#I would like to publish my doujin comics in this way.

[inbaba-inkerpape]

（Translation with tools）

Page 1

J: Wait! You're hurt.

K: Instead of worrying about others, why don't you take a look at yourself?

J: It's okay, I have something good. Let me share it with you. That way, everything will be fine.

(looking around)

J: Ah… (It's all torn and tattered)

J: Wait …

Page 2

K: Tsk… Starting to feel a bit dizzy, and seeing things.

K: [An utterly troublesome fool] [When I told him to go away during our breakup, he should have just gone far away] [Why did he come back and willingly enter this nightmare?]

J: Ka…Kaiba, are you okay?

K: A stray dog who runs around trying to be a hero but ends up waiting to be rescued. I don't need the concern of idiot like you.

J: Haha…I think…I can't stand up. You go ahead…

K: Then shut up. Someone who's almost at death's door still wants to command me?

J: Hey, hey! Wait up!

K: Weren't you looking for medicine to treat your wounds? Come this way.

K: Such a stubborn lost dog. If you want to follow me, you can't lose sight of me.

J: Okay.

[centrally-unplanned]

Comic Box 1997 End of Evangelion Issue - Archive Scan

Comic Box was a magazine in Japan launched in, from what I can gather, 1982. It was a bit of an ‘alt” magazine - it has an imprint, Comic Box Jr, which focused on doujinshi for example - and would cover anything anime-adjacent, including western films. The October 1997 release of the magazine was dedicated to the release of the End of Evangelion film, and to answering the question “what was the phenomenon called Evangelion?”. Towards that end it features fan submissions, art, comics, essays, all talking about what Eva meant to them. Some are serious, some are fully comedic, way way more than I expected are erotic, and overall it is a time capsule of how the anime community was thinking about Evangelion when EoE came out. The magazine dissolved in 1998 from what I can tell, so this was one of its last releases - you can still see its absolutely vintage website here! Complete with dashing chibi cat gif.

I discovered this magazine through japanese anime/manga archivist-in-residence ehoba on twitter, who provided photos and rough summaries of some of the pages. They are just camera photos of an open magazine though, not scans, and not at all complete. I hunted around for a while to find a scanned version, messaged ehoba and a few others, posted on forums like Evageeks, and drew total blanks. I couldn’t find any listings of it online, so I set the quest aside...until I was placing another order for some artbooks for import and decide to check Yahoo Auctions Japan and lo and behold, there is was! It arrived this week.

So that image above is not one pulled from the internet - I have scanned the entire Evangelion segment of Comic Box - October 1997 issue. I am a neophyte scanner & image editor, these aren’t gonna be amazing or anything, but while I hope to make a more polished version I wanted to share the drafts now. I really aspire to translate it, but of course I don’t speak Japanese, so I am going to see how far working with some people I know and brute-forcing with AI would go. If you are interested or know someone who would be, definitely reach out! 100% would crowdsource this. If someone already scanned and translated this, also let me know, I would groan heavily and curse my google skills but i’d rather it be available and know, and not waste time.

Below will be some reduced-down PNG’s of the magazine to fit Tumblr image limits with Ehoba’s notes and a few of my own attached to them. A link to the full images as a singular PDF is on the Internet Archive [Here]

A reflection of a very known thing in this magazine is that, from my perspective, End of Evangelion is definitely Asuka’s moment to shine, but it didn’t matter because the 90′s Eva fandom *loved* Rei. She was the most popular by far, and I think dethroned Sailor Mercury on the ‘best girl’ polls in magazines of the era. Nowadays if you poll audiences - as the NHK did recently - Asuka is the most popular girl, but it was a different, proto-moe-boom time.

"Evangelion was fake. A fake made by one director, or by the staff. However, it was a very real fake. God, it was so good."

Watermelon Kaji absolute goat here; so cool indeed

How much Asuka is suffering in all these images vs god-salvation Rei is, again, saying alot about the waifu wars.

"I don't think episode 25 and 26 were professional work. I understand that the ADR script and previews with layout sheets are supposed to be avant-garde, but something is wrong with it." "TV show is not an individual's job, so I wanted them to deal with the schedule limitation."

90% sure this Asuka ‘escaped’ and I saw it on the internet in the early 2000′s - maybe the author published it elsewhere in a doujin, I assume a lot of this art would have been repurposed for other mediums.

Honestly the art is incredible for this magazine sometimes, the splash pages they have are filled with Evangelion’s anime-spiritual energy.

"Unit 02 has a mouth, which means it can give a blow job." "The biggest surprise is Rei in cowgirl position. The official content does that, so hentai authors have nothing to do."

(Gainax putting hard-working hentai doujin authors out of a job, what assholes!)

"My heated up feeling toward Evangelion was quick-freezed by episode 25 and 26. EoE defrosted it, but now I feel distant from Evangelion."

How much Episode 25-26 come up here is great evidence for how divisive they were - End of Eva is absolutely seen as commentary on, and opposition to, the TV ending. I think in the west the initial reception of the original ending is overall more positive? Certainly nowadays, would be curious how it is seen in Japan today.

OCR’ing this image will literally murder me, pls I can’t

"Bullshit plot, surficial information, shallow dialogues, inconsistent direction, story with tons of plot holes, the director's masturbation, the otaku's useless attempt to enlighten other otaku..." "BUT I LOVE IT."

10/10 take

"'Sincerity' of someone I don't like just confirms that I still don't like them. Anno apparently thought that honest depiction of himself can be depiction of otaku, but that's not wrong. Anno is exceptionally creepy."

God-tier Anno portrait here. I love how many of this art showcases “settings” from End of Eva and which ones hit the audience - re-using the movie theatre seats for Shinji, that is really cool!

Evangelion - Slayers edition! The artist names are in the black box panel on the page lining, I absolutely hope to track down a few of them and see what kind of works they made.

"I think each material of Evangelion was nothing new. In the early half, however, I was moved by their techniques of arranging and remixing those materials." "Creators' strong desire for expression supported this story, but I'm not sure."

"Adam and Eve in the Eden East" "I hope they will live happily after the ending."

"The theater was like a funeral after the screening. No, I should say it was a literal funeral. Evangelion ended, it died. In terms of entertainment, Evangelion was completely and brilliantly killed."

Kaworu’s insta-inclusion into the ranks of the kid cast is always amusing to me; he is in one episode of the show after all, barely in Eva! But he is all over the art immediately. The power of design - and also being one of the first gay characters on television (as opposed to OVA’s) in Japan.

Hopefully if I can make progress on translation I can have actual thoughts to add to the scan, certainly I will post results if I get them.

I value, way too deeply to be honest, the preservation of the other side of the ‘media mix’ - how people responded to the media in question and what it meant to them. It is way more likely to be lost than the media itself or documents from the production side. May this contribution to preserving a bit of that experience be of value to those out there who would be interested in the history of Evangelion, and anime more generally.

If you think you know anyone or your followers overall would be interested in translation help, I would appreciate the broadcasting!

[watari-apologist]

MISSION BATHROOM: End Notes

(translations under the cut, run through google translate and edited for coherence to the best of my non-japanese speaking ability)

RIGHT PAGE:

Hello everyone, it's nice to meet you! My name is Uchoten. I loved L so much that I couldn't accept his death, so I stayed away from Death Note for a while, but the ending of the movie finally filled me with a sense of relief. I think the most appropriate ending for L and Light is mutual destruction. However, I also love the Wammy's Kids, so I wish Near, Mello and Matt had appeared in some way... I wonder if we can look forward to a spin-off in this vein. I can't wait. This time I drew an erotic manga about Watari, but any form of fanwork is fun as long as L is included. Whether topping, bottoming, or switching. Whether straight or gay, virgin or slut. But no matter who he falls in love with, in the end it always comes back to Watari. It's a delusion. It's an obsession. Normally in my work, I draw various kinds of penises, such as large and uncircumcised ones, but this was my first time drawing an old gentleman's big penis and erection. I learned a lot. In this doujinshi, he's wearing a condom, but I wonder if there are situations where he fucks raw. I wonder if he might even cum inside. For an anniversary...? Depending on the mood that day...? The possibilities are endless. Next time, I would like to create a new issue for Comic City Osaka and Death Note's exclusive event. A Light versus L shower endurance comedy manga. An erotic story about Chief Yagami and L's interactions based on the ending of the movie version. If you didn't enjoy this book, please pick up the next one. Although I am a rude person who can only express love in terms of eroticism, I work hard. And finally, once again, with Wammy's. Watari's book. In both the original work and the movie, L couldn't do anything by himself, so I'm glad that Watari was waiting for him in front of the gates of heaven. In the world of Death Note, it's said that when you die, you go to nothingness, but Watari seems to have a love that goes beyond that. Well, let's meet again when the new year is over.

LEFT PAGE:

You are my black jewel MISSION BATHROOM Publication date: 31 December 2006 Publisher: Luciferhood Creator: Uchoten Printing shop: Suzuto Shadow Printing Contact: traffics@u-cho.net Thank you for subscribing. This is an adult rated magazine. Viewing and possession by minors is prohibited. I love you so much that you can rest in peace

(please note that the email address listed is no longer in use. trust me, i tried emailing the creator back when i was still looking for a physical copy of the doujin and it bounced lol)

[laikagohome]

freestyle 2022~2023 list

Freestyle Magazine put out a list recently for their recommended manga from this past year. I figure since it is a bit more similar to the stuff that I would normally read, I’d give my personal opinions about it.

1.いしいひさいち「ROCA 吉川ロカ ストーリーライブ」（（笑）いしい商店）

it was a bit surprising to me to not see this on kono manga’s list considering the hype this had in the twitter sphere that i follow, but at the same time, there are a lot of reasons why it might not have. it was published rather late into the year, and kono manga’s list has a cut off of like september or something. Also, the availability of it is still rather limited, and kono manga’s list generally has a lot of people running bookstores and so on voting on it. It’s not too surprising that something doujin that doesn’t have a wider distribution isn’t on the list.

This work is something that I think has way more of a niche appeal than works that you would generally see on a best of list. It’s primarily a 4-koma gag comic, but it is drawn with an artistry that allows it to exceed the usual limitations of a 4-koma. In this way, the author not only shows his mastery of 4-koma and humor but also of his ability to capture poignant moments through contrast. It’s something that feels pretty “Japanese” to me in the sense that a lot of people will often talk about wabisabi and hetauma when talking about Japanese aesthetics, and this work does a good job of displaying those aesthetics while also working them into the story. It’s a very coherent and consistent work in that sense -- the formal elements and the narrative elements of the story all support each other. The sudden ending leaves a little to be desired, but is also fitting in a way considering that it marks the curtain closing on the main relationship in the work.

I had some people ask me about how I felt about this work since they knew I had read it, and they also knew about how much hype was surrounding it. They wanted to know if it was worthy of the #1 spot here... I don’t know if I would call it my #1, but I think that is something where I just dislike ranking things. While it might not be my personal #1 for the year (and it could be if I were forced,) I think it’s placement on freestyle’s list as #1 is justified.

