#that one bishounen dude

[tategaminu]

People find Alastor sexy because he’s a generic ass tumblr sexyman bait which is the only “sexy” male character design that Vivziepop can do

That makes it even worse, maybe it is a me because I have never understood Tumblr sexy man culture, I’m more into pretty boys/bishounen designs and Idgf about the chosen tumblr sexy ones honestly! at this point I don’t even know if it’s a joke or not, like do people really find Sans Undertale attractive? I guess that one is a joke right? It’s a joke… right?

Anyways, tumblr sexy man category aside, Alastor isn’t attractive on his own. As you said all of Medrano's "sexy" male designs pretty much look the same and all of them are ugly and over-designer imo, and Alastor is probably one of the worst ones. He looks like an used tampon (long, thin and red), I refuse to believe this guy should wet my panties.

Personality also has a lot to do when I find a character good looking or not, if their personality is horrid I probably won’t like them as much so it doesn’t help that most of HB/HH characters are terrible people, and surprise suprise he is a serial murder and a cannibal? Yeah NO THANKS, get this fucko away from me, I can enjoy a good villain but that doesn't mean I have to get horny over them.

Coming back to the deer thing, I’m sorry but the only deer trait here is the antlers and he doesn't even have them most of the time, also he is not menacing at all, he looks like a crepypasta deviantart oc

Deer are kinda metal, they can be really creepy and you can make them pretty intimidating:

This dude from Adventure Time is a brown blorb and he still makes me more uncomfortable than Alasstor

The Nowhere King FUCKS

Those deer from this comic are super rad, (one of my favourite comics!)

As someone who draws animals in a daily basis it baffles me how none of Vivz's "animal" characters look like the animal they are representing.

In a summary, I hate Alasstor (maybe not as much as Stolass) I bet he's gonna be the least interesting little shit in the whole series.

[cat-appreciator]

Tumblrinos, tumblrinas, lend me your ears. This website has a problem, and that problem is this:

Where is all the Hades II fanart at? When BG3 came out I was inundated with pictures of Karlach and that sad vampire twink boy. Despite rigorously filtering out the tags I still can’t escape your Ineffable Husbandos or - twenty-something years after the books first came out, a decade since Rowldemort first peeled off her human skin suit to reveal her horrifying terven true visage - people drawing fanart of Harry Potter’s dad, Sir Only-Appearing-In-Flashbacks, and his utterly non-canonical gay polycule. So if it exists I should be seeing it, yeah?

Hades II feels like it should have everything a Tumblr user wants. Scary ladies? Nemesis will step on you. Weird monster girls? Scylla looks like she escaped from Undertale. If you’re too vanilla for that, have you seen Aphrodite?

Enbies? Chaos is incredibly dapper in this one, they are bringing that bishounen-and/or-bifauxnen energy right from the primordial darkness underlying creation.

If you’re into dudes, Odysseus has a certain roguish charm, Hermes got a hell of a glow-up, and Schelemeus will make you laugh. Hephaestus is bringing the dad bod.

What’s that? You only like tsundere sad boys? Moros is right there.

Is this that thing again where fandom only really latches on to a thing when they can make two boys smooch? Is that it? Aaargh!

In short, please draw more Hades II fanart for me to look at thank you.

[raemanzu]

E - Enemy

@zexalmonth

I don't have art or fic for this one but I wanted to throw out some love to this crazy side villain, the jellyfish Barian dude, Kurage/Chironex xD My favorite villain is definitely Vector but the existence of this funky lil dude over here opens up a lot of fun questions.

Not only did I kind of love his design and the way he was introduced was very classic magical girl anime villain (the creepy puddles on the hospital floor etc), his duel with Nasch/Shark and IV is an interesting one for me because it shows a fun facet of Shark and IV's relationship and where Shark is at mentally at this time in the show. There's a little bit of foreshadowing to Nasch and IV's later duel because in this one, IV is crying out for Shark to fight the weakness in his own body due to the enemy's jellyfish toxin (not to mention Shark is struggling a bit with reconciling his childhood memories as Ryouga with his possible identity as a Barian emperor), and in the later duel Nasch is fighting what he perceives as weakness in his own heart while IV is trying to make him remember and value his identity as Ryouga, a human being. In this first duel though, IV really tries to appeal to Shark's pride and his attachment to Rio, and almost comes off as a bit cruel, though it's all for the sake of getting Shark to fight for his life and not give up.

I'm a sucker for the kind of angst where a character's body sort of betrays them so the poisoning slowly taking away Shark's ability to move is great. Though I always have to laugh at the idea that you can't duel while sitting down, apparently :P

Meanwhile, this guy intrigues me by existing at all. I love the concept of Vector being able to "find" lost souls in the sea of ill intent, which he makes reference to when we're introduced to Mr Heartland's fly form. Why are the Barian emperors such a different-looking "species" if you will from these Barians, who have both humanoid forms and forms which are based on insects or other critters? What about all the Barians who came from the destruction of Nasch's kingdom, who we only ever see as glowing orbs of light or as their human selves? Do they actually also have creature forms that we just don't see? Or are creature forms generally reserved for actually evil souls? Are certain especially evil souls like Mr. Heartland's lost in the sea of ill intent until an emperor like Vector uses their power to give them a body?

