

Merriam: Okay. Wrong Hand actually started off as a thing I vaguely kicked around in college a few years ago. A good friend of mine were talking about the concept of Soulmate stories and how'd we do them. She took a more fantasy/serious route with it and I wanted to go for a more lighthearted comedic thing. However, I didn't give it too much thought beyond three characters: Lefty, Miles, and Ms. Blanc. Miles originally worked at the Wrong Hand and ran a hot dog stand. However, my senior year of college I did an independent study. So, I decided to revisit this idea as an animated short. My teacher at the time suggested I change the hot dog stand to a coffee shop and of course I had to come up with more characters to flesh out the world. Sunni and Teresa and Sam wouldn't exist in this world without the short being made. It's not the best in the world, but it took me a year and I had to do it by myself. And I kicked the idea around with a good friend of mine (different one) and he helped me beef up the characters and come up with backstory. We even decided to have the setting be a fictional version of Minneapolis with Lefty growing up in Duluth. Having someone I can bounce ideas off of actually helps me a lot, too.

Me: What is your favorite part of the creative process? The least favorite part? 

Merriam: Honestly, I really love planning and world building and writing stories--dialogue  especially because I am really funny so I'm great at coming up with dialogue. My least favorite is thumbnailing because it's very tedious and slow and sometimes I can breeze through a page and know exactly how to lay it out and sometimes I get stumped by things. I do depend on thumbnailing because I would be lost while making pages without them, but making them can feel like a chore sometimes

Me: The idea of soulmates being determined by their hand marks is really intriguing. Are you going to go into the concept in more detail? Or are you going to focus more on the “slice of life” experiences?

Merriam: Slice of Life is the main focus of Wrong Hand, but I do also want to explore the idea in detail. Love and Free Will are major themes in a lot of the stories too because it's not like people haven't been falling in love or marrying people who aren't their Soulmate. And sometimes people actively do seek out their Soulmate and sometimes they don't.

Me: Is there a significance to each of the character’s colors?

Merriam: Not particularly, no. I just decided that if this was going to be a mundane world I wanted to give it a visual style that stood out. Part of me wishes I had put more thought into it, but not really. Lefty and Miles are blue and red. Sunni and her family are pink. There are two characters, Jacques Trooper and Zelda Worm, who are blue and pink and are kinda the token straight couple who are friends with Lefty, but other than that I didn't put much thought into the characters being a particular color.

Me: How have readers reacted to your characters and story thus far? Are there any challenges that you’ve had to overcome when working on Wrong Hand?

Merriam: Mostly I had more challenges with technical stuff while working on the short. Though as far as content is concerned the overall response has been super positive and people relate to Lefty and get a lot of the little snap shot comics that revolve around him having problems with his identity as a "wrong" handed male because his hand mark is on the "girl" hand. I haven't gotten into a lot of other characters backstories or hangups yet though, so we'll see how people respond in the future. Me: What do you want readers to take away from your story? 

Merriam: I want them to take away that love may be complicated and life may complicate love, but it's definitely something worth seeking out and cultivating. Not just romantic or sexual pursuits, but friendships and familial relationships as well.

Me: You mention being lesbian. How has your sexual identity influenced your story?

Merriam: Well Wrong Hand is basically a not-so-subtle metaphor for being some kind of queer. some wrong handed characters are gay, some bi, some trans, some nonbinary. All my work has some kind of LGBT slant to it because so much media made about or for people like me is either super obscure or really depressing and I want to create hopeful and happy stories even if I do touch about the less savory aspects of things (have plans to touch upon things like how conversion therapy and things like that work in this world, but I do want people to come away from my work feeling good about themselves). 

Me: Who is your “intended” audience? 

Merriam: My intended audience is anyone who wants to find LGBT content that's hopeful.

Me: Do you plan to pursue other mediums for your story (like print or podcast)?

Merriam: I hadn't considered a podcast. I would love to print a physical copy of the comics someday and, of course, something animated. Like a feature film or even a series! I think an animated series would be awesome.

Me: Do you have any advice you want to share with other artists and writers? 

Merriam: Lists are useful for planning a script and having a specific notebook/journal with comic stuff is a good idea.

Me: What are your tools of the trade? Any special software? 

Merriam: I mostly use Clip Studio Paint because I can animate with it as well as do illustration. I don't have a specific kind of pen or paper I use for roughing out pages though. I usually draw the pages out traditionally first and then scan the pages to pretty up in Clip Studio Paint.

