#I decided to try out screentones

[jasbell]

Hi hello I'm a FlutterPieCord shipper

look at em go!

[dunmeshistash]

Interview to celebrate the opening of the Ryoko Kui Exhibition

About Delicious in Dungeon: Story making

Q1. Your first long-running series has lasted for about 9 and a half years. Has it been different from your previous experience drawing short stories?

A1. Compared to short stories, the series has been easier because the same characters appear each time. But I was surprised to find that I got tired of drawing the same characters too many times.

Q2. You have said before that the overall structure of the story was decided before serialization began, but how much of that had you communicated to your editor? Also, what kind of communication did you have during the series production?

A2. The goal was something we discussed and had decided on from the beginning. The goal itself was simple, but the path to get there was more difficult and took longer than imagined.

Q3. Regarding the overall story concept and development, did you write out or put anything down in writing (such as the plot)?

A3. I did, but it was simple.

Q4. Did you come up with the dishes based on the monsters you wanted in the story? Or did you come up with the monsters based on the dishes?

A4. It depended on the story, but usually the story came first followed by the monsters or food. I feel like that was most often the order.

Q5. As you progressed in drawing the series, what elements of the characters, story, or world expanded or grew in the most unexpected way?

A5. Nothing particularly unexpected perhaps. When I used to draw web manga, I tended to think up inconsequential settings. So, from the beginning I tried to restrain myself as much as possible and not expand too much. I was surprised when my editor said "Let's expand it more," in the second half of the series.

Q6. "Delicious in Dungeon" starts with a relatively simple setting, but as the series and the labyrinth exploration continues, the map slowly expands little by little in the readers' minds. It becomes more three-dimensional, revealing the secrets of the world, and taking on a multilayered structure. Are there any sources that you used as a reference, or which influenced you in creating this multilayered structure?

A6. A long time ago, when I was working on my personal web manga (fantasy), I drew it however I wanted, thinking that "Only people who can read this will read it," but I regularly received feedback that it was "unreadable", so I tried to make it as easily. accessible as possible.

Q7. The series combines many elements, including "fantasy", "gourmet", "battles", and "puzzle solving", but I think it's also important that it is a "comedy" which makes people laugh. Could you let us know if you have a creative commitment towards depicting humor?

A7. My hopes are that I can make it fun for people to read.

[page 5]

About Delicious in Dungeon: Drawing manga

Q1. Please tell us about the drawing tools you currently use, both digital and analogue.

A1. In terms of analogue tools, I use a light box, a G pen, a round pen, and a brush pen. And for digital, I use CLIP STUDIO PAINT and a Wacom LCD tablet. Screentone pasting is always done on the computer, so ultimately it all ends up as a digital manuscript.

Q2. Do you have any rules or reasons for using digital and analog separately?

A2. I'm always looking for ways to draw better and save time, so the exact approach is probably different for almost every chapter. Personally, I feel that analogue methods create more appealing lines, but I feel like digital saves time, so maybe I'll do a digital rough sketch and do the inking by hand… I might have been using a G pen, and maybe I'll try out a turnip pen, or this time I'm short on time so I'll draw it entirely digitally, but with digital I can redo it over and over, so maybe analogue is still faster, and so on and so forth. I'm indecisive in this way and so haven't developed a consistent process.

Q3. I understand that you prepare 3D data for your assistants to draw the backgrounds. What kind of data did you make for "Delicious in Dungeon" ?

A3. You could call it 3D, but it's not a proper model, just something to help with the rough sketching. I line up cubes to share the perspective and sense of scale, and they use it as a reference.

Q4. At the beginning of the series, the characters and backgrounds were somewhat simply drawn, and it seems like they became richly detailed over the progression of the story. What was your intention behind using these different styles?

A4. It's simply that my technique isn't stable. I thought I'd put a lot of effort in at the start. I remember being confused when my editor asked me to add more in to the drawing, and I wondered "Where…?"

Q5. Thinking about the food, were there any menu illustrations that you were particularly satisfied with, or which you struggled with?

A5. I've never liked my own food illustrations. But the times when I read other people's manga and thought "That looks delicious," I think it's been more an influence of the movement, the staging, and the situation than the drawings.

Q6. For the world maps and the terrain of each continent, did you refer to any maps of the real world? I feel like the shape of the 'island' is similar to the shape of Fukuoka Prefecture or Kyushu.

A6. I didn't reference any specific geography, but I did try to put thought into things like whether a developed city would be near a river or the sea, and what the coastline would look like. I'm pleased if it feels similar to a real place, because it means my interpretation was pretty accurate.

About Delicious in Dungeon: Other

Q1. Which is your favorite monster?

A1. Nightmare.

Q2. I'm sure you have received a lot of feedback from readers in countries and regions outside of Japan. Please tell us if there was anything from them that made you happy, was unexpected, or which made a lasting impression on you.

A2. When you play foreign games, there are times when you think "Why did they translate it into Japanese like that?" But having been on the side of having something translated, I've realized some things are unavoidable, or endless, and there are many things that don't matter either way from the author's perspective, so it was interesting.

About Ryoko Kui's short story collections and herself

Q1. Dragons are a consistent and important motif in your work. Was there any particular work or experience which inspired this? Also, are there points about drawing dragons which you find interesting or have had to work hard on?

A1. It's less about liking dragons, and more that I'm interested in the worlds in which dragons exist. When I draw dragons, the depiction in itself has a sweet feeling to it. I have never had a pet reptile, so I don't have a very good understanding of them.

Q2. Unomiya University in your story "The dragon's school is on top of the mountain" has a Faculty of Dragons, Department of Environmental Studies, and Department of Technology Studies, and a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. If you were to enroll in the university, which department or faculty would you like to enter?

A2. I probably wouldn't be accepted….

Q3. The collection includes a short story staged as an essay manga. Are you a fan of essay manga? Please tell us about any genres of essay manga that you like.

A3. I love all kinds of essay manga. I read them often.

Q4. If you were to make your own game, what kind of game would you like to make?

A4. I prefer being a player when it comes to games.

Q5. When did you first start drawing illustrations (doodles)?

A5. I don't exactly remember when I first drew a picture, but I think I started drawing manga around the fourth or fifth grade of elementary school. in my notebooks and had my friends read them.

Q6. What is the most fun part about drawing manga?

A6. Every part is fun and hard in its own way.

Q7. Please tell us if there is anything you "just can't stop no matter what".

A7. My procrastination habit.

Q8. Could you please tell us if there's something you want to draw now?

