#EXCEPT. THAT ONE ARTIST ON PIXIV

[residentialsinyomakai]

When I am able to take pictures again I am. showing you all art. and also talking about Rongo Swirll and grief for someone you never got to say a proper goodbye to. to someone you held dear. To never be able to properly express it not because of any outwards limitations but because of his lack of language and knowledge for those kinds of feelings. He utilizes compartmentalization except he never takes it off of the shelf. He can't survive like this; it'll tear him apart inside out and it'll only hurt so much more.

He MEANS SO MUCH TO ME. I like his stupid face

[amerain-k]

my doujin orders came home!!! yesterday my order for cummings' complete poems book also came home!!!

im a very happy weeb bookworm right now

[darlingpoppet]

✨Doujinshi Shop Open!✨

Hello all! I have set up a storefront to handle international orders outside of Japan for Closest To My Heart/だれよりも心を許している男, the pza/patrochilles doujinshi I released at the Japanese Hades fan event, Chthonios Epic 3. (And for the Eruri heads out there, I also have the last few copies of my first doujinshi listed as well!)

If you live outside of Japan and you’re interested in buying a copy of my book(s), please visit ninnananna.bigcartel.com!

Basic book details:

Price: ¥1300 JPY (about $8USD) (+ shipping)

A5 size

110 pages

English and Japanese versions both included in one volume

A limited number of copies will also include a FREE postcard extra, featuring a text-free version of the cover art. Please select Book + Postcard in the Book Options menu.

Some Important Things Of Note!

This doujinshi is a bilingual physical edition of my fanfic, Closest To My Heart, which I originally posted in English on AO3. The new Japanese translation of the fic is currently exclusive to this book.

The cover is drawn by the amazing and talented artist RIPTIDE, who also drew an 8-page comic based on a particular scene in the story. The original English version of the comic, as well as a newly created Japanese version are also included in the book.

This doujinshi is R-18 (Adult Only), so please confirm the nature of the contents before you buy. If you are an adult with a pixiv account, you can look at a collection of sample pages here. Please also feel free to read the original version of the story and comic in their entirety on AO3, which is also where I have relevant tags and content warnings written in more detail. But to summarize here: the story has a few brief references to acts of rape/non-con, as well as references to & depictions of emotional and physical abuse, rough sex acts, and dubious consent. This is a darker, more dramatic, alternate canon retelling of the Patrochilles quest from Hades, in which everyone involved (Achilles, Zagreus, & Patroclus) feel emotionally conflicted with one another, as well as the situation they get caught up in. “Toxic love triangle” is the story summary in a nutshell!

Currently, I am able to ship to countries where the Japan Post has Registered Airmail service available. Luckily, this applies to most countries! However, a big exception right now are: EU countries and Northern Ireland. Since apparently new GPSR requirements went into effect, I am looking into whether or not it is feasible for an individual like myself to comply when shipping to these countries.

For anyone living in the EU or Northern Ireland, the only possible workaround I can offer currently is this: proxy service via the listing on Pixiv Booth. Here is the Booth listing: https://darlingpoppet.booth.pm

Booth normally has a built-in proxy service through Buyee available for overseas customers. However, apparently this service is not extended to listings marked as Adult/R-18. However, it’s my understanding that there are other proxy service companies out there who are more lax about purchasing NSFW products on your behalf. I can’t personally vouch of any of them, but some names recommended to me as being Special Yaoi Book-friendly include Tenso, AOCS (both of whom I believe have official ties with the doujinshi retailer Toranoana), ZenMarket, and Neokyo. (ETA: I have since been able to confirm that this option has worked for an EU customer, so please try it!)

Finally, if you are someone who lives in Japan, please use the Booth listing!! Shipping is a flat 370 yen via Anshin Booth Pack, so the transaction is done completely anonymously.

Thank you everyone for your kind support! ♡ I had a lot of fun putting this book together so I hope you’ll enjoy it too.

[mochinomnoms]

*slams open door*

Mochi! Mochi! I have an idea.

So a troupe I see on pixiv fanart is a character swapping with their future selves. I saw one where Azul wakes up in bed with his future wife Yuu and she's teased him because she can tell it's past Azul and he doesn't recognize her. She gives him a hint how to recognize her by some birthmarks she has on her chest.

I've seen a couple artists do it with Floyd as well, and a fanfic with past and future Yuu swapping with each other and poor younger Malleus is overwhelmed because OMG this beautiful woman is flirting with me and she's my future wife? There's something hilarious about the younger guys just not knowing how to handle the future version of Yuu.

So now I'm thinking how funny it would be for Past!PTMYuu swapping places with future!PTMYuu. Like P!Yuu wakes up in an unknown house in somebody's bed and confused as fuck and gets even more confused because suddenly these little kids are running in, telling Mommy it's time to get up and Yuu's like, who's mommy? Then who should walk in but Jade telling the kids to let Mommy rest and then he notices that the Yuu in their bedroom is not his wife(Yuu's still wearing her NRC uniform and shouldn't fit it anymore after getting older and having kids) and ohh he's going to have fun with this. He'll start in with the thoughts "ohh my beautiful pearl was absolutely adorable back at NRC, look at how tiny and cute you were, I know you can hear me pearl..." And fuck he knows about her telepathy. Poor Yuu overloads with the fact that Jade actually married her, they have kids, and is still so damn in love with her as he was at NRC.

Meanwhile F!Yuu is back at Past NRC and is calming down Yuu's friends. No, your Yuu is fine. If I'm right she's with my husband and kids right now and he'll take care of her. Some of the cast are obviously curious about Yuu's husband and F!Yuu is all "nah... sorry I can't say, don't wanna mess with the future." and of course the one who wants to know the most is Jade. F!Yuu is laughing to themselves because man, they remember how down horrendously Jade was in school and he doesn't know at this time that Yuu can read his thoughts. I'd like to think Yuu learned to better control the telepathy so she just tunes into his thoughts every now and then and it's just his thoughts bouncing around like "Oh seven my pearl is absolutely gorgeous in the future. Please tell me I'm your husband. I have to be! What would our kids look like. How many would we have? Do they look like my pearl or me? I hope one looks like my pearl they'd be the cutest baby!"