But beyond all that I just find a creepy jellyfish guy with a big-purple-hatted bishounen form a really fun design choice lol.

Especially for how often Shark's hair gets compared to a purple octopus!

[maoam]

A lot of persons say that Sasuke is gay-coded even regardless of Naruto… I can completely see how he’s in love with Naruto, but I struggle to see how he’s gay-coded outsides of his interactions with Naruto.

Could you help me?

I assume people mean his underlined disinterest in women, or possibly the fact there is a lot of homoeroticism regarding Sasuke's character.

All these examples are examples of Sasuke being desired, but in Japanese media if a beautiful boy is desired by a LOT of men he tends to be gay himself, even if he's not interested in those men himself. Mostly because there is no need to have a bunch of dudes do this to a straight guy (it happens sometimes with maybe one, but not a constant thing that happens). See the movie Gohatto... in it the main dude is desired by a lot of men but he himself likes only one guy... but it's a dark movie so I don't recommend it if one wants to see something hopeful.

Sasuke is the epitome of what Ian Buruma wrote about in his culture study: "true (gay) bishounen is always deadly". Griffith is also like this...

[olderthannetfic]

Right, exactly. ‘Bara’ literally means ‘rose’, of course, but it’s pretty equivalent to ‘pansy’ in English, i.e. it’s an old-fashioned slur that some dudes found it entertaining to name things after, including that old magazine Barazoku. (And more power to them. I love Pansy Division, which is the same kind of deal.)

Gei komi are definitely more of a cis gay male culture thing, by, for, and about gay dudes. (Maybe bi dudes? I don’t read enough gei komi to know how they are about mlm who aren’t gay.) Not that they’re always realistic, obviously. That guy getting knocked up by a minotaur really sticks with one! (Yes, I am a basic bitch who has only read Gengoroh Tagame.) But they’re more of a direct representation thing than BL is. Or at least, that’s how they’re marketed and the kind of personas the authors usually have.

AFAIK, the overall category is just ‘gay comics’, and the muscle stuff has some term referring to that with ‘bara’ being more of a foreign language term at this point due to us not cringing like “Oh shit, I just called a dude a pansy”? If you’re hanging out in gay bars in Japan, you may well know more though.

Certainly, an individual artist might try their hand at selling to both gay magazines and BL magazines (with different pen names, one imagines). And certainly, people who like m/m content sometimes stray into other areas looking for more. I don’t want to gatekeep here: they’re obviously not hermetically sealed bubbles. But broadly, the various hairy, muscley, and chubby styles stereotypical of gay comics tend to stay there, and the willowy bishounen tend to stay in the stuff nominally aimed at women. Same with plotlines, styles of porn, yadda yadda. It’s Nifty.org vs. AO3. It’s not as simplistic as “Romance is for girls!” or “All gay men write about coke can dicks!”, but we know the two styles when we see them.

They’re not literally genres in that they’re defined by the target market rather than the content. Theoretically, you could have some muscle porn in a BL magazine and it would then be defined as BL. And we can’t know for sure who is actually creating or consuming them. A cis woman who likes drawing ultra masculine hairy men would presumably go submit to gay mags rather than BL ones.

But we know the ostensible target demographic and the trends that are more typical of one or the other. Gei komi are definitely presented as a gay thing by gay men for gay men. There’s no layer of abstraction like with drag or BL.

[ohhicas]

Just a thought, but what do you think apprentices' and Ansem the Wise children would look like if they ever had them? Would they have the same appearance, character?

i went through an emotional journey about this ask today

My real answer is: I'll need an egg donor for this, because blonde tends to be recessive and I'm SURE silver/grey is recessive. and Red sure as hell is recessive. Dilan's about the only one passing a hair color down without a gene fight. (and lets not get into the mess of EYES COLOR. Where does ORANGE land? What about Dilan "Tumblr's Alexandria's Genesis" ass Vibrant Purple???)

I'd like to personally imagine that Even & Ansem's genes would try their hardest to pass down their straight, thinner hair. Ienzo's hair is thick for how well it holds shape at such a short cut/weird comb-over style, so anyone mixing with him would be 'break a comb' thick. Aeleus's hair is a crinkle, shellacked down, escaping into a Final Fantasy bomb fire poof out the back. Curly hair is vicious in the gene pool, whatever he produces is getting at minimum a slight wave. Dilan is a difficult one; he keeps his hair braided but he has a LOT of thick braids, so unless he's wearing extensions he's probably team "Break a comb" so that's another thick hair team. his little wispy that flies around freely at the forehead seems ??Slightly Wavy?? but only as Dilan; as Xaldin that shit is pin-straight and might as well double as extra lances.