A8. I've been working continuously since the serialization, so I'd like to take about 2 to 3 months to just draw whatever I want.

[just-a-carrot]

maybe because i've been feeling really down about my art again, but i randomly decided to open up CSP for the first time in two years...

when i first tried using it, no matter how much i kept practicing (which admittedly wasn't that much, but still) i just couldn't gel with it. the art didn't look like mine. the lines were too thick and fuzzy. the characters didn't look like themselves.

this time i tried actually messing with stuff to get it closer to what i'm used to... and i'll be real... i actually really like the results...

have just been doodling a bit today but i'm vibing a lot with it. it looks and feels like my art just... flowier. somehow. lol. and i like how the curvier lines brings out the squishiness of my style even more (and allows me to add small lines and details i couldn't before)... not only that but working with screentones again makes me really really want to try some manga again, even just short panels or pages for funsies. so i may, uh... keep drawing with it a bit... we'll see..........

[randomyuu]

i keep the warmest truth.

Well you look at that. Another comic hahahaha why did I do this to myself—

But I do enjoy drawing this comic! It was a different kind of challenge, where this one focuses a lot on close-ups, so I need to learn about the subtlety of expressions. Can’t say I learn a lot (I use lots of copy-pasting of the same position lmao), but I still learn... something!

This beautiful one-shot fic is titled i keep the warmest truth by Dehawny. If I have to summarise the fic, it’s basically Ace!Gojou and Adorable!Yuuji. It's more like gray ace but better keep the “A” going, haha. And as usual, the fic is NSFW, so please do read the tags before you decide to give it a read.

Ace!Gojou is something I don’t know I need. I think I love almost every kind of Gojou headcanons, but Ace!Gojou holds a special place in my heart. I could be biased as someone in the ace spectrum, but the way Dehawny wrote Gojou and Yuuji’s interaction is truly heartwarming. And also a bit possessive, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Possessive Gojou is my jam.

And Yuuji. Oh, dear lord where do I even start with this boy. I don’t have enough vocabularies to express how much I adore Yuuji. Him being his horny teen-self and constantly worrying about making the pleasure mutual is too much for my heart. And he’s still understanding of Gojou’s sexuality. Yuuji is kind, like that. Don’t mind me as I’m crying out happy tears in the corner.

Alrighty, below are my thoughts as I drew this, as usual haha:

After I got a taste with comic-making from my previous GoYuu comic, this one is a bit easier to plan once I narrowed down the scene I want to draw. I wanted the comic to start with Gojou positioning himself and Yuuji in the futon, bringing up Yuuji’s question weeks ago, but that means I have to draw 10+ pages and I was like, “haha nope”. I still love my hands, thank you very much. So I start with Yuuji’s reaction after Gojou explains a bit about his sexuality.

Panelling is still a struggle. In a way that I still feel that the layout can be improved, but I can’t for the life of me figured out what needs to be improved. I guess this kind of thing will come eventually, but not now.

During the sketching, I must say I got super hyped drawing Gojou’s eyes. That eye close-up? I really want to try making it as ethereal as possible in an achromatic setting. It’s intimidating, don’t get me wrong, but I have always loved drawing eyes since I was a kid and this is a fun thing to test my love for eyes.

If I have to complain… it would be the intimate position of them laying on the futon. I never really try drawing “couple-like” positions before, but it was really hard! Like, holy shit, can you guys stop being so awkward looking? Where the hell did I draw it wrong??? Thankfully references have helped me a lot with positioning.

The line art took sooo much time because I realise I want to make Gojou and Yuuji more… buff (kinda) so I need to re-sketch a bit :(( but the result is better than the previous one, so I’ll take what I can get haha. And I start to really like using screentones for shading—once I properly learn how to do manga layout, I think I might fall in love with drawing mangas!

But overall, this is a fun process to do, and I hope you enjoy the comic and this rambling of mine! :D

[sebbyisland]

BETTER THAN MY WILDEST DREAMS!!!

losing it i m l o s i n g i t do you see how beautiful she is???? hello? highlighting my fave changes piece by piece below

The way the title is formatted is different! We used to consistently have the text vertical with a white box bordered by blue and red, now it's just the text in a larger font. I'm curious how the translated editions will try to reflect this change

the rendering style is obviously different now. we keep the watercolor coloring but there's a lot more attention to ambient lighting (LOOK AT HER EYES!!!!!! LOOK AT THE WAY LIGHT REFLECTS AHH) + fine details. lineart is now colored and more diluted, which gives room to create shape and motion through the rendering. instead of screentones on the hair or clothes, there is detailed shading. it's so exciting because this is the first time we have seen Akane-banashi in this much detail!!!

color illustration background also very different. we always had the cover illustration bordered by colorful patterns, but this has been completely switched out for sketchy ink drawings on a solid color background. there is no border! Akane is free..

the author + artist names have now switched from horizontal white/black text outlined in black/white to vertical text in a different font, no outline, and bordered by a box made with a brush stroke texture. this adds to the more free/inky composition communicated by the background and the changes to the title text

this is the FIRST chapter volume to only feature one character! considering the simplified background creates more spotlight on the character. I wouldn't be surprised if the covers from now on are mostly one character + simple background from now on.

would i cry if we get a big dramatic composition of hikaru akane and karashi staring each other down? yes obviously of course........

^^^however, if they decide to stick pretty strictly with one character per volume cover (omg like Blue Period hello Blue Period fans), it would fit well with how we've been getting character info-sheets every couple of chapters. idk if those chapters are spaced out enough to align with the volumes. just a thought!

overall i'd say the new volume cover style is trying to take on a more mature look to reflect akane reaching this new stage of her journey as a "full-fledged artist" kinda like the time-skips in one-piece or naruto

TL; DR TAKAMASA MOUE I OWE YOU MY LIFE……i knew he would deliver but oh my god.

[zodiac-rave]

Apparently next year is next week so I get to do this again. I tried to mess around with some different stuff this year! Most of my faves were FFXIV but I branched out a bit so I'm pulling out links to other stuff too because I had fun.

January - A BG3 camp comic where I spent so long redoing my Tav's face that I didn't have energy left for Karlach's other hand, but she has flowers now so it's okay. (One day I will get out of Act 1.)

February - I put my FFXIV character in Agnea's dress because OT2 still has half my heart and I had a really fun time shading this one. Also did a doodle to celebrate Golden Sun making it out of the NSO vault.