Eventually somebody figures out how to send the Yuu's back to their right time. Hugs for everybody but P!Jade gets a quick peck on the cheek before F!Yuu hops into whatever portal is sending her back and the last thought she hears from P!Jade is him screaming in his mind how much he loves her.

P!Yuu gets back and now has to deal with Jade's even more thoughts about the future and apparently a few others people thinking that man, Yuu's gonna be such a milf in the future.

Somebody please help Yuu, poor thing can only take so much.

Ah I love silly time travel stories (I ignore paradoxes) and this is one of my favorite tropes! It's what one of the fics from the poll is based on, but with all of the overblot cast instead!

I'm so excited to write it, I have many ideas for everyone, especially Leona and Idia's chapters!!

For Jade though, I think it would be so funny. He's positively enamored seeing milf/dilf Yuu. He's internalizing everything, of course, so no one except Yuu and Floyd and Azul can really tell he's being affected.

He's staring a little longer than he really should, but he's surprised that future Yuu doesn't seem to mind. In fact, they're much calmer than usual. Usually they'd be excitable with their friends and quite shy and quiet with him. But future Yuu looks at him with such fondness that Jade lets himself dream that they look at him like that because they're future spouses.

(In the back of his mind, there is a mix of hope and dread. That's a wedding band on their hand. They're taken, but was it by him?)

Imagine everyone's surprise and shock when, right before leaving, future Yuu walks up to Jade (even in the future, they haven't grown much) to tip toe and press a sweet little kiss to the cheek as they cup his face with the absolute most tenderness.

Jade's frozen, the others are murmuring to each other, and future Yuu disappears and in their place is their original Yuu. Red-faced, covered in a large brown coat that most definitely does not belong to them, and staring Jade down.

Covering their red-face and all. Poor Jade is now giddy and a bit concerned (he hopes that scream was due to flusteredness and not fear, though he does love how entertaining they always are), while Yuu is screaming into their couch as they try to process several things, including the knowledge that they weren't at all displeased knowing that they married Jade.

[terramythos]

If a third party blog posts art on here with just the name of the piece and the name of the artist, thats a red flag it might be AI generated. Good/responsible curators will usually have one or more of the following: a link to the artist's socials, the year something was created, and sometimes even list the medium or have a brief bio of the artist. Even something like 'reposted with permission' like you see on many pixiv pieces crossposted here. I've noticed a lot of blogs posting just the piece and 'artist' name post AI generated slop without disclosing it. I assume this is an attempt to normalize said slop. There are exceptions but many will point it out in the comments of the post and it is generally pretty easy to look up the artist and verify for yourself.

[dongsofsevotion]

mr./matsumoto appreciation post

original post on twt • pixiv: 13014758 • twitter: Mr__Juck

the short comic above is mr's contribution for the 白黒理論RETURNS anthology, a joint project between japanese and korean ginhiji artists, headed up by tonyu. amazingly, it is still available for purchase on melonbooks. some real heavy hitters in there - the obu short might be worth the price of admission alone.

no great agenda behind this post except it's mr's birthday and he's one of my all-time faves. so let's celebrate 🎈

mr has published many books over the years, but a general lack of mail order means they've been pretty hard to come by. nevertheless, here are two i think of often:

啄んで、花 愛、かわるものに嘯く: this one lives in my head absolutely rent-free. hijikata is going to die, mutual pining and serious emotional damage transpires, but it resolves to a happy end.

毒悦: a joint publication with nanaoemu, themed around deviant fetishes. mr writes the DV and codepency part - twisted, juicy.

there are many others, like a W vice-commander series that unfortunately remains unfinished, and a yakuza x teacher (& reverse) joint publication with sawara, but they are again a little hard to find. they are all fantastic, regardless.

these days, mr mostly works in the nijisanji and crazy raccoon fandoms, but he will be returning to ginhiji for december's otokomae uke anthology (please consider supporting it!). he also writes and illustrates original BL which you can find on his other twitter.

happy birthday, mr!

[andthelaw]

Something I find really refreshing is visiting different fandom spaces. Obviously people have conflicts everywhere all the time no exceptions and that's fine and all but sometimes it is just exhausting to need to be hiding/lurking or defending yourself all the time from antis and stuff. Tumblr is better than Twitter at least but it still gets to you from time to time.

Cancel culture and calling things "problematic" is not just a thing humans do and puritanism comes mostly from the western societies in my personal experience since I'm not a native speaker although this might be a controversial opinion. But I thought I'll point this out anyway because it might help someone make a shift in perspective and stop thinking there's something wrong with them or the way they enjoy fandoms. When I was younger and didn't speak English no one around me cared about shipping weird ships. Like my close friend liked an incest ship and a different friend liked age gap another one was into cannibalism or something.

It was not a big deal and we were having so much fun it honestly makes me sad that some people deprive themselves of just this freedom to like anything when it comes to fandoms.

And like also most places are not Twitter. Twitter is designed specifically to promote hot takes and shove opposing views in your face. And I think TikTok is too...

There are many places you can go to if you want to take a lil' break. These are in a different language but you don't really need to know it just to get a good understanding of how the UI works.

For example Japanese speaking spaces like Pixiv allow for a big variety of topics you can explore provided you use appropriate tags for those who need the warning. You can find lots of anime fanart there and some fanfiction but uh it's well in Japanese.

There's also Rednote a Chinese Tikotok-like app? I really like their algorithm because I constantly feel good when I go to look for content there and it's just nice overall. Has a built-in translator for comments.

