#and while i think it's really cool that a manga artist reached out to ONE to adapt his webcomic

[waitineedaname]

I wish I knew more about animation so I could properly wax poetic about mob psycho, but I really love that they didn't shy away from ONE's art style because it has so much charm, and I'm glad they used it to both comedic and emotional effect, while still making the action and psychic powers some of the coolest flashiest most dynamic shit I've ever seen

[class1akids]

Another all might vs AFO rematch is so unnecessary and really shows that hori is doing whatever he thinks is "cool" for this final arc and throwing logic and writing out the window. This honestly brings down all mights character for me.

Anonymous asked: I guess quirkless deku could've been a hero, all he needed was an iron man suit apparently lmao. If all might holds AFO back for even a minute, it's going to make AFO look super weak and all the people who had quirks trying to stop him look even weaker. I mean hori built the whole story up as you need a quirk to do hero work and then he just gives all might a iron man suit out of nowhere just to have him fight again? Yeah that's bad writing.

I'll take these two asks together. Admittedly, I didn't read the EN fandom reactions to this chapter, bc I loved it and I didn't want to see the inevitable negativity, but I really don't get why people think this ruins anything.

The manga has spent almost 400 chapter at this point of deconstructing hero society, the Symbol of Peace and I think some things should be abundantly clear by now:

A strong quirk doesn't make a true hero (Bakugou's, Endeavor's arcs)

Saving someone is about reaching their hearts in time, not about beating them down

Quirks and personalities are connected, but the quirk is not the same as the individual (Shouto's arc)

You don't need a quirk to be someone's hero (every person who left little Tenko to wander the streets alone)

Skill, training, tech can all elevate a person beyond the strength of their quirks (Best Jeanist, Hawks' fight after he lost his wings, Hatsume matching the hero kids in the SF with tech, Detrenat, Knuckleduster in Vigilante, etc)

It was inevitable that we'd come back to this question:

When All Might said in Chapter 1 that you need a quirk to be a hero, he was saying that bc at the time he truly believed that everything he was, was due to OFA.

He spent the entire time after losing OFA being "lost and wandering" (just like Shoto, btw) trying to figure out his own place. By trying to teach Deku, by becoming a better teacher to all the students he tried to find a sense of purpose, but basically he lost the ability to see himself as a hero. That's why he pulled back, offered no leadership even after the war, as things were completely falling apart.

It took watching Deku spiral as he tried to shoulder everything by himself and seeing Class A offering support to him that All Might started to doubt the path he was on. Because, seriously - Ojirou, a martial artist with a tail - Shoji - a guy with some extra arms - Mineta - with his sticky balls - all believe that they CAN support Deku, can be part of his fight.

While All Might, with his 4 decades of fighting experience, a huge amount of wealth, access to the world's best tech through personal connections can offer nothing?

It took talking with Stain to realize that there is an entire spectrum of doing nothing and doing everything by himself. And the ideal point is to do what he can.

All Might stepping up has been on the cards since then. We knew he was planning something.

Of course, All Might has earned his retirement. He could be just a living relic of a glorious era. Obviously, even with tech, he's not going to have the godlike powers he did before.

But right now, the end is in sight. Everything is falling apart. He just sent two 16 year olds to run into the core of a ticking nuke on the blind faith they'll be able to do something about it, because it is the ONLY chance. One of his students had his heart explode. There are no heroes left.

All Might KNOWS, he knows better than anyone how dangerous prime!AFO is. But he also knows his personality, his buttons to push. He doesn't have to win, he just needs to delay, and he has a good hunch that AFO won't be able to ignore him. Whatever minutes, seconds he can buy can mean the difference between life or death, victory or defeat. So of course, he will try. Because that's who he is.

Remember - Deku in chapter 1 running into danger with a backpack got OFA because he reminded Toshinori of himself. Quirkless Deku stepping up, acting heroic despite his lack of power made All Might RECOGNIZE himself. Losing OFA never meant he lost his hero heart or instincts - he just lost faith in himself, because he bought into the hero society rhetoric. The scale of what he could do changed, but his heroism didn't.

So that leads us to the last question - is there a place and need for heroes who are less than superman. If there is a Symbol who has the power to solve any crisis by himself, do you even need the lesser ones?

And I think the story has affirmed again and again that yes, people with little power can make a huge difference and heroism comes in many shapes and forms. Also, that no matter how powerful, nobody can get there alone. Everyone needs support. A strong net is more stable than a lone pillar. A person's value or ability to change things is not tied to their quirks.

All Might stepping up is the culmination of everything he learnt and is totally in character for him. Moreover, it's the natural narrative endpoint of everything that the series has been talking about.

He can't win, he'll probably needs someone to save his ass (maybe Stain, maybe Bakugou, possibly both), but he'll also tick away precious seconds from AFO's rewind time and make a difference.

And this is why I also expect Deku saving Shigaraki not be just beating him up with more OFA, but Deku being Izuku should be the decisive factor in it. And also, I personally think Deku losing OFA but learning that he can be a hero without it would be a good writing choice and a good endgame.

HK already drew Deku's quirks as support items - so I think it's not a stretch that he could be a tech-based hero.

As someone who is a huge fan of tech-based heroes operating in the world of super-powers, it is my favourite endgame for Deku.

[hyeahgaku]

JUMP GIGA Winter 2023 Special Interview with Yūto Suzuki-sensei!!

First JUMP GIGA 2023 cover to commemorate SAKAMOTO DAYS reaching its 100th chapter milestone since its serialization!!

In-depth discussion with Suzuki-sensei about his life and work, so on and so forth!!

Please tell us the things that you paid particular attention to when drawing the cover illustration of this GIGA issue.

Suzuki-sensei: The chosen pose is stationary, but I also wanted it to look intricate so I made the silhouette not too thin! I wanted to draw attention to his eyes, so I placed the gun next to his face and chose a strong colour (to create contrast)! I drew the texture more firmly than usual to give off a more powerful effect! I wanted to highlight his skin complexion so I deliberately chose cold colours for his shirt, hair, etc. but later I thought it looked a bit dull so I added the red light for the barcode scanner as an accent colour.

—

A must-see exclusive interview for readers of SAKAMOTO DAYS, and aspiring manga artists!

Suzuki-sensei Profile

Birthday: July 6

Hobbies: Basketball

Special skill: Handicraft

Favourite manga: Hunter x Hunter (Note: This is additional, known info from the one-shot.)

First debuted in April 2019: Published Garaku (骸区) on Jump Plus.

September 2019: Published Locker Room (ロッカールーム) on Jump Plus. In November of the following year, it received a live-action drama.

December 2019: SAKAMOTO •坂本• (SAKAMOTO -サカモト-) was published on Jump GIGA 2020 Winter. (Note: FYI, this was kinda a prototype of SAKAMOTO DAYS.)

SAKAMOTO DAYS serialization commenced in Weekly Shonen Jump 2020, Issue No. 51. It has become a popular serialization today!!!

Suzuki-sensei, you were once featured in GIGA. Please tell us if you have any memories from that time.

Suzuki-sensei: There was that one time when I tried using Clip Studio Paint, I realized that there were many missing tones when I pasted the image. [Turns out that] I did not display the tone area. I remember the person-in-charge told me, “Full analog is better.”

—

Top Column: Suzuki-sensei published SAKAMOTO•坂本• (above photos) in Jump GIGA 2020 Winter after being published in Jump+ twice!! The main character Sakamoto, his family, Shin and other characters have appeared in the series since then. The concept of the story is the same as the serialization version, but there are several differences such as Sakamoto being a supermarket store clerk, and he [and Shin] even killed robbers, so it’s interesting to see the difference!!

*Shin’s comment: This version of Sakamoto-san is so cool~*

Please tell us what’s the biggest growth or change you’ve experienced between when you were drawing one-shots and now.

Suzuki-sensei: When I was drawing one-shots, my stance was that I would just draw whatever I thought was interesting, so the readers could see what I wanted them to see. But now, I always think about how I could entertain the readers, and how I could make everyone find [the story] interesting. As for [my] growth, I’ve been able to use Clip Studio Paint much better now.

Do you have any advice for the new and upcoming aspiring manga artists on how to create a good one-shot?

Suzuki-sensei: I think that “attention-grabbing” and “page-turning” are key elements in a one-shot! It is important to have this thought in mind while you’re drawing - “This one’s interesting!” - and whether you can really draw that or not. It’s also very important that the reader is able to get on board with the story just because it interests them. Readers will tend to notice if you are focused only on making everything nice and neat or if you’re just summarizing things up. After all, these elements are intended to reduce the “stress of reading.” It might sound weird to make [your story] more exciting just for the sake of attracting people to read, but I think that is one good tactic for competing in a one-shot contest!

*On the next page, we will learn more about Suzuki-sensei!*

Top Column: You can tell from reading Suzuki-sensei’s debut work Garaku, that he’s a mangaka who loves manga and movies! The carefully-drawn backgrounds and elaborate camera work are one of Suzuki-sensei’s strong points!

Please tell us how you became interested in drawing manga and how you chose to pursue this career.

Suzuki-sensei: I was worried about my future career path when I was graduating from my graduate school. But then I came across Katsuhiro Ōtomo-sensei’s manga, Dōmu, which helped develop my interest to become a manga artist.

Are there any other creators or works that you feel have influenced you as a writer?

Suzuki-sensei: I really like the manga written by Katsuhiro Ōtomo-sensei, Takehiko Inoue-sensei and Hiroya Oku-sensei. As for movies, I love the director Christopher Nolan.

I heard that you studied Japanese painting. Does the knowledge you acquired turn out to be of use when drawing your manga?

Suzuki-sensei: I think that it is mainly useful when it comes to composition and form. Japanese painting focuses on the concept of creating a beautiful arrangement of shapes within beautiful compositions, and I always keep that in mind with my work. In the near future, I wish to draw more Japanese-style illustrations.

Please tell us about your manga work process and the tools you use.

Suzuki-sensei: I use an analog pen for drawing the characters. The solid colours, sound effects, effect lines, and backgrounds are digitally drawn by my assistants. I use a Zebra hard G Pen for pen work and inking, and also a digital software, Clip Studio Paint!

Bottom Column: The Ferris wheel scene [Sakamoto vs Boiled], which ranked 3rd in the “Spread Campaign” poll, and the coloured single-page illustrations also portray the balance of the margins, cool silhouettes and compositions!

—

Top Column: The world of SAKAMOTO DAYS features characters with many gaps! From the strongest old man, Takamura, to the handsome but merciless Nagumo… The intense gaps are important to highlight the character’s individuality!

(T/n: “Gap” -also known as gap moe- refers to the contrast between one’s appearance and personality, or the difference between someone's actual personality and from first impression you had of them.)

How did you come up with the idea of a “retired assassin”?

Suzuki-sensei: First of all, I thought the idea of fat people being insanely strong is fascinating. So I asked myself, why are they fat? → Because they retired. Why? → Perhaps they got married or something? And that’s how I ended up making it.

Retired Sakamoto’s plump figure is cute, but it is an unusual character design for the protagonist of a shōnen manga. Please tell us the story behind this “fat assassin.”

Suzuki-sensei: I like characters with strong gaps, so I combined some elements from the two extreme opposites, such as the strongest old man and the strongest fat guy. And the result is that I found it more exciting to draw the strongest fat guy. Back then, I wanted to do a one-shot anyway, so I was focused on the story to make an impact. I truly never expected for it to get a serialization. I never modeled my character after anyone but later on when I learned about the movie “Enter the Fat Dragon”, I thought to myself that they are rather similar.

In SAKAMOTO DAYS, there seems to be many unique action ideas, such as Sakamoto repelled with a cough drop and fights inside the trains. How do you come up with such ideas?

Suzuki-sensei: Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always dreamed of absurd action [sequences]. Even in movies, one could wonder how they'd never think about doing this kind of action sequence or direction, and they may even ask themselves, “Do battles even occur in a situation like that?!” I like the kind of direction which would take the audience by surprise!

Bottom Column: One of the major attractions of this work is the depiction of powerful battles! It’s because the locations are familiar to the readers, and the battles are realistic and powerful beyond one’s imagination. It’s important to narrow down the situation in order to bring out the intensity of the battles!

—

Many attractive side characters appear in your series, such as Shin and Lu. How did you come up with such characters?

Suzuki-sensei: Sakamoto is fat and a man of little words, so I figured he needed a handsome sidekick. During a conversation between the two of them, there was this stuff, “killing in [your] imagination.” I wished to portray that and that’s the reason why I made Shin a clairvoyant. He gets along well with the quiet Sakamoto and they surprisingly made a good team. As for Lu, I initially wanted to draw a battle with a Chinese assassin, and in the course of that, she would show up as a pitiable heroine. [I guess] in my case, I often have a “I want to draw this kind of development!” or “This is how I want the story to unfold!” goal in mind, so the characters are born in the process due to that.

*Lu’s comment: So that’s how I was born, huh~*

Among the characters in your work, is there any character that is particularly easy or the most difficult to draw?

Suzuki-sensei: I don’t have many characters that I find difficult to draw but there are times where they do look alike. So I tend to be careful with that. Gaku is a character that I can draw easily among all the characters. He is someone who doesn’t depend on others and pushes forward on his own path, and I admire people like that, so I enjoy drawing him.

*Gaku’s comment: Ahhh, I see.*

Please tell us your favourite scene from Volume 1 of the manga.

Suzuki-sensei: I like the scene where Shin jumps off the roller coaster in Volume 1. I drew it in such a way so that the readers would be able feel the floating feeling during that scene whilst they're reading. When I drew that scene, I thought to myself that I might be good with drawing action scenes! I remember getting a positive feeling [from it].

Bottom Column: A scene that captures the moment Shin jumped off from the roller coaster – from various camera [angles]! It is important to capture the cool moments in powerful action scenes, such as when Sakamoto tried to punch while disassembling a gun, or when Sakamoto approached the enemy from behind!!

—

Top Column: One of the charms of the work is that it will always make you laugh!! In order to make the reader want to meet the characters and experience their world, it is important to make the story “easy” to read! Despite being a world where assassins are rampant, it still seems like a fun world [to be in] and that’s the charm of this work!

Your one-shots Garaku and Locker Room both have a darker worldview, whereas your serialized SAKAMOTO DAYS is a shōnen manga with comedy and action elements. Is there a reason why you decided to go with this genre?

Suzuki-sensei: It’s easier to make a dark story if it’s a one-shot. But with serialization, I thought it might become potentially harder, so I decided to make the most stress-free manga that I could draw and read, and that’s how this kind of setting came about.

Do you already have the ending of the story in mind, or have you not decided it yet?

Suzuki-sensei: Yes, I have already planned a definite conclusion in mind.

Finally, SAKAMOTO DAYS has reached its 100th chapter. Could you give a final message to our readers who are reading the story?

Suzuki-sensei: The series is only able to continue into a serialization all thanks to the readers! I cannot thank you enough. Thank you very much! I’m also very happy with the fan letters that I’ve received. Please keep sending them. Please continue to support SAKAMOTO DAYS!

*Sakamoto’s comment: Thanks for reading this far. I appreciate it.*

*Over 2.3 million copies sold!! Volumes 1 to 9 are on sale now!!*

fin.

[meruz]

im gonna reply to some asks but not that many bc the last time i tried to type up one of these posts i accidentally closed the tab and lost like several paragraphs so now im scared

lots of heavypaint questions

@porch-gremlin

its the fan tool on heavypaint!! which is a free drawing app that i love a lot. and the fan tool is my fave its kind of a crutch actually im trying to use other tools gkfdhgsdg but its so fun i can do a whole painting using it exclusively. heres a video of it in action while i mess w the configuration options. u can slide the noise jitter up and down so its more or less streaky hehe ^^

thank you!!! heavypaint ROCKS!!!!! I love it... its like the only art program ill be a shameless shill for lol

also im flattered you think of my art while playing splat...i should draw more splat i feel like i havent done enough.

my phone!! I have a samsung galaxy note 20 that I am still not done paying off LMAO.... but I've been a galaxy note user for years. combined with heavypaint its a shockingly good mobile sketchbook.

I'm sorry it's crashing on your tablet... I don't have a tablet so I don't really have an advice. Unfortunately because HP is a small dev app it can be kind of finicky... especially in between updates. I think if you reached out to vaughn ling/heavypoly he'd probably respond though! he seems to keep up with the community pretty well.

@hellisrealsign nice nice.. I'm glad our tastes match up a little! hopefully that means you don't mind my frequent fandom jumping LOL. I promise to always be true to my homestuck-loving infinity-train-loving self.

LMAOOOOOO I HOPE YOU HAD A GOOD TIME? (covered in blood)

idk is it worth it to read any shounen manga for female side characters?????? (??) HEAVILY DEBATABLE. on one hand the casual observer would say no but on the other hand femslash shippers are the strongest people on god's green earth and will endure great tortures for paltry table scraps.

I think mha is a good manga but it's still a shounen, some of the tropes they squeeze the girls into kind of suck. I can kind of put my annoyance aside because regardless im still a big fan of cool fight scenes and the power of friendship but I think your mileage will vary depending on how much tolerance you have for that kind of story...? There's an awful lot of chapters afterall. I will say this: though toga and ochako aren't the main characters they're not in the background either. the path of their relationship spans multiple arcs across the entire manga and is both plot relevant and relevant to the greater themes/thesis of the story. it's pretty clear that the mangaka and editorial team are dedicated to giving these characters the time and page space to play out. it's not perfect but thats better than a decent amount of big shounen femslash in my opinion? shrugs

Thank you! for both the compliments and the concern. but I want to assure you that... to be perfectly honest I don't think I'll ever stop posting my art regardless of AI. I don't want to make this into a hot take like this is an entirely personal opinion and I don't expect any other artists to share my position but: Everything about my art that I consider valuable is inherently impossible for AI to replicate and everything about my art that is replicable and monetizable is not something I'm interested in owning or protecting. (this is also why at the end of the day i dont really care that much about art theft, tracing etc. and i think 90% of the time style theft is just silly)

I believe art should be freely shared and to restrict that is to make art into a product which is morally despicable and moreover uninteresting... to me. lol. I DO RECOGNIZE HOWEVER I'm very lucky to have both more of an online audience than I even want + a fulltime job that takes the pressure off any of my other art to make money. it's totally valid for other artists to have differing opinions on this especially depending on personal circumstances. AND also I make art that is primarily a product above all else for work everyday so im a hypocrite but. yeah thats my two cents.

I love posting art online LOL. I do it because its fun for me.

HAPPY NEAR YEAR!!!!!!!!!11111111

[birdmenmanga]

spent some time reading manga today, using the random button on mangadex as per the usual.

[Will These Words Reach You] first off was this cute yuri story about a woman who had quit her job and taken a vacation where she met another woman studying abroad and they get close despite the fact both of them can only use broken english to communicate (their first languages are japanese and spanish). very cute and sweet but is labeled as "doujin" for some reason even though it works very well as a stand-alone story and I can't find what it's a doujin of. It's a good light-hearted read (below left)

[Suuji de Sukuu! Jyakushou Kokka] then we had an isekai story about an aspiring mathematician becoming the princess's war consultant, which you would THINK is a strong premise; however the main girl's boobs are so fucking annoying and distracting that it was actively making my reading experience worse despite a reasonably strong plot. It's so clear that the author doesn't believe in the power of his subject matter or his writing or whatever that the panel compositions keep focusing on boobs. boobs. boobs. annoying as hell man why can't you just stay in your lane and talk about game theory. fuck off. I haven't watched no game no life in ages but I think the plot of this is more solid and the mathematics more coherent but the boobs just piss me off so bad. and I LIKE boobs too. that's how you know you've really flubbed it. still on the fence as to whether I'd recommend it. (above right)

[Zettai Unmei Houteishiki] we also had some old-looking yaoi (off the top of my head the artstyle looked maybe... late 90s or early 2000s? [note: checked it and it came out 2004. nailed the artstyle dating]) that was about 1 volume long; unmemorable, melodramatic, and overall not great. god what eve was the plot... okay son of a yakuza family who is high-school aged fell in love with this photographer guy years ago but the rest of his family (2 older siblings, also both guys) chased the photographer guy off behind his back and he's feeling wet and pathetic about this. not great. don't recommend.

[Café Kichijoji de] there was also a slice-of-life comedy about 5 guys working at a cafe. to me it just felt like a deeply underbaked version of hana-kimi's humor, and some of it was pretty mean-spirited too, like one of the guys being sad that only the "ugly" (masc and butch) girls wanted to text him. also do not recommend. (above right)

[Yaoguai Mingdan] and lastly there's a fantasy story about some college student who is suddenly surrounded by a lot of dangerous demons fighting over him. Seems like classic harem fare but it doesn't really bother me that much. Obviously also using sex as a bait to get people to read it, like suuji de sukuu up there but this at least is very forthcoming about "I need your semen and I am going to fuck you right now" instead of continually taking boob shots that are not remotely relevant to the plot at all. god, I'm just so mad at what they did to suuji de sukuu. as a person I'm just straight up more interested in statistics than I am about daoist demon mythology but maybe it's because of that I can appreciate yaoguai mingdan in a way I can't with suuji de sukuu like I'm not gonna be upset at the depictions in yaoguai mingdan because I don't know shit you know. also I grabbed the cover picture on mangadex but holy shit the artist's art gets way better lmao

I dunno. suuji de sukuu just felt more misogynistic as a story (which could have been fixed entirely if the main character had been a girl by the way), and while the author claims they love math it just comes off as insincere. like if you REALLY believe math is genuinely cool and is worth studying you wouldn't resort to low concepts like boob fanservice. read suugaku golden instead. yaoguai mingdan committed to the bit about sex hard and that's what I like about it. yeah!! the dryad is harvesting energy to get revenge on humans!! sure sure I can buy that. the bit about the love hotel the main character keeps getting dragged into against his will getting blown up time after time with the bill for repairs getting shoved on him because all the other supernatural parties are too busy duking it out in a secondary location? that's funny! that's really funny!! like it knows it's "low art" and accepts it and embraces it and there's something true and beautiful about that in the same way chainsaw man is. also the scanlation groups who have been working on yaoguai mingdan have been going THROUGH it I think I'm not even 70 chapters in and the scans have changed hands multiple times LMAO

[herrscherofmagic]

I think I might take a break from making fanart for some time; or at least, I'll try and make it less of a priority.

This thought came to me just now, and while I don't really have a concrete plan or process in mind I figured I might as well share it anyways

Of course, I do intend to still make fanart soon, and I still have an insane amount of ideas on future projects. Just take a quick glance at that project overview thingy I posted a while back, and you'd see just how much I still have to do!

But honestly, art has been really stressful for me recently. Not because of art itself, not because drawing is difficult. It's just that I'm dealing with a lot of anxiety, exhaustion, and stress from other life stuff, and I already have really low self-esteem when it comes to my art, so trying to force myself to work on these various fanart WIPs hasn't been helping at all.

So I think I want to experiment a bit and start posting more of my practice work. Gesture drawings, studies, anatomy notes, scribbles, and whatever else comes to mind. I want to try and do more with drawing from life both with pen and with pencil, too.

One of my biggest issues is that it's incredibly difficult for me to focus and commit on anything. This isn't an art issue, this is an issue I have with nearly everything in my life. So I can't really "solve" it, I just have to mitigate it to the best of my ability.