March - Jayne sent me her viral comic fever dream and I THINK this was my first time trying to draw Thancred's hair

April - After 90 hours my Tarnished learned how to two-hand a weapon.

May - I finally got around to one of my favorite wolship headcanons and messing with screentones. I also did this Rabbit & Steel sprite edit that I still can't believe I finished. I ALSO-also totally helped manifest the Tales of Graces f remaster

June - Finished a whole thing for a ship week so I think I am excused from ever trying to finish something by a deadline again! Except right after that I decided I wanted to finally do the romance cover meme before Dawntrail dropped. I think I was also trying to finish Metroid Prime Remaster but wound up doing a meme of it instead. Sorry Samus

July - Dawntrail dropped and I fell into an unintelligible amount of Triple Triad and it did things to me

August - Thancred's 16 Stacks of Vulnerability

September - A lil feral goldsmith because I wanted to mess around with greyscale

October - This was one of those cases where I spent more time on a doodle than I had spent actually playing the game and that's okay except I did it again after getting the Ace Attorney trilogy on PC

November - Cats! They're just like us!

December - Listen if my 2-year-old nephew is completely invisible in the middle of the living room because he went under a blanket, so is this catgirl.

[milekael]

Hiya! Favorite FMA panel of all time, if you have one? :D

HEELP So I went on looking over panels and ough I really can't decide...... The thing about it is that there are several panels I like for totally different reasons AASDFG Plus I tend to focus on sequences and page composition because is what I'm trying to figure out SDFGH

If I had to say a whole page, I would probably say this one as I have redrawn it twice already!

I really like the way the sequence works, with the tower closing in to the bullet casket. Riza being portrayed with the "Monster eyes" Arakawa does until she sees Mustang again....... in a way recovering her humanity but also showing how horrified she feels......

That leads to another thing I really like about her style and what normally shapes what my favorite panels are is how good Arakawa is with subtle expression changes!

This is one of my favorite examples because Broho butchered my boy LOL in the anime they don't know how to give Scar these subtle changes that show a lot of emotion so they just leave him with his default face sobs. But here without breaking that hardened look and very specific eye shape you can see him going through the realization and the bitterness and then trying to compose himself back into his hardened self, in here you can clearly see how badly this actually got to him.

Another bit I really like is how intentional every single panel feels? Like DFGHJ This is the first example I found but she has a very clean paneling technique, she barely uses screentones as shadows and knows very well when to make bgs and when to totally ignore them. Most mangas I read sometimes overdo any of these bits (One Piece...). I think it also help on how Arakawa approaches anatomy because their heads and bodies occupy very solid portions of the pages... although thats helped by the uniform's design asdfg ANYWAY not exactly the answer because deciding this stuff makes me brain go sdfghj but I love to talk about aspects I like about the manga! Specially because Art-wise I think Arakawa is one of the best mangakas out there!

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 6.25.2024

Oh, it has suddenly gotten much quieter in my house (smaller child has gone to camp; husband who talks on the phone all day has gone into the office, so it is just me and the quiet child who likes to be left alone). I should...I should take advantage of this. I will try to take advantage of this.

I have been puttering away on the same story I was puttering away on last week. It is now...around 3700 words. It still has the same number of [fill in this parts] (although at least one of them now spans a shorter gulf). It still does not have an ending. At least it is a story that I am enjoying spending some time in.

I don't know why I can't write short things any more. It takes a couple of hours to write something that's 1-2k words. It takes a week to write something 3-4k words and that's if I'm really struck with inspiration. I'm stuck in this swampy middle ground where crafting is required, which is very laborious and is very down in the weeds, where it all looks like shit until you can manage to zoom out and be like "oh, this is pretty good actually." Might as well be working on something longform, if this is how it's going to be. :/ Oh, well.

I continue to draw lieutenants. I am almost done drawing lieutenants. (I lie, I have actually been inking lieutenants). I have one left to go (it's Sasakibe, and I only left him for last because he's the leftmost, it's nothing personal). I think I'm probably going to add a very basic background. I did figure out how to do the animation thing I wanted to do--it's very easy, actually, although it does require two separate pieces of software. I have been working on this for so long! It's not even, like..."good", because I did it all with, like, ballpoint pen brushes and screentones because I love homemade comics and I wanted it to feel like a homemade comic. (btw, if you like these things, too, please check out Halftone Hospital, an amazing set of pay-what-you-like art resources for digital comic-making that I found this week and have been having a lot of fun with) With a little luck I ought to be able to finish that up this week.

Oh, and in case you missed it, I have decided I am going to start archive-locking my adult fics (and probably the other ones in the future), so if you care, either get an ao3 login or download 'em. (you can also always ask me).

[stepswowdsen]

【KagePro】 Kuroha and KuroEne Rambles 🖤❤️💙🐍🐇

Kuroha's Manga Route 2 Design

Adjusted the screentones slightly on this doodle!

I did a little experiment yesterday cuz I wanted to test how the screentones would look...

I think this is generally how I'd draw his Manga Route 2 design in comic form (in the future). I'd just refine the sketch and make it neater.

I think that this conveys his black snake scales the best (out of all the ones I've tested) cuz my art style has really thick prominent eyelashes and they need to be visible for it to look good

Me when my friends/mutuals tell me I opened their eyes to the KuroEne agenda and that I was the main reason they considered and thought of the ship in the first place. My propaganda is working /lh /j 👍 😎

The KuroEne vision~~ I'm glad to spread the word about them 💞

Like I've literally had mutuals/friends tell me, "Oh I've never thought of them as a ship! It would be amazing content for a very angsty ship! It's a good way to see it and it would make sense for such an interesting ship like that."

KUROENE TAKEOVER!!! KUROENE WORLD DOMINATION!!! 🖤💙🐍🐇

It's honestly my dream to be able ship doujinshi one day... I feel like creating fan-works like art, writing, are some of the ultimate forms of love languages for your faves and ships.

That's why I wanna be able to improve to the point where I can draw comics comfortably. Like I want to be able to draw fast and have an aesthetically pleasing art style.

I love my art style but I certainly do not draw fast enough for comics and I'd like to improve my art more before I commit to huge art projects like these (ie. comics, doujinshi)

Also my redrawing tendency is just so bad I constantly redraw my own arts 😭 I want to be able to draw quickly and have more aesthetically pleasing art.

Basically, I want my artistic/technical skills to improve first before I do long comics.

I want to be able to create doujinshi (fan-comics) of my fave ships. Cuz I think creating doujins for your fave charas/ships are one of the ultimate forms of love languages.