Telegram is for if you know Russian because it was made by a Russian guy so lots of Russian people use it. Although there are eng speaking channels I don't find them all that often. Great for if you want to find new artists although the search feature might be a bit tricky so it's best to look for new channels to follow using channels you already follow because they often reblog other artists' work. There's also useful tags like #PortfolioDay and various one-time-only ones for events and challenges.

I also have Lofter which is Chinese and I personally wasn't able to make an account but you can still use it to look at beautiful fanart. They also use tags for ships and fandoms you just need to figure out which ones are yours obviously.

Feel free to recommend other places you can visit in the reblogs!

I also hope this is tag appropriate? Like that I can tag this #proship since this is the target audience? I just don't wanna be spamming with unrelated things so maybe I should use different tags I donno haha

[olderthannetfic]

Sorry I have to do a mini-rant here, how is it that a 24 yesr old adult man gets the reaction of apparently HAVING BROKEN A FUCKING WINDOW upon seeing some nsfw artwork (at some point in the past).

Like brother, grow the fuck up. Sure, I don't think you have to seek it out, and I would be VERY HAPPY if tagging things accurately as nsfw would NOT be a problem for the artists on popular (or not so popular) sites these days. (I guess except for pixiv no site encourages people to tag accurately?)

But breaking a window ONCE (what an overeaction. Also, is your window made from sugar glass?? Cellophane?? How the fuck do you even break one of these fuckers on accident??) makes you ~cower in fear of your delicate eyes landing upon some artwork that shows boobs~? LITERALLY go to therapy. Please.

(I cannot say this in the discord where that user is annoying me with his bullshit because the rules are against "elitism" and we ARE supposed to be nice to each other. (The rules of this server are okay, and there ARE kids allowed, so nfsw talk should be limited and links that may contain it need to be warned for, but it's just jarring seeing a supposedly adult acting like this, ngl.))

Welp. Maybe *I* should touch some grass...

--

[aoki553]

Maybe you can do a post with each characters' initials as used for ship names? That way people can try to search for their ships themselves by putting in each of the 2 possible combinations of characters? Also any exceptions to the ship naming conventions that you know of. 🤔

That's a very good idea!

I can explain the usual formula of how it works and I'll give some of the most popular examples :3 I'll do this with japanese names only, because... I don't know ANY korean sorry lol

Let's try it with Toritsuka x Saiki.

Basically, 90% of the ship names work by taking the first letter of the characters last names and putting them together. 斉木＋鳥束＝斉鳥　(Saiki + Toritsuka = SaiTori) OR 鳥束＋斉木＝鳥斉　(Toritsuka + Saiki = ToriSai)

If you don't know how the characters names are spelled, you can easily check it on either the japanese wikipedia article for Saiki, or go to the Saiki Fandom Wiki >:)

The important thing is that the first person's letter in the initial indicates that they're the dominant one in the relationship. Japanese artists make sure to tag different dynamics properly. ToriSai and SaiTori aren't the same thing! It's best to avoid tagging them inproperly if uploading your own work on pixiv or places like that. Don't be shocked when seeing Saiki being bottom in a work tagged #torisai lmao

Some tags with the same ship will be less popular than the others, but if you don't mind either, you can check both combinations each time.

There are exceptions! Some ships with side characters that might collide with a prexisting ships usually resort to using their first names. Example: For Makoto x Kuusuke, we don't say TeruSai (照斉) like their names suggest. We use MakoKuu (信空) instead.

Some examples I've seen the most often: (for more obscure dynamics, just switch the kanji order around.)

ToriSai or SaiTori - #鳥斉 or #斉鳥 KuboKai - #窪海 or #海窪 TeruSai or SaiTeru - #照斉 or #斉照 KuboSai - #窪斉 SaiKai - #斉海 KuboTori - #窪鳥 NenSai - #燃斉

Tags for the siblings (usually not romantic): Saiki brothers - #斉木兄弟 Teruhashi siblings - #照橋兄妹

And for popular exceptions! MakoKuu or KuuMako - #信空 or #空信 KuuKusu or KusuKuu - #空楠 or #楠空 ToriKusu or KusuTori - #鳥楠 (^^^ used for Toritsuka x Kusuko specifically + Japanese fans don't call Kusuko by Kuriko most of the time.) KokoImu or ImuKoko- #ここいむ or #いむここ (^^This one doesn't use kanji, just hiragana, and yes, it's not TeruImu there.) KokoChiyo - #ここちよ

Hope this helps!! :D Thank you for the ask!

[versegm]

A while back I ran numbers on my own fics right? Checking the hits/comment ratio. A friend of mine also did it for his own fics. Admitedly I don't remember exactly what my friend got but I think we got roughly the same results, ie: About 1% of the people who read a fic leave a comment behind.

This is mostly consistent across fandoms, though there are noticeable exceptions. I was personally extremely surprised to see that one of the worst commenting fandoms was Fate/Grand Order, which stood at a miserable 0,60% of comment/hit. Meaning that for every hundred people reading a fic, you're not even sure to get a single comment. That was doubly surprising because my Fate/Stay Night fics, which are part of the same serie, have a normal hit/comment ratio (actually much higher, 1,30% which is the highest of all fandoms I've ran this experiment for.)

I didn't really think much of it at the time, but recently I got chatting with a friend (who is like me a frequent filler for the nasu kinkmeme) about how there's a fuckton of fgo prompts, but very few people who actually fill them. So I had a theory, which I tested by running some numbers on random arknight fics on ao3. Spoiler: They also had an abyssimal hit/comment ratio (about 0,40%)

So my theory is thus: low level engagement/high demand for content is a gacha fandom issue. I sadly don't know enough about gacha culture to really hazard an explanation. Normally when a game is appreciated by normies who don't do fandom, that translates to a low hit count but the same percentage of comments for fanfics. Maybe gachas introduce people who don't normally do fandom to the concept of fanart & fanfic, so they don't know fandom etiquette yet? Maybe that's just the kind of culture normally birthed by games that encourage you to simp for a given character that isn't usually the focus of the story so you gotta outsource to find more of them?