Me: When does Wrong Hand update?

Merriam: I like to update it at least twice a month, but right now my current day job makes updating on the regular hard. I've worked out getting a more regular schedule though so I'm hopeful that I'll get back to updating more frequently.

Me: Where can readers access your comic? 

Merriam: Tapastic and Comic Fury. I have a longer story planned that I'm currently working on  and I'll probably start posting the single pages on Comic Fury before Tapastic.

Me: Anything else you want to share? Shout outs? 

Merriam: I love my friends and I love all the people who read my comic.

Follow Merriam for more art and life updates on her Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. She’ll also be attending Planet ComicCon, Smallville ComicCon,  and TopCon. Merriam may also be at Kansas City Comic Con, but is not sure yet. 

Be sure to also check out yesterday’s interview with Micah, webcomic artist for Roommate from Hell, if you haven’t already! And if you’re interested in being interviewed or sharing your thoughts on comics or related media, be sure to comment on this post, send an ask, or send me a message! 

Have a great Sunday night! 

(This post was adapted from a Twitter interview.)

[journeysintowebcomics]

Girl Genius - Looking Back

You know, I just noticed Krosp in in that image. What an odd character to put in a promotional image along Agatha and Gil, huh. Is that the pink airship in the background? I think it is.

Can you believe it? We’re not even halfway the content of this webcomic yet here’s the checkpoint in the middle of the road, so to speak. There’s a lot to be read, a lot many crazy events to witness...and it’s still being updated. Will I be able to reach the end of the content someday? Maybe. Hah, the end of this liveblog is still far away.

So what has been seen so far in this story? A lot of what was promised to me from the beginning, that’s for sure. MAD SCIENCE, mostly. It’s fantastic! The Foglios have a lot of originality in what they do, and I don’t think anyone reading the story can predict for sure what’s the next crazy thing that’ll happen. Machines, events, characters, they all come together and create bizarre happenings anyone reading this story will enjoy.

This webcomic isn’t like Homestuck’s extraordinarily convoluted story or like Scary Go Round episode-based format, it’s more linear and relies heavily on continuity, like a real book series. All the events seen build up to the next, that’s how it goes. It’s not strange for a volume to cover up a few hours of story – as seen during the Heterodyne arc so far. It has been...what, twelve hours at most since Agatha arrived? It can’t have been too long.

All in all, Girl Genius is a story with a lot of originality. It’s clever, I like the dialogue and the art, and so far it has been a joy to read. The steampunk setting and the sparks give the authors a lot of liberty to create whatever weird thing one can think of, and they have used this liberty stupendously. The madness of the mad science doesn’t overtake the story, what moves it is the characters’ motivations and goals. Agatha wanting to get to Mechanisburg after finding out she’s a Heterodyne, Gil wanting to protect Agatha, Tarvek’s own plans, the Baron’s control of Europe and trying to deal with the threat that’s the Other...how each one of these motivations tie together and form the story is Girl Genius’ strong point.

As to what’s its weak point...ummmm...honestly? Nothing comes to mind. I’m sure Girl Genius has flaws, but I can’t think of anything that bothers me or something I particularly dislike. That’s good, right? It’s a sign the Foglios are doing an excellent job with their webcomic. I guess the only thing I can complain about was the timing of a couple intermissions from before, but since said intermissions were funny and I liked them, I can’t really complain about it.

There’s something I feel I should mention and it’s that most of the story so far feels like...like the early chapters of something bigger, like everything I have read so far is the authors setting up the scenario for the real story. Agatha trying to claim the throne as a Heterodyne – so to say – the Other’s plans and worming into characters’ heads, Tarvek’s existence and potentially conflicting plans with both Agatha and Gil...it feels as if everything so far has been just a prologue. I don’t know how long the Foglios plan Girl Genius to be, but I’m at the end of the eighth volume and there are seventeen right now. That’s almost half of the available content. If something that could be considered ‘prologue’ lasts that long...well this really is bound to be an extremely long story by the time it ends! It’ll be years before it does, eh?

The problem I have when I like something so much is that it’s hard to think about what to talk about that isn’t gushing for seven paragraphs. Let’s see...what I can do...how about I take it easy, starting from the top?