Also, y'know for ship doujinshi, how they're usually formatted like this? They tend to have the series name, doujinshi number, pairing/ship, author, doujinshi circle name, etc., on the back of the book.

Example:

Kagerou Project: Unofficial Fanbook (No. 1) The Dance of Endless Shadows Kuroha x Ene Stepswordsen

Lowkey wondering how I should format it in the future...

Also I just gave an example for now, cuz the name of my KuroEne AU is still tentative. I came up with a list of ideas in my notes, but I'm still trying to decide...

Like I was thinking about the potential of making a KuroEne ship doujinshi in the future (and of course, I would love to make ship doujinshi of all of my top fave ships, once my art skills improve)

And I was wondering whether I should use Kuroha (クロハ, Kuroha), his popularized fandom nickname, or Black Konoha (黒コノハ, Kuro Konoha), which is the official name... Or Saeru Hebi (冴える蛇, "Clearing Snake")

Potential Ideas:

Kuroha x Ene

Black Konoha x Enomoto Takane

Saeru Hebi x Enomoto Takane

Kuroha x Enomoto Takane

Black Konoha x Ene

Saeru Hebi x Ene

This is a "For the future" scenario I thought of in my head.

I thought of the potential idea of making ship fan-comics and doujinshi for my top fave ships in the future. I would love to create full fledged doujins for them once my technical art skills improve more! 🙏

I imagined how I'd format the book in my head.

Also, I would definitely make all of my ship comics and doujinshi, publically available and free to read for accessibility reasons for fans to enjoy. They’d be web comics/doujins.

My top 5 fave ships are LimGuda, XanLena, IdaTatsu, JuAli, KuroEne. My top ships are all very important and personal to me (just in different ways), so they’re all tied No. 1 for me.

Also, whenever in the future I get to do this (way off in the future), I definitely want to make the X's in the ship name RED for visual purposes.

In merch, Kuroha tends to be referred to by the code "XX" because he's not apart of the Mekakushi Dan.

The Mekakushi Dan (Blindfold Gang) members have a code number based on the order in which they joined the Dan.

It fits Kuroha to be themed with red. I love all the white crosses around him in the Outer Science MV, and how the red Eyes that represents the Mekakushi Dan just shatter one by one around him...

He "gouges out the Eyes" -> Kills the Mekakushi Dan (who are represented by their Eyes)

Symbolically, I like the thematic symbolism of "Marking them out with X's" like crossing out a hit list

I think using any of the first three would be best, but Kuroha x Ene is short and sweet. The other two use the full, official names, though...

Ngl I'm gonna miss typing tags for my fave charas/ships. I always did it on desktop so I had fun doing it

Also I think I did come up with a solution for not being able to use tags? Like I can just reblog my own posts and they won't show up in the search results. Yippee!

I can definitely reblog some of my old posts in the future! I'd like to add onto them eventually <3

[prismagia]

Marion's 2024 Manga Summary

there's a lot to sum up!

first and foremost, im putting all the series ive read this year in order regarding how much i've enjoyed them. im a pretty impatient reader and i dump things that dont spark any joy, so ive honestly had fun with all of them this or another way - id say i dont regret reading a single one. only pic 3 rows 4 & 5 disappointed me in some way, for others - i just didnt feel very thrilled with them.

overall, this year's manga journey was insane for me, as i've never been so compelled to return to the world of manga reading.

first and foremost, i have colleen's manga recs to thank for my newly found interest in shoujo. thanks to them i discovered (sometimes anew) so many series that people tend to shy away because we equal girlhood and even womanhood with immaturity, lightheartedness and everything about it revolving about (heterosexual) romance. the realization that i often disregarded manga because i never got to connect with traditional cis male shounen experience (im bigender, but im very closeted) was honestly wild to me. you mean there were things that represented my thoughts and feelings growing up all this time?! the absolute pearls of my 2024 shoujosei crown are easily kamisama kiss, ohana holoholo, pieta, from far away and sailor moon. i regret never giving sailor moon manga a chance, it literally made me feel overflowed with how much feelings and ideas was poured into it lol

discovering shuzo oshimi was just as wild. you know when people on twitter cant decide if someone is a freak (negative) or not you're in for a fun ride. and oshimi is a freak! despite my asexuality, i related a lot to the thoughts and ideas about the messy, ugly parts of coming to terms with yourself, your gender, your sexuality and your priorities in life. none of those are something easy to realize, you hurt people and yourself in the process, and i love how shuzo oshimi works with that. you probably heard of flowers of evil and inside mari - and i promise, those are not overhyped. it felt cathartic to read both, and i can only recommend those who want to try oshimi's works for the first time. his most recent work, welcome back, alice, was also my introduction to his art!

another crucial moment for me was closer to the end of the year, when i was a bit stressed out due to finals and other, well, things out of the "well THAT just happened" field. that was when i stumbled upon haru akiyama. i did so while browsing the yuri tag on the yuri scans site - as one does, - and stumbled upon brides of iberis. i dont see polyamory represented very often in media around my corner of the internet, especially with lesbian women involved, so it piqued my interest. and it was genuinely good! what akiyama excels at perfectly is drama. i get people calling her characters names, but to be honest? thats how people are - dramatic, messy, annoying and easy to panic when something stable they depend on feels like its crumbling in their hands. soap operas are based actually and her octave cemented my thoughts on that

this year was full of many new pleasant discoveries, and i plan to make many more! i have an anime planet account to track my stuff, so you can check out my planned to read stuff there or even be mutuals :) i'll also be reviewing the most enjoyable ones i checked out sometime later. i have a pretty humble idea of what i want to read in 2025, and it's basically:

urusei yatsura by rumiko takahashi. absolute classics! i cant let it go unread

20th century boys by naoki urasawa, as gfs propaganda has finally made me cave in (and i already started it in 2024. but shhh)

solanin by ueki asano. i never got through punpun but id still like to get acquainted with asano's work, so i decided to pick a lighter read of his.

cherry project by naoko takeuchi. well! i also started it in 2024, and the art is majestic. since sailor moon i absolutely cant stop thinking of takeuchi's flowy lines and dreamy screentones.

i have more in plans! but it's a secret. for now. you will see.

[c-dragon-art]

the boys

[enter-the-performapals]

@arcvmonth Day 9: Light Across the Aether

Oof, this one was a hard pick. There are so many scenes in this show that have really stuck with me.

I decided on this one because whenever I'm infodumping to people (sorry coworkers) the first thing I'll mention is 'Like, 40 episodes in the main character's doppelganger dies in his arms and its TOTALLY METAL.' Its just such a powerful scene.