I don't really have a point with this post, I just thought this was a very interesting fandom trend. Because the specific fandom behavior of "demands lots of stuff but refuses to comment or reblog or support artists" is one I've only ever seen before for like, kids shows, or generally demographics which attracts very young people who haven't grown up surrounded by "hey fic writers love comments you should comment" psa, so I find it really surprising to see that same behavior for a game where the target audience are adults with money.

Obligatory disclaimers:

I ran my arknights numbers on the top ten most read, english, non-crossover fics on ao3. If that didn't represent accurately the arknights demographics then whoops sorry.

These observations are made about the english-speaking side of fandom. Maybe people are more appreciative on pixiv fics idk I didn't check.

I am not a sociologist, I just notice trends and like to analyse them.

[july13th2004]

Rating: G

Word Count: 1442

Note: I don't have anything new to post for today, except for this fic I quietly posted a few weeks ago that I wrote for another Pixiv contest (the theme was Stars, and both artists and writers could submit pieces for this one)... I haven't been feeling very confident in my ability to write anything (subjectively good) lately so that's partially why I never made a proper post for this one. Anyway, you can also read it on Pixiv, here.

[cookiekitten91]

The inescapable hell of becoming invested in a very obscure ship with almost no content except for one or two extremely talented Japanese artists on pixiv

[fumifooms]

Hi! I really love your Chilchuck analysis and headcanons. Are there any songs that remind you of him/think suits his character?

😏Why yes indeed I do! I have a couple playlists for him, not one for just him quite yet, but there are still songs that are more about him than the relationship/them in every playlist bc that’s just how playlists are with me, I have this one about him & his wife, (songs aren’t ordered) this marchil one, (ony partially with a song order) this marchil angst one… (believe it or not the songs are fully ordered except the last few songs) And this one I actually haven’t shared yet but just bc of the whole ~working class ethnicity~ thing I see a lot of my culture in Chil/half-foots so have a french canadian Quebecer Chilchuck playlist but uh yeah the songs are all in french, it’s mostly folk. If I worked any faster and better I’d love to make some animatics with some of these… I still got some plans though. So far my favorite Chilchuck playlist not by me that’s underrated banger after banger and each reallt fits is one by my buddy @lyril ! It’s short and sweet, prob with more of the character focus that you’re looking for. Little Lion Man oh my god 😭😭

These playlists are for trudging through lists of songs and finding the good bits & meaning in them yourself buuut I have picked out a bunch of specific lyrics and songs I really like for him in this post before, and not unlike that, I have a couple web weavings with song lyrics for him, one on Chilchuck & wife and a marchil one, and again if you’re not interested in the relationships there are still stuff in there that fit him specifically so I still recommend skimming.

Jackrabbit by San Fermin, Dead Inside by Younger Hunger, TrusT by Half-alive, Cheap Liquor by Ericdoa, Heart-shaped Box by Nirvana... Some songs that come to mind for him rn. TrusT is one of my top songs for him I looove it and I think the music does enhance the lyrics it’s soo…

Trust is like a pond of murky water Too dark to see, mysteriously undercover I can't jump off the high dive, even though I really want to My toes are hanging off the ledge Trust is like the middle of the ocean Can't see the bottom, but I'm floating here, supported I know that it can take me even deeper if I let it But my limbs are trying to swim away It's like a tree that towers 50 feet above us Grown over time through many seasons Believing in something more than just the surface I trust that this is worth it But my toes are hanging off the ledge Hold to this significance And lean into the process Rest and know the love you hold It won't be taken back, no I have faith that the world I'm in Will be redeemed to its place again But there's a weight that I can't explain So tell me why I feel this way tell me why I feel this way (Speaking slowly when I'm out of breath) (Losing confidence between the steps) tell me why I feel this way how sweet, the taste of certainty (Wasting water in a desert bed) (Chasing wind outside the promised land) releasing hope to carry me (Know the story isn't over yet)

Anyone who knows me knows my favorite Chil & Chilwife song is Little Soldiers by The Crane Wives. And well, there’s a reason Hurry Hurry is on almost every Chil playlist. Drunk by The Living Tombstone is a staple for me too. And oughh I recommend this animatic of Well it’s better than the alternative it’s so 😭 10/10 please please watch

Ohh and one of my fav Chil fanart ever is this one if you scroll all the way down and the song that goes with it is Call Boy by Syudou. It’s the only place where you can see it rn sorry, this ask is incredibly timed actually bc just yesterday I went looking for this fanart again and saw that the artist’s twitter got deleted and there’s still the art on Pixiv but there used to be a video and that’s the one that truly fully git my heart </3 I dmed the artist asking on if the video is still up anywhere so crossing my fingers about when/if I get a reply… Here’s the lyrics for Call Boy, give it a listen it gets me keeling over to the floor. CW alcoholism and also gotta scroll through suggestive stuff bc the art link is Pixiv 🎶

[monk-of-figaro]

Fanart: nitatuyama (via Pixiv)

This artist lots of great FF content made in beautiful watercolors. But of course I'll highlight one of their many Sabin-related pieces.

I like this picture because it implies that Sabin and Interceptor don't get along. For all the group dynamics that I've considered, I never thought about how everyone would get along with Interceptor (except for Relm, who canonically has a reciprocated soft spot for him).

Play nice, Sabin! Interceptor is just being protective of his pack the same way you are!