Shoulder Width being XXL seems to run the gambit through all five; Ienzo's broad for his bishounen looks. Dude can suplex people as Zexion.

my JOKE answer is "silly Anon, we've already seen their children" Ienzo was basically emotionally adopted by Even and Ansem as a child; at minimum he's their ward. With actual canon he calls both of them as father figures (in the chara files, they're the two he names as such. Those two only.) 'What does their son look like' he's right there, and he's a very snarky adult man who bench presses novels for fun

and Vexen has an army of puppets/dolls/replicas you can consider his Children; all of them in varying shapes and sizes but all created by him. What is that if not a father?

my Extra Stupid Joke Answer, entirely My little AU Universe is

Ienzo has a son already and it's this creature (made/summoned of his own brain in attempting to tap back into his lost Zexion powers)

[wvbaandtheboys]

Super Punch Out Dreamescape Infodump Yo

It’s about damn time I did this shit again-

SPO and Wii have different realms all together so here we go again.

Gabby Jay - Gerontophobia (Fear of Aging)

“Eternel”

A lone sorcerer that lays in the ruins of his home. Once a spry, youthful and wise man, Eternel became severely ill upon being infected by the Constellation. Being sapped of a large majority of his magic and strength, he was left as practically a rotted corpse in the wake of destruction. However, Eternel is unable to naturally pass away for an unknown reason, so he lives in pain every night. Having long grown numb to the fear of death, all he would want is to be put out of his misery. He is one of, if not the only creature that harbors sympathy for the humans.

Piston Hurricane - Astraphobia (Fear of Storms)

“Tronador”

A demigod that lives in the clouds. Once infected by the Constellation’s influence, he became hostile towards any humans he met. Why, you ask? Well, little fun fact. The Constellation has no real original physical form, and instead appears as the amalgamation of all who have perished in the dreamscape while sleeping. Being horrified by its appearance, it jacked him up. He acts as a result of not wanting any other humans to join the Constellation (trying to frighten them out of their sleep and wake them up), but cannot be peaceful thanks to his being controlled by it. Basically this dude is fighting with his humanity as his motive, but his god heritage as his means. Tries to be good, but can’t because he’s a puppet.

Bob Charlie - Homichlophobia (Fear of Fog)

“Haze”

A spirit that lives in a muddy bog, surrounded by fog. He was driven into extreme paranoia by the Constellation, yet is another one of the creatures that persists in combating its hold on him. Haze is terrified of what the Constellation causes him to do, and often tries to stay hidden from view, instead speaking to any passerby from the depths of the fog and urging them to flee. When he loses control, he can easily maim any living being. He is another of the creatures who sympathizes with the humans and wishes he could protect them.

Dragon Chan - Atychiphobia (Fear of Misfortune)

“带来不幸的哭泣之龙” (The Weeping Dragon that Brings Misfortune)

A Chinese dragon that fled the safety of his homeland to an abandoned tower. Seeing that his presence seemed to make things worse in the Constellation’s takeover, particularly concerning his beloved grandfather figure, he flew far away from home to a secluded tower where he remains to this night. Ashamed and becoming overwhelmed with negative, overwhelming emotions, he succumbed to his infection over the span of many mournful nights. Driven to the brink of insanity, exacerbated by his self-isolation, he is very violent towards anyone and everyone he meets. However, deep down, Dragon still has a heart and craves nothing more than to reunite with his grandfather. However, he dreads what he would find, more over what he would cause, if he dared to return.

Masked Muscle - Volcanophobia (Fear of Volcanoes)

“Magma”

A humanoid figure made out of igneous rocks that lives within a massive volcano. A raging monster, Magma is essentially slowly killing himself by violently igniting an eruption to kill any humans he comes across. He loses body mass everytime he does so, which means he loses a bit of himself everytime he attacks. Though, this is on purpose. Unwilling to live in such a corrupt world, Magma knowingly does this as to both satisfy the Constellation and himself. He is convinced he will be able to pass peacefully and not have to submit to the Constellation’s bidding once he is dead.

Heike Kagero - Pistanthrophobia (Fear of Trusting Others/Deception)

“嘘をつく美少年” (A Beautiful Boy that Tells Nothing But Lies/The Lying Bishounen)

A deceptive boy that lives in an ever changing world of props. Having the ability to shift his world into whatever he fancies, alongside having the ability to change appearance at will, he is a malicious person that uses his abilities to torment his victims before taking their lives. Previously a very kind creature that used his abilities for entertainment, the Constellation easily claimed his mind upon lying to him that his family members (Dream!Dragon and Hoy) were both dead, devastating him. Lacking mental fortitude, yet still harboring a good heart, his corruption runs very deep to the point that even he is unable to convince himself to take pity on the humans.