Even after my first watch, it was one of the scenes that really stuck with me until my rewatch last year. Its definetly one of the big moments that reallg feels like the show is going from happy-go-lucky card games to card game based imperialism and it is FANTASTIC.

(Im also trying out screentones with my uncolored doodles! Let me know what you think!)

[cassiesart]

September is getting close to an end, which means Sketchtember is also getting close to an end, so I want to post a blog content schedule update:

October - I’ll be doing an art challenge, but it won’t be Inktober. I think the purpose of Inktober is supposed to be to get people to try traditional inks that don’t usually use them, and I do a lot of inking on my own. (my Journey June project was entirely traditionally inked, although any shading you see was digitally added screentone)  Therefore, I’ll be doing fullcolor illustrations in October, and since those take more time I’ll probably be posting once every three days. (Unless I post in stages with the sketch one day, inks the next and fullcolor on the last day. I know some people enjoy seeing WIPs. if anyone has an interest in that please say so!)

November - I’ll set a goal to post something once a week, but I plan to take November off from art challenges and will probably be doing some kind of project preparation work that won’t be posted here. The idea will be to take one of the concepts I’ve been doing art for in September and October and try to develop it. I have yet to decide which project and if I had decided I wouldn’t want to tell you about it yet anyway in case it turns out to be horrifically unsuccessful and I switch to a different one. (November is NaNoWriMo! Obviously, this isn’t a writing blog, but in the spirit of NaNoWriMo I might also be sharing links to writing advice I’ve come across or helpful creative resources. I hoard them, under the fanciful impression that some day, I might use them for something.)

December - I’m not sure how often I will be able to post because I tend to be pretty busy in December, and I don’t yet know whether I will be following some other challenge list or just picking something out of my prompt storage, but I’m going to tentatively plan on posting at least every third day, and there will be at least some Christmas art :) 

2023 is too early to plan for and part of my schedule might depend on whether November’s project is successful. Stay tuned! Or don’t. 

[sweetescapeartist]

I wish I didn't get sick. Could've really used those 2 days to draw. I hate to say it but...my comic might get delayed. But I can slightly rush it & release 2/3 of it. Might do that if I'm able.

One of the main thing will be adding the background to panels. But I structured it so that I don't have to draw too many backgrounds. Also trying to decide if I should add screentone or not. I figured out a quick way to do so, but that still takes up a bit of time...

For now, I rest some more. Took some medicine that'll make me sleep. Should pass out in 30 minutes to an hour.

[everythingsinred]

Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Natsume (pt. 5)

I'm back on my bullshit. I decided I'd post these, once a day, four days a week. Then I'll go on breaks for the weekend to let interested readers catch up while also further writing more entries. At the time I'm posting this, for example, I'm in the process of analyzing Chapter 39. That way, it's easier for everyone to enjoy this essay. Which I hope people do.

Anyway, this can finally truly be called a ship essay, because one of our key players has FINALLY developed feelings! Going forward, Natsume's behavior will heavily feature his growing affections for Mikan. We'll be analyzing Natsume's self-preserving hesitation as well as his immediate instinct to give up any chance he has from the get-go.

Chapter Seventeen

Natsume next shows up to walk into Class B during a commotion of Mikan’s retelling of the Reo incident. The kids all gather around him now too to ask questions and press about his condition. One kid even asks if he should teach Mikan a lesson for bragging about his rescue. Mikan smiles at him, under the assumption that their shared trauma has brought them closer and maybe even made them friends, but Natsume’s response is to simply turn away and ignore her.

He’s still Natsume after all. This is the first girl he’s ever liked, and she used to be somebody he despised, so the change in feelings is probably very strange to him. He’s confused and possibly embarrassed. He doesn’t know what to say or how to act.

Can't have her getting any ideas that he's completely changed his mind about her or anything.

Most of the people that Natsume likes at the school (although that is just Ruka and Youichi… so… you know) know that he likes them. He spends time with them, is gentle with them, does things for them, and can openly say kind things to and about them. Mikan is different. He used to be her number one enemy, so all of a sudden switching gears and becoming her friend would be quite odd.

Over time, Natsume will find ways to be gentle and sweet to Mikan, but for now his crush is brand new and he doesn’t know how to act quite yet. He’d rather avoid her entirely, or pretend like nothing happened, than openly approach his new feelings.

Furthermore his behavior is always and under all circumstances inseparable from his status as Persona’s favorite and as the Black Cat. He may have some loved ones, but he keeps the number low and tries to avoid getting close to people for a reason. Naturally, nobody could ever really understand his experiences so there will always be a divide between him and the rest of his peers, but even more than that is that considering people precious turns them into targets.

Natsume has probably learned the hard way that displaying closeness and affection for his friends can have dangerous effects, so he might now think of showing that kind of affection as selfish or even cruel. Why subject somebody to something like that, merely because he has feelings for them? It’s not fair.

In either case, it’s really not that Natsume is naturally mean and cold. He just doesn’t trust his situation enough to properly act. It’s safer in every way to just pretend like nothing changed. It’s too much to deal with otherwise. But sooner rather than later, the hard thing will be staying away. Eventually, maintaining coldness with her will be almost impossible.

Chapter Eighteen

This chapter further touches on Natsume’s new-found crush and its consequences.

Class B is used to being in an environment where Natsume hates Mikan and is bothered by everything she does. He gives in to her slightly, in small ways, and it shocks his classmates. Now, it’s understandable that, even if he hadn’t developed a crush on her, he might still be softer to a girl who risked her life to save him, but it’s still odd.

Mikan recalls asking Natsume for help training her alice. She needs an offensive alice to nullify, so Iinchou or Hotaru’s would be ineffectual in training. Natsume is really the best person to ask, and, to everyone’s surprise, he actually agrees to help.

Natsume doesn't need any convincing to help her, but what did she think practicing with a fire alice would entail?

And yes it does seem like he’s only doing it to torture her, because his alice is capable of genuine bodily harm and his admirers snicker with amusement at his antics, but I can’t help but assume there’s more to it.

He doesn’t really hesitate to help. He doesn’t need convincing at all. In some ways I think he did genuinely want to help. Her alice helped save his life, after all. Why not repay the favor by using his alice to help her train? To him, there's a lot of value in her alice, so training it is beneficial in his perspective as well.