You can find more of this artist at:

https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/351999

https://nitatuyama.booth.pm/

https://bsky.app/profile/nitatuyama.bsky.social

https://twitter.com/nitatuyama

[queenoffishingandcookies]

Random Ramblings about Battler’s clothing style, and then clothing for Fem Battler:

Spoilers Below!!!

This is just me think on ideas for character designs that 1) I found interesting and 2) I’m not actually skilled enough to draw yet. Lack of practice kills, folks.

Inspired by @peachducy’s recent art depicting designs for fem! battler (and Battler missing her wife is i c o n i c, I like your designs very much. Please find their art here, and check out the rest of their work!).

This is also inspired by the artwork done by artist Yoshino Kaoru (pixiv), as well as several others such as Serico, Yoshida (RAN)/Shidacoo, Still/Still (Just) and OnoyaAko/Onoo Eiko. There's a lot more, but you probably didn't come here for a face full of links, and Tumblr posts have image caps.

The art can be found on either e-shuushuu.net (the first links, for all names after Kaoru) or Danbooru (second links), as far as I'm aware.

DO NOTE: Danbooru hosts a lot of NSFW (18+) pieces of art, so please be careful looking for artwork on the website if you don't want to get an eyeful.

This is me looking primarily at the Manga, since throughout the VN, there are essentially no other Battler sprites outside of the clothes he wore to the family conference (the exception being his cape/cloak).

Buckle in, because this is about to get real long.

I’m about 90% sure that the first time we see Battler depicted in ‘non-conference’ clothing is in Alliance.

Example 1 of Battler's Wardrobe (The Amusement Park):

Example #2 of Battler's Wardrobe (Ange's Birthday):

There are a few other images of Battler, such as that single panel depicting his and Kyrie’s backs together in Alliance (?), as well as the few panels where we actually get to see Asumu, he is also depicted wearing baggy hoodies.

For reference, I’m also looking at Baby Battler’s conference clothing from six years prior to 1986, in order to compare the stylization.

Rough Clothing Analysis:

As a young child, while Asumu was alive, Battler is commonly shown as to wearing hoodies, and trousers and shorts (plaid, camo, etc). If I remember right, there's another panel when Rudolf, Natsuhi, and Krauss are talking on the former's infidelity, and Battler's depicted in an open-overshirt or jacket with a pair of jeans on (think flannel shirts, except its a plain and solid white on the page).

This choice of clothing seems loose, baggy enough to allow for a range of movements (We can presume Asumu was the one who primarily picked out his clothes, and helped him get dressed, at least when he was younger), but still well-fitting.

Even in the more formal clothes he wore to the family conference, including the former vest over top, where the cuffs of his dress-shirt sleeves were fitted around his wrists, the main fabric of the sleeves 'puffed' out rather than lay flat on the skin.

In other words, they're clothes that you would expect a young and energetic child to wear. On account of the manga pages primarily being in black, white, and gray, it's difficult to discern the actual coloring of the fabric other than - this is either white, or a softer color, while this is black or a darker color.

Also, and I'll go into this more later, but the general 'looseness' of Battler's shirts, hoodies, and pants have a resemblance to Asumu's own style of dress, the rough shape of her blouses and skirts.

This changes slowly as he gets older, slightly, from the references we have in the manga - some examples being the images I put in above. Battler progresses from loose shorts and pants to more fitting jeans (I think), and his hoodies - at least somewhat - give up their place to short and fitted jackets.

I call the jackets short, because they end somewhere around his waist area, and fitted because they lack the poof of the sleeves he wore when younger, and likely a difference of material possibly made them more 'rigid' compared to the fabric of a hoodie.

It's very tempting for me to think that the first jacket Battler wears is made of denim, as it reminds me of the jean jackets a few family members of mine own - and also, in Japan at the time, denim material was very popular (though I need to do more research on that).

The second jacket, on account of the belt buckles wrapped around each wrist, as well as hanging from loops around his waist, and the zippered pocket, I think I'd call it a bomber jacket? Those, at least in my experience, are usually made of some sort of leather. Interesting motif that, again, I'll bring up later (COUGH*kyrie*COUGH).

In comparison, I think hoodies are more commonly made of cotton? Anyway, I'm getting side-tracked.

Battler's jackets, on top of the pockets and zippers and belts, have chains attached to their hems (or, alternatively, his jeans). I find it interesting, since chains hanging from jackets or belts is something I personally have often read depicted as something representing a character seeming cool, or something that represents delinquency (which changes depending on the placement, the types of chain).

Battler tends to wear long-sleeved shirts, and solidly-colored ones at that, below his hoodies or jackets. Apart from the clothes he'd worn to the family conferences prior to the start of the VN (around 1979 or 1980, whichever you prefer depending on how you count his absence), Battler is always depicted with a dark-hued shirt in the manga, and the darker tones are indicated by the fact that his shirt is rendered in black ink. (Other option is that his shirt is actually black).

Additionally, he wears thick belts - and, such as on Ange's birthday, Battler seems to at least occasionally wear that at a slanted angle. Like I mentioned earlier, Battler also has chains attached - either to the belt itself, or the belt loops on his pants.

In the two instances of 'non-conference' Battler that I put at the top of the post, Battler also wears a necklace - both of which have hanging pendants. For Ange's birthday in particular, we see him wearing a necklace with a cross on it - a motif that his clothes in 1986 shares, as the zipper of his suit jacket is shaped like a cross.

Summary of Battler's Clothing.

As far as I can tell, Battler's color palette essentially follows this pattern. Darker, solid-colored shirts, with the pants and occasional jackets over top made of presumably lighter colors. His clothes are very simple, you could say. Real ornamentation is brought about the accessories he pairs them with, or the jackets he wears.

I wouldn't go so far as to call his accessories 'punk', but Battler favors simplistic chains attached to his jackets and so on - a sort of look that seems 'cool', similar to the occasional way his belt seems lopsided. This extends to jewelry he wears - simple chain necklaces, with small pendants hanging from them, and the thick belts.

