#toshiaki iwashiro

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[sleepy-monochrome-prince]

[oratokyosaigunda]

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[seeyounexttime]

Blank Page Brigade Spotlight: Assistants (6/5) + extra

6 of 5? yes, because last time I left off at 5/5 but now I have obtained scans of the Blank Page Brigade for vol.31 and vol.32

At the end of volumes of Black Clover is space for the “Blank Page Brigade.” This particular “brigade” is composed of the assistants (you know, those who help with art) and others from the Black Clover manga team, lead by “Captain Tabata.”

In each volume there’s a question that everyone answers. Assistants also include a drawing with their answers. I’ve compiled the answers and drawings from volumes 1-32, and grouped them together.

Previous answers (and drawings from the assistants):

Assistants (1/5) – Hayato Gotou, Genya Hori, Asahi Sakano. &  Assistants (2/5) – Kouki Ishikawa, Masayoshi Satoshō, Kou Shimameguri. &  Assistants (3/5) – Teruaki Mizuno, Hikaru Mizuno, Suzuki, Yōtarō Hayakawa

Assistants (4/5) – Kazuhiro Wakao, Shuutarō Koga, Seiya Miyamoto. &  Assistants (5/5) – Souta Hishikawa, Yagasa, Yuu Aoki, Tatsuya Hayashi, Ajina Yuu, Shion Kobayashi; +vol.30 Miyamoto drawing

Staff – Comic Editor Tomiyama, Comic Editor Koshimura, Comic Editor Fujiwara, Comic Editor Chiba, Designer Iwai, Media Editor Takahashi. &  The Tabatas – Captain Tabata and his wife. &  Editors – Editor Katayama, Editor Toide, Editor Iwasaki, Editor Fukuda

(( I've also gone back and updated/replaced some images with cleaner scans and in some cases with the official translation ))

You've already seen the vol.29 and vol.30 drawings from Tatsuya Hayashi and Ajina/“Witty” Yuu in a previous post, but I decided to just redo their pages with cleaner scans + the vol.31 and vol.32 drawings:

Hayashi seems to enjoy drawing demons/monsters

and Yuu is a straight-up baseball fan (also that drawing of Yuno is so cute!)

more new drawings by:

Seiya Miyamoto (present since vol.18) – Kou-chan’s 15 seconds of fame! really made Sekke look fierce in that vol.32 drawing too :0c

Souta Hishikawa (present since vol.18) – well, I have also learned that wombat dung is cube-shaped... to quote wikipedia "As wombats arrange these feces to mark territories and attract mates, it is believed that the cubic shape makes them more stackable and less likely to roll" and yes, wikipedia has a picture

Yagasa (present since vol.20) – Yagasa continues to win, that Liebe drawing is the best :>

and what’s this? the return of Yotaro Hayakawa as well! Hayakawa has been present since vol.11 and I guess was only absent for vol.29! rip lucifero

20. Shinobu KASAYA

was only around for vol.31

according to Tabata, Kasaya had a one-shot published in Jump Giga

the 20th known named individual to have been Tabata’s art assistant, even though their time together was brief, that is an expressive drawing of Zora that Kasaya left us

EXTRA: So was no one gonna tell me that the guidebook also comes with Blank Page Brigade drawings or was i just supposed to find that out while wading through possibly sketchy sites myself

Blast from the past seeing some of the original 6 again!

Hayato Gotou was really by Black Clover’s side for 29 volumes straight and the guidebook. Also, if it’s hard to see, the spell is Heat Wave Magic: “3-Meter Radius Summer Vacation”

And on god that’s the most on-brand weirdo shit Kouki Ishikawa could’ve said and drawn...

"carry your heartbeat" let me explain... this seems to be a reference to a song lyric from Exile's "Choo Choo Train" and made popular in Japan a certain dance move they called the ぐるぐるダンス ("guruguru dance") or ロールダンス ("roll dance"). Some meme examples here [exhibit A // exhibit B // exhibit C]. However it turns out this move was showcased back in the 90s in "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)" by American R&B group Hi-Five

anyways your ride Valtos is here to pick you up

Teruaki Mizuno wrote the most and never used punctuation, hopefully I got the gist of what was said...

also idk what “Ashi era” refers to... Tabata was assistant to Toshiaki Iwashiro, now while you may be tempted to go it's from iwASHIro that.. well i mean idk but that doesn't seem to me the kind of nickname that would be created from i-wa-shi-ro to-shi-a-ki?? idk idk

Hayakawa bringing a new attribute to Black Clover and a crossover!

took me a while to find what 金斗雲 was but apparently it's an alternate writing of 筋斗雲 which is the name of that cloud that they use to fly around in Dragonball which Funimation translated as "flying nimbus" ☁ guess Hayakawa wasn't pure enough...