Girl Genius started when Agatha Clay got her locket stolen right in the day the Baron and his son were going to arrive. The events that happened that day were the start of her adventures, as she finally was able to start using her spark tendencies. The first volume ended when she was taken to Castle Wulfenbach along with a rather stressed and furious Moloch, where she’d be used as leverage to convince Moloch to do what the Baron said. Yeah, those were the times when Moloch was the closest thing we had to an antagonist character and the Baron looked more reasonable than fearsome, hahaha. Oh, and Gil was there too, actually considering Agatha could be a spark. Did I imagine that was the beginning of something wonderful? Not really. At the time it was something new to read, and the setting was intriguing, but I didn’t really think it was something to praise to high heavens yet. My thoughts at that time must have been very different, since I’m sure they were 100% positive, but now that I think about it, it was just the beginning of Girl Genius. One can like what one sees at that point, but one shouldn’t decide yet if it’s a good story or not.

I think it was in middle of Volume 3 that this story truly gained the potential to be something extraordinary. Agatha learned her true heritage and everyone set to do what needed to be done with her, whether it was to try to have her as an ally, to help her, or simply to get rid of her before anything else happens. That was the turning point of this story and it was set up well. The references to the Heterodyne Boys’ stories were a good way to show that being a Heterodyne wasn’t a simple family matter, it was much more than that and it affects everyone.

And then she went to exist and cause trouble.

The circus arc was a way for Agatha to start growing as a person, I think. Zeetha and Krosp get introduced and assert themselves as characters, Agatha starts dealing with her spark in constructive ways, and generally there was worldbuilding in that time. Having to fake Agatha’s death was a move that helped Gil develop as a character in ways that made it clear he wasn’t going to give up on Agatha easily and that he was willing to go against the Baron’s wishes, while the Baron strengthened his will to deal with Agatha. At the time she wasn’t the Other, but she was a wildcard he needed to control before it caused trouble, especially if she got to Mechanisburg.

Then there’s the Sturmhalten arc. Tarvek is introduced and...hm, well, he’s steadily gaining importance since then. At that point he was just a minor player in the story. He was someone with his own schemes and plans, but overall it didn’t seem like he’d be capable of doing much due to Agatha, the Other and Wulfenbach himself. He still tried his best, though. That was also the time the Other was forced into Agatha’s head, and the main conflict of the story formed. Yeah, I think that’s the main conflict, how to deal with the Other. The Other is a threat that’s present in everything, and many important characters’ actions are focused on trying to hinder her. Will it be possible? Hah! Not really. There has been no sign of the Other herself so far, but Anevka got away and it’s always possible something will happen to Agatha’s locket. It took quite some time to introduce the Other as main antagonist for everyone in Girl Genius, but eh. It isn’t like it’s uncommon, apparently. Homestuck introduced Lord English as a big threat quite late, too.

The arrival to Mechanisburg and the whole thing with the false Heterodyne hint the Foglios have big plans. It’s political intrigue mixed with the fantastic steampunk Girl Genius has been filled with so far, and it works well! It’s also the point where Gil and Agatha will finally see each other face to face after so long. How long has it been? Very long. That’s where we are right now.

So far, yes, I have enjoyed Girl Genius a lot and I have high hopes for everything that remains to be read. I won’t repeat myself much in that regard, there’s only so many ways one can say one likes something, hah. Maybe I should close this by mentioning a few things about a few characters.

---

Agatha is an excellent main character. She’s proactive, she isn’t afraid of anyone – and even if she is she’d dare to defy them – and she’s very skillful. All in all, she has all the right elements of a main character. She showed a lot more doubts when she first found out she was a Heterodyne, back when she was travelling with the circus after having feigned her death, but since then, she has grown determined to show herself as a Heterodyne and claiming what’s her right. That all is what makes a reader want her to triumph and overcome all obstacles. So far she has done quite well! She got to the Castle, she managed to get accepted by it, and if she can fix it she’ll achieve great things and be able to fight Wulfenbach...no, defend herself and the town. Where’ll Girl Genius go from there? I don’t know. Could go anywhere.

Gil has interacted with Agatha much less than I thought he would. His character revolves around her, that much is certain, but he hasn’t interacted that much with her. I admit that it bothers me a bit that most of what he has done is related to Agatha in some way, though. It’s okay as motivation, but authors need to be careful with that. Nobody would want Gil to turn into a satellite character for Agatha, right? Gil is a good character on his own right, though, he has awesome traits and is someone who deserves respect. I like Gil.