Mad Clown - Coulrophobia (Fear of Clowns)

“Serenata and Burlone”

A theater entertainer with two separate personalities. Serenata, wearing the tragedy mask, is a somber and pessimistic man that often communicates through sing-song speech (sings as he talks.) His unwillingness to take action alongside the Constellation caused the entertainer’s unstable switching between both personalities. However, Burlone is a jester at heart and is very abrasive, and a little bit sadistic with an insatiable desire for thrill. He, as opposed to Serenata (the two don’t really get along tbh), agreed with the Constellation out of that desire for excitement. With many tricks up his sleeve within his own funhouse of horrors, he certainly proves to be one of the most frightening monsters with a lack of any emotion towards humans besides seeing them as entertainment.

Narcis Prince - Cacophobia (Fear of Unattractiveness)

“The Two Faced Prince” (or Twoface)

An ominous royal that lives in a grand castle. A seemingly emotionless yet outspoken young man, he wears a mask over one side of his face to hide a frightening deformity. Twoface’s mind has been completely overrun with a corrupt sense of vanity, causing him to become obsessed with retaliating against anyone he either deems to be “hideous” or “daring to be more beautiful than he.” (Everybody dying.) The deformed side of his face is more expressive and is quite talkative unlike his normal side, though it is almost as if Twoface treats both sides like independent personalities working together as one vessel. Startlingly sinister at times due to his twisted mind, he removes the faces of any humans he captures and sews them onto figurines. How’d he get corrupted, you ask? Well, to put it simply, he got manipulated into thinking his infection would be halted if he removed any skin that would visibly become corrupt. Surprise surprise, the Constellation picked his face for a reason.

Hoy Quarlow - Philophobia (Fear of Love)

“拒绝爱的邪恶老人” (The Evil Old Man Who Refuses to Love) (The Unfeeling Grandfather)

An elderly man that lives in complete solitude. Deeply wounded by the loss of his family, that grief was taken advantage of by the Constellation. Though not exactly enjoying it, he purposefully acts devious and hostile towards anyone (human or dream) to prevent forming even a mutual relationship. A proficient hunter by means of changing into another physical form resembling a younger version of himself, he plays his role of being seen as a threat well. Though, somewhere inside of him, he wishes to see his “children” (they’re not blood related, just close) again and know that they’re alive.

Rick & Nick Bruiser - Thanatophobia (Fear of Losing a Loved One (in this case))

“Conjoined”

Two brothers that have been forcefully combined together into an deformed amalgamation. Overwhelmed with thoughts of each other’s demise over the course of their infection, they stayed together up until the Constellation came along and made them into what they are now (as to, in its words, “keep them together forever.”) Both seem to work together as both brothers need to cooperate to move their body. However, internally, there is a whole bunch of conflict going on between them. They’re in a bit of a parasitic relationship instead of a strictly familial one, as they both consistently leech off each others’ strength to gain sole control (usually clashing thoughts or whatever. Basically, they’re slowly losing that regard for one another.) Despite that, even if it’s not for the right reasons at this point, they still fear losing each other as much as ever.

(I’m gonna rewrite Wii at. some point teehee)

[pinkprettycure]

we need more big LIs like desperately like esp in joseimuke imo which is like for one just where I have much of my focus but like... and im generalizing here but when I think of BL games and their body types its like, twinks and buff guy and even buffer guy, fat dudes are not all that common but that's still somehow like leagues better than a lot of dudes in joseimuke where they'll straight up just not do anything more than lithe bishounen

we can just straight up forget about expecting much from female characters because god forbid a girl even makes an ugly expression much less have a vaguely unconventional body u.u

[corvidmasters]

can i be honest.

i really don't like these sprites.

to be more specific it's their faces.

compared to her work in extra/ccc warco's sprite work in the extella games feels really...over-rendered? for lack of a better term. it's especially egregious on some of the men. she's still good at making a great bishoujo/moe face but my goodness the bishounen energy that she was channeling for the guys in the past is like barely there anymore. arjuna and karna are some of my favorite servants so their faces just bother me the most out of sheer bias but they're far from the only ones who look kinda snorgled. Charlie's fine tho he actually looks perfect bishounen. older/chisled/weird dudes look fine as well also because there what she's been doing just works.

karna's hair looks really funny also it kinda looks like a hat and not his hair. this hasn't got anything to do with his face but arjuna's pose still makes me giggle because he's mid-bow or something. One thing I will give these sprites is arjuna's eyes and nose are cute :3 hair too flat though not fluffy enough

i just woke up from 2 hours of slwep btw.

[hollowfaith]

1 from basics, 2 from OCs !