Kazuhiro Wakao really did indeed write "godfather" ゴッドファーザー now if he means like from the movie of the same name or like the position of a godfather idk but what are you doing down that bad for that gal Wakao why out yourself like this...

Shutaro Koga answered with 社長 shachou which translates to “president (of a company)” with alternate translations of "manager", "director" and "CEO" so I went with "The CEO" because it sounded more quippy :p

Captain Tabata didn't answer the Blank Page Brigade question because the question was about himself, so instead of the usual, he provided a new drawing of Asta & Yuno

what does it say within the black arrow and why didn't I replace the words? well that says something like from page 137 onward it's all about Tabata, and yeah it's like stuff about his process and questions and so on but that's not included in this post, it's a lot and my reading level is not that high *finger guns*

21.? Uemura?

according to a comment by Tabata in Weekly Shonen Jump back in April: “My mysterious assistant Uemura-kun, who hasn't been with me for very long, has a one-shot in this week's issue of Jump in Japan! What's it like?"

the one-shot in question may be Koi, Tokidoki Chounouryoku – is the assistant Taishin Uemura?

I did not find their name in vol.32, which was published in early April. Maybe Uemura will be in the blank page brigade for volume 33?

*Mike Rowe voice* We've explored the bonus pages looking for and learning about the hard-working men and women - 20(+1) assistants, 4 editors, 4 comic editors, media editor, designer, and Tabata's wife - who made Black Clover possible

ありがとうございました

[watsondcsj]

Today's Chores, Homework, and Fortnite comic book recommendation is Psyren by Toshiaki Iwashiro

[mugiwara-shuenobi]

Psyren Vol. 1-8

[indefiniteobsession]

[sunkentreasurecove]

[bestwizzard]

Took some more Psyren screen shots this time around

[nullelemental]

anybody else wake up everyday upset about Psyren not having it's own anime

[empyreumata]

Ｍｉｅｒｕ   Ｈｉｔｏ #55  |  𝘒𝘪𝘺𝘰𝘪’𝘴  𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦

— “Await that day with despair, trembling in your sleep...”

[tamelee]

Can you do your drawings more the manga style? The others are fine but anime characters shouldn’t be drawn in a realistic style because it looks weird. Your art is good but maybe you can draw actors your one style and then anime for the other. I read you were practicing for the manga. Dont worry I want to read it! The thing about realism is that you cant represent a character factually in their true cultural foundation since it doesnt exist. The character doesnt exist. How can you draw Sasuke as a Japanese person and represent him as one in real life when you dont know what he looks like? Same with Naruto. This is no hate but just advice for your future career. I see many artist making mistakes like this and this is just a warning to prevent you from making it worse. I hope you can see it as such and not make a big deal out of it. I like your analysis’s though, keep up the good work have a nice day. Peace ✨

“Can you do your drawings more the manga style?”

No matter how much you try to formulate a question like this in order to make it sound “polite”, you don’t grasp the severity of the thing you’re “asking”. 

You’re asking an artist (in my case someone who’s practicing to become one professionally), to change their art-style. An art-style is something that belongs to a person. It’s something that develops and an artist can play around with it, but you (and anyone else) don’t get to decide how they should do that. 

It’s impossible, even if we "wanted to".

And quite rude. 

When I first started with commissions people always asked me to “draw me this like that artist does” and basically they always wanted a copy. It used to be so confusing to me, because if they wanted something that looked exactly like the other artist’s drawing.. then why ask me? Why tell me you “like my art so much”, come to me for a commission because of it, but then don’t want it the way I draw it?

It made me really insecure about the way I draw.. and it still does to be honest. 

“Copying” an artist’s art style can be a good way to practice art and figure out what you like, there is no shame in that, but it isn’t part of “us”. 