Buuuut I admit that I’m more partial to Tarvek than to Gil, hah. Yeah, I appreciate manipulative characters. Tarvek doesn’t seem to like being manipulative, though. His loyalties were all over the place – I have a freaking alignment chart to record it, hahaha -- all was for his own goals and schemes, but I never had the impression he enjoyed doing any of that. It was more like doing what needed to be done, no matter how much he disliked it. I think he means good, though, I doubt he’ll hurt Agatha in any way. Maaaaaybe he can ruin her plans or inconvenience her in some way, but he won’t hurt her.

You know, I wouldn’t mind if Agatha ends with both of them as spouses. It wouldn’t be an easy arrangement and I’m sure nobody in Gil’s side or in Tarvek’s side would like it, but yeah, hahaha.

Wulfenbach is an intelligent person who definitely has what’s needed to keep control over Europe. He rules with a fist of iron! And now there’s this joker in the deck, Agatha is something he needs to deal with before things blow out of control. The fact that she seems to be the Other makes it more urgent, too. At this point Agatha should stay as far away from him as possible. He’s not in mood to listen or do anything that isn’t kill her or anything. There’s no way he’ll risk the Other taking over Europe. Something I like of the Baron is that he clearly loves Gil, wants him safe. Wulfenbach is not a kind person, but he appreciates his son and that’s fantastic.

Since those are the four main characters here, I think I’ll stop. There are many other characters worth naming, of course. Da Boyz, Zeetha, Krosp, Bangladesh, Zola...they’re all interesting, and I have great interest in seeing them as often as possible. However, I think it’s a bit too early to really say much about them. What did you say, that 100 updates have passed and that should be enough? Poppycock! The thing is that in the big scheme of things – in terms of spotlights – so far all of them are secondary characters, and compared to other people’s screentime, they’re not as notorious. Tarvek is the one that stretches consideration, but I included him up there because he’s shaping up to be a major player from his faction. That’s different.

I think that’s all worth noting I have to say for now? I’m having fun with Girl Genius and can’t wait to continue. Well, I can wait, but you get what I mean. See you in the next update!

Next update: seven updates

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: New Game!

Oh no, it’s one of those Moe Blob shows. I’d hoped i was better than that.

Well, to be honest, I was just looking for easy viewing garbage while up late busy with not sleeping.[1] New Game! was on Funimation’s streaming service, and a few youtube reviewers have mentioned it with generic positivity. It’s… okay. Very much fills the ‘Cute girls doing stuff as if they’re real people, but in a softer world’ mold. In this case, Video Game design! Yay. Sarcastic Jazz hands.

A few years ago, I stumbled upon a Manga/4koma series called QuickStart!! which is about girls playing tabletop RPGs. I quite liked it. It’d be nice to see it get an anime of its own someday.

How to even describe New Game!...

Well, it’s about a girl named Aoba Suzukaze who, fresh out of high school, lands her dream job of doing art for the game studio that made her favorite video game, working directly under her personal idol, Ko Yagami.

Which, coming from a western perspective, seems insane. Who lands that sort of job right out of high school, with no college degree or industry experience? I mean, there’s the One Big Lie, then there’s unreasonable expectations. I’m a great writer,[2] and even I can’t find footing to do this for a living.

So Aoba arrives to work and meets the coworkers she shares cubicle space with: Hifumi the shy one; Hajime the energetic one; and Yun… last one. While the OP makes you think that these four will form a K-On! like dynamic, in truth the focus doesn’t drift from Aoba until her friend Nene takes a larger role.

While the trials and tribulations of working for a small Japanese Game studio are interesting, and Aoba’s struggles to get used to the life of a office worker is nice, I’d have liked character development for anyone besides Aoba (whose arc consists of achieving her goals) and Ko (who’s learning to be a mentor. Before leaving the country.)

Later, Aoba’s High School pal Nene gets hired on as a QA Tester for the summer, and the story shifts to Nene wandering around and being distracting. But it’s okay, when she’s actually working, she finds all the bugs!

Nene’s voice is also annoying.

The first season concludes with the cast releasing a game, which is well received. Yay!

The second season is when I suddenly realize that, somewhere along the line, the show became Kaleido Star, but with lower stakes and flatter characters. Which, if you’ve seen Kaleido Star,[3] is saying something.