2.高妍「緑の歌」（KADOKAWA）　

Being in Taiwan right now, you can see a lot of Gaoyan’s art featured in other independent magazines and stuff. We’re all very proud of her, and it’s easy to see why. Her art is technically very impressive and what you could easily call beautiful. My copies of Midori no Uta are actually back in the US as I didn’t finish reading them though. This description may tell you how I personally feel about the work. For people who like having Murakami referenced and seeing Happy End in their works, they might really enjoy this stuff. But for other people, they might find those things a bit tired. Like, I already went through that Lily Chou Chou phase 20 years ago. IMO there’s maybe a slight appeal to that quaintness of asia, which reads to me a little as orientalism, when you use those references. It may sound strange to say that considering the primary audience is already in the East, but I think it’s basically something where you mention those things as a way to gain artistic cachet. I would wonder if such a thing is not influenced at all in the rigid way that a lot of Chinese literature is composed. That being able to work in literary references to other cultural monuments is considered something that makes a work better in a way. But who knows, maybe Gaoyan is just a little homesick since I’d assume she’s spending most of her time these days in Japan. I know I’m not being fair to the work, considering that I haven’t read the majority of it, and I’m just criticizing it on a very surface level, but it feels to me like it’s appealing a little too much to those aesthetic norms.

3.岡田索雲「ようきなやつら」（双葉社）　

I read this collection a week or so ago. I was actually following the author on twitter before and had read one of his short stories (the cat one.) It was quite interesting, but it didn’t actually cause me to buy the book at the time. I heard his other stories have also gone viral a bit. In my opinion, the strongest short story is the one in here about kappas since it manages to combine a somewhat serious topic with some very fantastical humorous depictions. The short story collection is very topical and deals with themes of xenophobia, sexual assault/harassment (me too,) mental illness, the Kantou massacre, among others and combines them with youkai. I think the trouble with combining youkai with such serious themes is that you risk making light of real life issues. While it’s clear that the author is trying to be respectful about the topics, I feel that it is done to varying degrees of success. The me too story feels a bit too surface level for example. The Kantou massacre story, though, features a lot of first person accounts quoted in it, and it feels like the event is treated with the respect it needs when combining it with something fantastical like youkai. The extra story feels like a total throwaway, but it’s kind of understandable. I feel that I will definitely be keeping my eye on this author in the future, but I wonder how he will do under futabasha...

4.やまじえびね「女の子がいる場所は」（KADOKAWA）

This was imo the biggest disappointment for me. I think this work is also a bit hard to criticize without looking like a misogynist or ass because of the content of the work. While the messages of the work are of course important, the execution of the work feels really flat to me. Perhaps because the stories are written with children protagonists, the usual depth of character that i’d expect from Yamaji Ebine’s characters aren’t there. It feels a bit artistically lacking in anything interesting, original, or creative...  This, to me, reads like a work where the editor saw an esteemed woman creator and wanted to do a work that would be very award-baity, and they succeeded in that sense. While the art itself is very nice, that’s about maybe all I can say about this work. I’m sure the work will probably speak more to other people, and it would be great if girls in those areas of the world feel represented and seen and find inspiration in these stories, but I think from the lens of a comic, this work just doesn’t feel good enough for its high placement in this list.

5.松本大洋「東京ヒゴロ」（小学館）　

I haven’t read the second volume yet, but I think the first volume’s high placement on lists last year was justified.

6.藤本タツキ「さよなら絵梨」（集英社）　

Tatsuki is a pretty divisive figure these days. If my personal rankings is either like top 10 or 10-20, then I think he probably deserves to be in the top 10.

7.たかたけし「住みにごり」（小学館）　

I actually didn’t notice this before, but I had read some of this author’s stuff before in his previous series about a woman selling english lessons. Their stuff is hilarious and also somewhat uncomfortable with a somewhat unusual art style. While I don’t think their work is like technically great, they are very good at telling an entertaining story.

7.エティエンヌ・ダヴォドー「ワイン知らず、マンガ知らず」（サウザンブックス社）　

I haven’t read this one.

9.タイザン5「タコピーの原罪」（集英社）　

I think Takopi is a bit high on the list. I’d maybe give it top 20 of the year, but I think it wouldn’t sneak in a top 10 list for me.

10.とよ田みのる「これ描いて死ね」（小学館）　

He’s always drawn really cute comics, so It doesn’t surprise me to see him on this list. I haven’t read this one, but I’m sure it’s as good as all his others. It’s, again, another work I’d think would be top 20 worthy, but without reading it, I wouldn’t think it’d be top 10 worthy. My general feeling about his stuff is that it’s always pretty good but has been never amazing to me.

11.トマトスープ「天幕のジャードゥーガル」（秋田書店）　

I honestly feel this work is probably better than Ebine’s while touching on similar topics. It also feels more creative and original to me.

12.エイドリアン・トミネ「長距離漫画家の孤独」（国書刊行会）

I honestly find tomine kinda boring

13.ソン・アラム「大邱の夜、ソウルの夜」（ころから）

I think it’s very good to see korean representation on this list. I’ve been meaning to read english translations of korean works that I know D&Q have put out and will probably look into digital versions of it soon.

14.高橋聖一「われわれは地球人だ！」（双葉社）

I’ve read some of this author’s stuff before in a previous series they had licensed. It was fun, but it was lacking something that really made it better than just decent. It seems like they’ve figured it out. I’ll probably check this out sometime.

15.衿沢世衣子「2年1組 うちのクラスの女子がヤバい」（リイド社）

This work is credited to leed, but I think all torch’s work are credited under leed.I haven’t read this particular work, but I’m not surprised by a torch work placing in the top 20. Their editorial staff is some of the best rn imo.

16.山口貴由「劇光仮面」（小学館）　

typical yamaguchi insanity about a topic like real tokusatsu. the story is still developing too. it’s quite an interesting read.

17.坂月さかな「星旅少年」（パイインターナショナル）

I’ve seen this around, but haven’t read it.

18.panpanya「模型の町」（白泉社）　

It’s hard to know what to say about ppy’s recent comics. While they always manage to hit the same highs, they do not feel as creative as the stuff that he was trying in ashizuri and before in comitia. Perhaps this is just generally how he feels about more “professional” comics and that having this kind of stable style and themes is fine, but I feel like it’s a little limited in some ways. I think a lot his fans find it slightly stagnant tho, and I’d love to see him just go for something totally out there.

19.菊池真理子「『神様』のいる家で育ちました」（文藝春秋）

I talked about this book with a few friends, and they convinced me to read more of it despite me forgetting about it after just a few chapters. I have again forgotten about it after a few more chapters. The stories really do the heavy lifting in this work, and the work is based on accounts by real people, and because of that, it feels like... I almost could’ve just read an article or listened to the recording of the interviews the author would’ve had to do. In that sense, the art doesn’t feel like to me that it lends a lot to the work. It’s not that this stuff isn’t worth reading, it’s just that when you make it into a comic, I feel like you want to do things that justify that. In that sense, I found the work lacking.

19.とあるアラ子「ブスなんて言わないで」（講談社）

I haven’t read this one, but I’ve seen it around.

Works I felt were overlooked:

EVOL: If Tatsuki can make top 10, I think EVOL should be on the list.

Chi: Chi ended in 2022, and I think it would deserve to be in top 20.

Bun-chan: this also ended this year. i think Natsujikei has been pretty overlooked these last few years.

I think if we’re opening the list up to prestige comics across the world, anna haifisch deserves to be in top 20

[shirleykarasuma]

Hello my friends,

This time I want to talk about a very specific topic called the work of indipendent artists, or for short Doujinshi. O^O

╔══════❀ Disclamer ❀══════╗

I know a lot of people will be triggered by this topic and probably hate me for talking about it, but I want to break the bad cliche! Òwó

Also everything I say in this post is my opinion. You don't have to agree with me. (´•᎑•`)

╚══════❀・°•°•°•・❀══════╝

Over the time of being active in the DCMK fandom, I collected a pretty nice collection of DCMK Doujin. This is my collection.

Here are my Three favorites!

I have these.

They look absolutely gorgeous. Not only from the outside but also on the inside. I feel like every single Doujin you will find with Makoto X Sonoko is so polished and well thought of. *w*

I have those.

Those are actually old. They are from 1997 - 2002. According to some Japanese people I showed them, they are real treasures. °A°

And I have this one.

This one is essentially just a romance Doujin drawn in the style of "Otome Games". I had never seen anything like this before and I am amazed by how amazing it looks and feels to read. ♡.♡

So now that I've annoyed you with my favorite Doujin, let me tell you a bit about it. (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ ˶)

The Japanese word Doujinshi can be roughly translated as "unprofessional personal magazin" and it is used to describe items that are published by an independent artists or artists groups (circle).

Doujin can range from short comics/manga, artbooks/photobooks over written stories (fiction) to magazines, videos, music and even games. So basically any items from those categories that are published by a independent artist or artist group (circle) are considered "Doujinshi" in Japan.

The main genres are Romance, Comedy/Parody, Action and Drama. At least thats what Japanese people like the most. °^°

There are two big main sections "for male" and "for female". When it comes to DCMK you will be more likely to find Doujin here in the "for female" section.

Also doujin are categorized after their main character shipping, so it's easier for people to one they would enjoy. (´•᎑•`)👍

In 2019 I had the opportunity to go to Japan and it was amazing. I went to the doujin store of "Toranoana" in Akihabara which is specialized in Doujins "for female" and it was amazing! ☆^☆

When you entered the small store the first thing you were confronted with, were all DCMK Doujin. Eight big shelfs, three tables, all full packed with DCMK Doujin and a big TV only for advertising them. 〣(๑º口º๑)〣

So yeah reading DCMK doujin as a woman is actually very mainstream in Japan. ô.ô

Most Doujin I saw in the Store were standart Romance, Comedy/Padody and Drama. Honestly there weren't much adult ones I have to say. I think it's because Japanese women don't really like that much hardcore stuff. °A°

Now on to the question "Why are there so many weird and absurd Doujin?". ÓAò

Adult stuff sells, it always has. Also its technically illegal in Japan and illegal stuff is always much sighed-for. Thats why so many indie artists that focus on content like that. Well, it's unfortunate but it can't be helped. >~<

And yeah, the easiest way to be recognized is of course making weird shit. Thats how the Internet works. °^° XD

Besides that....

Funfact of the day:

Did you knew that Gosho Aoyama did doujin before he became a professional mangaka? °^°

There isn't much information about this online, but I found one of his doujin for sale at YahooAuctions. Owo

Gosho once said he doesn't like the stuff he mad in early artist days. Yeah, it may be weird, cringe and nerdy, but every artist starts like that. °^°

If you are an indie artist or you'r a person that supports them, don't let anyone tell you your weird for creating and/or liking this stuff!

This 100% acceptable and those stupid ass people have to stop thinking inside thier cliche box! ÒAó

Yes I do support indie artists! I stan that! ( ˘꒳​˘ )

[clarste]

That previous person was ridiculous but that caused me to wonder how you feel about people sharing doujinshi online in general. I of course assume that you're able to accept that there is a sort of necessary gray area seeing how you post scanlations of the official print works but after seeing some YouTube accounts go down recently, I've seen a lot of people say that's a good thing.

Well, the joke I like to make is that I’m a criminal mastermind. I think legally it’s pretty clear that piracy is piracy, full stop.

If there is a “gray area” though, it’s in the fact that I can’t buy something from you if you’re not selling it to me. Going all the way to Japan to attend Comiket is impractical for most people, and while there are various online stores that ship overseas (like Melonbooks, etc), the increased cost of shipping also adds another obstacle to would-be customers. The solution to this is obviously to take down artificial barriers to sales, which digital distribution has made great advancements towards, although of course there’s still the awkwardness of regional blocking (even buying Japanese books on Amazon is actually kind of annoying).