Questions for the mun

When did you first start writing?

the earliest english diary i have was a birthday gift for my 7 year old birthday. i wrote stuff like "today was fun" and "i played with X today" like. super basic subject - verb - noun sentences haha.

before that i used to write letters to my great grandmother in china after i moved to the States. i was 4-5 and would tell her about what i did all day, and she wrote back!

as the years went on my writing got smaller and hers got bigger (the size of the characters i mean) because her eyesight was getting worse...i really treasured our letters even if i had to wrack my brain for what to say sometimes haha

Who was your first OC?

i'm going by tumblr OC for this one and it was a magical daoist cultivator dude with immortality and cool spell talismans based on this guy but bishounen ofc (i think i've talked about him in another ask but it was on another muse)

he was very fun and i got to dig into chinese mythology for his lore but he was also very static so there wasn't much room to develop him and i gave up and dropped him after a while

i still remember his URL which was a pun on his name: anqient for anqi sheng + b/c he was old as dirt yeyyyyyyyy

Who is your favorite OC?

i really like mary sue! but she's a very high-energy, attention-demanding muse so i really need a lot of headspace and time to write her properly like the way she deserves

she'll be back someday, she's a very easy muse to pick up and drop into the thick of things

[crehador]

so if miku gokushufudou were Worse (at life) and tatsu gokushufudou were an enormous cat, you would basically have dekiru neko wa kyou mo yuuutsu

there's not really a ton of substance to dekineko, but it's a cute and soothing show with fairly enjoyable characters

it's also peak wish fulfillment, like truly it takes wish fulfillment to heights i never before could have conceived of

because like you have ultimate failgirl saku who cannot do any housework to save her own life. a more normie/generic wish fulfillment trope might be to stick her with some sort of possibly magical bishounen househusband who does all the housework, which is great for the most part but that's another person in your house

and if your feelings on that are like—

—then the househusband route might be less than ideal

SO HOW ABOUT A GIGANTIC BIPEDAL CAT INSTEAD perfect flawless 10/10 wish fulfillment fantasy no notes

yukichi is, very importantly, not some sort of magical creature (so far?) and certainly not a dude in a fursuit. he's just a normal ass cat who saku rescued as a kitten, who then proceeded to grow very large and capable because saku sure as hell wasn't going to take care of herself

it's certainly not the most plotty or riveting show, but to me it's a very comfortrable watch so far (if you can tolerate the gohands look, which personally i actually like) and even at its halfway mark the large cat hijinks haven't gotten old

looking forward to the rest of the season which hopefully will have some more smol!yukichi flashbacks because CUTE KITTEN

side note: this might be one series where the manga is a better experience than the anime, can't say for certain because i haven't checked out the manga yet myself but i'm guessing manga-pacing might be even more effective than anime-pacing for these bits

(that said, the casting of angen as yukichi is THE best choice they could have made so for certified seiyuu freaks the anime is imo definitely worth it)

[cacaitos]

tbh in summarizing completely the observations on intersex characters+avoiding topic diversion i only have two main points:

Gonna call it the Unicorn Treatment in where yeah i guess is uncommon and might raise somewhat intrusive curiosity (in whatever sense or intensity) but also for the noticeable high tendency for the condition to be linked or provoked by unnatural or supernatural causes. unnatural not in the "normal" sense but say, active human or agent intervention, likely with an ulterior goal or reason. so yk, characters that are cientific experiments, gods, demigods, superhumans, angels, aliens, CreaturesTM, mythology (not speaking of actual ancient myths but moders uses for fiction), so on. so they're not usually Just Some Dude that happened to be intersex and that's it (including if IS is a relevant part explored in the story) but an intersexism that signifies their strangeness, un-humaneness (neutral) or alienation from their society in whichever way.

a crazy proportion of them are male characters relative to female ones, from the ones i've personally encountered even just councidentially. female ones i can barely quickly think of 3 and that's giving margin to my forgetfulness. even acounting, probs older, works with the genitalia=gender i.e. IS=nb=androgynousTM issue, they usually gravitate to more masculine roles/presentation (even if in a bishounen/fauxen animanga way). free space for the ones that do so for convinience/security regardless of actual gender.

[otakween]

They Were 11 - One Shot

(The cover art above is for chapter or issues, by the way, not volumes).

This is a niche little shoujo manga from the 1970s (as is obvious by the art style) that managed to be translated by Viz back in the day. It got a film and a sequel manga so it must have had some kinda impact.

Moto Hagio is an OG big name in shoujo world. I recognize her for The Heart of Thomas which also featured bishounen and came out in America. Just thinking about 1970s fujoshi is a pretty funny mental image lol.

Ch. 1

Shoujo x sci-fi is a very intriguing combo that you don't see super often. I recently finished Knights of Sidonia which was blatantly appealing to men, so this is refreshing. Also...gays in space??? 👀

So the former Earthlings are spread across a bunch of planets and are called Terrans. There a bunch of alien species that they're allied with as well. The aliens look pretty human except for some basic differences. That's kinda too bad. I prefer my aliens to be more animalistic

I was definitely into the "male character who is pretty much just a woman in design" in my middle school weeb era, but now I just see it for what it is: fujoshi pandering. I wouldn't mind it as much if it wasn't written so awkwardly. They spend half of the first chapter being like "you SURE you're not a girl?"

The names are ridiculous in both a fun and cringe way. They really had to name one of the only darker skinned people "Chako Kaka?" da fuck

Speaking of people of color, we got a totally white looking person calling themselves the Maya King...I'm sure there's no relation to the Mayans of our world but like, pick a different name then.