And later still, Mikan spots Natsume sitting amongst the principal students. He stands out, as an elementary student next to upperclassmen. This moment is a good introduction to the arc. His crush on Mikan only grows stronger as the festival goes on, but there’s something looming over him too--he’s different from the rest of them. He stands out so much during the festival. He’s a dangerous ability type who’s not allowed to participate while also being a principal who has to sit on the stage for the opening ceremony. That's horribly ironic, but also shows just how singled out and under the spotlight he is. It’s a huge part of why he acts the way he does, so cold and mean and distant despite his growing affections. It’s all he can do.

He may see potential for a future, but he’d be foolish to think he should be able to acquire it, because his current circumstances have not changed at all.

The chapter ends with Natsume being asked by Koko if he wants to try out the special ability class event. He’s looking towards the special ability area, and we can tell the next chapter will be fun.

Chapter Nineteen

And how!

Natsume is here to see Ruka, his best friend, but he’s also here to catch a glimpse of the girl he has a crush on.

Sumire is also there, and it’s interesting to see that Natsume hasn’t changed in his attitude around her either, even though she also helped save him. She tries to embrace him and he dodges her.

This catches some people’s attention and they start to whisper about his presence.

In the anime, this moment is a bit more potent, hearing the murmurs and seeing a darkness over the gossiping kids, but the manga still establishes that the people waiting in line are by-and-large unhappy to see him. They whisper amongst themselves, rudely asking why he’d bother to come here, but that gloom only lasts for a moment (one singular panel and then Natsume’s responding bitterness) before Mikan appears jumping over the wall, calling his name and even smiling.

It’s almost like she was waiting for him to show up, running off from her post the second she heard Natsume was there. The dark looming screentones are replaced with flowery ones, and it’s hard not to think of this as his perspective: all is gloomy and then there is Mikan. All of a sudden, after hating her for so long, he thinks of her as bright sunshine, and he must have showed up just to see her and feel nice for a change.

It's Natsume seeing Mikan through floral-filter lenses for me...

Of course, he ruins the mood. It feels almost as if he does it solely because he knows it will upset her. She was so excited to see him, and he manages to completely turn her mood from eager to angry, just the opposite of how she was able to unwittingly turn his mood from gloomy to... as close to content as he can get.

He’s okay now. He doesn’t want her getting any ideas.

Now, in my opinion, his method of bothering her could be anything and the plot would remain the same. What matters is that he wants to piss her off, and this just so happens to be the way he does it, partially because it’s intended to be funny. Mikan has to get angry at him for this chapter to progress the way it does, but his actions could have been replaced by any other irritating action and it could’ve gone the same way.

Tsubasa then appears, drawn to the sound of a loud commotion. He sees Natsume and vaguely wonders why he’s there. Everyone knows Natsume, at all grade levels, because he’s famous. For Tsubasa, whose only real knowledge of Mikan’s relationship with the kid is that he causes trouble in Class B, it would be strange to see him at the RPG.

Natsume, meanwhile, has no idea who Tsubasa is. Seeing Mikan crawl all over her senpai, seeing him easily comfort her, is something that bugs Natsume. He glares at Tsubasa, somebody whose name he doesn’t even know, and then starts leaving with Ruka.

At first, Tsubasa is confused to be treated like this, until he hugs Mikan tighter and sees both Natsume and Ruka turn in jealousy. Tsubasa gets it immediately. Thus begins a strange and tumultuous frenemy relationship between Tsubasa and Natsume, where they both begrudgingly understand each other while also irritating each other beyond belief.

Natsume is not interested in playing the game, insulting it and wondering how anyone could get hooked on it. Ultimately, it’s not even Mikan who convinces him to give it a shot; it’s Tsubasa taunting him, “then you should be able to win, no problem, right?”

Tsubasa will come to regret saying this, because the answer is yes.

The RPG is designed to be tough. Nobody has won the whole game yet. Beating one or two students is one thing, but being able to outsmart or outmaneuver the entire special ability class is a difficult feat.

Natsume agrees to play, and gets a robot cockroach as a weapon.

Tsubasa is hugging Mikan as Natsume is about to enter, and that pisses him off even more. He decides that Tsubasa will be his slave, his motive being get your hands off her. This is silly considering that just a short time ago, Natsume hated Mikan. His feelings really did a 180.

The challenges pick up in difficulty as he goes on. The first one is effortless. He doesn’t even move from where he’s standing. The mirror-alice girl just freaks out about the cockroach and sends him on his way after two seconds.

The next one is trickier, and Natsume will need to put in more effort than just standing and waiting for the cockroach to do its job. But not that much effort. He sits next to Megane, lights a fire, and waits. It’s a scorching flame, and although Megane tries to tough it out, he gives in with two seconds to spare. Natsume, a smartass, quips sarcastically that he’s sorry--he really can’t tell how hot it is. (This is not actually important or anything, it’s just interesting that Natsume is not affected by his own flames and can’t feel the heat of them. I might end up referring to this a couple times.)

With the exception of the first and last challenges, Natsume uses his alice to beat the maze; either by heating Megane up so his soul goes back into his body, or by writing with fire instead of chalk. The next challenge is the one Natsume has been waiting for and he’ll use his alice here too.

Tsubasa is shocked to find Natsume has progressed so quickly, but he proceeds with the challenge: Natsume has to touch him in thirty seconds, but it’ll be tricky ‘cause he’s held in place by his shadows. He toys with Natsume’s shadows a bit, which really pisses Natsume off. Tsubasa even apologizes nervously, even though he’s the one in control. Or he is, until Natsume uses his alice again and gets rid of the shadows.

Natsume’s anger towards Tsubasa all stems from jealousy. It’s not just that Tsubasa was hugging and comforting Mikan, it’s that he can. Natsume needs to distance himself from Mikan in order to keep her safe, and he’s aware of that right from the start, but there’s more to it. He’s busy establishing himself as an enemy to Mikan, doing things to bother her to make her angry with him, but nobody rushes to their bully for comfort, and Natsume knows this. It’s not just that Tsubasa was hugging Mikan; it’s that he feels like he will never get the chance.

And so the next and final challenge is where he gets to be selfish.

Mikan is aggravated to see him, obviously not thrilled that he was able to make it in such a short time. Her task is that he has to get her off the carpet in thirty seconds. He can’t hurt her or force her off the carpet, and because of their alice training together, he can’t use his alice on her either. (They’d apparently practiced so much that she was able to sharpen her skills significantly. Before, her alice was a wildcard and she struggled with using it, but now she’s able to use it with relative ease. That’s a lot of training in a short time, and I’m sure Natsume wasn’t upset at all the time they had to spend together as a result.)