Another barrier though, and one that’s the most relevant here, is language. Buying a book in a language you can’t read just feels a little silly. But you’d love the content if you could read it, and it’s unlikely to ever be published in a language you can read because doujin creators historically haven’t been the biggest proponents of translating their work to sell overseas. Even that’s been changing though, with recent Steam releases of doujin games with official translations. Obviously I’m of the opinion that if you can buy it in a language you can read, there’s no excuse for piracy.

But where do unofficial translations fall into this schema? They’re not actually the exact same product as the Japanese version, but nor can you sell them for obvious reasons. One possible strategy is to provide only the translation in a format where it doesn’t even work without the original. This is how a lot of game patches get distributed. But how practical is that for a comic, or even worse a book, where the text itself is the entire content? Not to mention places like Danbooru, where writing comments on top of the original Japanese text is their entire process and encourages crowdsourcing of the translations. If the original Japanese wasn’t being pirated, would these works have been translated at all?

So with that in mind, and given that my goal is ultimately to help other people read these works so I can talk to them about it, publishing the translated comics is the least bad of several unattractive options. I do try to encourage people to buy the originals though, although admittedly half-heartedly. I suppose I could put little ads in the chapters themselves, really. That’s something to consider.

[chikarikotranslations]

I dont mean to start anything or anything but do you recieve permission to translate and repost the comics? ;;

Hello anon! Thanks so much for your ask!

I think it’s an important issue and needs to be addressed. I might lose some followers for this, which I’d totally understand, and would not blame them for unfollowing me. 

So the answer is, for several artists I have gotten their permission, such as Kougi and syou san, and some artists have stated that they don’t mind if their short comics are translated, like Haru and murabito. Of course, for the doujins they publish (which are much larger works and which they try to make money from) it might be a completely different story.But for most artists, no, I haven’t gotten their explicit permission to do so. If this upsets you anon (or anyone of my followers), I totally understand, and feel free to unfollow me because of it 

When I first made the blog I really struggled with this issue too. Of course I want to be respectful of the artists, their intellectual property, and the effort and time it took in creating their works. But in my translating, I’m also putting in my own work and effort too, my way of interpreting text and dialogue, the way I chose to render lines into English, the visual design of text placement, etc. But of course, this doesn’t really suffice to say that the work is ‘mine’, even in part. But in the end, I continued because I really wanted to see their works reach a wider audience, and also to be able to spread more content for the pairing of ChikaRiko. 

But in the spirit of trying to be respectful to the artists, there are several things I always make sure I do. 

I always credit, with not only their name, but also links to the original work and to their respective social media accounts. They can be found on each translation post and on a special “Artists” page on my blog itself. 

I promote supporting the artists by trying to make sure that people who can support the artists, such as those that have twitter accounts, do so by going back to the original art to like, retweet, bookmark, and follow them. If you’re on discord with me, you know I try to be an active voice in this. (And let me just take this opportunity to do some promoting! If you have a twitter or pixiv….go to my Artists page and go support them!)

And one last thing is, should any artist express their wish that I remove any of their work, I will do so without hesitation. This has actually already happened, with the artist yomotsuka, and I was completely willing to oblige. 

This may not fully satisfy you, I understand that, and I won’t hold any grudge against you if you chose to unfollow me. But if people continue to request translations from me, I will do so, and do so in the spirit of being respectful to the artists wishes as much as I can. 

[bakathief]

Keep on drawing!

A few months ago @mintchocolateleaves did a post where she compared her writing and how it has changed over time and after reading that I thought “yes, this is something really cool to do!” Not only because you see your own development but also because it can be inspirational to people who just get started? So yes, here is a little throwback about my drawing, mainly on my comic/doujin history.

So, I have always liked drawing but I only really got back into it in 2009 when I got back into DC. And I was drawing almost nothing but DC. I have all my pictures still on my deviantart and I did think about deleting some of them but at the same time I thought that it might be nice to see. Because I tried all kinds of tools for art and all sorts of styles. I uploaded my first comic was about Kaito and how he learned about Toichi’s death. I drew it in 2010 and, well, it’s... it’s cute.

I honestly think that this should feel anyone better about their art, honestly. Anyway, this was my first comic, it was 11 pages long and I used fineliner and pencils. Published in 2010. Yay. However, I enjoyed story telling so I soon decided to do another doujinshi, something a bit longer. Back then I ADORED the fanficition Mayonaka by dragoon-sama and just decided “I’m gonna draw that!” So I started uploading “Mayonaka” one month later, which I worked on until 2010. I tried my pencil style, then moved to digital drawings...

... and then switched again back to traditional. (I tried digital art, I did!)

I fell in love with the hatching style, which I am still using up to this day. But as I said, I tried plenty of styles and eventually settled on the one which was the most enjoyable one. After two years of drawing Mayonaka I lost my motiviation for this doujin since the original fanfiction wasn’t updated anymore and I can’t think of a plot that seemed worthy of this amazing story. So I started thinking about my own story, which is how Shadow Chase was born in 2012.

I, yes, the drawings are cute, but they ARE better than 2010. And I LOVED drawing comics so I just kept doing it. (Also, for anyone else who’s drawing comics, I always work10 pages ahead which helps me staying motivated. I always found it very depressing when I uploaded a page that I just finished and had to start from scratch again or else I wouldn’t have anything to upload). So yes, that page was from 2012 and the following one is from 2017.

It’s not perfect but I am very proud about my progress! And while my main influence remains to be DC, I was also influenced by other mangas I enjoy reading like Bakuman, The World God only Knows and others. When I saw something in a manga that I really liked I would try to adapt it in one of my comics at some point.  I also read books on different drawing styles and Animation, and looked at lots of art of other people and whenever there was something I really liked I started experimenting myself. The message I want to tell : Just keep drawing. Like, no matter how bad you think your art is or how slowly you seem to make progress, just keep going anyway and try whatever you want! Just don’t stop drawing, because in order to improve you need to continue drawing. Just for fun I did a redraw a few days ago of the first picture I had ever uploaded on DeviantArt and I’m quite excited about another comparison in a few years. To anyone who reads this and might be insecure about their drawings now, just keep drawing in a way that you’re enjoying it and don’t be afraid to try new things or show your work! The more experience you get the better you’ll become. <3

[mamin-the-troll]

Tag game

Was tagged by @funkzpiel​ and @axilarts​ Thank you!! *hugs* (っ*´∀｀*)っ 1. Always post the rules.
 2. Answer the questions given by the person who tagged you.
 3. Write 11 questions of your own.
 4. Tag 11 people.

it’s long… I can’t stop talking so I put everything under the cut!

FROM FUNKZPIEL

What is your favorite, weird comfort quirk?

I like holding stuff in my palm? Sometimes, I hold paper napkin, menthol salt or keys for hours. 

I keep textbook under my pillow the night before exams. 

I will dress extra nice when I need my luck. I won’t go to final exams or do final presentations look like death. I believe lady luck prefers me look nice XD

Tumblr Crush

Oh, currently my tumblr crush is you @funkzpiel​ because you are soooo sweet.

Beach or Mountains?

Mountains. I’ve already done with hot weather.

What’s one big fear you are trying to overcome?

I only have petty fears (my greatest fear is death of the love ones. I don’t think I could overcome it) but if I have to choose one maybe ‘afraid of the height’? I can’t stand too close to a window of 5 stories building let alone skyscraper. 

Favorite dream you’ve ever had?

Once, I dreamed that we went to dig potatoes at school yard then those potatoes turned out to be our grades lol

Do you believe in ghosts?

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Currently no. 

Fanfic you would recommend to others/really touched you, etc.?

Hardest question! I like LOTS of fanfics I can’t really choose ; w ;;; to narrow things down I will only rec finished stories then….. 

Gramander:  -  The Case of the Missing Obscurus by manic_intent -  Basic Instincts by manic_intent -  Safe in Your Arms by pinchess07  -  The Graves Identity by Mishafied

Crewt:  - Fantastic Wizards and How to Woo Them by OreoCheesecake

There’re still lot of fanfics that I haven’t rec because it’s unfinished. I think I’m going to make special rec post later :)) (because damn, I love Funkzpiel’s  Little Blue Riding Newt and wanna go in details about it :D)

Fan Art that everyone needs to stop what they’re doing and look at?

Ahhh fanart! Lots of fbawtft artist I followed are in twitter ; w ;;;

Fukumochi : I enjoy their comic even if I can’t understand Japanese!

Daizu : I want their grindelnewt doujin damnit..

Namdong24 : I want their gramander doujin damnit..

Xuan : Look at their currently pinned tweet *is death*

Sayatsugu : THAT DOUJIN ON THEIR PINNED TWEET!!!

믽  : THEIR NEWT & HIS SMILE!!!! I DON’T HAVE TO SAY MORE

Could I extend the list into original art too.. because damn I have a lot of artists that I wanna share. (I’ll add their names here anyway lol)

Ofsparrows : Their gif is the best! It looks like you’re watching a wizard photo or something! I wish I could do something like this <3

Celine-kim : just click her link and look at her work. I don’t have to explain. LOOK AT HER PORTFOLIO http://www.celine-kim.com/ THE LIGHTING, SHADOW, COLOURS AND DETAILS. I’d die to have this much talent (kidding I don’t want to die yet) I LOVE CONCEPT ART and all of her port is my dream come true omg!

Vanessamakesthings : Her traditional art is absolutely beautiful. Ink, watercolour, pencils and etc. Her work is very easy to look at. Eyes pleasing <3

Peaheart : HIS WATERCOLOUR SKETCHBOOK!! How could he use watercolour like that *sobs* I thought watercolour is … watery but his works! *screaming*

Audreybenjaminsen : Definition of dark fantasy omg. Her pencil work! and heyyy she draw HP too! *happily death*

There’s a lot more but I should stop… sorry

Fanfic premise you wish someone would write, but haven’t seen yet?

Why I can’t think of any right now …. but I have secret soft spot for de-aged Newt story. 5+1 things about every characters looking after de-aged Newt would be really nice….

Dream house/job?

Dream house: Nice and warm with lots of loves. Have puppies/ kitties. Have hobby/crafting-corner :D 

Dream job: Routine job. Just let me go at 5 sharp. No overtimes. I have lots of other things to do :D

Something you’re really proud of (fandom-related or otherwise)?

Omg I’m the proudest person you can ever known >:3c

Fandom-related: 

I used to be a staff of a Comic Convention. The con purposed is to raise a money for helping those who have heart diseases. It’s a very nice and heartwarming con if I do say so myself!

I turned one of online friend into irl friend! We’ve been knowing each other for nearly 9 years now! She said that I��m her best friend! I’m soo proud <3

Look at my 8 years ago drawing and cringe. Best kind of cringe because it means I improve a lot!

Had someone said that my doujin-plot is the very best and it stunned them. They were looking forward to see next volume … which I didn’t continue lol

Non-fandom-related: 

I quit my old major/ faculty because I hate it even though I’d already spent 2 years there. It wasn’t easy to start anew. I’m so glad I did!

Going to finish my Master degree now! Yayyy

My prof. ask me if I want to publish my thesis in a journal! 

The list is going on and on XD

.

FROM AXILARTS

If you had to change your name, what would your new name be, and why would you choose that name?

I rather like my both my given name and nickname! Both are quite unique <3 I wouldn’t change it but if it were too hard for a foreigner to pronounce then… might choose something similar. Nachisa for Japanese and Natasha for Western folks?

If you could live in one fictional universe what would it be?

HARRY POTTER HANDS DOWN!!!