Recently, I think what's been giving me the most trouble with art is that I struggle with line quality and mark-making. I'm starting to understand anatomy more, I've gotten decent at gesture, I'm even taking a live drawing class as part of my college studies; but none of these things matter if I can't even move the pen(cil) across the paper or screen to make the mark I need to convey form, shape, value, and so on.

I'm also not just talking about lineart in the sense you usually think of, like in manga as one example. This is about all sorts of marks, whether it's using a brush to show value on the side of an object, or making lines to show the position & orientation of a limb.

I tend to draw really quickly and roughly, basically drawing at the same speed that I think- which is way too fast. Sometimes it's good to draw quickly like that, but I'm running into an issue where I'm spending upwards of one hour on rough sketching and "planning" when I should be taking less than 30 minutes on that, and using the rest of the time to actually draw the damn thing T_T

And because I rarely get to that later stage in the drawing, I've constantly hit roadblocks with my more complex works because I have so little experience there. That disconnect between my ideas and execution is really demoralizing, but I don't think I realized what the exact issue was until these past few weeks...

Instead of trying to worry about these large illustrations or comics and whatnot, I think I want to try and focus on some drawings that will help me really figure out my mark-making. Things like drawing a scene from life, such as plants or buildings or people on the street. Drawing more studies of clothed people instead of only doing anatomy. Drawing 3D forms in simple perspective, and then repeatedly adding more onto these forms to try and add complexity without muddying up the drawing with inconsistent and shoddy linework.

I've always wanted to add those kinds of drawings to my social media, but my ideas for fanart fill my mind 24/7 and I've been trying so hard to realize these ideas- and failing miserably. At the rate that I'm going, we're gonna experience the heat death of the universe before I reach a level of artistic skill that would actually let me make a living and survive off of my work. So I need to seriously address these concepts, and I need to (mostly) detach it from my fanwork so I don't get too emotionally attached to the countless shitty drawings I'll be making >.>

So I'll try and worry less about making all these cool fanarts and instead pick a single or handful of simpler fanarts to seriously work on, and surround those few works with lots of other practice that will help me build the skills I need to execute these ideas.

I also think I'm going to go back to writing more fan fiction in the meantime, since my writing skills are pretty well developed; far more than my drawing, at least. So I can try to present more of my fan ideas through writing instead of only through art, that way I can still share these thoughts with the world.

Plus I have some ideas that can help combine my fanfics with simple fanart in the form of illustrations- like one or two drawings per chapter of a fic, for example. Not full scenes with lots of detail- rather they'd be simple drawings with more rough linework and simple shading, which focus on conveying a key idea of the text instead of trying to convey all the meaning within the artwork itself. Like if a chapter introduces a new character, then having an illustration of said character in a simple scene. That kind of thing!

No clue where this'll take me, but hopefully it'll at least let me continue to improve my art skills without feeling miserable, while also giving me time to catch up on other work that I've been neglecting, including some huge life stuff I need to sort out if I want any chance of surviving on my own once I graduate.

I'll still have a lot of stress and anxiety from other places, but I want to at least take art and transform it into something I can do for fun and to relax, instead of being stressed by my art because of the pressure to make things "look good" instead of building up the skills I need to do that in the first place. If I can learn to enjoy making art, that'll go a long way in helping me get to a better frame of mind ^.^

[dashawfrostart]

This Week In "Time & Again" #3: Gettin' Technical... Again?! And A Little Cynical

Hello again! I must admit... My weekly blog posting schedule has slightly shifted - first, because I posted the Halloween poster a.k.a. The First Teaser a bit later due to the creepy holiday itself, and second - because a bunch of life stuff is happening (yup, don't underestimate me, I do have a life outside artworks! 🤣). Usually everything has been fairly straightforward and gradual in my life, but there's a bit of certain activity going on in it right now, more than usual. And potentially also non-artistic side projects in my life. Because of that, I didn't get a chance to draw as much as I anticipated to during this week (already last week?! wowie!!!.. time flies, indeed!). But nevertheless, I tried my very best to go ahead with "Time & Again", for this is a project of the greatest importance to me. Slower or faster it's reaching its "well done" state - it doesn't matter. As you know, I'm not big on time limits 😁 At this point of time, the product is still very undercooked, so I'll be cooking it until done (even though I absolutely can't stand it when the packages say "cook until done"... because would you PLEASE be more vague?🤣).

To my surprise, I do not have an awful lot to say today. One might even say I'm ruining the format, for the previous posts I made had quite a (relatively) high word count. That said though - and some people close to me know this very well - every time I say I don't have much to say I end up writing twice or thrice as normal. Which leads us to conclusion that, perhaps, I actually do have things to say?!.. Either way, I'm sure you're not yet tired of me rumbling on and on about strange things that only some people - primarily digital artists - understand... Namely my habits of work. I am sure quite methodical in the way I draw, perhaps oddly. So I'll continue being technical for a while, until I run out of techy topics to talk about. And when I do... then I'll just spam more pictures 😁

However... A small demonstration of progress would be good for a wee little "teaser" of sorts:

(Note the layer names. I often make typos when I rename the layers - and I just don't bother and leave them as is, because it doesn't really matter. Pains me as a languages and grammar nerd, of course, but also entertains me a bit 🤣 Also, the cigarette smoke has been drawn on a separate layer as well, and it humorously states how I feel about this particular habit of this charming dirtymouth individual. Eeeew, Lothar. Not cool.) I do not always do that, but sometimes I start off drawing the outlines of the characters' bodies and end up "wrapping" clothes around them afterwards, like on the screenshots above. I think the reason why I completed the work on Chapter 3 so unbelievably fast last year was due to the fact that on majority of the frames Lothar appeared topless... Because I've noticed that when the characters don't have much clothes on them, it takes significantly less time to draw them. But of course!.. In this case you don't have to draw every single fold and wrinkle on shirts and skirts, extra seams on jeans, or additional stylish detail on any piece of garment that looks far too plain without it... Drawing characters naked - or half-naked - sure saves an artist a TREMENDOUS amount of time and effort. ... I suspect this is also the reason why in a lot of modern comics and mangas - and animated shows, too - the artists tend to include a lot of nudity in their projects... Why yes, isn't it obvious?! Because who, pray tell, wants to spend extra hours drawing all the clothes anyway?! Come on, clothes are overrated! I'm sure of it now.

... That was plenty enough of cynicism and sarcasm for a single post, I guess. Alas! I'm rumbling, again! That was not planned by me! So let's move on to the main part of this post now! Finally, on to the techy stuff, as promised! Yum! 🤤

First of all, I would like to mention a very important change in the way I work on my graphic novel now. One fine day, not long ago, I have discovered something... that turned my digital artist's world upside down. And the name of the phenomena that shattered my whole life was... Krita's weighted smoothing for the brush. (ok, ok... that sounded very exaggerated and pompous. But oh well!)

The screenshot on the left shows the brush settings I used all the time prior to Chapter 5. I used amazing Krita's Stabilizer smoothing, because I found it quite useful back in the day as I only started to use my Huion graphic monitor. I was so fascinated with it... It truly felt magical after a few years of using "a blind", screenless Wacom drawing tablet (which I will never ever go back to, for, to be honest, I have no idea how I was able to draw anything 🤣... tried using it a couple years ago just to see the difference, and I ended up exclaiming, "How in the ❤❤❤❤ do you even draw on this thing?!", and I set it aside for good... to collect real thicc layers of dust on the shelf 🤣). The right screenshot depicts the current settings I use for the weighted smoothing. Those are the Krita defaults.

An unskilled eye would probably not even notice any remarkable difference between the two as they watch somebody drawing in real time - or if they compare my older works versus the very latest ones. I must admit, the difference is sure very subtle. But to me, there's enough of a difference in how it FEELS when I'm drawing. The lines turn out better overall, somehow it makes me feel as if I'm drawing on paper rather than on a slippery screen. I could say, to me weighted smoothing imitates pencil drawing on paper very well. Which ultimately means... it's easier to draw in general. Thus, the digital artworks look more like my regular artworks on paper. It makes me happy that I can just be me when I'm drawing on both paper and on the graphic monitor. Back in the day, I was very worried about how switching to digital format was gonna impact my peculiar art style. Turns out it hardly does. ... Not that drawing on a graphic monitor has ever been challenging to me, for I learnt pretty fast, and yet, at times something felt a little off. So right now, I ponder, there's gonna be much less "off" and much more "awesome". Which is indeed lovely.

Now I question myself on why I've never used this brush smoothing before, for I truly think it would've made the process of work much faster and the final result a tad nicer. This proves that one needs a perspective, a few types of materials to compare before springing to any sort of conclusions. Seems like back in the day weighted smoothing simply didn't get enough attention and any sufficient "test drive" from me. But I am very happy I discovered this wonderful thing now. And I'm gonna stick to it - quite possibly forever from now on, as I will keep working on the rest of "Time & Again" chapters as well as everything else including random little arts with the other characters that I love to sporadically work on every so often, and the pieces for my online greeting cards store, and such.

... Like I already mentioned in the beginning of this post, as I write - I might get seriously carried away. And I see this post keeps growing bigger and bigger in size, again, so I should better wrap it up and save a little more exciting information for the next post (that I will hopefully try to schedule properly in order to restore more or less consistent posting timeframe, for now it's aaaaaall over the place!.. no promises tho).

I'm afraid, no animated gifs today. But for a nice goodbye, I'll drop a little "teaser" picture - a very rough sketch for some other "Time & Again" artwork that I'm going to finish up shortly (hopefully).

You will most likely see the end result of this particular artistic torment as a layout element on my social pages.

And for now - doooooodly doot doot! - I wave goodbye and leave the online world for a while to keep working on my obsession... and to eat some peanut butter, too, of course. See ya next time! 👋

[sunbeamstress]

i struggled for a very long time to understand why i didn't want to make art.

it was such a mystery! some blind spot in my psyche i couldn't get a fix on.

"why haven't i drawn in months?"

"why am i sitting here playing video games? i still can barely draw hands"

"why don't i post my work online?"

"why haven't i started a webcomic yet? i wanted to over a decade ago"

why? why? why?

why was i torturing myself? all i could see in the back of my mind was my mother, seated in her armchair, the dated old phone stretching across the living room with her at the center of its web. she would always couch the phone against her cheek and shoulder and lay her knuckles against it for stability; her left hand - the one i use, myself - would reach for a pen and fill page after page of doodles into a notepad.

i remember beautiful filigree designs and landscapes and pretty flowers and sometimes an instance of something lovely in the faces of her husband or her children, captured on paper without her even having to think about it. entire worlds spilling out of her fingertips while her mind was occupied with other things.

but she stopped.

she can't draw, now. she no longer has the talent. she used to beg me to sing because my voice was a gift to god, but she had a gift from god and she left it in a dumpster. these days i don't believe in god, and i don't believe in my mother, either.

in a circumspect way i'm grateful to her for this. i'd think about her every time i picked up a pencil. this unforgivable act of waste, in my eyes, was a fire under my ass that kept my hand moving. it gives me pleasure to admit, with honesty, that while i rarely sketch or paint, i only ever seem to get better at it. to this day, i'm not half bad. in my late thirties, i'm at a skill level that i was seeing out of the very most gifted artists in their mid-twenties.

but isn't that a silly way of looking at it? "i'm 37, and i draw at least as well as a really good 24 year old". what nonsense is this? this is the sort of invasive thing that likes to run amok in my head. what sense does it make to compare myself like we're talking shonen manga power levels? why am i racing other artists? why do i have to compete?

it took me a very long time to realize that Competition Itself had supplanted what i loved about art. it wasn't something i did consciously; it just sort of happened when i was in my late teens, my early adult years, and the internet's artistic community had exploded, a detailed landscape peppered with talented people, all with their own gifts from god, gleaming and gilded and razor-edged. they were doing things i'd never imagined. they were making comics and putting their work in indie video games. they were doing animations in flash. holy shit - they were making porn! this might sound quaint to you, O reader, but by internet standards i'm what you call an "old-ass bitch" and in those days, this was pretty novel.

god, i wanted what they had so bad. i wanted a webcomic. i was going to call it "Absolute Vertigo", whatever that meant, and it would have been garbage, but i didn't care. i wanted "Absolute Vertigo by <SCREEN NAME>" at the top of a kitschy website and i wanted people to gush about how cool it was and put it into their RSS feeds and--

this was the beginning of the end, in many ways. i really wasn't cut out for competition. it would take a really long time to figure this out. my peers were putting out improbably cool stuff and i felt like i was flagging. i didn't realize it yet, but the internal language i was using to talk to myself about art was changing. suddenly i was "worse" or "better" than other artists. suddenly they were "doing more" or being more "successful" than me.

art had become a commodity.

it's wild how this sort of mindset can take a mind of its own, can build its own character, can work its way deeper into your brain. at first art was discouraging - it was this thing my mother was good at but neglected. it was this thing i felt like i was worse at than everyone else. but then it became depressing. Art, this platonic ideal of it, this idea of it in the abstract, was turning into a weapon i was using to torture myself. reader, you have no idea how many nights i couldn't sleep. to merely ideate failure was to hurl myself back through time, back to the moment i realized my mother had given up.

"why haven't i drawn in months?"

"why am i sitting here playing video games? i still can barely draw hands"

"why don't i post my work online?"

"why haven't i started a webcomic yet? i wanted to over a decade ago"

i didn't have an answer for these questions, but still they were there. they weren't important or meaningful questions, they were tools i used to torture myself. i was supposed to improve for the sake of improvement, and to enjoy art as an act of pure creation, but instead it was a hammer i would hit myself over the head with because i wasn't doing it good enough. crazy how you can talk about your own talent the way you can talk about a dead-end job.

looking back now, it's astounding that i didn't understand all of this. it seems to make so much more sense. i've always had stories and characters floating around in my head - it's literally my favorite pastime - but it took me a very long, very painful time to realize that having stories and having characters doesn't mean you're a failure if you don't immediately march to the nearest sketchbook and jot them down.

the gift of art does not obligate you to produce it. if you cast it aside, the world isn't made better or worse.

your art exists for you. it should please you, should bring a smile to your face or evoke feelings you don't dare face on your own. art should help you work through trauma. it should express when you're happy. art is a frame for the picture of you.

it should even be okay to let it go.

it's going to take me a long time to forgive my mother. but i think i understand her a little better.

[hypmic-writings]

hi,,, w what if,,, what if ichiro,,, had a manga artist s/o 😳👉👈 (btw i love ur blog a lot and i always check to see what new stuff you upload aaaaa ur doing god's work 🥺💖)

━━ ∘◦ ☆ ◦∘ ━━

Pairing: Ichiro Yamada x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: None

A/N: Thank you so much for your kind words! Ichiro would love having a manga artist omg he would be so excited! I wish I could draw just so that I could even slightly impress him haha hope you enjoy~

⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

Ichiro would be so  excited to have an s/o that is an artist in general because he thinks being creative is super cool

but if you are specifically a manga artist, Ichiro is going to lose his mind

we already know how excited he gets about anime and I can only imagine that the same feelings extend to manga

Ichiro can get very excitable, especially if he’s passionate about something, so you should be prepared

he’s going to want to see all of the pieces that you’re currently working on

he’ll be in total awe as he flips through your art book /tablet while you try to steal it back from him so he doesn’t see your horrid warm-up drawings

“Wait, Ichiro, those ones are bad, don’t look!”

“What are you talking about, babe, these all look amazing! You’re so talented!”

he’s going to ask you about the storyline you have in mind for your manga and if you’re working on it with anyone else

whenever you start to tell him about it, he’s like a kid in a candy shop - he’ll be super still with wide eyes, gazing at you in wonder

he’s always asking you how your art is coming along, and he’s always going to encourage you

if you ever publish parts of your manga or turn it into a webtoon, he’s going to be the best at advertising, telling everyone he knows to follow your story and read it online

if you ever tell him that you have artist’s block, he’s going to take you to all different places across Ikebukuro in an attempt to have some fun, exciting adventures and stimulate your mind

whenever he sees you hard at work at drawing, he has to resist the urge to run over and throw his arms around you because you look so cute with your concentrated face

sometimes he just stares at you with a goofy grin while you’re intensely working on a detailed panel

if you ever draw a character that resembles him, he’s going to actually break out into tears

he’ll think it’s one of the most endearing and heartfelt things you could ever do for him and will cherish that character forever

bonus points if you make him the love interest to the main character that has a suspicious likeness to you

there are a lot of nights spent with Ichiro playing video games or watching anime while you’re drawing away right next to him

he admires the amount of time and dedication you put into your craft and is always the first one to praise you

he’s really bad at giving constructive criticism  because he would never want to say anything that could hurt you, so don’t bother asking for it

if you’re ever in doubts over your ability or whether you’re good enough to get published one day, don’t worry

Ichiro is going to be your rock and will do anything he can to support your dream of being a manga artist

I can definitely imagine him reaching out to some of his contacts and even enlisting Jiro and Saburo to help get your name out to some companies

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

[dearkusuo]

Unchanging

Synopsis: He was content with the simplicities life had to offer, while you sought out the world.

Pairing: Saiki Kusuo x artist!reader

Genre: Fluff, Slight Angst

Word Count: 3.6k

You first heard of him back in your second year of high school. There was nothing about Saiki Kusuo that stood out to you, but your good friend, Yumehara Chiyo, thought otherwise.

“Don’t you think Saiki looks like a prince? He’s so dreamy that I can’t keep my eyes off of him. He’s so cool and mysterious,” your friend blabbered. If by cool and mysterious, she meant cold and aloof, then you completely agreed. 

Even the popular pretty girl, Teruhashi Kokomi, seemed enraptured by him, despite Saiki’s unwillingness to shower her any attention like every guy in school. She never told you about her crush on him, but it was obvious through her body language alone that she was smitten by the pink-haired boy.

You didn’t understand their fleeting infatuation for someone they hardly knew - never experienced the feeling of falling hard for someone from the depths of your soul that they were the only person you could think about. And you were perfectly content with that. You had bigger dreams to achieve than a small high school romance that wasn’t guaranteed to last long anyway.

The Okinawa school trip was an outing that all the second years in PK Academy were looking forward to, you included. Although you had a feeling that your friends, Chiyo and Kokomi, had different intentions for tagging along. 

They must have been so elated that the three of you ended up in the same group with the boy they liked.

You carried on disregarding Kokomi and Chiyo’s painfully obvious antics to spend time with their beloved prince charming until later that evening when you decided to take a walk outside the hotel alone. You convinced yourself that a late-night stroll would be an enjoyable pastime, but really, you wanted to get away from the love-struck fantasies of your two friends who were oblivious of the fact that they were both pursuing the same boy.

You don’t know how long you’ve been wandering around, but by the time you returned, the hotel had disappeared from your sight. Two recognizable figures stood by a large hole torn on the ground. A battered ship had risen from the gap where the building used to be.

Toritsuka Reita from Class 2-2 stood next to your pink-haired group member while Saiki had a hand directed at the ship, indicating that he was the one causing it to float midair. Your jaw dropped in disbelief at the sight before you.

Saiki turned his head in your direction as if he knew you were there all along. He kept his usual blank composure, although you could recognize the wary look in his eyes as he stared at you. Toritsuka panicked upon the realization that you were there to witness the whole scene.

You didn’t know how you should've reacted when the two boys told you of their psychic powers. 

“I won’t tell a soul,” you promised.

‘I know,’ Saiki’s voice echoed into your mind.

The rest of the trip went by smoothly after that incident. Kokomi subsequently spoke out about the crush she had on Saiki, and Chiyo announced that she had fallen for Kaidou Shun. 

You shook your head in wonder at the orange-haired girl. It was astonishing how quickly she was able to abandon her feelings for one boy and move on to someone else so quickly.

You realized that love was brief and ever-changing like the ticking seconds on a clock. There was no point in wasting time on such a fickle emotion when the only thing you would devote yourself to were your ambitions for the future. 

Nevertheless, a subconscious bond had been formed between you and Saiki after you learned his secret. 

You shared a glance with the psychic from afar as Kokomi relayed to you the dream she had of the boy she liked.

He was kinder and a lot less indifferent than you originally thought. Saiki wouldn’t admit it, but you would notice the subtle acts he performed to help out a troubled stranger and the small deeds he initiated to prevent harm from coming across the people around him.

 You finally acknowledged Saiki as a friend after he deliberately shared his umbrella with you during a particularly rainy day.

‘Good grief. I was feeling generous today, so this is nothing. Just make sure to come to school prepared next time,’ he had told you after you first rejected his help in worry of troubling him.

You found out much later that he could have stopped the rain with his abilities.

The empty café was tranquil save for the scratching of your pencil as you scribbled on your sketchbook. Saiki sat across from you, paying you no attention just as you did to him. His usual stoic expression was abandoned as he blissfully devoured his coffee jelly.

“I have a dream. After high school, I’ll travel around the world for a bit. I’ll join a bunch of art competitions and win a bunch of awards. Then eventually, I’ll go to an art school in New York so I can major in Illustration. And maybe I might even make a best-seller manga one day,” you mused.

‘Isn’t it a little too early for us to think about the future?’ Saiki retorted.

“Maybe. But I’ve had this dream for as long as I can remember.”

Art class was the subject you looked forward to the most in school. Not only because you excelled in many art mediums, but also because you took pride in the techniques you honed over the years of endless practice.

For the day’s lesson, you were to pair up with one person in the class and draw each other’s portraits. You casually looked around the room in search of anyone available.

From the corner of your eye, you noticed Kokomi rushing up to Saiki with an excited smile as she called out, “Saiki, do you want to-” a majority of the boys in class crowded around her before she could say her piece. Saiki walked up to you instead, asking if you wanted to pair up with him. 

You glanced briefly at Kokomi, feeling a tad bit guilty for stealing her choice of partner while she was being surrounded by her group of fans hoping that she would choose one of them. But you couldn’t bring yourself to reject the pink-haired boy’s request.

Taking a seat from across each other, you adjusted your easel so you could get a better view of Saiki’s face. Despite the red tint dusting your cheeks from the intimacy of his peering gaze, you couldn’t bring yourself to look away from him. You perceived for the first time that Saiki was actually quite good looking.

You looked down at your page so you could sketch his appearance: the antennae on his head, his green glasses, soft pink hair, slender neck, smooth lips, chiselled face, sharp eyes. You looked up to take a quick peek at him again. 

 The constant blinking on his impassive face made your eyes widen in amusement and you frantically placed a hand over your mouth to prevent a snort from escaping.

‘Why are you laughing?’

“Because you’re blinking so much that it looks ridiculous,” you explained with a chuckle.

‘I have to keep on blinking so my x-ray vision resets. I’m trying to get a look at your face.’

You let out another coy giggle despite the heat rushing to the tips of your ears. He looked down at his paper to continue his piece with a warm smile barely present on his face.

You concentrated on your own illustration, marking down his affectionate expression before Saiki could return to his blank face, and showing it off as soon as you finished.

‘Not bad. Now take a look at mine.’

He flipped his paper over, exhibiting an intricate and beautiful portrait. The focused expression he depicted on your face while you drew him looked so alluring. You almost didn’t recognize it as your own, even though it was practically a mirror image.

"This looks way too realistic for someone who's trying not to stand out."

'It should be fine if it's you.'

You didn't understand what he meant, but his words caused butterflies to flutter in your stomach.

‘I need your help,’ A familiar voice spoke in your mind.