He isn't flashy, doesn't wear particularly chunky chains or other large accessories to draw a lot of attention. Simple, sleek, stylish.

This coincides with popular styles in the 1980's, such as influences brought about by rising pop culture.

Similarities to other characters' clothing:

In my eyes, Battler's clothing choices - when he is a teenager, predominantly resembles two characters more than anyone else - Asumu and Kyrie.

I mentioned, earlier, that as a child the 'bagginess' of his clothes was reminiscent of Asumu's own silhouette. The simplicity of the accessories he wears, too, could also be taken from Asumu. However, he follows a 'darker' color like Kyrie, and trends towards styling what he wears in a similar.

These are all very small things I noticed, so this is just my opinion. I'll start with younger Battler's similarities to Asumu, who we never see in the VN, and only sparingly in the manga.

Asumu & Battler's Clothing:

Note: The two pictures labeled as Ep4 Asumu and Ep8 Asumu, I found on this post from @ramblingsofthegoldenwitch. There are immense spoilers in their post, which is about Asumu, so if you just want to see more pictures of Asumu, you’ll probably want to scroll to the bottom of the page.

Asumu favored blouses and skirts, if she wasn't wearing a dress. In other words, she had a traditionally feminine silhouette. Looking at the sleeves, you can match the puffy shape and the cuffs fitted to the wrists with the same sort of shirt that Battler wore six years ago, to the family conference.

Similarly her skirts, which roughly reached around the knee, were not fitted. They had flow to them, movement (I am not a fashion buff, despite nitpicking the tiny details in character design, forgive me for not knowing the shapes too well!).

In the panel where she's holding omurice with Battler's name on it (and he's so small and cute, I want to pinch his cheeks), Asumu's also wearing a sort of plaid-checkerboard apron. Matches with the plaid trousers Battler wore at the conference too, six years ago, and the looseness of the fit (as most children shorts are, I think?).

Her jewelry, too, is very simple. A necklace, with a single hanging pendant. In the full manga panel where Asumu’s image is depicted as though beneath cracked glass, we also see that she wore simple bracelets - the sort of plain bands without any other noticeable ornamentation.

This is something Battler also does, well after his mother has passed away - he has at least two plain necklaces that have simple pendants hanging from them.

Kyrie & Battler’s Clothing:

In a sharp contrast to Asumu, Kyrie is more commonly seen in blouses and pants (or, in the case of her sprite, a dress and pants). Rather than following ‘traditional’ portrayals of femininity as Asumu did, Kyrie’s style is noticeably more ‘modern’, you could say.

Unlike Asumu’s clothing, which was looser and fell straight or puffed around her body, and how her skirts flared out, shirt collars hemmed with frill or what I think might be lace (?) - Kyrie’s clothing is almost fitted to her body, from her sleeves and jackets, to dresses and pants. For the most part, she also wears long sleeves.

Additionally, Kyrie's clothing is often rendered in grays and blacks, compared to Asumu's seemingly lighter-colored clothes (only so much you can tell from the manga pages, though). Predominantly, though not always, she wears darker colors.

Outside of formal events (such as the image where she's with Rudolf at a party), Kyrie doesn't seem to wear much jewelry. However, she does tend to wear her belts slanted to one side, such as in her VN sprite and a few of the images I put above.

When comparing Kyrie's style to Battler's, they share the selection of dark colors, the wide belts, and the habit of wearing them slanted. In both her VN sprite, and the image of her walking away from Battler, we can also see that Kyrie also has a similar sort of cross motif.

Her tie has a crimson cross on it, and on her blouse or jacket in the next photo over, the buttons are also shaped like crosses (this is probably a coincidence, but I thought it was cool at least, haha!).

Other lines of thoughts - Battler & Kinzo's clothing:

I was going to mention similarities to Battler and Kinzo's style of dress, such as the fact that Kinzo and Battler actually wear the same shirt color, looking at their sprites - also, all the Battler and Kinzo parallels in regard to personality and appearance. However, in contrast to the images we have of Battler's clothes vs Kinzo's (the depictions of when he was younger, at least), they seem more opposed in my head?

Younger Kinzo, prior to the Kanto earthquake, is depicted often wearing a white (or lightly colored) button down, often with the collar also unbuttoned and left rising upwards, rather than being folded down around the throat. In childhood, he wears shorts, and this progresses to pants as he gets older.

In comparison, Battler wears shirts with low necklines rather than high collars, and there's an intervening period of 60 years between Kinzo and Battler's birth - the fashion trends change, and even when Battler wears high collars (ex: conference clothes), they are folded down around his throat.

Following the Kanto earthquake, Kinzo's style changes - he gets layers. His shirt and pants are added to, such as a vest, a coat, a necktie. Later still, circa the 1950's, Kinzo also seems to be wearing a cravat or jabot of some kind - further divorcing him from Battler's more modern formal suit, worn at the conference. The style he wears, as well as his difference in age to Battler, adds bulk that we don't see on our eighteen year old protagonist.

The closest similarities I find in Kinzo, his VN Sprite, happens to be the tie between their shared shirt colors, and the fact that Kinzo - like Battler - wears a suit of lighter color than his shirt. Battler's is a cream sort of color, whereas Kinzo is wearing white. There’s probably more, but my brain is fried.

Fem! Battler's Clothing: In General and For the Family Conference:

(Artists names are in the ALT text!)

I don't see being born as a woman (or presenting as one) as drastically effecting Battler's canon personality or personal preferred aesthetic - she'd behave very much like Jessica does in canon, standing outside of 'traditional' portrayals of femininity. In other words, a tomboy.