What is the dumbest way you’ve been injured?

LOTS…. ohhh I recalled 2 and both almost killed me. I can’t decide which is the dumbest though…

On my 6th year-old birthday, my older sister, cousins and I were having a party. After cake we decided to play a game. I don’t know what it’s called in English but the game is a lot like tag but ‘it’ has their eyes tied by a piece of cloth. I was a ‘it’ in that round. I heard some noise from one side so I lunged there…. only to find out that the door wasn’t closed and I fell down to the bottom of stairs. Ughh it hurt so bad :(

I can’t remember how old I was in this one but still very young. We’re in a pool and my sister teased me until I got really flustered and mad. I stepped out of the pool and out of my floating ring. I was going to throw the floating ring at my sister out of sheer madness but my body passed through the ring like a fucking dolphin and fell into the pool instead. I can’t swim…. my sister also can’t swim…. luckily, one of my older cousin was there to save my sorry ass.

Ever cried of happiness? Care to share?

Can’t recall any …. why I’m like this lol I rarely got that emotional… I might had cried one time that I remember how lucky I am to be me, surrounded with lovely family and people.

Who’s your hero, fictional or otherwise?

Dobby and Hagrid. They’re underrated characters but got a really big and kind heart. 

I really love Hargrid from the start. He’s big and clumsy but really kind. He cried and wanted to say goodbye to a baby that he didn’t even know. What broke my heart is the last book when he thought Harry was dead though. 

The only death that made me cried like a baby is Dobby’s death. I shredded few tears for other characters but Dobby’s hit me the most. He always try to help Harry. He really did in the end. *sobs*

Something you’re really proud of/best compliment you’ve ever received?

I love talking to you

You’re one of my best friends

I’m so glad I have you as my best friend

TAGGING:

@axilarts, @funkzpiel, @natecchi, @thegaypumpingthroughyourveins, @psychoticartemis and anywho that want to do this :D

QUESTIONS:

1. What do you like best about yourself? 2. What quality are you looking for in a future partner? 3. Why do you like your favourite character? 4. Do you have siblings? Care to share their&your funny stories? 5. Did you ever experience life threaten situation?  6. Do you believe in afterlife? 7. Favourite smell and why? 8. Have you collect anything? 9. What is your favourite beast in fantastic beasts? 10. One thing about yourself that going to shock everyone? 11. 3 words that best describe yourself, why?

[tenchisgirls]

Is there much knowledge out there regarding the Kamidake Onsen books? From what I understood, those are the Kajishima Doujin which aren't tied to a specific Tenchi series, right? Actually, if you could explain the different doujin series in general, it'd help a hell of a lot.

MASAKI KAJISHIMA DOUJIN EXPLAINED

tldr; Anything published by Kajishima Onsen (do NOT confuse with Kamidake Onsen) is all canon/MK content.  Anything else is often, at best, a mix.

WARNING, some NSFW links below

Oh wow, how such short questions can give birth to such involved answers :/  I hope you see why it took a while to answer this.

Here is the full resolution of the above diagram.  The latest years’ doujins such as Tenchi -IF- are not in that pic, but they’d all fall under the large central Kajishima Onsen group with green dots.

Continuity

Simply put, afaik all of Masaki Kajishima’s (MK) content fits into one single coherent multiverse, where all his series are all “connected at the corners” to each other, even if they are in different dimensions. 

He only directly worked on one single Tenchi continuity and clearly considers that his story, the original one starring the main Tenchi-cast is known as Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki, even if he’s obligatorily credited as “Original Character Design”/”Creator” or such in other tangent Tenchi works.

That’s the one where Tenchi has Light Hawk Wings, where silver-haired space pirate Kagato, “octopus head” Dr. Clay, and Z were the main antagonists, his mother is Kiyone Masaki, Washu/Tsunami/Tokimi are goddesses, and his extended family includes Lady Seto and Minaho, Mihoshi has a brother named Misao, etc.

MK has created regular series such as Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki, Photon: The Idiot Adventures, Tenchi Muyo! GXP, Tenchi Muyo: War On Geminar, Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure, and Paradise war.  He also has created hentai series such as Spaceship Agga Ruter (comedy), Masquerade (drama), Anata Dake Konbanwa, and My Harvest GAP☆P.

Tenchi Universe, Tenchi in Tokyo, Ai Tenchi Muyo, the 3 movies (TMiL 1 + 2, Daughter of Darkness), and the 2 series of Okuda mangas, storywise, have absolutely nothing to do with him personally, this storyline, or this multiverse.  MK’s world and characters simply inspired these later works.In addition, he has written novels and doujins that expand on the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki universe.  At my last count, that was 3 True Tenchi Novels and 14 GXP novels, still ongoing as of 2017.  Idk the exact doujin count, I’d estimate with the diagram above and a few missing ones, more than 90 right now.Here is where it may get confusing.  Everything Kajishima has drawn or wrote himself, including pages in doujins, can be considered canon – but not everything in these doujin are his.  It gets rather easy to see what his drawing style is though, to pick things out.

The Role of Doujin in Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki

Back in the 1980s, Doujin was among the cheapest mediums to get published as an artist.  Masaki Kajishima has ALWAYS outputted or contributed to doujin and it probably was how he was discovered in the first place.  Indeed, he was sketching out and displaying character designs for what would become the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki cast already in 1987.  He also generally puts a message to his fans about projects going on in a foreword or afterword.  It’s just the way he has communicated to fans and built his worlds before the anime were even released.

Below is the back/front cover of one of his first 1987 self-published doujin, titled “Omatsuri Zenjitsi no Yoru“ / “Night of the Carnival” just like later TM!R special episode 7 and the Kajishima Onsen doujin series starting in 1998.

Not much is known about it, only 250 copies were made and MK himself had to borrow a fan’s copy to scan it for an anniversary CD.  One was seen on auction asking around $700 usd.

After that, in the early 90s, he published individual pages in the Chosen Ame series before moving on.

Here are the major doujins series he contributed to (roughly chronological):

Chosen Ame (Ganso Sonodaya)

Nontan Project/Various (Nontan Project)

Omatsuri Zenjitsi no Yoru –Subtitle– (Kajishima Onsen)

Ianryokou Toujitsu No Yoru (Kamidake Onsen)

Tenchi -IF- (Kajishima Onsen)

Various small smattering of others

Title (Circle):

Title is the name of the individual doujin series or specific issue.  (Circle is the publishing group, which, like Marvel Comics, can have mutiple series out at the same time.)  Sometimes the two are the one and the same.

Chosen Ame (Ganso Sonodaya).  Early 1990s. 

He published maybe 1 or 2 pages in each issue.  So, in this 62 page doujin, this is the only page that’s from him and so the only page that has any canon info.  Coincidentally, someone has kindly compiled all the MK pics from this series into one collection.

Nontan Project/Various (Nontan Project).  1994-1997, 2002. 

All the covers and many of the sketches (anime production content) seem to be MK’s.  But a few images and some of the extensive text might not be, perhaps there is some fanfiction.  Tenchi.org confirms MK is not the only contributor on each one.

For example, Tenchi Zokuhou (Nontan Project), the page 3 Washu/Sasami beach pic does not seem to be his drawing style, but many of the other sketches are his style.  The same goes for Owarihou (Nontan Project), that page 3 also is from a different artist, much of the rest is his.

One exception might be Jun’s GXP, from 2002.  It’s published much later than the other (Nontan Project) doujins and while many sketches are obviously his, Idk if the racy covers are drawn by MK.  Possibly.

Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru –Subtitle– (Kajishima Onsen).  From 1998 to present day.  

This doujin series is from MK’s own publishing circle and can be translated “Night Before the Carnival”, same exact title as the previous 1987 doujin and the renowned special episode 7 of the OAV. 

This doujin series has always been all Masaki Kajishima content each and every issue and it will talk about his various series.

These are easily recognizable from the same big Kanji title used nearly every issue on the top of their cover pages with the various subtitles in the slanted box.  The sub-titles will generally relate to the type of content or specific series he’ll cover in it.  For example a “Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru Seikishi Ban” or “Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru Tenchi Ban” will cover War on Geminar or Tenchi Muyo respectively.

Ianryokou Toujitsu No Yoru (Kamidake Onsen).  From 2002 to 2013, sporadic releases.  

This series title can be translated to “Night of the Vacation”.

Issues 1-5 were filled with Hentai/ecchi pics from other artists so those pages are not canon, and MK’s contribution were all the series’ covers (coming from his previous Comiket booth art) and then the recognizable anime production sketches, perhaps a page with text about his projects.  Issues 6-11 only have MK content.

So, for example, Ianryokou Issue #4 (NSFW!!!), the hentai images 4-50 are by the artists Chiba Dirou and Miyakawa Hajime, are not canon.  Images 1-3, and 51-90 are the actual Masaki Kajishima content.

Tenchi -IF- (Kajishima Onsen). 2013-Present.

Again, MK’s own publishing circle and all Masaki Kajishima content every issue.  So far these have been the nicest for western fans as there has been minimal to translate.  Example doujin.

Various (Various):  Various Dates, mostly 1990s. 

The various known doujins MK contributed to is listed in the infographic.  Most of them, like KNOCK OUT, seem to only have a page or two of his content similiar to Chosen Ame.

About other Tenchi Fan Doujins (Various): Various Dates. 

I have gathered over 1500 pairs of front-and-back Tenchi doujin covers from Tenchi.org, it’s fair to say there are probably over 2,000 doujins out there with some Tenchi content, maybe even close to 3,000.  Most of them date from Tenchi’s heyday in Japan, the mid-1990s.

Those are, of course, same in status like fanfictions are here.  If you want to collect these, be aware that the cover is the best part and all too often the drawing quality of the content drops rapidly from there.

On Hentai.

While MK has made Hentai series, I generally have not seen him produce much if any hentai content for his regular SFW series.  For Tenchi Muyo, I only know of one exception, the infamous Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru Omake Ban, which is tame as far as explicit content from Japan goes. 

About the furthest he has gone with most of the Tenchi cast is nudity in characters you expect (Ryoko) and generally seems to be rather protective of some other characters, like Sasami and Tsunami.

(C??) labeling system.

MK like many other artists sells his doujins only at Comiket.  He releases between 1-3 new ones each show, typically 2.

Comiket started as a small trade show in December 1975 and generally has 2 conventions a year, in August and December.  Last December (2016) was the 91st comiket, you will see those Doujins labelled as (C91) some places. 

Some years, comiket will have a surpise special show.  The 6th one of these was held in March of 2016.  Doujins from that would be labeled (CSP6), like this Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki 4? (Kajishima Onsen).

Here is a translated Chronology so you can match (Cxx) numbers with dates.

Resources:

Tenchi.org: A japanese listing, current to the early 2000s, of both MK and fan doujin and printed Tenchi merchandise.  Here are the pages dealing specifically with release information of (Nontan Project) and some earlier Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru doujins.

e-Hentai: Some Masaki Kajishima doujin you can browse.  Attribution to proper author/artist is not guaranteed.

Special thanks to SOB and Fap_Fapperson.

A duplicate of this article has been posted on our forum.

[bunnikkun]

my top 5 favorite books

Hello! This day has been very gloomy for me and it definitely did not get off to a good start. Regardless, I managed to sneak some reading during my lunch break today which actually helped me calm down a lot. For that reason I have compiled this small list of books that manage to lift me up whenever I feel cranky. 