Lack of darked skinned people aside, the diversity is decent for a 1970s manga. I like the variety in body type at least. They definitely succeeded in giving everyone a very distinct and memorable look. No same face syndrome here.

So the plot so far is kind of a Lord of the Flies in space vibe. They gotta show they can survive adrift in space for 50-something days. I imagine they'll encounter some kinda space threats to keep things interesting.

The English title should have just been "There were 11" because "They were 11" sounds like the cast is a bunch of 11 year olds lol.

Ch. 2

Whaaa? So this is a hetero story after all? Then what's the point? (lol)

So this chapter was all about the crew members being suspicious of Tada (thinking he's the 11th person) and Frol obsessively following him around the ship. We also learn a little bit more about the situation they're in and the ship itself.

So far this test sounds pretty plush. They're basically on a cruise liner with unlimited food lol. I'm not sure what the goal of the test is yet, but right now they're working on fixing parts of the ship.

We get some lore about Gunga's species. I feel like the pacing of this one off is kinda weird, like there's only 2 chapters left so we're probably not going to learn about everyone yet they took the time to go in depth on this one dude. I guess we got some Tada insight out of it.

Ch. 3

Okay DAMN this chapter really popped off!! My perspective has shifted with all of the reveals.

So Frol is intersex which explains pretty much everything. The explanation for how his culture works was fascinating. Normally people don't get to choose their gender (society chooses for them) but Frol is made a bargain to become a man if he passes this test. His explanation for why was surprisingly logical.

The gender diversity was dealt with pretty well for a manga from the 70s. The only thing that was iffy was that everyone started treating Frol like a woman and Tada daydreams about Frol becoming a woman (against his wishes). Knu reveals that they're intersex as well but their culture is very different from Frol's. They go through a more natural metamorphosis but Knu got "stuck" and is now a monk because intersex people aren't eligible for marriage. This kinda species world building is always so interesting to me...

Some outdated terminology was used but that's to be expected. We got "hermaphrodite," "bisexual" (when referring to genitals), and "unisexual?" I actually don't know if we still use that last one lol

Intersex characters are pretty rare, I kinda wish there were more that weren't aliens, but what can ya do?

Not Knu validating all of the astrology girlies by saying it's a valid science on his planet lmao

The Tada reveal was just as impactful as the Frol one. I loved how his repressed memory came back, that was illustrated so masterfully.

And suddenly this is a pandemic story...noooo. Isn't space scary enough as it is?? 😭

Ch. 4

Nice, I really enjoyed how they wrapped everything up in this chapter. We got the reveal (and a fake Red Herring reveal) of the 11th man, the ins and outs of the test were explained, and everybody's happy and safe at the end of the day. Honestly, feels kinda unrealistic for this kinda setting but maybe I've just been brainwashed by horror sci-fi to think that lol.

Gunga was a real one throughout this whole story. I could kind of tell he was lying about being the 11th to help Tada out.

Frol telling Tada he would become a woman for him was pretty fucked up. That's not a good start to a relationship where you gotta change yourself for your partner. What is this Grease!? On the brightside, we don't find out which path they actually take, so you can easily head canon that they either part ways or take the gay route.

That woulda been pretty disappointing if they actually didn't pass. Glad the story didn't go that way. (Sometimes you just need a basic happy ending amirite?)

An interesting one off (technically there's a sequel), pretty well paced for an older manga and the art was gorgeous. I give it a solid 6 out of 10.

[amplexadversary]

More Utena, ep 26, 27, 28, 29

I feel like this may be the autism talking but

I think I get what the *metaphorical* implication of Utena ep27 is getting at, but I have no fucking clue what is going on literally. Do we ever find out where that egg came from?

I mean there's probably two layers of metaphor too one being what it's like for girls to get their period and how like, NOT talked about it is and the fact that people come to bizarre conclusions about it (and Touga being all "it's shameful" bringing a whole other level to things fucking hell dude you suck)

and the other having to do with the End of the World's cracking the eggshell of the world metaphor. I think Nanami's second dream with the alien egg lasers might be alluding to something that hasn't been explained yet.

Also it didn't come to anything immediately but Nanami alternates between wearing a bow in her hair and not doing so in her first dream sequence in that episode.

I'm wondering if the flying saucer showing up in the shadow plays is also marking a pattern of Weird Shit that might make sense later? Or if it's a shorthand for themes of alienation? (I might have to check which episodes that has appeared in before to look for a pattern)

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I haven't said anything about it because it's such an obvious ''wait and see'' thing but I'm wondering what the fuck is going on at the end of the car scenes.

Also the previous episode. Okay so I know how Akio would have gotten Kozue into the car (wtf leave the teenage girls alone, slut man), but the figure resembling Anthy behind presumably the twins' dad??? And Kozue having a player 2 version of Anthy's duel clothes (and her being able to pull the sword out of Miki the way Anthy does as opposed to how the Black Rose does)???