Being a tomboy doesn't necessarily mean that Battler doesn't wear or like to wear 'feminine' things, though. Case in point: Jessica. You can still wear skirts and be a tomboy, since I think the matter is that you are otherwise behaving in a ‘boyish’ and unladylike manner. Sure, the way you dress can have a hand in being perceived that way, but it’s not the entirety of what makes someone a tomboy.

Outside of the Ushiromiya Family, away from Rokkenjima, I don't think there'd be much of a difference in her clothing compared to what we get to see in canon? Battler would just also be able to wear skirts, leggings, and so on. It would be the same dark shirts or blouses, jeans or skirts, wide belts, chain motif, cross motif, short jackets and hoodies, and simple necklaces (for example...)

Her upbringing as 'a lady of the Ushiromiya Family', would have an effect on the type of clothing she'd have worn when in relation to childhood prior to Asumu's death, and the Ushiromiya Family as a whole, though.

It's known that the Ushiromiya family very strictly follows the roles assigned to a person's gender, even clothing-wise. (It’s what makes Eva design in particular so interesting - she’s the only woman in the family wearing pants, traditionally men’s wear, and non-western style clothing). I also noted earlier that Asumu dressed in a 'traditionally' feminine style.

Even being from a branch family, Battler would very much be brought up with that ideology in mind, even tangentially.

In regards to visiting Rokkenjima, due to her social standing, Battler would likely be expected to dress as a proper young lady, and this means dresses - blouses, or skirts, styled in lady's suits. I don't think she'd be forced into it if she didn't want to as she got older, but Battler was still raised in dresses and skirts.

It should also be noticed that, at least starting from Banquet, Battler displays levels of toxic masculinity and levels of misogyny, albeit unintentionally and not trying to cause harm (referring to woman as never directly answering question, getting upset unreasonably, etc), so even if Fem! Battler doesn’t care for the social norms of the time, especially regarding how she looks and behaves (and I really think she wouldn’t, for the most part), on some level it would still effect her, when coming from loved one’s at least.

The expectation of being feminine, though it might not bug her as much as it bugs, say, Jessica - who worries that her brashness is what keeps boys from asking her out, and so on - If Battler were really concerned about seeming feminine, I don’t think she’d do it out of concern for seeming unappealing to others.

She’d do it for herself (Battler, however, is someone very soft and squishy like a marshmallow on the inside. So, if it’s someone she cares about or likes who makes that comment…ouch).

Considering how fondly Canon Battler remembers his mother, I think that Battler - born or presenting as a woman later in her life - would in some manner attempt to mimic Asumu's style, as well as Kyrie's - the two women that she respects very much, and - because she is a woman - would be most likely to view as role models on some level.

As a very young child, I think Battler would very much be styled similarly to Asumu (and also Ange). Blouses with the puffy sleeves, and a pinafore worn over it (and probably several petticoats or some sort of crinoline, because no skirt holds shape like that on its own). Blouses and so on have the small ruffle or frill (see OnoyaAko's images above).

As she gets older, the silhouette of the skirts she wears doesn’t ‘balloon’ out as much, so to speak. They start falling down in a straighter line, and possibly more fitted around the waist in hips? Though not to same extent as Kyrie, where the fit is as snug as a glove - it’s still looser than that. Think pirate-shirt and slacks.

She probably starts wearing pants more often as well, after leaving Rudolf’s house to live with her grandparents (We don’t know much about Asumu’s parents, how traditional their views were. Whose to say whether they would have been concerned or not about Battler potentially dressing ‘like a man’? I like to picture they didn’t/wouldn’t mind much at all, though).

Personally, I've always sort of envisioned Battler (conference), wearing a blouse - or dress - with similar 'puffy' sleeves as Asumu wore, fitted at the wrists, same dark red fabric below the cream suit jacket that Canon Battler is known for. It’s just…her look, just as in canon.

I’ve think I've seen artwork where she’s wearing pants(?), but considering the social expectations of women in the Ushiromiya Family, to be feminine, proper ladies - as well as Battler’s prolonged absence where she literally left the family register, I feel like some level of stricter ‘code’ for dress would be followed for her - at the conference, she will eventually have to face Kinzo, after all (one of the misogynists to end all misogynists).

It would be best to try to stay on her ‘best behavior’. In other words, it would be best to avoid poking a sleeping beast (Kinzo) in an old wound (herself, dressing ‘inappropriately’ for a woman after having literally left the family for six years).

Therefore, for at least the conference alone, she’d maybe choose to wear a skirt over wearing a pair of pants, and maybe pack the pants instead as extra clothing.

The skirt maybe sits around the knees or mid-thighs in length. I'm not sure if it would share similar 'layers' or not, like Jessica, VIP Beatrice, or Natsuhi, though.

I made it longer than Jessica's and VIP Beatrice simply because, for the 1980's, their skirts seem to be short. Roughly the length of the miniskirt. They seem really short of the time period in Japan, and especially so for the family itself, considering it is the hyper-conservative and traditional Ushiromiya Family they are related to (literally).

Also, Kyrie or Asumu do/did not have 'layers' to their skirts, and considering Battler would likely emulate them on some level, maybe it would be edged with minor frill or some other minor embellishment, like lace, at the hem - instead of layers? If Battler were to have layered anything, it would be a really formal event...

For hair, I’ve always thought that Battler would have long hair. Majority of the fanart I’ve seen Battler depicted as a girl, she’s had long hair. I like to imagine it as long as Beato’s when loose, if not longer. It’s all that trauma from my childhood, I guess.

Though, considering both Kyrie and Asumu wore their hair short, taking the idea of her emulating them both and the sharing of parts of the character designs, it’s just as likely that she could have it cut short.

Also, I always see tomboys presented as having short hair and clothing deliberately selected to emphasis how their personality, favored past times, etc, is more like a boy’s than a girl’s.