The Deer Park (Norman Mailer)

I heard about this book through one of my favorite movies, Ingrid Goes West starring my all-time favorite actress Aubrey Plaza. The Deer Park takes place in a fictionalized version of Palm Springs and it is meant to be a sort of commentary on the Hollywood lifestyle. I really enjoy this book whenever I am feeling a bit down or just bored, I’ve read this a total of three times, which is one too many needed.

Snotgirl (written by Bryan Lee O’Malley and illustrated by Leslie Hung)

This isn’t technically a book, but I very much enjoy immersing into the world of Snotgirl. This is a comic book about Lottie Person, a California blogger that struggles a lot with self image issues. Almost all of Lotties friends are bloggers or influencers and although most of the characters can be quite unlikeable I find myself wanting to know more about their lives. The storyline can be quite inconsistent and weird to follow but it gets better after issue #4, trust me.

Slasher Girls and Monster Boys (multiple short stories by different authors)

This book is a bit tricky for me to describe because it's not necessarily good. But I find myself gravitating towards it whenever I want to take a break from my phone or computer. It’s supposed to be a series of short, horror stories, but if anything they are just quite tense (does that make any sense?). Anyways, this book brings me pleasure in ways that I’m afraid only I can understand, but I would be happy if any of you read it and feel the same way as I do.

Once and For All (Sarah Dessen)

I love young adult romance books. They are my number one weakness but at the same time they give me hope for the future of love. During high school my favorite author was Sarah Dessen (what does that say about me?) I have read every single one of her novels- my favorite so far has been Along for the Ride. This novel is about a girl whose summer job is to help brides plan their weddings. If I were to describe this book in one word it would be relaxing. 

Let Out Your Voice (Mookiepoot)

Once again, this isn’t really a book but it isn’t really a comic book either, It’s a doujin. Doujin is a Japanese term used for amateur self-published works, in the West it refers to content inspired by already existing work (like fanfiction). I know what you’re thinking “FANFICTION?? In MY house??” but it’s honestly not bad. I’ve been following mookiepoot for quite a while now and I always enjoy whatever she comes up with. This is a short story inspired by Haikyuu!!, a sports anime. You don’t really need to know much about the original anime to follow this story, it stands on its own. I highly recommend it regardless of your affinity for fan created content, it’s a beautiful story with beautiful art. **This book was released a couple of years ago so it’s quite hard to find unless someone is reselling their copy but I would still give it a try :)

This has been it for today, I hope you enjoy the books I recommend if you do happen to read them but it’s totally ok if you don't, we all have different tastes :). See ya!

[centrally-unplanned]

What was Evangelion? A Collection of Doujinshi Works - Batch 1

Comic Box 1997 End of Evangelion Special Archiving Project - Entry #3

The majority of the rest of the feature involves submissions by ‘fans’ of Evangelion sharing their thoughts on End of Evangelion & Eva as a whole in hybrid art/essay form. I put ‘fans’ in quotation marks because this group is selective; it is almost entirely doujinshi artists or even professionals in the industry. They are certainly lovers of Evangelion; but they are also producers of content that depends on that industry, and have a unique relationship with anime in comparison to the median fan. I think this feature is truly valuable as a sociological sample of how the anime community saw Evangelion, but it is important to note that this sample is not representative.

Since their comments are straightforward, I will not provide an introductory analysis - I will instead provide the page and a translation below. Additionally, I will showcase information about the authors of these pieces; I find these works to be beautiful, hilarious, and/or heartfelt, sometimes created by artists lost to time. Hopefully I can reveal a small piece of lives of the people behind this collective response to Evangelion.

I'll add the first translation here that matches the title image, and the rest will be in the link at the end:

What was Evangelion?

A Collection of Doujinshi Works

Children still worry, love, and continue to live on... and we draw another Evangelion...

“The grace of god has arrived to save us all” by Ao Takegawa

I watched "The End of Evangelion" twice on its opening day. After the second viewing, a person behind me said, "I don't understand," while others in the theater said, "I don't like it," and my sister and I were upset by their words. However, I think this is truly a good thing about Evangelion. If everyone is convinced of the same viewpoint after watching, it's not really Evangelion anymore. There are parts that are extremely appealing and parts that are extremely detestable, and the fact that it doesn't try to explain everything from top to bottom is what makes it great.

I love it. I think that Evangelion is very good at handling the mentality of its characters, and probably would not have reached the eyes and ears of so many people if it had been made in a normal, preachy way. It's interesting even if you only think about the characters without thinking about anything else (laughs); I like that those who want to think about every part of the show can, and those who don't can just enjoy it without thinking too much. So, "What was Evangelion” I think my answer to that question is, "Evangelion was great.” (Laughs) ← am I an idiot?

- Ao Takegawa, 1997.8.5.

Author Info

Ao Takegawa was a member FANATICS (sometimes called FANATICA) doujin circle, and was from what I can gather one of their key artists. They published a very extensive series of doujin around Evangelion - you can see some listings on Mandarake here - which stood out for their soft-pastel art style and inclusion of detailed plots. From what I have seen there is a lot of Kaworu, though they were not restricted to yaoi works.

I unfortunately have been unable to find much more about this author - none of these doujin appear to be scanned, no extant social media presence or discussion of their works, etc. Hopefully someday this doujin series can be rendered more accessible.

See the rest below if you wish of course:

[meisanart]

Passion versus pride

I discover that I love to write and sharing my perspective a lot and I enjoy,so I’ll keep doing these.i hope my story useful for your guy in some way as ever.

I have face with situation to choose between passion and pride in occupation before,So I’d like to share you my pov about reason why I didn’t choose being landscape architect,and choose ‘passion’ over ‘pride’ and live against social norm.

I would like to declare some status of architect in thailand,architecture field consider as lucrative.well paid job in Thailand and if you graduate in good university you will likely have high possibility to working in other country.Such as Singapore,America,Hongkong with decent income.It’s pride and honourable job and look cool in others eye.Most of my friends from faculty are doing well being architect,landscape architect and interior architect.[Which I respect them.i don’t think I can do it well]

compare to illustrator path,I think art field in my country develop especially past 15 years.There’re more job opportunity open,but being comickers,illustrator,artist consider as starving in poverty,like in somany country.At least somany people think so.Some parent prohibit their child to study in art field,

so why I choosing being in illustration or art relate field rather than being architect which consider more lucrative and stability in public’s eye.

I will tell you my story. I didn’t tell you to show-off butI’m good at studying when I’m child and I ‘ve even top at math in primary school.My teacher have tell parent that I’ve skillful in math,and I really like science at very young age.I love to read fact about science and scientific experiment,I even think about being doctor at very young age[note that if you got good grade in school,you’ll end up thinking you will be a doctor someday]

So I choose math-science path with 2 and half year special programe in secondary school,but I didn’t like math like before because I study with teacher that make me hate math.I didn’t like chemistry but I like biology and physics,when I being secondary that time I discover about my passion in ‘art’,i doing it well because I always got good grade in art relate subject and school sent me to do competition all the time[which mostly I lose haha].

That period my dream professional change I didn’t want to be doctor anymore because I ‘m scare blood like hell,but I’m not sure which path I will take.Later in my life I realize that it’s good to chose this path,because to study math science develop my left side brain which make me consider thing in fact and have framing in my creative aspect to a thing that can really execute in real world action which benefit me in entrepreneur path.

Then there’re one subject that let student choose freely.It’s ‘architecture aptitude’.I enroll at that moment.Teacher is very nice and I learn about foundation of perspective,and have fun subject assignment to draw,such as drawing future city from imagination,and if you study math-science in school and would like to draw.There’re just one faculty that you possible to enter.It’s ‘architecture’.I chose landscape architect at that moment because I love to collect plant book and learn about plant material.

In thailand at that moment you have to enter entrance examination with student from whole country.If you can pass entrance examination you can get to study in your desire faculty,and you’ve to list faculty you would like to admit by order.I chose ‘landscape architecture,chulalongkorn U.’ at no.1 in list of faculty and I passed examination.[I didn’t have good grade much with late secondary,just soso grade because I start to addict game but I’ve got quite decent score in physic,english and architect aptitude test that how I pass.I’m not diligence person in study also.I read book just few day before examination]

I think at that moment I would like to make my dad proud of me [because Chula U. consider at one of hardest u. to enter in thailand and excel in academic term],and faculty of architecture is quite famous and high acceptable from parent.

I think education in Thailand need to develop more.Some student in my country didn’t choose faculty by life purpose and passion,but they see what’s occupation earning the most ,or may be follow their peers and education system in Thailand taught student to remember stuff in books rather than focusing on real life solving problem.Most of student compete on grade in school,but I think you need to mixing between activity and study.

Now my perspective completely change.It’s nomatter about what university or faculty you’ve graduate but it’s about your ‘mindset’ and ‘attitude’ that make you success in life and work.Even ungraduate person can success in their life [look at Bill Gate and Mark Suckerberg].I think when you choose faculty or field of study just focus on passion not on what social acceptance because…..

I realize that I didn’t like being architect when I’m in faculty,and I feel torture a lot to study.There’re some subject I enjoy also,but not every subject.I didn’t like building material and construction,studio design,[which,if you decide to being architect you need to strive doing good grade in this subject because it’s like a heart] I got low grade on that.I’ve got good grade in some subject such as design

fundamental,research,landscape architectural presentation and seminar.Then I realize my trait lately.It’s because I didn’t like something that base on fact so much.I love to draw with imagination more and to design follow function is kind of limit imagination sometimes.I love something that have imagination but base on some believable fact but not a whole real functional stuff.

here things I ‘ve learnt while study in faculty.It’s mainly about ‘analysis’.When you doing some project you have to consider about possibility,how to find some site that appropriate with project and you have to do site analysis,site potential etc. then you have to do diagram analysis of everything.I think what I got in this step is make me learn to think about anything in a whole schematic process.Then after you do analysis you have to design function follow analysis part.That’s execution in architectural term.and problem is….I really don’t like those part while studying haha It’s too painful and too long process for me,and I need something to heal me suddenly.That’s how ‘drawing’ come to have meaning in my life again.

and problem happen,I addict to game.It’s ragnarok online at that moment.I play game a lot.,and that moment I had just known a job that you can design game characters,it’s character designer or concept designer but when I’m study at faculty there’re no real possibility that I can do this job yet.It’s job that I decide I would like to do.

At that moment while I’m in faculty I start to self-publish own book [call doujin] in comic convention and start to accept some freelance illustration work I can do.Then I graduate with soso grade from faculty of architecture finally in 2005[Actually I’m not surprise about grade because I’m focusing on develop my illustration work so hard.I do freelance job and I do self-publish work which consider hectic if you study in faculty of architect that have such a load of work.I glad that I can manage to graduate in 5 years time frame really<==which ‘s consider normal]

I think if I being landscape architect,I’ll end up mediocre and soso life because no passion in that field from my case.i love to see architectural design but I didn’t love to do it,and I decide I will stay true to myself.That’s why I chose to apply job at game company as concept design while I’m graduate and I’ve no regret in my path.[If you’d like to know what my life are being after that until now please read my few previous entry]:)

I don’t think grade in school or education can make people success totally.It’s life after graduate and life long learning which make you success in your field from my opinion,and ‘good portfolio’ making you getting work in design or illustration field,and if you live with your passion you nolonger work but play instead.That’s the most envious life,more than lucrative,high paying job from my opinion.:) That why I choose ‘passion’ over ‘pride’

The post Passion versus pride appeared first on Meisanmui.com.