Natsume must feel relief regarding Mikan's nullification alice. She's nullified his alice in pretty big ways already, one time to save his life. The girl he's crushing on is capable of turning off the thing that decreases his lifespan. She really is a breath of fresh air, in more ways than one, and his appreciation for her alice, even if he doesn't voice it, will only grow. This is important, but I'll talk way more about this in the other POV.

He tries the cockroach, but she’s a country girl and unaffected.

Natsume is genuinely stumped by her challenge, admitting to himself that it’s a tough one. He then comes up with a risky idea, no doubt influenced by her rescue of him when they were kidnapped by Reo. He plays sick. This act only works if Mikan falls for it and is concerned enough to jump off the carpet, but he’s a good actor on account of all the sick experience he has and she does fall for it in no time. Her being concerned was a given.

She jumps off, meaning he’s won the game, but that’s not enough of a victory for him. He acts sick until she’s closer, so he can grab her and put his arm around her. Yes, he calls her an idiot, but this is the closest he can get to a hug… for now. It doesn’t matter that she’s annoyed and dismayed that he won. All he cares about is that he got to touch her.

She jumped down. He won already, but it's not enough! (Also sorry about two pictures. If it ruins the format, oh well.)

Natsume was jealous that Tsubasa got to do something he thinks he'll never be able to, and so he got a taste of what he wanted some other, convoluted way. He gets angry that Tsubasa is so touchy, but that's only because he wishes he could be touchy too. Natsume will get bolder and bolder with his physical affection, because he will want more and more to show it. When he starts being honest about this affection, she will be more eager to return it.

Natsume is the first winner, and Tsubasa admits it was never expected for somebody to be able to pass all the challenges. Part of the appeal is that it’s an unbeatable game, but Natsume’s feelings of jealousy and spite were enough to get him over the finish line. Though perhaps knowing it's beatable but only one person could is also appealing. It's possible to pass, but very rare for somebody to be able to, so they can draw in crowds by capitalizing on kids who want to the next person to beat the game.

He gets to choose a lamp, but he has no idea which one is whose. He cheats by asking Koko to tell him which one is the right one, but he ends up picking Mikan’s, because Koko assumed that’s the one he wanted. After all--Natsume was thinking about her. Natsume is lucky that Mikan was too anguished at being a slave to care about Natsume thinking about her, but it’s interesting to know that even when he’s supposed to be angry at Tsubasa, he was only thinking of Mikan.

Chapter Twenty

This chapter’s premise is pretty simple and light: Natsume can’t think of any use for Mikan other than to follow him and Ruka around the festival and carry their stuff. They navigate the technical ability class area and even encounter Hotaru, though only for a short time because she’s quite busy.

Most importantly, their time in the technical area makes Mikan insecure. Everyone in the tech class seems to know what they want to do with their lives, with their alices being perfect for research or creation. I’ll go into more detail with this during Mikan’s essay, but it’s important to note that Mikan asks the people around her if they’re prepared for their future only to see that they all are. Hotaru, Sumire, and even Ruka all have dreams for the future, even if Ruka won’t share his. Natsume has decided to leave the conversation and we don’t hear what his dream is, which makes sense because he doesn’t have one. Natsume doesn’t think he’ll live long enough to graduate, so why even bother wasting his own time and getting his hopes up for something unattainable?

It’s then revealed that Ruka is also a triple, and Mikan can’t tell, but the mood has been soured for Ruka. His triple-star status is a touchy subject that he’s unhappy with. His star rank is representative of Natsume’s suffering and he doesn’t like talking about it. He only says that he didn’t mention it because he didn’t get it on his own talent or effort before Natsume forces Mikan to walk in another direction, claiming to be hungry.

This is literally just a scan of the TokyoPop version, which is better than the other version I see floating around.

He can tell Ruka is uncomfortable and is ready to step in so that his friend can feel better.

As a result, they end up at the cafe where Anna is working (after all, Mikan has been perfecting her puppy-dog eyes routine and I think both Ruka and Natsume are affected, even if the latter would never admit it).

Natsume takes the first bite of Anna’s hell pie, just to see a rot demon (or whatever that thing is) taunt him about the trouble his stomach will be in soon. He really doesn’t have a choice but to throw the tea over the pie. Ruka is grateful, but Mikan is outraged at how rude Natsume is acting, and even angrier when Natsume explains that the pie was horrible. She demands he apologize but Natsume simply walks away, content to be the bad guy because he saved his friends from getting food poisoning while also sparing Anna’s feelings and reputation at her cafe.

"Your stomach will writhe" is such a potent threat. I feel sick just looking at that demon/scoundrel/rot thing.

This scene has more substance than in the anime. In the episode, Natsume sees the rotten scoundrel (or WHATEVER IT IS) before he can take a bite. He tosses the tea for all their sakes and ultimately nobody is hurt. But here, in the manga, Natsume has already taken a bite. We see the missing part of the pie, the residue on the fork. Natsume is already screwed. He's going to have food poisoning from Anna's pie, and he still puts her feelings before his own. He'd rather say that the pie is terrible according to his own tastes than to let everyone around know that she made such a health-risking mistake. He drenches the pie so that Mikan and Ruka don't get food poisoning, even if it's too late for him. Natsume leaves, knowing he will look like an asshole, AND with stomach problems on top of that, but at least he's the only one who will be seriously hurt.

This is a pretty insignificant example of a trait that we have seen before with Natsume but haven't really fully explored. It's going to play a major role for the rest of the manga, because Natsume has something of a martyr complex, where he is quick to sacrifice himself because he sees little to no value in his own happiness. This is a small example, and I'm not saying it's not kind of him, but there are consequences with his line of thinking. He's fine with looking like an asshole to protect people, or giving up things he wants so someone else can have it, or blowing himself up so two girls can escape safely. Whenever there's a chance to sacrifice himself, Natsume will take it every single time.

This may seem noble or romantic or admirable but it's not healthy at all. The way he was raised (no shade to Papa Hyuuga and Kaoru but also.... tentatively side-eyeing them for putting so much responsibility on him) and the way he is now tortured by the school has put him in a position where his self esteem is horribly low. This complex of his results in suicidal tendencies, even after he falls in love with Mikan (and even exacerbated by that love). For Natsume, love is sacrifice. He simply cannot love without feeling like he has to give something up. Ideally, he would grow out of this and maybe start seriously choosing himself sometimes. It's not evil to want yourself to be happy and to choose your own well-being, even if it occasionally makes others sad or upset.