What do you even mean with “manga-style” anyway? You do realize that there is not one “manga-style” either right? Have you seen the ‘Naruto’ tribute drawings made by other Mangaka’s? They look very different from Kishimoto’s “manga-style”. 

Hirohiko Araki: 

Mitsubishi Shimabukuro:

Masanori Morita:

Toshiaki Iwashiro:

Kentaro Yabuki:

Takeshi Obata:

And these are only a few... (lmao to fan-artists getting criticized for slightly different facial proportions being part of their art-style when it's more than normal (in the Manga world), but ok.)

“The others are fine but anime characters shouldn’t be drawn in a realistic style because it looks weird.”

This statement in itself is ridiculous. Anime characters drawn (semi-)realistic-looking being “weird” regardless of how it’s drawn or by who, is your opinion. Your own personal opinion which is weird to send to someone. Meaning: your opinion is not factual. Now that, is not my opinion, that’s commonly accepted as a fact. 

Kishimoto himself drew his characters more "realistic" as well. 

Not just him, but there is another Mangaka who did. 

“Dont worry I want to read it!”

I wasn’t.

“The thing about realism is that you cant represent a character factually in their true cultural foundation since it doesnt exist. The character doesnt exist. How can you draw Sasuke as a Japanese person and represent him as one in real life when you dont know what he looks like? Same with Naruto.” 

You talk like you have zero understanding of what “art” even means in the first place. 

I don’t even have to explain myself to you, but:

.. these aren’t even all.. 

(Please guys, I’m aware of what is happening.. and yes I get them too. I’m not going to talk about other blogs, my blog isn’t a call-out blog, but this is going against my style specifically.. so here we are.) 

Adding “realism” is just an interpretation, a way to enrich the fictional fantasy of a character. It’s true that you can’t represent a character “factually in their true cultural foundation since it doesn’t exist” as you say. 

Because Konoha doesn’t exist. Ninja’s (from Naruto) don’t exist. 

Konoha isn’t an accurate representation of Japan and its culture either as Kishimoto is also influenced by different media from all over the world. His fantasy world in which this creation was born from exists, because it isn’t limited to one cultural region and it doesn’t have your personal boundaries. His childhood as far as we know was full with superheroes that were created from minds all over the world with super-powers that aren't tied to our realistic (cultural) representations. We can't manipulate Chakra like these characters do, now can we? 

That’s why it’s fiction. 

That’s why you’re right and also contradicting yourself because of it. 

Why the hell would I want to take the beauty out of something that not only entertains us, but perhaps even helped us cope or forget this dumb “real life” you talk about and bring it ‘back to Earth’ when the mouths that lick the asses of those that embrace this ‘cancel culture’-mentality so-lovingly want to steer us towards all these ‘problematic’ things they call “reality”. Seemingly: you.  

The beauty in art or fanart, fan work, fiction, fantasy is exactly that it does NOT have to represent anything exactly in real life, but it can be whatever the creator wants it to be. Interpretation is never the same for everyone. And frankly, you don’t have to agree with it. You can turn on your news-channels, discuss shit on Facebook or focus on something else if you want to see something that “represents your reality” and even then that’s questionable to say the least :’) 

Art, this platform, entertainment, humor or this story that exists from the mind of a man that somehow, someway came up with the most beautiful.. tragic, love story of all time, discussing it, getting lost in the charm or artistry that went behind in making it- it’s supposed to be fun. A way to escape that reality, but all this backlash and criticism towards not just fan-artists, but also fan fiction authors who do nothing, but share their works for free does not make it very attractive to do so. One day this fandom will die down, because of this, yet it doesn’t have to. 

People will always do what they love to do. 

Let them. 

(Morally)

“This is no hate but just advice for your future career. I see many artist making mistakes like this and this is just a warning to prevent you from making it worse.“

No, artists following your advice is the mistake. Uno reverse warning. 

Have fun on your journey drawing, writing or anything that you love to do. You’re the only one having access to your mind. In art specifically, there is not one art-style, it’s something you develop overtime through drawing the things you love drawing. Every time you’ll think to yourself “hey, I liked that, I want to incorporate that the next time I draw too!” It’ll build from there. 

“I hope you can see it as such and not make a big deal out of it.”