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[miltonlicht]

Nakatani Nio & Canno

…So, I create a separate thread for this, as suggested by Nezchan.

Original interview http://blog.livedoor.jp/geek/archives/51522471.html (SITE NOT SAFE FOR WORK)

It was published at the time volume 2 of YagaKimi came out. I apologize for potential inaccuracies in the translation.

(Doc file )

−−−−−−−−−−−

Special conversation between "Yagate Kimi ni Naru"'s Nakatani Nio and "Ano Ko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo"'s Canno.

From the origin of their fixation on yuri to their work ethics, to the works in which they "felt the presence of yuri", the two authors who carry the yuri genre on their shoulders openly talked with us.

−−Today we're having a conversation in which you two can't not participate, so I thank you both for coming while you're so busy. Is this the first time you actually meet?

Nakatani Nio: Since we met a few days ago at Yuri-ten in Ikebukuro, this is actually our second meeting.

Canno: Since Nakatani-san's manga has a very cool craft to it, I expected her to be equally cool. And when we met, well, she was, but she was also a very kind and lovely woman.

NN: Really? What's this all about! (laugh) I actually always bought Canno-san's doujinshis at doujin displays, so of course I've known about her for a while now.

Ca: Same for me, I've been reading Nakatani-san's doujins since before "Yagate Kimi ni Naru" started. I didn't know very well the exact genre of her works, but Melonbooks had a special page attached saying "It's an awesome manga!", so I bought them regardless.

−−So you knew who the other was before you were serialized. What started your interest in Yuri, Canno-san?

Ca: I guess the trigger was reading "Maria-sama ga miteru" (Shūeisha) in high school. I didn't really care much about the genre at first, but after reading it I became hooked on it.

NN: That's the most notorious entry point! What couple did you like the most?

Ca: My favorite character is Yoshino from "Yellow Rose", and I ship her with Rei-chan. Did you read MariMite, Nakatani-san?

NN: Since it's a sort of landmark for Yuri, I read volume 1 for my culture, and I liked it, but I don't have much time to read novels, so I haven't read the rest. For now I'm only reading one small bit at a time.

Ca: Please be sure to read at least to "Rainy Blue".

NN: I don't quite get that "stop at Rainy" phrase that Yuri fans always use...

Ca: Well, don't worry about that, buy them until Rainy Blue.

NN: Alright, I'll read it.

Ca: Have you enjoyed a particular Yuri series lately?

NN: In my last interview, when I said I like "Hibike! Euphonium" (novel by Takarajimasha, anime by Kyōto Animation), I was retorted that it wasn't Yuri. But there were scenes where I did feel a Yuri vibe, so it was fine by me. Of course, Euphonium as a whole can't really be called a Yuri, but to me it counts as long as I can feel it in some parts.

Ca: Yeah, I'm that way too. Take "Precure" (Tōei Animation): I watch it as a goldmine of yuri, and in my favorite series, Doki Doki, there's that girl called Hishikawa Rikka...

NN: Oh yeah, Hishikawa!

Ca: She's the main character Aida Mana's partner, but as Mana builds relationships with other characters, Rikka gets jealous and uneasy. If you watch this as a grade schooler, you can think that it's natural to feel this way towards a friend, but when you watch it as an adult, you totally feel the Yuri!

NN: Ahaha! So you have more fun seeing Yuri in mainstream works than reading actual yuri?

Ca: I feel it has become this way, lately, yes. Before, I read only Yuri-hime Comics and such, works that I fully knew were Yuri, but these times I've started to look for Yuri in works that aren't generally lauded as such.

NN: Did it start when you started to draw "AnoKiss"?

Ca: Hmm, I wonder? Lately I enjoy feeling the Yuri in stuff like the yonkoma in "Kirara" (Houbunsha), but I think I also got tired with overly serious and dark works as I grew older. So more than "AnoKiss", it may just be that I'm getting old (laugh).

NN: Since I've started drawing Yuri manga, I've become more conscious of other Yuri works, but what about you, Canno-san? Has drawing AnoKiss made your Yuri antenna more sensitive?

Ca: Not that much, I would say. Even before my love for Yuri awakened, I liked same-sex romance in general, so outside of that and seeing Yuri in girly anime, my sensitivity is still pretty much the same.

NN: I think I feel the same. So more than Yuri itself, what you really enjoy is shipping, right?

Ca: Yes, I love shipping. There are a lot of people who are both into BL and Yuri, aren't there. (?)

−−Then why do you write Yuri rather than BL?

Ca: I love drawing facial expressions, and if I have to draw very expressive faces, I have more fun with girls. And if I have two girls, that's twice the luck. (laugh) More than romantic love iself, I like ambiguous relationships that are close to love but might be something else. But if I write such relationships with a boy and a girl, everyone ends up naturally assuming that it's love. However, with two girls the feeling is a bit more balanced, I think. I guess it would be the same with two boys, but as I said I have more fun drawing girls, so… (laugh)

NN: It's true that in AnoKiss, the characters never use the words "love" or "romance". Is that deliberate on your part?

Ca: It's not exactly deliberate, but it's a natural result of that feeling, I guess. And you, Nakatani-san, what made you draw girl's love manga?

NN: I thought, "if a cute girl and a cute girl do cute stuff, it'll be hella cute."

Ca: So you're no different from me! (laugh)

NN: Your way of saying it was cooler, though. (laugh)

Ca: But in YagaKimi there's Maki-kun, who's a guy, right? Didn't you want to avoid featuring boys in a Yuri series?

NN: I didn't. In my interview for Dengeki Online, I said that "In a world where there are also men, I want girls to be chosen anyway." [sorry, I'm not quite sure what the original sentence means here > 「男性もいる世界観の中で、あえて女の子を選んだ形で描きたい」 ] But while there are girls that "fall in love specifically with girls", I think there are also girls "whose crush just happens to be a girl". I wanted to also show that side in the characters' personalities and specificities, and I didn't think I could really depict it if men were completely absent. What do you feel about the presence of male characters in YagaKimi's cast, Canno-san?

Ca: Since Maki-kun doesn't directly get involved in love affairs, I haven't really paid much attention to him, regardless of his gender. If he had made an obvious move on Nanami-senpai or Yuu-chan I would probably have thought "hey, he's a guy", but so far there's no indication he's going to approach them or any of the girls.

NN: I see, that's an original way to view it.

Ca: For now, I only think of Maki-kun as un uke, with Doujima-kun as the seme.

NN: Thank you very mu… wait, what? (laugh) In AnoKiss, however, there's not a trace of male presence.

Ca: Yes, right from the start I decided that there would't be any male characters.

NN: Writing the word "yuri" in the title feels like a sort of challenge. Didn't it take courage?

Ca: I thought that it might not reach the potential readers if I didn't say right away "this is Yuri". So I wanted to get that information across. Since the series was gonna focus on "yuri" and "kiss", the best-sounding title I found with those two words was "Ano Ko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo". How did you decide on the title "Yagate Kimi ni Naru"?

NN: I did put a lot of meaning in the title, but even in the prototypes I chose ones that had a sort of Yuri aura to them. When volume 1 came out, I was very careful to appeal to Yuri lovers, with the cover (two girls gazing at each other) or the the band around the cover.

Ca: But that's not the case of the title.

NN: Indeed, but many yuri fans told me that "One Day, I Will Become You" sounds extremely Yuri. But some also say "I thought it was a story of substitution".

Ca: Like some kind of horror story. "I'll gradually take your place…" (laugh)

NN: Exactly. (laugh) In "AnoKiss", you have one kiss per chapter, huh.

Ca: Yes, my editor told me to include a kissing scene every time. And to create highlight scenes, in a Yuri manga the kissing scenes might be a selling point, they said. (laugh)

NN: I can get that. You think carefully about where the kiss will be, won't you?

Ca: I think the place where a kiss is given is significant, so I don't choose it at random. My editor even keeps an Excel file where they listed who kisses whom and where. Like, in volume 3, "kiss on the foot, indicating submission." (laugh)

NN: A kiss list, now that's interesting! Although, when you say "Excel", it kind of takes the magic away. (laugh)

Ca: But making a list of "character X gives a kiss there in chapter Y" means that by chapter 20 we've almost run out of body parts to kiss. (laugh)

NN: It's important to have some variety in the kisses, I guess. So far, my series has only had 2 kissing scenes, but I still have that voice telling me "this, here, is the highlight!", so I put all my effort onto that point. It's like a fighting game, where you wait for the exact moment when your special attack is sure to hit hard.

−−Nakatani-san, did you already know about AnoKiss when you started to draw YagaKimi?

NN: Well, if you draw yuri manga, AnoKiss has already become hard to ignore, so I read it intensely to help me for my own work. Even leaving that aside, my first impression when opening a volume was "Wow, the author is good!" (laugh)

Ca: No way! Thank you very much. (laugh)

NN: To me, seeing a yuri manga that wasn't shoujo-like was refreshing. Sure, it is love-themed, but in the tight lining and expressions, or in the panel layout, it feels closer to shounen. Since there are a lot of shounen aspects in my own way of drawing, I felt maybe we had some things in common in that regard.

Ca: I never read that many shounen manga growing up, and used to read almost only shoujo manga, but I do think my drawings aren't very shoujo-like, so you opinion confirms that.

NN: To me, that makes it easier to read, actually. So I'm glad there is a yuri series with this kind of style!

Ca: I found the art incredibly good too when I read YagaKimi's first chapter. Then Yuu-chan received a confession from a boy, I wondered how she would react, and what kind of yuri story it would evolve into, I was really excited. After reading the first volume, I was both supporting Nanami-senpai and sympathising with Yuu-chan, who couldn't understand what it was like to be in love. I actually think that if I was into Yuu-chan's shoes, I would be scared of Nanami-senpai. Even though you keep saying "I don't understand", she's constantly pushing in. So reading that and seeing Yuu-chan's acceptance of it, I find her incredibly kind-hearted.

NN: I see. (laugh)

Ca: And yet I'm like "Do your best, Nanami-senpai!", like I'm trying to fan the flames of yuri. (laugh) More specifically, I loved the entire chapter where Nanami-senpai went to Yuu-chan's place! But I guess that's how even a girl feels when she goes to the place of the girl she likes.

NN: I'm glad you say that. (laugh)

Ca: Also, I'm really intrigued by Saeki-senpai. When Nanami-senpai chose Yuu-chan for the election campaign, her friend started to worry that she didn't rely on her, and I love this kind of "complication". (laugh)

NN: Ah, so you do love complications! I actually love Towako from AnoKiss. (laugh) Personally, I sometimes feel I can't write a story without drama, but in a generally quiet and bright story like AnoKiss I was kind of surprised to see a girl like her, who brought problems. I find your way of drawing difficult emotions yet being very clear in the execution really enthralling. [難しい感情を描きつつ、爽やかに仕上げているのが魅力的だと感じます。]

Ca: For AnoKiss, I'm adamant on concluding a given arc within a single volume, or 5 chapters, so I can't create too much complications. So I found it difficult to write volume 3, where Towako appears, with a more dramatic appeal than usual. That's why I love girls in the position of Saeki-senpai… Err, but well, since I said I liked Hishikawa from Doki Doki Precure, I guess that wasn't much of a secret. (laugh)

NN: Indeed. (laugh)

Ca: So yes, I can't wait to see how Saeki-senpai is gonna interact with those two.

NN: I often hear that "Sayaka = Hishikawa", but Hishikawa is voiced by Kotobuki Minako-san, and in the recent PV for Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Kotobuki-san voices Nanami Touko.