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I am convinced even more after a second barnyard animal episode that Nanami has inspired as many fetishes as Violet Beauregarde. (Again, as if I have any right to judge with the huge FTM thing I have going on)

I know that I'm bouncing back and forth and that's because I just watched two episodes that kind of have a lot to hide back to back so my brain is just going "and another thing!" repeatedly.

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The first thing this man does in the anime is be rude to Miki and Jury at the same time. I don't like him one bit.

Also, he looks like someone took a normal bishounen and put his head in a vise.

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Honestly at this point I think I ship Jury/Wakaba. Get the latter an actually decent council member and get the former an actually decent lesbian.* Jury deserves someone who will fucking appreciate her and Wakaba is a sweetie.

*(well, bisexual)

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Touga should really see a tailor about those buttons on his uniform. I think the holes need to be narrowed a little with all the wardrobe malfunctions he's having XD

Geez, Akio didn't even have to try with that one did he?

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Hm it almost seems like the saucer is just showing up more and more often as opposed to showing a pattern.

Speaking of patterns it seems like having a girl in that color-swapped outfit is going to be a thing too.

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Hm, no shadow play in e29. Maybe it's considered a continuation of 28 enough that it isn't needed?

...oh.

I mean look drama show cancer does not make you any less of an asshole dude.

[let-me-iiiiiiiin]

I saw a dream where a divorcing gay bishounen couple were moving out of their apartment (additional context: urban magic setting, some kind of secretly fugitive status, a sort of dictatorial power in the city) because of some sort of danger the red-eyed one was causing the other. They get caught up in plot shenanigans and end up on a wild goose chase pursuing a Russian guard (you know, with a raccoon cap on his head) who heard their conversation, and at some point the red-eyed dude shapeshifts into one of those identical looking-ass guards and ambushes the target. The red-eyed guy also catches his ex-fiance in his arms at some point and the ex startles at his disguise and exclaims "comrade (guy's name that I forgot)?!!" and gets smacked for it, because (according to the dream narrator) it would be incredibly conspicuous to call him comrade when he was disguised as a Russian guard?? For some reason???? Anyway they get back home to find a dark green truck driven halfway through the foyer wall— it's the red-eyed guy's moving truck. each hired their own transport, and the not-red-eyed man was like "Ha! Don't worry jerk-face, I hired my own truck too!" "...truck?" "Yeah, the license number is (random dream number)!" And the red-eyed guy, with the backdrop of a destroyed wall with the front half of a truck sticking out of it— front window supporting a circular shatter pattern— stares at him in absolute horror.

The scene directly cuts into the next one where driver is happily explaining that he accepted BOTH their job requests to kill two birds with one stone, while both of them are in the backseat with the most horrified and resigned expressions I've ever seen in a dream.

[bmpmp3]

A DAY LATER my thoughts:

overall theyre fine 👍 NAWT my thing but serviceable, especially because of the circumstances that required the change in the first place. i mentioned yesterday theres some things i really like. and some things i really dont LOL but its okay. all i really hope, and i keep saying this, but i hope we can end up in a zola situation in the future with a bunch of different kinds of designs!

now i do think one of the biggest issues, and part of the reason people are struggling to adjust to the new designs is the facial expressions and how they fit the very character-voice-acted vocals we have in voicevox. particularly with takehiro, kotarou, and sourin. akashi's expression is fine, kohaku is actually kind of cute and expressive, ryuusei is ryuusei (although i prefer his older design's droopier eyes, gives him a sort of baffled blank look). takehiro looks a little too young and sweet and neutral rather than his previous slightly gap-moe resting bitch face to kind of serving face situation. sourin needs to close his eyes HJKFSHJd its fine but it does make him look even younger which feels odd with his wrinkles. kotarou.... this little dude no longer looks dumb as HELL he just looks like a slightly mischievous cutesy boy - he needs a goofier, no thoughts behind his eyes but a lot of heart type expression i think. im curious about how the other facial expressions will look when those are released

of course all that to say, while facial expressions are kind of my wheelhouse if i do say so myself, the artist's rendering, anatomy, and ability to draw clothes are far better than mine could ever be so remember this! different people have different skillsets they thrive with <3 the artist did far better than i could ever attempt!

specific thoughts going from right to left:

well kohaku is a new guy LOL which is fine tbh i wasnt super attached to takuto since he hadnt been released in vv yet. his outfit, pose and expression are pretty great actually. his hair is a little wack? brother we gotta get you a new shampoo whatever you're using now is flattening you............ i also think his hair is a bit busy. i mentioned before i quite like the new name, leans into a fun b&w theme which fits with his connections to takehiro (wannabe rival) and kotarou (peer age-wise who he goofs on).