In the context of the actual story though, we have yet another glimpse of a complex that will cause a LOT of trouble down the road for Natsume and Mikan.

Conclusion

Natsume has new feelings for Mikan and is having trouble navigating them. They will cause even more trouble in the next essay. We also touched more on Natsume's self-sacrificing tendencies and how devastating they will turn out to be. These tendencies will be consistent and persistent throughout the manga in regards to NatsuMikan's relationship, and cause more problems. These problems will pop up a bit in the next part, so stay tuned!

Also, small note: I call him Ruka and not Luca because I got used to it after watching the anime and through scans and fanfics. I heard his name pronounced that way and at first thought it was a Japanese name so I simply copied the pronunciation. When I found out it was supposed to be Luca, I'd already been using Ruka for a while. I don't really want to switch to using Luca most of the time because I know people in real life named Luca/Luka and I talk enough about GA on the daily where it might feel strange to me. I use Luca sometimes when I'm talking to others who prefer it, but Ruka is what I'm used to. I hope this isn't frustrating, but understand that I pronounce Killua's name (from HxH) like "Ki-ru-a" as well and in my head "Gakuen Alice" is pronounced "Gakuen Arisu" because I pronounce things based on what I hear when watching the anime ;-; These are things I have no real desire to change because they sound right to me. I'm sorry. (Nobody has said anything or complained, and this is not a vague or anything like that! I just wanted to say that I know it's supposed to be Luca and it's not my intention to be disrespectful when I pronounce/spell it Ruka. I am fucking crazy, but I am free.)

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[cestcirque]

🎉 12.12.21! 🎉

In honor of one year since starting Aperture (and this lil ol’ blog 🥺) I’ve compiled some of the countless behind-the-scenes stuff I never revealed about my SMAUs

This serves no other purpose but to be a nice walk down memory lane for me and the nostalgia is sO real—LET’S GOOOO!!!

Check out the previous post about the secrets of Aperture!

I was adamant about using my own art for visuals bc I constantly see fanart go uncredited on SMAUs (and other works of writing). 🙄 Any art in The Cardinal Set that isn’t mine, Furudate-sensei’s, or free-use imagery is properly credited

Much less thought in The Cardinal Set bc entirely too much needed to happen 😅

1. The 3 Y/Ns and their personalities came to me immediately after finishing Aperture, since requests for different routes were so strong. But I very quickly disregarded them bc creating these characters just to give people a happy ending felt too indulgent and I’m not about that

It wasn’t until I came up w the switch months later that I was sold. The lesson Aperture failed to teach—you can try as hard as you can to “build” love but sometimes you simply can’t hit all the right points and that’s okay. Suddenly the character dynamics I already created fit perfectly when paired with a different partner

2. These are the wallpapers on the Y/Ns’ lockscreens!

By Burnt Toast Creative, one of my favorite illustrators, who makes a ton of great wallpapers free to use (check him out!!!!)

Trompe l’œil:

3. Y/N’s paintings are actually meant to tie in the banners, but the concept is only half developed bc I decided it wasn’t important to the story. Polaroids from Aperture, one-line drawings from Screentone, typography from Extrema, and from Trompe-l’œil, color. Semi reveals he has a purple Rothko print in movement x, and Y/N’s first painting, Komorebi, is green (having fully grasped the concept of intimacy). Ikigai should have been blue (companionate, it wasn’t 😅) but we bring it back around when she asks Terushima for pink and red for koi no yokan (romance)

4. Akaashi’s favorite poem (#40, the one he was saving for a rainy day) and the poem Y/N posts the next day (#41) are companion pieces! It is said that they were put against each other in a poetry competition but could not be ranked one over the other. Formally, #40 is listed as the winner

…I can’t reveal what I was really trying to imply w poem #80, lest Akaashi stans get mad at me again… just know there’s a reason Konoha replies the way that he does 💩

Screentone:

5. Y/N’s sketches are my sketches from actual drawing classes (yes, even Semi’s figure study)

And yes, I did look up the names and stroke orders of all the muscles / bones in Japanese

6. This notebook page at the café where Y/N works w Akaashi is already eying Atsumu, very blatantly might I add

7. In any group chat w Saeko and Akiteru, Y/N calls Udai by “Udai-sensei” or “Udai-san.” When she speaks privately w him (and even when she mentions him to Semi), she calls him “Tenma”

This is something I don’t expect anyone to pick up on, but it’s very telling in Japanese when someone uses keigo (respectful language) vs. tameguchi (casual language). The fact that there’s a difference in address when she’s in front of certain people would immediately indicate a secret relationship. But by Layer 22, she’s addressing him as “Tenma” in front of everyone! No more hiding!

Extrema:

8. This is something I actually hand-lettered

The quote really is one of my accidental life mottos, said in passing by a guest lecturer for my college film class (I have searched and searched but I still have no idea who to attribute it to)

9. Atsumu’s journey and the V.League coup is based on Miyano Mamoru, who happens to be Atsumu’s voice actor and even shares the Kanji in his name (宮, “miya”)! Some years ago, fan outbursts forced Mamo to hold a press conference, which ended in him bowing and begging his fans to let him marry his then girlfriend. Out of fear for their safety, he has never revealed the names of his wife and son

Much like the Natsume Sōseki analogy, Atsumu’s decision to not reveal his partner’s name was something I decided a week or so before posting the chapter, bc I stumbled upon said press conference. 😅 And yet it made so much sense, I hated that it wasn’t my plan from the beginning—even the fact that the interview chapter happened to land in Extrema, where Screentone Y/N couldn’t be named anyway!

10. Traditionally, Heian period kossori dating started first w poems (in this case texts/tweets), then progressed to secret meetings, then after the third meeting, the couple was considered official and allowed to be seen in daylight. Secret meetings all depended on women unlocking their doors—if men sent their poems but the door was still locked, they’d be out of luck. So much of the story’s movement comes from whether or not the Y/Ns have “unlocked their doors”

I also tried to make each storyline have exactly 3 secret meetings, but Semi ended up w four by Page 20, so Y/N had to tweet about it to make it public 🤭

Originally, Extrema’s banner was going to change right after Y/N met Semi (i.e. unlocking her door). I thought people would start getting it by Page 13, but… ya didn’t. All the banners were set to change, but I decided literally that day that the “kossori” arc would include keeping it secret from readers as well. 🙃 How fitting that the true banners would not be seen in daylight until the couples were official

THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT