#TPN Interviews

[fullscoreshenanigans]

Ray TPN

KLJDFKLVDK HIM THOUGH??

(S1 Episode 6 | Chapter 181.1 | Chapter 93 | Chapter 119 | banana_slug_army's A Bizarre Proposal | 2020 Exhibition Interview)

[duckietine]

heh... Emmay win! No I'm not crazy ummm this counts as a parallel

[ed-recovery-affirmations]

In light of the recent Gwyneth Paltrow interview (if you're on my page you've probably already seen it, tbh, but if you haven't - she basically details her extremely restrictive daily diet and talks about taking her vitamins intravenously) I'd like to remind you all that your body was meant to enjoy and take pleasure in food. You also need proper fats to make the best use of the vitamins you recieve. No fad diet or celebrity trend can replace having a healthy relationship with food.

As a chronic illness sufferer I've spoken with many people who need to use g-tubes, nutrient infusions, and TPN in order to survive. And there is nothing shameful or bad about using these survival tools if you are sick enough to need them! If they keep you alive and get nutrition into your body, that's absolutely wonderful. But people who need these medical resources have well-documented medical struggles associated with needing to receive their nutrients this way. Being sick sucks. It's really, really hard. Needing IV nutrition is not something for the healthy to romanticize.

I'd just like to remind you that it is not normal or desirable for a healthy person to choose IV nutrients rather than ingesting a meal. These devices are for the use and support of very sick people (and as a side note, I think it's sickening that wealthy celebrities will glamorize their casual use of these devices while others struggle to afford the medical supplies that they genuinely need.) By legitimizing her methods as a "lifestyle choice" the entertainment industry is also legitimizing the marketing of a severe eating disorder, but you do not have to buy it. And if you're not sick enough to need IV nutrition and you are able to take in an enjoyable meal by mouth, I hope you find yourself in a place where you are able to appreciate and enjoy that today.

[decomposing-romantic]

OH MY FUCKING GOD

I THINK I CRACKED THE CODE ON THE PREMIUM FARMS NAMES IN THE PROMISED NEVERLAND

Okay so something we all know is that the name of every Premium Farm starts with the letter G, and so far I have seen no explanations as to why. So I decided to do some research on the author (Kaiu Shirai) and his interviews in hopes of finding something, to no avail.

Or so I thought.

See, I found something important (in my opinion) that I easily brushed over. Shirai is a Christian. I at first just thought this was some interesting trivia or something but then I took a moment to think about it, and I quickly made the connection between his religion and Emma’s orphanage starting with the word grace (Grace Field) - an extremely important concept in the Christian religion.

So, I quickly decided to look up the significance of the letter G in the bible and found this:

Also, gamol represents the caring of a creature until it is mature (which was taken from the sentence in Genesis 21:8:

Knowing that the purpose of the Premium Farms is to nurture the children as best as possible until their shipment age, and that Shirai is a Christian, there’s absolutely no way this is a coincidence.

To be fair, it could likely also be a reference to God or Genesis, but the more common way to refer to gods in Japanese would be 神 or 神様 (kami or kamisama). Though, the Christian god can be commonly referred to as ゴッド (Goddo) so the point still still stands. I doubt it is a reference to Genesis though since TPN and the Book of Genesis don’t really have much to do with each other and it’s also called 創世記 (souseiki) which doesn’t even start with a G.

Anyways I just found this really interesting and I needed to share with everyone!

[1000sunnygo]

Is there a reason why TPN is set in the future? And in particular in 2045?

Why is it set in future?

I think the main reason was to mislead the readers (the setting seems to be Victorian England but it's actually future) + Shirai decided that European aesthetic suits the story but he wanted to avoid a specific time in history.

Fanbook + LeFigaro interview (2019)

2045 simply because the storyboard was written in 2013-2014, and "45" feels like "close to present but in future" from 34 (aka it's pretty random pff)

The editor, as usual, adds a little more to their conversation. Here's direct translation from fanbook pg. 14 (bottom paragraphs) :

Shirai (author) : (..) The year 2045 was chosen because I drew the series manuscript in 2013-2014, and something closest to it but in future would be 2045, isn't it? I think that's the reason.