Ca: Yes. That's why, when I saw that PV, I was like "It's Kotobuki-san, yaaay!" with a guts pose. (laugh)

−−How did you feel when you heard your characters talk?

NN: Their voices were as I imagined. I didn't picture those voices very clearly until now, but after hearing them in the PV, they are the voices I now hear in my head when working on my storyboards. AnoKiss had some Drama CD's released, what were your impressions?

Ca: From the start, there were characters who talked and others who didn't talk in my head. I was happy that the voices of those who talked inside me could now be heard by the readers. As for those who didn't talk, it felt refreshing, like "so that's what their voices sounded like". I had always imagined Kurosawa Yurine with the voice of Mizuhashi Kaori, so I thought "now everyone can hear it too". Shiramine Ayaka didn't talk in my head, so my feeling was more "Ooh! So that's what you sound like. You're cute, Shiramine." (laugh) The way I picture the characters hasn't changed, but right after the recording I really heard those voices in my head, though now they have quieted down.

Ca: I really think your art is pretty, but do you employ any assistants?

NN: No, I draw all alone.

Ca: You mean you draw everything by yourself, even the backgrounds? That's something…

NN: And you, Canno-san, do you employ assistants?

Ca: I do receive help from friends, occasionally, but normally I work alone. I'm afraid of drawing manga with people I don't know, honestly… Well, you could say I'm just shy. (laugh)

NN: Oh I know how you feel! I'm really shy too… Since I'm not very good a communicating with people, I end up more comfortable with controlling all of my work myself. But I'm aware that it may not be such a good thing when you draw manga.

Ca: That's a very mature comment.

NN: What I'm saying is very childish, though. (laugh) "I can't communicate, so I'm fine by myself!" (laugh)

Ca: Ahaha!

NN: Still, you're pretty impressive yourself. AnoKiss' backgrounds are really filled and polished.

Ca: You could say I'm a bit afraid of the void, so I often try my best to fill the blanks. In your art, however, it's like the blanks are used as an integral component of the picture, and I'm fond of that.

NN: Thank you very much! I have a question about AnoKiss: on the first chapters cover, many characters are drawn, and one of them in the back, Machida Kaoru, already appeared in volume 4. As you are writing an ensemble story, I wonder how far you had planned from the start.

Ca: Kaoru is an exception, actually. I had always planned on introducing her and even imagined the chapter, but she wasn't my top priority either, so she ended up appearing quite late. If the story had ended in 2 or 3 volumes, she wouldn't have appeared, but now we're at volume 4. So, no, I haven't really planned that much ahead. (laugh)

NN: Is that so. Since the gardening club arc and even the astronomy arc flowed so naturally, I thought you had all that in mind from the beginning.

Ca: I pretty much advance at random, but if it feels planned then I'm glad. (laugh)

−−You two have talked quite a lot today. How was it?

NN: As I was one of her fans, I almost feel guilty for talking with her so casually.

Ca: Oh no, I thank you, really. Yagate Kimi ni Naru has a very cool artstyle and you are equally cool, so I was afraid you'd tell me "I don't care about someone who draws such frivolous manga!", but luckily you are a kind person. (laugh)

NN: What do you mean frivolous?! No way! I'm really thankful that I could talk with you today. I could tell you what I liked and what my favorite character was in AnoKiss, so as a fan I feel content… AnoKiss and YagaKimi, despite being both yuri mangas, differ on a lot of aspects, but I was happy to find that I had a lot in common with you, Canno-san. I'll work hard on YagaKimi so that it doesn't lose to AnoKiss, so please be well!

−−Thank you very much for today.

Interview: Kaazu (Kaazu SP)

−−−−−−−−−−−

…So yeah, you can now consider me a NioCanno shipper.

But more seriously, imagine a yuri written by Nakatani and drawn by Canno. That would be something. * o *

(via Lyendith on Dynasty)

Interview #2

[latestnews2018-blog]

A Conversation With My Friend Who Really Wants To Have Sex With Mr. Incredible

New Post has been published on https://latestnews2018.com/a-conversation-with-my-friend-who-really-wants-to-have-sex-with-mr-incredible/

A Conversation With My Friend Who Really Wants To Have Sex With Mr. Incredible

Earlier this week, a review by The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane of the Pixar film “Incredibles 2” caught the attention of the internet.

The reason was a paragraph near the end of the article that painted a theoretical picture of two parents taking their children to watch the film only to find the mother comparing Ms. Incredible to Anastasia from “Fifty Shades of Grey” and the father catapulting his popcorn in a state of throbbing cinematic appreciation.

Holy crap, WHAT is with The New Yorker’s review of The Incredibles 2? Gross. pic.twitter.com/2PCVW4BQga

— Amanda Wong (@amandawtwong) June 19, 2018

I, on the other hand, could only think of an old friend of mine, Will Wiesenfeld, who, for as long as I can remember, has badly wanted to have sex with Mr. Incredible, i.e. Bob Parr. This is not a joke. Will really, really loves him some Bob Parr.

i want Bob Parr to fuck me up and down the goddamn block

— ● Will Wiesenfeld ● (@BATHSmusic) May 29, 2018

thinking about bob fuckin parr

— ● Will Wiesenfeld ● (@BATHSmusic) June 12, 2018

i don’t think u understand how hot i think the dad from The Incredibles is. Bob Parr. that’s my dude

— ● Will Wiesenfeld ● (@BATHSmusic) May 7, 2018

like honestly Bob Parr is a dreamboat

— ● Will Wiesenfeld ● (@BATHSmusic) February 15, 2018

Wiesenfeld is a professional electronic musician mostly known by his stage name, Baths. He’s very good; Pitchfork loves him. My editor, Tommy Craggs, did not care about any of that. He wanted to know more about my friend who’d like to boink an animated superhero dad. He asked me to talk to Will. So I did. It turns out that Wiesenfeld’s desire to sleep with the man with perhaps the largest chest-to-hip ratio in the cartoon universe is actually just one part of a larger story about coming to terms with his sexuality through cartoons as a teenager ― and becoming something of a connoisseur of the form as an adult.

Here is our conversation, edited a bit for clarity.  

Will Wiesenfeld: Hey dude!

HuffPost: What’s up, dog?

Not much. How’s it going?

It’s chilling. I can’t believe I’m interviewing you about this.

So you want to fuck Bob Parr. When did that start? When did you first get into Bob Parr?

How long ago did “The Incredibles” come out?

I must have been 15. I wasn’t out. I would have just found out that I was gay, so probably not yet. I don’t know.

When did cartoons become a thing for you in terms of your own sexuality

That was right away. Basically I found out I was gay because of porn, straight-up porn. I just realized that was going on and I had the realization, and I think through looking for that stuff and then always being a fan of Japanese stuff, I came across porny art and muscular art of characters, and so it started off not [with] American cartoons, but Japanese stuff and people’s original characters and buff men. And that would have been a year after I found out I was gay, so probably 16.

this mode of bob parr could get it ✔️ https://t.co/DLno1tbMBH

— ● Will Wiesenfeld ● (@BATHSmusic) January 16, 2016

Why do you think you had that attraction to anime or cartoon characters?

I can tell you almost exactly. Everything about porn ― at least what I was finding ― was intense and kind of aggressive. There’s nothing really loving about it. It was just sex, obviously, and very intense and very upfront.

And almost immediately the first images I saw of this sort of stuff ― of drawn characters and erotic illustrations and stuff ― it was all softer, even though it was really muscular men. A lot of it was really domestic. There were comics that I found that were just couples at home, or illustrations of dudes doing it in an apartment, outside of a pornographic context, just because they were dating or whatever.

And all of that was brand new to me. Just the idea of gayness as normalcy. That was the thing that allowed me to come out after that point. I knew I was gay before finding out about this stuff, but then I was comfortable coming out realizing that there was a route to gayness and queerness that was chill.

And now is it more just a funny thing than anything else?

It’s not actually much of a funny thing. There are funny things that come up. There are illustrations that are insane, where it’s like, “Oh, my God, look at this.” But it’s a super deep hobby of mine. I collect art. I have a running collection of manga in my house and a bunch of illustrations. I’ve paid for commissions of characters and stuff like that. It’s very real and it’s very deep. And I’m into it in a way that’s well beyond a joke thing, you know? I’m truly down with it.

You’ve done a Bob Parr illustration, I know. Have you done other ones besides that?

Yeah, or I paid for a commission of it.

who can i commission some tastefully hot mr incredible art from . mr bob parr

— ● Will Wiesenfeld ● (@BATHSmusic) May 15, 2018

I commissioned this other character from this series called “Legend of Korra,” which is also an American cartoon. His name is Bolin, and I’m super, super into him. I’ve paid for commissions of him in the past. I actually have one that’s pending right now that somebody is doing [laughs].

Twitter/Tumblr: yoPeppy

Here’s the illustration Will got commissioned for himself.

With Bob Parr, what is it about him that attracts you to him?  

It’s a huge mix of things. Physically, he’s exactly my type. Big 40-, 50-something-year-old dudes who are muscular but kind of friendly and approachable ― that’s my shit. So that, combined with all the stuff in “The Incredibles” ― him being a good dad, meaning that it translates to him being a responsible person and, I don’t know, safe? Those things, they’re great. And they are a huge turn-on. And he’s straight, obviously, but you can find comics and illustrations and fan art that people have done that skew it into a fun gay thing, and there’s plenty of it with Mr. Incredible.

I think people would probably think of an attraction to a cartoon character as mostly a physical thing. It’s interesting that what he’s like as a father figure and person wraps up into it.  

I think that’s a thing with a lot of the characters that I’m really into. Bolin also is the same way. He’s much younger, but he’s carefree and positive and all that stuff. I don’t have a thing for villains usually, sometimes I do, but it’s usually a physical thing. But I’ll obsess over a character if they’re almost role model-y. I’m realizing it now in my brain that a lot of my favorite characters are the role model of the series that they’re a part of, or the most rounded and the most mature. ’Cause I think that it’s this weird motivator for myself to try and see myself in that.

“@DisneyPixar: Home sweet, crazy home. pic.twitter.com/LHOOqUXDCo”

Bob Parr could get it god damn 😎😎😎

— ● Will Wiesenfeld ● (@BATHSmusic) February 27, 2015

What do you mean? You want to become that kind of person as you age, or you hope to be that kind of person right now?

Yeah, exactly, something like that. Just inspiration to live honestly, the way that I’m doing, and stay positive. And a big part of it is keeping in shape, ’cause all of these stupid cartoons are buff as hell [laughs]. Just looking at it for too long, it sort of works its way into your brain to try and keep doing that.

So you’re saying that by looking at buff dad cartoon characters, you yourself go, “I gotta hit the gym as well” or something?

Absolutely, it’s fair to put it like that.

What are some of the other top characters for you?

Looking around my room, there’s this character Shiro, who’s one of the main characters from the new “Voltron” series on Netflix. He’s literally the dad of the group, and he’s buff and mild-mannered and he’s just super hot. And then there’s this character Daichi, from this show “Haikyuu.” It’s a whole series about volleyball. It’s a sports anime and it’s way, way, way better than it should be. It’s the most exciting, most intense series I’ve watched in forever. He’s the captain of the volleyball team that the show follows. He’s not the lead character, but he’s the one that’s in charge of that team.