You jumped in surprise at the unexpected appearance of the pink-haired boy you had grown fond of. Your sketchbook flew out of your lap, falling right at your feet.

“How did you know I was here?” You asked with a huff.

‘In case you forgot, I can hear your thoughts. I know that sometimes you like to come here to the school rooftop during lunch.’

“Oh,” you uttered. “Well, since you came all this way to see me, what can I do for you?” You raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

'I need you to help me reject Teruhashi.'

You pursed your lips in uncertainty.

"Kokomi is my friend, and as her friend, you can't expect me to hurt her feelings."

'As my friend, you can't expect me to lead her on when I don't ever intend on returning her feelings. She'll get hurt either way. All I'm asking is for you to help me avoid her so she'll get over me.’

You knew he was right, but you were still unsure of meddling in a situation you weren't a part of, especially when it involved the feelings of your close friend. You looked out the window in contemplation.

“Why are you asking me? Mikoto would be a better choice.”

‘I trust you more, so it has to be you.’

You ignored the churning in your stomach as you casually threw your hands up, giving in to his request.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

‘Thank you.’

Saiki bent down on one knee, reaching out to grab your fallen sketchbook. 

“I can pick that up myself, you know, or you if you wanted to help me that badly, you could’ve done that levitation thing you always do.”

‘I know.’

He held the book out, watching you through his glasses while he knelt by your feet. A saying Chiyo once told you a long time ago reverberated at the back of your mind: “Don’t you think Saiki looks like a prince?”

You gripped the sketchbook in his hand. Saiki’s gaze burned on your orbs as your image reflected off his green lenses. Neither one of you let go, even when your fingertips brushed against one another.

“What colour are your eyes?” You wondered.

‘Violet.’

“Major in Economics at Sayftee University and major in Literature at both Komman University and Ahvraj University,” you read out Saiki's school survey. “These are all surprisingly in character for you, but do you really have no dreams beyond living an ordinary life?”

‘I’m too busy thinking of ways to stop the volcano eruption to worry about my future.’

“You have a point there. Any luck with that?” you inquired.

Saiki shook his head.

“I guess that means we’ll be second years again.”

You didn’t keep track of how long time had been looping, and you found that you didn’t really care since you were already accustomed to the familiarity of your seemingly endless high school life. You were happy, even if it meant that the dreams you’ve been chasing for so long were slipping farther away from your grasp with every day that passed.

‘No, it’s about time I put an end to this.’

Saiki’s determined expression was embedded in your mind.

Your screams of disbelief were muffled by the pillow you held against your face. 

You had vowed to yourself since you were young that you wouldn’t grow attached to anyone. After all these years, you had to go back on your word just when you were about to leave.

Now was not the time. Not here. Not with him.

Kokomi and Chiyo took it upon themselves to pay you a visit after you skipped school for five days without notice. The dark circles under your eyes and your sunken face visibly worried them.

“I’m in love with Saiki,” you murmured, gazing sullenly at your blue-haired friend. “I’m sorry.”

Kokomi’s face fell, but she showed no signs of surprise.

“I already knew that. It was obvious with the way you always look at him,” she lamented. Kokomi cupped your balled fists in her hands and looked at you wistfully. “He rejected me a few days ago, so you don’t have to worry about hurting my feelings. I think you two would look good together.”

You felt tears threatening to spill over your eyes. Whether it was from relief that Kokomi accepted you so easily or pain from your unfortunate situation, you didn’t know.

“I’m leaving Japan after we graduate,” you disclosed.

A dejected silence fell upon you three until Chiyo spoke up, “For how long?”

“An indefinite amount of time.”

“Are you ever coming back?”

“I don’t know.”

Their glum faces only worsened your mood.

“Why have you been avoiding me?”

You tensed at the accusing tone directed at you. Saiki’s piercing gaze was pointed at your shrinking figure.

No matter how much time had passed since the loss of his abilities, you doubted that you would ever get used to the sound of his voice resonating out loud, or the enchanting shade of his eyes, even if they looked dangerously menacing at the moment.

“I wasn’t avoiding you. I was just busy studying for exams and doing other stuff,” you explained weakly.

Saiki’s deadpan expression indicated that he didn’t believe your lie.

After a few minutes of squirming underneath his scrutinizing gaze, you gave in and told him your worries, “I’m leaving the country soon. I think we should stop talking to each other so that it won’t be so hard for us to say goodbye.”

You pushed past him. You didn’t know where your feet planned on dragging you, but you figured anywhere was fine so long as you could get away from him.

The familiar warmth of Saiki’s hand wrapped around your own, stopping you from taking another step away. You didn’t dare turn around as you felt your heart thumping wildly.

“I won’t ever ask this of anyone else, so I’m begging you not to push me away,” he pleaded. He placed your hand over his chest, giving away the heavy pulsing of his heartbeat.

You could never say no to him.

Memories of the last few years ran through your mind as you smiled at the nostalgia. You took one final glance at your high school building before turning your back on it, striding towards the exit. 

You stopped at the sight of a familiar figure standing under the shade of a cherry blossom tree. Saiki must have known that you were staying much later after the graduation ceremony, all thanks to his restored powers.

‘Good grief. Were you really planning on leaving without saying goodbye?’ His voice resounded in your head.

You didn’t respond as you watched the wind blow through his hair, the sun illuminating the affectionate smile on his face, the violet obscured by his green glasses, and the petals dancing around the two of you as they fell to the ground. The timing was right. The mood was right. Everything was right.

He rubbed the back of your hand while you reached out to intertwine your fingers with his. The warmth that radiated off his skin felt like home.

He knew, and you knew that he did. After all, you could never hide your secrets from a psychic, no matter how hard you tried. However, you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him how you felt.

“Goodbye,” you pulled away from Saiki.

What was the point of confessing your feelings to someone you would never see again?

Paris, France was one of your destinations out of many. Most people romanticized the capital as the City of Love, but the only reason you were even there in the first place was to visit the Louvre, the world’s largest art museum. 

Influenced by the art and the romantic ambience, you sketched out the scenery around you, deliberating how you could embody the city on paper. If you were to draw a picture of love, what would you envision? 

Maybe, it would look like pink locks tousled by the spring breeze, or the reflection of your eyes searching for violet orbs through tinted green glass. It might have been the lingering warmth on the fingertips of someone who trusted you enough to share their deepest secret, or the gentle smile that was reserved only for you during the most intimate of moments.

Your love was constant and unchanging. You realized that now. No matter how much time had passed or how many countries you visited, you always found yourself thinking about home.

Ever since you were a young student in junior high, you had hated the thought of giving up on your dreams to pursue a flighty, insignificant relationship. Six years ago, you threw away your chance at love to focus on your aspirations. There was no point in thinking back on what might have been. You shouldn’t have.

 You made a name for yourself through the many art competitions you joined, winning a few awards here and there. A while back, you finished your Bachelor's Degree in Illustration at a famous art school in New York. Things were coming together quite nicely.

Your high school days almost seemed like a lifetime ago. The memories that used to be the center of your universe, the laughter you shared with your friends, and a not so ordinary boy with psychic powers were at the back of your mind. Everyday life without the only person you've ever loved became the norm for you.

You recently got a job offer from a famous publishing company in Japan after you posted a short comic that blew up in popularity. The editor in chief sealed the deal with you after you sent him a promising draft for a manga you had planned out. 

It had been years since you’ve been to the country, but your return and the nostalgic surroundings brought back old recollections that made you feel like you were a teenager again.

The chief took it upon himself to give you a tour around the company, showing you the work environment and the employees. He guided you through the different floor levels, offices and workrooms, and acquainted you with the higher-ups. But he had yet to introduce the editor you would be working with.

"There he is."

The chief led you towards the figure of a man who had his back turned to you. The pink tuft of hair on his head and the silly-looking antennae shaped into joysticks poking out of his scalp were noticeably familiar. But you couldn’t believe it.

He turned around, green-tinted eyes boring into yours with the same neutral expression you used to see every day. Even when you had anticipated who it was, you couldn’t help the breathless gasp that escaped your lips.

"This is Saiki Kusuo. He will be the editor in charge of overseeing your work,” the chief introduced to you.

You took the hand Saiki held out for you, shaking it courteously. His blank expression didn’t fade, but his eyes softened under your gaze. The warmth on his grip was just as comforting as you remembered, like the welcoming embrace for a loved one returning home. 

Neither one of you let go.

"Well, since it's already after work hours, you guys should grab dinner and get to know each other. You'll be working closely for a while, after all," the chief suggested before leaving you and Saiki alone.

A hushed silence washed over both of you as the world disappeared before your sight. The image of a cherry blossom tree on a sunny spring day was evoked in your mind.

He sat next to you in a secluded booth of the café you used to frequent, away from prying eyes. 

"What happened to majoring in Economics and Literature?" you asked.

Your body was angled in his direction while you engaged him in conversation. Despite the many years apart, you and Saiki had fallen back to the easygoing relationship you once shared.

'I finally had time to think about my future, and I realized that this is what I wanted.'

“You wanted to be a manga editor like your dad?” you prompted.

‘Not quite.’

Saiki was composed as usual as he turned to face you.

'I have a dream. After you accomplished your goals, we would find each other again and spend the rest of our lives together. And maybe we might even make a best-seller manga one day,’ he mused.

Your heart was beating rapidly in your chest. The words you couldn’t bring yourself to say on the day of your graduation poured out unthinkingly from your throat.

“I love you.”

He placed a hand on the back of your neck, closing the distance between you.

‘I know.’

Your lips crashed into his, moulding perfectly as they moved against one another. You gripped his shoulders, pulling him in as he snuck an arm around your waist. Your eyelids fluttered shut, relishing in the sweet sensation of his taste.

You only pulled away minutes after to catch your breath. His forehead leaned against yours, the tip of your noses barely skimming each other. The look of adoration in his eyes revealed that he felt the same way.

No matter how long he waited, your love for each other was unchanging.

[metalmiku]

Hey I love your art, characters and ideas. I am curious where does the inspiration come from for designs?

Thank you very much!

It would be easy to answer by just saying that "everything inspires me!" (movies, games, books, music, life). But I will try to explain my design process (and I will try being honest!).

I started to enjoy designing the characters in my teens. At that time, I thought that every character in Japan was like Darkstalkers or Street Fighters (very cool and recognizable). So, I put the design bar quite high as a teen and tried to reach this “utopistic goal”. Later I found out that these characters were quite iconic (and they still are), and there was a team of designers behind them.

I have developed a habit of picking everything that catches my eyes, and sometimes I take photos or make notes from interesting shapes, ideas, and details in my Notebook (or saving to my hard drive), which I will later use for my future characters. I Mostly design the characters just for myself, and the human body is a quite dominating thing in my art. And that makes it easy to fit any kind of shape on the character’s body (like when designing armors). When I do artistic research, it always starts to pay off (and gives me extra ideas for the other stuff). The more I do research, the more I realize what kind of stuff I really like. The ideal design situation is when my new idea involves something that I have always liked, and now I have an excuse/reason to use it!

My ideas are usually like a continuum from the previous ones with some new things that I have learned. Sometimes the ideas are born when I get excited about something, or something that has started to annoy me. And sometimes I want to see something that doesn't exist (or so I think!), Like “it would be cool if“ this ”and“ this ”were compound. Usually, those things are quite opposite from each other, and sometimes those kinds of things give freshness and dynamic to the design (and I like to put familiar things into the new concepts).

Sometimes the first version of my idea might be quite simple or silly, but usually, it starts to develop with time and when I'm working with it. When the concept starts to be ready, I test it by doodling different variations from it (before I think it looks right to me). When I got the new character’s design ready, I like to make a series of variations from characters, so I will get many characters: D (I like creating groups). And one thing that has helped develops my ideas and bring new ones, is when I have the Privilege to have a discussion with someone about them.