However, Battler is a girl - and why would she have to act and look like a guy to do the things she wants, hang out with the people she want? What does her appearance have to do with that? (which, ironically, is exactly what makes her seem like ‘one of the boys’ majority of the time, she doesn’t care or really notice, and this leads to a series of misunderstandings where hearts of boys and girls alike are unintentionally broken).

It’s just something I always find interesting, the appearance of seeming traditionally feminine and almost demure on the outside, but being decidedly just another person - capable of being loud, of being brash, of being crude, sporty, etc - alongside it.

Formal Dress / Golden Witch Battler

This section is more self indulgence than anything else, so feel free to just skip it.

I’m fairly certain that, in both VN and Manga, there’s no depiction of the family changing to get dressed for dinner, but considering the high stakes and formality of the family conference, it’s always just been a sort of headcanon that sticks in my head and doesn’t leave.

A lot of Fem! Battler fanart depicts her in a dress, so naturally - I wanted to put her in a dress. Battler is hot enough in any world, that to see him or her (etc) in a dress would be fatal to most people’s hearts (Ladies everywhere hate him - haha).

But I always see her, in my head, as typically wearing the same suit - or an outfit I similar enough - to the family conference. Smooshing the idea of her in a dress with my headcanon of dinner was the perfect excuse for having both, essentially.

I think it’s mentioned somewhere in Turn that Battler’s family (and likely the others) brought several changes of clothes. So it’s possible!

I may also be a tiny bit salty that Battler, unlike the other witches in the series, didn’t get his own special ‘witch’ sprite (the cape is the bare minimum, and possibly counts as theft from Kinzo), so the fancy dress also gets to be her witch dress, once she solves Beato’s game.

Formal Ballgown Battler-wear is absolutely 110% inspired by Yoshino Kaoru’s art of fem! Battler (and I mourn the fact that there is no fem beabato art, though there are two pieces of masc beabato art 😏), as well as Yoshida (RAN)'s, and @peachducy’s witch Fem! Battler. Also, Still's artwork.

I ran out of space to add all those images because of the image limit, but know they're there in heart and spirit. Let me tell you, there’s no need for Kinzo’s absinthe in this household, because the characters and artwork in the fandom alone is enough to melt my heart and soul.

As I mentioned earlier, Battler probably wouldn't wear layers unless going to formal event - like the family conference, to her grandfather's western mansion on a secluded island. If you've got to dress up, you dress up to kill (bad joke was bad).

I don't have an exact idea that comes to mind for the sort of dress Battler wears, but the images I put above are along the lines of what inspires the thought of it. Part of me would want to put her in a victorian-inspired dress, with a sort of heart-neckline that rises up to her throat - hard to explain, really. Similar to the Shidacoo artwork, but the collar would rise encircle her throat? Also, the baggy sleeves, I really like the sleeves. Something like this, most likely (neckline-wise, at least).

Or maybe a sort of capelet, which would parallel Kinzo's cloak-cape...sort of like the small shrug jackets, except the back elongates and the collar's tall, and it's worn over her dress sleeves if she has them...ideas, ideas, ideas...

Anyway, that 'stricter' victorian would probably be an aesthetic more fitting for the adults - or a female version of Kinzo, whom I've already gone on a rant about (though that would invoke interesting further parallel between the two...?).

@peachducy's design of fem! Battler is really really really cute. I ran out of space in the block above, so I'll ramble about it here. So, they used reference from Beato and Jessica's sprites, and provided Battler with a similarly layered skirt - whereas Battler is still wearing the jacket, and vest as in canon.

Battler gets leggings with eagle on them, and has cross-shaped earrings (the ever iconic motif), and I can say without a doubt that she is hot. She even has a cravat/jabot with a cross pin! It's cool! Witch Battler gets a massive ballgown skirt, similar to Beato's own dress except...simpler, with the one-winged eagle up the length of it, as well as a cape similar to Kinzo's.

I am not visible, but know I am valiantly attempting to evade keyboard smashing.

On the other hand, the reason I like Kaoru's art so much, is because it shares motifs with Beato - such as the low back, and the shape of the sleeves and the just-off the shoulder design which makes it just a half-step different, and what it drops in mimicking the scalloped folds of her overskirt and golden embroidery (Beatrice's, I mean, tying her to Kinzo's cape), the design is replaced by simple layers hemmed in lace (and I'm always weak for lace-hemmed anything, sorry). Also, the fabric roses - because that's a tie to Beato, and throughout umineko, roses are Important.

Such as a golden rose laying to rest upon a catbox at the bottom of the sea. That scene broke me, and was what got me to regain interest in the VN after spoilers-

Still's depiction of Fem! Battler is also really good, because the lines of the dress of sleek and formfitting - reminiscent of the modern period, over historical-leaning gows (or that's how my brain interprets it), and it also brings back Battler's cross-motif. Still's dress reminds me a lot of Kyrie, actually. Sleek, straightforward, and mostly to the point - though it's still embellished with ribbons.

(Also, look at her hand on her hip!! The confident smirk!!! 10/10).

There's also another image attributed to OnoyaAko, where Battler is again wearing a dress, similar to Still's where she is sleeveless and wearing gloves, and with Beato - who is laughing. At her, and calling her cute (I think?). Meanwhile, Battler is trying to shove him away with a loo of utter disgust. The art piece cute, and just look at her face!

Dress-design wise, again, it's very simple. I like the black frontpiece, and how the skirt is tucked together before fanning out. Just..so many designs, so pretty.

The Opera Stella Iplehouse doll is another dress design I liked, and also and these two dresses ...

I have saved so many images from pinterest running through ideas, its not even funny. I have like five separate boards. Help.

Anyway, here ends my rambling on Battler's clothes, and the types of clothes he may wear as a girl.

[yume-fanfare]

thinking abt this one artist i saw on pixiv once who hetbended all their ships except hinaan, where they made hina a girl and anzu a boy