NOW. his skintone change is growing on me quite a bit (he's a little gray but we can help him. we can help him) BUT. but. akashi and even kotarou getting lightened (just a smidge but very noticeable to me) alongside it is. unfortunate. ends up (likely unconciously) in colourism-y tropes which is a shame. but oh well, i'll keep on drawing akashi in my lowkey south asian biracial coded way anyway so i'll figure things out

sourin! buy him some brown contacts please

jk jk everyone's eyes become brown when i draw them so none of that matters LOL his design is actually pretty good! his outfit is nice i think. his hair is a slightly less difficult to mix in watercolour paint colour now JHKASJFDLSfkjds although all other colours in all the new designs clothes were tailormade to be difficult to paint for me. but thats neither here nor there, just the nature of an analogue artist in a digital world <3 i am gonna miss his random ass scars. im assuming that was an onidaruma original tho so i get they had to go. i think he could use more black or dark gray in his design, maybe a dark brown, i adore his shoes though. actually all the new designs have pretty great-to-decent shoes!

akashi! i already mentioned before they lightened his skin a hair and i dont care for that. his outfit is fine, his hair is also fine (although i miss the volume and weird bishounen-mullet-ness of it all). i dont care for the. monocle? he does look like he was plucked out of a vague fantasy stat-raiser-dating-sim otome game. he looks like you kidnapped a butler from an angelique-like. but thats okay. not my thing, i like the normal gentle guy who dresses like a fashionable grandpa look better. but its okay 👍

ryuusei..... ryuusei.... they took his boobs..... hes fine but he is very drastic compared to akashi and sourin. i dont like the blue hair, im kind of a natural hair colour fiend (especially black and brown hair) and im picky about unnatural hair colours (i dont mind akashi 'cause hes so simple anyway and its one colour. multicolour hair im also picky. sorry kohaku im not drawing that red streak its too many details <3) and i thought the black hair on top with gray hair on the side was so striking in like a low-key but slick streat fashion kind of way. if he has to have blue hair id rather the blue be on the bottom and the black on top LOL. his outfit is kind of wild, the shorts would be okay on someone like takehiro but ryuusei? i dunno man... also a bit too much green and the shoes are a little bland. to me i feel like ryuusei should be trendy in a fashionable and slick kind of way, kotarou and kohaku should be trendy in a flashier way, and sourin and akashi are fashionable in a more timeless way, akashi a little more lowkey. and takehiro should dress in normcore department store clearance clothes but that last part is just in my heart. anyway new ryuusei is okay. hes not very memorable which is unfortunate since his old design is so insanely memorable. his aiv2 is wack in its own way but its so absurd it looped back around to me thinking its awesome (2am rave fit for narration software LOL) so all i can hope is future designs get sillay with him again

kotarou's outfit is pretty great. im getting used to white hair kotarou. im not drawing those black streaks. like i said before i think his expression could be pushed a liiittle more to fit his extremely goofy voice but its pretty solid either way - REALLY love the cat ear hair im a sucker for that design element and also im really bad at drawing hats so this is a relief for me LOL although i mentioned before i thought the ambiguity of his old design with hair covering his ears and wearing a cat eared hat, like does he have ears??? he did but like its a little mysterious gkjfdsajfd but thats okay im happy with cat ear hair. his ears being visible now might make him harder to draw for some is his fans though (im an ear drawing fiend but i know not everyone is <3 )

TAKEHIRO...... hes also fine. i dont like how green the hair is, it makes him a little too monochromatic (thats a problem with ryuusei too) and im not into the necklace or tanktop. i like his jacket way more than i thought based off the silhouette, a varsity jacket is so cute on him. the shoes are simple and good, his outfit is way too green, I DO LOVE the wallet chain+belt+garter situation going on i think takehiro at all times needs to have some kind of hip/thigh thing happening in his design LOL i am glad he was able to keep his incomprehensible eye thing. i dont know what it is. i thought it was a mole but theres a line there too. its his little eye thing <3 im curious for the turnaround later on, will he have his earring. is he allowed to keep his gay little earring. it looks like akashi lost his......

but yeah takehiro looks okay, not my thing again and i think hes one of the weaker of the new designs but its fine. i have seen people call original genbu "bara" which is insane though LOL like yeah hes not a stick-like waif but thats barely even a twunk. he would be laughed out of the magazine. barazoku readers would pan him so bad. his new design has no meat on him whatsoever though so i understand. i like him with a little more something on him, like a guy who goes to the gym On Occasion like his old design rather than not at all yknow.... but in the end its fine

sorry i needed to get that all out HJKDHJFElkdafjdk im largely gonna stick with the old designs (outside of our new friend kohaku) but i do think it'd be fun to try out morphing a middle ground between the two... and in the end it needed to happen and the virvox guy + the artist he hired seemed to have done their best with the situation at hand. i do wanna emphasize my favourite parts, at least:

takehiro's leg accessories, kotarous hairstyle and outfit, sourins shoes, kohaku's pose and expression - those things really stood out to me!

hmmmmmm. hmmmmmmmmmmmm. definitely gonna have to sit on those new virvox designs for a while.