Sugita (editor) : "2045 problem" was often discussed back then, and we decided 2045 because the year of the Singularity (technological singularity) sounded cool, if I remember right. The story is a bit in the future, so we made it a sci-fi kind of time period.

2045年問題, aka 2045 problem

Editor Sugita had always been enthusiastic about the bits of scifi elements, comparing 7 walls setting to a Sci-fi movies [x] . Whenever there's any science related background or explanation in the story or in interviews, it's most likely his addition.

Legit this is what fanbook reading felt like

[chidoroki]

After waiting patiently for many months, my copy of the TPN art book finally arrived and I am SO EMOTIONAL!

It honestly feels a bit surreal to actually have it my hands?? like I remember pre-ordering this back in..December I think? so not only did time fly by since then but to have such easy access to so many of Demizu’s beautiful works whenever I want? It is FANTASTIC and I swear I had a smile on my face the entire time while looking through this, and it took me a few hours to do so!

Seriously, I knew there was gonna be a lot but damn, it surpassed my expectations. Sure I’ve seen many of the colored manga & Shonen Jump pages, covers & illustrations before, but seeing them again in such a nice quality was refreshing! I felt like I was experiencing the whole story all over again, especially the handful of pieces that feature Goldy Pond and everything else the second season decided to ditch completely. There were even a couple I don’t remember at all, which was lovely!

And speaking about new stuff, oh my god, all of the concept art! There is literally so much of it! Early designs of the fullscore trio were to be expected, but what surprised me was just how many variations the three of them went through! I was happy to see little sketches of the other children too like those from GP and Lambda. And I absolutely adore every single one of Demizu’s comments & notes she wrote alongside everything too, even stuff about the buildings and the demons and sweet lord there were so many different ideas for them I felt overwhelmed!

What I really enjoyed were the rough drafts of the volume covers, SJ pages & graphic novels that went unused. I know it won’t ever happen, but I’d love to see some of them actually drawn out and finished because Demizu had really clever ideas in terms of layout and you can tell which designs influenced the final choices. There are some really wholesome ones too and of course I’d never pass up on the chance to see more GP art.

OH there were a couple of interviews with Shirai & Demizu as well! Those were a treat to read through. Shirai is such a big fan of Demizu, it’s precious. I really hope they team up again for future projects. They’re a wonderful duo!!

Throughout the book there were several double page spreads that were shown in the manga, SJ and wherever else, but towards the very end there were a couple more and those.. oh boy, those were beautiful. Even the single page illustrations that followed caught me off guard too but I love them all the same! A real nice way to end the whole book. Reading through everything served as a brilliant reminder about why I cherish this series so much.

Aahh if I had the time and energy to chat about this more then trust me, I definitely would. I’d love to share the overabundance of pictures I took and ramble on about every little detail I found interesting, but I won’t because 1) it would honestly take me forever due to how much content this book contains, 2) I obviously never know when to shut up when it comes to this series, and 3) it is such a lovely collection of artwork and information that you just have to witness it all for yourself!! So apologies for being so vague for once, but if you have the chance to receive a copy of this book for yourself, then definitely do so! Very worth it!!

[creaticare]

I have been tagged by @grayseyebrowscar for a WIP game, and I have too many WIP's to not make a separate post. Some of them haven't been touched in ages, but they are still WIP's. There are also themes of death, abuse, and self-harm at least in the titles, and maybe in the WIP sentences.

rules: share the first line (or two or more!) of every current wip you have (that you feel comfortable sharing) and tag some writer friends! feel free to add the titles of your documents if you see fit

AOT

Guardian Angel: "Sasha sat up and looked around at her surroundings, she was back at her house in the forest.*

Criminal Minds

Our Witches Heart: "Reid sat at his desk just spinning around, he had finished his paperwork a while ago and now he was just letting his head roam."

DC Comics/Young Justice

Fear Toxined Batfam: "It was a normal patrol when their comms crackled to life, Oracle's voice coming through into their ears."

Green Lantern Ring: "The battle was nearing its end, the Justice League was on its last leg stopping these aliens."

Our friends shouldn't meet ends: "Jason stood with a sword in his hands, at the ready, a playful smile on his face as Wally also fell into stance."

When I Find You: "Dick always found the prospect of soulmates intriguing, his parents seemed like they had a perfect unbreakable bond, so that means he should also have the perfect bond when he was older."

Fairy Tail

MCD one-shots Bxl: "The feeling of being burned from the inside out wasn't one that Bixslow would ever say he appreciated, especially as he felt blood dribble out of his mouth."

MCD one-shots Gjl: "The Guild Hall was buzzing with an uneasy energy under the normal rambunctiousness."

Our Souls Weave Through, Chp 3: "Another week had passed since they had first found themselves in these strange times."

Our Souls Weave Through, Abuse, Gjl: "Gajeel absolutely hated it here, he has only been a part of Phantom Lord for a month and he was miserable, best guild along with the ranks of Fairy Tail his ass."

Our Souls Weave Through, Bitey One-Shot: "Fairy Tail was pretty used to the biting habit Natsu seemed to have, most of them having grown up with him, and having seen him constantly doing it, or being a victim at one point or another."

Haikyuu:

Got a secret series, Can you Keep it: "After all the Ushijima Fiancé craziness had washed over, a fan chose to go back and rewatch the interview."

Swim, Spike, Receive: "Kageyama Tobio didn't always live in Miyagi, he actually used to live in Tokyo with his older brother."

My Life is your Tribute, Hunger Games Crossover: "The ten districts of Panem all used to be one unified country along with their Capital, until they rebelled, causing a war to spread."

Racing Royalty: "Empress sat upon the hood of her car as her Knight filled up the gas in preparation for the race."

Tsukishima's Shoulder, Finding our Footing: "He kept going through the cycles, kept going through these large cycles of doubt. The surgery date was creeping up on him and he was scared."

Creepy Crawly Crows: "The two teams on the court flinched back and the crowd went silent as the Military burst through the doors in the gym."

Figure Four, Finale: "The announcer cleared their throat to get the attention of the stadium, 'Everyone there is still one more performance for today.'"

Sewn Silence: "Bokuto's insecurities were knocking on the metaphorical door once again, he had the all locked away behind a wall of fake emotions."

Short & Tall: "Nishinoya picked up his pace as he tried to keep up with Tsukishima's freakishly long strides. This was one of the many reasons he was not a fan of tall people, they walk too damn fast."

TPN x Haikyuu: "Emma threw her head back as she felt the breeze pass by, she took a deep breath of her true freedom."

Buckle up, it's MHA time

(I have so many MHA fics, at least plans, I was hyperfixated on it for a long time.)

1-A childhood friends and soulmates: "Memories are a fickle thing, you cherish them when you're young, but they will slowly disappear as you grow. Those who you would hold so close to your heart, will suddenly disappear."

Bomb on Campus: "The bright numbers flashed over the campus as teachers were guiding students out of the buildings and through the gates."

Bonding Notes, Chp 3: "As Shoji makes his way into the dorm he digs into his pocket for his white cane."

Fuck, it's the Family: "When class 1-A walked into the classroom one fateful morning they were put on edge by the sinister smile on their teacher's face."

Gouged Clouds and Pittering Paws: "Aizawa was born with his Parental Mark set on his collarbone, a small black cat curled up, sleeping peacefully."

Interviews with the 3's: "The recording flickered on as they all sat around the common rooms of the dorm, Class 3-A and 3-B convened together."

Mutation Quirk Erasure: "Aizawa woke up and went to wake up his kids with a bad feeling in his gut, his brain telling him that something had happened."

Quirk Drawback Fics, Shoji: "The day had been slow, they all started off with Homeroom and then went through their classes until getting to hero training."

Separated for Safety, Chp 2: "Bakugo woke up, his vision slowly coming into focus, he stares at the bright white ceiling as he tries to remember what happened."

Splat the Colorful Hero: "Deku sat atop the roof that All Might had left him on, he sat on the edge with his legs dangling over."

Trauma and Friends: "The class had been getting closer, they were three fourths of the way through their first year at UA, but there were still some barriers between them."

Vanishers, Later in the fic: "Aizawa's head swiveled around to look at the door that had just been flung open, standing there was a panting Present Mic."

What Happened to Memories?: "Memories are a precious thing, but they always seem to just disappear."

When time turns back: "The class was scattered around the area as they fight villains in close and far quarters."

3 Pros, 1 Civilian: "Izuku Midoriya was an odd kid raised in odd ways, he has 4 parents that helped raise him but that's not what was weird about it."

3-A year: "Shoji quickly finished packing his bag, even though classes didn't start till tomorrow he wanted to make sure he had time to move back into the dorms, and get adjusted to his friends."

Deaf MHA: "Aizawa watched his students closely both in and out of class so at any moment he could see if there was anything wrong with them."

Pro Hero Wards, Chaos Fic: "Shoji sits in the common room with his stuff as the class slowly leaves for Christmas break, he was one of the few left waiting."

Shoji Retires: "He couldn't have even told them himself, they had to find out from the official Pro Hero news. Katsuki had run across the article that morning and sent it to the group chat of their old class."

Whumptober

Day 7: "She looks behind her quickly to check if the people are still following her, she doesn't see anyone, but she keeps running."

There are all of my Current and Old WIP's, I'm not gonna tag anyone, but it's open for anyone who wants to do it.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, December 25

Xander: So, you doing anything special? Buffy: Tree. Nog. Roast beast. Just me and Mom and hopefully an excess of gifts. What are you doing for Christmas? Willow: Being Jewish. Remember, people? Not everybody worships Santa.

~~Amends~~

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Feast of the Gods (Crossover with Yakuza AU, T) by madimpossibledreamer

Where the Love Light Gleams (Angel/Cordelia, G) by FanFreak611

It's a Wonderful Spike (Buffy/Spike, M) by ladyemma42

Bad Influence (Giles/Jenny, T) by RoselynnThornwood

Christmas Gift (Crossover with Supernatural, NR, Italian language) by SonGoku97

The Magic's In The Music, And The Music's In Me (Giles/Jenny, G) by ImaginationFlight

Cancelled Flight (Xander/Spike, T) by forsaken2003

All Through The House Not A Demon Was Stirring (Misc Christmas crossover, FR13) by Manchester

Last Christmas (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by honeygirl51885

The Final Straw (Buffy/Spike, 13+) by Zab Jade

[Chaptered Fiction]

years of nothing have subsided, Chapter 3 (Giles/Jenny, T) by The_Eclectic_Bookworm

Pageant of Pestilence, Chapter 1 (Giles/Jenny, NR) by KJMoran

The Twelve Days of Christmas, Chapter 1 (Giles/Jenny, E) by RachaelJurassic

Buffy Summers: Was Not The Vampire Slayer?, Chapter 19 (Buffy, T) by LadyJDee

Roses for the Devil, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by davidf89

She Came Back Wrong, Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Desicat

Ending and Beginning, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by bramcrackers

He used to be Mine, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by DeamonQueen

It's Easy Time, Until It's Not, Chapter 11 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by hulettwyo

Dungeon Designs and House Keeping, Chapter 37 (Crossover with misc. mythology, FR18) by MistofRainbows

Scoobies in Neptune, Chapter 20 (Crossover with Veronica Mars, FR7) by Buffyworldbuilder

Echoes of Beljoxa, Chapter 25 (Spike/Buffy, 18+) by myrabeth

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork:Happy Holidays by sundayroadkill

Moodboard:[Buffy/Tara moodboard] by sunbelieved

Gifset:[Giles/Jenny, cutest moments] by teatimewithgiles

Video: Buffy Summers- House Of Memories by Movieandtvshows 2

[Reviews & Recaps]

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER S3 EP15 (REACTION) - CONSEQUENCES by CLC Reacts

SCARY WESLEY - Angel Reaction - 3x06 - Billy by TheLexiCrowd

No more Parker, PLEASE! -Buffy The Vampire Slayer 4x5- "Beer Bad" REACTION! by Big Time Knights

Buffy la cazavampiros capítulo 11 Temporada 3 - Pan de jengibre - (resumen) by Clauss

The Body • S05E16 • TPN's Buffy Guide by Passion of the Nerd

[Community Announcements]

Promo: 2023 Get Your Words Out! via Mirrored Illusions

[Fandom Discussions]

[First Bangel Chrismtas ask] by we-pay-for-everything

[Touched appreciation] by

[Faith-Angel parallels] by

Anyone else ever feel like Whedon's true passion of his shows was Firefly? by multiple authors

Just finished my first "re"-watch after the original airing by multiple authors

Poll: Who gave Buffy the best challenge of the Trio nerds in "Life Serial"? by multiple authors

First Drusilla clearly touches Spike at the end of "Lessons" (BtVS 7.01) by multiple authors

Sum up every season. You can only use one sentence per season. by multiple authors

Buffy/Slayer: The Replacement by multiple authors

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

PUBLICATION: Ryan Reynolds' Real-Life High School Experience Made Him Turn Down Buffy The Vampire Slayer via slashfilm

PUBLICATION: Buffy Brings Back Dark Willow With a Devastating New Power via ScreenRant

Happy Holidays from the Herald!

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

[amaikana]

TPN Mangakas Interview: original plan changes, Dr. Stone overlap, & rushed ending

(pic above is taken from vol 20 manga’s commentaries)

The Promised Neverland is a fairly successful Shonen Jump manga series that’s just ended a few months ago. Kaiu Shirai is the author of said series, and Demizu Posuka is the artist who illustrated the manga to completion. This month (October 2020) the duo did a magazine interview in the context of the manga’s end of serialization.

The interview was in Japanese, shared by @TPNmanga and translated by @shamstahsin on twitter. What I’m sharing here is only a few tidbits I found interesting. You can visit their accounts for the complete interview.

Shirai’s comment on how much his story changed from his original plan:

Shirai’s explanation on why the story end so quickly:

Shirai & Posuka’s comments on their future plan:

Shirai & Posuka’s comments on the upcoming Live Action:

[tutubola-moved-on]

Ray vs Demon

[freiahs]

Don: When I was born I had to choose between being beautiful or having a good memory.

Ray: And which one did you choose?

Don: I can't remember.

[fullscoreshenanigans]

hello, i was late to the fandom so i might have missed out on this discourse but do we ever find out the real content of Ray's letter to Isabella? Is it something of a plot point the author hasn't developed in canon? If so, what would the plot be you think? Thank you so much!!

Same hat, anon 😎🤝😎 (coming up on my third anniversary of first discovering the series just this month)

Shirai has never officially, explicitly stated in an interview what's in the letter Ray writes in chapter 22/S1 episode 7, but I've talked about this before and personally find it funny how he made a big deal out of the mystery surrounding it back in a 2019 Jump interview (translated here):

When I feel most people’s first guess as to what was in it after the escape arc concluded was eventually confirmed in December 2020 with the release of chapter 181.3:

A farewell letter from a son to his mother that reveals their biological connection when headquarters purposely kept it a secret.

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 2)

It's meant to be such a huge revelation it stops Krone in her tracks and deters her from digging around in Ray's room further to discover the rewards he's been receiving for six years and the lighter fluid he's been stockpiling for five.

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 1 Q& A | Chapter 22; Krone evens whips out records she brought along in her suitcase from headquarters to corroborate what she's read.)

I've also talked before about how Ray's retaliation was threefold in its pettiness, and this letter falls into points 2 & 3. After years of bottling up his anger and resentment toward her, he wanted to incriminate her by implicating she at very least knew about the escape, potentially that she even helped with it, all because she knew of their biological connection and wanted him to survive (the same thing he wished she would have said to him back on his sixth birthday at the gate):

(Chapter 181.1)

He found it sickening how she could choose to prolong her own life by sacrificing all his siblings over the course of her tenure at Grace Field. With this, he thought he would seal her death at the hands of the demons she groveled before like a dog, while he would die on his own terms as a human.

(Chapter 14)

What he didn't count on was Isabella's prioritizing results over rules was something that was enabled by her mother, to the point they were willing to remove Krone from plant no.3 altogether.

(Chapter 23 | Chapter 181.3)

Ray assumed Krone did not have the means to contact headquarters like Isabella did, so she would keep the bait and bide her time until presented with the opportunity to reveal it to someone higher in the chain of command. Ray assumed Krone would still be at Grace Field at the time of the escape, and that after he was dead and the four other oldest kids were gone and headquarters was looking for an explanation for how a blunder of this magnitude could have possibly happened, Krone would show her hand to usurp Isabella's position.