A big note: It’s problematic because his character is 17, and in the first season of that show “Legend of Korra,” that character that I mentioned, Bolin, is 16, and I had no idea watching it. I thought he was 24 or 25. When I found out way later on that in the first season he’s 16 years old, I felt so gross.

Then, yeah, later on in the series I think he’s much older. He ages as the show progresses. I’m attracted to Daichi and Bolin because they act older and more mature than their peers on top of the fact that they’re super buff. All these hundreds of artists out there making fan art of them feel the same way.

There exists this whole deep fandom in Japan of every single one of these characters. There’s this thing called doujin, or doujinshi, and it’s like “fan comic,” and it usually translates to being porny most of the time. But there are doujin that are not and are just narratives that people make up.

But they’re fan comics, and there’s a huge market for it, and there’s conventions. The same way you have, I guess, Comic-Con or Anime Expo in the States. There’s huge, huge conventions in Japan where all these different artists sell all this stuff and the market for it is much, much bigger and much more widespread. And so, when I found out about this show “Haikyuu,” I was like, is there any art of this dude that I’m into? And it was insane how much of it there was. There’s so much, and most of it is not actually sexual. It’ll just be a romance novel or a romance movie or something like that. The plot will just be them being attracted to each other and not knowing what to do with it and at times navigating high school and being on a volleyball team at the same time ― that sort of shit. There are comics that are just full plots of that without sex being involved.

Does the character have to be human or can it also be an animal or something like that for you to be attracted to it?

I think I’m cool with anthropomorphic stuff. I’m basically a fan of buffness, so it’s usually, if I see something where the character is buff and they’re also an animal, I’m like, that’s cool. I can get into it or whatever. But I don’t seek it out, and I kind of don’t obsess over it the way that I typically do with human characters. But lately there is ― you know “Zelda”? The new “Zelda” game?

There is a bird-man in that game that is all of these things that I’m talking about with these mentor characters that I get really into. He’s this big, buff bird that helps you on your adventures, and he’s like a good dad and is fair and relaxed, and it hits all the benchmarks for me. And, for whatever reason, they gave him really beautiful eyes in the game. They give them all this eye makeup and intense ― I don’t know how to describe it. You should just Google the word “Kass,” K-A-S-S, in Zelda.

Yeah, and “Zelda,” and you’ll just see this handsome ―

It makes sense, you know what I mean? Me talking about all the other things I just talked about ― it’s like, “Oh, yeah, this makes sense.”

I feel bad for asking you earlier if it’s just a funny thing, when now that I think about it, it’s obviously something more serious.

Don’t even worry about it. I’ve been involved in the hobby of it for so long that I don’t think there’s any question that somebody could pose that could offend me.  

What did you think of “Incredibles 2”? I forgot to ask.

I liked it a lot. I think Bob Parr was hotter than ever, and I was very, very down with that. But as an actual movie, I think it suffered from pacing issues.

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[kaitsunnonichijou]

This is not a “Guide to Wonder Festival / Comic Market” post. Close, but no.

I was planning to write a blog about my summer otaku event experiences but almost a week passed after Comiket and I can’t stop playing TS4, so I just had to do something about this procrastination.

Summer WonFes billboard at Makuhari Messe

About Wonder Festival – Wonfes

Having been around for more than three decades, Wonder Festival or Wonfes is best known for its massive toys and figures exhibition. Every year, Japan’s top toy manufacturing companies as well as huge names in the anime industry gather around to showcase hot and upcoming anime figures and merchandises Wonder Festival is also home to various independent toy makers, giving them a chance to showcase their works.

Wonfes is held biannually (Summer and Winter seasons) at Makuhari Messe in Makuhari, Chiba.

About Comic Market – Comiket

Entering its’ 46th time this year, Comic Market, or more commonly known as Comiket, is the biggest hobby convention in Japan, running biannually (Summer and Winter season) for three days (Fridays and Weekends). Comiket is home for self-published materials like books, music, softwares, etc., but also caters official publications as well.

Comiket’s venue is Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba, Tokyo.

Comiket and Wonfes catalog books

Of course, you probably know about the stuff I wrote up there, but here’s something most of the foreign people don’t know:

Wonfes isn’t a free admission event – you have to buy the Wonfes catalog book. The catalog book double-serves as an entrance ticket and your guide map to the event! Cool, right?

Comiket is free. (Ay, so you know that huh?) Also, you don’t really need to buy the catalog book as there are hall maps all around Big Sight.

You can explore Wonfes in a single day, as long as you don’t stay around taking pictures of all the figure exhibits.

You can’t explore the whole Comiket event in a single day! No!

Follow up your favorite artists on twitter if you want to see them on Comiket. You don’t want to miss them by coming in the wrong day!

Don’t worry if you’re a foreigner who can’t speak/understand Japanese, because there are international desks around the events where you can ask in English (or in your own language, if you’re lucky)!

July 30, 2017 – Wonder Festival 2017 [Summer]

Summer Wonfes was my second time to attend the event and the first time I attended during the Summer season. The catalog books are available in advance and can be bought in major anime book stores around Tokyo, so I decided to grab one to prepare for the event.

Map of Halls 1-3, where most of the big shots are.

I marked those exhibits I want to see the most.

Since I live really close to Makuhari (I can just literally walk from my apartment to Makuhari), I thought of not using the train and going to the event with my bicycle… which is a bad idea because it rained that morning! I took a bus instead to Makuhari Messe and arrived at the venue around 10:30-ish, only to be greeted by a very long line outside the event halls. We went a full circle around Makuhari Messe before eventually going inside.

And then my first Otaku Summer War begins.

Not the actual crowd. It was way jam-packed than this.

A few tips before going to Wonfes:

Make sure to charge your phone and camera before the event because you’re gonna have a lot of photography to do.

Summer events tend to be really hot and humid, so bring water / extra shirt / towels.

On the opposite, Winter events are quite cold, so wear warm and comfortable clothing.

There are food stalls inside the event, so don’t worry about food. Alternatively, you can also bring your own food inside. The konbini is your best friend.

Bring extra shopping bags with you in case you want to buy a lot.

Or better yet, bring your empty luggage with you. (As the say, do as the Romans Japanese do.)

While at the event:

No touching of figures!

Show proper courtesy! Do not push in line or even try to squeeze in.

Most of the time, taking a photo of a certain figure will took you time because of the line. Again, show proper courtesy and wait for your turn.

Be considerate in taking photos, as there are others waiting for their turn.

Some figures on display around the event are marked with 撮影禁止, which means no photography. Do not take photos of those figures!

Do not loiter inside the halls. Ask the food stalls for trash bins or you can bring an extra plastic bag with you to carry your trash before throwing it in its proper place.

Segregate your trash. This is basic Japanese law and everyone is expected to follow.

There is a special stage event at Wonfes where seiyuus usually make appearances. You cannot take photos or even shoot a video while a stage program is taking place.

Good Smile Company and Max Factory usually has the biggest space at Wonfes, but famous toy companies such as Alter, Kotobukiya, and Sega are also present.

Here are some of the photos I took:

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I had the rest of the photos uploaded on Facebook in which I posted as Public, you can just find them there.

Not only did Wonfes have anime and manga-related figures on display, but the event’s main sponsor, Prime1, showcased an impressive line of realistic scale figures of popular game and foreign comic characters.

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I was roaming around Halls 1-3 for the entire event and only got the chance to see the opposite halls around 4:30PM, right when people are starting to pack their stuff and sellers making discounts on their remaining items. After much inner fangirl debating, I only got one figure and that’s….

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Shigure Kai Ni!!

I am not complaining, though; I LOVE HERRR (Next to WaiFubuki and Hatsushimo)

August 11 and 13, 2017 – Comic Market 92

For Comiket, I had to take trains and transfer at two stations before arriving at Kokusai-Tenjijo station, the main station for Comiket guests. It took me around an hour of travel, but I didn’t mind because I get to seat inside the trains. Albeit the light rain last Friday, because August 11 is a National holiday in Japan, there was more people than ever.

For first timers, going to Comic Market will be tough because of the huge venue and the crowd. People are literally gonna bump into you every time, but that’s fine. Usually if it’s your first time going to an event, you get excited and might want to see everything, but the technique to conquering Comiket is knowing what you’re actually there for.

Which comes down to the use of those catalog books. Like Wonfes’ catalog books, Comiket catalog books has everything you need to know around: full list of doujin circles grouped by the three dates of Comiket, a map of Tokyo Big Sight’s halls (West 1-4 and East 1-7), as well as a complete list of companies selling official merchandise. As I have said, you really don’t need to buy the catalog book, but it is always better to plan ahead for war.

Alternatively, there’s a free guide map of the West Halls, where all the official merchandise are. There are also maps pinned up around the halls, so long as you can read Japanese.

This guide map for the West halls can be found at the staff tables. They’re free.

If you are aiming for the East Halls where all the doujin material are and wouldn’t like to spend money for the catalog book (~2,000 yen), a good way to prepare is to navigate Twitter. A lot of doujin circles (some companies as well) use Twitter to promote their stuff. They add this information in their Twitter names in order; what day they will attend / location. For example:

@3日目東1-A62a This means that the doujin circle will be participating on the third day and their table location is at East Hall 1, A62a. (The doujin circle who was at that space this Summer was QP:flapper, just so you know).

More tips before going to Comiket:

Make a list of all the booths you want to visit beforehand.

If you’re going during the Summer, stay hydrated and drink plenty of water. For Winter, wear warm but not too bulky clothes because you’ll do a lot of walking. Srsly.

Bring extra towels with you. Never mind an extra shirt; you’ll need more time to spend around Comiket than going to the toilet and changing shirts.

Bring food with you, or you can just buy food inside the venue.

Sleep well the night before the event. You will need a lot of energy falling in line for goods.

Wake up early, arrive early, and head straight for the East halls first if you are targeting for the doujin stuff. Chances are the popular ones will ran out of stock before 1PM. (That happened to me huhuhu)

Bring shopping bags with you (or you can buy the official Comiket huge bag for 1000 yen).

This year’s shopping bag design for Summer Comiket.

What to remember when at the event:

Always keep you things in check! Japan is generally a safe place but there are still instances of losing stuff in a huge crowd like Comiket.

Patiently wait in line for the goods. You will get your turn soon.

Watch out for free stuff! Companies and other doujin circles sometimes give extra items so try to keep an eye on your surroundings.

Throw your trash properly. Separate plastic bags, papers, and PET bottles.

Can’t understand Japanese? Look for the International Help Desk at the 2nd floor of the East hall!

I only attended days one and three for Comiket. I would have loved to go to day two as well, but I too tired from walking and carrying stuff on first day, plus my allowance won’t let me.

Main reason for attending day one – TOKOTOKO CDS!

I didn’t get to take a lot of photos for Comiket because it was super crowded you can’t just stay put on a certain area to take a picture without people bumping you from both sides. I just took what I can and went ahead to explore.

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Fate/Grand Order was a huge hit even at Comiket, so there were tall prints around the West halls for the FGO girls.

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This is all that I got after Comiket. Most of what I got are for free, can you guess which?

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For those who are planning to go to next season’s Wonder Festival and Comic Market, they are scheduled on February 18, 2018 and December 29-31, 2017. Book your flights now and remember to plan ahead before the Cold Wars.

Otaku Summer Wars: A Wonfes + Comiket post by Kaitsun This is not a "Guide to Wonder Festival / Comic Market" post. Close, but no. I was planning to write a blog about my summer otaku event experiences but almost a week passed after Comiket and I can't stop playing TS4, so I just had to do something about this procrastination.