#which. the conclusion I came to is that 'it's not for me'

[artist-issues]

@ray-moo

Look, let's just not. Okay? I've done this song and dance too often; this is not the post to engage me on this topic with.

It feels like you're going to hop back on here and try to work step-by-step toward a conclusion that ultimately goes something like this:

"Because the Bible does not specifically say, in originally-penned 21st-century English, these words in this specific order: 'An adult human born with one set of genitals is prohibited from having physical sexual relations, or non-platonic feelings toward, any other adult human born with the same set of genitals'—because it does not specifically say those things in that order in my 21st-century English, there is wiggle room and you can't tell people what God was trying to say."

I mean. Everybody else who comes on here and nibble-by-nibble feeds me responses, starting with "who says your interpretation is correct?" then continues on to "which part do you mean?" always eventually ends up at "there's wiggle room so it must be your bigotry claiming to speak for God."

...which, when you read the Bible as a whole, understanding that principals can be exegeted from God's Word very simply and plainly because it is a supra-cultural Scripture meant to be preserved and applied to modern life as well as the time it was written...

...is just another way to say, "did God really say?"

It's too obvious by any measure of logic, reasoning, and honest translation that God for sure meant that homosexuality is a sin. In fact, anything outside His intended design—which is one man, and one woman, united as one flesh in a holy covenant before Him—is a sin.

Too simple for me to bother with having the same tired conversation. So, forgive me if you weren't going to go there. Maybe I'm projecting what the people who came to this and other posts before you onto you. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, and let's talk.

You're just kind of starting this conversation the same way they all do.

You thought when people painted the "someday you're going to have to choose, for real, between the World and God, you won't be able to walk the line between both" picture that they were talking about martyrdom.

Some extreme. "Trample this picture of Jesus." "Say you don't believe!" "Convert to a different religion!"

You didn't realize that it wouldn't look like that. You didn't realize that when the line gets drawn in the sand, and Jesus is on one side, the other side would look like crying people wailing out, "why can't you just accept me for who I am? Why aren't I enough for you?"

You didn't realize that the choice would be between Jesus the Truth...or a majority of people in the culture making movies, making t-shirt slogans, changing their names, gently telling you that maybe this word in the Bible doesn't mean what you think it means, maybe love just means love, maybe you can have Jesus and whatever sexuality you want.

"Did God really say...?"

You thought it would be something overt. But the bad guys never said, "hey, choose the dark side over the light." They always said, "hey, maybe you don't even know what Jesus said."

The choice is: "It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him." OR "Did God really say...?"

That's the choice. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is our "choose this day who you will serve." As for me, I'm serving the Lord, and He's holding on to me. He never changes, and yes He did really say.

Hold fast to the truth. It doesn't change. People and cultures do.

[butchpeace]

My older brother is an autogynephilic TIM.

After a long time of trying to hide my real feelings and convince myself to be supportive, I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t do that anymore.

I believe that a main motivation for his transition was jealousy towards me growing up. It’s become increasingly clear that he genuinely just wishes he were me.

He was misogynistic, controlling, talked down to me and treated me like I was stupid during our childhood. As a teenager, he got interested in pedophilic anime. The kind with the characters who look like little girls but are supposed to be high schoolers. He likely became interested in yuri manga at this time - pedophilic anime lesbian porn.

The way he treated me had a very negative effect on my self esteem and mental health as a young woman, and that was part of what led to my trans identification and eventual transition. I hated him. But he had also been part of what shaped my negative self image, and I had internalized it. The idea that I was stupid, not worth the same as he was, that my feelings didn’t matter, that I was a burden on the family. It wasn’t just him, but my childhood in general shaped me into a self-hating young woman who felt like she needed to escape and become something else.

A few years after I began transition, he “came out”. We were living under the same roof at the time, and I was truthfully very uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable all the time, and didn’t feel at home in my own home. And I kept trying to push that feeling down because I thought it was the right thing to do. I thought I was being judgmental, that my instincts were wrong and I shouldn’t listen to them. That’s when I started peaking and started to consider detransition. I found a roommate and moved out. And even then I felt guilty, because he whined about not having anyone else to live with.

When he changed his name, he was pissed off that he hadn’t been born female, because he wanted my name. He said this in front of the whole family. That he doesn’t know what name he wants to go by, his only idea was what he would have been named if he were female, which is my name. He ended up choosing one of the most cliche TIM names you can choose. Another time, someone asked him his favorite colors. He told them his favorite colors were the ones I always said were my favorite as a kid. This isn’t a coincidence - It’s a specific list of colors.

These sound like just little things, and most people would brush it off, but they instantly made my brain go into red alert mode. Since then he’s become very outspoken about being a “lesbian”. He talks about wishing he could find a girlfriend, being a “lonely lesbian”, a “useless lesbian”, being “soooo gay”, whatever. He has the flags, he suddenly likes cats despite being allergic and never liking animals at all before. He watches anime and tv shows with lesbian characters and thirsts after characters like Vi from Arcane while talking about his “gender envy”.

He makes objectifying comments about women’s bodies, calls himself and my female family members “bitch”. Infantilizes himself and loves to talk about how “weak” he is. There are too many things to list honestly. All the ways in which it’s obvious that he has no idea what being a woman actually is.

We’ve only seen each other a few times a year at most in the years since then, and I’ve just tried to avoid and ignore and not engage in conversations with him. All the while he acts nice, like he never did anything harmful to me growing up, as if being trans was his problem and “becoming a woman” fixed him. As if I’m the one being unreasonable for being distant and not having a close relationship.

I’m seeing more and more clearly how hollow it all is. How fake it all is. How probably perverted it all is. He was a harmful influence on my life. And now he acts like he’s a woman, and it’s hollow, and somehow he thinks that means it’s all erased and forgiven.

We’re both grown adults now, and he only physically hurt me once as a kid, but growing up seeing him fly into a rage every time I didn’t agree with him still makes me afraid of the threat of violence from him. That’s part of why it was so hard to speak up and why it’s still uncomfortable to be around him.

The crazy thing is that I know multiple detrans women who have TIM older brothers. I’ve heard from other women that there seems to be a trend of lesbians in general with TIM older brothers. There’s a pattern here, and it’s not a good one.

We need to be talking about this. Stop the silence 📣

TW: Don’t look at the comments if you’re sensitive to sexual assault triggers. I’m deleting when I see them but the creeps have definitely found this post.

[cozymochi]

What is your secret/tips when it comes to analyzing the art style and anatomy of TWST? 👀

Studying the rest of Toboso’s work as it was presented over time and how it evolved, identifying it, noting the patterns, breaking down how she came to the visual conclusions she did on top of what process is probably being taken in regards to twst, and putting that into practice when going off the beaten path to do my own thing with it.

I don’t know if that makes any sense. It’s just master studies. I’ve done it with Takahashi, Toriyama and a myriad of other artists I’ve liked. It’s kind of why my junk can kinda shift around when I feel like it. I have some gripes with that links wording, but it’s basically just that and not some grand secret. I only really came to a better understanding of how twst is constructed extremely recently when I got my physical hands on the first artbook. Then I realized how much I was overthinking. [shitty scans are my own]

You can even see the ghost lines and more of the uncertainties on where elements should go, and how they were ultimately changed.

Something about seeing the original card art completely broken down with notes and without all the bells snd whistles (and definitively from Toboso herself) kind of put into perspective how twst isn’t as complicated it seems to be when it’s cleaned up. It might be just me, but looking at a solely finished work can potentially skew someone’s perspective, especially if the only thing being noted is coloring- a completely seperate step altogether. Which I see a lot of, tbh. I’m not exempt no matter how deep in the rabbit hole I get.

But—

But, I probably shouldn’t be the one talking since I have like… [redacted] years of having a trained eye for that sort of thing.

I’m not too concerned about coloring ( again, separate step, and not even done by her), it’s the drawing part. That’s the actual meat and potatoes. So, someone could see competent twst coloring mastered but the drawings themselves aren’t really following the general processes at play, and folk will still call it the “twst style.” So, whenever anyone says that, even here, I’m not sure what others mean by that. What is this alleged “twst style?” (Disclaimer: Rhetorical)

Yeah it’s a combination of every element at once (as every style is), but as far as my learning goes- I define the quote “twst style” is just Yana Toboso’s general artwork (notably from the 2020s, but the rest are helpful). Even if there are other artists in D-6th that are contributing. They’re all essentially trying to accomplish a unified look and that unified look is based off of hers. So, I don’t find looking at just twisted wonderland itself all that beneficial, low key. I’ll look over Black Butler, her miscellaneous fanart, her disney fanart, whatever happens to cross my path that I think would be informative for my purposes. Again, I’m not looking at every possible thing ever, obviously, just what I think would be informative.

I’m not sure how often anyone thinks about that. Especially since her visual process just carries over nearly 1:1, even if her point of reference and intent on designing something changed.

It’s like how Snake from Black Butler and Silver look pretty similar. No, it’s not from being “lazy” which- side note I hate those bad faith reads, total peeve.

Designing Snake and designing Silver came from two completely separate and unrelated intentions nearly a decade apart from each other. It just happens there are tropes that she clearly likes as an artist when designing characters. I’m more inclined to believe based on what I’ve read and practiced that it’s just a case of that, nothing more.

Which makes me reflect on a lot of my own repeated visual tropes. Such as how a lot of my female character designs always end up having some form of short curly hair, meanwhile the male characters keep having long hair 😩 God knows the wavy asymmetrical swoop bang rearing it’s head. It’s not intentional, but it keeps happening anyway.

That’s the kinda joint I’m talking about with master studies. Again, not just looking at something and trying to mimic it, it does go into trying to break down the process even at that level.

All this reminds me of this conversation I overheard in college while I was stuck doing printmaking work— some person said they, really wanted to draw like the guy who made Naruto since they liked his artstyle. Only for some other guy to cut in like “No, you shouldn’t do that! That’s not original :/ you should figure out your own original style first” or something to that end. I partially wish I butt in to that conversation. I didn’t much like how quick that guy shut that person down either.

Because… That’s… that’s not even remotely how that works? How can a person even find their own style/voice/whatever without studying the work of someone that came before them? If they wanna draw like that mangaka, then let them learn via that avenue. You can’t work backwards starting from nowhere. I even learned that in character design.

This person would have learned a lot more about how the process works and what works for them in their attempts to understand his style. They’d find their own organically after that. It’d also be more fun for them in the moment since they’re focusing on something they like. Then when it comes time to learn the boring (but important) stuff like fundamentals, they’d be able to articulate themselves more and identify what they’re doing. (Don’t knock art history and bring stuck breaking down meaning in seemingly “useless” stuff.)

But I’m starting to digress on the common “ugh im not original and unique enough if im not immediately doing my own thing from scratch” thing I saw/ overheard too much during my years at that campus. (It also led to me seeing zero progression from beginning to end from those peers)

As for the whole twst art thing, I can’t really tell you what conclusions to draw should any of this be put into practice. That’s not up to me to say.

I’m of the mindset that if you can sufficiently understand at least one art style, you can pretty much do anything else you want.

Take that with what you will.

[beartitled]

ok i have non art related slay the princess ask, i was wondering if i could get your input on a route idea for slay the princess, i have the build up but idk where it would lead, and i wanna get opinions

Hm

You mean like any new route I can think of? Oc route¿?

Hehe sounds fun ✨

Well, the idea I came up from the top of my head

Let’s say

Chapter 1

> you took the blade

> you talked with the princess for a while

> all dialogue options are used, yet you don’t make any choice and just stay

> *insert awkward silence*

> you start talking with princess again

> you ignore Narrator’s and Princess frustration (Hero just sees ppl are getting angry and tries being a mediator)

> you keep talking

> the blade you had in your hand a second ago, now sits comfortably inside your guts

> “Everything goes dark.. and you die. Hope that can finally shut you u-“

Chapter 2

The Philosopher

> you find yourself in a forest with a bunch of columns

> you proceed to discuss a single column for about 5 dialogue options

(I dunno if we get a custom voice here 👀 I think any voice would work here, but if we go full on oc mode✨)

>The Voice of the Disputant engages in a column discussion

> you reach the cabin (after insufferable amounts of inner dialogue) that is covered with draperies

> you meet the Princess, which.. apologises for killing you last time! She had a lot of time to reflect you see and now

> you talk with the Princess

> you talk some more

> you keep talking

> it seems that your constructive discussion on the meaning of existence was interrupted by a inpatient Crowman

> “The wall of the cabin suddenly collapses on both of you.”

> how unfortunate

[I think it would be cool to have an alternative outcome, where you kill yourself to prove a point to Princess during at some point of your discussion. That outcome would lead to Chapter 3 The unexamined life is not worth living]

Chapter 3

I think, therefore I am.

> another day another cabin- oh wait. There is no cabin. Or is there? There are… stars… many stars in fact…

> you drift towards a cabin constellation, then you fly through a ladder constellation and then you see a brightest constellation in this starry sky, Her

> and of course you engage in a conversation

> and then another 🌠

> and then another 🌌

> the voices start to… talk less? Are they talking at all? Are they there? Hero even you are silent? How strange. It’s like you’re finally feel… liberated. It is quiet and- Ah no, here it goes

> slay the princess?

> at this point, does this echoing chatter even matters? When did you listen to this guy? Is he even a part of you? Certai n l y n o t n o w

> your body feels light.. as if you are the light itself…

peace.. you are at peace…

it felt like ages… maybe.. millennials…

you hold Her hands…

and let go

…

…

and yet

you don’t get to enjoy that

a hand takes a star�� and then another appears and does the same.. and then another and another.. a tangled dance of hands just collected your Brightest Constellation and took it away

seems the voices returned and you find your consciousness in a familiar place

“This one is a confrontation for solicitude’s sake. The all knowing part of me that takes time to sympathise. She will make for an understanding heart.

Do not mourn her, for she has finally reached a satisfactory conclusion.”

[Your additional voice here could be Cheated or Paranoid. Cheated doesn’t get enough screen time in the main game >:D I let you decide which opinions they would have in this scenario. You as always could slay the princess, that would lead to the starry galaxy slowly dimming away as you both continue talking.. about anything, everything, and yet simultaneously, about nothing at all]

Chapter 3 /alternative/

The unexamined life is not worth living

> another day another cabin. A rock cabin to be exact? Hm, come to think of it, everything is kinda rocky

> your voices start to “slightly” panic as you collectively realise the world slowly turns to stone. Including you.

> oh wait, don’t you have wings?

> you hover in the air and it seems your limbs slowly return to normal. I guess no walking for you this time.

> as you glide through the air and breezed past the staircase, now fully covered in rocky texture, you see a statue in the middle of the room. Wait.

> you greet the Princess. Podium sure suits her elegant figure. Yet, you realise that you don’t have much time to appreciate her beauty, as her body slowly but surely, turns to stone.

> you try to help with no avail. But it seems that Princess is.. unfazed? She doesn’t seem to even want escape, she just wants to… talk with you. Again.

> you engage in a conversation

> and then another

> and then another

> take the princess’s hand?

> oh well, I guess nor you, nor the voices, wish to be turned to stone. You fly back a little and watch the Princess give you a comforting, yet.. a sad smile.

> you are left alone.

this world feels cold, as it is lonely

or maybe, lonely as it is cold.

you left in silence for a moment.

Narrator, apparently, being delighted by the unfolding events, breaks said silence.

You and the voices have nothing to say to him now, so you just let him talk.

And he talks.

And talks.

And talks.

Until…

He seems to be getting progressively quieter.

So you just wait.

The white hands appear.

Gently and delicately they pluck the Princess out of her righteous place in the ground.

seems the voices returned and you find you consciousness in a familiar place

“This one is a moment frozen in time. Her soul has accepted the inevitability of disagreement. She will make for a tranquil heart.

Do not mourn her, for she has no need in it.”

[Your additional voice here could be Cold or Hunted. Cold advocating for leaving the Princess turn into statue as well as being comfortable in the new stone world, accepting it in a way. Hunted on the contrary, full on discomfort and advocating to take her hand. You could also do the nice option and take her hand, which would lead to you both turning into stone as you chat, Shifty would take the Princess right before you both turn to stone]

OH BOY

I apologise if there are a million mistakes here (and nonsensically long sentences lmao)

Hope it was fun to read ❤️

Non art related ask 💥 Man look at what u did

[cough-droplet]

Part 2 of the interview is out and up on my wordpress, too, but I'll post it here, too, why not.

Was someone there?

Shirakura: Sorry, my mistake. I thought I saw Ricardo come in, but it was just his ghost. We can ignore it.

Here are some personal questions for you, Mr. Shirakura. What movies have made an impression on you? And can you tell us your favorite oden ingredient?

Shirakura: If we mean the most memorable production I’ve been a part of… I’d say it’s Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue — As in, the one spelled “True Kamen Rider”. It’s especially hard to forget since that movie was my debut as producer, plus we made it while Shotaro Ishinomori-sensei was still alive. There was a lot of deliberating — it wasn’t a struggle or anything, but there was a lot of deliberating we had to do with Ishinomori-sensei to get it done, so that’s definitely left significant mark on my career since. That’s nothing to do with the quality of the movie, it’s simply an unforgettable one for me, personally.

If we’re talking about movies that I had nothing to do with, it’s this Indian movie called Baahubali: The Beginning. I saw this movie recently, and as you can tell, I’m no spring chicken anymore, so I didn’t walk into it expecting it to end up #1 or #2 on my all-time best list. I mean, you know, every movie buff has their list, and I was sure mine was settled already — Classics like The Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia, Singin’ in the Rain. I thought my top 10 list was never going to change, so having Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion push their way in was a pretty big surprise to me.

My favorite oden ingredient is those konbu knots. I like them a lot. My wife hates ’em, though.

Please look into the camera and give us your best smile. Preferably a dark and twisted one.

Shirakura:

What are your thoughts on Toei’s global expansion?

Shirakura: So Toei revealed a semi-long term business strategy, which states one of its objectives is to speed up global expansion. Well, we have to follow orders, and an objective’s an objective, so some globalization of our character IP is in the works. If we want to talk about pre-existing globalization of Toei character IP, the biggest example is Power Rangers. It’s a localization of the Japanese Super Sentai series, where they used to keep the action footage we shot here in Japan and reshoot the rest with American actors, which was their way of localizing it.

I think there’s other ways to go about it, as well, such as remakes, for example. By that, I mean something like the Power Rangers movie, which uses nothing from the Japanese version but was instead made by a foreign agency licensing out the property. Voltes V: Legacy came to be in a similar way. So there is that option of licensing out our properties, but the other option Toei hasn’t gotten to explore as much is simply releasing Japanese media overseas as is, and having people embrace it. We’ve successfully done this with animation, but it’s more difficult to do with live action.

I don’t want to say too much, since this is an example from another company, but even though it wasn’t a huge sensation or anything, (mmph)-zilla Minus (mmph) played unaltered in American theaters, and it did quite well over there. It didn’t use to be like this, but I think we’re reaching a place where people are comfortable watching movies that star only Asian actors. And we’re seeing this not only in America, but worldwide; The Korean film Parasite sweeping awards demonstrates that. We don’t want to miss this opportunity. I don’t think it’s impossible for Super Sentai and Kamen Rider to reach a global market.

But, over the past 50 years, there have been various internal and external factors that have shaped Sentai and Rider, like our cultural backgrounds and the contexts in which they were made… If we just put that on a platter and said, “Here you go!” to the rest of the world, people won’t know what to do with it. This isn’t just a North American phenomenon, you can see this in Japan, as well. Do you think the people who say they like Kamen Rider today have been keeping up with everything from the days of Rider #1, Rider #2, and V3? Not all of them, right? There are people who’ve just gotten into it and just know Gavv or Gotchard. I don’t think it’s really fair to expect them to know Riders 1, 2, V3, or the whole history of Showa and Heisei Kamen Rider before they’re allowed to talk about it. Ideally, everyone in the world should have an even playing field in terms of how they can enjoy and discuss these shows. That’s the kind of environment that we need to create from the ground up, which will benefit not only Rider and Sentai, but any other new IP we create. That being said, we can’t just ignore our history, of course. There’s some good in how we approached things before now, and a crucial part of our globalization strategy is finding the right balance so that our shows can be enjoyed by people outside of Japan as well as within. We’re working on figuring out how we can do that.

Again, what can you tell us about No.1 Sentai Gozyuger?

Shirakura: So like I said, I ran into this guy Ricardo from Brazil outside Toei, totally by chance… Honestly, I was wondering what he was doing there, since he usually lives in Brazil, you know. So he says to me, “Mr. Shirakura, good luck on No.1 Sentai Gozyuger!” and I said, “How do you know about that? We literally registered the trademark yesterday.” How’s he finding this out on the other side of the planet, right? But that’s the world we live in.

Himitsu Sentai Gorenger started airing in 1975, meaning the franchise turns 50 years old in 2025. It’s kinda weird to say this right after Kamen Rider just did it, but 50 years is a long time for a franchise to run and it’s not something we should take for granted. Compare that to the 35th and 45th anniversary celebrations we did, and it’s a whole new level of pressure for a Super Sentai series to be taking on. And no one should be feeling that pressure more than the producer handling the show, but I don’t see any hint of that pressure on his face whenever I see him.

He tells me the title is meant to indicate the best and strongest Sentai in 50 years. It’s not just the 50th anniversary, it’s not just the 50th Sentai team, it’s going to be the Number One out of those 50. That’s what the title indicates, and what the show intends to reflect. To be the Number One in every possible way. That’s what Gozyuger as a Sentai is all about.

The rest isn’t really for me to discuss, but I think we’ve assembled a strong crew, and the show itself will have a lot of surprises in store. I’m personally really excited for it. When it comes to celebrating our milestone anniversaries, we can’t just be stuck in the past and focus solely on nostalgia. All of us, creators and viewers, live in the present. That doesn’t mean we should reject the past, but rather use it as a stepping stone. That’s how we create something new and step into the future. I think that’s where hope comes from, and that’s what an anniversary really means. Rather than just focusing on nostalgia, we need to use it as a foundation to make something new. And as I was thinking that, in comes the new Sentai‘s producer, who is super knowledgeable… He knows the franchise’s history inside and out and holds a lot of respect for the past shows, but — And this might sound bad — I think he’s not afraid to treat them as a stepping stone.

That’s why I’m looking forward to it, and though he’s under pressure, I’m not worried in the slightest. And because I’m not, he shouldn’t be either. Just go for it. It’ll be fine. But if it does flop, it wasn’t my fault.

Thank you so much for listening. There were a lot of questions I didn’t get to answer, but if we get to do this again, I’ll make sure to focus on the real hard-hitting ones. I’ll answer them, and then they’ll bleep out everything I say. So please send as many of those as possible.

Thank you for supporting Toei and TTFC.

People have been discussing what Shirakura said in the "Toei's Secret-Spilling Special!" that came out yesterday on TTFC but I've seen a lot of confusion based on partial translations so I recruited my usual co-conspirators michaelele and Flame to translate the full thing. The text of the interview follows. The video will probably be up on my wordpress at some point today.

Please introduce yourself.

Shirakura: My name is [Shin'ichiro] Shirakura. I'm a poor old man who TTFC has abducted and forced to talk to you all. Glad to be here.

We have a load of questions for you. Are you prepared?

Shirakura: I heard we received hundreds of questions, which I'm really grateful for, because that means Toei's secrets are as dark and alluring as the ocean depths. Keeping their secrets is usually my trade, but today I get to do the opposite. I'm a bit nervous and hope this doesn't upset anyone.

What does the Character Strategy Department do?

Shirakura: Character-based IP have been at the center of Toei's business for over 50 years at this point, so it seemed like high time to make it more official. The Character Strategy Department creates business strategies for our various character-based IP, or plans for them at least.

Looking back to 2024, what do you think of the hype surrounding Royal Sentai King-Ohger's final act?

Shirakura: I'm truly grateful to all the King-Ohger fans, because it wouldn't be possible without them. TTFC was already working with Producer [Takahito] Omori on cutting together the final three episodes into a special edition for release on TTFC. So the plan was always there, and, in fact, I considered giving that cut a straight-up theatrical release. It did get a limited theatrical showing in the end, albeit as a one-day-only deal for members. We would like to do something similar again at some point, but it's really all because of our fans.

What are your thoughts on its successor, Cranked-Up Sentai Boonboomger?

Shirakura: When I first heard the title, "Cranked-Up Sentai Boonboomger," I thought it was weird, but... it kind of rolls off the tongue nicely. Despite its strangeness, it has a certain aura. Then, upon closer inspection, I knew only Producer [Yoshito] Kuji could have come up with it.

Whenever you'd ask Kuji to describe what the show's about, he'll be like... [stone-faced] "It's a cranked-up show." He'd say it just like that, cold as ice. He's really passionate, but he keeps it under the surface, so on the surface he's this mild-mannered, gentle kind of guy. So then I heard the red ranger go, "THAT'S CRANKED UP!" and I shouted "That's where that came from!"

I don't know if "secure" is quite the right word, but I think it's a show that's made with a lot of care.

So the production schedules have seen a shift?

Shirakura: Boonboomger is still following King-Ohger's production cycle, but the series after it will have a two-month head start. The idea of that is… Well, earlier I joked about the Character Strategy Department, but the point isn't just to expand our business dealings with regards to character-based IP such as the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider franchises, but to actively improve the shows in every way possible. Looking at it from the business end of things, Kamen Rider Gavv is actually the first show made in this adjusted production cycle.

The first reason for this is to reduce overseas piracy. The problem with our shows being pirated… The people who pirate our programs are huge fans who love the shows, there's no doubt about that, but in a way, they're also fanatics. What I mean by that is... When these people form their opinions on the shows before the official release has a chance to come out, they're in a position to color the opinions of the fans who watch the official releases. So, for instance, when the official release comes out, the streaming platforms will be flooded with comments like, "If the toys were like so-and-so instead I would buy them," "If they did this then the show would be good."

The head start from pirating lets fanatics drown out all other conversation about a show, even though fanatics judge things differently. So one of our goals was to reduce that.

Another reason was just to revamp our working environment. For years, it's been a mad rush to get each episode to air, giving ourselves barely any time. Obviously, it's very demanding, and it's very easy to go over budget in that situation. But this recent shift in our production schedule should give our budget management, as well as working conditions for cast and crew, a big refresh, so to speak.

We've decided to set this new schedule with Gavv and stick to it over the following years, with all our upcoming projects planned around this. We've been running these franchises for 50 years, but this is totally new for us—Even though I feel like we should have made the change years ago.

What are your thoughts on Kamen Rider Gotchard?

Shirakura: Well, Producer [Yousuke] Minato was under me when we worked on [Avataro Sentai] Donbrothers, so this was his first time being Chief Producer. Obviously, it's got a bit of a school setting, as well as a very young cast, so I think it's a show that's got a youthful energy to it.

The title of the show, Gotchard, was something Minato really pushed for. There were a lot of objections to it. When it came to deciding the all-important title, though, he wasn't forceful about it, but he made it clear he felt really strongly about "Gotchard". [laughs] He said that, along with Decade and Ex-Aid, it can be a sub-series of shows that end in ド (-do). So he pushed the objections aside… In a way, I see that as a sign of how reliable he could be.

How has the shift in the production schedule affected Kamen Rider Gavv?

Shirakura: One of the reasons for Gavv's production shift is China's censorship system. That's where the piracy problem is biggest, and it takes quite a while to pass the censorship process, so we thought we'd give ourselves a three-month lead. We weren't able to pass censorship by September, but finally, as of October 13th, the show has been simulcast day-and-date in Japan and China. This means, for the first time, the official release could make it out before the pirated versions, which I'm really glad we managed to do.

But beating piracy is really just one part of it. As the producer, [Naomi] Takebe tells me, it's had a great overall effect. One major example is the cast. The rushed schedule we had before meant episodes had an extremely fast turnaround. By giving ourselves more lead time, filming Gavv before anyone else knew about it, it gave everyone several months to focus solely on Gavv. Of course, when it aired, all the comments would come, and the interviews and press tours… A sudden influx of noise, for lack of a better term. But, until then, that's three extra months the cast has to focus on their work, their characters. That's the best thing about it.

It also helps with the promotional materials. Take the videos we make to announce the show: We had a lot more material to work with this time, and the CGI was even finalized in time for those trailers. The same goes for the previews at the end of each episode. Even Takebe wondered why didn't do this ages ago. "Why have we been rushing ourselves like this? Why were we so stuck in our ways?" It's really a dark side of Toei no one can understand.

This is the big one. Talk to us about the winter movie.

Shirakura: This year, we're releasing the Fuuto PI movie, and in the new year, there's the Gotchard V-Cinext. As for the so-called "winter movies" we've done each year since 2009, there won't be one. Nor next year, most likely. We're reorganizing the structure, which is getting into Character Strategy again.

So, there's the summer movies, winter movies, and we used to have spring movies as well. Now we have V-Cinexts, which are usually epilogues at the end of a show's run, or movies we make for anniversaries. But there's also stuff like Fuuto PI, or Shin Kamen Rider, which are in their own categories. There's a need to put a structure to all of that. This question is about Kamen Rider, but we're applying this mindset elsewhere, too, of course.

When we talk about Rider movies, though, including V-Cinexts, the question is, what's the demographic? Who are we targeting? Who'll enjoy this? These are questions we've struggled with 'till last year. We need to be more clear about our audience and make things for different demographics to enjoy. We're just starting to do that now, and there's still a lot I can't say, but we have multiple projects in the works right now which we'll start announcing in 2025. Please look forward to those.

Can you give us any specifics?

Shirakura: To be more specific… Well, I can't be that specific, but we'll have something based on the series on TV, a so-called "anniversary" project based on a prior TV series, and something that isn't based on any show at all. So those three projects are all being worked on.

This is because we realized that only the people who follow the TV shows understand our movies. So we're reflecting on that. The core fans will obviously show up for our spring, summer, and winter movies, but with the number of Riders increasing, some people, even us, will forget about certain Riders, and their forms, etc… That's not a big problem for the super dedicated fans, but the average viewer will be completely lost. Lately, it's been feeling more like we've been alienating part of the audience.

That's why, and this is just my way of putting it… We should make things that old people like me can enjoy, too. I honestly think it's important that someone who's not watching the show could catch the trailer and think, "Wow! That movie looks interesting!"

The things that triggered this line of thought are probably [Kamen Rider] Black Sun and Shin Kamen Rider. We've had some experience now — and I'm not saying we'll make stuff like those again — but we're making movies that anyone can enjoy, movies that can stand on their own. We've got a few of those lined up, so I hope everyone can look forward to them.

Tell us about Super Sentai's future as we come into its 50th anniversary.

Shirakura: Next year, 2025, will be the first Super Sentai series' 50th anniversary year.

Super Sentai up 'till now— Let's use [Kikai Sentai] Zenkaiger and its "#45 Bang!" as an example— We've celebrated anniversaries based on the number of series, but I'd like to start celebrating based on the actual years. The reason being… Also, [Pirate Sentai] Gokaiger was heavily pushed for being the 35th series, which begs the question, "why all the emphasis on the numbers that end in 5, like 35 and 45?" It's because we wanted to match with Kamen Rider.

I forget whose idea it was, probably Suzuki Takeyuki, I think, but we've been doing these "double anniversaries". We say it's to celebrate both Rider and Sentai, but we just don't want Rider taking all the spotlight. So that's what we've been doing, but I think it's best if we stopped coupling Rider and Sentai together so much. Rider and Sentai should each have their own space. That's why we're revamping the way we count these.

[laughs] Besides, if we're honest, we're not even sure how many Sentai there are anymore. It's all LuPat's fault, really, [referring to Thief Sentai Lupinranger VS Police Sentai Patranger] because now the amount of years, the amount of shows, and the amount of Sentai all no longer match each other!

It's not really a total reset or anything, but we're ignoring the number of series and number of teams and just celebrating the actual anniversaries from now on. Though, I guess it works out, because considering LuPat, next up is the 50th Sentai and the 50th anniversary year, and this isn't a chance we'll ever get again.

What can you tell us about the Super Sentai series airing in 2025?

Shirakura: In 2025, after Boonboomger finishes its run, it'll be followed by a new show starring a new Sentai.

A while ago, I was outside Toei when I ran into this guy Ricardo, from Brazil. I was like, "I haven't seen you in six years!", and he told me "Shirakura! I heard about the new Sentai!"

Oh? Looks like someone's here...

(The second part of this interview will release on TTFC on December 29th)

[hidefdoritos]

reflecting on life and realizing that I was actually really close to being the third in some good friends' relationship o.O

[darealsaltysam]

okay but why is this season of the boys such a mess. like. episodes 1 - 5 were actually pretty good (especially 4 and 5, specifically the homelander + hughie and his dad plotlines respectively in those were SO good), then ep 6 was a clusterfuck outside of butcher's stuff, and i kinda thought we were on track for something pretty okay when annie took hughie's assault seriously at the end of the episode only for it to just be brushed off this episode AND hughie gets SA'd AGAIN?????? HELLO?????

[doodlejoltik]

my favourite writing device is having an un-Rei-liable narrator

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

this whole fear of repressed memories regarding sexual abuse has been following me around for years, probably since I became aware of memory loss/repressed trauma in the first place, but idk why it's been so intense this summer and it's really really frustrating how every time I think I've worked through it and gotten over it, I see a picture or someone says something and I'm all "I'M SCARED THAT THIS FAMILY MEMBER RAPED ME AS A KID AND I JUST CAN'T REMEMBER IT" and like. it's so frustrating because it's literally a symptom of OCD or whatever that I can't stop going over and over and over this, and it's driving me nuts that I can't seem to trust my own mind

[sysig]

Hey, hey! RnR not requested! (Patreon)

[sukugo]

i have to ask because i adore you and i want to know about your new blorbos- who are they and what are they and why are they always soaked in blood

JDHSJFHJFDDJFFSDFDF, oh man where do i start cassie.

they're from the anime/manga jujutsu kaisen, and they are:

gojo satoru. love of my fucking life. my fucking everything my boy my man, i am so so in LOVE with this man i cant even begin to tell u. he consumes my every waking thought, my life is dedicated to seeing him get fucked. (he's the guy in my header humping his all into the other's arm)

and (ryoumen) sukuna. beautiful sexy evil man.

(can u tell who's my fave)

so in this world, we have jujutsu sorcerers, who are people with special powers that they use to defeat/exorcise curses, which are basically evil spirits born of negative human emotions

gojo is the strongest jujutsu sorcerer alive. he is insanely strong, not a single person can go against him. his powers make it so that u literally physically cannot touch him. he controls "infinity" and can warp space, and he also has pretty special eyes that let him perceive things at a much deeper level than a regular person. those two things combined make him quite literally untouchable. and insanely powerful.

as for sukuna, he used to be a human who lived thousands of years ago, who used to be the strongest sorcerer of his time, and is considered to be the strongest sorcerer in history. he is the King of Curses, no one could ever defeat him, or destroy his soul, which he divided into his 20 preserved fingers so it would survive through time, even after dying.

so itadori yuuji

this lil baby boy (literally the babiest sweetest boy to exist btw) (he's actually the main character haha)

due to some stuff, he ends up eating one of sukuna's mummified fingers and sukuna reincarnates inside him. yuuji becomes a vessel for sukuna, who lives inside yuuji's mind now and sometimes takes over his body (reason why they look the same)

and now, yuuji is sentenced to be executed bc he holds the most evil sorcerer in history inside him, but gojo goes nope! wait a minute, let's not do that. and manages to convince the people in charge to postpone yuuji's execution, saying that they'll get yuuji to find and eat all of sukuna's fingers and then execute him, getting rid of sukuna all in one go.

ok so that's the context (that's actually what the anime's about haha), but as to gojo and sukuna.

THEY ARE IN LOVE

well, they're there. sdkkhfkjdkfdf

ok no, so like they do their things right. gojo is a teacher (tho we never actually see him do any teaching lmao) and sukuna lives inside yuuji and causes trouble sometimes. they don't really ever interact in the story (they literally meet and have a lil confrontation, decide to kill each other and never talk again djshjfdasdadfd) (until they actually have their Fight, more on that later)

BUT!!!!!!!! they may not interact, but they are completely tied together narratively.

as u can see, they're both the strongest from their respective times, so they have a lot of links when it comes to their characters themselves and what they are referred to in the story. specifically that, in being the strongest, they exist in a plane above everyone else, literally untouchable.

now, in the story, this position of strongest is coupled with solitude, being the strongest meaning u're alone and no one else understands you bc of this

and SO they have their fight. bc plot reasons right. this is obv what it was all gonna lead to. fight of the two strongest.

and the fight, consequently, revolves around that idea of solitude, and understanding each other.

which like. ok. yeah we saw that coming. ofc. no big deal.

EXCEPT, to make reference to their relationship and that idea of understanding each other, the term that is used is, and i kid u not, love.

there's a very specific phrase that is used multiple times between them. which is actually used originally with a character who shows romantic feelings towards sukuna.

she challenges sukuna to a fight and sukuna promises to marry her if she wins. her goal in this fight is to share in sukuna's solitude and show him love (read R→L)

but she says this to sukuna and this. this is his reaction.

SUKUNA KNOWS LOVE ALREADY

to which she gets super pissed bc that's not!!! love!!!!!!!

sukuna defeats/kills her. and u know when the next time that exact fucking phrase is used? when sukuna and gojo finally meet again and set up the date to have their Fight, where sukuna remembers her words

which tells us that.

sukuna was.

thinking about gojo when she said that.

*screams into hands*

BUT IT DOESN'T STOP THERE. this phrase is then repeated. multiple times.

1. right after gojo punches the fuck out of sukuna:

2. said in reference to gojo, when he realizes there's a chance of him losing:

3. gojo reminiscing about their fight:

so, as u can see, they were going to teach each other love. their fight is. canonically. about teaching each other love. what the FUCK.

but ENOUGH love talk (or else i'm at risk of going crazy insane)

LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW THEY'RE LOADED WITH SEXUAL TENSION

this was in their first meeting where they fought (for quite literally 10 seconds)

like... why he do dat.... .......... . ....

next day sukuna goes "hey im gonna kill u first <3" and gojo just goes "teehee omg really? *hair twirl* <3"

they also decide to have their final battle on dec 24 which is like a super romantic date in japan (explicitly said so by another character)

and their FIGHT. it is LITERALLY just them flirting and touching each other

LOOK AT THIS SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i fucking lost it. i still haven't recovered. that is the hottest thing i've ever seen in my life. gojo wants that dick so fucking bad

not to mention thigh grabs and hand touchies

and the entirety of the fight is just them having fun 😭😭 they're supposed "enemies" on opposite sides and the fate of the world is at stake here, but they actually don't give a fuck about that.

they're literally smiling and having a great fucking time. this fight for them is just play. their fight is just for them to have fun as the strongest and to connect with each other. they're enemies but they don't hate each other or anything, they only search for that sense of fulfillment in each other OTL

AND ABOUT THAT, oh my GOD

sukuna wins. he defeats gojo. and at the end, this. is what sukuna says to gojo at the end of the fight:

FUCKING. I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU. SCREAAAAM THAT'S ROMANCEEEEEE.

and the soft smile? the fucking petals falling all over them? oh GOD they're trying to kill me

but that's on sukuna's side, what about for gojo? well

HE GENUINELY TRIED TO REACH SUKUNA, GAVE IT HIS ALL TO CONNECT WITH HIM. TO TEACH HIM LOVE AGFKDHSKFHFKJFHDF (BUT HE FAILED HE COULDN'T GIVE SUKUNA WHAT SUKUNA GAVE HIM 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭)

HHRRRRGJFHSJDFHDSJFSDFA KJHDKFJSFKASLDKS ADKJKFHEWRKJEKRKTRELRW

and if i start crying OTL

but alas *deep breaths*

even without all that they're just very fucking sexy. two insane powerful men going at it? come on. how could u NOT want them together. they both hold the same title of the strongest, might as fucking well fuck nasty about it.

and oh god, when i tell u gojo is a fucking brat and he's so strong and untouchable, but then sukuna is capable of putting him down which is. insanely sexy. and i need it. i need gojo obliterated. and i know sukuna won't let me down (AND HE DID NOT. HE OBLITERATED THAT MAN) can he now obliterate his holes too

agdkhfhdkhdhs, anyways.... yeah.. that is the situation.........

im just gonna end this by saying

SUKUGO MY LOVES

[kushanna]

not to come here and compare traumas but like... out of the four siblings, rosa's definitely the one that got the worst load. the thing is with the others it was something that developed over time, their bad relationship was something that evolved as they grew up, the horrible environment in that house was something that they all experienced at the same time as it progressed and as they grew. but not rosa... she was practically thrown into a terrible situation when it was already established, with no explanation or chance for a different outcome. not any possibility of a miracle for rosa!! if the other three weren't able to nurture positive feelings for one another while they themselves were children, imagine for rosa, when they were all already grown and angry and hurt and frustrated... they obviously wouldn't be able to have an ounce of affection to spare for her and instead she had to deal with constant harassment from all sides. plus if you take, for example, eva, even if still very haunted and resentful and having literal nightmares about her family at night, she at least managed to go out there later on and build for herself a life she could love, to have people to love and who loved her, she had hobbies lmao. but not rosa... she's nothing more than a constant walking ball of anger and resentment, completely alone except for the one person she has and constantly rejects, making terrible decisions all the time and she's got nothing to even distract her from it... when was the last time rosa felt real, unrestrained joy? and how much did it last? she saw a woman die violently in front of her when she was 12. that fucks you up

[sundial-bee-scribbles]

I've been looking for this one au where Len basically becomes a mad scientist and turns his friends into robots one by one for a while now, and I'm beginning to realize that I just read through your blog while half asleep a few months back and mixed together my memories of your flower hivemind and composite au

this is very funny to me. i'm absolutely honored this blog's posts were enough to evil-farming-game an entire vocaloid au into your memories 😂

i can give you this doodle; it's composite au but i'm sure it'd fit very well with this theoretical mad scientist len au lololl

[rosefires20]

Mentally insane about the Earthsea Cycle tonight

I finished The Farthest Shore a couple hours ago and God. Just god. The messages in the series are so amazing and I adore them so much it's hard to put it into words honestly.

I am very very very very much looking forward to Tehanu which I didn't think the copy I ordered was going to arrive until next week but I check the tracking earlier and it's supposed to come tomorrow and I'm so siked.

Just all the little things and the nuances of the series and writing are so incredible.

[aranarumei]

“But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world.”

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

hey hanzashiro enjoyers is this anything to you...

[marimeeko]

Just for fun I ran to my desktop to aid me with Google translate, which isn't perfect. But given that I don't know Japanese myself....

Here's what I found; on my own, with only translate and my existing language skills.

This is wrong:

This is CLOSER, AND MORE INDICATED OF THE CORRECT SUBJECTS OF THE SENTANCE. :

While it isn't one to one, Japanese has a lot of feel and implication, from what I understand. There's a lot of context.

So I tried scanning the fan translations a few times just to see what it said on my own. I broke it down into parts:

AITSU: him, that guy (in this case, Izuku)

The "Nuguenee" part seems to mean "can't wipe it" or "to wipe away"

Kocchi- here

De nuguu - means something like 'take off with "

Eventually, I felt like it wasn't scanning off the screen well enough, and I actually WROTE THE KANJI in the translation of the panel out on paper, which was very interesting bc again, don't know or write Japanese.

But I scanned that:

(The word "if" is covered by the icon)

"IF YOU CANT WIPE IT OFF

I WILL WIPE IT HERE"

Shows that the verbiage used is "wipe," or "to wipe away," but it is SO MUCH CLOSER in spirit to "I'll step in for what he can't handle" and also the use of Aitsu indicated he is talking directly about Izuku.

I GET that the official translator's job is to try to capture the dialogue in a way that FLOWS for the new audience, since Japanese is a very differently constructed language than English.

They are supposed to find a way to translate certain things with keeping the mood and intent of the dialogue.

"OFA couldn't keep you in the ground, but we'll finish the job and then some"???

Where the hell did they get that???

I didn't dig any further back bc it might take a while but everyone has also pointed out that the original dialogue is a direct reference to the apology scene(I know it is in the fan translation but I think it is also being indicated that it is the same in Japanese as well? Pls fact check me of you desire)

So bc it was originally referring back to that scene, there is an added STING that comes with this official translation

And the ADDITIONAL BLOW that is katsuki once again being kind of...pigeon holed into the aggressive, more self-focused kid that he once was...a caricature of his former self, instead of his emotionally upgraded, self assured, "needing to help Izuku or he will perish" self.....instead of letting this moment be a crazy cool declaration about how HE is the one you fuck with when Izuku needs help.

Which like yeah, in itself is a little bit agrandizing, HOWEVER it is literally also serving as a vow or a completion of his vow earlier in the story that he will take on what he can't handle!

It's super important for Katsukis arc! It acted as not only a THREAT to anyone who give Izuku a run for his money and tests the limits of his OFA, but a VOW to Izuku that HE HAS HIS BACK.

He just YELLED ABOUT IT on a battlefield, while Izuku is probably still staring at him with heart eyes.

And ultimately, there is NO REASON THE ORIGNAL TRANSLATION, WHICH PLAYS OFF THE OFFICIAL TRANSLATION OF THE APOLOGY SCENE CANNOT BE USED OFFICIALLY.

It reads properly, and packs a HELL OF A PUNCH EMOTIONALLY. More so than essentially "I'm gonna put you in the ground bc Izuku CAN'T"

It seems like the fan translation kept the literal meaning but added the flavor to make it flow, such as "stepping in" "to handle" and calling Izuku a Nerd. But the official translation just tweaked it by too much to where it just reads differently and most importantly, doesn't carry that punch.

In conclusion, I did a little bit of independent research and decided that YEAH it doesn't make sense why they translated it so wildly different. Other than just wanting Bakugou to remain a frigging caricature, even in the Finale.