Upon reaching the level of her blond idol, who is being forced into a new supporting role, our protagonist finds themselves in need of a rival that resents the protagonist’s ascent to glory and their relationship with the blond idol.

However, while Kaleido Star’s May barked her way into my heart by being just so bizarre and ridiculous, New Game! Instead brings in Momiji Mochizuki, who is… there. I guess.

Momiji’s quirk is she eats a bunch and resents Aoba for having success while being a year ahead in her career.

It’s not a well written conflict!

Don’t worry, though. Nene also gets a rival in the form Tsubame Narumi, who is introduced as being Momiji’s calmer and more amicable friend, but turns out be kind of petty and resentful of Nene getting a job through nepotism.

Which… okay, fair, Nene did kind of get hired on due to her connections, but by the same token, it’s made clear that Nene’s in more of a training role while Tsubame is given actual assignments.

Since Nene isn’t my favorite character, the conflict with the programming team is just unnotable.

Momiji’s unlikable from the get go, and Tsubame loses all her endearing traits upon being exposed to Nene. Momiji and Tsubame are so unprofessional, and we see so little of the actual projects being assigned in the second season, that I found myself rooting for them to get fired at the end, as a wake up call to both characters and to have actual consequences.

But it’s a Moe-blob show. Everyone needs to be friends by the end, no lessons get learned, and everyone’s going to be fine because the world of moe has kid gloves.

As I have awkwardly found myself commenting on more and more, New Game! of course had an amount of fan service. It was relatively tame, mostly around Ko’s tendency towards pantslessness and brief fantasy inserts. Nothing to deeply analyze beyond noting the fantasy inserts were mostly egregious and the fanservice wasn’t particularly exciting.

Also, it broke the ‘Establish the limit in the first episode’ rule I mentioned in my Dagashi Kashi review, though the particular break happened midway through the second season, so perhaps I need to consider a ruling for subsequent seasons. What amount of escalation is fair play for viewer retention, and does it break trust?

Food for future thought, if I can’t pull myself away from the topic.[4]

I watched New Game! during a particular period of my life. I had left a retail job, spent a couple months not working, then got a job for a call center contracted to service accounts for a credit card company,[5] and I decided to watch this anime after watching Sakura Quest,[6] so I’d watched two work-based animes while training for a job that, by all signs, would be monotonous, creatively-stifling, and utterly miserable.

And, during the nights while I was dreading going back the next day, I watched an anime based in an office where the cast were doing what they loved, had varied tasks, and a relaxed pace. Quite the escape from my call center job with a maximum 5-minute reprieve from idiots confused by the concept of interest and no paper allowed just in case I wanted to moonlight with a little identity theft.[7]

It’s a bad job. Avoid it.

So, New Game! helped stoked the flames of wanting a better job. One where I don’t have to directly deal with the public, have a consistent schedule, and get some variety. The show also made it clear that I have no viable method into such a job. I’m creatively minded, sure, but I don’t have the actual skills for professional art,[8] I lack the memory to learn programing, and I certainly lack the networking capabilities to find opportunities.

There was an undercurrent of resentment for these stupid girls and their easy lives. I know real life game development is far less cozy than what New Game! displays, but even a taste of that ideal would be better than where I am now.

Anyways, since finishing the series, I discovered it was easier to get a different job than request a day off,[9] so hopefully I can start an upward climb.

Maybe you can help? I do have a patreon, after all.

I also accept questions and comments, and produce other reviews, writings, and a webcomic, so check those out. Any positive reaction to things I feel passionate about would be peachy.

Kinda a downer ending for a review of such an upbeat anime. Oh well.

Kataal kataal.

[1] Really should try and find one of those graveyard shift jobs. I seem naturally predisposed to it… [2] Amazing even. Fight me. [3] Which is glorious garbage that I actually recommend. [4] I’m essentially a grumpy old man waiting to happen. Less Master Roshi and more harsh but fair paternal figure. [5] No, I won’t say which one. [6] Good show, but I didn’t really have anything to talk about in regards to it, hence no review. Still, highly recommend! [7] Had I stayed, I probably would’ve begun strategizing how to get away with such a caper just to fill the tedium. [8] I hate english academia far too much to get a degree, and Theater was a clear path to jobs in the local area. [9] This and other policies made quitting two weeks after finishing training so easy.

[sunquail]

so my child Synia got a bit of a do-over since the last time I posted him on here