I hope you see the hypocrisy in this sentence. 

Have a nice day too. I left you a drawing. (It’s the latest one.) 

[sleepy-monochrome-prince]

[blackcloverstore]

Black Clover: 10 Things Only True Fans Know About Asta

New Post has been published on https://blackclover.store/black-clover-10-things-only-true-fans-know-about-asta/

Black Clover: 10 Things Only True Fans Know About Asta

Black Clover is quickly becoming one of the more popular shonen anime series. Whether that’s due to most of the older shonen series like Naruto or Bleach having ended, or because it’s just that great, it’s unquestionable that Black Clover is a rising star in the world of anime.

Black Clover might not be as popular as it is without the strength of its lead character, Asta. Here’s what only true fans know about him!

1. Asta is one of the most popular characters in the series:

This seems like it would be obvious, as Asta is the main character, and it’s only natural that the main character be the most popular one in the series given all the focus they get. But take a look at Deku to see how much work this really is. Black Clover, like many of our favorite action-oriented series, is published in Weekly Shonen Jump.

Every so often, every manga does a popularity poll, asking its readers who their favorite characters are. Other main characters are often overshadowed by dark horse characters, like their rivals, but not Asta—his tenacity and ability to succeed even though he isn’t the fastest or the strongest has succeeded in winning the hearts of fans everywhere.

2. He is a character who most like the creator:

In a 2017 interview that Yuki Tabata did for Weekly Shonen Jump during the December Jump Festival, the creator was asked by some of the staff at VIZ which character he was most like from his series. Surprisingly, Tabata admitted the character he resembled the most was actually the main character of the series, Asta!

Even more surprising was how, in the very same interview Tabata’s editor, Katayama, quickly agreed with him because of his relentlessly positive attitude and his inability to sit still.  Guess that’s one way to get so many pages out every month.

3. Asta was once a detective:

Back during Black Clover’s earliest chapters, it ran alongside Toshiaki Iwashiro’s short-lived manga Kagamigami. Kagamigami was a series about a character named Kyousuke Kagami, a young man capable of forming contracts with Shikigami, astral spirits that liked possessing humans and causing trouble, working alongside Mako Miyoshi, a young woman seeking to be a detective.

To celebrate the first volumes of both series releasing, a crossover manga came out where Asta joined Miyoshi’s detective agency. Of course, he couldn’t summon any spirits, so he just kept punching all the threats in the face until Miyoshi demanded he use some kind of Shikigami.

4. He was trained by an enemy soldier:

In the first episode, Asta receives his grimoire which contains a sword within its pages. But while he spent much of his time training, none of it ever involved being good with a blade. But even during the Magic Knight Exam, he displays an almost uncanny sense of how to use it.

5. Asta can store magic in his sword:

Thus far, Asta’s grimoire has only succeeded in granting him a bunch of swords. It’s a bit out of place in a series where everyone’s supposed to be a mage, but that’s the point of the character. Unlike everyone else in the series, Asta doesn’t just have little talent with magic—he has absolutely zero talent with it.

Still, that doesn’t mean he can’t use it at all. The second sword he attains during his battle against the Diamond Kingdom’s soldier, Mars, allows him to drain other people’s magic and store it for use in combat. He doesn’t use this often, but it’s still a powerful card to have up his sleeve.

[witchysolfan]

I have some random fiction to ask if you've heard of/like! Specifically: Circe by Madeline Miller, Psyren by Iwashiro Toshiaki, and Megaman Starforce, by Capcom. Also, Generator Rex. Also also, the Tiffany Aching series, by Terry Pratchett.

I have read none of these but you have now put them in my list of books to read in future. I know of Discworld but mind you I was more Death and his fam story focused at the time. I am interested in reading the other books though like the Night Watch.

I’m still currently in an Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao high though. Like oh man that was a really good book and I cannot wait for the sequel. Seriously check it out, it’s so good!

[smokeybrand]

Psyren Song

Way back during the silver age of anime in the US, when Toonami was making Dragon Ball Z everyone’s favorite anime and the Shonen genre reigned supreme, there were a lot f contenders to the Big Three crown. Shonen Jump had exploded in relevance due to a sudden influx of US fans and, at the time, there were three major manga that found their way to the top of the charts; BLEACH, Naruto, and One Piece. Now, One Piece was, and is, the undisputed king of manga. It’s incredibly evident that Monkey D. Luffy wears that crown. Motherf*cker has been running since 1996, literally the year after DBZ ended in print form. The stories of the All-Sunny squad are the only misadventures still being told of the original Big Three, threw the insurmountable force that is the Will of D. And the millions upon millions of merchandising sales.

I got to the Gum-gum party late. For me, it was BLEACH. I thought that sh*t was incredible. The art was on point and the narrative was unassailable. I don’t think anyone will fight me if i said that the Substitute Shinigami and Soul Society arcs were some of the best Shonen ever written, head and shoulders above anything either Pirate or Ninja Goku were pushing out at the time. Plus, early BLEACH easily had the best art. Kubo came through, killing everything with his distinctly detailed yet whimsically realized flavor and i loved it so much. Oda was dope, don’t get me wrong, but his sh*t was nightmare Mickey and Kishimoto’s stuff always seemed wonky to me. To this day, i always point to those first two arcs of BLEACH as the best of Shonen content available for people new to the fandom. Unfortunately that quality didn’t maintain.

The Big Three, i think, were great for different reasons. One Piece had it’s grad ass narrative, one that is still intriguing, if a little bloated, to this day. Naruto had an air of originality with how it demonstrated it’s world. That ninjitsu sh*t allowed for a ton of imaginative abilities an the Jinchuriki was an interesting take on an OP form. BLEACH, for all of my b*tching, maintained the dopest art, even after Kubo gave up and got pretty lazy. Even so, around 2007, the Big Three began to show there age. The title holders were vulnerable and a ton, an absolute slew, of brand new manga came for their throne. Tsugumomo (a personal favorite which I've written about numerous times on this blog), Spice and Wolf, Rosario+Vampire, Maken-Ki, and Deadman Wonderland (another favorite i should probably get around to gushing about) all developing a massive following but, out side of the two i mentioned here the one manga i found myself completely infatuated with was Psyren.

Psyren is everything you could ever want in a Shonen manga. It has fantastic art, an imaginative world, a compelling plot, endearing characters, and one of the best OP form i have ever seen in my entire life. I love this book, man. I don’t want to spoil too much but Psyren follows Ageha Yoshina, your high school protagonist, who stumbles upon a really f*cked world through a calling card game called Psyren. I don’t want to get too deep into the plot, go f*cking read this thing, but, suffice it to say, that narrative is all over the place. This thing takes you on a ride. There are absolutely great supporting characters and timey-wimey shenanigans all over the place. Ageha is every bit the protagonist that Luffy, Ichigo, or Naruto are and he could, arguably, hold his own with any one of them in a fight. Dude’s ability, however, is probably the most spectacular, outside of Ichigo’s Mugestsu. Seriously, the visual aspect of this book is f*cking stunning. Toshiaki Iwashiro‘s art could give Kubo’s a run for his money, especially toward the end. Not just in aesthetic, but in kineticism and power. Some of these battle scenes were exceptional. That climax where we see Ageha lose his sh*t? Yea, that would have been fantastic to see on onscreen, which brings me to the biggest issue i have with Psyren; Where the f*ck is my anime adaption man??

Psyren had a finite run. There was beginning, middle, and end. Iwashiro had a story he wanted to tell and he told it. Admittedly, it feels a bit rushed toward the end but i think that may have had more to do with Jump and their shenanigans than anything else. Jump relies too much on popularity polls and sh*t so when the audience looks to be waning in interest, sh*t gets the axe. In Psyren’s case, i don’t think that would have been the case if there was an adaption airing weekly. Psyren lends itself to animation, man. It’s glorious to look at and a lot of the battles, if animated with care, could have been truly brilliant to see. Instead, Psyren got the axe and, a decade later, still no anime in sight. It’s mad frustrating because all of those other 2007 manga i listed, they all got to see the small screen. Arguably the best out of all of them? Not even a hint. Missed opportunity, for sure. Even without an onscreen adaption, Psyren still kills. It’s an excellent story full of great art and dope characters. It’s truly a hidden gem and, if you got the time, i suggest checking it out. It deserves way more yes on it and this is me driving that traffic. Go read Psyren and tell people how dope it is. Sh*t deserves all of the shine!