It's why he's so caught off-guard when Isabella reveals she made a move first.

(Chapter 24)

As for why Shirai gave conflicting information about this, I'm assuming he wanted to leave the door open for multiple possibilities before his health tanked and he began aggressively cutting off story branches so he could still complete the series under his own power and maintain his sense of artistic integrity.

(October 2020 Series Completion Interview)

And that's how we arrive at the contents of the letter being what a lot of fans suspected from the jump.

[stray-tori]

I’ve seen this in too many places so let me just say *ahem* tpn isn’t having a recap episode (read: production issues) to fuck with anyone personally, I’m like 99.9% sure of that.

__________________

btw it’s episode 5.5, not episode 6 - we’re not losing anything of the precious season people hate so much, so don’t you worry. People will get to hate the anime more next week - so have patience, children :D

rumors / assumptions - the likely cause is that when Shirai was brought onto the team late (ie after the manga ended), he wanted changes to what they already had and that’s (probably only partly - see covid existing) why they’re behind now. There was also an animator’s tweets going around basically confirming being overworked and that Shirai is involved / probably making changes.

this isn’t confirmed/official of course but it seems more likely to me than “ah yes, let’s ruin it more for everyone”. I doubt anyone on the team is thinking that. However, I’m not denying the committee / producers probably wanted Norman back for merch/events (see how popular Norman is in Japan, he trended like every episode even before he came back), so between the manga being done and there probably only being one more season, this is what we got.

Am I happy about the recap? no. of course not. I’m existential as fuck right now, I could have used some TPN in my life. but it’s not the end of the world. The staff is surely much more stressed than I am about it. I can’t be angry at them. I’m concerned for them, and I’m concerned for the quality of future episodes if it went so far as to need a delay. But moreso them. They’re still giving their best. The writing isn’t their fault. And the industry/decision (probably) isn’t the writers’ / director’s fault.

it’s a shame and if we could have, I would have preferred a full, proper adaptation too. Of course I would. I waited two years in a corner of the fandom, getting every arc spoiled for myself, just... waiting for the anime, and now I only get one more season? I’m having an identity crisis (not about the OP, though that makes me cry every time too).

In short: Nobody is happy.

.

note: I’m not trying to tell people to not dislike the anime or that they can’t be disappointed about the recap episode. I just feel like there’s so much anger towards some parts of the creation process that I just can’t relate to TvT

[couldnt-think-of-a-better-name]

Hi, do we know Ray's birthday? I remember at some point Shirai gave the dates but it said something like Ra's birthday wasn't actually his birthday? was that solved or do you think it would be important in the future?

Hey, sorry that I take so long on asks!

Ok, so here is an interview translation I found on reddit a while back:

I saw someone in the comment section present an idea that I think is most likely right:

HQ changed Ray's birthday paperwork to make sure Isabella didn't realize Ray was his son.

I think this is right, for the following reasons:

Isabella would remember the date she gave birth on.

It would make sense for HQ to not want Mamas to know if they are taking care of their own children, just to avoid them giving bias to them.

Isabella looks genuinely horrified and shocked here like she has just come to the realization that Ray was her son after all:

If Ray was born on the date on his official paper, Isabella shouldn't be this shocked, since she would have suspected it...

Shirai says he might talk about it in an interview, so I think it's not plot relevant. If it was, he would say to look forward to reading about in the manga.

Interesringly Shirai does say that he intends to pick back up Krone's bait however:

I have thought this was just the fact that Ray was Isabella's spy and son, and Isabella was smuggling toys etc for him to help him escape (the bias that I talked about), but I don't know how that would be relevant for future plot. I will try to think more about it...

[22l94-norman]

Sorry for the kind of impromptu semi hiatus of this blog, I've been packing for and have finally moved into university in the last few weeks and I'm still getting settled and haven't quite got a proper schedule yet

[1000sunnygo]

🌟THE PROMISED NEVERLAND FANBOOK TRANSLATION (PART 2) 🌟

This part dives into what TPN could be and how it took a turn, Shirai's inspirations, initial character designs and commentaries on the forest arc!