One of my ideas that started as a Silly concept, was my Neon Knights world. First, I was just planning to make some kind of danmaku- dating sim game that would have been filled with cool spaceships and handsome (alien?) Princes from different planets (at that time I did listen to a lot of Eschatos ’soundtrack). Well, then it did develop to a bit deeper than that.

 One idea behind the Neon Knights characters ’designs was that if I would see them in the toy store, I would want to buy them! I wanted to wake up the same kind of feelings in me when as a kid I had my little ponies and Sweet Secret doll (admiring and treasuring beautiful objects and playing with them). And that gave me a nice challenge because now the Neon Knights ’characters are semi monsters. So, for me, it's like combining tokusatsu monsters and Riyoko Ikeda's manga.

For the last few years, I have been watching older movies. They have some clever ideas and interesting solutions (and they are technically easy to read). And sometimes it's good that they are not too close to my taste, because it gives me more space to go with the idea in my own direction

I think that creating ideas is as like any other skill, you can develop it while practicing and doing it.

I did put some examples few ways how I might design a character + some art-related books that I purchased (I am a fan of catalogs!).

And here is my character art history in compact form:

"Developing my taste":

And how my character might develop:

And something from my bookcase:

[franeridart]

Anon said: Hi I hope u don't mind but I was wondering if I could get your opinion on JJK??? Do u like where the story is going & how r u enjoying jjk so far? Is there anything u dislike or have any nitpicks about jjk? Is there anything, if u could, change about jjk? Is there any characters u don't particularly care for or don't like? Sorry to bombard u with sooo many questions I'm just really curious about ur opinion >w<

OH I don’t mind the question at all! Though let me be clear right now that this is going to be a completely subjective answer and also that it’s going to be heavy with spoilers. 

Okay, first things first, if I had to give jjk a general vote on a scale from 1 to 10 it’d be a 8, and that’s only because I read the prequel too! Right after catching up with the manga without any knowledge of the prequel’s existence it was a 7, barely (since Gege tends to treat the prequel in the main story as if you’re supposed to know about it, with all the mentions of Yuuta and Geto and stuff, but then never tells you anywhere in the manga that you were supposed to read it? Or that it exists at all? It even has a different name than the main story! I read the manga with the serious feeling that I was missing something, which I was and no one told me. Didn’t like that very much, ngl). 

I still enjoyed it greatly and binged it all in a day and a half, but, you know, I’ve never thought it a perfect story. Am I enjoying how it is and where it’s going? Yeah, yeah, immensely! I adore it, really, if my drawing it 24/7 for the past over half a year wasn’t proof enough 😂 but it tends to go too fast at times for my tastes, it isn’t especially good at exposition and has confused the everloving hell out of me more than just once. Also it’s chokefull with stuff you’d call foreshadowing that ends up meaning nothing at all in the end and that’s, like, something I wish Gege didn’t do since I tend to overthink these kind of things and then feel disappointed when nothing comes out of it 😂😂 that’s on me tho.

If I had to change anything about it.................no, nothing, I’m good with how it is. Like, it has a lot of problems, definitely, but it wouldn’t be the jjk I fell in love with if it was anything else. Do I think everyone will die by the end of it? Yeah. Am I sad some characters already have died? Very much so. I’m still good with how it is tho, it’s just how jjk is. What else...uhhhhhh right, the characters! I don’t have any I especially dislike or hate aside from Mahito, which I just can’t stand sorry Mahito stans he just isn’t my cup of tea at all 😂 I do have characters I don’t particularly care about, like... Ichiji? For example, or Kusakabe, or most of the Kyoto kids (even Kokichi and Mai only became characters I liked after they died tbh, aside from Miwa and Kamo I’m not particularly into any of them). I haveeeeeee mixed feelings about Yuki, but only cause I feel she outright used Geto’s kind heart and depression to reach her own goals in a way that felt a lot like just an experiment for a theory she had, and I live and die for Geto so you can see why I would resent her for this 😂 but other than that she’s pretty cool, so I’m on the fence with her (again, sorry Yuki stans, I don’t have anything against you all 🙏)

That’s it! Overall I love jjk and I’m fully on for the ride, but I wouldn’t lie to anyone and call it perfect 😂 it’s better tho, I like stories that can fail me and have in the past failed me more, I’m more relaxed while reading them

Anon said: hey Fran!! quick question, are you a self taught artist or did you take any classes? hope ur doing well!— ^^

Self taught! As I’m sure anyone who studied art can easily tell  😂 I do my best with the resources I have 💪 I hope you’re doing well too!!!

Anon said: i also struggled with csm in the beginning, but idk after a few chapters i got into the mood and style of humor and now, after finishing it, i think about it all the time 👁 cant wait for you to see the show and if you end up liking it <3 also; ur art is everything!! whatever you draw, it gives me so much serotonin

Ahhhh I hope so I hope so!!!! I want to like it so bad, the art for it are absolutely incredible I wanna enjoy them properly!! 😭 And thank you so so much!!!!!! 💕

[lazy-sketcher]

Today I've rewatched the 3rd Naruto Shippuden movie ("The Will of Fire" or whatever is its name) out of nostalgia and because I consider it a "comfort movie" of mine, despite being a not-so-good one

Anyway, since I'm obsessed with re-reading or rewatching any scene having some good Sannin content in this goddamn series, I got "slightly mad" realising that actually there's more filler content than actual canon one...

Like, in this movie the antagonist is called Hiruko, who also was a childhood friend of the trio. He talks about always having bad health and not being as powerful as the Sannin, even during their childhood days. So he admired them and wanted to be like them, but also felt kind of jealous he could never reach them, physically speaking. And eventually, he went for the "forbidden Jutsu" way, made illegal experiments, actually ruined his body, but almost reached (by the end of the movie) his goal of having the perfect, most powerful body ever.

Now, the fact that this mad lad was introduced in a filler movie gets on my nerves because it could have been cool to have the whole story of Hiruko as canon, for two main reasons:

As I said, the lack of canon Sannin content is absurd, even regarding their relationship with other people (famous and not) during their childhood/teenhood/early adulthood

Hiruko thought a bit too much like Orochimaru and I can see them being best friends because of their interest obsession for forbidden jutsus and "thirst" for more and more power [one thing I've found pretty funny while rewatching the movie was the fact that Hiruko presumably was like... an addition in Team Hiruzen and while he narrates his backstory, at some point there's this scene in which teen Jira-Oro-Tsuna reach his secret lab (where he was conducting an experiment) because, apparently, Hiruzen ordered to kill him and they went there to hunt him down but he escaped, of course, lol AND IT MAKES ME LAUGH SO FUCKING HARD THAT OROCHIMARU WILLINGLY WENT THERE TO HUNT DOWN SOMEONE WHO COULD HAVE BEEN HIS "ILLEGAL EXPERIMENTS" BESTIE WITH A SHOCKED FACE WHEN THEY REACHED THE LAB LIKE-

OROCHI MY BRO WHY ARE YOU SO SHOCKED? YOU'RE DOING GONNA DO THE SAME SHIT IF NOT WORSE💀 anyway, if this shit was canon, canonically Hiruzen would be that sensei who let NOT JUST ONE, BUT TWO ABSOLUTE MAD UNETHICAL SCIENTISTS ESCAPE HIS FREAKING VILLAGE!]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just to end this """"rant"""", we really need Kishimoto to at least write down some new canon content regarding the Sannin past (both as a team and as individuals). Like, really, a novel would be fine! I've kept repeating this for years now but I WANT something that isn't just lil' flashback panels thrown here and there in the manga only for the SP staff to use them as blueprints for... like... two whole half-canon-half-filler episodes (ep. 127-128 I'm looking right at you)

I know we can rely on some good fucking fan content because the Sannin fandom out there is filled with talented people (writers, artists...). I don't consider myself as a good "content creator", but I enjoy to put my love for this team of old, fucked-up shinobi on a piece of paper with my stupid pencil... But the point is, we're all linked by the distress we feel for the lack of *inhales* GODDAMN CANON CONTENT FROM THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR HIMSELF.

Literally sometimes I think Kishimoto just created them out of a fever dream, only to put them aside in the darkest corner of his mind when he noticed he hasn't thought about anything else for their story... even in "Boruto" it looks as if he wants to put them in the plot, somehow, but most of the time he doesn't know HOW and that's sad. Tremendously sad.

[kakakakashi]

Flightless Bird (Part 1/4)

Merry Christmas @wooobuddyletsgetnasty!!! 

I wanted to write this as a gift to someone who I’m honored to know. She’s literally an angel on earth. She is doing so much for others right now, and I wanted to give her this piece for Christmas, as a way to give back to her and to show her how grateful I am for her work and her friendship. 

- 

Keigo Takami (Hawks) x Reader 

Warnings: cursing, implied tattooing without a doctor’s license, lots of words that don’t make sense, idk, man. 

EDIT: OMG! I FORGOT TO ADD THAT THIS HAS MANGA SPOILERS & I HOPE I DIDN’T SPOIL IT FOR ANYBODY! I’M SO SORRY! 😭

Word count: 1,246

A/N: Keigo’s phone screen is shattered like 25/8. Change my mind. Anyway, who else is screeching about the latest chapter. 

- 

Checking your watch again, you noted that your latest client was late by thirteen minutes. You’d told him to be on time, but apparently, he had another idea. Glancing through the crowd to absentmindedly people watch, you imagined the crowd’s lives. The businessman on the phone was probably on his way to a meeting. Maybe he worked in finance. Maybe not. The little girl holding onto her mother’s hand made a smile quirk on your lips while she babbled on about her most recent lesson in school. However, a familiar figure in the crowd immediately stole your attention.

Sure, he was wingless and retired after his most recent battle, but he was still famous. This was going to ruin everything. You weren’t about to discuss your illegal tattoo business in front of a well-known hero. He’d surely run you in, and you’d end up with fines up your ass for tattooing without a doctor’s license. The client you were meeting with, Keigo was his name if memory served you well, was definitely not getting off to a good start, first, leaving you hanging, and now putting your ass on the line. It was probably best to ask for a rain check.

Strike that, you were definitely cancelling. Hawks, the famed hero you’d spotted, casually approached the bench on which you were currently seated before her reclined on the opposite end. Even without the vermillion feathers trailing behind him, it was obvious who he was. Pulling your phone out of your pocket to message Keigo, you began to wonder if you should even put in the effort. After all, the guy had missed his appointment.

“Sorry I’m late,” the young hero beside you spoke. Out of your peripheral vision, you noticed his iconic honey eyes were focused straight ahead, so you chose to ignore him. However, he continued, “Thanks for agreeing to meet me. I’ve been a fan of your work for years now.”

Raising your gaze from your phone, you skeptically side eyed him. After glancing to see who he could be talking to, you scoffed, “Me?”

“Yeah,” the corners of his mouth twitched up in a small smile, “You’re Y/N, right? The, uh, artist?”

You tried to imagine him sprouting a second head at his words. He had no real proof of who you were, so you knew it was a matter of who could be more convincing. “Sorry, I think you’re mistaken. I’m in marketing.”

It wasn’t a lie. That’s why you specifically chose those words. You ran your own social media page, after all. That’s how you got all your clients. As a matter of fact, you were currently out on business.

“I know.” You glanced at the hero to find him smirking at you with a crooked grin that was usually plastered on magazines. It was obvious he was trying to be charming, and you had to forcibly suppress the impulse to roll your eyes. “That’s how I found you, after all. Although, I can’t really like all your posts from my public account since I am… well… me, and it wouldn’t look good if someone in my line of work was liking photos of your, uh, artwork. I’m guessing you understand since it seems like you recognize me. I’m Keigo.”

You didn’t have to imagine the second head sprouting this time. Genuine confusion flashed across your annoyed expression. “What?”

Upon your disbelief, Hawks reached into his pocket to dig out his phone. He quickly unlocked it before opening the string of messages, holding the shattered screen out for you to read. Sure enough, when you glanced over the messages, you found your exact words in the bubbles. Glancing at the account, you noted the username matched Keigo’s as well. Fuck. You were screwed. You were going to get arrested for sure. Almost reading your mind, Hawks tried to quell your nerves.

“Look, this isn’t some kind of sting operation or anything. I’m coming here as Keigo, not Hawks.” The alias sent a flash of a shadow across his casual expression. The light in his eyes dimmed slightly when he continued in a softer tone, “I can’t do that kind of work anymore… That’s part of why I’m here, actually.”

All the noise of the city went silent to you. This wasn’t a good idea. He was probably lying. After all, he was a trained spy. Although, you couldn’t figure out why they’d send him, of all people, to help capture you. Such a high-profile person wouldn’t be the best choice for this mission, so he could be telling the truth. However, you couldn’t risk anything yet, so you remained still, staring off in front of you and waiting for more information to be offered.

“How about I talk about what I’m looking for?” Keigo figured it was the best way to break the ice, but you remained silent. You weren’t about to give the supposed-ex pro, the master of interrogation and acquiring information, any opening to wipe out everything you’ve worked for. However, while you stared into the sea of people before you, Hawks took your silence as an invitation to continue. “You probably saw the news. My wings got singed off. It left some pretty nasty scars on my back, and I’d really like to cover them up. I thought it might be cool to use some element of my time… in that line of work to remind me that it was all for a reason.”

Without any indication that you were listening, Keigo assumed he was getting nowhere fast. He knew he shouldn’t be surprised with your aloof demeanor, but he still deflated a bit at the thought that his favorite tattoo artist wouldn’t take him on as a new client. Sure, he could go to someone else, but your work hit different to him. He hoped you would be the one to ink him. However, it didn’t look like that was going to turn out, especially when you casually rose from the bench. Keigo watched you shove your fists in your jacket pockets, expecting you to take your leave. However, he was surprised when he heard your voice in that same monotonous timbre.

“Well?” A beat passed while you continued to gaze a hundred miles in front of you. Keigo’s wide eyes glued themselves to your figure, waiting for his response. However, he remained frozen in his spot. “Aren’t you coming? I’ve gotta get a look at your scars in person to see what I’m working with. My place is only a few blocks from here.”

Even if he was trying to set you up, you decidedit wouldn’t hurt if today was a consultation. Keigo and you could exchange information, and simply chat a bit. Maybe you could weasel some information out of him. Obviously, you were nowhere near the caliber of winged hero Hawks, but you were pretty good at reading people. Besides, he had no reason to deceive you. The piece he wanted was going to cost a pretty penny based off of his description, and the risk was worth the payout. Not to mention, taking a chance on him was an awfully appealing gamble.

His expression of cluelessness morphed into a sparkling grin, yet you still didn’t spare him a glance. Although, the little tug of your lips didn’t go unnoticed by Keigo. He quickly stood while you began walking in the direction of your home studio with the retired hero hot on your heels.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

As someone who doesn’t watch the show, what is it about “Chameleon” that upset people?

Well...

Despite being the Season 3 premiere, the episode had zero connection to the events that happened in the Season 2 finale, like the appearance of a new supervillain and Marinette actually kissing Adrien on the cheek (seriously, the show is as determined to forget this ever happened as China is to forget the Tiananmen Square protests ever happened).

The plot follows Italian transfer student Lila (who had appeared in a total of three episodes over the past two seasons and is now being made a major threat) easily winning over the attention of everyone in Marinette and Adrien’s class with her lies which sound incredibly ridiculous. I get this is a kids’ show, but the fact that we’re supposed to see her as this master manipulator is ridiculous when she tells lies such as...

Having tinnitus as a result of saving a famous rock star’s pet cat (a pet he doesn’t have as he has a crocodile) by running onto an airport runway

Having a famous pianist as for an uncle, but can’t play the piano because of arthritis

Being friends with a famous manga artist in Japan

Having an uncle that works for Nintendo (Okay, she didn’t say that last one, but would you really be surprised if she really said that?)

The main conflict of the episode being that Marinette’s friends easily turn on her by believing a girl they barely know, with Marinette’s friend Alya dismissing her claims that she’s a liar with the fact that she’s just jealous because of how close she is with Adrien (though some have taken Alya’s side on this issue, saying it’s believable with how she acts around love rivals like Chloe and Kagami), and forcing her to sit in the back of the class in a new seating arrangement without even consulting her first

While we’re on the subject, the fact that her friends are never called out on their behavior by the end of the episode when things are set back to normal (because of course they are). It doesn’t help that Alya says, and I quote “You didn't think I'd let my BFF sit all by herself, did you?”

The fact that despite being called “Chameleon” Lila never gets a cool chameleon costume when she gets akumatized.

And the controversial lesson at the end where Adrien convinces Marinette to give up on trying to expose Lila, reasoning that “making a bad guy suffer has never turned them into a good guy”. Debate that all you want, but I like to believe that making a bad guy suffer makes them less likely to do bad things, a prime example being Hiroshima in 1945.

I’m more lenient on this point, as it did lead to one of the few actual character arcs this show had, with Adrien realizing how harmful Lila’s lies are to others, and reaching his breaking point by the end of the season

But as a whole, this episode was really the changing point for the Miraculous Ladybug fandom. It changed the perceptions of several characters like Adrien and Alya, to the point where an entire genre of Miraculous fanfics, dubbed “salt fics” was born. 

These stories usually followed the formula of Marinette finding a way to get back at Lila by teaming up with other supporting characters (and possibly Adrien, depending on how the author feels about him), while treating most of her classmates like they’re the spawn of Satan, having them do far worse things to Marinette than simply shunning her. If Adrien isn’t on her side (being too afraid to actually tell everyone the truth of Lila), it would be another love interest like Luka, Felix (basically an original character based off concept art shared by the fandom), and sometimes, Damian Wayne. I’m not making that last one up by the way.

While I don’t think it’s as bad as everyone says (trust me, it’s still bad), I can understand why people were so pissed off by "Chameleon”.

If you want to learn more about salt fics or what people thought of this episode, just look up “Chameleon salt”. Just be careful, it’s a real rabbit hole you’re diving into.

[x0401x]

Animate Times Interview with Centimillimental

Discussing his journey so far and his love for this series, saying that he “felt something like fate” upon coming across “Given”! Interviewing Centimillimental, who did the theme songs and sound production of the summer anime “Given”.

The artist Centimillimental composed the opening of the TV anime “Given”, which aired in Fuji TV’s Noitamina and gathered a great amount of attention. Garnering comments about the sound production of the show’s band, Given, he released the opening theme “Kizuato” as a single on September 11!!

This is the debuting work of the solo unit Centimillimental, in which Atsushi-san does the vocals, keyboard, guitar and programming. In this article, which is surprisingly his first-ever interview, we shall introduce plenty of his journey until reaching this point and his thoughts regarding “Given”!

His current style was earned through “wanting to express joy and sorrow with music” as much as possible.

——Thank you for your time today!

This is actually my first time being interviewed (laughs). I will be in your care.

——Your first interview?! Please let us ask all kinds of questions. Firstly, could you tell us about the origins of Centimillimental?

Although it has the name Centimillimental, this is a solo unit. Rather than a singer and songwriter, I am more of a solo artist with a band stance. But it was originally a band. The band name remained just the way it was... that is all.

——What sort of band was it?

A four-piece one, with myself in charge of the vocals and keyboard. The band had a style close to pop, with a lead guitar, bass and drums, but the members pulled out one after another... Ultimately, I was the only one left. For that reason, people from the live concert houses were quite uneasy. Like, “Does the vocalist have a nasty personality or something?” (laughs).

——(Laughs) That is so not true.

Each one quit for their own reasons. But I had an obsession with the band, so I was like, “I’ll do this even if it’s just out of stubbornness” (laughs). And so, the band name stayed.

——Atsushi-san, what are the roots of your admiration for bands?

My root is Remioromen. I actually used to play classic music. I was so much of a classics boy that I would... turn off the TV whenever a music program was starting, but when (an insert song) “Konayuki” started playing in the drama “1 Liter no Namida”, which I watched back in fifth grade, it had an impact on me. Like, “So a singing voice can be this cool when it accompanies a melody”. From then on, I began looking up to bands.

——How did you handle classics from that point onward?

I continued playing for a long time, until I was around 20 years old. But then I was charmed by pop music and could no longer dedicate myself to classics (strainer laugh). I used to dream of becoming a pianist, but I felt that the mindsets of classics and pop were different, and then chose the way of pop.

——When you think about it now, what do you believe to have been the reason that a classics boy had his heart stolen by pop?

I had the feeling... that something more essential for my inspiration was set on fire, so to say. I think this something also exists for people who like classic, but in my case, I personally felt joy at the fact that “their singing voice is cool”, “their words pierce me”. So I was like, “This is what I actually prefer”. Also, I was drawn to the freedom of pop. The world of classics is devoted to music sheets, so in concourses, for example, it is important whether or not you can play true to the sheets, but I end up playing the way I want to on my own accord. Which is why the judges’ votes became worse year after year (bitter laugh). During this, there were also people who told me, “This is an insult”... But if I were in a world of originals where I could give birth to my own songs, wouldn’t my beliefs be justice? So I started to think that I was “the kind of person who wants to express himself freely”. To begin with, I have liked creating things since the distant past. I used to write stories of my own and making picture books with them in preschool, and from first grade on, I would be writing song compositions and poems. At any rate, I like creating things, so wouldn’t making them freely suit me better?

——So, if it is on the topic of “wanting to create things freely”, the way you are now is best, in a sense?

That is right (laughs). My degree of freedom has increased ever since I went solo. One of the reasons the band did not work was that my ideals and the image of my unshakable, inertial nature were very strong. I believe that so-called bands are supposed to get together in a studio and consolidate and gather up arrangements, but right as we formed ours, I would take the stance of writing down everyone’s parts and saying, “I want you to play this”. So I think that the current Centimillimental is what turned out from me doing everything I could, the place that I was supposed to reach.

——Nowadays, you are in charge of all parts, right? Did you play instruments other than piano from the start?

That is not the case. When our guitarist left the band, I did not want the quality of our music to be reduced, so I thought about supplementing it somehow, then learned how to play guitar. Also, I had to put my heart into it, but I started studying bass and drums when the others left, wondering if I could cover for them. The fact that the members pulled out had an influence on it.

——How was it coming in contact with instruments besides the piano?

The structures are completely different. Bands are formed so that each person can compensate for the other. When it comes to the beauty of such arrangements, I came to feel them more keenly the more I delved into them. And then I started obsessing with the arrangements.

——After these twists and turns, did Centimillimental become in 2015 what it is now?

No, there were actually twists and turns from this point on too... There was once a time when the band became just the bassist and me. Back then, the band was not doing too well, so we decided to do a different unit. That was the band called “Nee, Wasurenaide Ne” (“Hey, Don’t Forget”). In the end, I mostly had to do it by myself, but doing things separately from the main activities gave me a high degree of freedom. And then people started finding us interesting and we gradually earned their praise. For me, that was extremely frustrating (laughs

——So it became a “sub”-like band.

That is right. And then I thought about quitting, so I applied for an audience as a commemoration for quitting, to make one last memory... but then the work I had applied won a Grand Prix. I was like, “No way!?”. This happened in summer 2015. And that was when the main and sub switched (laughs). And so, only the band’s original name remained. The label respects us in the sense that we “can make the music that we always wanted to”.

——What is the origin of the band name “Centimillimental”?

“Remioromen” is a coined word, so I looked up to a coined word in katakana. I personally like katakana. Plus, I like “sentimental” things. That sentimental feeling when you are going home after a fun day thinking, “Today was a good day” and it suddenly makes you feel lonely, or that sentimental mood from when you are purely sad... I believe that sentimental emotions regarding anything are something that we should nestle close to. I had this thinking that I want to express joy and sorrow with music, so while using “sentimental” as the pillar, I added the “milli” with the meaning of “not being too caught up with it”.

——Come to think of it, both “Given” and “Kizuato” are written in katakana.

I guess I have a connection with katakana (laughs). If the words are in kanji or in hiragana, doesn’t that change the appearance and interpretation of each? While katakana has a coldness to it, it doesn’t feel too sharp. I have the feeling that these kinds of words are interesting.

“Gender doesn’t matter when you’re in love with someone.” – He also has experience with composing music having a BL series as the impetus?!

——How did you feel when you received the proposal about “Given”?

It was the first tie-up of my life, so I turned into a mess of nervousness, uncertainty and expectations. But “Given” is a series about music and the theme is bands, which was something I looked up to. Moreover, rather than just the sparkle and shine of a band, it also focuses on sadness, the tremor from losing something... these delicate parts of it.

I think music has a close relationship with meetings and partings, so I felt happiness to be involved with a series that faces this directly. It was like something that was supposed to come at me had arrived, and at the same time, I felt something similar to destiny. That was my first impression.

——The sensible portrayal is one of the charms of this series, right? I read on the topic that this series was the first-ever BL comic that Noitamina has adapted into anime, and there is an indescribable appeal in the words “boys’ love”...

It allows you to smoothly immerse yourself into their worldview, right?

I have bought a BL manga in the past. In my middle school days, buying a book after looking at just the title was trending. At the time, what I took in my hands was a short story collection titled “Saigo no Sangatsu”. I thought at first, “I might’ve jumped into a terrible world!” but turns out it was a really good work...

Gender doesn’t matter when you love someone; it’s all the same. It was a really good work, so I was quick to wrote a song for it (laughs).

——That is a good story. By the way, did you use to watch anime back then?

I was not the type to watch anime in-depth. But what I thought to be odd was that, whenever you finish watching a series, doesn’t the way that you listen to the opening themes, ending themes and insert songs change?

Through the filter that is the series, the tone of the music changes, and the story stands out instead as the music overlaps with it... While watching, I would find myself thinking that this way of snuggling up to the music was interesting.

——What were your impressions when you read the original work of “Given”?

Kizu Natsuki-sensei’s focused viewpoint on pain is quite sharp. Her poetic depictions, which sometimes get you caught in them, are impactful and sensible. I thought it was a series that cherished words a lot. Since it is a manga, I think the art is the main point, of course, but I felt a literary beauty in it that resides not just in the drawings. It also felt close to the world of songs that I take part in, so I truly had the feeling that it was fate.

——So the image of the song came readily to you?

Right you are. That is where I arrived once I wrote down my own perspective of romantic love and the ways that people become involved with each other. The sense of suitability was incredible. That’s why I was able to write it so frankly, managed to say what I wanted to, and got close to the series. I feel that the compatibility was really good.

But of course, there were walls. I write even the arrangements by myself, so I had to make changes over and over, and I had never had any experiences with being the producer of a band before, so there were things I was not used to. Also, my main instrument is the piano, but there is no piano in the show. That’s why I had to delve into the guitar, so there I had a hard time sound-wise...

“I want it to be an important song for everyone from ‘Given’ too!”

——Can you tell us about your particularities regarding the sound of “Kizuato”?

For the anime size version, I purposely sealed away the piano and classic strings that I had been specializing in until now. For the whole song, in order to nestle closer to “Given”, I cherished the band’s scene, with a guitar, bass and drums.

——I felt a big meaning in the fact that it starts with a breath. Is it something that you gave importance to?

I like the sharpness of songs that start with the singing. That feeling of getting taken aback without thinking. Same goes for sighing - I feel that people’s emotions mount on their breathing. Through “the drawing of a breath”, you can sense a beauty and strength unique of vocal songs. For that reason, I cherished the breaths from the very start.

I also think that the breaths are very important in “Given”. For example, in the teaser trailer, the video ends with a breath, and in the PV, the scenes change with breaths too. That’s why I think it was good to be able to start the song like this.

——I felt that the lyrics portrayed the sensible feelings of all four, starting with Mafuyu, but how was it made?

They are human beings, so I think there is definitely a part of their emotions somewhere that they can share. The loneliness and agony of losing something, the conflicts of loving someone... anyone has that. I looked for keywords that would connect everyone from “Given”, including me. For me and for all the characters that appear in “Given”, it could not be a lie...

——The “four seasons” bit in the lyrics was also a good keyword.

I think that is one of the main points of the series, and that this part of it can connect even within me.

——The words “I can hear it and it’s still real, so I’ll carry your heart in your place” from the latter half are extremely painful, but at the same time, it conveys resolve and determination. Were you conscious of the machinations of their hearts or something like that within the song?

I think it is wonderful when emotions get into motion as the song goes on. Aren’t there moments in everyday life where wounds heal little by little and changes of heart where we try to get back on our feet even if they do not heal? I like story-songs that head towards hope in this fashion. I also want everyone in “Given” to be happy. I gave importance to how they should head towards hope while sharing those wounds.

——The song changes dramatically after the aforementioned verse.

I finished it with a classic orchestra sound. That is one of the strong points of my music, so I had the desire to approach “Given” through it. If I sealed away my music too much and made it into just a “Given” song, it would feel like I was standing on formality. I am a person who gets hurt and even so lives on crying and laughing, just like them. I pieced together that part of the song because I wanted to convey this message.

——So you let your uniqueness show in order to join hands with “Given”. Indeed, both with love and friendship, getting close to the other person is not all there is to it.

Right. That alone is not a connection, and you end up concluding that your own love is too deep... I believe there is a 50:50 beauty to it. Isn’t that what acknowledging one another and joining hands means?

“Kizuato” is my debut song and an important song for me. That’s why I also want it to be an important song for everyone from Given (the band). I thought about intersecting that. After thinking a lot, I managed to change the charm between the anime size and the full size.

At the beginning of the A-melody from the second chorus, I tried changing the rhythm, transforming it into an electro loop, and did all sorts of approaches. I hoped it would be wide-ranging as music.

——How did you feel when you watched the opening?

I was extremely moved. I had gathered with all the recording members to watch it, and everyone shared their joy too. It was a really good scene.

Having my own music playing in sync with an animation was my dream, so I was tremendously happy, and I felt like I had connected with the viewers who had the same feeling... I was truly overjoyed.

When I looked on Twitter, people had written up several opinions, making me go, “So there’s this many people enjoying my music”.

“It’s exactly because the desire to protect someone isn’t something simple that we feel uncertain.”

——Other than the OP, you also did the sound production of the band Given, so what impressions did you have from the production work?

I already liked production work to begin with. Until then, I had been doing producer-like things, such as arrangements for the musical compositions of artists around me, but this was my first time doing production as a job.

I mentioned Remioromen earlier, but I also looked up to Kobayashi Takeshi-san, who was Remioromen’s producer as well, so I had also wanted to work on production one day.

——Given’s debut single, “Maru Tsuke/Fuyu no Hanashi”, was released on September 18 2019. “Maru Tsuke” is also included in Centimillimeter’s single as a self-cover, but what kind of route did you take to complete this song?

To tell the truth, I had a song called “Maru Tsuke” for quite a long time. I already had its base form since 2015, so the song was in a state similar to an accompaniment material.

“Maru Tsuke” came into light during the meetings, and I didn’t think this song would have made it into the topic of discussions, so I was surprised. I was anxious at first, but when I tried facing it once again, there were so many fitting aspects to it that it even made me say, “So it can get this close to the series”. I felt like it connected with “Given” on a deep level, despite not having written that song for it.

——Holding someone dear, becoming a coward because of it, shouldering all sorts of feelings, and continuing to live in spite of that... What you talk about in “Maru Tsuke” might be things that everyone thinks.

The moment you start loving someone, you feel fear at the same time and become fragile. It’s exactly because the desire to protect someone isn’t something simple that we feel uncertain, and there is not only light to it, but I think loving someone is something beautiful. I get the sense that this swirling feeling itself is beautiful. That is what I threw into the song, and it was also one of the themes of “Given”. The fact that I managed to connect them goes without saying, but it’s like being told that I wasn’t mistaken about the things I gave importance to, which made me happy. In order to connect even better, I reconstructed the sound making and structure one more time, aiming for higher heights as a composition for “Given”.

——What were you conscious of for the direction?

Yano Shougo-san (the voice of Mafuyu) is a workaholic, so he sings all sorts of songs, but I thought there was a difference between songs sung by band vocalists and songs sung by voice actors. So I figured that it would be good if I could share with him the methods of band vocalists and band sounds in my own way, thus I have him that kind of direction.

I was also very conscious of “conveying words”. I believe that the author, Kizu Natsuki-sensei (who is also a producer of Given), also cherished words a lot. I think this also reflects on the songs.

——Was there anything you felt when you actually conducted the production?

First of all, I was extremely happy that a song I made was sung. It was expressed in a way that I myself couldn’t do, and even if the emotions are the same, the way people view it changes depending on who’s singing. Seeing it hand-in-hand with the series, spreading up just like that and growing bigger made me happy.

——The other song, “Fuyu no Hanashi”, played during the show in episode nine.

From the very beginning, there was already a song titled “Fuyu no Hanashi” in the drama CD, but this song began from me creating a new “Fuyu no Hanashi”. “Fuyu no Hanashi” already existed for the fans, so I saw plenty of everyone’s love for it on Twitter and such, and also how it comes close to their daily lives. I dreaded painting over it, but... I believed it was fate that I had received this proposal, so I thought, “I’m going to do all I can”. While there was pressure, there was also joy, so it was a strange feeling.

To tell the truth, when I received the proposal for “Given”, the offer for “Fuyu no Hanashi” came first-thing. That’s why I actually started the production from there. Afterward, I received proposals for the session track that plays in the middle of the show and for the theme songs... That is how it went.

——Was that so?! The seed, the piece that would give you most pressure came first, so to say.

That’s right. But for me, this was a comfortable wall. I worked on it while thinking that, if I could make many people happy with it, then it would be a big step for me.

——What kind of feelings did you put into it?

I figured it would probably be used for the live concert scene in the middle of the show, so I read the scene and imagined the concert over and over. In the drama CD, it could only be portrayed with sounds and voices, so I think they probably gave importance to how they would insert the monologues into the lyrics. In the anime’s case, there would be an animation accompanying the song, so I reflected on what the “Fuyu no Hanashi” that I could compose was. Like a shout for a person who has been lost... It’s a requiem, but also a follow-up of one’s true intentions... I wanted to treasure those messed-up feelings. Also, I thought it was a song that had been preciously loved until then, so I had a strong sense of duty not to ruin this.

Being involved with “Given” changed his life!!

——Could you also tell us about the track “Sessions” (The Seasons) that plays during the show?

I received the proposal for this one after “Fuyu no Hanashi”. “There’s a scene in the show that goes like this, so if you’d like, couldn’t you make a track for it,” they asked.

I had never made an actual instrumental band track. Counting the fact that three pieces had already been decided for the story, it was quite a pressure on me.

When I actually watched the scene where they are performing it in the anime, my spirits went right up. Like, “So this is how the band will go”. The sensation that oozed from my hands and spread into me felt truly good.

——Lastly, Atsushi-san, could you tell us... about the things you have realized and earned through the music production of “Given”?

It’s a series that has several places where everyone can join hands. I think that is exactly why so many fans love this work.

Being involved with “Given” has changed my notions of life, and I feel that it was a huge feat, if only for my musical life. I am filled to the brim with happy feelings for being part of it.

——Thank you very much for telling us so many things today.